Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Kazakh and Russian presidents, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on the most actual issues of regional and international agenda at their meeting in Russias Sochi on Aug. 16, Kazakh presidential press service said.

The presidents also discussed the preparations for their forthcoming meetings at the G20 summit in China, the CIS Council of Heads of State in Kyrgyzstan, and the Kazakh-Russian interregional cooperation forum.

I think our relations are exemplary both in political and in economic terms Kazakh-Russian relations, based on the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and the Treaty on Good Neighborliness and Alliance in the 21st Century, have remained stable. Kazakhstan and Russia are reliable neighbors and partners, Kazakh president said.

Nazarbayev noted that about 6,000 joint Kazakh-Russian enterprises have been created and expressed hope that the forthcoming Kazakh-Russian interregional cooperation forum would foster cooperation in economy.

I know this will be a significant meeting in the economic terms, and a lot of projects are developing now, he said.

Putin in turn noted the successful development of strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Russia, and expressed confidence that some slight decline in bilateral economic cooperation, provoked by instability in the world commodity markets and currency fluctuations, would be overcome.

Edited by EA

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SHARE Lori Chapman-Sifers

By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight

The mayor of Shasta Lake will not appear on the ballot come November despite filing her candidacy papers on time.

Of course, neither will the other candidates who qualified for the election to fill three council seats.

Mayor Lori Chapman-Sifers failed to qualify for the ballot after elections staff found four signatures out of 21 she submitted were invalid, putting her below the minimum 20 to qualify, said Cathy Darling Allen, clerk of the Shasta County Department of Elections.

That leaves three candidates for three seats.

"There's no point of having an election with three people when three people will get elected," said John Kenny, city attorney for Shasta Lake. "The elections code provides the City Council can appoint the people nominated or they can hold an election if they want to."

The filing deadline won't be extended despite no incumbent running because Chapman-Sifers, the incumbent, did file on time, Darling Allen said.

"The filing period is extended if an incumbent did not file," she said.

Chapman-Sifers did not return two calls seeking comment Monday afternoon.

The elections office received Chapman-Sifers packet Friday from Shasta Lake City Clerk Toni Coates, but Darling Allen couldn't say when Chapman-Sifers turned her packet in to the City Clerk's office.

Coates did not return two calls for comment.

Darling Allen said she didn't know the specifics as to why staff disqualified four signatures. But signatures can be insufficient for several reasons, such as the person moved or hasn't registered to vote.

When candidates fail to gather enough signatures, her office can notify them. Candidates can file more signatures until the deadline, which passed Friday.

But Chapman-Sifers' packet arrived too late for that process.

The City Council likely will call a special meeting and appoint the three candidates to another term, Kenny said.

They could let it go to the election, which would allow write-ins, he said. That appears unlikely, however.

"The elections code recognizes the fact that that would be so unlikely, the cost of having an election in that unlikely event doesn't seem to make much sense," he said.

That would cost the city around $5,000 to $10,000, based on previous elections.

Darling Allen said she can't remember an incumbent city council member failing to qualify in Shasta County.

"It happens quite frequently for other offices, people will start the process and not complete it," she said. "But city council is not one of those offices where you see it happen very often."
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This month I turned in grades for my summer classes. The moment that task was completed I had officially wrapped up 25 years in America's system of higher education.

During that quarter-century, I have observed countless proposals from Washington, D.C., to the hallways of my institution to make college education more "accessible" for millions of struggling American families. The latest idea  straight out of the Bernie Sanders-created Democratic platform  has Hillary Clinton proposing "free" college tuition for a large swath of America's middle- and lower-income families.

This idea is loaded with several unintended consequences that will make the recipients of this federal gift regret the moment it passed.

Here is the list:

First, her plan would create an artificial increase in the demand for college classes at community colleges and public universities. Community colleges, which are open-enrollment institutions, would be inundated with students seeking seats. This would lead to massive shortages, unless states approve huge budget (and tax) increases to fully fund the expansion of buildings and hiring of new faculty that would have to take place.

Universities, facing a similar demand push, would simply raise the price of admission, meaning higher grade-point averages, SAT and ACT scores would be used to weed out students who have responded to the allure of free tuition.

Second, potentially millions of young people who have no business attending college would waste their time  and taxpayer dollars  seeking degrees they will not obtain. It is a simple fact that not everyone is capable of surviving the demands of multitudinous college majors. Free tuition would dupe young people into a sense of belonging, only to find that their work ethic, intelligence and aptitude are not up to the rigors of advanced education.

This brings us to another economic fact: Ill-prepared students who rush off to college could have allocated their time and resources to second-best choices such as internships, vocational training or other certification programs to become skilled workers in fields that are already in critically short supply  and often pay more than college graduates earn. Clinton's plan only exacerbates those shortages in blue-collar trades by decreasing the available supply of candidates for those programs.

Her program also would lead to downward compression on salaries for students who do obtain college degrees. Simply put, if you have an artificial increase in college and university enrollments, you will have an artificial increase in the number of people who eventually receive degrees.

Finally, there is the small matter of the United States Constitution. In 1794, James Madison said, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress, of extending on objects of benevolence the money of their constituents."

Since Clinton would have to swear to defend the Constitution, I would like to send her my pocket copy, which provides no measure for taking away taxpayer dollars to pay for the education of college kids. Simply put, our Founders recognized that in order to make tuition free for one person, an act of plunder had to be committed on a taxpayer.

Which leaves me with my recommendation to parents of college-age kids:

Pay for your own creation.

Jack A. Chambless is an economics professor at Valencia College and a senior fellow with the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, Fla. He wrote this for the Orlando Sentinel.
On a cloudy Sacramento day in 2001, a low-level aide to then-Gov. Gray Davis secretly met a representative of the Oracle Corp. software company, accepting a $25,000 check for Davis's re-election fund.

Just a few days earlier, Oracle had received a $95 million software contract to update state computers. The sequence later became emblematic of the "pay-to-play" phenomenon allegedly common under Davis, a pattern used against him by Arnold Schwarzenegger when Davis was recalled and thrown from office in 2003, less than one year after his election to a second term.

Anyone who thinks such behavior then disappeared from Sacramento can now see the interesting timing of a long list of corporate donations to the state Democratic Party and Gov. Jerry Brown's 2014 re-election fund released the other day by the Consumer Watchdog advocacy group. The report is called "Brown's Dirty Hands." (http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/dirtyhands)

One example: The report says that in November of 2011, Davis  by then a lawyer for Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp.  pressured Brown to fire two oil and gas regulators the company felt were slow to grant injection well permits for hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Two months later, Oxy contributed $250,000 to Brown's Proposition 30 tax increase initiative, and shortly after that gave $100,000 to a pet Brown charity, the Oakland Military Institute. This surely looks like old-fashioned pay-to-play.

(Just a few years earlier, former Republican Insurance Commission Chuck Quackenbush was hounded from office for getting insurance companies he regulated to contribute to his own pet charities.)

Another example: In June 2013, tough regulations were dropped from SB4, a bill intended to restrict fracking. The same day, Chevron Corp. gave $135,000 to the Democratic Party. Several months later, Chevron wrote the party a $350,000 check and a week later, the party put $300,000 into Brown's re-election campaign fund. On the same day, Chevron plunked $54,400 (the legal maximum) into Brown's coffer.

The report's list goes on. It makes corporate campaign donations under Brown look at least as dicey as those that helped oust Davis.

Brown and his aides don't deny any of these facts, but dismiss it all as insignificant claptrap. "The governor's leadership on climate is unmatched; these claims are downright cuckoo," said press secretary Evan Westrup, who furnished that remark via emails to this and other news outlets. Brown refused to comment personally.

At least Davis had the good taste to fire a few aides after his "pay-to-play" pattern was exposed. There have been no such consequences under Brown.

For example, former Pacific Gas & Electric Co. vice president and lobbyist Nancy McFadden remains the governor's executive secretary, his top aide, years after it became widely known that she accepted a "departure gift" of more than $1 million from PG&E, signing a "non-disparagement" agreement to get the money. McFadden, part of whose job is to help vet all Brown's top appointees, cannot do anything that might harm PG&E.

So it was no surprise that emails between PG&E executives and the disgraced Michael Peevey, former president of the state Public Utilities Commission, identify McFadden as "the go-to person" in the governor's office when it comes to naming new utilities commissioners. It is also no surprise that Brown continues refusing to disclose more than 60 emails between him, his office and the PUC from the time the commission saddled consumers with 70 percent of the $4.7 billion cost of closing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

And it's no surprise that state Attorney General Kamala Harris, enthusiastically backed by Brown for the U.S. Senate, has taken more than four months to rule on the simple question of whether those emails must be disclosed.

"It's all an extension of the kind of thing that went on under Davis," said Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court. "But Brown operates more under the radar and with more stealth."

Then there's the pattern of multiple, well-documented government agency lies under Brown.

It forms a pattern of ethical lapses more pervasive than anything perpetrated under Davis.

But an attempt to recall Brown when he has barely two years left in his final term would likely prove futile, besides being a waste of time, money and energy. The important thing is for Californians to understand how unclean their state government now looks and to bear that in mind constantly while considering candidates to become Brown's successor.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.
A 20-year-old SAIC student died after she was hit by a semi while riding a bicycle in Chicago's Goose Island neighborhood Tuesday morning. Aug. 17, 2016. (CBS Chicago)

A student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago died after being hit by a semi while riding a bicycle in Chicago's Goose Island neighborhood Tuesday morning, police said.

The crash happened at 8:15 a.m. in the 800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, said Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago police spokeswoman. Lisa Kuivinen, 20, was riding south on Milwaukee when the truck moved from the traffic lane to the bike lane, according to Chicago police.

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Kuivinen, from Rolling Meadows, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead, Trainor said.

The driver of the semi, a 37-year-old man, remained on scene after the accident. He was issued citations for driving in the bike lane and failure to take due care for a bicycle in the road, police said.

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"We are shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic loss of a member of the SAIC family,'' said Bree Witt, a spokeswoman for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Lisa Kuivinen was an undergraduate student studying in our BFA program. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Lisa's family and friends during this very difficult time, and we have made counseling services available to students, faculty and staff,'' Witt said in the email.
Jasmine Newson, 21, turns around while praying at a gas station that was destroyed by rioters after a fatal police shooting two days prior in Milwaukeeon Aug. 15, 2016. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

MILWAUKEE  Milwaukee police Chief Ed Flynn on Monday lauded faith and community leaders for curbing violence Sunday night during unrest after the police shooting of a black man on Saturday.

"I saw in many instances people preaching on street corners, counseling small groups of individuals. A number of individuals spoke at the vigil, which easily could have been an excuse to incite, but rather there were consistent calls for calm, discussion and peaceful change," Flynn said.

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Flynn confirmed, however, a significant level of violence toward police. In addition to the well-documented rock-throwing by Sunday night's mob, officers have also been met with gunfire since a police-involved shooting sparked outrage.

"It certainly appears there are people who are willing to shoot at (police) without concern of whether they injure or kill them," Flynn said. " We do have people who are recklessly firing firearms generally, and clearly some of them are firing at police."

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The result has been slower and more cautious crowd control efforts.

Protesters clash with Milwaukee police Aug. 14, 2016, following a fatal shooting by police the previous day. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

"We recognize in so doing we make ourselves targets," Flynn said. "In some ways, we become the focal point. But better us the focal point than innocent community members or stores being set on fire. So, we accept the risk that engaging makes us the target."

Flynn cast blame on some Chicago-based activists representing the Revolutionary Communist Party, who apparently organized young people to take to the streets and march on the then-barricaded District 7 police station, which received a number of threats.

"The (group) showed up, and actually they're the ones who started to cause problems leading into evening by marching and trying to take over Sherman and Burleigh," Flynn said. "That was about 11:30 at night. We made it to 11:30 in the evening, and we had these characters show up "

In addressing the police shooting of Sylville Smith, Flynn said Smith, 23, was shot about 20 seconds after a traffic stop for a "suspicious vehicle." Flynn announced that an autopsy report confirmed the police's preliminary information that indicated Smith was shot in the chest and arm, refuting rumors that he could have been shot in the back.

The palpable anger seen in North Side Milwaukee crowds, Flynn said, isn't rooted in the facts of Smith's death.

"Regardless of the factors of this situation, clearly there was an undertone of tension that erupted in violence, whether the shooting turned out to be completely justified or whether it wasn't," he said.

An 18-year-old man was shot and wounded during Sunday night's unrest.

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Mayor Tom Barrett singled out groups of young people on the streets of the Sherman Park neighborhood who he said were intent on causing trouble.

"Those individuals, in my mind, are deliberately trying to damage a great neighborhood in a great city," Barrett said at a news conference Monday.



Barrett warned parents and guardians that police will be strictly enforcing the city's 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers.



"This is not the place where you go to gawk, this is not the place where you go to take pictures," he said. "This is not the place where you go to drive your car around."

The problems began Saturday afternoon after a black police officer shot and killed a black man after a traffic stop. Police say Smith was fleeing and had a stolen handgun when he was shot; they say bodycam footage clearly shows him holding the weapon.



Gov. Scott Walker on Sunday put the National Guard on standby, but so far no Guard members have been deployed.

Fourteen people were arrested. Three police officers and four sheriff's deputies were hurt.

WARNING: Video contains graphic language. Protesters confront police in Milwaukee during a second night of unrest over the police shooting of a black man. Aug. 14, 2016. (Tony Briscoe / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)





The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating Smith's death, as required by state law for police-involved shootings. Barrett said he hoped the officer's body camera video could be released soon.



The 18-year-old Milwaukee man who was shot and wounded in Sunday night's violence was retrieved by a police armored vehicle and taken to a hospital. Flynn said the man "doesn't seem to be in medical danger." Police didn't say who shot the man but that they were looking for suspects.



Flynn said that while police came under fire Sunday night, "none of our officers returned fire."



Police cited Smith's "lengthy criminal record" as they identified him. Online court records showed a range of offenses that were mostly misdemeanors. In a more serious case, Smith was accused in a shooting last year and charged with recklessly endangering safety, a felony.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was subsequently accused of pressuring the victim to recant statements that identified him as the gunman and was charged with trying to intimidate a witness. The charges were dropped because the victim recanted the identification and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told the newspaper Sunday.



Speaking at a Sunday night vigil, Smith's sister, Kimberley Neal, told The Associated Press that the family wants prosecutors to charge the officer who shot him.



The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.



Nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee's 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.



Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014.



In December, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes.



Critics said the police department should have been subjected to a full Justice Department investigation like the one done in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 touched off violence there.

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Associated Press and Chicago Tribune's Tony Briscoe contributed.
Despite the government crackdown on Web sites advertising escort services, the Internet leaves enough wiggle room for debauchery to thrive, reports Dhruv Munjal.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Priya Kumar leads a life that most will reject with unapologetic derision.

In the last two years, she has made her peace with the scornful condemnation that comes her way almost routinely. "Very few people in my life know about this. But those who do, the ridicule (from them) is sometimes impossible to take," she says despondently, her mellow voice barely audible over the phone.

In the summer of 2014, Kumar took a scandalous decision to fund her education: She entered the murky business of escorts in New Delhi.

Paying for college was proving to be a continual pain and the choice of this seemingly dark profession was difficult, but inescapable. "It was something that I obviously did not want to do. But where was the option?" she asks.

Soon, Kumar, with the help of a friend, set up a Web site that "put her on the market". "Some friends had tried it and they pushed me into trying it," she says.

Requests immediately started pouring in -- sometimes that number was as high as six or seven every day. The national capital, it seems, has developed a dangerous weakness for such permissiveness.

Based on last year's leaked user data of American infidelity Web site Ashley Madison, Delhi had 38,562 registered users on the portal, making it the unofficial 'adultery capital of the country.' Mumbai (33,036) and Chennai (16,434) were the next two on the list.

"I didn't like what I was doing. But the money was good," says Kumar. "We would fix a meeting place and then head off to the nearest hotel." The amount of money Kumar received was indeed hefty.

One client assignment was fetching her Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. The rates can reach astronomical levels depending on the 'category' you choose.

Kumar's was among the 237 Web sites that the government's Department of Telecom decided to ban. The IT ministry issued orders asking Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to take down Web sites that 'offer or advertise escort services' in the country.

The list of the banned Web sites was made public by the Centre for Internet and Society after the government's reluctance to do so. 'Given that knowledge of what is censored by the government is crucial in a democracy, we are publishing the entire list of blocked Web sites,' the Centre for Internet and Society said in a statement. Requests for further comments did not illicit any response.

"This call was taken to clamp down on illegal activities on the Internet. We may add more to the list of banned Web sites, but we don't know when," says a ministry official, on the condition of anonymity.

The decision was taken based on the recommendations issued by an expert committee set up under the ministry of home affairs.

A similar attempt at censorship by the government -- to ban pornography on the Internet -- was met with a strident response from netizens last year. The government, accused of excessive moral policing, backtracked on its decision later.

Escort services and agencies on the Internet flourish mainly due to flagrant euphemism. Most do not explicitly promise to dish out 'sex' services for money; this service is often disguised under the pledges of mere companionship and dinner dates, sometimes masseur services.

Even classified sections of newspapers are flooded with such advertisements. Modern escort services are a more overt extension of 'friendship clubs' from the years gone by.

And, the business has slowly managed to weave itself into the capricious fabric of social media. A quick search for 'escort services' on Twitter yields thousands of results; some Facebook accounts openly endorse such services.

"It is a menace that is everywhere. This will need a lot of cooperation from all sides in order to be eradicated completely," says a cyber expert.

Even though there are no official numbers available, the escorts industry generates a turnover of over Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) every year.

Sections 372 and 373 of the Indian Penal Code make prostitution and flesh trade illegal in India. As Prashant Mali, cyber law and privacy expert, explains: "Escort services are abating illegal businesses. Hence, they are illegal by law."

Moreover, Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000 allots power to the government to issue directions for blocking public access of any information through any computer resource.

"In India, 'prostitution' means the act of a female offering her body for promiscuous sexual intercourse for hire, whether in money or in kind, and whether offered immediately or otherwise, and the expression 'prostitute' shall be construed accordingly. Almost all offences punishable under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 are cognisable and non-bailable except one," says Mali, a Mumbai-based lawyer.

Sudeep Gupta is an intrepid middle-aged man who talks frantically with few pauses. Gupta owns an escort agency that operates mainly through the Internet.

With an overall ban now ostensibly imminent, Gupta fears for his business but remains defiant. "I don't care much about the law. We are not doing anything wrong, " he says. "It is an option for people. Nobody is forcing you to use these services. And the government has no right to decide that." Mali adds that the government should carry out a traffic analysis and find out the reason for people visiting such Web sites.

Gupta entered the business after working as a pimp at Delhi's red light district. He has been in the business for five years now, makes up to Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000) a month, has bought a couple of splashy cars, and enjoys a relatively comfortable lifestyle.

He says that the only way to wiggle out of the ban is to keep changing domain names. That is the biggest problem before the Net guardians. Authorities can block a domain name, URL or gateway, but a new one can be created and uploaded on the Internet within a few minutes.

"The challenge is how to block them. It is great that the government has acknowledged the problem. But we have to come up with a way to implement this fully and effectively," says Rakshit Tandon, a cyber-security consultant. "Right now, we don't have the know-how to implement this across the board. What all can you block?"

In 2015, the Calcutta high court decided to block www.songs.pk, a popular Pakistani music downloading site. A few days later, the site resurfaced, this time under the name www.songs.pk.pk

Other experts question the very rationale behind banning only 237 such sites when millions of them exist on the Internet. The IT ministry, so far, has conveniently denied to offer an explanation on the reason behind this filtering.

Amid all the cacophony involving 'legal wrongdoing' and 'personal space', telecom operators stand to lose out. Blocking content on the Internet has a debilitating effect on an operator's revenue. N A Vijayashankar, one of the pioneers of cyber law literacy in India, feels that irrespective of the losses, the right thing is being done.

"Service providers are obviously not happy because this means loss of revenue. But you can't go against the law of the land. What is wrong is wrong," he says.

A telecom company official adds that owing to the high traffic that these sites attract, losses will be steep. "It will be bad. But we just cannot go against a government order."

However, cyber security experts like Rajasthan-based Mukesh Choudhary feel that banning is the worst solution that the government could have come up with. "You can visit these sites through a proxy server. You ban one and 10 more will come up. You can't have a single minded approach," he says.

Instead, he calls for something akin to a cyber-patrolling cell that regularly monitors such activities on the Internet. "It's a dramatic decision that will just not work. Nowhere in the world can this be possible. You need a global initiative to make this happen," says Choudhary.

Meanwhile, people like Kumar and Gupta remain hopeful. Legally, they have scant expectations, but they continue to wish that the government goes back on its decision.

Some names have been changed on request
A slew of challenges that are yet to be resolved include the lack of consensus between the Centre and states over the GST exemption threshold limit, dual control over scrutiny and assessment

While the finance ministry remains optimistic about meeting the April 1, 2017, deadline for the goods and services (GST) tax rollout, it has not ruled out the possibility of delay on account of a slew of challenges to be resolved by the yet-to-be-set-up GST Council.

The government will also have to take into account information technology (IT) preparedness of the trade and industry sector for compliance with the new indirect tax regime.

As of now we are optimistic of achieving the target of 1st April, 2017. The only concern is if the resolution of various issues in the GST Council takes more time than expected, then there would be difficulty in achieving the target, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told Business Standard.

Long road ahead Lack of consensus between states and Centre on GST exemption threshold limit; states want it at Rs 10-lakh turnover for an entity but Centre wants it at Rs 25 lakh States want sole administrative powers to carry out assessment, scrutiny and enforcement for entities up to an annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore; Centre has worked out an administrative framework without a threshold At least 16 states will need to ratify the Constitution amendment Bill in their state Assemblies Most countries gave companies at least a year to prepare for GST rollout; in India, if the rules are out in January, firms will have three months to prepare

A slew of challenges that are yet to be resolved include the lack of consensus between the Centre and states over the GST exemption threshold limit, dual control over scrutiny and assessment. Besides, the GST rates and structure are yet to be fixed.

While the states are pitching for a GST exemption limit of Rs 10 lakh annual turnover for an entity, the the Centre wants a higher limit of Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million).

Besides, states want sole administrative powers to carry out assessment, scrutiny and enforcement for entities up to an annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. The Centre has instead worked out administrative framework without a threshold ensuring that a taxpayer will have to deal with one authority for all taxes through cross-empowerment.

The issue of cross-empowerment for the purpose of removing dual control will have to come up for discussion in the meeting of the GST Council. We will continue to make efforts with the states to arrive at a consensus on this, Adhia said. Cross-empowerment means both the Centre and states will have administrative control over assessment, scrutiny and issuing of notices to assesses for the central GST and state GST. Whoever strikes first, will assess the assessees.

Most countries, including Malaysia and Australia, gave companies at least a years time to prepare for the GST rollout. On the possibility of a mid-year rollout, Adhia said the government will have to consult the industry for that as some of the big companies will have to change their software to accommodate the new taxation regime.

Officials in the department point out that industry may not be prepared for April 1, as they will need to change their IT systems and processes, otherwise it may lead to litigations.

Tax consultants, too, argued that since the rules for GST will be notified in January, companies will have very little time to configure their systems. Though the basic architecture of GST has been known for a long time, the rate of tax is not yet known for them to make pricing decisions.

GSTN is for the Centre and states, but companies will have to work on their IT systems themselves. They will need time for that and two months will not be enough, said a government official on condition of anonymity.

The road to meet the deadline appears tough. At least 16 states will need to ratify the Constitution amendment Bill in their assemblies. The finance ministry expects the states to get it approved within the next 25 days and the technical structure to be ready by December. After that, the President will give its assent and then the GST Council will be set up.

The Council will prepare draft model GST Bills, and resolve the issues relating to administrative control and threshold. All this need to be sorted before the winter sessions of Parliament and state legislatures, which begin in November.

Saloni Roy, senior partner, Deloitte said that the April 1 deadline appeared very ambitious. Many companies in India have global systems in place, requiring them to go through their global teams for changing or upgrading their IT systems, which will take a time. For those with local teams will also need about six months to rejig their IT systems and rework their supply chains.

Pratik Jain, leader-Indirect Tax, PwC India, said the deadline seemed challenging as many companies were waiting for the Bill to be passed before starting the preparation. He said the change would impact the entire ecosystem from procurement, contracts, vendors to IT systems. Smooth implementation of GST will require compliance by everyone in the chain.

Under GST, your credits will depend on your vendors compliance for which companies will need to set up the system as well and hence more time will be needed. A July rollout will be a better idea, he said.

Sumit Dutt Majumder, former chairperson, CBEC, agreed.

Photograph: Reuters
There is a sharp difference between the total remuneration paid at the public sector and private sector entities

Flagging difficulties in getting top talent at public sector banks, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, on Tuesday, said they tend to over-pay at the bottom but under-pay their top executives, even as he rued, albeit jokingly, himself being "under-paid".

"One of the problems, of course, is that as with all public sector entities, you overpay at the bottom and underpay at the top... Yes, you feel that you are doing the job for the broader public but you just make it harder to attract top talent, specially a lateral entry," Rajan said here while talking about public sector banks (PSBs).

Addressing a banking conference, the outgoing Governor jokingly added, "I also feel under-paid."

As per the latest data on monthly salaries made public by RBI, Rajan's total monthly emoluments stood at Rs 198,700 for the month of July 2015. Rajan, on-leave professor of finance at Chicago University and former chief economist of International Monetary Fund, will return to academia after his term at RBI ends on September 4.

The top-level salary disclosures made by the banks in their respective annual reports show a sharp difference between the total remuneration paid at the public sector and private sector entities.

Public sector behemoth State Bank of India's chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya got just about Rs 31.1 lakh in the fiscal year 2015-16, while private sector major HDFC Bank's managing director Aditya Puri's total remuneration for the same period was more than 30-times higher at Rs 9.7 crore.

Rajan also suggested giving rewards like ESOPs by public sector banks, which is very common in private sector, by taking advantage of the current low share valuations of PSBs.

Rajan said a better payscale at bottom levels can also be a source of opportunity, and pointed out that the RBI's compensation packages even for class III employees are attractive enough to get really highly qualified people in.

"We get lot of engineers, MBAs even in class III jobs.

Our strategy has been to try and expand opportunities these people have while saying that you are not just there for clerical work, we are asking you to do much more value," he said.

Rajan said while one of the strengths of the public sector sometimes is the absence of pay and promotion that is very sensitive to performance, too little sensitivity can also be a problem as high performers get demotivated, and the slothful are not penalised.

An increased emphasis on performance evaluation, including identifying low performers with the intent of helping them improve, may be warranted, he said.

"In addition, rewards like employee stock ownership plans (Esops) that give all employees a stake in the future of the bank may be helpful. With public sector banks' shares trading at such low levels, a small allocation to employees today may be a strong source of motivation, and can be a large source of wealth as performance improves," the Governor said.

The central bank chief said lateral hires are also important, but many banks as well as public institutions have strong aversion to lateral hires because they break the cadres.

The Governor said one of the difficulties public sector banks has is the court judgements that prohibit hiring from specific campuses.

It is an anomaly that the National Institute of Bank Management is supported by public sector banks' funds, but sends most of its high quality graduates to work for private sector banks.

"Public sector banks can petition the courts to allow some modicum of campus hire, especially when the campus chooses openly through a national exam," he said.

Another alternative is to make bank entrance exams much less onerous to take, with applications, tests, and results, wherever possible, available quickly and online.

"Banks then have an easier task of persuading students on elite campuses to take the exam. We are following this latter course at the RBI," he said.

The Governor said there is a need to be more liberal in allowing local hires. There are many places in the country where people may find it difficult to go, but local talent is available and can do a fantastic job.

"To have local information, be comfortable with local culture, be locally accepted, and be competitive in low-cost rural areas - public sector banks will have to have more freedom to hire locally, and pay wages commensurate with the local labour market," he said.

Rajan said as banks adopt differentiated strategies, they should move away from common industry wide compensation structures and common industry wide promotion schemes across all public sector banks.

Rajan said the thinning of middle management ranks in public sector banks can be viewed as an opportunity to draw in more younger people and promote them faster by giving them significantly more support in terms of training,

"Yes, we cannot give them 25 years seasoning as we did in the past, but may be we can give them training. I know many of you are looking at these possibilities, including using online training schemes in order to do this," the outgoing Governor concluded.

Photograph: Reuters
As all regulators are part of it, individuals dont need to worry about approaching the right authority

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) launched an online website, Sachet, to curb Ponzi schemes at an early stage, by sourcing information from individuals.

A person can go to the website, www.sachet.rbi.org.in, and share information with the regulator if he thinks a company is illegally collecting money. People can also use the website to get detailed information on companies that are authorised to collect deposits and also complain if they are cheated by unauthorised operators.

Process to lodge a complaint Visit the Sachet website www.sachet.rbi.org.in



Fill the complaint registration form with personal details



Choose the regulator and provide details. If unsure, use Dont Know the Regulator option



Scan and upload documents



You will get a complaint number, with details of regulator concerned



To track further developments on your complaint, approach the respective regulator



There is no maximum time limit for resolution



After 30 days, you might see a reminder button on the website. Click it if resolution not provided



While the website is managed by RBI, all financial sector regulators and law enforcement agencies of different states have come together for this.

Until now, a person had to first know the regulators domain and jurisdiction before complaining against a Ponzi scheme or getting information on authorised companies. If an individual approached a regulator who didnt have oversight on a particular sector or economy, the latter couldnt do much, says Sapan Gupta, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

Sachet allows individuals to file a complaint on a common platform where the regulator concerned can process it, even if the individual is not aware of the regulator for a particular company.

Its not possible for individuals to know the regulatory framework in the financial sector and approach a specific authority. A company that is neither a bank nor a non-banking financial company (NBFC) but accepts deposits falls under the purview of the ministry of corporate affairs.

State governments regulate moneylenders. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) looks at collective investment schemes but funds involved need to be in excess of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).

Using Sachet

The authorities primarily want investors to share information on entities they suspect are running ponzi schemes. They can be whistleblowers or victims. To promote information sharing, RBI is maintaining a forum for individuals to discuss their issues. Under the Help Your Regulator option, one can directly share information on Ponzi schemes anonymously.

Victims of illegal financial schemes can file complaints after entering their details. They can also upload relevant documents. On filing, users get a complaint number and details of the regulator that will be responsible for resolving the issue via text message and e-mail.

As investigating such complaints can be complex and require multi agency involvement, there is no definite time provided for resolution of complaints. This can be a drawback for investors, who might need to wait indefinitely. While RBI runs the Sachet website, the regulator does not preside over other authorities.

Sachet vs Sebis platform

The stock market regulator has a similar mechanism, called Sebi Complaints Redress System or Scores, popular with investors. Sebi received 38,442 complaints during 2014-15 and resolved 35,090 grievances, as compared to 33,550 received and 35,299 resolved in 2013-14.

However, success of Scores does not necessarily mean that Sachet can be equally effective. The securities market is accessed by savvy investors and that led to the success of Scores. Those falling prey to ponzi schemes are a separate category, Moin Ladha, associate partner at Khaitan & Co. Most of these schemes start in small towns where investors are either not savvy or are less educated.

Good but not enough

While Sachet is the first effort by regulators, states and law enforcement agencies, it might not be as effective to stop ponzi schemes. One of the best way to tackle companies involved with unauthorised financial products is to have a unified regulatory regime involving special state courts dedicated for penalising such frauds in an expedited manner, as has been proposed in the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes and Protection of Depositors Interest Bill, 2015, says Ladha.

Headed by Veerappa Moily, the committee had recommended a separate regulator for money pooling schemes. In its report on ponzi schemes, one key observation was that these fall under different regulators, which often results in individuals getting exploited.

Another reason for success of these schemes is the hefty commissions paid to agents. Individuals put their trust on the middlemen, who are usually known to the victim.

The government should also make agents responsible for their actions, says Ladha.

Photograph: Reuters
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Aug. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmenistan and China held bilateral political consultations in Ashgabat, said the Turkmen Foreign Ministry in a message Aug. 16.

The Chinese delegation was led by Assistant Foreign Minister Li Huilai during the consultations.

The sixth session of the Security Cooperation Subcommittee of the Turkmen-Chinese Cooperation Committee was held during the visit.

The sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Special attention was paid to implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries leaders for development of cooperation in security and strengthening peace and stability in the region.

The sides also noted the strategic character of relations between Turkmenistan and China.

The possibility of bilateral cooperation in industry, high technologies and agriculture were also discussed in Ashgabat.

The parties expressed mutual interest in development of relations in the energy and transportation sectors through implementation of joint projects.
Pond's, Parle-G, Cadbury, Asian Paints and Amul have captured the changing face of India through the seven decades

What happens when the scent of a biscuit becomes inextricably linked with the history of the place where it is baked? The makers find it difficult to tinker with it, as Parle Products, the manufacturer of the worlds largest-selling biscuit, Parle-G, experienced recently.

Parle-G

Launched in 1939 as a military-grade biscuit

Became an affordable alternative for the masses in 1947

Has remained true to its core in the past seven decades



Amul

Launched in 1955; co-operative that created it was formed in 1946

Remains Indias largest food brand

Is generic to milk and butter in India



Cadbury

Launched in 1948 as an imported chocolate

Is the largest chocolate brand in India

Has stayed on the top thanks to innovation, taste and first-mover advantage



Ponds

Launched in 1947 as a cold cream

Became a household name as talc

Is today a premium skincare player



Asian Paints

Launched in 1942 by four Indian partners

Became leading paints company by 1967

Continues to have a hold on the market

News of the company shutting its iconic biscuit-making plant in the suburb of Vile Parle, Mumbai, where Parle-G was first baked in 1939, evoked a strong response, prompting Parle Products to release full-page ads this week to allay any fears of the brands demise.

Seven decades ago, the biscuit was produced to nourish British soldiers during World War II. The brand was called Parle Gluco.

The break from its colonial past came in 1947. Parle Gluco, which became Parle-G in 1980, was presented as an alternative to imported biscuits.

If Parle-G defined snacking in post-independence India, Amul was generic to packet milk and butter.

The cooperative that originally owned Amul - Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union - was formed in 1946.

Amul, the brand, was created in 1955 as milk farmers across Gujarat chose to join Kaira under the leadership of Indias milkman, Verghese Kurien. The brand was subsequently transferred to Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which now has a yearly turnover of more than Rs 23,000 crore (Rs 230 billion).

The cooperatives butter brand - Amul Butter - has been a chronicler of Indias history from 1966, the year its mascot, the Amul girl, was created by Mumbai-based daCunha Communications.

Cadbury, a British import introduced to Indians in 1948, is another brand that has a unique place in post-independence India. It remains the countrys largest chocolate brand, with a market share of 65 per cent today. Cadbury did this with a combination of taste, innovation and first-mover advantage.

One of Cadburys enduring brand associations was the Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC), first launched in 1972 as a live event across cities.

Another brand that has made India its own since independence is Ponds. Launched as a cold cream in 1947 by American major The Ponds Company of America, it was its foray into talcum powders in 1956 that made it a household name among Indians.

Current owner Hindustan Unilever, which globally acquired Ponds in 1987, was able to add a new dimension to its skincare portfolio in India. The brand today is positioned as a premium skincare solution for men and women.

Asian Paints, the countrys largest paint company, founded in 1942 by four Indian partners in a Mumbai garage, would not have become what it was, had it not been for the sheer hard work and dedication of its owners and a lovable mascot called Gattu.

Created by legendary cartoonist R K Laxman in 1954, Gattu raised Asian Paints profile in a low-involvement category such as paints and helped position Asian Paints as a consumer brand.
'The fabric of democracy is fraying,' says T V R Shenoy.

'It is being attacked not just by terrorists in Kashmir or by zealots in the North-East, but is being ripped apart even in Allahabad, in the Hindi heartland.'

About a quarter of a century ago I played host to Girilal Jain, some time after he stepped down as editor-in-chief of one of India's largest newspaper groups. The Berlin Wall had fallen, German reunification was underway, and a nervous France was converting the European Economic Community into the European Union to contain Teutonic energies. My guest was openly dismissive of this last.

Drawing from Indian history, punching the air with his index finger for emphasis, the gist of his argument was that 'Kshatriyas' -- bureaucrats and politicians of all nations, not just the armed forces -- could never build a lasting union.

With the great mass of the people forced to concentrate on earning their daily bread, nation building, he proclaimed, was best left to 'Brahmins' and 'Vaishyas'.

Girilal Jain's thesis was that the 'Kshatriya' element of any society is always so consumed by petty politics that it would see power as an end in itself, finally alienating enough people to spark rebellion.

Political union had to follow the creation of a cultural union -- the task of the Brahmin elements -- and had to be sustained by the Vaishyas, who would ensure that everyone felt a common stake in it. He would not have been one whit surprised at Brexit.

The veteran was in his early twenties when India became independent, old enough to recall the cynicism among Western -- and Western-trained -- intellectuals about the continued existence of the Union of India, leave alone of Indian democracy.

This, he said, was erroneous because the Brahminical element had already created a cultural continuity that cut across language and topography.

Very simply, the fact that Kamakshi of Kanchipuram is the same as the Kamakhya of Kamrup made Sardar Patel's task of unification considerably easier. But if India had been a cultural entity for centuries and was forged into a political union between 1947 and 1950, the 'Vaishya' element -- economic unity -- lagged.

India was never an economic union, a fact only too clear to those unfortunates travelling between states. A pilgrimage, a wedding, a visit to a tourist attraction -- everything becomes a nightmare as commercial vehicles clog the roads while officials collect octroi.

The passage of the GST Bill through Parliament is a potential game-changer, replacing multiple state-level taxes with a single national tax. I write 'potential' for two reasons.

First, Constitutionally the measure must be approved by state assemblies too before getting the President's nod. Second, I have no idea if GST will lead to lower prices.

Similar promises were made when the VAT -- value-added taxation -- system was rolled out in 2005, and I don't remember its making any difference.

The prime minister placed the case for GST succinctly in the Lok Sabha: If India has a single railway system, a single postal system, and a single criminal code, why should it not have a single system of taxing commerce?

The logic is impeccable; is it enough?

The core of the Girilal Jain thesis was that cultural unity must precede, not follow, economic and political unity. Let us not fudge facts: The glue that holds India together is Hinduism, often described as 'a way of life', not just a 'religion'.

A central principle of that 'way of life' is respect for the opinion of another -- which, when you come right down to it, is the essence of democracy.

Let us not pretend for a minute that India would be the same if it were not principally Hindu. How many democracies are there west of India, from the Wagah border to the Mediterranean? Or ask the Tamils of Sri Lanka or the Muslims of Thailand what it means to live even in a Buddhist-dominated society. That rejection of Hindu values is at the heart of the chronic uproar in Kashmir.

Is it the only princely state absorbed into the Union? No, I myself was born a subject of the Maharaja of Cochin, whose realm was one of the 565 principalities welded together by Sardar Patel (with a lot of help from V P Menon).

Is it the only state whose people do not speak Hindi as their first language? The Eighth Schedule lists a whopping 22 languages -- and that still does not include English. Even that is an oversimplification; while technically 'Hindi', the Garhwali of the mountains of Uttarakhand and the Marwari of the deserts of Rajasthan are mutually incomprehensible.

Is it the only state that lies in the midst of the mountains rather than in the plains? The citizens of Himachal Pradesh or of Sikkim would laugh at such an absurdity.

The uncomfortable truth is that the Kashmiri claim to being unique rests on the fact that it is the only state with a Muslim majority. (Particularly since 1990, when terrified Kashmiri Pandits began to be chased out of the valley.) The frenzied chants of 'Azadi' ('freedom') are a distilled form of Jinnah's tenet that Muslims cannot live on equal terms alongside Hindus.

Calls for a separate state -- Telangana yesterday, possibly Vidarbha tomorrow -- are one thing because the agitations insist they want to remain in the Union of India. The stone-pelters in Srinagar desire a vivisection of India.

This contempt for common values is not limited to Kashmir. On August 7 this year the principal of a school in Allahabad, and eight of her colleagues, quit after the manager, Zia-ul Haq, banned singing the Jana Gana Mana on Independence Day. His reported justification is that the national anthem is 'un-Islamic.'

Maintaining India's democratic fabric cannot be the task of the so-called 'majority community' alone.

The fabric is fraying; it is being attacked not just by terrorists in Kashmir or by zealots in the states of the North-East but is being ripped apart even in Allahabad, in the Hindi heartland, in the city that is the 'home' of the Nehru-Gandhis.

Remove that cultural unity, and what do you have?

The Kshatriyas -- meaning the ruling class, not a specific caste -- shall revert to their old petty games. We had a foretaste of that in November 2015 when Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav raised the cry of 'Bihari ya Bahari' ('Outsider').

We can dismiss secessionists in Kashmir or Nagaland as operating on the fringes of India, we can dismiss hitherto obscure school managers in Allahabad as exceptions to the supposed 'Ganga-Jamuna culture', but Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav are in the heart of secular politics, are they not?

What happens when there is no overarching frame of shared cultural values?

From a political-military viewpoint the European Union makes perfect sense; individual members would crumble before Russia. From an economic perspective the European Union is a sensible way to ensure a market as large as that of an America or a China. None of that mattered when it came to the Brexit poll, and none of it seems to matter to large chunks of Europe alienated by 'Kshatriya' masters in Brussels and Berlin.

The GST Bill promises to further the economic union of India. We have entered the 70th year of our political union. Will that be enough when our cultural unity is under attack?

American schools start the day by asking students to recite the 'Pledge of Allegiance,' which ends with the words 'One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

Would it have the same fine ring if that read 'One nation under the taxman, with freedom from octroi and the same prices for all'?
'The sacking of Outlook magazine's Editor-in-Chief Krishna Prasad provides another example of the saffron camp's disrespect for dissent,' argues Amulya Ganguli.

In a speech at the time of the release of the Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto before the last general election, Narendra Modi, then the presumptive prime minister, had given the assurance that he would never act with bad intentions.

He can be said to have kept his promise so far although why anyone should have pledged himself to above board conduct on his own is intriguing. Did he detect a propensity for wrong-doing in himself?

Even if the prime minister can be largely absolved of any serious transgressions in his two years in office, the same cannot be said of some of his fellow travellers. The antics of the latter in creating an atmosphere of intolerance first led to the flood of awards being returned by their winners, including writers, historians, filmmakers and scientists.

Now, the peremptory sacking of Outlook magazine's Editor-in-Chief Krishna Prasad provides another example of the saffron camp's disrespect for dissent.

It does not take much insight to realise that the editor paid the price for his boldness in publishing a piece about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's friend, philosopher and guide, and the hidden power behind the throne, according to common perception.

Since a First Information Report has been filed relating to the article, the powers-that-be could have let the law take its own course, as the cliche goes. But the Modi government and the prime mentor were apparently too impatient. Hence, the wielding of the axe.

As it is, the government's respect for the freedom of the press is known to be virtually non-existent. Otherwise, one of its minions -- Minister of State V K Singh -- would not have been so gleefully talking about 'presstitutes,' a coinage of which the former army chief appears to be inordinately proud.

Modi himself has never held a press conference of the wide-ranging kind which was seen in his predecessor's time. Instead, he has chosen one particular television anchor for an occasional interview to the exclusion of all others.

Evidently, he does not trust himself to be quizzed by media personnel at random in case their inquisitiveness forces him to stage a walkout as during one of Karan Thapar's question-and-answer sessions.

It is also possible that the prime minister does not have satisfactory responses to queries, for instance, about why only saffron apparatchiki were selected as the heads of prestigious institutions like the Indian Council of Historical Research, the National Book Trust, the Film and Television Institute and the Central Board of Film Certification. Nor about the abrupt termination of an editor's tenure.

It will be unfair, however, to blame only the Hindutva camp for believing in unofficial censorship.

The Congress was no less culpable, and not only during the Emergency. It played a part, for instance, in forcing out a former Outlook editor, Vinod Mehta, from the editorship of the Indian Post in Mumbai and later from the same position in Pioneer in Delhi. It is understandable why Mehta named his dog Editor.

That nomenclature may have been too sharp a dig at the office although it has been steadily losing its lustre. First, the owners started taking a close interest in their newspapers before becoming editors themselves as in the Ananda Bazar Patrika group.

Then, the tycoons decided to breathe heavily down the necks of the owners if anything unfavourable to their business interests saw the light of the day and 'persuaded' the proprietors -- with a kind word and a gun, as Al Capone said -- to sack the offending editor.

In addition to the ever present threat of the guillotine hanging over their heads, editors have also seen a steady diminution of their authority by the mushrooming of various editorial posts, which is another weapon in the hands of the owners to cut them down to size.

Not surprisingly, the executive editor's role has been defined as that of executing the editor and of the editorial director as that of directing the editor. An old hand in The Times of India, Dilip Mukherjee, used to describe the profusion of designations as a kind of pollution.

Although salaries of the denizens of the so-called Ivory Tower have risen exponentially in the last 20, 30 years, the shelf life of a once-prestigious post has become shorter. Nor is there any possibility of the good old days of Frank Moraes and Sham Lal returning any time soon.

Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current affairs.
Modi talking about Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit is a tectonic shift in India's policy towards Pakistan, says Abhay Jere.

On Monday, it was extremely heartening to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi talking about Balochistan, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

India should have openly supported the Balochistan freedom struggle long ago and should have used the Balochistan issue as an effective lever to counter Pakistan's global propaganda against India over Kashmir, as the atrocities committed by the Pakistani army in Balochistan are far more gruesome and inhuman than the alleged human rights violation by the Indian Army in Kashmir.

According to some estimates, since 2000, more than 20,000 Baloch people (including 5,000 children) have been kidnapped and/or killed by the Pakistan army. Minorities, especially Hindus, have been specially targeted.

Modi talking about Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit can be certainly considered a tectonic shift in India's foreign policy towards Pakistan.

Undoubtedly, our National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has played a major role behind the scene as he always maintained that if Pakistan meddles in Kashmir, then it should get ready to lose Balochistan.

For the last six months, many so-called intellectuals said India's policy towards Pakistan is very 'confused' and the Modi government has neutralised all the gains of the past.

In my opinion, the Modi government's policy towards Pakistan was never confusing. Initially, his government was keen on giving Pakistan enough opportunities before going on the offensive.

Gestures like the prime minister's surprise stopover in Lahore or allowing Pakistan's intelligence team to visit India or meeting Pakistani envoys in neutral venues were all parts of the same strategy.

As a result, the Modi government was successful in impressing upon the world that India has made every possible attempt to normalise its relationship with Pakistan, but Pakistan has not reciprocated in the same spirit.

Moreover, in the last two years through aggressive diplomacy, India has been successful in conveying to the global community that Pakistan is not doing enough to curb terrorists and terrorism.

The global community has started accepting our version that there is nothing like good terrorists and bad terrorists and terrorism in every form should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

This has resulted in the Americans cancelling the F-16 aircraft deal as well as $300 million (about Rs 2,010 crore/Rs 20.10 billion) in military aid to Pakistan.

Considering some of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's recent statements eulogising terrorists attacking India and the Pakistan high commissioner's comments with reference to Kashmir, the Modi government has decided to go on the offensive.

More importantly, by talking about the Baloch and PoK people, the PM has sent a clear message to China that India will respect and support sentiments of the native populations of that region.

Currently, China is making huge investments in Balochistan through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, but the Baloch population is completely against the CPEC as they believe that under the pretext of Balochistan's development, the real objective of Pakistan's government is to crush the Baloch freedom struggle and exploit the region's resources.

Under the CPEC proposal, China will invest $49 billion (about Rs 3.28 lakh crore) to build a network of roads and gas pipelines from Gwadar port in Balochistan to China through PoK, connecting Pakistan to Beijing's Maritime Silk Road, as part of China's ambitious One Belt, One Road initiative.

As part of CPEC, Pakistan handed approximately 2,000 acres of land in Balochistan to the Chinese government for the development of Gwadar port. This area is very rich in natural resources, especially oil and gas, and the Pakistan government is keen on tapping into these resources with Chinese support.

Now that India has openly decided to morally support the Balochistan freedom struggle, it should aggressively highlight the killings of the Baloch people by the Pakistan army and human right violations in Balochistan and PoK in all available international fora including the United Nations.

By talking about Balochistan and PoK, the Modi government has made a very strategic move in its attempts to further isolate Pakistan and China globally.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Red Fort, August 15. Photograph: Press Information Bureau
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not be attending the SAARC Finance Ministers' conference scheduled to take place in Pakistan.

As per government sources, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will represent India at the two-day event to be hosted in Islamabad from August 25-26.

Earlier, media reports from Pakistan claimed that the country had decided to give a "warm welcome" to Jaitley amid speculation that he was likely to visit Islamabad for the conference.

The conference is taking place weeks after the SAARC Home Ministers' conference that was held last month.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken part in the conference where he called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, saying terrorists should not be glorified as "martyrs". Pakistan blocked news media organizations from covering Rajnath Singh's speech which received bipartisan condemnation in Parliament.

"I did not see whether my speech was covered live or not. The media personnel from DD, ANI and PTI who had come from India were not allowed to enter," Singh had said in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan finance ministry officials have said that almost all regional countries except Bangladesh have confirmed their participation in the conference.
Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modis supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement in Washington, DC have sought support from the United States and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.

The world must understand that Pakistans use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively, Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said in a statement.

Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom, Baloch said.

While welcoming Modis stance on Balochistan, he said the Policy of indifference towards Pakistans war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying.

The Indian Prime Ministers statement on Balochistan is a positive development, Baloch said.

Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation, but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti -- a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistans destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government, Bugti said.

The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s, he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in his Independence Day speech on Monday.
Last rites of martyred CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar were performed with full state honour at Barni Ghat on the banks of the Ajay River in Bihar. Kumar died after sustaining a bullet injury to his neck in the terrorist attack in Srinagars Nowhatta area on Monday.

IMAGE: Last rites of Commandant Pramod Kumar, martyred in the line of duty at Srinagar on 15 August was performed at his village in Mihijam, Dist Jamtara today with full state honours. Photograph: CRPF/Twitter

44-year-old Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 49th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force deployed in the Kashmir valley, hoisted the flag between 8.30-8.40 am and made a speech saying with India clocking 70 years of its freedom, the responsibility on security forces has "increased" and they have to effectively tackle militants and incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

"It is a very important day," these were the last words of CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar after he unfurled the tricolour at the forces' base in Srinagar, minutes before he fell to militants' bullets in the Nowhatta area of the Jammu and Kashmir capital.

He was promoted as CO of the battalion on July 12, a day before his daughter's seventh birthday.

The officer who joined the paramilitary in 1998 also read out the names of those personnel of the force who were awarded gallantry medals on the eve of the Independence Day and congratulated them.

Soon after, officials said, the wireless set in the CRPF control room crackled informing it about militants hurling grenades and firing on security forces at four places in downtown Srinagar like Nowhatta Chowk, Gojwara Chowk, Bata Gali and Khaniyar Chowk, as they sought reinforcements.

Kumar, along with a small team of his personal security team, dashed out in a bullet proof vehicle and soon after landed at the incident spot.

"The militants were still firing. Kumar led from the front and was shot grievously on the upper part of his neck," they said.

He was rushed to the 92 Base Hospital of the army in Srinagar where he succumbed to his injuries.

A senior CRPF officer who had served with Kumar in the counter-insurgency grid in the north-east earlier said the officer was very "cool but daring."

"We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time yesterday," he said.

While Kumar and his men eliminated the two militants, nine other personnel including a state police official were injured in the attack.

Kumar was posted to Srinagar in April 2014 and was recently promoted as a Commandant. He hailed from Patna in Bihar but was living at present in neighbouring Jharkhand's Jamtara district.

He is survived by his wife Neha Tripathi and 7-year-old daughter Aarna.

Kumar had been thrice decorated with the CRPF Director General's commendation in 2015, 2014 and 2011. He has earlier served in the Special Protection Group for 3 years.

His last rites were today performed with military honours in his native village Mihijam in Jamtara.
Amid strain in ties with Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday compared the neigbouring country to "hell" and asserted that it should stop human rights violations in Balochistan.

Referring to an infiltration bid which was foiled on Monday by the Indian Army, he said, "Kal humare jawano ne paanch logon (terrorists) ko wapas bhej dia, Pakistan mein jaana aur nark (hell) mein jaana ek hi hai (Our soldiers sent back five terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is same as going to hell)."

He also said PoK is part of India and violation of human rights must stop in Balochistan.

In his Independence Day address yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also talked about the situation in Pakistan- occupied-Kashmir, Gilgit and Baluchistan and said people from there have thanked him for raising their issues.

Parrikar, who later flagged off the 'Tiranga Yatra' organised to mark the country's 70th Independence Day, said Pakistan has always been "promoting" terrorism and the nation is now bearing its consequences.

He assured the people that "Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to every attack".

Parrikar alongside Rao Singh Rao Inderjit, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Planning and Minister of State for Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, paid rich tributes to Rao Tula Ram at his birthplace, who was one of the key leaders of the Indian rebellion of 1857.

IMAGE: Manohar Parrikar participates in Rewari, Haryana. Photograph: @manoharparrikar/Twitter
In a fresh rhetoric, Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has asked Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif to send troops to Kashmir to obey the pending order of Pakistans founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Addressing a rally held under the banner of Defence Council of Pakistan in Karachi on Sunday, Saeed claimed, Kashmiris had announced before the partition that it wanted to remain with Pakistan. But after partition India forcibly sent army to Jammu and Kashmir.

On this Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered commander-in-chief to respond by sending troops but he refused (to obey his orders). Now, I ask Gen Raheel Sharif to send troops in (Jammu and) Kashmir as Quaid-e-Azams order is pending, Saeed said.

He said that he is not asking for a war with India but they (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Raheel) must form a strategy with regard to Kashmir issue.

Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba who carries a $10-million (Rs 67 crores) bounty on his head, asked Prime Minister Sharif to break his silence and respond to Modis strong statements on Kashmir and Balochistan.

Pakistan has become a war zone and innocent Kashmiris are being killed while Modi is talking of separating Balochistan. Why our prime minister is silent and reluctant to respond to Modi in the same manner, he asked.
IMAGE: In an earlier photograph, the protestors, mostly women, in Idinthakarai at the height of the protests. Photograph: A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com

Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar visits Idinthakarai, the epicentre of the protests against the Koodangulam Nuclear Power Plant, a day after it was dedicated to the nation.

Idinthakarai, in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, literally means demolished shore and it suits the mood of the village on Thursday, August 11, a day after the Koodangulam Nuclear Plant's Unit 1 was dedicated to the nation.

A pandal, just outside the local church, that once had thousands of protesters flocking there and shouting slogans, is strangely silent.

There are three people in the pandal. One of them, Leela, is writing on a board. She writes '1822' -- the number of days of the struggle against the nuclear plant.

In 40 days it will be five years since they took on the might of the State.

The Idinthakarai agitation succeeded in putting a spoke into the nuclear plant's plans, but the agitation lost steam once Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa returned to power.

In Opposition, Jayalalithaa was said to have supported the agitation. In office, the chief minister turned against the agitation. Many protestors had innumerable cases filed against them. Most of their time was spent attending the Valliyoor court.

"How many days are people going to leave work and come here?" asks Leon, an activist present at the pandal. "They can't afford to do that. What did we get out of losing money by not going fishing? Nothing! So men have stopped coming to the pandal."

"They have given up hope of ever stopping the nuclear plant," Leon adds.

"We still come here in the afternoon," says Celine, another activist present. "The men have stopped coming, but we are hopeful this plant will shut down."

Cases were filed against most of the villagers, says Leon, but adds that the state government is not following up on the cases. The villagers know if the anti-nuclear agitation ever recommences with its old fervour, the government would probably revive the cases.

"The villagers of Koodangulam joined our agitation in the beginning," says Leela. "Now only one old man comes once a week to enquire what is going on. They too have lost interest."

"In the future," says another activist, "there are going to be six reactors here. Any one of them could explode. We will be vaporised, you won't even find our bodies."

"The agitation lost steam once S P Udaykumar, who led the agitation, left," says a shopkeeper in the area. "There is no agitation now, just a board and a resting place for the old women in the village."

"He did a lot for us," says Leela, speaking of Udaykumar, "and we are thankful, but we don't understand why he contested elections."

"When he was here," Leela adds, "he used to say politicians belong in the gutter. We are very disappointed with him."

The local church and its priest Father F Jaikumar are said to have supported the agitation. Several cases including one for sedition were filed against Father Jaikumar, who has been transferred from the area. The new priest has apparently been told to stay away from the agitation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

At least three terrorists were killed in an armed clash in Irans western Kermanshah province, Brigadier General Manouchehr Amanollahi, the provinces police commander, said.

A terror team affiliated with Takfiri groups was dismantled in an armed clash in one of the districts of Kermanshah city, Amanollahi said, Fars news agency reported Aug. 16.

Iranian officials refer to the extremist Sunni armed groups, in particular in Syria and Iraq, as Takfiri.

Security forces seized different types of explosive devices and weapons, including explosive belts, from the terrorists, he said.

IRNA news agency quoted Asadollah Razani, governor general of Kermanshah province, as saying that the terrorist team affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, which had entered Iran through the border to carry out terrorist operations in central Iranian cities, perished in two days (August 15 -16).
In a shocking case, a 42-year-old doctor from Satara district of Maharashtra, who was arrested last week in connection with the murder of an anganwadi worker, has confessed to killing five more people including four women between 2003 and 2016, and burying them in his farmhouse, police claimed on Tuesday.

Dr Santosh Pol from Wai spilled the beans on the multiple murders during interrogation in the case of 47-year-old anganwadi worker Mangala Jedhes death, following which police exhumed four bodies, apart from Jedhes, from his farmhouse last night, Sandip Patil, Superintendent of Police, Satara said.

Pol, dubbed as Dr Death, is in police custody till August 19 after his arrest on August 11 for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Jedhe, president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh, on June 16.

On the motive behind the murder of five women and a man, Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.

According to police, Pol and his aide Jyoti Mandre, a nurse who allegedly has an illicit relation with the accused, had kidnapped Jedhe and killed her by administering a lethal overdose of a medicine and buried her near Pols farm house.

During investigations in the missing complaint about Jedhe, police found that before her disappearance she was in touch with Pol and had threatened to expose his criminal activities.

Subsequently, as the investigation progressed, Mandre confessed to killing Jedhe and burying her near Pols farmhouse.

We then laid a trap and arrested Pol (on August 11), who was absconding after the murder, Patil said.

Later, Pol showed us the place, where he had buried Jedhe, he said.

Pol then confessed to have killed five more people --four women and a man-- besides Jedhe between 2003 and 2016, Patil said.

Apart from Jedhe, the other missing people, who were allegedly murdered by Pol, were Salma Shaikh, Jagabai Pol, Surekha Chikane, Vanita Gaikwad and Nathmal Bhandari, the SP said.

We have managed to exhume four bodies except of Gaikwad who was killed and thrown into a water reservoir in the vicinity in 2008, said Patil.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killers medical degree too.
The suspect in custody for brutally killing a Bangladeshi-origin imam and his associate was on Tuesday identified as a 35-year-old Hispanic man and charged with intentionally carrying out the double murders near a New York mosque that has shocked the Muslim community.

Oscar Morel from Brooklyn was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon by New York police, which did not give any motive for the Saturday killing in the borough of Queens.

The charges came hours after hundreds of mourners attended the funeral service for the 55-year-old mosque leader Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, who was respected locally, and his 65-year-old associate Thara Uddin.

The duo, who were walking home dressed in Islamic attire after afternoon Zuhr prayers at Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the OzonePark neighbourhood, were approached from behind by a male with medium complexion wearing a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them multiple times in the head from point-blank range.

Video of the horrific execution-style killing had also shown the brazen crime to be a planned murder following which the killer fled.

Morel was originally arrested Sunday night on charges related to a hit-and-run accident, some five kilometres from the spot of the murders, and the assault of a police officer, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters.

The murder charges were added later after police recovered a revolver and clothing from his house that matched what the shooter wore in a video of the attack, reports said.

We believe, because of the evidence weve acquired thus far, that we strongly believe this is the individual, Boyce said.

Police said witnesses saw his black Chevy TrailBlazer flee the scene of the shooting.

Muslim leaders chanted We want justice and sought a stepped up security including installation of CCTV cameras outside mosques in the area following the incident, that has sent a shockwave among the Bangladeshi community in the neighbourhood and prompted concerns over growing Islamophobia.

The leaders slammed xenophobic statements made against the community in speeches by politicians and candidates seeking the highest office in the land, in a clear reference to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, among those who paid respects to the slain duo, promised deployment of more police personnel to protect mosques and the Muslim community as he underlined the entire city stood shoulder-to-shoulder with those in mourning.

Authorities had earlier said hate crime was being probed as a possible motive -- as demanded by Muslim elders, who have rejected a report that said the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics.

The New York chapter of Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organisation Council on American-Islamic Relations had offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest or conviction in the incident.

Image: Community members take part in a protest to demand stop hate crime during the funeral service of Imam Maulama Akonjee, and Thara Uddin in the Queens borough of New York City. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Amnesty Internationals India chapter on Tuesday said none of its employee had shouted any anti-India slogan at an event on Kashmir in Bengaluru, allegations based on which sedition charges were slapped against the human rights body.

IMAGE: Amnesty India had a discussion on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir on Saturday. Photograph: @amnesty/Twitter

Amnesty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad representative against it were without substance and that only discussion at the event on Saturday was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir.

Local police had slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India on Monday following allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at the event, organised by it, during a discussion on Kashmir issue.

No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point, the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan.

To charges that the event indirectly supported terrorists, Amnesty said the only discussion that had taken place was about allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir.

These are issues that have regularly been discussed in the media. They have been written about at length by members of Parliament, politicians, judges and civil society, it said.

The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, published in July 2015, it said.

Amnesty said the report was based on in-depth research in Jammu and Kashmir, including interviews with family members of victims, RTI applications, examination of police and court records, and interviews with civil society groups, lawyers, and government officials.

The families of three Kashmiri victims that were interviewed for the report were invited to share their stories at the event, said Amnesty.

About allegations that some people at the event tried to assault ABVP activists, it said, No Amnesty International India employee was involved in any form of assault.

Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for Azaadi (freedom). Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.

However, Amnesty International India considers that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions. Amnesty International India had invited the Bengaluru police to be present at the event in the interest of the security of the invited families and other attendees, the statement said.

About allegations that Sindhujaa Iyengar, an Amnesty employee, and two others raised anti-national slogans, it said Iyengar was not present on stage at any point during the event.

Amnesty said footage of the event has been shared with the police.

The rights body said Amnesty has worked extensively on human rights violations in Pakistan, including the enforced disappearances and unlawful killings of political activists in Balochistan, violations by security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and violence against journalists by groups including the Inter-Services Intelligence.

IMAGE: ABVP protest against Amnesty India over chanting alleged anti-India slogans. Photograph: ANI/Twitter

Meanwhile, ABVP activists staged a huge protest, demanding arrest of those who allegedly raised slogans against India and the Army at an event on Kashmir held by it.

The Karnataka government said the police were examining video and CCTV clippings to identify the culprits.

As ABVP activists held a protest in front of Raj Bhavan and nearby, police struggled to control the agitated students and tried to baton chase them away.

The students demanded action against Amnesty International and speedy arrest of those who had allegedly raised pro-freedom and anti-army slogans at the event on Saturday.

The police have been slow in bringing to book the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised slogans. We demand that the police expedite the investigation and arrest the culprits as soon as possible, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pratap Simha said.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said police were examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised independence slogans.

Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. Police are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised independence slogans at the event, he told reporters.

Asked whether Amnesty International India Executive Director Aakar Patel is likely to be arrested, Parameshwara said, Not to my knowledge. Not at the moment.
Heres a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.

A woman having look of a rocket launchet at the Know Your Army fair in Jaipur. Photograph: PTI

A policeman rides through a wall of fluorescent tubes during India's Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters

Border Security Force soldier Hardeep Singh and a Pakistani Rangers soldier Ali stand guard at border gates between India and Pakistan on the occasion of India's Independence Day at the Attari-Wagah border. Photograph: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with school children after addressing the nation on the occasion of the 70th Independence Day. Photograph: PTI

A boy carries the Tricolour during an Independence Day function in Coimbatore. Photograph: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh during At Home on 70th Independence Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Photograph: Subhav Shukla/PTI

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi distrutes sweets among children on the occasion of Independence Day. Photograph: PTI

Policemen take position behind a jeep near the site of a gunfight between security forces and suspected militants in Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters

The Rashtrapati Bhavan is lit as the country celebrates its 70th Independence Day in New Delhi. Photograph: Shirish Shete/PTI

Girls born on Independence day in Surat. Photograph: PTI
The couple said the village has boycotted them and it is not possible for them to live a secluded life. M I Khan reports from Patna.

Days after a 22-year-old Bihar man married his 42-year-old mother-in-law, he has filed for a divorce after realising that the society was not ready to accept the relation.

Suraj Mehta of Bihars Puraini village in Madhepura district married his mother-in-law Asha Devi in June before a local court in Koshi region. However, the couple has filed for a divorce in front of the same notary.

Only after I married my mother-in-law and we started living as husband-wife, I realised that the society is not ready to accept us. We were socially isolated and virtually boycotted by family, relatives and caste members. This compelled both of us to take a decision for a divorce, Mehta said.

He said it was difficult to survive alone in society in a village.

It is not a city. Most of the villagers, including family members, neighbours, friends and others, repeatedly pointed that we had committed a sin, not a simple mistake. The villagers were adamant not to socially recognise our relationship as husband and wife, he said.

Mehta said initially, local village panchayat has approved their marriage, but later they disapproved it and refused to help us.

Mohan Prasad, one of the villagers, said that due to social pressure, both Mehta and his mother-in-law-turned-wife have been living a secluded life in their thatched house.

No one had visited them after they married and they have also not allowed anyone to visit, he said.

Mehtas father Parmanand declared in a village meeting that he has disowned him.

According to villagers, Asha Devi, a resident of Maruaahi village, visited her daughter Lalita Kumaris house last year to help her look after ailing Mehta. During her stay, she developed a physical relationship with him. They both fell in love and decided to marry.

Mehta had married Lalita in 2013 and she delivered a child in 2014.

Now, Mehta is keen to revive his relationship with Lalita and ready to treat Asha like his mother-in-law again. At present, Lalita is staying with her father.

Image used for representation only.
The Modi PMO is like none other.

It is staffed by people who are so low profile that the only dominant personality is the Prime Minister's, reports Aditi Phadnis.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a round of the PMO soon after assuming office. On extreme left, in the pink shirt, is Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the prime minister.

"Man! What a cat!" exclaimed a 30-something investment banker, unwittingly slipping back into college lingo, such was his excitement after a meeting with T V Somanathan (Tamil Nadu IAS, 1987), joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office handling finance and capital markets.

Amid moves made after the 2016-2017 Budget that suggested a redefinition of long-term capital gains, with potentially profound tax effects on the earnings of foreign institutional investors, managers have been making a beeline to the finance ministry, PMO, anybody who will listen, to impress upon the government what a bad idea this is.

In Somanathan, they have found a worthy sparring partner. "He listens to you quietly and then catches you out with a gentle query that comprehensively demolishes your whole argument," said the banker. He added, sighing: "He really knows."

This is hardly surprising. With a doctorate in economics (commodity futures, to be exact), a book on derivatives and a stint in the World Bank, Somanathan was head-hunted by the Narendra Modi government that ignored his seemingly unsuitable background: He was PS to M Karunanidhi when the latter was chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

The only corruption case against Jayalalithaa that reached successful prosecution was based on an investigation by Somanathan.

Little wonder then, that when she became CM, he was moved as commissioner (disciplinary proceedings) for the Tirunelveli region. He didn't have a lot to do. He went to the World Bank and, later, returned to join PMO.

He is low key but knows everything there is to know about the tax provisions of the Mauritius, Singapore and other tax treaties, and will catch you out instantly if you haven't done your homework.

Somanathan is among six joint secretaries in the Modi PMO, who are the equivalent of worker bees. What they all have in common is zero desire to call attention to themselves, a high degree of competence and administrative mastery over the subjects they have been allotted.

And, by now, a fairly good understanding of exactly what Narendra Modi wants from the government.

Arvind Sharma, (Gujarat, 1988) along with Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra, handles infrastructure issues like roads and highways, power and railways. He has unofficial, informal charge of another politically important department -- the PM's foreign trips.

While the logistics and organisational outreach is handled by Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Ram Madhav, along with Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, it is Sharma who liaises on the PMO's behalf.

He understands the PM's mind extremely well and seldom makes promises. Which frequently annoys those he is dealing with, until they realise the wisdom of his strategy!

His colleagues describe him as a quintessentially decent human being who does not stray from the territory allotted to him, even if invited to.

Tarun Bajaj (Haryana, 1988) handles human resource development and the home ministry. His input is said to have been a factor in the decision to replace Smriti Irani with Prakash Javadekar. Bajaj is full of ideas and has benefited from his tenure in the department of economic affairs, where he handled pensions and insurance.

Debashree Mukherjee (AGMUT, 1991) handles the ministries of rural development, land and urban development. From the PMO's point of view, these are all key ones, given the emphasis on the Smart Cities project and the overall urbanising thrust of the government.

Anurag Jain (Madhya Pradesh, 1989) is considered a bright spark, somewhat dimmed because of the government's handling of the one rank, one pension issue. He has the charge of liaising with the ministry of defence, which, with the ministry of finance, must share the charge of politically overpromoting and then underselling OROP.

Vinay Mohan Kwatra (IFS, 1988) is the foreign service mandarin in the PMO. He caught the eye of the establishment when Modi was to leave for the BRICS summit in Brazil in 2014. He needed to have officers fluent in Hindi and lore has it Kwatra (whose Hindi is fluent, along with his French and Russian) helped quickly find officials who could help with interpretation.

Kwatra has served in Geneva (liaising with UN organisations such as ILO), the consulate in Durban, China (deputy chief of mission, handling trade and commerce) Russia (in the embassy's economic and political wing), in MEA, handling India's development programme in Afghanistan, and as head of economic, trade and finance issues at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Bhaskar Khulbe (West Bengal, 1983), recently promoted as secretary, is known as Mr ACC (Appointments Committee of the Cabinet). He has charge of the sensitive judiciary department and everything to do with it, and is said to be the PM's speech writer. Said to be because no one, not even in the PMO, knows who actually writes the PM's speeches.

This is considered one of the most important jobs in PMO, not the least because of the number of speeches this PM delivers (as opposed to the previous one). And, also because it is the PMO that prepares drafts of the speeches read out by the President of India and the PM on Independence Day.

As additional principal secretary, P K Mishra (retired, Gujarat, 1972) knows everything there is to know in government. Earlier, he was the one who used to handle ACC matters but now shares these with Khulbe. All postings, transfers, and appointments are seen by him before they go to the PM.

"He knows the PM's mind better than the PM himself," said a government servant. After 16 years of working with Narendra Modi and no personal agenda, Mishra and Modi share a rapport that cannot be replicated. His greatest quality is his frankness -- and his capacity to divine what the PM is thinking.

Principal Secretary to the PM, Nripendra Misra (retired, UP, 1967) was also head-hunted by this PMO and had no previous experience of working with Modi. However, he has reached a degree of comfort in two years that has resulted in his elevation as policy czar.

Almost always on policy matters, Nripendra Misra's word is final -- although some aberrations have been reported.

In the debate last year on whether the government should breach its fiscal deficit target, for instance, he's said to have weighed in with Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan that the government should not breach the target, amid an assertion by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian that spending would create new economic and commercial impetus and a breach of fiscal deficit was a small price to pay.

But, it was P K Mishra's final word, not Nripendra Misra's, that decided matters -- that the fisc should not be breached for the international signals it would send.

Poles of power outside the PMO

NITI AAYOG

Few realise how powerful this body is -- because it interacts with chief ministers directly, without aides, and this is a crucial factor in the economic thinking in the government.

Principal Advisor Rattan Wattal's terms of appointment direct him to report to the chairman (the prime minister) directly. Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant, on the other hand, reports to Vice Chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Ajit Doval, former spook, had confided in friends early on that having installed Narendra Modi in office, it was time for him to move on.

When Modi heard these stories, he was called and the PM said: 'Itni door saath aakar ab saath chhod denge? (So long together and now you'll leave?)' Nobody gets to be in the room when Doval and the PM are together.

Some turbulence has been reported in the relationship between Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and the NSA, but this is far cry from the days when differences between Special Advisor M K Narayanan and the NSA, J N Dixit, would descend into slanging matches in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's presence.
Details added (first version posted on 12:24)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

Trend:

Russia has said its Tu-22M3 and Su-34 bombers are deployed in Iran and from there the aircraft are hitting the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria.

The Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters, taking off from Irans Hamadan Airbase, have hit the positions of the IS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib, RIA Novosti reported citing a Russian Defense Ministry message Aug. 16.

Reportedly, the Russian war planes struck five large weapons, ammunition, fuel and lubricants depots and training camps of the militants near Syrias Serakab, Al-Bab, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor.

Three control bases of the terrorists have also been destroyed near the Jafra and Deir ez-Zor towns.

After the sorties, the bombers returned to the base in Iran.

Earlier, media outlets reported about the deployment of Russian bombers in Iran. This will allow Russian war planes to reduce the time of flight to targets in Syria by 60 percent, according to the reports.
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 16

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

Irans Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has said there are some errors in the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal) from the opposite side.

The legal procedures in the JCPOA are adopted according to the discernment of the JCPOA Implementation Monitoring Council. We are pursuing the entire errors within the Joint Committee, Araqchi said, ICANA news agency reported Aug. 16.

The JCPOA Implementation Monitoring Council is a body of Iranian officials tasked with inspecting the implementation of the deal, while the Joint Committee is a body of representatives from Iran and the group 5+1 (the US, the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany).

Many of the errors have been erased. In the field of insurance, for example, almost all problems are solved as well as some problems in banking and finance, the deputy foreign minister stated.

Tehran has been criticizing the West for dragging its feet in fulfilling its part of the nuclear deal, saying the country has not received the promised sanctions relief.

The accord, which took effect in January, ended decades of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

However, months into the JCPOAs implementation, Iran complains that the promised economic benefits have yet to materialize and that it still does not have access to global financial markets.

Many international banks still shy away from financing trade deals and processing transactions for fear of the US penalties.

Tehran has warned it can restore all those aspects of its nuclear program that it has agreed to limit under the deal with the six world powers if the agreement is violated by those countries.
The Pentagon said Monday it is committed to conducting Manbij operations consistent with commitments made between the U.S. and Turkey, Anadolu reported.

"We have been clear with all elements of this operation that the aim is to defeat Daesh in Manbij and return it to the control and governance of the local population," Pentagon spokesman Adrian Rankine-Galloway told Anadolu Agency.

Galloway said the U.S. is grateful for Turkey's partnership in the fight against Daesh and the aim of the ongoing operations by the U.S.-led Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC) in Manbij is to defeat the militant group and return it to Syrian Arabs.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter congratulated Manbij residents and the SAC for the "significant milestone" in successfully liberating Manbij. Carter said he appreciated the Turkish government for its support for the operation.

"The success in Manbij city will also help reinforce the growing isolation of Raqqa and enable us to achieve the next objective of our campaign in Syria - collapsing ISIL's control over that city," he said in a statement.

Manbij is historically an Arab city and the main group fighting Daesh in the city is the SAC. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- a group Ankara does not recognize as a legitimate Syrian opposition  is fighting alongside the SAC to defeat Daesh in Manbij.

Since operations began in May to liberate Manbij, the U.S. has promised Turkey the PYD would leave the area after the city's liberation.

Manbij lies west of the Euphrates River. Turkey wants PYD to return to east of the Euphrates after Manbij's liberation as the city is Daesh's key lines of communication between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the self-declared capital of the militants.

Asked what the recent efforts were in the city's liberation from Daesh, the Pentagon said the situation was "very fluid" but U.S. partners on the ground were "closing in" of the fight.

"The final positioning of forces is under the command and control of SAC and SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces]. We won't speculate as to a timeline," Rankine-Galloway said in an email.
USA: Pentagon's revised Law of War Manual recognizes role of independent journalists

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 22 July 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, USA: Pentagon's revised Law of War Manual recognizes role of independent journalists, 22 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d21924.html [accessed 29 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.

Washington, July 22, 2016  The Pentagon no longer considers journalists operating independently of U.S. military forces as potential spies, terrorists, or saboteurs, according to U.S. military officials who have rewritten the military's Law of War Manual.

The manual's revisions  which follow Pentagon meetings with news and press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists  recognizes the role of journalists to independently report armed conflicts, and, in doing so, to arrange meetings or have contacts with different sides, including "enemy personnel."

The Pentagon released its first Department-of-Defense-wide Law of War Manual in June 2015. It included language that allowed journalists to be categorized as "unprivileged belligerents," which could have allowed military commanders to detain journalists indefinitely outside the rules of war without ever charging them.

"The new language is a seismic shift for the U.S. military," said CPJ Senior Adviser for Journalist Security Frank Smyth. "This affirmation of journalists' right to report armed conflicts freely and from all sides is especially welcome at a time when governments, militias, and insurgent forces around the world are routinely flouting the laws of war."

During the Iraq war, the U.S. detained many journalists precisely for their alleged contacts for journalistic purposes with enemy forces, according to CPJ research. Others were held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, including at least one imprisoned for six years.

"The manual was restructured to make it be more clear," said Pentagon Deputy General Counsel Chuck Allen in a conference call yesterday prior to the revised manual's release. "Journalists are civilians and are to be protected as such."

The revised Law of War Manual includes these key passages:

"In general, journalists are civilians and are protected as such under the law of war."

"Journalists play a vital role in free societies and the rule of law and in providing information about armed conflict."

"Moreover, the proactive release of accurate information to domestic and international audiences has been viewed as consistent with the objectives of U.S. military operations."

"DoD [Department of Defense] operates under the policy that open and independent reporting is the principal means of coverage of U.S. military operations."

"[E]ngaging in journalism does not constitute taking a direct part in hostilities such that a person would be deprived of protection from being made the object of attack."

"Where possible, efforts should be made to distinguish between the activities of journalists and the activities of enemy forces, so that journalists' activities (e.g., meetings or other contacts with enemy personnel for journalistic purposes) do not result in a mistaken conclusion that a journalist is part of enemy forces."

Smyth, CPJ's security adviser, said: "The Law of War Manual's original language would have risked more journalist imprisonments by putting most of the burden on the journalist to avoid behavior that could be construed as a hostile act. The revised language seems to put more of the burden on military commanders to distinguish between the journalistic and enemy activities."

The manual states that journalists or people claiming to be journalists could lose their civilian status if they were to engage in hostile acts. "First, making the point that engaging in journalism does not constitute taking a direct part in hostilities such that a person would be deprived of protection from being made the object of attack clarifies that journalism as such is not a belligerent activity," said Associate General Counsel Karl Chang.

The revised Law of War Manual also discusses the practice of journalists being embedded with U.S. military forces, and notes that journalists who are embedded with combatants are part of a unit that may be legitimately targeted by enemy forces and, if captured, may be afforded the privilege of being treated as a prisoner of war (POW). Under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, the rights of POWs include humane treatment, having their status as prisoners reported to a neutral body such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the expectation of release once hostilities end.

The Pentagon distinguishes the rights of POWs from those of "unprivileged belligerents," including spies, saboteurs, and guerrillas, who may be detained as criminal suspects, held indefinitely, and even legally executed, depending upon the laws of the country holding them.

CPJ's Journalist Security Guide includes a section on covering armed conflict and is published in nine languages.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Omani journalist jailed over article on judiciary

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 2 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Omani journalist jailed over article on judiciary, 2 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d21cc.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 2, 2016  An Omani journalist has been jailed for nearly a week under investigation of multiple charges after the daily newspaper Azamn published an article questioning the independence of the judiciary, according to his outlet and human rights groups.

Police arrested Ibrahim al-Maamari, editor-in-chief of Azamn, on July 28 under orders of the public prosecutor, the paper reported. Azamn said the arrest stemmed from the July 26 article, "Supreme bodies tie the hands of justice," which accuses unnamed officials of influencing the Chief Magistrate of the Supreme Court, Ishaq Bin Ahmed Al Bousaidi, to intervene in judicial proceedings concerning an inheritance dispute. The article, which is still available online, has garnered nearly 20,000 views. Al Bousaidi has not issued a public response to the claims.

An editor at the paper, Zaher al-Abri, told CPJ that the paper has received no official information regarding the charges al-Maamari faces or whether the prosecutor has issued an indictment. Atheer newspaper, citing an unnamed source from the prosecutor's office, reported that al-Maamari is under investigation for charges including publishing false news, undermining the prestige of the state, and disturbing public order.

"Oman likes to fashion itself as a problem-solver in the region. But by arresting journalists, it has instead become part of the problem," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Senior Research Associate Jason Stern. "The Omani government should focus on refuting articles it holds are untrue instead of arresting the journalists who wrote them."

Atheer cited the unnamed source in the prosecutor's office as saying that other suspects were under investigation but did not identify them, saying ultimate responsibility would fall upon the editor-in-chief al-Maamari.

Al-Abri also told CPJ that Azamn received an order from the Ministry of Information forbidding it from publishing further details on the case. In protest, the newspaper published a blank space on its front page yesterday.

Al-Maamari's arrest was immediately preceded by the arrest of another Omani journalist, al-Moatasem al-Bahlani, the editor-in-chief of the online magazine Al-Falq. According to news reports, al-Bahlani was arrested on July 26 and released on July 28. The reason for the arrest is unclear. Al-Falq did not respond to CPJ's requests for comment over email.

The Gulf Center for Human Rights said al-Bahlani's arrest may have been related to his active presence on social media. Al-Bahlani's Twitter profile, @aalbahlani, now reads, "The account is closed temporarily ... maybe!"

The Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a written request for comment on both arrests.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Photographer arrested while covering a protest in Libya

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 2 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Photographer arrested while covering a protest in Libya, 2 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d21de.html [accessed 29 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.

Washington, August 2, 2016  Libyan authorities should immediately charge or release photographer and cameraman Saliem Alshebl, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Alshebl, who works for the Libya satellite channel, which is allied with the National Accord government, was arrested July 29 while covering an anti-government protest at Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, according to his employer and the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

Demonstrators in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square protest what they say is French military intervention in Libya, July 22, 2016. (Reuters/Ismail Zeitouni)

The Libyan Ministry of Interior said in a statement published on its website and official Facebook group yesterday that Alshebl was in their custody and that he was in good health. The ministry said security patrols detained the journalist and that he was under investigation for unspecified criminal activities.

"If the Libyan authorities have evidence that Saliem Alshebl is guilty of any crime save documenting a protest, they should present it without delay. Otherwise, they should release him immediately," CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said. "Libya is dangerous enough for journalists without their having to worry about arbitrary arrest."

Alshebl's brother, Musab, on July 30 told the Libya channel that the Nawasi Brigade, also known as the Eighth Force, detained Alshebl the previous day and was holding him at a detention center in Tripoli's Ain Zara district, though the family had not been told what, if any, charges the journalist might face. Musab said the family learned that Alshebl was detained at Ain Zara from two other journalists who had been detained at the same protest on charges of filming without a license, then released, according to Libya channel and local news reports.

In remarks carried by the Libya channel, its director, Mohamed Najm, said that Alshebl was licensed to work, and that the channel's journalists covering the protest in Tripoli had told colleagues that armed groups were "stalking" them, and that they feared arrest.

The July 29 demonstration was called to protest the involvement of France's special forces in fighting in Libya. The U.N.-backed government banned the protest and any coverage of it, according to news reports. Police seized several TV crews' equipment and detained them briefly before releasing them with a warning not to continue filming, according to news reports and witnesses writing on social media.

Libya is a dangerous environment for journalists. On July 21, Libyan photojournalist Abdelqadir Fassouk was shot to death as he covered fighting in Sirte. He was the second Libyan journalist killed on duty in the space of a month. Freelance photojournalist Khaled al-Zintani was fatally shot on June 24 while covering fighting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Bolivian president's criminal defamation suit threatens press freedom

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 4 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Bolivian president's criminal defamation suit threatens press freedom, 4 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d21f11.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 4, 2016  Bolivian President Evo Morales should immediately drop a criminal defamation suit against a journalist that could have a chilling effect on press freedom in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Bolivian criminal court justice Rene Delgado announced yesterday that he would hear a case Morales filed against journalist Humberto Vacaflor.

Bolivian President Evo Morales attends a conference at the Vatican, April 15, 2016. (AP/Andrew Medichini)

Vacaflor told CPJ that he received notice of Morales' defamation complaint on July 27 and that he faces criminal charges in relation to comments that he made when he appeared on the July 4 episode of the TV Catolica program "Encontrados" (Found). During the interview, Vacaflor accused Morales of being connected to the murder of police officer David Andrade and his wife Graciela Alfaro in 2000, according to regional press reports. A 2002 judicial investigation found no evidence Morales, who was a legislator and head of a coca growers' union at the time of the murders, was involved in the crime.

"Rather than engaging in petty lawsuits, President Evo Morales should work with the Bolivian legislature to abolish all criminal penalties for defamation," CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch said from Washington. "The highest elected official in a country should not use antiquated criminal laws to punish anyone for speech. Presidents should expect and have a high tolerance for criticism and public accusations."

Vacaflor told CPJ by telephone that he publishes on weekly news site Siglo 21 and that he writes columns that are carried by at least six Bolivian newspapers, including El Deber and El Diario. This year, Vacaflor received a press freedom prize from Bolivia's National Press Association.

The judge in the case told journalists that Vacaflor did not appear at a scheduled court hearing yesterday. The journalist now has 10 days to present exculpatory evidence before the court will set a trial date, according to a report by Agencia EFE.

Vacaflor told CPJ that he did not appear at the hearing because he was afraid he would be detained, and because he hoped the president might drop the case in response to negative coverage from the news media.

Vacaflor told CPJ that he wants to face trial before a special jury designated to handle cases involving the press. Under Bolivia's 1925 press law, journalists accused of libel or slander may, in some cases, face trial before a body of jurors, selected by the mayor, instead of facing trial in a criminal court. While the press jury can levy fines, it is generally oriented towards coming to agreements between the parties, the journalist told CPJ. He added that his desire to appear before the press jury was another reason why he did not attend the hearing in criminal court.

The lawyer identified in press reports as Morales's representative in this case, Alex Monasterios Orihuela, did not respond to CPJ's phone calls or attempts to reach him via social media today. No one at the Ministry of the Presidency answered CPJ's phone calls, and an email sent to the ministry in the morning was not answered by late afternoon, local time.

CPJ has closely followed the state of criminal defamation laws in the Americas for over a decade. In 2000, CPJ began an intense campaign to eliminate these laws in the region. These efforts were widely successful and helped shape an emerging international consensus, including within the Inter-American system, that criminal defamation violates international freedom of expression standards.

CPJ research has nonetheless shown that the use of criminal defamation laws continues to have chilling effect on the press in Latin America. In 2012, Bolivian journalist Rogelio Pelaez was sentenced to 30 months in prison on defamation charges springing from a story he wrote alleging government corruption.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This text has been corrected in the seventh paragraph to reflect that it is not the defendant who chooses where a defamation case is heard.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Russia is sincerely seeking to restore full-fledged relations with Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Aug. 16, RIA Novosti reported.

We are sincerely seeking to restore full-fledged relations with friendly Turkey, a country with which unique cooperation and interaction relations have developed over the past years, Putin said at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Sochi, Russia.

The last visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia confirmed our mutual intention for a full-fledged work regarding not only restoration, but also development of our bilateral relations, said the Russian president.

He also thanked Nazarbayev for his mediation in repairing the relations between Moscow and Ankara.
Burundi journalist Jean Bigirimana missing for two weeks

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 5 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Burundi journalist Jean Bigirimana missing for two weeks, 5 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d22015.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 5, 2016  The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the welfare of Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana. The journalist's news outlet says he has not been seen or heard from since July 22.

Jean Bigirimana (Iwacu)

Bigirimana, a reporter with the independent weekly newspaper Iwacu, formerly with the pro-government radio station Rema FM, left his home in the capital Bujumbura around lunch time on July 22, after receiving a phone call from a source in the country's national intelligence service, Iwacu reported. He has not been seen or heard from since.

The Associated Press, citing Bigirimana's wife, reported that the journalist was arrested by the National Intelligence Service and that his family fears he is dead. Godeberthe Hakizimana told The Associated Press that her husband left home for Bugaramana in the central province of Muramvya. He did not return despite saying that he would be back for dinner, Iwacu reported.

CPJ was unable to independently confirm that the journalist was arrested or that his life is in danger. However, Human Rights Watch has documented a pattern of abductions, arrests, torture, and killings of civil society activists, journalists, and others by government forces, armed opposition groups, and unknown assailants since April 2015, when protests broke out in response to President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term. CPJ is aware of at least 100 journalists who have fled Burundi since the mass protests of April 2015 and the ensuing violence.

"Fourteen days after he went missing, Jean Bigirimana's family and colleagues are still in the dark about his whereabouts and condition," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator. "We call on the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza to disclose any information it has on the journalist's status, and if it has none, to immediately launch a thorough and credible investigation into his disappearance."

Bigirimana's disappearance comes a few weeks after his return from Rwanda, where he had attended a journalism training course, the AP reported.

Iwacu reported on its website that it had received a call from a person claiming to be a "friend of the journalist" who reported that Bigirimana was detained by intelligence agents. Iwacu said that Bigirimana was accused of having shuttled between Burundi and neighboring Rwanda and of having written an article on the life of exiled Burundian journalists living in that country. Burundi and Rwanda are in the throes of a diplomatic spat.

CPJ's calls and text messages to the journalist's wife went unanswered. Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye did not return CPJ's phone calls seeking comment. CPJ's phone calls to Minister of Information Nestor Bankumukunzi went unanswered. The president of the National Council of Communication, Karenga Ramadhan, a former minister of information, told CPJ via WhatsApp on July 29 that his deputy would respond to an inquiry, but CPJ received no further communication or responses to further messages.

Iwacu's director, Antoine Kaburahe, who lives in exile in Belgium, told CPJ yesterday that that Jean-Baptiste Baribonekeza, president of Burundi's National Human Rights Commission, had visited the area where Iwacu's sources allege that Bigirimana was abducted and detained by intelligence agents. Baribonekeza returned to the capital on August 3 but cancelled a scheduled press conference about Bigirimana, saying he was still investigating the matter, "He called me to say the commission is still verifying information," Kaburahe said.

Baribonekeza did not respond to CPJ's phone calls seeking information.

Kaburahe told the CPJ he was disheartened after a series of tweets by presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe. Nyamitwe today tweeted that the government is investigating Bigirimana's disappearance. Yesterday, he suggested that the opposition might be behind Bigirimana's disappearance, tweeting in French, "I'm starting to fear the worst. When you look closely, it's the same modus operandi of the #Sindumuja for the past for months in #Burundi," and then "#Sindumuja tactics: Take a person, accuse police of having arrested them, kill them and then throw their body in the street. #Burundi."

"It's a kind of sign and it's very discouraging," Kaburahe said. CPJ's attempts to reach Nyamitwe on his mobile phone were not successful.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Oman detains second journalist from Azamn newspaper

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 5 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Oman detains second journalist from Azamn newspaper, 5 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d22115.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 5, 2016  Omani authorities this week arrested a second journalist from the Azamn newspaper. Zaher al-Abri, an editor, was detained without formal explanation in Muscat on August 3, according to his colleague and a local human rights group. He was arrested the day after speaking with CPJ about the case of Ibrahim al-Maamari, the paper's editor-in-chief who has been in custody since July 28.

Al-Abri was arrested after being summoned for questioning by the Special Division of the Omani police, according to an August 3 Facebook post by Yousif al-Haj, who also works for Azamn, and a statement published today by the independent organization, Monitor of Human Rights in Oman. The rights group added that before his and al-Maamari's arrests, Azamn had published a critical article on the Omani judiciary. Both al-Abri and the paper had also been vocal about al-Maamari's arrest.

"Oman authorities should immediately release Ibrahim al-Maamari and Zaher al-Abri," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Senior Research Associate Jason Stern. "Oman can hardly continue to claim the role of regional peace mediator if it is rounding up its own journalists and throwing them in jail."

The day before he was summoned, al-Abri had spoken with CPJ about al-Maamari's case. Police arrested the editor-in-chief on July 28 under orders of the public prosecutor, the paper reported. Al-Abri told CPJ at the time that the paper had received no official information about the charges al-Maamari faces or whether an indictment has been issued. Atheer newspaper, citing an unnamed source from the prosecutor's office, reported that al-Maamari was under investigation for charges including publishing false news, undermining the prestige of the state, and disturbing public order.

Atheer cited the unnamed source in the prosecutor's office as saying that other suspects were under investigation on the same charges but did not identify them, saying ultimate responsibility would fall on the editor-in-chief, al-Maamari.

Al-Abri also told CPJ that Azamn received an order from the Ministry of Information forbidding it from publishing further details on the case. In protest, the newspaper has published a blank space on its front page every day this month.

Azamn reported that the arrest of al-Maamari stemmed from a July 26 article, "Supreme bodies tie the hands of justice," which accused unnamed officials of influencing the Chief Magistrate of the Supreme Court, Ishaq Bin Ahmed Al Bousaidi, to intervene in judicial proceedings concerning an inheritance dispute. Al Bousaidi has not issued a public response to the claims.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to CPJ's email requesting comment on August 2 and 3. Oman's public prosecutor did not respond to CPJ's calls and emailed request for comment on August 3. Its embassy in Washington, D.C. had no one available for comment via telephone on August 3 and CPJ was told to send questions via email. CPJ did not receive a response to the email it sent that day.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
At least two journalists killed in Pakistan blast

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 8 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, At least two journalists killed in Pakistan blast, 8 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d2234f.html [accessed 29 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.

Washington, August 8, 2016  At least two journalists were among at least 70 people killed in a massive bomb blast at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, today, according to press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack.

Civil society activists in Peshawar pay tribute to the victims of a bomb attack on mourners at a hospital in Quetta, August 8, 2016. At least two journalists were killed in the blast. (AP/Mohammad Sajjad)

Mehmood Khan, a cameraman for DawnNews, and Aaj TV cameraman Shehzad Ahmed were at Quetta Civil Hospital reporting on a gathering of mourners grieving the murder of Bilal Kasi, president of the Baluchistan Bar Association, the reports said. Ahmed died at the scene of the blast, according to the Pakistani advocacy group Freedom Network, which promotes freedom of expression. Khan died in hospital soon after the blast, Dawn reported on its website. A reporter for the media company Dunya News known only by his given name, Faridullah, was also injured in the blast, his employer reported.

Responsibility for both attacks was claimed by the militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which was added to the U.S. State Department's list of global terrorist groups last week. Militants in Pakistan have repeatedly staged secondary attacks to target mourners following a first attack, or people rushing to the scene. Such secondary attacks put journalists, who often cover the funerals and the aftermath of bombings, at special risk.

"This deadly attack underlines the extreme dangers journalists face working in Pakistan," said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler. "The deaths of Shehzad Ahmed and Mehmood Khan testify to the bravery and dedication of Pakistan's press corp."

Baluchistan has long been mired in conflict involving separatist groups as well as militant offshoots of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Jamaat-e-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, has been blamed for attacks targeting civilians, religious minorities, military personnel, and law enforcement. It claimed responsibility for the Easter attack this year on Gulshan-e-Ikbal Park in Lahore, which killed 75 people, mostly children. The U.S. State Department says the group killed two Pakistani employees of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar in March 2016.

Today's deaths bring to at least 60 the number of journalists killed in Pakistan since 1992, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Proposed law on contempt of court threatens press freedom in Singapore

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 5 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Proposed law on contempt of court threatens press freedom in Singapore, 5 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d2236.html [accessed 29 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.

Bangkok, August 5, 2016  Singaporean lawmakers should scrap proposed legislation on what constitutes contempt of court in news reporting and public commentary, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The draft law's penalties for violations, including possible prison terms for criticizing the judiciary, threaten to entrench more self-censorship in Singapore's constrained media environment.

Demonstrators protesting the trial of blogger Amos Yee hold pictures of the late Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore, on July 5, 2015. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

The Administration of Justice (Protection) Bill would consolidate existing laws and judicial precedent into a statute on what may be published about court proceedings, judges, and the justice system, and, according to news reports, would allow the attorney general, rather than judges, to accuse writers of contempt, opening the door to the government's use of the law to pursue critics,.

The draft legislation, which would also apply to material published on social media, contains broad definitions as to what constitutes contempt of court, and sets maximum penalties for infractions that would be far above what judges have ordered.

The proposed law passed its first reading in parliament on July 12. Its second reading is scheduled for August 15. A third and final reading could immediately follow if legislators do not propose amendments or object to the bill's content, reports said.

"Singapore needs to soften, not stiffen, laws that bar critical commentary about its judicial system," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Singaporean legislators should reject the proposed bill and prioritize instead passing laws that protect journalists and bloggers from frivolous, politically motivated lawsuits."

Law Minister K. Shanmugam told reporters on July 11 that the draft law does not expand on the current legal definition of contempt of court, but represents a "crystallization of the law." The minister also said that the legislation is designed to protect citizens' right to a fair trial and ensure that court orders are obeyed. He noted that "fair" and "accurate" reporting made in "good faith" on court proceedings will not be penalized under the proposed law.

Vague language in the draft law could give the attorney general, who is appointed by the president and serves as the government's lead prosecutor, wide discretion in determining what constitutes "fair" reporting made in "good faith." Section 2, Part 3 of the law criminalizes publication of material that "prejudges an issue in a court proceeding that is pending and such prejudgment prejudices, interferes with or poses a real risk of prejudice to or interference with any court proceeding that is pending," without stating how prejudice is defined.

Singaporean advocacy groups quoted in press reports say these and other broad terms from the draft legislation could encourage greater self-censorship. The Community Action Network, a local civil society group, said at a recent seminar that the law's punitive provisions appear to specifically target "socio-political websites, activists, and those with a significant following on social media," according to news accounts.

The draft legislation would also allow the attorney general to request a maximum penalty of three years in prison and fines of up to $100,000 Singapore dollars (US $74,500) for violations involving High Court or Court of Appeal cases. Prevailing laws for contempt of court do not define maximum penalties, and recent contempt of court sentences against writers have been much lower.

Singapore has repeatedly used contempt of court charges to silence critical commentary of its judicial system. In 2015, Singaporean blogger Alex Au Waipang was convicted of contempt of court and fined 8,000 Singapore dollars for suggesting in two blog posts that a chief justice had shown partiality in two constitutional challenges to a law criminalizing gay sex. The Court of Appeal dismissed his challenge to the ruling, with a three judge panel ruling later that year that his article posed a "real risk" of undermining public confidence in the judiciary and that the administered fine was "wholly appropriate," reports said.

British author and former journalist Alan Shadrake was sentenced in 2010 to six weeks in prison, with another two weeks added because he could not pay a fine of 20,000 Singapore dollars, for "scandalizing" Singapore's court system in his book Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock, which criticized the country's use of capital punishment.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The photo caption has been corrected to reflect that Lee Kuan Yew, who died in 2015, was the founder of modern Singapore. The text has been modified in the final paragraph to correct the jail sentence given to Alan Shadrake.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines draft law would allow prison for defamation online

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 8 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, St. Vincent and the Grenadines draft law would allow prison for defamation online, 8 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d22415.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 8, 2016  Lawmakers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines should amend or scrap a draft cybercrime law that would allow for prison sentences of up to two years for defamation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Legislators are expected to consider the draft on Thursday, an opposition politician told CPJ.

Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, pictured on a 2009 visit to Trinidad, has defended criminal defamation laws as preserving "peace and tranquility." (AP/Andres Leighton)

The most recent draft of the law provides for prison sentences of up to two years for "a person who uses a computer system to unlawfully publish any defamatory matter concerning another person, whether negligently or with intent to defame that other person," Anesia Baptiste, an opposition politician who participated in the committee that reviewed the bill, told CPJ. The Penal Code of St. Vincent and the Grenadines already includes penalties of up to two years in prison for defamation, which applies to print, writing, and broadcast media.

"We urge legislators in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to reject the draft law on cybercrime in its current form and to immediately strike existing criminal defamation laws from the Penal Code," said Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator for the Americas. "Criminal libel laws violate international standards for free expression and could have a chilling effect on the free flow of information."

Baptiste said she feared the draft law could revive criminal defamation prosecutions in the Caribbean country. "Criminal defamation laws remain in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but they have fallen into disuse," she told CPJ. 'We worry that the cybercrime bill could revive them."

The bill also defines "cyber-harassment" as using a computer system to send another person any "information, statement, or image that is obscene, constitutes a threat, or is menacing in nature," and causes another person to feel intimidated or harassed. It can be punished by up to a year in prison. A similar provision on "cyberbullying" establishes a punishment of five years in prison for the repeated distribution of material that causes another person to feel intimidated or distressed and that harms their health or reputation.

Baptiste said she is worried that broad and vague language in these provisions could threaten freedom of expression.

Baptiste is the leader of the Democratic Republican Party, which is not represented in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines's legislature. She was invited to sit on the committee along with select other public officials and members of civil society, in part to fill the gap created by opposition legislators' boycott of legislative sessions since the hotly contested general elections of December 2015.

Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the bill went through an extended period of drafting and was still under review. Responding on July 29 to a letter by Reporters Without Borders, Gonsalves argued in favor of the provisions for criminal defamation, saying that the laws ease "peace, tranquility, and nonviolent responses by victims of defamation."

A representative at the prime minister's office told CPJ that the prime minister was unavailable for an interview on August 5.

CPJ has campaigned to eliminate criminal defamation laws in Latin America and the Caribbean for over a decade. These efforts have helped shape an emerging international consensus, including within the Inter-American system, that criminal defamation violates international freedom of expression standards.

For a comparative study of criminal defamation laws in the Americas, see CPJ's campaign, Critics Are Not Criminals.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Iranian journalist Issa Saharkhiz sentenced to three years in jail

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 10 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Iranian journalist Issa Saharkhiz sentenced to three years in jail, 10 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d226c.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 10, 2016  A revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced the prominent Iranian journalist Issa Saharkhiz to three years in jail on August 8 for "insulting the Supreme Leader" and "propagating against the state," according to his lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, and news reports.

Saharkhiz has 20 days to appeal, Tabatabaei told The Associated Press. The journalist, who contributed to the opposition news website Rooz Online, was sentenced to two years in prison on the insult charge, and one year for the propaganda charge, reports said. Saharkhiz, who has been in custody since November, faces further charges of insulting the head of the judiciary and insulting the former Iranian president.

Authorities have not publicly stated what activity led to the journalist's arrest. His son Mehdi Saharkhiz told CPJ earlier this year that he believes his father was arrested because of his pre-election reporting and analysis.

In March, Mehdi Saharkhiz told CPJ that his father was on kidney and blood pressure medication, and in critical condition while in pretrial detention in Evin prison. He added that the Medical Examiner's Office had ruled that Saharkhiz should be released on medical grounds. The journalist has been treated in hospital during his incarceration, his lawyer said this week. Tabatabaei said he is still seeking Saharkhiz's release on medical grounds.

"Iranian authorities should ensure that Issa Saharkhiz receives robust medical attention and should not contest his appeal," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "The obscure handling of the legal charges and the poor treatment in prison reinforce our view that the case against Saharkhiz is politically motivated."

In a change for Iran, a jury will hear the remaining charges that Saharkhiz faces, according to Iranian news reports. In June, the parliament defined a new category of offenses as political crimes which, unlike national security crimes, must be reviewed publicly and by a jury, according to news reports. According to Reuters, one of the law's articles defines political crimes as actions "committed to achieve reforms [that] are not intended to target the system."

Iranian authorities arrested Saharkhiz in an apparent pre-election crackdown on November 2, 2015, the same day that three reformist journalists  Saman Sarfarzaee, Afarin Chitsaz, and Ehsan Mazandarani  were arrested. At the time Tasnim, a news agency closely associated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and the conservative Rah-e Dana news website reported that the journalists were members of an "infiltration network" with links to "hostile Western countries."

Saharkhiz, who previously served as deputy minister of culture, was imprisoned from 2009 to 2013 on charges of "insulting the supreme leader" and "propagating against the state," according to CPJ research. Iran is consistently one of the world's worst jailers of journalists, with 19 jailed there at the time of CPJ's last prison census in December 2015.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
New Maldives criminal defamation law threatens press freedom

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 10 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, New Maldives criminal defamation law threatens press freedom, 10 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d227c.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 10, 2016  Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom should veto a criminal defamation law the parliament passed yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The legislation threatens to stifle criticism and investigative reporting.

Maldivian police watch over an opposition demonstration in February 2012. (Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte)

According to press reports, the government had promised to put a draft of the law before a multiparty committee for amendments before putting it to a vote. But lawmakers yesterday approved the legislation in a 47-31 vote and referred it to Yameen for ratification. Under the law, individuals convicted of defamation face a fine of up to 2 million rufiya (US$130,000), and imprisonment for up to six months for failure to pay the fine, according to news reports. In addition, media organizations carrying content deemed defamatory could have their licenses revoked, the reports said. The law places the burden of proof on defendants and obliges reporters to reveal their sources, The Associated Press reported, without elaborating. The Maldives government amended the Penal Code to abolish criminal defamation in 2009.

"This new law threatens to further stifle the beleaguered press and marks a significant step backward for media freedom in the Maldives," said CPJ Asia Program Senior Research Associate Sumit Galhotra. "President Yameen Abdul Gayoom should veto this law."

The space for independent media in the Maldives has narrowed in recent months. A series of media outlets have shut down, while others face pressure to close, CPJ has found. Four journalists from the pro-opposition Raajje TV channel are on trial on charges including obstructing law enforcement officers while covering anti-government protests. One of the journalists also faces a charge of assaulting a police officer.

Zaheena Rasheed, editor at Maldives Independent news website, told Reuters in an interview, "This is a final push to shut down the remaining media outlets. We have fought really hard. We are not giving up." Rasheed said journalists plan to contest the law in the Supreme Court.

The European Union, the United States, Britain, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands, have all urged the government not to pass the law, according to the AP.

In August 2015, CPJ wrote to Yameen to ask him to instruct his government to launch a credible and thorough investigation into the August 2014 disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla. Abdulla's fate remains unknown.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Indian journalist, magazine face criminal complaint for investigative report

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 11 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Indian journalist, magazine face criminal complaint for investigative report, 11 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d228e.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 11, 2016  Indian authorities should shelve a criminal complaint against the weekly Indian magazine Outlook, its leadership, and freelance journalist Neha Dixit, and ensure the safety of the journalist and Outlook's staff, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Supporters of India's ruling, Hindu nationalist BJP party greet Narendra Modi, then a candidate for prime minister, at a March 31, 2014, campaign rally in the northeastern state of Assam. (Reuters)

On August 4, SC Koyal, an assistant solicitor general of the government of India at the Gauhati High Court, and Bijon Mahajan, a spokesman for the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filed a criminal complaint against the English-language magazine Outlook, its publisher, Indranil Roy, its editor, Krishna Prasad, and Dixit. The complaint alleged that a July 29 story Dixit wrote for Outlook violated Indian laws against inciting hatred between groups, according to the Assam Tribune. The story accused members of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of trafficking 31 girls of tribal background in the northeastern state of Assam to other parts of India in an effort to inculcate them with a nationalist ideology.

Dixit's story was widely circulated on social media. Since then, internet users have published photos of Dixit and her husband, sent her abusive tweets, and called for her arrest, according to social media posts reviewed by CPJ.

In an open letter published on the news website Daily News and Analysis, Priti Gandhi, a national executive member of the BJP's women's wing, denied the allegations raised in the Outlook report. The RSS is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, the party of government both in Assam and at the federal level.

According to Outlook, a July 29 report in Cobrapost, and an August 7 open letter from civil society activists and journalists, police have not sought charges in response to the allegations of child trafficking, despite requests from the Assam State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the Child Line India Foundation, a nongovernmental organization. At the time of publication, Assam Superintendent of Police Prasanta Saikia had not responded to an emailed request for comment CPJ sent yesterday. Repeated phone calls to the Assam police headquarters did not go through.

"Faced with troubling allegations of child trafficking, Indian police have chosen to pursue the messengers: Neha Dixit and Outlook magazine," said CPJ Asia Program Senior Research Associate Sumit Galhotra. "Indian authorities should ensure that journalists can do their work freely and safely, without fear of harassment."

In their complaint, Koyal and Mahajan alleged that a portion of Dixit's report violated section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes promotion of "disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities," online news website Scroll reported. India's Supreme Court has in its rulings narrowed the scope of this and other laws limiting speech, but human rights groups have found that state governments and local courts continue to apply the laws inconsistently.

CPJ research shows that section 153A of the Penal Code, a colonial-era provision, has been used to attempt to silence journalists, writers, and academics in India. The provision was invoked against Pushp Sharma of the Milli Gazette in May 2016 and against Shirin Dalvi of the Urdu-language Avadhnama in 2015.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Bangladesh journalists could face 14 years in prison for refuting rumor

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 12 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Bangladesh journalists could face 14 years in prison for refuting rumor, 12 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d229c.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 12, 2016  Bangladeshi authorities should drop all criminal proceedings against three journalists from the news website banglamail24, release them immediately, and restore press credentials to nine of their colleagues, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The three journalists could face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison if charged and convicted under a law governing online publication.

Police on Sunday night arrested banglamail24 Executive Editor Maksukul Alam, acting Editor Shahadat Ullah Khan, and reporter Pranta Palash after the website published a report refuting a rumor that the prime minister's son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, had died in a plane crash, according to press reports. A government statement also said that nine banglamail24 journalists' accreditation had been revoked, according to the news website bdnews24.com.

Police Lt. Col. Khandker Golam Sarwar told the news website BenarNews that the journalists could face charges under article 57 of Bangladesh's 2006 Information and Communication Technology Act, which criminalizes publishing material online that is "fake and obscene" or creates a possibility of threatening "law and order." CPJ has joined other organizations in criticizing the law as an obstacle to press freedom. A Dhaka court on August 9 agreed to a police request to hold the three for seven days. The journalists' lawyer, Mubinul Islam, told bdnews24.com this was because the Information and Communication Technology Act requires those charged under its provisions to stand trial before a special court.

"Jailing anyone for even a day under a law as broad, vaguely worded, and restrictive as Bangladesh's Information and Communication Technology Act is an injustice," CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler said. "Arresting journalists for refuting a false rumor reaches the point of absurdity. Bangladesh should release Maksukul Alam, Shahadat Ullah Khan, and Pranta Palash without delay."

Sarwar, the police officer, allowed that the banglamail24 story reported the rumor as false in his interview with BenarNews, the website reported.

"They criticized the rumor, but ... they also became part of spreading rumors on the death of the Honorable Prime Minister's son, who holds an important government post," the news website quoted Sarwar as saying.

Separately, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission last week blocked access to 35 news websites for publishing "objectionable comments" about the government, Shahjahan Mahmood, who chairs the Commission, told BenarNews. Leaders of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and the Dhaka Union of Journalists protested the moves, according to press reports.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Egyptian press freedom advocate faces life in prison

Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 12 August 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, Egyptian press freedom advocate faces life in prison, 12 August 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b2d22a6.html [accessed 29 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.

New York, August 12, 2016  Egyptian authorities should immediately drop all charges against award-winning human rights defender Gamal Eid, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Among the accusations prosecutors have leveled against the veteran free expression advocate is the false claim that CPJ paid him to defame Egypt internationally.

Human rights defender Gamal Eid (second from right) leaves a Cairo courtroom on April 20, 2016. (AFP)

In court documents which CPJ has reviewed, Egypt's domestic intelligence agency, the Department of National Security, alleged that Eid and the group he founded, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), illegally received funding from human rights organizations, including CPJ, in order to implement an agenda of "inciting public opinion against state institutions," and to "falsely claim in international forums that the country's legal system restricts public freedoms."

"This trial is a transparent attempt to silence Egyptian civil society and critical journalists," CPJ's Executive Director Joel Simon said. "The allegations that the Committee to Protect Journalists provided financial support to Gamal Eid or his organization are false and utterly without merit. Given the defendants' fearless and committed defense of the most vulnerable in Egypt and the region, we find this entire legal process to be outrageous and deeply chilling."

Eid also denied the accusations in a statement published on ANHRI's Facebook page in May 2016.

Eid is next scheduled to appear in a Cairo criminal court on August 15, along with investigative journalist and rights activist Hossam Bahgat and others, Eid told CPJ. Bahgat and Eid are both banned from travel, and their assets have been frozen, CPJ has reported.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in September 2014 amended article 78 of Egypt's Penal Code to increase the maximum penalty to life in prison for receiving money from abroad "with the aim of pursuing acts harmful to national interests, or destabilizing general peace or the country's independence and unity."

The case against Eid is part of the re-opening of a five-year-old investigation into the foreign funding of human rights organizations in Egypt and a widely documented crackdown against national and international nongovernmental organizations operating in Egypt.

Copyright notice:  Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
Four people, including a nine-year-old girl, died and at least five were injured after a boat with about 20 people on board collided with a speedboat off the Greek holiday island of Aegina on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The child, the captain of the tourist boat - which sank - and two male passengers were found dead, a coast guard official said. Twenty-one people had been rescued, most of them Greek nationals.

The circumstances of the collision were unclear. The Athens News Agency reported that the speedboat rammed into the tour boat and its captain had been arrested.

The five injured were transferred to Athens, two of them with serious injuries, an official at the local health center told Reuters.

Other people were missing, Aegina mayor Dimitris Mourtzis told Skai TV.

"It's such a small channel, just a few minutes' distance," he said, referring to the waters between the port of Perdika in Aegina and the nearby uninhabited islet of Moni.
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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Former general manager of Turkeys Petkim petrochemical complex, Sadettin Korkut, who was detained earlier, has been arrested, DHA agency reports.

Korkut was detained July 28 within the fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of organizing 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 had said 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.

He also declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20.

Apart from Korkut, Petkims 13 employees, who were earlier detained, have also been arrested.

Former director of SOCAR Turkey Energys Human Resources Department Ilgar Mehmetoglu is also among those arrested.

It was previously reported that Turkeys petrochemical company Petkim will hold an extraordinary meeting of its Board of Directors on Sept. 6. Personnel changes will be the main topic of discussions during the meeting.

Petkim produces plastic packages, fabrics, detergents, and is the sole Turkish manufacturer of such products, a quarter of which is exported.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
TUESDAY

Big Country CASA information

Big Country CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) will conduct an informational meeting at 6 p.m. at the CASA office at 400 Oak St., Suite 218. For information, call 325-677-6448.

Movie at the library

A free showing of a recent PG-13 rated sci-fi adventure movie will begin at 6 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St.

TxDOT hearing

RANGER  TxDOT will conduct a public hearing on proposed reconstruction on Interstate 20 at Ranger Hill at 6:15 p.m. in the Ranger High School cafeteria.

Square dance workshop

TYE  The Key City Squares will conduct a square dancing workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel.

Auditions

Open auditions for an upcoming production of 'Deadwood Dick' will be 7-9 p.m. at Abilene Community Theatre, 809 Barrow St. The show will run Sept. 29 through Oct. 8.

Other ...

Mission on the Move Soup Kitchen, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Southwest Drive Community United Methodist Church, 3025 Southwest Dr.

Abilene Southwest Rotary Club, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St.

High Noon Al-Anon, noon, Southern Hills Church of Christ, 3666 Buffalo Gap Road (south end; follow the yellow signs).

Stroke/Aphasia Recovery Program support group, 1:30-2:30 p.m. West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-3535.

Dystonia Support Group, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Not Without Us, 3301 N. First St. Suite 117.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), 5:30 p.m., Brook Hollow Christian Church, 2310 S. Willis St. 325-232-7444.

Legacies Al-Anon Family Group, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-280-7584.

Family (of Mental Health Consumers) Support Group, 6-7 p.m., Mental Health Association in Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

MHAA Bipolar/Depression Peer Support Group, 6-8 p.m., Ministry of Counseling & Enrichment, 1502 N. First St. 325-673-2300.

Free certified nurturing parent class (pregnancy to toddler), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398.

Abilene Star Chorus, 6:15 p.m., Wisteria Place Chapel, 3202 S. Willis St. 325-829-1470.

Overeaters Anonymous, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Exodus Metropolitan Community Church, 1933 S. 27th St.

Family Support Group for parents with special needs children, 6:30-7:30 p.m., West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-3500.

Alzheimer's Association  North Central Texas Chapter, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Chisholm Place, 1450 E. N. 10th St. 325-672-2907.

Al-Anon Parents Group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. Use Church Street entrance.

Al-Anon, 7 p.m., Doug Meinzer Activity Center, Knox City. 940-658-3926.

Brigadier General John Sayles Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 366, 7 p.m., American Legion Building, 302 E.S. 11th St.

Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 7-8:30 p.m., 2043 N. Second St.

Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.

WEDNESDAY

Dog Days at the Mall

Dog Days will continue from 5-8 p.m. at the Mall of Abilene. Participants are encouraged to bring their dog for a dog walk. The Abilene Animal Shelter and the Taylor-Jones Humane Society will offer dogs for adoption.

Square dance workshop

TYE  The Wagon Wheel Squares will conduct a square dancing workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel.

Other ...

Overeaters Anonymous, 8 a.m., Hinds Square Building, Room 112, 100 Chestnut St.

Abilene Cactus Lions Club, 11:45 a.m., Cotton Patch Cafe, 3302 S. Clack St.

Abilene Wednesday Rotary Club, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway. $12 for lunch. Jo Ann Wilson, 325-677-6815.

Kiwanis Club of Abilene, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd.

Clearly Speaking Toastmaster Club, noon, Westgate Church of Christ, 402 S. Pioneer Drive. 325-795-5570.

Blood drive, noon to 5 p.m., La Voz 93.3, 209 S. Danville Drive.

Alzheimer's Association Caregiver Support Group, 2-3 p.m., Western Hills Healthcare Residence, Comanche.

Alzheimer's disease support group, 5:15 p.m., Cedar Crest Care Center, 1901 W. Elliott, Breckenridge. Assists those who have a family member with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. 1-800-272-3900 or 254-559-3302.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Veterans Peer Support Group, 6 p.m., 765 Orange St. 325-670-4818.

Mid-week Al-Anon Family Group, 6-7 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-698-4995.

Advanced Square Dancing, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wagon Wheel.

Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007.

DivorceCare support group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. 325-691-4200.

THURSDAY

Wheat conference

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct its Big Country Wheat Conference from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. in the Big Country Hall at the Taylor County Expo Center, 1982 Lytle Way. Topics will include alternative crop options, world wheat outlook, ag lending and weather forecasts. Registration is $20. For information, or to register, call 325-672-6048.

Drypoint printmaking workshop

A workshop on drypoint printmaking will be presented from 6-8 p.m. at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Registration is $30 for members and $35 for nonmembers. To register, or for more information, go to www.thegracemuseum.org.

Open mic night

BROWNWOOD  The Brownwood Art Association and A.M.P. will conduct an open mic night from 6-10 p.m. at the Art Building, 215 Fisk Ave. Live music and art will be presented. Admission is free.

Square dance workshop

TYE  A-Team will conduct a square dancing workshop 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel.

'King o' the Moon'

A production of 'King o' the Moon' will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Abilene Community Theatre, 809 Barrow St. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students, seniors and military.

Other ...

Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300.

Blood drive, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Stamford Memorial Hospital.

Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road.

Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092.

Retired Military Wives Club social meeting, 1 p.m., Rose Park Senior Activity Center, 2625 South Seventh St. 325-677-9656 or 325-793-1490.

Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center.

Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St.

Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly, 6:30 p.m. Brook Hollow Christian Church. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. 325-665-5052.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575.

Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517.

South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave.

Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.

FRIDAY

Dance

TYE  A country-western dance featuring Muddy Creek will be 7-10 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel in Tye. Admission is $5.

'After Zoey'

A production of the musical 'After Zoey' will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in Fulks Theatre at Abilene Christian University. Tickets are $15.

'King o' the Moon'

A production of 'King o' the Moon' will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Abilene Community Theatre, 809 Barrow St. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students, seniors and military.

Dance

OPLIN  A dance featuring Midnight Blue will be 7:30-10:30 p.m. at the Oplin Community Center. Admission is $5. Information: www.grandoleoplin.com.

Other ...

Blood drive, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kwik Kar Lube, 4824 S. 14th St.

Abilene Chinese Corner, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Abilene Christian University library. lld09a@acu.edu.

Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304.
2,054 vote in Taylor Co. on Day 5 of early voting for Nov. 8 election
The punishment phase of a 33-year-old Abilene man who pleaded guilty Monday to bludgeoning a 26-year-old woman to death last year will continue Tuesday morning.

Cody Alvarez entered a plea of guilty in the 42nd District Court, bypassing a jury trial and proceeding to the sentencing part of the trial. Judge John Weeks will review evidence presented by the Taylor County District Attorney's Office and possibly the defense before sentencing Alvarez.

A Taylor County grand jury indicted Alvarez last August on the charge of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Alexis Baker, who was found dead in her Ballinger Street residence by her mother.

Alvarez could serve up to 99 years in prison and have to pay a fine up to $10,000, according to the Texas Penal Code.

Several witnesses testified Monday afternoon during the sentencing phase, including Baker's mother, Cheryl Johnson. She testified that she found her daughter dead on her living room floor, barefoot and her hair drenched with blood. Next to Baker lay a claw hammer wrapped in a green shirt.

District Attorney James Hicks showed photos of Baker's body lying sprawled on her floor.

Abilene police Sgt. Jason Hack testified that when he interviewed Alvarez on June 1, 2015, that Alvarez said he killed Baker because he thought she was pregnant and 'he did not want to spread his seed.' Hacker also said Alvarez had 'supernatural reasons' for killing Baker, possibly related to witchcraft.

David Bridgwater, a childhood friend of Alvarez, testified that he and Alvarez drank beer May 29, 2015. When they ran out of beer, Alvarez gave Bridgwater Baker's debit card to get more alcohol.

Bridgwater also testified that Alvarez asked him three times 'Do I smell like death?' The next time Alvarez said 'bluntly' that 'I smell like death,' Bridgwater testified.

Later, both men were on a bed with another woman when Alvarez cut her leg with a throwing knife and both men licked the wound, Bridgwater testified. The woman called police, and both men were arrested.

Abilene police officer Nikki Hill testified that she responded to the call of an injured subject on May 30, 2015, and found Baker already dead inside her house in the 900 block of Ballinger Street. Hill said she was the first officer to arrive on the scene after emergency medical personnel. She said Baker had suffered several injuries.

'There was blood spatter everywhere,' Hill said.

Baker's grandmother, Elizabeth Cornell, testified that she bought her granddaughter a pair of black nonslip shoes May 28, 2015, for Baker's new job. Cornell said she dropped off the shoes on Baker's front porch that morning because Baker was not home. Baker later sent a text message to Cornell, thanking her for the shoes and telling her they fit. Cornell last had contact with her granddaughter at 3 p.m. that day, but she sent Baker a text around 6 p.m. that went unanswered.

When he was arrested, Alvarez was wearing the black shoes and had Baker's debit card in his possession, police testified.

Alvarez is being held at the Taylor County Jail on bail totaling more than $1 million on the murder charge and other charges.
An Abilene man was sentenced to 60 years in prison Tuesday in the 'horrible death' of a 26-year-old woman beaten with a hammer in May 2015.

Cody Alvarez's sentence, set down by 42nd District Court Judge John Weeks, was 39 years short of the maximum allowable in the murder of Alexis Baker, to which Alvarez pleaded guilty Monday.

Baker was slain May 29, 2015. Her body was found in her Ballinger Street residence by her mother.

'We are glad for this conviction and feel Judge Weeks was effective with his sentence,' said James Hicks, criminal district attorney for Taylor County and lead prosecutor on the case. 'We know this is difficult for two families.'

'We are thankful for the verdict and sentence,' said Elizabeth Cornell, Baker's grandmother, who took the stand after sentencing to make a victim impact statement. '(Alvarez) took something from us that can never be replaced. Alexis brought a lot of life into this family, and he took that all away.'

Alvarez's family also spoke after the trial.

'We are very sorry for the family,' said Fidencio Alvarez, the defendant's father. 'All we can do now is pray.'

After Alvarez's plea, the trial moved directly to the sentencing phase. Hicks called several witnesses Monday, and another five witnesses Tuesday, including Dr. Susan Roe, deputy medical examiner for Tarrant County.

Roe, who performed the autopsy on Baker's body, testified that Baker's cause of death was listed as 'blunt-force head and facial trauma.'

'The victim suffered multiple injuries, including not less than 21 lacerations to her head and face,' Roe said. 'A few of those lacerations were so complex, it is possible that there may have been multiple blows to the same spot.'

Roe also testified that Baker likely would have fallen unconscious fairly quickly, the result of skull fractures from the claw hammer that was used to commit the murder.

In his closing arguments, defense attorney Landon Thompson tried to make a case against a conviction and sentencing for first-degree murder.

'There is no question that this is a terrible crime, and that Miss Baker died a horrible death,' Thompson said. 'The state says it was a deliberate, planned event, but there is no evidence of a long-term plan. This was more likely a case of Mr. Alvarez losing control in a short time frame.'

Alvarez previously had served time in jail. The state introduced evidence of three prior judgments against Alvarez, for which he served nearly seven years.

Hicks, in his closing remarks, asked Weeks to 'protect the world from Cody Alvarez, a self-centered and reactive, scary and evil person.'

During her victim impact statement, Baker's mother, Cheryl Johnson, looked directly at Alvarez and told him, 'You will know no more power or control. Your cruel and vicious act has impacted this family forever. When I came to Alexis' house that day, I walked into a nightmare; a nightmare you created. I hope you will reflect on what you have done forever.'

Hicks said Alvarez must serve a minimum of 30 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Abilene ISD students met state standards at all traditional campuses this year, according to the Texas Education Agency's accountability ratings released Monday.

Each of the district's 23 rated campuses that serve as traditional campuses  that is, not serving a special segment of student population  earned success on the state's performance report.

The result marks an improvement at one particular campus, Ortiz Elementary, which last year was listed as 'improvement required' after falling short in both the 'student achievement' and 'closing performance gaps' indexes.

'We're thrilled for the Ortiz All-Stars,' Young said. 'They had a tough year being under the microscope last year from the Texas Education Agency. They were forced to go through the school improvement process ... You don't move off the state's improvement-required list in the first year, so they are now going to be what's known as a formerly improvement-required campus. They'll have to demonstrate satisfactory performance for two years before they have that removed altogether.

'They have a new principal coming in this year and we're just excited for what the future holds for Ortiz.'

TEA uses four indexes to determine accountability, with districts needing to earn satisfactory numbers in three of them. The districts  and schools  must earn passing numbers in either 'student achievement' or 'student progress' while also succeeding in both 'closing performance gaps' and 'postsecondary readiness.'

While the district succeeded, and each of the traditional campuses met standards, the Sam Houston program found inside the Jefferson Center was listed as 'improvement required.' Young said the district has begun its appeal of the rating, citing Sam Houston's small population of students who suffer emotional and behavioral disturbances that adversely affect educational performance.

Since the current accountability ratings took effect in 2013, the district has successfully appealed the rating twice.

Wylie ISD and all of its campuses also met standards in 2016.

Beyond Abilene, four Big Country school districts found themselves on the list of districts requiring improvement this year, including Ranger and Snyder ISDs for the second consecutive year.

While they failed to meet standards, both district superintendents said they improved this past school year and the ratings show it.

In Ranger ISD, all of the schools failed to meet standards in the 2015 accountability ratings. In 2016, the district fell short because the scores in the elementary school couldn't pull the district above the target score in both the achievement and performance gaps indexes, much like Ortiz Elementary's struggle in 2015.

'We worked hard to get our middle school and high school scores up,' Ranger ISD Superintendent Mike Thompson said. 'We fell a little short at the districtwide level and in the elementary school, as we still need some growth there.'

Thompson said teacher turnover in the past three or four years has hurt the district.

Meanwhile, in Snyder ISD, Superintendent Jim Kirkland said the district's improvement-required rating happened because the 'closing performance gaps' index fell 2 percentage points short of success.

Like in Ranger ISD, Kirkland said many of the district's campuses were struggling in the 2015 accountability report. But 2016's difficulties came exclusively from Snyder Junior High School.

Snyder Primary School, which was designated 'improvement required' last year due to it not being a testing campus, benefited from being rated in 2016 after the district moved the third grade into the building.

'We're pleased with both our intermediate and primary campuses coming out of (improvement required), and our high school meeting standards,' Kirkland said. 'We just need to work on our junior high. But we think we'll get that figured out this year and hopefully we'll be (in a different classification) next year.'

New to the list of districts requiring improvement are both Lueders-Avoca and Loraine ISDs. Superintendents of the two districts did not immediately return requests for comment.

According to the state report, Loraine School missed meeting standards by 2 percentage points in 'closing achievement gaps,' while Lueders-Avoca elementary and junior high was 5 points short in the category, pushing the district 9 percentage points short.

The full accountability ratings are available on the TEA website, tea.texas.gov.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
Crains Chicago Business reports that Kraft Heinz will introduce Planters Peanuts and Kraft Mac & Cheese to China and Brazil, after rolling out both in the United Kingdom last spring. CEO Bernardo Hees told analysts that the company plans to introduce such products in up to 10 new countries over the next three years. Experts say such a strategy can work well in countries that are interested in American culture, but that products often must be tweaked for local tastes.
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Weibo at Seven Years: Setting Milestones and Plans to Move Further and Stronger

China's social media magnate Weibo has turned seven years old. (Photo : Getty Images)

Weibo started on Aug. 14, 2009, soon after social media site Twitter, Flickr and Hotmail were banned from the country.



The ban on Twitter did not come as a surprise to a blogger named Michael Anti. He said, "Twitter is a tool which can put all the sensitive things and sensitive guys together, very quickly. That's the very thing that the Chinese government doesn't want to see in China.



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Weibo was born as a Twitter clone with an added comment feature. Users can share photos, retweets, and links.



However, Sina Weibo was just one of the modules that the creators intended to do for another site called "pengyou", or translated as "friend" in English. "Pengyou" never took off.



By the fall of 2009, actors like Yao Chen subscribed to Weibo. This guaranteed the site of many followers that now has 79.8 million followers.



Gong Min, a marketing manager at Weibo, said, "Charles Chao said the long-term vision for Sina is to be a respectful new media company. New products should have connections to our core competence. As a successful internet portal, Sina has confidence in media."



Charles Chao is the CEO of Weibo.



On February 2011, American actor Tom Cruise joined Weibo and had 50,000 followers in two days. At present, his account is followed by 5.4 million fans.



The social media site has also been part of many scandalous stories that gave Weibo a solid footing in China's online universe.



Billionaire investor Wang Gongquan, in March 2011, posted on his Weibo account, "I am giving up everything and eloping with Wang Qin. I feel ashamed and so am leaving without saying goodbye. I kneel down and beg forgiveness!"



Wang Qin is his mistress. His wife was not mentioned in the post.



From inception till now, Weibo now has 282 million users. Actress Yao Chen's almost 80 million followers exceed U.S. President's Barack Obama's 76.6 million users in Twitter.


Ngeth Khun, alias Mummy, an activist from Boeung Kak, confronts police during a protest seeking the release of fellow activists Tep Vanny and Bov Sophea at the Daun Penh police station, Aug 16, 2016.

A pair of prominent land-rights activists are still being held by Cambodian authorities for their part in a Black Monday protest in Boeung Kak village that included headless dummies symbolizing the brainlessness of the nations leaders.

A family member told RFAs Khmer Service that police questioned Tep Vanny and Bov Sophea about the source behind the Black Monday campaign, how they obtained the dummies and even about the source of their earrings.

The authorities wanted to know where they got the materials for making the dummies, the Cambodian flags and other tools for the campaign, Bov Sophoan told RFA.

They even asked where they got the earrings they were wearing, she added. Bov Sophoan is Bov Sopheas sister.

Tep Vanny and Bov Sophea were among the protestors who used the August 15 demonstration to call on the government to resolve land-grab issues across the country.

The seizure of land for developmentoften without due process or fair compensation for displaced residentshas been a major cause of protest in Cambodia and other authoritarian Asian countries, including China and Myanmar.

In one of the most egregious land-grabs, some 3,500 families were evicted from the land surrounding Boeung Kak Lake, which was filled with sand to make way for a development project with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party.

'We are willing to continue our fight for justice'

The two women buried headless dummies in sand pits for Mondays protest saying they represent the court, court officials, Kem Leys killer and those behind the murder. Their missing heads represent brainlessness, the protestors told RFA.

Government critic Kem Ley was murdered on July 10, and many in Cambodia dont believe the governments story that he was killed by a former soldier over a debt.

Hun Sen has sued oppostion lawmaker Thak Lany and Cambodia National Rescue Party President Sam Rainsy for defamation over remarks they allegedly made that tie the murder to the prime minister.

Thak Lany denies she made the remarks, saying that her comments were edited to make her look like she was lodging the criticism.

Cambodian authorities appeared to be pressing the women to give up their contacts in the Black Monday movement, but another protestor told RFA that was not going to happen.

We are willing to continue our fight for justice, said protestor Song Srey Leap. We always keep our peers in mind. We dont abandon them.

Civil society groups and their supporters launched the Black Monday campaign after the bribery arrests of officials from the human rights group ADHOC. In addition to the ADHOC arrests, the Cambodian authorities also arrested an election official. At the same time a U.N. official was also charged.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials have condemned the protests as a color revolution.

Over the years, Hun Sen has repeatedly inveighed against color revolutions, named after a series of popular movements that used passive resistance to topple governments in countries of the former Soviet Union during the 2000s.

Spanish national Marga Bujosa Segado, who was among the crowd of villagers protesting to free the two detained activists, was released after being held for a brief time.

Reported by Pisey Sem and Heng Sun for RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Wirtten in English by Brooks Boliek.
Chinese coal miners wait to cross a road through thick coal dust at the end of their shift at a small mine in Xiaoyi, northern China's Shanxi province, in a file photo.

China's sinking coal-mining towns are largely the result of a failure to implement existing environmental legislation, a top geological expert has told RFA.

A three-decades-long coal-mining boom in the northern province of Shanxi has left hundreds of communities in imminent danger of sinking into the ground.

The Shanxi authorities say they now plan to relocate some 655,000 residents by the end of next year from former mining regions now deemed unsafe.

The industry has cost the government around 77 billion yuan (U.S. $11.6 million) in economic losses, local officials estimate.

Yang Yong, a subsidence expert based in the southwestern city of Chengdu, told RFA that Shanxi had paid a heavy environmental price for its massive contribution to the Chinese economy through coal production.

"There have been laws for quite some time in China saying that remedial operations must be undergone in mining areas, and limiting the amount of exploitation that can happen near river beds, major roads or infrastructure projects," Yang said.

He said the rules also require mining operators to ensure the safety of villages on the surface near the mines.

"Pits that are opened up underground are supposed to be filled in again afterwards," Yang said. "The same goes for open-cast mining."

Yang said local officials are to blame for failing to implement the regulations.

"Why don't they play a supervisory role?" he said. "Why are these rules not worth the paper they are written on?"

Yang said mine operators are charged a fee by local governments to cover the cost of filling in abandoned pits.

"The government should be using that money for that purpose," he said. "A lot of money has gone missing."

Skyrocketing energy demands

Intensive exploitation of coal seams in the past few decades to meet skyrocketing energy demands has undermined the geological structure of the earth in many locations across China, experts say.

On Aug. 15, 2011, the whole of Pangpangta village in northern Shanxi province was swallowed up by subsidence.

Photos of Pangpangta village posted on Chinese news websites and bulletin boards showed houses fallen into chasms in the earth, huge cracks along a village street, and collapsed and damaged buildings similar to a scene after an earthquake.

Earlier this month, a report based on satellite imagery showed alarming levels of subsidence in the Chinese capital, which is slowly sinking, with some parts falling by 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) annually owing to excessive pumping of groundwater.

The report in the journal Remote Sensing showed that Beijing has been suffering from land subsidence since 1935.

It linked the worst areas of subsidence with the concentration of aquifers and wells pumping out groundwater.

"It's clear that water extraction is a factor here," Yang told RFA. "There are also mines all around the outskirts of Beijing, for example at Mentougou in the municipal, and at Kailuan just to the north, which have been mined for many years now."

"These operations, and even mining in Hebei and Shandong, have in turn affected the groundwater," he said. "These mines may be some distance away, but they will draw off ground-water in Beijing if they are in the same aquifer."

The issue of subsidence has also sparked social unrest across the country in the worst-hit areas.

In June 2014, more than 3,000 villagers from Henan's Xuchang county faced off with riot police amid protests over local mining operations which they said had devastated the ground near their homes, swallowed up a road, and left cracks in their houses.

Reported by Gao Shan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Updated at 04:00 p.m. EDT on 2016-08-16

The family of a Chinese attorney detained during a recent nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers has accused the authorities of allowing his torture in detention.



Chen Guiqiu, wife of detained rights lawyer Xie Yang, has said she has good reason to believe that he is being mistreated at the police-run Changsha No. 2 Detention Center in the central province of Hunan.



Xie was initially detained on July 11, 2015, while on a trip to Huaihua in the central province of Hunan and later placed under residential surveillance at a designated place.



Under recent changes in the law, such detainees may be held in secret with no access to lawyers or relatives, if the charges relate to matters of national security.



Like many other lawyers and activists detained in the same crackdown, Xie has been denied meetings with lawyers or relatives since his incarceration.



"It seems obvious that you are preventing Xie Yang from meeting with his lawyers because you want to keep him incommunicado so that you can force a confession out of him," Chen wrote in an open letter to the authorities dated Aug. 12.



"You are also afraid that your brutal actions will be exposed, and you are probably also getting ready to try him in secret," the letter said.



News leaked out



News of the torture, which is believed to have occurred a year ago, leaked out during meetings between one of Xie's defense team and the authorities, according to defense lawyer Lin Qilei.



"This news came out when another attorney was trying to arrange to visit Xie," Lin said. "That's when we got the information about the torture and his being locked up alongside death row inmates."



Sources close to Xie's family say one beating incident resulted in Xie being taking to Changsha's 163 Hospital for emergency medical treatment.



He has also been locked up alongside inmates awaiting execution, the family said.



Xie's defense attorney Zhang Chongshi told RFA that the detention center had ignored repeated requests from lawyers for a meeting with their client.



"We are still unable to meet with him," Zhang said. "They say that state prosecutors are still interviewing him, and that there is a clash with the requirement that requests from lawyers for meetings be granted within 48 hours."



He said Xie's defense team will continue to press for a meeting with him, however.



"We will be pushing for a meeting, and also pushing to view the evidence amassed by the prosecution," Zhang said.



Xie now faces charges of "incitement to subvert state power," and his case has been handed over to the state prosecutor's office, paving the way for a trial.



However, his wife rejected the charges.



"Not one of us believes that Xie Yang could possibly have committed these crimes," Chen wrote in the open letter.



Scripted 'confessions'



Earlier this month, authorities in Tianjin put on trial four rights lawyers on subversion-related charges after denying them access to lawyers or visits from friends or family for more than a year.



Some were bailed or handed suspended sentences after they produced videotaped "confessions" which activists said were heavily scripted.



Thirteen lawyers and rights defenders remain behind bars in Tianjin and look set to be dealt with similarly, rights groups said.



Police have detained, interrogated, or threatened more than 300 human rights lawyers and activists since the crackdown began with the detention of prominent Beijing Fengrui lawyer Wang Yu and colleagues on the night of July 9, 2015.



Many family members of those detained now also face surveillance, house arrest, or bans on leaving the country.

On Tuesday, the wife of detained lawyer Wang Quanzhang, Li Wenzu, was followed by three men and forcibly taken to the police station, where she was held for most of the day

I left home at 10 am and found I was tailed by three security people as soon as I left my residential building. I tried to get rid of them by taking the metro train but they dragged me back and did not let me take the subway. They surrounded me so I had no choice but to give up on the metro," Li told RFA.

"I was sitting at a bus station waiting for my friend, when a police officer came up to me and wanted to take me to nearby police station. I asked why, and at this moment a security guy acted very rude and he grabbed my bag and pushed me. And later he even accused me of attacking him, she said.

Wang Quanzhang's attorney, Yu Wensheng, told RFA that he had submitted required documents for Wang's defense to the prosecutor, and will soon go to Tianjin to ask to meet his client.

Reported by Ha Si-man and Ho Shan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin and Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 11, 2015.

Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi will begin a five-day official visit to China on Wednesday to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top leaders in part to discuss a controversial Chinese-backed dam project that was suspended by the previous Myanmar government five years ago.

She will meet the Chinese president and prime minister, said Kyaw Zeya, director general of the Political Department in Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She will leave tomorrow and return on Sunday.

She has planned to visit President Xi Jinpings hometown, he said. We planned this trip because China invited Aung San Suu Kyi to visit to welcome the new government.

During a news conference on Friday, Kyaw Zeya said the Myitsone Dam and the countrys peace process will be on the agenda when Aung San Suu Kyi meets the Chinese leaders, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.

Chinese leaders will exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, according to a report by the countrys official Xinhua news agency on Monday.

[The visit] holds great significance to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between both countries in the new phase, Lu was quoted as saying, in a reference to the new Myanmar government that came to power earlier this year.

Rights group weighs in

Sophie Richardson, China director at New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Aung San Suu Kyis list of discussion topics could be too long.

She suggested instead that Aung San Suu Kyi use the opportunity to broach the issues of refugees displaced by fighting in Myanmars northern Shan State who have sought refuge in China and thousands of other refugees from northern Myanmr's Kachin state, who remain in Chinas Yunnan province from a 2011-2013 conflict.

As Aung San Suu Kyi prepares for her first trip to China since her National League for Democracy party swept Burmas elections last November, her to-do list could be impossibly long: managing a new and delicate era in bilateral relations, development aid, the resolution of the stalled Myitsone Dam project, and disputes about management of their shared border, Richardson said in a printed statement.

Theres also the complex peace process involving the Burmese government, its military, and the countrys ethnic armed groupssome of them backed by China, she said in a reference to Aung San Suu Kyis plans to hold a peace conference at the end of this month that includes armed ethnic groups that have been fighting along Myanmars northern borders with China.

Richardson also called on Aung San Suu Kyi Suu Kyi to use her platform and pro-democracy credentials to call for the release of fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo from prison in China.

Liu, a Chinese writer and human rights activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, is currently serving time as a political prisoner in a detention facility in Jinzhou, northeastern China's Liaoning province, for advocating political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule.

Previous visit to China

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto national leader, visited China last year in June and November, just before the elections that her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.

At the time, Aung San Suu Kyiwho has been one of the Myitsone Dam projects most vocal opponentsassured Chinese leaders that she wanted to continue friendly relations between the two nations and welcomed Chinese investment in Myanmar, as long as investors won the trust of the Myanmar people.

Then in March of this year, Chinas Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the dam has been an important cooperation project and that its contract terms are still in force, Reuters reported.

A month later, Aung San Suu Kyi met visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the capital Naypyidaw during the NLD governments first week in office, but they did not discuss the restart of the Chinese-financed dam project that former president Thein Sein put on hold in 2011.

At the time, Aung San Suu Kyi said it was because she wasnt yet familiar enough with the contract details.

Fervent opposition

Thein Sein stopped China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), one of Chinas largest state-owned electricity producers, from continuing to build the 6,000-megawatt, $3.6-billion Myitsone Dam project along the Irrawaddy River in northern Myanmars Kachin State amid fervent opposition.

Myanmar citizens opposed it because of its predicted environmental impact, huge flooding area, dislocation of people living nearby, proximity to a geographical fault line, and unequal share of electricity output for Myanmar.

Under the investment deal, about 90 percent of the electricity produced by the dam would go to southern Chinas Yunnan province.

Though Chinese-backed companies are the largest foreign investors in Myanmar, citizens also have objected to their heavy-handed tactics when it comes to exploiting Myanmars natural resources and dealings with locals.

In June 2014, CPI cut off food assistance to at least two families who were among hundreds displaced by the project after they backed a 100-strong march from the commercial capital Yangon to the dam site, protesting against the resumption of work there.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
As authorities in southwestern Chinas Sichuan province move ahead with their destruction of the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serthar county, Tibetans living in a neighboring town are being forced from their homes to make way for commercial development, Tibetan sources say.



A large area of land in Nubsur township, located about 20 miles from the Serthar (in Chinese, Seda) county seat in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, has now been seized from Tibetan residents in exchange for the payment of token compensation, a local source told RFAs Tibetan Service.



The Tibetans were not willing to sell their land, but were forced to part with it and were then evicted from the area, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The authorities are planning to develop the area as a tourist complex, the source said.



It has also been rumored that all the hotels and restaurants to be built at Nubsur will be given to the Han Chinese business community, and not to the Tibetans, he said.



Residents forced from their land in Nubsur have included both prosperous families and those who are less well-off, RFAs source said, adding, The poorer families insisted on staying on their land in tents, but they have now been forced to leave and their tents have been removed.



Some of the evicted families have opened small tea shops in the town with the small payment they got for their land, he said.



Ceremonies banned at Larung Gar



The land taken from Tibetans at Nubsur lies just a half-mile from the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, where Chinese work crews have torn down large sections of the sprawling Tibetan Buddhist studies center, forcing thousands of resident monks and nuns from their homes.



Annual rituals conducted at Larung Gar have now been banned for fear of drawing large crowds and have been moved to an affiliated monastery, a Tibetan living in India told RFA, citing contacts in the region.



These ceremonies meant to dispel obstacles used to be performed for ten days at Larung Gar, but have been banned there this year due to the ongoing demolitions and related tensions in the area, the source said.



Instead, the ceremonies were conducted for just one day on Aug. 15 at nearby Shoru monastery, he said.



Those monks and nuns who went to witness the rituals were ordered to return to Larung Gar as soon as the ceremonies ended, he said.



Reported by Kunsang Tenzin and Sangye Dorjee for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.




China's healthcare system might break down from the surge of diabetics in the country. (Photo : Getty Images)

After being deemed as one of the country's fastest growing health problem, the looming threat that diabetes poses in China can also take down the nation's entire healthcare system.



According to Quartz, the sudden and continuous increase in diabetes patients in China can become the country's doom in terms of national healthcare.



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This report comes a little less than a month after the World Bank criticized the country's healthcare system for being inefficient as healthcare becomes more expensive in China, CNBC reported in July.



Diabetes in China



A report from the South China Morning Post published in April revealed how diabetes has rapidly conquered the country after the number of diabetic patients increased nine-fold in one generation.



In the report, the rise of diabetes in China is being attributed to unhealthy lifestyle brought about by economic development and the increasing elderly population of the nation.



Apparently, China had a lot less diabetics during the 1980s when only less than 1 percent of the Chinese population had the chronic disease.



After a generation has passed, the country as developed a liking for sweets which led to the sudden prevalence of the disease which a recent study published in PLOS Journal linked to cardiovascular diseases.



According to the study, "diabetes now accounts for almost 0.5 million cardiovascular disease deaths each year in China; this disease burden will likely increase as diabetes is expected to become more prevalent in China over coming decades, especially among young adults."



China's Healthcare System



Because of diabetes as well as the increasing elderly population of China, the World Bank decided to release a report on how the nation should spend on their healthcare system.



Cited by the CNBC, the World Bank urged the Chinese government to implement a reform in the healthcare system that is "more people-oriented."



Without this, China's expenses in health will only increase to without actually being effective in providing quality healthcare for its people.



"Business as usual, without reform, would result in growth of total health expenditure from 5.6 percent of GDP in 2015 to 9.1 percent in 2035, an average increase of 8.4 percent per year in real terms," the World Bank report stated.



Now, the World Health Organization is beginning to worry that China's healthcare system will get overwhelmed especially with the increasing number of diabetes in the country.



"If we don't act now diabetes will overwhelm the health system," WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartlander told Quartz.



So far, China only has education and awareness projects that have yet to be supported by concrete plans to help ease the burden brought about by the "tsunami" of diabetic patients in Chinese healthcare facilities even after seeing an epidemic of the chronic disease.






More than 4,000 Vietnamese Catholic parishioners were blocked and assaulted by police on Monday as they attempted to march to township offices to protest government inaction over their loss of livelihood following a massive pollution-linked fish kill in April, sources say.



The April spill caused an estimated 70 tons of dead fish to wash up on the shores of Vietnams central coast and was blamed on a release of toxic chemicals from a steel mill owned by a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group.



Marchers had tried several times in the past to demand relief from authorities in Vietnams coastal Ha Tinh province, but the police always stopped us, a protester named Phuong told RFAs Vietnamese Service.



Yesterday, we decided to march [to the Ky Anh township offices], but police had already blocked all access to the highway, she said.



Over 200 policemen had been mobilized to block the march and had set up barricades, seizing protesters banners and loudspeakers as they approached, Phuong said.



Protesters tried to climb over the barricades, but we couldnt get through. Police used batons to beat people, and one woman was injured, she said.



Protesters were finally able to reach the offices of the township peoples committee, but unfortunately, the office was closed when they got there, and people had to go home, Phuong said.



Beaten by police



Nguyen Thanh Lang, head of the Quy Hoa parish ministry administration, said that protesters had marched at first without interference from the police, but were then stopped at the barricades.



The police beat them, Land said. One persons arm was broken, while others received minor injuries.



The victim is still in the township hospital, he said.



The beating victim, an elderly woman called Nhon, was taken to the hospital by police, who paid for her treatment and procedures, Nhons daughter Hoa told RFA.



Though Nhon had fallen when struck by the police, they continued beating her, Hoa said.



The hospital performed an ultrasound and found out they had broken her arm.



Reached for comment, an official in the townships Ky Ha village denied that police had injured the woman.



She fell because of a stampede. Nobody beat anyone, he said.



The protesters had brought banners and loudspeakers, and they spoke ill of our leaders and the government, he said.



Support from church, donors



Most of Ky Has villagers are fishermen or make salt, but since the April fish kill have survived mainly on support from their church or from individual donors, sources said.



Four months have now passed since the disaster, but we have each received only 15 kg of rice per month, and its quality is so bad that we cant eat it, Phuong told RFA.



We havent heard a single word from the authorities showing their sympathy or support.



And though teachers have come back to the village to make plans for the coming year, village parents now have little money to pay for school, parish administrator Lang said.



If they cut all the school fees, our children will go back to school. But if they cut only a small percent, they wont be able to return.



Reported by Xuan Nguyen for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney.




It's no secret that social-network sites on the Internet are being abused and used for foul purposes. No country is immune to this problem.

Kazakhstan has been having its own problems, particularly with sites authorities in the country say are carrying extremist messages and content. Hundreds of websites have been blocked by the Kazakh authorities but the efforts of the government are apparently not enough. So, the Kazakh government is calling on citizens to get involved.

Reports from Kazakh media on August 12 noted that the Information and Communications Ministry has launched a new website. "Dear friends, literally in the last few days on the website of our ministry a complaints section has been launched, where any citizen can inform about information on the Internet that violates the laws of Kazakhstan," a statement from the ministry read.

Reports on the launch of the new section on the ministry's website say it is mainly intended to help the authorities locate "sites and groups on social networks that carry propaganda on suicides, narcotics, terrorism, extremism, acts of cruelty, interethnic strife, etc...."

Those accessing the site can choose from a list of categories that could be relevant to their "complaint."

The website promises the ministry will check complaints from citizens to see if there are indeed violations of the country's laws on the websites and social networks in question.

The ministry also promises to explain to the people of Kazakhstan the reasons for official decisions to block particular websites.

The idea of the new complaints page seems to have some merit.

Based on reporting from RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, known locally as Azattyq, it is clear the number of suicides has been increasing lately amid Kazakhstan's drastic economic downturn.

There have been instances of websites available in Kazakhstan that have been promoting extremist ideas or disseminating radical content.

On the other hand, absent from the statement of the Information and Communications Ministry is mention of a vetting process for the complainer. It is unclear whether those filing a complaint could be found and held accountable for providing false information to the ministry's website if their complaints turn out to be false.

That raises the question of possible abuse of the website of the Information and Communications Ministry.

In 2015 there were several cases of bloggers being arrested and convicted for violating Article 174 of the Criminal Code, which deals with the fomentation of social, national, tribal, racial, class, or religious hatred, and actions that insult national honor or dignity or the religious beliefs of citizens. It was not always clear if those convicted intended to incite or insult, and if their writings genuinely represented a violation of the law.

Some felt the government used the law to silence government critics. The new site launched by the Information and Communications Ministry could be used toward similar ends if not properly managed.

Could it be used for personal vendettas? That is also unclear. There have been numerous examples worldwide of people creating dummy accounts to disseminate information in someone else's name.

Another aspect worth mentioning: Can this move by the Information and Communications Ministry really help prevent violence such as that seen in Kazakhstan this year?

In early June, a group of young men in the western city of Aqtobe robbed a gun store and staged an armed attack that left several civilians and police dead, and ended with a shoot-out outside a military facility where most of the attackers were killed. Their motives are still not clear.

In July, a former convict killed several people in Almaty in revenge at having been imprisoned.

Kazakh authorities have ascribed both these incidents to terrorism, a designation some people question. But if they were indeed terrorist acts, in both cases a website such as that just launched by the Information and Communications Ministry would not have helped. There was no cyber-trail.

Yerzhan Karabek of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service contributed to this report
The United States says Russia's use of an Iranian air base to carry out air strikes in Syria is "unfortunate but not surprising."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on August 16 that the use of Iran's Hamadan air field would not definitively prevent Washington from cooperating with Moscow on resolving the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo or fighting against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria.

But he said U.S. officials were "not there yet" on a cooperation agreement with the Kremlin and cited Russia's continued bombing of moderate Syrian forces that the United States and its allies support.

Earlier, Russian state media said that warplanes had flown air strikes in Syria from an Iranian air base, soon after officials in Moscow and Tehran announced the unprecedented cooperation as an effort to battle IS militants.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the August 16 air strikes were carried out by Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters that took off from the Hamadan air field in northwestern Iran.

There was no word on how many bombers were deployed.

U.S. military spokesman Chris Garver said Washington was informed ahead of time about the Russian bombing raid as required by a mutual agreement on flight safety and that it "did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said air raids on August 16 against two rebel-held districts in Syria's second city of Aleppo killed at least 19 civilians.

SOHR head Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes on Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur, which reportedly killed three children, were either carried out by Russian or Syrian government aircraft and had also wounded dozens of people.

Rahman could not confirm that the air strikes were made by the Russian warplanes that had taken off from the Iranian air field.

The Russian military had previously launched such strikes only from its own soil or Syrian territory, where Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad has been waging a five-year war to hold onto power in the face of an Islamist militant threat and Western backing for Assad's political and armed opponents.

The Russian attacks appear to mark the first time Tehran's staunchly anti-Western leadership has permitted a foreign country to use Iran to stage military operations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Russian state channel RT reported that the development allows the Russian air force to drastically reduce flying times to targets in Syria, where Moscow has been waging a bombardment campaign since September with the publicly stated aims of propping up Assad and fighting Islamist militants.

Widening Russia's Footprint

Russia has long leased a naval facility in the eastern Mediterranean port city of Tartus and last year built up forces at the Hmeimim air base near Latakia, in northwestern Syria.

In addition to widening Russia's footprint in the region, Putin's maneuvering over Syria is also widely perceived as an attempt to accrue influence on the international stage that might help eclipse Moscow's isolation over its invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow has been working loosely for months with Tehran, which has provided Assad with ground troops and appears increasingly invested in the fate of the Syrian regime.

The United States, Turkey, and their allies have repeatedly called for Assad's exit, and international talks to bring about a political solution in Syria remain stalled.

Moscow has insisted that talks with Washington are nearing an agreement to boost cooperation in Aleppo, a prewar industrial hub that has seen some of the worst fighting.

More than a quarter-million Syrians have been killed since the conflict began in 2011, and many millions more have been displaced internally or fled to Turkey or farther west.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the August 16 air strikes successfully hit IS facilities in three northern Syrian provinces, including arms depots and training camps.

The Reuters news agency reported that Russian state TV aired images of at least three Russian Tu-22M3 bombers and a military transport plane inside Iran.

Vladimir Komoyedov, chairman of the Russian Duma's Defense Committee, said the use of the Iranian base would "save fuel and enlarge bomb loads."

Closer Consultation



The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council appeared to confirm the reports, saying that Tehran and Moscow are sharing facilities to fight against "terrorism."



"Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one, and we share our potential and facilities in this field," Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying in an interview with the Iranian government news agency IRNA.

On August 15, Putin's top Middle East envoy, Mikhail Bogdanov, held talks in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran's English-language Press TV reported that the two sides stressed "the importance of closer consultation between Iran and Russia on ways to solve the crisis in Syria."

In January, Moscow and Tehran signed a military cooperation deal focused on wider cooperation on training and fighting terrorism.

Also on August 16, the New York-based rights monitor Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the joint Russian-Syria military operation in Syria of using incendiary weapons in civilian areas.

HRW said air-dropped incendiary weapons had been used at least 18 times in the past six weeks. It urged the countries of the Convention on Chemical Weapons to condemn the action when they meet in Geneva on August 29.

"These weapons inflict horrible injuries and excruciating pain, so all countries should condemn their use in civilian areas," HRW arms director Steve Goose was quoted as saying.

IS controls swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq, where it has employed ruthless tactics like summary executions and mass killings of captives in an effort to establish what it claims is a worldwide Islamic caliphate.

Putin announced the start of a withdrawal of the "main part" of Russian forces in March, suggesting the country had "achieved its aims."

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, and IRNA
KYIV -- At a bustling Kyiv intersection lined with storefronts selling coffee and pastries, a pile of red roses surrounds a black-and-white photograph of Pavel Sheremet, an intrepid journalist who was killed by a car bomb here on July 20.

The simple, solemn memorial to Sheremet is also a symbol of a wave of attacks on journalists -- online and in the streets -- that has raised stark questions about power, patriotism, and the freedom of speech in Ukraine, and clouded the country's chances for normalcy.

In a nation struggling with economic troubles and Russian aggression, media professionals suspect they are being targeted in a far-reaching campaign of abuse whose perpetrators, like Sheremets unidentified killers, have so far acted with total impunity.



Journalists who have challenged the authorities, veered from the governments narrative on the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the east, or reported from separatist-held territories have found themselves in the crosshairs of coordinated online attacks carried out by hypernationalist trolls and bots -- attacks that in some cases have been supported, at least verbally, by high-ranking government and security officials.

The barrage of criticism has inspired public contempt for journalists as well as hacks and leaks of their personal data, including e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and passport information, and their correspondence with sources. Some journalists have faced death threats and physical assaults.

The day before Sheremet died -- when a bomb blast hit the car he was driving to work -- a journalist was stabbed three times in a Kyiv park and another was beaten on the street five days later.

According to the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a media watchdog that tracks attacks on reporters in Ukraine, the Prosecutor-General's Office logged 113 criminal offenses -- including physical attacks, damage to property, and obstruction of activities -- committed against journalists in the first half of 2016.



For a quarter-century, muckraking journalists in Ukraine have faced harassment, intimidation, and worse from powerful people in government and business. The media landscape is still scarred by the grisly killing of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, whose headless corpse was found in a forest outside Kyiv after he disappeared in 2000.

The Kyiv Post newspaper has compiled a list of more than 50 Ukrainian journalists who have been killed or who died under suspicious circumstances since the country gained independence in the Soviet collapse of 1991. Others have gone missing, been beaten, or threatened with violence.

The new wave of attacks presents a crucial test for Ukraine in the wake of the Euromaidan protests that drove Viktor Yanukovych, a president compromised by corruption allegations and strong Kremlin influence, from power in 2014.

How the government handles it, observers and insiders say, will play a powerful role in determining whether Ukraine will tread a path toward greater democracy and Western integration or slide back into authoritarianism and crony capitalism.

That second route would leave it all the more vulnerable to pressure from Russia, which has destabilized Ukraine by seizing the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and supporting separatists in a war that has killed more than 9,500 people in the eastern Donbas region since that April.

So far, it doesnt look promising.

Resigning in frustration and anger on August 3, Deputy Information Policy Minister Tetyana Popova condemned what she called the governments lack of will to investigate abuse against journalists and defend freedom of speech.

I do not support attacks on journalists and attacks on freedom of speech by political organizations and individual political officials, Popova wrote on Facebook. I cannot tolerate the absence of a proper reaction to these kinds of attacks.

The assaults that bookended Sheremets assassination occurred in broad daylight in the countrys capital, but nobody has been prosecuted for them -- or even arrested.

The same goes for his killing. A flurry of details about the mechanics of the attack and theories about a motive in the hours afterward have given way to something close to silence from law enforcement, and there is little sign that a solution is imminent.

Colleagues view the fact that a high-ranking police official who reportedly assigned surveillance to Sheremet weeks before his death was allowed to enjoy a long summer vacation before being questioned as evidence that Ukraines leaders are not taking the case seriously. The official returned to Kyiv on August 6 and wrote a statement about the alleged surveillance, but has not yet been formally questioned.

What many journalists find more disturbing is the ambivalent, sometimes supportive stance the Ukrainian authorities have taken toward a newer brand of attacks on journalists -- one that is thriving in the Internet age.

Oksana Romanyuk, the director of IMI and Ukraine representative for Reporters Without Borders, told RFE/RL that authorities still account for some of the attacks against journalists. But this year, she says, she has noticed a startling shift: Most threats and attacks, including those online, have been carried out by civilians.



She said that 71 attacks against journalists, two-thirds of the total so far in 2016, have been committed by private persons, 50 by officials, and six by law enforcement."

The attackers are tech-savvy hackers, Internet trolls, and in a growing number of cases media employees known as patriotic journalists, who align themselves with the state.

Members of this group tend to display unconditional support for what they see as Ukraines interests, view issues such as the war in eastern Ukraine though a filter of black and white and good and evil, and suspect a Russian-orchestrated conspiracy behind anyone even remotely critical of Ukraine.

This is a new phenomenon, said Katya Gorchinskaya, chief executive officer of the Kyiv-based Hromadske.TV, told RFE/RL. The particular split [among journalists], as well as an alliance of patriotic citizens and government, is new.



Hromadske.TV has experienced the movements harassment firsthand. Earlier this month, the online public TV company, created at the start of the Euromaidan protests in 2013, found itself the subject of a well-organized online attack carried out by an army of trolls and bots after it published a video report that showed fighting in the flash-point eastern town of Avdiyivka that authorities complained gave away Ukrainian military positions.



Though we dont know who commissioned the attack, we do know that their position was strongly pro-government, Gorchinskaya wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian in July.



Those who stand up against the attacks themselves often face threats and criticism.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Popova said that the actions of the Ukrainian authorities  and what she termed their lack of action in prosecuting those who attack journalists -- sow hatred and encourage others to indulge in similar attacks.

There are many politicians in the government who do not understand the importance thatjournalists and free speech play in democracy, she said.



Popova continues to serve in the ministry until parliament can vote to approve her resignation. She said she hopes it will be done before the end of August.



Her resignation was a rebellion against the governments silent approval of violence and trolling of journalists, Gorchinskaya said.

From I-Army To Myrotvorets



Romanyuk said she noticed a spike in such trolling of journalists following the creation in February 2015 of a Ukrainian Internet army headed by Information Policy Minister Yuriy Stets, a close ally of President Petro Poroshenko who once worked at Channel 5, a TV news company controlled by Poroshenko.

Each of your information messages is a bullet in your enemys conscience, read the website of the ministrys i-army, which said its goal was countering Russias formidable propaganda machine.

It invited patriotic Ukrainian Internet users to submit their names and e-mail addresses to join other information warriors. Weekly e-mails were then sent to the i-army with information about stories and reporters it disagreed with and what must be done to counter them. For instance, if a reporter used the term rebel to describe Russia-backed separatists or civil war to describe the conflict, members were urged to hound the publication and the reporter on their social-media accounts. For the i-army, the preferred terms are terrorists and Russias war.



Romanyuk says the i-army seems to have paved the way for the more serious trolling and cyberattacks against journalists that began last May, when a Ukrainian nationalist website called Myrotvorets, or Peacemaker, hacked and published the personal data of more than 5,000 Ukrainian and foreign reporters and fixers who applied for press passes issued by separatists who hold territory in the Donetsk region and branded them terrorist collaborators. The information was gleaned during a hack of the separatists servers.



There is widespread suspicion that the hack was conducted by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, or perhaps by close allies contracted by the organization. Myrotvorets is said to be directed by an elusive Ukrainian who goes by the name Roman Zaytsev. Zaytsevs Facebook page, on which his face is masked, lists his occupation as director of the site and his past occupation as department head at the SBU.

Zaytsev did not respond to requests for comment, which were addressed to the Facebook page. In a written statement to RFE/RL, SBU chief of staff Oleksandr Tkachuk said that the Security Service of Ukraine has no relation to the creation of the website Myrotvorets, and it is not cooperating with persons associated with its operation.

Tkachuk added that nobody named Roman Zaytsev is or was an employe[e] or officer or an adviser in the SBU. The SBUs position, he said, is that the Myrotvorets site summarizes information on the Internet that is in the public domain, namely information voluntarily submitted to open and socially oriented public resources, and therefore has operated legally.

In fact, however, much of the information Myrotvorets published was not shared publicly on social media; it was shared privately over e-mail. And documents included in the leak, such as passports, had not been made public by the journalists.



Rights groups and international observers warned of the danger of reprisals stemming from the leaks.

Such irresponsible comments and actions jeopardize the safety of journalists and human rights defenders and violate their right to privacy, Human Rights Watch said in an August 10 report.

Sure enough, in the days and weeks following the leaks, many journalists whose names appeared on the Myrotvorets list received death threats from anonymous social-media users or via text message from unidentified numbers. Dozens of journalists faced a barrage of negative comments on Facebook and Twitter.

Far from denouncing the distribution of personal data and the rhetoric used to describe journalists named in the leaks, some high-ranking officials and politicians have backed Myrotvorets. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov branded the journalists on the list as liberal-separatists. Anton Herashchenko, an Avakov adviser and lawmaker from the Peoples Front -- part of the ruling coalition in parliament led by Poroshenkos party -- told his more than 100,000 followers on Facebook that they were traitors and terrorist collaborators.



Poroshenko did condemn the Myrotvorets leak -- but not until several weeks later, when he was pushed to respond during his annual press conference in June. And he added a caveat that echoed the position of Myrotvorets itself: Journalists should not write negative articles about Ukraine.



For Romanyuk, Poroshenkos remarks were too little, too late. And they have not put an end to the leaks or the threats.



On August 4 came a second leak of journalists data. It included private information about many dozens of journalists, including those from foreign media outlets such as the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera, the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, and RFE/RL.

It was also swiftly followed by a salvo of fresh criticism, with Ukrainian nationalists and officials quickly voicing their support and echoing previous sentiments that journalists reporting on the war from separatist-controlled territory were collaborating with terrorists.

One such critical remark came from Roman Donik, a volunteer who supplies soldiers with equipment and who issued a warning to journalists on the day of the second leak.

If you dont cleanse your profession yourselves, it will be cleaned up by kicking your face in, Donik wrote on Facebook. And, yes, I see nothing seditious in the fact that journalists have been beaten, especially if theyve received accreditation in [separatist-controlled Donetsk]. Its a professional hazard, like how a sanitation worker smells like shit.

The latest leak is purported to have come from Tatyana Yegorova, a disgruntled former administrator of the Donetsk separatists security service who posted a link to a Dropbox folder containing the documents on Twitter. However, observers see the hand of Myrotvorets in the leak, particularly because the types of documents and details released resemble those in the first leak.

Many e-mails included in the second leak come from journalists asking Yegorova to provide them press passes to work in separatist-held parts of Donetsk region. These credentials have been required since the start of the war and are necessary for reporters to navigate through checkpoints and work on both sides of the front lines.

Accreditation with separatists is no guarantee of protection; in fact, many journalists who have received such credentials have been subjected to abductions, detentions, and interrogations.



Whos Behind Myrotvorets?



Zaytsev is believed to be a figurehead, and who exactly is behind Myrotvorets remains unclear. There has been much speculation that Herashchenko directs the sites operations and that a group of nationalist volunteers carry out its daily activities while online supporters promote their work. Asked in an interview with RFE/RL whether Myrotvorets is his brainchild, Herashchenko winked, chuckled, and replied: No.

The group operates in the shadows, its website does not have a masthead, and it never attaches a byline to its published articles or leaks, making it difficult to know who is in its ranks. But a document obtained by RFE/RL and examined by IMI has shined some light on that. The Google Sheets document indicates that Myrotvorets is getting professional assistance from a murky Kyiv-based public relations company called Internet Business Promotions, which is run by a man named Ihor Savchuk. Savchuks Facebook profile shows him dressed in camouflage and holding a rifle, and his timeline is filled with supportive words for Myrotvorets and links to the site.

Among the many services offered by Internet Business Promotions is reputation building using online mediasocial networks and the blogosphere, as well as crisis PR for the neutralization of negative information. That could translate as online trolling.



Savchuk did not respond to RFE/RLs requests for comment on Facebook, though the messages were received. Asked whether he knows Savchuk personally, Herashchenko said that he has made his acquaintance but did not elaborate.



RFE/RL came across the document linking Internet Business Promotions with Myrotvorets on June 15, when a blogger named Myroslav Oleshko published a plea on Facebook for patriotic citizens to help with Myrotvorets work and boasting about having obtained leaked data from Russia-backed separatists in the Luhansk region.



Oleshkos post included a Google Sheets attachment with some of the information. The properties of the attachment, when viewed on a mobile device, showed its creator to be a user called ihor108 with the email address ihor108@gmail.com. A Google search quickly connected that e-mail address with Savchuk and another Internet marketing company headed by him.



Patriotic Journalism



To Popova, the rise of patriotic journalism is at least as chilling as the leaks. Its a dangerous trend, she said, that is leading to a narrowing of the space for freedom of expression, and its a real threat to the health and lives of journalists.

But others are embracing it, creating a rift that critics of the practice say puts journalists, and the future of Ukraine, at risk.

Journalists should never write something that would harm their country, said a reporter who asked that she not be named because she did not want to be viewed as speaking for her company, a media outlet owned by influential tycoon Viktor Pinchuk.

In practice, that means the kind of hard-hitting reporting some believe can help Ukraine shed Russian influence and thrive -- by minimizing corruption, misrule, and the abuse of power -- is considered by others to be out of bounds, and even treasonous.

Yevhen Fedchenko, who has influenced generations of Ukrainian reporters as director of the Kyiv Mohyla School of Journalism and founded the website StopFake.org, which exposes Russian disinformation, said that the trend of patriotic journalism is worrying.

Only The Start

But he also said that it is not hackers, nationalist trolls, or the authorities who are responsible for the fallout from the Myrotvorets leaks but rather the journalists who have been targeted, arguing that they brought attention to the site.



Before journalists publicized the leak, nobody really knew about Myrotvorets. Then media started saying they were gathering signatures to prosecute Myrotvorets, Fedchenko told RFE/RL.



In fact, it was not journalists who first drew attention to Myrotvorets but Herashchenko, who posted a message on Facebook about traitor journalists who collaborate with terrorists and linked to the leak on the Myrotvorets site. Journalists picked up the story only later, after the harassment began.



As for the recent spate of physical assaults on journalists, Fedchenko said: What is happening today [to journalists] seems minor and inconsequential, blown out of proportion and pushed by many journalists because it is really more about self-importance and self-aggrandizement rather than pursuing journalism for the sake of journalism.



For Romanyuk, this highlights what she sees as widening divide within Ukraines media community. There is no solidarity or common values right now, she said.



Gorchinskaya, the Hromadske.TV CEO, said that the authorities approach has made things worse.

The government remains silent, and silent endorsement -- and sometimes open endorsement -- gives society the message that its normal to call journalists traitors and threaten them, she said.

The online abuse has continued, and Herashchenko predicted it wont subside anytime soon.

My feeling is that this is only the start and soon many more leaks and information will be revealed, he said.

* This story has been corrected to clarify that a high-ranking police official returned to Kyiv on August 6 from vacation but has not yet been questioned in Sheremet's death.


Shamil Adzynba has resigned as the de facto first deputy prime minister of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.

Abkhaz leader Raul Khajimba accepted Adzynba's resignation on August 15.

Adzynba said he was not "content with the way things are at the moment" and "found it impossible to stay" in his post.

He added that his resignation is not related to new Prime Minister Beslan Bartsits taking office.

Adzynba also served briefly as acting prime minister after the resignation of Artur Mikvabiya on July 26.

Adzynba said part of his decision to leave office was due to the failure to enforce the Abkhaz region's language law, which states that politicians must be able to speak the Abkhaz language.

He said many of the new officials in Bartsits's government do not meet this requirement.

Adzynba said he will run next year in a seat for the unrecognized state's self-declared assembly.

Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway territory, South Ossetia, as independent states after a brief war against Georgia in 2008. Moscow has thousands of troops in the regions.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA Novosti


An Afghan woman has surrendered to police claiming that her husband, a local commander for the militant group Islamic State, (IS) was pressuring her to carry out a suicide bombing, officials said.

The woman, whose name has not been revealed, turned herself in on August 16 in the northern province of Jowzjan, along the border with Turkmenistan.

The case underscores the ongoing threat from militants in Afghanistan, where IS fighters appear to have been building a presence for more than two years as they compete with the Taliban to spearhead antigovernment and anti-Western efforts.

IS devotees have claimed responsibility for a number of recent deadly attacks against Afghan civilians and security forces.

The would-be bomber reportedly remains in custody, and the details of the case were provided to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan by Afghan authorities.

They say her husband, Qari Zia, is a former Taliban commander from Jowzjan Province who crossed over to IS and is now based in the extremists' stronghold of Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan.

"Qari Zia...encouraged his wife to carry out a suicide attack," Rahmatullah Turkistani, the police commander of Jowzjan Province, said. "He wanted his wife to come to Nangarhar to receive training in preparation for a suicide attack."

Turkistani said the woman was traveling to Nangarhar when she surrendered to security forces in Jowzjan's provincial capital, Sheberghan. She is being held in a women's shelter in the city while police investigate her claims.

The police commander said Zia had repeatedly telephoned his wife to urge her to go to Nangarhar's provincial capital, Jalalabad, where authorities believe he is hiding.

"She said her husband pressured her but she didn't want to be a suicide bomber and she wanted to surrender to the government," said Najiba Quraishi, the head of the provincial department of women's affairs in Jowzjan, who has interviewed the woman.

Quraishi added that the woman was 32 years old and had been married to Zia for three years, during which time he had constantly pressured her to carry out a suicide bombing.

IS Threat

The case comes one week after police detained Mawlawi Baz Mohammad, the shadow IS governor of Jowzjan, in a security operation in Qush Tepa district. Officials have said the militants' ranks include members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a primarily Uzbek group known by Afghans as Jundullah.

IS militants are mostly based in pockets of territory in the Nangarhar, Kunar, and Zabul provinces, along Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan. They have reportedly established recruitment and training camps in the region.

The group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing last month that tore through crowds of minority Shi'ite Hazara protesters in Kabul, killing more than 70 people in the deadliest attack in the capital since the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban and pursue Al-Qaeda's leadership in 2001.

In July, Afghan forces launched an offensive against IS fighters in the east of the country, backed by U.S. forces and air strikes. Last week, the Pentagon confirmed that the leader of IS in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed, was killed weeks ago in an American drone strike in Nangarhar.

Despite the blow, analysts say the IS threat in Afghanistan is far from over. U.S. military officials have said that there are between 1,500 and 3,000 IS-linked militants in the eastern region, most of them former Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters. The United States said last week that an estimated 300 IS fighters had been killed in July.

Written by Frud Bezhan based on reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Alem Rahmanyar in Jowzjan
Azerbaijan said it has launched a criminal investigation into supporters of Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last month's aborted coup.

"To prevent illegal actions on the territory of Azerbaijan by the supporters of the terrorist organization of Fethullah Gulen, the prosecutor-general has launched a criminal case," spokesman Eldar Sultanov told AFP.

He said investigators have begun "actions" on the case, without elaborating. It is unclear how many people might be prosecuted.

Gulen, who is living in exile in the United States, is accused of ordering the July 15 attempt by a group within the military to remove Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power. Gulen strongly denies the accusation.

Azerbaijan last month shut down a private television channel over plans to broadcast an interview with Gulen, saying it wanted to "avoid provocations aimed at damaging the strategic partnership between Turkey and Azerbaijan."

Gulen's Hizmet movement has sponsored schools in several ex-Soviet nations, which are funded by Turkish followers of the cleric.

Gulen's associates say they seek to promote moderate Islam and good education.

Based on reporting by AFP and TASS
MAKHACHKALA, Russia -- Police in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region of Daghestan have rounded up some 50 patrons of a fitness center in Makhachkala and taken them into custody.

Police said the August 15 detentions were necessary "to identify the men." It is not clear whether the men were released.

Earlier in July, police detained more than 40 patrons of the same fitness club for several hours "in order to identify them." At that time, police justified the measure by the fact that all the men at the club were bearded.

Law-enforcement officials in Daghestan often suspect men with beards of adhering to radical Islamic teachings.

Daghestan has been at the epicenter of a wave of violence by armed criminal groups and by militants seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate in the North Caucasus.

With reporting by chernovik.net
So by now the holes in Russia's story about an alleged Ukrainian terror plot in Crimea are big enough to drive a truck through.

Nobody who has seriously looked at the evidence actually believes this tall tale. And yet, the Kremlin is sticking to its story and showing no signs of relenting.

But why?

Well, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave us a big hint during talks yesterday with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Lavrov said, and I'm quoting directly here: "There was a sabotage operation, planned by Ukraines intelligence services, which had the aim of destabilizing the situation in the Russian region of Crimea.

"Regardless of how our Western partners choose to work with our friends in Kyiv, we are taking comprehensive measures so that any future attempts at hostile incursions into our territory are nipped in the bud."

Now, the operative words here, of course, were "the Russian region of Crimea" and "our territory."

By manufacturing this crisis, Vladimir Putin's regime has given itself the opportunity to continuously talk in international forums about Crimea like it is legally part of Russia, to accuse Ukraine of destabilizing it, and to demand the West do something about it.

They're framing the debate and challenging the West to contradict them.

They're trying to make everybody forget -- or conveniently overlook -- that Russia illegally and forcefully annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

It's the functional equivalent of a car thief calling the police to accuse the rightful owner of trying to take their car back.

It's a con job, and it's working.

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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."
Chinese mobile subscribers will experience cuts in their phone subscription. (Photo : Getty Images)

The two major telecommunications company in China decided that at the onset of fourth generation technology (4G), roaming charges should be slashed.



An undisclosed employee of China Mobile revealed that by the end of the year, China Mobile will totally eliminate roaming charges.



CEO of China Telecom, Yang Jie, said at the 8th Intelligent Terminal Industry Forum that the company will also be cutting charges on voice calls and traffic.



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The company's efforts follow the request from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to lessen phone charges.



Liu Dingding, an independent industry analyst, said, "Roaming charges are out of date, and currently, there is virtually no country in the world that still charges for that."



At a press conference, China Mobile's CEO, Li Yue, said that they will encounter a dip in sales if they abolish roaming fees as 36 percent of the company's profit comes from voice calls.



However, the CEO reported that the company's revenue is mainly from traffic generation.



China Mobile's revenue increased 7.1 percent to 370 billion yuan or $56 billion at the first quarter of this year. Liu also reported that they have 429 million subscribers to 4G by June.



"The popularity of 4G services, as well as the growing traffic revenue, heralds the time to initiate a reform to transform the revenue structure," Liu said.



For China Telecom, overseas investments have boosted the sales of the state-owned telecom. They have recently been looking into investing in 4G services in Egypt with Saudi Telecom.



Steven Liu, head of research at China Securities International, thinks that China Telecom is poised to compete with European providers.



He said, "Overseas revenue mainly comes from roaming and is almost negligible," Liu said by phone. "If they were to acquire 4G licenses, it would be more of the goal to establish a presence than to compete toe-to-toe with European operators."


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."
A public commission in Kyrgyzstan has concluded that Tsarist Russia's mass crackdown on an uprising by Kyrgyz in 1916 was genocide.

The commission's head, Azimbek Beknazarov, told reporters that his commission's conclusion on August 15 was based on data retrieved from archives provided by Russian and Chinese authorities.

During World War I, Russia decided to draft indigenous peoples of Central Asia into the army as unarmed workers who would build trenches and fortifications.

Many Kyrgyz and Kazakhs refused to go and openly rebelled against Russian authorities.

It is believed that between 100,000 and 270,000 ethnic Kyrgyz were killed by Tsarist Russia's punitive battalions, as hundreds of thousands of others fled to the neighboring Chinese province of Xinjiang.

The deadly events in Kyrgyzstan in 1916 were not mentioned in Soviet textbooks, while a similar uprising in Kazakhstan was described as a revolt against local feudal overlords and the Russian tsar that contributed to the victory of Russian communists in 1917.

In April, Russian State Duma chairman Sergei Naryshkin rejected the genocide allegations in regard to the uprisings, saying that "all nations suffered 100 years ago."


Russia has proposed cutting the number of cosmonauts at the International Space Station from three to two -- a plan NASA is studying to see whether it poses risks to other crew members.

Typically, six crew members live at the orbiting outpost.

NASA's Kenneth Todd said on August 15 that Russia recently told its space station partners that it was considering downsizing to save money amid a tight budget.

The Russian plan would go into effect no earlier than 2017, Interfax reported. Todd said Russia has committed to the current program at least through 2024, but NASA is concerned about possible risks from a reduced staff.

"We will look at it...We will trade it against whatever risk that might put into the program," he said. "First and foremost, the risk to our crew onboard and the station itself."

NASA will try to "either accommodate it or help them realize why that is a bad thing," he said.

Since 2000, the station has been continuously occupied by a rotating staff of astronauts who typically stay for six months at a time before returning to Earth.

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
A Russian man has cut off two of his fingers in a grisly quest for justice after his wife reported being raped in police custody -- and was then accused of filing a false claim.

Igor Gubanov cut off his left pinky with a hacksaw on August 8 to draw attention to his demand that the authorities release surveillance-camera footage from the police station where he and his wife, Salima Mukhamedyanova, say she was raped by an officer in January.

"I took this saw, and I put my hand in the bathtub and sawed, like this," Gubanov told RFE/RL's Current Time television. "There is some blood and a piece of bone. To be honest, it was painful and unpleasant."

Gubanov said he would sever a digit every Monday until the video was released  and made good on his word by cutting off the ring finger on the same hand on August 15.

He then said he would stop sawing off his fingers and resort to "legal" means to achieve justice.

The street sweeper's self-mutilation was a particularly desperate measure to bring the authorities to account in Russia, where allegations of violence and torture in police custody are common despite reform efforts during Dmitry Medvedev's 2008-12 presidency.

Gubanov and Mukhamedyanova were detained on January 26 at the Lenin district police station in the Urals city of Magnitogorsk after a dispute with a neighbor in their communal apartment. Police let the couple go after compiling a report for a misdemeanor.

Shortly afterward, they were detained again without explanation and Mukhamedyanova was raped by a police officer while in custody, Gubanov said.

He told the Public Verdict Foundation, a nongovernmental organization that has given the couple legal and psychological assistance, that police then told them to keep quiet.

The couple left Magnitogorsk, fearing reprisals, and filed an official complaint in the neighboring Bashkortostan region.

Police conducted forensic examinations over the rape claim but also began putting pressure on the alleged victim, her husband, and their lawyer, the Public Verdict Foundation said. Police then closed the case and opened proceedings against Mukhamedyanova, accusing her of purposefully submitting a false report.

After cutting off the second finger, Gubanov said he would halt that form of protest. "This does not mean that I have stopped insisting on the proper investigation of the case, and the dropping of charges against my wife," Gubanov was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Public Verdict Foundation.

He indicated that he had succeeded in prompting a public outcry over the alleged police abuse and said it was now important to "achieve my objectives through legal means."
The mufti of Russia's North Caucasus region of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Ismail Berdiyev, has said the genital mutilation of girls does not contradict Islam and is necessary in order "to limit the unnecessary energy" of future brides.

In an interview with Govorit Moskva radio on August 15, Berdiyev said female genital mutilation (FGM) was "a purely Daghestani ritual."

Berdiyev's statement came days after the Moscow-based Pravovaya Initsiativa (Legal Initiative) human rights center raised the issue of FGM in the mainly Muslim-populated North Caucasus region of Daghestan.

Legal Initiative said in its report that in some remote areas in Daghestan, toddler girls go through genital mutilation in very poor sanitary conditions and called on Russian officials to focus on the problem.

Legal Initiative quoted several Islamic clerics, some of whom opposed FSM, while others supported it.

The center's report also included opinion of the Daghestani children's ombudswoman, Intizar Mamutayeva, who condemned the ritual as "violence against children."

On August 15 Mamutayeva was removed from her position and replaced by former Deputy Justice Minister Rabiyat Zakavova.

The United Nations children's organization, UNICEF, estimates that some 200 million women have undergone FGM in some 30 countries around the world.

Based on reporting by Kavpolit.com, Volgadaily.ru, and Kavkaz-uzel.eu
Russia's defense minister said Moscow and Washington are getting closer to an agreement that would help defuse the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Syrian city Aleppo.

"Step by step, we are nearing an arrangement -- I'm talking exclusively about Aleppo -- that would allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, that long-suffering land so that people could return to their homes," Sergei Shoigu told Rossia 24 television on August 15.

Shoigu added that Russian representatives are "in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues."

Fighting for Aleppo, once Syria's commercial capital and its largest city, has become the focal point of the nation's civil war, now in its sixth year.

U.S. officials said, however, that agreement is not close.

"We have nothing to announce at this time," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. "We remain in close contact [with Russian officials]."

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it contends is U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

Shoigu said in the TV interview that extremists in Syria are often positioned near groups that the United States considers moderate.

The Al-Nusra Front has rebranded itself and now goes under the name of Fath al-Sham, an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led air strikes targeting militants. Many have dismissed the name change as window dressing.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, on August 15 described the battle for Aleppo as "one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times."

"No one and nowhere is safe. Shell fire is constant, with houses, schools, and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense," Maurer said.

The Red Cross repeated its call on all warring parties to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver supplies to civilians in desperate need of food and clean water across Aleppo.

Shoigu said Russia has delivered aid to Aleppo and is helping to rebuild damaged water-pumping stations. About 700,000 people are still living in Aleppo and residents in the eastern part of the city were "hostages of armed groups," he said.

Earlier on August 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Syrian militants had used a temporary cease-fire around Aleppo to regroup.

With reporting by AP and Reuters


A leading member of a banned opposition party in Tajikistan jailed for purportedly showing support for the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in his town has reportedly died in jail.

The Ozodagon website reported on August 16 that Qurbon Mannonov, 73, died in a detention facility in Dushanbe overnight. The site quoted Mannonov's relatives as reporting the death. No official confirmation has been made.

Mannonov was the head of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan's (IRPT) branch in the city of Nurak, 70 kilometers southeast of the capital, Dushanbe.

He and 12 others were arrested in August 2015 in the wake of the government's crackdown on the IRPT, which was banned shortly afterwards.

Mannonov was accused of masterminding the raising of an Islamic State flag in Nurak. He rejected the charges as being politically motivated.

In February, the detained party members were sentenced to prison terms of between 10 and 25 years.

In June, a court in Dushanbe sentenced the IRPT's deputy heads to life imprisonment and 12 other leading members of the party to prison terms of between two and 28 years on charges of conspiring with former Defense Minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda in a supposed armed bid to seize power in September 2015.

Party leader Muhiddin Kabiri, who now lives in exile, rejected the accusations.

With reporting by Ozodagon


ON MY MIND

Two winners emerging out of Vladimir Putin's decision to dismiss Sergei Ivanov as Kremlin chief of staff appear -- at least for the moment -- to be National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

The two are allies. Both have feuded with Ivanov in the past, both won those feuds, and now Ivanov is out (although not entirely, as he retains a seat on the Security Council). When Kadyrov emerged as the presumed mastermind in the February 2015 assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, Ivanov and FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov tried to clip his wings. They were stopped by Putin. Ivanov also appears to have opposed the creation of a National Guard under Zolotov's leadership. He obviously lost that fight.

Putin has abandoned his old policy of balancing the Kremlin's competing clans. He's sticking with the people he trusts the most and those he feels are the most loyal.

He appears to have thrown his lot in with his old bodyguard, one of the most hard-line members of the Russian elite, and with the mercurial Chechen leader.

IN THE NEWS

The Russian military has conducted air strikes in Syria using warplanes based in Iran for the first time, Russian state media are reporting.

A downturn in oil prices has prompted Russia and Saudi Arabia to start talking again about freezing output to try to stabilize prices.

Russia has proposed cutting the number of cosmonauts at the International Space Station from three to two -- a plan NASA is studying to see whether it poses risks to other crew members.

Russian doping whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova has said she and her husband fear for their lives after an attempt was made to hack her World Anti-Doping Agency records.

Russia's defense minister said Moscow and Washington were getting closer to an agreement that would help defuse the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

Some 44 percent of Russians believe that recent high-profile corruption cases targeting the Investigative Committee and the Federal Customs Service are just for show in advance of September's State Duma elections, according to a poll by the Levada Center.

Ilya Yashin of the opposition party Parnas is preparing a report on alleged criminal activities by members of the ruling United Russia party.

United Russia has picked 12 quotes by Vladimir Putin to use in its election campaign.

LATEST POWER VERTICAL BLOG

In case you missed it, on Power Vertical blog I argue that as he dismisses his cronies, Vladimir Putin is becoming Russia's Solitary Man.

WHAT I'M READING

Fear and Loathing In the Inner Circle

In a piece for OpenDemocracy, Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Czech Institute of International Relations and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, plays off of Sergei Ivanov's dismissal as Kremlin chief of staff and looks at Putin's Incredible Shrinking Circle.

"This...does not represent a fundamental change in the system," Galeotti writes.

"Putin has always been the unchallenged 'decider' presiding over a court of boyars who know their power, wealth, and futures depended on the tsars favor. And while many of the new appointees are not yet well-known, we cannot assume that they are all docile yes-men and colorless ciphers. Todays grateful appointee will likely become tomorrow's arrogant power in the land."

Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, meanwhile argues that Ivanov's dismissal points to rifts in the security services.

Putin the Big

Writing in Vedomosti, Maksim Trudolyubov looks at how Vladimir Putin has gotten too big for the Russian political system.

"The most amazing thing about the political game in Russia is that even the generous powers granted by the constitution are too narrow for the Kremlin," Trudolyubov writes. "For more than 16 years these people have been continuously rewriting the laws, rules, and regulations; yet they still need to resort to schemes and special operations."

Russia and the European Right

Anton Shekhovtsov takes a historical look at Russia's ties to the European far right.

War Without End?

On the Atlantic Council website, Alexander Motyl argues that peace with Putin is impossible.

"While one must negotiate with irrational leaders, the only thing that can keep them in check -- possibly -- is preparedness," Motyl writes.

"Their promises are as meaningless as their declarations of peace, and appeasement only whets their appetites. Only a strong military and a determined policy of containment has any chance of keeping them in bounds."

Russia-Turkey Tensions

Foreign Policy's UN correspondent Colum Lynch has a piece arguing that despite the public rapprochement between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia and Turkey are still bickering over Syria behind closed doors.

"Erdogan and Putin are publicly trying to bury the hatchet. Away from the cameras, their cold war over Syria rages on," Lynch writes.

Counter Propaganda

Vice has a piece profiling the Lithuanian colonel in charge of countering Russian propaganda.

August In Crimea

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Open Wall web portal has a post up looking at how the Kremlin's manufactured crisis in Crimea is confirming Russia's traditional "August curse."

The View From Mariupol

Ivan Sigal, executive director of Global Voices, has a nice color piece from Mariupol, "a city at peace, but close enough to hear the war."
A man walks down the stairs of the JD + milk tea shop. (Photo : Getty Images)

A number of tech incubators are providing young entrepreneurs, especially IT startups, with skills and training on how they can start, grow business and get rich in their hometowns, the Xinhua News Agency reported.



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One of them is Wei Wei, who has returned to his hometown Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, after almost ten years of working in Beijing.



"I've gained skills and experiences in Beijing, and I can help bring Beijing's business practices to the west," Wei, a self-confessed IT geek, said. "The IT market in my hometown is full of potential and very attractive to me."



In 2014, Wei and his friends opened a business but found it difficult because they lack the business skills.



But after a year, the government initiated training for mass entrepreneurship and innovation and incubators were set up to provide workspace and business advice to aspiring executives.



According to the report, more than 1,200 college teams have joined incubators in Gansu and received each an average investment of around 300,000 yuan ($45,000) in April.



Wei received training and services from incubator Chuanshuo Cafe, which opened in Lanzhou in April 2015. He was able to have his company registered, got his own offices and received regular customers. One of his customers, Guaniu, has asked his company to develop a mobile app for online payment.



Similarly, Zhou Jianzhen also returned home to Lanzhou after working in Shanghai, to set up his own online store selling in local specialties. He has now more than 80 suppliers and has earned more than 5 million yuan in the second half of last year, after getting the incubator's support and assistance.



"Incubators, policy and support are bringing people to their hometowns. Business opportunities in East China are shrinking and the potential of here is now sucking talent back west," Chuanshuo's CEO Li Guoliang said.



Deng Yubo also started an online beef noodle company after he quit his work as a college teacher. Deng said incubators can help entrepreneurs overcome their biggest difficulties such as their impatience and the high costs of starting a business.



"Incubators provide us with government resources, capital and services, which are usually difficult to find by ourselves. Affordable offices and services have slashed costs and created an easy environment for business, "Deng said.



Tibet's first incubator also opened in the capital Lhasa last month, while in Qinghai, college graduates who wanted to start business can receive support as the government has set aside 50 million yuan each year for three consecutive years.



According to Yuan Chun of Lanzhou University, incubators help attract talent. "Business models and fresh ideas brought by young start-ups are a strong incentive to economic development in the western part of China," Yuan said.


A Russian opposition activist who was the first person charged under a strict new law restricting protests has received political asylum in Ukraine.

Vladimir Ionov, 76, told Ukraine's Hromadske Radio on August 15 that his asylum request -- filed after Russian authorities charged him with attending more than two unauthorized public protests during one six-month period -- had been accepted.

Under legislation enacted in Russia in 2014, such activity is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Rights activists call the new law a menacing tool to crack down on dissent.

Ionov did not show up at his trial in December, and media reports at the time said he fled to Ukraine.

Another Russian opposition activist, Ildar Dadin, was sentenced to three years in jail on December 7, the first person to be convicted under the new legislation.

Based on reporting by nv.ua and hromadskeradio.org


A few minutes before I arrived at Bob Blufords apartment, he had been on the phone with a Canadian making a video related to a plaque honoring the 16 Virginians who died in World War II while fighting for the Royal Canadian Air Force before the United States entered the war. It was a project that Bluford helped see through.

Earlier in the week, Bluford had attended a meeting at Historic Polegreen Church in Hanover County, an important site in the history of religious liberty in America. He was a driving force in the establishment of a foundation to preserve the site, leading to the discovery of the original churchs foundation, which serves as the footprint for an artfully designed framework of the old church. All because he was curious enough to stop and read a roadside historic marker.

And he continues his work trying to secure a site for a Native American memorial in Virginia, a venture he came to after reading a news story about a proposal to build a landfill at an Indian graveyard. Bluford approached the United Indians of Virginia, asking how he could help and later was appointed to the board.

One thing for sure I can say about my life, ... I didnt suffer from boredom, Bluford said with a laugh. Always something to do. Something worth doing.

Not bad for someone who, when we met earlier this month, was preparing to attend his 80th high school reunion. The Rev. Dr. Robert Bluford Jr. is a 1936 graduate of John Marshall High School, having been born three weeks after the end of World War I. He turns 98 in December.

I asked where this drive to remain active on projects for the greater good comes from. Bluford said the inspiration came early, and he told me a story from his childhood, growing up off Brookland Park Boulevard in Richmonds North Side. A man was digging a ditch on his street on a bitterly cold day. Blufords mother told her son to go and tell the man to come to their door so she could offer him a hot cup of coffee.

It was a small gesture, to be sure, but one that struck something deep within a young boy.

Her interest in trying to help a little bit maybe stuck in my marrow somewhere, Bluford said. So the question often in my mind is, How can I help? 

A more complete resume than Robert Bluford Jr.s is difficult to find: Presbyterian minister, World War II bomber pilot, historic preservationist, a founder of the Fan Free Clinic and author. Hes moved houses in the name of saving history, and persuaded others  in his kindly, yet persistent manner  to join efforts they might not have realized they were interested in.

If you want to describe Bob in four words, its perseverance without making enemies,  said his friend Kenneth M. Perry, chairman of VAMAC Inc., who serves on the board at the Historic Polegreen Church Foundation. He keeps coming back and coming back, but he never makes an enemy.

Or, as another friend and board member, attorney F. Claiborne Jay Johnston Jr. put it about Blufords efforts at the Virginia War Memorial, Bobs got friends, and hes dogged, and he just stayed after that daggone thing until he made it happen.

Another friend, Roger Dickinson, marveled at the number of weddings Bluford has officiated through the years. He said it must be a record. Bluford, who has lost count, laughed and said its because he doesnt charge a fee.

I tell them my honorarium is 20 minutes at the shrimp bowl at the reception, Bluford said with a smile. Let me eat all the shrimp I want, and Ill marry you for nothing.

For all of the joy of remaining engaged with the world, recent months have been difficult for Bluford, who lost June, his wife of 72 years, in April.

It was a blow, he said. He and June had grown up within a few blocks of each other in Barton Heights and were married in a chapel on Maxwell Field, an air base in Alabama, while Bluford was serving during World War II. They had three children, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

As difficult as it is, Bluford presses on because, he said, I dont think June would want me sitting around mourning.

So, he isnt.

But then hes never been good at sitting around.

From working a series of jobs after high school as America recovered from the Great Depression in order to afford to attend Hampden-Sydney College (and to show up on campus as a 22-year-old freshman) to pursuing one project after another, even as he stands on the precipice of his 98th birthday. He insists hes not trying to make a track record of some sort, but he has, and that record is enviable.

And hes gone about it in such a relentless, evenhanded way. In Hanover in the 1990s, he was praised for the way he initiated a project that enabled a subdivision development to go forward while still preserving an adjacent Civil War battlefield and farmhouse that had been used as a military headquarters during the war. His friends say his secret is his approach: his capacity for hard work, his unwavering commitment and his humble, self-effacing manner.

All of that, and he ran his first marathon at age 65 and then several after that.

If I had to list 10 people who have been an inspiration to me, Bob Bluford would probably be on top, said Dickinson, who came to know Bluford when Bluford came to Dickinsons firm to purchase concrete blocks for the Polegreen project and wound up counseling Dickinson on some difficult decisions he was facing. Dr. Bob listened to my problems, and offered great advice.

Dickinson said Bluford helped him and his wife through the grief of losing a child.

Dickinson now serves on the Historic Polegreen Church Foundations board of directors. Bluford is chairman.

The Historic Polegreen Church project came about quite by accident. Bluford, then serving as pastor of Mechanicsville Presbyterian Church, was driving through eastern Hanover decades ago when he noticed a highway marker on a particularly treacherous stretch of road. He couldnt read it as he drove past, so he parked in a safe place and walked back to see it. The sign noted the site of Polegreen Church, which in the 1740s became a critical setting in the colonists struggle for religious liberty. The Rev. Samuel Davies, Virginias first licensed non-Anglican minister, preached at Polegreen, inspiring one of his young congregants, Patrick Henry, with his fiery oratory. Bluford, too, was inspired.

I just kept thinking about it, said Bluford, who in recent years wrote a biography of Davies. It got on my agenda, and never got off.

One thing led to another  as they tend to do with Bluford  and now Historic Polegreen Church on Heatherwood Drive is an important stop for visitors along the state-designated Road to Revolution Heritage Trail. The open-air design of the historic church  the original church was destroyed by fire during the Civil War  with its white steel beams also has become a favorite site for weddings, particularly after Mechanicsville native and pop star Jason Mraz was married there last fall.

Bob Bluford has inspired me for his visionary leadership, Del. Chris Peace, of Hanover, former executive director of the Historic Polegreen Church Foundation and founder of the Road to Revolution Heritage Trail, wrote in an email. Hanover County, and Virginia at large, is certainly the better for his successful efforts to save historic properties so that we might learn more about humanity in all its forms.

In his remaining time, Bluford hopes to see the Native American state memorial come to fruition. He said its long overdue.

Every time we talk, he reminds me  how the United Indians of Virginia has become an important part of his life, said Ken Adams, former chief of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe. He has not let up,  and he has never wavered in his promotion of (a memorial). Bob has been a major part of that for well over 20 years.

Bluford has been honored through the years with numerous awards, one of the most recent the Virginia Press Associations Virginian of the Year in 2011. But he said hes just as happy seeing the everyday impact of his work, such as when he was at Historic Polegreen Church raking leaves on Sept. 11, 2002, one year after the terrorist attacks. He looked up and noticed a woman sitting with her back to one of the steel beams of the churchs framework.

I could see her head was bent down like she was praying, Bluford recalled. Later she was walking to her automobile, and she saw me and said, I hope it was all right of me to be here this morning, but on this anniversary, I felt like I just wanted to be in a place like this.

I thought, Man, this makes raking leaves worthwhile. 
The Virginia National Guard is looking forward to more room at new headquarters in Chesterfield County, but the planned move will not leave its current offices in Sandston empty or unused.

As Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a host of dignitaries broke ground Tuesday for the Guards new 102,000-square-foot headquarters at Defense Supply Center Richmond, the Guards leadership revealed plans to move its Army Aviation Battalion into its current space in Sandston near Richmond International Airport.

The aviation battalion is first in line for additional training space lacking for Guard units across the state. It is about 1.3 million square feet short of what it needs to train for its missions, said Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, state adjutant general and director of the Department of Military Affairs.

This is a big step in the right direction to start correcting that, Williams said in an interview after the groundbreaking ceremony at the Guards new 13.6-acre home near the north gate of the sprawling supply center complex at Bellwood.

The new $30 million headquarters will boost space for the staff members of the National Guard and the Air National Guard from 58 percent to 98 percent of what they require and, for the first time, in a building designed for their needs.

More than anything else, its an opportunity to start consolidating our Guard staff and Air Guard staff and get them into space thats actually purpose-built so they can do their jobs, Williams said.

The move will be good for Chesterfield, primarily because of the jobs it will bring, said Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve A. Elswick, who attended the ceremony with Vice Chairman Dorothy A. Jaeckle. Theyll spend their money here.

The effort to build the new headquarters has taken a decade because Congress had to agree to pay for the project, which includes about $471,000 from the state for the Department of Military Affairs.

The Guards 275-member staff will join the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation and a host of other federal agencies on a 600-acre complex that already employs 3,000 people, primarily to handle parts for every military aviation vehicle and more than 1,340 weapons systems.

If it flies, the parts came out of here, said Alexander F. Barnes, command historian for the Guard, which dates its origins to the Jamestown Colony militia in 1607.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Allan E. Day, commander of DLA Aviation, said the Guards presence at the center will be awesome.

This is a great partnership, and its growing, Day said.
Visitors view artworks at the National Art Museum of China on Dec. 9, 2008, in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

China's ongoing supply-side reform has injected a much-needed dose of reality in the country's hyped-up artwork market, according to experts.



"The supply-side structural reform provides opportunities for the artwork market in China, and it leads overly high-priced products to return to rational prices. This should be the growth trend of the market," Ren Helei, a researcher at the Center for Soft Power Studies at Peking University, told China Daily in a report posted Monday.



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Beijing initiated supply-side reforms in November to improve the quality of products, reallocate resources and rejuvenate the country's stalling economic growth.



However, the reforms created an unexpected effect in the China's art industry, which includes not just paintings and antiques but also ornate furniture, and old fine teas.



Several precious goods that once commanded irrationally high prices are now experiencing huge price drops as the result of dampened demand and fewer investors, China Daily said in its report.



In 2015, the Chinese art auction market posted a turnover of 50 .6 billion yuan ($7.6 billion), a drop of 20 percent from the previous year.



The volume of transactions in auctioned goods also saw a slump, according to a recent report from Beijing-based Art Market Monitor.



"The business model that relied on high growth of traditional resources and significant appreciation of art assets in a short time has ended," Ren said, adding that the local art market should look to emerging business opportunities and meet the demand for contemporary aesthetics.



Analysts forecast that, in the long term, art buyers will support the transformation and structural adjustment of China's artwork market, which is traditionally has a collection- and investment-orientation.



The market is also expected see its major growth engines shift towards art galleries, expositions, and other primary markets.



"Art consumption is expected to draw more attention, and the content and style of artwork sare likely to become more modern. The methods of creating artworks and the structure of the market should also be transformed to adapt to a brand new era," said Wu Fang, art director at Shanghai-based Huafu Art Space.



Wu Fang noted that the 2015 Shanghai Art Fair saw its total turnover reach 141 million yuan, with most of the income coming from transactions for low-cost consumer art.



Art auction houses and collection agencies have also reported a significant decline in auctions of traditional good but an increase in online art consumption, with buyers becoming increasingly younger.



As a result of continuous expansion of the auction industry in recent years, many artworks have been repeatedly sent to the auction block, leading to a serious demand-supply imbalance in auctioned goods and fewer top-level artworks available for auction.



Among the artworks that suffered the most were medium-range ordinary art with limited investment value, although several high-end products like premium tea brands have also suffered. Dayi, a top-class tea brand, saw its price drop from 2,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per kilo.



China's rosewoods have also taken a hit. The rosewood furniture market, which was worth more than 100 billion yuan in 2012, saw prices plunge up to 30 percent, according to the China Rosewood Association.



"Consumers should consider their income levels and decide how much they should spend on artworks. Artwork consumption should be transformed from an elite consumption to a mass-based business," said Liu Shuangzhou, a professor at the law school of the Central University of Finance and Economics.



"Investors should assess the risks of investing in certain artworks and fine goods, rather than assess their value. And buyers must appraise artworks themselves. All this is consistent with the concept of supply-side reform, which emphasizes that goods should be priced cost-effectively and in line with their actual value," Liu said.


Niagara Bottling LLC, a family-owned and -operated bottled beverage supplier, will invest $95 million to establish a manufacturing and bottling operation at Meadowville Technology Park in Chesterfield County, adjacent to Amazon.coms distribution center.

The company will use state-of-the-art filtration to produce its Niagara brand and private-label bottled water, creating 76 new jobs in Chesterfield, according to a statement released by Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday.

The announcement comes less than three weeks after the State Water Control Board cleared the path for the destruction of a nearly 10-acre swath of wetlands at the technology park.

The proposed development, which had been dubbed Project Buzzard to conceal the investors identity, is supported by the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority, which acquired the property in 2005.

The project area encompasses 62 acres and will include a 600,000-square-foot warehouse with office space, parking spaces, a loading bay, drive aisles, utilities, data infrastructure and stormwater management facilities. Officials did not say when the new facility will be finished.

Virginia competed against Maryland for the project.

I welcome Niagara Bottling to the commonwealth. Chesterfield will be a strategic location for its new manufacturing and bottling center, said Maurice A. Jones, the state secretary of commerce and trade. I am pleased we were able to assist the company in their East Coast expansion and efforts to reach a growing customer base.

Niagara Bottling is the largest private-label bottled water supplier in the U.S., supplying major retailers across the nation. Headquartered in Ontario, Calif., the company began as a family business in 1963 by offering 5-gallon containers for home and office delivery.

Niagara expanded in the early 1990s to offer single-serve, private-label bottled water for grocery, club, convenience and wholesale customers.

McAuliffe approved a $500,000 grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to assist the county with the project. In addition, Niagara will be eligible to receive sales- and use-tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment. Funding and services to support the companys employee training activities also will be provided by the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Negotiations between Barry Matherly, president of the Greater Richmond Partnership economic development group, and Derieth Sutton, Niagaras director of economic development and government relations, began in 2012. Both teach at the University of Oklahomas Economic Development Institute and have remained in contact. The proposals solidified within two years.

Derieth and I had a meeting in November of 2014, and she finally committed to considering the Richmond region as a future location, Matherly said Tuesday.

The developers identified 12 potential sites in the Richmond region, with the property in Meadowville making a shortlist in March 2015. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality records show that in its early stages, the project was called Project Niagara  a clear hint at the tenant-to-be.

After the project was put on hold for eight months, the region had to again compete with other Mid-Atlantic states for the development that in the meantime had been renamed Project Buzzard.

In April, Matherly and Garrett Hart, Chesterfields director of economic development, traveled to Rialto, Calif., to tour the companys newest facility, which will serve as the prototype for the Chesterfield location.

Meanwhile, environmentalists pushed back against a pending DEQ permit allowing the filling of wetlands and streams on and around the to-be-developed site. During a public comment period, the agency received 37 written comments, 32 of which were in opposition to the permit.

At a July 27 State Water Control Board hearing, environmentalists urged the board to deny the permit or postpone a vote until other possible sites are looked at, calling the loss of 10 acres of wetlands huge and unprecedented in Chesterfield. Most permits issued by the DEQ in the past decade covered areas of 1 acre or less.

By a 3-1 vote, the board approved the permit for a 15-year period.

Niagara falls within two of the countys target clusters, food and beverage and advanced manufacturing, Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve A. Elswick said in a statement Tuesday.

Niagaras manufacturing and filling facility will be the most efficient and sustainable in the world. The 76 manufacturing jobs are just the type of employment opportunities we want for our Chesterfield residents, Elswick said.
Richmond mayoral candidate Joseph D. Morrissey is siding with opponent Jack Berry in a rift among Democrats over whether Berry should have access to the partys proprietary voter data.

Morrissey on Tuesday also called on the Democrats to give him access to the data, accusing its leaders of shenanigans and trying to rig the system.

The Richmond Democratic Committee recently asked the state party to reconsider whether Berry should continue to have access to the Democrats trove of voter data, which campaigns use to bolster their canvassing and direct-mail operations.

Morrissey linked the issue to his and Berrys shared opponent Levar Stoney, who previously served as the state director of the party and has already been endorsed by the chair of the local committee.

While Jack Berry and I may have honest disagreements or political issues, I nevertheless realize that what Mr. Stoney and Democratic Party officials are doing to Jack is both despicable and mean-spirited, Morrissey wrote.

Berry has defended himself against the partys charges, saying he is a lifelong Democrat and calling the flare-up political games.

He deflected questions about Morrisseys decision to come to his defense in a text message: Im not a politician, and I have no patience for all that political stuff.

Stoneys campaign denied Morrisseys accusations.

As far as we are aware, there are multiple candidates for mayor with access to Democratic voter lists, including Jack Berry, he said. Our campaign is less concerned about Democratic voter list access and more concerned with engaging voters, providing substance on the issues, and presenting a forward-looking vision for the city. If I was Jack Berry, I would not want Joe Morrissey fighting my battles.

Asked what evidence he has to support his accusations against Stoney, Morrissey said, I think its pretty apparent whats going on. Ive never seen a situation before where a sitting chairperson of a Democratic committee starts taking sides.

The chairman, James JJ Minor, said he endorsed Stoney as a community activist, not in his official role as head of the local party. He said the full committee will vote at a future meeting on which of the eight mayoral candidates, if any, to endorse.

As to questions about whether Berry should have access to the data, Minor said the decision was up to the state party. He said all parties are simply trying to protect the integrity of the data.

The local committee has said its concerned about Berrys political allegiances, citing a $500 donation Berry made to Republican Glen H. Sturtevant Jr. during his run for the state Senate and Berrys decision to hire a Republican operative to staff his campaign.

The local committee advises the state party on which candidates should have access to the data in nonpartisan local elections.

In addition to his defense of Berry, Morrissey called on the party to also give him access to the list, saying he has served as an elected Democrat longer than all of the other mayoral candidates combined.

Morrissey broke with the party in 2014 when he announced he would run as an independent against the Democrats candidate for the 74th House District seat. He had just resigned his seat after being convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor but then successfully ran for re-election after saying he would let the voters decide.
A Henrico County prosecutor has asked for another month to decide whether to pursue the death penalty for William Roy Brissette, who is accused of killing his parents on Easter Sunday.

Henry J. Brissette III, 59, and Martha B. Brissette, 56, were found shot to death March 27 in their home in the 3800 block of Forge Road, where their son also lived. Police said it was William Brissette who called them after the shooting.

Brissette, 23, is charged with two counts each of capital murder and use of a firearm. If convicted, the punishment for a capital offense is life imprisonment or death.

In June, Henrico Circuit Judge James Stephen Yoffy gave Henrico Commonwealths Attorney Shannon Taylor until Tuesday to decide whether she will pursue the death penalty. On Tuesday, Taylor asked to delay her decision until September to allow her staff and her to comb through what she called voluminous medical records subpoenaed in the case.

It is an important decision, said Yoffy, agreeing to the delay.

Capital defender Doug Ramseur, who along with Jeffrey Everhart is representing Brissette, said the delay should not affect their timeline. A trial date is tentatively set for next June, although Ramseur originally asked for up to two years to prepare for trial.

Brissette appeared in court Tuesday with a full beard, eyes glued to the floor, and a grin on his face. He broke into silent laughter during the brief motions hearing. He was the only one laughing.

Yoffy also denied two motions from Brissettes attorneys on Tuesday. In one motion, they asked that the personal information of the members of the grand jury that indicted Brissette be released, including their names and addresses, to determine whether any discrimination occurred. Prosecutors argued, and the judge agreed, that there was no reason to believe the grand jury had been selected in any prejudicial manner.

In a second motion, the defense asked that the court find unconstitutional a statute governing the appointment of mental health experts to evaluate an indigent capital defendant, because it differs from another statute for capital defendants who can afford to hire their own expert.

Brissettes attorney argued that the statute not only requires a report from mental health experts who evaluate poorer defendants, but also demands that the defense share the report with the prosecution before trial. Neither is required of well-off capital defendants.

While he applauded their creativity, Yoffy said the defense had not proved that indigent defendants were a suspect class, meaning that they are likely the subject of discrimination.
A Charlottesville family that became part of the narrative for the 2016 presidential election received an emotional standing ovation Monday when they walked into City Council chambers.

After speaking at the Democratic National Convention last month, strongly repudiating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Khizr and Ghazala Khan received a special council proclamation and gifts from city officials and community members.

The council proclamation honors the family for the sacrifice of their son, Humayun S.M. Khan, an Army captain who was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq.

Capt. Khan posthumously received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for ordering soldiers away from an approaching suicide car bomb that ultimately killed him.

Additionally, the proclamation recognizes the family for speaking out against anti-Muslim rhetoric that some believe has become a hallmark of Trump in the tumultuous presidential race.

After a reading of the proclamation, Khizr Khan thanked the community for its support and reflected on why his family decided to make their home in the United States.

Im so honored and emotional, he said.

Recalling their earliest days after emigrating from Pakistan, Khan said he was inspired by the words inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Our love affair with Thomas Jefferson didnt start today or this year. It began when we first moved to this country, he said. The inscriptions, his writings  called to our attention. Those writings were one of the deciding factors in deciding why we wanted to make this country our home, he said.

Imploring members of the community to revisit the Declaration of Independence, Khan said its words should remind all how precious this liberty and freedom is for everybody.

Its a fateful day for us, he said. That love that started so many years ago today comes full circle.

In an interview afterward, the Khans said they have received a tremendous show of support in the weeks since the convention, Ghazala Khan said theyve received similar, albeit more intimate, acts of kindness and generosity since immigrating.

After settling into their first American home, which Khizr Khan said was a bare apartment with no refrigerator or pots and pans, their neighbors visited and helped them settle into their new community.

Our neighbor brought us an icebox full of ice, drinks, sandwiches and milk because we had two small children, Ghazala Khan said. She was born American. She wasnt an immigrant, but she said, I know how people feel when they come for the first time. Another neighbor also came to help us, and they became my best friends  Im very grateful for all these people.

Its these gestures that have convinced us that this is place to make a home, Khizr Khan said. Hopefully, weve contributed to some measure the goodness that weve received from people here all these years.

As they have done in numerous media interviews since the convention, the Khans continued to allude to Trump and his rhetoric, which has at times focused on radical Islamic terrorism and immigration from Muslim-majority countries that are engulfed by civil strife and open warfare.

The councils proclamation drew criticism from one member of the community, Stefanie Marshall, of Albemarle County.

Noting that the community previously has recognized and honored fallen soldiers from the Charlottesville community, Marshall said the council has failed to recognize other Gold Star families in the area in a similar manner.

It seems to me that in order for a Gold Star family to be honored and recognized by the current City Council, they must speak at the Democratic National Convention. This is not appropriate, nor is it acceptable, Marshall said.
Lightning struck one of Longwood Universitys student housing buildings Monday night, causing a fire that displaced a handful of students who had moved in ahead of classes starting next week.

The fire began about 9 p.m. in the Northeast building of Longwood Landings, said Matthew McWilliams, director of communications and media relations at Longwood in Farmville. A few student-athletes and resident assistants living in the building were safely evacuated, McWilliams said.

No one was injured. The blaze was extinguished by 11 p.m.

McWilliams said the university is still waiting to find out the extent of the damage, but said no students will live in the affected building when classes start Monday.

The Northeast building, one of four in the Longwood Landings complex, housed 102 students and the student bookstore. Incoming freshmen are expected to arrive on campus on Thursday, and the remaining student body will trickle in throughout the weekend.

The student housing department is working with the displaced students to find them new accommodations. That also includes any students originally assigned to the dorm. McWilliams said the university has enough beds in other residence halls and university-owned property that finding space for every student shouldnt be an issue.
The Danville Police Department is calling Saturdays shooting death of a 3-year-old Danville boy an apparent accidental discharge of a firearm from inside the residence.

This is the first time the police department has released the boys age  or any of the circumstances surrounding the shooting on Edmonds Street. No criminal charges have been filed in the case.

Danville police have joined with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for further investigation, according to a Danville Police Department news release Monday. The initial report said the injury appeared to be a gunshot wound in the childs upper body.

The Danville Police Department is working with the medical examiner to determine cause and manner of death, the release stated.
After a summer vacation at Smith Mountain Lake last week, Gov. Terry McAuliffe is heading to Colombia for the 20th trade mission of his term.

In his first trip to South America as governor, McAuliffe will spend two days talking up Virginia agriculture and pursuing new economic development opportunities. The trade mission began Tuesday and will wrap up Friday, according to an announcement from the governors office.

McAuliffe is taking the trip at the invitation of Juan Carlos Pinzon, the Colombian ambassador to the U.S.

I am grateful for Ambassador Pinzons invitation, and I am excited to make my first visit to South America as governor and establish new export deals for agriculture, Virginias largest private industry, McAuliffe said.

The governor will be accompanied by Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd P. Haymore and representatives of several Virginia businesses, including Glaize Orchards, Pilgrims Pride, Smithfield Foods, Turkey Knob Growers and The Scoular Co.

The delegation will meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, according to a statement by the Colombian Embassy.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says he now opposes offshore drilling, citing concerns raised by the Department of Defense. The position puts Kaine, the Democratic nominee for vice president, in line with the position of Hillary Clinton, the partys presidential nominee.

Kaine, who had long called for a re-examination of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling, discussed his position in a video tweeted Monday by 350Action, a group that seeks to influence policymakers to combat climate change. In the video clip, someone asks Kaine if he will support Hillary Clinton and support a ban on offshore drilling.

Kaine says: I actually am now in that position because the Obama administration has decided not to do offshore drilling because the Defense Department objects and I share those objections.

The Republican Party of Virginia, which circulated the video on Monday, said Kaine made the comments Saturday at a campaign event in Manchester, N.H. It accused Kaine of a flip-flop.

The wind in the Democrat party is blowing in a liberal direction, and Tim Kaine is shifting his positions yet again to fit in, said John Whitbeck, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Amy Dudley, a spokeswoman for Kaine, said in a statement: Recently the Obama administration decided not to go forward with oil drilling off the Virginia coast citing concerns from the Department of Defense.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Kaine met with DOD officials to further discuss the impact that oil drilling would have on our military operations in Hampton Roads and concluded we should not be undertaking speculative drilling activities that could potentially impact installations in the region.

Sen. Kaine recognizes the Navy is a key economic pillar of the Hampton Roads economy and must be protected.

In March the Obama administration announced that it had reversed course on its plan to allow oil and natural gas drilling off the coast of Virginia and other Southern states, citing opposition from coastal communities and potential impacts to military and space operations along Virginias shoreline.

Clinton tweeted the day of the announcement that she was relieved Atlantic drilling is now off the table.

Kaine noted at the time that he was particularly struck by the objections of the Department of Defense, which had never shared their objections with me before. He said he looked forward to the additional discussions with DOD, which led him to re-evaluate his position.

Kaine previously joined Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., in backing legislation to allow oil and gas exploration off Virginias coast, as long as the federal government shared revenues with the state.
Crew members of the exploration ship Zhang Jian conducting a survey of the Solomon Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea. (Photo : Twitter)

China has completed a new milestone in deep-sea exploration with the return of its latest research vessel.



The ship Tan Suo Yi Hao arrived at its home port in Sanya, Hainan Province on Friday after completing its maiden mission to explore the Marianas Trench, China Daily reported. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering.



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The 94.45 meter-long ship runs on a 12,000 horsepower engine that allows it to have a maximum range of 10,000 nautical miles. It houses several laboratories for studying the surrounding waters, as well as data processing and information equipment for analysis.



Manned by a crew of 60, including 39 researchers, the ship also serves as a base for a manned submersible that can dive to a depth of 4.5 kilometers.



During its 52-day mission, the Tan Suo Yi Hao conducted a series of 84 research projects in the Trench. Aside from using its submersibles, the ship also used the Haidou autonomous research vehicle and the Tianya and Hajiao landers to explore the seafloor.



Mission leader Liu Xincheng said they managed to collect a lot of samples from different depths in the trench. He also noted that this is the first time China has been able to conduct deep-sea studies at 10,000 meters.



Meanwhile, another deep-sea exploration ship has also started to conduct its own research, this time in Papua New Guinea. The ship Zhang Jian began conducting environmental exploration int the Solomon Sea off the coast of the country on Aug. 14, China.org reported.



The ship's staff collected sediment samples from the seafloor and conducted other experiments during the first day of their mission.


Officials in Culpeper approved 18 of 19 requests for a pump-and-haul permit to deal with temporary sewage issues before representatives of an Islamic Center sought one too. By a split vote, the countys Board of Supervisors said no.

Douglas Laycock, an expert in religious-liberty issues at the University of Virginia, finds the situation very suspicious, so he is not surprised that the Justice Department has launched an investigation into the matter. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) requires governments to have compelling reasons for imposing burdens on churches, synagogues and other religious bodies.

County officials say denial of the permit had nothing to do with religion. But then, they have to say that; they cant very well admit to religious discrimination (the county granted a similar permit to a Baptist church a few years ago).

Maybe theyre telling the truth, too. But intent is beside the point. The issue is whether the county had not just a valid reason to deny the permit, but a compelling one. Building a place of worship is a First Amendment activity, Laycock told The Daily Progress. (The Islamic Center of Culpeper) has a right to locate in the county and if I were advising the county, Id be looking to settle this.

It might be worth noting that Congress passed RLUIPA in no small part because of complaints from Christian organizations about excessively restrictive zoning policies. Today, zoning codes have become problems for churches because...respect for religion is in decline, complained a 2001 article published by the Christian Law Association. Churches are now sometimes even looked upon with suspicion by local government officials.

In many of the disputes  often over vast new megachurches  officials were not acting out of anti-Christian animus. They were simply trying to manage traffic and other municipal issues. Congress made it plain that when the the right to build a center of worship ran up against the needs of municipal planners, the worship centers should win.
Immigration has been front and center in this years election cycle, but missing from the debate is this simple fact: Immigrants are good for our economy. Virginia has struggled in recent years with slow economic growth. In June, the Department of Commerce indicated that Virginias GDP growth grew at a rate of 1.4 percent in 2015. While lackluster, this beat 2014s zero-growth year.

We must consider innovative ways to further Virginias  as well as our countrys  economic success. One such avenue would be through the modernization of our immigration system. Earlier this month, the Partnership for a New American Economy (NAE)  a nonpartisan coalition of mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will create jobs for Americans  released a comprehensive report that highlights the significant contributions of immigrants in the state of Virginia.

Virginia is home to the eighth-largest immigrant population in the United States; it has the largest immigrant community in the American southeast region. But these rankings are relatively recent: Between 1990 and 2010, the number of immigrants more than doubled from 5 percent to 11 percent. People from all over the world are increasingly attracted to what our proud state has to offer  and in return, they are eager to work hard and become active members of their communities.

Packing up and moving to another country to build a new life is inherently bold and risky, so it comes as no surprise that immigrants typically have been an entrepreneurial group. Though they constitute only 12 percent of Virginias overall population, they represent more than 20 percent of our entrepreneurs. In 2014, these business owners contributed almost $2 billion in revenue to the states economy and paid almost $3 billion in state and local taxes.

Despite these successes, it is becoming increasingly difficult for entrepreneurs and employers to drive their businesses forward. The United States currently does not offer a startup visa to allow foreign-born entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to build their companies on American soil. In a world of steepening competition, we are losing out to countries like Canada, Australia, and Singapore, which are actively engaging and recruiting these entrepreneurial minds.

In failing to reform, the United States is potentially missing out on founders like John Philip Holland, who emigrated from Ireland and started General Dynamics, a Fortune 500 aerospace company based in Falls Church, Va. General Dynamics employs more than 8,000 people in Virginia and had annual sales of $31.5 billion in 2015.

In fact, eight of Virginias 19 Fortune 500 firms were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. Included among these eight firms are notables like Capital One Financial, the Altria Group, and Dollar Tree. These economic giants provide jobs to more than 475,000 people and bring in nearly $110 billion in revenue annually. To edge out the competition in the global market, the United States needs to make it easier for forward-thinking entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into realities by leveraging U.S. resources and workers.

Virginia is already feeling the negative effects of our outdated immigration system. Each year, the United States awards 85,000 high-skilled, foreign-born workers an H-1B visa. Year after year, demand outpaces supply, so theses visas are awarded through a randomized lottery system. In 2014, more than 25,700 H-1B visa applications were filed in Virginia. Had all of these applicants received an H-1B, they would have created an estimated 47,000 additional jobs in the state by 2020.

For Richmond, in particular, the more than 500 visa denials for H-1B workers cost U.S. computer-related workers approximately $8 million in aggregate wage growth between 2008 and 2010. We are simply missing out on tremendous economic potential by leaving money on the table.

Virginia deserves an updated, streamlined, and future-looking immigration system that both recognizes the valuable contributions of our immigrant community and creates jobs for more of our residents. Our future economic success hinges on it.
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There's still space in a number of upcoming bus trips offered by the Salem Senior Center.

To sign up for a trip, call 375-3054; then fill out the Trip Reservation Form and bring or mail it to the Salem Senior Center, 110 Union Street, Salem, VA 24153.

Sept. 9: Virginia Tech and Smithfield Plantation Guided Tours, Blacksburg. Bus departs from Salem Senior Center Tuesday at 9 a.m. Cost is $20, includes lunch at Golden Corral.

Join us on a guided tour of Virginia Tech and Historic Smithfield Plantation. Completed in 1774, Smithfield became not only the countys political and social center, it was a beacon, a destination, for thousands of settlers moving west to seek new land and opportunity.

Sept. 30 through Oct. 4: Manhattan trip to New York. Bus departs from Salem Senior Center on Friday. Cost is $575.

Trip includes three nights' lodging and six meals in New York City, tours of Lower and Upper Manhattan, ferry ride and visits to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and admission to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Nov 15: Southern Christmas Show at Charlotte, North Carolina. Bus departs from Salem Senior Center Tuesday at 7 a.m. Cost is $25.

Visit the Park Expo and Conference Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Trip includes travel and entrance to the show. Lunch and dinner will be on your own.

Nov. 22: Tanglewood Lights at Clemmons, North Carolina. Bus departs from Salem Civic Center Tuesday at 1 p.m. Cost is $15.

Tanglewood Park's rolling countryside will be transformed into a winter wonderland of giant twinkling snowflakes and whimsical scenes. Entering its 25th season, Tanglewood's Festival of Lights continues to be one of the largest and most spectacular light shows in the entire Southeast. Dinner will be on your own in Winston-Salem.

Dec. 7: Wolfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, A Wolfahrt Haus Christmas, Wytheville. Bus departs from Salem Civic Center Wednesday at 10 a.m. Cost is $65.

Enjoy a delicious holiday feast before you are completely immersed in the Christmas season. This original production is stuffed with all the Christmas songs you know and love, as well as dazzling dance numbers and beautiful costumes. The fun-filled holiday production also features a breathtaking nativity which is sure to put the whole family in the Christmas spirit.

Submitted by Hank Luton
Yvonne Campbell is a person who would rather let her food do the talking.

And what better way to do that than to open a restaurant. Campbells venture into the restaurant business took shape in November 2015 when she opened 876 Jamaican Grill, located at The Forum Shopping Center on Starkey Road. The number 876 is the area code for Jamaica, the country from which Campbell hails.

It was actually Campbells daughter, Sientje, who arranged for me to meet her mom to discuss her business. As I said, Campbell does not like to be the center of attention. Campbell took a circuitous route to Roanoke  Jamaica to London to New York to Roanoke. Some of the moves were a result of her desire to help out family members.

But in speaking with Campbell, she always managed to bring the conversation back to either her daughter, a graduate of Hidden Valley High School, Virginia Tech and most recently the Charlotte School of Law, or to her food.

Campbell said the inspiration for the restaurant came from her love of cooking and her wish to tell people all about her birthplace, and what better way than through food?

Its also a place for her partner, Levi Campbell, to shine. Levi spends his time in the kitchen, producing dishes such as jerk chicken, curry chicken and oxtails, the restaurants top sellers. Yvonne Campbell said curry, an item usually associated with Indian food, is actually very popular in Jamaica because of the countrys multicultural society. In fact, Jamaica's motto is out of many, one people.

The restaurant also serves homemade lemonade, with some fantastical combinations, such as cucumber-ginger lemonade, carrot-ade (made from fresh carrots and ginger root), mango papaya lemonade and brown-sugar lemonade. The restaurant also has an ABC license, and Campbell reports that she is working on a specialty bloody mary for bunch.

Should you visit 876 Jamaican Grill, be sure to save room for dessert. Theres gizzada (coconut tarts) and Jamaican sweet potato pudding, coconut drops and fruit rum cake.

The restaurant's address is 4710 Starkey Road, and it is closed Monday and open Tuesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for lunch and dinner. It also serves a Sunday buffet brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with extended hours on holidays.
The Sukhoi Su-34 and the Kamov Ka-52 Black Shark (Photo : TASS)

The Russian Aerospace Forces have received over 30 new advanced fighter jets and helicopters so far this year, said the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The aircraft went to the Air Force that also took delivery of over 30,000 aircraft weapons.



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Delivered to the Air Force were the Sukhoi Su-35S, (a highly maneuverable air superiority fighter Russia claims can take on the U.S' F-22 Raptor stealth fighter); the Sukhoi Su-30M (a twin-engine, twin-seat multi-role fighter) and the Sukhoi Su-34 (a twin-engine, twin-seat fighter bomber).



Combat helicopter deliveries to aerospace air regiments included the Mil Mi-8AMTSh (an armored assault transport helicopter capable of ground attacks); the Mil Mi-28N Havoc (a two-seat, anti-armor attack helicopter) and the Kamov Ka-52 Black Shark (a single-seat attack helicopter powered by a coaxial rotor system).



The Defense Ministry said the aerospace upgrades are part of Russia's move to strengthen its military as it faces mounting aggression and military involvement from the United States in Europe and more hostility from NATO. It cited military adventurism from Ukraine it accuses of sending three alleged saboteurs to destabilize Crimea.



"Over 30 of our newest planes and helicopters were provided to the Aerospace Defense Forces' aviation units," said the ministry. "Radio engineering force divisions received modern radar systems capable of detecting air targets at heights from several meters to tens of kilometers."



The Russian Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily) consist of three sub-branches: the Air Force; Air Defense Troops and Space Forces.



The Defense Ministry said Russian defense firms will deliver 40,000 more weapons to the Aerospace Defense Forces during the remainder of the year.



The Sukhoi Su-35S Flanker-E, which Russia bills as an anti-stealth fighter, is a fourth generation fighter with enhanced combat capabilities that make it capable of holding its own against American stealth fighters such as the F-35 Lightning II and the F-22 Raptor.



Russian military analysts claim the Su-35S can outmaneuver both American aircraft due to its thrust vectoring engines. The Su-35S can also detect them using an infrared search and track system that can identify American stealth jets out to 80 km. It's also faster and has greater range than both American jets.


Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead over Donald Trump in Virginia, with disdain for the Republican presidential nominee helping Clinton overcome her own vulnerabilities, a new Washington Post poll finds.

Clinton leads Trump by a 14-point margin  52 percent to 38 percent  among registered voters in the state and by an 8-point margin among likely voters, 51 percent to 43 percent. Clintons edge dips to 7 points among likely voters when third-party candidates are included.

Aside from the rural southwestern part of the state, Clintons lead spans all regions, most by a wide margin. She trounces Trump among minority voters and slashes the advantage Republicans usually count on among whites in Virginia.

The results suggest how difficult it could be for the GOP nominee to win what had been considered a crucial swing state. Virginia had gone red for presidential candidates for decades until Barack Obama broke the streak in 2008 and won it again in 2012. With its changing demographics, especially in the fast-growing suburbs around Washington, the state may not even be competitive for Trump.

That would be bad news for Trump, whose path to the White House would be much more difficult without Virginia and its 13 electoral votes. To compensate, he would have to pick up support from other states, such as Pennsylvania, that have been far less friendly to Republicans.

The poll finds Trumps negative image hampering his ability to unite Republicans and to grow support beyond GOP nominee Mitt Romneys standing in 2012, when he lost to Obama 51 percent to 47 percent in Virginia. Trump has slightly more support than Romney did in solidly Republican rural parts of the state, but the real-estate developers unpredictable campaign has turned off some reliably Republican voters elsewhere.

Walt Purnell, 71, a retired business executive from Ashburn, had hoped to vote for Jeb Bush  or John Kasich. Or Marco Rubio. Or Chris Christie. But Trump? No way.

I think hes a failure, I think hes a fraud, I think hes a con artist, I think hes insane, Purnell said.

Clintons advantage comes despite weaknesses in her personal popularity. Fifty-four percent of registered voters report an unfavorable impression of the former secretary of state, while 44 percent view her favorably. Yet Trump is significantly worse off, with twice as many negative ratings as positive ones, 65 percent to 32 percent. A 56 percent majority view Trump in a strongly unfavorable light, 13 points higher than for Clinton.

Clinton also may benefit from the popularity of her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, Va., a former governor who maintains a favorable-unfavorable image of 54 percent to 37 percent in the state, similar to his standing during his 2012 Senate race. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, is not nearly as well known, and voters split 37 percent to 34 percent favorable-unfavorable toward him.

The vast majority of voters say the selections of Kaine and Pence as running mates will not influence their vote, but 26 percent say Kaine makes them more likely to back Clinton, compared with 15 percent who say Pence is a motivator to support Trump.

Clintons advantage over Trump is larger than her advantage in national polls following the Democratic and Republican party conventions, including an 8-point lead among registered voters in a Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this month.

But this is not an enthusiastic electorate for either candidate. Less than half of Clinton supporters have a strongly favorable view of her, while nearly nine in 10 have a strongly negative view of Trump. By a similar margin, more Trump backers are strongly negative toward Clinton than positive toward Trump.

Theres the dilemma, said Joseph Baltes, 31, a factory machine operator from Winchester who considers himself a Republican. Do I go for the person that terrifies me because of the things they say and may do, or the person who terrifies me because I dont know if I can trust them? And right now Im willing to hold my nose and vote for Hillary because Trump currently scares me a little bit more.

The Washington Post poll was conducted Aug. 11-14 among a random sample of 1,002 Virginia adults interviewed on cellular and landline phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points among the sample of 888 registered voters; the error margin is 4.5 points among the sample of 707 likely voters.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist survey released Monday found a similar gap opening between Clinton and Trump among registered voters, with Clinton receiving 46 percent of the vote to 33 percent for Trump. That survey of 1,026 adults was taken from Aug. 4 to Aug. 10.
China's coal mining industry is the major cause of the severe air pollution in the country. (Photo : Getty Images)

About 650,000 people who are residents of the central province of Shanxi will be moved due to the unsafe living conditions brought about by almost 100 former pits in the area. The government estimated that the damage is $11 billion or 77 billion yuan.



The cost of relocation alone is estimated at $2.37 billion.



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Wang Junqi, a local resident, said, "We haven't been told to leave yet, but when the government gives us the order, we'll be happy to go. It isn't safe here and the people who have a bit of money have already gone. It's scary, but what can we do?"



The Communist Party reported that there are 19 geological "disaster zones" located in 23 villages. There have been 55 landslides, 950 cracks in the ground and 808 incidents of mine subsidence in an area of 13.25 square kilometers or 5 square miles.



The land ministry released data that showed mining caused 26,000 geological disasters by the end of 2014 which covers 10,000 square kilometers of land.



China's consumption of coal energy is massive. About two-thirds of the country's energy rely on coal.



However, the government wants to reduce coal production by 62 percent in 2020. They are now slowly shifting to new sources of energy.



In a report, the government stated that the consumption of coal in 2015 has decreased by 3.7 percent. Solar energy use has increased to 74 percent and wind energy now produces 37 percent of the country's power.



China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide produced by the coal plants. The huge problem of air pollution and smog is caused by the emissions produced by coal burning.



The government is encouraging solar producing plants to use the abandoned mining sites.



He Xin, a project manager with the United Photovoltaics Group which runs a solar power plant, said, "Before we got here this piece of land wasn't suitable for any kind of planting, but now at least some of it can be used."


The town that used to support the Communist revolution is now a center for e-commerce. (Photo : Getty Images)

The Long March is a military retreat by the Red Army and led by Mao Zedong. This event in China's history began in Zhongfu village found in the east of Fujian Province.



Townspeople then gave the Communist troops food and supply as they journey to meet with other comrade-in-arms at Huining county, Southwest China's Gansu province.



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At present, the residents of Zhongfu are making an income through e-commerce. There are already 50 online stores from the area.



Zhong Changyang, head of Zhongfu village, said that e-commerce is helping the local economy because local produce can sell for a higher price. The village head hopes that this will encourage migrant workers to come back home.



Luo Tianling, a village local, earned 10 million yuan through her online shop. She is the town's top online seller.



He sells passion fruit from his 13.3-hectare farm as well as fruits and vegetables from nearby places.



Xiang Lihua, a former migrant worker, sells ginger candy and homemade chili sauce in Taobao after returning home in 2015. She has a net income of more than 100,000 yuan or about $15,000.



She is earning more online than from her wage as a migrant worker.



"People who come to visit our revolutionary village will purchase local farm produce through our online shops after returning to their home. My online shop receives orders every day," Luo said.



Local governments have created reward schemes for successful online entrepreneurs, who receive free training and free network and power installation. Best sales reports are given incentives.



Shan-Ling Pan, a professor at the University of New South Wales Business School, wrote in his commentary, "The new e-commerce on Taobao brings social gains along with new income for neglected communities."



He added, "In effect, a belief in self-sufficiency germinates, and weakens the learned helplessness in some rural parts of China."


Danbishuang advertisement (Photo : Danbishuang )

A male electrical engineer from Henan Province will launch China's first domestic tampon brand later this month.



This shocking news that 51 year-old Ye Deliang is making an intimate feminine hygiene product is matched by equally shocking news only two percent of Chinese women currently use tampons.



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And this should present a huge market and a huge marketing problem for Ye since Chinese women haven't accepted tampons the same way they have sanitary napkins. Chinese women also don't know a lot about tampons and tampon use.



Ye will launch his tampon brand, "Danbishuang," late this August via a social media campaign that will focus on the health benefits of using tampons. The patriotic Ye believes Chinese women want a domestically made tampon.



The word Danbishuang translates into Crimson Jade Cool in English.



"It is important China has its own brand of tampon," he said. "Every industry needs a pioneer, and I want to be this one's."



Ye's interest in tampons began five years ago when he worked as a representative for Johnson & Johnson, maker of the o.b. tampon brand. He quit this job and opened his own factory in 2010 with some college friends. The group designed the tampon-making machines themselves.



Chinese media said Chinese women that want to use tampons had to settle for expensive or hard to get foreign brands. A Chinese company, Wishu, is selling its tampons online but still has to get major supermarkets to sell them.



China has 670 million women, of which 377 million are between the ages of 15 and 50. That's a massive market, dominated by sanitary napkins with its 98 percent market share. Some 140 billion sanitary napkins are expected to be used this year.



But there seems to be latent demand for tampons if Chinese women knew more about the product. One survey found that one in four non-users in China said they would likely try tampons if they were educated in how to use them.


A FORMER winner of TVs Young Apprentice has vowed to use her experience to encourage young people to take up apprenticeships.

Ashleigh Porter-Exley (21), of Brampton, has just been presented with an award by the Queen and wants others to follow in her footsteps.

The former Wath Comprehensive School pupil won Lord Sugars hunt for a new Young Apprentice on the BBC in 2012 when she was 17 and hasnt looked back.

She said she had been offered lucrative positions after her contest success but decided to stay up north and help other young people develop their careers.

Ashleigh was presented with the Queens Young Leaders Award at Buckingham Palace by the Queen  one of only 60 young people from across the Commonwealth to be honoured.

Ashleigh said: It was incredible.

It was out of this world. I would not have thought that, as a 15-year-old from Wath, I would be meeting the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Ashleigh said that she now wanted to encourage others to consider taking apprenticeships as sixth form and university did not suit everybody.

I took the apprentice route at 16, she said.

It was not an option that was pushed by most people.

When I sat there at 16 in front of my careers advisors, I was told I should definitely go to sixth form and Sheffield University.

In the past, the view was that people did apprenticeships if they didnt get into sixth forms.

People are very narrow-minded about apprenticeships.

I think the attitude to apprenticeships is much better now. For schools its very difficult because they are not given enough information about them.

Ashleigh is now an Apprenticeship and Enterprise Ambassador, as well as teaching enterprise skills. She works full-time for Inspiring Learning but also works for the National Citizen Service.

She is often seen giving speeches to young people at schools to encourage them to consider the career options available, especially apprenticeships.

Ashleigh said: I am just going to continue doing the work I am doing.

Now I have a really great career.
SCIENCE students from Maltby Academy were chosen from thousands across the country to showcase their knowledge at a London exhibition.



Maltby was the only school picked to take part in the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.



It followed the schools work on the Secret Life of Birds project, which saw bird boxes place around the Maltby site and cameras used to collect information on bird behaviour, before students analysed bird eggs with specialist scientific equipment.



Officials from the Royal Society visited the school before selecting it for the exhibition.



The research done by Maltby Academy was carried out in partnership with the University of Sheffield and funded by the Royal Society Partnership Grants scheme.



Maltbys participation in the Summer Science Exhibition was also funded by the Royal Society.



The students were visited at their stall there by Rother Valley MP Sir Kevin Barron, who described the event as a fantastic opportunity to learn about ground-breaking science happening all across the UK.



The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition is an annual display of the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology in the UK and is attended by thousands of members of the public and students.



Maltby students displayed their work alongside members of 21 UK research groups.



Mr Barron added: I am delighted to have met with researchers from Maltby Academy and to see first-hand how science taking place in my constituency is not only providing local jobs and economic growth but also contributing to national and international efforts to learn more about our world and deliver benefits for all of humanity.
De Beers has announced two new changes in its sightholder sales department.

Nigel Simson will move from his current role as senior vice president of sightholder sales to head up the new product planning function that will establish closer integration between the sales, product planning, and product delivery departments. This is meant to enable the delivery of more tailored product and service offerings for rough diamond customers.

Bernard Bradley (pictured), a company newcomer, will take over from Simson as senior vice president of sightholder sales.

The changes are part of the companys efforts to become more customer-centric, a statement said.

Both will based in Gaborone, Botswana.




Tango Mining has received an approval from TSX Venture Exchange to acquire an additional 23 percent interest in the Kwena Group to lift its stake to 74 percent.

Tango had agreed to issue 14,2 million shares at a price of $0.05 to acquire the 23-percent interest, which would be distributed to four individuals.

A Tango director, Kevin Gallagher, would receive 1,3 million shares of the 14,2 million common shares, leaving his total shareholdings in Tango to 9.72 percent.

Tango Mining, a Canadian company, has completed a positive preliminary economic assessment for the past producing BK11 Kimberlite Diamond Mine, Botswana that could produce in excess of 500 000 carats over the life of mine and has a short timeline to the restart of production. Tango also agreed to acquire from Firestone Diamonds Limited its 100 percent right in the BK11 Mine.

Meanwhile, Tango has appointment Simon van der Loo as the companys chief financial officer.

He replaced Kalyan Paul who resigned due to other commitments.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




The Indian government is set to spend $530-million over seven years to conduct aerial surveys across 800 000 km2 of obvious geological potential, according to a report in miningweekly.com

The Government of India is seeking an international agency to conduct the aero-geological survey and mapping of deep-seated minerals across the demarcated areas. The appointment of a specialised agency and subsequent start of the aerial survey is expected by January 2017.

The Indian Mining Ministry has also identified 60 offshore blocks for mining. The rules for the award of these mines for domestic and international exploration will be announced within the next two to three months.

Towards this, the Offshore Areas Mineral Development and Regulation Act 2002 will be amended and will be brought in line with the Mines, Minerals Development and Regulation Act 2015, which will provide the legal framework for putting offshore blocks up for auction as in the case of other onshore mineral assets.

Indias mineral production during 2015/16 recorded growth of 9% at 495-million tons, although mineral value produced decreased by 11%, reflecting the meltdown in global commodity prices. To increase mineral production, the Ministry has invited tenders for the auction of 33 blocks comprising gold, diamond, iron-ore and limestone assets to domestic and international miners.

The report also mentions that about 70 to 80 mines had been awarded to various miners, but that these were not operational in the absence of mandatory environmental clearances. The Mines Ministry has set up a specific task force to interact with the Ministry of Forest and Environment to expedite securing of such approvals for these mines.

At least another 80 mineral blocks is expected to be put up for auction before the end of current financial year.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




Communities in the Marange diamond area want Harare to disband the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), which was established early this year amid high expectations that it boost the flow of revenue into the dry state coffers.

NewsDay reports that the communities had alleged that ZCDC was worse than the previous mining nine firms that operated in the area.

We have seen many people losing jobs. But the new company has failed to consider local people for employment. We have noted that the company is hiring new employees from outside the community and worse still, from other areas out of Manicaland. They have ignored those that have lost employment as a result of the amalgamation of the mining companies, said Malvin Mudiwa, from Marange Community Development Trust.

We now call on the government to halt the operations of ZCDC because it has done nothing for the betterment of our lives in Chiadzwa (Marange).

Another community leader from Arda Transau Development Trust, Causemore Musaamba said some villagers, who were relocated to make way for the diamond mines, had been dumped and were now wallowing in poverty and hunger.

He said villagers had thought that the coming-in of ZCDC would bring relief to the communities, but this had exacerbated things.

We have not even heard a word from ZCDC considering our fate. We do not even know what ZCDC is. We only read in the newspapers that they are the ones that are now doing the mining operations. We have not heard from them since they took over eight months ago, he said.

Centre for Natural Resource Governance director, Farai Maguwu also said ZCDC was just a group of looters led by officials in the mines ministry.

It is a group of corrupt officials, who have worsened mining operations in Marange. Proper investigations must be done. ZCDC was set up so that some individuals continue looting the resources, he said.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Macys Inc. announced Thursday that it will close 100 of its 728 retail locations early next year, or about 14 percent of its total store count.

The retailer has struggled in recent quarters, finishing 2015 with a 5 percent drop in same-store sales in November and December and announcing that it would lay off thousands of workers. It also recently closed 41 stores.

During the quarter ended July 30, Macys same-store sales fell 2 percent while total sales were down 4 percent, from $6.10 billion to $5.87 billion. Year-to-date, comps are down 4 percent and total sales have slipped 6 percent.

As for the future developments, Macys plans to sink capital into its digital businesses and best-performing stores while shedding physical locations where sales are lagging.

The announcements we are making today represent an advancement in our thinking on the role of stores, the quality of the shopping experience we will deliver, and how and where we reinvest in our business for growth, said Macys President Jeff Gennette, who will take over for outgoing CEO Terry Lundgren next year. We believe that this reduction of 100 locations in the short term will result in a more appropriate store portfolio for Macys in the longer term and help us to accelerate our progress in building a vibrant omnichannel brand experience.



Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow




Eleven projects across six states and the District of Columbia will receive grants from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to assist in the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).

FRA awarded $25 million to the projects, as appropriated by Congress for Fiscal Year 2016, but received 30 eligible applications requesting $90.6 million, nearly four times the appropriated amount.

FRA notes that many of the awards will help railroads achieve interoperability among the different PTC systems that railroads are deploying.

Every dollar we invest in implementing Positive Train Control as quickly as possible is money well spent because ultimately it means fewer accidents and fewer fatalities, said FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg. Todays grants inch us closer to a safer rail network with PTC.

In 2008, Congress mandated PTC implementation on the mainlines of Class 1 railroads and entities providing regularly scheduled intercity or commuter rail passenger transportation over which any poisonous or toxic by inhalation hazardous materials are transported or over which intercity or commuter rail passenger transportation is regularly provided. Last October, Congress extended the original PTC implementation deadline from Dec. 31, 2015 to at least Dec. 31, 2018.

FRA awarded grants in the approximate amounts below to the following entities:

Metrolink  California  $2.4 million to develop, test, and deploy a full-feature service desk management suite of software applications that will allow each railroad to create, track, manage and share PTC system and asset trouble tickets internally within the organization and with interoperable railroad partners.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District  Calif.$3 million to install PTC and integrated new grade crossing warning systems on the 2.1-mile passenger rail extension between downtown San Rafael and Larkspur, Calif.

Caltrain  California $2.88 million to conduct two test procedures for the field integration and functional testing of Caltrains Interoperable-Incremental Train Control System (I-ITCS) that will allow Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS) equipped tenants to seamlessly operate on Caltrains tracks.

Amtrak District of Columbia $2.64 million to put in place authentication technology to fully secure the PTC wireless communication and data transmittal between a trains point of origin and targeted receivers on the Northeast Corridor.

American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA)  District of Columbia $2.5 million to create a Crew Initialization Back Office Server System (CI-BOS) hosted service to assist small railroads tasked with implementing PTC, particularly systems that interoperate with Class 1 railroads.

Providence and Worcester Railroad Company (P&W)  Massachusetts $965,832 to acquire and install eight Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) PTC onboard units for P&Ws locomotives utilized on Amtraks Northeast Corridor.

Twin Cities & Western Railroad Company  Minnesota $1.1 million to implement and test PTC systems, including a contract with a back office service and interoperability message software provider, initial activation and licensing fees of hosted back office systems, and two PTC equipped locomotives.

Missouri Department of Transportation  Missouri $3 million to jointly partner with the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) for an Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS) implementation project on the Missouri side of TRRAs territory.

North Carolina Department of Transportation  North Carolina $771,070 to equip five converted Cab Control Units with Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS) and conduct testing on the Piedmont corridor or within any adjacent rail territory of NCDOTs rail partners (Norfolk Southern Corporation and Amtrak).

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority  Texas $3 million to implement Enhanced Automatic Train Control (E-ATC) that will overlay the existing wayside signal system and enhance onboard, wayside, and control office equipment and software to create a functional PTC system in the Austin area.

Fort Worth & Western Railroad  Texas $2.56 million to install PTC on-board equipment and 220 MHz radios on nine locomotives in a phased installation, develop a crew initialization back office server, and train necessary personnel to operate and maintain the PTC system.

ASLRRA will use its $2.5-million grant to support the development and implementation of a back-office product that delivers PTC and is available to all shortline and regional railroads.

Linda Bauer Darr, president, ASLRRA, explained the challenges faced by smaller railroads.

The implementation of PTC is one of the most complex and challenging projects to be mandated for the U.S. Rail System, particularly for our 460 shortline members, who often do not have the technology staff and expertise, but have a complicated roll to play, integrating with multiple Class I systems, said Darr. This grant will enable us to rapidly move forward with providing an affordable solution for small railroads.
FTA

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has $7 million in grants available to support efforts that enhance the safety of transit workers and passengers.

The grants are funded through the Safety Research & Demonstration (SRD) Program and help fund research on new technologies and safer vehicle designs to reduce the potential for accidents.

With these new grants, FTA is funding research on cutting-edge technologies to improve the performance of public transportation, making a safe mode of travel even safer for passengers, as well as those who keep the trains and buses running, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

The SRD Program provides technical and financial support for transit agencies to pursue new approaches to avoid safety hazards, including exploring technologies that prevent collisions, as well as those that protect transit bus operators from assault.

The research we are funding will not only highlight new ways to ensure safety throughout our public transportation systems, but it is also intended to improve the safety culture at transit agencies, said FTA Acting Administrator Carolyn Flowers. We believe this grant opportunity will lead the way on developing technological innovations and design modifications in areas of critical safety needs, particularly for bus operators.

FTA grantees, such as public transportation agencies and state departments of transportation are eligible to apply and are encouraged to partner with for-profit companies, nonprofit organizations and other state or local entities. Applications are due by Oct. 14, 2016.

The SRD program is one of FTAs public transportation innovation programs authorized under the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which established requirements to improve the safety of public transportation systems nationwide.

The 2016 funding opportunity is the latest round of grants promoting transit safety through new technologies. In 2015, FTA provided $29 million to 13 organizations for research as part of Innovative Safety, Resiliency and All-Hazards Emergency Response and Recovery Demonstration funding.
Shares of IT firm Infosys (INFY) were declining in Indian trading after the company said it will be hit by Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel its plan to separate and list a new standalone bank, Williams & Glyn or W&G, and instead to pursue other divestment options. The move would affect 3,000 employees, as Infosys has been a W&G program partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services.

As per reports, the cancellation of the deal would impact Infosys' revenues for the year by about $40 million to $50 million, resulting in a reduction in earnings per share of 1-2 percent.

In a statement, Infosys said it will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months. The company added that RBS is a key relationship and that it looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programs.

It was in 2013 that Infosys won the contract to develop applications for W&G. The bank had awarded a five-year 300 million euro IT contract to Infosys and IBM.

While announcing first-half results on August 5, RBS stated that due to the complexities of W&G's separation, the Board concluded that the risks and costs inherent in the programme are such that it would not be prudent to continue with this programme. RBS added that it will instead prioritise exploring alternative means to achieve divestment. In April, the bank had announced that there was a significant risk that the separation and divestment of Williams & Glyn will not be achieved by December 31, 2017.

In India, Infosys shares were trading at 1,045.25 rupees, down 1.63 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
French shares recovered from an early slide Tuesday after the release of encouraging German economic sentiment and Eurozone trade data.

While the ZEW institute's economic sentiment indicator for Germany partly recovered from the Brexit shock in August, Eurozone trade surplus with the rest of the world grew by more than expected in June.

The CAC 40 was down about 3 points or 0.08 percent at 4,494 in late opening deals after hitting as low as 4,457 in early trade on worries that a recent market rally was overdone. The benchmark index closed 0.1 percent lower in the previous session.

A stronger euro weighed on automakers, with Peugeot and Renault losing 1-2 percent.

Air Liquide shares rallied 2 percent on a report that U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc. has held merger talks with its German peer Linde AG to create the world's largest supplier of industrial gases.

Technip shares climbed 2.5 percent. The French oil services firm and DOF Subsea announced that their 50/50 owned affiliate TechDof Brasil AS has chartered out a pipe-lay support vessel to Petrobras.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OGXI) announced Tuesday that Phase 3 AFFINITY Trial of Custirsen in Men with Metastatic Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer or CRPC did not meet the primary endpoint.

The company was announcing the final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of custirsen in men with CRPC whose disease has progressed after treatment with docetaxel. The trial did not meet the primary endpoint of demonstrating a statistically significant improvement in overall survival for patients treated with custirsen in combination with cabazitaxel/prednisone compared to cabazitaxel/prednisone alone.

The adverse events were consistent with those observed in previous trials of custirsen in metastatic CRPC. The final data will be submitted as a late-breaking abstract to the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Congress 2016.

As a result of these data and previous custirsen findings, OncoGenex plans to initiate discussions with the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate options related to an early analysis of the Phase 3 ENSPIRIT trial investigating custirsen in combination with docetaxel as second-line chemotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer or NSCLC.

Scott Cormack, President and CEO of OncoGenex, said, "We are obviously disappointed that custirsen was unable to demonstrate a survival benefit in prostate cancer."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
New Zealand will on Wednesday release Q2 numbers for unemployment and producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The jobless rate is expected to come in at 5.3 percent, down from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter. The employment change is pegged at 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.3 percent on year after gaining 1.2 percent on quarter and 2.0 percent on year in the three months prior.

Producer price inputs were down 1.0 percent on quarter in Q1, while producer price outputs eased 0.2 percent.

Australia will see Q2 numbers for wage costs, plus the July reading for the Westpac leading index.

Wages are expected to have added 0.5 percent on quarter and 2.0 percent on year after gaining 0.4 percent on quarter and 2.1 percent on year in the previous three months. The leading index dipped 0.22 percent on month in June.

Finally, the in Indonesia are closed on Wednesday for Independence Day, and will re-open on Thursday.

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.
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 ...
Here's where to get a pumpkin in central Kansas for fall
A Special Envoy for the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Gniatkowski, is in the country.

Based in Wellington New Zealand, Mr. Gniatkowski met with Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi to discuss the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

@ @samoa_observer.Thanks Editor in Chief, Savea Sano Malifa &Mata'afa Keni Lesa for interesting exchange of ideas.ZG pic.twitter.com/TkM1rnof16  PLinNewZealand (@PLinNewZealand) August 16, 2016

Later, he visited the Samoa Observers Office at Vaitele where he met with the Samoa Observers Editor-in-Chief, Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa and Editor, Mataafa Keni Lesa.

The main purpose of this trip is to meet with the Prime Minister as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade to exchange some ideas on U.N. issues, global challenges and also bilateral cooperation, Mr. Gniatkowski said.

Poland and Samoa established diplomatic relations 2012; we are like minded nations regarding democracy and we comply with the international laws and of course the Catholic religion.

One of the key issues for Mr. Gniatkowski is Polands Security Council Campaign.

We were one of the founding countries of the U.N. and we are currently running as a candidate for the Security Council for 2018-2019, he said.

We will be very happy if we were elected next year in June and we wanted to bring some new experience because over 20 years ago before we joined the European Union and NATO so we have quite a lot of good new expertise regarding the developments in our part of Europe.

I wanted to exchange this idea with your Prime Minister and on the occasion we were talking about the Olympic Games.

According to Mr. Gniatkowski, Poland is looking at increasing its engagement with the outside world.

We have a 7,000 strong Polish community in New Zealand and I am pleased to see a few Polish working in the Sheraton Hotel here. I will have a meeting with them; its quite interesting.

So Im visiting the countries in the region. Last month I went to Kiribati, last year to Tonga and Tuvalu; I met the Prime Ministers of these countries and of course I was interested in their positions just prior to the Paris Climate Summit and its good that we found good compromising at the summit.

Now theres a lot of work ahead of us to do also in this area.

While discussing Polands history and the dark hours leading up to its 1989 independence, Mr. Gniatkowski says that the freedom felt now made it all worth it.

Now we are enjoying our freedom and Democracy and we are looking forward to developing our close relations with not only with New Zealand and Australia but also the Pacific Countries, he said.

Samoa in Poland is very well known, in the region there are not many countries known in Poland like Samoa; you can also expect more travelers from Poland because our people are getting wealthier and they are enjoying more freedom.

They (Polish) are more interested in traveling to this part of the Globe.

When asked about our current bilateral relations Mr. Gniatkowski answered: We just established our diplomatic relations and we are waiting for the accreditation process to be completed.

We could try to find some common interests; maybe in research or education; I know green energy is a big challenge in Poland and Samoa but we have had some great achievements in recent years.
An irate member of the public, Christian Charles Rasmussen, of Samea Mulifanua, has blasted the behavior of the authorities over road safety and their failure to be consistent in their decision-making.

He has singled out the Land Transport Authority (L.T.A.) and the Traffic Division of the Police, accusing them of failing to monitor road safety properly.

Everyday I see buses with overloaded passengers where I live, he said. I see most buses with people hanging out of the door and yet the Police and the L.T.A. dont do anything about it.

What really annoyed Mr. Rasmussen though is their habit of picking on members of the public during their frequent road blocks  when they are not doing anything about the buses, he said.

It all started three years ago when I came to Samoa. I was stopped at Faleolo airport on my way to Apia and then getting to Apia I was stopped again but for no reason.

I have a valid drivers license and most of the police and L.T.A. officers there know me but they still stopped me but they dont stop the buses that are overloaded.

One day, I drove to a shop to get some shopping and then I was stopped again. On my way back home, I was again stopped by the same people who stopped me on my way to the shop

This is nonsense and I had put up with it for a while but now Im getting sick and tired of being stopped every time I am in my car driving but for no reason and these people think its a joke. Its a disgrace to the uniform.

Mr. Rasmussen became so unhappy he visited the L.T.A Office.

Now I have just been to L.T.A. and spoke to some people there, he said.

I also saw the C.E.O. of L.T.A. speaking to the media saying that having buses that are overloaded will be a $100 fine for the bus driver and for every passenger that is over the limit is a fine of $100 as well.

Now what on earth are these guys doing here? We have the L.T.A .and then we have the Police. So who enforces the law when it comes to these overloaded buses?

These people are breaking the law because there are buses passes right under their noses and yet they are not doing anything about it.

Its not a good reflection on Samoa where we have laws and its only selectively enforce. That is where the corruption is. Mr. Rasmussen said it would be great for the authorities to clarify who enforces what and when.

The thing is, I dont know who this law comes under whether its the L.T.A. or the Police.

It is also a conflict of interest because we have the L.T.A. and the Police doing exactly the same thing by violating the law. The Samea resident said he is sick and tired of getting stopped by the people who are not doing their jobs

I am sick and tired of getting stopped by these guys all the time but then again I am seeing the law being broken by the same people who think they are enforcing it, he said.

I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour again and I will not stand by and do nothing about it.

I am looking from a law enforcement perspective and I know we adopt a lot of laws that New Zealand has which is fair enough because every road is almost like New Zealand and Australia.

But I want to ask why adopt laws that people will only take one look at it and say its a joke, they better smarten up.

The disappointed citizen said he knows he will be criticised by so many people because of his concerns but its something that he should have done a long time ago.

They have to draw a line somewhere because do they really have to stop a guy that they know lives down there and has a valid license, so what is the point? he said. You see my point is they choose to enforce when it suits them but they dont really do anything when peoples lives are threatened. They just dont care.

The culture of the Police has to change whether they like it or not we have to play it by the western rules. The Samoan police did not create their police force they created the police force under the law that were adopted by the Samoan government when the New Zealand government was here.

This whole thing needs to be clean up and if it means for me to open my mouth and expose then so be it, he said.

I hope they do read my concerns and my reasons of being here, and I hope I do make a change and it has taken me three years to come to the paper because enough is enough.

Someone has to initiate this and I hope the police and the L.T.A gets to read this and do something about their law and enforce it fully.
The future of Samoa Helicopters Company remains uncertain.

While the lone helicopter remains at Mulinuu, slowly rusting no thanks to the nearby coastal breeze, attempts to get an update from the people behind the company have proven futile.

Emails sent to the owner, Rodger McCutcheon were not responded to at press time.

Phone calls to the Samoa Helicopters rescue hotline were not answered either.

But questions from members of the public are mounting about the future of a venture that started off with a bang  given Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaois ringing endorsement  just before the March General Election.

For a couple of months after, the company appeared to have been warmly received with the helicopter being used for tours, a wedding and a rescue mission in Savaii.

That was until a sometime ago when the helicopter suddenly stopped flying.

Yesterday, the small office next to Sails Restaurant in Apia is still arranged as it was back in April, except the helicopter has not moved for a long time now.

When McCutcheon founded what should have been the countrys first air rescue service, the atmosphere was positive.

Since then, things have grown quiet about the companys whereabouts.

Asked for a comment in June when the operation first halted, Mr. McCutcheon remained upbeat.

Things are progressing well for the Samoa Helicopters operation, he said.

He explained then that the helicopter was going through a change of ownership, [and] it will be owned and registered in Samoa [] flown by New Zealand pilots and Samoan paramedics.

According to some of his recent updates on social media platforms, Mr. McCutcheon promised that when Samoa Helicopters return, the service would be even better than it was before.

But all of these promises were made months ago.
The Police Commissioner, Fuiavailili Egon Keil, has been charged in relation to the wrongful arrest of member of the public, Suitupe Misa, at the Fugalei market last year.

He is due to appear in the Supreme Court on 29 August to answer to the charges. This was confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Papalii John Taimalelagi.

Although the C.E.O. could not confirm the charges, the Samoa Observer understands that they include unlawful detain, perjury, providing a false report and disorderly conduct in a public place.

Papalii said the charges were filed with the Court on 12 August 2016 by the National Prosecution Office.

He declined to comment further. But a Police source told the Samoa Observer that the Commissioner was only informed about the charges yesterday.

Attempts to contact the Commissioner for a comment were unsuccessful.

Police Media Officer, Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona, said the Commissioners case is handled by the National Prosecution Office.

If there are charges against him, then it was filed by the N.P.O. but not the Police, he said.

Asked about the possibility of the Commissioner being suspended, Maotaoalii said that would have to be determined by Cabinet.

Earlier this year, Ombudsman Maiava Iulai Toma blasted the behaviour of the Police  including Police CommissionerFuiava  as "irresponsible", "unlawful" and "cruel."

The criticisms were made in the findings of an investigation by the Ombudsmans Office into a complaint made by Mr. Misa, over an incident at the Fugalei market on 18 August 2015.

Described as a watershed moment in the history of Samoa, the incident saw the Police use firearms in a public place to carry out a pre-planned arrest of an individual.

Mr. Misa was arrested at gunpoint by a contingent of armed plain clothed officers in front of a shocked and distressed Fugalei marketplace. It transpired that Mr. Misa had "committed no crime" and the arrest was "carried out based on insubstantial and second-hand evidence."

Mr. Misa lodged a complaint against the Police, which was investigated by the Ombudsmans Office. The findings of the investigation raise serious questions about the actions of the Police and the Commissioner.

The Commissioner of Police failed to meet basic investigation principles and placed undue consideration on second hand evidence, leading directly to the wrongful and unlawful arrest of Suitupe, the reports findings reads.

The Commissioners decision to arm and allow the use of firearms by his officers contravened the Use of Force policy, was irresponsible, and could negatively impact the overall safety and security within Samoa.

The Commissioner failed to take appropriate steps to identify the actions of his officers as being part of a police operation, leading to widespread distress and in one case serious health issues.
The Director of the National Prosecution Office (N.P.O.), Mauga Precious Chang, was arrested and charged yesterday.

At her office at the Tofilau Eti Alesana Building, Police officers in uniform and members of the Tactical Operation Squad (T.O.S.) were stationed outside to execute the arrest warrant.

Superintendent Sua Lemamea Tiumalu led the team with assistance from Sergeant Magalo Pule. As she was led away by Police officers, Mauga was reluctant to comment saying she would deal with the matter through her lawyer. She did not say who her lawyer is.

Later, Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Lincoln Keil, confirmed the charges against Mauga.

Police can confirm that they have charged the Director of the National Prosecution Office, Ms Mauga Precious Chang with negligent driving causing injury and dangerous driving, he said in a statement.

The decision to charge is the result of a police investigation where the file was then reviewed by an independent prosecutor.

Police informed the Director in May shortly after the incident involving three damaged vehicles, that an investigation had commenced and charges were possible.

It was further confirmed to her a few weeks ago that charges were now likely.

However the matter was then referred for an independent review of the evidence, which is now complete.

The statement from the Police did not give a date for her Court appearance.

The Samoa Observer however understands that she will appear on 13 September 2016.

The Police Commissioners statement added that the decision to charge Mauga followed an independent legal opinion sought by the Attorney Generals Office.

The independent prosecutor, Auckland based Barrister, Satiu Simativa Perese, was engaged on advice of the Attorney General to ensure independence, and he will work directly with Police.

The Police Media Officer, Maotaoalii Kaioneta Kitiona told the Samoa Observer that Mauga is remanded at liberty until her Court appearance.
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Daytona Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2016 -- Bike Week resource site bikeweek.com has recently unveiled a new collection of Sturgis Rally t-shirts for sale on their website. The t-shirts featuring the Sturgis, South Dakota 76th Anniversary Bike Week 2016 will be available in a variety of colors. As per further inputs from the spokesperson at bikeweeek.com the t-shirts feature different designs like the girl on a bike, eagle bike, flag bike, eagle Rushmore, and so on.



Regarding the prices of the t-shirts the spokesperson revealed, "The t-shirts have all been priced between $19.99 and $21.99 which is quite reasonable compared to other online shopping sites. Besides, all of these t-shirts will be available in standard sizes like small, medium, large, extra large, and 2X large."



The spokesperson also maintained that a minimal shipping fee of $6.99 on every order will be charged from customers. He added, "We guarantee buyers of a reliable product that is absolutely manufactured of 90% cotton and 10% polyester. Moreover, all of the t-shirts are printed with the 76th Anniversary Sturgis Rally design on the center chest as well as the full back."



It may be said that Bike Week has been keeping taps about the latest happening in Bike weeks from in and around cities like Daytona, Sturgis, Laconia, Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, as well as news about popular bike fests like Biketoberfest. The site has also posted videos of the biking events and rallies held across America.



Later on the spokesperson also revealed that though it took a bit of time for the website to actually join in the clothing business they are hopeful to present more of such t-shirts of the bike rallies that have become some of the highly popular sporting events for bike lovers and enthusiasts. He added, "We urge visitors to keep following our site for more updates in the coming months."



For more details go to http://www.bikeweek.com/daytona-bike-week/



About Bike Week

It is a website that shares information about popular bike weeks and rallies held in cities like Daytona, Sturgis, Myrtle Beach, Laconia, and so on.



Contact Media:

Bikeweek

admin@bikeweek.com

Daytona Beach, Florida

http://www.bikeweek.com/daytona-bike-week/
Lima, Peru -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2016 -- The founders of Project World School are pleased to announce their upcoming worldschooling summit. The second annual Project World School Family Summit will be held in Merida, Mexico, and the event will offer information, resources, and community for existing and prospective worldschoolers.



Worldschooling is expanding quickly across the globe. Lainie Liberti, one of the founders at Project World School, is also the administrator for a private Facebook group of worldschoolers. The Worldschoolers page has more than 13, 000 members.



According to Liberti, last year's Project World School Family Summit had approximately 150 attendees. She anticipates that this year's event will have double that amount of guests due to the growing popularity of worldschooling.



Over the course of 2016, Project World School has hosted 5 retreats for teens and young adults in Mexico, Peru's Amazon Rainforest, Andes and Machu Picchu in Peru, at an off the grid farm in Wales, and in Thailand. During 2017, Project World School plans to offer more of the same with added locations such as Bolivia and Greece.



More information can be found at http://projectworldschool.com.



About Project World School

Founded by Lainie Liberti and Miro Siegel, mother and son, Project World School coordinates immersive learning events around the world for homeschoolers, unschoolers, and democratic learners alike.



Contact:

Lainie Liberti, Co-Founder

Project World School

E-mail: info@projectworldschool.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectworldschool1

Website: http://www.projectworldschool.com
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2016 -- Claim this global strategic report to understand unique product opportunities by stem cell type, derive more revenue from products sold to stem cell scientists, and identify new product development opportunities before the competition. Use the "Survey of Stem Cell Scientists" to understand technical requirements, unmet needs, and purchasing preferences of stem cell researchers worldwide.



This report explores unique market opportunities by stem cell type, including mesenchymal stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells, neural stem cells, and more.



View Full Report at http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/550905



The Market for Stem Cell Research Products



Stem cells are primitive cells found in all multi-cellular organisms that are characterized by self-renewal and the capacity to differentiate into any mature cell type. Several broad categories of stem cells exist, including:



Embryonic stem cells, derived from blastocysts

Perinatal stem cells, obtained during the period immediately before and after birth

Adult stem cells, found in adult tissues

Induced pluripotent stem cells, produced by genetically reprogramming adults cells

Cancer stem cells, which give rise to clonal populations of cells that form tumors or disperse in the body

Stem cell research and experimentation have been in process for well over five decades, as stem cells have the unique ability to divide and replicate repeatedly. In addition, their "unspecialized" nature allows them to differentiate into a wide variety of specialized cell types.



In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all of the specialized embryonic tissues. In adult organisms, stem and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells.



Traditionally, scientists have worked with both embryonic and adult stem cells as research tools. While the appeal of embryonic cells has been their ability to differentiate into any type of cell, there has been significant ethical, moral and spiritual controversy surrounding their use for research purposes. Although some adult stem cells do have differentiation capacity, it is often limited in nature, which results in fewer options for use.



Thus, when induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were produced from mouse cells in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, they represented a promising combination of adult and embryonic stem cell characteristics. By 2007, a series of follow-up experiments were done at Kyoto University in which human adult cells were transformed into iPSC cells. Nearly simultaneously, a research group led by James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison accomplished the same feat of deriving iPSC lines from human somatic cells.



The possibilities arising from these characteristics have resulted in great commercial interest, with potential applications ranging from the use of stem cells in reversal and treatment of disease, to targeted cell therapy, tissue regeneration, pharmacological testing on cell-specific tissues, and more. Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injuries are examples of conditions for which clinical applications involving stem cells could offer benefits in halting or even reversing adverse effects.



Also of interest to clinical researchers is the potential to use stem cells in regenerative medicine. Additionally, the ability to use stem cells to improve drug target validation and toxicology screening is of intense interest to the pharmaceutical industry.



Download Sample Copy of this Report at http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/550905



At this time, the following account for the majority of stem cell research:



Basic Research  Understanding stem cell mechanisms and behavior

Regenerative Medicine  Reversal of injury or disease

Drug Target Validation and Drug Delivery  Treatment of disease

Toxicology Screening  Drug safety and efficacy assessment

To facilitate research resulting from interest in these potential far-ranging applications, a large and growing stem cells research products market has emerged.



Large companies selling stem cell research products include:



Thermo Fisher Scientific

BD Biosciences, a Division of Becton Dickinson

Merck KGaA

Miltenyi Biotec

STEMCELL Technologies

Lonza Group

Clontech (a Takara Bio Company)

GE Healthcare Life Sciences.



While several of these dominant market players have utilized acquisition strategies to grow and capture market share, Merck KGaA has had a particularly strong commitment to this approach, acquiring several other massive major players within the stem cell research products marketplace, including Milllipore on February 26, 2010, for $7.2 billion, and Sigma-Aldrich on September 22, 2014, for $17 billion. Dozens of mid-sized suppliers of stem cell research products also exist, as well as over 100 small specialty providers.



Currently, the following compose the majority of stem cell research product sales worldwide:



Primary antibodies to stem cell antigens

Bead-based stem cell separation systems

Fluorescent-based labeling and detection

Stem cell protein purification and analysis tools

Tools for DNA and RNA-based characterization of stem cells

Isolation/characterization services

Stem cell culture media and reagents

Stem cell specific growth factors and cytokines

Tools for stem cell gene regulation

Stem cell services and mechanisms for in vivo and in vitro stem cell tracking

Expansion/differentiation services for stem cell media and RNAi

Stem cell lines



Currently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are one of the fastest growing areas of stem cell research, with more than 25,000 scientific publications published about the cell type and more than 400 clinical trials underway worldwide. Importantly, 2015 was the first year in history that mesenchymal stem cells surpassed hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for the most scientific publications of any stem cell type. In addition, Google Trend data shows MSC searches to be approximately twice as common as the next most popular stem cell type.



MSCs also being explored for use in 3D printing applications, because of their unique capacity to form structural tissues. In particular, there will be a demand for companies to supply MSC populations for use in 3D printing inks.



Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are also an interesting area of stem cell research, with Japan committing to being a market leader in this area. In the past year, Japan has accelerated its position as a hub for regenerative medicine research, largely driven by support from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has identified regenerative medicine and cellular therapy as key to the Japan's strategy to drive economic growth.



The Prime Minister has encouraged a growing range of collaborations between private industry and academic partners through an innovative legal framework. Most importantly to the stem cell research products marketplace, Japan's Education Ministry said it is planning to spend 110 billion yen ($1.13 billion) on induced pluripotent stem cell research during the next 10 years, and the Japanese parliament has been discussing bills that would "speed the approval process and ensure the safety of such treatments."



Utilization of other stem cell types in research settings continue as well, with hematopoietic stem cells being explored for their broad therapeutic applications, neural stem cells being explored for their ability to address unmet medical needs, and adipose-derived stem cells catching the interest of the research community because of the increasing prevalence of orthopedic doctors who are using these cells for musculoskelal applications, an area that the FDA has begun to tightly regulate.



Key report findings include:



Market size determinations, with 5-year projections for the stem cell research products market (2016-2020)

Year-over-year analysis of stem cell grant rates, patent rates, clinical trial rates, and scientific publication rates

Stem cell funding sources, trends, and amounts (domestic and international)

Stem cell research applications, including priorities by segment

Relative demand for stem cell products, by stem cell type

Breakdown of stem cell product categories

Competitive analysis of leading stem cell research product companies

Online trends for stem cells, including Google Trends and Google Adwords

Social analytics for stem cells, including activity on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more

Communications strategies for accessing the marketplace

End-user survey of stem cell scientists

Competing within the stem cell marketplace can involve complicated and confusing decisions, but it doesn't have to. Claim this report to reveal the current and future needs of your customer base, so you can focus your marketing efforts on profitable products, in promising research areas, within lucrative markets.



Input Sources



The content and statistics contained in this report were compiled using a broad range of sources. These input sources include:

Stem Cell Grant Funding Database (RePORT Database, CIRM, MRC, Wellcome Trust - UK)

Stem Cell Patent Database (United States Patent and Trade Office, World Intellectual Property Organization)

Stem Cell Clinical Trial Database (ClinicalTrials.gov, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, European Union Clinical Trials Register )

Stem Cell Scientific Publication Database (PubMed, Highwire Press, Google Scholar)

Stem Cell Product Launch Announcements (Trade Journals, Google News)

Stem Cell Industry Events (Google News, Google Alerts)

Stem Cell Company News (SEC Filings, Investor Publications, Historic Performance)

International Surveys (Electronically Distributed End-User Surveys)

And More



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White Plains, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/16/2016 -- Dr. Howard Heppe and Dr. Harold Bautista, plastic surgeons based in Fredericksburg, VA, worked together to recently create and share an infographic on cosmetic treatments that they recommend for the summer season to better inform their patients on their non-invasive options. Committed to providing the best in patient research, this interactive guide is the latest addition to Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg's extensive library of user-friendly patient resources.



Titled "Ready for Summer?", the infographic discusses several non-surgical procedures, including Botox, permanent makeup and the different types of Restylane. For each treatment, Dr. Heppe and Dr. Bautista provide a brief description of the procedure and the RealSelf.com worth it rating, which represents how many real patients were satisfied with the treatment. In addition to the valuable information, Dr. Heppe and Dr. Bautista employed summer-themed graphics to make learning more fun for their patients.



The infographic can be found on Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg's cosmetic blog. The blog post is search engine optimized, so the infographic and its wealth of information can easily be found by any patient researching non-invasive procedures online. Dedicated to expanding patient research, Dr. Heppe and Dr. Bautista are excited to share the visually captivating infographic with patients around the world.



About Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg

Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg is an accredited surgery center located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It has been named North Virginia Top Plastic Surgeon for the past five years. There are many surgical and non-surgical services offered including breast augmentation, mommy makeover, liposuction, tummy tuck, Botox and dermal fillers. Doctors Howard Heppe and Harold Bautista of Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg are dedicated to ensure patient satisfaction, comfort and privacy.



To learn more about Dr. Heppe, Dr. Bautista or Plastic Surgery Center of Fredericksburg, call 540-371-7730 or visit www.plasticsurgeryservices.com.



Media Contact:

Aesthetic Brand Marketing  Michelle Hartwell

E-mail: mhartwell@aestheticbm.com

Website: www.aestheticbrandmarketing.com



Plastic Surgery Services of Fredericksburg

Location: 3312 Fall Hill Avenue, Fredericksburg, VA 22401

Website: www.plasticsurgeryservices.com
Archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who are excavating the Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke/Dromolaxia Vizatzia on the island of Cyprus, have uncovered a spectacularly rich tomb dating from about 1200 BC.

Hala Sultan Tekke/Dromolaxia Vizatzia flourished between 1600 and 1150 BC. The city occupied an area of up to 50 hectares and had far-reaching trade connections.

In May-June we discovered a city quarter from around 1250 BC and outside the city we found an incredibly rich grave, one of the richest in Cyprus from this period, and an offering pit next to it, said team leader Prof. Peter Fischer.

The fact that we have discovered a burial site from the Late Bronze Age is quite sensational, since those who died around this time were usually buried within the settlement.

The grave seems to be a family tomb for eight children ages 510 years and nine adults, of whom the oldest was about 40 years old. The life expectancy was much shorter back then than it is today, Prof. Fischer said.

The team found over 100 ceramic vessels and several gold objects, including a diadem, beads, earrings and Egyptian scarabs.

The finds also include gemstones and five cylinder seals, some produced locally and some from Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as a bronze dagger.

Prof. Fischer and his colleagues assign the greatest importance to the more than 140 complete ceramic vessels, most of which were decorated with spectacular illustrations of for example people sitting in a chariot drawn by two horses and a woman wearing a beautiful dress. There were also vases decorated with religious symbols and animal illustrations.

Many of the vessels were imported mainly from Greece and Crete but also from Anatolia (present-day Turkey).

The pottery carries a lot of archaeological information, Prof. Fischer said. There were for example high-class Mycenaean imports, meaning pottery from Greece, dated to 15001300 BC.

The motif of the woman, possibly a goddess, is Minoan, which means it is from Crete, but the vase was manufactured in Greece. Back in those days, Crete was becoming a Greek colony.

According to the archaeologists, the painting of the womans dress is highly advanced and shows how wealthy women dressed around this time.

The motif can also be found on frescos for example in the Palace of Knossos in Heraklion, Crete.

Other finds are from Egypt. Two of the stone scarabs are gold-mounted and one features hieroglyphs spelling men-kheper-re next to an illustration of a pharaoh.

This has given the archaeologists a unique opportunity to tie the roughly 3,500-year-old find to a historic person.

The inscription refers to Egypts most powerful pharaoh Thutmose III (14791425 BC), during whose reign Egypt peaked in size and influence as he conquered both Syria and parts of Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq.

We also found evidence in the city of large-scale manufacturing and purple-dying of textiles, Prof. Fischer said.

These products were used in the trade with the high cultures in Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Crete and Greece, which explains the rich imported finds.
A research programme to tackle invasive species that kill plants and sicken animals is getting under way at the United Kingdoms Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI).

The programme, worth US$50 million, aims to find scientific solution that help farmers to either defeat or adapt to the presence of invasive species. The goal is to tackle the devastating economic impact of such species, estimated to be around $183 billion in lost crops and revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia every year.

Species falling into the programme include the tuta absoluta moth  which destroyed crops on 80 per cent of Nigerian tomato farms last year  as well as the parthenium weed, which has invaded grazing lands in Tanzania and Uganda, poisoning livestock and afflicting local people with dermatitis.

To tackle the global threat of invasive species we need to use proven approaches based on solid science, said Trevor Nicholls, the chief executive officer of CABI.

[The programme] will help in the early detection of invasive species.

Nicholls added that, in areas where invasive species are already common, CABI would look for scientific solutions that are environmentally friendly and affordable for poorer communities.

The CABI programme will consist of a three-pronged approach, including spending on research to tackle invasive species, partnerships that put these solutions into practice and the development of a so-called knowledge bank to share experiences and research results.

At the launch event for the programme, which took place in London on 26-27 July, CABI representatives said the programme is crucial to support economic and social development in poorer regions.

Scientists estimate that in Africa alone, each rural woman spends about 200 hours per year weeding out invasive species from family farms. The same study showed that in rural regions around 70 per cent of school children miss lessons during peak weeding times as they are drafted in to help control invasive species.

According to CABI members at the event, controlling invasive species will play a crucial part in achieving the second Sustainable Development Goal, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition.

Its up to us to make something of the SDGs, said Ruth Oniango, a professor of nutrition at the University of Nairobi and CABI board member. We need partnerships. We need scientists, the private sector, literate farmers, the media, and we can actually make it happen.
A one-of-a-kind mosaic floor believed to be from the 4th century showing scenes from a chariot race in the hippodrome had been unearthed in Cyprus said a Cypriot archaeologist.

According to Science Alert, the floor was decorated with scenes from an ancient chariot race running inside a hippodrome which is an ancient Grecian stadium. The mosaic is the first of its kind to have ever found in Cyprus, and is one of a handful of depictions discovered around the world.

"It is an extremely important finding, because of the technique and because of the theme," Cyprus's director of the Department of Antiquities, Marina Ieronymidou, told the press earlier this week. "It is unique in Cyprus since the presence of this mosaic floor in a remote inland area provides important new information on that period in Cyprus and adds to our knowledge of the use of mosaic floors on the island," she continued.

Phys.org reported that the mosaic is 11 meters long and 4 meters wide (36 by 13 feet) but the excavation process has not been completed yet. Archaeologists think it's part of a villa that may have been owned by a wealthy individual or noblemen when Cyprus was ruled by the Romans. The mosaic was found about 30 kilometers west of the country's capital Nicosia. It gives new information about the ancient of the island's interior, something that is not known to a lot of people.

Researchers have also noticed that most of the important ancient discoveries on the island are usually along the coast, mainly because this is usually the place where cities and towns blossom with antiquities. In 1939 a farmer found a small piece of decorated floor. But it was not completely dug up until many years later because of the amount of work that had to be done on other sites, Hadjichristofi explained, Mail Online reported.

Cyprus was once an island rich in antiquity. It became well- known for producing copper, timber from its thick forests, as well as pottery, and many examples of all these have been discovered in neighboring countries, said Hadjichristofi. "We know that Cyprus was once wealthy, the latest discoveries confirm this," she ended.
The aim of the NATO visit was to exchange expertise and coordinate efforts to face challenges in the Mediterranean region

Egyptian naval forces held a joint military drill with NATOs navy while on a multiple day visit to Egypt, the army said in a statement.

The joint drill with NATO's SNMG 2 navy is part of military cooperation between the two naval forces, the military added in the statement on Monday.

The aim of the exercises is to 'exchange training expertise, hone the skills of participating forces in performing the most advanced naval fighting techniques and to coordinate efforts to combat challenges in the Mediterranean region," the statement added.

Egypt's naval commander Osama Rabei held talks with NATO deputy commander Bruno Palmer where they discussed military cooperation on issues of mutual interest  specifically on the naval level -- and on the new channels of joint exercises as well as the exchange of visits of forces and naval units between both sides.

NATO is a military alliance of 28 countries from North America and Europe that was established in 1949 during the early days of the Cold War to counter the Soviet Unions influence in Europe.

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Scientists from NASA working with the Hubble Space Telescope spotted two dwarf galaxies which they believed have travelled from the far flung part of space to the Milky Way.

Tech Times reported that the tiny galaxies known only as Pisces A and B have moved from a part of space called Local Void which is a universe about 150 million light-years wide and populated by only a few galaxies. The two galaxies have spent most of their existence in that empty part of space, causing the environment to interfere with their evolution. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted these galaxies which scientists believed are ready to take their evolution to another level by starting a series of star birth.

"These Hubble images may be snapshots of what present-day dwarf galaxies may have been like at earlier epochs," said lead researcher Erik Tollerud of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. "Studying these and other similar galaxies can provide further clues to dwarf galaxy formation and evolution."

The steady pull of gravity from the crowded part of space has caused these dwarf galaxies to enter this part of space with denser intergalactic gas. This gas-rich environment may have triggered star birth by raining down gas on the galaxies as they make their way through the tightly packed area of space. Scitechdaily.com also reported that scientists also looked at another idea for these galaxies' star births have also been considered by experts. They said that the galaxies may have encountered a gaseous filament, compressing gas in the galaxies that may have influenced star birth.

Based on the galaxies' locations, Tollerud and his team were able to determine that the objects are at the edge of a nearby filament with dense gas. It was also revealed that each galaxy had 10 million stars in them. As many may have already known, dwarf galaxies are the building blocks from which larger galaxies were formed billions of years ago in the universe. They are said to have been living a somewhat empty area of space, Mail Online reported.

"These galaxies may have spent most of their history in the void," Tollerud explained. "If this is true, the void environment would have slowed their evolution. Evidence for the galaxies' void address is that their hydrogen content is somewhat high relative to similar galaxies. In the past, galaxies contained higher concentrations of hydrogen, the fuel needed to make stars. But these galaxies seem to retain that more primitive composition, rather than the enriched composition of contemporary galaxies, due to a less vigorous history of star formation. The galaxies also are quite compact relative to the typical star-forming galaxies in our galactic neighborhood."

Both galaxies are considered to be very young. Scientist have observed that they have at least 20 to 30 bright blue stars in each indicating that they are less than 100 million years old.
A recent study revealed that Zika virus can be sexually transmitted even after 6 months since diagnosis. This was after the initial reports that concluded that viral persistence of Zika virus is just 3 months.

The case study was done by public health scientists and physicians of Padova University Hospital, Italy. The patient was a nearly 40-year-old man who returned from Haiti to Italy who developed several symptoms of the viral infection. Later tests showed that the virus still remained in the semen sample of the infected patient even after 182 days of being cured of the disease. This posts a big threat to public health since the virus attacks pregnant women and known cause microcephaly and several birth defects to the unborn babies. The viral persistence or the maximum time a virus can stay at the human body is still unknown, this might suggest that the virus might still be capable of replicating in the prostate tract.

However it is not verified if the virus isolated in the semen is capable of a successful infection, it is advised that all infected patients including those who were already cured from infection, to refrain from having sexual intercourse to prevent the spread of the virus. Several public health organizations are reviewing the preventive measures and handling protocols for Zika infected patients.

Zika virus has been flashing in the headlines in our daily news in the past few months. The virus was initially known to be transmitted via mosquito vectors in tropical and subtropical regions. Several countries already initiated travel bans to countries with high prevalence of the infection. Travelers who are suspected to be infected by the virus are immediately placed into quarantine for treatment. According to the World health Organization, there is still no available vaccine for the virus and preventive measure is still the best way to control spread of infection.
The tiny island foxes have come back from their extinction after they are being listed as endangered about a decade ago. They are the fastest of any mammal in the 43-year history of the Endangered Species Act that has recovered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Interior Department.

Dan Ashe, the Fish and Wildlife director stated that it's remarkable to think that in 2004, these foxes were given a 50 percent chance of being vanished in the next decade. He further stated that successes at reversing endangered species' population drops were "coming faster and faster now because they are learning how to do it better," as noted by Huffington Post.

As of today, the Channel Islands has nearly 6,000 of island foxes. Scott Morrison of the Nature Conservancy said that now, you go out there and you don't have to wait very long before a fox crosses your path. The island foxes that were removed from the endangered list on Thursday are those from Santa Rosa, San Miguel and Santa Cruz.

In Santa Cruz, the island foxes are flourishing. It was thought that the island had approximately 1,200 to 1,500 island foxes. On the other hand, it shows that in 2015, there are about 2,100 island foxes on the most biodiverse island off the California Coast. Ashley Spratt, the public affairs officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that it's a sign of hope as a conservation community coming together, pooling their resources. She further said that the island fox is a symbol for the islands and it's a real success story, according to Independent.
By 2028, being a certified Martian is not science fiction anymore as Lockheed Martin, an aerospace company, proposed to NASA to build a space station to our red rocky neighbor, Mars. This was made possible by the series of unmanned space explorations conducted by NASA through the years. This time NASA and Lockheed Martin, together with several international partners and private industries, would like to conduct a comprehensive exploration to the hostile planet.

According to the report by Space.com in relation to Mars Base Camp, NASA is developing a capsule called Orion and a huge space launch system to launch the astronauts to Mars. The plan is to build massive central space station made up of two Orions with two science laboratories.

The team will consist of 6 crew members who are experts in different fields and trained to become astronauts. This way they could maximize every potential information they can retrieve from the mission as compared to sending astronauts with a little training in other science fields. They crew will sign up to a yearlong exploration program to conduct further analyses of samples in the rocky red planet. Aside from the planet, a month long study will also be devoted to the twin moons of Mars--Phobos and Deimos.

It is estimated that the funding for the entire exploration will cost $50 billion to $80 billion. Steve Jolly,chief engineer at Lockheed Martin said and I quote ""We envision a series of missions using the same architecture, and the next one, or the one right after that, goes to the [Martian] surface," he said. "We're not ready to talk about that today, but we wanted to make sure that the community listening realizes this wasn't a one-off concept." The multibillion space exploration hopes to gain fruitful information about Mars and a better understanding of the space beyond our world.
DARLINGTON, S.C.  In his first council meeting as the interim Darlington County administrator, Charles Stewart gave the county council a brief administrative report.

The council appointed Stewart, the former director of emergency services for the county, as interim administrator on Aug. 9, one day after former county administrator Terence Arrington resigned.

The council never mentioned Arringtons resignation during the meeting but said last week that it would issue a statement related to the resignation after Mondays meeting. After the meeting, Chairman Bobby Hudson provided a brief written summary of events related to last weeks two special meetings and the resignation.

At a special meeting on Monday, August 8, 2016, Darlington County Council went into closed executive session with members of Council, the County Attorney and the County Administrator. During the executive session there was discussion with the County Administrator reference his employment contract, it stated.

No action was taken in the executive session; and at that time, the County Administrator intended to carry out the terms of his contract for the remaining six (6) months.

After the executive session, the County Administrator spoke with the County Council Chairman to obtain permission to seek further information from the County Chief Financial Officer and Human Resources.

Later in the morning, the County Administrator advised the County Attorney that he had elected not to continue as County Administrator for the remaining six (6) months of his contract. The County Administrator met with the County Attorney, the County Chief Financial Officer, and the County Treasurer.

The County Attorney accepted from the County Administrator the keys to the county-owned vehicle and authorized payment to the County Administrator for the balance left on his contract. The County Administrator was relieved of his duties at that time.

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016, County Council met in closed executive session with the County Attorney; and, in open session ratified the actions taken in reference to the County Administrator by a vote of five (5) to two (2).

In his own statement about his resignation, Arrington last week said, Im disappointed County Council decided not to renew my employment contract or provide an official performance evaluation to justify their decision. After the executive session meeting on Monday adjourned, I had time to consult with my attorney and consider what is best for the community, organization and myself. I advised Chairman Hudson that if the offer (to receive the remaining six months of salary) was still on the table, I would meet with the County Attorney to work out the details. After my meeting with the County Attorney, I agreed to accept County Councils proposal. It has been a pleasure serving the residents of Darlington County!

Hudson said last week the amount left on Arringtons contract was about $57,000 after taxes.

In other business Monday, the council took up several items during a regular monthly meeting.

The council approved vehicle and equipment lease purchases totaling a little more than $2.1 million for several departments. The council had previously approved a $3.4 million lease purchase plan to acquire the vehicles and equipment. Most of the heavy equipment purchases were for the Roads and Bridges Department.

The council approved a resolution granting a permit for Darlington Dragway to operate on Sundays, subject to certain restrictions. The request for the permit came from the tracks owner.

The council added two other restrictions before approving the measure, however. The council agreed to set the starting times for Sunday races at 1 p.m. and the ending time for Saturday races at midnight.

Representatives from two churches located near the dragstrip asked for the delay in the Sunday start time to hold off on the noise during Sunday morning services. They said they had no objection to races on Sundays.

The council also agreed to add a new corrections officer position at the Darlington County Detention Center at a cost of $39,467. The funding had already been set aside for a position. Sheriff Wayne Byrd said his department personnel will find additional money in the departmental budget for a second additional position.

The council accepted the resignation of Hill & Jordan CPA for county auditing services. The firm has handled the countys annual audit for a number of years.

In a letter to the county, Robert P. Jordan said that the firm has experienced recent departures from the firm of some accountants, which he said has resulted in the firm being unable to continue providing the level of auditing services required for the annual audits.

The council also heard from Diane Wilkes, chief executive officer of Hartsville Medical Enrichment Services. She voiced concerns about the countys bidding procedures.

The council recently awarded a contract for physical fitness and medical tests for county employees to Hartsville Primary Care. Wilkes said county employees did not follow the countys established bidding procedures.

Council members carried over several appointments to various county boards and commissions.

Members also approved an agreement to loan a county fire engine to Darlington Raceway for Southern 500 race weekend. The county has traditionally loaned a fire engine to the raceway on race weekends.
We have been at war for 75 years. The cost of this is staggering, not only from the financial standpoint but also in human suffering. We must quit trying to police the world. We must quit trying to impose our values on others. Let's clean up our own house; and let's reserve war solely for defending ourselves.

Recently the Morning News ran a series on PTSD resulting from our 14 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American lives and families have been ruined as a result of this totally unnecessary war.

We should have never attacked Iraq. Iraq did nothing to us. We were the aggressor. A recent UK report blasted the Iraq war and stopped just short of calling it illegal. Jean Edward Smith, one of our most eminent biographers, also blasts President George W. Bush for this war in his biography "Bush." ISIS probably would not exist today if President Bush had not attacked Iraq.

We should have never sent conventional ground troops to Afghanistan. We should have unleashed enough smart bombs and cruise missiles to destroy every government building in Afghanistan. Proportional response is useless. Overwhelming force gets results. Absolute proof of this was demonstrated in May of 1975 when we freed our container ship Mayaguez and her crew from the Cambodians. We bombed their harbor at Kompong Som and their military bases at Rheem, took back the Mayaguez and crew and went home. And no one on earth said a word against us. If someone attacks us, we must make them wish they had never done it and demonstrate what will happen if they ever do it again.

Our president, who promised to get us out of this war, recently said that he will not withdraw any more troops due to a resurgence of the Taliban. But our president would not let us attack the Taliban except under certain conditions. He set us up to fail just like President Truman in Korea and President Johnson in Vietnam.

From time to time, people thank me for my 20 years of service. What I would really appreciate is for our people to take control of our government and force an end to this nonsense. Our military people do not want war. We want our country to be so strong and have such a national will that no one will dream of attacking us. War is costing us at least a half-trillion dollars a year and untold suffering from which we gain nothing. Wouldn't you rather spend your tax money on improvements to your life?

LAWRENCE D. WEBER

Quinby
In May of 2008, Hillary Clinton was asked why she didnt get out of the race for presidency against Barack Obama, and her answer paraphrased was, Bill didnt win the nomination until after the California primary in June of 1992, and we all remember Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968 after the California primary, so anything can happen. Where was the outrage from the press?

In December of 2015, Hillary made a statement that Donald Trump was a recruiter for ISIS, and there is video of the terrorist showing his picture for recruiting purposes. The trouble with that is the photo being shown was that of ex-President Bill Clinton, not Donald Trump. Again no outrage from the mainstream, regressive liberal press.

The liberals in Washington have blamed everything from Hurricane Katrina to global warming to the natural death of Methuselah on President Bush 43, but when our current president is called out on his inept handling of the economy, the war on terror or his failed leadership in world concerns, the press is up in arms. Trump recently suggested that people who do not want the Second Amendment struck from the Constitution should do something about it. I personally took it as a get out and vote. The liberal press and Hillary Clinton took it as a threat on her safety. Hmmm, sounds a little biased to me.

When Trump said President Obama created ISIS and Hillary was right there helping, most reasonable people can decipher it knowing the policies of this administration created an atmosphere of lawlessness in Iraq to help this terrorist group grow. The liberal press and the lemmings of the left are quick to blame everything on anyone but themselves. Why is that?

As far as the Republican elite, which would include Sen. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Mitt Romney, you need to get over yourselves. Four of you signed a pledge to support whoever won the nomination, it is now time to honor your promise. As far as Mitt Romney, you had your chance and blew it. Time to move on.

I would like to offer Trump some advice, but I will not do it in this space. Im still not sure I will vote for him myself. I like the libertarian choice this year: Gary Johnson and William Weld.

LARRY DONALDSON

Darlington
A Russian delegation of experts is set to visit the Egyptian airports of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada on 28 August to assess strengthened security measures, Russian news agency TASS reported a member of the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association as saying to local Egyptian media.

In statements to Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday, association member Tamer Nabil said that the visit will aim to examine security arrangements made by Egyptian authorities.

According to TASS, Moscow's specialists will prepare a final report on the possible resumption of flights from Russia to the resort towns after ten months of suspension following the deadly crash of a Russian plane last October that had taken off from Sharm El-Sheikh.

In a July trip to Moscow, Egypt's civil aviation minister, Sherif Fathy, extended an invitation to the Russian technical team to visit Egypt soon in hope of resuming direct flights between the two countries.

Fathy and an Egyptian security and technical delegation held several sessions with Russian counterparts on the latest developments related to security in Egyptian airports, with security measures in airports enhanced in preparation for the return of flights.

The Airbus A321, operated by the Russian air carrier Kogalymavia, crashed over Sinai on 31 October while heading to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.

Russia's investigative committee has officially classified the plane crash as a terrorist attack, after an Islamic State militant group affiliate in Sinai claimed responsibility for bringing down the airliner with a bomb.

Egypt's domestic investigation committee has yet to release any findings on the cause of the crash.

A number of countries, including the UK, Germany and Russia, halted flights to some Egyptian airports in the wake of the crash, with severe impacts for Egypt's tourism industry.

Tourism is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt. The country has been seeking billions in foreign financing facilities to address a severe hard currency shortage, with foreign reserves down to $15.5 billion in July.

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The 3-vehicle crash killed 22 people and injured 11 others

The governor of Daqahliya has said that the families of those killed in a 3-vehicle crash in the Nile Delta governorate on Monday will receive EGP 5,000 (approx. $536) each in compensation, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

Governor Hossam El-Din Emam added that those injured in the same crash would receive EGP 2,000 (approx. $254) each.

Twenty-two people were killed and 11 others were injured early Monday when two minibuses and a microbus collided with each other on a highway in the governorate.

Deadly road crashes take place on a daily basis in Egypt, largely due to poor road safety, badly maintained infrastructure, and loosely enforced traffic regulations.

In 2015, a total 14,548 road accidents were recorded by Egypt's official statistics agency.

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Related FM Shoukry to head to Lebanon for discussions on ending political vacuum

Egypts foreign minister Sameh Shoukry met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut on Tuesday, where both officials discussed ongoing efforts to reach aconsensus between Lebanons various political factions and put an end to a three-year power vacuum.

In an official statement by Egypts foreign ministry on Facebook, spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said that Shoukry assured that Egypt was closely following the efforts made in Lebanon to overcome the political crisis.

Shoukry expressed Egypts concern over a presidential void, adding that its interest in domestic Lebanese affairs comes in a context of Egypts support for promoting Arab national security and diffusing crises in the region.

According to Abu Zeid, the Lebanese parliamentary speaker stressed that he had suggestions he would present in the coming period to deal with the presidential vacuum, including pushing for a new elections bill and the formation of a Lebanese government as well as choosing a new head of state through a comprehensive deal.

He added that the political scene in Lebanon was witnessing major challenges due to the vacuum, though Berri said that the security situation has been stable in the last period.

Lebanon has been suffering a presidential vacuum since May 2014 following the end of president Michel Suleimans term.

According to Egypts envoy to Lebanon, Egypt is making available all of its diplomatic and political expertise to the Lebanese, adding that Cairo supports any initiatives that aim to build consensus among rival parties.

Shoukry met earlier with Lebanons Prime Minister Tammam Salam, where he expressed Egypts worry of an extended Lebanese crisis, which could present a threat to the security of the country and the states ability to function.

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The decision by some Egyptian MPs to attend a human rights conference in Geneva without parliament's approval has caused a backlash

Ten Egyptian MPs are currently in Geneva, Switzerland to attend a conference on human rights. The delegation, led by head of parliament's human rights committee Anwar Al-Sadat, has caused furious reaction in parliamentary circles.

Atef Makhaleef, the deputy head of the human rights committee, told reporters on Tuesday that not only did the parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Aal reject the Geneva visit and refuse to approve it, there are also strong grounds that the organisers  the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue  is a major supporter of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Makhaleef told the news website of Parlmany that "Al-Sadat's visit to Geneva without receiving prior approval from the parliament's speaker - as stipulated by internal bylaws - and accepting to attend a conference organised by a centre which has given a lot of support to the terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood for three years, amounts to "treason against Egypt."

"I rejected joining this visit because it represents treason for my country and its parliament," Makhaleef said.

Makhaleef also accused Sadat of "acting on his own".

"He got a personal invitation from the Geneva Centre without parliament speaker Abdel-Aal's knowledge or approval and chose certain members from the human rights committee to join him," said Makhaleef.

Makhaleef also disclosed that "when Sadat asked me to join his Geneva visit, I rejected and advised him to stop his active participation in foreign conferences on human rights."

"These Western conferences usually adopt a radical liberal agenda on human rights and that this agenda only leads to chaos and disintegration and that this is the lesson we should have learned from these "malicious agendas" over the last five years (or since what is termed "the Arab Spring" began)," argued Makhaleef.

According to Makhaleef, an independent MP for East Cairo's district of Matariyya, "the lesson we should have learnt is that the West, led by the US, exploits human rights not for the advancement of this issue but to cause troubles and civil wars in the Arab world."

"I tell them please first respect human rights in your countries before you organise conferences on this politicised issue," said Makhaleef.

He also asserted that "the US's project for spreading chaos in the Arab world has not yet been completed because Egypt still stands in their way."

"Egypt is a still a thorn in their mouth and this explains why they are still trying their best to impose the scenario of chaos on it," said Makhaleef. 

Makhaleef opened fire on the US embassy in Cairo in particular.

"Officials from the US embassy in Cairo contacted me one-month-and-half ago in a bid to encourage me to show more cooperation with Anwar Al-Sadat," said Makhaleef, adding that "they never contacted me again because their invitation was rejected outright both in form and content."

A lot of MPs in Egyptian parliamentary circles accuse Sadat, a nephew of late president Anwar Al-Sadat and chairman of the liberal Reform and Development Party, of having strong links with the US embassy in Cairo and of receiving foreign money.

They exploited a Wikileaks document from January that showed that Sadat came on top of 25 Egyptian activists who received money from the US during the pre-Mubarak regime years.

The document, entitled "09CAIRO32," showed that Sadat accepted the invitation of many US ambassadors in Egypt to discuss issues on human rights and democracy.

Mostafa Bakri, a Nasserist independent MP, told Ahram Online that Sadat's links with the US embassy are no secret.

"Since he became head of the human rights committee in parliament, he has tried his best to serve the agenda of the US embassy," said Bakri.

Mortada Mansour, an independent MP and a high-profile lawyer, also accused Sadat last January of "receiving a lot of money from Western human rights organisations via the US and German embassies in Cairo and from trafficking in drugs." 

"Sadat should not be head of the human rights committee and I have a CD about his financial violations," said Mansour, who is also chairman of the Zamalek Sporting Club. 

Sadat's visit to Geneva ignited a stormy verbal clash between him and parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Aal in a plenary session on 7 August. Abdel-Aal told MPs that when he knew that Sadat had received a personal invitation to attend the Geneva conference, he strongly objected and asked him not to travel to Switzerland or accept invitations from hostile Western organisations.

"When I rejected, I was surprised that he (Sadat) reacted by threatening to freeze the activities of the human rights committee he heads," said Abdel-Aal. 

Abdel-Aaal told MPs that Sadat, as head of the human rights committee, has committed many violations in recent weeks.

"He and other members of the committee made visits without getting parliament's prior approval and tried their best to meddle into the affairs of other committees," said Abdel-Aal, also telling Sadat that "my patience has its own limits and that another head for the committee could be elected."

In his defence, Sadat told reporters that his attempts to energise the performance of the committee have faced many obstacles.

"We asked the interior ministry several times to allow us to visit prisons and police stations to review human rights there, but we never received an approval to do so," Sadat said.

He also disclosed that he invited Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar to deliver a statement before the committee, "but he never comes."

Sadat also insisted that his interest in attending human rights conferences in the West stems from his keenness to defend Egypt's record in this respect.

"You must be active in foreign circles to respond to attacks leveled against Egypt in this respect and this is part of my role as head of parliament's human rights committee," said Sadat.

Sadat also rejected all accusations directed at him by MPs such as Bakri and Mansour.

"These accusations are complete lies and reflect a low level of parliamentary manners," said Sadat.

Margaret Azer, the deputy chairman of the human rights committee, also told reporters on Tuesday that "attacks against Sadat are by no means substantiated." 

"Anyone alleging that he has documents against Sadat or any other MPs should present them at once to the speaker or to the ethics committee so that they can be investigated," said Azer, adding that "it is also incorrect that some members of the committee went to Geneva to defend the Muslim Brotherhood or to seek reconciliation with this group."

"Sadat and other MPs have the right to attend these conferences as long as they did nothing wrong," said Azer.

Amal Zakaria, another leading official of the human rights committee and a member of the Geneva delegation, indicated in a statement on Tuesday that "Egypt's foreign ministry did not object to MPs participating in the Geneva conference."

"These kind of conferences give MPs an opportunity to respond to attacks against Egypt," said Zakaria, adding that "it is not accepted at all that some MPs accuse their colleagues of "treason" or cast doubts on their loyalty to their country."

Zakaria strongly denied that they held meetings with Muslim Brotherhood members during the Geneva conference.

"This conference debates human rights conditions, and we made a review of Egypt's efforts in this respect," said Zakaria, adding that "all the debates were made in collaboration with Egypt's ambassador in Switzerland Amr Ramadan and with a follow up from Egypt's embassy there."

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State Security investigators accused the defendants of various charges including attempted murder and running a terrorist group

Egypt's State Security prosecution referred on Tuesday 116 people accused of Islamic State (IS) affiliation to military prosecutors, reported Al-Ahram Arabic website.

State Security investigators accused the defendants of forming and running a terrorist group, attempted murder, possession of weapons, being in contact with IS and possessing written materials promoting violence against the state.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency waged by IS-affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis in North Sinai over the past few years. While violence has mainly been focused in northern Sinai, several attacks targeting security forces have taken place in the capital.

Since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which Morsi hails, has been banned and labelled by the government a terrorist group. Hundreds of its members have since been arrested, with some facing terrorism charges.

Egypt's 2014 constitution gives military tribunals jurisdiction over crimes committed against army facilities and personnel, an article that has caused controversy, with opponents insisting that civilians should not be subject to military trials.

Last year, Egypt executed six men found guilty by a military court of planning terrorist operations, shooting at security forces, attacking military facilities and naval ships and being members of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis.

The IS-affiliate has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks against army and police forces in Egypt over the past several years.

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Morsi was acquitted in June of handing over state secrets to the Qatari government

Prosecutors appealed on Tuesday a verdict acquitting former president Mohamed Morsi of espionage in the so-called Qatar espionage case, Aswat Masryia reported.

Although Morsi was found innocent in June of espionage, he received 40 years in prison on charges of leading a terrorist organisation and leaking state documents.

Six of Morsi's co-defendants received the death sentence, four of them in absentia.

Morsi, who was ousted in July 2013, was charged with using his post to pass on classified documents to Qatar with the help of aides and Muslim Brotherhood figures.

Defendants faced charges of leaking secret information on general and military intelligence, including the armaments of the Armed Forces and other state secrets.

The six defendants sentenced to death are five men  Ahmed Abdo Afify, Mohamed Adel El-Kelany, Ahmed Ismail, Alaa Omar and Ibrahim Helal  and one woman  Asmaa El-Khateeb.

The defendants  Ahmed Afify, a documentary producer; Mohamed Kilany, a flight attendant; Ahmed Ismail, a teaching assistant; and Khaled Radwan and Asmaa El-Khatib, two journalists for pro-Brotherhood TV channels  were charged with turning over copies of the classified documents to two staffers at the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera news network and an unknown Qatari intelligence officer.

Morsi has already been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in the Ittihadiya case, received a death sentence in the Wadi Natroun Prison jailbreak case, and a life sentence over leaks to foreign groups, including militant groups Hamas and Hizbullah. All his other sentences are currently being appealed.

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But earlier this month the UK brought into force the Modern Slavery Act, which has become necessary because of the trafficking and widespread criminality, in which real, live slavery is flourishing under our very noses, in a country which more than two centuries ago, saw slavery abolished.

It also has very real maritime relevance in that the new Act will enable the authorities to board and search vessels where there is suspicion that this outrage is being perpetrated aboard ships in UK waters. Hitherto the guilty could hide behind the ships flag, with too many flag states being unable or unwilling to intervene. From August 8, ships can be intercepted, evidence can be seized and suspects can be arrested and prosecuted, with penalties up to life imprisonment for those found guilty.

But is this really necessary? Surely this is a bit over the top in our technological maritime world? If anyone thinks this they should take a look at some of the evidence that has been assembled, notably in the fishing industry, where truly appalling things are going on all over the globe in the pursuit of fish; once the food of the poor but now a highly valuable commodity. And while there may be nothing new about the gruesome practices found aboard a very large number of fishing boats, the fact that many of these deep water craft now operate globally means that there is scarcely any part of the world which will not see these criminal practices close to their territorial waters. So the more countries which, like the UK, take a proactive line on substandard working conditions aboard all ships, regardless of the flag, the better.

This sort of exploitation rarely seems to hit the headlines, with just the occasional outrage gaining publicity after some wretched fishers have managed to escape their bondage and told the outside world about their quite unbelievable working conditions and human rights abuses. There might be a fishing boat wrecked and lives lost shining a spotlight on what is going on. Fishing at the best of times is the most dangerous of occupations, but it is difficult to contemplate these normal hazards being supplemented by beatings, brutality, starvation and murder of poor people who have been conned into accepting this degraded employment.

The recently published Fishers and Plunderers, a compendium of theft, slavery and violence at sea has taken the lid off these practices and demonstrates both its scale and widespread nature. The authors Alastair Couper, Hance Smith and Bruno Ciceri analyse the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that has spread like a virus across the worlds oceans and clearly identify from where this criminality emerges. Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Russia and the Ukraine are all states where these vessels are owned, although they sail under many other accommodating flags, and none. The crews can be found from the unemployed and desperate in the developing world, tricked and robbed, beaten and brutalised by their officers , on their long, dreadful voyages.

Theft of fish stocks from waters of nations unable to protect them, illegal landings and the participation of organised crime are the background of this squalid sector, the wretched crews the collateral damage inflicted by people who just dont care about human lives. The slavery, the bonded servitude, the years at sea in terrible conditions with no chance of getting ashore and little or no money at the end of it, are just part of the scandal that lies behind your breaded tuna steak.

While more people, who have the money to care, worry about whether their fish was caught sustainably in a dolphin friendly fashion, few will know about the lives led by the fishers who work in this unprincipled sector of the fishing industry. Just occasionally we get a reminder, as with the UKs Modern Slavery Act, that there is a great deal that has not changed since the days of William Wilberforce, who could find much to occupy him today.
Iran has detained an Iranian with citizenship in another country over allegations the person had links to British intelligence services, a prosecutor said Tuesday, the latest dual national arrested in the country.

The circumstances surrounding this most-recent detention were unclear, but they come as hard-liners in Iran's security forces increasingly target those with foreign ties in the wake of the country's nuclear deal with world powers.

Speaking to journalists, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi described the individual arrested as being "active in the economic field, related to Iran," the official IRNA news agency reported. Dolatabadi didn't elaborate, saying only that the arrest took place last week. He also did not identify the individual's second nationality.

Iranian hard-liners have criticized a planned meeting in September called "Iran Connects 2016," sponsored in part by Iran's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce. The hard-line daily newspaper Javan, which has links to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, said on Tuesday those who faced international sanctions wouldn't be allowed to attend the meeting.

"The administration, indeed, has allowed the British Embassy to implement European sanctions in Tehran," the newspaper said.

The British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce and those organizing the event did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The British Foreign Office, Iranian officials in Tehran and Iran's mission to the United Nations also did not immediately comment.

Iran does not recognize dual nationalities, meaning those detained cannot receive consular assistance. In previous cases involving dual nationals, like the detention of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, officials initially announced indictments had been handed down without providing specifics. Later, news organizations with close ties to security services offered details of the charges.

Those detained typically face trial in Iran's Revolutionary Court, a closed-door tribunal which handles cases involving alleged attempts to overthrow the government. Rezaian was convicted but later released in January as part of a prisoner swap between Iran and the U.S.

It's unclear why Iran is increasingly detaining dual nationals, but analysts and others have suggested hard-liners want concessions from the West in exchange for releasing them.

Those recently detained in Iran include:

 Homa Hoodfar , an Iranian-Canadian woman who is a retired professor at Montreal's Concordia University;

 Siamak Namazi , an Iranian-American businessman who has advocated for closer ties between the two countries and whose father is also held in Tehran;

 Baquer Namazi , a former Iranian and U.N. official in his 80s who is the father of Siamak;

 Robin Shahini , an Iranian-American detained while visiting family who previously had made online comments criticizing Iran's human rights record;

 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe , a British-Iranian woman held in Iran for months over accusations she planned the "soft toppling" of the government while visiting relatives with her young daughter; and

 Nizar Zakka, a U.S. permanent resident from Lebanon who has done work for the American government.

Still missing is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission.

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As Seatrade Maritime News revealed yesterday on breaking the news of Berges unexpected departure, Magdy Mustafa has been named acting chief executive.

In a brief two paragraph statement, the pan-Arab ship and rig repair yard said Mustafa would fulfil his current role as ASRYs procurement and contracts gm in addition to all chief executive duties, effective September 1.

There was no mention of Berge in the statement other than confirmation of his resignation. It comes after the man he succeeded, Chris Potter, reportedly departed suddenly in September 2013 following what is understood to have been a disagreement with some main board directors on strategic direction.

ASRY stressed to Seatrade Maritime News that there has been no disagreement with the Board of Directors in Berges case.



The Board of Directors confirmed the transition has been carefully planned in order to ensure a smooth and seamless transfer of responsibilities, the statement read.



Mustafa (pictured left) began working at ASRY in 1978 and has become one of the companys most experienced employees after filling various roles in the past 38 years, ASRY said.

Having been with the company since just after its inception in 1977, seeing the trajectory of the company over several decades, and being an integral part of its evolution, Mustafa is ideally positioned to provide steady leadership at this transitional time.

Founded in 1977 in Bahrain, ASRYs facilities include a 500,000dwt dry dock, two floating docks of 252m and 227m in length, 15 repair berths with a total length of approximately 4,000m, twin 255m slipways, as well as a full range of workshops and service centres.



ASRYs portfolio also includes jack-up rigs and other offshore assets linked to its offshore services division, an energy division dedicated to the production of power generation barges, and a consultancy division for marine engineering packages.






We are delighted that The Mission to Seafarers will be our featured guest charity in their 160th anniversary year, said Claus Ulrich Selbach, business unit director of SMM.

The Missions work is vital in providing seafarers and their families with round the clock care and support in over 200 ports in 50 countries worldwide. Seafarers are the life-blood of the shipping industry, Selbach said.

Jos Standerwick, director of development at The Mission to Seafarers, commented: Bringing together the worlds thought-leaders and decision-makers in the shipping industry is at the heart of SMM, and they have put together an outstanding and dynamic programme around the key themes of digitalisation, green shipping, maritime security and careers.

Every two years, representatives of the maritime industry and experts from all over the world gather in Hamburg, Germany to showcase innovative developments and leading-edge technologies, and discuss the industrys prospects.

All of these core subjects have a direct impact on seafarers and their families welfare, and the quality of the lives they lead, Standerwick said.

The Mission to Seafarers will be at Hall FC.GF Stand 4.
The global terminal operator signed an agreement with Hyperloop One in Los Angeles recently to evaluate the use of the new technology and explore what it believes could be a global transport revolution.

The collaboration is for feasibility studies that will focus on efficient handling of containers, cost benefits, demand and volume patterns of moving cargo using the new technology.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and ceo of DP World, said smart innovation was part of Dubais DNA and had the potential to transform the future of world trade.

The world is changing at a pace never seen before in our history and we intend to be part of a new revolution in transport, connecting markets and economies around the world, Sulayem said.

With this collaboration, were leading innovation in our industry once again and by testing the Hyperloop technology at Jebel Ali for cargo use, were taking a first step in exploring new ways of enabling trade and underlining Dubais commitment to innovation.

This is an example of leading innovation in our industry and pushing the boundaries in the delivery of goods. The potential to use these kind of technologies in emerging markets outside the UAE such as Africa and Asia with large land mass is significant.

Hyperloop One ceo Rob Lloyd said: Hyperloop One is pleased to extend our global footprint into the Middle East with the signing of the MOU with the United Arab Emirates and DP World.



"This partnership allows us to embrace the innovation of the UAE and to utilise the creativity of DP World, while expanding the variety of use cases for Hyperloop.



The UAE has taken a leadership role in pushing global transportation solutions to the forefront and we believe that it is the perfect market for Hyperloop.





Dubai's government has ramped up efforts to spearhead the development of Hyperloop technology globally.



The Dubai Future Foundation recently announced an international competition that will take place over 48 mind-bending hours in Dubai in September, bringing together 100 scientists, engineers and tech experts to design a Hyperloop station, track and system (see image above) that will take passengers from Dubai to Fujairah in 10 minutes.



The trip currently takes about 90 minutes by car.
MSCs 8,819 teu Sofia Celeste has become the first of the new class to call into the UK after making its maiden transit of the Panama Canal on a reconfigured service connecting the West Coast of South America, East Coast of North America and Northwest Europe.

The Port of Tilbury is London's biggest port serving a market of 18m people living within 120km. Within the port, the LCT boasts the UKs largest reefer terminal which came in handy given the 2014-dottage Sofia Celeste can carry 1,462 teu reefers.

The MSC Sofia Celeste marks a step change in connectivity for Tilburys customers offering much improved links to the growing South American and Transatlantic market allied with access to Europes largest portside chill store which NFT opened at the port this year, Ross McKissock, LCTs head of commercial said.



The new service from MSC into LCT is a direct result of the opening of the Panama Canal Expansion in June this year which allows larger vessels to transit the famous waterway.

The ship is the first to trade on MSCs newly redesigned South America West Coast-USA-Northwest Continent service line, which makes stops in Chile, Peru, Ecuador and the Bahamas, Philadelphia and then Rotterdam.

We are delighted to have called into London Container Terminal, following the vessels first voyage through the Canal, and we look forward to further developing services of this kind in the future, MSCs commercial import gm Natasha Griffin said.

The Port of Tilbury, covering over 1100 acres and close to the M25 orbital motorway, handles a diverse range of cargoes with specialist expertise in paper and forest products, containers & ro-ro, grain and bulk commodities and construction and building materials.
"Too many players are competing for the same business, said Kofod-Olsen, who has helmed the Dubai-headquartered company since August 2012. Consolidation would be good for the whole industry."

His comments come as contagion spreads across the global OSV sector following the Swiber collapse in Singapore, the merger of Solstad and Rem Offshore in Norway, and a growing number of distressed assets without employment in other key offshore locations including the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico.

Topaz itself took an impairment charge of $71m on vessels last year leading to a loss of $64.4m. Although he would not rule out further writedowns, Kofod-Olsen does not believe that vessel values can sink much lower.

In the medium term, he is "very upbeat". Kofod-Olsen believes that energy companies, whose strategy of slashing E&P spending has led to the sector's crisis, will start spending again only when oil prices have stabilised over a period of at least six months.

A combination of energy demand growth and the fact that the world is not replacing the hydrocarbons it is currently using is not sustainable for long although he does foresee a further time lag for the OSV sector even when energy firms put substantial E&P budgets back in place.



Prior to joining Topaz, Kofod-Olsen served as ceo of SVITZER Asia, Middle East & Africa for three years following more than a decade in various roles for the AP Moller-Maersk Group.

He received an Advanced Management qualification from Harvard Business School in 2011.

Topaz, a wholly owned subsidiary of Renaissance Services, operates a fleet of more than 90 OSVs serving the global energy industry with primary focus on the Caspian, Middle East, West Africa and Subsea operations in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2016-162

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a hedge fund manager and his firm accused of paying terminally ill individuals to use their names on purportedly joint brokerage accounts so he could purchase investments on behalf of his hedge fund and redeem them early by invoking a survivors option.

An SEC examination of investment advisory firm Eden Arc Capital Management uncovered the scheme alleged by the SEC Enforcement Division in an order instituted today. Donald Lathen of New York City allegedly used contacts at nursing homes and hospices to identify patients with less than six months to live, and he successfully recruited at least 60 of them by paying $10,000 apiece to use their names on accounts. When a patient died, Lathen allegedly redeemed investments in the accounts by falsely representing to issuers that he and the terminally ill individuals were joint owners of the accounts. Lathens hedge fund was the true owner of the survivors option investments. Issuers paid out more than $100 million in early redemptions as a result of the alleged misrepresentations and omissions by Lathen and Eden Arc Capital.

The SEC Enforcement Division further alleges that Lathen violated the custody rule by failing to properly place the hedge funds cash and securities in an account under the funds name or in an account containing only clients funds and securities, under the investment advisers name as agent or trustee for the client.

We allege that Lathen deceived issuers by falsely claiming that he and the deceased jointly owned the bonds when the hedge fund was the true owner of the investments, said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SECs New York Regional Office. Lathen allegedly put hedge fund client assets at risk by keeping them in accounts in his and the terminally ill individuals names rather than following the custody rule.

The SEC Enforcement Division alleges that Lathen, Eden Arc Capital Management, and Eden Arc Capital Advisors violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The Enforcement Division further alleges that Eden Arc Capital Management violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-2, and Lathen aided and abetted and caused those violations.

The matter will be scheduled for a public hearing before an administrative law judge, who will prepare an initial decision stating what, if any, remedial actions are appropriate.

The SECs investigation was conducted by Janna Berke, Judith Weinstock, Frank Milewski, Adam Grace, and Michael Birnbaum. The case was supervised by Lara Shalov Mehraban and the litigation will be led by Alexander Janghorbani, Ms. Weinstock, and Ms. Berke. The SEC examiners who detected the wrongdoing during the examination of Eden Arc Capital Management are Kathleen Raimondi, Lawrence Chinsky, and George DeAngelis.
Emperor Akihito of Japan wants to retire from his position. He's 82 years old, he's had prostate cancer, he's had heart surgery, and he's ready to let his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, take over the job. There's just one slight problem: Japanese emperors are barred by the constitution from stepping down from the throne. It hasn't happened in nearly 200 years.

The Japanese monarchy, the Chrysanthemum Throne, is the oldest monarchy in the world. Emperor Akihito's family has held it for 2,700 years. But Japan is also a liberal democracy and the monarchy represents a post-WWII country that is committed to pacifism. This means that the Japanese government will likely face criticism for either decision.

RELATED: Japan is Hiring Professional Ninjas

If the government allows the emperor to resign, it could raise concern about the government's influence over the monarchy. "People both on the right and left would be cautious about making sure this process doesn't weaken the institution and therefore open up the succession to political influence," said Sheila A. Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The New York Times.

However, opinion surveys conducted by the Japanese media show that the people of Japan support Emperor Akihito's right to a restful retirement, and would be okay with amending Imperial Law to allow it.

But amending the law to allow the emperor to step down could also open up an on-going debate about another proposed amendment: allowing women to inherit the throne. Currently, only men can take over the throne, but many people believe it's time for that law to change.

RELATED: Why Japan's Crime Rate is So Low

Under Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's government, women are very empowered in the country, especially in the workplace. Still, many people don't believe that power is ready to extend to the monarchy.

When Emperor Akihito addressed the people of Japan on local television last Monday, he did not use the word abdication but he certainly hinted at it saying that he did not wish to be a monarch who "continues to be the emperor till the end of his life, even though he is unable to fully carry out his duties."

Although he's not politically powerful, Emperor Akihito has taken up many social causes throughout his reign, one of the most important being his work towards accessing clean water in poor countries. He also drew attention to the paralympics when Japan hosted the summer Olympics in 1964, helping to destigmatize physically disabled people in the country Whether he is allowed to retire now or remain on the throne until his passing, Emperor Akihito will leave behind a legacy of his important work towards social change.

-- Molly Fosco



Learn More:

NPR: Japanese Emperor Signals Wish To Abdicate Throne

New York Times: At 82, Emperor Akihito of Japan Wants to Retire. Will Japan Let Him?

Wall Street Journal: The Future of the Chrysanthemum Throne

About.com: Emperor Akihito
Turkish police on Tuesday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects wanted after last month's botched coup attempt, state media reported.

Police carried out simultaneous raids on 44 businesses including a holding firm in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The suspects are accused of financing the activities of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is blamed by authorities for orchestrating the July 15 putsch.

Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants against 120 people, including company managers, the agency added.

The companies targeted have not been named so far. It is not clear how many suspects have been detained in the raids.

Turkish authorities have undertaken a relentless crackdown on alleged Gulen supporters in the wake of the coup, detaining over 35,000 people. Almost 11,600 have since been released.

Gulen, in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the government's accusations.

Turkish police on Monday raided four major courts in Istanbul, detaining 136 of the wanted prosecutors and other judicial staff working at the courts.

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The herd of about 20 -- resulting from a successful captive breeding program -- excitedly left their enclosure, except for one female that was not ready to venture out and a male that returned from his brief stint in the wild to be with her.

Photo: Scimitar-horned oryx are reintroduced to Chad grasslands. Credit: John Newby, Sahara Conservation Fund Thirty years after the scimitar-horned oryx was driven to extinction in the wild, the desert antelope is back in its native Chad. A dramatic reintroduction was was captured on video on Sunday.

The following video shows an oryx being released. The actual moment starts at about the 2 minute mark.

The reintroduction is being led by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) , the government of Chad and the Sahara Conservation Fund . The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the Zoological Society of London are leading post-release satellite-tracking efforts that the researchers say will result in one of the most comprehensive studies of any wildlife species returned to its native habitat.

"This is an epic homecoming for this majestic species and a significant step forward for wildlife conservation," said Steve Monfort, a director at SCBI. "Every conservationist aspires to ensure that wildlife thrive in their natural environment. This project was designed to ultimately give scimitar-horned oryx that chance, while also helping restore this grasslands ecosystem and to inspire and inform similar reintroduction efforts for other species."

Twice a day SCBI postdoc Jared Stabach and his team will receive the position of every animal collared, revealing where the oryx go seasonally, how far they travel, whether they stay together or disperse into different social groups, and even if a poacher has taken an animal.

RELATED: Black-Footed Ferrets Back to Where They Once Belonged

While it's impossible to prevent all poaching in the area, the researchers have taken steps to safeguard the oryx. Rangers have been hired to patrol the region, and the release was planned for the rainy season when better resources are available.

Over the next five years, the researchers hope to release 500 oryx and create a self-sustaining population. The released animals come from EAD's "world herd" of oryx, including animals raised in human care from the United States, Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

There is further reason for optimism: Stabach shared that a few of the females set for release may be pregnant.

"If a few calves are born soon after the release, they may imprint on the release site and return periodically," he said, adding that his colleagues will be providing water during dry periods which may also help imprint the herd to the site.

"It would be a momentous occasion," he said. "The first oryx born on native soil in decades."
We now live in a universe that we know is humming with gravitational waves. Before the historic announcement on Thursday morning at a National Science Foundation (NSF) meeting in Washington D.C., there were only rumors that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) had discovered this key component of Albert Einstein's General Relativity, but now we know that the reality is even more profound. VIDEO: Gravitational Waves Confirmed: A Historic Discovery With stunning clarity, LIGO was able to "listen in" on the moments before a black hole binary system (two black holes orbiting one another) merged as one, producing a gravitational wave signal that was so clear, so in keeping with our theoretical models, there was little room for speculation. LIGO had witnessed a powerful black hole "re-birthing" that occurred around 1.3 billion years ago. Gravitational waves have always been there and always will be, washing through our planet (indeed, washing through us), but only now do we know how to find them. We've now opened our eyes to a different kind of cosmic signal - the vibrations caused by the most energetic events known - and we are therefore witnessing the birth of a brand new field of astronomy. "We can now hear the universe," said LIGO physicist and spokesperson Gabriela Gonzalez during Thursday's triumphant meeting. "The detection is the beginning of a new era: The field of gravitational astronomy is now a reality." ANALYSIS: We Just Heard the Spacetime 'Chirp' of Black Hole Rebirth

Our place in the universe has changed profoundly and this discovery's impact could be as transformative as the discovery of radio waves or the realization that the universe is expanding. Making Robust Theories Even Stronger Trying to explain what gravitational waves are and why they're so important is almost as complex as the equations that describe them, but finding them not only strengthens Einstein's already robust theories as to the nature of spacetime; we now have a tool that can probe into a layer of the universe that was once invisible to us. We can now sample the spacetime ripples generated by some of the most energetic events that occur in the universe and, perhaps, use gravitational waves to reveal new physics and discover new astrophysical phenomena. "Now we have proven that we have the technology to go after and detect gravitational waves, this opens up many possibilities," Luis Lehner, of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Ontario, told me during an interview soon after Thursday's announcement. Lehner's research focuses on compact objects (such as black holes) that generate powerful gravitational waves. Though not affiliated with the LIGO collaboration, Lehner was quick to realize the ramifications of this historic discovery. "This signal couldn't be better," he said. ANALYSIS: Where Did Those Gravitational Waves Come From? There's a Map

The discovery is profound in 3 ways, he argues. First, we now know that gravitational waves exist and we know how to detect them. Second, the signal detected by the LIGO stations on Sept. 14, 2015, is the strongest evidence yet of the existence of a binary black hole system - each black hole "weighing in" at a few tens of solar masses. The signal is exactly what we'd expect to see during the violent merger of two black holes, one 29 times the mass of our sun and the other 36 solar masses. Thirdly, and possibly even more important, "short of sending someone to a black hole," this is the strongest direct evidence of the existence of black holes. Spacetime Serendipity This event was also very lucky, as many scientific discoveries tend to be. LIGO is the biggest project funded by the National Science Foundation and it was originally put online in 2002. It turned out that, after many years of seeking out the elusive signal of gravitational waves, LIGO simply wasn't sensitive enough and in 2010 the observatory went offline while its international collaboration worked on a huge sensitivity upgrade. Five years later, in September 2015, "Advanced LIGO" was born. At the time LIGO co-founder and theoretical physics heavyweight Kip Thorne was positive that Advanced LIGO would be a success, telling the BBC: "We are there; we are in the ball park now. It's clear that this is going to be pulled off." And sure enough, within days of the upgrade, a surge of gravitational waves rippled through our planet and LIGO was at last sensitive enough to observe them. GUIDE: What You Need to Know About Gravitational Waves This binary black hole merger isn't thought to be particularly special in its own right; it is calculated that these kinds of events happen once every 15 minutes somewhere in the universe. But this merger happened in the right place (1.3 billion light-years away) at the right time (1.3 billion years ago) for LIGO to be listening. It was a clear signal from the universe that Einstein got it right and his gravitational waves were real, revealing a cosmic event that unleashed a peak power 50 times the power output of all the stars in the universe combined. This huge blast of gravitational wave energy was recorded as a high-frequency "chirp" by LIGO as the black holes rapidly spiraled into one another, merging as one.

To confirm the propagation of gravitational waves, LIGO is comprised of 2 observing stations, one in Louisiana and the other in Washington. To rule out false positives, a candidate gravitational wave signal needs to be detected by both stations. And the Sept. 14 event was detected first in Louisiana and then 7 milliseconds later in Washington. The signals matched and, through triangulation, physicists were able to learn that it originated in Southern Hemisphere skies. Gravitational Waves - What Are They Good For? So we have a confirmed black hole merger signal, what now? This discovery is historic, that much is clear - one hundred years ago, Einstein wouldn't have dreamed that these waves would be detectable, but here they are. ANALYSIS: Colliding Black Holes and the Dawn of Gravitational Astronomy General relativity was is one of the most profound scientific and philosophical realizations of the 20th Century and it forms the basis of some of our most intellectual investigations into reality itself. Astronomically, the applications of general relativity are clear; from gravitational lensing to measuring the expansion of the universe. But what's not so clear are the everyday applications of Einstein's theories, but much of today's technology uses lessons from general relativity and things we take for granted. Take, for example, global positioning satellites: they wouldn't be the precise tools that they are if simple corrections for time dilation (a general relativity prediction) weren't considered. It's clear that general relativity has real-world applications, but when Einstein presented his new theory in 1916, it's highly doubtful that any application would have seemed obvious. He was simply piecing together the universe as he saw it and general relativity was born. So now another component of general relativity has been proven, how might gravitational waves be used? Well, astrophysicists and cosmologists are obviously thrilled. "Once we've collected data from pairs of black holes, they will be like lighthouses scattered through the universe," said theoretical physicist Neil Turok, Perimeter Institute Director, in a video presentation on Thursday. "We will be able to measure the rate the universe is expanding, or how much dark energy there is in the universe to extraordinary precision, far, far greater than what we can do today "Einstein developed his theory with some clues from Nature but made basically on the grounds of logical consistency. One hundred years later you're seeing its predictions confirmed at exquisite precision." ANALYSIS: Gravitational Waves vs. Gravity Waves: Know the Difference! What's more, the Sept. 14 event has some peculiarities physicists are looking forward to investigating. For example, Lehner pointed out that from analysis of the gravitational wave signal, the "spin" or angular momentum of the merged black hole can be measured. "If you've worked on the theory for long enough, you'll know that spin the black hole has is very, very peculiar," he said.

For some reason, the final spin of the black hole is slower than expected, indicating that the two black holes collided at a low speed, or they were in a collision configuration that caused their combined angular momentum to counteract each other. "That is very curious; why would nature do that?" said Lehner. This early puzzle could be down to some basic physics that hasn't been considered, but more excitingly it could reveal some "new" or exotic physics that is interfering with the predictions of general relativity. And this highlights another use for gravitational waves: as they are generated by strong gravity phenomena, we have a means to probe these environments from afar, perhaps turning up some surprises along the way. Also, we might combine observations of astrophysical phenomena with the electromagnetic signals to add more dimensions to our understanding of what makes our universe tick. An Application? Naturally, when huge announcements are made of complex scientific discoveries, many people outside of the scientific community ask how it affects them. The profundity can be easily missed and this is definitely the case when it comes to gravitational waves. But consider this: When X-rays were revealed by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895 during his experiments on cathode ray tubes, few would have known that in only a few years these high-energy electromagnetic waves would become a key component in everyday medicine from diagnosis to treatment. Likewise, the first experimental production of radio waves in 1887 by Heinrich Hertz confirmed predictions by James Clerk Maxwell's famous electromagnetic equations. Only years later, in the 1890s, a series of demonstrations by Guglielmo Marconi, who set up radio transmitters and receivers, proved they had a practical use. Also, Schrodinger's equations describing the unfathomable world of quantum dynamics are finding an application right now in the development of super-fast quantum computing. ANALYSIS: Advanced LIGO Resumes Quest for Gravitational Waves

All scientific discoveries are profound and many eventually have everyday applications that we take for granted. For now, the practical applications of gravitational waves may seem restricted to astrophysics and cosmology - we now have a window into a "dark universe" where no electromagnetic radiation is required. There is little doubt in my mind that scientists and engineers will find other uses for these spacetime ripples besides the awesome application of probing spacetime. That said, to detect these waves in the first place huge advances in optical engineering had to be performed by LIGO that will inevitably spawn new technologies. 100 Years of General Relativity: Thought and Action Ultimately, the detection of gravitational waves is a triumph for humanity that will continue to teach us new things about our universe for generations to come. This is most definitely a golden age for science, where historic discoveries are commonplace. These discoveries drive our culture forward, making us all richer and more aware that our universe is a beautiful and complex place. And we know we have the intellectual capability to create models of how we think the universe works and then perform experiments to prove we are right. But for me, I'm most excited to see the first "live" gravitational maps of the cosmos, where the periodic humming of neutron stars orbiting one another and the impulsive eruptions of supernovas are plotted, revealing a new universe, a universe humming with ripples in spacetime.

This simulation shows the merging of two stellar-mass black holes, their gravity warping the starlight in the background.

Exactly 100 years ago on Nov. 25, 2015, physicist Albert Einstein, then 36, presented a fourth and final lecture to the Prussian Academy of Sciences about his new general theory of relativity. The idea not only redefined the concept of gravity, but also ended up reshaping humanitys perspective on reality. Heres a look at the theory in thought and action. ANALYSIS: Event Horizon Telescope Will Probe Spacetime's Mysteries

Einstein was famous for his thought experiments, which often played out for years in his imagination. From the gedankenexperiment, as it is known in German, Einstein grasped fundamental concepts about the physical world that could be verified by observation and experiments. One of his most famous ones began in 1907 when Einstein pondered if a person inside a windowless elevator could tell if he was in a gravitational free-fall, or if the elevator was being hauled up by a constant acceleration. Einstein decided the laws of physics must be the same in both cases. The mathematical equation he derived to explain this so-called principle of equivalence, which equated the effects of gravitation with acceleration in zero-gravity, became the basis for general relativity. NEWS: Einstein's Theory Passes Extreme Gravity Test

A total solar eclipse on May 29, 1919, gave astronomers an opportunity to verify Einsteins general theory of relativity by proving that the suns gravitational field was bending the light of background stars. The effect was only observable during time when the suns light was dim enough for stars to become visible. British astronomer Arthur Eddington led an expedition to the island of Principe, off the West Coast of Africa, to photograph the eclipse, which lasted nearly seven minutes. The images of stars in the region around the sun proved that Einsteins interpretation of gravity trumped the 200-year old Newtonian model, which interpreted gravity as a force between two bodies. Einstein saw gravity as warps and curves in space and time. Time Probe: Crowdsourcing Einstein's Relativity

In 1917, Einstein amended his general relativity theory to introduce what he called the cosmological constant, a mathematical way to counter the force of gravity on a cosmological scale and stave off the collapse of the universe, which the general relativity theory posited. At the time, astronomers believed that the Milky Way was surrounded by an infinite and static void. In 1923, Edwin Hubble and other astronomers find the first stars beyond the galaxy and by 1929 Hubble provides evidence that space is expanding. Einstein realized the cosmological constant was a blunder. Or perhaps not. In 1998, scientists made the startling discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, driven by an anti-gravity force called dark energy, which in many ways acts like Einsteins cosmological constant. Pictured here is the Hubble Space Telescopes extreme deep field view, which contains about 5,500 galaxies. The telescope is named after Edwin Hubble. ANALYSIS: Hawking Tries to Find Black Hole's Emergency Exit

One of the first implications of the general relativity theory was the realization that if an object is compressed enough, the dimple it generates in the fabric of space and time will be too strong for even photons of light to escape. Thus, the idea of black holes was born. Though they cant be directly observed, astronomers have found black holes of all sizes by measuring how they affect nearby stars and gas. Pictured here is an artists rendering of a black hole named Cygnus X-1, siphoning matter from a nearby star. ANALYSIS: Is the Wormhole in 'Interstellar' Possible?
Press Release

August 16, 2016 POE WANTS COMPLIANCE REPORTS ON FREE DISASTER ALERTS Sen. Grace Poe is calling for a stronger implementation of the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act to prevent and reduce risks of calamities and save lives. "This is a concrete, crucial way of bringing to safety our countrymen who are in danger of the wrath of calamities," Poe stressed, "Time and concern are certainly of the essence." The senator, main author of Republic Act 10639, or the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act which requires mobile service providers to send alerts in preparation for disasters, urged the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), National Telecommunications Commission, concerned agencies and telecommunications companies to strengthen collaboration and innovation in pursuit of such mandate. The senator cited that the alerts, which are free of cost, shall contain up-to-date information from the NDRRMC and other relevant agencies along with the contact details of local government agencies and the location of evacuation sites, as necessary. Meanwhile, the senator has also filed Senate Resolution No. 100 which calls for a review on the need to expand the country's national disaster preparedness by forming a department that is focused on risk management and emergency response. The new department, an expansion of the NDRRMC, shall attend to all kinds of disaster-related emergencies. "Gawin natin ang lahat para mailigtas ang ating mga kababayan sa banta ng kalamidad sapagkat napakahirap bumangon at magsimulang muli sa hagupit nito," Poe said. Under the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, any telecommunications company that fails to observe the law will be fined P1 million to P10 million and/or face suspension or revocation of its legislative franchise. Spreading of false or misleading information will be met with either imprisonment of not more than six months and a fine ranging from P1,000 to P10,000 Poe is also seeking for a compliance report on the implementation of the law since the implementing rules and regulations has been approved on July 21, 2015. She said the law, signed on June 20, 2014, will help Filipinos prepare for the constant barrage of disasters in the Philippines. At least 20 tropical cyclones enter the country every year.
Press Release

August 16, 2016 Senate ready to tackle endo bills on Wednesday The Senate is ready to tackle several proposals to end labor contractualization (endo) or '555' which prevent employees from gaining regular employment and receiving full benefits allowed by law such as social security, maternity leave and health insurance. An endo or '555' system is a working arrangement where employees are terminated every five months and then rehired for the same duration. Companies may circumvent the law by denying the existence of employer-employee relationship by engaging the services of workers either from workers' cooperatives or manpower agencies. In an interview last June, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government was mulling to require all business owners to regularize 80 percent of their employees within three to six months of the Duterte administration. Alan Tanjusay, spokesman for Nagkaisa-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the country has almost 35 million contractual workers out of 67.1 million workers as of 2016. Sen. Joel Villanueva, chair of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources, said his committee has scheduled the first public hearing on endo tomorrow, August 17, at 9:30 a.m. at the Pecson Room, Senate building. He said the committee will study the proposed measures filed by Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III (Senate Bill No. 117), Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV (SBN 174), Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros -Baraquel (SBN 217), Sen. Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri (SBN 302) and Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito (SBN 329). Zubiri has filed Senate Resolution No. 1 directing the Senate Committee on Labor to conduct an inquiry into the practice of contractualization and subcontractualization. "We want to review how the industries manage to circumvent the law by deliberately terminating contracts before the sixth month to avoid paying benefits or by just renewing their contract to another five months without regularizing them. This is injustice to our workers and must be stopped," Villanueva said. "We hope that through this inquiry, we would be able to craft proposed amendments to the Labor Code addressing the loopholes in the law that paves the way for unscrupulous practices such as the '555' or endo scheme," he added. Zubiri said his proposed bill seeks to "correct the loopholes in the implementation of the labor laws" and ensure that workers would receive all benefits due them such as overtime pay, 13th month pay, maternity or other forms of leaves, social security and retirement benefits, among others. He said SBN 302 specifically seeks to render the misclassification of regular employees into other kinds of employees as an unfair labor practice and harmonize the laws on subcontracting and regular employment. Pimentel said his proposed legislation aims to strengthen the prohibition against labor-only contracting, "that have made it difficult for workers to attain the security of tenure guaranteed by the Constitution." He said the proposed measure will put an end to the malpractice that has victimized tens of thousands of workers nationwide. Aquino said his bill seeks to obtain a balance between protecting the employers and employees. He said the government and contractors/subcontractors must work together to establish a framework that would fill the gaps in the current industry practices. Likewise, Ejercito said his measure seeks to safeguard workers from unscrupulous and dubious subcontracting while it seeks to balance the need of legitimate businesses. "This legislative proposal is characterized by the definition of the contractor/subcontractor, recognition of rights of subcontracted workers, principals that engage a maximum of 10 percent subcontracted employees, penalties for violators and contracting rules on unfair labor practice," Ejercito said. Hontiveros said her bill seeks to introduce innovations such as employment that may be fixed by the term of the project, but may not be bound to a mere reference to a time; the period of probationary employment would be fixed at six months when all the employers would have enough time to ascertain whether a worker would be fit for retention or not and to deliberate the misclassification of employees for the purpose of misleading them as to their rights which is deemed an unfair labor practice. "The proposal seeks to balance the legitimate business interests of the employer with the need for protection of workers from the prejudice of non-regularization. After all, for as long as the employer profits through and by the labor of its employees, it is but fair to recognize the workers' right to remain employed," Hontiveros said. (Pilar S. Macrohon)
Villar SIPAG trains 50 farmers on sustainable pig farming

In partnership with the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) of the Department of Agriculture IV - A, Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) conducted a training program on sustainable pig farming.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, Villar SIPAG director, welcomed the 50 farmers from Paranaque, Las Pinas, Laguna, Cavite, Muntinlupa, and Rizal, who will be trained how to organically raise pigs from piglet to maturity.

"It has been proven that livestock raising provides farmers a year-round source of income that supplements their income from farm harvest. We partnered with experts so that our farmers will be trained on pig farming," Villar said.

Villar also noted that more than 65 per cent of hog raisers are backyard hog farmers. Many farmers go into hog-raising or pig farming because it only requires a small capital.

Participants will have a hands-on training on the sustainable way of preparing organic feeds for pigs.

Trainees will meet with ATI trainors every Tuesday for 20 weeks at the 7-hectare Villar SIPAG Farm School located at the boundary of Las Pinas and Bacoor City.

Since its opening in September 2015, the Villar SIPAG Farm School has given numerous trainings on vegetable production, mushroom production, livestock and poultry production, sweet corn production, orchid cultivation, bamboo propagation, cut flower production, and beekeeping to farmers around Metro Manila and surrounding provinces.

Last month, Villar SIPAG opened another farm school in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan to cater to the training needs of farmers from Central Luzon.
Russian bombers based in Iran on Tuesday struck militant targets inside Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry said, after Moscow deployed Russian aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.

The ministry said the strikes, by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers, were launched from Iran's Hamadan air base.

It is thought to be the first time that Russia has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

The move shows Russia is expanding its role and presence in the Middle East and comes amid Russian media reports Moscow has asked Iran and Iraq for permission to fire cruise missiles at Syrian targets across their territory from the Caspian Sea.

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State and militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.

The bombers had been protected by fighters based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province, it said.

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier on Tuesday broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three bombers and a Russian military transport plane apparently inside Iran, but said it was unclear how many Russian bombers had arrived there.

It said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.

Russian media said the Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which had already conducted many strikes on militants in Syria from their home bases in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's air base inside Syria.

The Iranian air base near Hamadan, sometimes also called Hamedan, is located in north-west Iran and the Russian bombers would have to over fly Iraq to strike Syria

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ARLINGTON, Texas  Coco Crisp has served the As long and, for the most part, very well, playing a major role with a trio of playoff teams in Oakland.

But now the As longest-tenured player is upset and told The Chronicle he is convinced that the team is deliberately not using him to avoid having his $13 million vesting option for 2017 kick in.

Im extremely hurt, the way things are being handled, said Crisp, who did not play in Mondays 5-2 loss at Texas. Im not calling anyone names, but this is really frustrating and disappointing. This has been my favorite organization going back to when I was a kid, because of Rickey Henderson, and Ive enjoyed playing here so much, and Ive put it all out there.  Up until recently, its been tremendously enjoyable.

Crisp, 36, needs to play in 130 games this season for his option to vest. He has played in 93 of Oaklands 119 games, but he is not starting against left-handed pitchers, and manager Bob Melvin, who uses his bench liberally, has not been using Crisp to pinch hit. That has heightened suspicions that Crisp is being held out for contract reasons.

This is shady. Everyone else is getting used off the bench, Crisp said. BoMel cant even look me in the eye right now.

General manager David Forst said last week that with the As out of contention, Crisps playing time has been reduced so that the team can get a look at younger options.

Melvin echoed that Monday, saying, Were in a position where were playing other guys in games against left-handers, Coco wont start against left-handed pitchers. I know its tough on him. I know its different.

Crisp said that manipulating his playing time to avoid paying him is unfair. The games-played minimum was put in the agreement to reward good health, which he has had this season, thanks to hard work, preparation and medication.

Let me play my way out, and if I get hurt, I get hurt, but if Im in good health, I should get the chance to play, Crisp said. Im healthy, Im playing hard, and this has surprised me. This calls their integrity into question. Its very sad.

Crisp has been on the disabled list six times in his seven seasons with Oakland, including much of last season with a severe and chronic neck injury that was the result of crashing into the wall in center.

Ive left a lot of blood, sweat and even broken bones out there for them. Ive gone through everything you can go through to get out there, he said. That makes this tough.

The switch-hitting Crisp, who is batting .221 against left-handed pitchers and .244 against right-handers, has sat out the past two games.

I want to suit up, but there are some nights where there is no point  theyre not going to put me out there anyway, and there isnt anything I can do about it, he said Monday. Im down there waiting on the bench, wearing my batting gloves, holding my bat. Im like that kid in class who when the teacher asks a question is waving his hand up and down, I know, I know, call on me, Im right here! and the teacher says, Is there anyone else?

Crisp has 10-and-5 rights as a veteran player and can veto a trade, though he might welcome one to play for a contender in what might be his last season. For him to approve any deal, though, the As would probably have to make it worth his while.

But this team has never been motivated to give up a dollar, Crisps agent, Steve Comte said. I know Billy Beane has always been fond of Coco, but what theyre doing now is really a joke. Ive advised Coco to take the high road, but the way things are going is a disservice to him.

If Crisps option does not vest, he is unsure whether he wants to play beyond this year, saying, The business side sure makes it hard to love the game, and Ive loved the game since I was 6 years old, and I love these guys in there, thats why I want to be here.  Ive enjoyed it so much, but then a situation like this occurs and its a slap in the face.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @susanslusser
Iran killed four suspected Islamic State group militants near its border with Iraq, disrupting a cell that was planning attacks in the country, state media reported on Tuesday.

"The takfiri-terrorist team intended to conduct terrorist operations inside the country," the governor of the border province of Kermanshah, Asadollah Razani, told state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran uses the term "takfiri" to describe Sunni militants.

The 10-member cell had been under surveillance by Iran's intelligence service before the raid was launched on Monday, Razani said.

"One important member of Daesh, who was armed and had a suicide vest, was killed and six were arrested," Razani said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Three others were killed in a raid on a safe house they had rented in Kermanshah early on Tuesday, he added.

Video posted by IRIB showed the alleged safe house riddled with bullet holes and scorch marks. A separate photograph showed what the broadcaster said were the bodies of two slain militants.

There have been several reports of Sunni militants trying to infiltrate Iran in recent months, mostly from Iraq but also from Pakistan.

IS group considers Shia-majority Iran a mortal enemy. In June, Tehran said it had thwarted a militant plot to carry out bomb attacks in the capital and other parts of the country.

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On the night Ryan Vogelsong returned to San Francisco in a Pirates uniform and got cheered, the Giants took unique measures to try beating their old pal.

Including making plays from various body parts, as strange as that might seem.

It wasnt enough as Vogelsong, despite allowing nine hits and three walks, wound up with a homecoming win, handing the Giants an 8-5 loss.

Vogelsong was lifted two outs into the sixth inning, and before reaching the visitors dugout, he stopped to wave his cap to the cheering crowd, an acknowledgment that they shared two World Series championships.

It was an emotional moment. Fans knew about his inspirational journey that brought him back to the Giants, his original team, and all his October success stories  the Giants won all seven of his postseason starts.

Im out there in the right-field corner (warming up before the game), and the fans are screaming at me, and I love every second of it, said Vogelsong, who admitted he was mentally exhausted anticipating the start. Im trying to dial it in  just tough, tough overall.

Then I go out for the first inning and not expecting a standing O when you run out on the field the first time. But I wouldnt expect anything less from these fans. Theyre first class, and they always have been.

Thanks to a homer and four RBIs from Gregory Polanco, Vogelsong exited with a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning despite allowing solo homers to Eduardo Nunez and Denard Span. The Pirates scored twice off George Kontos and Sergio Romo in the seventh and once off Will Smith in the eighth.

Vogelsong said it was out of character to wave his cap, especially after giving up two homers.

There are moments in this game where you have to stop and look around every once in a while, he said. Its not something Ive done very well. I just felt like I had to, and I appreciate every person who stood up and clapped for me tonight. It was amazing.

Monday also marked Matt Moores home debut with the Giants. The left-hander, acquired at the trade deadline, gave up his first hit in the fourth inning. Thats when the Giants started sacrificing their body parts, starting with right fielder Hunter Pence.

Josh Harrison hit what seemed to be an ordinary foul ball. Pence, to his credit, never took his eye off it as he tripped and fell at the bullpen mound. He wound up on his back before the ball landed in his glove.

The Pirates had two outs and three runs in and were looking for more, and the Pence-ian catch ended the inning.

Then it was third baseman Nunezs turn, and he made the final two outs in the fifth inning  he threw out Andrew McCutchen from the sitting position and David Freese from one knee, both throws one-hopping into Brandon Belts mitt.

But McCutchen made the most important play of the night. With two outs in the seventh, Nunez hit a liner to left-center that seemed a two-run gapper, and McCutchen made a diving, backhanded, inning-ending catch and preserved a three-run lead.

Thats why hes one of the best, Nunez said. He can make that kind of play in that kind of situation.

Speaking of stellar defense, Trevor Brown was thrown out at home on a nifty throw by left fielder Starling Marte and niftier tag by Francisco Cervelli. Another rally evaporated when Pence rounded third base, noticed Roberto Kellys stop sign and realized it was too late to return.

Another time, a Giants fan in the front row on the third-base line grabbed a fair ball hit by Marte. Fan interference kept McCutchen from scoring from first base.

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
Turkish prosecutors have demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month's failed coup, state media reported on Tuesday.

In an 2,527 page indictment approved by prosecutors in the Usak region of western Turkey, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other charges, the Anadolu news agency reported.

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Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Lake County on Monday as the devastating Clayton Fire raged across thousands of acres and left at least 175 burned homes and businesses in its wake.

The declaration will expedite funding for fire crews and aid workers on the ground. The order also makes it easier for those with losses to get public assistance.
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A Visitacion Valley woman who suffered a serious head injury when she was hit by a falling tree limb Friday afternoon in Washington Square Park remains in critical condition.

The 36-year-old was watching her two young children climb on the playground near Columbus Avenue and Filbert Street in North Beach when a tree branch weighing around 100 pounds fell nearly 50 feet, hitting her in the head.

The Canary Island pine tree, which is maintained by the Recreation and Park Department, was pruned in 2013 after being inspected in 2010. The tree was given a score of good condition  or 4 out of 5 on the assessment scale. The report did not recommend maintenance of any kind.

The accident comes as the city grapples with how to fund regular maintenance for its trees. Legislation that would earmark money to maintain street trees and transfer their care to Public Works is headed to the November ballot. Another ballot measure that passed in June will funnel millions of dollars into the Rec and Park Department, which is facing a maintenance backlog exceeding $1 billion over the next 30 years.

But some neighbors say the progress is too little, too late.

Ken Maley, a member of Friends of Washington Square, said Rec and Park has been scrambling to prune trees for years. Maley led an effort in 2008 to create a tree management plan for Washington Square Park, considered the living room of North Beach. It was later adopted by the department.

Im very concerned about tree failures, not just in Washington Square but in parks throughout the system, Maley said. Their policy tends to be responding to crisis.

About $750,000 is allotted for forestry in the citys general fund for fiscal year 2016, with another $1 million in fiscal year 2017. Rec and Park also allocated $4.8 million in its budget for urban forestry  or 2 percent of the departments overall budget.

A common practice is to prune every tree in the system within a 15-year cycle. But right now, there are only enough arborists to service each of the departments 177,000 trees once every 105 years, according to a Parks Alliance report.

Through our operations and capital work, there has been a concerted effort to maintain the citys urban forest, said Rec and Park spokesman Elton Pon.

The tree at Washington Square Park was considered healthy. Any tree, young, old, healthy or otherwise, has the potential to fail, given a certain set of circumstances.

In 2008, a woman was killed when part of a tree fell on her while she walked her dogs at Stern Grove.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Washington Square Park, was at the scene Friday shortly after the 20-foot tree limb fell.

It raises the larger question, is Rec and Park properly assessing their trees? Peskin said Monday morning.

Mayor Ed Lee also voiced concerns Saturday afternoon following the incident.

The Recreation and Park Department, along with other city agencies, is continuing to investigate the incident, Lee said.

Tree work is conducted regularly at Washington Square Park, and city tree crews will go to the park this week to review all trees.

Rec and Park crews pruned the Italian stone pine and sycamore trees in the park in 2011, but at that time, no work was done on the Canary Island pine trees lining the childrens playground.

Those trees were pruned in 2013, after the Friends of Washington Square donated the service to the department.

Fridays accident was a tragic example of why tree maintenance is so important, said Dan Flanagan, director of Friends of the Urban Forest, which helps residents plant and maintain trees in the city.

Public trees in San Francisco have been seriously underfunded for many years now, Flanagan said. The city is not able to take care of its trees, and our pruning cycle went from three to five years to 12-plus years. That is inherently unsafe. The city has to seriously look at how it funds care of its trees.

Lizzie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LizzieJohnsonnn
Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott and Westin hotels in 10 states and the District of Columbia may have been targeted by hackers for months.

According to hotel operator HEI Hotels & Resorts, malware put into place in at least 20 locations may have collected names, card account numbers, card expiration dates and verification codes. Among those that may have been compromised is Le Meridien in San Francisco.

Data from customers may have been collected from early December, through late June. At some properties, HEI said, data collection may have begun as early as March 2015 at hotel locations where people bought food or drinks.

Automobiles

Tesla site keeps

Autopilot

Tesla said Monday that the term Autopilot was mistakenly removed from its website for China, but it has been restored.

The company said it did revise some language on the site to make it clearer to drivers that Autopilot is a driver-assist system and not a self-driving system.

Tesla has been under pressure to stop using the term Autopilot in the U.S. following the death of an Ohio tech company owner in a Florida crash involving the system. Last week, a driver in Beijing relying on Autopilot mode sideswiped a car parked on the side of the road. Tesla says the drivers hands werent detected on the steering wheel during the crash. The company says drivers using Autopilot must keep their hands on the wheel and be ready to take over.

Revisions to the language on websites have been under way for weeks to address discrepancies across languages, the Palo Alto company said. The timing had nothing to do with current events or articles, and Tesla has no plans to remove any references to Autopilot from any website, spokeswoman Khobi Brooklyn said.

Technology

Dropbox

eyes IPO

San Francisco file-storage company Dropbox has met with advisers to discuss the possibility of an initial public offering as soon as 2017, according to people familiar with the matter.

Management wanted to talk about the feasibility and get a sense of the price investors might pay, the people said. The conversations were exploratory and no decision has been made, sources said.

Dropbox has faced questions over whether its worth the $10 billion valuation assigned to it in a 2014 funding round. Several investors have since written down the value of their holdings.

Investing

Buffett likes

Apple, Phillips

Warren Buffetts company is adding to its stakes in Apple and Phillips 66.

Berkshire Hathaway filed an update with regulators Monday on its roughly $130 billion U.S. stock portfolio.

Berkshire said it held 15.2 million Apple shares at the end of June, up from the 9.8 million share stake it disclosed in the spring, which raised eyebrows because Buffett has avoided technology companies.

Berkshire now owns 78.8 million shares in oil refiner Phillips 66, up from 75.6 million.

It also cut its Walmart investment to 40.2 million shares at the end of June from 55.2 million shares in March.

Chronicle News Services
Impatient?

Youre stuck at a red light. Its taking forever. How much time until the light turns green? Ten seconds? Twenty seconds? A minute and a half? Would you be more patient if you knew exactly how long it will take? Audi is betting yes. The German luxury carmaker said this week that several cars in its 2017 lineup will be available with a cloud-computer-connected countdown timer for red lights, displayed on the instrument panel and heads-up display.

Mario math

The images of Mario, Luigi and friends have been carved into the fields of an upstate New York farm as part of a corn maze based on Nintendos Super Mario Bros. game series. ABC News reported that its the latest installment of an annual themed maze. Tom Stoughton says his Newark Valley farms mazes typically attract about 10,000 visitors annually. An aerial photo of the 8-acre maze clearly shows Mario, Luigi and fellow Mario Bros. characters Princess Peach, Toad and Yoshi carved into the cornfield. Stoughton says creating the maze usually takes a few weeks and involves a lot of math.

Talks collapse

Google has failed to reach a settlement with Russias antimonopoly agency over the Android operating system, Interfax says. The agency imposed a $6.85 million fine on Google last week after ruling that the firm was abusing its dominance by requiring the installation of certain applications on Android devices. Google appealed the ruling, and the agency said a deal was possible if Google admitted to violations of antitrust laws and pay a fine. But talks have come to nothing, it said.

The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing
The death of a young restaurant worker whose body was found inside Westfield San Francisco Centre last week was reclassified as a suspicious death after investigators initially ruled it a homicide, police said Tuesday.

Frank Galicia, a 28-year-old line cook at the Michelin-starred Union Square restaurant Sons & Daughters, was found dead in an emergency exit stairwell at the Market Street mall Wednesday.

Galicias body was discovered about 10:15 a.m., and his death was ruled by a medical examiner on scene as a homicide. But the case is now being probed as a suspicious death, said Officer Giselle Talkoff, a San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Darryl Bush/SFC Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Authorities would not say why the case is no longer considered a homicide.

That doesnt necessarily totally rule it out, Talkoff said.

Homicide detectives were continuing to work on the case in conjunction with the medical examiner, she said.

An official at the medical examiners office said the agency would not use any terms to characterize the incident until the cause of death is determined.

Police have declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the death or comment on a possible motive. No suspects had been identified.

An investigation by The Chronicle in January showed the 800 block of Market Street, which includes the Westfield mall, generates more crime reports than any other single block in the city.

Excluding noncriminal and traffic-related incidents, nearly 1,400 police reports  on average nearly four per day  were filed from the block and its bordering intersections last year, according to police records.

More than half of the reports were for theft or larceny, although there were 100 reported assaults, 80 robberies and nine reports of sexual assault.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
A 57-year-old suspected serial bank robber with a wig, a fake beard and a pistol who was arrested in San Francisco moments before he was about to enter a bank on Geary Boulevard has been identified by police.

Officers said the man they arrested on Friday afternoon in the Richmond District was Andre Mitchell Brown of San Francisco. He had recently been released from prison after serving a 27-year sentence for bank robbery.

Brown was arrested Friday outside the bank in the 5400 block of Geary Boulevard, police said. At the time of his arrest, he was also wearing sunglasses and gloves. Another man, Javier Jenkins, 44, who was described by police as Browns getaway driver, was also arrested.

Brown was believed to have robbed four banks since April, according to police. He allegedly robbed a bank on Van Ness Avenue on April 22, a bank in San Mateo on May 12 and a bank on Union Street on June 23 and again on July 11, police said.

The series of robberies were committed by an armed man authorities dubbed the Dreaded Bandit due to the dreadlock wig he used in some of the holdups to disguise himself. He was described as tall and slim, wearing a fake beard, a hat and with his face painted white. Typically, he would direct employees and customers at gunpoint to the bank vault and obtain a large amount of cash.

Brown and Jenkins were booked for attempted robbery and conspiracy.

FBI spokesman Prentice Danner said surveillance photographs and information of the past robberies, along with a $10,000 reward offer, led to tips that ended in Browns arrest.

There were four robberies and he had a gun in every one, Danner said. We considered him very dangerous.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
Human Rights Watch urged Jordan on Tuesday to ease access to education for thousands of un-schooled Syrian refugee children ahead of the new academic year starting in September.

More than 80,000 school-aged Syrian children in the kingdom received no formal education in the last school year, it said.

In a 97-page report entitled: "We're Afraid For Their Future", the rights organisation said a series of obstacles are preventing Syrian children from going to school.

It said many were barred from public schools for lack of "service cards" issued to Syrians living outside formal refugee camps.

HRW estimated that "tens of thousands" of Syrians are ineligible for the cards due to lack of paperwork or failing to meet stringent criteria.

Jordanian regulations also bar children from entering school if they have been out of education for three or more years, the group said.

It said poverty was a "major driver" of drop-outs. Some families can barely afford transport costs, and many children are pressured to work in the informal sector.

Children are at lower risk than adults of being arrested for working without hard-to-obtain work permits, meaning many work long hours in hazardous conditions that violate Jordanian labour laws, it said.

Jordan says it is hosting nearly 1.4 million refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the United Nations.

HRW praised Jordan's "generous efforts" to enrol Syrians in its public schools, which were already struggling with capacity and quality issues before the influx of refugees.

Jordan opened schools in refugee camps and put in place a "double shift" system to give more school places to Syrians.

But over a third of the 226,000 school-aged Syrians registered with the UN refugee agency in Jordan received no formal education in the last school year, HRW said.

"Authorities should expand efforts to realise the fundamental right to education for all Syrian children," it said.

Jordan frequently says it is not receiving enough international support to help it cope with the hundreds of thousands of Syrians it is hosting.

King Abdullah II said on Monday that donations from the international community only covered 35 percent of the cost of hosting the refugees, leaving Jordan to make up the shortfall.

That took up more than a quarter of Jordan's budget, he said in an interview with the semi-governmental Addustour newspaper.

"Jordan is doing its utmost to help refugees," he said.

"However, we have reached our limits... This is an international crisis and an international responsibility, and the world has to do its part."

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CLEARLAKE, Lake County  A troubled Lake County man who once served as an inmate firefighter was investigated as a possible serial arsonist for a year, but authorities didnt have enough evidence to arrest him until after he sparked this months devastating Clayton Fire, officials said Tuesday.

Now residents of a county that has been ravaged by wildfires in recent years are wondering just how many might be the work of 40-year-old Damin Pashilk of Clearlake. He is expected to appear in court Wednesday to face charges in connection with the inferno that kicked off Saturday, ripped through downtown Lower Lake a day later, and has destroyed at least 175 homes and businesses so far.

These kinds of serial arson cases are incredibly complex, said Janet Upton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which led the long investigation of Pashilk. They can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for logistical support, personnel and specialized equipment.

Pashilk, who was born in San Francisco but has spent most of his life in Napa and Lake counties, was arrested Monday on suspicion of 17 counts of arson. He was being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail, as firefighters started to get the better of the 4,000-acre Clayton Fire, upping containment to 35 percent by Tuesday evening.

The suspect, who most recently was working odd jobs and living in a trailer in a residential part of Clearlake  several miles north of where the Clayton Fire began  has a long history of run-ins with the law including arrests connected with drugs, firearms and evading police, records show.

But if Pashilk intentionally set fire to the rural area he has lived in most of his life, a motive remained unclear a day after his arrest. He declined to be interviewed Tuesday.

State and local investigators have released little information about Pashilk or what led authorities to him, only that they are confident that he is responsible for the Clayton Fire as well as other unspecified blazes.

The investigation is ongoing, said Richard Hinchcliff, Lake Countys chief deputy district attorney. As far as whether he had a particular motive, I cant say. Serial arsonists start fires for different reasons. Some have psychological issues, others have financial reasons  they get work when they set fires.

Pashilk was not currently working as a firefighter, though he served as an inmate firefighter for four months in 2007 in the midst of a five-year prison sentence for drug possession and firearm charges, according to California corrections officials. The job is available to inmates who are considered less dangerous and is coveted among convicts, who get to learn a skill while traveling to far-flung blazes.

As news of Pashilks arrest spread through a county that has seen more than a dozen big wildfires in recent years, friends of the suspect were incredulous.

They say they have a bunch of evidence (against him), but Im having a hard time believing it, said Pashilks neighbor, Eric DeLarson. Hes a big guy. Sometimes he gets a little intimidating, but Ive never heard of anything like this.

Pashilks trailer sits alongside a house with an American flag and a lot of junk in the yard. Two residents who were friends with Pashilk declined to talk about their tenant. Behind Pashilks trailer was a cart of wood, where SS lightning bolts were spray-painted onto the metal  Nazi imagery that is mirrored on Pashilks Facebook page.

Matthew Williams, a 20-year friend of Pashilks who sometimes flies remote-controlled airplanes with him, said Pashilk would never hurt anyone, much less intentionally start a wildfire. On the day the Clayton Fire began, Williams said Pashilk stopped by his property in Lower Lake to make sure he was OK.

Im in shock that they have him over there in jail right now, Williams said. Hes got no motive or will.

Court documents show that over the past decade or so, Pashilk has been charged with more than 20 crimes in Lake, Shasta and Yolo counties.

In 2009, when police were investigating a marijuana growing operation in Clearlake, Pashilk answered the door with a loaded handgun, according to a report in the Lake County News. He was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a weapon and for possessing methamphetamine.

While Cal Fire officials would not say Tuesday which fires, besides the Clayton Fire, they think Pashilk is responsible for, theyve ruled out last years two most destructive in Lake County  the Valley Fire, which burned 76,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,300 homes, and the Rocky Fire, which scorched 69,000 acres and wiped out 43 homes. Both were caused by household gas or electrical problems.

The Jerusalem Fire, which burned 25,000 acres and destroyed six homes last year, may have been the product of arson, though. It remains under investigation.

Rumors have long circulated of an arsonist running wild in the region.

Our investigation will continue to run through additional fires that we had in this area, said Daniel Berlant, a Cal Fire spokesman. With any arsonist its very difficult to understand why. All we know is, this is behavior we do not tolerate.

Those who lost homes to the Clayton Fire were even less forgiving. Cal Fire officials said they announced the arrest as soon as they could to provide solace to residents who have suffered too much.

Id like to get hold of the guy, said Irene Scottie Black, an 82-year-old resident of Lower Lake, who was staying at the Red Cross shelter in Kelseyville after the Clayton Fire destroyed her mobile home. I would string him up.

Black paused, composed herself and smiled, as if a dark cloud had passed.

You work hard for your house or trailer, and he just burns them out. Its terrible, she said. Theres no use for it. Did it get him anywhere?

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jenna Lyons contributed to this story

Evan Sernoffsky, Peter Fimrite and Kurtis Alexander are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, pfimrite@sfchronicle.com kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky @pfimrite @kurtisalexander

Fires near L.A. force 82,000 to evacuate

LOS ANGELES  A wildfire broke out Tuesday and spread at a staggering pace in every direction through drought-parched canyons east of Los Angeles, growing to 14 square miles in a matter of hours and prompting evacuation orders for more than 82,000 people in mountain communities.

A miles-long line of flames snaked along ridges, racing through chaparral dried by years of drought and days of dry summer heat in the 90s. Flames reached up to 80 feet in the air with tornado-like whirls coming off the main blaze reaching 100 feet, officials said.

The growth was explosive, San Bernardino County fire spokesman Eric Sherwin said.

The fire was roaring through the San Bernardino Mountains, heading generally north but also east and west above the Cajon Pass, and forced the shutdown of a section of Interstate 15, the main highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, leaving commuters stranded for hours.

Mandatory evacuation calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, Sherwin said.

Some buildings had been lost, Sherwin said. He had no details, but televised images from the fire scene appeared to show at least two homes on fire.

Associated Press
COLONIE  Donald Trump wants to build that wall.

Robert Marini has emulated his preferred presidential candidate.

After a rash of Trump lawn sign snatchings from his East Hills Boulevard residence, the prominent Capital Region home builder has encased his latest homemade sign in concrete and surrounded it with barbed wire and lights in an attempt to deter would-be vandals and thieves from messing with his show of political pride. And if those features aren't enough of a deterrent, a warning sign bellows: "DO NOT Touch The Sign. If you are reading this, you are TRESPASSING. You WILL BE PROSECUTED To The Fullest Extent Of The Law."

"I don't have enough time in my life to go around stealing Bernie Sanders signs or Hillary Clinton signs. It's not something that I even thought about doing," Marini said Monday. "Everybody's got a right to free speech, right? At least we think so in America today. But some people on the left don't believe in that, so they just take what's not theirs."

Since June, Marini has had five Trump signs stolen from his lawn. The identity of whoever stole them is not known, even after a camera on Marini's property captured the crime. The grainy video shrouded the criminal's identity in the kind of secrecy that isn't uncommon in politics.

The builder said he does not believe he was a target because of his prominence. Rather, it would appear to be an incidence of theft due to ideological differences. Nobody else in his neighborhood has brandished any Trump pride in the form of a sign, he said.

Marini's sign posted in his front yard never was stolen. It was just those that he planted on his back hill. He said his new sign  complete with the security dressing  was created when he finally got sick of having campaign-approved signs taken.

To be sure, the political silly season bringing out action that crosses the line of legality isn't anything new. A note to would-be thieves, though: State Police said getting caught snatching a lawn sign could lead to misdemeanor larceny charges. That means the sign snatcher, if convicted, would likely face a fine.

More noteworthy cases of vandalism against Trump supporters have cropped up, perhaps given 2016's divisive tone.Marini said he supports Trump because he makes the most common sense out of all the politicians that are out there, pointing out, "You won't find a Hillary Clinton supporter who'll tell you that."

Consider the case of the Staten Island homeowner who had his 12-by-8-foot "T" featuring the colors of Old Glory set ablaze early this month. The Post reported that Trump called supporter Sam Pirozzolo personally after the arson (it was being investigated by both the NYPD and FDNY as such) to tell his fellow New Yorker that he appreciated his support.

Marini said he has not involved the police after the incidents at his home.

"I don't want to bother the police with something like that," he said.

"They steal this one, they're going to get a police report, though," he quickly added of the new sign.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @matt_hamilton10
MILWAUKEE  The leader of the Black Panthers in Milwaukee met with the citys Common Council president to press for changes to economic and social issues he says underlie recent violence in a predominantly minority neighborhood.

Council President Ashanti Hamilton promised he would engage the community to help address those issues and told King Rick that its a heavy lift.

The Black Panthers leader, who declined to give his last name, told Hamilton that Saturdays fatal shooting of a black man, Sylville Smith, by a police officer is the match that lit the powder keg of issues and resulted in chaos in the Sherman Park neighborhood.

King Rick says Milwaukee has always been primed for insurrection and it came to fruition. He and four other Panthers met with Hamilton after Police Chief Edward Flynn briefed members of the council on the unrest behind closed doors.

Police say Smith was fleeing a traffic stop and was armed with a handgun when he was shot by the officer, who is also black. The shooting is under investigation.

Meanwhile, Smiths sister said her brother and the Milwaukee officer who shot him knew each other from high school.

Police have not yet to name the officer, but Sherelle Smith told a television station that the men both went to Pulaski High School on the citys southwest side.

The officer is 24. Smith was 23. Its not clear how well the men knew each other. The high school currently has about 1,500 students.

Police say they arrested 10 people overnight but that Milwaukees north side was much calmer than over the weekend when violent protests over the Smiths shooting rocked the area.

The department also tweeted Tuesday that only one shot was fired, which is far fewer than the previous two nights. And police noted zero injured officers, no damaged vehicles and no damage to businesses or residences.

Six businesses were burned Saturday night, the first and worst night of protests.

Officials had promised strict enforcement of a 10 p.m. curfew for teens Monday night and closed Sherman Park at 6 p.m.

Milwaukee is the latest city where authorities have invoked decades-old, often little-enforced curfews to try to tamp down reactions to a police shooting.

But the measures are controversial. Some people say curfews violate civil liberties. Researchers also argue that theres little evidence the laws work, particularly when it comes to curbing juvenile crime. And in some cases, they say, the laws only make problems worse in the long term.

Authorities imposed a curfew in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 after a white officer shot and killed a black 18-year-old. Many blacks saw it as further mistreatment of their community.
In a potential legal breakthrough for medical marijuana, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department cannot prosecute anyone who grows, supplies or uses the drug for medical purposes under state law because Congress has barred federal intervention.

The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco was written by one of its most conservative judges, Diarmuid OScannlain, and was the first by any appeals court to prohibit federal prosecutions under spending restrictions enacted by Congress. First passed in 2014 and renewed through September, the budget amendment forbids the Justice Department to spend any money to prevent California and other states from implementing their own state laws that authorize the medical use of marijuana.

The restrictions do not apply to state laws authorizing the personal use of marijuana, which California voters will consider in November. Although the drug remains illegal under federal law, the Obama administration says it has instructed federal prosecutors not to file charges against those who are following state laws.

But prosecutions and other federal actions against state-authorized marijuana suppliers have not ended. The government is still trying to shut down dispensaries, like the huge Harborside Medical Center in Oakland, and has refused to dismiss criminal cases it filed in the past, like those of the medical marijuana retailers and growers in Tuesdays case.

In court, the administration argues that it still has the authority to prosecute individual users and suppliers, because it is not directly suing the state or preventing it from implementing its law. The appeals court disagreed.

The Justice Department prevents (states) from implementing their laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana by prosecuting individuals who do any of those things, OScannlain said in the 3-0 ruling. If the federal government prosecutes such individuals, it has prevented the state from giving practical effect to its law.

Lawyers representing the group of defendants in the case argued the budget restrictions prohibited all federal prosecutions in medical marijuana states, but OScannlain said Congress has shielded only those who are actually complying with state law, not those suspected of violating both state and federal laws. That means the Justice Department can still use federal law to file charges in marijuana cases, or continue prosecutions it has already started, but a federal judge will dismiss the charges if the judge determines the defendant was following state law.

The ruling is still a significant victory, said lead defense attorney Marc Zilversmit, who represented owners of marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles and growers in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas.

It says were right, that Congress has defunded DOJs war on medical marijuana, Zilversmit said.

He said many issues remain to be decided, including whether a medical marijuana dispensary and all of its employees can be federally prosecuted if a single employee provided the drug in violation of state law.

The Justice Department declined to comment. The department could ask the full appeals court for a new hearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a similar ruling in October, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco said the congressional restrictions prohibit federal drug enforcers from shutting medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law. Tuesdays decision affects criminal cases and, because it came from an appeals court, is binding on federal judges in California and the eight other Western states in the Ninth Circuit.

California, in a 1996 voter initiative, became the first state to legalize medical use of marijuana. About half the states now have similar laws, and the court said 40 states, along with Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, have some version of a law allowing medicinal use of pot or a related herb. Four states and Washington, D.C., have legalized personal use of the drug, and it will be on the November ballot in California and four other states.

Despite increasing public support to relax federal prohibitions, however, the Obama administration refused last week to remove marijuana from the category of drugs that cannot be used or prescribed legally because they are considered dangerous and subject to abuse, with no recognized medical benefits.

The decision was a disappointment, but the court ruling restores some sanity to the way the federal government respects medical marijuana patients, said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, co-author of the congressional budget restrictions.

California and many other states allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes, yet the federal government still considers it as dangerous as heroin, Farr said in a statement. While Im pleased to see the amendment that I worked on with my colleagues being interpreted by the courts correctly, there needs to be a permanent change in federal policy to ensure medical marijuana patients arent criminalized in states that allow it.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @egelko

The ruling can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/2aYWtyE
WEST BEND, Wis.  Forty miles north of the unrest unfolding in Milwaukee, residents in West Bend welcomed Donald Trumps visit to the area and his unwavering support of police officers who are once again facing scrutiny for the fatal shooting of a black man.

While Milwaukee grapples with the violence that erupted in the wake of a police shooting on Saturday, most people interviewed in the Republican stronghold of West Bend said they were far more concerned that the police were being unfairly criticized as racial tension grips the city.

And they said that Trumps rally offered a chance to show support for a law-and-order presidency  and for officers who they feel have been unfairly maligned after the police fatally shot a black man who officials say had a gun.

I dont think it is a problem  the whole Black Lives Matter  that only black people are getting killed. Thats just not the case, said Lori Griggs, 44, who lives near West Bend and planned to attend the Trump rally. We should be supporting our police officers. I think that it has blown up every time that, you know, a black individual is killed. Its blown up in the news. But you dont hear about the whites that have been killed.

Trump visited Milwaukee before his rally in West Bend but did not hold any public events in the city, choosing instead to meet privately with Milwaukee police officers and attend fundraisers.

Jack Beck, 65, a retired bricklayer and a Trump supporter who lives in West Bend, said he planned to vote for Trump and did not blame him for making a low-key stop in Milwaukee, given the citys racial tensions.

Every night in Milwaukee there is someone being shot and they make nothing of that until a cop is involved and then all of a sudden its always blamed on the cop, said Beck, who said he hoped West Bends black population would not increase. He tied much of the unrest in Milwaukee to his belief that black residents do not want to work hard and instead want to use police killings to get handouts from the government.

If somebody is killed, they think we owe them something, Beck said. I dont want to seem racist or nothing but the black heritage has been raised in a certain way that theres no incentive to get out and work because all of a sudden you have five kids and there are no dads around.

Others believe that Trump, who during his campaign has not held any events aimed at black voters in their communities, is purposely choosing to avoid the people of Milwaukee, a city of nearly 600,000 where some 40 percent of residents are African American, according to the 2010 census. In contrast, 95 percent of the people of West Bend are white, and only 1 percent are black.
A large clinical trial of a new osteoporosis drug found that it stimulates bone growth and prevents fractures at least as well as the only other such drug on the market. The new drug, expected to win approval from federal regulators, would offer another much-needed treatment for some of the 10 million Americans, 80 percent of them women, who have a disease that weakens bones and often leads to years of pain, disability and early death.

Doctors who care for people with osteoporosis said they hoped the new drug would also spur price competition in an arena that has had none. The new drug would compete with a medicine made by Eli Lilly, called Forteo, that costs $2,550 for a four-week supply. A spokeswoman for Radius, the maker of the new drug, said it was the companys policy not to discuss price.
NEW YORK  New York City has reached a settlement of more than $4 million with the family of an unarmed man fatally shot by a police officer in a darkened almost nearly two years ago, the attorney for the family said Tuesday.

The city is paying $4.1 million and the New York City Housing Authority is contributing $400,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of 28-year-old Akai Gurley.
Israel's Shin Bet security service announced Tuesday it has arrested a network of Palestinians allegedly recruited via Facebook by Lebanon's Hezbollah movement to attack Israelis.

"Along with the orders to carry out shooting attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli targets, the agents were ordered to help recruit more (Palestinians) for the organisation's activities," a Shin Bet statement read.

In one case, a Hezbollah agent had used Facebook to recruit a resident of Qalqilya who in turn recruited four others from his city in the north of the occupied West Bank, it said.

The five allegedly began gathering intelligence on Israeli army activities in the area and to conduct weapons training, before being arrested in June.

Shin Bet also said a Gazan recruited by Hezbollah through Facebook recruited three Palestinians from the West Bank who had started to train and plan attacks.

The four were also arrested before carrying out any action.

The nine Palestinians have been charged in a military court in the West Bank, the agency said, without giving a date.

The Shin Bet said Hezbollah was also reaching out to Arab Israelis through Facebook in an attempt "to recruit them to carry out terror attacks".

"Hezbollah is determined to continue encouraging the recent terror events from a distance and in an attempt to not let its involvement be seen," the Shin Bet said.

A wave of deadly unrest has rocked Israel and the Palestinian territories since last October.

The violence has killed 219 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally.

In January, Israel announced the arrest of a five-member cell based in Tulkarem in the West Bank, recruited online by Jawad Nasrallah, son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel fought a devastating month-long war in 2006 against Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

The powerful Shia Muslim group has targeted Israeli occupation forces patrols along the border in southern Lebanon in response to strikes against its members, most recently on January 4.

In July, Israel announced it had outlawed a Palestinian group it said acted as a front for Iran-funded militant actions against Israelis and the Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas.

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An Oklahoma woman apparently had been saying her 4-year-old daughter had cancer and other diseases for years and raised thousands of dollars through social media posts, crowdfunding campaigns and donations from the community.

It was discovered her daughter was never seriously sick and now the mother, Jessica Good, 32, of Enid, Oklahoma, is facing charges of child abuse and other felony charges, according to the local newspaper, Enid News & Eagle.
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Actress Ashley Judd will soon be a Cal bear.

The "Divergent" and "Double Jeopardy" star told fans in a Facebook Live video posted on Monday that she was accepted and would be enrolling in UC Berkeley's Ph.D. program in Public Policy this fall.

"I have decided to take the next step in my academic journey," Judd says in the post. "Sometimes I'm really excited, sometimes I'm like, 'What have I gotten myself into?' I'm very esteemed and honored that they accepted me."

Judd is already well-versed in public policy and has spent significant time on humanitarian efforts abroad. Besides earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky and a master's degree from Harvard (where she majored in public administration with a concentration on gender equality), Judd has also worked with causes supporting the defense of wildlife and anti-violence campaigns in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has even dabbled in politics, briefly entertaining a Senate run in her childhood home of Kentucky.

Ashley Judd Live at Frothy Monkey in Downtown Franklin, TN! Posted by Ashley Judd on Monday, August 15, 2016

She had previously revealed she would be headed to Berkeley while at the Democratic Convention in July  a Washington Post reporter caught her filling out paperwork  but no specifics had been given at the time.

Judd has now stated, however, that she plans to continue her work towards gender equality, particularly within the framework of human trafficking, saying, "You can look at the whole of our striving toward gender equality within the dynamic of ending human trafficking."

"I intend to make the very best of my time at Berkeley," Judd adds. "And do some good thinking, some rigorous research and fill it with my typical heart and soul, intend to do and see how I can continue to do my part to make the world a better place."

Alyssa Pereira is a staff writer for SFGATE. Follow her here on Twitter.
The state Supreme Court overturned a Southern California teenagers death sentence for a 1993 double murder Monday, saying the trial judge had interfered with jury deliberations and pressured jurors to end a deadlock during the penalty phase.

The unanimous ruling upheld Sergio Nelsons murder convictions but granted him a new trial on whether he should be sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole.

It was the justices third reversal out of six death sentences they had considered in the past five weeks, all by 7-0 votes. The rulings signal a possible shift on a court that has upheld more than 90 percent of the death verdicts it has taken up in the last three decades, including 20 of 21 in the year that ended June 30.

Nelson had just turned 19 when he fatally shot Robin Shirley and Lee Thompson in a parking lot outside the Target store where all three of them worked in La Verne (Los Angeles County) in October 1993.

The three had been part of a crew that unloaded trucks and stocked shelves at the store, and Shirley had just gotten a promotion that Nelson thought he deserved. After being taunted by other workers and clashing verbally with both Shirley and Thompson, he quit his job, then several weeks later bicycled to the lot and shot the pair as they sat together in a car before work.

A jury convicted him of the murders but deadlocked in the sentence. In a sentencing retrial, a second jury reported a 10-2 deadlock after six days of deliberations. Superior Court Judge Clarence Strumwall asked jurors in writing whether they were likely to reach a unanimous verdict, and then, over defense objections, posed a series of additional questions, including whether any jurors were refusing to deliberate, whether they expressed personal views about death or life sentences, and whether there was anything that might help them break the deadlock.

Most of the jurors replied that a unanimous verdict was unlikely. Strumwell then questioned individual jurors, at the prosecutors suggestion, and learned that one of the holdout jurors owned a gun and had been on medication for bipolar disorder, apparently contrary to her answers on a pretrial questionnaire.

The juror said she had forgotten about the gun, which had been stored away for five or six years, and hadnt considered the emotional disorder to be the type of health problem shed been asked about. But the judge dismissed her and brought in a new juror, and the panel returned a death sentence the next day.

A judge can make some limited inquiries when a jury reports a deadlock, but this judge went too far, the states high court said Monday.

By asking jurors to report on their colleagues thoughts and actions with no prior indication of misconduct, Strumwell undermined the sanctity of jury deliberations, Justice Goodwin Liu said in the courts decision. He said the judges questionnaire and his later actions, focused on the holdout jurors, may have pressured them to go along with the majority.

The ruling comes from a court that has shown some signs of an ideological shift with Gov. Jerry Browns appointments of Liu and Justices Mariano-Florentino Cuellar and Leondra Kruger, reducing the Republican-appointed majority to 4-3.

While the court still upholds most of its death sentences, it overturned a San Joaquin County death verdict on July 11 because the trial judge removed a prospective juror who said she opposed the death penalty but believed she could set her views aside. Last Thursday, the justices reversed a Los Angeles County death sentence and three murder convictions after finding that the judge had wrongly dismissed a juror for allegedly failing to deliberate.

Mondays case was People vs. Nelson, S048673.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Buoyed by US air strikes earlier this month, Libyan pro-government forces are pressing their advance against Islamic State (IS) militants in the city of Sirte, with the conflict escalating and the country descending into near-anarchy.

Libya is ruled by competing parties and rival militias vying for power, with the Islamist militants increasingly gaining influence in the country over the past years.

Libya has become a beacon for Islamists and radical groups in North Africa, some of whom have managed to seize strategically important areas in the oil-rich country, posing a threat to the Maghreb region and other Mediterranean countries.

There are mounting fears that the militants may use the Mediterranean city of Sirte as a jumping-off point for terror attacks in Europe.

In May, forces aligned with Libya's UN-backed government began a military offensive to retake the city, which IS captured in June last year. US forces also launched air strikes on the stronghold in August.

The air strikes have facilitated the advance of the US-backed Libyan ground forces into the IS group's headquarters in the city.

The Pentagon announced that the strikes were carried out upon a formal request from the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Fayez Al-Sarraj. The strikes were the first US military operation to be implemented in declared coordination with the GNA.

The August strikes, dubbed Operation Odyssey Lightning, were the third part of a comprehensive three-phase initiative of military operations against IS. These strikes were planned and directed by the United States Africa Command (US AFRICOM).

Libyan political analyst Al-Husain Al-Mesuri believes that the US military intervention is linked to that countrys upcoming presidential elections.

"The significance of the US air strikes against IS group in Sirte is crystal clear; to give [presidential candidate] Hillary Clinton a push against her Republican rival Donald Trump, who has accused the former Secretary of State of [mishandling the response to the] attack on the US consulate in Benghazi in 2012," Al-Mesuri told Ahram Online.

On 11 September 2012, Islamist militants attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, killing US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and others.

The US administration has launched election-flavoured political strikes. It delivers a message to the American citizen that the Democratic president helped liberate Sirte from the notorious IS group, Al-Mesuri added.

Another message delivered by these strikes, Al-Mesuri believes, is that the United States will only give its support to Libyan forces that back the GNA and the Skhirat agreement, which calls for a presidential council to lead a unified government.

Under the deal, a nine-member presidential council forms the GNA, with the current, eastern-based House of Representatives as the main legislature, and a state council as a second, consultative chamber.

Mattia Toaldo, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the US intervention has not been met with a major backlash because few Libyans have any doubts about the need to destroy the Islamic State in Sirte.

"It was a precisely-defined, narrow and time-limited intervention with high chances of success, carried out upon the request of the government recognised by the US," Toaldo told Ahram Online.

Toaldo added that military action in Benghazi would be more contentious because the Islamic State is mixed up with other groups there that have the sympathy of some Libyan factions.

The majority of the militias leading the offensive in Sirte are made up of armed groups from the city of Misrata, which already backs the GNA. By contrast, the Libyan army led by General Khalifa Haftar has not yet recognised the GNA and the presidential council led by Al-Sarraj.

Therefore, Haftar will seemingly fight the Islamist militants in Benghazi alone unless he recognises the GNA.

Foreign Intervention

Some Libyans are against the idea of foreign military intervention as a solution to the fierce ongoing conflict in the country, which fell into chaos after the March 2011 military action by a NATO-led coalition against the regime of long-time president Muammar Gaddafi.

However, foreign assistance, as opposed to intervention, is certainly acceptable to some of the competing Libyan factions, Rex Brynen, professor of political science at McGill University, told Ahram Online.

"Most Libyans recognise the danger posed by IS, and many are still grateful for the support that NATO and some Arab states provided during the war against Gaddafi." he said.

According to Brynen, if the intervention is limited to support in the fight against IS, it will likely strengthen the position of the GNA.

On 9 August, the Washington Post reported that US Special Operations forces are providing direct ground support for the first time to fighters battling the Islamic State in Libya, coordinating American airstrikes and providing intelligence in an effort to oust the group from its stronghold.

Although foreign intelligence operatives in Libya provide support to the Libyan fighters through directing air operations, there are no combat troops on the ground, Al-Mesuri said.

"There are about 35 military advisers and intelligence operatives in Benghazi, and dozens more in Sirte. Special Operations forces in Benghazi are from the US, France and Jordan, while in Sirte there are intelligence advisers from the US, Britain and Italy."

The fate of the Islamic State

US officials announced in February that the number of IS militants in Libya ranged from 5,000 to 6,000, though recent estimates suggest that the number has seen a sharp decline to reach around 1,000 members.

Sirte has a long coastline along the Mediterranean Sea and has many entry points towards the desert to the south.

The IS militants are more likely to escape to the south, Al-Mesuri assesses. They may be able to escape to neighbouring countries, but that depends on how tight the borders are. They may also find places on the borders of these countries that might serve as transit stations for re-organising their ranks.

The IS militants are also active in the Sabri district of Benghazi, where they are fighting the Libyan army.

Political settlement unlikely

It is unlikely that the fighting parties in Libya will reach a political settlement in the near future, even after repelling the Islamic State militants, says Brynen.

"The country will continue to be divided among rival militias, and the GNAs authority will continue to be very limited," Brynen says.

Al-Mesuri explains that there are three levels of the conflict in Libya; the international level, the regional level, and the local level.

On the international level, the US and Britain have contacts with some local parties but do not exercise any kind of pressure to help resolve the dilemma. Italy and France usually offer their political and financial support to the vying parties and are keen on helping find a political solution.

If there is a real international will, there could be a possible solution to the struggle, Al-Mesuri says.

On the regional level, countries like Turkey, Qatar and Sudan consistently try to prove to the US and the UK that they can play a remarkable role in the Libyan conflict. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also worked to show their ability to do the same job as powerful regional players, according to Al-Mesuri.

The Egyptian role, however, is unique, Al-Mesuri says.

[Egypts role] is not based on external considerations; it is based on Egypt's national security. Egypt is always keen on helping Libya become a safe country, simply because the two counties share a 1,200 km border."

The countries surrounding Libya, notably Tunisia, are big supplier of fighters joining the ranks of the Islamic State group.

Al-Mesuri believes that although the status quo is unlikely to change, there are two key regions that could have an impact on the situation in Libya; the oil crescent  which includes the ports of Siddra, Ras Lanouf and Brega  and the capital Tripoli.

The party that is able to control the oil crescent and Tripoli will be able to change the political equation in Libya, he said.

The issue of both the oil crescent and Tripoli is in the hands of the parties that signed the Skhirat agreement in December 2015. They are the only ones, if they can come to an agreement, who are capable of reaching an impactful political settlement.

Toaldo expects that there is reason to believe that if the GNA somehow holds and oil production is even just partially restarted, the West and the South of the country could see a gradual decline in violence.

"For the east, there does not seem to be an end in sight to the ongoing violence. Reconciliation among the eastern groups and between the east, particularly the interim government, and the GNA is in the high seas for the moment."

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A federal appeals court rejected a challenge by gun groups Monday to Californias requirement of a license to carry a concealed handgun outside the home, clearing the way for a final test in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the law in June, ruling 7-4 that there is no constitutional right to carry concealed weapons in public. Opponents sought a rehearing before the entire appeals court, but the court said Monday that the request had failed to win a majority among its 28 active judges. No vote total was announced.

We will now ask the Supreme Court to set things straight, said the gun advocates lawyer, C.D. Michel.

The century-old state law requires handgun owners to obtain a permit from a local law enforcement agency before they can legally pack their weapons in public. The permits are virtually unavailable to anyone except police and security guards in most metropolitan areas, but are issued in most rural and inland areas to any adult who asserts a need for self-defense and does not have a disqualifying criminal record. Seven other states have similar licensing laws.

Gun permits issued in any California county are valid statewide, except for those that are based on the applicants place of work, which are good only in that county.

Two men who were denied permits in San Diego and Yolo counties challenged the law, and were then joined by firearms groups.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the Constitutions Second Amendment protects the right to possess guns at home for self-defense but has not said whether that right applies outside the home. Most, but not all, federal appeals courts have upheld states restrictions on carrying loaded weapons in public.

In 2014, a panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that the Second Amendment applies equally outside the home and that the California law therefore violates the constitutional right to bear arms for self-defense. But the law remained in place while the state appealed and won a new hearing before a panel of 11 judges, under the courts rules for reviewing a small number of contested decisions.

In its 7-4 ruling June 9, the court majority said the United States and England have no history or tradition of allowing private citizens to carry concealed firearms outside the home. Judge William Fletcher also noted that the Supreme Court had declared in 1897 that a ban on carrying guns in public would not violate the right to bear arms.

Dissenting Judge Barry Silverman said there was no evidence that preventing law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms reduces gun violence. Judge Susan Graber replied that previously law-abiding citizens, allowed to carry guns under more-permissive state laws, had killed numerous law enforcement officers and other victims.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
An Austrian court remanded nine Iraqi migrants in custody on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a German tourist on New Year's Eve in Vienna.

The men, aged between 21 and 47, were arrested over the weekend at raids across Austria after months-long police investigations.

They were put in detention at a jail in Vienna pending trial, a court spokeswoman said.

The suspects are accused of bringing the 28-year-old victim, who was under the influence of alcohol, to one of the suspects' flats and taking turns in raping her on the night of December 31, 2015.

The men have rejected the allegations, but investigators found DNA traces of four of the accused at the alleged scene of the crime.

It is not clear yet how long the Iraqis have been in Austria, but one applied for asylum after the incident took place, police said.

Allegations of sexual assault involving migrants have been on the rise in Austria since the start of the European Union's worst refugee crisis since World War II last summer.

The country has received one of the bloc's biggest influxes of asylum seekers per capita, boosting the popularity of the far-right.

Earlier this month, neighbouring Germany passed a law making it easier to deport foreign nationals committing sex crimes, after more than 1,000 women reported sexual assaults and robberies in the city of Cologne on New Year's Eve.

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Forces loyal to Libya's eastern government will secure major oil ports and fields to "protect" them, a senior commander said, signalling possible conflict with a U.N.-backed administration in Tripoli which is taking steps to restart crude production.

Abdulrazak al-Nazhuri, chief-of-staff for General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), also restated a threat to target oil tankers that do not have permission from eastern authorities to dock.

Since a 2011 revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's oil sector has been steadily disrupted by competing governments and their armed allies, as well as by militant attacks.

Haftar's LNA has mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields and their former allies, the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in recent weeks, as the PFG agreed with the U.N. backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to stop blockading the facilities.

"We will enter the ports of Zueitina and Es Sider and Ras Lanuf," Nazhuri told Reuters in an interview at a military base in the eastern town of Marj.

The three ports are occupied by the PFG, which signed the deal with the GNA at the end of last month to enable the Tripoli authorities to restart production, a major step towards asserting its control across the country.

Last week one LNA brigade entered Zueitina in a show of force, though it stopped short of the oil port controlled by the PFG. A resident and a security source said LNA troops were still stationed there on Monday. There was no immediate sign of major military movement near it or the other ports.

"Our entry into the ports is to protect them, not to occupy them or to be substitutes for the mercenaries or thieves who preceded us," Nazhuri said.

Battle For Sirte

Haftar and his allies in the east oppose the GNA, saying it is empowering armed groups in the western city of Misrata and Tripoli.

Misrata brigades aligned with the GNA have largely driven Islamic State group from their former North African stronghold of Sirte, raising fears splits between eastern and western factions could deepen, reigniting a civil conflict that erupted in 2014.

Sirte lies in the centre of Libya's coastline, just 180 km (112 miles) west of Es Sider and close to other key oil fields and installations.

Haftar's LNA initially said it would lead the campaign against Islamic State group in Sirte, but mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields instead.

Partly because of the blockades at the eastern ports, Libya's oil production is currently about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was producing before the 2011 uprising toppled Gaddafi.

The agreement with Jathran was part of efforts to revive output, ease a financial crisis, and bolster the fortunes of the GNA, which has been struggling to impose its authority.

But the deal was controversial, with the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli warning that the payments to Jathran's forces could set a dangerous precedent.

The NOC office in Benghazi, which is loyal to the eastern government and parliament but is meant to be reunifying with the Tripoli branch, also spoke out against the deal, adding to uncertainty over whether exports could resume.

"We have said that in the event that permission is not sought from the National (Oil) Corporation that answers to the (eastern) parliament, we will target the ships with our air force as we deem them militias or smugglers," said Nazhuri.

"The goal is not to threaten any nation but to protect the Libyan people's assets."

All desert oil fields in the east of the country are under the control of Haftar's forces, Nazhuri said.

Nazhuri also defended a decision last week to replace the municipal council in Benghazi with a security official, which raised concerns of growing military control in the east.

He said the LNA had intervened at popular request because "the council was internally split and not offering anything for citizens", seeking to manage the situation until the liberation of Benghazi, "not a return to military rule".

For the past two years Haftar has been waging a military campaign in Benghazi against a coalition of extremist Islamists and other opponents, including Islamic State group and al Qaeda-linked militants.

The LNA has repeatedly announced that Benghazi's "liberation" is imminent. It has made big gains in recent months but some areas remain outside its control.

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Only about 10 minutes passed between the moment Mary Henderson first saw smoke and ashes rising from behind her neighbor's house to the second when she, her husband, their three little girls, and six goats they were able to grab, drove away from their Lake County home.

Even though their area's evacuation order had been lifted, the family found themselves confronted with an impossible situation, and were forced to leave 10 other goats at home so that they could drive to safety.

"We tried to get the goats but they were so afraid, trying to hide and running away from us  they wouldn't go with us," she says. "My husband [Bobby] ran around and started opening pens but things behind him were catching on fire. We got the pens open so the goats could at least run, and then we had to get in the car and drive away."

Luckily, the goats caught the eyes of a few people nearby  some of whom were documenting the devastation of the massive wildfire that had claimed 4,000 acres as of Monday evening.

"One of [the firefighters] jumped over the fence," says Noah Berger, a freelance photographer onsite shooting for the San Francisco Chronicle. "He landed weird on one of his legs, but he kept going, heroically."

Berger says the firefighter came back with a goat in his hand, yelling for help to pass someone the animal in his arms. Berger quickly obliged, and took the first animal he was handed. "[The goat] was really hot," he remembers, "and I didn't have my gloves on so it was really intense."

Berger says he then called for the firefighters in the next yard to help, and watched as they pulled out around 10 goats. As he recalls, "Three other [firefighters] came over and were the ones helping him carry [the animals]; he just kept handing them over."

Henderson was later looking through photos and videos social media users had posted of the area, and happened to come across a news story depicting people rescuing their goats.

"I saw one of the firefighters carrying Waterlily, and saw Noah [Berger] carrying the little four-month-old little boy goat and the shed completely on fire in the picture," Henderson says. "That's how I found out they rescued the goats."

Since then, Henderson and her family have located five of the 10 thanks to a Facebook post some of her friends saw, but they are still looking for the others. Anyone with information on their whereabouts should contact Henderson via email at maryallyh@gmail.com.

"They were thrilled about the goats. They know them all by name, and they're a big part of their lives," Berger says. "Even though it looks like I went into a burning building to help them it was actually [the firefighter]."

Alyssa Pereira is a staff writer for SFGATE. Follow her here on Twitter.
The Syrian Tomorrow Current and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Changes called for the resumption of negotiations among Syrian political groups until the finalisation of a diplomatic solution to the countrys five-year civil conflict, Tomorrow Current spokesman Ali Al-Assi told Ahram Online.

Following a meeting between the two blocs both coalitions of anti-regime Syrian political groups  in Cairo on Tuesday, Al-Assi said they emphasised that the diplomatic process should continue "without preconditions" from any of the involved actors and according to the Geneva conference and relevant international resolutions.

Al-Assi said that the delegation from the National Coordination Body  headed by general coordinator Ismail Abdel-Azim  and the Current delegation  chaired by Ahmed Assi Al-Jarba  discussed the "risks threatening Syria's unity and territorial sovereignty due to the continuation of the ruling regime's corruption, oppression, authoritarianism and repression of freedoms."

He also stated that the "continuation of imposing control of Aleppo by the regime and its allies" was an issue that was discussed during the Cairo meeting.

Al-Assi said that the two delegations called on all Arab states to support the democratic change in Syria to "achieve the aspirations the Syrian people for freedom, dignity and social justice, and building a civil, decentralised state."

Al-Assi added that both delegations stressed that the fight against "terrorism and extremism" and "commitment to the political solution" are two "indispensible necessities," calling on parties involved in the Syria conflict to "work hard to unify their efforts and visions."

This call was directed specifically to the Syrian "National Democratic opposition forces," urging them to abide by the resolutions from a meeting between the "revolutionary and opposition forces" held earlier in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"They should strengthen efforts to expand their participation in the political negotiating process so as to find a way out for the disputes in Syria," Al-Assi concluded.

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Police arrested a 29-year-old man Sunday night after he allegedly drove his car into the closed Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, driving over dozens of gravesites.



Around 9:20 p.m., officers received a report of a crash at the cemetery located at 1300 Sneath Lane, according to police.





Upon arrival, officers located a man inside a vehicle that was badly damaged, police said.



Investigators concluded the driver had intentionally driven his vehicle through the cemetery's closed gates, then drove up a grass hill and attempted to drive up a series of granite stairs before his car became disabled, according to police.



Officers identified the man as Berkeley resident Pierce Jagger, who was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license, police said.
























Talks to secure a lasting ceasefire in Sudan's three warring regions under a road map for peace have collapsed less than a week after they began, the government's chief negotiator said on Monday.

Rebels have been fighting the Sudanese army in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, when South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur, in the west, began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum.

Last week, rebel and opposition groups agreed to a road map for ceasefire talks and political reconciliation brokered by the African Union and already accepted by the government - the first such agreement since the fighting began in the south of Sudan. Ceasefire talks began immediately after.

"Peace talks failed because of the lack of seriousness of the armed movements to reach a ceasefire agreement ... they are warlords invested in war," Ibrahim Mahmoud, the government's lead negotiator, said at Khartoum airport after returning from the peace talks in Addis Ababa.

"The main reason the negotiations broke down was the rebels' deal-breaking request that, following the ceasefire, humanitarian aid be delivered by airlift to rebel areas in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile from Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya. This was wholly rejected by the government delegation."

A spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) said the talks had failed because "the government didn't want peace ... we put forward major concessions but the government remained set on its positions and was unwilling to concede anything".

He said the rebels had requested that some of the aid come from outside of Sudan to deny the government the ability to cut it off as it had on previous occasions in Darfur.

The road map sets out a process for reaching a permanent ceasefire and provides for a national dialogue between the government and both political and armed opposition groups. It also included provisions for immediate humanitarian assistance.

The signatories included two of the most prominent rebel groups -- the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the SPLM-North -- as well as the largest political opposition group, the Umma Party.

The Sudan Liberation Movement, a major rebel force in Darfur, and the Sudanese Communist Party refused to sign.

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Three soldiers were killed when a tank slipped and plunged into a river during heavy rains following an annual firing drill in southern Taiwan, officials said Tuesday.

The CM11 armoured vehicle carrying five soldiers was returning to camp in southern Pingtung county around 10:30 am (0230 GMT) after completing the firing test when it slipped from a bridge and fell upside down into the Wangsha river, the army said.

The driver managed to escape with light injuries but four others were trapped inside the vehicle and showed no signs of life when they were rescued.

The army initially said they were all killed but later revised the death toll to three as one soldier was revived after emergency treatment and was transferred to a military hospital in neighbouring Kaohsiung city.

"We are still investigating the cause of the accident," said Alfonso Yang, a military spokesman.

According to the army, the driver was unable to make a left turn when the vehicle possibly malfunctioned and then fell into the river.

President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her condolences and demanded the military speedily investigate the cause of the incident, her spokesman said.

The accident happened days before Tsai is due to preside over an annual live-fire exercise codenamed "Han Kuang 32" (Han Glory), also in Pingtung county next week, the island's main yearly drill.

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Related French police probing new Charlie Hebdo threats

A Bulgarian court ordered Tuesday that the brother-in-law of one of the men who attacked French magazine Charlie Hebdo be extradited to France after he was caught allegedly trying to join Islamic State fighters in Syria.

Mourad Hamyd, 20, whose sister was married to Charlie Hebdo gunman Cherif Kouachi, was barred from entering Turkey late last month and handed over to Bulgaria's border authorities.

On January 7 2015, the Al-Qaeda-linked Kouachi brothers killed 12 people at the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris.

France requested Hamyd's extradition on July 29, accusing him of "conspiring to prepare of acts of terrorism".

The route taken by Hamyd -- by train through Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria -- "corresponds to the one traditionally taken by jihadist fighters wanting to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq," French prosecutors said.

Hamyd denied the accusations on Monday, saying he never wanted to go to Syria, denying any links to the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack. He nevertheless agreed to be extradited.

Sofia City Court's ruling is final and the transfer of Hamyd to France should happen within a week, the court said.

If found convicted of terrorism offences in Frances, he faces 10 years in jail.

Hamyd first came into the spotlight in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack, when he was wrongly identified on social media as being among the killers -- along with brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

He was taken in for questioning and later freed.

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A court in Ethiopia has charged 23 South Sudanese refugees with the April murders of 10 Ethiopians, local media reported Tuesday.

The murders took place in the Jewi refugee camp in the western Gambella region on April 21 after two South Sudanese children died when they were hit by a car driven by an Ethiopian employee of an international aid agency.

The accused are alleged to have killed two Ethiopian women and eight men working in and around the camp in a series of retaliatory attacks.

The discovery of their badly-mutilated bodies triggered 48 hours of intercommunal clashes in Gambella town, which lies on the border of South Sudan.

Buildings and vehicles belonging to the UN and medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were also attacked by angry Ethiopians who accused them of helping the refugees.

The 23 defendants appeared in court on Monday and their next hearing is due on October 13, state-controlled Fana radio said.

Gambella town has a population of around 300,000 but also hosts more than 270,000 refugees who have fled the conflict in South Sudan.

Rivalries and clashes between the two groups are common.

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Pakistan's military killed at least 14 militants in air strikes and a ground operation in a restive tribal region near the Afghan border on Tuesday.

The army offensive took place in the mountainous terrain of Rajgal in Khyber region, one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal districts where the military has been fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants for over a decade.

"The operation was conducted in areas close to Afghan border in which 11 terrorists were also injured," the military said in a statement.

Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency since 2004, following the US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan in 2001 and the subsequent spillover of militants into its territory.

The army launched the "Zarb-e-Azb" operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in North Waziristan tribal area and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives.

Security in the country has since improve. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years.

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The pound has been at a stable rate of 8.78 against the US dollar since a 13.5 percent devaluation in March

The Central Bank of Egypt maintained the Egyptian pound at a stable rate of 8.78 against the US dollar at its weekly forex auction on Tuesday, state news agency MENA reported.

The pound was lowered to this rate by a 13.5 percent devaluation in March, although economists have said they expected a further depreciation in recent weeks following statements by the bank's governor Tarek Amer.

In July, Amer told various private and public newspapers that defending the pound over the past five years was a grave mistake.

Egypt, which relies heavily on imports, particularly foodstuffs, has been suffering an acute shortage of US dollars in the wake of political and security unrest following the 2011 revolution which has discouraged tourists and foreign investors, two major sources of hard currency.

The country's foreign reserves more than halved since 2011 to reach $15.5 billion in July, with the government currently seeking a $12 billion fund facility over a three-year period from the International Monetary Fund to support the ailing economy.

Last week, the central bank said it has shut down 48 of a total of 94 licensed currency dealers as they sold the pound at a higher rate than the allotted 8.88.

Of the currency exchange bureaus closed, a total of 26 have been closed permanently and their licences revoked. The rest of the bureaus have been shut for six, eight or twelve months, in accordance to the severity of their violation

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The new line of product has been sponsored by a Saudi-based jewelry manufacturer

Egypt has officially launched new, lower-karat gold jewellery for cheaper prices in a bid to combat the recent dramatic surge in the price of the valuable metal, minister of supply and internal trade Khaled Hanafy stated on Tuesday.

The initiative to launch Gold 14 Karat (K) in the Egyptian market has been sponsored by the Saudi-based jewellery manufacturer Lazurde.

The government officially endorsed the move Tuesday with the aim of "reducing the burden on citizens in the face of rising global gold prices," Hanafy said during a press conference.

Gold sales in Egypt have been stagnant due to skyrocketing prices that hit 67 percent since January, according to Wasfy Amin Wasef, head of the gold department at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers Of Commerce.

The new type of gold, which came onto the market 10 days ago, is available in prices almost 22 percent cheaper than gold 18K  the once-cheapest unit of gold offered on the Egyptian market.

However, whether the new line of production will appeal to Egyptian customers remains unclear.

"There is a culture among customers in Egypt and other Arab markets that sees gold lower than 18K as non-valuable jewellery," Wasef told Ahram Online.

Gold 24K, the purest possible, currently sells for approximately EGP 522, while 21K sells for EGP 457, and 18K for EGP 391.7, according to Wasef. The new 14K sells for EGP 304.6.

Karat is a unit measuring the purity of gold alloys. Pure gold is too soft to be used for jewellery, therefore gold jewellery is made from an alloy of other metals such as silver or copper.

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Egypt's smart-card system for selling subsidised food will soon fall under the authority of the military production ministry instead of the ministries of supply and planning, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported on Tuesday.

In a joint meeting between officials from the three ministries on Tuesday, supply minister Khaled Hanafy said that they will be signing a trilateral protocol stating that the military production ministry would fully supervise the management and development of the food subsidy system and deal with violations.

According to Al-Ahram, this shift in management aims to "speed up the issuing of the food subsidy cards, replace lost or damaged cards, raise efficiency and provide machinery for new bakeries and groceries."

In mid 2014, Egypt introduced the food subsidy system wherein citizens are provided with smart cards entitling them to a monthly ration worth EGP 15 per individual in addition to five loaves of bread a day at the subsidised price of EGP 0.05 a loaf, which is lower than the market rate of EGP0.3.

An agreement will also be signed with Visa International in cooperation with Microsoft to improve the efficiency of the card service and help develop internal trade in Egypt, according to Hanafy.

In April, Egypt's government raised food subsidies by EGP 2.4 billion, boosting each citizen's share by 20 percent, following an order by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi that low-income earners be compensated for food price hikes caused by the fluctuating price of the US dollar in recent months.

Egypt is the world's largest importer of wheat, purchasing around 10 million tonnes a year, and provides the poor with subsidised loaves sold for the equivalent of one US cent.

Since the 2011 revolution, Egypt, which relies heavily on imports to cover the needs of its population of 91 million, has suffered from a turbulent economy and political turmoil, scaring off investors and tourists.

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VIENNA  A knife-wielding man with psychological problems lunged at other passengers early Tuesday on a train in western Austria, seriously wounding two, in an attack prompted by the victims use of their cell phones, police said. The suspect was arrested.

The assault occurred near the village of Sulz, in westernmost Vorarlberg province. A police statement described the attacker as a 60-year-old German national.

It said that a 19-year old man suffered wounds to the stomach and back. The other victim, a 17-year-old male, had a throat injury. Both were hospitalized.

The assault came three days after a man attacked passengers on a crowded Swiss train with a knife and burning liquid Saturday, in an assault that left him and one of his victims dead. But police in Austria ruled out a copycat attack Tuesday or one prompted by religious or political motives.

Decisive for the act was that he felt threatened by the cell phones of the passengers sitting across from him, at which point he attacked them, the statement said.

It said the man, whom German police described as someone with psychological problems ... voiced anti-Fascist utterances as police struggled to detain him.

The Austrian police statement said the 19-year old was the first victim in Tuesdays incident, with the perpetrator lunging at him from a facing seat. He then attacked the 17-year-old as the train slowed to a halt at Sulz, about 6 miles east of the Swiss border.

The attacker was apprehended at the stop by two police officers who used pepper spray to subdue him, police said. A 22-year old passenger who helped police suffered minor cut wounds to a hand.

Last month in neighboring Germany, a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan with an ax and a knife wounded four tourists on a train, and stabbed a woman as he fled. Police fatally shot the attacker. All his victims survived.
BEIJING  China launched the worlds first quantum communications satellite from the Gobi Desert early Tuesday, a major step in the countrys bid to be at the forefront of quantum research, which could lead to new, completely secure methods of transmitting information.

Researchers hope to use the satellite to beam communications from space to Earth with quantum technology, which employs photons, or particles of light. That type of communication could prove to be the most secure in the world, invulnerable to hacking. Scientists and security experts in many countries are studying the technology.

The satellite is expected to circle the earth every 90 minutes after entering orbit at an altitude of about 310 miles, according to a report by Xinhua, the state news agency. The rocket carrying the satellite took off in darkness early Tuesday from the desert around Jiuquan in Gansu province, a major site for satellite launches.

Chinas many high-tech scientific endeavors, including its ambitious space program, have enormous backing from the central government. The countrys 13th Five-Year Plan, an economic blueprint that was announced in March, listed quantum technology as a focal point for research and development.

Traditional communications satellites send signals using radio waves. But a quantum communication satellite uses a crystal that produces a pair of entangled photons whose properties remain entwined even as one is transmitted a large distance. Messages could be sent by manipulating these properties.

An article about the Chinese program that the journal Nature published in July said that any tinkering with quantum communications would be detectable, which is why the method is secure. Two parties can communicate secretly, the article said, and could be safe in the knowledge that any eavesdropping would leave its mark.

If China succeeds in its satellite launch, the article said, that could mean many more such Chinese satellites in orbit, which will together create a super-secure communications network, potentially linking people anywhere in the world.

While the communication will be unbreakable, the data transmission rate will also, at least at first, be glacial, more akin to the telegraph than to the Internet.
1 Deadly crash: A bus filled with people traveling to their home villages in Nepal to receive the first government payments for victims of last years devastating earthquake slid off a narrow mountain road Monday, killing at least 33 people and injuring 28 others, officials said. The bus was heading to Kartike Deurali village, among the worst hit by the quake, which killed nearly 9,000 people. The road was slippery from rain. The accident occurred near Khare Khola, about 50 miles east of the capital of Kathmandu.

2 Earthquake: A magnitude 5.4 earthquake centered in southern Perus picturesque Colca Valley killed at least four people, including a 65-year-old U.S. tourist, and injured 52 others as it toppled adobe homes, authorities said Monday. The quake hit late Sunday near the town of Chivay, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The U.S. man died at an inn in Yanque, close to Chivay, when part of the hotels ceiling collapsed on him, said local Gov. Cipriano Llasa. The victims identity could not immediately be confirmed.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon said Monday.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the United Arab Emirates comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Obama seeks to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees remain at Guantanamo, which opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al Qaeda terrorist organization. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for more than 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, which is made up of representatives from six U.S. government agencies.

Lee Wolosky, the State Departments special envoy for Guantanamos closure, said the U.S. was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention centers closure.

The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists, he said.

Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USAs director of national security and human rights, said the transfers are a powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton (Orange County), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as hardened terrorists.
MOSCOW  Russian warplanes took off Tuesday from a base in Iran to attack Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russias Defense Ministry said, widening Moscows bombing campaign in Syria in a major development in the countrys civil war.

The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 175 miles southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.

U.S. officials said Russia had talked about the possibility of flying planes out of Iran since late last year, but Moscows decision to do so on Tuesday came as a surprise. They said the setup at the Iranian air base was established very quickly, perhaps overnight. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss diplomacy in public.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists said a wave of air strikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether the strikes were carried out by the Russian or Syrian air force.

It is virtually unheard of in recent history for Iran to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks. Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assads government for nearly a year.

The announcement suggests cooperation at the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.

It comes a day after Russias defense minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, adding that Russian representatives are in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are ongoing and no agreement is close. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the talks.

Russia and the United States have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be singled out.
Recently awarded the State Encouragement Award, Nagi Farid is now bracing for the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium 2017 in which he will succeed Adam Henein as its general commissioner

The sculpture for which Egyptian artist Nagi Farid won the State Encouragement Award this year is an abstract work.

Titled The Queen, it represents a woman sculpted in black granite, with head and chest in bronze and nickel chrome. The sculpture is part of a series, in which the artist combines granite with metals.

With a career spanning 27 years, Nagi Farid continues to explore the materials, new techniques, new forms and styles.

Farids queen is delicate and feminine. Despite the hardness of the black granite, the body is very subtle. The majestys head and torso shine in silver and her body reveals the smooth curves.

"I submitted my work to the State Awards twice. This year, I won, having submitted six sculptures which were on display at El-Gezira Arts Centre back in 2014. I think The Queen is my most mature sculpture, the most representative in terms of the size, technique and the subject matter," Nagi Farid comments.

However, this is not the first award received by Farid.

In 1989, he won the first prize at the first edition of the Youth Salon, an annual event launched by the Ministry of Culture with the aim of encouraging the creativity of artists aged under 35 years. At the time of the recognition, Farid was still a fourth year student at the faculty of art education, a vocation he chose after failing in his law studies.

The winning work was a figurative sculpture in scrap metal depicting a man trying to get up.

Farid smiles as he recalls how he created his award-winning work, as well as another one which also brought him an award from the Youth Salons second edition.

One day, I bought those two junk vehicles, a car for EGP 10 [almost $1] and a carriage for EGP 12 [$1.2]. I used the scrap metal to create the sculpture. At that time, the Youth Salons prize was EGP 3000. Following the salon, the sculpture was bought by the Hanager Arts Centre, also for LE 3000. With the remaining parts of the vehicles, I continued working. And again, another work I created from same materials, brought me one of the first prizes from the second edition of Youth Salon, also amounting LE 3000. Then this work was acquired by Farouq El Gohari for the same amount."

Between 1989 and 1996, Farid garnered a total of six prizes at the Youth Salon's editions. While winning his living, the awards, particularly the first two, introduced the young artists to the scene.



No doubt, any young artist in Egypt faces a lot of challenges. It is really hard to sacrifice yourself entirely to art and make it your sole source of income. However, I decided to do only art and I do not regret it. In life in general, I reject any negative emotions. This is how I am," he adds.

Farid's sculpting passion was already emerging in his school years. During holidays, he would spend all his time on moulding plaster, not even knowing he was in fact creating his first sculptures.

"My only pleasure was to buy plaster and mould it to different shapes and sizes," he recalls.

"My father was a simple official, but his true calling was carpentry. He made all furniture in our home. I inherited the ability to work with my hands from him."

After the death of his father, Farid took all the carpentry tools, while the family encouraged him to pursue art.

"In the high school I started attending art exhibitions. I was amazed by abstract art. I met the late sculptor Abdel-Hady El-Weshahi at one of the exhibition's openings. Since then, our paths kept crossing, often in different galleries and sporadically we talked about art together."

El-Weshahi believed that young Farid was a promising artist and advised him to enroll at the Fine Arts Faculty. But Farid chose to study law so he would defend the people and establish justice. What a naive dream," the artist comments.

During his studies at the University of Ain Shams, Farid took part in an art competition and won the first prize. El-Weshahi and late artist Zakaria El Zeini were among the jury. During the awards ceremony Farid met El-Weshahi again.



"I went to greet him, and he scolded me. He almost yelled at me saying For the Love of God, what do you do at the faculty of law? Your place is not here!, Farid recalls.



The art professor was right. It didn't take Farid long to fail in his law studies and finally he moved to the Faculty of Art Education. He then enrolled as an auditor (free listener) at the lectures El-Weshahi was giving at the Faculty of Fine Arts.

During those preparatory years, Farid used to worked in silence and his presence was hardly noticed. "I was very shy -- I still am," he explains.

Through participating in numerous exhibitions, he met yet another Egyptian master of sculpture, Adam Henein.



"At the fifth edition of the Youth Salon, I displayed a monumental, three-metres tall sculpture that was spinning. Henein was contemplating my work and congratulated me aloud. Then he invited me to his studio at El Harraneya [south of Cairo]."



The young and timid artist feared the visit: "What will I do with Henein?" I was asking myself.



Farid didnt respond to the invitation immediately and it was three months later that he met Henein again in one of the galleries. The latter renewed his invitation and this is when the relationship became closer.



"The sculptures of Adam Henein fascinate me. He is interested in small details and pays great attention to the surface of the work. I learned a lot from him."



Faithful to the master, since year 2000, Farid assisted Henein in the organisation of the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, taking the position of the deputy commissioner.

It is precisely through this symposium that he could let loose the many mysteries of the granite infusing his sculptures with a Pharaonic scent.

"The ancient Egyptians sculpted to worship kings and gods. I do not look into the religious motives behind their work and I am more interested in the techniques and aesthetic concepts," clarifies Farid who is particularly known for his creative association of stone with metal.

"In my studio in Cairo, I had a small block of granite with a large crack. While working, the block broke. I thought to cover the damaged part with a piece of metal. Both materials, bronze and granite, are very contrasting yet this idea gave birth to the many sculptures I have worked on since 1998 until date."

Even in his more recent bronze sculptures, more human, and more contemporary in nickel chrome, he admits that while being inspired by Pharaonic art, he creates lines and features that are more abstract and simplified.

In his latest exhibition titled Visual Memories which was held at the Nile Art Gallery in June, Farid fuses his signature style photography and typography.

"The metals invite to experimentation and adventure. I have even founded my own metal foundry. Bronze and nickel chrome provide a nice, polished and shiny surface. Id say they become like a mirror that draws the viewer to interaction. I also resorted to photography and typography, through which I add other dimensions, other connotations to the work, so I can better communicate with the viewer."

Whether he works in scarp metal, stone or bronze, Farids style and lines become very familiar.

I choose subjects which speak of my concerns and personal experiences. Many sculptors tend to cut shapes that resemble them physically. Above that, I also aim to create forms that reflect my personality and my stance vis-a-vis the short life, he explains.

Starting in 2017, Farid will succeed Adam Henein in the role of the general commissioner of the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium. He hopes to put his imprint and help make things happen.

"The 22nd edition of the symposium will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh. This annual event is already well recognised internationally. Sinai is plentiful with granite quarries and after so many crises with tourism, the region needs a boost," concludes Farid, not without enthusiasm.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Fonterra Cooperative Group independent director John Waller will resign from the board of the world's biggest dairy exporter to cut back on his workload.

Waller will leave the board on Aug. 31, having been on the board of Fonterra since 2009, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. During his tenure, he chaired Fonterra's fair value share review committee, the Trading Among Farmers due diligence committee and the Milk Price Panel, and was a member of the audit and finance committee and the risk committee.

Chairman John Wilson paid tribute to Waller, saying he had been "a true supporter of the cooperative and its farmers" during his tenure.

"I am pleased that after such a significant contribution John is finding the time to rebalance his commitments so that he can spend more time with his family and pursue his other interests," Wilson said. "John has been a good friend and a source of wise counsel for me and his fellow directors and we are all grateful for his careful analysis and judgment and the energy and commitment he brought to everything he did for the cooperative."

Waller's exit comes as Fonterra looks to update its governance after proposals to trim the size of the board and introduce a new voting system was turned down by shareholders. The dairy exporter is now proposing a clearer mandate for the Shareholders' Council on how it interacts with Fonterra.

Dissident shareholders had been pushing for a smaller board, but their plans were rejected at last year's annual meeting.

Fonterra currently has 13 directors, nine of whom are farmer directors and four independents. Its three other independent directors are former EY chairman David Jackson, Singapore Telecommunications chairman Simon Israel, and former BHP Billiton executive Clinton Dines.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Martin Aircraft, the personal jetpack developer, is to enter a technology-sharing agreement with cornerstone shareholder KuangChi Science which will see chief executive Peter Coker step down to take a new role in KuangChi's "Global Community of Innovation" (GCI) and chief financial officer James West promoted as his replacement.

ASX-listed Martin "has been undertaking an in-depth review of the company's progress, in particular, focusing on how best to both progress the path toward commercialisation of the Series 1 Jetpack whilst effectively managing its cost base," the company said in a statement.

Martin plans to keep costs at bay by joining KuangChi's GCI, which was set up "to create synergy and lower cost" across the Chinese firm's portfolio of technology companies, it said. The GCI is "in essence a group that will explore ways to share services to lower costs and leverage technology across each of the disruptive technology companies within their investment portfolio."

Coker would become vice president Global Community of Innovators Business Unit at KuangChi, which, in turn, would "assist in the delivery of a number of services to Martin including support in the areas of marketing and investor relations". Each service would be covered by a service level agreement at a reduced cost and help speed Martin's delivery of the Series 1 Jetpack.

Former CFO West steps up to the CEO role effective immediately, although the company is still in talks with him about the terms of his appointment.

In other changes, former PwC partner Hamish Bell will be appointed to Martin's board, while Dennis Chapman and YangYang Zhang will step down and the board will shrink to five directors from seven, it said.

Martin plans to use the Series 1 Jetpack for capability demonstrations to potential customers in 2017, boosting sales and securing further funding for design, development and certification of the Series 2 Jetpack next year, it said.

Last August, Martin reported an annual loss of $5.2 million. The 17-year-old company has said it hopes to make first deliveries in the second half of this year, with a personal jetpack available from the second quarter of 2017.

The machine can be flown by a pilot or remote control and its potential uses include search and rescue, military, recreational, and commercial applications. It can fly for up to 30 minutes at a maximum speed of 74 kilometres an hour at an altitude of 1,000 metres.

The Christchurch-based company raised $28 million in an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange in February 2015, which saw Chinese entrepreneurial investor KuangChi Science become the largest shareholder with 22.7 percent.

Martin Aircraft shares last traded at 46 Australian cents, below their 60 Australian cents listing price but ahead of the 40 Australian cents they were sold at in the initial public offering. The stock has fallen 37 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Egypt's Tahra's Life by Mohanad Dia and Dry Hot Summers by Sherif El-Bendary are among 17 films from nine countries be screened

Organised by the Oman Film Society (OFS), the third edition of the Dhofar Arab Film Forum will screen 17 films from nine countries; Egypt, Oman, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran and India.

Running between 15 and 20 August in the city of Salalah, the forum is divided into three competition sections. The first section is for Omani films and includes seven documentaries and shorts, the second section is for international documentaries and includes six, and the third for is short features and includes four films.

From Egypt, Hayah Tahra (Tahras Life) by Mohanad Diab competes in the documentary section, and Har Gaf Sayfan (Dry Hot Summers) by Sherif El-Bendary is competing in the feature films competition.

Tahras Life was among 10 Egyptian films screened at the Shorts Corner at the 68th Cannes International Film Festival, where it premiered.

It also shared the Best Short Feature Film Award at the 31st Alexandria Film Festival for Mediterranean Countries (AMFF) with Tunisian director Hend Bou Gomaa for her film Fa Tazawag Romeo Min Juliet (Then Romeo Married Juliet).

Tahras Life was shot in Minya over four days, and tells the story of an Upper Egyptian womans struggles while breaking stereotypes about women in the area.

Dry Hot Summers is an award winning film written by Nura El-Sheikh and co-produced by Claudia Jubeh (Germany) and Hossam El-Ouan (Egypt).

The film won the Robert Bosch Stiftung Film Prize for International Cooperation at a gala held during Berlinale Talents, a six-day creative summit for up-and-coming filmmakers at the Berlin Film Festival. It also scooped up the main award in the Short Films category at Algerias ninth Oran Arab Film Festival.

The 30-minute film captures the chance meeting of two lonely Egyptians on a bustling and hot summer day in Cairo. The day's journey disturbs the stifling routines of the two characters, taking them on an expedition of self-discovery.



The short fiction film had its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival's 13th edition, 2016.

Iran is highlighted at the forum outside the competition, with screenings of some top Iranian films, and the presence of an Iranian delegation that includes three film directors.

The forum presents jury and audience prizes to the winning films.

The Oman Film Society was founded in 2012, and is the organisation behind the Muscat International Film Festival.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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An Egyptian police captain was killed on Monday when a landmine detonated during a shootout with "terrorist elements" in North Sinai's Al-Arish, an interior ministry official announced.

In an official statement, a ministry media official said that Captain Mohamed Safwat Mohamed Roshdy died from injuries sustained following the landmine explosion while security forces were chasing terrorists who had been planting a 50kg explosive device in the vicinity of an Al-Arish police station.

According to the statement, the police were able to defuse the bomb that was set to target the police station, and were able to injure one of the gunmen.

The statement added that security forces were currently intensifying efforts to catch the culprits.

Monday's attack comes only two weeks after Egypt's army announced the killing of militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis leader Abu Doaa Al-Ansari and a number of his associates in air strikes against the group's strongholds south and south-west of Al-Arish.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks against security personnel and installations in the governorate.

Egypt's security forces have been fighting a decade-long Islamist insurgency that spiked in parts of North Sinai following the 2013 ousting of president Mohamed Morsi.



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(Beijing)  The first-ever "made in China" bullet train completed its inaugural trip on August 15, pushing the country's train makers one step closer to exporting indigenous rail technology.

The passenger train, built according to a technology standard developed and patented in China, made its debut in Dalian, a port city in the northeastern province of Liaoning, and will run daily to the provincial capital Shenyang, covering a distance of 380 km in about two hours. The train could reach a maximum speed of 350 kmph, comparable to the fastest trains in operation in Europe.

For years, China has been using technology from foreign train makers including Alstom SA of France, Siemens AG of Germany, Bombardier Inc. of Canada and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan to develop high-speed trains. Chinese train manufacturers relied on intellectual property rights licenses to access technology from these companies and had to form joint ventures and import parts to co-produce train sets based on foreign designs.

As a result, high-speed trains used in China's vast domestic rail network were built according to different technology standards that are not compatible with each other, and Chinese rail operators have struggled with various control systems and maintenance requirements.

The homegrown standard, known as China Electric Multiple Units, is safer than its foreign counterparts, Zhou Li, head of the technology department at China Railway Corp.  the country's railway operator  told official Xinhua News Agency. For example, when a train's sensor detects that there is a safety hazard, it will alarm the conductor and automatically slow down or stop operation.

The new standard was jointly developed by the CRC, rail equipment manufacturer China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. Ltd. and research institute China Academy of Railway Sciences. Research on the country's indigenous train technology started in 2012 and the first train rolled off the production line in June 2015.

"It will become the main train model exported by China in future," Zhou said.

In an effort to export the country's high-speed rail technology, Chinese companies have clinched two overseas deals in recent years. A high-speed line between Indonesia's capital Jakarta and the country's third-largest city Bandung was started in January. Russia also signed contracts with a Chinese consortium to design and build a 770-kilometer line between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan last year.

Chinese companies are also bidding for a 330-kilometer high-speed rail line linking Singapore and Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. It is not clear whether the homegrown trains will be used in these projects.

However, several overseas bids by Chinese companies have been scuttled, mainly due to red tape. American railway developer XpressWest called off a deal to develop a 298-kilometer, US$ 12.5 billion railroad linking Los Angeles and Las Vegas in June after the Chinese consortium failed to get relevant government approvals. A 2014 agreement between China and Mexico for high-speed line was derailed after rivals complained of discrepancies in the bidding process.

Contact reporter Chen Na (nachen@caixin.com); editor Poornima Weerasekara (Poornima@caixin.com)
BENGALURU: Proposals by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to tighten grip on algorithmic trading could actually boost mood and confidence in markets and its not going to hurt the country's second biggest bourse, the head of Indian exchange operator BSE Ltd told Reuters.

SEBI unveiled a discussion paper last week to discuss the various limits on algo traders, including reduced speed limits at which trades are executed, due to concerns about fair access to markets.

"Well thought out and well-designed forward looking regulations create better trust," Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Chief Executive, BSE, said in an interview with Reuters.

"We are not concerned about undue impact on our business," he said, adding that he expects the new rules could actually benefit the traders, rather than diminish trading volumes.

Algorithmic trading has become a huge source of monetary gains for both the BSE and the NSE Ltd. There is a fair chance that the new rules could come into existence as both exchanges look to go public. The bankers estimate that the BSE which is looking to go public could be valued at about $750 million to $1 billion.

The main chunk of the BSE's order flow is currently being generated by algo trading, and algo traders have warned that the SEBI proposals are too restrictive and archaic and could force them to trade in overseas markets.

Indian market scene has changed for better in the last couple of months and the markets have rallied on expectations of a recovery in earnings as the government has made progress in pushing through some reforms, including recently passed a landmark goods and services tax.

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BENGALURU: As per the video leaked on Youtube, Lenovo is all set to unveil its latest products on 4th and 7th of September at IFA 2016 to be held in Berlin. Lenovo will be presenting a range of products from keyboard to tablets to mobile phones. The firm calls this evolution, as a new chapter in tablets and under the smartphone category, Lenovo launches two flagship mobiles Moto Z and Moto Z Force.

Lenovo plans to release Moto 360 smart watch under wearable category. Although, specifications and the features are not disclosed yet, customers can expect the launch of next-gen Moto smartwatch similar to the previous version.

According to the video, the upcoming smartphone has got flexible displays that can be worn on wrist like a watch and bendable tablets that can be used like a smartphone. The Style Mods that the firm launched has changeable back cover in order to personalize the handset.

Lenovo is also seen introducing Three Moto Mods namely the Moto InstaShare projector, JBL SoundBoost and the Moto PowerPack were at the event. There are chances that the firm may launch Moto Z, Moto Z Force and the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro in India in the upcoming months.

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is speculated to be the first ever Google Project Tango-enabled smartphone that will hit the market in India in the coming months. Moto Z Force is more robust out of the two, as it is supported by bigger battery. It has a better rear camera and a second generation Shatter Shield display, very similar to the one in Moto X Force. The price of these smartphones is yet to be revealed, probably, when the product is launched in India.

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CAIRO: India and Egypt have a close partnership in various fields and want to expand this agenda that will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities, the Indian envoy here has said.

India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya met with Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali this week, who both confirmed their continuous support and collaboration in new projects that engage both countries.

"India and Egypt have a very close partnerships in various fronts and we want to expand our agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities," Ambassador Bhattacharyya told PTI.

India has collaborated with Egypt recently in achieving two very large development projects; the solar project and a vocational training centre.

The ambassador said that both countries are keen on achieving more success on various sides.

"We are also looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University. This will be the setting stone for more such projects," the ambassador said.

"I had the opportunity to call on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar some weeks ago and we had discussed this project as well with him and the Grand Sheikh was very happy about this project. He has said that we will used that Indian model in the other institutions of Al-Azhar University across Egypt."

"So we hope we could be able to cooperate together in this project because we see the very central role of Al-Azhar on the development - not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world," the ambassador said.

As India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner and both countries enjoy strong economic ties, Bhattacharyya was keen on discussing future projects in this field with officials.

"We are also looking at how we can collaborate further between India and Egypt into the sector of micro and small enterprises, in the sector of renewable energy particularly solar energy," he said.

"And whether we can utilise the line of credit that India has offered under the Africa summit funds for project in Egypt," he added.

During his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity the ambassador discussed a wide range of issues including collaborating between civil society on both sides.

"Also we discussed the issues of addressing empowerment of women and youth so that they can become more participating members of society," he said.

Read Also: Google Science Fair: Two Indian Teenagers Among Finalists

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NEW DELHI: Price of energy-efficient LED bulbs has dropped to Rs 50 from previous Rs 350 following government intervention, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he targeted saving Rs 1.25 lakh crore in energy cost through installation of 77 crore such lighting devices.



Delivering his third Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he said light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs not just save electricity but also reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to the environment and the economy.



"LED bulb used to cost Rs 350 (apiece) in India. At that price who will buy a LED bulb (over a conventional bulb). And the government did not bother much about it.



"But if the LED bulb can change the life of people, environment and economy, the government should also try to change its work culture. We did that and through government intervention, the price of a Rs 350 LED bulb has now been brought down to Rs 50," he said.



Use of LEDs in households and public lighting could reduce energy consumption by 50 per cent to 90 per cent.



So far, the government has distributed more than 13 crore LED bulbs, and is aiming to distribute more than 70 crore bulbs through bulk orders within the next three years.



Under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP), the government procures LED bulbs through competitive bidding and provides the bulbs to consumers at competitive rates. This has led to bringing down of cost of LED bulbs.



Stating that so far 13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed, Modi said the government would have been hailed by people if it would have resorted to populist style of giving Rs 300 as subsidy from the exchequer.



But through its intervention, thousands of crores of rupees in energy cost as well as price of LED bulb have been saved, he said.



If the 77 crore incandescent bulbs sold in Indian households were switched to LEDs, the country could save 20,000 megawatt (25 billion KWh or units) of energy per year worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore, he said.



He appealed to citizens to switch to LED bulbs and save Rs 250-500 in electricity bill. "We can save Rs 1.25 lakh crore in energy bills annually if 77 crore LEB bulbs are installed and 20,000 MW of consumption cut," he said.

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WASHINGTON: Vowing to halt the spread of radical Islam, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his strategy to defeat global terrorism and called for a new Cold War-like "ideological screening test" as part of "extreme vetting" of would-be immigrants.



Trump also stated that the era of nation building should come to an end as he unveiled a blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with NATO and Middle East allies.



The 70-year-old real estate tycoon said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.



"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach -- which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East -- must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating 'radical Islam' in Ohio.



"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he asserted.



Trump also proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.



"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said yesterday.



"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition, to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.



Trump stressed that those who did not believe in the Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into the country if he is elected as President.



"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.



To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.



He also proposed calling an international conference focused on stopping the spread of radical Islam.



"We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all otherswho recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.



A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.



"I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," Trump said.



"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against ISIS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with ISIS," he said.



Trump asserted that the US cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by its enemy.



"We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said.



Trump alleged that the rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of State.



"Let's look back at the Middle East at the very beginning of 2009 before the Obama-Clinton administration took over. Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the US," Trump said.



"Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence. The group that would become what we now call ISIS was close to being extinguished. Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions. Fast forward to today. What we have -- and think of this -- and the decisions made by the Obama/Clinton group have been absolutely disastrous," he said.



Trump said as soon as he becomes President, he will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place.



"There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those area until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," Trump said.



"The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening. We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the middle east every year. Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions," he said.



Trump said one of his first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will work with his administration.



"We want to build bridges and erase divisions. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalisation, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalisation," he said.



"This commission will be used to develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners. And while I'm at it, we should give a hand to our great police officers and law enforcement officials," he said.



Trump said his administration will keep open Guantanamo Bay, and place a renewed emphasis on human intelligence.

Read Also: Clinton Leading Trump By Eight Points: Poll

Indian-American's Moon Express To Take Human Remains To Moon

Source: PTI
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On Sunday August 14th representatives of the Court of Guardian, Probation Department, Juvenile Detention Center (Miss Lali Center) Prosecutors Office, Police Juvenile Department, Division Heads, Team Leaders and police management team attended a workshop provided by Dr. Everett Penn, criminologist and co-founder of the TAPS- Academy based in Houston, Texas.





TAPS is a program primarily designed for at risk youth, where students partner with mentor officers to discuss issues including bullying, anger management, avoidance of gang life, drug use and conflict management as well as other youth and law enforcement topics.





The Chief of Police Carl John met Dr. Penn during the discussions at the General Assembly Meeting and Conference with the ACCP (Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police) held earlier this year.





Dr. Penn stated that he and his family would be on a cruise in the Caribbean area in the month of August of this year and Sint Maarten would be one of his destinations. He gladly offered the police chief a one day training session on TAPS for the police force and other departments within the Justice Chain who are directly involved with at risk- youth and youth delinquency.





The police chief gladly accepted this offer and made sure all necessary arrangements were made to have this training take place. Subjects such as Implicit Bias, Procedural Justice and Juvenile Delinquency were among the other topics that were part of the training.





The participants of the different departments experienced this training as very informative and look forward to follow-up training sessions and discussions with Dr. Penn on when and how to best go about implementing a TAPS Academy on Sint Maarten.





At the end of the training the Acting Chief of Police Denise Jacobs expressed sincere gratitude to Dr. Everette Penn on behalf of all departments present and Chief Commissioner Carl John for the training he provided and look forward for further communication and discussions regarding TAPS-Academy.




TV Meteorologists Warm to Climate Science

Posted on 16 August 2016 by greenman3610

This is a re-post from Climate Denial Crock of the Week

In June, I flew to Austin TX, for a conference that brought together prominent regional television weathercasters and scientists, for a concentrated update on climate science and communication.

For years, it seems, there has been a disconnect between those who are the most familiar and trusted sources of weather information, and the climate transformation that is affecting the stories they seek to report and interpret. In a summer like this, more and more weathercasters are being beseiged with questions about climate, and how it is impacting the seemingly endless parade of extreme events that are hitting all around the country, and the world.

The TV Mets I interviewed were smart, thoughtful, had science training, though not at the PhD level, enough to have begun digging into the data on their own to draw conclucions. Some, like Amber Sullins of ABC 15 in Phoenix, had initially been skeptical, 10 or 20 years ago, she told me. But after doing what a scientist does ..take in the information, question, and research it yourself  she came to understand the problem was real. Likewise Greg Fishel of WRAL in Raleigh, formerly a self described hard core skeptic, who finally realized that he was only seeking information to support what I already thought..  and began searching independently for answers.

Dan Satterfield, of WBOC in Maryland spent his own money to travel to the high arctic, where he witnessed the change first hand, as did Fishel.

I followed up with Jason Samenow, Washington Post meteorologist, who serendipitously was working on a piece on the same topic.

Importantly, all the Mets I interviewed spontaneously grasped the importance of communicating their sense of conscience, responsibility, and simple right and wrong  exactly the components of the story that help non-scientists make sense and meaning of it.
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Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness involving the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and about her family's sprawling foundation. She has tried to make the case that working-class voters would fare better under her economic policies than Trump's and that her opponent would inject danger into an already unstable world.
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When Isam Gurung took a huge leap by moving from a Sydney school for deaf children to mainstream Amaroo School, the profoundly deaf student landed on a very special friendship.

His grade 6 teacher, Sara Middleton, nominated Isam's classmate Ross Kelly for the Fred Hollows Humanity Award for learning Australian Sign Language, to interact more with Isam.

Amaroo School student Ross Kelly (left), who learnt sign language to talk with deaf friend Isam Gurung. Credit:Karleen Minney

After exchanging a few notes in class, Ross knew he wanted to be Isam's friend. He committed himself to learn AUSLAN in and outside school hours, and now uses it to interpret for Isam in class, at lunch, at school assemblies and at his Scouts group, which Isam recently joined.

Ross said he used the new language every day and was teaching it to others.
The Australian National University would be the ideal home for a new Australia-China Commission, according to Vice Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt.

The establishment of a commission, which would support the relationship between the two countries, was a key recommendation of the Australia-China Joint Economic Report Partnership for Change which was presented to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.

News. 14th June 2016. Researchers from around Australia have begun testing three Cubesats satellites satellites at the Mount Stromlo space testing facilities. Before heading into space the satellites undergo rigorous tests in the ANU space simulator at the AITC at Mt Stromlo. Professor Brian Schmidt. Credit:Karleen Minney

Speaking at the ACJER launch in Melbourne on Tuesday night Professor Schmidt said the ANU would offer full institutional support to help set up the commission.

"ANU is home to the largest group of China specialists in Australia with more than 50 academics undertaking research on China including several who rank among the very top China specialists in the world," Professor Schmidt said.
Canberra drivers convicted for drink-driving are most likely to be punished with a fine of about $750, figures released by the ACT government show.

About 3365 sentences were imposed on people in the ACT Magistrates Court for drink-driving offences between July 1, 2012 and August 31, 2015.

Drink-drivers are most likely to be punished with a fine in the ACT. Credit:Simon Alekna

More than 60 per cent of those sentences was a fine, while the second most common sentence was a good behaviour order, at about 32 per cent.

Men accounted for 81 per cent of offenders.
It is essentially an exhibition about different constructs of sexuality among adolescents, especially those from the from the LGBT community. The vulnerability and the search for identity among young gay, lesbian and bisexual people is the prevailing theme in this show. The photographs by Clark and Mapplethorpe are the standout works in the exhibition and have been selected from the substantial holdings of both artists in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Larry Clark, together with the photographers Robert Mapplethorpe, Warwick Baker, Rozalind Drummond, Nan Goldin, and Collier Schorr, as well as a video performance by Chris Burden, make up the cast of artists at the National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition, Tough and Tender.

When Larry Clark's film Ken Park was released in 2002, it was promptly banned in Australia and it was not widely shown in either the United States or Britain. The police shut down a protest screening in Sydney in 2003, and the prominent film critic and one of the organisers of the screening, Margaret Pomeranz, narrowly avoided arrest. Drug use, underage sex, violence and the skateboard sub-culture made the Australian film censors see red and, as far as I am aware, the film is still officially banned in this country, although widely available for private viewing.

Sebastian, 1980, by Robert Mapplethorpe in Tough and Tender at the National Portrait Gallery.

Clark's mother was an itinerant "baby photographer"; he entered the family business at the age of 13 and became an intravenous drug user by the age of 16. In 1964, he was drafted into the American army and was sent off to serve in the Vietnam War. Drug use and Hispanic male hustlers feature in his early black and white photographs, made between 1963 and 1979 in New York and his home city of Tulsa. A selection from these has been included in this exhibition. The images from his 42nd Street series have the strange quality of appearing both candid and posed at the same time, as if the photographer momentarily distracted his subject and snapped the image. The subjects look directly into the lens, not menacingly or with confrontation, but with slightly puzzled and vulnerable expressions. They are sensuous and empathetic images with silky surfaces and rich tonality.

Mapplethorpe was the maverick photographer on the New York gay scene who died in 1989, aged 42, due to complications from HIV/AIDS. He was brilliant, inventive, prolific and diverse. Controversy surrounds his homoerotic work, but its nobility and profundity shines through. His long-term friend and frequent subject, Patti Smith, wrote movingly of his photographs: "Robert took areas of dark human consent and made them into art. He worked without apology, investing the homosexual with grandeur, masculinity, and enviable nobility. Without affectation, he created a presence that was wholly male without sacrificing feminine grace."

The eight Mapplethorpe photographs selected for this exhibition, including Sebastian (1980) and James Ford (1979), show a distilled and perfect beauty that has been exactingly lit, framed and observed. If Clark observed life as he found it on the street, Mapplethorpe elevated life to a position of high beauty and celebrated its eternal properties.

Baker is a Canberra-born photographer, who trained at the RMIT in Melbourne, whose selection of intimate photographs celebrate moments of introspection, while Drummond, in her recent photographs, hints at quiet alternative modes of being with her models generally caught from behind and shown as if lost in thought. The American photographer Goldin, known as the photographer of the drag queens, champions in her work the LGBT community and the drug scene and has developed a peculiarly "grunge" style in her work. Schorr's photography, especially after seeing her big show at the Whitney, I find the least authentic of all of the artists in the show, as she brings her skills as a commercial fashion photographer to images of adolescent youth, androgynous male figures and semi-naked children in military attire. It is all very glitzy, but skin deep.
Jardine Street in Kingston will be closed in both directions from Highgate Lane to Giles Street between 9am-4pm on periodic days until November 30.

WHAT'S ON TODAY

Hear Weber's Der Freischutz - Overture, Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7 in D minor as part of the ActewAGL Llewellyn Series. From August 17-18. For ticket prices, times, see here.

It horrified London, it petrified Sydney and now this haunting psychological thriller is coming for you. Ghost Stories is on at Canberra Theatre Centre from August 17-20. More here.

Calling all Doctor Who fans, a Canberra collector is trying to break the Guinness World Record with his collection. The Bigger on the inside: Collecting Doctor Who is on at the Canberra Museum and Gallery until November 20. Free entry.

TODAY'S CARTOON

Canberra Times editorial cartoon for Tuesday, August 17, 2016. Credit:David Pope

WEATHER

Today: Cloudy. Medium (40%) chance of showers in the late morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming northwesterly 20 to 25 km/h in the morning then becoming light in the evening. Max 15.

Tomorrow: Areas of fog and patches of light frost in the early morning. Mostly sunny day. Light winds becoming westerly 15 to 20 km/h in the morning then turning north to northwesterly in the middle of the day. Min 2, max 18.

Friday: Mostly sunny morning. High (80%) chance of rain, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds north to northwesterly 25 to 35 km/h tending west to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h during the afternoon. Min 5, max 18.
A man charged with killing his eight-year-old son in Canberra's north earlier this year has pleaded not guilty.

Graham Stuart Dillon, 37, was arrested when police and ambulance crews were called to a house at Jacka in February.

Graham Dillon was charged with the murder of his eight-year-old son. Credit:Facebook

His son, Bradyn, was found injured at the house and taken to hospital. He later died.

Dillon was charged with the boy's murder, as well as three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and remains behind bars at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Hundreds of primary and high school students from the ACT region united at the Australian National University on Tuesday for a special performance by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, lead by maestro Nicholas Milton.

And it was an extra special experience for some.

Harry McKay of the Crescent school Goulburn was jumping around in excitement about experiencing the magic of orchestral music at Llewellyn Hall School of music, Canberra. Credit:Karleen Minney

Harry McKay, a student at The Crescent School in Goulburn which caters for students with intellectual or physical disabilities, behaviour difficulties and autism, was full of excitement on the bus ride to Llewellyn Hall.

His mother, Carolyne, said the ActewAGL Meet The Music program, which provides music therapy to the students in Goulburn and organised the performance at the ANU, has given him a newfound confidence in communicating.
The Nine Network has tapped one of its senior news executives to oversee the launch of local news bulletins in regional TV markets in the ACT, southern NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

The appointment of Nine's Queensland news director Mike Dalton to the new position of head of "Nine News Regional" is the first major step in plans by Nine and new affiliate Southern Cross Austereo to compete directly with regional rivals WIN and Prime for local news viewers.

Southern Cross Austereo chief executive Grant Blackley has said previously that his company would launch local news bulletins in key regional areas to capitalise on the popularity of Nine News and to compete directly with rivals WIN and Prime. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Nine's director of news and current affairs Darren Wick announced Mr Dalton's appointment on Tuesday.

Mr Wick said Mr Dalton would "build a regional television network for Nine News from the ground up".
Clive Palmer has been issued with a Federal Court summons to face questions over the collapse of the company behind the Yabulu Nickel refinery.

Federal Court registrar Murray Belcher on Tuesday ordered Mr Palmer be issued a summons to appear on August 30 so he can answer questions about the collapse of Queensland Nickel, which is in liquidation.

Clive Palmer has been ordered to face court over the collapse of his nickel refinery. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

A summons was ordered to be sent to Mr Palmer's Gold Coast home and his Brisbane office, as well as a fax number and five email addresses linked to his companies.

Summons were also issued for Queensland Nickel executives Ian Ferguson and Daren Wolfe.
Moonee Ponds Fitzroys has sold a retail property for $1.525 million, $225,000 more than what it sold for 12 months ago. Terence Yeh negotiated the off-market transaction on behalf of a private investor. The 147sq m property at 95 Puckle Street was purchased by an owner occupier who will open a homeware retail shop at the site. Cheltenham Former Bathurst winner Brian Sampson has sold his Engine Reconditioning business factory at 5 Bricker Street under the hammer for $900,000. The 540sq m building on a 1336sq m site was sold to a local tree lopping business as an investment with the potential to occupy in the coming years, said Crabtrees Real Estate's Gavin Dumas and Matthew Marenko. Echuca.

A property leased to Beaurepairs for $61,660 per annum sold by auction for $1.455 million, a record low yield for rural Victoria around 4.2 per cent. The 2783sq m site at 9 Sturt Street was purchased by a private Melbourne-based investor, Morley Commercial's James Lie said. Clayton An older style factory at 44 Cambro Road has sold $240,000 above the reserve, fuelled by strong owner occupier bidding. The property was knocked down on a final bid of $740,000, said Lawson Real Estate's Steven Lawson. The 320sq m factory was on its own title with a land area of 715sq m. LEASES Carlton

Engineering contractor John Holland has taken a Carlton office space after winning the contract to deliver the early works package for Victoria's biggest public transport project, Melbourne Metro. Fitzroys' Stephen Land and Rob Harrington negotiated the lease for Level 1 of 121 Cardigan Street, where the asking rent was $380 per sq m gross plus GST. The 1556sq m space covers the entire first level of the two-storey building. Armadale Melbourne fashion designer and retailer Anna Hoffman has leased a store at 1020 High Street. Teska Carson's Tom Maule said the 80sq m premises was let at $56,000 per annum net, a rate of $700 per sq m, on a three-year term with options. The shop was in a prime position on the best part of High Street, he said. South Yarra Digital marketing group King Kong Corp has come to 3 Bond Street, just off Chapel Street. The group will sublease space that was formerly the headquarters of Canadian fashion label Kit & Ace, an international label with more than 50 stores worldwide. King Kong leased 470sq m on level two of the industrial office for $185,000 per annum, or a rate around $400 per sq m, said Jon Lu from Morley Commercial.

South Yarra A well-known food operator is taking space in Her Majesty's Apartments development, on the corner of Toorak Road and Davis Avenue. Teska Carson's Tom Maule said the 200sq m premises at 134 Toorak Road was let at $150,000 per annum net, or $750 per sq m, on a five-year term. Moonee Ponds Puckle Street has seen a leasing trifecta on the back of a strengthening tenancy mix. Fitzroys' Terence Yeh negotiated deals at 24 Puckle Street and on the ground and first floors respectively of 96 Puckle Street. New business Puckle Street Wine Shop took 100sq m at 24 Puckle for $50,000 per annum plus outgoings and GST. At No. 96 high-end grooming product retailer Spruce Bar leased the 123sq m ground floor for $65,000 per annum plus outgoings and GST while on the first floor, MRA Fitness Group took 250sq m space for a yoga studio at $35,000 per annum plus outgoings and GST. MOVERS
The outgoing head of the Reserve Bank says high cost of housing had led to "intergenerational issues", saying many younger Australians will only be able to buy into the expensive Sydney market with the help of mum and dad.

In an interview with News Corp, Glenn Stevens, said while it has always been hard to get into the housing market, there were many factors involved today, including: zoning, transport, infrastructure and changed preferences of where people want to live.

The 58-year old said a lot of parents of his generation would end up financially assisting their children into the property market.

"I think that a lot of people of my generation are actually going to find themselves, if they haven't already, helping their children into the housing market because that may be almost the only way that their children can enter the Sydney market," he said.
Workers at Melbourne's high-security psychiatric hospital went on strike on Tuesday after hundreds of attacks from violent patients in recent months raised safety fears.

Mental health clinicians at the Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield, which houses some of the state's most dangerous forensic patients, walked off the job demanding better safety measures, including staff-to-patient ratios.

Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield. Credit:Eddie Jim

The striking workers marched on the state Mental Health Minister's CBD office to ramp up pressure for government action. The strike lasted until 4pm, with further strikes planned for next week.

New union data has revealed the extent of the danger staff face inside the high-risk workplace, with nearly 500 aggressive physical incidents at the Thomas Embling logged in the past five months.
Cheng Wei, 34, was once assistant to the head of a foot massage firm. A fortnight ago, his company Didi Chuxing bagged Uber's China business in a deal valuing his ride-hailing start-up at $US35 billion ($45.7 billion) - a second success in as many years in a gruelling battle with a rival.

Investors and Didi staff say Cheng has a cool head, a keen strategic eye and a lack of ego - all pivotal in taking on and beating Uber in a two-year, multi-billion-dollar scrap for China's competitive ride-hailing market.

But his leadership style is also cut-throat and tinged with nationalism, say some of those who know him. He often references China's history and military in his speeches.

He will be closely watched now as he looks to turn his vast, money-losing ride-hailing company into a meaningful business. Chinese media have reported that Didi users and drivers fear the company's virtual monopoly will mean pricier rides and lower wages.
Those who want section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act removed or amended most likely will never experience the type of vilification or abuse the law is designed to prevent.

Under 18C, it is unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people because of their race, colour, national or ethnic origin. But some are offended by this law, claiming it impinges on their rights  an apparent "right" to abuse and humiliate others.

Those who argue that people should ignore, dismiss of shrug off insults and abuse fail to grasp the consequences on young and often vulnerable people. Credit:Matt Davidson

Ironically, the shrill cries from some in the media and politics about "freedom of speech" emanates from citizens who, luckily for them, will never be the subject of racial, religious or ethnic abuse. Nor will they ever understand that to call someone an "angry white man" is not, and never will be, on a par with terms that reinforce racial, ethnic and religious bigotry.

These right-wing shock jocks and politicians, insulated from aspects of society in myriad ways, including gender, privilege and race, cannot conceive how words, insults and exclusion can threaten people and groups.
Racial vilification laws in NSW need strengthening, but the NSW government is right to recognise it would be wrong to extend them to religious vilification. Extending them so that they apply to, for example, severe ridicule of people on purely religious grounds would not overcome any of the current defects within the laws, and would raise serious problems for the right to free speech.

Not all religions deserve equal respect. There are some religions for which severe ridicule of adherents may well be an appropriate response. Jedi knights, for example? Or Scientologists, perhaps. Some beliefs which are claimed to be religious, and their adherents, ought to be open to ridicule, even severe ridicule. The position of adherents to religion is quite different to the position of members of ethno-religious groups. People choose to believe in a religion, but membership of an ethno-religious group is involuntary.

Should the law protect Jedi knights from mockery? Credit:Simon Dawson

The existing law already treats ethno-religious origin as being within the definition of "race" for the purpose of the prohibition on racial vilification. It is time that Muslims are incontestably recognised under NSW law as being members of an ethno-religious group. Such recognition would resolve the uncertainty that exists about the scope of NSW's current racial vilification laws. That would be a far preferable way of dealing with the present problem of vilification of Muslims in our society than introducing general laws prohibiting religious vilification.

There is widespread concern about the existing law not being effective because there have been no successful prosecutions in NSW despite several cases, which should have justified the imposition of criminal penalties under racial vilification laws. For example, those who called for violence against people of a particular national origin in the lead-up to the Cronulla riots should have faced criminal prosecution. The reason the law has not been effective is not because it does not respond to religious vilification, but because of numerous structural and technical defects within the law as it is presently drafted.
A number of harmful and irrational decisions from the Palaszczuk Government has those looking to invest in our state scratching their heads and looking to invest their billions elsewhere.

It is an issue all Queenslanders need to be very concerned about.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Credit:Tertius Pickard

It has become clear in the eyes of the business community the Annastacia Palaszczuk-led government is anti-business and anti-development.

Put simply, the Palaszczuk Labor Government has thrown up the "closed for business" sign, which not only has ramifications for our economy but also for the way the state is viewed.
How much longer can the current system of detaining asylum seekers be allowed to persist? Immigration minister Peter Dutton's first response to the shocking reports of abuse, assaults, self-harm attempts and appalling living conditions on Nauru published by Guardian Australia was to say we've heard it all before. Treasurer Scott Morrison and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Nauru claims most of the claims are "fabricated". The Australian immigration department has also attempted to play down the reports as "unconfirmed allegations". We don't doubt that some asylum seekers are determined or disturbed enough to take desperate steps to force a change in their situation. But that is not the issue. The issue is that it is clear abuses have continued long after the minister said in 2015 that he wanted to make the standard of care on Nauru "as high as it can possibly be". The issue is that conditions and practices on Nauru and Manus Island are shrouded in such secrecy and obfuscating semantics that we need leaked documents to get at the truth. The issue is that the government is not applying the same sense of transparent urgency about getting to the bottom of the problem and fixing it as it is to the abuse of juveniles in youth detention centres in the Northern Territory..

The leak of over 2000 incident reports to the Guardian from Nauru is a further reminder to Australians that the human rights of asylum seekers continue to be abused on our watch, in our name. While the Herald has been a reluctant supporter of the bipartisan policy of detaining asylum seekers offshore as a way of deterring people smugglers, we have repeatedly condemned the policy as it is implemented. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable that the way detainees are being treated on Nauru and Manus Island is morally bankrupt, shameful and wrong. If we've heard it all before and yet it continues, so much the worse. A custodial system in which people are not only mistreated but held indefinitely with complete uncertainty as to their future is clearly unsustainable. Some say a royal commission is the way forward, or want the existing royal commission into child sexual abuse to get involved. That commission's rare public statement confirming that abuses in offshore detention are on its radar is welcome. The report that the newly-established child protection panel within the department was due to make to the department secretary Michael Pezzullo by now needs to be released and tabled in Parliament. Labor has called for a Senate inquiry. With cross bench support, it has a good chance of securing one. The government should support it. With three years to go before the next election, there is an excellent opportunity for serious bipartisan co-operation to come to terms with the dimensions of the scandal and work with good conscience, instead of one eye on the ballot box, towards a sustainable solution. It can be done. Consider Tony Abbott's extraordinary admission in a speech to the Samuel Griffith Society that in 2012, when he was opposition leader and Scott Morrison was immigration spokesman, they should not have scuttled the Gillard government's Malaysian solution. That plan would have allowed 800 asylum seekers held in detention to resettle in Malaysia. Mr Abbott said letting the Gillard government exercise its mandate back then "would have been a step back from the hyper-partisanship that now poisons our public life". Think of the misery, scandal, human degradation and despair on Manus Island and Nauru over the past four years that might have been avoided.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has admitted the Coalition was wrong to deny a Labor MP time away from Parliament to care for a sick child, as tensions flared over Labor's plans to make it difficult for government MPs to miss critical votes.

Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer said Australians wanted Parliament to focus on the national interest and not play political games, challenging Labor leader Bill Shorten to match his promises to be constructive with actions.

Labor said on Tuesday it would test the Coalition claims that it has a "working" majority in the new Parliament by not entering into a formal pairing arrangement, which could effectively deny government MPs holidays or sick leave.

Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen indicated a slightly less aggressive approach to pairing on Wednesday, saying that Labor would allow Coalition MPs a pair in situations in cases of "national interest" and where there were "compelling personal reasons".
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce will host a dairy symposium later this month to consider solutions to the milk industry crisis with farming, processing and retail representatives.

Following a meeting with Murray Goulburn executives on Tuesday, Mr Joyce said it was important the dairy giant was able to explain to its suppliers how it would help them after slashing milk prices.

"The government's interests are in supporting Murray Goulburn suppliers. There can only be strong and profitable dairy processors if we have strong and profitable dairy farmers," the Nationals leader said.

"Australia's dairy farmers deserve fair returns at the farm gate, as well as transparency in milk price arrangements and supply contracts."
NSW Police are investigating an incident at Sydney's Villawood detention centre following allegations that a male detainee was gang-raped by three other detainees.

Police have confirmed detectives from Bankstown Local Area Command are investigating an incident reported to have occurred on July 4. The incident, if proven, raises serious questions about the duty of care provided to those the federal government keeps locked behind wire in immigration detention.

Fairfax Media has been told of an alleged violent attack last month in which a male detainee was raped by three other male detainees in an area of the detention centre not covered by security cameras.

"It was in a blind spot  where the cameras don't pick anything up," a source who claimed to have knowledge of the incident said.
A throwback to history or just what the doctor ordered for Australia's dairy farmers?

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon has called on the government to consider reinstating a national school milk program to help the struggling dairy industry and improve nutrition.

As Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce met with executives from the Murray Goulburn Co-operative on Tuesday to discuss the dairy giant's decision to slash prices, Senator Xenophon said a trial based on the 1950s federal government program would provide a "double benefit" for both children and dairy farmers.

The Milk for School Children program was first introduced by the Menzies government in 1950, centralising efforts of some states and territories to provide milk for school students on a daily basis.
Poor doctors will be rooted out and "remediated" under a proposal by the health regulator to improve the competence of medical practitioners.

An expert report to the Medical Board of Australia recommends strengthening the continued professional education of all doctors and better screening of those who may be at risk of poor performance.

International research indicates 6 per cent of medical practitioners are underperforming at any one time, and this would translate to 6600 Australian doctors.

Board chair Joanna Flynn said in general, doctors working in the public health system were well managed, but those working in private practice or the community had less oversight.
A school in Sydney's west has denied it repeatedly locked an autistic boy in a cage-like structure and left him there alone, despite the boy's mother saying she witnessed it happen and the boy describing how he tried to climb out.

Lynda Jordan said her son Toby, 13, who has a mild intellectual disability, was locked into the structure at the Aspect Macarthur School in Cobbitty whenever he had a "meltdown", a process which caused him significant distress.

Lynda Jordan says her son Toby was locked in a "cage" at his specialist school. Credit:ABC

Aspect schools are specialist independent schools dedicated to educating students with autism.

Ms Jordan told the ABC's 7.30 program that she arrived at the school unannounced one day and saw two teachers put her son inside the structure as he kicked and screamed before they walked away.
Police radio problems, phone lines reserved for hostages diverting, disagreements on how and when officers should storm the Lindt cafe hostage stronghold and a lack of equipment.

These are a handful of the problems that police involved in handling the fatal Martin Place siege say shadowed their response on December 15 and 16, 2014.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn, centre, leaves after giving evidence at the Lindt cafe siege inquest on Tuesday. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Yet the state's counter-terrorism chief, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn, says none of these issues reached her as the biggest terrorism event in her career played out.

"At any time during the course of your dealings with the commanders that day or night, or any other police in an operational role, did anyone say to you, 'Ma'am this isn't working well or this isn't operating or there is a problem about this piece of equipment'?" Phillip Boulten, SC, counsel for the family of slain hostage Katrina Dawson, asked Ms Burn at an inquest on Tuesday.
Fairfield councillor Dai Le has been suspended from the Liberal Party for 10 years after she announced she would run for mayor against the endorsed party candidate.

After failing to secure preselection on the Liberal Party's ticket for the September election, Cr Le has put together an independent team, including former Liberal MP Andrew Rohan and councillor Charbel Saliba.

The NSW Liberal state executive granted her special dispensation to run on her own as an independent for council against the endorsed Liberal ticket headed by Joe Molluso, Peter Fowler and Paul Azzo.

But it forbade Cr Le from running a ticket or contesting the mayoralty as an independent against Cr Molluso, who is the endorsed Liberal candidate.
Why  in the midst of what was shaping to be the gravest terrorist crisis yet to unfold on mainland Australia  did the head of the New South Wales police force Andrew Scipione fire off a text to his deputy urging her to develop a "fresh bid" for extra technical resources for the state's specialist officers?

And why did that deputy, Catherine Burn, appear to know nothing about the resourcing difficulties facing front-line police negotiators and commanders as they desperately tried to bring the Lindt cafe siege to an end?

There was no mistaking the furious demeanour of counsel assisting the coronial inquest, Jeremy Gormly SC, as he got to his feet on Tuesday morning with the bombshell revelation that a long text message from Commissioner Scipione sent to Ms Burn sometime on the night of the siege had been found in a last-minute scouring of police archives.

Ms Burn had previously told the inquiry she believed she'd deleted text messages from the siege, not considering them significant enough to keep. This one, it seems, had been overlooked by everyone except a sharp-eyed officer from the professional standards command who unearthed it last Monday evening.
A Queanbeyan man has thwarted a thief who tried to steal his car while he was inside brushing his teeth, police have said.

The 39-year-old man had left his car running in a carport next to his Elizabeth Crescent home while he went to brush his teeth about 6am on Tuesday, Detective Chief Inspector Neil Grey of Queanbeyan Police said.

A Queanbeyan man left his car running while he went inside to brush his teeth and caught someone trying to steal it. Credit:Cathryn Tremain

As the man walked back out to his car he saw the would-be thief reversing his car out of the driveway.

The man struggled with the offender, who fled the scene on foot.
Shortly after GP Nadi Hanna unlocked the door to his private office, his teenage receptionist walked out of it and went back to reception where she started shaking and crying uncontrollably.

It was the 17-year-old's first day of work at the Penrith Skin Cancer Foundation clinic and she was hysterical when she explained what had just happened to another staff member.

Later, Hanna sought her out and told her she was to return to work the next day and not to talk to other employees.

At one point he said "I apologise, it won't happen again", in the presence of another female receptionist.

After she left work, the girl went to the police station and explained that she had been indecently assaulted.
A text from NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione to his Deputy Catherine Burn sent on the night of the Lindt Cafe siege has emerged in an embarrassing last-minute discovery.

When Ms Burn stepped into the witness box at the siege inquest for the second day on Tuesday, she was quizzed about the text, handed to the inquiry that morning.

The text was identified in an email Ms Burn sent to herself at 10.37pm on December 15, 2014, as the siege entered its 13th hour.

Ms Burn told the inquest it was a 'bit of a shock' to learn the email was found on Monday night and brought to attention on Tuesday morning.
People trying to report suspected child abuse to the state government are facing delays of up to an hour on the phone and an unknown proportion are hanging up before speaking to a caseworker, a parliamentary inquiry into child protection has been told.

Maria LeBreton, the director of the Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service, told a NSW parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that she had received reports of lengthy waits while trying to lodge reports with the state government's child protection helpline.

Callers to the state's child protection helpline claim they often face lengthy delays in trying to report cases of abuse. Credit:Angela Wylie

"Delays of between half-an-hour to an hour  [it] seems quite routine for members to report that," she said.

The NSW Department of Family and Community Services child abuse hotline is dealing with an increasing number of reports of children at significant risk of harm, the inquiry was told.
Brisbane City Council has negotiated one of the biggest shake-ups to its maligned CityCycle bike hire scheme, meaning operator JCDecaux will introduce tap-and-pay facility at stations in return for digital billboards across the city.

Public transport chairman Adrian Schrinner announced in the council chamber on Tuesday the council had renegotiated its contract with JCDecaux to allow monthly memberships at a cost of $5.

Tap-and-go credit and debit card facilities will be introduced at CityCycle stations, along with a $5-a-month option. Credit:Glenn Hunt

"That monthly membership provides an opportunity for people who would prefer to pay $5 a month rather than the current opportunity, which is an annual membership of $60 over the year," he said.

"I know that most of us, when we're faced with the option of paying a one-up free of $60 or paying a monthly fee of $5, would take the $5 option because it's more convenient and it's not a one-off hit to the budget."
A furious Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has conceded it was unlikely his council would ever see the $450,000 it paid to fraudsters after it fell victim to an elaborate scam.

It was revealed late Monday night that the council was scammed out of more than $450,000 by fraudsters who posed as a supplier and changed the payment details.

The fraud came to light when the supplier contacted the council about its unpaid accounts, at which point it became clear the council had been defrauded of $450,904.76 over nine payments since July 13.

Cr Quirk conceded on Tuesday it was "probably unlikely" the council would recoup that money.
Police are hunting a gun-toting robber who carjacked another man early Wednesday morning.

A 24-year-old Molendinar man was unharmed when his car was stolen from a 7-Eleven service station in Ashmore about 4am.

Police are investigating an armed carjacking. Credit:Glenn Hunt

He told police he'd stepped out of his car at a service station in Ashmore when a man with a handgun demanded the keys.

He handed over the keys to his 2006 Holden Commodore, with number plate 996 MDW, but wasn't hurt.
Labor is holding its breath for its first major legislative defeat in the state parliament - while breathing a sigh of relief a loss could mean a stronger campaign in seats vulnerable to the green vote.

While still holding out for a win on its vegetation management agenda, the minority government still does not know if it holds the vote of key independent Billy Gordon, who is facing pressure from indigenous groups, and Peter Wellington, who has voted both ways on the issue in the past.

Cook MP Billy Gordon/

Mr Wellington remains uncomfortable with the reverse onus of proof aspect of the bill, which sees landholders having to prove they did not clear land instead of the department proving they did, which Labor has so far refused to budge on amending, despite also facing pressure from the Queensland Legal Society.

With the Katters having tied their vote to the LNP, Labor is headed into the chamber on Wednesday unsure of where the vote, scheduled for Thursday after a two day debate, will fall.
A Queensland nurse has told a coronial inquest she more readily questions doctors' prescriptions since the 2014 death of a Brisbane real estate agent who was given too much morphine.

Father-of-three Michael James Calder, 33, had repeatedly complained of severe headaches and was being treated for viral meningitis at the Holy Spirit Northside Private Hospital at Chermside in July 2014 when he died.

An inquest is probing the death of a real estate agent in a Brisbane hospital while being treated for viral meningitis. Credit:Joe Armao

An autopsy later found he had fatal doses of morphine in his system.

A two-day inquest in Brisbane is considering the circumstances leading up to his death and the health care provided to him.
One of Queensland's most wanted criminals has been found, just a day after police launched a major push to track down fugitives.

Luke Broadhead, a convicted drug trafficker wanted for breaching his parole, was arrested in Cairns at around 12:45pm on Tuesday.

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It comes a day after police and Crime Stoppers launched Operation Roam, a campaign aimed at tracking down Australia's 19 most wanted fugitives, including Broadbeach.
A teenager has been charged after allegedly making threats to a north Queensland primary school on Monday.

Police were informed by a member of the public that a teenage boy was making threats to attack Balaclava State School at Mooroobool around midday.

Police charged a teenager late Monday night. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Police cordoned off the school and after a thorough search of the buildings and grounds declared the area safe.

Arrangements were made to have children escorted home and no-one was injured.
The mighty hammer of Thor, or at least a few cameras, are set to mess with Brisbane CBD workers and residents next week as the mega feature film plays out in the city's streets.

A string of road closures are planned from Saturday to the end of the week as Thor: Ragnarok production makes the trip up the M1 from its Gold Coast base.

Businesses and residents in the area have been warned to expect short delays due to traffic detours and stop-go traffic flow.

A letter sent out from Asgard Productions said parts of Mary Street, Albert Street and Margaret Street would be affected by filming of day sequences for Creature Report, the working title for the Marvel film.
Conspiracy theories can be stubborn, particularly in the echo chamber of the internet.

One persistent belief in some quarters is that the government  or business, perhaps  is deploying a fleet of jet aircraft to spray chemicals into the sky to control the population, food supply or other things.

Contrails behind a plane flying over Canberra. Credit:Jay Cronan

As evidence, they point to what they call "chemtrails," which are more commonly known as contrails, or condensation trails, produced at high altitudes as water vapour in jet engine exhaust condenses and freezes.

Adding fuel to the chemtrails theory is the fact that there are a few legitimate reasons for atmospheric spraying  "seeding" clouds to make rain, for example  and in recent years there has been some research on the idea of spraying chemicals as a potential way to fight global warming.
The DNA of the man accused of murdering Kylie Blackwood in her home three years ago was found on her clothing, a court has been told.

Police found DNA on Ms Blackwood's clothing when they first investigated her death, and that sample had since been matched to a recent sample Scott Alan Murdoch had provided, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday.

Kylie Blackwood was found dead in her Pakenham home.

Mr Murdoch, 38, was charged in April with one count of murder over the death of the 42-year-old mother of three, who was attacked in her Pakenham home on August 1, 2013.

The DNA evidence was still being analysed, the court heard on Tuesday.
Abuk Akek came to Australia to escape war-ravaged Sudan, only to be murdered in her Melton unit by the man she had a son with.

Ms Akek, 20, an aspiring law student, was stabbed four times in her home on March 13 following an argument with former partner Makeny Banek, whom she had separated from a month earlier.

Abuk Akek was 'small, petite and alone'.

Banek, 24, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to murder, and documents released by Melbourne Magistrates Court detail a history of assaulting Ms Akek and his admission he killed her and then placed a white rose next to her body on the bed.

"I snapped, I used a knife and my fists. I love her very much but she did not love me," he said when arrested at a friend's house hours after the murder.
Victoria Police is considering flying to Rome to interview Cardinal George Pell or interview him via videolink over complaints of sexual abuse against the cardinal made by two Ballarat men.

It is believed the brief of evidence has been returned to Victoria Police and assistant commissioner Steve Fontana is assessing the claims.

Fairfax Media understands it is almost certain police will seek to interview Cardinal Pell.

Police are investigating multiple allegations of child abuse against the cardinal, including allegations he touched the genitals of children while they swam at a public pool in Ballarat in the late 1970s.
A four-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being kicked in the head by a horse in Victoria's north-west.

The boy was airlifted to the Royal Children's Hospital from Ballan about 12.30pm on Tuesday.

The boy was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital this afternoon. Credit:Channel Seven

A hospital spokeswoman said the boy was in a critical condition.
A proposal to bar students with low ATARs from education courses will lead to teacher shortages and lock out poorer students, according to university vice-chancellors.

In a bid to attract more talented teachers to the classroom, Education Minister James Merlino has unveiled a discussion paper which proposes an ATAR threshold or minimum VCE study scores for teaching courses.

Victorian universities have criticised a proposal to introduce ATAR thresholds for teaching courses. Credit:Erin Jonasson

But Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven  who chaired the federal government's teacher education ministerial advisory group  said ATAR thresholds were a "mistake".

He said there was no correlation between a student's ATAR and their performance as a teacher. Professor Craven said Victoria was experiencing a population boom, and warned that an ATAR threshold could lead to a teacher shortage.
An online charity drive to buy blankets and tarpaulins for refugee children in Afghanistan has landed an Australian man in one of Dubai's most notorious prisons.

Adelaide father of two, Scott Richards, has been detained indefinitely by police in the United Arab Emirates and has been held for three weeks in Dubai's Al Muraqqabat police station without charge, and without access to legal representation.

Adelaide father of two Scott Richards has been detained indefinitely by police in the United Arab Emirates.

His alleged crime is to have promoted a crowd-funding page on the US-based website Go Fund Me, which is trying to raise money for Afghan children at the Chahari Qambar refugee camp outside of Kabul.

In 2012, more than 100 children froze to death at the refugee camp, which is home to more than 7000 people.
He said the abduction was the work of a "criminal group" that operates in the area, and while he would not identify the gang by name, the largest group operating in the state is the Jalisco New Generation cartel. The Jalisco cartel has grown quickly to rival Guzman's Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexico's drug gangs. Experts say there could be other reasons why someone would want to kidnap the younger Guzman. Ivan Archivaldo had reportedly been running roughshod over allies in his father's business, and had the reputation of a braggart, showing off expensive liquor, clothes, guns and cars on social media, something that could have angered more traditional traffickers who keep a lower profile. An arrest shot of Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Credit:AFI "Ivan Archivaldo was, I believe, a bit crazy," said Raul Benitez, a security specialist who teaches political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "He spent all his time posting things on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. A serious narco doesn't do that."

A Facebook account under his name, which could not be corroborated as authentic, shows photos of assault rifles pistols cocaine and expensive cognac. Mexico's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, stands for his prison mug shot. Credit:AP "He was a 'junior'" - a term Mexicans use to describe privileged youths - Benitez said. "He didn't have the ability to run the cartel." Authorities scrambled to try to confirm the identities of the kidnappers and the victims while reassuring tourists that the kidnapping was an isolated incident and that activities for visitors continued without interruption. Almaguer told a news conference Monday that the victims "were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities ... they were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume."

Almaguer said two SUVs carrying the gunmen arrived around 1 a.m. at La Leche restaurant on Puerto Vallarta's main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone between the old beach city and the airport. He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and the group that was targeted appeared to be celebrating, according to other people in the restaurant. Authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates but a false registration. Experts said that it could be the latest in a string of attacks against Guzman's family, perhaps suggesting that the drug lord had lost control of his Sinaloa cartel. He purportedly ran affairs from prison until his second escape in 2015, and when recaptured was placed under stricter security measures. In June, local media reported that an armed gang had broken into the home of Guzman's mother in the northern state of Sinaloa and taken vehicles and other goods. "There is a war right now for control of the Sinaloa cartel and a central theme in that war is the issue of attacks on his family," Benitez said. "People have information about the family's movements and they want to destroy the family."

Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst, said that while Jalisco New Generation controls the area, it would be possible for another group to enter the city. Hope also called it odd that a group of alleged cartel members would be taken without a shot being fired. "It's a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didn't have any security," Hope said. Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said on his official Twitter account that such violence would not be tolerated. Loading
"Yes, for me this is an exception," Doherty said. "What we have here is a threat to democracy itself." Supporters of the Goldwater Rule have cited three main rationales for adhering to it: Most diagnoses made from a distance turn out to be wrong; the labels themselves can cause real harm to the person and family members; and the practice undermines the field's credibility, particularly its commitment to confidentiality. Not to mention, others say, that it could expose a left-leaning bias in the field. But the psychoanalysing of public figures by commentators, columnists and pop psychologists has a bipartisan history. Concerns about grandiosity and narcissism dogged Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Suspicions of a deepening paranoia clouded the end of Richard Nixon's. Accusations of manipulation, deceit and a sense of entitlement have trailed the Clintons for years, prompting speculation about deeper personality problems. Trump himself has recently tried to turn the tables, accusing Hillary Clinton of being "unstable" and "unhinged". While the vast majority of therapists' comments remain focused on Trump, some in the profession say that if public psychoanalysing is going to be done, it should be directed at both candidates.

"Do those things rise to a diagnosable level? I sure don't know," said Don Sizemore, a family therapist in Lexington, Kentucky. "But if we're diagnosing him, we should be doing the same for her." Yet history cautions against the armchair analysis of either one. Psychiatrists point to Goldwater himself as a prime example of getting it wrong. By the time he died in 1998, Goldwater was regarded as "one of his party's most respected elder statesmen," The Washington Post said in its obituary. In the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, many people longed for a diagnosis to explain or denounce President Bill Clinton's behaviour, said Dr Nada Stotland, a psychiatrist at Rush Medical College in Chicago. "I remember getting all these media calls asking if he was a narcissist or a sex addict," she said. "Well, sex addiction wasn't a recognised disorder at the time. And if it had been, was the behaviour then not his fault? I ended up dancing around these questions, because this idea that we should go around, willy-nilly, putting diagnoses on people is just wrong." But those using clinical language to describe Trump's behaviour contend that this presidential election is vastly different, for a big reason: The proliferation of social media comments and video clips, which afford direct, unscripted access to candidates, was simply not available in previous races. The depth of that material creates a public persona complete enough to analyse on its own merits, they say. Doherty said he and the therapists who signed his manifesto were not diagnosing Trump's personal traits, but his public persona. The manifesto characterises "Trumpism" as reinventing history, never apologising, demeaning critics and inciting violence. "One can talk about his public behaviour without knowing whether he is fully that way with his children, his wife, his friends," Doherty said.

Dr Steven Buser, a psychiatrist who with his colleague, Dr Leonard Cruz, co-edited a new book, A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump, stressed, "We are careful not to make a clinical diagnosis here, to say that Donald Trump has narcissistic personality disorder." The contributing writers include psychiatrists and psychologists, but Buser said, "We are focused on the image he projects, on TV, in tweets, in quotes." Appelbaum calls this distinction a convenient splitting of hairs. "It takes a skilled therapist months, sometimes longer, seeing a person regularly and asking probing questions to make a determination of whether a disorder is present," Appelbaum said. The stigma of mental vulnerability is especially damaging in politics. In the 1972 presidential race, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri withdrew as George McGovern's running mate after 18 days  at McGovern's request  in the wake of revelations that he had undergone psychiatric counselling and electroshock therapy. In 1988, the Democratic nominee, Michael Dukakis, released his medical records to counter rumours that he had undergone psychiatric treatment. He had not. During his libel trial, Goldwater was mystified by some of the psychiatrists' comments about his personality, including one calling him an "anal character". "I don't know what an anal character would be," he testified, according to news accounts. "I tried to look it up in the dictionary, but couldn't find it." He took particular exception to a psychiatrist's comment that he was "a counterfeit figure of a masculine man". Such a charge "weighs several tons, and the effect is rather depressing," he said.

If there are exceptions to the Goldwater Rule, psychiatrists apparently cannot agree on them. More distant historical figures tend to be fair game; Lincoln's Melancholy, a book by Joshua Wolf Shenk making the case that Lincoln had suffered from depression, was well received. Leaders of hostile nations may or may not qualify, depending on who is judging. A psychiatrist who provided a personality assessment of Saddam Hussein at the request of the George W. Bush administration was criticised by some in the psychiatric community, but not formally censured. Retired politicians fall into a gray area. Therapists have penned books on George W. Bush, as well as Bill Clinton. Not all of their colleagues approve. But in an era when private moments and comments are increasingly available for public consumption, some argue that the Goldwater Rule is due for an update. "There's another perspective on this altogether," said John Mayer, a University of New Hampshire psychologist who has written widely on the rule. "The ethicists who wrote the rule have been entirely focused on the negative side of commentaries. But there's a positive, adaptive side to every personality trait.
Donald Trump lays out his ideas for fighting terrorism. Credit:AP Like politics, war is a fraught business; outcomes can't be guaranteed. But if Obama and his coalition allies were to dislodge ISIS from its trophy strongholds, they would dramatically puncture a relentless, savage critique by Republicans and others of Obama's strategy to eliminate ISIS, which has been so deliberate and resource-lite as to make it a snail's paced endeavour  way too slow and much too complex for the demands of 24/7 news cycles, not to mention turbo-charged social media in the midst of an election campaign. But in matching on-the-ground achievements with stated objectives, the military strategy arguably appears to be working. A more subdued Donald Trump speaking in Youngstown, Ohio. Credit:AP Confidence in the ability of government forces and allied militias in Iraq and of rebel forces in Syria, has been boosted by the recapture of the other ISIS strongholds in Iraq, Fallujah in June and Ramadi six months earlier; and a shrinking of ISIS-held territory by as much as 40 per cent in Iraq and 20 per cent in Syria since its heyday in 2014.

Lt. General Sean MacFarland, US commander of the anti-ISIS campaign, alluded to the significance of an onwards-to Mosul and Raqqa strategy in July, when he told reporters that dislodging ISIS from Raqqa would leave the Islamist movement without a base of operations, deny it financial resources and rob it of any ability to "plan, to create the fake documentation that they need to get around the world." In his Youngstown speech, Trump invoked the challenges of the Cold War, blaming Democrats for a "vacuum [that] let terrorism grow and thrive" and he denounced Obama as "incompetent" for agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran and for supporting the ouster of the Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, which Trump said was the cause of regional chaos, the rise of Islamic State and the spread of Islamic terrorism. Remarkably, there was no mention that it was Obama's Republican predecessor who had invaded Iraq, the conflict in which ISIS emerged, or that it was president George W Bush that took the US into the nation-building business in Iraq and Afghanistan. Likewise, there was no mention that he  Trump  had publicly supported both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011 ouster of Mubarak. In setting out a broad strategy that sounded remarkably like that of Obama, Candidate Trump addressed none of the big-picture complexities of confronting ISIS, a challenge that Obama argues will take years.

"Military, cyber and financial warfare will all be essential in dismantling Islamic terrorism, but we must use ideological warfare as well," which Trump said included opposition to the "oppression of women, gays and people of different faiths"; and alliances with voices of "moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East". In April, Trump claimed to have a "great plan" to defeat ISIS, but he could not discuss it publicly, lest he tip them off  "we're gonna beat ISIS very, very quickly, folks. It's gonna be fast. I have a great plan. It's going to be great. They ask 'What is it?' Well, I'd rather not say. I'd rather be unpredictable." And insisting during a July interview on 60 Minutes that he would "declare war against ISIS," Trump sounded very like the risk-averse Obama, assuring viewers that he would "have very few troops on the ground. We're going to have unbelievable intelligence." Trump argued for joint US-Russian military operations against ISIS, saying that he would partner with any nation willing to join the fight. But he made no mention of how he might find a path through Moscow's support for the Syrian Bashar al-Assad and current US support for the rebels opposed to Assad. Obama has proposed a joint effort with the Russians  but it is conditional on Moscow restraining Assad's brutal attacks on rebel forces and civilians.

Similarly, in restating his old claim that the US should have seized Iraq's oil fields and keep the revenue  "In the old days, when we won a war, to the victor belonged the spoils"  Trump did not address the inherent risk to Washington's alliance with Iraq; or his proposed new relationship with Russia, were he to grab oilfields that Moscow's ally Assad claims as his. All up, the speech implied a sizeable departure from his "very few troops on the ground" undertaking to 60 Minutes  but Trump did not address the issue of military deployments. Trump did use the speech to recast his controversial proposal to ban all Muslims entering the US, urging "extreme vetting" for would-be immigrants, to block arrivals from "some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism" who don't "share our values and respect our people". Attempting to distance himself from his earlier, specific attacks on Muslim in the US and abroad, Trump said he would order the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to draw up a list of countries in which the US would halt issuing visas. "Our new approach, which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas, and by our friends in the Middle East, must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," he said.

Trump and his surrogates portray Clinton as weak on countering terrorism, nut-shelling their charge in a refusal by Clinton  and Obama  to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism," which the democrats argue demonises the Muslim faith and would drive away willing Muslim supporters and informants in the fight against ISIS. Polling on issues of terrorism, national security and geopolitics is confusing. Clinton polled well ahead of Trump on conducting foreign policy  58 per cent to 36 per cent in a poll this month by Bloomberg. But on combating terrorism at home and abroad, Trump was ahead by a few points  50-43. A poll by The Washington Post, also this month, was less contradictory. By margins of 14 per cent to as much as 50 per cent Clinton out ran Trump on her understanding of world affairs, 72-25; and her ability to handle an international crisis, 60-33; and even to handle international trade agreements, 54-40. On the express question of who would make the country safer and more secure, Clinton was on top  51-42. And on the question of who best to trust to handle terrorism, Clinton was in the lead, but narrowly  48-43.
Belgrade: Hundreds of Serbian ultra-nationalists protested on Tuesday against US Vice-President Joe Biden's visit to Belgrade by chanting their support for Donald Trump.

"Vote for Trump! Vote for Trump!" the protesters, wearing T-shirts displaying an image of the US Republican candidate, shouted as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building.

Biden was on a one-day visit to Belgrade before travelling to Kosovo to encourage both countries to do more to normalise their relations.

The United States is highly popular among Kosovars, who regard Washington as their saviour for the 1999 air strikes that halted killings of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces waging a counter-insurgency war.
PHILIPSBURG:---On Monday, August 8th a man with initials O.M. was summoned to the police station in Philipsburg in connection with a case in which the police was requested to intervene. At the police station, this man has recognized as a suspect for whom a warrant for his arrest and his extradition to the United States were requested. After the police handled the intervention the suspect was arrested in connection with his extradition.

Several suspects arrested for threatening and illegal possession of Firearm

On Wednesday, August 10th police arrested the male suspect with initials J.J.M.J.H. at his home for threat and illegal possession of a firearm. A warrant for his arrest was issued by the public prosecutor.

On Wednesday, August 10th police arrested the male suspect with initials H.B.G.R. at the Princess Juliana International Airport for threat.

On Thursday, August 11th police arrested the male suspect with initials R.C. in the area of Mullet Bay for whom a warrant for his arrest was issued suspected of threat, theft, destruction, and ill-treatment.

On Friday, August 12th police arrested a female suspect with initials L.F. in connection with an ongoing attempted murder and threat investigation.

All suspects remain in custody for further investigation.

KPSM Press Release
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Sunday, August 14th representatives of the Court of Guardian, Probation Department, Juvenile Detention Center (Miss Lali Center) Prosecutors Office, Police Juvenile Department, Division Heads, Team Leaders and police management team attended a workshop provided by Dr. Everett Penn, criminologist and co-founder of the TAPS- Academy based in Houston, Texas.

TAPS is a program primarily designed for at-risk youth, where students partner with mentor officers to discuss issues including bullying, anger management, avoidance of gang life, drug use and conflict management as well as other youth and law enforcement topics.

The Chief of Police Carl John met Dr. Penn during the discussions at the General Assembly Meeting and Conference with the ACCP (Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police) held earlier this year.

Dr. Penn stated that he and his family would be on a cruise in the Caribbean area in the month of August of this year and Sint Maarten would be one of his destinations. He gladly offered the police chief a one-day training session on TAPS for the police force and other departments within the Justice Chain who are directly involved with at risk- youth and youth delinquency.

The police chief gladly accepted this offer and made sure all necessary arrangements were made to have this training take place. Subjects such as Implicit Bias, Procedural Justice, and Juvenile Delinquency were among the other topics that were part of the training.

The participants of the different departments experienced this training as very informative and look forward to follow-up training sessions and discussions with Dr. Penn on when and how to best go about implementing a TAPS Academy on Sint Maarten.

At the end of the training, the Acting Chief of Police Denise Jacobs expressed sincere gratitude to Dr. Everette Penn on behalf of all departments present and Chief Commissioner Carl John for the training he provided and look forward to further communication and discussions regarding TAPS-Academy.

KPSM Press Release.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Detectives and traffic Department are investigating a case in which a male suspect who was driving a black vehicle with license plate 4081 AAC was arrested after police ordered him to stop his vehicle. The incident took place on Monday, August 15th at approximately 12.30 a.m. in the Cause Way Bridge.

The vehicle in question was seen by a police patrol driving on the Airport Road in the direction of Cole Bay and was ordered to stop for control because of the heavily tinted windows. The driver refused to stop and increased speed in the direction of the Cause Way Bridge. Another patrol was called in to assist in order to stop this vehicle.

A roadblock was set up at the Cause Way Bridge by one of the patrols, however, the driver of the vehicle could not stop the vehicle and collided with the police vehicle causing quite some damage. The driver and no one else was injured.

The police conducted an investigation inside of the vehicle because of the strong scent of marijuana coming from the vehicle. During the search, two firearms were found and confiscated. The suspect was arrested at the scene and taken to the Philipsburg police Station where the suspect remains in custody fro further investigation.

KPSM Press Release
Brendan Dassey's confession held to be involuntary by appeals court.

Uncle and Nephew pair Steve Avery and Brendan Dassey were the subject of a Netflix special called making a murderer. An appeals court has thrown out their convictions, as based on Brandon's 2005 confession. It is unclear at this time whether this will require a retrial .

The Netflix special focused on glaring police incompetence. Nevertheless the pair were convicted in 2007.

The Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer tells the story of a Wisconsin man wrongly convicted of sexual assault only to be accused, along with his nephew, of killing a photographer two years after being released. Steven Avery and his then 17-year-old nephew Dassey were accused of killing Teresa Halbach, a photographer who visited the Avery family salvage yard to take photos of a minivan on Halloween and was never seen alive again.

Brendan Ray Dassey, 27, from Manitowoc County, Wisc. was 17 years and 6 months old when convicted of intentional homicide. His videotaped interrogation and confession, which was subsequently recanted, played a pivotal role in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. The series examined the 2007 trials of Dassey and Steven Avery, his uncle, who were both convicted of murdering photographer Teresa Halbach on October 31, 2005.

His conviction was overturned by a federal judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 12, 2016.

Photographer Teresa Halbach, born March 22, 1980, in Kaukauna, Wisconsin,[11] was reported missing by her parents on November 3, 2005.

Halbach, who had not been seen since October 31, resided next door to her parents in Calumet County.[13] Halbach visited the Avery Salvage Yard in Manitowoc County on October 31, 2005. On November 10, 2005, Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel announced that the charred remains of Halbach were discovered on the Avery property, as was her Toyota RAV4 vehicle, cell phone, car key, and license plates. On November 15, Avery was charged with the murder of Halbach, mutilation of a corpse, and illegal possession of a firearm after Avery's blood was found in her vehicle.

Avery's defense team argued that the evidence was planted and that Avery was framed by the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Department in retaliation for a $36 million lawsuit that Avery initiated as the result of an earlier wrongful conviction. Depositions in the lawsuit had taken place at the end of September 2005.[14] After a series of interrogations, Dassey, who was also Avery's alibi, confessed to being a co-conspirator in the rape and murder of Halbach and was arrested and charged on March 3, 2006, with being party to a first-degree homicide, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse. Dassey later recanted his confession in a letter to the trial judge.
After two-year absence, paralyzed children in Nigeria

Millions of doses of vaccine will be given to children in the region.

After two years with no reported cases, experts had hoped that the disease was gone from the African continent forever. Now, Nigeria joins Afghanistan and Pakistan on the short list of countries where polio is still actively infecting children.

Despite difficult and dangerous social and geographic circumstances, the World Health Organization and other involved groups say efforts to contain the virus will be swift and aggressive. Millions of doses of vaccine, thousands of vaccinators, and the health ministries and militaries of five different countries will be involved in the process.

Vaccinations will begin as soon as next week, starting in the two Borno state villages where paralyzed children have been found, and spreading in ever widening circles to include Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic.

Authorities believe that the virus may have been circulating in the area for some time. Only about one in 200 cases produces paralysis. Sick and disabled children may have been overlooked or lost in the panicky political climate. Until very recently, threats by Boko Haram have made Borno too dangerous for the vaccination teams to travel. The vicious Islamic fundamentalist militia has murdered and kidnapped hundreds. Due to the violence, thousands of Kunari people have been displaced and living in refugee camps.

A mobile population is hard to reach, and this particular vaccine requires at least three doses over three or more weeks to be effective.

Now, after a prolonged effort by the Nigerian Army in cooperation with neighboring militaries, most villages in the area can be reached, at lest intermittently, and the population is returning home. It is believed that there are at least 200,000 unvaccinated children under 5 in the areas that have been altogether off limits for several years, and countless more in the surrounding areas that may not have been vaccinated.

The region is also regularly crossed by the nomadic Fulani people and their cattle. The Fulani rarely visit health clinics, so medic teams try to reach them by travelling to cattle markets or tribal festivals, or by accompanying the veterinarians who tend to the care of the herds.

In addition to the polio vaccinations, the medical teams encourage visits to temporary "health camps" by offering prenatal care, vitamins, food, and shots for other diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, and measles.

Containment of this outbreak is expected to be easier than the last big outbreak which was in the conservative northwest part of the country, and much easier than the ongoing struggles for containment in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In those places rumors persist, some spread by religious leaders, that the vaccination will sterilize girls, or that it contains pork or the AIDS virus.

Polio often leads to paralysis in the legs.

This distrust of western medicine has hindered the decades-long effort to eradicate the disease. Since 1988, the world incidence of polio has been reduced by 99%, but holdout areas in the Middle East and Africa have prevented its complete disappearance.

Rotary International has led the eradication charge, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and, more recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Nigeria's Rotary International polio committee is helping to coordinate the current campaign. They report that in Borno both religious leaders and average residents accept the vaccine.

The new cases were discovered after the virus was detected in sewage samples. This strain was last seen in Chad, where many of the Nigerian families traveled as refugees, so it likely came to Borno with a returning family.
It's a National Problem; 1 in 10 Cal State Students are Homeless

Kennesaw State decided to do something to help their homeless students.

As college campuses across the country begin fall enrollment, the increasing problem of homeless students is causing a flurry of concern. One university in Georgia decided to do something about it.

With the help of a donation of $25,000 from the Kennesaw-based Beacon Foundation Charitable Trust, Kennesaw state has dedicated an apartment on campus for temporary housing of homeless students. The students are allowed to stay up to 14 days, and the university's Campus Awareness, Resource, & Empowerment center will help them to find permanent, affordable, housing.

Marcy Stidum, director of the center, has said that she is already aware of five to seven students who will be taking advantage of the opportunity.

The apartment is mixed in anonymously with existing student residences.

Kennesaw State, about 20 miles from Atlanta, has an enrollment of about 32, 000 students. The campus has received national recognition for its work with homeless students. It has two food pantries on campus, and offers an assistance program for foster care students transitioning to college.

The number of American college and university students who lack permanent shelter or suffer from food instability is unknown, but administrators across the nation have seen a sharp increase over the last decade. Many students from poorer backgrounds struggle mightily just to get into college, only to find that the cost of housing near or on campus is just beyond their means.

In the not-to-distant past, it was possible for a student to work a part-time minimum wage job and, with the help of a manageable loan, be able to afford both school and housing, but the soaring cost of higher education is making it increasingly difficult for many young people to survive, even after they get accepted.

Since the 1980s, the cost of higher education in the US has risen at twice the rate of medical care, and three times the rate of shelter or food.

Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, began to brainstorm solutions just this summer when a study was release showing that a shocking 1 in 10 Cal State students are homeless.

That's more than 40,000 students spread across 23 campuses.

The study, which began in the Spring of 2015, found that between 8% and 12% of Cal State students were living in cars, couch surfing, or altogether on the streets. 21% to 24% are food insecure.

Researchers found that some professors actually kept food in their offices to offer to those students who seemed to frequently arrive in class dazed and hungry.

It is difficult to make homework a priority if you struggle daily to find food or shelter.

11 of the Cal State campuses have already taken steps to offer some form of assistance, most frequently in the form of a support center or a food pantry. The pantries might offer other necessities, too, such as toothpaste or deodorant.

Some of the schools have come up with their own inventive ways to offer assistance.

The cost of higher education has risen so rapidly that many students can no longer afford food or housing.

Fresno, for example, has a phone app available that notifies students if there is food left over and available for pick up after a catered university event.

Cal State Long Beach offers emergency grants and hotel vouchers, as well as meal assistance and counseling.

None of the school in California have gone so far as to offer an on-campus emergency housing solution like Kennesaw State.

When corporate taxes go down, funding for public higher education generally goes down as well, and tuition goes up.

For now, at least, it looks as if university and college campuses across the country are going to have to adapt to the needs of those many students who are trying to learn by day, but don't have a bed to sleep in by night.
Legislation signed this summer eliminated religious or personal exemptions

A contentious law that passed this summer eliminated both personal and religious exemptions from vaccinations in California schools, and 145 Sacramento children missed all or part of their first day of the school year on Tuesday because of it.

Many of the children returned later on after their parents provided proper paperwork. Two clinics were open and available on school properties for parents wishing to vaccinate that day. The district says it is working to reach the other unvaccinated children on their rosters to see if the families need help.

Only children with a physician approved medical exemption can now attend either public or private schools in California without required immunization.

Sacramento is one of the first California districts to start classes this year, but the same scene is likely to play out in districts across the state over the next few weeks as families and schools scramble to adjust to the strict new legislation.

The law, introduced as a bill by Democratic Senators Richard Pan, a Sacramento pediatrician, and Benjamin Allen of Santa Monica, made California only the third state in the nation to deny exemption based on religious beliefs.

32 states now deny exemption based on personal moral beliefs.

Concern came from the exceedingly low rates of vaccination in some communities, and after an outbreak of measles among Disneyland visors that resulted in130 infections. Pertussis (whooping cough) has also made a comeback in recent years.

Some schools had less than 50% of their students fully vaccinated, a situation which prevents the so-called "herd effect" that protects those individuals who cannot receive the shots for medical reasons such as illness or allergy.

Anti-vaccination groups protested the passage of the law, saying it should be a parent's right to choose preventative medicine for their own child. Many of them believe that increased vaccinations make children more likely to have developmental disorders, particularly autism. Scientific research has found no such link.

In the end, public health benefits overruled the opinions of protesting parents.

The courts have made it very clear that no one has the right to spread disease within their community.

The right of the state to take action in the name of public health came to the colonies along with British Common Law, and was implemented in a powerful way almost as soon as the Constitution was ratified when the cities of Philadelphia and New York were cordoned off to prevent the spread of raging yellow fever epidemics. The sitting government was left isolated in Philadelphia, new Constitution in hand.

Every original state and each that was added afterward has acknowledged the power to pass and enforce laws for the health of the community, particularly those meant to prevent the spread of disease.

Exercise of that power has become somewhat lax over the last few decades, but outbreaks of disease remind us that the government we elect has the obligation to pass common-sense laws to maintain the health of our citizens.

The California legislature and governor have done their jobs, and the school children of Sacramento and all the other communities will be healthier for it.

-----------------------------------------------------

Immunizations required to attend either public or private schools in California:

Immunizations required to enter Kindergarten:

 Polio

 Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP)

 Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)

 Hepatitis B

 Varicella (Chickenpox)

Immunization required for 7th grade:

Immunizations keep children healthy.

 Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis booster (Tdap)

 Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)

Immunizations required to enter Child Care (depends on age when enrolling):

 Polio

 Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP)

 Haemophilus influenzae type b

 Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)

 Hepatitis B

 Varicella (Chickenpox)
A plausible scenario of Libertarian success, puts the 2016 election into the House of Representatives

Is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johsnon, the Moses who will lead us out of the wilderness of Trump or Clinton in 2016?

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have duked it out for so long in the national consciousness, that they have entered our subconscious. It's an open secret that no one is excited with our choices, except perhaps fans of The Apprentice ("You're fired.")

The Great Excommunicator will probably continue stumbling along, saying stuff that outrages the press and offends the groups that compose the Democratic party. Meanwhile, Clinton will continue to stumble along, with questions about her role in the Obama administration (not everybody loves you, Barry). She will also stumble while walking up stairs, causing legitimate questions about her health.

The former First Lady is probably just too frail to be President, but that's the subject of another article. The point is, the American public are by and large really, really tired of both candidates and looking for alternatives. That's why polls show record unpopularity rankings for both candidates.

In order to put the election into the House of Representatives, we have to assume that the Libertarians will win at least some entire states. This is because the US Presidential Election is really 50 separate elections, with the winner taking all the Electors for the ... wait for it ... Electoral College.

The United States Electoral College is the only current example of a system in which an executive president is indirectly elected, with electors representing the 50 states and the federal district.

Each state has a number of electors equal to its Congressional representation (in both houses), with the non-state District of Columbia receiving three electors and other non-state territories having no electors. The electors generally cast their votes for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states. However, there are several states where this is not required by law. In the United States, 270 electoral votes are currently required to win the presidential election.

What happens if no presidential candidate gets 270 Electoral votes?

If no candidate receives a majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives elects the President from the 3 Presidential candidates who received the most Electoral votes. Each state delegation has one vote. The Senate would elect the Vice President from the 2 Vice Presidential candidates with the most Electoral votes. Each Senator would cast one vote for Vice President. If the House of Representatives fails to elect a President by Inauguration Day, the Vice-President Elect serves as acting President until the deadlock is resolved in the House. This from a US Government website, http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#no270

So can Gary Johnson win entire states? Many election watchers think so. Politico thinks so: The rise of Gary Johnson is the latest plot twist in the most unpredictable presidential election in decades. Almost accidentally, the candidate has become 2016's last bearer of a whole set of modern conservative ideals, from free trade to entitlement reform; some top Republicans wary of Trump have already declared for him and many more are leaning toward doing so.

At the same time, Johnson's anti-war foreign policy and liberal stances on social issues have resonated among Bernie Sanders stragglers. And lastly, his message of bipartisanship-or, rather, tripartisanship-is attracting independents frustrated with an increasingly dysfunctional two-party system. To capitalize on this perfect storm, Johnson's campaign has a game plan, a clearly targeted set of states to nail down that-if all the chips fall their way-could upend the election and, in their vision, land Johnson and Weld in the White House.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/gary-johnson-profile-2016-libertarian-third-party-214162#ixzz4HB5xlojO

So Gary Johnson's plan is to poll 15% and take part in the debates against Clinton and Trump. Ok then. Which states could he turn? Johnson claims to be polling 12 to 16% in some states. Johnson, and his campaign manager Ron Neilson, figure the Libertarian cannot outspend the major party candidates in large states such as Ohio, California, Texas, New York; nor in swing states like Florida Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Instead, Johnson could outspend Trump and Clinton in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and the Dakotas; states considered firmly Republican. As for blue States, the Libertarians could outspend Clinton and Trump in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and possibly Oregon. Need we remind you that Marijuana is legal in these states, and Johnson has actually run a pot distribution company? That should play in Peoria, Denver, Little Rock, Portland, and other pot capitols. But I digress.

"Their battleground states," Nielson says of Clinton and Trump, "are not our battleground states."

So there you have it. Johnson polls his way into the debates with Trump and Clinton. The public increasingly turns to the former Republican governor of New Mexico and his running mate, the former Republican Gov. of Mass, Bill Weld. He wins entire states. Don't they have to vote for one of the top 3 candidates as president?

Yes, on the first few ballots. The constitution frees them to vote for anyone on subsequent ballots, and "Mr. Clean" Paul Ryan, has managed to have himself elected Speaker of the House. Ryan will represent a more palatable alternative than Clinton, Trump or Johnson as they try to break the impasse.

How many times has the Vice President been chosen by the U.S. Senate?

Red and blue states in 2012. In 2016, Libertarians will focus on small states mostly in the West, such asUtah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, North Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Oregon

Once. In the Presidential election of 1836, the election for Vice President was decided in the Senate. Martin Van Buren's running mate, Richard M. Johnson, fell one vote short of a majority in the Electoral College. Vice Presidential candidates Francis Granger and Johnson had a "run-off" in the Senate under the 12th Amendment, where Johnson was elected 33 votes to 17. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#no270

Update: Kirk Hilliard writes: "You appear to be conflating our Constitution's Twelfth Amendment with the RNC delegate binding rules. Per the 12th Amendment, the house chooses only from the three top delegate winners (Ms. Clinton, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Trump in your scenario). The selection does not open up after a certain number of ballots, but if the House fails to elect a President, then the Vice President-elect becomes acting President. (Here, the 12th Amendment is modified slightly by the 20th Amendment.)

The Vice President-elect in your scenario would be chosen by the Senate from the top two candidates, and only if they fail to chose a Vice President would the Speaker of the House (newly chosen or reaffirmed, as you pointed out) become the President."
In 1982 the wild population was down to just 22 individuals; Nesting pairs in Path of Fire

A fire that began on August 31 with an illegal campfire is within eight miles of 3 nests with young California condor hatchlings. The months-old young are not yet able to fly and could not escape the flames on their own.

The Soberanes fire has roared through nearly 70,000 acres of wildland, destroying 57 residences and 11 outbuildings.

Biologists report that none of the condors living in the area has yet been killed by the fire, but one of the feeding stations where they leave dead animals for the birds has been destroyed.

The fire is moving south across coastal Monterey County toward the remote sections of the Los Padres National Forest where the condors nest. This is also the location of a "condor sanctuary" site with pens, trailers and a cabin that scientists use when they release condors that have been hatched in zoos.

Biologists have spent 30 years painstakingly nurturing the California condor back from the brink of extinction. They are America's largest land bird, with a wing span reaching up to 9 feet. Due to habitat loss, hunting and lead poisoning, the majestic birds' population had dropped to just 22 nationwide by 1982. In a desperate gamble to save the birds, federal biologists captured all the remaining wild condors in 1987 and began a breeding program in zoos. The birds' young have been gradually released back into the wild.

There are now 82 condors living free in the Big Sur area.

Kelly Sorenson is the executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit group that helps lead condor recovery efforts in Big Sur. He told Paul Rogers at the Mercury News that biologists are hoping they won't need to go in and rescue the young birds from the nests. The chicks are 3- to 4-months-old and won't be able to fly on their own for another two or three months

"At this point it wouldn't make sense to pull the chicks out of the nests because we'd have to figure out how to raise them," Sorenson said. "We might do it as a last resort. We are going to be watching day by day."

The chicks are still being fed by their parents.

Adult condors regularly travel up to 100 miles in a day, so they would likely just leave area until the fire was out and the other plants and animals returned. Two adults did disappear in the 2008 Basin Complex Fire that burned 162,818 acres in Big Sur. Their transmitters were never found, leading researchers to believe they may have been overcome by smoke or flames.

In that same blaze, fire burned all around a redwood tree where one condor chick was still in a nest. That bird survived. Nicknamed Phoenix, it is still flying today as an adult along the Big Sur coast.

Experts say that despite the current fire risk, lead poisoning remains the main threat of condor deaths. Condors are scavengers and they eat deer, wild pigs, ground squirrels and other animals that hunters or ranchers may have shot, ingesting lead fragments from the ammunition.

In 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning all lead ammunition in hunting in California beginning in 2019. Since then, Sorenson's group has handed out $100,000 in non-lead ammunition to ranchers and hunters around the Big Sur-Pinnacles area. That, he said, has resulted in a decline in lead poisoning deaths in recent years.

Last year was a milestone in the recovery effort. For the first time, in three decades, more condors were born in the wild, 14, than died in the wild, 12.

Joseph Brandt, Pacific Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 30-day old California condor chick

As of Dec. 31, 2015, there were 435 California condors living in the world. Of those, 268 live in the wild, and 167 live in captivity in places where they are bred and hatched, including the San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Oregon Zoo and World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

For hikers and tourists interested in seeing the magnificent birds, the Big Sur fires have not yet caused more condors to move inland.

"We're definitely getting smokier air. But in terms of the birds behavior we're not seeing any changes," said Rachel Wolstenholme, condor program manager at Pinnacles National Park. "Some days there might be 40 here, and some days there might be zero. On most days you have a 50-50 chance of seeing a condor."

You can help California Condors by donating to one of the Condor breeding or protection programs. To find out more, go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service condor page at

http://www.fws.gov/cno/es/calcondor/CondorResources.cfm
AppSense Announces Endpoint Security Suite 2.0 Delivering Five Recommended Measures to Stop Malware and Ransomware Attacks

SUNNYVALE, CA  (Marketwired)  08/16/16  , the leading provider of User Environment Management solutions for the secure endpoint, today announced Endpoint Security Suite 2.0. The first combined solution to result from the LANDESK acquisition of AppSense, the new product suite combines Shavlik Protect with AppSense Application Manager and AppSense Insight to meet five critical measures to mitigate malware and ransomware attacks, described by the SANS Institute as the First Five. Together, these solutions deliver the application control, privilege management, patch management and reporting organizations need for effective endpoint security.

All experts agree that prevention is the best defense against malware and ransomware threats, said Jon Rolls, Vice President, Product Management, AppSense. Nowhere in todays infrastructure is that more critical than the endpoint. By combining the power of AppSense Application Manager and AppSense Insight with the comprehensive patch management enabled by Shavlik Protect, were delivering the industrys only solution that addresses all five threat mitigation strategies on the SANS Institute First Five list. As a result, we can uniquely enable businesses to protect customer and corporate data from being compromised, stolen or held hostage.

According to the SANS Institute, the for an effective cyber defense system include:

1. Software whitelisting

2. Secure standard configurations

3. Application security patch installation within 48 hours

4. System security patch installation within 48 hours

5. Administration privilege restriction when users are browsing the web or handling email

Endpoint Security Suite 2.0 delivers a unified solution that supports each of these five key controls to enable organizations to protect precious data assets against external threats from malware and ransomware as well as intentional and unintentional user actions. Application Manager contributes application control, image protection, privilege management, and file integrity checking; Protect delivers patch installation and management; and Insight reports on admin rights ownership and end user behavior. By combining these capabilities, the suite plays a key role in a layered approach to corporate information security.

By providing Shavlik Protect together with AppSense Application Manager and AppSense Insight, LANDESK is demonstrating its commitment to delivering comprehensive solutions that enable an efficient, secure, endpoint infrastructure to safely power business productivity, said Rob Juncker, Vice President of Engineering, LANDESK. This is the first in a series of solutions which will leverage the combined innovation of AppSense, Shavlik and LANDESK to solve an urgent market need.

Endpoint Security Suite 2.0 delivers key features for comprehensive endpoint protection so that organizations can:

Prevent unknown executables from launching

Track non-compliant end user behavior over time or by user

Enforce regulatory compliance and license control

Make endpoint security decisions that are guided by production data, not guesswork

Locate idle or unpatched desktops that may not have had patches applied for an extended period

Simplify and automate the patching process while eliminating manual steps to Windows and third-party software with minimal intervention

The Endpoint Security Suite 2.0 is available now through AppSense and Shavlik sales channels. It will be showcased during VMworld in Las Vegas, August 28 through September 1 in AppSense booth #447 and Shavlik booth #445. For more information or to request a demo, please visit .

AppSense is the leading provider of User Environment Management solutions for the secure endpoint. The technology allows IT to secure and simplify workspace control at scale across physical, virtual and cloud-delivered desktops. AppSense solutions have been deployed by 3,600 enterprises worldwide to nine million endpoints. AppSense is now a part of the family with offices around the world. For more information, please visit .

Copyright  2016, AppSense. All rights reserved.

Erin Jones

Avista Public Relations for AppSense

704-664-2170
Basho Hits the Road for IoT Roadshow; Educates Developers on Conquering IoT Challenges

SEATTLE, WA  (Marketwired)  08/16/16  Basho Technologies, the creator and developer of  KV and  TS, the worlds , today announced its Scaling Time Series Apps Roadshow, an educational tour that will provide program attendees demonstrations of tools designed specifically to meet the challenges IoT data presents. Beginning in September, Basho will hold informative sessions across the U.S. and Europe to help developers better understand how to derive value from IoT data and how to fully utilize powerful tools like Bashos Riak TS and Apaches Spark to build applications that can scale to meet the incredible demands of IoT applications. Basho will also be partnering with other industry leaders and attending key industry conferences over coming months to bring IoT expertise to developers and engineers nationwide.

The roadshow complements insights from Bashos , aimed at professionals who want to score their IoT knowledge. Early responses paint an interesting picture of IoT expertise. Over 60 percent were classified as being a Leader, rather than a Novice or a Guru, suggesting that while theres a broad spectrum of IoT know-how, the majority of industry participants have room to grow and would benefit from more education. Another telling finding: so far the question most people get wrong is Which IoT business model is not currently publicly available? Hint, it has nothing to do with toothbrushes. If teams involved in IoT initiatives arent familiar with the broad set of IoT business models, theyre likely limiting their success, or worse  building IoT applications that dont adequately support business goals. The quiz answers suggest application developers need guidance to turn IoT ambitions into reality.

IoT represents a wealth of untapped information that can help allow businesses to make smarter, more effective decisions, said Peter Coppola, vice president of marketing and products, Basho Technologies. Yet, many organizations processes for turning that data into valuable information are still works in progress. Basho hopes that by bringing our expertise to developers, we can help provide our community with the knowledge and tools to derive value from their data.

Databricks, the company founded by the team that created Apache Spark, will also be participating in the Scaling Time Series Apps Roadshow. Included in their presentation will be a live tour of the Notebook, built to show the Apache Spark and Riak TS integration in action. Basho will also take part in Databricks tour, a series of complimentary one-day workshops in a number of North American cities. According to Databricks vice president of marketing Kavitha Mariappan, Scalable and resilient tools like Apache Spark and Riak TS are critical in ensuring IoT applications can deliver advanced analytics faster and at a lower overall cost. Databricks is looking forward to working with Basho to help developers leverage the data being generated by IoT devices.

Attendees can to attend Scaling Time Series Apps Roadshow sessions in any of the locations for times and specific locations:

Irvine, CA: September 7

Los Angeles, CA: September 8

San Francisco, CA: September 14

Seattle, WA: September 15

London, England: September 20

Boston, MA: September 20

New York, NY: September 21

Stockholm, Sweden: September 27

Chicago, IL: September 27

Atlanta, GA: October 6

Paris, France: October 6

For further details on the Quiz results and the agenda the Scaling Time Series Apps Roadshow please read . Participate in the roadshow via Twitter using the hashtag #IoT_Roadshow

In addition to both tours, Basho will be exhibiting at in New York, from September 29 to October 1, at in Brussels October 25-27, as well as Big Data London at Olympia on November 3-6 to engage with application architects and developers regarding the challenges of and solutions for building IoT apps to leverage time series data.

Basho, the creator of the worlds most resilient databases, is dedicated to developing disruptive technology that simplifies enterprises most critical distributed systems data management challenges. Basho has attracted one of the most talented groups of engineers and technical experts ever assembled devoted exclusively to solving some of the most complex issues presented by Big Data and IoT. Bashos distributed database, Riak KV, the industry leading distributed NoSQL database, is used by fast growing Web businesses and by one-third of the Fortune 50 to power their critical Web, mobile and social applications. Built on the same foundation, Basho introduced Riak TS, which is the first enterprise-ready NoSQL database specifically optimized to store, query and analyze time series data. Basho also helps enterprises reduce the complexity of supporting Big Data applications by integrating Riak KV, Riak TS and Riak S2 with Apache Spark, Mesos, Redis, and Apache Solr.

Riak is the registered trademark of Basho Technologies, Inc. The trademarks and names of other companies and products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Alyssa Marty

BOCA Communications for Basho

(209)-747-3527
World Health Energy Holdings Inc. Announces Appointment of Mr. Regis Nebor Previously From FX and Consultant Also to Yahoo and Popcast as V.P. Team Leader for Software Development

NEW YORK, NY  (Marketwired)  08/16/16  World Health Energy Holdings (OTC PINK: WHEN), a diversified energy, health and financial software company , is reshaping its management Team with the appointment of Mr. Regis Nebor, previously part of CostraFX and former Yahoo Inc. consultant, as V.P. Team Leader of Software development.

Regis Nebor is an Entrepreneur with an IT Background who caters to automation in the financial world. He co-founded Costra Enterprises Ltd. in a quest to introduce and conquer the Forex Brokerage market in Georgia then led its expansion to New Zealand qualifying CostraFX for an FSP license, an effort later thwarted by the 2015 regulatory changes. Mr. Nebor has consulted for Majestic Research Corp., Popcast Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Media code Inc. He specialized on tuning and enhancing software by leveraging their API to provide additional functionality to the end user. Regis Nebor holds a Master Degree in Computer Science Engineering from University Rennes I in France.

Among the other changes, Mr. Levi is no longer part of WHEN and FSC, the Broker Dealer relationship with AMID is suspended until further notice more on the news Mr. Teplitsky will join us to strengthen and expand our team, leading the switch to a new and energized platform, destined to help WHEN grow its earning potential before the end of 2016.

World Health Energy Holdings Have working to integrate a Financial Software, Banking, and Holding Company. Its companies include FSC Solutions, Inc. (), and Online trade DBA company with our new back office system potentially creating high traffic to our new business model between FX and managed accounts for our existing clients, excluding US traders.

Interested investors and shareholders are invited to be added to the corporate e-mail database for corporate press releases and periodic industry updates by sending an e-mail to

World Health Energy Holdings, Inc. (WHEN) is a diversified energy, health and financial software company. WHEN is comprised of:

FSC Solutions Inc. (), teamed with IB which will enable a suite of next-generation, direct-access online trading platform solutions for stocks, equity, options, bonds, futures and Forex trading on the global markets, as well as risk management software.

Online Trade is an online FX and Stocks service company offering an online trading platform for Stocks, Mutual, fx futures, and fixed income with low transaction costs.

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. Although forward-looking statements in this release reflect the good faith judgment of management, forward-looking statements are inherently subjected to known, unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those discussed in these forward-looking statements, including but not limited to our ability to maintain our website and associated computer systems, our ability to generate sufficient market acceptance for our products and services, our ability to generate sufficient operating cash flow, and general economic conditions. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one of more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release.

World Health Energy Holdings, Inc

511 Avenue of the Americas #710

New York, NY 10011

1-212-884-8395

For Tel quotes

1-855-732-0051
Northside Farmers Market helps bring healthy food options to urban residents.

The Trail to Cleaner Air

Source: PolicyLink National Equity Atlas

Connections for Better Lives

Groundwork Cincinnati employs local teens to help restore the Mill Creek and other urban greenways.

Safer Routes for School Kids

Walking School Bus used volunteers to help "conduct" students to and from several Cincinnati public schools.

Greening the Food Deserts

Ana Bird runs the Northside Farmers Market May through October to help support the Rainbow Choice Food Pantry operated by Churches Active in Northside.

Greater Cincinnatis environment dramatically impacts our quality of life. But that broad topic encompasses so many aspects that one organization would be hard pressed to address opportunities and challenges inherent in energy, waste reduction, transportation, land management, water, local food and outdoor recreation by itself. That made the sector a perfect candidate for one of the Greater Cincinnati Foundations five-year Collective Impact initiatives Soapbox is exploring how these initiatives have affected a series of community-wide issues. Theyre being addressed through the disciplined Collective Impact approach that assembles numerous players to collaborate toward a common vision, adopting measurable goals and work to reinforce one anothers efforts with the encouragement and oversight of backbone organizations.The backbone organization for environmental sustainability is Green Umbrella , with a broad goal of attaining recognition for our region as one of Americas top 10 sustainable metro areas by 2020. Thats ambitious, but partnering with two regional planning initiatives  the Cincinnati USA Regional Chambers Agenda 360 (now folded into the overall Chamber organization) and Skyward in Northern Kentucky  and more than 300 businesses, nonprofits and governmental agencies, Green Umbrella is tackling a broad array of issues through action teams focused on numerous programs and projects.Teams have established goals and metrics to determine progress toward various 2020 targets. One seeks to reduce total energy consumption in the built environment by 15 percent, while another works double the local production of renewable energy annually. A third pursues a 20 percent reduction in gasoline and diesel fuel use. A fourth team hopes to double the amount of fruits and vegetables sourced and consumed within the region, while a fifth works on ways to reduce disposed waste by 33 percent.Additional teams conceive ways to protect and celebrate streams, rivers and other water resources  including developing and now sponsoring the annual Ohio River Paddlefest extravaganza  and to increase participation in recreational and educational activities and events by 15 percent as well as boosting the local acreage of high quality green space by 8 percent.Air quality, transportation and trails go hand in hand. Green Umbrella Executive Director Kristin Weiss points to research indicating that Greater Cincinnati has more air pollution than the national average in every category.In particular, African Americans are disproportionately impacted by air pollution, especially in the urban core. Minorities constitute roughly 45 percent of the city of Cincinnatis population but index much higher than whites in exposure to air pollution at home.Our African-American population is concentrated in the urban center, where there is more traffic and congestion, Weiss points out. Our topography is such that we are located in a valley, which increases our rate for asthma, especially among minority communities.Traffic congestion, reduced transit access and households without cars further compound the situation.When we look at the share of jobs accessible via public transportation within a 90-minute commute one-way, its less than 35 percent, Weiss says. We need to look at how to get people to destinations, to jobs, to schools, to parks in a way thats not contributing to air pollution.So the Green Umbrella transportation action team is pursuing a regional trail network.Our response is trees and trails, Weiss says. We want our communities to be more walkable and bike-friendly, with access to trails for exercise and transportation. We need a robust tree canopy to mitigate the effect of the air pollution.The OKI regional council of governments asked Green Umbrella to help update its long-range transportation plan stretching out to 2040.The previous update included just three projects worth about $2.5 million, Weiss says. Our update identified 17 planned bike and pedestrian projects worth about $191 million. Thats a 7,500 percent increase! People want more walkable and bike-friendly communities.Without Green Umbrella, there would have been no coordination and no overall vision. Now our region has a master trail plan. We already have over 315 miles of existing trails, and another 1,000 total miles of trails have been proposed. Now people have that data and can make strategic decisions about projects to connect people and places faster. Its a good example of Collective Impact.A new plan focused on the urban center called Cincinnati Connects would create a 42-mile urban loop connecting 33 communities.More than 240,000 people live within a mile of this network, Weiss says. The reports economic study suggests it would be roughly a 3-to-1 return on investment.The plans momentum is driven by cross-disciplinary engagement, made possible with funds from Interact for Health , a grant-maker supporting community-wide health initiatives. Groundwork Cincinnati Mill Creek manages the project, and partners include Cincinnati City and Hamilton County parks, Little Duck Creek Trail, Wasson Way, The Ohio River Way, Ohio River Trail West as well as businesses such as Kolar Design and Human Nature landscape architects.(Read a full Q&A with Kristin Weiss in the right-hand column of this page.)Wade Johnston is Green Umbrellas regional trails coordinator. He suggests that the Mill Creek Greenway Trail will improve several impoverished neighborhoods.A couple of sections are built, he says. One in Northside connects from South Cumminsville all the way to Spring Grove Village. The vision is to connect from Downtown near Lower Price Hill to all the way north out of Hamilton County. Its a 10-foot-wide multi-use trail that can accommodate bikes and walking.Such a trail through low-income neighborhoods will positively affect residents lives.Those communities have located there because thats where affordable housing is found, Johnston explains. Having a trail to connect them to Downtown and the West End and other industrial areas will provide opportunities to get to work. Having a bike is more accessible than a car and generally more convenient than a bus for a short distance.Johnston mentions environmental restoration along the Mill Creek Corridor, work being carried out by Groundwork Cincinnati , part of an international network of trusts focused on environmental issues that improve the quality of life, especially for minority and low-income residents.Tanner Yess, Groundworks youth leader, fieldwork manager and trail coordinator, is deeply involved in the restoration, largely carried out by about 1,000 teens annually that he supervises. Theyre not just labor.They also learn about sustainability, Yess explains, and about the connection to conservation as a whole  not just the Mill Creek but to the Ohio River, the Mississippi and the ocean. They participate on learning projects in reforestation, planting perennials like milkweed, removing invasive species and maintaining green structures.Yess also manages an in-depth summer youth employment program.With the help of the City of Cincinnati we employ teens for local cleaning projects, he says. They get more in-depth restoration experience and learn about conservation and sustainability. Some of them travel to regional preserves and national parks.As part of this web of interconnected projects related to traversing urban environments, one with special impact on children in troubled neighborhoods is the  Walking School Bus , a Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) program spearheaded by one-time banker Carmen Burks.A federally funded Safe Routes to School study caught her interest a decade ago. It revealed that Cincinnati had numerous children walking to school because busing is provided only if they live more than a mile from the school building. CPS has approximately 14,000 students in elementary schools, and about 45 percent dont need or have access to busing.When the study was overlaid with crime mapping, a light bulb went off.The one-mile walk that some kids take, Burks realized, meant that they were potentially facing hazards.She became an involved volunteer and eventually a program director.Everyone is entitled to a public education, she points out, but there isnt equity in that process. How could we make sure it becomes equitable and, regardless of where you live or where youre at on that socio-economic status, your kid can get to school to get an education?Her response: the Walking School Bus with mapped routes and trained conductors to walk approximately 10 kids to and from school. Adults receive meaningful training and are paid a stipend, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice. (The funding for 2016-2017 has stalled, but Burks is confident it will be restored so she can expand her corps of 75 conductors.)Burks is a leader of Green Umbrellas transportation action team. Its enabled her to connect with the Cincinnati Health Department and an organization dedicated to healthy outdoor activities for kids, Leave No Child Inside Being out in nature does something for kids. It connects them with nature, she says. Safety is certainly an issue, but kids dont play outside anymore. We had Cincinnati Parks come and teach about local trees and vegetation.Thats the kind of connection the Collective Impact initiative supports.Ive traveled around the country a lot and seen what happens in other communities, Burks says. The great thing about Green Umbrella is the Collective Impact model. Just because your focus is on transportation doesnt mean you dont have an impact on safety or on schools. More organizations like Green Umbrella would make our country a better place.Another focus area for Green Umbrella is food, especially food deserts, where low-income populations have very little access to grocery stores.We want to get fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables to our residents, Weiss says. We do that through our Food Policy Council , and our local food action team has a campaign asking people to spend 10 percent of their food budget on local food. That would drive $56 million into our local economy.The council came together in October 2014 with a grant from Interact for Health . Today, 40 representatives from organizations in the 10-county region come together regularly to focus on healthy food access and consumption from a policy standpoint. They address distribution and procurement, food production and land use as well as community assessment, planning and zoning.To create equity and better health, Green Umbrella is the fiscal sponsor for a new program called Produce Perks. Its a dollar-for-dollar incentive program offering up to an additional $10 in value for SNAP participants (the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program once called food stamps). Its available at farmers markets across the region.Ana Bird heads the year-round Northside Farmers Market , operating 4-7 p.m. every Wednesday from May through October in Hoffner Park. Its indoors at North Church, 4222 Hamilton Ave., when necessary.For 2016 there have been 40 vendors selling produce, fruit, bread, cheese, pastries, jams, meats, gluten-free baked goods, spices, chocolates, coffees and more. Two-thirds of visitors are from Northside, but lots of others from Finneytown to Northern Kentucky make it a regular stop.Bird has enhanced Produce Perks with a Budget Recipe Menu Plan in partnership with the Rainbow Choice Food Pantry operated by Churches Active in Northside (CAIN). They teach SNAP participants how to spend $40, enhanced by the $10 supplement from Produce Perks, and create five dinners for four people.With the support of a grant from Green Umbrellas Cincy Good Food Fund this year, the market now provides a free shuttle service around the 45223 ZIP code to enhance access. The grant also makes possible cooking classes for kids and adults with a special emphasis on preparing seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables.Bird has established a partnership with the Apple Street Market Cooperative , working to bring back a grocery store to Northside sometime in 2017. Apple Street presently has a booth at the market to sell items not grown locally as well as packaged goods like canned beans and rice.Green Umbrella does a really great job, even beyond Produce Perks, Bird says. The food action team brings together people and ideas. It gives us networking opportunities with other farmers markets and sources for local foods. They really are an umbrella. Their name says it all  a connector for people to meet with the food action team, join forces, learn whats going on.Thats the point of the Greater Cincinnati Foundations Collective Impact initiatives: concerted, focused, broadly supported efforts that make a difference in Greater Cincinnati.This is Part 3 of a Soapbox series of reports exploring how Collective Impact is changing and improving Greater Cincinnati, with future reports to come on Sept. 20 and Oct. 18. Support for this "Collective Impact" series is provided by The Greater Cincinnati Foundation Infographic by Steph Landry Design.
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Passengers boarding Australia-bound flights at Incheon International Airport will be spared extra security checks at the boarding gate from Monday.

Korea thus becomes the first country to be exempt from all extra security checks at the gate mandated by some destination countries with special concerns for homeland security.

On Jan. 31 this year, the procedure was scrapped for U.S.-bound flights from Incheon.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday said it also asked Australia earlier this year to go easier. The Australian government inspected security measures at Incheon and agreed.

This will mean that some 230,000 people who leave for Australia every year will be spared the added inconvenience of a second security check, which also makes duty-free shopping less of a hassle.

So far passengers needed to buy liquid duty free goods at least one hour before departure, go through the secondary security check, and only then have their purchases handed over by duty-free shop staff.

According to the aviation industry, the measure will cut the time spent in security checks by 580 hours per year and save W400 million a year on handling costs for bottled duty-free goods.


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Reports of shots fired at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport Sunday night led to evacuations, grounded flights and some frightening moments for fliers before the reports were later determined to be unfounded.

"At this time, no firearm, rounds or shell casings or other evidence of shots fired has been found," said Joe Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.

Police evacuated Terminal 8 around 9:30 p.m. Sunday as a precaution after receiving reports of shots fired near the departures area.

Officers from the New York Police Department were called in to assist with the investigation.


Artist's illustration of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the pad. SLS is scheduled to fly for the first time in late 2018.

NASA's huge new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will indeed be the most powerful booster ever built, agency officials said.

There's been some confusion and controversy about this claim ever since the SLS  which NASA is developing to get astronauts to Mars and other deep-space destinations  was announced in September 2011.

NASA officials have long maintained that the most muscular form of the SLS will be capable of lofting 143 tons (130 metric tons) of payload to low-Earth orbit (LEO). That's where the confusion comes in: The LEO capacity of the agency's famous Saturn V moon rocket was about 154 tons (140 metric tons), according to a 2006 U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. [Photos: NASA's Space Launch System for Deep Space Flights]

NASA's giant Space Launch System, or SLS, is derived from proven technology used for decades in America's moon program and the space shuttle. See how NASA's Space Launch System mega-rocket works in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com)

But arguments for the Saturn V's supremacy are based on a flawed, apples-to-oranges comparison, said Kimberly Robinson, manager of strategic communications for SLS at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Specifically, the 143-ton figure for SLS refers to pure payload, whereas the Saturn V could loft 154 tons of "injected mass," Robinson said.

That injected mass included the Saturn V's third stage, as well as the fuel present in the stage, according to the authors of the 2006 CBO report (who wrote that they sourced their information from Richard Orloff's "Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference").

The SLS team has calculated some apples-to-apples comparisons, and the new rocket comes out on top, Robinson said Aug. 3 during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group.

"We have a payload mass to LEO of about 122.4 metric tons [135 tons] for Saturn V," said Robinson, who did not give the FISO presentation but chimed in to answer a question posed by a listener. (The FISO talk was given by Chris Sanders of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Bob DaLee of Boeing and Orbital ATK's Mike Fuller. These three companies are the prime contractors for SLS.)

The "injected mass" capacity of SLS comes out to 173 tons (156.9 metric tons), Robinson added. She, Sanders, DaLee and Fuller all cautioned, however, that these numbers for SLS are not carved in stone.

"We're talking about a 130-metric-ton-class vehicle," Robinson said. "It doesn't tell you exactly the capability."

The path to Mars

SLS is an evolvable vehicle, with three primary variants currently envisioned. All of them consist of a core stage, along with two solid rocket boosters (SRBs).

The first version, known as Block 1, will have a LEO payload capacity of 77 tons (70 metric tons). The Block 1B iteration will boost that to 116 tons (105 metric tons), while the Block 2 will max out at 143 tons (130 metric tons) to LEO.

But SLS was not designed with Earth orbit in mind. The rocket is a key part of NASA's plan to get astronauts to Mars, which the agency aims to do before the end of the 2030s.

SLS will launch Red Planet pioneers aboard the Orion crew capsule, which is also in development. Orion has one flight under its belt, an unmanned test to Earth orbit in December 2014 that lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy (which is the most powerful rocket currently in operation).

SLS is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2018, when a Block 1 booster will launch an uncrewed Orion on a weeklong trip around the moon known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).

The SLS team has been notching its milestones, including an SRB ground test in June, on time and as expected, DaLee said.

"Everything looks good and on schedule for a late '18 launch," he said during the FISO talk.

Science missions, too

While SLS was designed chiefly to launch astronauts, the rocket could also play a large role in NASA's robotic exploration plans going forward, agency officials have said.

Planetary missions launching atop the SLS could get to their destinations much more quickly than probes sent on their way by currently available rockets, and also carry more science gear, DaLee said.

As one example, he cited the as-yet-unnamed robotic mission NASA plans to launch toward the potentially life-harboring Jupiter moon Europa in the 2020s. A Europa mission that launched atop an SLS Block 1B, as opposed to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, could shave 4.5 years off the journey (from 6.5 years down to 2 years) and carry twice as much payload, DaLee said.

"Size really does matter, in multiple ways," Sanders said.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Hubble Space Telescope image of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, which lies just 4.25 light-years from the sun.

Astronomers have found a rocky and possibly Earth-like planet circling the star closest to the sun, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel.

On Friday (Aug. 12), Der Spiegel reported that the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) La Silla Observatory in Chile had spotted evidence of a rocky, potentially habitable world orbiting Proxima Centauri, a small, dim star that lies just 4.25 light-years from the sun.

Scientists with the ESO will announce the find later this month, according to Der Spiegel, which cited an unnamed astrophysicist on the discovery team as its source. [In Images: The 1st Earth-Size Alien Planets Ever Found]

ESO officials neither confirmed nor denied the report.

"We were surprised to see the article in Der Spiegel and do not know the source," ESO spokesman Richard Hook told Space.com via email. "ESO has no further comment to make at present."

Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, a star much smaller and cooler than the sun. About three-quarters of all stars in the Milky Way galaxy are red dwarfs.

Proxima Centauri lies just 0.24 light-years from the two stars of Alpha Centauri, and many astronomers regard the red dwarf as part of the latter system.

In 2012, astronomers announced that La Silla's High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher instrument, or HARPS, had spotted a rocky, roughly Earth-size planet around Alpha Centauri B. This world, known as Alpha Centauri Bb, circles its host star once every 3.2 days, and is therefore much too hot to support life, discovery team members said at the time.

However, a 2015 study found that the detected signal of Alpha Centauri Bb was merely an artifact and that the planet almost certainly does not exist.

To date, astronomers have discovered more than 3,200 confirmed alien planets, with NASA's Kepler space telescope responsible for about two-thirds of the finds. Kepler's work suggests that, on average, every star in the Milky Way hosts at least one planet.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
"Time For Kids" magazine and Slooh Community Observatory are teaming up to explore the five naked-eye planets, all of which will be visible in the sky on Aug. 16.

Kids can celebrate a planetary "high five" tonight by tuning in to the online Slooh Community Observatory's special broadcast to show off the five naked-eye planets, starting today (Aug. 16) at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). Slooh will also show the view from its Constellation Cam for 3 hours beforehand.

Slooh is partnering with "Time For Kids" magazine to talk about Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, all of which are in the sky right now at the same time. The broadcast will show kids where to find these planets in the sky right from their own backyards, and also through Slooh's telescopes in Spain's Canary Islands.

Budding astronomers can watch the live coverage on Slooh's website. Viewers can participate by tweeting @slooh or taking part in the broadcast's live chat. You can also watch the planet webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

"While many describe this event as an 'alignment,' the planets don't actually line up," Slooh representatives said in a statement. "Rather, they'll appear in two groups. Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will appear together low in the western sky at dusk local time, so keep an eye out for them as the sun sets where you live. Meanwhile, Mars and Saturn will rise high in the southern sky, forming a triangle with the bright star Antares."

Slooh astronomer Eric Edelman will take viewers on a tour through the skies, explaining how the planets move and how this leads to planetary groupings.

For part of the broadcast, Bing Quock, assistant director of the Morrison Planetarium at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences, will discuss Saturn. The telescope will zoom in on the planet as Quock and Edelman discuss the possibility of life on Saturn's icy moons.

Edelman also will be joined by Josh Richards, a finalist in the Mars One project. Mars One is a private organization planning to send the first human expedition to the Red Planet. Richards will discuss why he wants to go to Mars, especially considering he won't be offered a ride home.

For 3 hours before the show, Slooh will make its Constellation Cam available to use virtually. This will allow kids to see Mars, Saturn and the star Antares and take pictures of them.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Crews use a crane to hoist the massive service structure into place during the Aug. 15, 2016 installation of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner's crew access arm.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  On Monday (Aug. 15), reporters gathered here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 to witness the installation of the crew access arm for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

The arm, spanning roughly 50 feet (15 meters) in length and weighing over 90,000 lbs. (40,800 kilograms), will form a deployable bridge for the Commercial Crew Program astronauts to walk across. The structure is designed to swing away when not in use and will connect the crew access tower to the hatch of the spacecraft.

Chris Ferguson and Kathy Lueders express their excitement for the Aug. 15, 2016 installation of the Starliners crew access arm and look forward to the day the first humans launch from U.S. soil. (Image credit: Amy Thompson/Space.com)

Constructed off-site at a nearby construction yard, the arm was transported to the launch complex last week. It connects to the 200-foot-tall (60 m) access tower, which is the first of its kind to be built in more than three decades, according to NASA. The tower is situated on an active launchpad, and it had to be constructed in segments. Construction should be finished later this year, and a crewed mission is expected to launch in 2018. [CST-100: Images of Boeing's Private Space Capsule]

At the end of the arm is the white room, which will be astronauts' last stop on Earth before they board the spacecraft. This type of room, which dates back to NASA's Gemini program from the 1960s and gets its name from the white paint coating the walls, is an integral part of any crewed mission. In this room, a support crew will help the astronauts make any final adjustments to their suits before they are strapped into their seats in the Starliner capsule, just 3 hours before liftoff.

The hatch will be sealed just 1 hour prior to launch, with the access arm and white room swinging away from the capsule approximately 10 minutes before liftoff, Boeing representatives explained. Once the countdown reaches zero, the spacecraft will blast off toward the International Space Station atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

Crews began the installation process around 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT) on Monday morning, and the main event  the hoisting of the structure  occurred soon after. Once the arm was carefully maneuvered into place, it was welded and bolted to the tower.

The installation marks a major milestone in the project's development. "We started building this 18 months ago, and now it's one of the most visible changes to the Cape's horizon since the 1960s," Chris Ferguson, Boeing's deputy program manager for the company's Commercial Crew Program and former shuttle commander, told the media after the tower was hoisted into place.

Close up of the crew access arm and white room before its installation on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner crew access tower Aug. 15, 2016 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. (Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

The completion of the arm is another step forward for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The agency, together with its partners SpaceX and Boeing, is working toward launching humans once again from American soil. Since the space shuttle's retirement in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian rockets to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.

With the Commercial Crew Program, NASA plans to not only reduce the cost of sending astronauts to and from space but also increase the number of astronauts on the station. Adding one more crewmember to the roster would double the amount of research that could be conducted on the station, NASA officials have said.

The Crew Access Tower for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, with the crew access arm and white room in the process of installation (lower right). (Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

"It's going to be so cool when our astronauts are walking out across this access arm to get on the spacecraft and go to the space station," said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

"I'm proud to be leading the team that is working to bring human spaceflight back to American soil," added Barb Egan, ULA's Commercial Crew Program manager. "In 1962, John Glenn was the first to fly on an Atlas, and now our next leap into the future will be to have Commercial Crew astronauts launch from here on an Atlas V."

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com/.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to a controversial shrine honoring the country's fallen soldiers from World War II, avoiding a personal visit in order not to anger rivals China and South Korea.

Abe sent the offering to the Yasukuni Shrine Monday as the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, not as prime minister, as Japan marked the 71st anniversary of its defeat at the hands of Allied forces.


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Trump is an agitator who famously referred to Mexicans as rapists and said he wanted to refuse Muslims entry into the United States. Last week, he offhandedly suggested the possibility of an armed uprising or gun violence against Clinton. If Clinton is elected president and names a judge to the Supreme Court, Trump told his fans, "Nothing you can do, folks." But he promptly added: "Although the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don't know."

Trump left open what that might be, but there can be little doubt about what he meant. Trump, who has repeatedly incited violence in the past, has now pushed the limits of what can be said even further. His crude political notions aside, this proves that Trump lacks the character necessary to be president. A man like him must never be given the nuclear launch codes.
An Iowa man, who was arrested over an upside down flag, is blasting authorities for stampeding on his rights. According to local media, Homer Martz was arrested after he hung the American flag upside down in front of his home in protest of the construction of a pipeline.

To make his point, the Army veteran added the Chinese flag underneath the American one. Talking to a reporter from The Messenger, Mr. Martz explained his actions saying that a Texas company by the name of Dakota Access is currently constructing an oil pipeline that will cross into Iowa.

The government has granted Dakota Access the right to use eminent domain to take the land from landowners. The oil line is expected to pass between the soldiers home and a well that supplies his water.

The company spoke to Mr. Martz and promised him to fix any damage that may occur during the construction, but that was not good enough, so he decided to protest. On Thursday, after police learned of Martzs flag stunt, he was arrested and hit with a long list of charges, which includes:

publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, cast contempt upon, satirize, deride or burlesque, either by words or act, such flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state.

If authorities in Iowa do not enforce the law, they could be removed from office. The man said that his rights were violated, and added:

If they had asked me to take them down, and showed me the statute, I would have taken them down. But in my book, they trespassed by taking the flags down.

He went on to say:

They said, You cant do this. We have a statute. I said Im sorry, but you shouldnt have took them down, So I walked back out and put them back up, and they arrested me.

He concluded by:

Im a soldier.When I walked to the airport in the 70s with my dress uniform on, I was spit on. I stood in front of people that were protesting, and Ive been cussed at. And like I said, thats their rights. Ive never infringed on their rights. But you know, freedom of speech, freedom to protest  people can burn the American flag.Its legal. Thats the Supreme Court.

Mr. Martz has found some support online.
Kelsi Butt faced a mountain lion that was three times her weight and survived the ordeal. This year the Butts/Sevys had a family reunion that they will never forget.

On Friday, several members of the two families got together at Green Canyon Hot Springs in Newdale, Idaho to camp, hike, and spend some quality time together.

During dinner, Kera Butt looked at her husband and told him that she had just seen a big mountain lion walking through the trees. The clan thought nothing of Mrs. Butts comment and kept on eating. Israel Butt shared his wifes comment with the media by saying:

We were eating dinner and my wife looked off into the distance and said, I just saw a cat run by! A big cat!.And we were sort of like, No way! Youre crazy! And just went back to eating our dinner.

After dinner, Kelsi Butt, 4, and two cousins ages 2 and 12, decided to walk to a nearby creek to play. During the little stroll, a 93-pound mountain lion appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the girl with its teeth.

When Kera Butt, Kelsis mom, heard the children screaming, she ran to their aid, only to discover that her little girl was about to be eaten by a creature. The mountain lion, which weighed 93 pounds, had Kelsi, 36 lbs., in its mouth and dragging her into the forest.

The animal dropped Kelsi, turned her over and pounced on her with both paws, according to Carol Sevy, her grandmother. Sevy added:

The mountain lion bit Kelsi on the side and tried to pick her up and drag the girl with her mouth. It didnt have a good hold, so it put its paws on her to get a better grip.

According to Mrs. Butt, she has no idea what took her, but she started screaming at the lion to let go of her child, and it worked. The child, who suffered numerous bites from the animal, was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors treated them, gave her antibiotics, and a rabies shot. The father revealed:

Claw marks covered her back, leg, upper thigh and arm. Kelsi was sobbing as she told her mother she hurt everywhere. We rushed her to the emergency room, she is fine but doctors are worried about the bites becoming infected because cats are so filthy and those bite marks can become really infected. Shes on antibiotics and theyve given her rabies shots as well, its protocol.

Less than five hours after the incident, authorities found and killed the wild animal. Gregg Losinski, a representative of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Madison County Sheriffs office, explained that the lion was taken down with the hound dogs. Losinski said:

Hound dogs brought in by the officers forced the lion down from a tree, and it was then shot and killed by sheriff deputies. When lions do attack, records indicate that small children are often the targets.

He went on to say:

This family showed how vigilance and quick thinking can help avert a tragedy. It could have gone the other way so easily. She could have been gone and we would have never seen her. You really have to keep your eyes open when youre out camping.

Since the attack, Kelsi, who has been given the nickname Puma Princess has left the hospital, went to church, and went back to the same camping site with her family.

Mr. Butt concluded the interview by saying that his little girl had a few nightmares and is doing well now. The father explained:

I cant even begin to describe how thankful and lucky we are. We still have our little girl with us.

The story of this young child and the mountain lion sparked many conversations online.
The Midwestern U.S. city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, saw a second night of unrest Sunday into early Monday, with police in riot gear confronting a group of people protesting the killing of a black man by police.

The Milwaukee Police Department said that an 18-year-old man was shot during the protests and they used an armored vehicle to take him to a hospital. But there was no repeat of the widespread destruction of property that occurred Saturday, when at least six businesses were torched and destroyed.

Officers ordered people to disperse Sunday and reported having rocks and other objects thrown at them, with four law enforcement personnel injured. The department also said 14 people were arrested.

Similar protests erupted Saturday night after an officer shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith in the chest and arm after pulling over his car for what authorities described as suspicious behavior.

Flynn told reporters Sunday that Smith ran several meters from his car before the officer, who is also black, fired his gun. The chief said Smith was armed with a gun and pointed it at the officer.

"It was in his hand. He was raising up with it," Flynn said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said that the officer was wearing a body camera during the altercation and that the video will be made public "at the appropriate time." Barrett said a still image from the video "demonstrates, without question, that he had a gun in his hand. And I want our community to know that."
Bir Lahlu (liberated territories), August 16, 2016 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Brahim Gali, said Monday in a letter sent to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon that "the Moroccan forces that penetrate the wall of Karkarat area, supported with transport equipment, military engineering and accompanied with aerial reconnaissance, constitute a new and serious breach of military agreement No. 1 of the ceasefire agreement between the two sides Polisario Front and Morocco signed in September 06, 1991.

Brahim Gali in his letter stressed that starting on August 11, 2016, the Moroccan occupation forces in Western Sahara exceeded repeatedly the Moroccan military wall, in said area, part of the Bir Kanduz sector belonging to the first military Region.SPS

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DANBURY  Praxair, one of Danburys largest employers, is in talks to merge with Germanys Linde AG, a deal that would create the worlds largest industrial gas supplier.

The company on Tuesday morning confirmed it is in preliminary discussions, but added in a release: These discussions are ongoing and there can be no assurance that they will result in a transaction, or on what terms any transaction may occur.

Praxiar said it would not comment further at this time.

Similarly, Linde confirmed the report in a short statement, but warned the talks were ongoing and have not resulted in any concrete results or agreements yet, and that it is currently not foreseeable whether there will be any kind of transaction.

The Linde statement added that if the talks are successful the company would inform the capital market and public in accordance with statutory requirements.

Each company is valued at approximately $30 billion. Details of the potential merger were not clear. Any agreement would be subject to antitrust regulators.

The talks come on the heels of Frances Air Liquide SA buying out Airgas in a $13 billion deal that made Air Liquide the industry leader in terms of annual revenue. A Praxair merger with Linde would make that company number one in annual revenue.

Praxair supplies gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, dry ice, helium and neon to a variety of industries. The company, which employs about 400 people in Danbury, had sales of $10.8 billion in 2015. It announced in 2014 it was keeping its headquarters in Danbury and would make a $65 million investment to build a 100,000-square-foot facility at the former location of GE Capital on Riverview Drive.

Praxair (NYSE: PX) saw its stock rise 5.36 points (4.45 percent) to 123.39 in afternoon trading Tuesday.

Last month Praxair reported a drop in second quarter sales due to negative currency translation as well as declining sales in North American due to weakness in the energy and manufacturing sectors.

The company also reported net income and diluted earnings per share of $399 million and $1.39, respectively.

Stephen Bull, president and CEO of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, said Praxair is a stalwart business in Danbury and owes it to its stockholders to consider the deal.

It would be remiss if it didnt look at the opportunity, which may increase shareholder value and market share, Bull said. Praxair is one of the most valuable companies in Danbury and one of the best specialty gas companies in the world. Its an exemplary company.

Bull declined to predict the impact the merger may have on Danbury because details were not available.

He did say a merger would strengthen the Danbury business communitys ties with Germany and Switzerland. Air conditioning company Belimo was founded in Germany and is now headquartered in Switzerland. Belimo Americas has a large facility in Danbury. Barden, a member of German-based Schaeffler, has its U.S. headquarters in Danbury. Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim is one of Danburys largest employers.

We have a strong connection with Germany, Bull said.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; (203) 731-3338
You have trust in your financial adviser  otherwise he or she would not be your adviser in the first place. Could that trust sometimes be misplaced?

Every industry includes some that bend or break the rules, but a recent working paper from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago suggests that misconduct is significant in the financial advisory field. One author of the working paper, Professor of Finance Amit Seru for the Booth School of Business, calls the misconduct "pervasive."

According to the Booth study, approximately 7% of advisers have faced disciplinary action for misconduct. The nature of the misconduct ranges from directing clients toward unsuitable investments for their situation (that new regulations will help to check for retirement funds) to unauthorized trading on their client's accounts.

Using BrokerCheck, a comprehensive database that is compiled and overseen by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the study authors summarized and analyzed disclosures in six categories considered "indicative of adviser misconduct." These categories include formal actions by regulatory agencies against an adviser "for a violation of investment-related rules," as well as having a successful investment-related arbitration or civil suit filed against the adviser.

Large, well-known names in the field were represented in the highest percentages of misconduct as well as the lowest. Firms with the highest incidence of misconduct in the study include Oppenheimer & Co. at a 19.6% rate of misconduct and First Allied Securities at 17.7%. The top ten highest percentage of misconduct were all above 13.2%. Meanwhile, the ten groups with the lowest incidence of misconduct were all below 1.75%, led by Morgan Stanley at 0.79% and the Goldman Sachs Group at 0.88%.

According to the press release accompanying the study, this research "indicates that misconduct is widespread in regions with relatively high-incomes, low education levels, and elderly populations." That seems contradictory, but it may simply mean that there are two general targets. One set of misconduct focuses on more vulnerable customers (the elderly and less-educated) while others are aiming for higher-value targets.

A large number of the misconduct cases were centered on unsuitable investment advice, such as steering an elderly client toward placing a large majority of assets into an aggressive-growth mutual fund with higher risks and potentially higher fees. Insurance products were often involved in the reported misconduct cases.

Financial firms do discipline financial advisers that violate the rules, but repeat offenders are not uncommon. Approximately half of advisers that are judged to have engaged in misconduct are terminated, but 44% of those advisers find another job in the field within one year after being fired.

The recidivism rate is high as well. Those who committed misconduct in the past are five times as likely as the typical adviser to engage in misconduct again.

The problem may be even worse than the study implies. Seru believes the Booth study is being conservative in its assessment, given that only six categories of misconduct were assessed but the BrokerCheck database contains 23 such categories. Only firms with at least 1,000 advisers were included in the study. Further, any broker not registered with FINRA will not show up in the database.

Protect yourself and be proactive in checking out your financial adviser through BrokerCheck as well as other resources such as the Better Business Bureau. Make online checks a part of your research before choosing a financial adviser. You probably comparison-shop for online purchases; surely it is worth putting in at least as much time researching the potential director of your finances.
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Imagine if there was one night when Michael Jackson wound up in the same room with Prince and Madonna, and they hung out and jammed together. It was just that sort of thing that inspired The Million Dollar Quartet, only the real-life stars were from an earlier era, and there were four.

In this case it was Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. They met at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tenn., on the night of Dec. 4, 1956. That story is told in the musical on stage at Westchester Broadway Theatre in New York.

People may have heard about (the legendary recording session), but its not something everyone would know, said Hunter Foster, who is directing the production and was involved in the original Broadway company. I did not know it happened until I got involved in the show. Theres a recording of the whole night. You can buy the recording and hear them goofing off  talking and drinking.

Foster said the musical is compelling because audiences learn about the artists lives, not just the songs that made them four of the biggest names in music history.

This isnt just about being a star; its about going back to your roots and looking at what made you want to make music in the first place. Its easy to get lost in the celebrity of it, he said, but theres something to rediscovering your original dreams and desires.

We all think we know who these guys are. But here we sort of see them in their youth, before certain problems arose for each of them. It was when they had their whole lives ahead of them.

More Information Westchester Broadway Theatre, 1 Broadway Plaza, Elmsford, N.Y. Through Sunday, Sept. 11. Wednesday and Thursday matinees: lunch 11:30 a.m., show 1 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings: dinner 6:30 p.m., show 8. Sunday matinees: lunch noon, show 1:30 p.m. Sundays, dinner 5:30 p.m., show 7. Dinner and show tickets $84-$56. 914-592-2222, BroadwayTheatre.com See More Collapse

Foster said theres a great quote that record/music producer Sam Phillips has at the end of the play: I wish all of those boys would have had a little more happiness in their lives.

Million Dollar Quartet embraces the sounds of that time period through each of the artists different styles. Foster said he has noticed the musical appeals to a wide range of ages  from older folks who grew up with their tunes, to people in their 20s who are just discovering them. Its clear from many interviews that some of these stars, such as Presley and Perkins, influenced artists such as the Beatles.

The music lives on, he said. It feels like theres a broad spectrum of people who know this music and love it, and love hearing it live. That goes for kids, too, he said. Some of these songs, like Hound Dog and Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On, and even Folsom Prison Blues are part of pop culture. Kids will love Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis antics. Its very family friendly.

Drama and romance are also part of Million Dollar Quartet, because Phillips is deciding whether to sell his business to a larger company, and Presleys girlfriend, Marilyn Evans (Dyanne in the show), was with him that December evening.

Written by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, Million Dollar Quartet was nominated for three Tony Awards in 2010. Foster, who played Phillips in previous productions, said he has never seen a show that gives audiences so much joy, and has a real story, real heart and great music.

lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter@NewsTimes.com
1101 Bedford St.: Stamfords First Presbyterian  nicknamed Fish Church because of its unusual shape  has begun a series of renovations with funds from a land sale for the new Element One apartment building on Morgan Street. The first project includes improvements to the front walkways and handicap-accessible ramps. The iconic History of Christianity stepping stones in front of the church will be removed and reset before the project is completed in the first week of September. The church also plans to reconfigure the main office and renovate a kitchen in the fellowship hall, according to Pastor David Van Dyke.

Have a question about a building or property? Email Nora Naughton with Point of Interest in the subject line at nora.naughton@scni.com or call 203-964-2263.
Another year, another looming government shutdown fight.

Thats the predicament Connecticuts 7-member congressional delegation has put us in. Theyre currently enjoying a month-long vacation after leaving Washington, D.C., without fulfilling their basic constitutional duty: funding the government for 2017. When they return after Labor Day, theyll have to scramble to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

This government-by-crisis is now a tradition. Its been more than 20 years since Congress passed a budget on time. The result is almost always the same  and it doesnt benefit Connecticut taxpayers.

With only days, or maybe just hours, before a shutdown, some lawmakers will advocate for a short-term funding bill that lasts through December. This will kick the debate over next years budget into a lame-duck session  the two-month period between the election and the next administration, when neither Congress nor President Barack Obama are accountable to voters.

Worse yet, theyll use this opportunity to enact a massive omnibus bill thats crafted behind closed doors and filled with handouts to special interests and higher spending. Then lame-duck lawmakers will pass it without even reading it, abandoning their duty to protect their constituents  to protect you.

Connecticut taxpayers to say nothing of everyone else  are understandably sick of this charade. Lawmakers say they are, too. Both Republicans and Democrats say they want budget certainty and fiscal responsibility. If they mean it, theyll stop a lame-duck spending bill at any cost.

But theyll need to think outside the box. Thats why they should pass a long-term funding bill. Were calling this plan Stop, Cut & Fix.

Heres why its the best path forward for Connecticuts lawmakers in D.C.

Start with Stop. A long-term funding bill  say, two-years  would end the cycle of manufactured crises. For the first time in years, there would be no last-minute scramble to avoid a shutdown. Nor would a lame-duck Congress and President Obama be able to craft a deal in secret.

Next up is Cut. The biggest problem with the current system is that some lawmakers  on both sides of the aisle  leverage the threat of a shutdown to hike government spending in a lame-duck session. Its little different than a hostage situation, and its happened three times in the past four years.

But a two-year funding bill would protect the bipartisan spending cuts that were established in the 2011 Budget Control Act. Then, Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined with President Obama to establish modest annual spending caps on the one-quarter of the budget that isnt entitlements and interest payments.

These caps are still on the books. A two-year bill would lock them in through 2018, saving taxpayers $150 billion.

Finally, theres Fix. Its obvious that the budgeting process is broken. A two-year funding bill would give Congress time to fix it. Lawmakers could go through a normal appropriations process, publicly debating spending priorities for each part of the federal government. They would even have time to discuss reforms to entitlements  the main drivers of Americas $19.4 trillion-and-growing national debt.

Crucially, theres nothing in this plan preventing lawmakers from adjusting spending within the caps. They would simply have to weigh each proposals pros and cons and make tradeoffs  what theyre supposed to be doing right now.

Now its up to Congress to act. When Connecticuts lawmakers head back to D.C. next month, they have two choices. They can either stick with the failed status quo  broken promises, higher spending, and shutdown threats  or they can get behind a plan that prevents a shutdown fight, restores the normal budgeting process, and puts Connecticut taxpayers first.

It shouldnt be a hard decision.

Andy Koenig is a senior policy advisor at Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. Visit stopcutfix.com for more details.
To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be a bit of a soothsayer, able to see the future and to predict what your customers will want before they know they want it. After all, entrepreneurs are known to be the masters of innovations, right?

Steve Jobs had that skill. Bill Gates has it, too. But as simple as it sounds, it takes a little guidance to figure out which way the winds of change are blowing, especially if you are a rookie.

Apps for entrepreneurs.

Right now, its blowing toward apps. How? Lots of jobs available these days are location independent. There are literally hundreds of legitimate home-based jobs any entrepreneur can do easily. And every tech savvy entrepreneur already knows that you can do your business effectively with nothing but a smart phone.

Related: How to Start a Business with No Money from your Smart Phone

Yeah, all those extraordinary capabilities you think entrepreneurs possess? They don't do it alone! Besides having an amazing team to support their day-to-day endeavors, they also use cutting-edge apps to bring their A-game.

Apps are fast becoming everything to an entrepreneur. From scheduling and holding meetings with the aid of cyber assistants, to messaging and preparing PowerPoint slides, there is an app tailored for your businesss needs, and to help you achieve your goals faster.

Apps to manage your business.

Technology has made it easier for entrepreneurs to accomplish routine tasks, manage time more efficiently, get the latest tech news, and keep track of responsibilities in a more orderly fashion.

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is that you get to choose everything; location, working hours and working tools. Hence, with the growing number of productivity apps available, you can work from an office desk if you so desire, from a hotel lobby, a passenger terminal, a beach or coffee shop.

Related: Use These 24 Tools to Run Your Business From Anywhere in the World

In fact, apps have enabled some entrepreneurs to be more productive, thanks in part to a sense of urgency and almost no shortage of Wi-Fi connectivity. Many entrepreneurs are enjoying this groove as they live their dreams, traveling, meeting people, and doing business.

There are many apps and resources which are hugely popular worldwide, such as Uber, AirBnB, WhatsApp, Yelp, Showbox, and Trip Advisor. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Apps to move the money.

In the arena of business apps that handle payment, there is Venmo which processed more than $1 billion in mobile payments in February 2016. Theres also Google Wallet and Apple Pay, among others, which have made transactions as easy as a few clicks. The apps that handle video virtual meetings mean that you dont need to be in any particular location to do business deals.

"Results are everything. We are now in a global economy and the increased leverage with technology leaves almost no room for second place," says Stephen Molloy, author of How Apps are Changing the World.

Stephen Molloy is one of the innovators in app development, having made over 38 successful apps. This is one man who knows apps and has virtually lived his life by them. He designs apps and uses their efficient procedures in his business, to make him super-productive.

Hes rarely ever too busy for anything that allows him to work on his projects, to travel and to develop apps, making it look almost effortless.

Related: 21 Apps to Boost Productivity, Accountability and Success

Apps to circle the globe.

Having successfully embarked on a whirlwind, one-month round trip with just the aid of the apps on his iPhone, Molloy went from Sydney to Santiago to Bogota to Santa Marta to Cartagena to Medellin to Fort Lauderdale to Cancun to Los Angeles, all without slowing down on productivity. I personally call him a successful digital nomad.

Like Molloy, you too can utilize apps to automate your business and to systemize your businesses, as well.

Times have truly improved, and its vital for any business to quickly acclimatize to new technological developments. A majority of smart, forward-thinking entrepreneurs are taking advantage of these mobile apps phenomenon to further improve their business.

Apps and the startup.

Just because you're a sole proprietor or run a small start-up doesn't mean you can't have executive-level support literally at your fingertips. There's an app for just about anything, including making your entrepreneurial pursuits just a little bit more manageable.

Many of these apps range in price from free to very reasonable. Opting out of entrepreneur-centric apps is like turning down an offer for free work from a contractor. You wouldn't do that, so please make sure you don't have an empty Smartphone desktop or a tablet filled with games and music only.

Related:

How Apps Are Making Entrepreneurship Possible for More People

How to Make the Mobile Job Application Experience Great for Candidates

'No Porn at Work,' and 16 Other Bizarre Goals People Committed to



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Ten lawmakers led by the Saenuri Party's Na Kyung-won made a trip to Dokdo on Monday to assert Korea's sovereignty over the islets on Liberation Day.

They arrived by helicopter and delivered chicken and pizza to a contingent of soldiers stationed there.

They then joined patriotic activists who had traversed the whole of Korea from the westernmost island of Gyeokryeolbiyeol by boat and bicycle. Together, they waved the national flag and gave three cheers.
Public executions and surveillance have reached new levels of terror in North Korea this year, sources from the repressive country say.

One source on Monday said North Korean authorities killed around 60 people in public executions so far this year, twice as many as in previous years since leader Kim Jong-un came to power.

As international sanctions began to bite, the regime is increasingly resorting to forced mobilizations of people for public projects and extortion. The public executions serve to keep growing discontent in check. The families of defectors and brokers who helped North Koreans escape are being summarily executed.

According to sources, state security agency arrested dozens of family members of defectors and brokers in February and executed them on charges of espionage, while around a dozen brokers China were arrested and put in front of a firing squad in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province in April.

Also in Hyesan, many were killed by firing squad on charges of watching South Korean TV series and movies. In July, around a dozen drug users were executed in Wonsan, Kangwon Province and Unsan, North Pyongan Province.

A group of security agents have been organized by the Workers Party to crack down on people who have left their registered addresses without permission. The group was created in 2014 at the order of leader Kim Jong-un and is mainly in charge of arresting illegitimate travelers and press-ganging them into grueling construction projects.


H andelsbanken today ousted its chief executive, Frank Vang-Jensen, after 16 months saying his leadership style did not fit its decentralised style.

He is being replaced by the Queens Park Rangers-supporting Swedish head of its highly successful UK business, Anders Bouvin.

This decision is purely related to the individual, said Par Boman, chairman of the bank and its previous chief executive.

All managers at Handelsbanken, particularly the branch managers, must have a very high degree of autonomy.

Being the most senior manager at the bank therefore requires a special type of leadership, considerably more complex than traditional management.

"Thus, it is possible to be an excellent leader and manager, as Frank Vang-Jensen has been, but not fulfil the requirements of the chief executive of Handelsbanken.

The Swedish bank said: Over the years, Handelsbanken has had more stable finances, a higher rating and more satisfied customers than its competitors.

"One of the main reasons for these successes is the banks highly decentralised way of working, where almost all business decisions in the bank are made locally, close to the customer.

Bouvin has run the UK arm of Handelsbanken since 2010, expanding it from 100 branches to more than 200.
T he worlds biggest miner BHP Billiton dug itself into a hole today after a string of one-off charges and the impact of the commodity prices rout sent it crashing to one of the largest losses in corporate history.

The mining group, led Scottish-born nuclear scientist Andrew Mackenzie, swung to a $6.4 billion (4.9 billion) net loss from near-$2 billion profits last year, marking it as the largest annual loss since the group was formed 15 years ago.

The red ink was largely caused by one-off charges, including $1.2 billion related to the death of 19 workers in Brazil at its Samarco mine this year and a $5 billion writedown at its onshore US gas business.

Lower prices for commodities like iron ore, which is BHPs main stock in trade, also put pressure on sales.

Mackenzie is cutting the dividend by 77% to 14 cents a share.

Earlier this year he was forced to perform a U-turn on dividends and ditch a promise to continually hike the payout to investors.

The last 12 months have been challenging for both BHP Billiton and the resources industry. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate the resilience of our portfolio and the diverse ways in which we can create value for shareholders despite low commodity prices, he said.

The City was also more upbeat, with underlying earnings of $1.2 billion beating its expectations and helping send shares up 3%.

Im confident this is the earnings nadir. The direction for earnings from here is higher, said Shaw and Partners analyst Peter OConnor.

BHP has slashed costs and trimmed back on expensive projects, which has helped bolster free cash flow and given investors a glimmer of hope the company can turn good.

Like many miners, BHP has been waylaid by the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

A decade-long boom in the powerhouse economy ramped up its consumption of raw materials like iron ore, the key ingredient in steelmaking and the biggest portion of BHPs revenues.

Prices for iron ore fell to $40 a tonne in December, about half the price at its 2011 peak.

The deadly dam disaster at its Samarco iron-ore joint venture this year has also cast a shadow over the company.

The multinational group is paying clean-up costs for the spill, which destroyed a village, leaving 700 people homeless.
A week ago Theresa May underlined once again her willingness to break with the Cameron legacy by phoning Russias president, Vladimir Putin, and suggesting ways in which Anglo-Russian relations could be improved.

According to Russian reports of the conversation, May and Putin agreed to intensify joint work on a number of fronts.

It is unclear what this means, though co-operation against terrorism seems to have been mentioned. It looks like May and Putin might meet in private at a summit of G20 leaders in China next month.

A few days after Mays surprise move, the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson  his appointment was praised in the Russian media  dropped his own bombshell, calling for a normalisation of relations with Russia in his own phone conversation with veteran Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

Usually its we in the West who are trying to work out whats going on inside the Kremlin (such as Putins mysterious sacking last week of his old KGB colleague and long-standing chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov). As a Russia specialist during the Soviet period I spent years in our embassy in Moscow trying to penetrate the mysteries of the Kremlin. Now May has turned the tables. It is Russias UK specialists who will have been scratching their heads about what lies behind the Prime Ministers unexpected initiative.

I dont think it is that complicated. Mays signature is emerging as a tough-minded, cold-eyed pragmatism which has already led to the review of the Hinkley Point nuclear power project. Link that to a determination to rebut those who argue that Brexit means Britains withdrawal from the world and her Russia gambit becomes simple common sense.

Cameron allowed others to take the lead in negotiations with Putin over Russias annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine. Mays move tells the world that from now on, with our main European allies, Britain intends to resume its leading role on security matters that affect our continent. It puts substance into the Governments rhetoric that though Britain may be leaving the EU, it will not be quitting Europe itself.

It is, of course, uncertain how broad a normalisation the UK/Russian relationship can bear. After all, the factors that have blighted the relationship for the past decade are still present today: Russias refusal to extradite to the UK the main suspects in the polonium poisoning in London of former Russian secret service officer Alexander Litvinenko; the seizure of Crimea; the invasion of Ukraine; the aggressive rearmament; the harassment of the Baltic States, all of whom are members of Nato and the EU. This is why the US and EU continue to impose sanctions on Moscow, to the great detriment of the Russian economy.

Some would add to this list of sins the Russian intervention in Syria, where Putin is providing air cover and some ground troops in support of the beleaguered and bloodthirsty President Assad. But so long as Britain and its allies give higher priority to the defeat of Islamic State, we are in no position to take issue with Moscow. Whats more, we have not the faintest idea how to ensure that if Assad and his Alawite clique were to be driven from power, Damascus does not fall to vengeful Sunni extremists.

So long as Britain and its allies give higher priority to the defeat of Islamic State, we are in no position to take issue with Moscow over Syria

Against this background is it either desirable or feasible to try to carve out areas where we could co-operate with Putin? Many would say no  that it sends the wrong message when Russian troops still occupy Crimea and parts of Ukraine.

I take a different view. I cut my Russian teeth during the Cold War. It was the age of communism, when the Soviet Union was our implacable ideological enemy. Things reached such a pass that in 1971 the British government expelled 105 spies from the Soviet Embassy and trade office in London. A nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union was an ever-present threat. We got very close to nuclear war on at least three occasions in my diplomatic career. It was also a time of almost constant proxy wars around the world between East and West.

Yet with all this turbulence and hostility, London and Moscow tried to co-operate where they could. The lines of communication stayed open. We commemorated together our common sacrifice in the Second World War. During the Falklands War the Soviet Union officially backed Argentina. But in private I remember a senior Soviet diplomat asking me in Moscow: When are you going to drive those bastards into the sea?

Theresa May is right to prise open the possibilities for engagement in the UK/Russia relationship. Diplomatically, it wont be for the faint-hearted. We shall have to stand firm on the things that matter to us, such as the integrity of the Baltic States. But we should also proceed with some understanding of where Putin is coming from. His is a foreign policy based on grievance.

The collapse of the Soviet Union a generation ago was a great humiliation for many Russians, as Putin has made no attempt to hide. This was compounded by the Wests unnecessarily triumphalist rejoicing and the expansion of Nato to embrace the countries of Eastern Europe, which had once been part of the Soviet empire.

For us in the West this was a benign move enhancing the security and democracy of all nations on our continent, including Russia. To Putin it was a treacherous move, masterminded by Washington, to exploit his nations weakness and encircle it from the west. No wonder, despite a weak economy and a declining population, his driving ambition is to restore Russias greatness, if necessary by military means.

We have entered a second Cold War. If ever there were a time for hard-headed British diplomacy, it is now.
Renault Samsung, a Korean subsidiary of the French automotive group, posted the best sales results among the group's brands in the first half of the year.

Renault Samsung said on Monday that it sold 46,917 cars during the year's first six months, up 20 percent on-year, while the group as a whole posted some 13 percent increase in sales at 1.57 million cars globally.

"Sales increased significantly largely due to new models such as the SM6," a Renault Samsung spokesman said. "The Asia-Pacific car market grew only 4 percent on average on-year, but the Renault group saw its sales rise 12.8 percent in the region."

The Renault group has three brands: Renault, Dacia and Renault Samsung. Renault grew 16 percent and Dacia 3 percent.
I f youre the type of person that regularly stays awake into the early hours to cram in an extra episode of Stranger Things, while relying on triple espressos to get you through the working day - you might be sacrificing more than just your beauty sleep.

Researchers have found that getting more hours of sleep per night could significantly boost your salary.

A study conducted in America has found that in areas where the sun sets earlier, people sleep for longer hours and also earn higher salaries.

So, while you might feel like youre more awake during the summer months, this actually may not be the case. Later sunsets mean youre more likely to go to bed later, leaving you short of pocket in the long run.

According to the study, sleeping for just one hour extra a week results in salary increases of 15 per cent in the short term and by 4.9 per cent in the long term.

If you jump out of bed at 5am and race into the office, you may argue that sleeping less results in clocking more hours in the office.

But the reality is that a good nights sleep can increase your productivity, making the hours you do spend in the office more valuable.

The biggest effects come through employees who work on commission, study author Jeffrey Shrader told The Guardian.

If you go to work well rested, you are livelier and happier, and can sell more to increase your earnings.

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So if youre thinking of staying awake tonight to catch up on the Olympics, it might be worth switching your digital devices off and getting an early night. Your bank balance will thank you.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
A njem Choudary, Britain's most notorious hate preacher, was today finally convicted of terror offences after he urged followers to support Islamic State terrorists

The radical cleric has acted as a guide for some of Britain's most dangerous extremists while he promoted an ideology of hate for two decades.

Here's some of the notorious allies linked to Choudary.

Siddhartha Dhar

A bouncy castle salesman turned ISIS executioner, Dhar was a key aide to Choudary, a spokesman for ALM, and central to the case against Choudary, having urged him to sign the oath of allegiance to ISIS because it would be gold on Twitter.

Choudarys trial had to be delayed by several months after Dhar was unmasked in January as the barbaric ISIS executioner who had replaced Jihadi John.

The father-of-four from Walthamstow was arrested alongside the hate preacher, but skipped bail to go to Syria before he could face justice.

Jihadist: Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Abu Rumaysah, poses with a baby and a gun

Omar Bakri Muhammad

Muhammad founded Al-Muhajiroun in the 1990s, and the organisation continues under different guises to this day.

The hate cleric referred to the 7/7 bombers as "the fantastic four" and regularly appeared alongside Choudary at rallies until he was banished from the UK in 2005.

Now languishing in a Lebanese prison after being convicted of terrorism offences.

Michael Adebolajo

Serving a whole life sentence for the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, Adebolajo converted from Christianity to Islam and became a member of Choudary's Al-Muhajiroun group.

They were pictured together at a rally in Paddington Green in 2007. After the soldier's murder, Choudary declared himself "proud" of Adebolajo and said Lee Rigby would "burn in hellfire" as a non-Muslim.

Radicalised: Michael Adebolajo converted from Christianity to become a member of Choudary's Al-Muhajiroun group / EPA

Brustholm Ziamani

This 19-year-old devout Jehovah's Witness was converted by Choudary to radical Islam, and within weeks had planned a Lee Rigby style beheading.

Ziamani was caught wandering the streets of London with a knife wrapped in an Islamic flag and a hammer, looking for a soldier to murder.

Nadir Syed

Syed was another of Choudary's followers who plotted a Lee Rigby style murder on London's streets.

He was arrested hours after buying a chef's knife for the murderous plot. Syed had links to Choudary through the Al Muhajiroun network.

Convicted: Nadir Syed was found guilty after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court (Metropolitan Police ) / Metropolitan Police

Muslim Patrol  Jordan Horner, Ricardo McFarlane, and Royal Barnes

Choudary followers Horner, McFarlane, and Barnes were all jailed for so-called "Muslim patrols", targeting people drinking alcohol or holding hands on the streets of east London and trying to enforce Sharia Law.

Barnes was later jailed for mocking the death of Lee Rigby in a vile YouTube video, while Horner, a ginger Muslim convert, later renounced radical Islam saying he had been led astray.

Trevor Brooks aka Abu Izzadeen and Simon Keeler

A close friend of Choudary, Brooks gained notoriety in 2006 for a tirade at then-Home Secretary John Reid.

Both Brooks and associate Simon Keeler were key Al-Muhajiroun members, jailed in 2008 for terror fundraising and incitement to kill British soldiers.

Both are now back in prison after smuggling themselves out of the UK on the back of a lorry, flouting a travel ban.

Jailed: Trevor Brooks and Simon Keeler / Metropolitan Police

Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar and Saladhuddin Amin

Five Muslims radicalised through Al-Muhajiroun who plotted a fertiliser bomb campaign on targets across Britain, including Bluewater shopping centre, the Ministry of Sound nightclub, and the UK's domestic gas network.

All five were jailed for life in 2007.

Mohammed Siddique Khan

The 7/7 bomber went to a terror training camp in Pakistan run by members of Al Muhajiroun before carrying out the deadly suicide bombing.

Omar Khyam and Saladhuddin Amin, leaders of the fertiliser bomb plot, attended the same 2003 training camp.

Shocking: Mohammed Siddique Khan tells his baby daughter to 'learn to fight for Islam' in the video screened to Kingston Crown Court today

Umran Javed

One of the leaders of the 2006 protest against publication of Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammed. Choudary and Rahman were convicted of offences related to the protest.

Mohammed Benares

Royal Mail worker Benares was jailed for two years in 2013 for downloading bomb manuals and gun training texts.

He was in phone contract with Choudary and Trevor Brooks and had attended a protest with the hate preachers.

David Souaan

The 20-year-old Birkbeck College student filmed himself attending a Choudary rally, as he made plans to join ISIS in Syria. He wanted to fly the terror group's flash over Downing Street.

Extremist views: Souaan came to the UK in 2013 to study at Birkbeck College (Picture: PA)

Dr Mirza Tariq Ali

The NHS doctor was a close associate of Choudary before he skipped bail and fled to Pakistan, becoming a key member of the Taliban before being reportedly killed in a drone strike last year.
B ritain's most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary is finally behind bars after being convicted of inviting his followers to support Islamic State terrorists.

The 49-year-old lawyer turned radical cleric has for two decades been the spiritual guide for UK extremists including Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo, Isis executioner Siddhartha Dhar, and hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Through his organisations, Muslim4UK and Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), Choudary has been a constant thorn in the side of British authorities, defending terrorist atrocities while promoting an ideology of hate.

Choudary has played a "significant" role in recruiting Muslims to the extremist cause, police say, inspiring many of the 850 Brits who have headed to Syria since the establishment of the so-called Islamic State.

Locked up: Hate preacher Anjem Choudary (Picture: EPA) ( EPA/ANDY RAIN) / EPA/ANDY RAIN

But the father-of-five is now behind bars and facing up to ten years in jail after being found guilty at an Old Bailey trial of inviting his followers to support Islamic State.

Choudary, convicted alongside his trusted lieutenant Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 33, swore allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when he declared the IS occupation of Iraq and Syria a "caliphate".

Guided by Choudary: Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo / EPA

While IS terrorists were executing innocent prisoners, Choudary and Rahman were posting YouTube videos of extremist lectures and used social media to urge others to follow.



Met Commander Dean Haydon said detectives had trawled through 20 years of material amassed on Choudary and Rahman, but it was only after they swore allegiance to ISIS that they could be brought to justice.



"Choudary is very clever and tried to live within the law", he said. "We haven't had evidence to present to a court before that was suitable for prosecution.

Jihadist: Siddhartha Dhar, also known as Abu Rumaysah, poses with a baby and a gun

"The oath was the key piece of evidence that took him over a line to a criminal offence."



The trial focused on the days in June and July 2014 when ISIS leader al-Baghdadi declared occupied territory in Iraq and Syria as an Islamic Caliphate.

Dhar, who later travelled to join Islamic State and became one of its notorious executioners, urged Choudary to swear the oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi to encourage other British Muslims to follow suit.



"U should tweet...I think a lot of muslims are excited. The Islamic verdict would be good from u", said Dhar, telling him his support for IS would be "gold on Twitter".

Pledge of allegiance: Anjem Choudary backed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi / AFP/Getty Images

Choudary and Rahman both signed the oath and published it online on July 7, 2014, nine years to the day since Islamic extremists carried out the devastating 7/7 bombings in London.



Choudary was in contact with Lebanon-based terrorist Omar Bakri Mohammed and another extremist ally, Mohammed Fachry, in Indonesia in the days before the oath was published.



Bakri Mohammed, who once praised the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers and said he wanted his son to grow up to be like Michael Adebolajo, helped set up Al-Muhajiroun with Choudary.



During the trial, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC showed jurors examples of Choudary and Rahman professing their hate ideology in demonstrations, speeches, YouTube videos and messages to their thousands of Twitter followers.



Choudary dreamed of turning Buckingham Palace into a mosque and imposing Sharia Law in the UK, saying in a lecture in 2013: "Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says, what do you want when you grow up, what is your ambition, they should say to dominate the whole world of Islam, including Britain.



"That's my ambition."



Choudary, Dhar, and Rahman were pictured together in a protest outside the Lebanese Embassy in April 2014 holding signs saying: "Islamic State Is Solution" - spelling out ISIS with the first letter of each word.



"The defendants sought to validate the legitimacy of both the Caliphate and the Caliph and in doing so emphasised the obligation on others to obey or provide support to ISIS and Baghdadi", said Mr Whittam.



Choudary has links to recently convicted terrorists including Brustholm Ziamani and Junead Khan, both jailed for plotting Lee Rigby style executions on British soil.



But during his trial he tried to explain away his online posts and speeches as discussions of a theoretical Islamic state, rather than the actual terrorist organisation established in Iraq and Syria.

A jury deliberated for two-and-a-half days before returning guilty verdicts on both Choudary, of Hampton Road, Ilford, Essex and Rahman, of Newbold Cottages, Sidney Street, Whitechapel, east London, for inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation.



The convictions, on July 28, could not be reported until now because five men from Luton with links to Choudary were on trial in the same building.



Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Holroyde told the pair they would both be jailed when sentenced on September 2 and denied them bail, saying: "It's true you have complied with the conditions of your bail, but I'm afraid however, it's been an evidently grudging compliance and you have made your disregard for the court and its processes abundantly plain throughout the proceedings."

Bail breach: Anjem Choudary (Picture: REX)

It can also now be reported that Choudary breached his bail while awaiting trial, when he was caught meeting an associate in the street in breach of a ban.



Following convictions, Commander Haydon said he believes 850 Brits have travelled to join ISIS, and emphasised the "key" role of recruiters like Choudary and Rahman.



"It's very difficult for me to say all these individuals are at the hands of Anjem Choudary", he said.



"But we have a key individual here in the UK posting a vast amount of social media material being used to radicalise individuals in the UK, and part of the material encourages people to travel to Syria.

"That's why I think Choudary and Rahman are so significant - they were posting material online, it was being without a doubt viewed by others and probably encouraged some to travel to Syria."

He added that Choudary, who had for so long dodged the law, had not made a "mistake" by signing the oath of allegiance to ISIS, but had no choice as it was a logic conclusion of his beliefs which had been repeated in public for so many years.

Choudary and Rahman both have previous convictions relating to the 2006 protests outside the Danish embassy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.



Choudary was convicted of organising a procession without giving prior notice to the police, while Rahman was jailed for six years for soliciting murder at the protest.
H ate preacher Anjem Choudary has been the untouchable voice of Islamic extremism in Britain for a generation.

For the past ten years he has been the leading figure in radical Islam after his mentor Omar Bakri Mohammad fled to Lebanon following the 7/7 London bombings.

Born to market trader of Pakistani origin in Welling in 1967, he attended school in Woolwich and later went on to Southampton University to study medicine.

As a student there was little sign of his later fanaticism. Known to his friends as Andy, he was renowned for smoking cannabis, casual sex, experimenting with LSD and his ability to down a pint of cider within seconds.

But Choudary failed his first year exams and he changed direction to complete a degree studying law at Guildford before moving back to London to work as a solicitor.

Radical: Omar Bakri Mohammad

His path to radicalisation began when he met the firebrand preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed - known as the Tottenham Ayatollah - at a mosque in Woolwich.

He joined the preachers radical Al-Muhajiroun organisation and quickly became Bakri Mohammeds right hand man.

Around this time Choudary met his wife Rubana Akhtar and the couple married in 1996 when he was 29. They have since separated but have a daughter and two sons.

Meanwhile, Choudary was gaining a reputation as a leading light in Al-Muhajiroun, a group whose ultimate aim was to fly the flag of Allah above 10 Downing Street and enforce Sharia law in Britain.

Bakri Mohammed disbanded al-Muhajiroun in 2004 amid mounting attention from police. The hate preacher fled to Lebanon in 2005 but al-Muhajiroun re-surfaced under a new name with Choudary as leader.

Since then it has resurfaced under 10 pseudonyms including al-Ghurabaa, Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades, all of which have been outlawed by the Home Office.

Last year a study found that out of 51 British terror plots, attacks and incidents, people involved with al-Muhajiroun or its offshoots were responsible for 23.

Choudary has only been prosecuted once in the UK despite links to some of the most serious terrorists to carry out attacks here and abroad. Always aware he is being monitored by the security agencies he chooses his words with care.

In 2006 he was fined just 500 for failing to give police the required six days notice of the protests against the Danish publications of cartoons of Mohammed.

Since his first few years as a solicitor there is no evidence that he has worked. Once he was estimated to be receiving around 25,740 annually from the state

He has long revelled in his reputation as Britains most reviled individual.

In an interview with the Standard six years ago he said: Thats a badge I would wear with pride. Its inevitable that when you offer an alternative morality and way of life, many people will hate you for it."
A woman who sent her life savings to a dating site conman has been convicted of money laundering after she unwittingly gave cash from other victims.

Sherroll Foster, from Uxbridge, was spared jail but ordered to repay 3,500 after she admitted the offence at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday.

The 65-year-old thought she met her soulmate when she met a man, posing as a businessman named Mark Hamilton in Ghana, on a dating website in 2012.

However, she was in fact targeted in a scam aimed at women over 60 who use websites to find love.

She was plunged into debt and faces financial ruin after she sent her life savings to help the man as well as taking out an overdraft, personal and payday loans and used credit cards to send money.

She also allowed other women, who she said she thought were Hamiltons friends, to pay money into her account which was then passed on to scammers.

One transferred 8,000 while another sent 19,000, before they realised that they were being fleeced and contacted authorities.

A third victim paid another 3,500 into the account which was paid even though Foster was on bail for money laundering.

Police said the victims were fleeced by a gang targeting older women who use dating websites.

Detective Constable Mark Cresswell said: "This may not be a unique tale, but it most certainly should be treated as a cautionary one.

"These fraudsters target vulnerable people and exploit them not only financially, but emotionally, making their victims believe that true happiness is almost within reach and just a bank transfer away.

"Sherroll Foster was looking forward to a comfortable retirement prior to becoming involved with this scam. She now faces financial ruin and extensive, long term debt.

"If someone online that you have never met in person asks you for money it is highly likely that it is a scam.
T his is the dramatic moment armed police detained a man after a car carrying a suspected gun was involved in a crash in east London.

A huge police presence was stationed in Burdett Road, Mile End, at around 5pm after a car that was being pursued by police was involved in a crash.

Police were called to reports men were seen with a gun inside a car at around 4.50pm. Witnesses described a "crazy situation" as armed officers descended on foot while police helicopters circled overhead during a search for the suspects.

Three people fled the vehicle after it was involved in a crash with another car but have since been detained by armed officers.

Police chase: Pictures from the scene show cars damaged after a crash / Elaine O'Flynn

Stunned bystanders said police chased one man ran into Mile End Park Leisure Centre off Burdett Road.

Pictures on social media show police inside the gym which was put on lock down as people were refused entry.

Man detained by armed police after suspected gunman crashes in east London

Trainee solicitor Can Ozkutan, 27, from Mile End, was on his way to the gym when the dramatic incident unfolded.

He told the Standard: I was talking to a friend outside the gym when I heard lots of shouting round the corner.

Lock down: Police shut down a gym after one of the suspects reportedly ran inside / Can Ozkutan

We looked round and the police officer had one guy down on the floor and was pointing a gun at his head and shouting at him not to move.

Then there was a another guy who ran off around the stadium and another that ran into the gym, straight past us.

Police ran into the gym after the guy and that is when they got a sniffer dog and a police helicopter to try and find him.

Mr Ozkutan said he was kept in the gym for half-an-hour while armed police hunted the suspect.

Emergency response: Armed police at Mile End stadium car park / @RevolutionKarti

He added: They blocked off the door of the gym and would not let anyone in and were asking everyone if they had seen anything.

Then more police with guns came in and said this place is on lock-down and started questioning staff who saw the guy run in.

It was crazy, I had no idea what was going on.

"Crazy situation": Stunned witnesses told how a sea of armed police stormed into Burdett Road / Elaine O'Flynn

Elaine OFlynn, a 27-year-old civil servant from Mile End, was walking to a hockey game when she was stopped by police officers who had cordoned off Mile End park.

There was probably five police cars, a helicopter and an ambulance when I walked past and they were putting up police cordons.

Police said I couldnt walk through the park because they were still identifying a suspect.

Then I saw there were two smashed up cars and someone said there had been a car chase and the men had crashed.

Apparently the guys then got out the car and ran into the gym.

Scotland Yard said no shots had been fired and no injuries were reported.

A police spokesman said: "Police were called regarding males in a car seen with a firearm.

"This car failed to stop for police. In Burdett Road, this car was in collision with another vehicle.

"The occupants abandoned the car and attempted to flee the scene. Armed officers detained three suspected occupants from the car.

"There is a scene in Burdett Road with ongoing associated road closures."

Police added a gun had not been recovered from the scene.
T he wife of a man who runs a chain of restaurants in Dubai assaulted a police officer after being hauled off a flight for threatening to punch a stewardess.

Lauren Johnson, 23, narrowly escaped being sent to prison yesterday but has been banned for life from travelling with Virgin Airlines.

During a seven-hour flight from Dubai to Heathrow, Johnson got drunk and told a stewardess: You wear too much make-up. Look at you, you old hag, old slag covered in fake tan.

Neil Guest, prosecuting, told Isleworth crown court that an attendant heard banging on the cockpit door as the aircraft was approaching Heathrow on June 17.

On the other side was this defendant holding a child and she said, My baby wants to wave to the captain. This was not allowed. Later, the same attendant saw Mrs Johnson standing up with her child as the plane approached Heathrow. She was asked to sit down and replied, I wont f***ing sit down. I need to find my husband.  Johnson then told her husband: Im going to punch her in the face.

Johnson was still being abusive when she was met by police at Heathrow and Mr Guest said: She kept hitting the door of the police van on her way to the station, where she struck the policewoman on the chin with her hand.

Johnson, of Greenwich, who admitted assault and being drunk on an aircraft, apologised to Judge Robin Johnson and said: We travel at least once a month and I have never done anything like this before, its completely out of character.

Judge Johnson said: Those who get drunk on an airplane and abuse staff often go to prison. The only thing saving you is that when you were violent it was after you left the plane.

Johnson was jailed for four months, suspended for 18 months, and fined 4,500. She was also ordered to pay 500 compensation to the officer and 425 costs.
A "greedy" Thomas Cook business assistant wept as she was jailed for nearly five years for duping the travel firm and a previous employer out of more than 60,000.

Angelika Schell, 54, treated herself to lunches, flights abroad, and taxis rides to work with her Thomas Cook company credit card.

She stole 37,000 over two years, and tried to bully a colleague into dropping the charges against her when she was finally caught out.

The Old Bailey heard today German-born Schell was spared prison in October 2014 for stealing 26,000 from previous employers, green energy the Brook Henderson Group, where she was PA to the chief executive.

But she hid this conviction from Thomas Cook and seamlessly moved on to her next scam, even abusing the company credit card to pay off 1300 of court fines.

She was given the card while working at Thomas Cook's City of London headquarters, spending 30,957 on shopping sprees and trips to the hairdresser, 3,363 on taxis, more than 2,000 on a colleague's credit card, and 833 on flights to Germany.

Recorder Bruce Houlder QC today jailed her for three years and three months for the Thomas Cook fraud and an extra 18 months for breaching her suspended sentence for the previous scam.

"You had no justification to commit these offences, you committed them through greed and you cared little for those from whom you stole", he said.

"The fraud was persistent, continuing over two years, and committed in quite a deliberate breach of a suspended sentence."

Schell sobbed audibly throughout the sentencing, wiping away tears as she was led to the cells.

Prosecutor Claire Harden-Frost told the court Schell, of Crouch Hill, also sent a threatening email to the colleague whose credit card she had used, demanding that he withdraw his support for the prosecution.

"She was employed by Thomas Cook as a business assistant at headquarters, and applied for and was given a company credit card", said the prosecutor.

"They found essentially it had been used for personal expenses.

"Most shockingly, these expenses included payment of court fines to Her Majesty's Courts Service for payment of fines from the previous case.

"She used taxis almost daily to and from work, effectively charged to the company."

Neil Baki, defending, said Schell had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past and has recently found a lump believed to be another malignant tumour.

He said she flew back to Germany to be with her sick 80-year-old mother, but has struggled to explain why she committed the fraud.

"She doesn't know why she did it, she can't explain why she behaved in this odd way", he said.

Schell pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position. A charge of witness intimidation was left to lie on file.
T hree men from Luton who encouraged people to support Islamic State have been convicted and condemned for "infecting the young minds of children.

Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, Yousaf Bashir and Rajib Khan arranged meetings at a local church in Luton during Ramadan last year and gave talks about extremism.

The meetings were attended by up to 80 people, including very young children.

The men thought to be supporters of the jihadi terrorist group al-Muhajiroun, were exposed after a police officer went undercover in the group for almost two years.

'Dividing society': Yousaf Bashir gave speeches about Islamic State / Metropolitan Police

Sue Hemming, CPS Head of Counter Terrorism, said: "These men sought to divide our society with messages of hate and extremism and their desire for a role in conflict and conquest has only ended in a conviction."

Commander Dean Haydon, added: "What this group of people were doing was infecting the young minds of children.

The biggest concern we had was with children present of a very young age, as people start growing up, particularly in Luton, we need to avoid individuals either travelling to Syria or becoming involved in extremist acts or even terrorist acts.

Alamgir, 37, was found guilty of three counts of addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organisation, namely IS, or to further its activities.

Extremist alliance: Rajib Khan organised meetings attended by young children

Bashir, 36, was found guilty by a majority of addressing a similar meeting on June 29.

Khan, 38, was convicted of arranging, managing or assisting in arranging a meeting to support IS on July 11, and addressing a similar meeting on July 11. They are all from Luton.

The defendants made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered after eight days of deliberations.

The jury of 10 was unable to reach verdicts on two co-defendants - Mohammed Choudry and Zaiur Rahman - who will face a retrial at the Old Bailey on November 14.

Rahman, 38, from Luton, faces three counts of arranging a meeting to support IS while Choudry, 23, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, is charged with a single count of encouraging support for IS.
P olice have charged a man with murder over the execution-style shooting of an imam and his aide as they left a New York City mosque.

Oscar Morel, 35, was arrested after police linked him to a hit-and-run crash that happened about a mile from the killing of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.

NYPD chief of detectives Robert Boyce said Morel was detained on Sunday night and has now been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Mr Akonjee, 55, and Mr Uddin, 64, were shot in the head as they walked after prayers in the borough of Queens on Saturday. A surveillance video had shown the suspect fleeing in a black SUV, Mr Boyce said.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a cyclist three miles away in Brooklyn.

Morel was arrested outside a flat in Brooklyn on Sunday after he intentionally rammed his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, police said. They allegedly recovered a revolver at his home and clothes similar to those being worn in CCTV footage of the gunman.

Earlier yesterday about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Mr Akonjee and Mr Uddin at an Islamic funeral service.

Several speakers said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted justice throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot where the shooting took place. Mayor Bill de Blasio told those there the entire city was mourning with you.

Morels brother Alvin told the New York Daily News he was stunned by the arrest. This is nothing like him. My brother is a decent person, he said.

In Bangladesh, the imams eldest son Fayez Uddin Akonjee, 28, said he was relieved at the charges. We want to know as victims why he killed my father, he said.

The authorities have not revealed a motive for the killings, though Mr Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is certainly on the table.

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim slogans.
SK Telecom analyzed roaming data of 460,000 subscribers in late July and early August and found that 2,716 visited Turkey, down a whopping 81.2 percent from the same period last year.

Fewer Koreans are visiting Europe this summer due to terrorism fears, and travelers are turning to China, Japan, Taiwan and other Asian destinations instead.

Turkey was the scene of a failed coup last month that has resulted in a bloody crackdown on alleged instigators.

The number of subscribers visiting France has dropped 25.1 percent, and visitors to Belgium fell 48.8 percent over the same period.

A man ran amok in a truck in the southern French resort of Nice earlier this year, while Paris and Brussels have suffered bombing attacks.

But visitors to Portugal and Spain, which have not seen any terror attacks over the last decade, increased 10.7 and 2.6 percent.

Visitor numbers to Taiwan rose 21.8 percent, to Vietnam 12.4 percent, to China 8.4 percent and to Japan 7.2 percent.


A man was Tasered by police in south London tonight before he was arrested after a gun was found in a car he was travelling in.

Armed police shut Norwood Road, close to the junction with Rosendale Road, in Herne Hill in both directions at around 6pm after a man and woman were stopped in a car.

Police said the pair were arrested after a gun was recovered from the vehicle.

A Met spokesman said the man was taken to hospital before he was booked into custody after being Tasered by officers.

Witnesses described a sea of police cars near Brockwell Park while the dramatic incident unfolded.

Developer Dhrubo Paul, 36, was cycling home from work when he came across the scene opposite the park.

He told the Standard: "I was absolutely shocked. There was about 50 people in the road which was blocked off by police cars and a guy was on the floor.

"People were kicking off at police saying they wanted to get through and shouting that it was no way to treat people.

"But the officers remained calm and collected. There was two of them standing there with machine guns."

The road was reopened shortly after 8pm.
S imon Danczuk was arrested and put in a Spanish jail cell after an alleged holiday row with his estranged wife led to her being taken to hospital, it was reported today.

Karen Danczuk, 33, reportedly suffered cuts and bruises in the incident in Alicante which is believed to have taken place on Sunday night after the Labour MP arrived to join Ms Danczuk and the pairs two young sons at their apartment.

According to The Sun, witnesses said the MP, who is currently suspended from the Labour party pending an investigation into sending lewd text messages to a teenager, snatched Ms Danczuks phone and threw it in the pool, screaming: I just want to talk to you as he was led away by police.

An onlooker told the newspaper: There was an almighty row and he seemed very drunk. Then he grabbed her phone and thew it in the water. She retrieved, went indoors and shooed him out. He began banging and screaming.

Estranged wife: Karen Danczuk

A neighbour said: The whole neighbourhood was awake. Some got so concerned they ran over to intervene. Karen appeared to have a large cut to her chest. I think she had been cut by glass shattering. It looked quite nasty.

Rochdale MP Mr Danczuk, 49, recently said he needed therapy for sex addiction after admitting he had sex with a 22-year-old woman in his constituency office.

Neither has responded to requests for comment.
A young Londoner whose face was rebuilt by surgeons after a horrific car crash today revealed her huge gratitude to the NHS for saving her life.

Jacqueline Gatt, 24, suffered a head injury that forced her fractured skull into her brain, left a 10cm wound in her forehead and destroyed her right eye socket.

She was anaesthetised at the scene by Londons Air Ambulance charity medic Dr Gareth Davies and rushed to the Royal London hospital, in Whitechapel.

She later underwent five-and-a-half hours of surgery as Professor Simon Holmes led a team that reconstructed her skull using 15 titanium plates and 50 screws.

Her extraordinary battle for survival is told tonight on the BBC documentary, An Hour To Save Your Life.

Ms Gatt, from Waltham Forest, said: When I look at me now, Im quite proud of myself, how far Ive come. My scar tells a story and Im not embarrassed of it.

She added: The doctors  Im so, so grateful. If I could give them the world, I would. I want to say thank you to them all, especially Simon. I dont know where I would be without him.

Prof Holmes, lead facial trauma surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: I think Jacqueline looks great.

"There is great satisfaction to see we can get her to how she was, as near as possible, before the injury. That for me is the essence of why I do the job.

An Hour To Save Your Life, is on BBC2 at 9pm tonight.
H ouse prices across much of central London slumped during the month of the Brexit vote, first official figures for June reveal today.

The biggest fall was in Kensington & Chelsea, where the average price of a home fell 3.5 per cent, or more than 44,000, to 1.212 million.

Prices in Londons most expensive borough are now 6.2 per cent below where they stood a year ago, making it Britains second fastest falling local property market after Aberdeen.

There were also significant monthly drops in prices in Hammersmith and Fulham, where they fell two per cent, and Camden, where they were 2.7 per cent down. However, the trend was bucked in Westminster, which saw a 1.4 per cent rise.

Central London prices had already been slowing, largely because of the impact of stamp duty increases, but the latest figures from the Land Registry suggest that uncertainty over the outcome of the EU referendum accelerated the trend.

Across London as a whole property prices rose just 0.17 per cent in June, leaving average prices across the capital at 472,204, 12.6 per cent higher than last year.

Stuart Law, chief executive at investment company Assetz Property, said: Todays data lays bare the impact of EU uncertainty, with prices increasing at a slower rate than in May as a result of buyers and sellers either sitting on their hands or cutting a deal rather than waiting around for the result and its implications to become clear.

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Richard Snook, senior economist at consultant PwC, said: In our main scenario, average UK house property growth will decelerate to around three per cent this year and around one per cent in 2017. Our estimates suggest average UK house prices in 2018 could be eight per cent lower than if the UK had voted to stay in the EU.
A Chinese student allegedly tried to break into Buckingham Palace with a knife hidden in his shoe.

Hang Zhang, 25, from Sheffield, was immediately arrested by police at the entrance to the palace at about 2.45pm on Friday.

Zhang was taken to a central London police station and was searched by officers who are said to have found him with a pocket folding knife.

He had initially been arrested on suspicion of trespass but, after a mental health assessment by doctors, was charged with possessing an offensive weapon.

Yesterday he appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court to face the allegation and will appear in court again today.

Police said they are not treating the incident as terrorism-related.

The Queen was not believed to have been inside the palace at the time.

Fridays alleged break-in attempt is the fourth security alert at the Royal home since May this year.

Last Tuesday another man was arrested after a security breach at Buckingham Palace in the early hours of the morning.

The 22-year-old from Croydon was spotted by officers who were watching CCTV.
E arly-rising fitness fanatics have been accused of disturbing the tranquility of Primrose Hill with high-fives, hugs and constant whooping.

About 100 people turn up for free, high-energy workouts just north of Regents Park from 6.30am each Friday.

But some locals have been left furious with the group, whose members they say are ruining their peaceful dog walks and quiet jogs.

The fitness class is hosted by Project Awesome, which holds events in big cities including Edinburgh and Bristol.

One resident told The Times the fitness class was shattering the peace with pumping music and constant whooping.

Locals say the peace of the area has been disrupted by joggers / Warrick Page/Getty Images

Another, Craig Woodhouse, told the newspaper that the park was jam-packed with hipsters who hug each other and go around high- fiving each other.

He said: They get in the way of normal people and the music is obviously high energy stuff and very annoying and disruptive.

"I used to see Liam Gallagher jog around here, but Ive not seem him for ages  maybe hes been put off by these guys!

Ianthe McWilliams, the chairwoman of Friends of Regents Park and Primrose Hill, said: We would certainly not favour loud music spoiling other park users enjoyment of the park.

Danny Bent, who founded Project Awesome two years ago, admitted the workout involved a bit of shouting but said that it was hugely beneficial to the community and the group began their sessions by picking up litter.

A spokesman for The Royal Parks, the authority responsible for Primrose Hill, said: Our parks cater for a wide range of users and were keen to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy them.

"As such our park regulations make it clear that amplified music is not allowed in the parks. Enforcement of this regulation is a matter for the police.
A senior North Korean diplomat based in London has reportedly defected and is seeking asylum in another country.

South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said the man left North Koreas suburban embassy in Ealing with his wife and children earlier this month.

He is apparently seeking asylum in a third country.

The diplomat was tasked with keeping track of North Korean defectors living in London and answering criticism of his countrys human rights record, according to reports.

If verified, the defection has been described as a coup for British and other western intelligence agencies.

John Nilsson-Wright, the head of the Asia programme at Chatham House, told NK News the incident would be embarrassing for Kim Jong-uns secretive regime.

He said: A high-level defection, if confirmed, will be deeply embarrassing for the regime.

London has always been an important diplomatic priority for the DPRK given the amount of personnel stationed there and the considerable resources devoted by the regime to maintaining its presence there.

The intelligence benefits to the UK and its allies from such a deflection are likely to prove valuable.

The revelation was reportedly made to journalist by an anonymous tip-off in North Korea.

The Foreign Office is believed to be investigating.
S adiq Khan has pledged to help keep iconic nightclub Fabric open after a host of London DJs called on him to step in and secure its future amid safety fears.

The popular Farringdon venue closed its doors indefinitely this week as police investigate the drug-related deaths of two teenagers within weeks of one another.

Islington Council said its licence had been suspended for the foreseeable future.

The announcement triggered pleas from a wave of London DJs who called on Mr Khan to help the nightclub to reopen.

Closed: Fabric nightclub was closed indefinitely this week / Rex

And tonight Mr Khan responded to the appeal to say he was working with police, the council and the nightclub to protect the clubs future.

He tweeted: I'm urging #Fabric, the Met & Islington to find an approach that protects clubbers' safety & the future of the club.

His intervention came following pressure from artists for Mr Khan to make good on his promise to protect under threat clubs and pubs and protect Londons cultural life.

Daniel Avery tweeted: Dear @SadiqKhan, if ever there was an opportunity to make a mark, here it is. @fabriclondon needs your help, man.

While another artist, known as Celebrity DJ Artwork, posted: Dearest @SadiqKhan I voted for you for your views on London club life. Now please do something about @fabriclondon.

Croydon-based DJ Plastician wrote: "Sadiq Khan it's time to start doing the job you promised to us."

The calls were echoed by dance music giants Chase & Status who also called on Mr Khan to act.

Fabrics long-term fate will be decided at a review held within 28 days after bosses agreed not to contest the suspension.

Scotland Yard requested the temporary suspension of the iconic venues licence after two young men died.

An 18-year-old collapsed outside the 2,500-capacity club in Farringdon on Saturday, August 6, at 8.20am. He was taken to hospital where he died 40 minutes later.

Another 18-year-old died in hospital after falling ill at the club at 2am on June 25.
P rotesters have barricaded themselves into an east London music venue after a court granted an eviction order by property developers.

Passing Clouds, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is launching a High Court appeal against the decision.

Landhold Developments, which bought the building in Dalston last year, had an eviction order granted at Clerkenwell and Shoreditch county court on Friday. Demonstrators circled the court with banners calling for the club to be saved.

Club founder Eleanor Wilson said the company offered a 15-year lease with the annual rent more than trebled, but before she could properly consider the details the eviction order was issued.

She said: We will apply to the High Court for a stay of execution. We are making sure the developer does not get into the property and have people on the premises 24 hours a day blocking entry. We are not going anywhere. The community needs us.

Passing Clouds wants a 30-year lease or an option to buy the property and has applied for a Community Asset order.

Landhold stated it was forced to seek legal possession when the tenants failed to seek alternative premises. The company declined to comment.
S adiq Khan today refused to reveal who he is backing for the Labour leadership after he was grilled on a London radio show.

LBC presenter James OBrien repeatedly asked the London Mayor who he will be supporting in the upcoming battle between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith.

The former Tooting MP confirmed he would vote in the contest but declined to say which candidate he would back in the ballot.

Speaking to Mr Khan on the phone, Mr OBrien said it was odd Labours most powerful politician in the country had not publicly endorsed a candidate.

Grilled: Sadiq Khan was repeatedly asked who he was backing to become next Labour leader but refused to name his preferred candidate / Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

The London Mayor said he had deliberately chosen not to provide a running commentary on the leadership election which drew an exasperated shake of the head from the presenter.

Mr Khan later explained a move to now back either Mr Corbyn or Mr Smith could detract him from mayoral work.

Mr OBrien said: There is a leadership campaign underway at the moment.

"For the most powerful Labour politician in the country not to publicly declare support for one candidate or another is a little odd."

Mr Khan replied: Let me tell you the conundrum. Every time, if I was to do so, every time I did an interview subsequently...I'd be asked about the internal runnings of the Labour party.

TODO: define component type apester

"Of course I am going to vote in the Labour leadership contest."

However, he declined to answer Mr OBrien when he immediately fired back who for?

Mr Khan added: When it comes to that stage of course I'll be saying publicly what my intentions are."
North Korean weightlifter Rim Jong-sim said she was delighted to win the gold medal for the country's leader after bagging its first gold medal at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil last Friday.

"The first thing I thought when I knew I had won was that I had made our beloved leader happy," she told reporters. "I wanted to run to him."

Rim won by a large margin in the women's 75-kg category, taking gold by 16 kg ahead of the runner-up.

North Korea had until then won only two silver and two bronze medals as even favorites were apparently paralyzed by the looming presence of top apparatchik Choe Ryong-hae.

But as soon as Choe had left, Rim bagged her gold, and the country scored another gold medal in the men's vault on Monday.

Rim also won a gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012 and is the second North Korean athlete to win gold medals in consecutive Olympics after wrestler Kim Il in 1992 and 1996.

Rim said in a North Korean TV interview, "I trained hard even when I was sick to make our leader happy." She declined to be interviewed by South Korean media.


A horrified dog walker discovered a man's body hanging on Tooting Common on Sunday morning.

The walker found the body of a 29-year-old man hanging in the park at around 7.30am.

They rang 999 and emergency services arrived at Tooting Bec Road. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Passers-by at the common described seeing a lot of police tape as officers took the mans body away. Ambulance crews were also called.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the man's death is not being treated as suspicious. His next of kin have been told.

People near the scene took to social media to express their sadness. One twitter user said: So so sad. What he must have been going through.

For confidential support on mental health call the Samaritans on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or attend a local Samaritans branch.
S adiq Khan has revealed he has found it difficult to switch off since beginning Londons top job 100 days ago.

The Mayor admitted he has the capital on his mind all of the time and that the role was all consuming.

The problem with working all hours is that sometimes you can drop the ball, he said.

But he said wife Saadiya and their two teenage daughters understood because they know what we signed up for.

The first 100 days: Sadiq on progress and challenges so far

Mr Khan said the highlights of his first 100 days in office included appointing more women to senior roles at City Hall, and that he was really proud of publishing the first gender pay audit.

The Mayor has also published plans to tackle air quality, boosted neighbourhood policing and started building his Homes for Londoners team.

He admitted the biggest disappointment of his mayoralty so far had been the result of the Brexit vote.

That was the low point for me.

"But what is important is that even though we may well leave the European Union, Im quite clear that doesnt mean leaving the single market, he said, adding that London, which voted Remain, must have a voice in the negotiations.
A clear majority of the British public believe Jeremy Corbyn should be replaced by challenger Owen Smith despite growing evidence that the Left-winger is heading for victory in the leadership ballot, a poll shows today.

The BMG Research survey for the Evening Standard exposes a glaring gap between the general public and Labour Party activists, who appear set to confirm the Islington North MP as leader next month.

Asked who would make the best Labour leader, Mr Smith was ahead by 58 per cent to 42. Asked who would be the best prime minister, the result was even more decisive: 62 to 38 for Mr Smith.

The poll also suggested that a renewed Corbyn leadership would deter a significant number of people from voting Labour at the next general election.

Under pressure: Jeremy Corbyn / Getty

About three in 10 said they would be less likely to vote Labour with Mr Corbyn in charge in 2020, compared with about two in 10 who said they would be more likely. Under Smith, some 18 per cent would be more attracted to the party and 17 per cent deterred.

Labour: The problems facing Jeremy Corbyn's party

The research found backing for Mr Corbyn as leader was 57 per cent among under-24s  but crashed to just 21 per cent among over-65s. Among people who voted Labour at last years general election, the rivals were neck and neck, at 51-49 to Mr Corbyn. But among non-voters and supporters of other major parties  whose votes Labour will need to attract  Mr Smith was ahead.

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In a speech to members in Oxford tonight, Mr Smith will warn that Labour cannot secure power to boost the NHS and housebuilding unless it appeals beyond its core membership. He is expected to say: If we are going to turn our principles into action then we need to secure power by winning support across the country.

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Mr Corbyn, a 1-8 favourite at the bookies, was boosted when it emerged he had won nominations from 285 local Labour branches, compared with 53 for Mr Smith.

The Smith camp claimed the nominations reflected a noisy minority of activists, not the full membership.

A consultation by the Jewish Labour Movement of its members found just four per cent backed Mr Corbyn.

At a rally in Highbury Fields last night, the Labour leader said his MPs should heed the mass movement of new members picked up during his time in charge.

TODO: define component type apester

Speaking from the top of a fire engine, he said the absolutely massive turnout at his rallies showed his widespread support.

Dr Michael Turner, research director at BMG Research, said: Interestingly, the poll suggests that, of those who had voted Labour in 2015 but since withdrawn or moved support elsewhere, a clear majority think Owen Smith has the qualities to make both a better leader and a better prime minister.
A t least three people have died after a pleasure cruiser crashed into a speedboat in Greece off the coast of a popular holiday island.

A further three people were injured in the collision near Aegina, 27km from Athens.

The tourist vessel was taking about 20 tourists form Aegina to the nearby island of Moni.

It is unclear how many people were on the speedboat.

A search and rescue operation is now underway, with fears that some survivors are still in the water. Nearby private boats have been helping rescue people.

The circumstances of the crash and the nationalities of the victims are unclear at this stage, the Coastguard said.

Aegina's proximity to Athens makes it a popular destination for Greeks and foreign tourists.
T V scientist Brian Cox clashed on air with a senior Australian politician who believes climate change has been fabricated by Nasa.

The British professor was a guest on an Australian panel show Q&A when he found himself arguing with Queensland senator-elect Malcolm Roberts from the anti-immigration One Nation party.

Prof Cox, who presents the BBCs Wonders of the Universe, rejected the claim that global warming was a conspiracy.

In response to Mr Roberts repeated request for empirical data to prove that climate change was real, Prof Cox produced a graph showing increasing global surface temperatures over the past century.

However, Mr Roberts said: The data has been corrupted, we know that the 1930s were warmer than today.

It has been manipulated by Nasa.

He added that 1998 was about the same temperature as 2015/16.

An exasperated Prof Cox responded: The accusation is that Nasa, the Australians, the UK, they have all manipulated it in the same way and accidentally got to the same answer.

Mr Roberts has previously stated the United Nations is using climate change to lay the foundations for an unelected global government.

Science Minister Greg Hunt, who was also on the show, clarified the Australian government's position on climate change.

"All of these different organisations, I don't think they're subject to a collective folly, nor do I think that they're subject to some sort of conspiratorial collusion," he said.

"I respect the right of people to have different views, but we don't make our policy on that. Our policy is it's real and it's important and it's significant."
A n adult Indian elephant that became trapped in a swamp in Bangladesh due to raging flood waters has died after spending weeks struggling for survival.

The animal, named "Bangabahadur," or Hero of Bengal, is thought to have travelled at least 1,000 miles from India into Bangladesh after floods separated it from its herd.

The distressed elephant was tranquillised three times during repeated attempts to rescue and transport it to a safari park.

Tapan Kumar Dey, a former forest conservator who was overseeing the rescue operation, said the elephant died despite the "highest efforts" to save him and that the cause of death was not immediately clear.

"This is very sad. We tried our best to save it," he said.

The elephant, tired and weak from its struggle, had been tranquilised in an attempt to steer it from the swamp and to bring it closer to a road so it could be transported to the safari park near the capital Dhaka.

Mr Dey said the elephant appeared to be fine over the weekend but was likely to have become dehydrated after being stuck in the swamp in Bangladesh's Jamalpur district for days.

Monsoon-triggered flooding had carried the elephant from upstream India before he became trapped three weeks ago.

Plans to take the elephant back were abandoned because wildlife authorities believed it was unlikely that he would have been welcomed back to his herd in the hilly forests of the remote north-eastern state of Assam.

Heavy downpours have flooded vast areas of eastern India since monsoon rains began in June.
T wo people were injured after a man pulled out a knife and attacked passengers on board a train in Austria.

The attack happened at about 6.30am this morning in Roethis, in Vorarlberg province, near the border with Switzerland.

A 60-year-old German national was arrested following the stabbing. Pictures showed him being wrestled to the ground by Austrian police at a station.

According to reports, police said the man was mentally confused.

A 19-year-old man suffered wounds to the stomach while a 17-year-old male had a throat injury. Both were taken to hospital.

The attack came days after a 27-year-old Swiss national went on a knife rampage on a train in Switzerland, killing one passenger and injuring five.

Police have ruled out a possibility of a connection between the two.
H old the coke. If youve only been drinking rum with mixers, this weekend's celebration of the golden spirit is a good time to change that.

Here are eight sensational rums  each with their own distinct flavours and characteristics  that are worth taking time over, sipping and savouring.

1. FAIR rum

This rum comes from a line of socially responsible spirits that also includes a quinoa vodka. It is made in Belize with organic sugar cane, the growers of which belong to the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association and work to fair trade standards. This is a golden-coloured five-year-old rum which is bottled only after being aged in bourbon barrels. Coffee, chocolate, banana and vanilla are all prominent on the palate, while its rich smoothness is its winning feature.

34.99, Amazon, Buy it now

2. Rum Sixty Six Family Reserve

Made and bottled at the one of the Caribbeans oldest rum-making sites  the Foursquare Distillery in Barbados  this rum was originally reserved solely for the family who distilled it. Thankfully, not any more. The result of at least 12 years maturing in American oak barrels is a complex, rounded rum with big-hitting flavours of dried fruits and molasses along with vanilla and a little nutmeg.

36.97, Amazon, Buy it now

3. Ron Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23 Rum

This well-known Guatemalan rum has won countless medals and awards, and it is easy to see why. Apricot, citrus and vanilla are among the most prominent characteristics, but theres so much more than that going on  chocolate, black pepper, almond, Bourbon, the list goes on. It is rich, luxuriously velvety and has a long finish, thanks largely to the amount of age on it  it is made using a solera system (commonly associated with sherry) and blends rums aged between 6 and 23 years.

46.45, The Whisky Exchange, Buy it now

4. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva

This is a rich, sweet, stunner of a rum which is ideal enjoyed after dinner or at the end of the night. Flavours of raisins, ginger, cinnamon and cloves swirl with honey, caramel and orange  think a cross between a calvados and a dessert wine.

35, Waitrose Cellar, Buy it now



5. Plantation Extra Old Barbados Rum

Tropical flavours of bananas, coconut and pineapple give an exotic edge to this toffee-sweet rum, while added complexity comes in the form of dark chocolate, tobacco and treacle notes. The rums which go into it are aged twice: first in the Caribbean in ex-Bourbon casks and then in Charente in southwestern France in small French oak casks at the home of Plantations owner, famed Cognac producer Pierre Ferrand. The decanter-style bottle is a bonus.

45.99, Amazon, Buy it now

6. Kraken Black Spiced Rum

Despite being relatively new to the UK market, Kraken has made a name for itself  thanks in part to its distinctive bottle, which makes it a back bar favourite. But this is a rum with substance to back up its style. It teems with nutty, peppery, black coffee and cherry flavours and boasts a long finish. It is punchy enough to stand up to a mixer, but also rewarding straight-up.

20, Amazon, Buy it now

7. El Dorado 12 Year Old

This rum hailing from Guyana is among the most decorated from the Caribbean, with those in-the-know praising its complex flavours, long finish and rounded taste  it is very good value given the quality, too. Tropical fruit, dark sugar and fragrant honey mingle on the palate along with raisins and hints of tobacco. It boasts a velvety mouthfeel, while its long, rich finish is the piece de resistance.

34.09, Amazon, Buy it now

8. The Duppy Share

This recently released tropical-tasting golden rum is a blend of five-year-old Bajan rum and three-year-old Jamaican rum, which is then aged in Bourbon barrels. Pineapple and mango notes dominate, creating a rum that is reasonably complex yet incredibly smooth and easy to drink.

28.03, Amazon, Buy it now

Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum

Follow us on Twitter @ESLifeandStyle and on Facebook
B en Whishaw is reportedly in talks to join the cast of the forthcoming Mary Poppins film.

The British actor, known for his roles in Spectre and London Spy, is thought to be in the running to play the gown-up Michael Banks alongside Emily Blunt.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the 35-year-old is set to take on the role of the youngest of the Banks family, who is now 20 years older than he was in the 1964 original.

Disney recently confirmed that Blunt would be stepping into the iconic role made famous by Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins Returns, based on the books by P.L Travers.

Directed by Rob Marshall, the story will follow Michael and Jane Banks and their children as they cope with a death in the family.

Their childhood nanny will re-visit them to help them cope, alongside her friend Jack, who will be played by Hamiltons Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Oscar-winner Meryl Streep has also signed up to star in the forthcoming film, playing a character called Topsy.

Stars of the original film Andrews and Dick Van Dyke are also rumoured to be making cameo appearances.

Mary Poppins - in pictures 1 /5 Mary Poppins - in pictures Iconic scene: Mary Poppins was first released in 1964 Starring roles: Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke Disney Film adaptation: The story is based on PL Travers' children's books Live-action: A new live-action sequel is in the pipeline

Speaking about the project last month, Marshall said: I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by Disney to bring P.L. Travers further adventures to the screen.

The iconic original film means so much to me personally, and I look forward to creating an original movie musical that can bring Mary Poppins, and her message that childlike wonder can be found in even the most challenging of times, to a whole new generation.



Disney is reportedly working closely with Travers estate on the project after the famously frosty relationship between Walt Disney and Travers over the original film
G reat British Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain has revealed she is an expert butcher as well as a star baker.

Hussain, 31, opened up about her childhood in Bangladesh and revealed she learned to slaughter animals aged five.

Speaking to the Radio Times about learning the skill with her grandfather she said: "Goats, sheep, cows, chickens  I can do all that. It was completely normal to us. I'm definitely not squeamish. Ducks as well."

Hussain said her father would also teach her how to prepare an animal after slaughter.

"He would buy a whole sheep and give us a masterclass on how to butcher it, she said. People got used to him. It was like, 'That's just my dad, walking in with a sheep on his shoulder'."

Hussain - who became a household name after winning Bake Off last year - also opened up about her heritage and religious background said she does not feel she has a duty to represent a particular community.

"I'm just me," she said. "I'm a part of the Bangladeshi community, I'm a part of the Muslim community, I'm British.

"But my aim isn't to represent any of those communities, my aim is to represent me, and the best job and the most important job that I do is being a mum - and if I can nail that then I'm happy."

Great British Bake Off 2016 - contestants in pictures 1 /17 Great British Bake Off 2016 - contestants in pictures Full tent The bakers taking part in the Great British Bake Off 2016 have been revealed BBC/Love Productions Rav Age: 28

From: Kent

Bio: After studying Criminology at university, Rav went on to support students at City University, London. Hes experimental with his baking and is inspired by vegan baking and eastern cuisine

Speciality: Flavour combinations BBC/Love Productions Andrew Age: 25

From: Derby

Bio: Northern Irish-born aerospace engineer Andrew was taught to bake by his mum and gran. Hes a straight-A student who went to Cambridge University

Speciality: Structurally ambitious bakes BBC/Love Productions Louise Age: 46

From: Cardiff

Bio: Hairdresser Louise progressed her skills by making cakes for charity sales at work. She adventurous in her designs and in her hobbies  having completed a trek around the Andes and various other mountains

Speciality: Elaborate cakes BBC/Love Productions Lee Age: 67

From: Bolton

Bio: Builder-turned-theologist-turned-Pastor Lee used baking as a way to fill his days in the Eighties when an injury stopped him from playing cricket.

Speciality: Traditional flavours, including cherry, hazelnut, vanilla and chocolate BBC/Love Productions Kate Age: 37

From: Norfolk

Bio: Qualified nurse Kate is a Brownie leader and uses seasonal fruits which she gathers with her kids in her baking

Speciality: Sugar craft BBC/Love Productions Val Age: 66

From: Yeovil

Bio: Semi-retired substitute teacher Val incorporates her baking into her teaching. She does aerobics in her kitchen  but she might not do so in the Bake Off tent

Speciality: Traditional classics BBC/Love Productions Benjamina Age: 23

From: South London

Bio: Teaching assistant Benjamina takes inspiration from the likes of Instagram and Pinterest for modern takes on classic bakes. She takes feedback from her family to improve her creations

Speciality: Fresh and modern versions of traditional cakes BBC/Love Productions Michael Age: 20

From: London

Bio: Currently studying Politics and Economics in Durham, Michael has Cypriot heritage grew up making Greek pastries with his nan

Speciality: Big grand cakes BBC/Love Productions Selasi Age: 30

From: London

Bio: Ghanaian-born Selasi works in finance, and his hobbies include motorbikes, basketball, and travelling. He recently ran a 10k, half marathon, and trekked through Malawi for charity

Speciality: Delicate cupcakes BBC/Love Productions Jane Age: 61

From: Beckenham

Bio: Garden designer Jane wakes up at 5am to bake her bread. Her grandfather owned a bakery, and she s passionate about the classics

Speciality: Classic cakes, biscuits and pastry BBC/Love Productions Tom Age: 26

From: London

Bio: Rochdale-born Tom works for the Royal Society of Arts and is creative with his flavours and ingredients. He lost 30 kilos, and has a have your cake and eat it mentality

Speciality: Surprising twists BBC/Love Productions Candice Age: 31

From: Bedfordshire

Bio: Secondary school PE teacher Candice was taught to bake by her nan, and loves everything vintage. She lives with her boyfriend Liam and pug Dennis

Speciality: Baking the classics like her nan BBC/Love Productions

Hussain recently revealed that she suffers racial abuse and has accepted it as "part of my life".

Speaking on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs she said: "I expect to be shoved or pushed or verbally abused, because it happens, it's happened for years."

Read the full interview in this week's issue of Radio Times.

Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.
L ouis Tomlinson has been forced to change his mobile number after receiving disgusting messages on WhatsApp.

Tomlinson, 24, claimed he has been bombarded with inappropriate messages from losers on the mobile app.

Announcing the news on Twitter he wrote: Time to change my number .. Getting some disgusting stuff on what's app... Losers !

Tomlinsons former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan sympathised and revealed he too has received horrific messages.

Horan replied: Me too mate. Horrific Some of the things people are saying.

The boys later made light of the situation and joked that they should challenge the trolls to a rap battle.

Tomlinson tweeted: Maybe we should challenge them to a rap battle and destroy them in 64 bars?

Horan replied: That would be way too strong! Would take us less than 64 bars, we're sooooo good.

He later added: I wonder when they'll stop annoying us!

Fans were quick to defend Tomlinson and the hashtag Respect Louis was soon trending on Twitter.

His outburst comes weeks after Horan hit out at a fan who took a picture of him while he was sleeping on a flight from London to Chicago, despite making it clear that he did not want to be photographed.

Horan called out the photographer on Twitter and posted the picture alongside the caption: I think this s*** is unreal. I mean if you can't sleep on a plane without people taking photos of you, what can you do (sic).

The hashtag #RespectNiall started trending as fans branded the picture disgusting and disrespectful.

One Direction - In pictures 1 /36 One Direction - In pictures English-Irish pop boy band One Direction appear on NBC's Today Show to release their new album "Four" at Universal City Walk at Universal Orlando Getty Images Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Liam Payne arriving for the World Premiere of One Direction: PA 1D goes pop! The band and film director Morgan Spurlock chuck popcorn at the press Dave Benett One Direction backstage in the Awards Room at the MTV Video Music Awards 2013, The Barclay Centre in Brooklyn, New York, United States. PA HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge meets Harry Styles from One Direction. 2014 Royal Variety Performance, at the London Palladium, London. Hosted by Michael McIntyre and in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Matt Frost/ITV Singers Zayn Malik (L-R), Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson perform as One Direction on ABC's Good Morning America program inside Central Park in New York Reuters Recording artist Harry Styles of One Direction, winner of Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group, poses in the press room during the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California Getty Images pop star Liam Payne who has spoken for the first time about the "horrible anxiety" that dogged him over appearing in public. PA Musician Louis Tomlinson performs onstage at the "One Direction iHeartRadio Album Release Party" hosted by Ryan Seacrest Getty Images North America Singer Zayn Malik arrives for the UK Premiere of 'One Direction: Jonathan Short/Invision/AP Singer Niall Horan of One Direction, performs onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, America. Getty Images for Clear Channel Singer Harry Styles of One Direction appears on NBC's Today Show to release their new album "Four" at Universal City Walk At Universal Orlando in Orlando, Florida, America. Getty Images Singer Harry Styles of One Direction performs onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 20, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Getty Images for Clear Channel One Direction's Niall Horan performs live on stage. PA In demand Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles (left to right) pose for fans Singer's Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Niall Horan of One Direction perform at Rumsey Playfield in New York City, America. Getty Images Singer Louis Tomlinson from One Direction poses with fans as he attends the "One Direction This Is Us" world premiere Getty Images for Sony Pictures Harry Styles from One Direction poses with fans as he attends the "One Direction This Is Us" world premiere at the Empire Leicester Square on August 20, 2013 in London, Getty Images for Sony Pictures Musicians Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Harry Styles of One Direction attend the 2012 Nickelodeon Upfront presentation at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Getty Images American idols Louis, Harry and Niall perform at Rumsey Playfield in New York Getty Images Chuffed to bits Picking up the award for Favourite Band during the 2013 American Music Awards (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Getty Images Suit's you Harry Styles smartens up his act (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Getty Images Best mates The boys give each other knowing looks Big wave Liam goes surfing at Whale Beach in Sydney Red carpet regulars The guys know how to work the camera Reuters Mentor Simon Cowell and Harry Styles at the One Direction premiere after party in London Getty Images Star guests Entertaining the audience at the Teen Choice Awards in California Getty Images

Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.
R obert Downey Jr. is reportedly in talks with True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto to launch a brand new HBO series.

The Iron Man star, who has not appeared in a television show since the early 2000s, is apparently set to star in a Perry Mason reboot.

According to Variety, Downey Jr. had been developing the idea as a feature film at Warner Bros but has now switched to television.

The project will be the actors first starring role in a TV series, following his stint in Ally McBeal, for which he won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award.

The original Perry Mason series, which starred Raymond Burr, was one of TVs longest-running legal shows, airing from 1957-1966.

Pizzolatto, 40, is best known for creating the award-winning True Detective, two seasons of which aired on HBO.

A third season of the hit anthology show is still up in the air, although HBO have signed a contract with the writer and producer which runs until 2018.

Downey Jr. has a number of big screen projects in the pipeline before he starts work on the TV project, including Spider-Man: Homecoming.

He has also just been confirmed to star in the third Sherlock Holmes film, opposite Jude Law and Rachel McAdams.

Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

Follow @StandardEnts for more entertainment news.
Fiji, who hadnt seen the lead in four straight starts, zipped to the front and rolled to victory in 1:55.3  stake fastest and a career best  in Mondays $60,000 Pennsylvania Stallion Series event at The Meadows.

The stake for three-year-old colt and gelding trotters was contested over three divisions, with Blownoutofthewater and Elysium Lindy also taking $20,000 splits. Jim Pantaleano enjoyed a stake double behind Fiji and Elysium Lindy.

Formerly trained by Jimmy Takter, Fiji was making his initial start for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC and trainer Ron Burke. Pantaleano, who hadnt driven Fiji before, indicated he learned a lot about the Cantab Hall-Ucallthisahoneymoon gelding approaching the gate.

When I go into a race with a horse I dont know, I just kind of let the horse tell me, Pantaleano said. He was very aggressive behind the gate and extremely good gaited. As good as he felt going out of there, I made a decision to try to control the race.

Fiji had little trouble repelling the first-over thrust of Iholdon, downing him by three-quarters of a length over a sloppy surface. Meadowbranch Memo shot the Lightning Lane for show.

Blownoutofthewater survived a snaky journey through the stretch, drifting out and losing valuable ground. Dave Palone was able to straighten him while continuing to urge him forward. The Explosive Matter-Andover Mermaid gelding earned his second stallion series victory in 1:56.1. Skeezix was second while Moneycounts De Vie completed the ticket.

He was a little bit bumpy late, Palone said, but hes a horse with a good set of lungs. I thought if I just got him away, I could let him do his work first over, and he might be the strongest. He had plenty of go. It was a matter of keeping him at it.

Jenny Melander conditions Blownoutofthewater for Steve Organ.

Elysium Lindy popped right to the front for Pantaleano and withstood a severe challenge from the pocket-sitting Dominus Hanover, holding him off by a nose in 1:56.4. Tyson recovered from a pair of breaks to earn show.

He showed up on Saturday, and because it was so hot, we just let him relax, said Kelly Stackowicz, who trains the Cantab Hall-Olympic Lindy gelding locally for owner George Beck. We jogged a little bit yesterday, and he did his job today.

In the $20,000 Filly & Mare Not Listed Preferred/Preferred Handicap Pace, Skippin By powered by Medusa in the lane to defeat her by a half-length in 1:52.1. Best Of Jenna was a ground-saving third.

Palone drove for Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Wall Brothers Stable and Bruce Soulsby.

With the victory, the five-year-old daughter of Shadow Play-Southern Magnolia boasts a lifetime bankroll of $617,879. It was one of five wins for Palone on the 14-race card.

Tuesdays program at The Meadows features the Hickory Smoke, a $163,309 Pennsylvania Sires Stake for sophomore colt and gelding trotters. First post is 1 p.m.

(The Meadows)
August 15, 2009, is a day I wont ever forget. It was a hot August day. I woke up around 9 a.m. to get to the University of Northern Colorado ballrooms by 10 for the big day.

When I arrived, people were already bustling around setting up tables and getting decorations set. To be honest, I had celebrated a bit too much the night before, and was fighting a small headache as I made my way to rehearsal. No headache, though, could ruin this day. It was the day I was going to marry my best friend.

After rehearsal, my best man Josh and I, along with one of my other groomsmen Rob, made our way back to the hotel. I checked in to the hotel suite I had booked and took a nap to the sounds of the TV in the background.

The rest of the afternoon was chaos as we rushed around getting the last-minute details in. Then, an hour before the wedding it was picture time. I stood with my back turned as I my bride came up behind me. As I turned around, a grin spread wide across my face as I saw my bride for the first time. That stunning ray of beauty is how I still see her today.

Our ceremony was quick and lighthearted. I cried during our beautiful custom vows that my youth pastor, Jon Reeverts, had written us.

After the ceremony, the reception kicked off immediately. My new wife and I didnt eat. We were so busy saying hi to everyone, giving hugs, making the rounds and just enjoying the company. By the time we made it the buffet it was gone. I heard it was delicious.

After hours of dancing and having a wonderful evening, the night closed with a stretch limo picking us up and taking us to the hotel. The next day we were off for a week-long honeymoon in Jamaica. The day wasnt perfect from a technical standpoint. Im still a little bitter I didnt get to try the food, but for arguments sake, it was a perfect day.

What has followed these last seven years has been nothing short of amazing. We have traveled to various countries together, including London, Kenya, Mexico and Mozambique. We have gone on adventures together, we have laughed, we have cried, we have felt the sting of failure and the joy of success. All of it though we have done together.

My wife and I arent easily separated. We just enjoy each others company. Life is so much better when you have that someone to share in the adventure with. Someone who enjoys what you enjoy. Someone that you get excited about what excites them and vice versa, someone to share your journey with.

To celebrate our anniversary she even came with me to Estes Park over the weekend to shoot a wedding with me.

It was fun being in the midst of company celebrating the same love that we have. It was heartwarming to reminisce of our own lives, and our own wedding. What it made me realize is that while the wedding is fun and it creates long last and very vivid memories, it is what comes after that makes the marriage strong.

In the last seven years weve learned to forgive quickly, to be slow to anger, to have patience and to always be open with communication.

Three days after our two year anniversary we had a whole new adventure. Our son Urijah was born. Three years after that on our fifth anniversary we would make the move to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, from Fort Collins, Colorado. This year we got home from our quick weekend get away in August and continued to prep our house to be put on the market as we get ready for our move to Omaha. Apparently, August is a great month for major life events.

Looking back at old photos, it is weird to see a couple of kids who had no idea what was to come. I cant imagine what I will think in another seven years. What I do know is that right now, no matter how much time has passed, we are still enjoying the adventure and as always we are enjoying it together.
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Tuesday, 16 August 2016 17:46:44 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies has announced that Brazilian steel producer Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem (CSP) started production at its new two-strand continuous slab caster supplied by Primetals Technologies. The new plant has a capacity of three million metric tons of slabs per year. The continuous slab caster is part of a new steel works in the Pecem Industrial and Port Complex in Sao Goncalo do Amarante in the state of Ceara.

The slab concaster has a machine radius of 9.5 meters and a metallurgical length of 39.8 meters. It produces slabs in thicknesses of 220 mm, 250 mm and 300 mm, and in widths ranging from 1,100 mm to 2,300 mm. The slabs are then rolled into plate and sheet metal for use in mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, boiler and pipeline construction.
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 09:28:42 (GMT+3) | Shanghai

In July this year, the output and sales volumes of passenger vehicles in China amounted to 1.718 million units and 1.605 million units, down 3.0 and down 10.1 percent month on month, while rising by 31.8 percent and 26.3 percent year on year, respectively, as announced by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). In the January-July period of the current year, the output and sales volumes of passenger vehicles in China totaled 12.818 million units and 12.747 million units, up 10.1 percent and 11.1 percent year on year, respectively.





As for commercial vehicles, domestic output and sales volumes in July amounted to 241,000 units and 247,000 units, down 13 percent and 13.9 percent month on month, while increasing by 11.3 percent and 5.5 percent year on year, respectively. In the January-July period of the current year, domestic output and sales of commercial vehicles totaled 2.036 million units and 2.037 million units, up 2.7 percent and 2.4 percent year on year, respectively.
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 10:35:33 (GMT+3) | Shanghai

Shandong Province-based Chinese steelmaker Shandong Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd (Shandong Steel Group) has announced that it has inked a framework supply agreement with state-owned China Nuclear Engineering Group Corporation (CNEC) regarding cooperation in the field of finished steel supply. Accordingly, Shandong Steel Group will supply a total of about 160,000 mt of finished steel to CNEC for construction of the second phase of the Haiyang nuclear power station in Shandong Province.
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 16:44:24 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

Taiwan s Customs Administration has announced its preliminary determinations in its antidumping (AD) duty investigation of imports of hot rolled steel plate with thickness of 6 millimeters or more from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Ukraine.

Accordingly, the preliminary antidumping duty rates range between 8.66 percent and 80.50 percent for hot rolled steel plate imports from six countries.

The preliminary duties will last for four months starting from August 22.

The products in question currently fall under the Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 7208.51.10.10, 7208.51.10.20, 7208.51.10.30, 7208.51.20.00, 7208.51.30.00, 7208.51.40.00, 7208.52.10.20, 7208.52.20.20, 7208.52.30.20, 7208.90.10.00, 7208.90.21.00, 7208.90.30.00, 7208.90.40.00, 7211.14.10.10, 7211.14.10.20, 7211.14.10.30, 7211.14.20.20, 7211.14.30.20, 7211.14.40.20 and 7225.40.00.90.
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 23:06:05 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Brazilian miner and iron ore producer Vale is demanding more incentives from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), so it can be more competitive and continue its activities in the state.





In a move to make its operations in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul more competitive, Vale met last week with the mayors of Corumba and Ladario as well as with state government authorities to present a proposal, in which it asks for benefits that could help it diminish its production costs mainly through improved logistics.





We have the best iron ore , but we need to be more competitive. So we need logistics, with railways and waterways. They want help to improve the external environment so they can then rapidly produce more, said Jaime Verruck, state secretary for the economic development of Mato Grosso do Sul.





Verruck said Vale produces 2.5 million mt of the commodity in the state, but has capacity to produce some 5 million mt.





The state secretary said the local government is working to reactivate a railway, but hasnt advanced on it so far.








Tuesday, 16 August 2016 23:01:30 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

A source from an integrated producer in Brazil told SteelOrbis that the premium for blast furnace grade pellets is now of $40/mt over the price of sinter feed fines, against a range of $31/mt to $33/mt over the last few weeks.





A second source confirmed the increase, but added that the higher premium applies to new contracts and spot sales only, as the lower premium applies to contracts.





According to the source, the higher premium was expected due to the stoppage of production at Samarco, following an accident at its mines in November 2015. Due to the dimension of the accident, Samarco is not expected to return to operation this year.





The source believes that with the higher price, the integrated steel producers will reduce the consumption of pellets, using more sinter feed fines and more lumps in the blast furnace charge. He added that in his view the impact will be more intense at the DRI plants, as the consumption of DRI grade pellets is mandatory in such plants.





In Brazil , for spot sales, sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron contents remain exported at $46/mt, lumps at $51/mt but pellet prices are now at $86/mt, FOB conditions.





In the domestic market, the price of sinter feed fines remains at $41/mt, lumps at $46/mt and pellets are now sold at $83/mt, also FOB conditions.




By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com Bloomsdale will probably host a major fireworks display. The pyrotechnics will not take place until 2024, however. During the Oct. 12 board of aldermen meeting, Kevin Wehner and city officials again discussed the possibility of a July 4 fireworks display at the youth soccer fields on land leased by the city
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Updated at 5:45 p.m. with confirmed sale intent

American International Group Inc said on Monday it would sell its mortgage-guaranty unit to Arch Capital Group Ltd for about $3.4 billion.

AIG, the largest commercial insurer in the United States and Canada, said it would get $2.2 billion in cash, $250 million in Arch Capital's perpetual preferred stock and $975 million in non-voting common-equivalent preferred stock from the sale of United Guaranty Corp.

The Wall Street Journal first reported AIG's deal with Bermuda-based Arch Capital earlier on Monday, citing sources.

AIG said in January it would spin off the mortgage insurance unit, cut jobs and sell its broker-dealer network as part of a sweeping overhaul promised to shareholders to fend off activist investor Carl Icahn.

Later in March, United Guaranty filed for an initial public offering of up to $100 million with U.S. regulators.

Icahn, whose representative secured a board seat at AIG earlier this year, has been pushing the insurer to split itself into three smaller companies.

The billionaire saw it as a way for the company to shed its designation as a systemically important financial institution, which would free the company from having to comply with stricter capital requirements.

The insurer reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly operating profit earlier this month, driven by lower costs and strong underwriting.

Shares of Arch Capital and AIG were unchanged in after-market trading on Monday.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC advised AIG on the deal. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was its legal adviser.
Cintas Corp., which provides uniforms and related services to a variety of industries, said it would buy smaller rival G&K Services Inc for about $2.2 billion, including debt, to strengthen its presence in North America.

G&K shares jumped as much as 18.5 percent to a record high of $97.35, just shy of Cintas's all-cash offer of $97.50 per share. Cintas stock rose 9.5 percent to an all-time high of $117.65 on Tuesday.

Cintas said the combined company will provide more than 1 million business customers with uniforms, floor care, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, as well as safety and compliance training.

The company said the deal will give it access to additional processing capacity and increase its route density, which in turn will improve service and significantly lower costs.

Northcoast Research analyst John Healy said Cintas paid a fair price and over time the deal would prove to be a smart financial move.

"We have thought for a long time that further consolidation in the uniform rental space would make a tremendous amount of financial sense," Healy said.

Minnesota-based G&K serves more than 170,000 customers in the healthcare, transportation and manufacturing industries in about 165 locations in the United States and Canada.

G&K reported record earnings per share and cash flow for fiscal 2016. Its sales have risen each quarter for the past three years, while Cintas is coming off a streak of five quarters of sales growth, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Cincinnati-based Cintas will pay $1.93 billion in cash, according to Reuters calculations. G&K's long-term debt, net of current maturities, stood at $240.45 million as of March 26.

The deal is expected to generate annual savings of $130 million to $140 million, realized in the fourth year after closing, Cintas said.

The company said it expects the deal to add to profit in the second year after closing, expected in the next four to six months.

Cintas expects to finance the deal through existing cash, the assumption of G&K's debt, and new debt.

KeyBank National Association, which gave Cintas a fairness opinion on the deal, and JPMorgan Chase Bank have provided the company with a fully committed bridge credit facility.

Jones Day and Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL acted as legal counsel to Cintas.

BofA Merill Lynch was G&K's exclusive financial adviser and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Stinson Leonard Street LLP its legal advisers.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis grand jury has indicted former police officer Jason Stockley on a charge of first-degree murder for the on-duty shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011.

Stockley of Houston, pleaded not guilty during a short hearing Monday before Judge Theresa Counts Burke.

He is set to make an appearance before Judge Michael Mullen in October.

Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce charged Stockley through a complaint with first-degree murder in May for the December 2011 shooting death of Smith, 24. A grand jury then upheld Joyce's original charge and indicted Stockley with first-degree murder last week.

Stockley fatally shot Smith during a confrontation after a high-speed pursuit through north St. Louis after Stockley said Smith pointed a gun at him.

His bail remains set at $1 million, of which the St. Louis Police Officers' Association posted $100,000. He is staying with relatives in Illinois while he awaits trial.
ST. LOUIS  The former supervisor of the Lincoln County jail has sued the sheriff, the sheriffs department, Lincoln County and her replacement, claiming that she was forced out by unaddressed sex discrimination and harassment.

The plaintiff, Maria Ellison, made very little money after leaving the post and, although she has a new job, still earns less than before, according to her lawyer, John James.

James also represents three women who sued David Curtis, then jail supervisor, Sheriff John Cottle and the others in state court, and two more who sued in federal court, all in January 2015. They lodged similar allegations. Those cases were all settled confidentially in September.

Suits filed by three former employees in the jail kitchen, Gloria Cordray, Evelyn Head and Vicki Metze, complained of graphic sexual discussions, derogatory terms being used for women, and discrimination in pay and working conditions. The suits also say that Curtis lived in the jail, expected staff to act as his personal cooks and allowed violent inmates to work with paid staff in the kitchen without any direct supervision.

A suit by a former corrections officer, Kris Watt, said that Curtis referred to her as the biker bitch, one of the derogatory nicknames he had for female staff. It also said that he told the officers daughter that he was her real biological father. That daughter, Brittney Watt, who also worked in the jail, filed her own lawsuit saying she feared she would be fired for complaining about Curtis.

The latest suit was filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis by Ellison, who had for years been in charge of the jail, the suit says. It names Cottle, his department, the county and Curtis.

A spokesman for the department has not responded to a request for comment, and the department said Monday it would need seven days to respond to a request for copies of the settlement agreements, which are public under Missouri law.

Curtis could not be reached for comment. He no longer works for the sheriffs department. Lawyers defending the prior lawsuits did not respond to emails seeking comment.

When Cottle, a Republican, took office on Jan. 1, 2013, he immediately replaced Ellison with Curtis, paid Curtis more money and had Ellison train him, the suit says.

Within a month, Cottle had a female employee arrested and charged on what the suit says was scant or no evidence of actual criminal activity, which alarmed other staffers, according to the suit.

The charges against that employee were later dismissed.

Curtis called female employees hoes or his harem of hoes, the suit says.

The lawsuit says that Curtis singled out female staffers who fell into his disfavor for a trivial reason or no apparent reason at all, and subjected them to cruel, mean, and unfair treatment to get them to resign. He also did not believe women belonged in law enforcement, the suit says.

Curtis celebrated the departure of female employees by hanging their badges on his trophy wall or wall of shame, and bragging about getting rid of them, the suit says.

It says a meeting called to address complaints against Curtis consisted of little more than Cottle and Curtis informing those present that Curtis was staying, things would not change, and the others would have to get used to it or quit.

The suit also says Curtis said he hoped Ellisons house would burn down and kill her and her whole family, the suit alleges.

Ellison complained to supervisors twice in 2013, around Oct. 4 and again Nov. 7, and the inappropriate conduct and unequal treatment previously described intensified, the suit says.

Ellison left the job that Nov. 12 because work became intolerably hostile and abusive and she had no recourse other than to resign, it says.

James said that Curtis is the same man who was charged in federal court in St. Louis in 1999 with deprivation of civil rights. Charging documents say that Curtis stole the Oakley sunglasses of a woman on July 29, 1996. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Curtis, a St. Charles County sheriffs detective at the time, resigned that post seven days later.
OFALLON, Mo.  Officers called to a reported burglary in progress in OFallon Tuesday found a man shot to death by a female resident at a home owned by Pamela Hupp, a central figure in a high-profile Lincoln County murder case.

Police said officers were dispatched about 12:10 p.m. to a home in the 1200 block of Little Brave Drive. In a news release, police said a woman living there had a confrontation with a male subject inside the house and that it appeared that the woman had shot the man, who was dead at the scene.

Police Chief Roy Joachimstaler said Tuesday evening that police got two calls, first that a burglary was in progress and then that a person had been shot.

Joachimstaler said police had not determined the identity of the dead man, who he said appeared to be in his 30s.

He would not identify the shooter or comment on whether Hupp was involved.

I just dont want to jeopardize a case that could be going into court, Joachimstaler told reporters outside the home.

He said the woman who shot the man is cooperating with investigators.

The woman said she was in her car in her driveway when the man, whom she did not know, approached her, the chief said.

There was some sort of confrontation there, Joachimstaler said. She ran into the house and he followed her.

Both were inside the house when the woman shot the man with a handgun, he said. That gun was the only weapon recovered, he said.

Court records and records from the assessors office show that the house is owned by Pamela and Mark Hupp.

Pamela Hupp was a central figure in the investigation of the 2011 fatal stabbing of Elizabeth Betsy Faria outside Troy, Mo., and a key witness in the prosecution of Farias husband, Russell Faria.

Faria was convicted by a jury in 2013 of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, but that conviction was later reversed and Faria was acquitted by a judge in 2015.

The reversal was based in part on claims by Faria and his lawyers that he should have been able to argue in the first trial that Hupp had motive and opportunity to commit the crime.

Hupp has repeatedly denied a role in the murder. She did not respond to phone and text messages Tuesday afternoon.

The Faria case was the subject of a joint Post-Dispatch-KTVI Fox 2 investigation in 2014.

It has also been featured on NBCs Dateline. In 2015, an Iowa woman was charged with misdemeanor harassment for repeatedly calling Hupp, threatening her and demanding that she confess to the Faria murder.

Robin Taylor, then 55, said that shed been inspired by the Dateline show, according to the police report.

Faria sued Lincoln County police and prosecutors earlier this year, claiming that they fabricated evidence, ignored exonerating evidence and failed to investigate the other obvious suspect. That suspect, according to the suit: Hupp, who was the last one known to have seen Betsy Faria alive and stood to gain $150,000 from a life insurance policy after becoming its beneficiary days before the murder.

Prosecutors have insisted that Russell Faria was  and remains  the only suspect. Hupp testified at the first trial, but was not called by either side at the second trial, when Faria was acquitted.

In OFallon Tuesday afternoon, police had the Hupp home, in a subdivision off Bryan Road south of Interstate 70, cordoned off with crime scene tape. They examined a dark SUV parked in the driveway of the home.

A neighbor, Cole Jones, 21, said he heard a commotion from Hupps home about noon Tuesday.

I just heard a couple of loud bangs, Jones said. He said he didnt know what the sound was, but later surmised hed heard the fatal gunshot.

Kristen Taketa of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
The gunman was identified as Orlando Harris, 19, a recent graduate of the school. One survivor heard him say he was 'tired of everybody' in the school and that his gun jammed at one point.
ST. LOUIS  A large group of city residents walked into the downtown Election Board offices Wednesday morning, asking to talk with Democratic Director Mary Wheeler-Jones.

Each person had in hand a signed form letter, alleging that absentee ballots were "obtained illegally, were tampered with, or both" in the Aug. 2 primary race for state representative in the 78th District.

"Anything short of a recount or a new election is unacceptable," the letters said.

In the state rep race, newcomer Bruce Franks lost by 90 votes to incumbent Penny Hubbard. Franks received more votes on Election Day, but when absentee ballots were added to the tally, Hubbard won the Democratic race.

Wheeler-Jones stood in the lobby and listened to each person  34 in all  as they expressed concerns about the election process and handed her their signed copy of the letter. They then walked two blocks to the Civil Courts building. There, Dave Roland, attorney for Franks, was to file a formal challenge to the election results, which will trigger a hearing within five days. A judge will decide if there is enough evidence to cast doubt on the results and set a new election.

"This election wasn't stolen from me. It was stolen from the people of the 78th District," Franks said outside the courthouse.

Wheeler-Jones told the Post-Dispatch she will meet with the Election Board to share the letters.

This is a developing story. Our story from earlier today on the Hubbard-Franks race is below.

ST. LOUIS  Bruce Franks lost his bid earlier this month to upset incumbent Penny Hubbard in a state representative primary race, but he will formally challenge those results on Wednesday, arguing that dozens of voters from the 78th District illegally voted absentee.

In doing so, Franks says, he hopes that a judge will declare there is enough evidence to cast doubt on the results in the 78th District and set a new election.

As Franks makes his case, Secretary of State Jason Kanders office is reviewing two formal complaints made regarding the outcome of the Franks and Hubbard race.

As part of our process, weve already reached out to the local election authority about the complaints to begin gathering answers, and will release a report of our findings when we complete this review, said Stephanie Fleming, a spokeswoman for Kanders office.

Hubbard could not be reached for comment.

The state statute allows for a challenge like Franks plans to make, but the conditions for setting a new election are not precise.

If any court trying a contested primary election determines there were irregularities of sufficient magnitude to cast doubt on the validity of the initial election, it may order a new primary election for the contested office, reads the state statute. The order shall set the date of the election, which shall not be less than fourteen or more than thirty days after the order is issued.

The St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners certified the Aug. 2 results on Monday afternoon showing that Hubbard won by 90 votes, 2,203 to 2,113. Frank actually won 51 percent of the votes cast at polling places. But Hubbard received 78.5 percent of the absentee votes, tipping the election her way.

Dave Roland, attorney for Franks, said he is confident a great number of absentee ballots were improperly applied for and improperly cast.

There are six reasons a voter can legally cast an absentee ballot, and five of them require that the voter swear under oath that he or she cannot make it to the polls on Election Day. They are: being out of town, incarceration, religious belief or practice, employment as an election worker at a place other than the workers polling place, and certified participant in the address confidentiality program established because of safety concerns.

Roland is homing in on the sixth reason  incapacity or confinement due to illness or disability. This includes being a person who is the primary caregiver for an incapacitated person. The reason for this focus? No sworn statement is needed if this reason is marked on a voters application for absentee ballot, he said.

Roland said based on his interviews with voters and on background checks made through social media, he is confident that more than 90 of the people who cast absentee ballots did so improperly. On 40 of 43 copies of absentee ballot applications obtained by the Post-Dispatch, the incapacity box is checked. Two voters marked that they were out of town. One marked both out of town and incapacity as reasons.

Roland admits that without access to all applications and the envelopes in which they were mailed, he cannot know definitively what excuse people marked or whether the voters swore under oath.

On July 29, Roland sued the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, saying the officials have refused to release absentee ballot information in violation of the state Sunshine Law. The board refused to let Roland inspect the absentee ballot applications from city elections for the past four years, including those that voters had requested for the Aug. 2 election.A board attorney, in denying access to the records, cited a state statute, which says in part that voted ballots, ballot cards, processed ballot materials in electronic form and write-in forms shall not be made available for inspection, except upon order of a legislative body trying an election contest, a court or a grand jury.

The deadline for a judge to set a new primary election is Sept. 27  the same day absentee balloting begins for the Nov. 8 general election.
Americas higher education promise says that a student with the right mix of smarts and determination can open the doors to a bright future by going to college, even when starting out with meager finances.

That promise is one of the reasons schools from Harvard to Mizzou receive generous tax breaks and subsidies from the federal government; at their core, colleges and universities are supposed to be charitable organizations.

But too often, critics say, schools prioritize prestige over charity  essentially racing to raise the most money in order to recruit the most renowned researchers, while building the most lavish campuses.

Amid that criticism, Washington University set out two years ago to boost its enrollment of talented low-income students, seeking to reverse a practice in which those students were rejected in favor of applicants from wealthier families.

Federal Pell Grants are reserved for the nations poorest students. Only 7 percent of Washington Universitys total student body currently qualifies.

School officials said their goal is to increase that number to 13 percent by 2020. The plan calls for the university to spend about $25 million per year over the next five years to move closer to that goal.

Holden Thorp, the universitys chief academic officer, said the university is on its way.

The number of Pell Grant recipients is going to be very close to 13 percent for this incoming freshman class, Thorp said. He later hinted that the percentage of low-income students among all undergraduates could surprise some people.

And theres evidence that WU could become more economically diverse without compromising its famously high admissions standards.

Between 2014 and 2015, the percentage of incoming freshmen who qualified as low-income jumped from 8 percent to 11 percent. Meanwhile, the average ACT score between the two classes remained steady at 33 out of a possible 36.

Still, higher education observers say the universitys 13 percent goal is not good enough. They point to its tax-exempt status and its estimated $6 billion endowment as proof the school could do better.

Nationally, 40 percent of the countrys college students qualify as low-income, according to the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.

Higher education has become part of the problem of inequality, said Thomas Mortenson, a senior scholar at the Pell Institute. The elite institutions are reserved for the children born into affluence.

Mortenson said schools such as WU should aim for 20 percent low-income enrollment.

If not, they should make a case for why they should remain tax exempt, he said.

Thorp counters that while increasing the number of low-income students on campus sounds like a noble goal, Washington Universitys administrators are focusing on being able to provide the right resources.

Whats important as we increase the number of low-income students we serve, is for us to be very aware of their need, he said. Our focus is on providing our students good financial packages. Were making sure this is a place where all talented people can succeed.

Need-blind admissions

While Washington University has been singled out for its campus makeup, a number of schools have been recognized for boosting low-income enrollment.

Grinnell College in Iowa is one of them. It enjoys prestige in the U.S. News rankings and a high average ACT score of 32 among incoming students.

But the school also emphasizes socioeconomic diversity. About 20 percent of its student body qualifies as low-income, and about 15 percent of incoming freshmen are the first in their family to attend college.

And like Washington University, Grinnells $60,000 annual price tag can be a deterrent for many students.

But Grinnell uses whats called a need-blind admissions policy, meaning the school doesnt factor an applicants ability to pay into its enrollment decisions.

Instead, the university uses its $1.8 billion endowment to keep costs down for students. The average Grinnell student graduates with $16,000 in student loan debt. At Washington University, that number is roughly $28,000.

Stephen Burd, a senior policy analyst with the New America foundation, has studied both Washington University and Grinnell. The latter, he said, is living up to the countrys postsecondary education mission, he said.

Each college that gets these major advantages from the government should give people from all walks of life a chance, he said. Thats the backbone of our higher education promise.

Changing the conversation

But even when a school makes socioeconomic diversity a priority, there is only so much administrators can do to help low-income students succeed.

Ryon Arrington, an incoming WU senior hoping to attend medical school, said hes seen some definite changes at the university since he first enrolled.

Two years ago, Arrington was struggling financially and not sure how he was going to pay for the second semester of his sophomore year. After he was featured in a Post-Dispatch story, an anonymous benefactor stepped up and has been helping him with tuition.

But some of his friends were not so lucky.

When they went to the school for help, they were told, Theres no more to give, Arrington said. Or the staff would tell them about taxable loans and high-interest loans.

Now the conversation has changed, he said. Now there are more options for people.

But aside from finances, low-income students who attend elite colleges can often find themselves as social outcasts.

Arrington describes an atmosphere where he was left out of different social functions because he couldnt pay.

Other times, friendships faded altogether.

I lost a lot of friends over three years, he said. Some people just wont talk to me. They have no interest in people from a lower circle. Their attitude was that they werent interested in my character, they were interested in who could help them with upward mobility.

Financial hardships coupled with social struggles are one of the reasons even academically gifted low-income students graduate at lower rates than their well-off peers.

A new culture

An Education Trust report released last year found that 51 percent of Pell Grant recipients graduate nationwide, compared to 65 percent of non-Pell students.

Its one of the reasons WU recently hired Anthony Tillman, formerly of Southern Methodist University, to oversee programs aimed at ensuring the success of low-income and first-generation students.

For students, its less about their academic acumen and their ability to handle the challenges in the classroom but how students psychologically invest themselves into a new culture, Tillman said. Its about how a student finds their place and deals with the various levels of adversity.

Tillman said there is no magic 10-point plan to help low-income students integrate into a campus like Washington Universitys. He said it will take time for him and other administrators to build programs suited to the specific challenges students face.

In the meantime, Tillmans plan is to be available to students.

Yes, I am an administrator, but I will be someone students will see, he said. I will be at events. Ill be someone they can talk to. Thats just part of my DNA.
WASHINGTON  Vice President Joe Biden says Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander reminds him of himself.

Biden put out an email appeal to potential donors to Kanders campaign against Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

I was around Jasons age when I first ran for U.S. Senate, Biden says. His race reminds me a lot of mine.

Like Jason, I was up against a long-time incumbent. Like Jason, when I started my campaign, very few people in Washington thought we had a chance.

Biden was 30 when he became a senator in January of 1973, and was the sixth youngest to ever serve in the Senate. The Democrat Kander turned 35 in May.

Bidens note asks contributors to help Kander raise $150,000 this month to fight special interests pledged to defeat him. Third-party groups in favor of Blunt have already begun advertising on his behalf in the state. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already started running ads in conjunction with Kander's campaign.

Biden and President Barack Obama lost Missouri to Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan by more than 9 percentage points in 2012. There is no sign that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has yet decided to make a significant effort to win Missouri this year. She has sent staff to Missouri, as she said she planned to do to all 50 states, and is in the process of opening an office in St. Louis. But her campaign has not announced any plans to advertise in the states media markets.

Blunt spokeswoman Burson Snyder said Biden's fundraising appeal is just more evidence that the Democrats in Washington badly want Kander there to advance their agenda.

Kander spokeswoman Anne Feldman said that "Jason is grateful for Vice President Biden's support and would welcome him to Missouri any time."
JEFFERSON CITY  An effort to ban state investment in companies that do business in Iran may not have made it through the Missouri legislature in its most recent session, but sponsoring Sen. Eric Schmitt has made it part of his platform in his bid for state treasurer.

The Glendale Republican is running against former Democratic state Rep. Judy Baker to be Missouris next chief financial officer, a job that would put the Nov. 8 general election winner in charge of overseeing the states spending and investments.

When Ive talked about this going around the state for several months, people are outraged that their money would make its way to Iran, Schmitt said.

The treasurers office already has a policy in place prohibiting investment in countries designated as terrorist outposts, but Schmitt has pushed for that to become a law.

Earlier this month, he announced a plan to ramp up efforts should he be elected treasurer, including updating the existing policy and using the office to work with local governments on their investment policies.

Its a state-level response to an ongoing federal battle, as Republicans continue to voice opposition to a landmark nuclear deal reached in 2015 between Iran, the United States and several other world powers. In exchange for lifting economic sanctions for Iran, the deal puts limits on Irans nuclear program and increases oversight.

While the Obama administration lauds improved relations with Iran as a result of the agreement, many Republicans say lifting the sanctions provides financial relief and means to a state sponsor of terrorism.

The fight has trickled down to state politics through Defund Iran, a group that aims to put constitutional amendments before voters that would keep state dollars away from corporations that do businesses with countries like Iran. Its chaired by former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman and co-chaired by Schmitt.

Opponents have argued these efforts amount to fear-mongering. Schmitt says escalating attacks from ISIS make it clear terrorism is a growing threat.

He also points to bipartisan support for his proposed investment ban, saying the bill didnt make it through because of time constraints, not opposition. The bill passed both chambers with overwhelming majorities, but the session ended before amendments could be approved.

In the Senate, only former Minority Leader Joe Keaveny voted against it on the grounds that it could negatively impact Boeing Co., an aerospace company that sells commercial airplanes to Iran and employs more than 14,000 people in St. Louis.

Do we really want to be in the position where we prohibit all of the state pension systems from investing in Boeing, a local manufacturer, and international manufacturer? said Keaveny, a St. Louis Democrat, at the time.

Schmitt actually sponsored legislation in 2013 that helped the state lure a Boeing plant to St. Louis County, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle heralded its potential for job creation.

Now though, he says banning investment in companies like Boeing is the natural consequence of opposing the Iran Deal, and its one he said Democrats have already gotten behind.

A lot of Democrats voted for that ban investing in those companies, Schmitt said. I think, look, terrorism is undeniably a very serious issue for our country. We have a moral imperative to be in the lead here to say that we are not going to be part of it.
JEFFERSON CITY  A union representing state employees called on the head of the Missouri Veterans Commission to step down Tuesday, after he was recently allowed to return to work after a sexual harassment verdict and a quick leave of absence.

Last month, a jury found Larry Kay harassed a former employee, who took him to court alleging he fired her because of age discrimination. Kay maintained he fired her because of budget cuts, but the jury awarded her nearly $3 million in damages.

After the verdict, Kay was placed on paid administrative leave but was allowed to return after less than three weeks. That decision was made by the commission behind closed doors.

In a statement, AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan called on Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon to intervene, arguing Kay's "reprehensible harassment and discrimination"has cost taxpayers millions.

"A slap on the wrist for firing an employee on the basis of gender and age is dishonorable to the men and women who have served our country," Homan said. "Mr. Kays low ethical standards are also a disservice to the employees of the Commission who provide essential services to our veterans."

The governor's office could not be immediately reached for comment.

The union isn't the first to criticize the commission for approving Kay's return. Sen. Scott Sifton, an Affton Democrat who serves on the nine-member commission overseeing the agency, has also encouraged Kay to resign.

"Discrimination or harassment in any form is rightfully prohibited by state employees, as outlined in their Code of Conduct, but is apparently tolerable when displayed by management," Homan said. "The commissions employees provide vital services to our veterans. They need and deserve a work environment free from the kind of hostility the jury found occurred."
The heaviest of several waves of thunderstorms over three days swelled creeks early Monday and forced some area residents out of their homes and businesses.

Through Monday evening, 3.5 inches of rain had fallen since Friday evening at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Nearly 2.6 inches of that was recorded early Monday. Some parts of the area had 4 to 6 inches.

Charley Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Weldon Spring, said a last wave of storms expected Monday night and early Tuesday probably wont cause serious flooding. There is a slight chance of scattered storms returning Thursday and through the weekend.

It was hectic before dawn Monday, when firefighters and police officers in De Soto in Jefferson County rescued about three dozen people who live along Joachim Creek. It spread from its banks by 4 a.m. and quickly rose several more feet.

Emergency crews used boats to rescue stranded people and drove them to two churches to wait out the flooding.

The creek rose rather quickly this time, and a lot of people were still home sleeping, said De Soto Assistant Fire Chief James Maupin.

Among those rescued was a woman who was nine months pregnant and began having labor pains. Maupin said paramedics transported her to a hospital.

Deer Creek in central St. Louis County, another waterway notorious for flash flooding, swept into businesses along its path in Rock Hill and Brentwood.

Bob Holthaus of Holthaus Technologies, 8410 Manchester Road, scrambled when he woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of the Weather Services alert. He rushed to move televisions, stereos and automation equipment onto higher shelves. He said 2 feet of water was in part of the building by 8 a.m., when it began receding.

The creek caused more serious flooding in late December, when nearly 9 inches of rain fell for three days beginning Dec. 26.

To have it happen twice in one year is unheard of, Holthaus said. You cant beat Mother Nature.

Tommy Bahn, owner of Cousin Hugos in Maplewood, said water from Deer Creek rose nearly into the restaurant. I am always on pins and needles when it rains like that, Bahn said.

In Granite City, waist-high water covered several stretches of Maryville Road on Monday morning, police said. Parts of downtown also were impassable to cars.

In State Park Place, residents packed sandbags Monday on low spots along Canteen Creek at Fairview Boulevard.

In St. Charles County, Dardenne Creek rose quickly but did not reach flood stage before receding.

The storm knocked out power to about 15,000 Ameren electric customers early Monday, but most service had been restored by afternoon. In the metro area, hardest hit were Ladue, Rock Hill and Fenton. South of St. Louis, outages were widespread in and around Park Hills and Farmington, Mo.

The Weather Service said more than 6 inches of rain fell in Mapaville, between Hillsboro and Herculaneum in Jefferson County, from Sunday afternoon to 6 a.m. Monday. Other rain totals include nearly 4 inches in Eureka, 5 inches in Jennings, 4.5 inches in Pontoon Beach and Forest Park, 4 inches in Edwardsville and Eureka, and 3 inches in Freeburg.

Totals were lower west and north of St. Louis. St. Charles had 1 inch, Chesterfield had 0.8 inches and Troy, Mo., 0.6 inches.

The area rivers are rising but arent expected to repeat anything close to last Decembers records. The Meramec River at Valley Park was forecast to crest Wednesday a foot over flood stage after a 17-foot rise. But flood stage is of little consequence since Valley Parks levee was completed.

The Meramec was expected to stay below flood stages at Pacific, Eureka and Arnold. The Big River at Byrnesville was expected to crest at 21.8 feet Wednesday, or nearly 6 feet over flood stage, after a 19-foot rise. The Big flows into the Meramec near Eureka.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District reported the storm early Monday overwhelmed the final treatment process at its Fenton plant. The two primary cleaning processes continued functioning, but the district warned people not to go into the Meramec from Fenton to the Mississippi River  or wash thoroughly with soap if they do.

The December flood knocked out that plant for three months.

MSD also reported about 200 scattered residential sewer backups on Monday.

The Midwestern pattern was spun from the storm system that pounded Louisiana with record rainfall, causing serious flooding. Kelly, of the Weather Service, said the low-pressure, tropical storm system extending north from the Gulf of Mexico merged with a separate front south of the St. Louis area. But without the ocean to supply moisture and other factors, inland rainfall was not nearly as severe.

Jesse Bogan, David Carson, Kim Bell, Bryce Gray, Tim ONeil and Leah Thorsen, all of the Post-Dispatch, contributed to this report.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post.

Khalid Jabara was worried.

Last year, his mother had been jogging through the family's quiet Tulsa neighborhood when she was nearly killed in a vicious hit-and-run. Police quickly arrested Vernon Majors, who, according to a police report, confessed to the crime and even offered a motive, calling the Jabaras "filthy Lebanese."

On May 25 of this year, however, Majors bonded out of jail.

That's when he returned home - right next to the Jabaras.

On Friday, Khalid learned that his next-door neighbor, the man accused of harassing his family and attacking his mother, was now armed.

"Khalid called the police stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen," his sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, wrote on Facebook. "The police came and told him there was nothing to be done."

Minutes later, Khalid was talking on the phone with his family when he stepped outside to get the mail.

Majors was waiting for him, police say.

The 61-year-old opened fire, fatally wounding the 37-year-old Khalid, according to police.

After a bizarre standoff involving bare feet and a six-pack of beer, Majors was arrested. He will be formally charged with first-degree murder as soon as he is released from a hospital later this week, police said in a press release.

"This certainly is a tragedy . . . but this is not a whodunit," Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker told The Washington Post, citing one eyewitness account as well as the history of problems between Majors and his Lebanese neighbors.

What is a mystery, at least to the Jabara family, is why Majors was released from jail 10 weeks ago.

"My family lived in fear of this man and his hatred for years," Victoria Jabara Williams wrote. "Yet in May, not even one year after he ran over our mother and despite our repeated protests, he was released from jail with no conditions on his bond - no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing, nothing."

"This man was a known danger," she continued. "Our brother's death could have been prevented."

Police confirmed that Khalid Jabara had called 911 minutes before the shooting. Officers responded to a report of someone knocking on the Jabaras' windows but did not question Majors and left at 6:40 p.m. - just eight minutes before the attack, Walker told The Post.

The sergeant acknowledged that the killing raised questions about how authorities handled the neighborhood feud.

"The Constitution allows for people to bond out," Walker told The Post. "That said, certainly, knowing what we know today, decisions would be made differently."

Majors - whose full name is Stanley Vernon Majors - had a history of violence before moving to Tulsa, Walker said. Court records show he was convicted in 2012 of assault with a deadly weapon and making "criminal threats" in San Bernardino County in California.

Majors appears to have moved to Oklahoma shortly afterward.

The problems with his neighbors began almost immediately, records show.

On Aug. 6, 2013, Khalid's mother, Haifa Jabara, filed a restraining order against Majors, who is white. In the complaint, she said Majors had "harassed" and "stalked" her by "knocking at windows late at nite, harassing me with ugly sex words over the phone, taking pictures and harassing my helper in garage.

"He is very racist towards foreigners and blacks," she wrote.

Majors responded by filing his own restraining order against her son, Khalid. Majors accused Khalid of harassment, vandalism, trespassing by placing notes on his door as well as "e-mail threats and blackmail."

It was Majors, however, who was arrested and charged on March 18, 2015, with violating the restraining order.

"(Expletive) you and I want to kill you," Majors told Haifa, according to a police report. "Jabara also stated to officers that Majors said multiple racial slurs to her today in her driveway."

Majors, who the report said was intoxicated and "chugged his beer" instead of putting it down, was also charged with obstructing police.

Tensions between the two Tulsa households only increased over the summer.

"He repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments," Victoria Jabara Williams wrote on Facebook. "He often called us 'dirty Arabs,' 'filthy Lebanese,' 'Aye-rabs,' and 'Mooslems.' "

(The Jabaras are actually Christian, Rebecca Abou-Chedid, a family friend, told The Post.)

Those tensions exploded into bloodshed on Sept. 12 of last year, authorities say.

A woman was driving through a suburban stretch of southeast Tulsa that afternoon when she spotted running shoes in the road. In a pool of blood nearby lay Haifa Jabara.

Haifa had a "severely broken left arm, a broken nose, and road rash all over her body," according to a police report. Although Haifa said she had no recollection of the incident, her son, Khalid, said he could guess what happened.

"Khalid stated that his mother was not hit randomly while walking, and that she was in fact run over by Vernon Majors," the officer wrote. "When I asked how he came to this conclusion, he stated that he just knows. Khalid stated that his mother has a protective order against Majors and that they have been arguing back [and] forth for months. Khalid stated that Majors is always causing issues for his family and making negative comments about Muslim people."

When police located Majors inside an apartment complex near the scene of the hit-and-run, "he was extremely drunk and urinating, without the use of his hands, through his open pants," according to an incident report.

"Is she ok? Haifa?" Majors said, according to the police report. "I was out driving my car, drunk. I'm always drunk and you guys never stop me. And there was this rabbit, and Haifa jumped out in front of my car."

"Majors went on to repeat this with variations including that he 'hit her' and 'I left because I was scared,'" the officer wrote in the report. Police found his car with its windshield shattered and "what appeared to be blood or tissue stuck on it."

Majors "frequently calls in to complain about Ms. Jabara," the officer added. "On previous interactions Majors repeatedly referred to his neighbors, the Jabara family, as 'Aye-rabs' and 'Mooslems' (Arabs and Muslims)."

Questioned after the hit-and-run, "Majors remarked that Mrs. Jabara and her family were filthy Lebanese and they throw gay people off roof tops," another officer wrote.

Majors was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of a collision involving injury, violating a protective order and public intoxication, according to court records.

Despite the seriousness of the charges, and the fact that he lived right next to his alleged victim, Majors was released after posting bond on May 25, 2016 - and he was awaiting trial on at least one charge relating to the hit-and-run when the shooting occurred last week, police said in a press release Monday night.

"This guy was fixated on the family for a long time," Tulsa police Capt. Shellie Seibert told The Post. "He used to call the police on them no matter what, if they stepped on his lawn or anything. He ran over the mother last year. He had pending charges. He was out on bond for that. He had some unusual fixation with them."

On Friday, that "fixation" returned with deadly force, according to authorities.

Khalid learned from another neighbor that Majors had somehow obtained a gun.

"My brother called the police to explain to them that we were scared because we heard he had a gun," Victoria Jabara Williams wrote on Facebook. "The police left, saying they could do nothing, and, 30 minutes later . . . the criminal walked up to my brother and shot him on his front porch."

In fact, officers left just eight minutes before neighbors reported hearing gunshots, Walker said.

Khalid was on the phone with his family when he was killed, Abou-Chedid told The Post.

Sgt. Walker said a cellphone was found on the Jabaras' front porch, along with three shell casings.

The neighbor on the other side of the Jabara residence heard gunshots and looked outside in time to see Majors shoot Khalid a final time, Sgt. Walker said. Several other neighbors heard the gunshots and saw Majors "circling" the wounded man.

When one neighbor screamed at Majors to leave, he pointed his gun at the neighbor before fleeing in his bare feet, leaving footprints in blood and then mud between the two houses, Walker told The Post. A large-caliber handgun was found near the location of the shooting.

Paramedics took Khalid to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police, meanwhile, surrounded Majors's house. They ordered him to surrender but received no response.

Finally, an officer spotted Majors hiding behind a tree behind the Jabara residence and arrested him. "We did find a six-pack of beer pretty close to where we arrested him," said Walker, adding that Majors was "somewhat" intoxicated.

Majors was taken to the hospital after falling ill upon arrest, and will be formally charged with first-degree murder as soon as he is well enough to leave the hospital, police said in a press release. There are no other suspects, police said.

This time, Majors did not make any statements when he was arrested, instead invoking his right to an attorney, Walker said.

And this time, bail is unlikely.

That is little comfort to the Jabara family.

"We are outraged," Victoria Jabara Williams wrote on Facebook. "I want to shed light and bring awareness to the negligence that occurred from the first moment the neighbor . . . this monster . . . called our family 'Dirty Arabs', to the time he ran over my mother with his car, to the two Protective Order violations, and our constant vigilance to communicate and be proactive with the DA's, to the fact that they let him out of jail after 8 months."

She said Majors should have been charged with a "hate crime" in September and kept behind bars.

"He should not have been released without monitoring," she wrote in another Facebook post. "Yet he was released and put back next door to us, the family he assaulted just months before. This is troubling at any time, but profoundly disturbing given the current climate of our country and the increase nationally in cases of hate crimes."

"While one cannot explain irrationality and evil, one thing I can explain is that indifference and inaction were major factors leading to Khalid's death," wrote his brother, Rami Jabara. "As an attorney, I have seen the system fail defendants, but it also seems to fail the victims just as much or perhaps more. I feel like my family lost, my community lost. My brother lost. We all lost. I feel like we did everything we possibly could do [to] advocate for and protect ourselves."

Abou-Chedid, the family friend, told The Post that the Jabaras were too distraught to speak Monday night.

"They are in shock, they are heartbroken and they are angry because there is nothing [more] they could have done to keep themselves safe, to keep their brother safe and to keep their mother safe," she said. "It's one thing if this guy came out of nowhere and shot their brother. But this is a person who was in jail for running over their mother. And it just seems like a system that doesn't protect a family from someone who was a known threat to them is a broken system."

Abou-Chedid also suggested the current political climate could have played a role in the killing.

"After 9/11 you did not see the rhetoric that you see now. It's gotten so much worse," she said. "If crazy people keep hearing that Mexicans are rapists and Arabs are terrorists, well then who are crazy people going to take their craziness out on?"

The Jabara family is well known and loved in Tulsa, according to Abou-Chedid. Haifa Jabara runs a popular Lebanese food catering business. Her husband, who was home during the attack, is ill.

"They were a very nice family," said a neighbor who asked not to be named. She said the whole neighborhood had been "watching out" for Majors, who was known to be "violent." And she said she was "surprised and shocked" when Majors was allowed to leave jail before his trial.

In their online posts, Khalid's siblings sought to contrast him with his alleged attacker.

Khalid "was hilarious, quirky, very intelligent, and really would give all of himself for anyone he loved," his brother wrote.

"Sensitive to the core, he loved others so much and wanted to be loved back," said his sister.

"Our brother Khalid was just 37 years old and had his whole life ahead of him," she wrote. "He was a kind spirit, loving brother, uncle and son. Khalid's heart was big. He cared for our entire family, our friends and people he didn't even know. He created every Jabara family joke and filled our lives with love and laughter. All of that has been taken away from us by this hateful man and a system that failed to protect our community."

tulsa-man

_____

Keywords: Khalid Jabara, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Vernon Majors, hate crime, Lebanese, Muslim, Christian, crime, killing, police, shooting, murder
MILWAUKEE  Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer.

"This was, quite frankly, unanticipated," Police Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the city's economically depressed and largely black north side.

The city was calmer on Monday evening after two nights of unrest. Six arrests were made after some "heated confrontations" but there was no destruction of property or rioting, Flynn said. A 10 p.m. curfew for those under the age of 18 appeared to be honored with the aid of community leaders and parents, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.

The chief's statement raised questions about whether authorities could have taken steps to curb the violence, perhaps by sharing details of the shooting earlier, including the officer's race or footage from his body camera.

Randolph McLaughlin, a Pace University law professor and a civil rights attorney, questioned how Milwaukee leaders could have expected the streets to stay quiet on Saturday night given the national debate about law enforcement and race.

"For a mayor to say everything's fine (and) we just killed somebody, that's turning a blind eye to his town," McLaughlin said.

He said Barrett should have reached out to residents and community leaders and asked: "What do we need to do to make sure your community is safe?" McLaughlin said. "He needs to stay on the job."

David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis sociology professor who studies police use of deadly force, said it would not necessarily have helped for police to release the officer's race sooner. He pointed out that the city saw disruptions on Sunday night, after his race had been publicized, though less intense than the previous night.

He also said the city may have hesitated to give the officer's race sooner for fear it would identify him.

Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in St. Louis, said the officer's race probably does not matter to many people in the community.

"They see the institution as racist, not the individual," Cross said. "Once you put on the uniform, you're blue, and blue sees black as bad."

Flynn said it was "an error in narrative to assume" that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial "so let's have a riot."

Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.

"There's so much anger in these kids," Brewer said. The shooting "was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesn't matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true."

The problems began Saturday afternoon when police stopped a rental car that was driving suspiciously, Flynn said. Sylville Smith bolted from the car with a gun, leading an officer on a short foot chase before the officer shot the 23-year-old man. Police said Smith was fleeing a traffic stop but released few other details.

The violence erupted later that evening.

During a news conference around midnight calling for calm, Barrett said people were gathering at the scene when he left at 5 p.m. Saturday, but they were peaceful and he thought everything was under control.

At another news conference Sunday afternoon, Flynn offered new details, revealing that the officer who opened fire was black, like Smith, and said body-camera video showed Smith had turned toward the officer and refused to drop his weapon. He also said the officer shot Smith in the chest and arm. Some people interviewed on the north side had speculated that Smith was shot in the back.

The body-camera footage has not been released. It's in the custody of the state Justice Department, which is leading the investigation into the shooting.

Flynn activated the department's 150-member crowd-control team on Sunday night, and Gov. Scott Walker put the National Guard on standby. Hundreds of people gathered near the scene of the shooting that evening, but remained peaceful. Most of them eventually dispersed.

Around 10:30 p.m., however, a group of perhaps 100 demonstrators began marching through the streets, eventually blocking an intersection next to a BP gas station that burned down the night before. They threw bottles, chunks of concrete and rocks at officers. Dozens of officers arrived and forced the group down the street.

Seven officers were injured and 14 people were arrested by the time it was over. An 18-year-old man was shot near the intersection. Police had to use an armored vehicle to rescue him. He was taken to a hospital, but Flynn said his life was not in danger.

Smith's death was just the latest in a string of shootings involving police and black men to spark demonstrations and protests.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was fatally shot in July during a struggle with two white police officers, protests largely dissipated after three law enforcement officers were killed in a shooting attack that appeared to target police. Demonstrations also unfolded after 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, during a traffic stop by a Latino police officer. Those protests dwindled in the ensuing weeks.

Last year, the state Justice Department agreed to review Milwaukee police procedures after a white officer shot Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in a downtown park during a scuffle.

DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smith's death would have stopped the weekend's unrest.

"People are just so angry," he said.

Flynn blamed a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party for coming to town and inciting Sunday's violence.

"There is ample opportunity for second-guessing, I'm sure," Flynn said.
In Donald Trumps eyes, the place America should hold in the world is one where international rules and laws dont apply. America goes where it wants, takes what it wants, kills whomever it wants and answers to no one.

Trumps understanding of history appears to be limited. He would take license to ignore laws that limit American powers. He conveniently ignores the historical record when the facts dont suit his narrative.

The GOP presidential nominees foreign policy speech on Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, underscored the dangers posed by the potential presidency of someone so clearly unprepared for the job.

We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism, just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age before, Trump declared after presenting a long list of terrorist attacks that he laid at the feet of President Barack Obama. But we will not defeat it with closed eyes, or silenced voices.

Looking back nostalgically on the pre-Obama days, he said, Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the United States. Iraq was experiencing a reduction of violence.

These were not off-the-cuff misstatements. Trump was reading from a teleprompter. So he clearly doesnt know that Libya and Syria were ruled by brutal dictators. Egypts secular president had a long history of human rights violations and subverted democracy repeatedly to perpetuate his regimes power.

The lull in Iraqi violence occurred in large part because the American military paid off tribal chiefs to win their cooperation. In 2008, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki demanded that U.S. troops leave his country by the end of 2011. President George W. Bush agreed. Obama inherited the deadline.

If Trump believed that period was so rosy, why did he state in 2007 that the United States needed to pull out of Iraq immediately, and that any delay in leaving was just wasting time? Was Trump wrong in his 2007 assessment? By his own definition Monday, he was.

Trump stated that the United States should have seized Iraqi oil during the 2003 invasion as a spoil of war. Under what law does Trump believe the United States had any such authority?

The candidate also has erroneously stated that Obama created the Islamic State. In fact, the group evolved from al-Qaida in Iraq, which formed during the early chaos of the U.S. occupation under Bushs direction. Islamic State formally declared its existence in Syria, not Iraq.

Trump seems to long for the days when oppressive dictatorships ruled, before pro-democracy movements rose up during the Arab Spring revolts. If he models his leadership style on the likes of Muammar Gadhafi, Bashar al-Assad and Saddam Hussein, voters should shudder at the greater America that looms under a Trump presidency.
Can we be assured that the plant will not pollute our land or water supply so that we are not discovering something decades later like so many areas in Missouri?
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE makes weekly gain but banks weigh on Friday

Friday, October 28, 2022 - 17:08

The FTSE 100 managed a weekly gain, despite underperforming peers on Friday, while strong results from oil majors lifted the mood in New York, shaking off poor numbers from Amazon.

Central banks move into focus again next week. The Federal Reserve announces its rate decision on Wednesday, with the Bank of England following on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 26.02 points, or 0.4% at 7,047.67 on Friday, but finished the week 1.1% higher.

The FTSE 250 ended down 165.25 points, or 0.9%, at 17,916.67 - closing the week up 4.1%. The AIM All-Share closed down 4.09 points, or 0.5%, at 805.37, finishing 2.7% higher over the past five days

The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 703.81, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 1.0% at 15,378.84, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.5% at 12,320.39.

The pound was quoted at $1.1595 at the London equities close Friday, up slightly from $1.1573 at the close on Thursday. Though sterling's marked rise tempered slightly on Friday, the currency has gained 3.2% over the past week.

Markets have so far taken confidence from the new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In the FTSE 100, Centrica added 5.2% after it announced the reopening of the Rough natural gas storage facility off the east coast of England.

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.

GSK closed up 2.3% after it said its majority owned ViiV Healthcare venture has received the European Medicines Agency's validation for its marketing authorisation application for HIV prevention, and said its MAA for respiratory syncytial virus adult vaccine has also been accepted.

NatWest was the worst performer. It plunged 8.3% as it reported strong income growth in the third quarter, boosted by both increased lending and higher interest rates, but the bank warned it is keeping a close on eye on any change in behaviour from its customers.

In the three months to September 30, operating profit before tax rose to 1.09 billion from 976 million a year before.

Putting a cap on the bank's profit, NatWest set aside 247 million in the quarter to cover an expected increase in bad loans, which is reversed from a 221 million gain the year prior.

Lloyds fell 3.3% in negative read across.

Glencore fell 1.0% as it trimmed annual guidance for some of its commodities after a disappointing third-quarter performance dominated by supply chain disruptions in Kazakhstan, extreme weather in Australia, and strikes in Canada and Norway.

In the FTSE 250, ASOS tumbled 11%.

The stock was rocked by a Telegraph report which stated some hedge funds have shorted the stock, just days after retailer Frasers bought a stake.

Elsewhere in London, China-focused investment trusts fell.

JPMorgan China Growth & Income fell 2.9% and abrdn China Investment dropped 3.5%.

Investor sentiment turned sour as Chinese cities doubled down on Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Stocks in New York were firmly in the green at the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 2.0%, the S&P 500 index up 1.7% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.8%.

After disappointment from tech stocks, oil majors put some shine on this week's US corporate earnings calendar.

Exxon Mobil revenue in the third quarter of 2022 jumped 52% to $112.07 billion from $73.79 billion a year prior. Attributable net income soared to $19.66 billion from $6.75 billion. The oil major's bottom line rose 10% from $17.85 billion in the second quarter.

Chevron posted pretax earnings of $14.80 billion, up from $8.06 billion the year before. Revenue increased to $66.64 billion from $44.71 billion the year before.

Exxon shares rose 1.8%, while Chevron was up 0.3%. Amazon slid 10%, after its poor numbers overnight.

Wall Street also shook off a higher inflation reading for the US on Friday.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Fed's preferred inflationary measure, the core personal consumption expenditures index, which excludes food and energy, shot up 5.1% year-on-year in September, quickening from a 4.9% hike in August.

"The Fed's favoured measure of inflation is heading higher, rather than lower, while employment costs continue to rise at double the rate experienced over the past 15 years. The market is probably right to expect the Fed to slow the pace of rate hikes from December, but this is by no means guaranteed," analysts at ING commented.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank on Thursday lifted its benchmark interest rates by 75 basis points, as expected.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.2%.

The euro stood at $0.9943 at the European equities close Friday, lower against $0.9984 at the same time on Thursday.

Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP147.54 late Friday, higher compared to JP145.90 late Thursday.

Gold was quoted at $1,640.91 an ounce at the London equities close Friday, down sharply against $1,662.60 at the close on Thursday. The precious metal has an inverse relationship with the greenback, weakening as the dollar strengthens.

Brent oil was quoted at $93.34 a barrel at the London equities close Friday, down from $94.75 late Thursday.

In Monday's UK corporate calendar, there are full year results from self storage company Lok'n Store and kidney disease-focused diagnostics firm Renalytix.

In the economic calendar, the EU will publish its latest GDP and CPI readings.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Nick Skelton is through to Fridays individual Olympic final. Photo: Shannon Brinkmann, supplied courtesy of British Showjumping

ALCESTER'S Nick Skelton has lodged an appeal with the showjumping ground jury after he was handed four faults for touching the water during Tuesday's first team jumping round in Rio.

It appeared to be a harsh call by the water fence judge, who did not raise his red flag until Skelton and Big Star were two fences further around the course.

It was the only blot on the 58-year-old's otherwise excellent round, and he said: "It was pretty rough. That horse has never been in a water jump in his life, and I don't think he was in that one.

"He put his feet over it. His heel touched the tape, which is allowed. It's whatever judge is on there at the time, but we are appealing it.

"I had no idea. He didn't call it until I jumped two fences after. Should we have these water jumps? It is down to someone's opinion, and sometimes they can't get it right in a split-second.

"The horse jumped amazingly. He could not have jumped any better."

Second British team rider Ben Maher, aboard Tic Tac, had a fence down for another four faults score, and he claimed that luck had so far not been on Britain's side.

Only the top eight teams from 15 starters will make Wednesday's final, so the Skelton decision could prove crucial.

Maher said: "We are just a little short of luck on our team right now, but there is still a long way to go.

"It is very hard to see with this light. It can be deceptive when a horse's foot actually misses the tape (at the water jump), and the boot could be the thing that touched, which doesn't count.

"That would make a huge difference to our position right now, so it is definitely worth an appeal, and Nick certainly thought he jumped it."

Britain were just inside the top eight, with two more team riders - brothers Michael and John Whitaker - to jump.
Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL) announced the final resolution of the Proposition 65 lawsuit originally filed on July 23, 2014, in the Superior Court of the State of California.

On June 30, 2016 the Court entered judgment in favor of Lumber Liquidators. On August 12, 2016, the parties entered into a final resolution of the case, with a settlement agreement that requires the plaintiffs to pay Lumber Liquidators $100,000 as reimbursement for costs. The agreement also requires the plaintiffs to surrender their right to appeal or challenge the judgment.

"The verdict in our favor in the Proposition 65 case and the related settlement requiring plaintiffs to reimburse our costs are additional steps forward in the tremendous progress our Company has made over the past several months," said John Presley, CEO of Lumber Liquidators. "We have strengthened Lumber Liquidators across every area of our organization, including implementing significant enhancements to our sourcing and compliance practices, and look forward to continuing to deliver products that are compliant with California's environmental standards. As a company, we remain committed to operating with integrity and delivering the highest quality products to our customers."

In 2014, Global Community Monitor and Sunshine Park LLC filed a lawsuit claiming that Lumber Liquidators failed to provide a Proposition 65 formaldehyde warning to California consumers. The Court ruled that the plaintiffs' evidence failed to support their claims.
The Ford logo is pictured at the Ford Motor Co plant in Genk,Belgium December 17, 2014.REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo - RTSFV4L

By Alexandria Sage and Paul Lienert

PALO ALTO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co plans to offer a fully automated driverless vehicle for commercial ride-sharing in 2021, the automaker announced Tuesday, expanding its efforts in driverless cars and ride sharing - two areas where rivals have already made inroads.

To help speed development of self-driving cars, Chief Executive Mark Fields said Ford is hiking investments in Silicon Valley technology firms, tripling its investment in semi-autonomous systems, and more than doubling the size of its Palo Alto research team while expanding its campus in Silicon Valley.

"We're not in a race to be first," Fields said at the company's Palo Alto research and development lab, adding he was not concerned that rival General Motors had made a high-stakes play in ride services with its $500 million investment in Lyft in January.

Ford does not yet know whether it will partner with Uber, Lyft or others, with Fields saying "all options are open and on the table." He said Ford may choose not to partner, and roll out such services on its own.

Ford's announcement leaves many crucial strategy details still undecided. Yet Ken Washington, Ford's vice president of research, said it was important to signal that Ford intends to win in this space, even with key elements still unknown.

"We're saying to partners, we are the winning partner. It's not a hollow promise, it's a real intent," Washington said.

Ford Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair said the company likely will not offer a similar driverless car without steering wheel or pedals to consumers until 2025 or later. Launching a self-driving car first for ride-sharing is a better way to reach the mass market and make the cars more affordable, he said.

In a philosophy shared by Alphabet's Google, Ford does not intend to develop incremental autonomous systems that would occasionally require drivers to take the wheel, instead committing to a full self-driving car.

"We abandoned the stepping-stone approach," Fields said, saying there are too many risks involved in the safe "hand-over" of driving responsibility between car and driver.

The death of a Tesla driver in May who was using the company's "Autopilot" system but had his hands off the wheel has underscored the confusion over drivers' responsibilities in a semi-autonomous car.

Ford also said it had, along with Baidu Inc - China's largest internet company - jointly invested $150 million in Velodyne, which makes laser-based sensors that are a major building block in self-driving cars. Nair said Ford's investment was $75 million.

Earlier this year, Ford invested in Silicon Valley firm, Civil Maps, for advanced mapping for self-driving vehicles.

Ford rivals, including General Motors and Uber Technologies, are also developing self-driving vehicles for use in ride services.

Ford said it expects to deploy 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid prototypes this year, and 90 next year.

Nair said Ford, with its investments and its acquisition of SAIPS, an Israeli machine learning startup, now have the tools in place to develop a fully driverless vehicle, but said "there's still a lot of engineering development" between now and 2021.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Bernard Orr)
Linde Group logo is seen at its headquarters in Munich, Germany August 15, 2016. Picture taken on August 15, 2016. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

By Mike Stone and Jens Hack

NEW YORK/MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc (NYSE: PX) and German peer Linde AG are in early-stage talks about a merger to create a market leader with a value of more than $60 billion, Linde said on Tuesday, sending shares in both companies higher.

An agreement would accelerate consolidation sweeping the industrial gas sector where slower economic growth has weakened demand in the manufacturing, metals and energy sectors and put pressure on smaller players to compete.

A combination of Praxair and Linde, which supply gases such as nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide, would face scrutiny from regulators after other major deals, such as U.S. oilfield services provider Halliburton Co's (NYSE: HAL) $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes Inc (NYSE: BHI), were shot down due to antitrust concerns.

Linde has a strong position in healthcare in North America, where it supplies gases to hospitals and patients with respiratory disorders.

Praxair is more focused on industrial on-site production, which means a market share of close to 50 percent resulting from a merger should not spark opposition from U.S. anti-trust regulators, analysts said.

Linde said talks were ongoing and had not yet yielded any concrete results or agreements.

"Accordingly it is currently not foreseeable whether there will be any kind of transaction," it said in a statement.

VARIETY OF OPTIONS

Several people familiar with the matter had earlier told Reuters the two companies had held talks. One person had said Praxair was considering a takeover of Linde, while two other sources said Linde wanted a merger of equals.

One of the sources said a share swap was one possible structure of a deal but that talks were still very preliminary.

"A merger would be good for both companies, and for the sector as a whole," said Christopher Schaefer, a fund manager at Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder of Linde.

Shares in Linde were up 9.2 percent at 152.15 euros, an eight-month high, by 1346 GMT, making them the top gainer on Germany's blue-chip index , which was down 0.7 percent. Praxair was 4.7 percent higher at $123.58.

Linde has a market value of around 28 billion euros ($31.6 billion), compared with about $33.7 billion for Praxair.

Analysts said talks may have been spurred by French Air Liquide's acquisition of smaller U.S. peer Airgas Inc for $10.3 billion this year, making the world's leading industrial gases group a strong second player in North America behind Praxair.

Union Investment's Schaefer said the two companies could be forced to sell some assets to win regulatory approval of a merger, for instance in Brazil, Germany and Canada.

"But not so much that it would hurt the merger partners," he added.

Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer said overlaps in the rest of the world could help generate synergies of up to 800 million euros in a merger.

Jefferies analysts said they estimated that Praxair could pay a 26 percent premium over Linde's market value to gain control of it and still achieve an 8 percent return on invested capital in the full year and improve its free cash flow per share by $1.70.

Perella Weinberg is advising Linde, while Credit Suisse , among others, is working for Praxair, sources said.

(Refiles to remove outdated reference to Linde declining comment)

(Additional reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bangalore and Alexander Huebner, Jonathan Gould and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; Editing by Bernard Orr/Keith Weir)
Cambridge advisors, staff, and conference sponsors donate more than $45,000 to Have Dreams

FAIRFIELD, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cambridge hosted Ignite, its annual national conference, in Chicago August 10-13, with over 1,800 in attendance. Each year, Cambridge selects a local charity  based in the city where Ignite is held as a way to give thanks to the local community. At the conclusion of Cambridge Ignite 2016, over $45,000 was donated to Have Dreams, a Chicago based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals across the autism spectrum.

Were honored to partner with Have Dreams, an organization that makes such a positive impact on children, teens, and young adults impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorder, said Jeff Vivacqua, Senior Vice President, Marketing. Cambridge and its associates, sponsors, and independent financial advisors give this gift as a reflection of our appreciation of Have Dreams.

Vivacqua also noted fundraising events during Cambridge Ignite, which included a silent auction and the 5K Fun Run/Walk. Have Dreams offers after-school, workplace training, and adult day programs, along with diagnostic and family support services for individuals impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorder. Those interested in learning more about Have Dreams can follow them on Facebook or see their website at havedreams.org for more information.

Since 2009, Cambridge has focused on selecting a qualified charity in the location of its national conference for special support related to the firms conference for its advisors. Charities are selected based on nominations by advisors with a focus on non-profits reflecting similar core values of integrity, commitment, flexibility, and kindness.

Cambridge also prefers to focus on charities with needs that will be most positively impacted by the funds raised in connection with Ignite. Last year during Cambridge Ignite 2015, advisors, staff, and conference sponsors fundraised for Warrior 360, a Virginia-based nonprofit organized to support the needs and promote the welfare of our nation's heroes and their families.

Cambridge Ignite 2016 hosted over 1,800 advisors and their guests, staff, and sponsors in Chicago at the Sheraton and Loews hotels. A highly popular networking event for advisors and their peers, with informative, thought-provoking sessions including nationally recognized speakers such as Dr. David Kelley and veteran journalists and political commentators Tucker Carlson of FOX, and Paul Begala of CNN. The off-site event for Cambridge Ignite 2016 was held at Chicagos Navy Pier.

About CambridgeCambridge Investment Group, Inc. is a privately-controlled firm with a national reach across the financial services industry consisting of multiple broker-dealers and RIAs, including: Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc.  a large corporate RIA; and Continuity Partners Group, LLC  a special purpose broker-dealer and registered investment advisor; and Cambridge Investment Research, Inc.  an independent broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC, that is among the largest privately-controlled independent broker-dealers in the country supporting approximately 3,000 independent financial professionals nationwide who serve their clients as registered representatives and investment advisor representatives, choosing to use either Cambridges firm Registered Investment Adviser or their own. For more information visit www.joincambridge.com.

Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC, and investment advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Cambridge Investment Group, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006150/en/

Cambridge Investment Group, Inc.

Cindy Schaus, 641-470-1225

First Vice President, Public Relations and Creative Marketing

[email protected]

or

Morgan Von Ahsen, 641-470-1166

Associate Director, Public Relations and Creative Marketing

[email protected]

or

Steven Cherry, 641-209-8444

Account Executive, Public Relations and Creative Marketing

[email protected]

Source: Cambridge Investment Group, Inc.
-- Statewide online public school welcomes back students August 23 --

GARNAVILLO, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Iowa Virtual Academy (IAVA), an online public school program of the Clayton Ridge Community School District, will begin its 2016-2017 school year on August 23 as the program marks its fifth year.

The tuition-free public school offers an alternative to a traditional brick-and-mortar education and is available to all Iowa students in grades K-12. IAVA allows its students to access coursework virtually and provides an extensive support system to families. State-certified teachers work closely with parents to monitor progress and provide professional instruction, communicating daily with students through e-mail, telephone, and online meetings.

Were thrilled to begin another exciting school year with our returning families and welcome the new families joining us, said Steven Hoff, Head of School at Iowa Virtual Academy. At our school, we make it our mission to provide a personalized experience for each individual learner in order to prepare them for a bright and healthy future.

IAVAs unique curriculum is designed to adapt to each individual. Students have the ability to accelerate through subjects at which they excel, while those who need more time to understand a concept can work at a more comfortable pace. The flexibility, along with support from teachers, allows students to fully grasp material and discover a learning style that works best for them.

The IAVA high school program offers more than 150 core, elective and Advanced Placement courses designed to let students explore a high school program tailored to their goals and abilities. Subjects such as history, math, science and language arts are available as Honors or AP level courses, and students can engage in a wide selection of electives, including Career Technical Education (CTE) courses designed to give them a head start on job skills.

At IAVA, students can participate in an active school community which plans field trips and school outings year-round. For more information about Iowa Virtual Academy or to see a calendar of events, visit http://iava.k12.com/

About Iowa Virtual Academy

Iowa Virtual Academy is an online public school program of the Clayton Ridge Community School District, which uses the award-winning curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs. Iowa Virtual Academys individualized approach gives Iowa kids the chance to learn in the ways that are right for them. For more about IAVA, visit http://iava.k12.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006317/en/

For Iowa Virtual Academy

Donna Savarese, 703-436-3273

[email protected]

Source: Iowa Virtual Academy
CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Kevin J. Lederer Life Foundation announced today that they have awarded more than $140k in Life Grants. Through Life Grants, the Life Foundation seeks to help individuals and couples achieve parenthood. The foundation received over 100 grant applications and awarded 14 grants. Grants provide financial assistance for adoption, 3rd party reproduction and medical treatment, as well as donated services including IVF cycles, legal services, genetic testing and acupuncture services from the Life Foundations partners.

For Juliana and Andrew Morgan, a Life Grant made all the difference. The couple received a Life Grant in 2015, and they are now the parents of a daughter.

Our journey to parenthood was long and difficult physically, emotionally, and financially, says Juliana Morgan. To be recipients of a Life Grant was an incredible gift. We felt heard, supported and encouraged. We are grateful to the Life Foundation for helping us pursue further treatment and helping our dreams come true!

The Life Grant program is open to individuals or couples residing in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana who are pursuing treatment in Illinois and are seeking to defray the costs of adoption or fertility treatment. The Life Foundation was created to honor the legacy of Dr. Kevin J. Lederer and further his life mission of helping patients overcome infertility. Dr. Lederer, a well-respected Chicago physician, helped thousands become parents during his career.

The foundation partnered with Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, Center for Reproductive Medicine, ConceiveAbilities, Desai & Miller, Eastern Healing, Fertility Centers of Illinois, Heartland Surrogacy, InVia, IVF1, Reproductive Medicine Institute, Ross & Zuckerman and Sher Institute  Central Illinois Fertility Clinic for the 2016 Life Grants. The Foundation is also supported by Advanced Reproductive Center, Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicine, the University of Chicago's Center for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility and University of Illinois at Chicago Fertility Center.

The Life Foundation fills a critical need by helping to ease the burden for those struggling to build a family of their own, says Dr. Eve Feinberg, one of the foundations founders and a physician at Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicine.

Additional funds for the Life Foundation will be raised at the annual Run for Life 5k on September 25, 2016 at Blue Star Memorial Woods in Glenview. www.lifefindsaway.org

About The Kevin J. Lederer Life Foundation:The Kevin J. Lederer Life Foundation (Life Foundation) is a Chicago-based non-profit founded in 2014 to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Kevin Lederer, a well-respected and beloved physician who specialized in reproductive endocrinology and infertility. The Life Foundation aims to promote health and alleviate the mental and physical distress of individuals and couples diagnosed with infertility by hosting educational events and providing financial assistance through the Life Grant program. To learn more visit www.lifefindsaway.org

Source: Life Foundation
DENVER, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), announced today that the State of Colorado has been awarded $186,140 through the agency's competitive State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) to support export growth among Colorado small businesses.

Contreras-Sweet heralded the news as a boon for Colorado small businesses: "Two-thirds of the world's purchasing power resides outside the U.S. That makes exporting an important growth opportunity for Colorado small businesses that are ready to expand their reach into new and increasingly borderless global markets. These STEP awards in addition to SBA's export loans and U.S. Export Assistance Centers, small businesses in Colorado have the tools, resources and relationships they need to take their businesses global."

STEP awards were created to advance key priorities laid out in the President's National Export Initiative, namely to expand the base of small businesses that become exporters and to make the exporting process as easy as possible for small businesses. These awards are granted to U.S. states and territories to support programs that help small businesses expand their export-related activities. This includes participation in foreign trade missions, foreign market sales trips, subscription services for access to international markets, as well as design of international marketing campaigns, export trade show exhibits, export training workshops and more.

These awards are designed to increase both the number of U.S. small businesses that start exporting and the overall value of U.S. small business exports. Recipients of STEP awards in the first three rounds (FY 2011, 2012, 2014) reported a strong return on federal taxpayer investment, generating $22 in U.S. small business export sales for every $1 awarded.

The SBA Office of International Trade resource page can be found here. Additional information on STEP can be found here.

About the U.S. Small Business AdministrationThe U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. www.sba.gov

Contact: David Hall (202) 205-6697Release Number: 16-59Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110909/DC65875LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sba-administrator-announces-186140-award-for-colorado-to-support-small-business-trade-growth-300314485.html

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration
(PRWEB) August 16, 2016

Rocky Top is the only place in Tennessee that all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are allowed to ride on the highways. Why is this so important? Rocky Top is adjacent to Windrock Park, which is the largest privately-owned off-road recreation area in the country with over 72,000 acres that have over 300 miles of trails for off-roading, hiking, mountain biking and trail running.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to amend current law that would allow for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to ride on Highway 25W in Rocky Top beginning July 1, 2016.

"Current legislation allows for ATVs to be operated on State Route 116 from Beech Grove to Highway 25," said Mike Lovely, City of Rocky Top Mayor. "This amendment extends the riding area and allow riders from Windrock Park to access the commerce area of Rocky Top."

"Thousands of people visit Windrock Park every year," said Stephanie Wells, Anderson County Tourism Council's Director. "This will allow those visitors to come into the City of Rocky Top, buy gas, eat at restaurants, stay at the hotels, etc. without having to reload their equipment."

"Areas like the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in West Virginia have seen a very positive impact on their economy by giving ATV riders access to their towns," continued Wells.

"Our first priority is safety of our citizens and our visitors," said City of Rocky Top's Police Chief Jim Shetterly. "People wishing to ride in town will have to register and receive a permit. They will also be required to follow all safety requirements."

All-terrain vehicles will ONLY be allowed on Highway 25W from the intersection of Colonial Lane to the intersection at Jacksboro Avenue, Highway 116 from the intersection of Highway 25W and Beech Grove Road and on Beech Grove Road from the intersection with Highway 116 to the entrance to Windrock Park and only between one-half (1/2) hour after sunrise and one-half (1/2) hour before sunset. The route will be marked with signage.

Anyone operating an ATV must be 16 years of age or older and have a valid driver's license. Each person riding on the vehicle must wear a helmet. The vehicle must have working headlights and brake lights. If the vehicle doesn't have turn signals, the operator must use hand signals when turning. The owner of the vehicles must have insurance on the vehicle and must be prepared to show proof of insurance. Riders must lawfully operate their vehicle at all times. Any violation to the state laws and the rules listed here will result in loss of privileges to operate vehicle on the specified road.

Riders can register with the City at Rocky Top City Hall and at the Rocky Top Police Station when City Hall is closed on evenings and weekends. Permits for Windrock Park are now being sold at Shop Rite Grocery Store at the intersection of Highway 25W and Highway 116 and must be obtain in addition to the City's permit to access Windrock's property.

For more information, visit http://www.yallcome.org or call the Anderson County Tourism Council at 800-524-3602.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/08/prweb13611364.htm
ADDISON, Texas, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --ULURU Inc. (OTCQB: ULUR) today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 and provided a review of its operating activities.

Commenting on the Company's activities, Helmut Kerschbaumer, Interim President and CEO of ULURU Inc., stated, "We are pleased to report that our ongoing efforts to develop and expand our international distribution footprint are being rewarded. In June 2016, we entered into a cooperation agreement with Saraya Co. for the registration and subsequent distribution of Altrazeal in Japan. Saraya Co. is a leading company in Japan that is engaged in the development, manufacture, distribution and sales of a variety of health, sanitation, hygiene and related products. They have a large sales force focused on the medical community. We understand that the process of product registration has commenced and are hopeful that the registration process will be completed by year-end 2017 although regulatory approval can be very unpredictable."

"We are also pleased to report we have entered into a licensing and distribution agreement with Juthis Corporation of South Korea for the marketing, sale and distribution of Altrazeal in both Malaysia and South Korea. Juthis Corporation is a leading supplier of wound care and respiratory products in these two countries and is well positioned to facilitate the sale and distribution of Altrazeal. In order to support our partners in Asia, Altrazeal will be showcased at the North Borneo Wound Conference 2016 to be held August 19, 2016 to August 21, 2016."

"As mentioned previously, we continue to work on establishing a direct relationship with local "in country" distributors that had relationships with one of Uluru's prior distributors based in Switzerland that has filed for insolvency earlier this year. These markets include several countries in Latin America. These distributors are of particular interest since these distributors have submitted product orders totalling $86,000 that were placed on credit hold given the insolvency filing of our prior distributor. We are hopeful that we will soon be in a position to ship this product order for Latin America and receive payment."

"We participated at the European Wound Management Association conference held in Bremen Germany. The conference, known as EWMA, is one of the largest such events in the world and attracted approximately 7,000 participants from Germany, Europe and other international markets. Altrazeal was showcased in one of the leading conference publications and generated significant interest from conference attendees. We have been receiving feedback that the concept of extended wear time, which is a featured benefit of Altrazeal, is becoming more and more accepted by the end users in the wound management market."

"The German market continues to be a bright spot for us as our German distributor is making numerous "in market" advances and has just recently placed a reorder for product that we hope to ship before the end of the current quarter. In conjunction with our German distributor, we have developed a new product called Altrazeal Easy which was launched earlier this month. The product is a combination pack of Altrazeal and Microdacyn hydrogel created to make the use and application of Altrazeal effortless. This combination pack has been warmly received by the market and we are considering other similar innovations for both Germany and other markets. Also in Germany we have found that, in addition to the currently available 0.75g Altrazeal blister, the market would like to have an Altrazeal blister with 2.0g of transforming powder to address larger wound areas. We are in the process of evaluating the introduction of this product size."

Mr. Kerschbaumer continued, "Some of our international distributors have also developed a relationship with DEBRA, an international organization focused on patients with a skin disorder known as Epidermolysis Bullosa or "EB" or "Butterfly Disease". EB is a rare genetic connective tissue disorder that affects 1 out of every 20,000 births in the United States. Although we don't have specific statistics at present, the same incident ratio is probably true in other countries too. EB patients have extremely fragile skin that blisters and tears from minor friction or trauma. Daily wound care, pain management, and protective bandaging are the only options available for people suffering with EB. At this time, there is no treatment or cure for this condition. We are currently participating in a study with 24 patients to evaluate the clinical benefits and advantages of Altrazeal in the daily regimen of EB Patients."

Commenting on the status of OraDisc, Mr. Kerschbaumer said, "With respect to new products, we continue to work on developing OraDisc and marrying the delivery vehicle with appropriate active compounds that we believe will be of interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Further updates on these efforts will be given as and when circumstances warrant."

Commenting on Uluru's operating cost structure, Mr. Kerschbaumer said, "With respect to cost rationalization, we continue to focus on spending our money wisely and doing more with less. The results of some of these actions are evident in our recent financial results and we look to continue with this effort. It is also worth noting that these savings have also been achieved against substantial efforts to get new distribution agreements in place and to get Altrazeal registered for sales and distribution in various countries such as South America, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the Middle East. Our efforts in getting Altrazeal registered in new territories are an on-going process and we are hopeful that the fruits of these efforts will be evident in the near future."

Mr. Kerschbaumer added, "With respect to actual sales, it is no doubt disappointing that we were not in a position to recognize Altrazeal product sales in the first and second quarters of 2016. Some of this is a result of the continued dislocation brought about by the insolvency filing by our distributor located is Switzerland and the credit hold placed on product order for several territories. However, we are pleased to be in a position to report that we have so far in the third quarter of 2016 received orders for Altrazeal for shipments to Germany, Malaysia and South Korea. We are hopeful that other orders will also materialize in the coming weeks."

FINANCIAL RESULTSFor the second quarter of 2016, the Company reported a net loss of approximately $536,000, or $0.01 per share, compared with a net loss of approximately $729,000, or $0.03 per share, for the same period last year. For the six months ended June 30, 2016, we reported a net loss of approximately $1,183,000, or $0.02 per share, compared with a net loss of approximately $1,468,000, or $0.06 per share, for the same period last year.

RevenuesRevenues for the second quarter of 2016 were $264,000, as compared to $259,000 for the same period last year. The net increase of approximately $5,000 in revenues from the second quarter of 2016 compared to the second quarter of 2015 is primarily attributable to a decrease of $239,000 in Altrazeal product sales as territories in Europe and the Middle East have not generated product orders consistent with prior year and one of our international distributors, Altrazeal AG, had their licensing agreement cancelled given their breach of the licensing agreement. Given the uncertainty of collecting payment for any product shipments to territories previously controlled by Altrazeal AG, we felt it prudent to delay product shipments to these territories until such time as credit can be established with a new licensee or direct relationships can be formed with existing sub-distributors. The decrease in Altrazeal product sales was partially offset by the recognition of unamortized licensing fees of approximately $253,000 related to the cancellation of distribution agreements with two distributors; KunWha Pharmaceutical Co., and Jiangxi Aiqilin Pharmaceuticals Group. The recognition of unamortized licensing fees is based upon the cancellation of the distribution agreements and that there are no further performance obligations that are required by the Company under each distribution agreement. The Company originally received a licensing payment from KunWha Pharmaceutical Co. of $50,000 in June 2008 and received licensing payments from Jiangxi Aiqilin Pharmaceuticals Group of $250,000 and $100,000 in June 2010 and September 2011, respectively.

Revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $373,000, as compared to $554,000 for the comparative period of 2015. The net decrease of $181,000 in revenues is primarily attributable to a decrease of approximately $511,000 in Altrazeal product sales as territories in Europe and the Middle East have not generated product orders consistent with prior year and one of our international distributors, Altrazeal AG, had their licensing agreement cancelled by us given their breach of the licensing agreement. The decrease in Altrazeal product sales was partially offset by the recognition of unamortized licensing fees of approximately $343,000 related to the cancellation of distribution agreements with three distributors; Altrazeal AG, KunWha Pharmaceutical Co., and Jiangxi Aiqilin Pharmaceuticals Group. The Company originally received a licensing payment from Altrazeal AG of $125,000 in September 2013, in addition to the aforementioned original licensing payments from KunWha Pharmaceutical Co. and from Jiangxi Aiqilin Pharmaceuticals Group.

Research and DevelopmentResearch and development expenses for the second quarter of 2016 were $135,000, including $300 in share-based compensation, as compared to $219,000, including $19,000 in share-based compensation, for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $84,000 in research and development expenses was primarily due to, in approximate numbers, a decrease of $39,000 direct research costs primarily related to consulting costs and product registration costs, and a decrease of $67,000 in scientific compensation related wage reductions by existing staff, lower head count, and lower share-based compensation. These expense decreases were partially offset by an increase of $16,000 in regulatory consulting costs and an increase of $6,000 in miscellaneous operating costs.

Research and development expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $271,000, including $9,000 in share-based compensation, as compared to $423,000, including $37,000 in share-based compensation for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $152,000 in research and development expenses was primarily due to, in approximate numbers, a decrease of $99,000 in direct research costs primarily related to consulting costs and product registration costs, and a decrease of $92,000 in scientific compensation related wage reductions by existing staff, lower head count, and lower share-based compensation. These expense decreases were partially offset by an increase of $33,000 in regulatory consulting costs and an increase of $6,000 in miscellaneous operating costs.

Selling, general and administrativeSelling, general and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2016 were $385,000, including $18,000 in share-based compensation, compared to $495,000, including $51,000 in share-based compensation, for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $110,000 in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to, in approximate numbers, a decrease of $64,000 in compensation as costs associated with our Interim President and Chief Executive Officer are categorized under international sales management whereas the costs for our prior President and Chief Executive Officer were categorized under compensation, a decrease of $84,000 in directors fees that is composed of a decrease of $32,000 in share-based compensation and a decrease of $52,000 in cash compensation, a decrease of $25,000 in legal costs due to the settlement of a licensing agreement dispute, a decrease of $6,000 in XBRL translation costs, and a decrease of $2,000 in property tax accruals. These expense decreases were partially offset by, in approximate numbers, an increase of $36,000 in operating costs associated with international sales management, an increase of $22,000 in brand marketing and convention costs, an increase of $4,000 in legal fees related to our patents, and an increase of $9,000 in miscellaneous expenses.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $704,000, including $37,000 in share-based compensation, compared to $941,000, including $108,000 in share-based compensation, for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $237,000 in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to, in approximate numbers, a decrease of $101,000 in compensation, as costs associated with our Interim President and Chief Executive Officer are categorized under international sales management whereas the costs for our prior President and Chief Executive Officer were categorized under compensation, a decrease of $174,000 in directors fees that is composed of a decrease of $105,000 in cash compensation and a decrease of $69,000 in share-based compensation, a decrease of $41,000 in legal costs due to the settlement of a licensing agreement dispute, a decrease of $11,000 in legal fees related to our patents, a decrease of $7,000 in accounting fees, and a decrease of $4,000 in miscellaneous expenses. These expense decreases were partially offset by, in approximate numbers, an increase of $38,000 in operating costs associated with international sales management, an increase of $22,000 in brand marketing and convention costs, an increase of $16,000 in bad debt expense accruals, and an increase of $25,000 in commission costs relating to a product license as the prior year included a one-time credit adjustment.

Amortization of Intangible AssetsAmortization of intangible assets expense for the second quarter of 2016 was $200,000 as compared to $118,000 for the same period last year. The expense for each period consists primarily of amortization associated with our acquired patents and licensing rights. The increase of approximately $82,000 is attributable to the acquisition of licensing rights that occurred in December 2015.

Amortization of intangible assets expense for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $398,000 as compared to $236,000 for the same period last year. The increase of approximately $162,000 is attributable to the acquisition of licensing rights that occurred in December 2015.

There were no additional purchases of patents or licensing rights during the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

DepreciationDepreciation expense for the second quarter of 2016 was $33,000 as compared to $46,000 for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $13,000 is attributable to certain equipment being fully depreciated.

Depreciation expense for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $66,000 as compared to $104,000 for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $38,000 is attributable to certain equipment being fully depreciated.

Interest ExpenseInterest expense for the second quarter of 2016 was $44,000 as compared to $63,000 for the same period last year. Interest expense typically includes financing costs for our insurance policies, interest costs related to regulatory fees, and interest costs and amortization of debt discount and financing costs related to debt. The decrease of approximately $19,000 in interest expense is primarily attributable to the decreased principal balance due under the April 2015 Note with Inter-Mountain and accruals for interest expense associated with regulatory fees.

Interest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $91,000 as compared to $76,000 for the same period last year. The increase of approximately $15,000 in interest expense is primarily attributable to the April 2015 Note with Inter-Mountain.

Foreign Currency transaction Gain (Loss)Foreign currency transaction loss for the second quarter of 2016 was $3,000 as compared to a foreign currency transaction gain of approximately $35,000 for the same period last year. The decrease of approximately $38,000 is related to fluctuations in the Euro exchange rate experienced during 2015 and 2016 and the pricing of Altrazeal to our international distributors being denominated in Euros.

Foreign currency transaction gain for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $1,000 as compared to a foreign currency transaction loss of approximately $58,000 for the same period last year. The improvement of approximately $59,000 is related to fluctuations in the Euro exchange rate experienced during 2015 and 2016 and the pricing of Altrazeal to our international distributors being denominated in Euros.

Accommodation fee due on promissory noteAccommodation fee due on promissory note for the second quarter of 2016 was nil and for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $25,000 as compared to nil for the each of the same periods last year. The fee is based on a January 2016 Waiver Agreement with Inter-Mountain Capital Corp. that resulted from our failure to make the installment payment due in November 2015 on a timely basis.

Commenting on the Company's financial results, Terrance K. Wallberg, Chief Financial Officer of ULURU Inc., observed, "The operating results for the second quarter of 2016 continue to reflect the benefits of our cost saving initiatives and reduced overhead cost structure as our operating costs for research and development and operating costs for selling, general, and administrative reflect a savings of approximately $194,000 versus the same quarter last year. For the six months ended June 30, 2016 we are reflecting a savings of almost $390,000 for the same cost categories as compared to the same period last year.

Mr. Wallberg also indicated that, "In regards to the promissory note with Inter-Mountain Capital Corporation, on August 11, 2016 we provided the final installment payment due under the promissory note therefore this debt has now been paid in full. "

Commenting on the Company's capital needs, Mr. Wallberg said, "The Company continues to be a net user of capital and additional funding will be required to fund the Company's operations going forward. This is something we are all working on and will continue to be a focus of our attention over the coming weeks and months."

About ULURU Inc.:ULURU Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of a portfolio of wound management and oral care products to provide patients and consumers improved clinical outcomes through controlled delivery utilizing its innovative Nanoflex Aggregate technology and OraDisc transmucosal delivery system. For further information about ULURU Inc., please visit our website at www.uluruinc.com. For further information about Altrazeal, please visit our website at www.altrazeal.com.

ULURU Inc. (OTCQB: ULUR) trades on the OTCQB Venture stage marketplace for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, including but not limited to statements made relating to future financial or operational performance of ULURU Inc. (the "Company"). When used in this press release, the words "may," "targets," "goal," "could," "should," "would," "believe," "feel," "hope," "expects," "confident," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "potential" and similar expressions may be indicative of forward-looking statements. These statements by their nature involve substantial risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include statement with respect to the anticipated progress of our technology development, clinical advantages of our products, the continued success of our cost saving programs, our ability to consolidate our distribution network or enter into relationships with distributors or sub-distributors, realizing revenue increases from the sale of Altrazeal, our ability to stimulate demand for our products, anticipated product launches and regulatory filings, near term product revenue and collection opportunities, our ability find additional sources of capital, and anticipated extensions of product lines. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of an unanticipated event. Further, management cannot assess the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the risk factors detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2015 and other reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ULURU Inc. SUMMARY OF RESULTS CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS DATA Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Revenues License fees $ 259,813 $ 15,979 $ 361,089 $ 30,518 Product sales, net 4,520 243,018 12,036 523,127 Total Revenues 264,333 258,997 373,125 553,645 Costs and Expenses Cost of product sold 528 81,286 1,451 182,816 Research and development 135,331 219,335 271,490 423,494 Selling, general and administrative 384,900 495,034 703,701 941,191 Amortization of intangible assets 199,526 118,461 398,162 235,622 Depreciation 33,165 46,218 66,330 104,527 Total Costs and Expenses 753,450 960,334 1,441,134 1,887,650 Operating (Loss) (489,117) (701,337) (1,068,009) (1,334,005) Other Income (Expense) Interest and miscellaneous income 515 69 537 211 Interest expense (44,445) (63,185) (91,203) (76,154) Equity in earnings (loss) of unconsolidated subsidiary --- --- --- --- Foreign currency transaction gain (loss) (3,196) 35,074 1,090 (57,704) Accommodation fee due on promissory note --- --- (25,000) --- (Loss) Before Income Taxes (536,243) (729,379) (1,182,585) (1,467,652) Income taxes --- --- --- --- Net (Loss) $(536,243) $(729,379) $(1,182,585) $(1,467,652) Basic and diluted net (loss) per common share $ (0.01) $ (0.03) $ (0.02) $ (0.06) Weighted average number of common shares outstanding 62,974,431 24,767,889 50,316,681 24,613,809

ULURU Inc. SELECTED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET DATA June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 (Unaudited) (Audited) Cash and cash equivalents $ 718,135 $ 180,000 Current assets 1,404,397 926,805 Property and equipment, net 191,087 257,417 Other assets 5,849,578 6,244,845 Total assets 7,445,062 7,429,067 Current liabilities 2,183,261 2,540,403 Long term liabilities  deferred revenue 401,368 685,287 Total liabilities 2,584,629 3,225,690 Total stockholders' equity 4,860,433 4,203,377

Contact: CompanyHelmut KerschbaumerInterim President & CEOTerrance K. WallbergVice President & CFO(214) 905-5145

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uluru-inc-reports-financial-results-for-second-quarter-2016-300313790.html

SOURCE ULURU Inc.
Uruguay's Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa attends a news conference after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Asuncion April 28, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

By Alonso Soto

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Foreign Ministry summoned Uruguay's ambassador on Tuesday to explain comments reportedly made by Uruguay Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa, who accused Brazil of trying to block Venezuela from taking the presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc.

Uruguayan media reported that Nin Novoa said the Brazilian government tried to "buy" Uruguay's vote to prevent Caracas from leading the regional group that also includes Argentina and Paraguay.

"The Brazilian government received with a profound discontent and surprise the statement from Chancellor Nin Novoa," Brazil's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The leadership spat in the group has raised tensions and opened ideological fault lines in a region struggling with a drop in commodity prices and political turmoil.

Since Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May, her replacement Michel Temer has moved the country away from leftist allies such as Venezuela and toward traditional allies the United States and Europe.

Argentina and Paraguay, once close allies to Caracas, have also moved to undermine Venezuela as the country struggles with economic and political crises.

Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supported Venezuela's former President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, who took office when Chavez died in 2013.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by David Gregorio)
Within two weeks, UR Work - a start-up incubator established a year ago - received field research from four ministries and actual tax reduction. This all thanks to a symposium chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

Our staff felt the strong support and encouragement from our country, and the central governments support for private entrepreneurship and innovation enterprises, said Mao Daqing, founder and president of UR Work in a letter to Premier Li.

The Premier chaired a symposium in which Mao attended on July 11. Premier Li listened to opinions and suggestions from experts and entrepreneurs on the economic situation and related business. As the entrepreneur representative, Mao said that development of Chinas service industry for start-up businesses ranks high through the world, but still needs support in business registration and taxation policy.

For example, start-up incubators are a new industry, and there are no specific regulations regarding its taxation, Mao said.

Premier Li asked, What is your actual tax rate now?

It varies, Mao answered.

At some places we are defined as a real estate project or real estate leasing project. In that case, the tax rate can be 11 percent high.

The Premier then asked related officials to investigate the case, stressing the importance in deepening reform of administration streamlining, power delegation, and optimizing service.

Several days later, officials of the State Administration of Taxation visited a maker space of UR Work. Regarding the problem Mao proposed, they defined the new industry as modern service industry, with the tax rate being six percent.

Meanwhile, UR Work staff was invited to the Ministry of Finance to discuss preferential policies for taxation. They also fully participate in the improvement of industrial standard setting.

When interviewed, Mao said that current business environment for entrepreneurship is the best in history, and he hopes that supporting policies will continue.

We must implement innovation-driven development strategy. Mass entrepreneurship and innovation are focal points that can stimulate more market vitality, said Premier Li.
A long expected agreement between the Shenzhen and Hong Kong financial sectors has received government approval, paving the way for a better-regulated stock market.

The preparation for the launch of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect has been basically completed, and the State Council has approved its implementation plan, Premier Li Keqiang told a State Council executive meeting on Aug 16.

The Premier said all related parties have been holding high expectations for the new initiative, stating in a government report earlier this year: the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will be launched at an appropriate time.

Since its pilot at the end of 2014, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect has withstood its market test, with steady and orderly overall performance. The program has achieved its expected targets, earning positive feedback from all related parties, the Premier said.

The planned launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, based on the successful Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, marks another steady step towards building a law-regulated capital market with international features, which has positive significance in many aspects, the Premier said.

The Premier noted that the launch of the program would help investors better share the fruits of economic development in both the mainland and Hong Kong, deepen the financial cooperation between them, and consolidate and enhance Hong Kongs position as an international financial center.

The program will also help further exert the geographic advantages of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and enhance the cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, the Premier said.

The Premier stressed that reform and opening-up are the most distinctive characteristics of modern China. The opening-up of the financial sector, including the capital market, is an important part of Chinas overall opening-up efforts, which have been playing a significant role in enhancing the financial sectors international competitiveness and ability to serve the real economy.
Breathing, its simple right? Open your mouth or nostrils and air flows in? Breathing is something we all do naturally day in and day out, isnt it?

For a lot of people the thought of being physically unable to breathe properly is beyond imagination, but for the one in six Kiwis living with a respiratory condition its a daily reality.
Police are issuing an appeal for information about the whereabouts of a 27-year-old Bay of Plenty man.

Caleb Anthony Paikea, from Opotiki, is wanted to interview by police on a number of matters.
Two leading public health and alcohol harm experts are inviting the Tauranga community to a free public lecture focussing on how alcohol directly causes cancer.

Alcohol Action New Zealand members Professor Jennie Connor and Professor Doug Sellman will present their evidence at the Bay of Plenty District Health Boards Clinical Education Centre on Cameron Road tonight from 6.30pm.
Two new reference groups will help support New Zealands climate change goals and reduce emissions from the livestock and forestry sectors, Primary Industries Ministers Nathan Guy and Jo Goodhew have announced today.

As part of ratifying the Paris agreement on climate change, New Zealand has set a target of reducing our emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The primary sector will need to be an important part of that, says Mr Guy.

The Biological Emissions Reference Group will bring together a wide range of agricultural, horticultural and farming stakeholders to collaborate with Government and build a solid evidence base. This will ensure we have the best possible range of information on what can be done right now to reduce biological greenhouse emissions.

New Zealand is a world leader in efficiently producing food, and has invested heavily in research on how to reduce our footprint. However it is a complicated challenge and right now there is no easy fix.

The group aims to seek consensus on what can be done to reduce emissions and meet the challenging 2030 target, ensure that we have the right science, and that costs are minimised.

New Zealand was instrumental in creating the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), which has been so successful it now has 46 member countries. Its primary aim is to develop new technologies and help change on-farm practices to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

In December 2015, alongside COP21 in Paris, the Prime Minister announced an extra $20 million in funding for the GRA on top of our initial investment of $45 million.

Associate Primary Industries Minister Jo Goodhew is welcoming the formation of the Forestry Reference Group to test evidence, analysis and policy options with sector experts.

Forestry is a major part of the economy and plays an important role in helping us meet our long-term climate change commitments, while also delivering economic and environmental benefits here at home, says Mrs Goodhew.

Just this year, our Afforestation Grant Scheme will see 2,900 hectares of forests planted, which will absorb approximately 1.3 million tonnes of carbon. New Zealand is committed to working to reduce emissions, and forestry will be a major part of that work.

This group will help road-test any proposed changes to forestry in the Emissions Trading Scheme. These are big and complex issues and the sectors input is crucial to ensure that we get it right first time.

Terms of reference and membership for both groups will be released within weeks.

Source: Office of Nathan Guy and Jo Goodhew.
VERONA, N.Y. -- Three people were taken to hospitals this weekend after a three-vehicle crash involving a limousine, bus and car in Verona, state police said.

The driver of a 2006 Cadillac limousine failed to yield the right of way and struck a Birnie bus around 9:40 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Beacon Light Road and state Route 31, troopers said in a news release.

"The force of the impact caused the bus to slide clockwise into the oncoming lane of Route 31, where the rear of the bus struck a northbound 2010 Ford," state police said in the release.

The Ford then veered off the east side of Route 31 and struck a ditch.

Verona and Vernon volunteer firefighters cut the driver of the Ford from her vehicle. Vineall Ambulance then took Marisa L. Holden, 22, of Mohawk, and her passenger, Nina A. Stoecke, 25, of Caroga Lake, to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica.

Holden suffered serious head and internal injuries, according to state police. Stoecke had cuts and bruises, troopers said.



The limousine driver, 25-year-old Daniel G. Sokol, of Endicott, suffered cuts and bruises to his face, and a pelvic injury after he was thrown from his vehicle and onto the road. State police said Sokol was driving east on Beacon Light Road when he attempted to turn right onto Route 31 and struck the bus, troopers said. Vineall Ambulance took him to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse for treatment.

The bus driver, Joseph D. Larmer, 25, of Rome, was not hurt, troopers said.

State police in Oneida are continuing to investigate the crash and said charges are pending.

The Oneida County Sheriff's Department and state Department of Transportation assisted at the scene, state police said.
Syracuse, NY -- A Hutchings Psychiatric Center nurse could spend time in prison for allegedly pushing down a 6-year-old child repeatedly, then reportedly trying to cover up her actions.

Valerie Brown, 63, of Kirkville, is charged with felony endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and tampering with public records, among other charges.

Brown is a trained professional who pushed the small child down before falsifying records to hide the abuse, a prosecutor said in court today.

There's no plea offer yet, but the state's Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs said she faces a one- to three-year prison sentence.

County Court Judge Walter Hafner Jr. asked what prosecutors wanted Brown to plead guilty to. The prosecutor said she would check with her bosses about details of the plea offer.

It's not clear if Brown has any intention of pleading guilty. She and her lawyer, Kimberly Zimmer, remained silent as the judge and prosecutor spoke.

Both sides are due back in court Aug. 26 to go over details of the plea offer. If rejected, the case will continue toward trial. Brown is currently free on bail.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 24-inch, high-pressure water main that ruptured Monday night on Syracuse's South Side shut off the water to nearly two dozen buildings at Syracuse University, city officials said.

The water main at East Kennedy and South State streets is estimated to be more than 80 years old, Syracuse city Water Department Superintendent Henry G. Rosado said.

"It's the main water supply for SU and the surrounding area," Rosado said. "It ruptured. There ain't no reason for it; just old age. It just popped."

When it burst shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, water flooded East Kennedy Street and several surrounding blocks of South State Street. The intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard East and East Kennedy Street was nearly impassable.

The water main break created a gaping hole on South State Street, at the intersection of East Kennedy Street. A utility pole in the gaping hole on South State Street began to sag and lean, forcing National Grid to use a truck to hold it up so it wouldn't fall.

Syracuse police shut down traffic on streets surrounding the water main break while city Water Department employees worked to clean up the mess. Syracuse firefighters and National Grid also responded.

It took city Water Department crews about an hour to shut down the water main, Rosado said. Once that happened, the water that continued to build up and flood city streets gradually went away, leaving wet, muddy streets that needed to be cleaned up.

The water main that ruptured runs from Syracuse's South Side, across Interstate 81, up Oakland Street and Forestry Drive to SU and the Carrier Dome, Rosado said.

"For a little while, they didn't have (water) pressure," he said.

About 2 1/2 hours after the water main break, water was flowing again in approximately 20 Syracuse University buildings, including the Carrier Dome, Rosado said. It was not immediately clear whether their water pressure was at full strength, though.

City crews expected to remain at East Kennedy and South State streets throughout the night. The streets will remain closed until the clean up is completed, which likely will be sometime Tuesday, Rosado said.
Syracuse, NY -- An African hospital administrator wanted on 2010 statutory rape charges in Clay was finally arraigned this morning, two years after being captured.

The saga that left Tobias Bowen, 49, in a Syracuse jail cell spanned six years, three continents and diplomatic assistance.

Bowen is accused of having sex with an underage teen girl in Clay. He was indicted, but fled the country before his arraignment in 2010.

Bowen then worked openly as administrator at the Redemption Hospital in Liberia, on Africa's west coast. He was quoted in media and never tried to hide his identity, Onondaga County Sheriff's Sgt. Jon Seeber has said.

But the Liberian government never acted on a warrant signed by Onondaga County Court Judge Anthony Aloi to return Bowen for trial.

That set the stage for the US Marshals Service, which determined that Bowen was frequently traveling to Britain to visit family, federal agent Joseph Ciciarelli has said.

Because of Britain's close relationship with the United States, police there were willing to cooperate.

In April 2014, Bowen was nabbed at a British airport as he arrived, Ciciarelli said. He has remained in custody since then.

His case then wound up in the court system because a British judge ruled that Bowen should not be returned to the U.S. for fear he could wind up in New York's secret system for confining the worst sex offenders. Another judge overruled, preparing the way for Bowen to return for trial.

Bowen was finally returned to the United States this month. His arraignment -- six years late -- took place this morning before Judge Aloi.

Bowen is facing Class E felonies, which typically do not carry much prison time if proven. It's unclear how much longer Bowen, who has been in custody for years now, might spend in prison if he's convicted.

For now, he remains in jail with no bail as the sex abuse case moves forward.
Wynton Marsalis

Musician Wynton Marsalis

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

By Caroline Manring, Skaneateles Festival

I have to admit, my education in jazz started late. The only thing I could have told you about jazz before a couple years ago was "Billie Holiday!"

While she was an extraordinary musician and person, she hardly represents an entire musical genre. My husband finally became weary of my cluelessness and gave me some Coltrane and Chick Corea for Christmas. Around the same time, the independent film Whiplash came out, in which a raucously talented and skilled young jazz drummer goes to the mat with his sadistic conservatory teacher and gives everyone chills as things go psychologically completely off the rails.

It wasn't long before I understood that not only is jazz far more than a couple people sitting around playing variations on weird scales--it's a living, breathing art form as complex as, and perhaps more complex than, much else of what I've listened to in my life. But this may be the most important understanding I reached: jazz is cool.

What do we even mean when we say "cool"? Usually we're referring to a person who keeps his focus, intensity, character, and self-possession despite any and all muck that may get thrown in his face. We're talking about a person who isn't necessarily made of Teflon, but who can nonetheless stick to the purpose at hand, whatever it may be, by employing a fluidity that's hard to come by. We revere coolness because it's effective, it's unusual, when compared to our own messy hearts, and it sets a standard of functionality despite circumstance, and I don't know anyone who hasn't wished for that in the last twenty-four hours.

In jazz, a performer has to know the technical stuff so well that it's no longer technical, but more like a color on a palette, ready for immediate use at any moment, almost without thought. She's got to use her brain so effectively that it hardly feels like it's getting used at all, as the imperatives, opportunities, and inspirations set out by what she's hearing come at her in real time. Consider the Olympic gymnast: a paragon of both strength and flexibility--one requires solidity and the ability to contract, while the other requires the ability to let go and move fluidly. The jazz musician is the gymnast of the music world: utterly beefy on her training and experience, yet elegant, light, and exquisitely responsive on her feet.

Now imagine a person who could do all of this, who's one of the very biggest names in jazz, with a Grammy to show for it, and who has also won a Grammy for classical performance. Here we've moved beyond the world of the renaissance person into the realm of the straight-up superhero. That's Wynton Marsalis. And he's coming to the Skaneateles Festival this week, on Saturday, August 20th at Anyela's Vineyards, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Let that sink in.

We've gotten used to it, with the Skaneateles Festival coming back year after year, inexhaustibly bringing us world-renowned musicians right to a small town on a lake nestled in Upstate New York.

But it's extraordinary.



With an opportunity like this in front of us, we'd be foolish to keep doing what we're doing. Vacuuming moths isn't that important, if I'm telling the truth, so I'll pack my rucksack of food and get my summer on this weekend with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Anyela's Vineyards overlooking the lake I grew up on. How about that for living it up?



The rest of the week at the festival is similarly cool throughout. Wednesday, August 17th, superstar violinist and Grammy-winner Hilary Hahn returns to play a special benefit concert for the Festival at the First Presbyterian Church, followed by an elegant wine and dessert reception at a private home nearby. Hahn will play with two of her favorite colleagues, pianist Natalie Zhu and cellist Robert deMaine. Chamber music of this sort, with just a few players, can capture the exquisite intimacy of the musical experience in an almost uncanny way--and when Hilary Hahn is on the bill, it's a guarantee that you won't forget your experience.

Throw in a rich program for Thursday and Friday, August 18th and 19th, that covers everything from Strauss and Faure to Gershwin and Bernstein, and you'll have a complete picture of this week at the Festival.

Let's level here. There's nothing like live music. I pay to see movies, to buy books, to go out to dinner, and I love it all--but when you go to a live performance, you get a totally different and enlivened sense of your own humanity. Who couldn't use that? Who wouldn't feel pretty cool about being alive after something like that?

Be cool. Put your shades on. I'll see you there.

Written by Caroline Manring, the granddaughter of festival founders David and Louise Robinson. She writes, teaches, and plays music out of Ithaca, NY, and can be found at carolinemanring.com.

For a full schedule of events, to purchase tickets, or to learn more about the Skaneateles Festival, visit www.skanfest.org or call the festival office at 315.685.7418.
Skaneateles, N.Y. - A developer has proposed demolishing the Birds Nest Motel in the town of Skaneateles and replacing it with a Craftsman-style, hotel-resort with an amenities building and cottages.

Plans also call for an 80-seat restaurant and a heated, year-round outdoor pool with spas.

"We're confident this would be a fantastic representative for the entrance to the gateway to the eastern Finger Lakes," said Rick Moscarito, who is developing the project that's east of the village of Skaneateles. Skaneateles bills itself as the gateway to the Finger Lakes region.

The town planning board is scheduled to discuss the new motel which would be called the Skaneateles Springs at its Tuesday meeting.

The new hotel would replace the Birds Nest Motel at 1601 E Genesee St. which was built in 1949. The white motel that looks like it stepped out of the pages of a 1950s brochure has 31 rooms that face out on a lawn overlooking Route 20.

Skaneateles Springs Corp. bought the motel for $625,000 in June, according to Onondaga County real property records.

Moscarito said he plans to build an all-inclusive hotel that would have 20 suites with kitchens and fireplaces in an annex to a main lodge designed by local architect Robert Eggleston.

Plans also call for 13 cottages ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms.

The 8,000-square-feet amenities building would include a 2,000-square-feet lobby, a space to hold events, a fitness center and a game room, Moscarito said.

The 43-acre property also has a pond. Plans show walking trails and a sidewalk from the property to the nearby Skanellus Drive In ice cream stand.

There is a need for lodging in the area, Moscarito said. Skaneateles currently has 11 wedding venues, and has been adding one to two new venues a year, he said.

"Skaneateles is one of the busiest wedding destinations in New York state, if not the country," Moscarito said.

The developer had earlier sought to capitalize on the area's need for lodging by offering homes for short-term rental in the village of Skaneateles. His plan, and those of other property owners, were thwarted when the village outlawed short-term rentals.

A court also ruled against Moscarito's appeal of the village zoning board's denial of a special use variance that would have allowed him to rent out the properties on a short-term basis.
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Nicholas Hogan, 28, no street address/city; burglary of a dwelling while unarmed.

Matthew Murphy, 30, 500 block of Southwest Dwight Avenue, Port St. Lucie; battery  second or subsequent offense.

Derrick Blackman, 22, 5400 block of Northwest Moorhen Trail, Port St. Lucie; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

Misha Plummer, 32, 2800 block of Southeast Bonita Street, Stuart; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Marcos Gonzalez Salinas, 23, 900 block of Citrus Avenue, Fort Pierce; grand theft auto. Arrested in Indian River County.

Ronnel Williams, 43, 7800 block of Hibicscus Road, Fort Pierce; warrants for dealing in stolen property, giving false information to a pawnbroker. Arrested in Indian River County.

Corey Ruth, 30, 500 block of North 14th Street, Fort Pierce; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Sonjaria Brown, 26, 2200 block of Southeast Gaslight Street, Port St. Lucie; warrant for fleeing and eluding lights and siren.

Jief Alexandre, 18, 300 block of North 17th Street, Fort Pierce; burglary of an unoccupied conveyance while unarmed.

Alecia Jenkins, 33, 400 block of North 26th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for sale, manufacture, delivery or possession of cocaine with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver cocaine, driving while license suspended, prior conviction.

Monica Carreon, 34, 1700 block of Southwest Monterrey Lane, Port St. Lucie; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Joinvil Joseph, 28, 1100 block of Southwest Hutchins Street, Port St. Lucie; possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon; trafficking in cocaine or mixture.

Wilguens Zephyr, 24, 1400 block of Southwest Colchester Circle, Port St. Lucie; battery.

Brittany Bailey, 29, 5400 block of Green Dolphin Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for burglary.

Waymon Swilley, 58, 200 block of North 7th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for driving while license suspended.

Vilma Silva, 52, 200 block of Southwest Parish Terrace, Port St. Lucie; burglary with assault or battery.

Melissa Ford, 23, 700 block of Eugenia Drive, Fort Pierce; warrant for petty theft.

Monique Pimentel, 26, 200 block of Southwest Parish Terrace, Port St. Lucie; burglary with assault or battery.

Jason Rodrigues, 32, 7500 block of 58th Court, Vero Beach; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Clarence Schenek, 50, 600 block of Southwest Munjack Cove, Port St. Lucie; petty theft, third subsequent offense.

Angel Roman, 32, 1700 block of North 42nd Street, Fort Pierce; out-of-county warrant, Flagler County, violation of probation, cruelty to animals.

Kenneth Martinek, 48, 2300 block of Southeast Luau Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Andraius Grant, 37, 400 block of 10th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for assault.

Kristen Knowles, 35, 3100 block of Jersey Court, Fort Pierce; possession of a controlled substance (alprazolam) without a prescription.

Charles Cravish, 33, 900 block of Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Pierce; warrant for grand theft.

Marco Liotta, 19, 2000 block of Southwest Hampshire Lane, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana over 20 grams.

Michael Bryant, 19, 2800 block of Southwest South Calabria Circle, Port St. Lucie; warrants for grand theft, giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

Donte Jackson, 18, 3300 block of Avenue K, Fort Pierce; warrant for robbery with a deadly weapon, attempted armed robbery while wearing a mask, robbery with a deadly weapon while wearing a mask.

Matthew Nunes, 26, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts; warrant for uttering a forged instrument.

Thomas Assaly, 58, 700 block of Northeast Emerson Street, Port St. Lucie; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

Elisoi St. Lot, 58, 300 block of North 16th Street, Fort Pierce; sexual assault by an 18-year-old or older with sexual battery on victim under 12; lewd and lascivious behavior  molestation of a victim less than 12 years old by an offender 18 or older; kidnap/false imprisonment of a child with lewd and lascivious indecent assault or act; kidnap of minor younger than 13 to commit aggravated abuse.

William Welch, 46, 1900 block of Avenue E, Fort Pierce; smuggling contraband into a detention facility.

Kyle Jones, 19, Okeechobee; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

James Lannon, 32, first block of Tangerine Avenue, Fort Pierce; grand theft of a motor vehicle.

James Diciaccio, 20, 3800 block of Southwest Revere Court, Port St. Lucie; burglary of an unoccupied dwelling while unarmed.

Jeremy Munnilal, 19, Riviera Beach; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver.

Tristen Anderson, 18, Okeechobee; possession of marijuana over 20 grams.

Pancho Campose, 43, 2700 block of 13th Street, Vero Beach; possession of cocaine; smuggling contraband into a detention facility.

Danice Whitney, 39, 300 block of Hosbine Street, Fort Pierce; resisting an officer with violence.

Nicole Kurasz, 43, 100 block of West Caribbean, Port St. Lucie; driving while license suspended.

Jeremiah Turner, 31, 1400 block of Southwest Santiago Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrant for amended violation of probation, burglary of a conveyance, grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft. Arrested in Martin County.

Jasen Maxwell, 33, 6000 block of Northwest Favian Avenue, Port St. Lucie; out-of-county warrants, St. Lucie County, DUI impairment with priors, damage to property or person. Arrested in Martin County.

Matthew Trudel, 32, 2300 block of Southeast Seafury Lane, Port St. Lucie; DUI with property damage; DUI refusal (third subsequent DUI). Arrested in Martin County.
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James Zabriskie, 51, 400 block of Southwest Kentwood Road, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana over 20 grams; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver.

Richard McGuire, 43, 6500 block of North U.S. 1, Fort Pierce;domestic battery by strangulation.

John Sass, 39, 1200 block of Southwest Hutchins Street, Port St. Lucie; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

Santonio Williams, 26, 3500 block of 47th Street, Vero Beach; warrants for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, battery, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon.

Christopher Moore, 19, 1000 block of Southwest Benschop Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, aggravated battery with great bodily harm.

Brittany Francis, 23, 2700 block of Juanita Avenue, Fort Pierce; grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Walter Bandyk, 45, 1500 block of Southwest Escobar Lane, Port St. Lucie; warrants for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief.

Nikki Buis, 21, Terre Haute, Indiana; warrant for criminal use of personal I.D.

Angela Ward, 34, 1600 block of Southeast Mariner Lane, Port St. Lucie; warrants for larceny/grand theft, fraud  giving false ownership information on pawned items, dealing in stolen property.

Andrew Linn, 39, 300 block of Northwest Heather Street, Port St. Lucie; warrant for court order to revoke bond, robbery by sudden snatching, battery, false imprisonment.

Farthea Lurry, 30, 2200 block of Southeast Rainier Road, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Jason Abinader, 31, 400 block of Southeast Walters Terrace, Port St. Lucie; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill; weapon offense  missile into a dwelling, vehicle, building or aircraft.

Cornelius Jones, 27, 1000 block of Southwest Fenway Road, Port St. Lucie; re-admit, sale, manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to sell.

Dontravious Joseph, 27, 900 block of South 27th Street, Fort Pierce; re-admit, sale or delivery of oxycodone.

Sean Kelly, 29, Boca Raton; hold, Palm Beach County, possession of child pornography.

Franklin Reed, 46, 100 block of North 12th Street, Fort Pierce; possession of cocaine. Arrested in Indian River County.
Alico Inc., a proposed water farm near Clewiston, is seen Sept. 3, 2015, during a tour provided by Alico Director of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs Garrett Wallace Jr. and Johnson-Prewitt Associates, Inc. engineer Tommy Perry to TCPalm reporter Tyler Treadway. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm

The largest of the proposed dispersed water management projects being considered by state water managers is also the most controversial.

A proposal to build a 35,192-acre water farm on Alico Inc. land in Hendry County has been considered by state officials before. And a 2015 investigation by Treasure Coast Newspapers raised questions about the project's ability to divert water from the Caloosahatchee River and its cost to do so.

The investigation focused on two issues:

The Alico land is 13 1/2 miles south of the Caloosahatchee. Moving river water to the farm would require a series of three pumps, each owned by a different water control district, plus a fourth state-owned pump to push water over a 4-foot berm and onto the Alico property.

In contrast, the first phase of the Caulkins Citrus water farm that's already keeping water out of the St. Lucie River uses a single pump to pull water from the C-44 Canal a quarter-mile from the canal.

The Caulkins project costs taxpayers $233 for every 1 million gallons of contracted water storage; Alico's 2014 contract would cost $417 for the same amount of water. Storing 1 million gallons on publicly-owned land costs less than $25, according to an audit of the district's Dispersed Water Management Program.

MORE | South Florida Water Management District considers $46 million water storage proposals
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By Lidia Dinkova of TCPalm

STUART  The city will host local-government officials from southeast and southwest Florida to discuss primarily environmental issues stemming from Lake Okeechobee discharges, including algae blooms in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

Goal of the invitation-only Sept. 7 meeting is to form a compact with common goals as a way for local governments to have a more powerful voice when lobbying for state funds, explained city spokesman Ben Hogarth.

Officials from more than 170 municipalities and counties, and experts from the University of Florida, Florida Oceanographic Society and environmental-activist groups, have been invited.

A similar meeting was held June 22 in Fort Myers.

The Florida League of Cities is co-hosting the meeting.
When Bundchen was at the top of supermodel fame, in Miami Beach

When Gisele Bundchen was at the height of her supermodel fame, she visited the Victoria's Secret store in Miami Beach with other supermodels.
Vero Beach Power Plant. (FILE PHOTO)



By Colleen Wixon of TCPalm

VERO BEACH  The City Council all but killed a potential $30 million deal with Florida Power & Light Co. for the city's customer base in Indian River Shores on Tuesday by upping the price by $17 million.

FPL officials, however, said they were through negotiating, calling $30 million their final offer.

The offer remains on the table until Aug. 25, said Pamela Rauch, FPL vice president of external affairs and economic development.

"If you choose not to accept it, we really do wish you the best of luck," Rauch told the council.

The council had agreed, 3-2, to the $47 million counteroffer to FPL's $30 million offer. Council members Harry Howle and Pilar Turner voted no, arguing the FPL offer was reasonable and would benefit the city.

Vero Beach officials have said FPL's offer was about $17 million short. Council members said they were concerned it would hurt Vero Beach's remaining electric customers.

Vice Mayor Randy Old said he was confident Vero Beach's numbers on the impact were correct.

"These are hard decisions, and it's really difficult," Old said.

Councilman Dick Winger voiced concerns that a partial sale could end a potential sale of the entire system.

"Making this system smaller and less efficient makes it less attractive for a full sale," Winger said.

Vero Beach previously valued the Indian River Shores portion of its operation at $42.4 million. The city also has to consider about $5 million in contingencies, such as a change in the price of gas or if something happens to the Florida Municipal Power Agency projects, City Manager Jim O'Connor has said.

Vero Beach and Indian River Shores residents debated the merits of FPL's offer from the public-input podium for almost three hours during Tuesday's meeting. About 50 people attended, some wearing blue shirts showing their support of the partial sale.

Shores Mayor Brian Barefoot urged the Vero Beach council to accept the FPL offer by saying rejecting it could impact any future offer for the entire system.

"FPL's offer is a good deal. This is a generous deal that puts $30 million in cash into the city's coffers," he said.

After the vote, he expressed disappointment.

"FPL's offer far exceeds reasonable estimates of the city's potential costs and would have left millions of dollars in reserves that could have been used for everything from lowering electric rates to substantially reducing the city's unfunded pension liabilities," Barefoot said in a prepared statement. "A $30 million cash offer like this doesn't come around often. The city missed a tremendous opportunity today. That is truly unfortunate."

Not everyone at Tuesday's meeting supported the partial sale.

Vero Beach resident Philip Katrovitz said he enjoyed being a Vero Beach electric customer.

"The service is unequal because it's our power plant, and it's a good one," he said.
Morris Winston (left) and Derrick Langley skim through a copy of the Plum Book at the Government Printing Office bookstore Nov. 13, 2008 in Washington. The government published the 2008 version of the Plum Book, listing more than 7,000 federal jobs with the new administration. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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By Frank Gavin

Did you know when you vote for the next president, whether it's Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or some other candidate, you will also be voting for the installation of 7,000 additional bureaucrats to government roles?

That's right. Whoever is elected, he or she will have the opportunity to appoint up to 7,000 new bureaucrats to help them carry out their policies and programs.

With the transition to a new administration in January 2017, major changes will be made in the management and oversight of government agencies and bureaus to assist the new president in carrying out his/her policies and programs. Through the placement of partisan individuals in positions of authority in government agencies, the administration takes the reins in shaping the government to attain its policy objectives.

These jobs are not career civil service positions. They are "patronage"appointments, which means when a political party wins an election, it gives government jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory. The negative intonation of the patronage or spoils system has been renamed the process of making "political appointments."

The United States has more political appointees in government than any other industrialized democracy in the world. These appointees fill positions of leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches. They include positions such as agency heads and their immediate subordinates, policy executives and advisers, and aides who report to these officials. These positions are taxpayer-paid with senior salaries ranging up to $185,000 per year.

The listing of available positions in the new administration is not a secret. Any citizen can apply for a position. Up until 1952, there was no list of patronage appointments available. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office, the Republican Party requested a list of government positions that the President could fill. This resulted in the publication of the United States Government Policy and Support Positions (otherwise known as the Plum Book).

The Plum Book contains data on more than 7,000 civil service leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government that may be subject to noncompetitive appointment ("direct" appointment without going through the competitive civil service process). The Plum Book is published by the Government Printing Office and can be accessed online.

Each political party is already considering recommendations to be made to the next president. Transition offices are established and work is underway to identify people for placement in key positions. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heading up the office for Donald Trump. Uma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's closest adviser, is directing activities for the Democrats.

Consider the fact that if Trump is elected there will be a wholesale resignation and placement process to install Republican supporters in key positions. If Clinton wins, she will probably replace most of President Barack Obama's appointees, and look toward placing individuals in agencies who are sympathetic and supportive of her policy initiatives.

Over the next year, this transformation will be tumultuous. Currently many Obama appointees are looking to leave government and searching for jobs elsewhere.

It is not uncommon that the day after the new president takes office resignation letters are submitted by most key appointees, especially if they are from the losing party. Many will attempt to acquire continuing civil service positions, but they must apply under the conditions of the merit system, be qualified for vacant positions and compete with other well-qualified candidates from the general public.

Placement of incoming political appointees has its complications as well. First, there is usually a delay in getting key positions filled in a timely manner. This is because of the long vetting and review process in identifying and placing candidates. It is not unusual that key positions are vacant from six months to a year. The glue that holds the operations and administration of agencies together during this turbulent time are the permanent career civil servants, who are familiar with the agency mission, and are required to carry out their duties in a nonpolitical way.

Second, many new appointees have little experience in government and organization procedures. Limited knowledge of civil service procedures has political appointees making requests and demands that are not allowed by law (Ex: "Why can't I pay someone a higher salary?") Again, it falls to career civil servants to educate, explain and steer the political appointee in the right direction.

So the real estate agents in Washington D.C. are gearing up for a lot of home sales and purchases over the next year. Offices will be emptied. New furniture will be installed. Organization charts will have to be revised with new names and positions. The career civil servants will be acting in key positions until political appointments are confirmed. And four years from now we'll be doing it again!

If you are interested in working in the next administration, check out the Plum Book.

Frank P. Gavin is a retired member of the Career Senior Executive Service and a former personnel director for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Military District of Washington. Email: frankpgavin@hotmail.com
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Most analysts earn their daily bread by focusing on a particular subject area and following that direction. However, I rebelled against that established pattern  and as a result, I tend to look between the lines more than many of my peers do. That means when major news media outlets focus on a story, Im more likely to see what they missed.

In the case of both the Clinton email scandal and the DNC email leak  not to mention the various whistle-blower events  what interests me isnt whats been covered but what hasnt been covered. Ill shine a light on some of the huge misses from a tech perspective.

Ill close with my product of the week: a new phone from BlackBerry, the DTEK 50. It bucks the trend that put most of you on insecure phones.

Clintons Email Server

All the focus has been on Clinton, because she is running for office  but the focus typically would be on how the hell a major email system that wasnt secure remained in service for years without setting off alarms or putting big grins on internal auditors faces.

The implication is that U.S. security is a joke  and if that server was in use, how many other connected insecure devices are there in the U.S. government that effectively are telling any government that has discovered them every secret they can access? Security in the U.S. government must be truly awful. I used to be a security auditor, and Ive seen CEOs asked to step down for less.

DNC Email Leak

There recently were two big political conventions in the U.S. The Democratic convention was well run, and the Democratic candidates got a decent pop in the polls as a result. The Republican convention was run horridly, and the Republican ticket performed poorly.

The Republicans really messed up. The Republicans effectively would have been far better off not having their event. Yet because of an email leak, the key players at the DNC were forced to resign, but their RNC counterparts werent. The email leak wasnt the fault of any of the fired DNC folks. Typically, when you fail to do your job, you are fired. If there is a problem that you actually didnt cause, you dont get fired  only reprimanded.

RNC Email

Given what was disclosed in the DNC email, and given that people are people, what do you think a similar leak would have been like from the RNC? The DNC was unhappy about Sanders, but the RNC literally hated both of the final candidates. (Hell, apparently everyone hated Ted Cruz, and Trump became a close second  though I think he is first like a rocket at the moment.)

Can you imagine what the RNC internal emails would say about Trump? Bad-mouthing Sanders only creates DNC internal drama, but bad-mouthing Trump, who won the candidacy, could swing the election to Clinton (which would be redundant at the moment).

The DNC mail was interesting, but the RNC email would have been spectacular in a very bad way for the RNC. For us, it would have been even more entertaining. (Have I mentioned I plan to vote Libertarian this year?)

Whos the Hacker

On the DNC side, there are two parallel stories. One is the widely publicized theory that a Democratic staffer who recently was murdered had leaked information to WikiLeaks and that his death was connected to that. The other is that a hacker who bragged about leaking the information  and claims theres a lot more where that came from  did it on behalf of the Russian government, a claim he denied. Both stories cant be true.

As a side note, there have been three potential whistle-blower events under Obama, who promised to be transparent. There was Manning, who was abused and sent to prison; Snowden, who fled for his life to Russia (historically someone like Snowden would flee from Russia to the U.S.); and perhaps Rich, who died.

Only in the case of the DNC leak, in which the people involved didnt report to Obama, were people fired for doing what they shouldnt have been doing in the first place, but their crimes werent criminal. In short, in the government, it appears far worse to point out a crime than to commit one. Excuse me while I feign shock. Sigh

Who Has the Email?

Kaspersky  which is both massively secure and recently was hacked itself  has indicated that inadequately secured systems like the Clinton email server typically are compromised by up to three governments. Given that all of the email hasnt been disclosed or even discovered (because much of it was deleted), how much leverage does one of these foreign entities now have?

Its possible that only a fraction of the DNC email has been released, and given that the terminations were tied to what was in the email  not tied to the theft  how many other Democrats or DNC staffers have the threat of being fired hanging over their heads? In short, how many are now owned by whoever has this damaging email?

Oh, and given the lack of products, like Varonis, that are capable of tracking this stuff, who says hackers havent penetrated the RNC and might be blackmailing the RNC folks as well? Given Trumps current popularity, youd think the Republican servers actually would be more attractive than those of the Democrats.

Clinton vs. Trump

Clinton is a career politician who doesnt seem to understand technology very well. Trump is a casino owner, and casinos live on massive amounts of calculated game analytics, heavy multilayered security systems, and massive customer tracking and analysis.

Trump should be far stronger with the kinds of technologies that drive an election, but Clinton is outperforming Trump massively in this regard. How the hell can Trump run a successful casino business by clearly not understanding the technology behind successful casinos?

Seriously, the typical casino runs a level of technology that a politician would die to have access to  yet there is no evidence that Trump understands this even remotely. Maybe he is secretly chivalrous? Doubtful

Wrapping Up

One of the things Ive noticed as society has moved to the Web is that news organizations increasingly just rehash what others report. Its just a rare few that report original stories, and much of what we read is just a rehash of those rare original pieces. Thats kind of sad, because I think much of what Ive related actually is more interesting than what is being discussed. Thats something to noodle on this week.

With all of the leaks of information this year, youd think more people  particularly politicians  would get that security trumps, pretty much every time. However, the only company that remains laser-focused on security is BlackBerry, and its latest phones run Android.

The Priv was my previous favorite, but even though it has a keyboard, it also is wicked expensive. The new DTEK50 gets rid of the keyboard, some weight, and about half the price to create what is actually a decent phone.

BlackBerrys DTEK50

The DTEK has three standout aspects. It puts Android on top of a secure BlackBerry platform, which makes it resist rootkits  the most dangerous of the Android malware because they are very hard to detect.

It has the best selfie camera in the market, and it has a single function button that can be used for any app you want (I use it for the camera).

Additional unique features are the DTEK security scan, which tells you if you have been compromised; the BlackBerry hub, which collects all your communications stuff  everything from social networks and email, to SMS messages and phone calls  in one place; and BBM, BlackBerrys unique corporate messaging service.

I am seriously missing the Privs keyboard, but given that this phone is lighter, thinner, and far less expensive than my favorite phone, the Blackberry DTEK50 is my product of the week.
The tug-of-war for subscribers among United States wireless companies has intensified, with Sprint now offering $200 for customers to return to the service after switching to another carrier.

Sprint is already offering $650 for customers to switch to the carrier from Sprint's rival companies, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The amount will be used to cover the costs associated with switching carriers such as early termination fees.

Earlier in the year, Sprint even started a 30-day satisfaction guarantee for customers switching to the carrier. Customers who sign up for a Sprint contract but are not impressed with the service that they receive are allowed to have the cost of their device, along with all the associated service charges, refunded after returning the device to the company.

Sprint, on top of all its carrier switch deals, is now also offering customers who return to the company after being enticed to move to another carrier with $200 worth of credit that can be applied to the cost of their service.

The promotion is set to run until mid-September, and can be used in conjunction with the $650 offer for customers switching from other carriers. In total, returning Sprint customers can get up to $850 if they choose to return to the company's services.

Sprint is currently behind its rivals in terms of the number of its subscribers, and the company is hoping that through these offers and heavy marketing, it would be able to acquire a larger share of the cutthroat wireless carrier market.

One of the recent moves that Sprint made involves Paul Marcarelli, the guy featured in Verizon advertisements that ran from 2002 to 2011 with the infamous tagline "Can you hear me now" to check the signal of the service. Marcarelli, like what the company is hoping with a significant number of subscribers, has made the switch to Sprint.

Marcarelli, in his first advertisements for Sprint, explained that every network is now great, adding that the reliability of the services of Sprint are within 1 percent to that of Verizon's, but with lower rates compared to what Verizon offers to customers.

Sprint reported 173,000 new postpaid subscribers for the last quarter, revealing hefty growth for the company. However, despite that, the company still posted a significant loss of $302 million for its fiscal first quarter, equivalent to a loss of 8 cents per share. This is compared to a $20 million loss in the corresponding quarter of 2015, equivalent to a loss of 1 cent per share.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung's Colombian division has confirmed the company's next tablet - the Galaxy Tab S3.

Samsung (Colombia) has not revealed any specs of the Galaxy Tab S3 but a post mentions a high-capacity processor as well as some innovations in the upcoming tablet.

Rumors of the Galaxy Tab S3 have been doing the rounds for several months. The tablet was also spotted at China's Telecommunication Equipment Certification Center, or TENAA, the agency that approves mobile devices for sale in China.

According to previous rumors, the Galaxy Tab S3 8.0 will sport an 8-inch AMOLED screen with a display resolution of 1,536 x 2,048 pixels. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor and 3 GB of RAM are expected to power the tablet.

The Galaxy Tab S3 may come with 32 GB of internal storage with the option to expand the storage capacity to up to 128 GB with a microSD card.

The upcoming Samsung tablet may be equipped with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Although Samsung has not mentioned the screen size of the Galaxy Tab S3, it is likely that the company will introduce an 8-inch and a 9.7-inch model of the tablet.

A 4,000 mAh battery is expected to fuel the Galaxy Tab S3 8.0. The Galaxy Tab S2 included a 5,870 mAh battery, so the next-gen Galaxy Tab S3 9.7 may also come with the same battery size.

The Galaxy Tab S3 may come running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow straight out of the box. Customers will hope that Samsung will release Android 7.0 Nougat to the tablet soon after the software is released.

The form factor and the design of the Galaxy Tab S3 seem to remain the same.

Apart from a new processor and the latest version of the Android operating system, all specs of the Galaxy Tab S3 are similar to those of the Galaxy Tab S2, which means that the upcoming tablet is not a major upgrade from its predecessor.

Samsung has already sent out invites for its press conference on Sept. 1 at the 2016 IFA. The press invite does not confirm the launch of a specific device but it hints at the unveiling of Samsung's next-generation smartwatch - the Gear S3.

The post on Samsung's Colombian website does not directly specify that the company will launch the Galaxy Tab S3 at the event. However, given that Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S2 at the 2015 IFA, it is likely that the company will take the wraps off its new tablet at this year's IFA.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Back in 1974, Stephen Hawking had a "wild" prediction about black holes: rather than being totally black as the scientific community assumed, black holes evaporate over time and emit tiny amounts of radiation in the process, known as "Hawking radiation."

At the time, such an idea was completely unheard of  black holes were named as such because their gravitational force is so powerful that not even light can escape once it passes beyond the theoretical point of no return, the event horizon. Therefore, the belief that anything could escape once it reaches that point was regarded as lunacy  even if someone like Hawking was the one behind it.

Fast-forward to 2016, and now, Jeff Steinhauer, a physicist at Technion University in Israel, has published a paper in Nature Physics that suggests Hawking might have been right about black holes after all.

Acoustic Black Hole

To test whether Hawking's prediction panned out, Steinhauer created an analog black hole using Bose-Einstein condensates  exotic forms of ultra-cold quantum state matter where a bunch of atoms behave like a single atom.

Upon applying a second laser beam, it created a step that the atoms could flow over (similarly to a waterfall). Once they poured over that step, they accelerated, reaching supersonic speeds in the process.

As such, an acoustic black hole was born. Rather than the typical black hole that exists in space, this one deals with sound; specifically, sound waves inside the supersonic region can't escape because the condensate is flowing faster than the phonons (particles of sound) could travel.

Hawking Radiation

Of course, creating an acoustic black hole was merely a means to an end, as the objective was to see whether or not Hawking radiation was the real deal.

In 2014, Steinhauer conducted an experiment where he observed this radiation, but the radiation in that experiment was simulated  it was caused when something hit the event horizon and created the pairs.

This time around, however, the radiation was organic.

When pairs of phonons were created near the analog black hole, Steinhauer observed one particle falling in and the other escaping, which he argues is analogous to a photon escaping a real black hole  exactly what Hawking predicted all those years ago. What's more, they were even entangled, meaning that, when one phonon fell into the black hole, the one on the outside still retained all the information of that particle.

The end result now has two major implications: first off, this serves as a key factor in resolving the black hole information paradox, and one day devising a unified theory that combines quantum mechanics and general relativity. Second, it could earn Hawking a Nobel Prize more than 40 years after he made his first prediction.

Of course, this all depends on whether the result holds up, and Steinhauer believes it will.

"We've verified Hawking's calculation, and we've even seen that particles really are entangled," Steinhauer said. "I hope that this will give insight to physicists who think about real black holes."

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Microsoft is bringing Windows 7 and 8.1 on par with Windows 10 by imposing a cumulative update model to the older OSs.

The company wants to leave the individual hotfix approach behind and take a more integral approach to its updates.

It is worthy of note how different Windows Update works on Windows 10 versus Windows 7 and 8.1. The older operating systems are snatching an array of individual patches each month, which means that if a system skipped its monthly patching a few times, users can expect to see dozens of individual fixes in queue. Should a user go for a from-the-bottom installation, the number could rank to hundreds of individual patches.

Windows 10 is keeping things simpler with one or two monthly updates. This is because one cumulative update is crafted to encompass everything from the newest reliability and security fixes to various fixes from previous months. This means that if you forgot to update your rig during multiple months (or you go for a clean install), you never have to worry about downloading and installing hundreds of individual fixes. By simply using the latest cumulative update, Windows 10 makes due and is kind of up-to-date.

Windows 7's system received a slight improvement in May this year. At the time, Microsoft said it is planning to pack all the patches post Service Pack 1 into one rollup. Thanks to the package, Windows 7 went up-to-date much faster than it would have gone otherwise.

With the recent initiative, the company shows that it stays true to that approach.

This October, Windows 7 and 8.1 users will see the rollout of the first Monthly Rollup. They will receive every important security and reliability improvements released during that month. The next months will come with subsequent rollups, and the cumulative aspect will be maintained.

At first, the Monthly Rollups will pack only the patches dated October 2016 or newer, but the company promises that in 2017 the time coverage will expand. This would help users get all the patches Microsoft has released since the last "baseline."

Keep in mind that a few software need to be updated separately, such as Adobe Flash and the Windows servicing stack. This would impact mostly newly installed Windows systems, as a number of individual patches will be required to set up Windows Update. As long as you get that going, the Windows Update should be able to do the rest by itself.

Microsoft affirms that it is planning to deliver updates focused exclusively on security, leaving aside reliability or feature changes. Note that these types of special updates will lack the cumulative trait.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft will stop shipping individual hotfixes in October. This should oblige users to install Monthly Rollups or security-only update to keep their computers safe.

There is reasoning behind this as well.

In its internal testing, Microsoft uses configurations where all updates are applied. Seeing how there are hundreds of separate updates, it is unreasonable to test all possible combinations a user might pick. Forcing users to download the full range of updates should make the end-user systems closer to the configurations Microsoft uses to test its OS.

Last but not least, the new policy should shorten the duration in which Windows Update is active, as systems will have to be checked for the presence of fewer patches.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elecciones presidenciales

El pais mas grande de la region elige este domingo a su proximo mandatario. Tras no lograr hacerse con la mayoria de los votos en los comicios del 2 de octubre, Luis Inacio "Lula" Da Silva y Jair Bolsonaro se disputan la Presidencia en una balotaje que enfrenta tendencias y valores contrapuestas. Con equipos en el terreno, Telam presenta una cobertura exclusiva con noticias, analisis, opinion, fotos y mas.
On October 23, 75 kg of explosives, including potassium nitrate, were seized from the residence of 29-year old Jameesha Mubeen who was killed after a gas cylinder exploded in a car he was travelling in.
On Friday, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took advantage of the last debate between candidates before Sunday's presidential elections to accuse the current president,... | Read More
The Ca Mau Airport in the Mekong Delta is serving only a return flight to Ho Chi Minh City every day. Photo: Gia Bach

The Ministry of Transports plan to build an airport in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has been labeled by critics as unnecessary.

Building an airport will cost much money while there is no urgent demand for it, Tran Huu Hiep, economic department chief at the Southwestern Steering Committee, said.

There are Can Tho, Rach Gia and Phu Quoc airports at a close distance.

Hiep was speaking at a recent meeting to discuss the itinerary for a conference on developing infrastructure and logistics in the delta to be held on August 22.

The plan envisages construction of the airport by a public-private partnership at a cost of more than VND3.41 trillion (US$154 million) to serve both civilian and military flights.

The first stage will be finished in 2020 when it can handle smaller aircraft like ATR72, and the second stage by 2030 airport when it can serve larger aircraft and 100,000 passengers a year.

Vuong Binh Thanh, chairman of the An Giang Peoples Committee, said the province has three military airports that cannot be expanded for use by civilian aircraft.

The new airport will attract more investors to An Giang and serve tourists and local peoples demand.

An Giang ranks first among delta provinces in number of tourists with more than five million a year, he said.

Unnecessary airport

Hiep also said the project would need to be reconsidered because it is located near the border with Cambodia and flights might have to enter the neighbors airspace.

The money should be invested to build roads because there are up to 60 communes in nine Mekong Delta provinces that are inaccessible by car.

Many experts said another airport would be unnecessary in the delta because two others had to cancel several routes due to low demand.

Can Tho Airport was upgraded in 2011 to handle international flights and five million passengers and 5,000 tons of cargo a year.

However, it is operating at a mere 10 percent of the designed capacity.

Nguyen Khanh Tung, director of the Can Tho Investment  Trade- Tourism Promotion Center said that in 2015 Vietravel coordinated with Can Tho authorities to launch flights to Da Lat, Khanh Hoa and Bangkok to promote tourism.

But all three services have been suspended due to low number of passengers, he said.

The situation at Ca Mau Airport is even worse. The airport, built in 2003, handles only two flights to and from HCMC a day, an ATR72 aircraft with a capacity of 74 passengers.

A Ca Mau transport official, who wanted to remain unnamed, said the airport could not compete with buses.

An air ticket to HCMC costs more than VND1.5 million for a three- or four-hour trip, including waiting time. But it takes only VND185,000 and six hours by sleeper bus with frequent buses and free transport to their doorstep.
Hospitals across the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam are facing severe shortages of doctors, leaving even the largest medical centers in dire straits, according to local media reports.

A survey released by the Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy on Monday found that the 13 city and provinces in the region desperately need more doctors, particularly in the specialties of anatomic pathology, tuberculosis, leprosy, mental health and forensic examination.

There are only 52 doctors working in those five branches and half of them will reach retirement age within the next four years.

The Bac Lieu Mental Hospital, for instance, has only two doctors even though with 80 beds it should have at least 20. One of the doctors will retire next year. Kien Giang Province has no tuberculosis and lung doctor while several others have between one and five each. Nguyen Minh Tung, deputy director of Bac Lieu Provice's health department, said the province will launch a tuberculosis hospital in early 2017 and is facing difficulties recruiting 115 doctors. Many medical students are not interested in the five areas, said Cao My Phuong, director of Tra Vinh's health department. Some students are willing to wait for a year to enroll in general practitioner programs instead of studying to become a specialist , she said. Regional health officials have also warned that many doctors in the public sector are migrating to private hospitals for higher income. Vuong Phuong Nam, deputy chairman of Bac Lieu Peoples Committee, said there are 15 doctors in the province who have quit their jobs at public hospitals recently.

Tu Quoc Tuan, director of An Giang Health Department, said that the average monthly income for a doctor at public hospitals is about VND8 million (US$358).

Many doctors are now willing to repay training costs to be able to move to better paying positions elsewhere, he noted.
The first international obstetrics and gynecology hospital of Vietnam's Mekong Delta opened in Can Tho Wednesday.

Phuong Chau International Obstetrics Gynecology Hospital is also the first in the delta to meet international standards.

Spread over more than 7,700 square meters with 252 patient beds, the 11-story hospital was constructed in two years, and cost around VND385 billion (US$19.7 million).

Most of the equipment has been imported from the US and Europe.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ho, director of the hospital, said the hospital aims at providing the best examination and treatment to women in the Mekong Delta. Its goal is to become one of Vietnam's leading OBGYN hospitals, Ho said.
Police and environment officials in Tay Ninh Province on Monday started to dig up around six metric tons of untreated medical waste that a private hospital has been burying illegally near a canal.

The officers on Thursday (June 25) caught two guards of Le Ngoc Tung Private Hospital burying its waste at a vacant land site in a residential area, Tuoi Tre reported.

The waste included placentas, drug bottles, used needles, syringes and blood collection tubes.

Tieu Huu Duc, 58, who lives in the neighborhood said the guards used to burn the waste there, but locals stopped them, so they started to bury it.

Duc said locals did not know it was medical waste until some of them stepped onto used needles.

A local environment company said it signed a contract with the hospital to collect its waste every two months for treatment. They collected nearly 900 kilograms in February and April.

'Serious danger'

Do Trong Hieu, deputy director of the hospital, conceded that there is a large amount of "dangerous" waste it has to treat every day, but its incinerator has not been licensed yet. As a result, it has to bring the waste outside and bury it.

Nguyen Dinh Xuan, director of Tay Ninhs environment department, told Tuoi Tre the incinerator's design does not meet technical requirements.

He said the waste buried was between four and six tons, based on the hospitals disposal records.

Xuan said local residents and the environment have been exposed to a very serious danger as the waste was buried near a canal that flows into the province's river and canal system.

He said his department is still weighing the violation, but the hospital can face cash fines and some individuals will be held accountable.

Vietnam is discharging around 76,000 tons of waste a day, 80 percent of it buried and the rest burned or turned into fertilizers.
Two near fatalities in a Mekong Delta province have brought to light the poor quality of healthcare being provided in many smaller locality hospitals.

In both cases, a totally wrong diagnosis put patients through considerable pain and suffering and pushed them into a critical condition.

Huynh Thi Day, a 28-year-old resident, visited Hong Dan District General Hospital in Bac Lieu on July 13 with a stomachache. Day was X-rayed, had a cardiogram done and her blood tested. She was also examined by five doctors including hospital director Pham Van Tung. Two days later, a paper signed by doctor Quach Nghia Doan said she had "infectious diarrhea".

But her condition worsened using the prescribed medicine. Her belly got bigger and became painful that she couldn't walk. Day said at the time, she just thought "it doesn't make sense" that the doctors would make a wrong diagnosis.

Day suffered for about a week until her husband took her to Medic Thanh Vu General Hospital, a private hospital, where she was diagnosed as having general peritonitis as part of her appendix had ruptured. She was operated on immediately and recovered.

"If I had stayed home and used the diarrhea medicine prescribed for a few more days, I wouldn't have been alive to complain about this," she said.

"Hong Dan Hospital should quickly fix the way it examines, diagnoses and treats patients, or there will be more people falling in my situation."

Earlier in the year, local farmer Nguyen Van Anh developed a toe infection which caused him to go into convulsions. And doctors at the Hong Dan Hospital diagnosed stomach trouble and kept checking with his stomach.

Anh's condition got worse and the family asked to have him transferred to the Ho Chi Minh City Tropical Hospital, a major clinic for infections. In order to let him go, the family had to undertake that they would be responsible if Anh dies on the way to HCMC.

Doctors at the city hospital diagnosed Anh with severe tetanus and performed an urgent surgery.

They said it would have been too late for Anh if he had come even a day later, the family said.

"Apart from diagnosing me wrongly and almost killing me, [Hong Dan Hospital] also cost my family dozens of millions of dong on my treatment," Anh said.

Leaders of Hong Dan Hospital have admitted that the capacity of their staff is still slow and the facilities for treatment are inadequate, and promised to fix the situation quickly.

Meanwhile, the director of Bac Lieu Province's Health Department said Wednesday they will inspect the district hospital.
The Shun-da, registered under the Belizean flag

Two ships owned by a Chinese company with 23 workers onboard have been abandoned at a shipyard in northern Vietnam since May, local media reported Tuesday.

A VnExpress report quoted Hoang Dai Giang, an official at Hai Phong Maritime Authority, as saying that the workers, including 10 Chinese and 13 Myanmar nationals, had been left without new supplies of food and water, and had not been paid since May.

The Yong-Win 18, registered under the Mongolian flag.

Their ships, Shun-da, registered under the Belizean flag, and Mongolian-flag Yong-Win 18, arrived in Nam Trieu Shipyard for repair on May 13.

The owner, Chinese company Jumbo Sino Development Limited, has apparently abandoned both ships since then.

The crews said they wanted to return to their home countries and claim their backpay,

The maritime authority has provided the crews with food and has asked the shipyard to ensure water and electricity supplies for the ships.

The case was also reported to the national maritime authority for further decision.
The baby being handed over to his mother. Photo credit: Minh Moi/Tuoi Tre

A local man and a foreign tourist rescued a baby boy who was drowning in a lake in the resort town of Da Lat on Monday.

The incident happened at around noon when the baby's 30-year-old mother failed to stop the stroller from being blown down into the Xuan Huong Lake by a sudden gust of wind, local media quoted witnesses as saying.

Two men at the site, including a foreign tourist, saved the baby.

The foreign man quickly jumped in after throwing away his phone and belongings. The lake is about two meters deep, said a Pokemon hunter at the site.
Blood stains on the dented nose of a Vietjet aircraft, suspiciously the result of a crash into a bird on September 30. Photo credit: Tien Phong

A Vietjet aircraft had to be grounded in Hanoi to fix its nose cone Wednesday night after a possible bird strike during a flight from central Vietnam.

The nose of the Airbus320 was found dented and with blood stains when it landed at Noi Bai Airport.

Its radar system was also damaged.

Tran Hoai Phuong, director of the Northern Airport Authority, said the plane landed safely and the passengers were fine.

A spokesperson for the budget carrier said it had to delay the next flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City for half an hour to look for a plane to replace the damaged one. Many later flights were also affected.

The spokesperson admitted the carriers aircraft have been hitting birds more often lately.
A robot collects dishes to be cleaned at Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe in Singapore July 6, 2016. Picture taken July 6, 2016.

Sherine Toh says her best days at work are when none of the 600-or-so staff at Singapore's Tung Lok Restaurants quits, though such days are rare.

The Chinese restaurant group is one of the thousands of businesses struggling with a labor crunch caused by foreign worker curbs, that threaten the city-state's already feeble growth rates.

"It has gotten much more tougher compared to the old days, five years back," said Toh, who has at least 20 vacancies to fill at any one time as head of human resources. The group closed some outlets because of the shortage.

The city's restaurants, hotels and retailers have become the biggest casualties of the labor crunch since Singapore accelerated restrictions on foreign workers in 2011 as political disquiet about immigration grew. But its highly-educated locals largely shun the late hours and unglamorous work.

To address the constraints, Singapore is pushing businesses to look to non-human solutions for their human resource challenges, including greater use of automation and robotics.

At Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe near a leafy university enclave, a tray-wielding robot roams the eatery, offering to collect plates from patrons in a childlike voice. Navigating its way through customers, it delivers the dirty dishes to the kitchen.

A robot navigates its way to collect dirty dishes at Chilli Padi Nonya Cafe in Singapore July 6, 2016. Picture taken July 6, 2016.

While tech powerhouses such as Japan, the U.S. and Germany invest billions in robotics to compete commercially in the emerging sector, Singapore's robots push is driven by a much more urgent need: the survival of some labor-strapped small and medium sized businesses may depend on them.

In the food and beverage industry, 90 percent of the businesses face the shortage and about a third are "really struggling," according to its lobby group.

"There is an increasing number of businesses that are up for sale," said Lim Rui Shan, executive director at the Restaurant Association of Singapore, which represents 2,200 outlets. "Some of them just shut down."

To encourage adoption, Singapore this year announced plans to spend S$450 million ($333 million) over three years to fund robot development and deployment.

Andrew Khaw, Infocomm Development Authority's senior director of productivity growth through information and communications technology, admits the take-up of robots is slower than he would like.

But he says the lack of manpower is a new operating reality businesses now need to accept.

"It's a bit of 'let's see who blinks first'. As far as the government is concerned, we can't go back on this policy," Khaw said.

Service robots can be found in Singapore - in hospitals and restaurants, as waiters or cleaners - but are less ubiquitous than might be expected for the aggressively tech-oriented economy.

James Xia, director at Unitech Mechatronics, which built the busboy robot Chilli Padi uses, sees export potential in his product but says development outlays mean commercialization is slow.

A robot cleans the hallway of the Marina Bay Sands convention centre in Singapore June 30, 2016. Picture taken June 30, 2016.

Xia thinks more upfront government grants, rather than the current post-project reimbursements, could accelerate development.

Another firm, Aitech Robotics and Automation, has developed a tea-lady robot that delivers food and drinks throughout a seven-storey building to workers in their offices.

But the company's business development manager, Eric Lee, says orders are slow and doesn't expect to make any money on the showcase robot.

Weak capital expenditure amid the global economic slowdown has made it difficult for a virtuous robot development cycle to rev up in Singapore.

"In a hypothetical situation where there were no foreign manpower curbs, then (domestic) growth may have been a little bit higher," said Selena Ling, head of treasury research for OCBC.

For now, manpower is just one of many economic challenges: Singapore cut its 2016 growth forecast this month after revising down its second-quarter growth as the service sector contracted.
A Vietnam Airlines aircraft heading to Ho Chi Minh City on Monday had to return to Hanois Noi Bai Airport after it hit a bird.

Flight VN249 made the emergency landing about 20 minutes after departure. The crew had heard unusual sounds in the engine, the national carrier said in a statement.

At the airport, technicians found a dead bird carcass in the engine, it said.

The problem has been identified as a collision between a bird and the aircraft, a Vietnam Airlines representative said.

All passengers were transferred to another aircraft to resume their journey to HCMC.

Early this month, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam sought the government's approval to increase service fees in order to fund a system that it said would help detect foreign objects on runways at the country's two largest airports in Hanoi and HCMC. The airports together receive 65 percent of flights to and from Vietnam.



The state-owned manager of 22 airports now wants to charge international flights US$35 each and domestic flights $17. The new 24/7 monitoring project is expected to cost more than VND1.16 trillion ($52.09 million).

Now humans are in charge of scanning the runways seven times a day to keep them clear of birds and foreign objects that can threaten flight safety, the corporation said.
A man waits as Syrian civil defence workers look for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building following reported air strikes on July 17, 2016 in Aleppo

The battle for Syria's ravaged second city Aleppo is one of the worst urban conflicts ever fought, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday.

"This is beyond doubt one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times," Peter Maurer said in a statement, decrying the "immense" human suffering.

The divided city of Aleppo has been rocked by escalating violence, with hundreds of people killed, untold numbers injured and tens of thousands trapped without aid, Maurer pointed out.

"No one and nowhere is safe. Shell-fire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear," the ICRC chief said.

"Children have been traumatised. The scale of the suffering is immense," he added.

Aleppo, Syria's former economic hub and a focal point of its five-year civil war, has been divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012.

Fighting for the city has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

A Syrian man walks past destroyed buildings on May 2, 2016, in Aleppo's Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood.

The violence has severely damaged the city's infrastructure, cutting or significantly reducing access to water and electricity across the city, the ICRC stressed.

"Besides the direct threat posed by the fighting, the lack of essential services such as water and electricity, poses an immediate and dramatic risk for up to two million people, who have great difficulty in accessing basic medical care," Maurer warned.

ICRC said that it and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had begun trucking drinking water as an emergency measure.

"The human cost of the fighting in Aleppo is simply too high," Maurer said.

"We urge all parties to stop the destruction and indiscriminate attacks, and stop the killing," he said.

The ICRC called on all sides to allow aid agencies to reach civilians in all parts of the city, and said regular halts in the fighting was needed to allow in aid and to repair essential services.

The United Nations has also repeatedly insisted that regular 48-hour pauses in the fighting is needed to bring desperately needed aid into Aleppo.
Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, speaks to the media outside number 10 Downing Street, in central London, Britain July 13, 2016.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to China's president and premier seeking to enhance trade and cooperation, amid a dispute over London delaying a $24 billion nuclear project due to security concerns over Chinese financing.

China has cautioned Britain against closing the door to Chinese money, warning relations are at a crucial juncture after May last month delayed signing off on the Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset, England.

In a statement late on Monday, China's foreign ministry cited a British envoy as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told Wang that May had written to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying she looked forward to attending next month's G20 summit in China.

Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China's foreign ministry said, citing the letter.

Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy towards China, the ministry added.

Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward looking approach."

May's predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment and has called for a review, according to a former colleague.

China has called for the project to proceed. The plan would see France's EDF build two reactors, with partial financial backing from the Chinese state-owned company China General Nuclear Power Corp.

Britain and France's EDF first reached a broad commercial agreement on the Hinkley Point 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.

China General Nuclear Power, which would hold a stake of about a third in the project, has said it respected the decision of the new British government to take the time needed to familiarise itself with the programme.
U.S. President Barack Obama is joined by Democratic Nominee for President Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016.

Declaring he was tired of talking about Donald Trump, President Barack Obama urged Democrats on Monday not to grow too confident about their prospects in the 2016 election despite Hillary Clinton's strong position in the race for the White House.

Obama, who is on a two-week vacation in Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, took a short break from his relaxation time to raise money for Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee he hopes will succeed him when he leaves office in January.

Clinton leads Trump in opinion polls, and the Republican nominee's campaign has suffered following remarks he made denigrating the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier and charging that Obama was the founder of the Islamic State militant group.

The president warned his party, however, to maintain a sense of urgency until the Nov. 8 election.

"If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake," Obama told some 60 donors who contributed $10,000 each to attend the fundraiser at a private home on the island.

"If we do our job, then Hillary will be elected president of the United States. But if we do not do our jobs, then its still possible for her to lose."

The remarks could foreshadow the president's role this fall in encouraging get-out-the-vote efforts for Clinton, his former secretary of state.

Obama has made clear his disdain for Trump, calling him unqualified for the White House. He told the donors he was tired of talking about Clinton's rival.

"I don't have to make the case against her opponent, because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy," Obama said.

The president is expected to campaign heavily for Clinton in October.
A still image, taken from video footage and released by Russia's Defence Ministry on August 11, 2016, shows a Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping off bombs at an unknown location in Syria. Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS

Russian bombers based in Iran on Tuesday struck militant targets inside Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry said, after Moscow deployed Russian aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.

The ministry said the strikes, by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers, were launched from Iran's Hamadan air base.

It is thought to be the first time that Russia has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

The move shows Russia is expanding its role and presence in the Middle East and comes amid Russian media reports Moscow has asked Iran and Iraq for permission to fire cruise missiles at Syrian targets across their territory from the Caspian Sea.

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State and militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.

The bombers had been protected by fighters based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province, it said.

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier on Tuesday broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three bombers and a Russian military transport plane apparently inside Iran, but said it was unclear how many Russian bombers had arrived there.

It said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.

Russian media said the Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which had already conducted many strikes on militants in Syria from their home bases in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's air base inside Syria.

The Iranian air base near Hamadan, sometimes also called Hamedan, is located in north-west Iran and the Russian bombers would have to over fly Iraq to strike Syria.
Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he would work closely with NATO allies to defeat Islamic State militants if he wins the White House, reversing an earlier threat that the United States might not meet its obligations to the Western military alliance.

In a policy speech, Trump said he would wage a multi-front "military, cyber and financial" war against Islamic State, although it was not clear how that would differ from the Obama administration's fight with the jihadist group.

"We will also work closely with NATO on this new mission," said Trump, whose remarks about the defense organization earlier this summer drew heavy criticism from allies and even some of his fellow Republicans.

Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered NATO obsolete. He was apparently referring to reports the alliance is moving toward creating an intelligence post in a bid to improve information sharing.

While Trump appeared to claim credit for prodding NATO to focus more on the threat of terrorism, the 28-nation alliance has been grappling with the issue for more than a decade. NATO invoked Article 5, its collective self-defense mechanism, for the first time in its history to offer support to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Trump called for shutting down access to the internet and social media for those aligned with Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq. But he said he did not want to detail military strategy because it would tip off potential foes.

"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we've faced at every age and before," Trump said, blaming his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama for aiding the rise of Islamic State.

In a speech in the swing state of Ohio, Trump also said that in implementing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the country, he would institute extreme vetting and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States.

As president, he said, he would ask the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat.

The Clinton campaign said Trump's plan to have immigrants submit to ideological tests was "a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it."

Reading from a teleprompter, Trump said Clinton did not have the judgment and character to lead the country.

"Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face," he said.

Trump, a wealthy New York businessman whose volatile campaign has alienated some in the Republican establishment, faced a fresh rebuke on Monday as he falls behind Clinton in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial he should fix his campaign within weeks or step down. Echoing growing alarm about Trump's candidacy among many leading Republicans, the newspaper said Trump had failed to establish a competent campaign operation.

'Stop blaming everyone else'

"If they cant get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races," the newspaper said.

Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5 this year, marks the end of U.S. summer vacations and traditionally launches the final phase of the long U.S. election season.

"As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president - or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence," it said, referring to the Indiana governor, who is Trump's vice presidential running mate.

Adding to Trump's woes this week was the news, first reported by The New York Times, that the name of his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was on secret ledgers showing cash payments designated to him of more than $12 million from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia.

Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. "I have never received a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as falsely 'reported' by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia," he said.

Artem Sytnik, the head of Ukraines anti-corruption bureau, confirmed in a briefing with reporters that Manafort's name appeared on a ledger and that more than $12 million had been allocated as an expenditure, referencing Manafort.

But Sytnik said the presence of Manafort's name "does not mean that he definitely received this money."

The Clinton campaign said the news was evidence of "more troubling connections between Donald Trump's team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine."

Trump has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, he invited Russian hackers to find "missing" emails from Clinton's time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that comment as sarcasm.

The current RealClearPolitics average of national opinion polls puts Clinton 6.8 points ahead of Trump, at 47.8 percent to Trump's 41 percent. Polls also show Trump trailing in states such as Pennsylvania that are likely to be pivotal in the election.
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Thousands of homeowners in East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena and Tangipahoa parishes may be eligible for three months of help paying for temporary housing while their residences are being repaired, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The temporary housing rental payments are one piece of the federal assistance available since President Barack Obama declared the parishes a federal disaster area. At least one month of assistance will be available for renters. There are also funds available for home repairs, to replace personal property and for transportation needs.

"We haven't set up a Disaster Recovery Center yet. They're still concentrating on lifesaving and rescue. Right now we're asking people to register by phone or through the website www.DisasterAssistance.gov," said FEMA spokeswoman Terri Romine.

The main number for FEMA is 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). Disaster assistance applicants who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY should call 1-800-462-7585 directly. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service should call 1-800-621-3362.

The initial disaster declaration covers only four parishes, but assessments are still underway in other areas, Romine said, so other parishes could be added to the list.

Federal assistance includes:

 Grants for home repairs and replacement of essential household items not covered by insurance to make damaged dwellings safe, sanitary and functional.

 Grants to replace personal property and help meet medical, dental, funeral, transportation and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance or other federal, state and charitable aid programs.

 Unemployment payments up to 26 weeks for workers who temporarily lost jobs because of the disaster and who do not qualify for state benefits, such as self-employed individuals.

 Low-interest loans to cover residential losses not fully paid for by insurance. The loans, through the U.S. Small Business Administration, are up to $200,000 for primary residence; and up to $40,000 for personal property, including renter losses. There are also business loans of up to $2 million for property losses not fully covered by insurance.

 SBA loans up to $2 million for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes that have suffered disaster-related cash flow problems and need funds for working capital to recover from the disaster's adverse economic impact. This loan in combination with a property loss loan cannot exceed a total of $2 million.

 Loans up to $500,000 for farmers, ranchers and aquaculture operators to cover production and property losses, excluding their primary residence.

 Other relief programs: Crisis counseling for those traumatized by the disaster; income tax assistance for filing casualty losses; advisory assistance for legal, veterans benefits and social security matters.

Here's what you need to register for federal assistance after #LAflood. Register at https://t.co/mSsI4eWr63. pic.twitter.com/IiQYRoufD7  FEMA (@fema) August 19, 2016

To be considered for all forms of disaster assistance, victims must first call FEMA. As soon as Federal-State Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout the affected area, SBA will provide one-on-one assistance to disaster loan applicants. Additional information and details on the location of disaster recovery centers is available by calling the SBA Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955.

Businesses and individuals may also obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBAs Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), or by emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded at www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be returned to the center or mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry is urging businesses to seek federal help. LABI President Stephen Waguespack said the business group is reaching out to members to gauge the impact of the floods, as well as relaying updated recovery and assistance information.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards walked across the Celtic Studios lot on Monday, shaking hands with flood evacuees now living at a flood shelter that has been set up on the film and television studio in Baton Rouge.

Several people ran up to him to shake his hand. "We love you Gov. Edwards," one woman yelled out, rushing to hug him.

It was an impromptu visit  capping a day that had Edwards stopping in Lafayette, Iberia, Vermilion and Ascension parishes to visit with leaders of areas that have been affected by mass flooding across the region.

Celtic, a privately-owned studio normally reserved for television and film projects, has become home to some 2,000 evacuees since opening its doors to victims of historic flooding two days ago.

It wasn't on Edwards' itinerary for the day, but flying high above flood-ravaged lands, Edwards decided he wanted to stop in. The two military helicopters that he and his entourage were traveling in parked on Celtic's lawn shortly before 7 p.m., greeted by crowds of people evacuees waving and clapping for Edwards.

"You have to remember: It's not a hurricane," Edwards said of the flooding that has hit south Louisiana. "It's not even a named storm."

Edwards traveled to Lafayette, New Iberia, Abbeville and Gonzales on Monday to survey flood damage and meet with local leaders, before circling back to Celtic in Baton Rouge.

"We have a state rich in generous and resilient people," Edwards said, before noting that the recovery will still take a long time. "We've still got a lot of work to do. I'm aware of that."

Flying over Ascension Parish, some neighborhoods could only be made out by roofs peaking out from the floodwater, like objects floating in a large lake.

Across Vermilion Parish, homes have become islands  entirely surrounded by water.

In Lafayette, roadways had been transformed to small rivers and ponds.

"It's a totally different perspective in the air. You get a chance to see how wide it really spreads," he said when he had made it back to the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness later that evening. "It's just devastating throughout. It doesn't discriminate  it's not white homes or black homes. It's not poor homes versus rich homes."

While much of the attention has focused on the hardest-hit four parishes that received federal disaster declarations on Sunday  East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Tangipahoa and St. Helena  the flooding has taken its toll in the surrounding areas as well.

Securing their place on the disaster declaration, and the assistance that comes along with that, was the most common concern that local officials expressed to Edwards during their briefings on Monday.

"That's extremely important for us," Iberia Parish President Larry Richard said. "We want to be named as soon as possible."

Edwards spent time at each stop trying to reassure leaders that they would be added to the disaster declaration.

"I'm convinced you're gonna get your declaration soon," Edwards told leaders in New Iberia.

"We're working to make it happen," he said in Abbeville. "I think we're gonna get you swiftly added."

In Ascension Parish, he said, "I've been making this statement everywhere I went today ... I'm not surprised, and I'm not disappointed. We had a lot more information on those parishes at the time we applied for the disaster."

Edwards said that officials are working to update the information for other parishes and expedite their declaration approval.

"I have every confidence that we are going to get those additional parishes," he said.

Two representatives from FEMA traveled with Edwards on Monday so they could see the damage and hear from leaders in person, including Tony Robinson, the regional administrator who also worked with the state's recovery during Hurricane Katrina.

"It's important that he sees first hand," Edwards said.

Also joining Edwards on his trip Monday were GOHSEP Director James Waskom; State Police Col. Mike Edmonson; Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson; Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Walters; Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego; Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen; and others. House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, met up with the group at a couple of Acadiana stops.

"It appears to be quite devastating," Alario said, noting that hearing directly from local officials also was helpful. "The story they tell paints a picture."

"In each case, local government seems to be taking care of things," Alario added.
More than $1 million has already been donated to south Louisiana flood victims through crowdsourcing website GoFundMe.

Now, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is stepping in to make sure that money goes to the flood-affected families, businesses and other groups as intended.

"Louisiana is experiencing monumental devastation and tragedy," General Landry. "We are grateful for the efforts of GoFundMe to make sure donations benefit our struggling neighborsnot fraudulent individuals or organizations."

Nearly 2,000 campaigns have been set up in response to the historic flooding. The federal government has issued a disaster declaration for 20 parishes.

+2 20 parishes now covered by federal disaster declaration Twenty parishes are now covered under a federal disaster declaration in response to severe f

The Louisiana Department of Justice is now working with GoFundMe to increase fraud protection for those who would like to contribute.

GoFundMe already tracks donation pages for possible triggers and has mechanisms in place to ensure that money goes to the intended beneficiaries.

In the wake of the flooding, new communication streams have been put in place to make immediate red flag alerts. Additionally, GoFundMe also will refund money that does not get properly distributed.

+5 Gov. John Bel Edwards tours flood-affected areas Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards walked across the Celtic Studios lot on Monday, shaking hand

"We urge the GoFundMe community to continue to support the tens of thousands of folks impacted by the devastating floods. We will continue to work closely with the Attorney General and the GoFundMe campaign organizers to ensure the families receive the help they need," Daniel Gordon, GoFundMe's head of trust and safety, said in a statement.

Landry also offered these tips to those who want to donate through GoFundMe:
Homes are surrounded by water in the Manchac Harbor subdivision off LA-42. Aerials of severe weather flooding in Ascension Parish on Monday August 15, 2016.
Former Louisiana prison official Tonia Cain directed subordinates to alter or shred records related to concessions sales at Avoyelles Correctional Center, apparently to hide the fact that more than $30,000 in cash was missing, according to a legislative audit released Monday.

The sales of food and other items, meant to benefit five clubs that help to rehabilitate inmates, exceeded cash deposits by $31,170 over an 18-month period, the audit found.

Tonia Cain, who was the prisons business manager and is the wife of former Avoyelles Warden Nate Cain, was the only employee to regularly obtain and/or count cash concessions collections alone, auditors found.

The auditors concluded that Tonia Cain may have violated one or more state laws, including those against malfeasance, theft and injuring public records. The audit was turned over to 12th Judicial District Attorney Charles Riddle IIIs office for possible prosecution.

Riddle told The Advocate on Monday that he hasnt had time to review the report in detail. When the legislative auditor recommends a certain matter receive more investigation, Riddle said he typically takes it to a grand jury.

The audits central finding -- that prison officials were likely stealing from inmates -- is the latest in a series of unflattering revelations to shake the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

The scandals started late last year, when Burl Cain, the legendary longtime warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, stepped down amid revelations about his business dealings with inmates friends and relatives.

Soon afterward, questions arose about Nate Cain, who is Burl Cains eldest son, and Nate's wife, Tonia. Both Cains resigned in May amid multiple investigations.

Sorting out the mess has fallen to a state correctional hierarchy led by Secretary James LeBlanc, whom Burl Cain has often described as his best friend, and LeBlancs top aide, Seth Smith, who is Burl Cains son-in-law.

LeBlanc showed little sympathy for his old pals daughter-in-law in his written response to the audit. He wrote that the corrections department will replace the missing money and seek to recoup it from Tonia Cain, either through restitution if she is found guilty of a crime, or by pursuing a civil suit against her.

Tonia Cain has not been charged with a crime, although she and her husband are the focus of at least two criminal investigations -- one into the missing cash and one into possible misuse of state-billed credit cards.

In a lengthy response, Jill Craft, a lawyer representing both Tonia and Nate Cain, disputed nearly everything in the audit and said that Tonia Cain is absolutely innocent of any and all allegations made against her.

Craft denied that Tonia Cain ever counted money alone -- something employees told auditors happened frequently -- and she offered a number of possible explanations for the missing money. Another employee, or an inmate, could easily be responsible, Craft argued.

According to Craft, at least two other employees played a role in the counting of the money. She also said an inmate who helped manage the concessions stand often gave items away on credit, which could account for the disparity between the value of items sold and the money collected.

The money auditors determined was missing was collected from vending machines at the Cottonport prison that dispense tickets or tokens in exchange for cash. The tickets are generally purchased by visitors, who may then buy food and other items from an inmate-run commissary. The system is set up to keep cash out of inmates hands.

Craft also said the inmate she mentioned once erroneously recorded having sold 7,000 hamburgers in one night, though it wasnt clear whether or how that error affected the accounting for the inmate funds. Another inmate who worked at the concessions stand, Craft said, made a practice of pocketing tickets instead of depositing them.

She also said the ticket machines often jammed, and there was no telling how many unpaid tickets might have gotten into circulation when that happened.

Crafts response did not address head-on the audits allegation that Tonia Cain directed subordinates to alter and destroy public records in an effort to cover up the missing cash. But the lawyer said Tonia Cain did at one point discover some problems with bookkeeping, and that she made efforts to reconcile the problems.

The audit says that Jodie Bordelon, a subordinate of Tonia Cains, often helped with counting the cash. It says Bordelon spoke to auditors and denied taking any of the missing money, and it notes that Bordelon continues to work at the prison.

Bordelon told auditors that Tonia Cain made her delete Cains initials from some paperwork and that she ordered Bordelon to replace some original sales records with a set that had been altered. Tonia Cain also ordered her to shred some original records, she said.

Craft denied that and suggested that auditors give Bordelon a closer look.

Mrs. Cain would respectfully suggest that this office look into the financial problems which Mrs. Bordelon repeatedly complained about in the workplace, Craft wrote. Mrs. Bordelon has repeatedly stated how she was behind on her house note, etc.

Numerous charges on a state-billed credit card assigned to Bordelon have also drawn investigators attention. The card was often used at retail outlets like Best Buy and Wal-Mart, and investigators recently raided the Cains former home on prison property in search of some of the items purchased in those shopping trips.

Another of the prisons credit cards -- not the one assigned to Bordelon -- was used to buy more than $10,000 worth of furniture from a store owned by Bordelons husband.

Craft has repeatedly noted that neither of the Cains had a state credit card in their name. But investigators with the state Office of Inspector General filed a sworn statement saying that the Cains frequently asked other prison employees to use their credit cards to buy items for the Cains.

While the report released Monday made no specific allegation of nepotism, auditors noted that Tonia Cain, then named Tonia Rachal, was temporarily appointed business manager of the prison in October 2012, a few months after Nate Cain became warden.

When the business manager post was formally advertised a couple of months later, Tonia Cain was the only applicant. Several prison employees told auditors they were given the impression by Warden Cain that the position was no longer available.

Craft strongly objected to the insinuation that Tonia Cain had an inside track on the job. Craft said Tonia Cain had been a model employee over a 23-year career and that the Cains did not begin dating until 2013, after Tonia Cain was promoted. They married the next year, Craft said.
Moved by memories of rising floodwaters that ravaged their homes more than a decade ago, New Orleans-area officials and residents rushed Monday to help victims of the monsoon-like rains that have inundated other parts of Louisiana in recent days, leaving six people dead and thousands temporarily homeless.

The people of New Orleans know what its like to suffer through a disaster, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Monday as he announced the reactivation of a citywide relief fund to help flood victims.

Landrieu launched the fund, NOLA Pay It Forward, in 2011 to contribute to recovery efforts after the Mississippi River flooded a number of communities that year. It has been relaunched twice in the years since. The Greater New Orleans Foundation runs the fund; people can donate online at www.gnof.org/NOLApayitforward, or by calling 504-598-4663.

Other area agencies, meanwhile, launched their own similar drives for money or supplies, though it was clear that it could be some time before all roads were dry enough to ship needed items to those affected. They included parish agencies, churches and nonprofits.

The Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office began accepting donations Monday of clean clothes at its training building on South Broad Street, in what marked the agencys latest effort to help flood victims. Over the rainy weekend, Sheriff Marlin Gusman sent a dozen employees and three boats to Livingston to rescue residents trapped by floodwaters, he said.

Anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina can understand the sense of loss our neighbors are experiencing right now, Gusman said.

The New Orleans Police Department sent five boats to Baton Rouge, spokesman Tyler Gamble said. Officials in Jefferson Parish sent 14 boats of their own and launched a Sunday clothing drive; they will run a donation center in Kenner and a school supply drive this week, they said. St. Bernard Parish -- which was almost completely laid waste by Katrina in 2005 -- sent parish employees and airboats to St. Helena Parish, and other workers to Baton Rouge and Denham Springs to help with rescues.

Over in St. Tammany Parish, officials worked over the weekend to help evacuate more than 1,000 drivers trapped on Interstate 12, which connects the north shore to the capital city, and shelter those forced out of their homes. Joyce Bruce, a Marrero resident who has volunteered with local arm of the American Red Cross for more than 30 years, hit the road Friday to help feed families at the Covington shelter, she said.

While St. Tammany saw much less devastation in the weekend's floods than it suffered in the spring, when the Tchefuncte River swelled and caused record flooding, not everyone escaped unscathed this time. Some St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parish residents, still reeling from the March flood, must again rebuild, Bruce said. Some of them left the south shore after Katrina, and are now are coming to grips with the fact that disaster can strike anywhere, she said.

Its hard for them, because not only did they lose things once, they lost it twice, she said.

Those who want to help can sign up to serve or donate at the Red Cross website, she said.

At least one area faith-based group -- whose members who remember the devastation they experienced in Katrina -- called over the weekend for toiletries, water, and volunteers who could drive to Tangipahoa, Baton Rouge, and Livingston to clear debris from homes. Dennis Watson, lead pastor at the eight-campus, nondenominational Celebration Church, said such work is part of the churchs mission. We are so grateful to the people of Baton Rouge and the north shore who took in the people of New Orleans following Katrina and helped us with disaster relief, he said.

At the churchs Airline Drive campus on Monday, volunteers were stacking cases of donated water for delivery, while other groups coordinated mud-out teams to clean up in affected areas.

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Catholic churchs social services nonprofit, will send counselors, case managers, and a nurse to assist its sister agency in Baton Rouge this week. The group is also collecting money to benefit sister agencies across the state that are affected, said Erin Alexander Bolles, the agencys director of institutional advancement.

As the waters recede, (Catholic Charities) will mobilize volunteer support for cleaning and other rebuilding projects over the next several weeks, she said.

Second Harvest Food Bank is sending thousands of pounds of food, water and cleaning supplies to flood victims, and is accepting donations at its Elmwood and Lafayette locations, the group said.

The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in partnership with the Louisiana State Animal Response Team, is working to rescue pets affected by flooding and also pet supplies donations, officials said. Those who wish to help may drop off supplies at Canine Connection on Tchoupitoulas Street in Uptown, Camp BowWow on Conti Street in Mid-City and Demo Diva on Memphis Street in Lakeview.

Finally, the United Way of Southeast Louisiana will accept cleaning kits and other items at its Canal Street office in New Orleans until further notice, spokeswoman Terry Westerfield said.

People may also give online, at http://www.unitedwaysela.org/flood.
The crucial testimony of an Indian billionaire Radhika Oswal regarding her alleged mistreatment by the ANZ Bank has been delayed, fuelling speculation the two parties are locked in settlement talks.

Mrs Oswal and her husband Pankaj are suing the ANZ and PPB over the sale of the Western Australian fertiliser company for what they allege is a knock down price of $US560 million in 2011.

The Oswals' unfinished property in Perth's exclusive Peppermint Grove. Credit:Jonathan Barrett

The Oswals say the sale price was below the businesses' value and they were shortchanged as much as $2.5 billion.

At the same time, ANZ and PPB allege the Oswals siphoned off $150 million from Burrup in the 12 months ahead of its receivership.
Melbourne's City Square will be compulsorily acquired by the state government to make way for work on the new metro rail project.

City Hall will be forced to hand over the Square in February next year, earlier than expected, under well-advanced plans put forward by the Metro Rail Project authority.

The Brunetti cafe was an early casualty of the rail project. Credit:Eddie Jim.

City Square, on the corner of Swanston and Collins streets, is a sizeable public open space in front of the Westin Hotel that is owned on a freehold basis by Melbourne Council.

The land is not zoned as a public park and so has no protection from redevelopment.
Telstra has lost a bid to turn its increasingly redundant city phone booths into "whopping big TV screen" electronic billboards.

Faced with diminishing demand for fixed-line calls from old-style telephone booths on city pavements, the telco giant devised a plan to make them pay by converting the booth's exteriors into advertising cash cows, potentially earning it $9.5 million a year.

A Telstra telephone booth in Melbourne's Collins Street with an advertising display sign tacked on the side. Credit:Simon Johanson

Many city phone booths already carry two-metre advertising hoardings, but the telco wants to turn them into bright, backlit electronic versions that can flip ads on a 30-second basis.

Telstra applied to City Hall, through an advertising subcontractor Adbooth, to turn 23 telephone boxes on Melbourne's best known streets  from Elizabeth to Exhibition  into digital billboards.
A cynic could be excused for suggesting the defence establishment's belated decision to appropriately honour the heroes of Long Tan has everything to do with its desire to bang the patriotic gong this week.

It's hard to celebrate a famous victory if you've spent five decades contesting any and every suggestion many of those who took part, including some who gave their lives, didn't do anything to write home about.

Australian soldiers during the battle of Long Tan in Vietnam. Photograph provided by the Australian War Memorial Credit:Australian War Memorial

That was literally the case with Second Lieutenant Gordon Sharp, a conscript from Tamworth who graduated from Scheyville's accelerated officer training course and was sent to Vietnam as a platoon commander.

In death Lieutenant Sharp was the subject of a poignant photograph showing him lying face down, head towards the enemy, his M16 still in his right hand, among the rubber.
Ever since I saw a photograph of an Egyptian and a German beach volleyball player confronting each other at the net in Rio, I have been unable to get the image out of my head. Doaa Elghobashy, 19, wears a hijab, long sleeves and black leggings to her ankles. Kira Walkenhorst, 25, is in a dark blue bikini. The outstretched hands of the Olympian women almost meet, the ball between them.

The photo juxtaposes two women, two beliefs and two dress codes, brought together by sports. The world confronts less a clash of civilisations than a clash of identities, concertinaed in time and space by technology. The West's image of Islam and the Muslim image of Western societies are often mutually incommunicable; the incomprehension incubates violence.

Germany's Kira Walkenhorst, right, and Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy show extremely different dress codes as they battle in Rio. Credit:PETR DAVID JOSEK

No area is as sensitive as that of the treatment of women  women's roles, sexuality, dress and ambitions. The story is often presented as one of Western emancipation versus Islamic subjugation. That, however, is an inadequate characterisation.

What follows are accounts by two women, an Egyptian and an American, of their experiences with the hijab.
The Four Corners program on the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in the Northern Territory had a greater instant impact than any story I can remember.

Chief Minister Adam Giles said the following day that watching it, he had "recognised horror through my eyes". That same morning, the Prime Minister announced a royal commission  with the whole-hearted co-operation, he told us, of the chief minister.

Borroloola locals protest about the treatment of detainees at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre near Darwin. Credit:Larissa Baldwin

But now, launching an election campaign, Giles has reduced that same program to a party political broadcast. Four Corners, he claims, "tried to give Labor a leg-up".

And at the CLP launch in Darwin on Sunday, Jeff Kennett (who has been blaming the media messenger for decades, especially when it's The Age or the ABC) chimed in. It was an "unbalanced" program "timed to deliver as much damage (as possible) to a good government going into an election".
Malcolm Turnbull had been urged to convene a summit to consider ways to end the ordeal of around 2000 asylum seekers who have been in limbo on Nauru and Manus Island for more than three years.

More than 1800 academics, including experts who have advised Coalition and Labor governments on refugee policy, have backed the call, as has the president of the Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs.

The academics say the scale of suffering on both remote islands demands a new approach based on regional co-operation that rejects the "binary choice" that only a hardline policy of deterrence will prevent deaths at sea.

They have endorsed a policy paper calling for an end the "harmful policies of offshore processing, boat turnbacks and the mandatory detention of people seeking asylum" - policies also embraced by Labor.
A teenager who laughed and cheered as a Sydney court heard evidence of her "favourite" beheading video has been denied bail on terrorism charges.

Alo-Bridget Namoa, 19, is charged with possessing an item connected to a terrorist act and recklessly collecting documents connected to a terrorist act along with her 19-year-old husband, Sameh Bayda.

Alo-Bridget Namoa, right, was denied bail. Credit:Facebook

Police allege she was found with a hunting knife and a Shahada flag in her handbag as well as instructions for making a bomb detonator.

On Tuesday, Magistrate John Edwards denied her bail in Central Local Court.
Hungry and stranded, 20 Chinese crew members remain off the Queensland coast after their coal ship was detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority last Friday.

The vessel, Five Stars Fujian, was initially arrested by the Federal Court in late July over commercial matters and released last Wednesday.

AMSA inspectors boarded the ship once it was released to make sure arrangements were in place for the welfare of the crew and a safe voyage, however, they found there were insufficient food and wages for the 20 crew aboard and detained the vessel over breaches to the Maritime Labour Convention.

International Transport Workers Federation Australia Assistant Coordinator Matt Purcell said the crew of the 93,000 tonne vessel, which contained $40 million-worth of coal collected from the Port of Hay Point, south of Mackay, was in "limbo".
A Gold Coast man has been filming himself masturbating and performing explicit sex acts in public, close to school parks and children's playgrounds.

Several images show the man in parks and shopping centres at Helensvale and Arundel.

Police say a man has made sex videos at Colgate-Palmolive Park at Arundel.

In one incident he is videotaped in Colgate Palmolive Park at Arundel, described as "perfect for that family get-together."

Gold Coast police are now urgently trying to locate the man who has allegedly uploaded several of the videos to local pornography sites.
Thank you once again to Danielle Cronin for her mad production skillz, everyone who played along, and as always, you, the readers, for helping us get through the time warp.

We'll be back tomorrow just after three for the afternoon session, where we will probably be asking for help/vodka, given the looooooooonnnng hours ahead of us.

But that's for the Wednesday versions of us to deal with. We hope your Tuesday versions have a lovely day and we'll see you back here for more fun and games tomorrow. Take care
Fresh doubt has been raised on the cost of the controversial CFA workplace deal, with officials still meeting to talk about "associated costs", despite the board approving the agreement last Friday.

Officials met on Tuesday to discuss the workplace agreement for the state's 800 paid CFA firefighters.

A spokesman said the CFA was "continuing to work through the proposed agreement and associated costs, and is working closely with Treasury to ensure the CFA is appropriately funded over the life of the agreement."

The workplace agreement was approved by the government-appointed board last Friday night but faces a test in the Supreme Court on Wednesday after Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria sought an injunction stopping the deal coming into force.
A woman has been charged over the daylight attack on state MP Jane Garrett on an inner-Melbourne street.

Elizabeth Wertheim, 52, allegedly attacked Ms Garrett as she was walking home in Carlton at 4.15pm on Monday.

Ms Wertheim has been charged with contravening an intervention order, four counts of unlawful assault, recklessly and intentionally causing injury and resisting police.
Victoria's medicinal cannabis is a step closer to being dispensed to children with severe epilepsy, Premier Daniel Andrews has declared after visiting the state's clandestine marijuana crop.

Less than an hour after pictures were released of Mr Andrews inspecting the crop, the Premier announced the appointment of an independent medical committee to work out which patient cohort will be next to access medicinal cannabis.

Premier Daniel Andrews casts his eye over the state's clandestine cannabis crop

The first group, children with severe epilepsy, should receive the treatment from next year.
Dozens of fuming vapers gathered on the steps of the Victorian Parliament sending plumes of vapour towards the MPs who have introduced new laws regulating e-cigarettes.

Supporters of vaping say the devices are a far healthier alternative to smoking tobacco and can help smokers to kick the habit. But many health experts dispute their claims and remain sceptical about the supposed benefits of e-cigarettes.

Beneath clouds of sickly sweet vapour the protesters rallied for their right to use electronic devices. Credit:Justin McManus

Sex Party MP Fiona Patten, who spoke at the rally in support of vaping, said the new legislation needed to be reviewed. The new law also bans the sale of e-cigarettes to children.

"Let's protect children but let's protect adults by allowing them to vapourise," she said.
Premier Daniel Andrews' hopes that the CFA board's endorsement of a controversial workplace deal with the firefighters union will put the ugly dispute to bed faces a major challenge in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria is seeking an injunction to prevent the workplace agreement between the United Firefighters Union and the CFA, for the more than 800 paid firefighters, from being signed.

Volunteer firefighters chief executive Andrew Ford addresses a CFA supporters rally in June. Credit:Daniel Pockett

It is the most serious action the organisation has ever taken.
The design of controversial new laws to protect WA's world-renowned biodiversity hung in the balance on Tuesday, with the Greens and Labor pushing for key amendments as debate began in the Upper House.

The government's Biodiversity Conservation Bill aims to replace the archaic Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, which protects threatened flora and fauna  or, according to a consensus, doesn't protect them.

Representatives of The Wilderness Society, WA Forest Alliance, Conservation Council and World Wildlife Fund gathered outside Parliament House in August to plead with the government to re-examine the Bill. Credit:Connor Slight

With the need for a new law first flagged nearly 30 years ago, conservation groups eagerly awaited the Coalition's 2015 bill.

But when it came out they hit the roof, and the so-called 'God clause', enabling the minister of the day to sign off on a species' extinction if they see fit, hit headlines.
A loophole in WA's sex offender laws meant 'Evil 8' convicted child rapist, Ryan Trevor Clegg, was not on the public child sex offender register, despite being released back into the community earlier this month.

And it's been revealed Premier Colin Barnett had known since last Friday the child rapist was living metres from a child care centre but failed to take immediate action to protect the community.

Ryan Trevor Clegg running from the media outside court on August 4 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. Credit:ABC News

Despite meeting the criteria to be added to the offenders list, having admitted his guilt, the only applies to paedophiles who have already been sentenced.

The 43-year-old Clegg had been living at his father's house in North Fremantle since pleading guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court on August 4 to a string of sexual abuse charges against a 12-year-old girl pimped out to multiple men by her own father.
If you have a mate called Noah, be nice to him - there's heavy weather on the way for Perth with a strong cold front set to hit Perth and the metropolitan area this afternoon.

A production line of strong weather fronts are moving in from the west and are expected to hit one after the other with the first predicted to bring rain and strong winds overnight.

This could potentially develop into severe weather on Wednesday morning with the chance of a thunderstorm.

The Bureau of Meteorology's spokesman Neil Bennett said this miserable line-up is known as a "westerly onshore flow" and could see hail fall on Thursday along with plummeting temperatures.
A crowdfunding campaign to pay for a protest group's High Court legal challenge against WA's controversial Perth Freight Link project has raised $37,000 towards a $50,000 target in less than a week.

The gofundme campaign was set up by the Save Beeliar Wetlands group that has taken their fight against the federal-funded $1.9 billion highway extension to the High Court.

Conservationists want the Roe 8 development stopped.

The new road aims to divert heavy trucks on to a direct route to Fremantle Port and will be the state's first toll road, but conservationists are up in arms as the first stage, known as Roe 8, will cut through the environmentally sensitive Beeliar wetlands.

AAP
Police said both men were shot in the head at close range. Credit:AP "It's a very rare thing to see a cleric killed, and the Muslim community has already been on edge," de Blasio said. "I assured the members of the community the NYPD would be out in force." The killings of the imam, Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Tharauddin Miah, 64, have shaken those in the Bangladeshi community, many of whom reside in the area around Ozone Park where the men lived, worshipped and were killed. In that neighborhood, some have been calling the attack a hate crime, even though police officials said the motivation for the killings remained unclear. Family and members of Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque gather for Salat al-Janazah, an Islamic funeral prayer, for slain imam Alauddin Akonjee in New York. Credit:Christopher Lee Investigators believe the gunman followed the two men and shot each in the back of the head, police officials said.

In surveillance footage captured by cameras, investigators were able to see the assailant get into his car, a black GMC sport utility vehicle, and drive away, soon blending into traffic, Robert K. Boyce, the Police Department's chief of detectives, told reporters Monday. Mourners hold signs protesting the killings of imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin during funeral services for both men. Credit:AP By tracking the make and model of the vehicle, he said, investigators found that the same kind of vehicle had been involved in a hit and run nearby. Investigators found the car parked on the street in East New York, where they waited for the driver to emerge. On Sunday night, officials said the man got into the car and rammed into a police vehicle as he tried to flee. The man was arrested in connection with the hit and run and hitting the police vehicle. Boyce said investigators were searching his home on Monday night. "Because of the evidence so far, we strongly believe this is the individual," Boyce said.

Still, Boyce said investigators had not determined the motivation for the attack, and that it was unclear if the man had any connection to the two murder victims. "We're still drilling down on it," Boyce said of the motive, adding that it was "certainly on the table that it's a hate crime. "Right now," he said, "we can't explain why that person was there." Earlier in the day, the funeral prayers for Akonjee and Miah drew several hundred mourners along with de Blasio and other officials to a parking lot in East New York, bordering Ozone Park. The same people who had worshipped five times a day at Akonjee's Al-Furqan Jame Masjid, a two-story house turned into a mosque, came to get a last look at their imam's closed coffin, draped in fabric of gold and green and resting in the back of a hearse. The imam came to the United States in 2011 and moved his family to New York a year later to provide a better education for his children. Now his wife and two of his children will fly back with his body to Bangladesh.

At the funeral prayers, de Blasio said: "In Islam, the loss of a person is regarded not just as a loss for their family, but for the entire community. That's something we as New Yorkers understand, again across all faiths, across all neighbourhoods, when a loss is felt so deeply, when it affects us all." Several speakers implored the police to increase security efforts in the neighbourhood, placing security cameras and patrols outside the mosques. People held signs declaring, "We Are Muslims, Not Terrorists,""We Want Peace,""We Want Justice" and "Muslim Lives Matter." "You will see in the Muslim communities in our city, the NYPD will be there in support of this community," de Blasio said. "You will see today and in the days thereafter extra NYPD presence protecting our mosques and protecting the people of our Muslim community." Both Akonjee and Miah were known as quiet scholars, devoted to the mosque and to their families. Akonjee's sermons on Friday attracted nearly 200 worshippers, who heard him speak about the role of Islam in a diverse society in the United States. "He conveyed a message of peace and harmony and quietness with your neighbours despite their religion, culture and race," said Kobir Chowdhury, the president of Masjid Al-Aman, a nearby mosque in Brooklyn.

Mosharraft Hossain said: "The imam was our spiritual leader; we worshipped with him five times a day. You can't imagine what we've lost." Murders have been rare over the years within the Bangladeshi community in and around Ozone Park. In July 2014, an activist leader with ties to Bangladeshi politics, Nazmul Islam, 55, was beaten to death in a robbery at 76th Street and Atlantic Avenue. Nestor Rodriguez, 22, and Carlos Genno, 25, both of Queens, were indicted on charges of second-degree murder and are still awaiting trial. In August 2002, a photojournalist from Bangladesh, Mizanur Rahman, 37, was beaten to death in a midnight attack just over the county line in Brooklyn that appeared to have been the result of gang- and race-related fights. Hardy Marston, 18, and Rafael Santos, 27, were charged with murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon. On Monday, many mourners expressed concern about an increasing anti-Muslim climate in New York.
Beijing: In a late-night launch from the desolate Gobi Desert, China has shot into orbit the world's first quantum satellite in the race to solve one of modern cyber -espionage's greatest conundrums: "hack-proof" communications.

Nicknamed 'Micius', after the ancient Chinese philosopher, the 600-kilogram satellite was fired from a Long March-2D rocket at 1:40am on Tuesday, state media reported.

The transfer of data using quantum communications is considered impenetrable due to a particle phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, with eavesdroppers unable to monitor the transfer without altering the quantum state and thereby being detected. In theory, two parties can communicate in secret by sharing an encryption key encoded in a string of photons.

China's big-spending quantum research initiative, part of Beijing's broader multi-billion dollar strategy to overtake the West in science and space research, is being closely watched in global scientific research and security circles, with groups from Canada, Japan, Singapore and Europe also planning their own quantum space experiments.
Two radical UK preachers convicted of inciting support for the so-called Islamic State had been in contact with a Blackburn teenager who plotted an attack on a Melbourne Anzac Day parade last year, Fairfax can reveal.

The preachers were part of a wider network of radicals who at the time were focused on recruitment of vulnerable, impressionable youths, and indoctrinating them in hatred of the West and loyalty to IS, also referred to as ISIS.

Anjem Choudary has been convicted of encouraging support for the Islamic State group. Credit:AP

Anjem Choudary, 49, and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of encouraging support for a terrorist organisation at the Old Bailey on July 28, with reporting restrictions on the convictions lifted on Tuesday.

"Choudary and Rahman are believed to have been recruiters and radicalisers for over 20 years," the Met police said in a statement.
Tension gripped Milwaukee on Monday as officials hoped a late night curfew imposed on teenagers would deter another outbreak of rioting that hit the U.S. Midwestern city the past two nights in response to the police shooting of an armed black man.

Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, erected fencing to cordon off Sherman Park, the centre of the neighbourhood that was the scene of the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances. Nearby, about 100 people held a picnic in a grassy area.

"Things got a little bit quieter last night, although there were still disturbances," Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker told Fox News, "but our hope is tonight things will finally quiet down thanks in large part to the leadership of many pastors and other church leaders in the Milwaukee community."

As the sun set, there was notably lower foot traffic in the neighbourhood ahead of the 10 pm curfew. Police vehicles were seen parked in alleys and along major thoroughfares in that area of the city.
'Requested Him to Come Down at Three, He Said No'-Wasim Akram Says 'Insecure' Babar Azam 'Plays for Himself'
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Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...
MILWAUKEE  The gas station that was torched on Saturday night following the police killing of Sylville Smith wasnt burned at random, just as the unrest wasnt all about Smith.

Smith fled a from a traffic stop on Saturday afternoon, emerged from his car with a loaded pistol, and refused to drop it before the officer opened fire, police said. Unlike many other police shootings that have prompted protests and unrest, the officer who shot Smith was black, according to police. The narrative of an unarmed black man with a clean record caught in the wrong place falling victim to a white officers questionable actions doesnt apply here.

In all over the weekend, eight officers were injured, 31 people were arrested, 10 squad cars were damagedtwo of which were totaledand six businesses were burned, according to Milwaukee police.

But those who would deride black Milwaukee for lionizing a supposed criminal who had allegedly intimidated a witness over a shooting he was allegedly involved in doesnt apply either, community activist Vaun Mayes explained.

While issues such as unemployment, an underfunded education system, and general poverty play a significant role in the black communitys frustrations that spilled out on Saturday and Sunday nights, the genesis of much of the fervent anger goes back at least to the police killing of Dontre Hamilton in 2014. Hamilton, a mentally ill and unarmed black man, was shot 14 times after off-duty officer Christopher Manney told him to leave the park he was sleeping in. After waking Hamilton, Manney struggled with him, hitting him with his baton several times.

Hamiltons killing on April 30, 2014, preceded that of Michael Brown in Ferguson , which essentially launched the Black Lives Matter movement and sparked the current media environment that heaps scrutiny on every police shooting nationwide.

He should be in jail, Mayes told The Daily Beast of the cop who killed Hamilton.

Officer Manney was fired, but no charges were ever filed. He went on to apply for and receive a disability pension from the Milwaukee Police Department worth an estimated $70,000. He says he now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of killing Hamilton.

That was supposed to be an open and shut case, Mayes said of Manney, indicted on the streets for Hamiltons death but never in the courts.

And so, on Saturday and Sunday night, when many people were watching flames in Milwaukee asking why? Mayes and others did not shake their heads.

And to say the gas station at Sherman Boulevard and Burleigh Street was burned at random would be a dismissal of events in the neighborhood this summer.

Mayes said the gas station went up in flames because of long-running feud between its owner and teens in the neighborhood. The owner fired a handgun at or near the teens just three weeks ago, according to Milwaukee police.

In another incident, a group of teens threw rocks through the window of the gas station, Mayes said. Milwaukee police confirmed that incident as well.

The owner is Indian, Mayes said. The neighborhood in which the gas station now sits destroyed is overwhelmingly black.

Theres a lot of frustration here with the lack of black-owned businesses, Mayes said as police cleared out Sherman Parka gathering point for those protesting Smiths deathon Monday night.

Neighborhood kids and teens had been pulling snatch and grabs, Mayes said, holding the door open while others grabbed whatever they could before the owner could get around the counter. So a new policy was put in place: No more than two kids in the store at a time.

I guess when [Sherman Park] would close at 10, a lot of the kids go over to the gas station, Mayes said, recalling how the shooting incident began.

On one of those nights less than a month ago, the owner, whod already had the windows of his store busted out, freaked when a large group of teens came in from the park. He locked the doors, Mayes said, then came from around the back and fired a shot or two, apparently to scare the group off.

He says he fired into the air, Mayes recalled. I dont know if he did or if he didnt, but it resulted in everyone running into traffic. They could have been hit by cars.

The park was cleared of community members and clergy at 6 p.m. Monday by law enforcement under orders by Sheriff David Clarke, a frequent critic of the Black Lives Matter movement in his regular appearances on Fox News.

A barbecue was held amid rising temperatures between police and residents in a field next to the destroyed gas station on Monday night. At one point, a teen apparently ran from police for some reason and, when chased, was surrounded by community members who began negotiating with officers. Eventually, a police lieutenant arrived for final negotiations with several members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, who were among several groups acting as mediators between police and younger members of the black community.

The teen would be taken into custody and written a ticket. He wouldnt be arrested if he didnt have any warrants, the lieutenant assured the men, who all declined to give their names. In turn, a member of the black religious group would be allowed to go inside the police station with the teen.

Mayes considers himself such a mediator, insisting it was he, not police, who would clear the park on Monday night.

Were not going to let them control the situation. We will.
A small army of pizza restaurants in Washington state is prepared to face off against one of the worlds most notorious accused hackers.

On Monday, Russian native Roman Seleznev appeared in a federal courtroom in Seattle for the first day of trial on a 40-count indictment. Seleznev, the son of Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev, is accused of stealing and selling credit card data from Arizonas Phoenix Zoo, an Idaho deli, and at least eight Washington pizzerias. Following a controversial 2014 arrest (which his politician-father characterizes as an illegal kidnapping), reports of a planned escape attempt (which his father denies), and rumors that the U.S. planned to swap him for Edward Snowden (which the U.S. denies), Seleznev is finally getting his day in courtrepresented by the lawyer who defended serial killer Ted Bundy.

Hell face a number of pissed-off pizzeria owners.

From 2008 until his 2014 arrest, Seleznev is accused of stealing credit card and bank information and selling them in shadowy online forums. Selezenev allegedly earned a profit of $200,000 from the racket that targeted approximately 200,000 credit cards at 200 businesses, according to an indictment (PDF). Operating under screen names like nCux (Russian for psycho) and 2Pac, Seleznev allegedly sold credit card numbers for as little as $7 to buyers who racked up over $170 million in expenses on the compromised accounts.

While these buyers spent big with stolen credit cards, Washington pizzerias paid the cost.

Red Pepper Pizzeria serves up pizza and pasta in the small Washington city of Duvall. Owner Steve Bussing wasnt prepared for a hacker to target his restaurant from thousands of miles away. It was a huge expense, he told the Associated Press. After their computers were compromised, Red Pepper was forced to close while Bussing and his wife spent approximately $10,000 upgrading their system.

Bussing is expected to testify against Seleznev, joining a list of Washington pizzeria employees from Village Pizza in Anacortes, Red Pepper Pizza in Duluth, Casa Mia in Yelm, and multiple Mad Pizza and ZPizza franchises statewide.

Theyre the lucky ones: some restaurants targeted in the hack, like the Broadway Grill in Seattle, have been forced to close.

We are a tiny little company trying to manage this huge monster of a restaurant and for someone to swoop in and try to completely wipe our accounts is a really scary thing, Broadway Grill owner Matthew Walsh told local news after their 2010 hack. I am seriously worried about the future of our business without the support of our community.

Its not clear why Washington state pizza restaurants were targeted, but restaurantseven major franchisesare favorite targets for hackers looking for troves of credit card information.

Earlier this year, customers at Wendys noticed suspicious activity on their bank accounts after using their credit cards at the restaurant. Wendys later announced that credit card information had been stolen from more than 1,000 franchises. The credit card-scraping hack followed a December attack on Landrys Inc., a restaurant group that owns more than 500 restaurants including Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and a 2014 hack on Chinese restaurant chain P.F. Changs.

Like many hacks on restaurants, Seleznevs alleged scheme targeted point-of-service software. These systems, which track customers bills, often run on old computers with outdated securitybut theyre connected to so-called house computers in the back of the restaurant, which process credit card information. By targeting point-of-service machines, Seleznev was allegedly able to upload malware to the house computers, intercepting customers credit card information and transmitting it to Seleznev every five minutes, the U.S. attorneys indictment charges (PDF).

But Seleznevs legal team is expected to put up a good fight. He has hired legendary defense attorney John Henry Browne, who has represented serial killer Ted Bundy and U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who was convicted of murdering 16 Afghan civilians.

Seleznevs legal team is the sixth set of lawyers assigned to his case, which has slowly inched toward trial in the two years since his arrest. Citing the wealth of financial information in the case (reportedly 10,000 pages and 4.75 terabytes of documents), Browne has postponed the trial for months. But the interim period between Seleznevs arrest and trial has seen no shortage of drama.

Seleznevs 2014 arrest in the Maldives involved local police, U.S. agents based in Thailand and Hawaii, and an Interpol warrant. The U.S. had had a warrant out for Seleznevs arrest since 2011, but was unable to extradite him from his home in Russia. Even when traveling outside Russia, Seleznev was careful to avoid countries that might ship him to the U.S.; in 2014 he chose to vacation on a luxe resort in the Maldives, allegedly because the Maldives and the U.S. did not have an extradition agreement.

Tipped off to his travel plans, the U.S. deployed Secret Service agents to the Maldives from Hawaii and Thailand, where they planned to arrest Seleznev once he stepped off his plane. Maldivian officials required an Interpol warrant before the U.S. made any arrests in their countryand Russian officials have a history of alerting citizens of international arrest warrants, Bloomberg reported. So the Secret Service waited to file the warrant until Seleznevs seaplane was on its way to the Maldives, leaving him with nowhere to land but in the arms of American agents, who arrested him on the spot.

The Russian government has described the arrest as a kidnapping, calling it the latest unfriendly move from Washington what amounts to the kidnapping of a Russian citizen in a 2014 statement. Seleznevs legal team has seized onto this argument, questioning the legality of his arrest.

Seleznevs father, Russian parliament member Valery Seleznev, has also been vocal in the case. During conversations over Seattle prison phones, the father and son allegedly discussed a prison break plan.

What can we discuss, your escape plan or what? Valery asked his son during a recorded call on a prison phone, describing doctors and magicians who could help him be released from the hospital. (Seleznevs lawyers said this was clearly a facetious reference.)

Stranger still are allegations that Seleznevs arrest was part of a larger plan to arrest Snowden. In an interview with the Russia-owned RT network, Valery Seleznev accused the U.S. of arresting his son in order to force a prisoner swap for Snowden. The U.S. Department of Justice has denied the accusation.

Finally in court for the first time, Seleznev is expected to stand trial for three weeks. The man accused of running one of the worlds largest credit card frauds, and netted in an international operation with alleged ties to Snowden will face his accusers: bakery managers, restaurateurs, and pizzeria owners.
I kept reading those Clinton Foundation email stories last week trying to figure out why I was even reading them. Take the name Clinton out of the equation and consider the known facts:

An official of a nonprofit foundation emailed a staffer he knew in the State Department. He had a donor who said he had useful information and wanted a meeting. The State Department employee wrote back and said sure, Ill set him up. And then, by all accounts, did nothing. No meeting ever happened. The department aide (Huma Abedin, in this case) told the foundation official (Doug Band) that shed set up a meeting between the part-Lebanese donor and Jeffrey Feltman, the former ambassador to Lebanon. But Feltman told The Washington Post last week that not only did he never meet the man, but no one ever told me he was seeking me out.

If you dont think this kind of email exchange happens dozens of times a day in Washington, you are either, perhaps paradoxically, deeply conspiratorial or deeply naive. Rich people ask connected friends to introduce them to people in government. Sometimes those introductions are made; sometimes they arent. Even if the introduction is made, its hardly an a priori scandal.

But of course you cant take the name Clinton out of the equation, and so any reading matter that puts the words Clinton Foundation and emails in proximity to each other, and for that matter the names of Band and Abedin, is bound to generate the expected Pavlovian response. This is not going to change. And so I say again, as I have more than once over the past year, that the Clintons really should take forceful steps to address the legitimate and fair questions out there about the foundation.

Trump keeps having these atrocious weeks because he keeps doing atrocious things because he is an atrocious human being. Just yesterday, Politico said that the pollsters are saying that Trump is approaching zero hour now because the candidate who led in the polls coming out of the conventions has won the last 16 elections, all the way back to 1952. And it seems highly unlikely to me that Trump will getit makes me laugh every time I hear this oneon message. He is on message! Racist demagoguery is his message.

But: The election is 84 days away. Thats a long time, and a lot can and will happen. And Clinton has had about as good a last month as a presidential candidate can possibly havegarbage Republican convention, nicely orchestrated Democratic convention, Republicans defecting, her opponent serially demonstrating his brain-melting unsuitability for the job. But its not in the nature of presidential campaigns for things to go on like that forever. Someday, the worm will turn.

It is in this context that I keep asking myself: What are the circumstances, as things stand now, with Hillary near 90 percent in Nate Silvers daily calculation, under which Trump could win? Lets examine the possibilities:

 A terrorist attack. This is the old standby, right? An attack always helps the Republican but would help Trump especially because he will do and say anything to incite paranoia. But I dont think this is so. I think Trump has revealed himself to be so erratic and unstable that a majority of voters would rather put a besieged nation in Clintons hands (provided she were to handle the situation well).

 An economic collapse. Another piece of long-held conventional wisdomthat a negative economic event close to election time hurts the incumbent party. Probably true. But again, Trump having demonstrated that he knows very little about the economy and doesnt care to learn, Im not sure it would hold. It would have to be an epic collapse, which could happen but which most economists I consult dont see occurring.

 A domestic racial conflagration. A Milwaukee-to-the-power-of-five within two weeks of the election. That might more likely help Trump because while the views of white and black Americans on questions of terrorism and the economy arent so different from each other, they diverge widely on matters of race. This reality could nudge more centrist white voters in Trumps direction, although hed almost surely overplay his hand.

 Finally, a Clinton scandal or scandal. This strikes me as the most plausible of all potential scenarios to give Trump some lift-off. In fact lets put it more bluntly: The emergence of a Clinton scandal/scandal is probably the only thing at this point that can keep her out of the White House.

If thats the case, then it must be asked: Why will the candidate not inoculate herself against such a development? She cant answer every question about what the foundation has done in the past, and those stories, about Abedin being paid by the foundation while working at State or about Band and Teneo, will continue to percolate up.

But what sheand Billcan do is say pre-emptively, Here are the rules under which the foundation will operate if shes elected. The rules should be about everything from fund-raising to operations to transparency to Bills speaking fees (not a foundation matter per se but a topic of legitimate public concern). They should be clear and simple and pass your average persons common-sense test.

I wrote more than a year ago in The New York Review of Books: Imagine speculation that a White House decision with regard to Russia or Pakistan was influenced by a donation to the foundation from someone pursuing a business deal in one of those countries. Even if wholly unfounded, in todays media environment, the mere speculation could alter outcomes.

Note my concern is not that such a situation could be bad for Clinton politically. It is that it could alter outcomes. Thats potentially very serious. Even Clinton supportersId say especially Clinton supporters; the people putting their faith in herdeserve to know how she plans to handle this. The sooner the better.
MANBIJ, Syria  Even after its liberation from the so-called Islamic State, this city in northern Syria remains draped in jihadist black banners. Anything and everything might be rigged with explosives, and often it is, so people dont rip down flags without thinking first.

As I visited the scene of battle repeatedly over the weekend, the sound of explosions rocked the city again and again. Sometimes, I was told, they were blasts carried out to get rid of booby traps and IEDs. Sometimes they were bombs people missed until it was too late.

After weeks of fighting, Manbij was taken by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Friday with the help of U.S. advisers on the ground and coalition bombing from the air.

The town, which once had a population of about 100,000 people, lies at a strategic crossroads on the main highway leading from Raqqa, the capital of ISIS-land, around to the embattled metropolis of Aleppo in the east and prime smuggling routes into Turkey to the north.

While under ISIS control, Manbij gained notoriety as the base for many foreign fighters who had answered the call of the self-proclaimed caliphate. Little London, some called it. Among its denizens: Mohammed Jihadi John Emwazi, the Brit made famous by videos in 2014 and 2015 that allegedly showed him beheading American and British hostages. (An American drone killed Emwazi in Raqqa in late 2015.)

Now there are a new group of foreign fighters in town, ones affiliated with the Kurdish and Arab troops of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Heval Zagros, one of the SDF volunteers, told me as we threaded our way through town that mines had injured two of his commanders: one lost an eye, the other both his legs. At a checkpoint, we were warned that U.S. Special Forces were disposing of ordnance up ahead. Later, we saw them leaving.

One gets to know the Americans demeanor and their uniforms on sight, even without insignia. One bearded soldier looked us up and down from his car, most probably to make sure I wasnt taking pictures that might provoke a furor like one that erupted in May when U.S. troops were photographed a mere 18 miles from Raqqa.

According to Soran Berxwedan, an anti-ISIS fighter from France, the U.S. and European special forces in Manbij are not often involved in firefights.

They are advisers and tacticians, and when you see the airstrikes are so precise, you know they are pointing out targets, he said. For this job they have to be close to the target.

Berxwedan said the SDF needs more assistance just like this. We dont need a massive intervention like in Iraq or Afghanistan, he said. Its just that the SDF forces dont know urban warfare. When its in the villages its all right, he said, but cities like Manbij are something different. Special forces like the French Foreign Legion or the U.S. Rangers, even in relatively small numbersa few helicopters, armored vehicles, sniperscould make a huge difference on the ground, he told The Daily Beast.

Again and again, we heard detonations as we walked cautiously, one by one, through the city. Several civilians have been killed by explosives since the city was retaken, I was told, because the SDF forces lack de-mining experts. The city is just one huge hurt locker.

Patrick Kasprik from North Fort Myers, Florida, who volunteered as a combat medic with the SDF, told The Daily Beast the hospitals in Manbij are booby-trapped.

There are so many mines at this point that its almost on a ludicrous scale, he said. It would be good to have NGOs to come in, and for the coalition to send in doctors.

At this moment, the civilians are taking the brunt of what Daesh has left behind in the city, he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. There is a humanitarian crisis under the surface. There are no medical professionals. They [the SDF] have set up small field hospitals for civilians, but with 100,000 residents returning to the city of Manbij, we need much more, said Kasprik (who joined the makeshift foreign legion here while under threat of arrest in Florida for allegedly assaulting a police officer).

Weve warned civilians not to approach their houses before theyre cleared by the SDF, said one of the groups commanders, known as Abu Amjad. But thats easier said than done, it was clear, as we watched townspeople arguing ferociously with a local fighter who said they werent allowed to visit their homes.

Earlier in the week, when the battle for Manbij was still raging, I watched in the central market as civilians fled ISIS through these deadly improvised minefields. In one case, a baby died, his head covered with blood, his father weeping. I shouldnt have left the house, the father cried.

Although much of the international attention on Manbij over the last month has focused on the alleged killing of hundreds of civilians by coalition airstrikes, most civilians I talked to told me that ISIS booby-traps and snipers were a bigger danger.

During the fight, the mosques were calling on civilians every day not to leave Manbij, not to give it up to the unbelievers, and to join the jihad against the SDF. Few did, and many tried to flee, another sign of how unpopular the would-be holy warriors had become here in what was one of the first ISIS-occupied cities to see protests against the rule of the caliphate.

Those civilians, who managed to get out, greeted the anti-ISIS fighters as saviors. In the name of God, I thank you, may God bless you, one Arab women said again and again as she was escorted to safety.

Female fighters hugged the fleeing women, who were still covered in black cloaksand offered them cigarettes, which were banned by ISIS. On camera, women and children burned the black niqabs, then lit up their locally popular Arden cigarettes.

In the market of Manbij, a sign still shows the grimly enforced dress code under ISIS. The sign says the rules for covering women are unchangeable and given by God.

But as anger toward ISIS mounts among Manbij residents, they see little connection between the caliphate and the Almighty. Is this Islam? shouted 40-year-old Abu Mohammed as he looked at his destroyed shop. No, this is not Islam.

When fighting intensified in recent weeks, ISIS knew that without using civilians as human shields, the battle would soon be over. The SDF leadership, for its part, offered ISIS three proposals allowing them to leave the city if they freed the civilians, but to little effect.

They put the civilians among them and killed people with snipers, and if you try to leave by car, they shoot at you, said Fawaz Mohammed, a civilian on a motorcycle. I wish God to destroy their homes. We dont have anything left but these clothes.

Finally, in the last days before the city fell to the SDF, the ISIS fighters threatened to kill hundreds of civilians, only to be allowed to retreat, at last, in civilian clothes and without weapons, north toward Jarabulus, where they are likely to be boxed in near the Turkish border.

According to Zagros, one of the SDF's foreign fighters, the ceasefire started on Thursday, was broken briefly in the early afternoon on Friday, then resumed at 5 p.m. local time. Daesh left, and Manbij was finished, he told The Daily Beast.

As I toured the city on Saturday with a 26-year-old fighter named Faysal Jassim, the empty buildings gave a vivid impression of ISIS occupation. There were ISIS schools, administration buildings, police stations, and there are stil constant reminders of the groups grotesque, medieval sense of justice.

In a building that housed the ISIS courts and religious police, there is a poster showing the different punishmentsbeheading, amputations, and, for homosexuals, to be thrown from high buildings.

Jassim held up a black balaclava mask. They used this to arrest civilians, so they would remain anonymous, Jassim said. On the ground in one room were many chains and scattered documents. We are now in the ISIS court, said Jassim. Thank God, its now over.

The record of ISIS horror is clear, and the litanies describing it are oft repeated. Every city they control is destroyed, said Ahmed Hussein, 53, as we stood near the infamous roundabout where many people were tortured and executed. This is one of the places where they beheaded and destroyed people, he said. Children couldnt go to school. They only taught children how to kill. They tortured people. They chained them. They forced women to cover themselves. They destroyed freedom. What kind of Islam is this?

It was not surprising, then, to see local men shaving their beards and the women shedding their cloaks as Arab and Kurdish fighters celebrated with a victory dance.

But liberating Manbij is not enough. De-mining it is not enough. The real question needs to be who will rebuild it, and how quickly, and with what money?

Who will show, a year from now, that life in Manbij is so much better than it was under ISIS? If there are no jobs and the city is in ruins, that may not be so obvious.

So far, the U.S.-led coalition has given only military support. Humanitarian aid and funding for reconstruction is lacking.

Even the city of Kobani that resisted and defeated ISIS in January 2015 with the help of U.S. airstrikes is still not rebuilt, as an SDF official, Nassir Haji Mansour, told The Daily Beast.

Some states say they want to fight ISIS and liberate areas from ISIS control, said Mansour. Manbij is a big city, its neighborhoods are destroyed, and people in Manbij are suffering.

The local administration will not be able to deal with this, he said. The coalition states most help cities like Manbij. If they want to fight ISIS, they should really fight ISIS.

Another question that looms is about the next move of the Kurdish-led SDF coalition: will they go southeast toward Raqqa, as suggested by U.S. officials, or west toward Afrin in Aleppo province, to connect their three Kurdish canton administrations in one federal region.

The SDF forces on Sunday created a new military council to capture al-Bab, on the way to the city of Aleppo and to Afrin, and called on the support of the U.S.-led coalition.

But its unclear if the coalition will be pulled in that direction. To be sure, al-Bab is important for ISIS. It is one of the main towns in the Aleppo district controlled by the caliphate. More importantly, its home base for the ISIS foreign intelligence headquarters, where, as The Daily Beast has reported, some of the attacks on Europe were prepared.

According to Soran Berxwedan, it would be important to capture al-Bab to cut ISIS off from the rest of the world by controlling the Turkish border, and the coalition should back the SDFs play. We couldnt have liberated Manbij without airstrikes, he said.

Ankara wont be enthusiastic about that level of border control by a force with Kurdish elements it deems hostile. As a result, coalition support may be hard to come by. But the die may already have been cast.

After three days we will go to al-Bab, said Heval Rupelin, a Kurdish female fighter. Our commanders told us.

The coming months are shaping up as crucial in the fight against ISIS, with more operations to be launched both in Syria and in Iraq near Mosul.

But winning the war may be pointless without winning the peace.
Its confirmed: Donald Trumps supporters on social media have all the best sources, and those sources are telling them the world is run by a single shadowy organization intent on controlling your mind.

Data provided to The Daily Beast by social media analytics company Demographics Pro shows that Donald Trump supporters are 4.2 times more likely to tweet about the New World Order than Hillary Clinton supporters. Thirty-nine percent of people who tweeted the hashtag #NewWorldOrder followed Trumps Twitter account. Almost 32 percent who tweeted about #FalseFlagthat shootings and terror attacks like the Sandy Hook or Orlando massacres were staged by the governmentfollowed Trump on social media. About 10 percent of the #FalseFlag tweeters followed Clinton.

We had a much larger list, but right down the line the correlation was pretty clear. Its three to four times more people tweeting about conspiracies who follow Trump [than Clinton], said Demographics Pros Corey McCarren. Illuminati was on there, too.

You likely cant chalk up the discrepancy to irony or trolling, either. Trumps followers are four times more likely to follow InfoWars Alex Jones , who believes that the government is intentionally creating gay people and inadvertently creating gay frogs , and that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job .

The Demographics Pro methodology, McCarren said, excludes any fake or bot accounts that follow Trump, which both his detractors and supporters are known to deploy .

McCarren said his firm is primarily focused on consumer social media researchthe next study, for example, focuses on who exactly is left playing Pokemon Go after all the dust has settledbut his co-workers wanted to take another shot at media political media consumption habits for the first time since the primaries.

Trump was getting a lot of press for some of the conspiracy theories his supporters are putting out there, so we wanted to look into the likelihood that they were following accounts that are known for it, said McCarren.

Over the past week, Trumps supporters have been floating the conspiracy theory, predominantly spread by InfoWars and Breitbart, that Hillary Clinton is deathly ill with everything from Parkinsons to syphilis . In response, Clintons campaign put out a note from her doctor listing her actual ailments : hypothyroidism and seasonal allergies.

One of the conspiracy theories even made it onto a printed-out chart Trump himself has been holding up at rallies. The poster, sourced by BeforeItsNews.com , shows off alleged ties between the Clinton Foundation and countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman. CNNs Brian Stelter took Trump surrogate Jason Miller to task for the chart on Sunday.

Hes holding up a chart here that shows alleged donations from Middle Eastern countries to the Clinton Foundation. But if you look at this website, BeforeItsNews.com this is a crazy website, to be honest with you. Its got alien stories, conspiracy theories, UFO storiesstuff like that. Anybody can post to that site, said Stelter. Who checks this data ahead of time to make sure the sources are accurate and reliable?

Miller dodged the question, saying he hadnt seen that particular chart, so I cant comment. But there apparently is an answer to the question who checks this data? According to this study, its the people who follow Donald Trump on Twitter, and nobody else.
Russia has deployed bomber aircraft to Iran for air strikes on rebels in Syria, the Russian defense ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

As the main backers of the regime of Syrian president Bashar al Assad, Russia and Iran have long been de facto allies in the Syrian conflict. But the two countries had been reluctant to forge direct military ties between them until now.

The Tu-22M3 Backfire and Su-34 Fullback bombers launched their first air raids from Hamedan air base in western Iran on Tuesday and struck ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra militants in Aleppo, Deir Ez Zor and Idlib, according to the defense ministry.

The strikes have eliminated five large ammunition depots with armament, munitions and fuel, training camps of militants near Serakab, Al Ghab, Aleppo and Deir Ez Zor cities, three control centers of militants near the cities Jafra and Deir Ez Zor as well as a significant number of militants, the Russian military stated in a release.

Russian Su-30 and Su-35 fighter jets deployed to Hmeymim air base in western Syria escorted the bombers over militant territory. All Russian aircraft have returned to the [Hamedan] airfield after accomplishing the combat task, according to the defense ministry.

The bomber deployment marks the first time since World War II that Russian troops have operated from Iran. After that war, Iran became a close U.S. ally and one of the biggest buyers of American weaponry. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 toppled the pro-American regime and, for the next 37 years, Tehran barred foreign forces from openly using bases in its territory.

The Syrian war changed all that. And the gradual lifting of international military sanctionsa consequence of Iran agreeing to dismantle its nuclear weapons programcould accelerate Irans realignment as an ally of Russia. Moscow recently asked Tehran to allow it to route cruise missiles over Iranian territory for strikes in Syria. And Iran has been negotiating to acquire new fighter jets from Russia to begin rebuilding its dilapidated air force.

Its unclear when Moscow and Tehran agreed on the Hamedan deployment, but the actual build-up of forces happened quickly and took some observers by surprise. Yemens Al Masdar News was one of the first news publications to report on the bombers arrival, publishing exclusive photos of bombers at Hamedan on Aug. 15.

Earlier, analysts had used internet-based flight-tracking websites to follow Russian military aircraft streaming into Hamedan.

Deploying bombers to Iran significantly boosts the destructive force Russia can bring to bear on Syrian insurgents. Russian long-range bombers including Tu-22M3s first struck militants in Syria in November. But the Backfire, Bear and Blackjack bombers staged from Russian air bases and flew over Iran and Iraqwith Tehran and Baghdads permissionin order to reach Syria. For some of the bombers, it was a staggering 8,000-mile round trip.

Flying from Hamedan cuts the distanceand, by extension, the mission durationby more than half. That could allow the aircrews to reduce their fuel loads and, instead, carry more weaponry. Russias bombers in Iran can fly more missions while carrying more bombs than the same kinds of aircraft operating from Russian soil.

Thats good news for Assads regime, and bad news for innocent civilians in Syria. For while Russian bombers have indeed struck ISIS and other militant groups, theyve also frequently attacked residential blocks and hospitals as part of an apparent strategy of punishing anyone living in rebel-controlled territory.

In June, Russia warplanes bombed an outpost near Syrias border with Jordan that had been used by U.S. and British special forces.
If there were a Mount Olympus for talk-show hosts, John McLaughlin would be on it. He was the first to recognize the value of combative political talk on television when he launched the McLaughlin Group in the early 80s. After 34 years of never missing a show, his moderators chair was empty last Sunday, and long-serving panelist Pat Buchanan opened the show.

An opening statement said John was under the weather, but we all knew it was more than that. He passed away peacefully early Tuesday morning at home with hospice care, and under the watchful care of Maritza, his partner, who helped him carry on until almost the end.

In an email today, she said he went to join his beloved Oliver in heaven. Oliver was the basset hound by his side back in the Nixon years, who his production company is named after.

McLaughlin was 89 years old, and the cause of death was prostate cancer that was diagnosed some time ago and that had spread. The last show he presided over was taped the Friday after the Republican Convention, and it was clear to viewers that his health was declining.

We panelists could see he wasnt well, but I attributed it to just age. Not that aging is insignificant, but John did not disclose that he was ill, and we didnt dwell on it.

I went to see him at home and I told him, John, you made me who I am before I knew who I was. That made him smile. The Friday before he died, with the help of Maritza, he painstakingly narrated the shows final issue on what Pope Francis had said recently about elevating women in the Roman Catholic Church.

John was hard to understand and there were captions added so viewers could follow his words, but the will to go on with the show he had created never wavered.

Not everyone realized it, but John was a former Jesuit priest. During the Vietnam years, he ran for the U.S. Senate from his native Rhode Island as an anti-war priest on the Republican ticket. He didnt win; he got 36 percent of the vote against the Democrat, John Pastore for trivia buffs.

He went on to work for the Nixon campaign and then the Nixon White House, which is where he met Pat Buchanan. They were comrades in arms, spouting Latin and church dogma and trading political stories that a neophyte like me found fascinating both on the set and off. They referred to President Nixon as the old man.

John was one of the old mans last defenders, along with Rabbi Korff, and when I came to Washington in December of 1976, having covered Jimmy Carters presidential campaign, I knew John as that crazy right-wing priest who hosted a radio show where he and his guests really let loose.

Turns out he was on to something, and the McLaughlin Group followed soon after. I wasnt part of the original cast, but in 1983, as a reporter in Washington for Newsweek, he summoned me to his then office on K Street and peppered me with a series of questions. I remember two of them: What did I think about Barney Clarks heart transplant? He was the first recipient of an artificial heart, and he died after 112 days. There was a debate over the ethics of how much it cost and whether it was worth it.

The second question was about arms to Taiwan. What was my position on that? I looked at John, dumbfounded, and said, Im a reporter, I dont have strong opinions.

You want to be on my show, you better get some strong opinions, he said. That turned out to be really easy. I was seated across from Buchanan, the original culture warrior, and next to Bob Novak, the conservative columnist with a permanent scowl known as the Prince of Darkness.

You couldnt find better character actors, and I would be remiss if I didnt mention Jack Germond, one of the original panelists who for years was every viewers favorite for his grumpy insights and his defiantly liberal positions.

John, with his imposing stature and his booming voice of God, was of course the larger-than-life figure that dominated the show. He created such a high-octane atmosphere that there was no time for hemming and hawing, or for pretending to be fairer than you felt. You had to blurt out what you actually thought before you got cut off.

As one of the few women in the early years to appear regularly as a panelist, I got cut off more than the men. But I held my own, which is what other women would often tell me, and that will be the title of the memoir I plan to write some day.

I told John when I saw him the week before he died that he made me seem a lot fiercer than I am. My late husband, Tom Brazaitis, who was also a journalist, used to joke that he helped me prep for the show by shouting Wrong! over and over. Tom said the show was like a mens locker room with the guys towel-snapping while they one-upped each other.

It was a game, but it was also serious. Every issue was deeply researched, and John relished weightier issues like NATO enlargement, making us eat our vegetables before we would get to the easy headlines. The show was memorialized on Saturday Night Live back in the day with Dana Carvey playing John, and John later playing himself.

We will miss his signature phrases, beginning with Issue One, and ending with Bye-Bye. And we will miss the man, who was always a blast to be around. John was an original, and while there are many imitators, he will never be overtaken. He got there first, and he created something that in its own way is as iconic as The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason, a comparison I know John would love.
Days after a severe flood in Louisiana that left six people dead and 10,000 in shelters, some experts are expressing concern that the event may usher in a large Zika outbreak.

The fears are not entirely unfounded. When the water currently rushing through the streets of Baton Rouge recedes, it will leave behind pools of standing watera perfect place for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to breed. But for those mosquitos to spread Zika, they have to be carrying the virus itself, and in Louisianaby all current accountsthey arent.

This week the Louisiana Department of Health reported four new cases of the disease in their state, bringing the total number of those affected there to 23. All acquired it while traveling to an affected country in the Americas, like nearly everyone else who has tested positive for the virus here.

As of Aug. 10, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 1,962 total cases of Zika across 47 states, just six of which have been locally transmitted. For most, the infection is negligible, causing a rash and flu-like symptoms that generally disappear within a week. For others, especially pregnant women, it can be life-altering .

The U.S. has already seen these effects firsthand. At least a dozen babies with microcephaly , a severe birth defect characterized by an underdeveloped head, have been born to mothers infected with Zika in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Hawaii, and California. Six people have been diagnosed with another illness connected with the disease: Guillain Barre Syndrome, a rare nerve condition that can cause paralysis.

For these reasons, taking a cautious look at the risks a tragic flood may pose is crucial. But suggesting that the water left behind in Baton Rouge will be teeming with mosquitoes ready to infect the whole city is misguided. The only place in the U.S. where mosquitoes are known to be carrying Zika is Wynwood, Floridaa Miami suburb roughly 900 miles away.

Dr. Carl Roepe, co-director of Georgetowns Center for Infectious Disease, has been meticulously tracking the virus with his colleagues. At this point, he isnt worried about Louisiana. The very heavy rains in LA will likely lead to increased numbers of mosquitos within the state, however, currently there is no transmission of Zika within LA, Roepe told The Daily Beast. It is unlikely then that the rains will, over the short term, lead to spread of Zika within LA.

Roepe stressed that while there may not be an immediate threat, if the population of mosquitoes remains high, the risk of introduction in the region could go up. Still, with a mosquitos life span just one to three weeks, conditions for increased breeding would need to remain for a long period of timewhich, hopefully, they will not.

While the disease can spread from human to mosquito, the current mosquitoes in Louisiana will have been washed out by the flood. Some unhatched eggs may remain, but wouldnt be subject to the virus. If the state can keep the number of travelers coming in with Zika under control, then the chances of it erupting into a major outbreak are low. According to Dr. Frank Welch, medical director for the Louisiana Department of Healths Bureau of Community Preparedness, its already underway.

Our surveillance activities include working with hospitals and other health care providers who notify us if and when a possible Zika case is diagnosed, Welch said in a statement last week. We also work with mosquito control agencies throughout the state who conduct mosquito testing in areas of known human cases to determine if mosquitos in those areas are carrying the virus.

In the World Health Organizations technical guidelines for health workers, it notes that flooding can increase the risk of mosquito-borne illness, due to the expansion in the number and range of vector habitats. But the instances it identifies, such as the spread of West Nile Fever in Europe or malaria in Costa Rica, all involve places where the disease was already spreading. The floods, in turn, caused a resurgence of the infections, not an introduction.

Neither WHO nor the CDC have issued statements regarding Louisianas Zika threat yet, but have continued to stress the importance of travelers staying safe and exercising caution through things like bug spray and condoms .

Ben Beard, Chief of the Bacterial Diseases Branch of CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases , told USA Today that while the organization plans to keep a close watch on the number of mosquitos, it isnt bracing for an explosion of cases. I wouldnt say right off that theres reason to believe that [the flooding] would have significant impact, he said .

Peter Hotez, an expert in epidemiology from the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, suggested that it is a problem in an interview with USA Today. We could be seeing an increased number of Aedes aegypti now in the coming weeks, he told them, calling the next few weeks crunch time.
PARIS  Its been more than a month since soldiers in South Sudan, a country that gets more than a billion dollars a year in U.S. assistance, singled out American aid workers for beatings and abuse amid an orgy of theft, intimidation, and gang rapes.

The U.S. embassy in Juba knew what was going on when it was happening, but proved powerless to stop it. And the Obama administrations public reaction? Nothing until the story finally broke Monday through Human Rights Watch and the Associated Press.

The United States is outraged by reports of assaults and rapes of civilians, began a statement by Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as if her office and the administration had just discovered what was going on in the capital of a country that the United States had helped win its independence five years ago.

In fact, as Power conceded in her statement, on the day of the atrocities at a hotel complex called The Terrain, popular with foreign aid workers in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, the U.S. embassy was kept informed by victims and witnesses from the beginning.

We are deeply concerned that United Nations peacekeepers were apparently either incapable of or unwilling to respond to calls for help, said Power, who made her reputation in 2003 with her Pulitzer-winning book A Problem From Hell about the worlds failure to stop genocide in the Balkans and Rwanda.

Clearly some wheels have been turning behind the scenes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein issued a report on Aug. 4 deploring the sexual violence of soldiers on both sides of the on-again, off-again civil war. The report said the UN had documented at least 217 cases of sexual violence in Juba between 8 and 25 July, some of them targeting foreign nationals.

And last week, the UN Security Council voted to create a robust unit of 4,000 peacekeepers to respond swiftly to security challenges in South Sudan, as Power put it.

But the new report from Human Rights Watch and the detailed picture of what happened in Juba in July published by AP correspondent Jason Patinkin on Monday, after he had left the country, makes it clear just how feeble the UN and U.S. peacemaking initiatives have become.

The Terrain compound, with its swimming pool and squash courts, has been seen by many foreigners and the South Sudanese elite as a kind of refuge, much as the Mille Collines hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, was before the 1993 genocide there.

On July 11, the latest peace settlement between President Salva Kiir, whose supporters and soldiers are mostly from the Dinka ethnic group, and Vice President Riek Machar, whose core strength is with his Nuer people, was falling apart and fighting raged in the capital.

By mid-afternoon, it seemed that things were calming down, and people gathered at The Terrain thought theyd be safe. We are not targeted, they were told by at least one private security consultant, according to the AP.

But they were targeted, and very specifically. About 100 men broke through the compound gate, firing into it and prying it open with tire irons, according to one witness. Security guards armed only with shotguns fell back, and seem to have put up little or no resistance. The soldiers rampaged door to door, according to the AP report, taking money, phones, laptops, and car keys.

They were very excited, very drunk, under the influence of something, almost a mad state, walking around shooting off rounds inside the rooms, one American witness told the AP. Most had on military fatigues and several bore the tiger-face shoulder patches of Salva Kiirs presidential guard, he said.

They beat that same American with belts and rifle butts for about an hour, accusing him of hiding rebels. They fired bullets at his feet, according to AP, then sent him out of the compound: You tell your embassy how we treated you, one soldier told him as he fled to a nearby UN compound.

A woman aid worker, a foreigner whose nationality is not otherwise specified by the AP in an obvious effort to protect here identity, said a soldier pointed his AK-47 at her and told her, Either you have sex with me, or we make every man here rape you, and then we shoot you in the head.

Over the course of the next few hours, she told AP, she was raped by 15 men, some of them very violent, some of them boys who were almost apologetic as they were ordered to assault her. One of them told her, Sweetie, we should run away and get married, she recalled. It was like he was on a first date. He didnt see that what he was doing was a bad thing.

Several people had retreated to what they thought was a safe room behind a secure door and its adjacent bathroom, but the soldiers shot their way in.

The soldiers then pulled people out one by one, AP reports. One woman said she was sexually assaulted by multiple men. Another Western woman said soldiers beat her with fists and threatened her with their guns when she tried to resist. She said five men raped her.

Again, AP is careful not to specify the nationalities of the women, but several survivors told Patinkin that soldiers specifically asked the terrified aid workers if they were American, and when someone said yes, the beating would begin.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, witnesses recalled soldiers cheering as they took turns raping women. When one woman resisted, a soldier shot a bullet next to her head.

A South Sudanese journalist named John Gatluak was dragged outside in front of the other captives. His tribal scars showed he was from Machars ethnic group. One of the soldiers shouted, Nuer! And another pumped two bullets into his head, then several more into his body.

All during these horrors, phone calls and text messages were going out to the UN, to the U.S. embassy, to anyone who might be able to help. But for hours nobody came.

Chinese, Nepalese, and Ethiopian troops were serving with UN forces in the immediate vicinity, and an Ethiopian Quick Reaction Force mobilizedthen stood down, for reasons still not fully explained.

The U.S. embassy, aware that the UN was unlikely to deploy without clearance from Salva Kiirs military commanders, pressed them to send government soldiers to bring their own troops back into line. Eventually, hours later, they did, but three Western women and 16 hotel staff were left behind in the hotel, according to the AP report, and did not get out until the following morning with the aid of private security contractors.

As Human Rights Watch noted, Gatluaks body was not retrieved for several days.

The next day, reflecting the uncertainty of the situation, and its impotence to affect it, the U.S. embassy sent out an advisory to Americans in Juba: The U.S. government is assessing the feasibility of bringing assets in to Juba to provide support to the U.S. Embassy in Juba and to provide support to private U.S. citizens over the coming days. But with Kiirs forces by then in complete control of the capital the idea apparently was dropped.

Of course investigations are being promised by Kiirs government and by the United Nations. But atrocities and investigations are nothing new in South Sudans civil war, while prosecutions for murder and rape have been virtually nonexistent.

At a time when many Americans are asking why the United States gets heavily involved in conflicts like South Sudans, at a moment when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is pandering to isolationist sentiment at every opportunity, it will be hard for the administration to continue struggling with such an intractable conflict.

And for the aid workers and diplomats trying to bring peace to the country, there clearly is a sense of frustration, but also a growing sense of fear. All know that they are now potentially under threat, and that the reign of terror has becomes the status quo. Yet many, including some of those assaulted on July 11, want to keep trying to make things better.

Human Rights Watch on Monday proposed what may be the best, most immediate short-term response to the events of July: an arms embargo making it harder for renegade troops to get ammunition, even if they already have guns; and sanctionsincluding travel bans and frozen bank accountsdirectly targeting Kiir, Machar, and other South Sudanese military and political leaders ultimately responsible for the violence.

Meanwhile, the war continues in other cities and villages in South Sudan where there is nobody to see, nobody to bear witness. One can only imagine their descent into hell.
Being a human being in the year 2016 can be an anxiety-inducing experience in itself. Being a human being on the internetthat vast digital cesspool of wonderment, discovery, faves, likes, schadenfreude, memes, Twitter friends, anonymous trolls, social media, and social maniais an infinitely more fraught reality to navigate.

But were all in this together. Even master filmmaker and New German Cinema icon Werner Herzog, whos seen it all and knows youre wrestling with profound fears about the world around you, the chaos of living, and the frightening unpredictability of the unknowable future, and is here to allay those fears with a kind of measured optimism, delivered in that unmistakable voice, a voice filled with an unperturbed Herzogian calm: Dont panic.

Those were the words Herzog uttered, accompanied by a kindly smile, when the name Donald Trump came up in a recent conversation about his documentary Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World. The film is a feature-length exploration of the internet and its impact on human kind told in 10 parts, so naturally I showed Herzog the 10-minute video for Kanye Wests Famous and invited him to comment. (Watch and hear Herzog on Kanye here.)

In a short film filled with the eerie doppelgangers of celebs from Rihanna to Amber Rose to Ye and Kim K, it was Trumps waxen figure that caught Herzogs eye first. Earlier that day, the GOP nominee suggested that 2nd Amendment proponents use their right to bear arms to stop Hillary Clinton should she win the presidency. Herzog, who famously dealt with the insanely volatile antics of his longtime muse Klaus Kinski and lived to wax wise about it, offered a soothing take on Trump mania.

Well, thats a serious thing, he said, drawing a deep breath. But you know, he has almost exhausted his entire arsenal of wild stuff, which would immediately be headlines in the media. Theres a phase now in the election where theres scrutiny: Things that he says will be verified. What does he say about the wall between Mexico and America? Of course when you look closer at it, its a complete illusion that the Mexicans are going to pay for it. So, theres time of scrutiny and sometimes he has to come back with even wilder stuff so that he stays somehow in the flashlight of attention.

If Werner Herzog isnt too worried about Trump fueling the trigger-happy with combustible rhetoric, maybe the rest of the country can find a little solace in his calm. Dont panic about it, he smiled. You should not. Im not an American, and thank God I can see it from some distance. And I do believe that American voters can look beyond the flashlight, and the headlines, and opinion polls. Im sure theres a collective a collective intelligence within the voters that would not allow the wildest of all imaginable solutions.

So, repose, Herzog assured. Go to vote, if you are an American! Youd better vote. Do the right thing. And you will see that Americans collectively are more intelligent than the opinion polls.

Herzog, 73, has spent decades investigating the human condition onscreen in films about dreamers, explorers, and those who fall prey to the invisible forces of nature in all its forms, and in his own written musings observing life through his constantly searching mind. Born in Germany during WWII, he grew up in the remote reaches of Bavaria without the luxuries of midcentury modern life, and as legend has it, didnt see his first movie until a traveling projectionist made it to his village in the mountains at the age of 11. He began making movies at the age of 19 with a 35mm camera stolen from the Munich Film School and hasnt stopped since.

So its no coincidence that nowadays he still has that outsiders liberation from the shackles of modern accoutrements. Even now, Herzog chooses to live as offline as he canwithout a smartphone and using the internet as little as possible even as he shares utterly Herzogian observations on catching Pokemon and communicating via emoji. My social network is our dinner table, which seats maximum six people, he told me earlier this year. My wife, me, and four guests maximum.

That steadfast tech-aversion might make Herzog seem an odd choice to direct an incisive documentary on the internet, how we use it, and how its changing us in wild and alarming ways, but Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World is actually a perfect match of distanced philosopher and ever-changing, all-encompassing subject.

He notes, with amusement, his discovery of doppelgangers online who imitate his unique Herzogian perspective on life and culture in memes and homage. The internet has utterly affected our own understanding of selfhood, he observes. That includes self-projections of who we are and what we selectively put out into the ether, as well as unintentional digital footprints we leave behind, because nothing posted online can ever really be scrubbed forever.

It has happened before the internet and before Facebook, but it becomes so visible now, and it can propel to millions and millions of anonymous internet users out there, Herzog said. Thats a new dimension to it.

And yet, he insists, making a movie about the internet and talking about it endlessly while promoting Lo and Behold hasnt changed Herzogs mind on the online life. He smiled. I have a clear idea of what Im doing with the internet. Im responding to everything thats going on. It hasnt changedwith one exception. Very, very young ones are writing now, emails, and what I find very pleasant is all of a sudden 12-, 15-year-olds are ganging up with me.

Tweens and teens, Herzog says, are constantly emailing him and opening dialogue with the filmmaker about his workeven if he has no idea how they seem to find his email address, other than contacting him through his website. They comment, they ask questions. They have seen only a trailer and they come with wild questions. And they speak to me as if Im in their age group! Just a little bit more savvy.

And Herzog says he reads every message he receives. Yeswhat is directly sent to me. But of course a lot of junk mail is there. And I do have somehow an automatic system that distinguishes between junk mail and real mail. And this junk mail detector is almost one hundred percent on target! So I marvel at the algorithms that they must have in place.

In spite of his avowed aversion for things like smartphones, social media, and the endless ways we amuse ourselves on the internet, this kind of digital interaction seems to gratify Herzog, who still uses the web to read the news, Google map his way around, and watch funny cat videos. What all the memefied imposters most seem to get wrong about Herzog is that hes more bemused, realist inquisitor than relentlessly dour pessimist. Yet when asked if he considers himself an optimist, he doesnt have an easy answer.

I dont feel comfortable with seeing myself as an optimist or a pessimist, Herzog offered. In a way I am optimistic because I do recognize that I, or all of us, live in an aimless universe. And we have to create at least a structure of clear aims. Whatever they are, thats your individual business. I do feel comfortable with my own destiny. I feel comfortable with the films that I have done. I feel comfortable with the life, the way that I am conducting it. So in that respect, yes, Im an optimist.

At the same time, he added, I was shooting in North Korea recently and I was shooting in Ethiopia, and scientists were unearthing fragments of early homo sapiens a hundred thousand years back. I asked one of them whos very much deep into history: Do we have another hundred thousand years? And his answer is interesting.

He said, We are a very interesting species. We collaborate. We fabricate. We produce. But at the same time, we are modifying our environment. We are responsible for the extinction of many species. We are even jeopardizing our own space in which we can survive and live. And he saysand this is an Ethiopian historian and paleontologisthe believes, and I do agree, that when we follow the projection lines of our civilization there will be a very critical time coming at us in only a thousand years from now. Its not unthinkable that we will become extinct as a species.

The Herzogian key to processing a future vision so bleak isnt to worry, perhaps, but to take that information and turn it back on ones own lifeto examine how we live now, and how we might be living better.

Its not that I feel threatened by it, he said. We simply have to take a good, hard look at what our mistakes are and improve what we are doing. Like Drill, baby, drillthats outright stupid, and thats one of the glorious overlooked sides of the internet. I read newspapers online, and every single time I read a newspaper I know that a chunk of wood didnt have to be cut down and made into paper pulp. And since I am using the internet for emails, I do many things nowadays on email or even sometimes on Skype. Before, I would drive in my car. Today I drive 90 percent less than I did 20 years ago.

You see, its not that we should wait, that politics are so stupid they cannot come to an agreement about climate change. Forget about politics. Its every single one of us. Think about, Do I really need to use my car? Do I really need to leave the light switched on when I walk out of the room? There are certain automatic things. When I walk out, I dont even think about itI switch off the light.

Since Herzogs so bullish on life made better by the Internet Age, I ask, does he think its impacted that other dominant concern of 21st century humanslovefor better or worse?Herzog, whos been married to photographer Lena Herzog since 1999, lit up at the subject and broke into a warm grin. I think its basically the same, he mused thoughtfully. It doesnt matter what your tools are. Its the quality. The quality of an encounter  and the kind of emotional attachment, the kind of respect and love you have is the only thing that counts.
An elite New Hampshire boarding school has denied reports that it wishes to publicly identify the victim of a high-profile campus sexual assault in a civil suit against the school.

On Monday, several reports that St. Pauls School had asked a federal court to reveal the name of the victim in the Owen Labrie sexual assault case did not reflect well on the prep school.

It seemed that St. Pauls was determined to further protect its downtrodden reputation, even if that meant exposing an underage woman to potential humiliation and harassment.

Some background: Last summer, the jury in a criminal trial found Labrie guilty on three misdemeanor counts of sexually assaulting a fellow student on campus in 2014, when she was a freshman and he was a senior, but acquitted him of felony charges.

On June 1, the victimnow 17and her parents pseudonymously sued St. Pauls for turning a blind eye to a predatory hook-up culture on campus that led to her assault: the so-called Senior Salute, a campus-wide competition that encouraged senior men to commit statutory rape and treat underage female students as targets of desire, the complaint reads.

St. Pauls has denied that it could have prevented the sexual assault, writing in a response to the complaint last week that only the victim and Labrie know what happened on the evening of May 30, 2014.

In a separate court filing, the school also responded to the plaintiffs motion to retain their pseudonyms during legal proceedings, writing that St. Pauls had no objections to the court protecting their anonymityas long as the plaintiffs agreed to several conditions laid out by the school.

St. Pauls asked that the plaintiffs and their attorneys not make further public statements about the civil suit until the litigation is completed.

The school also asked for permission to refer to the victim by name during pretrial deposition, the formal process of taking testimony, and that the plaintiffs bear the cost of redacting any documents filed with the Court bearingpersonally identifiable information.

Lastly, St. Pauls requested that the plaintiffs not proceed under pseudonyms during trial.

In a letter to the St. Pauls community published on its website last night, Archibald Cox Jr., president of the schools Board of Trustees, wrote that the schools filing had been misrepresented in the media.

We did not oppose the familys use of pseudonyms, and certainly did not request that the young womans name be made public, Cox wrote. Rather, we agreed to the familys use of pseudonyms during pretrial phases of the litigation, provided they agreed to stop improperly attacking the Schools character in statements to the pressNo one at the School has any desire or intention to reveal the identity of the young woman or her family.

Yet Cox did not address the third condition in the filing, in which the school asked that pseudonyms be dropped at trial. Andrew T. Miltenberg, a defense attorney who frequently represents the accused in campus sexual assault cases, was unimpressed by the schools requests.

Quite frankly, I think its disturbing that theyre trying to essentially intimidate [the victim] to drop the case, absent her contemplating moving forward in her own name, Miltenberg told The Daily Beast.

Though he believes its fair and reasonable for the school to ask that plaintiffs not discredit St. Pauls in the media while the suit is ongoing, nothing else that the school is doing or requesting has any sound basis in good faith, he added. I cant see a reason why making the victims name available [at trial] is necessary for the defense lawyers to properly defend this case.

In his statement, Cox reiterated court pleadings which denied that the school is somehow responsible for, or could have prevented, Owen Labries misconduct.

While the school acknowledged they knew about a storage shed nicknamed the Mars Hotel, they denied the plaintiffs allegations that it is littered with condoms and that students moved a couch into the shed solely for the purpose of having sex on it. In its response to the original complaint, St. Pauls wrote that the shed is used by the cross-country and downhill ski teams to store equipment.

The school also denies that, prior to the criminal investigation into the Owen Labrie case, it could have known that Labrie and his friends were picking out potential Senior Salute conquests for Slaypril (the nickname for April, when boys would compete to see who could slay the most girls).

These details later emerged in conversations between Labrie and other upperclassmen on Facebook and in email exchanges.

Yet the victims family says St. Pauls was previously informed that Labrie was overly aggressive in a sexual encounter with another female student but took no significant action to investigate it.

The school has denied any knowledge of this incident.
Matthew McConaughey teams up with Wild Turkey

Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey has signed a multi-year partnership with Kentucky based bourbon producers Wild Turkey as the brand's creative director.

Matthew will serve as the chief storyteller for Wild Turkey both behind the camera and in front of it, reintroducing the world to the legendary bourbon brand, starting with a series of television and digital advertising campaigns he is directing, which will launch in September.

A short film documenting Matthews journey with Wild Turkeys distilling family, the Russells, was unveiled today at www.youtube.com/wildturkeybourbon.



A Wild Turkey fan, Matthew 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.



Matthew McConaughey says: 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 isnt always the most popular. 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.



Matthew 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 the actor 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 Turkeys new television advertising campaign will see Matthew 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, remarks 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.



Master distiller, Jimmy Russell says: Ive 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. 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 Turkeys story, but like an extra scoop of ice cream on pecan pie, I will certainly take it.



Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO at Gruppo Campari, owner of Wild Turkey says: Its a new era for Wild Turkey. Weve made a significant investment into the brand over the last several years, as weve 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.

16 August 2016 - Rebecca Sterritt Paragraph Publishing, content manager
Without farming, Britain's countryside would be drastically different. Imagine walking through landscapes un-tilled, un-sown, un-fertilised and un-treated, nor grazed by cattle or sheep.

Following the Brexit vote, the government has to decide what to do about the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU's subsidy scheme for owners of farmed land.

Some of these subsidies support food production while others support environmental protection on land suitable to be farmed. In 2015, British farmers received roughly 3.2 billion from the EU.

Agricultural land covers 70% of the UK. If all subsidies stopped, the National Farmers Union reports many farmers would go out of business and large swathes of land would come out of production.

This may be unlikely (and it's certainly not what I'd recommend) but it's still worth exploring an even more dramatic scenario: what would happen if Britain's farmers sold all their livestock and equipment and abandoned their land?

There would be cultural, social and economic shock for sure. With less food grown and reared locally, prices would undoubtedly rise as supermarkets scrambled to secure foreign supply lines. But what would happen to the land itself? Without farming, what would happen to Britain's nature?

Scenario one: land abandonment

With the hungry mouths of livestock gone, along with the farmer's ploughs, the great wheels of ecological succession would be freed to turn. Ecological 'succession' is the process of change from one set of species to another. In this case, it would begin with dormant seeds, native or otherwise, that would start to emerge. Plants best adapted to fertilised soil such as nettles will thrive.

In time, shrubs and trees will venture into abandoned fields from woodland and hedgerows. Then would come fast growing, light-demanding trees like birch and oak, turning scrubland into early phase woodland. In the shade of the new canopy, lime and elm, both tolerant of low light conditions, will slowly establish themselves until they outlive or outgrow the trees that came before them.

It is a textbook story of succession. The varying climates and soils across Britain mean different species will prosper in different places, and plants will grow at different paces, but in time, in most places, the result will be largely the same. More trees.
Brexit worries

Natural England is responsible for enforcing laws that protect wildlife and nature, managing the influence of developers and promoting biodiversity and public access to the countryside.

It designates protected areas, issues licences to developers wishing to disturb wildlife and habitats and distributes grants that support farmers to protect them. They also have the power to take legal action.

The potential weakening of Natural England comes at a sensitive time because the UK is in the midst of negotiations to leave the European Union. Most UK laws on nature and habitats derive from EU directives which ensure they are enforced in the courts.

Johnson, co-chair of Environmentalists for Europe, said: "This story, if confirmed, would be very worrying. In a Brexit situation, it will be vital to ensure that the protection of nature and wildlife offered by EU directives, as well as the measures already taken under EU rules in the fight against air and water pollution, and climate change, are pursued with vigour. Natural England's role here is clearly vital."

The watchdog with 'no teeth'

A Natural England insider said that the agency is likely to take fewer legal actions against developers or landowners that infringe its rules. "We will go to court less often and try to find compromises more often. From a conservationist point of view that's quite worrying because we wouldn't have teeth any more", the source said.

Three weeks ago the RSPB withdrew from the government's voluntary scheme to halt the decline of hen harriers, which the NGO says are a victim of "illegal killing" on moors used for the shooting of grouse. It was launched in January by the government together with a number of conservationist groups, including the RSPB, and is being implemented chiefly by Natural England.

The RSPB has called for the government to introduce a licensing system whereby estates could have their licenses revoked. Asked if this could represent an example of the watchdog reining in its regulatory powers, the source at Natural England said:

"Definitely. I think we would have been more forceful. We are not enforcing in the way we would have done in the past. We're prepared to accept compromises we weren't before. Where will we draw the line?"

But the weakening of Natural England's regulatory powers is having a much more comprehensive impact on wildlife and habitats on a local level across the country, according to the Wildlife Trusts, which works to conserve wildlife across the UK.

NE's already failing to object to damaging developments



"Wildlife Trusts across the country have seen Natural England's reluctance to stand up for nature in local planning decisions on a regular basis", said Steve Trotter, director for England at the Wildlife Trusts.

"Natural England seems uninterested in getting involved in challenging inappropriate developments that are proposed on important habitats, particularly local wildlife sites, which don't have legal protection. It's a widespread and significant issue."

Trotter added: "When local planning authorities or developers don't see any comments from Natural England on a development, they conclude there is no problem - which is not always the case."

The Trust says that Natural England is withdrawing objections "at the last moment" from local cases that go to judicial review, citing a case that the Devon Wildlife Trust lost at the High Court a year ago. Concerning one of the country's most endangered mammals.

The court ruled not to overturn a planning decision that gave a developer permission to build a housing estate close to one of the last remaining habitats of greater horseshoe bats in the UK. A spokesperson at Natural England declined to put any comments on the record regarding their role in the case.

Environmentalists started to raise concerns about Natural England's role as a regulator and independent advisor some years ago.

In 2012, it pulled its legal inquiry into the burning of blanket bog on a shooting estate in the Pennines. The bogs are of a type only found in a few places in the world and are protected by the EU Habitats directives. In April the European Commission launched a legal infringement inquiry on the issue and is awaiting a response from the UK government.

Commercial funding from developers will not impair 'objectivity'



The leaked paper also says the organisation is "making great strides in the way we generate income other sources", partially by providing paid consultancy services to private firms looking to develop in sensitive areas.

Their latest annual report, published in July, shows that the body is already taking money from energy giant EDF for providing advice on its plans to build a new nuclear power station at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast.

"In Suffolk we have continued to develop our positive relationship with EDF through our discretionary chargeable advice and a project team approach to the Sizewell Nuclear New Build", the report claims.

It suggests that other energy companies as well as housing developers and transport companies working on large infrastructure projects are also paying it on a similar basis. "Though we may have provided advice, once applications are received, these are reviewed with objectivity", the report notes.

'Ecologists not consultants'

The insider at Natural England said that while this method of working enables them to raise environmental issues with developers early, it is "based on the priorities of developers and not the most threatened species or habitats, which could become neglected."

"It doesn't sit very well with a lot of people in Natural England", the source said. "We are here to be ecologists not consultants. Our staff resource will be increasingly focused on work where there is a financial incentive rather than a conservation concern."

The leaked internal documents show that other employees have raised concerns that the body will become "a consultancy" or that the new funding model could "drive away people who want our advice" and occupy too much company time.

In the documents, Natural England responded to such concerns by stating that their role is different from consultants because they "provide early awareness of our likely statutory advice" and do not "run scoping exercises design and conduct survey work, write reports or design and implement mitigation proposals".

They also note that the Environment Agency and the Marine Management Organisation are already using similar funding models.

NE: 'Nothing has changed'

A Natural England spokesperson said: "There has been absolutely no change in Natural England's statutory role or driving mission to protect and enhance the country's nature, habitats and landscapes as laid out under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006."

"However, we are improving the way we operate through implementing recommendations that were made in Sir John Lawton's independent Making Space for Nature report (2010) and welcomed by government and NGOs alike."

"Working with communities and stakeholders ever more efficiently, we will assess challenges and implement solutions on a 'landscape scale', always focussing on the ultimate outcome: an improved environment for all of us."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs declined to comment on the findings.

Emma Howard is a writer for Greenpeace Energydesk. She tweets @EmmaEHoward.

This article was originally published on Greenpeace Energydesk.

The leaked documents

Page 1; Page 2; Page 3; Page 4; Page 5; Page 6; Page 7; Page 8; Page 9; Page 10; Page 11; Page 12; Page 13; Page 14; Page 15; Page 16; Page 17; Page 18; Page 19.
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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DairyFree4All #CollectiveBias

Deliciously addictive Dairy Free Individual Baked Alaska with a soft, moist chocolate cake base, So Delicious Dairy Free Frozen Desserts in the middle, and then covered with a silky smooth meringue topping with a warm, caramelized coating! A sophisticated-looking dessert but with minimal hassle, thats perfect for summer and entertaining! Read on to find out what sets this recipe apart from other baked alaska. Recipe includes video tutorial on how I piped the meringue, as well.

Ive been scaling back on my dairy intake these days. While Im not going full on dairy free, I do enjoy having the option of dairy free desserts whenever possible. Lactose intolerance runs in my family, and I always have that at the back of my mind. Since a lot of desserts I enjoyed when I was younger were dairy free anyway, its nothing new to me either.

Which is why I love these So Delicious Dairy Free Frozen Desserts! They are creamy and come in a variety of delightful flavors to spoil you for choice. On top of being dairy free, they also happen to be certified vegan, egg free, and made with plant-based sources with no high fructose corn syrup, no cholesterol, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. If youre on the lookout for delicious frozen desserts, you certainly cant go wrong with this product.

And if youre on the lookout for an amazing dairy free dessert, youre in for treat today! I came up with a dessert thats easy to assemble, but a complete joy to serve and eat. Dairy Free Individual Baked Alaska made with So Delicious Dairy Free Frozen Desserts! A dessert so fun, pretty and delicious that you will never even miss the dairy.

My favorite memory of Bombe Alaska (a variation of baked alaska where you splash the dessert with alcohol and then flambe it with a blow torch which creates quite a spectacle), was when Mr K had his very first one in Coffs Harbour, Australia, a while back. He had no idea what to expect, and the restaurant that we were at didnt skimp on the theatrics. He loved the show and the dessert so much that he still talks about it all these years later! 

Ive been making mini baked alaska like this for myself ever since! The first time was a disaster, since it was experimental, but Ive perfected my skills over time! 

What I really love about this dairy free baked alaska is how easy it is to make it at home. This individual version is a dream to make (and good for portion control too, because trust me, portion control is going to be the hardest thing to do with this dairy free baked alaska!), and with the range of flavors that So Delicious Dairy Free Frozen Desserts have to offer, you can personalize each individual baked alaska with your favorite flavor. I made these dairy free baked alaska with Cashew Milk Salted Caramel Cluster and Coconut Milk Simply Strawberry Frozen Desserts. But youre welcome to try whatever flavor you prefer!

Alright, so lets talk a bit about this recipe.

There are three key things that set this recipe apart from other baked alaska, apart from being completely dairy free, of course.

ONE  Usually the base of a baked alaska is sponge cake. But I take a shortcut here and make a super easy, incredibly soft, moist chocolate cake with a batter that comes together in a matter of minutes. So you dont have to keep whisking eggs to peak like you would with sponge cake. Since the cake base is soft, you have to be careful when you cut out rounds for the base of this individual baked alaska. Itll be a lot easier to cut if the cake is cold or chilled.

I scooped out spheres of the slightly softened strawberry and cashew milk salted caramel frozen desserts onto a tray lined with parchment paper, and then gently pressed it down on the tray to create a flat bottom. Then I froze them until they were completely set.

Then you can simply place the frozen dessert scoop on top of the cake base to assemble it, or use some dairy free melted chocolate or fruit spread to stick them together.

These assembled individual baked alaska can be stored in the freezer until you need them too. In fact you can keep them covered in the freezer for a few weeks too  perfect frozen treat on a hot summer day. And PERFECT for entertaining too. To dress up the individual baked alaska even further, you can pipe the meringue onto the dessert prior to serving them, and then brown/caramelize the meringue at the tableyou knowto complete the show! And heres the second great thing about this recipe.

TWO  The meringue is COMPLETELY COOKED! The egg whites here have been heated over a double boiler with the sugar, until they turn milky white which makes them completely safe to eat. You can do this ahead of time and leave the egg whites in a dry container until you need them too. Simply whisk the cooled egg white and sugar liquid in a dry mixer bowl on high speed to stiff peaks, and then simply spoon it or pipe it over your dairy free baked alaska!

THREE  The meringue here isnt actually baked in the oven, I simply use a blow torch to caramelize it to make it easier. However, if you dont own a blow torch or would like to bake it in the oven instead, store the meringue piped baked alaska in the freezer for a couple of hours to chill. Then you can grill them under a broiler for a few minutes (but keep an eye on it, you dont want them to burn or melt!) before serving. OR you can caramelize them with some flambeed rum for an awesome Bombe Alaska!

This is a great recipe that I know you and your whole family will love  dairy free or not! That soft, silky meringue topping with a warm, caramelized coating, and the creamy frozen treats tucked away inside, and the soft, moist chocolate cake base  its an addictive dairy free dessert that looks sophisticated, but with little of that hassle.

PIPING THE MERINGUE  Video Tutorial included

Since I used two flavors to make these individual baked alaska, I actually wanted to personalize the meringue topping on each one, just for fun!  So the strawberry flavored baked alaska was decorated with a piped rose shaped meringue, because pink = flower = rose, right? Close enough, anyway.

And then the cashew milk salted caramel baked alaska was piped with a beehive shaped meringue topping that was then studded with caramel cashew praline, because caramel = sweet = honey = beehive. Yeah I know, that one was bit of a reach.

Alternatively, you can just spoon the meringue on top and spread it to cover the whole dessert instead. Either way, they taste downright addictive, and you cannot deny how beautiful these individual baked alaska desserts look! They got summer written all over them and these cute desserts cannot be more perfect for entertaining either!

Looking for more recipes?Sign up for my free recipe newsletter to get new recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram. Dairy Free Individual Baked Alaska Author: Dini K.



Print Ingredients:  100 mL Ice Cream Dairy free or regular. Your favorite flavor

 Dairy free melted chocolate or a fruit spread

 Candied cashew or praline to serve

 Strawberries to serve Chocolate Cake Base (adapted from Beattys Chocolate Cake - Ina Garten)  3/4 cup all-purpose flour

 3/4 cup sugar

 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder

 1 tsp baking soda

 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt kosher

 1/2 cup plant based milk

 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

 1/4 cup olive oil oil

 1 large egg at room temperature

 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 1/2 cup strong hot coffee Meringue Topping  5 egg whites

 1  cup white sugar

 Pinch of kosher salt Instructions: Chocolate Cake Base Butter and line a quarter sheet pan. Preheat oven to 325F.

Place the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the egg, oil, milk, vinegar and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix (with a whisk) until well combined and the batter is smooth.

Add the coffee and stir it in to mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan and bake in preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes until cooked (the cake should be soft and springy when touched).

Let the cake cool slightly and flip it out on to a cooling rack to let it cool down completely (parchment paper side down).

Cover the cake and let it chill in the fridge, and prepare the frozen dessert centers.

After the cake is chilled, cut six 3 inch cake circles. Store in a box in the fridge until needed. While the cake is chilling, prepare the baked alaska center. Leave the frozen dessert tubs outside for a few minutes to soften. Line a tray or plate with parchment paper.

Scoop the frozen desserts into 6 spheres and place them on the parchment paper. Press down gently to create a flat bottom (you can use any flavor combination you prefer here). The scoops are about 3 inches across.

Transfer them to the freezer to completely freeze. Meringue Topping Place the egg whites, salt and sugar in a DRY metal mixing bowl.

Heat some water in a saucepan over medium high heat. When the water is simmering, place the metal bowl over the simmering water (make sure bowl is not touching the water) and whisk continuously until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg white looks milky white - about 5 minutes.

The egg white can be whipped immediately, while its hot. OR, let the egg whites cool down completely (uncovered - you dont want water to get into the egg whites) and set aside until you need them.

When youre ready to pipe the meringue, whisk the egg whites on high speed with your mixer until you have glossy peaks and it looks marshmallowy.

Transfer the meringue into a piping bag if youre going to pipe the meringue. Assembly Spread a little melted chocolate or fruit spread on each cake base (optional).

Place the frozen dessert scoops on each cake base. At this stage you can store these in the freezer until required, or prepare them to be served immediately.

ROSE-SHAPED BAKED ALASKA - using a round tip, pipe the meringue along the base of the baked alaska. Switch to a large petal tip, and with the broader edge touching the baked alaska, pipe the petals starting from the top moving down toward the base. The easiest way is to place the tip on top and rotate the baked alaska while continuously piping the meringue in a spiral pattern. Smoothen the base of the baked alaska with an angled spatula (SEE VIDEO).

BEEHIVE-SHAPED BAKED ALASKA - using a round tip, pipe the meringue all around the dessert starting from the base right to the top, in a spiral pattern.

Alternatively, just use an angled spatula to spread the meringue to cover the baked alaska.

Use a blow torch to caramelize the meringue surface until golden brown, before serving.

To use the oven to caramelize - freeze the baked alaska for a couple of hours. Broil the frozen baked alaska for a couple of minutes until the surface turns golden brown (keep an eye to make sure the baked alaska doesn't burn or melt).

Decorate with fruits and/or chopped praline. Enjoy! This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

So head on over to your local Walmart and get one or two (or more) of these So Delicious Dairy Free Frozen Treats, which you can easily find in the frozen food section along with other frozen desserts. Which flavor will you use to make your own individual baked alaska? 

If you liked this Dairy Free Individual Baked Alaska recipe, dont forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you dont miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.

Ill be sharing my recipe over at 

FoodieFriDIY | Friday Favorites | Fiesta Fridays | Saucy Saturdays
Round of 16 recap for Iowa high school football playoffs

It's officially playoffs time for all classes in the state of Iowa. Here's how the round of 16 went down.
You may want to scurry away from this curry.

Oriental Packing Co. Inc. in Miami is recalling about 377,000 pounds of blended curry seasoning products because they are contaminated with lead. Lead can accumulate in the body and cause serious and sometimes permanent adverse health consequences. A full list of recalled products is available at http://bit.ly/2bbtZBC.

Products were sold through the internet and retail stores nationwide. No illnesses have been reported.

Consumers are urged to dispose of unused product, or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers may contact Oriental Packing Co. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Daylight SavingTime at 800-809-9793.

Mixes yanked due

to E. coli

Its enough to force someone to start baking from scratch.

Rabbit Creek Products, of Louisburg, Kansas, is recalling certain flavors of bread mixes, muffin mixes and brownie mixes due to the potential presence of Escherichia coli O121 (E. coli O121). People usually get sick from E. coli O121 two to eight days after swallowing it. Most people develop diarrhea and abdominal cramps and recover within a week. Some illnesses last longer and can be more severe.

The mixes were distributed nationwide in retail stores and through online sales December 2015 through February 2016. For a list of products involved in the recall, visit http://bit.ly/2aYMrOe

No illnesses have been reported to date. Destroy any affected products and return the label to Rabbit Creek, P.O. Box 1059, Louisburg, KS 66053 for a refund. Consumers may contact the company at 800-837-3073 Monday through Thursday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Central Time.

Pills pulled for lead levels

Ton Shen Health, of Chicago, is recalling its DHZC-2, tablets because they have the potential to be contaminated with elevated levels of lead.

The tablets were mostly sold locally in the Chicago area, but some were distributed to other states through mail orders. The product comes in a 1.6 ounce, white plastic package marked with lot # 2163-844 on the bottom.

One illness has been reported in connection with this problem. The sale of the product has been suspended and inventory put on hold. Consumers who purchased DHZC-2 tablets are urged to return them for a full refund. Consumers may contact the company at 312-842-2775, Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time.

 Amanda Cuda
We encounter all too often in our modern world the spectacular violence of such escapades as the Misfits murder of an anonymous family on a Georgia back road. Our daily press is full of such incidents. Its corollary, however, OConnor expects us to come to through reflection.

It is well to be reminded again and again that, though we like to think ourselves advance agents of such progress, the strategy of gnostic manipulation of being is very ancient. John Milton suggests the point: Satans metamorphosis from being the brightest of angels to alienated gnostichis fall from love through pride and envy and his emergence transformed into the jealous lord of all self-powerthat subtle angelic transformation precedes time itself. What is new to our world, perhaps, is the confident elevation and celebration of gnosis as the absolute temporal and spatial power, with so little or so ineffective an opposition to the elevation, till it pervades the popular spirit. A third of Heavens host fell with Satan, Miltons poem suggests. But as Gallup polls suggest of us, our percentages are higher. Consent to the manipulation is general as never before. We hear it filtered down to the lower regions of our social world from the intellectual patrons of modernism in Flannery OConnors Mrs. Lucynell Crater, in The Life You Save May Be Your Own. When Mr. Shiftlet piously reminds her that the monks of old slept in their coffins, she responds: They wasnt as advanced as we are. The shift of power to the temporal dimension, under the auspices of the finite imagination, is rather modern. But fortunately, accompanying that shift is a lingering disquiet of a conscience only somewhat allayed, as packets of resistance suggest, ranging from Eric Voegelin to Fundamentalists. One may put it metaphorically by saying that the general shift to consent has been accomplished by the deliberate metamorphosis of Satan into Prometheus.

But the rebel against existence becomes heroic, not through a violent theft of Heavens fire as with Prometheus, but by the very attempt to establish a new existence. Being is to be reconstituted by mind, and the gullible wait breathless with great expectations. Put another way, we have established a secular Manicheanism, one differing radically from the ancient heresy. In the old heresy, creation was seen as evila heresy fed in part by Platonism. Spirit was separated from nature in the interest of spirits rescue from its enemy nature (Platos shadow). The world became antagonist to the Heaven-bound soul, a distortion which has descended to us most conspicuously, it seems to me, in the Puritan mind. The Puritan mind actively contended with nature, expecting that by gaining control of being it could establish a City on the Hill, the City of God brought down to earth by mans labor. Light contended with dark, whether the dark was stubborn soil or wild savage. To the ancient heretic, heaven or light or spirit found its place in the transcendent. In our new version of the old heresy, the center of referencethe place of light, from which light emanatesis no longer beyond temporal and spatial illusions; it is, once more, the mind of man. The Puritan fathers operated on Manichean assumptions more thoroughly than they supposed, assumptions we inherited through Pragmatisms modifications of Puritanism. Today, from particle physics to astronomy, from the formulae of DNA and the mathematics of genes to the structure of nations into one nation, the order of being is largely presumed not only in the keep of human mind, as in the orthodox virtue of stewardship, but resting in the mind as causemind as the determinant of order. Now when this assumed position is pressed firmly, its holder will deny the charge sometimes, not always. But from our actions in nature, that supposition of mans power as cause appears dominant of the actions. At the least we must conclude that the modern sense of responsibility to order is changed from what St. Augustine understood it to be when he defined virtue as rightly ordered love. It has become rightly ordered power, the rightly justified by mans imagination.

From what I have so far argued, you will understand why I came to defend evil on one occasion. I called that lecture Coals to Newcastle, its subtitle A Defense of Evil before the Philadelphia Society in New Orleans. It was a teasing title on a subject deadly serious, an essay which yielded at last to the more sedate title, Southern Letters in the Twentieth Century: The Articulation of a Tradition. Despite the shift of title, however, the piece remains a defense of evil to our skeptical world. What I have to say there is that evil exists and must be reckoned with, a recognition at the center of Southern literature in the first half of this century and beyond. If the Southerner tends to be more generally and firmly convinced of the existence of evil than others of his countrymenpresent company perhaps exceptedit does not mean that he champions evil, though his actions and reactions may have an ambiguous cast to them, seen from prospects afar removed. The illustration I shall bring to the point is the portrait of that potentially good man, the Misfit, in Flannery OConnors story A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

You will remember that the Misfit, in the resolution of that disturbing story, very firmly rejects the modern excuses for evil which our world so efficiently insists upon through psychological and social and environmental determinisms of various hues. Any one of these deterministic accountants, upon examination, reveals himself elevated above and independent of determinism in an innocentthat is, ignorantoversight. (C.S. Lewis remarks that Freudianism is capable of explaining everything except Freud.) The Misfit very firmly rejects the old grandmothers unconvincing excuses for his violence; he clings to his evil as some sign of his particularhis personalexistence. For the world in which he finds himself has systematically denied him everything else. It attempts most particularly to deny him his own willfulness. But the Misfit is still acutely aware, as the grandmother comes only slowly to see, that willful evil threw all creation off balance, a teaching as old as Genesis. Willful Good, the New Testament teaches, comes shockingly into creation to right the balance, indeed to overcome and outweigh evil. The Misfit recognizes that this struggle toward a balance in being is the most fundamental struggle of all; because he engages the spiritual issue, he threatens to become the storys hero. His struggle is at levels deeper than the minds reason alone can account for; for the mystery of good and of evil is beyond the rational intellects unaided power. As the Misfit puts the matter:

[Jesus] thrown everything off balance. If He did what he said, then its nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if he didnt then its nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you canby killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him.

We encounter all too often the spectacular violence to being of such escapades as the Misfits murder of an anonymous family encountered at random on a Georgia back road. Our daily press is full of such incidents. Its corollary, however, OConnor expects us to come to through reflection. For there has already occurred a violence against being in the gnostic manipulations of the Misfits personhood, a subtle violation he himself recognizes but cannot contend with intellectually. The violation drives him to rage in a just cause beyond his understanding and so beyond the just limits of rage. He senses that the assumptions about him in the society that tries to deal with him is that he is an accident of random force. We do not solve social problems but rather create social monsters when man is treated first as an accident and then the particular man is denied his participation in his own being on the grounds that he is only an unfortunate accident of nature. It takes no doctor of logic to conclude that if man is such a random being, it can be only a random force that man himself uses upon his fellows, even if the user is dignified by degree as a sociologist or psychiatrist. If the determinists premise is correct, then social or psychic manipulations may establish only a random order. Thus determinism entangles mind hopelessly in contradiction.

For OConnorand for others of us Misfitsthere is a more deadly violence than the Misfits practiced in the name of social progress out of the deterministic premises. Finally, the irrational actions practiced upon our Misfits are more destructive than the Misfits own random violences. Through the insidious violence to spirit used by the gnostic, ones personhood is reduced to individual and thence to a unit of energy in an amalgam from which the world is to be restructured to suit some private or semiprivate dream of progress. The Misfits very mannerly, and at last very personal, slaughter of the grandmother is a violence of another order. Now if we cannot see this distinction as at least a possible position to hold, it is because we have been so thoroughly dislocated from a traditional understanding of mans essential nature. That traditional understanding acknowledges a Cause of all existence separate from the willful human mind. Any perceptive teacher encounters the dislocation in most of his students. The most apt illustration comes for me whenever I teach Dantes Inferno. For it is not an easy point to make clear to the modern mind that, for Dante, sin destroys the sinner; that, for Dante, this point is the most central and deadly concern of all. In a world which has lost its vision of transcendence, it is a puzzling idea indeed that the murderer is of more central concern than his victim. But even Socrates insisted that an evil action cannot harm a good man, in which belief he accepted the evil action of his death sentence unperturbed. That is the central tenet of orthodox Christianity as well, without which Christianity becomes merely a mode of social science.

The Dantean point should not be so difficult to entertain, given our world. A major philosophical question increasingly dominates our domestic political concerns. Restively, the popular spirit objects that our social directors consider the criminal more important to society than his victims. Against a seemingly pervasive defense of the criminal in the judicial systema defense whose principal source is the academic world with its array of vested social intereststhere has risen an opposition to the determinist principle and a growing demand that the victim of crime be rescued from injustice. To say that the killer is no more guilty of his crime than his knife is to say an arrestingly witty thing; to adumbrate that wit through social science and political activism has led to the creation of extensive infrastructures in the universities and to vast armies of social agents. For a long time, common sense was baffled and intimidated by such assaults, though it at last begins to reassert itself after exile. There is, for instance, a growing demand for capital punishment and for prison sentences beyond the annulment of parole boards. But there is in this new stirring an ironic complication sufficient to any good dramatist: The defenders of the victims of crime tend to be, if we notice carefully, those for whom the vision of transcendence is not entirely lost. It is they who must resolutely demand the death penalty. On the other hand, the opponents of the death penaltynot invariably so, but often enough to make a conspicuous differenceare those who have lost their orientation of mind in the transcendent. They tend to champion a secular virtue out of deterministic faith; they call it rehabilitation. They would restructure the anti-social citizen like the Misfit into a useful member of societythrough manipulation of the environment or the Misfit or both. Teach the criminal a skill and find him a job in society and he will recognize the virtue of usefulness to society.

A reminder is here in order given our emotionally confused intellectual arena. Just as one feels compelled to point out that in opposing unilateral disarmament one is not thereby championing nuclear war, so one must remind the thoughtless that in opposing unilateral disarmament of the community against willfully violent men one is not therefore endorsing willful violence. Nor am I saying that each of us does not bear a responsibility as a person and as a citizen and, above all, as a Christian (if that be our profession) to the possible rescue of the fallen. The distinction I insist we must make is in the principles out of which such rescue must be attempted. If we do so, we are prepared to see that the grandmothers gesture in OConnors story is perhaps a greater act of rescue than all of the work of social agencies that have in part driven the Misfit toward his random violence. If one does not admit the possibility of willful evil in his premises, his attempted rescue of the evil-doer is most probably going to take the form of a manipulation of being that exacerbates the problem. Against such manipulations, we may expect a proliferation of Misfits, a prophecy which we need only test in the daily press.

Those words are barely said when an instance of what I mean seizes and agitates the public mind, the trial of John Hinckley, Jr. for attempted assassination. And as an instance of a Misfit, he is particularly useful even as he is particularly confusing to the public mind, stirring up fundamental questions. For Hinckley is not poor, not disadvantaged in any of the ways that code word signifies. Neither is his victim a ghetto citizen, now or by origin. The easy social and environmental explanations such as the ones Flannery OConnors grandmother attempts to apply to the Misfit have more tenuous ground with Hinckley than with the Misfit. Both Hinckley and President Reagan are suddenly juxtaposed in national attention through a violent confrontation; age aside, we discover them of similar economic and social origins and present estate. But each represents a different centering of spiritual hungersthe one upon the self as self-justified, the other upon a service (a stewardship) of transcendent obligations. The immediate effects are not here at issue, only the spiritual ground each occupies: Hinckley fails, being a poor shot; the President may fail, being a poor economist perhaps. But the source of the actions and not the fulfillment of intention is our concern here. What the general public discovers through the celebrated case, as reflected by its surrogates, the jury, is that we have no clear understanding of the spiritual origins of action, even as we have no adequate legal instrument with which to engage the issue in the name of justice. The reports of the jurys deliberations and of statements made by individual members during and after those deliberations make of it a microcosm of the public mind, however embarrassing that admission. We see the jurors reacting to questions about the reality of event, and they are very much circumscribed in answering those questions by the pseudo-science of psychiatry. The jury, attempting to use common sense to reconcile evidence and argument to the limits imposed by law, presents itself to us in angry confusion. The law in its origin is largely the very pseudo-science that in turn is summoned to clarify action and motive. The jury is helpless. For Hinckley must be declared innocent by reason of insanity if as a result of mental disease or defect, he either lacked substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law or lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. For one juror, It just seemed like he was a sick white boy looking for someone to love him. Thus the attempted assassination was an expression of love for Jodie Foster.* To another he is clearly insane because Nobody, no matter how much money he has, would spend it like that. He pays a jet fare and stays a day. Another counters that, If he was responsible enough to come all the way to Washington, check into a hotel and pull the trigger several times, he was sane.

Hinckley, we note, is a poet too, and some of his poetry becomes crucial evidence. Is poetry fiction or not? That metaphysical question, on which Aristotle has helpful things to say, may be answered perhaps by reference to the dictionary, a latitude the judge denies. Still, one of the poets on the jury, countering the charge that the poetry shows him insane, responds, This man is a writer and writers are strange. He is not stranger than they are because he was infatuated with Jodie Foster. He shot four people.

This is the second essay in a three-part series; part one may be found here and part three here. Republished with gracious permission from Modern Age (Spring 1983).

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.

Notes:

*As if to illustrate our concern that the imagination, liberated from its proper grounding in reality, leads to intolerable dream worlds, Hinckley has a long teller delivered to The New York Times (July 8, 1982); among his assertions: My actions of March 30, 1981, the attempted assassination have given special meaning to my life and no amount of imprisonment or hospitalization can tarnish my historical deed.The shooting outside the Washington Hilton was the greatest love offering in the history of the world.At one time Miss Foster was a star and I was the insignificant fan.Now everything is changed. I am Napoleon and she is Josephine. I am Romeo and she is Juliet. I am John Hinckley, Jr. and she is Jodie Foster. Before we conclude too quickly that such ravings are proof of madness, we should first see the movie or romantic history based on the life of Hinckley, both of which are in press or in production no doubt.

The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay. Its colors have been altered.
More than 100 people packed themselves into the Hamilton County District Court room for the public hearing on the option of privatizing the Hamilton County Ambulance.

County commissioners arranged the public hearing after telling ambulance employees about their decision to explore privatization and different options for service in order to save money. Commissioners Becky Richter and Gregg Kremer, who are also ambulance service liasons, are at the forefront of the issue.

Ambulance employees greeted attendees at the front door of the court house. Beyond the doors, groups of people clustered in the center of the second floor and signed a petition to keep the ambulance service the way it is. Voices echoed as people filled the court room where the meeting was held, as well as the corridor outside of the room. The hearing was supposed to last from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Instead, it lasted until 12:40 p.m.

More than 40 people publicly voiced their opinion in front of the commissioners. Many were against the idea of privatization and only about two people were in favor of the idea. The commissioners havent made any decisions and are just weighing options.

Richter opened up the hearing.

Im not surprised at the numbers here today, Richter said.

She said everyone has a stake in public safety and community response.

But I think there are two things we can agree on. The quality of care received from the county ambulance staff is excellent and that keeping the Advanced Life Support level of care in this community is a priority, Richter said.

Richter outlined the five options for the ambulance service: status quo, growing the department, changing the department structure, full-time paid fire and rescue and privatization. She said commissioners looked at sample contracts but dont currently have a contract with a private business for ambulance services. She also said no contract is waiting to be signed.

At least two of these options are still being studied. However, no decisions have been made, Richter said.

Timothy Graham, a paramedic with the Hamilton County Ambulance spoke first.

We wholly believe the quality of care will suffer putting the well being of the citizens of Hamilton County at risk, Graham said.

Commissioner John Thomas asked Graham what he based his opinion on. Graham said if commissioners wouldve spoken to Hamilton County Ambulances former employees that work for private ambulance companies, the commissioners would get an honest opinion.

Theyre going to have their bottom dollar at what is going to be most important, Graham said about a for-profit company.

He also said if a private company hires people outside of Aurora or other communities, money wont be pumped back into the local economy.

Thomas asked Graham a candid question: If we brought a private company in here to run the ambulance service and they offered you a job, would you work for them?

Probably not, Graham said.

The crowd applauded.

Next, Doug Andersen spoke in favor of the privatization, but he got no applause.

Andersen asked the commissioners for a timeline if they decided on privatization.

Kremer responded to Andersen by reiterating that the commissioners are looking at all options.

People are asking us not to look. Theyre saying only us, only this. But weve gotta look, Kremer said.

Emotions were heightened as the hearing went on.

Don Huenefeld, a local farmer, challenged Kremer on what he said in the initial meeting with ambulance employees on how to fix the budget problem.

Huenefeld said he heard that Kremer said profits would help solve the budget problem with the ambulance. Kremer said he never remembered saying so.

Theres no profits to be made, Ill tell you that right now, Kremer said.

Mark Kubik, director of the Hamilton County Ambulance Service, and his wife Tricia also spoke out against possible privatization.

If I have to work harder and do more to see how they can trim the budget, thats fine, Well do the best we can, Mark said.

Mark also stated Kremer said it might come down to losing a couple of patients and thats OK in the meeting with the ambulance employees. Gasps and murmurs peppered the room.

Kremer denied ever saying that.

How many people do you even know in your life that would say something like that? Kremer said to Mark.

Others expressed their concern for the level of care and knowledge EMTs that a private business would bring to the county. People from fire and rescue departments and other county residents spoke, too.

Cheryl Ratzlaff said the familiarity of the ambulance employees is an important assett. If a private company takes over the service and doesnt hire the current employees or the current employees dont want to work for the company, that assett is lost.

They need to know that the people that are coming are people they can trust, Ratzlaff said of community members who may need ambulance services. I see that with these people.

Kremer said one question drives the whole privatization conversation.

How do we put a price on life? When do we say, that numbers too high?Kremer said.

He said the county cant spend limitless amounts of money on ambulance services, even though people may like to.

We do this because life is precious and we care about each other, Kremer said about spending money.

After two and a half hours at the public hearing, the commissioners finished their weekly meeting. Richter said she appreciated the participation at the hearing. Thomas said he was glad with the turnout and that its important to respect and admire the ambulance employees.

The commissioners said they have more studying to do after hearing the publics comments about the ambulances future.

Were just looking for ways to become more efficient, Thomas said.
Mekong Delta: enterprises dodge environmental regulations

VietNamNet Bridge - Despite warnings and punishments, enterprises have been using sophisticated methods to ignore regulations, damaging the environment and putting rivers in the Mekong Delta at risk.

Despite warnings and punishments, enterprises have been using sophisticated methods to ignore regulations, damaging the environment and putting rivers in the Mekong Delta at risk.



The Can Tho City Peoples Committee has released a decision on imposing a fine of VND900 million on Huy Viet  Tay Do Production & Trade Company for discharging untreated waste water to the Hau River.Prior to that, the municipal authorities handed out a fine of VND904 million on Ecotech Can Tho (non-hazardous waste treatment company) and VND400 million on Hong Linh (brick manufacturer)Most recently, on July 29, the Tra Vinh Police notified the provincial Peoples Committees decision on a fine of VND358 million on Cuu Long Seafood JSC for discharging untreated waste water into the environment.The behavior was caught red-handed by a government agency which began an investigation following criticism of local people.Another company in Tra Vinh province, the Seafood Technology Solution JSC, has also been asked to pay VND424 million in fines for discharging untreated waste water into the Long Toan River.Colonel Nguyen Hong Linh from the Can Tho City Police noted that the tricks played by the enterprises were sophisticated.They discharge waste water when it gets dark, in storm or rain. They have many sewers which bring waste water to the environment, he said. This allows them to easily erase the traces."Therefore, it is difficult for police to ambush the violators to collect evidence about their illegal behavior.The police, for example, had to spend a lot of effort to clarify the case of Phuong Duy Company in Tra Noc 2 Industrial Zone discharging untreated waste water to the Hau River in September 2015.At first, they caught a Phuong Duys worker, Nguyen Hoai An, driving a motorboat carrying a bag of black solid waste and dropping the bag into the Cai Chom Canal.If we had not observed the boat carefully, we could not have found it was discharging waste, because it was just like other normal fishing boats, a policeman said.After examining the production area, the police discovered Phuong Duy discharging waste water from two places belonging to the boiler area through two pipelines.In fact, the inspectors from the Ministry of Natural Resources & the Environment and the police had examined the company, but did not discover the pipelines.Phuong Duy was one of the companies that local people in the districts of O Mon, Cai Rang, Thot Not and Co Do have many times complained about as the discharged waste water had affected their lives.The other companies included ADC, Sohafood, Huy Viet Tay Do and Thanh Binh, a slaughterhouse. The five companies were fined a total of VND1.4 billion for violations.

Lao Dong
Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine class of 2016 alumnus Kasey Kirchner, DMD, of Mulkeytown, has earned the Academy of Osseointegrations (AO) Outstanding Dental Student in Implant Dentistry Award for 2016.

I am extremely honored and grateful to receive this award, and am eager to use this opportunity to expand my education and experience in implant dentistry, Kirchner said. Implant dentistry is an exciting field and a valuable treatment option for my future patients.

Kirchner is a resident in the SIU School of Dental Medicines Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Program. The program is designed to refine and enhance residents clinical skills and scientific knowledge, while bridging the gap between dental school and general dental practice. Upon completion of the program, Kirchner plans to practice dentistry in rural Southern Illinois.

The SIU School of Dental Medicines AEGD Program will equip me with the knowledge and skills to effectively treat patients in an office setting, Kirchner said. I hope to handle more complex cases and provide a wide range of services in order to treat patients who would not be capable of traveling long distances to see specialists.

Award winners receive a free year of AO membership and $500, among other honors. Kirchner will also receive free registration for the AO annual meeting set for March 15-18, 2017, in Orlando.

These new opportunities available at SWIC this fall

Southwestern Illinois College will expand its course offerings this fall with new training in office technology and precision machining technology.

Classes begin Aug. 20. Visit swic.edu/courses for dates, times, locations and course descriptions.

The SWIC Business Division will be offering training with Microsoft Office 2016 in the following courses:

 OAT 128 Microsoft Outlook 2016 - five-week class

 OAT 130 Microsoft Word 2016 - five-week class

 OAT 131 Microsoft Access 2016 - five-week class

 OAT 132 Microsoft Excel 2016 - five-week class

 OAT 156 Microsoft Office Suite 2016 - 16-week class

 OAT 165 Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 - 10-week class

 OAT 175 Microsoft Excel 2016 - 16-week class

 OAT 180 Microsoft Word 2016 - 16-week class

 OAT 185 Microsoft Access 2016 - 16-week class

The Technical Education Division has several new opportunities for its students this fall.

 The program will provide a Precision Measuring Certificate from Starrett and Snapon as a part of the completion of PMT 202 Cutting Tools/Fixturing/Insp. This certificate will ensure that students know how to properly use and inspect machined parts.

 Further, PMT 231 Intro to Solid Works and all computerized numerical control courses will offer training to use 3D printers after the college acquired two new 3D printers.

 Finally, the both the Machining and Industrial Maintenance labs have been expanded to meet demand.

For information about these courses, call 866-942-SWIC (7942): Business Division, ext. 5313 or Technical Education Division, ext. 7476.

VFW conducting scholarship competition

State Commander W. Dave Stout of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Department of Illinois announced the kick-off of this years VFWs Voice of Democracy Scholarship competition. Local high school students have the opportunity to compete for thousands of dollars in scholarships and a trip to Washington, D.C.

Students must write and record a three-to-five minute essay on the selected theme using an audio CD or flash drive and present their recording, typed essay and completed entry form to their local VFW Post by November 1. The 2016-17 theme selected is My Responsibility to America. Students begin by competing at the local Post level with an entry deadline of November 1. Post winners compete at the District level with the winner advancing to the state competition. All speeches are judged based on the sound recording submitted.

All state first-place winners receive a four day trip to Washington, D.C. and the chance to compete for their share of more than $150,000 in scholarships. The national first-place winner receives a $30,000 college scholarship.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) started the Voice of Democracy Scholarship program in 1947. The VFW became a national sponsor in the late 1950s and assumed sole responsibility for the program in 1961. The competition was created to provide students grades 9-12 the opportunity to express themselves in regard to democratic ideas and principles. Around 40,000 students participate in the competition each year and VFW awards more than $2 million in scholarships every year.

Interested students and teachers should contact the Voice of Democracy Chairman at their Local VFW Post or contact State VFW Headquarters at vfwil@vfwil.org for more information.

For details visit http://www.vfw.org/VOD.

2016 Metro East Start-Up Challenge offers $20,000 in prizes

Entrepreneurs and new business startups are invited to compete in the 2016 Metro East Start-Up Challenge (MESC), Southern Illinois University Edwardsvilles third annual regional business plan competition.

The Challenge is organized by the Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The purpose of the Challenge is to identify, encourage and support entrepreneurs and business startups across the SBDCs nine-county service area.

The first-place winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize. Two runners-up will receive $5,000 each. Prizewinners will also receive an array of in-kind professional services.

Sponsors include the SIUE School of Business, PNC Bank, St. Louis Regional Chamber, the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, the Cities of Edwardsville and Columbia, Riverbend Growth Association, University Park at SIUE and Artigem. SIUEs School of Business, the SBDCs host organization, will assist with facilitating the competition.

The Metro East Start-Up Challenge elevates the discussion of and support for entrepreneurship across our region, said Jo Ann Di Maggio May, SBDC interim director. The interest in the annual Challenge continues to grow with each passing year.

The 2016 Challenge invites entrepreneurs and startup businesses from four target industries: information technology, manufacturing and health care. For a startup business enterprise to be eligible, it must have been established after April 30, 2012, and be headquartered in the Illinois portion of the St. Louis Metro region (Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph counties). For pre-venture entrepreneurs, proposed new business operations will need to be located within the same nine counties.

The Metro East Start-Up Challenge includes three rounds, beginning with a brief questionnaire and executive summary submittal that is open to all applications that meet the eligibility guidelines. Participants selected for the second round are invited to expand on their business idea by submitting a full business plan. The last round is the final pitch in front of a panel of business experts.

For more information on the 2016 Challenge or to initiate the application process, go to siue.edu/metroeaststartup. The entry deadline is Friday, September 9. Semi-finalists will be announced Friday, Sept. 16, with finalists notified on Friday, Oct. 21.

The Challenge will announce its cash prizewinners on Friday, Nov. 4.

The Illinois SBDC Network is a service to the community supported, in part, by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the SIUE School of Business.

SIUE operates two Small Business Development Centers and the International Trade Center. All three Centers provide resources, information and support to entrepreneurs, and small business owners in the nine-county Metro East region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. By aiding entrepreneurs and companies in defining their path to success, the SBDC positively impacts the Metro East by strengthening the business community, creating and retaining new jobs, and encouraging new investment. When appropriate, the SBDC strives to affiliate its ties to the region to support the goals and objectives of both the SIUE School of Business and the University at large.

To learn how the SBDC can help your small business, contact the Metro East SBDC at (618) 650-2929 or sbdcedw@gmail.com.

NIU announces spring 2016 graduates

Northern Illinois University announces the awarding of graduate and undergraduate degrees at the conclusion of its spring session, Friday, May 13, 2016 and Saturday, May 14, 2016. These students have enjoyed the best of both worlds: the resources and breadth of a large university with the culture and mindset of a smaller college.

Graduates from the local area include:

Josiah Accola of Edwardsville, IL graduates from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Samantha Wehrle of Edwardsville, IL graduates from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Chartered in 1895, NIU first opened its doors as the Northern Illinois State Normal School in 1899 as a teachers college. The university has grown since into a world-class, research-focused public institution that attracts students from across Illinois, the country and the world.

IERC names Sosanya Jones as research fellow

The Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) has named Sosanya Jones, PhD, and an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, as its 2016-17 faculty research fellow.

Jones will be provided funding for her study on Incentivizing Diversity: Perceptions of the Implementation and Impact of Illinois Performance Funding Diversity Indicator.

Dr. Jones project is a perfect fit for the interests of the IERC, and we are excited to support her research on performance funding in Illinois, said Janet Holt, IERC executive director.

Jones has more than fifteen years of experience in higher education administration, teaching, and research with background as an institutional and state administrator overseeing higher education diversity and retention initiatives

A former research consultant for The Ford Foundation and The Community College Research Center, Jones currently serves as an expert adviser for the Southern Education Foundation on issues related to equity and performance funding.

The Illinois Education Research Council is an independent research organization that conducts education policy research on issues of import to the state of Illinois. Since 2009, it has been the legislated research arm of the Illinois P-20 Council. Our policy research follows important educational trends in Illinois and is disseminated through our research reports, presentations to the Illinois P-20 Council and its subcommittees, and through conference presentations.
The Edwardsville Arts Center is joining forces with the Watershed Nature Center for a unique Plein Air Painting event during the month of September. Artists can paint at the Watershed and submit images of their works for an October exhibit which will be juried at the EAC. The top 13 paintings will then be published in a 2017 calendar which will be sold at the EAC and the Watershed.

So we are finding artists to do plein air painting, which is painting the landscape outside, EAC Gallery Manager Carolyn Tidball explained. All through the month of September artists can go to the Watershed and paint what they see at the Watershed.

Artists will be able to paint at their convenience at the Watershed Nature Center between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1 during park hours. They must sign in at the Watershed office as they enter the park.

Theyll have finished paintings at the end of September which they can choose to have juried into a show which will be here at the Arts Center beginning in mid-October, Tidball added.

Artists wanting to participate in the juried exhibit can submit up to five images, either digitally or by hand, of their Watershed work to the EAC by 3 p.m. on Oct. 8 for judging. John DenHouter will serve as the juror for the exhibition and will select the top thirteen paintings which will be reproduced in full color in a 2017 monthly calendar and be available for purchase at the EAC during the holiday season. In addition, all other selected entries will be published on the artists birth date throughout the calendar.

DenHouter is an associate professor of art at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He holds a BFA degree and an MFA degree in medical and biological illustration from the University of Michigan as well as an MFA degree in painting from Eastern Michigan University. He is an experienced plein air painter having produced hundreds of landscapes in both watercolor and oil. His studio and plein air paintings have been exhibited in over 170 competitive and invitational exhibitions regionally and nationally and have garnered numerous awards.

An exhibition of the artists plein air paintings will be displayed in the Main Gallery of the EAC from Oct. 21 to Nov. 18. An opening reception is scheduled for Oct. 21 in the evening.

The application fee of $25 for a professional/adult or $15 for students up to the age of 22 will serve as a dual membership for the EAC and the Watershed Nature Center. Children/Student artists, age eight to 22, can enter into a special children/student category.

Participants are encouraged to come paint at the Watershed Nature Center on Sept. 2 and be a part of a meet and greet with other artists and the public. Refreshments will be provided.

For more details or to register for this event, visit the EACs website at www.edwardsvilleartscenter.com or the EAC which is located at 6165 Center Grove Rd. in Edwardsville.

The Watershed Nature Center is located at 1591 Tower Ave. in Edwardsville.
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Linkedin Hans Lukiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

As the Association of Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs (HIPMI) prepared to send a delegation to the recent ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Carnival and the second ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Council Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the question was: whats the reason for the indifference of Indonesian youth toward ASEAN?



On all three main pillars of ASEAN integration, Indonesia and its fellow ASEAN members are vastly behind schedule. HIPMI believes that a lack of youth engagement with the larger ASEAN community, both socially and economically, stems from a lack of infrastructure for young entrepreneurs and a lack of depth in education on ASEAN.



A prime example of entrepreneurship supporting infrastructure within ASEAN is that of Singapore. As early as 1989, the government sought to create a milieu in which entrepreneurship could flourish. This desire was shaped by the recession of 1985 and the realization that internal economic resilience could be supported by entrepreneurship on a small and medium enterprise (SME) level. The 1989 SME master plan and the 2000 SME21 master plan are the main foundations on which Singapores supremacy of entrepreneur infrastructure in ASEAN are built on.



The Singapore Productivity, Innovation and Growth (SPRING) Agency, working together with education and industry authorities, plays a pivotal role in developing talent and attracting world-class research and development and production/manufacturing to Singapore.



What difference does well-considered, well-implemented and sustained investment in entrepreneurial infrastructure make? In 2012, 56,778 new businesses were registered in Singapore. In the same year, Indonesia registered 47,549.



Superficially, there is support for entrepreneurs in Indonesia, but the entrepreneurial infrastructure has not changed much. The business sectors in which innovation occurs in Indonesia are not products of government policy but rather happened independently of any bureaucratic help.



And investment in entrepreneurial infrastructure does not mean direct equity investment or handouts for startups  it means having soft (regulatory regime, educational structure and quality, etc.) and hard (permanent startup space/communities, integrated education, industry and research collaboration geographies, etc.) infrastructure.



Some tech startups that are currently doing Indonesia proud are arguably doing well because there is a lack of regulatory clarity from the government. The track record of the government in supporting business through beneficial regulatory regimes is dire indeed  witness the law on mineral and coal mining.



The ASEAN Economic Community came into full effect on Jan. 1, and according to its establishing tenets should allow the free flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labor and freer movement of capital across the region. The economy is only one facet of ASEAN integration.



An informal survey involving our members, however, revealed that close to none were aware of how exporting to fellow ASEAN members could potentially be faster and less cumbersome bureaucratically than exporting to, say, China or Brazil.



Internal studies by the ASEAN Secretariat and think tanks agree that the ASEAN Economic Communitys benefits for entrepreneurs are not well understood at all in Indonesia.



In 2007, the ASEAN Studies Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute (Malaysia) undertook a survey of university students in ASEAN titled Awareness and Attitudes Towards ASEAN. The only university surveyed in Indonesia in 2007 was the University of Indonesia. When the study was updated in 2014, University of Syiah Kuala, Aceh and Nusa Cendana University in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, were added to the Indonesian survey population. Over seven years, a small increase was noted in positive attitudes toward ASEAN and recognition of the flag  meaning that so very little has been achieved.



Had the surveys included questions on practicable knowledge of how to do business in ASEAN, surely the results would have been calamitous. If we do not equip and educate our young citizens, aside from endangering their economic welfare, we risk creating an environment in which defensive nationalism becomes the norm instead of engagement with our ASEAN peers, potentially setting the scene for a Brexit-like situation.



The reality is that Indonesia was one of the last countries to make a concerted effort to have ASEAN-related courses in high-school and university. Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta opened Indonesias first ASEAN Studies Center in 2013. How can Indonesia accelerate acceptance of ASEAN among those most in need, and how can we prepare those most ill-equipped for intra-ASEAN competition if nobody is sharing practical and actionable information? Singapore set up its first ASEAN Studies Center in 2008 and Malaysia in 2004.



Aside from ASEAN-related instruction, our education system is not set up to give graduates money-earning skills upon release into the wild, without any practical work experience for the knowledge-based economy.



In contrast, a higher education survey by the Research Centre for Tertiary Education and Qualifications at Kyushu University in Japan revealed that as early as 2002, 85.3 percent of graduates in Japan and 53.9 percent in Germany had undergone work experience during university, showing the development of practical skills to be well entrenched in the educational system.



The good news is that with the current Cabinet, fresh from a reshuffle, there is a real chance of putting a long-term plan in place to ensure that Indonesias youth are competitive in ASEAN. While conglomerates undeniably remain an integral part of Indonesias economy, boosting entrepreneurship will increase the nations resilience and more equitably distribute socioeconomic welfare.



We pin our hope on the government to set in place a road map that will in the short to medium term put Indonesias entrepreneurial infrastructure on a par with our intra-ASEAN rivals. Show Indonesias youth what ASEAN is really about, how to take advantage of the benefits of the trade bloc, provide them with infrastructure, and they will do the rest themselves.

***

The author is a member of the international affairs division at the Association of Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs (HIPMI) and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin)

---------------

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. For more information click here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Faiza Mardzoeki Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Indonesia has now been independent for 71 years. What has been achieved, especially for women?

The first thing to note is that there is no discrimination against women in the 1945 Constitution, which refers to all the people of Indonesia.

Since the first elections in 1955, women have had the right to vote. Nobody questioned that. No surprise then that women have played roles on the battlefield and in politics, and also in education, although there is still great inequality.

Besides a female president, Megawati Soekarnoputri (2001-2004), several Cabinet ministers, a governor, regents and mayors have been women.

However, many women who grew up during the 32 years of the New Order have suffered from new conservative pressures. These are the Golkar children, products of the period when Soehartos Golkar party was everywhere.

My father was a civil servant and thus my mother was active in the Dharma Wanita womens organization of the bureaucracy, which was mandatory for civil servants wives.

Her position in the organization followed her husbands position at work. These wives were also active in the Family Welfare Movement (PKK). The PKK was active from the capital right down to the neighborhood level.

The PKK teams, comprising community leaders and officials wives, organized various activities e.g nutrition counseling for families, services for mothers, babies and children and so on. All these activities defined women as creatures of the domestic realm.

School was another place where we were indoctrinated with conservative ideas. We were taught how women, through PKK and Dharma Wanita, were pillars of the state and pioneers for the motherland.

Even our greatest progressive female thinker Kartini, who was way ahead of her time at the turn of

the century, was turned into a symbol of such conservatism, a figure demure in her traditional dress, depicted as the ideal feminine daughter.

At the time there was another ugly depiction of a certain kind of woman. This story was told through what was said about Gerwani (Indonesian Womens Movement). We were taught that Gerwani was an organization of evil women, associated with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), who were of low morals and who tortured captive military heroes by cutting their genitals. So politically active women, as distinct from domestically serving women, were bad.

However they never gave us Gerwani material to read for ourselves or allowed us to meet a Gerwani woman. This scary picture of Gerwani and these women meant that just hearing the word Gerwani silenced us.

Despite more women moving into politics and higher education, the New Order experience continued to define women as essentially creatures of the domestic space. So not once did I hear at school or anywhere about the individual woman and her rights. The word rights (hak) was not in the lexicon of the woman who was to be the servant of the family and the state.

When Soeharto fell in 1998, with great political turmoil fuelled by, among other things, student and peoples demonstrations, including women through groups like Suara Ibu Peduli (Voice of Concerned Mothers), the situation changed.

One product of this activist ferment gave birth to the movement for a 30 percent quota of women in political parties and the parliament. There was only minimal opposition from the patriarchy as womens votes were important. Another product of the reformasi period was the establishment of the National Commission on Violence Against Women.

In the public sphere, Indonesian women have made many positive achievements. But lets look at the everyday problems still encountered by many.

If you are a woman under the age of 30, you will often encounter the question, Are you married yet? To not be married is still seen as something strange and unnatural: an avoidance of a womans natural destiny.

This continues even as there are more women who dont marry, or decide not to have children, especially in big cities like Jakarta.

This aggressive assertion that a woman has a natural destiny to which she must conform to not only impacts the unmarried woman, but also those who have married.

How many times will somebody, another woman usually, suddenly start caressing ones tummy: Something inside, yes? A married woman whose tummy is not a six-pack can often incur this invasion of physical territory.

Relating to each other as one womb to another, rather than as one human to another, is assumed to be something natural among many women.

All these behaviors are imposed from childhood, with women themselves having no say in accepting them or not. Women are still defined as the wife or the mother; someone who is aware of the limits imposed upon her by her alleged natural destiny.

Friends who have chosen to remain single or have no children are often motivated by their commitment to work, their profession or other endeavors. They are often the backbone of families and often sustain even the extended family.

They realize how difficult it is to materially support a family and meet the needs of children in todays world, especially when living in big cities. So, consciously, they choose to have just one child or not to have children at all.

We see it too in a broader context, how thousands of women are permitted to fly to distant lands to work. They leave their children and their husband and his extended family to earn a living for their family. Family, village, country; all gladly accept the contributions from the labor of these women without ever questioning how the state works. And still, it is the man/husband who is positioned as the family head who determines the policy of family life.

And so, the first question to a woman should not just be: Sudah kawin belum? (Are you married yet?) but Where are you working? or What are you doing these days? as would be asked of a man.

As long as women are seen as having a narrowly defined kodrat or natural destiny, they will not be able to enjoy fundamental freedoms. Only when women are fully seen as equal human beings, defined only by what they are able to do and achieve, will they have real rights: freedom to work, freedom from violence and sexual harassment and freedom from a sexist culture.

Only then will our Constitution have real meaning.

_____________________________________

The writer is a playwright, a director and a theater producer and co-founder of Institut Ungu (Purple Institute, Womens Art and Cultural Space ).
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Linkedin Amelia Fauzia and Amir Maruf (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Scholars in political science, religious studies, sociology and many other fields may debate and offer long answers about whether there is a correlation between these three. Recently, we came across new research findings leading to a correlation between them during the 11th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies held by the Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore from July 12 to 14. After learning about democracy and citizenship in Southeast Asia  and specifically Indonesia  from Henk Schulte Nordholt, two research presentations on vote buying in Indonesia wrapped up the correlation between religion, citizenship, and democracy.

In his keynote address, Nordholt talked about citizenship in the process of the democratization of Southeast Asia. Using cases and data from grassroots and village levels, he argued that democratization in todays Southeast Asia does not transform people into the quality of citizenship. It is a patronage democracy that links villages to capitals through political parties and electoral clientelism. Strong patronage creates politics of relationship, not citizenship; it offers development in exchange for loyalty to the ruling power, either through kinship, ethnic background, religious affiliation, mass organizations, or political parties.

In this relationship scheme, religion remains a strong entity. However, it is being used as a tool to gain power. It seems that electoral democracy has little effect on the quality of citizenship.

In a panel on Indonesia and democracy, two scholars (Ahmad Muhajir and Burhanuddin Muhtadi) talked about vote buying during the general election. They both used quantitative public surveys, as well as observation and in-depth interviews. It is terrible  although unsurprising  to learn the enormous approximate amount of money poured out to potential (loyalist and swing) voters as well as to brokers. One potential voter in a certain district could obtain five to seven envelopes that each contained between Rp 50,000 (US$3.82) and Rp 100,000.

Both scholars talked about Muslim candidates, including from Islamist parties. Fatwas (religious decrees) that forbid and condemn money politics issued by major Islamic organizations seem to be empty appeals to candidates of legislative elections. According to both presenters, these candidates thought that investing money into voters would not guarantee they could win the election. However, they believed that if they did not invest, they would certainly not win. With this logic, most candidates in any election are maneuvered to spoil their potential voters.

Both researchers find no correlation between religiosity and vote buying. It does not mean the more religious, the more likely person will not involve in the practice of vote buying. Also, Muhajir finds that Muslim candidates justified the vote buying with two Islamic jurisprudential (fiqh) reasons: charitable giving and emergency action. We will explain the two below.

Charity is among the important teachings in Islam that has been institutionalized in zakat (obligatory alms), waqf (endowment) and many other forms of sedekah (donations). Islamic charitable practices have been embedded in local tradition, practiced from direct giving, to semi-organized to professional organizations. Approximate estimates of total annual donations given by Indonesian Muslims in 2016 stood at Rp 30.6 trillion (based on a calculation of UIN Jakartas finding in 2003, which amounted Rp19.3 trillion  this calculation excludes waqf).

While giving is highly commended, vote buying is justified as being undertaken with good intentions to help the poor. Those candidates who bought votes lie behind a fiqh precept that reads, all actions are based on the intentions that they indeed want to give charity.

Another fiqh justification is the darurah/darurat (emergency) principle, saying that in any situation of emergency we may do unlawful acts or leave liability. However, the way Muslim individuals and communities construct the meaning and context of emergency may be brought into the socio-political realms. Examples of extreme cases were robberies of banks and jewelry shops a few years ago, which were carried out by terrorist groups using the doctrine of fai (spoils) and a perceived emergency. For those legislative candidates and politicians, losing the chance of becoming members of the legislature may be (socially) life threatening. Therefore, corruption cases by members of the legislature do not reduce in number because of the abuse of this emergency principle, either.

The research findings on vote buying show interconnectivity between religion, citizenship and democracy. Indeed, democracy is a long-term process that internalizes various aspects of society, including religion. As long as religion, democracy and citizenship remain as institutional symbols, stories about vote buying and the politics of relationship will remain around us. Not only will those politicians remain for a few years to come  since there is no serious law enforcement yet  but so will the people who are happy to receive money for their votes. It does not mean electoral democracy is totally bad. It helps support a relatively strong civil society in Indonesia to create a better system. In the end, we wanted to remind you that we do have many clean politicians and government officials who could gradually put value into citizenship, spirituality and morality and someday put value into our democracy.



***

Amelia Fauzia is a Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, with a Master's degree from the University of Leiden and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. Among her latest publications is Faith and the State: A History of Islamic Philanthropy in Indonesia (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013) and Filantropi Islam: Sejarah dan Kontestasi Masyarakat Sipil dan Negara di Indonesia (Yogyakarta: Gading-lkis, 2016). Amelia's current research is about Islamic philanthropic networks in Southeast Asia.

Amir Maruf graduated from the Arabic literature department, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta in 1994 and took selected Master's degree subjects on information technology from RMIT in 2007. He is an independent social observer, specializing in religion and community detection.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Yogyakarta pop-punk outfit Endank Soekamti is set to release a 360o movie titled Vlog Fest 2016 The Movie to coincide with Indonesias Independence Day on Aug. 17

With a 50-minute duration, the band claims the movie is the longest 360o film ever. Vlog Fest 2016 The Movie tells the story of eight video bloggers (vloggers), Erix, Ari, Dory, Ulog, Lanang, Bagus, Isa and Ipang, who document their Mount Bromo exploration in July 2016.

(Read also: Guess what?: Endank Soekamti releases new album with unique promos)

The reason why we chose Mount Bromo is to play a part in showing the beauty of nature, as well as the panoramic view of this tourism destination, which is one of Indonesias assets, Erix Soekamti, actor and producer of the movie, said in an official statement.

The usage of 360o format in the making of this movie is a form of innovation, utilizing technology to the maximum. It is also to maintain Endank Soekamti's commitment to always bring something fresh in our work.

(Read also: Endank Soekamti bids farewell to drummer)

The small-budget independent movie is produced by Bagoes Kresnawan and will reportedly be distributed for free through Vlog Fests official site on Aug. 17. The physical copy of the movie has been for sale via a separate site since Aug. 14.

The physical copy of Vlog Fest 2016 The Movie comes with merchandise, which includes Virtual Reality (VR) glasses and a USB drive containing the raw movie data and behind-the-scenes clips. All profit from physical sales will be used to fund Does University, an informal school built by Erix Soekamti. (asw)
In a busy assembly hangar of PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) stands a new light transport airplane. Dozens of men in blue overalls walk back and forth under the arched roof, carrying out different tasks to restore Indonesias aerospace industry to its former glory. by Marguerite Afra Sapiie

The movement of the engineers gravitates toward the aircraft, a white, twin-engine, 19-seater commuter airplane code-named N-219. N stands for Nusantara (Archipelago).

Twenty-one years after the historic first flight of the N-250 on Aug. 10, 1995, Indonesia finally has another homegrown airplane, designed and built by the nations own people.

Budi Sampurno, the project manager for the N-219, walked The Jakarta Post team members across the white, painted floor in the hangar of state-owned aerospace company DI in Bandung, West Java. As they approached the plane from the front, all eyes were captivated by the object of pride for Indonesias aerospace industry, measuring 20 meters in wingspan.

Budi looked at the aircraft as if it was his own child. The N-219 stood in a blue steel construction called an aircraft jig, where workers attach components to a plane. We use local vendors to supply 80 percent of the jig and other manufacturing tools, Budi, who is in his late 60s, said proudly. The N-219 is a national program, so we want to involve local industries as much as we can.

While its predecessor, N-250, was a state-of-the-art aircraft at the time, the N-219 was designed to fit its purpose: to serve remote areas and connect the vast archipelago, as mandated by Indonesias founding fathers. Although the company has recorded many achievements, N-219 is considered DIs first giant leap since the development of the N-250 by PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), DIs former name.

The N-219 is a breakthrough that will help DI rise again, Budi said.

Graduated from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and specializing in structure design engineering, Budi has led a team of 350 engineers to develop the N-219 since 2011. Although most of the team members are men, 20 percent are women.

After massive layoffs in 2003, when the company dismissed 6,600 of its 9,600 workers, the company lacked skillful engineers to build the N-219 in 2011. For the project, it recruited almost 100 young graduates from universities across Indonesia, including ITB, Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, UGM in Yogyakarta, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya as well as North Sumatera University (USU) in Medan. (The Jakarta Post/ I.G. Dharma J.S)

DI also brought back at least 25 retired engineers, who in the process of developing the aircraft are accompanied by three to four young engineers. This way, the youngsters are expected to foster their skills and accumulate experience before they take over the development of the aerospace industry.

The team is divided into specific tasks: structure and system analysis, design department, flight physic analysis and flight test analysis. Most of the team, up to 200 of 350 engineers, are involved in the structure and system analysis and design department.

The project, which used less than US$100 million, is sponsored by the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry as well as the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN).

Moving forward despite tough times

The plan to commercially produce the N-250 was canceled due to the Asian economic crisis in 1997. Inspired by the vision of former vice president and third president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, IPTNs N-250 aimed to connect all cities and remote areas in Indonesia.

Under the fourth president, Abdurrahman Wahid, IPTN was reborn into Dirgantara Indonesia in 2000. Instead of striving to develop another N-250, DI decided to become a business-oriented company. It went through a long restructuring phase, which included the massive layoffs.

In desperate times, in early 2000, DI had to accept an order to produce cooking pan molds. Some of the employees still look back at that time with bitterness. In 2007, a court declared DI bankrupt.

However, the company continued to receive orders from global aerospace companies. Some of the achievements included forming joint ventures with British Aerospace to produce Airbus A380 wing parts, with Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) to produce Super Puma helicopter tails, and with Construcciones Aeronauticas SA (CASA) aka Airbus Military (now Airbus Defense and Space) to develop the CN-235. The medium-range twin-engine transport aircraft attracted a bulk of orders from countries around the world.

But DI had bigger dreams.

With the CASA C-212 Aviocar as its benchmark, DI enlisted help from the Industry Ministry in 2011 to complete a prototype

for Indonesias very own short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) aircraft N-219. It closely collaborated with LAPAN in designing the aircrafts materials and components. (Indonesian Aerospace)

Its small yet efficient size makes the N-219 useful not only as a passenger aircraft, but also for military and cargo transportation, medical evacuation, as well as surveillance and maritime patrolling.

Since 2014, the development has received official funding from the state budget. Initially scheduled to carry out its first flight this month, DI delayed the date due to technicalities with the certification process.

The maiden flight is now planned for November, when DI plans to fly two N-219 aircraft, piloted by four senior pilots: Esther Gayatri Saleh, QA Supriyadi, Adibudi Atmoko and Novirsta M. Rusli.

As of April 2016, DI is reported to have spent around Rp 500 billion (US$38 million) on the N-219 aircraft production and certification.

The latter is expected to conclude in 2017. (The Jakarta Post/ Wienda Parwitasari)

During the rollout in December 2015, President Joko Jokowi Widodo reaffirmed his administrations full support for the propeller planes development in a speech delivered by then-Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who represented Jokowi at the ceremony.

The President would like to see the nation hold competitive value as the ASEAN economic community develops, Luhut said.

Connecting the archipelago

A few years after the declaration of Independence in 1945, the nascent nation of Indonesia envisioned connecting the vast archipelago using airplanes and ships. First president Sukarno in 1950 sent a batch of young Indonesians abroad to study aerospace and maritime technology. Among the fourth batch in 1954 was Habibie, a brilliant young man who later followed in the steps of his predecessor in aerospace technology: Nurtanio Pringgoadisuryo.

Nurtanio Pringgoadisuryo (left) and Wiweko Soepono (right), were Indonesias aerospace industry pioneers. But it was Nurtanio, who died while flying a used Super Aero he had modified in 1966, who became known as the father of the national aerospace industry. (photo: tni-au.mil.id)

In 1976, Indonesia established IPTN, at the time the N stood for Nurtanio, not Nusantara. Habibie was the first president director of IPTN. He was sent abroad along with the young people who were expected to connect the archipelago using either airplanes or ships. Thus, Habibies N-250 was designed for connecting the 17,000 islands of the archipelago.

That vision continued with the N-219.

Our main target is to produce the most suitable aircraft for Indonesias remote regions, said DIs director of technology and development, Andi Alihsjahbana.

What makes the N-219 different is its design, which we have specifically developed to fulfill the countrys needs. It is to be used particularly for transportation in remote regions and small islands. Indonesia needs a great number of this kind of aircraft, said Andi, who studied mechanical engineering at ITB, Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University.

It is not that easy. We havent developed any new aircraft since the N-250, and we have to start a new one from scratch. It needs some time to rejuvenate, to start thinking and be innovative, Andi laughed a bit as he spoke.

Some local companies have been ordered to build components that were usually imported, such as landing gears, rubber components and tooling. DI strives to keep the local content for the N-219 aircraft above 60 percent. Other important components, such as the engine and the avionic system, are still imported from Canada and the US, respectively.

Said to have a bigger cabin yet come at a lower price (US$5 million) than its competitor, the $8 million Twin Otter, the N-219 has captured the eyes of many.

DI received nearly 200 letters of intent from a number of local administrations, such as Aceh and Papua, as well as local airlines, including Lion Air, Kartika Air and Nusantara Buana Air. In the international market, some African and Southeast Asian countries are considering to purchase the aircraft.

We are very confident that our airplane can compete internationally, Andi said.

Dreams of the future

While the future of Indonesias aerospace industry looks promising given the N-219s market potential, former Indonesian Air Force chief of staff Chappy Hakim said the companys production track record had yet to show a robust performance.

DIs backbone has been the CN-235, the medium-range twin-engine transport aircraft produced in a joint venture between DI and CASA, now Airbus Defense and Space, a division of European company Airbus Group. Chappy said that even with its trademark work for the CN-235, DI had yet to show consistency in its production capacity.

The CN-235s inconsistent production, he said, was the main reason why the companys growth remained slow.

A Presidential Airways Casa CN-235-10 with 53rd Movement Control Battalion (Echelons Above Corps) is parked on the flight line on Dover Air Force Base, Del., March 30, 2009, as it receives maintenance. The aircraft is used to move passengers, palettes and mail. It can carry twice as much as the Casa C-212 Aviocar aircraft and requires three crew members on all missions. (U.S. Army photo by Pvt. Cody A. Thompson)

However, the aviation expert remained optimistic. If DI focused on further developing the N-219, it could easily enter international markets, Southeast Asia in particular, since air transportation facilities in the region often could not accommodate bigger aircraft.

As part of the requirements for obtaining certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) at the Transportation Ministry, the N-219 is scheduled to take a wing structure test on Aug. 10, where the aircraft must prove its ability to carry up to 3.3 tons of passengers and cargo, 500 kilograms more than its competitor, the Canadian STOL Twin-Otter, can hold.

The company aims for the N-219 to obtain the DGCAs airworthiness certificate to enter flight operations in August 2017. It would enter commercial production in early 2017. The company is expected to produce six aircraft in the first year. Once orders reach 40 units, it aims to increase its manufacturing capacity to 12 units per year. Delivery to the first customers is targeted for 2018.

If we can produce the N-219 in great numbers, I believe it can strongly propel the aviation industry, air transportation infrastructure as well as economic growth, Chappy said.

I am optimistic, always, Chappy said, smiling. Indonesia has the potential to lead in the global market, if we do it right.

After N-219 production has been completed, two further aircraft are scheduled for development; the N-245 with a 50 passenger seating capacity and the N-270 with a 70 passenger seating capacity. (Indonesian Aerospace)

The N-219 might not be as sophisticated as the N-250. But it was designed to realize the dream of Indonesias founding fathers: to develop the nation by connecting the archipelago using planes from the countrys own aerospace industry.

That dream echoes through generations, and many believe it is time to turn it into reality  including Afrizal, the 30 year-old task leader for propulsion system analysis in the N-219 project. The bachelor of aerospace engineering from ITB said his vision of constructing an airplane lived on as he took part in the development of the aircraft.

Like the moon orbiting the earth, the N-219s design also revolved around the conditions of Indonesia, Afrizal said.

I am sure that the N-219 has the right features to build air bridges in Indonesia, Afrizal said with a palpable sense of hope in his voice.
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, August 15 2016

As the gubernatorial election draws closer, Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and his political rivals have been attacking each other, raising concerns about racism that could lead to clashes among their grassroots supporters.



In a meeting with businessman Sandiaga Uno at City Hall on Friday, Ahok reportedly scolded Sandiaga, who has been officially nominated by the Gerindra Party as its governor candidate, accusing the party of SARA campaign tactics and provoking evicted residents of Pasar Ikan, North Jakarta, against him.



SARA stands for suku (ethnicity), agama (religion), ras (race) and antar golongan (societal groups).



Political analyst Hendri Satrio said the racism issue could be contained if figures who feature prominently in media coverage stopped alleging SARA-related campaigns or statements without any proof.



One of the figures often bringing up the issue of SARA [campaigning] is Ahok. He often said that he was a victim of a racist campaign, without any proof. He should stop giving space to the issue, Hendri of Paramadina University told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.



He said he believed that Ahok, an Indonesian of Chinese descent and a Christian, attempted to gain sympathy from voters by raising SARA issues.



In Jakarta, it is proven that SARA has no impact on votes. Voters in Jakarta are rational, Hendri said, adding that according to a recent survey by the Indonesian Public Opinion Research and Discussion Group (Kedai Kopi), SARA was unlikely to have a significant impact on voters.



He acknowledged, though, that the issue could easily affect voters of a poor educational background.



He said SARA-related campaigns could not be avoided in a country with diverse social backgrounds, like Indonesia.



SARA, he added, was the easiest message to be delivered to the public. Hence, it was often used in election campaigns in the hope of gaining more votes.



On Saturday, the Gerindra Party reported Ahok to the Jakarta Police for defamation for calling the party racist during a meeting with Sandiaga on the previous day.



We are the party that nominated Ahok in 2012. How could we be racist yet nominate him as a nobody to become the vice governor and great like now? the partys advocacy division head, Habiburokhman, asked.



He said Ahok, as quoted by many media outlets, accused Gerindra members of attacking the incumbent governor using SARA tactics.



He [Ahok] should mention names if there are [party members that used racism], Habiburokhman said, denying that any party members had resorted to such tactics.



On Friday Ahok, who has secured backing from the Hanura Party, the Golkar Party and the Nasdem party, said he had asked Sandiaga and his party to campaign peacefully.



I told him that his people [Gerindra] are not respectful, as they often provoke residents [of Pasar Ikan] not to accept me visiting the area, he said.



But the milk has already been spilled, as it appears racism could not be kept out of the campaign.



During the Lebaran Betawi festival on Sunday, the Forum Betawi Rempugs (FBR) Lutfi Hakim publicly urged attendants not to vote for any governor candidate whose religion or race were not the same as theirs.



He likened the matter to the struggle of Betawi hero Kyai Noer Ali against Dutch colonial rulers.



Why was Kyai Noer Ali against the Dutch even though they built railway stations for Jakarta? It is because of pride and Gods instruction, he added. Hence, as Betawi people, we agree to rise together. Hopefully, in 2017, the governor will be a Betawi or there will at least be a Betawi candidate in the election.



Lutfi then went on to claim that Ahok did not respect Muslim residents with his orders to evict people from Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta, last year and Pasar Ikan, North Jakarta, earlier this year.



He said that Ahoks decision to clear the areas was a hurtful action that should be combated.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, August 15 2016

It has been a tradition for anyone holding the religious affairs post to lead the prayer during the Independence Day celebration. And this year, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saefuddin may have just started a new tradition: He invited his followers on Twitter to help him draft the prayer.

His Twitter account, which has more than 214,000 followers, has since received an enormous amount of tweets from netizens. Some expressed their hopes that the country would remain peaceful and be more tolerant, while others took the chance to share typical online gags with the minister.

Currently I am still drafting the prayer and apparently many of my followers on Twitter have highlighted the pluralism, tolerance and peace in the country, Lukman told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

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Linkedin Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

Indonesias export figures hit the lowest monthly value since 2009 in July as imports to major destinations the US, China and Japan tumbled.



Julys exports reached US$9.51 billion, the lowest monthly level since July 2009 and a 17.02 percent drop from the same month a year ago, according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) released Monday.



Shipments of Indonesian non-oil and gas products to the top three export destinations saw big declines in July year-on-year (yoy), namely a 39 percent drop for the US to $991 million, a 34 percent plunge for Japan to $821.6 million and a 25 percent contraction with China to $915.7 million.



China, which has historically been Indonesias biggest trading partner, is adjusting to a new economic growth rate of 6.5 percent to 7 percent from a double digit rate in previous years.



The government should see the continuously declining exports as a warning and work to increase it. Of course the government cannot control the global economic slowdown, but it can at least work to widen the trade surplus by increasing exports [to non-traditional export destinations], National Economic and Industry Committee (KEIN) deputy chairman Arif Budimanta said following the data release.



The BPS also called on the government to focus on other potential export destinations aside from the countrys traditional markets in order to increase exports. Countries suggested by the agency included the Philippines and Switzerland.



The government needs to be vigilant because the drop in exports to China represents [weakness] in domestic activities, meaning demand drops. The government can no longer depend on commodities exports. It needs to consider switching to the manufacturing industry, Samuel Sekuritas economist Lana Soelistianingsih said, adding that the figures were not a positive sign for economic activities in Indonesia in the coming months.



The drop in exports was larger than the drop in imports, she said, which showed that demand for Indonesian products and commodities was slowing, indicating that the global economic slowdown was here to stay.



Thus, Indonesia must not rely on exports to support the economy, she said. Lana added that the government should speed up spending on raw and auxiliary as well as capital goods to ensure strong economic activity in the near future.



BPS chairman Suryamin, however, said the drop in economic activity was nothing to worry about and claimed it was a seasonal occurrence caused by Idul Fitri. A similar drop in trade activities occurred in previous years during the Islamic holiday, he said.



He expected trade activities to pick up the following month as activities returned to normal.



I think July will be the lowest point for Indonesia this year in terms of trade activities. Im sure we will see better trade activities for the rest of the year, he said during a press conference at his office in Jakarta on Monday.



Further, July imports plunged for the 22nd consecutive month by 11.56 percent yoy to $8.92 billion. Suryamin explained that imports of consumer goods were worrisome as they saw a significant increase compared to capital goods and raw and auxiliary goods. From January to July, consumer goods imports reached $6.8 billion, a 12.31 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Despite the high enthusiasm seen in every tax amnesty program dissemination event held throughout the country, the number of program participants are still below the government's target, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Ani Indrawati said on Monday evening.

"Regarding the increase in the number of participants, is still far from what is targeted. So, as the finance minister, I will continue to investigate," Ani said after a meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the State Palace on Monday evening.

Ani said businesspeople needed to consider participating in the government's flagship program to increase tax revenues and spur economic growth.

She added that her ministry would also communicate with the Indonesian Employers Association on asset conversion of special purpose vehicle (SPV) companies, which is often used to secure assets and liabilities overseas. "We are preparing a finance ministerial regulation to address that need. So hopefully there's no reason for them to not participate," Ani said.

As of Monday, the total amount of declared and repatriated assets stood at Rp 26.7 trillion from 4,203 taxpayer, of which Rp 22.7 trillion comprised domestic assets declared, Rp 2.97 trillion overseas assets declared, and the remaining Rp 1.03 trillion repatriated assets. Meanwhile, redemption had amounted to Rp 545 billion, or 0.3 percent of the government's target of Rp 165 trillion. (dmr)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

At least 22 foreign inmates serving sentences at several penitentiaries in Bali will enjoy special remissions in celebration of Indonesias 71st independence day, which will fall on Wednesday.

"Most of them are drug-related convicts, Sulistiono, the head of the Bali branch of the Law and Human Rights Ministry, said as quoted by Antara news agency in Denpasar on Tuesday.

Sulistiono did not name names but revealed that those set to receive remissions comprised two US inmates, four Australians, two Dutch nationals, one Briton, one German, one Italian, one Russian, one Nigerian, three Thais, two Malaysians, three Filipinos and one Bangladeshi.

Balis penitentiary authorities conferred remissions on 902 inmates, with each remission ranging from one month to six months. (dmr)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

The full-day school plan proposed by Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy needs to be backed up with a strong and clear concept to reduce escalating public controversy, experts have said.

To create a strong concept, the minister should first have a clear picture of the most fundamental problems facing the countrys education system, Ibnu Hamad, a former spokesperson for the Culture and Education Ministry, said over the weekend. Ibnu now works as a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

The ministry should prepare a clear roadmap for the countrys education system that refers to the eight criteria of the national educational standards, he said during a discussion held in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

Dont you love birthday celebrations? Well, in mid-August there are two very special birthdays. One falls on the 15th and the other on the 17th, one was born in 1947, the other in 1945, so, 69and 71 respectively.

Spring chickens  for countries that is, because of course Im talking about India and Indonesia.

One happens to be my country of birth, and the other my country of citizenship.

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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post)  Tue, August 16 2016

India seeks to tap into the success of its ties with Indonesia in order to forge a stronger alliance that will further foster the phenomenon of the Asian awakening.

The twin forces of Indonesia and India, which once played a large role in influencing the geopolitical scene of the 20th century, need to be harnessed once again as the two countries celebrate their respective independence days and long-standing partnership almost in concert, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Nengcha Lhouvum said.

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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

Indonesia has called on its fellow ASEAN member states to work together to further safeguard their collective home in Southeast Asia following an eventful year that has seen distrust among neighbors ebb and flow.

In a speech commemorating ASEANs 49th anniversary on Monday, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said the time was right for member states to reflect on key challenges ahead of the blocs golden jubilee next year and overcome them together.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called on the nation to leave its comfort zone and prepare to face extremely severe and fierce global competition. He made the call in his remarks at the annual meeting of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"Without the courage to leave our comfort zone, we will be trapped in poverty, unemployment and inequality. We need some breakthroughs, fast work, as well as powerful and effective state institutions to overcome the three main problems," Jokowi said.

In addition, he continued, the country needs to firmly uphold the nations ideology, the constitution and the five principles of Pancasila. "The grandeur of our nation will fade away if we are lacking in any of these."

The President also asked the heads and members of state institutions to continually work in unison with one another, listen to public criticism and keep improving their performance to maintain public trust.

Furthermore, he expressed his appreciation to the efforts made by the MPR to intensify the dissemination, study and absorption of the values of Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and the state motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).

"We also welcome the great idea offered by the assembly to review the system of long-term national development planning. In the era of global competition, we hope that such a review will create more integrated, future-oriented and sustainable development planning," Jokowi said. (ags)
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

The government is considering proposing another price cut for natural gas sold to the fertilizer industry after recently providing a similar incentive to the industry.



Last month, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry issued a new regulation stating that the minister could lower prices for certain industries by a maximum of US$2 per 1 million British thermal units (mmbtu) if gas prices were higher than $6 per mmbtu.



However, former minister Arcandra Tahar said on Monday the government was planning to lower the margin even further so that the minister could lower prices if they were higher than $4 per mmbtu for the fertilizer industry.



Our industries need to live. In order to do so, we have to study whether or not it is possible to lower the limit to $4 [per mmbtu], as many other countries have implemented this, he told reporters following a meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister in Central Jakarta.



Later the day, Arcandra was dismissed from his position following public scrutiny about his dual citizenship.



Indonesias gas prices are currently about $9 per mmbtu, higher than in most of its ASEAN neighbors. Malaysia, for example, sells it at about $5 per mmbtu.



Data from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) shows that the prices have even reached $8.01 to $8.05 per mmbtu in East Java and $9.14 to $9.18 per mmbtu in West Java. Furthermore, gas prices in Sumatra have reached $13.90 to $13.94 per mmbtu.



The high prices have forced many factories in North Sumatra to close down and as many as 20,000 workers have been laid off since 2000, data from the Association of Gas-Consuming Companies (Apigas) shows.



The new ministerial regulation is a legal basis to implement Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 40/2016 on natural gas pricing, which should have become effective in January. The Perpres was part of the third economic stimulus package launched in October last year.



Cheaper gas prices will boost tax income as a result of improved industry productivity according to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.



For a $1 to $2 drop in gas prices, there will be at least Rp 12 trillion in additional income tax and a potential of Rp 68 trillion to Rp 123 trillion in extra contributions to gross domestic product.



The regulation also dictates that the slashed prices are only applicable for the fertilizer, petrochemical, stainless steel, ceramic, glass, oleochemical and glove industries.



However, the government is also considering allowing other sectors to enjoy the price-cut in order to further develop the manufacturing sector. The government is considering adding pulp and paper, food and beverages, textiles and sock industries to the short list. The addition of the pharmaceutical industry is also under consideration.



A long list is always better than a short list. We have suggested that the number of industries allowed to receive this price cut be increased to 10, Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said at the same venue.



The government is considering widening its net as gas prices make up to 30 percent of production costs.



We have to maintain competitiveness in the future. Indonesia has always been dependent on raw materials and this makes us less competitive, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno said.

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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Indonesian airline operators on Monday expressed their appreciation of the governments successful efforts to secure the long-awaited safety ranking upgrade from US aviation authorities, which opens up opportunities for them to offer services to more international destinations.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia vice president of corporate communications Benny S. Butarbutar said the airline was mulling flights to two US cities, namely Los Angeles and New York, transiting in Narita in Japan, following the confirmation of the countrys new safety status from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Maybe [there will be flights] two or three times a week. We will use two of our 10 Boeing 777 aircraft, he said.

Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo previously cited figures showing that 400,000 Indonesians fly to the US every year, with 150,000 of them heading to Los Angeles.

Lion Air president director Edward Sirait, meanwhile, said that although the countrys largest lowcost carrier had no plans so far to fly to the US, the upgrade opened up opportunities to push for overseas expansion.

I dont think its just about flying to the US. With this new category and the recent lifting of the EU ban, our aviation industry is deemed positive because the perceived risk is lower, he said, citing his airline, which was recently cleared to fly to the EU, as an example.

In a letter received on Monday by Indonesian authorities, the FAA said the country now met the required international oversight standards for aviation, based on the organizations audit. It stated that it would immediately upgrade Indonesias aviation safety status from Category 2 to Category 1, thereby allowing Indonesian carriers for take off to the US.

The US aviation regulator had downgraded Indonesias aviation safety to Category 2 in 2007 following a series of airline accidents at the time, as well as a lack of regulations on qualifications and monitoring procedures.

In the same year, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audits revealed 121 loopholes in the Indonesian air safety oversight system, which was seen as contributing to the FAA downgrade and the EUs decision to ban Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe.

The upgrade has been the ministrys main goal in improving the countrys aviation safety, with around 60 new regulations on the matter issued last year alone.

Today, all Indonesian airlines can fly to the US, and I hope all of them can prepare to propose [flights] to the US, the Transportation Ministrys director general for air transportation, Suprasetyo, said at a press conference on Monday.

The ministry said it also expected local airlines to benefit from lower insurance premiums and greater trust from aircraft manufacturers and lessors, as the country was now deemed safer for flights.

The upgrade puts the country on the same level as neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore, which also enjoy Category 1 safety status.

FAA audits, consisting of 283 items, are based on three aspects, including licensing, airworthiness and operation. Its auditors assess airlines monitoring procedures and their implementation of regulations on matters such as aircraft operation and human resources.

Suprasetyo said the ministry would work to maintain the countrys Category 1 status in the FAAs next assessment, a date for which has not yet been announced.

We hope the stakeholders can work together with us [on maintaining the status]. We will keep on fixing issues concerning safety and service, he said.

Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) secretary general Tengku Burhanuddin applauded the safety upgrade. However, he said national airlines first had to study the commercial flight potential to cities in the US.

They cannot just fly there. They need to study it first, he said.
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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16 2016

Indonesian airline operators on Monday expressed their appreciation of the governments successful efforts to secure the long-awaited safety ranking upgrade from US aviation authorities, which opens up opportunities for them to offer services to more international destinations.



National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia vice president of corporate communications Benny S. Butarbutar said the airline was mulling flights to two US cities, namely Los Angeles and New York, transiting in Narita in Japan, following the confirmation of the countrys new safety status from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).



Maybe [there will be flights] two or three times a week. We will use two of our 10 Boeing 777 aircraft, he said.



Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo previously cited figures showing that 400,000 Indonesians fly to the US every year, with 150,000 of them heading to Los Angeles.



Lion Air president director Edward Sirait, meanwhile, said that although the countrys largest low-cost carrier had no plans so far to fly to the US, the upgrade opened up opportunities to push for overseas expansion.



I dont think its just about flying to the US. With this new category and the recent lifting of the EU ban, our aviation industry is deemed positive because the perceived risk is lower, he said, citing his airline, which was recently cleared to fly to the EU, as an example.



In a letter received on Monday by Indonesian authorities, the FAA said the country now met the required international oversight standards for aviation, based on the organizations audit. It stated that it would immediately upgrade Indonesias aviation safety status from Category 2 to Category 1, thereby allowing Indonesian carriers for take off to the US.



The US aviation regulator had downgraded Indonesias aviation safety to Category 2 in 2007 following a series of airline accidents at the time, as well as a lack of regulations on qualifications and monitoring procedures.



In the same year, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audits revealed 121 loopholes in the Indonesian air safety oversight system, which was seen as contributing to the FAA downgrade and the EUs decision to ban Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe.



The upgrade has been the ministrys main goal in improving the countrys aviation safety, with around 60 new regulations on the matter issued last year alone.



Today, all Indonesian airlines can fly to the US, and I hope all of them can prepare to propose [flights] to the US, the Transportation Ministrys director general for air transportation, Suprasetyo, said at a press conference on Monday.



The ministry said it also expected local airlines to benefit from lower insurance premiums and greater trust from aircraft manufacturers and lessors, as the country was now deemed safer for flights.



The upgrade puts the country on the same level as neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore, which also enjoy Category 1 safety status.



FAA audits, consisting of 283 items, are based on three aspects, including licensing, airworthiness and operation. Its auditors assess airlines monitoring procedures and their implementation of regulations on matters such as aircraft operation and human resources.



Suprasetyo said the ministry would work to maintain the countrys Category 1 status in the FAAs next assessment, a date for which has not yet been announced.



We hope the stakeholders can work together with us [on maintaining the status]. We will keep on fixing issues concerning safety and service, he said.



Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) secretary general Tengku Burhanuddin applauded the safety upgrade. However, he said national airlines first had to study the commercial flight potential to cities in the US.



They cannot just fly there. They need to study it first, he said.

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Linkedin Suherdjoko (The Jakarta Post) Semarang, Central Java  Tue, August 16, 2016

Law and Human Rights Ministry Central Java chapter head Bambang Sumardiono has given permission for a joint team comprising National Police, Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Narcotics Agency (BNN) personnel to enter Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap to investigate claims made by executed drug convict Freddy Budiman.

If the investigation team wants to enter Nusakambangan, it may go right ahead. We will help the team. Internally, we are also going to set up our own investigation team to support the external team. We will provide data and reports as needed, he said on Monday.

Bambang said all procedures would be followed to reveal the truth of Freddys claims, adding that his office was currently investigating Freddys claims that two BNN officers had requested then Nusakambangan warden Liberty Sitinjak to remove CCTV cameras used to monitor Freddy.

(Read also : Team starts probing Freddy's testimony)

When questioned, Liberty said he did not remember the names of the BNN officers who entered Nusakambangan in 2014, as the visit took place on a national holiday.

One day before Freddy was executed on July 29, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Hariz Azhar posted on social media claims made by the drug lord when the two met on the prison island in 2014, accusing personnel from the National Police, TNI and BNN of involvement in his drug business.

The three institutions reported Haris to the polices Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) for defamation on Aug.3.

On Aug.10, the police announced they had decided to temporarily suspend their investigation into Haris and would instead let an independent team investigate the claims. (ebf)
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Linkedin Ina Parlina and Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo officially dismissed on Monday Arcandra Tahar from his position as energy and mineral resources minister after serving just three weeks in the Cabinet, a move that has put Jokowis leadership skills into question.



Jokowis decision to sack Arcandra was made after the Law and Human Rights Ministry found that Arcandra had US citizenship after living in the superpower nation for the past 20 years.



The dismissal of Arcandra has again put in the spotlight Jokowis penchant for rushing into decisions without first thoroughly considering all options available to him.



His rushed decision to start the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project has caused delays as the contractor for the project, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), has not yet secured clearance for the project from the relevant authorities.



His decision to name Rizal Ramli as coordinating maritime affairs minister raised eyebrows because Rizal was one of his most vocal critics and was later responsible for creating division within the Cabinet with his controversial statements. Jokowi sacked Rizal after only one year in the position.



In early 2015, Jokowi deferred from making any decision on the nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as National Police chief, a move that led to a conflict between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the police, which ended up with the prosecution of two senior leaders of the antigraft body.



Political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said Jokowi was responsible for the chaotic situation in his administration.



Ikrar said Jokowi should make sure that everything was under his control. In the midst of the high public approval given to him, Jokowi should make himself well-informed before making any decisions in order to avoid controversies that prevent his administration from working properly, he said.



He said the latest episode involving Arcandra showed how disorganized his aides were in dealing with administrative issues at the State Secretariat and Cabinet Secretarys Office.



On Monday, the announcement of Arcandras fate was made by State Secretary Pratikno at around 9 p.m. at the Presidential Palace, after Jokowi retreated to Bogor Palace in West Java.



Pratikno said the decision was made after Jokowi received information from various sources and had taken various dimensions into consideration.



Jokowi has also appointed Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan as the interim minister at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry until the President picks a replacement for Arcandra.



Earlier on Monday, Jokowi summoned Arcandra for a closed-door meeting at the palace. Unconfirmed media reports said Jokowi lashed out at Arcandra.



Separately, Presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to confirm whether Jokowi felt cheated or if no one had briefed him about Arcandras dual citizenship in the first place.



Johan said the President was being responsive to the problem raised [in the public].



Johan was quick to add that the reason behind the dismissal was due to maladministration.



Early on Monday, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly acknowledged that Arcandra held two passports.



He has two passports: US and Indonesian passports, Yasonna said on Monday.



However, he claimed that Arcandras Indonesian citizenship was still intact because it took a ministerial decree to officially revoke someones citizenship.



Legally, there has been no Indonesian citizenship revocation process through the Law and Human Rights Ministry for the minister, he said, adding that Arcandra had returned to Indonesia and had decided to give up his US citizenship.



Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said the government was working to settle the case, adding that it would take a while for President Jokowis administration to resolve the problem due to its complexity.



The chief security minister said the government would consider input from the public, especially from legal experts who have criticized the legality of Arcandras citizenship.



The government is fully aware of the growing discourse in society [regarding Arcandras nationality]. We dont want to rush. We are careful and we are digging further to find solutions that we will later explain to the public, Wiranto told reporters.



Earlier, Wiranto summoned Arcandra to his office in Jakarta, where they held a closed-door meeting for about 15 minutes. (win)

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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra  Tue, August 16, 2016

Hundreds of journalists staged a peaceful rally to protest against violence against journalists in front of the Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday.

They condemned the brutal attacks committed recently by several Indonesian Air Force soldiers against two on-duty journalists.

They called on Air Force authorities to investigate the attacks and to sanction both the soldiers involved in the attacks and their commanders.

We want this violence against journalists to be investigated properly. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and their commanders must be dismissed because they were unable to control their members, said Harizal, a journalist.

The incident began when Array Argus of local newspaper Tribun Medan and Andri Syafrin of MNC TV were assigned to cover a clash, reportedly triggered by a land struggle, between Air Force personnel and residents of Sari Rejo subdistrict on Monday.

Syafrin said an unidentified soldier dragged him aside and attacked him with piece of wood, with several other soldiers joining in, causing him to fall to the ground.

I had told them I was a journalist and most of them knew that I was a journalist but they kept beating me, Syafrin told The Jakarta Post at Royal Prima Hospital, Medan, on Tuesday. He added that his camera and cell phone had also been confiscated in the incident.

Echoing his colleague, Array said he had shouted that he was a journalist and showed his press card. But the soldier attacking me just said he didn't care, he said at Mitra Sejati Hospital.

Harizal said the brutality showed that the security authorities were still unaware of the principles of press freedom as stipulated by the 1999 Press Law. (ebf)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who also currently serves as acting energy and mineral resources minister, has pledged to continue to implement Arcandra Tahar's vision and mission in the energy sector following Arcandras abrupt dismissal from his post.

"We will continue with what has been started by pak Candra," Luhut said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He listed Arcandras plan to proceed with an onshore development scheme in the Masela gas block in Maluku, his vision for a large-scale gas project called Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD), Freeport Indonesias permit extension and electricity issues as policies and enterprises he would try to develop.

"We will proceed with these plans because they are also the result of our coordinated meetings. There will be nothing new," Luhut said.

After days of public controversy over Arcandras citizenship status, State Secretary Pratikno announced on Monday evening that President Joko Widodo had dismissed Arcandra from his position. (ags)

---------

Editor's note: Anton Hermansyah in Jakarta contributed in this story.
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba and Evi Mariani (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura/Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

National Committee of West Papua (KNPB), an organization campaigning for the right to self-determination for the people of Papua and West Papua provinces, denied allegations by Papua Police that supporters rallying on Monday had committed vandalism.

KNPB head Victor Yeimo told The Jakarta Post Monday evening that the KNPB believed in fighting without violence.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw said Monday they arrested two people during the KNPB rally in Jayapura.

Both were arrested because they committed [violence], blocking the streets with wood, burning tires in the middle of the streets and damaging street vendors goods, said Waterpauw.

The police reported KNPB staged a rally, marching 15 kilometers from Perumnas Tiga to the Papuan Council. Security apparatuses blocked them and Waterpauw said when the police blocked them, rally participants started throwing rocks at the police, burned tires and blocked the streets.

They have staged rallies that disturbed public order several times, Waterpauw said.

KNPB supporters staged a rally to mark the New York Agreement signed on Aug. 15, 1962, which decided that Papua would join the Republic of Indonesia. They said the agreement was made not by Papuans themselves.

Veronica Koman, a Jakarta lawyer from Papua Itu Kita, a solidarity movement for Papuans, said the KNPB had denied that the two people arrested were among their supporters. She said she had received reports from her Papuan contacts that about 100 KNPB supporters were rounded up in a police truck in Jayapura. They were subjected to police violence on the truck and later released.

Victor accused the police of violence. They shot at us in Waena [Jayapura], he said. Victor said five people were injured by rubber bullets.

Waterpauw said the police had to fire warning shots into the air during the rallies.
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Linkedin Bambang Nurbianto (The Jakarta Post) Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia  Tue, August 16, 2016

The 15th International Peat Congress was opened on Tuesday in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, by Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan bin Haji Satem with a call for sustainable development and further research into better peatland management.

The challenge we face today is that tropical peatland, as compared to other soil types, is still quite an understudied soil, said Adenan in his opening remarks, adding that this had sparked the wrong conclusion that the development of plantations on peatland soil was not recommended.

He criticized a negative campaign around the development of peatland into agricultural areas, saying the campaign had political motives to prevent the expansion of palm oil plantations that competed with other nabati oil-like sunflower oil and soya bean oil plantations, mostly developed in European countries and the US.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest producers of palm oil. Last year, Indonesia produced some 33 million tons, while Malaysia produced some 20 million tons.

The peat congress is attended by some 1,000 participants from 30 countries and will take place from Tuesday to Thursday.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) chairman Joko Supriyono stressed that Indonesia and Malaysia needed to jointly cooperate to convince the world that developing palm oil plantations on peatland soil could be carried out sustainably.

He also called on the Indonesian government to revise the moratorium on palm oil plantations on peatland so that Indonesian could share in the growing demand for nabati oil.

Indonesian has 14.6 million hectares of peatland, but only 1.6 million hectares have been cultivated. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

The dust has not settled on the controversy surrounding Arcandra Tahar, the former energy and mineral resources minister, even though President Joko Jokowi Widodo decided to dismiss the man with honor on Monday night.

The State Palace was tight-lipped on information regarding Arcandra, who was accused of having both US and Indonesian passports. The governments reticence to speak on the matter sent curious people, including journalists, to dig for information about the man, a little-known figure both in Indonesia and the US before his appointment to the Cabinet on July 27.

People wondered why the President picked Arcandra, 45, who was a famous genius person in the US according to a tweet sent out by AM Hendropriyono, a former Indonesian spy chief and a member of Jokowis campaign team in 2014.

Hendropriyono also said on his Twitter account @edo751945 that Arcandra left a high paying job in the US, "billions of rupiah a month" as he tweeted, for a mere Rp 40 million (US$3,000) a month as a minister in the Cabinet.

Some netizens investigated Arcandras company, Petroneering LLC in Houston, Texas, on Google, and found an entry on findthecompany.com, which describes Petroneering as: a small, fairly new organization in the business services industry located in Houston, Texas. It opened its doors in 2013 and now has an estimated $88,000 in yearly revenue and approximately two employees.

Petroneering is a recognized leader among boutique offshore technology development and consulting firms, according to its own website petroneering.com.

Arcandras Wikipedia entry in Indonesian was made immediately after he was appointed as minister and no English entry on him exists on the website. He is known as an offshore technology expert who graduated from Texas A&M University, sharing an alma mater with Darmawan Prasodjo, deputy chief of staff in Jokowis presidential office.

Arcandra, who was born in Padang, West Sumatra, has registered two patents under his own name for an invention in offshore structure and eight patents in collaboration with other colleagues.

Indoprogress.com writer Made Supriatma wrote about Arcandra on his Facebook account, saying that he couldnt find an entry on Arcandras name in Forbes or Bloomberg. His name didnt show up because he didnt manage a large company.

I dont cast any doubt on his expertise in the oil industry, especially in the technical department. He has patented several inventions. But in America, patents are very common. You can patent an iron pad that can also clean the iron, for example. Nothing special about it, wrote Made.

A Google search of his name also revealed his role as a teacher of Quran recitation in the Indonesian Muslim community in Houston. He wrote an opinion piece in The Jakarta Post in 2011 along with Darmawan Prasodjo and Erwinsyah Putra. The article addressed Arcandras role as a principal naval architect at the Horton Wison Deepwater facility in Houston. (evi/rin)
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar, South Sulawesi  Tue, August 16, 2016

Parepare Police have foiled two attempts to smuggle crystal methamphetamine via Nusantara Parepare Port, South Sulawesi in August.

The crystal meth, confiscated in two separate operations, on Aug.1 and Aug 10, amounted to 10 kilograms.

Parepare Police chief Adj.Sr.Comr. Pria Budi said the crystal meth had been smuggled from Malaysia and was to be distributed in Sulawesi. However, he said, the drug smuggling attempts were carried out by two separate networks with no connection to one another.

Pria said the police foiled an attempt to smuggle 8 kg of crystal meth during an examination of passengers from machine vessel Bukit Siguntang departing from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, on Aug.10.

A passenger had luggage that raised suspicions. Security authorities found the luggage was locked when they went to check it. The owner, identified only by the initials SY, asked to retrieve the key from a family member but SY did not return, said Pria. The officers later opened the luggage and found eight packages of crystal meth, weighing 1 kg each.

Pria said the police arrested SY in Makassar on Aug.11. Two other suspects, identified as TM and JH, were arrested in Makassar on the same day while another suspect, AT, was detained in Parepare the following day. The four suspects claimed they were assigned only as couriers and were promised Rp 40 million (US$3,055.77) each.

On Aug.1, the Parepare Police foiled an attempt to smuggle 2 kg of crystal meth using drug networks at Bollangi narcotics prison in South Sulawesi and Tarakan prison in North Kalimantan.

The 2 kg crystal meth belonged to a drug convict from Tarakan prison. He worked with five convicts in Bollangi prison to distribute the drugs, said Pria. (ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, August 16, 2016

National Police antiterror squad Densus 88 arrested two suspected terrorists in Tirto Kencono, Tanggulangin Punggur district, Central Lampung, on Monday.

"We can confirm that a National Police team has arrested suspected terrorists. We helped cordon off the location of the arrest, Central Lampung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dono Sembodo said as quoted by Antara news agency on Tuesday.

Dono, however, claimed not to know where the squad would take the suspected terrorists for questioning.

An eyewitness, Joni, who works at a nearby welding workshop, said he had seen police officers alight from several vans before entering a rented house to arrest two men, identified by locals as Dwiatmoko and Abu.

According to Joni, both Dwiatmoko and Abu rarely spoke to local people and never exhibited any suspicious activity. However, lately they have been seen going out in long robes, he said. (dmr)
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar, South Sulawesi  Tue, August 16, 2016

South Sulawesi Police chief Insp.Gen.Anton Charliyan said Nusantara Parepare Port must be immediately equipped with an X-ray screening system, as it was prone to drug smuggling.

We have used the K9 unit to detect passengers and their belongings when they arrive at Nusantara Parepare Port but their capacities are very limited. Therefore, we hope screening facilities at the port can be improved so that drug smuggling can be minimized, he said at the South Sulawesi Police headquarters in Makassar on Monday.

According to official data, the Parepare Police have foiled 10 attempts to smuggle crystal methamphetamine via Nusantara Parepare Port in August. Since January, the police have foiled attempts to smuggle 26 kg of crystal meth.

(Read also : Police foil attempt to smuggle 10 kg crystal meth via Parepare)

Anton said the Parepare port needed large-capacity X-Ray machines, as ship passengers tended to bring a lot of luggage.

State-owned seaport operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) IV corporate secretary Baharuddin M. said the procurement of screening equipment for Nusantara Parepare Port and Soekarno-Hatta Port in Makassar had been scheduled for next year.

He acknowledged that security authorities in the two seaports were still using manual detectors.

This year, or next year at the latest, Makassar and Parepare seaports will be equipped with X-Ray machines, said Baharuddin.

Apart from Makassar and Parepare, Bone and Barru ports are also identified as the main points for drug smuggling in South Sulawesi. (ebf)
Governor Chris Christie moments ago signed into law S-1923 (Beach, Weinberg/Vainieri Huttle, Schaer, Pinkin, C.A. Brown, Mukherji, Lampitt, Mazzeo, Lagana) to prohibit investment of state pension and annuity funds by the State in companies that boycott goods, products or businesses of Israel.

Standing with Israel, for peace and democracy, requires more than just pledging military defense and support, Governor Christie said. It is in all of our best interests to invest in and partner with Israel, while opposing any attempt to wipe out Israel, economically or otherwise. Im proud to take this action today and help set an example for other states and nations throughout the world to join New Jersey by enacting similar laws against the radical BDS movement, as well as our earlier divestment from foreign companies with equity ties to Iran and Sudan.

New Jersey joins the federal government, South Carolina, Illinois and New York in taking action against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an attempt to weaken and overtake Israel by creating economic calamity.

Yesterday, Governor Christie joined 15 other governors and the mayor of Washington D.C. in signing the American Jewish Committees Governors Against BDS pledge, reaffirming support for Israel as a vital U.S. ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.

[TLS]
In 2006, Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC), a Minneapolis nonprofit developer and owner of 44 affordable-housing properties, opened a project for homeless veterans. Next to the Minneapolis VA Medical Center in South Minneapolis, CHDC and partners renovated four former officers quarters and constructed two new buildings to create 140 affordable units for homeless vets.That project was incredibly successful, says Elizabeth Flannery, CEO, CHDC. Since it opened, weve regularly had a waiting list of more than 300 people.Six years ago, CHDC staff began talking about expanding the 2006 building. In addition to the waiting list, which needed to be addressed with more affordable housing, we learned that the veterans community is huge and has a range of needs, Flannery says. We also learned we need more support services than we originally projected.Moreover, when vets finally have housing they can afford, they have the opportunity to think about whats next, whether thats counseling, employment, getting their VA entitlements in order or getting treatment, she adds. In other words, Housing is critical. Housing is a foundation to everything.Last week, CHDC and partners broke ground on Veterans East. Located adjacent to the 2006 project, near the Blue Line light-rail station, Veterans East will include 100 affordable units, and will provide on-site support services for health care, case management, life skills, financial management, VA benefits, and education and employment resources.UnitedHealth Group, based in Minnetonka, is the projects largest private investor; the organization is providing $5.2 million in equity using low-income housing tax credits approved by the State of Minnesota. The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, which finances affordable housing, is providing $7.7 million in deferred loan funds. Additional funding comes from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Hennepin County, affiliates of CHDC, and $290,000 in energy and sales tax rebates.Eligible veteransthose who have experienced chronic homelessnesswill pay 30 percent of their income toward rent. When completed in Summer 2017, Veterans East will provide permanent supportive housing for veterans struggling with homelessness.The five-story, energy-efficient building, designed by LHB Architects, will also have a community room with a fireplace, a kitchenette and laundry facilities. In addition to its transit-friendly location near the VA Hospital, Veterans East will be adjacent to Minnehaha Park, and near Lake Nokomis and other area amenities.Since January 2015, Minnesota has kept a registry of homeless veterans to help identify opportunities for housing and other services. So far, 600 vets have been housed, but many more remain homeless. Once vets get housing they can get work, Flannery says.
Gunrunners are sentenced in Brooklyn in a scheme that used Chinatown buses to flood New York with illegal weapons. [Daily News]

World Journal looks at the homelessness problem in Chinatown. [Voices of New York]

The Lowline is not a park. Thats okay, but everyone should understand the true nature of what will be built in an abandoned trolley station below Delancey Street. [Curbed]

Feltmans of Coney Island is set to open inside Theatre 80 on St. Marks Place. [EV Grieve]

For one week only, Rev Jens Troll Museum reopens on Orchard Street. [Jeremiahs Vanishing NY]
In the first two lines of a piece in the latest New Yorker about the Alaskan poet Olena Kalytiak Davis, Dan Chiasson points out that her new book, The Poem She Didnt Write and Other Poems, has an undeniably excellent title. In describing her appeal, he says that her submissions to the canon are anti-submissions, by which he means that she actively rejects association with more famous poets. Daviss professed unworthiness is one of many tricky manifestations of her ambition, he writes.
Angela Palm is obsessed with metaphor. Or: Angela Palm is obsessed with finding meaning. In the end, do they amount to the same thing?

In Riverine: A Memoir from Anywhere but Here, Palms memoir about her upbringing in rustic Indiana and her subsequent post-rural life, she deploys a veritable gallery of lyrical comparisons, probing every possible detail for some sort of larger significance. Here, for example, is the author reflecting on the destiny of a childhood friend:

Bifurcation comes to mind when I think of Corey. As in the division of the common carotid artery. As in the shape made by the branching of the Kankakee River and the Illinois River. As in me going one way and Corey going another. As in the way people lose themselves, splitting further and further from their origins. As in the roots of hosta shoots, separated by mutation or by force.

At work in this passage and in the book as a whole is a mind that cant help but see everything as somehow connected, as intrinsically meaningful. And isnt this, after all, what all writers  all humans  do? Is that not how we come to understand the unknown, grasping the unfathomable by comparison with what is familiar to us? If Riverine is, in this sense, mining the territory familiar to any coming-of-age narrative, then it stands out both by the relentlessness with which the comparative mind of the author works and by her willingness to question her own metaphor-making tendency.

From the start, Palm draws on a rich, imaginative vein to not only give a sense of the place in which she grew up, but of the ways that her childhood self viewed that place. She recalls staring at a map when she was a girl and seeing two pink dots representing the town in which she technically lived and the town whose name, by a quirk of the postal system, appeared on her mailing address. Obsessed by the yellow space on the map in between the two dots, the young Angela has her mom drive her out to the no-mans land, only to find it is the familiar territory of her everyday life  that they have barely moved any distance from their house. From this, Palm conceives of herself as living in the fringes, not only not belonging to either town, but neither fully connected to nor fully distanced from the geography of her childhood. Filled with this new view, she writes, I knew that I was neither sort, but instead some half-breed spawn of both worlds and alien to both.

Where Palm lives in the first section of the book, comprising the earliest years of her life, is on the banks of the Kankakee River, in the middle of a floodplain. Vividly evoking this liminal space, subject to perennial overflow from the river and isolated from her more prosperous classmates who live properly in town, Palm suggests that geography may well be destiny. Like the Kankakee River returning to its plan from its pre-19th-century rerouting, only to flood Palms childhood home, the inhabitants of the authors neighborhood seem unable to escape the circumstances of their lands harsh geography. Generally poor and socially immobile, the community is fixed in its position both by the unfavorable land and the economic circumstances that keep it tied to that land.

Among those neighbors of the young Angela is Corey, a boy three years older than she who lives next door. Childhood playmates, the two skirt a romantic and sexual involvement as they grow into their teenage years, one that never quite manifests but remains as a tantalizing what-if. This what-if becomes the stuff of pained contemplation for Palm when Corey is sentenced to life in prison for killing an elderly couple. But as Palm is quick to point out, Corey was not wholly to blame for the murders, his path having been set by a life of poverty and a series of petty crimes for which his lowly social status had not allowed him to escape harsh justice. If Corey hadnt spent four of his formative years in juvenile detention centers for crimes that rich kids had been let off for, Palm wonders, would it have gone this far?

How much of a persons course in life is determined by their geography, by the circumstances of his or her upbringing, and how much is that person in charge of shaping his or her own destiny? This is where the stakes of Palms metaphor-making take on a more serious import. If we understand everything as metaphor, if everything can be slotted into a pre-ordained meaning, then we are left with very little freedom as individuals, entrusted with almost no responsibility for our actions. As such, Palm continually struggles against her natural comparative tendency and, in so doing, provides much of the tension of the books later sections. Talking about an old boyfriend, for example, she writes, Greg worked as an excavator, rearranging the terrain. I liked his job as a metaphor before quickly acknowledging that metaphor isnt enough to sustain their relationship and that they were always completely incompatible.

The dangers of seeing everything as metaphor, of adhering to strict notions of geography, become much greater when Palm finally gets around to considering her own path in contrast with that of Corey. Although they grew up in the same environment, subject to the same flood patterns of the Kankakee, their lives took on very different trajectories. Palm moved to Vermont, married, had kids, and became a writer while Corey remained confined to an Indiana prison. While both these new environments had their effects on the two childhood friends, Angelas semi-rural Vermont home opening up her world as Coreys prison home constricted his, Palm ultimately recognizes that a persons life is not simply a product of his or her environment, not understandable by simple recourse to metaphors of rivers and flat plains, but something autonomous and unpredictable.

In some ways, he was made by where we were from and who he was from, Palm concludes after visiting Corey in jail. But he had also made bad choices. And by his word, hed never valued his own future enough to make better ones. But then after coming to this conclusion, she tracks backward, introducing yet another metaphor, one that seems to retip the balance toward environmental determinism: People, especially young ones, are malleable. Like wet sediment. Guided by whatever kind of banks have lined their river, by what has held them. Endlessly searching for ways to understand the world around her, Palm by turns reaches for and rejects her surest tool for bringing clarification to her life. By struggling against her own tendencies to impose arbitrary meaning while still searching for and locating that meaning, she does the hard work of essaying. As such Riverine stands as a bold reckoning with not only an individuals past and present but with the very apparatus of truth-making itself.
Bad luck lads - if you watch porn too often, you might begin to suffer from erectile dysfunction and a seriously low libido.

Top sexual therapist Angela Gregory has stated that men in their early 20s and late teens are increasingly suffering from erectile dysfunction - particularly in the last five years.

Gregory puts this down to addiction to online porn. Whilst there are no official figures, she said it is usually accessed through smartphones and laptops.

Increasingly easy access has led to addiction. Porn addiction and the increasing numbers of men suffering from this is unsurprising; research by porn website Paint Bottle revealed that porn sites get more visitors each month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined. The estimated number of monthly visitors is 450 million!

Gregory compares the increasing number of young men seeking help to previous years, when it was mostly older men seeking help with their sexual health. For older men, sexual health issues are usually a result of diabetes, MS or cardiovascular disease. In comparison, these new younger patients are physically healthy.

One man spoke to the BBC about his experience. Having got his first laptop at age 15, Nick (not his real name) quickly became addicted. He stated: "There was nothing that would give me a kick. Normal stuff didn't do anything any more, so I had to get more and more extreme material.

This eventually affected his sexual health. It affected his libido significantly, with him stating: "My sexuality was completely wired towards porn".

After Doctors claimed they couldnt do anything, Nick went cold turkey. He went 100 days without watching any porn and his sexual health improved dramatically.

Nick advises: You should tell your friends, tell people who are close to you or just a couple of people you trust. And don't worry, there are many of us in the same boat."
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5 bodies, crashed helicopter found on Chiang Mai mountain

CHIANG MAI: The bodies of the five officers killed when their helicopter crashed on Doi Inthanon on Sunday (Aug 16) have been found, including 4th Infantry Division commander Maj Gen Nopporn Ruanchan.

accidentsdeathmilitarytransport

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 09:15AM

Maj-Gen Nopporn Ruanchan, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, one of the five army officers killed in Sundays helicopter crash in Chiang Mai. Photo: Bangkok Post

Maj Gen Kosol Prathumchart, commander of the 33rd Military Circle in Chiang Mai, confirmed that searchers had found the bodies and the wreckage yesterday (Aug 15).

The body of Maj Gen Nopporn had been identified and confirmed, he said.

The huge search and rescue operation, involving 400 soldiers split into 40 teams, found the crashed UH-72 Lakota helicopter about two kilometres southwest of the air forces Doi Inthanon radar station in Mae Chaem district about 1:20pm.

Four of the bodies were found about a kilometre from the debris an hour later. The fifth was reported to have been in the wreckage.

The spot is 82km from Pang Ma Pha district of Mae Hong Son where the helicopter took off at 10:30am on Sunday and 2,445 metres above sea level.

Maj Gen Kosol said the forested area was covered with thick fog and visibility was down to five to 10 metres.

The UH-72 Lakota helicopter of the 3rd Army, which was put into service last year, was returning to Phitsanulok after completing a flood relief operation in Mae Hong Son when it disappeared on the countrys highest peak.

On board were Maj-Gen Nopporn, Capt Suthan Onmuang and Lt Navapat Maneechote, the two pilots, and Chief Warrant Officer Chaisakda Thaso and Sgt Maj Mongkolchai Roo-ngan, the flight engineers.

The chief of Doi Inthanon National Park, Poenthep Chareonsuabsakul, said he was informed by the soldiers at the crash site that Maj Gen Nopporn was found inside the wrecked helicopter, while the other four were found a short distance away.

Read original story here.
One dead as Navy continues search for missing crew off Phuket

PHUKET: Three crewman have been rescued but one crewman has died after being plucked from rough seas off Phuket following their fishing boat being caught by storm conditions overnight.

marineaccidentsdeathweather

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 12:01PM

One of the four crewman plucked from the sea by the fellow Phuket fishing boat P. Chokpaisan has died, Photo: Royal Thai Navy

The Navy search continues for the missing crew from the Bumrungthainawa 1. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

The fishing boat P. Chokpaisan reported this morning (Aug 16) that it had recovered four crewman from fellow Phuket fishing boat Bumrungthainawa 1. Three of the crewmen remained alive, but one had died.

The Bumrungthainawa 1 disappeared in rough weather about two nautical miles southwest of Phromthep Cape, Phukets southernmost point, at about 8pm.

On board at the time were the captain and eight Myanmar migrant fishing crew.

The Royal Thai Navy this morning is continuing its search for the five missing crew, though the Bumrungthainawa 1 has been located and is already under tow back to Phuket.

The Navy rescue boat Tor 113 was dispatched to search for the Bumrungthainawa 1 last night, but was recalled at 1:30am after failing to find the vessel or any of its crew, said Capt Pongjak Uraiman, commanding officer of the Royal Thai Navy Air Squadron 3.

This morning the Navy dispatched the Tor 113 and another boat, the Tor 993, and a S-76 helicopter to continue the search south of Phuket, where the missing crew are now believed to be, Capt Pongjak added.

At last report, the Navy reported that three more people were spotted in the sea south of Phuket at about 11:30am and that a boat had been directed to recover them.

The search for the missing crew follows the Thailand Meteorological Department (MET) has issued a storm weather alert Sunday from through to Thursday (August 18), with waves in the Andaman coastal region expected to reach heights of up to four metres. (See story here.)

Following that warning, one Russian tourist drowned at Karon beach on Sunday as Phuket Lifeguards closed off sections of Phuket beaches due to strong waves. (See story here.)

Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub
Panic at New York airport as Usain Bolt makes history, cheers mistaken for shots fired

UNITED STATES: New Yorks JFK airport was evacuated after bystanders mistook fans celebrating Usain Bolts 100m victory for gunfire.

policetransport

By AFP

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 10:02AM

New York Port Authority police evacuated at least two terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport out of precaution after reports of shots fired  later proved to be unfounded. Photo: AFP / Drew Angerer

Passengers take shelter at immigration control after false reports of a shooting set off a security alert at JFK International airport in New York on Sunday (Aug 14). Photo: Photo: AFP / Brigitte Dusseau

New York Port Authority police evacuated at least two terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport out of precaution after reports of shots fired  later proved to be unfounded. Photo: AFP / Drew Angerer

Police received reports of possible gunshots at about 9:30pm local time on Sunday, NBC reported, which was shortly after Bolt crossed the finish line ahead of Justin Gatlin.

Terminal 8 was evacuated as a precaution and flights briefly halted before a search established there was no danger.

An official told NBC News that cheering, clapping and banging from people watching the Olympic Games may have been misinterpreted as a fight and gunshots, the report said.

New York Police Department Special Operations Division Chief Harry Wedin said earlier that Port Authority, NYPD and Emergency Service Unit police were clearing Terminal 1 and Terminal 8.

But a pilot on a plane awaiting departure at Terminal 2 said police were sweeping that terminal after it was evacuated.

At Terminal 1, an AFP journalist was among passengers stranded on a plane on the tarmac for an hour and a half.

After deplaning, hundreds of people queuing to pass through immigration checkpoints were stuck in the area for more than two hours under heavy police presence.

Panic spread quickly through the crowd as police ordered people to lie on the ground, then evacuated them outside on the tarmac before making them pass through a corridor.

Get down on the ground! police officers yelled. Move, move move!

Police prohibited travellers from making phone calls or taking photographs. One man was arrested for trying to capture images of the chaotic scenes.

When the travellers returned to the immigration area, there was renewed panic as armed police ran back and forth. Some travellers were ordered to hide in immigration booths. Police gave travellers no explanation for the security incident.

One woman sobbed loudly because she lost her nine-year-old child in the commotion.

Bolt timed 9.81sec to become the first athlete to win the Olympic 100m three times in a row.
Phuket bombs suspect linked to insurgency, warrant issued

BANGKOK: An arrest warrant has been issued for the key suspect in two attempted bombings in Phuket last week, a man who also has links to the southern insurgency, a deputy national police chief said today (Aug 16).

patongpolicemilitarycrime

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 06:38PM

Pol Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul said that tests showed DNA samples collected at the bomb scenes in Phuket clearly matched the DNA of a suspect involved in attacks around Tak Bai in Narathiwat since 2004. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Pol Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul today told the media that the military court of the 41st Army Circle in Nakhon Sri Thammarat had approved the warrant after tests showed DNA samples collected at the bomb scenes in Phuket clearly matched the DNA of a suspect involved in attacks around Tak Bai in Narathiwat since 2004.

Details of the suspect were withheld because he was still being tracked down, Gen Sriwara said.

Gen Sriwara said the man was a key suspect and could provide links to others in the network behind the attacks throughout Southern Thailand last week that killed four people and injured scores of others.

According to immigration records, the suspect was believed to still be in Thailand, the general noted.

Two unexploded low-pressure time bombs built to be detonated by mobile phones were found in Patong last Wednesday (Aug 10). The devices were found at a garment stall in Paradise Plaza market and a clothing shop in the China Town Plaza on Ra-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd.

The devices were destroyed before they were detonated by the bombers.

Gen Sriwara, who is heading the investigation into the 13 bomb and arson attacks last week, was speaking before he departed for Surat Thani from the Police Aviation Division at Don Muang in Bangkok to follow up the case.

He said investigators were making progress. He had insisted they all be very discreet and thorough to ensure those masterminding the attacks were brought to justice.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said on Monday the attacks might have involved southern insurgents hired to carry out the bombings, but were not an extension of the separatist war in the southernmost border provinces.
Police scant on details in search for Phuket bomb suspect

PHUKET: Police are working on descriptions from witnesses and have yet to provide any CCTV images or any reason why the suspect they are seeking is wanted for his involvement in the detonation of two mico-bombs in Patong last Friday (Aug 12).

patongviolencepolicecrime

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 12:23PM

Police scoured the Paradise Plaza market in Patong after another potential explosive device was found there on Sunday (Aug 14). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Police scoured the Paradise Plaza market in Patong after another potential explosive device was found there on Sunday (Aug 14). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Region 8 Police released the ketch of the Patong bomb suspect based on witness descriptions, not CCTV images. Image: Region 8 Police

Region 8 Police Chief Lt Gen Tesa Siriwato is reluctant to reveal any details about the Patong bomb suspect, but assures that CCTV in Phukets Safety Zone is working. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot / The Phuket News file

Region 8 Police Chief Lt Gen Tesa Siriwato told The Phuket News by phone this morning Aug 16) that the sketch of the suspect released over the weekend was based on eye-witnesses. (See story here.)

The sketch of the suspect that Forensic Police and Region 8 Police created was based on descriptions given by witnesses who worked in Patong that day, he said.

I do not recall details of description because I was not in the room when they sketched the image. We are looking for the man in the image and will bring him in for questioning, he added.

Gen Tesa offered no other information to help identify the suspect. No details of height, estimated age, weight, clothing or distinguishing features such as scars or tattoos were given.

Gen Tesa also gave no indication of even why the man was a suspect, and no indication of whether police were looking for any other suspects for the Patong bombs.

Officers checked CCTV near and around the places where we discovered the bombs and where the explosions occurred, Gen Tesa assured.

All the CCTV cameras are working just fine, but I cannot reveal any findings to the public just yet as our investigation has yet to conclude, he said.

Patong Police Chief Chaiwat Uikum today also assured that CCTV in Patongs Safety Zone, and in along Bangla Rd, was operational.

The CCTV on Bangla is working, was all Col Chaiwat would say, as he explained that he was in a meeting.

Gen Tesa, who as chief of Region 8 Police, is the leading ranking officer for all police operating in upper Southern Thailand, and has personally followed up on several arrests made in connection with bomb attacks in his area of responsibility.

Gen Tesa flew to join police and army officers in Nakhon Sri Thammarat to interrogate Sakarin Karuehas for allegedly setting fire to a Tesco Lotus store in Nakhon Si Thammarat, one of seven provinces hit by bombings and arson attacks last Thursday and Friday that killed four people and injured 37.

Authorities had sufficient evidence to charge Mr Sakarin but he denied all allegations, the Daily News online reported.

Mr Sakarin was the second person to be apprehended in the wake of the violent incidents. Political activist Prapas Rojanapitak was arrested in Trang earlier for questioning in connection with arson attacks in that province, reported the Bangkok Post. (See story here.)

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha has called for patience from the public following the arrests until the investigations are completed.

Authorities are in the process of carrying out interrogations. They are looking at the evidence. So please be patient and dont rush to a conclusion and put pressure on the government, Gen Prayut said.
Prayut: No hasty finger-pointing over bombs, arson

BANGKOK: The government will not jump to a hasty conclusion about who masterminded the deadly bomb and arson attacks last week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday (Aug 15).

deathmilitarypoliceviolencepolitics

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 09:39AM

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha arrives at Government House yesterday (Aug 15) to chair a security meeting in the wake of the blasts last week. Photo: Thanarak Khunton

Gen Prayut said no accusations have been made against any particular faction or group as the investigation is still underway. Investigators need more time to shed light on the matter.

Dont put pressure on the authorities. Give them more time to work, he said after a security meeting.

However, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has ruled out the theory that the southern insurgency was behind the attacks, which killed four civilians and injured 37 in Hua Hin and six other popular tourist provinces in the South last week.

Gen Prawit and national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda have both said they believed the attacks were politically linked.

Military brass and police chiefs attended the National Security Council meeting called by the prime minister yesterday in the wake of the onslaught to evaluate the situation.

The attacks occurred only a few days after the regime-backed draft charter sailed through the Aug 7 referendum.

The Pheu Thai Party and the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, who strongly opposed the draft, have denied involvement and condemned the violence.

About 20 people have been summoned for interrogation or been detained since the fatal violence on Thursday (Aug 11) and Friday (Aug 12). One of them was Sakarin Karuehas, 32, who was detained on Saturday (Aug 13) under Section 44 in Nakhon Sri Thammarat on allegations of arson at Tesco Lotus superstore in the southern province. He is now being held under an arrest warrant issued by the provincial court.

His image was captured by closed-circuit surveillance cameras before the blaze began and was a key piece of evidence that led to his apprehension, Gen Chakthip said.

Mr Sakarin is being held at the 41st Army Circle in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Read original story here.
Two lost British hikers found in Koh Chang forest

TRAT: Two British tourists were rescued from the forest on Koh Chang shortly before dawn yesterday morning (Aug 15) after they became lost returning to their guesthouse from a hike on Sunday (Aug 14).

tourismpolice

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 08:51AM

The two missing tourists are guided out of the forest on Koh Chang. Photo: Jakkrit Waewkraihong

Trat Tourist Police were informed about 9:30pm on Sunday by the guesthouse manager that Theodor Stennett, 22, and Ramanjot Chahal, 22, were missing.

They had set off on a hike through the forest near Khlong Klai Beach in tambon Koh Chang of Koh Chang Tai district on Sunday morning.

Lt Col Man Rodthong, an inspector of Koh Chang tourist police, and officials from Koh Chang National Park tried to contact the tourists by their mobile telephone.

The signal was erratic, because it is a remote area, but they were finally able to make contact with them.

They were asked for as much information as possible to help identify their position, and told to stay where they were while a search team tried to find them. The couple were finally found near the top of Leam mountain.

The search team, led by a guide familiar with the area, had started out about 10:30pm. The tourists were found around 5am near a cliff. One had minor injuries incurred while scrambling over rocks and was given first aid.

They were brought out of the forest and taken to the local hospital about 10am yesterday. Arrangements were made for their return to Bangkok.

Lt Col Man said the tourist police would coordinate with foreign embassies and suggest their citizens get a guide if they want to go into the forest.

Read original story here.
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11AAA semis will be awesome and more from HS football quarterfinals

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It's our annual Labour Weekend tradition ...The Sound 'Hall Of Fame' Countdown... Where we honor the greatest 500 songs of all time as voted by you.
Indian Space Research Organisations successful launch of GSLV Mk III from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on 5 June, placing the countrys heaviest satellite GSAT-19 weighing 3,136 kg into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, is a giant leap in space, but it came almost two decades late.

The delay, no doubt, was beyond the control of ISRO and it gave room for China to steal a march over India by spreading its wings to assist neighbouring Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal with their satellite projects.

The most significant aspect of the GSLV Mk III launch is the use of a cryogenic engine developed entirely with indigenous technology.

The rapid development of ISRO from its humble beginnings, launching of small sounding rockets to study the magnetic equator from Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram, to launching of lighter satellites into predetermined orbits from Sriharikota posed a threat to the near monopoly of the USA and the European Space Agency in the business of multibillion dollar commercial rocket launch vehicles.

The USA masterminded the Missile Technology Control Regime in 1987 which placed an embargo on transfer of technology, to deny India joining the space age. Glavkosmos of the erstwhile USSR came to ISROs aid by the outright sale of seven cryogenic engines.

Through reverse engineering ISRO scientists were able to crack cryogenic technology. Cryogenic engines used in earlier GSLV flights were based on Russian designs but the one used on the GSLV Mk III is entirely of indigenous design based on gas generator cycle instead of the combustion cycle of Russian model.

To make it operational, ISRO will have to undertake one more developmental flight of GSLV Mk III which can take anywhere from six months to one year.

Meanwhile, ISRO has scheduled its next two satellites, GSAT-18 weighing 3.3 tonne and the other weighing 5.8 tonnes, to be launched by the European space agencys Ariane spacecraft from Kourou in French Guyana.

Once GSLV Mk III becomes operational India will cease its dependence on foreign launch vehicles. India has the potential to become a leader in launching satellites because of cost benefits.

So far, ISRO has launched 180 lighter satellites from 23 nations using its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles. Buoyed by the success of Mondays launch, ISRO has set its eyes on a 10-tonne payload launcher for which a semi-cryogenic engine is being developed.

The heavy launcher also has the potential to undertake manned flights. The semi-cryogenic engine is part of ISROs plan to develop Unified Launch Vehicle for different payloads in a single launch vehicle and Reusable Launch Vehicle. Semi-cryogenic engine is cost effective compared to engines that use solid and hypergolic liquid propellants.

Its propellants are eco-friendly, safer to handle and to store. While many nations across the world have the ability and capacity to develop satellites, few have the capacity to launch them. India has now joined this select group of nations and it is cause for cheer.
Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at a press briefing at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, Calif., was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in the Northern California town of Lower Lake, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)
Organization: Kampala Capital

City Authority (KCCA)

Project Name: Faecal Sludge

Management (FSM) Project

Funding Source: Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Department for International Department

(DfID), UK

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Reports to: Project Manager

About US:

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is the legal entity, established

by the Ugandan Parliament, responsible for the operations of the capital city

of Kampala in Uganda. Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) secured funding

from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Department for

International Department (DfID), UK, for a three (3) year Faecal Sludge

Management (FSM) Project. The Project seeks to improve FSM in the vulnerable

urban poor areas of Kampala City through an efficient and affordable private

sector led service delivery model.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

The incumbent will collect relevant data

on sanitation facilities for the development of a city wide GIS.

Identify sanitation facilities according

to Divisions.

The Data Collector will determine the X

and Y co-ordinates of the sanitation facilities by using Global Position

System (GPS) equipment and annotated.

Outline the characteristics of the

sanitation facilities in the divisions.

Capture name (s) of the owner (s) and

occupants.

Capture any other information related to

the development of the citywide GIS sanitation database.











Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The KCCA Data Collectors should be

Ugandans who possess an Honors Bachelors Degree (various disciplines)

from recognized Universities/ Institutions with at least a credit in

Mathematics (O level) and any relevant experience in data collection.

Excellent communication skills

Good presentation skills

Good computer and organisational skills

High level of integrity

Ability to work under pressure

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified Ugandans should send their three sets of

applications including certified photocopies of their certificates and

testimonials, plus three recent certified passport size photographs submitted

to the Director, Administration and Human Resource, P. O. Box 7010, Kampala,

Uganda

th August

2016 Deadline: 24August2016






Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda Kampala, Uganda

Salary Grade: FSN-7 (Ugshs 46,440,981 p.a. Inclusive of allowances) FSN-7 (Ugshs 46,440,981 p.a. Inclusive of allowances)

Vacancy Announcement Number: 83-16 (Those who applied for 82-16 need to re-apply) 83-16 (Those who applied for 82-16 need to re-apply)

About US Embassy:



to the United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda. The United States has enjoyed diplomatic

relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Deborah R. Malac currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador. Welcometo the United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda. The United States has enjoyed diplomaticrelations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Deborah R. Malac currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.



the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are: Amongthe offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:



Development (USAID) United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The US Embassy Visa Assistant will serve as the Consular

Assistant and performs a broad range of Consular services. The jobholder will

mainly be responsible for assisting with processing of voluminous

follow-to-join asylee/refugee (Visas 92/93) cases. The incumbent assists, as

necessary, in the processing of special immigrant visas (SIV), adoptions and in

providing emergency assistance to Americans. The incumbent interacts with the

public on a daily basis, responds to public inquiries, must be able to explain

complex procedures in a concise manner, and is required to maintain a high

standard of customer service. Incumbent files correspondence, and on some

occasions may be tasked other special duties as required. The Visa Assistant remains

vigilant against fraud and malfeasance and reports any concerns to the

appropriate authority. The Visa Assistant will assist in the processing of

non-immigrants visas (NIV).



Key Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Visas 92/93s: 50%



refugee and asylee cases for adjudication, ensuring documentary

requirements have been met and case progression. Renders support in preparing follow-to joinrefugee and asylee cases for adjudication, ensuring documentaryrequirements have been met and case progression.



inconsistencies or fraud red flags observed. Is a point of contact with

international organizations involved with refugee resettlement such as IOM

and RPC. Regularly alerts adjudicators to anyinconsistencies or fraud red flags observed. Is a point of contact withinternational organizations involved with refugee resettlement such as IOMand RPC.



Congress, attorneys and other interested parties concerned with individual

cases. Quickly respond to numerous inquiries fromCongress, attorneys and other interested parties concerned with individualcases.



processes all other clearances, IAFIS and waivers related to Visas 92/93

cases as needed and possible. Drafts Security Advisory Opinion cables andprocesses all other clearances, IAFIS and waivers related to Visas 92/93cases as needed and possible.



with printing of all visas and prepares the final visa packets. Schedules interview appointments. Assistswith printing of all visas and prepares the final visa packets.



affecting Visas 92/93 processing and of travel document issues pertaining

to third country nationals and updates consular officers and other support

staff accordingly. Stays abreast with new procedural changesaffecting Visas 92/93 processing and of travel document issues pertainingto third country nationals and updates consular officers and other supportstaff accordingly.









2. Non-Immigrants Visas (NIV):

40 %



applications for completeness, performs data verification, and prepares

cases for Consular officer adjudication. The incumbent helps review incoming NIVapplications for completeness, performs data verification, and preparescases for Consular officer adjudication.



public and the Mission community orally and through written correspondence

on application procedures and eligibility criteria. The Visa Assistant guides members of thepublic and the Mission community orally and through written correspondenceon application procedures and eligibility criteria.



and at all times must ensure that controlled items such as visa foils,

seals, etc. are handled in accordance with accountability procedures. The incumbent may print approved visa cases,and at all times must ensure that controlled items such as visa foils,seals, etc. are handled in accordance with accountability procedures.



and diplomatic visas and referrals within Mission. The jobholder handles requests for officialand diplomatic visas and referrals within Mission.



responds to correspondence, and will also be tasked with special projects

such as customer service surveys, validation studies, verifying

authenticity of documents, etc. The incumbent files visa applications andresponds to correspondence, and will also be tasked with special projectssuch as customer service surveys, validation studies, verifyingauthenticity of documents, etc.



a translator when required. Incumbent will also be requested to serve asa translator when required.

3. Others: 10% Serves

as back up with SIV processing. Performs other duties as assigned. 10% Servesas back up with SIV processing. Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:



address each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive

information supporting each item. NOTE: All applicants mustaddress each selection criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensiveinformation supporting each item.



career opportunity should have completed two years of college studies in

social sciences, public administration and management, secretarial,

development studies, law, education, human resources management, project

planning, languages or business administration is required. The ideal candidate for the US Embassy Visa Assistantcareer opportunity should have completed two years of college studies insocial sciences, public administration and management, secretarial,development studies, law, education, human resources management, projectplanning, languages or business administration is required.



an office and/or public service environment is required. At least three years experience working inan office and/or public service environment is required.



management and administrative procedures is required. Broad working knowledge of general officemanagement and administrative procedures is required.



to work independently and exercise tact in dealing with the public; work

under continuous pressure, exercise good judgment in referring cases to

officers, write clear and concise correspondence, ability to use local

resources to research legislation/policy and produce written information

handouts for American citizens and visa applicants are required. Develop

and maintain an extensive range of working contacts with local officials

and private organizations. Fast and accurate data entry skills, abilityto work independently and exercise tact in dealing with the public; workunder continuous pressure, exercise good judgment in referring cases toofficers, write clear and concise correspondence, ability to use localresources to research legislation/policy and produce written informationhandouts for American citizens and visa applicants are required. Developand maintain an extensive range of working contacts with local officialsand private organizations.

Language Proficiency: Level IV fluent English in speaking,

reading and writing is required. Ability to translate Luganda Level II

(Limited knowledge) is also required. Level IV fluent English in speaking,reading and writing is required. Ability to translate Luganda Level II(Limited knowledge) is also required.









How to Apply:

All those interested in working with the US mission in Kampala should send their applications and strictly adhere to the following: Download it Here . Download a completed and signed Universal Application for Employment as a Locally Employed Staff,

Any additional documentation that supports or addresses the requirements listed above (e.g. transcripts, degrees, etc.). Submit Application To: Human Resources Office By email at KampalaHR@state.gov NB: Your application will be reviewed if you have fulfilled all the requirements including submission of standard file types such as Microsoft Word (.doc) and Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) in a single attachment (No Zipped files, Links or Multiple Attachments) and should not exceed 10MB. Please clearly indicate the position number and title you are applying for on the DS-174 form.





Deadline: 2nd September, 2016



US Mission in Kampala provides equal opportunity and fair and equitable

treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color religion,

sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status,

or sexual orientation. The Department of

State also strives to achieve equal employment opportunity in all personnel

operations through continuing diversity enhancement programs. TheUS Mission in Kampala provides equal opportunity and fair and equitabletreatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color religion,sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital status,or sexual orientation. The Department ofState also strives to achieve equal employment opportunity in all personneloperations through continuing diversity enhancement programs.
But the tribe has a long way to go
Five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces as fresh violence erupted in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the toll to 65 in the weeks of unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.

A police officer told IANS that four protesters were killed in Budgam district and one more in Anantnag.

The officer said the protesters, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Budgam's Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here, in central Kashmir.

The security forces opened fire to bring the situation under control. One person was killed on the spot and three more succumbed to their injuries at a hospital. More than a dozen persons sustained injuries in the incident.

Another civilian was killed when security forces fired at an unruly mob who were throwing stones at police and paramilitary troopers in Larkipora village of Anantnag district, some 60 km south of Srinagar.

At least a dozen protesters were also injured in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Kashmir Valley in more than five weeks.

The valley has been on the boil amid curfew and separatist shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday.

Police said curfew and restrictions would continue in all the 10 districts of the valley. Separatists have already extended their protest shutdown to August 18.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.
In a shocking development a doctor in Satara district has confessed to killing six persons, including five women. Satara police have recovered four human skeletons at the doctor's farm house near Wai in Satara district in Maharashtra.

According to police, Dr Santosh Pol had been a suspect in the case of a missing Anganwadi worker Mangal Jedhe. Mangal went missing in June this year.

Pol, who was on the run for the last couple of months, was arrested by Wai police last Thursday. After his arrest, he told the police that he had killed Mangal after inviting her to his farmhouse.

During intense interrogation, he also confessed to have killed five more persons. Picking up the lead police carried out a thorough search at his farm house and recovered four skeletons.

Apart from Mangal Jedhe, Pol has confessed to killing of Vinita Gaikwad, Salma Shaikh, Surekha Chikne, Jagabai Pol and Nathmal Bhandara.

According to police, Mangal went missing in June when she was going to meet her daughter in Pune. When police traced her telephone calls they found out that last call to her had been made by Pol. This led police to the Dr Poles clinic.

As he was not found in the clinic, the police questioned a nurse named Jyoti Mandre. It was Mandre who informed police about Pol's whereabouts and subsequently he was arrested last Thursday.

Mandre has also been arrested by the police in connection with the case and further investigations are on.
The Union home ministry has raised a red flag to the proposal of the civil aviation ministry to create a new civil aviation security force to guard Indian airports. The home ministry has cited national security concerns and maintained that the CISF, which is already in charge of airport security, has the requisite training and mandate to guard vital installations like airports.

The ministry is also working on a proposal to gradually hand over the critical security of sensitive airports like Srinagar to the CISF. Presently, the CRPF is taking care of security of airports at Srinagar and Imphal.

The security of Aizwal airport, which is presently with the state police, will also be handed over to the CISF. Once the process is complete, the CISF will become the sole Central paramilitary force to be guarding all Indian airports. The home ministry is also undertaking an extensive audit of security of all airports, following which it will take steps to overhaul the security infrastructure at airports.

The proposal to create a separate aviation security force was drawn to avoid duplication of authority and to ensure that the entire security paraphernalia was handled by one force. The move came after a panel of the International Civil Aviation Organisation recommended legislative changes and formation of a new aviation security force under the control of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The need to revamp the security at all Indian airports has particularly gained attention after the terror attack at Brussels airport in March this year, where three coordinated suicide bombings took place.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has asked Pakistan military to send its troops into Kashmir to teach India a lesson.

According to Pakistan media, the 26/11 mastermind Saeed has asked this to Army Chief General Raheel Sharif.

Last month, Saeed had said the ongoing protests on the Indian side of Kashmir would be intensified and warned that the deaths in the region would not be in vain.

Addressing a meet in Lahore on Tuesday, Saeed said, This time the people in Kashmir are on streets. This protest has become a mass movement. All groups in Kashmir have united. All the wings of the Hurriyat have become one. The Muttahida Jihad Council and all other groups have come on to the same platform. Those who have died in Kashmir, their deaths will not be in vain.

At least 58 people were killed and several others injured, with both people and security forces turning hostile in protest-related violence in the Kashmir Valley, after Kashmiris took to the streets to condemn the killing of Wani.

He said Saeed in an event organized to express solidarity with Wani.

Recounting his association with Wani, he said the Hizbul Mujahideen commander was prepared to die after talking to him.

Saeed had also revelaed that he had received a phone call from Asiya Andrabi, the founder of separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Millat, seeking his help to resolve what she called 'the crisis on the Indian side of Kashmir'.

Warning India, he said it could either accept separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's four-point formula on Kashmir and withdraw security forces from the Valley or face the decision in battlefield.

He also organised a "Kashmir Caravan" from Lahore to Islamabad.

The caravan, comprising of trucks and buses, stretched for several kilometers, and passed through many cities, including Gujaranwala, Jhelum and Gujarat.

His rallies were attended by federal ministers and religious leaders of various organisations.
Police charged a man late Monday night with murder in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque over the weekend.

Oscar Morel, 35, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Charges against the Brooklyn man were upgraded after police said they recovered a revolver at his home and clothes similar to those being worn in a surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Morel was taken into custody on Sunday after police said he hit a bicyclist 10 minutes after Saturdays shooting in Queens. It wasnt immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Morel can be seen on the surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer just after Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot, said the New York Police Departments chief of detectives, Robert Boyce.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist about three miles away in Brooklyn, he said.

Morel was arrested late Sunday night outside a Brooklyn apartment after intentionally ramming his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said.

The arrest was announced just hours after about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, Justice! periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was mourning with you.

Authorities did not release a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is certainly on the table.

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

(AP)
The cabinet has given its approval for the new state budget, leading to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu releasing the following statement to the media.

The Government has unanimously approved the state budget. This is an important budget with foundations for competition, reforms and growth, a lower cost of living and reducing the gaps, which is an important goal of ours.

I thank the Finance Minister, the Finance Ministry Director General, the Director of the Budgets Division, the people at the Finance Ministry, all Government ministers and their people and the Director General of the Prime Ministers Office. After a day, night and the start of another day, you can understand the advantages of a biannual budget for the good of the Israeli economy, the citizens of Israel and the State of Israel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Consumers in Israel were alerted to a salmonella outbreak in Telma breakfast cereals recently, which was followed by an alert for contamination in Shamir salads containing tehina. This was not all. There was then the case of contamination in mehadrin Milutal French fries.

Channel 2 News on Sunday night the eve of 11 Menachem Av presented an official document stating chickens sold in Israel are contaminated with salmonella but are nonetheless marketed for retail sale. Channel 2 reported the information was exposed during the activities of persons from the Anonymous for Animal Rights organization. After learning of the deficiencies that exist, attorney Gilad Heller filed a class action suit against major slaughterhouses in Israel, including Ohf HaGalil, basing it on a report from Dr. Eliezer Nili, who until four years ago was in charge of all slaughterhouses in Israel.

Dr. Nili told Channel 2 that shipments of meat that are disqualified for export to Europe due to salmonella infection over 10% are commonly found for sale in Israel. Nili added the level of salmonella in Israeli poultry is usually higher than 10%. He adds that a number of months ago, the State Comptroller recommended to the Ministry of Health to change its regulations and to make acceptable standards more stringent as well as compelling the labeling of products that contain bacterial infection.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Mr. Tzion Duar of San Paula Brazil donated a Sefer Torah to Poriah Hospital in Tiveria. He traveled to Israel and visited the hospital with his delegation for the special event.

Emotions were running high on Thursday, 7 Menachem Av when the event took place, with the donor explaining HKBH sent me to the place that is in need of a Sefer Torah.

Hospital Director Dr. Erez Onn stated In the name of the entire tzibur, employees of the hospital, the patients and visitors, we thank and bless the donor for his huge mitzvah and we remain hopeful that in the near future we will begin the construction of a permanent home for the shul, which will provide a fitting resting place for the Torah and a venue for mispallalim. I thank you and invite you to visit us again and see the new shul.

Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer, the Chabad Shaliach who made the shidduch between the hospital and donor added his words of praise, adding the donation is significant for now mispallalim in the shul will have a Sefer Torah in the hospital.

Rav Kramer pointed out that while the Sefer was given on Thursday, the actual merriment was on hold until after the Nine Days.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Reporting a mere 120 motorists daily have availed themselves of park and ride parking lots operated by the Neta Company, the decision was made to close them, Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) reports. The budget for the park & ride lots will be given bus lines operating in areas of Gush Dan light rail construction.

The park & rides in Tel Baruch, Ganei Yehoshua, and Petach Tikvah are going to close within two months due to a lack of interest among motorists. 2,800 parking spaces were created in the three lots with the beginning of light rail construction in Gush Dan a year ago. Drivers availing themselves of a park & ride pay NIS 15 for the day and permitted to ride the minibus to the center of Tel Aviv without charge.

Over NIS 40 million was invested in the park & rides in the past year, while there is only a daily average of 120 cars a day parking while the fleet of minivans contributs to the traffic in the center of Tel Aviv with few riders onboard.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
MK (Yesh Atid) Elazar Stern on Monday, 11 Menachem Av commented on a directive given by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott, instructing him to stop all operational cooperation between IDF soldiers and children of foreign aliens and foreign workers.

Speaking to Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), Stern explained Charity begins at home is not a relevant argument, for if so, why is the IDF travel to Turkey to assist when tragedy strikes? Stern calls on Lieberman not to interfere, as the children do not have a political view and the minister should make this a political issue. When you look at a child, you do not ask him what his father does he added.

Stern, a retired IDF major-general served as chief of the IDF Personnel Branch, stating I dont suggest suppressing the humanistic spirit of IDF commanders for this is how we succeed keeping the best of the commanders.

Stern stressed his position does not come from a lack of understanding of the complexity of the problem regarding southern Tel Aviv residents. I almost got beat in southern Tel Aviv but despite this I say the children must be taken out of the playing field. Stern was hinting at his realization that southern Tel Aviv has become a bastion of asylum-seekers, home to many illegals from Sudan and other African countries.

Stern feels the directive given to Eizenkott by Lieberman is a trap and he calls on Lieberman to back off. I call on the Defense Minister not to fall in the trap being set by his right-wing friends to topple him. He should pull his hands from these extremely sensitive issues that involve the IDF regarding social matters.

The IDF Chief does not instruct his commanders to volunteer in one place or another. The Defense Minister is making a mistake entering this matter regarding where IDF personnel can volunteer by tainting this politically, concluded Stern.

Last week Lieberman commented on the IDF volunteerism program involving the Bialik-Rogozin School in southern Tel Aviv, which has a diverse population of 1,200 students. The students are from parents who are migrants and working class homes as well as children from asylum-seeking parents. Lieberman announced charity begins at home, suggesting if IDF personnel are seeking a volunteer project, they should consider assisting Holocaust survivors and not asylum-seekers.

In one program, members of Sayeret Matkal took part in a fun day for the schools students. Other programs include IDF personnel tutoring students. Officials explain many of the students have Israeli ID cards.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A major class action suit in the amount of NIS 6.7 billion against Shufersal, Nasich Tehina and Shamir Salads [link here] for failing to properly inspect products to verify their integrity. This following a number of salmonella and listeria recalls after foods including breakfast cereals, salads containing tehina and French fried potatoes were found to be infected. The sum calculates payment of NIS 1,000 for each person participating in the lawsuit.

The request to approve the class action suit was filed with the Lod District Court on Sunday, 10 Menachem Av by attorneys Assaf Noy, David Ohr Chen, Yossi Greiber, and Yitzchak Ohr. The legal team explains the consumer is full of anxiety regarding their health and the health of their children. The lawsuit claims the companies failed to properly test products as required in addition to alleging Nasich (Prince) Tehina covered-up the presence of salmonella in its product from its customers, which includes Shamir Salads.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Cleared for publication: About three years since the attack and the result of a joint IDF, police and Shin Bet operation in the Shai District, a suspected terrorist was taken into custody. The terrorist who perpetrated a stabbing attack Kikar Adam stabbing attack on December 23, 2013. The suspect, 21-year-old Muhmad Ali Abu-Henak of Obadiah in the Bet Lechem district is in custody.

Kikar Adam is located after Hizme, a gateway to the Shomron with Jews traveling from Jerusalem turning right to the Binyamin Regional Council communities and Arabs turning left to PA (Palestinian Authority) autonomous areas.

It is added that Abu-Henak on the day of the attack decided to go ahead with it as he wished to bring an end to his bleak life.

Abu-Henak was armed with a kitchen knife when he entered a taxi heading from Ramallah to the Beit Lechem region. When he saw the policeman at Kikar Adam he decided to get out of the taxi to stab the policeman in his back, leaving him moderately wounded. He succeeded in fleeing the scene and remained free until his recent apprehension.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Ministry of Religious Services has announced the launch of its digital religious council, permitting persons to register for marriage online. One may also receive SMS text messages or emails from a religious council, scan and send a marriage certificate as well as address other related matters online. A check of the new digital registration indicates not all of the nations religious councils are hooked into the system at present.

Minister of Religious Services David Azoulai praised the new service, which he explains is the result of a considerable investment of resources, pleased that many religious councils are already hooked into the digital system. He adds religious councils are modernizing and for the most part, have incorporated technological advances towards better serving Israelis. He explains that computerizing the nations 132 religious councils cost the ministry NIS 50 million, including the purchase of equipment, software and more.

One may access the digital religious council registration here.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A Palestinian tried to steal the identity of an Israeli and was apprehended by agents of a Population Registry office.

The incident occurred on Monday morning 11 Menachem Av at the Netanyahu Population Registry office. A 19-year-old Palestinians arrived and requested to renew his identity car, showing the clerk the one in his hand was clearly damaged and needed replacement.

The clerk realized the ID card was not his, and it appears it was an attempt by a PA (Palestinian Authority) resident to steal the identity of an Israeli who lost his ID card.

While the young man waited police were summoned and the subject, who was in Green Line Israel illegally, was taken into custody.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Jews around the world are encouraged to join TorahForSholom, a special Torah in the merit of the release of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin.

The arrest and unjustly long incarceration of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin is an ongoing saga that has captured the attention of Am Yisroel. His steadfast Emunah and Bitachon have inspired thousands and his acceptance of his fate has pushed those who love him to fight with superhuman strength to reverse it.

His fight is being fought on many fronts, by family, legislators and attorneys, but the ultimate power to fight for justice lies with us, Klal Yisroel, as we are able to beseech Hashem, the all-powerful Judge for a miraculous reversal of the injustice.

There is nothing more powerful than all of us, united for one goal, one purpose. To take action and beseech Hashem  our Creator, our constant Giver, on behalf of Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka Rubashkin.

Today, you have the opportunity to unite with Klal Yisroel and become a partner in the writing of a new sefer Torah that is being written in Zchus of bringing Sholom Mordechai Halevi back to his family and Klal Yisroel.

The Siyum Sefer Torah will iyh take place, this coming 20th of Av.

The website, Torah For Sholom, is built specifically to allow everyone to partake in this mitzvah.

To join in, simply visit the website, and click Participate.

And please help get the word out by sharing with your friends, family, and as many yidden as possible. Lets shake the heavens with Torah, Tefilah, Tzedakah!
Thousands of people in southern Louisiana hunkered down in shelters Monday, forced out of their homes by intense flooding that took many people by surprise.

At least six people were killed. The weather had improved from the torrential downpours that began Friday but rivers and creeks in many areas were still way above flood stage, and people downstream eyed the deluge with concern.

Across southern Louisiana, residents have been scrambling to get to safety as rivers and creeks burst their banks, swollen from days of heavy rain that in some areas came close to 2 feet over a 48-hour period. Rescuers evacuated more than 20,000 people since the flooding started Friday and more than 10,000 people were in shelters as of late Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of people and the governor warned it was not over.

Ive never seen anything like this before, said Barbara Manuel, 41, speaking on the side of the road as she was about to get in a National Guard vehicle.

On Sunday, Manuel saw a little sun, giving her hope that the worst of the flooding was over. But then the skies ripped open, the lights in her house started to flicker and with 3 feet of water outside threatening to come in, she knew it was time to get out with her two children  a 5-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son.

As long as my kids are safe, thats all that matters, she said.

From the air, homes looked more like little islands surrounded by flooded fields. Farmland was covered, streets descended into impassable pools of water, shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peeking above the water.

From the ground it was just as catastrophic.

Drivers tried to navigate treacherous roads where the water lapped at the side or covered the asphalt in a running stream. Abandoned cars were pushed to the side of the road, lawn furniture and childrens toys floating through the waters.

The low pressure system moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that theres still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Rivers in the Baton Rouge area have started to fall, but still remained above flood stage setting record levels over the weekend, the National Weather Service said Monday.

The rivers and streams north of Interstate 12 have crested and have started to drop, while those south of the interstate continue to rise, meteorologist Mike Efferson said. He said the Baton Rouge area could see up to a half-inch of rain Monday.

The Comite River just east of Baton Rouge dropped nearly 2 feet by Monday from the 34-feet over the weekend. Flood stage is 20 feet.

The Amite River at Denham Springs was at 43.5 feet Monday after reaching 46.2 feet. Flood stage is 29 feet.

The federal government declared a major disaster, specifically in the parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston. More parishes could be added as assessments are done, and officials are advising residents to document all their damage.

Gov. Edwards said President Barack Obama called him and said the people of southern Louisiana were in his thoughts and prayers.

Edwards called on people to refrain from going out to sightsee even as the weather gets better.

Six people have died, Devin George, the state registrar for vital records, said Monday.

Authorities worked throughout Sunday to rescue people from cars stranded on a miles-long stretch of Interstate 12. The governor said on Twitter late in the day that everyone had been rescued.

Hundreds of people were gathered at Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, some coming in by bus and others by helicopter.

Matthew and Rachel Fitzpatrick, from Brandon, Mississippi, hopped off one of the choppers with her grandparents. The couple had been visiting family in Baton Rouge when the flooding started. They found temporary refuge at Hebron Baptist Church but became trapped by floodwaters Saturday night.

People at the church used boats and big trucks to rescue others and bring them to the church, where helicopters started picking them up and flying them to safety Sunday.

Everybody is just tired and nervous and wanting to see what kind of damage they have to their home, Rachel said.

The evacuees included the governor and his family, who were forced to leave the Governors Mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was shut off.

(AP)
A wind-whipped wildfire roared through a Northern California town still recovering from a devastating blaze nearly a year ago, destroying more than 100 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee, authorities said Monday.

The fire seemed calm Sunday before gusts kicked up the flames that tore through neighborhoods in Lower Lake, a rural town of roughly 1,300 about 90 miles north of San Francisco, officials said. It reached Main Street and burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses as thick, black smoke loomed over the small downtown strip.

Staff at a hospital in Clearlake, a neighboring town of about 15,000, rushed to transfer 16 patients to another hospital and firefighters carried goats and other animals to safety as homes burned around them.

The fire was not moving toward Clearlake on Monday, but we are prepared for whatever erratic behavior the fire throws at us today, said Daniel Berlant, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman.

The blaze was one of 11 large wildfires in the state, where high temperatures and parched conditions brought on by a five-year drought raised the fire danger. In central California, a day-old wildfire burned 20 structures and threatened 150 homes.

The fire in Lower Lake broke out Saturday afternoon and exploded to nearly 5 square miles as it fed on bone-dry vegetation. Besides the wind, 100-degree heat hindered firefighters struggling to get a handle on the largely out-of-control blaze.

This fire roared through the city like a wave of water  it was a wave of fire that came through here, said Lt. Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriffs spokesman working on behalf of the forestry department.

Over 100 homes were destroyed in the town with working-class families and retirees drawn by a slower lifestyle and lower housing prices compared with the San Francisco Bay Area, a more than two-hour drive away.

Officials did not immediately know how many businesses and other buildings were lost but say thousands were still threatened. No one was injured, and officials were hopeful the wind wont pick up again.

Residents who thought conditions were calm earlier Sunday went on errands in town and came back to roaring flames and smoke. Some used hoses or water from their pools to try to protect their houses.

Rick Davis, 40, told the San Francisco Chronicle ( http://bit.ly/2aTNOdK ) that he went to lunch in Lower Lake and rushed home when he heard the fire exploded. He used a hose to wet down his roof.

Im just scared, he said. The wind can just change.

Nearby, Garrett Reed, 43, made similar preparations.

If I see embers and ash rain down, I will turn the sprinklers on the roof and get out, he told the newspaper. But this is my grandfathers house, and Im not going to lose it.

Phaedra Phelps had the same thought after hearing the flames spread and raced back from the store Sunday.

My daddy bought this house for me 18 years ago, Phelps told the Press Democrat newspaper in Santa Rosa ( http://bit.ly/2aVEaNK ). Im staying here. This is my home. Unless my home is on fire, Im not going anywhere.

The fire shifted into Lower Lake after creating its own weather pattern, said Suzie Blankenship, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. Tragically, the burned Habitat for Humanity office had been raising money to help rebuild homes destroyed by one of the states most destructive blazes nearly a year ago.

Emotions are still incredibly raw from the Valley Fire, state Sen. Mike McGuire said about last years wildfire, which killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. I dont think any of us thought wed be back where we are tonight.

In central California, similar conditions led the wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, to explode from 2 to nearly 7 square miles Sunday, Cal Fire spokesman Bennet Milloy said. The blaze shifted north toward the lake, leading authorities to evacuate some residents by boat. It is partially contained.

In Southern California, forecasters warned of high fire danger due to a heat wave and gusty winds.

(AP)
A man charged in the weekend slaying of a Georgia police officer was arrested early Monday in northern Florida, where sheriffs deputies found the suspect hiding in the trunk of his sisters car.

Deputies in Nassau County, Florida, apprehended 24-year-old Royheem Delshawn Deeds during a traffic stop about 1 a.m., said Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper.

Deeds is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Eastman Patrol Officer Tim Smith, 30. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Smith was shot Saturday night while responding to a report of a suspicious person in a residential area of Eastman, about 60 miles southeast of Macon.

Deeds was awaiting transport back to Georgia on Monday from the jail in Nassau County, located on the Georgia-Florida line about 160 miles from the scene of the shooting.

Leeper said his department received a tip overnight from U.S. marshals saying Deeds might be traveling in a gold Nissan Altima headed for Gainesville, Florida. He said one his deputies spotted the car early Monday traveling south on U.S. 1.

Deeds sister, 22-year-old Franshawn Deeds, was driving the car and had one passenger, 32-year-old Jamil Marquis Mitchell, in the front seat beside her, the sheriff said.

After the driver and passenger were detained, a search of the car revealed Royheem Deeds was hiding in the trunk of the vehicle, Leeper said.

Deeds sister and Mitchell were charged with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, Leeper said. He said all three had waived extradition back to Georgia. It was not immediately known if any of them had defense attorneys who could comment on the case.

Authorities released few details about the events the led to the shooting.

GBI spokesman Scott Dutton said Monday that a citizen of Eastman called 911 to report a suspicious person. Smith arrived on the scene about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

He pulls up, he sees who he thinks the call was about and starts to talk to him, Dutton said. And things happened really quick.

Its unclear how authorities identified Deeds as a suspect. Smith wasnt wearing a body camera, Dutton said, but he had a dash camera mounted on his patrol car. The officer had also been talking on his radio. Smith was white. Deeds is black.

Dutton said there was no evidence the officer had been lured into an ambush by a bogus call for assistance.

It was a legitimate call, Dutton said. A citizen had reported suspicious activity, which is what (the officer) encountered.

Smith had been with the Eastman Police Department since 2011 and was a father of three.

(AP)
Police detectives investigating the slayings of an imam and his associate have detained and questioned a man as part of an attempt to identify a vehicle seen leaving the scene of the shooting, authorities said Monday.

The man was taken into custody in connection with an unrelated incident but had been questioned by detectives regarding the Saturday afternoon shooting of Imam Maulama Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin, said Stephen Davis, the New York Police Departments top spokesman.

Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were shot shortly after leaving the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.

Authorities say surveillance footage showed a car leaving the scene. Detectives checked a police database and found that a car with a matching description had been involved in a hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn, police said.

In that case, a witness to the accident recorded the cars license plate. Investigators from a warrants squad tracked it to an address in Brooklyn where they waited in an unmarked police cruiser for the man to enter before blocking him in, police said.

The man intentionally bumped their vehicle with his car before he was placed in handcuffs, they said.

The case has not been classified as a hate crime, and police havent said what prompted the brazen daytime shooting. The gunman is a dark-haired, bearded man wearing glasses, according to a police sketch artists depiction.

Islamic funeral prayers were scheduled to be held Monday a few blocks from where the victims were killed.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was scheduled to attend.

The shooting has shocked the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn, sparking fear among some that they could be targeted because of their faith. Some residents have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

(AP)
Police were investigating what caused people to report hearing gunshots at Kennedy Airport on Sunday night, triggering a series of evacuations and some panic among travelers spooked by the heavy police response.

Investigators determined there were no guns or ammunition involved, but videos and photos showed people cowering behind chairs and running across a road to escape the evacuated terminals.

One video showed startled travelers scrambling for cover as a team of police officers swept through the terminal, weapons drawn, shouting for people to get down on the ground.

Police evacuated Terminal 8 as a precaution around 9:30 p.m. Sunday after receiving a 911 call reporting the sound of a gunshot near the departures area.

The initial report that resulted in the robust response was not a hoax, said airport police spokesman Joe Pentangelo, but rather appeared to be an initial reaction to people running.

Its not clear what had prompted the people to run.

Port Authority police called in officers from the New York Police Department to assist with the investigation.

A short time later, police closed Terminal 1 after receiving reports of a gunshot there. A highway approaching the airport also was shut down.

Demetrius Pipkin told WPIX-TV he was in Terminal 1 waiting for his Norwegian Airlines flight when passengers were told to get on the floor and take cover behind any and everything we could find.

Pipkin described the terminal as a madhouse with panicky passengers eventually bolting for the nearest exists.

According to the flight tracking company, FlightAware, all inbound flights were held at their origin at until 11:30 p.m. due to security.

(AP)
Vice President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trumps ability to lead America at home and abroad on Monday, branding him as indifferent to the needs of Americans in his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Biden, who decided not to make a third presidential bid last year, said in his native city of Scranton that Trump was totally, thoroughly unqualified to be president, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

On the economy, he said, Trumps reveling in his TV reality show tag-line, Youre fired, showed his true colors.

Hes trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break. Its such a bunch of malarkey, Biden told a crowd of about 3,000 at Riverfront Sports, adding: He doesnt have a clue.

Pennsylvania has not supported a Republican in a presidential election since 1988, but is among the most-contested battleground states between Clinton and Trump, who are both vying for white working-class voters here.

Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness in the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and over her familys sprawling foundation. She has tried to make the case that working-class voters would fare better under her economic policies than Trumps and that her opponent would inject danger into an already unstable world.

Offering himself as a powerful character witness for Clinton, Biden portrayed the former secretary of state as the most qualified person to lead the country, singling out her foreign policy experience and passion for improving peoples lives. He cited his long history with Clinton, saying hes known her for three decades, since before she was first lady in the 1990s.

Hillary has forgotten more about American foreign policy then Trump and his entire team will ever understand, he said.

And he cited Clintons gender as a powerful asset, saying electing the first female president would change the lives of American women and girls.

Hillary Clinton is going to write the next chapter in American history, he said.

Introducing Biden, Clinton sought to sow doubts about Trumps ability to bring jobs back to blue-collar communities like Scranton, where Biden lived for the first decade of his life before moving to Delaware.

She acknowledged that many people in the audience might have friends considering voting for the Republican, but offered this advice: Friends should not let friends vote for Trump.

Clinton and Biden spoke ahead of Trumps national security address in Ohio, questioning the business moguls ability to represent the nation overseas.

In his speech, Trump accused Clinton of pushing policies that have opened the United States to foreign terrorists.

Hillary Clinton wants to be Americas Angela Merkel, he said, arguing that Germanys immigration policy has weakened that countrys national security.

Clinton said Trump had been all over the place on foreign policy and had suggested sending in ground troops to fight the Islamic State group. That is off the table as far as Im concerned, she said.

Biden warned that Trump was unprepared to oversee nuclear codes and cited Trumps praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

If Trump likes them, He would have loved Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. Scholars estimate that under Stalin, more than 1 million people were executed in political purges and millions more died as a result of harsh labor and cruel treatment in the vast gulag prison camp system.

Seeking a common bond, both Democrats pointed back to their family ties in northeastern Pennsylvania. Biden, a frequent visitor, recalled the street he grew up on and credited the city with helping to mold his values. Clinton noted her grandfather worked at a Scranton lace mill factory and that her father was raised here and later attended Penn State University. The family spent summers at a family cabin in nearby Lake Winola, she said.

Biden and Clinton had been planned to campaign together here before last months Democratic National Convention but their rally was postponed because of the deadly police shooting in Dallas. The vice president is expected to campaign for Clinton in several battleground states where he remains popular, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

(AP)
Hillary Clintons campaign is questioning Donald Trumps top political aides ties to a pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine, claiming it is evidence of the Republican nominees cozy relationship with Russia.

The New York Times reported that handwritten ledgers found in Ukraine show $12.7 million in undisclosed payments to Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign manager, from the pro-Russia party founded by the countrys former president Viktor Yanukovych. Investigators are probing whether the money was part of an illegal off-the-book system that may have also made payments to election officials, according to the Times in a story published Sunday night.

Given the pro-Putin policy stances adopted by Donald Trump and the recent Russian government hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in statement, Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manaforts and all other campaign employees and advisers ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trumps employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them.

The campaign stepped up criticism Monday by suggesting that Manafort pushed for pro-Russia changes to the Republican Party platform and by suggesting that several Trump advisers have links to Moscow.

Manafort, who has had several international clients including Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, denied any wrongdoing.

The simplest answer is the truth: I am a campaign professional, said Manafort in a statement Monday. I have never received a single off-the-books cash payment as falsely reported by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia.

He added that his five-year stint as a political consultant in Ukraine ended after that countrys elections in 2014. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for further comment.

Svitlana Olifira, a spokeswoman for Ukraines National Anti-Corruption Bureau, confirmed that documents were recovered, but cautioned that the probe was in early stages.

Its a bit early to say if we really will have a separate investigation related to the name of Manafort, since we are still studying it (the documents), said Olifira. I want to stress that his name appears there not just once, but we cannot say if he physically received the money assigned to him, as there are other signatures near his name.

Serhiy Leshchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, said he believes that the ledger correctly reflected the funneling of what he called corrupt money.

Im convinced that this information is accurate and (that these) documents are genuine, because all this content can be confirmed by historical events, evidence and statements by other public figures who are on the list, Leshchenko said.

Trumps relationship with Russia has drawn scrutiny throughout the campaign, most recently when he encouraged hackers from that country to find Clintons missing emails, an apparent invitation for a foreign power to intervene in a U.S. election. Trump also has frequently praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump delivered what was billed as a major foreign policy speech on Monday but did not mention the questions surrounding Manafort. He repeated, however, his belief that the U.S. should set aside its differences with Russia to work together to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.

(AP)
[By Margie Pensak]

Portland, Oregon and Richmond, Virginia, were just two of the locales that participants traveled from to attend STAR-K Kosher Certifications back-to-back seminars in its Baltimore offices. The 13th Annual STAR-K Kashrus Training Program was held August 1-4, followed by the Food Service Kashrus Training Seminar, August 8-10. Both certificate programs featured a Q & A session with STAR-K Rabbinic Administrator Rav Moshe Heinemann, as well as a variety of lectures by STAR-K Kashrus Administrators, tours of STAR-K-certified establishments, hands-on vegetable checking practicums, and an optional visit (led by Food Service Kashrus Training Seminar coordinator, Rabbi Sholom Tendler) to Kreider Farmshome of Pride of the Farm milkin Lancaster, PA. The first seminar even included a live nikkur demonstration of a calf.

Rabbi Yitzy Mandel and Rabbi Simcha Snaid, kollel yungerleit of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, New York, found the Kashrus Training Program invaluable in preparation for their post-Tisha BAv move to Louisville, Kentucky, where they hope to rejuvenate Yiddishkeit for the 8500 Jews living there.

The more informed we are, the better we are able to give over the information, noted Rabbi Snaid, the new Rav of the Orthodox Congregation Anshei Sfard. He anticipates using what he learned for the Shabbos Project they are planning in a hotel, as well as for their new organization, KITEKentucky Institute for Torah Education.

The Seminar was informative, engaging, and hands-on, shared Rabbi Mandel. I have no doubt that I will use this information and spread it to the world.

Rabbi Rephael Yehuda Frankel and Rabbi Dovid Normanboth of whom learn and answer shaylos at the Bais Horaah of Lakewoodalso participated in the seminar.

People very often call Bais Horaah to ask kashrus questions, explained Rabbi Frankel. When its a bigger question, you can always refer them to agencies, but I learned the basic knowledge of how things run, whats a question and whats not a question, and what things are more simple and more complicated, to know how to guide peopleI enjoyed the seminar very much. It was very well run; in the short amount of time they had, they packed a lot of nice things into it and it definitely helped educate us a lot.

The STAR-K Food Service Seminar provided something which the Kashrus Training Program didnta separate section for women mashgichos. Ilene Paley, of Richmond, Virginia, first-time attendee, says she calls STAR-Ks Kashrus Hotline with her shaylas three or four times a month for the past 12 years, in her capacity as the mashgicha of the local JCC and her shul, Keneseth Beth Israel.

Other Food Service seminar participants attended for a variety of reasons. Pauline Kleinburg of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, works with the Cherry-K Vaad, overseeing the Kosher Experience in ShopRite and Ritas Ices. She hopes that her knowledge of kashrus will help grow her Jewish community. Entrepreneur Leah Mikeladze, who produces Dips by Leah, came because of the huge achrayus she has in ensuring that her customers receive the level of kashrus they expect and deserve. Rhonda Lehman, of Silver Spring, Maryland, had a four-fold purpose in mind when she signed up: to help ensure the highest level and standard of kashrus for the chesed events she organizes and coordinates; to educate others on kashrus issues or concerns; to be a volunteer mashgicha for those who cant afford one; and to help establishments become kosher certified. And, Baltimorean Eve Messing, a newly retired teacher, wanted to explore the field of kashrus to see if it was something she would want to go into.

Although Rabbi Ahron Kushner commutes daily1000 miles/weekfrom Cleveland Heights to Canton, Ohio, where he is the Rav of Agudas Achim Congregation, he did not hesitate to put on the extra mileage to attend the Food Service seminar. In Shulchan Aruch they dont talk about deep fryers and steam kettles; you really have to be there to see it, said Rabbi Kushner. Kashrus is important and STAR-K has a lot of policies that are dummy-proof.

It is both humbling and inspiring that so many people travelled so far to further their knowledge of Kashrus, noted Rabbi Tendler. STAR-Ks mission has always been to help educate as many people about Kashrus as possible. To be able to have a hand in enhancing Kashrus in so many communities, is something that is a privilege for us.

As we celebrate our bar mitzvah, our 13th year of seminars, we are deeply grateful to Hashem that we are able to serve the kosher world in this way, remarked STAR-K Kashrus Administrator Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, coordinator of the Kashrus Training Program. Our graduates occupy positions in Kashrus or the rabbinate throughout the world. Many keep in touch with us for updates on Kashrus or consultations with our staff. We are now working on our next 13 years, iyH!

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
The EU has boosted the budget for humanitarian assistance for Syrian refugees to more than 2 billion. The funding will cover health, education, municipal and social infrastructure, and socio-economic support, aiming to speed up the implementation of the Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The budget is meant to provide assistance to address urgent needs of refugees in Turkey and the very first tranche of funding will provide operational costs of and access to education and healthcare services for Syrian refugees and their children.

The second tranche will focus on education and health-related infrastructure and it will be implemented through agreements with international financial institutions while the third one will include an allocation to top up the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, allowing it to continue funding the bottom-up assistance to refugees and host communities. The Facility for Refugees in Turkey also includes an allocation to allow international financial institutions to build a project pipeline for potential future projects under the Facility. The latest boost in financing comes on top of a total of 740 million that has been allocated for humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance to date, making the total committed under the Facility 2.155 billion.

The EU already has humanitarian aid in place that aims to help refugees in Turkey. The new funding will be channeled to NGOs and humanitarian organizations in partnerships with various local non-governmental organizations and in coordination with government service departments. The EU-funded humanitarian projects in Turkey cover the most basic needs of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers and include support for access to primary health care, food and assistance for people wounded in war. Projects with a focus on education will cover school transport and access to non-formal education. A special emphasis is put on ensuring the protection of the most vulnerable, in particular children.
The 63 masechtos of Shas were not allowed to be printed in the Soviet Union even once during the 70 years of its existence. An amalgam of Aramaic and Hebrew, the ancient text contains the teachings and opinions of hundreds of rabbis on the widest variety of subjects, including Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs, history and lore. Now, with the publication of three initial volumes, a historic effort to translate the entire Talmud with commentaries into the Russian language has been launched in Moscow.

For more than 1,500 years, the Talmud has served as the central curriculum of Jewish education, studied by children sitting around a single volume in a one-room cheder, and white-bearded elders bent over a yellowing synagogue tome. Wherever Jews have found themselves, they have printed and studied the Talmudthe most famous and widely reproduced edition being that of Vilnas Romm printing house, first published in the 1870s.

But the Bolsheviks wanted to silence the distinctive sing-song tune of talmudic learning that emanated from pre-Revolution Russian synagogues and schools, and so they banned it. In fact, they banned the printing of all Jewish religious texts. Until the 1980s, the last Chumash in Russia was printed in 1918 and the last volume of Torah scholarship in 1926a slim commentary on Rambam written by the rabbi of Poltava.

Now, the monumental task of translating the Talmuds 5,422 pages into Russian has been undertaken by the Knizhniki publishing house, which is affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJC). When completed, it will be the first translation of the entire Talmud ever produced in Russian. Knizhniki has previously translated and published all six orders of the Mishnah, and is in the process of publishing Rambams entire Mishneh Torah as well.

We started with this current project three years ago, working out how we envisioned the layout and how we wanted to do it, says Rabbi Boruch Gorin, chief editor of Knizhniki. A concurrent effort had been started by Chabad Maor in St. Petersburg; Gorin found that their visions coincided, and so the two organizations decided to collaborate. The first half of Brachos was published in January; the second half came out in May; and Makkos was released in the beginning of August.

We hope to release about four volumes a year, says Gorin. If all goes well, the entire Talmud will be published in Russian within 10 to 12 years.

During the planning stages, critics suggested that it was a fools errand. If a Russian Jew was actually interested in the material, the reasoning went, they could learn Hebrew and Aramaic, and study in the original. Gorin says their Russian Talmuds unexpected popularity and sales prove otherwise.

Gorin, who is also editor-in-chief of the Jewish literary magazine Lechaim, describes the Talmuds translation as not only a religiously significant event for Russian Jewry, but a broader societal one as well. Soviet academic culture had a strong tradition of translating important texts from other cultures, and so for Gorin and the team working on this Talmud (the chief translator is Rabbi Reuven Piatigorsky), it has been important that the work be up to serious academic standards.

We see a huge positive impact because of the high level of quality, says Gorin. There are a large number of people for whom this is intellectual and spiritual sustenance. When they did not have Jewish materials at this level, unfortunately, they looked elsewhere.

Rabbi Berel Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia, also heralded the newly published volumes: This is an unprecedented project in the Russian-Jewish book publishing, and it is taking the development of Jewish life in Russia to a new stage.

He adds that he hopes the new publication will enable a deeper search for the truth by all who study it.

(Source: Chabad.org)
By: Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, Boca Raton Synagogue

normal

adjective: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

The people in Camp HASC are not normal in that they are anything but typical or usual. HASC campers include those in their 50s and 60s, wheelchair-bound, individuals with feeding tubes, and with every imaginable special need including intellectual and physical disabilities. The needs are so great that it takes over 500 staff members to care for 350 campers.

In HASC, normal is redefined. It is normal during meals for campers to start screaming spontaneously or pacing frantically. It is normal during davening for campers to be laying on the floor, hitting themselves or thinking they are the Chazzan. It is normal in Camp HASC for adults to require being changed, showered, and diapered.

My family and I had the great privilege of spending this past Shabbos at camp and after seeing firsthand this magical place, I can report that they are not just special needs children, they are just truly special children. They may have disabilities, but in their purity, innocence, and sweetness they are more functional than many fully-abled people. The holy neshamos of the campers of HASC lack inhibition and hang-ups, and they dont sit in judgment of those around them. Many cant communicate traditionally, but with a smile, a nod, a brush of the cheek or just a meaningful look, their inner goodness shines through.

HASC officially stands for The Hebrew Academy for Special Children, but unofficially, the acronym clearly stands for something else as well. HASC is The Hebrew Academy for Special Counselors.

The campers are not the only ones at HASC that are not normal and that are special. One cannot witness the love, attention and affection of the extraordinary staff and not be moved to tears by their selflessness.

In his book, The Road to Character, David Brooks describes ours as The Age of the Selfie. He writes:

People have become less empathetic  or at least they display less empathy in how they describe themselves. A University of Michigan study found that todays college students score 40 percent lower than their predecessors in the 1970s in their ability to understand what another person is feeling. The biggest drop came in the years after 2000.

Public language has also become demoralized. Google algorithms measure word usage across media. Google scans the contents of books and publications going back decades. You can type in a word and see, over the years, which words have been used more frequently and which less frequently. Over the past few decades there has been a sharp rise in the usage of individualist words and phrases like self and personalized, I come first and I can do it myself, and a sharp decline in community words like community, share, united, and common good. The use of words having to do with economics and business has increased, while the language of morality and character building is in decline. Usage of words like character, conscience, and virtue all declined over the course of the twentieth century. Usage of the word bravery has declined by 66 percent over the course of the twentieth century. Gratitude is down 49 percent. Humbleness is down 52 percent and kindness is down 56 percent.

Numerous articles discuss the narcissism and self-centeredness of the millennial generation (commonly referring to adults born between 1980 and 1994). How will leaders capable of mesirus nefesh, self-sacrifice, emerge from a mostly privileged generation of individuals consumed with posting selfies and personal status updates?

Observing what is happening around us and reading the results of studies and analysis, it is easy to be judgmental about the next generation and pessimistic about our collective future.

But that would be a terrible mistake. Our future is very bright and if you doubt it, spend five minutes at Camp HASC or one of the numerous other programs and camps that serve our children and adults with special needs.

The amazing staff who work there are by all measures normal. They also take selfies and update their statuses. But in between they are engaged in truly abnormal acts of selflessness and giving. From feeding, administering medications, and pushing people in wheelchairs to changing adult diapers, showering, and shadowing, the staff shows incredible attention and care for each and every camper.

One would think this exhausted group of young people would look tired, depleted, or even sad and depressed by their work. Instead, their selflessness yields the greatest satisfaction, deepest fulfillment, and most genuine happiness. Not only does the staff care physically for the campers, but all of their giving and nurturing results in a true love for them.

Visit camp HASC and you see young men and women spontaneously displaying hugs, kisses and affection to campers they only met a short time ago but have come to love as their children. For seven weeks, because of the generosity and kindness of these staffers, parents of 350 extremely challenging children get a reprieve and relief and can only do so knowing that in their place are 500 special, not normal people who will love and care for their children as if they were their own.

As much as the staff gives, they get more in return. One young man described to me that he was concerned about his ability to work with this population and their needs. In the first few days of camp he hesitated and was repulsed by some things he needed to do. But it didnt take long for him to develop a love and concern for another person and the same tasks that once made him gag are second nature because they are for someone he cares deeply about.

Another amazing counselor told me that before working at HASC he was very impatient. He would always walk briskly wherever he was going. His camper is someone who shuffles along incredibly slowly. It takes him fifteen minutes to walk to a destination that should take two. At first, the counselor would get antsy and anxious each time they had to go somewhere, but after a few weeks, he learned to be patient and forbearing. He has become a more easygoing person and for that and so much more, he is so grateful to his camper.

Not everyone is cut out for working in a place like HASC. Those fortunate enough to spend a summer there are blessed to come close with some holy neshamos and develop relationships with some truly special people. HASC alumni are among the most selfless community leaders everywhere and undoubtedly, the experiences they gain there contribute to learning the skills necessary to be a devoted and giving spouse, parent and friend.

While we cant all work there, like many of their staff, we can and should leave our comfort zones and dig deep. We will find a capacity for kindness and love beyond what we ever imagined.

There are families with special needs in all of our communities who need support, relief, and love. We can provide it ourselves, and we should teach our children to do what they can. In our community, I know of several teenagers who go each Shabbos morning to watch children with special needs so their parents can go to Shul or get some rest.

In Parshas Mishpatim the Torah says: Kol almanah vyasom lo sanun, you shall not cause pain to any widow or orphan. The Chizkuni points out that all of the other mitzvos in that parsha are written in the singular. The obligation to show kindness and sensitivity to the widow and orphan are an exception. Explains the Chizkuni, this mitzvah is written in the plural, for the rabim. The community is measured by the standard it sets and the environment it tolerates when it comes to being sensitive to those who arent typical.

Rav Yaakov Zvi Mecklenburg, author of the Ksav VKabbalah, points out that the Torah doesnt limit this mitzvah to the orphan and/or widow. The almanah and yasom are simply symbolic of those that are missing something, those that dont quite fit the mold and therefore may feel isolated, alone or unnoticed. He explains that the world almanah comes from al manah, lacking a portion. In every community there are people that dont fit the mold; they are al-mana, missing something. As a community, we are judged and measured by our sensitivity, kindness, awareness and inclusiveness of such people and their families.

Last year, Lincoln Square Synagogue, led by my friend Rabbi Shaul Robinson, introduced a fabulous new component to their Purim Carnival. It featured an early start time for children with sensory needs and other disabilities that may prevent full participation in the stimulating carnival atmosphere. A quiet sensory room was made available throughout the carnival for those children who could be overstimulated and needed some quiet regrouping time.

We all need to look at our programming, events, and membership services with an eye on how we can be the most inclusive and sensitive to the populations that often feel the most neglected and left out. Inspired by Lincoln Square, this year we hope to introduce youth programming especially designed for those with special needs and to make our regular programming more accessible and inclusive. For example, this Simchas Torah we will host a special Kol HaNearim for the children who cannot participate in the regular one. If you have other ideas and suggestions, please dont hesitate to share them with us.

In HASC normal and not normal are relative terms. Our communities cannot provide year-round what HASC does for seven weeks. But, we can be more special in the way we relate to and provide for our special children. Doing so wont just help those with special needs, it will help us and the next generation have a bright future ahead.
New York City has reached a settlement of more than $4 million with the family of an unarmed man fatally shot by a police officer in a darkened stairwell in November 2014, the attorney for the family said Tuesday.

The city is paying $4.1 million and the New York City Housing Authority is contributing $400,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of 28-year-old Akai Gurley.

The citys Law Department called the settlement a fair resolution of a tragic matter.

Former Officer Peter Liang was on patrol when he opened a stairwell door at a public housing building and suddenly fired. The bullet ricocheted and hit Gurley. Liang will pay $25,000 to Kim Ballinger, the mother of Gurleys daughter as part of the settlement.

Liang was sentenced to five years probation and 800 hours of community service; he later apologized to Gurleys family.

Family attorney Scott Rynecki said the parties reached the settlement after extensive negotiations guided by Supreme Court Justice Dawn Jimenez-Salta.

Im glad its all done. Im pleased with the outcome, Ballinger told the Daily News.

The case became a flashpoint for police accountability. The shooting came just months after the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York prompted protests and a nationwide discussion of police killings.

Liangs supporters said he has been made a scapegoat for past injustices. More than 10,000 of his backers rallied in New York and across the U.S. after the verdict, protesting his conviction.

Liang was a rookie patrolling a pitch-dark stairwell with his gun drawn while Gurley headed down to the lobby because the elevator was out of order. Liang said he was startled by a noise, fired accidentally and didnt immediately realize his bullet had hit someone.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter, but Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun said prosecutors hadnt proven key elements of that charge and reduced it to criminally negligent homicide, a lowest-level felony. He said there was no need for prison to have a just sentence in this case.

(AP)
Life is far from returning to normal for the Shamir Salad Company following last weeks announced salmonella contamination in products containing tehina. The origin of the salmonella was traced to the tehina, which was supplied by the Nasich (Prince) Tehina Company in northern Israel. That factory has since been shut down as Health Ministry officials continue the probe into the contamination.

According to the Channel 2 News report, Shamir Salads has been hard economically as consumers are not too quick to begin trusting the company again. The report adds that Prince tehina was sent to Shamir Salads accompanied by test results from an independent lab, which failed to determine the presence of salmonella. It has since been learned those tests were not conducted as they should have been.

On July 25th, Prince sent its tehina for inspection to the Microbiological Institute in Nesher, an independent lab, which failed to detect the presence of salmonella, apparently because the inspection was not performed in line with protocol. However, an inspection conducted in the Strauss factory, salmonella was detected and they filed the results of the tests with Prince Tehina.

Officials at Shamir Salads are furious, explaining they were not kept in the loop by Prince Tehina or the Ministry of Health regarding feared contamination of one of the ingredients, in this case tehina. However, Shamir has been hit hard as a result, since consumers are not buying the companys products since news went public last week.

On Tuesday 12 Menachem Av at 10:00AM a hearing was held among Health Ministry officials to discuss the matter. Representatives of Prince Tehina were among those invited to attend. Company official Affif Tanus over the weekend told officials that the contamination was detected on July 25th and on the 27th, they checked again to determine if any notification was received by Strauss. Affif adds We then collected all the merchandise from Strauss and Tzabar, and we halted all sales. Shamir Salads is a new client with us, and on the 25th we ordered the closure of the factory to permit cleaning the entire plant. I was unaware that Shamir was never notified. I accept responsibility for this. It is a very large factory and this is the only incident on my watch that a member of my team failed to make notification.

On Sunday, 10 Menachem Av, the Health Ministry announced the results of a hearing given to officials of Prince Tehina, stating the company was negligent and failed to act in a responsible professional manner. The ministry announced a number of measures would be taken against the tehina supplier.

For the time being, the company may not produce tehina and all contaminated products must be destroyed. Officials have been informed that for the time being, the investigation continues. In the interim, additional product samples have been taken and are being tested. The Health Ministry is yet to announce what legal action if any is planned against the Prince Tehina Company.

The law office of Gideon Fischer & Co., which is representing Prince Tehina, released a statement to the media stating it acted on its own to halt production of tehina and has been transparent and cooperative in all aspects of the investigation. In addition, the company has learned from this unfortunate incident and is incorporating a quality control testing station in house, emphasizing that the company has been totally compliant with the law in all aspects of its production.

The statement adds that the test results from the independent lab received by Prince Tehina gave a green light to market the product and it remain confident that subsequent product testing will yield the same results.

In its response to the class action suit filed against it and other companies involved, Shamir Salads company officials highlight their commitment to the integrity of their product and health standards, and this is why strict testing is performed towards determining any deficiency whatsoever.

The Shamir statement added, When we learned on Wednesday evening of a problem with Prince Tehina, we did not take any chance with the health of the consumer and ordered a recall first thing Thursday morning, a recall of all products containing tehina. Unfortunately, Prince Tehina did not exhibit the same level of responsibility and hid salmonella contamination fears for 17 days at least. Hence, we are weighing legal action against them (Prince Tehina).

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A serious accident in Northern Israel has left multiple IDF Soldiers injured, some of them seriously.

The accident happened on Monday night near Mount Dov in Northern Israel.

According to initial information, it appears an army bulldozer fell onto an IDF jeep  crushing the soldiers inside of it.

A total of 7 soldiers were injured. Three of them are in serious condition.

Several helicopters were dispatched to evacuate the injured, who were airlifted to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Additional victims were transported by Magen David Adom to Ziv Hospital in Tzefas.

DEVELOPING STORY
The world's biggest mining company, BHP Billiton, has recorded its worst ever loss as a slump in commodity prices and impairment charges hammered the firm.

BHP reported a $6.4billion (4.9billion) net loss for the year, with the Australia-based, FTSE 100-listed miner slashing its final dividend by 77 per cent.

Weak iron ore, copper, coal, oil and gas prices have taken their toll on the business following a slowdown in demand from China. The group said the period of weaker prices and higher volatility is likely to be prolonged.

The company was also hit by $7.7billion of impairment charges, including a $2.2 billion (1.7billion) provision related to a dam collapse at the Samarco iron ore mine which devastated the village of Bento Rodrigues, in south-east Brazil.

Activity ramp-up: BHP Billiton is accelerating its counter-cyclical exploration program and plans to invest approximately $800million in exploration in its 2017 financial year

Nineteen people died in the disaster, while 700 were left homeless. Tens of thousands also had their water supplies cut off.

Chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said: 'The last 12 months have been challenging for both BHP Billiton and the resources industry. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate the resilience of our portfolio and the diverse ways in which we can create value for shareholders despite low commodity prices.

'While commodity prices are expected to remain low and volatile in the short to medium term, we are confident in the long-term outlook for our commodities, particularly oil and copper.'

Following the earnings slump, the company has slashed its payout to shareholders, setting a final dividend of 30 cents, compared with 62 cents last year.

The dividend cut is a blow for investors who had been hoping mining would be one sector that would profit post-Brexit as the slump by sterling boosts dollar-earners.

Nevertheless, despite the record loss, BHP Billiton shares were up 2.5 per cent, or 26p, at 1,068.5p in morning trade, as analysts said that minus impairment charges the results were in line.

Excluding one-off charges, BHP's underlying profit fell 81 per cent to $1.2billion, slightly ahead of market consensus of $1.09billion, but down by four-fifths from $6.4billion the previous year.

Paul Gait, analyst at Bernstein, said: 'The impairment reflects historic investment decisions not forward looking earnings.

'Cash flows continue to be $ denominated and as long as capex continues to come down the $ dividend stream should be welcome in a post Brexit world.'

Investors were also buoyed by comments stating that the miner plans to ramp up its exploration program again next year.

Tough times: Boss Andrew Mackenzie said the last 12 months have been challenging for both BHP Billiton and the resources industry

BHP said: 'We are accelerating our counter-cyclical exploration program and plan to invest approximately $800million in exploration in the 2017 financial year.

'In Petroleum, exploration drilling has commenced in Trinidad and Tobago and in the Gulf of Mexico following positive results at Shenzi North during the 2016 financial year.'

Richard Hunter, at Wilson King, added: 'The company also confirmed that it may return to investment in projects next year which could herald a new era of growth for Billiton after a prolonged period of cost cutting and asset disposals.'

BHP is not the only miner under pressure. Rival Rio Tinto has also indicated that oversupply of commodities will remain an issue.

While Anglo American is said to be under pressure to break-up its business and separate out its South African operations.
China's Belt and Road Initiative conducive to reviving world economy: Senior UN official Updated: 2016-08-16 10:44 (Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS - The world economy remains flaccid now even eight years after the outbreak of the global economic and financial crisis, but China's Belt and Road Initiative is conducive to efforts to revive the global economy, a senior UN official told Xinhua.

Hong Pingfan, director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in a recent interview with Xinhua that the Chinese initiative contains many proposed measures of international cooperation to revitalize the world economy.

The essence of the initiative is an inclusive project open to all countries and international and regional organizations, he said.

The initiative has identified five priority areas for cooperation: policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond, he noted.

The Belt and Road Initiative is set to promote win-win cooperation for shared development and prosperity, peace and friendship, through enhancing mutual understanding, trust, and exchanges, he said.

The initiative advocates peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, he said. "It promotes cooperation in all fields, and works to build a community of shared interests, destiny and responsibility featuring mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness."

China launched in late 2013 the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, collectively known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The Belt and Road run through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developed European economic circle at the other, and encompassing countries with huge potential for economic development," he said.

Some 60 countries are along the Belt and Road, accounting for 60 percent of the world population, 30 percent of the world gross product, 40 percent of the world trade, and more than 50 percent of the population under the extreme poverty line.

"This represents a big challenge, but also a huge potential for development," he said.

The Chinese initiative can not only increase trade and investment in the countries along the Belt and Road, which is conducive to economic growth in these nations, but also help these countries expand their trade with other countries far away from the Belt and Road, he said.

The Chinese initiative can also play a very positive role in helping countries along the Belt and Road in their efforts to reduce poverty and boost infrastructure construction, he said.

"Economists have long considered that infrastructure investment enhances economic productivity," Hong said.

"The impact of infrastructure investment on poverty reduction comes from at least two different channels: growth and income distribution," he said.

As infrastructure investment makes positive contribution to economic growth, it reduces poverty through raising the overall living standards in the economy, he said.

Meanwhile, infrastructure can bring income distribution effect in favor of poor people by improving employment and earnings prospects as a result of growth in the non-agricultural sectors of the economy and by increasing productivity in both the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, he said.
China denounces Japanese cabinet members' visit to Yasukuni Shrine Updated: 2016-08-16 05:13 (Xinhua)

BEIJING -- China on Monday voiced "firm" opposition after two Japanese cabinet members paid homage to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II.

"That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said in response to a question from the press.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from the WWII, is regarded as a symbol of the past Japanese militarism.

Lu urged the Japanese side "to squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way, and work to win trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete moves."
Shanghai's two airports add security Updated: 2016-08-16 07:53 By Wang Ying in Shanghai(China Daily)

Passengers advised to arrive a half-hour earlier at Pudong and Hongqiao terminals

Security checks have now begun at the entrances of Shanghai's two international airports as part of the implementation of a national anti-terrorism law.

As of Monday, all people and their belongings must clear checks at the entrances of Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport - as well as pre-departure checks, an airport official said.

They became the first airports in China to implement additional checks required by the new law.

Officials advised passengers to set aside an extra half-hour in their travel schedules.

The newly launched checks will be similar to existing security checks at airports, focusing on passengers' carry-on baggage, searching for such items as knives, flammable and explosive products and guns.

In addition to the previously existing security check area, another 27 checkpoints at Pudong airport's entrances and 14 at Hongqiao airport entrances have been added, with four staff members assigned to each checkpoint.

The tightened security measures comes on the heels of the nation's first anti-terrorism law, which took effect on Jan 1, according to Xia Gongwei, an official from Pudong airport.

Under the law, security checks should be made of people and objects in large, busy areas like airports, railway stations, ports, metro stations, long-distance bus stations and customs.

Shanghai's airports are the first and only ones in the country so far that have responded to the new law's requirement, said Su Weiwei, an official from the Shanghai Airport Authority.

No other airport has announced similar measures, causing some media outlets to call Shanghai the city with "the tightest security check airports" in China.

Xia said it is "the first time for Shanghai's airports to increase anti-terrorism security checks outside the security clearance area - which is to make sure of the safety of the public area of the airports".

On Monday morning, there was no sign of passenger complaints, as most people made it through the additional checks without a delay and only a few were required to open their suitcases for further inspection.

"I completely understand the increased checks at the airport, and I also heard that there was a blast that happened months ago," said a woman surnamed Guo. Guo and her daughter were on their way to Xiamen, Fujian province, after visiting Shanghai Disney Resort.

Mike Zeng had to give up his hair spray after the airport staff told him it was explosive.

"I see the point for the security check, and totally understand," he said.

wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn

Passengers go through a security checkpoint upon entering Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Monday. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

(China Daily 08/16/2016 page9)
McDonald's row reveals overuse of antibiotics Updated: 2016-08-16 07:39 (China Daily)

A woman walks past a McDonald's outlet in Hong Kong in July 25, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

For many Chinese consumers, McDonald's Corp's latest policy on the use of antibiotics in its food products is an example of double standard in food safety.

The multinational fast food chain announced last week that in the United States it had switched to using chickens raised without antibiotics, fulfilling a pledge it made in March 2015, many months ahead of schedule.

Yet it has refrained from promising that it would do the same in its more than 2,000 restaurants in China, its third-largest market after the US and Japan, and one of the fastest-growing in the world.

This has sparked anger in China, with many people pointing accusing fingers at the fast food giant for adopting what they perceive to be a discriminative policy.

While the bitterness they feel is understandable, legally McDonald's is doing nothing wrong.

There is no law in China that bans the use of antibiotics in food ingredients. McDonald's, as it claims, is operating in China in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.

And people should realize that China is the largest user of antibiotics, both in its medical system and food industry.

Research by a Guangzhou unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reveals that the country used 162,000 tons of antibiotics in 2013, half the amount used globally.

And of the antibiotics used in China, more than half were given to animals, with the rest used by humans.

Scientists estimate that the per capita intake of antibiotics in China is nearly 130 grams a year, or 10 times that in the US.

The overuse of antibiotics, including antimicrobial use in food animals, has prompted the World Health Organization to warn that the world is moving toward an era in which many infections will no longer be treatable with antibiotics.

But as McDonald's notes in its statement, a few sensible changes can maintain their important benefits.

Of course, McDonald's could have done a better PR job by not seeming to limit its decision to the US and indicating that it would also look to reduce the use of antibiotics in its supply in China.

But for it to do that, it is necessary for China to clean up its own backyard by drafting food safety laws that can better regulate and minimize antibiotic use to safeguard the health of its citizens.

After all, the right to healthy food is not bestowed, but earned.
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By Patrick Donachie

Baisley Park Community Library in South Jamaica will undergo renovations that will make the facility compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, improving access to the buildings collection for individuals who previously had difficulty entering the space.

State Sen. James Sanders (D-Rochdale Village) and others described the renovations at a news conference outside the library Tuesday.

The state Education Department allocated nearly half a million dollars for the repairs, which will include an update of the librarys first floor interior and public rest rooms. The library will receive the funding next spring.

Sadly, this library was built at a time when we didnt think about making sure that the disabled could utilize this space also, so we are going to straighten that out, Sanders said. They are part of our family, too, and we want to make sure that everybody in our family is allowed in. We are going to take away every impediment that has prevented the disabled from coming to this library.

At the conference, Sanders was joined by library officials, including Kelvin Watson, the chief operating officer and senior vice president of Queens Library, as well as Kevin Livingston, the founder and president of 100 Suits For 100 Men.

We have a need to modernize libraries to create world-class libraries to meet the ever growing needs and changes of the community, Watson said.
When we were in Rio we visited Igreja da Ordem Terceira de Sao Francisco da Penitencia (The Church of the Tertiary Order of Saint Francis Penitent). Along with the St. Benedict Monastery in Rio Igreja da Ordem Terceira de Sao Francisco da Penitencia is a grand display of the full-on baroque style.



What struck me and the boys was the altarpiece, which showed the vision of St. Francis when he received the stigmata on Mount La Verna.



I thought I knew this story well. But when we looked at the altarpiece in the church we saw the crucified Jesus surrounded by six angel wings.



As we looked at the altar Brenden asked me, "What's the story with the six angel wings?"



I didn't know.



My recollection was that Francis saw a vision of the crucified Jesus on the mountain, after which he received the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus upon his own body. But I didn't recall any angel wings.



So we did a little research.



Two years before Francis' death he went to Mount La Verna for a forty-day fast. On the mountain as he prayed Francis saw a vision of a seraph with six fiery wings. The seraph approached Francis and opened its wings, revealing between the wings the image of a man crucified.



The story I had recalled was Francis seeing the crucified Jesus, but the actual vision was of a six-winged seraph who opens its wings to reveal a crucified figure, presumably Jesus, but perhaps the seraph itself, or perhaps an image of Francis who upon seeing the vision received the stigmata.



So that's the story of the six angel wings.



All that to say, it was a stunning altarpiece.


Russia said Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb jihadist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo.

The deployment marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia.

Russia\s defence ministry said long-range bombers and fighter jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib".

The strikes destroyed jihadist targets including weapons depots and command centres, "killing a large number of fighters," Moscow said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air raids on Tuesday against two rebel-held districts in Syria\s second city of Aleppo killed 19 civilians.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes on Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur, which left three children among the dead, were carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft and had also wounded dozens of people.

Fighting for control of the shattered city, a former economic hub in northwestern Syria, has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been divided between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement it was "gravely concerned for the safety of civilians" in Aleppo and called for "immediate attention and response" to their plight.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian and Russian warplanes of having repeatedly used incendiary weapons against civilians in northern Syria, saying it had documented their use at least 18 times since June.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground as Russia provides airpower.

Both oppose calls for Assad to step down in a bid to resolve the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Moscow has so far used warplanes stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard Syrian territory.

But Hmeimim  which a senior Russian official said recently Moscow is looking to expand into a permanent facility  is home to only short-range planes and fighter jets, meaning long-range bombers had to be deployed from southern Russia.

The use of the Iran base could help boost Moscow\s firepower by cutting the time it takes for its jets to reach their targets, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.

"Bombers can transport more bombs if their flight time is short," he said.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran\s Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA that Moscow and Tehran "exchange capacities and facilities" in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

An unnamed military source told Interfax news agency on Monday that Russia had also sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov was in Tehran on Monday, where he discussed the "high mutual interest" of deeper cooperation between Russia and Iran in the Middle East, his ministry said.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has held several meetings over the past year with Iranian counterpart General Hossein Dehghan, most recently in June in Tehran, where they pledged to deliver a "decisive" battle against "all terrorist groups".

Shoigu also said in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo.

But US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.

A senior Russian diplomat in Geneva, Alexei Borodavkin, told Interfax on Monday that the Russian and American militaries were in the process of "agreeing some concrete practical issues" regarding humanitarian aid deliveries to the city.

SOURCE: AFP
Ambridge music museum to close & go up for sale; items to be relocated
What has happened to the residents of Lake Diversion is heartbreaking.

For decades, families have lived their dream on lakeside property, gazing at those big Texas sunsets as they dip below the endless horizon that cowboys have gazed upon for more than a century.

That dream is ending soon.

The lake's residents were blindsided when the new owner of the Waggoner Ranch said he will not renew those leases. Residents leasing the property, many for 30 years or more, have only a few months to move.

The new owner, billionaire Stan Kroenke, said he wants to return the land to its natural state.

The rumbling in the community is that he simply wants to turn the land into a big hunting playground for his buddies, though Bernard Uechtritz, who led the marketing of the sale of the 510,000-acre, $725 million storied ranch, told Forbes, 'This is not a plaything. You don't buy a half a million acres if you're just looking to kick around on the weekend.'

No one really knows what his plans are.

Kroenke, who owns 1.4 million acres across the country, in addition to owning the Los Angeles Rams, is famous for not giving interviews.

Regardless of his motivations, no one is talking about the white elephant on the lake that residents have ignored: the danger of building property you own, or placing property you own, on land you do not own.

The temptation is strong to do so.

After all, homes on leased properties sell for a much lower price, since the homeowner isn't buying the land. Buyers also can live in dream locations that they otherwise would not be able to afford  such as at beaches or lakes  because the land and property at these highly desired sites would just be too expensive.

Also, the money a homebuyer saves from not buying the land, including property taxes, is something they can, in turn, use to invest in something else.

But then there's the downside  and the downside is huge.

According to Investopedia, with a leased-land property, homeowners risk losing all of their equity when the lease expires, depending on the contract terms. It's more difficult to sell a home because of the risks involved in leasing. And if the length of the lease is shorter than you plan to remain in the home, it is 'imperative,' according to the site, to find out what happens to your interest in the property.

Then there's the surrender clause. If the lease expires and is not renewed, according to Investopedia, owners have to give up the use of the land upon which the home is built.

Conceivably, those with mobile homes can take the home with them, though that may not be practical for many of the residents at Lake Diversion, who have built around their manufactured home and made them, essentially, permanent. It's also expensive.

And for those who have built homes, trying to move them seems an improbability, if not an impossibility.

Residents at Lake Diversion never thought the day would come that they would have to move. Certainly, the Waggoner Ranch owners would never do that.

But the signs have been in place for some time that a new owner would be arriving on that endless Texas horizon.

For years, the family that once owned the Waggoner Ranch was caught up in legal battles regarding whether to sell. But once the dust settled and the ranch did indeed go up for sale, from that point on, the future was foggy.

Perhaps those leasing land at Lake Diversion thought they had a little more time before that white elephant started galumphing along. Perhaps they thought the new owner just couldn't treat the Lake Diversion residents this badly, many of whom are elderly residents with nowhere to go, really, and few resources.

Kroenke, of course, has the legal right to evict the residents, according to lease agreements. And right now it seems those residents have little recourse; they were aware of the risks on the leases they signed, though they hoped differently.

Still, it's a bad situation that leaves an ugly feeling.

The best we can hope for is to do what this community always has done, whether it's through a Go Fund Me account or something else, and help where we can.
TUNA MELT SANDWICH

Makes 4 sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

2 6-ounce cans tuna packed in water, drained

1/4 cup finely chopped celery or dill pickle relish

1/3 cup chopped green onion

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 dashes red pepper sauce

- Salt and pepper to taste

4 slices cheddar, pepper jack or mozzarella cheese

8 slices white, whole wheat or rye bread

DIRECTIONS

1 In a medium bowl mix tuna, celery (or dill relish), onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice, pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Chill.

2 Spread tuna mixture on 4 bread slices. Top each with cheese slice and remaining bread.

3 Spread a little mayonnaise on sandwiches. Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned on both sides.
Like millions across America, Harry and Brenda Patterson were devastated to learn five Dallas police officers had been killed and nine others wounded in the July 7 shooting.

How could anyone face such a tragedy?

'We were in New Mexico. When we flew home and were going down Jackboro (Highway), in front of a building there was a 'Pray for Rain' sign. It was a great lesson,' Harry Patterson said. 'We thought about it and on July 9 she (Brenda) posted 'Pray for Peace' on Facebook.'

The response was quick and supportive. Harry worked with a graphic design agency to come up with a message sign with scripture.

'At first we thought about Proverbs but came back to 2 Thessalonians 3:16, 'Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.'' he said. 'The way things are right now in the whole world, there is nothing better than peace.'

Banners went up at Patterson car dealerships and trailers, and Patterson placed a two-page ad in the Times Record News, much like the American flag inserted in the newspaper after 9-11..

'Our phone's been ringing off the wall and people have been sending texts. We were hopeful the word would spread. Prayers uttered are the best thing to come out of it,' Harry said.

Sixty-five-foot wide 'Pray for Peace' billboards have appeared in Iowa Park, Clay County, between Burkburnett and Wichita Falls, on Seymour Highway, in Bowie and Arlington, sponsored by Patterson Associates.

Harry and Brenda were at church in Angel Fire, New Mexico, last Sunday when a member told them a friend in Vernon 'told him what we had done.' He wanted to know how he could get some of the yard signs. A pastor requested Patterson purchase stickers placed on the front page of the Times Record News. The sticker ads appeared on the Aug. 7 front page.

'People have stopped at the billboards and taken pictures and honked as they passed,' Harry said. 'Maybe something good will come of this. We need to love one another and help somebody.'
Here's what to know as the annual dove hunting season approaches
The latest round of bloodshed in South Sudan has, at long last, prompted the United Nations to step up its efforts to help bring peace to the troubled nation. On Friday, the United Nations Security Council voted to enhance and extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and to increase the number of troops on the ground by 4,000.

We aren't convinced that more peacekeepers will be very effective - considering that the existing 12,000-strong U.N. force has failed to protect civilians thus far.

But the mandate is certainly an improvement to the U.N. operation, notably in that the added troops will be deployed as a special protection unit with the power to engage any actor committing violence against civilians, including government forces.

After initially vowing to reject the force, South Sudan has said that it will consider accepting the expanded force, if it can negotiate on the size, mandate and contributing countries.

This reversal comes after a fresh outbreak of violence on Saturday between forces supporting President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, Riek Machar. Should South Sudan refuse to allow troops, the U.N. is prepared to impose an arms embargo.

While an incomplete solution, an arms embargo would at least help to reduce the amount of suffering inflicted on South Sudanese civilians. The White House has long been reluctant to impose an arms embargo, hoping the threat of one would be enough to coerce the warring leaders to pursue peace. Clearly that strategy has not worked. Should the government of South Sudan reject or impede the latest U.N. resolution, an arms embargo should be implemented without delay, and the United States should get on board.

Two years ago, Mr. Kiir and Mr. Machar, leaders of the young nation, plunged it into an unneccesary civil war. They promised last year, under pressure from President Obama, to make peace, but have since undercut the deal. Mr. Kiir's allies have not only battled Mr. Machar's forces in the streets, but also committed horrendous abuses during fighting, including rape and other crimes.

n a politically reckless move, Mr. Kiir elected to remove Mr. Machar as vice president, and Mr. Machar disappeared after clashes in July. His party replaced him with the mining minister, Taban Deng Gai, as vice president. Mr. Kiir fired a number of allies loyal to Mr. Machar.

The South Sudanese government says that while Mr. Machar was signatory to the peace agreement, he is not needed to implement the accord. However, as long as his whereabouts and intentions remain unknown, he is a wild card in a volatile situation.

The United Nations' resolution is a welcome sign of renewed efforts on the part of the international community to halt South's Sudan's downward spiral. Mr. Kiir and Mr. Machar have spent years and millions in international funds jetting from African capital to capital, claiming to respect the peace agreement while they are abroad, yet engaging in war and human rights abuses at home.

It is long past time for Mr. Kiir to get on with the business of building South Sudan for its hungry, displaced, sick and suffering population. Accepting the new U.N. force is a needed first step.
David Goforth, Holliday

I take issue with a recent letter to the editor titled 'USA not Christian Nation.' The writer used three different terms interchangeable with no definition of any.

He said the writer you were disagreeing with said our nation was founded on 'Christian principles' and quoted John Adams as saying the nation was not founded on 'Christian religion.'

The context of the letter is that America is not a 'Christian nation.' Those views are those of postmodern revisionism, so I assume the writer's definition would come from that ideology.

The writer quoted John Adams in context of a statement in the Treaty of Tripoli. I was wondering, did the writer miss this one? 'The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.'  John Adams

Supreme Court Justice David Brewer (1837-1910) explained: America was 'of all the nations in the world most justly called a Christian nation' because Christianity 'has so largely shaped and molded it.' If the writer Googles this quote he will find Brewer disagrees with his assessment of our nation's founding principles.

Brewer clarified his definition by the following statement: 'Contrary to what critics imply, a Christian nation is not one in which all citizens are Christians, or the laws require everyone to adhere to Christian theology, or all leaders are Christians, or any other such superficial measurement.'

Constitutional law professor Edward Mansfield (1801-1880) similarly acknowledged: 'In the United States, Christianity is the original, spontaneous, and national religion.'

A hero of the Democratic Party said, 'America was born a Christian nation  America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.'  Woodrow Wilson

In 1852-1853 when some citizens sought a complete secularization of the public square and a cessation of all religious activities by the government, Congress responded with unambiguous declarations about America as a Christian nation: House Judiciary Committee: Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle.

It is common knowledge that the people who want to destroy America from within must change our history.
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Albany

In the next 48 hours, crews will begin the painstaking process of demolishing a building owned by the Albany Convention Center Authority while preserving the oldest house in the city located next door.

The Historic Albany Foundation will keep a close eye on demolition to protect 48 Hudson Ave., built in 1728. The foundation owns the home, constructed by Johannes Van Ostrande, a prominent city resident and member of the Common Council.

The adjacent building set to be razed, 50 Hudson Ave., is in danger of collapse and will be taken down with great care due to the significance of the historic property, known as the Van Ostrande-Radliff House.

"In the morning, (contractors) are going to begin in earnest shoring up 48 Hudson," said Rob Magee, director of the city's Department of Buildings & Regulatory Compliance. "They expect that to be done by (Wednesday) evening, at which point they'll begin dissembling 50 Hudson."

Albany crews were on site overnight to monitor the structural integrity of the building, issues that raised by a person from Historic Albany who noticed a crack in the building.

Ditonno and Sons was selected as the contractor to slowly take apart 50 Hudson Ave., a process that will help protect and preserve the neighboring historic building, Magee said. Hudson Avenue will remain closed until the majority of the demolition is complete, he added.

The Convention Center Authority will pay demolition costs of 50 Hudson, which was once in the planned footprint of the convention center being built on Howard Street. The building previously housed the Capital City Rescue Mission, which relocated to South Pearl Street.

The need to demolish 50 Hudson came as no surprise to Historic Albany Executive Director Susan Holland, who said has seen many demolitions over the years.

"We were gearing up for this knowing that 50 (Hudson Ave.) wasn't in the greatest shape. We had been working on a strategy before this," she said, adding there's still concern. "There's definitely an element of 'oops' that you worry about."

While there is a risk, Holland was confident the plan in place will help preserve the historic building. The nonprofit organization recently submitted an application to the state Consolidated Funding Application process seeking $268,032 to stabilize and improve the foundation and roof of the building.

The building sat just a few hundred yards from the original Fort Orange. It was built near a creek just outside the old stockade walls.

The 23- by 33-foot building's first level featured a brick exterior, while the upper portion and its steeply pitched roof were covered with pine shakes typical of thousands like it built by the Dutch, according to historical accounts.

Remarkably, across three centuries, floods from the nearby Hudson River and fires consumed wide swaths of the old Dutch city, but the Van Ostrande house survived unscathed.

Ostrande sold the house at 48 Hudson Ave. to Johannes Radliff, a shoemaker, in the 1750s.

In the late 20th century, it housed the Saul Equipment Co., a restaurant supply business. It sat empty for more than a decade before historic preservationist Brian Parker, who purchased it for about $100,000 in 2006, stabilized the structure and undertook preliminary restoration.

Paul Grondahl contributed to this story.

afries@timesunion.com  518-454-5353  @mandy_fries

HERE ARE TWO EARLIER STORIES:

AN OLD HOUSE FOR HISTORIC ALBANY.

DWELLING ON HUDSON AVENUE IN ALBANY IS ONE OF REGION'S OLDEST

Remarkably, across three centuries, floods from the nearby Hudson River and fires consumed wide swaths of the old Dutch city, but the Ostrande house survived unscathed.

Ostrande sold the house at 48 Hudson Ave. to Johannes Radliff, a shoemaker, in the 1750s.

In the late 20th century, it housed the Saul Equipment Co., a restaurant supply business. It sat empty for more than a decade before historic preservationist Brian Parker, who purchased it for about $100,000 in 2006, stabilized the structure and undertook preliminary restoration.
MANSFIELD, Mass.  Police in Massachusetts are asking Jimmy Buffett fans attending a concert this weekend to leave behind the homemade toilets.

The post on the Mansfield Police Department's Facebook page calls on "parrotheads" attending the Saturday concert at the Xfinity Center to leave the "tent toilets" at home. The amphitheater's parking lots open early so fans can tailgate.
Albany

The developer of a proposed fresh food market in the city's emerging warehouse district is planning to open this coming spring in the Nipper building.

Ross Goodman, a Niskayuna attorney who is shepherding the project called the Good Market, said he has signed a letter of intent to lease first-floor space in the building at 991 Broadway, which is best known for its 28-foot fiberglass statue of the RCA "Nipper" dog that was installed on its roof in 1958.

Creation of the market, which would feature individual stalls of local businesses selling meat, produce, baked goods, cheese and more, was already well-known, but its location hadn't been finalized. The concept is inspired by famed markets in America's largest cities, like Chelsea Market in New York City and Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.

Goodman, who is also a food aficionado, said he will enter into a lease with developer Bill Barber, who is acquiring the Nipper building from Arnoff Moving & Storage.

Barber had already detailed plans for a $70 million development of the Nipper building that would call for constructing a new building next door, with both buildings offering more than 200 apartments, retail space and at least two levels of indoor parking.

In April, Sen. Charles Schumer said he will urge the National Park Service and the state Historic Preservation Office to add the Nipper statue to the National Register of Historic Places  which would make federal historic tax credits available for an adaptive reuse of the building. If such historic tax credits are used, the outside of the Nipper building would have to remain as it looks now. The building, constructed in 1906, was initially the American Meter Co. until the 1950s when an RCA distributor took it over.

The Good Market and proposed apartments are part of continuing redevelopment in an area that was once simply an industrial part of Albany. Barber is also converting the nearby former Rodgers Liquor Co. warehouse at 960 Broadway into a restaurant and apartments. Nine Pin Ciderworks at 929 Broadway also recently announced a 7,000-square-foot expansion at the location that it leases there.

Goodman said he hopes to open Good Market in May or June with a dozen dedicated vendor spaces, adding eight or more vendors in the following months as the market grows. Vendors will be satellite locations of local purveyors and restaurants, including produce and meat farmers, a bakery, wine shop and others. Among those with whom Goodman says he has had in-depth talks is Fin  Your Fishmonger in Guilderland, which is interested in opening a market selling fresh seafood, grab-and-go meals to cook at home and a raw bar with a liquor license for on-premises dining.

A similar concept, Galleria 7 in Latham, opened earlier this year and has stalls selling seafood, baked goods, meats, pizza and more.

The budget for the Good Market project is about $600,000, Goodman said, with up to 20 percent of that coming from the state's Regional Economic Development Council awards.
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This article originally appeared in the Times Union on Dec. 23, 2008.

ALBANY -- It looks like a forgettable little downtown building you may have passed without giving it a second thought on your way to the nearby Times Union Center.

But the house at 48 Hudson Ave., built by Johannes van Ostrande circa 1728, is one of the oldest surviving houses in the Capital Region. Its remarkably intact original construction elements provide an up-close view of Colonial Dutch architecture rarely seen in an urban setting.

"This is the kind of house that would have been common throughout lower Manhattan, but they don't have any left. You usually only find them underground in archaeological digs," said Bill Brandow, an associate with John G. Waite Associates, an Albany architectural firm nationally known for its historic preservation work.

A member of the Common Council, van Ostrande's house in style and size was middle-class, built a few hundred yards from the original Fort Orange and just outside the stockade wall. He sold the house to Johannes Radliff, a shoe maker, in the 1750s.

The house measured 23 feet by 33 feet. Its interior was essentially one large room on the ground level, with two upper lofts for attic storage. The first level featured a brick exterior, while the upper portion and its steeply pitched roof were covered with pine shakes.

Remarkably, across three centuries, floods from the nearby Hudson River and fires consumed wide swaths of the old Dutch city, 48 Hudson Ave. survived unscathed.

Brandow has been piecing together the 280-year-old history of the structure, which sits next to the old Capital City Rescue Mission and is surrounded by parking lots. The building previously housed the Saul Equipment Co., a restaurant supply business, but it had sat empty for the past decade.

Enter Brian Parker, who has made a business out of saving old buildings. He bought 48 Hudson Ave. for about $100,000 two years ago. He's invested twice that much to clear it of debris, stabilize the structure with bracing and install a temporary metal roof.

"I'm the patron saint of lost causes," said Parker, 48, of Slingerlands, who owns with his brother, Kevin, Orion LLC, a building restoration business.

Parker, a business economics major at Skidmore College, bought his first old house in downtown Albany when he was 23. He's got two more recent downtown brownstone purchases nearly restored.

"It's gotten a little out of control," he said of his old house lust. He believes he caught the bug as a kid, watching archaeologist Paul Huey's excavation of Fort Orange three decades ago.

Parker also owns the house Dutch colonist Daniel Winne built along the Vloman Kill around 1750 in Selkirk, employing similar construction techniques as the van Ostrande home.

"They're stunningly similar," Parker said. "I love early Dutch architecture and these are amazing examples."

Both are works-in-progress, although the Winne House, purchased eight years ago, is further along.

The van Ostrande house features an exceedingly rare molded anchor beam, a weight-bearing structural element that is also decorative and spans the width of the front of the building.

Although it was torn out long ago, the outline of a side jambless fireplace a' barely more sophisticated than an open campfire on the livingroom floor a' can be seen in the van Ostrande house. Other notable original features are the wide pine exterior siding, wide floorboards, steeply pitched roof beams, original brick walls and elements more typically seen in museums.

The early Dutch artifacts were found after Parker and workers removed a dropped ceiling, linoleum, vinyl covering and numerous incarnations of kitsch Moderne.

"We didn't know what we had until we began peeling away the layers. We rolled the dice and hit the jackpot," Parker said.

The future use of the van Ostrande house is unclear, since it is tied to the fate of the proposed downtown convention center, which may be built on the site if public funding becomes available.

Parker, a board member of the Historic Albany Foundation, has been speaking with members of the Albany Convention Center Authority all along and they're in agreement that 48 Hudson Ave. is a keeper.

"We're on the same page and no matter what happens with the convention center, this building will be saved," Parker said.

Possible uses include converting it into a visitors center or some sort of public space that will lure visitors to see one of the oldest houses in the region.

"We're lucky," Parker said. "It's amazingly well-preserved for its age."

Paul Grondahl can be reached at 454-5623 or by e-mail at pgrondahl@timesunion.com.
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Albany

Two recent University at Albany graduates are turning to local restaurants to give students an alternative to the traditional meal plan this fall.

Moo Plans was dreamed up by Wesley Sherow and Ami Le when they were seniors in the fall of 2015 as a cheaper and more creative way for students to stay fed throughout the school year. Instead of buying food from the dining halls, retail spots and vending machines around campus, students could order meals and snacks from a select list of area restaurants and have them delivered.

"As an international student, the meal plan seemed to just repeat itself," said Le, who came to the U.S. from Vietnam. "There was nothing new and nothing I ate ever reminded me of home. By the end of freshman year, I had about 100 meals left on my plan. So I really liked this idea of offering something else, something different."

Intimate with what students liked and didn't like about the campus meal plans, Sherow and Le began to conceptualize a community-sourced meal plan startup that could one-up the traditional university options.

To start, their meal plans would offer the same number of meals but at a cheaper rate  the automatic 175 meals that are assigned to upperclassmen at UAlbany cost $2,405 a semester versus $1,900 under Moo Plans (the university plan comes with $425 in "Munch Money" while the Moo Plan comes with 350 snacks).

Moo Plans is targeting upperclassmen at UAlbany, since freshmen and others who live in residential quads are required to purchase a university meal plan. Upperclassmen tend to live in apartment-style housing, either on- or off-campus, and are less reliant on sustenance from the dining halls.

Purchasing individual meals from area restaurants outside of the plan would add up quickly if they were the only meals a student subsisted on throughout a semester. But the economics of bulk shopping work in their favor, Sherow said.

"Restaurants are comfortable offering a really big discount if, when a student decides they want Chinese food, they are that one Chinese restaurant they order from," he said.

Where university plans don't allow unused meals to carry over from semester to semester, Moo Plans does. The startup also isn't prohibited by the same hours of operation as the dining halls are. They are limited to whenever the participating restaurants are open  though that is typically later than the dining halls, which close at 8 p.m.

"Our company is for students by students," Le said. "So we know what they're going through, what they want, and we tried to make something better."

The startup will officially launch this fall to students at UAlbany, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and The College of Saint Rose after a round of testing over the winter and another during spring finals week. During that time, 80 students tried out the service during weeklong intervals.

Sherow said he's already received a commitment from 100 students willing to purchase Moo Plans this fall. At that rate, the company could bring in revenue between $189,000 and $210,000 in the first semester, he said. Some of that would go to cover the expense of hiring drivers who deliver food from restaurants that don't already offer delivery, or those who would need help during popular delivery times.

So far, eight restaurants have agreed to participate: Bombers Burrito Bar, Bountiful Bread, DC's Pizza, Healthy on Lark, Jewel of India On Lark, Lilac Blossom, Oasis Mediterranean Cafe and Stacks Espresso Bar. Talks are under way with 15 other restaurants, including Chipotle, a national chain, Sherow said.

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For some business owners, the decision to participate was a matter of trying to attract new clientele.

Healthy on Lark owner Sharon Lastique said her vegetarian restaurant near Washington Park is too far off the beaten path for most students in the city.

"We're not that far, mile-wise from the university, but we're not necessarily a place that students are organically going to find, especially the ones who don't have cars and rely on mass transit," she said. "So it's an experiment we're willing to try to get more exposure to the student body."

UAlbany spokesman Karl Luntta said the startup has not affected the university's food services, and objected to the company's claim that "general discontent" exists among students regarding university meal plans.

The university constantly makes adjustments to its menus, meal times and meal plans to satisfy student demand, he said. While students are automatically assigned meal plans based on their status as freshmen or upperclassmen, they can select a cheaper or more expensive plan if they so wish.

The dining halls and retail spots include vegetarian, vegan, halal and kosher dining, an allergy-free zone, a Mongolian Grill, deli stations, salad bars, brick-oven pizza, themed meals and late-night snack options, Luntta said.

bbump@timesunion.com  518-454-5387  @bethanybump
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Editor's note: Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the actual price of the Palace Theatre sale has not been decided. The city and the Palace are in the process of getting appraisals before the deal goes forward

Albany

Four weeks after the announcement of a $65 million plan to expand the Palace Theatre, including sale of the city-owned landmark for a nominal fee, a "confidential" legal memo from the city's corporation counsel to Common Council members indicates the sale needs to be approved by only eight of the 15 members rather than 12.

The memo, citing a 1998 City Charter revision, has left some local lawmakers with a sour taste. They say it undermines the charter's 1984 provision that sale of city property must be approved by three-fourths of the members, which is 12.

Councilman Ronald Bailey, whose 3rd Ward includes the Palace Theatre, said the last-minute Aug. 11 memo was "bothersome."

"It looks like we're just whitewashing everything to sell the building," Bailey said Monday. "I wish everybody would come together to meet so we could find out what the city wants from it, and what the Palace is looking for. I don't believe in doing those secret meetings."

Councilman Richard Conti, president pro tempore, said he requested clarification on how many votes are needed in late July, after a Times Union article reported that 12 votes are required.

"I went back and looked at the charter provisions, and asked the law department to please confirm," Conti said. "This is another case of (council members) twisting the facts and the law for a political purpose, rather than what the law (states that) was clearly adopted in 1998."

Frank Commisso Jr., in a post on his council Facebook page last week, suggested Mayor Kathy Sheehan requested the legal memo because of the possible inability to secure 12 votes. Judd Krasher shared the post on his page.

While Sections 103 and 104 of the city charter confirm guidelines determined in the 1998 revisions override older, conflicting versions, the proposed ordinance to sell the Palace Theatre inexplicably states the property "be sold at private sale pursuant to the provisions of Local Law No. 4 for 1984," referencing the law that requires 12 votes for selling city property.

The mayor referred questions to clarify that point to the city Corporation Counsel, which did not immediately return a call.

The memo included past city property sales that adhered to a majority vote rather than the 1984 provision. One example was the sale of a portion of 75 Fuller Road to Albany County requested by Commisso. It passed 8-5, according to the memo.

Commisso said the law wasn't followed in the Fuller Road sale.

"The reason the law is being more thoroughly reviewed in this instance is because the mayor is proposing to sell a $13 million historic landmark for $1 in a transaction where she will be one of the chief beneficiaries," he said. "So yes, I and other Common Council members are paying much greater attention to the law."

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The actual price has not been decided, Sheehan said. The city and the Palace are in the process of getting appraisals before the deal goes forward.

Commisso said Sheehan has a conflict of interest that could put the city "in a great deal of legal risk."

Sheehan said she's an ex officio Palace board member, and doesn't have voting power. She was appointed to the board in April.

"It provides an opportunity for the mayor to really understand the strategic goals and plans of an important institution in the city of Albany," she said. "The mayor is uniquely situated to be able to provide input."

Sheehan further pointed out that city representation on the Palace board is important, especially since the city owns the building.

"We have an interest in the building," she said. "The city is responsible for it. In creating our capital budget, we are required to plan for improvements to it. This shouldn't be an adversarial relationship."

The sale to the Palace Performing Arts Center  the nonprofit entity that oversees the facility  is part of a larger $65 million expansion and upgrade announced July 13. Improvements include a new, smaller theater along North Pearl Street, an expansion of the original theater's lobby and stagehouse and a state-of-the-art video post-production facility.
THE ISSUE:

A state commission is weighing whether to approve a pay hike for state legislators.

THE STAKES:

Lawmakers should not pretend to be unwilling beneficiaries of a raise. They can stop this, if they want to.

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

No doubt most New York state lawmakers running right now for re-election would say they oppose a massive pay hike for themselves. And no doubt, if they get one, they'll tell you there was just nothing they could do about it.

That might even be somewhat true, but it wouldn't be entirely honest.

Honesty demands more. It demands public officials deal with the public in good faith, not parse facts and split legal and procedural hairs. There is a way for state lawmakers to act honestly and honorably here.

It does look more likely that ever that the Legislature could receive a pay hike next year. The new state Special Commission on Legislative, Judicial, & Executive Compensation is currently considering pay hikes for lawmakers and executive branch officials. It is expected to issue its recommendations by Nov. 15.

Conveniently, that is one week after the general election, in which all 213 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs.

Lawmakers haven't had a raise since 1999. They're paid a base salary of $79,500 for what's considered a part-time job, plus expenses to travel and stay in Albany, plus, for many, stipends for committee leadership and conference posts They may also earn unlimited outside income.

One figure that's been floated is to raise the base salary to $116,900  a 48 percent increase to bring their pay more or less to where it would be if they'd gotten annual raises like regular state workers. By law, whatever the commission recommends automatically takes effect unless the Legislature votes to reject it.

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It's quite likely most legislators will declare themselves to be against a pay hike. They might even promise to vote against it if given the chance.

We saw a few years ago what legislative promises on issues in which they have a personal or political stake are worth. Many lawmakers in 2014 swore, publicly, that they would support creation of an independent redistricting commission to draw new legislative lines  a move that would have taken away their ability to gerrymander districts to keep themselves in office. After they were elected, they simply broke that promise, and went right ahead and drew their own lines. Oh, they did create a commission  to do redistricting the next time. Nor was it truly independent.

We would not oppose a pay hike, if the Legislature had enacted serious ethical and campaign finance reforms to make state government and politics more honest. It hasn't. And yet lawmakers could end up with a raise just by sitting on their hands and letting the commission approve one.

Here's what an honest legislature would do: It would call on its leaders to ask the commission to pass no raise at all, or recommend one well before the Nov. 8 election to give the Legislature time to return to Albany for one vote: to reject the pay hike.

Yes, it would cost a bit of money to convene the Legislature for a day. But you know what? Talk is cheap. A gesture of true honesty? Priceless.
As Titusville Area School District transitions from the traditional Industrial Age approach to education to the Mass Customized Learning model
August 16, 2016

The rate in which major data breaches are taking place is increasing in frequency, as well as sophistication. This has led the vast majority of organizations to spend a considerable amount in cyber security, with high profile companies spending hundreds of millions dollars annually. So the forecast by Cybersecurity Market Report indicating the global spend on cyber security products and services will surpass $1 trillion for the five-year period from 2017 to 2021 seems highly plausible. With so much at stake, the Q3 2016 edition of the Cybersecurity 500 is an insightful read for those looking to find out who the major and up-and-coming players are in the segment.







The Cybersecurity 500 is compiled by Cybersecurity Ventures to highlight the leading global cyber security solutions and services companies, as well as the mergers and acquisitions, investments and IPO activity in the sector.

Global cyber security spend is increasing, with Gartner reporting globally $81.6 billion will be spent by the end of 2016, which is a 7.9 percent increase from 2015. And as virtually everything individual consumers and organizations do moves online or gets connected, the cyber threat will only increase, thus requiring more security services

As Jeremy King, President at Benchmark Executive Search, said, "Cyber will never go away as the bad guys will never stop exploiting this new medium." And he believes the $1 trillion market forecast from Cybersecurity Ventures barely scratches the surface.

The report more than anything increases the awareness and recognition of the companies that are delivering innovative solutions to protect the digital assets of organizations. Companies are not limited to large and recognizable brands, as the report also highlights VC backed start-ups, emerging players, providers said to grow around productized or vertically focused services, and obscure firms with game changing technologies ready to make their mark in the industry.

Some of the companies in the top 25 of the Cybersecurity 500 for Q3 2016 are:

root9B is the No. 1 listed company in the report , which provides cybersecurity consulting and operational support

Sera-Brynn, a cyber risk management and compliance firm.

Mimecast, an email security provider.

Digital Defense, Inc. (DDI) is in the vulnerability management sector.

Code Dx, an application security company devoted to scan the worlds code for defects and weaknesses.

Nexusguard a global DDoS attack and prevention thought leader.

While these companies have cemented their place on the top 25, the report also showcased up and coming firms to keep an eye on. They include: SAS Institute, ManageEngine (News - Alert), Inspired eLearning, Ravello Systems and Cato Networks.

As for companies that are getting funded, PhishMe, which trains employees to recognize and defeating phishing attacks launched on their employers raised $42.5 million in venture funding for its continual growth. The potential growth in cyber security has caught the attention of established corporations in other IT segments. One of the companies is Oracle (News - Alert), which earlier this year acquired Ravello Systems, an up-and-coming firm in this new report.

Cyber security firms will continue to grow as the persistent threat in the digital environment keeps getting worse. As King pointed out, "The companies on the Cybersecurity 500 list earned a spot because the lure for bad guys stealing money, data, IP, secrets, reputations or intentions is just too great. Cyber War is here! A war for defensive solutions, offensive strategies, and a war for top talent."

Edited by Peter Bernstein
[August 15, 2016] Aetna to Narrow Individual Public Exchange Participation

Aetna (NYSE: AET) Chairman and CEO Mark T. Bertolini made the following statement with regard to the company's 2017 participation in the Affordable Care Act individual public exchanges: "Following a thorough business review and in light of a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and total pretax losses of more than $430 million since January 2014 in our individual products, we have decided to reduce our individual public exchange presence in 2017, which will limit our financial exposure moving forward. More than 40 payers of various sizes have similarly chosen to stop selling plans in one or more rating areas in the individual public exchanges over the 2015 and 2016 plan years, collectively exiting hundreds of rating areas in more than 30 states. As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision. "Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool. Fifty-five percent of our individual on-exchange membership is new in 2016, and in the second quarter we saw individuals in need of high-cost care represent an even larger share of our on-exchange population. This population dynamic, coupled with the current inadequate risk adjustment mechanism, results in substantial upward pressure on premiums and creates significant sustainability concerns. "The vast majority of payers have experienced continued financial stress within their individual public exchange business due to these forces, which also are reported to have contributed to the failure of 16 out of 23 co-ops. We are encouraged by a recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will explore new options to modify the risk adjustment program, and remain hopeful that we can work with policymakers from both parties on a sustainable public exchange model that meets the needs of the uninsured. "We are committed to a health care marketplace that gives every American the opportunity to access affordable, high-quality care. We will continue to evaluate our participation in individual public exchanges while gaining additional insight from the counties where we will maintain our presence, and may expand our footprint in the future should there be meaningful exchange-related policy improvements." Aetna will reduce its individual public exchange participation from 778 to 242 counties for the 2017 plan year, maintaining an on-exchange presence in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia. The company will continue to offer an off-exchange individual product option for 2017 to consumers in the vast majority of counties where it offered individual public exchange products in 2016. This decision does not impact Aetna's products, services or benefits for the 2016 plan year. The company will communicate options to impacted members before the 2017 open enrollment period begins, and provide resources to assist them in transitioning to other plans as appropriate. About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 46.3 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna's customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com and learn about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews Cautionary Statement Regarding 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. You can generally identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "explore," "evaluate," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "seek," "should," or "will," or the negative thereof r other variations thereon or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Aetna's control.



Statements in this press release regarding Aetna that are forward-looking, including our ability to limit our financial exposure to individual public health insurance exchange ("public exchange") products, our future participation in public exchanges, our ability to gain additional insight into public exchange products, the factors that impact our future participation in public exchanges, the number of states and the number of counties in which we will offer public exchange products in 2017, the number of counties in which we will offer off-exchange individual products in 2017, and the transition assistance we expect to provide to our existing public exchange members, are based on management's estimates, assumptions and projections, and are subject to significant uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond Aetna's control. Important risk factors could cause actual future results and other future events to differ materially from those currently estimated by management, including, but not limited to: the profitability of Aetna's and Humana Inc.'s ("Humana's") public exchange and affordable care act ("ACA") compliant small group products, where membership has had and may continue to have more adverse health status and/or higher medical benefit utilization than Aetna and/or Humana projected; unanticipated increases in medical costs (including increased intensity or medical utilization as a result of flu or otherwise; changes in membership mix to higher cost or lower-premium products or membership adverse selection; medical cost increases resulting from unfavorable changes in contracting or re-contracting with providers (including as a result of provider consolidation and/or integration); increased pharmacy costs (including in Aetna's and/or Humana's public exchange products)); uncertainty related to Aetna's and Humana's accruals for ACA's reinsurance, risk adjustment and risk corridor programs ("3R's"); uncertainty related to the funding for and final reconciliations with respect to ACA's risk management and subsidy programs; the implementation of health care reform legislation, including collection of ACA fees, assessments and taxes through increased premiums; adverse legislative, regulatory and/or judicial changes to or interpretations of existing health care reform legislation and/or regulations (including those relating to minimum medical loss ratio ("MLR") rebates); the implementation of public exchanges; the timing to consummate Aetna's proposed acquisition of Humana (the "Humana Acquisition"); the timing and resolution of the Department of Justice litigation relating to the Humana Acquisition; the timing to consummate the proposed divestitures of certain of Aetna's and Humana's Medicare Advantage assets (collectively, the "Divestitures"); the risk that a condition to closing of the Humana Acquisition and/or the Divestitures may not be satisfied; the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for Aetna's 2017 public exchange or off-exchange individual products, the Humana Acquisition and/or the Divestitures is delayed, is not obtained or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; the outcome of various litigation matters related to the Humana Acquisition; Aetna's ability to achieve the synergies and value creation projected to be realized following the completion of the Humana Acquisition; Aetna's ability to promptly and effectively integrate Humana's businesses; the diversion of management time on Humana Acquisition-related and/or Divestiture-related issues; Aetna's and Humana's ability to offset Medicare Advantage and PDP rate pressures; and changes in Aetna's and Humana's future cash requirements, capital requirements, results of operations, financial condition and/or cash flows. Health care reform will continue to significantly impact Aetna's business operations and financial results, including Aetna's pricing and medical benefit ratios. Key components of the legislation will continue to be phased in through 2020, and Aetna will be required to dedicate material resources and incur material expenses during 2016 to implement health care reform. Significant parts of the legislation, including aspects of public exchanges, nondiscrimination requirements, reinsurance, risk corridor and risk adjustment, continue to evolve through the promulgation of regulations and guidance at the federal level. In addition, pending efforts in the U.S. Congress to amend or restrict funding for various aspects of health care reform and pending litigation challenging aspects of the law continue to create additional uncertainty about the ultimate impact of health care reform. As a result, many of the impacts of health care reform will not be known for the next several years. Other important risk factors include: adverse changes in health care reform and/or other federal or state government policies or regulations as a result of health care reform or otherwise (including legislative, judicial or regulatory measures that would affect Aetna's and/or Humana's business model, restrict funding for or amend various aspects of health care reform, limit Aetna's and/or Humana's ability to price for the risk it assumes and/or reflect reasonable costs or profits in its pricing, such as mandated minimum medical benefit ratios, or eliminate or reduce ERISA pre-emption of state laws (increasing Aetna's and/or Humana's potential litigation exposure)); adverse and less predictable economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad (including unanticipated levels of, or increases in the rate of, unemployment); reputational or financial issues arising from Aetna's and/or Humana's social media activities, data security breaches, other cybersecurity risks or other causes; Aetna's ability to diversify Aetna's sources of revenue and earnings (including by developing, operating and expanding Aetna's consumer business and expanding Aetna's foreign operations), transform Aetna's business model, develop new products and optimize Aetna's business platforms; the success of Aetna's Healthagen (including Accountable Care Solutions and health information technology) initiatives; adverse changes in size, product or geographic mix or medical cost experience of membership; managing executive succession and key talent retention, recruitment and development; failure to achieve and/or delays in achieving desired rate increases and/or profitable membership growth due to regulatory review or other regulatory restrictions, the difficult economy and/or significant competition, especially in key geographic areas where membership is concentrated, including successful protests of business awarded to Aetna and/or Humana; failure to adequately implement health care reform; the outcome of various litigation and regulatory matters, including audits, challenges to Aetna's and/or Humana's minimum MLR rebate methodology and/or reports, guaranty fund assessments, intellectual property litigation and litigation concerning, and ongoing reviews by various regulatory authorities of, certain of Aetna's and/or Humana's payment practices with respect to out-of-network providers, other providers and/or life insurance policies; Aetna's ability to integrate, simplify, and enhance Aetna's existing products, processes and information technology systems and platforms to keep pace with changing customer and regulatory needs; Aetna's ability to successfully integrate Aetna's businesses (including Humana, Coventry, bswift LLC and other businesses Aetna may acquire in the future) and implement multiple strategic and operational initiatives (including the Divestitures) simultaneously; Aetna's and/or Humana's ability to manage health care and other benefit costs; adverse program, pricing, funding or audit actions by federal or state government payors, including as a result of sequestration and/or curtailment or elimination of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' star rating bonus payments; Aetna's ability to reduce administrative expenses while maintaining targeted levels of service and operating performance; failure by a service provider to meet its obligations to Aetna or Humana; Aetna's and Humana's ability to develop and maintain relationships (including collaborative risk-sharing agreements) with providers while taking actions to reduce medical costs and/or expand the services each company offers; Aetna's ability to demonstrate that Aetna's products and processes lead to access to quality affordable care by Aetna's members; Aetna's and/or Humana's ability to maintain their relationships with third-party brokers, consultants and agents who sell their products; increases in medical costs or Group Insurance claims resulting from any epidemics, acts of terrorism or other extreme events; changes in medical cost estimates due to the necessary extensive judgment that is used in the medical cost estimation process, the considerable variability inherent in such estimates, and the sensitivity of such estimates to changes in medical claims payment patterns and changes in medical cost trends; a downgrade in Aetna's financial ratings; and adverse impacts from any failure to raise the U.S. Federal government's debt ceiling or any sustained U.S. Federal government shut down. For more discussion of important risk factors that may materially affect Aetna, please see the risk factors contained in Aetna's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Aetna's 2015 Annual Report") and Aetna's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 ("Aetna's June 2016 Quarterly Report"), each on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC (News - Alert)"). For more discussion of important risk factors that may materially affect Humana, please see the risk factors contained in Humana's 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Humana's 2015 Annual Report") and Humana's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed or furnished during 2016, each on file with the SEC. You should also read Aetna's 2015 Annual Report and Aetna's June 2016 Quarterly Report for a discussion of Aetna's historical results of operations and financial condition. You should also read Humana's 2015 Annual Report and Humana's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, each on file with the SEC, for a discussion of Humana's historical results of operations and financial condition. No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do occur, what impact they will have on the results of operations, financial condition or cash flows of Aetna or Humana. Aetna does not assume any duty to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, as of any future date.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160815006226/en/

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[August 16, 2016] Aldevron Manufactures Malaria DNA Vaccine for Naval Medical Research Center

Today, at the State of Technology Conference with Senator Hoeven and the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce, Aldevron announces completing the production of a DNA-based vaccine to combat malaria under a contract with the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC). Aldevron, a leading contract manufacturer of plasmid DNA, proteins, and antibodies, produced three plasmid DNA constructs that have been delivered to NMRC in preparation for a phase I/II challenge study. "Malaria is a difficult problem from medical and socioeconomic perspectives. It is a great privilege to be a part of this project," states Michael Chambers, CEO of Aldevron. As part of the contract, Aldevron manufactured gram quantities of plasmid DNA under cGMP conditions using the Company's proprietary large-scale DNA production technology. Aldevron produced the world's first DNA vaccine to be used outside of a trial setting over a decade ago. The Company has continued to enhance its manufacturing techniques, quality systems and scale, according to Aldevron's CSO, John Ballantyne. "These improvements have allowed the Company to support the tremendous growth in plasmid DNA, mRNA, and proteins that are being developed to address a large number of diseases with severe unmet medical needs," said Ballantyne. In addition to DNA vaccines, Aldevron manufactures the critical components for gene editing, gene therapy and cell therapies, including treatments using chimeric antigen receptor T-Cells (CAR-T).



About Malaria Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito that feeds on humans. According to the WHO approximately 3.2 billion people are at risk of malaria. In 2015, there were an estimated 214 million malaria cases and some 438,000 malaria deaths.

About Aldevron Aldevron offers custom manufacturing, development, and discovery services for nucleic acids, proteins and antibodies -- providing companies with essential components for research, clinical and commercial applications. Aldevron's services include: plasmid DNA and mRNA manufacturing; protein and enzyme production; and fully human and recombinant antibody generation. Aldevron's collaborative approach and commitment to quality allow it provide innovative solutions that meet precise client requirements. Aldevron is headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, and has facilities in Madison, Wisconsin, and Freiburg, Germany. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005729/en/

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[August 16, 2016] Broadvoice Appoints Tessley Smith as Director of Sales

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadvoice, an award-winning provider of hosted voice, unified communications (UC) and SIP trunking services for consumers and businesses, has promoted Tessley Smith to the position of Director of Sales. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/397990 Smith, who brings 19 years of experience to his new role, started with Broadvoice in 2014 as a regional sales manager. Since then, he has worked to steadily expand the company's successful channel sales strategy and its customer base. "We could not be happier to tap an industry veteran from within our ranks to lead our sales efforts," said Sam Ghahremanpour, President at Broadvoice. "Tess has been instrumental in building our channel ecosystem, promoting new ideas and being a strong team builder, leader and mentor. We have seen phenomenal growth in the past year, and look forward to many more quarters of triple-digit advances as he settles into this critical role." Prior to Broadvoice, the Kansas City, Mo.-based Smith held sales management positions at Nitel, Birch Communications and American Fiber Network. He holds a B.A. from Ottawa University. "Broadvoice is an nnovative, forward-thinking company that has set itself apart in the UC, cloud PBX and SIP Trunking space by being agile and offering a range of business solutions for companies of all sizes," Smith said. "I'm excited to work with our channel partners and internal teams to continue to expand Broadvoice's growing traction in the market."



Broadvoice offers a flexible, smart portfolio of IP-based voice and data offerings, backed by its enterprise-class, geo-redundant IP Telephony platform. This includes a full UC suite and cloud PBX services, including unlimited voice calling plans for businesses, throughout the continental United States and Canada. Features include the Broadvoice Communicator, a real-time messaging and presence client with full voice and video capabilities plus hosted email platform, to support the mobile workforce. And, it recently integrated its feature-rich cloud PBX and UC services with the Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC) platform, to power customers' inbound, outbound and blended contact center operations.

For more information on the Broadvoice Partner Program, please call 866-634-1394, or visit www.broadvoice.com/partners About Broadvoice Headquartered in Los Angeles, Broadvoice is a premier provider of hosted voice and data products. Utilizing the latest technology, Broadvoice helps consumers and businesses achieve higher call quality and faster internet speeds while reducing their overall costs and improving efficiency. The company continuously designs and implements new features and services that allow companies to focus on their businesses Broadvoice has been ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. More information about the company may be found at www.broadvoice.biz Media Contact: Broadvoice

Rob Fredrick

818-449-6454

Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadvoice-appoints-tessley-smith-as-director-of-sales-300313528.html SOURCE Broadvoice

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[August 16, 2016] Iowa Virtual Academy Returns for 2016-2017 School Year

Iowa Virtual Academy (IAVA), an online public school program of the Clayton Ridge Community School District, will begin its 2016-2017 school year on August 23 as the program marks its fifth year. The tuition-free public school offers an alternative to a traditional brick-and-mortar education and is available to all Iowa students in grades K-12. IAVA allows its students to access coursework virtually and provides an extensive support system to families. State-certified teachers work closely with parents to monitor progress and provide professional instruction, communicating daily with students through e-mail, telephone, and online meetings. "We're thrilled to begin another exciting school year with our returning families and welcome the new families joining us," said Steven Hoff, Head of School at Iowa Virtual Academy. "At our school, we make it our mission to provide a personalized experience for each individual learner in order to prepare them for a bright and healthy future." IAVA's unique curriculum is designed to adapt to each individual. Students have the ability t accelerate through subjects at which they excel, while those who need more time to understand a concept can work at a more comfortable pace. The flexibility, along with support from teachers, allows students to fully grasp material and discover a learning style that works best for them.



The IAVA high school program offers more than 150 core, elective and Advanced Placement courses designed to let students explore a high school program tailored to their goals and abilities. Subjects such as history, math, science and language arts are available as Honors or AP level courses, and students can engage in a wide selection of electives, including Career Technical Education (CTE) courses designed to give them a head start on job skills. At IAVA, students can participate in an active school community which plans field trips and school outings year-round. For more information about Iowa Virtual Academy or to see a calendar of events, visit http://iava.k12.com/

About Iowa Virtual Academy Iowa Virtual Academy is an online public school program of the Clayton Ridge Community School District, which uses the award-winning curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs. Iowa Virtual Academy's individualized approach gives Iowa kids the chance to learn in the ways that are right for them. For more about IAVA, visit http://iava.k12.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006317/en/

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[August 16, 2016] Nebraska Book Holdings, Inc. Reports Fiscal First Quarter Financial Results

Nebraska Book Holdings, Inc.* (OTC Pink: NEEB) (the "Company") today released its unaudited condensed financial statements for the fiscal 2017 first quarter ended June 30, 2016. The unaudited consolidated financial statements (the "Financial Statements") are located on the Financial Filings page of the Company's website at http://nebook.com/financial/. As announced on July 29, 2016, the Company's offer to exchange (the "Exchange Offer") 2.0% Convertible Senior PIK Notes due 2026 (the "New Senior Notes") for any and all outstanding 15.0% Senior Secured Notes due 2016 (the "Existing Notes") remains in effect and will expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on August 30, 2016, unless extended. Full details of the Exchange Offer are provided in the Offering Memorandum on the Company's website, and the unaudited financial statements for the fiscal 2017 first quarter ended June 30, 2016, are incorporated into the Offering Memorandum by the above reference of their availability on the Company's website. Forward-Looking Information Is Subject to Risk and Uncertainty

This press release contains forward-looking statements that invove risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the company's business and results of operations to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.



Such forward-looking statements include statements that discuss management's beliefs and assumptions and can be identified by the use of words such as "will," "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "potential," "continue," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. Additional information regarding forward-looking statements, as well as additional risks and uncertainties that may affect results and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements, is contained in the Risk Factors section of the Company's Offering Memorandum that was previously distributed to holders of the Existing Notes.

About Nebraska Book Holdings, Inc.

Nebraska Book Holdings, Inc., more commonly known as Nebraska Book Company, began in 1915 as an independent college bookstore and is now a key resources partner to over 2,000 independent college retailers nationwide. With its strategic business services and technology offerings, including localized e-commerce capabilities, back-end system access and support as well as textbook solutions, Nebraska Book Company is devoted to supporting and strengthening independent higher education retailers across the United States. For more information about Nebraska Book Company, visit www.nebook.com. The Company's website is not part of or being incorporated into the Exchange Offer. *Nebraska Book Holdings, Inc. common stock is not listed, traded or quoted on any U.S. stock exchange but is quoted on the OTC Pink Market under the symbol NEEB. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006325/en/

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[August 16, 2016] New Round of Funding to Fuel Continued Innovation and Growth at Baswood

Baswood Corporation, a privately held company leading innovation in sustainable wastewater treatment solutions, announced a new round of funding led by Inherent Group, LLC. According to Michael Walker, CEO of Baswood, the funding will be used to support the company's strong growth in North America along with continuing expansion within the Asia-Pacific marketplace. "Baswood's patented solutions provide a significantly lower energy footprint that results in substantially lower operating costs, while delivering superior digestion and lower solids output. Our systems dramatically lower the life-cycle cost of wastewater treatment, providing a strong return on investment for our customers," said Walker. "We are particularly excited bout partnering with Inherent Group because of their like-minded commitment to customer value and environmental sustainability."



Michael Ellis, Managing Director of Inherent Group, said, "We are thrilled to be investing in Baswood. It is our mission to support for-profit firms that address environmental challenges. Baswood's leadership team and technology are at the forefront of wastewater treatment solutions, creating significant value for customers and improving both water and energy efficiency." Founded in 2004, Baswood delivers innovative, technology-based solutions that provide effective BOD (biological oxygen demand) removal, biosolids reduction and water reuse for a wide range of industrial, municipal and commercial applications.

Baswood's products have been successfully installed in municipal and industrial applications in the U.S., Mexico and Malaysia. For more information, go to www.baswood.com. About Baswood Baswood offers innovative and sustainable technology-based solutions to wastewater and biosolids treatment for a wide range of industrial and municipal markets. Our proven, patented technologies provide effective treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater streams, as well as biosolids digestion. Founded in 2004, the company delivers innovative, technology-based solutions that produce results. Baswood's state-of-the-art technology has proven effective in treating municipal, agricultural, and industrial wastewater streams with a cost advantage over baseline technologies. To learn more, visit www.baswood.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005335/en/

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[August 16, 2016] RiskSense Wins Three Stevie Awards in 2016 International Business Awards

RiskSense Inc., the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management, today announced that its platform was honored in the 13th Annual International Business Awards (IBA) with a Gold Stevie Award for Best New Governance, Risk, and Compliance Solution and a Silver Stevie Award for Best New Security Software Solution. The company also received a Silver Stevie Award as the Most Innovative Company in the Americas. RiskSense will be honored during a formal gala banquet at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome, Italy on Friday, October 21, 2016. The International Business Awards are the world's premier business awards program. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for "crowned," the 2016 IBAs received entries from more than 60 nations and territories and a record total of more than 3,800 nominations. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 200 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process from May through early August 2016. "Receiving Gold and Silver Stevie awards for company and product innovation is a testament to the strength of our team and technology," said Torsten George, vice president of global marketing and products at RiskSense. "More than 150 organizations worldwide rely on RiskSense to help them manage cyber risks and identify security vulnerabilities that pose the most imminent threats to their business." RiskSense has pioneered the category of cyber risk management in response to the increasing challenges of extracting actionable intelligence from the massive volume of data generated by the patchwork of cyber security products, including vulnerability scanners, threat intelligence feeds, and other complex security systems. The RiskSense Platform is the first next-gen cyber risk management solution that allows enterprises and governments to quickly understand their particular cyber risk exposure acros a growing attack surface, quickly orchestrate remediation, and monitor the results. RiskSense takes them from detection to remediation in minutes, not months, by unifying and contextualizing internal security intelligence, external threat data, and business criticality. The RiskSense Platform uses patented technology and integrates with existing security infrastructures to unify and contextualize internal security intelligence (e.g., vulnerabilities, control posture, events) with external threat data (e.g., exploits, malware, threat actors, reputational intelligence) to identify cyber risks and prioritize remediation based on business criticality. This intelligence-driven approach enables organizations to pro-actively discover and address security gaps that pose the most severe risks to their operations.



"This year's IBA judges were treated to many remarkable and inspiring stories of achievement around the world," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. "We look forward to sharing many of these stories with people around the world over the coming months, through the Stevie Awards blog and social media channels, with the hope that they will inspire and instruct the next generation of business achievers." About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The International Business Awards and the Stevie Award winners at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA. About RiskSense RiskSense, Inc., is the pioneer and market leader in pro-active cyber risk management. The company enables enterprises and governments to reveal cyber risk, quickly orchestrate remediation, and monitor the results. This is done by unifying and contextualizing internal security intelligence, external threat data, and business criticality across a growing attack surface. The company's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) Platform transforms cyber risk management into a more pro-active, collaborative, and real-time discipline. The RiskSense Platform embodies the expertise and intimate knowledge gained from real world experience in defending critical networks from the world's most dangerous cyber adversaries. As part of a team that collaborated with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Community, RiskSense founders developed Computational Analysis of Cyber Terrorism against the U.S. (CACTUS), Support Vectors Intrusion (News - Alert) Detection, Behavior Risk Analysis of Vicious Executables (BRAVE), and the Strike Team Program. By leveraging RiskSense cyber risk management solutions, organizations can significantly shorten time-to-remediation, increase operational efficiency, strengthen their security programs, improve cyber hygiene, heighten response readiness, reduce costs, and ultimately minimize cyber risks. For more information, please visit www.risksense.com or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at @RiskSense. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005124/en/

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[August 16, 2016] RSA NetWitness Suite Only Solution to Integrate Threat Intelligence Across Logs, Packets, and Endpoints

BEDFORD, Mass., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RSA, The Security Division of EMC (NYSE: EMC), today announced that it has deepened its bench with new integrated threat intelligence partners for the RSA NetWitness Suite. The RSA NetWitness Suite is designed to incorporate threat intelligence from customers, threat intelligence partners, RSA experts and the RSA customer community through Live Connect. By utilizing additional threat intelligence across logs, packets and endpoints, organizations optimize their ability to find both known and unknown threats. "Since threat actors change their tools and techniques, threat intelligence has a shelf life. That means security teams need to be armed with great visibility and a variety of current sources of threat data to bring the attacks into view. We are continuously expanding our ability to ingest one of the most inclusive variety of data sources, including crowdsourced and STIX formatted threat intelligence, to provide comprehensive visibility into emerging threats and empower our customers to immediately act on the valuable insights uniquely provided by the RSA NetWitness Suite across logs, packets, and endpoints," said Grant Geyer, Senior Vice President, Products, RSA. The crowdsourced threat intelligence through Live Connect allows for faster identification of new attacks and more accurate pioritization of incidents. RSA will be adding both Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) and Threat Intelligence Content (TIC) partners. The new TIP partners include ThreatConnect and Soltra, which manage various sources of threat intelligence (internal, 3rd party, open source, etc.). The new TIC partner, Recorded Future, provides a real-time threat intelligence product that collects, organizes, and analyzes web information to help security teams proactively defend against cyber attacks. These threat intelligence content providers are utilized by the RSA NetWitness Suite and are designed to offer security analysts real-time context about an investigation so they can more quickly detect and respond to an incident.



The RSA NetWitness Suite takes in Structured Threat Information Expression (STIX) formatted threat intelligence that is engineered to provide enhanced security analytics including data science modeling, context enrichment, user and endpoint analysis, behavior analytics, and machine learning for accelerating threat detection and rapid response. All TIP partners and TIC providers are certified through the RSA Ready Partner Program.

For more information, please visit our Threat Detection & Response product page. ABOUT RSA RSA helps more than 30,000 customers around the world take command of their security posture by partnering to build and implement business-driven security strategies. With RSA's award-winning cybersecurity solutions, organizations can effectively detect and respond to advanced attacks; manage user identities and access; and reduce business risk, fraud and cybercrime. For more information, go to www.rsa.com. RSA, NetWitness and EMC are either registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. STIX is a trademark of The MITRE Corporation. All other products and/or services referenced are trademarks of their respective owners. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rsa-netwitness-suite-only-solution-to-integrate-threat-intelligence-across-logs-packets-and-endpoints-300314047.html SOURCE RSA

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[August 16, 2016] Smart Choice MRI Names Roland Wikstrom President & COO as Company Plans Expansion Outside Midwest

Smart Choice MRI, the first provider in the country to offer every scan for an all-inclusive fee of $600 or less with a focus on high quality care and exceptional service, has named Roland Wikstrom as president and chief operating officer. This is a new Smart Choice MRI position, which will be instrumental in driving the company's rapid growth plans. By the end of 2016, Smart Choice MRI will have 19 clinics throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota and will begin expanding outside of the Midwest in 2017. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005994/en/ Roland Wikstrom named Smart Choice MRI President, COO (Photo: Business Wire) "A leader in the business world who has served on our board for the past two years, Roland has the operational acumen and financial experience that will be key as we expand nationwide," said Smart Choice MRI Chairman and CEO Rick Anderson. "He has a proven record of accomplishment and is exceptionally qualified for this new role." "I'm truly excited to help usher in the next phase for Smart Choice MRI," said Wikstrom. "Having served on the board for the past two years, I am competely confident in the strong potential for our company and the impact we can have on healthcare in this country. As costs continue to rise, we're able to provide patients with a high quality choice that is very efficiently priced and deliver it with unmatched service. I am incredibly proud to join this talented group of people."



Roland Wikstrom has more than 25 years of senior leadership experience at companies such as Citigroup, the Central Bank of Norway, ABN AMRO and BMO Harris Bank. He holds a B.A. in political science from DePauw University, an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute. Smart Choice MRI recently raised $14.5 million in expansion capital, primarily from two health care systems: ThedaCare, the largest healthcare system in Northeast Wisconsin, and Edward-Elmhurst Health of Naperville, IL. Smart Choice MRI anticipates further expansion into Illinois, Minnesota and nationwide.

About Smart Choice MRI Smart Choice MRI is the first MRI provider in the country to offer high-quality magnetic resonance imaging to every patient for an all-inclusive fee of $600 or less, which includes the cost of the scan as well as its reading by top radiologists from the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Accredited by the American College of Radiology, Smart Choice MRI is in network for most major insurers, including United Health Care, Anthem and Humana. Headquartered in Mequon, WI, Smart Choice MRI currently has six clinics in Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Richfield, Waukesha, Kenosha and Appleton, as well as three in the suburbs of Chicago: Schaumburg, Glenview and Skokie. A Chicago clinic is scheduled to open on August 22, 2016. For more information, visit Smart Choice MRI and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005994/en/

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Waters Recognizes Dr. Sunghwan Kim of Kyungpook National University

At a ceremony and symposium at Kyungpook National University (KNU), Daegu, South Korea, Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) today welcomed Dr. Sunghwan Kim, of Kyungpooks' Department of Chemistry into the Waters Centers of Innovation (COI) Program. Dr. Kim is a leading expert on developing and applying analytical techniques for assessing the impact of PAHs in the environment and for crude oil processing. KNU is the first institution in South Korea to be recognized by Waters Centers of Innovation Program.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005741/en/

Taking part in today's ceremony at Kyungpook National University were (l to r) Eric W Fotheringham, Waters Corporation; Rich Youn, GM, Waters Korea; Richard Chang, Vice President, Waters Asia Pacific Operations; Prof. Sunghwan Kim, KNU; and Dongchul Son, President, KNU. (Photo: Business Wire)

"Professor Kim is an expert in mass spectrometry and chromatographic separation. He set up one of the most advanced mass spectrometry and chromatography laboratories in Korea at Kyungpook National University," said Professor Hong-In Lee, Dean at College of Natural Science. "The facility is used not only to perform his own top-notch research but also to educate undergraduate and graduate students. I am very proud to have Dr. Kim as a colleague in Kyungpook National University."

"Dr. Kim's research is unique and contributing greatly to what we know about the effects of PAHs on our environment," said Eric Fotheringham, Director - Waters Centers of Innovation Program. "Dr. Kim can see the potential of new technologies and he puts them to new uses before many of his contemporaries. We couldn't be happier to have him and KNU in our program."

PAHs are a component of crude oil, coal and gasoline and are a byproduct of wood and fossil fuel combustion. Known as a persistent organic pollutant, once in the environment, they are hard to get rid of and their long-term effects are not well understood. Dr. Kim employs analytical chemistry to test for and identify these pollutants in soil, air and water. It is why, in the aftermath of the BP oil spil in 2010, Dr. Kim was hired to consult on the effectiveness of the clean-up and to assess the harm done to marine and plant life.







For his research, Dr. Kim employs Waters ACQUITY UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography (UPC2) System, Waters ACQUITY UPLC System and Waters SYNAPT G2-S Mass Spectrometer.

To acknowledge the work of Dr. Kim, Waters Corporation sponsored a symposium titled Chemical Analysis by Mass Spectrometry: From Non-Polar to Polar Molecules. The event featured presentations on illicit drug screening, petroleum analysis and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and on emerging mass spectrometry techniques including paper spray ionization and flame induced atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Presenters included Dr. Hanbin Oh, Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea; Prof. Sangwon Cha, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea; Dr. Sungchan Cho, Samsung (News - Alert) Displays; Prof. Jentai Shea, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan; along with Kevin Giles, Scientific Fellow, and Eleanor Riches, Principal Scientist at Waters Corporation.

About Kyungpook National University

Kyungpook National University (KNU) is one of the top National Universities in Korea. KNU's educational mission is to develop students who can contribute to the development and well-being of Korea and global human society. KNU's research goal is to bring the change and innovation to the world.

About Waters Corporation (www.waters.com)

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) develops and manufactures advanced analytical and material science technologies for laboratory dependent organizations. For more than 50 years, the company has pioneered a connected portfolio of separations science, laboratory information management, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis systems.

Waters, ACQUITY, ACQUITY UPLC, UPLC, SYNAPT, UPC2, UltraPerformance Convergence (News - Alert) Chromatography are trademarks of Waters Corporation.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005741/en/
[August 16, 2016] Wellington Financial Expands into Healthcare and Life Sciences Vertical; Hires Jeff Chapman as Partner

Wellington Financial LP, a privately-held specialty finance firm, announced today that it is growing its expertise in a key sector of the innovation economy. To lead this endeavor, Jeff Chapman has joined the firm's Menlo Park office as Partner and Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences. Mr. Chapman is a seasoned life sciences investment professional, most recently serving as Senior Vice President and Head of Life Sciences at Comerica Bank where he was responsible for life science debt financings within its multi-billion dollar Technology and Life Science loan portfolio. With Chapman joining the team in the wake of the firm's recent successful close of Fund V, Wellington Financial can substantially increase its growth capital investments in innovative life science and healthcare companies. "Life sciences has always presented exciting investment opportunities with so many innovative companies bringing transformative technologies, services and products to market in the U.S., Canada and United Kingdom. We're delighted to welcome Jeff to our team in Menlo Park to enable us to best capitalize on this opportunity and help leading entrepreneurs continue to excel with our growth capital," said Mark McQueen, Wellington Financial's President and Chief Executive Officer. "At his prior institution, Jeff established himself as one of the leaders in innovation lending Jeff has proven time and again that he is committed to the success of entrepreneurs, making him a great fit for our team. His expertise will ensure we're looking at the right opportunities as we grow our efforts within life sciences and healthcare."



Prior to Comerica Bank, Chapman served as Director at a private venture debt firm, where he financed companies in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and tools industries. Previously he worked in Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical business development group where he focused on the metabolic and immune-mediated inflammatory disorders therapeutic areas. Chapman began his career working at LabVelocity, a venture-backed life sciences technology start-up. "I'm looking forward to deepening Wellington's investment exposure in healthcare and life sciences. Over the past 16 years, Wellington has made a positive contribution to dozens of companies across North America. I value the firm's partnership approach and its industry leading product offering," said Chapman. "Wellington has a reputation for identifying promising U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs. I'm honored to join the firm in a position where I can aid these businesses in the discovery and development of new technologies and the transformation of healthcare systems."

Jeff received a B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also spent two years as a doctoral candidate in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. In October 2015, Wellington Financial announced that the firm hit its 'hard cap' of $300 million of subscriptions from Canadian institutional investors and family offices for Wellington Financial Fund V. Since that date, the team has committed more than $100 million to 11 VC-backed companies in the U.S. and Canada. About Wellington Financial LP

Wellington Financial LP is a privately-held specialty finance firm providing term, venture and amortizing loans up to $40 million. Wellington Financial LP is currently managing a $900 million investment program with offices in Menlo Park, Santa Monica and Toronto. Wellington Financial LP is managed by a partnership controlled by fund management and Clairvest Group Inc. (CVG:TSX), who jointly have contributed a large financial stake to the Fund. LPs include several of Canada's largest institutional investors, crown corporations, financial institutions and pension funds. Please visit the fund website at www.wellingtonfund.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006050/en/

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[August 15, 2016] 18th China International Optoelectronic Exposition to Open September 6 at Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 18th China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE), the world's largest exhibition in the optoelectronics industry, will take place at Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center from September 6-9. The premier event will focus on a wide range of products, technologies and applications in the optoelectronics industry. Known as "Olympic Games of Optoelectronics", CIOE is about to present the unique ways how optoelectronics changes our lives and innovation powers the future. Photonics Innovation Pavilion makes debut while innovation runs through the Expo So much of what the photonics community has done to change the world is rarely acknowledged. However, every innovation in photonics industry can bring about huge changes to the future. From LED lighting, camera lens, IR imaging to medical imaging all these are remarkable accomplishments demonstrating how technologies are converted to products or tools. CIOE 2016 opens a window to the future by launching Photonics Innovation Pavilion -- a noteworthy highlight of the Expo. The pavilion will showcase optoelectronic technologies that might change the future, including bio-photon, quantum communication/quantum satellite, emerging displays (such as flexible OLED and grapheme-based displays), AR/VR, photonic manufacturing, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence. The Photonics Innovation Pavilion will present innovative technologies from topnotch players in the industry, including Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan Industrial Institute for Optoelectronics, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, Dongguan Institute of Opto-electronics Peking University, premier universities and over 150 leading companies from home and abroad.



The pavilion represents a platform for the most advanced optoelectronic technologies from emerging industries, allowing the audience to approach to the latest innovative products and get updates of market trends. In addition, recruitment and recommendation services will be offered on site. Financing services including venture capitals and angel funds will be looking for projects that need funding. These services will meet the needs for talents and funds. The event featuring six specialized sub expos

CIOE 2016 will have six concurrent shows, including Optical Communications Expo, Lasers & Infrared Applications Expo, Precision Optics, Lens & Camera Module Expo, Led Tech China, China Sapphire Technology & Touch Screen Expo, and Smartcity China. Covering a total exhibition area of 110,000 sq. meters, CIOE will draw exhibitors from more than 30 countries including China, Germany, USA, France, Canada, Japan, Korea, and Denmark. Over 3,000 brands will be exhibited while about 60,000 visitors and buyers from 60 countries and regions are expected to attend the event. Technology seminars, industry activities and more This year, a variety of academic meetings and industry conference will be convened to introduce the most advanced technologies. CIOE forum includes a themed conference, 18 specialized forums and more than 400 presentations. Meanwhile, CIOE will also hold various on-site activities, including business matchmaking, VIP buyer program, new technologies and products release presentation, Zemax optical lens application design contest, talents bulletin, 360 full dome theatre, and amateur astronomers' salon. Please visit www.cioe.cn to get pre-registered now. See you this September in Shenzhen! About China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE) Established in 1999, CIOE is the largest show of its kind in the world featuring over 3,200 optoelectronic brands and their latest products in the area of 110,000 sqm at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. There are concurrent specialised expositions focusing on Optical Communications and Sensors, Lasers and Infrared Applications, Precision Optics, LEDs, Sapphire Technology & Touch Screen and Smart City. To learn more about CIOE, please visit www.cioe.cn Media contact: Shirly Yi

+86-755-86290891

Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160815/0861608206

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160531/0861605221-f

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[August 16, 2016] Jupiter Telecommunications Selects Casa Systems for Data and Video Convergence

ANDOVER, Mass., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Casa Systems, a worldwide leader in next-generation ultra-broadband access technology, today announced that Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), Japan's largest multiple system and multiple channel operator, will converge its existing data and video services onto Casa's C100G Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP). The CCAP deployment, which began earlier this year, is part of J:COM's strategy to increase bandwidth capabilities and raise the customer quality of experience (QoE), while increasing network efficiency by providing video and data services over a single platform. J:COM serves over 5 million households with its television, internet and telephony services in the Sapporo, Sendai, Kanto, Kansai and Kyushu regions of Japan. As the Internet of Things (IoT), over-the-top content (OTT) and other high bandwidth technologies continue to proliferate, J:COM wanted to move to a proven solution that could consolidate multiple services and deliver faster high-speed data rates. "Our subscribers are constantly increasing their demands on the network with more connected devices, streaming HD video and other bandwidth-intensive applications, and we need a flexible, scalable cable access solution to stay a step ahead of these demands," said Kazuhiko Masuda, Senior Corporate Officer, GM, Technology Unit of J:COM. "Casa has proven its ability to deliver fully converged, commercial services over a CCAP. Now, we will be able to provide both video and data over one platform while reducing OPEX and network complexity. Casa also supports Japanese specifications with its CCAP, which was another important requirement for us." Initially launched in 2013, the C100G provides 32 fully bonded channels and supports the full DOCSIS 3.1 protocol for greater spectrum utilization. With DOCSIS 3.1 enabled in both the upstream and downstream, operators can quickly deploy multi-gigabit services today while being well-positioned to scale and provide additional services down the road  without the need to rip and replace switch cards, line cards or PHY modules. Providers can also easily evolve to a distributed access architecture (DAA) using the existing C100G and just one new card in the CCAP core, laying the foundation for virtualized access networks. "In today's gigabit world, broadband providers need to stay in front of spiraling speed and bandwidth demands," said Jerry Guo, CEO of Casa Systems. "Our C100G CCAP gives providers like J:COM a forward-engineered access solution that is unmatched in its ability to deliver a more streamlined and efficient headend and that is built to scale and deliver on the ultra broadband demands of today and the future." About Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Ltd.

Established in 1995, Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Ltd.(J:COM) is Japan's largest multiple system and multiple channel operator. In system operation, J:COM provides cable television, high speed Internet access, telephony and mobile services to customers through 28 consolidated subsidiaries (as of June 30, 2016) at the local level serving 5.21 million subscribing households in Sapporo, Sendai, Kanto, Kansai, and Kyushu regions. The number of serviceable households or "homes passed" in J:COM franchise areas is 19.99 million. In channel operation, J:COM invests in and operates 17 thematic channels which are provided to CATV, satellite and telecom operators. About Casa Systems, Inc.

Casa Systems has defined a new category of software-centric Ultra Broadband network edge devices that allow cable and mobile service providers to intelligently and cost-effectively scale their networks to meet gigabit demands today. Based on disruptive technologies to target the growing market opportunity in interactive digital video and broadband IP services, Casa Systems provides market-leading, DOCSIS 3.1-enabled CCAP and CMTS products, universal EdgeQAM and intelligent video processing solutions for broadcast and unicast services, managed Wi-Fi solutions as well as the Apex multi-standard small cell and Axyom mobile edge computing platform. #UltraBroadband #GigabitSpeeds #DOCSIS3.1 For more information, please visit us at http://www.casa-systems.com.







CONTACT INFORMATION:

Alicia Thomas Eric Stephens Casa Systems, Inc. LEWIS 100 Old River Road 200 Wheeler Road Andover, Mass. 01810 Burlington, Mass. 01803 +1.817.909.8921 +1.781.418.2439 [email protected] [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150826/261206LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jupiter-telecommunications-selects-casa-systems-for-data-and-video-convergence-300313014.html SOURCE Casa Systems, Inc.

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[August 16, 2016] iCapital Network Solidifies Product and Technology Teams with Key Senior Hires

iCapital Network, an online platform that provides streamlined access to alternative investments, announced today the addition of three senior technology professionals to help the organization further evolve its leading-edge capabilities for high-net-worth investors and their key advisors. Eli Entin joins the firm as Head of Product; Mike November joins as Head of Platform Architecture; and Kevin Scrivanich joins as Director of Product Management. "iCapital is increasing our already significant investment in technology as we consolidate our position as the industry's preferred alternative platform," said Lawrence Calcano, Chief Executive Officer, iCapital Network. "We are incredibly excited to welcome Eli, Mike and Kevin to our accomplished team. Their collective experience strengthens our ability to deliver an unrivaled user experience and will be put to immediate use helping our clients and partners solve their biggest operational challenges." Founded in 2013, iCapital Network has democratized private investments for all qualified investors by improving access to leading managers, lowering investment minimums, offering an efficient, digitized subscription process and connecting on behalf of advisors and investors all investments in iCapital vehicles into the preferred custodial platforms and third party reporting packages. The firm's robust financial technology platform is built around three disciplines - product, architecture and technology - that work in concert to produce best-of-breed solutions and facilitate continual innovation for the firm's clients. "As the high-net-worth community increasingly becomes a critical source of capital for alternative asset managers, there is a growing need for state-of-the-art technology to support a broader user base with different needs," continued Mr. Calcano. "Likewise, advisory professionals and family offices need the most transparent, reliable and intuitive technology at their fingertips so that they can concentrate on client matters. We are committed to being the number one choice for managers, advisors and investors." Eli Entin Eli Entin joins iCapital as Senior Vice President and Head of Product where e will set the strategic direction for and oversee development of the firm's flagship platform. Mr. Entin was most recently Vice President of Product Management at OnDeck Capital, where he created the number one online lending platform for small businesses resulting in ONDK becoming the largest NY-based FinTech IPO. Previously, Mr. Entin played a key leadership role in the launch of Nokia's (News - Alert) global application store, where he enabled an in-application purchasing API for millions of phones worldwide. He was also Senior Product Manager at PayPal (News - Alert), where he was responsible for merchant credit risk and consumer authentications. Mr. Entin holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from the University of California Berkeley, and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.



Mike November Mike November joins iCapital as Head of Platform Architecture where he will be responsible for technological integrations with the firm's key platform partnerships. Most recently, Mr. November was at Bridgewater Associates where he led a series of development efforts across FX trading. Before that, Mr. November was a managing director at Goldman Sachs where he spent almost three decades in various technical roles, including Head of Cross Divisional Projects and Architecture leading the firm's largest and most complex projects. He holds a bachelor's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kevin Scrivanich Kevin Scrivanich joins iCapital as Director of Product Management where he will spearhead development of the platform's features and user experience, and work closely with the design, product and technology teams to implement best practices in development and user-centric design. Prior to joining iCapital, Mr. Scrivanich oversaw advanced trading platforms for digital channels with E*TRADE Financial, and was responsible for the growth and expansion of Priceline.com's international rental car offering. With more than ten years of experience in financial services product development, Mr. Scrivanich has developed specialties in concept-to-marketing product delivery, platform adoption, and revenue growth. Mr. Scrivanich holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Rutgers University. About iCapital Network iCapital Network is a financial technology platform that provides simplified access to alternative investments. The state-of-the-art online platform offers a curated selection of private equity funds and hedge funds, extensive due diligence support and powerful research tools to a private member network of qualified investors, family offices, registered investment advisors and broker-dealers. iCapital's end-to-end solution streamlines and automates the investment process with electronic subscriptions, capital calls, distributions and redemptions, fund statements, and user-friendly investor and tax reporting. Visit www.icapitalnetwork.com for more information. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @icapitalnetwork Disclosures: This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as, and may not be relied on in any manner as legal, tax or investment advice, a recommendation, or as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to purchase or a recommendation of any interest in any fund or security described herein. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Alternative investments are complex, speculative investment vehicles and are not suitable for all investors. An investment in an alternative investment entails a high degree of risk and no assurance can be given that any alternative investment fund's investment objectives will be achieved or that investors will receive a return of their capital. The information contained herein is subject to change and is also incomplete. This industry information and its importance is an opinion only and should not be relied upon as the only important information available. Securities may be offered through iCapital Securities, LLC, a registered broker dealer, member of FINRA and SIPC and subsidiary of Institutional Capital Network, Inc. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005337/en/

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[August 16, 2016] America's Richest Car Buyers Prefer Practicality over Flash, Says Edmunds.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As car collectors and luxury motoring enthusiasts gather in Monterey this week to celebrate the opulence of automobiles both past and present, new analysis from Edmunds.com reveals that when it comes to which cars the wealthiest Americans actually choose for their daily drivers, most opt for practicality over pomp. Edmunds analysts examined 2016 new car registration data from Polk and learned that the car shopping habits of those in households that report earning more than $250,000 annually aren't all that different from those who make less. The most popular vehicle among the wealthiest Americans is the Ford F-150, which is consistent with the rest of the new-car buying public. The Honda Accord and CR-V also make the top ten on everyone's shopping list. The key differentiator between the wealthiest buyers and the general public is their penchant for trucks and SUVs  nine of the top ten most popular vehicles in the top income bracket are trucks or SUVs, compared to six out of ten for all buyers. More than 53 percent of cars registered to the wealthiest Americans are SUVs, compared to just more than 40 percent of all buyers. "America's wealthiest car buyers are all-in on the trend toward bigger vehicles," says Edmunds.com Executive Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. "And they're not just gravitating toward luxury brands -- eight of the ten most popular vehicles among these buyers are non-luxury vehicles. It suggests that affluent buyers are satisfied with the technology, utility and performance that mainstream brands have to offer."







Bestselling Cars in the U.S. (2016 YTD)* Rank Buyers w/ Annual Income $250K+ Buyers w/ Annual Income less than $250K 1 Ford F-Series Ford F-Series 2 Jeep Grand Cherokee Chevrolet Silverado 3 Jeep Wrangler Honda Civic 4 Lexus RX Ram 5 BMW X5 Honda Accord 6 Ford Explorer Honda CR-V 7 Toyota Highlander Toyota Corolla 8 Honda Pilot Toyota Camry 9 Honda CR-V Toyota RAV4 10 Honda Accord Ford Escape

*Based on new vehicle registration from Polk, Jan-May 2016 When Edmunds analysts sorted the list to identify which vehicles had the highest share of buyers who earn more than $250,000, exotics from Jaguar, Audi, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Bentley dominated. While it fits the stereotype, purchases of these top ten vehicles represented only 0.7 percent of the total number of vehicles registered by this group, demonstrating that flash is still by far the exception and not the rule. Top 10 Vehicles w/ Highest Share of Buyers w/ $250K+

Annual Income (2016 YTD)* Rank Model 1 Jaguar XKR 2 Audi S8 3 Ferrari 458 4 Aston Martin Vanquish 5 Jaguar XFR 6 Aston Martin Rapide 7 Bentley Mulsanne 8 Tesla Model X 9 Bentley Continental 10 Ferrari 488 GTB *Based on new vehicle registration from Polk, Jan-May 2016 "There will always be an interest in and market for high-end exotic vehicles, as this week's event in Monterey reminds us," Caldwell said. "But overall, most of the wealthiest Americans look for their vehicles to perform the same kind of functional tasks as everyone else does." More insights into America's car shopping behaviors can be found in Edmunds' Industry Center at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/. About Edmunds, Inc.

Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves millions of visitors each month. With Edmunds Price Promise, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions on its free Live Help Line at 1-855-782-4711 and [email protected], via text at ED411 and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest,LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard. Contact:

Aaron Lewis

Edmunds.com Corporate Communications

Media Hotline: 310-309-4900

[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130612/MM31390LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americas-richest-car-buyers-prefer-practicality-over-flash-says-edmundscom-300314188.html SOURCE Edmunds.com

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[August 16, 2016] exactEarth Announces Small Vessel Tracking Contract with the Government of Ghana

CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT) (the "Company"), announces that it has been selected by the Fisheries Commission (West Africa Regional Fisheries Programme), an agency of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) of the Government of Ghana, for the provision of Satellite AIS data services as well as a small vessel tracking solution. The contract value is in a range of CDN$1.0-$2.0 million for a 12 month period and will enable Ghana to acquire the technology necessary to monitor its expansive coastlines and deter illegal fishing in its national waters. Along with a comprehensive Satellite AIS data feed, exactEarth will provide MOFAD with 450 Class B AIS transceivers to be installed on inshore fishing vessels which will be tracked via satellite utilising exactEarth's exactTraxTM small vessel tracking technology. In order to address the rampant Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing around Ghana's Exclusive Economic Zone, MOFAD have provisioned this small vessel tracking solution to gain access to detailed fishing vessel positions and movement analysis services through the exactEarth ShipView platform. exactEarth ShipView will be upgraded to include a SOS alerting facility in a effort to support Ghana's government in their "safety of life at sea" initiative, which is intended to help its fishermen. exactEarth will be working with a local partner and academic institutions in Ghana to provide vessel movement analysis and reporting to help inform policy decision making and also to engage the next generation maritime professionals in coastal surveillance to protect and preserve Ghana`s fish stock for the future.



"This is an important strategic win and a major step forward for our small vessel tracking initiative," said Peter Mabson, exactEarth CEO. "MOFAD needs a high performance, reliable and compliant maritime monitoring solution to protect their critical fishing industry and our small vessel tracking capabilities will be an integral part of helping them achieve that objective. This reflects the growing opportunity for both our large and small vessel tracking solutions and our reputation for having the leading Satellite AIS solution on the market." About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS ("S-AIS") and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world's oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced "big data" processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.

Contact: Media: Nicole Schill, Marketing Communications Manager, Tel: +1-519-622-4445, [email protected] ; Investors: Dave Mason, Investor Relations, Tel: +1-416-985-3647, [email protected]

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[August 16, 2016] K-Mobile CEO Presents Entrepreneur Story to Turkey's Consul General

TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - Today the founder and Chief Executive Officer of K-Mobile, Shami Munir, welcomed Turkey's Consul-General Mr. Erdeniz Sen to tour the new K-Mobile flagship store and to experience the newly unveiled Android "K2" smartphone, which is the first of its kind to be designed in Canada. Shami took the opportunity to share what it takes to be an entrepreneur in Canada after immigrating just 17 years ago. "As a newcomer to Canada, I never stopped believing I could fulfill my dreams, and I hope to extend my encouragement to all immigrants, refugees and aspiring entrepreneurs  from Turkey and everywhere  that with hard work you can achieve your goals," said Shami. "It has always been my dream to develop a smartphone without a heavy price tag, and to launch new mobile stores tha give customers the best service possible in choosing the latest phones and packages  and here we are today."



The K-Mobile flagship store is now open in East York Town Centre with 249 more locations set to open in the Greater Toronto Area by 2018. K-Mobile currently employs 100  including many students  and has plans to hire and train 1,000 more employees including 100 Syrian refugees. K-Mobile is a one-stop experience, offering service plans, smartphones, and accessories with no pressure or gimmicks. "I remember what it was like to start out as a young entrepreneur, and today I am proud to be supporting so many young students and newcomers who have the drive to be truly prosperous in this country," added Shami. "This includes providing employment, but also selling one of the most affordable and reliable smartphones on the market  for those who want an amazing device but don't want to be gouged."

K-Mobile's "K2" smartphone is available for $299 and was launched on July 1, 2016. As the first Android to be designed in Canada, it is now available in store or online at www.k-mobile.ca. The K2 features a 2-sim card capability, exclusive apps, unlocked and is fully customizable for all the customers' needs. K-Mobile has signed up with Koodo Mobile as a multi-carrier. Mr. Shami Munir also thanked Canada Pakistan Business Council's President, Samir Dossal, who attended the event, for his ongoing support of K-Mobile. SOURCE K-Mobile

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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.
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Google Pixel 7 features coming to Pixel 6  heres what to expect

Google has announced that the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are getting some of the Pixel 7s new features, and older Pixel phones are even getting a few updates. Here's what we know so far.
Tom's Guide 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.
iPad Pro 2022 adds Wi-Fi 6E but you can also disable it  here's why

The iPad Pro 2022 added support for the Wi-Fi 6E standard, but you will need to set up your router in a particular way for it to work.
For years now, Byron Bay has reigned supreme as far as beachside festival venues are concerned. However, it seems that 2017 is the year of the Gold Coast.

Broadbeach Country Music Festival, a free event which usually takes place in June, has pushed its 2017 dates back as far as the last weekend in July in an attempt to expand the festival for its growing audience, say the Gold Coast Bulletin. This has seen it move into a very crowded space, however, with stiff competition from a range of other Gold Coast festivals.

The event will now take place in the same month as Viva Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach Jazz Weekend, and will be followed just a few weeks later by the Gold Coast 600 Sounds, a concert coinciding with the V8 Supercars that has previously hosted the likes of Birds of Tokyo, The Living End, and Cold Chisel.

It is not just the big beachside spaces that are pulling the big crowds on the Gold Coast, either. NightQuarter, one of the areas newest live music venues, will play host to rockers Sticky Fingers when they play the venues first packed show in a year of operation to a sold-out 2000-strong crowd, following on from a 1700-strong Cat Empire audience.

The NightQuarter show is the only non-capital city show on the Sticky Fingers tour, co-owner Michelle Christoe told the Gold Coast Bulletin, illustrating that having a quality 2000-capacity live music space on the Gold Coast can attract big tours that might previously have bypassed the Coast.

With over 100,000 people witnessing live music in the venue so far, confidence is high. The Gold Coast is in the midst of a cultural revolution and the calibre of musicians on the Gold Coast is second to none.

While its great to see a push for more music on the Gold Coast, not everyone is thrilled with the Broadbeach Country Music Festivals changed dates, with punters having already booked accommodation prior to the date change expressing their disdain via social media.

We have contacted all accommodation houses in Broadbeach to let them know that the dates are being moved and that there will be people needing to move accommodation, a statement from the organisers read.

Others, meanwhile, have noted a rather unfortunate clash between the country-focused event and 35-year-old Queensland country institution the Gympie Music Muster.

We tried to find dates thats would suit a number of things including the Muster, as we know how important that is to many of you, the organisers told their Facebook audience. We looked at plenty of options and this was the only other weekend that fit in.

While there are clearly some teething problems, Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Leanne Coddington is confident in the regions music and arts events going forward.

The Gold Coast is already known as one of Australias leading major event destinations, she told the Gold Coast Bulletin. Its great to see the city developing a great cultural mix of music, the arts and fine food that will further enhance this reputation.
Loving live music isnt just about attending music festivals and seeing an international artists massive arena show.

Even the biggest of big-name headliners started in the trenches, on the sticky carpets and bandrooms of your local bars and pubs  which is exactly where you should be if you want to discover your new favourite band or venue.

Here are our picks for this weeks best local gigs from Aussie talent  from Perth to the East Coast  and all for the price of a good meal.

Residual

Where? Karova Lounge, Ballarat VIC

When? 9pm  12am, Thursday Aug 18

Why? Definitely head down to this gig to hear some genuine indie rock thats perfect for a Thursday night out with the mates  throw in a few bevs and youve got a solid night.

Tickets & Info: $12.25, more info.

King of the North

Where? Mojos Bar, Fremantle WA

When? 8pm, Thursday Aug 18

Why? King of the North are sure to rock a live gig. The hard-rock duo manage to create the sound of 5 members with just a couple of voice boxes, a drum kit, a guitar, and a few guitar pedals. Head down this Thursday night for some old fashioned mind-blowing rock and roll.

Tickets & Info: $14.30, more info.

Oliver Sol

Where? Revolver, Melbourne VIC

When? 8pm, Saturday Aug 20

Why? Oliver Sol is definitely up and coming with his electronic rock tracks thatll sure to bring out your best dance moves. Starting early at 6pm, its a great way to start your Saturday night.

Tickets & Info: $12 on the door, more info.

Imogen Clark

Where? Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide SA

When? 8pm, Saturday Aug 21

Why? Imogen Clark projects her beautiful voice over the easy listening of her instrumentals. Listening to her folk songs will definitely be the best way to wind down after a big weekend. Tickets are selling fast, so dont miss out!

Tickets & Info: $12 on the door, more info.

Rad Island, Terra & Inventions

Where? Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne VIC

When? 9pm, Thursday Aug 18

Why? Thursday night at Ding Dong will set all your pop-punk feels in motion. These acts are sure to have you head banging to good vibes  and thats a pretty ace way to end a long week of work!

Tickets & Info: $12.75, more info.

MYAMI, Bel & BATTS

Where? The Workers Club, Fitzroy VIC

When? 8pm  11:30m, Thursday Aug 18

Why? For a more soul searching Thursday night, get down to the Workers Club to hear some elctro-soul from Melbournes very own Myami. Dont worry youll definitely still be getting your groove on!

Tickets & Info: $13, more info.

Morning TV

Where? Botany View Hotel, Newtown NSW

When? 8pm, Saturday August 20

Why? This jangle-pop NSW outfit will surely put you in a great mood for your Saturday night with their laid back songs and soothing melodies, its surely to chill out your weekend.

Tickets & Info: $12, more info.

Mammoth Mammoth

Where? Cherry Bar, Melbourne VIC

When? 8pm  11pm, Friday Aug 19

Why? If you want a night of head banging and mosh pits then you definitely want to head down to Cherry Bar this Friday night, for what will surely be a killer heavy-rock gig!

Tickets & Info: $13, more info.

Cheap Fakes

Where? The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane QLD

When? 8pm  12am, Friday Aug 19

Why? Cheap Fakes are a solid live band pumping out their funk and ska tunes. This Brisbane outfit will be playing a local home gig this weekend after returning from their New Zealand tour.

Tickets & Info: $7 until 11pm/free afterwards, more info.

ORB

Where? The Rosemount Hotel, Perth WA

When? 8pm, Friday Aug 19

Why? These mates of Aussie legends, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, are continuing their tour of the country after dropping their debut album. This week theyre hitting up Brisbane. This Geelong group rock hard, so make sure you dont miss them.

Tickets & Info: $15.30, more info.
Besides Jack Black, Foo Fighers frontman Dave Grohl is arguably the worlds best known and most zealous rock and roll fanboy. We have no doubt hed wear the title with pride and it bears noting that he knows a thing or two about making great rock music.

So as a tenured professor of the art of rocking, what does Grohl enjoy kicking back and listening to? Well, he was recently compelled to take to the official Foo Fighters Facebook page, which commands some 12 million fans, to gush about Canadas Black Mountain.

F*** YES, Grohl wrote. Every so often a song comes around that takes you by the ear, pulls you to your knees, and makes you beg for its claws to release you from its infectious grasp. Thank you, Black Mountain for the spark. Now, wheres that guitar of mine. Take me to your leader.

Thats pretty high praise, though the band in question replied with a simple, understated Cheers! If you want to see whats got Grohl in such a tizzy, Black Mountain happen to be heading Down Under for a national tour in October.

Of course, it bears noting that theres quite a few Australian bands that we argue have long been keeping the flame of rock and roll alive. We even chucked them all in a little countdown, including Kingswood, Airbourne, Violent Soho, and more.

Black Mountain Australian Tour Dates

Monday, 3rd October 2016

Sydney  The Factory

Tickets: The Factory

Wednesday, 5th October 2016

Melbourne  Corner Hotel

Tickets: Corner Hotel

Friday, 7th October 2016

Brisbane  Woolly Mammoth

Tickets: Woolly Mammoth

Saturday, 8th October 2016

Perth  Rosemount Hotel

Tickets: Rosemount Hotel
Weve already seen an incredible selection of Australian records released this year, but theres still just as much good stuff to come as we head into the tail-end.

2016 has brought with it some hugely-anticipated releases from the likes of Violent Soho, The Avalanches, and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, as well as some excellent breakout records from newcomers Montaigne, Mangelwurzel and NO ZU.

With the standard already set ridiculously high, heres our list of another 25 albums from Aussie artists were still really excited to hear in 2016.
They were one of Australias favourite party-starters and were destined to become a staple of the local pop charts and perhaps even gain international attention. But after two smash albums Sneaky Sound System seemingly disappeared.

But just ask Connie Mitchell, vocalist and frontwoman for the now-duo, and shell tell you that Sneaky Sound System is not only a very active project, but one could argue that she and partner Black Angus McDonald are doing better than ever.

Sneaky Sound System was founded in Sydney in late 2001. There was no Australian EDM scene as such, at least not what we think of as the Aussie EDM scene today. Flume and Chet Faker had yet to debut, but the party scene was going strong.

McDonald and mates Daimon Downey, aka MC Double D, and DJ Damien Hesse founded Sneaky Sundays, a regular party series held in Bondi. We wanted to start a Sunday night, our own night in Sydney, because we didnt feel we fit into anything else that was going on, Hesse told Fairfax.

We played for over a year to over 100 people in a basement in Bondi so it was very much an underground thing. A remix album under the name Sneaky Sound System followed and McDonald eventually had the idea of creating an album of original music.

The labels were not enthusiastic. We were told by every label we might sell 10,000 copies and it wasnt worth it so we decided to do it ourselves, McDonald told ABC. Whack Records was established in 2004 to put out Sneaky Sound Systems releases.

After unveiling their debut single, Hip Hip Hooray, and experiencing a lineup change, McDonald and Downey recruited vocalist Connie Mitchell after spotting her singing to her friend in the park. I thought they were a bit dodgy, Mitchell later said of their first meeting.

You know, two guys coming up to you, excited, jumping around a bit, saying Come to our studio,' Mitchell told ABC. It was with Mitchell on vocals that the trio scored their biggest hits, including their breakthrough single I Love It.

The lead track on what ultimately became their debut album of original music peaked at Number 24 and spent 73 weeks in the Top 100, beating a record previously set by The Living End for the longest charting single by an Australian artist on the ARIA singles chart.

More hit singles and a collaboration with superstar mega-DJ Tiesto followed, as well as the bands 2008 sophomore album, which entered the chart at Number 1. A year later, Downey announced his departure from the group, citing their increasingly hectic travel schedule as motivating his decision.

With Downeys departure, it seemed as though Sneaky Sound System had left the party early. Singles like UFO and Pictures still popped up on radio occasionally, but the band wasnt the pop force it had promised to be.

But thats because McDonald and Mitchell have been too busy living the good life in Mykonos, where the duo enjoy a fantastically successful summer residency that sees them regularly playing to houses so full they turn people away at the gate.

We spent the last two months in Mykonos playing to a few thousand people every Sunday night on the beach at this incredible venue called Scorpios, Mitchell recently told Fairfax. Last week we turned away 2000 people, it was crazy!

Im back home now getting ready for the arrival of my baby boy in a few weeks. We have a few shows planned between now and the end of the year, our annual New Years Day party at Icebergs, and then maybe a couple of weeks up in Byron Bay where we go every year.

McDonald and Mitchell, now married, are still very much committed to Sneaky Sound System and even recently dropped a new single, I Aint Over You. Its a song with a big vocal about being strong, even though you dont really want to be, said McDonald of the song.

Between international residencies and corporate gigs, McDonald and Mitchell command a busy schedule, but it certainly pays off. I love the fact that Im responsible for my own income and if I want to buy something nice, I can Also, I gotta get that Aston Martin! Mitchell told Fairfax.

As for a new album: Potentially we have enough material to do so. It depends on whats going to happen. We might just put out lots and lots of singles. There is a big question mark hanging above that because we dont live in the same time frames as we used to with making albums.

[It is] so daunting to put out an album these days, unless youre someone like Adele or Justin Bieber. Sneaky Sound System may not be Adele or Justin Bieber, but as far as the Australian music scene goes, theyre a success story.
Its the tour they said would never happen in this lifetime, but after years of begging and pleading Guns N Roses, one of the greatest rock bands of the modern age, are back and now theyre heading Down Under.

Following months of speculation from rock fans around the country, Paul Dainty of TEG DAINTY sent Australian hard rock fans into a frenzy by announcing dates for the Australian leg of Guns N Roses massive Not in this Lifetime stadium tour.

The tour will see original Guns N Roses members Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan reuniting for one of the most eagerly anticipated tours of the century, taking on mammoth-sized venues including Melbournes MCG.

Rose, Slash, and McKagan have not played Australian shores together since their infamous 1993 Use Your Illusion tour, which is still talked about to this day, in addition to their 14 ARIA Top 50 singles and multiple platinum albums.

Tickets and VIP packages for Guns N Roses Not in this Lifetime tour will go on sale to the general public on Friday, 26th August. The Telstra Thanks pre-sale for Telstra customers starts at 10am in Sydney and Perth, 11am in Melbourne, 12 noon in Brisbane and 1pm in Adelaide (local time) on Tuesday, 23rd August.

Guns N Roses Australian Tour Dates

Tickets from $91.65* on sale to the general public on Friday, 26th August

Tuesday, 7th February 2017

QSAC Stadium, Brisbane

Tickets: Ticketek | 132 849

Friday, 10th February 2017

ANZ Stadium, Sydney

Tickets: Ticketek | 132 849

Tuesday, 14th February 2017

MCG, Melbourne

Tickets: Ticketek | 132 849

Saturday, 18th February 2017

Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

Tickets: Ticketek | 132 849

Tuesday, 21st February 2017

Perth Domain Stadium, Perth

Tickets: Ticketmaster | 136 100

* transaction fees, processing fees, transport levies and other charges may apply








Mainstream media attempts to downplay this talk of corporate takeover but our blog community. . . Fact is that this biz model might be outdated amid the current era of online tax software.Here's better coverage than local biz news attempting to cheer for a FAILING Downtown company propped up by tax breaks . . .Developing . . .
KC Biz Journal: West Side school repurposing project yields first apartments

Here's a bit more hype close to the toy train line and still incomplete . . . While it looks nice, it's still located in a cluttered construction zone.Take a peek:I'm sure there are people out there who think living in a haunted schoolhouse is trendy . . . But we're asking the question to avoid the social media happy talk and get an honest answer.Given there will be a more few low income neighbors in and around this complex BUT it's part of the ongoing bubble . . . Is this place worth it???You decide . . .
U.S. News announces the 2016-17 Best Airline Rewards Programs.

Between deciphering complicated earning structures and searching for limited award flight availability, deciding which airline rewards program to devote your loyalty to can seem like a daunting task. And while no one frequent flier program is right for every traveler, finding one that best matches your travel habits will increase your chances of earning and redeeming meaningful rewards. To help you decide which program is best for you, U.S. News assessed 10 leading airline rewards programs using an unbiased methodology that factors in the ease of earning and redeeming free flights, network coverage, award flight availability and added program benefits, among other data points.

10. Free Spirit

To put it simply, the rewards program from Spirit Airlines -- Free Spirit -- doesn't provide many benefits when compared with other rewards programs. At the basic membership tier, Free Spirit members only earn half a mile for every mile flown. What's more, miles expire after three months of account inactivity. On the upside, the program does offer an affiliated credit card. By making everyday purchases with the Spirit Airlines World MasterCard, members can keep their Free Spirit accounts active and accumulate points at a faster rate, which is crucial since at least 30,000 miles are needed to book a free flight.

9. Frontier EarlyReturns

In addition to flying with Frontier Airlines, members can also earn frequent flier miles through the program's hotel and car rental partners, such as Hertz and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, and reach elite status with 20,000 miles. But compared to other programs on this list, the perks for elite status members are limited. For example, elite members don't receive any earning bonuses or have the option to check their bags for free, though they can fly with one complimentary carry-on bag. And though the airline offers flights to smaller airports in areas such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Bozeman, Montana, it operates fewer daily flights and provides less coverage and fewer flight options to major cities.

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8. HawaiianMiles

Joining the HawaiianMiles program is a no-brainer if you frequently hop between the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific and the U.S. mainland. But if you want to use award miles for flights to the Midwest or the Caribbean, you may be out of luck due to Hawaiian Airlines' limited coverage area. While the carrier makes up for its lack of geographic diversity by offering partnerships with bigger airlines, such as JetBlue Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways, Hawaiian requires, on average, the largest number of miles to redeem a free flight of any airline rewards program analyzed. That aside, HawaiianMiles does offer numerous award flight categories, allowing members to choose the fare class that best fits their needs.

7. American AAdvantage

Following the lead of other major carriers, such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, American Airlines overhauled the earning structure of its American AAdvantage program in 2016. Miles are now earned based on dollars spent rather than distance flown. These changes may benefit those who spend more on flights (travelers who purchase first-class tickets, for instance), but they hurt the everyday traveler who regularly books the cheapest available fare. Moreover, a minimum spending threshold will be required to reach elite status starting in 2017. As a result, American AAdvantage dropped from the No. 2 spot it held last year.

6. United MileagePlus

Similar to Delta's SkyMiles program, the United MileagePlus program uses a complicated revenue-based earning structure that rewards fliers based on dollars spent rather than distance flown. The program also requires qualifying miles as well as qualifying dollars to reach elite status and earn exclusive perks and obtain free flights. However, according to a U.S. News analysis of award seat availability data, United offers a higher percentage of award seats at a lower point threshold for many of its most popular routes. Even with more award flight options, the program's complex rules, which make it difficult to obtain elite status, bring United MileagePlus in at No. 6.

5. Virgin America Elevate

Virgin America Elevate makes it easy for loyalty members to earn free flights, offering one-way award flights starting at 2,500 points. What's more, members are not restricted by blackout dates when booking award seats on Virgin America flights. The drawbacks: Points cannot be used to cover flight-related costs, like baggage fees, and the program is best suited for those who live or frequently fly to or from West Coast cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

4. Delta SkyMiles

Up from No. 9 last year, Delta's SkyMiles program saw the biggest jump in the rankings this year thanks to its lowered redemption rates and increased award seat availability on select popular routes. Although Delta maintains a complicated earning structure that requires qualifying miles plus qualifying dollars that makes it difficult to reach elite status, the airline serves more than 300 destinations in 62 countries, meaning members can fly virtually anywhere in the world. Plus, accumulated miles never expire.

3. Southwest Rapid Rewards

The loyalty program from Southwest Airlines offers members multiple ways to accumulate points, including flights, hotel stays, car rentals and purchases made through the program's shopping portal. Southwest Rapid Rewards also makes it easy to use points: Members can redeem points for any available seat on any flight booked through Southwest Airlines without blackout date restrictions. Though Southwest Rapid Rewards assigns points based on dollars spent, the program awards up to 12 points per dollar, depending on the fare class. But there is one downside: Members can't combine points and cash to purchase flights.

2. JetBlue TrueBlue

While JetBlue best serves fliers based on the East Coast who fly to domestic and Caribbean destinations, the carrier offers more limited geographic coverage than other airlines of its size. But TrueBlue continues to rank near the top of this list because it allows members to redeem award flights for a small number of points (some routes require less than 10,000 points). The program also provides unique amenities to fliers, such as family pooling, where families and friends can pool points together and TrueBlue Badges that allow members to earn bonus points on things like social media activity. Though the program only offers one elite tier, TrueBlue makes it easy for members to collect bonus points just by booking through JetBlue.com and purchasing upgraded fare classes, which can be cashed in for free flights.

1. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

For the second year in a row, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan tops the Best Airline Rewards Programs list. The Mileage Plan is one of the few programs that continues to award miles based on distance flown instead of dollars spent. Plus, members can earn miles with 17 partner airlines as well as 11 hotel partners, such as Wyndham Hotel Group and Marriott. In addition to its multiple elite membership tiers (including one specifically for Alaska residents), the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers four award levels for mile redemption.





More From US News & World Report


A series of events are planned in sites and museums throughout Greece on five nights around the August full moon, which falls on August 18

A series of events are planned in sites and museums throughout Greece on five nights around the August full moon, which falls on August 18. The ministry of culture is opening 116 monuments, sites and museums, free of charge, and organising performances of music, dance, theatre, art exhibitions, film screenings and poetry nights in the moonlight, from August 17 until August 21.

Some of the events are the following:

Acropolis Musem

On Thursday 18 August, at 21:00, the Museum will present at the entrance courtyard the Swingin' Cats band who will play Greek and foreign oldies and dance. The gleeful band that was loved as "Penny & The Swingin' Cats" will take us on a journey to older times with their incredible stage presence.

On this day, the Museum will remain open from 08:00 to midnight (free entry from 20:00 onwards) and visitors will be able to enjoy the permanent exhibition as well as the temporary exhibition Dodona. The oracle of sounds.

On Friday 19 August, the exhibition areas will be open from 08:00 to 22:00 and the restaurant of the second floor until midnight. From 20:00 onwards entry to the Museum will be free and visitors will have access to both the permanent and temporary exhibition.

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
US industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc is in early-stage talks to acquire German peer Linde AG and create the biggest company in their sector with a market value of more than $60 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.



Such a deal would underscore the wave of consolidation sweeping the industrial gas sector, as slower economic growth has weakened demand in the manufacturing, metals and energy sectors and put pressure on smaller players to compete.



A combination of Praxair and Linde would also test the tolerance of regulators for more transformative deals in a year that other mega deals, such as US oilfield services provider Halliburton Co's $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes Inc, were shot down due to antitrust concerns.



Details of the talks, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, were not immediately clear and any potential deal could still fall apart, according to the source.



The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential. Representatives for Danbury, Connecticut-based Praxair and Munich, Germany-based Linde could not be immediately reached for comment.



The deal would represent a serious challenge to France's Air Liquide, which acquired US peer Airgas Inc earlier this year for $10.3 billion in a bid to expand into the United States, the largest market for industrial gasses.



Praxair is an industrial gas supplier in North and South America, Asia and Europe, while Linde Group's core business offers planning, project development and construction of turnkey industrial plants used in fields, such as petrochemical and chemical industries.



In April, Praxair, not known for attempting large acquisitions, bought five small industrial gas businesses, which had combined 2015 annual sales of more $40 million.



When Air Liquide and Airgas merged, analysts pointed out that the deal would help Air Liquide overtake rivals including Linde AG, Air Products and Praxair. Air Liquide was also able to secure a spot in the North American market and speed diversification away from slow-growth in Europe. - Reuters


Omans Raysut Cement, a leading cement producer, is currently upgrading its gas supply station at its plant in Salalah, to enable the facility to receive an additional 40,000 cu m of gas per day as fuel, said a report.



Upon completion of the upgrade, production capacity of cement will rise to about 130,000 to 140,000 metric tonnes per annum, Ahmed bin Yousuf bin Alawi al Ibrahim, chairman of the board of directors, was quoted as saying in the Oman Daily Observer report.



The upgrade is one of several expansions and improvements underway across the groups domestic and international assets.



It includes the ongoing implementation of the parent companys joint venture project with Barwaaqo Cement Company in Somaliland, it said.



At Duqm Port, construction has been completed on the companys cement handling terminal, which is expected to formally begin commercial operations in the third quarter of this year, added the report.


Russias Gazprom, a leader in the energy sector, is in talks with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) to develop a gas field in Iran, a report said.



Talks are currently focused on the text of the agreement; Russia's Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan was quoted as saying by Iran Daily News, which cited Press TV.



Dzhagaryan added that Russia is looking into the possibility of forming a consortium to take up development projects in Iran's oil and gas sectors.



Lukoil, a top oil firm in Russias private sector, was looking into participating in the development of two oilfields in Iran, noted Dzhagaryan.
Iran is pumping 3.850 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) and exporting 2.2 million bpd, Ali Kardor, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), was quoted as saying by state news agency Irna on Tuesday.



Iran pumped 3.62 million bpd in July, according to a Reuters survey.



Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told parliament last week that he wanted to raise output to 4.6 million bpd within five years, well above pre-sanction levels of 3.8-4.0 million. - Reuters
After a long-awaited wedding day preceded by months and maybe even years of planning, a honeymoon is the ideal reward all newlywed couples excitedly anticipate. For honeymooners who seek a fantasy-like world of castles, fortresses and endless water views, the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia serves as an optimal spot for a post-nuptial celebration.

Known as the Pearl of the Adriatic, the city of Dubrovnik is located in southern Croatia along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Old City is completely walled, just as it was in the 13th century, and has since earned UNESCO World Heritage status. Romantic evenings can be spent meandering the cobblestone streets and marveling in the sky-kissing churches, royal palaces and captivating fountains. Rest your feet at one of the sidewalk cafes for a glass of Croatian wine and a succulent seafood dish. Or, opt for a cliff-side cocktail experience at Buza II, a bar that overlooks the sea.

During the daytime, charter a private speedboat to the secluded island of Kolocep for some alone time, or sign up for a boat tour of the Elaphiti Islands including the blue caves of Kolocep and Kalamota. After a brisk hike through the forests of Lopud, relax on the beaches and enjoy an afternoon cocktail.

The rich history and fairy-tale feel of Dubrovnik contribute to its idyllic reputation as a romantic destination.


Aetna, one of the countrys five largest health insurers, announced on Monday evening that it would be pulling out of nearly 70% of the counties in which it offers coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The firm said that after a review of its public-health-exchange business it determined that the nearly $300 million in pretax loss it was sustaining on an annual basis was not worth the business.

In its new plan, it will offer healthcare options through the public exchanges in just 242 of the 778 counties where it now operates. These will be mainly in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia.

In 2016, Aetna offered plans in 15 states.

The firm had announced it was conducting a review during its second-quarter earnings call on August 3.

Providing affordable, high-quality healthcare options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said in the statement. Fifty-five percent of our individual on-exchange membership is new in 2016, and in the second quarter we saw individuals in need of high-cost care represent an even larger share of our on-exchange population.

"This population dynamic, coupled with the current inadequate risk-adjustment mechanism, results in substantial upward pressure on premiums and creates significant sustainability concerns, he said.

Aetna isnt the only company concerned about the exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law widely known as Obamacare. Its rival big-five companies United Healthcare and Humana have also said they will dramatically reduce their presence in the exchanges.

Many companies have said the patients coming to the exchanges are older and more expensive to cover and there are not enough young people to offset the costs.

The decision by the three companies to scale back is problematic for customers because the number of insurers competing through the exchanges is closely linked with the affordability of the plans.

Aetna is the largest Affordable Care Act player of the three, with 911,000 people covered through the exchanges at the end of 2015, according to the companys first-quarter earnings call. United covered 750,000 people through the exchanges prior to its cut back and Humana covered around 500,000. The other two of the big five insurers, Cigna and Anthem, cover 185,000 and just under 1 million people through state exchanges respectively.

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Aetna has been pursuing a merger with Humana, but the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in July to block the proposed merger.

Here is the statement from Aetna in full:

Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark T. Bertolini made the following statement with regard to the companys 2017 participation in the Affordable Care Act individual public exchanges:

"Following a thorough business review and in light of a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and total pretax losses of more than $430 million since January 2014 in our individual products, we have decided to reduce our individual public exchange presence in 2017, which will limit our financial exposure moving forward. More than 40 payers of various sizes have similarly chosen to stop selling plans in one or more rating areas in the individual public exchanges over the 2015 and 2016 plan years, collectively exiting hundreds of rating areas in more than 30 states. As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision.

"Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool. Fifty-five percent of our individual on-exchange membership is new in 2016, and in the second quarter we saw individuals in need of high-cost care represent an even larger share of our on-exchange population. This population dynamic, coupled with the current inadequate risk adjustment mechanism, results in substantial upward pressure on premiums and creates significant sustainability concerns.

"The vast majority of payers have experienced continued financial stress within their individual public exchange business due to these forces, which also are reported to have contributed to the failure of 16 out of 23 co-ops. We are encouraged by a recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will explore new options to modify the risk adjustment program, and remain hopeful that we can work with policymakers from both parties on a sustainable public exchange model that meets the needs of the uninsured.

"We are committed to a health care marketplace that gives every American the opportunity to access affordable, high-quality care. We will continue to evaluate our participation in individual public exchanges while gaining additional insight from the counties where we will maintain our presence, and may expand our footprint in the future should there be meaningful exchange-related policy improvements.

"Aetna will reduce its individual public exchange participation from 778 to 242 counties for the 2017 plan year, maintaining an on-exchange presence in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia. The company will continue to offer an off-exchange individual product option for 2017 to consumers in the vast majority of counties where it offered individual public exchange products in 2016.

"This decision does not impact Aetnas products, services or benefits for the 2016 plan year. The company will communicate options to impacted members before the 2017 open enrollment period begins, and provide resources to assist them in transitioning to other plans as appropriate.

NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: The Latest Legal Challenge To Obamacare Is Ridiculous

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 16

A Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from Kuwait was killed in a road mishap after the taxi in which he was travelling rammed into a stationary truck near the Kishangarh chowk on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway early this morning. He had landed at the Delhi airport last night and was heading to meet his wife when met with the tragedy.

The deceased was identified as Varinder Singh, a resident of Urban Estate in Phase 1 Jalandhar. Two years ago, he had got married to a girl in Dasuya.

Investigating officer, Maqsudan police station, Raghuvir Singh, said the mishap occurred at around 6 am when the NRI, who was sitting at the rear seat in the taxi, was on his way to Dasuya. When the car reached near the Kishangarh chowk, the driver lost control over the speeding vehicle which rammed into the stationary truck.

Due to severe head injuries, the NRI died on the spot, while the driver sustained injuries.

The police said due to the intense collision, the NRI got stuck in the car and the police had to struggle for sometime to take him out of the car, adding that due to the severe injuries, Varinder Singh died on the spot.

The police said the NRI had his seat belt fastened, but might have died due to the intense collision.

After conducting the postmortem of the deceased, the body was handed over to the family.
Vivek Katju

IN a television interview, after the all-party meeting on August 12 on Kashmir, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury made significant observations regarding Delhis policies and actions in the state and Pakistans role. He said, Remember always that the other factor of Pakistans interference and infiltration, etc. always is a constant... and there the point is, on that we have told today as well, all of us are unanimous that as far as Pakistans interference is concerned, we stand together and we will not permit it. But solve your internal problem. Mr Yechury also agreed with the interviewer that some actions of past governments had badly damaged the trust that the Kashmiri people had in Delhi.

Mistakes have been made by many governments in handling Kashmir. Equally, fingers can be pointed at the Kashmiri leadership. However, the real issue that the Indian political class and security managers need to ask themselves is this: can the internal Kashmir situation ever be fully and satisfactorily addressed without eliminating Pakistani interference? It is here that Mr Yechurys comment that Pakistani interference is a constant is deeply troubling; it indicates an almost helpless resignation and acceptance that the Indian state can (and perhaps should) do nothing to staunch the flow of a hostile neighbours contaminant and root out its malignant influence engineered through pervasive intrusiveness, backed by violence.

This writer had, in a recent contribution to these columns, sought to show how Pakistans interference over the past few decades through its proxies had ensured that the situation in Afghanistan will remain unsettled. Pakistans Afghanistan strategy is in many respects similar to its approaches in Kashmir: to keep the pot simmering through calibrated actions.

India has traditionally taken a laissez-faire attitude to Pakistani contacts in Kashmir. This is seen, for instance, in the approach to the Hurriyat. Far from ensuring that separatists activities are eliminated, it has allowed them to publically propagate their views, meet foreign representatives in India and travel abroad where they have promoted their cause, though, at times, it has held them in custody. It has also permitted the separatists to meet Pakistani leaders. Former R&AW chief AS Dulat has revealed that the original decision to do so was taken by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and successive governments have followed it. PM Narendra Modi drew a line on the meeting of Pakistani representatives with the Hurriyat only effectively to erase it.

The message that went out to the Pakistani generals and the international community was that Modi, like his predecessors, was willing to accept Pakistani interference in Kashmir affairs. Thus the Indian state has itself virtually, in complete violation of its basic stand that J&K is a constituent state of the Union, allowed Pakistan to openly propagate its position through its proxies. It has accepted, as Mr Yechury states, that Pakistans interference is a constant and yet has hoped to settle the internal situation in Kashmir!

Implicitly, India has distinguished between Pakistani influence and its sponsored terrorism in the state. It has tenaciously fought the latter and continues to do so. Pakistan officially maintains that it has only provided moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmir. However, some of its leaders now publically acknowledge that it has given arms training to disaffected Kashmiri youth who went to POK and that tanzeems such as the LeT play a heroic role in Kashmir. The sponsorship of these groups continues despite assurances to the contrary. Indian policy, however, has taken somersaults on the whether talks and terrorism can go together. This has sent out signals that for bilateral engagement, India is willing to live with not only Pakistani influence, but also overlook its terrorism.

It is instructive to look at India-Pakistan bilateral engagements on J&K. There have been three serious endeavours. The first two followed traditional approaches and essentially related to territorial arrangements. In 1962-63, during Swaran Singh-Bhutto talks, the question on the table was not of Kashmiri self-determination, but the territorial division of the state. In his recent book, India vs Pakistan, Husain Haqqani writes that according to one account of the talks, when the Indian delegation asked Bhutto how would Pakistan wish to modify the map, he leaned over a map and pointed to the little town of Kathua on the Kashmir-Himachal border, drew a circle somewhere there with his forefinger and said, You can have this part of Kashmir. We want the rest. Haqqani goes on to note, Half a century later, Pakistans attitude does not seem to have changed. It simply wants the Muslim majority areas of the state.

During the 1972 talks, leading up to the Simla Agreement, it is believed Bhutto had tacitly agreed that the Line of Control would become the international border. The natural corollary is that neither side would seek to influence or intervene in the others territory.

The third India-Pakistan engagement, through the Manmohan-Musharraf back channel talks, sought to skirt the issue. Hence, it dwelt on borders becoming irrelevant or soft through increasing contacts between the J&K and the POK. It envisaged common statewide mechanisms on some issues. The Pakistanis, however, assert that they wanted joint management of these issues; this would have impinged on Indian sovereignty. Demilitarisation was also under consideration. All this went far beyond a clean territorial agreement.

In the present very difficult period in the Valley, Delhi, Srinagar and the Indian political class needs to reach out to different sections of Kashmiri opinion, especially the youth who are getting swayed by extreme Islamist thought. They need the assurance that all political and developmental concerns will be addressed through constitutional and democratic processes. These assurances have to be followed by quick and tangible actions to overcome the cynicism that has developed about Delhi. Yet a message has also to go through that the Indian state cannot accommodate any extra-constitutional demands. That message can only go through by action to stop Pakistani intrusiveness.

At the all-party meeting, Mr Modi made a beginning which he followed up in his Red Fort address by referring to the rights situation in Balochistan and the POK. He has given a clear indication to Pakistan that it should not assume Indias traditional approach would continue. No PM has done so till now. He has broken ground but he will have to show stamina to persevere. His comments will also draw international attention and pressure for the world community is used to flexible Indian approaches. These will have to be resisted.

 The writer is a former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs
Baqir Sajjad Syed

Tension between Pakistan and India, already running high, went up a notch when authorities in the two countries engaged in another wordy duel recently. Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech claimed that his people were getting terrorism from an ungrateful neighbour, Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz sharply hit back at his allegations about human rights abuses in Pakistan, saying the Indian leader was indulging in diversionary tactics.

Mr Modi is only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian Occupied Kashmir over the past five weeks, Aziz said in a statement, responding to Modi's tirade against Pakistan over the past few days. Modi had at the Red Fort on the occasion of India's Independence Day accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism and of human rights violations in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. Pakistan's rejoinder came as the leadership formally invited India for a dialogue on the Kashmir dispute.

India should recognise that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan, Aziz noted. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry earlier in the day handed over a letter to Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale, proposing talks on Kashmir. In his traditional address from the ramparts of Red Fort, Modi blew hot and cold at Pakistan, reminding the audience that children in India could not stop crying for days after the Peshawar school massacre, but what his people were getting in return was terrorism from an ungrateful neighbour. He did not name Pakistan but left no doubt when he also referred to alleged rights abuses and disgruntled citizens in Balochistan, Azad Kashmir  which he called Pak Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit. Modi's speech made it clear that he has completely rerouted his policy on Pakistan with aggressive comments, referring to Pakistan's human rights abuses in its large province of Balochistan as well as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Aziz rejecting Modi's allegations said: At this time, the contrast between the Indian Occupied Kashmir and...Azad Jammu and Kashmir could not be starker. In Modi's reference to Balochistan, Aziz saw a proof of India's interference in the restive province. He rejected the Indian Prime Minister's Balochistan analogy noting that the province was an integral part of Pakistan. Pakistan's contention that India, through its main intelligence agency RAW, has been fomenting terrorism in Balochistanwas also confirmed by the public confession of RAW's active service Naval Officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, in March, he recalled. Aziz reminded India that its dream for greatness cannot be achieved by suppressing the Kashmiris and blinding them. India does not automatically become a great country, especially when it unleashes such brute force against innocent citizens to suppress their right to protest or when it deliberately uses pellet guns to permanently destroy the eyesight of over 100 youths, he said.

Modi claimed before his audience that people of those areas (Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit) had thanked him for drawing attention to their troubles. He was probably referring to his warning last week that if Pakistan continues instigating the violence that has seared the Kashmir Valley for over a month, India will be compelled to expose Islamabad's many wrongdoings in regions fighting alleged terror and atrocities by its security forces.

By arrangement with the Dawn
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, August 16

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said the Haryana Government is preparing five projects to utilise surplus water of the Yamuna river during monsoon and provide up to 5,000 cusecs of water. The projects would cost Rs 2,000 crore.

Khattar was speaking during Independence Day celebrations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium here on Monday.

He paid tributes to freedom fighters and martyrs and said contribution of freedom fighters from the state would always be remembered.

Several schemes will be announced on November 1 when Haryana enters the golden jubilee year of its inception. For that, a budgetary provision of Rs 1,657 crore has been made, he said.

Khattar said the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ushered in an era of hope in the direction of building Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

With the launch of several programmes, India has garnered acclaim at the international level, he said, adding in 20 months, the Haryana Government implemented policies for the all-round development of the state.

He described agriculture as the backbone of the economy. The Prime Minister has set a target to double the income of farmers by 2022.

He said attempt was being made to mislead farmers by spreading rumours about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The state government is committed to completing the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal. Haryana will get its legitimate share of Ravi-Beas waters.

Ambala: Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Daya Chaudhary said justice should not be delayed. She was speaking after unfurling the national flag in the court complex here on Independence Day.

Besides social and economical freedom, justice should be available for everyone. It should be in the reach of the common man, the judge said. Chaudhary praised the Ambala Bar Association for organising the Independence Day function.

At the district-level function, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Kamal Gupta unfurled the national flag.

Sonepat: Minister of State for Public Health Banwari Lal honoured two freedom fighters and 12 war widows on Independence Day here. Seven women and 60 others were also honoured for their voluntary contribution to the welfare of society.

The minister handed over a motor-driven floor cleaning machine to the local Civil Hospital and distributed sweets among patients.

Jind: Chief Parliamentary Secretary Shyam Singh Rana hoisted the national flag at the new grain market here on 70th Independence Day. Earlier, he visited a martyrs memorial on the Gohana road and paid tributes. He distributed fruits among patients at General Hospital.

Panipat: Minister of State Manish Grover unfurled the Tricolour in Shivaji Stadium here on Independence Day.

Good news for staff

Tribune News service

Gurgaon, August 16

The Haryana Government has formed a committee for extending benefits to government employees on a par with Central employees under the Seventh Pay Commission.

Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu made the announcement after unfurling the national flag here on Independence Day.

The committee will submit its report in two months. The government has made a provision Rs 4,000 crore for the purpose, he said.

The minister spoke about efforts being taken to improve education. He highlighted the introduction of 10 vocational courses in 490 government schools as part of the Skill India programme and plans to open womens colleges after every 20 km.

Education is the basis of development. So, it tops our priority chart. We are taking education to every doorstep. To ensure that girls studying in schools and colleges do not face any difficulty, the Transport Department has started a bus service exclusively for girls, Capt Abhimanyu said.

He honoured 50 panchayats, 23 gram secretaries and six other people for making villages free from open defecation.

Four panchayats were awarded Rs 1 lakh under the Swarn Jayanti Swachhta Award.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 16

The Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat has barred mediapersons from carrying their mobiles inside the State Assembly during the coming monsoon session. The mediapersons have been told either not to bring mobiles or deposit these with the Watch and Ward Assistant on duty and the same may be taken back after the adjournment of the sabha, said the orders issued by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat.

The orders have sparked resentment among print and media journalists who claim that their functioning will be adversely affected by the orders.

This is ridiculous. In todays world, a journalist cannot perform his duties without being constantly in touch with ones organisation and other developments outside. Today, mobile phones are not just phones but a complete office for journalists as they keep on sending updates for breaking news or updates for online editions, said a senior journalist.

Another journalist from a news channel said television reporters could not do without their mobile phones for a single minute what to speak of depositing handsets with the staff till the end of the session.

Rajender Kumar Nandal, Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, said there was nothing new in the orders. We have been issuing such orders for the past 40 years. Mobile phones cannot be allowed inside the Assembly since these can be used for clicking pictures, Nandal said.

The monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha begins on August 26.
Ehsan Fazili

Srinagar, August 16

Four people were killed and 10 others were injured when the CRPF opened fire on a group of protesters at Aripanthan in Beerwah area of Budgam district on Tuesday morning. In a similar clash between security forces and protesters in Anantnag district on Tuesday, one person was killed.

Sources said the Budgam incident took place when protesters pelted the CRPF party moving in the area with stones. The CRPF men opened fire resulting in the deaths.

With this the death toll in the ongoing clashes since early last month has gone up to 65. A teenager, Yasir Salam, was killed in the alleged firing by police at Batamaloo here on Monday evening, while another youth Ishfaq, who had been injured in clashes in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district on Friday, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital here on Monday.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Meanwhile, curfew continued to remain in force in Batamaloo area of Srinagar city, apart from the downtown areas, falling under seven police stations.

Curfew also continued in Anantnag and Shopian towns of south Kashmir and Kupwara, Sopore and Bandipore towns in the north. Restrictions and prohibitory orders are in place elsewhere in the valley to prevent any trouble.

All private mobile services were suspended in a fresh move by the authorities since August 13, in the wake of separatists call for two-day march to Lal Chowk on Saturday and Sunday, ahead of the Independence day celebrations. The mobile services and broadband services on the BSNL landlines continued to remain suspended for the past four days. Private internet services continued to remain suspended since the trouble started early last month.
New Delhi, August 16

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to discuss the present situation in violence-hit Jammu and Kashmir.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Home Secretary and the Director of the Intelligence Bureau were also present in the meeting.

The meeting comes in the wake of cross-border infiltration attempts in Kashmir on Independence Day in which a CRPF jawan was killed.

It also comes a day after Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry invited his Indian counterpart S Jai Shankar to visit Islamabad for a dialogue on Kashmir even as New Delhi had last week rejected Foreign Affairs Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Azizs statement that his country had planned to invite the Indian Foreign Secretary for peace talks on Kashmir.

Meanwhile, four more protesters were killed by the security forces in central Kashmirs Budgam district on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the valley to 64.

Curfew and separatist shutdown continued in Kashmir for the 39th consecutive day on Tuesday. ANI
Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

This August 14 and 15 (Independence Day of Pakistan and India, respectively) were not merely the customary days of celebration and hoisting of black flags, a disconcerting tradition in the Kashmir Valley since 1989. This time, an alarming template of protests and violence surfaced.

In 2016, the situation has been particularly disturbing. Kashmir is on the downslide. An ever-widening chasm between Kashmiri Muslims and Delhi is now approaching the two opposite and extreme ends. The possibility of reconciliation is retreating while that of confrontation is peaking dangerously.

The Centres approach of visible indifference to the crisis and Pakistans upping the ante in the past over five weeks are read as the basis for this new wave of violence. Had there been any talk of talks (with the Hurriyat Conference and other sections), things could have cooled down, said Nazir, a businessman. He gets overwhelmed as a Kashmiri Muslim over the killing of stone-throwing protesters in clashes with security forces as much as he is pained by the financial losses. The counting of losses in education, economic, social sectors is considered blasphemous by protesters. We cannot even speak out, said the businessman, who has shifted his family to Delhi.

An absolute consolidation of this sentiment, even among those who know the difference of life and liberty on the two sides of the Line of Control dividing Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan, is now telling upon the overall security situation and the psychological mapping of the people. No section remains untouched by this.

In the absence of a plan, unprecedented things have happened this time. Pakistani flags on Sunday, according to one keen Kashmir watcher, outnumbered those in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This scene sits in contrast to the early 1990s, when militants would hold parades and salute the Pakistani flag in remote areas much away from the view of the security forces. Or, they would hoist it in some localities in the safety of the darkness of night. By early morning, all flags used to get removed. This trend was lost in 1993.

Why? There is no fear now, commented a senior officer who has seen each and every side of the rise and fall of militancy in Kashmir since 1990. There was no argument with anyone when the Army would conduct the search operations. Now, children as young as four are on streets. Instinctively, they pick up stones and hurl at the patrols and vehicles of police and security forces.

These stone-throwers enforce shutdowns in their own style. A six-year-old told a middle-aged woman in the Karan Nagar locality of Srinagar to shut her window and not peep outside. She responded politely, Son, I will do that. To this, the boy shouted: Stop the son business. Just get inside and shut the window, otherwise I will throw a stone and your face will be smashed. The window was shut, as ordered.

The Indian Independence Day had an ominous start. A militant attack on a CRPF camp at Nowhatta in Srinagar took place. One officer was killed and 10 CRPF men injured. The morning also brought the news of an injured youth of Tangmarg succumbing to his injuries and the evening closed with one more death in Batmaloo in the capital city. More protests followed.

Tuesday started with the news of more protests and deaths. What had not happened in all these 26 years, happened this time. Unless a fair analysis is made of the unrest which now is far beyond the mourning of Burhan Wani, this unrest threatens to become a permanent threat.
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 16

A day after killing five militants close to the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmirs Uri sector, the Army today claimed that the group had plans to carry out a high-value attack on a military or a civil installation on Independence Day.

The weapons, ammunition and explosives that were recovered from the five foreign terrorists in the Uri sector on Monday clearly indicate that they were planning to carry out a high-value attack on a military or a civil installation on Independence Day, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 19 Infantry Division, Maj Gen JS Nain told reporters in Baramulla. All of them were in a combat dress and their plan was to carry out an attack to attract media attention, but their design was foiled.

The five militants were killed and a senior Army officer injured when the Army foiled the infiltration bid in the Uri sector of Baramulla district on Monday morning. Two AK 47 rifles, three AK 56 rifles, 22 magazines, three UBGLs, 27 UBGL grenades, 21 Chinese grenades, AK 47 ammunition, three IEDs and other war-like stores were recovered from them.

Maj Gen Nain, however, said it was difficult at this point to say whether the slain militants were fidayeen or not.

It is difficult to say whether they were fidayeen or not, but for sure they had a major plan, he said.

However, sources said there was a possibility that the slain militants belonged to the Afzal Guru squad of Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has in past carried out many suicide attacks on Army installations close to the LoC. They said the words Afzal Guru squad were inscribed on the recovered guns.

The militants were not carrying any GPS and heavy food stuff which are carried by the infiltrators. This hints that they were a fidayeen squad and were planning to target any installation either in Uri or along the Baramulla highway, an officer said.

He said when the Assembly elections were under way in 2014, a five-member militant squad had carried out a deadly attack in Mohura, Uri sector, which left eight soldiers, including a Lieutenant Colonel and three J&K Policemen dead.

Initially, forces suspected that the Lashkar-e-Toiba was behind the attack, but the investigation later hinted that it was the cadre of the Jaishs Afzal Guru squad, he said.

Last year also, the Jaishs suicide squad had carried out attacks in the frontier district of Kupwara. The Afzal Guru squad is also blamed for the Pathankot attack.

There is an apprehension among the security agencies that due to the unrest, Pakistan may try to push more militants into Kashmir. Official figures reveal that 54 militants were able to infiltrate into Kashmir till June-end while the figure stood at 35 last year.
Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News service

Srinagar, August 15

A youth was killed in Police firing on a group of protesters in Batamaloo area of Srinagar city on Monday evening, triggering more demonstrations in the area and prompting the police and CRPF to lob teargas shells.

Elsewhere, at least 30 persons were injured in the clashes between protesters and police forces in different areas of the Valley today.

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With the death of the youth at Batamaloo, identified as Yasir Salam, the death toll in the ongoing violence has gone up to 60 -- 58 civilians and two police personnel. The family alleged that he was shot dead by the police in the area when a large number of police forces were deployed there. He was not a part of any protests, the family said.

Earlier, a youth, Ishfaq Ahmad, who was injured in the clashes in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district on Friday last, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital today.

Ishfaq was seriously injured and shifted to a Srinagar hospital on Friday, while another injured person was admitted to the hospital at Tangmarg. The police here said Ishfaq was injured when a stone hit him during the clashes. Expressing grief over Ishfaqs death, allegedly due to security forces firing, APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said continuous increase in the number of civilian killings is extremely worrisome.

Amid curfew and restrictions, clashes between the protesters and police took place in different areas of the Valley resulting in the death of one person and injuries to at least 30 others, amid a shutdown call by the separatists on the Independence Day today.

Curfew was imposed in parts of Srinagar city and elsewhere in Anantnag town of South Kashmir and Sopore town in the North. Anantnag town has been continuously reeling under the curfew since the trouble started with the July 8 killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in south Kashmir.

While the main I-Day celebration was held at the Bakshi Stadium in the summer capital, addressed by the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, the celebrations were held at all other district headquarters with the ministers unfurling the Tricolour.

In other incidents at least 18 persons were injured in the clashes in Tral area of Pulwama district, while another was injured in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district.

The police here said situation remained under control in most parts of the Valley, while five incidents of stone pelting were reported from Shopian, Sopore and Bandipore. Despite provocation at these places of the (security) forces exercised restraint to contain the situation, a Police Spokesman said.
Tribune News Service

Patna, August 16

Bihar ratified a constitutional amendment Bill to introduce the Goods and Services tax in a special session of the state Assembly on Tuesday, making it the second state  the first non-NDA state  to do so after Assam.

Bijendra Prasad Yadav, State Minister for Commercial Tax, introduced the Bill in the Assembly.

The state legislature will also pass Bihar Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Assam has already ratified the amendment to introduce the tax reform that was passed by Parliament recently. The Bill requires ratification by at least of half the state legislatures for it to be approved before it goes to the President for his assent.

Touted to be the biggest tax reform in the country, the Bill seeks to convert India into a single tax regime.  With inputs from agencies
Rewari, August 16

Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday went hammer and tongs at Pakistan, equating that country to hell.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of freedom for Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Parrikar, who was in Rewari to participate in the Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani programme, said, On Monday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell.

Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism. Now sometimes, even it is bearing the consequences of terrorism, he added.

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Parrikar said if anybody decided to attack India, he would not remain silent.

He said Indian soldiers would give a befitting reply to every attack. He said PoK is part of India and the violation of human rights should stop in Balochistan.

Prime Minister Modi, during his address on the nations 70th Independence Day, had said, People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked him a lot in the past few days and he is grateful to them.

Today I want to especially honour and thank some people from the ramparts of the Red Fort. For the past few days the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the way their citizens have heartily thanked me, the way they have acknowledged me, the goodwill they have shown towards me, the people settled far across, the land which I have not seen, the people I have not met ever, but people settled at far across acknowledge the Prime Minister of India, they honour him, so it is an honour of my 125 crore countrymen, it is respect of my 125 crore countrymen and that is why owing to the feeling of this honour, I want to heartily thank the people of Balochistan, the people of Gilgit, and the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir for having an expression of thankfulness, he had added. ANI
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Delhi, August 16

The BJP on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set the tone vis-a-vis Pakistan, particularly related to PoK and Baluchistan.

Pakistan had lost the golden opportunity to walk and shake the hand of peace, said BJP spokesman Siddharth Nath Singh.

In response to queries whether the PMs statement on Monday was in response to the loss of that golden opportunity, Singh told the media that the Centre had evaluated the situation and come up with a strategy.

The situation is very complex. But it is time Pakistan was exposed regarding human rights violations in Balochistan and PoK, he said.

The BJP also accused the Congress of speaking in one voice inside the all-party meeting and in another outside.
New York, August 16

Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar said on Tuesday that nations which use the "facade of human rights" to sponsor terrorism were "hypocrites of the worst kind", a statement referring to Pakistan.

In the city to lead India's 70th Independence Day celebrations, Akbar claimed India believed in "faith equality" and not faith "supremacy" as he called terrorism a major threat to human rights.

"Terrorism is the biggest enemy of human rights. Those who use the facade of human rights in order to sponsor barbaric terrorism are hypocrites of the worst kind," Akbar said.

"We (India) do not believe in faith supremacy. Nations created in the name of faith supremacy are coming apart along the fault lines of a failed idea," he said on Tuesday as he unfurled the tricolour at the Indian Consulate in a ceremony attended by several members of the Indian community.

"That is why Bangladesh happened in 1971 and that is why Balochistan is simmering now," the journalist-turned- politician said on his maiden visit to the US after assuming charge.

In his address to the community members, Akbar said India represented the very essence of human rights.

"This is the moment to tell the world and ourselves that the greatest enemy of human rights is terrorist and terrorism. Faith equality emerges from the ancient philosophy of our nation. The challenge to civilisation and the challenge to stability is coming from those, including in our neighbourhood, who believe in faith supremacy rather than in faith equality, who believe that one faith is supreme or superior to others," he said, in another veiled reference to Pakistan.

He underscored that India believed in freedom and equality for every faith not just before the law but in society as well, adding that freedom is not simply the right to vote but it is the right to express oneself everyday.

"In India, I am a proud Indian Muslim and in my country the Azaan has been heard for 1,400 years and shall be heard for 1,400 years. It emerges out of the belief and will of the Indian people," he said.

"Freedom is engrained in our Constitution. Nobody can take away our freedom," he said.

"Our mission for the next 70 years is very clear. It is to turn India and put it on the high table of prosperity not just for some but prosperity for all. That is true nationalism," he said.

Akbar's remarks came on a day when back home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also referred to Pakistan's atrocities in the restive Balochistan province and the PoK, prompting a sharp reaction from across the border.  PTI
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

Fifty-six per cent of the students who appeared for Indias first uniform medical entrance exam, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG), have qualified for MBBS admissions for the 2016-17 academic session.

Of the 7,31,223 students who took the two editions of NEET-Undergraduate 2016-17 (held on May 1 and July 24), 4,09,477 qualified as per Medical Council of Indias regulations. Nine transgenders had written the exam and four qualified.

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Category-wise, 1,71,329 unreserved students have become eligible for medical undergraduate admissions, 1,75,226 OBC students have qualified; 47,183 Scheduled Caste and 15,710 Scheduled Tribe students have qualified.

The CBSE declared combined NEET-I and NEET-II results this evening, a day ahead of August 17, when the results were anticipated.

Qualifiers are students who secured the percentiles MCI specified for MBBS admission eligibility in different categories.

Girls outnumbered boys among qualifiers as out of 4,09,477 eligible for MBBS admissions, 2, 26,049 are girls and 1,83,424 are boys.

The qualifying percentile for MBBS students in unreserved category this year is 50th. OBC, SC and ST students who have secured 40th percentile have qualified and physically handicapped (unreserved) who secured 45th percentile are eligible for admission.

For 15 per cent central quota seats in all state government medical colleges, 19, 325 students have qualified as per NEET scoreboard. India has 52,000 MBBS seats in 412 colleges and 15 per cent of these (nearly 4,000) are set aside as central quota MBBS seats to be filled exclusively on NEET merit. Except Andhra, Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana which havent surrendered any central quota seats, 15 per cent quota seats exists in all state government colleges. All private medical colleges (except on their state government quota seats) will have to admit students through NEET merit which wont apply to states this year, unless the state concerned chooses to use it.

Sayyam Bhardwaj, CBSEs Officer on Special Duty for NEET, said, For 15 per cent central quota seats, Director General Health Services will hold counselling for which a programme has been uploaded on the Ministry of Health website. For state seats, students can get in touch with the respective state institutions which will get in touch with us to generate the state -level merit list for admissions and counselling.

Asked how CBSE calculated results, Bhardwaj said the board went according to the advice of the Supreme Court-appointed Oversight Committee which is monitoring MCIs functioning. Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha is heading this committee. The concurrence of the oversight committee was obtained on all issues. With expert help, the difficulty levels of both NEET I and NEET II were kept similar. The result has been prepared on the basis of SC decisions. For children who have the same percentile, ranks have been calculated as per the stated criteria in our information bulletin such as precedence has been given to biology and chemistry marks and other such criteria, Bhardwaj said.

The CBSE today also declared top 10 All India NEET rank holders but didnt disclose their details saying it was yet to compute. Results are available at www.aipmt.nic.in , www.cbse.nic.in and www.cbseresults.nic.in
Islamabad, August 16

Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has called on Pakistan to send troops to Kashmir to teach India a lesson, as the death toll in the violence in Jammu and Kashmir climbed on Tuesday.

Pakistans media reported Saeeds latest statement, which he addressed to Pakistan military chief Gen Raheel Sharif.

Saeed, who has been accused of having engineered the November 26, 2008, terrorist attack in Mumbai, had warned India in July that he would avenge killings in the ongoing protest.

Saeed had said at a gathering last month: This time, the people in Kashmir are on the streets. This protest has become a mass movement. All groups in Kashmir have united. All wings of the Hurriyat have become one. The Muttahida Jihad Council and all other groups have come on to the same platform. Those who have died in Kashmir, their deaths will not be in vain."

He also organised a Kashmir Caravan from Lahore to Islamabad. His rallies were attended by federal ministers and religious leaders of various organisations.

Saeed's latest statements came as new clashes were reported in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking up the death toll to 65.

Thousands have been wounded in violent protests that began with the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces on July 8.

The killing and the subsequent protests have made the relations between India and Pakistan turn frigid.

India accuses Pakistan of stoking the violence.  Agencies
Our Correspondent

Jaipur, August 16

Union Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said Tiranga Yatra, which was held here on Tuesday, will be taken out in Kashmir too to celebrate the 70th Independence Day though he did not mention any exact date.

Tiranga Yatra will run in the entire country. Kashmir is inseparable part of India and every Indian. People of Kashmir are with us and they too share the great moment of pre-independence history, Goyal told a joint press conference with MOS I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore here.

While MOS Rathore said 150 places in the country had been selected for the yatra on the basis of swatantra sangram, freedom fighters birth places or historical monuments.

When asked about the Congress jibe which termed the yatra as the BJPs ploy to divert attention from real issues, Goyal said, it was unfortunate that the Opposition was tracing politics in it. Whats wrong in reviving nationality, patriotism and remembering freedom fighters, he said.

Earlier in the day, the two ministers led a Tiranga Yatra joined by BJP workers and leaders on bikes from Jaipur to Dhankya, birth place of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhya. An 8-feet-long Indian flag was carried by them.

Meanwhile, PCC vice president Dr Archna Sharma alleged that the yatra created chaos and caused traffic jam on the main highway for hours. She alleged that the traffic rules were flouted as the riders were not wearing helmets.
Washington, August 16

On Indias 70th Independence Day, top American lawmakers have said that India has now solidified its role as a regional and global power.

This Independence Day let us celebrate not only Indias rich cultural heritage but its bright future and the continuing strength of US-India relations, said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey.

Let us recognise that India, home to one of the worlds most diverse and populous democracies, has seen rapid economic growth in the past 20 years and has solidified its role as a regional and global power,: Menendez said.

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Today, one of the USs great allies, India, celebrates 70 years of Independence, tweeted Congressman Gregory Meeks.

The US celebrates with them! he said.

Happy Indian Independence Day to the largest democracy on earth! US-India ties must remain strong to protect our homeland and grow our economy, tweeted Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois.

Congresswoman Grace Ming from New York also tweeted to greet India, Pakistan and South Korea on their Independence Day.

In a statement, Congressman Frank Pallone congratulated the people of India on this occasion. India is a dynamic and important US ally, an influential leader on the international stage, and an important player in the world economy, he said.

As a representative of one of the largest Indian-American constituencies in the US, and co-founder and former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Issues, I strongly support strengthening the US-India partnership. I look forward to our continued work together on global strategic, economic, and environmental issues, Pallone said.

Earlier this year, Pallone introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that India should have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

The resolution would put the US House of Representatives officially on record in support of Indias bid.

Democratic Congressman from California Xavier Becerra tweeted a picture of his along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter visited US this summer to wish people of India happy Independence Day.

Meanwhile, a large number of Indian-Americans attended the Independence Day celebrations at the residence of Indian Ambassador to US Arun K Singh.

The Tricolour was also unfurled at various diplomatic missions in the US in Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and the United Nations. PTI
Tribune Reporters

Chandigarh, August 16

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and other ministers unfurled the Tricolour in various districts on Independence Day yesterday. The Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs) were initially scheduled to hoist the national flag at several venues, but in view of the Punjab and Haryana High Courts recent order setting aside their appointment, the respective Deputy Commissioners and Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) did the honours.

At the state-level function in SAS Nagar, Badal said anti-social elements were conspiring against the state. The people of Punjab know how to deal with such elements and save the state from their nefarious designs, he added.

The CM honoured 32 persons with state-level awards and 17 officials from the state police with the Chief Ministers Medal for Meritorious Service. He also felicitated freedom fighters and handed over sewing machines and tricycles to the needy.

Presiding over the I-Day function at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Amritsar, Sukhbir warned unruly elements not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the state. He honoured the kin of freedom fighters and handed over awards to police personnel and others who took part in the parade. He also distributed tricycles among the differently abled.

Others who hoisted the Tricolour included Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia (Patiala), Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa (Sangrur), Industry Minister Madan Mohan Mittal (Ropar), Animal Husbandry & Fisheries Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike (Tarn Taran) and Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon (Moga).

Freedom fighters, kin stage protest

Ludhiana: Freedom fighters and their kin staged a protest against the state government during the Independence Day function at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana. When the names of the freedom fighters were announced, a majority of them remained seated and refused to accept the honour. Shawls and eatables have no value for us. We want the government to work for the welfare of the freedom fighters and their kin, said Balwinder Singh, a member of the Freedom Fighters Successors Organisation.

Pak balloon lands in Pathankot

Pathankot: A giant balloon carrying a picture of Pakistans founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah landed in the border area of Narot Jaimal Singh in the district on Sunday. The balloon bore a message in Urdu, Jashne Azadi Mubarak (congratulations on Independence Day). In a press note, Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal said experts told him that the balloon came from the neighbouring country due to high-velocity winds on August 14, Pakistans Independence Day.

2 students faint in Gidderbaha

Gidderbaha: Two students fainted during the Independence Day function at the new grain market in Gidderbaha. Class-VIII students Jagjivan and Navneet were taken to the hospital in a police vehicle as the ambulance was not stationed at the venue. Doctors told mediapersons that the students had fainted due to the hot and humid conditions. TNS
Sushil Goyal

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, August 16

In a Quran desecration case that was reported in a mosque at Mehlan village here on Monday, the district police on Tuesday arrested a brother-in-law of the Maulvi of the mosque.

Israr Mohammad, brother-in-law of Maulvi Mohammad Mustafa, was arrested after a complaint was filed by the Maulvi and subsequently a case was registered under Section 295-A of the IPC on Monday.

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patiala Zone, Paramraj Singh Umranangal, said a four-member special investigation team (SIT) had been constituted, which succeeded in cracking the case.

Israr Mohammad, who belongs to Paharrpur village in Saharanpur (UP), was arrested from Mehlan Chowk.

The desecration of the Quran was noticed by a daughter of the Maulvi when she found some torn pages in a bathroom located on the premises of the mosque.

The remaining pieces were found torn from the roof of the mosque.

The IGP said Israr Mohammad had confessed to committing the crime to take revenge from his sister and her husband.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 16

India and Maldives today made an attempt to bolster their relationship, which has experienced strain over the past few years since the ouster of Nasheed, the first democratically elected president of that country.

Amid signs that Maldives is yet another neighbour that is slowing edging closer to China, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met new Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim who is visiting India in his first overseas visit.

Asim said in keeping with the India first policy of Maldives, this was his first visit abroad. Asim apprised Swaraj about the preparations for the Maldives Investment Forum to be held in New Delhi later this year. Swaraj informed her Maldivian counterpart that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted all its neighbours to benefit from the economic growth and development of India.

The main irritant in the India-Maldives relationship is Chinas growing presence in many infrastructure and developmental projects, including a bridge between the island in which the airport is located, Hulhumale, and the Capital island, Male, which is about 10 minutes by a passenger ferry.

The fact that Maldives is part of Chinas Silk Road Project has also not gone down well with India. Another major setback came in 2010 when Male terminated the agreement it entered into with GMR for the modernisation of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport. To make matters worse, it later gave the airport project to a Chinese company.

While the Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on any of these contentious issues, it confirmed that in their meeting the two ministers exchanged views on the consonance in the strategic perspectives of the two countries to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.
Moscow, August 16

Russia used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants for the first time on Tuesday, widening its air campaign in Syria and deepening its involvement in the Middle East.

In a move underscoring Moscow's increasingly close ties with Tehran, long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Iran's Hamadan air base to strike a range of targets in Syria.

The head of Iran's National Security Council was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying Tehran and Moscow were now sharing facilities to fight against terrorism, calling their cooperation strategic.

Both countries back Assad, and Russia, after a delay, has supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defence system, evidence of a growing partnership between the pair that has helped turn the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing US influence in the Middle East.

Relations between Tehran and Moscow have grown warmer since Iran reached agreement last year with global powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of UN, EU and US financial sanctions.

President Vladimir Putin visited in November and the two countries regularly discuss military planning for Syria, where Iran has provided ground forces that work with local allies while Russia provides air power.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its bombers had taken off on Tuesday from the Hamadan air base in north-west Iran. To reach Syria, they would have had to use the air space of another neighbouring country, probably Iraq.

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State as well as militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces. It said its Iranian-based bombers had been escorted by fighter jets based at Russias Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province.  Reuters

A first for both Russia and Tehran

It was the first time Russia has used the territory of another nation, apart from Syria itself, to launch such strikes since the Kremlin launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

It was also thought to be the first time that Iran has allowed a foreign power to use its territory for military operations since the 1979 Islamic revolution

The Iranian deployment will boost Russia's image as a central player in the Middle East and allow the Russian air force to cut flight times and increase bombing payloads

Raids on Aleppo kill 19 civilians
European anti-Turkish sentiment was revived with an allegation regarding child abuse, when Ankara complained about a sign at the Vienna airport in Austria and the Swedish foreign minister's comments.

Ankara is angry about a news update at the Vienna airport that displayed a statement that falsely claimed that Turkey allows sexual intercourse with children under the age of 15. The statement was removed following harsh criticism, and Ankara expressed it "disappointment and denunciation." A written statement from the Foreign Ministry said: "We deplore and strongly condemn that an international airport, located in the center of Europe and used by passengers from different countries, was abused by a discredited newspaper to spread irresponsible, distorted and falsified messages which defame a friendly country and the nation."

The Constitutional Court released late Monday a statement regarding the false claim. "The allegations are baseless," said the court in the statement after explaining the legal aspects of the matter. "Sexual intercourse with and abuse of minors under 15 continue to be classified as crimes under Turkish law," the statement added.

The news ticker is courtesy of Kronen Zeitung, an Austrian newspaper that was responsible for a sign urging people not to visit Turkey shortly after the foiled July 15 coup attempt, when the news update at the airport read: "Traveling to Turkey means you are supporting [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan." The statement, a quote from a story in Kronen Zeitung, was removed after the Turkish Embassy in Vienna complained.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom faced criticism over her remarks on Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek lashed out at Wallstrom for claiming that Turkey allows sexual intercourse with children. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish envoy in Ankara to complain. Wallstrom wrote on Sunday on her Twitter account: "The Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed. Children need more protection, not less, against violence, sex abuse." Simsek responded: "You are clearly misinformed. There is no such stupid thing in Turkey. Please get your facts right."

Wallstrom received criticism from hundreds of Twitter users who criticized her for "spreading lies" and said Sweden should rethink her position as foreign minister.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also criticized Wallstrom's statement, saying that contrary to her claims, Turkey is taking action against child abuse. He said that he will call her to tell her that Turkey is concerned by such statements. Cavusoglu added that Turkey accepts criticism, but lies and slander should not be confused as criticism, and that such remarks reflect rising Islamophobia and anti-Turkish sentiment in Europe.

"It is a scandal for a foreign minister to post such a tweet based on false news or speculation."

The issue stems from a recent verdict from Constitutional Court that calls for different classification of prison terms for different age groups in cases of child sexual abuse.

Recently on Saturday, the Turkish Embassy in Vienna took action based on orders from Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to remove a live ticker at the Vienna airport displaying a provocative statement falsely claiming that Turkey allows sexual intercourse with children under the age of 15.

In Turkey, the age of consent is set as 18, in line with the Civil Code.

The Turkish Penal Code classifies any kind of sexual activity with minors under 18 who are unable to understand the legal meaning and consequences of such actions as child sexual abuse.

Source: Daily Sabah
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.
Darren Wick, Nine Network Director of News and Current Affairs, has appointed Queensland News Director Mike Dalton to the newly-established role of the Head of Nine News Regional after 5 years as Queensland News Director.

A Current Affair Queensland Bureau Chief Amanda Paterson becomes Queensland News Director.

The announcement follows recent speculation Nine was revamping its regional news infrastructure.

Having overseen the relaunch of Nine News Gold Coast, Dalton will now establish news bulletins and newsrooms in all major East Coast regional markets with affiliate partners, Southern Cross Austereo.

Brissy-born Amanda Paterson has been ACAs Queensland Bureau Chief for 8 years, following her work as an investigative reporter on the show. She has been a three-time Walkley Award finalist and a Queensland Media Awards winner.

Both appointments take effect from Monday August 29.

Photo: News Corp.
Canada will make efforts to ease tensions between Ukraine and Russia after the recent events in Crimea.

This was stated by Defence Minister of Canada Harjit Sajjan, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Our main efforts are aimed at deterrence, we strive to make sure that the dialogue remains open, and try to defuse the situation," Sajjan said.

He did not describe the hypothetical actions of Canada and its military personnel in case of escalation of the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, however, stressed that Ottawa had certain commitments to NATO.

"It is difficult to predict a hypothetical situation. However, Canada has certain commitments to NATO: we pledged to be a responsible partner as we are one of the NATO framework nations now," the Canadian Defence Minister said.

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No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, but eight soldiers were wounded in ATO area in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Spokesman for the Presidential Administration on the ATO Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

No Ukrainian servicemen were killed, but eight soldiers were wounded as a result of armed hostilities in ATO area in eastern Ukraine over the past day, he said.

He added that seven militants had been killed and nine militants had been wounded over the past day.

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The Government of Ukraine can make a decision to launch the FIDIC system to control the quality of repair and construction of roads already this year.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian said this in an interview with Ukraine TV channel, the Government portal informs.

"We are now launching the so-called FIDIC system. I hope that this year the Government will approve a corresponding resolution, which will provide for full control over the quality of performed works. The system enables the experts of independent companies to come to the sites to control the quality of works," Volodymyr Omelian said.

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The European Union has announced its readiness to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine against the background of deteriorating relations between the countries.

This was stated by the European Commission representative in Brussels, DW reports.

"The EU is ready to take this step if it is asked to do so. However, the EC representative did not specify how the role of a mediator might look like," the article reads.

In addition, the representative of the European Commission noted the need to implement the Minsk agreements on settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine.

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Achta Abdallah Biney holds a turnip she harvested from her plot of land in Chad.  UNHCR/Ibrahima Diane

KOUTOUFOU, Chad  In a large green field planted with vegetables in this village in eastern Chad, Achta Abdallah Biney was busy pulling up weeds from her plot and harvesting her best turnips for market the next day.

She fled war at home in Sudan and today is one of nearly 500 refugees and locals who farm this land together as part of a project smoothing the integration of long-term refugees into host communities, and giving women more financial independence.

Called Seeds for Solutions, the programme was developed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). It helps find the farmland and provides tools, seeds and advice, so that the farmers can grow their own crops to sell at market and to eat at home.

Biney, who is 37 and has five children, fled into neighbouring Chad from her village in Sudan's western Darfur region as fighting closed in during 2003. First, she lived in a refugee camp near the Chadian town of Goz Beida.

With these vegetables, I am in charge and I decide what to do with the income.

But as the crisis at home continued, she joined many Sudanese refugee families as they left camps and settled alongside Chadians, in a move backed by UNHCR as part of its 'out of camp' strategy for long-term refugees.

With her children and her aging mother, Biney moved to Koutoufou village in 2011, so she could "farm and provide for my family," she said. She was given a plot in a 25-hectare field, and the tools and seeds to get her started.

Today, she is well established as one of the 462 farmers  most of them women, and 243 of them Sudanese refugees  who are part of the Seeds for Solutions programme in Koutoufou.

Many of the women are illiterate, and traditionally would have had little control of their household expenditure. That is now changing.

With these vegetables, I am in charge and I decide what to do with the income, Biney said, standing in her plot, a turnip in her muddy hand.

A group of Sudanese women refugees and their Chadian hosts clear weeds from a plot of land.  UNHCR/Ibrahima Diane

Another woman farming a plot close to Biney's was pulling out weeds from around her plants. As she worked, she said, "When they give money to the husbands, they either smoke, drink with it, or get another wife. [Seeds for Solutions] gives me the means to be independent and allows me to take care of my family."

Since its launch in late 2014, the self-reliance scheme has helped more than 5,000 refugees and 3,000 Chadians in Goz Beida region alone, where more than 10,000 hectares of farmland have been acquired.

Water is drawn from wells and distributed using solar power. Expert staff from LWF visit the farms regularly to give technical advice.

In Koutoufou, the early 2016 harvest generated close to US$3,500 from the sale of 70 per cent of the 13,700 kilograms of vegetables produced. The farmers took the rest home to add to their daily meals, supplementing their food aid hand-outs with nutritious vegetables and boosting their families' health at the same time.

The Seeds for Solutions project addresses the protracted refugee situation prevailing in eastern Chad, says Peggy Pentshi-a-Maneng, who heads UNHCR's sub-office in Goz Beida, home to some 62,000 of the nearly 312,000 Sudanese refugees now in the country.

"Success is attracting more men who initially declined to take part in the project, saying it was a womans job."

The locals' involvement in the farming project "strengthens the peaceful coexistence between the two communities," Pentshi-a-Maneng says, making this "one of the best solutions for these refugees with no immediate sign for a safe and dignified return to Darfur."

The programme has proven so successful that men, who initially turned their backs on the idea of vegetable farming, are now following their wives and sisters into the fields.

"The success is attracting more men who initially declined to take part in the project, saying that it was a womans job," says Urbain Maihoudjim, agriculture supervisor for LWF, as he checked the state of the turnips Biney had harvested.

She was preparing to take them to market the next day, and knew how important the money she earned from selling the vegetables would be.

"I want my kids to go to university, or at least learn a profession and get a job to provide for themselves," she said. "With the small money I earn by selling parts of my harvest, I can take care of them and they can focus on their studies."
Donald Trump 's plan to vet people coming to the United States is "nonsense," retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Monday.



The Republican presidential nominee expanded on his plans to curb immigration Monday , calling for a new ideological screening test. He cast himself as the one qualified to halt the spread of extremism, and claimed his opponent Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama unleashed ISIS.

"The notion that we can do very good vetting on refugees coming out of Afghanistan and Syria and Libya is nonsense. If you don't have a cooperative police force and intelligence service in the country, how can you really know who you are dealing with?" McCaffrey said in an interview with CNBC's " Closing Bell ."

That wasn't the only part of Trump's speech the general took issue with. He said the billionaire's contention that the U.S. should have kept the oil in Iraq "like some bandit nation" was "completely nonsensical."

McCaffrey said also disagreed with Trump's assertion that any enemy of ISIS is a friend of the U.S., noting that Iran is one of the most intense anti-ISIS countries.



CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.





More From CNBC


12-year-old Jeremy Shuler is set to start his freshman year at Cornell University next week. He is reportedly the youngest student ever to attend as per the school's historian, Corey Earle.

According to The Washington Post, when their child was three months old, Jeremy Shuler's parents were surprised at how he is able to pay close attention and keep his focus on his environment for a long time - instead of the seconds that are usual for infants. At 15 months old, Jeremy already knew about the alphabet and he was able to read both Korean and English on his own at two years old.

"I think I'll really enjoy being at Cornell," Jeremy said. "I've been preparing for college for a long time."

His parents, Andy and Harrey Shuler, met while his mom was working on her post-doctorate in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. They are both aerospace engineers.

Jeremy went to school at the Texas Tech University Independent School District (TTUISD). It is a flexible online education program that gives K-12 students the chance to earn credits at their own pace.

"Early on we realized Jeremy wasn't really ordinary," Harrey Shuler said. "We briefly considered sending him to a charter school or a school for the gifted and talented, but in the end there wasn't much of a choice because he was way too advanced to be enrolled in any traditional schools. So I quit my career to dedicate my time to teaching Jeremy myself. I have been homeschooling him ever since."

Jeremy took the SAT and advanced placement (AP) exams when he was just 10 years old. He placed in the 99.6 percentile for all college-bound seniors in 2014.

"We have accepted Jeremy into our undergraduate program here at Cornell Engineering," Cornell Engineering Dean Lance Collins said. "While this is highly unusual, we feel that with the strong support of his parents - who will be moving here to provide him a place to live and study - and his unusual talents and thirst for knowledge, he will be able to thrive as an engineering student and take advantage of all that Cornell has to offer."
August 16 2016

AD Rattray Scotch Whisky Company has begun work to extend and convert an historic pump house on the former Queens Dock, Glasgow, to form a 10.5m Hypostyle designed whisky distillery and visitor centre. The Clydeside Distillery will see the B-listed building preserved to house an exhibition and visitor centre alongside a new build glass fronted extension exposing the innards of the distillery itself to the Clyde.AD Rattray proprietor AD Rattray said: The city was once home to many whisky distilleries, and we think The Clydeside Distillery will put Glasgow right back on the Scotch whisky map.Few people know the historical significance of the iconic pump house building to the Scotch whisky trade.In years gone by, this building controlled the entry bridge into the Queens Dock ensuring Customs and Excise could keep a close eye on goods in and out, including whisky.The first whisky will be poured from autumn 2017.
To investigate whether metabolic syndrome (MetS) may be associated with the clinical progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

A total of 525 community-dwelling men (aged 45-78) with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) who had complete data at 3-year follow-up were included in this prospective study. International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) questionnaire, prostate ultrasonography for prostate volume (PV), maximum urine flow rate (Qmax) and biological parameters were recorded. Participants were divided into a BPH with the MetS group and a BPH without the MetS group, and all received a 3-year follow-up to monitor possible correlations between LUTS/BPH clinical progression and MetS.

The results showed that MetS was associated with IPSS, Qmax and PV (p < 0.05) after 3-year follow-up. The mean change of IPSS, PV and Qmax were positively and negatively correlated with time in the BPH with MetS group during the 3-year follow-up. In addition, the BPH clinical progression rate was significantly higher in the BPH with MetS group, compared with the BPH without MetS group (p < 0.05). Diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension were related to increased risk of BPH clinical progression.

The present results suggest that MetS, in particular, DM and hypertension, may accelerate the clinical progression of BPH in community-dwelling middle-aged and older men.

Urologia internationalis. 2016 Aug 11 [Epub ahead of print]

Yongqiang Fu, Zhe Zhou, Bing Yang, Kai Zhang, Lijun He, Xianghua Zhang

Department of Urology, Peking University Shougang Hospital, Beijing, China.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27509202
Ivanka Trump revealed that she went sightseeing with Wendi Deng Murdoch, who is reportedly dating Vladimir Putin.

Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng Murdoch went sightseeing in Dubrovnik, Croatia, according to an Instagram post uploaded to the account of the GOP presidential nominee's daughter.

Donald Trump's daughter has previously shared a photo of Murdoch, calling her a "remarkable woman" and "one of those friends that inspires you to work hard, be better and laugh louder."

Their friendship comes to light at a time when her father's ties to the Kremlin have drawn a few raised eyebrows. Earlier this year, US Weekly reported that the ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch was dating Vladimir Putin . In July, Wendi Murdoch denied the rumor to Vogue, saying she has never met the Russian president.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that Putin's main ally in Ukraine earmarked $12.7 million in secret cash payments to Paul Manafort, now Trump's campaign chairman, from 2007 to 2012. In a statement Monday, Manafort called the report "unfounded, silly and nonsensical." He added that he had never taken an "off-the-books cash payment" nor worked for the governments of Ukraine or Russia. system.

Last month, the Republican presidential nominee said Trump hopes Russia finds emails deleted by Hillary Clinton from her time as secretary of state.

"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," Trump told reporters. His campaign later clarified to NBC that he wasn't calling on anyone to intervene, but instead was pushing anyone who has them to hand them over to authorities.



Late last month, Trump also told ABC that Russia and Putin are "not going into Ukraine," before being corrected that Russian forces had already annexed Crimea. The New York businessman also insisted that he has "no relationship" with Putin, even though he stated the exact opposite in a 2013 interview with MSNBC.

Trump has also come under fire for a 2013 tweet in which he wondered if the Russian president would "become my best friend?"

Story continues





More From CNBC


SmackDown Live has struggled to command the same audience that its Monday Night rival has maintained since the Brand Extension.

However, with SummerSlam less than one week ago, the blue brand will be firing on all cylinders in an effort to boost the audience for the biggest Pay-Per-View of the Summer!

MIZ TV

While seeing The Miz interview any superstar is less than thrilling, it has over the past years been the setting for two rivals to meet face-to-face before their battles.

This theme is kept true as the Intercontinental Champion will be speaking to both WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose and his SummerSlam opponent Dolph Ziggler.

The Lunatic Fringe hit a Dirty Deeds on The Showoff last week, a favor turned following Ziggler's accidental super-kick earlier in the show.

Nevertheless, both men do not get along and pitting them in a wrestling ring with a man that has the tendency to rub people the wrong way, could be a recipe for the right kind of disaster.

Cena can see Del Rio

Ahead of his hugely anticipated match against AJ Styles on Sunday, The Face that Runs the Place will go one-on-one against Alberto Del Rio.

With John Cena having so few televised matches over the past month, it will be a good test to see if The Champ still has what it takes ahead of his battle with The Phenomenal One.

Styles will no doubt be paying close attention and may find it hard to resist getting involved in the match, and halting his SummerSlam opponent's momentum.

The two stars have been going at it on WWE Live events with the Leader of the Cenation defeating the former TNA performer four times out of four in singles action.

Tag-Team Chaos

The tag-team division on SmackDown Live is currently in disarray, with just one duo standing tall above the rest: American Alpaha.

The rest of the division decided to get a first hand look at the former NXT Champions last week and immediately following their victory chaos descended.

All the tag-teams, The Hype Bros, The Ascension, The Vaudevillians and American Alpha looked to beat each other down.

It was to no avail for the intruders as the team of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable stood tall at the end of the beat-down, clearing the ring of all competitors, but will they still be standing if the others decide to get a slice of revenge?

Becky is seeing Red

The past two weeks, have been traumatic for Becky Lynch who after entering the ring has been relegated to fighting no one and then a makeshift opponent in Alexa Bliss in last weeks show.

Her opponent two weeks ago Eva Marie suffered an injury and was unable to compete and last week was the victim of wardrobe malfunction.

The Irish Lasskicker issued an open challenge to any female in the back and Bliss was ready for a fight, just when it looked like the Fiery Redhead was about to gain a second singles victory on SmackDown Live, Eva Marie returned.

Lynch was distracted by the returning performer and the former Manager of Blake and Murphy seized her opportunity and hit her finisher on the former PCB member to pick up the pin-fall win.

Marie, may have cost Becky a win but she may regret that if she comes face to face with the 29-year-old either tonight or at SummerSlam, should she accept any offers.
FILE PHOTO Grab your walking shoes and take part in UCLA Health's Walk With a Doc Saturday at Triunfo Community Park.

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Newbury Park

Academy celebrates its 10th anniversary

Victory Gymnastics Academy, celebrating its 10th year in business, will have a free family fundraiser from 6-8 p.m. Aug. 26 at 2330 Teller Road.

Victory asks guests to bring donations of new school backpacks or school supplies to benefit the children at Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families in Camarillo.

The event will feature fun family games and activities for all ages. There will be a raffle as well as cupcakes and refreshments.

To RSVP, visit www.victory-gymnastics.com or call 376-9059.

Port Hueneme

Guests can learn about city history

Georgia Newton Pulos will speak about her 98-year-old mother Joanna Bard Newton, daughter of Richard and Joan Bard and granddaughter of Thomas and Mollie Bard at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Port Hueneme Historical Society Museum, 220 Market St.

This presentation offers an opportunity to see rare images of early Hueneme and to discover what life was like from 1917-1951.

For more information, call 488-0363.

Thousand Oaks

Class celebrates 50th anniversary

The Thousand Oaks High class of '66 will celebrate its 50th anniversary reunion at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at First Neighborhood Community Center, 31830 Village Center Road.

Cost is $75. Cost includes dinner, wine, beer, soft drinks, deejay, dessert, CD of photos and picnic on Sunday.

The bring your own food picnic Sunday is $10 if individuals don't attend Saturday.

Please mail and make checks out to Ann Hohimer (Lockridge) at 1150 Ventura Blvd. No. 126, Camarillo, CA 93010.

For more information, contact Hohimer at AHohimer@roadrunner.com or 482-2803.

Public can enjoy 'Walk with a Doc'

UCLA Health's Walk with a Doc event will go from 7:30-8:30 a.m. Saturday at Triunfo Community Park, 950 Aranmoor Ave.

The event features at brief talk by a local UCLA Health physician followed by a 45-minute walk. Physical therapists will lead warm-up and cool-down exercises.

All ages and walking speeds, strollers and dogs on leashes are welcome.

Attendance is free. To preregister, visit www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/westlake-village.ca.

Ventura

Residents can apply for positions

Ventura residents are welcome to apply for city council advisory board and committee volunteer positions.

Applications are available at www.cityofventura.net/involved/advisory or from the city clerk's office, Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St., Room 204. The application deadline is 5:30 p.m. Sept. 6.

Applications can be turned by email to cityclerk@cityofventura.net, or by fax to the City Clerk's Office at 641-1046, by mail to the City Clerk's office P.O. Box 99, Ventura, CA 93002, or hand-delivered to the city clerk's office.

For more information, call 658-4787.
TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Joy Northridge swings her dress as she takes part in the annual Sea Breeze Dance at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

SHARE TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Diane Schreiber spins around the dance floor during the annual Sea Breeze Dance at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks on Sunday. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Round dance cuer Gus Defore calls out moves for the dancers during the annual Sea Breeze Dance at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks on Sunday. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Barbara Brown and Otis Rogers take part in the annual Sea Breeze Dance at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks on Sunday. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR People take to the dance floor during the annual Sea Breeze Dance at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

By Michele Willer-Allred, Special to The Star

Think square dancing is "square?"

Think again, say the dancers who came out Sunday for the annual Sea Breeze Dance held at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks.

About 200 showed up from Ventura and Los Angeles counties and beyond.

"It's definitely not 'Hee-Haw' here," said Bill Armstrong, co-president of the Thousand Oaks-based Buckles and Bows club, along with his wife Nancy.

Buckles and Bows is one of three active and growing square dance clubs in Ventura County. The other two  the Boots and Slippers and the Happy Squares  are based in Simi Valley. Together, the three clubs have about 500 members.

Bill Armstrong said he is seeing a "renaissance" of square dancing, which is traditionally made up of four couples, or eight dancers, arranged in a square.

"Square dancing in the 1970s and 1980s was really popular, especially among younger people," said Bill Armstrong, 70. "They all started raising families, but now that their kids are grown, many of them are coming back to dance."

Buddy Weaver, 55, who began calling square dances 39 years ago, said empty nesters are flocking to the hobby.

"With their spouses, couples are looking for something they can do together," said Weaver, a third-generation caller from San Diego who helped call Sunday's dance.

He said much has changed since he began square dancing as a teenager  especially the music. Dancing is no longer done exclusively to country western or folk music.

"Music has changed with the times," he said. "We use a wide variety of music from different genres. Music is digital now."

At a typical dance, Weaver alternates square dances with round dances, a type of choreographed and cued ballroom dancing, and he calls to pop songs from modern artists such as Bruno Mars and Maroon 5.

Simi Valley resident Dick Hodenfield, 76, who started calling square dances 44 years ago, said there are even a couple of rap songs in square dancing.

His wife, Gayle, 75, dressed in a traditional square dancing dress with petticoat, but she said traditional clothes are no longer required or expected.

At Sunday's dance, Thousand Oaks residents Mike and Lorraine Newlon, both 69, opted out of traditional attire and wore matching Hawaiian shirts.

Danielle Fisher, 20, of Simi Valley, started square dancing with her grandparents when she was younger. She has been dancing for nine years.

"It's so much fun. You mess up, you laugh, and you go back into it. There's no pressure," said Fisher.

Evan Ball, 27, of Winnetka, said everyone is welcome, no matter what their age. He said he sometimes gets strange looks from his friends when he says he square dances, and he worries it might die out because younger people have other interests and don't want to give it a chance.

Ball is trying to convince his peers to take lessons. Most local groups begin classes in September.

"They think it's not going to be fun," he said. "But all I say is take two classes, and you'll commit to it for the rest of your life."

For many dancers, like Simi Valley residents Paulette Clemens, 70, and her husband Terry, 74, square dancing is about having fun and working out, both mentally and physically.

Soo Jin Place, 53, of Oxnard, started square dancing with her husband Hall, 60, who square danced back when he was a youngster in school. They said it's the social aspect of the dance that keeps them coming back.

"A lot of people think it's square, but when you start doing it, it's really, really fun," said Soo Jin Place.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

Thousand Oaks: Buckles and Bows, Mike and Lorraine Newlon, www.bucklesandbows.org, 491-2556.

Simi Valley: Happy Squares, Jim and Donna Overall, www.happysquares.com, 522-1455.

Simi Valley: Boots and Slippers, Bob and Glenda Hamburg, www.bootsandslippers.com, 526-3130.
SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO Oxnard City Clerk Daniel Martinez is not seeking reelection after 23 years in office.

By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star

After serving as Oxnard's city clerk for 23 years, Daniel Martinez has decided to begin a new chapter in his life.

The city clerk, tasked with managing the city's records and coordinating local elections, is an elected official in Oxnard. Martinez, who is up for reelection in November, had pulled papers to run but instead issued a statement on Friday saying he will leave office and will continue to be involved in the community.

"Given the many changes in the climate and culture in City Hall, I have decided to pursue other interests," Martinez said in a statement.

When asked what he meant, Martinez said there are changes in the city he's not comfortable with.

"I'm not totally comfortable with the policy changes and philosophy I see here. Especially when you look at the goals and policies," he said. "I see some differences between the goals and policies of the City Council and the city manager's office. I see some conflicts there."

Martinez did not elaborate further.

The city is experiencing an unusually large number of departures on the eve of the election season. Councilwoman Dorina Padilla and Treasurer Danielle Navas have also chosen not to seek reelection. Navas is resigning in September, two months before her term expires.

Other leaders are also leaving the city. Fire Chief Bryan Brice resigned last month, Chief Finance Officer David Millican resigned earlier this month and Police Chief Jeri Williams will leave for Phoenix to lead their police department in October.

Martinez said he will be available to help his successor in the transition process.

A native of Oxnard with deep roots in the community, Martinez, 58, is interested in documenting local history. His relatives have been living in the Oxnard area since the late 1800s. Martinez said he plans to contact the Ventura County Historical Society about doing research on Oxnard history. He said he might even go back to school to receive a history degree.

Martinez said he's also interested in real estate, construction and architecture, areas that he had wanted to pursue but never had time because of his duties as clerk.

"I'm at that time in my life when it's a good time to do that. If I don't do it now, I don't know when I'm going to do it," he said.

Martinez said he'll miss being a city clerk and enjoyed helping the public with their records requests and helping them navigate City Hall.

"It's a very exciting job," he said "You never do the same things every week."

Martinez is active with the local Kiwanis Club, sister cities program and American Legion and plans to continue being involved. But he said the first thing he'll do after his term expires is do something he hasn't done in a long time  take a vacation.
SHARE Contributed photo Patrick Shefflette, 87, has gone missing from his home on Dunbar Drive in Oxnard. Oxnard Police are asking for the public's help to find him.

By Staff Reports

An Oxnard man who was reported missing Monday afternoon was reported found shortly before 11 p.m.

Oxnard police were asking for the public's help Monday night to find an 87-year-old man who walked away from his home about 3:45 p.m.

Police said Patrick Shefflette was last seen at his home along the 5400 block of Dunbar Drive wearing a white and green jacket, a white shirt and red and gray plaid pants.

He is about 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds and has gray hair and blue eyes.
MIKE HARRIS/THE STAR Jarrod DeGonia, chairman of the Simi Valley Community Foundation, obtained a six-month lease extension for the Under One Roof project from the Simi Valley City Council Monday.

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By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star

The Simi Valley City Council voted 4-1 this week to extend the lease for the long-planned Under One Roof facility for nonprofits despite a related criminal investigation into a possible embezzlement.

The Simi Valley Community Foundation, which is overseeing the project, announced in July that it had uncovered potential evidence of "financial malfeasance" and turned it over to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say they are investigating a possible embezzlement from the foundation, a nonprofit umbrella group for local charities.

Even so, the Simi Valley City Council on Monday night extended the $1-a-year lease for the city's Development Services Building, where the Under One Roof facility will be housed, for six months. The facility is intended to house local civic, health and human services nonprofits to better serve their clients and the community. It currently is unoccupied.

The extension will give the foundation more time to demonstrate that it has secured funding for the project, a requirement of the lease, which the council initially approved in August 2013. The foundation said it couldn't make this month's deadline to do so.

Jarrod DeGonia, chairman of the foundation's board, has declined to say whether missing the deadline had anything to do with the possible financial malfeasance.

The City Council extended the lease over the strong objections of Councilman Keith Mashburn.

"Here we have alleged criminal activity going on and we're being asked to extend the lease," said Mashburn, the sole dissenting vote.

Mashburn said he favored letting the lease expire this week and wait for the results of the District Attorney's investigation. If no crime was committed, or if the crime is limited in scope, the foundation could then reapply for the lease, Mashburn said.

But Councilman Steve Sojka said letting the lease expire would "send the message that we don't have confidence in" the foundation.

"I'd hate to kill any momentum, or kill (the project) completely. A lot of years of hard work" have gone into the project, which is an important one for the community, Sojka said. Mayor Bob Huber said the project has been in the works for at least eight years.

A condition of the council's extension of the lease is that the foundation provide it with monthly financial reports.

"We have a historic record of not receiving reports," Mashburn said.

Councilman Glen Becerra told DeGonia that the council "needs to see very significant" progress on the project in the next six months for it to continue to have the body's support.

Mashburn also complained that the foundation didn't inform the council directly about the investigation.

"When did the investigation begin and why weren't we notified?" he asked. "I feel slighted I didn't know about it."

DeGonia replied that he can't comment on an ongoing investigation. "I don't have a lot of information," he said.

Though he voted to extend the lease, Huber said the investigation is "a cloud hanging over" the project. Even so, "I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater," he said.

DeGonia said he was pleased with the extension.

"We're thankful for the council's trust to allow us to move forward with this," he said. "A lease extension allows us the opportunity to develop a strategy ... on how we continue the capital campaign."
TRIPOLI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Monday it was appointing a five-member caretaker committee to run the country's $67 billion sovereign wealth fund.

The Government of National Accord said in a statement that the committee should not dispose of Libyan Investment Authority assets and should protect the fund's rights and follow all legal cases it is involved in.

The committee will be led by Ali Mahmoud Hassan Mohamed, the statement said. It did not list either of two rival chairmen of the fund among the committee's members.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Larry King)


Murray SawChuck aka Celebrity Magician started Christmas early this year with decorating his Christmas Tree down at Opportunity Villages Magical Forest along with his guest act Douglas Lefty Leferovich.

The park opens a little early than usual this year and with Murrays tour schedule they decided to buzz down and do it today!

Murray said, Christmas is my favorite time of year and if you can start celebrating sooner bring it on! Opportunity Village is such a great charity to support and to give back to this community is what I have always been about!


Smiths Food & Drug Stores wants to make sure the valleys most vulnerable residents and animals stay hydrated.

Smiths Nevada grocery stores are donating a collective 5,040 gallons of water to Southern Nevada charitable organizations at 10 a.m., Aug. 18 at the Smiths store located at 4600 E. Sunset Road. Organizations that will be picking up pallets of water include Three Square Food Bank, The Shade Tree, Salvation Army of Southern Nevada, Westcare, U.S. Vets, Nevada SPCA, Las Vegas Rescue Mission, Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.

The Valley has been extremely hot this summer, and agencies are stretched to help those who are living without enough water. We hope this contribution will help to get them through the tough weather, said Marsha Gilford, vice president of public affairs for Smiths.


Rio Spa & Salon will host its Seventh annual Cut-A-Thon to benefit Locks of Love. Tresses donated during this annual charitable drive will be used to create high-quality wigs and hairpieces for children undergoing chemotherapy, suffering from alopecia areata or recuperating from scalp burns.

Generous guests who donate at least 10 inches of hair will receive a complimentary blunt cut and a 30 percent discount on any additional styling or coloring treatments offered at the salon.

Guidelines allow permed or color-treated hair; however, bleached and highlighted tresses are not usable. Donors may also bring in ponytails that have been previously cut at other locations.
Nepalese trucks and buses form a line of slowly moving traffic on the Dhading Highway, some 16km west of Kathmandu, Apr 3, 2005. (Photo: AFP/Devendra M Singh)

The bus was heading from Kathmandu to the town of Kavre, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the capital, when it plummeted some 500 metres down a slope.

"At least 25 people have died in the accident," Bhim Kanta Sharma, the deputy district chief of Kavre, told AFP.

"Rescue workers are still recovering bodies but rain is making their work difficult. We cannot ascertain the final toll right now."

Sharma said an army helicopter had airlifted 26 of the injured to Kathmandu for treatment and another 13 were taken to hospital by ambulance.

Accidents are relatively common on Nepal's highways because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving, and death tolls running into double figures are frequent.
In a recent proposal submitted to the Government, the Ministry of Finance said businesses making less than VND20 billion (US$893,000) in revenue per year would enjoy the lower tax rate for four years, from January 1, 2017.

This was among the incentives included in a draft resolution of the National Assembly on tax measures to help domestic business improve competitiveness as Vietnam integrates into the global economy.

The ministry expects this policy to benefit some 430,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or 86% of 500,000 SMEs operating nationwide.

The tax reduction will help us save hundreds of millions of dong annually, and we will use this amount to invest more in human resources and product development, said Tang Van Khanh, director of the investment firm K&G Vietnam.

Khanh told Vietnam Television (VTV) that this was important for his company, which was meeting financial difficulties four years after its establishment.

Tong Quang Huy, director of the paper company Hai Tien, told the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) that SMEs were facing obstacles in production and distribution. With the tax reduction, they would have more resources to expand.

Supermarkets are seeing fierce competition from foreign retailers. We are very glad about a tax drop, Ta Minh Son, who directs Tu Son supermarket in the southern province of An Giang, told VTV.

Le Thanh Man, deputy general director of the trading firm Nguyen Hue in An Giang, told the television It is good that the authorities see the point. Such a policy is likely to stimulate business growth and efficiently growing businesses will foster tax development.

Pham Dinh Thi, head of the ministrys Tax Policy Department, said SMEs with annual revenues of up to VND20 billion currently contribute a combined VND2.46 trillion to the State budget.

When the corporate income tax is slashed to 17%, State budget revenues will decline by some VND473 billion a year.

We see such a tax cut as reasonable in the current context. It will create certain motive for enterprises to develop while not affecting the State budget, which is bearing burdens, Thi said.

The ministry said the corporate income tax had already been sharply cut over nearly two decades. It was 32% in 1999, 28% in 2004 and 25% in 2009, before falling to 22% in 2014 and 20% this year.

The current level is significantly lower than a rate of 30% in the Philippines and 25% in China.

A law on supporting SMEs, which is being drafted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in October, defines SMEs as companies making less than VND100 billion in revenue per year.

Despite this, the finance ministry said corporate income tax should only be given to firms making less than VND20 billion in annual revenue in order to avoid a significant decrease in budget collection.

It said budget collection could drop by VND1.5 trillion each year if the 17% tax was applied to businesses making less than VND100 billion in annual revenue.

Tax is not the main point. It is important for us to make sure the business environment is equal for enterprises to compete healthily, Thi said.

Official data indicates SMEs contribute some 46% to Vietnams gross domestic product and 31% of all tax revenues, employing 60% of the countrys workforce.
Citi was lauded by Euromoney for its enthusiastic tide of innovation and ideas, taking Citis Treasury and Trade Solutions innovation lab in Singapore to demonstrate that its brainy ideas can hit critical mass and pointing out that the staid world of cash and trade is enlivened now by discussions of robotics, predictive analytics, distributed ledger technologies and digital identity solutions.

Euromoney also highlighted that Citi is doing the basics right  Greenwich surveys put Citi in front for domestic and international cash management in the region, while from a bottom-line perspective an impressive level of cross-selling success has helped the transaction services business hit nine consecutive quarters of year-on-year revenue growth, and 10 of margin growth.

Some of the other achievements highlighted by Euromoney include the Citi Direct BE mobile solution, which saw $425 billion transactions in Asia, as well as the liquidity management team growing cross-border structures by 180 per cent year-on-year during the review period.

Amol Gupte, head of ASEAN and Citi Country Officer for Singapore, who ran Citis Treasury and Trade Solutions business in Asia Pacific from 2012 to July 2016, accepted the award on behalf of Citi at the recent awards dinner in Hong Kong.

We are honoured to be recognized by Euromoney for our excellence in transaction services, he said. Winning this accolade speaks to the strength, stability and continued potential of our business and our people. We will continue to leverage our global scale, deep Asia roots and country expertise, innovative solutions and product capabilities to serve our clients every day with excellence.

Citi also won the global and Latin America awards for Best Bank for Transaction Services. For the Asia region, Citi won the Best Bank in Markets as well as the Best Investment Bank in India and Singapore.

Euromoney magazine was created in 1969 to cover the re-emergence of the international cross-border capital markets. Their benchmark surveys and awards show how participants are rated by the industry, and help readers find the institutions best placed to handle their business. Their award decisions are made by a committee of senior journalists, chaired by Euromoneys editor, following the receipt of detailed submissions from market participants and extensive year-round research into the banking and capital markets in the region by their editors, journalists and research team.
The e-commerce development plan for 2016-20 targets 50 per cent of consumers switching from cash to other forms of payment.- Photo nld.vn

The target has been set after factoring in the rapid increase in online shopping and electronic banking.

However, the plan acknowledges the need to significantly improve network security to convince residents to switch from cash.

E-commerce turnover $10b by 2020

The Government has set targets of 30 per cent of the population shopping online and spending US$350 a year each and business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce turnover increasing 20 per cent to $10 billion, or 5 per cent of the country's total retail and services turnover.

Besides, all supermarkets, shopping malls and convenience stores will accept credit cards.

Around 70 per cent of telecom, electricity and water service providers will accept online payments from customers.

Importantly, 50 per cent of consumers in big cities will use non-cash payment services.

The Government also expects 100 per cent of public services and all bidding to be online, with the contract implementation process published in the national bidding website.

Chiefs of several banks said the target of getting 50 per cent of residents in large cities to use non-cash payment methods would be achieved soon since online banking services like mobile banking are booming.

According to the E-Commerce and Information Technology Department, as of last year 48 million people were using the internet and 35 million had smart phones.

The E-commerce Index report showed that last year 27 per cent of smart phone users shopped using their phones and mostly paid through bank accounts, while 45 per cent of smart phone users searched for shopping information more than once a day.

Viet Nam is now among the top five fastest growing smart phone markets and one in which mobile payment technologies are developing rapidly.

A significant growth in the card market also represents a growing non-cash payment trend.

So far 45 banks have launched SMS banking and internet banking and 25 others have launched mobile banking.

According to statistics from the Viet Nam Banking Card Association, 82 million cards had been issued by the end of 2015, 90 per cent of them ATM cards.

Along with the number of cards, the value of payments made using them has also increased sharply.

Huynh Trung Minh, a banking expert, disagreed with the bank executives, saying: "The target of 50 per cent of people switching from cash is very hard to achieve because of poor infrastructure, limited legal framework, cash habit, and [the fact that] some shops even charge a fee if customers pay by card.

"If the Government would like to boost non-cash payments, besides investing in infrastructure, it has to be the biggest non-cash customer and provide public services with non-cash payments."

Convenience but safety first

Economists said the potential of e-commerce using e-banking is huge if user can feel secure about making payments.

"E-commerce enterprises have not paid enough attention to mobile commerce," Nguyen Dinh Thang, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Computer Association, was quoted as saying on the Government's website.

At least 11.3 million customers have ordered on their phones so far, but only 15 per cent of websites have a mobile version.

Meanwhile, consumers remain worried about the quality of goods they buy online and security.

The 2015 E-commerce Index pointed out that the infrastructure and services have not met the demands of online payment.

Besides, while banks have issued dozens of millions of cards, most merchants are in big cities.
Accordingly, MWG will open its first mobile phone and electricity houseware store in Cambodia in 2017, creating a fundamental for opening a retail chain in the future, according to newswire Cafef.vn.

In addition, MWG will issue numerous strategies to control its market shares in mobile phone and electric houseware retail in the domestic market, as well as retain its development speed from previous years.

Notably, MWG will also pilot its e-commerce website named Vuivui.com. The website will not make profit for the company in the short-term, however, the management board expects that it will contribute 10 per cent to the companys total revenue by 2020.

In addition, developing the Dien may Xanh mini chain, which has an area of 300-400 square metres per store instead of the 800-1,000 at its general stores, is considered MWGs latest strategy to extend its market shares in mobile phones and electric houseware trading in the domestic market. The Dien may Xanh mini chain will penetrate suburbs and rural areas.

MWG currently has over 900 outlets across Vietnam, including 800 thegioididong.com stores and over 100 Dien may Xanh shops. In 2015, the company broke into the Billion Dollar Club when it attained roughly VND25.3 trillion ($1.15 billion) in revenue and VND1.076 trillion ($49.13 million) in profit. Looking ahead, Dien may Xanh is expecting to celebrate its presence in all 63 cities and provinces of the country, becoming the electronics retailer with the widest network coverage.

The stout growth of Dien may Xanh will assist MWG to stride forward even quicker, in a bid to achieve its goal of $1.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2016.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) shake hands during a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall. (AFP/Natalia Kolesnikova)

"Step by step we are getting closer to the situation in which - and I'm only speaking about Aleppo here - we will be able to begin battling together so that there is peace on this territory," Shoigu told Rossiya 24 television.

In the interview conducted on Saturday but shown only on Monday, Shoigu said Moscow was in "active" negotiations regarding the city, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control.

But in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration. "We have nothing to announce at this time," Trudeau told AFP.

"We speak regularly with Russian officials about ways to strengthen the cessation of hostilities, improve humanitarian access and bring about the conditions necessary to find a political solution to this conflict," she added.

Shoigu acknowledged that Moscow and Washington were still deeply at odds over the situation in Aleppo, accusing rebels of holding civilians hostage and waging brutal suicide bombings.

"In the eastern part of Aleppo, people are hostages," he said, accusing the rebels of planting bombs along escape routes established by Russia and of staging executions.

He blasted accusations that Moscow has imposed a blockade on rebel-held areas, calling them "untrue" and "propaganda".

Shoigu said suicide attacks by rebels have included loading an armoured vehicle with explosives and welding it shut. "That's moderate opposition? Who is this?" he said.

"There are many issues there that we are yet to decide on with our American colleagues," he said of Aleppo. "We are now in a very active stage of negotiations with American colleagues."
Customers make transactions at the Maritime Bank. SBV said that the bank is conducting its business according to normal standards. - Photo cafef.vn

The central bank made the announcement to reassure customers following rumours related to Maritime Bank's operations, which had a negative impact on the banking and finance market.

Based on its investigation, the SBV affirmed Maritime Bank was conducting its business according to normal standards and its liquidity was ensured.

The central bank urged depositors to remain calm and assess rumours by closely following official announcements released by the relevant authorities.

Earlier, Maritime Bank Chairman Tran Anh Tuan had sent a letter to his staff saying all operations of the bank were in line with State regulations, noting the bank had been seeing positive growth when pursuing set strategies.
Republican candidate for President Donald Trump holds a campaign event at the Kilcawley Centre at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. (AFP/Jeff Swensen)

The Republican nominee, who is tanking in the polls following weeks of self-inflicted disasters, made his pitch to be a security strongman as the Democratic vice president accused him of imperiling the lives of Americans.

"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we faced at every age," said Trump in Ohio, a battleground state considered essential to winning the US presidential election.

His foreign policy address marked the latest attempt by the Trump campaign to get their maverick candidate back on message as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton surges ahead in the polls.

Watering down his highly contested assertion that Barack Obama and Clinton created the so-called Islamic State extremist group, Trump said IS was "the direct result of policy decisions" made by the president and former secretary of state, referencing chaos in Iraq and Libya.

He claimed the extremist group, which is the target of US-led air strikes and Special Forces operations in Iraq and Syria, was "fully operational" in 18 countries and had "aspiring branches in six more."

The real-estate tycoon and former reality TV star promised to end the US policy of "nation building" and called for a "new approach" in partnership with foreign allies to "halt the spread of radical Islam."

Trump vowed to work "very closely" with NATO, sidestepping previous criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after saying that a Trump presidency would not automatically leap to members' defence.

TEMPORARY SUSPENSION

"I have previously said NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats, very good," he said.

Trump said he believed the United States could find "common ground with Russia" in the fight against IS - a claim bound to do little to silence critics who accuse him of being soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said his administration would "aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS", another name for IS, and be a "friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East."

At home he demanded new immigration screening, saying that the perpetrators of a series of attacks in the United States - including the September 11, 2001, hijackings, the 2013 Boston bombings and the recent mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub - involved "immigrants or the children of immigrants."

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he ventured, promising to temporarily suspend immigration from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world" that export terrorism.

"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting."

On the home front he also proposed setting up a "commission on radical Islam" which would include "reformist voices in the Muslim community" to root out jihadist networks and stop radicalization of young Americans.

MANAFORT ALLEGATIONS

But Vice President Joe Biden, who on Monday hit the 2016 campaign trail with Clinton for the first time, trashed Trump as unqualified for the White House and accused him of endangering the lives of US troops.

Biden's folksy demeanor and ability to connect with working-class voters is considered an asset for Clinton particularly among blue-collar white male voters who lean toward her Republican rival.

"No major party nominee in the history of the United States of America has known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump," said Biden.

Trump's accusation that Obama and Clinton created the Islamic State group had imperiled the lives of US troops, Biden said.

"If my son were still in Iraq and I say to all those who are there, the threat to their life has gone up a couple of clicks," he said.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that corruption investigators in Ukraine say an illegal, off-the-books payment network earmarked US$12.7 million in cash payments in 2007-2012 for Paul Manafort, now Trump's campaign chairman.

Manafort denied any wrongdoing, saying he had "never received a single 'off-the books cash payment,'" or worked for the governments of Ukraine or Russia.
Vietnam Airlines expect to achieve Category 1 rating under the United States Federal Aviation Administration.- Photo

Thanh said his firm had been preparing this plan for 10 years.

The carrier has focused on improving service quality synchronously and has invested in facilities with wide-body fleets of the new-generation Airbus A350-900 and Boeing B787 Dreamliner.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAA), to launch direct flights to the United States instead of going via a stopover, Viet Nam will have to achieve Category 1 rating under the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

CAA has been working with inspectors of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Viet Nam in an international aviation safety assessment programme. ICAO is the United Nations' technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommends practices for aircraft operations and maintenance.
Decades of grievances come to a head in Milwaukee after police shooting


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Sokhon Uy was sent to Battambang during the Khmer Rouge-ordered evacuation of Phnom Penh in 1975, a few days after she gave birth to her youngest daughter.

Nobody knew what was going on; we were required to leave the city and were supposed to return home just three days later, but it turned out not to be true, she said in a recent interview, wiping away tears as she recalled the traumatic events on that Spring.

She lowered her voice.

I am saddened that Cambodia has lost so many people  we used to have lots of scholars. Its such a great loss. I want to urge the young generation to learn and remember this tragedy, so history can never be repeated.

Both of Uys children and her husband were killed during Pol Pots rule.

Between 2011 and 2014, the Khmer Rouge tribunal sponsored radio programs aimed at spreading awareness o the trauma inflicted on the generation that lived through these years of hardship by offering on-air counseling to survivors.

Now, with the support of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, the radio shows are set to relaunch, this time with a focus on women living under the regime, and the impact of sexual and gender-based violence, both historical and contemporary.

The programs launched on Monday.

Sarath Youm, the project manager with the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, said the shows would feature guest speakers including legal experts, civil society members, psychologists, as well as women who have survived gender-based violence.

This radio program is such an important platform for providing opportunities to victims to express their problems and experiences that happened during the Khmer Rouge regime, he said.

I encourage the victims to have the courage to join us and let their stories be heard.

Under Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime, millions of Cambodians were ordered out of the cities to work in the countryside and isolated from the world. Private property, currency and religion were abolished in place of rural collectives organized by the party.

Suphany Oum, author of Under the Drops of Falling Rain, a fictionalized memoir based on her diaries, said that during the evacuation of Phnom Penh the most unforgettable, miserable memories I cannot dismiss from my mind were the excessive forced labor, executions and starvation.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday called on a group of high school students to vote for his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party in upcoming elections in a speech where he also announced a large donation to the school.

The premier was at the school as part of a nationwide tour intended to drum up support for the CPP ahead of local commune elections next year and a general election slated for 2018.

In Tuesdays speech he encouraged the Bun Rany Hun Sen Bati high school students to tell their parents they should vote CPP.

Are you old enough to vote yet? Who will you vote for? Right, you are studying at [my] school. Who else would you vote for? he said.

Frankly speaking, they [the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party] have not done anything. When you vote for them and ask for a school building but they dont provide one, what will you do? Please also tell your parents, he added.

Yim Sovann, a CNRP spokesman, said he was confident that the voting public would see through attempts to influence their choice.

I still have trust in people that they will give fair consideration in choosing the countrys leader through elections, he said.

Koul Panha, director of election watchdog Comfrel, said while it was normal for politicians to campaign for their parties, the use of state resources to do so was questionable.

If this is done, we should also share the states resources with other political parties to carry out such activities, he said.

Thats why its not transparent. Only the ruling party uses the state properties for political campaigning.

Sok Eysan, a CPP spokesman, said the expenses for trips such as the current country tour Hun Sen has embarked on are separate from the state coffers.

They are separate, not mixed together. There are documents to note down these expenses, with no mistakes, he said.

Hun Sen announced his country tour in July, while the CNRP has been less active in campaigning ahead of the local elections.

Its leader, Sam Rainsy, went into self-imposed exile last year fearing arrest, and its deputy leader, Kem Sokha, has barely left the partys Phnom Penh headquarters since an attempt to arrest him was made in May.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump outlined his policy for fighting terrorism during a campaign stop Monday in Ohio. Trump claimed his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would be unable to prevent terrorist attacks or defeat Islamic State militants in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Clinton campaigned in Pennsylvania with Vice President Joe Biden, who praised her experience and accused Trump of jeopardizing America's security. Zlatica Hoke reports.
The United Nations is condemning an attack Monday by the Saudi-led coalition on a hospital in Yemen that local health officials report has left 18 people dead and another 18 wounded. The rural hospital in northwestern Yemen was supported by the charity, Doctors Without Borders.

The attack on the Abs Hospital in Hajjah governorate is the latest of more than 70 health centers that have been damaged or destroyed since March 2015.That is when the Saudi Arabian coalition, an ally of Yemen's government, entered the civil war to prevent a takeover by Houthi rebels.

U.N. Human Rights Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told VOA many of these health facilities have been deliberately targeted.

"I know that both sides have been responsible.In some cases, there has been the use of medical facilities for military purposes as well," she said.



The World Health Organization reports 73 patients were in the hospital at the time of the bombing.They included 23 patients in surgery, 25 in the maternity ward, as well as 13 newborns and 12 patients in the pediatric ward.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said all remaining patients and staff have been evacuated from the hospital that was partially destroyed.

"Hajjah governorate is already suffering from serious disruption of health services delivery and shortages of medical staff has continued, ground fighting led to closure of health facilities and departure of medical personnel," she said. "... Hajjah hosts the largest number of IDPs [internally displaced persons] in the country.

In addition to the loss of lives and health workers, she added, "the cessation of the hospital will further deprive access to essential health services among the conflict affected population."



U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for a prompt, effective and impartial investigation into the attack.He notes hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law.
Airstrikes near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have killed at least 14 militants and wounded 11 others, Pakistan's military said late Tuesday.

The air and ground operation targeted a remote valley in the Khyber tribal district and destroyed nine hideouts, army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said.

An operation has been launched along the Pak-Afghan border to reinforce troop deployment in [the] Rajgal Valley to effectively check and guard against terrorist movement along high mountains and all-weather passes in Khyber Agency, he said.

Khyber is one of Pakistans seven semiautonomous tribal areas along the Afghan border. They have long been condemned as safe havens for militant and criminal networks blamed for terrorist attacks on both sides of the frontier.

Pakistani authorities, however, say that counterterrorism operations in recent years have dismantled the terrorist infrastructure in the mountainous region, and troops have lately focused on securing the 2,600-kilometer porous border.

Suicide blast

Pakistani security forces have stepped up counterterrorism measures, including "intelligence-based" operations around the country, following the August 8 suicide bombing of a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta. The attack killed 74 people and wounded many more.

A splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban known as Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility.

Officials allege the group operates out of Afghanistan and has links to intelligence operatives of the neighboring country, charges Kabul rejects.

For their part, authorities in Afghanistan maintain that leaders of the Afghan Taliban are sheltering in Pakistan and directing insurgent attacks from the other side of the border.

The mutual allegations are at the center of tensions in bilateral ties historically marred by mistrust and suspicion.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing a challenge from one of the country's former leaders, as his administration tries to fend off allegations of corruption over misusing a multi-billion dollar development fund.

Former leader Mahathir Mohammad, who served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, has left the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) party and created a new political party aimed at uniting opposition to Najib Razak's leadership.

The party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, or Bersatu (United), is led by a former UMNO deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who himself was sacked by Prime Minister Najib after Muhyiddin challenged him over his role in the state owned 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund.



Investigations in Singapore and the United States, through the U.S. Department of Justice, have focused on charges that over $3.5 billion had been diverted from the 1MDB fund that Najib set up in 2009. The revelation has caused a political firestorm in Malaysia, but the prime minister has so far been able to outmaneuver challengers looking to unseat him for his role in the controversy.

The prime minister claims he is innocent saying the funds were properly used and were a "genuine donation" from Saudi Arabia.



Malaysia has been ruled by the United Malaya National Organization (UMNO) led coalition  Barisan National -- since elections after independence in 1959. Mahathir dominated Malaysias political landscape until he stepped down in 2003.



But in the past year as the IMDB controversy unfolded, Mahathir publicly called for the prime minister to step aside. When Mahathir was unable to convince the UMNO party to oppose Najib, Mahathir then quit the UMNO, leading him to back an opposition party.



William Case, a political scientist at City University in Hong Kong, says Mahathirs move increases pressure against Najib.



It is interesting at least that the former Prime Minister (Mahathir) has taken this next step. He began with something called Citizens Declaration, and then morphed into the Save Malaysia Movement and yet hes gone on and he is instrumental in the founding of a new opposition party  indeed if it is finally registered, Case said.



The Bersatu (United) party has been endorsed by Anwar Ibrahim, the imprisoned de facto leader of Malaysias opposition, currently facing a five year jail term for sodomy -- charges supporters say were politically motivated. The party has also drawn support from the pro-Malaya Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) -- which Mahathir has sharply criticized in the past as being anti-Islam and anti-Malay.



Andrew Aeria, associate professor at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, says Bersatu in hopes to appeal to UMNOs traditional Malaya or Bumiputera base may alienate Chinese Malays, key supporters of the DAP.



Many of these people in [Bersatu] are all UMNO members  they have jumped ship but they come with a certain mindset  and that mindset is a very ethnic mindset. So they are trying to reframe or recreate the Barisan National [coalition], Aeria said. The professor said whether the party can overcome those differences remains to be seen.



In the meantime, Prime Minister Najib is facing several international challenges over the alleged misuse of the development funds. In the United States civil lawsuits hope to seize $1 billion of assets from the 1MDB fund that were transferred into the U.S. through shell companies.



But analysts say Najib still remains confident of weathering any international investigations with the help of key supporters, including the governor of the central bank.

James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia, says the international investigations pose bigger problems for Najib than his political opponents at home.



My take is its not going to be a threat to [Mr] Najib for the simple reason, if you look at recent political history there has been similar attempts when a senior UMNO person has come up and established a similar party to try to challenge UMNO. Both of them were not successful and I suspect Mahathirs Party will along the same path  that he will not be successful, Chin said.



Malaysia is slated for new elections by 2018. But analysts say Prime Minister Najib may look to call snap polls sooner, and as the best-funded candidate who retains the backing of the powerful ruling party, he is likely positioned to keep his leadership post, despite the ongoing controversy.
Austrian police say there are no signs of terrorism links after a mentally ill man launched into a stabbing rampage on a train in western Austria Tuesday.

According to police, the man, identified as a 60-year-old German national, appeared mentally unstable as he attacked two people on the train near the village of Sulz.

"The man did not have a migration background. He is by all accounts mentally ill and we are largely excluding a terrorist act," police spokesman Horst Spitzhofer told the French news agency, AFP.

The attacker was headed to the city of Bregenz when he frantically began stabbing two teenagers. The first, a 19-year-old was stabbed in the stomach and back, while the other, a 17-year-old had his throat slashed.

The attacker was eventually subdued after a brief struggle with police when the train pulled into a station.

Police said both the victims had been taken to the hospital.

On Saturday, a similar knife attack on a train in Switzerland left one person dead and five more injured. Police said they had ruled out any connection between the two incidents.
The son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman may be among the half-dozen men abducted by a squad of gunmen at a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities in the western state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, earlier said that 10 to 12 men had been kidnapped from the upscale restaurant, based on the confused nature of the evidence at the crime scene.Some women who were with the abducted men at the restaurant weren't taken, and one person who had been dining with the group left just moments before the abduction.

But prosecutors later clarified in a statement that six men were abducted by a squad of seven armed assailants.

Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told Radio Formula that "it is presumed," though not yet certain, that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was among the kidnapped men.

Experts say Ivan Archivaldo assumed control of parts of his father's business after he was re-arrested in January.

Authorities have been taking fingerprints from the scene, viewing video images and checking identifications related to five vehicles  some luxury models  left behind by the victims at the restaurant.

Almaguer said "several of them [the victims] had false identities," which complicated efforts to determine who they were.

He said the abduction was the work of a "criminal group" that operates in the area, and while he would not identify the gang by name, the largest group operating in the state is the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

The Jalisco cartel has grown quickly to rival Guzman's Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexico's drug gangs.

Experts say there could be other reasons why someone would want to kidnap the younger Guzman. Ivan Archivaldo had reportedly been running roughshod over allies in his father's business.

Meanwhile, the city's tourism promoters scrambled to reassure tourists that the kidnapping was an isolated incident and that activities for visitors continued without interruption.

Almaguer told a news conference Monday that the victims "were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities ... they were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume."

Almaguer said two SUVs carrying five gunmen arrived around 1 a.m. at La Leche restaurant on Puerto Vallarta's main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone lying between the old beach city and the airport.

He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and the group that was targeted appeared to be celebrating, according to other people in the restaurant. Authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates but a false registration.

Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst, said that while Jalisco New Generation controls the area, it would be possible for another group to enter the city.

Hope also called it odd that a group of alleged cartel members would be taken without a shot being fired.

"It's a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didn't have any security," Hope said.

Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said on his official Twitter account that such violence would not be tolerated.

"To the residents and tourists of Puerto Vallarta, I inform you that we have reinforced security so that you can go on as usual," Sandoval wrote.
Gabon's main opposition parties chose former foreign minister Jean Ping as their candidate in an election Aug. 27 against President Ali Bongo, who is standing for a second term.

Ping, age 74, is considered one of Africa's foremost diplomats. He has served as chairman of the African Union commission and as president of the U.N. General Assembly.

"I understand the gravity of the task I have been given," Ping told thousands of cheering supporters in Libreville. "I won't disappoint you."

Ping has an unusual history for an African politician. His father was a Chinese businessman who came to Gabon in the 1930s, married the daughter of a traditional chief and grew rich trading goods including timber and seafood.

Ping came to wealth and prominence as an ally and protege of Omar Bongo, the father of Ali Bongo. But he fell out with the son and resigned from the ruling party in 2014 to become a vehement government critic.

He faces an uphill task in a contest with Bongo, who came to power and won an election in 2009 when his father died in office after 42 years in power.

Bongo retains institutional advantages accrued over the decades his family has held power as well as a close connection to France, the country's former colonial power, which plays a significant role in the country's economic life.

The opposition says the one-round electoral system also favors the president, who is known locally as "Bongo fils," or Bongo junior. The government denies this.

With the state machinery and entrenched patronage networks behind him, Bongo and his Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) are likely to win the election, even though a slump in global oil prices has hurt the economy and slashed revenue in Gabon, one of Africa's leading oil-producing nations.

With a GDP per capita around $10,000 a year, Gabon is substantially richer than most sub-Saharan African countries, but frustration over wealth inequality and political rivalries could spill over into unrest in this election.

Opponents have sought to discredit Bongo, in some quarters by casting doubt on whether he is really Gabonese or an adopted child from eastern Nigeria, a charge he has vehemently denied.

Addressing a rally Saturday for the opening of Gabon's electoral campaign, Bongo responded to the allegation, saying: "the burden of proof rests on the one who makes the accusation."

"The truth of the matter is they are afraid ... because they don't have a good program," he said.
Up to a million people are trapped in the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul. As Iraqi, Kurdish and tribal forces close in, men, women and children are expected to come flooding out. Protecting them will be one of the largest, most complex humanitarian operations in the world.

Kurdish forces are approaching from the east, pushing their front line into ISs backyard. Iraqi forces are edging up from Baghdad north toward Mosul, slowly taking village after booby-trapped village as coalition jets bomb IS targets.

People are already desperately trying to flee the fighting.

Numerous atrocities

According to the United Nations, IS last week captured some 3,000 people trying to escape the fighting south of Mosul. Some are being used as human shields. Some were shot, others blown up, and there are reports that IS burned some alive.

The incident took place near Hawija, just east of the corridor laid out for the thousands expected to flee the looming battle for Mosul.

Families that have managed to escape villages around Mosul are filling up camps to bursting, as humanitarian agencies rush to build more, creating bleak landscapes of off-white tents and grey concrete blocks.

Adding to their misery is suspicion. Civilians previously fleeing IS were considered victims; the people of Mosul have been living under IS for more than two years and are seen by some as collaborators.

Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said humanitarian agencies are working to do everything possible to protect the civilians still in Mosul.

"We are doing in depth, detailed planning with the military and civilian authorities," Grande told VOA.

Competing interests

Conflicting political objectives of the Baghdad government, the Kurdish Regional Government, and the pro-Sunni former governor of Ninewa, where Mosul is located, have complicated the operation.

"The unstable relationship [between] the central government in Baghdad and the local government will have a main role in creating conflicts," one Iraqi analyst with a local non-governmental organization working on Mosul told VOA.

"The conflict between the political parties on power [sharing] will also have a negative role on social integration after the liberation of Mosul," the analyst said, asking to remain anonymous.

Iraqs complex political and military divisions mean that the area around Mosul has been "divided" into four quadrants through which civilians would have to travel. Each has its own mix of military and civilian authorities, and its own unique and specific protection issues.

In quadrant one, a crescent moon-shaped area to the east of Mosul, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga are the military authority, and the Kurdistan Regional Government is the civilian authority. The KRG has already said it is going to control the movements of those fleeing the violence into this area, so displaced families will be screened, then likely restricted to specific camps.

In quadrant two, a triangle to the northwest of Mosul, the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga again are the military authority, while the Government of Iraq is technically the civilian authority. It is unclear how these two authorities will coordinate.

Myriad protection issues

In quadrant three, a rectangle west of Mosul headed towards Syria, is an area currently under IS control, but is expected to be an active military zone. Civilians fleeing in this direction will most likely be IS supporters, or those fearing revenge killings by Shiite militias taking part in the fighting. Protecting these civilians will be difficult.

In quadrant four, a long thin strip following the Tigris River south towards Tikrit, the Government of Iraq will be both the military and civilian authority. Up to 400,000 civilians could use this route to escape the fighting, but authorities are expected to separate the men and boys for security screening at Qayyarah, creating a possible bottleneck.

"Each quadrant, depending on who is in control and what the circumstances are, will have their own specific safety and protection issues that the civilians are going to have to face, and we are going to have to try and help the civilians overcome," Grande said.

"Right now, as part of our planning, we are discussing arrangements with the Government of Iraq, the Iraqi security forces, the Kurdistan Regional Government, multiple ministries, and four Governors and their administrations," Grande added.

There also is the question of the Hashd al Shaabi, an umbrella group of Shi'ite militias.

The Hashd al Shaabi have been accused of illegally interrogating, and torturing and executing Sunni males during the recent military operation in Fallujah. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi has said the government is investigating, but some 1,000 men remain unaccounted for.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, major Iranian-backed Shiite militias are already seeking to formalize their participation in operations in northern Iraq. The US-led coalition, Kurdish and Ninewa officials likely will resist letting Shiite militias to deploy in the area out of fear of sectarian reprisals.

"There is a huge amount of work going into getting the Hashd al Shaabi to play an appropriate role," said a Western diplomat familiar with the planning process. "Any kind of retribution, any form of retaliation that is outside the judicial process will make reconciliation that much harder. It is clearly unacceptable."

Lacking resources

Some officials say there is simply not enough money available to provide food, water, shelter, medical, and sanitation needs for the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children expected to quickly flood into the region and be stuck there, likely for months.

The U.S. and international donors have raised roughly $590 million for the entire humanitarian effort across Iraq. With Mosul expected to add another million to the already 3.3 million displaced in the country, some aid officials believe that is simply not enough.

The Iraqi analyst agreed that the expected refugee situation will require substantial international support, but criticized UN agencies for wasting resources. "The lack of good coordination between all the international NGOs also causes repetition of distribution of relief items to one area, while in other areas there is no distribution," he said.

No one is willing to predict how the military operation in Mosul will play out, or even how the civilians living under the IS extremists will react.

Grande says the UN is asking authorities to do everything possible to protect civilians, control the flow of people leaving Mosul, use military tactics that will result in the fewest number of casualties and ensure that civilians are screened humanely by appropriate authorities.

Yet even if those points are heeded, the assault on Mosul ultimately presents a horrific choice: a fast moving military attack that could potentially cause high casualties or a careful, drawn-out siege, in which tens of thousands could face starvation.
Iranian forces killed three men allegedly linked to the Islamic State group Tuesday in a border town near Iraq, Iranian media reported.

The men were reportedly found hiding in a house in Kermanshah province, about 60 miles from the Iraqi border. Iranian forces also arrested six men accused of sympathizing with IS and seized belts armed with explosives and a weapons cache, Kermanshah province Governor Asadollah Razani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi told Iranian media that forces had killed an instrumental IS member and had prevented an IS cell from infiltrating from Iraq.

A mountainous area bordering Iraq, Kermanshah has a largely Sunni Kurdish population and a history of insurgency against Shi'ite Iran.

IS members are generally Sunni and view Shi'ites as heretics. From their bases in Syria and Iran, IS has been reaching into Iran, analysts say.

'Major enemy'

IS has some interests in Iran and considers it as a major enemy, said Paul Pillar, an analyst and 28-year veteran of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The demography of the region, which has been a base for insurgency in Iran, plays an important role within and prepares a good seedbed for IS to pursue its aims in this area.

Iranian officials say IS militants have been targeting the country in recent months as Tehran has ramped up its military presence in both Iraq and Syria.

On Tuesday, Russia and Iran announced that Russian bombers have begun targeting IS in Syria from a base in Iran. The attacks also center on Syrian rebels battling the Syrian regime. Iran has sent elite forces to Syria in defense of the Syrian regime and helped Syrian troops gain a foothold against rebels.

The Tehran-Damascus-Moscow axis victory over IS and other rebels in Syria has made the insurgents angry, so they try to retaliate, using all means, said Mohammad Majeri, a Tehran-based scholar and analyst. With their declining power in the region, IS and its allies have no other choice but to launch terrorist attacks here and there.

Terror cells

Although IS has become weaker in Syria and Iraq from both U.S-allied assaults and Russian-led strikes, IS continues to spread terror cells throughout the Middle East and Europe.

IS wants to show that it is not limited to Syria and Iraq and can launch attacks beyond these geographical territories, Pillar said.

Iranian authorities say security forces have clashed with terrorist groups in recent months and have thwarted plots on the border and within the country, arresting several operatives and confiscating large amounts of explosives and bomb-making materials.

Iranian authorities last week executed 20 Kurds at the Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj for their alleged links to IS and other Sunni extremist groups.
Lined up along the wall of what used to be a living room, a dozen children  some as young as 10  are focused on their computer screen, trying to make an animated cat come alive electronically.

"How will the cat move? We are going to program it to move," their teacher tells them.

A few clicks, and the orange animal is walking across the screen.

The one-story house in Ivory Coast is home to the Baby Lab, a play on words with "Babi," Abidjan's nickname. The lab aims to bridge the digital divide in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, Abobo.

The lab was created two years ago by IT engineers who also volunteered to teach, explains Obin Giako, one of the co-founders.

"Digital technology is still reserved for the elite. We think it belongs to everyone," Giako said. "It is something everyone should master  especially coding, which is the language of the 21st century."

Similar fab labs, or fabrication laboratories, have opened up across the continent, including in nearby Burkina Faso, Togo, Mali and Senegal.

The Baby Lab received donations from a French bank and the French government to buy computers, but it remains mostly self-funded.

Outside, a pile of old computer parts, keyboards, and motherboards sit in a corner.

The philosophy of the lab is the circular economy in that nothing is wasted; everything can be transformed.

Standing by a table, IT engineer Ghislain Dessieh picks apart a hard drive.

The hard drives he is dismantling are broken and cannot be repaired, Dessieh says, unveiling the finished product  the hard drive standing straight on a table, and two clock hands in the middle of the round-shaped, shiny part of the drive.

The clocks will be sold to help finance the Baby Lab.

The lab wants to inspire children to think creatively and work together  hence, computer frames are piled up to make tables; keyboard keys are turned into bracelets; and storage cans are converted to low-cost CPU containers.

At a nearby table, 12-year-old Awa Traore is fiddling with a screwdriver, swiftly assembling spare parts as another child looks on. In about five minutes, she has assembled a small electronic car.

When the pre-teen walked into the lab last year, she had little knowledge of electronics. She has no computer at home.

Awa Traore says she learned to create a website using HTML and learned electronic music. Someday, she says, she wants to be an IT engineer and teach electronic music to children around the world.

The next step, Giako says, is to create a regional platform in order to collaborate with other French-speaking fab labs.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir is leaving it to parliament to decide whether to accept or reject a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of 4,000 foreign troops to the country. The United Nations Security Council on authorized the additional troops Friday.

The U.S.-drafted resolution also threatens an arms embargo if South Sudan does not accept the deployment.

The troops would be sent to the capital, Juba, and authorized to use all necessary means, including undertaking robust action where necessary, to enforce their mandate.

Kiir says his government will negotiate with the international community to ensure the countrys sovereignty is not comprised.

In a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Kiir Sunday, South Sudans cabinet failed to agree on a response to the United Nations resolution.

Kiir told lawmakers Monday that the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) will vote on the matter but did not say when.

President Kiir said if the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, and the U.N. send troops to South Sudan to secure peace in the capital, it should be done in consultation with his government.

Assistance requires dialogue. It should not turn into an imposition that becomes to an intervention in which our sovereignty is compromised and our ability to govern effectively diminishes rather than increases, Kiir said.

He also said certain government officials who have commented on the matter are not necessarily expressing the views of his government.

The president said he worries about the dire humanitarian conditions facing citizens across the country.

I always have a sleepless night and spend every moment of day thinking about South Sudan child in the village," he said. "I think it is the duty of this house because all the members, it is now your turn to talk to these people to come out from the POCs and go back to their villages. There is nothing they are doing there.

A South Sudanese legal expert says the U.N. resolution to send an intervention force to South Sudan will help the country solve the political instability in the country.

Remember Miamingi, a professor in the law department at the University of Pretoria, said the U.N. has a good track record of restoring law and order in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and it would behoove South Sudanese officials to cooperate with the U.N. to avoid a backlash from the international community.

The government is reacting to a situation that is absolutely not what is being described. Lets look at Sierra Leone in 1999," he said. "It was a mandate in terms of peacekeeping, but also a mandate of peace building.

Miamingi said Sierra Leone had 17,500 peacekeeping troops which supported the national elections as well as security sector reforms.

The new force, to be made up of troops from African countries, will bring the total U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan to about 17,000, which will be the largest in the world.
On a busy road in Kosovo, brand new signs have been put up ahead of a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, showing the 35-km route in the southeast of the small Balkan nation that has been renamed after his late son Beau.

Naming streets after U.S. officials is becoming something of a tradition in Kosovo, whose population is mainly ethnic Albanian and which considers the United States its savior since 1999 NATO airstrikes halted killings by Serbian troops.

Beau Biden worked in Kosovo after the 1998-99 war ended, helping train local prosecutors and judges for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The former Delaware attorney general died in 2015 of cancer. He was 46.

"If it hadn't been for the help of America, all Albanians would have been expelled, no one would be left here," 54-year-old Naser Sojeva said in the village of Sojeve, where Biden and his wife Jill will on Wednesday take part in a ceremony to dedicate the road to Beau.

"If I see Biden on Wednesday, I will tell him: 'Thank you for what you have done for us'," said Sojeva, who worked for 12 years as a civil contractor at a U.S. military base and rents out a shop to a local businessman selling souvenirs and U.S. flags. "We owe them so much."

There are avenues in the Kosovo capital Pristina named after former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and many more celebrating U.S. politicians and army generals throughout the country of 1.8 million.

The United States keeps a few hundred troops in Kosovo from the thousands in the early years after the war. Many in the mainly Muslim, overwhelmingly secular country which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 see their presence as important to preserve peace.

"We still need U.S. support. We are where we are now thanks to the help of our friends and we need their help to go further," said 37-year-old government worker Bejt Bejta.

The welcome is likely to be more chilly in Belgrade, which Biden visits on Tuesday. Resentment is still high over the NATO bombings of the city in 1999, still visible in the city center with the shelled out former Defense Ministry buildings.

When Kosovo declared independence, the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade was set ablaze in a fire that killed one person.

Biden is expected to push both Serbia and Kosovo to do more to speed up EU-mediated talks to normalize their relations, a condition for Serbia in its European Union accession talks.

While an ultra-nationalist party is calling on social media for Serbs to take part in a protest in Belgrade against Biden's visit, there are no such qualms in Kosovo.

"The North Atlantic alliance led by the United States saved Kosovo from exodus, extinction and destruction," Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
A wave of arrests in Mauritania have landed anti-slavery activists behind bars.

Authorities arrested at least nine activists between June 29 and July 3 and denied them access to their families and lawyers, according to Amnesty International.

The activists are part of the Initiative for Resurgent Abolition Movement (IRA), one of the main organizations that have shone a spotlight on the persistence of slavery in Mauritania.

They were arrested following a protest against the forced removal of a group of about 20 Mauritanians who had been living in a shantytown on the outskirts of the capital, Nouakchott, and were relocated by security forces to a more remote area. The protests over relocation became violent and resulted in injuries to demonstrators and members of the security force and damage to property.

The government hasnt officially responded, and the Mauritanian Embassy in Washington didnt respond to VOAs request for comment on the arrests. However, one of the governors of Mauritanias capital, Mahy Ould Ahmed, said the IRA arrests were provoked by a movement known for its extremism, according to Reuters.

The people removed are of a darker-skinned ethnic group who have historically been discriminated against in the country, according to Sadibou Marong, Amnesty International's West Africa press officer.

Marong said the land was private and did not belong to those who were living there, but unconfirmed reports said Mauritanian officials were trying to clean up the capital in advance of hosting an Arab League summit this month.

He said the jailed activists have been held incommunicado, and "even the family members dont know" where they are. We are calling for the government of Mauritania to free them."

Marong said the anti-slavery activists are being targeted as troublemakers by security forces, even though they are only exercising constitutionally protected rights of freedom of expression and association. The longtime repression of these people "has started to really become violent ... and we are calling on the Mauritanian government to stop that.

Awarded in U.S.

The IRA's president, Biram Dah Abeid, and vice president, Brahim Bilal Ramdane, who were not among those arrested, were recently invited to Washington by the U.S. State Department. They were awarded the Trafficking in Persons Heroes Award on June 30, 2016.

Biram Dah Abeid has been arrested several times in the past for fighting slavery. He told his story from Aleg prison in Mauritania last year, saying: In the past five years, I have been imprisoned three times. I have been locked up during key events of my adult life, including the birth of my daughter. I celebrated my 50th birthday behind bars on 12 January 2015.

Siikam Sy, a member of the board of directors of IRA-USA, said he is concerned for the safety of the activists. He said Mauritanias heavy-handed approach is counterproductive to addressing the issue of modern slavery.

The government is making a huge mistake by aiming or seeking to basically decapitate IRA-Mauritania, when in fact what it should have done is look at IRA-Mauritania as a partner in ending slavery, he said. We continue to demonstrate, and each one of those demonstrations is met with unbelievable violence from the police. We will continue because we think this is a human rights issue.

He pointed out that although the organization is recognized and supported around the world, it is not recognized in Mauritania itself.

The fact is that you can still buy and sell human beings in Mauritania, and this is backed by facts on the ground, he said. On one side you have a government that denies, denies, denies, and on the other side you have the IRA that will continue to push so that the government could take tangible steps toward eradicating, eliminating the practice of slavery in Mauritania.
Authorities in the Midwestern U.S. city of Milwaukee expressed cautious optimism Monday night about lowered tensions following two nights of protests in response to the killing of a black man by a police officer.

"It's not a situation where we're saying everything is great, but, again, up to this point the signs have been very encouraging for tonight," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.

The city's police chief, Edward Flynn, said there were some heated confrontations Monday and that officers made "half a dozen" arrests.

Officials also imposed a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers to be off the streets.

The protests began Saturday after the killing of 23-year-old Sylville Smith. The first night was the most violent and left at least six businesses destroyed. Sunday saw more demonstrations, but not at the same level, with an 18-year-old being shot during the protests and several police officers injured.

Flynn has said Smith ran from a car after it was stopped for what authorities described as suspicious behavior. The chief said after running several meters Smith pointed his weapon at an officer before the 24-year-old policeman, who is also black, fired his gun.

Mayor Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera during the altercation and the video will be made public "at the appropriate time." He said he saw a still image that showed without question that Smith had a gun in his hand.

Smith's sister, Kimberly Neal, told The Associated Press the family wants prosecutors to file charges against the officer.

Milwaukee's police department was also the subject of protests in 2014 after an officer killed a mentally ill, unarmed black man.

The city has a population of about 600,000 people, nearly 40 percent of them African-Americans who are heavily concentrated on the north side of the city.
City officials in the Midwestern U.S. city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have imposed a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers in the wake of two nights of rioting after a black man was killed by police Saturday.

"Parents, after 10 o'clock, your teenagers better be home, or in a place where they're off the streets," Mayor Tom Barrett said at a news conference Monday. He also said that officials had spoken to the city attorney's office to be prepared in case they decide a "more widespread curfew" is needed.

Barrett made the announcement as tensions remained high and police were out in force while the National Guard was on standby and ready to move in if necessary.

The Milwaukee Police Department said that an 18-year-old man was shot during the protests Sunday, and an armored vehicle was used to take him to a hospital. But there was no repeat of the widespread destruction of property that occurred Saturday, when at least six businesses were torched and destroyed.

Officers ordered people to disperse Sunday, and reported having rocks and other objects thrown at them, with four law enforcement personnel injured. The department also said 14 people were arrested.

Saturdays protests

Similar protests erupted Saturday, after an officer shot a 23-year-old black man who police say pointed a gun at the officer.

Police Chief Edward Flynn says 23-year-old Sylville Smith ran from a car after it was stopped for what authorities described as suspicious behavior.

The chief said Smith ran for several meters, then pointed his weapon at the officer before the 24-year-old policeman, who is also black, fired his gun.

Video exists

Mayor Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera during the altercation, and the video will be made public "at the appropriate time."

Barrett said a still image from the video "demonstrates, without question, that he had a gun in his hand. And I want our community to know that."

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker activated about 125 members of the state's National Guard and placed them on standby in case of further violence, but they were not called in to help Milwaukee police.

Smith's sister, Kimberly Neal, told The Associated Press the family wants prosecutors to file charges against the officer.

Previous concerns

Milwaukee's police department was also the subject of protests in 2014 after an officer killed a mentally ill, unarmed black man.

Last December, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was conducting a review of the department. The listed objectives of the probe included assessing efforts to recruit officers representative of the Milwaukee community, use of force practices, and how officers are trained in conducting traffic stops.

Milwaukee has a population of about 600,000 people, with nearly 40 percent African-American  many of whom are heavily concentrated on the north side of the city.

Smith's shooting happened in the Sherman Park neighborhood in north Milwaukee. Residents there say the city has been unresponsive to their needs.

Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents Sherman Park, says Milwaukee's black residents are "tired of living under this oppression."

Rainey said he does not condone violence, "but nobody can deny that there are racial problems here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that have to be rectified."
The August heat stifles Ozone Park, a religiously and culturally diverse community in Queens, a New York City borough just 16 kilometers southeast of lower Manhattan.

Every few minutes, a roaring A train passes overhead on Liberty Avenue, pausing any casual conversation. Then, it's mostly silent again.

On Saturday, on the sidewalk beneath the subway tracks at Liberty and 79th streets, someone opened fire on two Muslim men  Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and associate Thara Uddin, 64  killing both of the Bangladesh immigrants before fleeing the scene.

"Neighbors, friends, everybody is shocked," explained Main Uddin, joint secretary of Al-Furqan Jame Mosque, where Akonjee led prayer daily. It's three blocks from the murder site.

"Everyone likes him. He doesn't have any enemies," Uddin said. "He prays five times a day here and then he goes home."

Two days after the shooting, Uddin continues to relive the moment in his head. He had just prayed with Akonjee at 1:30 p.m. They finished at 1:45, like every other day, and went their separate ways.

"When I got home," he said, "somebody called me, The imam is shot. Somebody shot the imam.'"

Fahim Opu, one of Akonjee's neighbors and a regular at the mosque, said sadness doesn't begin to describe his feelings for the imam, a teacher he called "very gentle."

"Sad, fear, everything. I am scared right now," Opu said. "In the daytime, you are not secure in this neighborhood."

Opu lives in a three-story brick building just a block from the mosque, beside a mini market on 77th Street. As he spoke to VOA, a Muslim woman in a headscarf pushed a shopping cart, passing a young boy on a hoverboard. A white woman peeked down at the sidewalk from her balcony.

Ozone Park, Opu explains, is at times peaceful, with occasional robberies at night.

But Norman, a Yemeni-native resident and mini-mart employee, says the fact that the killing took place in broad daylight is "what makes everybody crazy."

"All the time you have to worry about something," he said.

Awaiting answers

Authorities on Monday charged 35-year-old Oscar Morel of New York with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Police indicated that the shooting may have resulted from a dispute but have not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.

Still, Muslim residents worry about whether the killer was motivated by religious hatred, and they fear future incidents.

"I don't want to say we're getting used to" hate crimes, explained Asad Ba-Yunus, a representative of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York, "but the idea of people doing things to our houses of worship, whether it's throwing feces or sometimes firing bullets  has become a much more frequent thing."

Ba-Yunus, who attended a Sunday afternoon prayer in Flushing, Queens, told VOA the shooting has had a chilling effect on Muslims everywhere.

"While we can't necessarily say that this shooting in particular was a hate crime, or related to Islamophobia or anything like that, there's a strong sense in the community that it probably was, just because of the climate," Ba-Yunus said. "That's our first concern overall."

Community response

As the city's Muslims mourn the deaths of Akonjee and Uddin, organizations such as the Islamic Leadership Council are urging Muslim residents to be more vigilant around the mosque and their surroundings.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral gathering Monday, called for justice for the killer of Akonjee and Uddin.

Online, volunteers set up a GoFundMe page to assist the victims' families, which reached nearly $30,000 in donations in one day. Additionally, non-Muslims nationwide joined in solidarity using the Twitter hashtag #IllWalkWithYou, vowing to walk alongside Muslims to and from their houses of prayer to help ensure their safety.

Meanwhile, at Al-Furqan, worshipers hope to fill a void left by an imam they describe as a man of peace and a good teacher. Main Uddin says it is their responsibility to keep the doors open, while honoring the man who led them.

"He says, Just pray, we are Muslims. We have to show the people how we are.' So, peacefully, we have to practice our Islam. That's it," Uddin said.

Outside the building, a faded sign welcomes worshipers.

"In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, The Most Beneficent," it reads in both Arabic and English. Once emblazoned in bright red, white and blue, it still offers a message for everyone to see.
Chinas capital, Beijing, has announced plans to open up full legal residence to more Chinese from other towns and cities around the country. The new points system will create a much-needed window for millions of Chinese who have left their homes in rural parts of the country to work in Beijing.

But analysts say the plan is likely to only benefit a selected few.



Late last week, the municipal government in Beijing finalized a points system for household registration, or hukou as it is called in Chinese. Starting next year, migrants in Beijing can apply for hukou -- an upgraded residency status, which ensures citizens access to public services in the capital, such as health care and schools, if they meet the criteria.



Applicants under the age of 65 and with no criminal record must own local residency permits and have paid social security premiums in Beijing for seven consecutive years. Their employment, accommodation, educational background, skill level, tax payments, and credit records, among others, will be converted into points under the new scheme.

On an annual basis, the city government will earmark a total required point total as the threshold to grant hukou as it aims to cap its population at 23 million by 2020. Beijings population is already estimated to have exceeded 21 million  more than London and New York City combined, but nearly half of those residents are migrants who do not have legal residence in the city.



The new scheme could add an additional barrier to stop migrants from flooding into the city, although the impact of the curb may be limited, analysts said.

Transparent, yet unfair



They added that the new points system may be transparent enough to make the citys much-coveted hukou less of a backroom deal, but it is still heavily skewed toward high-end talent. That, they argue, will not only hurt the citys development as a balanced economy, but also put socio-economically-disadvantaged migrants in a much more difficult situation.



Before [the new regulation], I think it [was] not very clear  a black-box. But right now, its that, you know, whether youre qualified or not. But those criteria are, to a migrant worker, [out] of the reach, said Wu Xiaogang, a professor of social science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).



In particular, the under-educated population in Beijing faces an unfair opportunity. It will be hard for the low-end labor force to accumulate enough points to obtain a hukou in Beijing, said Hu Xingdou, an economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, adding that much of the citys regulation such as house rental policies has already been unfriendly to lowly-paid blue collars.



Citing experience from Shanghai and Guangzhou, Lu Yilong, a sociology professor from Renmin University, argued that only the top one percent of applicants will likely be awarded with hukou, that is, a small window for the selected few.



Yet the new scheme may swamp the city government with millions of applications a year, which will surely impose a burden on its coffers, Lu warned in an emailed reply to VOA.



The professor said access to top-quality higher education is the Holy Grail behind hukou in top-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai. If equal opportunity is addressed, the pressure of gaining a hukou in Beijing will be much alleviated, he said.



While some Beijing drifters look forward to competing for a hukou, the majority, nevertheless, responded to the new household system with indifference.



It gives you hope that, if you work hard and earn enough points, you can become a Beijinger. But the hope will never come true, a Weibo user commented.



Another user sneered at the high bar for Beijing citizenship and asked shall those who cant meet the [new] bar have their existing household permits revoked?



Migrants to stay



All in all, Wu of HKUST said that the new scheme will do little to reduce the migrant population if it still offers job opportunities they cant find back home. In other words, Beijing will continue to suffer worsening congestion and pollution if the local government fails to ease population numbers.



Many argued that the best cure doesnt lie in the capital city, but in the nations efforts to develop many of its second-tier cities, where growing job opportunities will naturally attract the flows of migrants.



But the Beijing governments mindset to attempt to keep the low-end labor force out shows a lack of vision to build Beijing into a balanced economy, where there should be room for all walks of life to prosper, professor Hu said.



Otherwise, the cost of living in Beijing will greatly surge, he warned.
Ukrainian efforts to stamp out tax evasion and corruption among public officials in line with commitments to the IMF hit a setback Monday when a new online income declaration system flopped at launch.

Under the new system, some 50,000 senior civil servants will initially have to declare all their earnings and list property and other assets electronically  an attempt to root out entrenched corruption in state institutions.

In theory, the new system would make the revenue and property holdings of officials, such as villas, open to scrutiny online.

The IMF, whose credit programs are vitally needed to support Ukraine's debt-laden economy, has been delaying disbursement of $17.5 billion until Ukraine cleans up its act.

But when launch moment arrived, it was announced that the system had failed to get security certification from Ukraine's communications oversight body, indicating it was flawed.

"The electronic declaration system worked today, but sadly so far only in a testing mode," Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said, promising it would be launched in full as soon as possible.

Anti-corruption watchdogs were quick to point out that officials could register any figures they liked with impunity in the new system since it had no valid status until it had been certified.

This "effectively allows further illegal lies in declarations from officials," the head of Transparency International Ukraine, Yaroslav Yurchishin, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Ukraine's hopes for a visa-free regime with the European Union also hinge on the success of its efforts to eliminate graft.
Authorities in New York said Monday they have charged a Brooklyn man with second-degree murder in connection with the killing of an imam and his friend as they left a mosque.

Police had already arrested 35-year-old Oscar Morel on Sunday. The new charges also include criminal possession of a weapon.

The 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his associate 64-year-old Thara Uddin were shot at close range on a city street as they left afternoon prayers on Saturday.

Authorities have not commented on a motive for the shooting.
Like Noah in the Bible, American photographer Joel Sartore is collecting animals to save them, but instead of placing them in an ark, hes taking their pictures. The goal of his Photo Ark project, which is supported by the National Geographic Society, is to photograph some 12,000 animals that are vanishing because of hunting, habitat loss and climate change. Sartore started the project in 1995, and 11 years later, he has passed the half-way point in capturing images of his subjects.

In an email interview with VOA, the freelance nature photographer, who constantly travels, recalls it was a book about birds he got as a teenager that started him thinking about the animals in danger of disappearing. The story of a North American wild pigeon driven to extinction by hunting and habitat destruction especially had an impact on him.

Martha was the very last passenger pigeon, in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, Sartore said. She died in 1914, and the species went from billions to none. I couldn't get over that. Still can't.

Over the years, Martha remained on the back of his mind.

But I never dreamed I'd be meeting face to face with other species like frogs, birds and even rhinos that are down to the last of their kind, he said. But that's exactly what's happening now, and I feel like I've got to do something to turn things around, while there's still time to save species.

Some he will never see again, like the last Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, native to Washington State, which he photographed just before she died.

Sartores riveting photos show animals who appear to be staring at you and resemble humans posed in a photography studio against a stark white or black background.

Most of these Photo Ark shoots last just a few minutes, he says, during which time I hope the animal glances back at me and makes eye contact. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, that's exactly the connection I'm hoping to make.

Some are easier to photograph than others.

Favorites are tortoises because they don't move much and so they're easy to focus on. he explained. Much less fun are mustelids [weasels, mink, ferrets, etc.] because they NEVER stop moving. They're curious, hyper and always looking for something new. They especially like to nose the front of my lens, which makes them even blurrier. They're having fun, but I'm not.

A global photo safari for survival

From the project's humble beginnings at Sartore's local zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska, the photographer has now traveled to more than 40 countries for Photo Ark. He believes the animals most at risk are in Asia and Africa because of rampant human overpopulation.

Recently, while in the West African countries of Gabon and Cameroon, he saw raging problems with habitat destruction from logging, farming and poaching due to overpopulation.

In Cameroon, he searched for the Cross River gorilla and the goliath frog.

Never saw the frog, he said, they had all been caught and eaten by local people and we saw just one of the gorillas, in a rehab center.

He said the people are so hungry that they eat animals they normally wouldnt.

We also didn't see any birds bigger than a sparrow, he explained. They'd all been shot. People are now even killing and eating the bats there, which used to be taboo in many cultures. Hunger overwhelms the superstitious, it seems.

Sartore hopes his photos will encourage people to take steps to save the animals, half of which, he predicts, could become extinct at the turn of the next century.

I hope the public will finally stop and pay attention to the fact that we're all in this together, he said. There's still time to save the majority of species on the planet, but we must care, and act now. As other species go extinct, so could we.

Sartore, who is 54, hopes he will be able to finish his project. If not, he has a backup plan  his eldest son, now 22, who helps him out on some shoots, has promised to continue his mission.
U.S. Asia experts who served in past Republican administrations said on Monday they would back Hillary Clinton in the presidential race as a Donald Trump presidency would lead to "ruinous marginalization" for the United States in the region.

In an open letter, the eight former senior officials said that with global strategic competition growing, including from China, it was "absolutely the wrong time to elect an unstable, ill-prepared amateur with no vision or foresight to meet the manifold challenges of the 21st century."

They said the Republican nominee offered "only bluster or preposterous panaceas" for Asia that would "wreck our country's credibility, economy, and leadership in very short order."

The signatories to the letter included Michael Green, who served as President George W. Bush's top Asia adviser at the White House, James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, and Patrick Cronin, a former senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Should Trump get the chance to put his "nostrums" into practice, Asian countries would be forced to shift towards states challenging the United States, most notably China, and some might seek security through nuclear weapons, the former officials said.

"In short, if the Trump brand ... becomes America's brand, we can expect ruinous marginalization in Asia and unwanted compliance with rules which the Chinese and other challengers set," they said.

Their letter was the latest repudiation of Trump's candidacy by Republican national security specialists.

Last week, 50 former Republican national security officials, including a former CIA director, called Trump unqualified to lead and said he would be "the most reckless president in American history."

Trump responded to that statement by deriding the signatories as members of "the failed Washington elite" who "deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place."

Trump has caused alarm in Asia and beyond by saying he would consider letting Japan and South Korea build their own nuclear weapons, rather than have them relying on the United States for protection against North Korea and China.

While making U.S. allies anxious, Trump has also irritated Beijing with his comments, such as by comparing the U.S. trade deficit with China to rape. One Chinese state newspaper equated him to Hitler.

At the same time, Beijing also sees Trump as a businessmen with whom it could probably negotiate and may also hope he would be less tough on human rights than Clinton.
Human Rights Watch has called on nations that will confer in Geneva this month on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to condemn the use of air-dropped incendiary weapons in civilian areas in Syria.

The New York group said Tuesday that the joint Syrian-Russian military operation had used incendiary weapons at least 18 times in the past nine weeks, injuring at least 12 civilians.

The rights group said it had reviewed photos and video taken at the time of the attacks between June 5 and August 10. Witnesses and first responders reported civilian injuries in five of those attacks.

HRW said local activists, human rights organizations, first responders and media organizations had reported the use of incendiary weapons at least 40 other times that could not be verified through photographs and video footage.

Incendiary weapons produce fire through chemical reactions, causing painful burns that are difficult to treat and starting fires that are difficult to extinguish, the rights group said.

It also said more than a dozen countries had condemned or expressed concern about the use of incendiary weapons in Syria since 2013.

The international treaty on conventional weapons includes a protocol condemning use of incendiary weapons. Russia is among the 113 parties to that protocol. Moscow has acknowledged past use of incendiary weapons in Syria, but has not commented on the most recent allegations of their use.

Syria has not joined the protocol despite international calls to do so.

The Geneva discussions about the convention will begin August 29.
By using a base in Iran to carry out airstrikes against militants in Syria, analysts say Russia is not only cutting flight time and saving fuel, but also deepening an alliance with Iran in joint support of the Syrian regime.

The move further sends a message to the United States and the West, analysts add, that Russia intends to continue expanding its influence beyond Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union.

"By strengthening their influence and their role in the Middle East, they do two things," analyst Martin Reardon of the Soufan Group  a New York organization that provides strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinational organizations  said of the Kremlin leaders.

"One, it shows the world that they are, in fact, a re-emerging global power. Second, it also offsets U.S. efforts moving back toward the Cold War era, when the U.S. and Russia were playing against each other for influence," said Reardon, a former senior FBI official.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video Tuesday showing two supersonic Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and one SU-34 strike fighter landing at Iran's Hamedan air base after a mission in Syria. Russian authorities said their airstrikes eliminated five major weapons depots, training compounds and command posts for the al-Nusra Syrian rebel group and Islamic State extremists.

Threat to Russia

The Kremlin says its attacks on militants in Syria are necessary because the Islamic State group, relying on thousands of fighters who come from Central Asia, poses a threat to Russian security. Tehran, which contends IS has been aiming at Iran in recent months, said its forces killed three people linked to IS in a border city Tuesday.

Until now, Russia's airstrikes inside Syria have been contained in Syrian territory. In addition to Russia's first use of a third-party air base for its military action in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, this week's action also marks the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution that the regime in Tehran has allowed a foreign power to use an Iranian air base.

"This is an important development," said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and the Jamestown Foundation in Washington. "I cannot remember any other state since 1979 having been given basing permission by Iran. It brings Russia into Iran like we have not seen before.

The official line is that it provides Russia with a backup option and less anxiety about potential anti-air missiles in the hands of the Syrian rebels that can target Russian assets based inside Syria. But as I said, it is a bigger story than just that. Russia is moving closer to the warm waters of the Persian Gulf."

Long history of involvement

Iran and Russia have been militarily involved in the Syrian conflict for years. In 2012, Iran began quietly sending its elite Revolutionary Guards to aid the regime of Syria's Assad in its struggle against rebels. Later, Iran's proxy fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah joined in the ground battles, especially in the suburbs of Damascus. Iran has increasingly made its role in Syria public by saying it is defending a key Shi'ite shrine.

Russia, meanwhile, sent its military aircraft to Syria in September to carry out raids  first against rebels and later against Islamic State strongholds. Their presence created an uneasy detente, with the U.S. and Western allies conducting separate air raids against IS targets.

Russia also has been conducting long-range bombing missions against targets in Syria from its base at Mozdok in the north Caucasus, nearly 2,000 kilometers away. Using Iran's air base cuts that distance to less than 700 kilometers.

U.S. officials said Russia had given advance notice of its flights from Iran. A spokesman for the United States and its coalition partners fighting against the Islamic State group and other extremists in northern Syria, Colonel Chris Garver, said Russia "did notify the coalition. ... They informed us they were coming through."

Some analysts in Moscow see the deployment to Iran as an indication that Russia is intensifying its military involvement in Syria.

"Flying from Iran will cut the distance by two-thirds and enable Russia's bombers to carry up to 22 tons of ordnance," said Constantine Assiokuve of Moscow's Academy on Geopolitical Affairs.

The chief of the Russian Federation Council's defense committee, Viktor Ozerov, said the shorter flying distance would increase the accuracy of Russia's airstrikes, and the route will allow pilots to avoid advanced ground-to-air missiles in the Syrian rebels' arsenals.

Clear message to U.S.

Moscow and Tehran have been discussing the possibility of the deployment for many months, according to Iranian media reports.

In January, Moscow and Tehran signed a military cooperation deal for wider collaboration in personnel training and counter-terrorism activities. Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Iranian counterpart, Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, signed the document during a visit by Russia's top brass to the Iranian capital.

"Russians proposed this idea [a] few months ago and it was discussed with the Iranian authorities back in December 2015," said Babak Taghvaee, a Russian military expert based in Malta. "But due to unknown reasons, it was rejected until this July."

Some analysts say Russia could have safely continued bombing targets in Syria from Russia.

"Placing Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers in Hamedan certainly shortens the distance," said Blake Fleisher, a policy analyst with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. "But it's hard to believe that shortening the distance is the only reason."

Kapil Komireddi, an international affairs analyst based in Britain, said the latest developments are "a clear message to Washington that all decisions are not necessarily made in [the] White House. ... An alliance with Moscow, and letting the Russians use its bases, is a clear message from Tehran that it will do whatever it takes to serve its interests in the region."
Russias use of an Iranian base to launch airstrikes in Syria jolted the U.S. and its allies in the region, but the timing may have more to do with concerns about the fate of the Syrian regime than the need of Moscow or Tehran to send a message.

Both Russia and Iran have become increasingly concerned about the most recent rebel offensive in Aleppo city, which made progress against regime forces in the south and east despite intense fighting in recent weeks.

Its all hands on deck to get the upper hand in that battle space, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Tu-22M3 "Backfire" bombers and Su-34 "Fullback" fighter-bombers took off from Hamedan air base in Iran to hit what the ministry said were the Islamic State terror group and al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in Aleppo as well as in Deir ez-Zor and Idlib.

Still, the Russian strikes are only part of what appears to be a rejuvenated effort to bolster forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran is continuing to provide support for the Syrian regime and support efforts to contain opposition members in Aleppo, according to a U.S. intelligence official.

Increase in militias

Much of that support seems to be coming on the ground, with indication of a significant influx of Iranian-backed militias.

"They've been continuing to pump Shia jihadists in, said Phillip Smyth, a University of Maryland researcher who specializes in Shia militia activity.

Smyth said a spike in recruiting last year left Iran with an estimated 14,000 militia fighters, in addition to about 3,500 Iranian troops. But he said recruitment efforts aimed at Afghanistan and Lebanon have not stopped.

I also have seen an increase in 'new' Iraqi groups pushing the unified Iraqi-Syrian jihad message, Smyth said. So there's a strong likelihood that something else is up."

Likewise, the Russian movement seems to have been in the works for some time. Some Russian bombers and transport aircraft reportedly were stationed at Hamedan as far back as November 2015.

Iranian fighters have been seen escorting Russian bombers as they transit Iranian airspace, said Marie Donovan, an Iran analyst with the American Enterprise Institutes Critical Threats Project.

More recent images obtained by Stratfor, a U.S.-based global intelligence company, indicate Russia had at least three or four of its Backfires and some Fullback aircraft stationed at Hamedan in the weeks or months leading up to the strike. And Stratfor believes it would not have taken much work to prepare Hamedan to handle the larger Backfire bombers.

We now have Russian aviation, Russian aircraft directly based in Iran, said Stratfor senior military analyst Omar Lamrani. Its an escalation.

The fact that the Russians were given this access tells us a lot about the degree to which the relationship between Moscow and Iran has evolved, especially as they pursue the same goals in Syria, he said.

Cause for concern?

It's unfortunate but not surprising or unexpected, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday, noting Russias use of the air base might even violate the U.N. Security Council resolution on Irans nuclear program.

Toner also cast doubt on Moscows claims it struck only IS targets, saying Tuesdays action appeared to be part of a familiar pattern in which Russian jets continually, predominantly target moderate Syrian opposition forces.

Were not going to turn our back on moderate Syrian opposition forces, he said.

As for the Russian bombers aircraft used in Tuesdays airstrikes in Syria, another U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity said it appears they returned to Russia and not to Iran.

Still, there are questions as to whether the Russian planes in Iran were just part of a rotational force that will be based at Hamedan briefly or part of a more permanent deployment that could alter the balance of power in the region.

Russia digging in

Christopher Harmer, senior naval analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, leans toward the latter.

This looks like Russia is acknowledging the limitations of operating from Syrian bases and is digging in for a long-term campaign based out of Iran, Harmer said, pointing to the ever-present threat of suicide bombers and rocket attacks in Syria.

The maintenance facilities in Iran will be much higher quality, and the Russian air force will have unlimited supplies of electricity and fresh water, both of which are essential for ongoing maintenance on the aircraft, he added.

But even if it is just a temporary, rotational Russian force, Stratfors Lamrani said it could be cause for concern.

The influx of Russian hardware into Iran, Russian personnel being based at an Iranian airbase, signals a shift in Irans status in the region, he warned.

That says a lot to the Saudis. That says a lot to the Gulf Cooperation Council, Lamrani said. Theyre going to be asking such questions as, If we do come into conflict with Iran, does that also mean we are coming to come into conflict with Russia?' "
The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cleared the way for Russian bombers to pass through Iraq on their way to Syria via an airbase in Iran.



Col. Chris Garver, the coalition spokesman, told reporters via teleconference from Baghdad that the Russians notified the coalition about their planned movement through Iraqi airspace as per a memorandum of understanding for flight safety made between Russia and the United States months ago.



"They informed us they were coming through, and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out [of Syria] again," Garver said.



Russia announced earlier Tuesday that a group of its warplanes took off from an Iranian airbase for the first time to carry out airstrikes against militants in Syria.

Use of Iranian air base



Russia's defense ministry said Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers were launched from the Hamedan air base, located around 280 kilometers southwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

It said the strikes hit "five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel" and the training camps of "Islamic State and the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group" in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib.

Garver confirmed that there are several Islamic State targets in Deir ez-Zor, but he said the coalition did not see concentrations of Islamic State fighters in Aleppo and Idlib. An official with Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said he could not confirm to VOA where Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the group formally known as Jabhat al-Nusra, was operating in Syria.



Russian forces have been conducting airstrikes supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government since late September of last year.

Not a precedent

Tuesday is not the first time Russia has launched airstrikes from outside of Syria. Last October and November, Russia launched long-range rockets into Syria from the Caspian Sea. During Russias first long-range missile strikes on October 7, the U.S. said four of the missiles went awry and crashed in Iran, although Moscow denied the claim.



Russia has insisted its air campaign is focused on terrorists and not the rebels who oppose Assad, but has faced criticism from Western governments and rights groups who say that has not been the case.



Back in Iran Tuesday, state media quoted the head of the country's National Security Council Ali Shamkhani as saying Iran and Russia have strategic cooperation in fighting terrorism in Syria and are sharing their facilities in that mission.



The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against Assad and quickly spiraled into a civil war that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 400,000 people. Nearly 5 million people have fled the country and another 6.6 million are internally displaced, according to U.N. data.
A Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a hospital in Yemen's northern Hajja province Monday, killing more than a dozen people and wounding about 20 others.

The hospital is run by the volunteer medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF. By late in the day its director reported 15 deaths, including those of three foreign physicians. Ibrahim Aram also told the New York Times that three other medical personnel were among the wounded and that three other staffers had limbs amputated.

The coalition airstrike came just two days after similar Saudi strikes hit a residential area near the Saudi border killing at least 19 people, most of them children in a school. That strike at Haydan and the deaths of 10 children between the ages of 8 and 15 drew immediate condemnation from United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In a statement Monday, MSF decried the "tragic consequences" of the attack on a "fully-functional hospital full of patients." It said Monday's bombing was the fourth such attack` against an MSF facility in the past 12 months.

A spokesman for the Saudi coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized President Abu Rabu Mansour Hadi said the bombing targeted a training facility run by Iran-backed Shi'ite Houthi rebels battling Hadi government.

Rights groups have blamed both sides in the conflict of abuses, particularly in failing to protect civilians. U.N.-led peace efforts have failed to end the fighting.
Opponents of the Islamic State group outnumber the extremists' supporters on Twitter, although those who are pro-IS are more active on the social media channel, a Rand Corporation study said.

The nonprofit research organization's study found that IS opponents outnumber supporters 6-to-1 on Twitter, even though the extremist group reputedly has found Twitter to be a highly effective tool for recruiting new members.

The Rand study said ISIS has been more effective than any other terrorist organization, including al-Qaida, at using social media to deliver its message and inspire supporters.

"Al-Qaida was using social media channels just for mass communications purposes," Keneshbek Sainazarov, a director of the global peace-building organization Search for Common Ground, said in an interview with VOA. IS activists use Twitter "for their own benefit," he added, "making a link with potential recruiters, creating a channel for further dialogue and engagement."

Over 10 months, Rand analyzed over 23 million tweets in Arabic and found that IS supporters averaged 50 percent more tweets than opponents on a typical day.

The report found evidence, however, that opponents of IS are becoming more active on Twitter. The researchers recommended that the U.S. bolster efforts to support IS opponents on Twitter by offering more training.

"Organizations such as the U.S. military and the State Department looking to countermessage [Islamic State] on Twitter should tailor messages and target them to specific communities," said Elizabeth Bodine-Baron, lead author of the Rand study. "The ISIS Twitter universe is highly fragmented and consists of several different communities with different concerns, so messages need to be aimed at specific audiences, rather than trying to craft a one-size-fits-all message."

When analyzing tweets sent from July 2014 to April 2015, researchers identified more than 20,000 distinct user communities. Despite the fragmentation, the patterns of connection between communities opposed to IS suggest potential opportunities the government can explore to weaken Islamic extremists' prowess on Twitter.

Near the end of the study's reporting period, researchers said they saw a decline in the number of active IS supporters on Twitter, while the number of opponents increased. The report said these changes coincided with Twitter's suspension of many of the accounts maintained by Islamic State's followers and sympathizers.

"The root causes for radicalization and violent extremism are very, very deep," Sainazarov told VOA. He recommended that countries adopt four different approaches to counter violent extremism: prevention, disengagement, facilitation of effective state responses, and amplification of credible and constructive narratives.
The Syrian government and rebel factions seeking to topple it poured reinforcements into the besieged northern city of Aleppo on Monday, as both sides braced for a decisive battle that diplomats are trying to avert.

Monitors said as many as 2,000 pro-government fighters had arrived in the devastated city since late Sunday, prompting the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's civil war, to warn that "the great battle of Aleppo" is, in a word, "imminent."

Separately, the government-leaning Syrian daily Al-Watan reported Monday that the army had received "the necessary military reinforcements" to retake areas of the ravaged city from which it retreated under heavy rebel fire Saturday.

Rebel militia, including al-Qaida-linked fighters, captured the eastern part of the city in 2012, and have battled to a stalemate against government forces for control of the city since then.

Monitors say as many as a half-million civilians remained trapped in the city, and at least 230 civilians are known to have been killed there in the past two weeks.

Russia, U.S. deal

The latest buildup comes as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking on Russian television, said Moscow and Washington are moving closer to a deal that could help ease the massive humanitarian crisis gripping the once vibrant city.

"Step by step we are nearing an arrangement ... exclusively about Aleppo, that would allow us to find common ground" that could bring peace to the territory, Shoigu said Monday.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau, responding to Shoigu's remarks, told reporters that U.S. and Russian envoys remain in close contact on the Aleppo crisis.

"We have seen the [Shoigu] reports and have nothing to announce," she said.

IS caliphate

The multi-sided Syrian civil war pits the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies against a loosely knit coalition of rebels seeking to drive Assad from power. That coalition includes al-Qaida-linked fighters, making Western governments reluctant to send arms to the rebels.

The third major party to the five-year-old conflict, the extremist Islamic State, is seeking to establish an Islamist "caliphate" in large swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq. The group has used widely circulated videos to show its fighters slaughtering hundreds of civilians as it seeks to expand its rule.

Separately, the Syria Democratic Forces, formed in 2015 with U.S. support, has focused on driving IS fighters from strongholds along the Turkish border.

The United Nations estimates as many as 400,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, since fighting first erupted near Damascus in 2011.
Donald Trump on Monday called for "extreme vetting," including ideological screening, to make sure only people who share American values and respect the American people can emigrate to the United States.

The Republican presidential candidate spelled out his immigration and foreign policies to an appreciative crowd in Youngstown, Ohio who interrupted him several times with chants of "Trump!Trump! Trump!"

Trump said if elected, he will institute a new immigration policy that will be tough. Would-be immigrants will go through "extreme vetting" to make sure the U.S. keeps out supporters of bigotry and hatred, and those who do not believe in the U.S. constitution, he said.

Trump said he would temporarily suspend immigration from "the world's most volatile and dangerous regions" with a history of supporting terrorism.



He said the immigration flow to the U.S. is currently too large to allow for "adequate screening."



WATCH: Trump statement about Islamic State

Foreign policy

If he becomes president, Trump said U.S. foreign policy would focus on wiping out the spread of radical Islam and said anyone who shares this goal would be a U.S. ally.

Trump went down a lengthy list of terror attacks carried out by Islamic extremists in the U.S. and Europe. He promised to hold an international conference on how to fight "the ideology of death that must be extinguished."

He also attacked both President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for showing what he says was bad judgement in Iraq, Syria, and Libya.

Trump eased away from his controversial statement calling Obama "the founder of Islamic State," saying instead that Obama's "naive words and naive actions" unleashed ISIS and "without question," allowed it to flourish.

Clinton lacks the "mental and physical stamina" to take on Islamic State, Trump asserted, without saying exactly what he means.

Clinton, Biden question Trump's qualifications for White House

Shortly before the Republican presidential nominee spoke, Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania where they both questioned Trump's temperament, intellect, and qualifications for entering the White House.

"No major party nominee in the history of the United States of America has known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump," Biden said.

WATCH: Biden on Trump's impulsiveness

Clinton mocked Trump's insistence that the Republican candidate knows more about Islamic State and conditions on the ground in Iraq than American generals.



Clinton later tweeted:



Losing "winnable race"



Meanwhile the conservative Wall Street Journal, a traditional backer of Republican ideals, said Trump is "on the path to losing a winnable race."

The newspaper strongly criticized Trump in a Monday editorial, saying he would rather watch TV news talk shows instead of reading policy papers, prefers large crowds at rallies over an organized campaign, and says his "shoot-from-the-hip" style is alienating many Republicans and independents.

The Journal said if Republican leaders cannot get Trump to change his act soon, they will "have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless." It says Trump needs to "stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president."

Trump campaign chief under investigation

Also Monday, The New York Times reported that Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators are probing whether Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort got an illegal multi-million dollar payoff from the pro-Russian party of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort was a Yanukovych consultant before the deposed president fled the country in a 2014 popular uprising.

The Times reports Manafort's name appeared in a hand-written ledger showing $12.7 million in cash was earmarked for him. The anti-corruption bureau is looking into whether the off-the record payment came from stolen Ukrainian government assets.

There is no evidence however that Marafort ever received the money and he calls the allegation "unfounded, silly and nonsensical."
A Turkish court ordered a pro-Kurdish newspaper to close Tuesday, accusing it of engaging in "terrorist propaganda."

The court accused the Ozgur Gundem newspaper of being the "media organ" of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK.

Earlier in the day, state media reported that police raided 44 companies in Istanbul in connection with last month's failed coup.

The Anadolu agency said arrest warrants were issued for a total of 120 company executives accused of providing financial support to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen,who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States.

Turkey has closed 130 media outlets in the weeks following the coup attempt.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government says Gulen was behind the July 15 coup, which left more than 240 people dead.

Authorities have detained more than 35,000 people in a crackdown that has included purges of officials from Turkey's military, judiciary and education systems.

On Monday, police detained 136 people in raids on Istanbul courts.

Gulen, who lives in the United States, has denied having anything to do with the attempted coup. Turkey is demanding his extradition.
The United Nations will investigate the reported failure of its peacekeeping force in South Sudan to come to the aid of people attacked at a hotel compound in Juba on July 11.

South Sudanese troops gang-raped, beat, and robbed aid workers, specifically targeting Americans, at a hotel compound in Juba on July 11, according to an Associated Press report published Monday.



Witnesses interviewed by the news agency said soldiers carried out mock executions and forced the foreigners to watch as they killed a local journalist.



The AP report also alleges that people at the Terrain hotel compound, a popular venue for expatriates and South Sudanese elites, called for help for hours from the U.N. peacekeeping force, located less than a kilometer away, and from the U.S. embassy.



The U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, cited failings by both South Sudans government and U.N. peacekeepers.



Throughout this three-year conflict, the government of South Sudan has routinely allowed impunity for murder and sexual violence, Power said in a statement.



We are deeply concerned that the United Nations peacekeepers were apparently either incapable or unwilling to respond to calls for help. We have requested and are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the United Nations and demand swift corrective action in the event that these allegations are substantiated, she said.

Through a spokesperson, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday that the United Nations will launch an independent special investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Terrain hotel incidents and to evaluate the U.N. mission's overall response. Ban also urged the South Sudanese government to conduct its own investigation into what he called "unspeakable acts of violence."

Power addressed the allegation made by witnesses at the Terrain compound to the AP that the U.S. embassy was unresponsive to their pleas for help, saying the mission responded to distress calls from the compound and urgently contacted South Sudanese government officials, who sent a response force to the site to stop the attack."

Risking departure of aid workers

Hannah Bryce, assistant head of the international security department at London-based Chatham House, says that the South Sudanese authorities will need to provide, and be seen to provide, an appropriate response.



I think there will be considerable international pressure for the perpetrators of this attack to be held to account, said Bryce. For the South Sudanese authorities, there will be a concern that if international aid workers are targeted for attacks, then many will leave taking the essential services and aid they provide with them.



The attack took place during three days of fierce fighting in Juba between President Salva Kiirs SPLA forces and then First Vice President Riek Machars SPLA in Opposition. The clashes killed at least 270 people, displaced 36,000 civilians and left an August 2015 peace deal in jeopardy.



The U.N. Security Council has authorized a resolution sponsored by the United States to send in 4,000 additional regional peacekeepers to protect civilians. But are more troops enough?



Whilst the council has authorized the force to use all necessary means to accomplish its mandate, actually doing so could be a turning point for UNMISS in South Sudan, Bryce said.



This is not the first time the UNMISS force has come under criticism for failures to intervene to protect civilians. Internal U.N. investigation findings released in June found that peacekeepers made serious mistakes in the U.N. Protection of Civilians Site in Malakal, a city in northern South Sudan. The camp came under attack in February when fighting broke out between rival groups. In that case, the report outlined a combination of inaction, abandonment of post and refusal to engage. During this incident, at least 30 internally displaced persons were killed and 123 were wounded.



In July, at least two South Sudanese women died from injuries resulting from rape by South Sudanese government soldiers outside the U.N. camp in Juba, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of other women and girls were also raped. A witness told the AP that 30 peacekeepers watched as two armed soldiers dragged away a woman who was less than a few hundred meters from the U.N. camps western gate.



They didn't venture out of the compound to help women being assaulted right outside, nor did they respond to rescue the people at Terrain just one kilometer away, said Jehanne Henry, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. There may be good reasons for this to do with the government's restrictions and the impact of fighting around the base, but [it] certainly stands out as an example of failure to uphold its protection role.



Tensions between UNMISS and the government will likely continue to grow. South Sudans government has refused to accept the U.N. resolution and indicated it will not cooperate, citing reasons of sovereignty.
U.S. military officials have assured China they are under no threat from South Korea's decision to deploy a U.S. anti-missile defense system.

The United States and South Korea have agreed to base the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Seoul. It is intended to destroy possible North Korean missiles.

But the decision has come under fire by state media in China, where there is high concern the system is intended to track Chinese missiles.

U.S. General Mark A. Milley met Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart General Li Zuocheng to discuss the unit's installation, reiterating the U.S. commitment to respect international law. A statement says he "encouraged the Chinese to do the same as a way to reduce regional tensions."

The general's visit is also surrounded by tensions following an international arbitration panel's ruling last month that China could not claim islands in the disputed South China Sea, which have rival claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The United States on Tuesday targeted two Mexican companies, along with two Mexican men, for what it said was their role in assisting the infamous Sinaloa Cartel associated with drug lords Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

The U.S. Treasury Department formally identified Juan Manuel Alvarez Inzunza, whom it said was a money launderer, and Jose Olivas Chaidez, whom it said was a distributor, as specially designated narcotics traffickers for their role aiding the cartel.

The move allows any of the two men's assets in the United States to be frozen and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

The Treasury Department also cited two companies it said were owned and controlled by Inzunza: tuna fishing company Nueva Atunera Triton and money services firm Operadora Eficaz Pegaso.

"Inzunza is a Mexico-based money launderer and drug trafficker who provides key money laundering services to high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel members," the department said, adding that Inzunza was arrested by Mexican authorities in March.

Treasury officials said Inzunza helped Chaidez, whose trafficking operation it said distributes cocaine to Southern California, with moving millions of dollars from drug sales in the United States to Mexico and elsewhere in Central America, as well as in South America.

Last month, Mexican officials arrested one of the top suspected associates of Zambada. In June, an ally of Guzman was also arrested in Mexico.

Mexico has approved the extradition of Guzman, who was the world's most wanted drug kingpin until his capture in January, to the United States.
Venezuelas opposition is welcoming the partial opening of the countrys border with Colombia during the weekend, which allowed tens of thousands of Venezuelans to stream across the border to buy food and other basic goods that are in short supply in the oil-rich nation.

Six border crossings were officially opened as part of a process by both countries to normalize the situation after Venezuela closed the border a year ago.

Severe shortages of food, medicine and other basic necessities have created what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week called a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Ban said the situation in the South American nation has been caused by political instability.

Opposition lawmaker Pedro Urrieta told VOAs Spanish Service the opening was the result of popular pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Urrieta blamed the government for making decisions on the economy to support its political rhetoric instead of recognizing the country is in crisis.

The Maduro government blames the countrys troubles on an economic war waged by the opposition and the United States. The opposition says the governments socialist policies, first launched more than 15 years ago by president Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, are responsible for the countrys economic collapse.

Venezuelas U.N. ambassador, Rafael Ramirez, dismissed Bans comments, saying the U.N. office in Venezuela has not characterized the country as experiencing a humanitarian crisis.
These are worrying times in Zambia, a southern African nation that takes pride in its peaceful, democratic history.



After the president won re-election by what seems like an impossibly narrow margin, the nation's opposition alleged last week's poll was rigged and said it plans to challenge the results in court.

President Edgar Lungu says he will delay his inauguration, scheduled for next week, while the Constitutional Court examines the petition. The court will have two weeks to rule.

On Tuesday, police announced they had arrested more than 150 rowdy opposition supporters around the country who ran amok and vandalized property belonging to ruling party supporters.

They have set fires to vehicles. They have held hostage over 12 people who are supporters of the ruling party. So, they have been arrested for arson. Others have been arrested for public disorder. Others have been arrested for assault," Amos Chanda, spokesman for President Lungu, told VOA Daybreak Africa.

He said more arrests are expected in the Southern Province, an opposition stronghold.



This year's election campaign has been marred with multiple clashes between supporters of the two main parties, prompting the head of the electoral commission to call the violence "unprecedented."



It's worrying, said analyst Dimpho Motsamai of the Pretoria-based Institute of Security Studies; but, she said, onlookers should be more concerned about what happens next than what is happening right now.



"We should be worried about how the electoral petitions are going to be handled," she told VOA News. "Look, I think people are really worried about the violence that is taking place right now and the protests. It's warranted worry; but, the so-called instability in Zambia that has taken place is localized; it is not nationwide. So I don't see any potential regional spillovers."



She urged leaders to maintain calm and respect the legal processes that allow the results to be challenged in court.

The opposition alleges that Lungu had won by the thinnest of margins and that his 50.35 percent share gave him a margin of just 13,000 votes over the number he needed to win without a runoff.



The ruling party maintains that Lungu won fairly over challenger Hakainde Hichilema.

Parliament member and deputy spokesman for Zambia's main UPND opposition party, Cornelius Mweetwa, told VOA about 40 people were arrested in his constituency in the Southern Province.

I can confirm that all those who have been arrested had completely nothing to do with the instability or unrest that ensued after the announcement of the election results. People did take to streets in protest against a stolen election, Mweetwa said.

Vocal opposition supporter Guy Scott told VOA News that this is a key moment for Zambia. Scott is the nations former acting president and Lungus predecessor. He took the helm shortly after the sudden death of President Michael Sata in 2014.

Scott urged the international community to watch Zambia closely as it works through this impasse.

I would plead with the world to be a little bit patient but also not absentminded, he said by phone from Lusaka. I mean, the trouble with news is that theres, 'Oh a kerfuffle in Zambia.' If you give us two weeks and we sort it out in two weeks, its usually forgotten, and we go on to some other African country thats having problems with its election.

The European Union's observer mission pronounced the August 11 poll as being largely peaceful and well-administered.



The non-partisan Christian Churches Monitoring Group also monitored the poll and says the results were credible. The group says its pre-vote estimates are exactly in line with the results. Spokeswoman Chibesa Ngulube urged Zambians to keep calm and carry on.



"We've condemned any manner of violence in the strongest words possible," she said. "We've urged both the person, the president that won and the opposition to just continue urging people to forge ahead, accept the results, whichever side of the results you're on and to just maintain peace; because, at the end of the day, past election day, Zambia must carry on."

"Whatever is happening today, tomorrow, will have repercussions in the future," she added. "So peace must be maintained at all costs, regardless of the side of the coin where you fall."
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - August 16, 2016) - Road Scholar, the world's largest educational travel organization, is launching a new learning adventure offering free airfare from Boston and New York to the French island of Martinique that highlights the island's unique history and culture. Led by local experts, naturalists and historians, The Allure of Martinique: A Taste of France in the Caribbean delves into this hidden gem in the Lesser Antilles, which boasts some of the finest natural wonders in the Caribbean.

Known for its production of some of the world's finest rums, Martinique is also home to incredible biodiversity and beauty. Participants will learn about the island's formation, its unique biodiversity and visit the Pagerie Museum, home to Josephine Bonaparte, Empress of France and wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.

"Many people don't realize that the Caribbean has much more to offer than just beautiful beaches and sunsets," says JoAnn Bell, senior vice president of programs at Road Scholar. "Like all of our programs in the Caribbean, Martinique offers participants the high-quality experiential learning that they've come to expect with us. With free airfare from Boston and New York, this program is an exceptional value for anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating culture."

Highlights include:

Visiting the Domaine d' Emeraude to experience the island's rainforest

Exploring several centuries-old sugar plantations, or Habitations, to learn about sugarcane milling

Experiencing La Savane des Esclaves, a re-creation of a "free slave" village, to learn about the lives of slaves who escaped plantations and lived off the land

Visiting Le Musee de la Banane to learn about hundreds of species of this significant fruit of the Caribbean

The eight-day program traverses the island from top to bottom, taking field trips to engaging museums and historic villages. Cost starts at $1,599, including free airfare exclusively from New York and Boston (varies with departure date chosen). Departures are offered through April 2017.

Story continues

"For anyone interested in delving deep into the real Martinique, this new program from Road Scholar is a must," said Valerie Vulcain, deputy director of the Martinique Promotion Bureau. "The learning adventure they've created truly captures the essence of our little island; our unique cultural history, exceptional cuisine, unmatched excellence in rum, and so much more. And with free airfare from select gateways on Norwegian Air, the price cannot be beat."

For more details on this new program, visit www.roadscholar.org/22787.

About Martinique (www.us.martinique.org)

The currency is the Euro, the flag is Le Tricolour, and the official language is French, but Martinique's character, cuisine, musical heritage, art, culture, common language, and identity are of a distinctly Afro-Caribbean inclination known as Creole Martiniquais. It is this special combination of modern world conveniences, pristine nature, and rich heritage that has earned for Martinique several notable distinctions in recent years, including being ranked in the Top 16 Places to go in 2016 by Conde Nast Traveler, being named as a "Must-Visit" destination for 2015 by Caribbean Journal, "Best Caribbean Destination" by About.com, and "Top Caribbean Island for Delectable Dining" by Caribbean Travel + Life. The Bay of Fort-de-France, which fronts Martinique's charming capital city, was also recently inducted into The Club of The Most Beautiful Bays in the World.

About Road Scholar

Road Scholar is the nation's largest educational travel organization for adults. The not-for-profit offers 5,500 extraordinary educational adventures in 150 countries and 50 states for individuals dedicated to lifelong learning. Road Scholars are immersed in a variety of experiential learning activities, enlisting world-renowned faculty and local experts who offer insider access not available to most individuals. Dedicated to making educational travel available to everyone, Road Scholar offers financial assistance for those who otherwise could not participate in its programs.

Road Scholar educational adventures are created by Elderhostel, the not-for-profit world leader in lifelong learning since 1975. To learn more, please visit our new website at www.roadscholar.org/press.
Some economists are doubting the $57 million that the government says it has collected from toll gates since they were installed in 2013.

Intertoll chief, Bridget Ledwaba, revealed the figures on Monday when she appeared before a parliamentary portfolio committee on transport where she said revenue collection from the tollgates had improved this year following the computerization of the toll fee system.

According to media reports, Zimbabwe National Revenue Authority acting chief executive officer, Moses Juma, admitted that millions of dollars were lost before the toll gate fee collection system was computerized.

"We computerized 17 tollgates on a phased approach from 2016 with the last one opening in April last year, and from the nine tollgates operated by Intertoll, we got an average of $2.1 million per month. These nine tollgates are 100 percent solar powered and are international standard and the first in the world to operate on solar," Juma is quoted in the Newsday newspaper.

The country currently has 12 tollgates.

Economist, Masimba Kuchera said there could be loopholes in the system, adding that the money raised does not measure up with the construction and maintenance of roads.

Another economist, Prosper Chitambara told Studio 7 that revenue collected from toll gates is insignificant.

Chitambara said in terms of how the tollgates are bringing revenue "it also has to be looked in terms of dwindling economic growth."
Child rights organisation Shamwari yeMwanasikana on Tuesday launched a programme targeting boys and men in the fight for the rights of young girls.

Director Ekenia Chifamba told Studio 7 her organisation has decided to target these two groups in its campaign so that they can be part of the solution as incidents of girl child abuse go up in Zimbabwe.

She said recent statistics indicate that an average of 11 young girls are abused daily and awareness programs like these help in assisting reduce these rape cases among children.

"The event was titled men as role models forum and we hope that by educating the boys and men to respect the rights of girls and women we will help reduce the escalating figures of girl rights abuse.

"We are happy with the response we are getting from the boys and men on the program. We hope that this will help men to become part of the solution not the problem,"said Chifamba.

Several guests, including Canadian ambassador to Zimbabwe Kumar Gupta, attended the launch. Gupta urged men to help in curbing rape cases.

Chifamba said the collaboration of her organisation with the Canadian Embassy was very important as the embassy has a vibrant program that is helping fight early child marriages.
Pastor Evan Mawarire of #thisflag movement is currently in the United States where he is set to address a packed audience at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Back home, some Zimbabweans feel that he has not lived up to his slogan hatichatya, literally meaning we are no longer afraid, which he used to organize public protests together with Tajamuka-Sesijikile Campaign that shut down Zimbabwe last month.

But others say Pastor Mawarire made the right decision in leaving the country as his life was in danger.

Zimbabweans are exchanging harsh words on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook with some saying Pastor Mawarire was not supposed to leave Zimbabwe while others claim that he made the right decision to go to South Africa to protect his life and family.

One lesson from the saga of Pastor Es betrayal of his hashtag movement is that leadership isnt about selfies.

In a stinging tweet, Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo wrote Tuesday,One lesson from the saga of Pastor Es betrayal of his hashtag movement is that leadership isnt about selfies.

But Abbie Mphisa and several others immediately shot back saying Pastor Mawarire did not betray anyone. Mphisa wrote, If he had, Zanu PF wouldnt be obsessed with him. You sir betrayed us by stealing our childrens future.

This kind of debate that has set social media and streets of Zimbabwe on fire.

In the streets of Harare, one of Pastor Mawarires supporters Celine Eunice Nyakutsvika, now believes that #thisflag movement was just a conduit for him to leave the country for greener pastures.

I think Evan Mawarare was just an opportunist who used the masses to climb the ladder of success and to gain popularity which he did. I am sure that he got the VISA he has always wanted and he is happy where ever he is. His crying on television was to attract the investors out there and  he is getting the monies that he has always wanted.

Her views were echoed by Warship Dumba who said he is no longer sure whether Pastor Mawarire of This Generation Church, which is operating in his absence, is a true prodemocracy activist.

For Dumba, a fighter should always be with the people and should never leave the battlefields despite threats to his or her life.

What bothers most people is why he has decided to leave the country because a true fighter will always fight with the people. Even people like Robert Mugabe spent some years in jail because he was with the people then. But now for him just going to court once where he was acquited, he then decides to leave the country, that bothers many people because a fighter should always be with the people.

During the liberation struggle of the 1960s, nationalists like Joshua Nkomo, Morton Malianga, Robert Mugabe, Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, Herbert Chitepo and several others left the country in fear of their lives while living in exile.

So fierce has been the debate over Pastor Mawarire's departure that people have come up with various theories about him. Some allege he is a Zanu PF activist while others believe that he has played his part in creating space for Zimbabweans to carry on with their struggle for democracy.

Dzikamai Bere, a human rights activist, said Pastor Mawarire had an obligation to keep himself and his family safe and that is why he left the country.

This is a struggle or everyone. As a human rights defender I think Pastor Evan Mawarire has an obligation to defended himself and his family if there are credible threats on his life. He is not the first one who has done that. As a citizen the call to martyrdom is not a call that other man should call upon other man. It is a call that a person should do by themselves. Mawarire has done well in raising consciousness and Zimbabweans should be grateful and encourage him more.

On the other hand, Harare resident and political activist, Wisdom Mugagari, urged Pastor Mawarire to return home even in the face of adversity to continue the fight against all forms of oppression against citizens.

Unfortunately he has decided to relocate for his safety and it poses a lot of questions on why he is out yet he started a good campaign. If he is genuine let him come back home and start again working with other prodemocracy activists. Mr. Mawarire come back home my brother and we fight from one corner and make things happen.

The #thisflag protest leader was not immediately available for comment. He once told Studio 7 that he is not seeking political asylum in the United States.

Pastor Mawarire, a technician, started his movement by posting a video online, a few days after Zimbabwe celebrated independence saying he was prompted by his failure to raise school fees for his children to use the national flag to question what is going on in the country.

The 39 year-old was arrested by police after the July 6th protests that led to a complete shutdown of Zimbabwe but charges laid against him of attempting to subvert a constitutionally-elected government were dropped by a Harare magistrate.

He decided to leave the country a few days after the court case with indications that his life was in danger.
Pastor Evan Mawarires relocation to South Africa and current visit to the United States has left tongues wagging with some Zimbabweans saying he has not lived up to his slogan hatichatya (we are no longer afraid). President Robert Mugabes government has threatened to crackdown on public protesters. Pastor Mawarire of #thisflag movement will feature in the Zimbabwe Services Livetalk program tomorrow at 2.30pm after addressing the Atlantic Council in Washington DC.

Human rights defenders express concern over moves by the family of abducted protest leader Itai Dzamara in using his children and other kids in public protests.

Some economists have questioned claims by the Zimbabwe Road Authority that is has only collected $57 million since the setting up of toll gates in the country in 2013.

And we will give you an update on the Rio Olympics Games where a Zimbabwean is taking part in field events.

Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

This evening on Livetalk our hosts Ntungamili Nkomo and Tatenda Gumbo will be talking with listeners about human rights defenders concern over the participation of children in public protests. Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318 or posting messages on VOA Facebook page. Please note that we are livestreaming on all Studio 7 Facebook pages.
Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) executive members, who have embarked on a 10 day 200 kilometre march from Mutawatawa to Harare, claimed Tuesday that their overnight camp at Mashambanhaka Primary School was raided by state security agents.

In a statement, they claimed that the 15-member executive was forced to move to Nhakiwa Shopping Centre, about 10 kilometres from Mashambanhaka Primary School where the agents followed and surrounded them, this time in the company of seven suspected Zanu PF youths.

The statement said one of the agents, who identified himself as based at Mutawatawa, had on Monday interrogated and threatened them with death some of the members who had delivered a petition at the district education offices.

The state security agents questioned RTUZ president Obert Masaraure and the unions programmes officer, Pride Mkono, on the motives of the march.

We are not sure what they will do but we remain on high alert as the situation is very tense, Masaraure told Studio 7.

RTUZ spokesperson Robson Ruhanya said they also encountered threats from suspected Zanu PF youths at Nyagande Primary School where they camped for night on Monday.

Ruhanya said they covered more than 20 kilometres on Tuesday after walking for at least 15 kilometres Monday.

The teachers are demanding an upward review of their salaries and rural allowances, full maternity leave for teachers and an end to all forms of violence against rural teachers. They are also demanding that the government should tackle the current cash crisis gripping Zimbabwe, among many other issues.

The teachers are expected to hand over petitions to district education offices at Murehwa, Goromonzi and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education and the Public Service Commission offices in Harare.
the national interest

This Is Not the Political Violence That Should Scare Us

This Is Not the Political Violence That Should Scare Us
Everyone has an awful co-worker like Kelly Dodd, a fart that a frat boy lit on fire. You know the type: that woman who, no matter what happens, behaves inappropriately. Even when shes doing her job, or she has a valid gripe with management, the way that she rubs everyone the wrong way makes her an absolutely toxic force. Shes often so good at her job that shes good for the company and indispensable, but eventually, everyones inability to work with her makes her completely ineffective. Someone can only use the word cunt so many times before getting herself fired.

Ironically enough, telling everyone you will see them next Tuesday usually leads to positive performance reviews from Andy Cohen and a raise, but I think its going to backfire on Kelly Dodd, the middle bar on a sofa bed that you can feel all night long. Just look at her fight with Shannon, Tamra, Heather, and all of human decency at that Benihana knockoff that makes you line your shoes up before you can eat sushi and drink sake until you want to curl up in a ball and spend the rest of the day wondering why the editors inserted that awful gong sound effect every time one of the waitresses bowed.

Where was I? Oh yes, Kelly Dodd, a Fukushima monster with gills in her neck and a radioactive cooch that glows green when she gets angry. Of all the Housewives in history, Kelly Dodd reminds me the most of Brandi Glanville, except shes not as pretty, a lot stupider, and probably even a little bit more of an alcoholic. (After all, Brandi didnt have a Swarovski-vajazzled wine-opener crystals installed on her kitchen counter, but thats only because she probably didnt know that was an option.) Brandi often griped with her co-stars, but when it came down to real arguments, she devolved into calling everyone parts of the female anatomy and telling them, ever so politely, to fuck off. Thats just what Kelly does, and has done repeatedly when dealing with Shannon.

As Ive said before, I think Shannon totally set her up at the 70s party. Kelly thinks so, too. But instead of trying to press her on this and find some sort of justice, she just calls everyone names and bleats out obscenities like shes a sheep dosed with LSD to try to rid it of its Tourette Syndrome. Not only does she snap back and call Shannon a cunt, but she also calls Tamra a fucking idiot. Kelly tries to justify this by saying Shannon did something to me, I didnt do anything to her. Well, that would be true if Kelly hadnt just called her a cunt. That is, in fact, something. It would have been true before Kelly likened Shannon to one of Georgia OKeefes masterworks, but it is no longer true afterwards.

The whole fight is precipitated when Tamra tells Kelly that Shannons friend Nina had called her a prostitute at the 70s party. That is not exactly what happened. Nina actually said that Kelly sucks dick to pay her bills. This might sound like a simple semantic difference, but it is not. Saying that someone sucks dick to pay her bills does not mean that this person has an ad on Backpage.com, works with a pimp, or has exchanged cash for a girlfriend experience that includes half-hearted fellatio. (After all, what says girlfriend experience more than a lackluster BJ?) Nina is insinuating that Kelly doesnt work and lets her husband take care of her financially and, in exchange for that relationship, she must perform oral sex on occasion.

Whether you like it or not, weve all sucked dick to pay the bills at one point. Every time you put out after a fancy dinner, you sucked dick to pay the bills. Every time you do something you know is stupid, but you do it anyway because your boss told you to and you want to keep your job, you sucked dick to pay the bills. Every time you let your girlfriend make the plans for vacation, even though you hate going to the Hamptons and cant stand another week of competing with SoulCycle devotees in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway, but youre doing it because she really likes it, you are sucking dick to pay the bills. There is no shame in any of this.

Lets get this straight: Heather Dubrow sucks dick to pay the bills. So do Meghan King Edmonds, Shannon Beador, and Kelly Dodd. Vicki Gunvalson would if she could, but shes waiting for some rando off of Craigslist who wants to buy her a washing machine to make out with her. Actually, Vicki would gladly let someone suck her dick and pay his bills. What do you think Brooks was all about? Tamra Barney, on the other hand, would cut your dick off and then charge you to sew it back on. Thats why shes the best. What Im saying is: We all do it, and Nina, who says that she doesnt, is a liar. Sucking dick to pay the bills is nothing like prostitution, and Kelly needs to understand that before flying off the handle.

While Kelly Dodd, a queef you dont smell until you take off your yoga pants, is the worst, Meghan is a pretty close second. Not only does she change her mind 17 million times about whether or not she wanted to see Vicki at her Im About to Get Pregnant party, we had to have a party to celebrate her pregnancy. Its like shes the only person in the whole world with a womb that needs tending to, and we all need to bow down and pray to it like its some sort of primordial fertility goddess. I cant wait until her pregnancy journey is at an end so we can go back to talking about things other than the ingredients in her oven, as Dr. Tim so elegiacally quacked about, the state of her baby maker.

Although Meghan is annoying and ruled by her hormones, shes still not that awful co-worker that everyone has that no one wants to work with. That is Kelly Dodd, the hunk of mucus stuck on your upper lip after you get knocked over by a wave. When Kelly spazzes out, Heather absolutely does the right thing by getting up, telling her that shes behaving in a low manner that is not befitting to a group of grown women, and that it needs to stop. However, it was wrong for Heather to tell Kelly to leave. First of all, this is not her party to kick anyone out of, as Kelly said. Secondly, if you are so offended by what someone is doing, then remove yourself from the situation, not have that someone ejected like shes a Russian sprinter trying to run the 100-meter hurdles after shes been caught doping.

I also love how Heather freaked out on Vicki in the aftermath, saying that she hasnt really apologized for what she did with Brooks. That is what everyone else wanted to say, but no one has had the courage to do it. All it took was Heather getting incensed to finally lay her proverbial cards out on the very low Japanese-style table.

What I didnt love were Heathers fake Botox crocodile tears in the car on the way home, her face clenched and tight as if she was frozen in time the moment right before a life-altering sneeze. Shes sobbing to Terry on the phone saying that Kelly called other people names. Thats not something that makes you weep. Thats something that makes you angry and disgusted and never want to talk to that person again. Thats something that makes you want to reevaluate your life and decide to take a role co-hosting The Doctors and starting an affair with the dreamy Dr. Travis Stork rather than appealing on a base reality show. Thats something that makes you stare out of the window of the Suburban on your way home, the streetlights zapping by in even bursts, washing their light over your face with a soothing regularity that spins fantasies of improvement  of warm fall days unbesmirched by stress or familial pressure, finally going to the gym as many times as you promise, never letting the chef make the kids lunches again and putting that little dose of love into their organic, cruelty-free ham sandwiches. Thats something that opens up the sky and lets stardust rain down on you like magical talcum powder, dusting your aura with sparkles and dreams before you close the door and the night closes in with its dry heat, lurching you back into the marinade of your inescapable mistakes.
Wendell Pierce. Photo: Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images

Wendell Pierces Baton Rouge home was claimed by the historic flooding that struck the city last weekend. It marks the second time the actors property has been destroyed by extreme weather, as his childhood home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Pierce, a star of The Wire and the New Orleansset Treme, revealed the news on Twitter, writing, My neighbors & I have flooded in Baton Rouge. I am reminded of the generosity given to my family during Katrina. Now we will care for you. For those looking to help, Pierce shared contact information for the Baton Rouge chapter of the American Red Cross and a local food bank. The actor previously chronicled his and his familys experience with Katrina in a book, The Wind in the Reeds, and he offered advice and comfort to those affected by the recent floods. Ill be there for you and the good people of Star Hill LA, he wrote to one user. We take care of each other in Louisiana.
A fourth biker arrested in the aftermath of the Twin Peaks shootout is seeking to disqualify McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna from prosecuting his case.

Sergio Reyes, 46, a member of the Desgraciados motorcycle group from Dallas, asked for the appointment of a special prosecutor to handle his case and alleges Reyna has a conflict of interest because he is being sued by 15 other bikers in federal court for alleged civil rights violations.

Reyes motion to disqualify Reyna mirrors those filed in July by Matthew Clendennen, a Scimitar from Hewitt; Ray Nelson, a Cossack from Gholson; and Burton George Bergman, a member of the Desgraciados from Balch Springs.

Judge Matt Johnson of Wacos 54th State District Court conducted a hearing Aug. 8 on the requests from Clendennen and Nelson. He has deferred a ruling until after reviewing briefs from both sides.

Reyes motion, filed by Dallas attorney Elizabeth Kinsey, said Reyna should be disqualified because he and some of his staff became potential witnesses after Reyna countermanded decisions by the Waco police upper chain of command.

The bikers allege Reyna should be replaced because they say Reyna, not former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman, called the shots the evening of May 17, 2015, that resulted in the mass arrests of bikers after the gunbattle that left nine dead and more than 20 injured.

They allege Reyna stepped from his role as prosecutor and became more of a police officer, possibly losing his prosecutorial immunity from civil rights lawsuits in the process.

Kinsey had not requested a hearing on her motion as of Tuesday evening but said she expects to at some point.

Reyna and Stroman testified at the Aug. 8 hearing that Stroman made the decision to arrest the bikers en masse after Reyna told him that he could stand in front of a jury and prosecute all of them.

Reyna did not return phone messages Tuesday seeking comment for this story.

Reyna asked his former assistant, Brandon Luce, to represent him at the previous hearing.
A former Waco High School art teacher who was arrested in May on methamphetamine possession charges has been cleared by a grand jury.

A McLennan County grand jury no-billed Heather Grace Hughes earlier this month, meaning no charges will be pursued against her.

Waco school administrators placed Hughes on administrative leave with pay shortly after Beverly Hills police arrested her and a passenger after pulling over Hughes car about 1 a.m. April 25 for a defective license plate light.

Hughes resigned her teaching position in early May, Waco ISD spokesman Bruce Gietzen said.

Hughes attorney, Seth Sutton, said she is relieved to be cleared of the charges.

Unfortunately, Heathers case is an example of what can happen when people react prematurely on social media, Sutton said. She, out of an abundance of concern for her students, resigned from her position because she thought the uproar was a distraction to her students and the school. So while this is obviously good news, Heather now begins the long road of getting her life and career back on track.

Hughes does not have a job, Sutton said, but plans to pursue other teaching jobs or opportunities as an artist.

Hughes, 44, taught in the Waco school system for a total of 15 years during two stints with the district. She had been at Waco High School for two years when she was arrested.

According to an affidavit to support the arrest of Hughes and her passenger, Mary Ellen Gutierrez, 46, of Waco, Beverly Hills police officer Steve Cooper reported that he saw a dark, round-shaped object fall from the passenger-side door as he was pulling over a green car driven by Hughes.

The same grand jury that cleared Hughes indicted Gutierrez, also known as Mary Garza, on charges of possession of methamphetamine, according to court documents.

Cooper and another officer walked back and found a navy blue zipper case that contained what the officer reported was a blue glass pipe, a lighter, a retractable knife and an Altoids box with a white, powdery substance inside.

Neither woman would claim the contraband, so the officers arrested them both and put them in the back of a patrol car, Cooper wrote in his report.

He tested the powder at the scene and reported it tested positive for methamphetamine with a total weight of 13.73 grams. Officers searched the car and found a marijuana pipe in Gutierrezs bag, according to the report.
Marlin Independent School District faces possible closure  though district officials hope to avoid that fate  after it received an unsatisfactory rating for the fifth consecutive year on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

The state released the final district ratings Monday, and now district officials must decide whether to file an appeal by Sept. 30 to the Texas Education Agency commissioner to see whether it can keep its doors open, TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

First, the district has the chance to appeal their ratings, and based on the outcome of that appeal, well determine the next steps, Culbertson said.

The district had not yet filed an appeal with the TEA by Monday afternoon, Culbertson said.

But such an appeal is likely a remote possibility, said Marlin ISD Superintendent Michael Seabolt, who has been with the district a year and was brought in to save the foundering district.

We started this last year with somebody elses team and somebody elses game plan and we showed improvement, Seabolt said. I feel pretty confident that progress was made, and thats what was expected.

Earlier this year, Seabolt said he was 75 percent sure his district would remain open because of improvements to district scores this year.

Almost every grade level saw progress in reading, which was the biggest weakness the district had in standardized testing, Seabolt said. In fact, eighth-graders passed the state standard score for the first time in years, Seabolt said, adding the district met student progress and post-secondary readiness standards.

We have work to do, but our kids are leaving the district prepared, he said.

The district has already been saved from closure once, Culbertson said. Last November, district officials signed an abatement agreement with the TEA commissioner to keep its doors open for another year, pending several conditions. But the agreement is only valid for the year, Culbertson said.

The districts accreditation was revoked Sept. 23, 2015, and the commissioner ordered Marlin ISD to close July 1 of this year, but Marlin ISD requested an informal review of the commissioners proposed order.

That review was conducted Oct. 22, 2015. Since then, the commissioner hasnt issued a final decision in response to the review, and the district and commissioner agreed to hold off on further discussion until preliminary academic and financial accountability ratings were released by the TEA.

Some of the conditions listed in the agreement:

 If Marlin ISD received improvement required in its 2016 ratings, the commissioner would appoint a board of managers to the district. The board of managers would exercise all of the powers and duties assigned to the Marlin ISD board of trustees by law, rule or regulation and would govern in the same manner.

 Those powers and duties of the trustees would be suspended for whatever time period the board of managers was appointed, and the commissioner would name the managers. The commissioners would also appoint a superintendent during the term of the board of managers.

 Marlin ISD would agree that the commissioners decision about the board of managers would be final and not appealable.

 The commissioner would ultimately revoke the districts accreditation status.

 Marlin ISD officials would agree that the commissioners decision about the informal review would be final and not appealable, waiving its rights as a district to challenge the commissioners decision before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

 Marlin ISD officials understand the TEA may take action at any time to determine whether the district complied with the abatement agreement, identify additional compliance issues, address threats to the health, safety and welfare of Marlin ISD students, implement sanctions and interventions, and otherwise ensure compliance with state law.

Texas law states school districts with failing financial and academic accountability scores for four straight years will be closed. Marlin ISD has failed five consecutive years since 2011.

The district still has the option to appeal Mondays preliminary rating, even with the abatement agreement, TEA spokeswoman Lauren Callahan said.

As of Monday afternoon, Seabolt said he didnt see anything to appeal, adding the state is aware of issues with STAAR testing and saying he knows testing issues are a topic that will be at the forefront of the upcoming legislative session.

Now, the district is in waiting mode to see what action the commissioner may take, which could be a couple of weeks, he said.

The possibility of Marlin ISD being shut down is very remote, he said, adding the conditions attached to last years agreement are more likely to be enacted. Progress is what was expected, and progress is what they got.

Whats currently in place is a new TEA monitor, brought on in June to help guide the district toward better accountability ratings, he said.

Prior to his leadership, Seabolt said, the district had the guidance of the same TEA monitor for the previous five years. Though he said he didnt want to get into specifics, he said the district was extremely misquided by the monitor and the monitor was unqualified to do what they were doing.

We wouldnt be here where we are now had the TEA oversight been effective, he said.

TEA officials would not comment on the situation involving the monitor, Callahan said.

If the district does file an appeal, a decision would be made by the commissioner in December, Culbertson said. The district may appeal for any reason, but typically the basis for an appeal would be if data errors or calculation errors were made by the TEA, the Education Services Center or the testing contractors, she said.

If the district wanted to highlight testing improvements or work done to become better, those are elements the district can include in its appeal, but its unclear if those elements would have any weight on the outcome of an appeal like this, she said.

Once the appeal is in the commissioners hands, by law the commissioner could do anything from closing the district, merging it with another, or put in place a conservator or board of managers, Culbertson said.

Theres really not a gaurantee on the outcome, Culbertson said. Every appeal is evaluated on that unique situation.
The Cove, a nonprofit teen nurturing center serving Waco ISD students experiencing homelessness, will open on time next month thanks to the success of recent fundraising efforts.

In late July, administrators feared the centers opening could be delayed by at least a month if the nonprofit group didnt raise $100,000 by Monday to show the center is sustainable and help it qualify for several grants, said Rosemary Townsend, a board member and resource development coordinator for The Cove.

As of Monday afternoon, donors helped the center raise the needed money, exceeding the goal by about $20,000, Townsend said. The group had raised $74,750 by the last week of July.

The generosity of people was so gratifying, and the care they have for these homeless students has really opened their hearts. And they want this to move forward, Townsend said. My goal is we not only move forward but we do so in a sustainable, very high-quality manner. We are ready to welcome our first students in the middle of September.

Altrusa International of the Brazos, a community service organization, has been supporting the center since it got off the ground last year, said Terry Lechler, who serves on the groups board of directors. Altrusa used to buy caps and gowns for homeless graduating seniors, but once the group learned the scope of homelessness among students in Waco, a $6,000 donation in 2015 from the groups annual Turkey Trot at Cameron Park paved the way for The Cove to earn its official nonprofit status, Lechler said.

I think its wonderful that school starts Monday and theyre able to open, Lechler said. These students who didnt have a place to go now will, and Im just elated that Altrusa of the Brazos had a little bit to do with that.

But the group wont stop providing support there, she said. At its Sept. 14 meeting, the Altrusa board plans to approve another $1,000 donation, and 75 percent of the net profit from this years Turkey Trot is expected to go to The Cove, she said. The Turkey Trot starts at 9 a.m. Nov. 19.

We just like what theyre doing and we believe in it, Lechler said.

The Cove also got a boost with a surprise $75,000 anonymous grant two weeks ago that requires the nonprofit group to match the amount dollar for dollar, Townsend said.

This is wonderful for us, because if we can match that with our December goal, including what weve raised now, that really gets us exponentially closer, Townsend said. Im beside myself with glee.

By December, the nonprofit group also must raise $300,000 overall in grants and corporate funding to have operating funds in future years and to show potential supporters The Cove is sustainable, Elisa Jelley, an AmeriCorps vista at The Cove, said via email. The Cove will take about $190,000 annually to operate, Jelley said.

The Cove will have the capacity to serve 40 students from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday once it is open, but the first semester may start out more slowly, Townsend said. An official opening date hasnt been set yet because students first have to be vetted and identified through a referral process, Townsend said. Then it is up to the students whether they would like to accept the help, she said.

The Cove, which targets ninth- through 12th-graders, will offer shower and laundry facilities and provide a family-style dinner; access to counseling, medical and hair-cutting services; case management; and more.

Waco ISDs homeless student population had risen from 1,200 to 1,600 as of May, and The Cove is needed now more than ever, Townsend said. Last year, 285 homeless youth were enrolled in Waco ISD high schools, with 97 classified as unaccompanied youth, she said.

The number increased by 300 children, and thats just heartbreaking, Townsend said. Im so excited for once we get started, and job No. 1 is to earn our students trust and for them to know were a lot more than a place for them to get a free meal. Its that they trust us and there are caring people here who wish only the best for them.

As for the next step, The Cove will be hosting a couple of fundraising events, including a free snow cone day Friday. The event goes from 3 to 5 p.m., and guests can take a tour of the facility and grab a frozen treat to beat the heat at the same time, Townsend said.

For more information or to donate, visit www.thecovewaco.org, search for The Cove  Waco on Facebook or mail a check to P.O. Box 1956, Waco, TX 76703.
Its still summer, which means that Americans have perhaps one final burst of vacation time on their minds, particularly with the approaching Labor Day weekend. A recent survey found that 80 percent of U.S. residents plan to take a summer vacation in 2016, spending roughly $1,000 on average.

But that money isnt only being spent on camping and beer. Much of it is taken by hidden taxes  government fees and surcharges that sneak up on travelers wallets  increasing the cost of an already expensive vacation.

Take driving. Even at current low prices, gasoline is still one of the largest expenses of many vacations, especially in states like New York and Pennsylvania. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, without even taking into account state gas taxes, which average another 27 cents per gallon. Gas taxes in New York come out to about 43 cents per gallon, while Pennsylvanias gas tax surpasses 50 cents per gallon  reaching 70 cents per gallon when you factor in the federal gas tax.

It means that, in these states, drivers send more than 25 percent of their tab to both state and federal governments. Thats a lot of pain at the pump. (Texas is low by comparison  20 cents per gallon.)

Toll fees make driving even more painful. U.S. toll agencies collect roughly $13 billion from travelers annually  in addition to revenue from gas taxes. American households bear an average burden of more than $1,100 dollars per year in additional travel-related costs. This includes an estimated $597 per household dedicated to road construction and repair every year.

Flying is certainly no cheaper. When you buy a plane ticket from Boston to Los Angeles, for example, youre forced to pay a 7.5 percent tax to travel. The so-called Domestic Flight Segment Tax charges travelers about $4 for every segment of a flight. (A segment is defined as a flight leg consisting of one takeoff and one landing by a flight. A layover means more segments and more taxes.)

When Americans fly internationally, they are faced with the International Arrival and Departure Taxes, each totaling $17.70 per flight. The Sept. 11 Security Fee adds as much as $11.20 round-trip to the average travelers airfare bill.

All in all, Americans now pay nearly 25 percent of their airfare to the U.S. government in taxes.

And what happens when they touch down? These travelers pay the government even more in the form of hotel and rental car fees.

The average vacationer can pay more than $15 in taxes for a $100 hotel room. According to a 2011 study from the Global Business Travel Association, the effective tax rate on a $100 room in the top 50 U.S. markets ranges from 10.5 percent in Burbank, California, to over 18 percent in New York City.

Ditto for rental cars. Factoring in a sales tax, mandatory theft protection, insurance and other surcharges, the final bill for a rented ride can come out to hundreds  even thousands  of dollars. In fact, rental car fees and surcharges are often higher than the base cost to rent the car itself, meaning that the effective tax rate can reach 100 percent. Travelers have reported final bills ranging anywhere from $550 to $4,000!

Combining hotel occupancy and rental car fees, U.S. travelers often allot 30 percent of their travel budget to hidden taxes, overburdening Americans who just want a break from their daily routine.

Keep that in mind when you take your next trip. Uncle Sam, not to mention his taxing companions on the state and local levels, is making your vacations much more expensive.

Chip Rogers is the president and CEO of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association and a member of the Job Creators Network, which describes itself as an advocate for free enterprise that believes the best defense against bad government policy is a well-informed public.
With a new school year comes a fresh start and new teachers to meet. But with current racial tensions at some of the highest levels we have seen in years, schools are one place where those tensions come together, far too often with not-so-great results.

Many schools host a Back-to-School Night but sometimes parents struggle with finding the right questions to ask their childs teacher or principal.

Parents should understand what their childs teacher and principal think about issues of educational equity in order to address the racial achievement gap in schools across the United States. For starters, parents should ask:

What is the schools plan to ensure that every student has equitable access to the highest quality educational experiences? The adage is true: No one plans to fail but most fail to plan. And this is also the case for schools. Far too many schools still do not plan for equity. If the principal is not aware of, and focused on, addressing the inequities that exist in the school, whether they be race/ethnicity, income, ability, gender or sexuality, then it will be difficult to address them.

Schools cannot address what they do not acknowledge. However, research suggests schools that have improved achievement for all students  especially children of color  keep equity at the core of all decisions and everything they do.

How are students grouped into classes? Students traditionally have been grouped into classrooms based on their academic ability levels. This unfortunately is one of the main ways that schools perpetuate inequitable access to high-quality learning opportunities for all children. Despite decades of research that documents its ineffectiveness, schools continue to group students based on their academic ability. Students are thus tracked into remedial, regular or accelerated classes, which produce distinctly different and often inequitable outcomes.

While it may be easier for educators to target their teaching in tracked classrooms, it often further segregates students by race and socio-economic status and places some students in lower-tracked classrooms away from the best teachers and highest-quality instruction that is occurring in other parts of the school.

So how are teachers assigned to particular groups of students? Unfortunately, students who need the most academic support are too often placed in classrooms with the least experienced and ineffective teachers. While experience alone is not a sufficient indicator of effective teaching, the best and most effective teachers should not all be teaching only accelerated courses.

What is the schools special education data broken down by race, socio-economic status and gender? Its problematic that in most schools, the only way for students to get individualized support is if they are labeled for special education. And not every school is equipped to service children with disabilities, so students sometimes have to travel across town to access these services. While there is nothing inherently wrong with special education services, it is troubling when students are misdiagnosed and placed into special education for behavior issues or for learning in nontraditional ways. Unfortunately, in too many schools, special education has become a dumping ground for children of color, especially African-American and Latino males from low-income backgrounds. This should not be. According to research, only 8 percent to 12 percent of a schools population should be labeled for special education.

How accessible and culturally relevant is the curriculum and instruction? Curriculum and instruction in most schools are often very narrow, and mostly only effective for those students who learn best through direct instruction (i.e., lectures, note-taking, etc.), which does little to nothing for students with diverse learning styles or to further students critical thinking skills.

However, now more than ever, the student population in U.S. schools is more racially, linguistically and socio-economically diverse. Students thus need curriculum and instructional practices that are culturally reflective of their backgrounds and that can be accessed and understood by any learner  no matter their background.

Back-to-School Night is usually not easy for the student, parent or teacher. But with the right questions, parents can feel more prepared about the upcoming school year.

Terrance Green is an assistant professor of educational administration at The University of Texas at Austin. You can reach him directly at tgreen@austin.utexas.edu. Twitter handle: @terrancelgreen.
On my mind

I dont know whether to thank the city of Waco, the city of Woodway or the State of Texas for planting the numerous crepe myrtles in the median on State Highway 84. Regardless, know that it makes my heart sing to see those beautiful blooms. Thanks to those who made the policy decision and to those who did the planting.

Also, thanks to the Trib for its Wednesday editorial on the lack of transparency involving private endeavors that involve public money. You are exactly right. When we have tried to review applications for charter schools, we have run into more words redacted than not in many of them, all under the guise of protecting proprietary interests.

The privatization of traditional government services should not happen. We have seen the detrimental effects of private prisons and schools, etc. Any government contract should include language guaranteeing the publics continued right to know.

Bonnie A. Lesley, Ed.D., Waco

EDITORS NOTE: Bonnie Lesley of Texas Kids Cant Wait is a nationally prominent expert in public education. And credit for the planting of crepe myrtles goes to several entities, including the city of Woodway, Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation.

Obama the liar

I read the article about the Department of Justice getting into the Texas Voters Law. They say that it discriminates against minorities because they cannot get a picture ID.

Thats hogwash. There are ways to get picture IDs that are free. There are free transportation rides available in almost every area of the state. There should be no excuse not to get the proper ID to vote.

President Obama promised all these minorities all this help he was supposed to get them but crawfished on his promises. Minorities have stayed away from voting due to broken promises by Mr. Obama. Now the Democrats are trying hard to get them to vote in the upcoming election in November.

Havent people learned yet that, for instance, if a dog bit you once, he can bite you again? The Democrats are trying everything to pull all the stops out to get the minority votes again.

J.J. Woychesin, Bremond

Lying about Trump

The Page One article by Associated Press writer Jill Colvin, Trump playbook causing worry for GOP, is an outright lie suggesting Trump told gun-rights backers that they should take a shot at Hillary Clinton. That is not what he said. At least, quote exactly what he said. That is tabloid journalism.

I want a newspaper to be fair, honest and balanced  not constantly trying to sway voters. If Hillary Clinton had said something equally outrageous, it would not be in the newspaper. You need to delete that story from your paper because you are lying. You constantly go after Trump. Why would I pay money for your newspaper?

Jerry Derrick, Woodway
WAVERLY  Waverly residents have access to one of the healthiest banks in the country, according to a recently released study.

Horizon Bank came in at 34th place among 200 banks in DepositAccounts.coms Healthiest Banks 2016 study. The institution is in the top five for healthiest banks with assets of at least $100 million.

"DepositAccounts is an independent publication that covers the banking sector comprehensively for consumers," said spokesperson Patrick Russo. "The website publishes daily-updated product rate info, bank health information, and savings strategies for consumers, and makes all of its data freely available."

Researchers looked at financial institutions Texas Ratio, according to the study. That ratio is determined by comparing the total value of at risk loans to the total value of funds banks have on hand to cover those loans.

Horizon Bank had $0 in at-risk loans and enough funds to receive a 0 percent Texas Ratio. Thats an excellent ratio and an A+ rating, according to the study.

Bank customers should find a little comfort in studies like these, Russo said.

Customers should take it as an independent, third-party nod to their financial institutions health, he said. They can rest assured that their bank is in good shape and thus their funds are safe.

Bank employees, too, are happy about the results.

Were honored to be on the list, said President Greg Dunlap. We appreciate the recognition. We strive to run a strong bank.

To be honest, though, the bank wasnt aware the study was even happening, Dunlap said. But the results are good to hear, all the same.

Its very reassuring, he said. Its something that we know, but its nice to get that recognition out to the world.

Horizon Bank was founded in 1907 as Lancaster County Bank, making it the oldest business in Waverly, according to the business website. The Dunlap family purchased the bank in 1958 and has owned it ever since. The name was changed to Horizon Bank in July 2001, when a branch was established in Superior.

The bank strives to ensure all customers get the help they need quickly, Dunlap said.

Often when you call in you talk directly to decision makers, he said. Its a lot of prompt responses.

That small touch means a lot to those who trust the bank with their funds.

You talk to us here, he said. Youre not calling a call center in the middle of who knows where. Thats very reassuring to a lot of people.

The bank also sponsors a number of events and organizations in town, including the Waverly Community Foundation, Lawson Park, the Chamber of Commerce and an annual customer appreciation picnic among many others.

The bank also walks the walk, Dunlap said. Members funds are always well-guarded through FDIC insurance.

Most people dont want to go through that experience, Dunlap said. They want to bank with a bank thats solid, that they can trust and thats going to be around through the hardships.

The bank has enough capital to buffer against loan losses, Dunlap said. Thats what the study was examining.

Were doing outstanding in all of those areas, he said. The three things theyve chosen to grade us on, we hit the sweet spot.

Studies like these are good for both banks and customers, Russo said.

These studies are important because they provide transparency for consumers who want to know what is going on with the financial health of their bank or credit union, Russo said. It also provides a glimpse at banking system as a whole, at a particular point in time.

Horizon Bank is happy as long as consumers have the tools they need to find the right bank for them.

Were honored to be on the top of this list, Dunlap said. You just need to find a bank that you can trust.
The National Naval Aviation Museum has granted The Museum of Flight the permanent loan of a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C retired this year from the Blue Angels flight demonstration team. Distinguished as Number 2 in the famous group of flyers, the big blue jet will be trucked from Pensacola, Fla. to the Museum this week. The aircraft will be partially disassembled for the trip, with its arrival at the Museum estimated to be Aug. 22. The plane will immediately be reassembled on the parking lot west of the Aviation Pavilion, and rolled directly into its new Pavilion within days. The public is invited to see the plane as it is being prepared for exhibition.

Please follow the Museums social media outlets for the latest news and photos of the plane on its journey across American and into the Museums Aviation Pavilion.

The plane-Navy registration number 163106-joined the Blue Angels in early 2004, and served with the team until 2016. The plane will be delivered to the Museum as Blue Number 2.This particular F/A-18 has a distinguished combat record. It was delivered to its first squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87, in 1986. It was used in combat operations during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch over Iraq, and Operation Continue Hope in Somalia. The plane was also flown over Afghanistan after 9/11, and flew strikes over Iraq in 2003.

About the Museum of Flight

Founded in 1965, the independent, non-profit Museum of Flight is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, serving more than 560,000 visitors annually. The Museums collection includes more than 160 historically significant airplanes and spacecraft, from the first fighter plane (1914) to todays 787 Dreamliner. Attractions also include the original Boeing Company factory, and the worlds only full-scale NASA Space Shuttle Trainer. The Museums aviation and space library and archives are the largest on the West Coast. More than 150,000 individuals are served annually by the Museums on-site and outreach educational programs. The Museum of Flight is accredited by the American Association of Museums, and is an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
Narbonne (France) (AFP) - Three resorts in France were poised Tuesday to join three other seaside towns in banning the burkini, the full-body Islamic swimming garment that has sparked concern about religious extremism.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls also weighed in on the debate, lashing the wearing of the burkini as "not compatible with the values of France and the Republic" and saying he supported mayors who ban it if they acted in the public good.

In the southwest, the mayor of the resort town of Leucate, Michel Py, was to sign a municipal decree later Tuesday that would ban the burkini on public beaches, the town hall said.

The decree, which runs until August 31, will bar access to public beaches to "any person who is not properly dressed, respectful of moral behaviour and secularism, hygiene and bathing safety."

"The wearing of bathing clothes which are associated with these principles is also forbidden," according to the decree, seen by AFP.

Leucate is located on the Mediterranean coast, 35 kilometres (20 miles) from Perpignan.

In the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais, the mayor of the Channel town of Oye-Plage said Tuesday he would also move to ban the burkini after seeing a woman wearing "a complete cape and gloves, covering her face and her eyes" as she headed to the beach on Sunday.

In the nearby upmarket resort of Le Touquet, local mayor and MP Daniel Fasquelle said he would also implement a burkini ban in the coming days "to fight against religious proselytising."

"There are no burkinis in Le Touquet at the moment, but I don't want the town hall to be caught offguard if we are affected by this phenomenon," Fasquelle told AFP.

- String of jihadist attacks -

France has been hit by a string of jihadist attacks over the last 19 months that have left the country on edge and fretting over home-grown religious extremism.

Partly as a result, the burkini has become embroiled in a fierce debate about perceived religious symbols and their place in a strongly secular country. To critics, the garment is associated with an intolerant and sectarian strand of Islam.

Story continues

On July 14 Nice was the target of an attack claimed by the Islamic State group when a Tunisian ploughed a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 85.

And on July 26, a priest was killed in his church in northwestern France by two attackers who had proclaimed their allegiance to IS.

The following day, the Cote d'Azur city of Cannes banned the burkini and the nearby resort of Villeneuve-Loubet followed suit in early August.

- Beach brawl over burkinis -

The Corsican town of Sisco on Sunday became the third to introduce a ban after a brawl in a cove between locals and families of North African origin left five people injured.

A witness said the violence broke out after tourists took pictures of women swimming in burkinis on the Mediterranean island. Investigators are still probing what happened.

The first ban on the burkini has been attributed to Mandelieu-la-Napoule, close to Cannes, where it was discreetly barred in July 2013.

The text of the municipal decree has been used, typically word for word, in bans elsewhere.

Cannes mayor David Lisnard said he had signed off on the burkini ban out of "respect for good customs and secularism", a founding principle of the French republic.

But Villeneuve-Loubet mayor Lionnel Luca had a different argument, saying swimming "fully dressed... (was) unacceptable for hygienic reasons."

The bans are opposed by some, who contend they are a populist ploy, violate human rights and likely to inflame tensions.

The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to the ban in Cannes.

It is now taking its case to the Council of State, the highest judicial authority in France for administrative matters.

But Valls, in an interview published on Wednesday with the southern regional newspaper La Provence, said he supported the ban.

"I understand mayors who, at this time of tension, respond by looking for solutions, by avoiding disturbances to public order," Valls said.

"I therefore support those who have passed (burkini) decrees if they are impelled by the will to encourage people to live together and not by ulterior political motives."

Valls added: "Beaches, like all public areas, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is not a new range of swimwear, a fashion. It is the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women."

However, Valls ruled out a nationwide law to fight the burkini, saying "overall regulations on proscribing clothes cannot be a solution."
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4 hours ago

Elon Musk takes over 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 gave one indication of where he's headed in a tweet Friday, saying no decisions on content or reinstating of accounts will be made until a content moderation council is put in place.

Read Article
Ensign Energy Services Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides oilfield services to the crude oil and natural gas industries in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers shallow, intermediate, and deep well drilling, as well as specialized drilling services, including horizontal, underbalanced, horizontal re-entry, and slant drilling for steam assisted gravity drainage applications; and equipment and services. It also provides coring and oil sands drilling services to the mining, and oil and natural gas industries; directional drilling and related services for conventional and horizontal drilling applications; shallow to deep well services, such as completions, abandonments, production workovers, and bottom hole pump changes for oil and natural gas producers; and interactive pressure drilling services with self-contained systems comprising nitrogen generation and compression equipment, and surface control systems. In addition, the company rents drill strings, loaders, tanks, pumps, rig mattings, blow-out preventers, waste bins, and wastewater treatment equipment for the drilling and completions segments of the oilfield industry. Further, the company offers transportation services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated a fleet of 262 land drilling rigs, 21 specialty coring rigs, and 100 well servicing rigs. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and distributes fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Fresh and Value-Added Products, Banana, and Other Products and Services. It offers pineapples, fresh-cut fruit, fresh-cut vegetables, melons, and vegetables; non-tropical fruits, such as grapes, apples, citrus, blueberries, strawberries, pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, and kiwis; other fruit and vegetables, and avocados; and prepared fruit and vegetables, juices, other beverages, and meals and snacks. The company also engages in the sale of poultry and meat products; and third-party freight services business. In addition, it manufactures and sells plastic and box products, such as bins, trays, bags, and boxes. The company offers its products under the Del Monte brand, as well as under other brands, such as UTC, Rosy, Fruit Express, Just Juice, Fruitini, Mann's Logo, Arcadian Harvest, Nourish Bowls, Broccolini, Caulilini, Better Burger Leaf, RomaLeaf, and other regional brands. It markets and distributes its products to retail stores, club stores, convenience stores, wholesalers, distributors, and foodservice operators. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. was founded in 1886 and is based in George Town, Cayman Islands.
Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. This segment offers financial products and services through branches, automated teller machines, and mobile sales network. Its Wealth Management segment provides a suite of advice-based solutions and strategies to high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and institutional clients. The company's Insurance segment offers life, health, home, auto, travel, wealth, annuities, and reinsurance advice and solutions; and business insurance services to individual, business, and group clients through its advice centers, RBC insurance stores, and mobile advisors; digital, mobile, and social platforms; independent brokers; and travel partners. Its Investor & Treasury Services segment provides asset servicing, custody, payments, and treasury services to financial and other investors; and fund and investment administration, shareholder, private capital, performance measurement and compliance monitoring, distribution, transaction banking, cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, and global securities finance services. The company's Capital Markets segment offers corporate and investment banking, as well as equity and debt origination, distribution, advisory services, sale, and trading services for corporations, institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, and governments. The company was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
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Subdued and speaking deliberately and slowly, Donald Trump on Monday expanded on his plans to curb immigration in response to terrorism, calling for a new "ideological screening test" to vet people coming to the United States.

Stirring concerns about terror attacks both domestic and abroad, the Republican presidential nominee cast himself as qualified to "halt the spread" of extremism. He highlighted his plans to hit the Islamic State terror group with military and cyber efforts, stressing in particular his proposals to screen people coming to the U.S.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," Trump said at Youngstown State University in Ohio, a key state in November's election.

Trump also criticized his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama , claiming they "unleashed ISIS" with their policies in Iraq and Syria when Clinton was secretary of state. He stayed on the attack, but was more subdued, after he received backlash last week for repeatedly claiming Obama founded ISIS. Trump later said his "sarcasm" was misinterpreted.

Trump's harsh rhetoric and unconventional proposals on combating extremism and limiting acceptance of refugees to the United States helped him stand out in a crowded GOP primary field. But so far, Trump has failed to craft a consistent foreign policy as his poll numbers slide in the general election tilt with Clinton.

On Monday, Trump positioned the fight against ISIS as an ideological battle akin to the Cold War. He called for cyber warfare to hit propaganda efforts online and "extreme, extreme vetting" of immigrants.



Trump said he aims to screen out ISIS sympathizers, people who support bigotry or people who believe Sharia law should supplant American law. It is unclear how those traits would be tested or if the policy would be deemed constitutional.

"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats that we face today. I call it extreme vetting," Trump said.

Story continues

He also pledged to create a "commission on radical Islam" to "identify and explain" factors that lead to radicalization and craft standards for local police to root out extremism. In a shift, Trump also said he wanted to work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance he previously called obsolete, to root out terrorism.

Some Republican officials and Trump advisors have said the billionaire developer could make up the ground against Clinton if keeps to his policy message. He tried to do so with a scripted economic speech last week , only to shift the attention shortly after by appearing to suggest gun owners could take action to prevent Clinton from appointing Supreme Court justices. He later said he was only calling on them to organize as a voting bloc.

Though he stayed on script Monday, it remains to be seen how long Trump can hold to a prescribed policy discussion. In a CNBC interview Thursday, Trump said he would try to win with his off-the-cuff style. Tweeting this weekend in response to a New York Times story that discussed advisors wanting him to stay on message, Trump contended it would be "dishonest to supporters" for him to change.

Trump's previous proposals on preventing terrorism by extremists embody the pugnacious style that marked his unlikely climb to the GOP nomination. Last year, he suggested a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States until U.S. officials can better screen travelers.

He later shifted amid widespread criticism, saying he wants to limit immigration from countries with ties to terrorism. On Monday, Trump reiterated that pledge, saying he would work with the State Department to potentially suspend immigration from "some of the most dangerous, volatile regions" where screening may not be adequate.

Experts have said both policies could prove extremely difficult to enforce and may not be effective, as many recent U.S. terror attacks were carried out by people born in the U.S.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Clinton and Obama for supporting the admittance of refugees from Syria, where ISIS has a presence. He has raised eyebrows by saying he wants to bring back waterboarding, a form of torture, and by suggesting the U.S. needs to "take out" terrorists' families as well as the extremists themselves.

In an NBC News/ Wall Street Journalpoll this month, Clinton and Trump garnered equal support for their ability to handle terrorism. At a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania earlier Monday, Clinton claimed Trump has been "all over the place" on ISIS policy and lacked a concrete strategy.

She said she would strike "local sanctuaries" from the air and aid local forces fighting ISIS. She also called to fight radicalization efforts on social media and other platforms.





More From CNBC


When asked what his friends back in the US thought when he told them he was working for a government-owned company using government money to build a broadband network, he got all warm and fuzzy with the response.

The NBN Co announced it has more than one million customers and doubled its revenue on Tuesday, but as Morrow pointed out to one of CBD's colleagues, it's the joy of it all that really grabs him.

It's the joy of it all that really grabs NBN CEO Bill Morrow. Credit:Adam Hollingworth

He said he has friends who live in outer suburbs in US cities who can't get broadband because there are no plans for them to get it. But the government here is investing to make sure everyone gets some kind of broadband connection.

"I think it's quite marvellous. It warms my heart that someone was brave enough to do it."

So does Morrow count former PM Kevin Rudd as his "brave" soul or, Rudd's communications minister Stephen Conroy?

Either way, it is good to see that Morrow is not getting caught up in the politics of it all, or the fact that it won't score this avid yachtie any brownie points with his operations chief, JB Rousselot, who owns a boat with their ultimate boss, Malcolm Turnbull.
Questioner: "But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?

Atwater: "You start out in 1954 by saying, Nigger, nigger, nigger'. By 1968 you can't say "nigger"  that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me  because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this", is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger".

What does all this have to do with Trump? Well in the midst of the sprawling fiasco of the Trump campaign, the hysteria, ill-discipline, the backflipping and lying, the slander and paranoia, the one consistent theme has been of race.

Trump introduced himself to American politics by declaring the first African-American president was a foreign agent, launched his campaign describing Mexicans as rapists and murderers and capitalised on fears of terrorism by announcing a ban on Muslim travel to the United States.

When his campaign began to go (more obviously) off the rails before the convention in Cleveland, Trump ditched his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and installed a more seasoned operator, Paul Manafort. And who is Paul Manafort? Well, in 1980 he ran Ronald Reagan's campaign in the south, he was the man that had Reagan speaking in racial semaphore in Mississippi.
Convicted child rapist Ryan Trevor Clegg's own lawyer has conceded his accommodation just "a few doors down" from a childcare centre in North Fremantle was not appropriate.

Clegg was taken into custody amid community outrage sparked by news on Monday that he was living in close proximity to a children. His bail conditions stated he was not allowed within 100 metres of children.

Ryan Trevor Clegg running from the media outside court on August 4 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. Credit:ABC News

Clegg pleaded guilty in Perth Magistrates Court on August 4 to 61 charges relating to the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl who was raped and pimped out to multiple men for two years by her father.

The 43-year-old admitted sexually penetrating the girl four times, indecently dealing with her five times and indecently recording her 48 times.
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china us thaad

Sorry China, but America's most advanced missile system is moving to South Korea.

US Army chief of staff Gen. Mark Milley met with his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday to ease tensions due to the bilateral decision between Washington and Seoul to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to the Korean peninsula.

During a two hour meeting, Gen. Milley spoke with People's Liberation Gen. Li Zuocheng and other Chinese senior leaders and said THAAD is "a defensive measure to protect South Koreans and Americans from the North Korean ballistic missile threat and is not a threat in any way to China," according to a US Army statement.

milley china

Similarly, US Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, former commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), stressed the importance of deploying THAAD to protect the Korean peninsula and US interests, despite it upsetting near peers like Russia and China.

"Certainly the Russians and the Chinese and other stakeholders understand that in South Korea besides being a wonderful ally, significant economic engine for growth throughout the world, that there are tens of thousands of American citizens living there, there is still US forces there, they are playing a defense role and they are at risk everyday to a host of threats that now include the potential for ballistic missile carried weapons of mass destruction," Gen. Jacoby said during a July 13, Hudson Institute discussion on US missile-technology preeminence.

"We cannot not act."

In conjunction with the approximately 28,500 US forces in South Korea, Seoul plans to have the unique air-defense system operational by the end of 2017.

Story continues

"The truth of the matter is, THAAD was really the logical choice and after intense debate and trying to assess what the complexities of the environment might hold to include the perceptions that the Chinese might have, we really can't get in a world where we refuse to defend ourselves," Gen. Jacoby added.

During a discussion at the Brookings Institution CIA Director John Brennan said that the deployment of THAAD to the region was an "obligation" on behalf of the US.

"We have certain obligations to our partners and the region so that the appropriate steps are taken to reassure our friends, partners, and allies of US commitment to the security of that area," CIA Director John Brennan told Business Insider.

Following Gen. Milley's meetings in China, he is scheduled to travel to South Korea to meet with US troops and South Korean military leaders. Then, he is expected to travel to Japan and will end his Asia-Pacific region visit in Hawaii.

While in Hawaii, Milley is expected to meet with US Pacific Command leaders and visit troops from the 8th Theater Sustainment Command and the 25th Infantry Division.

NOW WATCH: Meet THAAD: Americas answer to North Korean threats





More From Business Insider


Search of Mayfield home snares alleged meth trafficker and two others
By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 16, 2016 | 05:38 AM | FULTON COUNTY, KY

Police are searching for an escaped inmate.

An inmate at the Fulton County Detention Center escaped Monday around 6:30 pm. According to Kentucky State Police, Frederick T. Bristol, of Paducah, is described as a 35-year-old black man, 6' 4", 210 lbs, with a bald head, brown eyes, and of a medium build.

Police said Bristol was wearing khaki pants with grey sweatpants underneath, and a khaki shirt at the time of his escape. Bristol was serving time for possession of controlled substance. Police said Bristol may be en route to the Paducah area.

Anyone with information on Bristol's whereabouts should contact the Kentucky State Police Post 1 Mayfield at 1-800-222-5555.
By Paul Schaumburg, Graves County Schools Aug. 15, 2016 | 04:50 PM | SEDALIA, KY

Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton (R- Bowling Green) spoke with assemblies of students at Sedalia Elementary and Graves County High School Monday.

After meeting with an auditorium full of students at Graves High, the former member of the U.S. Air Force talked to members of Graves Highs JROTC. She shared with them the reasons she joined the military and emphasized the best parts were serving her country and the esprit de corps of comrades in arms.

In answering questions to a younger group at Sedalia Elementary School, Hampton told the group one of her favorite aspects of serving as lieutenant governor is spending time with students. In response to other questions, she said she really likes her pets and her favorite color is purple. She encouraged students to develop and follow their dreams.
Fabulous news, yall. Marco Reus has finally passed his driving test.

As you may recall, Reus was fined over half-a-million euros a couple of years ago when, after being stopped by police in Dortmund, it emerged that the forward had been merrily pootling around in his Aston Martin without a valid driving license for THREE YEARS.

Indeed, according to German broadcasting institution WDR, once pulled over for a routine speed check, Reus was only able to produce a forged Dutch license.

It subsequently came to light that Reus had previously been stopped for speeding five times, with Dortmunds chief prosecutor duly charging him with driving without a license on all six occasions and stinging him for 540,000 (roughly 425,000) in correlation with his high wage bracket.

And so, after missing out on Euro 2016 through injury, the 27-year-old has put his time to good use and finally  finally  passed his driving test.

Yes, its true that Ive passed my driving test. I am pleased that this chapter is now closed, he told Bild.

So is every single other road user in the Ruhr valley and beyond, Marco.

You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from here.
donald trump

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board has a message for Donald Trump: Stop whining or drop out.

In an editorial published Sunday evening, the right-leaning editorial board questioned the Republican nominee's temperament, accusing him of lacking interest in acquiring in-depth policy knowledge and scolding him for his frequent outbursts against the news media.

"If they can't get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races," the editorial board wrote.

"As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be President  or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence."

The board wrote that it "should be obvious" to Trump that the campaign is dysfunctional. Trump has been unable to make inroads in key battleground states despite Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's unpopularity, sluggish economic growth, and a restless electorate tired of eight years of Democratic control of the White House.

The board also expressed skepticism that the real-estate magnate was capable of changing the tone of his campaign, citing his increasingly hostile rhetoric toward various news media outlets and his inability so far to avoid controversial gaffes.

"Mr. Trump has alienated his party and he isn't running a competent campaign," the board wrote. "Mrs. Clinton is the second most unpopular presidential nominee in history  after Mr. Trump. But rather than reassure voters and try to repair his image, the New Yorker has spent the last three weeks giving his critics more ammunition.

"Even with more than 80 days left, Mr. Trump's window for a turnaround is closing. The 'Trump pivot' always seemed implausible given his lifelong instincts and habits."

The Wall Street Journal article is the latest in a slew of high-profile newspaper editorial pieces critical of the Republican presidential nominee. Earlier this year, The Washington Post's editorial board took the unusual step of unendorsing Trump months before the election, labeling him an "unusual threat to democracy." The Boston Globe opinion section ran a fake front-page cover imagining what life would be like under a Trump administration, predicting an economic downturn and harsh libel laws.

Story continues

Read the whole thing at The Wall Street Journal.

NOW WATCH: Trump rips a protester in Pennsylvania: 'Your mother is voting for Trump'





More From Business Insider


Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have announced their visions for the American economy.



Clinton will raise taxes. Trump will cut taxes. Clinton will increase regulation. Trump will decrease regulation. Clinton has vowed to kill the coal industry. Trump will leverage America's energy resources to create new jobs and growth.

On trade, Clinton will keep exporting our factories and jobs. Donald Trump will renegotiate every bad trade deal the Clintons have ever gotten us into.

The saddest fact here is that Hillary Clinton doesn't know the difference between a good trade deal and a bad one. Exhibit A is the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

In her economic speech in Detroit, Clinton bragged that she voted against the one multilateral trade deal that came before the Senate while she was there. That was indeed CAFTA-DR, a multilateral deal involving the U.S. along with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

Here's what Clinton did not confess to: She was wrong to oppose CAFTA-DR. In 2014, we had a favorable trade in goods balance with the CAFTA-DR countries of $2.7 billion. By 2015, that jumped to $5 billion. This pattern continued in the first half of 2016 with a surplus of $2.4 billion.

Now what about the very poorly negotiated trade deals Hillary Clinton did support? Take NAFTA, which she lobbied for and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed in 1993. At the time, our trade in goods with Mexico was roughly in balance, with a small surplus of $1.7 billion. Today, we run a trade deficit in goods of roughly $60 billion  an astonishing leap.



Moreover, in a typical short-circuit of the truth, Bill Clinton promised us a 200,000 net job gain from NAFTA. Instead, we've lost over 850,00 jobs, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute. Yet, in her book, "Living History", Hillary Clinton described NAFTA as "reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization." That may be true for Mexico and Canada but certainly not for the USA.

Story continues

NAFTA is hardly a bad trade deal outlier in the Clinton oeuvre. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton helped draft the South Korea Bilateral Agreement, describing it as "cutting edge." She was right. It cut 75,000 American jobs, according to the EPI, rather than the 70,000 gain promised by the White House. Meanwhile, our trade deficit with South Korea has doubled.

Hillary Clinton also promised as senator to create 200,000 new jobs in upstate New York and wound up with a net deficit of 31,000 jobs during her first term, according to the Labor Department. Do you get the picture?

In fact, the only trade surplus the Clintons seem to be able to run is in accepting money from big business and foreign corporate interests, while fielding requests for White House and State Department favors  and likely giving them out. And this is the Democratic Party's nominee.

Commentary by Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro. Ross is the former chairman of International Auto Components, a global auto supplier with more than 20,000 employees in 18 countries. Navarro is a business professor at the University of California at Irvine and director of the documentary film "Death By China." Both are senior policy advisors to the Trump campaign.



For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.







More From CNBC


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobas former chief medical examiner says racism didnt play a role in Brian Sinclairs death, but doesnt deny seeing it in other cases during his decades-long career.

Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra retired at the end of June after almost two decades as the provinces chief pathologist. In a wide-ranging interview with the Free Press Monday, he commented on several high-profile cases he handled.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra says Brian Sinclairs emergency room death was the result of a chaotic situation in the hospital, not racism.

He was the man who ordered an inquest into the death of 45-year-old double-amputee Sinclair, who died after waiting 34 hours at Winnipegs Health Sciences Centres emergency room without treatment. The case drew national attention as Sinclairs family and advocates accused hospital staff of racially stereotyping the indigenous man as drunk or homeless rather than a man in need of medical care.

Balachandra says it wasnt racism that led to Sinclair being ignored; it was a symptom of an overcrowded emergency room, with overworked triage nurses.

No, he stated immediately when asked if racism played a role in Sinclairs death. In that particular situation, no.

While an inquest into Sinclairs death produced a 200-page report, Balachandra argued the inquest did not go far enough to give more creative solutions to Manitobas emergency room problems.

It was a chaotic situation where there were triage nurses trying to assess patients, while communicating with doctors  and the inevitable outcome of that chaos was someone such as Sinclair getting lost in the shuffle.

One solution he has long fought for is a separation between the critical- and minor-treatment areas within an emergency room.

This would allow for either a family doctor or nurse practitioner to treat patients who come in with cuts or minor injuries, freeing the emergency-trained physicians to treat patients with critical needs. Using statistics on when patients come in and to which hospitals, officials can know when emergency rooms are most busy and will need more staff.

You can cater to them (the patients), based on the statistics we have already. We have extensive statistics about when patients come, what kind of patients come, he said.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra wonders why little effort has been made to find the killer or killers of 16-year-old Velecia Solomon.

In the wake of Sinclairs death, Balachandra did not hesitate calling for an inquest, which is a court hearing to examine the facts surrounding a death. Such hearings are typically called in Manitoba when someone dies at the hands of police, in custody or when under the care of the provincial government.

Calling an inquest was easy, because you have to call it. It was not the first time someone died in an emergency room. The decision was easy, within day two or three days of his death, we knew it was going to an inquest, he said.

Staying in the emergency room for 34 hours is a long, long time, especially in a busy place like that when people are in and out how did we miss him?

After being at the helm since 1998, much of Balachandras career has been spent among dead bodies, skulls and discovered remains. The chief examiner is also responsible for investigating all unexpected and violent deaths in the province.

There is one body part he has never forgotten  a thigh belonging to 16-year-old Felicia Solomon found in the Red River in 2003, three months after the teen disappeared from her inner-city home.

One year earlier, 18-year-old Erin Chorney disappeared in Brandon, last seen by her boyfriend, Michael Bridges.

Balachandra helped identify both bodies. It was Balachandra who investigated the thigh found near the Alexander Docks and determined Solomon had been slain.

I was called to the scene at the Alexander Docks and said this is a human thigh and this is a homicide, because it had been cut, he said. From there an arm surfaced and we checked it out and I positively identified her we knew exactly where she was and who she was. But still the police have not done anything compared to what they did with the Chorney case.

It was during an elaborate Mr. Big sting operation organized by the RCMP in 2004, Balachandra wound up in a Brandon cemetery at midnight, digging up a grave after Bridges confessed he had buried Chorney on top of a strangers grave.

They didnt want anyone to know they were doing this, so we (Balachandra and Brandon police) went at midnight to the cemetery because they didnt want to disturb the public, but they wanted to know if it was true. It was January and the ground was frozen and we started drilling, he said. I stuck my hand in it and felt a leg and I said, Yes, there is a human body there.

While Bridges was convicted in June 2005 of first-degree murder following a jury trial, Solomons killer remains at large.

Is it racism? She (Chorney) was white and Solomon was native, he said, adding Solomon originally came from Norway House in northern Manitoba. I think they could have solved it. Why didnt they do a sting operation for this? This girl, I feel sorry for her still today.

 with files from Aidan Geary

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TADOULE LAKE  It was standing room only Tuesday as about 300 people crammed a community hall to hear Canada apologize for the forced relocation of the Sayisi Dene.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett visited the remote northern community on Tuesday to apologize for the forced 1956 move that led to hunger, violence and death.

It is unbearable to consider what you lost in those years in Churchill, Bennett said. She noted nothing can restore the loss of life. All we can do now is offer our apologies.

About 250 Sayisi Dene were forced by the federal government out of Little Duck Lake to a barren area near Churchill, partly because the federal government believed they were causing a steep decline in the caribou herd  an idea later proven untrue.

In the new location, food was scarce and housing inadequate. The Dene were forced to scavenge the dump and were assaulted by Churchill residents.

About one-third of the relocated Dene died as a result of poverty, racism and violence, the Manitoba government said in a 2010 apology for its role.

Tadoule Lake is about 300 kilometres northwest of Churchill in one of the most remote regions of North America. The only routes to this part of Dene traditional lands in the mid-20th century were by snowshoe, dog team or air. Today, there are winter roads and snowmobile trails.

Late Tuesday, Bennett made the same apology in Churchill, at the desolate site of the Dene Village on the outskirts of town. Media, including the Free Press, attended the ceremonies on flights provided by the federal government.

Today, the minister will deliver the apology a third and final time at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg to a tiny diaspora of urban Dene.

Along with the apology, Ottawa has settled a $33.6-million compensation fund to be invested as a trust and 13,000 acres of land in Little Duck Lake.

Chief Ernest Bussidor said in Tadoule that the people have themselves to thank for surviving. Against all odds, we survived What you see here is our utopia.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Elder Betty Solomon tears up as she hears the apology from Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett on behalf of the federal government in Tadoule Lake Tuesday.

The chief, who was born one month before the relocation, said many have suffered post-traumatic stress.

I probably witnessed a lot more tragic events than I should have and most of us of that generation have that same notion, he said.

People freezing to death, fires, you name it. A lot of children died. That kind of stuff never leaves you.

The ceremony wrapped up with 12 singers with distinctive Dene hand drums and a round dance.

The survivors abandoned the place in 1973; five men led dog teams on a 13-day trek inland to the remote Tadoule Lake, home to about 300 Sayisi Dene.

The memories were thick like sand flies inside the hall on Tuesday, a short walk from the lake.

Ive seen it all, said Roy Duck, whose father Tom Duck, 80, led the people back.

Tadoule Lake Chief Ernie Bussidor speaks at the ceremony at the Dene Village site near Churchill.

We used to compete with the polar bears for food at the dump. I seen frozen hands sticking out of the snow, people beaten up so bad you couldnt tell if they were men or women, Duck said.

About three weeks ago, 15 Sayisi Dene returned to Dene Village and laid wreathes and eagle feathers at the places where people died in house fires, or exposure and alcoholism.

I was scared to go back there, said Nancy B. Powderhorn. I didnt want to reawaken the memories, she said. But the people brought their drums, they sang, and peace came, Powderhorn said.

Illa Bussidor, a former chief and co-author of a book on the ordeal entitled Night Spirits, said it will take generations of healing before the community is whole again.

 with files from The Canadian Press

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

Full apology text:

Chief, Elders, youth, Sayisi Dene community members, and especially the 18 survivors of the 1956 relocation and those who lived through the years in Churchill, I am honoured to be with you here today. I am here on behalf of the Government of Canada, the Prime Minister and all Canadians to apologize for the relocation of the Sayisi Dene.

JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett.

Many of your community members who were affected by the relocation are no longer with us. I would like to first pay tribute to those mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and children who passed away before the Government of Canada delivered this apology. Today, I stand humbly before all of you, and offer the following words: we are sorry.

Sixty years ago, the Government of Canada made a tragic and fatal decision that continues to impact all Sayisi Dene First Nation members to this day. Without proper consultation, without explanation and without adequate planning, the federal government took your people from the land and the waters that sustained you at Little Duck Lake and moved you, first to Churchill and then to North Knife River.

Not only was North Knife River far from your traditional lands, far from the caribou and far from the lakes and rivers where you had lived, but it was unsuitable for your communitys needs. Many Sayisi Dene had to leave their belongings behind. The Government of Canada did not provide proper food, shelter or support following the relocation. Decades later, we recognize that the impacts of the relocation were catastrophic.

This shameful chapter in Canadas history is one that stemmed from the pervasive legacy of colonialism  a legacy of disrespect, lack of understanding and unwillingness to listen. From early on, the Sayisi Dene knew that North Knife River would not sustain community members.

In September 1956, shortly after the relocation, Chief Artie Cheekie was adamant that the move to North Knife River had been a mistake: he told government officials that it was too close to Churchill and that there was insufficient fish and game to feed the Sayisi Dene for very long.

However, the Government of Canada did not listen to Chief Cheekies wise words.

Without adequate shelter, supplies or game to harvest, the Sayisi Dene had no alternative but to migrate gradually from North Knife River back to Churchill, joining other Sayisi Dene families that were already living there. In 1959, the federal government moved the Sayisi Dene into Camp 10, where they lived in deplorable conditions.

At Camp 10, families lived in poorly-constructed shacks without heat, hydro, running water or proper sanitation. Further, Camp 10 was located on barren, rocky ground next to a cemetery  a site of bad omen. Community members suffered from hunger and had to scavenge in the town dump for food. Some children were neglected or abused. Others were sent to residential schools or adopted out.

photos by RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Nancy Powderhorn sits on the shores of Tadoule Lake Tuesday holding a picture of herself when she was a young girl in Little Duck Lake, where she lived before the forced relocation of the Dene people.

Tragically, many Sayisi Dene people lost their lives during this time because of the terrible conditions in Churchill.

In 1967, the Government of Canada moved the Sayisi Dene once again, this time to Dene Village, outside of Churchill. The situation there was no better than it had been in Camp 10. The horrors of Dene Village  the violence, discrimination, poverty and despair resulting from this displacement  continue to haunt survivors today.

Heartbreakingly, more Sayisi Dene members perished. In the early 1970s, some Sayisi Dene leaders and community members returned to the land, settling at Tadoule Lake. In going back to the land, the Sayisi Dene demonstrated remarkable courage, strength, resilience and determination.

It is unbearable to consider what you lost during the years in Churchill. The Sayisi Dene endured racism and disrespect from all sides; many of you who lived in Churchill during these years have spoken about being treated as the lowest of the low. Your way of life was forever altered; the Dene language, culture and traditions that had been so strong prior to 1956 had to be retaught, relearned and rejuvenated.

No one, and no people, should have had to experience such treatment in Canadian society. There is no way to undo the years of collective trauma your people have suffered. You have lived, breathed and felt the effects of the Government of Canadas actions for six decades; you are the survivors of the sad legacy of the relocation. All that we can do now is offer our most sincere and humble apology to the Sayisi Dene people.

We are sorry for moving you from Little Duck Lake. We are sorry for the hardship, indignity and racism that your community experienced throughout the years in Churchill. We are sorry for the families that were shattered and for the lives lost. And we are sorry that it has taken so very long for us to acknowledge and apologize for our actions.

There is no satisfactory explanation for our actions; they were bred out of misunderstanding, misperception and miscalculation. The Government of Canada did not appreciate that the Sayisi Dene had flourished for centuries without a Hudsons Bay Post for supplies. We did not recognize that the Sayisi Dene had hunted caribou sustainably since time immemorial, and that the Sayisi Dene posed no threat to the caribou herd. And we did not grasp the depth of the Sayisi Denes connection to their traditional lands at Little Duck Lake.

WILLIAM KOOLAGE PHOTO Shacks from Camp 10 were moved to become part of the new Dene Village.

For the Government of Canada to say we are sorry today is not enough. No words can adequately express the pain, suffering, hardship and losses that your community has endured over the last 60 years. For many, the very idea of reconciliation between the Government and Indigenous people will seem far on the horizon. I respect and understand that.

Nevertheless, in presenting this apology here today, I want to ensure that all Canadians learn about the relocation of the Sayisi Dene so that we can all make certain that what happened to the Sayisi Dene is never repeated.

I believe that, in acknowledging the injustices of the past, we mark an opportunity to look forward, together, towards a brighter future, and to the next 150 years of Confederation. I believe there is hope. I believe there is a chance to rebuild our nation-to-nation relationship, on the principles of respect for rights, co-operation, partnership, and trust. The path of reconciliation is before us  a path that begins with healing; one that can ensure future generations are healthy and strong.

In saying we are sorry, it is my hope that I can walk this path with you.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Six Manitoba employers have been fined for unsafe working conditions that injured workers.

In 2016, six companies pleaded guilty to violations of the provincial safety laws, with fines totalling more than $111,000. The charges stem from incidents that occurred between April 2013 and May 2014, but the cases were only resolved in 2016.

Manitoba Growth, Enterprise and Trades Workplace Safety and Health branch is reminding employers to ensure workplaces are safe and that workers understand proper procedures and are trained on those procedures in order to perform their duties safely, the province said in a statement Tuesday that outlined the infractions.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

Here are the six cases the province points to:

 On April 11, 2013, a worker for Brandon-based Glendale Industries Limited was seriously injured when sparks from a hand grinder he was using ignited sodium chlorate on his pants that he had been exposed to on a job site the previous day. On April 28, 2016, the employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to implement safe work procedures for installing a work platform above sodium chlorate dryers, and was ordered to pay a total of $15,000 in fines.

 On June 6, 2013 an EcoLogic Spray Foam Insulation worker contacted WSH when he experienced difficulty breathing after removing some pre-existing insulation. An officer attended and immediately issued a stop work order. An analysis of the insulation determined that it contained asbestos. On July 14, 2016, the company pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to ensure that an asbestos control plan was developed to prevent asbestos-containing material from becoming airborne in the workplace and was ordered to pay $13,050 in fines and surcharges.

 On July 15, 2013, a Dunsire Building Services Ltd. worker was seriously injured when he fell from an eight-foot ladder while attempting to repair a strip mall sign. The worker was performing electrical work as a Level 4 electrician apprentice without being directly supervised by a certified journeyperson in the trade. On March 3, 2016, the employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to provide information, instruction, training and supervision in particular for an apprentice under Sec. 4.1 of the Electricians Act. The company was ordered to pay $18,000 in fines and surcharges.

 On Feb. 3, 2014, a worker for Gilbert Plains-based Plains Industrial Hemp Processing Ltd. suffered serious injuries to his right arm while removing hemp from a jammed processing machine. On June 22, 2016, the employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to ensure the machine involved was equipped with a safeguard to prevent workers from coming into contact with moving parts, and was ordered to pay $20,000 in fines and surcharges.

 On May 1, 2014, an Amsted Canada Inc. worker received serious burns to his upper body when a shovel he was using to remove excess slag from a ladle introduced moisture to the molten metal and created a steam explosion. On June 2, 2016, the employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to develop and implement safe work procedures for the removal of excess slag, and was ordered to pay $32,550 in fines and surcharges.

 On May 2, 2014, a worker for Portage la Prairie-based V & R Electrical Ltd. was seriously injured while removing electrical cable from a splitter box that was no longer in use. The task was performed live so as not to disrupt power to the facility. As the worker was removing a ground wire from the splitter box, it made contact with an energized lug nut, which caused an arc flash. The worker suffered burns to his face and neck. On June 27, 2016, the employer pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to create and train workers on safe work procedures for working with energized electrical equipment, and was ordered to pay $12,550 in fines and surcharges.

More information on the Workplace Safety and Health Act is available at www.gov.mb.ca/labour/safety/index.html

aidan.geary@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The monopoly that has controlled the sale of fish in Manitoba since 1969 will soon be cast aside by the Pallister government.

Making good on a campaign promise to give fishers more options when it comes to selling their catch, the government announced Tuesday it will withdraw its participation in the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp.

Our government will be pursuing consultation with all affected partners including the federal government, the commercial fishing industry as well as indigenous and Metis fishers from all regions of the province, provincial Sustainable Development Minister Cathy Cox in a news release. This collaborative approach will ensure that Manitoba fishers have a seat at the table as we make progress on delivering marketing choice.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES A filleting processing line at the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. in Winnipeg.

The Tories vowed during the April election campaign to give commercial fishers the freedom to make their own individual marketing decisions about their catch.

The federal Crown corporation is required to buy, process and market all freshwater fish offered to it by fishers in Manitoba. Those opposed to the single-desk marketer say its practice of only purchasing a handful of commercially viable species such as walleye limits the market options for fishers.

The Crown corporation will continue to exist as a marketing option for those fishers who choose to use its services, the news release states.

Amanda Stevenson, president of WMM Fisheries Co-operative Ltd., called the governments decision unbelievably exciting.

The economic opportunity for the fishermen in the province being able to sell outside of the monopoly  I cant overstate it. Its tremendous, she said. Were talking millions and millions and millions of dollars of sales that are possible now.

But others in the industry, such as fisherman Robert Kristjanson, arent so pleased. Based out of Gimli, Kristjansons family has been in the fishing business since 1891. Hes dealt with fish companies before the FFMC in 1969, and said nothing has changed since then.

It is so sad that I cant even put words to it, said Kristjanson, speaking of the provinces withdrawal from the corporation. Im not saying (it) has been true blue but to add more fish companies to this is not the answer.

He said hell continue to sell his fish through the Crown corporation.

Rob Altemeyer, the NDP MLA for Wolseley and the critic for Environment and Green Jobs, compared the situation to the dissolving of the Canadian Wheat Board, adding it might make it tougher for smaller, independent fishers to sell their catch.

If you are a small, independent fisher, how on Earth are you going to get your fish to another part of Canada all on your own?, he said. Our questions right now are: how do we make sure that the fishery stays sustainable, and how do you make sure that all fishers  no matter how big or how small they are, where theyre located in the province  that all of them are going to benefit from this?

Stevenson said most individual fishers belong to local groups, co-ops and associations that originally all worked together to sell their fish to the Crown corporation. She said fishers can now work together on a community or regional basis to sell larger quantities.

They opportunities are tremendous; theyre really, really excellent, she said.

Stevenson said she understands why people may be concerned about this change, but she said shes confident that the people who are concerned right now, as they understand whats possible, that theyll lose their fear and understand the opportunity.

A fisheries envoy will be assigned by the Pallister government to oversee the process of opting out of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Act.

Todays announcement is a victory for Manitoba fishers, one that will allow them to compete more effectively in the worlds seafood market, MLA Rick Wowchuk, the legislative assistant for Sustainable Development, said in the news release. Manitoba fish products are world-class, and our government is confident the creation of flexibility in how our fishers market their product will allow them to maximize the economic potential of an open market.

Chief Ron Evans of Norway House Cree Nation said the move will give the local co-op the opportunity to explore selling rough fish to foreign markets.

Under the single-desk system, fish such as carp are purchased at a very low price because there is no large-scale market for the catch.

We have been exploring options as of late, especially opportunities to sell rough fish to foreign markets. We look forward to working with the Department of Sustainable Development in developing a process that will provide the necessary supports and resources to create an efficient, viable and successful flexible option model. In the meantime, the Norway House Fishermans Co-op will maintain its relationship with and continue to work through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., which has provided stability and security for our fishers, Evans said in the news release.

The co-op consists of nearly 50 full-time commercial fishers and produces a quota of nearly one million kilograms each year.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.caalexandra.depape@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To thrive economically, Manitoba needs young people.

Fortunately, our relatively high birth rate  around 1.93 for every 1,000 women  combined with favourable immigration trends means Manitobas population will continue to grow.

However, if the success of a province can be captured by how well it prevents infant deaths, then statistics also tell us we may be failing our children. For decades, Manitoba has consistently had the highest provincial infant-mortality rate in Canada  5.9 for every 1,000 live births in Manitoba versus 4.8 for every 1,000 live births nationally.

In public health, infant mortality is often viewed as a marker for a societys development, and Manitoba consistently falls to the bottom.

A report by the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy highlights that Manitoba also has one of the highest rates of children being taken into care in the world  an alarming statistic that should signal to all policy-makers and politicos something needs to be done differently.

Poverty, limited education, historical trauma and colonization, to name just a few factors, can be linked to Manitobas high rates of infant mortality and kids in care. It also puts children at risk for other negative health and social outcomes.

Clearly this is morally unacceptable  but whats less often discussed is that failing our provinces children also puts Manitoba in economic jeopardy. Unless something is done to turn around both our provinces troublesome rates of infant mortality and the disturbing number of children being taken into custody each year, Manitoba will eventually find itself lagging in economic productivity.

If we, as a province, continue to fail our children, we will quickly see our economic competitive edge dulled.

Fortunately, there are opportunities for change. Manitoba is also producing some of the richest evidence on what could work to turn things around.

A Manitoba study recently published in Pediatrics found that the provinces Healthy Baby Program, which gives low-income expectant mothers a modest income supplement of $81 per month  with no strings attached  is associated with several improved birth outcomes. This economic boost resulted in fewer low-birth-weight and premature births  both of which put infants at risk for dying before their first birthday.

Another Manitoba study found the provinces Families First Home Visiting Program  which offers home visiting support to families with children from pregnancy to school entry, at no cost to the families  is associated with reductions in the number of children being taken into care, hospitalizations for injuries due to maltreatment and improved overall health outcomes.

Both of these programs provide us with a glimpse of what is possible. But we can still do better and we must do better. Unfortunately, these two programs do not reach all pregnant women and families in need. We need to expand these evidence-based programs to reach all families across the province.

Also, while these two programs do much to support families living on the margins, they are not able to address all the numerous and complex challenges  such as poverty, historical trauma and colonization  these families still face. Both the new provincial and federal governments need to work together to implement programs that address such challenges and enact the calls to action outlined in the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

As a society, we must strive to ensure all children have an equal opportunity to have a healthy and successful life.

We are at a critical junction as a province. We have the opportunity to make real changes to support childrens health. Our new government can leave a real and lasting legacy: significantly reducing the infant mortality rate in our province to at least the Canadian average and drastically reducing the number of children taken into care.

In short, our new government is poised to work to ensure all children have an equal shot at life. By providing families with the right types of support, we can turn our province around and even become a leader in child-health outcomes.

Its time Manitoba provided the supports struggling families need to continue to care for their children. Not only would this be something previous governments have failed to achieve, but it would result in a healthier workforce that is better able to compete in the global market.

We have the evidence for how we can make a real difference; we just need to start putting that evidence to work.

Nathan Nickel is an expert with EvidenceNetwork.ca and a Research Scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy. Michael Moffatt is a pediatrician and a professor in community health sciences and pediatrics and child health at the University of Manitoba.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government wants to hear from Manitobans about expanding Sunday shopping hours. The problem is the tyranny of the majority could push some small-business owners into a situation they cant afford.

The provincial government sets the parameters for shopping hours and local municipalities can pass bylaws that work within those parameters. Currently, the regulation of Sunday and holiday shopping hours contained in the Retail Business Holiday Closing Act means businesses can be open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. on a Sunday in any municipality that passed a bylaw after 2012. For those which did not put a bylaw in place, there are limits to which businesses can open on Sundays.

So thats the first hurdle. For the hours to expand past 6 p.m. on a Sunday, municipalities will have to come on board. The president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Loren Remillard, says his organization will be reaching out to the City of Winnipeg, when and if the province moves ahead with the plan.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS files Tracy Fish and her son Maclean shopping

Mr. Remillard is a big supporter of longer hours, saying the public has embraced Sunday shopping and it is now the second-biggest shopping day of the week. The Retail Council of Canada is also backing the idea. But there are those who do not.

Thats the second hurdle: getting everyone on the same page. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says a 2012 survey indicates its members are split evenly in terms of support.

For some business owners, an expansion of retail shopping hours doesnt translate to an increase in revenue. It just means the revenue is spread out over more hours and leads to additional expense, particularly in terms of staffing. This puts more pressure on a store owner to work longer hours as well, instead of hiring additional staff, potentially leading to burn-out. For other businesses, however, expanding Sunday hours means more money in the cash registers, as shoppers head to the mall with more time on their hands  particularly on impulse items such as clothing and shoes.

Letting the businesses determine Sunday shopping hours is something both the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Council of Canada support. However, there are concerns small-business owners will feel pressure to open if their larger competitors do. In addition, if the small-business owner is operating out of a mall, leasing restrictions may mean there is no choice but to stay open  even though it may mean operating at a loss.

The province and the business community need to get this right before making changes to legislation small-business owners cant afford and they need to pay careful attention to the small, independent business owner who may not represent the majority but does represent an important part of Canadas economy.

Thats the third hurdle. While the retail economy in Manitoba has experienced some improvement compared to last year, according to Statistics Canada, the Canadian economy is still not rebounding as well as its American counterpart  and there are concerns the long-awaited recovery in non-energy investment in this country is a long way off.

Placing more demands on the Canadian economys backbone  small business  could have deleterious effects. Proceed slowly, with caution, and ensure this is what businesses can afford.
Winona Health and the University of Iowa have teamed up to investigate yogas effects on chronic pain and pain-related problems.

Chronic pain is often linked to other difficulties, such as anxiety, depression, social isolation, and reliance on medications. Early research studies looking at how yoga might help with pain and pain-related problems have shown promising results. These studies led clinical health psychology doctoral student Jennifer Bayer to design this research study and to offer it to the people of Winona.

The research team is currently looking for volunteers to participate; the study is expected to run through the spring of 2017.

The study was designed for people who have never practiced yoga before, though people who have done yoga in the past or currently practice are invited to participate as well. Classes are scheduled based on the availability of the yoga studio and the participants. People might be eligible if they:

Have ongoing pain that impacts daily life.

Can sit on the floor and get up without assistance.

Can attend yoga classes two times a week for eight weeks.

Are willing to complete confidential surveys.

Are willing to be in the control group prior to receiving free yoga classes.

There is no cost to participate, and participants receive free yoga classes and a yoga mat. For more information about the study, please contact Jennifer Bayer and the research team at 507-458-9837 or Jennifer-Bayer@uiowa.edu.
Winona

Friday

9:08 a.m.  A red womens Roadmaster bicycle was reported missing from a location on the 700 block of West Third Street.

10:16 a.m.  Two tires were slashed on a vehicle parked on the 100 block of East King Street.

1:42 p.m.  A package was reported missing from a common hallway in an apartment building on the 1700 block of West Fifth Street.

Saturday

12:53 a.m.  Ryan William Bissonett, 19, Lakeville, Minn., was cited for underage drinking, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer on foot, and possession of the drivers license of another by police responding to a reported disturbance at Toppers Pizza.

8:55 a.m.  A window was broken at a residence on the 400 block of Center Street.

Sunday

2:33 a.m.  Charges of third-degree drunken driving were referred against Anthony Rene Sass, 34, Winona, following a traffic stop near Marion and Ben streets. His blood-alcohol level was .22.

2:40 a.m.  A 16-year-old New Brighton, Minn., boy was cited for underage drinking and driving and no Minnesota drivers license following a traffic stop on the 150 block of West Broadway. A passenger in the vehicle, a 17-year-old Winona girl, was cited for underage drinking.

1:25 p.m.  A Winona man reported being swindled out of $700 online by a woman identified as Amber at Cupid.com.

3:45 p.m.  A backpack and contents were reported missing from a location on the 350 block of Hilbert Street.

Monday

1:28 a.m.  Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of a small amount of marijuana in a motor vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving after revocation were referred against Corey Michael Papenfuss, 28, Dakota, following a traffic stop near Hwy. 61 and Huff Street.

Winona County

Saturday

6:10 a.m.  Four tires were reported slashed on a 2008 Ford Ranger parked at a residence in Minnesota City.

Sunday

7:12 p.m.  Charges of third-degree drunken driving and second-degree test refusal were referred against Jesse Allyn Ellinghuysen, 32, Winona, following a traffic stop in Stockton. He had a prior drunken driving conviction in 2014.

7:49 p.m.  Charges of domestic assault (causing harm) were referred against Melanie Marie Stiever, 35, Minnesota City, following an incident at a Minnesota City residence.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Tuesday America needs a president with a strong temperament and firm tone, and, despite widespread criticism, he is the candidate who has it.

Local vets: Trump not qualified to be commander in chief Donald Trumps attack on a Gold Star military family and his lack of respect for U.S. servic

Fred Hiatt: Donald Trump is a bore If he doesnt ultimately win the election and shred our Constitution, the most annoying thin

I think temperament is one of my greatest assets. Ive won all my life, Ive been winning, Trump said during an interview with the La Crosse Tribune. I always thought that temperament  I mean I have always felt  and been told  that my single greatest strength is temperament.

Trump critics  including some prominent Republicans  have said he doesnt have the temperament to be president. Only 17 percent of respondents to an NBC News poll released Tuesday thought he had the personality and temperament to serve. Among those who identified as Republicans, 19 percent thought he was fit to serve.

The real estate mogul  who in recent weeks lashed out at the parents of a Muslim soldier who died in Iraq and engaged in public feuds with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other members of his party  suggested his Democratic rival lacks a steady hand.

I actually think that Hillary Clinton doesnt have a good temperament. I thinks shes very unstable in certain ways, he said. I dont think she has what it takes to make our country into and turn our country into a winner again.

Trump was in La Crosse Tuesday for a $2,700 per-plate fundraiser at the Riverside Center. Earlier in the day he met with former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and Logistics Health founder Don Weber at Webers Charmant Hotel.

Mary Jo Werner, a partner with the consulting, tax and accounting firm WIPFLI, said about 100 people attended the lunch, where Trump spoke for about 15 minutes about the economy, immigration and law and order.

Werner, who said she supported Trump before the event, went to hear what he had to say with my own ears, unedited.

It was not loud and outspoken, she said. It was very businesslike.

Tuesday marked Trumps first visit to La Crosse since April 4, when he rallied supporters ahead of the GOP primary. Sen. Ted Cruz won the state, though Trump carried the western part.

A Marquette Law School poll released last week showed Trump trailing Clinton by 15 points among likely voters. He fares worse with female voters.

Trump is confident he can win over those women in the 83 days before the November election.

All I can do is talk about safety, talk about security, talk about womens issues, which Im very happy to do, he said. But I think were going to do very well. I think in the end were going to come out very nicely.

Tax plan to have immediate impact

Trump said his tax plan, which the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has estimated would reduce federal revenues by $9.5 trillion over the first decade  would not require cuts to balance the budget because it would spur immediate economic growth.

I think it will be very close to immediate, he said. Right now companies are leaving because the taxes are so high. Were the highest industrialized nation in the world in taxes. And I think its going to have an immediate effect.

But he promised to trim the $3.8 trillion budget anyway.

Im not talking about the cuts. Of course Im going to make cuts, he said. In many different ways, the country is very fat with waste. Its waste, fraud and abuse.

Trump suggested the Department of Education, which this year has a $70.7 billion discretionary budget, and the Environmental Protection Agency which runs on about $8.6 billion. For comparison, the nation spends about $615 billion on defense and $590 billion on Medicare.

If you look at the Department of Education, if you look at the department of environmental protection, these are massive bureaucracies that have tremendous room for cutting. Tremendous.

Better times?

Trump, whose campaign slogan is Make America Great Again! said he views the 1980s as the time when things were good for the nation, though he also hearkened back to the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The industrial revolution was certainly  in terms of economically  that was when we started to grow, Trump said. I liked the Ronald Reagan years. I thought the country had a wonderful, strong image.
JUNEAU - County Visions Coop. in Fond du Lac has partnered with Fond du Lac County Forage Council and UW- Extension to hold an Agronomy Day, with free corn silage moisture testing.

This event will be held at Montsma Farm in Lamartine Sept. 1 starting at 10:30 a.m.

Everyone is welcome to attend. The theme is From the Ground Up and will feature corn and soybean root pits, a 360 Y-Drop Demo, and precision planting demonstrations. Speaker Dr. Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing, UW-Extension, will discuss plant-root interactions with a focus on plant disease and cover crop systems, as well as mycorrhizae. Brian Madigan, Country Visions, will demonstrate the root pits and 360 Y-Drop with respect to fine tuning nitrogen applications. Cover crop success and tile lines will be addressed by Dr. Heidi Johnson, UW-Extension, along with a producer using cover crops in Wisconsin. The use of seed treatments versus seedling diseases will be covered by Jeff Laufenberg with Syngenta Crop Protection.

Fond du Lac Forage Council will hold the second day of corn silage moisture testing at this Agronomy Field Day from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Anyone wishing to have corn silage tested for moisture content should bring four fresh stalks per sample, cut at silage height, and be ready to provide your name, location, phone number, corn hybrid name, hybrid maturity and corn planting date.

The first date for free moisture testing will be Aug. 26 from 10 a.m. to noon at Fond du Lac Country Visions Coop.

A summary of the moisture results will be compiled and posted on the UW-Extension Fond du Lac AG website shortly after each test date. These results can be used by local producers to help determine their harvest window.

Lunch will be provided by Country Visions Coop. at the Field Day on Sept. 1. Registration is needed by Aug. 26 to reserve a lunch. Register by calling the Fond du Lac Country Visions Coop. at 923-7960 or Fond du Lac UW-Extension at 929-3171.
JUNEAU  A 37-year-old Beaver Dam man who was hospitalized after his motorcycle struck a steel pole at 301 Front St., is facing criminal charges after alcohol was found in his blood following the crash.

Benjamin Greenleaf is charged with operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration, fourth offense in five years. If convicted he faces up to six years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Greenleaf made his initial appearance in court Monday before Dodge County Circuit Court Commissioner Steven Seim. Seim set a $1,000 signature bond with the conditions that Greenleaf maintain absolute sobriety, not go upon the premises of any establishment whose main business is the distribution or sale of alcohol and not operate a motor vehicle without the permission of the court.

The court raised the issue of Greenleafs competency and a hearing will be scheduled.

The Beaver Dam Police Department, the Dodge County Sheriffs Office and Beaver Dam EMS were dispatched to a motorcycle versus pole accident at the intersection of Beaver Street and Front Street June 13 at 8:42 p.m. Numerous witnesses contacted dispatch to inform them of the accident and reported that the driver was not responsive.

Greenleaf had been operating a 1982 Suzuki motorcycle prior to the crash. He was transported by Flight For Life to ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Neenah with life threatening injuries.

A witness at the scene told officers that Greenleaf was operating his motorcycle and was the lead vehicle at the intersection traveling south of Beaver Street at Front Street. The witness said that Greenleaf had completely stopped at the stop sign but then allegedly accelerated in an unnecessary fashion, squealing the tires and causing the bike to fishtail. Greenleaf then allegedly lost control of the bike, struck the curb and was launched into the air.

Another officer noted that he could smell intoxicants coming from Greenleaf after the accident.

Officers learned of another witness and made contact with him. That witness said that he saw the Suzuki motorcycle traveling at an unreasonable rate of speed on Mill Street traveling towards Madison Street about an hour prior to the crash. The witness said he believed the operator to be drunk or high and advised that the drivers habits were so significant that the witness yelled rookie to the driver.

The witness also allegedly told officers that it appeared that the operator of the motorcycle knew nothing about how to drive one.

Blood test results shoes that Greenleaf had a blood alcohol concentration of .066 which is a prohibited amount due to his three prior drunken driving convictions.

Greenleaf was previously convicted of operating while intoxicated in 2002, 2007 and 2013.

A competency hearing will be scheduled for Greenleaf once an evaluation is completed.
Beaver Dam Police Department got approval to use $70,000 for a new radio system since funds for the Crystal Lake Beach dock improvements went unused.

John Kreuziger, Beaver Dam police chief told Administrative Committee this month that he has settled on one bid for a total of $103,000 to upgrade and replace everything. However, he only needs about $46,000 to get things up and running by the end of the year.

City Administrator, John Somers said that $70,000 for the Crystal Lake Beach docks are not planned to be used anytime in the future and that those funds can be reallocated to help fund the new radio equipment.

Alderperson Mary Flaherty said during the Administrative Committee meeting that multiple people are posting concerns about the lack of lifeguards at Crystal Lake Beach to a Facebook page.

Later Monday night during the common council meeting, alderperson Becky Glewen said that the $70,000 should come out of the Capital Improvement Plan funds and not from the Crystal Lake Beach docks.

Somers said he recommended taking the funds from the docks because it was a project that was approved as part of the 2014 budget cycle. He added that there is a three-year spend down on project funds that go unused. In 2017 those funds would be up for grabs and would allow the police department to use those fund for new radios.

The $70,000 is not coming out of the parks and recreation budget, Council President, Jon Litscher said.

After hearing Litschers explanation, Glewen said that she wants the council to keep the outdoor comprehensive plan in mind.

The department has been using the Dodge County Sheriffs Office radio equipment since early June when Beaver Dams system suffered a massive failure. That equipment should to return to the county by the end of the year. He told the Police and Fire Commission that this wasnt a one-time failure and that it has been gradually falling apart over the years.

Previously, Kreuziger told alderpersons, that once the department assessed the radio equipment it found that the radio system was out-of-date. He told the Administration Committee there is equipment owned by the police department dating back to 1987.

The upgrade will follow three phases with two occurring this year. Phase one would cost $7,664. Phase two will cost $38,543 and will include the receiver and repeater for the radio system. Kreuziger said phase three could wait until next year. The third phase is supposed to improve communication on the north side of the city and add additional antennas to the city for better reception. He estimates this phase would cost more than $50,000.

There is one tower at the Municipal Building, 205 S. Lincoln Ave., and one on the north side of Beaver Dam.

A new radio system is not budgeted for this year or for the next five years in the police departments capital improvements plan.

The council voted in favor of using the $70,000 for the police radios in a 9-4 vote.

Old hospital site to be evaluated

Beaver Dam Common Council is entering into an agreement with the Beaver Dam Community Hospital to conduct an environmental study of the old hospital site located at 208 La Crosse St.

The city has a $150,000 grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. The city will act as a conduit for the grant funds so Beaver Dam Community Hospital can conduct the study.

Somers said that this study qualifies for the site assessment grant agreement. He said there will be some light demolition in order to conduct the study.

Downtown art defined with new guidelines

Beaver Dam Common Council is revising what a facade is in downtown Beaver Dam along with allowing specific artistic features and facade paintings.

The definition in the new guidelines describes an artistic feature as a 2D and or 3D piece of art that on any outside facing wall on a downtown building. Like the painting, these artistic features can be reimbursed, but will be capped at a total cost of $30,000.

The money available for these potential projects downtown is coming out of Tax Incremental Financing District 6, which encompasses the majority of downtown Beaver Dam. TIF 6 was adopted in 2008 in order to expand the economic base of the downtown area through business development.

In a tax incremental finance district, property taxes collected in a district are used to pay for the costs of the improvements there over a specified time.

This changes and additions come from the Community Development Committee.

The council voted unanimously for the new guidelines.
Disorderly conduct  Friday at 9:19 a.m., a mother in the 600 block of South Spring Street reported seeing pictures of her son being bullied.

Intoxicated person  Friday at 11:49 a.m., an employee at Grand View Motel, 1510 N. Center St., told police that a man was in his room intoxicated and preventing the staff from cleaning the room.

Theft  Friday at 5:32 p.m., a 19-year-old man reported the theft of a bicycle in the 500 block of Grove Street.

Disorderly conduct  Friday at 7:51 p.m., a manger at McDonalds, 1639 N. Spring St., told police that two former employees spread ketchup all over the tables.

Disorderly conduct  Friday at 8:11 p.m., a woman reported that a 45-year-old man was urinating in public in the 400 block of South Center Street.

Suspicious  Friday at 10:36 p.m., a woman told police that a group of children were walking between houses in the 200 block of Walnut Street. The children told police that they were getting a phone charger from a neighbor.

Disorderly conduct  Friday at 11:44 p.m., a man reported that people were urinating behind Moonlight Bar and Grill, 438 Madison St.

Fight  Saturday at 2:35 a.m., a woman reported a fight in the 1000 block of North Spring Street.

Drugs  Saturday at 3:18 a.m., an officer came upon a 17-year-old girl, an 18-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man in Edgewater Park. All were cited with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and violating park hours.

Suspicious  Saturday at 6:42 p.m., someone reported possible drug activity in Lakeview Park.

Accident  Saturday at 8:38 p.m., two men were involved in a vehicle accident near the North Spring Street and East Third Street intersection.

Fight  Sunday at 1:32 a.m., police received a report that people were fighting in a parking lot in the 200 block of Front Street. A 36-year-old woman, a 28-year-old man and a 23-year-old man were involved in the fight.

Battery  Sunday at 3:32 a.m., a man reported that he was assaulted by multiple people while he was at Tower Lanes, 1660 N. Spring St.

Vandalism  Sunday at 10:46 a.m., a man reported that a house was egged in the 200 block of West Third Street. A beer can and an egg carton were left on the sidewalk.

Disorderly conduct  Sunday at 6:15 p.m., someone told police that people were fighting in a parking lot in the 100 block of Lake Crest Drive. Everyone involved in the fight was warned for disorderly conduct.

Disorderly conduct  Sunday at 8:55 p.m., a woman reported that a known person struck her while she was driving in Waterworks Park.

Vandalism  Sunday at 11:08 p.m., three men were cited with disorderly conduct for breaking the windshield of a vehicle near the Spring Street and Mackie Street intersection.

Drugs  Monday at 2:36 a.m., a man at Waterworks Park was cited with possession of marijuana.
Columbus United Methodist Church will be hosting a CROP Walk on Saturday, Sept. 17, immediately following the Columbus Fall Festival. There will be a 5K walk/run at 1 p.m. and a 1-mile walk at 2 p.m. Both events will begin at Firemans Park in Columbus and end at Columbus United Methodist Church.
Columbia County Health and Human Services has been awarded a $23,378 Wisconsin Seal-A-Smile grant from the Childrens Health Alliance of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. The Wisconsin Seal-A-Smile Program is a statewide dental sealant program that offers grants to local school-based programs targeting underserved children in schools with a free and reduced hot lunch of greater than 35 percent.

Seventeen school buildings in eight different school districts qualified for the grant in Columbia County:

Cambria Friesland Elementary

Cambria Friesland Middle

Columbus Elementary

Endeavor Elementary

Fall River Elementary School

Fall River High School

Pardeeville Elementary School

Pardeeville Middle School

Portage Rusch Elementary School

Portage Lewiston Elementary School

Portage John Muir Elementary School

Portage Wayne Bartels Middle School

Randolph Elementary School

Rio Elementary School

Rio Middle/High School

Wisconsin Dells Spring Hill Elementary School

Wisconsin Dells Spring Hill Middle School

Columbia County Health and Human Services has contracted with Cindy Seubert, registered dental hygienist, to provide and coordinate the Columbia County Seal-A-Smile services while the child is in school. With this funding, dental screenings to at least 900 children and dental sealants to at least 530 children will be provided. This program is not meant to be a substitution for regular dental visits.

What will the Columbia County Seal-A-Smile program offer?

Free sealants

Free fluoride varnish

Free tooth brushing instructions and oral health education

Free toothbrush and toothpaste

A letter sent home explaining what services were done and suggestions for further treatment

Sealants and varnishes

A sealant is a thin, tooth colored, plastic coating that is painted on a tooth to help prevent cavities from forming.

Your child will be checked to determine which teeth can have sealants, sealants will be done that same day.

What if your child already has sealants? The dental hygienist will check your childs sealants, and replace or repair those that may no longer be there.

A fluoride varnish is topical gel that is painted onto the teeth, making them stronger.

Oral health affects education

In the United States alone, children miss about 52 million hours of school each year because of oral health problems. Poor oral health and untreated oral diseases and conditions can largely affect the ability to learn.

90 percent of decay in childrens permanent teeth occurs on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth; sealants serve as a physical barrier to the bacteria that cause decay.

The Columbia County Seal-A-Smile dental sealant program is available at no charge whether or not your child is covered by dental insurance. The program will bill Medical Assistance or BadgerCare if your child is covered by these programs.

For more information about the Columbia County Seal-A-Smile dental sealant program, please call Susan Lorenz R.N. M.S. Columbia County health officer at 608-742-9227 or e-mail at susan.lorenz@co.columbia.wi.us.
The Juneau County Board of Supervisors approved a land development agreement with the City of Mauston during its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

After the city approved its portion of the deal at a common council meeting on Aug. 9, the county did its part by voting 18-0 to purchase the Kastner block for $200,000. In addition, the county is responsible for an amount not to exceed $150,000 for any cleanup for land needed to build a new Mauston fire station. The city had expressed interest in using the Kastner property for the station.

The city has to sign the agreement for the deal to officially move forward, but Mayor Brian McGuire, who was present for Tuesdays meeting, said its likely to do so. Both parties believe they are getting a good deal in the transaction. The county can finally proceed with plans for a new government building, while the city gets reimbursed and has the flexibility to explore other options for a fire station.

Supervisor and executive committee member Tim Cottingham, who helped negotiate the deal with the city, was pleased a plan could be reached after months of discussions.

Its in our best interest and shows good cooperation with the city, Cottingham said.

We applaud the move and think its a great idea, McGuire said.

Supervisor Jerry Niles said there was a lot of frustration at times during negotiations, but applauded the executive committee and city officials for finding a solution.

Its good to see its getting done, Niles said.

County urges state government to fix roads

The county believes its time for the state government to fix Wisconsins ailing roadways and passed a resolution on Tuesday urging them find a way to do it.

The resolution urges Governor Scott Walker and the state legislature to just fix it and agree upon a sustainable solution to the transportation problem. County supervisors would like to see a responsible level of bonding and possible gas tax and license registration fee increase to fund road improvements.

County officials feel that state roadways will continue to get worse in the next decade if improvements arent made. However, Walker is sticking to his campaign promise of not raising taxes and is resisting calls for tax hikes.

South Central Health Consortium dissolution

Also on Tuesday, the county voted to leave the South Central Wisconsin Environmental Health Consortium, a partnership it held with Adams and Sauk counties.

The resolution states that changes made by the state have made it impossible to continue providing limited agent inspections only with a requirement that counties either assume full agent status or discontinue limited agent status.

Public Health Officer Barb Theis said the county is looking into an agreement with Wood County, which should be more favorable.
Local leaders are closer to converting an unused rail line between Sauk City and Prairie du Sac into a recreational trail, but arent yet ready to start pulling up rails and ties.

First, a complicated contractual and legal process must be completed between state and federal authorities. Its unknown how long the process might take.

The Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission met at the Blue Spoon in Prairie du Sac on Aug. 5 where members agreed upon the steps to go forward, and voted to form an ad hoc committee to manage the follow-through of a multi-step process that would make way for the trail on the existing railroad track bed through both villages.

Included in that is Wisconsin & Southern Railroads notice to the Federal Surface Transportation Board that it will be surrendering its operating authority on the rail line. WSOR leases the line from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for freight transportation.

WSOR director of government relations Ken Lucht said the railroads operating agreement is in effect on the line until 2047.

In addition, the DOT and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources must file a statement of willingness to take over the line with Surface Transportation Board.

A Rails-to-Trails agreement between the DOT and the DNR will have to be approved once those filings are completed, leaving the DNR as the sponsor of the trail and contract with Sauk County for maintenance and management of the trail.

The five-mile segment of the line between Sauk City and what is now the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area, has not been used since 1997 when a portion of the rail bridge over the Wisconsin River in Sauk City was demolished.

The DOT is in favor of doing this, Dave Simon, DOT section chief of Railroads and Harbors said. The railroad concurs. Theres a trail committee that stepped up to the plate and are ready to take on this project.

Simon said once all the paperwork is complete, a track removal project will be coordinated, which raises other questions, such as who will remove the track, who gets the salvaged rail, what is the cost of the removal?

WRRTC attorney Eileen Brownlee said the land for the rail corridor was purchased under landowner deeds.

The Rails-to-Trails agreement prevents (the land) from going back to the landowners, Brownlee said. Its important to do things when they need to be done to avoid the law of unintended consequences. The commission owns the track to be removed. I dont think were at a point where the commission can take any action yet. All of the land belongs to the state. All (the commission) owns is the track, the bridges and improvements.

She said the commissions ad hoc committee would be in charge of making sure the contractual process continued to move forward.

Commissioner Dick Mace asked if Sauk County intended to get started on the trail yet this year.

County board chairman and chairman of the Great Sauk Trail Commission Marty Krueger answered yes.

However, any work on the trail is contingent on the tracks being removed so that construction can move forward.
Pouring rain didnt keep the crowd away from the annual La Valle Up and Down the Hill Run/Walk Aug. 13.

About 60 registered participants either walked or ran the 3.1-mile course, which included some difficult uphill terrain. Money from this years event will go to the La Valle Area Community Action Committee to make park improvements in La Valle, said organizer John Pearson.

The committee has not yet determined how much was raised.

The 21-year-old even also collected school supplies. Participants brought items to benefit needy children at Ironton-La Valle Elementary School.

Up and Down the Hill features a fun non-competitive walk and timed run. The top male, female and youth finishers each received trophies.

This years top male runner was Alex Klett of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, with a time of 21 minutes and 24 seconds. The top female finisher was Amanda Wafle of Wonewoc at 25 minutes and 6 seconds.

Bailey Miller, 18, of Wonewoc took home the trophy for the fastest youth competitor. He finished the run in 22 minutes, 28 seconds.

The small-town run/walk drew a variety of participants from across the region.

Paul Richardson of Hillsboro proved that experience pays off when hitting the track. At nearly 82 years old he finished the run in 36 minutes, 13 seconds  ahead of many of the other competitors.

He said his wife, Sharyn Richardson, also did the run. She fell behind him but he was there at the finish line to cheer her on as she approached.

Richardson said he ran the whole way and, at times, it seemed like the hill would never end.

Sandra Pearson-Grieser and her sisters took a more leisurely approach in the fun walk. Grieser, Mary Fish and Carol Gibaut all grew up in La Valle but have since gone their separate ways. Grieser said she now lives in Manhattan, while Fish lives in Baraboo and Gibaut resides in Waunakee.

The women all happened to be in town visiting family and they decided to do the walk.

Grieser said its an interesting course that includes flat land, steep inclines and declines, residential neighborhoods and part of the 400 Trail. The course started near the pool on Hochmuth Street and moved north toward the Dutch Hollow area before snaking back around to end back at the pool.

Its a beautiful walk and you have every kind of terrain, she said.

As for the rain, she said that wasnt an issue. The event started with wet conditions but eventually gave way to partly cloudy skies and a bit of sun.
University of Wisconsin System officials say they will spend millions of dollars on new programs meant to push educated students into the workforce if lawmakers approve their request for a $42.5 million funding increase in the next state budget.

UW released more details Monday of its request for the 2017-19 budget, which will go before the UW Board of Regents for approval on Thursday in Madison.

The budget request seeks funding for a range of initiatives, called 2020FWD, that officials say will boost Wisconsins economy. They include:

$15 million to fund efforts to address the most critical workforce needs in the areas around each UW institution.

$5.4 million to expand a program that allows high school students to enroll in courses for college credit, which officials say will reduce the time it takes students to earn a degree.

$4 million for 360 Advising that targets at-risk students and provides help with their academics, job searches and finances to reduce student loan debt.

A new program to turn more student research into businesses with help from organizations such as the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Expanding the UniverCity Year program at UW-Madison, in which students and faculty work with local communities on sustainability projects, to all four-year UW campuses and UW Extension.

Each of these items will make the University of Wisconsin more responsive to the needs of the state and its citizens, System officials wrote in a summary of the budget.

While the budget document shed some new light on where the requested funding will be directed, it does not say exactly how much many of the specific initiatives will cost. System spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said those details will emerge after the budget is passed, once UWs campuses develop their plans for the funding.

It also remains to be seen how receptive Gov. Scott Walker and the state Legislature will be to the request.

Walker has said he is planning to recommend the state provide some new funding for the UW System that would be tied to its performance in certain criteria. In his radio address last week, Walker said that criteria may include the number of degrees UW awards and how many graduates actually find work.

Otherwise, Walker has told UW and most state agencies they should not expect to receive any additional funding in his next budget, which he will present early in 2017.

UW officials acknowledged that, but wrote in their budget summary that they have been in discussions with Walkers office about their plans to seek an additional investment.

System President Ray Cross has also called for an end to the freeze on in-state tuition in the next budget, while Walker has said he wants to extend it.
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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 7:33 a.m. Friday and 7:23 a.m. Monday police responded to 102 calls

New Pinery Road: Police on Friday at 7:33 a.m. stopped Eric McClure, 50, of Portage, who was cited for operating a vehicle without a license as a third offense.

Cass Street and Franklin Street: Police on Friday at 7:07 p.m. stopped Kenneth Mitchell, 24, of Milton, who was cited for operating a vehicle after revocation of a license as a 17th offense. The vehicle was towed.

Super 8 Motel: Police on Friday at 8:27 p.m. issued a misdemeanor summons for theft to Elbert Grinstead, 34, of Fitchburg, for using the name of a Canadian Pacific Railway employee to get a free room.

East Wisconsin Street: Police on Friday at 8:34 p.m. arrested a 57-year-old man for pushing another individual. He was cited with domestic disorderly conduct.

Cook Street: Police on Saturday at 1:40 a.m. responded to an incident where a 29-year-old Portage man had reportedly hit and strangled another man. The man was arrested and cited for domestic disorderly conduct, battery and strangulation.

West Carroll Street: Police on Saturday at 2:20 a.m. stopped Steven Schober, 24, and Kellie Ramsey, 32, both of Portage, who were issued misdemeanor summons for possession of marijuana.

West Wisconsin Street and West Pleasant Street: Police on Saturday at 5:40 a.m. made contact with a 16-year-old Portage boy who was referred for possession of marijuana.

Frontage Road: Police on Saturday at 7:21 a.m. stopped Chad Wenzel, 32, of Neshkoro, who was cited for operating a vehicle after revocation of a license as a sixth offense.

West Edgewater Street: Police on Sunday at 2:24 p.m. responded to a reported traffic accident in which Ryan Maynard, 19, of Portage, had allegedly struck a parked truck and a parked car, sustaining some injuries. Maynard was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated as a second offense and two counts of felony bail jumping.

West Edgewater: Police on Sunday at 11:38 p.m. stopped a 16-year-old Pardeeville boy who was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while drugged. He was referred for possession of marijuana.
When five police officers were killed in Dallas by a lone gunman during a Black Lives Matter protest, Dallas police chief David Brown put out a call to the community asking anyone to apply to join the police force.

According to a CBS news report, 467 people applied to join the Dallas Police Department, nearly a 250 percent increase in applications compared to the same time frame a month earlier.

Yet in south-central Wisconsin, applications for local police agencies are down, and while the decline in interest can be traced to before the Dallas attacks, law enforcement leaders believe the trend is related to such incidents.

Most believe national media portrayals of officer-involved shootings since Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and others in New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Minnesota and South Carolina and several other states are affecting people who might otherwise pursue law enforcement as a career.

Yet those kinds of shootings are rare in the smaller communities of Columbia, Sauk and Juneau counties.

Dangerous job

Rural sheriffs agencies and small town police departments in the region dont see the level of violence that has driven some of the headline-grabbing incidents around the country. However, small communities arent immune to the dangers police officers face every day.

Theres this perception if youre a small town law enforcement officer, youre never going to be faced with those dangerous situations, said Sauk Prairie Police Chief Jerry Strunz. Thats simply not true. Its just to a lesser degree. Larger communities are better equipped and have better resources to handle those situations.

Unlike the response to Browns call for action at the Dallas Police Department, area agencies report fewer applicants respond to job openings for police officers.

Local police departments in Sauk Prairie, Reedsburg, Mauston, Portage, Wisconsin Dells, as well as the Sauk, Columbia and Juneau county sheriffs departments all report receiving fewer applicants in the past two years.

Fewer applicants

Mauston Police Chief Mike Zilisch said recruiting and hiring has declined in the last 10 years in his community.

The application process improved hugely for Dallas after the chief said if you want to make a change, apply for the department, Zilisch said. Will that transpire to local places? Im not sure.

Reedsburg Police Chief Tim Becker said his departments pool of applicants has decreased compared to previous years.

Wed get between 75 and 100, and now were pulling 50 or 60 applications. There are still strong candidates out there, theyre just harder to find.

Portage Police Chief Ken Manthey said his department has seen a similar decrease.

For one opening, wed get 80 to 120 applications, Manthey said. We recently had two openings, and we only had 40 applications.

Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson reported an even more significant decline.

When I started as sheriff we might get 70 applicants now we get under 10, Oleson said after 18 years as sheriff. The last opening we had, we had seven applications, and we didnt even test them. We re-advertised.

Columbia County Lt. Detective Roger Brandner said 10 years ago, the department would get 150-200 applicants for a position. It now receives about 60.

Even in Sauk Prairie, a community located only about 20 miles from Madison, there have been fewer and fewer applicants.

We were getting 200 applicants two, three, five years ago, Strunz said. Recently, our lowest pool has been about 60. Were told our department has a great reputation and the community is a great place to live. But we have seen that trend where its gotten to be fewer and fewer applicants.

Public sentiment

Wisconsin Dells Mayor Brian Landers was a lieutenant on the local police department for 18 years and chairs the criminal justice program department at Madison College. He said a number of factors have come together to drive people away from law enforcement as a career.

There is a huge decline in those people who want to go into the academy, Landers said. It was a perfect storm. There is a sentiment against law enforcement and concerns from people entering that career. Plus, the state has increased the amount of hours required in the academy.

From working nights, weekends and holidays, to the perils of dangerous criminal encounters, becoming a police officer isnt a job for everyone.

But with public scrutiny of officers so visible because of video and Internet technology, some law enforcement officials said the job can be even less desirable to young people who might consider becoming a police officer.

Prairie du Sac village administrator Alan Wildman has sat in on some of the interviews at the Sauk Prairie Police Department.

Candidate quality

The number of applicants arent there and some of the quality isnt there thats traditionally been there in the past, Wildman said. Whats going on nationally is starting to have an effect regardless of whether its warranted. And were a long way from the end of this.

Strunz said national media coverage of officer-involved shootings has increased the apprehension among those considering becoming a police officer.

There have been a lot of situations across the country in the media that show law enforcement in an unfavorable light, Strunz said. It makes people think, Do I want to subject myself and my family to the threats Im going to receive simply because of my badge and the uniform?

Landers agreed that national media attention on events like the Dallas shootings can affect young people who still may deciding upon a career path.

Brandner said he believes the perception about the risks involved in law enforcement have been skewed.

What were seeing is the global or national level affecting those wanting to get into law enforcement, he said. The young recruits interpret it as theres not enough support out there and its a more dangerous job than it has been when they see the constant disconnect between citizens and law enforcement.

Placing blame

Those people in the academy or in the field are concerned and touched by those aggressive acts but they know the job is inherently dangerous, Landers said. What bothers them more is the political response that occurs and the pandering to certain groups.

He said the incidents of officer-involved shootings tend to bring scrutiny on the officer, and thats what the media focuses on primarily.

They look at these incidents and instantly throw the blame at law enforcement, Landers said. Ive heard it from new students and veterans that everybody wants to train them on how to be racially sensitive and understand what bias is, but not how to deal with some of these things tactically. If thats all we focus on, were selling our officers short.

Landers said the law enforcement profession has a high suicide rate.

More officers take their own lives than are killed in the line of duty, Landers said. Theres an incredible amount of stress on the job, and we want to teach officers healthy ways of dealing with that stress. Part of the training is to weed out those who realize they dont have the mental ability to deal with the stress involved with the job.

Good wages

Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister said law enforcement, even with its dangers and odd hours, remains a great career to pursue. He said Sauk County focuses as much on retention as on recruitment, and the opportunities for advancement to other positions is unique in the industry.

One of the ways to retain those officers is to pay a decent living wage, Meister said. There are lots of opportunities for advancement. If youre hired as a deputy and assigned to the jail and your goal is to be a detective, you can work toward that goal and apply for a patrol position.

Manthey said being a police officer is more than just a job.

Its a calling, its not a job, Manthey said. There are not a lot of people who can do this job. I just started my 40th year on the department, and the atmosphere now is similar to what we were seeing in the 70s during Vietnam and all the hatred toward government.

Use of deadly force down

Incidents in which a law enforcement officer used deadly force were much higher in the United States in the 1970s than now.

Dolan Consulting Group researcher Richard Johnson, a former Illinois State Trooper with a PhD in criminal justice, points to several trends showing such incidents are far below previous levels.

In a July, 2016 article titled, Dispelling the Myths Surrounding Police Use of Lethal Force, Johnson cites a number of statistics comparing officer-involved shooting deaths over four decades and compares the statistics to other types of deaths.

In 1971, the New York City Police Department alone had 1,562 officer-involved shootings (4.2 per day), and the Philadelphia Police Department had 78 shootings (1.5 per week), even though the U.S. population was 36 percent smaller than it is today. Comparing these numbers to the Washington Post estimate of just 990 deaths from police use of force nationwide in 2015, with a third larger U.S. population, reveals that police use of lethal force is only a fraction of what it was in previous decades.

Impact of technology

The advent of easily accessible video recorders on phones have allowed bystanders and sometimes people who are subject to arrest themselves to post their perspective of the incidents online. The videos are powerful tools that can affect the publics perception about an officer-involved incident. However, they also can be edited or even manipulated to affect what a viewer may or may not see from the situation.

Some police departments are fighting back by also recording their interactions with the people around them.

Zilisch said Mauston made an investment in documenting the interactions between police and the people they encounter on calls.

The city just spent $30,000 in getting body cameras and in-squad car cameras for every officer and every vehicle, Zilisch said. Were doing this so the officer knows theres an independent thing there taking in audio and video. It gives the ability to give an independent view of what took place.

Training

Area law enforcement leaders also point to improved training to prepare officers for serious situations.

Our incidents of use of force are very, very low, Strunz said. That doesnt mean we dont have violent situations we respond to. Weve had tasers for 13 years and weve deployed them six times in that time.

Oleson will travel to Washington, D.C. this month along with other law enforcement officials from around the country to participate in the Presidents 21st Century Policing Initiative, a year-long initiative through the U.S. Department of Justice. The program will help bring lessons learned by other agencies in the field to local agencies around the country.

A police agency cannot be effective without public support, Oleson said. Its a necessary part. In cities youre seeing that erosion and its tough to get that back. If theyre looking for insight on what we can do to improve relations in the community, part of our problem in policing today is mainstream media.

Positive exposure

National events such as Dallas also can have a positive effect in local communities. After the July 7 fatal shootings, some local law enforcement agencies were inundated with gifts, cards, thank-you letters and random acts of kindness, sometimes from people none of the police officers have met before.

On July 17, after yet another news story broke of three police officers shot by a lone gunman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Shawn Fuss had just left a meeting where he works at the Sauk Prairie Small Animal Hospital in Prairie du Sac.

He had some time to spare on his way home, so he stopped into a local bakery and bought a dozen assorted donuts and dropped them off at the Sauk Prairie Police Department. Amid giggles and gratitude, he ate donuts with Police Chief Jerry Strunz and Lt. Travis Hilliard.

I have a lot of family members that are police officers, and with all that was going on, I couldnt imagine how I would feel, Fuss said. I ran track with Jerrys daughter and we were really good friends. I couldnt imagine if something happened to one of my friends parents who are police officers or one of my own family members. Theres no reason for any of this.

Displays of gratitude

Sauk prairie police administrative assistant Mandy Gibson took a photo and posted it to the departments Facebook page, along with the rest of the growing numbers of visitors to the office bearing gifts since the Dallas shooting. Many community members took the time to comment on the posts and similar sentiments can be found on the Facebook pages of law enforcement agencies in Sauk, Columbia and Juneau counties.

The gratitude can be found offline as well.

I was on a motorist assistance call where a guy spilled waste oil out of his truck. Some lady slowed down, rolled down her window and called out God bless you! Manthey said. Our department, like many departments, are embedded with the community.

Zilisch said the Mauston community has been full force in its support as well.

In the days surrounding Ferguson, there were probably five to 10 if not more businesses and individuals that came in and gave us things like Gatorade, meat and cheese platters, water bottles, donuts and cookies. After Dallas, we had more outspoken and vocal support with people going out of their way to say thank you.

Meister said the response in Sauk County has been similar.

It kind of brings a tear to your eye to see how much people appreciate what we do, Meister said.
Gerald Halverson

Gerald Freeman Halverson, 77, of Sauk City, passed away Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016.

He was born in Dodgeville on March 10, 1939, the son of the late Freeman H. and D. Florence Halverson. He attended Pine Knob grade school, near Highland, where his parents farmed. They moved to Mineral Point in 1949 and he graduated high school in 1956. Jerry was a factory welder in Mineral Point, Belleville and Madison until he and his loving wife Dorothy married on July 4, 1959, at the Mineral Point Methodist Church. They traveled to almost all of the 50 states, including Hawaii, Alaska, and many trips to Europe, visiting 20 countries.

Their favorite destination was London, and traveling England and France with their British friends, the Brackleys, to many World War II museums, over a period of 20 years. Jerry served in an armored recon platoon (SPEC4) in 1961-62 at Fort Lewis, Washington, with the 32nd Division. He worked for the General Casualty Insurance Company as a claims adjuster in central Wisconsin for four years after returning from the state of Washington. He went to work for the Continental Insurance Company as a territory sales manager. In 1984, Jerry bought the Collman Agency in Monona. He and Dorothy bought three more agencies, the last being Riesch Insurance in Middleton, and also bought the John Riesch Insurance Building and remained in Middleton, selling the agency and retiring in 2000. He credited Dorothy with playing an equal part in making their agency a success. They traveled everywhere together, including more than 20 fishing trips to Canada and Alaska. Jerry also fished in Mexico, Maine and Washington. He hunted bear, elk and deer in Colorado, Ontario and Wisconsin.

He made several horseback trips with two sons into the mountains in Colorado. He loved their fishing trips to Red Lake, Ontario with sons, grandsons and Dorothy. She held the record for the largest walleye on all their trips. They spent many days at their log cabin at Wisconsin Dells hunting turkey. Jerry built the cabin from pine trees he cut on their 64 acres. He especially enjoyed archery hunting with his sons, and the more than 30 years of the annual poker games with his sons and the Podolskis of Chicago. Jerry was a member of St. Johns Lutheran Church of Prairie du Sac, American Legion Post 360 of Waunakee, past Lions Club president and secretary, founder of the Sauk Prairie Wrestling Club, and past president of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Weigh-In Club (wrestling club). He held posts on committees with the Independent Insurance Agencies Association of Wisconsin.

He is preceded in death by uncles, Abraham and Amos Nelson and Truman and Elmore Halverson; aunts, Bernice Fine, Evelyn Johnson, Lila Williams and Amy Thomas; cousin, Twila Rudd; and grandson, Austin Halverson.

Jerry is survived by his wife of 57 years Dorothy (Williams); children, Kim (Foluke), Teresa (Scott) Gimler, Aaron, and Shawn (Cristal); grandchildren, Andrew, Grant, Ben, Gavin and Emma; and faithful dog Polly.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, at St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church, Prairie du Sac, with Pastor Fred Rilling officiating. Burial will follow in the Sauk City Cemetery. A visitation will be held from 4-7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, 2016, at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the church or to the Sauk Prairie Wrestling Club. Online condolences may be given at www.hooversonfuneralhomes.com.
South Africa is Africas largest economy (again). But what does it mean?

South Africa has toppled Nigeria and reclaimed its status as the largest economy in Africa.

This comes two years after Nigeria rebased its GDP calculation and advanced to the top spot. South Africa was also temporarily relegated to the third position early this year after Egypt climbed to claim the second spot. The Conversation Africas business and economy editor Sibonelo Radebe asked the University of the Witwatersrands Professor Jannie Rossouw to explain what it all means.

How is this ranking calculated?

The ranking is made on the basis of the size of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the three countries in question, namely South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. The GDP is a measure of total economic activity in a country in a specific period (for example a year). GDP is measured in the domestic currency of the country, which is the rand in the case of South Africa, the naira in Nigeria and the Egyptian pound in Egypts case.

For purposes of international comparison, the GDP values are converted at the prevailing exchange rate to a common international currency such as the US dollar. Owing to the increase in the exchange rate value of the rand, the US dollar value of the South African GDP increased. Given the change in the value of the countrys currency, its GDP exceeded the value of Nigerias GDP. The same applies to Egypt: owing to the increase in the exchange rate of the rand, South Africas GDP is now larger than the GDP of Egypt when converted to US dollars.

Its important to remember that South Africas actual GDP in rand value stayed the same.

However, the difference between South Africa and Nigeria is not large. At the time the calculation was made, the US dollar value of the South African GDP was some $301bn, while Nigerias was $296bn. At current exchange rates the Egyptian GDP is about US$270 bn.

One must caution that the relative ranking could have changed since the calculation, depending on exchange rate movements.

What do these ranking mean? Are they useful in any way?

These rankings do not mean much and are not really useful to the people making economic policy and investment decisions. What really matters to economic actors, broader stakeholders and observers are the economic prospects of these countries. What people want to know is: will there be economic growth in years to come, and will the GDP per capita increase?

GDP per capita is measured as the income per person (on average) in a country and provides an indication of standard of living. On this basis a country with a small GDP, but also a small population, can have a better standard of living than a large country. In Africa, Botswana comes to mind.

GDP growth is important because it provides returns for investors in an economy. It also provides an increase in job opportunities for unemployed people and new entrants to the labour market. In the long run GDP growth contributes to increased GDP per capita and increased standards of living in a country.

International investors pay less attention to relative size of economies than they do to growth prospects. These are much more important when making investment decisions.

Currently the economic prospects of South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are poor. South Africa has not fully recovered from the aftershocks of the financial crisis of 2008. No economic growth is expected for 2016, while economic growth at a rate lower than the population growth rate is expected for 2017 and 2018. On a per capita basis South Africa will get poorer over the next two years.

The economic prospects for the Nigerian economy will remain poor as long as the oil price remains under pressure, owing to Nigirias over-dependence on oil. The Egyptian economy is hampered by a large government budget deficit.

The last time Nigeria overtook South Africa Lagos rebased the way it calculates its GDP. Whats different between then and now?

Naturally not only exchange rates play a role, but also the size of the GDP of a country calculated in terms of its own currency. The size of the domestic GDP in local currency value can increase as a result of economic growth (and also decrease with negative economic growth).

From time to time countries' GDPs are also rebased to ensure that economic activity is accurately reflected. A recent rebasing of the Nigerian GDP contributed to that country claiming first place in terms of economic output in Africa.

Rebasing is a fairly common practice in all countries. This can be done, for example, to take full account of new activities such as cell phones or renewable energy investments. But rebasing is done on a scientific basis and countries cannot simply rebase their GDPs in a quest to increase the relative size of their economy. There must be scientific grounds for rebasing.

How should we measure or rank economies? Are there alternative reliable tools that can be used?

The alternative way to rank economies is the use of purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. On this basis rapid and immediate swings in exchange rates are not taken into consideration in the measurement of relative economic size. PPP is calculated on the basis of the goods/services a unit of currency can buy in different countries, to reflect affordability, rather than only price.

A common example is a comparison of the price of hamburgers in two different countries. The prices of McDonalds hamburgers are compared in different countries and a PPP exchange rate is calculated to show whether exchange rates (on this basis) are over- or undervalued.

Jannie Rossouw, Head of School of Economic & Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
When universities arent properly funded, everybody loses

It seems that South Africas universities are on a knife-edge once more. Its students are ready to march again.

Its striking that universities find themselves in this position less than a year after the #feesmustfall protests. These brought the issue of rising student fees  driven by declining government support  to the fore.

South Africas Higher Education and Training Minister has indefinitely postponed making a highly anticipated announcement about university fees. Dr Blade Nzimande was scheduled to make an important announcement at a press briefing on August 12. Instead, he cancelled his briefing after meeting with students.

Students werent impressed by their interactions with Nzimande. Members of the SA Union of Students say they will shut down universities from August 15. Theyre unhappy with Nzimandes proposals for the 2017 fee cycle and the work thats being done by a commission President Jacob Zuma established to investigate fee structures in higher education.

Drivers for change

These events bode ill given the important role that universities play in the countrys economy. In 2009 they contributed more than R87 billion (about US$6.5 billion at current rates) to the economy and accounted for approximately 2.1% of gross domestic product (GDP). Universities are responsible for more than 150,000 jobs, both directly  academics and support staff  and indirectly through service providers.

University graduates often enter into well-paying jobs, increasing the number of taxpayers. This is an important imperative in a country that struggles with a narrow base of taxpayers. But it doesnt stop there.

These graduates tend to be more democratically engaged. They are healthier, more likely to be civically engaged and less likely to participate in crime. A vibrant higher education sector is essential to developing a thriving society.

Higher education is directly involved in the project of nation-building. Its research and its graduates can grapple with the legacy of apartheid, as well as the countrys institutionalised system of inequality. Universities are important promoters of transformation  increasing representation and access across lines of race, gender and sexuality. In just 20 years, South Africas universities have improved access to black students from 52% in 1994 to 81% as of 2014.

Without sufficient funding, all of this important work is in jeopardy.

Funding crunch

South African higher education is funded well below Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development averages. It lags behind other African countries, too.

Currently, the South African government spends just R68.7 billion on the entire post-school training sector. Of this, expenditure on university subsidies, infrastructure and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme amount to 1% of GDP. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries spend on average 1.59% of GDP on higher education, with the UK spending 1.23% and Germany spending 1.31%.

This, combined with the fact that South Africa simply does not currently have enough capacity in higher education to meet the demand, is concerning. There are 26 universities to service a population of about 54 million people. Thats simply not enough, particularly when you consider that the median age in South Africa is between 22 and 25.

According to the 2015 Statistics South Africa Mid-Year Population Estimate, 19% of the population falls between the ages of 15 and 29  the approximate age range for university attendance.

Comparatively speaking, Canada has 88 universities for a population of 34 million people with a median age of 39.8. In the US, there are more than 100 colleges and universities within the greater Boston area alone. The city has a median age of 31.1.

In a more similar economy, Brazil, the median age is 31.1  and there are more than 2,300 universities.

The point is that South Africa maintains a large portion of its population at the age and stage where they are looking for and needing university education. But this demand is not being adequately funded in the context of increasing student numbers.

Increased funding is an investment

Academics appreciate the difficult situation the government finds itself in with respect to funding. Just 22% of the population pays personal income tax. The pool of public funds remains limited even when corporate income tax, which accounts for an additional 18% of government revenue, is considered.

But the time is right to think outside the box. There are alternative ways to fund higher education in South Africa.

The corporate sector directly benefits from the graduates produced by universities. So it is possible to justify thinking through approaches that include their support. The Wits University Panel on Funding Model(s) for Higher Education in South Africa recently made a submission to the Fees Commission suggesting that a hybrid model is required to solve the problems. Things like wealth management funds, special purpose entities and other financial instruments all offer potential funding sources.

The panel didnt settle on one approach, making it clear that there are a plethora of options available if creative thinking is applied. Without this sort of thinking the sectors benefit to South Africas economic and social develop is under threat.

We have to stay focused on the fact that to improve funding is to invest in economic growth. Adequately funding South Africas universities is an investment in skills development, youth development and social justice. Its an investment in the nations future well-being.

It is time that higher education is seen and treated as a key tool for social justice and as a crucial aspect of South Africas developmental strategy. It is time for greater investment in the countrys future  not less.

David J Hornsby, Associate Professor in International Relations & Assistant Dean of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Presidential priorities: W&M professor on candidates' long-term policies

On Nov. 8, Americans will cast their vote to determine if business magnate Donald J. Trump or former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton will be the next president of the United States.

William & Mary News recently sat down with several of the universitys own experts to discuss what each candidates presidential priorities may be in national defense, the economy and domestic and foreign policies once elected.

In this video, first in the series on foreign policy, Lawrence Wilkerson, distinguished adjunct professor of government and public policy, talks about what he believes will be the most important long-term priority for the next president.

{{youtube:medium|FpgS-Q5_jpY, The most important priority of the next president of the United States}}

Prior to teaching at William & Mary, Wilkerson was the chief of staff of the State Department under Secretary of State Colin Powell and served 31 years in the U.S. Army holding various positions including special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a faculty member at both the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and the U.S. Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia.

To see more interviews on presidential priorities, visit the William & Mary YouTube channel and click on the presidential priorities playlist.




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The telecommunication sector plays a significant role in the growth of any economy. As the world goes increasingly digital, it creates a demand for more and more telecommunications-related goods. With the growing demand, some foreign companies such as France Telecom have invested heavily in different countries telecommunication industry. More than $1 trillion was invested in private enterprises in several countries around the world to bolster public telecommunication in 2015 according to World Bank. Some of the countries which had the highest private investment in public telecommunications include

Argentina

Argentinas lack of investment in public infrastructure is deep across much of its economy. The country is in need of both capital and technological resources that the public sector alone cannot meet. The government of Argentina has reached out to the private sector to help bridge the deficit. Consequently, the private sector has responded positively by financing major public telecommunications. The total investment by the private sector has increased by 25% to record $1.6 billion. The US and Spanish direct investment is mostly on telecommunication in Argentina. Progressive deregulation of the telecommunication industry through the enactment of telecommunication laws has opened up the sector for foreign investments.

Egypt

Most of Egypts industry is dominated by private investments, and this is becoming important even more so now than it had been in the past. This is especially true in areas such as transport, healthcare, education, and telecommunication. Mobile companies in Egypt are controlled significantly by foreign companies. Some of the businesses that have taken advantage of the telecommunication sector in Egypt include France Telecom, which is investing in the broadband services and owning majority shares of Mobinil, while the Vodafone group has also invested in Egypt, now controlling 60% of Etisalat Egypt. The private sector investment is more than $1.1 billion in public telecommunications especially in areas such as cloud computing, electronics, and specialized applications. With the country stabilizing from the effects of civil unrest and the ever improvement of infrastructure, the government of Egypt continues to appeal to more private investors, especially in the telecommunication sector.

Jordan

Jordans information and computer technology (ICT) sector is one of the most developed in the world due to the many years of industry-friendly policies implemented there. The population of Jordan has positively embraced digital services. However, the industry continues to face challenges of heavy tax burden since the introduction of double tax in 2013. Despite the challenges, the government, and the private sector continues to invest in public telecommunications. The three major telecommunication companies, Orange Jordan, Zain Jordan and Umniah, are all private enterprises that have significantly invested in the telecom sector controlling most of the stake in the industry. The companies continue to invest in telecommunication infrastructure, IT start-ups and telecommunication innovation centers. Private investment on public telecommunication in the country amounted to $650 million in 2015.

Positive Development Outcomes

Morocco, Iraq, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Syria, and Algeria are also some of the countries which have benefited from public-private partnerships aimed at improving public telecommunications. The increase in private-public partnership is due to the favorable investment policy and the telecommunication potential and need of these countries. Mobile phone services, electronic devices and broadband are some of the areas that have benefited from this partnership. These countries still have the potential for further investment in the telecommunication sector.
Benin

Benin, a country in West Africa has two capital cities, Port-Novo and Cotonou. In Benin, Porto-Novo has always been the official capital, even back when Benin was a French colony. Despite this, Cotonou has always been the city that has housed the country's government. This trend of these two cities playing these roles has continued even after Benin achieved its independence in 1970.

Bolivia

The reason that Bolivia has two capitals cities goes back to the Federal Revolution of 1899. The Liberal Party was mostly backed by tin mine families in La Paz, while the ruling conservative party was mostly backed by silver mine families in Sucre. The Liberals overthrew the Conservatives, and one of their demands was to move the official capital to La Paz. Eventually, there was an agreement to keep the official capital in Sucre, while La Paz would get more power by being where the executive and legislative seats of the government would be located.

Chile

The reason that Chile has two capitals is fairly recent and goes back to the end of the reign of dictator and president Augusto Pinochet. Santiago has always been the official capital of Chile, going all the way back to colonial times. Towards the end of Pinochet's regime in 1990, it was decided to move the National Congress of Chile from Santiago to the city of Valparaiso both as a gesture of decentralization and an effort to appease the public to stay in power.

Georgia

The reason that Georgia has two capital cities is that it can distribute its government's functions between the two cities and also honor the past of both the cities. The city of Tbilisi is the official capital of the country, and it is here where the executive functions of the government are performed. The city of Kutaisi, on the other hand, is the legislative capital of the government. The Parliament of Georgia is also located here. Both Kutaisi and Tbilisi have storied pasts as being the capitals of past kingdoms and dynasties that have come and gone in Georgia's past, which is why they are both honored by having a role in the government.

Honduras

Tegucigalpa had been the capital of Honduras since 1880 when it was designated as the capital. The catalyst for Honduras' change from a single capital to a two capital country then started in 1937. That year the 1936 Honduran Constitution was changed to combine the capital of Tegucigalpa and its sister city of Comayaguela into a Central District. In 1982 when Honduras's current constitution was established it was decreed that the Municipality of the Central District would serve as the capital, meaning that both cities where now the capital since they made up the Central District.

Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)

The city of Abidjan was declared the capital of the Ivory Coast in 1933 when it was still under French rule as a colony and stayed the capital after the country became independent. However, the reason that the Ivory Coast has two capitals is fairly recent and is associated with the country's first president. After twenty-three years in office, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny decided to move the official capital of the country from Abidjan to his hometown of Yamoussoukro. Houphouet-Boigny did this to spur development in the center of the country and to uplift his hometown. Despite this change, most of the embassies and government institutions remain in Abidjan.

Malaysia

The reason that Malaysia has two capitals is recent and has to do with overcrowding and political congestion in the official capital of Kuala Lumpur. The government of Malaysia realized that this was a problem and decided to take action. They started working on designing a planned city to specifically handle the government's federal level administrative functions. The city of Putrajaya was established in 1995 and by 1999 was ready for the seat of government and the judiciary to move to the city.

Montenegro

The reason that Montenegro has two capitals is because it is a way to honor its past history. Podgorica is the official capital of Montenegro and where all of the country's government functions take place. The city of Cetinje has the honor of having the status of being the historical capital of the country. This is to honor Cetinje's role as the former capital of Montenegro and as the cultural center of the country.

Netherlands

Unlike most countries on this list the Netherlands has always had two capitals. Amsterdam has been the official and constitutionally mandated capital of the country since 1814 when the new kingdom of the country was formed following freedom from French rule. However, The Hague has been the seat of basically all government functions for the country since 1588, only some years after the establishment of the Republic of the United Netherlands. The Dutch have always had a separate official capital and a capital for government functions before most other countries though to try this.

South Africa

The reason that South Africa is the only country in the world with three different official capitals goes back to the 1910 unification of South Africa. At this point in time the four founding provinces of South Africa, Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, Transvaal Colony and Natal Colony, could not decide a capital city that could be shared by all. They eventually came to an agreement where they would each have a capital: Cape Colony (Cape Town), Orange River Colony (Bloemfontein) and Transvaal Colony (Pretoria). Each of these capitals would administrate a different branch of the government. The capital city of the Natal Colony, Pietermaritzburg, was given financial compensation as part of the agreement for not being a capital.

South Korea

South Korea is the most recent country on the list to adopt having two capitals. Seoul has been the official capital of South Korea even back in historical times but in 2003 the government started looking at moving some government functions elsewhere to reduce political congestion. After some political back and forth it was agreed in 2007 that a new special administrative district would be created to house these government functions. Finally in 2012 Sejong City was officially opened to the administrative capital of the country and many government agencies have relocated there.

Sri Lanka

A few decades after gaining its independence, the government of Sri Lanka came to the conclusion that the capital of Colombo became too political congested. In 1977 the government decided on moving the national legislature to a suburb of Colombo, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. A few years later in 1982 the country's Parliament moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, and it has since become the legislative capital.

Swaziland

Swaziland has always had two capitals. The city of Lobamba has always been considered the traditional seat of the kingdom and is where the rulers of the country live. It is also the city where the countries Parliament meets. Mbabne is the administrative capital of the country that handles all of the other government functions outside of Parliament.

Tanzania

Prior to 1973 Dar es Salaam was the official capital of the country of Tanzania. However, that year the government decided to move the capital from Dar es Salaam to the city of Dodoma due to its centralized location. Despite this change the National Assembly delayed moving to Dodoma until 1996 and most of the government and embassies stay in Dar es Salaam instead of moving to Dodoma.

Western Sahara

Western Sahara has two capitals due to its complicated status as a disputed territory between the country of Morocco and the partially recognized state of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, who both claim Western Sahara as their land. The city of Laayoune is the capital of the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region that is claimed by Morocco and is under the supervision of the United Nations. Tifariti is the capital of the proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic since their government moved there in 2011 from their previous capital of Bir Lehlou.
Reindeer (illustration)

By: Mahesh Sarin

The driver of a small car in Norway, was surprised to have killed a large number of reindeer after slamming into a herd while driving on a dark road late at night.

Finnmark police said that the incident unfolded on Tuesday around 11:00 p.m., on the E6 highway.

According to the police investigation, a total of 19 reindeer were killed as a result of the impact or had to be euthanized.

The driver of the vehicle, who was not identified, notified the owner of the herd, and he quickly came to the scene to asses the situation.

The driver of the vehicle told the owner that he had hit a herd of reindeer, but was not able to say how many of the animals were injured or killed.

The owner and police officers who responded at the scene, discovered that 19 reindeer had died or were in such bad shape that they had to be euthanized as a result of the collision.

The number of deaths may rise further, since it is possible that some of the reindeer that suffered serious injuries fled the scene.

Police cannot understand how a small car was able to kill so many reindeer. The driver was not injured, but the car has suffered major damage.
Daniel Smith (right), Luke Benson (top), Adam Acton

By: Feng Qian

Two men were arrested on a charge of murder after killing a homeless man and setting his body on fire for urinating on a bed, police in the United Kingdom said.

Now, Luke Benson and Adam Acton, both 25, have been found guilty at the Manchester Crown Court of murder in connection with the death of the homeless man in a disused railway on Trinity Way in Salford.

According to the criminal complaint, Benson and Acton killed 23-year-old Daniel Smith, before setting his body on fire.

Emergency services were called after flames and smoke were seen in the camp. Acton pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice for removing and concealing Smiths SIM card.

Amanda Briggs and Connor Cain also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing for their role in removing, damaging and concealing items belonging to Smith.

The court was told that Benson and Acton carried out a brutal and sustained attack on Smith, a fellow homeless man, after he had accidentally urinated on a bed within the camp.

They then attempted to dispose of his body by setting it on fire.

Both men have shown no remorse throughout the case, and continued to deny all responsibility for the murder and what followed afterwards.
The rubber duck

By: Mahesh Sarin

(Scroll down for video) A yellow rubber duck was taken on a bizarre trip around the world by a thief.

Jennifer Troiano of Hampton, New Hampshire, said that when it rained, her daughter used to place their big rubber duck in puddles that formed outside their home.

It was a show piece that made drivers stop and smile. However, five years ago, the duck disappeared.

The family was very surprised when they received a postcard from the person who took the duck, stating that it will be traveling around the world.

The postcard, which came from Kuwait City, Kuwait, read: aFamily, I have decided to travel and see the world.a The postcard was signed by Gale Ducky.

The family was advised to check updates of the duckas travel on its own Facebook page. There, they found many photos of the duck aenjoyinga the trip around the world.

The duck had visited 20 countries on its journey, from Austria to South Africa. Photos on Facebook show random people taking photos with the duck.

Suddenly, after five years, the family saw a Facebook post with the duck sitting on a suitcase outside their home.

Troiano said that she went outside, and found the duck along with a suitcase filled with photos, tickets and souvenirs.

They have no idea who was behind this. The person has now made the Troiano family the administrators of Gale Duckyas Facebook page.
Tatiana Gagnon

By: Chan Yuan

(Scroll down for video) A silly thief was arrested after running over a safe in an attempt to open it.

The woman of Maine, managed to break into an office at a gas station, where she stole the safe.

After making it out of the business without being detected, the woman went to a side road and placed the safe on the ground, where she ran over it with her car several times.

When the safe became lodged under the car, the woman drove away, dragging it down the road, where she abandoned it.

People who witnessed the bizarre incident, called police and reported the woman, who was driving a small blue sedan with New Hampshire plates.

Meanwhile, police responded to the Mobil gas station at 1498 Carl Broggi Hwy in Lebanon after 3:30 a.m., on reports of theft.

Officer said that 33-year-old Tatiana Gagnon, led police on a high speed chase before she was arrested.

Gagnon was arrested on charges of burglary, theft and aggravated criminal mischief. Her bail was set at $10,000.

Police said that Gagnon is also the suspect in three stolen vehicle cases in Maine and in New Hampshire.
North Wales Police & Crime Comissioner Appoints Deputy Despite Lack Of Backing

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Aug 16th, 2016

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has confirmed the appointment of his deputy.

The Police and Crime Panel refused to support the recruitment of social worker Ann Griffith during a meeting in Conwy. They acknowledged Mr Jones was legally entitled to make the appointment but were unhappy the role had not been advertised.

Another concern was that Ms Griffith was unable to say at the meeting she would be standing down as a councillor next May.

She has now revealed she will not be seeking re-election so that she can concentrate full-time on her new job as deputy commissioner.

Mr Jones has written to the panel informing them of his decision.

Ms Griffith, from Anglesey, said: The Police and Crime Commissioner, elected with an overwhelming majority, has expressed his wish for me to accept the role of Deputy and I am grateful for his unwavering support.

I am also encouraged by the overwhelming support given to me by other people, including professionals in the field of criminal justice and social care. Most important of all has been the support and encouragement of the general public.

The panel was a disappointing experience but I have learnt lessons from it. I have heeded the panels advice and decided to stand down from my role as an Anglesey county councillor at the next election.

According to Mr Jones, he was looking for a deputy with a specific set of skills and Ms Griffith fitted the bill perfectly. He said: It was also important to choose somebody with the same values and, like most other commissioners elected as a party political candidate, I have chosen somebody with a similar view of the world. It would not make sense to do otherwise and the fact that she is a Welsh speaking woman from Anglesey with strong links to south Gwynedd also provides a good balance in terms of gender and geography.

My Chief Executive Officer was involved throughout this process. He met my chosen candidate and was entirely satisfied that she had the background and experience to fulfil the role of my Deputy. If he had any concerns to the contrary he would have raised these with the Panel directly as required of him as my Monitoring Officer.

I was disappointed the panel did not agree with my choice, but the legislation is perfectly clear and unequivocal on this matter. The final decision about appointing a deputy is that of the commissioner.

Ann has the perfect background and skills to take this issue forward so that we can help create a better future for our young people which will reduce the number of crimes and therefore reduce the number of victims across North Wales.

She has 30 years experience working as a social worker, with both vulnerable adults and children, 10 of them when she was employed by the NSPCC, and she has worked with North Wales Police on child abuse investigations, chaired child protection conferences and children in care reviews as well as managing Safeguarding Children Boards.
Wrexhams Assembly Member Looks To Get Teeth Into New Portfolio

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Aug 16th, 2016

We recently caught up with the new Assembly Member for Wrexham, Lesley Griffiths, to ask her about the election and her new Ministerial job

Lesley popped into the Wrexham.com office a couple of weeks ago so we took the opportunity to ask her about the Assembly Elections, the unique circumstances after them and her new role as Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs. The portfolio encompasses a range of items, including those titled, but as varied as building regulations, energy policies and climate change.

How would you reflect on the past few months since being returned (again) as Assembly Member for Wrexham, and how was the campaign looking back?

It was a hard campaign. On the doorstep it was much easier to engage with people about the Assembly now it has been in place for 17 years, people understood what the Assembly was, and what it has powers for. People differentiated between the UK Parliament and the Assembly much more than previously.

Having being the incumbent for 9 years I think people were not just saying we see you just at election time as people recognised me, and have seen me a lot more and I have helped a lot more people, so there is that recognition about what I have done for Wrexham.

It is a huge privilege to be elected to serve for a third term.

What was the most common issue that was raised to you on the doorstep?

The main issues were health, particularly around GP services.

We have had a couple of GP practices where the GPs have decided to retire, that has caused consternation amongst patients. I can think of one practice in Gwersyllt in particular where they have had fantastic service for 30 years and suddenly they are now unsure where they will get their services from.

I am working very closely with the Health Board, and I am reassured that the Health Board are working closely with the surgery. At the end of the day GPs are self employed independent contractors, and it really is up to Betsi Cadwaladar University Health Board to make sure those services are there.

The election was notable with the delays appointing a First Minister of Wales and therefore forming the Assembly. We asked Lesley for her thoughts on that period.

It was an interesting two weeks. People expect to have an election on the Thursday and have a Government in place on the Friday, as that is how it has always been done. It has not been that easy for the last few elections both at UK level or Welsh Government.

We had a very good result and we were very pleased with 29 seats, losing just one seat. Clearly we did not have a majority and that is what the people of Wales voted for, so we had to have discussions. There were discussions with Plaid Cymru and obviously the Liberal Democrats went down to one so there were discussions with Kirsty.

We went in to Plenary where we thought we were able to nominate the First Minster, but of course Plaid Cymru put forward their leader, so we had a week of a hiatus where we did not have a Government.

Looking back it was an interesting period, lots of negotiations and discussions between ourselves and other groups.

We have now got Kirsty Williams, the sole Liberal Democrats Assembly Member, serving as member of the Government in the Education Department, we have an agreement with her obviously and we have an agreement with Plaid Cymru.

Due to the changes forced by that process we enquired if this was a healthier political setup and way of working.

Ultimately it is what the people of Wales wanted, and whilst there was criticism of us, people saying we showed an arrogance, I do not think there was. We were the biggest party, we immediately went into discussions around it. Plaid Cymru said they would not go into, coalition is a too strong a word, but they would not support UKIP or the Tories but unfortunately that is what it looked like to the people of Wales and I dont think that went down very well, I think it backfired on them. Ultimately we now have a Government that reflects what the people voted for.

Speaking of the last term when Labour had 30 seats and still in a minority Government then Lesley added, In the last term I was constantly talking to other people and parties to make sure we got our legislation through, and I think that is really healthy and invariably when you hear another partys point of view you do look at things afresh.

Once the new Assembly was formed the announcements came thick and fast for the new Cabinet roles  which saw Ms Griffiths appointed Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs. With the new role we asked what she was most excited to get her teeth into

I think Energy is very exciting, previously the energy policy sat with two ministers. I am only now just starting to go on visits, this week I have visited two wind farms. I am a huge fan of renewable energy, and have had very interesting discussions about the Swansea tidal lagoon.

Food and drink is another, which you would expect me to say. We have a fantastic story to tell, amazing Welsh produce and I have just attended the Royal Welsh Show. Wrexham itself is a real hub for food companies, it is really good to get around Wales.

Agriculture is obviously really important, as without that we will not have food. It is really important I meet with farmers and understand the difficulties they face, obviously the decision to leave the European Union has a massive impact on my portfolio. It is probably the most affected portfolio in relation to European Union legislation, regulations and funding.

I have 5,200 pieces of EU legislation that affects my agricultural and fisheries policies so my officials are having to unpick those. There is lots of legislation we would want to continue with, and my message is we have not been dragged kicking and screaming to sign this legislation we have done it because it is in the interests of the people of Wales.

When we now have the opportunity to get very Welsh-specific legislation we can work to strengthen some areas that we want to. There is lots of opportunity to embrace.

Following the UKs decision on June 23rd to leave the EU, we asked Lesley when we are Brexiting

There is a huge amount of planning going on as we do not know when the UK Government will invoke Article 50 which will kick off the exit, which will probably take two years.

Whilst that is going on in London, my message to officials and certainly the First Ministers message to the organisation as a whole as it is obviously not just my portfolio, is that planning needs to be ongoing. The First Minister has set up a team in Brussels, in London and in Cardiff to do the negotiations for us.

The First Minster has met with the Prime Minister and has made it very clear we need to be around that negotiation table. Going back to food and drink from a trade point of view 90% of Welsh food and drink is exported to the EU. We have been used to that tariff free single market, it is very important we retain access to that single market but in the meantime while that is being discussed I have told officials we need to look across the world, as we have previously, but we need to be looking harder and more imaginatively to make links with other countries.

Last week at the Royal Welsh Show I met with the United States agricultural department as we are working with America to get them to take our lamb again and had a very productive meeting. It is very important that I, as Minister, make these links, and my officials also.

The new Assembly has seen the introduction of UKIP AMs  with Neil Hamilton making comments about concubines and hareems during his appearance at the Senedd. We asked Lesley what it has been like working with UKIP

They have been democratically elected. I dont agree with their policies. I thought the comments from Neil Hamilton were outrageous and unacceptable and that has been dealt with by the Presiding Officer.

We have to work together and in fact the committee that will be looking into my portfolio the most is in fact chaired by Mark Reckless. It is important that they are there to scrutinise the Government and I am sure they will do that.

Focusing on the issues with the UK Labour Leadership at the moment, we asked if this was affecting the perception of Labour in Wales and how its panning out in the local Labour Party

It has some impact on us, but I think the Welsh Labour brand is quite distinct. Particularly on the back on the Assembly election, we are the only Labour government in the UK, and I think the UK Labour Party look to us in Cardiff and across Wales, and hopefully can learn from us.

Whilst it would be daft to say there isnt an impact, it saddens me greatly to see what is going on, it is very difficult. People have very different views of the candidates, and we are of course into a leadership election.

Finally we asked Lesley what she would want to highlight from her new portfolio

Young famers and new entrants. Im very interested in how young people, and for those with a farming background it is slightly easier for them, but for people with no farming background who want to go on to university or college and do agriculture and how they then access to farms.

I met a couple of groups of young farmers at the Royal Welsh and they are telling me things such as the banks are not lending money to them and I did not know how many small holdings and small farms were held by local authorities.

Right across Wales all twenty two local authorities own small holdings and farms, and should encourage tenant farmers. Unfortunately in the current economic climate a lot of them are being sold off, and having looked at the last few that have been sold, quite often they are sold for holiday cottages or just for land. We want to keep that farming land and encourage young people into farming.

I am looking forward to doing the piece of work around supporting young people and new entrants into farming.

You can follow Lesley on her AM / more personal twitter account here, or her Ministerial work via the official Welsh Government account here.
Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan confirmed Monday that Justin Trudeaus Liberal government will soon announce a major military deployment to one or more African countries.

Speaking to Canadian press by teleconference from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sajjan said the Canadian Armed Forces intervention in Africa will be for a long-duration.

Over eight days, Sajjan had travelled to Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and the DRC on a fact-finding mission. He was accompanied by Romeo Dallaire, a retired Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Lieutenant-General and well-known proponent of humanitarian military interventions, and Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court justice, prosecutor for the International Court and head of the International Crisis Group.

Behind claims of a Canadian reengagement with United Nations peacekeeping missions, the Trudeau Liberal government is preparing to wage war on the African continent in order to bolster Canadian imperialist interests. Canadian military officials have already indicated that up to a thousand troops and warplanes could be deployed to one or more countries, with potential locations including Mali, the Central African Republic, and the DRC.

In each of the aforementioned three countries, Canadian troops would be involved in counterinsurgency warfare. In Mali, France, under the guise of a UN peacekeeping mission, is mounting a neocolonial intervention in support of a government fighting Islamist separatists in the countrys north. Since April, more than a hundred UN peacekeepers have been killed in Mali. In the Central African Republic and the Congo shaky western-supported governments are embroiled in civil wars.

Sajjan is expected to soon make a recommendation to cabinet as to where Canadian troops will be deployed in Africa, with a public announcement slated to take place ahead of a UN peacekeeping summit in London next month.

The Africa deployment is being planned and implemented in the midst of a full government defence policy review, the first in more than two decades. The review is being used by the Liberals, the corporate media, and military-security establishment to push for major hikes in military spending, the further militarization of the Arctic, Canadas participation in the US anti-ballistic missile shield, and the procurement of a vast array of new weapons, including advanced fighter jets, a flotilla of war ships, and armed drones.

Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance indicated the advanced state of the preparations for the Africa deployment when he declared last month that a major CAF deployment to Africa would be taking place very soon.

In an interview from Ethiopia with the Globe and Mail, Sajjan sought to prepare the public for Canadian troops waging war. He said that it was a misnomer to call the coming African deployment a peacekeeping mission, saying it would be better to describe it as a peace support operation. I think, continued Sajjan, we can definitely say what we used to have as peacekeeping  is no longer. We dont have two parties that have agreed on peace and theres a peacekeeping force in between.

The Globe and Mail, National Post and prominent commentators on military affairs have been urging the government to level with Canadians and warn them the coming CAF intervention in Africa will be difficult and involve fierce combat and casualties. Many have cited Canadas role in Afghanistan, where the CAF waged a brutal counterinsurgency war for seven years in support of the US-NATO occupation of the impoverished Central Asian country, as providing ideal experience for the upcoming Africa mission.

However, the Liberal government has thus far sought to encourage illusions about Canadas supposed natural vocation as a peacekeeper, to avoid arousing deep popular opposition to militarism and war. During last years election campaign, Trudeau cynically used the issue of peacekeeping to contrast his Liberals from Prime Minister Stephen Harpers Conservative government, which had promoted a bellicose Canadian nationalism, and cast the country as a warrior nation.

After becoming prime minister, Trudeau made a point of visiting United Nations headquarters in New York to pledge Ottawas reengagement with the UN, and launch a bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, which becomes vacant in 2021.

It is thoroughly dishonest to portray Canada as a force for peace, and the Cold War peacekeeping missions mounted by successive Canadian governments as anything other than a defence of the interests of the imperialist powers in some of the most impoverished and conflict-ridden regions of the world.

Canadian imperialism was a major belligerent in both of the imperialist world wars of the last century, and throughout the Cold War the bulk of Canadas military forces were involved in the US preparations for war with the Soviet Union. Beginning with the 1956 Suez crisis, Canada, with US encouragement and blessing, did play a prominent role in UN peacekeeping missions. Such missions were used to defuse crises, particularly those like Cyprus and Suez that threatened to destabilize, if not tear apart, NATO. Canada used such missions to gain international leverage and to cultivate the image of an honest broker working to stabilize international relations as part of refurbished liberal Canadian nationalism that was used to contain social opposition at home and bind working people to establishment politics.

The Canadian bourgeoisie shifted its strategy dramatically in the wake of the Stalinist bureaucracys dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Over the past quarter century, Canada, under Liberal and Conservative governments alike, has participated in every major US war and military intervention, with the sole exception of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Currently, Canada is playing a significant role in all three of Washingtons major military-strategic offensives: the Mideast war aimed at consolidating US hegemony over the worlds most important oil-producing region; the military encirclement of Russia in Eastern Europe and the Baltic; and the economic, diplomatic and military campaign to isolate, encircle and prepare for war against China.

It therefore comes as no surprise that Ottawas plans in Africa are being closely coordinated with US imperialism. As Sajjans trip began, it was publicly revealed for the first time that Canadian Special Forces have been operating in Niger providing training to the West African countrys special forces for the past three years. This relationship almost certainly arose out of the CAFs participation in the Operation Flintlock exercise the US African Command has mounted in Niger and other West African countries since 2011. Sajjan is reportedly considering replacing the Special Forces troops now deployed in Niger, a land-locked country rich in uranium and other resources, with regular CAF soldiers.

The Canadian government has no qualms about collaborating with the most ruthless regimes. While in Addis Ababa, Sajjan pledged increased cooperation with the Ethiopian armed forces. He praised Ethiopias role in the Horn of Africa, where it has served as a key ally of US imperialism by deploying troops to Somalia to combat Islamist forces and prop up the pro-US regime in Mogadishu.

Predictably, Sajjan had nothing to say regarding the Ethiopian governments recent brutal suppression of protests. According to Amnesty International, government forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters in several cities earlier this month, killing 97 people.

The pledge to step up military cooperation with Ethiopia, which has one of Africas largest militaries, comes just months after Sajjan travelled to Cairo and pledged increased military-security collaboration with the bloody Egyptian dictatorship of General Sisi.

Since 2013, Canada has repeatedly provided logistical support to French troops in Mali, deploying military transport planes to ferry in equipment and supplies. Last fall, when Paris, under Operation Barkhane, expanded Frances military operations across their former colonial possessions in western and central Africa, including Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Niger, CAF aircraft were again enlisted to transport French troops and supplies.

The Liberals pretence that their interest in African peacekeeping is motivated by altruism is further exposed when one considers the substantial commercial interests corporate Canada has in Africa, and especially in the countries identified as the most likely destinations for CAF troops.

Canada is a global player in the mining industry, with more than 55 percent of the worlds publicly-traded mining companies listed on the Toronto stock exchange.

In Mali, Canadian-based Iamgold is one of the two principal owners of the countrys largest gold mine and total Canadian mining investments were estimated by Ottawa in 2014 at more than $1 billion. Canadian big business is also hoping that the Canada-Mali Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA), which came into force in June, will increase its opportunities for plundering the countrys human and natural resources. Ottawa has pursued FIPPAs with a number of African countries to ensure that their governments cant interfere with Canadian corporate interests and so as to encourage structural adjustment (that is privatization and the slashing of public services) and deregulation.

The DRC is the third most important destination for Canadian mining investment in Africa, reportedly accounting for $3 billion of the approximately $30 billion Canadian miners have invested in the continent. Canadian companies have been accused of profiting from the looting of Congolese resources that occurred after troops from Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi entered the country in 1998. A UN report in 2002 specifically named nine Canadian-based mining companies for having breached Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development rules in their African operations.
A major shakeup of National Health Service (NHS) facilities in Dorset, England is being planned in which two accident and emergency (A&E) units, a maternity unit, a childrens ward and several community hospitals will be closed or downsized.



As is always the case with such cuts, the bitter pill is being sugar-coated by PR experts and presented as a golden opportunity to deliver care closer to home, increase the number of people supported in the community as an alternative to major hospitals, and increase the range of services in the community. The reorganisation is portrayed as fulfilling the Conservative governments pledge of providing seven day services in the NHS.



In a statement totally disconnected from the real world of austerity, budget cuts and privatisation, Dorsets Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), one of 211 organisations responsible for organising the NHS in England, proclaims the proposed changes in its Clinical Services Review will ensure that the public will continue to have high quality, safe and affordable care both now and in the future.



What the CCG does not discuss is that the changes are driven by the governments policy of starving the NHS of funds in order to create favourable conditions for the privatisation of services. The 2010-2015 Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition granted the lowest ever funding increase for the NHS in its entire history, and imposed 20 billion in efficiency savings cuts.



The current Conservative government is demanding further cuts of 22 billion. As a result, one CCG after another is falling into deficit, with nine CCGs and five major hospital trusts recently forced by NHS bosses into special measures, under which they have to draw up an

action plan to meet stringent budget targets.



Dorset CCG claims it is facing a 200 million deficit by 2021. Currently, it is seeking approval for its reactionary proposals, hatched behind closed doors over the past two years, from the Wessex Clinical Senate (a non-statutory advisory body providing independent clinical advice for the Wessex area, including Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight) and from NHS England. Then the proposals will be put out for the obligatory, but bogus, public consultation exercise before the reorganisation begins in earnest next year.



The plans include:



* The closure of three community hospitalsAlderney, Westhaven and St Leonardsand three others shut or downgraded to community hubs without beds to meet the CCG target of 7 strategically located sites with beds compared to 13 at present.



* The slimming down of A&E departments at Poole General Hospital and Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester and the concentration of A&E at Royal Bournemouth Hospital.



* The possible closure of Paediatric and Neo-Natal care units at Poole General hospital as a result of the A&E downgrading.



* The shutdown of St Marys maternity unit in Poole.



* The closure of the remaining day hospital and rehabilitation units at Christchurch hospital, which means that all wards, with the exception of the MacMillan cancer unit, will disappear.



* A reduction in childrens services in Dorset County Hospital with the threatened closure of Kingfisher ward and the Special Care Baby Unit. Stroke care and emergency surgery at the same hospital will be reduced from 24 hours to 14 hours a day.



* Further privatisation of services, indicated by language such as short-term beds in care homes could be used as an alternative to community hospitals in areas where the need is small, and the recent closure of Ward 9 at Bournemouth Hospital, which had 35 beds, at the same time that beds available for private patients are increased.



* Increased pressure on already struggling Mental Health Services, which has already included the 2013 closure of Kings Park Hospital in Bournemouth with the loss of more than 40 beds, plus the elimination of day clinics and day hospitals that support individuals across the county. Recently shut down was the Chalbury unit in Weymouth, which looked after dementia patients with highly specialised needs.



* Making health workers redundant or redeployed to other places against their will under the fit for the future proposals.



On top of this are the disastrous implications of the threatened imposition by the Conservative government of an inferior contract on junior doctors. This is opposed by the doctors as being unsafe for patients and detrimental to pay, terms and conditions.



The closure or downgrading of community hospitals, which are often rehabilitation units closely integrated into their local communities, undermines the vital role they play in avoiding admissions to and facilitating early discharges from acute hospitals. The changes belie the CCGs talk about care closer to homes.



The slashing of services at the already overwhelmed A&E departments in Poole and Dorset will put enormous pressures on the remaining one at Bournemouth, and cutting maternity units and children units will have a crippling effect on patient safety and care.



The concentration of services in the Bournemouth and Poole conurbation in the east of Dorset, home to 450,000 of the countys 750,000 inhabitants, will involve longer journey times and inevitably lead to excessive deaths. People reliant on public transport are already facing difficulties, with many rural areas in the west having no proper services at all. This situation means that at some hospitals, staff are already unable to work early shifts or at weekend because of the lack of transport.



The CCG attempts to justify this streamlining on the grounds that well-resourced but fewer units would improve care and the longer ambulance transport times would be offset by the presence of trained professionals. However, in May, the South West Ambulance Trust, which operates across Dorset, was issued a Warning Notice by the Care Quality Commission for the inadequacy of its 111 call service and told to make significant improvements to protect the safety of patients.



The inspection found that there were often not enough staff to take calls, or to give clinical advice when needed. It added, Staff reported working long hours, many feeling high levels of stress and fatigue. There was a high staff turnover and high sickness rates. Too many calls were abandoned, and patients were waiting too long for their calls to be answered and to be assessed, or to receive a callback with appropriate advice.



Many clinicians are rightly outraged by the CCG plans, and the thousands of people who marched against the closure of the Kingfisher ward and Special Care Baby Unit at Dorset County Hospital this summer are just one expression of the opposition that is brewing.



Parliamentary petitions against the shutting of A&E departments have attracted nearly 50,000 signatures.



Dorset CCG is opposing criticisms of its proposals with the response that they are the result of ongoing engagement with local clinicians and the public during road shows.



The attack on health services in Dorset is not unique. CCGs across the country have started rationing vital services, including knee, cataract and hernia surgeries and IVF treatment, with the ultimate aim of expediting the privatisation process. The CCGs, with their control of 100 billion worth of NHS funding, are a goldmine waiting to be plundered.



According to a report published by the Unite trade union last year, more than a quarter of the 3,392 CCG board members have links to a private company involved in health care, including 513 company directors and 140 business owners.



Although Unite publishes such incriminating information about the destruction of the NHS, it, along with Unison, the largest public sector union, GBM and Royal College of Nursing are doing nothing to oppose the attacks on health services in Dorset. Given their record, there is no doubt that they will work to sabotage any struggles that erupt in opposition to the slashing of services in order to steer them into safe channels and not challenge the capitalist profit system that is responsible for these attacks.



Workers in the health service, in alliance with those relying on these critical services, must prevent this by mobilising independently of the unions and forming committees of action.



For further information visit: nhsfightback.org





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The historic flooding that has killed at least seven people and forced thousands to flee and attempt harrowing rescues continued to sweep across southern Louisiana Monday night. The area was bracing for even higher waters.

The National Weather Service (NWS) reported that the Amite River, one of a group of rivers and creeks that has poured over its banks, crested Monday in Baton Rouge, but was still rising south of the capital.

On Sunday, President Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for the entire state after seven confirmed deaths and more than 20,000 people were rescued from stranded homes and vehicles.

More than 10,000 people have been forced to find overnight shelter in the past few days and there are still many more trapped by the floods in some areas. The sudden and torrential downpour began on Friday and has since broken numerous river gauge records, some by several feet.

The majority of the deaths since Friday happened as residents attempted to escape their flooding neighborhoods. The deaths included an elderly woman who drowned attempting to drive her grandchild away from the floods and a 20-year-old woman whose vehicle was swept away by floodwaters on Louisiana Highway 10 as she attempted to evacuate.

By Sunday evening, the Baton Rouge River Center and Celtic Media Studios were opened up as shelters to evacuees across the area. Governor John Bel Edwards said Monday that more than 12,000 people were staying in shelters.

Across the state some 40,000 houses and business are without electricity and four major school systems, including Louisiana State University, are currently closed. In the Baton Rouge area, over 4,500 more homes are expected to be without electricity, as electrical crews must cut the power to several major grids in order to work around the slowly receding floodwaters to avoid an even more massive blackout.

KDAF meteorologist Kevin Roth said on Monday that the disaster would be ongoing. The flooding isnt over, because all the water thats upstream has to flow downstream, he said. The river and the creeks will probably continue to rise.

Southern Louisiana has had more rain since Friday than some parts of the country see in over three years. This is the second 21-inch-plus rainfall incident in the state so far this year. The NWS extended flood warnings through Wednesday and Thursday for some parts of the state.

Since the beginning of the year, Governor Edwards has overseen drastic cuts to public services, including to health care and higher education. The states tax plan overwhelmingly burdens the poor and working-class citizens while the rich remain unscathed and infrastructure crumbles.

In the almost 11 years since Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana still suffers from the same issues that made that storm so disastrous. Levees are still inadequate and poorly maintained and the roads and bridges are in a constant state of disrepair.

All this is taking place as catastrophic weather occurrences have become more and more frequent in recent years due to global climate change. Near-record high sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico recorded earlier this month led to a massive storm system slowly making its way across Gulf States, creating extreme flooding events such as occurred this weekend in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The temperatures in the Gulf, the highest they have ever been, have poured massive amounts of evaporated water into the atmosphere, creating devastating storms in the regions around the Gulf. Meteorologists expect events like these to become more and more common as greenhouse gases heat up the Earths atmosphere, allowing it to carry and drop more rainwater than usual.

While the frequency of extreme rainfall has increased by as much as 30 percent in the Southeastern United States, the meteorological phenomena responsible have created repeated catastrophes as floods have ravaged not only Texas, West Virginia and Baltimore, but China and other global regions this year alone. Meanwhile, the Eastern Hemisphere is experiencing record high heat waves and wildfires are burning uncontrollably.

While natural disasters cannot be entirely prevented, the toll they take on human life and property is a direct reflection of the social and political crisis. The dismantling of public infrastructure and the massive poverty that ravages much of the globe have a direct impact on the number of lives lost and homes destroyed by extreme weather. The profit system and the irrational society it creates cannot adequately protect the poor and working-class citizens who are hurt the most by these events.
On Saturday morning an announcement came that talks between Lufthansa and the pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) had been broken off. VC spokesman Markus Wahl did not give a reaason, noting the parties had agreed not to disclose anything.

Prior to the breaking off of talks, a scheduled discussion phase through the end of July had been extended twice, each time by a week. There has been no movement in the contract negotiations for nearly a year, ever since the union terminated the last strike in September 2015.

In a statement on the collapse of the talks, which Cockpit sent to the dpa press agency, the pilots union complained bitterly about Lufthansa backtracking on issues that had previously been agreed upon. The unions negotiating committee said it had come to the conclusion that we cannot see any sense in further talks. ... Whether the Lufthansa Group will be successful when each area only pursues its own interests, and these are not centrally consolidated, is more than questionable.

At the same time, VC spokesman Markus Wahl gave assurances that the pilots union was still willing to do its part in order to improve the competitiveness of Lufthansa.

For four years, some 5,400 pilots at Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo and German Wings have been working without a contract. The company is demanding massive concessions, not only in salaries but also in the early retirement scheme and in relation to the Wings concept (the budget airlines Euro Wings and German Wings).

In recent years Cockpit has accepted far-reaching attacks on pilots incomes. By going after the transitional pension arrangements and the development of the low-cost subsidiary Euro Wings, social achievements are being undermined that are vital in the truest sense. These attacks not only endanger the welfare of the pilots, but also air traffic safety.

In February 2013, Lufthansa unilaterally terminated the collectively agreed transitional pension arrangements. Under their terms Lufthansa pilots age 55 could take early retirement, with the company paying them a transitional salary until the beginning of their statutory pension. The reason for transitional pensions is that pilots, under the constant stress and hard work of flying, are only rarely able to perform effectively up to the statutory retirement age.

Lufthansa was required to set aside money to cover these pension payments. Since these investments yielded successively lower amounts on the stock markets, Lufthansa has become ever more aggressive about the conversion of the transitional arrangements and pension system.

Thanks to the collaboration of the public service union Verdi and the flight attendants union Ufo, ground staff and cabin staff have already suffered painful cuts. Final salary pensions were abolished for these groups, with workers being forced to finance their pensions through an account in the capital markets, which also carries the risk of further market turbulence.

The company has used the existence of low-cost airlines Euro Wings and German Wings to put the pilots under massive pressure. At Euro Wings, wages are around 40 percent lower than at Lufthansa itself. It is headquartered in Vienna and operates under Austrian collective bargaining law, out of the jurisdiction of the nationally operating German unions. Lufthansa is systematically expanding Euro Wings to become Europes third largest low-cost brand after Ryanair and Easyjet.

From April 2013 to September 2015, the pilots have been on strike 13 times without having acheived the slightest improvement. In September 2015, the Hesse state labour court ruled that it was illegal to strike against the companys low-cost concept, against which the union had previously conducted 12 legal strikes. VC then broke off the 13th strike.

Since then, the pilots union has done everything possible to come to an agreement with the company. In December 2015, Cockpit, together with Verdi and Ufo, participated in the Lufthansa Jobs Summit. In the wake of that meeting it has constantly sought a resumption of contract talks.

Lufthansa has since steadily increased the brutality of its attacks. These are part of a comprehensive campaign to enforce job cuts, wage cuts and worsening social standards in all areas of the company. The company has recently announced mass layoffs in the cargo sector, Lufthansa Technik, and at its catering supply subsidiary.

In this Lufthansa can rely on the backing of the federal and state governments. In May 2015, the German Bundestag (parliament) passed a law on so-called collective bargaining unity, which is aimed directly at the smaller sector unions such as Cockpit. In late July of this year, the Federal Labour Court ruled against the apron controllers at Frankfurt airport, reversing all previous judgments, which had confirmed the legality of their strike in 2011. As a result, the apron controllers had to pay damages running into millions.

The pilots union has no answer to this offensive by Lufthansa. Moreover, the constant retreat by Cockpit has encouraged management to launch increasingly harsher attacks. Originally formed as a response to the treachery of the mainstream unions, VC has quickly demonstrated that it is based on the same reactionary nationalist and pro-capitalist perspective.

This was clearly shown in the French strikes last May. French airports faced days of strikes, and in late July 2016 Air France went back on strike. In none of these important conflicts did Cockpit lift a finger to support their colleagues in the other countries.

The right-wing corporatist outlook of VC was further confirmed by the remark made by spokesman Markus Wahl that Cockpit was still prepared to contribute to ensuring Lufthansas competitiveness, under all circumstances. While the pilots have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to strike, the crucial question they face is the necessity of forging a new leadership based on a socialist and internationalist perspective.
Once again deeply rooted social anger has boiled over in an American city against police violence. This time protests erupted in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin following the killing of 23-year-old African American Sylville K. Smith by an as yet unidentified African American police officer Saturday afternoon.

Approximately 100 people gathered Saturday night to protest near where Smith was killed. The night ended with a handful of nearby businesses looted as well as a gas station, a bank branch and an auto parts store torched. A handful of cop cars and other vehicles were damaged or destroyed. The police arrested 31 people during protests Saturday and Sunday night.

At the request of Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, a prominent African American backer of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has mobilized the National Guard. At least 100 members have been placed on standby to respond to protests if deemed necessary by city officials, adding to the 150 specially trained Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officers and regular police patrols.

This marks the second time since 2014 that Walker has put the National Guard on notice for deployment in response to protests against police violence in the city. The National Guard, a branch of the military, has been used to put down popular protests in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 and Baltimore, Maryland in 2015.

While the killing of Smith is the immediate cause of the protests in Milwaukee, it is clear that broader issues are involvedbound up not with racial divisions, but a one-sided class war waged by the American financial elite. Like so many cities in the United States, Milwaukee has been devastated by decades of deindustrialization and financialization, which has produced the highest levels of inequality since the 1920s. The factories that provided decent wages and benefits for tens of thousands of workers have all but disappeared.

The city lost three-quarters of its industrial jobs between 1960 and the 2010. The disappearance of manufacturing employment had a particular impact on black male workers in the city. From 1970 to 2010, the employment rate for black men aged 16 to 64 in the metro Milwaukee region fell precipitously, from 73.4 percent to only 44.7 percent.

The citys overall poverty rate in 2014 was 29 percent, nearly double the national rate. Children and youth aged 18 and under were the worst affected, with more than 42 percent growing up poor. More than 43 percent of the population in the Sherman Park neighborhood lives below the poverty line.

It is fitting that President Barack Obama visited the Sherman Park area in 2012 where he spoke at the Master Lock factory, one of the few remaining industrial facilities in the area. Obama hailed Master Lock as a great example of the insourcing of low wage manufacturing jobs. In its more than seven years in office, the Obama administration has not proposed a single initiative or program that would begin to address the staggering levels of social inequality, poverty and unemployment in the United States.

The growth of poverty and inequality, the eruption of social anger and the build-up of the police forces are interrelated components of the same class dynamic. Whatever the role racism may playa 2011 analysis of traffic stop data found that African American drivers were more than seven times as likely as white drivers to be pulled over by the MPDthe war waged by the American ruling class has been directed at the working class of all races.

In considering the issue of police violence, it is once again necessary to stress that the majority of those killed by police in the United States are white. As for the conditions that are fueling social anger, these transcend race as well. The majority of poor in the United States are white, and white workers have suffered some of the most disastrous declines in conditions of life over the past several decades. One only needs to cite the stunning rise in mortality rates among working class whites in recent years.

As for African Americans, one of the most significant if very little noted facts of American life is the extraordinary growth of social inequality within the African American population over the past four decades. A black family in the top 1 percent of the US population has a net worth 200 times the average black family, and the top 10 percent controls 67 percent of the wealth held by all African Americans.

In politics, African Americans have been elevated to positions of power by both the Democrats and RepublicansObama, Loretta Lynch, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell being some of the most notable. Many major American cities have had black mayors and city councils are populated by African American politicians.

Those promoting racial politics speak for this social layer of more privileged sections of the middle class and for sections of the ruling class itself whose interests are thoroughly hostile to those of African American workers and youth.

A genuine fight against police violence must proceed from an understanding of certain basic facts.

First, that police violence is the product not of racial animosity of white America against black America, but rather is a reflection of the nature of the state as an instrument of class rule. The build-up of police power, which is a component part of a vast apparatus of repression, from the military to the spying agencies, will be used against all social opposition to the policies of the financial aristocracy.

Second, all factions of the political establishment are committed to the defense of the police. In the 2016 elections, Trump and the Republicans are running on a program of law and order and calls for criminalization of opposition to police violence (expressed most ruthlessly by Milwaukee County Sheriff Clarke at the Republican National Convention last month).

Meanwhile Hillary Clinton and the Democrats hail the police while sickeningly and hypocritically exploiting the family members of the victims of police violence to promote racial identity politics. She is committed to continuing and extending the policies of the Obama administrationwhich means escalating the assault on the working class, expanding war abroad and doing nothing to halt the reign of police violence in the United States.

The fight against police violence means a fight against the society that creates it. It requires a political struggle to unify all sections of the working class, of all races, in a common fight against unemployment, poverty, inequality and the capitalist profit system.
Photos published by the BBC last week were the first ever taken proving that British Special Forces are covertly involved in fighting in Syria. The photos showed a Special Air Service (SAS) unit patrolling near an army base belonging to so-called rebel forces close to the Syria-Iraq border.

The presence of ground-based British military personnel inside Syria constitutes a further significant breach of Syrian sovereignty, as no foreign forces, with the exception of those from Russia, have been authorized by the Syrian government to operate within its borders.

The BBC images indicate the full extent of the involvement of British and other forces, under the aegis of the United States, in a protracted civil war that has to date killed over 400,000 against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Washingtons ultimate targets are Assads allies, Iran and Russia.

The BBCs report states, The pictures, which date from June, follow an attack by the so-called Islamic State (IS) on the moderate rebel New Syrian Army base of Al Tanaf on the Syria-Iraq border. The British soldiers appear to be securing the bases perimeter. Al-Tanf had previously been under ISIS control.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued its standard refusal to comment on the actions of UK Special Forces. But, as the Guardian reported, An independent source confirmed they were UK special forces, which are operating against ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

The photos show Special Forces seated on Thalab long-range patrol vehicles as they move around the perimeter of the rebel base. The Thalab (Fox) vehicles, a joint Anglo-Jordanian innovation, are militarised SUVswith mounted weaponryused for long distance reconnaissance and surveillance missions. The Thalab is often used for border patrols by Jordanian Special Forces.

The BBC tries to portray the Special Forces as a supposed reserved force. Quentin Somerville, BBC Middle East Correspondent, is careful to let readers know, According to eyewitnesses, they [the Special Forces] were there in a defensive role.

This is immediately contradicted by his following sentence, that they are carrying an arsenal of equipment including sniper rifles, heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

In his audio report accompanying the photos, Somerville describes the Special Forces operatives pictured as a small but lethal force of 12 men, who have come laden with weaponry to fight their way out of any trouble.

Somervilles piece includes an interview with an anonymous individual, who is described as a spokesman for what the BBC terms the moderate rebel New Syrian Army (NSA). The spokesman said, We are receiving special forces training from our British and American partners. Were also getting weapons and equipment from the Pentagon as well as complete air support.

The spokesman refused to comment on the pictures of the British Special Forces.

The BBC gives few details on the NSA but notes, The New Syrian Army, which draws most of its recruits from Deir Ezzor province, failed in a recent attempt to disrupt a key IS trading route across the Iraq-Syria border, but they have been able to fend off attacks at Al Tanaf.

The report added that the NSA were mocked in an IS propaganda video. ... And, embarrassingly for its Western partners, videos of training sessions with western special forces were also included in the IS broadcast.

As the World Socialist Web Site made clear in its analysis on the recent battle for Aleppo, the 15-year-old war on terror requires a new Orwellian terminology. US-led forces are now in military alliance with various proxy groups that constituted for years the Al Qaeda network, previously cited as the main terrorist enemy of Washington.

The US and British governments have continually claimedas Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the top US commander in Syria and Iraq, did recentlythat their forces are only playing an advise and assist role at a distance and in specific locations. However, as the BBC photos reveal it is undeniable that US-led forces with British support are involved militarily on the frontline. MacFarland confirmed that US-led forces had killed 25,000 enemy figures in the past 11 months.

US Special Operations Forces have established a base in the Syrian Desert between the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa and the Iraqi border in support of Syrian rebel forces. British Special Forces are believed to be operating in the border areas between Raqqa in Syria and the towns and villages linking it to its northern Iraqi bastion, Mosul.

The ramping up of UK military intervention is seen as vital to imminent US plans to recapture Mosul from ISIS. The UK has around 300 conventional forces operating in Iraq, mainly in and around Baghdad. These too are supposedly restricted to training and advisory rolesoperating from behind secured bases. Britain has also promised to provide up to 1,200 troops to an Italian-led international force to support the Libyan regime of Fayez Sarraj.

Britains Royal Air Force (RAF) has conducted almost 950 airstrikes from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus since the UK restarted military action in Iraq in September 2014, as part of the USs Operation Inherent Resolve to recapture territory held by ISIS. Around 1,150 military personnel are stationed in the region and more have been promised by Conservative Defence Minister Michael Fallon.

Last month, speaking of Syria at a Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) conference on airpower, Fallon said, The RAF has not operated at this sustained operational tempo in a single theatre of conflict for a quarter of a century.

Just this month, the MoDs web site records that RAF operations, including military strikes in Iraq and Syria, took place on August 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

All of this was only possible as the result of last Decembers vote in Parliament authorising British airstrikes in Syria. Central to this was Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn allowing pro-war Labour MPs a free vote. As a result, 66 Labourite warmongers voted with the Conservative government, allowing the Tories to claim a political consensus for airstrikes that began immediately.

Even so, Parliament voted to support an air campaign against ISIS in Syria, not the use of ground troops and Special Forces.

The UKs Special Forces are a law unto themselves, with the Guardian noting, Convention is that they are never mentioned on the floor of the British parliament. They are only subject to nominal oversight through Parliaments intelligence committee.

Decembers vote reversed an August 2013 vote in which former Tory Prime Minister David Cameron unsuccessfully sought Parliaments backing for military action aimed at deposing Assad. At that time, under conditions of huge opposition to war among the population, and divisions in the political and military establishment as to its efficacy, Labour, along with 30 Conservative Party rebels, were obliged to oppose British military intervention against Assad. The vote meant that planned joint military action by the US and Britain in Syria was halted.

Corbyn continues to state his personal opposition to military action in Syria and Libya, but his newly appointed shadow secretary of state for defence, Clive Lewis, has pointedly refused to rule out support for military operations in Libya.
On Monday, the government of South Sudan approved plans for expanded foreign military intervention on its own soil, including 4,000 soldiers drawn from East and Central African militaries, to be organized under a United Nations mandate. The UN troops will be assembled under a newly formed Force Intervention Brigade, a multinational force proposed during an emergency meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa earlier in August, and approved by the UN Security Council last Friday.

The African troops, committed during the IGAD summit by delegations of Africas national bourgeois elites from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia, will join the 12,000 nominal peacekeepers already present in country. They will operate with unusually broad authority to conduct offensive operations in and around the capital of Juba, and employ all necessary means, including proactive attacks against military units loyal to both the government and the opposition.

The deployment of the offensive-oriented Force Intervention Brigade comes amid mounting instability and chaos in Juba, including clashes between supporters of the ruling clique, led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, and opposition elements organized around former Vice President Riek Machar, which have led to the deaths of hundreds of soldiers on both sides.

Mayardit and Machar lead opposed ethnically-basedthe Dinka and Nuer people respectivelypolitical factions, and their rivalry has been exploited by the imperialist powers to deepen their political control over the country. Since President Kiir Mayardits dismissal of Machar from his cabinet in 2013, the newly formed country has been plunged into a grinding civil war, killing over 10,000 South Sudanese in the past three years.

Gun battles have broken out in recent weeks between Mayardits and Machars fighters at key checkpoints, and in front of the central government compound in Juba. The skirmishes have been seized upon by Washington to escalate its direct military presence, with the US militarys Africa Command (AFRICOM) sending scores of Marines to the capital last month. In a sign of increasing imperialist pressure against Mayardit, Western media have played up reports of gruesome atrocities by government troops against residential areas of Juba, accusing forces loyal to the president of extrajudicial killings and rapes of foreign aid workers.

The South Sudan government is clearly ambivalent about the prospect of hosting additional foreign troops. There are signs that Juba has accepted the deployment only under the threat that refusal would be met with stepped-up support to the opposition. While President Mayardit said Monday that his government welcomes assistance, he went on to express concerns that Juba was being presented with a fait accompli from outsiders and that the intervention should not turn into an imposition that becomes an intervention in which our sovereignty is compromised and our ability to govern effectively diminishes.

Mayardits concerns are well justified. Though conducted under the formal banner of the United Nations, the deployment of the Force Intervention Brigade marks the latest stage in Washingtons protracted political and military intervention in Sudan. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the American ruling class has worked relentlessly to leverage conflicts between factions of the national ruling elite to its advantage, especially through the cultivation of pro-US elements in the south, where most of the countrys oil wealth is located.

The separation of South Sudan was placed on the agenda by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), a US-brokered peace deal between Khartoum and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Backed by Washington, the SPLM secured provisions laying out a phased process leading to greater autonomy for the south, and paving the way for the establishment of Juba as a fully autonomous sovereign, in 2011.

Far from representing any advance of the African masses toward genuine independence from imperialism, however, the breakup of Sudan emerged out of the drive of the US and European powers to open the countrys oil resources, previously controlled largely by Chinese firms, to exploitation by Western capital, and the willing collaboration of the national bourgeoisie therein.

The scale of Chinese financial and commercial ties to Sudan insures that, however the present crisis develops, it will result in a major intensification of US-Chinese strategic competition in Africa. Beijing, which has invested tens of billions of dollars over decades, providing Khartoum with cheap cash and weaponry in return for petroleum, is clearly concerned over the implications of the latest US and UN troop deployments.

Chinese special representatives, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, traveled repeatedly to Juba in recent weeks, discussing requests by the Juba government for loans, valued at some $2 billion. On Monday, Yi said that Beijing would pursue stepped-up diplomatic and political interventions in South Sudan and a number of other regional hotspots.

The fact that the Force Intervention Brigade troops will arrive under a UN flag, and will wear the international bodys signature blue helmets, should not mislead anyone as to the destructive and predatory purposes to which they will be put. Special multinational intervention forces, often deployed under UN mandate, became a staple of Africas political scene during the postcolonial era, providing a neutral and international gloss for the efforts of American and European imperialism, as they sought to maintain their hegemony over the continent, despite the transfer of power, at least formally, to independent African nation-states.

Throughout the past seven and a half decades, blue-helmeted forces have served as instruments of imperialist power projection throughout the continent, insuring order on behalf of Western corporations and enforcing political transitions between sections of the national bourgeoisie in accordance with the strategic needs of Washington and the former colonial powers.

The very first such UN mission boldly illustrates the true content of the UNs numerous peacekeeping operations during the subsequent decades, which have included missions in Angola (1988-1991), Mozambique (1992-1994), Liberia (1993-1997), Sierra Leone (1998-1999), Central African Republic (1998-2000), Democratic Republic of Congo (1999-2010), and Chad (2007-2010).

The United Nations Operations in the Congo (ONUC), begun in 1960, was launched just months after Congo gained formal independence, and in the immediate aftermath of a CIA-backed coup against the countrys first democratically elected president, Patrice Lumumba. The UN Congo intervention continued for the next four years, serving to maintain internal stability amid the withdrawal of Belgian troops, and was ended in 1964, just months before a new, imperialist-backed military dictatorship was consolidated under the control of Colonel Joseph-Desire Mobutu.

Mobutu, who conspired with the CIA to bring about Lumumbas murder while serving as the first Congolese presidents Army Chief of Staff, would subsequently rule the country as military dictator for three decades, until his own overthrow in May 1997, in an insurgency led by Laurent-Desire Kabila.

The deepening of the South Sudan civil war, spurred on by the predatory efforts of Washington and a handful of other global and regional powers to enhance their interests in the worlds newest nation-state, is a sharp expression of the explosive geopolitical tensions building up throughout the world system. In every corner of the globe, American imperialism is stoking regional conflicts, dismembering or preparing to dismember national governments, and generally fostering conditions that are leading humanity rapidly to the precipice of a third, and nuclear, world war.
Last Thursday and Friday, apparently coordinated explosions in seven of Thailands southern provinces killed four people and wounded 35. More than a dozen sites were targeted, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Surat Thani and Hua Hin. Among the injured were 20 Thais and 10 foreigners from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria.

Some of the bombs were reportedly concealed in flower beds and roadside plants. They were detonated by mobile phones amid crowds of people. Several unexploded devices were found over the weekend in Hua Hin, Phuket and Phang Nga.

Three small bombs exploded on Sunday in a street in the southern province of Yala. No one was injured.

Police authorities claimed that the bombings, plus a number of suspected arsons, were all orchestrated by a single person. Deputy police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen told the media: The events are connected, carefully planned and carried out across many areas and masterminded by one individual.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, Thailands military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), moved rapidly to exploit the tragedies to intensify its crackdown on political opposition.

NCPO spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said suspects would be held without charge and interrogated for seven days, then released if determined to have no connection with the bombings. The Nation reported on Monday that police had detained an undisclosed number of southern political leaders, including some affiliated with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the Red Shirts, the protest wing of the Pheu Thai Party.

The military seized power from the Pheu Thai government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014. The coup was backed by elites in Bangkok, including monarchists and sections of the state bureaucracy. These elements are determined to prevent a return to power by the wealthy Shinawatra family, whose political parties have won every election since 2001.

Yinglucks brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a communications billionaire, was also ousted in a military coup in 2006. Thailands traditional elites turned against Thaksin following his attempts to open the economy to greater foreign investment, which cut across their own entrenched interests. Thaksin and Yingluck provoked further hostility in these quarters due to their limited social reforms, such as cheaper healthcare and subsidies for rice farmers, which won them a base of support among the rural and urban poor.

The NCPO has begun to eliminate these subsidies and is planning other austerity measures, including cuts to welfare entitlements for the elderly. It has also rewritten the constitution to effectively establish a permanent dictatorship, even if elections are held next year as promised.

Last weeks attacks occurred less than a week after the August 7 referendum, which endorsed the draft constitution by a narrow majority following a military crackdown on opposition. More than 100 people were arrested for campaigning against the constitution, while the NCPO mobilised soldiers to campaign for a yes vote. Several explosions were reported during the weekend of the referendum, one of which killed a teacher and injured two police officers.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the self-appointed prime minister and former army chief, blamed the string of fatal explosions on bad people who opposed the constitution. According to the Bangkok Post, NCPO spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd suggested those behind the blasts could be people who have lost benefitscode for followers of Thaksinbecause of last Sundays referendum.

The regime immediately dismissed suggestions that the attacks were perpetrated by Muslim separatists based in the deep south. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon declared on Friday: This motive can be discarded. I confirm this is not the case. He did not offer any argument for ruling out the insurgents as suspects.

For more than a decade several armed groups have carried out attacks on civilians and the military, and set fire to hundreds of schools. Since 2004, more than 6,500 people have been killed and 12,000 injured as a result of the conflict in the south.

Police also ruled out the possibility that foreign terrorists, such as Islamic State, were behind the attacks.

UDD leader Jatuporn Prompan denounced attempts to link his organisation to the bombings. He told the Bangkok Post that Wichai Padungsaksri, a Red Shirt leader from Ang Thong province, in the centre of Thailand, was arrested by 20 armed soldiers on Saturday morning. Soldiers also arrested Prapas Rojanapithak, a 67-year-old described by the Nation as a UDD leader. The Post said Prapas denied being a UDD member, but he had joined 90 other southern academics and activists in signing a statement condemning the May 22, 2014 coup. Prapas and Wichai were detained without charge.

The Pheu Thai Party condemned claims that Thaksin is behind the bombings as slander and defamation. Thaksin, who lives in exile in Dubai, has reportedly threatened to sue anyone making false accusations against him.

Police have also arrested Sakarin Karuehas, a 32-year-old oil rig worker originally from Chiang Mai. He is accused of setting fire to a Tesco Lotus supermarket in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. No details have been released about Sakarins interrogation, his background or affiliations.

The NCPOs actions recall its response to the August 2015 bombing of the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, which killed 20 people and injured 125. Then, as now, the junta initially implied that the UDD was responsible and used the horrific attack to justify its dictatorship. Two men from Chinas Uighur ethnic group were eventually charged over the bombing and are currently awaiting trial. Both have denied the charges and one claims he was tortured to force a confession.

Whoever carried out last weeks attacks, they have provided a pretext for the junta to further strengthen its grip on power. As it implements drastic austerity measures and attacks on democratic rights, the NCPO is preparing to confront mass opposition in the working class and among poor farmers.

There is widespread and deepening hostility toward the regime. Significantly, the junta has been forced to deny rumours that it was responsible for the explosions. According to the Nation, NCPO spokesman Colonel Piyapong Klinphan said on Saturday: The military will never harm the people. I can vouch for that with my life.

In fact, the history of the Thai military is soaked in blood, having carried out 11 coups since 1932. Most recently, in 2010, it was called on by the unelected Democrat Party government to brutally suppress Red Shirt protesters, predominantly drawn from the urban and rural poor, who called for fresh elections. More than 90 people were killed and thousands more injured in the crackdown in Bangkok.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, in a fascistic speech in Ohio, called for vicious and extreme methods to combat the threat of terrorism, including a crackdown on immigrants from the Middle East, expansion of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and a war of extermination against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The speech was delivered to a hand-picked, friendly audience at Youngstown State University in eastern Ohio, one of the few battleground states where the floundering Trump campaign is still competitive against Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to recent polls.

Trump read his speech from a teleprompter, using a text prepared by Republican Party advisers, although he ad-libbed several of the threats of brutal treatment for terror prisoners and refugees. One of these was his suggestion that immigrants should be subjected to extreme vetting over their religious and political viewpoints to detect potential sympathizers of radical Islam.

The candidate did not spell out the details, but campaign aides told the Associated Press after the speech that this would involve a test of immigrants views on social issues such as religious freedom, gay rights and gender equality. Anyone strictly adhering to the Republican Party platform adopted last month in Cleveland would likely fail such a test, an irony that appears to have escaped the Trump campaign.

The bulk of Trumps speech was the mixture of militaristic threats, chest-thumping self-praise, brazen lies and non sequiturs that have become familiar in the course of his campaign. Among the lies were Trumps claim to have always opposed the war in Iraq (he supported the Bush administrations decision to go to war in 2002-2003) and to have opposed the US-NATO bombing of Libya (he supported it publicly).

These lies are aimed at giving his campaign credibility with the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose the wars in the Middle East carried out by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Trump seeks to combine this bogus antiwar stance with ferocious militarism in relation to ISIS, which was the sole focus of his Youngstown speech. He called for the immediate and outright destruction of the group, without indicating anything he would actually do differently than the Obama administration.

His one clear difference with Obama was to employ the term radical Islamic terrorism, which he presented as a sort of magical talisman that would cause ISIS to disintegrate. We have a president that doesnt want to say the words, Trump complained. Anyone who cannot name our enemy is not fit to lead this country.

There is a real content to this seemingly bizarre conflict over naming the opponent in the Middle East. The US military-intelligence apparatus avoids the term radical Islam because it has long made use of such elements as part of its covert operations in the region.

While Obama is not the founder of ISIS, as Trump claimed last week, the CIA is certainly the founder of Al Qaeda, recruiting Islamic fundamentalists in the 1980s for the guerrilla war in Afghanistan against the Soviet army, who included Osama bin Laden and his associates.

More recently, under the Obama administration, similar Islamists recruited by the CIA were the spearhead for the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, then shipped into Syria where they were unleashed against the government of Bashar al-Assad, allied with Russia. The CIA has also backed radical Islamists fighting Russian forces in Chechnya and elsewhere in the Caucasus, as well as fighting Chinese forces in Xinjiang.

ISIS emerged out of the radical Islamist milieu in Syria, armed and financed under the auspices of the CIA, the Pentagon and US allies like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The group only came into conflict with the US when ISIS fighters crossed the Syria-Iraq border in 2014 and began to wage war against the Shiite-dominated regime in Iraq.

The fascistic character of the Trump campaign was displayed in the candidates frequent references to the need for vicious and extreme methods, not only against ISIS itself, but against immigrants from countries where ISIS is active (many of them actually refugees fleeing ISIS).

At one point he said that the mistake made by previous US administrations in Iraq was failure to seize the countrys oil. In the old days when we won a war, to the victor go the spoils, he said, embracing a law of war that would be enthusiastically embraced by any fascist dictator. American imperialism has generally sought to conceal such crude appetites, presenting itself as the protagonist of the free world even when doing battle for the interests of Exxon Mobil or Goldman Sachs.

The Democratic Party response to Trumps ravings and embrace of torture and violence was to indict him for focusing too narrowly on the Middle East and ISIS, and ignoring the global interests of the United States.

Vice President Joe Biden, in his first campaign appearance with Hillary Clinton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, denounced Trump for his professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, including his suggestion that Russia could be a suitable ally in the struggle against ISIS because of its own conflicts with radical Islamists.

Biden said of Trump, Hes even showered praise on Saddam Hussein, one of the vilest dictators of the 20th century, a man who repeatedly backed terror attacks against Israel because he was supposedlythe reason he admires himhe was a killer of terrorists. Thats why he likes Saddam. He would have loved Stalin. He would have loved Stalin.

The vice president then added that he was on his way from Pennsylvania to Eastern Europe, including the Baltic States, to reassure the right-wing governments of these countries that the US would stand by its obligation under NATO to defend them in any conflict with Russia.

Trump was lending credence to those in Turkey who were accusing the Obama administration of backing the coup attempt against Erdogan, Biden complained, adding, Does he have any idea of the adverse consequences these outlandish comments have on our allies, our friends, and the physical safety of our troops?

The conclusion of Bidens speech, as Hillary Clinton stood nodding in approval, was a declaration of American supremacy that sought to outdo Trump. Its never, never, never, ever been a good bet to bet against the United States of America! he shouted, going on to say, We never bow. We never bend. We never kneel. We never yield. We own the finish line. Thats who we are. We are America!

The dueling speeches of Trump and Biden aptly sum up the character of the 2016 presidential election. On the one hand, the fascist demagogy of the Republican billionaire, and on the other, the militarist, patriotic claptrap of the Democratic imperialist.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- A national group was at the State Capitol Monday to stress the importance of social security.

This comes on the 81st anniversary of the program. Florida retirees and activists at the event said social security is crucial for current and future generations.

The Alliance for Retired Americans headed to Senator Marco Rubio's office with a message to "scrap the cap" on how much people can invest in social security.

The group says Rubio has been on the wrong side of legislation and hopes he will vote to not only keep but expand social security.

The organization's Florida secretary says social security affects all residents of the well-known retirement state.

"There are a lot of old people in Florida, but there are a lot of young people, too, who better be thinking about their future -- and when they are about to turn 74 as i am and hope - but not just hope, but vote like they want it to be there," said Barbara Devane with the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans.

The group brought a cake to Rubio's office to celebrate the anniversary -- in a symbolic request to cut the cake and not social security.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Former Florida Supreme Clerk Sid White died in his Monticello home Saturday morning.

In 1965, he was sworn in after earning his law degree from Stetson University College of Law. He served as clerk of court for nearly 35 years.

Funeral services for White are pending and will be arranged by Beggs Funeral Home. The Florida Supreme Court will host a separate memorial service in its courtoom and are expected to announce details at a later date.

White was 85-years-old.
Omega, GA. (WTXL) - Investigators have released the identity of the suspect wanted in a shooting near the Omega Peanut Company.

Deputies are looking for 28-Year-Old Robert Meders. They released a mugshot of Meders, though it was taken around 11 years ago.

Deputies say one person was sent to the hospital Friday night after being shot at the Omega Peanut Company. According to the incident report from Tift County Sheriff's Office, deputies were dispatched to 119 Omega Ellenton Road in reference to shots fired.

The incident report said Omega Police Chief John Tyson requested the assistance of the Tift County Sheriffs Office Criminal Investigation Division. Investigators have not said exactly what lead up to the shooting.

No arrests have been made at this time. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- A case involving FAMU's student government election has been dismissed, after a judge reversed an action made by the Leon County Circuit Court.

Monday, the First District Court of Appeal sided with FAMU, ruling the circuit court judge did not have jurisdiction in the election.

In February, Justin Bruno was voted president of the Student Government Association (SGA), but the runner-up called for a do-over, because procedures weren't followed at the law school.

The Student Supreme Court ruled to redo the entire election instead of just the law school, which is not what Bruno wanted.

After Bruno filed an injunction with the Leon County Circuit Court to legally prevent the new university-wide election, FAMU filed a motion to dismiss that complaint. The circuit court denied FAMU's motion and ruled in favor of a new election at the law school instead of the entire university. FAMU appealed that decision, which led to Monday's deposition.

According to the appeals court, "the trial court simply did not have the authority to make this ruling," because no state or federal laws were violated.

The appellate judge says this doesn't necessarily mean the court disagrees with the logic and merits of the original ruling. However, the case was thrown out due to no evidence of a state or federal violation.

WTXL has reached out to Bruno, FAMU and their respective legal teams about the case and are waiting to hear back.
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"This is the most important word you will learn," says Sahaptin language teacher HollyAnna Littlebull during class Oct. 21, 2015 at White Swan High School. The word translates to mean the Yakama Nation's treaty and all the content of that treaty. Sahaptin, the Yakama Nation's language, is now being taught at the school. (GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic)
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Neighborhood Health continues to work with the city of Yakima on reaching an agreement for its proposed homeless service center at the old Roy's Market site on South Sixth Street in Yakima, Wash. (KAITLYN BERNAUER/Yakima Herald-Republic file)
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RIO DE JANEIRO - Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby has been sent home from the Rio Olympics after refusing to shake the hand of Israeli Or Sasson following the end of their bout, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.

El Shehaby, who was sent home by his own team, lost the fight on Friday and was reprimanded by the IOC for his actions.

The athlete said he did not want to shake hands with an Israeli, nor was he obliged to do so under judo rules, but the IOC said his behaviour went against the rules and spirit of the Olympic Games and the rules of fair play.
HONOLULU- A Maui ukulele player is back behind bars after a brief release to perform in Los Angeles with reggae artist Matisyahu.

Clint Alama's public defender Danielle Sears says he was late returning to Hawaii because he missed his flight and then caught another one after Friday's concert at the Hollywood Palladium.

A judge allowed Alama to fly to California while temporarily released from jail, where he's being held on a probation violation.
JAKARTA- The US aviation regulator has upgraded Indonesia's air safety rating, clearing the way for its airlines to fly to North America after nearly a decade of being barred.

The Federal Aviation Administration said its assessment in March found that safety oversight by Indonesia's civil aviation authority complied with international standards.

It said in a statement on Monday that the decision means Indonesian airlines that get necessary approvals can fly to the US and code share with US airlines.
Col. T, a reserves battalion commander, was chosen to be the new head of the Israeli Naval Special Operations Unit Shayetet 13 on Monday.

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The colonel spent most of his military career in the unit leading secret missions and climbing up the ranks from squad commander to deputy commander of the unit.

"Everyone really appreciated him, he was humble and down to earth, and he really influenced us," said Yonatan Burger, one of the people who served under the colonel.

Shayetet 13 commandos in a training excersize (Photo: Gadi Kabalo)

"He was able to make things happen without the haughtiness which we saw in other officers. We would joke with him, and he would take everything with a good attitude. He didn't have a huge ego because he knew he didn't have to prove anything to anyone."

The first hints of Col. T's strives towards greatness can be found in newspaper reports of him winning the Youth International Bible Contest. The newspaper clippings quote him as saying that he would study for the contest for seven hours a day on top of his yeshiva studies at the Or Etzion Hesder Yeshiva.

Col. T's father, who made Aliyah from Brazil, represented the South American country in the Youth International Bible Contest in the 60's.

After making Aliyah, he settled in Gush Katif.

Shayetet 13 commandos in a training excersize (Photo: Gadi Kabalo)

The IDF said that the colonel's military career path reflects the widespread perception of integration which the navy has been undergoing.

This integration is seeing career naval officers become commanders in the land forces brigades so that they can have a wider understanding of the IDF, and to form relationships with other land forces commanders.

The commanders then return to the navy after gaining this ground forces experience.
Finding yourself as the unwitting star of a program on Hezbollah's TV channel is probably not an appealing thought to many Israelis. It's not hard to imagine the expressions on the faces of (MK) Tzipi Livni, (MK) Amir Peretz, IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Eyal Ben-Reuven and two other Israeli national security experts when they discovered they had been duped.

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Especially when they saw, or were shown, how they speak openly about the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser , on Hassan Nasrallah's own television station.





Imad Mughniyah. His face was menacingly present on the split screen.

Imad Mughniyah  commander of the Hezbollah force that abducted the two Israeli soldiers - creep up from time to time, grinning menacingly in the direction of the Israeli interviewees.

But the one who's set to pay for this stunt is Italian journalist Michele Monni , who went after the Israeli leaders and got them to speak in front of the cameras. I don't know the man and have never met him myself. I looked at his Twitter and Faccebook pages for a bit and found a hard-working journalist who favors the Palestinian narrative.

Monni's Hezbollah handlers attempted to stand by him, claiming he was sent to perform the interviews due to his connections with the Israeli top brass. We found a hook, they explained. The interviewees didn't check his background with thoroughly enough, and the interviewer didn't see the full picture either.

MK Tzipi Livni giving her interview to Moni.

Michele Monni is on his way out. He's already been suspended from his position at Italian news agency ANSA. This was the position that allowed him to receive a journalist certificate from the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) in Jereusalem. When he took the job  whether he knew he'd be working for Hezbollah or not  he did not inform his superiors or ask their permission.

I assume that expressions of contrition will not help Monni in his disciplinary hearing. He acted dishonestly. When he requested the interviews (with the aid of an Israeli official with ties to the media), he made two promises: The first was that the interviews would be shown on the BBC and Al-Jazeera. The second was that it would be broadcast on "international media" outlets. It just so happened that politicians, experts, and one IDF major general casually fell into the trap. Who would give up an opportunity to speak to the "international media," after all?

This embarrassing episode is an important lesson in media. I assume the politicians' spokespeople fell for this trick because Monni used the respected ANSA name. Had they made even a single phone call to the Rome-based news agency's Jerusalem offices, this fiasco could have been prevented. Nothing would happen to a spokesperson if they insist on finding out whether this interview really was on the up and up (again, it could be done in as little as one phone call). And to be honest, professional spokespeople should have been suspicious when they heard about an alleged cooperation between Al-Jazeera and the BBC.

Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. (Photo: AFP)

Palestinian TV producer Ahmad Barghouti - who solicited Monni's services to get the interviews, paid , and started this whole mess  cannot be found. He's not responding to cell phone calls and has disappeared. My Palestinian colleagues in Ramallah haven't heard a thing. It should be noted that Hezbollah hasn't been as pompous as one might expect it to be in the wake of this little sting operation's success.

And after all is said and done, the man who really generates the most sympathy in all of this is Tomer Weinberg, who was wounded in the incident in which Goldwasser and Regev were kidnapped, but survived. Monni fooled him directly, without going through spokespeople or media advisers. The broadcast made him look bad, and brought back the trauma for him. That alone would be reason enough to give the Italian journalist the boot.
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LUSAKA- Zambian police have arrested 133 people protesting against the re-election of President Edgar Lungu after his main opponent Hakainde Hichilema said the vote was rigged, a senior officer said on Tuesday.

Lungu scraped home on Monday in a tight contest to rule over Africa's second-largest copper producer which has suffered an economic slump due to depressed commodity prices.

"They targeted perceived supporters of the ruling party, destroying their property," Southern province police chief Godwin Phiri told Reuters.
MOSCOW - Russian bombers based in Iran struck militant targets inside Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, after Moscow deployed Russian aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.

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The ministry said the strikes by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers were launched from Iran's Hamadan air base.

It is thought to be the first time Russia has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

Russian bomber at an Iranian airbase

The move shows Russia is expanding its role and presence in the Middle East and comes amid Russian media reports Moscow has asked Iran and Iraq for permission to fire cruise missiles at Syrian targets across their territory from the Caspian Sea.

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted ISIS and militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces. Nusra Front is now known as Janbhat Fatah a-Sham (Front for the Conquest of Syria) following an official split from al-Qaida.

Watch: Russian jets bomb Syria from Iran

X

The Russian bombers had been protected by fighters based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province, it said.

Additionally, the head of Iran's National Security Council said that Tehran and Moscow are sharing facilities to fight against terrorism.

"Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one and we share our potential and facilities in this field," Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three bombers and a Russian military transport plane apparently inside Iran on Tuesday, but said it was unclear how many Russian bombers had arrived there.

It said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.

Russian bombers are at the ready in Iran to bomb locations in Syria

Russian media said the Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which have already conducted several strikes on militants in Syria from their home bases

in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's air base inside Syria.

The Iranian air base near Hamadan, sometimes also called Hamedan, is located in north-west Iran and the Russian bombers would have to over fly Iraq to strike Syria.
The Shin Bet announced that it has broken up a Hezbollah recruitment ring aimed at recruiting operatives in the West Bank. Eight people have been arrested.

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Assisted by the Israel Police and the IDF, the Shin Bet found that Hezbollah operatives in Gaza and in Lebanon were using Facebook to try and recruit the operatives. The arrest of these agents has prevented the Shiite terror group from mobilizing to attack targets inside of Israel.

The suspects were arrested at the beginning of June 2016 before they were able to carry out their attack. They have been indicted by the Judean Military Court.

Hezbollah has been working tirelessly to recruit agents in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza with the goal of carrying out terror attacks against Israeli targets. Along with sending information on how to commit effective shooting attacks or suicide bombings against Israelis, the Hezbollah agents were also instructed to recruit others to Hezbollah as well.

Attempt to set up Hezbollah cells in the West Bank has been thwarted

An investigation revealed that Hezbollah attempted to recruit Israeli-Arabs and West Bank Palestinians via several different pro-Palestinian Facebook pages which were recognized by Israeli security services.

After speaking with potential candidates via Facebook messenger, the Hezbollah recruiters would ask the candidates if they were willing to work for the terror group and assist them.

The first cell was found in Qalqilya. They were instructed to carry out an attack against an IDF patrol in the area. The head of the cell was Mustafa Kamal Hindi, 18, who was recruited by Hezbollah in 2015 via the Facebook group "Filasteen al-Hura." The page is virulently anti-Israel, and expresses support for Islamic Jihad.

Hindi then recruited several others from Qalqilya: Hamas member Mohammad Daoud, 22; Taher Nofel, 22, who supplied explosive material to be used in the creation of IEDs; Islam Sha'ib, 21, who surveiled and collected information on Israeli patrols in the Qalqilya area; and Bara'a Hamed, 19, who assisted in constructing the IEDs.

In addition to collecting intelligence on Israeli patrols, they also practiced shooting with hunting rifles, and practiced building IEDs.

Investigations revealed that the cell was in contact with a Hezbollah operative code named "Bilal" via Facebook, and later via direct emails. "Bilal" also sent the cell encryption software so that the cell could secretly communicate with Hezbollah.

The recruiter: A member of Hezbollah from Gaza

Meanwhile, more West Bank Palestinians were arrested after being recruited by Gaza based Hezbollah recruiter Mohammad abu J'dian, who guided them in carrying out both suicide bombing attacks and shooting attacks. After getting recruited on Facebook, the West Bankers opened up secret encrypted email accounts to continue to be in touch with Hezbollah.

One of those who was recruited by the Gaza based Hezbollah member was Osama Najm, 36, from Kafr Qablan, and one of the student founders of the Popular Front for the Libration of Palestine (PFLP). He reportedly received $900 from Hezbollah to be used for the purpose of carrying out an attack, recruit people to Hezbollah, and to orchestrate a suicide bombing attack on an Israeli bus.

It was discovered during Najm's investigation that he, together with a Gaza resident named Louie Salame, was in contact with a PFLP operative in Syria named Yousef Hajarah. Together, they began to set up a PFLP terror cell in the Sumeria region of the West Bank. Najm was arrested in March 2016 before his cell was able to carry out their attack.

Hierarchy map for the West Bank Hezbollah cell

Najm and the other members of his cell are accused of membership and activity in an unlawful association, contact with the enemy, and receiving finances from the enemy.

Another suspect who was recruited by the Gaza based Hezbollah agent is Ma'aman Nosrati, 22, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp. He was allegedly told that Hezbollah would give him $30,000 to carry out an attack.

He was instructed to get an M-16 and carry out a shooting attack against IDF forces stationed next to Jenin. Nosrati was also recruited by abu J'dian, and was even in contact with him via telephone.

Abu J'dian instructed Nosrati to remove his pictures from Facebook to make it harder for security services to identify him. Nosrati was arrested on May 31.

The third suspect who was recruited by Hezbollah by abu J'dian was Mustafa Basharat, 49, from the village of Tamun. Formerly imprisoned for activities with the PFLP, he proved willing to assist Hezbollah with anything they wanted. Basharat has 30 years of terror experience according to Shin Bet estimates. He was arrested on July 2, 2016, and is accused of being a member of and performing activities for an illegal organization.

Hezbollah also contacted Israeli-Arabs via Facebook, but this was caught and stopped by the Shin Bet. The Shin Bet presented a document for the Israeli-Arabs to sign saying that they understand that continuing to be in contact with the group is illegal, and that legal action will be taken if contact continues.
A few days ago, from his mouse-like layer in the ground, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah threatened us with an array of rockets that could cover all of Israel. What can we do to appease him? Nothing. Nothing but our deaths will please him and his ilk.

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Sometimes people are like animals. There are animals that smell fear and weakness. A horse, for instance, immediately senses the attitude of its rider; a timid person won't last long on a fierce horse's back. Dogs sense this as well: In the military, dogs come towards those who fear them. Those who aren't afraid only experience their barks from afar.

Threats from a mouse's lair. Nasrallah. (Photo: EPA)

In this aspect of identifying fear and weakness  individuals, tribes, and people are akin to animals. Smell fear, then attack. In our region of the world - which is still quite wild and tribal - honor and revenge are not just words describing abstract emotions. They are a squeezed trigger, a downward-pushed gas pedal. And one gang travels on to kill the other.

In this reality, even if the leopard will eventually lie down with the goat, it's better that we be the leopard just in case. Politeness, an eagerness for peace and acceptance, are seen here as weakness. In this neighborhood, those who want peace should prepare for war.

Our neighbors' peaceful ambitions will not prevent a war here. They prefer a war, at the end of which we will be gone, rather than a peace which involves us staying. That's why the temptations of peace will not be enough to convince them, but only their fear of defeat. We have no way of buying peace from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups  neither with territory nor any other kind of generous concession. They want our heads, and these are not for sale.

A lot of good people, who accept this analysis but have a hard time accepting its implications, tend to ask: So, will there never be peace, then?

Well, what kind of peace? A peace like the one shared between Italy and France? We won't have anything of that sort for the foreseeable future. But that doesn't mean we can't achieve a kind of quiet. That can be achieved. We'll be strong, successful, and good, and we'll respond forcefully to every blow. Not proportionally, but with such force that they'll think we've gone off the rails.

Hamas isn't interested in peace, it's interested in our heads. (Photo: EPA)

In conclusion, turning back to the animals. I've lived my whole life in the vicinity of flocks. There are shepherds who place lion feces around a farm. Lower-level predators smell the waste of an upper-level predator and walk away. A lion's waste is enough to chase away a pack of Jackals.

And what of the lion itself? Everyone knows well that even a lazy lion that desires nothing more than to spend its days sleeping in the shade can be deadly when awakened.
The Shin Bet has recently foiled a number of Hezbollah terror cell attacks, whose members were recruited from the West Bank area and Gaza via the internet. One of the cells intended on perpetrating an attack in the Qalqilya area, gathering information about the IDF in that region.

Other cells were given direction and means by Hezbollah in order to perpetrate attacks on Israel, including in busses.

Several suspects have been indicted.
Hamas threatened that if Palestinian security forces continue to arrest their operatives in the West Bank, they will boycott local elections and outlaw the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.

The threat comes as there is an increase in arrests of Hamas activists, including senior members such as Nadar Sawafta, who serves as one of the organizers of local elections.

The elections are to take place on October 8 .
A 17-year-old Palestinian boy was shot to death in the al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron Tuesday evening during riots which broke out as dozens of Palestinians threw stones and bricks at IDF forces conducting counter-terror operations.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry said the individual who had been shot, Mohammed Abu Hashhash, was hit in the chest and evacuated to a government hospital in Hebron in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead. The Red Crescent said that 40 civilians have been injured since the start of the operation on Tuesday morning.

Palestinian youth throwing stones at IDF forces (Photo: EPA)

The IDF has said that 24 Palestinians have been lightly injured and that the Palestinian claims that one of the rioters has been killed was being checked.

Palestinian killed by IDF forces, Mohammed Abu Hashhash

Photo: EPA

Photo: EPA

Photo: EPA

Photo: EPA

Disturbances have been ongoing all day, with IDF forces employing riot control weapons against the main instigators of the riots.

IDF forces entered the camp to conduct counter-terror operations, including arrests of suspects and searches for weapons. They have also have set up checkpoints at entrances and exits to conduct further searches.
Three people were injured moderately-to-seriously Tuesday night in an accident between two vehicles near the Golan Heights .

Four others were also injured in the accident.

Several helicopters were dispatched to evacuate the injured, who were transferred to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. More wounded were transferred by ambulance to Ziv Hospital. The injured suffered fractures and bruises.

Several wounded critically injured in the accident, but were stabilized by medical personnel.
Chris Cristie, the New Jersey Governor who ran for the Republican Presidential nomination, signed into law legislation targeting the boycott movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement).

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The new law prohibits any public body of the State of New Jersey to enter into business relationships with any commercial body or organization that is boycotting Israel or cooperating with BDS.

The legislation was passed thanks to the efforts of the Israeli Consulate in New York which lobbied Cristie and the New Jersey state legislature for a year and a half.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Photo: AP)

Israel's new Consul General in New York, Dani Dayan, said "this brave step by the Governor and the State Legislature of New Jersey is an expression of the steadfast alliance between this state and the State of Israel. The passage of this legislation against the boycott is evidence that the boycott movement is doomed to fail because the American people reject it outright." The legislation ceremony was attended by Deputy Consul General Amir Sagie.

New Jersey plays an important role in the relationship between Israel and the United States. The annual trade volume between the two stands at $1.3 billion and about 500,000 people, or 6% of New Jersey's population, is Jewish. New Jersey is also an active base of many Israeli high-tech companies.

Governor Cristie made his first official trip to Israel in 2012 and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Teva.

The anti-boycott legislation in New Jersey comes three months after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a similar administrative order, which requires the state to ban any organization that participates in the boycott of Israel.
Four months after becoming Israels defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman paid another visit to the Northern Command Tuesday.

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The Yisrael Beytenu leader was accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Northern Command Commander Gen. Aviv Kohavi and the Northern Corps Commander Gen. Mamir Hyman.

During the visit Lieberman received a comprehensive review of the challenges and developments in the northern region and was appraised of intelligence updates regarding Syria and Hezbollah.

Avigdor Lieberman and Gadi Eisenkot (Photo: Ariel Harmoni, Defense Ministry)

Liebermans first visit to the northern border took place shortly after he was inaugurated as defense minister. During that visit he warned, I dont recommend that anybody try to test us . We dont have other plans beyond maintaining the calm situation.

A few weeks later the minister said during a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the next conflict needs to be the last one with the Hamas government in Gaza, and expressed his opposition to being drawn into more rounds of war against Hezbollah or Hamas.

During the hours of Liebermans tour of the area, he came under attack by his predecessor Moshe Yaalon who expressed his disapproval over the decision to forbid the chief of staff to pay visits to soldiers engaged in voluntary activities for foreign children .I would have expected that the defense minister deals with other matters and I would not have expected to see headlines on leadership exercises for the chief of staff in the media, said Yaalon.

Lieberman met with the main authorities from the northern border, along with leaders of communities in the Golan Heights. The IDF and the security apparatus are operating to strengthen the deterrence capacity and its readiness for emergencies, he said.
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As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

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Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I send best wishes to the people of the Republic of Congo as you celebrate your 56th Independence Day today.

"Our two countries stand together in defense of regional security, environmental protection, and the health and happiness of all Congolese. The United States looks forward to continued partnership to help build a more secure, democratic, and prosperous future for Congo in the year ahead.

"Congratulations on this special day."
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Washington, DC - The American Red Cross is helping thousands of people in Louisiana affected by devastating flooding, likely the worst natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Relief efforts in Louisiana are challenging with life-threatening floods and road closures making conditions dangerous, said Brad Kieserman, vice president, Disaster Services Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. We are mobilizing a massive relief effort with volunteers providing shelter, food and comfort right now. The Red Cross is also sending in additional relief supplies and volunteers to expand our response in the coming days.

The Red Cross depends on the generosity of the public to support our work, continued Kieserman. We urgently need people to join us in supporting Louisiana by making a financial donation today, as well as to consider volunteering to help us provide relief on the ground.

On Sunday night, more than 10,600 people sought refuge in nearly 50 Red Cross and community shelters in Louisiana. Many local Red Cross volunteers have also been affected by the flooding and hundreds of community members are being trained right now to support their neighbors. An additional 500 Red Cross disaster volunteers from all over the country are on their way to help in Louisiana. The Red Cross has also mobilized 60 disaster response vehicles, 40,000 ready-to-eat meals and more than two dozen trailer loads of shelter and kitchen supplies.

HOW TO HELP Preliminary estimates indicate that Red Cross response efforts could cost more than $10 million. This prediction could change as more information becomes available. Local officials are reporting that 10,000 homes have been damaged. Many areas are still inaccessible and more rain is predicted which could lead to additional flooding. The Red Cross urgently needs the public to join in supporting Louisiana by making a financial donation today.

People can donate by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word LAFLOODS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recovery from these disasters.

DOWNLOAD EMERGENCY APP TO REACH LOVED ONES Residents of the affected areas can connect with their loved ones by using the Im Safe button on the Red Cross Emergency App which is free and can be found in the app store for someones mobile device by searching for American Red Cross or by going to redcross.org/apps. The app also features emergency alerts as well as locations of shelters.

People can also visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell to register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website, a secure and private way that friends and family connect. The site also allows people to update their status on Facebook and Twitter.

JOINT RELIEF EFFORT The Red Cross is working closely with the entire response community  federal, state, county and local agencies, other non-profit organizations, churches, area businesses and others  to coordinate relief efforts and deliver help quickly and efficiently, keeping in mind the diverse needs of the community. Some of the organizations sending help to the area include Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, the NAACP, Islamic Relief USA, Church of the Brethren Childrens Disaster Services, Save the Children, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteers.

FLOODING SAFETY INFORMATION The Red Cross has steps people should follow to remain safe:

1. Be prepared to evacuate at a moments notice and heed evacuation orders when given. When a flood or flash flood warning is issued for your area, head for higher ground and stay there.

2. Stay away from floodwaters.

3. If someone comes upon a flooded road while driving, turn around and go another way. If caught on a flooded road and waters are rising rapidly around them, they should get out of the car quickly and move to higher ground. Most cars can be swept away by less than two feet of moving water.

4. Keep children out of the water.

5. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers.

BECOME A VOLUNTEER It has been a very busy year for disasters with thousands of volunteers deploying to support people in need. People can make a difference in someones life by becoming a Red Cross volunteer. To become a Red Cross volunteer, visit redcross.org today to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application.
Although the Indian democracy has many-a time passed through rough weather, it is still in a nascent stage of nationhood if we compare it with other democratic countries. We as a nation celebrated the 64th Independence Day, but have a long way to go to achieve the dream of those who sacrificed their lives to make India independent.The annual ritual of Independence Day should probably be the day when we do some serious mental churning about what ails the health of our nation. In fact there are problems galore, but it is the typical Indian quietism that needs attention the first and foremost.The silence of our top leaders over rampant corruption in the ongoing preparation for the Commonwealth Games is the most glaring example of it. While everybody is shocked to see dirty linen being washed before the world, the government is unabashedly silent and appears to be trying hard to shield those caught in the corruption storm. The biggest sporting event ever (from Oct 3 to 14) is an opportunity to turn Delhi and India into a global sporting destination, but we are apprehensive of it becoming a fortnight of shame.Since the Aam Aadmi slogan was woven into the Congress electoral success in 2004, the politics of poor remains the defining agenda of the UPA government, but we have failed to see any initiatives having a visible impact on the life of the poor. Price rise has hit them hard and basic requirements of education, health and even potable water, even in the national capital, have become a distant dream for the common man.The UPA-I had a characteristic tilt towards the welfare of common man; perhaps it was indispensable due to the Left partners in the government but now, with a better score in Parliament, the ruling party seems to be least bothered and the coalition partners are occupied in serving their own agendas. The Prime Minister is hardly seen to be taking any concrete steps on issues and when he speaks he resorts to rhetoric, which he avoided in UPA-I, when he had shown guts to withstand the Left pressure on the India-US Civil Nuclear Deal.The UPA-II came to power on the so called success of NREGA and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan but the reality has been expressed in the recent NC Saxena Committee report, which pegged 50% of Indias population as below poverty line. The government has decided now to launch a survey of 260 villages for defining poor. After sixty years, the Supreme Court had to finally intervene and awaken the Central government to ensure free distribution of food grains to hungry poor rather than letting it rot in the FCI godowns. It really sounded quite spectacular when UPA-I announced a massive Rs 70,000 crore debt relief package which would benefit about three crore small & marginal farmers and about a crore of other farmers. However, the rural scenario is unchanged. One 50-year-old farmer, Khokhan Mandal, has to commit suicide in Chhattisgarh after incessant rains devastate his standing paddy crop last week. Mandal, a resident of village Panawar in Bastar region`s Kanker district, had incurred a debt of Rs.100,000. The heavy rain submerged dozens of villages in Bastar and he had no other choice than putting an end to his life.We have several achievements to laud but poverty is still the most dreaded problem after sixty years. A young woman of Jungali Bigha in Gaya district killed herself after administering poison to her three children this week and we feel the government-sponsored schemes are doing miracles in the rural hinterland!The political leadership is least affected by such developments as they portray different shades of Indian democracy. A secular face of the nation, Mulayam Singh Yadav submits apology to Muslims for joining hands with Kalyan Singh, just to woo 20% minority vote bank in Uttar Pradesh for 2012 assembly polls, while the reality is that he failed to do anything concrete for Muslims whenever he came to power. Let Muslims give a serious thought to their state of being. The community has been seriously criticised in one of the southern states, Kerala, by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan on another issue.They want to turn Kerala into a Muslim-majority state in 20 years. They are using money and other inducements to convert people to Islam. They even marry women from outside their community in order to increase the Muslim population, he said. It was surprising to hear this from a Communist leader, but the reality is that the most egalitarian state of our nation has presented the most intolerable example: the chopping of the hand of a college professor while returning from Church last month not only stunned the state but also blew the lid off the reality of growing Islamic extremism in Kerala. The expression needs a caution for the sake of the unity of the nation.Indian democracy has different hues, but the typical quietism of its political leadership has added more colour to it. Political leaders appear to wait for the problem to attain the shape of the mythical Sursa of Ramayana and the examples can be seen in the movements of Khalistan, Kashmir and the secessionist attempts in the North East getting bigger in recent months. The most recent example was the economic blockade of Manipur by the All Naga Students Association of Manipur (ANSAM), which started against the holding of ADCs polls in hilly areas of the state. It later merged with the NSCN (IM) cause and the state was cut off from the mainland for over two months, only because of the apathetic attitude of the Centre as well as the state governments. The blockade is back once again after a brief lull. The petty political interests have seeped so deep into our political psyche that the long term agenda for the nation appears a distant dream. One more example can be put forth here. The Governor of Assam, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, in 1998 wrote a letter to the then President of India, drawing his attention towards large scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh altering the demographic complexion of the state. He very clearly stated that it is affecting the demography of not only Assam but also of all north eastern states, posing a grave threat to national security. More than a decade has passed, and the Centre is yet to pay serious attention to it and rather has willfully ignored the issue just to serve its political agenda.The Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee too has adopted this approach albeit with a difference. She, with a pro-poor image, fights for peasants in Nandigram and does not shy away from hobnobbing with ultra leftists of Lalgarh and terms the killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad as incorrect. She did it just to settle political scores with the Left Front in West Bengal, forgetting that it were the same Maoists, who were behind several train mishaps and blockades in which hundreds of innocent lives were lost.As a nation we appear to be one, but the prevalence of social rigidity is a big roadblock. The pain once found an expression in the statement of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who said, "Caste system is the greatest tragedy to befall human race, especially in a country like India, which has a rich cultural heritage." Although we have a woman President, a woman Speaker and Sonia Gandhi, who symbolises the power centre, the nation is still wrestling with the idea of a caste-based census and reservation for women even after sixty years of nationhood.With us, some 60 nations are conducting census in 2010 for collection of data for component of good governance, transparency and accountability, but our dilemma on caste-based census shows us in poor light before the world.We need to grow at 9-plus per cent on a sustained basis if we want to lift the masses out of poverty. If we look at our power scenario, almost every state has massive gaps between demand and supply, while road-connectivity is so poor that the delays have been estimated to cost the economy nearly 1% of its GDP.Health has been the most neglected area of our governance. If we look at emergency services, one million lives are lost a year as the demand for outstrips supply and 30% of emergency patients die before they reach hospital; 80% of accident victims do not get medical care within the so-called Golden Hour; 50 minutes are wasted in Indian hospitals on an average in comparison to 20-30 in the developed world.The rosy picture of development perhaps can be seen in the data of Planning Commission but the reality is that during monsoons, 28 out of the 38 districts in Bihar have been declared drought-hit and 12 out of 24 districts in Jharkhand have also been declared as drought-affected. Parties in and out of power in both these states have tightened their belts to milk the situation to their advantage before elections are announced.The Civil Services Survey 2010 showed that about 33% of respondents considered quitting the services at some point in time or the other just "because of better opportunities outside the government and disappointment about lack of recognition". This is the state of affairs of a service which once used to be called the Steel Frame in the British regime and had controlled the undivided India with less than 500 officers! This Independence Day, let us shift our attention towards an India where one can see immense opportunity in every sphere, if we go for course correction. For meeting the demand of talent that we are short on, the struggle to recruit employable people has intensified in different sectors. Ironically, for a country which has about four crore people registered at its employment exchanges, virtually all sectors are struggling to meet growing talent requirements. This problem, as per one prediction, will only get worse with the growth of economy, especially when more than 75% of the new job opportunities being created are skill-based. A recent ASSOCHAM study puts forth that Indian economy will create 87.37 million jobs by 2015 but only 25% of graduates would have the necessary skills for immediate employment.The future scenario, if we look at these reports, is not very encouraging. The World Economic Forums report on talent migration says that India will face huge skill gaps in some job categories over the next 20 years due to low employability and this would put brakes on economic growth. The government needs to make school and university curriculums more relevant to avoid Indias boom from going bust.In an increasingly coarse world, we are expected to carve a different identity with a legacy of a 7000-year-old civilization. Despite rampant incivility, we still can replicate good examples from the past. When the Congress ministers decided to join the government after sweeping the elections in 1937, they set an example in simple living by reducing their own salaries drastically from Rs 2000 to Rs 500 per month. However, they too were affected by the greed of power and Gandhiji had to caution them in Harijan on August 1937: These offices have to be held lightly, not tightly. They are or should be crowns of thorns, never of renown. Offices have been taken in order to see if they enable us to quicken the pace at which we are moving towards our goal.That period also witnessed the emergence of serious weaknesses in the Congress party, as there was a scramble for jobs and positions for personal advantage. Opportunists, self-seekers and careerists, drawn by the lure of associating with a party in power, began to enter the ranks at various levels. Gandhiji, lashing out against the misuse of office and creeping corruption in Congress ranks, told the Gandhi Seva Sangh workers in May 1939: I would go the lengths of giving the whole Congress organization a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant.The leadership today perhaps needs to reckon and take guidance in the cautioning of Gandhiji who, for our democracy, is still the best guide in the era of Right to Information and the Right to Education. If we look for an optimistic picture, a beginning in the right direction has undoubtedly been made, but the effort needs en masse attention.Let us hope that all is not lost and make a determined effort to fulfill the dream of our founding fathers.
Jagdalpur: Twenty Naxalites from Chandameta area in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh have surrendered to the police with the help of the local people, Superintendent of Police R.N. Dash said on Tuesday.

He said there had been intense police operations near Bad Pal village in Bastar following which about 100 villagers made 20 Naxalites hiding in the area surrender.

The surrender of the Naxalites was also influenced by the oppression they faced at the hands of their leaders and the attractive terms of the Chhattisgarh's government's rehabilitation policy, Dash said.

The Bastar Collector has given Rs 10,000 to each of the surrendered guerrillas as immediate aid.
Chicago: A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spit at and called 'ISIS' by a woman here in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The two Muslim women -- both wearing hijabs -- reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood here.

The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.

Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them 'ISIS'.

A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...You Isis! ...You ISIS!"

Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from others who witnessed the incident, which possibly upset her even more.

"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.

In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe.

"That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?"

Damra's mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments.

"People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.

Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault.

However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry.

"It's very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi.

"To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said.
Washington: Vowing to halt the spread of radical Islam, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his strategy to defeat global terrorism and called for a new Cold War-like "ideological screening test" as part of "extreme vetting" of would-be immigrants.

Trump also stated that the era of nation building should come to an end as he unveiled a blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with NATO and Middle East allies.

The 70-year-old real estate tycoon said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.

"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach -- which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East -- must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating 'radical Islam' in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he asserted.

Trump also proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said yesterday.

"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition, to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.

Trump stressed that those who did not believe in the Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into the country if he is elected as President.

"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.

To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

He also proposed calling an international conference focused on stopping the spread of radical Islam.

"We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.

A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.
New York: The city of New York has agreed to pay more than USD 4 million to the family of an unarmed black father of one, who was shot dead by a police officer.

Akai Gurley, 28, was shot in a darkened stairwell of a public housing building in November 2014 after taking the stairs when the elevator took too long to arrive in the poorly maintained apartment block.

He was killed by a police bullet that ricocheted off the wall.

Gurley's death, as with those of other unarmed black men at the hands of police, sparked nationwide protests and debate about police tactics and allegations of institutional racism.

The total settlement comes to more than USD 4.5 million, with USD 4.1 million payable by the city, USD 400,000 by the housing authority and USD 25,000 by the officer who shot Gurley, a lawyer for the family told AFP.

Peter Liang, who had been on the force just months, was found guilty of manslaughter by jury in February and sacked from the police.

In April, a judge downgraded his conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced him to five years probation and 800 hours community service.

Gurley's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in May 2015.

The settlement was reached on Monday afternoon in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's four-year-old daughter, is pleased with the results, her lawyer Scott Rynecki said.

"She wants to be able to move on with her life and she now hopes she can raise the child to be someone Akai would be proud of," he told AFP.

The funds will be held in a trust for Gurley's daughter, although her mother, a home health aide, can request monthly payments to help bring her up, he said.
New York: The New York Police charged a suspect on Monday with the double murder of a New York imam and his friend, in a brutal slaying that sent shock waves through US Muslim communities.

Oscar Morel, a 35-year-old Brooklyn man,was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, NYPD detective Hubert Reyes told AFP.

Fearful Muslim New Yorkers have demanded stepped-up security and justice as hundreds of mourners attended the two men`s funeral service in the borough of Queens.

Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to the United States from Bangladesh, and his friend, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon in the Ozone Park neighborhood.

Morel was taken into custody on Sunday, the NYPD told AFP.

Following his detention, he was charged with a hit-and-run that took place three miles (about five kilometers) away from the double murder and the assault of a police officer, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told a news conference.

The murder charges were added later Monday after police recovered a gun and clothing from his house that were similar to those believed used by the shooter, US media reported.

Morel was known to have been in the area of the double murder eight minutes before the homicide and took off directly afterward, Boyce said.

Police said Morel was from East New York, a troubled area of Brooklyn, and was believed to have a job in a warehouse.

Authorities had earlier said hate crime was being investigated as a possible motive -- as demanded by Muslim elders -- but did not provide any information on the suspect`s motives Monday evening.

The New York Daily News quoted police sources as saying the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics, suggestions that have been dismissed by members of the Muslim community.

"We want justice, we want justice, we want justice," chanted Muslim elders at a chaotic news conference before Monday`s funeral.The Council on American-Islamic Relations had offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest or conviction.

Community leaders, clearly rattled by rising Islamophobia, slammed "xenophobic statements" made against Muslims in speeches by "politicians and candidates seeking the highest office in the land" -- a clear reference to Donald Trump.

Trump, the New York billionaire and Republican nominee, used a keynote address Monday to demand ideological screening tests for immigrants, saying immigrants and their children had been responsible for a string of extremist attacks in America.

One speaker at the pre-funeral conference demanded security cameras be erected outside mosques and for the street where the two men were shot to be renamed in their honor.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who paid his respects with other elected officials, promised extra police would protect mosques and Muslim communities, saying the entire city stood shoulder-to-shoulder with those in mourning.

"We know there are voices all over this country who are spewing hate, trying to create division, trying to turn one American against another," de Blasio said.

"We`re not going to let them continue to encourage acts of hatred."

The working class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.

Akonjee had been carrying more than $1,000, but the attacker did not take the money, police said.
Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has urged Andhra Pradesh government to stop demolition of mosques and 'dargahs' for road widening works in the state.

A delegation of MIM legislators in Telangana led by Ahmed Pasha Quadri on Tuesday met Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker in Hyderabad and submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

It drew his attention to unfortunate incidents of demolition of the centuries-old Abu Bakr Mosque at Ramavaradu on Vijaywada-Eluru Ring Road in May and the partial demolition of other mosques, dargahs and graveyards in Vijayawada city and outskirts in the name of road widening works and construction of flyovers and bridges.

The memorandum said Krishna district authorities, with the active support of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and police, have been resorting to arbitrary demolition of mosques, dargahs and graveyards of the Muslim community in utter violation of laws for protection of religious places and ignoring the pleas of the Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Board authorities and protests by the local Muslims.

The AIMIM leaders recalled that they had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Secretary following demolition of Abu Bakr mosque. The cases booked the local Muslims for protesting but no action was taken to stop the demolition.

"On the other hand, the Krishna district revenue authorities are going ahead with their moves to demolish other mosques and graveyards for the so-called widening of the highway and construction of flyover with four tracks," the memorandum said.

The party demanded rebuilding of the demolished mosque and also sought action against the officers responsible for the demolition.
Dhaka: An Indian elephant, which had been trapped in swamps after being swept away over 1,700 km into Bangladesh by raging flood waters, died on Wednesday despite valiant efforts by villagers and officials to save him.

The elephant, named 'Bangabahadur' (hero of Bengal), died around 7 AM at Sarishabarhi's Koyra village under Sharisabari upazilla of Jamalpur district, about 200 km from here, rescue team's chief Ashim Mallik was quoted as saying by bdnews24.Com.

The elephant, weighing about four tonnes, was rescued on August 11 by a Bangladeshi forest department team after more than six weeks of frantic efforts since the jumbo was swept away to Bangladesh from Assam.

It initially appeared agitated after receiving a tranquiliser and moved indiscriminately for nearly an hour before it fell unconscious in a ditch. Forest officials and enthusiast villagers dragged her off the ditch.

An expert team from India led by a retired chief forest conservator on July 4 joined the Bangladeshi team in rescuing the elephant but left the scene three days later.

In the past several weeks, the elephant travelled several thousand kilometres in a hostile situation since the flood waters drove it out of Assam.

A Bangladeshi official had said India can take it back if possible, "otherwise we will keep the elephant", citing two cases in 2004 and 2013 in which one attempt to return an elephant succeeded while another died on its way back.

According to officials, the elephant was stranded in waters which disrupted the joint rescue mission as it could not be driven to a dry piece of land to be tranquilised for treatment and transportation.

Forest officials earlier said the elephant remained calm despite being tired though it showed some signs of abnormal behaviour as it was forced to live in swamps for weeks despite being habituated in hilly forest environment.

A huge crowd of people took makeshift refuge on higher lands at the scene leaving their homes inundated by flood waters.

It crossed the common Brahmaputra river on June 27 and soon grabbed media attention as it was followed by hundreds of people in boats every day requiring police deployment to keep it undisturbed. In the past 456 days, it roamed along the river shoals and swamps in three northern districts.
Islamabad: Pakistan military today launched an offensive in the northwestern tribal region close to Afghan border to check and guard against militant movement along high mountains and in Khyber Agency.

The operation has been unleashed in the Rajgal valley of Khyber, one of seven tribal districts, where militants had a strong presence before army recaptured the region in 2015.

"An Operation has been launched along Pak-Afghan border to reinforce troops deployment in Rajgal valley to effectively check and guard against terrorists movement along high mountains and all weather passes in Khyber Agency," said military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa.

The area is notorious for its treacherous hilly passes and forested valleys, providing militants a natural location for hiding, training and attacking security forces.

The army launched decisive operation called Khber-2 after Peshawar school attack in Khyber and completed in July 2015.

It helped government to establish its writ in Tirah valley, a strategic area close to Afghan border.

Khyber border provincial capital Peshawar and sits on key route to Afghanistan through Torkham border crossing.

Pakistan accused Afghanistan in the past for sending militants through Khyber for attacks.
London: The Jammu and Kashmir National Independence Alliance (JKNIA), a UK-based umbrella alliance comprising Kashmiri Diaspora and civil organisations, held a protest demonstration outside the Pakistani High Commission in London seeking global pressure on Pakistan for human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit.

The demonstrators demanded fundamental rights for Kashmiris in Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

They said Pakistan had thrown an iron curtain across PoK and Gilgit.

Slogans were also raised for Pakistan to leave the region.

Shabir Chaudhry, the spokesperson of the Kashmir National Party, who participated in the demonstration, while speaking to the media, stated that the protest had been organised to raise the issue of human rights atrocities against Kashmiris in Pakistan and Gilgit.

Referring to the killing of Arif Shahid, leader of the All Parties National Alliance in Rawalpindi in 2013, Chaudhry said that there was no doubt that Shahid had been killed by the Pakistani establishment simply because he had raised his voice for the basic rights of the people of Pakistan and Gilgit.

Chaudhry further said that it was odd that the Pakistani Government could refer to Burhan Wani, commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen as a martyr but people like Shahid, who never raised a gun against Pakistan, are labelled as terrorists.

Chaudhry said that Shahid must be declared a martyr for having spoken all his life for the rights of the marginalised in Pakistan.
Seoul: South Korea said today that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.

A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.

They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Arguing that the high-profile nature of the restaurant workers' case made them unusually vulnerable, the NIS had announced in June that they would remain in protective custody rather than being sent to the centre.

Now that they have been released, the unification ministry said it would provide no further details of their situation "for safety reasons".

"They did not want to be interviewed or make public their whereabouts," the ministry official said.

The dispute over the defectors has fanned inter-Korean tensions that have been running high since the North's fourth nuclear test in January.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South.

But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in the North Korea-themed restaurants overseas and who are handpicked from families considered "loyal" to the regime.

The South's government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around USD 10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates -- with mostly North Korean staff -- in 12 countries including neighbouring China.

North Korea's campaign for the return of the defectors has included emotional video interviews with the women's relatives in the North, angrily denouncing South Korean authorities and demanding a meeting with the women.

A group of liberal South Korean human rights lawyers -- having gained power of attorney from the relatives -- forced a court hearing into the case in Seoul in June.
Bengaluru: About 200 ABVP activists protested here on Tuesday seeking the arrest of Amnesty India representatives for organising an event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

As the activists marched towards the Police Commissioner`s office to submit a memo, police blocked them at Raj Bhavan.

When the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists refused to disperse, police caned them and took about 30 of them into preventive custody.

"Registering an FIR and filing a case of sedition and rioting against the organisation (Amnesty) is an eyewash as they (police) are trying to hush up the issue. We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed," ABVP city convener Prem told the media.

"Police not only gave the organisation permission to hold the event but also did not act against the anti-national elements though they were present at the event when the slogans were raised," Prem said.

Police booked a sedition case against Amnesty India on Monday night for the anti-India slogans allegedly raised at the event it organised here on August 13.

"We have booked a case of sedition and rioting under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised," Deputy Police Commissioner TR Suresh told IANS on Tuesday.

The charges, including sedition, rioting, unlawful assembly and promoting enmity were mentioned in the FIR police filed two days after the ABVP lodged the complaint with audio-video evidence.

The activists also protested against Amnesty on Sunday at United Theological College in the city centre where the event was held.

"We are investigating the complaint and checking the video to ascertain the charges and identify those who raised the slogans for culpability," Suresh said.

The sedition charge under Section 124A of the IPC amounts to an attempt to cause hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards the government of India.

The 90-minute event was held, ostensibly, to interact with a few Kashmiri families who were victims of human rights violations in the state.

The FIR has not named any individual but implicated Amensty India for holding the event and allegedly allowing slogans to be raised against the country and the Indian Army.

Claiming they were yet to receive a copy of the FIR from police, Amnesty executive director Aakar Patel regretted that holding an event to defend constitutional values was being branded `anti-national`.

"As police were informed about the event in advance, they were present at the venue. Registering a case of sedition on a complaint against us shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedom in the country," Patel said in a statement here.

Admitting that some persons at the event raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for `azaadi` (freedom), Amnesty India programmes director Tara Rao on Sunday said it was important that the conduct of some should not distract attention from the denial of truth and justice to those who have suffered in Jammu and Kashmir.
New Delhi: To protect birds and avoid fatal accidents, the Delhi government on Tuesday banned nylon, plastic and Chinese 'manjha' and any other sharp kite-flying thread.

"A lot of injury is caused to the people and birds on account of pucca thread made of plastic or similar such synthetic materials commonly known as Chinese threads," the government said in a notification.

The government said that kite flying shall be permissible only with a cotton thread or natural fibre free from any metallic of glass components, used to sharpen the threads for kite competition.

"The activity of the birds is at peak from 6 to 8 a.m. in the morning and from 5 to 7 p.m. in the evening and it is desirable to protect the innocent birds including the vultures which are getting extinct day by day from the fatal manjha," the order said.

The ban is on the the sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese manjha and any other kite-flying thread which is sharp or made sharp by being laced with glass, metal or other sharp objects.
Beijing: British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to China`s President and premier seeking to enhance trade and cooperation, amid a dispute over London delaying a $24 billion nuclear project due to security concerns over Chinese financing.

China has cautioned Britain against closing the door to Chinese money, warning relations are at a crucial juncture after May last month delayed signing off on the Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset, England.

In a statement late on Monday, China`s Foreign Ministry cited a British envoy as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told Wang that May had written to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying she looked forward to attending next month`s G20 summit in China.

Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China`s Foreign Ministry said, citing the letter.

Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy towards China, the ministry added.

Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward-looking approach."

May`s predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain`s openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment and has called for a review, according to a former colleague.

China has called for the project to proceed. The plan would see France`s EDF build two reactors, with partial financial backing from the Chinese state-owned company China General Nuclear Power Corp.

Britain and France`s EDF first reached a broad commercial agreement on the Hinkley Point 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.

China General Nuclear Power, which would hold a stake of about a third in the project, has said it respected the decision of the new British government to take the time needed to familiarise itself with the programme.
Panaji: Goa Deputy Speaker Vishnu Wagh was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital here after he complained of uneasiness during an Independence Day function.

"He is having high blood pressure and sugar. Doctors attending him told me that he is in a critical stage. He is currently under observation," GMCH Dean Dr Pradip Naik told PTI.

Wagh was rushed to GMCH last night following chest pain during an event at Kala Academy here.

Initially, it was suspected to be a case of cardiac arrest, but upon detailed examination, no blockage was found in the heart, Naik said.

He said Wagh collapsed after being brought to GMCH and was attended to immediately by a team of doctors.

Wagh, who represented St Andre constituency, had suffered a heart attack on May 15 this year when he was attending a public function to celebrate the birthday of a BJP functionary Anil Hoble.

He had undergone angioplasty and had recovered.
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday partly quashed a government ordinance abolishing all NRI quota in colleges offering medical courses in the state.

A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice VM Pancholi held unconstitutional the government's decision to cancel quota for "genuine" NRIs seeking admission in colleges in the state, while upholding its decision to abolish quota for "dependent" NRIs.

The court observed that there was "no reason to remove the NRI quota entirely" as this amounted to the violation of Supreme Court order in the PA Inamdar case and was unconstitutional.

It said that as per the Supreme Court order in the PA Inamdar case, limited reservation not exceeding 15 percent may be given to the NRIs, but only "genuine" and not "dependents or sponsors" of NRIs be given this reservation.

Partly allowing the petitions, the court said the wards of dependents of NRIs are also given admission under reservation, while the SC has only talked about reservation in the context of "genuine" NRIs.

"There is no reason to remove NRI quota, and hence the ordinance is set aside to the extent of removing genuine NRIs from the quota system. This, however, won't apply to NRI dependents. Thus the writ application is partly allowed," the court said.

The state government had earlier this year issued an ordinance, called the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016, whereby the entire quota for NRIs in medical colleges was abolished.

The high court also refused to stay its order for two weeks when the lawyer of one of the five petitioners, a consortium of self-finance dental colleges, requested the same so that his client could move the Supreme Court.

Five petitioners, including a consortium of self-financed dental colleges and four NRI admission seekers, had challenged the constitutional validity of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.

Through the ordinance, the state government abolished the quota of 15 percent offered to NRIs for admissions in colleges offering medical, para-medical and dental courses.

The petitioners have contended that abolishing of quota goes against the Supreme Court order in PA Inamdar case, whereby 15 percent seats were reserved for NRIs.

Students, who challenged the ordinance, also questioned its timing contending that the ordinance was issued at a stage when they were prepared to seek admission under the quota.

The government has maintained in its submission that it has the authority to issue ordinances to abolish quota for NRIs.

The government pleader maintained that the NRIs should not be encouraged to take admission in medical colleges in the state as they show reluctance to serve as junior doctors in rural areas for a given period of time.

He said that the quota was abolished keeping in mind the requirements of local aspirants.

The Gujarat government, while abolishing NRI quota, increased the management quota in these colleges from 10 percent to 25 percent, so as to ensure that students of Gujarat domicile get maximum benefit.
Ahmedabad: It seems Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to stop atrocities against Dalits have fallen on deaf ears.

Twenty Dalits were attacked by a crowd at Samter village near Una in Gujarat, while they were returning home after attending a protest rally on Monday evening.

The victims were coming back after attending a Dalit Sammelan in Una town of Gir Somnath district when the attack happened.

Out of twenty, 8 people were seriously injured.

While the members of the community allege that police didn't take any action against the culprits, the officials have maintained that the cops lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd and resorted to mild lathi-charge.

The victims also claimed that the attackers were residents of Samter village, who wanted to "avenge" the arrest of 12 persons in connection with last month's Una Dalit flogging case.

The 20 Dalits hailing from Bhavnagar district had gone to Una to participate in a flag hoisting event in which Jawaharlal Nehru University student Kanhaiya Kumar was present.

Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and Balu Sarvaiya, father of one of the victims of Una Dalit flogging incident, hoisted the national flag at the event.

Last month, seven Dalits had been brutally beaten up by cow vigilantes in Mota Samadhiyala village.

Meanwhile, political parties have hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party for failing to protect the community.

Congress said that by just changing the chief minister in Gujarat won't stop atrocities against the Dalits. Ruling party's mindset needs to be changed, the grand old party said.

Janata Dal (United) took pot shots at the BJP and RSS saying, both are only interested in lip-service.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said discrimination against Dalits should stop and the onus for this lay on everyone.

"Stop attacking my Dalit brethren. If you have to shoot, shoot me, but not my Dalit brothers. This game should stop," he had said.
New Delhi: Amid media reports from Pakistan that the country was planning to give him a warm welcome, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Tuesday, decided not to attend the SAARC Finance Ministers' conference scheduled to take place in Islamabad from August 25-26.

News agency ANI quoted government sources as saying that Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will represent India at the two-day event.

The conference is taking place weeks after the SAARC Home Ministers' conference that was held last month.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken part in the conference where he called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, saying terrorists should not be glorified as "martyrs".

Pakistan had blocked news media organisations from covering Rajnath Singh's speech which received bipartisan condemnation in Parliament.

"I did not see whether my speech was covered live or not. The media personnel from DD, ANI and PTI reporters who had come from India were not allowed to enter," Singh had said in Parliament.

Rajnath also made it clear that he was not treated well in Pakistan, confirming that he skipped a lunch hosted by his counterpart during a meeting of SAARC ministers.

"It is true that Pakistan Interior Minister (Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan) invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch," Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

Pakistan Finance Ministry officials have said that almost all regional countries, except Bangladesh, have confirmed their participation in the conference.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today equated Pakistan to hell, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir",.

He added that since Pakistan has failed to inflict major damage, it is looking to inflict smaller wounds, reported CNN-IBN.

Parrikar, who was in Haryana`s Rewari to participate in `Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani` programme, said, "Yesterday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell."

(With Agency inputs)
Bengaluru: Amnesty International's India chapter on Tuesday said none of its employees had shouted any anti-India slogan at an event on Kashmir in Bengaluru, allegations based on which sedition charges were slapped against the human rights body.

Amensty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an ABVP representative against it were "without substance" and that only discussion at the event on Saturday was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir.

Local police had slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India yesterday following allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at the event, organised by it, during a discussion on Kashmir issue.

"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that "slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."

To charges that the event indirectly supported terrorists, Amnesty said the only discussion that had taken place was about allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir.

"These are issues that have regularly been discussed in the media. They have been written about at length by members of Parliament, politicians, judges and civil society,"it said.

The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report "Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir", published in July 2015, it said.

Amnesty said the report was based on in-depth research in Jammu and Kashmir, including interviews with family members of "victims", RTI applications, examination of police and court records, and interviews with civil society groups, lawyers, and government officials.

The families of three Kashmiri victims that were interviewed for the report were invited to share their stories at the event, said Amnesty.

About allegations that some people at the event tried to assault ABVP activists, it said, "No Amnesty International India employee was involved in any form of assault."

"Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'Azaadi' (freedom). Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.

"However, Amnesty International India considers that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions. Amnesty International India had invited the Bengaluru police to be present at the event in the interest of the security of the invited families and other attendees," the statement said.

About allegations that Sindhujaa Iyengar, an Amnesty employee, and two others raised anti-national slogans, it said Iyengar was not present on stage at any point during the event.

Amnesty said footage of the event has been shared with the police.

The rights body said Amnesty has worked extensively on human rights violations in Pakistan, including "the enforced disappearances and unlawful killings of political activists in Balochistan, violations by security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and violence against journalists by groups including the ISI".
New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday targeted Congress alleging that some of its leaders are "seen offering support to Pakistan" after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech and said it's a sad commentary that it is divided on issues of national interests.

It said while the main opposition party offered support to Modi on his reference to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan in an all-party meeting on August 12, its leaders were outside seen offering support to Pakistan.

"As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking in one voice. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala," party leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said.

The saffron party was aggressive in its attack on Congress at its briefing in which its National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh targeted it.

"It's a sad commentary as to how Congress is divided on issues of national interest. This division of the party and its leaders had reflected in the joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh," he said, referring to the Indo-Pak statement which spoke about threats in Balochistan and invited strong criticism from BJP, then in opposition.

"Its leaders are seen to be supporting Pakistan...It is obvious that the country is supporting Modi on his comments on Balochistan and PoK," Singh said.

Khurshid had yesterday accused Modi of "ruining" India's case on PoK by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. But later,

Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of "atrocities in Balochistan and PoK" in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.
Beijing: China is "unlikely" to give up on the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor being built through PoK despite India's protests but it may not be interested in taking sides in the Kashmir dispute due to close economic ties with both nations, state-run media said on Tuesday.

"It is regrettable to see CPEC become another unharmonious factor in Sino-India ties, but China is unlikely to give up on the idea of CPEC because of India's protest," an article in Global Times said.

"In fact, the economic corridor, linking northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan, does not target any third party, India included. Given that China has developed close economic ties with both India and Pakistan in recent years, Beijing is unlikely to be interested in taking a side between the two countries," it said.

Significantly, the article uses the term "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir" (PoK) twice even though at one place it makes the mention attributing it to Indian media reports.

"Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj voiced India's concerns over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's India trip, Indian media reported," the article said.

"It is precisely because of the region's worsening investment environment that PoK's economy is still heavily reliant on agriculture. Also, the northern part of India bordering Pakistan" and Kashmir both lack basic infrastructure, the article said.

Chinese media usually refers to PoK as Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Another state-run news outlet, the People's Daily, which published photos of Chinese and Pakistani troops patrolling for the first time Xinjiang and PoK border last month, referred to the area as China-Pakistan border.

Global Times is part of People's Daily publishing group controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

In its article, the Global Times said, "The dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan makes the two countries habitually vigilant against any possibility of large-scale foreign investment flowing into the region, but it is the Kashmir conflict itself, rather than any alleged political intent behind the foreign investment, that creates tension in the region".

"Rather than prevent foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute," it said.

"The CPEC is not a zero-sum game where Pakistan gains and India loses. If economic cooperation between China and Pakistan can improve infrastructure in the region, including in the Kashmir area, India will have an opportunity to expand trade routes to Central Asia," the article said.

"New Delhi may need to adopt an open attitude toward CPEC so the project can speed up development in the region and benefit the local population. Hopefully, India can also improve infrastructure in the regions bordering Pakistan to promote regional economic integration," the article said.

Any way in which India can put aside politics and join in the task of economic development would be welcome, the article said.

"Economic cooperation between India, Pakistan, and China would create an open atmosphere for launching talks to solve the Kashmir dispute. In this regard, New Delhi may need to take the long view for its national interests," it said.
Mumbai: Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making a reference of Balochistan in his Independence Day speech, the Congress on Tuesday said it seems that the Centre is ready to sacrifice Kashmir for Balochistan.

Asserting that it was matter of concern that Prime Minister Modi was comparing Kashmir issue with Balochistan, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said the former should not take up two issues together.

"The way our Prime Minister is bringing in the Balochistan issue every time he speaks of Kashmir, it is a grave matter of concern, it is indeed frightening. If he talks about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, I can understand as it`s a part of Kashmir," said Nirupam.

"To compare the Kashmir issue with Balochistan is not correct. So, does it mean that the Prime Minister is willing to sacrifice Kashmir for Balochistan`s freedom? He Should never rake Kashmir and Balochistan issue together," he added.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an oblique reference to the human rights situation in Pakistan`s Balochistan province besides Gilgit and other areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

"People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing the nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.

"This is the example of our humanitarian approach, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists. To the youth who have taken up guns, I urge them to return to their parents and shun violence," he added.

Gilgit-Baltistan has witnessed massive protests that erupted against a crackdown by Pakistan`s security forces in recent weeks and resource rich Balochistan province has seen a crackdown by the Pakistani authorities who say they are quelling an insurgency in the region.In the past, Pakistan has accused India of supporting the Baloch insurgency.
Cairo: Indian Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya, has said that India and Egypt have a close partnership in various fields and wants to expand this agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities.

Ambassador Bhattacharyya met with Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali this week, who both confirmed their continuous support and collaboration in new projects that engage both countries.

"India and Egypt have a very close partnerships in various fronts and we want to expand our agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities," Ambassador Bhattacharyya told PTI.

India has collaborated with Egypt recently in achieving two very large development projects; the solar project and a vocational training centre.

The ambassador said that both countries are keen on achieving more success on various sides.

"We are also looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University. This will be the setting stone for more such projects," the ambassador said.

"I had the opportunity to call on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar some weeks ago and we had discussed this project as well with him and the Grand Sheikh was very happy about this project. He has said that we will used that Indian model in the other institutions of Al-Azhar University across Egypt."

"So we hope we could be able to cooperate together in this project because we see the very central role of Al-Azhar ?on the development - not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world," the ambassador said.

As India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner and both countries enjoy strong economic ties, Bhattacharyya was keen on discussing future projects in this field with officials.

"We are also looking at how we can collaborate further between India and Egypt into the sector of micro and small enterprises, in the sector of renewable energy particularly solar energy," he said.

"And whether we can utilise the line of credit that India has offered under the Africa summit funds for project in Egypt," he added.

During his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity the ambassador discussed a wide range of issues including collaborating between civil society on both sides.

"Also we discussed the issues of addressing empowerment of women and youth so that they can become more participating members of society," he said.
Cairo: India and Egypt have a close partnership in various fields and want to expand this agenda that will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities, the Indian envoy here has said.

India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya met with Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali this week, who both confirmed their continuous support and collaboration in new projects that engage both countries.

"India and Egypt have a very close partnerships in various fronts and we want to expand our agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities," Ambassador Bhattacharyya told PTI.

India has collaborated with Egypt recently in achieving two very large development projects; the solar project and a vocational training centre.

The ambassador said that both countries are keen on achieving more success on various sides.

"We are also looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University. This will be the setting stone for more such projects," the ambassador said.

"I had the opportunity to call on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar some weeks ago and we had discussed this project as well with him and the Grand Sheikh was very happy about this project. He has said that we will used that Indian model in the other institutions of Al-Azhar University across Egypt."

"So we hope we could be able to cooperate together in this project because we see the very central role of Al-Azhar on the development - not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world," the ambassador said.

As India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner and both countries enjoy strong economic ties, Bhattacharyya was keen on discussing future projects in this field with officials.

"We are also looking at how we can collaborate further between India and Egypt into the sector of micro and small enterprises, in the sector of renewable energy particularly solar energy," he said.

"And whether we can utilise the line of credit that India has offered under the Africa summit funds for project in Egypt," he added.

During his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity the ambassador discussed a wide range of issues including collaborating between civil society on both sides.

"Also we discussed the issues of addressing empowerment of women and youth so that they can become more participating members of society," he said.
Washington: Refusing to be drawn into the war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the US has said it is for the two countries to determine the pace, scope and character of any discussions on Kashmir.

"Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions on Kashmir is for the two sides to determine. We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations," State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said.

"We're aware of the clashes. We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage to all sides to make efforts for finding a peaceful resolution," Trudeau said at her daily news conference on Tuesday.

The State Department spokesperson, however, did not respond to questions on the remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address yesterday.

"I wouldn't speak to Mr Modi's comments, that would be for him to speak to," Trudeau said.

Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech yesterday.

"From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people -- the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) -- for the way they whole- heartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently," Modi had said.

Responding to Modi's remarks, Pakistan said his references to Balochistan and PoK were an attempt to divert world attention from the "grim tragedy" that has been unfolding in Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in a war of words over Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statements on the situation in Kashmir which has been witnessing unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Rewari: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir", Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday equated Pakistan to hell.

He added that since Pakistan has failed to inflict major damage, it is looking to inflict smaller wounds, reported CNN-IBN.

Parrikar, who was in Haryana`s Rewari to participate in `Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani` programme, said, "Yesterday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell."

"Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism. Now sometimes, even it is bearing the consequences of terrorism," he added.

Parrikar also said that if anybody decides to attack India, the country will not remain silent.

He said that the Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to every attack.

The minister added that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a part of India and the violation of human rights should stop in Balochistan.

Modi's references to Balochistan and Pakistani Kashmir had not gone down well with Pakistan.

Pakistan's Foreign Policy Advisor Sartaj Aziz said Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian-occupied Kashmir over the past five weeks.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry yesterday invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to visit Islamabad for talks on Jammu and Kashmir.

India-Pakistan ties have become frosty after large-scale violence broke out in Jammu and Kashmir following the killing of militant Burhan Wani on July 8.
Raipur: A hardcore Naxal, who was allegedly involved in blowing up an ambulance killing five CRPF personnel and two civilians during 2014 Lok Sabha poll in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district, was today killed in a gun-battle with security forces, police said.

Maoists' Jan-Militia commander, Arjun, was gunned down by a joint team of security forces in the forests of Chandometa under Darbha police station limits of the district this morning, Inspector General of Police Bastar Range, SRP Kalluri, told PTI.

Composite forces of DRG (District Reserve Group), STF (Special Task Force) and district force was out on an operation since August 10 towards Chandometa bordering with Odisha's Tulsi village which is considered a naxal den, he said.

Chandometa is located around 55 kms away from Darbha police station of Bastar, which lies at a distance of about 370 kms from the state capital Raipur.

Today, when security forces were cordoning off forests on a hill, a gun-battle broke out between both the sides after a group of cadres opened fire at them, the IG said, adding, the encounter lasted for about an hour following which some rebels escaped.

During searches, body of a male Maoist besides firearm and various other naxal-related items were recovered from the spot, he added.

The body of the deceased was identified with the help of villagers as Arjun, the dreaded Jan Militia commander of Chandometa and member of Machhkot LOS (Local Organisation Squad), he said.

Due to consistent and intense operations carried out by police and paramilitary forces over the past few months in Darbha region, Naxalites have disintegrated considerably from their hubs like Chandometa, Koleng and Mundagarh and the region is almost free from the clutches of Maoist menace, Kalluri claimed.



Arjun was mainly involved in blowing up a 108 Sanjeevani Express (express ambulance service) on April 2, 2014 in Darbha area in which five CRPF jawans and two ambulance staffs were killed, murder of former Sarpach of Koelng Panduram Nag (2015) and the recent murder of a villager in Kadanar village on August 10, the IG said.

Earlier, two Maoists were killed by security forces in the same Chandometa forests of Darbha on August 1 this year.
New Delhi: Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual relations in exchange for payment or some other benefits. Prostitution is sometimes described as commercial sex or hooking. Depending on the jurisdiction, prostitution can be called as legal or illegal.

Recently, Havocscope Research Institute researched and published a report of flourishing sex trade from almost all the major countries of the world. According to these data, several countries, including India, has biggest sex industries in the world.

These markets are those areas mainly focusing on the sex industry such as prostitution, sex shops and strip clubs.

According to the report, China has the world's largest den of prostitution and is the top producer of sex toys in the world. As per the data, At least 70% of the world's sex toys are being manufactured there. The sex toy industry in the country is estimated at US $ 2 billion, with over 1,000 manufacturers nationwide.

Interestingly, the country's sex industry operates entirely underground, because the Communist Party-led government bans any kind of sex trade. According to the Havocscope Research Institute survey, the prostitution in China has become a USD 73 million a year illegal industry.

The Havocscope Research Institute report has placed the prostitution market in Spain on second place in the list with a 26.5 billion industry here.

Prostitution in Spain is not addressed by any specific law, but a number of activities related to it, such as pimping, are illegal.

Japan comes third in the list. Prostitution in Japan has existed throughout the country's history.

Liberal interpretations of the law, and loose enforcement have allowed the sex industry in Japan to propser and earn an estimated $ 24 billion a year.

Though prostitution in South Korea is illegal, Havocscope Research Institute survey has some other story to tell. According to it, sex trade in Korea has estimated to amount to $ 12 billion, roughly 1.6% of the nation's gross domestic product.

The country is placed fourth in the list.

The United States, the most powerful nation in the world, is also a major stronghold of the sex industry. As per the survey, sex trade in the US is a $ 14.6 billion industry.

It is to be noted that prostitution is legal in the US.

India has been placed seventh in the Havocscope Research Institute's list of the major bases of prostitution. The survey found that India has a 8.2 billion dollars sex trade industry.

In India, prostitution i.e. the exchange of sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, pimping and pandering, are crimes.

Prostitution is legal only if carried out in private residence of a prostitute or others.
Washington: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement on Tuesday have sought the US and Europe to hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity.

In a statement, Khalil Baloch, the chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said: "The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far-reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively."

"Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom," Baloch said.

The Baloch nationalist leader welcomed Modi's stance on Balochistan, saying the "policy of indifference towards Pakistan's war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adopted by the international community is worrying".

"The Indian Prime Minister's statement on Balochistan is a positive development," Baloch said.

Meanwhile, Brahumdagh Bugti, the president of the Baloch Republican Party, thanked Modi in a video statement. The grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti -- a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani Army, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Bugti said Pakistan's destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

"In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government," Bugti said.

"The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s," he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan, it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

In a first for any Prime Minister in an August 15 address, Modi referred to human rights abuses in Balochistan and the part of Kashmir Pakistan controls yesterday.

(With PTI inputs)
Srinagar: Curfew and separatist shutdown continued in Kashmir on Tuesday for the 39th consecutive day as the toll in the ongoing unrest rose to 60.

A 20-year-old youth identified as Yaseer Ahmed of S.D.colony of Batmaloo locality in Srinagar was killed on Monday when a mob indulged in intense stone pelting.

Two other youths sustained bullet injuries.

Another youth identified as Ashfaq Ahmed who was injured in a stone pelting clash in the Tangmarg area of Baramulla district two weeks back, succumbed to his injuries on Monday evening taking the toll to 60. Over 4,000 people including security personnel and civilians have been injured in the unrest.

Police said curfew and restrictions will continue in all the 10 district headquarters of the Valley.

Separatists have already extended their protest shutdown to August 18.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.

However, banks, post offices, and government offices have been functioning during this period.
Srinagar: Three persons were killed and five injured in fresh clashes between stone-pelting protestors and security forces in Magam area of central Kashmir's Budgam district on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley to 61.

A group of youth pelted stones at a CRPF vehicle at Aripathan in Magam area this morning. In the retaliatory action by the security forces, three persons were killed while five others sustained injuries, a police official said.

Curfew, meanwhile, remained in force in entire Srinagar district and Anantnag town while restrictions were in place in the rest of the Valley as normal life remained paralysed for the 39th consecutive day.

The official said curfew and restrictions were imposed to thwart the plans of separatists to organise sit-in protest against the civilian killings at main market places of the Valley.

"Curfew remained in force in entire Srinagar district and Anantnag town in south Kashmir as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order," the police official said.

Schools, colleges and private offices remained closed while public transport remained off the roads due to the strike called by the separatists.The attendance in government offices was thin.

Internet and mobile services across the Valley remained suspended.

While broadband services were snapped on Saturday evening, the mobile telephony was suspended late in the night on the same day.

Normal life has been affected due to protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

61 persons, including two cops, have been killed and several thousand others have been injured in the clashes that began on July 9.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may refer to a constitution bench a plea challenging the validity of the Jammu and Kashmir resettlement Act if it finds that some issues needed interpretation of the Constitution.

The Act envisages grant of permit for resettlement of Pakistani nationals who had migrated to Pakistan from Jammu and Kashmir between 1947 and 1954 after India's partition.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it will hear the matter and if during the course of proceedings it is found that no constitutional issue is involved, then it will pass an order.

The bench, which also comprised Justices Prafulla C Pant and A M Khanwilkar, made the observation after it was informed that the earlier bench hearing the matter had referred it to a five judge constitution bench.

Jammu and Kashmir National Panther Party(JKNPP) president and senior advocate Bhim Singh said the matter should be heard finally by the Court.

He informed the Court that a division bench in 2008 had issued direction to list the case before a constitution bench but the Chief Justice in the same year had over-ruled the decision and ordered the matter to be listed before a three judge bench.

Singh said that people of Jammu and Kashmir who migrated to Pakistan from 1947 could be considered for their return but their descendants could not be.

He said the law passed by the Assembly was draconian, unconstitutional and improper which threatened the security of the state.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

JKNPP through Harsh Dev Singh, a then MLA, had challenged the Act passed by the J&K Assembly in 1981.

In 1982, the Act was first challenged by Singh before the apex court and then Governor B K Nehru had refused to sign the Bill and sent it back to the Assembly.

Later Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then President of newly constituted BJP, had also filed a petition before the apex court seeking intervention.
Srinagar: Two youth were killed and six others injured on Tuesday in security forces action against stone-pelting protestors in Magam area of central Kashmir's Budgam district, taking the death toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley to 59.

A group of youth pelted stones at a CRPF vehicle at Aripathan in Magam area this morning, a police official said.

In the retaliatory action by the security forces, one youth was killed while seven others sustained injuries, the official said.

Condition of two of the injured is stated to be critical.
Srinagar: As the debate over using of pellet guns by security forces in Kashmir continues, the Army has said, non-lethal weapons like pepper shots, chilli grenades can be used to disperse crowd.

The Army has given the suggestion to a panel formed by Centre to look into the issue of pellet guns used by the security forces in the Valley.

Confirming the development, Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda said, The Army has given its suggestions of using less harmful weapons like sonic weapons, pepper ammo and chilli grenades.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had rapped the Centre overuse of pellet guns by paramilitary forces and asked it to explain why the injuries suffered by people were above the knees -- mostly in eyes -- despite claims of having trained law enforcement personnel.

Many parliamentarians cutting across party lines have favoured stopping of using of pellet guns.

Meanwhile, curfew and separatist shutdown continued in Kashmir on Tuesday for the 39th consecutive day as the toll in the ongoing unrest rose to 60.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a high-level review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir and instructed security officials to restore peace and normalcy in the state at the earliest.

He cautioned that the casualties of both the civilians and security personnel in the violence-hit state should be minimum.

The minister was, in turn, briefed by top officials on the prevailing situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector in Kashmir.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies and other top civil and security officials attended the meeting, sources said here.

The meeting was held even as reports from Srinagar said five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces in fresh violence in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the deaths to 65 since the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.

Pramod Kumar, the commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was killed on Monday after four militants hurled a grenade and opened fire at a security patrol in an old city area of Srinagar.

There have been reports of violence and stone-pelting in Budgam and Anantnag districts as well, sources said.

At the meeting, Rajnath Singh also reviewed the overall security scenario in Assam, which also saw militant attacks.

Suspected militants exploded five bombs in Charaido and Tinsukia districts as the state was celebrating the 70th Independence Day on Monday.

On August 5, 14 persons were killed and at least 20 injured by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) militants in Kokrajhar district of Assam.
New Delhi: Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday said that the time to talk with the Pakistan is not right and that the government`s priority should be to normalise the situation in Kashmir.

Azad told ANI, "At present our priority should be focused on the present situation in Kashmir in our country and how to normalise it. In a situation, where so many people are being killed and injured and when behind all these happenings (Pakistan) itself is responsible for the entire episode, of 38 days. I don`t think this is the time to talk.and the government should take it seriously.

"Briefing the killings in Kashmir as against humanity, Azad said, "Yesterday night as well, five to six people were killed and we pray that situation becomes normal soon."

"The matter of Kashmir was discussed four times in the Rajya Sabha and only once in the Lok Sabha, but honourable Prime Minister was not present during the discussion. And yesterday as well, he did not say a single word on the unrest in Kashmir where kids are being killed with pelllet guns and hundreds of people being injured."

Azad added that after continuous requests to the Prime Minister, he agreed for an all-party meeting.

He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not discussing the unrest in Kashmir in his Independence Day speech.

Azad said, "he can speak about -- who should be given railway ticket and who all should be admitted in hospital.We had told them earlier that Kashmir is in need of the Central government`s help."

Azad`s reaction was to Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry inviting his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar, for talks on the Jammu and Kashmir issue in Islamabad.

Pakistan's invitation for talks came days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz's statement that Pakistan is planning to invite India for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue.

However, India has already rejected Pakistan`s invitation to hold talks on Jammu and Kashmir.

Responding to Aziz`s statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday said India would welcome a dialogue on contemporary and relevant issues in India-Pakistan relations.
Srinagar: In an embarrassing moment, the national tricolor fell off the post when Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wanted to hoist it at Bakshi stadium here on the occasion of Independence Day.

A probe has been ordered into the incident.

On Monday, Mehbooba, who was hoisting the national flag as Chief Minister for the first time, pulled the string attached to the post only to see the tricolor fall from the post and land on the ground.

Amid the embarrassing situation, two personnel from the security detail of the Chief Minister held the flag in their hands till Mehbooba gave the ceremonial salute to the flag.

As Mehbooba left the stage for inspecting the contingents of the police and paramilitary forces, the security staff at the Bakshi Stadium hurriedly set the flag right and hoisted it atop the post.

Later, Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar said he has ordered an inquiry into the fiasco.

"An inquiry was ordered immediately into the incident so as to fix the responsibility," Kumar told PTI.

The DGP said it was a lapse on part of "someone and that person needs to answer. How can the flag come down like that!"

(With PTI inputs)
Bengaluru: Amnesty International India on Monday face the ire of authorities after anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised here last week.

The international human rights organisation was booked under sedition after several Kashmiris allegedly called for independence for the troubled region and entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army.

The event was organised at United Theological College here.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) today protested against Amnesty International. Police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters.

The issue came to limelight after activists of the ABVP, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, on Sunday protested against the anti-India slogans allegedly raised at a human rights event.

Amnesty International India in a statement had said towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azadi' (freedom).

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections-- 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).
Bengaluru: A sedition case was filed against the India chapter of Amnesty International on Tuesday for allegedly allowing its employees to raise anti-India slogans at an event on Kashmir in Bangaluru.

The development was confirmed by Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, who said that a sedition case has been filed against the India brand of Amnesty International for raising pro-Kashmir freedom slogans at a Bengaluru based event.

"We have to now look into it more seriously, they have taken the case, registered an FIR, investigating what exactly has happened and also looking to those videos and CCTV tapings. Whatever the police investigations, according to that, action will be taken," said Parameshwara.

A case was registered against Amnesty International India under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 124A, 142, 143, 147, 153 in connection with alleged raising of "independence" slogans by "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who entered into arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army.

Breaking his silence over the issue, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the state police is probing the case."The FIR has been registered. The police officials are probing the case. After the investigation, law will take its own course," said Siddaramaiah.

BJP MP Pralhad Joshi also demanded the immediate arrest of those who had raised slogans against Indian soldiers during the Amnesty event here.

Meanwhile, reacting to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the ABVP group, Amnesty International India today said that the allegations mentioned in the complaint are without substance and that it is an attempt to prevent the families of victims of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir from having their stories heard.

"Amnesty International India`s vision is for every person in India to enjoy the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other international human rights standards, and the Constitution of India. We are independent of any political, economic or ideological interests," said a statement from Amnesty International.

A panel discussion on Saturday had turned chaotic as some "pro-freedom" Kashmiris, entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists, who staged a protest against the event and called it "anti-national", filed a complaint in connection with the case. The ABVP has also called for a state-wide protest in Karnataka over Amnesty International sedition issue on August 17.

The event was organised by Amnesty International India at United Theological College.

With ANI inputs
Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala bureaucrat created a hullabaloo when he said if a man is found staring at a woman for more than 14 seconds, a case can be filed against him.

"There are sections in law to jail a man for annoyingly staring at a woman for 14 seconds. Please use it (the provisions in the law), if it is the case," Kerala Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh said.

While Singh's bizarre statement has created a buzz on social media, Kerala Sports Minister EP Jayarajan termed the comments as "irritating".

"The remarks are irritating. If a bureaucrat makes remarks which are not in law, certainly the minister concerned will examine it and necessary steps will be taken," he told reporters.

Addressing an event in Kochi about womens safety two days ago, Singh had underlined the significance of martial arts as a life skill.

"Are you carrying a knife in your bag? Are you carrying chilly spray? Time is over for taking such precautions" he had said.

Here's how social media reacted to the Excise Commissioners statement:

From now onwards, in Kerala the countdown will start from 14 and not 10 #RishiRajSingh  Mustafa Hassan (@drvetmhj) August 16, 2016

Expect a rise in usage of stopwatches in Kerala. #14secondrule #rishirajsingh  Varun Nair (@varunnair) August 15, 2016
Vadodara: Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will be in the city tomorrow to ink an MoU between the Railways and the state government, officials said.

This will be Rupani's first visit to the city after taking charge as the Chief Minister.

As part of the MoU, city-based National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) has arranged new educational modules along with the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU).

"The faculty of management studies of MSU will regulate the 104-week training and confer the MBA degree which is now must for railway officers," the University's Vice Chancellor Parimal Vyas said.

"We have designed the MBA course after receiving the request from NAIR and the Railway Ministry," he added.

"New recruits of three Group A Services - Indian Railway Stores Service, Personnel Service and Accounts Service, will be the first batch to follow the new curriculum which will start later this year when new batch of

Railway officers join," said Pradeep Sinh Jadeja, dean of the faculty of management studies.
Bhopal: In yet another gaffe, veteran BJP leader Babulal Gaur on Tuesday held a Congress flag during a programme organised on the occasion of 70th Independence Day here.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister took part in the 'Paigam-e-Mohabbat' programme organised by local Congress MLA Arif Aqueel yesterday.

Aqueel has been organising the programme on Independence Day since many years. He had invited religious heads, freedom fighters and prominent party leaders for the event.

Gaur participated in the event in his capacity as a freedom fighter.

A rally was taken out from Bhopal Talkies which was flagged-off by those present there. At this point, to everyone's surprise, Gaur took in his hands the Congress flag, causing murmurs in political circles.

"Gaur Sahab is no doubt angry with BJP, but he is a very senior leader of the party and deeply rooted with it. Somebody handed over him a Congress flag which he had held in his hands in the true spirit of the programme. Nothing more should be read into it," Aqueel said today.

However, he added, "If he (Gaur) leaves BJP and joins Congress, the party would welcome him with an open heart."

When contacted, Gaur said, "I have been attending this programme every year in my capacity as a freedom fighter. Aqueel used to honour those who fought for the country, including MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) detainees among others."

"During the flagging-off ceremony, somebody handed me a flag and the moment I noticed it was not of my party I gave it back. Nothing more should be read into it," he said and asserted that he will not leave BJP.

"The question of leaving BJP does not arise as it had made me the chief minister from a mere labourer. It made my daughter-in-law mayor of Bhopal and has given me a lot. Why should I go to a party whose existence is in danger," Gaur asked.

Gaur, who was also the state home minister, was reportedly not happy the way he was asked to resign from the state Cabinet in the last reshuffle apparently on the ground of old age.

He had also created an unpleasant situation for the ruling party a few times during the monsoon session of the Assembly by asking unpalatable questions.

(With PTI inputs)
Mumbai: A forgotten 150-metre long, underground British-era bunker has been unearthed inside the sprawling Raj Bhavan complex at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai, an official said on Tuesday.

Governor C.V. Rao and his wife Vinodha and senior officials went around the bunker on Tuesday.

Around three months ago, some old-timers informed the Governor of the existence of a tunnel inside the Raj Bhavan on the shores of the Arabian Sea. He asked to get it opened.

Accordingly, on August 12, the PWD staff broke open a temporary wall that had been erected at the tunnel's entrance on the eastern side.

The revelation was suprising. Instead of what was believed to be an underground tunnel, it turned out to be a huge barack with 13 rooms of varying sizes spread over an area of more than 5,000 square feet.

The bunker opens with a 20-feet tall gate and a ramp on the western side. There are long passages connecting small to medium room on both sides.

The bunker's rooms are named Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store, Shell Lift, Pump and Workshop and there are scores of Lamp Recesses in the gangway.

Though the underground bunker had apparently been closed after India's independence in 1947, it has remained surprisingly intact and has a drainage system with inlets for fresh air and light.

An aide to the Governor said that according to the book, "History of Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra", it was formerly known as Government House and served as the residence of the British Governors since 1885 when Lord Reay converted it into a permanent residence.

Before that, while the Malabar Hill residence served as the Summer Residence of British Governors, the Government House at Parel was the Governor's official residence.

After the discovery of the Bunker, Rao has said he would consult experts to preserve it.

Maharashtra Raj Bhavan is built on lush green 50 acres of land at Malabar Hill, lashed by Arabian Sea on three sides. It has its own private beach and a mile long forest.

In October 2010, a huge and well-maintained tunnel believed to be over two centuries old was discovered in the premises of Mumbai GPO.
Satara: In a sensational confession, a doctor, who was arrested late on Saturday, has told the Maharashtra Police that he had murdered six persons between 2003 and 2016 by administering lethal overdoses of medicines.

The Police have found four bodies from the farmhouse of Dr Santosh Pol, a practising doctor from Wai town in Satara district in western Maharashtra.

Dr Pol, dubbed "Dr Death", was arrested last week on the charges of kidnapping and killing a 49-year-old aanganwadi worker.

The 41-year-old Pol`s associate, nurse Jyoti Mandre, has also been arrested. Both have been sent to police custody by a court. The case has stunned Maharashtra.

"We are trying to find out where the fifth victim`s body was disposed off and also one victim whose body was thrown into a water reservoir," Satara Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil told the media on the stunning developments in the case.

The persons whom Pol allegedly killed comprised five women and one man.

Among the victims were an orphan woman, Salma Shaikh, who was missing from January this year. Another, Vanita Gaikwad, belonged to a jeweller`s family and went missing in July 2006.



A majority of the victims either worked with him or came in contact as patients.



On the motive behind the murder of five women and a man, Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.



"We shall investigate all the missing persons` cases in and around Wai since 2003, the hospitals where he worked, question other patients and employees, tackle all possible angles," Patil asserted.

Meanwhile, a police team was busy digging Pol`s sprawling farmhouse land for possibly more bodies.



Patil said that skeletal remains found would be sent for forensic analysis to match them with the missing persons.



Pol, described as an `Electro-Homoeopath`, practised in some local hospitals and at his farmhouse, 13 km on the outskirts of the quaint Wai town, at the base of the twin hill stations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani, around 175 km south of Mumbai.

Pol's crime came to light after the suspicious disappearance of 49-year old Mangal Jedhe, the president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS).

A probe has revealed that Pol and his men allegedly abducted Jedhe while she was en route to Pune on June 16.

Jedhe went missing after she threatened Pol that she would expose his shady activities. Our information is that she was abducted from the Wai bus station by Pol and his nurse Jyoti Mandre and taken to his farmhouse where she was killed after administering an overdose of some medicines, The Pioneer quoted MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan as saying.

Pol and his nurse secretly buried Jedhe's body near the farmhouse a day after allegedly killing her.

Wai police officer Padmakar Ghanvat said investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his activities.

Pol has confessed that he kidnapped Jedhe from the Wai Bus Depot and eliminated her the following day by administering an overdose of a lethal medicine.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killer's medical degree too.
Satara: In a sensational confession, a doctor, who was arrested late on Saturday, has told the Maharashtra Police that he had murdered six persons between 2003 and 2016 by administering lethal overdoses of medicines.

The Police have found four bodies from the farmhouse of Dr Santosh Pol, a practising doctor from Wai town in Satara district in western Maharashtra.

Dr Pol, dubbed "Dr Death", was arrested last week on the charges of kidnapping and killing a 49-year-old aanganwadi worker.

The 41-year-old Pol`s associate, nurse Jyoti Mandre, has also been arrested. Both have been sent to police custody by a court. The case has stunned Maharashtra.

"We are trying to find out where the fifth victim`s body was disposed off and also one victim whose body was thrown into a water reservoir," Satara Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil told the media on the stunning developments in the case.

The persons whom Pol allegedly killed comprised five women and one man.

Among the victims were an orphan woman, Salma Shaikh, who was missing from January this year. Another, Vanita Gaikwad, belonged to a jeweller`s family and went missing in July 2006.

A majority of the victims either worked with him or came in contact as patients.

On the motive behind the murder of five women and a man, Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.

"We shall investigate all the missing persons` cases in and around Wai since 2003, the hospitals where he worked, question other patients and employees, tackle all possible angles," Patil asserted.

Meanwhile, a police team was busy digging Pol`s sprawling farmhouse land for possibly more bodies.

Patil said that skeletal remains found would be sent for forensic analysis to match them with the missing persons.

Pol, described as an `Electro-Homoeopath`, practised in some local hospitals and at his farmhouse, 13 km on the outskirts of the quaint Wai town, at the base of the twin hill stations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani, around 175 km south of Mumbai.

Pol's crime came to light after the suspicious disappearance of 49-year old Mangal Jedhe, the president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS).

A probe has revealed that Pol and his men allegedly abducted Jedhe while she was en route to Pune on June 16.

Jedhe went missing after she threatened Pol that she would expose his shady activities. Our information is that she was abducted from the Wai bus station by Pol and his nurse Jyoti Mandre and taken to his farmhouse where she was killed after administering an overdose of some medicines, The Pioneer quoted MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan as saying.

Pol and his nurse secretly buried Jedhe's body near the farmhouse a day after allegedly killing her.

Wai police officer Padmakar Ghanvat said investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his activities.

Pol has confessed that he kidnapped Jedhe from the Wai Bus Depot and eliminated her the following day by administering an overdose of a lethal medicine.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killer's medical degree too.
Mumbai: A court in Beed district of Maharashtra has granted anticipatory bail to NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, in connection with a loan scam.

"Munde was granted pre-arrest bail last Friday after we argued that he was not absconding and custodial interrogation was not necessary in the case," his lawyer Aniket Nikam said today.

A case was registered in 2013 at Parli police station in Beed against Munde and others. It is alleged that Sant Jagmitra Cooperative Cotton Mill, of which Munde was one of the directors, took loans of over Rs 10 crore from the Beed District Cooperative Bank, and failed to repay them.

In the application, Munde said that he was the Leader of the Opposition, and if he was arrested, it would damage his political career.

Nikam argued that the cooperative mill which took the loans, had paid a substantial amount towards the interest, and also mortgaged its property with the bank.

Considering this, the intention to cheat the bank was not proved, the lawyer said.

Additional District Judge N S Kole accepted the argument and granted anticipatory bail to Munde.
Imphal: Thousands of tourists, traders and local residents were stranded in Manipur's Moreh town, reeling under a severe shortage of essential food items and life-saving medicines, as a result of an indefinite highway blockade.

The Trans-Asian Highway 102, the only supply route to the border town, was blockaded on August 10 by the supporters of slain Jamkholal Zou, a self-styled captain of the United Kuki Liberation Front, demanding the arrest of his killers.

The UKLF and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) agreed to a truce on October 24, 2015. However, suspected KNO insurgents abducted Zou on July 2, 2016 and allegedly killed him. Zou's bloated body was fished out of the Menal river in Myanmar a few days later.

Amang Haokip, convener of the Joint Action Committee backing the blockade, told IANS that being signatories to the suspension of operations both the outfits cannot indulge in crimes of any sort. "We have not allowed any vehicular movement and will continue to do so until the killers are accounted for," he said.

Tribal chieftains and other organisations have also extended support to the blockade.

Meanwhile, no attempt has been made by the government to ensure free movement of the vehicles yet.

N. Rabei, a taxi driver told IANS that it is incomprehensible why the government is not trying to open the highway. Most of the tourists and drivers have run out of money. There was no food, medicines etc in Moreh and the people were staring at starvation.

He said, "The government should immediately intervene since people are suffering."

While Moreh police declined to comment, one personnel told IANS, "This is a case which should be handled from the high level and the police station at the border town could do very little."
Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Tuesday intensified its protests over the Mahanadi water issue by calling a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk Odisha Bandh.

On Monday, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Prasad Harichandan said the 12-hour bandh would be a reprimand to both the Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments.

The firm warning to the states will sort the issue out. We believe the Chhattisgarh government will think over the issue.

Notably, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had yesterday said after hoisting the tricolour in Bhubaneswar: The government is making a sincere effort to resolve Mahanadi river water sharing issue and we believe it will be successful.

Biju Janata Dal's vice president Surya Narayan Patro, meanwhile, said, To patch up between the different groups in the Congress party, Harichandan has called for a bandh. They (Congress) think people of the State are blind and they dont know anything.

BJP general secretary said there is no logic behind the bandh. They (Congress) should stop political stunts to cover up the intra-party fighting.

The Congress claims that the state government knew about the construction of the barrage by the Chhattisgarh government since 2001, while it is now claiming that it was not kept in the loop over the projects.
Sangrur: The Holy Quran was sacrileged in a village in this district of Punjab for which police has arrested a close relative of the maulvi of the mosque where the incident occurred.

The incident took place yesterday in Mehlan Chowk village of Suman, with over 100 pages of the holy book being found torn in the mosque premises, police said, adding these pages were later buried as per Muslim tradition.

Later today, police claimed to have cracked the case by arresting one Israr Mohammad of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Police said a secret information was received that the sacrilege incident was committed by Israr and he was arrested.

The accused is the brother-in-law of Maulvi Mohmmad Mustafa, complainant in the case, police said.

The accused had allegedly committed the sacrilege to take revenge against his sister Mohseena Begum and brother-in-law Maulvi Mustafa, police said.

Earlier, the accused used to reside at the mosque along with his sister and brother-in-law.

"Israr fell in bad company and started taking drugs, because of which his sister and brother-in-law beat him and he was forced to leave the mosque three-four months ago," police said.

Earlier, the Holy Quran was desecrated in Malerkotla town on June 24 and the accused arrested in that case included Delhi's AAP MLA Naresh Yadav. He is out of jail on bail now.
Jaipur: On Monday, when the country celebrated its 70th Independence Day, a woman in Rajasthan's Ajmer district was badly thrashed, tied to tree and her hair was chopped by villagers over suspicion of having illicit relationship.

Ironically, the incident took place nearly 1 km away from a place in Ajmer where Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje unfurled the national flag. According to reports, a woman, living in Ambedkar Kachchi Basti of Ajmer, was on Monday dragged out out of her house, tied to a tree and thrashed by all present.

The victim was accused of having multiple sexual relation in the village. Those who beat her up alleged that her behaviour was disrupting the social fabric of the village. Scores of villages looked on as the woman was beaten up by not only men but also women, who had been her neighbours.

Deserted by her husband earlier, the victim lives in Ambedkar Kachchi Basti with her two children. Interestingly, till this incident happened none of her neighbours ever complained against her for anything.

The audacity of the perpetrators could only be gauged from the fact that one of them called up local police station. Police personnel visited the spot promptly but stood there as mute spectators.

As the news spread, the SHO of the Christianganj Police Station Vijender Gill rushed to the spot and carried out preliminary inquiry.
Lucknow: All is not well within the powerful Yadav family in Uttar Pradesh.

Reports of Akhilesh Yadav-Shivpal Yadav rift over possible alliance with merger of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED) have been hogging the headlines for some time now.

The alleged rift between CM Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal over possible alliance with merger of mafia don QED has taken the Samajwadi Party to a brink, where party leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav is finding hard to find a way out.

It is being learnt that Akhilesh met party supremo and his father Mulayam Monday night and reiterated his stand that he would not accept QED's merger with SP.

Some section of the SP is of the belief that QED would attract Muslim votes from the Poorvanchal region, however, Akhilesh, who is the face of the party in the assembly elections thinks that QED's entry would seriously dent party's image.

Since June, Shivpal has been apparently highly miffed with party high-command over Samajwadi Party's U-turn on merger with QED.

Shivpal is reportedly upset as some of the decisions in the party were taken without consulting him.

The SP had revoked its merger with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansaris QEM. The merger of the two parties was announced on June 21 by Samajwadi Party spokesman and senior Cabinet Minister Shipal Yadav, who is the brother of Akhileshs father and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Recently, Shivpal, who has been appointed as the state in charge of the party for the the high-voltage scheduled next year, said some leaders and officers were not listening to him, and if the trend continues, he would be forced to resign.

Mulayam on Monday confirmed this saying that senior party leader and Uttar Pradesh minister Shivpal Yadav had earlier resigned from his post twice, but withdrew it on his insistence.

"I stopped Shivpal Yadav from resigning from his post. If Shivpal quits, the Samajwadi Party will be in deep trouble. There's some conspiracy taking place against Shivpal. While he is engaged in his work, there are some who persecutes him," Mulayam said.

With high-voltage elections just months away, the widening rift between Akhilesh and Shivpal could hurt party's prospects badly.
District of Columbia: Fifteen Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the largest such release in years, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The latest transfers bring the remaining population of the detention center down to 61. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, about 780 inmates have been housed in the US military-run facility.

According to a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, 12 of the men are from Yemen and three are Afghans.

The Pentagon has previously struggled to find a third country to take Yemeni detainees, given that they can`t go home because of the civil war in their nation.

"The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close" Guantanamo, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Once transferred, former inmates are usually freed subject to supervision and undergoing rehabilitation programs.

Amnesty International USA welcomed the announcement as a sign President Barack Obama is serious about closing the controversial facility before he leaves office.

"It`s a significant repudiation of the idea that Guantanamo is going to be open for business for the indefinite future," Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA`s security and human rights program director, told AFP.

One of those transferred is an Afghan called Obaidullah, who allegedly had hidden land mines in 2001. He was detained for 14 years without trial.

Monday`s announcement represents the largest transfer of prisoners under the Democratic Obama administration.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Ambassador Lee Wolosky, the special envoy for Guantanamo closure, said in a statement.

"The support of our friends and allies -- like the UAE -- is critical to our achieving this shared goal." Obama urgently wants to close the facility before he leaves office at the start of next year but has been continually thwarted by Republican lawmakers.

Still, the United States has in recent months accelerated the rate at which detainees who have been approved for transfer are released from the facility.

When Obama took office, there were 242 detainees at Guantanamo.

Monday`s announcement means 19 inmates will remain who have been cleared for transfer.

Obama wants to send the rest, deemed to be the most dangerous, for incarceration in the United States -- but that is an extreme long shot given Republican opposition.

In February, the president presented Congress with a new closure plan for Guantanamo, which he says serves only to stoke anti-US resentment and fuel jihadist recruitment.

Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte recently renewed calls to keep Guantanamo open and published an unclassified report on 107 current and former detainees that she said highlighted their terrorist pasts.

November`s election will likely help determine the future of the notorious prison, as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to fill Guantanamo with "bad dudes" should he win the White House.

Trump has said he would "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."

To date, just 10 of the detainees face criminal trial, including the "9/11 Five" -- led by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- who are accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Shah said it was important for Obama to push ahead with plans to shutter Guantanamo, or the next administration could start filling its cells with suspected jihadists captured in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

"We are at an extremely dangerous and pivotal point where if President Obama fails to close Guantanamo then the next administration could bring more detainees there," Shah said.

Guantanamo is a US naval base carved out of a remote chunk of land on the tip of southeastern Cuba.

The administration of George W. Bush opened a prison there to hold terror suspects.
Dhaka: Bangladeshi security forces said on Tuesday they had arrested four women suspected of being members of a home-grown militant group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe last month in which 22 people were killed.

Five young men attacked the upmarket cafe on July 1, an assault claimed by Islamic State. Three of the attackers were from affluent Dhaka homes who had broken off contact with their families months earlier.

Police believe that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the group.

The four women were arrested in an overnight raid in the capital, based on information from a regional militant leader who was detained last month, said Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiya.

"Three of them are students of a private university and the other one is working as an intern in the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital," he told Reuters, adding that jihadi books, audio and video clips of jihadi lectures were seized.

More than a dozen suspected JMB militants, including seven women, have been arrested since the cafe attack.

On July 26, police killed nine militants believed to be plotting a similar assault.

Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims for a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the country over the past year.

The government has dismissed the claims and pinned the blame on domestic militant groups.
Jakarta: Indonesia is actively involved in resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea, President Joko Widodo said in a prepared state address on Tuesday.

An arbitration court in the Hague last month ruled that China had no historic title over the busy waterway and had breached the Philippines` sovereign rights there. The decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court`s authority.

"Indonesia continues to be actively involved in conflict resolution in the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations after," Widodo said, referring directly to the ruling.

"We continue to push for peaceful resolutions to international conflicts," he said in a speech marking Indonesia`s independence day, which falls on Wednesday.

Widodo also called for police and judicial reform to boost legal certainty in Southeast Asia`s biggest economy.
Baghdad: Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Monday said they had secured a river crossing point enabling them to open a new front against Islamic State and further tighten their grip on the militants` capital Mosul.

Backed by air strikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Kurdish fighters reached Kanhash, the western side of the Gwer bridge, the target of an offensive that started on Sunday.

The militants damaged the bridge, across the Grand Zab river and to the southeast of Mosul, two years ago as they swept through northern and western Iraq. Repairing the bridge would allow Peshmerga and other anti-IS forces to move towards Mosul from a new front.

"Control over Kanhash Heights give the Peshmerga strategic advantage over nearby enemy positions and the main road linking Mosul," tweeted Masrour Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.

"This successful operation will tighten the grip around ISIL`s stronghold Mosul," he added, using another acronym of IS.

About 150 square kms (58 square miles) were taken from the militants along the Grand Zab which flows into the Tigris, Kurdish officials said.

The Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdish self-rule region are gradually taking up positions around Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.

It was from Mosul`s Grand Mosque in 2014 that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" spanning regions of Iraq and Syria.

With a pre-war population of nearly 2 million, it is the largest urban centre under the militants` control and its fall would mark the effective defeat of Islamic State in Iraq, according to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has said he aims to retake it this year.

The Iraqi army is trying to close in from the south. In July it captured the Qayyara airfield, 60 km (35 miles) south of Mosul, which is to serve as the main staging post for the anticipated offensive.

"Noose tightening around #ISIL terrorists: #Peshmerga advancing east of #Mosul, #ISF shoring up south near #Qayyara,"

tweeted Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the militant group in a comment on the Kurdish offensive.

The militants were using suicide car bombs and mortar rounds to try to slow the Kurds` advance, said Saif Hameed, a Reuters correspondent who covered the offensive on Sunday.

"At the sixth village we entered, we received the usual incoming fire and the gunner was firing back ... mortars started to land on our right every three minutes," said Hameed, who was moving in a Peshmerga armoured truck with a group of journalists.

"Suddenly one of the men who was anxiously watching through the narrow, shattered bulletproof glass shouted and all eyes turned to the left," Hameed said. "It was a car bomb and it was speeding towards us."

"The gunner opened fire from the turret and it vanished. We didn`t know where it went. As we retreated from the village, we were told it exploded elsewhere."

IS said in a statement on its Amaq news service that two car bombs driven by suicide fighters were detonated in one of the villages to block advancing Kurdish forces, causing casualties among the Peshmerga.

Authorities in autonomous Kurdistan gave no toll for the fighting, other than confirming on Sunday the death of a Kurdish TV cameraman and the injury of another journalist.Preparations for the offensive on Mosul were nearing the final phase, McGurk told reporters during a visit to Baghdad on Thursday. He said the planning included considerations for humanitarian aid to uprooted civilians.

Up to one million people could be driven from their homes in northern Iraq, once fighting intensifieds around Mosul, posing "a massive humanitarian problem", the International Committee of the Red Cross forecast last month.

More than 3.4 million people have already been forced by conflict to leave their homes across Iraq, taking refuge in areas under control of the government or in the Kurdish region.


Beirut: Air raids killed 19 civilians, including three children, in rebel-held districts of Syria`s battleground second city Aleppo on Tuesday, a monitoring group said.

Rebel fire meanwhile killed five people in a government-held western district, according to Syrian state television.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens were wounded, some of them critically, in the strikes on the rebel districts of Tariq al-Bab and

Al-Sakhur neighbourhoods carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft.

An AFP journalist in east Aleppo said there were heavy air raids throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in both districts.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

A dust-covered van with the windows blown out -- with the word "Ambulance" on its dented side -- slowly pulled away from the scene of the attack.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been divided between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The Britain-based Observatory said that 12 rebels were also killed in Russian air strikes Tuesday targeting a convoy of anti-regime fighters on the city`s southern outskirts.

The monitoring group`s head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the convoy was travelling into Aleppo via the Ramussa road, the access route rebels opened in early August into parts of the city they control.

That road has been used to bring vegetables, petrol and other goods into eastern Aleppo, marking the end of a three-week government siege of those districts.

Rebels, Islamists and jihadists are locked in clashes with regime forces on the southern edges of Aleppo in a bid to keep the route open.

The Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria`s conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that escalated into a brutal multi-front war.
Paris: The jihadi employment form asked the recruits, on a scale of 1 to 3, to rate their knowledge of Islam. And the Islamic State applicants, herded into a hangar somewhere at the Syria-Turkey border, turned out to be overwhelmingly ignorant.

The extremist group could hardly have hoped for better.

At the height of Islamic State's drive for foot soldiers in 2013 and 2014, typical recruits included the group of Frenchmen who went bar-hopping with their recruiter back home, the recent European convert who now hesitantly describes himself as gay, and two Britons who ordered "The Koran for Dummies" and "Islam for Dummies" from Amazon to prepare for jihad abroad. Their intake process complete, they were grouped in safe houses as a stream of Islamic State imams came in to indoctrinate them, according to court testimony and interviews by the Associated Press.

"I realized that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these forms like 'when you die, who should we call?'" said the 32-year-old European recruit, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he thought he was joining a group to fight President Bashar Assad and help Syrians, not the Islamic State.

The European, whose boyish demeanor makes him appear far younger than his age, went to Syria in 2014. He said new recruits were shown IS propaganda videos on Islam, and the visiting imams repeatedly praised martyrdom. Far from home, unschooled in religion, having severed family ties and turned over electronic devices, most were in little position to judge.

An AP analysis of thousands of leaked Islamic State documents reveals most of its recruits from its earliest days came with only the most basic knowledge of Islam. A little more than 3,000 of these documents included the recruits' knowledge of Shariah, the system that interprets into law verses from the Quran and "hadith"  the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to the documents, which were acquired by the Syrian opposition site Zaman al-Wasl and shared with the AP, 70 percent of recruits were listed as having just "basic" knowledge of Shariah  the lowest possible choice. Around 24 percent were categorized as having an "intermediate" knowledge, with just 5 percent considered advanced students of Islam. Five recruits were listed as having memorized the Quran.

The findings address one of the most troubling questions about IS recruitment in the United States and Europe: Are disaffected people who understand Shariah more prone to radicalization? Or are those with little knowledge of Islam more susceptible to the group's radical ideas that promote violence?

The documents suggest the latter. The group preys on this religious ignorance, allowing extremists to impose a brand of Islam constructed to suit its goal of maximum territorial expansion and carnage as soon as recruits come under its sway.

Islamic State's most notorious new supporters appear to have an equally tenuous link with religion. Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, who killed 85 people by plowing a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France, was described by family and neighbors as indifferent to religion, volatile and prone to drinking sprees, with a bent for salsa dancing and a reported male lover.

Unlike Omar Mateen, the Orlando attacker, Bouhlel did not make a public declaration of allegiance to Islamic State, much less prove he had direct ties to extremists in the war zone. Still, the group was quick to claim both as foot soldiers.

'Koran for Dummies'

The AP analyzed the IS entry form documents of around 4,030 foreign recruits who crossed into Syria when the group was rapidly expanding and seizing territory in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and 2014. At that time, the CIA estimated the extremist group had between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria.

Among the documents were forms for nine of 10 young men from the eastern French city of Strasbourg, all recruited by a man named Mourad Fares. One of them, Karim Mohammad-Aggad, described barhopping in Germany with Fares. He told investigators that IS recruiters used "smooth talk" to persuade him.

He'd traveled with his younger brother and friends to Syria in late 2013. Two died in Syria, and within a few months, seven returned to France and were arrested. Mohammad-Aggad's brother, 23-year-old Foued, returned to Paris and was one of the three men who stormed the Bataclan in a night of attacks November 13 that killed 130 people.

"My religious beliefs had nothing to do with my departure," Karim Mohammad-Aggad told the court, before being sentenced to nine years in prison. "Islam was used to trap me like a wolf," he said.

IS data shows Karim and his brother Foued were among eight in the Strasbourg group listed as having "basic" knowledge of Sharia.

Expressing a common sentiment shared by many Europeans of North African descent, Mohammed-Aggad told the court he felt like an immigrant in Algeria and "a dirty Arab" in France. After just a few months in Syria, he said he left IS because he was treated by the extremists as an "apostate"  someone who had renounced his religion.

When pressed by the judge on his knowledge of Shariah and how the IS group implements it, Mohammad-Aggad, a former gas station attendant, appeared dumbfounded, saying repeatedly: "I don't have the knowledge to answer the question."

One of his co-defendants, Radouane Taher, was also pressed by the judge on whether beheadings carried out by the IS group conformed to Islamic law.

He couldn't say for sure, answering: "I don't have the credentials."

That's where Amazon comes in.

The trial of longtime friends Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, from the British city of Birmingham, revealed the 22-year-olds had ordered "The Koran for Dummies" and "Islam for Dummies" books in preparation for their trip to join extremists in Syria. They were arrested on their return to Britain and convicted in 2014 of terrorism offenses.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer with extensive experience with Mideast extremist organizations, said some people claim allegiance to IS out of religious belief, but that most who join, including those from the West, are people "reaching for a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitement."

"Religion is an afterthought," said Skinner, who is also director of special projects at security consultancy the Soufan Group.

Those who truly crave religious immersion would go to Al-Azhar in Cairo, he added, referring to the thousand-year-old seat of learning for Shariah and Quranic studies.

In its recent English language magazine Dabiq, dedicated largely to bolstering its own Muslim credentials, Islamic State dismissed Al-Azhar as part of an "approach to subdue Muslims through appeasement," with the West.

Mohammed Abdelfadel, an Islamic scholar who heads a German-language unit at Al-Azhar that tracks Islamic State propaganda and statements, said the group spews superficial notions about what is "halal and haram," or what is permissible and forbidden in Islam. He says the group's propaganda videos lionize IS fighters as masculine, strong martyrs going to heaven for the sake of God  counter to Islamic laws that forbid terrorism, the murder of non-combatants in war, the imposition of Islam on non-Muslims and other criminal activity.

Shariah knowledge is important

The recruits' Shariah knowledge is important because IS not only needs soldiers and suicide bombers, but administrators and Shariah officials to oversee its local courts and judges, who in turn promote IS ideology.

It also matters because those who've claimed advanced knowledge in Shariah on the IS entry documents were less likely to want to become suicide bombers, according to a study by the US military's Combating Terrorism Center, an academic institution at the United States Military Academy.

"If martyrdom is seen as the highest religious calling, then a reasonable expectation would be that the people with the most knowledge about Islamic law (Shariah) would desire to carry out these operations with greater frequency," said the report.

However, despite the religious justification that IS uses for suicide missions, "those with the most religious knowledge within the organization itself are the least likely to volunteer to be suicide bombers," the study found.

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan said a close look at the IS group's top commanders shows that many had no religious credentials but, instead, they once held senior positions under Saddam Hussein's secular Baathist government.

Ramadan teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe. He says Muslim scholars must demonstrate that what IS teaches is wrong.

"The people who are doing this are not experiencing martyrdom, they are criminals. They are killing innocent people. Nothing in Islam, nothing ever can justify the killing of innocent people, never, ever."

The gay European recruit said he converted to Islam because he was interested in the culture and it was easy.

"It only required one prayer and no prior understanding of Islam," he said. "There was no hierarchy and it was all about living a good life."

As a convert with almost no knowledge in Islam, he says he was easy prey.

"People like me were tricked into something that they didn't understand. I never meant to end up with IS."
Moscow: Russia said Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb jihadist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo.

The United States said the Russian move made the Syrian crisis even more difficult, but it credited Moscow with having given it a brief advance warning.

The defence ministry in Moscow said long-range warplanes took off from Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib".

The strikes destroyed jihadist targets including weapons depots and command centres, "killing a large number of fighters," Moscow said.

Separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 civilians were killed in Russian and Syrian strikes on rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Syria`s second city.

Nine civilians were also killed in government-held areas by rebel shelling, it said.

The deployment from Iran marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground while Russia provides airpower.

Both oppose calls for Assad to step down as a way of resolving the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011. Moscow has so far used short-range craft stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard Syrian territory.

By using Iran to launch long-range bomber raids rather than a base in southern Russia, Moscow can boost its firepower, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.

"Bombers can transport more bombs if their flight time is short," he said.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran`s Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA that Moscow and Tehran "exchange capacities and facilities" in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

An unnamed military source told Interfax news agency on Monday that Russia had also sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner described Russian warplane deployment from Iran as "unfortunate, but not surprising or unexpected."

"Frankly, that only makes more difficult what is already a very contentious and complex and difficult situation," he said.

"And it only pushes us further away from what we`re all... trying to pursue, which is a credible nation-wide cessation of hostilities and a political process in Geneva that leads to a peaceful transition."

Earlier, Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said Russian authorities had notified the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria shortly before launching the bombing mission from Iran.

The coalition since last year has operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria. Fighting for control of Aleppo, a former economic hub in northwestern Syria, has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in the shattered city, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been split between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement it was "gravely concerned for the safety of civilians" in Aleppo and called for "immediate attention and response" to their plight.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian and Russian warplanes of having repeatedly used incendiary weapons against civilians in northern Syria, saying it had documented their use at least 18 times since June.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the situation in Aleppo with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo and "begin battling together so that there is peace on this territory."

But US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.
Istanbul: Turkish police launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies in Istanbul on Tuesday and had warrants to detain 120 company executives as part of the investigation into last month`s attempted military coup, state-run Anadolu agency reported.

It said the companies were accused of giving financial support to the movement of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the July 15 putsch. He denies the accusation.

None of the companies involved were named. Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the agency said.

Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended in a purge of Turkey`s military, law-and-order, education and justice systems.
Ankara: Turkish prosecutors have demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month`s failed coup, state media reported on Tuesday.

In a 2,527-page indictment approved by prosecutors in the Usak region of western Turkey, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other accusations, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Thirteen out of 111 suspects in the case are remanded in custody, it said. All face prison terms ranging from two years to life in jail.

The so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO) -- the name Ankara gives for the group led by Gulen -- had infiltrated state archives through its members in the state institutions and intelligence units, according to the indictment.

The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its purpose of taking control of all state institutions, it added.

It has also collected funds from businessmen in the name of "donations" and transferred the money to the United States by means of front companies, and by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, Anadolu reported.

The case dates back to September 2015, even before the failed coup, and had been launched by the Usak prosecutor`s office into the financial assets of FETO.

Gulen, the reclusive cleric in who has lived in the United States since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a "parallel state" since a corruption scandal embroiling President, then premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.

Since July 15, Turkey`s crackdown on his supporters has intensified with tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education sector dismissed from their jobs or detained.

Turkey has pressed the United States to extradite Gulen to face trial at home and expressed frustration that Washington seems in no hurry to consider the matter. From his secluded Pennsylvania base, Gulen has vehemently denied playing any part in the coup.
Beijing: The US Army chief of staff is visiting China amid tensions over American ally South Korea's decision to deploy a powerful missile defence system.

The Army said General Mark A Milley was due to meet today with his Chinese counterpart and other senior People's Liberation Army leaders to find ways to work on cooperation while handling differences.

Milley will also visit the PLA's Academy of Military Science.

China has objected strenuously to a decision to base the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital Seoul, believing it's X-Band radar is intended to track missiles inside China.

Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the US and South Korea, and China has cancelled events involving South Korean entertainers.
Dianna Somerville is on a mission to promote a culture of agriculture innovation in Australia, and agtech is at the core. Based out of Wagga Wagga, or just Wagga to the locals, which is an inland city between Sydney and Melbourne, Somerville is particularly focused on promoting innovation in rural and regional Australia. She has started multiple companies and launched various initiatives to educate, motivate, and empower regional entrepreneurs. She is bringing the best of disruption culture, from hackathons, to pitch events, to angel investing, to create and equip future generations of innovators as well as showcase innovations from existing regional businesses.

Somervilles work in Wagga illustrates that agriculture innovation in Australia can, and probably has to, occur outside of big cities and established innovation hubs.

We caught up with her to hear more about her work.

Tell me about some of your initiatives to promote agriculture innovation in Australia and what they mean for agtech entrepreneurship.

We have launched a pitch competition, entrepreneurship program, hackathon, and a network to connect angel investors. The first Regional Pitch Fest took place this July. We had a total of $10k in prize money, and a judging panel of entrepreneurs and investors, as well as an audience choice award. I had seen pitch competitions in Sydney and wanted to bring the concept to regional Australia. For me, it wasnt just about technology, but also about showcasing how existing regional businesses were innovating.

To further support regional entrepreneurship, we created the Regional Opportunities for Entrepreneurs (ROPE) program. This program sends regional entrepreneurs to Sydney, Melbourne, or Canberra to learn entrepreneurship best practices. And, while they travel, the regional entrepreneurs can share with the world what regional Australia is doing. This is especially important for agriculture, where we need to close adoption gap in agtech.

We have also recently launched Bush Angels, a virtual network connecting angel investors focused on agriculture and sustainability with rural businesses looking to raise capital. Currently, the platform educates people about how angel investing works, including the potential risks and upsides. Finally, this September we will hold our first AgriHack. This hackathon is focused on solving challenges in the grains industry.

How does AgriHack work, and why is it different from other agtech innovation events?

The format for AgriHack was inspired by existing hackathons, but has been adapted to address specific challenges in agriculture. There are three main parts: educational, technological, and social. The educational component is intended to equip the next generation of agtech entrepreneurs. During the hackathon, we will be educating primary school aged kids about both agriculture and technology. The technological and social components will function more like traditional hackathons. Each will feature an industry-relevant challenge, and multi-disciplinary teams of students, designers, industry experts, growers, and engineers will compete over 48 hours to win a cash prize. The social theme for this year is female mental health; we are still confirming a grains industry partner to seed the technical challenge.

Though this year will focus on the grains industry, the vision is to expand the event to other sectors, such as livestock, in future years.

Whats so special about rural and regional Australia, and is this new?

Theres more and more innovation happening in rural and regional Australia recently, but farmers have always been innovators. Theres a lot of hype about the need to bring innovation back to the region, but what Im saying is that its already happening here; just come have a look.

I have been fortunate to have other entrepreneurs around me and other innovation initiatives to leverage, like the WorkingSpaces HQ. This co-working space is my office, and the birthplace of AgTribe, an agtech startup that allows farmers to rent and share expensive farming equipment. Co-working spaces like ours create an environment that helps everyone to do better. There are good people, events, support, and plenty of inspiration. Our community is proving that you can be an innovator in regional Australia.

Its especially exciting to notice that many of these initiatives are supported by, or run by, women, many of whom are farmers wives. This provides a diversified stream of income for the farms, while simultaneously leveraging extensive domain expertise so that innovations are grounded in reality and companies are formed to solve real problems.

Is it working? How has the community responded?

Our initial goal has been to educate the community by broadening their perspective on what the possibilities are for innovation. A big aspect of this is teaching the language and terms of innovation. Not everyone is familiar with the startup lingo, like hackathon, but after I explained what this was, the community has responded extremely positively. Weve gotten media coverage and events have been packed.

Another example is the pitch event. The general community here didnt know what a pitch was. But the feedback after the first Regional Pitch Fest event, which had over 100 people in the room and over 600 on the live stream, was hugely positive. Many people came up to me and said, I have an idea and I cant wait to participate next year.

We have also already seen some great examples of agtech startups coming out of rural and regional Australia, such as AgTribe, Silicon Paddock, and AgDraft.

What does the future look like for rural and regional agriculture innovation in Australia, and for you?

Innovation is the very much the flavor of the month right now in Australia, especially with the recent government innovation initiative. And agtech especially is getting attention as the innovation community sees it as an untapped area. Its not clear if the hype will last, but my goal is to build sustainable innovation infrastructure around agriculture that will last beyond the hype. Initiatives like AgriHack will have to evolve and change, for example to focus on relevant issues and make sure we have the right people in the room as sponsors and to provide pressing challenges that we can work to solve. Right now, Im focused on this years AgriHack in the grains industry, but in future years I will expand to other commodities. And were building everything to scale beyond Wagga to other regional communities across Australia.

Were also launching an incubator program called 35 Degrees Incubator. Our goal is to help rural communities address challenges in agriculture, as well as diversify out of agriculture to find ways to make money on the side of farming. Participants will have to apply with an idea to get into the program, which will include face-to-face support, virtual training, events, and a final demo day. Aspiring entrepreneurs will come away from the incubator knowing both what is possible and what it takes to make an idea into a business.

As for me, whatever I can do to promote innovation in the region, thats what Ill be doing. After 14 years in the public sector, the innovation world is a blast. Theres no red tape and you can get so much done. Im excited to share this with others in the region and get them involved.

Do you have other examples of rural or regional agriculture innovation in Australia and beyond to share? Get in touch by emailing Media@AgFunderNews.com.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. On August 15 President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met members of the commission on the constitutional reforms under the NKR President. Issues related to the doctrine of the constitutional reforms were on the agenda of the meeting, press service of the NKR Presidential administration informed Armenpress.

In his speech Bako Sahakyan underlined that the constitutional reforms are directed towards widening and strengthening protection of human rights and freedoms, improving judicial power and local self-governmental systems, consistent development of the direct democracy institute.

President Sahakyan mentioned that since its formation the commission had carried out extensive work and conducted comprehensive research, organized public discussions, took into consideration the experience of the Republic of Armenia and various developed countries in the field of constitutional reforms and submitted a proposal based on presidential system of governance.

Taking into account the commissions viewpoint, the stance of the majority of political forces, our awareness of the public opinion preferences, which were reflected in results of polls conducted recently in our country, I accept the proposal, approve the constitutional reforms doctrine and assign to the commission elaborate and present the project of the constitutional reforms within the set time period, the NKR President said.

National Assembly Chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, Prime Minister Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials were present at the meeting.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. A new negotiation stage will be opened for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement if Azerbaijan adheres to the ceasefire agreement, and Nagorno Karabakh joins the negotiations, Armenpress reports citing the Radio Liberty, NKR President Bako Sahakyan gave an interview to electronic newspaper of the French Parliament.

Azerbaijan must be able to give up its xenophobic policy towards the Armenians, its futile gamble and must respect the fundamental freedoms and rights of the other people, Bako Sahakyan said.

The NKR President said the April four-day war was an outcome of Azerbaijans anti-Armenian ideology and the leaderships dictatorship towards the Armenian people.

As for the mutual concessions, Bako Sahakyan said the complex conflicts like the Nagorno Karabakh conflict are possible to settle only through mutual concessions. He said reasonable, fair and adequate mutual concessions are necessary. We are ready to go to mutual concessions if they do not undermine the security of our country, if they do not give opportunities to our enemy for starting new attacks on us, he said.

Referring to the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by the international community and the success achieved over this issue, Bako Sahakyan ensured the Nagorno Karabakh recognition will achieve greater success in the near future leaving its positive impact on the stability of the South Caucasus.

To the question whether the minoritys demand for self-determination is legitimate, the NKR President stated: All people have right to self-determination, it is one of the major principles of the international law. But this right becomes an imperative duty only when the state, to which it is connected, doesnt have another wish than to eliminate that people.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs always keep in touch with and frequently meet the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenpress reports, American Co-Chair James Warlick told the Azerbaijani APA news agency.

He said although there is nothing planned for August, the Co-Chairs continue the contacts and the cooperation with the Foreign Ministers of the two states. In Vienna and St. Petersburg the two Presidents expressed wish to meet again for reaching the peaceful settlement of the conflict. We are considering the possibility of a new meeting. We always keep in touch with the Presidents and the Ministers in order to discuss the existing proposals, Warlick said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The United Nations condemns the airstrike of the Saudi-led coalition that hit a hospital in Yemen on Monday, Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general said, Sputnik news reported.

The attack on the medical facility, run by the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) aid group, has reportedly left at least seven civilians dead and dozens injured.

"We have condemned all attacks on medical facilities by any side, and we would similarly condemn any attack that caused the sort of damage that we have heard reported in this attack on an MSF facility," Haq told reporters.

According to recent reports, 11 people have been killed and 19 were wounded in the airstrike.

Since 2014, Yemen has been gripped by the conflict between the Sunni government and the Shia Houthi rebel movement backed by some factions within the Yemeni army.

A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at the Yemeni government's request.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan Police Department received a report that children have discovered ammunition while playing outside one of the buildings on Araratyan Street.

The Police Department told ARMENPRESS Police units of Charbakh department were dispatched to the scene and discovered a bag, which contained 3 boxes  each containing 440 7.62 caliber cartridges. Ballistic expertise is underway.

Law enforcement agencies are investigating the case.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. A corpse with a gunshot wound has been discovered in Ijevan city, Tavush Province, Armenia, a Police official told ARMENPRESS.

On August 16, at 08:45, the Ijevan Police Department received a call that a dead body has been discovered. Police units were dispatched to the scene and discovered the body of 50 year old Vachagan A. with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. An investigation is underway, the official said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Russias Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held a meeting within the framework of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council session in Yerevan on August 16.

The Defense Ministry told ARMENPRESS issues of international and regional security and bilateral military and military-technical cooperation were discussed during the meeting.

The Ministers noted the high level cooperation of the Defense Ministries of the two countries and outlined further directions of cooperation.

The Russian large-scale humanitarian operations in Syria were also discussed. Minister Ohanyan expressed support to Russias humanitarian efforts to the population of Syria.

The Defense Ministers signed an agreement on cooperation between the Armenian Armed Forces and Russian Armed Forces in the sector of radiation, chemical and biological defense.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Bako Sahakyan, President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic gave an interview to Journal du Parlement newspaper.

ARMENPRESS presents the interview as provided by the Presidential Administration of NKR.

Mr. President, Nagorno Karabakh isnt recognized by the international community as a state. The conflict seems to get increasingly waterlogged. What needs to be done for restart dialogue and have advancement in the conflict settlement issue?

Several political, legal and psychological steps are necessary for restarting dialogue. In the political arena, the provisions of the 1994-1995 ceasefire regime agreements should firstly be strictly followed, as well as the calls of international community and mediator countries for settling the conflict exclusively by peaceful means. In the legal arena the complete format of negotiations process should be restored, where the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is a full side of the conflict, which was confirmed in the 1994 OSCE Budapest summit. It is impossible to settle the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict in the absence of Nagorno Karabakh  one of the direct sides. Regarding the psychological part, here the main obstruction is Azerbaijans revanchist policy. Azerbaijan must find the strength in itself to refuse the stereotypes towards Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian people and respect fundamental rights and freedom of other peoples, as well as refuse unpromising and adventurist policy.

Otherwise, in terms of diplomacy, what are the concessions, which you will be ready to make in order to ease the tension?

Any conflict, especially the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict, cannot have a comprehensive solution through concessions. Mutual concessions are necessary. Moreover, these mutual concessions should be reasonable and equivalent. Regarding the limit of mutual concessions, in no way should they weaken the security system and act as a tempting circumstance for aggression for the other side.

In your opinion, has there been progress in the international political recognition of Nagorno Karabakh? And what consequences can it have on the stability of South Caucasus?

The international recognition process of Nagorno Karabakh is proceeding quite actively, and we have already achieved several results in this direction. As of today, administrative entities of USAs Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Louisiana, California, Georgia, Hawaii and Australias New Waless states, Basque Country, Fresno, Los Angeles and several others have expressed in favor of recognizing the independence of Nagorno Karabakh. We will have new successes in the future also. I am sure that the international recognition of our country will have positive impact on stability in South Caucasus, integrating it even more in the international community.

The ceasefire regime is in force since May 12, 1994. Why was it violated in the beginning of April?

The ceasefire regime was violated as result of the large-scale four day war waged by Azerbaijan. And the main reason for this kind of aggression is the state propaganda of Azerbaijan, which is based on Armenophobic policy and the system of government, which can be labeled as totalitarian and dictatorship. And these kind of states, as global history has showed numerous times, always conduct aggressive policy.

What is the situation of refugees today?

As result of Azerbaijani aggression several settlements of Nagorno Karbakh suffered, hundreds have lost their homes and were temporarily transported to nearby settlements, capital Stepanakert and several cities in Armenia. The state is working on various programs to improve their social conditions and restore the homes.

Which are the resources available to Nagorno Karabakh? How is the financial situation developing in the region? Do French or European companies operate here?

The main sources of economic development of Nagorno Karabakh are its own resources, the assistance of Armenia and Diaspora. Prior to the April war the average annual growth of our economy comprised 9%. Of course, the war had negative impact on economic development, but we will do everything possible to ensure the countrys progress in the future. The banking sector is the most dynamic developing sector in Nagorno Karabakh. Branches of various leading banks are represented in our country, and we hope the number will grow. Regarding the involvement of French or European companies, such cooperation is present, however it is proceeding mainly through representatives of the Armenian Diaspora.

You demand self-determination of population for your independence. Does this imply that in your opinion, any minority in any geographical circle is authorized to demand self-determination?

All peoples have the right of self determination, which is one of the fundamental principles of international right. For 67 years the people of Nagorno Karabakh have struggled to throw off the Soviet Azerbaijani colonial yoke which was artificially and strangely created for us. By the way, this decision was adopted and realized against the will of our people by the Caucasus branch of the Bolshevik party. In 1988 we realized our right to self determination. In 1991 we created an independent Republic. We were forced to defend it from Azerbaijani aggression. And for already a quarter century we are building an independent, sovereign, democratic and social state. By the way, in terms of shaping a democratic and civil society our country is incomparably ahead of Azerbaijan and many other recognized states. It is obvious, that under all this, Nagorno Karabakh has earned the right to be recognized by the international community and the civilized world.

Finally, what message would you like to address to the French and European political class through the Journal du Parlement and Comite de l'Europe newspapers?

We are frequently asked this kind of question, which, essentially, reflects the vision of Nagorno Karabakh-Europe relations. The fact that we belong to a common civilization, I think is undisputed. Some even announce that Europe ends in Nagorno Karabakh. We think, Europe starts in Nagorno Karabakh.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Russia has already begun supplying weaponry to Armenia in accordance to the 200 million loan, Izvestia newspaper reported under the title Russia will supply Armenia same weapons as to Azerbaijan.

The newspaper writes that in addition to supplying military equipment to Armenia, Russia will also train Armenian specialists who will maintain the weapons. The Armenian Defense Ministry confirmed that supplies have already begun, however refused to reveal the list of weapons. Experts assume that supplies will include heavy systems of armaments, which will significantly improve the capabilities of the Armenian Armed Forces. The newspaper noted citing its source, that although the weapons supply has begun, however the sides havent finally clarified the list of weapons to-be-supplied. The weaponry supply process has already begun, training of specialists and technical works will be implemented simultaneously, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan told the newspaper.

The article also reminds one of the previous publications, according to which Armenia intends to acquire Smerch and TOS-1A systems from Russia, IGLA-S missile systems, 9M113M guided missiles, RPG-26 grenade launchers, Dragunov sniper rifles and Tiger armored vehicles.

The article then cites Russian President Vladimir Putins remarks during the August 10 meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan  Regarding weaponry, there is a program on working with Armenia. Armenia is CSTO member, our ally. We have mutual commitments, and Russia always realizes its commitments.

Weapon export magazines editor-in-chief Andrey Frolov noted that Moscow supplies the same weapons to Armenia, which it had previously supplied to Azerbaijan, adding that this weaponry will undoubtedly improve the military balance in favor of Armenia. The military budget difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan is very big. In these conditions, it is only possible not to reach critical situation by clear addressed investments. That will strengthen Armenian and will provide regional balance of powers, the expert said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The regular session of the Defense Ministers of the CSTO member states was held in Yerevan on August 16.

Delegations from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Russia and Tajikistan have arrived in Yerevan to take part in the session.

CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha and CSTO Chief of Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov also arrived in Yerevan, press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry informed Armenpress.

At the session the Ministers discussed the military-political situation in the CSTO collective security zones, as well as in the Caucasian region and outlined the further development directions of the organizations military component.

Issues related to improvement of the mutual cooperation between the armed forces of the CSTO member states, the development of the military restructuring and the rising of the productivity of the military-technical cooperation, as well as the establishment of scientific-research centers in the air defense sector were discussed at the session.

A number of documents related to the above-mentioned issues were signed during the session.

A decision was made to hold the next session again in Yerevan in October, 2016.

At the end of the session Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha delivered a joint statement.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on August 16 the USD exchange rate was 475.69 AMD which is a decrease of 0.10 drams compared to the previous day.

The euro increased by 4.98 drams forming 536.25 drams, and British pound rose by 3.39 drams forming 617.68 drams. Russian ruble increased by 0.08 drams forming 7.48 drams on August 16.

The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 304.35 AMD, gold-20,484.5 AMD, and platinum  17,006.69 AMD.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia and Chairman of the State Military Industry Committee of the Defense Ministry Davit Pakhchanyan held a working meeting with CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valeri Semerikov on August 16, press service of the Ministry informed Armenpress.

Issues related to the military-technical and military-economic cooperation within the CSTO were discussed at the meeting.

Valeri Semerikov presented Davit Pakhchanyan the works conducted by the CSTO Inter-state committee on military-economic cooperation and the prospective projects.

The sides agreed to hold Business Council session of the CSTO Inter-state committee on military-economic cooperation within the framework of the Arms and Defense Technology ArmHiTec-2016 first international exhibition which is going to be held in Armenia on October 13-15.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Police Chief of Armenia, Police Mayor-General Vardan Yeghiazaryan received the Chinese delegation led by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Armenia Tian Erlong, press service of the Police informed Armenpress.

The sides discussed issues related to the process of implementation of agreements reached during the Chinese delegations visit to Armenia in May, 2016 led by Meng Jianzhu, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

Vardan Yeghiazaryan highly appreciated the mutual cooperation between the Police structures of Armenia and China and expressed readiness to deepen the ties which will contribute to the joint fight against the crime.

The guests were briefed on the recent July events in Yerevan.

The Ambassador of China expressed gratitude for the warm reception and ensured everything is being done to further develop the partnering relations of the law enforcement systems of the two states.

The sides discussed a number of issues of mutual interest during the talk.
A former top securities trader at Goldman Sachs was barred from the industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday for bilking the bank's customers

A former top securities trader at Goldman Sachs was barred from the industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday for bilking the bank's customers.

The SEC said that between 2010 and 2012 Edwin Chin knowingly misled customers about the price and source of available residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in order to expand his and the bank's trading commissions.

In a settlement with the SEC, Chin did not admit or deny the fraud findings of the probe but agreed to pay $400,000 covering penalties and ill-gotten profits.

According to the market regulator's legal ruling published Tuesday, Chin offered clients RMBS bonds at what he represented as a separate seller's price, portraying himself as a fair broker between the two parties.

In fact, Chin was selling bonds out of Goldman's own holdings that had been acquired at a much cheaper price, and the sales reaped the bank large gains and large commissions for Chin.

In five incidences documented by the SEC, Chin reaped more than $1.5 billion in "extra profits" for Goldman.

The SEC did not say whether Goldman would be forced to give up its gains from the trades.

"With no public exchange showing the price for each RMBS trade as it occurs, investors purchasing these securities rely on dealers to be honest about the purchase price they paid," said Michael Osnato, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Complex Financial Instruments Unit, in a statement.

The SEC said it is continuing to investigate the fraud.
Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to building so-called "defeat devices" into millions of diesel cars, which detected when the motors were undergoing regulatory tests and drastically reduced emissions

Federal investigators probing Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating scandal have uncovered evidence of criminal wrongdoing, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department is now negotiating a settlement which may involve significant financial penalties for the company, the newspaper said.

The German automaker has worked swiftly to put the emissions scandal behind it, reaching multi-billion-dollar civil settlements with most US states and offering to compensate owners and fix deficient automobiles.

But, with the possibility of criminal sanctions, Monday's news added a grave new dimension to the company's travails.

Prosecutors had yet to decide on specific charges, according to the Journal.

It said the department is weighing the alternatives of requiring a guilty plea from the company, or offering it a deferred prosecution agreement, which would require certain corrective behaviour by the company over time after which charges would be dropped.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the report.

In a statement, Volkswagen said talks were continuing with federal and state authorities, including the Justice Department.

"Volkswagen is committed to earning back the trust of our customers, dealers, regulators and the American public."

The company admitted last year to installing cheating devices on nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the US and as many as 11 million worldwide.

Cars were configured to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions during official pollution tests, while allowing emissions of up to 40 times the legal limit during actual driving.

The company, which also markets Audi and Porsche vehicles, settled civil cases in June over cheat devices on 2.0 liter cars in an agreement valued at $14.7 billion.

It still needs to settle complaints about its 3.0 liter diesel cars.

Lawsuits filed last month by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts implicated senior company executives in the emissions cheating, suggesting a current and former CEO may have been aware of it.

Both men, current CEO Matthias Mueller and his predecessor Martin Winterkorn, have denied personal responsibility for wrongdoing.
As a kid, my two favorite things in Mad magazine were the Fold-In and Spy vs Spy (which I pronounced "spyvisspy"). It was a wordless one-page comic about two oddly pointy faced spies, one dressed in black and the other dressed in white. Other than their different colored outfits, they behaved identically. They hated each other and created elaborate Rube Goldberg type machines to try to kill each other. Sometimes their machines worked, often, they'd backfire. They were tricky but usually too clever for their own good.

Atlas Obscura has an excellent article about Antonio Prohias, the creator of Spy vs Spy.

In New York, Prohias took work in a factory during the day, while working up his illustration portfolio at night. Taking inspiration from his supposed spy status, Prohias altered the look of El Hombre Siniestro, and gave him a counterpart, creating what we now know as Spy vs. Spy. In 1960, just months after moving to the city, Prohias, along with his daughter Marta who acted as an interpreter, walked unannounced into the offices of MAD Magazine. The editors were skeptical of the artist, but his silly spy gags won them over, and he had sold three of the strips to the magazine before leaving that day.

Spy Vs Spy: An Explosive Celebration, by Antonio Prohias and Peter Kuper, is an excellent book about Spy Vs Spy, with lots of sample strips.
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Monday said it has increased its stake in Apple Inc by 55 percent, boosting its bet on the iPhone and iPod maker even as prominent investors like George Soros and Carl Icahn shed theirs. Berkshire owned 15.23 million Apple shares worth $1.46 billion as of June 30, up from 9.81 million shares as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing from Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. The filing also said Berkshire cut its stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc , the world's largest retailer, by 27 percent to about 40.23 million shares from 55.24 million. Wal-Mart has been in Berkshire's portfolio for more than a decade. It was unclear whether Buffett or one of his portfolio managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, are investing in Apple. Berkshire owned more than $133 billion of equities as of June 30. Buffett is typically responsible for larger investments such as Wal-Mart, while his deputies handle smaller investments. "They have more of a trading orientation than Buffett, and may view Apple as attractive because the stock appears cheap or may have a catalyst later this year," Jim Shanahan, an equity analyst at Edward Jones, said in a phone interview. "If Warren Buffett is buying a stock, he's probably not going to sell it, or at least not sell for a very long time." Berkshire also owns roughly 90 businesses including Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, Dairy Queen ice cream, Duracell batteries, and Fruit of the Loom underwear. It also paid $32.1 billion in January for aircraft and industrial parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, Buffett's largest purchase. Share prices often rise when investors perceive that Berkshire has given them its imprimatur, including the 3.7 percent one-day boost that Apple got in May after Berkshire unexpectedly revealed it had taken a stake. Berkshire revealed its higher Apple stake on the same day George Soros' firm Soros Fund Management and Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors Inc said they dissolved their own Apple stakes. Icahn in April said he had sold his entire Apple stake, citing concerns about China's policies regarding the company. He later said he would reinvest in Apple if his concerns ebbed. Monday's Berkshire filing also disclosed other portfolio changes, among them lower stakes in farm equipment maker Deere & Co and Canadian oil and gas company Suncor Energy Inc , and a higher stake in John Malone's telecommunications company Liberty Global Plc . It also reflected Berkshire's more than 14 percent stake in oil refiner Phillips 66 . Shanahan said he believes Berkshire has been shedding Wal-Mart shares at least in part to buy Phillips 66. He has a "buy" rating on Berkshire. Berkshire's filing showed that food company Kraft Heinz Co was the company's largest equity investment as of June 30, at $28.81 billion, followed by Wells Fargo & Co . (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish, David Gregorio and Bernard Orr)
George Soros

George Soros family-office hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, increased its bearish bet on the stock market.

During the second quarter, Soros bought put options on just over 1.9 million shares on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), making it so he owns puts on just over 4 million shares of the exchange-traded fund. Its his funds biggest holding in the filing too.

Puts are used for a downside bet. Buying these S&P 500 puts, essentially gives Soros the right, but not the obligation, to sell them in the future. In other words, if the S&P 500 or the ETF that tracks falls, Soros should make a nice profit.

Soros, 86, is widely-known as the man who broke the Bank of England following his short bet against the British Pound in 1992 while running the Quantum Fund alongside Stanley Druckenmiller. Ahead of the June 23 Brexit vote, Soros had warned that it would be more disruptive than Black Wednesday.

On June 30, the last day of the second quarter, Soros gave a grim speech to the EU Parliament.

In the speech, he warned that the Brexit may be a greater calamity than the refugee crisis. He added that the UKs shocking decision has unleashed a crisis in the financial markets comparable in severity only to that of 2007/8.

He continued: This has been unfolding in slow motion, but Brexit has accelerated it. It is likely to reinforce the deflationary trends that were already prevalent.

While global markets sold off dramatically following the surprise decision by UK voters to leave the European Union, they have since rallied back. Stocks lately have been hitting all-time highs.

Hedge funds of a certain size are required to disclose their long stock holdings in filings known as 13-Fs. Of course, the filings only provide a partial picture since they do not show short positions or wagers on commodities and currencies. Whats more is these filings come out 45 days after the end of each quarter, so its possible they could have traded in and out of the position. Still, it does provide a glimpse into where some of the top money managers have been placing money in the stock market.

Story continues

Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

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Hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb bought a bunch of Facebook

Warren Buffett ramps up his huge bet on Apple, cuts back Walmart
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Monday it will not reopen its bomb analysis center that was closed in April, rejecting a call to do so from a national law enforcement advocacy group that warned of a growing "threat of terrorism." The Canadian Association of Police Governance passed a resolution in favor of the bomb center, which analyzed bomb data and how to handle explosives, on Sunday at its annual general meeting. The resolution was passed less than a week after an alleged Islamic State supporter detonated an explosive device and was killed in a police raid in Strathroy, a town in southwestern Ontario. Harold Pfleiderer, a spokesman for the RCMP, which ran the Canadian Bomb Data Centre (CBDC), called it a "small program" and said an external panel deemed it to be of low importance compared with other police operations. "As stewards of public funds, we routinely review our programs to measure their effectiveness and value-for-money in keeping Canadians safe," Pfleiderer said in an email. The center also provided assistance and coordination to police forces dealing with bombs and explosives, according to the RCMP. Sunday's resolution argued that the center's responsibilities now fall to individual police forces, which do not have the same level of coordination and expertise. Pfleiderer said the explosive disposal community in Canada is small and its members maintain regular contact. "Some of the core services formerly provided by the CBDC will be absorbed into other areas of the RCMP," he added. Terrorism offences in Canada more than doubled last year to 173 alleged incidents, up from 76 in 2014, according to July data from Statistics Canada, citing police information. In October 2014, a Canadian Muslim convert shot and killed a soldier at Ottawa's national war memorial before launching an attack on the Canadian Parliament. The same week, another convert ran down two soldiers in Quebec, killing one. (Reporting by Ethan Lou; Editing by Alan Crosby)
Mark Cuban took some exception to Carl Icahns stance on the economy.

On July 31, Cuban endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in her quest to win the 2016 Presidential election. He has since called out Trump several times, even calling him bat st crazy.

Last week, Icahn Tweeted about Clintons economic policy speech, saying, How do you "unleash the power of corporations if you do nothing about the strangulating regulations, which she said zero about.

Cuban shot back Monday morning, responding to Icahn, "sure hasnt stopped you from investing in companies Carl, has it? Regs can improve, no doubt, but trump plan is a disaster.

Related Link: Marc Faber Joins Procession Of Prominent Bears Calling For Market Crash

Icahn responded, saying, [I]t sure has stopped me and thousands of others from making capital investments in companies Cap spending is way down b/c companies r worried about onerous regs - which is diminishing productivity & our ability to compete.

Cuban fired back, I get you are huge in energy and that sucks right now. But can you think of the bigger picture?  You know you wouldnt hire @realDonaldTrump unless you were short the company. Cuban asked why Icahn picks the most regulated industries to invest in, specifically using energy and American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) as examples.

Regarding Icahns bearish stance on the market, Cuban said, its because he thinks trump could win. If I ever think Trump can win I go 200pct short.

Back in May, it was revealed via Icahn Enterprises 10-Q that Icahn has a 149 percent net short position.

See more from Benzinga

 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
After completing her degree at the University of Saskatchewan last spring, Chinese student Jing Li decided to put down permanent roots in Canada.

Jing, 29, obtained a work permit, moved to the Vancouver area and made an offer on a townhouse in Langley, B.C., in mid-July.

"The beauty and kindness of B.C. inspired me to move here," she said.

Jing cobbled together a 10 per cent deposit on the $560,000 property by borrowing from her parents in China. She said they in turn borrowed money from friends and family.

But last month, 12 days after Jing signed the purchase contract, the B.C. government threw a wrench in Jing's Canadian dream when it levied a 15 per cent property transfer tax on foreign real estate buyers in the Vancouver area.

Jing is not a permanent resident in Canada, so the tax adds $84,000 to the home's cost, something she's certain she can't afford. But if she backs out of the deal, she would lose her deposit of about $56,000.

"Now, I can't go forward and also can't go back."

Her mother cried when Jing called her parents in China to tell them about the tax. They had no more money to lend her.

Jing said her father is a geologist for a mining company. Her mother stays at home.

Parents saved for Jing's future

She said her parents saved all their lives to send her to university in Canada.

After earning a master's degree last spring in public administration from the University of Saskatchewan, she moved to Burnaby, B.C., where she lives in an apartment with some university friends.

Staying in Canada was Jing's idea, and now she feels guilty.

"I think this is my fault," she said in halting English. "If I don't want to study, work and live in Canada, this disaster would not happen to my family.

"I hope there is somebody could tell me what I can do."

Bruce Copp, managing broker at Sutton Group West Coast, the real estate firm used by Jing, confirmed Jing made the offer on the Langley property in July.

Story continues

Did not expect tax

When the government introduced the tax last month, it said its stated aim was to make housing more affordable for middle-class buyers.

Real estate prices in the Vancouver area have soared in recent years. Some have argued that foreign buyers have contributed to this rise, which has left many local buyers priced out of their own city.

Jing said she never would have bought the Langley property had she known a tax was on the horizon.

She said she felt entrapped by the government when it announced the tax.

"In my mind, Canada is a democratic and fair country."

Now she is not so sure.


TUESDAY, Aug. 16, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Kicking the smoking habit doesn't only boost your health, it may also help you build a wider circle of friendships, a new study says.

And, over several years, quitters were more likely to start new friendships with nonsmokers, the research found.

"I wouldn't say it's a surprise, but it's a welcome finding. It's good to have it documented by a study that quitting smoking will broaden your social circles," said Dr. Norman Edelman, senior medical consultant at the American Lung Association. He was not involved with the research, but reviewed its findings.

The study also confirmed what has been seen in previous research: People trying to quit who spend less time around smokers have the highest success rates over time.

The number of smokers in the United States has been declining for decades and is now at an all-time low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But about 17 percent of the American population still smokes, the CDC says.

That number is still too high, said one of the study's authors, Megan Piper. She's an associate director of research at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research.

Piper said that people who want to quit smoking may fear that they will lose friends who continue to smoke.

"Smokers are afraid of losing their friends" to the nonsmoking world, Piper said, adding that until now, no one has really studied what happens to relationships when people quit smoking.

What is known, she said, is that people who quit tend to break off relationships with people who continue to smoke. The reasons they do this still need to be studied further, Piper said.

The initial study group included slightly more than 1,500 people participating in a smoking cessation program. They were from Milwaukee or Madison, Wis. All smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day.

They were randomly selected to receive medication, nicotine replacement products or a placebo. All were also given counseling to help them quit.

Nearly 700 smokers completed all of the study assessments. These occurred at the start of the study and then at one, two and three years after their target quit date. The average age of the study participants was 46 years, and about 60 percent were female.

During the three-year study period, nearly three-quarters of the study volunteers reported adding at least two new friends to their social circle.

People who quit found that they become more socially acceptable to a much wider group of people -- nonsmokers, Piper said.

It doesn't happen immediately, though. "There is a vacuum for a while when people quit, and they tend to fill it" with other people and organizations, she explained.

Smokers who quit have more opportunities to spend time at smoke-free places, such as restaurants, bars, clubs and stores.

"In many social circles, it is totally unacceptable to smoke," Piper said. "We think it would be helpful for smokers who want to quit to think of this."

Results from the study were published recently in Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

More information

For more info and help on quitting smoking, head to smokefree.gov.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adherium Limited (ASX:ADR), a global leader in digital health technologies that address sub-optimal medication use in chronic disease, today announced that Adherium will provide Smartinhalers for an AstraZeneca Australia commercial pilot program in 2016. The program will use Adheriums devices, mobile app and cloud platform and aims to show how these devices improve medication adherence in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).



This program is an important milestone; adherence rates in patients with asthma or COPD are low, and clinical trials have demonstrated that our platform can make a significant difference for patients and health care professionals. Adherium is supplying the technology for this program under a long-term Master Supply and Development Agreement already entered into with AstraZeneca, said Garth Sutherland, Adheriums Group CEO.

ABOUT ADHERIUM

Adherium (ASX:ADR) is an Australian Securities Exchange listed company which develops, manufactures and supplies digital health technologies which address sub-optimal medication use and improve health outcomes in chronic disease. Adherium operates globally from bases in the USA, Europe and Australasia.

Adherium is a provider of digital health solutions to patients, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and contract research organizations. The Companys proprietary Smartinhaler platform has been independently proven to improve medication adherence and health outcomes for patients with chronic respiratory disease. Adherium has the broadest range of "smart" medication sensors for respiratory medications globally.

The Smartinhaler platform has so far been used in more than 65 projects (clinical, device validation or other) and has been referenced in 56 peer reviewed journal articles. Clinical outcomes data has proven that the Smartinhaler platform can improve adherence by up to 59% in adults and 180% in children and reduce severe episodes by 60% in adults, leading to improved quality-of-life and demonstrating a substantial gain over current best practice treatment. The Company has received FDA 510(k) notifications for clearance to market and CE Marks for its devices and software, which allows it to sell these devices into international markets.

www.adherium.com www.smartinhaler.com

Enquiries:

At Adherium: Corporate

Julia Chambers

Head of Corporate Development

M: +64 27 807 8153

E: juliac@adherium.com North America

James Hattersley

SVP Business Development North America

M: +1 610 955 5886

E: jamesh@adherium.com Media enquiries: Australia and New Zealand

Rudi Michelson

Monsoon Communications

D: +61 3 9620 3333

E: rudim@monsoon.com.au North America

Erich Sandoval

Lazar Partners

D: +1 213-908-6226

E: esandoval@lazarpartners.com




PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Independence Blue Cross Foundation (Foundation) today announced the Supporting Treatment and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Initiative, an effort to convene community health providers and resources to increase access to effective prevention and treatment for those struggling with opioid abuse.

STOP kicked off today with a Forum, hosted jointly by the Foundation and the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), attended by more than 80 of the Foundation's Blue Safety Net-supported community health centers and community based organizations in the region. The Forum is focused on achieving a better understanding of effective and emerging community-based strategies for opioid prevention and treatment, and sharing best practices among health centers, community and addiction treatment organizations. PHMC is one of six organizations in Pennsylvania to receive a Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse Expansion award to provide support for the improvement and expansion of substance abuse services with a focus on medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders.

STOP responds to an alarming increase in prescription drug abuse initiation, opioid use and related deaths. Since 2009, Philadelphia has seen a 43 percent increase in drug-related overdose deaths, according to a 2016 DEA report.

"The collaboration of community health centers and community based organizations is essential to solving this public health issue in our region," said Foundation president Lorina Marshall-Blake. "We have some incredible partners who are working towards our shared goals of increasing awareness of prescription drug take-back programs, implementing prescription drug monitoring programs, and providing support around this deep-seated issue that affects virtually every person in our region to some degree."

PHMC's expertise in the area of prevention, intervention and treatment of substance abuse is recognized locally, regionally and nationally. "The partnership is critical to tackling this growing issue in our city," said Dr. Richard J. Cohen, PHMC president and CEO. "We're proud to work collaboratively with the Independence Blue Cross Foundation to come up with solutions that will improve the overall public health Philadelphia."

The Foundation's STOP Initiative also includes support around educating youth and community members about prescription drug and opioid use.

"These efforts are a starting point for the Foundation to begin to address what we know is one of our nation's most pressing public health issues," continued Marshall-Blake. "We will continue to look for other ways to partner with community organizations to help reduce prescription drug and opioid use initiation and dependence."

The Foundation has a long-standing commitment to investing in community health centers. In 2015, it awarded grants to 44 non-profit, private community health centers that provide health services in medically underserved areas in southeastern Pennsylvania.

About the Independence Blue Cross Foundation:

The Independence Blue Cross Foundation is a charitable, private foundation, whose mission is leading solutions for a healthier community. The Foundation targets the following areas of impact:

Securing the Blue Safety Net : Supporting private, nonprofit community health center clinics that provide access to quality, affordable health care in medically underserved areas.

: Supporting private, nonprofit community health center clinics that provide access to quality, affordable health care in medically underserved areas. Bolstering the Health Care Workforce : Strengthening the nursing, primary care, and allied health workforce through education, career development, and research.

: Strengthening the nursing, primary care, and allied health workforce through education, career development, and research. Addressing Health Priorities : Collaborating with wellness partners to tackle the region's most pressing health challenges; currently combating the obesity epidemic through the IBC Foundation Healthy Futures Initiative.

: Collaborating with wellness partners to tackle the region's most pressing health challenges; currently combating the obesity epidemic through the IBC Foundation Healthy Futures Initiative. Building Healthier communities: Partnering with community leaders and programs to address community health and wellness needs.

Learn more by visiting our website: www.ibxfoundation.org. Connect with the Independence Blue Cross Foundation on Twitter at @ibxfdn.

About PHMC:

Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities. PHMC uses best practices and evidence-based guidelines to improve community health through direct service, partnership, innovation, policy, research, technical assistance and a prepared workforce. PHMC has served the region since 1972
MARLTON, N.J., Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After its initial launch in select New Jersey and Los Angeles real estate markets, Less Percent Real Estate, LLC (Less Percent) is introducing its innovative Internet based real estate technology platform, www.LessPercent.com, in the South Florida market. The company also intends to expand its services into Central Florida within the next few weeks. Less Percent was built with the belief that when a homeowner makes the decision to sell their home, they should be able to get the best services from a local qualified real estate agent, at a lower commission.



There are on average 5 million homes sold each year. Over 90% of those home sellers pay a commission to a professional real estate agent. Less Percent saves home sellers thousands of dollars in commissions by providing homeowners the ability to compare multiple offers from top local real estate agents that competitively bid to sell their home. Less Percent removes the hassle and awkwardness of having to negotiate with agents for a lower commission rate, while the home seller remains completely anonymous until they select an agent that best fits their needs.

With just a few clicks on the Less Percent website, homeowners wanting to sell their home can quickly and easily offer their property listing to top local licensed real estate agents, at no cost to the homeowner. The agents, who are qualified by Less Percent, bid for those listings by adjusting their commissions and services through a closed bid format, which includes details of the services they will provide to the homeowner. This information appears on the homeowners account dashboard, providing them easy access to review and compare bids for total savings, services and real estate agent background information.

Most home sellers dont realize you can negotiate the sales commission with your real estate agent, said Michael Huegel, the CEO of Less Percent. This is a stress free, no hassle way for a homeowner to list and sell their home through a professional real estate agent and save thousands with lower commissions.

For the real estate agent, its all about getting quality listings. After creating an online account and being qualified by Less Percent, an agent can easily view properties available for bid in their local area. If the agent is interested in a particular listing, they can place a bid that shows the homeowner the services to be provided by the agent and commission rate they are willing to accept (total commission including split with any buyer agent, if utilized).

An agent typically has a marketing budget to attract new listings. The Less Percent platform fits right into their budget and comes with a no-risk guarantee, if the agent does not win the bid there is absolutely no cost to the agent. Additionally, if after winning a home listing the agent fails to enter into a listing agreement with the homeowner for any reason, the agent has fifteen days to request a refund and they will be credited back the winning bid fee. Pricing for a winning bid starts at just $299 for a home valued less than $300K and increases by $100 for each $100K increase in home value.

For additional information about the Less Percent technology you can visit the Less Percents homeowner FAQ section at https://www.LessPercent.com/faq/ and real estate agent FAQ section at https://www.LessPercent.com/agent-faq/.

ABOUT LESS PERCENT REAL ESTATE, LLC.

Less Percent Real Estate, LLC, is the developer of an Internet based bidding platform www.LessPercent.com, that targets homeowners and business-to-consumer service providers in the residential real estate industry. Less Percent enables homeowners wanting to sell their home to save thousands of dollars in commissions by providing homeowners the ability to compare multiple offers from top local real estate agents that want to win their listing. At no charge to the homeowner, Less Percent removes the hassle and awkwardness of having to negotiate with agents, while the homeowner remains completely anonymous until they select the agent that best fits their needs.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including all business uncertainties relating to product development, marketing, market acceptance, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The Company is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Lithuanian English

Elektrenai, Lithuania, 2016-08-16 15:03 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba, AB (legal entity code 302648707, registered at Elektrines g. 21, Elektrenai, hereinafter  the Company) announces its preliminary unaudited financial indicators for the period of JanuaryJune 2016:

According to preliminary unaudited data, in JanuaryJune 2016 the Companys sales revenue was EUR 69.15 million, which is 29.5% smaller than in JanuaryJune 2015 (EUR 98.03 million).

was EUR 69.15 million, which is 29.5% smaller than in JanuaryJune 2015 (EUR 98.03 million). Preliminary unaudited profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ( EBITDA ) of the Company for JanuaryJune 2016 was EUR 21.66 million (the one-off effect of sale of a part of business activities is not evaluated), which is 23.5% less than for the period of JanuaryJune 2015 (EUR 28.33 million).

) of the Company for JanuaryJune 2016 was EUR 21.66 million (the one-off effect of sale of a part of business activities is not evaluated), which is 23.5% less than for the period of JanuaryJune 2015 (EUR 28.33 million). Preliminary unaudited net profit of the Company earned in JanuaryJune 2016 was EUR 17.79 million, while net profit in JanuaryJune 2015 was EUR 19.26 million.

The total amount of electricity generated in the power plants owned by the Company that was sold during JanuaryJune 2016 was 0.637 TWh. Compared to the same period in 2015, the total amount of electricity produced in all power plants of the Company decreased by 30.7% (from 0.919 TWh).

This was largely due to discontinued quotas for subsidised electricity production since 2016, therefore in JanuaryJune 2016 the electricity production facilities of the Elektrenai Complex were switched on during energy consumption peak hours, i.e. when the price of electricity was the highest and it was possible to make a competitive in the neighbouring countries electricity production proposal. In almost all cases, this meant switching the combined-cycle unit on in the morning and switching it off in the evening. As a result, during JanuaryJune 2016 the unit was switched on as many as 30 times (twice more than during the whole year 2015), but the amount of produced electricity was 2.7 times less than in JanuaryJune 2015 (0.163 TWh and 0.445 TWh, respectively). In 2015, the combined-cycle unit operated almost uninterruptedly from the middle of April until October.

The sale of electricity produced at the Kruonis Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Plant (Kruonis PSHP) was also slightly lower. The result for JanuaryJune 2016 was 0.271 TWh (JanuaryJune 2015  0.300 TWh). During the reporting period, this Power Plant provided first aid to the energy system many times and produced 41 GWh of electricity while providing the emergency capacity reserve service. During JanuaryJune 2016, the emergency reserve of the Kruonis PSHP was activated 40 times (throughout 2015  only 20 times). A large part of the capacity reserve activation cases was related to disconnections of the NordBalt power interconnection between Lithuania and Sweden.

During JanuaryJune 2016, the Kaunas Algirdas Brazauskas Hydroelectric Power Plant (Kaunas HPP) produced 0.203 TWh of electricity, which is 16% more than during the same period in 2015 (0.175 TWh). This Power Plant produced more electricity due to a higher amount of water in the river Nemunas.

However, the profitable operation of the power plants did not offset the negative impact of the decisions of the National Commission for Energy Control and Prices (hereinafter  NCC) on the Companys performance results. The most significant effect was due to the transfer of a part of the profit of the commercial activities of the Kruonis PSHP and the Kaunas HPP (according to preliminary calculations, in JanuaryJune 2016 it amounted to EUR 9.2 million) to cover the Companys fixed costs, incurred in the course of carrying out regulated activities in the provision of public interest services. According to preliminary calculations, if the impact of this and the other decision of the NCC regarding the audit of the Companys activities in 20102012 were removed, the Companys EBITDA would be EUR 11.1 million higher in JanuaryJune 2016 (in JanuaryJune 2015, the impact of the above factors amounted to EUR 6.9 million). The Company further seeks the annulment of the above decisions of the NCC in court.

The Companys net result for JanuaryJune 2016 was due to several key factors. A positive factor was the sale of a part of electricity wholesale business activities, for which, if all the terms and conditions laid down in the contract are fulfilled, the Company may receive EUR 21.1 million by 2019. In addition, as a result of a significant decrease in the market price of greenhouse gas emission allowances during JanuaryJune 2016, the Company recognised the loss amounting EUR 7.9 million incurred due to the change in the value of emission allowances and the right to receive emission allowances as accounted for.

The Companys interim consolidated financial statements and interim report for JanuaryJune 2016 will be published on 31 August 2016.
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
Dear Hillary,



A serious situation has arisen in Albania which needs urgent attention at senior levels of the US government. You may know that an opposition demonstration in Tirana on Friday resulted in the deaths of three people and the destruction of property. There are serious concerns about further unrest connected to a counter-demonstration to be organized by the governing party on Wednesday and a follow-up event by the opposition two days later to memorialize the victims. The prospect of tens of thousands of people entering the streets in an already inflamed political environment bodes ill for the return of public order and the countrys fragile democratic process.



I believe two things need to be done urgently:



1. Bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements.



2. Appoint a senior European official as a mediator.



While I am concerned about the rhetoric being used by both sides, I am particularly worried about the actions of the Prime Minister. There is videotape of National Guard members firing on demonstrators from the roof of the Prime Ministry. The Prosecutor (appointed by the Democratic Party) has issued arrest warrants for the individuals in question. The Prime Minister had previously accused the opposition of intentionally murdering these activists as a provocation. After the tape came out deputies from his party accused the Prosecutor of planning a coup detat in collaboration with the opposition, a charge Mr. Berisha repeated today. No arrests have been made as of this writing.



The demonstration resulted from opposition protests over the conduct of parliamentary elections in 2009. The political environment has deteriorated ever since and is now approaching levels of 1997, when similar issues caused the country to slide into anarchy and violence. There are signs that Edi Ramas control of his own people is slipping, which may lead to further violence.



The US and the EU must work in complete harmony over this, but given Albanias European aspirations the EU must take the lead. That is why I suggest appointing a mediator such as Carl Bildt, Martti Ahtisaari or Miroslav Lajcak, all of whom have strong connections to the Balkans.



My foundation in Tirana is monitoring the situation closely and can provide independent analysis of the crisis.



Thank you,



George Soros





Indeed just days after the message was sent, Mr. Lajcak, named by Mr. Soros in the e-mail, was sent to the Albanian capital in order to attempt to negotiate the situation. At the time Mr Lajcak





mo





Clinton E-mails Show George Soros Gave Sec of State Foreign Policy Marching Orders









 Indeed just days after the message was sent, Mr. Lajcak, named by Mr. Soros in the e-mail, was sent to the Albanian capital in order to attempt to negotiate the situation. At the time Mr Lajcak said it was up to Albanias leaders to do what we ask them to do.mo

stuff you won't heard about in the lamestream media natch.Soros  who for years has been suspected of pulling the strings behind Clinton as well as dozens of foreign policy and open borders groups  appears to have sent a message through his special advisor Jonas Rolett.Rolett, who is listed as Special Advisor to the Chair on Soross Open Society Foundations website, sent a message to then-State Department official Richard Verma.Mr. Verma duly passed the message along to an e-mail chain including Hillarys top foreign affairs advisor Jacob Sullivan, her Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon, as well as a recipient William J  believed to be William Joseph Burns who was then Deputy Secretary of State.The e-mails, dated January 24 2011 , begin with Verma forwarding a message from Rolett with the note: Below message is from George Soros for the Secretary. Understand his organization was sending through other channels as well.Roletts message continues beneath, stating: Rich, Heres the text of the message. Im available to talk at any time. Thanks, Jonas.Then follows what can only be construed as instructions for the Secretary of State from Democratic Party donor Soros, who has so far given her over $7 million this election cycle:
THE WALL OF SHAME

"The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster."

--STEPHEN COLBERT

"[Ivanka Trump] Your father is a racist birther. Steve Bannon an anti-Semitic opportunist. You and your husband are enabling hatred. F--- your shoes."

--BRADLEY WHITFORD

"Melania [Trump] is a hooker."

--JACOB BERNSTEIN

"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."

"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."

--SALLY BOYNTON BROWN

"And to our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything: F--- you! F---you!

"Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."

--MADONNA

"Barron Trump looks like a very handsome date-rapist-to-be."

--STEPHEN SPINOLA

"Barron [Trump] will be this country's first homeschool shooter."

--KATIE RICH

"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."

--MERYL STREEP

"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality."

[That means we're almost positively living in a simulation, like a video game.]

--ELON MUSK

"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"

----------------------------

"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."

--CHARLIE SYKES

"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS

"I'm here to tell you if you elect me governor of this state, I will end the civil war."

--TOM BARRETT

"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."

--RUTH BADER GINSBURG

"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"

--ROBERT DE NIRO

"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."

--JULIAN BOND

"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."

--GWEN MOORE

"[Tea Party Republicans] have acted like terrorists."

--JOE BIDEN

"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[T]he tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."

--WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL

"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."

--DAVID BROOKS

"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."

--FRED CLARK, DEMOCRAT

"The picture was of me, and I sent it."

--ANTHONY WEINER

"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."

--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now theyre here to kill women."

--LOUISE SLAUGHTER

"The protesters have proven today that theyre not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just cant fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."

--JOHN NICHOLS

"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"In 1933, [Hitler] abolished unions and that's what our Governor [Scott Walker] is doing today."

--LENA TAYLOR, Democrat State Senator

"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness."

--JOHN LEWIS

"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."

--SLY SYLVESTER

"Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?"

--JOY BEHAR

"We cant just leave it up to the parents."

"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isnt just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"Actually, I did not take part in [the assassination of Sarah Palin]. I led it."

--KATHLEEN PARKER

"[The repeal of ObamaCare is] a kind of creeping genocide."

--JESSE JACKSON

"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."

--DAN RATHER

"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.

"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."

--KEITH "Reagan's dead and he was a lousy President" OLBERMANN

"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."

--CHRIS MATTHEWS

"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil... I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."

--JOY BEHAR

"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."

--HARRY REID

"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."

--RICHARD DREYFUSS

"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."

--BOB WOODWARD

"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."

--AARON SORKIN

"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."

--HARRY BELAFONTE

"[Christine O'Donnell is] a witch who doesn't masturbate."

--JOY BEHAR

"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns. You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."

--BILL MAHER

"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."

--BILL GATES

"NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'"

--IESHUH GRIFFIN

"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."

--SARAH SPITZ

"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."

--KING SAMIR SHABAZZ

"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."

--PEGGY WEST

"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."

--HELEN THOMAS

"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."

--PAUL McCARTNEY

"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."

--KATIE COURIC

"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."

----------------------------

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolaryou name it, any condition  is job-locking."

--NANCY PELOSI

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

--TOM HANKS

"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."

--LOUIS FARRAKHAN

"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."

--JOE BIDEN

"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."

--ROLAND MARTIN

"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."

--CHUCK SCHUMER

"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."

--ED SCHULTZ

"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."

--JOHN KERRY

"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."

--BILL CLINTON

"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."

--TOM SHALES

"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"

--MAUREEN DOWD

"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

--DAVID LETTERMAN

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasnt lived that life."

--SONIA SOTOMAYOR

"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."

--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002

"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."

"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."

----------------------------

"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."

--WANDA SYKES

"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

--COLIN POWELL

"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."

--PAUL BEGALA

"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."

--BARNEY FRANK

"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."

--JIM DOYLE, Liar

"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."

--JOY BEHAR

"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."

--JON STEWART

"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"

--WHOOPI GOLDBERG

"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."

--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."

--TED TURNER

"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"

--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."

--FELIPE CALDERON

"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."

--AL GORE

"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."

--ROSIE O'DONNELL

"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"

--CHRIS ROCK

"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"

--BARBRA STREISAND

"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"

--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand

"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."

--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer

"I said what I said. I am not guilty."

--SADDAM HUSSEIN

"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."

--MICHAEL SCHIAVO

"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "

--BILL MOYERS

"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."

--HOWARD DEAN

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

--MICHAEL MOORE

"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."

--JOHN KERRY

"F---ing retarded."

"[Republicans] can go f--- themselves!"

--RAHM EMANUEL

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

--HILLARY CLINTON

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

--BILL CLINTON

"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."

--MICHELLE OBAMA

"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."

----------------------------

"If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."

----------------------------

"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but theres real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."

----------------------------

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

----------------------------

"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."

----------------------------

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

----------------------------

"We're buying shrimp, guys."

----------------------------

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

----------------------------

"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."

----------------------------

"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if youre providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."

----------------------------

"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

----------------------------

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

----------------------------

"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."

----------------------------

"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."

----------------------------

"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."

----------------------------

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death."

----------------------------

"[T]he Cambridge police acted stupidly."

----------------------------

"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

----------------------------

"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."

----------------------------

"Over the last 15 months, weve traveled to every corner of the United States. Ive now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

--BARACK OBAMA
I had considered running for the State Legislature when Dave Pankonin vacated and returned to business. I did not for two good reasons. Respect and admiration for Paul Lambert and the belief that I did not have much of a chance of winning the seat. I had talked to a number of people who can trace their roots back to the 1800s and was told  Aint No Carpetbagger ever going to represent the people of the second district as long as Im breathing.

Mr. Nolte did not say these words. I do not believe he would. However I am upset that he has blamed the voters for the current circus unfolding in Nebraska District Two. Why not blame the Governor of the time? Blame your selves for not running better campaigns. You were simply out-gunned by a well- managed and well-funded politician that the machine wanted in place. The then Governor delivered him.

We chose to live in Nebraska. Nebraska didnt choose us. We love living here. There is no place else like it in America and if the Carpetbagger who occupies the second district seat is there in 2018; he wont in 2019, if Im still breathing.

Ed Utterback

Plattsmouth
Nebraskans would save $14.6 million a year by replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment, according to an economic study prepared for opponents of a referendum to restore capital punishment in the state.

The study written by Creighton University economist Ernie Goss was released Monday at a news conference in Lincoln.

The results, Goss said, surprised him and have caused him to reconsider his own personal position on the issue, prompting him to lean toward voting to retain the pending law to repeal the death penalty.

A referendum vote on the issue is scheduled for the November general election.

The results of the study by Goss and Associates Economic Solutions will be the focus of a new TV ad campaign to be launched later this month by Retain a Just Nebraska, the organization formed to oppose the referendum to restore the death penalty in the state.

The Legislature abolished the death penalty in 2015, overriding a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts, but implementation of the new law was halted by a successful petition drive to submit the issue to the voters.

Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln, who helped lead the legislative effort to repeal the death penalty, said the new study should demonstrate to voters that its a costly endeavor to continue a government program that is not working.

The death penalty has been used once in Nebraska in the past 19 years and three times in the past 41.

Nebraskans are not getting anything for that cost, Coash said.

Meanwhile, funding is needed for education and to fix corrections problems, he said, as well as to help lower property taxes.

Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln, a member of the Legislatures Appropriations Committee, said senators are looking for cost savings as they approach a challenging new budget cycle.

Goss said costs associated with the death penalty as opposed to a sentence of life without parole are higher at every stage of the judicial and correctional process, including legal defense, pre-trial activities, jury selection, length of trial, incarceration and appeal.

Each additional death penalty arraignment costs the state almost $1.5 million, he said.

Ten men are now on death row.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, the organization supporting the referendum, swiftly rejected the argument of cost savings.

Opponents of the death penalty want Nebraskans to believe that there will be millions of taxpayer dollars saved by eliminating the death penalty, said Bob Evnen of Lincoln. The Legislatures fiscal office says this just isnt true.

He pointed to a fiscal note attached to the costs of the bill that repealed the death penalty.

Supporters of the death penalty released a poll Sunday suggesting a majority of Nebraska voters favor repealing the bill that ended capital punishment in the state.
Today

U.S. Congressman Jeff Fortenberrys office open, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 641 N. Broad St., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

TOPS 58, 6-7 p.m., St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Fremont. Weigh-ins are from 5:30-6 p.m. For more information, contact Nancy Wit at 402-727-6745.

Narcotics Anonymous It Works Group, 6:30 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Education Building, west of the church, 1440 E. Military Ave., Fremont. Enter through the rear door.

Narcotics Anonymous open meeting, 6:30 p.m., Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 540 W. Eighth St., Wahoo.

Al-Anon meeting, 8 p.m., Chapter 5 Club front room, Fremont. This support group is for families and friends of alcoholics.

Narcotics Anonymous open meeting, 8 p.m., United Faith Church, 218 W. Gardiner St., Valley.

Wednesday

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fresh Hope Support Group, 7 p.m., Trinity Lutheran School, 16th Street and Luther Road, Fremont. The support group offers faith-based help for those with mood disorders and for loved ones trying to understand. For more information, call David and Wray Lynn Trost at 402-480-1777.

Narcotics Anonymous Library Group, 7 p.m., Keene Memorial Library East Building, Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Thursday

Alcoholics Anonymous big book study, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Parkinsons support group, 10-11 a.m., Caring Senior Service, 1455 N. Bell St. Fremont.

Storytime, 10-10:30 a.m., Keene Memorial Library auditorium, Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Fremont Kiwanis Club, noon, Fremont Golf Club.

Travelers Protective Association, noon, Bellas Diner. All members and guests are invited.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous It Works Group, 6:30 p.m., Good Shepherd Lutheran Church East Building, west of the church, 1440 E. Military Ave., Fremont. Enter through the rear door.

Bingo, 7 p.m., Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8223, 742 N. Main St., North Bend. Everyone is welcome.

Civil Air Patrol, 7 p.m., 1201 W. 23rd St., in yellow hangar at Fremont Airport.

Storytime, 7-7:30 p.m., Keene Memorial Library auditorium, Fremont.

Tally Ho Toastmasters, 7-8 p.m., Midland Universitys Anderson Building, Ninth and Clarkson streets, Fremont. Everyone is welcome to learn skills in communication, self-confidence and leadership. For more information, call Jan at 402-720-5526.

Alcoholics Anonymous big book study, 8 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Narcotics Anonymous open meeting, 8 p.m., First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 201 N. Davis Ave., Oakland.
Day 4

The CPH OPEN cruise ship headed back to dock with what is being touted as the best day of the week so far. Exclusive access to historic buildings, land speed record kick flips, an incredible park session, gladiatorial death races and a watery gap of doom were all on the line up for the final days schedule.

The first stop of the day was at Copenhagen City Hall, surrounded by ancient statues and mosaic floors, skaters competing in the bump to bench challenge were given plastic axel nut covers to help preserve the 300 year old tiles that got a proper working in the grandeur of this cavernous spot.

1.Luan Oliveira

2.Evan Smith

3.Madars Apse

4.Austyn Gillette

5.Peter Ramondetta

Luan Oliveira, kickflip.

Straight outside and it was a case of another city centre shut down and of blatant flouting of Denmarks strict road speed restrictions for the fastest flip trick comp. Mach 10 skills were given to Madars Apse with a speed of 37 KPH which is allegedly faster than that Usain Bolt between the 40  50 metre mark.

So on to the main event, the finals at the CPH skatepark, newly updated for the event and looking every bit as fun as a world class skate facility should. Skaters that placed top 5 throughout the week were entered into jam format heats and a further top 5 went through to a super final. With such an illustrious line up it was hard to know when and where to look as pros dropped baggers in their lines and bypassed sensibilities in poached runs between heats.

Making the finals and becoming the talk of the comp was Oski, whose near faultless qualifying run of flow and spontaneity was only surpassed by his backside kickflip over the channel. Not being one to be left out of channel floating antics, Evan Smith lofted an insane ally-oop disaster revert over the same gap. The super finals fully belonged to Nyjah Huston though who redefines effortless tech, consistency and perfection every time he steps on a board.

1.Nyjah Huston

2.Luan Oliveira

3.Axel Cruysberghs

4.Louie Lopez

5.Oskar Hallberg

Sometimes in skating you are not allowed to want to win, not so in the death race where friendships are left on the coat rack and its every man for himself to the finish line. One lap round the park through berms and hips and an ending wallie involved a mixture of speed, agility, luck and elbows. Kevin Baekkels steely gaze said he was after a win and snatched it on the second corner from Alex Olson to pop corks later in the night.

The final event was the ever-hectic Best Trick and to complete the nautical theme the good ship CPH Open came to its final resting place in a swimming pool behind the skatepark and conveniently in between 2 jump ramps. This watery leap of doom was too much for some but not for a handful of intrepid salty skate dogs, who, with a seeming disregard for the amount of water on every surface, totally smashed it.

1.Herman Stene (BS 360)

2.Nyjah Huston (360 flip)

3.Phil Zwijsen (KF indy footplant)

4.Chris Pfanner (BS 180)

5.Alexander Risvad (KF frontside grab)
Thanks. I had to write that appreciation faster than I would have liked on Saturday, but I thought it was important that we get a tribute up pronto.

While Michel Richard had a rough last few years, personally and professionally, there's no doubt he was one of the finest chefs this city has ever seen, an inventor with the soul of an artist. His food and culinary tricks were some of the most widely copied. Witness, for instance, his elegant riff on breakfast ("for dinner") and his penchant for using common ingredients in uncommon ways. In Richard's hands, onions became "pasta."

My colleague Bonnie Benwick collected some of Richard's recipes -- chocolate grapes, cheese puffs, chicken nuggets -- that have appeared in the Post over the years. They all prove what fun he had in the kitchen.

Here's the terrific story that ran in the Magazine back in 2006. April Witt did a great job of capturing his sad childhood, sense of humor and culinary genius.

Nice shout-out this week from Food & Wine to JP Fetherston, the ace bar tender at the Columbia Room, who is recognized as one of the country' best new mixologists. By sheer coincidence, his workplace is the subject of this Sunday's review in the Magazine, online now.

Good morning, everyone. Feel free to share your remembrances of the great chef, or ask questions about restaurants and dining in general. Let's begin.
Hi everyone. Lots to cover today, and I'm working on Weekend's big baseball-themed cover story that's running tomorrow, complete with *awesome* Ben Claassen cover art. So:

Here are 13 things to do in the Washington area this weekend.

If that's not enough, here are 6 beer events and parties happening this weekend (starting tonight).

Bad Saint is (officially) the #2 Best New Restaurant in America. Which means the lines are INSANE.

The Passenger is reopening very soon. Here's what you need to know.
I read your column this morning (in ink, on newsprint, at my breakfast table) and thought it was spot-on, but incomplete. The part of the column I was hoping for was the part where you made the case for the importance of the mainstream media -- or why the mainstream media is mainstream and needs to be. As I watch the case for Trump -- and against Clinton -- being made by the candidates and by their unofficial surrogates via social media, I am seeing some of the most craven, bald-faced lies being propagated. This is what happens when the "mainstream media" and anyone with a website are given equal footing. Confront a supporter or propagator of these myths, and you get "I'm entitled to my opinion," or "Snopes.com [a well-known Internet fact-checker] has a liberal bias," or "I don't have time to do your research for you." But it's not just Internet memes -- now you have Mayor 9/11 saying that no radical Islam terrorism took place in the U.S. until President Obama took office, an "official spokesperson" for a campaign claiming that President Obama invaded Afghanistan, and the candidate itself making similarly bizarre claims. The "mainstream media" is our only chance on having these falsehoods checked, for without it, we are left to the mercy of whatever "narratives" capture the imagination of the electorate. Daniel P. Moynihan must be turning over in his grave as he watches his famous aphorism go up in flames: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."
Pro-IS Media Group Calls on Muslims in U.S. and Europe to Rise Up, Carry Out Lone Wolf Attacks
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CSB Sends Team to Texas Flash Fire Site

"The CSB has investigated too many incidents involving hot work  my thoughts go out to the workers and their families affected by this tragedy," said Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has sent an investigative team to the scene of an incident that injured seven workers  including three critically  on Aug. 12 at Sunoco Logistics Partners' terminal facility located in Nederland, Texas. CSB said initial inquiries revealed there was a flash fire during welding at the facility.

"Hot work is defined as burning, welding, or similar spark-producing operations that can ignite fires or explosions. Media reports state that all of the injured were contractors engaged in work activities on a crude oil pipeline connection," according to the agency's news release.

"The CSB has investigated too many incidents involving hot work  my thoughts go out to the workers and their families affected by this tragedy," said Chairperson Vanessa Allen Sutherland. "In an effort to warn of the dangers of hot work, the CSB has issued a wide range of material regarding the dangers of hot work including safety videos, a safety bulletin, and accident investigations."

The team is headed by Investigator-in-Charge Mark Wingard; Sutherland herself is taking part.
ISRAEL - LIGHT TO THE NATIONS

It's not exactly what you think.




News

Windows 7 and 8.1 To Follow Windows 10's Model of Monthly Updates

Starting this fall, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs will switch to a monthly update model that's similar to what Microsoft has implemented with Windows 10.

Microsoft's Monday announcement of the change indicated that this "monthly rollup" model will take effect in October, and will also apply to Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

An "update rollup" is just a collection of patches that Microsoft packages as a convenience for organizations, and they've typically been optional to apply. Traditionally, organizations also have had the option to install patches individually, but it seems that this individual patch model will be going away for Microsoft's client and server OSes.

Instead, starting in October, organizations using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will get an update model that's much like Windows 10, which already follows the monthly rollup model. With this approach, an October rollup (for instance) will contain all of the fixes for that particular month. However, Microsoft also plans to grow these monthly rollups over time, making them more like cumulative updates. Here's how Microsoft's announcement explained it:

Over time, Windows will also proactively add patches to the Monthly Rollup that have been released in the past. Our goal is eventually to include all of the patches we have shipped in the past since the last baseline, so that the Monthly Rollup becomes fully cumulative and you need only to install the latest single rollup to be up to date.

Microsoft didn't explain the "baseline" term, described above. In Microsoft's old update model, a new baseline was set by a new OS release or a new service pack release. In this case, each monthly update perhaps sets a new baseline.

Microsoft's announcement offered a rationale for the update model change, contending that the old individual patch approach has just led to problems. It resulted in fragmentation problems, "where different PCs could have a different set of updates installed." Consequently, organizations faced "testing complexity." They had problems finding patches. Sometimes, they'd experience "sync and dependency errors." The new model will improve matters by "eliminating update fragmentation," Microsoft's announcement proposed.

Of course, IT pros typically roll back individual Microsoft patches because of problems experienced in their computing environments. It's not clear if they will still have such individual patch control when Microsoft's initiates its new monthly rollup approach.

The Two Update Types

There will be two types of monthly releases for Windows clients and servers, starting in October. There will be a "monthly rollup" and a "security-only update."

The monthly rollup will address "both security issues and reliability issues in a single update." It will get published via Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, System Center Configuration Manager and the Microsoft Update Catalog.

The security-only update will contain only the "new security patches that are released for that month." It'll be available via Windows Server Update Services, System Center Configuration Manager and the Microsoft Update Catalog. The security-only update is not going to be available through Windows Update. Moreover, organizations won't be able to get security patches individually as "individual patches will no longer be available," Microsoft's announcement indicated.

Organizations looking for individual OS security updates via the Microsoft Download Center likely won't find them there either. Microsoft stopped publishing them there and started housing them instead in the Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft noted that policy change back in May when it announced the so-called "convenience rollup," a one-shot cumulative update scheme that sounds similar to the model that Microsoft is planning for October.

Microsoft also is planning to improve the Microsoft Update Catalog by removing its current requirements to use ActiveX and the Internet Explorer browser to access content. The site soon will "work with any browser," Microsoft's announcement indicated.

.NET Framework Updates

Microsoft's new monthly update approach also will be extended to Microsoft's .NET Framework, which is a bundle of code-execution support technologies. A new ".NET Framework monthly rollup," presumably also starting up in October, will include "security and quality updates." Microsoft didn't describe the delivery mechanism, though.

There also will be a .NET Framework "security-only update." It will be available monthly through the Windows Server Update Services and Microsoft Update Catalog.

The .NET Framework updates won't automatically update the version of the framework that's installed, Microsoft indicated. It just patches the version that's already installed.
Implementing Plastic Card Innovation to Reward Customers

Fashion and jewelry wholesaler thanks customers with the help of a loyalty card

Fashion-Forward from the Very Beginning

For more than three decades, SW Trading Accessory Plaza in Houston, Texas has operated as a wholesaler of fashion handbags and scarves, luxury jewelry, luggage, and the latest in trendy couture accessories.

Since owner Mark Song established the brick-and-mortar company in a 1,000 square foot location in 1982, the family-owned and operated business has grown to five separate stores with a combined total of 55,000 square feet. Additionally, the company has an e-commerce website showcasing their entire inventory of quality merchandise.

Although SW Trading Accessory Plaza sells their merchandise to retail customers, they have a dedicated customer base of more than 15,000 small business wholesale clients.

Create a More Distinctive Loyalty Card for Wholesale Clients

When the company first implemented a loyalty program for the wholesale side of the business nearly 10 years ago, they printed SW Trading Accessory Plaza information on standard business cards with a regular inkjet printer. The business cards were then laminated to increase their longevity and use.

As their customer base steadily grew, however, Song realized it was time for a more durable and professional-looking card. He wanted a high-quality printed card that featured the company's branding more prominently for this important client reward and retention initiative.

Another integral requirement for Song included the use of a plastic card that featured his brand's colors and brandmark elements already pre-printed on the card stock. In addition, Song wanted a high-performance ID card printer that enabled him to both encode and print barcode information on the back of the cards. It would prevent having to overhaul his entire point-of-sale (POS) system already in place. This would provide more control and accuracy when managing the customer data he intended to store in the barcodes: the wholesale customer's name and corresponding account holder identification number.

Unfortunately, the identification vendors he sought only offered pre-printed cards with sequentially-numbered barcodes already encoded on them.

Song continued his online research for alternative vendors that could accommodate his unique business needs. The prospects he was able to find fulfilled most of his requirements, but not all of them, specifically the ability to print his own barcode information on the pre-printed cards.

When he found IDWholesaler.com as a result of one of his searches, he decided to learn more about the photo identification company. Along with a wide variety of photo ID printers, equipment, and supplies, they also produced pre-printed cards to spec. He decided to call and discuss whether they could fulfill his card program requirements.

A Superior, Multi-Purpose Printer & Customizable Pre-printed Cards

Ryan Gade, Senior Account Manager at ID Wholesaler, answered Song's call. "I spent some time with Mark, asking the right questions to get a comprehensive understanding of what his card program's needs were and how we could help him achieve his end goals," Gade commented. "Mark had not dealt with ID card printers in the past and had questions about the types of printers that were available. We discussed which printer would be an optimal solution for his needs as well as the process for encoding and printing the barcodes on the pre-printed card stock," Gade said.

"Ryan walked me through everything, detailing the various features of the different printer models ID Wholesaler carries," Song explained. "I finally ended up purchasing the high-definition Fargo HDP5000 single-sided ID card printer, based on Ryan's recommendation. I was really impressed with this printer's ability to produce exceptionally crisp, sharp barcodes on cards that could easily be scanned and tracked by our POS system," Song stated.

Next, Song asked about his options for plastic cards. He wanted a unique and flexible card option that reflected the distinctive merchandise and accessories he marketed in his online and offline stores. "I felt our 2-Up Key Tag cards would be perfect for Mark's wholesale clientele," Gade said. "They're perforated and create two separate cards, each with a pre-punched key ring. It allows customers to carry the cards in a pocketbook or wallet with the other affixed to a keychain or lanyard, so they're an economical choice," Gade clarified.

A Fully Integrated Loyalty Program Coupled with Superior Quality Cards

Transitioning from a paper, manually laminated business card to a professional-grade, durable, and fully branded loyalty card has been a categorical success for SW Trading Accessory Plaza. Song noted that one of the things he liked best about his experience with ID Wholesaler was how simple and fast it was to streamline his new loyalty card program and get in motion with his new printer and cards. "Our new HDP5000 printer was very easy to set up. And working with Ryan was great! He was constantly in touch with me, helping coordinate the entire process of getting the pre-printed cards produced exactly how I wanted them," Song said.

"My customers have commented a number of times how much they like the new cards. They look better, they last longer, and they're easy for them to track their loyalty points." Song summed his experience up by saying, "ID Wholesaler delivered on everything that SW Trading Accessory Plaza was promised and on time!"
The United States on Monday denounced what it called a "miscarriage of justice" in Venezuela, where a court last week upheld the 14-year prison sentence for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Washington and Caracas, which have had frosty relations in recent years and have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, regularly trade such barbs, particularly surrounding the South American nation's ongoing political crisis. Lopez, one of leftist President Nicolas Maduro's most hardline opponents, has repeatedly declared himself innocent of the crime for which he was convicted -- inciting violence at anti-government protests in 2014. "The United States is deeply concerned by the Venezuelan Court of Appeals decision to allow the miscarriage of justice to continue against political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. The 45-year-old US-educated economist was arrested in February 2014 amid a wave of pro- and anti-government protests that swept Venezuela and left 43 people dead. Trudeau said that since his arrest and subsequent sentencing in September 2015, the United States has "underscored our concern with the unsubstantiated and politically motivated charge brought against Mr Lopez." Lopez's sentence, handed down after a closed-door trial, was strongly condemned by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. The 14-year sentence was upheld in the court of appeals on Friday. "The United States calls on the government of Venezuela to guarantee the rights of Mr Lopez and all political prisoners to due process, freedom from arbitrary arrest and a fair, public and impartial trial," Trudeau said. Once-booming Venezuela, home to the world's largest oil reserves, is gripped by recession that have contributed to severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods that have triggered violence and looting. The opposition is racing to force a referendum to recall Maduro from office, blaming him for the crisis and mishandling the state-led economy. "Rather than silencing peaceful democratic dissent, now is the time for Venezuela's leaders to listen to diverse voices and work together to find solutions to the political, social and economic challenges facing the Venezuelan people," Trudeau said.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
Accessibility

Vermont Schools Have More Computers Than Kids

The number of laptops, tablets and other electronic devices now outnumber the number of K12 students in Vermont, according to a new Agency of Education (AOE) technology survey.

Vermont schools own about 85,000 devices for student use, up from about 45,000 in the same survey just two years ago, according to the Burlington Free Press. The state has about 77,000 students in kindergarten through high school, according to an online enrollment report for the most recent school year.

Were just pretty wired, is all I can say, Ellen Thompson, director of instruction and information services at Essex Town School District, told the Free Press. In her district, technology use starts in kindergarten and each student in grades 6 through 8 receives a dedicated computer.

The Agency of Education is aiming for 1-to-1 computing at all grade levels across the state.

The survey found that Chromebooks make up 47 percent of all computer devices in Vermonts K12 schools, up from 28 percent in 2015. Googles Chromebooks are replacing traditional desktop computers throughout the state (and the country). Only 16 percent of Vermonts school devices are desktop computers, according to the technology survey.

Of the 305 schools in the survey, 237 of them said they access the Internet through fiber-optic connections. A majority have high-speed access of at least 100 Mb, the survey said.

Peter Drescher, the AOEs education technology coordinator, said the agencys first priority is ensuring all schools have adequate technology, and the next is encouraging use in the classroom, according to the Free Press.
ROK NAVY aegis Sejong the Great

South Korea's Yonhap news agency recently reported that the country may seek to buy Raytheon SM-3 ballistic defense missiles from the US as tensions rise with North Korea and in the broader Pacific region.

The missiles, if acquired, would replace the SM-2 missiles currently fielded by South Korea's Aegis destroyers and improve their range from about 100 miles to more than 300 miles, significantly extending their layers of missile defense.

The move to acquire better missile defenses comes after North Korea launched two "No Dong" intermediate-range ballistic missiles, one of which landed near the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, as it is also known.

SM-3 Missile

The South Korean Navy plans to build three more Sejong the Great-class guided missile destroyers that use the same radar and launch system as the US Navys Arleigh Burke-class BMD guided missile destroyers, the US Naval Institute reports. As the current ships cannot accommodate the SM-3 missiles, the newer ships may be modified for their use.

The SM-3 missiles would leverage the South Korean Navy's powerful radar to accurately and reliably destroy incoming ballistic missiles while they're still in space, and safely distant from targets on the surface.

The Naval Institute also notes that the news of South Korea's SM-3 deliberation was met with immediate and harsh rebuke from a Chinese state-run news agency: It is unmistakably a strategic misjudgment for Seoul to violate the core interests of its two strong neighbors, at the cost of its own security, and only in the interests of American hegemony.

The State Department would not confirm the possible foreign military sale, but a single SM-3 missile costs at least $9 million, according to the US Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request.

Story continues

Watch the SM-3 missile intercept tests in the video below:

NOW WATCH: Heres how North Koreas weird internet works





More From Business Insider


* Vitol wins $1 bln pre-finance deal for KMG share

* Export deal strengthens Vitol's position in Kazakhstan

* Kashagan output seen rising to 7 mln tonnes in 2018 (Recasts, adds context)

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The world's largest oil trader Vitol has won the right to export Kazakhstan's share of output from the giant Kashagan field, further strengthening its position in the central Asian nation as it prepares for an oil production jump.

Vitol has been the dominant force of Kazakhstan's oil exports for over a decade, taking barrels mainly to Russian ports and shipping them to European refineries.

The country is now preparing to start commercial output at Kashagan - one of the world's biggest discoveries of the past decades - in October following years of delays caused by the project's technical complexity.

Kashagan's output will be modest at the start at between 50,000 and 1 million tonnes this year, 3 million to 5 million tonnes next year but rising to 7 million tonnes in 2018, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said in May.

The first phase is designed to produce as much as 20 million tonnes at its peak, possibly rising to as much as 50 million tonnes if new investment is approved.

Kazakhstan holds 16.88 percent in Kashagan via KMG Kashagan (KMG), a subsidiary of Kazakh national oil company Kazmunaygaz .

The Kashagan consortium also includes Eni (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) , Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: A0ET6Q - news) , Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) , China's CNPC and Japan's Inpex.

KMG said in a statement on its website it had chosen Vitol to arrange a prepayment for KMG's share in the Kashagan field oil worth $1 billion. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) said the tender closed on Aug. 3 without providing other details. Vitol declined to comment. (Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin and Alla Afanasyeva, writing by by Olga Yagova/Dmitri Zhdannikov; editing by David Clarke and Susan Thomas)
Seed-stage investor Susa Ventures has closed its second fund at $50m, making it twice the size of its predecessor. The
KABUL, -- Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai is often viewed as the most seasoned Afghan politician. In a wide-ranging interview with Radio Free Afghanistan, Karzai called on current President Ashraf Ghani and his chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah, to honor their pledge of holding a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly of elders, to formalize their power-sharing and revitalize legitimacy for the future of their term.

RFE/RL: Afghanistans national unity government has been plagued by disagreements since assuming office in September 2014. Now people are concerned about the future of this government and the political system after its leaders openly clashed recently. How do you view this issue?

Hamid Karzai: It is very unfortunate. I hope that both these leaders can cooperate with each other and fulfill all the promises they have made to the people of Afghanistan. If they can deliver on their promises, like before, we will be cooperating with them.

RFE/RL: If these disagreements persist, what kind of future do you see for the current political system?

Karzai: The current political system must not be damaged because it is based on the constitution crafted by Afghans. We must preserve it. But for amending the constitution we have the tradition of jirgas (assembly of elders). A Loya Jirga (eds: grand assembly of elders) crafted the current constitution, which was presented to and backed by the people of Afghanistan, which led us to base our current political system on it.

It is natural that a part of the problems we now face are because of our own failings, but a bulk of them are the result of the designs that foreigners have in this land and this region. We all must unite, including the government leaders, to protect our homeland.

RFE/RL: We have seen no progress yet toward the constitutional Loya Jirga that the leaders of the national unity government agreed on before assuming office two years ago. Their agreement envisioned that such a forum will formalize the post of the chief executive officer. If this Loya Jirga is not convened, what do you see happening?

Karzai: The current government needs to deliver on all the promises made to the Afghan people. They particularly need to call a Loya Jirga, which is one of the major promises of this government. They should hold this Jirga soon so that Afghans can gather to determine their future and constitution, and revitalize the legitimacy of the current government.

RFE/RL: But if the government doesnt want to convene the Loya Jirga, what will your stance be then?

Karzai: Naturally, it will add to the problems of our homeland. It will contribute to disagreements and add to the disappointments we are already witnessing. This is why they need to convene the Loya Jirga soon within the two-year time [period] they agreed on in their mutual agreement [in September 2014].

Even if they cannot hold a constitutional Loya Jirga, they should still convene a traditional Loya Jirga, which is an age-old tradition in Afghanistan and has always helped in resolving crises. I am sure a traditional Loya Jirga would not only reinforce the legitimacy of this system but would also provide a way out of the current troubles. It will ultimately benefit my two brothers [Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abduallah] and our people.

RFE/RL: Do you see the national unity government achieving its aims in the struggle against terrorism, starting the peace process, and promoting regional cooperation through the national, regional, and global consensus it had aimed to achieve?

Karzai: Unfortunately, they have not achieved a national consensus. This is why they need to convene a Loya Jirga. In the absence of institutional mechanisms for the constitutional Loya Jirga, they need to convene a traditional Loya Jirga to generate a national consensus.

For example, with much difficulty I succeeded in ending U.S. air strikes. I succeeded in doing so despite U.S. pressure and opposition. The U.S. tried to weaken me by maligning me so that I wouldnt press this demand. The same is true for handing prisons back under American supervision.

I am not opposed to the U.S. presence in Afghanistan -- if they want military bases here, they can have them. But it should not happen at the cost of Afghan sovereignty and oppression of Afghan people and their homeland or while they remain the victims of air strikes. [In addition,] fighting should not intensify to create an excuse for the U.S. presence. I am against this, and I have shared my views with Afghan government leaders to ask them not to allow such things.

Another issue is how openly hate is being spread in Afghanistan, which leads to Afghans killing each other in the name of the Taliban and non-Taliban. Everyone who is being killed in the ongoing fighting is Afghan -- be they Taliban or government soldiers. We are killing each other and then celebrating it.

On the regional level, I am all for best relations with everyone. But I only back the relations of an Afghanistan that is respectable -- equal to its neighbors and with mutual respect.

RFE/RL: Do you still have a lot of reservations about the domestic war on terror that you often expressed?

Karzai: I still have very strong reservations. Night raids, random arrests, and opposition to peace [are things that I still oppose].

RFE/RL: How do you view U.S. President Barack Obamas recent authorization allowing U.S. forces in Afghanistan to act against the Islamic State under counterterrorism rules of engagement?

Karzai: I am strongly against such authorization. It has been proved that no foreign force can achieve what only Afghans can achieve in our homeland. If force was the answer, more than 30 years of war would have solved our problems.

I am not against the American presence, but I am strongly opposed to its actions in Afghanistan. The U.S. should not conduct airstrikes inside Afghanistan. It should stop interfering in our political affairs. Our elections have been sabotaged for paving the way for U.S. interference and designs. Thy should not do such things. Ultimately, we seek friendship and cooperation with them.

RFE/RL: Washington recently withheld more that $300 million in military aid to Pakistan because of its failure to act against the Talibans Haqqani network. How effective can such actions prove in changing Islamabads behavior?

Karzai: We have seen such efforts in the past. When I was in office, some senior U.S. officials called the Haqqani network a veritable arm of Pakistans ISI (eds: Inter-Services Intelligence). But later they did nothing. At times they indicated that they would stop giving assistance to Pakistan and would pressure it. But later they struck deals with Pakistan. This is why I am not convinced such pressure is genuine or long-lasting.

RFE/RL: How do you view the recent clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces over the construction of a gate at Torkham in Khyber Pass, which serves as a main crossing between the two countries?

Karzai: By building these gates over the border, Pakistan cannot impose the Durand Line [as an international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan]. Afghans will never recognize the Durand Line. No one recognized it before, and it will never be recognized in the future. This is because the Afghan government cannot impose it. It has to be decided upon by the people on both sides of the Durand Line. But we want to tell Pakistan that despite our reluctance to recognize the Durand Line, we want to befriend you. We want to have friendly relations with you. We are calling on Islamabad to recognize this fundamental reality and befriend Afghanistan. We will prove to be their best friends.

as/fg
Bank of Ireland are celebrating this week after being named country winner in the Global Finance Worlds Best Consumer Digital Banks Awards.

They will represent Ireland for the Western Europe and Global Awards in October.

Banks were selected based on the following criteria - strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality.

Director of Customer, Digital & Innovation at Bank of Ireland, Garvan Callan commented, "It is our responsibility to continually adapt and invest in our technology to ensure that we offer a service which is relevant to how consumers want to bank. Im pleased to say that more than seven in ten of our customers are digitally active with 440,000 active mobile customers. To be nominated as Irelands representative in the Global Finance Awards is a great endorsement."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Modified On Aug 16, 2016 06:52 PM By Nabeel for Mahindra TUV 300 2015-2019

Mahindra, the Indian SUV-maker, is celebrating Indias 70th Independence Day with full enthusiasm. Apart from the Freedom Festival  in which Mahindra has listed the TUV300 with benefits up to Rs 55,000  the carmaker has now launched a new combat-green colour for the TUV300. The new colour option is called 'Bronze Green' and will only be available on a made-to-order basis. It will most likely be available at no added cost; but, being a made-to-order product, likely to be a limited edition. Apart from the colour change, no other cosmetic or mechanical upgrades have been made to the car. This type of colour is used by our country's defence forces on their Vehicles, which makes the TUV300 look even tougher.

Other than the limited-edition Bronze Green, the car is also available in Bold Black, Molten Orange, Majestic Silver, Dynamo Red, Verve Blue and Glacier White as standard colours.

Mechanically, the car is powered by two 1.5-litre mHAWK series diesel engines. The 'mHAWK80' produces 83.6PS (80.2PS in AMT) power and 230Nm of torque. This is available in the first six trims, whereas the 'mHAWK100' tune produces 100PS power and 240Nm torque and is only available with the top two variants. Both of these tunes are available with an optional AMT automatic gearbox.

Apart from the TUV300, Mahindra also has the NuvoSport in the sub-four metre SUV space. Now, the company plans to further expand its products in this segment by introducing a smaller Bolero. This SUV will most likely be launched this month and will feature the same engine as the TUV300, but with a different, less powerful tune.

The price list of the TUV300 (ex-showroom, Delhi) is as follows:

S. No Variant Price (in Rs) 1 T4 7,38,369 2 T4+ 7,74,369 3 T6 8,05,169 4 T6+ 8,30,869 5 T6+ AMT 9,04,369 6 T8 8,92,069 7 T8 mHAWK100 9,00,068 8 T8 AMT 9,65,769 9 T8AMT mHAWK100 9,73,768

Also Read: Petrol Engines To Be Offered Across Mahindra's Model Range By 2018

Read More on : TUV 300 review
Published On Aug 16, 2016 06:50 PM By Raunak for Volkswagen Polo 2015-2019

The sixth generation Polo will be based on VWs modular MQB platform, which is also shared by the Audi A3, the Skoda Octavia and the Superb, along with others in the VW Clan.

Volkswagen is readying the sixth generation of its Polo hatchback, which is expected to debut next year. The present fifth generation Polo made its world debut in 2009, making it almost seven years old and due for a generation change.

Looking at the spy shots, the hatchback looks mature and grown up in contrast to the current version. Despite the heavy camouflage, it is clearly evident that the new gen model looks very much VW-ish. Do not expect any radical departure in terms of styling. However, it is hard to comment on the design of the new Polo yet since it is probably an early test mule of the upcoming hatchback.

The adoption of MQB platform will help the 2017 Polo overcome one of its shortcomings  rear cabin space. The new Polos wheelbase has reportedly grown by 90mm, which is a considerable amount and will noticeably improve the cabin space. However, the overall length is expected to be marginally affected, similar to newer cars, VW has certainly pushed the wheels outwards, while the overhangs both at the front and the rear are shortened. Moreover, the MQB platform will also make the new Polo lighter than its predecessor.

Mechanically, the next gen Polo will be powered by the latest TSI (turbo petrol) and TDI (diesel) engines along with naturally aspirated petrol motors globally. While the go-fast version  the GTI  which was also spotted testing in the Nurburgring recently, featuring larger alloys and twin exhaust, will have the updated 1.8-litre TSI motor.

In terms of features, the new Polo is likely to get all the latest tech similar to that of the automakers latest offerings. This includes features such as a large touchscreen infotainment system with support for Google Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, along with safety features and others. Dont be surprised if the company offers the 12.3-inch all-digital instrument cluster in the sixth generation Polo, maybe in the hotter GTI version. The Polo-based sedan  the Vento  also known as Polo Sedan in various markets, will be the carbon copy of the new Polo with a boot, similar to the current version.

Speaking of its Indian launch, the German automakers plans for the introduction of the MQB-based Polo and Vento are dicey for India. Read more this, check out  MQB-based Volkswagen Polo, Vento on hold for India

Image Source: Motor1

Read More on : Volkswagen Polo india
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: In Atlanta, Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@cartercenter.org

In Yangon, Stefan Krause, stefan.krause@cartercenter.org

Read the Final Report in English (PDF)

Read the Final Report in Burmese (PDF)

Read the Press Release in Burmese (PDF)

YANGON, MYANMAR  The Carter Center today released the final report of its assessment of the Nov. 8, 2015, general elections in Myanmar.

In it, the Center commends the people of Myanmar for their remarkable commitment to the democratic process following decades of authoritarian rule, which proved crucial in counterbalancing the considerable structural impediments to fully democratic elections. The report notes the professionalism of the election administration, in particular the efforts of the Union Election Commission to increase the transparency and overall credibility of elections in Myanmar. It also highlights the important role played by civil society and political parties in conducting voter education and electoral observation, and in fostering a peaceful election process and handover of power.

The report also identifies several weaknesses in the conduct of the elections and includes recommendations to bring future elections into compliance with international democratic standards. The constitution should be a key focus of reform efforts, as it has provisions that give excessive power to the military, restrict political rights, and do not provide for full equality among all citizens.

Other recommendations include improving the accuracy of voter lists; establishing transparency in all steps of the election process, including the tabulation and reporting of results; amending electoral laws to provide more regulation of the election process; increasing womens participation; ensuring a fair citizenship verification process for former temporary registration card holders; and making the out-of-constituency advance voting process observable.

Despite flaws in the election process, Myanmar appears to be on a positive trajectory in the post-election period toward a peaceful, democratic transition. The Carter Center encourages the new government and the recently appointed Union Election Commission to continue the democratic and electoral reform process so that a fully democratic parliament with equal participation of all the people of Myanmar will be elected in the general elections due in 2020. The Carter Center also encourages Myanmar to sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights documents to signify its commitment to the rights of its people. The Carter Center offers its continued support for electoral reform, the consolidation of democratic governance, and the peace process.

Its key recommendations include:

Constitution: Amend the constitution so that all members of at least one house of the Union parliament are elected by direct vote. Reserved seats for military appointees should be phased out. The appointment mechanism for the election management body should be reviewed to ensure that it guarantees independence and impartiality. Constituencies should have relatively equal numbers of residents or registered voters. Unreasonable restrictions on the right to vote should be removed. Provisions on candidate eligibility should be amended to end discrimination based on citizenship or other undue restrictions. Union Election Commission decisions should be able to be appealed to a judicial authority. The prohibition of anyone with a parent, spouse, or child with foreign citizenship from becoming president should be reconsidered.

Election Administration. Amend election laws to regulate some parts of the electoral process that are currently within the discretion of the election commission. To ensure balanced, impartial election administration at all levels, new procedures for appointment of subcommission members should be devised to ensure that the composition of the election subcommissions is gender-balanced and representative of the ethnic diversity of Myanmar. Subcommissions should have more independence from the General Administration Department.

Voter Registration. Ensure that the new digital voter register is accurately maintained. To this end, the Union Election Commission should update the voter register at regular intervals, using its own data as well as information provided by other government agencies. There should be adequate staffing at all levels to support voter list operations.

Citizenship. Bring legislation affecting citizenship in line with international standards. The legal status of habitual residents of Myanmar, especially former temporary registration certificate holders, should be resolved, and equal access to citizenship ensured through a timely, non-discriminatory, and transparent process.

Election Observation. Amend election laws to provide for electoral observation. All advance voting, including the casting of ballots, should be fully open to observation by accredited observers and party/candidate agents.

Political Rights. Guarantee that the freedoms of association, assembly, and expression enshrined in the constitution exist in practice. Candidates and political parties should be permitted to campaign without undue limitations or burdensome requirements for prior approval. No prior approval of the content of speeches should be required for contestants to use free media time.

Campaign Finance. Enhance the effectiveness of campaign-finance regulations through the introduction of a monitoring mechanism, regulation of spending by political parties and candidates in the pre-campaign period, limits on the size of individual donations, disclosure of donors who contribute amounts above a certain threshold, the publication of campaign-finance reports, and introduction of a range of sanctions for violations of campaign-finance regulations.

The full report and list of recommendations is here: English (PDF) | Burmese (PDF)

###

"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
In 2015, Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union in Palmer, Alaska, offered a promotion on signature loans at its Waipahu, Hawaii, branch office.

It turned into way to help people become U.S. citizens.

A segment of the credit unions membership is composed of immigrants from Micronesia and the Philippines who petition for citizenship.

The signature loans were offered up to $7,500roughly the cost of citizenshipat terms up to 48 months.

Our normal terms for signature loans is 36 months but we wanted the payment to be a little more reasonable so we extended it to 48 months, says Jaccie Gaines, consumer lending manager for the $430 million asset credit union.

Rates on the loans were tiered, starting at an annual percentage rate of 6.99%.
Iranian security forces claim they have killed three purported Sunni militants in western Iran.

Police reported that the men were killed in a shoot-out on August 16 in the city of Kermanshah, about 500 kilometers southwest of Tehran and about 100 kilometers from the border with Iraq.

They said an automatic rifle and a suicide vest were confiscated after the clash.

The purported militants were not identified but were called takfirist, a term usually used for extremist Sunni Muslims, including members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization.

Iran has said IS has been targeting the country for some months since Tehran bolstered its military activity in Iraq and Syria.

In June, Iranian officials said they had arrested 10 IS militants and confiscated about 100 kilograms of explosives.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
You may be promoting your auto loan rates this summer and want to stand out from the pack. Why not promote your rates against a car that hundreds of thousands of people are searching for on a monthly basis? Thats right, Im talking about promoting an auto loan campaign around a specific make and model of an automobile thats popular in your metropolitan area.

Wait, thats too hard and I wouldnt even know where to start

I used to think that as well, but I discovered that you can put together a highly targeted campaign using some free tools that Google provides for everyone. Once you understand how to use these tools in a sequence, you can come up with a highly targeted campaign super quick.

Heres how.

Get Started with the Google Keyword Tool in AdWords

I like to start with AdWords, because it provides a great overview of search volumes. So go into your AdWords account first. If you dont have a Google AdWords account set up, go here and get one setup. AdWords is where you can get ideas, and instantly begin to understand the way people are already searching for your products and services. For this project, I started looking at a couple basic terms, like auto loan and car loan and analyzed what came back.

Like I mentioned, Google will show you the monthly volume of searches associated with each keyword, so you get an idea of the way people look for things online.

I noticed that the monthly search volume was under 100,000 per month for both the terms auto loan and car loan. So my next step was to sort on the Average Monthly Searches column in the other results that Google returned, and that revealed a couple of gems.

Results shown from Googles Keyword Tool in AdWords

I landed on the keywords auto loan calculator and car payment calculator for two reasons. The first thing that jumped out was the monthly search volume. It seems like a lot of people are searching for online calculators that will help them understand what their payment will be if they buy a new car.

That leads to the second reason I like both of these terms. They imply intent. If a person is calculating out what their payments will be, it indicates that theyre well into the purchase decision making process.

Now that weve burned a couple minutes and found a couple keywords that we like, we can go to the next step.

Cruise over to Google Trends to Find Related Searches

We now know some terms that hundreds of thousands of consumers are searching for each month. The next step is to find out what these people are also searching for, before and after they search for a car payment calculator.

Sidenote: Weve published some research on the keywords that home buyers are using that we pulled from Google AdWords and Google Trends.

To get started, type your search terms into Google Trends and make sure to specify that youre interested in searches within the United States. You can also, specify a timeframe that you care about. By default, Google Trends will show you search data back through 2004. I typically go back two years, but feel free to experiment and find something that works for you.

Once you get everything entered, youll immediately see how your keywords relate to each other over time. However, scrolling down will show you something even cooler. Google Trends shows you related searches to your initial keyword. Related Searches isnt the primary feature of Google Trends, but it is where the free tool really steals the show for what were trying to accomplish here.

In this case, we learned that people searching for the keyword, car payment calculator, are also searching for the exact makes and models of cars theyre interested in buying. Now were getting somewhere, right? Specifically, people calculating car payments are also looking for these kinds of cars:

Jeep Renegade

2016 Honda Civic

Tesla Model 3

Results shown from a Google Trends search for the term car payment calculator

It gets even better. If you click any of the cars listed, youll go to the Google Trends page for that search query. So clicking the related query, jeep renegade will take you to a Google Trends page related to the search term jeep renegade.

Now were going to want to look at the subregions, or states, people are searching for Jeep Renegades. It looks like the Jeep Renegade is most popular in West Virginia, relative to the other 50 states. Keep in mind that this is not a representation of an absolute number. What Google Trends is showing us is the relative popularity of the search term, jeep renegade. So a higher concentration of people in West Virginia are searching for Jeep Renegades than in every other state.

To recap, weve deduced that people who are searching for Car Payment Calculators are also searching for Jeep Renegades. Were now able to know that the highest concentration of those people live in West Virginia, with the next highest concentration living in Michigan and then Wyoming, etc.

Results shown from a Google Trends search for the term Jeep Renegade

Get this, you can click on any state in the map and get to the next step.

Lets look at West Virginia, for example, because it has the highest concentration of searches for Jeep Renegades. If youre a banker in West Virginia, the next thing you probably want to know is, where in West Virginia are these searches taking place? Google Trends has got you covered.

Clicking on West Virginia reveals the metropolitan areas within the state with the highest concentration of Jeep Renegade searches, relative to each other.

Can you believe that you have access to this kind of intelligence for free?

Results shown from a Google Trends search for the term car payment calculator

If youre a bank marketer with branches in any of these metropolitan areas, you know what your next move needs to be, right? Throw a picture of a Jeep Renegade in an email and postcard campaign and get it approved through compliance.

Heres how Google can help with that as well.

Find an Image with Google Image Search

Where can you find a royalty free image of a Jeep Renegade? Im glad you asked. There are plenty of sources that will take your money in exchange for an image. But my first stop is always Google Image Search, because you can find a number of royalty free images that you might be able to use in your promotions.

Just type in the make and model of the car youre looking for in Google Image Search to find all of the images Google has catalogued. From here, youll want to click on the word Search Tools underneath the search bar. Then click on Usage Rights and select Labeled for Reuse.

Google Image Search will return images that have been labeled with Creative Commons licenses. This means that you may use them as long as you follow the proper attribution instructions. Youre always free to pay for an image, if you dont like this approach but at the very least this could also be a quick way for you to mock up a design, so that you may get the compliance review process started.

Scroll through the pictures until you find one that you can work with, and remember to make sure that you follow any attribution instructions related to the photo you select, if you decide to move forward with it.

I found some great photos of Jeep Renegades that could be used in a promotion mock up with a little cropping. Heres the one I went with:

Jeep Renegade by ilikewaffles11 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Create a Promotion with Googles Nik Collection and Google Fonts

My next step is to get into my favorite image editing solution to do some cropping. I personally prefer the Adobe Creative Suite, but I understand that may not fit in your budget. Not to worry. If you dont have an image editing solution or you dont want to pay for one, Google is there for you, once again.

It turns out that Google has made their $149 image editing suite, Nik Collection, absolutely free. This means that, with a little bit of effort, you can make professional quality promotions using nothing but free tools.

This part probably took the longest, but with some creative cropping, and use of a free Google Font, Ubuntu, I was able to come up with this design:

Find Your Audience with Google Search

Alright, so weve discovered the kind of car that people are searching for in our metro area. Weve also come up with a campaign image and tagline for this promotion. The last step is to figure out who to include in our campaign.

Google Search is perfect for this last task.

I typed jeep renegade demographic into Google Search and the first result that came back was an article from Forbes, a respected source, so I clicked it.

According to the article, Jeep Renegades are perfect for college kids, small families and empty nesters. Clicking through to the other sources that were returned from my initial search, I found out that Jeep is targeting younger buyers with the Renegade.

Boom!

We now have a targeted campaign that can speak to millennials about something we believe that theyre interested in searching for on a monthly basis. So there you go. In about an hour, youve created a targeted campaign using nothing but six different, free tools from Google.

From here, you can pull a report from your Core Banking or reporting system of choice, and build an audience of everyone 18 to 35 years in age and send them this promotional campaign that you threw together.

Commercial Alert: Using our all-in-one communication platform, Core iQ, can make building an audience and sending out targeted communications extremely simple.

For bonus points, test this targeted offer against your standard auto loan campaign and learn if it is better at driving auto loan applications, loan approvals and loan revenue. Then repeat the process for other account holder segments.

#winning
CUNA and credit union league staff joined more than 5,000 attendees in Chicago last week at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit. More than 230 lawmakers representing 39 states stopped by the Americas Credit Unions booth, manned by CUNA and league staff, where credit union fact sheets and high-tech giveaways were handed out.

Engagement at the NCSL Legislative Summit is a priority for CUNA and the leagues because legislators adopt policies in NCSLs 8 standing committees. Those adopted policies become the part of NCSLs efforts to fight unwarranted federal preemption of state laws, unfunded mandates and federal legislation.

The Task Force on State and Local Taxation met to discuss tax policy issues, and as expected, there were no discussions that would directly impact credit unions tax status.

The Communications, Financial Services and Interstate Commerce Committee adopted a resolution spearheaded by a bipartisan group of Oregon lawmakers that urged Congress to enact laws that give legal marijuana businesses access to financial services, including credit unions.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a series of tweets from a credit union member to no one in particular. That I saw it at all amongst the mass of data is odd. But heres where it gets interesting. The member had an issue with their credit union, Idaho Central Credit Union, and said so in a tweet. They didnt @ mention the CU or # them, either. So, really, there was no simple way for the credit union to ever know about it. The member was, for all intents and purposes, yelling into an echo chamber.

But the credit union did reply. And thus the origin of this post.

After seeing how the credit union located this member and solved their problem (all through Twitter), I contacted them directly. Unsurprisingly, their Twitter account had a friendly reply, wherein they referred me to the social media/marketing director, Lisa Davis. The following is an interview conducted with her. This credit union, and their team, get social media. I wanted to help them share this strategy with you.

Joe Winn: Good afternoon and thank you for taking the time out for this discussion! As mentioned, I recognized your social media efforts were far beyond the norm when you plucked a member complaint out of thin air (in a sense) for resolution. How did you do that?

Lisa Davis: I work with a couple of systems to grab any mentions of us  monitoring a number of different keywords. We really want to keep tabs on what is being said about us (good and bad) on social platforms, news articles, review sites, etc. We go after negative comments and try our best to turn them around. This is not just great for our members, but is a wonderful way to display how amazing our customer service is to those watching that are potential members.

Winn: I sure was impressed! From their posts, it seemed the member was as well, which is what really matters. What spurred ICCU to develop a social media presence?

Davis: We felt and feel that social media is a great way to connect with members and potential members.

Winn: I agree. How did you inform your members it existed?

Davis: We started off with just a Facebook page and did some fun promotionscontests and whatnot to gain followers. We also had Like us on Facebook stamps made up for the tellers to spread the word. Now, we advertise all of our social platforms in the branches on the screens behind the teller line. In addition, we do run Facebook/Instagram ads.

Winn: Engaging the whats in it for me mentality is a good strategy. Of course, Im sure it wasnt all roses and massive follower adoption. What missteps (if any) did you encounter as the system grew?

Davis: In the beginning, we werent catching as many mentions since people use a variety of different names for us. This is what prompted us to look into monitoring software  which has proven very useful, especially since as we continue to grow, mentions are growing as well.

Winn: So that would be how you caught this members complaints to no one in particular. Given a member can ask anything online, is the social media platform effort engaged with all CU departments, or just routed through a specific team?

Davis: I manage all things social, but work with many teams to accomplish our goals. For example, we strive to follow up with anyone who has an issue or a question  whether they request follow up or not. Based on the question or concern, I facilitate these through the appropriate team member and then make sure the person has been contacted and then follow up on our social channels so the public can see that we have addressed it.

Winn: Sharing these resolutions is a smart move. Its like when a restaurant responds to reviews on Yelp. Always makes me feel like they truly care. How do you feel member support and outreach will grow in this medium? Will it become just another option for members, or will it begin to replace existing platforms (live chat, phone, e-mail, even in-person)?

Davis: I feel that [social media as a member support and outreach medium] will continue to grow. (emphasis mine) As wegrow, we have definitely watched our member interaction through social channels grow. We have some members who use social media as their primary way to connect with us  to inquire about a new product, provide feedback on a recent interaction, or ask a question about their online banking. Social never really shuts down for the day. Although, it is not expected, if I get a question at 10pm on a Saturday night, Ill answer it. Our members know they can count on us through social to at least get feedback that their question has been passed along to a team member who will get in touch with them shortly after the opening of next business day. I think this makes them feel more connected to us and builds a level of trust and security knowing they have a place to go with a question or concern 247. (emphasis mine)

Winn: Well, Ive definitely gained a level of trust through this discussion. Thank you again for your time and for sharing these insights! Im certain readers from other credit unions will enjoy learning about your strategies and the passion committed to making it the best it can. This reflects, as you intended, positively on Idaho Central Credit Union.

Follow Idaho Central Credit Union directly through their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages! Visit their site for even more ways to connect.

So, fellow geeks (and honorary geeks)what did you think of this interview? Want to see more discussions with your peers? Let me know in the comments below!
Twenty hotels operated by HEI Hotels & Resorts for Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Intercontinental were reportedly hit by a data breach exposing card payment data from tens of thousands of transactions, affirming the urgency for national data security standards for merchants, said NAFCUs Dan Berger.

These hotel data breaches, many of which are repeat offenses, as well as the latest data breach to Oracles point-of-sale systems, affirm the urgency with which Congress needs to pass strong national data security standards for retailers, such as the Data Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 2205/S.961), said Berger, NAFCUs president and CEO. Cybercriminals attacks are growing more pernicious and continue to take advantage of the vulnerabilities in retailers payments systems to seize consumers sensitive personal financial information.

The company on Friday said the breach hit various hotels nationwide, including locations in Florida, Texas, Vermont, Illinois, California, Virginia, Tennessee, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. The dates of the data breach vary for each hotel hit, but range from March 2015 through June 2016.

HEI said outside experts are continuing to investigate the breach but said the malware could have affected payment card data including names, payment card account numbers, card expiration dates and verification codes.
Here she is, Miss America!

Mark ONeill, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau communications director, has always wanted to say those words, and he finally got the chance, as he introduced Betty Cantrell during a news conference at the 2016 Ag Progress Days, Aug. 16.

Cantrell took time to play educational games with children to teach them about farming and where their foods comes from, and to address the general public about her platform: Healthy children, strong America, at the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau exhibit building.

She may not be your typical Miss America, but ONeill said they are excited to have someone with her background as a part of the organization.

I think it is safe to say that we have never had a sitting Miss America at this event before, said Rick Roush, dean of Penn State Universitys College of Agricultural Sciences. Roush acknowledged Cantrells current platform and linked it to the colleges efforts to encourage healthy eating and lifestyle choices among Pennsylvania families and youth.

As a 4-H alum, I think Miss America would be interested to know that we have 90,000 4-H members across the Commonwealth, said Roush, who added that a common theme for the 4-H youth building and family building at Ag Progress Days this year was focused on healthy eating and lifestyles.

Her farm background

Growing up on a 675-acre farm in rural Georgia, Cantrell said she was excited to be a part of this Miss America program and represent the agriculture industry.

I feel like it is so different than most pageant girls and I feel like I have been able to shed a new light on this Miss America organization and what we are all about, said Cantrell.

Although she grew up on a farm, Cantrell joked that it was more recreational than commercial. It was more like a big playground for my dad to go hunting, she said. Cantrell said they raised pine trees and rented additional acres out to a company that grew peach and pecan trees. We were a typical Georgia farm with peaches and pecans, she said.

That was kind of my whole childhood  growing up outdoors  which really had a huge impact on me and why I chose my personal platform, she said.

But Cantrell wasnt one of those toddlers in tiaras, wearing the fancy evening wear and practicing her princess wave on the big stage growing up.

I grew up in a double-wide trailer my whole life, she said. I didnt start doing pageants until about two years ago. I did my first pageant on a whim  just for fun  and for some scholarship money.

She decided she really liked the pageant life and I was really good at it, she joked, noting her success at being crowned Miss Georgia. After winning the Miss America title and announcing her Healthy children, strong America platform, she said she was excited to connect with the American Farm Bureau Foundation. I was able to expand my platform and reach kids on a deeper level, helping kids understand where their food comes from, said Cantrell.

While her platform may focus on the children, she said it is important to her to connect everyone to farmers and agriculture. I think farmers are widely misunderstood, noting what all she has learned about agriculture since taking in the Miss America Role.

Its so much more advanced now, said Cantrell. Tractors drive themselves practically and many dont realize that.

Meeting Miss America

Pennsylvania State FFA President Libby Baker-Mikesell said, Its nice to have someone who can reach out (to the public) on a higher level. We, as FFA members, can only connect with so many people.

Baker-Mikesell said her officer team had only just learned a few days prior to the event that they would be meeting Miss America and couldnt be more excited to meet her.

Youth attending Ag Progress Days Aug. 16, between 10 a.m.-2 p.m., had an opportunity to interact with Miss America during a game of hopscotch and trivia questions asked by Miss America herself.

Through Farm Bureau, Ive been able to show kids and teach kids how to grow their own food with the First Peas to the Table book, said Cantrell. She said it was fun to see kids around the country grow their own peas and see how their food is produced.

Its just been a really cool year for me, she said, as she wrapped up her last official event as Miss America.
In over 30 years of covering fish, water, conservation and environmental justice in California, this is one of the most significant and disturbing reports about regulatory capture and play to pay" politics I have ever read.



"Brown's Dirty Hands" graphic courtesy of Consumer Watchdog.

Consumer Watchdog slams Jerry Brown over receiving $9.8 million in fossil fuel donationsby Dan BacherConsumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based consumer organization, on August 10 released an alarming report claiming that oil, gas and utilities gave $9.8 million to Governor Jerry Brown and his causes, often within days of winning big favors.Consumer Watchdog is known for following the Big Money, especially fossil fuel money, and its impact on California politics. The reports findings challenge the hypocrisy of Brown's continual posing as a climate leader as his administration makes decision after decision favoring the fossil fuel industry and utilities.The timing of energy industry donations around important legislation and key pro-industry amendments, as well as key regulatory decisions in which Brown personally intervened, raises troubling questions about whether quid pro quos are routine for this administration, said consumer advocate Liza Tucker, author of the report, in a press release. While Brown paints himself as a foe of fossil fuels, his Administration promoted reckless oil drilling, burning dirty natural gas to make electricity, and used old hands from industry and government, placed in key regulatory positions, to protect the fossil fuel-reliant energy industry.After releasing the report online at 10 am, Consumer Watchdog President, Jamie Court, and Executive Director, Carmen Balber, held a press conference in Santa Monica at 10:30 am. They discussed the report and answered questions from media participating in the event.As they talked, they displayed visuals, including a timeline chart detailing the money in and the favors out and a photo chart of Brown Administration energy industry Insiders who executed the favors.You can download the report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/dirtyhands You can view a short video summarizing the report here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0ZgT-ahLg The report claims that twenty-six energy companies including the states three major investor-owned utilities, Occidental, Chevron, and NRGall with business before the statedonated $9.8 million to Jerry Browns campaigns, causes, and initiatives, and to the California Democratic Party since he ran for Governor.Donations were often made within days or weeks of winning favors, the group said. The three major investor-owned utilities alone contributed nearly $6 million.Court said "an exhaustive review of campaign records, publicly-released emails and other documents at PUCPapers.org, court filings, and media reports, shows that Brown personally intervened" in regulatory decisions favoring the energy industry.Energy companies tracked by the report donated $4.4 million to the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party gave $4.7 million to Browns re-election. Earmarking to the Democratic Party is illegal," Court pointed out.Court said it is forwarding its report to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).I am waiting to a response to my request for a comment about the Consumer Watchdog report from the Governor's Office.In response to the report, Brown spokesman Evan Westrup told the San Diego Union Tribune, The governors leadership on climate is unmatched. These claims are downright cuckoo.Westrup cited a host of Brown policies and decisions since he was elected in 2010 that were aimed at protecting the environment," the publication said. ( http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/11/brown-consumer-watchdog/ Consumer Watchdog strongly disagrees that these claims are "downright cuckoo.Evidence strongly suggests that the timing of certain donations may have elicited or rewarded legislative or regulatory action on behalf of these companies," said Court.Most egregious examples of Browns service to fossil fuel industry exposedAmong the most egregious examples detailed in the report are the following, according to Consumer Watchdog's summary: Southern California Edison donated $130,000 to the California Democratic Party, its largest contribution up until that time, on the same day PUC President Michael Peevey cut a secret deal with an SCE executive in Warsaw, Poland to make ratepayers cover 70 percent of the $4.7 billion cost to close the fatally flawed San Onofre nuclear plant. Brown backed the dirty deal, telling Edisons CEO personally, according to an email from the CEO uncovered by the Public Records Act, that he was willing to tell the media on the day of the plants shuttering that the company was acting responsibly and focused on the right things. Three days prior to SCEs announcement that it would close San Onofre permanently, the company donated $25,000 to the California Democratic Party Emails from PG&Es top lobbyist Brian Cherry to his boss claim that Brown personally intervened with a PUC Commissioner to persuade him to approve a natural gas-fired power plant called Oakley for the utility. In a January 1, 2013 email, Cherry described a New Years Eve dinner with Peevey where Peevey reminded him how he and Governor Brown used every ounce of persuasion to get [Commissioner Mark] Ferron to change his mind and vote for OakleyJerrys direct plea was decisive. PG&E donated $20,000 to the California Democratic Party the day after the PUC voted for the project. An appeals court would later strike down the decision because PG&E had not proved its necessity. While PG&Es lobbyist and then-PUC President Michael Peevey fed names to Browns executive secretary, former PG&E vice president Nancy McFadden, to appoint the critical swing-vote PUC commissioner who would cast pro-utility votes, PG&E donated $75,000 to the California Democratic Party. The same day that Brown appointed ex-banker Mark Ferron to the commission, PG&E donated another $41,500. The appointment lifted the value of PG&Es stock and the PG&E stock held by McFadden and valued as high as $1 million. Chevron donated $135,000 to the California Democratic Party the same day lawmakers exempted a common method of well stimulation from legislation meant to regulate fracking. After the bill passed with an amendment dropping a moratorium on fracking permits, Occidental gave $100,000 to one of Browns favorite causes, the Oakland Military Institute. Brown signed the weakened bill. On December 23, 2013, Chevron donated $350,000 to the Democratic Party. On December 30, the Democratic Party donated $300,000 to Brown for Governor 2014, while Chevron donated the maximum to Browns campaign, $54,400, on the same day. Less than two months later, Brown came out publicly to oppose a proposed oil severance tax. The weakened fracking bill also helped Nancy McFadden who held up to $100,000 in Linn Energy that would acquire Berry Petroleum and its 3,000 California fracking wells. Occidentals attorney, former Governor Gray Davis, successfully pressured Brown to fire two oil and gas regulators who wouldnt grant oil waste injection permits without proof that aquifers would not be contaminated. Two months later, when Browns new interim oil and gas supervisor granted Occidental a permit without an environmental review, Occidental contributed $250,000 to Prop 30, Browns ballot measure to raise taxes, then another $100,000 two weeks later to his favored Oakland Military Institute. Seven months later, Occidental made a second $250,000 donation to Prop 30. Browns climate change bill, SB 350, gave utilities a monopoly on electric vehicle infrastructure and large-scale renewable energy projects by excluding rooftop solar from the states renewable portfolio standard. Three weeks after a last-minute amendment granting utilities access to a regional grid, PG&E donated $80,000 to the Democratic Party. The utility donated another $50,000 three weeks after the bill was chaptered. Utility stocks increased by at least 14 percent within two months. Power plant developer NRG wasnt a Brown donor until the company cut a sweetheart deal with the PUC to settle the states case over its 2001 electricity price manipulation, touted as a win by the Governors office. Rather than paying back the state, the company was allowed to spend $100 million of its $120 million fine to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Two months later, NRG began donations to Brown, his causes, and his party that would come to $105,000. A lawsuit against the PUC, filed by electric charging station competitor Ecotality, called the deal illegal because it awarded a monopoly to an out-of-state company. Lawmakers sent Brown a package of six PUC reform bills in 2015 which would have increased oversight, transparency and accountability at the PUC, and received unanimous, bipartisan support. Brown vetoed the reform bills on October 12, 2015. One week later, PG&E donated $50,000 to the Democratic Party. In December, PG&E donated another $175,000 to the Party.Browns top staffersExecutive Secretary Nancy McFadden and former Cabinet Secretary Dana Williamsonboth former PG&E executives, were paid roughly $100,000 each by the California Democratic Party for consulting and fundraising services at various times between 2013 and 2016.Jerry Browns family and other personal ties to industry insiders also appear to play a role in his Administrations decisions to promote the interests of the utilities and the oil and gas industry at the expense of consumers.Browns sister, Kathleen, was given a seat on Sempras board of directors in June 2013, just as lawmakers amended fracking legislation to drop a moratorium on fracking permits. As of April 2016, Kathleen Brown had earned $691,300 for her board service at Sempra, parent company of Southern California Gas which is responsible for the massive Aliso Canyon natural gas well blowout that caused the biggest methane leak in U.S. history. Governor Brown issued an emergency order that ensured secrecy around the blowout investigation, has waged a campaign through his energy regulators to keep Aliso open and has kept information and data involving the blowout secret from the public. Sempra stock has increased by 116% since Brown took office, more than any other utility.Kathleen Brown also served on the board of real estate and oil company Forestar Groupwhich owns 700 acres next to Porter Ranch, a community drastically affected by the leak, where Forestar plans to build luxury homes, and another 1,000 acres of oil and gas interests in California. Kathleen holds $749,000 worth of Forestar stock. She now sits on the board of Renew Financial, a private funder of renewable energy projects that stands to benefit from SB 350. She stepped down from Forestar one month after Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency at Aliso Canyon.Governor Brown supported, appointed and hired a group of old hands from previous administrations and the energy industry that have played a role in policies promoting the fossil-fuel natural gas system. Browns Dirty Hands details how the revolving door of industry insiders, including former PUC President Michael Peevey, now under criminal investigation for corruption at the PUC, was supported and installed by Brown and his top aides. The report details crucial moments for the energy industry contributors through the Administrations course and how Brown sided with them."A number of the examples of Brown administration service to the fossil fuel industry documented in this report have been published in articles covered by the mainstream and alternative media, including articles I have written. However, this is the first time that anybody has combined the many examples of how oil, gas and utilities gave millions to Governor Jerry Brown and his causes, often within days of winning big favors, in one comprehensive report.In over 30 years of covering fish, water, conservation and environmental justice in California, this is one of the most significant and disturbing reports about regulatory capture and play to pay" politics I have ever read.I encourage anybody interested in reading the report to download it at: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/dirtyhands Browns anti-environmental legacy exposedBrown's service to the fossil fuel industry, as documented in the Consumer Watchdog report, is just one of the many anti-environmental policies of the Brown administration that I have covered in article after article.The Governor is promoting as his legacy the Delta Tunnels/California Water Fix, the most environmentally destructive public works project in California history that poses a huge threat to the ecosystems of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Klamath and Trinity river systems. As Brown relentlessly pushes the tunnels plan, his administration is overseeing water policies that are driving winter run-Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other species closer and closer to extinction.Jerry Brown also oversaw the completion of so-called marine protected areas under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, overseen by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and other corporate interests, in December 2012. These faux Yosemites of the Sea fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling, fracking, pollution, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.As if those examples of Browns tainted environmental legacy werent enough, Brown has promoted carbon trading and REDD policies that pose an enormous threat to Indigenous Peoples around the globe; has done nothing to stop clearcutting of forests by Sierra-Pacific and other timber companies; presided over record water exports from the Delta in 2011; and oversaw massive fish kills of Sacramento splittail and other species in 2011.Brown may spout green rhetoric when he flies off to climate conferences and issues proclamations about John Muir Day and Earth Day, but his actions and policies regarding fish, water and the environment are among the worst of any Governor in recent California history.For more information about the real environmental record of Governor JerryBrown, go to: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/25/1506146/-Govenor-Jerry-Brown-Celebrates-World-Water-Day-As-He-Promotes-Salmon-Killing-Delta-Tunnels
A guest post by David Garrett:

Introduction

The Court of Appeal has released its decision in the cases of two murderers who, if three strikes (3S) had been applied by the High Court as the law is written, would both have been sentenced to Life Without Parole (LWOP). The two cases are of great interest for a number of reasons: they are the first two such cases to be considered by the Court of Appeal, and the fact situations in both are very dissimilar. One thing applies to both however  and indeed to every other such case yet to come before the High Court  the offenders have benefited from the manifestly unjust provision in section 86E of the Sentencing Act.

Far from being rare and exceptional, as parliament clearly intended, it is little short of miraculous that in the five cases of second strike murder to come before the courts thus far, in all of them the Judges have found that to apply the law as written would be manifestly unjust and instead imposed life sentences with minimum non parole periods.

The facts

Both cases  R v. Harrison and R v. Turner  involved murder as a second strike offence. Other than that, both the offences and the offenders are rather dissimilar.

In R v. Harrison, a patched Mongrel Mob member of some thirty years standing was a party to a murder committed by a gang prospect. The victim was probably another gang member, although that is not certain. Although Harrison did not pull the trigger, the High Court found, and the Court of Appeal agreed, that both were involved in a common criminal purpose, and therefore although he didnt actually shoot the victim himself, Harrison was just as guilty as the shooter.

Harrison had a long criminal history including a manslaughter in 1987, a conviction for wounding with intent to injure in 2005, and a conviction for assault in 2007.

His first strike offence  which put him in line to receive LWOP for murder  was what the Crown conceded was a relatively low level indecent assault. Harrison had brushed his hands over the breasts and buttocks of a female cop, and had been convicted of indecent assault. It is probably fair to say that if he was not a gang member, and the victim had not been a cop, he would probably have got away with common assault, or perhaps not been charged at all.

R v. Turner was a nastier case. Turner was a man of 29 who had lived on the streets since he was 15. He had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and had amassed 110 previous convictions, 22 of them for violence. Although the usual claims of mental illness were made on his behalf, there was no evidence that he was mentally ill, either in the medical or legal senses.

Turners victim was a fellow homeless man who was about twice his age. After his arrest, Turner told police that he had visited the victim twice on the night in question, and returned a second time sober as with the express intention of killing him. Turner repeatedly stomped on the victims head over a period of about 30 minutes; mercifully it appears the victim was dead after the first couple of stomps.

Turners first strike offence was much more serious than Harrisons  an assault with intent to injure inflicted on a former girlfriend. After a prolonged attack, the victim suffered traumatic brain injuries and had teeth knocked out. She was put on life support, and was hospitalized for 14 days. At the time he committed murder, Turner was on parole for the assault on his girlfriend, and had been out of jail only about two months.

The cases in the High Court  reasons for not imposing LWOP

In the High Court, both Harrison and Turner were convicted of murder. In both cases two different Judges declined to impose LWOP for different reasons, although both cited the disproportionality of LWOP. Harrison was sentenced to life with a minimum non parole period (NPP) of thirteen years. In his case, the Judge avoided what she acknowledged was the presumptive sentence of LWOP by reference to Harrisons first strike offence  the low level indecent assault.

In her judgment, the Judge opined that parliament cannot have intended LWOP to be imposed for a second strike murder where the first strike offence was relatively minor offending of its kind. With the greatest respect to the Judge, I am aware of nothing said in the parliamentary debates from the government benches which supports such a conclusion. On the contrary, the entire regime was based on a list of strike offences, all being violent offences, and all carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison or more. The idea  of which more later  was that repeat strike offending would attract exponentially more serious punishment. Nowhere in debates was it said that if the first strike offence was relatively low level, the presumption(s) at strike two would change.

It is unarguable that Harrisons indecent assault was at the lower end of the scale  the type of drunken grope which Graeme Edgeler pointed to as being problematic when the Bill was being debated. But again with respect, in my view that is not the point  Harrison was convicted of a first strike offence, and having committed murder as a second strike, there was no good reason not to apply the law as written.

The High Court in Turner found a different set of reasons for not imposing LWOP on him. The Judge focused on the fact that at 29 years of age, LWOP could lead to Turner spending up to 50 years in prison given his life expectancy of 75-80 years. He also said that because of his relative youth, it could not be said that he was beyond rehabilitation, although even the Judge thought his prospects of same very limited.

In both Harrison and Turner the High Court judges referred to the disproportionate sentences which would be imposed because of 3S unless the manifestly unjust provision was applied. With the greatest of respect to both Judges  and indeed the five Judge Court of Appeal bench which heard the appeals  if their Honours had read the parliamentary debates carefully, they would have known that it was exactly this disproportionality which was the entire point of the legislation! Instead of a series of incrementally slightly longer sentences for multiple instances of violent offending, 3S quite deliberately imposes an exponential two or three step regime: first offence just as before; second offence sentence to be served without parole; third strike offence to attract the maximum penalty for the offence in question.

Disproportionality was not only quite acceptable to the Nat-ACT government of the day, but was the intention, and this is made very clear if one reads the parliamentary debates, particularly at Committee stage. I recall making this point every single time a Labour member got up to bleat about disproportionate consequences for second or third strike offenders. While it is just possible to put Labours bemoaning this point down to ignorance or lack of understanding, one would not naturally come to either conclusion when talking about High Court and Court of Appeal Judges.

The cases in the Court of Appeal

In the Court of Appeal the Crown argued  quite correctly in my view  that the Judge in Harrison had effectively reversed the presumption in favour of LWOP for a second strike murder, and sought to find reasons to justify that reversal. The Court of Appeal did not agree.

Again, and somewhat perplexingly for me, their Honours focused on the disproportionality of the sentence of LWOP and the life with a 13 year minimum NPP which would otherwise be, and in fact was, imposed. Again with the greatest of respect to them, it seems to me that their Honours simply didnt get it, or more concerning, perhaps they didnt want to. As I have already noted, disproportionate sentencing outcomes at strike two and three was the entire point and intention of the legislation. Harrisons sentence was left undisturbed: life with a minimum NPP of 13 years.

In Turners case the Court of Appeal were somewhat more critical of the sentencing Judge, and while LWOP was rejected, the NPP was increased from 15 to 17 years. In Turner the Judge at first instance had taken the view that because the murder in question was not the worst of the worst, and the defendant was not clearly beyond rehabilitation, parliament cannot have intended LWOP to be imposed on him.

The Crown argued  quite correctly in my view  that Turner was exactly the kind of violent offender, whose offending was getting exponentially worse, that 3S and its mandatory provisions was aimed at. Preventing further harm to innocent victims by incapacitation  locking them up  was always the primary purpose of the 3S regime. Rehabilitation or deterrence, if they occurred, would be happy bonuses.

The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in concluding that the presumption of LWOP at stage two for murder only applied to the worst murders. Their Honours went further, and pointed out that at the same time 3S was put in place, another amendment to the Sentencing Act was made which provided for LWOP for the worst murders regardless of an offenders strike history. (See s.103 (2A) of the Sentencing Act). That particular amendment  supported by both ACT and the Nats  went unremarked at the time because all the attention was on 3S.

The Court of Appeal also found that the trial Judge had erred in considering Turners prospects of rehabilitation, although they found that that error was not fundamental to the Judges overall conclusion that LWOP should not be imposed. The Court of Appeal Judges focused once again on the disproportionality of the LWOP sentence as compared with what would otherwise have been imposed  in Turners case, life with a minimum NPP of 15 years.

Again, and with the greatest respect to the Judges, I find it hard to follow their reasoning on this point  and it is certainly not supported by anything said in parliament on the government side, even when Simon Power was in charge of the Bill. In short, the Court of Appeal have decreed that, in deciding the meaning of manifestly unjust in the 3S context, it is their job to balance what is imposed prima facie by s.86E of the Sentencing Act (the section which imposes LWOP for a second strike murder) with s.9 of the Bill of Rights Act (BORA) which precludes disproportionately severe punishment.

In making that finding, the Judges purported to find that the intention of parliament was not inconsistent with their reasoning:

We assume that Parliament, in introducing the new sentencing regime for repeated serious violent offending, intended that any sentence imposed on an offender should not be grossly disproportionate to the circumstances of the offending and the offender contrary to s.9 of the Bill of Rights Act

Again with respect, it seems to me that the Judges are taking it upon themselves to decide whether the sentences which 3S gives rise to are in breach of BORA, rather than acknowledging the correct position  that parliament enacted 3S fully aware not only that disproportionate sentences would result, but with that express intention.

Still, the Judges discussions on the BORA are not all bad news for the legislators. Although they pointedly left the full discussion for another day, it seems fairly clear that when the issue is addressed fair and square, the conclusion will not be that the legislation itself breaches the BORA. Their Honours noted with approval dicta in other cases which talk of conduct which is so severe as to shock the national conscience and the Canadian test on their BORA: conduct which outrages standards of decency

Given that at the time the legislation was passed 87% of the public were in favour of it, it would be hard to argue that any aspect of 3S would meet that extremely high threshold. Although it is of course entirely unscientific, I have found that when the 3S regime is properly explained to them, even those who are generally on the left fully support it. The usual response is in fact why not just one strike?

The Crown may appeal the result of either or both cases to the Supreme Court  I have no idea whether they will. My guess is that they will not, but rather save their powder for another day, and a somewhat clearer case  perhaps a Turner type offender who is 45 and not 29. In the meantime, a further four LWOP cases are awaiting hearing in the Court of Appeal. The Judges approach to those cases must be consistent with their findings and conclusions made in these two. Given their conclusion that such cases are intensely factual, we may yet see an LWOP sentence imposed. Then of course, it will inevitably be off to the Supreme Court for a final decision.
CEDAR RAPIDS | A week after issuing denials that he would be a key adviser to Donald Trumps presidential campaign, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has been named to the candidates Agricultural Advisory Committee.

Branstad and five other Iowans have been named to the committee, which according to the campaign, will provide pioneering new ideas to strengthen our nations agricultural industry as well as provide support to our rural communities.

The others include Bruce Rastetter of Alden, president of Summit Ag Group. He has given millions to GOP candidates, including Branstad and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- a Trump confidante. He also is president of the Iowa Board of Regents that oversees the state universities.

Mr. Trump understands the critical role our nations agricultural community plays in feeding not only our country, but the world, and how important these Americans are to powering our nations economy, according to the campaign announcement.

The announcement seems to contradict Branstads spokesman, Ben Hammes, who said last week that the governor would be serving in sort of an unofficial role in advising Trump.

Hammes said the governor had spoken with Trump privately in recent weeks and had offered his advice on renewable fuels.

Rastetter, who is invested in corn and soybeans, which are used to make ethanol and biodiesel, respectively, has been mentioned as a possible Secretary of Agriculture in a Trump administration. He was seen meeting privately with Trump when the candidate was in Cedar Rapids in late July.

Other Iowans named to the Trump ag advisory panel are Annette Sweeney of Alde, a former state legislator, farmer and ag advocate; Ron Heck, a farmer and past president of the American Soybean Association; and Iowa Secretary of Ag Bill Northey.

Sam Clovis of Hinton, national chief policy adviser to Trump, also will serve on the committee.
- Some unknown gunmen have attacked Rivers state

- The gunmen reportedly intercepted a commercial bus and kidnapped 14 passengers

- Police say the 14 hostages have regained their freedom

The release of 14 passengers kidnapped by some unknown gunmen in Rivers has been confirmed by the state's police command.

Unknown Gunmen kidnap 14 in Rivers state.

A bus belonging to ONELGA Link was hijacked by some hoodlums last weekend, with 14 passengers on board. The bus was reportedly set ablaze while the passengers were kidnapped.

The police in a statement signed by its spokesman, DSP Omoni Nnamdi said the victims were rescued following the swift response of the police to the situation.

He stated that no ransom was paid for the release of any of the hostages, adding that none of the victims was hurt.

READ ALSO: Top 5 things that will kill you in Nigeria, number 1 will shock you (pictured)

Meanwhile, the police has cautioned members of the public to be weary of kidnappers who disguise as military personnel.

According to the statement, It has been observed that kidnappers have now evolved new method of wearing Army Camouflage Uniforms and the use of Hilux Vehicles in perpetrating their criminal act by claiming to be Military men on official assignment.

In view of this, the public is hereby warned to seek clearance and confirmation from the Police Control Room, before following any officer who claims to have come to arrest him/her. It has been discovered that such arrest eventually turns out to be abduction.

On the 12th of August, 2016, fourteen (14) passengers were abducted while traveling from Omoku to Port Harcourt in a bus. In a swift reaction by the Commands Tactical Units, the bus was seen and after a diligent operation by the Command; the hostages were released unhurt. They have been debriefed and have reunited with their families. However, no ransom was paid.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Francis Mobolaji Odesanya, wishes to assure the good people of the State that we are on top of our game, as we continue to wage the war against all manners of crime and criminality in the State. We urge the public to continue to have confidence in the Police, and volunteer information timely, as the Command is poised to making the State safe again.

A wave of tension was felt in Rivers state on Friday, August 12, as a commercial bus conveying about 14 passengers from Port Harcourt, the state capital to Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state was intercepted by unknown gunmen.

READ ALSO: SHOCKING! You wont believe what kidnappers did to this 18-year-old girl

The incident happened on the Elele-Ikiri-Omoku Road at about 4pm during which the hoodlums reportedly ordered the passengers out of the vehicle marked ONELGA Link, set it ablaze and whisked them away in their vehicle.

The kidnappers were said to have forced the vehicle to a halt shortly after it negotiated through a sharp bend.

The police spokesperson, Nnamdi Omoni when contacted, said he had little or no details on the incident.

He spoke to newsmen saying: Im not in the know officially. I will speak on the matter when I get full details.

In a similar development, Daily Post reports that a senior lecturer of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor John Okorie who was abducted by suspected kidnappers has regained his freedom.

This was confirmed by the Rivers state Police Command at a media briefing held at the Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt.

Spokesman of the Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni disclosed that no ransom was paid for the release of the lecturer.

Omoni said: The Lecturer was rescued within 24-hours of his kidnap. When our men got wind of the information, they swung into action. Men of the Anti-kidnapping Squad were deployed to go after the criminals and they were able to rescue him. I have to say no ransom was paid. Nobody paid anything.

READ ALSO: Fast all in one -- UC Browser

And this is a warning to everyone committing crime in Rivers state to either leave this state or turn a new leaf. We will not allow criminals to make Rivers state their haven.

Professor Okorie of the Faculty of Engineering and also the director of the offshore technology institute at UNIPORT was kidnapped on his way home on Monday, August 8.

Source: Legit.ng
GARNER  Authorities in Garner are investigating what they believe is an accidental shooting of a boy at the city shooting range, an official said.

The boy was shot while at the range early Sunday evening with his grandfather, a Garner resident, and one of the mans other grandchildren, said Garner City Administrator Randy Lansing.

City officials were called to open gates allowing the ambulance to get into the range at 2194 Sioux Ave.

Lansing would not release the names of those involved or details of the boys condition on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials believe the shooting was accidental but are still investigating the circumstances of the incident, Lansing said.

He did not anticipate charges being filed.
Legit.ng is #1 online trusted source of the latest news in Nigeria. We are covering Nigeria news, Niger delta, world updates, and Nigerian newspaper reviews. We guide our readers to the world of politics, business, energy, sports, entertainment, fashion, lifestyle and human interest stories.
- The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied having links with militants under the aegis of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta

- In statement signed by the continental representative of IPOB members in Europe, the group said MEND is living in denial of the purpose for which it was set up

- IPOB also clarified that it is not a secret group and so will no renounce Biafra in secret

Biafrans launched a Biafrexit to call for votes for a referendum like the UK government did recently.

The Indigenous People of Biafra has said that militants under the aegis of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is lacks an understanding of the purpose of freedom fighting.

A statement signed by Chika Edoziem, the continental representative for IPOB members in Europe said MEND is a group of merchants whose stock in trade is to sell the birth right of the Biafran people in the mainland and the riverine areas for a pot of porridge.

Edoziem said the group is living in denial of the purpose for which it was set up  the freedom of the people of Niger Delta.

On Monday, August 15, MEND in a statement said that the leader of the IPOB Nnamdi Kanu who is currently in prison custody had secretly agreed to renounce Biafra  a condition the group alleged Kanu opted for to speed up his release.

But Edoziem in his statement said MEND is back to what it knows best having exhausted blood money made through kidnappings, murder and accepting amnesty from slave masters.

READ ALSO: Unbelievable! MEND reveals that Kanu denies Biafra in secret, as NDA threatens army

Edoziem said: Wonders shall never end. How can the MOVEMENT FOR THE ENSLAVEMENT OF THE NIGER DELTA ever imagine that the Indigenous People of Biafra led by Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will throw its honor to the dogs by allowing itself and its honorable objective of securing the freedom of the Biafran people be tainted by group of murderers and self-acclaimed criminals

The indigenous people of Biafra IPOB under the leadership of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a movement propelled by a clear ideology and the quest for the restoration of the sovereignty of Biafran Nation CANNOT I repeat CANNOT be compromised, CANNOT be watered down in any form or shape and CANNOT be exchanged by your so called freedom.

The indigenous people of Biafra IPOB have seen groups like you who masquerade as champions of the interest of the Biafran people but are in reality instruments at the hands of the enemy, Edoziem said.

He also said that the paid advert from MEND shows that the group understand that IPOB is not a secret society.

Transparency is our watchword we do not enter into secret agreements or negotiations with acclaimed criminals and enemies of the Biafran people.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will not allow itself to be distracted by irritating house flies and publicity seeking agents of enslavement of the Biafra people.

Our focus is total freedom of our people from the contraption called Nigeria, our objective is the restoration of the sovereignty of the Biafran nation and our determination is set in stone, he said.

Source: Legit.ng
DES MOINES -- Landowners in the path of an underground oil pipeline being built across Iowa were joined by protesters Tuesday calling for the Iowa Utilities Board to address permit violations, establish a liaison to handle complaints and halt construction when proper methods are not being followed.

Mahaska County landowner Pam Alexander said Iowans' property rights are being trampled by a Texas-based company that was granted a utilities board permit last March as part of a 1,168-mile interstate crude oil pipeline from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dakota Access officials plan to complete the $3.8 billion pipeline by the end of the year.

"Landowners who signed voluntary easements are not being treated right," Alexander said during a protest held outside the IUB headquarters. "The IU Board needs to appoint someone to take care of our concerns. We need someone to stand up for Iowans who live here, pay taxes here and love this state dearly."

Likewise, Dick and Judy Lamb, a farm couple with land west of Ames that will be cut diagonally by the pipeline, said they were informed Monday that their crops had been cut but were told they would not be notified 48 hours prior to pipeline construction commencing on their land.

"There just aren't words to describe having the government seize your land and destroy it and have no recourse and nothing you can do. It's an anger and a hopelessness that I have difficulty expressing," Dick Lamb said.

Landowners and protesters delivered petitions Tuesday demanding the Iowa Utilities Board respond to complaints over violations they alleged have been committed by construction crews building the pipeline in Iowa.

"The fault rests here with the Iowa Utilities Board and the government of the state of Iowa. They allowed this to happen, they enabled it to happen and now they're washing their hands of it, walking away and not even listening to our complaints or the violations," he told the protest rally. "We're not pleading, we're not begging, we're demanding it. They need to set up somebody to deal with the infractions."

Dakota Access spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger refuted the claims made during Tuesday's protest rally.

"We are constructing this pipeline in accordance with applicable laws and the local, state and federal permits and approvals we have received," Dillinger said in a statement. "This is an important energy infrastructure project that benefits all Americans and our national economy."

However, Carolyn Raffensperger of the Science and Environmental Health Network in Ames said there is evidence construction crews -- most from outside of Iowa -- have ignored accepted practices of not working dirt when it's too wet, mixing clay and topsoil, contributing to river sedimentation and other concerns documented by "watchdogs" monitoring pipeline work.

The opposition groups say state regulators have been missing in action after approving the project permits.

"The basis of legitimate government is the consent of the governed and we are here to tell you that we have withdrawn our consent," Raffensperger said. "You do not have our consent to take landowners' land, to pollute our water and to threaten the future of future generations."

Protesters said state officials need to establish a public liaison officer similar to South Dakota and create a process for receiving and addressing complaints about pipeline construction rather than continue a "blank check" arrangement currently allowing problems to go unchecked.

During Tuesday's monthly IUB meeting, David Lynch, the board's staff general counsel, said a motion was filed Monday by the Sierra Club asking the Iowa board to appoint a public liaison officer. IUB staff is awaiting a response from the company before reviewing the request and making a recommendation.

Six complaints have been filed with board regarding the construction process, with three having been resolved or closed and one unlikely to proceed without follow-up information from the complainant. Another request relates to the issue of a 48-hour advance notice to landowners, he said.

In providing a construction update, Lynch said pipeline-related field activities are taking place in all but two counties -- Webster or Calhoun. About 60 percent of the right of way in Iowa has been cleared, 40 percent graded, 15 percent with trenches dug and 20 percent with pipeline "stringing and welding" taking place, he added.

"In general, the project appears to be the most advanced at the northwest and southeast ends of the approved route and less advanced at the central Iowa area like Story, Boone, Buena Vista and Cherokee counties," he told IUB members.

Almost all of the county compensation commission hearings have been held, with the last six hearings scheduled to be completed by Aug. 24. He did not know if any appeals had been filed regarding the compensation commission awards.

Lynch said a number of challenges have been filed and consolidated in Polk County District Court to the board's March 10 order granting Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, a hazardous liquid pipeline permit and the power to use eminent domain to acquire farmland for the pipeline. A hearing is scheduled Friday on a motion for stay of construction activities taking place on the petitioners' respective properties, he said.
Making love is an important part of life, but how important is sex for you? Thats the question Pastor Enoch Adeboye asks and answers. What he says may shock you.

This famous pastor oversees Redeemed Christian Church of God. He has something interesting to say about sex. He believes and teaches his church that having physical intercourse daily is not necessarily.

Moreover, if a Christian cannot resist the temptation to have it on the daily basis, they should repent and seek the power of God for deliverance. Why? Here is what he says:

If you know anyone who cannot go a day without sex, bring him/her for deliverance. Sex is not food. Its dangerous obsession.

We have to eat and drink water daily, but physical intimacy is not something we should die without. We have the power to control it and to abstain if needed. Apostle Paul agrees with the preacher:

Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempts you not for your incontinence. (1 Corinthians 7:5)

This Scripture clearly tells us that we can and should at times abstain from sex during fasting and prayer. However, that should not be done for a long time lest we get tempted by the devil. It means we should stay on guard and gain a proper understanding of what sex is.

God created it not only for the childbirth but for our pleasure and bonding, too. Its a strong physical and emotional urge, but we can control it. Thats why pastor says Christians, who cannot abstain from doing it daily need help and some practice in perseverance and self-discipline, too.

Source: Legit.ng
MASON CITY  Cerro Gordo County supervisors recommended unanimously Tuesday to reject an application for construction of a hog confinement facility near Ventura.

The application, from River Edge Farms LLC, met all requirements in a state matrix, but Supervisors Jay Urdahl, Phil Dougherty and Casey Callanan all had concerns with the location of the proposed facility in relation to homes and nearby wildlife areas.

The supervisors recommendation will now go to the Department of Natural Resources which has the final say.

Twenty-three people spoke at a public hearing prior to the vote  20 of whom opposed the application.

The proposed site was on 300th Street about a half-mile east of Balsam Avenue north of Ventura. The plan was to house 4,992 head of finishing hogs.

Angela Calloway, co-owner of the nearest dwelling to the site  2,415 feet from it  told supervisors she and her husband want to sell the property and had a buyer for it.

But she said the buyer is a woman with asthma with a special-needs child and she wants a nice, clean safe environment. If the hog confinement was approved, she said, Im stuck with a piece of property that is worthless.

Mary Kay Johnson of Clear Lake said, If we know we are polluting our world, why are we here? We know better. Who else messes in their own nest? Its a horrible rape of our environment.

Tom Willett told the supervisors, I feel for you. Your hands are tied, referring to the state guidelines that supercede any county action. Our issue is with the Legislature, he said, but you can be the spark that lights the fire.

Mark VanHeel chided supervisors for not sticking your neck out and taking a stand when the Mason City Council was debating the proposal for the Prestage Farms pork processing plant. Stick you neck out now, he urged them.

Becky Sexton, representing the ownership of River Edge Farms, pointed out that River Edge is family-owned and not a large corporate operation. We will be a good neighbor, she said.

Rusty Olson, president of the Hancock County Farm Bureau, also spoke in favor of the proposal. I work in a confinement every day, he said. The technology is good. The system does work.

Andy Muff, a Ventura farmer, also spoke in favor and said it was an emotional issue. He said his wife accompanied him to the meeting but became so upset with some of the comments that she had to leave the room.

Supervisor Jay Urdahl said he had concerns about the proximity of homes to the proposed site  seven within one mile of the site. Also, he said, six wildlife areas are within two miles of the site.

We are not against agriculture, said Urdahl. But this needs to be sited in a different locale. I dont know what kind of standing it will have (with the state), but I am going to vote no.

Callanan and Dougherty also expressed concerns about the location of the proposed site.

Urdahl reminded the audience that in May 2002, Cerro Gordo supervisors approved an ordinance establishing a one-year moratorium on the building of confinement facilities, with exceptions for expansions of up to 15 percent on existing facilities and exemptions for open feed lots.

Their goal was to halt construction of large commercial operations without hurting family farms. Urdahl and Dougherty, who were supervisors back then, both supported the moratorium.
MASON CITY | Foul play was not a factor in the death of a man found last week on a Mason City street, police say.

Dennis Mertz, 65, of Mason City, was found about 6:30 a.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of South Carolina Avenue, said Police Chief Jeff Brinkley.

UPDATE: Mason City police investigating death of man found in street MASON CITY  The Mason City Police Department is asking the public for information regarding

Officers performed CPR on Mertz but he died a short time later at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa. Police have not said how he died.

Investigators still are asking the public's help determining what happened to Mertz. Anyone with information can contact Mason City police at 641-421-3636.
- Babangida said he trekked from Enugu to Umuahia during Biafra war

- He described it as his toughest job

- The former head of state said being a soldier is tougher than being a president

Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has revealed that the toughest encounter in his military career was during the Biafra civil war.

The former herd of state gave this revelation during his 75 birthday which was celebrated in Minna, Niger state on Wednesday, August 15.

READ ALSO: Why I should have made National Assembly part-time - IBB

NAN reports that Babangida said during the Biafra war, he trekked from Enugu to Umuahia and also sustained serious injuries.

Movement from Enugu to Umuahia was very tough and challenging because you need to be physically fit to be able to undertake that kind of journey on foot.

We had to go through the jungles and the hills. I think it was my toughest encounter in the army because that was where I got wounded in April 1969.

He said he joined the army to protect Nigeria and being in the military means that you must subject yourself to a constituted authority to execute all the tasks assigned to you by the government.

He noted that being a soldier was tougher than the work of a president and explained that the constitutional role and international treaties made it possible for military personnel to serve anywhere in the world.

He said as a commander, the lives of the people you lead depend on you.

If they have faith in you they follow you. If you have faith in them you go along with them.

So, it is more challenging than being a president,

He said the president had the advantage of interacting and discussing with people on how to solve the countrys problem.

READ ALSO: Atiku salutes Babangida for keeping Nigeria united

Being a military officer you are the only one leading your troops hoping on you. If you lead them wrongly you will kill many of them.

So, I consider the military more challenging than the political job.

Source: Legit.ng
Editor's note: Onyedikachi Chimaobim Kalu has expresed his opinion on Nigerians identity or its absence, their oppression by white people and ensuing consequences affecting everyday life of ordinary Africans till now, touching on the topic of Biafra perception in modern Nigerian society and subconscious slavery.

I would rather live in the entity called Biafra as a beggar than live as a king in this Lugard's experiment called Nigeria. Yes, it's as serious as that. The reason is what majority of black folks don't know. Now get ready because am about to burst your bubbles and expose your views to a greater height. An adage in Biafra (Igbo) language says, if you want to kill a dog, give him a sweet pet name. To your ignorance this has been the basic principle of white men for domination, oppression, supremacy and subjugation over a black man.

They operate on this principle on a daily basis right from their incursion on the shores of black people till this minute am penning this piece. They give you a pet name and you begin to act like that dog in that adage. You feel loved and relevant not knowing they actually gave you that name to program you into a pit.

READ ALSO: Do you know Babangidas toughest job was during Biafra war? Read what he did

Have you ever wondered why all the slaves that were taken from Africa were unable to trace where they came from even after their freedom? And their descendants today still can't tell where their ancestors must have been taken from. I guess you don't know this part of the tale. This slaves were given pet names and where forbidden to bear their organic names nor speak their languages amongst themselves. The penalty for conversing in your dialect with your fellow slave is death.

Hence they (slaves) were even scared to speak their God ordained given dialect in their thoughts. Almost all the first generation slaves didn't die a natural death. They were massacred after being taken away from their children and young ones. The reason for this was for them not to begin to suggest to the new ones the way back home or teach them their local dialect which might serve as a great asset in tracing their origin. You might start wondering by now, why the White man operates in the NAME-GAME, read on.

If you take a good observation of the names blacks bear in America you might end up laughing out your eye balls out. Some of them go with the name 'Mr. Fry' and his surname might be 'Pan'. Hence he is addressed as 'Mr. Fry Pan'. Some are 'Mr. Bricks' and his surname is 'Layer'. So this man is 'Mr. Bricks Layer'. I mean no disrespect but these were stupid names given to them by their slave masters and it has been rotating from generation to generation. They were just given any word as a name just for them to forget who they were. And once the memory of who they are was successfully taken away from them, they automatically became a better Slave.

READ ALSO: Former President Obasanjo comes with another major revelation

The secret am trying to reveal to you here is, THERE IS DIVINE ATTACHMENT TO WHO YOU ARE AND IT MUST EXIST WITHIN YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS. The moment you forget who you are and that moment you leave your God ordained given name, you become a nuisance and a vagabond. God would always address his children by the name he has give to them. O Isreal, O house of David, O generation of Abraham. Often he goes like this in time past.

And this is why you must know that the organic name you bear has some sort of divine relevance. Our ancestors (Biafrans) understood this from time immemorial and that is why till date we dont just bear any name. We still have the believe that our name has about 99% role to play on who we are or will become. It might interest you to know that this is actually the FORCE behind the Biafra agitation that has propelled it into momentum. We want our lost DIVINE IDENTITY and not restructuring.

As a matter of fact, Yakubu Gowon the chief genocidist of 1967-1970 said he had tried the restructuring of Nigeria in 1967 which apparently failed. So president Muhammadu Buhari, what is so special about this restructuring that makes you think it will work now. Enough of this experimentation to see whether Nigeria will glue or not. It is on record that Yakubu Gowon sacrificed over 3.5million Biafrans to make sure the experiment called Nigeria works, hitherto it keeps failing. Thus we Biafrans are stating clear now that our bloods shall no longer be used for experiment as we are in total consciousness now and are ready to take what is rightfully ours even if it means dying for it. Hence if you are about Nigeria and restructuring, you are 101% on your own count Biafrans out.

The white man has gained a lot of progress on the NAME-GAME because they had been operating on our intelligence and we have been ignorant of it, but now we (Biafrans) are in total consciousness and now understands their games even better than they do. For this reason BIAFRA is an Identity, BIAFRA is Pride and BIAFRA is Divine. Whereas Nigeria is an Experiment, in Self denial, a lost IDENTITY and a modern Slavery in disguise. Have you ever wondered why the founding fathers and respected elites of the. condominium Nigeria didn't bear English names? In the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Belewa, Amadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Chudi Okadigbo, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Woke Soyinka, Chinua Achebe etc.

They understood the power behind Identity. But today in this 21st century we have chains of degree holders and professors who claim to be informed but are Victims of mental slavery. Very pathetic! These set of people are kleptomaniac to the very subject matter of this piece "Name-Game". Informed Slaves!

READ ALSO: IPOB speaks on MEND, denies pact with group

Maybe you should tell me how better to define a person whose Identity or Origin cannot be told from the common name he bears. We hear names like Edwin Clark, David Mark, Ben Murray Bruce and sundry. People that has origin and organic Identity but ignorance has driven them into perpetual self denial. In fact thorough investigation will prove that they were given organic names by their parents but they prefer to bear a white man's name. A name they might not be able to tell the meaning nor define.

Once I heard a white man addressing one of his boy ( a black folk) as Neeshie. And this folk always feels good, loved and special when his boss calls him that. One day I decided to investigate and inquire the meaning of Neeshie only for me to find out that it means 'Fool. This is exactly what Nigeria sounds like. No reasonable meaning, no organic value and lack divine credence. A name we were told was given to us because there was one river called river Niger. Quite hilarious and pathetic. And I reiterate, we are not after wealth nor Presidency in Nigeria but rather BIAFRA and our lost divine IDENTITY.

They came and told you, your name is South-South, South-East, Niger-Delta, Rivers State, Abia State, Delta State and sundry. You gullibly ingested. What a pity. And I ask you, who were you before all the aforementioned geographical expression? Now this is why you have lost everything divinely given to you by God and keep waddling in travail because you now lack the knowledge of who you are. They came and divide you amongst yourselves so you can hate and fight one another in order for them to exercise their hegemonous deportment. What do you think is Divide and rule? and how do you think it works?

The most rueful harm about this NAME-GAME is that it breeds and will actually get to a point it starts working on your subconscious. At this point you are a vagabond without your knowledge. Your divine Identity is lost completely. You automatically start seeing your brothers as enemies and become a pawn in the hands of your subjugators, why? Because you have left who you are. You now bear a pet name that represents self-denial. This is exactly what happened to those slaves. It's still happening today but in your subconscious. Wake UP NOW!

Say no to every pet name like Nigeria, south-south, southeast, Niger delta and sundry. These names are not who you are and are not worth your image. Wake up and go back to who you are. Go back to your God divine given organic identity and enjoy the fruit of IDENTITY. These names where given to you to be useful tools in the hands of your oppressors. They are using you to reach where they can't reach because they know that when you stand together as one, you will be a hard nut to crack and difficult to penetrate hence they are bound to fail. Remember that saying, UNITED WE STAND but DIVIDED WE FALL.

READ ALSO: Jonathan failed to rescue the Chibok girls but did not bomb them like Buhari  FFK

Let me bring vividly to you this particular point I stressed above. Did you come across the word House Nigger, in your history class? This pet name was a name given to slaves who were chosen to be pawns without their knowledge. They were meant to feel they were superior and given some sort of special treatment. Lived in the house with slave masters just to make them feel they were better than those serving in the field. So this house niggers automatically, sees their brothers as enemy and inferior. Now the house (brotherhood) is divided and the slave masters would always win the war

. You see the Trick? The trick behind the house nigger pet name is the same trick behind the niger-delta pet name but y'all don't know it. They told you, your name is Niger Delta and you are special because you have crude oil. So shun you brothers for they are only after that thing that makes you special. And guess what; our house is divided. So how do we win the war? Ignorantly, you begin to clamour your House Nigger pet name, Niger Delta Republic to your detriment because they have succeeded in dominating your subconscious by taking away who you are which is your organic IDENTITY. You can imagine someone from ikwerre in Biafra land telling you I am not Igbo.

I amfrom south-south. And a person from etche will equally say am not Igbo. Am from River State in Niger Delta.This is because their subconscious has been dominated with the house nigger mentality. Your language is Biafra language and you bear Biafra names but you are not a Biafra? Really? Even Ahoada speak and bear Biafran names but this people will tell you we are not a Biafran.

This is the worst thing that can ever happen to any living being; for your Identity to be stolen from you and you continue living in falsehood. Come to think of it, are you aware that IMO, Abia, Anambra which are core Biafran states are part of the said Niger Delta? So why do you keep deceiving yourselves. When you declare your Niger Delta Republic are you going to take them with you? I wish you are absorbing the facts imbued in this article.

I am concluding by reiterating again. Wake up now and embrace BIAFRA! If you are from the defunct Eastern region of Nigeria your divine organic God given Identity is 'Biafra'. Shun all pet names that has been given to you for they are perfidious. Bear your organic Identity names which has a better meaning to most of the white people's name you bear. They (White) don't bear your meaningful names in their land, so why bear theirs in your own land. Which is in fact, the first step to losing your IDENTITY. I am a Biafra by nature's Identity. What is your Identity?

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.

Your own opinion articles and news/photo reports from your area are welcome at info@naij.com. Drop us an email at info@corp.legit.ng telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors.

Source: Legit.ng
MASON CITY | A man police say drove through downtown Mason City on an ATV with a sword and drugs last weekend faces criminal charges.

Lucas Heilskov, 33, of Mason City, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor counts of carrying a dangerous weapon, marijuana possession and driving while barred.

Investigators say Heilskov had a 3-foot-long sword in his possession when he was stopped about 1:34 a.m. Saturday at 20 W. State St., according to court documents.

He's also accused of having meth and marijuana.

Heilskov remained jailed on Tuesday in lieu of $9,000 bond.

His next court hearing is Friday in District Court in Mason City.

-- Molly Montag
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Earlier this month, Instagram announced a new feature called Stories, which allows users to share videos that automatically expire in 24 hours.

Sound familiar?

Youre probably thinking about Snapchat, which has been doing this exact thing for the past four years. But, Instagram Stories lives on the Instagram platform, therefore giving people an all-in-one option for their Instagram and Snapchat fix.

In what might be the biggest rivalry between apps since Lyft versus Uber, users are now choosing to side as either Team Snapchat or Team Instagram. The decision is hard for some people who love Snapchat but are tempted by the convenience of having both tools in one place.

If you have yet to make up your mind about which app you want to remain loyal too, or wonder how Instagram Stories will impact people who make a living from either Instagram or Snapchat fame, here is what influencers from both platforms are saying:





Drew Binsky Goldberg is a travel blogger and influencer known as @drewbinsky on both Instagram and Snapchat. He says he wasnt a fan of Instagram Stories, at first, because he is such an avid snapchatter.

I realized that I can use it [Instagram Stories] to my advantage to collaborate more with brands on Instagram, like doing Instagram takeovers from a destination, says Binsky. But Ive also realized that my audience is different on both IG and SC (Snapchat being younger), so I have to play to both advantages.

Binsky says hes on Team Snapchat and will stick to using the app more because hes built such a large following on the platform over the last 18 months. Moreover, his target audience comes from a younger age group (16-24), which he says are the heart and soul of snapchatters.

I think the only difference is that Instagram doesnt have cool filters, and the messaging aspect is more difficult to use on Instagram (meaning lower engagement), Binsky says. And also, Snapchat is a LOT more fun to use with the filters and provides more room for creativity.



Photo by Matt Lowe

Instagram is proving to be knock off hacks, says Matt Lowe, fan of Snapchat where he goes by the name @wolfwhisperer.

Lowe is a photographer and creative who says hes becoming passionate about the topic.

My first impression was Wow, this is exactly like Snapchat, but they [Instagram] have more users and are more mainstream so theyre going to destroy Snapchat, Lowe says. Obviously, after taking a deeper look at things, Instagrams whole thing is ease of use and basic features. Less of the Snapchat filters and that kind of thing.

Lowe made one post on Instagram Stories and received four times the amount of views he receives on Snapchat. That reason alone is why he thinks influencers and brands will flock to Instagram, where they already have an existing audience.

At first, I was like, Hey, thats kinda tight. But then I was like, why would I support thievery. Instagram is like Kevin Durant. Snapchat is like Russell Westbrook. I side with the underdog, Lowe says.

Though he loves and uses Instagram (but not as much as his first true love, Twitter) Lowe feels we are witnessing theft and wishes Instagram would just let Snapchat be Snapchat. However, he points out that Snapchat doesnt really want to be seen as a social network anymore, which is why they purposefully dont allow likes or heart metrics that other platforms use.

They [Snapchat] want to be seen as a media and communications platform now. It just bums me out how much of a straight rip off Instagram Stories is. Its so blatant and unoriginal, Lowe says. At the moment, it seems like Snapchat is still going. But, its all about the teens because they dictate everything. And from what Ive heard, teens would rather stick with Snapchat, even though its UX is less friendly for the older crowd.







Seattle-based photographer Victoria Wright (@veekster, but @veekstr on Snapchat) says she wasnt thrilled when she first heard about Instagram Stories because it felt like a blatant copy of Snapchat and just one more social channel to keep up with. However, as she started to use it more, Wright says it feels like the early days of Instagram, one of more personal and simple aspects, but just on a larger scale with the community she has grown to love and be a part of for over four years.

Wright thinks it comes down to having a community versus an audience, explaining that she received minimal interaction on Snapchat and found it hard to find and connect with other users, which is something Instagrammers know and love all too well.

On Instagram, people can find me several different ways; whether its Instagram promoting me as a suggested user, or the explorer page, or seeing my interactions on others images Im not hard to find, describes Wright about why she has more success on Instagram. I also use my account as a mini portfolio  sharing some of my professional work as a photographer. Ive had many clients find me through that medium, some that have developed into commissioned Instagram campaigns.

As a result, Wright says Instagram Stories makes more sense for her because it allows for the opportunity to share a glimpse into the project shes working on.

Now we can share what goes on behind the camera lens, or discover the personality of the photographer that doesnt always resonate in their images, Wright says. Its also a great business tool, giving us another option to promote projects organically as theyre happening in real time. Plus, its nice having both options on one app, eliminating the need to visit two different apps to get the same story.

2px); width:calc(100% 2px);"> blank">A photo posted by Kameron | Chicago (@ksears) on Aug 15, 2016 at 3:26pm PDT

Kameron Sears is a graphic designer and photographer based in Chicago who wonders if Instagram Stories will be the end of Snapchat because of how convenient it is to have these features integrated into one platform.

One of his favorite things about Instagram Stories is that he can put a face to the name of the shooters he follows on Instagram, noting that he finds it really cool to watch them go on shoots and show before and after edits of what they post.

Sears was never a big-time Snapchat user to begin with, stating he rarely snaps unless he's doing something unique that actually feels worth sharing with people. Plus, he never really encouraged people to follow him on Snapchat and has more success and followers on Instagram.

I feel I'm much more likely to use Stories now because my audience reach is way bigger and a majority of them are actually interested in photography, Sears says. I'm more encouraged to share things like my editing process, get peoples' input on new camera gear, etc. Whereas on Snapchat, it's mostly friends who aren't exactly interested in that type of content, and I only have a handful of followers on Snapchat anyway.

Sears points out what most people would agree with: the only thing missing from Instagram Stories is the fun filters like face swap-and that if Instagram is able to integrate those features, Snapchat is in trouble.

Vincent Carabeo, a photographer and social media lover, says he's Team Instagram because of convenience and community. Carabeo says he's involved with a community of creatives on Instagram, and that Snapchat is just a completely different experience. However, he notes that most influencers are looking at this from the perspective of creative as opposed to every day people who use either platform.

People on Snapchat interact with people differently, so it's just a different experience depending on the type of user you are, Carabeo says. I can get news related stuff on Instagram if I follow those people, but right now I just follow creative types.

Moreover, Carabeo thinks Instagram stories addresses an issue he always felt Snapchat lacked: cultivating community. Similar to Wright, he thinks Snapchat makes it too hard for people to find each other, which gives Instagram a huge advantage.

Unless you told me your Snapchat handle, I wouldn't know who you were or how to find you, says Carabeo. And I mean, realistically, if I want people to know that I'm on Snapchat and follow me, I have to announce that on Instagram or Twitter.

Carabeo also makes a valid point that it's not like Snapchat was totally original, noting that it, too, drew inspiration from other companies-something Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom openly admitted to. Plus, what Instagram is doing is what it has always been about: sharing instant content.

When asked if he thinks this will be the end of Snapchat, Carabeo thinks it's too soon to make that assumption.

Obviously Instagram has taken over and it's much easier for me to follow people on there. But I'm more interested in seeing how brands will react-will they continue curating on Instagram or will they try to leverage on both? Why would a brand continue marketing on Snapchat if they have a following on Instagram? I think that will all depend on whether or not Instagram will offer the same functionalities, like geo-filters, Carabeo says. Give them a year and then we'll be able to decide which platform is better.





Cyrene Quiamco is a graphic designer known for her colorful (and seriously impressive) Snapchat drawings. Quiamco, has dedicated and invested almost two years in building her following on Snapchat and says she will continue to use it because she's already developed a relationship with her audience, meaning she can't easily switch over to Instagram.

Snapchat is my main platform and where I have the most followers, says Quiamco. Before Instagram introduced Stories, I had a hard time speaking Instagram's language of posting just one picture at a time to tell my narrative.

One of the biggest advantages to using Snapchat is that it's easier to interact with people. For now, the only way to interact on someone's Instagram story is by making a direct message. But with Snapchat, Quiamco explains that her audience can send her pictures, drawings, and a video as a response to a story. This allows for a more engaged and active audience, and Quiamco likes having active participants as opposed to passive watchers.

But, Quiamco understands the advantages that Instagram offers, a big one being growth. Snapchat does not make it easy for creators and brands to grow an audience, that is, unless you have the money to invest in it.

The main difference and advantage that Instagram Stories has on Snapchat is content and account discovery. It's just one advantage, but it's a HUGE advantage, especially for creators and brands that are struggling to grow their audience on Snapchat, Quiamco says. Besides being featured on the Snapchat Discover Page (which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and only select brands can be on it), it's hard to create a presence on Snapchat.

After using both services, Quiamco says she sees both the advantages and disadvantages to using either app, which is why she's team whichever app makes it easy for me to be creative by providing creative features and audience growth tools.

Despite being undecided, Quiamco admits she's currently using Snapchat more than Instagram.

Similarly, food blogger Tiffany Howard, known as @ohhoneybakes on Instagram and Snapchat, understands the pros and cons for both apps.

Instagram Stories is definitely simpler, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, Howard says. The main thing that attracted me to Snapchat was that it humanized people I followed on Instagram already, and it provided a less curated version of that person's life and personality. Instagram Stories is doing the same thing, but now you don't have to switch between apps to keep up with people.

Howard loves Snapchat because it isn't followers-based, but understands the convenience factor of having everyone in one place on Instagram.

I have more followers on Instagram and get more views on stories I post. My work is so photos-based that Instagram is really the best way for me to connect with people, Howard says. I try not to spend too much time on social media, but I'll likely end up just using Instagram Stories out of convenience.

2px); width:calc(100% 2px);"> A photo posted by MAGGIE MAIN (@maggiemainxx) on Aug 15, 2016 at 9:41am PDT

Maggie Main is a photographer based in Boston, MA who says she has more success on Instagram, but doesnt actively promote her Snapchat account to the public.

My first impression was wow, couldnt you be a little more original Instagram? But when I saw the final product I understood, Main says. Snapchat is very intimate for me, I follow 99 percent fitness people and friends. But Im starting to like IG Stories, I feel like its an added challenge, it shows more of someones real life but is more beautified than Snapchat shows.

Main makes an interesting point, noting that Instagrammers can now show more of their daily lives without the pressure of having to post a perfect photo that matches their curated grid. At the same time, these influencers dont have to give up their freedom of using social media for a true friendship purpose, which is why many people (Main included) use Snapchat.

That being said, Main will use both platforms equally, but really only uses Snapchat to connect with her actual friends, not her followers.

Snapchat is my escape from the beautified world of social media images! But now I can use Instagram stories to have a Snapchat when I want to show my followers what Im up to, explains Main. Because truthfully, I have very few friends who actually care about my latte art or how gorgeous this wooden cafe table is. Instagram connects me to people who share my love for imagery, travel and peaceful moments and IG stories allows me to share more of this in a less-pressured way.

The community aspect, search and discovery tools and fact that Instagram came first (so people have greater followings there) are the main reasons influencers are finding themselves deviating (almost completely) from Snapchat. Influencers already have friends, a following and community on Instagram, so they spend the majority of their time on IG, and Stories will only keep them there longer. Likewise, people who have developed a large audience on Snapchat find that their platform works better for them.

Personally, Ive been testing out both apps and I find myself naturally wanting to post one thing to Snapchat, and other things to Instagram Stories. But when it comes to watching and following other people stories I lean more towards my friends and family, which, to me, means Snapchat. On Instagram Stories, influencers showing me their day-to-day activities annoy me and Im more inclined to skip through their story more so than a good friends. But, that could be due to the fact that Im not a photographer interested in the work of other photographers.

For now, influencers and users will stay where they are comfortable and well known, but a year down the road, things will look different. That could mean Snapchat veers into becoming an online publication for media and news, whereas Instagram continues to cultivate community for creative types and amateur photographers. Or maybe it becomes a place for creatives to build community with other creatives. Only time will tell.
Kuala Lumpur-based Project B, a social enterprise cafe started by Malaysias Dignity for Children Foundation, is a youth-run project that allows Malaysias underprivileged groups, some from refugee backgrounds, to set foot in the kitchen. Alongside indigent youth from Malaysian backgrounds, here refugees with roots in places like Myanmar, Pakistan, and Afghanistan undergo instruction from some of Malaysias top chefs, ultimately learning how to cook national favorites. The cafe brings bright, promising young refugee children face-to-face with the local community, enabling the refugees to learn how to cook national and regional dishes to better integrate them into the gastronomical landscape of the host country.

Malaysia is home to more than 150,000 asylum applicants seeking refugee resettlement. The vast majority are ethnic Rohingya, a 1.3 million-strong stateless group originating from Myanmar, the sending country for 92 percent of Malaysias refugees. Most Rohingya undertake perilous journeys on rickety boats across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to start life anew in countries like Malaysia. However, since Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it lacks a legal framework to handle its large population of asylum seekers, particularly in the realms of education and employment.

For young children, accessing education remains an acute challenge, but more than 120 Malaysian community-learning centers have stepped in to offer informal primary and secondary education, ensuring that almost 50 percent of refugee children receive access to an education.

The Dignity for Children Foundation is an example of another community organization fostering the skills to succeed. In particular, its cafe gives vocational training to youth in the food and beverage industry, instilling discipline and responsibility to the next generation. Housed in a modern, brightly-lit space on the industrial Sentul Raya Boulevard, one wall of the cafe is adorned with a decorative Scrabble set, spelling out positive messages through words like dream, future, and hope. This type of empowering messaging underscores the themes of community uplift practiced by the foundation, which seeks to offer social support and a real future to practical training to Malaysias future. Inside, adolescents move around washing up plates, taking orders, and delivering menu items to patrons.

One hallmark dish of the eatery is an aromatic plate of nasi lemak, Malaysias national dish of coconut milk-infused rice served on banana leaves. The go-to menu item comes wrapped in disposable brown paper, the fluffy white coconut rice smothered in curry and served with egg, roasted peanuts, ikan bilis (anchovies), and sambal (a hot sauce derived from chili peppers, shrimp paste, ginger, shallots, garlic, and fish sauce, among other ingredients). The casual no-plates affair is a perfect menu item to allow the refugees to learn a simple but popular dish, and give them a taste of Malaysias bold flavors.

For coffee aficionados, Project B offers the home-brew Kopi B, a warm cup o joe that hits a sweet spot. Malaysia teems with myriad kopi varieties: from the simple kopi susu served with condensed milk, to kopi-o, a steaming hot cup sprinkled with sugar, to the kopi-o kosong, or pure black coffee that revs up a tired visitor, Malaysia  a traditionally tea-producing country  has proven that it has equally taken to the dark brew. However, expect a somewhat more bitter, stronger and thicker concoction in peninsular Malaysia. The majority of coffees are made by pouring boiling water through cloth-held grounds with a sock filter. Kopi-tarik, foaming at the top after a fast-paced dance of multiple pours and re-pours, can re-energize the most sluggish customer, as can kopi-c, a form of coffee sweetened with evaporated milk (think Carnation). Yet in scorching summer months, Project Bs iced latte (or the iced mocha, if not iced black option) may be the perfect antidote to balmier temperatures.

At Project B, the menu is straightforward, and features an entire category dedicated to fried chicken (or ayam goreng). Under fried chicken, patrons are introduced to the hot and spicy berempah, or signature crunch chicken and chicken with a crispy buttermilk coating. One of the specials listed under the numberless combos is The Signature, a mouth-watering mix of two pieces of chicken, chicken salt fries, and a dignity stew served with a soft drink. Patrons can also try a classic Malaysian combo featuring two pieces of chicken and nasi lemak, served with condiments and a soft drink. For regional cuisine, a Korean option of two chicken pieces with kimchi jigae and drink is offered. The sides include buffalo wings tossed in a savory buffalo sauce or Thai-style wings marinated in light, but piquant flavors. For a slightly more saccharine twist, a classic brownie with walnut toppings, or the signature chocolate chip cookie, are available at the countertop to indulge in.

On the day I visited, the youth were preparing the wonderfully-named shoestring fries, sprinkled with chicken salt, as well as prepping salty onion strings with garlic aioli. In the kitchen, I asked them about how their lives in Malaysia differed from their home countries, and they universally spoke about Malaysia offering a better opportunity, with the DFC foundation serving as a pathway to success in a country that was known as much for its multiculturalism and inclusive character as it was for its standard plate of nasi lemak.

As I walked out of the kitchen, I beheld the art project adorning the walls, pithily titled Railed Stories, an allusion to Project Bs proximity to Sentul railways. The visual stories patched togethered offered a glimpse into the hard labor from the rich tapestry of ethnic groups populating Sentul today, who literally laid the tracks with new tales for one of Kuala Lumpurs most iconic railroad communities. All the artwork on the wall is for sale, with proceeds going directly to the Dignity for Children foundation, which ultimately seeks to empower underprivileged children to break the cycle of poverty through quality education.

Sabrina Toppa is a New York-born writer and journalist covering travel, food, and politics. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, TIME, NBC News, VICE, and other outlets.
ST. ANSGAR | A female driver was airlifted to a Rochester, Minnesota, hospital after a single-vehicle rollover near St. Ansgar Tuesday afternoon.

First responders were dispatched at approximately 3:30 p.m. to Hickory Avenue, south of St. Ansgar, according to the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office.

The female driver of the black sedan was taken from the scene by ambulance. She was later airlifted by Mayo One to Rochester.

The Sheriff's Office did not release additional details.

Mitchell County EMS, St. Ansgar Fire and Mitchell County Ambulance provided assistance at the scene.

 Ashley Miller
Conman Tahir Ali flashed all relevant documents such as identity card, a mobile phone number and his office address before filling in a proforma and taking a Harley Davidson Street 750 worth INR 5.7 lakhs on a test drive. The Harley Davidson showroom in Banjara Hills Hyderabad has a special route for test rides but the man sped across a different route to never be seen again.

A case has been lodged with the Banjara Hills Police under Section 379(theft) and Section 420 (cheating) of IPC. The police are also inspecting CCTV footage of the showroom in efforts to nab the thief while on checking, it was found that fake phone number and email were mentioned on the proforma invoice.

Harley Davidson Street 750 is Indian Motorcycle of the Year 2015. Read review here

This is not the first time such a robbery has taken place. A few weeks ago, a luxury car dealer had complained of the same when a conman drove off with a Rs 60 lakh car. The cops have not able to find any trace till now.

Usually in such cases, the stolen vehicle is never found. Most of the time, the conman will either change the license plates, generate fake paperwork, and sell it off to a gullible buyer; or dis-assemble the vehicle and sell off the parts.

The dealer on their part, play it very safe when they hand over the keys of a new vehicle to a customer who has approached them for test drive. They usually send one of their employees along with the vehicle, who makes sure that the customer drives the car on the set route in a proper manner, and does not run away with the car. But sometimes, like in the case above, the conman prove to be smart for the dealer.

UPDATE

The screen shot from CCTV footage, showing the man riding away with Harley Davidson.

Thanks to phone call records and CCTV footage, police have nabbed a man, who is believed to be the alleged conman. As per NDTV report, this man, named T Kiran is an IIT graduate and works with ONGC. His father is an ex-army man, and resides in Hyderabad.

Harley Davidson Street 750  Photos
Pilot and co-pilot of Indigo flight 6E 237 have been suspended. The reason, the duo almost landed the plane on a parallel road to the runway they were supposed to land the plane.

The flight which took off from Ahmedabad, was headed to Jaipur. As per schedule, the aircraft arrived near Jaipur airport, and was getting ready for landing on time. Just when the aircraft was about to land, when it was 900 feet above the ground, sirens in the cockpit went off.

Surprised / shocked, the pilot and co-pilot soon realized the reason for the loud sirens. They were about to land on the parallel service road next to the actual runway! Before the plane descended any further, the pilots managed to take the plane back to a respectable altitude and perform the landing run once again. This time on the runway and not the parallel road.

If the pilots would have made it any later in realizing their error, it could have turned into a major disaster. Both, pilot and the co-pilot were grounded by Indigo. DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Government of India) is probing this serious lapse.

Indigo later issued a statement which read  IndiGo Flight 6E 237 enroute Ahmedabad to Jaipur being operated with A320 aircraft VT-IGK was involved in EGPWS too low terrain warning on February 27, 2016, when the aircraft was on finals during visual approach at runway 27 at Jaipur. The captain-in-command immediately took a precautionary measure and carried a go-around. The aircraft landed safely on subsequent ILS approach on runway 27.

At IndiGo, the safety and security of customers, crew and the aircraft is top priority. At no time the safety was compromised. Both the pilots have been taken off from flight duty with immediate effect by IndiGo chief of flight safety pending investigation. The matter was duly reported to the DGCA by IndiGo flight safety department.
In their quest to develop higher quality mandarins, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are zeroing in on the traits that will help them breed the best fruit.

Last year, they released the mandarin cultivar currently known as '7-6-27,' which UF/IFAS researchers say is soaring with interest, and with more than 100,000 trees already ordered.

In a newly published study, Fred Gmitter, a UF/IFAS horticultural sciences professor, and his colleagues, including doctoral student Yuan Yu, found genetic markers for fruit quality traits that will be useful in future cultivar-breeding efforts.

Scientists wanted to know whether, for example, genetic markers -- or "signposts," as Gmitter calls them -- for qualitative and quantitative traits in one group of mandarins lined up with these traits in other mandarins. Qualitative traits would be such things as peel or flesh color, while quantitative traits would include weight, size or shape.

In this study, the markers developed in one mandarin family predicted the fruit quality traits in 13 other unrelated varieties, Gmitter said. Without this process, researchers might have had to plant and grow 250 or more trees to maturity -- a process that takes several years -- to find a single one that has all the genetic characteristics they want in a new variety, Gmitter said.

The study's findings translate to good news for consumers and growers, he said.

"Better fruit for consumers, from Florida growers, for a longer period of time," said Gmitter, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, Florida. "Though growers will still have to wait for the new varieties to be selected, we will be producing even better ones than if we didn't have these markers to use."

The fruit -- popularly known as tangerines -- might even be less expensive because it's closer to the market -- not importing from Spain or trucking them across the country from California, Gmitter said.

That would be helpful to Florida growers and consumers because amid the steady increase of fresh mandarin consumption -- 1.39 pound per capita in 1991 to 4.17 pounds in 2012 -- Florida's share of the market has decreased. California now dominates the market, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.

In addition to cutting costs, Gmitter can already see another potential advantage to using genetic markers to breed better mandarins in the future.

"Imagine if we could also develop markers for phytonutrients, those things in the citrus fruit that improve human health; we could then breed simultaneously for better-looking, better-tasting, and healthier mandarins," he said.

The study is published in the journal Tree Genetics and Genomes.
The nonmedical use of prescription drugs and the misuse of sedatives and opioids were associated with subsequent suicidal thoughts or attempts in a study of Chinese adolescents, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

Suicide is a leading cause of injury and death worldwide. The overall rate of suicide in China is lower than it was in the 1990s but suicidal ideation (thoughts) and attempts are still problems among adolescents in China.

Ciyong Lu, M.D., Ph.D., of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, and coauthors studied 3,273 students (average age almost 14) from randomly selected schools in Guangzhou who were surveyed from 2009 to 2010 and followed up at one year. The follow-up group included 3,145 students.

Among the 3,273 students (almost 51 percent of whom were girls), 1.8 percent reported nonmedical use of opioids, 0.8 percent of sedatives, 1.8 percent of stimulants and 2.8 percent of any prescription drug. Overall, 17 percent of students reported suicidal ideation and 3 percent reported suicide attempts at follow-up.

Nonmedical use of any prescription drug and misuse of opioids and sedatives at the start of the study were associated with suicidal thoughts. Misuse of opioids and nonmedical use of any prescription drug at the start of the study were associated with subsequent suicide attempts, according to the results.

Possible explanations for a link between the nonmedical use of prescription drugs and suicidal thoughts or attempts are the intoxicating effects of drugs use, possible mood-altering effects and the loss of inhibitions, which could facilitate suicidal behavior, according to the study.

The study notes limitations that include the use of self-reported data and the exclusion of students who had dropped out of school or who were not present when the survey was administered.

"Based on the findings of our study, effective prevention and intervention programs should be established," the study concludes.
When Shayla Haddock was born in 1997, her parents immediately realized something was wrong. The sixth of seven children, Shayla had unusual facial features. She had club feet and shorter-than-normal limbs. She was smaller than most newborns. Hearing tests showed she was deaf.

As her parents, Cheryl and Levko Siloti, searched for answers about her condition, they worried: Had some preventable event during Cheryl's pregnancy caused Shayla's symptoms? Could identifying her diagnosis improve her treatment options? If Shayla's siblings wanted to become parents someday, would their children be at risk for the same illness?

"It was kind of an emotional roller coaster," Cheryl Siloti said. Over the years, doctors suggested many diagnoses for Shayla, but medical tests repeatedly disproved their theories. "We would get these possibilities and then hear 'Nope, that's not the answer.'"

The Stockton, California, family's quest for answers illustrates the challenges of diagnosing rare genetic diseases, and illustrates how and why scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine are devising new approaches to help.

As much as Shayla's parents longed for a diagnosis, they almost didn't get one. On Aug. 10, 2012 -- only two weeks after Shayla's doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford concluded that they could not match her genetic patterns and symptoms to a disease -- a scientific report about a newly discovered link between a genetic defect and a rare disease was published that would have allowed them to diagnose her. But at the time, genetic-testing results were not routinely re-analyzed to take into account new knowledge. The family and doctors remained unaware that the answer was out there.

Genetic re-analysis

Last year, as part of a scientific study, Shayla's parents agreed to have her genome re-analyzed. This time, Stanford computer scientists used new computational tools they had developed to compare Shayla's gene sequences to the scientific literature. They found the 2012 scientific report and predicted that Shayla had a rare genetic disease called Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome, which her doctors confirmed.

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"With each passing month, more of the world's genetic diversity is represented in scientific databases, and each time more information is there, it's easier to interpret the next thing you see," said Jon Bernstein, MD, Shayla's clinical geneticist at Packard Children's and an author of the new report, which was published online July 21 in Genetics in Medicine. Ten percent of the patients in the study -- four individuals, including Shayla, out of 40 who did not receive diagnoses after their first genetic analysis -- were diagnosed with various rare diseases based on recent discoveries, even though the initial analyses had been conducted an average of only 20 months earlier.

These "near misses" highlight a big challenge in the realm of precision health: Although the speed, cost and effort involved in obtaining individuals' genetic sequences has dropped dramatically in recent years, it still requires about 20 to 40 hours of work by trained experts to match a patient's rare mutations to information in the scientific literature that might reveal a diagnosis. Among patients suspected of having a rare genetic disease, 75 percent aren't diagnosed the first time they have their DNA analyzed. And yet the knowledge base is growing fast. Each year, researchers discover the cause of about 250 genetic diseases and also find 9,200 links between specific gene variants and known diseases.

Too many to diagnose by hand

"Our study demonstrates that reanalysis of patients' gene-testing results is useful because there's a steady rate of discovery," said Bernstein, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine.

"But there is no way we'll have enough manpower to continue to do all the analysis manually, as clinicians and scientists have done in the past," said Gill Bejerano, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor of developmental biology, of computer science and of pediatrics.

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Bejerano led the computer scientists who devised the automated approach used in the new research. Several million Americans may have some form of rare genetic disease, he noted -- too many to diagnose by hand. "Rather than continuing to invest dozens of hours in each patient's analysis, our team thought it made more sense to spend that time building computer science tools that can do much of the work for us," he said.

In the new study, the scientists tested whether automated comparisons between undiagnosed patients' genomes and existing gene databases could accelerate diagnosis. The approach worked.

"The genome is ultimately a programming language," Bejerano said. "We really would like to use machine learning and other approaches to build computer systems that leave as little as possible work for the human expert. A computer is going to be weaker than a human at doing this, but we think we can take the process 80 to 90 percent of the way by computer and provide a huge time savings for the human in the loop."

Comparing patients', parents' genes

Another key finding from the new research, according to Bernstein and Bejerano, is that comparing patients' gene sequences to those of their parents greatly speeds the diagnostic process. Such comparisons help turn up new disease-causing mutations that occurred in the patients but are not present in their parents. "These things stand out more easily if you have the parents' data in front you," Bernstein said.

In Shayla's case, her diagnosis brought her family the answers they'd long been seeking. She doesn't share her disease-causing mutation with her parents; instead, it occurred spontaneously in her. It wasn't preventable, nor is there any expectation it would affect her siblings' children. "It really relieves a lot of worry to know that," Siloti said.

The diagnosis also has helped the Silotis find other families whose children have the same diagnosis. They share stories on a Facebook group and feel they've found a new sense of support and community. "We've always believed that knowledge is power," Siloti said. "It is wonderful to have some answers, especially after such a long search."
Following coronary angioplasty, beta-blockers did not significantly improve mortality rates or reduce the number of future cardiovascular incidents for older patients with stable angina but no history of heart attack or heart failure, according to a study published in the JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Using data from the NCDR CathPCI Registry linked with Medicare information, researchers examined records from 755,215 patients from 1,443 sites between January 2005 and March 2013. Of this group, 71.4 percent received a prescription for beta-blockers, medication used to control blood pressure and other heart-related conditions. The patients on beta-blockers tended to be younger, female, and more likely to have a history of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, dialysis, and prior angioplasty.

After adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, hypertension, and other variables, researchers found no significant differences in outcomes at 30 days. Mortality rates and the occurrence of cardiac events were both under 1 percent.

At the three-year mark, patients taking beta-blockers had the following outcomes compared to those who were not:

Mortality rate: 14 percent vs. 13.3 percent

Incidence of heart attack: 4.2 percent vs. 3.9 percent

Occurrence of stroke: 2.3 percent vs. 2 percent

Occurrence of a revascularization procedure: 18 percent vs. 17.8 percent

The study also found that at three years, 8 percent of patients taking beta-blockers were readmitted to the hospital due to heart failure, compared to 6.1 percent of patients not on this medication. The use of beta-blockers for angioplasty patients treated for stable angina increased over the eight-year study period.

Stable angina, a symptom of coronary artery disease, is characterized by chest pain associated with activity or emotional stress. It typically occurs when the heart doesn't get as much blood as it needs, usually the result of one or more blocked arteries.

Apurva A. Motivala, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, the study's lead author and an interventional cardiologist affiliated with New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University, said the apparent lack of efficacy of beta-blockers in this group of patients may seem counterintuitive.

Motivala also said that because these patients had a higher prevalence of traditional risk factors that lead to adverse cardiac events, it is possible that without beta-blockers, they would not have done as well. The reasons for the increased incidence of hospital readmissions due to heart failure in this group remain unclear and require further study.

In an accompanying editorial, Anthony G. Nappi, M.D., a cardiologist at Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, and William F. Boden, M.D., FACC, professor of medicine at Albany Medical College and chief of medicine at Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, said that some of the findings may be the result of selection bias with respect to which patients received a beta-blocker prescription.

But the editorial writers said that by focusing on a Medicare population, the investigators may have controlled for some of the selection bias, though data are lacking on overall beta-blocker adherence.

They also said that the increased frequency in beta-blocker prescriptions over time "is perhaps not surprising" and part of changing ideas about optimal medical therapy for coronary artery disease. This study, along with others, raises questions about the continued role of beta-blockers in patients with coronary artery disease undergoing angioplasty, especially since there is no evidence of clinical benefit in patients without prior heart attack or heart failure.

"Clinicians will need to decide whether they will continue to extrapolate older scientific evidence of beta-blocker efficacy in selected post-heart attack populations from an earlier era prior to the advent of angioplasty and optimal medical therapy," Nappi and Boden wrote. "Perhaps such treatment decisions need to be guided by physician judgment and hence individualized to the level of patient benefit versus risk, because definitive evidence is either imperfect or lacking."
Our planet is nestled in the center of two immense, concentric doughnuts of powerful radiation: the Van Allen radiation belts, which harbor swarms of charged particles that are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. On March 17, 2015, an interplanetary shock -- a shockwave created by the driving force of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, from the sun -- struck Earth's magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, triggering the greatest geomagnetic storm of the preceding decade. And NASA's Van Allen Probes were there to watch the effects on the radiation belts.

One of the most common forms of space weather, a geomagnetic storm describes any event in which the magnetosphere is suddenly, temporarily disturbed. Such an event can also lead to change in the radiation belts surrounding Earth, but researchers have seldom been able to observe what happens. But on the day of the March 2015 geomagnetic storm, one of the Van Allen Probes was orbiting right through the belts, providing unprecedentedly high-resolution data from a rarely witnessed phenomenon. A paper on these observations was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research on Aug. 15, 2016.

Researchers want to study the complex space environment around Earth because the radiation and energy there can impact our satellites in a wide variety of ways -- from interrupting onboard electronics to increasing frictional drag to disrupting communications and navigation signals.

"We study radiation belts because they pose a hazard to spacecraft and astronauts," said David Sibeck, the Van Allen Probes mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who was not involved with the paper. "If you knew how bad the radiation could get, you would build a better spacecraft to accommodate that."

Studying the radiation belts is one part of our efforts to monitor, study and understand space weather. NASA launched the twin Van Allen Probes in 2012 to understand the fundamental physical processes that create this harsh environment so that scientists can develop better models of the radiation belts. These spacecraft were specifically designed to withstand the constant bombardment of radiation in this area and to continue to collect data even under the most intense conditions. A set of observations on how the radiation belts respond to a significant space weather storm, from this harsh space environment, is a goldmine.

The recent research describes what happened: The March 2015 storm was initiated by an interplanetary shock hurtling toward Earth -- a giant shockwave in space set off by a CME, much like a tsunami is triggered by an earthquake.

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Swelling and shrinking in response to such events and solar radiation, the Van Allen belts are highly dynamic structures within our planet's magnetosphere. Sometimes, changing conditions in near-Earth space can energize electrons in these ever-changing regions. Scientists don't yet know whether energization events driven by interplanetary shocks are common. Regardless, the effects of interplanetary shocks are highly localized events -- meaning if a spacecraft is not precisely in the right place when a shock hits, it won't register the event at all. In this case, only one of the Van Allen Probes was in the proper position, deep within the magnetosphere -- but it was able to send back key information.

The spacecraft measured a sudden pulse of electrons energized to extreme speeds -- nearly as fast as the speed of light -- as the shock slammed the outer radiation belt. This population of electrons was short-lived, and their energy dissipated within minutes. But five days later, long after other processes from the storm had died down, the Van Allen Probes detected an increased number of even higher energy electrons. Such an increase so much later is a testament to the unique energization processes following the storm.

"The shock injected -- meaning it pushed -- electrons from outer regions of the magnetosphere deep inside the belt, and in that process, the electrons gained energy," said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at Goddard and the leading author of a paper on these results.

Researchers can now incorporate this example into what they already know about how electrons behave in the belts, in order to try to understand what happened in this case -- and better map out the space weather processes there. There are multiple ways electrons in the radiation belts can be energized or accelerated: radially, locally or by way of a shock. In radial acceleration, electrons are carried by low-frequency waves towards Earth. Local acceleration describes the process of electrons gaining energy from relatively higher frequency waves as the electrons orbit Earth. And finally, during shock acceleration, a strong interplanetary shock compresses the magnetosphere suddenly, creating large electric fields that rapidly energize electrons.

Scientists study the different processes to understand what role each process plays in energizing particles in the magnetosphere. Perhaps these mechanisms occur in combination, or maybe just one at a time. Answering this question remains a major goal in the study of radiation belts -- a difficult task considering the serendipitous nature of the data collection, particularly in regard to shock acceleration.

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Additionally, the degree of electron energization depends on the process that energizes them. One can liken the process of shock acceleration, as observed by the Van Allen Probe, to pushing a swing.

"Think of 'pushing' as the phenomenon that's increasing the energy," Kanekal said. "The more you push a swing, the higher it goes." And the faster electrons will move after a shock.

In this case, those extra pushes likely led to the second peak in high-energy electrons. While electromagnetic waves from the shock lingered in the magnetosphere, they continued to raise the electrons' energy. The stronger the storm, the longer such waves persist. Following the March 2015 storm, resulting electromagnetic waves lasted several days. The result: a peak in electron energy measured by the Van Allen Probe five days later.

This March 2015 geomagnetic storm was one of the strongest yet of the decade, but it pales in comparison to some earlier storms. A storm during March 1991 was so strong that it produced long-lived, energized electrons that remained within the radiation belts for multiple years. With luck, the Van Allen Probes may be in the right position in their orbit to observe the radiation belt response to more geomagnetic storms in the future. As scientists gather data from different events, they can compare and contrast them, ultimately helping to create robust models of the little-understood processes occurring in these giant belts.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, built and operates the Van Allen Probes for NASA's Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate. The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star program, an initiative managed by Goddard and focused on aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect human lives and society.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKlho5eXuLQ
Biologists at the University of Washington hope September will bring welcome news for a dazzling array of sea creatures that have long been victims of human aesthetic fascination.

At a meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, an international assembly of scientists and policymakers will decide then if the chambered nautilus and its kin -- all quizzically shaped relatives of squid -- should be subject to global restrictions on trade and collection. With nautilus numbers plummeting in the Philippines and other regions due to their prized shells, many researchers say it is long past time to protect these mysterious marine creatures.

"Unregulated fishing is a huge issue for these animals," said Frederick Dooley, a researcher and instructor in the UW Department of Biology. "We're at risk of losing whole populations just as we're learning about their genetic diversity."

Dooley is one of several scientists and students working with Peter Ward, a lauded expert on nautiluses who also happens to be a UW professor of biology and Earth and space sciences. Through three decades of sun-baked, salt-encrusted field studies across the Pacific basin, Ward and his team have shown that nautiluses are more widespread than scientists once thought.

They have tracked the health of nautilus populations from the Great Barrier Reef to the Philippines and collected genetic data to decipher the puzzling genetic diversity of these "living fossils." Ward's discoveries about these long-lived enigmatic loners have shown the world how nautiluses eat, reproduce, travel and stay afloat in the narrow range of ocean water pressure and temperature they can tolerate.

"Previous studies showed that nautiluses like to stay close to the relatively shallow bottom areas near island chains," said Lauren Vandepas, a UW biology graduate student working with Ward and Dooley. "But now we have documented nautiluses among island chains thousands of miles apart and our genetic data show that far-flung populations likely breed with one another. How does this happen?"

So even after decades of study, the nautiluses still surprise Ward and his team. Scattered among these recent discoveries, which throw cold water on old ideas that nautilus populations are isolated from one another, is the occasional surprise. Last year near New Guinea, Ward and his team spotted a rare nautilus species for the first time in 30 years.

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"What a surprise," said Ward. "We had set up baited traps to attract nautiluses, and of course they came. But we also saw this rare species, which we had not seen since the early 1980s!"

Ward's body of research has helped policymakers recognize the impact nautiluses have on ocean ecosystems, as well as how they can -- and cannot -- replenish their numbers in the face of unrestricted, unregulated fishing.

"Nautiluses are not harvested for meat, food, products or any other practical purpose -- just their shells," said Dooley. "In areas where harvesting is high -- like the Philippines -- we see a crash in the nautilus population."

The September meeting in Johannesburg will determine which species should be subject to new restrictions on trade, harvesting and collection by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. All but a handful of countries have ratified the convention, which since 1975 has imposed limits on trade of over 35,000 species. Protections under the CITES conventions can range from the total prohibition of imports and exports to limits on collection or licensing requirements.

This year, the United States delegation to CITES will propose regulating trade in nautilus species, shells and products. Normally, a country only advocates protection for a species within its borders. While the tropical nautilus seems far removed from Alaskan salmon or Maine lobster, Ward's team verified that nautiluses definitely reside within United States waters -- specifically around American Samoa.

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In June, Ward testified at a meeting of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome, presenting recent data from his team and collaborators that laid bare the precarious decline of nautilus populations. Delegations from over 50 countries were present. Along with representatives from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, they helped stave off an effort to block consideration of nautiluses at the upcoming CITES gathering. This gives Ward hope for the Johannesburg meeting.

"This was a big hurdle, as attendees included major doubters and skeptics," said Ward. "I stood before them with data -- data gathered by my current team over the past five years, data from former UW graduate students who are now faculty members or researchers -- Tom Tobin, David Smith and Shane Schoepfer -- as well as data from our colleague Greg Barord at the City University of New York."

Ward, Dooley and Vandepas and their colleagues continue to gather, process and analyze the surprising diversity of nautiluses. These creatures are a delightful contradiction for biologists. They appear in the fossil record going back millions of years, yet show recent genetic adaptations and signatures of evolutionary change. In short, they are a delightful crop for biologists who seek to understand evolution, ecology and genetics.

Assuming, that is, that the nautiluses can be preserved.
Circulating viral infections may help explain the temporal and geographical patterns associated with the risk of developing childhood celiac disease, conclude Swedish researchers in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

But the role of vitamin D during pregnancy may also have a part to play, they suggest.

They base their findings on a long term study of almost 2 million children up to the age of 15 who had been born in Sweden between 1991 and 2009.

In all, 6569 of these children from 47 hospitals across the country were diagnosed with celiac disease -- a condition in which the small intestine is excessively sensitive to gluten, making it hard to digest food -- before the age of 15.

Overall, the risk of diagnosis was around 10% greater among children born in spring (March-May), summer (June-August), and autumn (September-November) than it was among those born in winter (December-February).

But seasonal patterns differed by region. Risk of celiac disease was highest among those born in the south of the country, where sunlight in spring and summer is intense, than it was among children born in the north of the country, where springs are colder and summers shorter.

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Furthermore, children diagnosed before the age of 2 seemed to be at increased risk of the disease if they were born in spring, while those diagnosed after this age were at increased risk if they were born in summer or autumn.

Year of birth was categorised into three periods to see if there were any differences in trends: 1991-1996, when there was an epidemic of new cases; 1997-2002 which followed the epidemic; and 2003-2009 when the epidemic had abated.

This showed that children born in 1991-6 were at increased risk of being diagnosed with celiac disease if they were born during the spring, while children born in 1997-2002 were at increased risk if born during the summer and autumn. Those born in 2003-09 were at increased risk if born in the autumn.

Risk of celiac disease was consistently higher among girls than it was among boys for all time periods and seasons.

This is an observational study so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, added to which the study authors were unable to glean any information on potentially influential factors, such as infections and vitamin D status.

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But they nevertheless speculate about possible explanations for their findings.

"One hypothesis for increased [celiac disease] risk and spring/summer birth is that those infants are more likely to be weaned and introduced to gluten during autumn/winter, a time characterised by exposure to seasonal viral infections," they write.

Viral infections alter intestinal bacteria and increase the permeability of cells lining the gut, which could prompt the development of celiac disease, they suggest.

In Sweden, it is well known that the yearly epidemics of respiratory syncytial virus, rotavirus, and flu start in the south of the country and move northwards, which might also explain the associations seen, they add.

Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked to immune related diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes, although every child in Sweden is given state funded vitamin D supplements from 1 week of age up to the age of 2 years.

"A remaining possible link to sunlight and vitamin D is that pregnant women who give birth in spring have the lowest levels of vitamin D during late gestation when important programming and development of the fetal immune system takes place," they suggest.
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For more than 120 years the Venus Table of the Dresden Codex -- an ancient Mayan book containing astronomical data -- has been of great interest to scholars around the world. The accuracy of its observations, especially the calculation of a kind of 'leap year' in the Mayan Calendar, was deemed an impressive curiosity used primarily for astrology.

But UC Santa Barbara's Gerardo Aldana, a professor of anthropology and of Chicana and Chicano studies, believes the Venus Table has been misunderstood and vastly underappreciated. In a new journal article, Aldana makes the case that the Venus Table represents a remarkable innovation in mathematics and astronomy -- and a distinctly Mayan accomplishment. "That's why I'm calling it 'discovering discovery,' " he explained, "because it's not just their discovery, it's all the blinders that we have, that we've constructed and put in place that prevent us from seeing that this was their own actual scientific discovery made by Mayan people at a Mayan city."

Multitasking science

Aldana's paper, "Discovering Discovery: Chich'en Itza, the Dresden Codex Venus Table and 10th Century Mayan Astronomical Innovation," in the Journal of Astronomy in Culture, blends the study of Mayan hieroglyphics (epigraphy), archaeology and astronomy to present a new interpretation of the Venus Table, which tracks the observable phases of the second planet from the Sun. Using this multidisciplinary approach, he said, a new reading of the table demonstrates that the mathematical correction of their "Venus calendar" -- a sophisticated innovation -- was likely developed at the city of Chich'en Itza during the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-1000). What's more, the calculations may have been done under the patronage of K'ak' U Pakal K'awiil, one of the city's most prominent historical figures.

"This is the part that I find to be most rewarding, that when we get in here, we're looking at the work of an individual Mayan, and we could call him or her a scientist, an astronomer," Aldana said. "This person, who's witnessing events at this one city during this very specific period of time, created, through their own creativity, this mathematical innovation."

The Venus Table

Scholars have long known that the Preface to the Venus Table, Page 24 of the Dresden Codex, contained what Aldana called a "mathematical subtlety" in its hieroglyphic text. They even knew what it was for: to serve as a correction for Venus's irregular cycle, which is 583.92 days. "So that means if you do anything on a calendar that's based on days as a basic unit, there is going to be an error that accrues," Aldana explained. It's the same principle used for Leap Years in the Gregorian calendar. Scholars figured out the math for the Venus Table's leap in the 1930s, Aldana said, "but the question is, what does it mean? Did they discover it way back in the 1st century BC? Did they discover it in the 16th? When did they discover it and what did it mean to them? And that's where I come in."

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Unraveling the mystery demanded Aldana employ a unique set of skills. The first involved epigraphy, and it led to an important development: In poring over the Table's hieroglyphics, he came to realize that a key verb, k'al, had a different meaning than traditionally interpreted. Used throughout the Table, k'al means "to enclose" and, in Aldana's reading, had a historical and cosmological purpose.

Rethinking assumptions

That breakthrough led him to question the assumptions of what the Mayan scribe who authored the text was doing in the Table. Archaeologists and other scholars could see its observations of Venus were accurate, but insisted it was based in numerology. "They [the Maya] knew it was wrong, but the numerology was more important. And that's what scholars have been saying for the last 70 years," Aldana said.

"So what I'm saying is, let's step back and make a different assumption," he continued. "Let's assume that they had historical records and they were keeping historical records of astronomical events and they were consulting them in the future -- exactly what the Greeks did and the Egyptians and everybody else. That's what they did. They kept these over a long period of time and then they found patterns within them. The history of Western astronomy is based entirely on this premise."

To test his new assumption, Aldana turned to another Mayan archaeological site, Copan in Honduras. The former city-state has its own record of Venus, which matched as a historical record the observations in the Dresden Codex. "Now we're just saying, let's take these as historical records rather than numerology," he said. "And when you do that, when you see it as historical record, it changes the interpretation."

Putting the pieces together

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The final piece of the puzzle was what Aldana, whose undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering, calls "the machinery," or how the pieces fit together. Scholars know the Mayans had accurate observations of Venus, and Aldana could see that they were historical, not numerological. The question was, Why? One hint lay more than 500 years in the future: Nicolaus Copernicus.

The great Polish astronomer stumbled into the heliocentric universe while trying to figure out the predictions for future dates of Easter, a challenging feat that requires good mathematical models. That's what Aldana saw in the Venus Table. "They're using Venus not just to strictly chart when it was going to appear, but they were using it for their ritual cycles," he explained. "They had ritual activities when the whole city would come together and they would do certain events based on the observation of Venus. And that has to have a degree of accuracy, but it doesn't have to have overwhelming accuracy. When you change that perspective of, 'What are you putting these cycles together for?' that's the third component."

Putting those pieces together, Aldana found there was a unique period of time during the occupation of Chichen'Itza when an ancient astronomer in the temple that was used to observe Venus would have seen the progressions of the planet and discovered it was a viable way to correct the calendar and to set their ritual events.

"If you say it's just numerology that this date corresponds to; it's not based on anything you can see. And if you say, 'We're just going to manipulate them [the corrections written] until they give us the most accurate trajectory,' you're not confining that whole thing in any historical time," he said. "If, on the other hand, you say, 'This is based on a historical record,' that's going to nail down the range of possibilities. And if you say that they were correcting it for a certain kind of purpose, then all of a sudden you have a very small window of when this discovery could have occurred."

A Mayan achievement

By reinterpreting the work, Aldana said it puts the Venus Table into cultural context. It was an achievement of Mayan science, and not a numerological oddity. We might never know exactly who made that discovery, he noted, but recasting it as a historical work of science returns it to the Mayans.

"I don't have a name for this person, but I have a name for the person who is probably one of the authority figures at the time," Aldana said. "It's the kind of thing where you know who the pope was, but you don't know Copernicus's name. You know the pope was giving him this charge, but the person who did it? You don't know his or her name."
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Noncompete agreements signed by former employees of a business sold as part of an asset purchase are not personal services contracts and, thus, are enforceable by a purchasing company under Missouri law, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded.

Two former mobile X-ray technicians working for Ozark Mobile Imaging, which was sold to Mobilex, went to work for Mobilex's competitor, BioTech X-Ray, after rejecting offers of employment from Mobilex. Mobilex sued both former employees to enforce the noncompete and confidentiality agreements they had signed when they were working for Ozark Mobile.

The noncompetes stated that each employee was entering into the agreement "[i]n consideration of his/her employment by Mobile Medical Services Inc., Ozark Mobile Imaging, Clearview Mobile Imaging, LLC and/or its affiliates." They also stated that during the term of employment and for two years afterward, the employees agreed within a specified geographical area not to: "(1) directly or indirectly engage in the mobile diagnostic business; (2) in any manner be connected with or employed by a person, company, firm or corporation engaged in the mobile diagnostic business; and (3) for himself/herself or on behalf of any other person, partnership, or corporation call on any customer or customers of Mobile Medical Services, Ozark Mobile Imaging, Clearview Mobile Imaging, LLC and/or its affiliates, for the purpose of soliciting their business for others."

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri ruled for the employees, concluding that a personal services contract cannot be assigned to a subsequent employer under Missouri law without the employee's contemporaneous consent. The 8th Circuit reversed.

Noting the lack of Missouri Supreme Court decisions on the issue, the 8th Circuit predicted that the Missouri Supreme Court would follow the majority rule among states that noncompetes are assignable contractual obligations that do not require the employee's contemporaneous consent. Although the Missouri Supreme Court has held previously that personal services contracts, which involve "special knowledge, skill or a relation of personal confidence," are not assignable without consent of both parties, the 8th Circuit held that this case was distinguishable. Specifically, the court noted that the noncompete agreements at issue in the present case are "free-standing noncompete and confidentiality agreements" and "[n]either agreement formed part of a larger employment agreement that required [the employees] to provide personal services of any kind to Ozark."

The "crucial difference between a personal services contract and a noncompete agreement," according to the court, is that "the former requires affirmative actions by the employee, whereas the latter requires only that they refrain from certain actions." That the employees signed the noncompete agreements in exchange for continued, at-will employment did not, according to the court, transform those agreements into personal services contracts. Consequently, the court reversed and sent the case back to the district court, leaving the former employees free to argue that the noncompetes are too restrictive.

Symphony Diagnostic Services No. 1, Inc. (d/b/a MobilexUSA) v. Greenbaumm, 8th Cir., No. 15-2294 (July 6, 2016).

Professional Pointer: The enforceability of noncompete agreements requires a state-specific analysis. Employersand multistate employers in particularshould not assume that a noncompete agreement that is enforceable in one state is necessarily enforceable in another state.

Scott R. Eldridge is an attorney with Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC in Lansing, Mich.


Rahayu had lost her home, her family and her eyesight - all at a very young age. The orangutan first arrived at the International Animal Rescue (IAR) emergency rescue center based in Ketapang, Indonesia, in 2011. Rahayu was initially found by locals near an area where a palm oil company was located. Due to the arrival of the palm oil company, the area was deforested and many orangutans were displaced, according to IAR.

Rahayu as a sick baby | International Animal Rescue

"It is a wonder that more baby orangutans haven't been found there," IAR wrote in a blog post. "The official version the villagers gave was that the baby had fallen from a tree they were cutting down. They also said the mother had abandoned the baby and run away when the tree fell."

Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap

International Animal Rescue

However, IAR noted that Rahayu appeared as if she had been separated from her family and the forest for an extended period of time - her skin was soft, and orangutans who come from the forest usually possess hard, dark skin. Whatever the story was, the fact of the matter was that Rahayu was in a dire state. She was dehydrated, suffering from a high fever and couldn't see - she had no blink reflex and didn't follow food with her eyes when it was held in front of her.

International Animal Rescue

A detailed veterinarian examination revealed that Rahayu exhibited symptoms of cerebral malaria. The disease is a form of malaria that causes a variety of neurological issues, including deafness and blindness. Her life was at risk, but after Rahayu was given medication for the disease she started to improve considerably. Fast forward to today - not only has Rahayu survived her difficult ordeal, but her vision has been fully restored as well.

International Animal Rescue

"She's still in our center and now attending forest school where she's learning all the skills she will need when she returns to the forest," Lis Key, communications manager for IAR, told The Dodo.

International Animal Rescue

Rahayu has grown up to be a tough girl who doesn't take no for an answer.

International Animal Rescue

"She is an independent orangutan," a recent update from Rahayu's caretakers said. "When she wants to play, she will play with anyone. Sometimes she is too late to come when lunch is ready, and when that happens, she whines and pokes the keepers to ask for extra meals."

International Animal Rescue

Key noted that these are all good signs that Rahayu has what it takes to fend and protect herself once she's eventually returned to the wild.

International Animal Rescue

"The cerebral malaria doesn't seem to have left her with any permanent damage and certainly hasn't affected her ability to climb and move around in the trees," Key said. "I'm not sure that whining and poking the keepers will be of any help to her out in the wild but it does indicate that she's a strong character who knows what she wants."

International Animal Rescue
Will disappeared in the heart of a snowstorm. And after 19 months, his heartsick owner had finally assumed the worst. And then, in a blink, the cat was back. Last month, Norma Moore-Dingwell returned to her home in Prince Edward Island, Canada, to find Will waiting in her yard. When she opened the door for him, it might have seemed like the cat had just been on a 19-month bender. He made straight for bed. "He remembered where his room was, so that was kinda nice," Moore-Dingwell told CTV News.

While the family is hailing his return as a miracle, Will's condition suggests he may have blown through at least eight and a half lives to get back home. "He was in pretty rough shape when they found him," Dr. Dave Lister, a veterinarian at New Perth Animal Hospital, tells The Dodo. Indeed, frostbite had claimed a piece of Will's ear. He was hungry, thirsty and underweight. But Will set to work feasting himself back to health. "He gained half a pound in about two weeks," Lister notes. The cat may have also suffered from an acute cuddle deficiency. And again, Will wasted no time in remedying that. "He was a very friendly cat that morning on the table," Lister says. "He just sat there and took all the attention we gave him."

Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs

Just don't ask Will where he's been. Lister could only cobble together a few clues about the cat's long, strange trip. Wherever he was, it was cold. Hence, frostbite. There may have been other cats on the scene. Likely how he got ear mites. And the food sucked. "In his case, it didn't look like he was being fed," Lister says. "He was probably having to fend for himself by hunting."
<p><a href="http://www.cffelines.org/#!donate/cfvg" target="_blank">Caring Fields Felines</a></p>

A tiny orange kitten was lying on the side of the road, completely unable to move, when a Good Samaritan found him. "Knowing what we do, this person reached out to us," Pauline Glover, executive director of Caring Fields Felines, a sanctuary and rescue organization in Palm City, Florida, told The Dodo. "I just couldn't say no."

Glover rushed little Davey to Savanna Animal Hospital in Jensen Beach. "Dr. Ries and her staff donate time and resources to help the cats the sanctuary rescues," Glover explained. "We would not be able to do everything we do without the dedication and hard work from them."

Dodo Shows Little But Fierce Pocket-Sized Kitten Grows Up To Be A Wild Woman

That day in July when Glover brought in the tiny kitten was truly an emergency situation. The staff rushed him to get an X-ray, and discovered he had a broken cervical vertebra.

"He needed to be placed into a body cast immediately," Glover said. "Obviously, for us, putting him down was just not an option."

Six weeks later, Davey is thriving. He stays at the vet's office during the day for constant care and then a vet technician takes him home every night, to make sure Davey is never left alone.

Davey's even made an unlikely friend during his recovery: a 3-year-old foster dog named Oakley. "Oakley adores his foster brother Davey," Caring Fields Felines wrote on Facebook. "He rushes to Davey's side every time he cries."

If all continues to go well, the body cast will be removed in three or four weeks, and then Davey will start physical therapy. Once he's fully recovered, Glover hopes to find a forever home worthy of this brave little fighter.

And it seems like Davey's right on track toward getting better. Just this week, he was able to sit up on his own for the first time since the accident. "He's getting stronger," Glover said. "And he's purring like crazy."
The Great American Trump Freakout is just getting started, in which anything Trump says that can be misinterpreted as evil will be.

Liberals are readily convinced Trump saying Second Amendment supporters could do something about Hillary appointing Supreme Court judges who oppose the Second Amendment was talking about assassination.

Of course, he said no such thing.

On MSNBCs Morning Joe, they dishonestly edited Trumps statement to say, Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick  if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know. But Ill tell you what, that will be a horrible day.

OMG! That makes it sound like it will be a horrible day when Second Amendment people get hold of her, doesnt it?

Wait. Theres more.

Heres what MSNBC and others cut from Trumps speech:Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick  if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I dont know. But Ill tell you what, that will be a horrible day if Hillary gets to put her judges in.

... that will be a horrible day if Hillary gets to put her judges in.

Oh. Is that what he said?

Yes.

Editing out those words make it quite different, doesnt it?

Wild-eyed left-wingers at Alternet wrote,How do you report a story about a candidate for president implying that people with guns might want to consider killing his opponent? Yes, I know, that isnt what he actually said but it is clearly what he meant or what he wanted his supporters to hear. That was his dog whistle.

Dog whistle.

Its the dog whistle the far left, the Clinton campaign and their cronies want to hear.

What they do not want to hear is Hillary Clinton saying in Omaha at a rally on Aug. 1, ... were going to write, fairer rules for the middle class and, we are going to raise taxes on the middle class!

They say she misspoke or, like NBC, they post the video and ask, What did you hear?

She said it, unedited, loud and clear.

And because national media reporters choose to believe she misspoke, it did not become a 5-day story, regurgitated through columns and talk shows.

If it were Trump, youd be reading analyses from politically-oriented economists deciphering how his economic plan would certainly raise taxes on the middle class.

Hillarys platform includes government-subsidized child day care, truly an enormous burden on families. She plans to tax the rich, who, along with the middle class, are already being taxed to pay for your free health insurance or the health insurance that costs $2,500 a year less than the plan you had a couple of years ago.

Oh, it doesnt cost $2,500 less? Your deductible is higher?

Dont worry. This time itll really work.

Perhaps analysts might want to explore how she will fund this without raising taxes on the middle class.However, journalists should approach only economists and financial analysts whose research accurately predicted President Obamas Affordable Care Act would not be affordable.

What liberals do not want to remember is John Kerry yukking it up with Bill Maher in 2006 when Maher led Kerry into a joke by asking where Kerry took his wife for her birthday.

Maher set it up, saying, You could have went to New Hampshire and killed two birds with one stone.

Kerry rejoined, Or, I could have gone to, 1600 Pennsylvania, and, killed the real bird, with one stone.

Cue the laugh track.

The media didnt voice outrage for days on end, liberals didnt say Kerry was unfit, and inside-the-beltway Democrats did not turn on Kerry.

Oh, and Trump said he was talking about motivated Second Amendment supporters voting.

And so we await the next Hillary-National-Media-Left-Wing Trump Freakout.
Monkeys shouldn't be pets. And the type of person who would want a pet monkey, coincidently enough, is probably the same type of person who especially shouldn't have one. Here's a snapshot of life for one such exotic animal, apparently kept as a pet.

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog And Wild Dolphin Play Whenever They See Each Other

Facebook/Richelle Stewart

Footage taken on Sunday in front of a Walmart in Lancaster, Ohio, shows the moment a frightened monkey wearing a diaper lashes out at an employee. The animal had reportedly been roaming the parking lot after escaping an RV trailer parked nearby. Seconds later, a woman, believed to be the monkey's owner, runs forward to pry them apart. She chastises the worker for getting involved: "Let him go, let him go, let him go! If he bites you, they will put him down." She then drags the monkey away, back to the RV.
When a couple showed up at a property in Mississippi earlier this month looking to buy a puppy, they didn't get to see much of the place. Most of the sprawling property, complete with two barns and even a general store, was off-limits to visitors. The customers just handed over their money and were given a puppy. But the tiny puppy told his own story. The animal was taken directly to a veterinarian, who determined him to be very sick. In fact, the puppy's condition became grounds for a search warrant.

Amiee Stubbs

And last week, those buyers - who were actually undercover members of a rescue group called Animal Rescue Corps (ARC) - accompanied police officers and returned to that property in the small town of Senatobia. And they got the full, gut-wrenching tour.

Amiee Stubbs

Describing the scene to The Dodo, ARC founder Scotlund Haisley says there was suffering in "every nook and cranny on that property." Warning: Graphic images below There were animals in a house and in barns, and even more in rabbit hutches scattered throughout the property. Some dogs were on chains. Some were loose on the property. There were around 60 chickens. A couple of turkeys. A donkey.

Dodo Shows Dodo Heroes Woman Devotes Her Life To The Stray Dogs Of Bali

Amiee Stubbs

They all had one thing in common. "These animals were suffering greatly," Haisley says. "Every one of them. There wasn't a healthy animal on that property. "It was a property of horrors."

Amiee Stubbs

And then there was that barn with a small outbuilding attached. On missions like this, ARC workers wear heavy-duty respirators. They're designed to protect them from the often overpowering stench of urine and rot in the air. The respirators have cartridges specifically designed to block ammonia in the air. And they were entirely useless in those buildings. "That was so bad, it penetrated our respiratory gear," Haisley recalls. "We had a couple people vomit."

Amiee Stubbs

But there was nothing to shield their eyes from the scene awaiting them inside. In those dark, damp confines, the floor seemed to writhe with maggots. Animals in various states of misery - infested with parasites, brutally matted fur, skin burns from lying in their own urine - seemed to have given up on life.

Amiee Stubbs

"These animals had succumbed to death," Haisley says. "There was no life in them whatsoever." Or so it seemed. Until these inmates got their first taste of the sun.

Amiee Stubbs

"When we brought them outside and they were breathing in the fresh air and feeling sunshine, I honestly believe it was the first time," Haisley says.

Amiee Stubbs

Not every animal made it out alive. "A handful of animals went to an emergency vet because they were dying," he notes. "Unfortunately, a few did die."

Amiee Stubbs

A necropsy on one of the dogs revealed the cause of death was starvation. The property owner has not yet been identified because charges have yet to be laid. Most of the nearly 200 from the property were ushered to an emergency shelter set up specifically for the rescue. They will be examined, vaccinated and treated - and ultimately, they will find real homes. With those new homes and real families, the ordeal these animals went through will eventually fade. But until everyone adopts pets from shelters and rescues, rather than buying them from a store, the pet mill cycle will continue to grind on.
A downtown Toronto restaurant owner feels hes been thrown under the bus after the city gave him a permit for a patio on a public plaza  and then told him to remove it.

A public outcry led Andrew Richmond, the owner of the Mexican restaurant La Carnita, to agree to take down a fenced-in terrace along John St., south of Adelaide St. W.

I feel like weve been thrown under the bus and demonized, he told the Star Tuesday. All we do is try to bring culture to the city, through art, music and food.

He was issued a building permit that included the proposed reshaping of outdoor patio, unaware that the plaza is a privately owned publicly accessible space, or POPS. He says no one told him La Carnita was not allowed to put up an enclosed terrace until after the fence was built.

La Carnita has agreed to remove the patio within the next 48 hours. I want to get past it. I want to get back to making good food, Richmond said. Im willing to work with everyone to figure this out.

A spokesperson for the developer and landlord, Pinnacle International, said it didnt intervene because its tenant, La Carnita, had a permit from the city to build the terrace.

Its very difficult for us to tell them to take it down when they already have documentation from the city, said Anson Kwok, Pinnacles vice-president of sales and marketing, last week.

Andrea Frisina and her husband Vince were among the residents of a neighbouring condo tower who complained to the city about La Carnitas terrace. But the furor over the patio only started in earnest after Jake Tobin Garrett, the manager of policy and research for the advocacy group Park People, noticed La Carnita had claimed the plaza and sounded the alarm on his personal blog.

We have so few public spaces, in the downtown especially, Garrett told the Star. We need to protect all the slivers of public space we can carve out for people.

As he noted, the plaza is one of more than 100 POPS across Toronto. They are courtyards, parkettes and other spaces that are privately owned and maintained, but where anyone can stretch their legs.

At least, in theory.

La Carnita isnt the only business that has recently been accused of encroaching on a POPS.

The city has received complaints that an Aroma Cafe, in the northwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton, has put out tables and chairs in a public space, along with a sign saying seating is reserved for customers, city staff in the planning department said.

Coffee shops are welcome to build terraces, but they shouldnt usurp open space, said Terry Mills, a community activist who lives in the neighbourhood and made the complaint.

The cafe didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

As for La Carnita, the property developer, Pinnacle International, agreed to create a publicly accessible landscaped open space on John St. as a condition for the buildings approval. In exchange, the city cut Pinnacle some slack in terms of height and density requirements, under the controversial Section 37 of the Ontario Planning Act, to build a mixed-use tower.

Frisina, the building resident, was glad to learn the fence will be taken down.

Its too small a space to have a dining patio and a public retreat for residents of Toronto to sit and enjoy, she said on Tuesday.

When she moved in last year, the plaza had granite blocks and fountain for all to enjoy. Less than 12 months later, the area was closed to everyone but customers of La Carnita and a sign read, Please do not sit on the rocks.

Frisina was irritated because she says her condo purchase price included a fee paid by the developer worth thousands of dollars per unit for the open space.

These fees are assessed under Section 37 of the planning act. It means the city can negotiate with a developer for community benefits such as a POPS. In exchange, the developer can get approval for a building is taller or denser than allowed by zoning bylaws.

Frisina, the condo owner, is angry with the restaurant, the developer Pinnacle and the city, for not acting quickly enough.

As far as Im concerned, the permit was wrongly obtained, so I dont understand why this has taken months, she said. It seems it has only happened since the negative media attention.

A business licence was, in fact, issued to La Carnita endorsing a patio on private property, but it must still obey zoning regulations and other conditions, said city planning spokesperson Bruce Hawkins. The city has added signs to avoid any confusion about POPS locations, but the plaza outside La Carnita pre-dated the change.

A POPS is sometimes an invisible line that you cant see, in terms of where it ends and where it starts, said Kwok, the spokesperson for Pinnacle.

Ward 22 Councillor Josh Matlow, who sponsored the motion to identify and protect POPS in 2012, said public open spaces are not a landlords to give away.

Open spaces are critical to our basic quality of life, for recreation, for relaxation, for breathing room in the midst of Canadas largest city, he told the Star.

We dont want to see Toronto turn into one large wind tunnel full of glass condos.

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Apartment building owners are struggling to rent many of the luxury units that have flooded downtowns across the U.S. in recent years even as a relative shortage of multi-family homes in the suburbs has driven up rents.

Since 2012, the nations supply of apartments has swelled 16.6 per cent in central business districts and 13.5 per cent in secondary core areas surrounding the downtowns, but just 5.5 per cent for mid-priced suburban units, according to real estate research firm CoStar.

The downtown building frenzy has been well-publicized as developers cater to millennials, among other age groups, who have streamed into revitalized cities to be closer to amenities, nightlife and a car-free lifestyle. The CoStar data, however, shows that builders may be putting up too many apartments  most of which are at the high end of the market  in the urban hubs and not enough in outlying areas.

Over the past four years, the vacancy rate in downtowns and adjacent districts has climbed from 3.4 per cent to about 5.5 per cent, CoStar figures show.

Although new apartment complexes typically take some time to lease up, many units have been sitting empty longer than normal. Nationally, new apartments had an average 52 per cent vacancy rate when they opened in the first quarter of 2013, and the rate for those dwellings fell to about 11 per cent within 18 months.

By contrast, new units opening in the first quarter of 2015 had a 72 per cent vacancy rate that declined to 18 per cent over a similar period. The higher vacancies were driven by luxury buildings in central business districts, says CoStar Chief Economist Hans Nordby.

These new flashy, splashy downtown buildings  they have a vacancy problem, Nordby says. They are too expensive to rent and there are too many of them. At the same time, he says, Theres not much supply of new apartments in the suburbs.

As a result, since 2012, average rents have risen 12.3 per cent in downtowns and 18 per cent for mid-level suburban apartments, CoStar says.

The city-suburb split is playing out in metro areas across the country but its particularly acute in large cities such as Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago. In Los Angeles, about 5,500 apartments have opened downtown the past 3  years, with typical rents of about $6,500 a month, and the districts overall vacancy rate has climbed from 4.5 per cent to 9.9 per cent, according to CoStar data.

Niko Deleon, owner of Niko LA Leasing in Los Angeles, says most high-end downtown buildings have been forced to offer amenities such as free rent for up to six weeks.

In the suburbs, just 1,900 mid-tier units have been added since 2012 and vacancy has fallen to 2.8 per cent from 3.7 per cent. In suburbs such as Santa Monica, many landlords are requiring minimum credit scores of 700 and are willing to hold apartments with a security deposit for just several days, compared to a typical few weeks, says Jessica Sanders, client relations specialist for Pacific Listings, a website for apartment hunters.

A shift may be underway. In recent years, more apartment complexes have gone up in the suburbs of cities such as Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte as investors make more financing available and local officials become more willing to build infrastructure, says Stockton Williams, head of the Urban Land Institutes Terwilliger Center for Housing.

Things are starting to change, he says.

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SEATTLEWhen U.S. federal agents arrested a Russian man in the Maldives in 2014, they found 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers on his laptop computer, a federal prosecutor told the jury during opening statements.

That was 1.7 million people who had eaten at the wrong restaurant and their personal information was sitting on that mans computer, assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Wilkinson said of Roman Seleznev. He had collected the credit card numbers by hacking into restaurants in Washington and other states, Wilkinson said.

The evidence will show that for seven years, the defendant was one of the largest traffickers of stolen credit card numbers in the world, Wilkinson said Monday

Seleznevs lawyer, John Henry Browne, said he will decide by Tuesday morning whether he will make an opening statement.

Browne plans to argue that prosecutors have failed to adequately connect Seleznev with the computer hacks that hit more than 200 businesses over several years. Browne also will likely argue that the agents who took possession of Seleznevs computer opened it without a warrant and may have tampered with or altered some of its data.

The judge had previously refused to grant a motion to suppress the information taken from the computer, but said Browne can make the argument to the jury.

Seleznevs trial in U.S. District Court is expected to run more than two weeks.

After the jury left for the day, Browne told U.S. District Judge Richard Jones that he objected to Wilkinsons mention of Seleznevs arrest in the Maldives. Browne and the Russian government had argued that the arrest was a kidnapping that violated international law. But Jones had ruled in earlier hearings that the kidnapping claim could not be brought up during trial.

Wilkinsons statements about the Maldives may be grounds for a mistrial motion, Browne said.

The prosecutors opening statement laid out the history of the investigation into seven years of hacking.

Agents started on Seleznevs trail in 2010 after a deli in Idaho was hacked and credit card data was stolen, Wilkinson said. The U.S. Secret Service and local detectives traced the hack to a computer server in Russia, he said.

The agents found some of the stolen credit card numbers being sold on a website being run by a hacker who used the nickname Track2, he said.

Detective work eventually linked the point-of-sale hacking to stolen card sales and then to a computer server in Virginia, where some of the stolen data was stored.

A search of that server found 170,000 stolen credit card numbers, but a review of its internet activity also revealed personal email activity of Roman Seleznev, he said.

It showed that Seleznev had purchased a plane ticket in his own name, had bought flowers for his wife and had participated on an online poker club, Wilkinson said.

The agent found Roman Seleznevs fingerprints all over the crime scene, Wilkinson said. This trial will be about exposing the fingerprints, that the defendant is Track2.

Seleznev was indicted in 2011, but the agents couldnt arrest him in Russia. But in 2014 when they learned he was on vacation in the Maldives, they worked with local police to arrest him at the airport.

He was brought back to the U.S. to face an indictment that was amended to include 40 felony counts that include bank and wire fraud, hacking and identity theft, Wilkinson said.

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CLYDE RIVER, NUNAVUTBritish actor Emma Thompson says she received a lesson in the pervasiveness of modern celebrity as Inuit children surrounded her at a grocery store in a remote Canadian Arctic community.

Its very bizarre coming here and having all the kids asking, Wheres your tooth? Wheres your tooth?

The kids, she says, were expecting to see the same person she plays in the popular Nanny McPhee childrens movies.

Theyre very confused about the fact I havent got a great huge tooth sticking out, laughs Thompson.

Thompson is in Clyde River, Nunavut, to use that celebrity for a very different reason.

Part of a Greenpeace delegation on a two-week trip to the hamlet halfway up the eastern coast of Baffin Island, Thompson hopes to help local people in their opposition to seismic testing in the ocean they depend on for food.

My roles always as a storyteller, trying to get the story of the people out as far as I can and make the story interesting to people who have very busy lives, she said Tuesday.

Clyde River is opposing National Energy Board approvals of an extensive program of offshore seismic tests in the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. The hamlet, along with a long list of other Nunavut groups, says the underwater blasts will harm and chase away the marine mammals it hunts.

The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to hear the appeal in November.

Its really only the mass movement of people that changes anything, said Thompson, a two-time Oscar winner, whos been a member of Greenpeace since she was 16. The more I can do that, the more people are aware, that shines a light on the Supreme Court decision.

Greenpeace has been involved with Clyde Rivers fight for more than two years and has sailed to the community at the invitation of Mayor James Qillaq, said Greenpeace campaigner Farrah Khan.

During the visit, solar panels are to be installed on the community hall. The panels are expected to reduce costs from diesel-generated electricity by about $4,500 a year, said Duncan Martin, whos putting up the equipment.

Local people are being trained to maintain and operate the panels, which were paid for by Greenpeace.

Thatll allow people here to both service this, should it ever need service, and also to have an idea of how they could put in another system, he said.

Khan said Greenpeace will also hold workshops on non-violent direct action.

People have been asking us, What if we lose at the Supreme Court and seismic vessels do come in to start actually blasting the water? We want to learn about peaceful protest. We want to put our bodies in the way of this.

Thompson, who has visited other parts of the Arctic with Greenpeace, said the region is being damaged by actions elsewhere.

(The Arctic) is a protective shield for the Earth, she said. Climate change is probably the single biggest threat to our future.

People are beginning to wake up to the fact that water, climate, food are going to be in very short supply unless we act very, very quickly.

Those connections are the ones we all need to be making now.

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CALGARYAn Alberta judge has upheld a human rights decision that found a private school discriminated against two Muslim students by not allowing them to pray.

The Alberta Human Rights Commission tribunal found in 2015 that Webber Academy in Calgary unlawfully discriminated against the students and fined the school $26,000.

The boys, who were in Grades 9 and 10, testified that praying is mandatory in their Sunni religion.

The school, in appealing the tribunals decision to the Court of Queens Bench, argued that the boys parents were told Webber Academy was non-denominational and there was no space in the school for praying.

The tribunal applied well-established principles of law. For many years, public and private schools have been required to adhere to human rights legislation in offering their educational services to the public, wrote Justice Glen Poelman in a decision posted this week.

Discrimination is permitted only when reasonable and justifiable as determined by well-established principles.

Poelman said the tribunal made no errors in its decision and the damages awarded were reasonable.

The founder and president of Webber Academy was disappointed by the ruling.

Its not what we were hoping for, said Neil Webber.

We wanted to make sure that students at our school would be able to pursue their studies without the distraction of religious activities being carried out by members of any religious group on campus.

Webber said what happened with the complaint to the human rights tribunal is exactly what the school had been trying to avoid in adopting a non-denominational policy.

He said its too early to say what the schools next move will be but it could include an appeal to a higher court.

The judge said the school does deserve some credit.

Webber Academy ... adopted a public policy of welcoming young people of many faiths and cultures, and to exemplify its policy, published photographs of students with turbans and facial hair even though these practices contravened usual school policies, Poelman said.

For some reason, it drew the line at Sunni prayer rituals, conducted in private, in a place that was convenient to the school and the students from time to time.

The students, Sarmad Amir and Naman Siddiqui, were told in 2011 that their praying  which requires bowing and kneeling  was too obvious in a non-denominational school.

They continued to hold their prayers in secret in the school, or even outside in the snow.

I had this intense sense of shame and humiliation, despite that I was just exercising my right as a Canadian citizen, as a human being, to practise my faith, Siddiqui testified before the human rights tribunal.

A prominent Calgary imam welcomed the courts decision.

I agree with the decision because those young boys were just practising their rights and their rights should be respected, said Syed Soharwardy of the Al-Madinah Calgary Islamic Assembly.

He is also the founder and current president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

Theyre not ... causing any disturbances. They are not causing any nuisance. They are just praying. We have to respect the rights that every Canadian citizen has and they have the right to worship.

Despite the matter ending up in court, Soharwardy said he doesnt believe there was any malice involved in Webber Academys stance.

I do not believe they had any bad intentions to stop these young boys from prayer. I think they just did not understand the legal rights that these boys had. I dont believe it was a racist position.

Soharwardy suggested Webber Academy should consider changing its policy and allow all denominations to pray if they want to.

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OTTAWACanadas police chiefs want a new law that would force people to hand over their electronic passwords with a judges consent.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has passed a resolution calling for the legal measure to unlock digital evidence, saying criminals increasingly use encryption to hide illicit activities.

There is nothing currently in Canadian law that would compel someone to provide a password to police during an investigation, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Joe Oliver told a news conference Tuesday.

Oliver said criminals  from child abusers to mobsters  are operating online in almost complete anonymity with the help of tools that mask identities and messages, a phenomenon police call going dark.

The victims in the digital space are real, Oliver said. Canadas law and policing capabilities must keep pace with the evolution of technology.

The police chiefs resolution comes as the federal government begins a consultation on cybersecurity that will look at issues including the best way to balance online freedoms with the needs of police. The consultation runs until Oct. 15.

Police demands for access to online communications and the concerns of civil libertarians about privacy rights have created tensions around the globe in recent years.

The issue came to fore last year when the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation went to court in a bid to crack the password of a terror suspects iPhone following a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.

Oliver said Canadian police also continue to seek a means of more easily obtaining basic information about telecommunication subscribers, such as name and address, to help advance investigations beyond an early stage.

In June 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled police must have a judges authorization to obtain customer data linked to online activities.

The high court rejected the notion the federal privacy law governing companies allowed them to hand over subscriber identities voluntarily.

Police say telecommunication companies and other service providers  such as banks and rental firms  now demand court approval for nearly all types of requests from authorities for basic identifying information.

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OTTAWAAdvocates for a group of hunger-striking immigration detainees were shocked Monday to hear Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale say none had replied to his request for details of why their detention was unfair.

In fact, 17 of 50 detainees in two Ontario jails who ended a hunger strike in July responded to Goodales invitation conveyed to them by Canada Border Services Agency officials.

Syed Hussan, a member of the End Immigration Detention Network, told the Star that many wrote Goodale to make their individual case, and others did not.

Many of the detainees refused to participate. They didnt know what it was for. They didnt know it came from Goodales office, Hussan said, adding many felt that, the onus is not on the detainee to prove why he shouldnt be in there. The onus is on the government to explain why someone is in prison without trial or charges, in the case of the people we work with, mostly for two-plus years.

Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Goodale, told the Star Tuesday that the minister was not fully briefed with the latest information on the hunger strikers file prior to a news conference in Laval, Que., Monday.

After Goodale unveiled details of a plan to transform the immigration detention system in Canada, reporters asked how the announcement would satisfy the concerns of the detainees who carried out a 19-day strike in July.

Goodale did not refer to the detainees call for a 90-day limit on detentions, an end to maximum security imprisonment of immigrant detainees, and stronger judicial oversight and review of detention. None of those demands was met, says Tings Chak, another spokesman for the End Immigration Detention Network.

Goodale said he had sent detainees a written message outlining the broad nature of his plan and invited them to make their individual case for release to him directly.

I have not yet received those written descriptions, but, certainly, when I do receive them I will read them with great care, Goodale said.

However, on Tuesday, Goodales press secretary said the ministers office received 17 replies, but the minister has not yet read them.

Bardsley said Goodales written message was not a letter directly to the detainees, but a copy of a blog post he wrote for Huffington Post.

With so much happening on the ministers files, including the aborted terrorist attack in Strathroy last week, Bardsley said Goodale was not fully briefed prior to meeting reporters.

Bardsley told the Star Goodales plan doesnt provide money for more room at Torontos immigration holding centre, because it does not have a capacity shortage.

He said Ontario detainees would benefit from the extra $15 million to be spent nationally on developing alternatives to detention and on extra health services.

The boost in funding for health services is only for detainees in the care of the federal government in immigration holding centres, he added. Services for immigrant detainees held in provincial jails are set out in agreements with provinces that are periodically renegotiated.

Goodale called Mondays announcement a major step in the right direction to alleviate the root causes of those pressures.

However, advocates for migrants detained in three immigration holding centres and provincial jails across Canada disagreed.

Its promising that the government is now acknowledging that there is a problem that detainees have raised for three years nationally, Hussan said Tuesday. But the only specifics that we know of is millions of dollars being poured into building new prisons.

And we dont need new prisons. Immigration detention is imprisonment without trial or charges.

It must end.

In a news release, a Montreal-based group Solidarity Across Borders, echoed the same concerns. Noe Arteaga Santos, a member of the group, said it demands the closing of all immigration detention centres.

No migrants should be detained at all.

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The Canadian government has apologized and will provide millions in compensation for the forced relocation of the Sayisi Dene First Nation 60 years ago in northern Manitoba.

The move has been widely blamed for causing unnecessary deaths, hunger and a wave of violence that swept through the community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett is fulfilling an agreement reached three years ago with the Sayisi Dene, a community of about 300 people living in northern Manitoba.

Bennett is apologizing three times at events in Winnipeg, Churchill and Tadoule Lake. The Dene are also receiving a $33.6-million compensation package from the federal government, deposited in a community trust.

Without proper consultation, without explanation and without adequate planning, the federal government took your people from the land and the waters that sustained you, Bennett said in prepared remarks delivered in Tadoule Lake Tuesday.

The government of Canada did not provide proper food, shelter or support following the relocation. Decades later, we recognize that the impacts of the relocation were catastrophic.

It is unbearable to consider what you lost during the years in Churchill, Bennett said. No one, and no people, should have had to experience such treatment in Canadian society.

Chief Ernest Bussidor was born one month before his family and about 250 other residents were forced from their homes in Duck Lake, Man. in 1956, to an icy riverbank near Churchill, Man.

I probably witnessed a lot more tragic events than I should have . . . and most of us of that generation have that same notion, Bussidor said. A lot of children died. That kind of stuff never leaves you.

People freezing to death, fires, you name it.

The Sayisi Dene were relocated about 250 km east because the provincial and federal governments believed they were causing a steep decline in the caribou herd  which was later proved to be untrue. In their new location near Churchill, food was scarce and housing inadequate. Many of the Dene lived in tents, scavenged the local dump for meals and were assaulted by Churchill residents.

About one-third of the relocated Dene died as a result of poverty, racism and violence, the Manitoba government said in a 2010 apology.

Whether the apology and money is too little too late is up for debate among members of the community, said Jeff Harris, one of the lawyers who helped the Sayisi Dene negotiate the compensation package with the government.

After being relocated, the Sayisi Dene were no longer able to rely on hunting and the community fell into disarray in the 1950s.

By the 1970s, members of the community began walking west, back toward their traditional territory, to set up camp at Tadoule Lake.

The federal apology comes with a settlement package aimed partly at economic development, which was approved by the community three years ago. About $5 million from the package is being divided among 150 people who survived the initial move to Churchill, in allotments of $15,000 to $20,000 each.

The rest of the trust money will be used for programs benefiting the Dene, including a grocery subsidy program. Tadoule Lake residents can expect normally high grocery prices to drop anywhere from 20 per cent to 50 per cent, thanks to subsidies from the trust. Rather than spending $10 on a jug of milk, families may now pay $5, Harris said.

Bussidor said the money will help the communitys youth, but seems a bit hollow given decades of suffering caused by the relocation.

Im an elder now. Im 60 today, and 60 years it took for the government to step up and say that something was wrongfully done to your people.

Though some are grateful for the apology and compensation, Harris said.

There are a lot of challenges for a remote community and the relocation had a huge impact on them. Then you couple that in with things like the Sixties Scoop and residential schools, and theyve really taken a beating over the years, he said. I think theyve designed an excellent trust that should support their aspirations for something for the future.

The future is up to them.

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If youre thinking about attending a Donald Trump rally just to see what its all about, you might not want to let your curiosity get the better of you.

The aura of violence that surrounds these affairs, which never seems far from the surface, has been stimulated by the Republican nominees own imprudent mouth during the long and cantankerous campaign and was highlighted by his recent statement suggesting that gun rights advocates might know how to deal with Hillary Clinton. Add to that supporters with monumental intolerance toward those who disagree with their candidate and a staff that appears to lack any judgment about how to handle even the mildest protest, and there is always a danger of a rumble.

The other day during a Trump campaign rally in Northern Virginia, Joy Maloney found herself a victim of this over-exuberance. The campaign affair was being held in a Loudoun County high school auditorium and Malone was standing in a line with friends, ticket in hand, waiting to be admitted.

Now before we go any further, we should note that Maloney is a county school board member and, as a result, is personally responsible for overseeing the systems school facilities and policies. She is not a Trump fan but had decided she wanted to understand the support hes been receiving. Her education on what motivates Trump voters came quickly. The lesson: They tolerate only true believers.

A reporter approached her for an interview and she stepped out of line to honor the request, making it clear she was not a fan of Trump and that she had found his remarks denigrating minorities offensive. She added this was her daughters school.

When she attempted to return to her place in the queue, however, Trump voters behind her protested and summoned campaign staffers who told her to go to the back of the line. She refused and sat down in protest of what she believed was unfair treatment. The staffers then summoned sheriffs deputies and she was subsequently arrested, handcuffed and led away on a charge of trespassing, which carries a fine up to $2,500.

She was the only person arrested at this campaign affair, although law enforcement officials told the press that several other people were asked to leave, including a group of students wearing T-shirts that said Stump Trump on the front.

One could argue that Maloney should have either refused the interview request or moved far enough away that her remarks offensive to the Trump voters could not be heard. She might have found it even more prudent not to have attended in the first place.

But the very purpose of political stumping is to convince voters to support you. A candidate who wants only attendees who already are in his or her corner is a fool.

When Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, first appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of her senator husband, decided she would run for a full term, she was opposed by the states Democratic Party machinery and given no chance of winning. That is, until the great populist Huey Long of Louisiana spent three days stumping on her behalf. She won handily.

The charge of trespassing is patently ridiculous when applied to Maloney. As a member of the school board, she has unrestricted access to any school facility. It is also a serious question whether the sheriffs office had authority to arrest her on school property unless she was in serious violation of the law. Even though the event was private, she could have stated that in her official capacity she was there to make sure there was no harm done to school property. The board is looking at whether the Trump campaign has any authority to bar anyone lawfully on school grounds.

This is just another incident  albeit a small one  in which obviously inexperienced Trump staff members, in this case not even egged on by the candidate himself, have shown an utter lack of propriety and good sense. So far there is a decided lack of professionalism in the entire campaign.

That is, I suppose, to be expected given the fact that Trump is completely without experience in the art of politics, including its niceties. We can only hope that the incivility that lurks everywhere in this country doesnt become true violence, which would tarnish our most cherished institution, the election of a president.
The suspected terrorist who allegedly planned an imminent attack on a major Canadian urban centre last week was killed by a bullet after being shot twice as Mounties descended upon him outside his sisters home, according to his family.

Wayne Driver, a retired military officer whose youngest son Aaron Driver died after detonating an explosive device inside a taxi during the confrontation with police in Strathroy, Ont., told the Star that the family also plans to give him a Islamic funeral Thursday  on what would have been his 25th birthday.

Were going to respect his beliefs, said Wayne Driver, shortly after arriving in London, Ont., Monday to plan his sons burial.

Both Driver and Aarons older brother, Rob, say they were told by the RCMP that an autopsy concluded the 24-year-old died from one of two gunshots wounds. Driver said he was told that one bullet pierced his sons spleen, and another went through his heart and liver.

In a release Tuesday, the Ontario Provincial Policethe agency investigating Drivers death in a confrontation with Mountiesconfirmed that the 24-year-old died from a gunshot wound.

A spokesperson for the Ontario coroners office would not comment on the autopsy, citing privacy legislation and an ongoing investigation, but confirmed that one was performed.

Driver said that while his sons death has been gut-wrenching, he doesnt blame police for shooting him.

He could have blown up half the neighbourhood, right? So for them to take lethal action, I dont blame them, he said. They were just trying to make him surrender.

Rob told the Star via instant messaging that his brothers death, and the manner in which he died, has been disorienting. Sometimes you feel OK, then other times you feel numb or you are falling apart, he said.

Aaron Drivers death was reported around the world after the RCMP released a video purporting to show the Regina-born man wearing a balaclava and vowing to bring terrorist violence to Canadian soil. After reciting a Muslim prayer in Arabic, he accused Canada of waging a war on Islam and warned: You still have Muslim blood on your hands, and for this we are thirsty for your blood.

Police have said that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation provided the video and warned RCMP last Wednesday morning that an attack was planned on a major urban centre during the morning or afternoon rush hour at some point over the following three days. Eight hours later, Mounties had tracked down Aaron Driver and watched as he emerged from his sisters house and darted into a waiting taxicab.

The confrontation soon escalated, with police opening fire and the suspected terrorist detonating an explosive device inside the cab. The driver, who has not been named, escaped with minor injuries.

The RCMP declined to comment about the shooting on Monday as the Ontario Provincial Police investigates the death.

As they gathered in London on Monday, Aaron Drivers family started to process of saying goodbye.

The last time Rob Driver saw his brother was last week, when they watched a movie together at their sisters house in Strathroy. He said Aaron had lived there for about a year and seemed to be doing well working at a small auto parts manufacturer.

Nothing was different . . . . He seemed fine, Rob Driver said of their final meeting.

Aarons father doesnt remember the last time he saw his son. Wayne Driver said Aaron had been estranged from much of his family for years, leaving home when he was 16 and then dropping out of high school while living in a group home. He said his youngest child had an emotional upbringing, which included his mothers death when he was just seven and the loss of his son, who died during childbirth when Aaron was 19. He was profoundly affected by both losses, Driver said.

He supported his sons conversion to Islam until he realized how radical he had become. Driver said sometime around Christmas 2014, he was contacted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Committee. Driver recalled feeling sick and perplexed when shown an inch-thick file outlining his sons online comments. He said it included photos of mass graves and people who had been beheaded, with his son allegedly claiming the people depicted deserved to die.

I dont understand, he said, explaining that hes always felt such acts epitomize cowardice and cruelty.

Its not like butterflies. Its like somebody has punched you in the stomach.

While he and his family grapple with the loss of Aaron, and the allegation that he planned to kill innocent Canadians, Driver said he is trying to remember his son as a child. One moment in particular sticks out, Driver said  teaching Aaron to roller-skate, just before his mother died.

Its one of my favourite memories, he said. Id rather remember him that way.

The alleged attack plot has raised questions about why Canadas national security apparatus learned of the suspected terrorist threat through an American law enforcement agency. Police have also been asked how someone who was arrested last year on suspicion of connections with members of Daesh  also known as ISIS or ISIL  and placed under a special peace bond restricting his travel and Internet use, could allegedly get so close to pulling off a terrorist attack.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was in Montreal Monday, where he was expected to talk about how the Liberal government in Ottawa is preparing a program designed to reach out to people who are vulnerable to radicalization, The Canadian Press reported. Details arent expected until a later date.

In a statement Sunday, Goodale said co-operation between agencies like the FBI and the RCMP are consistent with the robust security alliance between Canada and the U.S.

Its important for Canadians to know that our agencies and their global partners are monitoring potential risks and threats all the time  24-7, 365 days a year, he said.

With files from The Canadian Press and Star staff

Correction  August 16, 2016: An incorrect photo on the homepage was used to link to this story.

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I want to say that Im sorry.

Those were the prepared words Robert Coughlin delivered to his victims Monday afternoon, as he stood in a second-floor courtroom at College Park.

Some of those victims, from a long list of women he victimized, were seated on wooden benches in the downtown court Monday to hear the apology of the fired Toronto Public Health supervisor who previously pleaded guilty to voyeurism for secretly filming them in his office for a sexual purpose.

In May, Coughlin, 68, also pleaded guilty to secretly filming a number of unknown women in public places, which a Crown attorney detailed in court Monday. The offences occurred between January 2008 and July 2015.

Ontario Court Justice William Wolski said he needed more time to determine an appropriate sentence, with the matter scheduled to resume in November. Coughlin is facing possible house arrest and a number of other conditions.

At the sentencing hearing Monday, one of the victims told the court that the way she was violated has continued to haunt her at work and at home.

Robert Coughlin took away my sense of privacy that I will never have again. I have paranoia about places that I once considered safe and whether there are hidden cameras, said the woman, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

There are not enough words to describe how I feel. You betrayed my trust.

When she found out about what Coughlin had done  placing cameras under his desk, in his backpack and using his cellphone to record those called into his office at a public health building downtown  the woman said she climbed under her desk to make sure cameras were not hidden there.

I dont feel safe at work, she said, arguing Coughlins crime should not be considered a minor offence. Even in my own home . . . I stared at the smoke detector wondering if it might have a hidden camera.

Though there is no evidence Coughlin shared or posted the pictures online, the suspicion lingers, the woman told the court.

Coughlin, in grey slacks and navy blazer, stared at the desk in front of him from behind thick glasses as the woman spoke.

Crown attorney Neville Golwalla read a second impact statement into the record and submitted several more, noting they all spoke about a breach of trust, and as one woman noted, of sleepless nights for which there can be no compensation.

Though different than physical assault, Golwalla told the court, This is not a victimless crime.

The Crown argued for a one-year sentence to be served in the community, including at least six months of house arrest and three years probation.

Arguing for a more lenient sentence of nine months, with three months house arrest and two years probation, Coughlins defence lawyer Patrick Metzler noted Coughlin has been undergoing therapy at least once a week and was very remorseful.

He said Coughlin had grown up in an unhappy home with an abusive, alcoholic father. Coughlin himself is a father and a grandfather who has no criminal record, Metzler said.

Asked if he had anything to add, Coughlin stood to address the court briefly.

Im sincerely remorseful for the things Ive done, he said, acknowledging he had betrayed the trust of his friends, family and coworkers.

He described what has followed his arrest as a life-shattering experience and said he was deeply grateful to his wife and son for their continued support.

Since the Star first reported Coughlins guilty plea, several victims have described a disturbing workplace that has not adequately supported them. Emails and interviews with victims stated some of the women were asked to clean up files from Coughlins office after his departure.

The city has stressed it took the matter seriously and went to great lengths to support the women, offering counselling and time off.

A July 29 email from Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe to all public health staff noted recent coverage of the story in this newspaper and directed staff to send all media inquiries to a spokesperson.

The senior management team at (Toronto Public Health) continues to take this matter very seriously, Yaffe wrote. I recognize that this has been a difficult time for many TPH staff, particularly those who were directly affected by his actions.

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Nicole Andrews is 27 weeks pregnant and said she had no choice but to change her travel plans.

The Toronto mom was considering heading south to the United States for a babymoon with her partner  a vacation for parents-to-be  until she heard about the recent emergence of the Zika virus in Florida.

On Aug. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) formally advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Miami, where 14 people have been affected by the virus, which is transmitted primarily by mosquito bites.

Zika virus, also spread via sexual contact, can cause microcephaly, a birth defect that leads to an abnormally small head.

The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the country's first case of Zika-related congenital anomalies in a fetus this week. As of Thursday, there have been 250 confirmed cases of Zika infections in Canada.

According to the World Health Organization, 67 countries and territories have reported the mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission since 2015. An estimated 15 infants have been born with birth defects in the United States .

Its very scary (and) its just not a risk any parent or parent-to-be should be taking, said Andrews. Were bummed that were not going to get our vacation, but well have to explore some of the great destinations in our own country.

WestJet issued its own travel advisory Aug. 3, saying the protocol would remain the same as when Zika first appeared: the company will continue to waive its change and cancellation fee for air-only bookings to Florida.

Laura OConnor, who is due in September, was supposed to go to Florida during March Break but changed her plans on the advice of her doctor.

We had heard on the news people were getting their money back if they were pregnant and couldnt travel, she said, but we were given a travel voucher that is good for a year.

Hopefully we can take our baby down to Florida in March.

Air Canada has also issued a similar offer: Pregnant women and their companions travelling to Florida can postpone their trip or use the value of their ticket toward another Air Canada destination.

Neither Canadian airline had figures available as to the number of customers who had done so.

I (would tell other women to) just check with their doctor before making any travel plans and make sure  its okay for the baby to go down south, said OConnor. Check any viruses or anything else that might be around so you dont end up spending money you cant get back.

Miami was one destination Andrews said she considered, too. But even if just one instance (of Zika virus) appeared in an otherwise safe zone, that was enough for me, she said. Its just not worth the chance.

Tourism is Floridas number one industry, welcoming 93.7 million visitors in 2013, according to the states official travel planning website. Tourists spent $76.1 billion, and the industry employs nearly 1.1 million Floridians.

Most people with Zika do not show symptoms, but those infected can suffer a mild fever, skin rash, muscle or joint pain or a headache that can last up to a week.

Women with the virus should wait at least eight weeks and men at least six months after symptoms subside to try to get pregnant, according to the CDC advisory.

Women and men who have travelled to Miami should also wait at least eight weeks before trying to get pregnant, it advises.

Andrews believes its only a matter of time before the CDC announces more locations to avoid. I dont know if it will stop us from travelling (when Im) not pregnant, but for now we just decided to stay put.

With files from The Canadian Press.

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LUCKNOW, INDIAShe was still a teenager when a pack of young men pulled her into a car, tortured her and gang-raped her.

The young woman, now a poised student, endured more than three dozen court appearances, six separate trials and endless legal wrangling.

The last of the rapists, the son of a powerful family, was convicted this past spring  11 years after the crime. During her ordeal she was forced to leave school, was put in a home for runaway girls and even now lives with police protection out of fear that allies of the rapists could exact revenge.

Her supporters say her extraordinary perseverance helped her overcome forbidding legal odds.

I decided I had a single goal, said the young woman, the daughter of an illiterate junk dealer: Justice.

As violence against women and the number of rapes in India continue to rise  a woman is raped on average every 30 minutes here, one study says  activists, lawyers and officials say that female crime victims still face many barriers in the countrys courts. These include poorly trained doctors, callous police, shoddy forensic practices and the delays that permeate Indias judicial system  delays so disheartening that some victims lose their nerve or settle with attackers families.

In recent years, India has responded by toughening its rape law and creating fast-track courts to speed prosecution of rape cases and other crimes against women. But these new courts have their own delays  and in some states, strikingly low conviction rates.

In April, when the last of the gang rapists in the case was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the victim put on a pink sari and fed sweets to her joyous family and the activists who supported her during years of demanding action. But the journey is not over.

I have thought about this continuously, the young woman said recently. Why did they do this to me? Why did they ruin my life  just because they had money and Im poor?

The victim, about age 13, was walking home from her job as a housemaid with her younger brother one rainy night in 2005 when a car with tinted windows pulled up. Four young men  who ranged in age from about 17 to 19  were drunk and out looking for a girl, one of them later told police. Two got out of the car, forced her in and drove away, ignoring the frightened cries of her little brother.

For several hours, the victim said, the young men held her down and tortured her  sodomizing her with a gun and burning her repeatedly with a cigarette lighter. Others joined when they arrived at a remote plot of land, taking her to a dusty workshop ringed by eucalyptus trees, where she was raped on a wooden pallet. Police later recovered strands of her hair, her panties and her sandals at the scene, on land they said was owned by the powerful political family of the alleged ringleader, Gaurav Shukla.

Uttar Pradesh, the northern Indian state where the attack occurred, has a population of more than 200 million, about the same as Brazil. It is poor, deeply patriarchal and criticized for its thuggish political culture, the Goonda Raj. Instances of reported rape have increased faster in the state than in the rest of India in recent years, with the number of rapes more than doubling between 2014 and 2015. The leader of its governing political party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, caused a stir two years ago when he suggested that rapists should not be given the death penalty. These are boys, he said, they make mistakes.

Shukla was 18, cocky, the destroyed son of a rich man, as one of his neighbours put it. His attorney says that he was not involved but confirms that he faces separate attempted murder charges and conspiracy charges  including a case still pending in what is known as Gangster Court. Shuklas brother, an attorney, declined to comment on behalf of the family.

After the assault, the young men dropped the teen on the side of the road, threw down a 20-rupee bill (worth about 30 cents U.S.) and drove away. She could barely walk, but eventually found some village women and asked for help. She was in such bad shape that the women first thought she was a ghost.

I said, Im not a ghost, Im human, please help me, she recalled.

R.K.S. Rathore, now the deputy inspector general of police in Lucknow, said he has not forgotten his first sight of the bleeding, limping teen when she was brought to the police station a few hours later.

It was quite evident she had been brutally handled, Rathore said.

The victim had support from the police early on as well as from her father, a white-bearded scrap dealer named Sabruddin, who was outraged at what his daughter had gone through.

In this, she was lucky: Many families dont report rapes for fear it will bring dishonour upon them. And police have long discouraged women from filing complaints out of indifference or a desire to keep crime statistics down, although that is changing with new laws.

The victim was taken to a nearby emergency room where a doctor noted cuts and abrasions and referred her to a female physician for a rape exam.

Although the victim was hospitalized a day later because of excessive vaginal bleeding and would continue to bleed for weeks afterward, the female physician wrote in her report that there was no bleeding and did not mention the burns on her body obvious to police and her family. She noted that the girls hymen was no longer intact but concluded that no definite opinion about rape could be given.

Many rape cases are hampered by poorly trained doctors, sloppy evidence gathering and a dearth of forensic labs, experts say. Sexual-assault examination guidelines for doctors were established only in 2014.

The doctor also performed what is known as the two-finger test, a once-routine practice in rape exams where two fingers are used to determine the pliability of the hymen. The exam has long been used by defence attorneys as evidence that a victim had an alleged prior sexual history, although courts have said that should have no bearing. This blame the victim mentality long outraged human rights groups.

Although new medical guidelines for doctors forbid its use and the Supreme Court outlawed the two-finger test in 2013, that is still being done, according to Lalitha Kumaramangalam, the chair of the National Commission for Women.

One recent evening, the victim and her parents sat in the front room of their modest concrete house in a lower-class neighbourhood of Lucknow, sipping gingery tea and nibbling hot jalebi sweets. An occasional train thundered past. As darkness fell, a single light bulb gleamed above.

In the past 11 years there was not one single day we enjoyed life happily, said her mother, who still speaks the regional language of the eastern state of Assam, where they farmed before floods washed their land away and they moved to the city.

The mother still cant speak without crying about the days and nights following the attack on her daughter, how the family was threatened and urged to drop the case by Shuklas supporters, how her daughter was taken from her and put into protective custody, locked into a facility for runaway girls for nearly 18 months, permitted to see her parents just a few times a month.

Police eventually arrested Shukla and five accomplices that summer, tying them to the attack by a tipster and cellphone records, Rathore said. Two men were convicted in the case in 2007, and a third in 2013. Two juveniles spent time in detention facilities and later died in separate road accidents.

Meanwhile, Shukla and his attorneys waged a lengthy legal battle to prove he was a juvenile rather than an adult at the time of the crime. As the years wore on, they were repeatedly admonished for not showing up to court, calling in sick and other excuses.

Defence attorneys often drag out trials to avoid jail time for their clients, according to Padm Kirti, a lawyer and legal writer in Lucknow. Bar associations cause delays by refusing to work on minor religious holidays or by going on strike. The system favours those who can afford pricey attorneys; meanwhile, the victims family had to sell its two buffaloes and solicit donations to pay its legal costs.

As the case wore on, India was changing. Millions of young women were taking new jobs in an expanding economy, buying mobile phones and joining social media  venting their frustration over the gender violence and patriarchal attitudes that seemed to be holding India back.

The victim said she felt that she remained frozen, her life on hold. When would she go back to a normal school, go to the market and eat street snacks, giggle with girlfriends? Meanwhile, Gaurav Shukla had a lavish wedding, and a son.

Everybody knows about the case, people from my neighbourhood, she said. At the same time Ive lost my dignity, Ive lost my childhood, hes living a happily married life.

Then came 2012 and the devastating fatal gang rape of a Delhi college student on a bus, which prompted protests and outrage around the world and forced India to begin confronting, at last, the ubiquity of sexual assault. In its wake, the government tightened its laws on rape, sexual harassment and human trafficking and set aside $289 million (U.S.) for rape crisis centres, help lines and special investigators. More than three-quarters of that has not been spent, according to a government report.

Protests continued, and a year later, hundreds of women were on the streets of Lucknow, agitating for womens justice  including fast-track courts and a trial in the Shukla case.

In January, 2015, the court referred the case to one of the new fast-track courts, among nearly 400 set up across the country.

But even then things did not go smoothly. Shuklas lawyers continued to miss hearings. Two were rescheduled because the bar association had ordered a strike. In May last year, the entire court file mysteriously went missing, reappearing months later.

The victim came face to face with her attacker in court in December, a few days after the trial finally began. She had not seen him for years. He had grown a moustache. His body had filled out. He had become a man.

When she testified few weeks later, she became so emotional that she became sick and vomited. Court was adjourned.

With the encouragement of the womens advocates who assisted in her case, the victim managed to resume her education at an alternative school and complete 11th grade.

She had tried to enrol in ninth grade in a regular school, but dropped out because she felt ashamed when people pointed, stared and referred to her as the rape girl. She wants to be free of it, this case that has consumed half her life.

Now, in her mid-20s, she is entering 12th grade and dreams of becoming a judge or maybe marrying a young man from Assam.

He would have to know about what happened, accept me, then never mention it again, she said with a slight smile.

A local advocate who helped the victim said she rarely got discouraged during her long battle.

She is remarkable, said Madhu Garg, an activist with the All India Democratic Womens Association in Lucknow. The case dragged on for so long, but the strength of her character and her determination helped us win.

A daily computer class in a nearby storefront is the victims salvation. There, no one knows her history, and she makes a point to keep it that way, giving her police guards the slip when she heads out.

When this incident happened I was scared of boys, she said. But the boys I have been studying with give me respect, they say hi, hello and help me if I dont understand something in English.

The young women gossip and giggle, and although she hasnt joined in yet maybe she will soon. I am feeling a lot lighter now, she said.

The trial concluded in February, paving the way for Shuklas conviction April 13. A few days later, he was charged with forging a high school certificate that said he was a minor at the time of the rape.

The man had been a familiar sight at the courthouse, turning up in designer sunglasses and blazers for his court appointments, driven in a government car, his chamchas Hindi slang for henchman  by his side. But the day the judge pronounced him guilty, Shukla hid his face with a white towel, sweaty and shaken.

His lawyer, Gopal Narain Mishra, said that he is appealing to the high court because the prosecution pinned its case on the testimony of the victim alone and presented no physical evidence tying his client to the crime.

This is a false conviction, and an unsustainable case, he said. Gaurav Shukla is not involved.

For the victim, Shuklas conviction provided a measure of relief.

After all these years, the wait is finally over, she said.

Shukla could still be freed on bail while he awaits his appeal in the high court. The case could drag on for years.

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WASHINGTONDonald Trump is fond of saying believe me. He might as well add: dont believe anyone else.

Trump is running against Hillary Clinton. But he is also waging an extraordinary scorched-earth campaign against Americas democratic institutions, a broad collection of authorities he has made a systematic attempt to delegitimize.

None of them, he argues, can be trusted.

The media: corrupt. The Republican and Democratic primaries: rigged. The general election: possibly going to be rigged.

The judge presiding over a fraud lawsuit against him: totally unfair. The FBI that declined to pursue an indictment of Clinton: very, very unfair. The president: the founder of Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL. Climate change: a hoax. The Environmental Protection Agency: a disgrace. The unemployment rate: a sham.

As campaign strategy, the appeal of such rhetoric is obvious: it allows the businessman to emphasize his independence from an unpopular establishment while also providing a ready-made explanation for inconvenient truths. But Trumps words, especially about the supposed unreliability of the election outcome, have left many experts on government profoundly alarmed.

This is not just excessive rhetoric, or a bloviating ignoramus who happens to be a presidential candidate and is upset because he cant understand how possibly he could be losing. This is a real threat to the fabric of the political system and the republic, said Norman Ornstein, a prominent scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Trumps critics worry that the Republican presidential nominee is doing long-term damage to the credibility of entities essential to the countrys democratic health. More pressingly, they fear that he is signalling a desire to undermine critical checks and balances in pursuit of autocratic leadership if he wins the presidency in November.

When hes trying to discredit every single guidepost, every single standard, hes not just an authoritarian, hes a postmodern authoritarian: he not only has these authoritarian tendencies, but he really wants to shape reality to his own agenda, said Charlie Sykes, a conservative Wisconsin talk radio host. He wants to break down all of these possible credible authorities that might challenge him. And thats whats sort of genuinely creepy about him.

Sykes argued that Trump is new and distinctive in his global contempt for anything that challenges his views. But some analysts say he is no pioneer.

Republicans have long attacked the mainstream media, universities, bureaucrats, education experts and so-called activist judges. Ornstein said Trump is merely adopting the playbook of a Republican congressional caucus that has grown increasingly extreme since the mid-1990s heyday of House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

There really has been a concerted effort, Ornstein said, to delegitimize the opposition, delegitimize anything that comes up with either facts or assertions that challenge their ideology, and to delegitimize government and the process of government.

One of Gingrichs early acts, Ornstein noted, was killing an office that provided unbiased advice on scientific matters. Republicans have since dismissed the threat of climate change, disparaged the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, indulged Trumpian conspiracy theories about Obamas birth and pushed the false notion that voting fraud is rampant.

Trumps warnings about the election, Ornstein said, are simply an extension of what weve been hearing. But he added: When it comes from your presidential nominee  and you have a large group of followers predisposed to believe it, it takes it to a different level. And to an extraordinarily dangerous level for the country.

George Hawley, author of the book Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism and a University of Alabama political science professor, said conservative intellectuals have strategically dealt in anti-establishment populism with the understanding that they would always be able to remain in control of it. The Tea Party, he said, was a genuine populist movement whose energy party elites channelled into the kinds of business-friendly policies favoured by the Chamber of Commerce.

And now they find themselves completely aghast: they see that someone else is coming along and using those exact same latent tendencies in the electorate to fuel his own rise and is completely not beholden to them, and theyre utterly horrified, Hawley said.

Sykes went viral on Twitter this weekend for a remarkable admission he made to Business Insider. By spending 20 years demonizing the mainstream media, he said, he and his fellow conservative-media personalities created a monster: a party base that does not believe the gatekeepers that would normally help them separate fact from fiction.

Speaking to the Star, Sykes said he doesnt know where the party or the country goes from here.

Thats why its so alarming, he said. At one point you had institutions that enable us to recover  that we can absorb these kinds of assaults and there would be a necessary corrective. But what if weve blown them all down?

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Iran has arrested an Iranian holding dual citizenship on suspicion of spying for the U.K., bringing the number of known dual-nationals it has detained to at least half a dozen.

The individual, who wasnt identified, was arrested last week in Tehran, Fars news agency reported Tuesday, citing Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi. The person was active in relation with Iran in the economic sector, Dolatabadi said without providing details on the suspects background or alleged activity.

Irans greater openness to the international community following a nuclear deal with world powers last year has made some of the more conservative political factions wary of increased foreign involvement in the economy and society.

Echoing sentiments expressed earlier by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Dolatabadi said officials need to be alert for any attempts by Irans enemies, in particular the U.S, to undermine the nations stability through infiltration. Such comments complicate President Hassan Rouhanis efforts to paint Iran as open for business and draw foreign investment to help energize an economy hurt by years of international sanctions.

The announcement of the latest arrest follows confirmation by the judiciary last month that an American-Iranian, identified in foreign media reports as Robin Shahini, had been detained on unspecified charges. Earlier in July, Dolatabadi said indictments had been filed against British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation; American-Iranian business consultant Siamak Namazi, and Canadian-Iranian anthropologist Homa Hoodfar, who are also held in Iran. He didnt elaborate on the indictment or nature of the charges.

A British-Iranian businessman, Kamal Foroughi, was convicted in 2013 of spying and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.

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MOSCOWIran allowed Russian warplanes to take off from its territory to bomb targets in Syria on Tuesday, an unprecedented move that underscores the deepening co-operation between two powerhouses heavily invested in the Syrian civil war.

The Iranian deployment increases Russias foothold in the Middle East and widens Moscows bombing campaign in Syria, bolstering Syrian President Bashar Assads government ahead of a new round of peace talks the United Nations hopes to convene in coming weeks.

The long-range bombers took off from near the city of Hamadan, around 280 kilometres southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The Russian warplanes then returned to Russia and no Russian forces remained stationed in Iran, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to reporters about the matter.

Russias use of an Iranian base represents a turning point in Russias relations in the Middle East. ... It sends a powerful message to the United States and regional powers that Russia is here to stay, said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.

Russia had talked about the possibility of flying planes out of Iran since late last year, but its decision to do so on Tuesday came as a surprise, U.S. officials said.

Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that the Russians activated a communications link with coalition officials just ahead of the bomber mission.

The Russians did notify the coalition, he said, adding that they informed us they were coming through airspace that could potentially put them in proximity to U.S. and coalition aircraft in Iraq or Syria.

Asked how much advance notice the Russians gave the U.S., Garver said, We did know in time to maintain safety of flight.

U.S. officials said the setup at the Iranian air base occurred very quickly, perhaps overnight. One military official said the Russians flew four Tu-22 Backfire bombers to the Iranian air base, along with a Russian cargo plane loaded with the munitions for the bombers, just hours before the bombers flew their missions. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

It is virtually unheard of in Irans recent history to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks from. Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of Assads government for nearly a year.

Tuesdays action suggests co-operation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled Syrian president, and sends a powerful message to the United States and the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf, which have seen Iran as the arch-enemy.

The Russian move provides a psychological boost for the Assad-Iran-Hezbollah alliance, illustrating that Russia is strategically committed to stay on course in Syria.

It also heralds even more intense Russian bombardment of Syrian cities. Moscow already stands accused of indiscriminate bombing that has killed many civilians in Syria and of using incendiary weapons in civilian areas  a claim that was repeated by Human Rights Watch on Tuesday. Russia denies the charges.

Syrian rebels and opposition activists reacted angrily to the news.

The Russians are taking advantage of the political vacuum that was left by America and Western countries that withdrew, said Paris-based senior Syrian opposition figure George Sabra. It is clear today that the Russians are fighting their global war in Syria.

The Russian deployment in Iran comes a day after Russias defence minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close.

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater co-ordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Gerges, the analyst, said the new developments put to rest any hope of co-ordination between the United States and Russia in Syria. It is just too poisonous for the Obama administration. Too costly at this particular moment, he said.

In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged capacity and possibilities in the fight against Daesh.

Moscow and Tehran have been expanding their ties in recent months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers.

Russian military experts say the deployment of Russian bombers at the Iranian base sharply cuts the distance to targets in Syria, allowing them to carry a bigger load of bombs.

The bombers previously have flown from their base in Mozdok in southern Russia, and had to cover more than 2,000 kilometres to reach targets in Syria. The distance from Hamedan is less than half that. Russias Tu-22M3 bomber is capable of carrying about 20 tonnes of bombs if flown from Iran.

The deployment appeared to stem from political and strategic objectives, rather than military needs.

While flying the warplanes from Hamedan allows Russia to pack a heavier punch in striking the militants positions, the same job could have been accomplished by flying from the central Syrian air base at Hmeimeem or by increasing the number of bombers flying from Russia.

A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russias decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is paramount right now.

The Russian ministry statement said the Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers targeted Daesh and militants of the Al Qaeda-linked group formerly known as the Nusra Front in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.

The nearest air base to Hamedan is Shahid Nojeh, some 50 kilometres north of the city. Russian aircraft have been reported to land there before. In December, the American Enterprise Institute said in a report based on satellite imagery that a Russian Su-34 Fullback strike fighter landed there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 Candid transport plane also landed around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.

Irans constitution, ratified after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.

The announcement from Russia marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since the Second World War, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.

Russia said its bombing campaign in Syria is focused on extremist groups but it has frequently struck other targets, including more moderate rebels fighting Assads forces. Last week, Russian bombers launched a wave of airstrikes on the city of Raqqa, Daeshs de factor capital in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians according to Syrian opposition activists.

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Are you Muslim? asks a Daesh member to a Christian couple. When the husband answers in the affirmative, the terrorist instructs him to recite from the Quran. The man recites from the Bible. Upon hearing the Arabic, the guard says Yallah and motions them through.

The mans wife later says: I cant believe the risk you just took. Why did you lie? If he knew, he would have killed us.

The punchline: Dont worry! If they knew the Quran they would not indiscriminately kill people, answered the husband.

A Leger poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus released earlier this month revealed that a majority of Canadians (51 per cent) believed that Christians and other minorities face genocide in large parts of the Middle East.

Indeed, their plight at the hands of Daesh, other extremists and to a lesser extent even some of our allies is no laughing matter.

Poll results were released at an event in Toronto that coincided with a conference attended by top Christian leaders from the Middle East. Speaking at the event, the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church, Ignatius Joseph III Younan, said: Our Churches go back to the first Christian communities, in their liturgy, traditions, culture and language. They are now a kind of endangered species, that could be wiped out for good.

Indeed, an in-depth New York Times piece last year concluded that extremists across the region are enslaving, killing and uprooting Christians, with no aid in sight. Everyone has seen the forced conversions, crucifixions and beheadings, David Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom, said. To see these communities, primarily Christians, but also the Yazidis and others, persecuted in such large numbers is deeply alarming.

Even other Muslims who are branded as kuffar (unbelievers) for deviating from extremist interpretations are subject to the same fate.

History bears witness that Islamic rule included both periods of co-existence and of intolerance. Yet the fact remains that the extremist treatment of minorities is not consistent with Islamic teachings. Indeed, a letter attributed to the prophet states:

This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.

No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil Gods covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

Though scholars disagree on the authenticity of the document and the wording, the gist of it is consistent with the Quran, prophetic traditions and even state conduct. For instance, upon accepting the surrender of Jerusalem in 637, Umar Ibn Khattab, the Caliph, was invited by the Christian leader, Patriarch Sophronius, to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Caliph refused for fear that it may be converted into a mosque in the future.

This status applied initially only to Christians and Jews, but eventually extended by jurists to others, including the Sabians, Zoroastrians, and Hindus. Though they did not enjoy full citizenship rights (and in fact were discriminated against from our vantage point today), their treatment was progressive for the time and certainly a far cry from the oppression today.

That there were thriving minority communities throughout the region prior to the extremist onslaught is testament to their acceptance in history. Indeed, millions of Christians and others lived in peace. Now there is a serious fear that Christianity may be wiped out in parts of the Middle East. As of 2015, about a third of the 2.1 million Christians in Syria and Iraq have had to flee. Overall, the proportion of Christians has dropped from 14 per cent in 1910 to 4 per cent today.

Extremists deserve our contempt, but what about our allies in the region such as Saudi Arabia whose treatment of Christians and others violates basic human rights?

Canadas recommendation that the UN Security Council investigate Daeshs crimes is a good first step, but Ottawa must also call out the treatment of minorities by our allies in the Middle East.

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.

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Elizabeth May and Canadas Green party badly need one another. Without the popular May, the Greens would go almost entirely unnoticed in Canadian political life. And without her position as leader of the Greens, May would be just one MP from British Columbia with no claim to national attention.

Yet May is now somewhere in Cape Breton, using the time away afforded by a family holiday to contemplate quitting as head of the Greens. She says shes broken-hearted but isnt sure she can carry on as the partys leader. She says shell make a decision this month.

May should stay, for her own sake, for her party and for the good of our political life. She has been a positive presence in the House of Commons, and having her further marginalized would be a modest but measurable loss to the national debate.

It would be even worse to see her slide off because of the issue that has ostensibly caused her to question the value of leading the Greens.

At the partys national convention 10 days ago, members endorsed the controversial anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement  a completely unnecessary foray into divisive international politics. May opposed that move, which will inevitably drag the Greens down the rabbit hole of the Israeli-Palestinian question.

Rather than quit, though, May should stay and fight for what she believes in. She has made significant contributions to public life, and she has more to offer than serving simply as the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

Its quite true that under Mays leadership, public support for the Greens has stalled. It hit its high-water mark in 2008, her first election as leader, when 6.8 per cent of Canadians voted Green. At the time, both the NDP and Liberals were in the doldrums and progressive voters were casting about for an alternative to the Harper Conservatives.

In last falls election, though, the progressive/left vote swung behind Justin Trudeaus Liberals, to the detriment of both the NDP and the Greens. National support for the party sunk to just 3.4 per cent.

Thats the bad news for the Greens. The good news is that with May, the party still has a widely respected leader who can command at least a modicum of media attention. During the late Harper years she was one of the rare opposition MPs who, unconstrained by caucus discipline (since she had no caucus), could offer constructive criticism of government policy rather than the usual robotic talking points. For that, she was voted Parliamentarian of the Year in 2012.

Shes quirky, controversial and popular. Polls show her approval rating is much higher than that of other opposition leaders. And her own party gave her a massive vote of support (93.6 per cent) as recently as April. If they lose her, theyll be back to being a tiny collection of political hobbyists.

All this, apparently, because complicated party rules allowed a motion in favour of BDS to be supported by a majority of delegates to the Greens convention. That makes it the only national party to endorse the movement.

Forthright criticism of Israel and its governments policies is fine  even in the face of unfair accusations of anti-Semitism from some quarters. But signing on to the BDS cause pushes that much further.

In practice, it has often been used as an umbrella for condemnation of everything to do with Israel, even mainstream academics and artists who cant be held responsible for their governments policies. And singling out Israel-Palestine amid the worlds many tragic conflicts raises big questions about balance and fairness.

Running in that direction makes no sense for the Greens, who struggle to be taken seriously at the best of times. Rather than fleeing the scene of this political car crash, May should stick around and save her party from itself.

Read more about:

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Re: Health-care poverty good for no one, Letters Aug. 15

Health-care poverty good for no one, Letters Aug. 15

Dr. Paul Caulford is right in suggesting immigrants be afforded health care upon their arrival. After all, they come with the intent to be citizens. The costs of pre- and post-natal care and education to the secondary level for a Canadian-born baby are a lot more than the cost of bringing in an immigrant. Spending on immigrant health care will be repaid many times over.

Jack B. Duff, Mississauga

SHARE:
Ford (F) said it and Baidu (BIDU) , the leading Chinese Internet search company, invested $150 million in Velodyne LiDAR, a leader in light, detection and ranging technology used in advanced autonomous and driverless vehicle systems.

Velodyne, based in Morgan Hill, Calif., said the investment will allow it "to rapidly expand the design and production of high performance, cost effective automotive LiDAR sensors, accelerating mass adoption in autonomous vehicle and ADAS applications and therefore accelerat(e) the critical, transformative benefits they provide."

LiDAR is one of several sensing technologies being tested by automakers that provide real-time information about traffic, obstacles, pedestrians and road conditions so that self-driving vehicles can process and make decisions enabled by artificial intelligence.

In an appearance on CNBC on Tuesday morning, Mark Fields, Ford's CEO, said the automaker is doubling the size of its staff based in Palo Alto, Calif., to 300, expanding test facilities and seeking partnerships with companies pursuing technology related to self-driving cars.

Baidu said in June said that it was developing its own self-driving technology and would introduce it by 2021.

Ford has kept a lower profile than other automakers with announcing developments and demonstrating driverless technology. Since he took over in 2014, Fields has been pushing the technology as a key enabler of advanced mobility. Earlier rumors that Ford was about to sign a partnership with Alphabet's Google driverless car project didn't pan out.

"With mobility, you do need a vehicle," Fields said in May, in answer to the suggestion that the automaker may be falling behind other companies developing the technology. "Designing, developing and manufacturing a car is a very intense and a difficult endeavor."

David Hall, Velodyne CEO, said: "LiDAR continues to prove itself as the critical sensor for safe autonomous vehicle operation. This investment will accelerate the cost reduction and scaling of Velodyne's industry-leading LiDAR sensors, making them widely accessible and enabling mass deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. We are determined to help improve the goal of safety for automotive vehicles as soon as possible, as well as empower the efficiency autonomous systems offer."

Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of CST Brands (CST) were advancing 5.82% to $46.90 in mid-morning trading on Tuesday as Alimentation Couche-Tard (ANCUF) is nearing a deal to buy the San Antonio-based fuel and convenience retailer.

A deal from the Canadian convenience store operator could come this week and value CST at around $3.4 billion, based on its market cap. There's no guarantee a deal will be reached, sources said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

CST has more than 1,000 convenience stores in the southwestern U.S. and was spun off from Valero Energy (VLO) in 2013.

Engine Capital pressed CST in December to explore options, saying it could attract a buyer at $50 to $55 per share. In May, CST sold approximately 80 stores in California and Wyoming to 7-Eleven for $408 million, the Journal reports.

Couche-Tard has been working to consolidate the convenience store industry. It operates stores in Canada, the U.S. and Europe under the names of Couche-Tard, Kangaroo Express and Circle K, among others.

Shares of Couche-Tard were higher in mid-morning trading on Tuesday.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate CST BRANDS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, increase in net income, reasonable valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

You can view the full analysis from the report here:

CST

CST data by YCharts
An official website of the United States Government
A slowdown in defense spending over the past five years has prompted a wave of sell-offs as huge contractors consolidate to stay competitive. The biggest deal yet closed on Tuesday when Leidos, the Reston, Va.-based IT services company that spun out of contracting giant SAIC in 2012, paid $4.6 billion for Lockheed Martins IT services business.

The benefit of scale is well understood and a lot of people have viewed consolidation as a way of becoming competitive in the space, Leidos chief executive Roger Krone said.

Leidos becomes easily the biggest player in federal information technology services. The combination almost doubles Leidoss employee count to more than 33,000  13,000 of whom have sought-after security clearances necessary for classified government work. It brings the companys annual revenue to more than $10 billion.

This is one of the biggest consolidations in the federal sector that weve seen since the defense downturn began in 2011, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, a think tank. Leidos now has the mass, the scale to go after pretty much any opportunity it wishes. Customers that would have been merely aspirational are now within their grasp.

Krone says the combination is more about diversification than scale. Before, Leidoss big contract billings primarily came from defense spending, but Lockheeds business adds sought-after federal contracts with such civilian agencies as NASA, the Energy Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

It also gives Leidos more work outside the U.S. government by delivering more commercial and foreign clients. Krone says the new Leidos will derive about 9 percent of its revenue from foreign customers.

The sell-off largely takes Lockheed out of IT services, a lower-margin, higher-manpower bill-by-the-hour business centered on the Washington area. Lockheed, which will turn its focus to big weapons and software programs, took a major step in that direction last year when it said it would buy helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky for $9 billion.

Lockheed Martin was a kind of complicated black box operation for big defense investors, and now that complication is removed, Thompson said.

Krone and chief financial officer Jim Reagan retain their roles at the head of the combined company, which keeps its name and remains in Reston. Under the terms of the tax-free deal, Lockheed shareholders own 50.5 percent of the combined company. One industry veteran said the deal would allow Lockheed to put the proceeds of the sale to use.

Lockheed did this because they wanted to use some of the proceeds to pay down debt they had taken out to buy Sikorsky, said Bob Kipps, managing director at KippsDeSanto, an aerospace-defense investment bank.

Krone said he sees more consolidation coming in the federal contracting space.

Leidoss acquisition is the largest transaction in this space, but its only larger than the prior deal, he said. There could be others behind us.

This story originally had an incorrect time reference to when the Sikorsky deal was announced. The story has been updated.
Jacqueline Woodson, one of the most celebrated young adult authors in the country, has always challenged her adolescent readers  and older readers, too. In books such as Brown Girl Dreaming, her memoir in verse, which won a National Book Award, or Miracles Boys, which won a Coretta Scott King Award, Woodson explores class, race and death with unflinching honesty and emotional depth.

So, in a way, it feels a little artificial to note that her new book, Another Brooklyn, is her first novel for adults since Autobiography of a Family Photo more than 20 years ago. But if thats what it takes to broaden Woodsons audience, Im all for it. Her younger fans wont pay any attention to these labels anyway, and nothing here is beyond the purview of interested teenagers.

Another Brooklyn is a short but complex story that arises from simmering grief. It lulls across the pages like a mournful whisper. For a long time, my mother wasnt dead yet, the narrator begins, which perfectly conveys the novels suspended sorrow. Now an anthropologist who studies the way different cultures honor their dead, August is an adult looking back at her adolescence in the 1970s. She came to Brooklyn with her younger brother two decades earlier when their father hoped they could all start a new life away from the tragedies that shattered their family back in Tennessee.

But August and her brother arent so much renewed as arrested in this alien, dangerous place. Unable to acknowledge her mothers death, young August pines for her return while staring out the window, month after month. If someone had asked, Are you lonely? I would have said, No, August says. I would have pointed to my brother and said, Hes here. I would have lied even as the empty street on rainy afternoons threatened to swallow me whole.

[Its Banned Books Week again. Can we stop yelling at each other about it?]

This act of storytelling is a kind of victory over the sadness that once silenced August. By the time she turned 15, she remembers, I was barely speaking. Where words had once flowed easily, I was suddenly silent, breath snatched from me, replaced by a melancholy my family couldnt understand.

Woodson reminds us that this was, indeed, another Brooklyn, far from the tony borough of multi-million-dollar brownstones and speciality grocery stores. Heroin addicts wobble along these streets. A prostitute who lives beneath Augusts family loses her children to Social Services. White people we didnt know filled the trucks with their belongings, August remembers, and in the evenings, we watched them take long looks at the buildings they were leaving, then climb into station wagons and drive away.

In a voice that mingles the childs longing with the adults awareness, August studies a trio of girls who pass below her window. I was beginning to hate them, she says. I was beginning to love them. When her father finally lets her leave the apartment, she quickly bonds with these girls, and the four of them form a tight support group in a world determined to humiliate them, eager to molest them. We were learning to walk the Brooklyn streets as though we had always belonged to them  our voices loud, our laughter even louder. But Brooklyn had longer nails and sharper blades.

Author Jacqueline Woodson (Juna F. Nagle)

Some of the books most moving passages involve their efforts to encourage each other. One girl wants to become an actress; another a dancer; another a lawyer. But everywhere the culture conspires against them. Something about the curve of our lips and the sway of our heads suggested more to strangers than we understood, Woodson writes. One by one, the girls are lured or dragged away from their dreams, sometimes with shocking, even deadly results. When youre fifteen, August says, pain skips over reason, aims right for marrow. Which is right where this exquisite novel strikes, too.

Although less formally experimental than Brown Girl Dreaming, Another Brooklyn still presents its own distinctive structure: Every paragraph is set off by blank lines, which emphasizes the poetic style of Woodsons prose. That structure also effectively slows the narrative down and contributes to its dream-like tone. Time is fluid in this story, as August recalls events that impressed her  and events that she repressed, reaching back to moments in Tennessee and forward to relationships later in life. Death didnt frighten me. Not now. Not anymore. But Brooklyn felt like a stone in my throat, she says. I know now that what is tragic isnt the moment. It is the memory.

Its as much as a compliment as a complaint to say that I wish the story were fuller. Theres enough material here for a much longer novel, and, though Woodsons prose is always carefully constructed, shes sometimes so elliptical that complicated issues are illuminated only obliquely. I would, for instance, have eagerly learned much more about how Augusts family was affected by their involvement with the Nation of Islam.

But thats the real attraction of this novel, which mixes wonder and grief so poignantly. Woodson manages to remember what cannot be documented, to suggest what cannot be said. Another Brooklyn is another name for poetry.

Ron Charles is the editor of Book World. You can follow him on Twitter @RonCharles.
AVONDALE, Ariz., Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 7, 2016, the California Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments on a case that could have ramifications for how real estate agents work not only in California, but across the country. Hiroshi Horiike v Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Company et. al. calls into question the representation owed by real estate agents and brokers to the parties of a dual agency transaction.



In the State of California, dual agency occurs when a single brokerage (even if there are two agents) represent both the buyer and the seller in a transaction. Mr. Horiike was buying a property with one Coldwell Banker agent and the home he purchased was listed with another Coldwell Banker agent. After purchasing the home, Mr. Horiike discovered that the home was considerably smaller than had been represented by the listing agent and that the listing agent was aware of the discrepancy in the published square footage and the actual square footage. Mr. Horiike sued the listing agent and Coldwell Banker for breach of fiduciary duty alleging that since he was a client of Coldwell Banker, the listing agent owed him the same fiduciary duties as his buyer agent.



While Horiike lost the initial case, he prevailed upon appeal. The Court of Appeal stated, "When a broker is the dual agent of both the buyer and the seller  the salespersons acting under the broker have the same fiduciary duty to the buyer and the seller as the broker." The Court also found that the listing agent breached his fiduciary duty to Horiike because he did not disclose known material information about the square footage of the home. Coldwell Banker has appealed to the California Supreme Court.



In March, 2015, the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the plaintiff, Hiroshi Horiike. In it, NAEBA states, "(NAEBA) believes that the Court of Appeal's interpretation of the Civil Code is entirely correct. No other industry allows agents to work both sides of the fence, or to do so without paying a price or taking on heightened responsibility." It goes on to add, "What is really at stake here is transparency, which is lacking in the real estate industry. Many common practices cloud the public's awareness of how real estate professionals work. Most people think that 'their' 'agent'  the associate showing them homes  represents them exclusively. That is not always the case." NAEBA's Amicus Curiae Brief can be read in its entirety at www.naeba.org/amicus.



The case is currently scheduled for oral arguments on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at 9:00am PDT in San Francisco and will broadcast live online. According to a notice posted on the California Supreme Court website, "The webcast can be accessed through website buttons posted at the time of oral argument on the California Courts website (the home page, the court's home page and calendar page). There will be buttons that link to the live video stream and the captioning in English and Spanish."



About NAEBA

The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA), created in 1995, is an organization of companies dedicated to representing only buyers of real estate. NAEBA member brokerages do not list homes for sale and never represent sellers. This restriction to one side of the real estate transaction avoids conflicts and ensures that the interest of the home buyer is protected at all times from house-hunting and negotiation to inspection, financing and closing.
The Style Invitational is renowned for all sorts of clever, irreverent humor and wordplay in its almost quarter-century of varied contests. Some are free-form, off the wall, while other contests state specific parameters in addition to the overarching requirement to Be Funny and Clever. Our limerick contests  like Week 1276, in which we give you Line 5 and you write the preceding four  belong to the latter group: Hewing perfectly to a meter and rhyme scheme is one of the things that make limericks and other light verse funny.

When we ask for a limerick, we want it to observe several rules. Some of them are more rigid than some other peoples standards; others are more lax. The rules sound technical, but really theyre just explaining the concepts of rhyme and meter that youve probably grasped since nursery school. Theyre pretty much the same standards as the ones used at OEDILF.com  the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form. In fact, Im stealing some of the Oedilfers stuff right off their wiki.

For the purposes of our contest, this is what a limerick is:

 Its five lines long.

 The rhyme scheme is AABBA  that means Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with one another, and Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other. (See What a rhyme is below.)

 Limericks traditionally are made up of anapests; an anapest is the three-beat rhythm da-da-DAH. As OEDILF puts it:

So the basic form is:

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da BING

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da DING

da da DAH / da da BAM

da da DAH / da da WHAM

da da DAH / da da DAH / da da PING

Heres an example of an Invitational limerick thats exactly in the form above, by Stephen Gold of Glasgow, Scotland, whose very clever lims appear in both the Invite and OEDILF. Ill boldface all the strong beats, the ones in all-caps above:

Ill be brief, said the pelican. We

Are so similar, me and BP;

Tarred and feathered. Those spills

Mean we both have huge bills.

High and dry, were completely at sea.

 They dont have to start or finish with anapests: All the lines in Stephens limerick above happen to start with an anapest, which is two weak syllables followed by an accented one  notice that the first boldface word in each line doesnt show up unti the third syllable. But the Empress (as well as OEDILF) does NOT care if all the lines begin with the two weak beats of an anapest, and end with a strong beat. Instead, they can begin with one weak beat, or just come right in on the strong beat. Likewise, at the end of the line, you can add one or more weak beats as part of an extended rhyme (e.g., TALK-ing and WALK-ing; CRED-ible and ED-ible).

 In other words, what you absolutely must have, in each line, are strong beats separated by two weak beats.

In Lines 1, 2 and 5, you need to include the rhythm of HICK-or-y DICK-or-y DOCK.

In Lines 3 and 4, you need to have a DICK-or-y DOCK. Note how the boldface syllables in Stephens limerick match the HICK, DICK and DOCK exactly.

But you certainly may also have the extra weak beats at the beginning and ends of the lines  in fact, there should be at least one weak beat (better, two) between the last strong beat of one line and the first strong beat of the next line; there shouldnt be two strong beats in a row. Those two weak beats can be on the same line, or at the end of one and the beginning of the next. But Lines 1, 2 and 5 must all end with the same number of weak beats (if any), as must Lines 3 and 4.

Heres an example from the Week 882 Invitational on the word draconian, by the great limerick writer Chris Doyle, a major contributor to both the Invite and OEDILF. Note that Chriss Line 1 begins not with an anapest, but with just one weak beat (The), and that the extended rhyme at the ends of 1, 2 and 5 includes two weak syllables (ni-an)  followed by another weak beat at the beginning of the next line. Yet the limerick  see how prescient is was, by the way, back in 2010  contains a very strong hickory-dickory-dock rhythm at its core (strong beats again are in bold):

The cuts at the famed Oregonian

Are shockingly deep and draconian.

The newspaper trade

Is kaput, Im afraid.

Whats the future of news? The iPhonian.



What a rhyme is

Lines 1, 2 and 5 of a limerick rhyme with one another, as do Lines 3 and 4. For the purposes of The Style Invitational, a rhyme is a perfect rhyme and not a near rhyme or a sight rhyme. A rhyme begins with the last stressed syllable of both words. Trying rhymes with crying because the last stressed syllables, in this case try- and cry-, rhyme and everything that follows is the same.

On the other hand, finding does not rhyme with trying or crying, because the stressed syllables  find and try  dont rhyme. Finding rhymes with binding, because find rhymes with bind. And you cant pretend words are accented differently from how they really are, just because youve changed them in your head: You cant decide to pronounce it hemorRHOID so itll rhyme with my Droid (thats from an actual entry).

Remember that rhymes are determined by sound, not spelling. Loser rhymes with cruiser but not with poser. Tinkering with spelling for humorous effect is optional, as in Dracula and vernacula, as ace limerician Hugh Thirlway has done.

Content

The Invitational is a humor contest, and so we want our limericks to be clever and funny in addition to defining or illustrating the dictionary word (thats not a requirement for the OEDILF, however). The best of our limericks build to a punch line, a clever ending. Barbed dark satire with a bitter tone counts in our book as humor if its cleverly done, just as an angry political cartoon would. Puns and other wordplay are a good way to get ink.

As with all Style Invitational contests, we dont want work thats been published elsewhere, including online. Its probably okay, though, if youve just shared your limerick with friends on your Facebook page, at a party, etc. If youre not sure about whether its kosher for this contest, go ahead and send it to me, but note where people might have already seen it.

There are always exceptions

Humor sometimes involves the conspicuous breaking of rules for comic effect, and were not averse to that.. This is different, however, from limericks whose meter doesnt quite scan, or whose rhyme is sort of close; almost-but-not-quite wont wash in this contest: A limerick with flawed meter or rhyme would have to have unbelievably wonderful content to get Invitational ink; we typically run about 30 limericks from about 800 submissions.

For more information and helpful hints on writing limericks, peruse the even more extensive guidelines and discussion all over the OEDILF.com site.

As usual, the Empress may edit your limerick to improve it mechanically, or occasionally to frame the humor better; unfortunately, theres no time for her to consult with the writer over every tweak, but she will email you if she thinks you might disagree strongly with her editing. (See the Style Invitational Rules and Guidelines for the general procedures of the Invite, and be sure to look at the introduction of the contest itself.)

Submitting to OEDILF: You may submit any of your Invitational limericks to the OEDILF database, but only after this contests results are announced online Sept. 7. After you submit your limerick there (you may undo the Empresss editing if you like  sure, throw away the professional help), it will be workshopped with you by an editor and, upon acceptance, made a permanent part of the collection under your name or a pseudonym, along with the 100,000 limericks that so far form the Omnificent English Dictionary.

Results of Week 1240 will be posted in The Washington Post on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, and on washingtonpost.com Thursday afternoon, Sept. 7. The contest entry deadline is Monday, Aug. 21, at midnight, wherever your midnight might be.

Good luck!

Pat Myers

The Empress of the Style Invitational

pat.myers@washpost.com

Submit entries on the form at wapo.st/enter-invite-1240. We are no longer using email for submissions.
Dear Heloise: I keep a supply of chocolate bars on hand. Whenever a repair or service person, or our routine pest-control technician, comes to our house, as they leave I hand them a chocolate bar and say, Here is a treat for you for all your good work. They are so surprised, so appreciative and love the special treat, which makes their day.

Lynn R., Arnold, Calif.

Lynn R.: A small and simple gesture can make such a difference in someones day! This is especially true of the worker bees who often dont get a nice thank-you. I take candy when I go to the doctors office!

Dear Heloise: I read your column daily in the Omaha World-Herald.

My son and daughter-in-law from Lincoln, Neb., recently helped me paint a bathroom. This longtime painter learned a new, wonderful hint: Put the metal paint pan in a cardboard box. Use a box the size that copy paper comes in. Pour the paint into the pan, and splashes go on the box. Next, hook the paint roller over the edge so it doesnt escape into the paint. You dont accidentally step into the paint pan. So many pluses to this paint-box system! Thought this might help others.

Judy M., Omaha

Judy M.: As they say, an old dog can learn a new trick!

Dear Heloise: I have a cute, decorative slate board where I write messages and sayings. I use a chalk pen, but previous writing seems to slightly remain, no matter what I use to clean it. Any hints?

Karen, via email

Karen: Depending on the chalk pen you used, you may be stuck with a permanent stain because its on a porous surface. As a last cleaning attempt (if water and dish soap hasnt worked), try using an ammonia-based cleaner, or scrubbing gently with a white, all-purpose abrasive foam sponge. If it comes clean, stick to using only chalk to write on your board, as that will wipe off easily with water.

Dear Heloise: We are a busy family of four, with two active (and sometimes forgetful) little boys. Long ago, we each adopted our favorite color while choosing a board-game piece (the yellow piece for Dad, blue and green for the boys and red for myself).

Last summer when purchasing swim towels, I opted for our four favorite colors. It made things easier since we now use our colors for almost everything: toothbrushes, laundry baskets, water bottles  you name it! Along with quick sorting, it helps our little boys keep track of their belongings.

Rachel B., Newport Beach, Calif.

Rachel B.: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Id need to have purple!

Dear Heloise: Cut the back out of an unwanted or unwearable linen shirt, and the remaining square piece of cloth makes the absolute best glass-polishing towel! Wineglasses will sparkle!

Bill Y., Brownsville, Tex.

Heloises column appears six days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Send a hint to Heloise , P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com.
Dear Miss Manners: How much of your yearly salary should be spent on an engagement ring?

Having been privy to a conversation among some young male economists about the cost-benefit relationship of an engagement ring (the benefit being the amount of love inspired by the size of the diamond), Miss Manners can assure you that any formula is as foolish as it is distasteful.

Dear Miss Manners: Our book club selects books to read in the following way: The person whose turn it is to host suggests two or three choices, and we vote on them.

On several occasions, members have proposed, and we have selected, books by friends or acquaintances. Sometimes a member even suggests that the author attend the meeting at which we discuss the book.

This feels very awkward to me. I feel that the books should be chosen on merit alone and that this criterion is receding into the background. Sometimes I think the member proposing the book is doing so with an eye to increasing sales. (Some of these books are self-published and are struggling to find an audience, shall we say.)

More important, we try to have frank discussions of the books we read for this group, and frank discussion seems much less likely when the author is a friend or acquaintance. Having the author actually present for the discussion seems even more likely to inhibit our discussion.

What is your view of the matter? And how can I delicately explain my position to the group?

Suggesting to the group that you avoid authors known by members of the group, as it will inhibit the kind of free discussion that the group prizes, should be easy enough. So long as you omit the part about selecting books only on quality, Miss Manners sees no impediment to raising the issue even with an author present.

Dear Miss Manners: Regarding towels to be used in a powder room  what size towel is correct?

I have seen tiny towels the size of a washcloth, hand towels, printed paper towels and full-size bath towels. If I encounter a tiny towel and it becomes totally damp after I use it, should I tell the hostess?

My friend uses printed paper towels, but the dye often comes off on my hands. The only other towels in her powder room are very fancy and tied with a ribbon, so I assume they are not to be used at all. Help!

Oh, no, not the guest towel fetish again. Miss Manners hardly knows who is more ridiculous  guests who refuse to touch anything except paper, or hosts who imagine that cloth towels are untouchable works of art.

She can only advise you to do the best you can, leaving the wet towel in its used state without complaint.

New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to Miss Manners at her website, missmanners.com.


Cecile Richards took the helm of Planned Parenthood in 2006 and has turned the organization into a political juggernaut. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

On the morning of one of the most important days in her career, Cecile Richards waited anxiously in her office at Planned Parenthood headquarters in Manhattan, texting furiously with friends across the country.

A few minutes past 10 a.m., a message from her daughter flashed across the screen. A single word: Yay!

That was when I knew wed won, Richards says, recalling the moment when she learned of the decision in the biggest abortion-related case to come before the Supreme Court in more than two decades. In a 5-to-3 vote, the justices had ruled that Texass restrictions on abortion clinics placed an undue burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies.

Seeing that text, the president of Planned Parenthood ran out of her office and joined her staff, gathered around television sets, clapping and crying, to revel in a moment of joy.

It was a little bit unreal, she recalls of the days emotions.

The Supreme Court struck down key provisions in a strict Texas abortion law on June 27 that could have a ripple effect nationwide. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

The decision in Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt was a significant victory for abortion providers nationwide. And it came at a significant moment.

One hundred years after Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger began educating women about birth control in New York and 43 years after Roe v. Wade, the reproductive rights movement in America is at a pivotal crossroads. Facing hundreds of restrictive laws nationwide, abortion rights advocates are going on the offensive with a new strategy.

Gone is the vaguely conciliatory mantra of the past, the ideal of keeping abortion safe, legal and rare once advocated by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Todays activists are bringing the passionately debated procedure into the light, encouraging women to talk openly about their abortions and giving the movement an unapologetic human face.

And they arent stopping there. Heading into a high-stakes presidential election, Planned Parenthoods political arm and its supporters are rolling up their sleeves to help elect Hillary Clinton  who has done an about-face on the issue with a party platform that is pushing, for the first time , for full Medicaid funding for abortions.

Its a bold move that positively courts controversy. But controversy has never stopped Cecile Richards.



Richards speaks outside the Supreme Court in 2014, during arguments over the Affordable Care Acts mandate for contraception. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Theres this thought that women are just too scattered, were too impulsive, we are too hormonal, we cant make good decisions for ourselves, Richards says, sitting in a sterile, glass-walled conference room at Planned Parenthoods headquarters. Shes talking about what she thinks lies at the root of the bitter debate over abortion.

She is, as always, immaculately put together, her tall frame draped in a merlot-colored sheath and matching cardigan, gold earrings twinkling beneath her short, white-blond hair. Her alto voice conveys the subtlest hint of a Texas twang, and more than a hint of sarcasm.

Therefore we need the state to tell us, we need the state to give us medical information, even if its incorrect, she says. We need the state to give us an ultrasound because we must not really realize that were pregnant; we have to go away for 24 hours and think it over.

She leans forward slightly and raises her voice: Can you imagine if these kinds of restrictions were put on any other kind of health care in America?

In person, the 59-year-old Richards exudes both a warm authenticity and a subtle impenetrability; theres the sense that she means everything she says, but she isnt saying everything. Her public persona is almost preternaturally controlled; like the savviest politicians, shes supremely polished, perpetually on-message and surrounded by a highly protective media operation that carefully controls reporters access and circles the wagons when uncomfortable situations arise.

Which, given her job, they frequently do. As the president of the countrys largest abortion provider, Richards is a lightning rod for conflicting passions. Polarizing? The word could have been invented for her. Its a safe bet that how you view her depends on where you stand on abortion: Shes composed, heroic, a righteous defender of the vulnerable; or shes cold, unfeeling, a cunning apologist for baby murderers.

She gets standing ovations. She also gets death threats.

One thing, though, is indisputable: her success at creating a powerful political juggernaut  pretty close to the largest kick-butt political organization that she said she wanted to establish not long after she took the helm in 2006.

In a lineup of past presidents of Planned Parenthood, which has a separate political action committee, Richards stands out  her background isnt in womens health care. Its in organizing and politics. And she has deployed her skills in those fields to win major battles for abortion rights.

When the Susan G. Komen foundation announced that it would cut funding for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics in 2012, the organization sparked an outcry so fierce that Komen quickly backtracked. Last year, Planned Parenthood successfully turned back a challenge by an antiabortion group that shot undercover video purporting to show that the organization was illegally selling fetal tissue. Richards herself stared down hostile lawmakers bent on defunding her organization in a congressional hearing called after the videos surfaced.

[How Planned Parenthood actually uses its federal funding]

Since Richardss ascension, Planned Parenthood has also pointedly transformed its messaging and its public strategy. Two years ago, the organization officially  and shrewdly  shed the abortion-specific pro-choice label in favor of broader terms such as reproductive rights and womens health care. Most notably, it started highlighting the day-to-day reality of abortion, encouraging women to come forward with their personal stories.

And lots of women are taking the leap. More than 200 shared their abortion experiences in public amicus briefs filed as part of Whole Womans Health.

I have never been in a courtroom where womens experiences were so prominent and so impossible to ignore, Richards says.

[What was lost, what was gained: Women share abortion stories with the Supreme Court]

For the activist extraordinaire, its all in a decades work. And it wins her major kudos from admirers.

Richards has really transformed Planned Parenthood, says Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, and turned it into the kind of political machine that has been necessary to not only fight back the bad policy positions, but to actually raise money.

To Richardss critics, however, such praise has an ironic ring. They always talk about [us] making abortion a political issue, but when you look at Planned Parenthood now, everything they do is political, says Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, a national college-level antiabortion organization.

I think Cecile Richards has now become the puppetmaster for Democrats in Congress, says Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. There is no doubt that Cecile Richards wants to influence a President Clinton and control the Supreme Court.

President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards slammed Donald Trump's stance on abortion and women's rights during her speech at the Democratic convention. (The Washington Post)

Richardss role and influence in Democratic circles is certainly out there for all to see. Planned Parenthood endorsed Hillary Clinton in this years Democratic primary, taking sides for the first time before the general election. Richards spoke at Clintons nominating convention. Her organization recently announced that it would register voters at Planned Parenthood clinics, and no one expects many would-be Republicans to sign up.

Most strikingly, Richards has set her sights on the Maginot Line of the abortion wars  federal funding for abortions. This is currently restricted by the Hyde Amendment, a law passed in 1976 that bans the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortions in almost all circumstances. This years Democratic Party platform is calling for its repeal.

The Hyde amendment hurts women, Richards tweeted in July. For too long this country has punished low-income women seeking abortion, forcing those who have the least to pay the most to access care.



Richards is sworn in to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Planned Parenthood's taxpayer funding in September 2015. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

***

Richards comes by her outspoken liberal activism honestly.

She grew up in Dallas and Austin, the daughter of staunchly liberal parents who taught their four children to stuff and sort political mailers and regularly hosted boisterous political dinner parties. Her mother, famously, was Ann Richards  she of the notorious born with a silver foot in his mouth poke at George H.W. Bush  a Democratic governor of Texas and a formidable feminist.

One of the real gifts she gave to me and to a lot of other women was encouraging women to take risks, Richards says of her mother. Nothing gave her more pleasure than the success of other women.

Her familys commitment to activism was consuming: In his memoir, her father, prominent civil rights attorney David Richards, writes about a 1966 summer vacation that was put on hold after he was invited to join a dance for protesting farmworkers.

He recalls how Cecile, probably nine years old at the time, told her mother excitedly that this was going to be her first dance. The VFW hall filled with Chicano activists on that hot evening was not every girls dream dance, but in the case of Cecile, it probably suited her perfectly.

After graduating from Brown University, Richards began her career as a labor organizer and activist, working with garment workers, janitors and hotel employees. When her mother ran for governor in 1990, she got into politics; in 2002, she served as deputy chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi, then the House Democratic minority whip. She could be the President, Pelosi said of Richards in a 2013 New Yorker profile.

She became president of Planned Parenthood instead.

At the helm of a major national organization, Richards is far from the trenches of her youth. But shes still inspired, those close to her say, by Planned Parenthoods patients and on-the-ground employees  the people who must walk past protesters to see a doctor or to get to their jobs.

Absorbing the experiences of the clients of Planned Parenthood has had a huge impact on her, says Terry McGovern, a professor at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health who has known Richards for more than 15 years. At a certain point, if youre seeing all these really ridiculous, untenable positions that women are put in, you get to a point where you have to stop being defensive. Enough. Her leadership has certainly evolved around that realization.

Moments before Richards stepped onto the House floor in September to defend Planned Parenthood at the undercover video hearing, McGovern sent her a text message of support: May the rage of women through the centuries center you as you go into this.

The sentiment inspired Richards, although she may not have needed the extra You go, girl. She navigated the hearing with her signature composure, frustrating some congressmen with her strict adherence to the Planned Parenthood script.

Her testimony galvanized activists on both sides of the debate. Hawkins of Students for Life shared the lawmakers irritation with Richardss responses: She was obviously very well prepared, she says. It was masterful evasiveness.

But legions of Planned Parenthoods supporters followed the session online, tweeting in solidarity under the hashtag #StandWithPP.

Among them was Amelia Bonow, the Seattle-based co-founder of the grass-roots campaign #ShoutYourAbortion. I was astounded, watching Cecile be so unflappable, Bonow says. It made me want to come out swinging, to make the world a safer place to talk about abortion.



Richards with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton after Clintons speech to Planned Parenthood members in Washington in June. Planned Parenthood is working to help elect Clinton. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

***

Making the world safer for abortion is a central part of Richardss mission, a fact not lost on antiabortion advocates. She really has made Planned Parenthood more about abortion than it ever was before, says Anna Paprocki, staff counsel for the antiabortion group Americans United for Life.

Antiabortion activists say that the attempt to strip the stigma from abortion isnt succeeding. Its an effort to make abortion acceptable in society, and I just dont see it working, Tobias says. Theyre not influencing women in America in general.

So it was a shock to that movement when a nonpartisan student group invited Richards to speak at Georgetown University, the countrys oldest Catholic and Jesuit college, in April. Abortion opponents protested her appearance, and the Archdiocese of Washington issued a sharp rebuke. Thousands signed a petition urging Georgetown to cancel the event. But Richards and her campus supporters were undeterred.

[Catholic cardinal displeased after Georgetown student group invites Planned Parenthood president to speak]

On the day of her address, a dozen young men in dark suits stood in the bright sunlight at the main campus gates, solemnly intoning the Hail Mary. Behind them, the lush Copley Lawn was staked with tiny blue and pink flags representing aborted fetuses.

But inside Lohrfink Auditorium, the click of Richardss black heels was drowned out by cheers as she strode onto the stage before a crowd of hundreds, many dressed in Planned Parenthoods signature pink.

I love that Georgetown students are the kind of people who dont have to agree with someone to listen to her thoughts, Richards told them. Every bit of progress we have made in this country, perhaps in the world, has been because there were people willing to speak out even when it was unpopular.

A few hours later, another speaker mounted the pulpit of a nearby campus chapel. The schools Students for Life group had arranged to host another guest: Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned antiabortion activist who runs a Christian ministry that helps abortion providers find other jobs.

After Richards spoke about the need to trust women, Johnson spoke about the need to convert them.

No one is beyond the power of Christ, Johnson told the dozens of students in her audience. I have faith that one day it wont be me standing here speaking and defending the sanctity of human life. I believe that one day it will be Cecile Richards standing here.

Johnson is aware of her former bosss influence, which is why, she says later in an interview, it was important to respond to Richardss presence on campus.

I think Cecile is smart, shes beautiful, shes articulate, she has been a very good face and spokesperson for Planned Parenthood and does a good job of always pivoting back to their key talking points, says Johnson . What that tells me is that we have to be very clear with our message, as well. We have to be able to articulate our message as well as they articulate theirs.

That message is clearer, more out in the open, than ever before. At the Democratic National Convention, Richards delivered it again in her speech, using that once-taboo word  abortion  three times in five minutes.

There wont be any hiding from it anymore.

There are still enormous barriers to women who need access to safe and legal abortion, she says, wrapping up an interview. We need to challenge or repeal every single restriction thats out there.

The fight, she says, goes on.
Fairfax County police spokesman Major Ed OCarroll described the circumstances surrounding the August 4 arrest of Fairfax City mayor Scott Silverthorne, in connection to an alleged methamphetamine-for-sex scheme. (WUSA9)

Fairfax County police spokesman Major Ed OCarroll described the circumstances surrounding the August 4 arrest of Fairfax City mayor Scott Silverthorne, in connection to an alleged methamphetamine-for-sex scheme. (WUSA9)

Nine months before the alleged meth-for-sex scandal that would end his political career and humiliate his Virginia home town, Mayor Scott Silverthorne stood in the middle of the Fairfax City Council chambers, his hands clasped and his grin wide.

Next to him on Nov. 17, 2015, council member Jeffrey C. Greenfield was reading a proclamation in honor of Silverthornes 50th birthday. The document detailed what made him so special to the community he had led since 2012: a lifelong resident, son of another mayor, product of the local high school, first elected to the council in his mid-20s. The proclamation called him a consensus builder, a passionate leader and the best politician the city ever had.

It was an emotional night for Silverthorne, who had also announced that he had a malignant but curable tumor on his neck. He told the crowd he would lose some weight and, maybe, his neatly coifed salt-and-pepper hair, but  ever the politician  he stressed that his health wouldnt prevent him from running for another term in 2016. Silverthorne had debated whether to go public about his illness and concluded that he owed his constituents the truth.

I think, he said, transparency is the better policy.

Silverthorne had not been transparent, though, about so much  his lost job, his mounting debt, his foreclosed homes.

Richard Scott Silverthorne, arrested and charged was with felony distribution of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia on August 4, 2016. (Reuters)

And then, this month, came the most shocking sign that his life had unraveled.

[Fairfax City mayor arrested in alleged meth-for-sex scheme]

On Aug. 4, he was charged with felony distribution of methamphetamine after police said he attempted to exchange drugs for group sex. His arrest outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Tysons Corner resulted from an undercover operation conducted by Fairfax County police, who received a tip alleging he was using a website to make illicit arrangements with men.

His friends and colleagues knew he was gay, but he didnt often discuss it. If Silverthorne used drugs, according to those interviewed, he kept it hidden. His inner circle is still trying to determine whether his alleged involvement with drugs extends beyond the parking lot incident, one close friend said.

Last week, he resigned from office under intense pressure, and on Tuesday, the council named former member Steven C. Stombres his replacement until a new mayor is elected Feb. 7.

Silverthorne  whose tactics sometimes exposed an edge beneath his charm  has made no public statements and has declined repeated requests for an interview. That silence has left the city struggling to comprehend his dramatic downfall.

Most baffling to the people of Fairfax is how Silverthorne could so carefully manage his image as a focused, devoted and charismatic mayor while his personal and financial life imploded.

Fairfax City Mayor Scott Silverthorne gets treatment for his cancer in December. (Dayna Smith/For the Washington Post)

There was a Scott that the public knew, said Beckie Reilly, a close friend. And there was a Scott living a different life.

The Citys Son

Scott Silverthorne never stopped being the mayor of Fairfax City.

Even when he worked at the National Association of Manufacturers  based in the District, 20 miles from his home town  thats how he introduced himself, according to a former colleague.

I think a lot of Scotts affirmation as a person came from this small community where he grew up and where he had lineage, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) said. There was standing and status and acceptance.

Nowhere did Silverthorne appear more comfortable than in his cushioned chair at the center of the council dais. He personified the deep sense of pride Fairfaxs 23,000 residents have for their home. The best small city in America, said his Facebook page, and he believed it.

Despite never making more than $812.50 a month in the nonpartisan job, Silverthorne was a fixture at ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings, the Turkey Trot and the Fairfax Four Miler. He had a reputation for sending people thank-you notes after even casual encounters. At P.J. Skidoos restaurant, he had a menu item named for him: the Mayor Scott Cheeseburger.

Portraits of Fairfax City mayors hang on a wall outside the council chambers. He and his father, Frederick, a Navy veteran who served from 1978-1982, bookended the bottom row.

The Citys Son, people called him.

Silverthorne was first elected to the council at 24, the youngest person in city history to win that office.

He was a boy wonder, said former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

His political potential extended beyond the citys six square miles, Davis and others said, but his ambition never did. Fairfax was always enough.

And no one had a better sense of the communitys mood than Silverthorne, said former mayor John Mason.

What are people thinking? Mason, now 81, routinely asked him.

Silverthorne served on the council from 1990 to 2008, then returned to the job in 2011. He became mayor the next year.

But as his political life peaked, his personal life collapsed.

In June 2015, he lost his job at the manufacturers association, where he worked as the director of recruitment. Silverthorne, once vice president of government affairs for MasterCard and director of government relations for Capital One, does not even list his association position on his LinkedIn profile.

In his Sept. 3, 2015, bankruptcy filing, he cited numerous creditors  JPMorgan Chase, American Express and others  and debts of more than $245,000.

The same day he sought bankruptcy protection, his five-bedroom home on Towlston Road, on which a bank had foreclosed, was sold at auction for $578,000. It was the second home Silverthorne had lost to foreclosure: In October 2014, a Palm Springs, Calif., house hed bought for $355,000 in 2005 was also auctioned off.

Silverthorne was so desperate he couldnt even afford the fee to file for bankruptcy, so he asked for and was granted a waiver. He claimed he made only $450 a month and had $4,000 in monthly expenses.

The more chaos he faced, though, the more he immersed himself in his public role.

Two days before he filed for bankruptcy, Silverthorne beamed at the first council meeting since the bodys summer break.

Delighted to have everybody back, he said, then delved into zoning minutiae.

Days later, a photograph of Silverthorne tossing balloons at a picnic was posted to his Facebook page. Weeks after that, an image appeared showing him atop a red convertible as it led a local homecoming parade.

What a fantastic mayor! someone wrote beneath the photo.

Ha. Just the same old Scott, Silverthorne replied. I promise.

Leveraging his cancer

Soon after he became mayor in 2012, Silverthorne ran into Nancy Fry Loftus, with whom he had been friends since high school.

Loftus said he encouraged her to get into politics. When she did  but began to criticize his stances  their relationship soured, said Loftus, who worked as an attorney for Fairfax County.

In 2014, after she announced her intention to run for City Council, they met for coffee. During their conversation, Loftus said, Silverthorne told her that she should have asked for his permission first and that she had no chance of winning.

You come across as a strident woman, Loftus recalled him saying  an account Silverthorne denied through his attorney.

Loftus also claimed the mayor warned her that, if she did win, hed raise conflict-of-interest concerns he had over her being employed by the county.

She won the election, but shortly after, Loftus said, she lost her job because her boss determined the council position had created a conflict of interest. She has sued senior county officials, claiming her free-speech rights were violated. In an interview with The Washington Post, she questioned whether Silverthorne was involved in her firing.

A Fairfax County spokesman disputed Loftuss story, saying that there was no evidence to support it. Silverthorne, according to his attorney, Brian Drummond, said Loftus invented the entire confrontation. He said they talked only about issues facing the city.

[Fairfax mayor says he has cancer and plans to stay in office]

Silverthorne reveled in his political acumen. In December, after announcing he had cancer, a Post reporter joined him during a treatment at a chemotherapy center. As he watched a television replay of his most recent council meeting, the mayor acknowledged that he intended to leverage his illness.

If I could use this time period to cajole and arm-twist, where people are hopefully going to say, Well, we dont want to go against Scott right now because hes not feeling well? he said. At the end of the day, the mayor has the bully pulpit, and I should use it.

He had a reputation for taking positions only after he knew the likely outcome of the debate. When Greenfield read the proclamation at Silverthornes 50th birthday, he asked the mayor whether he had paint on his pants from having straddled so many fences.

That savvy made Silverthorne as successful as any politician in the citys history  but it also created enemies.

Just days before the May 2016 election, his opponent, Tom Ammazzalorso, distributed thousands of fliers that detailed Silverthornes private turmoil.

After years of disastrous financial decisions, Ammazzalorso asked, would you hire Scott to manage our City finances?

Although Silverthorne got 58 percent of the vote, the attack seemed to have an impact. His margin of victory was substantially less than the 86 percent he won in 2012 and the 74 percent in 2014.

In advance of the most recent election, Davis, the former congressman, had asked Silverthorne whether he had considered withdrawing from the race to focus on his growing problems.

Silverthorne, Davis recalled, couldnt bear the thought.

Politics, the mayor said, is the only thing in my life going right.

A sense of betrayal

Beckie Reilly texted and then called her dear friend as soon as she heard the lurid details of his arrest.

She couldnt believe it. Silverthorne, she said, assured her he was going to be okay.

Marilyn Larson, who was once Silverthornes neighbor and teacher at Fairfax High School, also spoke to him and said he sounded pained that he hurt people who believed in him. This was the foremost thing in his mind  how he let people down, not what would happen to him.

She said Silverthorne recounted how he had assured the arresting officers that he understood they were just doing their jobs.

He was composed enough to say to the police, I have a great deal of respect for you, and I want you to know that,  she said. He wanted them to know they were doing the right thing, and that he was taking full responsibility.

Mason, who also talked to Silverthorne, said, He clearly understands the need for squaring away his personal life and initially going off on a rehab program.

Larson said she doesnt believe Silverthorne intended to use meth as payment, as police allege, but his refusal to address the incident has only stoked speculation about what happened.

Drummond said his client wants very much to comment, but he has advised him to wait.

Scott is a good man. . . . However, he has landed himself in legal trouble, Drummond said in a statement. He acknowledges this, and knows the consequences  he blames no one but himself. We are making sure that he gets the help he needs.

The two other men arrested with Silverthorne at the hotel were a married Maryland couple, Caustin McLaughlin and Juan Jose Fernandez. In emails to The Post, Fernandez said he knew Silverthorne only as Scott, and McLaughlin said neither he nor his spouse brought drugs with them.

Fairfax Citys reaction to Silverthornes behavior is complicated. Many of his former constituents have posted messages of support on his Facebook page, but just as many are furious that he has turned their beloved community into a national punch line.

I think theres a sense of betrayal, Connolly said.  We trusted you and youve broken that trust  I think thats the reaction.

And thats awfully hard to overcome.

Already, his image is being excised.

P.J. Skidoos has erased the Mayor Scott Cheeseburger from its online menu.

On its website, the city has deleted his profile page.

And from that wall of mayors outside the council chambers, someone removed his photo, leaving in its place only the mounting screw.

By Tuesday, the portrait had returned, but with an alteration. The engraving marking Silverthornes years in office now had a final date: 2016. The tenure of the Citys Son had ended.

Magda Jean-Louis and Tom Jackman contributed to this report
MARYLAND

Man vanishes in river; separately, woman is rescued

A man disappeared Tuesday evening after jumping into the Potomac River near Great Falls, authorities said.

About an hour earlier, in a separate incident, a woman was rescued from the river a few miles downstream near the American Legion Memorial Bridge.

A kayaker scooped her up and took her to shore, said Pete Piringer, spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service. The woman did not appear to be seriously injured, he said.

 Martin Weil

VIRGINIA

Man who hit CIA gate gets 30 days in jail

A man who drove his car into a fence at CIA headquarters in Langley in June was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in jail and will have to pay $1,141.76 in compensation for the damage.

The man, Thomas Luu, said in federal court in Alexandria that he has bipolar disorder and was experiencing a manic episode at the time of the incident.

 Rachel Weiner
Washington Post reporter Clarence Williams looks back on the career of D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, who announced Tuesday that she will retire next month to take over as head of security for the National Football League. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

Washington Post reporter Clarence Williams looks back on the career of D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, who announced Tuesday that she will retire next month to take over as head of security for the National Football League. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

When Muriel E. Bowser was sworn in as the Districts mayor in 2015, she was whisked onto national television  flanked by Kaya Henderson, the citys schools chancellor, and Cathy Lanier, the Districts longtime and popular police chief. The District had the novelty of being the only major U.S. city with women in all three posts.

But with Laniers early retirement on Tuesday  and Hendersons impending exit, announced two months ago  Bowser is losing two important partners. She now is looking for executives in public safety and education, both keys to the citys recent economic expansion and growing population.

The departures, coming so close together, have presented Bowser with a defining moment in her second year as mayor. Bowser must replace two of the most public  and trusted  faces of the D.C. government over the past decade.

In an interview, Bowser said she was thankful that Lanier and Henderson had stayed through the beginning of her term. I knew that we had great leaders, but I also knew they were not at the beginning of their tenures but toward the end, she said.

Standing beside Lanier on Tuesday during the retirement announcement at police headquarters, the mayor thanked the police chief and said she was confident that she will find a replacement to carry on the chiefs legacy.

1 of 35 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  The career of D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier View Photos Police Chief Lanier will resign to take over as head of security for the National Football League, ending 26 years on the force. Caption Police Chief Lanier will resign to take over as head of security for the National Football League, ending 26 years on the force. Aug. 16, 2016 D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, right, and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser walk down the hall to announce Laniers resignation at a news conference at the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Washington. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

[The biggest events  and challenges  in Cathy Laniers tenure]

Bowser signaled that the hire for police chief might come from within the department, saying that Lanier had done a great job grooming talented leaders.

For the police department, this is an agency I know very, very well. As an ANC commissioner, ward council member and mayor, I spent a lot of time with the folks in the room, Bowser said. But we will recruit the right leader. I dont have an immediate plan. I dont think were going to need the services of a search firm to look nationally.

But Bowser said she will continue the nationwide search for a schools chancellor and continue listening to residents at community meetings.

Meanwhile, the mayor said she expects to promote someone from within for a third major vacancy in her cabinet, following the surprise resignation last week of Christopher Weaver, director of the Department of General Services. Bowser said she expects to elevate Greer Johnson Gillis to head of the agency in charge of most city building projects.

Bowsers nominees to replace Lanier and Henderson will likely face intense examination from an increasingly adversarial D.C. Council.

Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who would direct nomination hearings for police chief, said Bowser must find a chief with a breadth of experience as well as an understanding of the unique, overlapping law enforcement agencies that operate in the nations capital.

The stakes are incredibly high for the District of Columbia to ensure that we have the highest-quality chancellor as well as a police chief, given the critical role these two play, he said.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said that a new police chief must be a skilled communicator able to connect with the community, especially against a national backdrop of protests and allegations of racial profiling that so far have not affected the District.

He also said the next chief must obviously deal with the citys increase in homicides.

Im a strong believer in the value of stability, I think [former Chief Charles] Ramsey did a lot to turn around the department, he said. Cathy took it the next step, and now theres the challenge and the opportunity to take it further.

Mendelson wouldnt say whether he thought the nomination process might overshadow other legislation under council review, such as a plan to tax businesses to provide paid family leave for private employees.

The chief has to become one of our top priorities, Mendelson said. Will it displace others? I dont know.

Several council members cautioned that Bowser has nominated candidates for other positions who have not fared well, inviting even more scrutiny to the two highest-profile positions.

James Edward Kyle, Bowsers choice for chief executive of St. Elizabeths Hospital for psychiatric treatment, resigned in April amid questions about his time leading a hospital later deemed unsafe by federal officials.

The mayors head of Emergency Medical Services resigned last winter, leaving the agency scrambling to replace her. A review showed she had resigned from her previous job over a perceived conflict.

And days into office, Bowser elevated a former Gray administration official to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was quickly fired for an alleged inappropriate sexual encounter in a District office.

Mendelson and McDuffie said they were not sure whether a new police chief could be vetted before the end of the year.

If not, Bowsers choice could face more questions next year when at least three new members will be seated on the council, including two who have been critical of the mayors response to last years 54 percent spike in homicides.

Former mayor Vincent C. Gray could be on the council, representing Ward 7, where homicides have tripled.

Trayon White, the Democratic nominee for the Ward 8 Council seat, has criticized Bowser for proposing more aggressive policing of former violent offenders.

Ronald L. Moten, co-founder of the anti-violence youth group Peaceoholics, said that Laniers leadership led to positive relationships with the community that helped reduce crime.

Her successor, he said, should be a culturally competent native person ready to deal with a more diverse city with the understanding they must do the right things for the right reason so that our city can get the right results.

Ann Marimow and Clarence Williams contributed to this report.
Powerful thunderstorms swept across much of the region Monday afternoon and evening, toppling trees, blocking roads and knocking out power to as many as 30,000 homes and businesses.

Rain fell in torrents, lighning stabbed from blackening skies, and hailstones pelted down. High winds made treetops bend and sway. A 58 mph gust was measured in Montgomery County. Water rose on roads.

The storms arrived toward the end of another day of fierce heat. Although clouds often blocked the sun, the high temperature at Reagan National Airport reached at least 100 degrees for a third consecutive day. It was 101 on Saturday, and 100 on Sunday.

The three day stretch of triple digit temperatures was the second longest ever recorded in Washington, according to the Washington Posts Capital Weather Gang.The longest is four days. Other three- day spells of 100 degree readings have occurred , but not, apparently in August.

In addition, enough rain fell to set a record for the date. By Mondays end, the gauges at National, the official measuring station for the District, collected 1.16 inches of rain. That was enough (barely) to outdo Aug. 15, 1941, when the figure was 1.15 inches.

Around 5 p.m., the National Weather Service issued an urgent warning by Twitter to people in upper Montgomery County.

The storm near Poolesville MD heading towards Gaithersburg MD is extremely intense, the weather service said. Large hail, high winds likely. Head inside NOW!

Significant damage was reported in the Olney/Brookville areas of Montgomery County. Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the county fire and rescue service said that the wind had caused substantial damage, and fallen trees, branches and wires halted traffic on many roads.

He said at least two houses were struck by falling trees or large limbs. One was in the 8500 block of Flower Avenue in Takoma Park, and the other in the 3700 block of Stoney Castle Street in Olney. Trees also fell on houses near Dale City in Prince William County, and on Livingston Road in the Accokeek area of Prince Georges County.

In at least two places in Montgomery and Howard Counties, cars stalled in high water.

Montgomery County appeared to be among the jurisdictions with the largest number of outages. The figure was about 8,700 around 7:45 p.m. In Northern Virginia, Dominion Power reported 7,700 outages, and BGE listed 11,500. The Virginia figures declined as the evening went on, but the BGE figures increased, to about 16,000 by 8 p.m.

At least one house in Montgomery was struck by lightning. However, no fire was reported at the house, on Ale House Circle.
The search continues for a seventh missing person at the scene of the explosion of an apartment building in Silver Spring, Md.

Aug. 16, 2016 The search continues for a seventh missing person at the scene of the explosion of an apartment building in Silver Spring, Md. Bill OLeary/The Washington Post

At least 6 were killed after a blast destroyed an apartment complex in Silver Spring.

Seven bodies have been recovered at the complex in Silver Spring.

Seven bodies have been recovered at the complex in Silver Spring.

The scene after an explosion and fire gutted an apartment complex in Maryrland.

The scene after an explosion and fire gutted an apartment complex in Maryrland.

The body of a seventh person was found Tuesday at the Silver Spring apartment complex that was nearly leveled in an explosion last week, authorities said.

In another development, Washington Gas reported that tests Monday confirmed the integrity of the natural gas lines at the two buildings affected.

Investigators have not released findings about the cause of the catastrophe at the Flower Branch Apartments, but officials said last week that they suspected a natural gas leak may have contributed.

[Sixth body found after Silver Spring apartment complex fire]

Earlier Tuesday, before the body was found, Montgomery County authorities said they thought that at least one more body might remain in the rubble. In announcing Tuesdays discovery, however, they indicated that they will continue to look for possible victims.

Crews in Silver Spring, Md., continued to look for bodies on August 16 and clean up after a massive fire and explosion six days earlier at an apartment complex. Seven bodies have been recovered. (Video: Dan Morse/The Washington Post; Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

The blast injured more than 30 and displaced more than 100.

The missing were listed as: Saul Paniagua, 65; Saeda Ibrahim, 41; Fernando Josue Hernandez Orellana, 3; Deibi David Samir Lainez Morales, 8; Augusto Jimenez Sr., 62; Maria Auxiliadorai Castellon-Martinez, 53; and Aseged Mekonen, 34. None of the bodies recovered had been identified as of Tuesday by name, race, age or gender.

[An anguished wait for families of those missing in Maryland apartment fire]

Residents say they complained of a gas odor before last Wednesday nights blast. The county confirmed that on July 25, firefighters were sent to investigate the smell of gas at one of the complexs buildings. Logs show that they could not verify the smell and left .

Since the blast, Washington Gas has surveyed its system in the area and found it sound, said Jim Monroe, a spokesman for the utility.

We continue to support the ongoing investigation and remain on site to respond to community concerns, Monroe said in a statement. As always, if you smell gas, move to a safe location and call 911 or the Washington Gas emergency leak line at 703-750-1400.
Dublin, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Saudi Arabia Industrial Gases Market By Type (Oxygen, Argon, Nitrogen), By End User (Petrochemicals, Refinery, Metallurgy, etc.), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" report to their offering.



The industrial gases market size in Saudi Arabia is anticipated to cross US$ 1.6 billion by 2021.

Industrial gases are often used as process enhancers due to their physical and chemical properties. Crude oil production and exports are the largest contributors to the GDP of Saudi Arabia.



The government has formulated plans to become second largest exporter of refined oil products in the world by 2017, and has opened the sector for private investments. With growing developments in petrochemical and refinery infrastructure, the demand for industrial gases is anticipated to increase at a robust pace during 2016 - 2021.



Growing demand from various end user industries such as refinery, metallurgy, food & beverage, paper & pulp, etc., coupled with implementation of favourable government policies are projected to increase demand for industrial gases in Saudi Arabia during 2016 - 2021.



The leading players operating in the market includes National Industrial Gases Company, Air Liquide, Linde, Praxair and many more. Furthermore, huge investments in Saudi Arabia for capacity additions at existing end user facilities coupled with launch of new projects is anticipated to further boost the Saudi Arabia industrial gases market through 2021.



Market Trends & Developments



Expansion Activities by Companies Operating in Oil & Gas Midstream Sector

Acquisition of Domestic Players by Global Players

Economical Reactant for Production of Basic Chemicals

Safe Inerting and Efficient Cooling

Gas Supply Systems

Key Topics Covered:



1. Research Methodology



2. Product Overview



3. Analyst View



4. Global Industrial Gases Market Overview



5. Saudi Arabia Industrial Gases Market Outlook



6. Saudi Arabia Oxygen Industrial Gas Market Outlook



7. Saudi Arabia Nitrogen Industrial Gas Market Outlook



8. Saudi Arabia Argon Industrial Gas Market Outlook



9. Import-Export Analysis



10. Market Dynamics



11. Market Trends & Developments



12. Voice of Customers



13. Channel Partner Analysis



14. Policy & Regulatory Landscape



15. Saudi Arabia Economic Profile



16. Competitive Landscape



17. Strategic Recommendations



Companies Mentioned



- ACWA Air Products Arabia

- Air Liquide

- Aldakheel Industrial Gases (DIGAS)

- Gulf Cryo Saudi

- Jubail Gas Co. Ltd

- Linde SIGAS

- National Industrial Gases Company

- Praxair Gulf Industrial Gases

- Riyadh Oxygen Plant

- Southern Gas Factory



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nt98xb/saudi_arabia



Related Topics: Chemical Engineering , Refrigerants




Marylands public pension system missed its annual target for returns by more than six percentage points in fiscal 2016, marking the second consecutive year that the retirement program fell short of its goal.

The $45.5 billion investment portfolio earned 1.16 percent after fees for the fiscal year that ended June 30, well below the funds annual objective of 7.55 percent, according to a news release from the State Retirement and Pension System. In 2015, growth was 2.68 percent.

Pension funds across the nation are struggling to meet their targets, despite paying large fees to high-cost financial experts who say they can beat the markets by actively managing investments.

In fiscal 2014 and 2015, Maryland paid more than $300 million to such professionals.

[What does Md. get in return for $320 million in fees to manage funds?]

The states pension system has not determined how much it paid for management fees in fiscal 2016, but the agency plans to provide those numbers to the General Assemblys joint committee on pensions around November.

Some financial analysts say pension plans should pull their money from actively managed funds and shift to passively managed index funds, such as those that track the Standard & Poors 500-stock index.

Jeff Hooke, a senior lecturer at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, has argued for years that indexes often perform better than actively managed investments such as hedge funds, and that theyre less risky.

He pointed to a Vanguard index fund that earned about 4 percent in fiscal 2016 as an example of a passively managed fund that outperformed Marylands portfolio, which consists of about 79 percent actively managed investments.

Pension funds might be at a crossroads, Hooke said. The pensioners and taxpayers and pension boards have to reflect on whether to go with a low-cost strategy with average returns or to double down on the riskier assets.

A few states have begun transitioning away from actively managed investments.

Nevada, for instance, has switched almost entirely to passively managed funds since 2014, indexing 100 percent of its mutual-fund and tradable-

securities portfolios. The states pension system ended fiscal 2016 with a 2.3 percent return, which was below its long-term target of 8 percent.

Andrew C. Palmer, chief investment officer for the State Retirement Agency, argues that Marylands actively managed investments help diversify its portfolio and minimize volatility. He added that low-fee indexes, which largely consist of stocks, tend to experience dramatic dips and spikes.

Marylands latest returns raise the prospect that the state and its public employees will have to contribute more money to the pension program to help fulfill its promises. The retirement system covers more than 382,000 active and former state employees, including firefighters, judges, state police and teachers.

The risk to pensioners is that you could end up like Illinois or Pennsylvania, where the unfunded liability was allowed to increase, Hooke said. The legislatures in those states didnt pay much attention, and those funds are only about 50 percent funded now.

Other states fared worse than Maryland this year. The California Public Employees Retirement System reported a 0.61 percent net return on investments for fiscal 2016, and the New York State Common Retirement Fund earned 0.19 percent. Each invests in a mixture of actively and passively managed funds.

Maryland pension officials said they are confident that the states existing strategy will keep the retirement system healthy in the long run.

While this is a very disappointing one-year return, its important to remember that we are long-term investors, meaning we should not be distracted by a single years performance, whether the earnings are high or low, said Maryland Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, who chairs the pension systems board of trustees. Over the last 30 years, including both good years and bad, the fund has earned an average return of 8 percent.

Kopp has ordered an internal review of the program based on the low returns, with the report expected to go to the legislatures joint pension committee in the fall.

Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince Georges), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the retirement program, said he looks forward to a full analysis and report . . . including consideration of any changes that may be necessary.

Sen. Andrew A. Serafini (R-Washington), a member of the joint committee, has called for the state to switch from its current pension system, which promises a certain payout to public employees based in large part on their years of service, to a defined contribution plan similar to the 401(k) programs that many private employers offer.

Its what 90 percent of the country is using, and you dont have these arguments over whether we should be using indexes, or can we pick the best people to manage investments, or can we outperform the markets as a state, he said.

Defined-contribution programs give employees more control over how to invest their money and allow them to keep their earnings if they move from one job to another, but they also leave their funds entirely at the mercy of the markets.
This week, three Democrats widely considered to be the most likely candidates to challenge Gov. Larry Hogan in 2018 will head to the Eastern Shore for a statewide conference of county officials, and each will make an unofficial pitch for himself as the one to take on the popular Republican.

The four-day meeting of the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) in Ocean City offers the potential gubernatorial candidates a chance to network with scores of elected leaders from across the state.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and U.S. Rep. John Delaney  the most-talked-about potential Hogan challengers  have been making the rounds and pleading their cases for months by attacking Hogan on issues from school and transportation funding to Donald Trump, his partys presidential candidate.

Its never too early to start jockeying, said Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Marys College.

Relative unknowns outside their jurisdictions, they are trying to raise their profiles statewide, and the MACO conference provides another opportunity for them to reach scores of influential people in a short period of time.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), center at bottom, had high approval ratings in polls earlier this year. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

Kamenetz and Baker attended the J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake, an annual political schmoozefest, in Somerset County last month before heading to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Wherever theres an event with at least two Democrats, [Kamenetz has] been there, said Donald Norris, director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

In Philadelphia, the Baltimore County executive hosted a late-night party with Maryland Democrats, attended meals with the state party and distributed a daily newsletter dubbed the Kamenetz Chronicle, which he slid under the doors of the states convention delegates and guests. He has also hired Colleen Martin-Lauer, who led the fundraising efforts of then-Gov. Martin OMalley (D), to be part of his team.

Kamenetz is not scheduled to deliver remarks at the MACO conference, which begins Wednesday, but his staff said he will host a party Wednesday night. He will also attend several board meetings as second vice president of the organization.

I anticipate there will be much discussion regarding Governor Hogans cuts to education and transportation funding, and how this might further strain the budgets of Marylands counties, Kamenetz said of the conference.

Doug Mayer, a spokesman for Hogan, said the governor, who will give the final address on Saturday, plans to spend his time in Ocean City focusing on what the administration can continue to do to support all of Marylands local jurisdictions. Unlike others, he is not there to lobby for future political support.

Baker will host a reception with Del. Dereck E. Davis (D-Prince Georges) on Thursday night in Ocean City.

Last month, the Prince Georges County executives political campaign provided transportation for 200 Democrats to go to Philadelphia for Maryland Day during the national convention. On the bus, water bottles with Bakers 2014 campaign stickers affixed were distributed.

Baker used a Maryland Day speech to bash Hogan on spending and other issues, but its not clear whether his and other attacks have gained traction.

[Baker uses DNC luncheon as a chance to blast Hogan]

Baker, who says he is considering a run after his second term as county executive ends in 2018, has also tried to align Hogan with Trump. But it is unclear how the presidential race will affect the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

Hogan has tried to distance himself from his partys nominee. He said in June that he would not vote for Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton, and he did not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last month. The decision angered some members of the state Republican Party.

[When a sitting Republican governor says he wont vote for Trump]

Before Hogans announcement that he would not back Trump, Delaney hammered him for being slow to take a position on the outspoken billionaires divisive campaign. He even hired a mobile billboard to drive around the state capitol challenging Hogan to take a stand on the candidate.

[This Md. congressman really, really wants Gov. Hogan to take a stand on Trump]

Delaney, who has insisted that he is focused on his 2016 congressional campaign, spoke at a Maryland Democratic Party breakfast in Philadelphia, and he will give a speech in Ocean City this week about technologys effects on the economy and competitiveness.

Each potential challenger offers something different for Democrats, who are looking for the best option to win back the governors office.

Kamenetz, who is serving his second term as Baltimore County executive, has a record that includes a mix of fiscal discipline and big investments in school construction. He has strong roots in Baltimore County, a jurisdiction that was pivotal in the election two years ago. He has tangled with Hogan over installing portable air conditioners in county schools and has a plan to install central air. Hogan has criticized the proposal because it would not be completed until 2019, at the earliest.

Matthew Crenson, a political science professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University, said Kamenetz is known in Baltimore City, where many residents are less supportive of Hogan.

Baker, who has made major investments in public safety and education, has improved the image of Prince Georges, which experienced a major corruption scandal under then-County Executive Jack B. Johnson in 2010. Crime rates have dropped, and economic development has grown substantially, including the soon-to-open MGM National Harbor casino.

Baker is also a former state delegate who has strong ties to the General Assembly and its leaders.

Delaney, who represents a congressional district that includes parts of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties, is a moderate Democrat. A former businessman, he has backed tougher regulations on brokers who offer financial advice to retirees, and he crossed party lines to support tax cuts and legislation that would have required the Obama administration to certify that refugees are properly vetted before allowing them to enter the United States.

Eberly said that Democrats need to challenge Hogan from the center and that Delaney seems to offer that position.

Political observers say whoever becomes the Democratic gubernatorial nominee will face a huge challenge in trying to unseat Hogan, who had an approval rating of more than 60 percent in polls earlier this year.

However, the Democratic nominee starts with some degree of an advantage, Eberly said, noting that Democrats outnumber Republicans in Maryland by 2 to 1.

If the economy slips and Hogan continues to make what Eberly called unforced errors, such as referring to teachers union leaders as thugs and refusing to spend school dollars that the General Assembly appropriated in counties like Baltimore County, which was crucial to his win, the governor could become slightly vulnerable.

But if Hogan goes into the election with a 60 percent to 70 percent approval rating, Eberly said, its difficult to see how voters throw you out.
Patricia Welch in 2014, after being charged with lying to a grand jury in Bedford County, Va. (Dan Morse/The Washington Post)

A family member of the man accused of killing two young Maryland sisters in 1975 was sentenced to five years of unsupervised probation Tuesday for allegedly lying to a grand jury that investigated the case.

Patricia Jean Welch, 66, entered an Alford plea. Under such pleas, defendants do not admit to guilt but concede that prosecutors have enough evidence to persuade a jury to convict. She did not receive jail time. The unsupervised nature of her probation means that she essentially has to stay out of trouble for five years.

The plea hearing unfolded in Bedford County, Va., about 200 miles southwest of where the two girls, Sheila Lyon, 12, and Katherine Lyon, 10, were last known to have been alive 41 years ago: the Wheaton Plaza mall. The sisters, who had walked there from their home to see friends and look at Easter decorations, never came home. The unsolved case stunned the region and became embedded in residents memories. Then, in 2013, a onetime carnival worker, Lloyd Welch, surfaced as a suspect.

[Police: Welch abducted Lyon sisters in 1975 to sexually exploit them]

Detectives came to believe that Lloyd Welch and others abducted the girls from the mall, killed them and disposed of their bodies on a mountain in Bedford County. In 2014, officials in Bedford convened a grand jury to further investigate the case.

Patricia Welchs jail booking photo from 2014. (Bedford Adult Detention Center)

Among the people brought before the panel, according to court records, was Patricia Welch, a longtime resident of Maryland. Her husband, Richard, is the brother of Lloyd Welchs late father. In 2014, Richard was named as a person of interest in the case. He has not been charged.

Before the grand jury, while under oath, Patricia Welch denied an allegation that she had contacted others and encouraged them not to cooperate with the investigation, according to Bedford County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Wes Nance, repeating what he said in open court Tuesday. In fact, according to Nance, officials had phone records and recordings of Patricia Welch showing that those sworn statements were not true.

[From 2014: Patricia Welch charged with perjury]

J. Emmette Pilgreen IV, Patricia Welchs attorney, said that his client maintained her innocence and that she had an explanation for the statements she made to the grand jury. She entered the Alford plea, he said, to avoid what could happen in front of a jury.

She didnt want to risk getting convicted at trial, Pilgreen said.

Patricia Welch also entered the plea to try to put the matter behind her and her immediate family. They want the spotlight taken away from them, Pilgreen said.

Patricia Welch maintains that she knows nothing about what happened to the Lyon sisters, Pilgreen said.

Lloyd Welch was indicted last year on two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held pending his trial, which is scheduled to begin in April.
A man who drove his car into a fence at CIA headquarters in Virginia earlier this year explained Tuesday in court that he suffers from bipolar disorder and was experiencing a manic episode at the time.

It has always been difficult for myself and my family, Thomas Luu told a judge in Alexandria federal court as he pleaded guilty to damaging government property. Ive been working hard to make changes.

Just after 2 a.m. on June 13, Luu rammed his Ford Focus into an eight-foot gate outside the CIA headquarters so hard that the fence broke. When a security officer arrived at the scene, Luu was kneeling on the ground next to his car with his hands behind his head. He told the officer that he had been recruited by the CIA and was trying to get the agencys attention.

His attorney, Cadence Mertz, told the court Tuesday that Luu has struggled with his mental illness for 15 years. However, she said, he is now getting regular therapy, taking his medication and has reached a new insight into his illness.

Luu was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of supervised probation. He will have to pay $1,141.76 in compensation for the broken gate.
Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead over Donald Trump in Virginia, with disdain for the Republican presidential nominee helping Clinton overcome her own vulnerabilities, a new Washington Post poll finds.

Clinton leads Trump by a 14-point margin  52 percent to 38 percent  among registered voters in the state and by an eight-point margin among likely voters, 51 percent to 43 percent. Her edge dips to seven points among likely voters when third-party candidates are included.

Aside from the rural southwestern part of the state, Clintons lead spans all regions, most by a wide margin. She trounces Trump among minority voters and slashes the advantage Republicans usually count on among whites in Virginia.

The results suggest how difficult it could be for the GOP nominee to win what had been considered a crucial swing state. Virginia had gone red for presidential candidates for decades until Barack Obama broke the streak in 2008 and won the state again in 2012. In those years, Virginians favored Obama by a nearly identical margin as in the country overall, even closer than in longtime bellwether Ohio. With its changing demographics, especially in the fast-growing suburbs around Washington, the state may not even be competitive for Trump.

[Read full poll results]





That would be bad news for Trump, whose path to the White House would be much more difficult without Virginia and its 13 electoral votes. To compensate, he would have to pick up support from other states, such as Pennsylvania, that have been far less friendly to Republicans.

Other recent surveys find Clinton leading Trump in most swing states and challenging him in others that routinely vote Republican. She leads by at least 10 points in Colorado and New Hampshire, and holds single-digit edges in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. The two run about even in Iowa and Nevada, as well as in Georgia, a state GOP nominee Mitt Romney won by eight points in 2012.

If Trump loses Virginia, he would need to sweep all of these states to surpass the 270 electoral-vote threshold, unless he upsets Clinton in Democratic-leaning Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Michigan. Polls show that Clinton leads in all three states by about 10 points or more.

The poll finds that Trumps negative image is hampering his ability to unite Republicans and to grow support beyond Romneys standing in 2012, when he lost to Obama 51 percent to 47 percent in Virginia. Trump has slightly more support than Romney did in solidly Republican rural parts of the state, but the real estate developers unpredictable campaign has turned off some reliably Republican voters elsewhere.

Walt Purnell, 71, a retired business executive from Ashburn, had hoped to vote for Jeb Bush  or John Kasich. Or Marco Rubio. Or Chris Christie. But Trump? No way.

I think hes a failure, I think hes a fraud, I think hes a con artist, I think hes insane, Purnell said.

Clintons advantage comes despite weaknesses in her personal popularity. Fifty-four percent of registered voters report an unfavorable impression of the former secretary of state; 44 percent view her favorably. Yet Trump is significantly worse off, with twice as many negative ratings as positive ones, 65 percent to 32 percent. A 56 percent majority view Trump in a strongly unfavorable light, 13 points higher than for Clinton.





Clinton also may benefit from the popularity of her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.), a former governor who maintains a favorable-unfavorable image of 54 percent to 37 percent in the state, similar to his standing during his 2012 Senate race. Trumps running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, is not nearly as well known, and voters split 37 percent to 34 percent favorable-unfavorable toward him.

The vast majority of voters say the selections of Kaine and Pence as running mates will not influence their vote, but 26 percent say Kaine makes them more likely to back Clinton, compared with 15 percent who say Pence is a motivator to support Trump.

Clintons advantage over Trump is larger than her advantage in national polls following the Democratic and Republican party conventions, including an eight-point lead among registered voters in a Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this month.

[National poll finds Clinton has widened lead over Trump to 8 points]

But the electorate is not enthusiastic for either candidate. Less than half of Clinton supporters have a strongly favorable view of her, while nearly nine in 10 have a strongly negative view of Trump. By a similar margin, more Trump backers are strongly negative toward Clinton than positive toward Trump.

Theres the dilemma, said Joseph Baltes, 31, a factory machine operator from Winchester who considers himself a Republican. Do I go for the person that terrifies me because of the things they say and may do, or the person who terrifies me because I dont know if I can trust them? And right now Im willing to hold my nose and vote for Hillary because Trump currently scares me a little bit more.

Whatever the mood, Trumps standing against Clinton represents another low point in Republican support in a state where the GOP controls both houses of the legislature but hasnt won a statewide election since 2009.

Clinton has nearly as much support among minority voters as Obama did in 2012, with 93 percent of African Americans saying they prefer her to Trump. And she has stronger numbers among whites than Obama did.

The states white voters still give the edge to Trump, who leads Clinton among that group by eight percentage points. Some said they were drawn to his outsider status.

I like the idea of a non-politician, said James Duffrin, 85, a retiree from Alexandria. Professional politicians kind of scare me. Sometimes he shoots from the hip. He doesnt give enough thought to his answers to a lot of questions. But I dont hold that too much against him because hes not an experienced politician.

But that level of white support is significantly worse than the 24-point margin Romney had four years ago. As in national polls, Trumps strongest edge is among whites without college degrees, where he also leads Clinton by a 24-point margin, although this also is weaker than Romneys 44-point advantage in 2012.

The shift among white college graduates has been even sharper, with Clinton holding an edge of 53 percent to 37 percent compared with Obamas deficit of 44 percent to 54 percent in 2012.

Virginias large military and gun-owning populations mark one opportunity for Republicans to grow their appeal, although this has not materialized for Trump. Current and former military members lean toward Clinton by eight points after splitting evenly between Obama and Romney in 2012. Trump leads by 16 points among the half of Virginia voters whose households own a gun, but Clinton leads by 48 points among all other voters.

Virginias regional divisions also underscore Trumps challenges. He maintains a 26-point edge in the southwestern part of the state, slightly larger than Romneys 22-point edge and an area where more than 6 in 10 voters dislike Clinton.

[How deeply red Virginia become a challenge for the GOP in a single decade]

Beyond this reliably Republican region, Clinton has the potential to accumulate a nearly insurmountable vote margin in the inner Washington suburbs, leading by 45 points over Trump, compared with Obamas 26-point edge in 2012. Clinton holds a seven-point edge in the Washington exurbs that include Loudoun and Prince William counties, which split evenly between Obama and Romney. She also appears stronger than Obama in the Tidewater region, which encompasses Norfolk and Virginia Beach, leading Trump by 2 to 1 compared with Obamas low double-digit victory there four years ago. At least two-thirds of voters in both the D.C. suburbs and Tidewater have a strongly unfavorable view of Trump.

Beyond long-term challenges, Virginia Democrats and Republicans are not equally united behind their nominees this year. Clinton garners support from 93 percent of Democrats, while Trump stands at 81 percent of Republicans. Although 86 percent of Democrats who wanted Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) to win the partys primary contest support Clinton against Trump in a two-way race, Trump stands at 69 percent support among Republicans who wanted a different candidate to win the primary election.

One key factor working in Trumps favor is motivation to vote. Nearly 9 in 10 registered voters who support him say they are certain that they will cast ballots, compared with nearly 8 in 10 Clinton backers, which is one reason her margin over Trump shrinks from 14 points among all registered voters to eight points among likely voters. This dynamic is partly a result of lower certainty to vote among African Americans, an indication that turnout could dip from heights seen when Obama ran in 2008 and 2012.

Disaffected partisans represent the greatest opportunity for Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Partys Jill Stein, who win 11 percent and 4 percent, respectively, among registered voters. Johnson receives 25 percent support among Republicans who backed other primary candidates and 15 percent support from Sanders Democrats. A significant 14 percent of Sanders backers support Stein, who is still collecting signatures to gain ballot access. Neither candidate has secured a spot on Novembers ballot, although both their parties and the Constitution Party did so in 2012.

The Washington Post poll was conducted Aug. 11-14 among a random sample of 1,002 Virginia adults interviewed on cellular and landline phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points among the sample of 888 registered voters; the error margin is 4.5 points among the sample of 707 likely voters.

Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
Albany, NY, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OpenStack controls functionalities within compute, storage, and networking resources through a data center. It is managed through web dashboards or API. The technology is suitable for hybrid infrastructure as it reduces the risk of lock-ins that are associated with proprietary platforms. OpenStack is becoming a strategic choice for many organizations and service providers that offer cloud-computing services on standard hardware. It is also ideal for companies deploying private clouds and large enterprises using cloud solutions across multiple continents.

The global cloud management for OpenStack market to grow at a CAGR of 30.49% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global cloud management for OpenStack market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Technavio considers the revenue generated from licensing and maintenance of cloud management software solutions.

The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:

Americas

APAC

EMEA

For more info, get a Sample PDF:http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=775698

Technavio's report, Global Cloud Management for OpenStack Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

Key vendors

BMC Software

HP

IBM

Red Hat

VMware

Other prominent vendors

Adaptive Computing

CA Technologies

Cisco Systems

Citrix

CliQr Technologies

CloudBolt Software

Convirture

CSC

Dell

Egenera

Embotics

GigaSpaces Technologies..

View TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:http://www.researchmoz.us/global-cloud-management-for-the-openstack-market-2016-2020-report.html

Key questions answered in this report

What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?

What are the key market trends?

What is driving this market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in this market space?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?

Related Reports:-

Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Consumption 2016

First, the report provides a basic overview of the Virtualization and Cloud Management Software industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.

Secondly, the report states the global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.

Browse more details at:http://www.researchmoz.us/global-virtualization-and-cloud-management-software-consumption-2016-market-research-report-report.html

Global Virtualization and Cloud Management Software Market 2015-2019

Virtualization is a process that simulates both software and hardware on a computer using cloud to enable users to receive resources as a service over the Internet. Cloud computing involves the conversion of specific machines to a virtual image on a server within the cloud. Cloud virtualization software acts as an intermediary between cloud-based services and end-user systems. It helps in reducing operational costs and increasing efficiency of the entire network interface. Cloud virtualization solutions are not centralized and remain unaffected by natural calamities or power failures. However, this can lead to problems related to data security and privacy.

Technavio's analysts forecast the global virtualization and cloud management software market to grow at a CAGR of 14.81% over the period 2014-2019.

Browse more details at:http://www.researchmoz.us/global-virtualization-and-cloud-management-software-market-2015-2019-report.html

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ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.
AFRICA

WHO campaign targets yellow fever outbreak

The World Health Organization is embarking on a massive vaccination campaign to stem a deadly yellow fever outbreak in Angola and Congo that public health experts say threatens to expand beyond Africa.

The disease has killed more than 400 people and sickened thousands in the two countries, according to a WHO alert issued Tuesday.

The organization said it needs to vaccinate more than 14 million people in more than 8,000 locations around Congos capital, Kinshasa, and along its border with Angola. Already, more than 16 million people in the two countries have been given the vaccine.

The yellow fever outbreak has found its way to dense, urban areas and hard-to-reach border regions, making planning for the vaccination campaign especially complex, the alert noted.

The disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is not highly contagious and is preventable through vaccination.

The WHO says the expanded undertaking will be one of the largest it has attempted in Africa, requiring 17.3 million syringes and 41,000 workers and volunteers. Another challenge will be the vaccine itself, which is in short supply in the region.

 Kimbriell Kelly

KASHMIR

Troops kill 5 civilians at anti-India protests

Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir fatally shot five civilians and injured at least 15 on Tuesday as clashes with anti-India protesters intensified in the troubled region, police said.

Four people were killed when troops fired live ammunition, shotgun pellets and tear gas to control hundreds of people throwing stones and chanting slogans in a village west of the main city of Srinagar, a police official said.

News of the killings brought thousands of other Kashmiris in neighboring villages and across the region into the streets, in defiance of curfew orders.

A fifth civilian was killed when government forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the southern Anantnag area.

The disputed Himalayan region has been tense since troops killed a popular rebel leader about six weeks ago.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. Anti-India feelings run strong in the Muslim-majority region, where many favor independence or merger with Pakistan.

 Associated Press

Pakistan deports blacklisted American: Pakistans interior minister said a blacklisted U.S. citizen who entered the country earlier this month has been deported again after being interrogated. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly that Matthew Barrett, 33, was first deported in 2011 after being detained near a sensitive military installation. Khan did not specify when Barrett was deported this time. Islamabad has said that Barrett was never suspected of spying but that he was involved in wrongdoing.

Iran arrests dual national on security-related charges: Iran has detained an Iranian with a second nationality over alleged links to British intelligence, a prosecutor said, the latest such arrest of a dual citizen. Hard-liners in Irans security forces have increasingly targeted those with foreign ties in the wake of last years nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi described the detained person as active in the economic field, related to Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He did not identify the persons second nationality. Britains Foreign Office said that it is seeking information following the reported detention of a dual Iranian-British national in Iran. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship.

Bulgarian court approves French terror suspects extradition: A French citizen with family ties to last years attack on the Charlie Hebdo publication in Paris will be extradited to France to face terrorism charges, a Bulgarian court ruled. The court said Mourad Hamyd, 20, didnt take advantage of a deadline to withdraw the approval he had given to be sent back to France. Hamyd was arrested on a French warrant in Bulgaria on July 29. France suspects that he planned to join the Islamic State militant group in Syria or Iraq. Hamyd is the brother-in-law of Cherif Kouachi, one of the men who attacked Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

Germany arrests suspected supplier of gun used in rampage: German officials said they have arrested a man suspected of having sold the weapon and ammunition used by a depression-plagued teenager who went on a rampage at a Munich mall. Prosecutors said the 31-year-old German was arrested in the western city of Marburg. The Munich shooter, identified only as 18-year-old David S., opened fire with an illegal Glock 17 pistol on July 22, killing nine people and wounding dozens before killing himself. He is thought to have bought the weapon on the darknet, a restricted-access computer network often used by criminals.

 From news services
The Aug. 11 editorial Rot in the Baltimore Police Department suffered from a dearth of nuance. The report-writing template supposedly used to aid officers in writing trespassing charges, where black male was already listed, is an insensitive example of misconduct, but it isnt definitively a sign of entrenched racism. The Justice Department report states that approximately 42 percent of the departments officers are African American. If this template was used department-wide, the Vanguard Justice Society, representing minority officers , and department leadership would have jumped on it with both organizational feet. Or are black officers not offended?

The officers who chased Freddie Gray were not in the area to harass some innocent black man but were there on request of Baltimores states attorney, Marilyn Mosby, because of resident complaints of drug activity in what is considered a high-crime area. Chasing Gray was in keeping with this requested police action, and such action is sanctioned by the Supreme Courts Illinois v. Wardlow ruling. The result was a tragedy, but not an example of police willy-nilly deciding to make life miserable for a law-abiding black citizen.

The Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights is not a free pass for bad officers. Yes, an officer who refused to accept summary punishment could request a trial board, but the police commissioner could overrule the board.

Jim Giza, Baltimore
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer during a campaign rally on Friday in Erie, Pa. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

Maybe Donald Trump didnt create an appetite for authoritarianism. Maybe an appetite for authoritarianism created Donald Trump.

Many of us in the media have portrayed Trump as a uniquely dangerous threat to democracy, an aspiring strongman with little regard for checks on executive power by other branches of government, the media or the Constitution. And many of us are shocked that Trump, through charisma alone, has managed to sell so many voters on this vision of an all-powerful presidency.

But truth is, voters didnt require much convincing.

As documented by scholars Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk in a recent article in the Journal of Democracy, Americans had become steadily more open to anti-democratic, autocratic ideas long before Trump tossed his red hat in the ring.

Recent decades have seen precipitous declines in trust in nearly every major U.S. institution. Still, many of us assumed that, underneath it all, faith in democracy itself held steady  that we are angry at so many entrenched institutions because they have fallen short of cherished democratic ideals.

1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Nope.

Citizens of the United States  and other Western democracies, for that matter  have become more cynical about the value of democracy as a political system, less hopeful that anything they do might influence public policy, and more willing to express support for authoritarian alternatives, the authors find.

Foa and Mounk draw primarily on data from the long-running World Values Survey. For example, when asked whether democracy is a good or bad way to run a country, 9 percent of Americans said it was fairly bad or very bad in the mid-1990s, compared with 17 percent today.

In both periods, younger respondents were most likely to answer this way, and youth have become especially more anti-democratic over time. About a sixth of those ages 16 to 24 pooh-poohed democracy in the mid-1990s. About a quarter did in the more recent survey.

This is not merely an issue of branding. On questions that strike at the heart of democratic ideals, Americans  and especially younger Americans  have also grown more apathetic or outright hostile.

Consider attitudes on elections. As you might have guessed from voter turnout rates, 14 percent of baby boomers indicated that it is unimportant in a democracy for people to choose their leaders in free elections. Among millennials, the share was 26 percent.

Or consider civil rights. In recent years, 41 percent of older Americans said it is absolutely essential in a democracy that civil rights protect peoples liberty. Just 32 percent of millennials said the same.

Perhaps more terrifying, over recent decades, the share of U.S. citizens who say it would be a fairly good or very good thing for the army to rule has risen. In 1995, 1 in 16 people agreed with this statement; today, the share is 1 in 6.

Relatedly, in separate polling from Gallup, today the military is one of only two major U.S. institutions that a majority of Americans still has confidence in. (The other is the police.)

The World Values Survey data also indicates that the share of respondents who believe it would be better to have a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections has grown, from 24 percent in 1995 to 32 percent today.

On both this question and the one about military rule, young people were again more likely than older people to agree.

How to reconcile young peoples relative attraction to authoritarian policies but relative lack of interest in the candidate most openly peddling authoritarianism (Trump)?

Perhaps millennials like authority but want it to be in line with their own values (of pluralism and protection of minorities and the historically underprivileged, etc.). College campuses, after all, are rife with anecdotes of students illiberal appeals to pseudo-parental authority figures to sort out conflicts and police speech, costumes and party themes, in ways that were anathema to earlier youth cohorts.

Trump, of course, has also managed to alienate racial and ethnic minorities, which younger people are more likely to belong to. One could imagine another charismatic, Trump-like figure who differently defined the out-group at fault for the nations ills  the privileged rich, say  who could have similar sway over youths imaginations.

Remember, though, it isnt only the young whove become more accepting of anti-democratic values. The data shows this evolution in every age group, on both left and right.

Maybe its been too long since democracy faced a truly existential threat, and so Americans have come to take it for granted. But these days it may be dangerous to assume democracy will always be the only game in town.
MARINA DEL REY, CA, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Buscar Company (OTC: CGLD) announced today that Mr. Ability worked on August 11 at Del Mar Racetrack. He worked 3 furlongs in 38 4/5 seconds. Mr. Ability breezed well and was on the bridle throughout the work. On the bridle means when a horse is held back by the jockey and ran smoothly. Essentially meaning the horse wanted to run faster. Mr. Ability will continue to work over the next 14 days to get into race shape while the Companys trainer is looking for his next race.

The Company is keeping an eye on Mr. Abilitys form and looking at the upcoming Kentucky Derby prep races. The Kentucky Derby is raced on the first Saturday in May 2017. There exists a tiered point system in select races that will determine who qualifies for the race. The thoroughbreds must travel along the Road to the Kentucky Derby, a series of 35 designated races at tracks across the country and around the world. Points are awarded to the top four finishers in each race. The 20 horses with the most points will earn a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. As Mr. Ability progresses over the 2 months, the Company will be looking at possible prep races for him.

About Buscar Company. The Company is engaged in the buying, selling and racing of thoroughbreds. The Companys focus is acquiring thoroughbreds that can race in the allowance and stakes level of thoroughbred racing; however, the Company will initially begin acquiring thoroughbreds in the claiming level of thoroughbred racing. More information can be found at www.buscarcompany.com.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.
DEVASTATING AND overwhelming. Those are the conditions in the ancient and once-great metropolis of Aleppo, according to the head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Marianne Gasser, who was in the Syrian city recently.

We hear that dozens of civilians are being killed every day and scores more injured from shells, mortars and rockets, Ms. Gasser said. The bombing is constant. The violence is threatening hundreds of thousands of peoples lives, homes and livelihoods.

War crimes appear to be near-constant also. The air forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his chief backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, target apartment buildings, bakeries and  this is their specialty  hospitals and clinics. The United Nations is investigating credible reports that Mr. Assad again has used chemical weapons, in this case chlorine gas. Water has been cut off from hundreds of thousands of people.

The last surviving physicians in the rebel-held half of Aleppo a few days ago begged President Obama to help. The world has stood by and remarked how complicated Syria is, while doing little to protect us, they wrote. The burden of responsibility for the crimes of the Syrian government and its Russian ally must therefore be shared by those, including the United States, who allow them to continue.

Why would these brave, forlorn doctors look to Mr. Obama for rescue? Perhaps one of them, through the terrible din of war, remembers hearing the president promise to stand by the Syrian people as they were being subjected to unspeakable violence, simply for demanding their universal rights.

Mr. Obama made his pledge during an address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2012. He boasted that he had decreed, in a first for any U.S. president, that preventing mass atrocities is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America. That did not mean that the United States would intervene militarily every time theres an injustice in the world, he cautioned. But when it came to Syria, Mr. Obama was clear.

The Syrian people have not given up, which is why we cannot give up, Mr. Obama said. And so with allies and partners, we will keep increasing the pressure, with a diplomatic effort to further isolate Assad and his regime, so that those who stick with Assad know that they are making a losing bet.

Alas, that was many atrocities ago. According to the Red Cross, more than 12 million Syrians  half the prewar population  have been forced from their homes, with millions more under siege. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. Well over 1 million have been wounded. Iran and Russia continue to place their bets on the Assad regime. And Mr. Obama no longer pledges to stand with the Syrian people, though he remains clear-eyed about what they are facing.

The regime and its allies, Mr. Obama observed at a Pentagon news conference this month, are engaged in vicious attacks on defenseless civilians, medieval sieges against cities like Aleppo, and blocking food from reaching families that are starving.

But the administrations response has not changed: a combination of halfhearted support for the rebels, who increasingly gravitate by necessity to more extremist groups; requests to the Russians to behave better; and finger wagging.

It is deplorable, the president said during his visit to the Pentagon. Small comfort to the people of Aleppo.
DONALD TRUMP spent the first half of a foreign policy address Monday attacking President Obama, on whom he placed primary blame for a variety of global problems. Then he proposed a strategy to defeat the Islamic State that was strikingly similar to, well, President Obamas.

Mr. Trump traced the Middle Easts current disorder to President George W. Bushs decision to invade Iraq, and he lamented the fact that, once the United States was engaged, it did not behave like a neo-imperialist and keep the oil. But the GOP nominee put as much weight on Mr. Obamas call to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq before the country had fully stabilized. The fact-checkers will no doubt have a field day comparing Mr. Trumps retrospective outrage with what he said about these decisions when they were made. But, amid much other nonsense and bluster, Mr. Trump struck on a kernel of truth: Against the better wisdom of others, Mr. Obamas withdrawal enhanced the Islamic States opportunity to run rampant across northwestern Iraq and into Syria, and the tide is only now slowly turning against the militants.

Yet the tide is turning, and primarily because Mr. Obama has, in his second term, taken steps that Mr. Trump now pretends to be inventing. Mr. Trump promised Monday to destroy the Islamic State by calling an international conference and enlisting the help of any country  including Russia and Arab dictatorships  willing to assist in fighting the radical organization and other extremists. He proposed using U.S. cyber-capabilities to hinder terrorist communications and propaganda. He said his administration would disrupt terrorist financing. The Obama administration has done each of these and more, including the reinsertion of U.S. Special Operations forces. Mr. Trump offered no policies that were novel and reasonable.

His real contribution to the debate, if one can call it that, remains a disturbing obsession with restrictive immigration policies focused on eliminating Muslim migration and heightening suspicion of Muslims already here. Mr. Trump once again restyled his Muslim immigration ban, this time in ideological terms: Those who do not demonstrate a commitment to American values would not be allowed into the country. (Never mind, for now, whether Mr. Trump could pass such a test.) Mr. Trump would end immigration from areas of the world his administration deemed too dangerous, and he would create a system of extreme vetting for those considered for entry. This is a transparent (and impractical) attempt to recast his Muslim ban in other, less obviously offensive terms.

Its also an effort to distract from the fact that Mr. Trump really has nothing to add to strategies already being pursued. Defeating Islamist terrorists is an essential but difficult, long-term challenge. It will require the help of allies, many of whom Mr. Trump has alienated, and buy-in from Muslims, whom Mr. Trump has demonized.
A person photographs an MSNBC news broadcast during the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 18 in Cleveland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Let us now praise the most reviled group of people in America: elites. And how about a round of applause for the hated mainstream media as well?

If you listen to Donald Trump, or even if you paid attention to Bernie Sanders during the primary season, you might think all the nations problems can be blamed on two pointy-headed cabals. The elites who rigged the system to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else; and the puppy-dog mainstream media or MSM, also known as the corporate media, who were complicit.

Even as the Trump campaign devolves into raving lunacy and most Sanders supporters line up behind Hillary Clinton, the idea lives on: Regular or everyday Americans have been failed by out-of-touch elites and the MSM, who basically have screwed up the country.

Such thinking is no more sound than Trumps conviction that all the nations ills should be blamed on Mexicans and Muslims.

First, the elites: Who are they, anyway? Ive always tried to avoid using the term because it is so imprecise as to be virtually meaningless.

If it means those with exceptional wealth, power or influence, then surely a billionaire such as Trump and a U.S. senator such as Sanders would qualify as members. If you fly around in a private jet with your name on the side of it, or sit among just 535 men and women who get to write the nations laws, youre obviously not what anyone would call ordinary. I suppose their supporters might see them as traitors to their class.

Often the word elites is used to mean experts, as in foreign policy elites have made a tragic mess of the Middle East or economic policy elites have given away the store in lopsided free-trade agreements. Lets assume that both these propositions are true. It is a matter of historical fact that the architects of the Iraq War  the single biggest U.S. foreign policy blunder in my lifetime  and the authors of NAFTA and other free-trade pacts were, indeed, recognized experts in their fields.

But what makes anyone think the Middle East would be less bloody, or the Islamic State less of a terrorist threat, if U.S. policy had been run by people who had no expertise  who knew nothing about the regions history, religious schisms or ethnic divides? Or that a better Trans-Pacific Partnership deal could be negotiated by someone wholly unfamiliar with the arcane minutiae of international trade agreements?

Ignorance is not a virtue. Knowledge is not a vice. Pointy-heads who spend years gaining expertise in a given field may make mistakes, but the remedy is to replace them with pointy-heads who have different views  not with know-nothings who would try to navigate treacherous terrain on instinct alone. (See: Trumps policy positions on, well, anything.)

As for the much-disparaged media, I get emails every day from people who demand to know why we in the MSM or corporate media are covering up some scandal. The emails then go on to describe said scandal at great length and in microscopic detail, often quoting stories from The Post, the New York Times, NBC News or other leading media outlets. I often write back that if were trying to cover up the outrage in question, were obviously doing a lousy job.

One of the glories of this country is that anybody with a website can be a journalist. One of the realities, however, is that only news organizations of a certain size have the resources and, yes, the expertise to unearth some stories. There are exceptions, of course  bloggers who come to own a certain niche of subject matter, say, or scribes who know every nook and cranny of a given community. But day in and day out, its the MSM that delivers the goods.

Many who attack the media for being feckless or out of touch really have a different complaint: You should spend more column inches and airtime reinforcing my view of the world.

Sorry, but thats not what were here for.

When he bought The Post in 1933, Eugene Meyer published a set of seven principles, which began with this one: The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth may be ascertained.

There is such a thing as the truth, just as there is such a thing as valuable expertise. Even if its elite and mainstream to say so.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
A "Dogs Against Romney" demonstration in 2012 responded to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's treatment of his family dog, which was subjected to ride on the roof of the family car for hours during a vacation in the 1980s. (SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS)

Young people get much of their news for free from electronic devices, and we older folk are more comfortable with materials that, after being read, are suitable for wrapping mullet. And we pay for that. In her Aug. 10 op-ed, John Olivers paean to newspapers, Kathleen Parker complained that people want news but they dont want to pay for it. I am willing to pay but want my news squeaky-clean  free of bias and spin. That is becoming harder to find.

The Post and many other news sources are increasingly unable to separate their worldviews and political preferences from their choices of what stories are newsworthy and how to present the facts for those they choose to cover.

Ms. Parker made a point about the state of journalism by referencing John Olivers Stoplight spoof and its humorous attention to puppies. This brings to mind the great dog-on-the-roof story from the last presidential election, when Mitt Romney was vilified for his method of transporting the family dog on vacation. Coverage of that exceeded the recent Democratic National Committee email leak.

Pay for real news? Yes. Pay for the dog story instead of consequential campaign issues of the day? No.

Randal S. Scott, Fairfax

Kathleen Parkers op-ed on John Olivers defense of newspapers was a great wake-up call. Printed news media has been the backbone of our country. We have seen things come and go, but newspapers should stay. Quality journalism is worth the price. Where would we get our news from if there were no newspapers?

Some consumers get their information in essence for free from comedy shows, talk shows and websites that lift the material for their own purposes. It may be instant, but it just doesnt cut it for content. Its too fast and doesnt allow enough time for absorption. We need time to think and decide on issues, and we need good journalists writing good journalism, and that takes time and research.

My husband and I watch the news on television and talk shows, but nothing compares to sitting quietly to read, think, comprehend and reflect on what was written in the paper so we can make good choices for ourselves and our country.

Lynn Pakulla, Ellicott City
Regarding the Aug. 13 news article Trumps trade talk unnerves a nation:

The U.S.-South Korea relationship is based on shared prosperity. For example, Korean firms operating in the United States have created a significant number of jobs here in the run-up to and following the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2012.

Although globalization has meant fewer U.S. manufacturing jobs, academic research points to Chinas accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 and its permanent tariff reduction in the U.S. market, which led to a historic surge in imports, as the largest single factor. Investment by South Korean firms in the United States doubled between 2012 and 2015. The top 12 South Korean companies alone generated 36,833 jobs in the United States in 2015, three times more than in 2012. And Samsung Electronics, which employs 15,000 people in the United States, announced in June a plan to invest $1.2 billion over four years in a U.S.-based Internet of Things R&D initiative.

South Korea, a free-trade democracy, is a true partner with whom we share great mutual economic and political interests.

Thomas Byrne, New York

The writer is president of the nonprofit Korea Society.
ANOTHER BLACK man has been shot to death by police, triggering an angry eruption and feeding cable news with fresh images nearly indistinguishable from those of Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore. Once again, an American city is seized by rioting, flames, gunshots and fear  an exclamation point on this long, blistering, toxic summer.

This time, maybe not just coincidentally, the violence has convulsed the nations most segregated city, Milwaukee, which a city alderman calls the worst place to live for African Americans in the entire country.

That probably is not a great overstatement given the dysfunction of Wisconsins biggest city, where the familiar elements of inner-city decay  poverty, joblessness, hopelessness, crime and toxic relations between the police and the black community  are exacerbated by racial disparities that are among the more pronounced in the nation. African Americans, who make up 40 percent of the citys residents, contribute to some of the nations deepest state achievement gaps, highest rates of high school suspension, and worst poverty gaps. Its no bargain to be black in Brew City.

To understand why Milwaukees black community is seething is not to justify the riots that erupted Saturday after the death of Sylville K. Smith, 23. Nor is it to excuse Mr. Smith himself, who had an extensive arrest record. According to police, he was holding a semiautomatic handgun with 23 bullets when, seconds after fleeing on foot following a traffic stop, he was shot to death in a fenced-in area when he turned toward the city police officer who was chasing him.

If that account holds up  and video from the officers body camera may settle the question  then the officer, a three-year veteran, was justified in opening fire. Desperate to quell the rage and destruction, Milwaukees mayor, Tom Barrett (D), has imposed a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers as the city braces for a continuation of the weekends violence. And he has asked that the body-camera footage be released immediately.

If the footage depicts what the police say it does, it could help restore order and put out the fires that have so far consumed an auto parts shop, a gas station, a liquor store, a supermarket, cars and other property in the citys heavily black Sherman Park neighborhood. Police officers have been injured, though none seriously, as have civilians. The state, which has custody of the video, would be wise to make it public without delay.

A possible saving grace is that a 2014 Wisconsin law mandates that an independent state agency take charge of investigations in police-involved killings. That could dampen suspicions among African Americans that accountability and impartiality are unlikely, or that real justice is impossible.

Still, the city and especially its black community are often regarded with thinly concealed contempt by state officials, a problem that has worsened under Gov. Scott Walker (R). Mr. Smiths death has lit a fuse. It will take sensitivity on the part of authorities, plus a healthy dose of transparency and a commitment to work on entrenched problems, to ensure that the destructive force is contained.
Last week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested that Second Amendment people could rise up against Hillary Clinton if she wins the election and called President Obama the founder of ISIS. He also delivered a policy speech at the Detroit Economic Club that, understandably, received much less attention.

Given Trumps near-constant breaches of common decency, many people have given up on parsing the details of his policies, which can feel at times like complaining about the music in a crashing car. Yet while Trumps affinity for regressive economics is nowhere near the top of the list of reasons to oppose him, there is still a real possibility that he could become the nations chief policymaker, and the policies he outlined last week counteract one of the prevailing narratives of the election  that Trump is a populist.

Over the course of the campaign, Trump has been consistently portrayed as a populist candidate, the Republican counterpart to Bernie Sanders in a race shaped by widespread anger toward the political and economic elite. This perception has been reinforced by Trumps ritual humiliation of the Republican Party establishment in the primaries, as well as his overwhelming reliance on the support of working-class whites.

But Trumps populism, like so much of his public image, is a deceptive marketing ploy. When it comes to actual policy, Trump is proposing mostly the same regressive ideas that Republican candidates from Ronald Reagan to Mitt Romney have been peddling for decades.

The cornerstone of Trumps economic agenda is a massive income tax cut that would disproportionately benefit the very wealthy. After previously calling for the top tax rate to be slashed to 25 percent, Trump last week endorsed a top rate of 33 percent, matching the plan that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has put forward. Trump is also proposing a special 15-percent tax rate for pass-through income that would enable many top earners  who account for more than two-thirds of such income  to be taxed at a much lower rate. And like most establishment Republicans, Trump would abolish the estate tax, which applies to an infinitesimal percentage of the wealthiest Americans.

At a rally in Detroit Aug. 8, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined what he would do as president to take the U.S. economy to "amazing new heights." (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Trump is also doubling down on the philosophy behind Romneys oft-mocked declaration that corporations are people. Trumps plan would cut the corporate tax rate by a whopping 20 points  twice what Romney proposed in 2012  from 35 percent to 15 percent. Meanwhile, he is proposing a moratorium on federal regulations, promising more of the lax oversight that is responsible for economic and environmental disasters in recent years.

These supply-side policies will do nothing to help the working-class voters Trump claims to represent. But they are exactly what you would expect from the economic brain trust he recently unveiled, which is dominated by white men, including several billionaire bankers and investment managers. (In fact, Trump only added women to the team on Friday in response to criticism.)

Trumps most notable deviation from his partys corporatist agenda is his opposition to trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But as Economic Policy Institute president Larry Mishel has argued, Trumps posture is a scam. While Trump complains that the United States doesnt win on trade, making vague promises to negotiate better deals, he also has a long history of manufacturing Trump-branded merchandise abroad. There is simply nothing in Trumps record or policies to indicate that he is actually concerned about the workers affected by the trade policies he laments.

Donald Trump fashions himself a populist, but his economic plan just recycles the failed policies of deregulation and massive tax cuts for the rich and corporations, Mishel wrote in response to Trumps speech. If such policies were effective, we would remember George W. Bushs presidency as one of great prosperity instead of a period of stagnant wages for blue- and white-collar workers.

By contrast, Clinton is campaigning on a platform full of populist economic ideas that Sanders helped mainstream during the Democratic primaries  from expanding Social Security, to a $15 minimum wage, to cracking down on Wall Street. During her economic speech in Michigan last week, Clinton sounded like a card-carrying member of the Warren Wing of the party, offering her strongest condemnation of TPP to date and vowing to rewrite the rules of the economy to work better for everyone  though she still needs to speak out forcefully against potential efforts to pass TPP in the lame-duck session of Congress.

The challenge now for Clinton and the party is to not back down. With a growing number of Republicans abandoning Trumps sinking ship, Clinton should not reward them by sacrificing any part of her agenda for the sake of an endorsement, especially when that endorsement is unlikely to last beyond Election Day. Instead, she should make clear that in defeating Trump she also intends to defeat his ideas by unapologetically embracing the progressive populism needed to move the country forward.

Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter.
North Carolina on Monday asked the Supreme Court to restore most of its strict voting procedures for the November elections, despite a lower courts ruling that the law intentionally discriminates against African Americans.

The state said the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was unprecedented and that there is no reason to believe that [the law] will have any detrimental effect on voters, minority or otherwise.

[Court strikes down North Carolina voting law as discriminatory]

North Carolina brought in former Bush administration solicitor general Paul D. Clement to argue that it is too close to the election for courts to prohibit a system that was used in the states primary elections.

North Carolina should not be forced to scramble mere months before the general election to rejigger settled election plans at the Fourth Circuits command, the state said in a brief filed with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who is designated to handle emergency requests from the circuit.

This year more states than ever will require potential voters to show photo ID in order to vote in the election. Here's why this is so controversial. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

Roberts probably will ask for a response from the Justice Department and the civil rights groups that filed the challenge before referring the matter to the entire court.

The court is split, with four conservatives and four liberals. The state may have a hard time finding the necessary five votes to stay the lower courts ruling, because that three-judge panel was unanimous in finding the law unconstitutional.

The judges agreed with allegations that the omnibus bill passed by the Republican- controlled legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory (R) selectively chose voter-identification requirements, reduced the number of early-voting days and changed registration procedures in ways meant to harm blacks, who overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party.

The new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision and impose cures for problems that did not exist, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote for the panel. Thus the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the states true motivation.

The panel had overturned a nearly 500-page decision from a district judge who had approved the law. The panel said Judge Thomas Schroeders comprehensive examination of the legislatures action seems to have missed the forest in carefully surveying the many trees. This failure of perspective led the court to ignore critical facts bearing on legislative intent, including the inextricable link between race and politics in North Carolina.

North Carolina made some concessions in its petition to the Supreme Court. It asked the court to reinstate the states voter-ID law, its reduction of early-voting days from 17 to 10 and a provision that ends the states practice of pre-registering teenagers to vote, so they are enrolled when they turn 18.

It did not challenge the lower courts ruling that restored same-day registration or allows some votes that are cast in the wrong precinct to be counted for top-of-the-ticket races.

The case is one among several voting-law disputes being waged in the court before the coming elections, including in other significant states such as Wisconsin and Arizona.
John McLaughlin, host of the namesake long-running television show that pioneered hollering-heads discussions of Washington politics, has died. He was 89.

John McLaughlin, host of the namesake long-running television show that pioneered hollering-heads discussions of Washington politics, has died. He was 89.

John McLaughlin, host of the namesake long-running television show that pioneered hollering-heads discussions of Washington politics, has died. He was 89.

John McLaughlin, a former Jesuit priest, speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and conservative provocateur whose pugnacious style as a host of a political chat show helped usher in the era of impolite punditry, died Aug. 16 at his home in Washington. He was 89.

The cause was complications from prostate cancer, said journalist Eleanor Clift, one of his on-air sparring partners. Mr. McLaughlin missed the most recent installment of his syndicated public affairs program, The McLaughlin Group.

For more than three decades, Mr. McLaughlin sat in judgment of national political trends on The McLaughlin Group and goaded journalists and pundits into moving beyond fact into the argumentative terrain of ideological talking points and rhetorical hyperbole. He corralled guests into critiquing political decisions and probabilities on a sliding scale of 1 to 10  with 10 representing metaphysical certitude.

At times, The McLaughlin Group felt more like a cross-talk show than a talk show, with the host interrupting his guests trains of thought or bellowing Wronnng! to express disapproval of their statements.

His approach forever changed audience expectations of public affairs programming. Mr. McLaughlins impact can be glimpsed almost any night on cable news channels, for better or worse. And although no one ever mistook Mr. McLaughlin for a digital visionary, his shows staccato approach to wringing opinions from guests previewed the Internets addiction to fast and unprocessed news bites.

The Rev. John J. McLaughlin in 1970 formally became a candidate for Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island. (UPI Telephoto)

Look at The McLaughlin Group now and it looks positively quaint, said Syracuse University television historian Robert Thompson. The kind of thing McLaughlin was doing is being done in so many places.

Although The McLaughlin Group dominated his later life, Mr. McLaughlin had a three-act career that started in the priesthood. He worked his way into politics, running unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in 1970 and later landing a job in the Nixon White House. As a speechwriter for the president and one of his fiercest defenders through the Watergate scandal, Mr. McLaughlin attracted media attention upon which he capitalized to get into television.

When The McLaughlin Group launched in 1982 on WRC (Channel 4) in Washington, D.C., political chat shows were unrecognizable by modern standards. Washington Week in Review, produced by the public television outlet WETA, was a cerebral and quiet product. Agronsky and Company, on WUSA (Channel 9), occasionally veered into shouting and political showmanship but not with a great degree of reliability.

Mr. McLaughlin saw an opening in the market for TV blather. Energy, tempo and bonhomie, he said, were a few of the vital ingredients he sought to infuse in the program, along with first-rate reporting and straight opinion.

The programs format, like its inspiration, remained steady over the shows run, with Mr. McLaughlin sitting alone in the middle of the set and liberal and conservative commentators tethered in his orbit.

Those guests regularly fielded not so much questions from Mr. McLaughlin as demands. In a September 1998 show during the debate over President Bill Clintons pending impeachment inquiry resulting from an affair with a White House intern, the host posed this typical McLaughlin Group formulation to his interlocutors:

On a survival probability scale of zero to 10  zero, Mr. Clinton leaves office, hes out, almost overnight; 10, Clinton stays, he finishes his term till January 2001  rate the survival probability level of Bill Clinton as president, he said.

1 of 66 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Notable deaths of 2016 View Photos Remembering those who have died this year. Caption Prince, David Bowie, Debbie Reynolds, Harper Lee and others: Remembering those who have died this year. Debbie Reynolds Actress Debbie Reynolds starred in the 1952 classic movie Singin in the Rain with Gene Kelly, shown above. Reynolds died one day after the death of her daughter, actress-writer Carrie Fisher. Reynolds was 84. Shes now with Carrie and were all heartbroken, her son Todd Fisher said. Read the Debbie Reynolds obituary AFP/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue.

The gimmickry worked. Mr. McLaughlins best-known guests  then-Newsweek writer Clift, the late Baltimore Sun columnist Jack Germond, conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan, and Washington-based journalist and editor Morton Kondracke  thrived in this corral. They often shouted over each other to present their opinions.

Next to McLaughlin, all the rest of the shows are Mister Rogers Neighborhood,  Clift once said.

While Mr. McLaughlin was seated at the center of his shows set, his politics favored the right. He once described himself as a crypto-Republican and gave the show something that TV Guide critic John Weisman in 1985 deemed noteworthy   The McLaughlin Group is the only political show seen nationwide that favors the political right, he said.

On the strength of its hosts bouncing jowls and nonstop barking, the show roared in its early years and into the 1990s: In 1992, for instance, it was broadcast on 297 PBS stations, not to mention three NBC stations, for a total viewership of 3.5 million. It was the highest-rated public affairs show in the countrys top 10 markets, according to an account from the New York Times.

Mr. McLaughlin cherished his celebrity. He told a Times interviewer in 1992, Walking down 57th Street in New York, a car goes by and an 18-year-old kid opens the window and shouts, Wronnng! 

From that cultural perch, The McLaughlin Group lost relevance in more recent years, in part because of the emergence of the Fox News Channel  which launched in 1996  and because of the hosts advancing age.

As an octogenarian, Mr. McLaughlin was not quite the on-air force that his younger incarnation had proved to be. The shows later episodes received attention on the Internet primarily when one of its guests made a rude or offensive remark.

In July 2012, for instance, Buchanan won a shot of publicity for The McLaughlin Group when he expressed hope that the United States would not see its first female president until 2040 or 2050.

Seeing a chance to provoke, Mr. McLaughlin argued that Hillary Clinton, then serving as secretary of state in the Obama administration, owed it to her gender to run for the office in the 2016 election.

Mr. McLaughlins bombastic style was memorably parodied by comedian Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live. And some of Mr. McLaughlins colleagues contended that the tyrannical fellow whom viewers saw on The McLaughlin Group was no act.

A female office manager who worked for the host filed a sexual harassment suit against him that was settled out of court in 1989. Kara Swisher, a McLaughlin staffer who later rose to prominence at the Wall Street Journal, was once ordered by Mr. McLaughlin to make toast. After she balked at the command, he told her, If I ask you to make toast and you dont do it, I can fire you.

A critical look at the The McLaughlin Group by commentator Eric Alterman in 1990 decried its abhorrence of complexity, its reductiveness, its celebration of nastiness and macho posturing. Alterman wrote that it is hard to determine when John McLaughlin is serious and when he is making fun of himself being serious.

The priesthood John Joseph McLaughlin was born in Providence, R.I., on March 29, 1927. He described his parents, of Irish descent, as rootedly Democratic. His father was a furniture salesman.

The young McLaughlin attended LaSalle Academy, a Christian Brothers school in Providence. It was in those formative years that he built his reverence for the Jesuit religious order, telling the New York Times that it had a gallantry, an intellectual adventurism, a style, a panache.

He began his training for the priesthood at Weston College in Massachusetts. He later received a bachelors degree from Boston College, where he also earned masters degrees in philosophy and education.

In the 1950s, Mr. McLaughlin was posted to teaching positions at high schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He then secured a transfer to New York City and, while pursuing a doctorate in communications at Columbia University, began working for America, the Manhattan-based Jesuit publication, where he became assistant editor.

Mr. McLaughlin added another platform to his brand, hitting the lecture circuit on topics that often circled back to sex and marriage.

In 1968, he met his future wife, Ann Lauenstein Dore, when he was delivering a speech at Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y. She was the schools director of alumni relations.

Over the years, Mr. McLaughlin feuded with the top editor of America, the Rev. Donald R. Campion, and left the journal in 1970.

It was unclear what prompted the separation, but Campion issued a lukewarm assessment of his colleague, noting that he was fond of baroque words: You dont know quite what they mean, but they sort of stun you.

The departure from the journal helped clear the way for Mr. McLaughlins brief but high-profile career in U.S. politics.

He broke with his family heritage by registering as a Republican in advance of his candidacy in the 1970 U.S. Senate race in Rhode Island. Mr. McLaughlin took aim at incumbent John O. Pastore (D) by running as a peace candidate during the Vietnam War.

Pastore, said Mr. McLaughlin, stuck to pro-Pentagon policies that were prolonging the war and costing taxpayers their hard-earned cash. Vietnam, charged the challenger, was an incredibly bloated expenditure.

For his part, Pastore said at the time that McLaughlins driving me batty. How can I debate with a man my religion teaches me to call Father?

Secular success

Pastore held his office with 67.5 percent of the vote. Mr. McLaughlin parlayed his loss at the polls into a professional win  an appointment as a junior speechwriter in the Nixon White House, which was already familiar with Mr. McLaughlins written work.

An essay Mr. McLaughlin had written for America in December 1969 titled Public Regulation and the News Media sympathized with the well-known views of Vice President Spiro Agnew on the alleged biases of the mainstream media. In his piece, Mr. McLaughlin railed against the leanings of the countrys broadcasting hierarchy. Buchanan, then a White House speechwriter, approved.

Mr. McLaughlin became special assistant to the president. He toured Southeast Asia and reported back unremittingly positive news of combat operations. He said U.S. bombing runs were scrupulously and assiduously pinpointed in their precision, resulting in minimal civilian casualties and ecological damage.

In 1972, operatives of Nixons reelection campaign orchestrated the break-in and bugging of the Democratic Partys national headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.

During the scandals fallout, Mr. McLaughlin remained one of the presidents most vocal defenders. Shortly before Nixons resignation in August 1974, the aide reportedly told a gathering of Republicans that the president would be regarded by historians as the greatest moral leader of the last third of this century.

Mr. McLaughlin served in the White House for two months under President Gerald R. Ford before leaving to start a public affairs and media relations consulting firm with Dore, whom he married in August 1975 after successfully petitioning Pope Paul VI for laicization, relieving him of priestly obligations.

Dore had been campaign manager for Mr. McLaughlins Senate run, communications director for the Committee to Reelect the President and a government relations executive with Union Carbide. She was secretary of labor toward the end of President Ronald Reagans administration.

Their marriage ended in divorce in 1992. His second marriage, to Cristina Vidal, also ended in divorce. He had no immediate survivors.

In 1980, Mr. McLaughlin worked his way into radio on WRC-AM but was fired a year into the gig, reportedly for talking too much and taking too few calls, according to a published account.

Then he rounded up funding from a Nixon administration veteran and launched The McLaughlin Group. Though the group and the shows format helped to propel it into pop-culture history, the McLaughlin component was indispensable.

 The McLaughlin Group presented something that wasnt just about public affairs and civic information, said Thompson, the Syracuse University scholar. It was show biz, and the show biz came from McLaughlin himself.
Dublin, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "3D-Printed Metals: A Patent Landscape Analysis - 2016 " report to their offering.



The report presents the quantitative patent landscape, which is essential to identifying the players, technologies, patent filing velocity, geographic distribution, and technology classifications in in the 3DP metals area.



Metals-based 3D printing is one of the fastest growing sectors of the 3D printing business. The author has already published widely on the growing market opportunities available in this space. Building on our extensive knowledge and understanding of this area we are now offering a report on the patent landscape presented by 3D-printed metals.



The processes covered in this report comprise: selective heat sintering/laser melting, stereololithography, fused deposition modeling, robocasting, electron beam manufacturing, ultrasonic consolidation, laser powder forming/laser engineered net shaping, direct metal laser sintering/melting, electron beam melting, powder bed, binder jetting, drop-on powder, etc.



This report has two components - (1) a 3d-printed patent database and (2) a granular analysis, commentary and guidance on the 3D printed patent environment by SmarTech's in-house IP attorney. This report will be required reading for IP professionals at firms supplying metals to the 3DP industry as well as those at 3D printing equipment and service companies. It is also aimed at patent attorneys, engineers, investment banks and others who need a comprehensive overview of 3D-printed metals activities.



The database provides a summary of all relevant patents with details of each patent including: patent/publication number, assignee, title, abstract, publication date, status of patent, PTO, priority country, priority years, and inventor. Also included will be technical categorization of filed patent applications and granted patents and an identification of patent /patent application families.



This report which is the only one of its kind covers both process and materials patents and answers such vital questions as:



- What patents have been granted and what patent applications have been filed?

- What are the top cited patents?

- How many patents are being filed each year?

- Who are the most significant inventors, researchers and companies active in the field

- Which companies are making the earliest patent grants?

- What patent families are already claimed and where are the gaps in the IP landscape where new IP rights may be available?

- What is the geographic distribution and technological class distribution of these patents?



Key Topics Covered:



Chapter One: Research Findings and Summary

1.1 Factors Influencing the Speed of Development of Metal-based Additive Manufacturing

1.2 Patent Search Methodology

1.2.1 Categorization and Terminology

1.2.2 Key Assignees

1.3 Concerning Metal Powder-based 3D Printing Systems

1.3.1 United Technologies Corporation

1.3.2 Arcam

1.3.3 EOS

1.3.4 General Electric

1.3.5 Panasonic/Matsushita

1.3.6 Materialise NV

1.3.7 Siemens

1.3.8 Honeywell

1.3.9 ConforMIS

1.3.10 Husky Injection Molding

1.3.11 Alstom

1.3.12 The ExOne Company



Chapter Two: Active Universities

2.1 Top Universities and Research Institutions



Chapter Three: Key Inventors

3.1 Top Inventors



Chapter Four: Patent Trend

4.1 Inferences: File Date Trends



Chapter Five: Key Patents Based on Forward Citation

5.1 Most Frequently Cited References



Chapter Six: Technology Analysis

6.1 U.S. Classification

6.1.1 Top Classification

6.1.2 Top Sub Classifications

6.2 Top IPC Classification

6.2.1 Top IPC Classifications

6.3 Technology Evolution

6.3.1 Inferences



Chapter Seven: Geographical Distribution



Chapter Eight: Granular Analysis

8.1 Inferences Related to Metal Powders

8.2 Inferences Related to Manufacturing Processes



Chapter Nine: White Space Analysis



Chapter Ten: Commentary and Guidance

10.1 Areas of Patent Saturation

10.2 Areas with Opportunities for Patent Growth

10.3 Key Areas for Patent Licensing



Companies Mentioned



- Alstom

- Arcam

- ConforMIS

- EOS

- General Electric

- Honeywell

- Husky Injection Molding

- Materialise NV

- Panasonic/Matsushita

- Siemens

- The ExOne Company

- United Technologies Corporation



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xfzsxq/3dprinted



Related Topics: Metals and Minerals, Patents, 3D Printing




According to a Ukrainian official, more than $12 million were earmarked for Paul Manafort in under-the-table payments from the political party of Ukraines ousted president. (The Washington Post)

According to a Ukrainian official, more than $12 million were earmarked for Paul Manafort in under-the-table payments from the political party of Ukraines ousted president. (The Washington Post)

Donald Trumps campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has been named in a corruption investigation in Ukraine, where officials are trying to track illegal payments from a pro-Russian political party that once hired the Washington-based political consultant.

More than $12 million in undisclosed cash payments were earmarked for Manafort by the party of Ukraines former president, Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine for Moscow after being ousted in 2014, according to a statement released Monday by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine.

Manafort denied receiving any improper payments, saying in a prepared statement Monday that he has never received a single off-the-books cash payment.

The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical, Manafort said, adding that he never worked for the governments of Ukraine or Russia and that he stopped working in Ukraine after the October 2014 elections there.

The simplest answer is the truth: I am a campaign professional, Manafort said in the statement. It is well-known that I do work in the United States and have done work on overseas campaigns as well.

1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos The GOP presidential nominee is out on the trail ahead of the general election in November. Caption The GOP presidential nominee is pressing his case ahead of Election Day. Nov. 7, 2016 Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at SNHU Arena in Manchester, N.H. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Manaforts role in the Ukraine inquiry, first reported by the New York Times, serves as a reminder that Trump, who has faced bipartisan criticism for unusually friendly views toward Russia and has sought real estate deals there, has relied on advisers with personal and financial ties to Moscow and the former Soviet Union.

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a former military officer whom Trump briefly considered naming as a running mate, was paid to give a speech and attend a lavish party with Russian President Vladimir Putin honoring the Kremlin-

funded media company, RT Television. Another foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, has said he holds stock in Gazprom, the Russian energy firm, whose stock price has stumbled since the imposition of U.S. sanctions following the Russian invasion of Crimea.

Manaforts Ukraine connections drew scrutiny during last months Republican convention, when the party platform committee weakened language that would have called for U.S. military support of Ukraine. Manafort has denied that the campaign played a role, but committee members told The Washington Post that Trump aides were involved.

A spokeswoman for the anti-corruption bureau, Darya Manzhura, said Monday that payments to Manafort were listed in a ledger recovered from the headquarters of Yanukovychs political party, the Party of Regions. Investigators did not specify the reason the money was designated for Manafort from 2007 to 2012.

The ledger includes more than 20,000 line items, and investigators are sifting through the names as they investigate whether government resources were misused during the period Yanukovych was in power.

The anti-corruption bureau cannot make indictments but must pass on any evidence to prosecutors, who can decide whether to file charges. Manzhura said that processing the list will take a long time, as will matching signatures to individuals and proving that money actually changed hands.

For investigators, she said, Manafort is not the priority.

Paul Manaforts Ukraine connections drew scrutiny during last months Republican convention, when the party platform committee weakened language that would have called for U.S. military support of Ukraine. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Hes not a Ukrainian government official, so taking into account the role and tasks of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Paul Manafort is not the number-one priority to investigate on this list, Manzhura said.

The Ukraine investigation is the latest example of international intrigue that has followed Manafort, , 67, a longtime lobbyist, Republican strategist and global dealmaker. He was hired by Trump earlier this year and has gained enormous clout inside the campaign.

His lobbying clientele included two corrupt dictators, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, both of whom stole billions of dollars from their countries.

And Manafort has parlayed political relationships around the world into an array of intricate financial transactions with billionaire oligarchs and other controversial investors that have at times spurred legal disputes.

In one case, reported by The Post in April, Manafort tried unsuccessfully to build a luxury high-rise in Manhattan with money from Dmitry Firtash, a billionaire backer of Yanukovych.

Roth reported from Moscow. Katie Zezima and Anne Gearan contributed to this report.


Unit 201, a two-bedroom, two-bath residence priced at $659,900, has 1,066 square feet. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

In the 15 years since Scott Zimmerman, president of Capital City Real Estate, started developing condominiums in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Northwest Washington, he has watched it transform with dozens of new restaurants, shops and nightlife.

Capital City Real Estate recently completed construction on the Apex, a 20-unit condo building at 3035 15th St. NW, the companys 20th development in that community.

Every urban development has challenges because you have to design for an infill lot, meet community desires and follow zoning rules, Zimmerman says. The Apex sits on a pie-shaped lot tucked in between other buildings, so we needed to design units that would have plenty of light and air. We ended up with a variety of floor plans so buyers have a choice of the style they like.

[A new development springs up outside the Beltway, with roomy homes and near Metro]

Ten of the units are still available. The one- and two-bedroom units are priced from $434,900 for the smallest one-bedroom, with 628 square feet, to $748,000 for the largest penthouse unit, with 1,178 square feet. Most of the units are priced in the mid-$600,000s.

All of the two-bedroom units have at least 1,000 square feet, which is something that a lot of buyers ask for, says Chris Blakemore, sales manager at the Apex.

Every unit has outdoor space, whether it is a patio, deck or balcony. In addition, residents can access a rooftop deck and a courtyard behind the building.

1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Buying New | The Apex condos in Northwest Washington View Photos The units are priced from $434,900 to $749,000. Caption The units are priced from $434,900 to $749,000. Capital City Real Estate recently completed construction on the Apex, a 20-unit condo building at 3035 15th St. NW, the companys 20th development in that community. Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

First-time and empty-nest buyers: Almost every residence at the Apex is different, including some with a long foyer entrance that makes the unit feel almost like a single-family house, others with an entrance directly into the open kitchen and living area and four two-level penthouses with 20-foot-high ceilings, spiral staircases, a loft and a private rooftop deck.

We were able to be creative in this building because of the odd-shaped infill lot, and we wanted to offer buyers something unusual, Zimmerman says. These units are a little bigger than in some other buildings, and weve found a mix of buyers are purchasing here, from first-time buyers to empty-nesters.

Blakemore says they are also seeing out-of-town buyers who are grandparents purchasing a place in the city to be closer to their grandkids.

[New Montgomery Row townhouse community in Bethesda is close to plenty of shopping]

Unit 201, a two-bedroom, two-bath residence priced at $659,900, has 1,066 square feet. This model has a long hallway entrance with a coat closet, a laundry closet and a full bathroom. The open kitchen, living area and dining area has a wall of windows and a private deck. A secondary bedroom is adjacent to the living area and has a wall of closets. The master bedroom has a wall of windows in the bedroom, a wall of closets and a private full bath with a glass-enclosed shower.

Blakemore says Capital Citys experience with buyers at other buildings led them to take sound-attenuation features in the windows, floors and walls.



The open kitchen features stainless-steel appliances, quartz counters, white cabinets with under-cabinet lighting and a glass tile backsplash. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

Wall of closets: Unit 204, a two-bedroom, two-bath residence priced at $639,900, has 1,036 square feet. This unit opens directly into a large open kitchen and living and dining area with a balcony at the end of the room. Near the kitchen is a coat closet. The bedrooms are on either side of the living area. The master bedroom has a box bay window with a view of a mural painted on an adjacent building. The second bedroom has a two walls of windows and the second bathroom has a linen closet and a bathtub.

Unit 205, priced at $624,900, has 1,040 square feet. This unit has a long corridor lined with oversized windows on one side and closets on the other. The corridor opens into the living and dining area and kitchen, which have a wide wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. In this unit the bedrooms are at the back, each with a wall of closets. The master bedroom has a private full bath and a private balcony, while the second bedroom is adjacent to another full bathroom.

Penthouse Unit 401, priced at $749,000, has 1,178 square feet. This unit has a similar floor plan as Unit 201 except that it has 20-foot-high ceilings in the main living area and a dramatic metal spiral staircase leading to the upper level loft and private roof terrace.

Whats nearby: The Apex is on the western end of Columbia Heights within a short walk of the heart of Columbia Heights, which has the Metro station, big box stores such as Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond, a Giant grocery store and the Tivoli Theatre. Bars, coffee shops and restaurants are abundant in the neighborhood. Residents can also walk across 16th Street to reach Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant, two other vibrant neighborhoods with shops, restaurants, bars and music venues.

Schools: H.D. Cooke Elementary, Columbia Heights Education Campus, Cardozo High.

Transit: The Apex is one block from the Columbia Heights Metro station with Green and Yellow Line service and near numerous Metrobus and DC Circulator routes on 16th and other nearby streets.



Every unit has outdoor space, whether it is a patio, deck or balcony. In addition, residents can access a rooftop deck and a courtyard behind the building. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)


A stream flows through the Kalash Valley in Pakistans northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (Tim Craig/The Washington Post)

Hidden up in the mountains near Pakistans border with Afghanistan, the Kalash tribe loves homemade wine and whiskey, dances for days at colorful festivals, and practices a religion that holds that God has spirits and messengers who speak through nature.

Long before the campaign of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, the villagers fretted over whether they needed walls or do-not-enter lists to protect them from their more-conservative Muslim neighbors  ultimately deciding that the towering heights of the Hindu Kush would protect them.

But over the past century, Muslims from modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan began moving in. Now villagers say their Kalash culture and religion are threatened by forced conversions, robberies and assaults.

We are scared, said Yasir Kalash, the manager of a hotel here in Pakistans northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They capture our lands, our pastures and our forests, and sometimes take our goats and women. . . . We are afraid in the next few years we will be finished.

Though the area is called the Kalash Valley, Kalash settlers actually live in three separate valleys that make up an eastern prong of Pakistans 1,000-square-mile Chitral Valley.

The Kalash religion was once widespread in Central Asia, but the 4,200 villagers who live here in the Chitral Valley make up the last known Kalash settlement in the world. And now those villages are yet another test of Muslimdominated Pakistans tolerance for minorities and cultural diversity.

[Pakistani men can lightly beat their wives, Islamic council says]

The Kalash tribe is so fearful of being overrun that its members are considering packing up their children and goats and embarking on a modern-day pilgrimage in search of a new country.

The younger generation think they cannot live here anymore, said Zahim Kalash, 34.

In June, a two-day riot erupted on this plateau after Kalash villagers said a 15-year-old girl was tricked into converting to Islam. Last month, two Kalash goatherds were killed in a mountain pasture, the latest in a series of attacks on the tribe. And heated arguments are erupting over practices as simple as using the local spring water.



Kalash women and girls wear colorful clothes, make purses and jewelry, and tend to crops in the fields of the Kalash Valley. (Tim Craig/The Washington Post)



A girl in the village of Bumberet in the Kalash Valley. In June, a two-day riot erupted after Kalash villagers said a 15-year-old girl was tricked into converting to Islam. (Tim Craig/The Washington Post)

According to our traditions, we consider all the springs to be holy, said Imran Kabir, who lives in the valley and acts as an unofficial spokesman for the tribe. We dont allow anyone to wash clothes or take baths in the springs.

Last month, several of their Muslim neighbors started doing just that  bathing and washing clothes in the cool, emerald waters that flow from the nearby heights.

We said, Please dont do that. People drink from those springs,  Kabir said. They said, You people are stupid.  And then a scuffle broke out.

[Pakistans plan for tackling deforestation: A billion trees]

The Kalash villages are accessible only by one-lane jeep trails, and residents live in wood-and-mud houses that contain few furnishings except for cots. They eat mostly what they can produce, including hundreds of pounds of butter each year.

The Kalash believe in one god with several messengers. To communicate with them, the tribe erects altars where worshipers offer sacrifices, usually goats.

Some scholars say the Kalash religion originated during Alexander the Greats conquest of South Asia around 300 B.C. But other scholars and villagers are skeptical, noting that neither the tribes written history nor its oral traditions, including song and poetry, include any reference to Alexander.





The Kalash religion at one time flourished in the Hindu Kush region. Over the centuries, however, armies and members of competing faiths moved in, and many Kalash were converted. Others fled into the mountain passes, largely left alone when the area was a western frontier of British colonial India.

After Pakistan became a country in 1947, Muslim families began moving into the Kalash Valley, drawn by the crisp climate, undisturbed forests and rich grazing lands.

Salamat Khan, who does not know his age but estimates it to be at least 75, said that for much of his life, the Kalash and their new neighbors lived in relative harmony.

But he and other villagers said the mood has changed over the past decade as a less-tolerant form of Islam began taking hold here.

Traveling Islamic scholars are increasingly showing up in the valley, and after each visit, villagers say, their Muslim neighbors appear less tolerant.

They will say, Why do you people make wine?  recalled Yasir Kalash. We make wine because its our culture. We use wine in our rituals, we use wine to cook, and we use wine because, in our mind, wine is purification.

[A Pakistani girl ran away and converted to Islam. Now she cannot go back to her family.]

In June, according to police and local officials, a 15-year-old girl named Rina wandered away from home and ended up at a local Islamic seminary.

After a few hours, the cleric declared that Rina had converted to Islam. She later returned to her village, saying she had not intended to convert.

But angry Muslim villagers began pelting Kalash villagers with bricks and stones, arguing that a conversion to Islam cannot be undone. A judge agreed, effectively severing ties between the girl and her parents.

The conversion rate is very high, and we are afraid if this goes on, our culture will be finished within the next few years, Yasir Kalash said.

[Afghan Taliban opens door for quake aid, but clashes raise security concerns]

Kalash villagers also are fearful of violent attacks, including raids by Taliban militants.

Zabir Shah, 26, a Kalash villager, said that two years ago, Taliban militants from Afghanistan sneaked into Bumberet, the unofficial capital of the valley, and stabbed a 15-year-old boy to death.

I saw 25 Taliban, from a distance, surrounding the guy and killing him, Shah said. There can be no reason for them to kill him except that he was a non-Muslim.

Villagers say the recent killing of two Kalash goatherds underscores the threats to the tribes way of life.

If we cannot take our goats high up in the pasture, then our culture cannot survive, said one Kalash villager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety. The goats are part of [our] religion, and we sacrifice our goats, and down in the valley there is not enough grazing land.



A young man carries freshly cut hay. (Tim Craig/The Washington Post)

Kalash men use goat blood in religious cleansing rituals.

Not everyone believes tensions are rising between the Kalash and their neighbors.

Qimat Shah, 24, a local Muslim man who spends his day making flatbread in a wood-fired oven, noted that young Muslim and Kalash villagers go to school together. He said that whatever problems exist stem from a lack of education among village elders.

We are people from both religions living together, Shah said.

But Michael Javed, chairman of the Karachi-based Pakistan Minorities Front, said the problems facing the Kalash community are a subset of the intolerance that afflicts minority groups throughout Pakistan.

Thousands of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and non-Sunni Muslims have fled the country, fearing persecution or state-sponsored policies, including harsh laws on blasphemy.

No minorities in this country are safe, said Javed.

What makes the Kalash community especially frightened is a feeling of being isolated and alone, Yasir Kalash said.

He said Christians can turn to the Vatican or the West for support, while Hindus can look to India, and Shiite Muslims can seek some protection from Iran. Kalash villagers, he added, feel as if no other country cares about them.

We request to the world, preserve us, he said.

Read more

U.S. airstrike against Taliban leader crossed a Pakistani red line

Pakistans University of Jihad is getting millions of dollars from the government

The fight against the Taliban is going better than expected

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Anjem Choudary, speaking in April 2015 in a London mosque, has gained a reputation as a Pied Piper for young radicals and a cheerleader for the Islamic State. (Tim Ireland/AP)

Britains most infamous defender of Islamist extremism was found guilty of eliciting support for the Islamic State, officials said Tuesday, marking what authorities described as a milestone in the British campaign to combat homegrown terrorism.

The verdict against Anjem Choudary, 49, is the first major conviction against a man seen across Europe as a Pied Piper for young radicals and a cheerleader for the Islamic State. His conviction immediately became the most significant example of how Britain and other European nations are moving to expand their counterterrorism operations, targeting not just active cells but also the voices of incitement.

A top associate of Choudary  Mohammed Rahman, 33  was also convicted, and both now face up to 10 years of jail time. The verdict came after years in which both men had mostly dodged British justice, doing so by successfully playing the same democratic system they often railed against.

[In Britain, Islamist extremist Anjem Choudary proves elusive]

Choudary is a trained lawyer, and maintained that his polemics  he called for strict Islamic law in Britain and turning Buckingham Palace into a mosque  were expressions of free speech designed to bait the British press. His conviction, however, came after he appeared to cross a line by openly supporting the Islamic State.

In lectures and statements posted on social media and YouTube, he encouraged youths to embrace the Islamic State and denied its documented war atrocities, prosecutors said. In one piece of vital evidence, officials said, he pledged allegiance to the Islamic States leader in a conversation with a convicted Islamic State recruiter.

These two men knowingly sought to legitimize a terrorist organization and encouraged others to support it, Sue Hemming, head of counterterrorism for the Crown Prosecution Service, said in a statement. They used the power of social media to attempt to influence those who are susceptible to these types of messages, which might include the young or vulnerable.

The men were convicted on June 28, but the verdict was announced Tuesday, after the conclusion of a related trial. They are set for sentencing on Sept. 6.

Counterterrorism officials and experts have long described Choudary  a soft-spoken orator with a salt-and-pepper beard known for wearing traditional Muslim robes  as a leading figure in the dark networks across Europe that have fostered homegrown extremism and encouraged young Muslims to fight in the Middle East.

These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counterterrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organizations, Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Command.

[Britains anti-terrorism strategy tested by move against prominent preacher]

Choudary, however, has described a crusade against him by authorities.

"If I had even sent one person abroad, really sent them abroad, if they could link that to me, then surely I would have been in court under the anti-terrorism legislation a long time ago," Choudary told Sky News last month. "If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship.

Yet authorities say that looking at his speeches -- and more -- is precisely what led to his conviction.

During the investigation, Haydon said, 20 years worth of material was considered. They included information recovered from 333 electronic devices containing 12.1 terabytes of storage data. In a meeting in a restaurant in July 2014, Choudary and Rahman used Skype and phone texts to contact Mohammed Fachry, a man convicted of recruiting for the Islamic State in Indonesia, and pledged their allegiance to the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The oath, signed by Choudary, was promptly published by Fachry on an Indonesian website, police said.

Via social and traditional media, Choudary has openly defended known terrorists and called for the spread of Islamic law. His comments often harbored an air of the grandiose, leaving some wondering whether he was a publicity hound more than anything else.

We believe there will be complete domination of the world by Islam, he told The Washington Post in 2014. That may sound like some kind of James Bond movie  you know, Dr. No and world domination and all that. But we believe it.

But over the past 15 years, counterterrorism experts say, the majority of Britons convicted of offenses related to Islamic extremism have been members or supporters of his shadowy organizations. They included the two men charged with slaughtering Lee Rigby, a British army soldier killed on the streets of London in May 2013.

Yet other than a minor charge for holding an illegal demonstration, a series of allegations against Choudary never really stuck.

In September, 2014, however, exasperated British authorities arrested Choudary and Rahman after mounting their most rigorous case against them of "inviting support" of the Islamic State. Officials focused intensely on their web casts. "The lesson...is that obedience to the caliph is an obligation, if they rule by the sharia," Choudary says in one audio clip -- since taken down from the Internet -- according to the Guardian. "And to obey them obviously means they must be established."

A detailed report compiled on Choudary by Hate Not Hope, a British anti-extremist organization, portrays Choudary as a sinister but savvy figure with deep connections to extremism. Well over 100 Britons with some connection to Choudary and his al-Muhajiroun network have gone to Syria to fight, the group said.

Choudary has disputed that he ever coaxed jihadists to go and fight. But he routinely painted the Islamic State as a religious utopia.

If you look now in the area controlled by the Islamic State, the Jews, the Muslims and the Christians are living side by side in security, he once told the Guardian. Its not true that people are being slaughtered. Those people who are allied with the previous regime or those who are fighting against the Muslims, certainly they will be fought against.

Choudary also maintained early and long ties with a host of other radical groups across Europe, including Sharia4Belgium. That group is now labeled a terrorist organization in Belgium, and authorities see it as an incubator of homegrown terror and young jihadists who have joined the Islamic State.

It seems incredulous that he was allowed to continue all these years, said Nick Lowles, executive director of Hope Not Hate, a British anti-extremist organization. This really does put an end to his organization. Others will try to step into his place. But the people who come after him wont have the same credibility or media profile.

Karla Adam contributed to this report.

Read more

The powerful propaganda being spread online by women in the Islamic State

British teen receives life sentence for inciting terrorist act

The hunt to unmask the new Jihadi John

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Southern Concepts Restaurant Group, Inc. (OTCQB:RIBS), operator of Southern Hospitality Restaurant and Bar, and innovator of the fast casual barbecue concept, Carve Barbecue, has named WickedThink Marketing of Colorado Springs as its new advertising and marketing agency.



Our goal is to grow our business through continuous improvement across the board  and aggressive marketing programs and strategies are part of that process, said Jim Fenlason, the CEO of the group. WickedThink has excellent capabilities in traditional media, new media, and social media marketing, and we believe those capabilities will help us attract more customers and grow sales and profits.

WickedThink is based in Colorado Springs and has a strong track record of success on behalf of its clients. The group has considerable experience in business-to-consumer marketing and a solid background in hospitality marketing. In addition, their CEO and CCO, Kim Shugart, was one of the founders of the San Francisco-based marketing agency, Clear Ink, that served such clients as AT&T, Wells Fargo, SalesForce.com, Oracle, Jelly Belly, Oral-B, and many others.

We are very excited to work with the people of Southern Concepts to help grow their business and their brand, said Shugart. They have a great business and were looking forward to bringing more guests to the restaurants to experience the many wonderful offerings of Southern Concepts.

WickedThink was formed in 2014 with the goal of combining traditional advertising with new media strategies to create more cohesive communications programs for their clients.

We believe that a comprehensive approach, provided by a single agency, is better than a fragmented program run by different companies, said Kyle Fisk, president of WickedThink. What we do brings an integration of strategy and communications executions that makes for more effective customer attraction and interaction.

Fenlason was recently appointed to the position of CEO of Southern Concepts. His background includes being in C-level business management, directorships, and entrepreneurial ventures ranging from Hospitality, Banking, Auto, Construction, Retail, and Manufacturing with an emphasis in the areas of marketing and accounting. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Liberty University.

About Southern Concepts Restaurant Group

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Southern Concepts Restaurant Group owns and manages three full-service Southern Hospitality restaurants in the Colorado market, and has recently introduced Carve, a new fast casual barbecue concept. The full-service Southern Hospitality concept was co-created by Eytan Sugarman, Justin Timberlake, and Trace Eyala in New York Citys Hells Kitchen neighborhood. To learn more, visit www.southernconcepts.com.

Important Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news 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. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the companys business strategy and expectations. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as may, will, should, expect, plan, intend, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict, potential, or continue, the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Actual events or results may differ materially. The company disclaims any obligation to publicly update these statements, or disclose any difference between its actual results and those reflected in these statements. The information constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Strings of code were released to the Internet by a group calling themselves "the Shadow Brokers". They claim the code is a tool that can be used to hack into any computer. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

Strings of code were released to the Internet by a group calling themselves "the Shadow Brokers". They claim the code is a tool that can be used to hack into any computer. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

Some of the most powerful espionage tools created by the National Security Agencys elite group of hackers have been revealed in recent days, a development that could pose severe consequences for the spy agencys operations and the security of government and corporate computers.

A cache of hacking tools with code names such as Epicbanana, Buzzdirection and Egregiousblunder appeared mysteriously online over the weekend, setting the security world abuzz with speculation over whether the material was legitimate.

The file appeared to be real, according to former NSA personnel who worked in the agencys hacking division, known as Tailored Access Operations (TAO).

Without a doubt, theyre the keys to the kingdom, said one former TAO employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal operations. The stuff youre talking about would undermine the security of a lot of major government and corporate networks both here and abroad.

Said a second former TAO hacker who saw the file: From what I saw, there was no doubt in my mind that it was legitimate.

[National Security Agency plans major reorganization]

The file contained 300 megabytes of information, including several exploits, or tools for taking control of firewalls in order to control a network, and a number of implants that might, for instance, exfiltrate or modify information.

The exploits are not run-of-the-mill tools to target everyday individuals. They are expensive software used to take over firewalls, such as Cisco and Fortinet, that are used in the largest and most critical commercial, educational and government agencies around the world, said Blake Darche, another former TAO operator and now head of security research at Area 1 Security.

The software apparently dates back to 2013 and appears to have been taken then, experts said, citing file creation dates, among other things.

Whats clear is that these are highly sophisticated and authentic hacking tools, said Oren Falkowitz, chief executive of Area 1 Security and another former TAO employee.

Several of the exploits were pieces of computer code that took advantage of zero-day or previously unknown flaws or vulnerabilities in firewalls, which appear to be unfixed to this day, said one of the former hackers.

The disclosure of the file means that at least one other party  possibly another countrys spy agency  has had access to the same hacking tools used by the NSA and could deploy them against organizations that are using vulnerable routers and firewalls. It might also see what the NSA is targeting and spying on. And now that the tools are public, as long as the flaws remain unpatched, other hackers can take advantage of them, too.

[Russian government hackers penetrated DNC, stole opposition research on Trump]

The NSA did not respond to requests for comment.

Faking this information would be monumentally difficult, there is just such a sheer volume of meaningful stuff, Nicholas Weaver, a computer security researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, said in an interview. Much of this code should never leave the NSA.

The tools were posted by a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers using file-sharing sites such as BitTorrent and DropBox.

As is typical in such cases, the true identity of whoever put the tools online remains hidden. Attached to the cache was an auction note that purported to be selling a second set of tools to the highest bidder: !!! Attention government sponsors of cyber warfare and those who profit from it !!!! How much you pay for enemies cyber weapons?

The group also said that if the auction raised 1 million bitcoins  equivalent to roughly $500 million  it would release the second file to the world.

The auction is a joke, Weaver said. Its designed to distract. Its total nonsense. He said that bitcoin is so traceable that a Doctor Evil scheme of laundering $1 million, let alone $500 million, is frankly lunacy.

One of the former TAO operators said he suspected that whoever found the tools doesnt have everything. The stuff they have there is super-duper interesting, but it is by far not the most interesting stuff in the tool set, he said. If you had the rest of it, youd be leading off with that, because youd be commanding a much higher rate.

TAO, a secretive unit that helped craft the digital weapon known as Stuxnet, has grown in the past decade or so from several hundred to more than 2,000 personnel at the NSAs Fort Meade, Md., headquarters. The group dates to the early 1990s. Its moniker, Tailored Access Organization, suggests a precision of technique that some officials have likened to brain surgery. Its name also reflects how coding whizzes create exquisite tools from scratch, in the same way a fine tailor takes a bolt of wool and fashions a bespoke suit  only the computer geeks more often work in jeans and T-shirts. We break out the Nerf guns and have epic Nerf gun fights, one of the former hackers said.

Some former agency employees suspect that the leak was the result of a mistake by an NSA operator, rather than a successful hack by a foreign government of the agencys infrastructure.

When NSA personnel hack foreign computers, they dont move directly from their own covert systems to the targets, fearing that the attack would be too easy to trace. They use a form of proxy server called a redirector that masks the hackers origin. They use one or more such servers to make it difficult to trace a hack.

NSA is often lurking undetected for years on the . . . [proxy hops] of state hackers, former agency contractor Edward Snowden tweeted Tuesday. This is how we follow their operations.

[Edward Snowden, the brand]

At the same time, other spy services, like Russias, are doing the same thing to the United States.

It is not unprecedented for a TAO operator to accidentally upload a large file of tools to a redirector, one of the former employees said. Whats unprecedented is to not realize you made a mistake, he said. You would recognize, Oops, I uploaded that set and delete it.

Critics of the NSA have suspected that the agency, when it discovers a software vulnerability, frequently does not disclose it, thereby putting at risk the cybersecurity of anyone using that product. The file disclosure shows why its important to tell software-makers when flaws are detected, rather than keeping them secret, one of the former agency employees said, because now the information is public, available for anyone to employ to hack widely used Internet infrastructure.

Snowden, Weaver and some of the former NSA hackers say they suspect Russian involvement in the release of the cache, though no one has offered hard evidence. They say the timing  in the wake of high-profile disclosures of Russian government hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other party organizations  is notable.

Tweeted Snowden: Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. He said that the disclosure is likely a warning that someone can prove U.S. responsibility for any attacks that originated from this redirector or malware server by linking it to the NSA.

This could have significant foreign policy consequences, he said in another tweet. Particularly if any of those operations targeted U.S. allies or their elections.

Accordingly, he tweeted, this may be an effort to influence the calculus of decision-makers wondering how sharply to respond to the DNC hacks.

In other words, he tweeted, it looks like somebody sending a message that retaliating against Russia for its hacks of the political organizations could get messy fast.

Read more:

WikiLeaks, NSA leaker Edward Snowden clash on Twitter

The NSAs phone records program is over. That doesnt mean the data it collected is gone.

In a major cyber-hack, whom do you call? The White House spells it out.
A Syrian man pushes a wheelbarrow past collapsed buildings in the northern Syrian town of Manbij as civilians go back to their homes on Aug. 14, 2016, more than a week after the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed the Islamic State out of the city. (Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)

The recapture of an Islamic State stronghold in Syria will serve as a model for future U.S.-backed operations there, U.S. officials said, as the Pentagon lays plans for supporting a march by allied forces toward Raqqa, the militant capital.

Late last week, fighters affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-supported group that includes Kurdish militias and local Arab groups, regained control of the city of Manbij, which sits near the Turkish border and had been a key logistics point for the Islamic State.

U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the campaign publicly, said the Manbij offensive illustrated the value of the small force of U.S. Special Operations troops now on the ground in Syria, as they coordinated U.S. airstrikes and advised Syrian forces during an intense urban fight.

Our operating concept has been validated, said a senior defense official. Utilizing local forces and our own Special Operations forces, partnered with overwhelming coalition air power, and enough time  the Islamic State really doesnt have an answer to it.

[Aleppo crisis worsens while Islamic State loses key Syrian city]

Manbij had been a significant military objective for a number of reasons, including its role as a hub for foreign fighters coming into Syria from Turkey, many of whom would travel from there to Raqqa, some 90 miles to the southeast.

They also believe the city was instrumental in the Islamic States effort to mount external attacks against the West, saying that militants used the city as a point for pushing experienced fighters toward Europe. In recent weeks, American officials have been combing through large amounts of digital data that U.S.-allied forces seized around Manbij  information that has already provided insight into the groups recruitment operations.

The Islamic States defeat in Manbij was welcome news in a conflict that has confounded U.S. policymakers and created dangerous spillover effects across the region. Since late last year, U.S.-backed forces also have captured the town of Shadadi and a strategic dam from the militants, but neither of those areas was as fiercely defended as Manbij.

Those developments were seen as an affirmation of President Obamas decision to send a small team of Special Operations troops into Syria  a move that deepened U.S. involvement and exposed American personnel to heightened risk, but one the presidents advisers saw as necessary to turn the tide against the Islamic State.

I do think weve refined this strategy to a point where its become effective militarily, said Faysal Itani, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. There are now about 300 Special Operations troops in Syria, providing support to allied forces.

But Itani cautioned that the outcome in Manbij would not necessarily translate easily to areas such as Raqqa, a larger and more strategically important city for the Islamic State.

He said the United States would increasingly be forced to contend with the fact that its military objectives may differ from those of the Syrian Kurdish forces it has leaned on to fight the Islamic State. Kurdish forces appear to be focused on their own territorial gains over the U.S. goal of capturing Raqqa.

The main difference is that the [Kurdish force] is highly enthusiastic about moving west through Aleppo province toward Afrin canton, Itani said. I expect theyll come under U.S. pressure to feel otherwise and head to Raqqa. At best, youll have a less motivated Kurdish component.

While U.S. officials declined to say what the next military target would be, SDF forces already have hailed the creation of a new military council in al-Bab, to the southwest of Manbij, suggesting they will head there next instead of east toward Raqqa.

That would be a step toward connecting Afrin, which is one of three cantons that Syrian Kurds have self-designated for autonomous rule, to other Kurdishcontrolled areas. Any moves to expand territory under Kurdish control are certain to be met with opposition from Turkey, a U.S. ally with whom the United States is already scrambling to patch up ties in the wake of the failed coup attempt that took place there in July.

[Syrian Kurds declare their own region, raising tensions]

Its always a dynamic conversation in terms of prioritization, the defense official said, referring to the next military objective. In Iraq, for example, the United States had pressed Iraqi officials to tackle the northern city of Mosul before militant-held objectives in the western province of Anbar; the Iraqis decided otherwise.

The Pentagon is now working to build up the Arab component of the SDF in preparation for a push toward Raqqa, but officials also acknowledge they will need help from the Kurdish forces.

U.S. officials saw Manbij as a potential model in mitigating the ethnic dimensions of the allied forces. While Kurds make up the largest share of the SDF, officials say the force that took Manbij was made up primarily of Arab fighters.

Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Syria, said that SDF forces, predominantly Arab fighters, are now working to ensure that no Islamic State fighters remain in Manbij, clearing the way for residents to return.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Garver noted that the clearing operation continued but gave a cautious assessment of where Kurdish forces would head once that concluded.

It remains to be seen as to when it ends specifically and then what the follow-on response is to that, he said.

The military advances by U.S.-backed forces also do not address the larger conflict that has been consuming Syria since 2011. Conditions have worsened in the nearby city of Aleppo, Syrias largest, as rebels and Russian-backed government forces trade attacks.

Zakaria Zakaria contributed to this report from Istanbul.
Russian bombers flying from an Iranian air base struck rebel targets across Syria on Tuesday, Russian and Iranian officials said, dramatically underscoring the two countries growing military ties and highlighting Russias ambitions for greater influence in a turbulent Middle East.

The long-range Tu-22 bombers took off from a base near Hamadan in western Iran and launched raids in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Deir al-Zour and Idlib, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The ministry said the bombers were accompanied by Russian fighter jets based in Syria.

Both countries are staunch allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but the flights marked the first time Russia has launched strikes from Iranian territory.

Iran has long banned foreign militaries from establishing bases on its soil. But the raids appeared to signal a budding alliance that would expand Russias military footprint in the region.

Iran and Russia enjoy strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria, and share their facilities and capacities to this end, Irans National Security Council chief, Ali Shamkhani, said Tuesday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner called the flights unfortunate, but not surprising or unexpected. Like other Russian strikes in Syria, he said, the Russian bombers predominantly targeted moderate opposition forces fighting against Assad, rather than the Islamic State or other terrorist groups.

It only makes more difficult what is already a complex, contentious and difficult situation, Toner said, adding that it was unclear whether Russia planned to continue using the Iranian base, or the operation was a one-off.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry raised the flights in a Tuesday telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Toner said.

Under the terms of a U.S.-Russia agreement to deconflict their flights over Syria, the U.S. military was notified in advance that the bombers would pass across Iraqi airspace and through Syria, according to Col. Christopher Garver, the Baghdad-based spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.

It was not a lot of time, but it was enough, Garver said of the notice given. He said the Russian aircraft did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria, where coalition planes are in the air virtually around the clock.

Although several countries in the region have flirted with strengthened ties to Russia, Moscow has made little headway in fulfilling its ambitions for greater Middle East sway. Syria has long been an exception, historically purchasing Russian arms and hosting a Russian naval facility on the Mediterranean.

Tehran, in addition to their joint support for Assad, has seen strategic advantage in relations with post-Soviet Russia, sharing a desire to counter U.S. influence with increased trade and energy cooperation. The Iran nuclear deal allowed Russia to fulfill a years-old agreement to sell Iran its powerful S-300 air-defense missile system.

Last year, Russia and Iran signed a military cooperation deal focused on training and on fighting terrorism. On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putins top Middle East envoy arrived in Tehran to discuss bilateral relations. Russia has also requested the use of Iranian airspace to fire cruise missiles at rebel targets in Syria.

[Syrian extremist group splits from al-Qaeda and changes its name]

Shiite-led Iran has sent thousands of troops and fighters, including members of its Revolutionary Guard Corps, to Syria to bolster Assad  who is from the Shiite minority Alawite sect  against largely Sunni rebels. For Tehran, losing a longtime ally to a majority-Sunni uprising would undermine its own influence in the region.

Iranian proxies such as Lebanons Hezbollah and an array of Shiite Iraqi militias have also fought for the Syrian regime. And last year, Russia began its own operations in Syria, committing tanks, artillery and combat aircraft to the fight. It also built a new air base in Latakia province in the Alawite heartland.

Russian intervention marked a turning point in the fate of the Assad regime, which had been losing ground to rebel forces.

But until now, Russias long-range bombers, which require longer airstrips, had to be launched from Russian territory more than 1,200 miles away. Now, those same bombers need to fly only about 400 miles from Iran to Syria, Irans Fars News Agency reported Tuesday. The shorter distance, using less fuel and allowing a bigger payload, will allow Russia to intensify its air campaign against rebel-held areas.

Syrian government troops and opposition fighters are now locked in a battle for the strategic city of Aleppo, where residents face a growing humanitarian crisis. Russia has carried out strikes in support of government troops there, activists say.

[Battle for Aleppo may be the most crucial in Syrias civil war]

Russias Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its long-range bombers struck targets linked to the Islamic State and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, a group that formally split from al-Qaeda last month and changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra. The strikes destroyed five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts, the ministry said.

But rights groups have criticized both Russia and the Syrian regime for repeated strikes on civilian targets, including homes, schools and hospitals. Russian and Syrian officials have denied those reports.

On Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Syrian and Russian troops have used banned incendiary weapons in civilian areas.

These weapons inflict horrible injuries and excruciating pain, Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The disgraceful incendiary weapon attacks in Syria show an abject failure to adhere to international law.

[Obamas overture to Russia on Syria]

Iran is also deeply involved in conflicts in Yemen and Iraq, where it holds particular influence.

Iran was quick to provide military supplies to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad as Islamic State militants made their land grab in the summer of 2014, pushing toward the capital.

In recent years, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps elite Quds Force, has made regular appearances on the battlefield in both Iraq and Syria, becoming the public face of Irans growing military power.

DeYoung reported from Washington. Loveday Morris in Beirut contributed to this report.

Read more:

Iran announces delivery of Russian missile defense system

Are Russia and Iran best buddies now?

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
The levels of trauma and abuse inflicted on asylum seekers imprisoned in the Australian-run offshore detention centre on Nauru were partly documented last week when more than 2,000 leaked incident reports were published by the Guardian.

Covering the period from May 2013 to October 2015, the Nauru files make public, for the first time, officially suppressed and buried cases of violence, mistreatment and suicide attempts among the over 600 refugees, including 104 children, indefinitely detained on Nauru. This inhuman regime, in violation of international law, was established by the previous Greens-backed Labor government and has been maintained by the current Liberal-National Coalition government.

In numerous incident reports, asylum seekers described brutality at the hands of guards, including violence directed toward their children. Guards were accused of assaulting or choking children, or coming in to restrain or remove children who were supposedly fighting or yelling.

The reports include complaints about a guard grabbing a boy and threatening to kill him and guards slapping children in the face. In another report, a mother stated that a female security guard would not let her take her daughter to the toilet. When her daughter attempted to go to the toilet on the ground in front of the guard, the guard shone her torch directly on the child, making the child unable to urinate.

Children, who made up 18 percent of the population imprisoned on Nauru, were overrepresented in the incident reports. More than half the 2,116 reports, or 1,086, involved children and included allegations of sexual assault.

One report detailed how a young boy was allegedly molested in a car by a security guard when being transported from one area to another. There are also reports of rape, as well as women complaining of threats of sexual assault by guards or Nauruan men, and fearing for their safety.

The Nauru files paint a picture of the camp in squalor, with dirty tents, no chairs for children in schoolrooms, and water not being provided or prioritised at the school despite stifling heat. Mice ran around on the floor, and children needed tetanus shots after being bitten.

The reports demonstrated the psychological impact of indefinite detention. In one incident, a young female asylum seeker took an entire months supply of contraceptive pills in attempt to commit suicide. In another, a woman attempted to overdose on her medication because a guard had trampled on her sons photo and kicked her and her husband in their tent.

A further report recorded that a man attempted to hang himself with a rope before being physically stopped by guards. Three months later, a young woman tried to kill herself by hanging. In another incident, a women vomited after ingesting baby bottle steriliser tablets.

According to one shocking report, a girl walked into her classroom, grabbed some cleaning liquid from the shelf and proceeded to drink the entire bottle before she was physically stopped by her teacher. In September 2014, four unaccompanied minors sliced their forearms with knives while another two kicked and punched the walls of their tent.

Hundreds of such reports were classified under the label of self-harm, designed to minimise the severity of the incidents, blame the victim and hide the reality of acts of desperation born from severe oppression and mental harm.

The files constitute the most extensive leak of its kind from inside Australias offshore detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island. They indicate significant opposition among the camp staff to the abusive character of the detention and the Australian governments efforts to suppress the evidence. Amendments to the Border Force Act introduced last year impose lengthy jail sentences for anyone who publicly divulges any details.

Some of the incident reports appear to originate from records kept by the Salvation Army and Save The Children, charity organisations that had Australian government contracts to provide welfare, education and recreational services to the detainees. Other reports came from Wilson Security, the security firm employed by the head contractor, Ferrovial (formerly Transfield and Broadspectrum).

Former staff members have previously defied the governments secrecy. They include Dr. Isaacs, a paediatrician who published a medical journal article demonstrating that the conditions constituted torture. In the recently released film Chasing Asylum, former employees risked jail time by showing themselves on camera, exposing the barbaric conditions.

Alongside these courageous actions, official reports, issued by UN agencies, Australian human rights agencies and parliamentary committees, have confirmed the appalling conditions. The overwhelming evidence has generated widely-supported social media and other campaigns, pleading with the government to bring the detainees to Australia.

But none of these reports has shifted the Coalition government or the opposition Labor Party one inch from their determination to continue the offshore regime as a deliberate means of deterring refugees from seeking to reach Australia.

The government responded to the Nauru files by accusing asylum seekers of falsely reporting abuses in order to come to Australia. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton declared that some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor leader Bill Shorten both flatly dismissed calls for a royal commission into the incident reports. In any case, such an inquiry would only serve to whitewash the abuses and bury the evidence as much as possible.

Shorten reiterated Labors ongoing support for the camps, which were re-opened by the previous governmentin which he was a key ministerreviving the Pacific solution imposed by the Howard Coalition government in 2001.

At the same time, conscious of the public disgust, Shorten fraudulently claimed to oppose indefinite detention. In fact, Labor deliberately consigned the detainees to Nauru and Manus Island for indeterminate periods, declaring that they must have no advantage over the millions of refugees who wait endlessly in Middle Eastern and African camps.

The Greens joined Labor in proposing yet another parliamentary inquiry into the latest revelations, but this will only seek to channel the widespread outrage back into the hands of the same parliamentary establishment. The Greens are just as culpable as Labor for the detainee abuses, having propped up the last minority Labor government as it reopened the camps. Moreover, for all their claims to oppose this regime, the Greens advocate an alternative form of regional processing in impoverished Asian countries, and are fully committed to the underlying framework of protecting national borders.

The author also recommends:



Australian Greens posturing on war and refugees exposed at public meeting

[28 November 2015]

Australian senate inquiry masks responsibility for Nauru refugee camp abuses

[7 September 2015]
Two arrests in recent weeks have highlighted the capacity of Australias ever-expanding anti-terrorism laws to be used far beyond the main current targetsvulnerable boys and young men, supposedly linked to Islamist extremists in the Middle East.

Last week, Phillip Galea, 31, described by the media as a right-wing extremist, was arrested during a series of house raids across Melbourne in a joint operation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victoria state police. He reportedly suffered injuries after police fired a stun grenade and dragged him through a broken glass window.

Galea was charged with collecting or making documents likely to facilitate a terrorism act and planning or preparing for a terrorist act. The police provided no details of these vague charges and released no evidence, except to say they bugged Galeas phone for eight months.

The highly-publicised character of the arrest, and the speed with which Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls Liberal-National Coalition government claimed credit, point to definite political calculations.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan emphasised that it was the first time in Australias history that federal terrorism laws had been used to charge an alleged right-wing extremist. He immediately insinuated Galeas guilt, saying he had strong links to right-wing extremist organisations, thus prejudicing any chance of a fair trial.

Keenan declared that the government was fulfilling its responsibility to keep the Australian people safe from anybody who has violent extremist views who threatens that safety. This language is wide enough to cover a range of political organisations, and points to a bid to legitimise the broader use of the terror laws.

Victorian police assistant commissioner Ross Guenther declared that the arrest interrupted something that could have been quite serious in terms of harming the community. He said police acted on information that individuals were either advocating harm or producing documents that might lead to harm.

In a brief hearing on August 9, a federal police prosecutor asked for Galea to be held in detention until late November to give the police time to transcribe the calls and prepare the case. However, Galeas lawyer objected that he was given only a vague summary of the charges against his client and opposed the lengthy delay. The magistrate set a committal hearing date of October 31.

Whatever exactly Galea is accused of, and that remains entirely unclear, the charges mark a shift in the police response to his activities. He was previously fined for possessing a knife at an anti-immigration rally. Last November, he was jailed for a month after pleading guilty to possessing five Tasers and 360 grams of mercury.

Since 2010, Galea has been publicly associated with anti-immigration and anti-Islam groups, most recently Reclaim Australia, the United Patriots Front and the True Blue Crew. These outfits seek to exploit and channel in nationalist and xenophobic directions the growing social discontent over the widening job losses, inequality and poverty imposed by successive Labor and Coalition governments.

While the terrorism laws might be utilised, at this point, against some right-wing elements, the real aim of the measures is to build up police-state powers to suppress the underlying unrest, and set precedents that can be used against left-wing and socialist organisations.

The Fairfax Media last Saturday indicated that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was targeting extremism across the political spectrum. After reporting that Galeas arrest was prompted by ASIO monitoring of right-wing groups, the article cited ASIOs 2014-15 annual report, which asserted that violent rhetoric continued from extreme right-wing and left-wing individuals in Australia.

In the other recent case, Kurdish journalist Renas Lelikan, 38, was arrested and charged late last month with being a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by consecutive governments since 2005.

An Australian citizen, Lelikan returned to the country from Iraq last October, saying he was escaping from the dangers of Islamic State (ISIS), which a PKK-linked militia, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), is fighting in northern Iraq with the support of the US and its allies. On his return, Lelikan was questioned by the AFP for 10 hours, then released. No reason has been given for his arrest eight months later.

Lelikan was denied bail on July 29, after appearing in a Sydney court via video-link, handcuffed and dressed in an orange jumpsuitthe prison garb allocated to those convicted of terrorist-related offences. A magistrate ruled there were no exceptional circumstancesthe extraordinary requirement to be granted bail under the terrorism laws. This was despite his lawyer arguing that he was no security threat because the PKK was not an enemy of Australia, and that Lelikan was being held in solitary confinement and faced threats by jailed ISIS supporters.

Since the still-unexplained attacks of September 2001, Australian governments, both Coalition and Labor, like their counterparts in the US, Britain and other imperialist powers, have used the pretext of combating terrorism as a cover for predatory wars in the Middle East, accompanied by draconian domestic laws, overturning basic legal and democratic rights and permitting mass surveillance.

The Australian laws define terrorism in such sweeping terms that they can cover many forms of political activity. Any act or threat intended to advance a political, religious or ideological cause, and coercing, or influencing by intimidation a government or section of the public, that damages property or endangers public health or safety is classified as terrorism, punishable by life imprisonment.

As a result of extensions to the laws since 2001, no specific terrorist plot needs to be provednot even a time or place. Advocating, preparing and conspiracy provisions mean that people can be convicted for even discussing actions defined as terrorist.

Just before the latest arrests, the Turnbull government, backed by the Labor Party, unveiled further measures as its first political initiative since scraping back into office at the July 2 election. One will permit the indefinite incarceration of prisoners convicted of terrorism-related offences, after they have served their sentences. The other will allow 12-month control orderswhich can include tracking devices or house arrestto be imposed on children as young as 14.

Taken together, these developments indicate that the unstable government and political establishment, assisted by the media, is promoting terrorism scares to justify further bolstering the repressive powers of the police-intelligence-judicial apparatus in the face of rising social and class tensions. As the Socialist Equality Party warned during the election campaign, the terrorism powers are being prepared for wider use throughout the working class as economic conditions worsen and Australias involvement in US-led wars intensifies.
The Saudi-led coalition added to its war crimes in Yemen by carrying out an airstrike yesterday afternoon against a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing at least 11 people and wounding at least 19 others. As MSF had provided the GPS coordinates of the medical facility to all sides in the conflict, the targeting was deliberate.

With US backing and assistance, Saudi Arabia and its Middle Eastern allies have waged an illegal air war inside Yemen since March 2015, following the seizure of Sanaa, the capital, by Houthi Shiite rebels. The Saudi regime accused its regional arch-rival Iran of backing the Houthis and is seeking to reinstate the government-in-exile of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Yesterdays airstrike on the Abs hospital in the northern Hajjah province is part of a deliberate campaign to terrorise the Houthi population in the north of Yemen. The Saudi-led war has killed more than 6,500 civilians and destroyed much of the countrys social infrastructure, including some 250 medical centres, 800 schools and hundreds of electricity plants and fuel store houses.

Hospital director Ibrahim Aram told the New York Times by phone that three Yemini MSF staff membersa guard, a logistician and an electricianwere killed in the attack. Another guard, an X-ray technician and a nurse had limbs amputated as a result of their injuries. Three foreign doctors suffered relatively minor injuries.

Ayman Ahmed Mathkoor, health director for Hajjah province, reported that the airstrike destroyed the hospitals emergency department. He put the death toll at 15 killed and 20 wounded. Health ministry official Ibrahim Jafari, who visited the site yesterday, told the New York Times that the emergency area had been full of patients at the time and that many of the victims were badly burned. He said there were no military forces near the hospital.

Teresa Sancristoval, MSF emergency program manager for Yemen, said it was the fourth attack on an MSF-supported medical facility in Yemen during the past year. Other airstrikes hit Shiara Hospital in Razeh in northern Saada province on January 10, killing six people; Taiz Hospital in the city of Taiz on December 2; and Haydan Hospital in Saada province on October 26.

Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients, Sancristoval said in a news release.

Other aid agencies condemned the attack. This was a horrific attack, killing sick and injured people and the medical staff desperately trying to help them. The world cannot turn a blind eye as the most vulnerable suffer in his conflict, Sajjad Mohammad Sajid, Oxfam country director in Yemen, said.

The Saudi-led coalition told Associated Press its Joint Incidents Assessment Team was aware of reports of an airstrike on a hospital in Yemens northern Hajjah province and had opened an investigation. The outcome will undoubtedly be another whitewash. A Saudi report, issued this month, claimed that the MSF hospital hit in October had been used by Houthi rebels for military purposes.

On Saturday, an airstrike on a school in Saada killed at least 10 children and wounded another 28, according to local officials and aid workers. MSF staff treated the victims, who were aged between 6 and 15. The Saudi military said the attack hit a militia training camp, but provided no evidence to support its allegation.

US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau issued a low-key expression of concern over yesterdays airstrike. Strikes on humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, are particularly concerning, she said. We call on all parties to cease hostilities immediately. Continued military actions only prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people.

These remarks are utterly hypocritical. The US has backed the Saudi war to the hilt, deploying US military advisers and intelligence officers to coordinate with their Saudi counterparts and assisting airstrikes by providing targeting data and aerial refuelling. In May, the Pentagon announced the deployment of small Special Forces teams inside Yemen to support Saudi operations. The US has waged its own protracted and illegal drone war inside Yemen, nominally against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Last week, the US State Department approved the sale of 150 Abrams battle tanks to Saudi Arabiapart of a package of American weaponry worth $1.15 billion. The package includes a range of additional military hardware, including Galting guns, as well as extensive training for the Saudi military. US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, one of its key Middle Eastern allies, are worth an estimated $20 billion annually.

The State Departments muted comments about yesterdays attack on a hospital are in marked contrast to the propaganda campaign by the US and international media over alleged atrocities by Russian and Syrian war planes against US-backed Islamist militias inside Syria.

The US military is responsible for the criminal attack on an MSF hospital at Kunduz in northern Afghanistan last October that killed 42 civilians. An AC-130 gunship unleashed its devastating firepower on the medical facility for more than an hour. Some victims were burned alive in their beds while others were mown down as they tried to flee. The Pentagons final report, released in April, was a brazen cover-up which denied that a war crime was committed. None of the personnel involved faced criminal charges or a court martial.

Yesterdays airstrike on a Yemeni hospital is further evidence of an intensification of the Saudi-led war inside Yemen following the breakdown of UN-sponsored talks between the Houthi government and the government-in-exile led by President Hadi. Backed by Washington and armed to the teeth with US weapons, the Saudi regime is determined to subordinate the country to its interests.
Carla Chase was making the long drive to Waupun Correctional Institute to visit with her uncle, Steven Avery, when she heard the news her cousin Brendan Dassey's conviction for the 2006 murder of Teresa Halbach had been overturned by a federal judge.



She tells PEOPLE she didn't believe the decision could be real at first, but quickly went on Google and saw multiple news reports.



"I was 15 to 20 minutes away from the prison when I found out, and I was pretty much in shock," Chase tells PEOPLE exclusive. "I thought, 'Nah...this can't be.' But I went online and double checked and it was everywhere. It was a rush and a shock, all at the time same."



Both Dassey and Avery were the subjects for the hit Netflix true crime documentary series, Making a Murderer. In March 2006, Dassey, then 16, told investigators he had helped his uncle rape and murder photographer Teresa Halbach on Oct. 31, 2005. He later recanted, claiming his confession had been coerced.



Dassey's confession to law enforcement is perhaps the most debated aspect of the Netflix series.



Judge William Duffin's decision holds that the authorities promised Dassey, who is described by many in the series as having learning disabilities, prosecutorial leniency in exchange for his cooperation during his March 1, 2006, interrogation.



"The investigators repeatedly claimed to already know what happened on Oct. 31 and assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about," the decision reads. "These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments."



 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.



The judge's decision suggests he had "significant doubts" concerning the reliability of Dassey's confession.



"Crucial details evolved through repeated leading and suggestive questioning and generally stopped changing only after the investigators, in some manner, indicated to Dassey that he finally gave the answer they were looking for," the ruling reads. "Purportedly corroborative details could have been the product of contamination from other sources, including the investigators' own statements and questioning, or simply logical guesses, rather than actual knowledge of the crime."



If Wisconsin's Attorney General fails to appeal Friday's ruling within the next 90 days, Dassey will be freed from prison. A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office declined to comment on Dassey's case on Monday.



Chase tells PEOPLE her phone hasn't stopped ringing since Friday night. She says Dassey's family has been refusing all media interview requests since last week's development.



Over the weekend, filming for Making a Murderer's second season began in Manitowac, Wisconsin, Chase says.



"Now, we're just playing the waiting game and hoping no one files an appeal," Chase explains. "I know his mother has talked with Brendan on the phone, but he hasn't called any of the other family. He's overjoyed."



Prison staff allegedly gave Dassey two hours to clear out his prison cell.



"When your conviction is cleared, they move you from one area of the prison to a different area of the prison," Chase says. "The family is very hopeful he'll be released. But like I said, he could get out in two weeks or it could be 90 days. The prosecution needs to have actual evidence to move forward with his re-trial, but they don't have any new evidence."





Steven Avery's Attorney Optimistic

On Friday, Making a Murderer's directors and executive producers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos issued a statement to PEOPLE saying, "Today there was a major development for the subjects in our story and this recent news shows the criminal justice system at work. As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead."



Kathleen Zellner, Avery's new attorney, tells PEOPLE, "We are thrilled for Brendan Dassey that his conviction has been overturned," adding, "We fully expected this outcome from an unbiased court that carefully examined his confession."



According to Zellner, she was just visiting with Avery, who "is so happy for Brendan. We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well."



On the day of Dassey's confession, lead investigators Tom Fassbender and Mark Wiegert pulled him out of school and questioned him alone for hours.



During that questioning, Dassey told investigators he had helped Avery kill Halbach, saying that they shot her in the head and burned her body at a bonfire on the Avery property later that evening.



Calumet County Prosecutor Ken Kratz called a press conference shortly after investigators secured the confession, saying that Dassey described in detail Halbach's brutal assault and slaying.



However, after seeing portions of the confession on Netflix, many came to believe he was coerced by Fassbender and Wiegert, who repeatedly question him until the teen gives them a confession.



In a recorded exchange with his mother, Barb Janda, following the confession, Dassey says, "They got in my head." The teen later denied that he ever saw Halbach and said he had nothing to do with her murder.



It has not been announced when the second season of the Netflix show will air.
By Paul Beban

Donald Trump, who just last week admitted he has a tremendous problem in Utah, may have missed the mark with his latest pitch to voters in a state considered a Republican stronghold for nearly half a century.

Utahns know that after eight years adrift under President Obama, we need to make America great again by supporting our law enforcement, ending illegal immigration, defeating ISIS, bringing back jobs and restoring conservative values, Trump wrote in a guest op-ed in the Deseret News, one of Utahs major newspapers. Earning support and trust from the voters in Utah is a top priority from me.

One poll last week put Trump ahead in Utah by 12 points  the kind of lead that would be considered comfortable anywhere other than Utah.

But in a state that Mitt Romney won by 45 points in 2012  and that hasnt swung Democratic since backing Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964  its a sign Utah may actually be in play.

Trumps piece comes one week after Deseret News published an op-ed from Hillary Clinton, in which the Democratic candidate made repeated and direct appeals to Mormons  Utahs predominant faith.

Hal Boyd, opinion editor at Deseret News, said that by talking about law and order and giving states more control over public land, Trump hit some of the right notes with Utah voters.

But in sharp contrast to Clinton, Boyd points out that Trump failed to mention Mormons  even once.

If you compare it with Hillary Clintons piece last week  very specific references to Mormons, Boyd said. Trump did not go that direction, (and) some readers may have been surprised that he did not make any overtures specifically toward the Mormon vote.

Trump did highlight his support from prominent Utah Republicans such as Governor Gary Herbert and Senator Orrin Hatch.

But a powerful counterweight, says Boyd, is the solidly anti-Trump position staked out by Mitt Romney.

Romney, to whom Boyd referred as a favorite son of Utah, has called Trump a phony, a con man, and a fraud.

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He (Romney) has immense political clout. His voice carries a lot of gravitas, and may resonate strongly with Utah voters between now and November, Boyd says.

In addition, Boyd says, some of Trumps positions  such as his call for a ban on Muslim immigration  may be actually be scaring off Mormons.

Theres been some tough talk in this election season regarding Muslims, Boyd says. As a religious minority, Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) are very cautious toward any sort of rhetoric that would malign a religious minority.

Then theres the question of Trumps slashing style, and his tendency toward the politics of personal attacks, attributes Boyd says are unlikely to play well in Utah.

People see maybe the persona of some of the candidates  specifically, Donald Trump  as being somewhat more brazen than is what commonly seen here in the more modest and conservative state of Utah, says Boyd.

And if Trump wants to win over Mormon voters between now and November, Boyd suggests he might need to tilt toward the tactics of his rival for the Oval Office.

Certainly, Hillary Clinton in her opinion piece in the Deseret News last week exemplified that  really discussing religious liberty on an intimate level, quoting from Mormon church leaders, Boyd says. Maybe taking a page from the Clinton campaign might be helpful for Donald Trump in that regard.
EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Refining Logistics, LP (NYSE:WNRL) today announced that Partnership management will participate in the 2016 Citi One-on-One MLP/Midstream Infrastructure Conference in Las Vegas on August 17, 2016. A link to the presentation will be available beginning August 17, 2016, on the Investor Relations section of Western Refining Logistics website at www.wnrl.com and will remain available in accordance with the Partnerships investor presentation archive policy.



About Western Refining Logistics, LP

Western Refining Logistics, LP is principally a fee-based, growth-oriented master limited partnership formed by Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR) to own, operate, develop and acquire terminals, storage tanks, pipelines and other logistics assets related to the terminalling, transportation and storage of crude oil and refined products. Headquartered in El Paso, Texas, Western Refining Logistics, LP's assets include approximately 685 miles of pipelines, approximately 8.4 million barrels of active storage capacity, distribution of wholesale petroleum products and crude oil and asphalt trucking.

More information about Western Refining Logistics is available at www.wnrl.com.
(Corrects 10-year yield levels in paragraph 6)

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Foreigners sold U.S. Treasury bonds and notes for a third consecutive month in June, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed on Monday, with some analysts pointing to softening investor demand after years of strong buying.

Offshore investors sold $32.9 billion in U.S. Treasuries in June after selling $18.29 billion in May. That followed record outflow in April of $74.6 billion.

Foreign official institutions, which include central banks, sold $33.5 billion in U.S. government bonds, while private offshore investors bought $2.4 billion.

"If you look at U.S. Treasury auctions, there has been generally less demand from foreign central banks, compared to last year," said Kim Rupert, managing director for global fixed income at Action Economics in San Francisco.

"It's also possible that investors are taking profits on U.S. Treasury positions after strong gains," she added.

Yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes at the beginning of June were 1.8440 percent, and later hit a high of 1.8560 percent. By the end of the month, yields were at 1.492 percent.

China remained the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, with $1.241 trillion in June, down from $1.2440 trillion the previous month.

Japan, the No. 2 foreign U.S. Treasury debt holder, posted holdings of $1.148 trillion, up from $1.133 trillion in May.

U.S. stocks, meanwhile, posted outflows for a fifth straight month in June, amounting to $6.8 billion. The only month that produced foreign inflows in 2016 was in January, when investors bought $4.6 billion.

The data also showed foreigners sold $3.6 billion in long-term securities in June after buying $40.8 billion in May. Including shorter-dated securities, overseas investors sold $202.8 billion, after selling $11 billion in May.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)
ABUJA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first of more than 200 abducted Chibok schoolgirls to be rescued from Boko Haram after two years in captivity in northeast Nigeria said on Tuesday that she just wants to go home. In her first interview, Amina Ali spoke to the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the capital of Abuja, where she and her baby daughter have been held by since her rescue in May for what the government has called a "restoration process". Ali said was not sure whether she would return to education and that she did not know when she would be able to go home. Here are 10 key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls and the Islamist militant group Boko Haram: * Since 2009, Boko Haram has waged an insurgency to carveout an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria that has killed some15,000 people and displaced more than two million. * The most high-profile attack took place on April 14, 2014,when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 school girls, from a secondaryschool in Chibok in northeast Borno state. About 50 of the girlsescaped in the initial melee but 219 were captured. * Nigeria's government and military, then under the commandof former president Goodluck Jonathan, faced heavy criticism fortheir handling of the incident, with towns and cities across thenation witnessing protests. * The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction,with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 milliontimes by mid-May 2014, and the campaign which followed backed byU.S. First Lady Michelle Obama. * Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April 2015 whenthe Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93women from the Sambisa forest, northeast of Chibok. It was laterrevealed that the Chibok girls were not among them. * One of the Chibok girls, Amina Ali, was rescued in May.Held for months by the Nigerian government, she told her motherthat the girls were starved and resorted to eating raw maize,and that some had died in captivity, suffered broken legs orgone deaf after being too close to explosions. * Boko Haram on Sunday published a video apparently showingrecent footage of dozens of the Chibok girls, and a masked mansaying some of their classmates had been killed in air strikes.In the video, unidentified bodies could be seen on the ground. * About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by BokoHaram since the beginning of 2014, according to AmnestyInternational, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves,fighters and even suicide bombers. * Boko Haram used 44 children to carry out suicide attacksin West Africa last year, up from four in 2014, with some asyoung as eight, mostly girls, detonating bombs in schools andmarkets, according to the U.N. children's agency UNICEF. * Boko Haram, which last year pledged allegiance to IslamicState, controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria, aroundthe size of Belgium, at the start of 2015 but was pushed out byNigerian and regional troops, which are now in a final push todefeat the militants. (Writing By Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.

There may soon be more nurses than there are jobs.

By 2025, there will be nearly 3.9 million full-time equivalent registered nurses compared with the nationwide demand of 3.5 million, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nurses with a master's degree, however, shouldn't have a problem finding a job. Nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners, for example, are expected to see employment growth of 31 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And some schools are helping just about every aspiring nurse who wants a master's degree reach his or her goal.

[Boost a nursing career with a master's degree.]

At eight nursing master's programs -- including the programs at Clemson University and Regis University -- 100 percent of applicants were accepted in fall of 2015. The programs had the highest acceptance rates among 228 institutions that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey.

Among the eight schools, the average number of applicants was 42. Many schools with low acceptance rates -- such as Seattle University and University of North Carolina--Charlotte, which each accepted just 21 percent of applicants -- had much larger applicant pools. Seattle received 344 applicants and UNC--Charlotte had 298.

[Transition into nursing with an accelerated graduate degree program.]

Below are the 10 schools that accepted the highest percentage of nursing master's students for fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

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* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of all master's nursing programs. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Nursing School Compass to find acceptance rate data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 519 nursing schools for our 2015 survey of nursing programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Nursing Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The acceptance rate data above are correct as of Aug. 16, 2016.

Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com.
One of the three young girls who fell from a Tennessee Ferris Wheel earlier this month is speaking out with her parents about the terrifying incident.



Kayla Reynolds, 10, was sitting with her sister Briley, 6, and a 16-year-old girl in the basket of the Greene County Fair Ferris wheel on August 8 when the ride malfunctioned and the container overturned.



The three girls were thrown from a height of around 35-45 feet.



"Me and my sister were crying. We were just like trying to hold onto stuff and didn't know what to do. We were probably sitting there with it tilted for maybe not even a minutea hoping it would turn back and then we just started falling," Kayla said in a Good Morning America interview.



Kayla and Briley's parents  Jason and Kimmee Reynolds  saw their girls sitting in the tilting basket at the top of the ride and screamed at the Ferris wheel operator to: "Stop, stop, stop now."



Jason and Kimmee watched in horror as their daughters fell from the ride.



"I was going to try to break their fall or something. What are you supposed to do? It's scary," Jason Reynolds told the news outlet.



Mom Kimmee added, "Kayla took the most hits. She hit the gondola beneath them, then she hit a bar and then she hit the ground. She was alert, though. When she hit the ground, she was awake."







Kayla sustainted only a broken arm and minor injuries, but Briley is still hospitalized for traumatic brain injury. The unidentified 16-year-old was hospitalized and has since been released, according to The Greenville Sun.



"[Briley] smacked the top of the other gondola and she went straight to the ground. When she hit, she knocked out. Her eyes rolled back in her head," Kimmee said.



Kayla says her sister "wasn't breathing and she wasn't moving. But then I saw her move and it made me feel a whole lot better."



The 6-year-old remains in "serious but stable condition," according to Good Morning America.





Story continues



The ride did not have seat belts and lap restraints, as they are not required by law.



"By no means do we take this lightly as our main concern is the safety of the families who visit our midway each week. We wish the children health and a speedy recovery as we continue to keep them in our prayers," the Family Attractions Amusement Company said in a statement to ABC News.





Good morning... At 2:52 am. Briley has been sleeping good. I got about a 3 hour nap which was refreshing. She keeps... Posted by Kimmee Reynolds onA Monday, August 15, 2016



"You're going to a fair thinking it is safe, expecting certain standardsathinking you are putting your child on something they are going to come off of fine. It can happen to anybody at any time. That's the scary part about it," Kimmee told Good Morning America.



"We want her back the way she was and it doesn't work that way."
NextShark

Jahrah, who only has a first name as customary in Indonesia, went out to collect rubber on Sunday morning in the forest in Jambi Province on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The search parties only found success a day later, on Monday, when they discovered a 22-foot-long (6.7-meters-long) python with a bulging stomach resting in the woods. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then, Anto, the local villages chief, said.
From Good Housekeeping

A 13-year-old boy committed suicide last Thursday after being relentlessly bullied - and after claiming his school did nothing to stop it. The New York Daily News reports that Daniel Fitzpatrick, who lived in Staten Island, New York, had written a letter expressing his issues with Holy Angels Catholic Academy, but never sent it.

Fitzpatrick was a sensitive kid who was often bullied about his weight and grades. In his letter, he said that his school life started well, but then he moved and came back, and everything changed. Kids who used to be his friends bullied him both physically and emotionally. And when he asked his teachers and principal for help, only one teacher helped him, and the effects didn't last long.

"I gave up," he wrote. "I begged and pleaded [for help]." His parents said these boys threw balls at him during gym class, and a teacher called him "lazy" in front of everyone.

Fitzpatrick's family told the New York Post that the school put the entire group of boys in one room to address what happened. "How do you conduct an interview with the victim and his attacker in the same room?" his mom, Maureen, told the newspaper. "If he said what happened, it would come back to him tenfold."

They also claim the school sent child welfare workers to investigate the family instead of going after the bullies; when they arrived, Fitzpatrick reportedly told them, "I just want a friend," and the investigation didn't find anything against his parents. His grades had suffered, and the school had suggested he repeat seventh grade at another school.

His father, also named Daniel Fitzpatrick, spoke about about his son's death on Facebook. "No parent should have to bury their child," he said, choking back tears. "No child should have to go through what my son went through." He said that he and his son went to the school to complain about bullying, and all they got was, "He'll be fine  you have to try harder, Danny."

Story continues

"In light of this tragedy we are reexamining all bullying prevention policies and training," Brooklyn/Queens diocese spokeswoman Carolyn Erstad told the newspaper. "The principal, teachers, and staff of Holy Angels Catholic Academy are heartbroken over the loss of Danny Fitzpatrick. We take the issue of bullying very seriously and address every incident that is brought to our attention."

According to the Daily News, Erstad explained that the school did everything it could to stop the bullying. Fitzpatrick received three counseling sessions at school, which was the maximum he could receive without parental consent. "When the counselor reached out to Danny's parents to get consent for continued counseling, the parents refused," she said. The family says they sought professional help instead.

Fitzpatrick's family has started a GoFundMe account to raise money for funeral expenses. It has raised more than $100,000 in two days, and only had a goal of $10,000. "We want to give Daniel a proper memorial, as well as shine a bright light on the bullying that killed him," his sister, Eileen, wrote on the site. "We have every intention to help other families never go through what we are going through." They will donate any extra funds to charities that fight bullying and promote suicide awareness.

Follow Good Housekeeping on Instagram and Facebook.
nomada marshamella uk bee

For years, there's been suspicion that a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids are bad for bees. The chemicals, which farmers apply to their crops to keep away insects that munch through their harvests, are among the most used bug-killers out there.

But ecologists have worried the chemicals also affect the insects that help support harvests.

Bees have been mysteriously disappearing in what's called colony collapse disorder, which some scientists believe neonicotinoids are contributing to.

That's a problem because the pollination work bees do is hugely valuable. Commercially managed honeybees produce about $15 billion in value for the US alone and wild American bees another $9 billion.

There's finally a study that tries to actually parse out the effects neonicotinoids have on bees in the wild. It looks at 62 different wild bee species in the UK.

That's important because while only three species of bees and bumblebees are kept by beekeepers and used commercially, experts believe there are closer to 250 wild species in the UK and 4,000 in the US. And while we don't manage them, we do benefit from their pollination.

The new study, which was published August 16 in the journal Nature Communications, also looks at an 18-year timespan that begins before neonicotinoids were introduced in 2002. That means the researchers could actually establish a baseline for how bees were doing before farmers began widely using the chemicals.

oilseed rape rapeseed yellow flower

Neonicotinoids are used particularly on rapeseed, one variety of which is turned into canola oil. During the month or two they bloom, the flowers turn swaths of the British countryside a shocking yellow.

Some bees like the flowers; some don't. So the scientists were able to divvy bees up by their taste for rapeseed, then look at how their populations changed over almost two decades of surveys.

For a few bees, the scientists estimate about a fifth of their population declines was due to neonicotinoids.

Story continues

That's not enough to kill off bees taken by itself. But pesticides aren't the only challenge bees are facing. Climate change, differences in how we use the land and what plants they can feed on, and parasites and diseases that infect bees are also putting a dent in populations.

And it doesn't necessarily mean we should stop using neonicotinoids cold turkey. "It needs to be taken in a very holistic perspective, you can't just say as long as we can save the bees everything else can go to hell, that's not where you want to be at," lead scientist Ben Woodcock told the BBC.

Both the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides in the US, and the European equivalent are already in the process of re-evaluating their rules for neonicotinoids.

The study isn't quite the gold standard of science, since the researchers were just watching what happened from changes already in place rather than carefully controlling circumstances so that pesticide exposure was the only difference between groups.

But that kind of study is really hard to do in ecology  and getting a long-term, large-scale look at a range of species is better information than we've had before.

NOW WATCH: Incredible video of bees swarming their hive in slow motion





More From Business Insider


For the first time, scientists have managed to breed rare spiders known as Montserrat tarantulas.

Little is known about these elusive, secretive creatures that live on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean.

"Breeding these tarantulas is a huge achievement for the team as very little is known about them. It's taken a lot of patience and care to reach this point," Gerardo Garcia, the curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at the Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. [Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider]

Scientists first described the furry, translucent octopeds a century ago from a single male specimen. Later, researchers discovered that another threatened creature from Montserrat, the mountain chicken frog, preyed upon the spiders.

However, except for those isolated sightings, no one had ever glimpsed the tarantulas living in the wild. That all changed three years ago, when adult specimens were captured on the Caribbean island and brought to the zoo.

Researchers then spent the next three years trying to get the tarantulas to breed. Eventually, they succeeded, producing a bumper crop of 200 of the furry babies. It turned out that the male spiders had a very short life span and matured quickly, so finding just the right time to put the males and females together was key to getting them to breed, the researchers said.

"The data we've been able to gather and knowledge we've developed over the last three years since the adults first arrived has led us to this first ever successful, recorded breeding, and hopefully these tiny tarantulas will uncover more secrets about the behaviour, reproduction and life cycle of the species," Garcia said.

Studying the new clutch of spiderlings could reveal new information about the Montserrat tarantula's reproduction and life cycle, and the effort and insights gleaned from the breeding process could also offer insights into other species, Garcia said.

Story continues

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.
Yahoo Singapore file photo

A total of 28 public officers were counselled or warned over the findings of the recent Auditor-Generals Office (AGO) report, said Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law Indranee Rajah on Tuesday (16 August).



Speaking in Parliament, Rajah said that one of the officers was also put on a performance review process for repeated poor performance and subsequently left the organisation.

The AGOs audit of 16 ministries, 11 statutory boards and several government funds for financial year 2015/2016 was released last month. It highlighted shortcomings in 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.

The likes of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Defence and the Land Transport Authority were all singled out for lapses. The AGO also noted that the National Arts Council paid an exceptionally high consultation fee of $410,000 for the construction of a bin centre.



Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Lawrence Wong said in Parliament on Monday that the bin centre involved much more than a typical consultancy.

Transparency and accountability

Rajah stressed that the Singapore government has a transparent and accountable system, and its robustness see government agencies that willingly submit to an AGO audit.



With more than 140,000 officers in the Public Service, it is unrealistic to expect that no lapses will be found each time there is a serious audit, said Rajah, adding that human laxity and errors of judgement are inevitable.

Nevertheless, in assessing the findings of the report, three questions had been asked. Firstly, what is the scale of the shortcomings, and do they reflect systemic weakness?

Secondly, is there financial malfeasance, such as fraud or corruption? And finally, how are government agencies dealing with the lapses that were found, in order to avoid repeats?

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Rajah concluded that there was no systemic weakness or financial malfeasance. The ministries and agencies have, in all instances, taken steps to rectify the weaknesses identified, said Rajah.

A world of difference versus AHTC

Asked by MP for Holland-Bukit Timah Liang Eng Hwa about the distinction between the AGO report and KPMGs report on the Aljunied-Hougang Town Councils (AHTC), which was also released last month, Rajah was emphatic.

There was a world of difference between the lapses found in the government and the issues faced by AHTC. The problems at the latter are of a systemic nature, given its unreliable accounts and litany of control failures.

Unlike AHTC too, there was no question of personal gains in any of the lapses highlighted in this years AGO report. Our system is transparent, accountable as responsive, and we look forward to the same in AHTC and it hopefully rectifies its problems, said Rajah.
sheetaldodani wrote:

Hi ... please can someone help me understand why choice c is wrong. It is parallel, uses punctuations correctly and implies that all 3 items are part of the same uniform. Why is it important for the commandos and fatigues to be paired v/s commandos and the red beret to be paired?

Your point is valid. The question is modified accordingly.
Add a chapter on unconventional fund-raising to Donald Trumps burgeoning campaign playbook.

On Sunday, a digital marketer sent a message to the mailing list run by Breitbart, a conservative website. The message -- entitled How great is this? -- was from Donald Trump, inviting recipients to send him $3 to earn a chance to tour Trump Tower and have lunch with his son Eric.

Related: As Young Voters Flee Trump, Republicans May Be Losing a Generation

No mention of any campaign issues that might light a fire under donors. No thoughts about how the three bucks could help propel a conservative agenda. Just a lunch raffle and the promise that Eric will spring for the chow and that Dad will ask him what was said over the $19 gold label burger or $25 lobster roll at Trump Grill  although there actually were no details about exactly where the winner will be allowed to regale young Trump with his or her political views.

Also no mention of when the raffle will be held or when lunch might take place.

The message was a repeat of one sent out about a week ago from Eric himself, though with a slightly different pitch.

That email also promised a free flight to New York (again, no timetable) but provided a little more red meat. Im sure Hillary Clintons campaign is setting up fundraisers with high-powered lobbyists as we speak, Eric wrote. But those are the people who have rigged the economy against you, left our borders wide open, and refuse to take the threat of Radical Islam seriously.

The deal was the same, though: Kick in $3 and get a chance to win.

Speaking of deals, a previous fund-raising appeal from Republican nominee Trump offered a signed, hardcover copy of his best-selling business book The Art of the Deal for contributing a mere $184, or about $109 more than the cost of a signed first edition on eBay.

Related: Take the Trump Challenge: What Would He Have to Say to Finally Get Fired?

No surprisingly Trumps co-author, Tony Schwartz, was not mentioned. Schwartz said recently that he wrote almost every word of the book, that it was mostly fiction and that he wasnt sure if Trump had even read all of it. Schwartz also said of his writing partner that If he could run for emperor of the world, he would.

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At least that Art of the Deal fund-raising message offered more than a raffle. I am taking on the rigged political system, the failed career politicians and the lying liberal media to put America First, Trump wrote. Today we have elected and appointed political leaders who are not very smart. They think small, and have made terrible deals for our country. As a result, weve lost MILLIONS of good-paying jobs and our middle class has been decimated. Wall Street, the special interests and their bought-and-sold career politicians have conspired to take away so many families means of making a living.



Although that email arrived on Aug. 3, less than two weeks ago, some of its claims have been overtaken by events, especially the part where Trump wrote, Thats why weve surged past Crooked Hillary in recent polls, and continue to build tremendous momentum all across America.

Todays Real Clear Politics poll average has Clinton ahead by 6.8 points in a two-way race.

Related: Trump Promises to Get Vicious With Radical Islam

But hey, maybe all those righteous, often foreboding calls for cash that traditional politicians send out are not the only way to fund a campaign. Though he was desperately low on campaign funds earlier in the summer, Trump and the Republican National Committee brought in $82 million in July compared to $90 million for Clinton, and most of the haul came from small donations.

Still, there is a certain irony to the raffle pitch: Its usually the Democrats who are accused of offering a free lunch in exchange for your vote.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
With more slots available for prospective medical students, now is a great time to apply or reapply to medical school for matriculation in fall 2017. To help answer the rising need for physicians -- 46,000-90,000 additional in the U.S. by 2025 -- three new medical schools in Texas, California and New York offer distinct missions of incorporating technology into their curriculum and responding to the specific needs of the communities in which they serve.

The University of Texas--Austin, for one, focuses on research and leadership while encouraging Austin to be a model healthy city. The inaugural medical class of 50 was seated in June 2016 in a program created through a 2012 ballot initiative.

While honoring its financial responsibility to taxpayers, UT--Austin's new medical program will capitalize on its proximity to the university's business, nursing and engineering schools as an incubator for ideas, transforming health care across disciplines and professions.

California Northstate University, near Sacramento, seated its first class of 90 students in fall 2015 with the mission of primary care. Tuition is equivalent for both California and out-of-state residents.

The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education will become part of a new medical school as the City University of New York launches its new school of medicine with 70 students this fall. Founded in 1973 as a five-year B.S.-M.D. program, the school targeted underrepresented minority students.

The focus of the new, seven-year CUNY School of Medicine is patient-centered, culturally appropriate care that will make health care accessible to all New Yorkers.

[Decide if a new medical school is the right fit.]

For successful applications to these newer schools, here are a few things prospective medical students should keep in mind.

1. Practice MCAT questions daily in each subject: Don't think that because a program is new, applicants won't need to score well on the MCAT. High scores will still be required for successful applications to these programs.

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Practicing MCAT questions daily encourages success through familiarity with the test question patterns. Consider joining a study group in conjunction with the MCAT prep course. The group format facilitates seeing the questions' nuances from different perspectives, cementing concepts by teaching others and learning from fellow members' questions.

2. Visit your preprofessional school adviser early and often: The adviser can be a realistic touchstone, help you strategize and keep you on target for deadlines. If you weren't successful in the first application cycle, a preprofessional adviser can help you regroup.

An adviser will also help prospective medical school students keep abreast of new schools and programs and can help guide applicants to fresh opportunities. In addition to preprofessional advisers, prospective applicants can keep an eye on the Association of American Medical Colleges' website for announcements of new medical schools.

[Explore how medical school education is changing.]

3. Update your application if reapplying: If you were unsuccessful in your first application cycle, reflect on why you want to be a physician -- and demonstrate that on your next application. Include any additional volunteer and science medicine work experience, such as medical scribe or medical mission work, and new achievements in science coursework and research.

Since many new programs have specific missions, see if your goals and experiences align with a focus of a new medical school. The more your application demonstrates goals you have in common with those of medical programs, the more success you may find.

Your personal statement, especially, should demonstrate this authenticity and alignment with a new school's mission. Have an academic adviser, professor, preprofessional school adviser or trusted family member or friend evaluate your personal statement.

No matter where you're applying, don't compare yourself with other applicants. "You are your only competition and have full control over the contents of your application," says Haley Marks, a first-year medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.

One size does not fit all in selecting a medical school, since each has a specific mission. To find your ideal fit, discover how your experience and goals align with a school's mission and present an application that's a true reflection of you and your accomplishments.

Sylvia E. Morris received her M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Master's in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A former assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, she is currently an independent health care consultant and a community health advocate. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.


Con artists, scammers, predatory companies -- whatever you call them -- they're out there, and they would be happy to make you their next "customer," if they can find you.

Eric Friedman, director of the Office of Consumer Protection in Rockville, Maryland, says some of the scams his office has encountered include everything from skimming devices on ATMs and gas pumps that steal credit card and bank information to overly aggressive towing firms. Regarding the latter, he is referring to tow trucks that hide and wait for consumers to unwittingly park in the wrong place before swooping in to tow the vehicle within seconds and charge a hefty fee for consumers to get their car back.

In fact, Maryland's Montgomery County just passed a law designed to address predatory towing practices.

Still, you are more likely to be conned out of your money in other ways. As Friedman says, "Crooks are clever, but they are also looking for the easiest way to scam consumers."

And some people are more at risk of being targeted than others. Could you be one of them? Take a moment to review the common scenarios.

Could con artists find you through any recent public records? If you have had a bankruptcy, your house is going through the foreclosure process or the Internal Revenue Service has filed a federal tax lien against your property, then that information is likely part of a public record. And searches through public records are often conducted by con artists and predatory companies, according to Friedman.

In fact, you could say it's part of a criminal's business model.

"In my previous life working as a housing counselor, we frequently saw that mortgage modification scam artists would use public records to ID their victims," says Sean Coffey, media and development manager for California Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit that promotes fair and equal access to credit for all communities in California.

So if you're at risk of foreclosure, Coffey says you should expect to receive a lot of mail and phone calls from so-called attorneys and financial lenders promising to help you out of a jam. Some may be on the up-and-up, but be on guard.

Story continues

"I always counseled people that if it's too good to be true, then look out," Coffey says.

[See: 10 Ways to Protect Yourself From Online Fraud.]

Could con artists find you through your friends and family? When somebody you trust refers someone to you, such a contractor, caretaker or anyone you will be paying, you still should research the person. Run his or her name through a search engine. Look for complaints online. Ask for more references.

Why? Because despite glowing endorsements, that person could still be a crook, says Kacey McBroom, a criminal defense attorney and partner of the Los Angeles-based law firm Kaedian LLP.

"The person perpetrating the fraud typically builds relationships of trust with one or a few key individuals and then relies on the word of those individuals to influence others to buy in as well," she says. "If a reputation of trustworthiness can be built through the manipulation of a few people, the web of influence can be extremely broad," McBroom warns.

She adds: "This is why the elderly community are such common marks for con artists. The fraudsters become embedded with, and are ultimately trusted members of, the community through a system of referrals."

The lesson, of course, shouldn't be: trust no one. But certainly the first question you should be asking your friends or family is: "How long have you known this person you're recommending?"

[See: 10 Ways Consumers Are Often Duped.]

And keep in mind that some predatory companies will find you simply by asking around the neighborhood if anyone could use its services. Friedman says that some unlicensed home improvement contractors -- dubbed "woodchucks" by the police, according to Friedman -- will drive around neighborhoods, looking for seniors who might be willing to pay for repairs or improvements that will, of course, never get done.

Sometimes, Friedman, says, these woodchucks are "asking other people in the neighborhood to identify the seniors in the area."

Then, of course, it's easy for a woodchuck to come up to your home or maybe your parents' home and truthfully say, "Your neighbor suggested that you might be able to use my services."

And what's really chilling, if you think you or your parents could be susceptible, is that some con artists use the information people have on Facebook, according to Friedman. One example is the grandparent scam, where "con artists may garner information from Facebook to obtain the names of grandchildren," and then call the victim and pretend to be a relative needing money, Friedman says.

[See: 9 Financial Tools You Should Be Using.]

Have you been scammed before? It's unfair, but when it comes to crime, lightning can strike multiple times. If you've been conned already, you may now be on other crooks' radars.

Jeff Langenderfer is an associate dean and associate business professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and one of his areas of expertise is deceptive marketing tactics. He says that some con artists actually use lists, traded among swindlers, of people who have been successfully conned before.

"They are ripe targets for fee-based recovery swindles," Langenderfer says.

That's right. You could be swindled out of a lot of money, and someone could come to you promising to help you get your cash back, only to trick you into parting with more.

Langenderfer says that if you've ever replied in any positive way to a mass-emailing scam, "from solicitations for foreign brides to no-money-out-of-pocket real estate [offers] to work-at-home schemes," that may get you on multiple con artists' mailing lists as well.

Scammers target businesses in a similar manner, says Robert Siciliano, the Boston-based CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. So if you work for yourself, think back to if you've had any weird, unexplained charges from your bank account in the past, and whether you ended up paying or contesting them.

The call centers of predatory companies target companies using a list of American businesses that are known to make payments via check or credit card for products and services they didn't actually consume, Siciliano explains.

There's even a name for these lists, a name that apparently was coined by a British consumer protection agency about a decade ago.

"A sucker's list," Siciliano says.
5 benefits to being single you probably havent even thought of

5 benefits to being single you probably havent even thought of

Some days it can feel like everyone has already found their Netflix and Chill partner except you. And while being single can have its so-called downsides, it can also offer some incredible advantages that we often overlook. No, really  hear us out. As your sift through engagement and baby announcements on your newsfeed, remember these benefits to being single.

You learn what it means to be happy.

giphy

In the time youd spend getting to know a significant other and what makes them tick, youre investing that time in your own happiness. Single people often times spend more time on self care and exploration, which helps them develop tools to enhance their happiness. In developing this strong relationship with oneself, singles who take this time to be happy on their own tend to have stronger relationships if they decide to couple up.

You may actually be healthier, physically.

giphy (1)

Studies show that singles exercise more frequently than couples and they are less likely to gain weight quickly. This is in part due to having more time to yourself and partly thanks to that happy relationship youre in with yourself. Aside from your physical health, your mental health also has the space to strengthen because theres more opportunity for alone time  allowing yourself to decompress.

Your healthy routine is more likely to stick should find yourself in a relationship because its already an important part of your life.

Travel, late nights dance parties, a new job, moving to a new city on a whim  those decisions are yours alone.

giphy (2)

Basically, being single allows you to be selfish with your time. If you wake up one morning and decide to plan a trip to South Africa or decide to dance at a club until the wee hours, the only schedule to consult is your own.

Youre tough.

giphy (3)

Being single makes you more resilient. Not having another person to fall back on, outside of family and friends (which even those couples have), help you develop a thicker skin to lifes stresses and troubles. As you develop the capacity to be alone, you also develop the ability to cope on your own.

Story continues

Single people are everyones friend.

giphy (4)

Couples tend to be less social because theyre spending time with each other. And yet, couples allegedly enjoy spending their social time in areas where singles flock, citing that singles are more fun. Similarly, singles are more inclined to invest time in their friendships. Time alone teaches you how to connect and become more attentive to others, making you the best friend anyone can have.

The post 5 benefits to being single you probably havent even thought of appeared first on HelloGiggles.
[Photo: Getty/Bert Hardy Image: Georgia Burgoyne for Yahoo Style UK]

If you have serious career aspirations and see yourself as a bona fide Girl Boss, these blogs will help you get yourself in gear - with motivation, organisation tips and entrepreneur interviews. Bookmark them for some daily inspirational reading.



Career Girl Daily is for modern, sassy, career-minded women and it covers everything from beauty and fashion to, you guessed it, careers. Their Monday Motivation and Top of the Tips posts are great at getting you out of that Monday morning funk and offering help with difficult situations such as How To Be More Positive When Youre Feeling Stressed and How To Deal With An Internshit.



Whilst this is essentially a career blog for women in the PR and creative industries, it features so much content that is applicable to just about every profession. Their Expert Interviews series is great - offering first hand accounts of what its really like to do particular jobs and of how successful women reached the top. They also regularly post apps and sites that you may find useful, and tips on things such as turning bad client relationships around.



Career Contessa is for all working women who want to do better. It features tips and tricks that will help you in the workplace - from improving your communication skills to how to market yourself in any industry. They also feature interviews with a huge variety of successful career women - everyone from CNN finance correspondents to interior designers and corporate general managers.



Aimed at women in tech, this blog is a bit more industry-specific than the others. It shares everything you need to strike a good work/life balance and overcome pitfalls in the tech industries. From interviews with those founding tech startups, to tips on getting investment and how to hire good engineers; this is the perfect blog for those obsessed with everything dot com.



Story continues

Ms. Career Girl is for you young ones - students about to embark on their working life, or those who are just at the beginning of their careers. It covers general topics that are in tune with being successful - such as how to embrace change - and has posts offering specific help on everything from CVs to popular interview questions.



[MOTIVATION & ORGANISATION TIPS FROM PA TO POINTLESS BLOG]



[HOW I ORGANISE MYSELF]



Interested in blogging for us? Join our Yahoo Blogger Network!
Everyone dreams about landing an amazing price for their home, but many aren't sure how to go about it.

Those who own homes in Chicago's South Side are in luck.

While parts of South Side get a bad rap for crime, areas to the north of those troubled spots, such as Hyde Park, Kenwood and the South Shore, have a lot to offer to potential home buyers, from single-family homes to condos to two-flats -- the Chicago-area term for a type of duplex.

We caught up with some of Chicago's top real estate agents, as identified by OpenHouse Realty, an agent referral company (and a U.S. News partner), to help sellers get more than their asking price on a South Side home.

[Read: 4 Real Estate Trends to Know Before You Sell Your Chicago Home.]

Rehab your home. Experts agree that the best way to ensure the above-asking sale of a South Side home is to ensure that your home is up-to-date before putting it on the market.

"The house needs to look fresh. You want to add that wow factor," says Frank Montro, of Frank Montro Homes. "A lot of times you can invest $5,000 and quadruple that return."

From replacing kitchen appliances to re-doing floors or adding fresh coats of paint, small improvements can go a long way toward getting you your ideal price. Adding modern 42-inch cabinets and replacing vanities are some relatively inexpensive ways to improve your home. Bringing in stainless steel appliances helps, too.

Sunny Lamba, of Publix Realty, often recommends his clients replace larger items like HVACs, air conditioning units or roofs to make an impact. "Big-ticket items always drive people into properties," he says.

Prepare for showings. Rehabbing your home may be the first step when working toward a higher selling price, but it's not the last.

Vadie Reese, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices KoenigRubloff Realty Group, often advises her clients to remove all personal photos and any items that may be associated with a specific religion or political party. "Sometimes subconsciously that plays a part in people's decision-making process," she notes.

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De-cluttering your home also makes it more appealing to buyers. Reese recommends removing appliances and seasonings from kitchen countertops and putting away your soaps and toothpastes in the bathroom. "You want to give the image of a staged home, not a home that's personalized to your specific tastes or personal items," she explains.

Price it right. Most homeowners are emotionally invested in their homes, but just because a home is valuable to the seller doesn't mean it's worth more monetarily. "You can't overprice because you've lived there X amount of years or because you did updates in the 1980s," Reese says.

[Read: 4 Ways to Sell Your Chicago Home Fast.]

To price your home properly, look at past sales similar to the home you are selling to see how it stacks up against the competition. Typically, single-family homes in neighborhoods like Hyde Park sell for anywhere from $400,000 to $1.6 million, while property in areas like Chatham and Ashburn go for around $200,000.

You should also consider your timeline when pricing your home. If you're in no hurry, consider taking a risk and setting the price higher. If you need to sell quickly, a lower price will attract hungry buyers.

Be flexible with showings. In the age of online house hunting, buyers are no longer stuck waiting for real estate agents to see the inside of a home. Instead, they pick out homes to go see on their own at their earliest convenience, and they don't like to wait.

"You have a lot of sellers who want a 24- or 48-hour advanced notice," Reese says. "That creates a barrier because, with technology, everyone wants things now. If they see the property they may want to go out and view it right away."

Some sellers don't want to show their house on weekends or can't be available during work hours. Those restrictions may be reasonable, but can drastically cut down the pool of potential buyers. Sellers with more flexible schedules have a definite advantage, as do those who enlist the help of a qualified real estate agent who can show the home even when the seller isn't available.

Hire professional assistance. Working with a real estate agent who has experience selling homes in the South Side is the best way to ensure you get the best offer on your home. Consider hiring a full-service agent who will help you through every step of the selling process, from preparing for showings to negotiating the deal. Full-service agents can also advise you on property upgrades that will drive up the home's value.

[Read: Get the Best Price on a Lakefront Condominium in Chicago.]

Montro says that in addition to submitting homes for sale to Chicago's multiple listing service, he and his team list homes on as many websites as possible, and he recommends sellers ensure their agents do the same. Common trends for today's agents include spending money on websites like Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, and using social media to boost a listing's visibility, along with holding lots of open houses.

Hiring an agent with negotiation skills is also key. "If you have a nice house, there's a good chance you're going to get multiple offers. So you need to get someone who is going to know how to maximize that situation," Montro says.

Hiring a professional photographer can also help your home stand out to potential buyers. Strong photos are particularly important today, as they serve as the first impression of a home for online shoppers.

Looking for a real estate agent in Chicago? Our Find an Agent tool can match you to the person who's most qualified for the job.





More From US News & World Report




The NAFTA Debate



Those for and against free trade are often motivated by political agendas.





Summary



There is no definitive evidence illustrating NAFTAs impact on the U.S. job market, though the debate over whether the agreement has helped or hurt the U.S. economy has been around since its implementation in the early 1990s. The lack of decisive evidence is due to the fact that both sides of the debate provide numbers to support their arguments that are at best estimates given the complexities of the economy and shortfalls in modeling.



The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign has brought renewed focus on the agreement and evolved the debate from whether it hurts jobs to what extent it should be changed to protect U.S. jobs.



The Mexican government has already responded, saying it would be open to possible renegotiations and has presented some preliminary ideas on what that may entail. NAFTAs geopolitical relevance goes beyond domestic U.S. politics in that the agreements future will also impact two growing global trends: the nation-state reasserting itself and the exporters crisis.



 The future of NAFTA is now in question. It is as much an economic question as it is a political one in the U.S.



 The initial expectations regarding NAFTAs impact on the U.S. job market do not align with modern assessments.



 The complexities of the U.S. economy and international trade make it extremely difficult to show direct causality between NAFTA and the U.S. job market.



 Potential renegotiations of NAFTA may involve adding modern elements to the treaty, exiting the treaty and having other trade agreements supersede NAFTA.

Introduction



U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have raised the possibility of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States and Mexico. While campaign speeches should often be considered political white noise, the core issues being addressed sometimes have geopolitical significance. The future of NAFTA is one of these core issues. It currently serves as the framework that dictates how the U.S., the worlds largest economy, carries out trade with two of its top three trading partners. It also encompasses the three major economies of the Western Hemisphere, distinct for its stability while much of Eurasia is in crisis.



NAFTAs impact on U.S. employment is the main point of contention inspiring calls for a renegotiation or even an end to the agreement. This debate over the cost of more open trade to U.S. jobs is nothing new. The balance between the benefits of trade and accompanying adjustments in the U.S. job market has been a divisive issue in U.S. domestic policy for decades.



In a 1962 message to Congress, President John F. Kennedy noted: "The burden of economic adjustment should be borne in part by the federal government.... [T]here is an obligation to render assistance to those who suffer as a result of national trade policy."



Controversy over whether NAFTA, which was implemented in 1994, has helped or harmed the U.S. economy dates back to the early 1990s when the agreement was first being negotiated. In the U.S. Congressional debate over NAFTA, the question of employment featured prominently.



Of the 141 statements against NAFTA in the House of Representatives and Senate, 112 asserted that NAFTA would destroy jobs. Meanwhile, 199 of the 219 pro-NAFTA statements argued it would create jobs. And the debate has continued ever since.



However, we appear to be at the start of a shift in the debate. It is no longer about whether it hurts jobs but rather to what extent it should be changed to protect U.S. jobs. Trump has said, if elected, he plans to immediately renegotiate NAFTA so that it is more beneficial for U.S. workers. If such a deal cannot be reached, Trump says he will submit notice of the United States intent to withdraw from the agreement. Clinton has publicly said she would like to renegotiate NAFTA to give American workers a level playing field, though she does not foresee ending NAFTA. Rather, she has stated that there have been benefits to free trade, corporations share the blame for lost jobs and globalization is here to stay. Neither candidate has specified which aspects of NAFTA he or she wants to renegotiate. In any case, this issue will continue to be relevant beyond the election.



Impact on Jobs: Initial Expectations



To better understand the current debate over whether NAFTA has been a success or failure, we need to first look back at the initial expectations for its impact on the job market. Many studies were conducted prior to the signing of NAFTA to help determine its potential impact. A comprehensive review of 10 pre-NAFTA impact studies on U.S. jobs was published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Seven used variants of a Computable General Equilibrium model, a class of economic modeling that uses available data to project how an economy might react to changes in policy, technology or other factors. The others used different macroeconomic modeling methods.



Four of the studies determined that NAFTA would have a negligible to little effect on employment. Two concluded in general terms that gains outweighed losses. Another two estimated that jobs would increase by 40,800 to 61,000 in one study and 175,000 in the second. The latter estimate (from a study by Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey Schott) was derived from the forecast that U.S. exports to Mexico would increase by $16.7 billion, imports from Mexico would increase by $7.7 billion and the U.S. trade balance would improve by $9 billion.



Only one study predicted there would be a net job loss, which it put at 1.26 million over a 10-year period. The 10th study concluded that there would be a 225,000 to 264,000 increase or 400,000 to 900,000 decrease in jobs depending on the level of foreign direct investment in Mexico. On the whole, at the time the agreement was signed, these 10 studies expected NAFTA to have a negligible to mild effect (in either direction) on U.S. employment.



Fears over job losses due to NAFTA persisted among those opposed to the agreement; those in favor recognized there would be some job market adjustment period. In response to these fears and with the goal of getting the agreement passed, the Bill Clinton administration and Congress agreed to legislation creating a NAFTA Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (NAFTA-TAA). This program was very similar to other trade adjustment assistance programs that the U.S. had been carrying out since the 1960s. The NAFTA-TAA was designed to provide assistance to all workers who could show that they lost their jobs or that their hours of work and wages were reduced as a result of trade with, or a shift in production to, Canada or Mexico. Since this program was implemented in 1994, 845,000 applicants have benefited from its services, which include job training and help finding a new job.



The Argument Against NAFTA



The arguments on both sides of the debate are important because their assertions would come into play in the event of a renegotiation. The main argument cited by those who believe NAFTA has harmed U.S. employment is that a growing trade deficit means more companies or facilities will be moved or closed. One major consequence of this is a rise in the number of dislocated workers.



According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico has increased since NAFTA was enacted. The U.S. had a trade surplus of $1.66 billion with Mexico in 1993, the last year before NAFTAs implementation. This has turned into a $60.66 billion trade deficit in 2015.



There are multiple estimates of the number of jobs lost because of NAFTA. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published a study saying that from 1994 to 2004, 1 million jobs that would otherwise have been created were lost due to NAFTA. The statement is based on EPI estimates that during this time 2 million job opportunities were lost while only 1 million export jobs were created by the agreement. In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since NAFTA was implemented. A report by think tank Public Citizen estimates that one in four of these job losses was NAFTA-related. While the Department of Labors number is reliable, the department tracks employment on a broad scale. Therefore, the think tanks calculation of how many of these jobs were lost due to NAFTA is only an estimate.



Trade policy experts employ variations of the same methodology to estimate the number of jobs lost due to an increase in the trade deficit. The models can be designed using sector-specific data. Also, nearly all assume a baseline scenario of full employment. One major issue with these models  as well as the impact studies cited above  is that they do not factor in macroeconomic forces that also affect trade, employment and growth in a given time period.



For example, they would not have accounted for the balance of payments crisis in Mexico that occurred the same year that NAFTA was enacted. One consequence of this crisis was that the value of the Mexican peso relative to the American dollar declined by 60 percent, a factor that greatly affected the price of Mexican goods. A weaker peso makes Mexican exports cheaper and more attractive to foreign consumers. A fluctuation of this nature dramatically impacts the macro-economy, trade flows and deficits but is not always predicted and incorporated into models.



Lastly, there is the commonly circulated figure that 845,000 jobs have been lost as a result of NAFTA. Even former Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders cited this. This number is based off the number of people who received NAFTA-TAA services benefits from the U.S. government. The number does not indicate in any way how many of these workers acquired a new job through TAA. Groups like EPI and labor group AFL-CIO argue that the program is insufficient because displaced workers earn on average 11 percent to 13 percent less than they did at their previous jobs. It is also commonly noted that new jobs do not always spring up in the same location as the old jobs and relocation becomes an obstacle.



The Argument in Favor of NAFTA



Those who support NAFTA argue that the benefits of free trade are long term. Preferential trade brings in lower cost imports to a market. Consumers will likely purchase these lower priced goods rather than domestically produced equivalents. This may create some short-term job losses for the importing country. However, in the long term, preferential trade is supposed to encourage specialization, economies of scale and more export-oriented jobs.



Advocates for NAFTA offer both conceptual reasoning and statistical evidence to support their view. The conceptual arguments look at what the job market would be like if NAFTA had not been implemented. The Council on Foreign Relations points out that many economists argue manufacturing in the United States was under stress before NAFTA. It asserts that job losses in the manufacturing sector should be viewed as part of a structural shift in the U.S. economy toward light manufacturing and high-end services rather than jobs lost to cheaper imports.



A 2014 report by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania argues that without NAFTA, many jobs that were lost over this period probably would have gone to China or elsewhere. It also argues that job losses due to cheaper imports cannot be blamed on NAFTA because the U.S. trade deficit was and still is bigger with China than Mexico.



Like those opposed to NAFTA, those in favor have published various reports trying to illustrate their view with numbers. They say that NAFTA has not had a large, negative impact on the U.S. job market. Supporters of the agreement accept that some jobs will be lost. As a result, many of their numbers aim to illustrate that the job loss is negligible and leads to better economic conditions and job creation in other sectors, particularly those that are focused on exporting.



The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) published a report in 2008 that said about 16.5 million people quit or lost their jobs each year in the U.S., which has a total civilian labor force of roughly 140 million. At the same time, more than 18 million Americans acquire new jobs each year. The report also stated that, while the government recognizes that NAFTA results in a gross loss of 100,000 jobs annually, the figure is a mere 0.06 percent of the regular annual turnover in the U.S. job market. An economic study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that trade with Canada and Mexico supports approximately 14 million U.S. jobs, of which nearly 5 million are supported by the increased trade generated by NAFTA. Like the anti-NAFTA group, the numbers come from modeling and estimates.



Pro-NAFTA groups often cite a 2015 U.S. Congressional Research Service report that says economists estimate that 40 percent of U.S. imports from Mexico and 25 percent of U.S. imports from Canada contain components that originate in the U.S. This figure is notably higher than the average of 4 percent for imports from China. The argument is that imported products can help sustain U.S. jobs because they contain material that was made in the U.S.



Lastly, there is emphasis on the fact that export-related jobs pay 7 percent to 15 percent more than jobs that focus on the domestic market. Those in favor of free trade foresee import-related jobs switching over to specialized export jobs as market production shifts to acknowledge competitive advantages and economies of scale.



Conclusion



As is commonly the case with contentious issues, critics and advocates of NAFTA have their respective leading experts who are associated with institutions that support a particular position. Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey Schott are both affiliated with PIIE, which has published numerous reports in support of NAFTA. Meanwhile, Robert Scott at EPI is almost always the source of the latest information on NAFTAs negative impact on the U.S. job market. About a quarter of EPIs funding comes from union groups while about 44 percent of PIIEs funding comes from major corporations. Given that rising nationalism in the United States is coinciding with an election year, those with political agendas and interests are pushing their agendas and framing the debate in favor of their interests. In the case of NAFTA, the debate will be centered on jobs.



In the U.S. advanced, complex economy, it is very difficult to isolate one particular element that contributes to the larger picture and make sweeping conclusions. It is also impossible to know with certainty the course of an alternative history  in other words, what the U.S. economy and job market would have looked like today if NAFTA had never been implemented. There will always be reports on such issues that seek to buttress both sides. In the end, the public perception of free trade will determine the future of NAFTA. Presently, there is a strong anti-free trade sentiment in the U.S. A Pew survey showed 55 percent of those polled were against free trade agreements because they are bad for jobs. There was little to no recognition of the fact that exports generate jobs as well.



While the evidence is inconclusive, there is growing public pressure through the U.S. presidential campaigns to renegotiate NAFTA to protect U.S. jobs. There are several avenues through which this can take place but no specific information at this time of what concrete changes in NAFTA would look like. A renegotiation of the actual treaty would require participation from Canada and Mexico, who could bring their own proposals. On a purely domestic front, the government could seek to make changes to the NAFTA-TAA to better support workers, though adjustments to this domestic legislation have not yet figured prominently into the presidential campaigns.



Equally important is the fact that the U.S. may not be alone in wanting to renegotiate the agreement. On July 25, Mexicos Secretary of Foreign Relations Claudia Ruiz Massieu said that Mexico would be open to modernizing NAFTA should the U.S. and Canada bring forth the idea. Mexico's Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal said that NAFTA could be updated through the implementation of the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership.



Bear in mind that NAFTA originally started as a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. When the trilateral group formed, the new agreement superseded the previous bilateral agreement. Mexicos former Secretary of Trade Jaime Serra Puche said that NAFTA should first incorporate new measures like e-commerce and anti-corruption measures not included in the original treaty before thinking about changing the existing treaty. Puche served as Mexicos principle negotiator in the original NAFTA negotiations. The Canadian government has yet to state its stance on whether it would be willing to renegotiate NAFTA.



All this matters because NAFTAs geopolitical relevance goes beyond domestic U.S. politics, as the agreement now intersects two major geopolitical trends underway. First, we have been tracking the rise of nationalism, especially in the United States and Europe. We see the nation-state reasserting itself as the primary vehicle of political life. Multinational institutions like the European Union and multilateral trade treaties are being challenged because some believe they are not in the national interest. Additionally, the world is currently in the midst of an exporter crisis that will have an impact on export sales. NAFTA members have access to both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which gives them an advantage in global trade. For these reasons, the future of NAFTA  and its potential renegotiation  matters both on a geopolitical level and for U.S. domestic politics.
Yoobi Yoobi wanted to change the school supply game. Aside from providing an alternative to basic school supplies with their vibrant colors and cool designs, the company also gives back to less advantaged schoolchildren. For every Yoobi purchase, a Yoobi item is donated to a classroom in need. To date, over 1.5 million kids have been helped by Yoobi. (Photo: Yoobi)

If youre not a parent, you probably didnt realize back-to-school shopping is in full force now that its mid-August. However, for those who are still in peak school-shopping mode, you know its one of the biggest spending seasons of the year. This year parents are expected to spend nearly $76 billion on school shopping, according to the National Retail Federation.

Of course, not all children are fortunate enough to be returning to school this September. Lack of educational access and equality still exists in many parts of the world. It was only four years ago that Malala Yousafzais fierce activism for female education resulted in a law enabling Pakistani children between the ages of 5 and 16 the right to free education. Educational inequality still exists in Nepal as well, exemplifying the great disparity that still exists among developing countries policies on education.

How can you help? You can start by making your kids back-to-school purchases help kids who dont have the same educational opportunities. Ahead, we rounded up five brands that give back to the education system. Whether this means contributing to a charity that helps provide school supplies, shoes, or clothing to children in need, these are the brands that are giving back to kids in a big way.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Today, Stephan Bogner from Rockstone Research published an update on 92 Resources Corp. (NTY.V). After a healthy correction in the senior and junior lithium space over the last few months, the market appears to be gaining traction again. Today, 92 Resources Corp. announced the start of the second exploration phase on its fully owned Hidden Lake Lihtium Property, located adjacent to Highway #4 and northeast of Yellowknife in Northwest Territories ("NWT").

On the day announcing initial high-grade lithium assays from phase 1, the stock increased strongly from $0.10 to $0.27 CAD (+170%) under heavy volume (+25 million shares traded on June 7): The 5 samples returned high values of 1.64%, 2.45%, 2.69%, 2.89% and 3.06% Li2O (average: 2.54% Li2O). The large Whabouchi Deposit in Quebec from Nemaska Lithium Inc. averages 1.5% Li2O (similar first grab samples averaged 2.88% Li2O), to produce lithium carbonate at projected costs of $3,771 USD/t.

In late July, 92 Resources acquired a second lithium project, the Pontax Property in Quebec, located 30 km south of the James Bay Deposit from Galaxy Resources Ltd., reported to contain indicated resources of almost 12 million tonnes averaging 1.3% Li2O at a 0.75% Li2O cut-off.

The full research report can be accessed with the following links:

English (PDF):

http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/92Resources6en.pdf

English (web version):

http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/en/research-reports/1460-Crews-mobilized-for-next-phase-of-exploration-on-the-Hidden-Lake-Lithium-Property-in-NWT

German (PDF):

http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/92Resources6de.pdf

For Android smartphones, an APP is available from Rockstone Research in the GooglePlayStore.

Disclaimer: Please read the full disclaimer within the full research report as a PDF as fundamental risks and conflicts of interest exist.

SOURCE: Rockstone Research
From Popular Mechanics

A British pilot for the Royal Air Force is to be court-martialed for an incident that sent the Airbus A330 Voyager tanker under his command into a dive that slammed more than two dozen people into the ceiling of the aircraft, according to Aviation Week. The unnamed RAF pilot will face court-martial charges in February of 2017 for negligently performing a duty, perjury, and making a false record, according to The Times.

In the February 2014 incident, the pilot had jammed his personal DSLR camera between his seat and the left-hand side-stick controller during a flight from the U.K to Afghanistan. When he moved his seat forward, the camera pushed the side-stick fully forward, sending the tanker into a steep dive that resulted in a 4,400-foot elevation decrease in 27 seconds. The aircraft was saved from a catastrophic crash by the flight envelop protection system, according to a U.K. Military Aviation Authority (MAA) report of the incident.

Twenty-four of the 198 passengers onboard, as well as all seven members of the cabin crew, were injured in the dive as they were thrown into the ceiling of the aircraft. Three RAF service members on the flight were medically discharged from the armed forces following the event, and eight men and two women are now suing the Ministry of Defense, claiming they suffer flashbacks, nightmares, and mood swings as a result of the incident.

The captain's oral report of the event "alluded only to a possible fault with the autopilot," according to Aviation Week. The Voyager aircraft made an emergency landing at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and was grounded for 12 days before returning to service.

Source: Aviation Week

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(Updates with details)

MADRID, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm Abengoa expects to win the support of 75 percent of its creditors for a restructuring plan by Sept. 30, it said on Tuesday.

Under Spanish law, the company needs that level of backing from all its creditors to go ahead with the restructuring plan, which it presented last week after talks with key creditors, to avoid becoming Spain's biggest ever bankruptcy.

"We expect by the end of September the majority level (of 75 percent) will be reached," Jaime Cano, a lawyer for the company, told a conference call.

Seville-based Abengoa - an engineering business which borrowed heavily over the past 10 years to fund an aggressive expansion into clean energy - has been negotiating since November with lenders to cut its debt of over 9 billion euros. ($10 billion).

Abengoa must reach the 75 percent level of creditor support by the end of October under a court decision earlier this year.

"Abengoa strongly encourages financial creditors to support the agreement by adhering to the final restructuring agreement by end of August in order to achieve the required 75 percent support to proceed with the court approval, essential to enable the continuity of Abengoa's operations and to avoid liquidation," it said.

In the restructuring deal, Abengoa has offered creditors to convert 70 percent of outstanding debt into equity, and refinance the remaining debt over six years, in return for 40 percent ownership of the restructured company. The company's founding family would also relinquish another 50 percent in the company to new investors.

It said in Tuesday's presentation that it expects to return to positive free cash flow by the end of 2018.

"It is essential that sufficient financial creditor support is achieved to implement the agreement across its capital structure," it said.

The restructuring deal will provide the company with much-needed cash, after its finances were so stretched over recent months that it has failed to pay some wages on time.

Under the deal, it will get 1.17 billion euros in cash - including some already granted to tide it over in recent months - and a further 307 million euros in financial guarantees.

(Reporting By Axel Bugge and Andres Gonzalez, editing by David Evans)
(Adds government comment, details)

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Aetna Inc, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, on Monday said that due to persistent financial losses on Obamacare plans, it will sell individual insurance on the government-run online marketplaces in only four states next year, down from the current 15 states.

Aetnas decision follows similar moves from UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc., which have cited similar concerns about financial losses on these exchanges created under President Barack Obamas national healthcare reform law.

Aetna is also trying to buy Humana and is currently fighting a U.S. government lawsuit aimed at blocking the $34 billion deal.

Aetna, which earlier this year said it was too soon to give up on the exchanges despite its challenges, this month signaled it was reconsidering. On Aug. 2, the company said it would not expand in 2017 and would review all its individual business.

Many insurers last year had said they expected to profit on the exchanges, but now say more exchange rules must be changed for it to be sustainable. Only about 11 million people have signed up through the exchanges, about half as many as expected.

Larry Levitt, healthcare economist at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that if enrollment stagnates, small technical fixes likely will not be enough to bring big insurers back. More healthy people need to be encouraged to sign up, Levitt said by email.

Aetna said that the current risk adjustment system, in which the government balances out the costs of sicker than typical populations through payments to insurers, is not adequate.

Aetna said that it had a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million on the individual business and has lost $430 million since the plans first went on sale in 2014.

Kevin Counihan, Chief Executive of the U.S. government-run individual marketplace, said that the risks of the customer pool is improving.

Its no surprise that companies are adapting at different rates to a market where they compete for business on cost and quality rather than by denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, Counihan said in a statement.

Story continues

Aetna on Monday said it would continue to sell plans on the exchanges in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia in 2017. The plans, which are eligible for income-based government subsidies, will be sold in 242 counties, down from 778 counties this year. States it is exiting include Florida and Ohio.

It will continue to sell individual plans that meet the laws requirements - such as not denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions - outside of the exchanges where it does now, the company said.

(Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Diane Craft)
Johannesburg (AFP) - South African opposition parties on Tuesday slammed the ruling ANC for failing to deliver on its promises, four years after police killed 34 Marikana miners in a massacre that shocked the world.

"There has been no justice that has taken place for those who died in Marikana," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), told reporters.

He was speaking at a rally of thousands of miners commemorating the fourth anniversary of the worst police violence in South Africa since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

The Marikana mine workers were gunned down on August 16, 2012 after police were deployed to break up a wildcat strike that had turned violent at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg.

Four years later, nobody has been prosecuted for the shootings, while the miners continue to live in dire poverty.

"It has become quite clear that if you are poor and you are black and you are not connected, this government simply does not care for you," said Maimane.

His comments come just two weeks after the African National Congress suffered its worst poll results since 1994, losing majority control of the largest metropolitan areas, including the capital Pretoria and business hub Johannesburg.

- 'Eating this ANC elephant' -

Traditionally an ANC stronghold, residents of Marikana's Wonderkop township where most miners live instead voted for the radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the August 3 local elections.

"We are going to make sure that our people in this ward get houses, water and electricity," EFF leader Julius Malema told the crowds at Tuesday's rally.

"We are eating this elephant called the ANC piece by piece."

The ruling party was notably absent from the rally.

In a statement released late Tuesday, it said the shooting would "forever leave a blemish in our young democracy".

"The ANC will continue to work with the Marikana community to build social cohesion," the party said.

Story continues

"We urge government to partner with the mines to accelerate the programme of revitalising mining towns, which will prioritise housing, access to services and development of local economies.

"Working together we can transform Marikana into a beacon of hope, in honour of those we lost."

When rock drill operators in Marikana launched their strike four years ago, they demanded a minimum wage of 12,500 rand ($940).

It is a goal they still haven't reached, with inflation and the depreciating rand cutting into whatever wage increases they have received.

- No one prosecuted -

"As we speak today, we are still struggling, we are still fighting for the same demand of 12,500," said Siphamandla Makhanya, one of the leaders of the 2012 strike.

"Workers have forged closer and closer towards what the others died for -- they are closer now than any other time to the 12,500 demand, but that's the only thing that has changed," Zwelinzima Vavi, former general secretary of the powerful ANC-allied trade union group Cosatu, told local broadcaster ANN7.

"The squalor, the poverty all over -- very little has changed since 2012."

A lengthy judicial inquiry into the shooting led by retired judge Ian Farlam recommended an investigation into the conduct of then-police commissioner Riah Phiyega, but no-one has been directly prosecuted for the massacre.

"The Farlam Commission has come and gone and yet numerous questions remain unanswered," Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) head Joseph Mathunjwa told the thousands of gathered miners.

"There are still no answers as to why 500 heavily armed police with artillery and helicopters shot and killed those workers here."
Now that Lin-Manuel Miranda's days onstage as Alexander Hamilton are behind him, he's taking on a new foethe Hamilton creator has joined forces with Senator Chuck Schumer to stop ticket bots from illegally jacking up concert, theater and events prices. Hamilton tickets will still be expensive even if Schumer and Miranda win, of course, but there's a big difference between $200 and $2,000.

Miranda joined Schumer at a joint press conference yesterday, where Schumer announced federal legislation intended to help curb the bots. The bill, which Schumer plans to introduce next month, calls for launching an investigative task force to go after the bots' owners and charge them $16K for each ticket resold. Though ticket bots are already illegal, scalpers make so much money off the resold tickets the small civil penalties they're slapped with when caught aren't much incentive to stop selling. Schumer believes his proposed fines will be enough to "put them out of business," or so he said yesterday.

Miranda's been a force behind anti-ticket bot legislation beforeearlier this year he endorsed legislation proposed by Staten Island Senator Andrew Lanza that would have made it a felony crime to use ticket bots, though that legislation ultimately failed. Miranda's argued the bots are "killing Broadway," making it impossible for people to get tickets to the shows they want to see without handing a small fortune over to a resale site.

It's been nearly impossible to get Hamilton tickets since the show debuted on Broadway last summer, and Miranda blames some of that on the bots. "My concern is that our show is about the founding of our country and if bots are buying up all the tickets and charging this insane secondary market price, most of the country cant see it," he said yesterday.

In 2017, Hamilton tickets will cost about $179-$199 for regular seats, though about 200 "premium" seats will go for as much as $849 pre-bot. Extraordinarily lucky people will be able to score $10 lottery tickets. Note that though it's easier to win the actual lottery than the Hamilton one right now, the show plans to double the number of $10 tickets starting next year.
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres in northern Yemen on Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 19, the aid group said. A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack in the Abs district of Hajja province said medics could not immediately evacuate the wounded because war planes continued to fly over the area and emergency workers feared more bombings. "The location of the hospital was well known, and the hospital's GPS coordinates were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition," the aid group also known as Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. It said one of its staff members was among those killed when an aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, also killing 10 patients. "This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months," the statement said. "Even with the recent United Nations resolution calling for an end to attacks on medical facilities and high-level declarations of commitment to international humanitarian law, nothing seems to be done to make parties involved in the conflict in Yemen to respect medical staff and patients." A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Another air attack hit what MSF described as a school in neighbouring Saada province on Saturday, killing 10 children. The coalition said the bombing had targeted a training facility run by Yemen's dominant Houthi movement. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the air strike on Sunday and called for a investigation, which the coalition said it would conduct, according to a statement sent to Reuters. Dozens of air strikes have hit civilians in Yemen since a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia began military operations in March 2015 to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power and roll back gains by the Iran-allied Houthis. The Houthis and their allies in the General People's Congress (GPC) party headed by powerful ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh set up a ruling council this month to run the parts of the country they control. In its first decree on Monday, the council declared itself the "highest authority in the state (which) exercises all the powers vested in the president." Hadi's internationally recognised government and the United Nations have criticized the council, set up after U.N.-backed peace talks in Kuwait collapsed. (Writing by Noah Browning and Tom Brown; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Cynthia Osterman)
Airline hubs are specific airports that an airline company uses as a transfer spot to get travelers to their intended destination. This system is part of the spoke-hub transportation model, which has been favored by many airlines since the industry was deregulated in 1978. The model consists of a system of connections in which all airline traffic moves across spokes linked to the hub at the center.



For example, Denver and Los Angeles represent hubs, with many spokes reaching outward to other cities. The purpose of this model is simple: to save airlines money and to provide passengers better routes to their selected destinations. Today, most airlines have at least one main airport that their flights must travel through, and from there, the flights go outwards on different network spokes.



So which airlines dominate which airports? Lets take a look at six major U.S. airlines, and see where their hubs are located.



American Airlines AAL

The worlds largest airline by fleet size and revenue, American Airlines has been an industry staple since its formation in 1930. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and since its merger with US Airways in 2013, American Airlines operates nine domestic hubs:

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Charlotte-Douglas International Airport

Chicago OHare International Airport

Philadelphia International Airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Miami International Airport

Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport

New York Citys John F. Kennedy International Airport

Delta Air Lines DAL

Like American, Delta Air Lines has been present in the U.S. airline industry for decades. It began carrying passengers in 1929, and has grown rapidly since then due to many airline mergers. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Delta operates 10 domestic hubs:

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport

New York Citys John F. Kennedy International Airport

New York Citys La Guardia Airport

Bostons Logan International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Salt Lake City International Airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Story continues



And three international hubs:

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Tokyo Narita International Airport

Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport



Southwest Airlines LUV

Touted as the worlds largest low-cost carrier, Southwest Airlines was launched in 1967 and is known for its Rapid Rewards frequent-flyer program. Its headquarters is in Dallas, Texas. While Southwest does not use the hub and spoke transportation model (it prefers the old-fashioned point-to-point system, which carries passengers short distances with few connecting flights), the airline still operates out of 10 major domestic cities:

Chicago Midway International Airport

Baltimore-Washington International Airport

Las Vegas McCarran International Airport

Dallas Love Field Airport

Denver International Airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Houston, Texas William P. Hobby Airport

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Orlando International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport



United Continental Holdings UAL

Headquartered in Chicago, United Continental Holdings is an airline holding company for United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which formed in a merger back in 2010. Operating more than 700 mainline aircraft, United Continental needs a lot of hubs. The airline company has nine hubs in total, eight domestic:

Chicago OHare International Airport

Houston, Texas George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Denver International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport

San Francisco International Airport

Washington Dulles International Airport

Guam A.B. Wan Pat International Airport



And one international:

Tokyo Narita International Airport

JetBlue Airways JBLU

Like Southwest, JetBlue Airways is a popular low-cost airline option headquartered in Long Island in New York City. It serves 97 destinations in the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. JetBlue was founded in 1998, and primarily uses Airbus and Embraer aircraft. Since it utilizes the point-to-point system, the airline operates out of six domestic focus cities:

John F. Kennedy International Airport

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

Boston Logan International Airport

Long Beach Airport

San Juans Luis Munoz Marin International Airport

Orlando International Airport

Alaska Airlines ALK

Alaska Airlines is an American airline founded back in 1932. Originally offering flights from Anchorage, Alaska, the airlines today has flights to more than 100 destinations including Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Alaska Airlines fleet consists of mostly Boeing (BA) 737 aircraft, as well as Bombardier and Embraer planes. The company has three main hubs:

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Portland International Airport

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

And two focus cities:

San Diego International Airport

San Jose International Airport

As you can see, these six major airlines overlap in their hub or major operating city location nationwide, which can be looked at as a positive thing for frequent travelers. The hub and spoke model offers each airline (even Southwest and JetBlue) a way to replace a high number of half-empty routes with fewer, fuller ones, which then leads to less delays and a wide variety of connections.

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Amazon Studios is developing a movie about pioneering investigative journalist Ida Tarbell and her battle against industrial magnate John D. Rockefeller.

Amazon has acquired movie rights to Mark McDevitts Ida Tarbell, which was named to the 2015 Black List, and set it up with Tom Drumm of Think Tank Management & Production. Think Tank manager Kate Hart brought the Tarbell script into the company and will be an associate producer on the project.

Ida Tarbell is the first feature sale for McDevitt, an Irish writer who moved to New York in 1994. The script focuses on Tarbells magazine series The History of the Standard Oil Company, which explained meticulously how Rockefeller had monopolized the countrys oil business, backed up by thousands of pages of documents and interviews with the corporations executives and competitors, government regulators and academic experts.

Her pioneering expose on Standard Oil began in the November 1902 issue of McClures and continued through 19 issues. Rockefeller, who had retired, was the best-known businessman in the country at that point.

Drumm was an executive producer on the 2013 drama Anna, starring Mark Strong.

Five Amazon titles screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May  Woody Allens Cafe Society, Nicolas Winding Refns The Neon Demon, Jim Jarmuschs Paterson and his Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger and Park Chan-wooks The Handmaiden.

The streaming service picked up Kate Winslets The Dressmaker during Cannes along with Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here with Joaquin Phoenix, Mike Leighs Peterloo and Asghar Farhadis The Salesman.

McDevitt is repped by UTA, Think Tank Management and Frankfurt Kurnit. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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The legal battle between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp is over.

The exes settled their case on Tuesday, and 30-year-old Heard withdrew her request for a domestic violence restraining order against the 53-year-old actor, ET can confirm.

"Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love," Heard and Depp said in a joint statement. "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gains. There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm."

"Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future," the statement continues. "Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity."

WATCH: Johnny Depp Allegedly Severed Finger During Argument With Amber Heard Over Cheating Claims

A source tells ET that it was "the photo that came out yesterday [of Depp's severed finger] and Johnny being anxious about it going to trial that prompted the quick settlement." Depp agreed to pay Heard $7 million to settle the case, which includes attorney's fees, according to TMZ.

Heard's lawyers, Samantha F. Spector and Joseph P. Koenig said they were "pleased" with the outcome of the case in a statement on Tuesday.

"We are very pleased that this matter has been settled and Amber has been vindicated in the Court of Public Opinion," the statement reads. "The case was incredibly challenging and demanding on everyone involved, but mostly on Amber who showed great grace and strength under fire. It was an honor to represent her."

However, Heard's lawyers later retracted and apologized for that comment. "The statement made today on behalf of myself and Joseph Koenig was made without the knowledge or approval of Amber Heard. The statement is untrue and we retract it, without qualification," Spector said. "My assertion that Amber Heard has been vindicated in the court of public opinion is not true. We regret the error and apologize to Johnny Depp."

Story continues

Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May after one year of marriage. She was granted a temporary restraining order against him on May 27, after alleging that Depp was both emotionally and physically abusive towards her throughout their relationship. Depp's attorney previously responded to Heard's allegations, claiming the actress is "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

The settlement comes after Heard arrived on Saturday for a deposition in her restraining order case against Depp ahead of their previously scheduled court date.

WATCH: Johnny Depp & Amber Heard -- A Timeline of Their Relationship, Divorce and Domestic Abuse Allegations

Leading up to this settlement, a video that appears to show Depp throwing a wine bottle and glass during an argument with Heard was leaked last Friday. Heard denied releasing the tape, while Depp sources maintained it was "heavily edited."

On Monday, there were also reports of a gruesome incident where Depp allegedly severed his finger in March 2015 during an argument with Heard in which he allegedly accused her of cheating with actor Billy Bob Thornton. Heard and 61-year-old Thornton worked together on 2008's The Informers and the yet-to-be-released film, London Fields.

Sources told ET at the time that Depp had punched a wall during an argument with Heard, after which he had to halt production of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in Australia, and return to the United States to have a pin put into his finger.

Watch below:

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Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Christian Taylor retained his Olympic triple jump title Tuesday, while fellow American Will Claye celebrated his silver by going down on one knee to propose to his fiancee.

Taylor comfortably saw off his rivals in the Rio sunshine, the 26-year-old setting a season's best 17.86 metres with his first leap, good enough to beat Claye in a repeat of their one-two finish in London four years ago.

"The job is done," said Taylor. "Back to back, it's very special."

Asked if was frustrated at missing out once more on Jonathan Edwards's world record of 18.29 set at 1995 world championships, the world champion sighed:

"Oh gosh, for sure. I've been at the 'almost' mark for such a long time. I have so much respect for Jonathan's distance but now the fire burns even stronger because I know it's in the tank."

The flame of romance was burning for Claye, who had plotted his dashing proposal to long-time girlfriend, hurdler Queen Harrison, over breakfast.

"I woke up this morning and said today is going to be the best day of my life," he said. "It was stressful, man, because I didn't know if she was going to say yes or not."

Claye pushed hard to overturn Taylor's advantage, fouling on a big third jump which nibbled the 18-metre line. Claye's top effort was a personal best of 17.76.

"We are equally talented," said Claye, who beat Taylor at his country's Olympic trials.

"It's just who executes on that day, whoever executes better on that day is going to win. We've been blessed with this talent.

"We're stil young -- Christian is 26 and I'm 25. Jonathan Edwards was jumping until his mid-30s so we have many more years ahead of us to hopefully take down the record."

But Taylor, prowling the track and muttering furiously to himself between jumps, proved too strong, also recording two jumps of 17.77 which would also have been enough for gold.

Story continues

"I never thought on my first jump that would be the gold medal jump," said Taylor. "This is what I live for, this is what pushes me."

World indoor champion Dong Bin took bronze to give China a first Olympic triple jump medal, leaping to another PB of 17.58, like the two Americans also on his first attempt.

Dong's countryman Cao Shuo, the reigning Asian Games champion, finished fourth in 17.13 with Colombia's John Murillo fifth (17.09).

Portugal's Nelson Evora, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, finished sixth with a best of 17.03, the only other man to jump over 17 metres.
* May writes to China's Xi Jinping

* After Brexit, May reviewing nuclear power plant plan

* May delayed signing off on $24 billion nuclear power project

* China has cautioned Britain against closing door to investment (Adds London dateline, confirmation of letter contents, comment)

By Ben Blanchard and William James

BEIJING/LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has told China's leader that Britain wants to strengthen trade and business ties, an attempt to reassure the world's second largest economy after London delayed a $24 billion nuclear project.

May's surprise decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades upset China, which questioned whether Chinese money was still welcome in Britain just weeks after the June 23 Brexit vote to leave the European Union.

After Beijing's expression of frustration, May wrote to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China's foreign ministry said, citing the letter.

A source in May's office confirmed the contents of the letter, which was hand-delivered by Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

"This is part of what you'd expect the Prime Minister to do in terms of our relations with the wider world. It's all part of Britain remaining an outward-looking country as we head toward Brexit," the source said.

China's $11.3 trillion economy is currently more than four times as big as Britain's at $2.4 trillion.

Cast as the jewel illustrating a "Golden Era" of relations between the two powers, the financing deal for the Hinkley Point nuclear project in southwestern England was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by Xi last year.

May's predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment, according to a former colleague.

Story continues

May's most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the turmoil which followed the Brexit vote indicates a more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as France.

GOLDEN ERA?

Under plans drawn up by Cameron, French utility EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp would fund the cost of building two Areva European Pressurised Water Reactors at the Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset.

Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years, though critics said London had agreed to pay far too much.

Hinkley is seen as blazing the trail for closer ties with China on nuclear issues and paving the way for tens of billions of dollars of investment and another two nuclear power plants with Chinese involvement.

China's foreign ministry cited Britain's envoy, Sharma, as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy towards China, the ministry added.

Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward looking approach."

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Richard Balmforth)
Amnesty denied Tuesday its staff made anti-nationalist comments at one of its events on disputed Indian Kashmir after the rights group was slapped with sedition charges.

Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore filed the initial charges against Amnesty on Monday following complaints that event participants called for independence of the volatile Kashmir region.

Sedition charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, have been used previously against supporters of independence for Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.

The case comes at a particularly sensitive time, with large parts of Indian Kashmir under curfew following weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces.

Security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during fresh protests in the Himalayan region on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.

"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," Amnesty International India said in a statement on Saturday's event in Bangalore.

"The focus of the event was squarely on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir."

Rights campaigners have long accused New Delhi of using the British-era sedition law to clamp down on dissent, although convictions are rare.

The charges come as foreign charities are under intense pressure in India, with the government saying last year it has cancelled the overseas funding licences of around 9,000 non-governmental organisations in a major crackdown.

The complaints were lodged with police by a Hindu nationalist student organisation, some 200 of whose members staged protests outside Amnesty's offices in Bangalore.

"We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed," student organiser Prem, who uses one name, told reporters, as police dragged scores into buses and vans to break up the rally.

Story continues

Bangalore police said they were probing the complaint and studying footage of the event at the city's United Theological College to identify those who shouted "anti-India" slogans.

"We have booked a case of sedition and rioting under various sections of the Indian penal code against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised," deputy police commissioner T.R. Suresh told AFP.

In an earlier statement, Amnesty said police had been invited to monitor Saturday's event, at which Kashmiri families spoke of alleged abuses of relatives by security forces.

"The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India," Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel said.

Indian forces have since 1989 been fighting militant groups seeking either independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of mainly civilians have been killed in the fighting.
Amnesty International, a prominent human rights nonprofit, isnt known for taking sides in territorial disputes or for stoking up anti-government sentiment.

But after holding an event Saturday focused on one of Indias touchiest national issues  human rights in Kashmir  the group was accused of sedition by a right-wing student organization with ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

According to the complaint, Amnesty traded its usually apolitical tone for an overtly anti-Indian government one, with the event moderator, an employee of Amnesty who attended but didnt take the stage, and a Kashmiri musical guest each accused of shouting anti-national slogans.

Amnesty denied each of the allegations in a press statement released Tuesday, calling them without substance and asserting no Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point.

But the group did acknowledge that toward the end of the event, some guests made calls for azaadi, the Persian-derived word for liberty and an emotive term used by Kashmiris seeking freedom from Indian rule.

Police in Bangalore, the city where the event was held, have launched a formal criminal investigation against Amnesty, but authorities have yet to determine whether or not the employees can be charged with sedition.

Merely organizing an event to defend constitutional values is now being branded anti-India and criminalized, Aakar Patel, the executive director of Amnestys India branch, told the Financial Times.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars for control over the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, with territory split between the two governments and a small pocket in the north under Chinese administration. Separatist militias on Indias side of the border have waged a low-level insurgency for decades.

After security forces killed a young Kashmiri militia commander in early July, residents flocked to the streets to protest for independence, prompting a strict curfew that has put much of the region on lockdown. Clashes have left more than 60 people dead and dozens more blinded by pellet guns.

Photo credit: TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images
Anna Paquin sure seems to like her roles bloody: The True Blood star has been cast as a brutally murdered housekeeper in Netflix and CBCs six-hour miniseries Alias Grace, our sister site Deadline reports.

Sarah Polleys adaptation of Margaret Atwoods 1996 novel centers on Grace Marks (11.22.63), a historical figure who was convicted of killing her boss Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper/lover Nancy Montgomery (played by Paquin) in Canada in 1843.

RELATEDGilmore Girls Revival: Netflix Boss Nixed Staggered Release Because the Fans Wouldve Killed Us

Paquins character starts out as Graces friend, but her jealousy over Thomas feelings for Grace lead her to fire the young Irish immigrant. Nancy later turns up very dead.

The projects cast also includes Zachary Levi (Chuck).

Since True Bloods series finale, Paquin has appeared in A&Es Roots remake; the Oscar winner also starred in ABCs divorce-law pilot Broken, which was not ordered to series.

Launch Gallery: Fall TV Cast Changes: New, Leaving Actors for Returning Shows

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Get more from TVLine: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
Following two months of negotiations, the city has finalized a wrongful death settlement with the family of Akai Gurley, the 28-year-old Brooklyn man who was shot to death by an on-duty police officer conducting a vertical patrol at an East New York housing project in November of 2014.

"The parties in the wrongful death lawsuit have reached a settlement agreement in the total sum of $4.525 million dollars," confirmed Ballinger's attorney Scott Rynecki in a statement Tuesday. "This settlement was reached after extensive negotiations guided by Supreme Court Justice, Dawn Jiminez Salta."

"We believe this is a fair resolution of a tragic matter," said a spokesperson for the City Law Department in a statement.

Former NYPD officer Peter Liang was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct in the Gurley shooting this February, catalyzing protest from Chinese-American New Yorkers who argued that Liang had been scapegoated. Liang initially faced up to 15 years in prison. But in April a Brooklyn judge reduced the manslaughter charge to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced him to six months of house arrest and 500 hours of community service.

"Words cannot express how I feel about the fact that Peter Liang will serve no jail time for killing my son," Gurley's mother, Sylvia Palmer, stated at the time. "This system, and its agents, should no longer claim to be about justice, because they only produce injustice."

The wrongful death suit, brought by Gurley's partner Kim Ballinger, accused Liang and his partner Sean Landau of negligence and recklessness. It also accused NYCHA of failing to replace a light bulb in the darkened stairwell where Gurley was shot.

The settlement includes $4.1 million from the city, $400,000 from NYCHA, and $25,000 from Liang specifically for Ballinger. The NY Times reports that the $4.1 million will be paid out in installments to Gurley and Ballinger's daughter, four-year-old Akaila, starting on her 18th birthday. A portion will go towards a new college fund for Akaila, and the paper reports that Ballinger may petition for a monthly stipend.

According to the Daily News, Akaila's portion will be invested in annuities, estimated to grow to about $10 million over the course of her lifetime.

"I'm glad it's all done. I'm pleased with the outcome," Ballinger told the tabloid Monday.

The city paid $3.9 to the family of Ramarley Graham, an 18-year-old who was fatally shot inside of his Bronx apartment in 2012. The family of Eric Garner, who died in July 2014 when an NYPD officer put him in an illegal chokehold outside of a Staten Island deli, received $5.9 million from the city.

Mayoral spokeswoman Monica Klein stated Tuesday that "the death of Akai Gurley was a tragedy," adding that the city is taking measures to improve community and police relations with a new body camera pilot, and community policing. "We will continue to deepen these efforts under Chief of Department ONeills leadership next month," she said.

"We hope the new incoming police commissioner James ONeill will use this case as an example to review practices and procedures that are ongoing in the academy as well as in the street with pairing two rookies together, Rynecki, Ballinger's attorney, told the News.
yellow fever

An outbreak of yellow fever that's been affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, killing more than 400 people and sickening even more, is poised to spread beyond central Africa. It's already the region's largest outbreak in decades.

Yellow fever is transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits the Zika virus. The symptoms can be anything from a general fever to jaundice (that's where the "yellow" comes in) to a severe liver disease with bleeding.

While the more severe symptoms are relatively rare, the virus kills about half of those who develop them.

There's no treatment once you get yellow fever. There is a vaccine that protects against it, but a current vaccine shortage has some groups worried that there won't be enough doses to contain the most recent outbreak.

"There is no known cure for yellow fever and it could go global," Heather Kerr, country director of the Democratic Republic of Congo for the charity Save the Children, said in a statement.

yellow fever

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization launched a vaccination campaign with the hope to vaccinate more than 14 million people in affected areas. The organization is working with limited supplies of the vaccine, and it takes a minimum of 6 months to manufacture more vaccines.

To make up for that, the WHO plans to use just a fifth of a vaccine dose per person, which would spread the limited supply to a wider population but protect those people only for about a year.

"We've got to urgently reach as many children and families as we can with the supplies that are left, and this is the only way we are able to do that right now," Kerr said in the statement.

Ten million people at risk of getting yellow fever in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC. Scientific American's Emily Baumgaertner, reporting from the DRC, found that prevention efforts faced another problem: Hospitals weren't testing patients to see whether they had yellow fever. She reported that it had been more than a month since a yellow fever diagnostic test was run in the country.

Story continues

The vaccination campaign will have until the start of the rainy season in October to tackle the problem before the mosquitoes that carry the disease breed and infect more people.





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steve cohen

U.S. derivatives regulators said on Tuesday they have barred billionaire SAC Capital Advisors founder Steven A. Cohen from registering and managing commodity hedge funds.

That restriction will be lifted in 2018, lining up with a separate settlement from the Securities and Exchange Commission for Cohen to be able to manage outside money.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's decision comes after the SEC separately took action against Cohen for allegedly failing to supervise employee Matthew Martoma, who is currently serving prison time for insider-trading.

Cohen has agreed "not to engage in any activity requiring registration with the CFTC or to act as an officer or employee of any person registered or required to be registered with the CFTC until at least December 31, 2017," according to the CFTC's press release.

Cohen, who now manages his fortune at his family office Point72 Asset Management, has previously made moves to manage outside money again once the government's restrictions are lifted in 2018. That would be under a new firm, Stamford Harbor Capital.

"We're pleased to have resolved this matter," Point72's spokesman, Mark Herr, said in a statement.

"The CFTC settlement has no impact on the Point72 family office and Steve's compliance with both settlements means there should be no impact on the future of Stamford Harbor Capital," Herr added in his statement to Business Insider.

NOW WATCH: A self-made millionaire describes the financial mistakes to avoid if you want to get rich by 30





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The 2013 remake of Carrie marked a number of firsts for Ansel Elgort. It was his movie debut, after having survived seven auditions to play Chloe Grace Moretzs unlucky prom date. They said they wanted someone like Alex Pettyfer for the role, he says. Somehow I ended up getting it.

Mark Williams & Sara Hirakawa for Variety

The Toronto shoot was the first time Elgort lived away from home, an experience that resembled college. They gave me a little apartment. I got to go grocery shopping myself. And he learned the secret language of a movie set. People talking about craft, I thought they were talking about mac and cheese, he says. I didnt know any of the terms.

Now 22, Elgort could graduate with a diploma in movie stardom. In the last three years, he has appeared in a studio franchise (Divergent) and the drama Men, Women & Children, directed by Jason Reitman. But the movie that changed the trajectory of his career was 2014s The Fault in Our Stars, a weepy love story about two cancer- stricken teens that grossed $307 million in collective bawling sessions around the world. Elgort even cried the first time he saw the movie, and again at the premiere. We also cried a lot while we were making it, he notes.

Overnight, studios around town started to see Elgort as a sensitive leading man. The Fault in Our Stars was the rare commercial hit anchored by layered performances, uncommon for an industry run by comic-book reboots.

Young actors never get that opportunity, Elgort says. Otherwise my big commercial success would have been me being  Oh, youre the brother in Divergent, right? Theres like no weight behind that character. I got lucky. And now a studio and a director will be able to say, We can finance a movie with you in it and also youll do a good job.

Mark Williams & Sara Hirakawa for Variety

Among his upcoming projects are the drama Billionaire Boys Club, the comedy Baby Driver, and the thriller Jonathan, in which hell portray twins. It might be an apt role, because Elgort is also playing dual parts in his career: He not only acts but also performs as DJ Ansolo, and recently launched his first single, Home Alone.

Story continues

Growing up in Manhattan, Elgort wanted to be a Broadway musical star. His family would sing along to soundtracks on car trips, and he still harbors dreams of performing on Broadway. But for now, he likes the creative energy of writing and producing his own songs, and he can do that between breaks on a movie set. 

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Sirte (Libya) (AFP) - Libyan pro-government forces said they seized control Tuesday of another central district of Sirte as they tried to flush out the last Islamic State group fighters in the coastal city.

Dozens of US air strikes this month have helped to weaken IS's hold on Sirte, which the jihadists seized last year and established as their main base outside Syria and Iraq.

Backed by tanks and mortar fire, forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) on Tuesday retook an area of central Sirte known as District Two, military officials said.

The jihadists struck back with two suicide car bomb attacks, but failed to hit their targets, though one of the bombers detonated his explosives close to a group of soldiers and journalists.

The advance by pro-GNA troops came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.

An AFP photographer said the assault was led by tanks which opened the way for infantry.

"District Two has been liberated," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the pro-government forces, told AFP.

A commander of the pro-GNA forces said loyalists had also taken up positions south of the recaptured neighbourhood to cut off escape routes.

IS seized control of Sirte, the home town of ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi, in June 2015, taking advantage of the chaos that followed the longtime Libyan leader's ouster and killing in 2011.

Loyalist forces have been pushing to clear Sirte of the jihadists since expelling them from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre last week.

Officials said on Sunday that only a single residential area, named District One, remained under full IS control, while fighting was ongoing in Districts Two and Three.

Loyalist forces launched operations in mid-May to retake Sirte and entered the city on June 9, facing heavy resistance as they moved towards the centre.

The Pentagon said it carried out "precision" air strikes against IS positions in Sirte on Monday, in action coordinated with the GNA.

Story continues

- Denying IS 'safe haven' -

An IS vehicle and "four enemy fighting positions" were hit, it said, adding that a total of 48 such US air strikes had been carried out since August 1.

"These actions, and those we have taken previously, will help deny Daesh (IS) a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies," the Pentagon said in an update.

The jihadists' seizure of the city sparked fears it would be used as a springboard for attacks on Europe across the Mediterranean.

More than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the three-month-old battle for Sirte, according to an official casualty toll. The jihadists have not revealed their losses.

Loyalist forces have said they will declare Sirte "fully liberated" only once all jihadists have been cleared from the city.

Sirte's fall would be a huge setback to IS's efforts to expand its self-proclaimed "caliphate" beyond Syria and Iraq where the jihadists have also suffered losses.

The unity government emerged as the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing deal in December, but it has struggled to assert its authority across Libya.

A rival administration based in the country's far east has refused to cede power to the GNA.

Ten members of forces loyal to those authorities in the east were killed and 34 wounded during fighting with a militia alliance, the Revolutionary Shura Council, in the eastern city of Benghazi, military sources said Tuesday.
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The so-called Apple of China is having a rough go of it.

As this chart from Statista shows, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi saw a 38.8% year-over-year decline in smartphone sales for its home country this past quarter. According to research firm IDC, shipments dipped from 17.1 million to 10.5 million, while its market share fell from 16% to 9.5%. Meanwhile, rivals Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo all saw big gains, which IDC attributes to stronger marketing campaigns and offline channel support.

In any case, when it comes to its bread and butter, Xiaomi is a ways off from its former position as the worlds most valuable tech startup. One firm it is leading, however, is the Apple of, well, everywhere, as lagging iPhone SE sales gave Apple a 32% year-over-year drop.

china phone sales chart

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A leading computing and connectivity solutions company, Applied Micro Circuits Corporation AMCC, recently revealed that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE has introduced Applied Micros X-Gene technology in its new StoreVirtual 3200 virtualized infrastructure solution.

Based in Palo Alto, CA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise is an American multinational company that provides information technology products and services. The company was founded on Nov 1, 2015, as part of the split of Hewlett-Packard Company. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has four divisions, namely, Enterprise Group, which works in servers, storage, networking, consulting and support; Services; Software; and Financial Services.

Applied Micros X-Gene family of multi-core processors, which are based on 64-bit ARM v8 core, has enabled it to target web servers as well as high-end control and data plane applications. This technology prevents the requirement for external additional networking and IO components, which in turn reduces the overall power and cost of the platform. This system will provide total cost of ownership (TCO) savings to end customers. Hence, its not surprising why Hewlett Packard Enterprise chose AppliedMicros X-Gene Solution.

APPLD MICRO CIR Price

APPLD MICRO CIR Price | APPLD MICRO CIR Quote

The collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to incorporate Applied Micros X-Gene technology in Hewlett Packards StoreVirtual 3200 storage server will help provide excellent storage performance to customers as well as reduce the overall total cost of ownership.

The deal is a win-win situation for both the parties involved as it will help Hewlett Packard Enterprise to offer better and innovative solutions to its customers as well as augment Applied Micros top-line growth.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, Applied Micro manufactures high-bandwidth low power integrated circuits and semiconductor solutions for the enterprise, telecom and consumer/small medium businesses. Applied Micros broad portfolio of products and services and continued efforts to provide maximum consumer satisfaction have strengthened its position to command a substantial market share. In addition, the companys associations with renowned server OEMs are expected to be a growth driver, which will help in augmenting its businesses, going forward. The company expects to witness revenue improvement largely driven by growth of data center and wire-line infrastructures.

Story continues

Applied Micro carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the industry include Alpha & Omega Semiconductor, Ltd. AOSL and FormFactor Inc. FORM. Both stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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The first full trailer for Arrival has dropped, and Amy Adams is front and center as an expert linguist recruited by the military to communicate with aliens who have invaded the world.

The trailer incorporates the teaser released last week with brand-new footage, showing the aliens communicating and interacting with Adams' character Dr. Louise Banks. "They need to see me," says Banks, taking off her space suit and helmet to come forward and place her hand on the glass barrier. An alien's hand appears next to her.

"Now that's a proper introduction," she says.

"We need to make sure that they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool," says Banks as the tension rises and more scenes unfold. "Language is messy and sometimes one can be both."

"How do we clarify their intentions?" asks Forest Whitaker's character. "I go back in," replies Banks.

Arrival was originally named Story of Your Life and will be screened at the Toronto Film Festival. It is based on a short story written by Ted Chiang.

Read more: 'Arrival' Trailer: Amy Adams Can Talk to Aliens

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Ashley Judd is in the pursuit of higher education.

The 48-year-old actress revealed she's attending UC Berkeley in the fall to earn a PhD in public policy during a Q&A on Facebook Live on Monday. Judd got her undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky in 2009, and earned a Masters in public administration with an emphasis in gender equality from Harvard in 2010.

"Sometimes I'm really excited, sometimes I'm like, 'What have I gotten myself into?!' Judd jokes. "I'm very esteemed and honored that they accepted me. It's the number one public policy school in the United States. They only accept two or three students a year."

WATCH: Ashley Judd Details Alleged Sexual Harassment by Hollywood Mogul

Judd is clearly not taking the honor lightly, given that she beat out plenty of competition to attend the Goldman School of Public Policy.

"I intend to make the best of my time at Berkeley, and do some good thinking, some rigorous research and fill it with my typical heart and soul, and see how I can continue to do my little part to make the world a better place," she says.

On a lighter note, the Double Jeopardy actress is also looking forward to typical student life.

"Yes, I have a backpack, and yes, I have a locker, and you know I have my outfit for the first day of school picked out," Judd says, flashing a big grin. "I know where to get good coffee. I got a student handbook to read."

WATCH: Ashley Judd Is Pressing Charges Against Her Twitter Trolls

Judd has long been involved in politics and humanitarian work. She represented Tennessee as a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and in 2013, she drew headlines for her possible bid against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, though she eventually decided not to run.

Last March, Judd penned an essay about violence against women, and said she was a survivor of sexual assault, rape, and incest.

Story continues

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This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Crown Heights Riots, three days of sporadic violence, protest, and destruction that placed Crown Heights in the international spotlight and laid bare deep, bitter divisions between the neighborhood's black and Lubavitch Jewish communities.

Gothamist spoke to people who were thereactivists, journalists, police, and politiciansabout their recollections of the events of August 19-21, 1991, which were sparked when a black child was killed and his cousin seriously injured by a driver in the motorcade of Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. We also spoke about what happened before the riots, and where the neighborhood is today.

Each day this week, we'll be running edited excerpts of our conversations. (Read part one of the series.)

This mini oral history is not an attempt to offer an authoritative or comprehensive account of what happened during those three days. That would require a book, or several books. (The Girgenti Report, commissioned by then-Governor Mario Cuomo to analyze what happened, clocks in at 616 pagesif you're interested in the chronology of events, the Daily News did a solid write-up.) Rather, these are a series of snapshots.

The people with whom we spoke offered different, at times conflicting, narratives of what happened. When their recollections about the chronology or nature of specific events significantly diverged from published accounts we've judged to be reliable, we've noted these discrepancies and linked to relevant accounts.

Gothamist: Why did the riots happen?

Philip Gourevitch

Philip Gourevitch is an author and journalist. At the time of the riots, he was New York bureau chief of the Forward. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker.

The instinct was that generally when things like this happenhowever extreme or violent or wrong you might think that the riot wasthat there had been a very substantial provocation. There must have been an injustice to provoke this response. I think there was a failure to recognize that this story just didn't fit that scenario. It was a relatively anomalous case, where activists looking for a kind of rallying point and an occasion to stir up a sense of injustice exploited the mood of the moment in a place where the story in fact was different. It was a car accident.

The newspapers tended to say over and over again, "two victims, two people from very different backgrounds, same fate"about the seven year old boy who was hit by a car and the Australian biblical scholar, the ultra Orthodox Jew who was killed by the mob. They were saying one fate like they died in the same incidentin some sort of confluence of social forcesbut these were two totally different fates.

It took half a year, a year, for Dinkins himself to start sort of slipping in, between his carefully self-protective phrases, the fact that this was a lynching. A mob stirred up at the scene of an accident had gone forth, "Kill a Jew, kill a Jew, let's get the Jews," and sure enough, they got a Jew. [Ed note: Dinkins first described the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum as a "lynching" in September of 1991, about three weeks after Rosenbaum was killed.]

Update: Gourevitch emailed Gothamist to note that in his own reporting during the early 1990s, he said Dinkins waited three weeks to use the term "lynching." He wrote to us: "Three weeks felt like a long time to wait. A quarter century later I remember these events as spread out over a longer period. Maybe because what happened in such a concentrated time-frame reverberated and was so contested and disputed for so much longer."]

I think that was the result of a very pernicious strain of anti-Semitism that had entered at that moment into a strain of Afrocentric rhetoric and black activism. It was a particular moment, a particular group. It's not what all African American activists were about at the time by any means not even remotelybut it was big enough that it was on the radar, it was being written about, it was very visible, and nobody at first seemed to want to say so about Crown Heights.

There were community tensions there obviously, and you'd hear plenty of racism in the things people said on the streets, in all directions. Or, if not racism, speaking about other groups with pretty negative stereotypes. But what exploded there was not fundamentally a conflict between these two communities thatas many people portrayed them at the timewere long simmering and bound to erupt.



Ife Charles

Ife Charles is the Center for Court Innovation's coordinator of anti-violence programs, including the Save Our Streets programs in Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy. At the time of the riots, she was working at a hospital and living in East New York.

In the black and the Caribbean community, we had just lost a young kid. Folks were really hurting, and did not understand why he had to die.

Out of their frustration came young men, young women, who were really, really angry, and used that opportunity to talk about their anger around the Hasidic community. I think the thing about the community in Crown Heights is that folks internalize their frustration, and those frustrations had to do with this feeling that you had preferential treatment, by the police, by the politicians: "They owned property, they did what they wanted to do, and there was no accountability." Those were some of the feelings that brown and black people in this community had.

The death of the young man allowed those feelings to no longer be internal, and now they became external, and they became vocalized. People were very vocal about, "If this were a Jewish person, this would not have happened. The Jews let this guy die and then they took the individual that killed him out of the country."



(Scott Heins / Gothamist)

There was a bunch of anger, a bunch of frustration. That was the atmosphere in the community. The us-against-them was even more heightened when this took place.

Crown Heights is one of these communities, if you're familiar with it back in those days, is that there were Jews, there were Caribbeans, there were blacksAmericanand basically everybody kept to themselves. There wasn't this great Kumbayah moment where everybody was having conversations and we all got along.

Part of that came from the strong Jewish culture, and religious laws, and so integration was not something that was going to happen in the community at that time. With the death of a young kid, and then the death of the scholar from Australia, Yankelhere you have two communities, now mourning the death of their children, and no one is held accountable for the death of the young black male. The death of the Jewish scholar was held accountable, again perpetuating a belief that everybody else's lives matter, except that of brown and black people. I think the Black Lives Matter hashtag was something that could have been used back in those times, when the person that had killed Gavin Cato was not charged with anything.

There's where the frustration came out of it. I think that anger allowed people to start just being horrible in the community, destroying community, and just showing their frustration by the burning of cars and throwing of stones in people's windows, and targeting.

A child's life was taken. I don't dispute that it was an accident. It was a very tragic accident, but I also believe that the way it was handled allowed it to escalate into a group of folks believing that justice was not going to be served.

I've lost a son and so I feel the pain of Yankel's mom and father and brother, and I feel the pain from Gavin Cato's family. What happened to Yankelpeople became angry, and they targeted the wrongthey targeted and just did stupid shit. Stupid shit that took someone's life, the same way the Jewish community ambulance did some stupid shit by not saving that little boy or even attending to him, or giving him some sort of a first aid to help him in the process until the ambulance came. Both sides were equally wrong.

[Ed note: Both a Hatzolah and a city Emergency Medical Services ambulance arrived at the site of the accident almost immediately. NYPD officers on the ground ordered the Hatzolah ambulance to remove the driver, Yosef Lifsh, and his two passengers from the scene. City EMS personnel attended to Gavin and Angela Cato. Nevertheless, rumors spread that the Hatzolah ambulance had taken the Jewish car occupants and left the two black children to die.]

Ray Kelly

Ray Kelly served as commissioner of the New York Police Department from 1992-1994 and again from 2002-2013. At the time of the riots, he was first deputy commissioner of the NYPD. He had previously served as commander of the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights.

There was potential for a long time of having problems flare up between the Hasidic community and mostly Caribbean black community in Crown Heights. There was a significant amount of crime in the precinct, in Crown Heights, and the Hasidim had formed various groups to protect themselvesin response to what they perceived as increasing crime rates. The interaction between both groups in the community was fairly frequent, and there were flare-ups. This wasn't something that just totally came out of the blue. There was just a lot of tension in the air, certainly in the days that I was there, and also 1991. I was there not even three days prior.

There's often a fine line between good community relations and preferential treatment. That argument had been put forward, certainly during the '80s. In the early '80s, there was a patrol car stationed in front of 770 Eastern Parkway. But the rabbi was a world leader of his sect, and there was a sense at that timecertainly, when I was a precinct commanderthat there were generalized threats against him. The policy was in place when I got there, and continuedthere is an auxiliary temporary headquarters parked near 770 Eastern Parkway now.





News report on the second day of the riots.



Rabbi Shea Hecht

Rabbi Shea Hecht is the chairman of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education. At the time of the riots, he was living in Crown Heights and working for the committee.

What was being portrayed in the press is that Jews were getting help from government, Jews were getting the programs, Jews were getting their fair share of the money, and the blacks were not. I knew, as a Jewish leader, that that was simply a lie. We were not getting our fair share. In fact, when they did the few investigations, that's one of the things that they said, is that, "Hey, you know what? The blacks thought that Jews were getting the money, the Jews thought the blacks were getting the money, but neither were getting the money." The politicians were not dealing with us fairly on any level.

There was tension in the community. The Jews were not getting the help from government that they needed, the blacks were not getting help from government that they needed or deserved, or were entitled to. The police department was understaffed in the 71st precinct. Of course there's tension. Why shouldn't there be tension?

There lacked leadership from City Hall to Crown Heights. There lacked leadership and funds from Washington, Albany, and City Hall. That was additional to the problem.

The Girgenti reportthe one important part is that false information went out on the street.

The car that was driving behind the Rabbi's car was hit by another car and went out of control. So, it was not that this car got out of control, or this guy drove onto the sidewalk and killed the little childno. [Ed note: The exact details of the crash are disputed. According to the Girgenti Report, eyewitnesses said Lifsh entered the intersection on a red light, while he and the car's occupants claimed the light was yellow. An accident reconstruction specialist hired by the Brooklyn DA estimated Lifsh's speed at the time of the collision as 45-55 miles per hourthe city speed limit at the time was 30 mphthough an expert hired by Lifsh argued that he had been driving between 30-35 mph.]

Number two is, there was false information about the Hatzolah service. The cops were on the scene, they ran the whole situation, they were the ones who made the decision, and therefore, if there was any anger, it should have been directed to the police department, and the police precinct, rather than the Jewish community. [Ed note: Evidence broadly supports this account of the emergency response.].

Why did the riots break out, then? Well. They were coming back from a concert, word got out that something happened. There was, at that concert, alcohol, and people were on a high. They went a little bit crazy. [Ed note: Contemporaneous and retrospective accounts note that a group of black youth leaving a B.B. King concert joined the gathering crowd near the site of the accident.]

Beyond that, there's a different question that you have to ask yourself: the killer had on his knife, "Kill the Jew." [Ed note: police testified that the Lemrick Nelson's knife was engraved with the word "killer."]

He did not engrave that on his knife that evening. He did that days before, or maybe weeks before. What was he looking for? What was his friend looking for? Was it an excuse to riot? Was it an excuse to attack Jews? Let the people be the jury.



Mayor Lee Brown

Lee Brown is a former mayor of Houston and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He served as the police commissioner of New York City from 1990-1992.

I think that it's important to make a distinction between what happened in Crown Heights and what happened in other cities that had riots. It was not something that was precipitated by the police, as is often the case. This was a long-standing, brewing problem of two communities. Competition for housing, competitions for city services.

It was something I was working on from a community policing standpoint: What could the police do to help address the issues that exist in the community? That's what community policing means: problem-solving. I did have support from some of the African-American ministers helping me and Rabbi Tanenbaum from the Jewish perspective.

I think that's very important for people to understand, that the police did not precipitate the event, it was precipitated by the accident. We had a problem where the black community wanted an arrest to be made. The district attorney advised on that issue and said you had to have at least violations in order to make the arrest.

The district attorney made that decision. [Ed note: The Brooklyn DA, Charles Hynes, said in the immediate aftermath of the riots that the police lacked sufficient evidence to detain the driver, Yosef Lifsh. He brought the case to a grand jury, which that September voted not to indict Lifsh.]



Errol Louis

Errol Louis is the host of Inside City Hall on NY1. He has written for the New York Sun, the Daily News, and Our Time Press. In 1991, he was living in Crown Heights, working for a nonprofit and freelancing as a journalist.

I don't think folks appreciate the level of day-to-day generally peaceful co-existence, marked by underlying tension especially between the kids, the young men.

There was just always something going on, whether it was dirty looks or names shouted across the street, there was always a little of that among many of the young men.

My perspective is that the neighborhood then and the neighborhoodeven now to a certain extentI could chalk a lot of it up to what I would just call "ghetto mentality." Black ghetto or Jewish ghetto. It's the same idea. There's a certain amount of paranoia. There's a certain amount of feeling that any break that doesn't go your way is somehow evidence of a larger conspiracy to harm or destroy your entire community.

It's a very narrow-minded way of thinking.

Black folks felt it very strongly, and the Jewish people felt it equally strongly. You really got everybody teed up and on edge, and those feelings are very hard to dissipate.

I'm going to be involved in a couple of events related to the 25th anniversary of the riots. One of my Jewish friends called me up and said, "Would you please come and moderate and be involved in some of this, because we're going to commemorate the pogrom." Even 25 years later, I've learned it's not even worth the energy to try to explain that David Dinkins and the NYPD were not engaged in an organized conspiracy to facilitate or allow for the beating and harm to the Jewish community. Some of my neighbors remember it very differently. I know better than to try convince them that their memories are faulty or overly paranoid. It doesn't work that way.
PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Dr. Nicolas Porter, award-winning founder of Risas Dental and Braces and President of Nicolas Global, has announced that he will be launching a new venture next month.

The new business, formed under the Nicolas Global brand, will aim to disrupt the commerce industry by utilizing many of the ideas and principles Dr. Porter used to establish and grow Risas Dental and Braces.

Risas grew quickly after Dr. Porter established its first office in 2012, expanding to fifteen locations in Arizona and Colorado in four years. Catering to an underserved Hispanic market, the practice emphasizes a focus on "speaking patient" and has challenged many long-held practices of the dental industry.

In turn, Risas has been honored with both financial success and critical recogniton.

Dr. Porter was named one of Phoenix Business Journal's Most Admired Leaders of 2015. In addition, Risas has won an award for Entreprenurial Excellence (Phoenix Chamber Impact Awards 2014), the Hispanic Business Salute Award (Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 2014), and was named one of the Best Places to Work (Phoenix Business Journal 2014), one of the Top 10 Fastest growing Private Companies in Arizona (ACE Awards 2014), and Business of the Year (Phoenix Chamber Impact Awards 2014). Dr. Porter was also honored as a Healthcare Hero in 2014 by the Phoenix Business Journal.

Dr. Porter recently left his role in day-to-day operations with Risas in order to expand his influence. His plan is to utilize his experience and insights to disrupt other industries, starting with commerce.

"I'm motivated by helping people," says Dr. Porter. "I want to help as many people as I possibly can, and I think this new venture will be able to impact lives in a meaningful way. Business isn't currently set up to help the average person. There are many areas in how we participate in commerce that need renovation and innovation, and I have been working tirelessly to make things better for that average person. When this company launches, I think you'll see that difference show very quickly."

Story continues

Contact Nicolas Global:



Nicolas Global Public Relations Team

publicrelations@nicolasglobal.com

SOURCE: Dr. Nicolas Porter
Photos: ABC

Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Aug. 15 episode of Bachelor in Paradise.



Hola once again, rose lovers! Allow me to kick things off by welcoming Brandon, that guy you dont remember, to Paradises stellar opening credits sequence.

Looking good, whoever you are. Now, back to the action. As you may recall, last weeks journey ended with Evan interrupting Josh and Amandas never-ending make-out session to invite the single mom on a date. And at first, Amanda almost looks grateful to see the outside world (rather than an 200x close-up of Joshs face) for a few blessed seconds.

Evan reads the phony date card aloud, and Amanda  who naturally assumes producers penned the aforementioned note  agrees to join Evan in the tree house. Anything for the show, right? Even if it means listening to the awkward d*** doctor (Vinnys phrase) stammer his way through an introductory speech. I came here for you, Evan says. Ive been watching you from afar I just want to know, like, if theres any place in your heart to maybe, like, see if something could happen. Amanda looks totally moved by his speech.

At least, I think thats emotion? Or maybe shes asleep with her eyes open? Hard to say. While shes absorbing Evans declaration of love, Josh is hanging out on the beach bed eating Mexican pizza.

So yeah, he aint worried that Evans trying to steal his girl. Its not like Evan has any chance of succeeding, of course. I wish you had said something earlier, Amanda says, trying to let Evan down easy. Because now its like I totally do feel something with Josh.  From here on out, I just want to focus on that relationship. She tearfully hugs Evan goodbye and assures him theres someone special out there for him. Pretty clear, right? Not if youre Evan. I was expecting maybe like a glimmer of hope, he tells Team Bachelor. And I think I may have gotten that! In other words

On its face that sounds like a completely insane delusion  and it probably is  but to be fair, when Evan tells Jared about his talk with Amanda, it sounds like there may have been more to the conversation than we actually saw. She said she came here thinking about me  she wanted to take me on a date, says Evan. Did she really, or is Evan just really bad at listening? Well never know. One things for sure, though: Josh finds the whole thing hilarious.

Story continues

He continues ruminating his pizza even as he dries Amandas tears, though he does stop chewing long enough to insert his tongue back into her mouth. Ah, young love.

The next day, the Bippers are all aflutter getting ready for that evenings rose ceremony  spackling on the makeup, primping in front of mirrors, and manscaping.

Say what you will about Daniel, rose lovers, but how many of you would shave a friends back? Why didnt you do this before you came? asks Daniel, to which Vinny replies sotto voce, I did! It grows back quick. Tell us about it, boys.

Related: Your Burning Questions About the Bachelor in Paradise Hotel Answered

Anyhow, heading into the rose ceremony the quasi-couple count is as follows: Lace and Grant, Amanda and Josh, Vinny and Izzy, Brendon and Haley, Emily and Jared. Sarah will be choosing between Christian and Damn Daniel, while Carly has her pick of Sarahs castoff, Evan (aka her ex-boyfriend), or Nick. Though its really Nick and Evan who should be sweating the ceremony, they cant because Josh has used up all the sweat himself to soak his shirt and hairless chest.

Its kind of gross, notes Carly, in the biggest understatement of the night. After Harrison reminds them that two guys will be going home, the campaigning begins. Christian quickly pulls Sarah aside to try and lock down the rose. Im just an aggressive type of man, he explains to us. Im dominant. Maybe a little too much so; I definitely wasnt feeling his comments to Sarah about their date: You let me kind of handle things and be there for you. Not for nothing, pal, but Sarahs been handling things on her own without you just fine.

Though Sarah kisses Christian, her face just lights up when Daniel arrives to steal her away.

Daniel has to kiss me tonight. He has to, sighs Sarah. And he will, honey, right after he kills the giant bee that just tried to impregnate his chin with its stinger. Unfortunately, Daniels smooch is just a wee bit too timid for Sarahs liking.

It wasnt the best kiss, says Sarah, in what is now the biggest understatement of the night. Fingers cross that Daniels tepid lip action doesnt send him back to Canada alone.

Evan, though, knows for sure that hes going home  but first he has something he needs to do: Warn Amanda that Josh is an emotional abuser.

Even though Evan clearly isnt the first person to warn Amanda about Josh  Weve all told you, as women, be careful of Josh, notes Lace  for some reason Evans concerns are the ones that finally give Amanda pause. It definitely puts, you know, a couple questions in my head, she admits.

Naturally Josh gets wind of what Evan told his woman, thanks to Lace  who, I might add, seems to be more irked at Evan for trying to get into Amandas head than at Josh for (allegedly) calling Andi Dorfman a bitch and a whore. Way to support the sisterhood, Lace.

Amanda gets a tiny taste of Joshs ever-simmering rage shortly after her conversation with Evan. Seeing that Josh is upset, she gently tells him to ignore it, adding, because I like Evan. Mr. Murray is not pleased at all. You still like him even after somebody tries to lie [about me]? he snaps, glaring at Amanda. I think its very disrespectful.

And if theres one thing Josh doesnt like, its people trying to make him look bad. (Even though, to be fair, he does an excellent job doing that all by himself.) So Josh takes Evan for a walk and is all, Only God can judge me, man! Indeed, Josh is too smart to pull a Chad and start threatening Evan or anyone else with physical violence when cameras are around. You know all the right things to say, notes Evan helplessly. To his credit, though, Evan doesnt shirk off defeated; instead he pushes Josh to tell his side of the story about his relationship with Andi.

Josh, increasingly irritated, rants that her book was fiction and all the negative stories were untrue and so on  and still Evan doesnt give up. "Then why wouldnt you sue her for libel? he asks innocently. Boom! Answer that one, Joshy boy!

After fixing Evan with his death stare for a few seconds, Josh plays his two favorite tunes: I take the high road as a gentleman and Im all about Gods plan. An ocean of words but theres no thoughts, as Evan puts it. Uh-oh, Josh, did God tell you that His plan involves Nick warning Amanda about you too?

Nah, Im just kidding. Nick is, in fact, quite reasoned and articulate with Amanda about his concerns. He admits he hasnt read Andis book  though he knows some (not all) of the things said about him are true. I dont know if [Josh] is a good guy or a bad guy. I dont know if what was written was true or false, continues Nick. But ask the right questions and just be aware.

Will she? I think we all know the answer to that question. Though Amanda says shes taking this seriously, once the rose ceremony rolls around

Yep. But lets back up a bit. Before Josh inevitably got Amandas rose, heres what happened: Lace > Grant; Izzy > Vinny; Twins > Jared. And then came the truly beautiful moment:

Sorry, Christian, but sometimes youve just gotta let your freak flag fly, and in this case, that freak is a large Canadian man named Daniel. As for Carly the wild card, she opts to give her rose to Evan? This is definitely a platonic rose, she insists. I think. Oh God girl, no.

The final drama of the night comes when its time for Haley to hand out her rose. Will she forgive Brandon for not noticing when she and Emily pulled the switcheroo?

Thatd be a big ol nope. Instead, Haley gives her rose to Nick, perhaps because hes never pretended he can tell her and Emily apart. Fare thee well, Brandon and Christian! We hope your 16th minute in the spotlight was as satisfying as you hoped.

A new day dawns, and with it comes new hopes  I just cant wait to spend every day with Jared! gushes Emily  and fresh meat.

I will never not be amused by the fact that Caila got so close to becoming the Bachelorette, only to be deemed too boring, apparently, by producers. Anyhow, she went home with a lovely set of steak knives and an all-expenses-paid trip to Paradise  and the guys are definitely excited to see her. Dayum, she is good looking! growls Nick. Allow Carly to demonstrate every guys face upon Cailas arrival.

Oh, this just got good, chuckles Jorge. Thats for damn sure, senor. Emily seems especially intimidated by Caila and her perfect hair and cute personality  and she probably should be, because Caila just asked Jared on a date. Of course its Yared! cries Jorge.

Jared tries to do the gentlemanly thing by pulling Emily aside before he accepts Cailas offer. I feel like if I dont go, I might regret it, he tells the crestfallen twin. I want you to go, she says sadly. Once Jared and Caila head off to prep for their date, Nick tries to cheer Emily up. I have been dumped twice on national television. Its OK to be hurt. Its OK to want Jared to not have a good time, he says. No one falls in love on a horse! Dont be so sure about that pal.

Im really glad that youre here, and I want to try to see if something great can come from this, Jared says. Dude you just met  maybe take it down a notch? Never mind, she LOVES it, and soon theyre smooching on the beach.

Back at Playa Escondida



Um never mind. Lets just move on. Carly and Sarah are feeling a little over Paradise, too, given that all around them are couples in various degrees of PDA. Right now Sarah and I are kind of like those two old men in The Muppets who sit on the balcony and watch the show, says Carly.

Like, its not just because were bitter, is it? wonders Sarah. Buck up, ladies! A new date card is here! Actually, scratch that  you guys can stay depressed, because the cards addressed to Izzy and Lace, and theyre going on the first double date in Paradise history. Oh wow, I really cant wait to watch that. [insert audible groan here]

Meanwhile, Jared and Caila have just floated back to Playa Escondida on their respective cloud nines, and you know what that means: Its time for Jared to dump Emily for good. I think Cailas sweet  somebody that I really could see myself with, he says. I feel like I should explore things with Caila.

Thats right, Emily! You go on picking you. Theres someone out there for you  and hell definitely have better facial hair.

Ill be honest with you rose lovers: I fast-forwarded through the Grace and Vizzy double-date because I literally could not care less. Literally, not figuratively.

Feeling left out, Sarah and Carly invite Daniel and Evan over to their apartment for wine  and naturally Evan takes it as a cue that Carly wants to open the door to their relationship once again. Unlikely, sir.

Poor Carly feels bad and confused about Evan, and why she sometimes feels majorly creeped out by him and other times can tolerate his presence. Girl, go with your gut  and your gut is saying, very clearly, no physical. Like, if Carly could have turned her head 180 degrees to keep Evan from kissing her goodbye, she would have. Is another week in un-air-conditioned Paradise really worth it, Carly?

Evan makes his way back to his room, and though he seems a little wobbly, its probably just because he drank a little too much wine, right?

Make that much too much wine. When the petite female producer fails to shake Evan out of his drunken slumber, another producer calls for medical help, while a third alerts Carly that her one-time faux boyfriend is in distress. Wouldnt you know it, as soon as the medic arrives Evan has perked up substantially, but out of an abundance of caution the doctor advises that someone sleep in the room with him to make sure hes OK. One-two-three Carly youre it!

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph how much wine did she drink? Carly, youre better than this, girl. Speaking of getting blackout drunk, the Lace/Grant/Izzy/Vinny double date has turned into something that looks like an after school special about date rape directed by Stanley Kubrick.

But when some random patron throws water on Izzy, things go from surreal to run-of-the-mill Jersey Shore. Dont pour water on us again! barks Lace at the faceless girl, who is restrained by several guys before she can tear out Laces extensions.

We interrupt this hot mess to bring you Team Bachelors visual metaphors for Amanda and Josh having sex while Nick sits on the beach, alone and forlorn.

Excellent use of stock footage, guys.

Just when you think the drama is over for the night, our final Bipper of the episode comes flouncing down the stairs.

Thats right, bishes! Its Ashley I.  and shes ready to turn her on-again, off-again status with Jared to the permanent on position. He sends me roses. Sometimes we kiss, and sometimes we dont. Sometimes we sleep in a bed together, she reports. However, nothing has happened down there.

On that note, rose lovers, were going to wrap for the night. Come back tomorrow, obviously, for Ashley I.s inevitable meltdown over Jared and Caila, and to see Nick and some nubile newbie almost get eaten by crabs on the beach. Finally, why is Daniel on a date with Ashley I.? If he throws over Sarah for Princess Cries-a-Lot I will not be happy. Post your thoughts about tonights episode below. Now if youll excuse me, Im going to log a call to PETA  Im pretty sure Team Bachelor is holding this iguana hostage at the hotel just because he makes good b-roll.

Bachelor in Paradise airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. After Paradise airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.


Bad news for lazy girls: you probably shouldnt JUST be washing your bangs

Bad news for lazy girls: you probably shouldnt JUST be washing your bangs

As a woman with bangs, I will admit that Im guilty of frequently washing only my fringe. The fact is, my bangs look crazy when I wake up in the morning and they need to be tamed before I can present myself to the world. So I stick my head in the sink, shampoo that little shag, blow dry and go. The rest of my hair gets washedother times.

But according to a new (and depressingly revelatory) report from Cosmo UK , Im doing myself a disservice by washing only my bangs. Writer Lauren Valenti spoke to Kerastase Paris consulting hairstylist Matt Fugate about selective washing and he had some very matter-of-fact words about the dangers of the practice.

When you do this, you will lose luster and shine. You will also end up overproducing oil by stripping your scalp.

No thank you!

giphy (16)

Valenti points out that its not just fringe-wearing women who wash their hair selectively. Products like Pony Dry keep the ends of your hair water-and shampoo-free while you wash only your greasy roots. Seems like a great idea, but Fugate disagrees.

You will create breakage and compromise your hairs elasticity by overworking the finest parts of your hair, he says.

Duly noted.

Stylists dont recommend washing your hair every day, as that can increase oil production and cause your locks to become even greasier over time. Instead, try using a deep-cleansing or clarifying shampoo once in a while (every two weeks is a safe bet) to clear out product buildup and sebum. That should help your hair stay cleaner longer!

giphy (17)

Head over to Cosmo for more about why selective hair washing is a bad call.

The post Bad news for lazy girls: you probably shouldnt JUST be washing your bangs appeared first on HelloGiggles.
macbook pro 2016 concept

Its back to school season, which means laptop manufacturers around the world are salivating at the prospect of students gobbling up new notebooks.

Lets deflate that a bit: If theres any way you can hold off on buying a new laptop, do so. You might have to wait a few extra weeks, but all three of the major operating systems are due for some significant upgrades.

Apple: a major MacBook Pro update is rumored

For Apple fans, a radically updated MacBook Pro is looming. Reports suggest itll be the most significant overhaul to the series in years, with a slimmer design, USB-C ports, a fingerprint reader, and a secondary OLED display thatll replace the usual row of function keys. Though its not totally clear when itll arrive, the wave of recent rumors suggest it wont be long.

Those function keys might be controversial, but if you want Apples best, you have no real choice but to wait. The 12-inch MacBook should be good to go for the foreseeable future, but thats an iffy sell even without a replacement on the way. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air and its non-1080p display are looking more outdated with each passing month.

Windows: faster processors coming

On the Windows side, the newest generation of Intel Core processors, codenamed Kaby Lake, is coming soon. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said the 7th-generation chips started shipping back in July, and on Tuesday confirmed that theyll be available in devices this fall. Earlier in the week, Energy Star inadvertently leaked forthcoming Lenovo laptops with Kaby Lake as well.

Kaby Lake wont be a massive upgrade over the existing Skylake  it only exists because Intel had to push back its more advanced Cannonlake chips to 2017  but its supposed to allow for smoother graphics and 4K video performance. A demo at this weeks Intel Developers Forum touted as much. Plus, in general, its always good to futureproof your laptops as much as you can.

Story continues

google play store chromebooks

Android apps coming to Chromebooks

Finally, Chrome OS will formally support the Google Play Store starting next month. That means Chromebooks will have Android apps.

We took a peek at how thatll work in June  in short, it seems very likely to improve Googles machines, especially when theyre offline.

Theres a bunch of existing Chromebooks thatll support the Play Store when it goes live, but very few of those manage to find a good balance between price, performance, and having a touchscreen, which is important when youre about to add thousands of touch-enabled apps.

And again, futureproofing. If you dont want to settle, it might be worth waiting and seeing how OEMs approach Chrome OSs brave new world.

To be clear: If you just bought a new laptop, dont feel too bad. Kaby Lake isnt a game-changer, and you might not have bothered with Android apps anyway. If youre in need of an upgrade, though, see if you can tough it out for a little bit longer.

NOW WATCH: Sorry Apple fans  the iPhone 7 is going to be boring





More From Business Insider


Bangkok wasnt on my bucket list for the simple reason that Ive never had a bucket list.

Click here for Bangkok's Luxury State Tower Hotel Offers Sheer Indulgence High Above the City

Bangkok's Luxury State Tower Hotel Offers Sheer Indulgence High Above the City (Slideshow)

But the scent of Champagne and the anticipation of high adventure quickly convinced me to accept an invitation from lebua Hotels and Resorts to spend a few days enjoying the dazzling array of restaurants and bars located under the shiny golden dome atop the 65th floor of their flagship luxury State Tower Hotel in downtown Bangkok.

Chief among these destination delights are the worlds tallest open-air Champagne bar, Flute a Perrier-Jouet; restaurants Sirocco and Breeze (both outdoors); indoor restaurant Mezzaluna; and bar Distil. Then there was the lure of getting some apres-flight recovery in one of their all-suite, high-altitude lodgings.

The lebua group (they officially spell their name all lowercase) also owns three resorts in India and one in New Zealand, as well as a hotel restaurant in Frankfort. The latter conveniently allowed me to break my airplane hours in half  a nine-hour flight from Philadelphia (where lebua plans to open a restaurant next year at an as-yet-undisclosed venue) and another 11 hours between Frankfurt and Bangkok.

First stop: Frankfurt. After lunch and dinner at Breeze restaurant  a beautifully designed eatery with exquisite Pan-Asian cuisine located beneath the historic Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof  and a good nights sleep, I am soon on an overnight flight to Bangkok.

*/

Bangkok's Luxury State Tower Hotel Offers Sheer Indulgence High Above the City
(Recasts to add details on potential plans, other proposals)

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal

SAO PAULO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Banks and bondholders accounting for more than half Oi SA's debt of 65.4 billion reais ($20 billion) are considering proposing a five-year grace period and lower borrowing costs to speed up the Brazilian phone carrier's in-court reorganization, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said on Tuesday.

The person, who requested anonymity because the discussions are preliminary and remain confidential, said the bondholder group advised by Moelis & Co and a number of lenders, including state-run Banco do Brasil SA and China Development Bank Corp, are discussing several alternatives to provide Oi with a debt relief plan.

Those alternatives include cutting borrowing costs, with bondholders agreeing to take losses on their investments in Oi's notes, said the person. The emergence of proposals from other bondholders and minority shareholders has brought the banks and the Moelis-led group closer, the person said.

"The parties are working closely and jointly in order to accelerate Oi's in-court reorganization plan and thwart any unconstructive proposal that could potentially generate noise in the process," the person said, adding that bondholders are interested in a solution that involves swapping part of their debts into equity of the revamped company.

The media office for Moelis in Sao Paulo declined to comment. CDB, Banco do Brasil, as well as state-controlled BNDES and Caixa Economica Federal, did not have an immediate comment. The person also mentioned a number of export credit agencies as being part of the banks involved in talks.

The discussions come after a group of minority shareholders led by Brazilian fund Societe Mondiale began to work on a "parallel" reorganization plan for Oi, consisting of a debt reduction of at least 50 percent, a spin-off of some non-essential business and the search for investors to help fund capital spending. Another person close to Societe Mondiale confirmed the plans to Reuters earlier on Tuesday.

Story continues

Oi filed in June for Brazil's largest in-court reorganization plan ever after the country's No. 1 fixed-line phone carrier ran out of time to reorganize operations and restructure existing liabilities amid a harsh recession.

Last week, Chief Executive Officer Marco Schroeder said Oi expects to present a plan to overhaul business and repay creditors later this month or by early September. Suppliers and creditors will be offered terms of the business reorganization plan, which involves a debt-for-equity swap, Schroeder said, without elaborating.

Rio de Janeiro-based Oi, the byproduct of a government-sponsored merger in 2008, succumbed to a heavy debt burden and mounting competition after years of shareholder disputes.

The rift led to the collapse of negotiations with the Moelis-led group after the largest single shareholder, Pharol SGPS SA, balked at the prospect of being heavily diluted in a debt restructuring deal.

($1 = 3.2005 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
SAO PAULO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Banks and bondholders accounting for more than half the 65.4 billion reais ($20 billion) that Oi SA owes could propose a five-year grace period and lower borrowing costs to speed up the Brazilian phone carrier's in-court reorganization, a person with direct knowlegde of the talks said on Tuesday.

The person, who requested anonymity because the discussions are preliminary and remain confidential, said the bondholder group advised by Moelis & Co and a number of lenders including Banco do Brasil SA and China Development Bank Corp are in discussions to provide Oi with a debt relief plan.

Oi filed in June for Brazil's largest in-court reorganization plan ever after the country's No. 1 fixed-line phone carrier ran out of time to reorganize operations and restructure 65.4 billion reais of debt amid a harsh recession.

($1 = 3.2005 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
The federal government has proposed increasing Section 8 rental subsidies in high-income neighborhoods and decreasing them in low-income neighborhoods as a way to help low-income Americans, the majority of whom live in cities' poorest neighborhoods, move into neighborhoods with higher rents, better performing schools and higher-paying jobs. But Mayor de Blasio, state democrats, housing lawyers and nonprofit housing organizations are all pushing back, saying this change is untenable in New York City, where the vacancy rate is extremely low.

In a brutal housing market like New York's, they argue, voucher holders in low-income neighborhoods would suddenly face higher rents, and have nowhere to turn. Even if higher subsidies were available in wealthier neighborhoods, there simply aren't enough apartments available in those neighborhoods to serve New York's 119,000 voucher holders. The current vacancy rate in New York City is less than 3.5 percent.

"In New York, where there are few affordable housing options, the neediest residents will not have realistic alternatives, and will be faced with having either to pay more rent out of their own pocket or leaving the city altogether," said mayoral spokeswoman Aja Worthy-Davis in a statement.

Under current law, Section 8 holders pay 30% of their monthly income in rent. The subsidy covers the balance of that rent check, but only up to a threshold that's set by the Fair Market Rent (FMR), or average rent for the entire metropolitan area. The new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposal would instate Small Area Fair Market Rents, or average rents set according to zip code.

The Daily News provided a solid example of how the change would increase subsidies in some NYC neighborhoods, and decrease them in others:

For instance, the rule change in zip code 10451 in the South Bronx would lower the average rent cutoff from $1,727 to $1,287. Tenants would have to either make up the $440-a-month difference, or move. At the same time, in the higher-income downtown Brooklyn zip code 11201, the average rent cutoff eligible for subsidy would rise from $1,815 to $2,365.

"Tenants in low-income neighborhoods would have their FMRs decreased," said Victor Bach, the housing policy analyst for the Community Service Society, an affordable housing advocacy group opposing the idea. "The owners might drop out of the Section 8 program, or the tenants would have their rent substantially increased. Many of these tenants are elderly and disabled."

The Small Area Fair Market Rents proposal is being considered for 30 cities in total, and Bach clarified that he believes it has potential to work in cities with higher rental vacancies, like Baltimore. Dallas instated zip code-based vouchers in 2011, and the NY Times recently reported that its been largely successfulDallas voucher holders lived in 163 zip codes in 2015, up from 129 zip codes in 2011.

In an open letter to HUD, New York Representative Nydia Velazquez and Senator Chuck Schumer predicted a different outcome for New York City. According to the duo, the shift in Section 8 payouts would decrease voucher amounts for more than 56,000 Section 8 tenants.

"This means, that within 13 to 24 months of the final rule taking effect, these individuals and families will be expected to move to a higher-income neighborhood, be forced to re-negotiate with their landlord for a lower rent, or assume a significantly higher rent burden in order to stay in their home," the letter states.

A spokesman for HUD countered Tuesday that New York City would have the ability, under the proposed change, to "grandfather" current Section 8 holders, meaning these renters would not be impacted by the change in subsidies. "This helps ensure that in low-vacancy localities, families will not be displaced from their existing apartments," he said.

This clarification is in line with the Community Service Society's recommendation that HUD "hold harmless all current tenants."

HUD said that grandfathering would not apply to tenants who move, but predicted that the switch to staggered vouchers would still be gradual. Section 8 rental vouchers have been closed to NYC applicants since 2009, and the waiting list is notoriously longin NYC, about 120,000 residents.

But Bach argued that cities with low vacancy rates also tend to have high turn-back ratesmeaning, many vouchers are ultimately returned and re-issued because voucher holders simply can't find a suitable apartment that will take Section 8. Landlord discrimination against voucher holders is common in NYC, despite legislation specifically outlawing the practice.

"Opportunities in low rent neighborhoods would shrink because of lower owner incentives," he predicted. "Voucher apartment seekers would have a tougher time, and opportunities in better neighborhoods would not substantially increase."

Monday marked the deadline for public comment on proposed Section 8 alterations, but HUD said that the review period is ongoing.

"HUD will carefully review comments submitted in response to the proposed rule and will work closely with affected cities to craft a rule that increases housing choice and mobility while avoiding negative impacts on current voucher holders," the agency stated.
Belgrade (AFP) - US Vice President Joe Biden called Tuesday for improved ties between former foes Kosovo and Serbia during a visit to the Balkans to promote reconciliation in the fragile region.

Biden held talks with top officials including Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, where a group of ultranationalists protested against his visit in T-shirts bearing pictures of US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Biden said he and Vucic discussed "the importance of moving forward" with ongoing European Union-brokered talks to normalise relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which were at war in the late 1990s.

"It is difficult, there is nothing easy about it, there is a lot of history to overcome," said Biden.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work and political will to overcome divisions."

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move promptly recognised by Washington but consistently denied by Belgrade.

Biden nevertheless praised Serbian efforts towards improved relations.

"If both sides remain committed to the future of peace and greater prosperity it's going to help both nations move closer to joining the European Union," he told reporters.

Biden was due to fly to Kosovo's capital Pristina later Tuesday for the second leg of his trip, expected to be his last to the Balkans as vice president, and he said he would raise the same issue with leaders there.

The Kosovo war, which pitted Serbia's armed forces against separatist ethnic Albanian rebels in the southern province, came to an end after a US-led NATO bombing campaign against Serbia.

During Biden's visit to Belgrade dozens of ultranationalists briefly protested in the city centre, led by Radical Party head Vojislav Seselj who was acquitted of war crimes in late March.

Seselj criticised Biden for encouraging the 1990s NATO bombing and said Trump on the other hand was a "friend of the Serbian people".

Earlier this week Biden hit the 2016 campaign trail with Hillary Clinton for the first time, trashing Trump as unqualified for the White House and accusing him of endangering the lives of US troops.
Berlin (AFP) - Long the European capital of techno-driven nightlife, fastidious hipsterdom and low-cost party weekends, Berlin is adding another string to its bow as a vegan haven.

Animal product-free versions of almost any business can be found in Germany's largest city, from butchers' shops to singles' nights.

But getting lost in the eyes of a romantic prospect over grilled tofu is far from all that's on offer for the city's 80,000 vegans -- around 10 percent of the nationwide figure, vegetarian association Vebu estimates.

"Germany and especially Berlin are at the forefront" of a vegan "movement" that's advancing all over Europe, Vebu vice-president Sebastian Joy told AFP.

That's obvious from the roughly 60 vegan restaurants on offer in the German capital counted by specialist website Happy Cow -- far outstripping the 24 in Paris and 40 in London, both cities more than twice the size of Berlin.

That figure has ballooned since 2008, when there were just three completely animal-free restaurants according to Vebu.

-'Vegans attract vegans'-

Berlin is "younger, more hyped, and more alternative than Munich, Paris or London," explained Joy.

"There's a snowball effect: vegans attract vegans and more and more people come."

On top of the roughly 10 new eateries opening each year, a whole lifestyle is falling into place.

Schivelbeiner Strasse in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood in northeast Berlin, popular with startup workers and young parents, has become a "Vegan Avenue".

Initiates can stroll from supermarket to cafe to clothes- and shoe-shops and carry their purchases home with vegan consciences clear.

The food shelves without cheese, yoghurt or honey and clothing racks without wool or leather are a far cry from the luxurious treats at KaDeWe -- the German answer to Harrods or Galeries Lafayette.

Today in 2016, growth in what's on offer, from soy ice-cream to Europe's first 100 percent-vegan pizzeria, means that "Berlin is almost comparable to New York" in terms of options for vegans, said yoga teacher and long-time adept of the lifestyle Moritz Ulrich.

Story continues

- Enter the 'flexitarians' -

But the sudden aura of cool around veganism has uprooted the movement from its woollen-socks-with-sandals origins.

In early 2016, police were called to break up a vegan restaurant opening after hundreds of people showed up to the event, swarming over the pavement and even blocking traffic.

The new fast-food joint had become the evening's hot ticket on Facebook among fans of the fashion-blogger owners.

"Being vegan is no longer an abstemious practise for a few fundamentalist animal-lovers, but part of hedonistic event culture," sniffed Munich broadsheet Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The Facebook crowds fit into a growing, fluid category of "flexitarians", who may see part-time veganism as a way to eat more healthily or care a little more for the environment.

"People are asking more and more questions about where the food on their plate comes from," said Johannes Theuerl, the owner of a vegan butcher's shop.

On offer at his counter are "meatballs" and slices of roast seitan, a food based on wheat proteins.

"Beyond reducing meat consumption, we see that people also want to eat seasonal and regional produce," Theuerl went on.

Proponents say that traditional vegans' upsets about such meat substitutes are past their sell-by date.

"I've had enough of the cliche about the activist who expects others to adopt the same lifestyle," heartthrob vegan celebrity chef Attila Hildmann told Deutschlandradiokultur, complaining of an "ideological wall" around veganism.

Some people just insist that "meat is a crime, without proposing an alternative," he went on.

But with veganism on the radar of Berlin's entrepreneurs, foodies, and fad-seeking young followers of fashion, more alternatives are emerging all the time.

Nowadays, "people who give up meat aren't doing it because they don't like it," said Vebu's Joy, who picks a distinctly 21st-Century analogy to drive his argument home.

"You can drive an electric car because you see the damage done by diesel without wanting to switch to a bike."
BELGRADE (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Belgrade on Tuesday to encourage Serbia and Kosovo to normalize relations, offered condolences to Serbs who lost loved ones in U.S.-led NATO air strikes during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. Biden was the first high-ranking U.S. official to make such a gesture following NATO's intervention in the Kosovo conflict, which led to the ethnic Albanian-majority region's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. The United States is highly popular among Kosovars, who regard Washington as their savior for the air strikes that halted killings of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces waging a counter-insurgency war. But resentment remains high in Belgrade over NATO's air strikes, whose vestiges can be seen in battered ex-Defense Ministry buildings in the center of the Serbian capital. "I'd like to express my condolences to the families of those whose lives were lost in the wars of the 1990s, including those killed as a consequence of the NATO air strikes," Biden told reporters after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg offered similar condolences last year. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo, its former southern province, as sovereign but has struck a series of deals brokered by the European Union to try to regulate relations between the two. Analysts and Western diplomats say implementation of the agreements has been piecemeal at best on both sides. (Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Mark Heinrich)
London (AFP) - West Ham's record signing Ghanaian international Andre Ayew is to undergo a scan on the thigh he injured in his Premier League debut for them in the defeat by Chelsea.

The 26-year-old France-born forward -- who cost West Ham A20.5million (24m euros, $26.6m) when they signed him earlier this month from rivals Swansea -- cut an unhappy figure as he left the pitch midway through the first-half of the 2-1 defeat.

"Ayew has a thigh injury, he told me it's not a big one but you never know," said Bilic.

"He will have a scan and we have to wait for the result of the scan to know how long he will be out."

Even if he recovers Ayew is highly unlikely to feature in West Ham's Europa League first leg qualifying play-off clash in Romania on Thursday against Astra Giurgui.

French star playmaker Dimitri Payet could play but he is unlikely to start against the unheralded Romanians as Bilic believes he still hasn't got the legs after his Euro 2016 exertions to last 90 minutes.

"It was a plan for Dimitri to come on for not more than half an hour.

"I spoke to him yesterday, he felt good and he looks good in training, but he's not ready yet for 90 minutes. It was the plan to bring him on.

"He gives you composure, he creates opportunities and space for other players."
EXCLUSIVE: Just more than two months after cutting loose Christopher Tayback as his main attorney after less than a year, Bill Cosby has lost another lawyer. Monique Pressley announced in court filings that she is no longer representing the actor after just more than a year.

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt confirmed today that the Washington D.C.-based attorney no longer is part of the legal team for the much-accused Cosby Show creator. The shakeup in the actors defense now sees Angela Agrusa, head of litigation at LA and New York firm Liner LLP, and Pennsylvania-based Brian McMonagle fronting Cosbys efforts to avoid a potential decade behind bars on three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault. Dropped on Cosby late last year, those charges are in addition to several civil cases nationwide that the actor is fighting.

Pressley had been the primary public face of Cosbys defense as she frequently appeared in the media on the actors behalf. She did not respond to Deadlines request for comment about her exit, but her social media presence is filled with photos and posts about going to court for Cosby during the past several months.

Facing criminal charges in Pennsylvania for the sexual assault of Andrea Constand in 2004, Cosby has been unsuccessful in attempts to get the case by the Montgomery County D.A. office derailed. Last month, Judge Steven ONeill ruled to deny the habeas corpus in the case of Cosbys alleged drugging and rape of the then-Temple University employee. On August 12, ONeill quashed another legal maneuver by Cosbys team to stop the matter from going to trial later this year.

With accusations from more than 50 women that the actor drugged and/or assaulted them, Cosby is facing a number of defamation and other civil cases in states like California and Massachusetts, where the statute of limitations have expired.

Related stories

Bill Cosby Ends Lawsuit Against 2004 Rape Accuser & 'National Enquirer'

Story continues

Bill Cosby Axes His Main Lawyer After Less Than A Year

Bill Cosby Loses Bid To Stop 2004 Rape Case Trial - Update
(Adds comments, details from the ninth graph; changes dateline to TAIPEI)

By Faith Hung

TAIPEI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Blackstone has pulled out of a potential $700 million investment in the Taipei 101 tower operator after the Taiwanese group declined to disclose certain financial details, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC), which operates the iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper, agreed to open its books in October to the U.S. private equity giant, which was looking to make its first investment in Taiwan.

Taipei 101 is the hottest spot for Chinese tourists visiting the island as it is among the world's 10 tallest buildings with a shopping mall filled with luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.

"The deal has fallen apart," one of the sources said. "(Blackstone) did not even start the due diligence," a crucial step if Blackstone wanted to pursue a purchase.

Blackstone had asked TFCC to disclose lease contract details of every tenant at Taipei 101 but TFCC refused on grounds of client confidentiality, said the sources.

TFCC instead offered in March to provide lease contract details by categorized groups, rather than for each individual tenant, the sources said.

No conclusion was reached at that time and Blackstone has not been in touch with TFCC since then, the sources said.

Contacted by Reuters in Hong Kong, Blackstone declined to comment. A spokesman for TFCC said the group has not heard from Blackstone in the last few months.

A deal for the 37.17 percent stake that TFCC is putting up for sale on behalf of a major shareholder would have been Blackstone's first investment in Taiwan.

"Taipei 101 is an excellent building with most of its revenues coming from rent," said the other source.

"From Blackstone's point of view, they hoped to see details such as the period and rent range of each contract, which unfortunately TFCC did not offer."

Some 98 percent of the tower's space has been occupied, with its average rent the highest in Taipei, said Michael Liu, a TFCC vice president.

Story continues

In its most recent effort to stand taller among global rivals, Taipei 101 won the certification in leadership in energy and environment design, version 4, last month, making it the first tower with such a green building credential outside the United States.

TFCC posted a record profit of T$2.036 billion ($65.2 million) in 2015, up 18 percent from 2014, Liu said. Its net profit in the first half of 2016 was T$1.077 billion, 8 percent higher than the same period a year earlier.

($1 = 31.2220 Taiwan dollars) (Additional reporting by Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong; editing by Lisa Jucca and David Clarke)
(Repeats story sent on Aug. 12 without changes)

* Bollore clashes with Berlusconis over Italy's Mediaset

* French tycoon has history of taking control of firms

* He has built a global conglomerate over three decades

By Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) - When French tycoon Vincent Bollore backed out of a deal to buy the pay-TV business of Italian broadcaster Mediaset, and instead proposed to take a large slice of the parent company itself, investors feared he was plotting another stealth raid.

The family of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, which controls Mediaset, suspected Bollore would seek to loosen their grip on the company - concerns based on his history as a skilled and aggressive corporate tactician.

Through shrewd investments and creeping control methods, over three decades he has turned his Bollore group from a family-owned maker of thin papers into a global conglomerate that spans transportation and logistics, energy storage, communications and media assets including Vivendi.

Bollore's Vivendi had agreed in April to acquire all of Mediaset's pay-TV unit, Premium, as part of a deal that would also see the two media groups take a 3.5 percent stake in each other.

But late last month it proposed new terms: it would buy just 20 percent of the unit, and also take bonds that could be converted to give it a total 15 percent stake in parent Mediaset. It said its change of plan was a result of differences with Mediaset in the analysis of Premium's financial forecasts.

The Berlusconis saw the situation very differently. Their holding company Fininvest said Vivendi's real reason for the U-turn was to covertly build up a big stake in Mediaset, denouncing the "total impropriety" of its conduct.

Vivendi declined to comment for his article. Its CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on July 30 that it had no plans to take over Mediaset.

Bollore has not spoken publicly about Mediaset, and could not be reached for comment.

Story continues

Mediaset, which has repeatedly rejected Vivendi's alternative proposal, did not respond to requests for comment. Fininvest, which owns about 35 percent of Mediaset, did not provide fresh comment but has previously made clear it is opposed to Vivendi's proposed new terms.

STRICTLY BUSINESS

Bollore is a long-time friend of fellow billionaire Silvio Berlusconi. But for the 64-year-old Frenchman, dealmaking is never personal, it's strictly business.

"His reputation precedes him and, indeed, it frightened them (the Berlusconis)," said a source close to the negotiations. "They fretted that this 15 percent stake could make Fininvest lose its blocking minority in Mediaset following a capital increase."

Bollore's corporate career is strewn with examples of the tycoon wresting control of companies via minority stakes.

Vivendi itself is a case in point.

Bollore initially received a 4.4 percent stake in the media group in exchange for the sale of the two TV channels he had created to Vivendi's pay-TV arm Canal Plus. He has since built that stake up to over 15 percent.

He is Vivendi's biggest shareholder and its chairman. With his wealth of business success and political contacts, he is the undisputed kingpin.

Corporate raids might be resented by those who lose power, but they are a perfectly legitimate part of business, said Colette Neuville, who is the head of a French association that champions the interests of small shareholders and has known Bollore for over a decade.

"Bollore has shown his capacity to turn businesses around and he's playing by the rules," she told Reuters in an interview. "If you want no risk of being taken over, don't list your shares on a financial market."

Bollore has hired and fired top management and imposed his vision of turning Vivendi into a European media powerhouse - a reversal of its previous course of focusing on core assets - and taken key strategic decisions, including the company's big bet on Telecom Italia.

Vivendi initially acquired just 1.9 percent of the Italian telecoms firm in June last year. In under a year it had increased that to almost 25 percent, making it the biggest investor and giving it effective control.

It pushed for the resignation of Telecom Italia's former CEO Marco Patuano, who stepped down in March.

"As soon as he buys shares of a company, he tends to think that it's badly managed," said a senior French banker who has knowledge of Bollore's business dealings in Italy.

"He was absolutely convinced that Telecom Italia was a lame duck and that everything needed to be changed."

COUNTDOWN

The dispute with the Berlusconis is not the first time Bollore's business methods have tested personal relationships.

When his family conglomerate bought almost 9 percent of the Bouygues construction group in 1997, he assured company boss Martin Bouygues - his former school classmate - by phone that it would be a friendly move and that he would support Bouygues and not interfere with strategy.

A year later, he had about 13 percent and opposed a strategic decision taken by Bouygues to diversify the activities of the group into telecoms. "Bollore took me for an idiot," Bouygues told a French magazine in 2013. "He fooled, deceived and humiliated me. I'll never forget it."

In a rare reversal, Bollore backed off from the confrontation and sold all his Bouygues shares in 1998 following a big backlash by supporters of his rival industrialist both inside and outside the Bouygues group.

He defended his dispute with the Bouygues boss by saying he had no choice but to speak out against the telecoms strategy because he believed it would damage the company's finances.

Two decades on, and several deals later - including raids on the likes of advertising firm Havas and shipowner Delmas-Vieljeux - Bollore's appetite appears undiminished. As well as the proposed Mediaset deal, he has set its sights on the video games market - in a tussle that might be closely watched by the Berlusconis.

Vivendi took over mobile games maker Gameloft in June and has built up a 22 percent stake in its bigger sister company Ubisoft. Both companies were founded by the Guillemot family, which considers the move on Ubisoft to be hostile and has refused to allow Vivendi board representation.

Vivendi has said it does not intend to launch a takeover bid for Ubisoft, saying it wants to collaborate with the existing management so that synergies can be found with Gameloft.

"I don't believe the synergy argument," said Vikram Kumar, a hedge fund manager at London-based TT International, which owns more than 1 percent of Ubisoft shares. "If Vivendi wants to get the hands on the company, it has to be a purely financially based outcome."

Ubisoft declined to comment for this story.

Even though he has assembled an empire that stretches from Dakar to Dunkirk, and amassed an estimated net worth of more than $5 billion, Bollore is unlikely to disappear into retirement any time soon.

His publicly stated plan the idea is to hand over the Bollore group to his four children in six years' time. He has even set a countdown on his smartphone for Feb. 17, 2022, the date that will mark the bicentenary of the family group and supposedly end his career as pater familias for the company.

But not even his family is convinced.

"I don't believe one second in this countdown," his son Yannick told French newspaper L'Opinion last month.

"The more the deadline approaches, the less he looks at it."

($1 = 0.8981 euros) (Additional reporting by Giulia Segreti in Milan; Editing by Richard Lough and Pravin Char)
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By Alonso Soto and Matias Larramendi BRASILIA/MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Brazil summoned Uruguay's ambassador on Tuesday after the neighbouring country's foreign minister accused Brazil of trying to "buy" its vote to block Venezuela from taking the rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc. In comments to lawmakers last week that were made public on Tuesday, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said his government was "angry" with Brazil's attempt to prevent Caracas from leading the regional group that also includes Argentina and Paraguay. Brazil Foreign Minister Jose Serra "came with the intention of blocking the handover (of the presidency) and if that happened they would take us along in trade negotiations, as if they wanted to buy Uruguay's vote," Nin Novoa said. The Brazilian foreign ministry summoned Uruguay's ambassador in Brasilia, Carlos Amorin Tenconi, to explain Nin Novoa's comments. "The Brazilian government received with a profound discontent and surprise the statement from Chancellor Nin Novoa," Brazil's foreign ministry said in a statement. The leadership spat in the group has raised tensions and opened ideological fault lines in a region struggling with a drop in commodity prices and political turmoil. Since Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May, her replacement Michel Temer has moved the country away from leftist allies such as Venezuela and towards traditional allies the United States and Europe. Argentina and Paraguay, once close allies to Caracas, have also moved to undermine Venezuela as the OPEC nation's socialist government struggles with economic and political crises. Venezuela was supposed to assume the rotating presidency of the bloc for six months, but Brazil claims the country has failed to fulfil the requirements to become a full member. Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supported Venezuela's former President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, who took office when Chavez died in 2013. (Editing by David Gregorio)
(Adds outlook, comments from executive, market reaction)

By Brad Haynes

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas expects operating profit this year to cover debt payments, marking a turning point for the debt-burdened company after the country's stronger currency helped it post a second-quarter net profit.

Gol issued a new forecast on Tuesday for earnings before interest payments and taxes this year equal to between 4 percent and 6 percent of revenue.

Chief Executive Paulo Kakinoff told journalists that would be enough to service its debts.

Shares of Gol jumped 5 percent in Sao Paulo trading to their highest in 13 months.

The stronger outlook follows years of net losses and growing debts as a severe recession, coupled with the nation's currency hitting an all-time low last year, battered the profitability of Brazilian airlines.

Gol's fuel, aircraft leasing and debt costs are denominated overwhelmingly in dollars, while it makes most of its revenue in Brazilian reais. The company's mounting debt burden led it to negotiate a debt swap this year that was poorly received by bondholders, about 20 percent of whom participated.

Rival airline Azul also signaled on Tuesday it had turned a corner, as chairman and controlling owner David Neeleman told newspaper Valor Economico that he expected an operating profit this year and net profit in 2017. Azul representatives confirmed the contents of the interview.

Gol trimmed its fleet by seven Boeing aircraft in the first half of the year and plans to shed another 15 planes by the end of the year, resizing the company due to weak demand amid Brazil's worst economic downturn in generations.

The airline on Tuesday also posted a net profit of 309.5 million reais ($97 million) in the second quarter, following a loss of 354.9 million reais a year earlier.

A roughly 10 percent rally in Brazil's currency in the quarter helped to cut fuel costs by 28 percent from a year ago and reduced Gol's debt load by around 778.8 million reais in local terms.

($1 = 3.16 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Reese Ewing in Sao Paulo; Editing by W Simon)
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff admitted she had made mistakes, but said she had done nothing worthy of impeachment in an address just over a week before she goes on trial.

Rousseff, accused of using illegal budgetary maneuvers to cover up the depth of the country's economic problems during her 2014 re-election, faces trial in the Senate starting August 25, four days after the Olympic Games end in Rio.

She looks near certain to be expelled from office.

With her impeachment trial looming, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court also authorized Tuesday the opening of an investigation into Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe into the state oil firm Petrobras.

In a letter to the Brazilian people that she read out in the capital Brasilia, Rousseff repeated her suggestion that Brazil hold new elections to get out of the political crisis.

Rousseff said that if she was spared by the Senate, she would back a referendum on holding early elections and electoral reform to carry out a "deep transformation" of a system that most Brazilians consider rotten.

She also struck a humble note.

"I have listened to the tough criticisms of my government, for the errors committed," she said. "I accept these criticisms with humility and determination so that we can build a new way forward."

But Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured under the military dictatorship in the 1970s, repeated her insistence that forcing her out through impeachment amounts to a coup.

"It would be an unequivocal coup, followed by an indirect election," she said.

"We have to strengthen democracy in our country, and for this it will be necessary for the Senate to close the impeachment process underway, recognizing, given the irrefutable evidence, that there was no crime of responsibility.

"I am innocent," Rousseff insisted. "There is no injustice more devastating than to condemn an innocent person."

Story continues

The final judgment phase in the impeachment process is expected to take several days before a vote.

The Senate must vote by a two-thirds majority at the end of the judgment session in order to remove her from office. If that happens, interim president Michel Temer would stay on until scheduled elections in 2018.

The Globo news organization reported that the actual judgment vote will take place between August 30-31.

The president of the Supreme Court, Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, will preside.

Rousseff was elected in 2010, taking over from her political mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, founder of the leftist Workers' Party.

She was re-elected in 2014 but her mandate rapidly got bogged down as economic output plummeted, unemployment rose and a huge corruption scandal tainted many of her allies, as well as members of the opposition.

Starting in 2015, her allies began to drift away. In May of this year, she was suspended to face impeachment proceedings.

"Brazil is living one of the most dramatic moments of its history," Rousseff wrote in her letter.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Usain Bolt glanced to his right once, twice, three times. No surprise: Nobody was there.

That's how the quest began for his final individual sprint gold at the Olympics - a jog through the sunshine in the opening round of the 200 meters and a stress-free victory in the ninth heat of Tuesday's qualifying.

He finished in 20.28 seconds, a time that means nothing. More importantly, he coasted into the finish line after triple-checking on Nigeria's Ejowvokoghene Oduduru simply to make sure nothing crazy was happening.

''I know how to run the 200,'' Bolt said. ''It's all about just reminding myself. Tomorrow, I'll show up with much better progress. I have to run fast, and so I'm looking forward to that.''

Everyone is.

If Wednesday's semifinals go as expected, he'll be lining up for gold medal No. 8 on Thursday night, where the biggest drama may not be whether he wins, but whether he cracks the once-thought-untouchable 19-second barrier. He already owns both the world record at 19.19, and Olympic record at 19.30.

Among those who will challenge him include American Justin Gatlin and Canadian Andre De Grasse, who finished 2-3 to Bolt in the 100, along with LaShawn Merritt of the U.S. They all won their heats on a muggy, sun-splashed day in a stadium with huge swaths of empty blue seats.

Most fans who did show were crowded along the opening curve, and they made plenty of noise when Bolt came onto the track. He flashed a big smile into the TV cameras and windmilled his arms, then raised them overhead to clap a couple of times. At one point, he looked toward the scoreboard, covered his eyes and squinted into the bright sunshine.

''I'm not an early-morning person,'' said Bolt, whose race began at 12:45 p.m. local time.

The fans went silent before the start. No, there would be no fireworks in an opening heat with no medal at stake and nobody lining up who could even give him a race. Only one other sprinter in his heat, Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, had ever broken 20 seconds and he finished tied for last.

Story continues

Still, this was Bolt - as big a star as there is at these Olympics - so the silence made sense.

He lumbered out of the blocks. His .177 reaction time was the slowest of the eight runners. That has turned every 100-meter sprint he's run into a come-from-behind affair, where his pure speed takes the day.

He considers the 100 his hobby, and the 200 his real job. And as he starts working his way through the curve, it's easy to see that his long-legged, 6-foot-5 frame was built for the longer race.

In this case, it was over before Bolt even got to the straightaway. All those looks to his right weren't so much taunting - no sign of that smile seen around the world in his 100-meter semifinal - but more a way of ensuring he doesn't waste a lick of energy.

''I came out here to qualify,'' Bolt said, ''and that's what I did.''

When it was over, Bolt walked over and hugged his closest pursuer, Oduduru, who finished only .06 seconds behind.

By the time the 10th and final heat ended, Bolt had only recorded the 15th-fastest time of 77 sprinters who lined up. No matter. The World's Fastest Man is moving on, another gold and - who knows? - maybe another record in his sights.
Brian Williams rehabilitation is expected to enter a new phase in which he gets his own, half-hour MSNBC show at 11 PM, to recap each days presidential election news.

Not coincidentally,the ratings race tightens between MSNBC and CNN, now that CNNs rip-snorting presidential election primary debates are a thing of the past.

NBC News is mulling a Labor Day launch for the Williams program. Initially its being leaked to Reporters Who Cover Television as a short stint, running through Election Day. But Williams job has been somewhat fluid since the former NBC Nightly News anchor returned from a company imposed six-month suspension last year, after it was revealed he had exaggerated his reports about some of his exploits and experiences as an NBC newsman.

He survived a network investigation but lost his evening-news anchor gig, returning to MSNBC, where he had been groomed for the Nightly job years earlier. He since has served as MSNBCs roving breaking news anchor, covering such stories as the Popes visit to the United States, mass shootings, natural disasters, and election events.

Williams was paired with Rachel Maddow to co-anchor the cable news networks coverage of some early primary events, starting with the Iowa caucus back in February, foretelling this likely new late-night political gig.

The new show would mark Williams first regularly scheduled program since his suspension.

At 11 PM, Williams will be taking on the live CNN Tonight that often runs in the hour; CNN first reported news of its new competition. Williams show also would compete against local news, and Comedy Centrals politically oriented The Daily Show, among other competitors.

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On Monday, Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump proposed a new set of questions to be presented to immigrants, in an attempt to screen out people who may potentially be a threat to American security.

TrumpSpeech

Trump delivers foreign policy speech

A Trump Administration will establish a clear principle that will govern all decisions pertaining to immigration: we should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people, the candidate said in a major foreign policy speech.

In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles  or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country, Trump added.

Whether the proposed questions are eventually added to an already complicated immigration process remains to be seen. But in looking back at the history of immigration to the United States, tests and criteria have been a frequent factor in considering admission to this country. And adherents to some political and moral philosophies have consistently been barred from entry to America.

In our form of constitutional government, Congress has the authority to decide who may become a citizen or reside in the United States. Congress set the first basic immigration requirement in 1790, which required a two-year residency in the United States for those who sought citizenship.

In 1875, the first direct immigration-criteria law, the Page Act, came from Congress. It declared that people and groups could be excluded as immigrants based on specific criteria. Initially, prostitutes and criminals were banned from entry, and port inspectors were appointed to question and screen immigration candidates.

The Chinese Exclusion Acts, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Chester Alan Arthur in 1882, at first barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States, and these restrictions were expanded to many ethnic Chinese, regardless of nationality, in subsequent laws.

Story continues

The Immigration Act of 1891 expanded the list of undesirables to include idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from certain contagious disease, felons, persons convicted of other crimes or misdemeanors related to moral turpitude, and polygamists. (FYI, current immigration laws still bar moral turpitude offenders.) In 1903, an immigration act signed by President Theodore Roosevelt added anarchists to the banned list and the act allowed immigration officials to ask people about their political beliefs during the questioning process.

For example, a person arriving at Ellis Island in 1905 would face several tests before gaining admission to the United States. A medical test often proved most challenging to some immigrants, along with cognitive testing.

In the February 1905 edition of Popular Science, Dr. Allan McLaughlin from the U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service explained the testing process. Immigrants who werent first class passengers were diverted through Ellis Island for inspections and checked by medical personnel. If they passed that screening process, the immigrants were then quizzed by clerks accompanied by interpreters.

The clerk, or interpreter, interrogates each alien, and finds his name, and verifies the answers on the manifest sheet before him, and if, in the opinion of the immigrant inspector, the immigrant is not clearly and beyond doubt entitled to land, he is held for the consideration of the board of special inquiry, McLaughlin said.

The list of 1905 manifest questions included confirmation that the person had at least $30 on their person and if they had ever been in a prison or an institution. And immigrants were asked if they were anarchists or polygamists.

In 1917, another act combined all the previously defined excluded groups in one do-not-admit list; added alcoholics to the list; required literacy tests; and banned people from many parts of the Asia-Pacific region, and in 1924, quotas were set for immigration based on countries of origin, and Japan was effectively added to the do-not-admit list.

By the 1950s, immigration exclusion laws changed to lift the ban on Chinese immigration, and the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act eliminated immigrants who advocated the economic, international, and governmental doctrines of world communism. (President Harry Truman vetoed the McCarran-Walter Act, but Congress overrode the veto.)

Since then, the immigration system has grown more complex, but there are still some basic criteria left from older exclusion legislation.

In overall terms, the Immigration and Naturalization Act provides for an annual worldwide limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants, with exceptions for close family members. Potential immigrants are evaluated based on family, employment, refugee and country-of-origin criteria.

According to the latest State Department rules on which criteria make potential immigrants ineligible for visas under the INA, people can be excluded if they have certain health conditions or have a criminal record.

Potential immigrants found to have terrorist ties are also excluded, including anyone who endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.

Anyone who is a current member of a totalitarian party is still excluded, such as any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign. There are provisions to allow former party members to come to the United States as immigrants, based on how long ago they ceased their party membership and if they lived in a nation where the ruling government prescribed party membership.

And the ban placed on polygamists back in 1891 still stands.

Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.

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On Tuesday, the luxury cruise ship Crystal Serenity begins a 32-day voyage carrying more than 1,000 passengers from Anchorage, Alaska, to New York City through the legendary Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The vessel has been called the first large-scale cruise ship packed with tourists to conquer the 900-mile sea route that has been notoriously difficult to traverse due to its icy landscape and dangerous weather conditions.

In fact, European explorers spent centuries trying to find the passage in the first place.

James P. Delgado, Director of the Maritime Heritage Program at The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and author of The Quest for the Northwest Passage, says the centuries-long quests started during the mini ice age of the Elizabethan era, in the mid-to-late 15th century, when the English, desiring to reach the riches of The Orient, figured they could find an oceanic shortcut through the Americas and not have to deal with Spanish-controlled waters, particularly in the aftermath the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided land discovered by Christopher Columbus between Spain and Portugal.

The list of failed attempts is a long one: Delgado says Martin Frobishers 1578 journey was the first major attempt, though the explorer ended up being sidetracked by false gold. Henry Hudson would try in 1610, but end up in an area now known as Hudson Bay, which would later open up that part of the continent to the fur trade. Explorers in the 17th century would mostly poke and prod around the Eastern approach until the American revolution and the War of 1812 when Britain ships and minds were diverted from exploration for the purposes of war. After the war ended, explorer John Ross didnt find the passage, but did find the North Magnetic Pole during his 1829-1833 expedition. Captain Sir John Franklin and two ships carrying at least 128 men set off in 1845, then disappeared.

That disappearance, however, would prove to be a turning point: it inspired expeditions to find him, and those search expeditions show theres a passage through, Delgado says. (In fact, the search continued as recently as Sept. 2014, when Parks Canada discovered one of the two ships, the HMS Erebus.)

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

Robert McClures search expedition for Franklin would spot a passage via ice, but Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsens ship would be the first to go all the way through by water  East to West  between 1903 and 1906. The Canadian schooner St. Roch would be the first ship to go in both directions in the early 1940s.

By the Cold War, things had changed. The Arctic had become a strategic frontier, and the USS Seadragon made the first submerged passage in 1960, during a period when Soviet and American submarines used it as a highway, Delgado argues. The 1969 voyage of the Humble Oil-sponsored SS Manhattan tanker would show new commercial possibilities by sailing through with icebreakers, along with accommodations so luxurious, TIME said it proved the Northwest Passage could be tamed in style.

After the Cold War came an increase in ecological and cultural tourism, Delgado says, adding that now with global warming, it is not same fearsome passage it was. One milestone was the summer of 2007, when TIME reported, for first time in recorded history, the Northwest Passage was ice-free all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Such conditions make trips like the Crystal Cruise possible and environmentalists worried about the long-term implications.

Ice-free should bring a sense of horror to all because that means melting of so much ice that sea levels will be much higher, says Delgado. You need to be careful what you wish for.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain awarded missile maker MBDA an 184 million pound ($239 million) contract on Tuesday to equip the country's new F-35 fighter jets with heat-seeking air-to-air weaponry. The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the deal with MBDA, a company owned by Franco-German group Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo Finmeccanica, would sustain 400 jobs in Britain. The Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) contract is among the first significant contracts to be handed out by Britain's new government after Theresa May became prime minister last month following the country's vote to leave the European Union. Under the contract, MBDA will manufacture an additional stockpile of an updated version of the weapon. The current version of ASRAAM is being used on RAF Typhoon and Tornado aircraft on missions in Iraq and Syria. Britain has ordered 138 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II stealth jets, some of which will fly from its two new aircraft carriers. ($1 = 0.7711 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Jason Neely)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain does not need EDF's 18-billion pound ($23 billion) Hinkley Point C nuclear plant to ensure the lights will stay on because alternative projects like new gas plants will be able to fill the gap, the CEO of energy company SSE said. SSE, Britain's second-bigger energy supplier and a former investor in new nuclear plants, is planning to build new gas-fired power plants and offshore wind farms that its chief executive said can deliver the electricity needed as old plants close down. "If Hinkley doesn't progress, there is plenty to fill the gap," said Alistair Phillips-Davies in an article for the Politics Home website. The future of EDF's two-reactor nuclear plant in southwest England was thrown into doubt last month when Prime Minister Theresa May delayed a government go-ahead for the project on security concerns regarding Chinese involvement in the project. China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) holds a 33 percent stake in the new plant. Phillips-Davies said the new government should focus on maintaining investor confidence in its energy policies, such as the minimum price for carbon emissions and its low-carbon power contracts. Until 2011, SSE was a 25-percent partner in the NuGen nuclear new build consortium which plans to construct a new nuclear plant in northwest England. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by Stephen Addison)
By Ben Blanchard and William James BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has told China's leader that Britain wants to strengthen trade and business ties, an attempt to reassure the world's second largest economy after London delayed a $24 billion nuclear project. May's surprise decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades upset China, which questioned whether Chinese money was still welcome in Britain just weeks after the June 23 Brexit vote to leave the European Union. After Beijing's expression of frustration, May wrote to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation. Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China's foreign ministry said, citing the letter. A source in May's office confirmed the contents of the letter, which was hand-delivered by Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, "This is part of what you'd expect the Prime Minister to do in terms of our relations with the wider world. It's all part of Britain remaining an outward-looking country as we head toward Brexit," the source said. China's $11.3 trillion economy is currently more than four times as big as Britain's at $2.4 trillion. Cast as the jewel illustrating a "Golden Era" of relations between the two powers, the financing deal for the Hinkley Point nuclear project in southwestern England was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by Xi last year. May's predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment, according to a former colleague. May's most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the turmoil which followed the Brexit vote indicates a more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as France. GOLDEN ERA? Under plans drawn up by Cameron, French utility EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp would fund the cost of building two Areva European Pressurized Water Reactors at the Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset. Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years, though critics said London had agreed to pay far too much. Hinkley is seen as blazing the trail for closer ties with China on nuclear issues and paving the way for tens of billions of dollars of investment and another two nuclear power plants with Chinese involvement. China's foreign ministry cited Britain's envoy, Sharma, as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation. Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy toward China, the ministry added. Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward looking approach." (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Richard Balmforth)
Hours after mourners gathered to remember a Queens imam and his assistant who were gunned down in broad daylight on an Ozone Park street corner over the weekend, the NYPD announced that they had arrested the alleged shooter. Oscar Morel, 35, has been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. His brother was shocked, telling the Daily News, "This is nothing like him. My brother is a decent person."

Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his assistant Thara Uddin, 64, were walking from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque on Saturday afternoon when a man approached them from behind and shot them both in the head. The suspect then got into a car, which the police determined was a Chevy Trailblazer.

Shortly after the shooting, a Trailblazer driver struck a cyclist while making a U-turn in Brooklyn. The cyclist took the license plate number down and reported it to police. According to the Daily Beast, "The report soon came to the attention of an old school first grade detective who was going through all summonses and traffic incidents in the immediate aftermath of the murder in broad daylight of an imam and his assistant... The detective now saw that the bicycle incident had occurred 14 blocks away, and at the time it would have taken to drive that distance."

The police investigated the license plate number, tracked the Trailblazer to Miller Avenue in Brooklyn and began surveillance of the vehicle. When Morel got into the car and started to drive away, officers advanced, and Morel drove into an unmarked law enforcement vehicle. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Morel "rammed the detectives car several times in an effort to get away. He was placed under arrest without any further incident."

A police source said the driver in the U-turn video was a "psycho." Police reportedly found the revolver used in the shooting "in the wall" of Morel's basement apartment.

Muslims have been demanding that police charge Morel with a hate crime. The NYPD says they are continuing to investigate that angle. The suspect's brother, Alvin Morel, said, "The only time we felt, everybody in New York felt, a hatred, was during 9/11. Other than that, we never felt a hatred with nobody.

He added, "I spoke to him just last [Sunday] evening, and he was all nonchalant, like nothing has happened."

There's been speculation the deaths of Akonjee and Uddin were related to Hispanic-Muslim tensions, a police source tells the Post, "Preliminarily, [police] dont have a motive for the shooting. They dont know what its about... They know it was a hit; the guy came up from behind and shot them. But they don't have a motive."



A young mourner (NYC Mayor's Office)

Still, one mourner said to WCBS 2, Two people just got murdered and NYPD saying this might not be a hate crime. I would like to ask NYPD, what is it then? Come on. Somebody comes from behind and shoot you for no reason - imam and his assistant? Come on, this is common sense.

As Muslims in New York City worry about their safety, some New Yorkers have been offering them escorts to and from mosques. A GoFundMe campaign has been started for Akonjee's and Uddin's families as well.

At the funeral, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised, "Were not going to listen to those voices who try to divide us. We will stand up to them each and every time. We will make sure that whoever did this is brought to justice, I can guarantee you that."
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A Bulgarian athlete was being quizzed after being accused of attacking and injuring cleaning staff working at the Rio Athletes Village, police said.

"A procedure has been opened to investigate injuries inflicted by an athlete of the Bulgarian delegation on several chambermaids working at the Olympic Village," police said in a statement.

One of the women claimed that the incident happened when she and her colleagues went to the athlete's room to clean it.

"But the athlete insisted they leave the room, hitting one of the women before attacking the others" for a reason not specified in the statement.

Police did not identify the individual involved.

It is not the first time that employees at the village have been assaulted at the Olympics.

Boxers Hassan Saada of Morocco and Namibia's Jonas Junias Jonas were arrested on charges of "sexual assault" on August 5 and 8 respectively.

Saada was released from custody but banned from returning to the village and from approaching the two Brazilian women he is alleged to have attacked.

Both fighters have since been eliminated from competition.
Burberry is hinting at what's to come for its first consumer-facing collection, which will debut Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. BST as part of London Fashion Week. On Monday, the British fashion house debuted its campaign that previews its September range, which is influenced by Virginia Woolf's Orlando - a novel about the representation of gender that was first published in 1928 before it was adapted into a film starring Tilda Swinton in 1992.

The ad - photographed by longtime collaborator Mario Testino at the sculpture gallery at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery - stars musician Cavan McCarthy and models Alex Dragulele and Jean Campbell (who's been featured in Burberry's campaigns before) in Victorian-inspired ensembles. Testino also shot a series of portraits of Burberry artisans that helps bring the luxury label's vision to life, including a black-and-white photo of the pattern maker for Burberry's new Bridle bag.

The Burberry Artisans, featuring Piero Calosi, pattern maker for The Bridle - the new runway bag arriving 19 September 2016. . Shot by @MarioTestino for the new #Burberry Campaign.

A photo posted by Burberry (@burberry) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:02am PDT

As part of its September presentation, which will be held at "Makers House" in the heart of London's Soho, the brand has partnered with The New Craftsmen to showcase the work of British artisans and their products in a weeklong exhibit, Sept. 21-27, at the aforementioned venue. As the release explains, it will display "the original works by a selection of makers who will use this space to experiment and create, using the collection's inspiration as the starting point for their work."

"Just as Virginia Woolf's Orlando is both a love-letter to the past and a work of profound modernity, this week-long exhibition aims to nod both to the design heritage that is so integral to Burberry's identity, and to some of Britain's most exciting creators, and the innovation and inspiration behind their work," said chief creative officer (and soon to be ex-CEO) Christopher Bailey.

Burberry's upcoming show will feature both womenswear and menswear, and will be available for purchase immediately after the show.
From Road & Track

Used car buyers are often offered an Extended Service Contract when there is no other warranty available for the car being sold. This is usually on older cars, well out of their manufacturer's warranty. Based upon what I have seen in 24 years of dealing with consumer transactions gone bad, most of these contracts are overpriced and mostly worthless, with one exception.

The best warranties are those offered on new cars. Sometimes, those warrantiesif they have not expiredwill transfer to future owners. But when those warranties expire, the cars are often sold "as is"that is with no promises being made by the seller regarding future failures of the vehicle. Sometimes, sellers will offer ESCs on those unwarranted cars. The contracts fall into two categories: manufacturer ESCs and third-party ESCs.

The Manufacturer ESC is what you might guess. A late-model Ford might be eligible for an ESC offered by Ford Motor Company. The ESC will be limited in what it coversusually the drivetrainand in its duration. But, since it is being offered by a manufacturer you are familiar with, I believe these are not a bad optiondepending on how much the ESC costs and how averse you are to mechanical failure in your vehicle. Some of these are even sold by dealers of one brand when a buyer is getting a used vehicle from another manufacturer. I know because I once bought a GM Protection Plan on a used Dodge I bought from a Pontiac dealer.

The third-party warranties are a much murkier proposition.

The third-party warranties are a much murkier proposition. They are often over-priced and chock full of exclusions and limitations. I've seen some that appear to exclude almost everything from coverage while making it almost impossible to file a claim. There are numerous companies offering these; how do you know which ones are any good? And most dealers only offer one brand. Bob's Warranty Shack of Texas? It might be the only ESC they offer on the car you are looking at.

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Be aware that the profit margins on these are huge. Presumably this is because they offer such little coverage but if you are inclined to buy it, at least haggle on the price. If $600 of the $1,200 price is profit for the dealer, you should be able to talk them down a few bucks.

But first, read the fine print of the contract. Notice what is and is not covered. "Internally lubricated parts" might be covered, unless they fail due to the failure of a "non lubricated part." Waitwhat?

Is there a deductible? I've spoken to many people who had repeated failures of the same component over and over again, and were being eaten alive by a $100 deductible each time they brought the car back in.

Where can you get service? Any shop or does the contract provider have one you must go to?

Remember that you are buying the ESC because you might end up using it.

Remember that you are buying the ESC because you might end up using it. Any hoops in the fine print are not theoretical when you find yourself jumping through them later. When I bought the ESC on my used Dodge long before I went to lawschool, I didn't catch any of the fine print. Like, how I had to pay to have the car fixed first; then, they would reimburse me. When the turbocharger on my car failed it was covered, but I had to borrow the money to get it fixed (thanks, Dad!) Imagine my surprise when they reimbursed me with a check that was short the cost of all the hoses and clamps replaced during the repair. Yes, it was buried in the fine print  none of which I read when I first bought the ESC.

If you are really inclined to get the third-party ESC the seller is offering you, and it is not backed by a major auto manufacturer, hop on your smart phone and check the company out. You'll be surprised by how many ESC providers there are out there AND by how many complaints have been filed against most of them on various consumer-complaint sites.

My advice? Take the money you would spend on a third-party ESC and use it to hire a competent mechanic to check out the car you are buying. The mechanic will probably cost less and between the two, I'll take the car that passed the mechanical inspection any day over a similar car that was not inspected but is covered by a third-party ESC I have never heard of.

Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney from Michigan. He specializes in Lemon Law and frequently writes about cars and the law. His most recent books include Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow, and Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird: Design, Development, Production and Competition. He also has a podcast where he talks about these things.
A year ago, Vine star Cameron Dallas wrote in his goals notebook that he wanted to have his own show on Netflix. But when Magical Elves, the production company working with Dallas, tried to sell the idea, the streaming service passed. As his team surveyed other choices, Dallas knew he wasnt ready to move on. No, I really want Netflix, he told his people.

Just get me a meeting with them and Ill pitch them in person. Dallas recounts this story while taking a break from shooting his new Netflix docu-series. We got the show, he adds.

Most 21-year-olds dont have the clout to make Hollywood executives listen, but Dallas is the Tom Cruise of the digital world. In fact, Cruise is one of the actors that Dallas admired growing up. Tom Cruise is dope, he says. Dallas boasts 8.4 million Twitter followers and 14.7 million Instagram fans.

As a teenager in Chino, Calif., Dallas started an Instagram account, where he branded himself as a male model. I had no idea what modeling entailed, and what an agency was, Dallas says. It was crazy. As I continued to do it, it was fun for me to learn everything from A to Z. Professional photographers started calling; IMG signed him, and he eventually ended up as part of a Calvin Klein print campaign. It was a good step in the right direction to bridge the gap between social media and traditional media, he says.

But he wasnt going to stop there. Dallas, who gained more notoriety for his YouTube and Vine videos with families and friends (they play like a PG-rated Jackass), and is repped by WME, went on to record music, star in two VOD-released movies (2014s Expelled and 2015s The Outfield), and attend the Met Gala. He met Conde Nasts artistic director Anna Wintour the year before he graced the cover of Teen Vogue.

I knew the name, obviously, he says of Wintour. But I wasnt quite sure exactly who she was.

Its all part of Dallas master plan to take his internet fame to the mainstream. Its still an open question if digital stars can cut it in movies, music, or TV, especially since Dallas area of expertise is in taking the perfect selfie. (Its all about the filter, man, he says. Filter and angle.) But Dallas thinks its only a matter of time before Hollywood openly embraces the internet as a star-making platform. Im an entrepreneur, he says. Im always going to try to cross over. I dont want to hop right into it and leave social media behind. I love social media, too. I kind of want to do everything.  Ramin Setoodeh

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian manufacturing sales rose in June to recover much of the previous month's decline, led by gains in the machinery and transportation equipment sectors, data from Statistics Canada showed on Tuesday. The 0.8 percent rise was a touch above economists' expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent. Sales were up in 15 out of 21 industries, accounting for 62 percent of the manufacturing sector. In May, manufacturing sales fell 1 percent. Nearly three-quarters of June's increase was due to sales of machinery and transportation equipment. Machinery sales rose 5.8 percent, the largest gain since September 2015, with higher sales seen in such areas as commercial and agricultural. Sales in the transportation equipment industry rose 1.4 percent, due to higher sales in the motor vehicle parts and assembly sectors. Nonetheless, economic growth is still expected to have contracted in the second quarter due to the disruption caused by the May wildfires in northern Alberta. The effects of the Fort McMurray wildfires were still being felt by some, with 3.2 percent of manufacturers surveyed saying their business activities were affected in June, Statistics Canada said. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr Editing by W Simon)
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Alberta may file charges against a U.S. hunter who posted a video of himself killing a black bear with a spear, wildlife officials said on Tuesday, as the Canadian province moved to ban spear hunting. The video, which sparked outrage online, shows hunter Josh Bowmar baiting a trap for the bear in a wooded area and then impaling the animal with a long spear with a camera attached to it. Bowmar, 26, defended the way he killed the bear while Alberta Environment Ministry spokesman Kyle Ferguson described the hunt as "unacceptable" and "archaic." "We will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall," Ferguson said. "In the meantime, we have asked Fish and Wildlife officers to investigate this incident to determine if charges are warranted under existing laws." Bowmar, a javelin thrower and hunter, uploaded the video in June, local media reported. It appears to have been taken down, but has since been uploaded onto other YouTube accounts. "I drilled him perfect," Bowmar jubilantly tells the camera. "That was the longest throw I ever thought I could ever make." Bowmar runs an Ohio-based fitness company and was a university athlete, according to the business' website. The killing was ethical, and "no one cares more about these animals than us hunters," Bowmar told Reuters in an email. He estimated the bear ran 60 yards (55 meters), then died. He argued that a spear is a more humane weapon than a bow. In a response to a comment on her Facebook page, Bowmar's wife, Sarah, said on Monday her husband's critics have "nothing better to do." Local media reported that local outfitters John and Jenn Rivet helped Bowmar in the hunt. They did not respond to requests for comment. The couple's website advertises black bear hunts and features photos of hunters with guns posing next to dead bears. Bow hunting is legal in Alberta and 19 percent of 119,000 big game hunters in the province last year purchased archery hunting permits, according to a government website. No figures were given for spear hunting permits. Alberta hunting license revenues totaled C$18.8 million in the 2015-16 season. Last year, American dentist Walter Palmer sparked global outrage when he killed Cecil, a rare black-maned lion, with a bow and arrow outside Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe. The country said it would not charge him because he had obtained legal authority to conduct the hunt. (Reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary, writing and additional reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto,; editing by Alistair Bell and Alan Crosby)
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Hungarian Peter Nagy used to carry fridges, pull vehicles, toss kegs and engage in tug of war during his previous career as a contestant in the world's strongest man competition.

The 30-year-old competed in seven editions, lifting everything from giant logs above his head to raising heavy stones onto platforms, before packing it in to focus on qualifying for the Olympics.

"Many years ago I played the sport. In 2009 I finished because I wanted to go to the Olympics. And after three years, I was there in London," the weightlifter said.

Events range from having to pull a small plane behind you to hauling heavy weights up stairs to throwing kegs in a fashion reminiscent of tossing a caber in Scottish Highland Games.

"My favourite was the 'Yoke'," Nagy told AFP after competing in the men's +105kg weightlifting Group B category at the Olympics on Tuesday.

"It's when you lift a bar that has very heavy weights on each end and try to run as far as you can with them. My best was 25 metres with 420 kilos," he said proudly.

"I did all of the events. It was a very good part of my life but the Olympics is better though!" Nagy added.

Nagy snatched 193kg and lifted 237 in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 420 to lie second before the Group A class gets under way later on Tuesday.
From the September 2016 issue

My friend John Lacey and I were strolling a car show a while back when we spotted a 2003 Volvo S60R with its hood open. For five minutes I recalled to John the launch of that car at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France. The Volvo engineers were very proud of the hydroformed aluminum air pipe that bends and twists its way over the top of the engine from the turbo. It was a pleasant little memory. John said that going to car shows with me was unlike going to car shows with anyone else. I guess thats a compliment.

You know youre getting on in this business when new cars you covered as a rookie start appearing at shows as proto-classics. My very first words in this magazine, besides a letter I wrote to Brock Yates in 1999 accusing him of unfairly maligning the Suzuki Swift GT, were for a road test of the Dodge Durango R/T in the September 2000 issue. Because I thought the thing was such a lumbering gas pig, I asked photographer Aaron Kiley to surreptitiously plant a small plastic dinosaur in all the shots. I imagined a few sharp-eyed readers spotting a tiny stegosaurus or triceratops in each picture and getting the subtle message with a chuckle. Kiley knew managements sense of humor better but still obliged me with a couple of pics with a toy T.rex loitering somewhere in the shot. None of them were used and, 16 years later, Im still sad about that.

I havent seen a Durango R/T at a car show, but I recently saw a Qvale Mangusta, a headliner in our October 2000 New Cars issue. In the likely event that youve forgotten, the Italian-made hardtop roadster with Ford Mustang SVT Cobra guts was supposed to be a joint venture between Alejandro de Tomaso and San Francisco car dealer Kjell Qvale. Shockingly, the old Argentine proved too prickly to work with, and Qvale ended up pasting his own name on a pretty decent car with the face of a monkfish inflated to 170 psi. Before driving it, I visited the factory in Modena as well as a few suppliers up in the Apennine Mountains, where workers were indeed plink-plinking away on aluminum and steel, just as youd imagine they do. Apparently feeling obliged to present me with a gift, they reached into a random bin and handed me a handcrafted aluminum oil separatora small box with tubes sticking out of itfor a 2000-something Maserati Coupe. Its proudly on display at the bottom of a drawer in my garage, awaiting the moment I buy a used Maserati Coupe with a leaky oil separator. Which is currently scheduled for never.

Not long after, we were comparison-testing eight mainstream sedans in southeast Ohio when Kiley and then assistant art director Danny Winter came tearing up. Theyre crashing planes into the World Trade Center! one of them gasped. There were no phones or televisions nearby, so we all gathered around a car and listened to it on AM radio, much as they did on December 7, 1941. Everyone was in a foul mood after that; we actually bickered over whether to stop at a Dairy Queen. To this day I cant see a W-body Chevy Impala, the one with the big round taillights and a wide red band across the trunk, without thinking about that test. Or without wondering how Patrick Bedard produced his usual sparkling copy instead of a rant at how petty our work suddenly seemed.

Pondering the memories that cars engender, I recalled a religions professor I had in college who explained the importance of holidays and other festivals thusly: Besides honoring a particular deity, our ancient ancestors created holidays mainly to mark time. Without Christmas and Ramadan and Yom Kippur, without Diwali and Qingming and Dia de los Muertos, our short stretch on this earth would be even more of a dissipated blur than it already is. Holidays, along with birthdays and weddings and other celebrations, are rocks in the river of the year, disrupting the fast, glassy, seamless flow of our journey out to the ocean of oblivion. They make joyous froth, maybe a little turbulence, and ideally a calming eddy or two that becomes a pleasant hook on which we hang a memory.

We who love cars instead of, say, fishing (to stick with the river metaphor) are lucky in our choice of passion in one respect: New cars are always arriving. The steelhead trout probably hasnt changed much in the last million years, but the Honda Accord changes at least twice a decade. Car designs are reflections of their moment and, as such, become excellent vessels for our own memories of that same moment. I cant recall exactly where or when I first saw a C4 Chevy Corvette, but seeing one now takes me right back to high school.

The new cars of 2017 will eventually be outdatedindeed, more quickly than their designers would like to admit. You may not care about any of them any more than I care about the 2001 Impala with what Don Sherman once called a baboon butt, but they are rocks in our river, giving us a time and a place to roll the mental film reel. If you happen to be reading these lines decades after their publication, I hope the cars in here are transporting you back to a happy time.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Cava Resources Inc. (CVA.V) ("Cava"), announces plans to carry out a drilling program of up 4,000 metres on its Casa Berardi Properties.

The Casa Berardi Properties consist of two non contiguous claim groups (the Casa Berardi North and the Cancor Extension claim groups) that are located in the Casa Berardi area of northwestern Quebec. Cava currently holds a 70% interest in the properties in Joint Venture with Explorers Alliance Corporation. The North property is located approximately 10 kms southeast from the Casa Berardi mine which has produced in excess of 1.9 million ounces of gold since it commenced production in 1988.

The properties are located in the Harricana-Turgeon Greenstone Belt in the northwest corner of the Abitibi Subprovince in the province of Quebec. This greenstone belt hosts the Matagami, Selbaie, Joutel and Casa Berardi mining camps in Quebec and the Detour Lake Mine in Ontario.

Gold mineralization on the Casa Berardi North claim group was discovered in 1994 over a 600 metre strike length along a major regional fault structure called the "Lac Janelle Fault." Historic drill results included 6.10 gpt gold over 1.5 metres and 2.39 gpt gold over 1.8 metres in hole 94-12.

In 2012, a five hole 727.9 metre diamond drill program was carried out by the Company. The primary purpose of the drill program was to test two airborne conductors identified in the Versatile Time Domain Electro Magnetic ("VTEM") survey the Company flew over the Casa Berardi North Claim Group in 2011. The drill program resulted in the discovery of a new gold bearing zone (Conductor 1410 Zone) located 250 metres east and along strike of the historic drilling. Assay results included 5.00 gpt gold over 1.4 metres and 6.11 gpt gold over 1.5 metres in hole CAS-12-05.

The proposed diamond drill program currently being contemplated by Cava will continue to explore the area in and around the historic gold trend, the newly discovered Conductor 1410 Zone, as well as test other airborne conductors identified along the Lac Janelle Fault including an area located 2500 metres to the east of the Conductor 1410 Zone where a single historic drill hole reportedly intersected 2.55 gpt gold over 1.0 metre.

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The Cancor Extension claim group is located approximately 15 kilometres to the southwest of the Casa Berardi North claim group and adjoins the Gemini (Cancor Resources Inc, IAMGOLD Corporation) and Turgeon Properties (Cancor Resources Inc, IAMGOLD Corporation, and CVRD).

An initial drill program conducted by Cava in 2007 identified a broad zone of favorable hydrothermal alteration (fuschite, ankerite, and sericite) over a 500 metre strike length. Assay results from this zone of alteration included 1.023 gpt gold over 1.5 metres in holes SC1-07-05 and 3.05 gpt gold over 0.35 metres and 3.36 gpt gold over 0.5 metres in hole SC1-07-06.

The prospective zone remains open in both directions along strike and at depth. The Company is proposing to follow-up on the previous encouraging drill results.

Other Projects

The Company also continues to examine other mineral property prospects both in and outside North America which may represent an opportunity for Cava to acquire an interest in and participate in the development of a significant mineral resource.

Qualified Persons

Exploration programs on Cava's Quebec Projects are carried out under the supervision of Mr. Mitch Lavery P. Geo.(QC). Mr. Lavery is a qualified person as defined by the National Instrument 43-101.

For further information contact:

R. Brian Murray

President, 416-985-7810

John V. Hickey

CFO, 416-903-6649

All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are exploration risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators.The TSXV has not reviewed this news release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. The TSXV has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

SOURCE: Cava Resources Inc.
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian drugmaker Recordati (RECI.MI) said on Tuesday its chief executive and chairman Giovanni Recordati had died at 66 after a long illness.

The news come as sources said the family-owned group was sounding out potential market interest. Recordati has repeatedly denied it could be up for sale.

Recordati, whose chief operating officer is Giovanni's step-brother Andrea, said its board would meet at 1300 GMT on Tuesday to discuss new appointments.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Jason Neely)
Supermodel Elsa Hosk is teaming up with n : Philanthropy to front the label's first-ever campaign this fall -- a campaign with with a charitable twist.

The Victoria's Secret Angel and philanthropist has joined forces with the LA-based contemporary label in supporting the anti-human-trafficking organization Fair Girls. The charity, which works to prevent the exploitation of girls worldwide -- a cause close to Hosk's heart -- will receive a $200,000 donation from n: Philanthropy's founder Yvonne Niami to mark the debut campaign.

"Brands like n : PHILANTHROPY make me proud to be a model and to use my platform to do something for the world," says the Swedish model. "I am so proud to be a part of what they are doing and I wish there were more brands like it. This is the future: brands taking responsibility and giving back."

Niami added: "Elsa is beautiful indeed, but it was her huge heart and passion for FAIR Girls that made her the obvious choice to be the face of the brand."

Fashion photographer Adam Franzino shot the campaign, which will roll out across the US this autumn, on location in Los Angeles.

Ex-real estate developer Niami founded n: Philanthrophy two years ago, and the brand has become known for its policy of donating 10 percent of its net proceeds to paediatric cancer research and animal welfare charities. The label focuses on basics with an edgy twist, with details including hand-distressing, deconstruction and cutouts, and fabrics focusing on faux fur and vegan leather. The collection is available at Equinox, Bloomingdales, and online at www.nphilanthropy.com, with prices ranging from $58-$350.
The U.S. military has a long habit of quickly forgetting its principled opposition to touting body counts. In 1962, the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) started releasing weekly estimates of Viet Cong killed by U.S. troops, even as senior military and civilian officials doubted their accuracy or pertinence. In March 2002, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, then-chief of U.S. Central Command, declared, You know we dont do body counts, when asked about the number of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan killed in recent airstrikes; they would, in fact, do body counts until the policys reversal in July 2009. And, in May 2004, the Pentagon started releasing body counts from the Iraq War, just six months after then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld proclaimed: We dont do body counts on other people.

Its no secret why military officials tend to overcome their opposition to providing such data: The numbers are influential, at least when it comes to public opinion. A 2006 study by North Carolina State University researchers demonstrates that when Americans hear and read about these numbers, it changes public perceptions of success and progress in war.

It should be no surprise then that President Barack Obamas administration has been using body counts in the ongoing war against the Islamic State. In January 2015, just 16 days after Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby asserted in a press conference that he wasnt getting into an issue of body counts. Its simply not a relevant figure, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones, unprompted, told an Al Arabiya interviewer that the airstrikes have now killed more than 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

Since that first estimate, the administration has steadily released other figures on combatant deaths. Whats less clear is how well those chosen data points line up with one another.

On March 3, 2015, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, then-commander of Centcom, told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had killed 8,500 enemy fighters.

Story continues

Three months later, that number increased. On June 1, 2015, Air Force Gen. Herbert J. Hawk Carlisle, the chief of Air Combat Command, informed reporters at an Air Force Association breakfast: Weve taken about 13,000 enemy fighters off the battlefield since the September-October time frame.

Then, on July 29, 2015, USA Today cited military intelligence estimates, which were confirmed by coalition officials, that 15,000 militants [have been] killed in a U.S.-led airstrike campaign.

On Oct. 12, 2015, an anonymous senior military officer told USA Today: The U.S.-led bombing campaign has killed an estimated 20,000 Islamic State fighters. The following day, Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), told a reporter about that same figure: We try to stay away from body counts, generally speaking. Im not going to argue with those numbers that you just cited.

The next month, on Nov. 30, 2015, anonymous military officials again told USA Today that the campaign has killed 23,000 Islamic State fighters.

On Jan. 6, Warren, who earlier declared his avoidance of body counts, told reporters in prepared remarks: In December, we estimate approximately 2,500 enemy fighters were killed in coalition airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, bringing the total to 25,500.

On April 12, the New York Times reported that American airstrikes had killed 25,000 Islamic State fighters, according to unnamed Pentagon officials. CNNs Jim Sciutto had a slightly higher number from officials, at 26,000.

Finally, on Aug. 10, Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-OIR, claimed that over the past 11 months weve killed about 25,000 enemy fighters. Thats 45,000 enemies taken off the battlefield.

If the Obama administrations latest estimates are accurate, that would mean there was a zero percent increase in the number of Islamic State fighters killed during the first four months of the year, followed by a remarkable 80 percent increase during the past four months. This seems highly unlikely, given that there has been little change in the number of bombs dropped over the past eight months. I asked the OIR spokespeople for some clarification, and they replied:

We would emphasize that this number, due to ongoing operations and ever changing battlefield conditions, is only an estimate. Whats important is the number of fighters on the front line has diminished in both quantity and quality. We dont see them operating nearly as effectively as they have in the past. As a result, their attrition has accelerated recently.

This is certainly possible, given the increased number of U.S. forces that are forward-deployed to help direct strikes against dynamic targets. In addition, the Islamic States tried-and-true tactics of cover, concealment, and dispersal might have become less effective as the group faces sustained ground offensives. Or perhaps the methods being used to estimate the number of enemy combatants killed have been changed or refined in some manner recently. There are also likely internal disagreements among various Defense Department agencies: For example, during the height of the Vietnam War, Pentagon analysts often determined that there were a third fewer Viet Cong killed than their compatriots at MACV.

Finally, as I have previously noted, the Pentagon may have a bias, unconscious or not, that leaves it unable to differentiate between combatants and noncombatants killed in its own airstrikes. Although the U.S. military professes that 45,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed, it has acknowledged only 55 civilian fatalities after two years and nearly 15,000 airstrikes, with a few casualty investigations still ongoing. This is simply an unbelievable ratio.

No other country currently bombing Iraq or Syria, of which there are 14  including Russia and Israel  has provided such granular information. For nearly five months into its intervention on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Russian Ministry of Defense published  in a format that clearly mimicked the Pentagon  near-daily estimates of its own airstrike totals and body counts. But in early February these stopped appearing with no explanation.

The Pentagon deserves partial credit for its limited transparency in comparison to these other militaries, especially for its release of three of its internal investigations into civilian deaths (though it should release all of them). It should also clarify the unexpected jumps in the number of enemies killed, like that announced last week by MacFarland, even if those figures are just estimates. More importantly, it should settle upon its logic for declaring body counts in the first place. If the numbers are a sign of progress, the Defense Department should cease undermining them by declaring them irrelevant  unless that is true, in which case it should stop releasing them entirely.

Photo credit: Rauf Maltas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Following Star Wars actor Kenny Bakers death, Peter Mayhew took to his personal website to honor the man who brought R2-D2 to life. Mayhew  who plays Chewbacca in the space fantasy franchise  penned an emotional tribute to his longtime friend, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 81.

I know Im a bit late with this, but my sadness is profound and no words seemed adequate to convey what we collectively and I personally have lost with the passing of my dear friend Kenny Baker, he wrote.

The 72-year-old actor also spoke about how he and Baker were brought together by their dramatic height difference, as Mayhew stood at 7-foot-3 while Baker was 3-foot-8.

Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker relaxing behind the scenes. pic.twitter.com/7HU1ZDK4Em  Killer Star Wars (@StarWarsTHX) June 5, 2016

Kenny and I became fast friends the first time we met and formed a lifelong bond after realizing that we had so much in common, he wrote. Although people liked to contrast the difference in our heights, we found we shared many of the same struggles, from finding clothes, driving cars, and fitting in airplane seats to health issues and the ever constant stares of strangers; we understood each other on a level that few others can. I am so very glad I got to spend time with him in London earlier this month. His talent and his wicked sense of humor never diminished even as his health did.

Read the full eulogy at Chewbacca.com.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive Asian trade deal, as secretary of state before turning against it while a candidate for president. One of her closest allies, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, said at the Democratic convention she would renew support for the deal  with some tweaks  if she wins in November, something the campaign denied. Now, a high-level campaign appointment has further muddied the waters on Clintons true views of the pact.

On Tuesday, the former secretary of state announced Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator and secretary of the interior, would serve as the chairman of her transition committee. He brings with him one inconvenient policy position: outspoken support for TPP.

The TPP promotes and rewards American firms that export our clean energy ingenuity, creating good jobs at home while shaping a renewable energy future abroad, Salazar co-wrote in a USA Today op-ed in November 2015, along with Bruce Babbitt, another former interior secretary.

Salazars appointment is likely to provide ammunition to critics, both within the Democratic Party and from Republicans, that Clintons reversal on the deal is only temporary and that she would seek to implement it if elected. She changed her position only after her primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, railed against the deal as part of his pitch to progressive Democrats. Now, she says it does not meet her standards. The Clinton campaign did not return a request for comment on Salazars free trade past.

Salazar has been a long-running supporter of the trade deal, and free trade in general. As a Colorado senator, he voted for trade pacts with Peru and Oman. In December of last year, he joined two former Colorado governors to pen a Denver Post op-ed calling for Congress to pass TPP.

Current rules of international commerce stack the deck against our state, but opponents of [the TPP] have responded by turning inward, clamoring to turn back the clock, and shutter ourselves from the increasingly interconnected economy, Salazar and his co-authors wrote.

Story continues

Meanwhile, President Barack Obamas push to get the deal done before he leaves office  he considers it a cornerstone of his economic legacy  continues. After signaling last week that he will send the pact to Congress, Obamas deputy U.S. trade representative, Robert Holleyman, said at an event in Atlanta on Monday that his boss plans a full-fledged, full-throated effort to make TPP law. On Tuesday, Politico reported that the president is set to push for the deal in a series of events across the country.

Obamas continuing push for the deal puts Clinton in a tight spot; its likely to enrage the progressive wing of his party, as well as some Rust Belt voters who still feel the sting of past job losses attributed to free trade. Clinton needs those voters to win the White House, but also wants members of Obamas voting coalition to pull the lever for her in November. Her TPP tap-dance continues.

President Obamas events around the nation in favor of passing the corporate-written TPP after the election will hurt Democratic chances of success this November  and help Donald Trumps chances with blue-collar voters, Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement Tuesday.

Photo credit: CHRIS KLEPONIS/Getty Images
Shanghai (AFP) - China's central government has approved plans to link trading between the Shenzhen stock exchange and the Hong Kong market, it said Tuesday, paving the way for the long-awaited reform.

The Hong Kong stock exchange said it expected preparations for the launch of the mechanism to be finished in four months' time, but that a start date would be subject to regulatory approval.

China launched a landmark "stock connect" between the bourses of Shanghai and its special administrative region of Hong Kong in late 2014, opening up its closeted share market to the outside world and giving foreign investors access to Chinese companies not quoted elsewhere.

Mainland China's second stock exchange, in the southern city of Shenzhen, was due to follow last year, but the launch was delayed by a market rout.

The powerful State Council -- or cabinet -- has given its high-level blessing to the scheme, it said in a statement on its website Tuesday.

"The State Council has approved the implementation proposal for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Connect," Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as telling a meeting of the body.

He added preparation work was "basically completed" but gave no date for the launch.

Hong Kong exchange chairman C.K.Chow said the link-up would "open up another mainland market for international investors and strengthen the mainland's links with Hong Kong" in a statement late Tuesday.

The exchange's chief executive Charles Li said one of the aims was to build Hong Kong into an offshore wealth management centre for mainland investors.

The move demonstrates the "continuous commitment" of the Chinese government towards financial reforms, said economist Aidan Yao of Axa Investment Managers.

Yao said it was "an efficient way of liberalising the onshore financial market".

A report from Macquarie Securities said the launch would provide international investors access to China's "most dynamic equity market".

Story continues

Chinese stocks surged on Monday in anticipation of movement on the proposal, though the benchmark Shanghai index fell back on Tuesday as investors took profits.

Still, the news could offer support for Chinese shares on Wednesday, Zhang Qun, Beijing-based analyst at Citic Securities, told AFP.

"It will not affect the market significantly. Some shares related to Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will probably open higher tomorrow morning," he said.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the stock market watchdog, said on Friday that the programme will be launched this year, repeating comments a spokesman made in June.

The existing Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect enables international investors to trade selected stocks on Shanghai's tightly restricted exchange, and lets mainland investors buy shares in Hong Kong.

Premier Li said the Shenzhen link would represent a "firm step ahead" as he pledged closer cooperation between mainland China and Hong Kong.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday he hoped all political factions in Nepal would unite and promote stability, after Nepal sent an envoy to Beijing to clear up questions over the future of bilateral agreements. Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda, 61, who led a decade-long insurgency that ended a feudal monarchy, replaced communist K.P. Oli this month amid uncertainty about a slew of deals made by Oli during a visit to Beijing in March. Those deals included permission for Nepal to use Chinese railways, roads and ports to trade with third countries, and signaled a shift by the landlocked Himalayan nation away from its traditional reliance on overland trade with its southern neighbor, India. Wang told the envoy, one of Prachanda's trusted lieutenants from the insurgency period, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, that China's friendship toward Nepal would not change even with the political shift. "China expects that all political forces in Nepal will strengthen unity and jointly advance Nepal's peace, stability and development," Wang said. He said China hoped "to carry out the consensus already reached by the two countries' leaders" and deepen cross-border transport, trade and energy cooperation, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Mahara told Wang the foundation of bilateral ties was firm and would not change because of the new government, according to the Chinese statement. Prachanda led a Nepali uprising in the name of the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, but it did not enjoy the overt backing of Beijing. The conflict ended in 2006 when the rebels laid down their arms under a peace deal. Instability in the young republic - Prachanda is the eighth prime minister in as many years - has also raised doubts over a planned visit by President Xi Jinping in October, which would be the first by a Chinese president in two decades. Mahara had said he was carrying an invitation from President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the Chinese leader to come as planned. Nepali officials have said Prachanda would send another deputy, Bimelandra Nidhi, as an emissary to India this week to give reassurances that closer ties with China would not come at a cost to India. China and India compete for influence in Nepal. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)
China launched the world's first quantum satellite on Tuesday, state media reported, in an effort to harness the power of particle physics to build an "unhackable" system of encrypted communications.

The launch took place at 1:40 am in the southwestern Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua news service said, and comes as the US, Japan and others also seek to develop applications for the burgeoning technology.

Beijing has poured enormous resources into the race, one of several cutting edge projects the world's second largest economy has pursued as part of its massive national investment in advanced scientific research, on everything from asteroid mining to gene manipulation.

The satellite -- nicknamed Micius after a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher and scientist -- will be used in experiments intended to prove the viability of quantum technology to communicate over long distances.

It will also further investigations into some of the more unusual properties of sub-atomic particles, including "quantum entanglement", Xinhua said.

The term describes what Albert Einstein described as the "spooky" phenomenon of particles exerting influence on each other at a distance, including the ability for paired particles to mirror each other at faster-than-light speeds.

Unlike traditional secure communication methods, China's proposed system uses photons to send the encryption keys necessary to decode information.

The data contained in the bursts of subatomic particles is impossible to intercept: any attempts at eavesdropping will cause them to self-destruct, Xinhua said, letting users know that their communications have been compromised.

Scientists have shown the trick can be used to transmit messages over relatively short distances: the current record is around 300 kilometres, according to an article in the journal Nature.

But technical hurdles have kept long-range communication out of reach.

- A coin from a plane -

Story continues

The satellite will attempt to send secure messages between Beijing and Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang in the country's far west.

Success will require the satellite is precisely oriented to its earth-bound receiving stations, Xinhua said.

"It will be like tossing a coin from a plane at 100,000 metres above the sea level exactly into the slot of a rotating piggy bank," it quoted the project's chief commander, Wang Jianyu, as saying.

Developing the new technology is a major goal for Beijing, which included it in its most recent five-year plan, released in March.

"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role -- from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," Xinhua quoted Pan Jianwei, the satellite project's chief scientist.

China "can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030", he said.

Beijing had previously identified the development of quantum technology as a national priority.

But Edward Snowden's revelations of spying operations by the US National Security Agency heightened China's pursuit of spy-proof methods.

The country is also one of several working on building the world's first quantum computer, which would use sub-atomic particles' properties in processors that can operate at speeds far faster than current technologies allow.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's anti-doping agency said on Tuesday that the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has approved the resumption of testing operations at a Beijing laboratory amid allegations of drug use by some of the country's swimmers. WADA had suspended the accreditation of Beijing's national anti-doping laboratory in April, weeks after launching a probe into drugs allegations in Chinese swimming. "Effective immediately, the Beijing anti-dumping laboratory has resumed comprehensive anti-doping testing operations," the center said in a short statement on its website. The center said it had received a notice from WADA confirming it had met the agency's technical requirements, but did not elaborate. Following WADA's suspension of the agency, state news agency Xinhua had quoted the laboratory as saying that false negative results were caused by "technical errors" because it had yet to update testing methods. China's anti-doping program has been under scrutiny following a British newspaper report that alleged Chinese swimming had covered up positive drugs tests ahead of Olympic trials for the Rio de Janeiro Games. The country's anti-doping agency courted controversy in 2014 after keeping a three-month drugs ban handed to Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang under wraps for six months. Last week, the Chinese Swimming Association said another Olympic swimmer, Chen Xinyi, had failed a doping test at the Rio Games. (Reporting by Michael Martina; editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Amlan Chakraborty)
(Adds quote and background) BEIJING, Aug 16 (Reuters) - China's anti-doping agency said on Tuesday that the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has approved the resumption of testing operations at a Beijing laboratory amid allegations of drug use by some of the country's swimmers. WADA had suspended the accreditation of Beijing's national anti-doping laboratory in April, weeks after launching a probe into drugs allegations in Chinese swimming. "Effective immediately, the Beijing anti-dumping laboratory has resumed comprehensive anti-doping testing operations," the centre said in a short statement on its website. The centre said it had received a notice from WADA confirming it had met the agency's technical requirements, but did not elaborate. Following WADA's suspension of the agency, state news agency Xinhua had quoted the laboratory as saying that false negative results were caused by "technical errors" because it had yet to update testing methods. China's anti-doping programme has been under scrutiny following a British newspaper report that alleged Chinese swimming had covered up positive drugs tests ahead of Olympic trials for the Rio de Janeiro Games. The country's anti-doping agency courted controversy in 2014 after keeping a three-month drugs ban handed to Chinese Olympic swimmer Sun Yang under wraps for six months. Last week, the Chinese Swimming Association said another Olympic swimmer, Chen Xinyi, had failed a doping test at the Rio Games. (Reporting by Michael Martina; editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Amlan Chakraborty)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f179760%2fap_188838453408

Carrying dogs around on wooden thrones might make for a curious sight, but to the Miao people of Jiaobang village in Guizhou, China, it's a tradition that will continue to pass down through generations.

On Sunday, local Chinese villagers gathered to celebrate a folk festival parade known as "Dog-carrying Day."

SEE ALSO: Fluffy little rescue dog posing with food is our ideal Instagram account

The celebrations include dressing a pooch up in human clothing, and placing it on a sedan chair to be carried by several men. This mode of transportation was originally reserved for Chinese royalty or nobility back in the 19th century.

Image: Yang wenbin/Imaginechina/ap

The festival is celebrated to thank the dogs for their ancestors being able to locate water sources.

The parade, which goes on for quite a distance, is accompanied by participants dancing to the raucous beating of drums.

Despite the Miao people's good intentions of wanting to show equality between humans and dogs, the event has been heavily criticised for cruelty towards man's best friends.

According to People's Daily, some Chinese netizens have even gone as far as to compare "Dog-carrying Day" to the controversial Yulin dog meat festival, claiming that the dogs look uncomfortable being placed on the wooden chair and paraded around.
Chris Pratt gets real about some modeling shots, and it just makes us heart him more

Chris Pratt gets real about some modeling shots, and it just makes us heart him more

Chris Pratt is our favorite boy-next-door turned drop-dead-stud, and he and wife Anna Faris are the definition of #relationshipgoals. Chris is being featured as InStyle Magazines Man of Style, and he has been sharing the pics on Instagram with his typically adorable sense of humor.

Chris may be a georgeous movie star, but hes not too proud to reveal how awkward modeling makes him feel.

A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:36am PDT

Chris adds in the caption,

Full disclosure I did not pick out any of the clothes which is kinda funny for a guy who is called the man of style I mostly like T shirts with American flags on them. Usually I go for the one on the top of the shirt pile but I want to promote this nice magazine called In Style Magazine because everyone who was there that hot day we were doing the photo shoot was really nice.



OMG, could he be any more lovable? He has such a down-to-earth sense of humor about himself, and it really just makes him sexier. I mean, look at that smolder in the photo!

Chris tells it like it is at a photo shoot, and we appreciate that!

In this photo I try to casually put my left hand in my pocket but the pants are so tight I get the tip of three fingers in. Also I was sweating so bad they give me that hat. A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:38am PDT

Chris has got us LOLing with that post. I was sweating so bad they give me that hat. We totally believe you, but at the same time, dang that hat looks good!



When he strikes a true perfect model pose, he cant let us think hes too serious.

Here I'm pretending to itch my neck in a Canadian tuxedo. Also, I am squinting. And thinking, 'Hmm, is it smokey in here? Am I allergic to smoke? Does it make my neck itchy?" A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:41am PDT

This caption perfectly encapsulates what most male models must be thinking when people ask them to do this pose.

Story continues

Chris also made a big deal in his first post about the fact that he was hanging out with a horse.

I feel like I took some pictures with some horses but those didnt make the magazine. Maybe I accidentally closed my eyes or maybe the horses agent threw a Hollywood bitch fit for some reason

Well, InStyle heard him, and then he posted this pic:

A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 11:00am PDT

Proof! I did stand next to a horse. And also, I put that hat on the horses head. Boom. My idea! #classic And it didnt even freak out. I learned how to do that when I was making the #magnificent7 I basically learned a ton about dressing horses in funny clothes, hats, scarves, the like, youll see a lot of that in the movie. Our horses are wearing funny little hats and boots and smoking pipes. Does anyone ever read this shit? Haha! Thats not true. None of it. Well the part about me putting the hat on the horses head is true. Im like the horse whisperer. Right after this I got it to stand on one foot and break a board with a blind fold on. Then I jumped it. Over a mountain. Not to brag.

Yes, Chris, people DO read this shit, and we think its #adorbs. We totally believe that you would put a tiny hat on a horse, and then pose very seriously with it. We eagerly await the photos of you and the horse jumping over a mountain.

We are totally into Chris hilarious take on modeling. It reminds us of another of our faves giving us all an acting lesson.

Joey Smell the Fart

The post Chris Pratt gets real about some modeling shots, and it just makes us heart him more appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Chris Pratt looks equal parts sexy and cool in this photo, but the truth is he was sweaty. Very, very sweaty.

The Magnificent Seven star, 37, was featured as InStyles Man of Style in the mags September issue. Pratt, who doesnt know why hes receiving style accolades when he prefers to wear T-shirts with American flags on them, participated in a photo shoot for the publication, during which he wore a Canadian tuxedo, posed with a hat-wearing horse, and went home with a shirt that cost like $500 or something ridiculous.

While photo shoots with horses and $500 shirts  although, not so much the double-denim  sound pretty fancy to us, the Parks and Recreation alum, who is married to Anna Faris, took all the mystery out of it. In a few detailed posts on Instagram, he talked about excessive sweat and really tight jeans, yet still came off as charming.

He started by posting this funny spiel about the nice food spread, good country music, the horses agent throwing a Hollywood bitch fit, and that sweet ass $500 shirt.

He went on to say that the reason for the hat in this pic wasnt because it was stylish, folks. Also, those jeans could have been a relaxed fit:

Story continues

In this photo I try to casually put my left hand in my pocket but the pants are so tight I get the tip of three fingers in. Also I was sweating so bad they give me that hat. A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:38am PDT

Here, we were just excited to see him use the term Canadian tuxedo. Its a fave:

Here Im pretending to itch my neck in a Canadian tuxedo. Also, I am squinting. And thinking, Hmm, is it smokey in here? Am I allergic to smoke? Does it make my neck itchy? A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Aug 16, 2016 at 9:41am PDT

This was the added bonus. He said he was the creative genius behind the horse wearing a hat. (Boom. My idea!) Unfortunately, that photo didnt make it into the mag:

Yes, Chris, people read this s***. We read this s***. And were glad we did. Not only are we now less impressed by fancy photo shoots, we are more impressed by Pratts comedic storytelling.
Will Claye enjoyed a successful triple jump and marriage proposal. (Reuters)

Lucky stars of Rio: Biles captures fourth gold at Rio | Bolt cruises to victory in 200 prelims | Lakers DJ pumps up beach volleyball crowd

RIO DE JANEIRO  On the best day of his life on Tuesday, Will Claye won an Olympic silver medal. He did the same back in 2012, finishing second in the triple jump to his friend and fellow Florida alum Christian Taylor. This silver was different. It came with a diamond, too.

Claye started designing the engagement ring he planned on giving to 400-meter hurdler Queen Harrison before the United States Olympic trials, where she finished fourth and failed to make the Rio Games. She came to support him anyway. Claye brought the ring, not sure when he would propose. The inspiration hit him Tuesday.

This morning when I woke up, Claye said, I was like, Todays gonna be the best day of my life. Im going to go out there and do what I have to do on the track first, and then Im gonna make her my fiancee after that.

As Claye hopped, stepped and jumped at Olympic Stadium, his backpack lay on the track, the ring inside. To carry a ring in your book bag? Taylor said. I dont even carry a cell phone. Claye tried to keep an eye on it but realized the folly in that.

When youve got to jump against Christian Taylor, you cant think of nothing else, he said. I was worried about what I had to do on the track. I knew she was there. I knew that wasnt going anywhere. I was hoping nobody proposed to her first before I did.

Thankfully, he was the only one planning on a surprise marriage proposal. After his final jump fell short of Taylors winning mark of 17.86 meters (58 feet, 7 inches), Claye settled on silver from his first jump of 17.76 (58 feet, 2 inches) and readied himself for an even bigger moment.

Will Claye during the triple jump. (Reuters)

Claye tucked into his bag and found the ring. American flag over his shoulders, he went into the stands and got down on one knee.

I was a little slick, he said. She didnt have any clue.

They have been a couple for nearly four years, and Claye looked into Harrisons eyes and told her she was his best friend and that he wanted to grow old with her and that he wanted her at his side the rest of his life. Harrison started to cry.

Story continues

Around them, fans whipped out cell phone cameras and filmed the moment. Clayes family gave him grief for keeping it secret  only two of Harrisons friends knew of his plan  and proceeded to celebrate when she said yes.

It was just a heartfelt moment to have so many eyes on us and for it to be such a special moment for the both of us, Claye said. Besides the medal, besides the triple jump, just for us to have that moment together in such a special place.

Capping it off with a gold medal wouldve been even better, but Claye was plenty happy how his day turned out. Hes got time for Olympic gold. He is only 25 years old, and with Taylor, 26, primed to push him to the 2020 Tokyo Games, another podium with two Americans is eminently possible.

Taylor wasnt mad about the diamond distracting from his gold. On the contrary, he was thrilled for his friend. Beating Taylor for gold wouldve been nice, sure, but Will Claye left Olympic Stadium on the best day of his life with a brand-new silver medal and a brand-new fiancee. And that was plenty.
By Grant Smith NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a 6-percentage-point lead over Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Tuesday. Clinton's support has ranged from 41 percent to 44 percent since late July, and was about 41 percent in the Aug. 11-15 online poll. Trump's support has experienced wider shifts ranging from 33 percent to 39 percent while his campaign has endured controversies and distractions in recent weeks. He is favored by about 35 percent of likely voters, according to the most recent poll. Trump has caused divisions in the Republican Party with his strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and faced criticism from both parties earlier this month for a days-long feud with the parents of a Muslim American Army captain killed in Iraq. Last week, 70 Republicans, including former members of Congress and Republican National Committee staff, wrote a letter calling for the RNC to stop helping Trump, whose actions they said were "divisive and dangerous." The number of likely voters who picked neither Clinton nor Trump in the poll was nearly 24 percent. At this point in 2012, President Barack Obama was ahead of Republican nominee Mitt Romney by nearly the same margin, favored by 46 percent of likely voters to Romney's 41 percent, with about 13 percent picking neither candidate. Obama and Romney swapped the lead in the poll several times through the summer and early fall before the president took and held the lead in late October. In a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that gave respondents the option to choose from Clinton, Trump, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Clinton also led Trump by 6 percentage points. Of the alternative party candidates, Johnson came in third with 8 percentage points. Stein had about 2 percentage points. The Aug. 11-15 polls surveyed a sample of 1,132 and 1,131 likely voters, respectively, and had a credibility interval of 3 percentage points. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Luciana Lopez WEST HARRISON, N.Y. (Reuters) - Looking to lay the groundwork for her presidency if she wins the White House in November, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton named several veterans of President Barack Obama's administration for her transition team on Tuesday. Ken Salazar, a former interior secretary and U.S. Senator from Colorado, will lead a team of four co-chairs including one-time national security adviser Tom Donilon and Neera Tanden, a former Obama aide who now leads the progressive Center for American Progress think-tank, the Clinton campaign said. The other co-chairs are former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Maggie Williams, director of Harvard's Institute of Politics, the campaign said in a statement. The announcement came as Clinton has gained momentum in the opinion polls against Republican rival Donald Trump, whose campaign has struggled after he made a string of controversial remarks since formally winning his party's nomination last month. Clinton leads Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election by more than 5 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday. The current RealClearPolitics average of polls shows her 6.7 points ahead. Clinton has been a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady and her transition team includes old names from her long tenure in Washington, some of whom have also served Obama. Tanden, who played a key role in shaping Obama's health care overhaul, is a longtime friend and adviser to Clinton who worked on her Senate campaign. Williams was the 1992 transition director for Clinton when she became first lady, and then her chief of staff in the White House when Bill Clinton was president. Two policy advisers on the campaign, Ed Meier and Ann O'Leary, will also move full time to the transition team. Heather Boushey, the executive director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will be the chief economist, the campaign said in a statement. Boushey has advised the campaign on economic policy. Transition teams oversee personnel appointments and help develop an administrative framework during the period between the November election and the inauguration in January, to make it easier for a new president to begin implementing policy agendas. Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected office, picked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to head his own transition team in May. More establishment Republicans, alarmed by Trump's inability or unwillingness to rein in his provocative remarks, have distanced themselves from the candidate in recent weeks. The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial on Monday that he should fix his campaign in the next three weeks or hand over to his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Trump drew heavy criticism after engaging in a prolonged spat with the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq. Last week, he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement critics found alarming but which he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her. Trump also called Obama and Clinton the "co-founders" of Islamic State, a false claim he later said was sarcastic but did not wholly abandon. Despite Clinton's lead in polls, Obama warned Democrats against over confidence, telling a fundraising gathering on Monday in Massachusetts, "If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake." (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry)
Washington (AFP) - Hillary Clinton on Tuesday announced the formation of a transition team to handle the transfer of power at the White House if the Democratic candidate is elected to succeed President Barack Obama.

Ken Salazar, a former secretary of the interior and Colorado senator, will head the team as part of the traditional preparations ahead of the November 8 elections, her campaign said.

"Once Hillary Clinton makes history by being elected as the nation's first woman president, we want to have a turnkey operation in place so she can hit the ground running right away," Salazar said in a statement.

Republican candidate Donald Trump named New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in May to head his transition team.

The transition teams have been funded by the federal government since 2010, enabling them to set up office space in Washington and operate as not-for-profit organizations.

Besides Salazar, Clinton's team includes former Obama national security adviser Tom Donilon; Neera Tanden, a longtime Clinton adviser who heads the liberal Center for American Progress; former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm; and Maggie Williams, director of Harvard's Institute of Politics and a former Clinton campaign manager.
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Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia suffered its worst civilian death toll Tuesday in cross-border shelling from Yemen as an anti-rebel coalition it leads launched an investigation into a deadly strike on a hospital.

A rocket fired by rebels in Yemen killed seven civilians in Najran city in the highest reported number of non-combattant casualties in the kingdom's south since the Arab coalition intervened in Yemen 17 months ago.

"It killed four citizens and three residents," the civil defence spokesman in Najran city said of the rocket strike, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The attack came after the coalition launched an investigation Tuesday following international condemnation of an air raid on Monday that Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said killed 14 people at a hospital it supports.

Another 24 people were wounded in the strike that hit the hospital on Monday in Abs in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said.

An MSF staffer was among the dead, it said.

The hospital strike was the latest in a series of coalition raids that allegedly hit civilian facilities -- including a school on Saturday where 10 children were killed.

The coalition began its bombing campaign in March last year after Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

It stepped up air strikes this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and Yemen's internationally backed government were suspended.

The coalition's spokesman accused the Huthis of using the three months of negotiations to rearm.

- 'Deceiving people' -

"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri said.

He said the coalition would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.

MSF said Monday's attack was the fourth on one of its facilities in less than a year.

Story continues

At the time of the strike, the hospital was "full of patients recovering from surgery, in maternity, newborns and children in paediatrics", it said.

MSF said the hospital's GPS coordinates "were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, and its location was well-known".

Teresa Sancristoval of MSF's emergency unit in Yemen said: "What we need to see is proof of intent and a commitment that there will be no more air strikes on medical facilities, staff, and patients."

A US State Department spokeswoman said: "Strikes on humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, are particularly concerning."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed" by the intensification of air raids in Yemen.

"Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," Ban said.

Amnesty International said the bombardment "appears to be the latest in a string of unlawful attacks targeting hospitals, highlighting an alarming pattern of disregard for civilian life".

- Mounting criticism -

A Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), composed of members of the coalition, said it "has urgently launched an independent investigation" into the strike and promised to announce its findings.

The JIAT was set up following mounting criticism of the civilian death toll from the bombing campaign.

Earlier this month, it acknowledged "shortcomings" in two of eight cases it investigated of strikes on civilian targets in Yemen.

In one case, the team held the coalition responsible for hitting an MSF-run hospital but accused the rebels of having used the facility as a hideout.

The team is also investigating Saturday's strikes in the rebels' northern stronghold of Saada, which MSF said hit a school but the coalition claimed targeted a rebel training camp with child soldiers.

A rebel council in Sanaa condemned the hospital strike and called on the UN to form an "independent committee to investigate" coalition "crimes".

Coalition strikes on Tuesday struck Abs, Saada and areas surrounding Sanaa, military sources and residents said.

The coalition resumed raids on Sanaa on August 9, almost three days after the talks were suspended, with one strike reportedly hitting a food factory, killing 14 people.

That forced the closure of Sanaa airport, but its director said three flights -- carrying World Food Programme (WFP) and Red Cross employees as well as humanitarian aid -- landed on Tuesday.

The Sanaa-based civil aviation authority Tuesday said passenger flights to the airport remained suspended.

The UN says more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since last March and more than 80 percent of the population needs humanitarian aid.
By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Colorado voters will decide in November whether to legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients under a ballot question approved on Monday, a proposal opposed by some religious and disability-rights organizations.

Proponents of the so-called medical aid in dying initiative turned in enough valid signatures of registered voters to put the proposal on the November ballot, Secretary of State Wayne Williams said in a statement.

If approved, Colorado would join California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont as states that allow some form of physician-assisted suicide.

Julie Selsberg, spokeswoman for the Yes on Colorado End-of-Life Options campaign, said the ruling was a step closer for dying people and their families to have control over health care decisions.

This proposal encourages discussion between patients and doctors about the patients end of life wishes and allows doctors who wish to provide this very compassionate care the ability to do so, Selsberg said.

She said her father had died slowly from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease.

Under the proposal, a patient diagnosed with a terminal illness who has six months or less to live and is deemed by a mental health professional to be of sound mind could get a prescription for life-ending drugs that would be self-administered.

Two licensed physicians would have to confirm the terminal diagnosis, and the patient would have to be informed of other treatment options.

The Colorado Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the states bishops, called the ballot question flawed logic because the government would be in a position to promote suicide for some people, while trying to prevent it in others.

Other provisions would impose criminal penalties for people who misuse the life-ending drugs and grant doctors immunity from civil and criminal liability.

The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition said in a statement most of its members strongly opposed the measure.

If assisted suicide is made available to anyone, it would be very easy to roll down the slippery slope of convincing people to take this assistance when that might not be the actual wish of the individual, the group said.

(Editing by Ian Simpson and Paul Tait)
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Columbia University was accused on Tuesday of mismanaging its retirement plan in a federal civil lawsuit that alleges $100 million in damages.

The complaint says the Ivy League university based in New York retained expensive and poor-performing investment options that consistently underperformed their benchmarks.

"This caused its (retirement) plans and their participants to suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in losses of retirement savings," said law firm Sanford Heisler LLP, which filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "As a result, the University's 401(k) plan included $4.6 billion of investment options that were primarily poor to mediocre performers."

The university was not immediately available to comment.

The plaintiff in the case is an unnamed faculty member at Columbia who is suing on behalf of herself and 27,000 current and former Columbia employees, and is seeking class action status for the case.

(Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
(Adds context about earlier suits)

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Columbia University was accused on Tuesday of mismanaging its retirement plan in a federal civil lawsuit that alleges $100 million in damages.

The suit is the latest to target a major university's retirement plan management and to bring under scrutiny fees charged by financial service providers.

The complaint says the Ivy League university, based in New York, retained expensive and poor-performing investment options that consistently underperformed their benchmarks.

"This caused its (retirement) plans and their participants to suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in losses of retirement savings," said law firm Sanford Heisler LLP, which filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "As a result, the University's 401(k) plan included $4.6 billion of investment options that were primarily poor to mediocre performers."

A university spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

The plaintiff in the case is an unidentified faculty member at Columbia who is suing on behalf of herself and 27,000 current and former Columbia employees and is seeking class action status for the case.

Other well-known universities have also recently been sued over the management of their retirement plans, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and New York University.

The suits were filed by St. Louis attorney Jerome Schlichter last week, and his firm has since sued other schools on similar grounds, including Emory University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University.

Schlichter, in an e-mail, declined to discuss whether he plans other litigation.

(Reporting by Tim McLaughlin and Ross Kerber in Boston; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler)
From Esquire

Charlie is taking a well-deserved break this week. In his absence, we'll be remembering some of his greatest hits from throughout this election cycle. In the below, originally published on January 17, 2016, he visited Emanuel AME Church in Charleston the morning before the fourth Democratic primary debate.

-The Editors

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA-In this city where sedition was born, there is a street named for John C. Calhoun, sedition's father. At the end of the street named for John C. Calhoun is the ferry that takes you out to Fort Sumter, where sedition fired its first shots. About halfway down the street named for John C. Calhoun is the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church-"Mother Emanuel" now, to the world-and this is a place now that is a sacred place because of the violence visited upon it one night last June by a young man gone mad with the poison of sedition that is still less than dormant in the national bloodstream.

[contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related Story" customtitles="Speaking the Unspeakable, Thinking the Unthinkable" customimages="" content="article.35793"]

The world knows of "Mother Emanuel" because, on the night of June 17, 2015, in the middle of the regular Wednesday night Bible Study, Dylann Roof murdered nine members of the congregation, including its pastor, allegedly in the hopes of igniting a race war. He committed his murders and he dashed out through the night onto the street named for John C. Calhoun. But Dylann Roof sits in a jail cell now, and there is still Wednesday night Bible study at Mother Emanuel, and there is still the regular Sunday service at 9:30 in the morning. And Sunday school an hour before that. The lesson this past Sunday was about repentance and forgiveness. "When I think of repentance and forgiveness," said one woman, her index finger marking a place in her Bible, "I think of the thief on the cross next to Jesus." The lesson on many Sundays since last June 17 has been about repentance and forgiveness, both here in the church and out in the country.

Story continues

***

As the low thrum of the organ filled the sanctuary, the congregation filed in for Sunday service, and it was an unusual crowd for Mother Emanuel, which has seen its share of unusual crowds in the past seven months. The Democratic presidential candidates will be debating tonight at Gaillard Hall, right across from Mother Emanuel on the street named for John C. Calhoun, so more than a few political celebrities are in town. Cornel West was there. Attorney General Eric Holder was there. From the Congress came Elijah Cummings, Sheila Jackson-Lee, and Maxine Waters. Arriving just a bit late, Bernie Sanders and his wife were escorted to the front pew, directly down from the pulpit. South Carolina state senator Margie Bright Mathews was a few rows back. She replaced Clementa Pinckney, who was murdered by Dylann Roof, in the state senate. All of them were recognized, and asked to share a few words, by Reverend Dr. Norvell Goff, Sr., who'd replaced Pinckney at the pulpit of Mother Emanuel.

But there also were people there who became celebrities by the accidence of violence.

Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty

One of the first people Pastor Goff recognized from the congregation was Sabrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin. There is now a strange network of survivors, of the people bearing unsupportable sorrow as a result of gun violence, either under the color of law or not. They support each other. The people of Aurora supported the people of Newtown, who supported the people of Charleston. The family of Trayvon Martin supported the families of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice. They are a small, strong community, bunkered in their hearts against the violence that stole their children and made them famous in their suffering. "I changed my hair," Sabrina Fulton said.

"I was afraid nobody would recognize me ... If nothing in life breaks you, losing a child will bring you to your knees. And what I tell people now is, don't wait until something happens to you before you do something, before you get involved."

If the service had a theme, that was it, and it was more than a little fitting that this was the theme in this wounded sanctuary on the weekend honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., another victim of gun violence, himself. Pastor Goff, after joking that all the famous visitors had eaten up his preaching time, brought the theme into his peroration.

The lesson on many Sundays since last June 17 has been about repentance and forgiveness, both here in the church and out in the country.

"They come for my rights in the morning, they will come for yours in the afternoon," he thundered. "We have to speak the truth to power. No longer can we just preach on Sunday and not go beyond the call to help the poor, and the needy, and the incarcerated ... We must treat people the way we want to be treated-in your church, in your community, and in this country we live in. After all, we have fought in every conflict and war in this country's history. I don't know of another place I would rather live, even with all its warts and pimples and its scars, don't let anyone tell you, don't let anyone reduce you that you are not just as much of an American as someone else. Because, we, too sing: 'My country, 'tis of thee.'"

I don't know where this stubborn, bone patriotism comes from. What is its seemingly inexhaustible source that keeps it pouring out against the powerful tides of cultural and political bigotry that seem so often ceaseless, that keeps it pouring out against what seem at times like rivers of blood? I do not know its inexhaustible source but, whatever it is, I thank god for it. It has kept us from tearing ourselves completely apart. It has stayed the hand of righteous anger from striking out in mindless violence. It has redeemed all the country's lost and broken promises. And it is there in Mother Emanuel, in the Sunday service, where all rise and sing as one, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the sun comes out on the street that leads to the ferry to Fort Sumter, a street named for John C. Calhoun, the father of American sedition, who has faced a more noble history than his own and, every Sunday in this wounded place, comes out in every way that matters on the losing end, because did I mention that Sunday's lesson was on repentance and forgiveness?

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.

You Might Also Like
Home to $100 million apartments, separate building entrances for low-income tenants, and former mayoral candidate Jimmy McMillans The Rent Is Too Damn High political party, New York Citys reputation as an expensive place to live is well earned. As trendy cafes replace bodegas and landlords price out lower-income residents of color, its also become known as a hotbed of gentrification.

Now Guap, a web series in development by New York Citybased actor Chris Myers, is tackling the displacement of people in Upper Manhattan. Guapthe word is slang for a lot of moneybills itself on its Kickstarter page as a quirky, character-driven indie comedy that dives into the rapid gentrification of Washington Heights, New York City, where family-owned businesses are shuttering their doors because of skyrocketing rents.

RELATED: Billboards Share Heartbreaking Stories of Gentrifications Victims

Born out of Myers contemplation of how money affects peoples lives, the series follows a Dominican American family that runs a restaurant in the neighborhood, which has historically been pegged as a crime hub.

Our story is an investigation, and at the heart of Guap is the question Who has a right to live in a neighborhood?  Myers, director and producer of the show, says in the video on the Kickstarter page.

Gentrification isnt about cities or suburban environmentsits about policy, finance, and social welfare, Myers told TakePart. Its a great way to look at the health of a nation and how we deal with people who have been left out of the conversation and certain financial promises thats part of the American project. Its a nexus issue for so many things in America in 2016.

Myers and producer Haley Rawson know that a comedy series wont offer the same academic approach that articles and studies do, but they are prepared to give viewers the resources to act on it. The idea is not to have anyone watch the pilot and feel necessarily enlightened but to feel inspired and perhaps become interested in learning more about gentrification that they didnt know about before, Rawson told TakePart.

Story continues

The displacement of low-income black and Latino families and businesses in neighboring Harlem has been decried by longtime residents, and the changes in Brooklyn were documented in There Goes the Neighborhood, WNYCs podcast on gentrification. Although The New York Times reported last year that grocery chains were pushing out family-owned bodegas in Washington Heights, the demographic changes happening in the predominantly Dominican American community are less well-known to national audiences.

RELATED: Hilarious 'SNL' Skit Reveals What Brooklyn Hipsters Really Talk About

According to Myers, gentrification goes beyond an influx of hipster coffee shops. He says the way corporations move in and land is used is a nationwide issue that not only affects urban neighborhoods. In the Midwest, large companies trying to take over land parcels have sent small farmers scrambling to protect their assets and avoid getting priced out of affordable states.

Myers has heard from residents who have seen the hip-hop wave, the drug wave, and this current wave of gentrification and are keeping tabs on how the show will accurately reflect the neighborhoods history and culture. Properly representing the community is important to Myers and Rawson. The crew is looking for a predominantly Dominican American and bilingual cast, especially actors from Washington Heights. As of Tuesday, the projects Kickstarter campaign had exceeded its goal of raising nearly $20,000. Funds from the campaign, which ends Thursday, go toward equipment, postproduction, and paying actors.

Its not just another show about the same demographic that we always see. Its something that people who are from the Heights and are Dominican can get excited about and perhaps inspire other projects and see themselves in it, Rawson said. Why we watch TV and movies in the first place is because we feel like we can relate to and see ourselves in it.

Sign the Petition: Tell Congress: Raise the Minimum Wage!

Related stories on TakePart:





 Letting Kids Write and Be Weird in San Franciscos Last Ungentrified Hood

 Hidden in Plain Sight: Hunger in New York City

 Explaining Breaks to Low-Income Communities May Help Close Obamacare Gap

Original article from TakePart
A Florida community came out in force for a beloved librarian who was accidentally shot and killed during a police safety demonstration last week.

Read: Cop Who Accidentally Killed Librarian, 73, Was Reportedly Forced to Resign From His Last Police Job

The grief was palpable at the funeral for 73-year-old Mary Knowlton in Punta Gorda.

Her son, Steve, paid tribute to his mom at the First United Methodist Church Tuesday afternoon.

"I think about my mom and I think about how she made everyone she ever encountered feel like number 1," he said.

Knowlton was shot and killed during a safety demonstration by a police officer who thought he was firing blanks.

Officer Lee Coel has been suspended while the investigation continues.

Read: Woman, 73, Shot Dead By Police Officer During Gun Demonstration

The family is said to have forgiven Coel for his actions.

Her husband, Gary, told NBC in a statement: We're gonna get through this and try to make the best of it and go on with a positive attitude and care about people.

Watch: Hundreds Gather to Honor Slain Baton Rouge Cop Shot By Ex-Marine

Related Articles:
Lyle Denniston, Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent, looks at reasons why it seems to be a constitutional reality that the Second Amendment is not likely to go back to protecting only a collective right to have guns.

The Bill Of Rights

THE STATEMENTS AT ISSUE:

By the end of Hillary Clintons first time in office, two out of every three federal judges will have been appointed by Democrat presidents. Who knows how many Supreme Court Justices she will appoint? But her aim is clear. She will appoint judges who will overturn D.C. v. Heller; that would strip Americans of their [Second Amendment] rights  and maybe even their guns.

 Excerpt from a press release August 10 by Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, a conservative political advocacy group based in Fairfax, Va., commenting on remarks by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And if she puts Supreme Court Justices on, she will decimate your Second Amendment.

 Excerpt from remarks by Donald Trump during an interview August 9 with Sean Hannity on Fox Television News.

WE CHECKED THE CONSTITUTION, AND

The First Amendment provides ample room for the nation to discuss the Constitution, and what it should or should not protect. For decades, in Americas public conversation, during political campaigns and otherwise, a frequent constitutional topic has focused on the meaning of the right to keep and bear arms, protected since 1791 by the Second Amendment.

The discussion has grown more intense in the eight years since the Supreme Court first interpreted that Amendment to protect a personal right to have a gun for self-defense. Up to that point, the dominant thought  although vigorously contested  was that the Amendment only protected a communitys collective right of self-defense, as with the colonial militia, or with the modern National Guard.

Whatever the political conversation may be about that 2008 decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, it is a constitutional reality that the Second Amendment is not likely to go back to protecting only a collective right to have guns. There are several compelling reasons why not.

Story continues

Perhaps, the most important reason is that the Supreme Court has never once overturned one of its own decisions that expanded the meaning of a right that was written explicitly in the Constitution. (Even the two most infamous decisions in the courts history, the pro-slavery decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857 and the pro-segregation decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, did not undo rights that had their origins in Supreme Court decisions.)

The Supreme Court must have very strong reasons for reversing any of its constitutional decisions, on any subject. When that has happened, it usually has been because the court came to the conclusion that the earlier decision was simply not working out the way they had previously thought, or, more broadly, that the prior decision was simply flat-out wrong as an interpretation of the Constitution (for example, Brown v. Board of Education, overturning the Plessy decision.)

There is absolutely no indication that the current Justices harbor any sense that the Heller decision is failing to work as a constitutional shield for personal gun rights. In fact, as recently as last March, the court relied entirely on that ruling in declaring that the Second Amendment includes a personal right to have a stun gun for self-protection. There was not a single dissent.

And, of course, the court has absolutely no power on its own to abolish an existing amendment and the right it protects. It can interpret the words, but it cant erase them.

Among lower federal court judges, they have no authority to modify or cast aside a Supreme Court decision like the gun rights decision in the Heller case. A Supreme Court decision is binding on them. Those judges can interpret what that decision means, but they cant erase it.

Over the years since 2008, lower courts have generally given state and local government fairly wide authority to regulate guns  such as banning high-capacity assault rifles. The Supreme Court has largely left the lower courts with wide freedom to have the last word on the scope of gun rights, but that freedom does not include anything close to a power to abolish those rights.

In addition, only once in history has Congress ever approved a constitutional amendment to take away a right that the Supreme Court had found to be in the Constitution. That was the Eleventh Amendment, taking away the rights of citizens to sue in federal court against a state where they did not live.

And only one of the amendments  the Eighteenth Amendment, imposing a nationwide ban on liquor sales  has ever been overturned by a later change in the Constitution (the Twenty-first Amendment, ending Prohibition). And that restored a right that Americans had lost  legal access to liquor  rather than ending or diminishing it.

The overall lesson that can be drawn from these constitutional realities is that the Constitution when it comes to individual rights, appears to operate most of the time as a one-way ratchet: constitutional rights are expanded, not contracted.

And that might be exactly what the Founding generation had in mind in drawing up the Constitution in the first place. Recall that Alexander Hamilton, writing in Federalist Paper No. 78, said that in a government in which the departments are separated from each other, the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution, because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them.

Further, recall that the Constitution might not have been ratified at all had it not been for the promise that it would have a Bill of Rights added to it at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Founders may not have envisioned the Second Amendment in its modern form, as the guardian of an individual right to have a gun, but it is far from a sure thing that they meant to forbid it from developing. Nor did they envision that once expanded in that way, they would have felt it proper to take it away. If the people wanted to abolish a broader right, the Founders provided the means: a formal amendment. And, as a political reality of today, that is not going to happen.

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" " Ooh, that's a good track. But is it going to make your baby any smarter? Hemera/ Thinkstock

In 1998, Georgia Governor Zell Miller asked his legislators to pony up enough money to give a CD of classical music to every parent of a newborn across the state. Eventually, a company that produced classical music CDs specifically for infants offered up free CDs for the ambitious new parents.

The governor assured the state that listening to classical music while still in the crib would improve skills needed for math, engineering, "and even chess" [source: Issues2000].

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To help make his pitch, Gov. Miller played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" for the assembled lawmakers, though it's uncertain whether doing so improved the intelligence of any who were present that day.

But what it did do was give more publicity to the so-called Mozart Effect. This term was thrust into the spotlight following a study that seemed to show improvement among college students who had listened to classical music (specifically, Mozart's "Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major") for 10 minutes before participating in a test that involved folding and cutting paper.

Other groups listened to a relaxation tape for meditation, or to nothing at all. The group listening to Mozart before the test scored on average 8 to 9 points higher than the other groups [source: Jenkins]. However, after 15 minutes the boost seemingly gained from the classical music faded away. When this study was published in Nature, subsequent talk about the study quickly began to equate proximity to classical music with general improvements in IQ.

What brought the matter to Zell Miller's attention was a book, "The Mozart Effect," written by Don Campbell and various CDs and cassettes that began to flood the market with titles like "Baroque for Babies."

It was a great business idea. With the science seemingly supporting it, and plenty of built-in publicity, the only other component needed was a consumer who would feel guilty if the product wasn't purchased. Check.

But can music really make your baby smarter? Keep reading to find out.
Theres really no need for commercials or marketing gimmicks this election season: The latest strategy has been for restaurants is to ridicule Donald Trump. From the pizzeria that sold a pizza with a wall around the border, to Michael Symon effectively banning Trump from his restaurants, The Donald is sure to make headlines. The Indiana-based Hacienda Mexican Restaurants chain is getting flack for its billboard that reads, The best Mexican food this side of the wall, with a backdrop of a brick wall. The advertisement is a clear jab at Donald Trumps controversial plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

What makes it offensive is using the term wall, especially now, because its really taken on a political connotation, Sam Centallas, executive director of La Casa de Amistad, a Hispanic youth and community center in South Bend, Indiana, told the South Bend Tribune. The whole build a wall chant has become intentionally divisive rhetoric.

Where to Eat If You Want to Be President Slideshow

This isnt the first time Hacienda has been in the news for off-color advertisements. In 2006, its commercials featured a small man of Hispanic descent wearing a sombrero with the tagline, Take home a little Mexican. In 2011, its advertisements for margaritas had the slogan, Were like a cult with better Kool-Aid. To die for! clearly referring to the Jonestown massacre.

Hacienda has announced no plans to take down the sign or change its campaign.

We do use humor in our outdoor (advertising), and we felt we crafted a board here that didnt take a political position, Jeff Leslie, executive vice president of Hacienda Mexican Restaurants, told the South Bend Tribune. Its really not pro-wall or anti-wall.
Helsinki (AFP) - Six members of Cuba's national volleyball team have been charged with rape in Finland, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The players, who have been in custody since early July, deny the aggravated rape of a woman during the Volleyball World League on the night of July 2.

The alleged victim said she was attacked in a hotel in the southern town of Tampere, where the Cuban team was playing. No other details have been released and a trial date has not yet been announced.

The six players include 27-year-old team captain Rolando Cepeda Abreu as well as Dariel Albo Miranda, 24, Abrahan Alfonso Gavilan, 21, Ricardo Calvo Manzano, 19, Luis Sosa Sierra, 21, and Osmany Uriarte Mestre, 21.

The Cuban team has played on without them at the Olympic Games in Rio, finishing last in their group with five straight defeats.

A few days after the alleged crime Cuba's national volleyball federation said it would take "measures" against the suspected players.

"Preliminary information imputes they are linked to acts totally outside the discipline, honour code and respect that govern our sport and society," it said in a statement.

"We will take measures that demand justice for these behaviours that go against the ethics and principles that we hold."
By Jon Herskovitz DALLAS, August 15 (Reuters) - Antoinette Brown begged, in her final words, "somebody help me." Then she was mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs. The 52-year-old homeless woman perished in the impoverished Dallas neighbourhood of Fair Park, not far from gleaming downtown skyscrapers and some of Americas wealthiest neighbourhoods. The gruesome attack in May served as a grim reminder of stark inequities, even as the region's economy and population booms. The stray dog problem is just one of many facing the poorest neighbourhoods of Dallas, which was labelled the "City of Hate" after the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy here in 1963 and has since struggled through decades of urban blight. Today, the mayor and others tout a host of police reforms and social programs, but they acknowledge the overwhelming challenge in bridging a racial and economic chasm with roots in the city's segregated past. Economic inequality in Dallas, among the most severe in the U.S., has long underpinned friction between police and low-income residents here - tensions that have come into focus nationally in protests over excessive use of force. At one such protest last month, the shooting of a dozen police officers, five of them fatally, brought a softer national spotlight on Dallas. The officers were killed by a deranged U.S. Army Reserve veteran, 25-year-old Micah X. Johnson, who said he aimed to avenge the shootings of black men by police nationwide. The Dallas department won praise for its handling of the protest, before and after the bloodshed, as well as a training effort credited with a drastic reduction in officer-involved shootings  to one so far this year, down from 23 in 2012. The city's Democratic mayor, Mike Rawlings, drew attention to reforms including a plan, dubbed GrowSouth, to expand educational, employment and social opportunities in eight communities, mostly south of downtown, but including Fair Park to the east. The goals include building low-cost housing and pushing for hotels, shops and office buildings to move into lower-income areas. There have been successes and disappointments, Rawlings told Reuters in an interview. "I am not going to bring world peace," the mayor said. "I am trying to establish objectives that can be achieved in a relatively short amount of time." LOCKED AND LOADED The impact can be hard to see on some streets in Fair Park. Retired nurse Jametter Daniels, 65, lives about 100 yards from the abandoned house where Antoinette Brown died. Police often see the black and Latino residents of her neighbourhood more as problems than people, she said, and tensions run high. "They are just as afraid of us as we are on them," she said from her home, with bars on the doors. "When the sun goes down, I am locked up and armed up." The weight of poverty, racial strife and mental illness too often lands on the weary shoulders of rank-and-file police officers, said Eugene ODonnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and a former police officer and prosecutor. "What police have been forced to do in this country is perform triage," he said. In Dallas, that includes corralling potentially dangerous dogs, among other duties that extend well beyond routine crime, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters last month. "We have got a loose dog problem - let's have the cops chase loose dogs," he said. "Schools fail? Give it to the cops." Police Detective Chelsea Whitaker gets a close-up view of such failures daily. We can be glorified social workers, she said. She recalled interactions with two teenagers who constantly got into fights at school. One of them had not been eating. Whitaker took her to grocery store to buy food. I had to take another girl to get sanitary napkins because nobody ever taught her that, Whitaker said of the 13-year-old. She is angry and fighting all the time; of course, you would be angry." MEASURES OF POVERTY, PROGRESS In his office overlooking downtown, Rawlings - a former Pizza Hut CEO who produced record sales - takes a corporate approach to documenting and fixing societal problems. He has charts showing improvements in areas such as housing - where the property value of Southern Dallas has increased by about $1.5 billion since he took office in 2011 - and weaknesses in others, such as high unemployment rates in many neighbourhoods. Of urban areas with more than 250,000 residents, Dallas has the widest economic gap between its richest and the poorest neighbourhoods, followed by Philadelphia, Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio and Houston, according to a 2015 study by the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based economic social policy research organisation. Southern Dallas makes up about 60 percent of the city's area and 45 percent of Dallas County's population  yet accounts for just 15 percent of the citys property tax base, according to the mayor's office. Those numbers can be read in two ways. Rawlings prefers to see the upside. "Southern Dallas is an investment opportunity and not a charity case," he said. JOBS WITH REAL DIGNITY' Repairing the economy of Southern Dallas may be beyond the ability of one well-meaning mayor, said Brianna Brown, Dallas County director for the Texas Organizing Project, a nonprofit advocating for low-income communities. There has been effort made that is different from other administrations," she said. "Whether that materializes into something that is really tackling the problem - in a systemic way, with a policy solution - is a whole other question. Under Rawlings, the city has sought to equalise infrastructure spending - potholes, streetlights, public transportation - among rich and poor neighbourhoods. The administration has also pleaded with private employers to move into poorer areas, and set up a private investment fund called Impact Dallas Capital that seeks to raise $100 million to spur investments. Some current city efforts in low-income neighbourhoods - such as regulating payday lenders and luring stores offering fresh, affordable food - are well-intentioned but difficult to execute, Brianna Brown said. The depth of the problems, she said, demand bolder reforms to the city's education system and its economy. There should be jobs with real dignity," she said. In Fair Park, where Antoinette Brown died of dog bites, leafy parks sit next to garbage-strewn lots and unpaved roads. Keena Davis, 32, said going to an affluent neighbourhood nearby, Highland Park, felt like a different world. He wants his 12-year-old son to make the jump. "There's a ceiling on how high he can go, and I want him to break it," she said. "He doesn't deserve this neighbourhood." (Refiled to distinguish Southern Dallas, the entire region South of downtown, from South Dallas, a smaller neighborhood.) (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Marice Richter in Dallas; Editing by Brian Thevenot)
From the Oval Office to the ballroom? Dancing With the Stars casting director Deena Katz revealed in a new interview that up until 2016, she has asked former POTUS  and aspiring First Gentleman  Bill Clinton to compete on the show every year since the program premiered in 2005.



PHOTOS: Sexy, Shirtless 'Dancing With the Stars Hunks: Derek Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Nyle DiMarco and More!

You know, I ask Bill Clinton every time," Katz told ABC News on Tuesday, August 16. "But this time I actually didnt ask him because I thought he might be a little busy.



Though he may have had time to cha-cha for a chance to win the coveted Mirrorball Trophy in the past, the 42nd commander in chief has been particularly busy this year supporting his wife, Hillary Clinton, as she continues her race to win the upcoming presidential election over Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Not only is Bill a long shot for season 23 of DWTS, but so are American athletes competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Katz explained. You know it worked with Shawn Johnson, it worked with Misty May, it worked with Evan Lysacek, and that is our show, thats America," she told ABC News.

"Ive talked to a lot of Olympians but, unfortunately for them, I cant really lock someone in so its kind of like putting that call out and then theyre all just waiting. And yet, theyre a little busy right now too, she continued. So its this thing of, 'OK, Ive talked to you, you guys are great, now lets wait and see what happens.'



PHOTOS: Stars Who Played the President

Gold-medalist Johnson, 24, won DWTS in May 2009. The gymnast went on to place second in the shows all-star edition in November 2012. Figure skater Lysacek, 31, got second place on season 10 of the reality series in May 2010 and gold medalwinning volleyball champ May, 39, put her best foot forward on DWTS seventh season in 2008 despite an injury that forced her to quit.

Story continues

PHOTOS: Olympic Athletes Turned TV and Movie Stars

Americas Next Top Model alum Nyle DiMarco won the last season of the dance-focused program in May 2016. Dancing With the Stars will return to ABC for its 23rd season Monday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET.







Related Content:
Danny Brown, the wry Detroit rapper with the swagger of a post-punker, has announced details of his forthcoming fourth LP, Atrocity Exhibition, his first in nearly three years and debut for electronic label Warp Records.

Due September 30th, the first tracks we've heard sound like a return to the noise-flecked, sample-crazed delirium of Brown's 2011 breakthrough XXX after the more EDM-influenced detour of 2013's Old.



"With Old, I wanted to have those performance songs so I can play those shows," Brown tells Rolling Stone. "That was what was a part of my world, doing festivals. Whereas this album is just my sound. This is Danny Brown."

Hooking up with longtime collaborator Paul White for sessions in London, the pair dove back into angular, crunchy, bonkers, sample-based hip-hop that, all told, cost $70,000 to clear.

"A lot of people cheap. And that's why their music sounds cheap," says Brown. "I wanna make timeless stuff, so you're gonna have to spend a couple dollars. You could have Rolex or you can have a Swatch."

Inspired by Raekwon, early Bjork, Joy Division, Talking Heads and System of a Down's Toxicity, Brown also worked with similarly leftfield producers like British bass technician Evian Christ, South African songwriter Petite Noir, Detroit hip-hop minimalist Black Milk and the ever-bent Alchemist. Guests include Kelela and Cypress Hill's B-Real, with "Really Doe" featuring Ab-Soul and the first on-track collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and Earl Sweatshirt. Though Brown is quick to add, "I'm pretty much the main star of this show, as always."

The title Atrocity Exhibition is a nod to the 1980 Joy Division song, which hints at some of the personal subject matter within. "I just relate to that song a lot," says Brown. "That song, [Ian Curtis is] pretty much talking about how he feels like he's part of a freak show almost. People just wanna come see him and they just wanna see him be a certain type of way. I totally relate to that. That's just how I felt with this album, 'cause a lot of people expect for me to be some crazy drugged-out I-don't-know.

Story continues

"At the end of the day, its just something that I really took my time with," adds the rapper. "I know this day and age, a lot of artists can't really take time off to make music  they'll get replaced. With me, [I'm] somebody that's able to sit down and be able to take my time, 'cause aint nobody gonna be out here sounding like me, ain't nobody gonna be out here doing what I do. I'm confident in this project to know that I'mma satisfy the people that's already fans of my music. So, if you're a fan of Danny Brown, you in for a treat."

The rapper will kick off a fall tour September 14th in Philadelphia, criss-crossing the country before ending his trek November 5th in Cleveland. All dates below.





Atrocity Exhibition Track List

1. "Downward Spiral"

2. "Tell Me What I Don't Know"

3. "Rolling Stone" (featuring Petite Noir)

4. "Really Doe" (featuring Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul & Earl Sweatshirt)

5. "Lost"

6. "Ain't It Funny"

7. "Goldust"

8. "White Lines"

9. "Pneumonia"

10. "Dance In The Water"

11. "From The Ground" (featuring Kelela)

12. "When It Rain"

13. "Today"

14. "Get Hi" (featuring B-Real)

15. "Hell For It"

Danny Brown Tour Dates

September 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of the Living Arts

September 15 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

September 16 - New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place

September 17 - Clifton Park, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall

September 18 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

September 19 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall

September 21 - Columbus, OH @ Park Street Saloon

September 22 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues

September 23 - Grand Rapids, MI @ The Intersection

September 24 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave II

September 25 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

September 27 - Des Moines, IA @ Wooly's

September 28 - Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre

October 1 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex

October 2 - Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

October 4 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre

October 5 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater

October 6 - Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theater

October 7 - Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory

October 8 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall

October 11 - San Francisco, CA @ Regency

October 12 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst

October 14 - San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park

October 15 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre

October 16 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory

October 17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom

October 18 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater

October 20 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live

October 21 - Dallas, TX @ South Side Music Hall

October 23 - Austin, TX @ Emo's

October 25 - New Orleans, LA @ Republic New Orleans

October 26 - Nashville, TN @ Exit In

October 27 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade

October 28 - Charlotte, NC @ The Underground

October 29 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle

October 30 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel

November 1 - Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore Silver Springs

November 2 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's Theatre

November 3 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom

November 4 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre

November 5 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop

Related Content
A controversial email led to the suspension of a Baltimore police lieutenant as an internal investigation gets underway. Police are calling it a personnel matter and would not discuss specifics, but said police Commissioner Kevin Davis is outraged and disappointed. In an email sent to the department's officers and staff, Lt. Victor Gearhart called protesters at the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police conference "thugs." He added, "On the bright side, maybe they will stop killing each other while they are protesting us."
VIENNA (Reuters) - Giant panda Yang Yang gave birth nine days ago and CCTV monitoring at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo did not show her secret until late last week - she had not one but two cubs keeping warm between her massive paws. Pictures and video footage from the zoo showed the two tiny pink cubs resting on Yang Yang's chest as she lay on her back. "It sounded as though two cubs were squealing, but we only ever saw one," zoo director, Dagmar Schratter, said in a statement on Tuesday. "On Friday, the zookeepers were first able to make out two of them on the screen." Yang Yang is being monitored by cameras in a private pen so as not to disturb her and panda cubs are rarely seen because their mothers constantly warm them between their paws. Yang Yang has given birth to three other cubs, all of which are now in China. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Louise Ireland)
hawaiian shirts

If you're going to think about an ex, Felice Cohen says, at least use those feelings to help you get organized.

A professional organizer and former tenant of a 90-square-foot apartment in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Cohen is now the author of "90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (...or more)."

The book is a compendium of the nuggets of wisdom Cohen gained from her six years in the micro-apartment.

Those tips include: Discard something old every time you buy something new, flip a coin to help determine an object's fate, and store your belongings vertically as much as you can.

And when it comes time to decide whether to keep or toss an old piece of clothing, there's a question everyone should ask: "How would I feel if I bumped into an ex while wearing this?"

"We joke (as women) of bumping into an ex and wanting to look good, not to look like a schlub or a mess," Cohen told Business Insider via email. "It's a tongue-in-cheek answer, but one that works for many when deciding on what to toss."

Other useful questions might get you to a similar outcome, such as "When was the last time I wore it?" and "Am I keeping it out of habit?" But none approaches the problem as creatively or concretely as conjuring an ex-lover's judgment.

"Of course, it depends on who broke up with who," Cohen clarifies.

But assuming you still care what the ex thinks (be honest), the question is a useful one. Cohen says she recently used the strategy to help her cousin dispose of some old clothes, which "went 'buh bye' so fast."

The same could work for you. Painful as it may be to bring an old flame's image to mind, let your desire to be seen looking your best fuel your ability to move on.

Sayonara, ugly sweaters.

NOW WATCH: A Japanese lifestyle guru explains how to organize your home once  and then never again





More From Business Insider


All aerospace and defense companies have reported their Q2 numbers which arent all too flattering. Overall, the sector has recorded an earnings decline of 27% despite 2.9% growth in revenues. Yet, most of the major defense companies stood up pretty well in what was a tough quarter, boosting their 2016 outlook. Last week, Orbital ATK OA came up with second-quarter results which beat estimates.



Meanwhile, defense primes witnessed positive movements in the market sessions last week. Among the other important highlights, the Air Force won permission from the Pentagon to sign two production contracts with Boeing BA for the first 19 KC-46 tankers. Lockheed Martin LMT and United Technologies UTX also picked up a few important contracts.



(Read Defense Stock Roundup for Aug 9, 2016 here.)

AEROSPACE/DEFENSE Industry Price Index

AEROSPACE/DEFENSE Industry Price Index

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories



1. Orbital ATK, Inc.s second-quarter 2016 earnings not only came above the analysts expectation by 3.8% but also surged 37.8% from the year-ago figure. However, Orbital ATK's total revenue in the quarter missed the consensus by 7.4%. Moreover, reported revenues fell 2.6% from the year-ago figure primarily due to lower sales from Flight Systems Group and Space Systems Group, partially offset by higher contribution from Defense Systems Group.



However, the company raised the low end of its 2016 earnings per share guidance to the range of $5.30$5.50 from the initial guidance of $5.25$5.50. Revenues are projected to be in the range of $4,450$4,500 million (read more: Orbital ATK Tops Q2 Earnings Estimates, Revenues Lag).



2. After a strong beat last quarter, TransDigm Group Incorporated TDG followed it up with another striking beat in its third-quarter fiscal 2016. The company raised its fiscal 2016 guidance as well.



The aircraft supplier posted adjusted quarterly earnings (including stock-based compensation adjustments) of $2.94 per share, trumping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.80 by 5%. The figures fared even better in the year-over-year comparison, registering an increase of almost 37.4% from the year-ago tally of $2.14 per share. Net sales for the quarter came in at $797.7 million, representing year-over-year growth of 15.4%. The top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $822 million (read more: TransDigm Q3 Earnings Beat; Sales Rise Y/Y, View Up).



3. The Boeing Co.s KC-46 tankers got production approval from the Pentagon. The Air Force won permission from the Pentagon to sign two production contracts with Boeing for the first 19 KC-46 tankers under a deal valued at a combined $2.8 billion. Boeing expects to deliver the first batch of 18 tankers in Jan 2018 instead of Aug 2017.



Boeings KC-46 program faced multiple delays due to technical problems with the tanker. In June, the Air Force said that it will seek compensation from Boeing for delays in the program. The company has already taken $1.3 billion in pretax charges for cost overruns.



Manufactured on the air frame of Boeings 767 commercial jet, the KC-46 is the first new U.S. tanker since the 1980s. In words of Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, "The KC-46 program has made significant strides in moving the Air Force toward the modernization needed in our strategic tanker fleet."



4. Lockheed Martin Corp. secured a $490.6 million contract to bring integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) capabilities to the global Aegis fleet. Lockheed will bring ballistic missile defense to the latest U.S., Korean and Japanese destroyers. The company will produce one destroyer for the U.S., three for South Korea and two for Japan.



Per the contract, Lockheed Martin will produce Aegis Weapon System MK-7 ship sets and associated spares, engineering efforts and support equipment and engineering efforts to support production, system testing, shipyard installation, and related requirements. The contract is slated for completion by May 2022.



Meanwhile, Lockheed Martins Mission Systems and Training division has also secured a $112.7 million modification contract from the U.S. Navy for fiscal 2016 AEGIS Modernization (AMOD) production requirements. The contract covers the production of multi-mission signal processor equipment sets; ballistic missile defense 4.0.2 equipment; AEGIS weapon system AMOD upgrade equipment; and associated spares to support the fielding of AMOD capabilities to the fleet.



5. A unit of United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, has been awarded a three-year, $151.7-million contract modification from the U.S. Navy for its F-35 Lightning II aircraft supplies and services.



The work under the contract comprises initial spare modules, engine system trainers, support equipment and depot activation services and supplies. Sep 2019 is the projected completion date. The defense department said that customers include the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, international partners and foreign military sales clients.



Performance



Defense companies ended in the green last week after experiencing volatility in recent times. In the last five trading sessions, General Dynamics Corp. GD gained the most with over 3% share price appreciation, followed by Textron Inc. TXT.



The six-month picture also shows only gains for the major defense stocks. L-3 Communications Holdings LLL maintained its leading position with almost 30% share price appreciation followed by Lockheed Martin.



The following table shows the price movement of the major defense players over the past five trading days and during the last six months.

Story continues

Company Last Week Last 6 months LMT 2.24% 27.51% BA 1.54% 19.59% GD 3.25% 16.65% RTN 1.71% 17.97% NOC 1.42% 19.32% COL 0.28% 2.62% TXT 2.96% 22.75% LLL 0.24% 29.41%



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From Cosmopolitan

After a 10-year-old boy was fatally injured while riding a 168-foot-tall water slide in Kansas City, Kansas, last Sunday, heartbreaking new details have emerged about the women who were in the boat with him when the accident occurred.

According to the Hays Daily News, the two other passengers on the raft with Kansas Rep. Scott Schwabs son, Caleb Thomas, were sisters-in-law on vacation from a small town near the Nebraska border. While both wished to remain anonymous, they revealed they had both sustained serious injuries following the accident on Schlitterbahn Waterparks Verruckt, allegedly the tallest water slide in the world.

As one of the womens husbands explained, one passenger broke her jaw and had to get eight stitches on her chin, and is still waiting to find out if she will need to get her jaw wired shut or if it will be able to heal properly on its own. The other woman received a fracture on her cheekbone, bruising to her eyeball, and had to get five stitches over her left eye.

While the accident has obviously caused a lot of distress for both, they claim to have received a ton of support from their hometown. They are also not yet ready to talk about what they experienced and saw on the ride itself.

Follow Gina on Twitter.

For more from World News Tonight, visit Yahoo View.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Disappointed sailors lashed out over garbage at Rio's Marina da Gloria, where they say floating debris cost them their chances at gold on Tuesday.

As Argentine veteran Santiago Lange, 54, celebrated an emotional Nacra 17 catamaran victory, Brazil's Samuel Albrecht, who partnered Isabel Swan, was fuming over their eighth place.

"(We had) problems five times today and yesterday it had already happened as well," Albrecht said.

"We didnt want to talk much about the subject, but today it was really terrible, it was really dirty.

"We were in second place but we hit rubbish. I dont know if it happened with others, but it happened to us today."

Lange and crew Cecilia Carranza Saroli finished sixth in the medal race won by New Zealand's Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders on Tuesday to claim the gold ahead of Australians Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin.

Swan admitted there was rubbish on the rudder of their craft, just one of the worries at a venue where bacteria in the sewage-laden waters sparked health concerns.

"We won a regatta in light wind conditions and in strong wind we got a second place. We had some bad regattas too, but we managed to get into the top 10 of the world," she said.

"Many good people were behind us. We are really happy with the result. Today we had some incidents with garbage on the rudder, but we managed to overcome it."
The Disney-ABC Writing Program is eight for eight. The Disney-ABC Television Group announced today that all eight of the writers selected for the 2016 writing program have been staffed on DATG series. This years staffings include Dayo Adesokan (Downward Dog), Amanda Idoko (Imaginary Mary), Andrew Mathieson (Dr. Ken), Ron McCants (Speechless), Miguel Ian Raya (Famous In Love, Freeform), Janine Salinas Schoenberg (American Crime), Christina Walker (Still Star-Crossed) and Jeffery Wang (Notorious). In addition, Raya is penning an episode of Freeforms Famous in Love while Schoenberg and Walker are co-writing episodes of ABCs American Crime and Still Star-Crossed, respectively.

Were proud that our selection of writers for this years writing program proved appealing to not only creative executives but showrunners as well, said Tim McNeal, vice president, Creative Talent Development & Inclusion. He added, Just as we pride ourselves by introducing new diverse voices to the creative process at the lower level, we find it equally rewarding to champion the staffing of program alumni as a means to career longevity.

Approximately 50 alumni at levels ranging from staff writer to executive producer will be staffed during the 2016-17 television season with 14 staffed on Disney|ABC networks. Alumni staffed on DATG series include Co-Executive Producer Zahir McGhee (Scandal, ABC), Supervising Producer Nelson Soler (Once Upon A Time, ABC), Co-producer and Story Editor Silvia Olivas (Elena of Avalor, Disney Channel), Executive Story Editor Ryan Maldonado (Conviction, ABC) and Story Editor Lucas Brown Eyes (Young & Hungry, Freeform).

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If a man can be judged by the company he keeps, Rep. Ryan Zinke has revealed his true character in this election season. Beyond his continued allegiance to his partys deeply flawed presidential nominee, he is proud to bring Trey Gowdy to Montana to support his bid for re-election.

Rep. Gowdy led a two-year congressional witch hunt at taxpayers expense. His House Select Committee on investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya racked up a $7 million tab on hearings that yielded exactly zero evidence of administrative wrongdoing.

While Rome burns, the Republican majority chooses instead to spend time and money on dead-end, publicity-grabbing stunts like Gowdys select committee. Is it any wonder that Congress has earned a whopping approval rating of 11 percent?

Norma Tirrell

Helena
Lori Cichewicz (Image via Fox 2)



Shes full of life, loving, kind, sweet, everything you could ever imagine, Lori Cichewicz describes her 5-year-old daughter, Reagan, to WXYZ. But the 50-year-old from Oakland County, Mich., worries about the financial strain and other issues involved in raising a child with special needs (Reagan was born with Down syndrome), as well as whether shell be around to celebrate all of Reagans milestones as she gets olderand shes now suing her doctor for damages for what she says was a pregnancy that shouldnt have happened in the first place.

Related: The 5 Strangest Places Women Have Given Birth

Per Fox 2, Cichewicz went to get her fallopian tubes tied in 2008 as a permanent birth-control measure, but her doctor informed her that her tubes were blocked and that surgery was unnecessaryin fact, he said, she could go without any contraception from that point forward and not worry about getting pregnant.

Fast-forward about three years, when a shocked Cichewicz found out she was pregnant with Reagan. A Michigan appeals court ruled last week that while Cichewicz cant sue for funds to cover raising a child with Down syndrome, she can file a complaint to be compensated for the emotional stress of the unplanned pregnancy, per the AP.

Related: Texas Mom Murdered Her Girls on Husbands Birthday

[The doctors advice] misled Lori and caused her to  make a decision that she never should have had to make, her lawyer tells WXYZ, while a Fox 2 legal analyst says she likely has a solid case, calling it very close to  medical malpractice. The case is expected to go to trial later this year. Not that the outcome of the suit will affect how Cichewicz feels about her daughter.

Related: Woman Got Flu Shot Instead of Birth Control Shot, Sues

I cant imagine life without her now, she tells WXYZ. When they say having a child with special needs is a gift, its a gift. (Read about why a woman in her 20s chose to have her tubes tied.)

Story continues

By Jenn Gidman

More From Newser:

8 Weeks Before Her Sons Due Date, She Had an Abortion

Hungry Teen Asks for Doughnuts, Gets $270K

This article originally appeared on Newser: Doctor Told Her She Couldnt Get Pregnant. She Did, Now Shes Suing
By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - According to interviews with U.S. physicians, some Roman Catholic hospitals not only refuse to provide some womens health services like abortion, but may also prevent doctors from referring women to facilities that would provide them. Services including sterilization, contraception and fertility services can be similarly prohibited, according to the small study. One thing that did surprise me is that some hospitals really do seem to leave women with little to no information when it comes to abortion care specifically, said lead author Dr. Debra Stulberg of the University of Chicago. For other services, whether its something a Catholic hospital allows or not, they will facilitate getting the appointment, sending records, etc., she told Reuters Health. But Im not speaking across the board for everyone, it wasnt always black and white, Stulberg said. Catholic healthcare institutions make up 15 percent of acute care hospitals in the U.S., and clinicians employed in them are bound by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives prohibit some reproductive healthcare services, but some Catholic theologians still believe doctors should openly explain all options to their patients, even ones they are not able to provide. Professional ethics guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommend that clinicians who deny patients reproductive services for moral or religious reasons provide a timely referral to prevent patient harm, but whether or not physicians at Catholic facilities actually make these referrals is unclear, the authors write in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. For the study, a sociologist interviewed 27 practicing obstetrician-gynecologists with experience working at a Catholic hospital by phone, asking open-ended questions about how hospital policy affected their patient care. In some Catholic hospitals, administrators and ethicists allowed for or even encouraged referrals to places like Planned Parenthood, but in others, referral was actively discouraged, or doctors kept their referral activity hidden. We talked to doctors with a range of opinions on abortion, some of whom strongly expected to share the values of a Catholic hospital, Stulberg said. Sometimes they were surprised because policies changed and attitudes toward referrals may depend on which bishops issue new directives, she said. In general, physicians said the Catholic ethical directives did not always serve the best interests of women with limited financial resources, those needing certain kinds of emergency care and those who want to undergo sterilization by tubal ligation at the time of a cesarean section or immediately after a vaginal delivery. It concerns me as a doctor, from a standpoint of medical ethics, ACOG says that when a healthcare provider cant offer certain services they have to provide full and accurate information, Stulberg said. Even in some emergencies doctors couldnt provide care they thought the patient needed, like giving high dose birth control pills to control heavy bleeding, she said. Some physicians said they got mixed messages from their hospital, which may want to deny a service for moral reasons but want to provide it for financial reasons. In some cases, hospital policy relied on referring to other facilities like Planned Parenthood, which was surprising, Stulberg said. Some hospitals specifically said if there werent other places to send these patients, then we might do (the procedures), according to the physician interviews, she said. Many people may not have the option to choose between a Catholic or secular healthcare facility, she said. For patients who have the same religious tradition, a catholic hospital is perfect because she will only be given options she would consider, said Dr. Maura Quinlan, chair of the Illinois Section of ACOG, who was not part of the study. But it is not ethical to decide that for the patient. Failing to refer women for reproductive care can have significant negative effects on her health, Quinlan told Reuters Health by email. Women should not assume that theyre getting all the information that they may need to make an informed medical decision if theyre going to a Catholic hospital, Stulberg said. Its always good to ask questions about your own medical situation, and unfortunately you have to do some research beyond what you doctor can tell you. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ahrmhl Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, online July 28, 2016.
It is not freedom of the press when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false! Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday.

I will refrain from belaboring the contradictions in his concern for the danger of false statements in public life, because the question he raised is an important one.

Does the First Amendment really protect false statements of fact? Does it really protect deliberate lies?

The idea that lies are part of freedom of speech or of the press seems wrong. Lieseven lazy falsehoodsmake finding the truth harder, erode mutual trust, and harm individuals and groups. Some can even lead to private violence or public disorder.

Why would free speech protect them?

Under U.S. law, many falsehoodseven some deliberate liesreceive the full protection of the First Amendment. That is true even though there is no constitutional value in false statements of fact, as Justice Lewis Powell Jr. wrote for the Supreme Court in 1974. Nonetheless, the Court has often refused to allow government to penalize speakers for mistakes, sloppy falsehoods, and lies. Political lies are strongly protected; but even private lies sometimes are as well.

Recommended: If Hillary Clinton Wins, Will Texas Secede?

Why?

Imagine if you will, the following impossible scenario: Candidate X says of Candidate Y, His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswalds beingyou knowshot.  That was reported, and nobody talks about it.

Shouldnt this ridiculous, petty, cruel, and destructive lie be punished?

The answer, under First Amendment law, is probably not. The strictly imaginary comment above, however crude and stupid, is nonetheless a statement about an important political issue: determining the presidential nominee of a major party. So, if there is a hierarchy of speech under the First Amendment, this allegation starts out at the top. Candidates for president sling all sorts of mud at each otherone candidate, for example, may claim another is planning to rig the election; was involved in the murder of a government official even though an investigation had found suicide; or was the co-creator, with a sitting president, of a terrorist conspiracy against the United States.

Story continues

Such allegationsnot that anyone would make themwould be contemptible; but I would be worried about a system in which the government could silence them. A statute in Ohio, for example, set up a board to review campaign claims and made it a crime, punishable by up to six months in jail, for any person to make any false statement about a candidate or an election.

A federal court struck the law down in 2014quite rightly. Thats not because theres any constitutional value in false statements of fact but because the curegovernment control of what can be said in politicsis far worse than the disease. To enforce this law, the tribunal would summon the speaker and demand proof that the false statement was not a deliberate lie. That process will inevitably suppress some true statements along with the false and frighten some meritorious speakers into silence; those suppressions are, over time, likely to be skewed toward speech that criticizes government.

Recommended: Peter Thiels Self-Serving 'New York Times' Column

Look at it differently. What is it like to be falsely accused of complicity in the Kennedy assassination? Surely it must lead people to shun the victimand, in a nation full of heavily armed lunatics, may even put the smeared persons life at risk. If government cant punish this lie, could the victim sue for defamation (what used to be called slander or libel)?

At first glance, youd think so. The law provides some protection for an individuals reputation. Defamation, in law, is the transmission to others of false statements of fact that would cause others to shun the person defamed. Thus, falsely claiming that someone is a criminal, or an incompetent at his or her job, or afflicted with a contagious disease, or was once governor of New Jersey (kidding!) can usually give rise to a lawsuit and damages.

But even an individual lawsuit uses government power to suppress speech. Even a meritless lawsuit can impose costs on a truthful speaker. And the most important defamation case of the 20th century arose out of a systematic attempt to use defamation suits to suppress reporting on the civil-rights movement. Southern government officials began filing state-court defamation actions whenever national media reported on their doings with articles that contained any mistake of fact, whether innocent or not, important or not. In response, the Court, in a case called New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, created the modern First Amendment doctrine of defamation.

The United States wants the public to criticize government without fear.

First, it said, courts cannot assess defamation damages against those who speak about public officials unless the officials can show the false statement was made with actual malicemeaning with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. In other words, people can say awful things about government officialssay, for example, that they are murderers, that they have brain damage, that they are corrupt, that they are planning to steal elections, or even that they have short, nasty little fingerswithout penalty, as long as they have even an irrational belief that what they are saying is true. The Court later extended this rule to cover statements about public figures, toopeople like, say, real-estate developers who star in reality shows and then run for president.

So such a figure would not be able to collect damages unless he could prove that a newspaper had deliberately lied or had printed a story while suspecting it was false. The reason, the Court said, was a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.

Recommended: Claims of Media Bias Against Donald Trump Are Grossly Exaggerated

And the Court added that government itself, or public officials, can never collect for horrible things said about government in generalthings like claiming government is deliberately lying about unemployment figuresbecause the United States wants the public to criticize government without fear.

And over and over, in cases involving invasion of privacy or intentional infliction of emotional distress, the Court has drawn that line: Public persons cant collect without showing a false statement of fact made with actual malice. A genuinely private person, dragged from obscurity by a published lie, would be able to collect if he or she could show that the speaker was simply lazy or stupid. But even those cases are made harder if the speaker was talking about matters of public concern.

So imagine a story that says: The effort to save Mr. Trump from himself has plainly failed. He has repeatedly signaled to his advisers and allies his willingness to change and adapt, but has grown only more volatile and prone to provocation since then, clashing with a Gold Star family, making comments that have been seen as inciting violence, and linking his political opponents to terrorism. That story, especially when written after reporting, is protectedeven if later it turns out that the reporter drew the wrong conclusion from his data. Why? It doesnt defame any individual.

The First Amendment even protects false statements when made by private citizens, in private, when they dont defame others. Thus, the federal Stolen Valor Act originally made it a crime for any individual to claim, for any reason, that he or she had received medals or decorations from the U.S. military. The governments argument was that allowing these lies would reduce the prestige of the real medal winners and thus of the military generally. Writing for a four-justice plurality, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:

Permitting the government to decree this speech to be a criminal offense, whether shouted from the rooftops or made in a barely audible whisper, would endorse government authority to compile a list of subjects about which false statements are punishable.  Our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need Oceanias Ministry of Truth.

Of course, the opinion reaffirmed, the government can prohibit lying in specific contextsas a witness under oath in a deposition, to pick a random example, or in solicitations from private universities that promise their real-estate courses will help students become wealthy, to pick another. But general lyingfor example, I am worth $10 billion!is protected because, again, the cure is worse than the disease.

So, basically, the United States protects false statements because, unless needed leeway is given to people who are trying to speak the truth, government will begin to silence people for speech it does not agree with. And to prove that falsehood is protected, I will engage here in the most reckless and conscious lie I can think of:

Donald Trump is fit to be president.

Hey, sue me.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Santo Domingo (AFP) - The Dominican Republic's President Danilo Medina was sworn in Tuesday for his second term, after riding an economic boom to win re-election in a landslide despite deep and lingering poverty.

Dressed in a white suit with the red, white and blue presidential sash draped across his chest, Medina took the oath of office before the Caribbean tourist paradise's National Assembly.

His audience included Presidents Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, three of Latin America's most outspoken leftists.

Medina, a 64-year-old economist and head of the centrist Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), won the country's May 15 election with 62 percent of the vote after pushing through a constitutional amendment to allow him to stand for a second four-year term.

On the eve of his second inauguration, his government boasted of its accomplishments over the past four years: investment in education, loans and support for small farmers, and a sharp drop in poverty, from 42.2 percent of the population to 32.3 percent.

The economy grew seven percent last year and is on track to grow six percent this year, according to the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The boom is thanks largely to tourism dollars from foreigners flocking to the country's luxury hotels and beaches.

But lingering poverty "will continue to threaten stability in the long term," warned the economist Pavel Isa Contreras.

More than three million of the island's 10 million people are still estimated to live in poverty.

Some political analysts warn that Medina, fresh off a crushing victory, is unlikely to make deep structural changes needed to secure long-term growth.

"He is not a reformist at heart," the Eurasia Group consultancy summed up after his win.

The PLD party has been in power for 12 years in the Spanish-speaking country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with its troubled neighbor, Haiti.

Story continues

The president, who faced seven challengers, has profited from a divided opposition and the breakup of the once-powerful Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD).

His top rival, Luis Abinader, came from a PRD breakaway faction.

In a country that endured the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961), US military interventions, and lifetime politicians such as three-time president Joaquin Balaguer, some voters worry about the PLD's iron grip on power.

Medina, however, can brush that off: he enjoys an 89 percent approval rating, according to a pre-election poll by Mexican consultancy Mitofsky, making him the most popular leader in Latin America.
If you only read one thing: Democrats are riding high on a sea of public and private polls showing Hillary Clinton with a comfortable lead over Donald Trump in enough swing states to clear 270 Electoral Votes if the election were held today. Her campaign and her super PAC, Priorities USA, are cutting advertising buys in states they are growing more confident in and shifting them toward expanding the mapwhich will keep Trump on defense through Election Day. Yet all of that confidence comes with a risk, as President Barack Obama warned donors on Marthas Vineyard Monday night, that in growing complacent they will fail to turn out the voters they need to win. With 84 days left, there is plenty of time for the polls to rise and fall, particularly around the fall debates.

Donald Trumps foreign policy speech Monday was an attempt to turn the page on a brutal three weeks for his campaign, but his remarks were riddled with factual inaccuraciesmost notably about his own record. Trump criticized the Iraq War he initially supported, then criticized Obamas rapid troop withdrawalwhich he also supported. The same goes for the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, both of which he criticized Monday but supported at the time. While criticizing nation building, he called once again for seizing Iraqi oil, in effect creating a permanent occupation of the country. And he revised his blanket ban on Muslim immigration to a ban on immigration from un-listed high-risk areas, while adding an ideological screening test to ensure those who visit respect American values. And as Trump advisors looked to have him project a presidential image, Trump once again got in his own way, ad-libbing to call his new immigration proposals extreme vetting and promising to be extreme in responding to radical Islamic extremism.

Hillary Clinton begins debate prep. Biden stumps for an old friend in their shared hometowns. And your under-caffeinated newsletter author thanks a pair of eagle-eyed readers who noted that yesterdays newsletter incorrectly referred to the Orange Revolution unseating former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, rather than the 2014 Ukraine Spring.

Story continues

Here are your must reads:

Must Reads

Biden rebaptizes Clinton in Scranton [Politico]

In the city where both have roots, the veep and the nominee try to appeal to voters tempted by Trump.

Donald Trump Talks Tougher Tack in the War on Terror

TIMEs Mark Thompson on his calls for ideological litmus test for immigrants

G.O.P. Urges Donald Trump to Broaden Outreach to Black Voters

Trump has turned down all invitations [New York Times]

Clinton preps for Trumps Lewinsky attack

Democrats team searches for a close ally willing to dredge up the most awkward, painful accusations against the candidate [P0litico]

Transcribers agony

Frustrated not by what Trump says but how he says it [CNBC]

Sound Off

If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake. President Barack Obama at a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, seeking to prevent Democratic complacency in light of her strong polling lead.

Hillary Clinton wants to be Americas Angela Merkel, and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to Germany and the people of Germany. Donald Trump in a foreign policy speech Monday.

Bits and Bites

Donald Trump Called Germanys Angela Merkel The Greatest Last Year [TIME]

U.S. Transfers 15 Guantanamo Detainees to United Arab Emirates [TIME]

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Voter ID Law [TIME]

Video of Trump deposition could go public soon [Politico]

He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now hes leading Lock her up chants [Washington Post]

Pennsylvanias Attorney General Is Convicted on All Counts [New York Times]
Down Ticket is Yahoo News complete guide to the most fascinating House, Senate and governors races of 2016. Coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday until Nov. 8. What you need to know today.

_____

In 1996, the GOP dumped Dole to save its congressional majorities. Why the same trick wont work with Trump.

For Donald Trumps campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, it must be like deja vu all over again.

You may have missed the news while you were doing whatever it is that normal people do with their summer weekends, but Trump is in even bigger electoral trouble this week than he was the week before.

With the Donald continuing to falter and flail, the Republican Party is now strategizing about dumping its nominee  financially, at least  and redirecting its resources to down-ticket races.

First, on Thursday, more than 70 prominent Republicans signed an open letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urging him to divert all of the cash the RNC is currently spending on Trump to vulnerable GOP House and Senate candidates. (That number climbed to 110 this week after Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell and Wisconsin Rep. Reid Ribble, both of whom are retiring, added their names to the request, along with former Reps. Bob Inglis of South Carolina and Jim Kolbe of Arizona.)

Every dollar spent by the RNC on Donald Trumps campaign is a dollar of donor money wasted on the losing effort of a candidate who has actively undermined the GOP at every turn, the letter read. The RNC should shift its strategy and its resources to convince voters not to give Hillary Clinton the blank check of a Democrat-controlled Congress to advance her big government agenda.

Then, on Saturday, an RNC official began laying the groundwork for such a shift by telling a group of reporters in an off-the-record session that Trump would have only himself to blame for a defeat in November.

In the words of one person in the room, according to Politico, the message was that the RNC has all these staffers out there working and knocking on doors, with a data system they believe rivals what Obama built in 2012  so its not their fault.

Story continues

This isnt the first time the GOP has gone down this road  which brings us back to Paul Manafort.

Exactly two decades ago, Manafort was a top strategist for Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole. At least six other Trump staffers worked for Dole that year too.

All of them likely recall how Doles campaign ended: with the GOP giving up on its presidential candidate.

Convinced that incumbent President Bill Clinton would rout the veteran Kansas senator on Election Day, Republican operatives explicitly told their partys Congressional candidates to cut loose from Bob Dole and press voters to maintain a Republican majority in order to deny a re-elected President Clinton a blank check., as the New York Times reported. The National Republican Congressional Committee went on to launch a $4 million ad blitz designed to deliver the same message to 50 hard-fought congressional districts.

The liberal special interests aligned with Clinton desperately want to buy back control of Congress, the NRCC ad claimed. If we give the special interests a blank check in Congress, whos going to represent us?

It was a devastating blow for Dole, who lost to Clinton by 220 electoral votes. And yet, for the party as a whole, the blank check strategy was a success: Republicans retained control of the House and actually picked up two seats in the Senate that November.

Clearly the RNC is hoping that a Congress-first approach will work a second time around  whatever happens to Trump.

But will it?

Not necessarily. There are a few big differences between 1996 and 2016 that will make it tougher for the GOP to save Congress by shunning its nominee.

The first is that its remarkably early for this sort of chatter. In 1996, the initial blank check story didnt appear in the press until Oct. 18  a mere 18 days before the election. That was by design. As veteran Republican consultant Eddie Mahe told the New York Times, the party was worried that pull[ing] the trigger too soon would alienat[e] base Republicans.

Mr. Mahe suggested that the tactic, which might buy two, three or four points, could be effective even if used only in the last three or four days of the campaign, when those base Republicans, too, would not be offended by an open discussion of Mr. Doles circumstances.

Base Republicans arent abandoning Trump. On the contrary  they still seem to adore him. Speculating about throwing their hero under the bus nearly three months before Election Day is not a good way to encourage them to show up and vote for GOP House and Senate candidates in November.

This is especially true because, compared with Dole, Trump still looks like he has a shot. Dole was trailing by as many as 17 percentage points in late August; Trump is currently behind by an average of 7. Bill Clinton slipped below the 50 percent threshold only a couple of times; Hillary Clinton rarely clears it. The earlier the RNC bails on Trump, the more inclined base voters will be to blame the party for deserting him. They may stay home as a result.

The second difference between 1996 and 2016 is absentee voting, which has become a lot more widespread over the last decade or so. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states now allow voters to cast their ballots before Election Day; some mail their no-excuse absentee ballots to voters as early as next month. This puts the RNC in an even tougher position. Shift resources away from Trump sooner rather than later and, again, the base will revolt; wait until the last minute, however, and many voters will have already cast their ballots.

Then theres polarization to consider. On the surface, Trumps poll numbers appear to be more promising than Doles. But the fact that in 1996 Republicans were able to keep control of Congress despite losing the presidency by nearly 9 percentage points may ultimately say less about the brilliance of their blank check strategy than it does about the willingness of some voters  in the past  to bounce back and forth between the two parties as they worked their way down the ballot.

Split-ticket voting used to be fairly common; in 1972, for instance, 44 percent of congressional districts voted for one party in the presidential race and another in their local House contest. By 2012, however, that number had declined to 6 percent. To save the Senate from Trump, Republicans would have to revive the practice.

Finally, theres the nominee himself. In mid-August 1996, 58 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Dole; only 35 percent saw him unfavorably. Dole wasnt tarnishing the GOP brand.

Trump is. In fact, his current ratings are almost the exact opposite of Doles: 32.8 percent favorable versus 61.5 percent unfavorable. Those are the worst numbers in the history of presidential-election polling  and the GOPs stats are almost as bad.

In 1996, it wasnt all that difficult to convince swing voters to support Republican House and Senate candidates even if they werent supporting Dole. But this year, thanks to Trump, Republicans have a much more challenging case to make.

_____

By the numbers

3: The number of times Democratic New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan was asked Tuesday whether Hillary Clinton is honest and/or trustworthy; also the number of times Hassan refused to answer. Hassan is running against GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate.

_____

The race to watch this week: Liz Cheney in Wyoming

There isnt a ton of primary action this Tuesday  especially compared with the next round of voting on Aug. 30, when voters in Arizona and Florida will decide whether John McCain, Marco Rubio and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (among others) will advance to the general election.

Alaskas primary today will probably be a snooze. Six years ago, Sen. Lisa Murkowski lost her primary to a tea party challenger before bouncing back to win the general election as a write-in candidate; this time she has run a more aggressive campaign and should easily dispatch Republican challengers Paul Kendall, Thomas Lamb, and Bob Lochner. And while Edgar Blatchford, Richard Grayson, and Ray Metcalfe will be competing for the Democratic Senate nod, it doesnt really matter who comes out on top  the seat is safely Republican. Longtime GOP Congressman Don Young is all but guaranteed to win reelection as well.

Still, this week does feature one fascinating contest: the Republican primary for Wyomings at-large seat in the U.S. House. Like Alaska, Wyoming is safely Republican, so Tuesdays drama wont have anything to do with the larger battle for control of Congress. Instead, it will all be about who the GOP chooses to send to Washington  or, more specifically, whether the GOP will choose the daughter of a former vice president.

Thats right: Liz Cheney is back.

Three years ago, Dicks elder daughter enraged the Wyoming political establishment by trying to challenge primary Sen. Mike Enzi. She wound up dropping her bid six months after it began.

Now shes vying against eight rivals for the seat that previously belonged to retiring GOP Rep. Cynthia Lummis. Cheney is the favorite, with sky-high name recognition and 15 times as much cash as her closest competitor.

In the only public poll of the race, Cheney led with 21 percent of the vote  well ahead of House Speaker Pro Tempore Tim Stubson (9 percent) and state Sen. Leland Christensen (4 percent). (NB: Cheney is an unabashed Trump supporter.)

That said, 52 percent of Wyoming Republicans told the same polling outfit that they were undecided  a staggering number in a contest with nine options. And on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul  who has been feuding with Dick Cheney for years  came out and endorsed Christensen in attempt to turn Wyomings libertarian-leaning electorate against a member of Americas most prominent neoconservative family.

Its important that there are different varieties of Republicans, Paul said. I think there are big-government Republicans who believe that they want sort of an imperial presidency that can take us to war anywhere and everywhere at any time.

Well see Tuesday night which vision of conservatism Wyoming Republicans prefer.

_____

Bernie Sanders revolution continues in Florida  or does it?

When Bernie Sanders finally conceded the Democratic presidential nominating contest to Hillary Clinton last month, he vowed to continue his revolution under the auspices of a social welfare group called  Our Revolution.

At the time, Sanders vowed to do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton.

Since then, however, Sanders has focused mostly on doing everything he can to defeat establishment Democrats by boosting their progressive primary challengers.

So far, his record is mixed. According to the Washington Post, Sanders is 2-for-4 when it comes to major congressional candidates hes endorsed. Breakout progressive star Zephyr Teachout won her June primary for a swing seat in New Yorks Hudson Valley, and Pramila Jayapal recently advanced to her general election in the Seattle area; meanwhile, Eric Kingson lost in New York and Lucy Flores lost in Nevada.

Sanders biggest test, however, is yet to come. On Aug. 30, Bernie acolyte Tim Canova will challenge longtime Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Floridas 23rd Congressional District. Sanders has been at war with the former Democratic National Committee chair for months, first accusing her of rigging the Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton and then, in the wake of last months DNC email hack, leading the charge that led to her resignation from the partys top post. All along, hes been ginning up support for Canova, a law professor, via his powerful email list and fundraising operation.

Does Canova have a chance? His best opportunity to knock off Wasserman Schultz may have come this past weekend, when, after months of demands, he finally got to debate the incumbent on local TV. But the consensus in South Florida political circles is that Canova didnt make the most of it.

Heres Andrew Abramson of the Sun Sentinel:

Canova held his own against Wasserman Schultz, a skilled debater despite rarely having meaningful competition in her 11-year Congressional career. But there was no game changer, no moment where a soft Wasserman Schultz supporter would likely jump to Canovas side.  Canova simply didnt and probably couldnt do enough in the lone debate to drastically change the narrative.



And heres Jim DeFede of CBS Miami, who moderated the debate:

Rather than drive home [his attacks about the DNC hack] and try to keep Wasserman Schultz on the ropes, [Canova] made a joke about nobody caring about her emails  a play on the line Bernie Sanders used during his debate with Hillary Clinton. On Sunday, however, it fell flat and actually undermined what he had said previously. Canova had recently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about the DNC support for Wasserman Schultz. Time and again Canova missed opportunities to press his case against Wasserman Schultz. Given the fairly easy question on how he would attempt to pass a $15 an hour federal minimum wage, Canova spoke briefly about building a coalition with labor and then seemed stymied, before finally turning to DeFede, the moderator, and asking: You tell me how do we get to $15 an hour minimum wage? Without missing a beat, Wasserman Schultz jumped in: Id be happy to tell you. In another exchange, Canova was asked to make the case as to why he believes Wasserman Schultz was out of touch with her community and too beholden to special interests. However, rather than connect the dots between Wasserman Schultzs campaign donors and votes shes taken to benefit them, Canova cited a recent 60 Minutes story about how members of Congress spend as much as 30 hours a week seeking campaign contributions.

Not helping matters: the fact that Wasserman Schultz scheduled the debate for 8 a.m. on a Sunday  not exactly primetime  and Canovas inability to counter when his opponent criticized him for not really knowing the district.

At one point, DeFede asked Canova whether he knew the name of the mayor of Southwest Ranches, a town in Broward County.

Im not going to play that game, Canova said. No, I do not. And Im not going to play that game.

Its Jeff Nelson, by the way, Wasserman Schultz chimed in.

Very good, thank you very much, Canova said, annoyed.

Hes also the assistant principal at Cypress Bay High School, she added with a smile.

Its unlikely, at this point, that Canova will be able to win a district that has voted for Wasserman Schultz in every election since 1992. His internal polls show him trailing by 8 percentage points. Pro-DWS polls show her up by 33. In Aprils presidential primary, Clinton clobbered Sanders in the heavily Jewish 23rd with more than 70 percent of the vote. Still, stranger things have happened  especially in Florida. Stay tuned for more.

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The best of the rest

Where was the conservative opposition to Trump? Consider: He won > 2/3 of Freedom Caucus districts, avg 48% of vote. https://t.co/g6sUh7bJ3R  Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) August 15, 2016

How House Republicans May Benefit From Donald Trump @JohnJHarwood https://t.co/s3yOPU0FQB  Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) August 16, 2016

Hacked DCCC docs dish on strategy and scandal for Florida congressional candidates https://t.co/SQYURTRTqu  Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) August 16, 2016

Rebels In Name Only? The war on House Freedom Caucus-backed candidates begins https://t.co/rY8Z3wEO05 | AP pic.twitter.com/54pEoGIbuh  POLITICO (@politico) August 15, 2016

Mike Pence to campaign alongside Marco Rubio in Florida, aide to Indiana governor says. https://t.co/OIH2Re7klq pic.twitter.com/fAI0YcUzCt  ABC News (@ABC) August 16, 2016

Republican dark money group pulls $2.8 million out of Ohio Senate race, telegraphing confidence in Portman https://t.co/VtNHemLQ4f  Michelle Hackman (@MHackman) August 15, 2016



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Countdown

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BUTTE -- A humble, behind-the-scenes civic servant and true-blue Butte boy who conceived the idea of the Our Lady of the Rockies statue, Bob OBill truly made a difference in many lives.

Beloved and remembered as a gentle soul, OBill, 83, died Sunday in Great Falls, where he had been hospitalized since Friday.

The Lady was lit for the first time in December 1985  his crowning moment.

That night when the lights went on was the greatest day of my life, he famously said at the time. That was pay day. Were elated.

The general consensus is if it werent for OBill, the 90-foot iron statue of Mother Mary overlooking Butte from atop the East Ridge would not have been built. An electrician by trade, he originally envisioned a 5-foot statue to thank God for his wife Joyces recovery from a serious illness in 1979.

He was quiet  he didnt like publicity, said Leroy Lee, a working friend, machinist and welder on the statue. He could get anybody and everybody to help. He had that chemistry to ask, Would you donate or help? No one could say no to him.

Not even Joe Roberts, businessman and salesman behind the statues construction who hired Lee, could keep OBills quiet persistence at bay.

Initially in 1979, OBill dropped off a ceramic knick-knack of the Virgin Mary, arms extended, at the Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment Company shop where Lee worked. It was Bobs way of keeping the OLR idea foremost in their thoughts.

The more Bob talked, the more Joe was in, added Lee. But thats the kind of guy Bob was. He was very gentle, easy-going and everybody just loved him.

Retirement kept the OBills busy taking care of the less fortunate.

OBill also had a passion for feeding the hungry, said Kathy Griffith, Butte Emergency Food Bank director for the past six years. She and her staff were clearly overwhelmed while talking about losing their star volunteer on Monday.

He ran the back warehouse, but he did so much for us, said Griffith. I dont think I can put into words how instrumental he was for the food bank. He and Joyce  the two of them have been amazing. For many years theyve watched the food bank grow.

The food bank opened in 1981.

Sister Mary Jo McDonald, a longtime friend of the OBills, echoed Bobs penchant for caring about the less advantaged.

Its not easy to do  and Bob was so patient and kind, said McDonald. Bob and Joyce deserve great thanks.

Setting a serene example, Bob eventually fulfilled his dream for Joyce.

He loved his wife dearly and vice versa, said Sister Mary Jo. He worked very diligently preparing Our Lady of the Rockies.

It was the work of many hands, but he made a promise to his wife. I dont think he anticipated a 90-foot statue, though.

Last Nov. 18, 700 citizens celebrated the 30th anniversary of OLR with an emotion-packed dinner at the Butte Civic Center.

What a blessing OLR was to this community, Sister Mary Jo said, adding: Together we can do all things.

Many tears were shed during the On the Mountain video viewing at the anniversary gala. OBill is among a handful of original project workers featured in the film.

Griffith called him humble.

He would never have wanted anything (written) about him, Griffith said. He was so humble. He has touched so many lives. He always did what needed to be done.

Granddaughter Shawna Gibson, 43, said her grandfather had a weakness for stray animals, too. Plus his spirit rubbed off on her and her daughter, Lillian Koefelda, 12.

He taught me how to love unconditionally all people, said Gibson. He instilled in me compassion. He was a big part of my heart and my life.

Living up to OBills big-hearted legacy could be a trick.

We are all better people in this world who have known Bob, Griffith added. Youll never find a more generous man. Weve all lost a good friend.

There were givers and takers  and he was a giver.

Services are pending.
snowden-painting

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If anybody would know how the NSA operates, and how leaking its secrets works, its Edward Snowden. Snowden worked with journalists to reveal the NSAs extensive domestic spying program and has been living in exile ever since. Needless to say, hes been following the enormous hack of the NSAs spying tools very closely, and he not only knows how it happened, he thinks it was a state-sponsored attack.

Snowden took to Twitter and laid out how these tools were used when he was employed there and what he believes the real motivation behind it was. In short, Snowden doesnt buy this is a bunch of cybercriminals. He thinks its a threat from Russia to keep the U.S. intelligence community from delving too deeply into the DNC email hack. If youre unfamiliar, Russia is widely believed to have been behind a recent leak of private DNC emails, including donor lists and embarrassing personal revelations.

Snowden points out that if the files are publicly released, private companies and friendly governments can use the data to discover if the NSA has been spying on them. Keep in mind, the NSA was busted spying on German chancellor Angela Merkel and may have been spying on the Pope. If those files get out, and countries the U.S. nominally view as allies find out the NSA has been rooting through their private data, it could trigger an international diplomatic crisis.

Does that line up? Its certainly in line with how Russian interests tend to think. The flipside of that is that realistically, Russia may want to trigger an international diplomatic crisis. Russia has been campaigning to increase its sphere of influence, and igniting bridges between America and its allies is the kind of shenanigans it would pull to do that. Why the country would rather make threats than pull the trigger is something foreign policy wonks can only theorize about, but its unlikely this will end quietly.

(via Fortune)
Cairo (AFP) - Seventeen people were killed on Monday when two buses collided north of Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry said in a statement.

Another 16 people were injured in the accident, including three who needed to be transported to intensive care.

The collision took place about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of the capital, in Daqahliya province.

Traffic accidents are common in Egypt, where many of the country's roads are not well-maintained and regulations are laxly enforced.

Some 12,000 people die every year in road accidents in Egypt, according to World Health Organization figures from 2009.
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's judo federation denied on Tuesday that its Olympic competitor Islam El Shehaby had been sent home for refusing to shake the hand of an Israeli opponent.

An International Olympic Committee spokesman said Monday that the Egyptian Olympic Committee "strongly condemned the actions of Mr Islam El Shehaby and has sent him home."

The Egyptian judoka raised a storm at the judo by refusing to shake hands, and at first refusing to bow, after losing to Israel's Or Sasson. He was reprimanded by an Olympic disciplinary commission.

Egyptian judo federation president Sameh Moubasher told AFP that El Shehaby "was not sent home.

"He returned with his colleagues. The whole judo team returned yesterday at dawn," he said.
Recaptured drug lord Joaquin

A group of gunmen stormed a restaurant in the Mexican west-coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta early on Monday morning, abducting six people who had been celebrating there.

In the hours since, state officials have reported that one of the abductees may be Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, 32, one of the sons of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

It remains unclear who orchestrated the kidnapping or for what reason, but the possibility that one of the sons of Guzman, believed to be one of the most powerful kingpins in the world, was abducted suggests that Mexico's cartel landscape is getting messier  continuing a trend that has already had deadly consequences.

Officials in the western state of Jalisco said that around 1 a.m. local time on Monday, armed men entered a restaurant called La Leche on Puerto Vallarta's main boulevard, hustled the victims into SUVs, and drove off, leaving behind several women who had been dining with the victims and several vehicles that appear to have belonged to the abductees.

At a press conference, Eduardo Almaguer, the Jalisco state prosecutor, said preliminary results of the investigation indicated that all of those abducted were members of criminal groups, but he did not say which groups.

La Leche restaurant Puerto Vallarta mexico

"They were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities," Almaguer said. "They were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume." They were all from the western states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa, he said.

On Tuesday morning, Almaguer reported that the younger Guzman may have been among those taken from the restaurant.

"There is a possibility that Ivan Guzman is among the kidnapped," he told a local radio station. But Almaguer stressed that was not certain, as false ID cards were found at the scene.

Story continues

Police were reviewing the scene  taking fingerprints, examining security-camera footage, and checking information related to the vehicles left behind. One vehicle was found to have Jalisco state license plates but false registration.

Almaguer indicated that, based on information found in the cars left at the scene, one of the victims may have been a businessman from the central part of the country with operations in Jalisco and Sinaloa, while another may have been a bodyguard for the former governor of Jalisco state during his administration.

The largest criminal group operating in Jalisco is the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), though it's known that both the CJNG and Guzman's Sinaloa cartel have operations up and down Mexico's west coast, and that they've clashed in some areas.

Puerto Vallarta Mexico Pacific coast map

If the target of the abduction was in fact the younger Guzman, it's possible that it's the result of internal strife rather than external competition. According to the Associated Press, after Guzman's arrest in January, Ivan Archivaldo took over some of his father's duties for the cartel, which is better understood as a confederation of factions, rather than a traditional hierarchical cartel structure.

And, in a move that could stir bad blood within the Sinaloa cartel, Ivan Archivaldo has reportedly been dealing roughly with allies in his father's business.

While not much is know about the Sinaloa cartel's operations, its leadership, and its current state of affairs, such reports would fit with Ivan Archivaldo's previous behavior, which saw him implicated in killings and charged with money laundering and organized-crime offenses.

A psychological profile obtained by Mexican newspaper Sin Embargo described Ivan Archivaldo as "Anxious, suspicious, reserved and evasive, with veiled hostility. He becomes sensitive" and said that he could display "psychological violence" toward people not on his "socio-economic level."

If the CJNG felt bold enough to abduct the younger Guzman, it could be a sign that the Jalisco cartel is stepping up its campaign against the Sinaloa cartel, its only real rival on Mexico's narco scene.

drug cartel jalisco new mexico

If members of the Sinaloa cartel abducted Ivan Archivaldo, it could indicate that intra-cartel feuding has broken out into the open and may yield further violence among Sinaloa cartel members and within the cartel's territory.

That the group was apparently abducted without any gunfire, meaning the kidnappers may have been people they recognized, could bolster the second theory.

"It's a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didn't have any security," Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope told the Associated Press.

Either scenario would be worrisome for Mexico, where both competition between criminal organizations and the fragmentation of large criminal organizations have helped push violence in the country up to new highs. The first half of this year saw 10,301 homicides, about 57 a day and the highest total over that period since 2012.

The younger Guzman saw Jalisco as his territory, a Guadalajara police source told Vice News, and "confrontations and killings" could come if he was in fact kidnapped. When another one of "El Chapo" Guzman's sons was killed in 2008, fighting broke out between Guzman's allies and former associates in the Beltran Leyva Organization.

Sinaloa feuding with the BLO is believed to be behind recent violence in Sinaloa state.

Sinaloa Jalisco operations Mexico

Local officials seem to have already taken steps to head off any related violence. The governor of Nayarit ordered his state's border with Jalisco "reinforced" ahead of "the possible entry of members of organized crime." And the Jalisco governor said officials were mounting an air and ground search for the victims and their captors.

"I want to assure you that up until today, up until this moment of today there has yet to be any direct fallout from this event," Almaguer said, according to Vice News.

The kidnapping will also be disconcerting news for "El Chapo" for another reason. The Sinaloa cartel chief  currently languishing in a northern Mexican prison, surrounded by hundreds of guards as he awaits his likely extradition  is likely well aware of how his power and influence may be slipping away.

NOW WATCH: Federal agents found one of the longest US-Mexico drug tunnels hidden under a dumpster





More From Business Insider


(MEXICO CITY)  The son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman may be among the half-dozen men abducted by a squad of gunmen at a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities in the western state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, earlier said that 10 to 12 men had been kidnapped from the upscale restaurant, based on the confused nature of the evidence at the crime scene. Some women who were with the abducted men at the restaurant werent taken, and one person who had been dining with the group left just moments before the abduction.

But prosecutors later clarified in a statement that six men were abducted by a squad of seven armed assailants.

Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told Radio Formula that it is presumed, though not yet certain, that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was among the kidnapped men.

Experts say Ivan Archivaldo assumed control of parts of his fathers business after he was re-arrested in January.

Authorities are taking fingerprints from the scene, viewing video images and checking identifications related to five vehicles  some luxury models  left behind by the victims at the restaurant.

Almaguer said several of them (the victims) had false identities, which complicated efforts to determine who they were.

He said the abduction was the work of a criminal group that operates in the area, and while he would not identify the gang by name, the largest group operating in the state is the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

The Jalisco cartel has grown quickly to rival Guzmans Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexicos drug gangs.

Experts say there could be other reasons why someone would want to kidnap the younger Guzman. Ivan Archivaldo had reportedly been running roughshod over allies in his fathers business.

Meanwhile, the citys tourism promoters scrambled to reassure tourists that the kidnapping was an isolated incident and that activities for visitors continued without interruption.

Story continues

Almaguer told a news conference Monday that the victims were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities  they were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume.

Almaguer said two SUVs carrying five gunmen arrived around 1 a.m. at La Leche restaurant on Puerto Vallartas main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone lying between the old beach city and the airport.

He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and the group that was targeted appeared to be celebrating, according to other people in the restaurant. Authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates but a false registration.

Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst, said that while Jalisco New Generation controls the area, it would be possible for another group to enter the city.

Hope also called it odd that a group of alleged cartel members would be taken without a shot being fired.

Its a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didnt have any security, Hope said.

Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said on his official Twitter account that such violence would not be tolerated.

To the residents and tourists of Puerto Vallarta, I inform you that we have reinforced security so that you can go on as usual, Sandoval wrote.

Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman contributed to this report.
Mexico City (AFP) - A son of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was among a group kidnapped from a bar in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

Seven gunmen in pickup trucks swooped on the upscale bar and restaurant Monday around dawn and abducted several victims.

Investigators said it was likely part of a settling of scores between rival drug cartels.

"Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 29, is the son of Joaquin (Guzman) Loera, this has been confirmed," and he is among those being held, regional public prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer told a news conference.

He said Guzman Salazar was one of the four people who have so far been identified among six abducted.

He added that "various security agencies" had confirmed that Guzman Salazar was the son of "El Chapo."

The elder Guzman is the jailed boss of the powerful Sinaloa cartel and one of the most notorious drug lords in the world.

Authorities initially said 10 to 12 people had been kidnapped, but after analyzing security camera footage and interviewing witnesses, they said there were in fact six men abducted.

They had earlier said that one of them may have been another of Guzman's sons, Ivan "El Chapito" (Little Chapo) Guzman.

"El Chapo" staged a spectacular jailbreak last year only to be recaptured in January.

He is now in a maximum security federal prison in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez and fighting extradition to the United States.

The chief prosecutor said only fake identity documents had been found at the scene of Monday's kidnapping, in a posh restaurant called La Leche in the Pacific coast city's chic hotel district.

Prosecutors said initial evidence suggested a rival cartel called Jalisco New Generation was behind the abduction.

Jalisco New Generation emerged in Puerto Vallarta in 2010 after the death of the local boss of the Sinaloa cartel, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel.

It has become one of violence-plagued Mexico's most powerful drug gangs in recent months by defying the authorities with a series of brazen attacks and ambushes.
Happy anniversary, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi!

The couple celebrated their eight-year wedding anniversary on Tuesday, and DeGeneres marked the occasion on Twitter with a sweet picture of the two holding hands.

"Best thing I ever did. #8years #HappyAnniversary," DeGeneres wrote.

PICS: Celeb Couples Who Can Never Break Up or We'll Lose Faith in Love

DeGeneres, 58, and de Rossi, 43, tied the knot on Aug. 16, 2008 at their home in Beverly Hills, California, after the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California. The two are obviously still going strong despite facing breakup rumors in the past.

"I don't know why they do this," DeGeneres told Howard Stern on his Sirius XM radio show last September, referring to tabloid reports that the two are heading towards a split. "We're kind of flattered. We really don't almost break up, we don't fight, we're madly in love, and I guess it's boring."

In January, de Rossi gushed about her wife when ET caught up with the actress at ABC's Television Critics Association winter party.

"We're just really good friends and we talk about everything, and we never ever, ever lie to each other, like, not even the tiniest lies," she said about the secret to maintaining their longtime relationship. "And she's the only person I want to hang out with. Like, she is my best friend and I just want to be with her all the time."

WATCH: Ellen DeGeneres Completely Embarrasses Portia de Rossi on Her Show

Clearly, the feeling is mutual. DeGeneres showed us just how enamored she still is with the Scandal star when we sat down with her in June while she was promoting Finding Dory. When asked about what kind of fish de Rossi would be, the daytime talk show host adorably replied, "She's the prettiest fish in the ocean -- whatever that would be. She's the prettiest angelfish you've ever seen."

Story continues

Watch the sweet moment below:

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A version of this story on Lena Headey first appeared in the print edition of of TheWrap Magazines Down to the Wire Emmy Issue.

Season 6 of Game of Thrones saw Cersei Lannister, the stone-faced sadist who has clung to power with a burning claw and a jug of wine since the HBO series began, take her seat on the Iron Throne as the rightful Queen of Westeros.

But she had to lose three children, empower and then be usurped by a religious zealot (Jonathan Price) looking to unite church and state, then literally incinerate half of Kings Landing to salvage what was left of her ancient houses rule.

Also Read: 'Final Fantasy XV' CGI Film Starring Lena Headey Coming This Year, Along With Anime Tie-In (Video)

The savage but satisfying return to glory landed Lena Headey an Emmy nomination alongside castmates Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

It was a long losing streak for Cersei. Were you comforted knowing she would eventually wind up in such a powerful place?

When she was in the depths of her losing streak, I had no idea where she was going. To say it was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. David and Dan [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] never fail to write the unexpected. I dont feel comfort, Im pondering where she can go from here. I dont think it will end well. Who knows?

Also Read: 'Game of Thrones' Star Lena Headey Hurls Insults at Women of 'The Bachelor' as Cersei Lannister (Video)

When she learns of her son Tommens death, she has a sad but interesting response. The prophecy that her children would all die had finally come to pass. Do you think she was relieved that the waiting was over? Does she have anything left to lose?

Shes so tired at this point. So tired of losing, of her heart aching, that shes just going through the motions. The point with Cersei is her utter will to survive, to achieve validation that she is something. That she has nothing left to lose is not something she considers.

Story continues

How would you describe her mental state when we last see her, taking her seat on the Iron Throne and having that troubling exchange of looks with Jaime?

The thing that gave her humanity was her kids. Theyre gone now. Her father is gone. [Her brother] Tyrion is gone. Theres no one to tell her she cant, shes stupid, shes just a woman. I think when Jaime looks anything other than happy, she has a f you moment. This will be such an interesting season for them. Where do they go? Its so toxic now.

Also Read: Who's Winning 'Game of Thrones': Final Season 6 Rankings (Photos)

Blogs spend a lot of time speculating about Cersei as a feminist. Where do you stand on the matter?

Obviously thats not her motivation, but yes. Its sad she never got to raise her daughter, we wouldve seen a great parent. Feminist, yes  early stages.

No matter what you think of Cersei, watching her exact revenge on Septa Unella was incredibly gratifying. How was it to play? Do you think Cerseis brutal confessions mean shes come closer to accepting herself?

Getting it right was the tricky bit. I think we did it right eventually, after I stopped laughing at myself. She would never stand in public and confess her stuff. I think it was more gloating over Septa Unella, knowing she never told her when she wanted it, and now shes strapped to a table and Cersei is in charge. Shes enjoying telling her in gory detail.

War has come on Game of Thrones, and in America election is rapidly approaching. Our presidential candidates pick pop music for campaign intros  what song would Cersei enter to?

Ha! Fleetwood Mac, The Chain.

How did you discover the International Rescue Committee, and what was the most important takeaway from your recent trip to Greece?

I got involved via HBO. We did the PSA and I wanted to go and meet the people we were speaking for. I wanted to see the work the IRC do. My takeaway was that Ill go back and Ill always be an advocate for those who need it.

The work seems to speak to you as a humanitarian, but I wonder how it affects you as an artist? The refugees all have their stories, it must be very compelling to take in.

Its a very odd feeling, walking into a camp. Its very humbling. Youre surrounded by people who have deep emotional scars. There is an initial awkwardness until you find your place. I was so moved. Ive traveled to India many times because there is an pure intimate exchange, which we dont know how to do in the west, we seem to deal in ego and nonsense.

So on that level its a truly human experience. There is a shared need to be heard. For them its to be heard as human beings, for us its to be heard as the people who havent just washed their hands of a global crisis.

See more of TheWrap Down to the Wire Emmys Issue:

8 Awful Things Donald Trump Is Less Popular Than (Photos)

Donald Trump Narrows VP Shortlist to '5 or 6' people, Including Chris Christie

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A Public Policy Poll asked voters whether they have a higher opinion of the presidential candidate or a series of things like traffic jams, hipsters and lice

And it turns out Donald Trump was less popular than all three (and more) of those things that are commonly despised by the general population.

View In Gallery

Related stories from TheWrap:

'Game of Thrones' Star Lena Headey Hurls Insults at Women of 'The Bachelor' as Cersei Lannister (Video)

Emmy Nominations by the Numbers: 'Game of Thrones' and 'People v OJ' Lead

Emmy Contender Emilia Clarke on Playing 'Game of Thrones' Heroine: 'I Get All the Badass Stuff' (Video)
When Master of None co-creators Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang first brought their series to Netflix, they pitched it as a romantic comedy. Thankfully, once aware of the flexibility offered by working for the streamer, they drew outside those lines to include episodes about immigrant families - "Parents" received writing and directing noms - and the portrayal of Indians on TV. The first season, admittedly ambitious in its scope and portrayal of a diverse set of characters, was a favorite among critics and the awards set: In addition to its Emmy recognition - Ansari also was nominated for comedy lead actor - Master of None has won the Critics' Choice Award for best comedy series as well as a Peabody.

The first season ended with Ansari's character, Dev, on a plane to Italy for a life change after breaking up with girlfriend Rachel (Noel Wells). He spoke to THR about the learning curve he and Yang have been on as they prep for season two, working with his real-life parents on the show and some of his favorite episodes.

Was there something about being the boss that surprised you?

I knew it was going to be way different because Parks and Recreation was the coziest gig: I show up in this big ensemble, I'm there for a few days, a week at most. Now I'm here all the time making every decision imaginable. It all comes down to me and Alan. I'm directing, writing, everything. So I knew it was going to be a much bigger beast, and it was. But I also get to make something I'm really proud of, and that's a great deal for me.

Did you guys have trouble between doing social commentary on Master of None and being funny at the same time?

We never wanted [the show] to come off as preachy, and that was always something we tried to be conscious of. We didn't want it to feel like an after-school special. I feel good about what we did. It never comes off that way.

Read more: Feinberg Forecast: Where the Variety Talk and Sketch Races Stand Now

Story continues

What's the biggest challenge of directing while acting?

I think Alan and I had such a clear vision of what the show is that directing was never super difficult because we just always kind of knew what we imagined these things to be. And so many things I pulled from my own life experience, so I know exactly what it looks like in my head; it's about bringing that to life. As we've gone on, we've gotten better and better, and by the time we did the last episode, the last block, I was able to really feel comfortable on the set. I knew the crew really well. I saw how the other directors were shooting our show on previous episodes and what the cinematic language was for how we would shoot our scenes.

What was the most challenging episode this season?

For me, the "Parents" episode was pretty difficult because it was probably our most ambitious. I was directing it. So many of the people who are acting in that episode are nonactors, and we're doing this huge India set that our incredible crew was able to pull off. There were a lot of things going on. I never felt nervous that things weren't going to turn out well, but it was hard.

Ansari with his onscreen girlfriend, Rachel, played by Wells.

And the most rewarding episode?

I would say two: First, the "Mornings" episode. Everyone talks about all the cultural stuff on the show and the diversity - and I'm obviously proud of that stuff - but I also am really proud of the episodes we did that are just of the romantic relationship, the Dev and Rachel arc. Noel Wells [Rachel] did incredible work on those episodes. "Mornings" was a year of our relationship told in just one episode - each scene is a different morning - and I think it's a really cool portrait of a long-term relationship. A lot of people have come up and told me that it really rang true to them. I was really proud that I was able to pull it off and that it worked and people responded to it the way they did. And then obviously the "Parents" episode is a very special thing. That scene where all of us are sitting around the dinner table at the Chinese restaurant was tough. I've got my parents in this scene, they never acted, it's just people talking around a meal. Sometimes you look at those scenes when you edit, and it's like, "God, this is boring, these jokes aren't landing hard enough, this is horribly slow." But that scene worked. The first time I watched it, I was like, "Holy shit." We screened all our episodes in movie theaters before the show came out to see how things were pacing out and to find out where the laughs were. When we screened that scene, it was so cool to see my mom and dad saying these things and getting huge laughs. It was surreal.

Did your dad ask for a raise now that he's become a bit of a celebrity?

Oh yeah, it's totally gone to his head. I'm just kidding. He's really thrilled. I think people really latched on to his character, and it's so funny that's how it worked out. I'm very excited for the stuff he'll do in season two.

Read more: Emmys: 'The Americans' Showrunners Try to Predict Who the Show's Characters Would Vote for This Election

Did people think he was a professional and not your dad?

I've talked to friends who were like, "Oh yeah, that guy who plays your dad, we're thinking about putting him in something." I was like, "That's my dad!"

In what part of the creative process are you the most critical of yourself?

Alan and I are both pretty big perfectionists. We're hard on ourselves and just wanted to make sure that we're doing the best we could. Season two is interesting. I have more experience as a director and the way I'm approaching it.

How will season two be different?

We're done writing, and we start shooting in a couple of weeks. Normally on these shows you have a pretty quick schedule, and you just go right back into writing. I was talking to Netflix, and I was like, "Honestly, we're capped." The show was so personalized, we dumped our heads into this, we just needed to be people and live our actual life. This show isn't the type of show where we're going to be able to just turn around and turn it in right away. We covered so much stuff in season one and wanted to make sure the ideas we had in season two were equally interesting and the episodes were just as ambitious. So we took a long break, and that's why season two hasn't come out yet. It won't come out until, like, April. I think the break helped us. Because the first season was so well received, I didn't want to make something that didn't feel as strong. But now that we've written the scripts, I feel really confident, and we're trying to be even more ambitious.

VITAL STATS

Seasons: 1 on Netflix

Executive producers: Aziz Ansari, Alan Yang, Michael Schur, Dave Becky, David Miner

Emmy history: 4 nominations

Unexpected plot twist: While filming in Rome, Ansari and co-star Eric Wareheim created a parody music video for Kanye West's "Famous." West liked it, so he made it the song's official video.

2016 Awards: Critics' Choice Award for best comedy series; Peabody Award; AFI Award for TV program of the year Fun fact: When asked on Reddit how similar he is to his character, Dev, Ansari wrote: "I'm gonna say it's similar to Jimmy Smith Jr. vs. Eminem in 8 Mile."

***

Master of None Co-Creator Alan Yang on the Backstory Behind Nominated Parents and Pride Episode

"That episode is so, so personal to us. I still remember it was one of the first we wrote. Aziz and I were in New York. We were up in his hotel room. I said, 'Whatever happens with this show, we shouldn't take this for granted. My dad grew up in a hut in Taiwan in a small village and didn't have enough food to eat. He had to kill his pet chicken for dinner and now we're in this nice hotel room talking about our show for Netflix. This is our job. We should be grateful.' And he was like, 'Is that a real story? We should just put that in the show.' I'm like, 'Yeah, let's think about the emotion of being the children of immigrants.' We felt we hadn't seen that story portrayed on TV the same way it applied to us. My dad texted me a description of his house growing up, a picture of it, and we had our production designer build [it]. There's a line where the character based on me says, 'Asian parents don't have the capacity to say they're proud [of their kids].' My dad watched the episode  and texted and said that he was proud of me. It was like life imitating art." - by Ashley Lee

This story first appeared in a special Emmy issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Most challenging scene to pull off this season

This season we did an entire episode that took place on a moving train. Our amazing crew built a perfect set and pulled it all together very quickly and convincingly.

The thing people don't get about our show

Every character directly corresponds to a character from Gilligan's Island.

I still can't believe we got away with ...

I turned in some questionable receipts from a New York "business" trip.

In this election, Luke would vote for ...

Trump - just to see stuff get blown up.

If I was in charge of the Emmy seating, I'd put myself next to ...

The hottest of the three accountants.

Read more: The 25 Most Pleasant Emmy Surprises, Ranked

If I could convince anyone in the world to give my Emmy speech for me, I'd choose ...

Roberto Benigni

My Emmy night ritual

A preshow shot of tequila, lots of sweating, then more tequila.

My advice for Emmy host Jimmy Kimmel

If you say anything stupid, just double down. Forty percent of America will love it.

VITAL STATS

Seasons: 7 on ABC

Executive producers: Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Corrigan, Brad Walsh, Danny Zuker, Abraham Higginbotham, Jeffrey Richman, Elaine Ko, Stephen Lloyd, Jeff Morton

Emmy history: 77 nominations, 22 wins

Unexpected plot twist: Writer Danny Zuker was blocked on Twitter by Trump in 2013, but he continues to lambast the presidential nominee. He's now blocked by Trump supporter Scott Baio as well.

Fun fact: Inspired by Jesse Tyler Ferguson's real-life coming-out story, the writers had his character, Mitchell, struggle to come out to his father, Jay (Ed O'Neill), three times before he accepted it.

This story first appeared in a special Emmy issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
- By insider





Chairman and CEO of Equifax Inc (EFX) Richard F Smith sold 120,000 shares of EFX on 08/12/2016 at an average price of $132.63 a share. The total sale was $15.9 million.

Equifax Inc provides information solutions and human resources business process outsourcing services for businesses and consumers. Equifax Inc has a market cap of $15.7 billion; its shares were traded at around $131.56 with a P/E ratio of 34.26 and P/S ratio of 5.53. The dividend yield of Equifax Inc stocks is 0.94%. Equifax Inc had an annual average EBITDA growth of 6.30% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Equifax Inc the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.





CEO Recent Trades:

Chairman and CEO Richard F Smith sold 120,000 shares of EFX stock on 08/12/2016 at the average price of $132.63. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.81% since.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

Pres-Gbl Cons Sols J Dann Adams sold 4,422 shares of EFX stock on 07/29/2016 at the average price of $134. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.82% since.

For the complete insider trading history of EFX, click here

.This article first appeared on GuruFocus.






By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian court has charged 23 South Sudanese refugees with carrying out the "gruesome" murder of 10 Ethiopian civilians using sticks and shovels at a refugee camp in the western part of the country last April. The defendants were accused of planning the attacks in retaliation for a car accident in which two refugee children were killed inside Jewi Refugee Camp in Ethiopia's Gambella region. The killings, which took place at the same camp, sparked unrest in the town, where some South Sudanese Nuer have been the victims of attacks by Ethiopian "highlanders" - a term used in the region for those who trace their origins to the central parts of the country. "The perpetrators planned to attack in advance, in retaliation for the tragic car accident," said the charge sheet read out by prosecutors in Ethiopia's high court late on Monday. "On April 21, they used sticks and shovels to carry out gruesome killings. The 10 victims were all innocent Ethiopian civilians who were only employed as construction workers at the site," it said, adding that some suspects were on the run. The dead included two women. The trial will resume on Oct. 13. Gambella, also home to an indigenous Nuer majority, hosts over 270,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled the recurring cycle of violence in the world's youngest country since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013. The killings came days after ethnic Murle gunmen from South Sudan carried out cross-border raids into Gambella, killing over 200 people and kidnapping nearly 110 children. Violence has continued in South Sudan despite the signing of a peace deal that ended a civil war which largely pitted President Salva Kiir's Dinka ethnic group against rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar's Nuer in August 2015. The U.N. Security Council authorized an extra 4,000 troops for the capital Juba on Friday, in reaction to days of fierce fighting which raised fears of a slide back to full-scale war. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Brussels (AFP) - The European Union will in September propose subjecting internet services like WhatsApp and Skype to similar rules as traditional telecommunications companies, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation bloc, is set to recommend tighter privacy and security for services like Facebook-owned message service WhatsApp and Microsoft's video phone portal Skype.

Spokesman Christian Wigand said that "we can confirm that the commission is working on an update of EU telecoms rules" next month to "ensure a high level of protection for people and a level playing field for all market players".

"The commission is analysing to what extent so-called over-the-top service providers (OTT) like WhatsApp and Skype are providing services that are equivalent to those provided by traditional telecoms operators," Wigand said.

"The commission is considering whether the scope of the current EU rules needs to be adapted, to maintain consistently high levels of consumer protection, security of networks and servers, and to ensure that regulation does not distort competition."

A Commission source told AFP that while it was necessary to "stimulate innovation by new players" they had to "make sure there were fair rules for everyone".
The performance of Europe ETFs may have recovered in the last one month (as of August 15, 2016) as indicated by 3.8% returns offered by Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF VGK. However, the fund flows indicate shaky investor sentiment over Europe ETFs in the post-Brexit world (read: Europe After Brexit: 5 Keys to Investing with ETFs).

When Britons decided to leave the Europe Union (EU) on June 23, with the leave camp gaining 51.9% Britons support, the global market got caught in a web of uncertainties. Most questions were raised over the future and stability of the region under consideration. European stocks in fact recorded the biggest one-day fall on June 24.

As per S&P Global Market Intelligence, investors took out over $6.4 billion from the 10 largest U.S.-listed Europe exchange-traded funds in the two months ended July 30, going by an article published in Wall Street Journal. Added to this, feeble growth, mounting bad debt in the Italian banking system and deflationary threats kept the region on the edge(read: Brexit Shocker Forces These European ETFs Over 10% Lower).

Inside Asset Losers

As soon as Britain cuts the cord with the EU, its importance as a corporate transit to the rest of Europe would be lost, going by an article in CNBC. Many global institutions may even want to shift their base from London to the German capital Frankfurt  another hot spot in the European Union. As many financial institutions are likely to be hit by Brexit, the Europe financials stocks and ETFs are likely to be the direct underdogs.

Many other economies like the Netherlands and Greece are now expected to follow the footsteps of Britain. Investors should note that VGK shed about $1.45 billion in assets since June 23 to August 12, 2016 (read: UK Votes for Brexit: ETFs Winners & Losers).

WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund HEDJ lost about $2.16 billion in assets during the same time frame as Euro did not lose a lot of strength. The Euro ETF CurrencyShares Euro ETF FXE lost about 2.7% on June 24, just after the Brexit. Since then, FXE hovered in the range of $107 to nearly $109.

Story continues

iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF EZU saw assets worth $1.84 billion gushing out during this period. First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund FEP shed about $23.4 million in assets since Brexit.

In fact, one of the most stable economies of the Euro zone, Germany, also seems to have lost investors support as iShares MSCI Germany ETF EWG saw outflows of $286.5 million since Brexit to date (as of August 15, 2016). So was investors perception of France, with iShares MSCI France ETF EWQ shedding about $9.78 million in assets.

iShares MSCI Spain Capped ETF EWP and iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF EWI witnessed outflows of about $133 million and $146.1 million during the said period. Both funds have financials as their top sectors with about one-third of the total exposure.

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Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >>



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Washington (AFP) - A former top securities trader at Goldman Sachs was barred from the industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday for bilking the bank's customers.

The SEC said that between 2010 and 2012 Edwin Chin knowingly misled customers about the price and source of available residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in order to expand his and the bank's trading commissions.

In a settlement with the SEC, Chin did not admit or deny the fraud findings of the probe but agreed to pay $400,000 covering penalties and ill-gotten profits.

According to the market regulator's legal ruling published Tuesday, Chin offered clients RMBS bonds at what he represented as a separate seller's price, portraying himself as a fair broker between the two parties.

In fact, Chin was selling bonds out of Goldman's own holdings that had been acquired at a much cheaper price, and the sales reaped the bank large gains and large commissions for Chin.

In five incidences documented by the SEC, Chin reaped more than $1.5 billion in "extra profits" for Goldman.

The SEC did not say whether Goldman would be forced to give up its gains from the trades.

"With no public exchange showing the price for each RMBS trade as it occurs, investors purchasing these securities rely on dealers to be honest about the purchase price they paid," said Michael Osnato, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Complex Financial Instruments Unit, in a statement.

The SEC said it is continuing to investigate the fraud.
By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington is seeking closer coordination with several Latin American countries to tackle a jump in migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who it believes are trying to reach the United States from the south on an arduous route by plane, boat and through jungle on foot. U.S. agents deployed to an immigration facility on Mexico's southern border have vetted the more than 640 migrants from countries outside the Americas who have been detained at the center since October 2015, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reviewed by Reuters. The migrants often fly to Brazil, obtain fake passports there, and are smuggled to Panama before heading through Central America to Mexico's porous southern border, according to transcripts of 14 interviews conducted at the center and other internal briefing documents seen by Reuters. (Graphic: From Brazil to the north: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8JIDI) The U.S. agents' findings come as Mexican immigration data show 6,342 Asian, African and Middle Eastern migrants were apprehended trying to enter Mexico in the first six months of this year. That was up from 4,261 in all of 2015, and 1,831 in 2014. U.S. border apprehensions point to the same trend. Between October 2015 and May 2016, U.S. agents apprehended 5,350 African and Asian migrants at the U.S. Southwest border. That's up from 6,126 in all of fiscal year 2015 and 4,172 in all of fiscal year 2014. U.S. concerns about potential security risks from migrants using the unusual and circuitous southern route have been growing in recent years, following a string of Islamic State-inspired attacks in the West and the surge in Syrian refugees fleeing that country's civil war. Five Syrian nationals detained in Honduras last November were part of a wider group of seven Syrians who acquired forged passports in Brazil and then went by land to Argentina on their way north, a U.S. government source familiar with that case said. There was no evidence to suggest the men were militants. The reality is that the vast majority of the people that Mexico encounters that are extra-continental will eventually end up on our border," a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official said. At the detention camp in Tapachula, near Mexico's border with Guatemala, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have been training their Mexican counterparts on interview techniques, and using U.S. criminal databases to investigate detainees, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Two to three U.S. agents have been stationed there since at least October, according to the documents and U.S. officials. Mexican officials have previously acknowledged the presence of U.S. agents at Mexico's southern border, but few details of the cooperation have been reported. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol began a pilot program for a similar operation in Panama earlier this fiscal year, according to an internal memo sent in May that has not previously been reported. Homeland Security officials told Reuters that Panama requested U.S. training. A spokesman for Panama's National Migration Service said Panama accepted an offer from the U.S. embassy for training on subjects like "defense techniques" and "management of persons." U.S. proponents of the program have pushed for a greater U.S. footprint to build a "comprehensive intelligence picture" of migration patterns across the Colombia-Panama border, according to the memo sent in May. Panama is leading the effort in Central America to detain illegal migrants, DHS assistant secretary for international affairs Alan Bersin told a House committee in March, but it stymied by lack of detention space and the difficulty of deporting migrants to countries with whom they have no diplomatic ties. As a result, most are released after 30 days. Bersin acknowledged the rise in migrants from outside the Americas and the potential security threat they pose. "While many citizens of these countries migrate for economic reasons or because they are fleeing persecution in their home countries, this group may include migrants who are affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, intelligence agencies, and organized criminal syndicates," Bersin told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. DHS has deployed additional "mentor" teams throughout South and Central America to professionalize immigration authorities and gain intelligence about potentially threatening migrants, said DHS officials, who declined to specify which countries host U.S. agents. Another DHS official said the agency is asking Brazil through diplomatic channels to put a stop to fake passport manufacturing. Brazilian officials did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, a unit of DHS, is "actively working to enhance regional collaboration with border and customs authorities from Mexico all the way down to Argentina," a DHS official said. ON FOOT IN THE JUNGLE The apprehension documents from the Tapachula center show how migrants are willing and able to pay thousands of dollars to obtain flights and fake passports and then make grueling journeys on buses, boats and on foot. It was not clear how many of those apprehended at the center were deported, claimed asylum or simply released. Several of the 14 migrants -- in testimony given from May 18-23 this year -- said they paid more than $10,000 to smugglers, walked for days through jungles, and were temporarily detained by various countries before being stopped in Tapachula. Six of the men -- who included Pakistanis, Syrians and Afghans-- had obtained fake passports, claiming to be from Israel, Morocco, Belgium or Britain. In Panama, several of the men said they were kept in a migration detention camp for about a month. From Panama, the migrants described traveling in larger groups, sometimes as many as 50 men. One Pakistani national -- whose identity U.S. officials asked not to be revealed because he is still under investigation -- told U.S. and Mexican officials that he paid a smuggler in Pakistan $9,000 to be smuggled to Brazil where he received a fake Belgian passport. In Brazil, he paid $4,000 to a woman to be taken on bus, boat and on foot through across Colombia and into Panama. He said he was detained in Panama but then released. From there, a smuggler from Lebanon took the man and 35 other migrants of different nationalities to Honduras, where he said he was robbed of all of his belongings. His family wired him more money from Pakistan and the man was able to pay $40 to be smuggled into Guatemala. He paid $5 to be taken by raft into Mexico. There he got a taxi, which was halted by authorities who took him to the Tapachula center. SENSITIVE TOPIC FOR MEXICO Accepting U.S. help on immigration issues is politically sensitive for Mexico, said Adam Isacson, a security and border policy analyst at The Washington Office on Latin America, a non-profit human rights advocacy group. "But the Mexicans have quietly been open to the equipment and training they have received," he said. A CBP spokesman said the agency deployed to Tapachula at the Mexican government's request. Mexico's immigration agency is the Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INM). "CBP personnel train INM officers in the collection of biometric information, and review and share biometric information on people of interest," the spokesman said. INM declined Reuters' request for comment and access to the Tapachula facility. In testimony before the Mexican Senate on Aug. 3, Mexico's chief immigration officer Ardelio Vargas Fosado said his agency was aware of the influx of migrants from outside the Americas. But the lack of diplomatic relationships between Mexico and many African countries has made it difficult to deport those apprehended, he said. Under law, U.S. agents cannot arrest or deport migrants from other countries, but as foreign-based trainers, they can gather intelligence on who may be headed for the U.S. border. Isacson said most of the migrants taking the Latin American path northward are seeking economic opportunity in the United States. But DHS is focused on security risks. "The Tapachula area is along a permeable border. DHS views it as one of the areas where a terrorist group that wants to do harm on U.S. soil would be most likely to come in," he said. (Reporting by Julia Edwards, Additional reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington, Frank Jack Daniel, Enrique Andres Pretel and Joanna Bernstein in Mexico; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Stuart Grudgings)
After a group of mysterious hackers claimed to have broken into the NSA and posted a portion of its stolen code, security researchers were left with a pressing, vexing question: Was the material released by the so-called Shadow Brokers actually from the NSA?

The answer appears to be yes. On Tuesday, researchers at Kaspersky, the Russian cybersecurity firm, said their analysis of the Shadow Brokers code found a trail of digital breadcrumbs that leads straight back to the NSA.

The Shadow Brokers claim to have broken into the systems of hackers known as the Equation Group. That group was first identified in a Kaspersky report released last year. While Kasperskys report tied the Equation Group to operations carried out by U.S. intelligence, it did not definitely identify the group as an NSA outfit. Kaspersky said the group surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques.

Security researchers say privately that the Equation Group is all but certainly a project of the NSA.

In a highly technical analysis, Kaspersky documented how the code released by the Shadow Brokers includes an unusual system for encrypting data. That encryption scheme has only been seen previously in code associated with the NSA, and led its researches to believe with a high degree of confidence that the tools from the Shadow Brokers leak are related to the malware from the Equation Group.

The release by the Shadow Brokers of code claiming to have been pilfered from the NSA has been met by extreme skepticism in some quarters. The released code could in theory have been faked, doctored to smear the agency. At a time when Russia has been pilloried for hacking into the DNC and other American political organizations, the release of NSA hacking tools shows how American spies use digital tools to carry out espionage.

But the technical analysis by Kaspersky indicates that the Shadow Brokers release is likely not an act of digital forgery. The highly unusual encryption scheme in the code released is highly unlikely to have been faked or engineered, according to Kaspersky.

NSA via Getty Images
stoughton farm super mario corn maze

If you find yourself in New York in the coming weeks, you may want to stop by Stoughton Farm in Newark Valley. That's because, for the fall season, you'll be able to enter a corn maze that's styled after the iconic characters from the "Super Mario Bros." franchise.

The corn maze is just one of the many things visitors can do at Stoughton Farm, including hay rides and raspberry picking, but the maze is the largest and showiest undertaking.

The eight-acre field has had a differently-themed corn maze every year since 2005, according to ABC News. Past themes have included everything from "Sleepy Hollow" to anti-bullying awareness.

"My wife, Deb, decides the theme," Tim Stoughton told ABC News. "She just liked the idea of the Mario brothers because everybody pretty much knows what they are and itd be fun for the kids to see."

Not to be a downer on the whole situation, but Nintendo hasn't looked kindly on those profiting from its properties in the past: Just recently, it shut down a fan-made Pokemon game that had more than 1.5 million downloads in just a few days. Here's to hoping Stoughton Farm doesn't have to mow their Mario-themed corn field before the fall season's over.

NOW WATCH: The 11 best games from the '90s





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The U.S. telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will open the second part of the 600 MHz low-band wireless spectrum auction, popularly known as Incentive Auction, on Aug 16, 2016.

The Incentive Auction, which was initiated by the FCC on Mar 29, 2016, completed its first part in early last month. In the first part, which was essentially a reverse auction, the airwaves were freed by TV broadcasters who no longer had any productive use of the same. The TV broadcasters had agreed to free a substantial amount of 126 MHz of spectrums for a massive $86.4 billion.

In the second part of the auction process, the FCC will resale these airwaves to wireless operators, cable MSOs (multi service operators) or tech firms through competitive bidding. The second part is known as forward auction. Needless to say, the total bid price of the forward auction must reach at least $86.4 billion for the Incentive Auction to be successful.

The FCC has received as many as 62 applications for the second part of the Incentive Auction. All 62 bidders have made upfront payments. Important bidders include national telecom giants Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, AT&T Inc. T, and T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS, satellite TV operator DISH Network Corp. DISH and cable MSOs (multi service operators) Comcast Corp. CMCSA and Liberty Global Inc.

Low-band spectrum is crucial for wireless operators as the signals can be transmitted over longer distances and through brick-and-mortar walls in cities. However, several industry experts believe that telecom operators may be reluctant to offer such a hefty sum for low-band airwaves.

Some industry watchers have also predicted that telecom operators may need around 70 MHz to 80 MHz of spectrums in the 600 MHz bands instead of the total freed up 126 MHz airwaves. In such a scenario, the FCC may have to conduct another round of reverse auction for a reduced volume of spectrum at lower prices.

The FCC was initially hopeful of completing the Incentive Auction process by the end of the third quarter of 2016. However, industry watchers are now expecting it to be much more prolonged and may continue till early 2017. Notably, the freed spectrums cannot be utilized commercially before 2020.

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By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Fewer U.S. nursing home patients with dementia are getting feeding tubes as mounting evidence suggests it may not help them live longer or make them more comfortable, new research suggests. Researchers focused on the sickest dementia patients who tend to have difficulty chewing and swallowing as they near the end of life, a point when they may also struggle to speak, recognize loved ones, get out of bed or go to the bathroom independently. The proportion of these advanced dementia patients who got feeding tubes when they couldnt eat on their own dropped from 12 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2014, according to an analysis of data on 71,000 nursing home residents published in JAMA. Families should understand that by foregoing tube-feeding, care is not stopped, said lead study author Dr. Susan Mitchell of the Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research at Harvard University in Boston. Rather, care is focused on treatments that maximize comfort and quality of life, Mitchell added by email. No rigorous studies over the past two decades have shown feeding tubes can benefit advanced dementia patients, Mitchell noted. When families understand this, they increasingly opt instead for palliative care with an emphasis on comfort and quality of life. There was, however, a stark racial divide in feeding tube use. The proportion of white dementia patients who got feeding tubes dropped from 8.6 percent to 3.1 percent during the study period, while the decrease for their black peers was from 38 percent to 18 percent. One limitation of the study is that it focused on a subset of nursing home residents with advanced dementia that had been identified as needing help to eat, which may underestimate the number of feeding tubes inserted, the authors note. Another shortcoming is that the proportion of U.S. nursing home residents with advanced dementia and eating problems declined during the study period as more such individuals received care in other settings. This, too, might mean the findings dont reflect every advanced dementia patient that received a feeding tube. Instead of focusing on feeding tubes, families can find out what types of nutrition may be easier for advanced dementia patients to consume, said Dr. Laura Hanson, a geriatric medicine researcher at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. If the person has advanced dementia such that they require help with all basic activities and struggle to recognize family, families should understand that a feeding tube simply wont help, Hanson, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. But they may wish to talk with an expert about types of food and drink, and techniques to help with eating by mouth. A separate study of about 400 hospital patients who received feeding tubes in Israel found worse outcomes when people had dementia than with other neurological problems or medical issues such as cancer. Compared with other people in the study, the dementia patients who received feeding tubes had higher rates of repeat hospitalizations six months later and shorter survival times. Researchers also did lab tests to see how much feeding tubes actually helped provide nutrition and found less evidence that it did with dementia patients than the other participants. The findings in Israel, published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, mirror other research thats been driving a decline in feeding tube use for advanced dementia patients in the U.S., Hanson said. Several studies compare persons with advanced dementia who do or do not receive a feeding tube, and show this procedure does not add to survival time, function or offer other health benefits, Hanson said. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1c9i5E4 JAMA, online August 16, 2016 and http://bit.ly/2bkrPB2 Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, online August 8, 2016.
In recent years, the main reason to see a Hrithik Roshan movie was to bask in the stars magnificence. The standard description, Greek God, is an entirely accurate assessment of Roshans celestial beauty. Plus he can dance. So it may seem a little churlish to complain that Mohenjo Daro takes a similar trajectory to his superhero franchise Krrish, without the goofy humor: a simple man given to wearing tight-fitting shirts (or no shirt at all) goes from childish naivete to hero status and saves the girl, or the city, or the world. Here he saves a civilization, the Bronze Age Indus Valley society known as Mohenjo-daro, thanks to his brawn and strength of character. Expectedly epic though disappointingly weak in production numbers (there are only two major dance sequences), the film re-teams director Ashutosh Gowariker, composer A.R. Rahman and Roshan for the first time since Jodhaa Akbar, a better film by far.

Unquestionably, theres plenty of enjoyment to be had, and the film, reportedly costing around $17 million, has earned a respectable if not outstanding $6 million on its Aug. 12 opening weekend at home, bolstered by an impressive three-day haul of nearly $750,000 in the States. With this star-director-composer combo, it was bound to succeed, yet the prosaic script feels far too derivative, and only the impressive rain-lashed finale succeeds in delivering that tingly thrill one expects from historical action epics.

Gowariker, still best known internationally for his Oscar-nominated Lagaan, is a clever man, and he certainly meant for audiences to chuckle at the opening, when characters are purportedly speaking ancient Sindhi before magically morphing into modern Hindi. In the first production number, Mohenjo Mohenjo, when extras, according to subtitles, sing in ancient Dilmun and Bukharan and Sumerian, surely were all meant to smile, knowing these extinct languages are impossible to recreate.

A more valid criticism can be directed at the mediocre CGI used for the opening crocodile attack, which elicits more giggles than gasps. The year is 2016 B.C., and sheltered, orphaned indigo farmer Sarman (Roshan) is dying to go to the metropolis of Mohenjo Daro to sell his wares at the bazaar, but Uncle Durjan (Nitish Bharadwaj) and Aunt Bima (Kishori Shahane) try to stifle the call of the big city. They know however that the unicorn featuring in Sarmans dreams is a sign (a graphically poor one at that), and they let him go with comic relief friend Hojo (Umang Vyas).

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The city is imposing in a Babylonian/Nebuchadnezzar way  the set covered 25 acres, divided between the Lower City, for plebeians, and the Upper City, for the higher classes. Sarman is struck by the beauty of Chaani (Pooja Hegde), daughter of the high priest (Manish Chaudhary) and prophesied as the Chosen One, who will usher in a new order. The current order only works well for Senate chief Maham (Kabir Bedi) and his greedy yes-men, all turning a blind eye to their leaders smuggling operations with the Sumerians. Chaani has been promised to Mahams cruel son Moonja (Arunoday Singh), but the more she gazes at Sarman, the more she cant get the man with lower decolletage than her own out of her system.

Naturally Maham and Moonja wont let Chaani escape from her promise, nor will they let upstart village boy Sarman tamper with their self-serving plans. Their conflicts inevitably lead to several fights, but fortunately Sarmans muscled body has a miraculous ability to heal itself (not mentioned in the plot, but how else to credit his disappearing knife wounds?). It all comes to an impressive climax around the Indus River, when Sarmans leadership wins the day.

With so much going for it, the surprise is that Mohenjo Daro doesnt live up to its potential. Its good as spectacle, though it lacks the beauty of Jodhaa Akbar, and many viewers will feel short-changed on the musical numbers: For example, Tu Hai would be OK as a low-key set piece if only it were balanced by a more energetic production number toward the end. At least theres the dramatic watery finale, recalling Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea, which is genuinely impressive on all levels.

A further problem is former beauty queen Hegde, making an inauspicious Bollywood debut after a few Tamil and Telegu features. Though lovely to look at, with a charming smile, shes little more than window dressing; even more disappointing, shes not a good dancer. Fortunately the camera adores Roshan, and everyone else melts away. He nailed the hero persona long ago, and even if it feels like a rehash here, theres no resisting the stars potent charms, whether battling a giant Tajik gladiator or pulsing his muscles with terpsichorean grace.

Drone shots make the most of the sprawling sets, apparently constructed in consultation with archaeologists. Tonalities are mostly in the clay and earth ranges with splashes of color for Chaanis elaborate clothes and headdresses  they might not be historically accurate, but surely neither were Elizabeth Taylors Cleopatra outfits. Chaanis theme music unfortunately bears more than a passing resemblance to Nicola Piovanis Life Is Beautiful tune.

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Film Review: 'Withered Green'

Locarno: Thu Thu Shein Discusses Myanmar's Budding Independent Film Industry, the Value of Collaboration

Locarno: Emerging Director Michele Pennetta on His Work, Festivals, Opportunities for Young Filmmakers
Mohammed Hammads low-key debut Withered Green doesnt give anything away. Instead, its a film that carefully parcels out tiny bits of information when absolutely needed, yet that slow accretion, together with the non-professional leads quiet intensity, packs a major punch. Comparisons will be made with Coming Forth by Day, since both are low-budget, female-centric Egyptian films, and while there are parallels, Withered Green isnt a derivative work but a fully-fledged, emotionally rich (and also brave) feature about a woman trying to negotiate patriarchal traditions in order to get her younger sister engaged. While very Egyptian, the film fits neatly into an indie cinema aesthetic, and deserves strong rotation on the festival circuit.

Two women living together without a male relative in the house, even if theyre siblings, is not a common situation among the tradition-bound classes of Egypt. That complicates things for Iman (Heba Ali), guardian and nursemaid to lazy sister Noha (Asmaa Fawzi), whos about to be betrothed. The engagement cant take place without a male family member attending when the husband-to-be comes over with his parents, but the two women arent close with their relatives. Still, theres no choice, so Iman is forced to call on her uncles, two of whom make excuses for refusing the responsibility.

As if this isnt stressful enough, Iman is waiting for test results to diagnose why her period has skipped two months. She doesnt share her condition with her sister, or with anyone actually, as Iman seems to be without friends. Its not that shes unpleasant, and apparently she has a decent relationship with the owner of the sweets shop where she works, but Iman is an isolated figure, with the implication that shes put her life on hold to look after Noha. Her sisters engagement should free her to focus on her own existence, yet everything depends on the diagnosis.

Hammad fills out this basic story with telling non-verbal details that significantly develop character and environment while enhancing mood, starting from the first shot of Imans winter terrace, mostly planted with cacti. She has a pet tortoise, a solitary creature whose shell, like Imans environment, weighs heavily. The apartment, large but poorly constructed, is crumbling, the light bulbs are bare, and Hammad shoots the living quarters to emphasize empty spaces, with the sisters appearing as lone figures in a place lacking warmth.

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A closeup of a sanitary napkin registers as particularly jarring, and indeed, the film refuses to tip-toe around the topic of menstruation; considering how often the subject is ridiculously treated as taboo in nearly all cultures, its a welcome surprise that an Egyptian film by a male director is willing to engage with a womans relationship to her bodys monthly cycle. Imans focus on getting an uncle to represent the family means audiences almost forget about her medical problem, but then the issue returns with significant force.

The director must have spent considerable time working with his non-professional actors, especially Ali, the films focus. Shes not a figure people can warm to (even less her sluggish sister), yet Hammad succeeds in making her a sympathetic character. Information is only obliquely delivered, so for example a slight tension between Iman and her cousin Ahmed (John Ikram Hanna) could possibly imply there were once strong feelings between the two, but nothing is ever said; Ali projects an unfulfilled life full of disappointment, which makes Iman the avatar of countless people one sees on the streets and in public transportation, their faces locked in an expression of tense despondency.

The only time Iman allows herself to imagine otherwise is when she tries on a pink dress  Hammad carefully reduces the color palette to grays, dingy blues, and browns, so the pink, while not loud, makes an impression, and Imans look in the mirror offers a glimpse into the might-have-beens, or fleeting maybe-one-days. Strong natural light gives a near-documentary illusion to the scenes, while Mohammed El Sharqawys observational camera largely maintains a coolly nonjudgmental stance, apart from two surprisingly bold angles in a toilet.

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FFB output guidance sits at -10%.

Things may be looking up for First Resources in the latter half of 2016, as the company has dropped fresh fruit bunch (FFB) output guidance to -10% from its previous flat to -5% expectation.

According to a report by RHB, First Resources anticipates a marked recovery in output from September only, though the company is already enjoying normalised weather at its estates.

This means the peak period could come in later, during 4Q. We have, therefore, revised our FY16 FFB output forecasts to reflect a -9.9% decline, followed by a higher 8-10% growth in FY17-18 (from 7-9%), coming from an anticipated recovery from tree stress, stated RHB.

First Resources has also grown more upbeat on its downstream prospects in H2, given the lowered crude palm oil (CPO) prices coupled with more robust CPO output during the period.

DBS concurs, as it noted in a report that First Resources should see a strong comeback in Q3 and Q4 earnings, thanks to improved average selling prices and seasonal yield recovery.

On top of this, an asset revaluation tax benefit is headed for First Resources way, RHB stated. Unlike Golden Agri-Resources, First Resources has yet to recognise any tax benefits from the revaluation of its Indonesian assets, although it has prepaid the taxes for its asset revaluation already.

In addition, First Resources anticipates a new biodiesel tender within the next few months.







More From Singapore Business Review


DECATUR  Baby TALK, a nationally known agency that began promoting early childhood development in Decatur 30 years ago, has named Shauna Ejeh as its new executive director.

Ejeh, the agency's Early Head Start director from 2011 to 2014, will replace founder Claudia Quigg, who plans to step down in December.

The Mount Zion resident starts work Sept. 7 and will work with Quigg during her first few months.

I have some huge shoes to fill, Ejeh said in a telephone interview. I don't have an in-depth plan yet but it's important to me that more people outside our community understand and appreciate the Baby TALK model of coming alongside parents and helping them engage their young children.

Ejeh, 49, is a native of Montreal and holds a masters degree in public communications from American University in Washington, D.C.

She has been associate director of the Illinois Head Start State Collaboration Office for the past two years.

This story will be updated.
Simone Biles competes in the floor exercise (Getty)

Medal count | Olympic schedule | Olympic news

If you watch gymnastics wide-eyed with amazement, you arent the only one. No mortal human has any business attempting the almost death-defying maneuvers and twists, let alone landing them.

But ask the same people to name the moves they are seeing and youll see the same wide eyes  not out of disbelief, but because they are stumped.

Turns out, you dont have to remember that what youre seeing is a round-off, back handspring into a backward salto with two-and-a-half twists in the laid-out position. Some of these moves are named after the gymnasts that performed them.

[Featured: The most terrifying day for Shawn Johnson]

Here are five of the best moves youll see at the Olympics named after gymnasts.

The Biles

The Biles

You cant be the best gymnast in the world and not have a move named after you. Simone Biles has many talents in gymnastics, but the three-time world champion and winner of the Olympic individual all-around has a unique move on floor exercise that she stumbled into during training in 2013. She attempted a double layout full out, but tore her calf muscle on the landing. In order to protect herself, she changed it to a half out, which no one had done before. Seems to be working out for her.

The Patterson

The Patterson

Named after the 2004 individual all-around gold medalist, this balance beam move requires incredible power, which Carly Patterson had in spades. This is one of the more difficult beam dismounts that involves a double front flip with the knees in a spread, but tucked position. If that wasnt difficult enough, Patterson set it up with a back flip to a half turn during the 2004 Olympics. THE FREAKING OLYMPICS.

The Dick

The Dick

Yeah. You read that right.

Marisa Dick represents Trinidad and Tobago in the 2016 Olympics, and she has a one-of-a-kind mount with a one-of-a-kind name on the balance beam that has to be seen to be believed. Dick was unable to qualify for the individual all-around and the individual balance beam, so we wont get to see this mount with medals on the line. But at least we got a good laugh.

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The Produnova

Aka the Vault of Death.

Considered the most difficult and most dangerous vault, the Produnova has the highest start value of any vault, and its not hard to see why. The vaulters have to start with a front handspring and generate enough power off the horse to complete two front flips. Two gymnasts attempted this vault in Rio to try and knock off Simone Biles. It did not work out well.

The Mikulak

The Mikulak

Cant forget about the guys.

Sam Mikulak was the Americans best chance to medal in the individual all-around, and he can do damage in every event. However, where he has made his mark on the sport is on the the pommel horse. Mikulak has a skill on the horse where he jumps from one bar to the next in one motion  with one hand. Most people cant hold their phones with one hand, and this guy is throwing himself in the biggest competition in the world. Life isnt fair, i guess.
In case youre one of the unhappy Windows 10 users who has discovered that the system freezes after performing the Anniversary Update, weve got a partially good news for you: Microsoft issued a fix, but its only temporary.

DONT MISS: New photos and video show iPhone 7 Plus in the color weve all been waiting for: Space Black

The company doesnt know what causes the freezing, ZDNet reports, so the fixes its suggesting should only help out as long as the company investigates the reasons causing it.

"Microsoft has received a small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing after installing the Anniversary Update on systems with the operating system stored on a solid-state drive (SSD) and apps and data stored on a separate drive. This issue does not occur when starting Windows 10 in Safe Mode," Microsoft said on its support forum.

Fixing the problem is simple: rolling back to an older but stable Windows 10 version. You might not like it, but its the way to go.

Until a final fix is available, Microsoft has for affected users two ways of downgrading the operating system.

If theyve installed the Anniversary Update less than 10 days ago, theyll be able to sign into Windows 10 using Safe Mode and then move apps and data to the same drive as the operating system. After that, they can revert back to the previous version of Windows running on the machine.

If theyve updated more than 10 days ago, theyll have to roll back to a previous build of Windows using the Recovery Console or the Settings app from Safe Mode. Microsoft has explained these procedures in great detail at this link.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
Dhaka (AFP) - An elephant thought to have travelled at least 1,700 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday despite last-ditch efforts to save him.

The distressed animal was tranquillised three times in sometimes dramatic bids to try to transport him to a safari park in Bangladesh, after he washed across the border in late June.

He was eventually given huge amounts of saline and chained in a paddy field in a northern village to help him recover, but he was "too weak and tired" from his ordeal, officials said.

"It breathed its last at around 7am (0100 GMT)," the government's chief wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul told AFP.

"We have given our highest effort to save the animal. At least 10 forest rangers, vets and policemen have constantly followed it for the last 48 days. But our luck is bad," he said.

Paul said the animal likely travelled more than 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) from the northeastern Indian state of Assam after being separated from his herd in severe flooding.

The animal ran amok and charged into a pond after Bangladesh forest officials hit him with a tranquilliser dart last Thursday.

Local villagers jumped into the pond to save the four-tonne animal from drowning by stopping it from toppling into the water.

A mahout was also critically injured during another rescue effort on Monday after being kicked by the again tranquillised elephant.

Local media blamed excessive tranquillising for the animal's death, saying he became too weak to stand.

But Paul said the long journey was responsible, adding that rescue efforts had been hampered by the thousands of curious villagers following him.

"In the end it became too tired by travelling such a great length. It had been separated from its herd for some two months and did not get the nutrients that it needed," he said.

"Thousands of villagers followed it everyday as it entered into Bangladesh and then travelled to villages and river islands across the Brahmaputra river."
On Monday, the Florida Department of Health announced that there are a total of 30 locally transmitted Zika cases in the state  a rising number that has doubled over the last 11 days.



Gov. Rick Scott, who has been meeting with concerned citizens and local and federal politicians over the past few weeks to discuss Zika funding and longterm solutions, disclosed that extra staff and mosquito traps are being sent to Miami-Dade County where health officials believe the active transmissions are occurring.



There is no known vaccine or medicine for Zika, and it can cause a birth defect called microcephaly that results in abnormal brain development.



"I'm going to do everything I can to keep the people in my state and the people who are going to visit here this year safe," Governor Scott tells PEOPLE. "Iam going to be very transparent with them and let them know exactly what we're doing so they know they're safe."



He adds, "What I'm focused on every day is making sure we coordinate our activities and if we have an issue, asking the right questions: 'How do we address it, how do we make sure everyone is comfortable?' "



On August 1, the governor met with Daryle Koltay  a 19-year-old who was diagnosed with microcephaly at birth  at Pinellas Park Gateway Chamber of Commerce in Pinellas Park, Florida.



"My job has been to educate people, so it's helpful to have an individual with microcephaly willing to step out and talk about it," Scott said of meeting with Koltay. "He's dealt with microcephaly for his whole life and he's trying to educate others about the defect."







When Daryle was born, his head measured only 12 inches around  well below average according to the CDC Data Table of Infant Head Circumference Chart  and his parents, Lisa and Pat, were told he would live a "difficult and painful life with microcephaly."



Today, Daryle cognitively functions on a first-grade level. He cannot read, write, dress himself and often has trouble speaking. Lisa Koltay tells PEOPLE her son "can't express himself or show true emotion."



He requires 24-hour care and becomes disorientated easily  often falling over and losing balance.



It's unclear whether Lisa contracted Zika in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, when she was pregnant with Daryle two decades ago (she was never tested for it), but Daryle's "everyday struggles with microcephaly" foreshadow what life may look like for the rising number of pregnant women with Zika and are therefore at risk of having babies with the condition.





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Florida Teen with Microcephaly Meets with Gov. Rick Scott to Talk Zika Prevention| Medical Conditions, Real People Stories



"Daryle wants to let people know that it's very difficult having microcephaly and that sometimes he gets upset that he is unable to live on his own and do the things other people do," explains Lisa. "That's why he met with the governor, to explain the effects Zika and microcephaly can have on someone."



"As a parent to a child with microcephaly, it's not something to be taken lightly."







Scott hopes to work with Daryle, who has started a "Zap Zika" campaign on social media, in the future.



"They're getting the word out," Scott, who opts for long-sleeve shirts and long pants to combat the threat of mosquitos, says. "All of us have to do our part and put out standing water and wear repellent and make sure there are screens on windows. And Daryle is helping spread that message."
Maragua (Bolivia) (AFP) - It's not easy following in the footsteps of the largest animals ever to roam Earth.

There are no roads or even footpaths to get to the spot in Bolivia where researchers recently discovered a huge dinosaur footprint measuring 1.15 meters (nearly four feet) wide.

But Bolivian paleontologist Omar Medina hopes to turn this remote corner of southern Bolivia into a magnet of paleontology that will attract visitors from around the world.

The enormous footprint, roughly 80 million years old, was discovered last month by local guide Grover Marquina, who specializes in fossil tours.

It was left by an abelisaurid theropod dinosaur, a carnivorous biped that Medina estimates would have been about 15 meters tall.

The size and quality of the print are "impressive -- never seen before," Medina said.

"It allows us to position ourselves as a mecca of paleontology."

The footprint, which dates to the Late Cretaceous Period, is just the most recent find in Bolivia's Chuquisaca department, a hot bed of dinosaur fossils.

Visitors can also see dozens of dinosaur footprints that appear to scale the wall of a cliff. They were in fact left when the sheer rock face was flat ground, before the churning of the Earth's plates turned it upright.

There are also fossils from what may have been the world's last glyptodon, an enormous armadillo-like animal that lived during the Pleistocene era (11,700 to 2.6 million years ago).

"Every discovery is very important because every fossil we find isn't just another fossil, it's an icon for the world," Medina told AFP.

Today, Chuquisaca sits in the landlocked South American country's southern highlands, but millions of years ago it was a hot coastal region.

Paleontologists from around South America will visit Chuquisaca in October to study the region's fossil treasures.

Bolivia is already known for the region's Cal Orcko Park, one of the world's largest beds of fossilized footprints, which has more than 10,000 prints left by nearly 300 species of dinosaur.

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But Maragua, where Marquina discovered the giant abelisaurid theropod print, is far more remote.

"There are no basic services to bring people here to show them these paleontological riches," Marquina said.

"We have to blaze a trail."
DETROIT, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co and Baidu Inc, the Chinese search engine giant, have jointly invested $150 million in Velodyne, which makes a key component in self-driving cars as Ford ramps up development in the autonomous field.

Velodyne is a maker of laser-based sensors that are a major building block in self-driving cars.

The investment, announced early Tuesday by the Silicon Valley tech firm, is intended to speed development of laser-based sensors and broaden its use in advanced driver assistance systems and eventually in self-driving cars.

Ford Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields told CNBC television early Tuesday that the automaker is doubling the size of its Silicon Valley research team in Palo Alto to more than 300 and is ramping up development of self-driving vehicles.

Baidu in April said it had established a self-driving car team in nearby Sunnyvale, California, focusing on development of such enabling technologies as computer vision, robotics and machine learning.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Alexandria Sage and Paul Lienert

PALO ALTO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co plans to offer a fully automated driverless vehicle for commercial ride-sharing in 2021, the automaker announced Tuesday, expanding its efforts in driverless cars and ride sharing - two areas where rivals have already made inroads.

To help speed development of self-driving cars, Chief Executive Mark Fields said Ford is hiking investments in Silicon Valley technology firms, tripling its investment in semi-autonomous systems, and more than doubling the size of its Palo Alto research team while expanding its campus in Silicon Valley.

"We're not in a race to be first," Fields said at the company's Palo Alto research and development lab, adding he was not concerned that rival General Motors had made a high-stakes play in ride services with its $500 million investment in Lyft in January.

Ford does not yet know whether it will partner with Uber, Lyft or others, with Fields saying "all options are open and on the table." He said Ford may choose not to partner, and roll out such services on its own.

Ford's announcement leaves many crucial strategy details still undecided. Yet Ken Washington, Ford's vice president of research, said it was important to signal that Ford intends to win in this space, even with key elements still unknown.

"We're saying to partners, we are the winning partner. It's not a hollow promise, it's a real intent," Washington said.

Ford Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair said the company likely will not offer a similar driverless car without steering wheel or pedals to consumers until 2025 or later. Launching a self-driving car first for ride-sharing is a better way to reach the mass market and make the cars more affordable, he said.

In a philosophy shared by Alphabet's Google, Ford does not intend to develop incremental autonomous systems that would occasionally require drivers to take the wheel, instead committing to a full self-driving car.

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"We abandoned the stepping-stone approach," Fields said, saying there are too many risks involved in the safe "hand-over" of driving responsibility between car and driver.

The death of a Tesla driver in May who was using the company's "Autopilot" system but had his hands off the wheel has underscored the confusion over drivers' responsibilities in a semi-autonomous car.

Ford also said it had, along with Baidu Inc - China's largest internet company - jointly invested $150 million in Velodyne, which makes laser-based sensors that are a major building block in self-driving cars. Nair said Ford's investment was $75 million.

Earlier this year, Ford invested in Silicon Valley firm, Civil Maps, for advanced mapping for self-driving vehicles.

Ford rivals, including General Motors and Uber Technologies, are also developing self-driving vehicles for use in ride services.

Ford said it expects to deploy 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid prototypes this year, and 90 next year.

Nair said Ford, with its investments and its acquisition of SAIPS, an Israeli machine learning startup, now have the tools in place to develop a fully driverless vehicle, but said "there's still a lot of engineering development" between now and 2021.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Bernard Orr)
MAROA  Concerns about large classes at Maroa-Forsyth Grade School were addressed during a special meeting Monday with the school board approving the hire of two new teachers.

The teachers would be added for third and fourth grade, where classes were anticipated to approach or surpass 30 students. Superintendent Mike Williams recommended the additions, despite an expected cost of about $100,000 to the district.

It's truly in the best interests of the students and staff members, Williams said. We're in a better financial situation than at this point last year.

A long-term substitute could be hired for the beginning of the year, which is scheduled to start Thursday, until the full-time hires are finalized, Williams said.

Enrollment increased from previous projections as 85 third-grade students have registered along with 91 fourth-graders, Williams said. Each of those grade levels previously were scheduled to have three sections, compared with four at the other grades in the school.

Williams said enrollment is difficult to predict until the registration process starts.

Sometimes it can be back-to-school night or a few days after classes begin before the numbers are finalized, Principal Kris Kahler said. Kahler told the board the additional teachers would get classes to more manageable levels.

Although supportive of the plan to hire the teachers, board member Chad Ruwe said the district cannot continue to spend more money than it generates. After hiring the teachers, the district is expecting to be operating with a $150,000 deficit.

We don't have enough to do this year after year, Ruwe said. We can't say yes every time. It means we're just shifting pain. I won't continually approve deficit spending. It just doesn't make sense.

The district plans to use some of the approximately $400,000 in reserves built up in the education fund and keep about $375,000 in its working cash fund, Williams said.

In other business, Board President Russ Corey said the details of a plan to fill the vacant high school principal position were still being worked out. The board was meeting in closed session late Monday evening in an effort to complete contract negotiations.

Principal Scott Adreon resigned effective Aug. 1 to take a similar position at Dunlap High School.

At the urging of attorney Susan Nicholas, board members did not provide further details about the plan despite questions from a cafeteria filled with interested residents and staff members.

The board met with its recently hired superintendent search consultants, BWP and Associates, to discuss details of how the replacement to Williams will be selected. His resignation is scheduled to take effect at the end of the school year. Consultant Ron Barnes said the district is in prime position for its search, which could be finished by its winter break.

The search process is starting with the consultants talking with various groups on Monday, Aug. 29, including a scheduled community forum at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Barnes said BWP wants to get a better feel for what the district is like as the firm helps the board select candidates to interview for the position.

Barnes said interviews with about six candidates could be scheduled in November.
* Self-driving cars for customers will follow ride sharing rollout

* "Everything is on the table" - CEO Fields on possible partners

* Ford tripling investment in semi-autonomous technology

* Expands campus in Silicon Valley, triples autonomous fleet (Recasts; adds details on plans, byline and changes dateline)

By Alexandria Sage and Paul Lienert

PALO ALTO/DETROIT, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co plans to offer a fully automated driverless vehicle for commercial ride-sharing in 2021, the automaker announced Tuesday, expanding its efforts in driverless cars and ride sharing - two areas where rivals have already made inroads.

To help speed development of self-driving cars, Chief Executive Mark Fields said Ford is hiking investments in Silicon Valley technology firms, tripling its investment in semi-autonomous systems, and more than doubling the size of its Palo Alto research team while expanding its campus in Silicon Valley.

"We're not in a race to be first," Fields said at the company's Palo Alto research and development lab, adding he was not concerned that rival General Motors had made a high-stakes play in ride services with its $500 million investment in Lyft in January.

Ford does not yet know whether it will partner with Uber, Lyft or others, with Fields saying "all options are open and on the table." He said Ford may choose not to partner, and roll out such services on its own.

Ford's announcement leaves many crucial strategy details still undecided. Yet Ken Washington, Ford's vice president of research, said it was important to signal that Ford intends to win in this space, even with key elements still unknown.

"We're saying to partners, we are the winning partner. It's not a hollow promise, it's a real intent," Washington said.

Ford Chief Technical Officer Raj Nair said the company likely will not offer a similar driverless car without steering wheel or pedals to consumers until 2025 or later. Launching a self-driving car first for ride-sharing is a better way to reach the mass market and make the cars more affordable, he said.

Story continues

In a philosophy shared by Alphabet's Google, Ford does not intend to develop incremental autonomous systems that would occasionally require drivers to take the wheel, instead committing to a full self-driving car.

"We abandoned the stepping-stone approach," Fields said, saying there are too many risks involved in the safe "hand-over" of driving responsibility between car and driver.

The death of a Tesla driver in May who was using the company's "Autopilot" system but had his hands off the wheel has underscored the confusion over drivers' responsibilities in a semi-autonomous car.

Ford also said it had, along with Baidu Inc - China's largest internet company - jointly invested $150 million in Velodyne, which makes laser-based sensors that are a major building block in self-driving cars. Nair said Ford's investment was $75 million.

Earlier this year, Ford invested in Silicon Valley firm, Civil Maps, for advanced mapping for self-driving vehicles.

Ford rivals, including General Motors and Uber Technologies , are also developing self-driving vehicles for use in ride services.

Ford said it expects to deploy 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid prototypes this year, and 90 next year.

Nair said Ford, with its investments and its acquisition of SAIPS, an Israeli machine learning startup, now have the tools in place to develop a fully driverless vehicle, but said "there's still a lot of engineering development" between now and 2021.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Bernard Orr)
Ford (F), which has been criticized by Wall Street for moving too slowly on the development of self-driving cars and trucks, plans to have a fully autonomous vehicle on the streets by 2021.

The commercial vehicle, which will not include a steering wheel or pedals, will be used by ride-hailing and ride-sharing companies around the world, the company said Tuesday.

Ford is not yet providing details on what the autonomous car-share vehicle will look like or who might buy it. The two largest ride-share companies in the U.S., Uber and Lyft, have contracts with thousands of people who use their own vehicles to provide rides.

While details remain unknown, it's clear Ford is sending a message that it's serious about self-driving cars.

"Our view is autonomous vehicles could have just as much of a significant impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," CEO Mark Fields told CNBC's "Squawk Box" earlier in the day .

On Tuesday morning, Ford announced that it will double the size of its staff in Silicon Valley to more than 300 people. It will also expand its research and development facilities in Palo Alto, California. In addition, Ford is investing in or partnering with companies that focus on the autonomous-drive technology.

Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for AutoTrader, said Ford's series of announcements is intended for analysts who are skeptical about its plans for autonomous vehicles.

"General Motors (GM) has been grabbing all of the headlines of late, and Ford can't be happy about that, especially as some Wall Street analysts have wondered if Ford is falling behind in future mobility," she said. Earlier this year, GM said it had invested $500 million in ride-hailing company Lyft.

Fields has heard the chatter and dismissed the idea his company is falling behind.

"We've taken our time talking about out autonomous vehicle plans because we're not in a race to make announcements," he told CNBC. "But we are in a race to do the right thing for our customers and our company."

Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com .


Ford CES Velodyne Puck

Ford announced on Tuesday that it's joining China's Baidu and investing $150 million in Velodyne, a manufacture of a "Lidar" laser-radar system for self-driving cars.

Ford has been upping its commitment to Lidar since earlier this year, when it announced it was increasing the number of self-driving prototype vehicles using the technology.

In January, the car maker said that it expected to have 30 self-driving cars undergoing testing in California, Arizona, and Michigan.

Velodyne's Lidar technology doesn't come without a cost. It's commonly accepted in the auto industry that Lidar is the most expensive path to a fully autonomous vehicle, largely because the combination of lasers and radars in spinning cylinders located on a car's roof takes the most advanced approach to removing the human driver from the picture.



Cheaper Options

Other automakers, most prominently Tesla, are using a combination of cheaper technologies, such as cameras and sensors, to enable self-driving systems.

Ford's move with with Velodyne is just the latest in a series of investments in Silicon Valley by Detroit. Ford put $182 million into Pivotal, a software firm that specializes in Big Data, and the automaker has plans to expand its Silicon Valley presence. General Motors invested $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft and just closed its acquisition of Cruise Automation, a self-driving startup.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has a self-driving partnership with Google, and the general sense in Detroit is that the traditional auto industry, flush with cash amid a US sales boom, is now ideally positioned to invest proactively in the the technology firms that will make Motown relevant as the transportation landscape is transformed.

NOW WATCH: FORD CEO: This is why women and young people love SUVs





More From Business Insider


Ford Motor along with Baidu, a Chinese search engine are making a combined $150 million dollar investment in a company called Velodyne. Ford has worked with Velodnye for the past decade, but this is the first investment it has made in the company. Velodyne makes sensor technology, known as LiDAR, which is used in self driving cars. Fields says the automaker is open to increasing its investment in the company, partnering with others or developing more technology in-house in the race toward autonomous vehicles. As part of the plan to develop technology in-house, Ford also announced that it is expanding its Silicon Valley operations and creating a dedicated campus in Palo Alto and adding two new buildings of work and lab space adjacent to its current facility. Fields says the company also plans to double the size of its workforce in Palo Alto to roughly 250 people. TheStreet's Ruben Ramirez spoke with Fields from the automaker's research facility in Palo Alto, California.
Athens (AFP) - Four people were killed on Tuesday when a speedboat sliced into a wooden tourist vessel near a popular Greek holiday island, the coastguard said.

Those dead include the tourist vessel's captain and a nine-year-old girl, a coastguard spokeswoman said.

Three of the victims are Greek but the fourth, a man, has not been identified.

The motorboat's pilot was arrested, she added.

Five people were also hurt in the crash off Egina, an island near the capital where many Athenians have summer homes, officials said.

Among those injured is a 28-year-old woman who lost her lower leg in the accident, reports said.

Another 20 people were rescued, but the search is ongoing as only the captain knew exactly how many people were on board the tourist launch, the coastguard said.

"We saw over 8-9 people in the sea... some were swimming, others were unconscious, dead," a witness told Greece's Mega broadcaster.

Another witness told Skai radio that the motorboat, which had four people on board, had sliced the launch in two as it sailed to a small islet off Egina popular with swimmers.

"I saw a little girl... being given CPR but she was not responding," the second witness said.
Security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.

Four people were killed in Aripanthan village after residents took to the streets to protest what they said were aggressive tactics by members of the security forces during an overnight patrol designed to enforce a curfew.

One resident said one protester was killed immediately after members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened fire and another three died of their injuries.

A further 12 protesters were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The identities of the four who died were not immediately known but all were young men.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official confirmed to AFP "a patrol party fired on the protesters. Four have died".

Another protester was shot dead in Larkipora village in south Kashmir after residents clashed with paramilitary troopers, according to witnesses.

A senior police officer in the region and witnesses told AFP that forces fired live rounds during the protests that also left eight people injured.

The deaths come a day after a total of nine people were killed in a series of clashes and gun battles across the region, including a commander of the CRPF which is an Indian paramilitary police unit.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in large parts of Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, since July 9 during an upsurge in violence sparked by the killing of a top militant commander called Burhan Wani in a gunfight with security forces.

More than 60 civilians, mostly young men, have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, and thousands more injured in the region's worst violence since 2010.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in full.

It is the epicentre of a separatist insurgency, with several rebel groups fighting Indian troops and police as they seek either independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Three soldiers were killed when a tank slipped and plunged into a river during heavy rains following an annual firing drill in southern Taiwan, officials said Tuesday.

The CM11 armoured vehicle carrying five soldiers was returning to camp in southern Pingtung county around 10:30 am (0230 GMT) after completing the firing test when it slipped from a bridge and fell upside down into the Wangsha river, the army said.

The driver managed to escape with light injuries but four others were trapped inside the vehicle and showed no signs of life when they were rescued.

The army initially said they were all killed but later revised the death toll to three as one soldier was revived after emergency treatment and was transferred to a military hospital in neighbouring Kaohsiung city.

"We are still investigating the cause of the accident," said Alfonso Yang, a military spokesman.

According to the army, the driver was unable to make a left turn when the vehicle possibly malfunctioned and then fell into the river.

President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her condolences and demanded the military speedily investigate the cause of the incident, her spokesman said.

The accident happened days before Tsai is due to preside over an annual live-fire exercise codenamed "Han Kuang 32" (Han Glory), also in Pingtung county next week, the island's main yearly drill.
By Geert De Clercq PARIS (Reuters) - The French government has defended municipal bans on body-covering Muslim burkini swimwear but called on mayors to try and cool tensions between communities. Three Mediterranean towns - Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica - have banned the burkini, and Le Touquet on the Atlantic coast is planning to do the same. The mainly conservative mayors who have imposed the ban say the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism. The burkini debate is particularly sensitive in France given deadly attacks by Islamist militants, including bombings and shootings in Paris which killed 130 people last November, which have raised tensions between communities and made people wary of public places. The socialist government's minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, said municipal bans on the burkini should not be seen in the context of terrorism but she supported the bans. "The burkini is not some new line of swimwear, it is the beach version of the burqa and it has the same logic: hide women's bodies in order to better control them," Rossignol told French daily Le Parisien in an interview. France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public. Rossignol said the burkini had sparked tensions on French beaches because of its political dimension. "It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and women's emancipation," she said. On Saturday, a brawl broke out between Muslim families and a group of young Corsicans in Sisco after a tourist took pictures of women bathing in burkini. The mayor banned burkinis on Monday. Apart from the Paris attacks, a Tunisian deliberately drove a truck into crowds in Nice on July 14, killing 85 people, and a Roman Catholic priest had his throat cut in church by two French Muslims. The string of attacks have made many people jumpy. On Sunday, 41 people were injured in a stampede in the Riviera town of Juan-les-Pins when holiday makers mistook the sound of firecrackers for gunfire. Villeneuve-Loubet mayor Lionnel Luca, member of the hardline Droite Populaire faction of the conservative Les Republicains party, said the burkini was an ideological provocation. "Since the Nice attack, the population is particularly sensitive," he told Le Parisien. He said the burkini raised hygiene issues and could make rescue at sea more difficult. The Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) on Tuesday filed a complaint against the bans with the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, which is expected to hand down a ruling in the coming days. CCIF spokesman Marwan Muhammad said the bans restricted fundamental liberties and discriminated against Muslim women. "This summer we are witnessing a hysterical political islamophobia that pits citizens against one another," he said. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Frank Ocean collaborator Malay warned fans last week that he would not be giving updates on Ocean's eagerly awaited second album, Boys Don't Cry, during an upcoming AMA Reddit. Well, the Reddit happened on Monday night and, believe it or don't, the Channel Orange??co-producer (born James Ho)??eventually was pushed to say something, anything about the mysterious project in the chat on an Ocean-related page.??

As reported by??Fader, the crack in his facade came after one participant explained fans' frustration at the roll-out.??"I respect that you don't want us to ask about BDC and when it's going to come out. So in the interest of asking a question that acknowledges those boundaries while still addressing the elephant in the room, I'd like to know what you think about how fans have interacted with the rollout to this point," the fan wrote. "I think the major pain point for fans has been the fact that Frank has led us to believe there's something coming, and then he hasn't communicated with us at all."??

There's a Site That Will Alert You When Frank Ocean's Album Drops

The commentor??then ran down the list of teases, from the library card, to the maddening looped video of desks.??"I feel like I've put some amount of trust in Frank and gotten really excited about the rollout he's chosen to give us, but I believe that's been betrayed to an extent," Arrogantdesperado wrote.??

Malay was spurred to answer and defend his friend, whose debut returned??to the Billboard 200 last week after three years. "First of all we all massively appreciate and love you guys, Frank has told me this himself many times," he wrote. "To be fair tho, art cannot be rushed. It's about making sure the perfect aesthetic for the situation has been reached, to do that, takes constant tweaking, trial and error.. That goes for any creative sitution." He described Ocean's process as "very focused and persistent... yet very free."

Story continues

Frank Ocean Posts Cryptic Workbench Video, What's He Trying to Tell Us?

The AMA also??touched on when the two first met (in Atlanta in 2008), their first joint project (writing a song for Mario) and what Ocean smells like ("if God was a woman"). But the most tantalizing tease from Malay came after his casual mention of something called the "Booty Club," to which a fan responded, "WHAT DOES BOOTY CLUB MEAN?"

Malay's answer was??cryptic at best. "Everyone will get a ticket to the booty club who wants one." You've been warned.
DECATUR  The Illinois State Police investigation into the police-involved shooting in Decatur is complete and the file is now with Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott, it was announced Tuesday.

Lonnie D. Mitchell II was shot and seriously wounded by Decatur officer Andrew Wittmer on July 11. The investigation into the shooting was turned over to the State Police by Decatur Police Chief Jim Getz. Mitchell, 40, has since recovered from his wound.

Scott said Tuesday that he has a busy case load to deal with but will make a priority of reviewing the file and deciding what, if any, action needs to be taken. He said he couldn't say when that process will be complete.

A statement issued by the State Police urged patience in waiting for an outcome. Please keep in mind this case file contains hundreds of pages of documents and will take time to review, the statement said.
By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's main opposition parties chose former foreign minister Jean Ping as their candidate in an election on Aug. 27 against President Ali Bongo, who is standing for a second term. Ping, aged 74, is considered one of Africa's foremost diplomats. He has served as chairman of the African Union commission and as president of the U.N. General Assembly. "I understand the gravity of the task I have been given," Ping told thousands of cheering supporters in Libreville. "I won't disappoint you." Ping has an unusual history for an African politician. His father was a Chinese businessman who came to Gabon in the 1930s, married the daughter of a traditional chief and grew rich trading goods including timber and seafood. Ping came to wealth and prominence as an ally and protege of Omar Bongo, the father of Ali Bongo. But he fell out with the son and resigned from the ruling party in 2014 to become a vehement government critic. He faces an uphill task in a contest with Bongo, who came to power and won an election in 2009 when his father died in office after 42 years in power. Bongo retains institutional advantages accrued over the decades his family has held power as well as a close connection to France, the country's former colonial power, which plays a significant role in the country's economic life. The opposition says the one-round electoral system also favors the president, who is known locally as "Bongo fils", or Bongo junior. The government denies this. With the state machinery and entrenched patronage networks behind him, Bongo and his Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) are likely to win the election, even though a slump in global oil prices has hurt the economy and slashed revenue in Gabon, one of Africa's leading oil-producing nations. With a GDP per capita around $10,000 a year, Gabon is substantially richer than most sub-Saharan African countries, but frustration over wealth inequality and political rivalries could spill over into unrest in this election. Opponents have sought to discredit Bongo, in some quarters by casting doubt on whether he is really Gabonese or an adopted child from eastern Nigeria, a charge he has vehemently denied. Addressing a rally on Saturday for the opening of Gabon's electoral campaign, Bongo responded to the allegation, saying: "the burden of proof rests on the one who makes the accusation." "The truth of the matter is they are afraid ... because they don't have a good program," he said. (Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Tim Cocks, Larry King)
Berlin (AFP) - German industrial gas supplier Linde confirmed Tuesday reports that it was "in preliminary discussions about a possible merger" with its US competitor Praxair.

"Discussions are taking place and have yet to lead to any concrete result or agreement," Linde said in a brief statement after reports that talks had started over a potential tie-up.

"At present it is unforeseeable whether there will be a transaction," Linde added.

Linde shares soared 11 percent in Frankfurt afternoon trading. In New York Praxair stock was up more than five percent in early deals.

A potential merger between the two companies would create a giant that would overtake French group Air Liquide as the world's number one supplier of industrial gas.

But it would also slash the number of large players on the world industrial gas market to three, with some risk of challenges from competition authorities in the United States or the European Union.

Air Liquide took the top spot from Linde by sealing a deal at the end of May for the acquisition of US firm Airgas, which should take its annual revenues to more than 20 billion euros ($22.4 billion).

Chief executive Benoit Potier said recently that he was glad to be "ahead by a length".

But Linde and Praxair combined would have estimated annual revenues of more than $30 billion -- robbing Air Liquide of the top spot once again.

"A merger of Praxair and Linde is more likely," since Air Liquide's takeover of Airgas, DZ Bank analyst Peter Spengler wrote on Tuesday, and would "create a clear number one in the gases sector".

The two groups could reap the rewards of "clear overlaps with high synergies," he added.

But while authorities in the US "may back the deal", he wrote -- noting the non-overlapping nature of Linde and Praxair's operations in America -- "it is uncertain whether European regulation authorities would give a green light for this combination".

Story continues

The two firms have discussed selling off some assets to allay antitrust regulators' fears, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the talks.

Linde has suffered from weak orders for its turnkey industrial facilities, mostly sold to oil and natural gas companies, as oil prices have weathered punishing lows in recent years.

Gas, less vulnerable to demand cycles, remains the Munich-based firm's largest division and is seen as a more certain source of revenue.

Linde employs 64,000 people worldwide, while Connecticut-based Praxair has 26,000 staff.
By Mike Stone and Jens Hack

NEW YORK/MUNICH (Reuters) - U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc (PX.N) and German peer Linde AG (LING.DE) are in early-stage talks about a merger to create a market leader with a value of more than $60 billion, Linde said on Tuesday, sending shares in both companies higher.

An agreement would accelerate consolidation sweeping the industrial gas sector where slower economic growth has weakened demand in the manufacturing, metals and energy sectors and put pressure on smaller players to compete.

A combination of Praxair and Linde, which supply gases such as nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide, would face scrutiny from regulators after other major deals, such as U.S. oilfield services provider Halliburton Co's (HAL.N) $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N), were shot down due to antitrust concerns.

Linde has a strong position in healthcare in North America, where it supplies gases to hospitals and patients with respiratory disorders.

Praxair is more focused on industrial on-site production, which means a market share of close to 50 percent resulting from a merger should not spark opposition from U.S. anti-trust regulators, analysts said.

Linde said talks were ongoing and had not yet yielded any concrete results or agreements.

"Accordingly it is currently not foreseeable whether there will be any kind of transaction," it said in a statement.

VARIETY OF OPTIONS

Several people familiar with the matter had earlier told Reuters the two companies had held talks. One person had said Praxair was considering a takeover of Linde, while two other sources said Linde wanted a merger of equals.

One of the sources said a share swap was one possible structure of a deal but that talks were still very preliminary.

"A merger would be good for both companies, and for the sector as a whole," said Christopher Schaefer, a fund manager at Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder of Linde.

Shares in Linde were up 9.2 percent at 152.15 euros, an eight-month high, by 1346 GMT, making them the top gainer on Germany's blue-chip index (.GDAXI), which was down 0.7 percent. Praxair was 4.7 percent higher at $123.58.

Story continues

Linde has a market value of around 28 billion euros ($31.6 billion), compared with about $33.7 billion for Praxair.

Analysts said talks may have been spurred by French Air Liquide's (AIRP.PA) acquisition of smaller U.S. peer Airgas Inc for $10.3 billion this year, making the world's leading industrial gases group a strong second player in North America behind Praxair.

Union Investment's Schaefer said the two companies could be forced to sell some assets to win regulatory approval of a merger, for instance in Brazil, Germany and Canada.

"But not so much that it would hurt the merger partners," he added.

Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer said overlaps in the rest of the world could help generate synergies of up to 800 million euros in a merger.

Jefferies analysts said they estimated that Praxair could pay a 26 percent premium over Linde's market value to gain control of it and still achieve an 8 percent return on invested capital in the full year and improve its free cash flow per share by $1.70.

Perella Weinberg is advising Linde, while Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), among others, is working for Praxair, sources said.

(Refiles to remove outdated reference to Linde declining comment)

(Additional reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bangalore and Alexander Huebner, Jonathan Gould and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; Editing by Bernard Orr/Keith Weir)
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Nick Denton Gawker

Univision will buy Gawker Media for $135 million, Gawker confirmed to Business Insider, as first reported by Recode's Peter Kafka on Tuesday.

"I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership  disentangled from the legal campaign against the company," Gawker founder Nick Denton said in a statement. "We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism."

Univision's purchase of bankrupt Gawker follows a two-way bidding battle between Univision and Ziff Davis, which originally opened the auction with a bid of $90 million. Univision and Ziff Davis were the only two companies that put in a bid for Gawker, according to the New York Post.

That is far less than the 40 potential buyers that an investment banker representing Gawker planned to market the company to, Reuters reports.

Even though Univision has the winning bid, Kafka reports that the purchase "won't be official for a bit." The Univision deal will require approval from a US bankruptcy-court judge.

It will also be interesting to see how Gawker fits into Univision, whose new media enterprise, Fusion, Gawker has ruthlessly taunted for its low traffic.

The sale to Univision doesn't mean that Gawker's appeals process on the $140 million verdict won by Hulk Hogan will stop, however. Denton, who was forced to file personal bankruptcy because of the case, has been vocal about Gawker's plans to appeal  using the funds set aside from the sale.

Gawker Media

In June, Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 in a move that allowed it to avoid having its assets seized while it continued to appeal the verdict. That meant Gawker had to be put up for auction. It continued to publish, pay its staff, and appeal in the meantime.

Story continues

Now we know that Gawker's new owner will be Univision.

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 Wall Street Journal. If any money is left after the litigation concludes  i.e., if Gawker wins  then it will go to Denton as well as Gawker's investors.

But Denton, and Gawker's other investors, won't get Gawker's properties back if they win. They will get the money minus legal expenses. There is the possibility that Denton could buy certain Gawker assets back from Univision, if he wanted to and Univision agreed. But that all would rest on Gawker winning in court.

Peter Thiel

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.

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 publicly 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. This led to Gawker's decision to file for bankruptcy.

NOW WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's 'top secret' master plan  here are the details





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By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Police on Tuesday arrested an armed 31-year-old German man who boasted during a sting operation that he had supplied the Glock 17 pistol used by a gunman who killed nine people in Munich on July 22, the Frankfurt state prosecutor said in a statement. Authorities arrested the man, who was not named, in Marburg, about 100 km (65 miles) north of Frankfurt, after contacting him on the so-called "dark net" and posing as buyers for an automatic weapon and another Glock 17 pistol for 8,000 euros ($9,021), it said. The man's claims were supported by evidence gathered by the Munich prosecutor's office and Bavarian state police, the statement said. "There is the strong suspicion that the 31-year-old man sold the Glock 17 used in the Munich shooting to the 18-year-old German-Iranian shortly before the attacks," the Bavarian state police said in a separate statement. The Frankfurt prosecutor's office said the suspect was identified during unrelated investigations into illegal weapons purchases by a 62-year-old accountant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a 17-year-old student from the state of Hesse. During the course of a subsequent sting operation, the suspect said he had sold the 18-year-old Iranian-German the Glock 17 pistol during a meeting in Marburg on May 20, followed by 350 rounds of ammunition during a second meeting on July 18, according to the statement. The gunman then went on to kill nine people in Munich, then shoot himself. Evidence gathered from the gunman's home and various social media messages indicated that he had taken a bus to Marburg from his home in Munich in May to buy the weapon, and again in July to buy the ammunition, the Bavarian police statement said. It said a 65-person task force investigating the Munich shooting was continuing to review 3,100 tips and pieces of evidence, and had already interviewed 250 witnesses. To date, there was no new evidence indicating that any other parties were involved in planning or executing the shooting, the Bavarian police said. "The successful investigation proves once again that there is no complete anonymity on the Internet and no comprehensive protection against prosecution. This is also true for the so-called 'dark net,'" the Frankfurt prosecutor's office said. Alexander Badle, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the 17-year-old student was a German citizen and there was no evidence that he was planning a Munich-style shooting attack, despite the "quite concerning" amount of weapons he had amassed. Nor was there any evidence thus far of any specific political, religious or ideological motivation for his actions, Badle said. He said the youth was facing charges for violating Germany's strict weapons laws, but had been released for now. The 62-year-old accountant had also been released. ($1 = 0.8868 euros) (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Editing by Ralph Boulton)
* ZEW's economic sentiment index rises to 0.5 points

* Separate gauge of current conditions jumps to 57.6 points

* ZEW: "Sentiment recovering somewhat from Brexit shock" (Adds analyst, background)

By Michael Nienaber

BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The mood among German analysts and investors improved slightly in August, a survey showed on Tuesday, regaining some ground after a slump last month following Britons' vote to leave the European Union.

The data from the Mannheim-based ZEW institute came after the German central bank said on Monday that the June 23 vote to leave the EU is likely to have limited immediate economic impact on the German economy, Europe's largest.

The ZEW's monthly survey showed a rise in its economic sentiment index to 0.5 points in August after it plunged to minus 6.8 the previous month. However, that was still slightly weaker than the Reuters consensus forecast for a reading of 1.8.

A separate gauge of current conditions jumped to 57.6 points from 49.8 in July. This was better than the Reuters consensus forecast which predicted a reading of 50.0.

"The ZEW economic sentiment is recovering somewhat from the Brexit shock," ZEW President Achim Wambach said in a statement.

"Political risks within and outside the European Union, however, continue to inhibit a more optimistic economic outlook for Germany," Wambach said.

German economic growth slowed less than expected in the second quarter as higher exports, increased state spending and strong private consumption compensated for weaker investment in construction and machinery.

UNCERTAINTY

VP Bank analyst Thomas Gitzel said the mood among German businesses remained positive and this was now also reflected in the improved sentiment among analysts and investors.

"The German economy remains on a moderate growth path. Don't expect any extraordinary growth rates, but there are also no signs of a recession," Gitzel added.

The German economy grew by 0.4 percent in the second quarter, double the Reuters consensus forecast. It was expected to cool down after a mild winter helped the economy grow 0.7 percent in the first quarter, the strongest rate in two years.

Story continues

Some analysts have warned that the uncertainty following Britain's decision to leave the EU could hit German exports in the coming months, potentially tearing away one pillar of support and leading to weaker growth prospects.

But others have pointed out that domestic demand is likely to remain strong in the second half of the year due to record-high employment, rising real wages, nearly stable prices and ultra-low borrowing costs.

The German government expects buoyant domestic demand to drive an overall economic expansion of 1.7 percent in 2016, on a par with last year, which was the strongest rate in four years.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Dominic Evans)
By Andreas Rinke and Paul Carrel BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's European Affairs Minister held out the possibility of Britain achieving "special status" in its relationship with the European Union but pressed London to get on with starting talks on leaving the bloc early next year. British media reported at the weekend that London could delay triggering the procedure for exiting the EU until later next year. Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday she would not begin the proceedings before the end of the year. Michael Roth, Germany's European Affairs minister, said Britain should be ready to negotiate at the start of 2017. "Until the end of the year should really be sufficient time to get organized and adjust to the new situation," he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. "We should not let too much time go by." European leaders do not want Britain to hold the bloc hostage by horse trading on the terms of an EU exit before it commits to leave. Roth, a member of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, said only when Britain triggers "Article 50", which sets the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to leave the EU, could serious discussions begin. It should be possible to complete the negotiations within two years, in time for the next elections for the European Parliament in 2019, he said. "We can't quibble about it. Even if we didn't want or hope for it, Brexit won and as it won there can't be any British members in the next European Parliament," Roth said. Asked whether Britain could adopt a model similar to that of Switzerland or Norway, which are not members of the EU but have close ties to it, Roth said the deal agreed with London would probably be unlike those struck with other countries. "Given Britain's size, significance and its long membership of the European Union, there will probably be a special status which only bears limited comparison to that of countries that have never belonged to the European Union," he said. "I want relations between the European Union and Britain to be as close as possible," he said, but added: "There cannot be any cherry picking." Much of the negotiating on Britain's EU exit is likely to focus on a trade-off between access to the bloc's internal market and the free movement of people. Roth showed little sign of a readiness to compromise here. Asked if Britain could retain the market access while putting limits on the free movement of people, he replied: "I can't imagine that." "The free movement of workers is a highly prized right in the European Union and we don't want to wobble on that." (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
The producer Ghastly, who has released singles through OWSLA, Mad Decent, and Dim Mak, got his start in a metal band, and he showed those roots several times during his rumbling, forceful set at Elements Festival on Saturday in Red Hook, Brooklyn. An hour later, as Gramatik boomed from the Earth Stage, Ghastly told Billboard Dance about a life-changing encounter with hardstyle and his collaborations with Mija and Jauz.

BangOn!NYC Elements Festival 2016 Highlights: Claptone, Mija, Ghastly & More

How did you first discover electronic music?

Music grabbed me at a very young age. I think I was 12 when I discovered music that wasn't popular - Megadeath and shit like that. It wasn't shit that you heard commonly. I always had an affinity for abstract sounds.

As far as creating music with the intention of making people dance, I think that came after my metal band. I had to quit it because things just weren't going kosher. Everyone has to work the same amount and want the same goal just as much as each other in a band. If anyone slacks off, the pillar falls over. That was happening way too consistently. I kept on putting money into it and putting my heart into it, dragging people like, "yo, come on, we can get to the next level." We were doing really good for a little bit, but it all came crashing down right around the time everyone got comfortable. When you get comfortable as an artist, you stop growing. And as a person too - no matter what you are or what you do, as soon as you get comfortable, you stop growing. That's not gonna get anyone anywhere any time soon.

I digress: after the metal band, I wanted to still do music. It was in my heart; I couldn't not [do it]. I started discovering electronic music around 2008, hearing DJs play shit that wasn't "Baby Got Back" or "YMCA." I'm like, what the fuck? Hardstyle was the first thing I heard, and it really opened my mind: you can go anywhere with music. I opened up a program called Reason, and I started there. One day I discovered Ableton when I was living in L.A. I packed up everything from the goat farm [Ghastly grew up in Arizona on a goat farm], put everything in a van, moved out to the beach, completely started from scratch. I knew if I was going to make the music happen, I had to be where it was happening. I slowly started to hone my skills, and I was working tons of day jobs. I got fired from every day job - every day job I've ever had, I got fired. If I didn't get fired, I quit before they could fire me.

Story continues

Slowly but surely, I started finding my sound - and meeting people that were just as passionate about this sound as I am, which was really hard to find. In the beginning, I was the friend who wanted to be a DJ. "Oh, yeah, he's trying to be an EDM guy." Yeah, that's what I'm out here for - don't fucking bash on it. Do your thing, I'll do my thing.

I was working for this artist known as Static Revenger, and I was helping him write sounds. One day he reaches out like, I want to introduce you to my friend Sullivan King, who went to Icon Collective [a school for music production]. I personally never attended Icon Collective as a student, but because of that friendship that I made, for the first time in my entire career of trying to be a DJ, I was surrounded by people who wanted the exact same thing. It changed everything. That was around the time I wrote "Crank It" with Mija. Things started happening all over the place. I'm so thankful - not just to be a part of it, but to be a part of it with all of my friends.

BangOn!NYC's Elements Music & Art Festival 2016: Exclusive Photos

How did you make your way to OWSLA?

That took a very short amount of time, and then a really long amount of time. My very first song I ever wrote as Ghastly went out on an OWSLA compilation. I was like, I fucking did it! First shot out of the dark, I'm good to go. I was riding that, starting celebrating, partying all the time, with no real means to prove it. You make a big noise, and it trickles out. It started trickling out, so I'm like, shit, I've got to write a banger-ass EP. So I write one for OWSLA that was not from me anymore. They're like, it's cool, but that's not what we liked about your first song, which was very funky kind of house music - it would be considered bass house if it was released these days. Everything was gone all of a sudden.

I moved back to the goat farm, and had to start over. I saved up money, I said, "this time, I'm gonna go out there, I'm not gonna party all the time, and I'm not gonna hang out with these stupid actors and models who 'know people.'" I came out, got a day job, started writing music, and did nothing else.

I used to watch Mija DJ at warehouse raves back in Arizona. She wasn't called Mija yet. They would blow my mind. We met here and there, and when she started wanting to really be serious, I was like, "let's work together." Then she did that set with Skrillex [a back to back set at Bonnaroo in 2014], so he was keen on signing her. Mija and I wrote "Crank It," and I wasn't even done with it - halfway done - and she takes the file and sends it to Sonny. He's like, "this is tight, let me sign it." That was my reigniting back in to OWSLA. They're like, "there you are! Where have you been?"

OWSLA is magnetized to good people, and good people are magnetized to OWSLA. I finally found myself calling them fam.

How do you feel like your sound has changed since that first OWSLA track?

More than anything else, the mix-downs are cleaner. Before, I didn't even know what I was doing. My shit has more aggressive energies now. I have a style apparently. I don't hear it, I just do it, but everyone always tells me they can tell when it's my song.

Guest Playlist: Listen to Ghastly's Narrative Medley of Memories

How did "Ghosts N Sharks" come together with Jauz?

We were hanging out at Camp Bisco, and he was like, "we should make a song that sounds like [deadmau5's] 'Ghosts N Stuff,' but we'll call it 'Ghosts N Sharks.'" I'm like, "that's already a great idea!: More than anything else, it was a tip of the hat to Deadmau5. It wasn't supposed to be a bash in any way. We put a lot of love into that song.

Is it an easy creative process with you and Jauz?

Perfect work-flow. I'll be straight-up: Jauz is a very hands-on person. I'll be working on something, he'll be like, "let me see that," and just take it. I'll be like, "alright man, if you have an idea, let it out." It's cool, because he does good shit. Sometimes I'll get real - "no, I have to get this idea out."

When you were making that initial move from metal to electronic, did you see the sounds as similar?

There's a huge connection between those two worlds. Dubstep is half-time - boom, cha, boom, cha - with metal it's just, dum-da-da-da-da, dum-da-da-da-da: it's just filling up the gaps between each hit, creating this really aggressive energy. It's the same shit, bro. The exact same thing, just different instruments.

You mixed several metal-leaning songs into your set.

I have to pay homage to where I came from. Tonight I played Papa Roach. It's good forever. We all know that song. I have to pay homage to what got me inspired and creative enough to let me get where I am. That's crucial. I would hate to just be a product of DJing, instead of a DJ in my own right.
The gara is a type of embroidery that is unique to Parsi saris. Traditional hand-embroidered garas are considered heirlooms and Parsi women typically wear them on festive occasions. The saris feature exquisite embroidery, with fine, delicate needlework that showcase elaborate scenes. Birds of paradise, roosters, Chinese scenes, peacocks, roses and paisleys are the popular motifs. Very few stores retail hand embroidered Garas and a simple design might set you back by a lakh. The gara is a type of embroidery that is unique to Parsi saris. Traditional hand-embroidered garas are considered heirlooms and Parsi women typically wear them on festive occasions. The saris feature exquisite embroidery, with fine, delicate needlework that showcase elaborate scenes. Birds of paradise, roosters, Chinese scenes, peacocks, roses and paisleys are the popular motifs. Very few stores retail hand embroidered Garas and a simple design might set you back by a lakh.

Explore the unique culture of this small but vibrant community.

The story of the arrival of Parsis in India is a fascinating one. Fleeing Muslim persecution, the Parsis landed on the shores of Sanjan in Gujarat. The local king, Jadav Rana was suspicious of these new people who landed on his borders. To fend them off, he sent a bowl full of milk signifying that his land, like the bowl, was full and had no more place for refugees. The clever Parsi priest, in what may be the most genius symbolic gesture, stirred in a spoonful of sugar in the milk and sent it back. We will blend in with your people, he suggested, and sweeten your land like the sugar sweetened the milk. And it was thus that the fleeing Parsis finally found a home, one that welcomed them and permitted them to follow their religion.

Centuries have passed and the Parsis havent forgotten their word. They have not only prospered but also helped the society that aided them. As with all communities that struck roots in this multicultural nation of ours, Parsis too have assimilated into the socio-cultural milieu. While several of their customs and traditions are similar to that of the Hindus, there are some things that make them stand out from the crowd.
* Writedowns, charges push BHP Billiton net loss to $6.4 bln

* $1.2 bln underlying profit weakest since merger in 2001

* BHP sees rising cash flows, confident in long-term outlook (Adds CEO comment, analysis, detail)

By Sonali Paul and Barbara Lewis

MELBOURNE/LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The world's biggest miner BHP Billiton on Tuesday said deep cost cuts and a steady elimination of oversupply will bolster its business following a record loss caused by a bad bet on shale and a dam disaster in Brazil.

The firm's share price was trading about 1 percent higher by 1530 GMT, building on a rally of nearly 14 percent since the start of the year, driven by a recovery in commodity prices.

Many investors are wary of the commodity price rally, saying it has been fueled by Chinese financial stimulus rather than a real recovery in demand or any output curbs from the big producers.

BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie, however, told reporters he saw signs of a fundamental change and there was no longer a sense that commodity prices were "in free fall".

"Steadily, the end of the supply creation on the back of the China boom is coming to an end, product by product, and that's putting more of a floor under price than perhaps perceptibly existed maybe a year ago," he told a news conference in London.

Commodity markets hit multi-year lows in January following a realisation Chinese demand was weaker than thought and supplies of raw materials could be in surplus for the foreseeable future.

In response, miners have focused on lowering costs and reducing debt levels.

BHP said it was on track for productivity gains of $2.2 billion over the two financial years to the end of June 2017.

The efforts should see it double its free cash flow to more than $7 billion this year at current prices for its major commodities, iron ore, copper, coal, and oil and gas.

For the year to the end of June, BHP reported a record $6.4 billion net loss after $7.7 billion in write-downs and charges while underlying profit slumped 81 percent to $1.2 billion.

Story continues

Disappointed as he was by the loss, Mackenzie said the exceptional causes would not be repeated.

BHP has booked $12.8 billion in write-downs over the past four years on its shale business as it has cut its oil and gas price assumptions. It also in July flagged a provision of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion to cover the costs of a dam disaster in November at the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil.

"The underlying business I think remains strong, getting stronger," Mackenzie said.

Underlying profit was the weakest since BHP and Billiton merged in 2001, but better than analysts' expectations of about $1.1 billion, underpinned by iron ore and copper.

"While the headline loss is horrific, BHP is performing well on an underlying basis," Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said in a note.

DIVERSITY OR RISK?

BHP has underperformed rivals. Rio Tinto's share price is up about 25 percent this year while the sector as a whole has gained nearly 70 percent, though in many cases, the gains are from a very low base.

The petroleum business, which sets BHP apart from its peers, slipped to a loss, as it cut output from its U.S. shale wells in response to a steep fall in oil prices. Like other commodities, oil has rallied from multi-year lows hit early this year.

Mackenzie said the company remains committed to holding the onshore U.S. petroleum business, alongside its mining assets.

"There are many who choose to hold our bonds and our shares who see that that combination provides a dampening of long-range volatility that attracts them to invest. It's a fundamental part of how we work," Mackenzie said.

Shoring itself up against tough markets, BHP, like rival Rio Tinto, in February abandoned its long-held policy of never cutting dividends, and flagged instead it would pay out at least 50 percent of underlying profit from then on.

It announced a full-year dividend of 30 cents, which it said was more than the minimum under its new payout policy, but just below analysts' forecasts of about 32 cents.

Net debt rose slightly from December to $26.1 billion, which was higher than the $25 billion analysts had expected, but BHP said it expects it to fall in the 2017 financial year.

(Additional reporting by James Regan in Sydney; editing by Richard Pullin and David Clarke)
By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) reported a record $6.4 billion annual loss on Tuesday, hammered by a bad bet on shale, a dam disaster in Brazil and a commodities slump, but sounded a note of optimism as prices stabilise and its costs fall.

The world's biggest mining company said cost cuts and a reduction in net debt should see it double its free cash flow to more than $7 billion this year at current prices for its major commodities, iron ore, copper, coal, and oil and gas.

Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said it was too early to say the worst is over for the resources industry, and expected markets to remain volatile within recent ranges.

"But perhaps, more importantly, the fact is that there is some sense that prices have stopped falling as opposed to being in free fall," Mackenzie told reporters on a conference call.

Excluding $7.7 billion in writedowns and charges, underlying profit still slumped 81 percent to $1.2 billion for the year to June 2016 from $6.4 billion a year ago, hit by weak commodity prices.

The underlying profit was the weakest since the merger of BHP and Billiton in 2001, but better than analysts' expectations of around $1.1 billion, underpinned by iron ore and copper.

"While the headline loss is horrific, BHP is performing well on an underlying basis," Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said in a note.

The petroleum business, which sets BHP apart from its main rivals, slid to a loss, as it cut production from its U.S. shale wells, as oil prices slid 42 percent and gas prices dropped by a third.

COMMITTED TO OIL

Despite the dismal showing, Mackenzie said the company remains committed to holding on to the onshore U.S. petroleum business, alongside the company's mining assets.

"There are many who choose to hold our bonds and our shares who see that that combination provides a dampening of long range volatility that attracts them to invest. It's a fundamental part of how we work," Mackenzie said.

Story continues

BHP's coal arm also reported a loss, largely hit by weaker prices.

"For all the talk of diversification, it's the iron ore buisness that's the real generator of profit," said Andy Forster, a portfolio manager at Argo Investments.

Shoring itself up against tough markets, BHP, like rival Rio Tinto (RIO.AX)(RIO.L), in February abandoned its long-held policy of never cutting dividends, and flagged instead it would pay out at least 50 percent of underlying profit from then on.

It announced a full-year dividend of 30 cents, which it said was more than the minimum under its new payout policy, but just below analysts' forecasts around 32 cents.

Mackenzie said the dividend payout reflected the company's confidence in its ability to generate strong cash flow as commodity prices stabilise.

"That pause in the price fall means that we can continue to drive down costs and open up a margin which, instead of only sharing with our customers, we can now share with investment in our company and with our investors.

Net debt rose slightly from December to $26.1 billion, which was higher than the $25 billion that analysts had expected, but BHP said it expects net debt to fall in the 2017 financial year.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Additional reporting by James Regan in Sydney and Barbara Lewis in London; Editing by Richard Pullin)
By Sonali Paul and Barbara Lewis

MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) - The world's biggest miner BHP Billiton on Tuesday said deep cost cuts and a steady elimination of oversupply will bolster its business following a record loss caused by a bad bet on shale and a dam disaster in Brazil.

The firm's share price (BLT.L) (BHP.AX) was trading about 1 percent higher by 1530 GMT, building on a rally of nearly 14 percent since the start of the year, driven by a recovery in commodity prices.

Many investors are wary of the commodity price rally, saying it has been fuelled by Chinese financial stimulus rather than a real recovery in demand or any output curbs from the big producers.

BHP Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie, however, told reporters he saw signs of a fundamental change and there was no longer a sense that commodity prices were "in free fall".

"Steadily, the end of the supply creation on the back of the China boom is coming to an end, product by product, and that's putting more of a floor under price than perhaps perceptibly existed maybe a year ago," he told a news conference in London.

Commodity markets hit multi-year lows in January following a realisation Chinese demand was weaker than thought and supplies of raw materials could be in surplus for the foreseeable future.

In response, miners have focused on lowering costs and reducing debt levels.

BHP said it was on track for productivity gains of $2.2 billion (1.69 billion) over the two financial years to the end of June 2017.

The efforts should see it double its free cash flow to more than $7 billion this year at current prices for its major commodities, iron ore, copper, coal, and oil and gas.

For the year to the end of June, BHP reported a record $6.4 billion net loss after $7.7 billion in write-downs and charges while underlying profit slumped 81 percent to $1.2 billion.

Disappointed as he was by the loss, Mackenzie said the exceptional causes would not be repeated.

BHP has booked $12.8 billion in write-downs over the past four years on its shale business as it has cut its oil and gas price assumptions. It also in July flagged a provision of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion to cover the costs of a dam disaster in November at the Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil.

Story continues

"The underlying business I think remains strong, getting stronger," Mackenzie said.

Underlying profit was the weakest since BHP and Billiton merged in 2001, but better than analysts' expectations of about $1.1 billion, underpinned by iron ore and copper.

"While the headline loss is horrific, BHP is performing well on an underlying basis," Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said in a note.

DIVERSITY OR RISK?

BHP has underperformed rivals. Rio Tinto's (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) share price is up about 25 percent this year while the sector as a whole has gained nearly 70 percent, though in many cases, the gains are from a very low base.

The petroleum business, which sets BHP apart from its peers, slipped to a loss, as it cut output from its U.S. shale wells in response to a steep fall in oil prices. Like other commodities, oil has rallied from multi-year lows hit early this year.

Mackenzie said the company remains committed to holding the onshore U.S. petroleum business, alongside its mining assets.

"There are many who choose to hold our bonds and our shares who see that that combination provides a dampening of long-range volatility that attracts them to invest. It's a fundamental part of how we work," Mackenzie said.

Shoring itself up against tough markets, BHP, like rival Rio Tinto, in February abandoned its long-held policy of never cutting dividends, and flagged instead it would pay out at least 50 percent of underlying profit from then on.

It announced a full-year dividend of 30 cents, which it said was more than the minimum under its new payout policy, but just below analysts' forecasts of about 32 cents.

Net debt rose slightly from December to $26.1 billion, which was higher than the $25 billion analysts had expected, but BHP said it expects it to fall in the 2017 financial year.

(Additional reporting by James Regan in Sydney; editing by Richard Pullin and David Clarke)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f180054%2fgirlshishmaref

UPDATE: Aug. 18, 2016, 8:35 a.m. EDT According to unofficial ballot returns reported by the Associated Press, residents of Shishmaref voted to relocate to safer ground.

Residents of the Alaskan village of Shishmaref, perched precariously on an island in the Chukchi Sea, are voting today on whether to relocate due to global warming-related erosion. The island is located about five miles from the Alaskan mainland.

Shishmaref, which has a population of about 600, many of whom are Alaska Native Inupiaq people, is one of a number of communities in the Frontier State that is considering relocating as sea ice cover recedes and erosion takes a larger toll on their land.

SEE ALSO: Why the extreme Louisiana floods are worrying but not surprising

President Obama got an aerial view of one of these vulnerable communities, Kivalina, during his history-making trip to Alaska last year.

A home destroyed by beach erosion lies on its side in September 2006 in the Alaskan village of Shishmaref.

Image: gabriel bouys/AFP/Getty Images

If the community of Shishmaref votes to relocate, it won't necessarily mean that residents will simply pack up and move further inland.

Instead, it's likely that a prolonged local, state and federal process will play out over who will pay for such a move, given that Shishmaref residents are not responsible for the vast majority of global warming pollutants that imperiled their homes and businesses.

According to a KTUU-TV report, Shishmaref mayor Harold Weyiouanna, said residents have been experiencing erosion since the 1980s.

"They did put a seawall or rock walls up, and it seems to be holding," Weyiouanna told the station, "but we need more protection to protect the whole island."

This is Shishmaref's second vote on whether to relocate, having voted to move in 2002. Funding shortfalls and a lack of suitable land to move to helped doom the effort that time and may do so again.

In 2005, for example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated the cost of moving all the residents of Shishmaref to higher ground on the Alaskan mainland at $179 million, which, at the time, worked out to $300,000 per person.

Story continues

The mayor told KTUU that much of the construction on needed infrastructure in the village stopped after that vote, despite population growth.

The Chukchi sea is seen near Shishmaref, Alaska, on July 9, 2015.

Image: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The town has expanded a sea wall as a stopgap measure until a relocation can take place, but not all critical infrastructure on the island is protected, including the airport.

"... We'll just be a little further up. But what I love about this place is this is where I grew up, this is my home," said Shishmaref Native Corporation General Manager Sara Tocktoo, in an interview with KTUU.

Tocktoo said she's also considering the possibility of having room to grow if they move to the mainland.

"I'm gonna have to think hard about this, you know, because it's gonna impact my children, it's gonna impact my grandchildren," Tocktoo said.

Shishmaref (red pin) is located in northwest Alaska, along the Chukchi Sea.

Image: Google Maps

Shishmaref, Newtok and Kivalina have long been viewed as communities that are on the front lines of climate change. They, along with several other Alaskan villages, have elected to move but have not yet done so, for various reasons.

Other relocation plans

Despite the votes to relocate Alaskan communities, it appears that the first official climate refugees in the U.S. will be located about 4,000 miles to the southeast, in Louisiana.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on January 21 that it is providing Louisiana with $93 million for climate resilience projects, including enabling the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians to "relocate to a resilient and historically significant community."

This Louisiana community has seen 98 percent of their traditional lands disappear since 1955 due to the combination of sea level rise, land subsidence, oil and gas development and the related decline in sediment deposition from the Mississippi River.

A HUD official told Mashable at the time that this was the first time the department has ever funded a community's relocation due specifically to climate change.

Depending on the Shisharef vote, it may not be the last.
The sum is 3% higher than latest appraisal values.

GLP is parting ways with four Japan properties in a JPY42.7 billion (US$420m) deal with GLP J-REIT.

According to the companys news release, the sale price is 3% higher than the latest appraisal values and equates to a weighted average cap rate of 4.8%.

This comes hot on the heels of the announced sale of GLPs 50% stake in GLP MFLP Ichikawa Shiohama to GLP J-REIT earlier in 2016.

GLP expects to realize US$130 million of cash profit from these dispositions upon completion in September 2016. This includes the crystallization of US$100 million of development profit (GLP share, pre-tax) from three development projectsGLP Atsugi II, GLP Yoshimi and GLP MFLP Ichikawa Shiohamawhich are 100% leased and generated a development profit margin of 44%, the company stated.

Net sale proceeds for GLP are estimated to hit roughly JPY26b (US$254m), which the company plans to reinvest into development in Japan. The dispositions of the five assets also drummed up a net levered property IRR (internal rate of return) of 27% before fees and promotes.

The company further stated that China and Japan represent the most attractive spaces for development, and that GLP will deploy most of its capital to these markets.





More From Singapore Business Review


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votinggg

We're less than three months away from the election and Google is trying to make it as easy as possible for people to figure out how to vote.

Deadlines and ID requirements vary significantly from state to state, and it can be hard or confusing to track down clear, up-to-date information, so Google is putting a new a new toolbar front and center for anyone who searches for "how to vote."

"We've been putting significant resources behind driving voter turnout," Emily Moxley, the Googler leading the company's efforts, tells Business Insider. "We're developing a whole new suite of tools that make the registration process easier and more accessible to everyone."

Google partnered with law firm Perkins Coie to get the information for the new in-depth search tool, which lets users sort by state for info on ID requirements, deadlines, mail-in ballots, and early voting.

It's also dumping all that data here, to make it easier for other organizations to spread it.

Moxley says that Google's increased commitment to voting resources this year was driven both by the company's overall mission (to serve users by organizing the world's information), but also a surge in public interest in this year's race between Democratic and Republican nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Google search interest for elections-related content is up 323%, and 130% for "voter registration" from where they were at this point in 2012. There has been a 190% spike in searches for "voter registration" since the conventions.

In 2012, only about 126 million people voted, and some 93 million eligible citizens did not vote. Google wants to help change those stats.

Moxley's team will be working hard for the next three months, releasing plenty of new stats and data through its Search Trends team.

They put together an interactive map showing the percentage change in voter registration search interest since 2012:

Story continues

Vote Google

Here's a different look at that data:

Voting Google

Here's how the search tools looks in GIF form:

Voting Google

And here's an idea of how interest surged after the conventions:

Voting Google

NOW WATCH: Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's 'top secret' master plan  here are the details





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Unveiled at the Google I/O conference in May 2016, the Duo video calling app is now available for Android and iOS, offering iPhone users an alternative to FaceTime.

Google Duo is billed as a simple video calling app that brings two callers face-to-face, using the front-facing cameras of their smartphones or tablets, over a cellular or Wi-Fi network.

Unlike Apple's FaceTime, Google Duo is available to users of several operating systems -- namely Android and iOS for the time being. Presented as the fastest and most easy-to-use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) tool, Duo is lined up as a direct rival to FaceTime (for iOS) and even Skype (available for Android and iOS) for making video calls.

Although relatively limited in functionality, the app does come with a new and amusing feature called "Knock Knock," which shows the person calling live onscreen before you even answer the call.

Google Duo was released Tuesday, August 16, in the USA and will roll out to other regions imminently.

Duo will soon be followed by Allo, an intelligent instant messaging app expected to land with Android Nougat (7.0) this fall. Google Duo and Allo are due to replace Hangouts, which, in the future, should be more geared towards business users.

Download Google Duo: duo.google.com

Check out Google Duo in this video: youtu.be/CIeMysX76pM
Softbank robot

Computers may be getting a better education than students, according to one expert at Google.

Jonathan Rochelle, head of the product management team for Google's education outreach arm, called Google for Education, says the techniques we use to teach our machines are far more effective at making them smarter than the methods we use to teach living, breathing students.

Whereas machines learn algorithms and systems for building knowledge, kids get facts and equations jammed down their throats, he says.

"We're not teaching them how to learn," Rochelle tells Business Insider.

Much of the science about learning suggests that Rochelle's criticism is well-founded. Cognitive science has shown that in order to grow into capable adults, kids shouldn't just learn when George Washington crossed the Delaware or how to compute the area under a curve. They also need to develop the skills that let them synthesize that raw information and draw conclusions when given a specific problem.

As Rochelle explains, that's basically how computer algorithms work. IBM Watson is so smart because it continuously takes in new information and fits it into the frameworks it was given at birth. When it encounters a foreign query, it can make an educated guess based on all that prior knowledge.

The good news for our kids is that teaching methods  like programming strategies  can change. Programming didn't always take the algorithmic approach, Rochelle says. Thirty years ago, the field of machine learning looked a lot like how pedagogy works today. Engineers gave their rudimentary machines explicit instructions. They told them what to know and provided few frameworks for them to make sense of new inputs on their own.

But then developers got smarter about teaching their machines  they experienced "machine-learning learning," as Rochelle puts it.

Story continues

Educators could do well to adopt the same principles. In practice, that means helping kids understand why a particular math equation works and when it's applicable, rather than just teaching the formula.

When students are learning that way, Rochell explains, "you don't have to feed them the actual answers. ... It's more, here's information that got us to a prior conclusion. Now we're going to teach you how to draw conclusions."

NOW WATCH: Google is using these seven-person tricycles for team-building





More From Business Insider


Show the magic  that was a guiding principle for the Grease Live team as they tackled the challenge of mounting Foxs live staging of the beloved musical.

The end result of the Jan. 31 telecast was more than 14 million viewers, rave reviews for the ambitious effort exec produced by Marc Platt for Paramount Television. Last month, Grease Live landed 10 Emmy nominations.

On Monday night, Grease Live directors Thomas Kail and Alex Rudzinski and other key members of the creative team reunited at New Yorks Edison Ballroom for an FYC panel session. The gabfest was moderated by none other than Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who worked with Kail on that Tony Award-winning musical playing a block away, as Miranda noted.

Kail emphasized that the goal was to demonstrate the enormity of the production at key moments in the three-hour telecast, which included a live audience in many scenes. The approach was rooted in a very simple premise, he said. If were going to put the word Live in the title, lets embrace it. Lets wrap our arms around that idea. Lets show the joy of making this in front of all these people. Lets celebrate all the people that you do get to see and all the people you dont get to see making a musical.

That meant pulling the camera back at times to show actors running from scene to scene, to show costume changes and set pieces being shifted  all regular components of theater but unusual for television. Kail said the team knew from the start that they would develop some sort of opening number that showed the wires, he said.

We really loved the idea that once (in each) act we would show something magical. We were embracing the theatricality of it, he said.

Manuel proved an enthusiastic moderator for the panel rounded out by three esteemed theater vets: costume designer William Ivey Long, casting director Bernard Telsey and Grease Live star Aaron Tveit.

Among the backstage insights shared:

Story continues

The musicals race scene was the most challenging to figure out from the get-go. At one point telecast director Rudzinski hoped to actually shoot it on the streets of L.A.  until Kail reminded him that it would be really expensive.

Tveit confessed that he almost totally torched his voice during the dress rehearsal on the Friday before the Sunday telecast. He chalked it up to being a ham and his effort to pump up the audience in bleachers as he raced around the set for a costume change and scene change. Even eight months later, Kails jaw dropped at Tveits revelation.

In the spirit of Hamilton, assembling a diverse cast was a priority from the start. Theres going to be diversity in this Grease and were not going to worry about the time period, said Telsey. But every key cast member had to have one quality that was non-negotiable, and that took some persuading at the network and studio level. The biggest thing was trying to get them to realize its still a live musical and these people have to sing, Telsey said. That became the biggest education process.

The company had prepared for rain but was still surprised to wake up on the day of the telecast to a significant thunderstorm in drought-stricken Los Angeles. The rain was going sideways at 8 a.m., Kail said. Umbrellas were worked into the opening number as another very magical reminder (to viewers) this is happening right now in front of you, he said.

The Grease Live troupe rehearsed an A version of the opening number and a B version designed to adjust for rain. Fifteen minutes before we went live we thought we were going with (the B version), Tveit said. Two minutes before we heard No, were going with A. 

During the Greased Lightning number Tveits supporting cast members were wearing three layers of overalls to facilitate the costume change, Long said. Theyre young, he quipped. Miranda observed that the scene had the quintessential touches of Longs work. Even the car had a costume change, he exclaimed.

The Hand Jive sequence at the dance in the gym was another feat that included pulling out two walls of the gym set to set up the crane all during a three-minute commercial break, Rudzinski said. Its a testament to what it means to be part of a team, Kail added. After a clip screened, Tveit admitted: Its emotional to watch the work of 400 people all committed to this one thing. We werent acting. We were in the gym in high school, he said.

In the carnival scene in the big finale, keen-eyed viewers can find Kail and exec producer Platt jumping up and down and yelling on the back of a truck. The company knew that if we made it to the carnival scene, it was Oh my god, we actually did it,  Tveit said.

(Pictured: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, William Ivey Long, Aaron Tveit, Alex Rudzinski and Bernard Telsey)

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If there is anything on which Americans across the political spectrum agree, it is the inviolability of the Constitution. It is our national scripture, invoked by all and rejected by none.

Conservatives attending the first tea party rallies in 2009 often waved copies of the document. The most memorable moment of the recent Democratic National Convention was when the father of a Muslim U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq demanded of Donald Trump, "Have you even read the United States Constitution?"

But one portion of our national charter has eroded to the point of invisibility: the Fourth Amendment. It says, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." In much of America, that guarantee is an empty promise.

The latest evidence came in a report on police practices in Baltimore, issued on Aug. 10 by the U.S. Department of Justice after an investigation spurred by the 2015 death of Freddie Gray. It documents that the city's law enforcement officers operate with virtually no regard for the Fourth Amendment.

In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that cops may stop someone when they have reasonable grounds to suspect criminal activity and, if they have reasonable grounds to think the person is armed, may frisk him lightly to detect weapons. They may not stop anyone they please, and they may not vigorously search a citizen's clothing and body without a good reason.

The court intended to empower police only within strict limits. It emphasized, "No right is held more sacred, or is more carefully guarded, by the common law, than the right of every individual to the possession and control of his own person, free from all restraint or interference of others, unless by clear and unquestionable authority of law."

But the Justice Department found that in Baltimore, police routinely stop people on the street without reasonable suspicion, conduct physical searches that lack adequate grounds and exceed legal limits, and arrest people without justification. Each of these practices is more than a mistake: It is a violation of fundamental liberties at the heart of what it means to be an American.

The usual assumption is that cops can be trusted to know who's a bad guy and who's not. But of the more than 300,000 pedestrian stops that occurred over a 5 1/2-year span, the report notes, only 3.7 percent led to an arrest or citation -- and many of those were later dropped.

Thousands of innocent citizens were inconvenienced, humiliated and deprived of their freedom. Some were repeatedly victimized; one middle-aged African-American man was stopped 30 times and never charged. Police often arrest citizens for merely standing on a public street near city property -- which is not illegal.

They expose some victims to grievous indignities. After one adolescent filed a complaint alleging that a cop pulled down his pants on the street, he told investigators, the same cop later "pushed the teenager against a wall, pulled down his pants and grabbed his genitals."

The Justice Department confirmed that one driver had to remove her shirt in public -- and "the officer then pulled down the woman's underwear and searched her anal cavity." She was not charged.

All this would be bad enough if it were unique to Maryland. But similar abuses have been documented in city after city. In 2013, a federal judge found that unconstitutional police stops were "a fact of daily life in some New York City neighborhoods" and that the department exhibited "deliberate indifference" to these violations.

A 2011 Justice Department investigation found cops in New Orleans "engage in a pattern of stops, searches, and arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment." In 2014, it found Cleveland police guilty of regularly "using unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment." Last year, the same type of conduct was documented in Ferguson, Missouri.

These systematic abuses go on partly because their biggest effect is on blacks and Hispanics, whose treatment often gets little attention. Another reason they persist is that there is no simple remedy when cops trample on the Fourth Amendment rights of innocent people. Evidence gathered through illegal searches can be thrown out in court - but that helps only victims who are prosecuted, which most are not.

The Fourth Amendment is just one of the provisions the framers devised to keep Americans free. But they seem to have written it in disappearing ink.
Guadalajara (Mexico) (AFP) - Gunmen stormed a bar and kidnapped at least 10 people in the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, state prosecutors said, linking it to a war between rival gangs.

The heavily armed men arrived in pickup trucks around dawn on Monday and abducted their victims from the bar of a restaurant called La Leche in the city's upscale hotel district, the Jalisco state prosecutor's office said in a statement, citing witnesses.

Chief prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer said that between "10 and 12" people had been kidnapped.

"There's a very clear suspicion that (the victims) were members of a criminal group. They weren't tourists or citizens with legal activities," he told journalists.

"The kidnappers are believed to be members of a rival group."

Four luxury cars believed to belong to the victims were found abandoned outside the restaurant. At least one presumed victim's car was registered fraudulently, Almaguer said.

Puerto Vallarta, which sits on Mexico's Pacific coast, is home to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, which emerged in 2010 after the death of the local boss of the Sinaloa cartel, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel.

Jalisco New Generation has become one of violence-plagued Mexico's most powerful drug gangs in recent months by defying the authorities with a series of brazen attacks and ambushes.
By Joseph Menn

(Reuters) - Hackers going by the name Shadow Brokers said on Monday they will auction stolen surveillance tools they say were used by a cyber group linked to the U.S. National Security Agency.

To arouse interest in the auction, the hackers released samples of programs they said could break into popular firewall software made by companies including Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), Juniper Networks Inc (JNPR.N) and Fortinet Inc (FTNT.O).

The companies did not respond to request for comment, nor did the NSA.

Writing in imperfect English, the Shadow Brokers promised in postings on a Tumblr blog that the auctioned material would contain cyber weapons developed by the Equation Group, a hacking group that cyber security experts widely believe to be an arm of the NSA. [http://reut.rs/2aVA7LD]

The Shadow Brokers said the programs they will auction will be better than Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm widely attributed to the United States and Israel that sabotaged Irans nuclear programme.

Reuters could not contact the Shadow Brokers or verify their assertions. Some experts who looked at the samples posted on Tumblr said they included programs that had previously been described and therefore were unlikely to cause major damage.

The data [released so far] appears to be relatively old; some of the programs have already been known for years, said researcher Claudio Guarnieri, and are unlikely to cause any significant operational damage.

Still, they appeared to be genuine tools that might work if flaws have not been addressed. After examining the code released Monday, Matt Suiche, founder of UAE-based security startup Comae Technologies, concluded they looked like "could be used."

Other security experts warned the posting could prove to be a hoax. The group said interested parties had to send funds in advance of winning the auction via Bitcoin currency and would not get their money back if they lost.

The auction will end at an unspecified time, Shadow Brokers said, encouraging bidders to "keep bidding until we announce winner."

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
London (AFP) - Highly-regarded Argentine striker Jonathan Calleri joined ambitious English Premier League side West Ham on a season-long loan from Uruguayan outfit Deportivo Maldonado on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old, who played for his country at the Rio Olympics, could make his debut for the Hammers in their Europa League play-off first leg clash with Astra Giurgiu in Romania on Thursday.

Calleri scored 39 goals in 90 appearances over the past two campaigns with Argentine giants Boca Juniors and then Brazilian side Sao Paulo and said he was looking forward to the challenge of playing in England.

"This represents a fantastic new challenge for me and I am really looking forward to it," Calleri told his new club's website.

"The Premier League is the best league in the world and so I am delighted to have this opportunity to play in such a prestigious league.

"It is a new chapter for me and so I am excited to get started here and to fit in as quickly as possible.

"These are exciting times for me personally and I am motivated to adapt my game to this new environment."

Even if Calleri doesn't get a run out against Astra on Thursday, his Premier League debut is likely to come on Sunday when the Hammers, who lost their opening game 2-1 to Chelsea on Monday, host Bournemouth.
A historian and conservationist, fittingly named Abraham Benhur, made a startling discovery on his farm in Kerala. Hidden underground were ancient burial chambers unlike anything he had ever seen before. A little bit of digging, both physical and academic, revealed that the tombs on his property could be carbon dated back to the year 300 BC. The burial chambers were arranged in an East-West direction, meaning these could only have been the tombs of ancient Christians or Jews. Since the tombs predated Christianity by a few hundred years, Abraham surmised that these were the remains of one of the Lost Jewish tribes of Israel, which had travelled to India so many centuries ago.

More From 101 India: No Mans Land | The India-Bangladesh Enclaves | 101 Heartland

101 Traces looks at the last of anything: ethnic communities, folk craftsmen, disappearing trades, forgotten people.

It sketches portraits of these unique individuals, locked in a battle they cannot win: a battle against the future. Together, they represent the dying whispers of ancient heritage and traditional individuality.

As India moves towards homogenized global pop culture, 101 Traces honors the people, the objects, and the skills that connect us to our ancient identity.

More From 101 India: Travel & Food
Kool Keith has tapped MF DOOM for a dusty, spaced-out new track, "Super Hero," packed with surreal braggadocio and plenty of comic book references.

Related

Kool Keith Preps New Album, Ponders Retirement

'I want people to say 'Oh wow, he did a record about Mickey Mouse. It's cool.''

The cut will appear on Keith's upcoming LP Feature Magnetic and boasts sparse production anchored by a relentless cymbal splash and gurgling bass. Keith spits first with a wild verse that touches on everything from his Wikipedia page to Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, and finds the rapper fittingly inserting himself into the Marvel canon: "I come from a place where superheroes meet up / The X-Men drinking tea watching chicks with D-cups / Spiderman saw Doctor Oct spittin on top of a New York City bus."





DOOM meanwhile weaves a fantastical verse that name checks Spiderman, John Travolta, the rapper's signature Clarks Wallabies, Teen Titans and Hello Kitty before the masked MC closes with the well-earned kiss off, "Until next rhyme, y'all, Excelsior!"



"Super Hero" is available to download for free via Kool Keith's BandCamp, where album cuts "World Wide Lamper" with B.A.R.S. Murre and Dirt Nasty and "Tired" featuring Edo.G can be streamed. Feature Magnetic arrives on September 16th.

Related Content:
Photo: Stocksy

Israel has dramatically lowered death rates from skin cancer in the past five years, thanks to an aggressive campaign against the disease.

We were third in the world in the incidence and mortality after Australia and New Zealand, and it was, of course, because we have a lot of people who come from Europe with light skin, Miri Ziv, director general of the Israel Cancer Association (ICA) told The Media Line, as reported in the Jerusalem Post. In the past five years, Israel dropped to the 20th country with the highest incidence (of skin cancer) and, in terms of mortality, we dropped to number 13 for men and number 20 for women.

The country used a three-pronged approach, focusing on raising awareness, helping Israelis identify the signs of skin cancer, and research on the disease. The ICA also created skin care apps, such as DermaCompare, which helps users document their moles. In addition, the country created new immunotherapy drugs to fight skin cancer.

The ICA also pushed Israelis to be smarter about the sun. We disseminated our sun-smart stuff in TV programs and in the media, says Ziv. Every summer we launch the early detection project, and we encourage people to avoid sunbathing from 10 to 4. (Ziv also points out that while melanoma is rising significantly for most of the world, its rate has stabilized in Israel.)

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making Israels news noteworthy for the U.S. too.

Related: Why Would These Experts Fail to Recommend Skin Cancer Screenings?

Could we accomplish the same thing stateside? Experts say yes  but we need to do our part.

There is constant sun-smart education from the dermatologists in the United States and from the American Academy of Dermatology, Gary Goldenberg, MD, medical director of the Dermatology Faculty Practice at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tells Yahoo Beauty. However, he says, were just not listening.

Story continues

For example, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends that people get a full skin examination annually after the age of 18, but Goldenberg says few people actually do it.

Americans also need to encourage sun-smart behaviors from an early age. Since too many people have used or are using tanning beds, we are seeing skin cancer in younger and younger patients, he says. Finding these lesions early will improve survival and decrease mortality.

New York City dermatologist Doris Day, MD, agrees, telling Yahoo Beauty that awareness is a big thing. Day says there are big misconceptions about sun exposure that are still all too common  and they can be potentially dangerous. People really think that if its cloudy outside or theyre not at the beach, theyre not at risk, she says. They tend to think that if theyre not tanning on purpose or theyre wearing sunscreen, then theyre not tanning. They have a false sense of security.

There are also everyday things that we dont think about that can be problematic, Day says, like the fact that sunscreen is classified as a drug (this allows the Food and Drug Association to regulate it but also means that children have to see the nurse if they want it during school hours) and the reality that many sporting events provide little to no shade.

Sunscreen usage is also problematic. While many people are aware that sunscreen is important, they dont use it often enough or apply enough when they do, Day says. People need to be taught to get into the habit of applying sunscreen on a daily basis, she says.

Our cultures perception of tans as healthy is also a concern, Day says, arguing that PSAs featuring sun-smart celebrities like Adele and Taylor Swift would go a long way toward changing public perception.

And finally, Day says most people dont know how to do a skin self-exam or dont know what theyre actually looking for. People only show me raised spots on their skin, and most arent of any significance, she says. Were missing the things they should be showing us.

Experts stress that we can lower our skin cancer rates  we just arent there yet. The three-pronged approach of awareness, identification, and research is very smart, because it focuses on all important aspects of reducing skin cancer numbers and mortality, Goldenberg says. The public just needs to pay attention to the dangers of sun exposure.



Read This Next: Fitness Instructors Viral Blog Post on Harassment: I Deserve to Be Treated Like a Human

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.


Six months after a beauty school chain abruptly closed its doors because of lost federal funding over claims of fraud  and three months after former employees agreed to settle a whistleblower suit against the company  terms of the payouts by Marinello Schools of Beauty have been released: The company will reportedly pay the government and six whistleblowers $11 million in the case.

The settled suit had been filed in May under the false claims act  a law that allows whistleblowers to file a suit on behalf of the government if they believe their company is misusing taxpayer money. And thats just what Marinello employees, including financial aid officers and instructors, claimed  that the school had done things such as falsify high school records to enroll students, manipulate attendance records, and press students to falsify their income details, all so it could receive more federal aid.

Just call it the Trump University of beauty schools.

News of its demise first hit in February, when the company closed campuses in California, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, and Connecticut, with a total of about 4,300 students and 800 employees affected. That was the result of students reporting the above practices, and as a result the government withheld aid from about half of the chains campuses. Additionally, the Department of Education accused the school of holding back necessary training equipment from students, even though it charged them between $2,500 and $2,750 for books and supplies.

A statement released through the schools attorney denies the claims. Despite all the false accusations and baseless litigation, which were also maliciously made against Marinellos shareholders and former management, what little resources that were left  to fight these claims were exhausted and there was no choice other than to settle, it reads. The press attention surrounding the closure of the schools, which unfortunately only tells one side, without any of the relevant facts in Marinellos favor reported, make matters even worse.

Story continues

Whistleblowers are one of the few parties allowed to bring claims that could force the schools to return federal financial aid funds, according to Market Watch. But its the government that will receive the bulk of the $11 million. Justin Berger, an attorney for the whistleblowers, told Market Watch, Given the circumstances, this $11 million settlement is tremendous.

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
With polling data dominating talk about the current presidential race, we decided to look at several decades of August numbers to see if there is a noticeable trend about the big winner in November.

Traditionally, the Gallup polling firm had been the keeper of horse race monthly presidential preference polling going back to 1936. The Gallup polling firm isnt doing 2016 presidential horse-race polling, after an unpredictable experience in 2012 when it gave Mitt Romney a one-point advantage heading into election night. The Obama campaign had questioned Gallups methodology back then, and Gallup is now focusing on other election indicators.

The 1960 race lacked a clear fall frontrunner

Therefore, its hard to draw any direct comparison between the historic Gallup data and the 2016 election campaign, simply because of the lack of a 2016 Gallup poll. But the trends are interesting for several reasons.

Between 1936 and 2012, the presidential candidate leading the race in the Gallup poll into September usually won. But some of the most important winners in presidential elections, such as Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman, lagged in the Gallup Poll as the fall election season started or as the election nearly ended. And in four campaigns, the polling numbers didnt show a clear favorite heading into the fall.

Heres a look at some trends among the August/September frontrunners.

1936-1944: The Roosevelt Years

President Franklin D. Roosevelts last three races saw the first versions of Gallup polls deployed among the American electorate. And in these early surveys, Roosevelt held a Gallup polling lead in late August over his GOP opponents: He was up five points on Alf Landon, two points on Wendell Willkie and seven points on Thomas Dewey as September started. Roosevelt easily won those elections. Of course, these surveys were earlier attempts at polling, and there were a few problems exposed along the way. In 1936, another poll taken by the Literary Digest put Landon far ahead of Roosevelt as Election Day approached, with 57 percent of the vote. The Poll represents the most extensive straw ballot in the fieldthe most experienced in view of its twenty-five years of perfectingthe most unbiased in view of its prestigea Poll that has always previously been correct, the Digest claimed. In the real election, Landon received 36.5 percent of the popular vote.

Story continues

1948: The Great Outlier  Dewey Beats Truman

Thomas Dewey did beat Harry Truman  at least in the 1948 Gallup presidential polls. The perennial Republican frontrunner never trailed Truman in a Gallup poll after March 1948, and Dewey held an eight-point lead heading into September. (Truman also trailed in two polls from rival organizations.) On Election Eve, Dewey had a five-point lead in the polls. As we all know, Truman won the 1948 election by more than four percent in the popular voting, and he won by a wide margin in the Electoral College. The Truman win forced polling companies to change how they surveyed potential voters, including the timing and sampling methods of polling.

1952: The Eisenhower Era

First-time political candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower held a 14-point lead over Adlai Stevenson in early September 1952 and an 11-point lead at the same point in 1956. Eisenhower easily won both elections in the popular vote and Electoral College.

1960-1972: Two close races and two routes

The razor-tight 1960 contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon showed the two candidates in a virtual tie in popular vote polling heading into September. Kennedy won a very close race in November 1960. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson had a 36-point lead over Republican opponent Barry Goldwater in August; Johnson took the November vote in a landslide. And in 1968, Nixon had a 16-point lead on Hubert Humphrey heading into September, a lead that nearly evaporated by Election Day. Nixon won after taking three key states late in the evening; his popular vote margin was 0.7%. Four years later, Nixon held a 34-point lead over George McGovern in August on his way to a big victory in November.

19761988: The Reagan, Bush and Carter Eras

Pollsters were severely tested in the 1976 and 1980 elections, where voter preferences often changed in two interesting races. In 1976, newcomer Jimmy Carter went into September with a 15-point lead over President Gerald Ford. By late October, Ford had a one-point lead in the Gallup poll, but Carter prevailed on Election Day. In 1980, Reagan and Carter were even in the polls in August and September, but Reagan won after a strong debate performance late in the race. Four years later, Reagan had a 19-point lead on Walter Mondale heading into September. And in 1988, George H.W. Bush wiped out a 17-point Michael Dukakis polling lead by the early fall, grabbing a 7-point lead he never gave up.

1992-2004: The Clinton and Bush Era

In his two presidential campaigns, Bill Clinton had healthy polling leads heading into September. Clinton led George H.W. Bush by 10 points in late August 1992 and he held a 21-point lead on Bob Dole in late August 1996. The two races involving George W. Bush were closer as September started. Bush and Gore were virtually deadlocked in late August polls, as they were when the election concluded in November. In the 2004 race, Bush held a two-point lead over John Kerry as September started.

2008-2012: The Obama Era

Barack Obama held an eight-point lead over John McCain in 2008 as September started. McCain then took a brief lead before Obama regained control of the race later in September. The 2012 race saw Obama with just a one-point lead over Mitt Romney in early September, with Obamas lead growing through the month. The polls then showed a tightening race that never panned out for Romney.

In all, since 1936 there were 16 clear Gallup polling frontrunners as the presidential races headed into September, and 15 of those candidates won their elections in November. In one case, Harry Truman was a clear August polling underdog who defeated a clear frontrunner in November. And in four races, there wasnt a clear frontrunner as the fall season started: Nixon-Kennedy, Reagan-Carter, Bush-Gore, and Obama-Romney.

Some candidates, like Ronald Reagan in 1980, trailed late in polling only to win the general election by a wide margin after a dramatic rally. Jimmy Carter (in 1976), George W. Bush (twice) and Barack Obama also trailed in at least one October poll before winning an election. So with any polling story, the American voters and not the pollsters decide the winner in November at the end of the race.

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Let national call to help vets be heeded

In 2014, President Barack Obama challenged Americas mayors to help end a shameful symbol of the nations broken promises to those who fought for the homeland but dont have a home to call their own after returning to civilian life. To that end, the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness had a goal as lofty as its title. There was already some progress on that front beginning in 2010, thanks to the initiative of individual mayors who grew weary of waiting for the federal government to make it happen.

With a strategic plan generated by the White House and undergirded by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veteran Affairs in place, ending veteran homelessness no longer looks like a utopian fantasy. Thats why the Obama administration called upon the nations mayors to be as committed to this effort as the White House and the two federal agencies tasked with making it a reality.

According to the latest report about this effort, the rate of homeless vets has dropped 47 percent in America since 2010. The shrinking population of homeless veterans accelerated downward once the White House, HUD and the VA made it a priority in 2014. Since then, more than 360,000 veterans, including their families, have directly benefited from HUD and VA programs that didnt exist in 2010. Across the country, there are less than 40,000 homeless veterans with 13,000 still on the street. While that is still an unacceptably high number, it is down considerably from six years ago. Two states and 27 communities have ended veteran homelessness. More states are committed to joining the effort.

Currently, New Orleans and Houston have bragging rights for being among the first major cities in the nation to have ended veteran homelessness. In these cities, homeless vets are placed in stable, sanitary and safe housing within 30 days. If other social services are needed from addiction counseling to mental health, then resources are provided by HUD, the VA and organizations at the local level. The goal is to get a roof over the head of every veteran so that whatever other help is needed, there is solid foundation for success. This is both cost-effective and enhances the dignity of the soldier early on.

Even while veterans are being spared the cruel indignities of the street, attention to the issue of general homelessness shouldnt be swept aside. What were learning from programs like the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness should be applied to other homeless populations as well. Other kinds of federal-local partnerships should be forged to bring those numbers down across the board.

 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande warned Tuesday against any "escalation" of the Ukraine conflict after telephone talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The consultation, at Poroshenko's request, followed accusations by Moscow last week -- firmly denied by Ukraine -- that Kiev's forces had attempted armed incursions into Russian-annexed Crimea.

Hollande reaffirmed France's rejection of the 2014 annexation, saying it would never recognise Russia's claim over the peninsula, and urged both sides to respect the February 2015 Minsk ceasefire accord, his office said in a statement.

The French leader urged continued efforts to implement the Minsk agreement under the so-called Normandy format, which groups Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

Hollande said any new hostilities would hamper prospects of elections in the rebel east of Ukraine.

The deadline for a permanent solution to one of Europe's deadliest conflicts since the 1990s Balkan wars has now been extended from the end of last year to the start of 2017.

The conflict has claimed more than 9,300 lives since it erupted in April 2014.
Syrian Christians in Homs celebrated the Feast of the Assumption, or Lady Day, by organizing a traditional parade in the town of Marmarita on August 14 and 15. This annual carnival takes place in different cities in Syria where people from diverse traditions join in the celebrations. The carnival is usually organized by locals and they design special colorful outfits and floats for the special day.

Marmarita is a town in northwestern Syria, located west of Homs, and under Syrian regime control.

These videos were posted by a community page in Marmarita and described as showing people with colorful costumes dancing in the street to celebrate Lady Day. Credit: Marmarita Love Story
The House GOP is definitely not, as one former presidential candidate put it, sick and tired of hearing about Hillary Clintons damn emails.

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Judiciary Committee, who last month called on the Department of Justice to consider prosecuting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for perjury, have backed up their case with a lengthy letter detailing what they say are examples of false statements the former secretary of state gave under oath during a hearing last October.

Related: Report Prompts Pence to Call for Probe of Clinton Pay-to-Play' Practices

And on Tuesday, according to NBC News, they will receive the notes taken by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during their interview with Clinton during the agencys investigation into her use of a private email server while secretary of state, possibly providing them with more ammunition in their effort to see Clinton face some sort of criminal indictment.

GOP lawmakers were bitterly disappointed last month when FBI Director James Comey announced that while his investigators found that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of information that was sensitive and in some cases classified, he would recommend against a prosecuting her.

However, they quickly pivoted from seeking an indictment on a charge of negligent treatment of sensitive information to asking for a perjury prosecution. During his testimony, Comey described investigators findings that directly contradicted things Clinton had said to the media and while under oath before the House Oversight Committee.

In the letter sent to Channing Phillips, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) wrote, During a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing on October 22, 2015, Secretary Clinton testified with respect to (1) whether she sent or received emails that were marked classified at the time; (2) whether her attorneys reviewed each of the emails on her personal email system; (3) whether there was one, or more servers that stored work-related emails during her time as Secretary of State; and (4) whether she provided all her work-related emails to the Department of State.

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Related: Clintons Foreign Policy Would Be More Like Bushs Than Obamas

Although there may be other aspects of Secretary Clintons sworn testimony that are at odds with the FBIs findings, her testimony in those four areas bears specific scrutiny in light of the facts and evidence FBI Director James Comey described in his public statement on July 5, 2016 and in testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 7, 2016.

Meanwhile, Clintons Republican opponents in the general election are calling for other investigations. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, on Sunday complained about the short-lived appointment of a donor to the Clinton Foundation to a high-level national security board, and about emails from Clinton Foundation officials seeking favors from State Department personnel during Clintons time as secretary of state.

This is exactly the kind of pay- to- play politics the American people are sick and tired of. It is just one more example of the way I do believe that the Clintons have been operating over the last 30 years, he said on Fox News Sunday.

The Clinton campaign has dismissed much of Republicans rhetoric about the email scandal as election season partisanship. However, history suggests that if Clinton wins in November, these investigations will be dragged out well beyond the election.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Amman (AFP) - Human Rights Watch urged Jordan on Tuesday to ease access to education for thousands of un-schooled Syrian refugee children ahead of the new academic year starting in September.

More than 80,000 school-aged Syrian children in the kingdom received no formal education in the last school year, it said.

In a 97-page report entitled: "Were Afraid For Their Future", the rights organisation said a series of obstacles are preventing Syrian children from going to school.

It said many were barred from public schools for lack of "service cards" issued to Syrians living outside formal refugee camps.

HRW estimated that "tens of thousands" of Syrians are ineligible for the cards due to lack of paperwork or failing to meet stringent criteria.

Jordanian regulations also bar children from entering school if they have been out of education for three or more years, the group said.

It said poverty was a "major driver" of drop-outs. Some families can barely afford transport costs, and many children are pressured to work in the informal sector.

Children are at lower risk than adults of being arrested for working without hard-to-obtain work permits, meaning many work long hours in hazardous conditions that violate Jordanian labour laws, it said.

Jordan says it is hosting nearly 1.4 million refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the United Nations.

HRW praised Jordan's "generous efforts" to enrol Syrians in its public schools, which were already struggling with capacity and quality issues before the influx of refugees.

Jordan opened schools in refugee camps and put in place a "double shift" system to give more school places to Syrians.

But over a third of the 226,000 school-aged Syrians registered with the UN refugee agency in Jordan received no formal education in the last school year, HRW said.

"Authorities should expand efforts to realise the fundamental right to education for all Syrian children," it said.

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Jordan frequently says it is not receiving enough international support to help it cope with the hundreds of thousands of Syrians it is hosting.

King Abdullah II said on Monday that donations from the international community only covered 35 percent of the cost of hosting the refugees, leaving Jordan to make up the shortfall.

That took up more than a quarter of Jordan's budget, he said in an interview with the semi-governmental Addustour newspaper.

"Jordan is doing its utmost to help refugees," he said.

"However, we have reached our limits... This is an international crisis and an international responsibility, and the world has to do its part."
Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale is adding to its cast.

Hemlock Grove alum Madeline Brewer has joined the cast of the streaming service's take on Margaret Atwood's book of the same name, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Read more: 'Orange Is the New Black's' Samira Wiley to Co-Star in Hulu's 'Handmaid's Tale' (Exclusive)

Picked up straight to series, the 10-episode drama stars Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss and tells the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly part of the U.S. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism that treats women as property of the state. As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (Moss), is a handmaid in the commander's household, one of the caste of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world. She is forced to navigate between commanders, their cruel wives, domestic "Marthas" (servants) and her fellow handmaids - where anyone could be a spy for Gilead - all with one goal: to survive and find the daughter who was taken from her.

Brewer will play Janine, a ballsy fellow handmaid Offred meets in the Red Center who, after a torturous punishment, begins losing her grasp on reality.

Read more: Elisabeth Moss to Star in Hulu Straight-to-Series Drama 'Handmaid's Tale' (Exclusive)

Bruce Miller (The 100) penned the script for the MGM TV entry and will executive produce alongside Daniel Wilson (feature film The Handmaid's Tale), Fran Sears (The Sophisticated Gents) and Warren Littlefield (Fargo). Ilene Chaiken (Empire, The L Word) will also exec produce. Atwood is on board as a consulting producer on the property, which was adapted as a feature film in 1990 starring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall. The Hulu drama will premiere in 2017 with production starting in the fall in Toronto. The cast includes Orange Is the New Black's Samira Wiley, Max Minghella and Ann Dowd.

Brewer's credits include Netflix's Hemlock Grove, Orange Is the New Black - opposite Wiley - Black Mirror, The Deleted and Flesh and Blood. Brewer is repped by Inphenate and Schreck Rose.
Hyperloop One

Hyperloop One is exploring building its first commercial Hyperloop system in Dubai.

On Monday evening, the company signed a deal with DP World, one of the largest port terminal operators in the world. The two companies will conduct a feasibility study to see if a Hyperloop route for Port Jebel Ali located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates would be more efficient than the current system.

The Hyperloop, of course, is a tubular transport system that carries passengers or freight in capsules at speeds reaching more than 700 miles per hour. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk first proposed the idea in a white paper published in 2013 and made his research public so others could pursue developing the concept. The LA-based startup Hyperloop One is doing just that.

Essentially, the idea is that a Hyperloop system would move freight more effectively to an inland location from the port in Dubai.

"By eliminating the barriers of time and distance, we believe we can increase the volume of freight DP World moves through the port using a Hyperloop to a new inland depot, which supports more revenue and profit for all stakeholders," said Rob Lloyd, Hyperloop Ones CEO, in a press statement. "A Hyperloop system fits very seamlessly with existing transportation corridors, minimizing any impact on urban Dubai and reducing freeway congestion and emissions."

Hyperloop One water

Hyperloop One has been busy forming new partnerships with cities and companies in its effort to make the futuristic transportation system a reality.

In June, Hyperloop One announced a partnership with the City of Moscow and a local company called Summa Group to explore bringing the Hyperloop to Russia.

Hyperloop One is pressing ahead in its development of the Hyperloop despite an explosive lawsuit that was brought against the company about a month ago by former employees, including one of the companys co-founders, Brogan BamBrogan.

BamBrogan, who was also the chief technology officer, accused Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and executive chairman, of breaching his fiduciary duty as well as mismanagement of funds.

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According to the lawsuit, defendant Afshin Pishevar, who is the company's chief legal counsel, allegedly placed a hangman's noose on BamBrogan's chair after BamBrogan and 10 other employees voiced their concerns to top executives.

The lawsuit includes a picture allegedly taken from a security camera showing Afshin carrying the noose.

Hyperloop One, though, fired back, filing a counter lawsuit of its own accusing BamBrogan and the other employees of manufacturing a rebellion in a transparent attempt to seize control of the company.

NOW WATCH: The Best Features Of Elon Musk's Hyperloop





More From Business Insider


Hyperloop One, a controversial company with big dreams and potentially big legal problems, is expanding plans to develop Hyperloop runs around the world.

The company's latest partnership is with DP World (DPW-AE), which operates the Jebel Ali port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates . Hyperloop One will conduct a feasibility study to build a Hyperloop run from the Jebel Ali port to an inland container depot.

"We firmly believe that this study will take the first steps toward the construction of the Hyperloop in Dubai, which could reshape one of the world's most modern cities," said Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and executive chairman of Hyperloop One.





Pishevar's comments come just a month after a sensational legal war erupted between him and Hyperloop One's former Chief Technical Officer, Brogan BamBrogan.

In mid-July, BamBrogan filed a lawsuit against Pishevar and Hyperloop One claiming he was wrongfully terminated. BamBrogan accused Pishevar and other Hyperloop executives of mismanagement and greed.

Among the salacious accusations in the suit, BamBrogan claims Pishevar increased the monthly pay from $15,000 to $40,000 for the company's PR representative who Pishevar was trying to date. Hyperloop One vigorously denies that claim.

Shortly after that suit was filed, Hyperloop One filed a counter suit against BamBrogan accusing him of launching a smear campaign.

Hyperloop One is seeking $250 million from BamBrogan and three other former Hyperloop One employees who the company claims, "manufactur[ed] a rebellion and incit[ed] conflict in a transparent attempt to seize control of the Company."

"We're not going to let anything get in our way of hitting our milestones and making history and showing the world that Hyperloop works," Pishevar told CNBC on Monday.

Hyperloop One executives plan to build a full-size test Hyperloop in the first quarter of 2017. The company has previously targeted opening the first Hyperloop by 2020.

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The firm is currently conducting feasibility studies at eight locations around the world including the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com .



Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.
* Firms vying to buy Tongyang Magic

* Current owner stands to double investment -media

* Bidders include SK Networks, CVC Capital -Invest Chosun (Add company comments, context)

SEOUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Department Store Co Ltd and CJ Corp are among suitors reaching a second round of bidding for home appliance firm Tongyang Magic, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Private equity consortium NH-Glenwood plans to sell Tongyang Magic in a deal that could be worth around 500 billion won ($456 million), nearly double the 279.9 billion won that it paid for the company just two years ago, local media reported.

Also on the shortlist are SK Networks Co Ltd, Unid Co Ltd, CVC Capital Partners Ltd and a consortium of AJ Networks Co Ltd and a private equity arm of Standard Chartered, online publication Invest Chosun reported on Tuesday citing investment banking sources.

An official at Hyundai Department Store confirmed the company was shortlisted. Spokesmen at CJ Corp, SK Networks, Unid and AJ Networks declined to comment. CVC Capital could not be reached for comment.

Tongyang Magic competes with Japan's Rinnai Corp in selling gas stoves, and Coway Co Ltd in leasing water purifiers.

Potential investors have said the leasing business in particular is attractive because it generates a stable cash flow as the number of single households rises.

Tongyang Magic's rental customer accounts rose 25 percent last year to 750,000, while Coway's rose 2.8 percent to 5.77 million, according to the companies.

Last year, private equity fund MBK Partners held an initial round of bidding for its 31 percent of Coway that could have valued the stake at about $2 billion. On Tuesday, An MBK spokesman said the fund was considering various options for its holding.

Last week, 13 parties submitted non-binding bids for Tongyang Magic, including China's Midea Group Co Ltd and U.S. private equity funds Bain Capital and Carlyle Group LP , the Korea Economic Daily reported citing unidentified investment banking sources.

($1 = 1,095.5400 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin)
SPRINGFIELD  Frustrated with a lack of legislative progress, a group of agriculture leaders is bypassing the General Assembly to form a private foundation to support the state fairgrounds in Springfield and Du Quoin.

Characterizing it as a completely private initiative, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner applauded the effort, which was announced Tuesday morning during Agriculture Day at the Illinois State Fair.

The governor has been a proponent of legislation to create a fairgrounds foundation since taking office, but the idea hasnt won support in the General Assembly.

The wonderful thing for the people of Illinois is now private citizens  farm families, community leaders, agriculture executives  are stepping forward to take the leadership on this initiative, Rauner said. Were not going to wait.  The General Assembly wont do it; private citizens are going to do it.

The foundation hasnt raised any money yet, but Rauner said he and his wife look forward to donating.

State officials estimate that there is a backlog of repair projects at the two fairgrounds totaling roughly $180 million. The bulk of the work is in Springfield, but there are at least $12 million worth of repairs needed in Du Quoin.

Were not going to kick the can down the road anymore, said Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Raymond Poe, who as a state representative sponsored legislation that wouldve created a similar foundation.

As Poe spoke to a large crowd at an Agriculture Day breakfast at the fairgrounds, a slide show displayed pictures of crumbling mortar, peeling paint and other deterioration.

Poe will serve on the foundations board, but his will be an honorary role without voting privileges. Heidi Brown-McCreery, director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, will serve on the board in the same capacity.

John Slayton, a vice president at U.S. Bank whos been involved with the fair for decades, will serve on the board as a full member.

There are many individuals and corporations eager to give money to support the fairgrounds, Slayton said, and hes been involved in discussions about creating a foundation for about a decade.

Gov. Rauner really took the lead, Slayton said, and hes the one that gets credit for the formation of this foundation.

The foundation is likely to face scrutiny from Democrats in the legislature, who've been skeptical of the Rauner administration's proposed collaborations with private nonprofits.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, created a task force to look into a similar relationship between the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and a newly formed economic development corporation headed by the departments former director.

I assume that the group thats looking at public-private partnerships will look at this as well and be monitoring their activities, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.

Brown said that while theres no dispute that the fairgrounds facilities need support, the bills to create a foundation contained big loopholes that wouldve circumvented the competitive bidding process used for state projects.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, who represent the Springfield fairgrounds, both praised the new foundation in a statement issued by the governors office.

Brady sponsored the most recent foundation bill, which stalled in the Senate this spring.
This product image provided by Ikea shows a Malm six-drawer dresser. (Image via Ikea via AP)

Please take them out of the room. That was the stark statement Monday by Ikea USA President Lars Petersson to NBC News regarding 29 million of its dressers and chests, now the subject of a massive recall as Petersson admits they could be a danger."

Related: IKEA Furniture Is Tricky for Robots, Too

The Consumer Product Safety Commission tells ABC News that six children under the age of 4 have been killed since 1989 by falling Ikea chests and dressers (three from units in its Malm line, three by other styles), including one toddler death in February, and at least 36 kids have been injured by the furniture, which is said to be "front-heavy and with a tendency to tip if not anchored to the wall. A full refund is being offered to customers who bought affected units between 2002 and 2016; partial store credit will be available to those who bought affected furniture manufactured before 2002.

Related: 2 Women Go Blind, in One Eye, After Using Their Phones

For customers who want to keep the recalled furniture, Ikea will send a crew to anchor the unit to a wallthe subject of a previous Ikea safety campaign some say was inadequate. The Philadelphia Inquirer, which has been reporting on furniture tip-over issues, notes that after two recent toddler deaths, Ikea offered a free wall-anchoring kit last summerbut CNNMoney reports that no design alterations were made and no products were taken off shelves.

Related: SF Mans Rent Leaps From $1.8K to $8K

Then in February, 22-month-old Ted McGee of Minnesota was killed after a Malm dresser toppled onto him, and his parents said theyd never heard of Ikeas anchoring campaign. But while safety advocates applaud Ikeas move, others want more regulation in the furniture industry overall. The Inquirer notes that Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey has introduced legislation that would make stability standards for dressers mandatory.

Story continues

By Jenn Gidman

More From Newser:

The Numbers Add Up: Peeing in the Shower Makes Sense

8 Weeks Before Her Sons Due Date, She Had an Abortion

This article originally appeared on Newser: Ikea Recalls 29M Chests, Dressers After 6 Child Deaths
By Fiona Ortiz CHICAGO (Reuters) - A lawyer for dozens of families from a suburban Chicago high school district argued in court on Monday that students' privacy was being violated at a school that allowed a transgender girl access to the girls' locker room under an agreement with the federal government. A group of 63 students and 73 parents from Township High School District 211 challenged the agreement in federal court and is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement. Lawyers for the district, the U.S. Department of Education and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that no one is harmed by the policy, which was agreed to last September after the ACLU filed a complaint in 2013 on behalf of a transgender student who was born male and identifies as female. Similar battles are playing out around the country as the Department of Education has told public schools that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Texas and a dozen other states asked a U.S. judge last week to block the Obama administration's guidance in the matter, saying it usurps the authority of school districts. In Chicago, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert said he would issue a recommendation in the matter after he reviews all materials. Judge Jorge Alonso will make the decision on an injunction based on Gilbert's recommendation. Sheila Lieber, an attorney who represents the Department of Education, argued in court at the hearing: "They have pointed to not one single student who has been harmed." The hearing coincided with the first day of school in District 211, which serves Chicago's northwestern suburbs of Hoffman Estates, Palatine and Schaumburg, among others. Lieber said the school has made curtained stalls available to girls who wanted more privacy in the locker room, but that no one uses them, which she said shows that students are not concerned about the transgender girl's presence. Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer with the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative group that represents the families, argued that girls who use the locker room feel fear over the possibility that someone born male could see them undressing. He said girls may not be using the private stalls because of an atmosphere at the school of harassment against people who do not agree with the policy. "It's a violation of girls' right to privacy to have a male student in the locker room," Tedesco told reporters after the hearing.
Imam and friend shot and killed in New York City People march after a mass prayer for Imam Maulama Akonjee and his assistant, Thara Uddin, 64, who died in a fatal shooting outside of the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque on August 13 in the Queens on Aug. 15, 2016 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Police arrested and charged a man with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque.

Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said. It wasnt immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Morel was taken into custody late Sunday night for hitting a bicyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after Saturdays shooting in Queens, said the New York Police Departments chief of detectives, Robert Boyce, at a news conference Monday. Police said they strongly believed he was the same person who killed Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.

Boyce said Morel was seen on surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer right after the two were shot in the head. About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist nearby in Brooklyn. Morel was arrested outside a Brooklyn apartment after he intentionally rammed his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said.

Charges against Morel were upgraded Monday night after police said they recovered a revolver at his Brooklyn home and clothes similar to those being worn in the surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Earlier Monday, about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high. (AP)

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr.
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Lundin Law PC (the "Firm") announces a class action lawsuit has been filed against Embraer S.A. ("Embraer" or the "Company") (ERJ) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between April 16, 2012 and July 28, 2016 (the "Class Period"). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm in advance of the October 7, 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.

The Complaint alleges that the Company made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material facts, specifically: that it paid bribes to Dominican Republic officials to secure contracts for aircraft sales; that Embraer's President and CEO Frederico Curado had knowledge of the bribe; that the fallout from this misconduct would cost Embraer hundreds of millions of dollars; and as a result of the above, the Company's statements about its business, operations, and prospects were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. In June 2016, the Company stated that its CEO Frederico Curado would be stepping down. On July 29, 2016, Embraer announced a loss of $99.4 million for the quarter after setting aside $200 million in connection with a U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act probe that it was negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice since May 2015. The Company also reduced 2016 guidance for its executive jet business. When this news was announced, Embraer shares fell in value.

Lundin Law PC was founded 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
Indonesian President Joko Widodo sacked his energy minister late Monday just weeks after filling the key cabinet post, following revelations his new appointee improperly held Indonesian and United States passports.

Arcandra Tahar, a former oil and gas executive who lived in the US for 20 years, was dismissed as a cabinet minister following days of controversy surrounding his dual citizenship.

Indonesian law does not allow for dual nationality. An Indonesian must renounce their citizenship should they take another passport.

Questions about Arcandra's citizenship began swirling at the weekend when it emerged that he possessed US and Indonesian passports.

Tahar held US citizenship since being naturalised four years ago, but had not surrendered his Indonesian passport.

"To respond to public questions regarding the citizenship of energy and mining minister Arcandra Tahar, and after obtaining information from various sources, the president has decided to honourably remove Arcandra Tahar," State Secretary Pratikno said.

Pratikno, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said in a televised address that Tahar's dismissal would take effect Tuesday.

Luhut Pandjaitan, a key Widodo ally and senior cabinet minister, will take charge of the energy portfolio until a replacement is selected.

Tahar was a former executive at Petroneering, an offshore engineering company based in Texas. He was asked by Widodo to join the cabinet as energy minister in late July during a reshuffle of key posts.
Thomas Gibson has had a summer to forget, and the now-former Criminal Minds star will probably spend his fall auditioning.

The Dharma & Greg alum was fired from his CBS procedural Friday following an on-set incident in which he kicked writer-producer Virgil Williams. Unfortunately, it wasnt Gibsons only moment of exhibiting a lack of self control.

Scroll through the timeline below to find out exactly how we got here.

Also Read: 'Criminal Minds' Vet Shemar Moore Preaches After Thomas Gibson's Firing: 'I Believe in Karma' (Video)

1994-1998: Gibson wins first major starring role on a TV series in Chicago Hope.

1997-2002: He plays Greg on the hit comedy Dharma & Greg.

2005-August 2016: Gibsons the main man on CBS Criminal Minds, which is an ABC Studios production. The Aaron Hotchner character is the only one to have appeared in all 255 episodes of the procedural so far.

December 2010: Gibson allegedly shoves Criminal Minds assistant director Ian Woolf during a late-night on-location shoot, per Variety. The leading man was forced to undergo eight hours of anger management classes as a result. TheWraps requests for confirmation of the old incident was not immediately returned by ABC Studios. Gibsons reps declined comment.

January 8, 2013: Gibson is arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly driving while under the influence, though that the charge was eventually dropped in a plea deal. The arrest was quite dramatic and somewhat physical, which readers can check out via TMZ video here.

Jan. 29, 2013: Actor accepts one count of alcohol-related reckless driving. Under the terms of the prosecutors deal, Gibson gets 36 months probation, $300 in court fees and one year of alcohol education classes.

Also Read: Thomas Gibson Fired From 'Criminal Minds' After Kicking Writer

March 23, 2016: Co-star Shemar Moore departs Criminal Minds. Moore and Gibson didnt get along, TheWrap is told, as Gibson was often annoyed by Moores lateness to set. The tardiness was such a constant, one year Moore bought the cast and crew watches as an inside joke.

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Week of July 25, 2016: The kick that made headlines. Gibson kicked Virgil Williams in the leg during a disagreement  which everyone agrees happened  though we dont know to what extent if any the actor was provoked. If you ask people close to Gibson, it was self-defense or even retaliation for aggressive behavior from the staffer.

Gibson was not only starring in the episode that housed the physical disagreement, he was also directing. The script was written by Williams.

July 25-August 1: Williams files a formal complaint. Gibson was suspended for two weeks, amid an ongoing investigation. He was also quickly replaced as director.

There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement, the actor tells TheWrap in a statement. I regret that it occurred. We all want to work together as a team to make the best show possible. We always have and always will.

TheWrap is told that no production days were lost due to the suspension.

July 27, 2016: The following casting announcement goes out for Criminal Minds:

[COMMISSARIO (DETECTIVE) GIUSEPPE CONTE]MALE, 35-50, ITALIAN. Speaks Italian and accented English. He is good at his job but is grateful to have the help of our agents in solving this decades old case.GUEST STAR.

Read into that if (and how) youd like. Just a guest star  for now at least.

Also Read: Thomas Gibson Responds to 'Criminal Minds' Firing

Aug. 12, 2016 (morning): Gibsons suspension officially becomes a termination.

Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from Criminal Minds,' CBS Television Studios and production company ABC Studios jointly tells TheWrap at the time. Creative details for how the characters exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.

Still no loss of production days, apparently.

Aug. 12, 2016 (afternoon): Gibson addresses his newfound unemployment.

I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last twelve years, he says in a statement given to TheWrap. I had hoped to see it through to the end, but that wont be possible now. I would just like to say thank you to the writers, producers, actors, our amazing crew, and, most importantly, the best fans that a show could ever hope to have.

Aug. 12, 2016 (evening): Gibsons former co-star Moore posts a cryptic Instagram video, preaching about karma.

Lotta birdies chirping out there  the gossip is real. I hear it, I see it  Im sure a lot of you do too, Moore begins. So Ill just say this: I believe in karma. Good things happen to good people; honest people, hard-working people, humble people  people who believe in basic goodness. People who believe in themselves. People who believe in others.

Aug. 13, 2016: Gibson hires Los Angeles attorney Skip Miller, TheWrap has confirmed. Together, the two are considering legal options, which were told are still in the initial planning phase.

'Criminal Minds' Star Thomas Gibson and 9 More TV Stars Fired Amid Controversy (Photos)

tv stars fired sheen, sheridan, gibson

john amos good times

mackenzie phillips one day at a time

janet hubert fresh prince

lisa bonet cosby show



Two and a Half Men Charlie Sheen



Columbus Short



Thomas Gibson tv stars fired

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Gibson is the latest television actor to get the heave-ho after misbehaving, but hes certainly not the first

"Criminal Minds" star Thomas Gibson, who got the boot from the CBS show following reports that he kicked a writer on set, isn't the only small-screen star to say "sayonara" on the heels of controversy.

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'Criminal Minds' Vet Shemar Moore Preaches After Thomas Gibson's Firing: 'I Believe in Karma' (Video)

Thomas Gibson Responds to 'Criminal Minds' Firing

Thomas Gibson Fired From 'Criminal Minds' After Kicking Writer
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

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flares dispense C-130J Hercules

The US military is well known for their recruiting commercials on television: From the US Marines standing tall in their Dress Blues, to the Navy SEALs emerging from a murky swamp, servicemembers from all branches are displayed proudly under a common theme.

But there's another overlooked nation that's using the medium of television to express the wide range of emotions and reasons for joining the military  the Australian Air Force.

Called "What is up?," the Australian Air Force has recently launched a new recruiting campaign that looks to inspire those that desire to succeed by "aiming high."

Although the title may sound cheeky, the high-production commercial is anything but. It perfectly encapsulates the feelings that many servicemembers have gone or will go through.

The commercial tells the story of four inspiring Air Force members in a manner that will relate to Australians considering a career with the Air Force," explained Director of Military Recruiting and Group Captain Kaarin Kooij in a media statement. We want people to know that [the] Air Force offers a number of opportunities and that the power to maximize your potential is in your hands."

Watch the entire commercial from Defence Jobs Australia:

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evan spiegel

When Instagram launched its Snapchat-clone Stories, which lets users share videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours, some commentators suggested the feature could stunt Snapchat's growth.

Early anecdotal evidence showed several "Snapchat Stars" were quick to embrace Instagram Stories, thanks to its already-huge audience of more than 500 million users and because it's far easier to discover content and users on Instagram than it is on Snapchat.

And for brands, Instagram houses a more sophisticated advertising and analytics platform than Snapchat currently offers.

Stories is a hugely-popular part of the Snapchat app, with more than a third of its daily users using the feature to broadcast what they getting up to. Snapchat claims its users watch 10 billion videos per day, which is largely thanks Stories. Hence why some people are viewing Instagram Stories as an existential threat to Snapchat.

Business Insider asked SensorTower, a mobile app store marketing intelligence company, to run the data to see whether there had been an impact on Snapchat usage since the launch of Instagram Stories on August 2.

Short answer: no. (In the US on iOS at least.)

Instagram Stories

As the graph shows, Snapchat users still spend more minutes each day on the app than people spend on Instagram and that trend doesn't appear to have been directly impacted after the Stories launch.

Sensor Tower uses anonymized mobile data from its mobile panel, which represents "millions of users" in more than 30 countries.

Snapchat and Instagram were not immediately available for comment.

Same feature, different apps, different audiences

It has only been two weeks since the launch of Instagram Stories, so the data is hardly conclusive. But perhaps it shows that Instagram and Snapchat  while now offering an almost-identical Stories product  still cater for different audiences and different needs.

Story continues

Nick Cicero, founder and CEO of creator-network company Delmondo, which offers brands Snapchat analytics, told Business Insider: "I'd say that that overall, the Instagram experiments have resulted in great completion rates and comparable view counts to Snapchat, and for some of our creators who were already large on Instagram, they're definitely seeing more story views in the millions."

"That being said," he added. "There's a certain type of audience on Snapchat and I don't think that it's going to slow down at all. Most of the customers we work with said they don't plan to stop creating on Snapchat any time soon."

In other words, Snapchat's audience skews younger than Instagram. Snapchat claims to reach 41% of all 18 to 34-year-olds on any given day in the US, citing Nielsen data. A recent survey from Piper Jaffray showed Snapchat is the most popular app amongst teens in the country. Last year's survey showed 33% of US teens polled considered Instagram their most important social network, but by this spring that number had dropped to 27%.

Snapchat, meanwhile, rose from 19% to 28%, overtaking Instagram.

piper jaffray

Hannah Beesley, social director at Iris Worldwide  an advertising agency that works with brands including Samsung, Jeep, and Reebok  thinks Stories shows how Instagram is shaking off its image as the "shiny" network, with its curated feed of polished and often unrealistic-images, which could become a concern for Snapchat, which was often seen as the more fun app.

She told Business Insider: "Stories will definitely eat some of Snapchats lunch amongst their older demographics who didnt take to Snapchat quite so naturally, but liked its informal nature. They are making bold moves to secure their dominance over the 24-45 age range of their heartland. Snapchat will retain its younger audience but for how long? If I can go to Instagram for both shiny and informal experiences, Snapchat needs to offer something different to fight the dominance of the Facebook-backed Instagram reach."

Reach versus retention

One metric to consider to determine whether Instagram really is eating Snapchat's lunch is engagement. We spoke to several sources who work with brands and influencers who said that early tests showed that reach  the total audience that viewed a photo or video  is often higher on Instagram Stories, but retention rates  how long users spent watching the videos and photos  were higher on Snapchat.

One digital head at a global fashion retailer, who asked not to be named, told Business Insider: "Whilst reach is important, when it comes to video storytelling, factors such as retention rate need to be considered. Looking at this metric, [we have] seen a significantly higher view-through rate from Snapchat over Instagram giving us insight into each platforms typical user behavior and attention span."

However, those findings were inconclusive, as there are some occasions where the exact opposite was true and there has yet to be a big enough sample to pull any clear generalities from these types of anecdotes.

What we can conclude, two weeks after launch, is that Snapchat hasn't felt any immediate pain from Instagram Stories ... yet.

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From Woman's Day

Jennifer Howard noticed something was off with her daughter, Lilly, when she heard noise blaring from the room where the seven-year-old was watching YouTube. Lately, the normally well-behaved child didn't respond when called for, either. Jennifer wondered if Lilly could even hear her.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Lilly failed a basic hearing test performed by the family's pediatrician. From there they saw an audiologist, then an ear, nose, and throat doctor. A series of comprehensive screenings revealed that Lilly had mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Doctors weren't sure what had caused the damage to her hearing and couldn't tell if it would worsen over time-a diagnosis that would shock any parent.

"Here's my perfectly healthy daughter who normally only has an annual physical every year and that's it," says Jennifer. "I started crying right there in front of her. She was the one putting her arms around me, trying to console me like, Mom, It's not that big of a deal."

I started crying right there in front of my daughter. She was the one putting her arms around me, trying to console me.

But before the mom of three would accept that her daughter's life was about to change forever, she needed a second opinion. Jennifer took the test results to a neighbor who happened to be an ENT doctor: "He looked at all of it and said yeah, she does need hearing aids. So I had the consensus of two doctors before I pursued it."

Facing reality

Acknowledging the severity of Lilly's hearing loss was only the beginning of the battle. As the family would soon find out, there were bigger roadblocks ahead. Lilly had her ears fitted for the devices she needed, but a few days later, the audiologist's office called with bad news: the insurance company had rejected the order. The $5,000 hearing aids weren't covered by the Howards' insurance plan.

A divisional vice president for PR Newswire who's worked for its parent company, United Business Media, for 20 years, Jennifer thought she knew their insurance policy inside out. "Our son has a chronic medical issue; he's had two kidney transplants-he's doing great now-that were covered," she says. "We've always had excellent coverage."

Story continues

Only 15% of employers offer hearing benefits, and many HR departments aren't clear on what is (and isn't) covered.

But the Howards aren't alone in their frustration, says Brad Volkmer, the president and CEO of EPIC Hearing Healthcare, a provider of independent hearing benefits designed to supplement insurance plans with limited or no hearing coverage. In fact, only 15% of employers offer hearing benefits, according to EPIC's research. Why? "Insurance carriers typically follow what Medicare does," says Volkmer. "When hearing aids were first invented and Medicare was considering what to do, hearing aids were relatively crude and were not a specific treatment for hearing loss as they are today, so Medicare didn't include them. Now, the total dollar amount that it would cost Medicare to fund hearing aids is just too substantial, so it still doesn't cover them."

Photo credit: Courtesy of Jennifer Howard

Looking for answers

Jennifer reached out to her company's vice president of HR. "I find it really hard to believe that our insurance policy doesn't cover hearing aids, especially for a child-do you know anything about it?" she recalls asking. The waiting game ensued. A few days went by while the inquiry made its way up the chain of command, all the way to the parent company in London.

"There's a huge lack of awareness, not just with individuals, but even within the HR departments of major companies about what's covered and what's not," says Jennifer. "Hearing aids are a kind of outlier."

Twenty-eight percent of employees incorrectly believe hearing aids are covered under most medical plans, and 42% simply don't know.

In nearly a decade, Jennifer was the company's first employee to approach HR with a hearing aid request. "The head of human resources calls me and says, 'We always thought it was covered under medical device and it's not,'" says Jennifer. (According to EPIC, 28% of employees incorrectly believe hearing aids are covered under most medical plans, and 42% simply don't know.) They were working diligently to amend the policy to include hearing aids and would be in touch, the director explained.

The waiting game

Three weeks went by. The order for Lilly's hearing aids sat at the audiologist's office, unprocessed until a method of payment could be determined. In the end, Jennifer's company amended its policy not only for Lilly but also for any of its employees diagnosed with a hearing deficit. Surprisingly, the cost of premiums did not increase. "I feel really fortunate to work for a company that cares so much and would fix something that was seemingly broken," says Jennifer.

She knows it could have been a much different story. Had her company not responded the way it did, Jennifer says she would have gone straight to Google. "Before I pay $5,000 out of pocket, knowing that this is a chronic situation and that Lilly's going to need to be seen by an audiologist at least once a year, I would have searched for an alternative," she says. "I would've educated myself and found supplementary benefits."

Today Lilly, 9, is happy and healthy, adjusting to life with hearing aids, which Jennifer says she doesn't need to micromanage her "Type A" daughter about wearing. "She keeps them in her book bag and takes them out on an as-needed basis, when the teacher's speaking or giving instructions in the classroom," says Jennifer. "She's a really bright student-she gets straight As-so I let her be the judge of when to wear them."

What to Do If Your Child's Medical Device Isn't Covered

Advocate for yourself. All employees should be encouraged to at least ask HR, says author and HR expert Lori Kleiman. "That doesn't mean someone is automatically going to go to bat for you, but it's easier than people might think for HR to work with the insurance company at that moment or later, at the time of plan renewal."

Be patient. "Approach HR in a non-combative way and just say, I'm confused; I would've thought this would be included,'" says Kleiman. "Then be willing to accept that HR's answer is likely going to be, 'Give me a week to look at it,' because they're going to have to get into nitty-gritty details with insurance and legal."

Bring it up on the job hunt. Whenever you're offered a job, ask to see the benefits certificate of coverage. "If what you need isn't covered, and the company won't cover it, that's something you could negotiate as part of the offer package. Either ask for an increase in salary to offset the cost, or request that they look at adding it during the next plan year."
IRVINE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Khang & Khang LLP (the "Firm") announces that a class action lawsuit was filed against K12, Inc. ("K12" or the "Company") (LRN). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares between November 7, 2013 and October 27, 2015 (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the Firm prior to the September 19, 2016 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

If you purchased K12 shares during the Class Period, please contact Joon M. Khang, Esquire, of Khang & Khang, 18101 Von Karman Avenue, 3rd Floor, Irvine, CA 92612, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

There has been no class certification in this case. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. You may choose to take no action and remain a passive 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 news was disclosed, shares of K12 decreased in value, causing investors harm.

If you wish to learn more about this lawsuit, or if you have any questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Joon M. Khang, a prominent litigator for almost two decades, by telephone: (949) 419-3834, or by e-mail at joon@khanglaw.com.

Story continues

This press release may constitute Attorney Advertising in certain jurisdictions.

Contacts

Joon M. Khang, Esq.

Telephone: 949-419-3834

Facsimile: 949-225-4474

joon@khanglaw.com

SOURCE: Khang & Khang LLP
It commonly happens in stock investing that investors miss the chance of buying winning stocks that they knew would stand out. Before they take the plunge, others get to know the hidden potential and enter into these stocks, pushing them out of reach.

So, instead of repenting, spotting the off-the-radar potential winners and immediately investing in them could be a smart decision.

One such company that looks well positioned for a solid gain, but has been overlooked by investors lately, is Franco-Nevada Corporation FNV. This Mining-Gold stock has actually seen estimates rise over the past month for the current fiscal year by about 15.6%. But that is not yet reflected in its price, as the stock has gained only 2.1% over the same time frame.

FRANCO NV CP Price and Consensus

FRANCO NV CP Price and Consensus | FRANCO NV CP Quote

You should not be concerned about the price remaining muted going forward. This years expected earnings growth over the prior year is 56.1%, which should ultimately translate into price appreciation.

And if this isnt enough, FNV currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) which further underscores the potential for its outperformance (See the performance of Zacks' portfolios and strategies here: About Zacks Performance).

So if you are looking for a stock flying under-the-radar that is well-equipped to bounce down the road, make sure to consider Franco-Nevada. Solid estimate revisions and an impressive Zacks Rank suggest that better days may be ahead for FNV and that now might be an interesting buying opportunity.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>



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FRANCO NV CP (FNV): Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Tehran (AFP) - Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, the Tehran prosecutor told Iranian media on Tuesday.

"The accused, who was arrested in Tehran last week, was active in the field of the Iranian economy, and was linked to the British espionage service," the Mizan news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying.

He did not give the name or gender of the accused.

Three other dual-nationals arrested over the past year -- American, British and Canadian -- are currently awaiting trial.

Dolatabadi recalled warnings by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Western governments would seek to "infiltrate" the country in the wake of last year's nuclear deal.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality and treats those arrested as Iranian citizens only.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Iranian weightlifter Behdad Salimikordasiabi set a new world record of 216kg in the snatch in the men's superheavyweight +105kg competition at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday.

Salimikordasiabi, often called 'Salimi', had owned the record of 214kg going into the event only for Georgia's Lasha Talakhadze to lift 215 with his third attempt.

However, the Georgian only held the world record for around one minute as Salimi confidently strode onto the podium and immediately grabbed the record back for himself.

Salimi leads by 1kg going into the clean and jerk.

The men's +105kg will see the 15th and final weightlifting gold medal of the Rio Games awarded.
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday expressed his surprise at the speed with which the judiciary closed a corruption case against the parliament speaker.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi accused Speaker Salim al-Juburi and several lawmakers of involvement in corruption.

Juburi appeared in front of a commission which announced only moments later that it was closing the case for lack of evidence, a lightning outcome that fuelled suspicion over the judiciary's independence.

"I cannot comment on the judiciary, but I can express my feeling as a citizen. I was surprised by the speedy decision," Abadi told reporters in Baghdad.

Since taking the helm of the government two years ago, Abadi has been consistently challenged over his attempts to implement reform, including by members of his own political bloc.

Obeidi made the accusations against Juburi while appearing in parliament to answer graft allegations against himself that he said were brought in retribution for rejecting corruption.

Corruption is widespread in Iraq's government, from senior officials to low-level functionaries, and while Iraqis have repeatedly demonstrated for change in the past year, little in the way of real reform has taken place.

Juburi reacted quickly to Abadi's jibe.

"Officials in the executive must look after their own duties and not interfere with the affairs... of the judiciary and the legislative," a statement from his office quoted him as saying.

The spat between Juburi and Obeidi, theoretically two of Abadi's most important Sunni partners, does not bode well ahead of operations to retake the jihadist stronghold of Mosul.

Abadi himself admitted on Tuesday that the timing was not ideal, and that he would have favoured postponing the investigation until after the Sunni-populated city has been retaken.

After retaking the Islamic State group's bastion of Fallujah in June, Iraqi forces are closing in on Mosul, the country's second city and the jihadists' last major stronghold in Iraq.
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's assistance to civilians forced from their homes by conflict has been far from adequate, Amnesty International said Tuesday, warning that fresh displacement could spell catastrophe.

"The Iraqi authorities' response to displaced people has been woefully insufficient and much of the world has largely ignored their plight," the rights group said.

Both Iraqi and foreign aid efforts came under criticism in June for failing to provide basic assistance to the tens of thousands displaced from the Fallujah area during the military operation that defeated the Islamic State group there.

The northern city of Mosul, the jihadists' last major stronghold and the next Iraqi target of the war on IS, has a civilian population many times larger.

"Unless humanitarian aid is adequately funded, planned for and implemented, the potential influx of hundreds of thousands more displaced people fleeing the fighting and horrific abuses under IS control will push Iraq past breaking point with devastating consequences," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's senior crisis response adviser.

Military and humanitarian officials estimate that 600,000 people or more could have to flee their homes in the course of an operation to retake Mosul, the country's second city.

Iraqi federal, Kurdish and allied forces have been conducting operations in recent weeks to set the stage for an assault on Mosul.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced when IS took Mosul in June 2014 and vast surrounding areas two months later.

Most of them fled to the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan, which has struggled to cope with the sudden surge in population.

Rovera said the West had been far more eager to fund military operations against IS than the humanitarian effort.

"World leaders must urgently step up their funding for humanitarian assistance to those displaced civilians, some of whom were forced to flee due to the military operations supported by the international community," she said.

Some 3.4 million people have been displaced in Iraq since the start of 2014. They are among around 10 million people in the country deemed to be in need of humanitarian assistance.

The UN says its humanitarian response plan is only funded up to 47 percent.
Javier Hernandez, left, Nadia Fernandez and Chris Varughese help to unload cots from a Red Cross trailer at Church Hill Middle School after they and other campers were evacuated from campgrounds along the Guadalupe River in 2007.
A Muslim surf lifesaver and burkini designer on a beach [Photo: Getty]

France is known for its controversial attitude towards niqabs and face-covering veils designed for Muslim women. And after banning wearing any face-obscuring headgear in public in 2011, theres now a new item of clothing surrounded by controversy; the burkini.



The burkini is basically body-covering (but not face-covering) swimwear for Muslim women who wish to cover up up while swimming. Its status in France has caused occasional debates before, but just recently, three towns (Villeneuve-Loubet, Cannes and Sisco on the island of Corsica) have banned it.

Why now? Well, the mayors that imposed the ban say its to do with upholding Frances secular values, and to protect women from being forced to cover their faces.

A Corsican beach [Photo: Flickr/Kevin]



The swimwear was also reportedly the cause of a fight on a beach in Sisco that broke out between Muslim families and a group of young Corsicans on Saturday.

The socialist governments minister for womens rights, Laurence Rossignol, told French daily Le Parisien: It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and womens emancipation.

But does a ban like this in fact encroach on individual freedoms? Imagine if you wanted to stay covered up on a beach, but were legally prevented from doing so.

A woman wearing a niqab celebrates Eid al-Adha [Photo: Getty]

Since the July attacks in Nice and the Paris attacks last year, tensions between communities have also been particularly high - therefore many argue that imposing bans on Muslim groups will only make relationships worse.

Marwan Muhammad, a spokesman for the Collective against Islamophobia in France, told the Guardian that This summer we are witnessing a hysterical political Islamophobia that pits citizens against one another.

So is banning burkinis about protecting women, or is it endangering womens freedom?

Story continues

What do you think? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.

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Is The Great British Bake Off Enforcing Gender Stereotypes?


Nearly a year after its Jack Ryan drama was put in development, Amazon is moving forward with the show.

The streaming service announced Tuesday that it has officially greenlighted the reboot of Tom Clancy's popular CIA books with a 10-episode series pickup.

Starring The Office grad John Krasinski as the titular character, the drama follows Ryan as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit with a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale. Carlton Cuse (Bates Motel, The Strain) and Graham Roland (Almost Human) penned the script and developed the project together. The drama is a co-production between Paramount Television and Skydance Television. Platinum Dunes' Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form exec produce alongside Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross, with Mace Neufeld and Lindsey Springer also on board.

"We're excited to add the Jack Ryan global franchise to our robust originals pipeline," Amazon Studios head Roy Price said in a statement. "Our customers will enjoy a compelling adaptation of the action-packed spy thriller book series, further raising the bar for the quality level of storytelling that has made Prime Video a leading destination for content."

The drama marks yet another reboot for the small screen as broadcast, cable and streaming outlets alike look for recognizable IP in a bid to cut through the clutter in a scripted landscape featuring more than 400 originals. There have been five Jack Ryan films, with the character played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. The drama landed at Amazon last year following a multiple-network bidding war.

For Cuse, Jack Ryan comes as the Lost grad is prepping the final season of A&E's Bates Motel, is poised to make his directorial debut on the upcoming third-season finale of FX's The Strain and has the sophomore run of USA Network's Colony due in 2017.

Story continues

Bay, meanwhile, has the upcoming fourth and final season of Starz's Black Sails as well as TNT's The Last Ship.

For Paramount TV, Jack Ryan is the latest title from the studio's film library to be adapted for the small screen. It joins CBS All Access' Star Trek and Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as previous efforts including Fox's Minority Report, Nick's School of Rock and USA's twice-delayed Shooter.

At Skydance, Jack Ryan joins a roster of TV projects that include WGN America's Manhattan, Netflix's Grace and Frankie and Altered Carbon as well as Spike's Red Mars.

With the role in Jack Ryan, Krasinski, repped by WME, will make his return to series-regular television following his nine-season run on NBC's The Office. He also exec produces Spike's Emmy-nominated series Lip Sync Battle.
A safari park employee in Japan died Tuesday after being attacked by a bear which had somehow climbed into her car, local officials and police said.

An Asian black bear was seen climbing into a small vehicle at the Gunma Safari Park, northwest of Tokyo, and attacking park employee Kiyomi Saito inside the car, a local police spokesman said.

Saito, 46, suffered injuries to the left side of her chest and stomach and was rushed to hospital where she was later confirmed dead, the spokesman said.

"The details are not yet known, including how the bear got inside the car," he told AFP, adding the animal was a five-year-old male and weighing 160 kilogrammes (352 pounds).

The safari park was "under police investigation and no details can be confirmed at this point," said Yusuke Yamazaki, a park employee.

A series of wild bear attacks terrified Japan earlier this year, with four people being killed in the northern part of the country in separate incidents in the wild in May and June.

In 2012, an unknown number of bears escaped from snow-covered Hachimantai bear park in northern Akita prefecture, which had kept 38 animals, most of them brown bears.

Two female workers at the facility were later found dead.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr dragged herself off her sick bed to battle through qualifying and stay on course for a successful defence of her 2012 crown on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old American star was laid low by a mystery virus which struck at the weekend, jeopardising her hopes of back-to-back golds.

On Tuesday Suhr fought through the worst day of illness so far to book her place in the final with a jump of 4.60m at the Olympic Stadium.

"The last couple of days I came down with something and since then its been a battle to get healthy and feel like myself," Suhr told reporters.

"I felt like today I was going to maybe turn it around but I did not feel good in the morning at all.

"Today was the first day where something internally didn't feel right. Before it was just respiratory and dizziness. Today I just didn't feel good inside."

Suhr is widely seen as the front-runner for gold, particularly in the absence of two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who has fallen foul of the blanket ban imposed on Russian athletes.

Suhr now faces a race to recover in time for Friday's final.

"I've got a couple of days to the finals. Everything is different in qualifiers," she said.

"Qualifiers are always tough. Thank god I'm through. We live another day."

But while a weary Suhr recuperated, Brazilian hopes of a women's medal -- following the gold medal victory of Thiago Braz on Monday -- came to an end when Fabiana Murer bombed out of the competition after failing to register a mark.

Murer, world silver medallist last year in Beijing, failed to live up to expectations however.

The 35-year-old skipped the three first entry marks of 4.15, 4.30 and 4.45m, coming in at 4.55m.

But she failed with her three attempts at the height, well below her personal best of 4.87m which she vaulted this season.
John Krasinski, Chris Pratt, other dude-babes do #22PushupChallenge to raise awareness for such an important issue

John Krasinski, Chris Pratt, other dude-babes do #22PushupChallenge to raise awareness for such an important issue

Now, heres a social media campaign that we can definitely get behind. You might have seen the #22PushUpChallenge all over your Facebook feed in the last week or so, which is aimed to bring a little awareness (and financial donations) to help support veterans mental health. Why is it 22 push-ups? Well, its been estimated that 22 veterans commit suicide per day, based on the mental anguish that they suffer. Those who are nominated are challenged to film themselves doing 22 push-ups in their honor. The entire challenge was put together by a charity from the UK called Combat Stress.

Just like the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, this campaign has made its way to Hollywood. Below, check out some of our ultimate favorite celebrity men showing off their push-ups on social media for a good cause.

Heres Chris Pratt (and bonus  his wife, Anna Faris joins in as well)

John Krasinski also joined in, after Chris Pratt nominated him.

And thanks to John, Chris Evans was nominated next. Take note of his adorable dog.

Thank you to all the men and women who serve this country #22PushupChallenge @Renner4Real @AnthonyMackie pic.twitter.com/BbA5j67uaM  Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) August 15, 2016

Scott Eastwood also joined up, making sure to give a nice view of his abs before truly getting into it.

#22pushupchallenge raise awareness for our veterans. If you are suffering call 1-800-273-8255 @Ludacris Your Up! pic.twitter.com/i7lOE9UYpn  Scott Eastwood (@ScottEastwood) August 15, 2016

The Rock made sure to take Chris Pratts #22PushupChallenge nomination seriously. (And his cute dog helps cheer him on!)

The Rock nominated JJ Watt, who graciously accepted his offer to participate.

Want to join up? You dont necessarily need to be nominated. Help spread the word on social media, and youll definitely make a difference. And if pushups arent necessarily your thing (and hey, thats understandable) you can make a direct donation to Combat Stress on their website. Every little bit helps!

The post John Krasinski, Chris Pratt, other dude-babes do #22PushupChallenge to raise awareness for such an important issue appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Amazon has greenlit the 10-episode series Tom Clancys Jack Ryan from Paramount and Skydance Television, the studio announced on Tuesday.

Starring John Krasinski as the famous fictional CIA agent, the drama is projected to shoot in the U.S., Europe and Africa as the modern rendition of the classic character is brought back to life for Amazon Prime customers.

Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) and Graham Roland (Almost Human), who wrote the pilot based on a story he and Cuse developed, will also executive produce.

Also Read: John Krasinski Cast as 'Jack Ryan' in New Amazon Series

Other executive producers include Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, Andrew Form, David Ellison, Mace Neufeld, Dana Goldberg, Marcy Ross and Lindsey Springer.

The series follows Ryan (Krasinski) as he uncovers a pattern in terrorist communication that launches him into the center of a dangerous gambit with a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale.

Ryan has been played by a host of Hollywood stars in the past, including Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine.



Also Read: John Krasinski's 'The Hollars' Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics

As for Krasinski, he is best known for playing Jim Halpert on NBCs The Office and most recently starred in Michael Bays 13 Hours. He also directed and starred in The Hollars, which hits theaters on Aug. 26. He is represented by WME.

Were excited to add the Jack Ryan global franchise to our robust originals pipeline, Roy Price, Head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. Our customers will enjoy a compelling adaptation of the action-packed spy thriller book series, further raising the bar for the quality level of storytelling that has made Prime Video a leading destination for content.

13 TV Reboots That Should Have Been Booted (Photos)

























Muppets



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After Fox revisited The X-Files, TheWrap looks at other TV revivals that never shouldve happened

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LONDON (Reuters) - Retailer John Lewis [JLP.UL] on Tuesday reported a 2.3 percent fall in year-on-year sales at its department store chain for the week to Aug. 13, reflecting a continuation of hot weather across most parts of the country.

As the only major British retailer to publish weekly sales data, John Lewis provides the most up-to-date snapshot of shopping behaviour that is being monitored closely after the UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23.

The data can, however, be clouded by year-on-year weather comparisons and the timing of promotional sales.

John Lewis said department store sales totalled 71.4 million pounds over the week, compared with 73.7 million pounds in the previous week.

"In what proved to be a challenging week, footfall was down as customers chose to enjoy the great outdoors, as well as making the most of the school holidays by heading abroad with their families," it said.

At the group's upmarket grocery chain Waitrose, sales rose 1.1 percent to 122.7 million pounds.

John Lewis' brief commentary made no mention of any Brexit impact.

Industry data published last week showed British retail spending bounced back in July as sales promotions and good weather outweighed concerns that the UK's Brexit vote would deal an immediate hit to the economy.

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young and David Clarke)
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have settled their divorce case, Variety has confirmed.

Heard has thereby withdrawn allegations that her estranged husband physically abused her and has retracted her request for a restraining order, which she filed on April 27 in Los Angeles Superior Court. She dismissed the case with prejudice, TMZ first reported, which means she cannot re-file it.

We are very pleased that this matter has been settled and Amber has been vindicated in the Court of Public Opinion, Heards legal team, Samantha F. Spector and Joseph P. Koenig, said in a statement. The case was incredibly challenging and demanding on everyone involved, but mostly on Amber who showed great grace and strength under fire. It was an honor to represent her.

Heard has accused Depp of assaulting her on multiple occasions, citing in her sworn declaration on April 27 a May 21 altercation in their downtown L.A. home, when Depp allegedly threw her cellphone at her, hitting her cheek and eye. Police, however, said they found no evidence of an assault.

Heard was granted a restraining order for 100 days after alleging a disturbing history of extreme anger, violent outbursts, and substance abuse by the 52 year-old actor. The filing came less than a week after The Danish Girl actress filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, following 15 months of marriage.

A hearing on the divorce case was set to begin on Wednesday.

Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love, Depp and Heard said in a joint statement.

Neither party has lied nor made false accusations for financial gain, the statement continues. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity. There will be no further public statements about this matter.

Reps for Depp and Heard didnt respond to requests for comment.

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Since April, Heard has continued to provide new details of alleged abuse by Depp, which she called part of a cycle of substance abuse and violence. The alleged fights date around April 22, on May 21, in March of 2015, and in December of 2015.

I live in fear that Johnny will return to (our house) unannounced to terrorize me, physically and emotionally, Heard said in papers filed during her court appearance in April.

She detailed Depps history of drug and alcohol abuse, saying that she feared for her safety, claiming the Edward Scissorhands star has a short fuse, an exceptionally scary temper and suffers from paranoia.

I am extremely afraid of Johnny and for my safety, the actress said in her declaration for a restraining order. Depending on his interaction with alcohol and drugs. Johnny has a long-held and widely-acknowledged public and private history of drug and alcohol abuse.

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In sync with its disciplined acquisition strategy, Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated JLL, popularly known as JLL acquired Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based interior design consultancy firm PDM International. This acquisition is likely to complement the project and development services offerings of JLL in the Asia Pacific region and bring cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul under its service umbrella.



Notably, PDM is engaged in delivering innovative design and construction services for retail, office, residential, hospitality and leisure real estate projects and has over 180 professional staff. Joining with a leading full service real estate firm like JLL is indeed a big opportunity for PDM to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region.



JLL provides corporate, financial and investment management services to corporations and other real estate owners, users, and investors worldwide. On Aug 2, JLL reported second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings of $1.93 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.98. Adjusted earnings for second-quarter 2015 were $2.01 per share.



Since the beginning of 2015, JLL announced or closed over 40 margin-accretive transactions with a total value of around $1.2 billion. The latest acquisition is an ideal strategic fit and will bolster its capabilities in the Asia Pacific region.

JONES LANG LASL Price

JONES LANG LASL Price | JONES LANG LASL Quote

JLL currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Investors interested in the real estate industry can consider stocks like Colliers International Group Inc. CIGI, Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd. HLDCY and Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited SUHJY. Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



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Making it happen! On the heels of modeling for Miu Miu's 2017 Resort campaign and British brand Illustrated People, Jude Law's daughter Iris Law has landed her first major spread in a fashion magazine.



PHOTOS: Celebrities and Their Look-Alike Kids

Iris, 15, appears in the September 2016 issue of Teen Vogue modeling various mixed-print outfits in front of patterned backdrops. The outfits  particularly the tops  are something she herself would wear. "I really like vintage blouses with feminine lace detailing, she told the mag, admitting she favors Miu Miu, Gucci and Chanel.



PHOTOS: Sexy Celeb Dads

Iris's style, however, is a bit more casual. "I usually wear [the blouses] with black trousers and trainers," the model, whose mother is producer and fashion designer Sadie Frost, said. "I also usually have rings on every finger apart from the thumb."



Her accessories are often given to her by her doting father. "Most birthdays or Christmases my dad will get me a ring from [jewelry designer] Annina Vogel," the teen shared.



PHOTOS: Supermodels: Then and Now

And Iris, whose brother Rafferty, 19, is also pursuing modeling, credits Frost as her muse. "I like looking at pictures of my mom when she was around my age and seeing her makeup and little dresses, she explained of her mom, now 51, who was married to Jude from 1997 to 2003. "I was always really interested in what she was wearing growing up, and did quite creative things with how I dressed myself."



But Iris isn't only interested in being in front of the camera. She's also a photographer and painter. "Ill shoot someone, usually a friend, and then Ill base a very intricate oil painting off of that picture," she said of her talents. "I aim to show the realness of a person and really capture them as an individual  I like painting eyes and veins under the skin."

As far as which talent she'll pursue in the future, Iris says she's got more than enough time to think about it. "I'll figure it out one day," she told Teen Vogue. "I'm only 15!"

Story continues





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My never ending trek to reach a place of unspoiled beauty.

There are legendary partiers and then there are the partiers of legend. Shiva and Parvati, the story goes, chanced upon the Parvati valley during their travels many millennia ago. In very bohemian fashion, they ended up staying there for 3,000 years. Were they partying away their days and nights, all those moons ago? Or were they simply appreciating the natural beauty? The legends are inconclusive.

More From 101 India: Elephants Are Like People. Sometimes They Feast

Many of my friends had flocked to Kasol, for its gigs and festivals. Theyd returned with legendary stories, about the beauty of the valley, its awesome food, and new friendships formed with travelers from every corner of the planet. The village Id imagined was friendly and buoyant. But when I visited Kasol for the first time, in June, the reality was starkly different.

Im not particularly fond of psychedelic music, but I can handle it when its the side dish. In Kasol, however, psy trance has swelled and grown  now, its the main course. It has engulfed the very essence of the place.

Summer haunt for backpackers from all over the world. Image source: www.tripigator.com



As I walked the streets, remnants of the previous nights affairs manifested themselves in all corners of the town. Every restaurant played recovery music, soft but tinged with flashes of darkness and melancholy. The humans I encountered wore tattered clothes over tattooed bodies and sun-bleached dreadlocks. They seemed lost in their own respective trips, yet somehow collectively recovering from the previous nights excesses. Kasol, to me, resembled an illusionary web. Just like Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

The one foreigner I spoke to told me how he came here seven years ago and liked it so much he decided to stay. Just as I began to grow intrigued, he offered me some hash (wed be talking for less than a minute). When I told him I dont smoke, he asked me Why are you here then?

Story continues

The locals felt more like outsiders. They dont like what their town has become, and they dont trust anyone. They let Kasol change because it provided them an opportunity to earn a better livelihood. I might not be the right person to gauge what Kasol was once like, but I sensed that a visit to a nearby village might give me a fair idea. Kasol, I soon discovered, is a town that was stolen from its original inhabitants.

Fairytale green bridge that marks the midway point



I had to escape: for my own peace of mind, and to understand what Kasol must have been like back in the day, way back, before the first hippies. I soon found the right place. The name Grahan should have been indication enough  a village whose name literally translates to eclipse, and has adopted the eclipses characteristic obscurity.

I usually prefer travelling alone, because I really enjoy my own company, make a lot of new friends, and get to choose what to do with my limited time. This time, my friend from work was coming. Fortunately for me she is one of two people in Delhi I actually like. We started the trek from Kasol to Grahan around 1PM. I was confident we were going to take three hours to get there. Every person I spoke to in town had corroborated that estimate.

More From 101 India: How People In Kashmir Live Amid Ongoing Curfews

We had the river for company along most of the walk



A magnificent, glassy river ran alongside the rock-strewn path that led into the woods. I feasted my eyes on dappled sunlight escaping through the leaves overhead, creating an assortment of shades of green. I gulped crispy clean mountain air, wishing I could save some for later. Nothing frees up the soul like being out in the wilderness. Displacement has always been the best medicine to my anxiety-ridden life.

We walked, took breaks and ate beautiful lemon cake we picked up from the German bakery back in town. We met people on their way back, travelers and villagers, who told us that we were still a few hours away. It was a lovely first two hours.

Then we met a villager from Grahan who told us it was another four hours from that point. I stared at him for two minutes and decided that he must have a skewed sense of timing anyway. There was no way we were that far off  this was supposed to be a three-hour trek. Soon, we crossed a quaint green bridge to the other side of the river. It was now around 3 pm, and our phones had lost all signal.

Grahan is the gateway to the Sar Pass trek



We kept walking ahead on the path cut out into the mountain. The river beside us had grown more aggressive. We kept meeting more people on the route, all of whom gave us wildly contrasting time estimates ranging from one more hour to three. Wed already been journeying for four hours.

Panting more frequently now, we imagined the village behind every turn. There was no way for us to figure out how far we were, no signs and definitely no Google map.

At some point we reached a fork, a red paint smeared sign said one was the faster route and the other the easier one. As time was of more consequence to us at this point, we took the faster route, which was basically directly up the steep side of the mountain. It must be close now, we assured each other for the 50th time that day.

We turned another corner and there appeared friendly faces and some hot tea. This is where we met Sayeesha and Debroop, two Calcuttans who said this to us, We took three hours to get here. Left at 2 pm. Which route did you guys take?

Whaaat? My brain felt defeated. So many questions. When did you cross us? How did we not see you? Did you fly here? We were sure they took a shortcut somewhere, but on comparing routes we realized there was no other. I still dont know how they did it. Grahan was doing it again. It had confused the shit out of us.

My little friend Rupa



More From 101 India: No Mans Land | The India-Bangladesh Enclaves | 101 Heartland

The climb was steeper from there on, but we all continued on this last leg together. The tea woman offered to host us at her house, so accommodation and dinner was sorted.

Finally, after imagining it around so many corners, Grahan appeared, the evasive village called eclipse. The relief, hot tea and maggi all merged into one hurried jumble of feelings and flavours. I made friends with a lovely 12 year-old from the village who took us on a walk around the village. She told me she hated going down into town The people are not nice, she said. They stare weirdly.

A bed for 100 bucks a night at this lovely house



At night we bonded with our newfound friends from Calcutta over a little whiskey, good music and some anti-establishment rants. In the limited time I had there I made a bunch of new friends from locals to travelers and got to spend some undistracted time with nature.

There wasnt that much to see at Grahan but I found more than what I expected at Kasol. We left at 10 am the next morning as we had to get back to work on Monday, spending exactly 13 hours in the village. I got to spend enough time in the wilderness and make friends with people from other walks of life. The villagers of Grahan are trusting and simple. They have faith in people. Thats more than what I can say for a lot of us. Ive realized that the farther away from cities I travel, the more likely I am to find the meaning of humanity. Stripped of all luxuries and desires. That is a reality check I want to have every so often.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101India.com.

By Karishma Goenka

Photographs by: Karishma Goenka

For More Visit www.101india.com


She has conquered the music industry, and now Katy Perry has her sights set firmly on the fashion world.

The pop star is set to launch a new shoe collection in collaboration with Global Brands Group, WWD reports.

Titled 'Katy Perry Footwear', the line will feature everything from sneakers to stilettoes, with sketches hinting at a collection splashed with the star's signature love of colorful, glitzy, cartoonish embellishment. Strappy sandals, fringed block heels and Perspex details all look set to make an appearance.

"It's been a creative goal of mine to be a real contributor in the affordable fashion space," Perry told WWD. "Launching a footwear collection felt like a natural first step for me."

It might be her first foray into the fashion industry, but Perry's business acumen is already well honed, thanks to the multiple fragrances she has released in her name over the course of her career. In April she also added 'makeup designer' to her impressive list of achievements, teaming up with cosmetics giant CoverGirl on her brightly colored debut beauty collection. The line, which comprises highly-pigmented lipsticks and mascaras at affordable prices, launched this July.

Shoe collections are fast becoming the new star status symbol, and Perry is hot on the heels of fellow pop diva Rihanna with her latest venture. RiRi, of course, famously teamed up with Manolo Blahnik this spring on a denim-heavy line of eye catching shoes and boots, which debuted on the April cover of British Vogue. And only last month, pop icon Jennifer Lopez announced that she was also getting on board, joining forces with Giuseppe Zanotti on a glamorous capsule collection titled #GiuseppexJennifer, set to go on sale next Januray.



Katy Perry Footwear will be available online and at select retailers next spring, with prices ranging from $59 to $299.
Heather Dubrow isn't one to leave a party early. But the foul-mouthed insults coming from Kelly Dodd on Monday's The Real Housewives of Orange County sent the 47-year-old actress fleeing for her car in tears.



"This is bulls---," Dubrow said of the "vulgar, vile display" from Dodd. Standing up from Tamra Judge and Meghan King Edmonds's Japanese dinner party, she shouted: "I'm done. This is not okay. This is low-based bulls---, and I am not doing this."



"I don't even want to be associated with this," she cried on the phone to her husband, Terry, in the car ride home. "I don't want anybody to see me with this woman."



Dubrow's language was nothing compared to the words Dodd threw towards Shannon Beador.







"You're a friggin' c--- is what you are," she snapped at Beador. "You are despicable."





Kelly Dodd Calls Shannon Beador THAT Word  Sending Heather Dubrow Fleeing in Tears | The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of..., People Picks, TV News, Vicki Gunvalson, Tamra Barney, Terry Dubrow

The attack stemmed from gossip spilled at Beador's disastrous '70s party a few episodes back by her friend Nina.



"I heard her. She said you suck d--- to pay your bills," Edmonds repeated, of Nina's claims.



"Could you imagine  you're a mother and you've work your whole life, hard, and you've never done anything wrong and some girl is over there calling you a prostitute?" Dodd wondered. "It's disgusting a mother could say such horrible things about somebody they don't even know."



While Beador protested that Nina never specifically said she was a prostitute, her defense only angered Dodd, who said she no longer believed Beador's claims of innocence in the '70s party attack.



"Who says that for my daughter to hear?" Dodd asked Beador. "That's why there's laws for defamation of character."





Kelly Dodd Calls Shannon Beador THAT Word  Sending Heather Dubrow Fleeing in Tears | The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of..., People Picks, TV News, Vicki Gunvalson, Tamra Barney, Terry Dubrow

Coming to Beador's defense, Judge attempted to put things into perspective for Dodd. "You said a lot of s---, too, so if you're going to talk s---, you gotta be able to take it," she told her. "If [Nina's] lying, why do you care? Is she affecting your life?"



"Yes, you dumb f---," Dodd shot back at Judge. "Yes! I don't want my daughter to hear that."



But calling Judge a "dumb f---" wasn't going to help Dodd's cause. Despite, ironically, having advised Beador "not to engage" with Dodd at the party, Dubrow exploded.



"Kelly, this is not okay," she told her. "I think that you are probably a very good person at heart. This behavior is not acceptable. Leave."



When Dodd wouldn't, Dubrow did instead. "I'm so disgusted by what's going on that I feel like I'm choking," she told viewers. "I feel suffocated  I have to get out."

Story continues

Kelly Dodd Calls Shannon Beador THAT Word  Sending Heather Dubrow Fleeing in Tears | The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of..., People Picks, TV News, Vicki Gunvalson, Tamra Barney, Terry Dubrow

Dodd did her best to apologize for her words, telling both Judge and Beador that she was being impulsive and had overreacted. "I didn't meant to call you that," she said. "I'm so sorry  I was just so upset that that just came out of my mouth and I did not mean that, honest to God."



Judge  whose baptism and Christianity were a big part of her story line last season  felt compassion for Dodd.



"I feel like this women needs to be loved," she told Beador. "You look in her eyes and you see pain.



She explained to viewers: "When I was in my marriage to Simon I was in so miserable that when somebody pissed me off it was my chance to get all my anger and frustration out and directed towards them. And I really feel that's what's going on with Kelly."





RELATED VIDEO: RHOC's' Shannon Beador on Why Kelly Dodd May Not be the 'Best Fit on the Show'

RHOC's Shannon Beador on Why Kelly Dodd May Not be the 'Best Fit on the Show'" data-ad-channel="peoplenow" data-ad-subchannel="sharethisnow" data-auto-play="no">



But despite Judge's insistence and Dodd's regrets, it appears Dodd's anger may have severed any chance she had of being friends with Beador and Dubrow. Both Housewives appeared to be done with her by episode's end.



"Kelly Dodd  that vicious woman  has attacked me three times in a very short period," Beador said. "I can't take it anymore. Three strikes, you're out."



"I have four children, a husband, and a really good life," Dubrow told Judge. "That girl? I do not want to see ever again."



The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
What started as a fun, casual dinner at The Cheesecake Factory ended in fear for Kendall Jenner over the weekend.

After jetting back from the Caribbean, where she was celebrating sister Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday, the 20-year-old reality star headed to The Grove in Los Angeles on Sunday night for a low-key meal with Tyler, The Creator and fellow model Hailey Baldwin.

WATCH: Kendall Jenner Explains How She's Different From Her Family

Dressed in comfy beige pants and a skimpy white top, Jenner appeared in great spirits, giggling while covering her face as she walked through the parking lot with the rapper.

AKM-GSI

However, the night took a scary turn when she returned home to her new $6.5 million residence above the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

Jenner encountered an alleged stalker, who followed her after she opened the gate and drove onto the property, according to TMZ.

The LAPD confirmed to ET that they received a trespassing call at 9.45pm.

WATCH: Kendall Jenner Lands First American 'Vogue' Cover

Responding to the call, police arrested a 25-year-old male on suspicion of stalking charges, with bail set at $180,000.

The man is reported to have had a warrant out for his arrest.

See what Jenner was up to in the Caribbean during her sister's birthday vacay in the video below.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Kenyan sprinter Carvin Nkanata's biggest race this week was the 12-hour dash from Florida to the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro to make the starting blocks for the 200-meter heats.

He did OK in that first race. In the one on the track? Not so great. He came last.

He said it was still worth it.

If you're unsure how much the Olympics mean to some athletes, Nkanata's story might help make up your mind:

Initially ruled ineligible to compete for Kenya, Nkanata put in an appeal and then, without knowing the result of that appeal, took a chance.

He booked his own flights Monday afternoon, made the overnight journey from Tampa to Miami to Rio, and arrived at the Olympic Stadium straight from the airport the next morning just in time to line up. The timeline for Tuesday morning was: Arrived in Brazil at about 9:30. Got to the stadium about 11:30. Ran in the Olympics at about 12:30.

That run lasted 21.43 seconds - not a great time, but he hardly slept on the plane and didn't have time for a proper warmup at the track. Bottom line, Nkanata is down quite a few dollars and exhausted, all for less than 22 seconds of action at the Olympics.

''It's a dream. This opportunity don't come around every year. So, I just had to (do it),'' Nkanata said soon after coming off the track. ''I worked so hard to get here. I put in a lot of man hours, sweat, injuries to get here. So, I was like, I got to get here. I can't give up.''

Nkanata has an American passport and Kenyan nationality and heritage. But Kenyan officials messed up his accreditation for the Olympics. He'd given up on getting to Rio, Nkanata said, until a lawyer in the United States heard about his story and offered to help him submit an appeal.

Nkanata said he didn't know the outcome until he landed in Brazil. The gamble paid off and he learned he was cleared to run after he landed, he said.

Now, he's going to get his luggage out a storage room at the stadium, check in to his room at the athletes village, and enjoy the Olympics.

Story continues

Oh, there was one more drama, too, in his race to make his race. His flight out of Miami left late, and this was no time for a delay.

''I tried to sleep (on the plane) but I couldn't,'' he said. ''I closed my eyes. I drank some water. I just prayed.''

---

Follow Gerald Imray on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP

---

Follow the Rio Games at http://www.summergames.ap.org
Khaw Boon Wan Photo: Xinhua/Then Chih Wey

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan admitted that the authorities could have been more forthcoming on the issue of the 26 defective SMRT trains.



Sometimes in public comms, more info is better than less info, Khaw told Parliament on Tuesday (16 August).

Khaw, who was appointed to his current role last October, alluded to his previous stint as Health Minister, when there was much miscommunication and misinformation during the 2003 SARS crisis.

As my colleagues who have worked with me for over 40 years know, I always prescribe over provide rather than under provide. That is always a better strategy than to keep the information to your chest, said Khaw.

The 63-year-old was responding to a question from Choa Chu Kang GRC MP Yee Chia Hsing, on whether the Land Transport Authority should have been more transparent on the issue.

Last month, Hong Kongs FactWire reported that dozens of SMRT trains were being sent back to Chinese maufacturer CSR Sifang due to cracks and structural defects. CSR Sifang had partnered Japans Kawasaki Heavy Industries for the tender of the trains.

LTA later clarified that a total of 26 trains were found to have hairline cracks, and that they would be replaced by 2019. The wider cracks were found in the trains bolster, which supports the car body, after about 27 months of service.

A hot-button issue

Yahoo Singapore file photo

Addressing eight parliamentary questions on the saga, Khaw also elaborated on why LTA had not initially informed the public about the defective trains.

Last month, the minister said at the SMRTs Bishan Depot that declaring the return of the trains would have caused undue panic.

In Parliament on Tuesday, he noted that the trains did not pose any safety risk to commuters, and that the manufacturer took immediate and full responsibility for the defects.

(Kawasaki) committed to fully replace the bolsters with a new set made in Japan, weld them to the new car bodies and reassemble the trains in China. All these remedial actions will be fully paid for by the manufacturer, said Khaw.

In addition, the manufacturer accepted LTAs replacement work schedule, which is planned in such a way to ensure that train services and capacity levels are not affected by this incident.

Khaw concluded, Had any of these factors not been satisfactorily dealt with, LTA would have publicised the defects.
" " Joseph McCarthy burst onto the national scene in 1950 after he gave a highly controversial speech where he waved around a list of 205 names of supposed active communists holding jobs in the State Department. Bettmann/Getty Images

Mass hysteria has reared its ugly head for as long as humans have existed. Adolf Hitler worked enough people into a frenzy to justify the murder of millions of Jews. Jesus Christ, known by all as peaceful, if controversial, was brutally nailed to a cross because a few high-ranking officials felt threatened by him. Although one would hope that people would learn a lesson or two from the mistakes of the past, it seems that history, as the old cliche goes, is forever doomed to repeat itself.

Enter Senator Joseph McCarthy. While he may not have caused genocide or murdered a prophet, he was able to whip up hysteria in America in the early 1950s. McCarthy's issue of choice? Communism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines McCarthyism as "the political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence."

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Communism, in simple terms, is an economic system designed to equally benefit everyone in the society. The idea is that everyone contributes to the society and gets an equal share of property and goods. Communist systems are generally controlled by dictators and totalitarian governments  think China, Cuba and North Korea.

By the '50s, communism wasn't exactly a new worry for the United States. In the aftermath of World War I, the country had experienced the First Red Scare ("red" is slang for communism). Russia had a new communist government as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, and dictator Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) had brutally slaughtered about 9 million of his people for resisting his ideals [source: The History Guide]. All of this upheaval upset Americans, so lawmakers decided to prevent the spread of communism to the United States by enforcing the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act. The First Red Scare was characterized by the ferocity with which the U.S. government identified and attacked suspected communists.

By the time McCarthy won a Senate seat in 1946, World War II was over and the Cold War was beginning. Communist governments had gained hold in Eastern Europe and China, and Americans were increasingly concerned about it  and about rumors of high-ranking U.S. government officials who were secret communists. McCarthy took advantage of the mounting fear, but because it isn't actually illegal to be a communist, he started charging people with the act of subversion  the "systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working from within" [source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law]. Then he got to work prosecuting them for selling or giving American security secrets to communist governments.

In this article, you'll learn about the basics of communism, McCarthy's interview tactics, and recent evidence about the communist presence in the United States at the time of McCarthyism. You'll also learn about the impact of McCarthy's accusations on the lives of the accused, the country as a whole and his own family name.
Women who take acetaminophen during pregnancy may be more likely to give birth to children who later develop behavioral problems, a new study from England finds.

At two points in time during their pregnancy  at 18 weeks and again at 32 weeks  researchers asked women whether they had recently taken acetaminophen. They found that the children who experienced prenatal exposure to the over-the-counter medicine at either time point had a higher risk of later developing behavioral difficulties, such as hyperactivity, conduct problems or emotional symptoms, compared with the kids whose moms did not take acetaminophen at those time points, according to the study.

The findings "demonstrated that children exposed prenatally to acetaminophen in the second and third trimesters are at increased risk of multiple behavioral difficulties," the researchers, led by Evie Stergiakouli, a lecturer in genetic epidemiology and statistical genetics at the University of Bristol in England, wrote in their study.

In the study, published today (Aug. 15) in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers looked at data on nearly 8,000 women who were taking part in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, an ongoing study in the U.K. aimed at finding both environmental and genetic factors that affect people's health and development. When they enrolled in the study  between April 1991 and December 1992  all of the women were pregnant.

The women and their partners filled out questionnaires that included questions about acetaminophen use at 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, and again when their children were 5 years old, according to the study. [10 Scientific Tips for Raising Happy Kids]

When the children turned 7, the women filled out another questionnaire, this time regarding any behavioral problems the children had, according to the study.

The researchers found that 53 percent of the women reported using acetaminophen at 18 weeks of pregnancy, and 42 percent of the women reported using the medication at 32 weeks of pregnancy. After pregnancy, 89 percent of the women and 84 percent of their partners reported taking acetaminophen, according to the study.

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When women took the over-the-counter pain reliever at 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, such use was linked to a 42 percent greater risk that those women would have a child with "conduct problems," and a 31 percent greater risk that those women would have a child with hyperactivity symptoms, according to the study.

In addition, when women took the medication at 32 weeks of pregnancy, such use was associated with a 29 percent greater risk that those women would have a child with emotional problems and a 46 percent greater risk that those women would have a child with "total difficulties," the researchers wrote. Total difficulties included hyperactivity, and conduct and emotional symptoms, as well as trouble with peer relationships, according to the study.

The mechanisms for how acetaminophen may cause behavioral problems during pregnancy are not well-known, the researchers wrote. The researchers believe, however, that there is an intrauterine effect. In other words, when a pregnant woman takes acetaminophen, the medication can cross the placenta and enter the uterus.

There was a stronger association between maternal acetaminophen use during the third trimester and subsequent behavioral and emotional problems in the women's children than there was during the second trimester, according to the study. This suggests that there may be developmental periods during which the brain is more sensitive to acetaminophen exposure, the researchers wrote. The brain is actively growing and developing during the third trimester of pregnancy, according to the study. [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies]

This is not the first study to suggest that there is a link between a mother's acetaminophen use during pregnancy and behavioral problems in her children.

This study adds further support to the previous findings, said Zeyan Liew, a post-doctoral scholar of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health. Liew was not involved in the study.

In addition, the researchers were able to rule out other factors that may have had an effect on behavioral problems in the children, including genetics and family history, Liew told Live Science.

There were several limitations, however. The women in the study did not provide information on how much acetaminophen they took, or how often they took it, Liew said. And the behavioral problems in the children were reported by the mothers, not by doctors, he said.

Though evidence has been accumulating that suggests that there is a potential link between acetaminophen use and fetal brain development, scientists "still need to see more evidence," Liew said. It's still unclear if the risk of not treating a fever or pain is less than the risk of taking acetaminophen (the medication is used to lower fevers and reduce pain), Liew said.

While scientists continue to gather evidence, Liew said that pregnant women should consult their doctors before taking acetaminophen, and that they should be advised to use the medication only when needed.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Larry Wilmore is, as he often says, keeping it 100 during the last week of his Nightly Show on Comedy Central.

An announcement Monday that the Viacom-owned network will cancel his late-night program after its broadcast Thursday did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the host or his in-studio audience, as Wilmore had to quiet cheers of support even as he made his first on-screen comments about the decision. The show was at our best when the news was at its worst, he told the crowd.

Our show going off the air has to mean one thing, he joked. Racism is solved

Wilmores program was launched on the premise that too many different groups of people werent getting the representation they deserved on TV, in the news and in wee-hours TV. The host, his executive producer Rory Albanese, writer/contributor Robin Thede and frequent guest Mike Yard were among the crew who took to the air night after night since the show launched in early 2015 to tackle subjects ranging from the challenges faced by black fathers and mothers to gang violence in Baltimore. In a signal of how the show adopted the plight of the underdog, Senator Bernie Sanders made an appearance on the program to suggest he might run for President of the United States. Wilmore urged guests to be brutally honest, or keep it 100, during the course of the show.

We wanted to have a conversation on some very tough subjects, and weve had a lot of fun doing just that, Wilmore told his viewers Monday night.

The host then spoke, as he does most evenings, in blunt and honest fashion about the world around him. He lashed out at Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, and urged viewers to support Hillary Clinton in the coming election. Orange seems to be the biggest problem facing America, he said, rather than the clash of black and white.

Wilmore said his only regret about the program going off the air this week is that he and his staff wont be around to cover this truly insane election season. For the next three nights, however, hell be able to say what he likes.

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How was your day? Larry Wilmore asked his audience on Monday night, a puckish reference to the news that had come down earlier in his day: His version of The Nightly Show had been canceled. Hell host the final show on Thursday. Wilmore began politely, thanking Comedy Central for the opportunity to host the show for the past 20 months, expressing gratitude to his staff and to his audience  even the guy who tweeted (Wilmore put it up onscreen) Wilmore Blows!! Bring back Colbert!!!

When Wilmore said that his shows going off the air means only one thing: Racism is solved, he may have been phrasing the sentiment as a joke, but it carried the heavy weight of bitter irony. The one show on the air that persisted in viewing much of pop culture and politics through the lens of race proved to be the one most quickly jettisoned by its network.

On Monday, Wilmore moved into one of his signature segments, The Unblackening, which covers the upcoming election and which, as the segment title suggests, he views primarily as the removal of Barack Obama from office. In recent weeks, Wilmore has made clear he has problems with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but this night, his humor was  well, less humorous. Intentionally so.



Trump, he said, has stopped being funny  hes just downright dangerous. The worst of it is, hes just a liar. Wilmore went on, calling Trump a psychopathic narcissist and an existential threat to America. In all this, he was cheered on by the studio audience, which sensed it was witnessing a certain amount of steam being blown off by a freshly fired employee who no longer had to think about what his job would be like a week from now if he said what he REALLY thought.



Im not going to say that if Wilmore had been this ferocious in the months preceding Comedy Centrals decision, hed still have a job there  you really cant maintain a humorous half-hour that is stoked primarily with frustration and tightly controlled anger at what you deem a potential catastrophe. Over the course of The Nightly Show, Wilmore proved to be an exceptionally likable host, and one of the things that turned out to be refreshing about him was that he was a grownup. I hadnt realized how novel and invigorating it was to see an actual grown-upa 54-year-old man who declined to act goofy, who spoke from real life experiencehosting a late-night comedy show, which only suggests that we ought to factor age as well as race and sex into the mix of diverse elements that figure into the altering of the late-night landscape.



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Im not going to pretend that I was a faithful watcher of Wilmores Nightly Show. At 11:30, the Colbert and Kimmel options pulled me away from Wilmores nightly efforts to, as he labeled it, keep it 100. One of the weaker aspects of Nightly was the panel segment featuring three guests. It was usually uneven, with each guest tending to either talk over one another or (more often) sitting sedately until Wilmore nodded his or her way: The conversation rarely flowed. On Monday night, the participants picked up on Wilmores opening theme  comic Robin Thede said of Trump, We have to stop being entertained by the train wreck  but few fresh points were made, and when even so free a spirit as Difficult Peoples Julie Klausner seems constrained, you know that something is awkward about the format.



Some entity will replace the Nightly Show, and Ill bet you 10 bucks it will be hosted by a woman. Good for her, whoever she is. As for Wilmore, hell do OK: He was going to be the showrunner for Black-ish before he got the Nightly gig, and hes still an executive producer there, as well as for the upcoming (and very interesting) new HBO sitcom Insecure. I hope Wilmores remaining shows before he signs off on Thursday continue to be real barnburners of articulate rage.

The Nightly Shows final episode will air Thursday at 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central.
In 2006, a 16-year-old high school sophomore received a life sentence for his alleged role in the murder of 25-year-old Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach. Last week, a federal judge reversed Brendan Dassey's conviction, leaving the state three months to appeal before the 26-year-old is freed. For PEOPLE's in-depth look at the case, pick up this week's issue on newsstands Friday or subscribe now.



Last week's decision by a federal judge to overturn Brendan Dassey's murder conviction came as a shock to many fans of Making a Murderer, the hit Netflix true crime documentary series.



But nobody was more stunned than Dassey's lawyer, Laura Nirider, she tells PEOPLE.



"I think everybody on Brendan's team feels shock, joy, relief and intense gratitude that this judge finally got it right, and finally gave Brendan justice," Nirider says.



"At this point, we're just waiting to hear what the state will do and then we will move from there," she adds.



The state has 90 days to appeal or initiate a retrial. At the end of the 90 day period, Dassey will be set free. (The state can also release Dassey at any time during the 90-day period.



In March 2006, Dassey, who is described by multiple people in the series as having learning disabilities, told investigators he'd helped his uncle Steven Avery rape and murder photographer Teresa Halbach on Oct. 31, 2005. He later recanted his statement, claiming the confession had been coerced.



To read more about the latest in Brendan Dassey's case, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.



Dassey's confession to law enforcement is perhaps the most debated aspect of the Netflix series. Last week's judicial order holds the detectives who were investigating Halbach's murder promised Dassey prosecutorial leniency in exchange for his cooperation during his March 1, 2006, interrogation.





Making a Murderer's Brendan Dassey Released from Prison as Conviction for Teresa Halbach's Murder Overturned

Making a Murderer's Brendan Dassey Says He's Taking It 'One Day at a Time'" data-ad-channel="Brightcove" data-ad-subchannel="" data-auto-play="no">





"The investigators repeatedly claimed to already know what happened on Oct. 31 and assured Dassey that he had nothing to worry about," the judge said in his decision. "These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments."



The judge's decision indicates he had "significant doubts" concerning the reliability of Dassey's confession.



Last week's decision "overwhelmed" both of Dassey's lawyers, who say the order restores a "fundamental principle that is too often forgotten by courts and law enforcement officers: interrogation tactics which may not be coercive when used on adults are coercive when used on juveniles, particularly young people like Brendan with disabilities."



 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.



Nirider tells PEOPLE Dassey is "doing the best he can do" as he awaits the state's next move. "It's been one day at a time for the past ten years and he's been waiting for this moment so he's just processing it and understanding what's happening and taking it one day at a time."



Nirider says she has no idea how the state plans to proceed, but is looking "forward to taking the appropriate next steps to secure Brendan's release from prison as soon as possible and we are thrilled for him."



 With reporting by CAITLIN KEATING
Looks like Johnny Depp is relieved his legal battle with Amber Heard has finally come to an end.

ET caught up with Depp's attorney, Laura Wasser, on Tuesday in Los Angeles shortly after Depp and Heard officially settled their divorce case, and Heard dropped her request for a domestic violence restraining order against the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

WATCH: Amber Heard and Johnny Depp Settle Divorce Case, Restraining Order Request Withdrawn

"We're just happy it's over," Wasser said.

A source tells ET that it was actually the photo of Depp's severed finger leaked on Monday which prompted their quick agreement.

"It was the photo that came out yesterday and Johnny being anxious about it going to trial that prompted the quick settlement," the source says.

Depp agreed to pay Heard $7 million to settle the case, which includes attorneys' fees, according to TMZ. However, reports claim that the financial settlement wasn't what Heard and Depp had trouble coming to an agreement on. The two actually already reached a financial settlement over the weekend, the Daily Mail reports, but Heard reportedly wanted a joint statement in which Depp admitted he committed domestic violence, which Depp refused.

WATCH: Amber Heard Alleges Johnny Depp Abused Her Throughout Relationship: 'I Live in Fear Johnny Will Return'

Instead, their joint statement on Tuesday acknowledged that "neither party has made false accusations for financial gains."

"Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love," Heard and Depp's statement reads. "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gains. There was never an intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity."

The statement is a change from how Wasser previously responded to Heard's allegations, claiming the actress was "attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

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Heard's lawyers, Samantha F. Spector and Joseph P. Koenig, said Heard has been "vindicated in the Court of Public Opinion" in a statement on Tuesday.

"We are very pleased that this matter has been settled and Amber has been vindicated in the Court of Public Opinion," the statement reads. "The case was incredibly challenging and demanding on everyone involved, but mostly on Amber who showed great grace and strength under fire. It was an honor to represent her."

RELATED: Johnny Depp Allegedly Severed Finger During Argument With Amber Heard Over Cheating Claims

However, Heard's lawyers later retracted and apologized for that comment. "The statement made today on behalf of myself and Joseph Koenig was made without the knowledge or approval of Amber Heard. The statement is untrue and we retract it, without qualification," Spector said. "My assertion that Amber Heard has been vindicated in the court of public opinion is not true. We regret the error and apologize to Johnny Depp."

Leading up to the settlement, stories of 53-year-old Depp and 30-year-old Heard's troubled relationship made plenty of headlines. On Friday, a video that appears to show Depp throwing a wine bottle and glass during an argument with Heard was leaked. Heard denied releasing the tape, while Depp sources maintained it was "heavily edited."

On Monday, there were also reports of a gruesome incident where Depp allegedly severed his finger in March 2015 during an argument with Heard in which he allegedly accused her of cheating with actor Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton has strongly denied any affair. Heard and 61-year-old Thornton worked together on 2008's The Informers and the yet-to-be-released film, London Fields. It was this leaked photo of Depp's bloody finger that our source says prompted the quick divorce settlement.

Of course, there have been other disturbing pictures -- and even text messages -- surrounding the former couple. In June, People published photos of Heard that revealed a mark on her eye and a cut lip allegedly caused by a December 2015 incident. That same day, ET also exclusively obtained text messages that a source says are between Heard and a man purported to be Johnny Depp's assistant, Stephen Deuters -- that date back to before the estranged couple was married -- claiming that Depp was physically abusive with her.

EXCLUSIVE: Amber Heard's Texts From 2014 Detail Alleged Assault by Johnny Depp

"He's incredibly apologetic and knows that he has done wrong," Deuters' alleged text reads. "He wants to get better now. He's been very apologetic and knows that he has done wrong ... He's a little lost boy. And needs all the help he can get. He is so very sorry, as he should be."

In May, Heard detailed the alleged verbal and physical abuse she claims Depp inflicted on her throughout the course of their relationship in a court petition. She was granted a temporary restraining order against him.

"I endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny, which has included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults to me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him," court documents obtained by ET read. "Johnny has a long-held and widely-acknowledged public and private history of drug and alcohol abuse. He has a short fuse. He is often paranoid and his temper is exceptionally scary for me as it has proven many times to be physically dangerous and/or life threatening to me."

Watch the video below for a timeline on Heard and Depp's troubled relationship.

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Monrovia (AFP) - Liberian lawmakers calling for the resignation of the country's parliamentary speaker said Tuesday they were confident they could remove him from office while he faces bribery allegations, with parliament split in two over the affair.

Speaker of the lower house Alex Tyler has been on bail since his May arrest by police investigating a bribe worth $75,000 he allegedly took to facilitate the passage of legislation favourable to a British mining firm.

"We are still soliciting signatures and very soon we will have the number required to remove the speaker," Hans Barchue, presiding officer of the anti-Tyler group, said during the session.

Since the allegations surfaced, at least half of the members of Liberia's House of Representatives have refused to recognise Tyler's authority.

The anti-Tyler grouping held their first parliamentary session without him or his supporters on Thursday, with 34 of the chamber's 73 representatives present.

Those agitating to remove him drew 36 deputies to Tuesday's session, held at a different time and away from the main chamber, with the first order of business getting him to step down.

According to campaign group Global Witness, Tyler was a key player in pushing through a 2010 law allowing the mining minister to declare some mining concessions "non-bidding" areas that could be handed out without a tender process.

Global Witness said the payment was made to Tyler by London-listed Sable Mining in return for his help, with the aim of securing potentially lucrative iron ore deposits.

"We cannot keep a speaker who is indicted for corruption. That is unacceptable," Barchue said during Thursday's meeting.

Tyler is a member of the ruling Unity Party of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and despite being investigated by a taskforce convened by Johnson herself the speaker has refused leave his post.

Tyler had tried to prevent the lawmakers from holding the extraordinary session with an appeal to the Supreme Court on Monday, which swiftly turned him down.
By Ahmed Elumami SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan forces said on Tuesday they had taken one of the last districts in central Sirte held by Islamic State militants, battling snipers and car bombs in their campaign to recapture the entire city. Forces aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli are three months into a campaign to oust Islamic State from their former North African stronghold and have encircled the militants in a shrinking section of the city centre. Since Aug. 1, their progress has been aided by U.S. air strikes on Islamic State vehicles, weapons and fighting positions. The U.S. Africa Command said it had carried out a total of 48 strikes as of Sunday. The Libyan forces are composed mainly of brigades from the western city of Misrata. After they secured key sites south of central Sirte last week, fighting shifted into neighbourhood Number 2, which the brigades said they had now captured. "On Tuesday morning clashes erupted ... that led successfully to the recapture of neighbourhood Number 2 with the cooperation of a tank unit to confront Islamic State snipers," said Rida Issa, a spokesman. "The neighbourhood is now completely under control of our forces," he said, adding that his side had also made incursions into neighbourhood Number 1, situated in the heart of Sirte, the hometown of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The Misrata-led forces had faced four vehicle-borne bombs, two of which they had destroyed on the ground before they could reach their targets, Issa said. "One unfortunately exploded near our forces but there are no casualty figures, and the fourth one was bombed by a warplane. We do not know whether it was U.S. air strike or our air defence." The government-backed forces have been carrying out their own, regular air strikes over the Mediterranean coastal city with a fleet of ageing fighter jets. At least eight combatants from those forces had been killed and more than 80 wounded in Tuesday's clashes, according to Akram Gliwan, a spokesman at Misrata's central hospital. Some were hit by the car bomb, others by snipers and land mines, Gliwan said. Islamic State seized control of Sirte last year, turning it into a base for Libyan and foreign jihadists and extending its control over about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline. But it has struggled to win broad support or retain territory in Libya, and losing Sirte will be a major setback for the ultra hardline Islamist group, which has already lost ground to U.S.-backed military campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Almost all Sirte's estimated population of 80,000 fled as Islamic State imposed its rule on the city or during the fighting of the past three months. (Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich and David Gregorio)
Dont say Billings, MT, lacks panacheyou just need to know where to look.

Your first stop on the style watch: This 2,048-square-foot penthouse located smack-dab in the middle of downtown. Listed for just $335,000, the two-bedroom apartment offers the streamlined decor and international flair of uber-luxe apartments in larger cities. But with a 360-degree view of the Montana landscape, the condo is in a class of its own.

The views are optimized from every single room, whether youre standing in your shower overlooking the city or in your master suite closet, says listing agent Tana Hergenraeder of Century 21. You get great morning light.

Billings views realtor.com

Hergenraederalso a former interior designerpurchased the home in November as her first flip project. Hergenraeder transformed the penthouse, which was once used as an attorneys office, into a modern escape.

There arent a whole lot of contemporary spaces in Billings, she says. Because its such a unique property with unique views, I wanted to give it that feel.

Pristine white walls and gray flooring give the space a minimalist feel thats adaptable to a variety of decor styles, from bohemian to art deco. Hergenraeder made sure to include a few unique conversation pieces, including the vapor fireplace dividing the living and dining spaces. The modern accent combines a vapor mist and halogen lighting to create a flame without the risk.

The kitchen island is art unto itself. Handcrafted by a local artisan, the wooden counter creates a waterfall effect as it folds over the islands edge. And because its made of Russian olive woodconsidered a noxious weedbuyers are also helping save Montanas environment.

Open living space with vapor fireplace realtor.com

It helped warm up the space, with everything else being so white and gray, says Hergenraeder. People love it. Everyone that comes in says the countertop is beautiful.

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With so much space, buyers have plenty of opportunities to add their own personal touches and turn the two spacious bedrooms into their paradise on the Plains. They can also feel free to turn the greenery up to 11a large balcony is a perfect place for their private high-in-the-sky oasis.

Bedroom realtor.com

The post Live the Penthouse Life in Billings, MT, for Only $335K appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com.





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Born in Varese in Italy in 1984, Michele Pennetta studied at the Ecole Cantonale dArt de Lausanne (ECAL) and graduated with a Masters in film directing. His graduation film I cani abbaiano (2010) was selected for several festivals including Cinema du Reel in Paris and Torino, while The Bet (2013) screened at Locarno in the Swiss section of the festivals Pardi di domani, a new talent showcase. Pescatori di corpi, his first feature film, premiered at the 2016 69th Locarno Festival in the Cinema of the Present competition strand, Cineasti del Presente, focusing on rising talent.

What does Locarno Film Festival represent for you?

It was a turning point of my career as a filmmaker: Having won the award for best Swiss short film there three years earlier, Locarno was my first choice when I finished my feature film. Its a festival I am sentimentally attached to, as it launched me and it allowed me to produce my first feature film. I think that each festival has its own identity, and I think that Locarno is affirming itself as a festival of discovery, which looks for new auteurs and new languages of cinema. Nowadays cinema is changing, and in my opinion the traditional way of making films does not succeed in reaching and touching as many people as in the past. In Locarno, on the other hand, also as a viewer you have the opportunity to see different films that you usually cannot see elsewhere. In this sense, the festival is doing a very nice job in presenting, not without any risks, very radical and interesting films.

Did winning the award for best short film in Locarno in 2013 have an influence on your career as a filmmaker?

Certainly winning at a festival opens a whole set of new opportunities. It means that your next applications will be read more attentively, and people will generally be more interested in your work. However, people in the film industry see many films from many different authors, so you really have to work in the following two or three years after you won the award, otherwise people will forget about you as fast as they discovered you.

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The film youre presenting this year addresses the issue of migrants travelling to Europe. Why did you decide to focus on Sicily in particular?

With my previous film, I had been in contact with clandestine [immigrants], people living in Sicily, and this is what pushed me to focus on this topic for my feature film. Moreover, the media were all talking about Lampedusa, and I found it ridiculous because obviously it wasnt happening only there, and I couldnt understand why they werent focusing on the universality of the emergency instead of only on a single island.

Do you have any projects for the future?

Were currently producing another project which will be the last part of a trilogy focused on illegality in Sicily, such as illicit horse racing in The Bet and illegal migration in Pescatori di corpi. The shoot will begin in Spring 2017 in Sicily. It will once again be a film with multiple points of view.

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Locarno: The Match Factory Rolls Out First 'Paula' Sales (EXCLUSIVE)

Bulgarian Feature 'Godless' Takes Home Locarno's Golden Leopard
Estate agent signs on a railing in London

House hunters in Londons overheated property market take any good news they can get, however small.

While the average home in London costs 472,000 ($612,000), the rate of price growth slowed to 12.6% in June from a year earlier, compared with a 13.4% pace in May. (Again, its the little things.)

For the second month running, London wasnt the region with the fastest-growing property markethomes in the East of England appreciated faster. London has been the fastest-growing region in only six of the past 12 months, following an unbeaten 36-month stretch when prices in the capital rose faster than anywhere else in the country.

The gap in growth rates between London and the average for the UK has been narrowing recently, and is predicted to shrink a good deal more.

The June referendum on leaving the European Union could bring London house prices down from their stratospheric heights. Already, estate agents have said that uncertainty about how the UKs divorce from the EU will play out has put a dent in the London market. The capitals housing market is buoyed by wealthy foreign investors, bankers, and others who arent as active elsewhere in the UK. Plus, nowhere near enough houses have been built in London to meet the demands of the citys growing population.

The average home in London still costs more than twice the UK national average, although this ratio is down slightlyever so slightlyfrom an all-time high.

Even the gloomiest post-Brexit scenarios dont expect this ratio to shrink very rapidly, which is encouraging for homeowners worried about the value of their properties and dispiriting for the first-time buyers in the capital facing prices that are 10 times their average annual earnings.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

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(BATON ROUGE, La.)  An act of God is how some are describing it, a catastrophic 48-hour torrent of rain that sent thousands of people in Louisiana scrambling for safety and left many wondering how a region accustomed to hurricanes could get caught off guard so badly.

At least six people have been killed and more than 20,000 have had to be rescued since Friday in some of the worst flooding the state has ever seen.

A seventh body was pulled from floodwaters Monday, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office. A volunteer patrolling in his boat found the body, and sheriffs units confirmed the discovery. The manner of death and identification  confirmation of a flood-related death  will come from the coroners office, Hicks said.

As of Monday, the rain had mostly stopped, but rivers and creeks in many areas were still dangerously bloated and new places were getting hit by flooding. In areas south of Baton Rouge, people were filling sandbags, protecting their houses and bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south. In Ascension Parish officials said some small towns have already been swamped by floods.

More than 11,000 people were staying in shelters, with a movie studio and a civic center that usually hosts concerts and ballets pressed into service.

It was an absolute act of God. Were talking about places that have literally never flooded before, said Anthony Ace Cox, who started a Facebook group to help collect information about where people were stranded. He was in Baton Rouge to help his parents and grandparents, who got flooded out.

Everybody got caught off guard, he said.

Forecasters said one reason was the sheer, almost off-the-charts intensity of the storm and the difficulty of predicting how bad it would be.

Meteorologist Ken Graham of the National Weather Services office in Slidell said forecasters alerted people days in advance of the storms. The forecasts Thursday were for 8 inches of rain, with higher totals expected in some areas.

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But Graham emphasized that forecasting exactly how much rain is going to fall and where is nearly impossible. Its one thing to say were getting set up for a lot of rain. Its another thing to say where is this going to be, he said.

Some areas, such as the town of Zachary, received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Another hard-hit area, Livingston, got nearly 22 inches over the same stretch.

Graham said the odds of that much rain were 1 in 500 in some places, and 1 in 1,000 in others.

Those rainfalls sent river levels in the region to historic highs  in some cases shattering the old records mostly set during the 1983 floods.

Unlike in a hurricane, when shelters are established well in advance by parish governments and the Red Cross when the threat becomes obvious, shelters for those driven from their homes by the flooding were set up more haphazardly by parish officials.

As the scope of the disaster became clear, churches, schools and other places opened their doors to take evacuees. Shelters filled up so fast that some people had to sleep on the floor Saturday night because not enough cots had arrived. And some shelters had to shut down when they, too, started to take on water.

Marc and Crystal Matherne and their three children loaded up their cars with their three dogs and drove out of their flooded Baton Rouge neighborhood Sunday before the water got too deep to pass.

After a night in the shelter, Marc Matherne planned to head back to see if he could help stranded neighbors. His wife said she felt pangs of survivor guilt, knowing that their home was probably still dry while so many neighbors had flood damage.

I want to blame somebody because of all the hurt thats going on, but I dont know if anybody knew how bad the flooding would be, she said. It just seemed like a normal event for us, but it wasnt.

Volunteers have been dropping off supplies and food like jambalaya or red beans and rice at shelters. They have also been going out in boats  locally referred to as the Cajun Navy  to rescue people, supplementing the efforts of National Guardsmen, state officials and Coast Guardsmen in high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters.

Gov. John Bel Edwards defended the states response, saying the unprecedented flooding had presented tremendous challenges for everyone.

But Im very proud of the effort that were making. More than anything else, Im proud that Louisianians are taking care of their own and people are being neighbors to one another, he said, stressing that search and rescue operations were still ongoing.

Jared Serigne of St. Bernard Parish said he helped organize volunteer efforts involving roughly 70 experienced boaters who helped hundreds of people from flooded communities. He criticized government officials for closing roads, a move that prevented boats from reaching launch areas.

Youve got all of these people who hunt and fish who have more experience than the average first responder, he said.

But going out on the water carries dangers, too.

Lt. Davis Madere of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, who spent days rescuing people and their animals, said the floodwaters are a potential minefield of submerged vehicles, fences and mailboxes that can trip up boats.

Above the water, he said, snakes trying to escape the deluge have been spotted in trees, and rescuers must be careful of power lines that are close overhead because the water is so high.

National Guard Col. Ed Bush said parish officials want the volunteer rescuers to coordinate more with the authorities overseeing the rescue effort.

What theyre trying to do is prevent overzealous people from getting stuck themselves. Weve had a couple of examples of that, Bush said.

The slow-moving, low-pressure system moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned there is still a danger of new flooding, as the water works its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Santana reported from New Orleans. Kevin McGill and Bill Fuller in New Orleans contributed to this report.
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc said a California court ruled in its favor against claims that it did not warn consumers about cancer-causing formaldehyde in some of its flooring products.

The company's shares rose about 7 percent to $17.45 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Lumber Liquidators said a Superior Court of the State of California ruled that Global Community Monitor and Sunshine Park's evidence failed to support their claims and asked them to pay $100,000 as reimbursement.

Global Community Monitor and Sunshine Park LLC had in 2014 filed a lawsuit claiming that Lumber Liquidators failed to provide a formaldehyde warning to California consumers.

The court in April had ruled tentatively in favor of Lumber Liquidators in a civil case that had accused the hardwood floor retailer of violating a California state law.

Lumber Liquidators has been under pressure since March last year, when CBS's "60 Minutes" report alleged that the company's laminate products sourced from China contained toxic levels of formaldehyde.

The company agreed not to sell its existing inventory of laminate flooring previously sourced from China, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) said in June.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Havana (AFP) - Madonna celebrated her 58th birthday Tuesday in Havana, dancing to Cuban beats during a night on the town and drawing crowds as she toured the city.

The Material Girl's visit got a write-up in the Cuban Communist party's official newspaper, Granma, which reported that she "toured different city squares to start the first day of her visit, which will last until Wednesday."

It said the US pop superstar was in Cuba with her eldest daughter, Lourdes, a 19-year-old model whose father is Cuban dancer and fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

American photographer Steven Klein and stylists B. Akerlund and Andy Lecompte are traveling with them, it said.

Madonna posted a picture of herself to her Twitter account with the caption "Cuba Libre." It shows her wearing a revealing black dress with yellow flowers and smiling as she tips a black hat.

Videos posted online by fans show her dressed in the same outfit strolling through the streets of Old Havana and dancing to Cuban beats at a restaurant in the historic city center as onlookers cheer.

The news site Cubadebate said Madonna was planning a "big party" Tuesday with the "rhythms and flavors" of Cuba.

Madonna is the latest in a string of US celebrities to visit Cuba since its historic rapprochement with long-time enemy the United States was announced in December 2014.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Kanye West, Usher, Paris Hilton, and Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have all toured the Caribbean island recently.

US citizens are still officially banned from traveling to Cuba as tourists under the embargo Washington has maintained on Havana since the 1960s.

But President Barack Obama's administration has loosened travel restrictions, enabling more Americans to make the trip under permitted categories such as "cultural exchanges."
(LOWER LAKE, Calif.)  A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time, Pimlott said.

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

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Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldnt protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of Californias most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lakes modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock cant remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty theyve always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

Everybody is just on edge, he said. The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire.

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

Its a poor community, he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them.

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to more than 8 square miles. The fire destroyed 12 homes over the weekend and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake. It was only slightly contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.

AP writers Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
By Stephen Lam

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (Reuters) - A man was arrested on Monday on suspicion of arson, officials said, over a wildfire in Northern California that has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses and forced hundreds of residents to flee.

The conflagration is one of two dozen major wildfires across the drought-parched U.S. West that have all together charred nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares).

Damin Pashilk, 40, faces 17 counts of arson over the so-called Clayton Fire, in the foothill community of Lower Lake, and other fires nearby over the past year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law," Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement.

The fire, burning some 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco, was driven by fierce winds after sparking on Saturday evening. It threatens 1,500 structures besides the more than 175 destroyed, Cal Fire said on Monday.

There were no reports of casualties, however.

The Clayton fire, which had blackened about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) by late Monday afternoon, was about 5 percent contained, fire officials said.

More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the flames, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said, adding that receding winds on Sunday evening had allowed crews to make progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots.

The nearby community of Clear Lake was evacuated, and sheriff's deputies in Lake County were investigating burned-out structures.

On Monday afternoon, California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, declared states of emergency for the Clayton fire and another in San Luis Obispo County, the so-called Chimney fire, allowing local officials to get help from emergency response agencies statewide.

The Chimney fire was just 10 percent contained by Monday evening. It had scorched more than 5,400 acres (2,185 hectares) within less than 48 hours after erupting on Saturday afternoon, destroying a dozen structures and threatening about 200 more, with hundreds of residents being told to evacuate.

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One of the season's largest fires so far, the Soberanes blaze, was 60 percent contained by Monday. It burned through more than 74,600 acres (30,189 hectares) near scenic Big Sur, destroying 57 homes after it began on July 22.

A bulldozer operator died on July 26 when his tractor rolled over as he helped property owners battle the flames, this year's sixth wildfire fatality in California.

Authorities have traced the Soberanes fire to an illegal campfire left unattended in a state park.

(Reporting by Stephen Lam in Middletown, Calif.; Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Writing by Dan Whitcomb and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Clarence Fernandez)
NEWS BRIEF A California man was arrested and charged in connection with starting a wildfire that has scorched 4,000 acres, destroyed 175 buildings, and displaced more than 1,500 people.

The Lake County Sheriffs Department arrested Damin Pashilk late Monday, and along with the Clayton fire, which is burning just north of San Francisco, officers also believe hes involved in several other fires started in the last year. He has been charged with 17 counts of arson.

The Clayton fire started Saturday afternoon, and partly because of the high temperatures and dry weekend, it has quickly spread. By Sunday the fire had doubled in size, and firefighters only had the blaze 5 percent contained. Residents in the area, a small community situated around Clear Lake, have been called fire survivors, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out, because theyve been hit with at least three fires in the past year:

Last years Rocky fire, which started about 9 miles east of Lower Lake and burned for two weeks in July and August, burned more than 100 square miles of forest and destroyed 43 homes. State fire investigators said that fire was sparked by a malfunctioning gas water heater. The Jerusalem fire started a few days later, just south of the Rocky fire, and destroyed six homes. The fires briefly ran alongside each other. The Valley fire  the third-most-destructive wildfire in state history  burned for more than a month in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, starting in September. The fire killed four people and destroyed 1,281 homes and 27 multifamily structures, according to state fire officials.

Its not clear how authorities tied Pashilk to the Clayton fire, or to any other fires, except that that he had been under investigation for about a year.

The quick spread of the fire has also been blamed on five years of drought that has left plenty of dry brush to fuel the fires. Wildfires this year have burned more than 220,000 acres, and have been especially bad in the south of the state.

Story continues

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
From Esquire

In his 91-page document overturning Brendan Dassey's 2007 conviction for assisting in the murder of Theresa Halbach, Judge William Duffin wrote that Len Kachinsky, public defender representing the then-16-year-old, had acted inexcusably in helping the prosecution.

During the case, which was documented in the popular Netflix series Making a Murderer, Kachinsky arranged for Dassey to undergo a second unsupervised police interrogation after the teenager had already given a written confession. Throughout the case, Kachinsky repeatedly gave inept legal council, failing to visit with Dassey and working with the prosecution. As a result, Kachinsky was removed from the case before it went to trial.

[contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="Related Stories" customtitles="Brendan Dassey's Conviction Has Been Overturned|Making a Murderer Creators on Dassey's Ruling" customimages="|" content="article.47631|article.47637"]

But the damage had already been done. This confession, arranged by Kachinsky, helped put Dassey behind bars for nearly 10 years.

On Friday, Duffin overturned this conviction, arguing that these confessions had been coerced by police. "These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments," Duffin wrote.

Even though it did not warrant overturning the conviction, Duffin also touched on Kachinsky's behavior pre-trial.

"Kachinsky's conduct was inexcusable both tactically and ethically," Duffin wrote. "It is one thing for an attorney to point out to a client how deep of a hole the client is in. But to assist the prosecution in digging that hole deeper is an affront to the principles of justice that underlie a defense attorney's vital role in the adversarial system."

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Now, Kachinsky tells the local ABC News affiliate that he's pleased and surprised that Dassey's conviction has been overturned. And he's also taking credit for it.

"In the sense that [the confession] was an instance that I preserved for appeal, before I was off the case, I was in sense gratified because the fact that that was the basis for magistrate judge Duffin's decision, it shows that I did my job," Kachinsky said. "Without a confession, the state didn't really have anything of a case. It was an issue that was clearly available to appeal."

Okay, guy.

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Some residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are beginning to return to their homes after record flooding inundated the area, leaving at least seven people dead.

This man came back to find waterlogged furniture strewn about, and his refrigerator lying open on its side on the kitchen floor.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office tweeted that flood waters are continuing to recede, and the National Weather Service posted some post-flood safety tips for people attempting to return to normal life.

US Coast Guard officials said they have rescued almost 200 people and assisted nearly 3,000 since the flooding began. Credit: Instagram/@_w3st_
Image via Shutterstock

Love makes us do crazy things, like spend 10 days in a Chinese airport until we have to be hospitalized for exhaustion. The BBC reports 41-year-old Alexander Cirk flew from his native Holland to China to meet a 26-year-old woman with whom hed struck up an online relationship two months earlier.

Related: Lovesick Teen Went to Extremes to Get Moms Help

Cirk believed his internet girlfriend, known only as Zhang, was going to meet him at Changsha airport. But she wasnt there when he arrived, and she didnt show up over the next 10 days, which Cirk spent living in the airport. Cirk likely would have kept waiting for Zhang except that he had to be taken to the hospital for physical exhaustion, according to Metro. After leaving the hospital, Cirk flew home without ever meeting his would-be love interest.

Related: Woman Got Flu Shot Instead of Birth Control Shot, Sues

But Zhang says we shouldnt be too quick to judge her. She says she and Cirk had talked about waiting a year before meeting, so she was caught off guard by his arrival, Shanghaiist reports. She says Cirk had seemed a little callous towards me, so when he sent her photos of his plane tickets, I thought it was a joke."

Related: Couples Wedding Guest List: 1,100 Cats

In fact, when Cirk arrived at Changsha, Zhang was in another province having cosmetic surgery. She says thats why he wasnt able to reach her. But despite what appears to be an extreme case of miscommunication, Zhang says she is still interested in continuing her relationship with Cirk. (Read how an online dating scam ruined a womans life.)

By Michael Harthorne

More From Newser:

Studies Show Flossing Likely a Waste of Time

At Fashion Show, the Hottest Accessory Was Pimples

This article originally appeared on Newser: Man Spends 10 Days in Airport Waiting for His Internet Girlfriend
ATLANTA (Reuters) - The suspect sought in the killing of a Georgia police officer was found hiding in the trunk of a car in Florida early on Monday after a 28-hour manhunt, police said. Royheem Delshawn Deeds, 24, of Helena, Georgia, was arrested on a murder charge in the slaying of Patrolman Tim Smith, 31, on Saturday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a statement. Nassau County, Florida, sheriff's deputies found Deeds on a highway just over the Georgia-Florida line after receiving a tip about the car he was travelling in, the GBI said. Smith, who worked for the police department in Eastman, Georgia, about 55 miles southeast of Macon, was answering a 911 call about a suspicious person when he encountered Deeds on Saturday night, according to the bureau. The officer was shot once as he got out of his patrol car, and returned fire as Deeds fled the scene, according to a statement. On Monday, Florida police arrested two other people found in the car with Deeds: His sister, Franshawn Deeds, 22, and her boyfriend Jamil Mitchell, 32, the GBI said. They face charges related to the case and were in custody in Florida awaiting extradition to Georgia with Royheem Deeds, according to the statement. (Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jeffrey Benkoe)
(Reuters) - Manchester City have signed defender Pablo Mari from Gimnastic de Tarragona, the Spanish side have confirmed. The 22-year-old joins for an undisclosed fee, with British media reports suggesting he will immediately be loaned to Spanish segunda (second division) side Girona. "We thank Pablo Mari for the commitment, discipline and hard work that he contributed during these three years in the ranks of the first team," read a statement on Gimnastic's website (www.gimnasticdetarragona.cat). "Gimnastic de Tarragona wishes Mari good luck on a personal and professional level at his new team, Manchester City." Mari signed for Gimnastic from Mallorca in 2013 and made 90 appearances for the Spanish side, helping them reach the segunda in 2015. Mari becomes City's 10th summer signing during Pep Guardiola's first transfer window at the Etihad Stadium. (Reporting by Ed Dove; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
The Article Discussed Alves' Extensive Experience with Private Investment Banks and the Way Focus Investment Advisors Strives to Offer their Clients Outstanding Service

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Marcelo Castro Alves, founder of Focus Investment Advisors, is pleased to announce that he and his company were recently featured in an article in "Business in Focus" magazine.

To read the article in its entirety, please visit http://www.businessinfocusmagazine.com/e_mag/BIFNAAug2016/#?page=148.

In the article, which is titled "Where Focus on the Client is Second-To-None," the writer discussed how and why Marcelo Castro Alves is devoted to running a business that is client-centric. As the article notes, Focus Investment Advisors is a results-oriented company that offers their clients personalized and flexible solutions and investment portfolios.

Alves and his team at the company, which specializes in serving Latin American and European clients with offshore wealth management solutions, work hard to gain the trust of their clients. As the article noted, this commitment has had positive and tangible results.

"In five short years, Focus Investment Advisors has grown from managing $20 million in assets to over $100 million," the article said, adding that as a result of this performance, the company was nominated as a Five Star Miami Wealth Manager in both 2012 and 2016.

As Alves explained in the article, Focus Investment Advisors does not sell products; instead it focuses on the advisory end of things. He and his team handle and selection of investments with their clients, as well as the portfolio management and asset allocations.

The company also offers guidance in terms of structure, Alves said. For example, if the client will have the account in his or her name, in a trust, an offshore company or a United States company.

"Working directly with your bank or with a broker-dealer, there is always a conflict of interest because they work for their respective employers," Marcelo Castro Alves said in the article.

Story continues

"We don't get paid by the banks and the broker-dealers. We don't have salaries agreements with them. We work for the client, not the bank."

About Marcelo Castro Alves:

Marcelo Castro Alves founded Focus Investment Advisors in 2011. Prior to that, Marcelo was an independent advisor for three years with another group in Miami. Before that Marcelo Castro Alves was at a Private Bank sector of major banks in Miami and since 1995 in Switzerland in the Global Private Client Division, primarily managing investment portfolios for high net worth individuals, Private foundations, and small to midsize corporations. For more information, please visit http://www.focusinvest.net/

Focus Investment Advisors

40 SW 13th St., Suite 201

Miami, FL 33130

Contact:

Marcelo Castro Alves

mcastro@focusinvest.net

305-961-1108



SOURCE: Marcelo Castro Alves
Attorneys for screenwriter-producer Mark Boal have accused the U.S. government and military of attempting to subvert justice by forcing Boal into a military court to defend his First Amendment rights.

Boal sued the government on July 21 in response to its threat to subpoena his 25 hours of taped interviews with accused Army deserter and prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, who is facing a general court martial. In response on Aug. 8, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to reject Boals effort to shield the tapes.

Boals attorney Jean-Paul Jassy of Jassy Vick Carolan LLP contended in a filing on Monday that the federal government is over-reaching.

Boal never joined the Armed Forces, Jassy said. He did not submit to the narrowed rights attendant to military life. Although there is no dispute that Boal is a civilian and not a defendant in any court-martial, Defendants opposition brief relies heavily on cases where members of the Armed Forces asked federal courts to enjoin court-martial proceedings in which they were criminally accused.

Boal is not asking this Court to stop the court-martial of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Jassy went on. And, contrary to the Governments repeated and incorrect assertions, Boal is not asking this Court to enjoin another court or another judge from issuing or enforcing a subpoena.

Boal, the screenwriter of Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker, was planning to make a movie about the U.S. Army sergeant with director Kathryn Bigelow. Bergdahl spent five years as a prisoner of war of the Taliban until his release in May 2014 in exchange for five Taliban prisoners at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There is presently no such clearly established right in the U.S. Army courts, which are more focused on maintaining norms of military order and discipline than safeguarding civilians First Amendment rights, Jassy wrote in the filing. Although Boal could try to convince an Army court-martial to recognize the reporters privilege, it is manifestly unfair that he should have to do so.

Story continues

Boals effort to shield the tapes has been supported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press along with 35 journalism groups, non-profits and major media companies via an amicus brief filing.

We firmly stand with Mr. Boal in his effort to protect these tapes, says the organizations executive director Bruce Brown. Well-established law recognizes that journalists cannot do their jobs to keep the public informed if they cannot work free from government interference.

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The battle continues between Mark Boal and the U.S. Army, which has threatened to subpoena the Oscar-winning screenwriters taped interviews with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who is being court martialed for desertion. Boals attorney, Jean-Paul Jassy, said in a brief filed today that the defendants cite no other case in American history where a military prosecutor has made such threats against an individual journalist.

In a suit filed last month, Boal urged a federal judge in Los Angeles to quash the subpoena, saying it violated his First Amendment right to protect confidential information gleaned during 25 hours of taped interviews with Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years.

The Justice Department responded that Boals objections should be heard by a military court and not by a federal judge, saying that the relief he seeks is not just extraordinary  it is also unprecedented.

Jassy countered today that its the Armys action that is unprecedented.

We are before this court because a military prosecutor is threatening to subpoena a civilian, non-party journalist, to produce unpublished and confidential materials  or else face incarceration, the brief states. It notes that the defendants in the case, which include President Obama, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Secretary of the Army Erik Fanning, cite no other case in American history where a military prosecutor has made such threats against an individual journalist.

The brief states: It is entirely within the Governments power to make Mark Boals request for relief disappear by simply withdrawing the threat of subpoena. But because the military prosecutor insists on proceeding with his threats, Boal needs this court to protect his constitutional rights.

Despite the DOJs effort to block Mr. Boals right to have the case heard in a Federal court, Jassy said, it has never denied his First Amendment rights, which plainly and unashamedly violates its own policy against subpoenas of this nature. This is an unprecedented effort by an individual military prosecutor to overreach and intrude into a civilian reporters life. There are ample precedents for federal courts protecting private citizens rights. We are assured that the weight of the law, as well as straightforward morality is on our side.

Story continues

Boal, who won the screenwriting Oscar  and shared the Best Picture Oscar  for 2008s The Hurt Locker, said he would suffer irreparable injury to his career and reputation if hes forced to turn over confidential information he obtained during his interviews with Bergdahl, parts of which aired on the Serial podcast, which is sponsored by WBEZ, the National Public Radio station in Chicago.

Boals position is supported by dozens of news organizations, including the Washington Post, the Associated Press and all the major network news outlets.

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Media Groups Support Mark Boal's Refusal To Turn Over Bergdahl Tapes to Military Prosecutors
Ever since Lana Turner was discovered at a Sunset Boulevard cafe, there have been tales of young people stumbling into stardom. In that tradition comes Markees Christmas, star of the Sundance sensation Morris From America, who fell into a leading role and a new calling thanks to bad grades and a friend with a YouTube channel.

Christmas was only 15, had no professional experience, and had never even been on an airplane when he landed the title role in the film from writer/director Chad Hartigan (This Is Martin Bonner). Morris is a 13-year-old aspiring rapper who moves to Germany with his single father, Curtis (played by Craig Robinson, in a performance that won a special jury prize at Sundance). An outsider who doesnt know the language, Morris is also the only black kid around, susceptible to the racism of even the most well-intentioned tutor. Its a commanding screen debut by Christmas, made all the more remarkable by the fact that, as he says, it came out of nowhere. The film opens Aug. 19.

Christmas, who turned 17 on Aug. 11, lives with his mother LaTonya, his sister, and his 10-year-old niece, in what he calls a rough neighborhood of Los Angeles. Hes close with his father, Michael, a mechanic who lives in the San Bernardino area. Christmas loves the beach, is looking forward to getting his drivers license, and was an active skateboarder until people kept stealing his boards. Despite his challenging surroundings and some tough times on which he doesnt care to elaborate, hes endlessly upbeat, with an easy smile.

Michael Lewis for Variety

When he was 12, he was told he wouldnt pass the sixth grade unless he took part in the school play for extra credit. I didnt want to do it, Christmas recalls with a laugh. I told them Im not the acting type. The play was Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, and Christmas auditioned for the role of Travis, since it had the fewest amount of lines. Instead, he was cast in the lead role of Walter. He wasnt pleased, but he went with it because, he says, I had to get out of the sixth grade!

By all accounts, his performance was impressive, especially to those close to him who had no idea he could act. That included Matt Hill, who had been his Big Brother since Christmas was 8, via the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Program of America. He was so good, so charismatic, says Hill, a professor of economics who dabbles in the comedy scene.

Hill was inspired to shoot a short video, Markees Vs., that featured Christmas battling a talking bathtub drain. I didnt even plan on putting it out, says Hill. It was just going to be for us and friends. But it turned out so good!

Hill submitted the video to Channel 101, the comedy portal founded by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, where shorts are screened online and at live events, and audiences vote on their favorites. The video was well received, and Hill and Christmas ended up making three more.

Some of Hartigans friends attended the Channel 101 screenings, and recommended Christmas to the filmmaker, who was desperately searching for his lead actor for Morris From America.

We had been seeing kids, and nobody was too exciting, Hartigan says. It was a long, frustrating process  if that actor wasnt good, our movie would be bad. Though Christmas goofy Markees Vs. clips didnt indicate a great acting range, Hartigan says, there was something about him. He was comfortable being silly, comfortable in front of a camera.

Through Hill, Hartigan reached out for an audition. Christmas was skeptical. I thought it was just another Channel 101 sketch, which itself is pretty cool, he says. Then I read more and found out it was a legit movie, and I got excited. Christmas prepared two scenes for the audition, recording the lines of the other actors so he could practice the scenes in their entirety.

Once I got used to being in front of a camera bigger than my house, it started to be fun. Markees Christmas

Christmas thought his audition was terrible. Hartigan admits that there was some stiffness and nerves, but he continued to meet and work with the young actor. What stuck out to me was that I would ask all the kids before we started if they had any questions, and he was the only one who did. And his questions indicated he was really thinking about the scenes, Hartigan says. He also has a beautiful spirit; hes a wonderful, happy, energetic kid.

Morris From America is largely autobiographical, but somewhere during the writing process, Hartigan, who is white, had the idea to make the characters black. The change, he says, made the story much more exciting for him. Picturing that type of kid in Europe; it felt so unique, he says. It turned it from a movie that I had seen, to one I hadnt seen.

Hartigan offered Christmas the role in January 2015. Even better, Christmas learned that Robinson would be playing his father. I love Hot Tub Time Machine! he says. I didnt know his name, but when I googled him, I was like, This guy!? Are you serious?

The admiration was mutual; Robinson had checked out Markees Vs. before filming. We talked about each others work, says Robinson. I knew from his videos that he was very natural, very funny, and that wed get along.

With his grandmother, Christmas hopped on his first plane ever to travel to Germany to shoot the film. Hartigan helped ease the newcomer into his first major role. We smartly scheduled the film very deliberately so that the first day of shooting, there was no dialogue, he notes. Just scenes of him walking through town. Then we did the scenes where hes supposed to be very nervous, because thats what he was like those first days.

Christmas realized he had found his calling. Once I got used to being in front of a camera that was bigger than my whole house, it started to be fun, he says. I love to work, I love being on set, I love watching the lighting people put up the lights, how everyone works so hard. Its like a family.

In the year since the film was shot, much has changed. Most obvious, Christmas, who was not quite 5 feet tall when shooting Morris, has sprouted up six inches and slimmed down. Its like I popped a can of Green Giant, he laughs. Ive been short all my life, and its strange. I cant hide in my favorite hiding spots anymore!

And the kid who had never considered acting now wants to make it his career. I love it, he says. This is my way out of living dangerously. His family hopes to change neighborhoods soon. Christmas is going to auditions, and while at Sundance he signed with Paradigm Talent Agency. And hes still close with his Big Brother, Hill, who jokes that when Christmas asked him for guidance, he said, Ive been in Hollywood 10 years and Ive made like $500. I dont think Im the best person to give you career advice.

Those who know him best believe Christmas will come out on top. My favorite story about him, which perfectly sums up whats so likable about him, says Hartigan, is one of the first times I went to his house. I suggested going for a walk, and he said, I dont really walk much around here because gangbangers will give me a hard time. I said, Because youre small? and he said, No, because Im happy.

The statement, Hartigan says, was heartbreaking but true. He walks down the street with a big smile on his face all the time. Hes a warm and lovely kid whos not afraid to be a kid. When I heard that, I knew that was the kid I wanted Morris to be.

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Nouakchott (AFP) - Thirteen Mauritanian anti-slavery campaigners who are on trial for "rebellion and use of violence" told a court on Monday they had been tortured in custody, their lawyer said.

They were arrested last month after a protest in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the west African country prepared for an Arab League summit.

"One by one, the thirteen spoke out against the forms of torture they had been subjected to in custody," said Brahim Ould Ebetty, representing the members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA).

The activists demanded that "proceedings be brought against the torturers they have mentioned by name," the lawyer added.

The thirteen are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years.

The Nouakchott slum was home to many so-called Haratin -- a "slave caste" under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.

About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials.

Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to "slave castes" are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay.
After logging hundreds of thousands of miles, staying in brand-backed chains and boutiques and using travel rewards credit cards to collect loyalty points and elite membership privileges, you're probably yearning for a vacation. But in an era of dollar-based earning structures and evolving program policies that devalue elite membership benefits, attaining meaningful rewards can be challenging for one person -- let alone a group. And with frequent flier miles and hotel rewards points often getting shuffled into different accounts, navigating how to combine loyalty points without diminishing their value is a feat in itself. Fortunately, there are some clever tricks to reap rich rewards for yourself -- and your relatives. U.S. News sought guidance from industry experts to bring you smart tips for acing your rewards strategy.

[See: 10 Frequent Flier Secrets Every Traveler Should Know.]

Pick a Program That Allows You to (Cheaply) Pool Points

JetBlue Airways' TrueBlue program makes it simple to collect and integrate JetBlue points -- at no extra cost. You can always share or gift miles, but it's not a good deal on other airlines, says George Hobica, president of booking site Airfarewatchdog.com. Here's how it works: Up to two adults (ages 21 and older) and five children can add a fixed percentage of frequent flier points per year -- without a transfer cost -- to a Family Pooling account. While it may not seem like a major incentive to pool points for one family member's account (the head of household), when you consider that members earn six points per dollar spent for booking flights on JetBlue's site, it's easy to see how the pooling plan makes it easy to rack up points quickly as a group.

Hawaiian Airlines also allows members to share miles with other HawaiianMiles members, but only holders of Barclaycard's Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard can receive accumulated miles without paying transaction and transfer fees. Conversely, "family pooling is very common across non-U.S. programs," explains Gary Leff, author of frequent flier site View From the Wing. For example, British Airways allows its Avios members to link up to seven household accounts. But there is a caveat: When you redeem Avios points, you'll draw points from all accounts, Leff cautions. British Airways is ideal for people living at the same address to pool points to rack up free flights quickly, Hobica adds. Korean Air also allows family members to bundle SkyPass miles, while Etihad's Guest Program enables you to combine miles in a single account and Quantas' loyalty program enables members to transfer accumulated miles to relatives' accounts.

Story continues

Beware of Hidden Fees and Other Caveats

In many cases, "the miles will go into the account of the person [who's] actually flying on the ticket," explains Zach Honig, editor in chief of the points advice site The Points Guy. So, "for the most part you can't combine miles," he says. And while you can theoretically pool your points together for one specific reward if you participate in a program that allows you to combine miles, keep in mind it can be difficult to be accommodated on the same award trip if each family member is individually booking their own award reservation, he cautions. Honig advises calling the airline to request to be seated next to one another if you're redeeming from separate accounts. And when transferring points from one account to another, remember that unless you're using a program that allows you to pool points, you're going to pay a steep fee. Most programs will go through a third-party site, such as Points.com, and require a transfer fee, Honig explains.

[See: The 2016-17 Best Airline Rewards Programs.]

Pick Programs That Allow You to Earn Transferable Points or Extend Perks to Others

If you prioritize value, it pays to stick with a program that allows you to easily transfer points between different hotel and airline accounts, Honig says. He highlights the Starwood Preferred Guest program as an ideal choice for those who want flexibility. The SPG program lets you to combine points together with other household members and transfer points for eligible partner flights with Delta. It's not always an instantaneous process to transfer points, Honig cautions. "Say everybody only took two flights in the last year. If you pool those points, you're not going to have enough [award] points for everyone," he explains. If there's a vacation goal you have in mind, plan in advance and "make sure your points are pulled together before you pull the trigger," he adds. Meanwhile, Hyatt Gold Passport elite Diamond members can extend their status privileges to family or friends when they book their hotel stay, thanks to the program's "Guest of Honor" perk, Leff explains. Benefits can include anything from a late check-out to a complimentary United Club airport lounge pass and even room upgrades, depending on availability.

In terms of frequent flier programs that extend membership privileges to families, it's hard to match Southwest's Rapid Rewards program, which offers Companion Pass status (after collecting 110,000 Rapid Rewards points). With this privilege, you can bring a guest for free on any Southwest flight through the end of the following year, enabling you to save big if you're traveling with others.

Choose a Flexible Credit Card

Aside from generous sign-up bonuses, many co-branded travel rewards credit cards allow travelers to bolster balances across different accounts. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card not only grants members a 50,000-points sign-up bonus for spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of creating an account -- you can also add a variety of authorized users to earn extra points bonuses. Honig recommends that you and your significant other both sign up for an affiliated rewards card to quickly rack up miles. Once you each reach about 70,000 miles, you can enjoy round-trip award tickets in economy to many destinations, he explains.

With some cards, elite perks extend to other family members. Take the Citi Prestige Card, which grants up to two family members lounge access, Leff says. Meanwhile, the Platinum Card from American Express includes complimentary Delta Sky Club access in the $450 annual enrollment fees, along with a Priority Pass Select option that enables you to bring a companion for an additional $27 (per guest).

[See: The 2016-17 Best Hotel Rewards Programs.]

Stay Organized

To ensure you leverage award travel and points bonuses among your group, Leff recommends that one diligent family member manages all accounts. He suggests using an online points and miles tracking tool, such as AwardWallet, to monitor a variety of accounts. And to optimize comfort, he suggests you get your seat assignment at the time of booking and keep track of flight changes. If you want to sit together, set up a seat alert on ExpertFlyer.com, which notifies you when specific spaces on an aircraft become available, he says.

Liz Weiss is the Travel editor for Consumer Advice at U.S. News & World Report. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn, circle her on Google+ or email her at eweiss@usnews.com.
By Ben Blanchard and William James BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has told China's leader that Britain wants to strengthen trade and business ties, an attempt to reassure the world's second largest economy after London delayed a $24 billion nuclear project. May's surprise decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades upset China, which questioned whether Chinese money was still welcome in Britain just weeks after the June 23 Brexit vote to leave the European Union. After Beijing's expression of frustration, May wrote to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation. Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China's foreign ministry said, citing the letter. A source in May's office confirmed the contents of the letter, which was hand-delivered by Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, "This is part of what you'd expect the Prime Minister to do in terms of our relations with the wider world. It's all part of Britain remaining an outward-looking country as we head toward Brexit," the source said. China's $11.3 trillion economy is currently more than four times as big as Britain's at $2.4 trillion. Cast as the jewel illustrating a "Golden Era" of relations between the two powers, the financing deal for the Hinkley Point nuclear project in southwestern England was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by Xi last year. May's predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment, according to a former colleague. May's most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the turmoil which followed the Brexit vote indicates a more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as France. GOLDEN ERA? Under plans drawn up by Cameron, French utility EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp would fund the cost of building two Areva European Pressurised Water Reactors at the Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset. Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years, though critics said London had agreed to pay far too much. Hinkley is seen as blazing the trail for closer ties with China on nuclear issues and paving the way for tens of billions of dollars of investment and another two nuclear power plants with Chinese involvement. China's foreign ministry cited Britain's envoy, Sharma, as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation. Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy towards China, the ministry added. Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward looking approach." (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Richard Balmforth)
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Daniel Rodic is the co-founder of Exact Media, a Toronto-based startup that works with brands to target online shoppers through samples strategically placed in eCommerce parcels.

Right before the company's busy holiday season last year, Rodic was looking for ways to improve his team's efficiency when he came across a public Evernote detailing the complete routine of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, made public by the CEO himself.

Upon stumbling on this cache of data, Rodic decided to analyze it and find trends that might inform him and his team on how a top ecommerce exec spends his time.

"That's truly where it started  more of a project internally  to figure out, you know, what does this guy do? And how did he build such a great company? How can we emulate that?" Rodic told Business Insider.

After they had finished analyzing nearly a year's worth of Hsieh's schedule, the results "just seemed too interesting to keep to ourselves," Rodic said. So he put together a Medium post with from his findings, as individuals running in startup circles are wont to do.

Medium Post

After the post was live, Rodic shared his Medium post with Will Young, the director of Zappos Labs, a division within Zappos.

Young, who also manages Hsieh's fund VTF Capital, told Business Insider that he was actually out for drinks with Hsieh when the Twitter notification popped up on his phone from Rodic. The two sat right then and there and read the article, laughing and impressed by Rodic's insights.

A few weeks later, Rodic tweeted at Young again, this time inviting him to a networking dinner in San Francisco hosted by his co-founder, Ray Cao. Young attended that dinner, and about a month later, VTF Capital ultimately decided to top off Exact Media's first funding round.

Story continues

"They've been able to achieve tremendous success bootstrapped and I think we really respect that, especially living in San Francisco," Young told Business Insider. "We see all these people raising millions and millions of dollars before accomplishing much... I really loved [their] scrappiness."

Young especially thought Daniel's article was really thoughtful. "It wasn't just clickbait to catch Tony or my attention," he said. "It was researched very well, and when Daniel reached out over Twitter, I didn't hesitate to connect."

NOW WATCH: How to become a 'Pokemon GO' gym master





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On Monday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed crime in Germany has surged due to German Chancellor Angela Merkels willingness to accept hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. On Tuesday, a surrogate of the powerful German leader accused Trump of using lies to justify his plan to keep refugees out of the United States.

Heres the backstory. During a national security speech Monday, Trump called Merkels plan a disaster, then used her name to bash his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. In short, Hillary Clinton wants to be Americas Angela Merkel and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to Germany and the people of Germany. Crime has risen to levels that no one thought they would ever, ever see. It is a catastrophe, Trump said.

In a news release Monday, Stephen Miller, an advisor to Trump, doubled down on this claim. He said, Hillary Clinton is Americas Merkel. She wants to bring in 620,000 refugees, for a cost of about $400 billlion  vastly more than the cost of helping many more in an overseas safe zone.

Trump also tweeted this image connecting Merkel and Clinton.

As it is with many of Trumps statements, the problem is that they are patently untrue; there has been no significant crime increase in Germany because of the refugee influx. Michael Roth, Germanys European affairs minister, told Reuters it was necessary to correct Trumps assertion because it was based on fears, lies, and half-truths.

Im sorry that the Republican presidential candidate trumpets out things like that without any factual basis, Roth said. If he had studied the actual situation in Germany, he would know that, while the many refugees who came to Germany and Europe pose a big challenge for us, and everything is still not completely resolved, they have not led to a massive increase in crime rates.

In July, Merkel said there is no limit to the number of refugees her country would accept; 800,000 are expected this year. As a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary, the chancellor said. For her part, Clinton has proposed allowing 10,000 to 65,000 Syrian refugees to enter the United States.

Photo credit: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/Getty Images
enrique pena nieto

Last week, The Guardian reported that Angelica Rivera, the wife of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, had used an apartment in Florida owned by a Mexican businessman who also paid the property-tax bill on her own adjacent apartment.

The backlash for the controversy has already reached a high pitch.

Members of two of Mexico's major political parties, the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, and the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, have called for an investigation into the first lady's apartment, a unit in Ocean Tower One, in an upscale gated community in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Rivera purchased her apartment in 2005, and it is located a floor below the apartment purchased several years later by Ricardo Pierdant, who knows the president and owns Grupo Pierdant, a Mexican firm.

Legislators from PAN have requested that federal auditors and the country's comptroller's office look into whether businesses owned by Pierdant have worked with the federal government in the past.

The Mexican public has also joined in. A petition on Change.org with more than 86,000 signatures  titled "The Other White House," in reference to a previous property controversy involving the first family  calls for the anticorruption prosecutor's office to investigate Rivera.

Ocean Tower One Miami Florida

Other observers have noted that the scandal again calls attention to the poor way Mexican politicians handle potential conflicts of interest.

"It reignites the discussion over the links that the president and his wife have with businessmen, particularly the type of relation that they could have with someone who pays your property taxes," Eduardo Bohorquez, who leads the Mexico office of Transparency International, told The Wall Street Journal last week.

Story continues

"The wife of the president of Mexico cannot receive special favors that involve hundreds of thousands of pesos ... without first receiving authorization" from the presidential legal counsel, the columnist Salvador Camarena wrote in El Financiero on Saturday.

"The president of the republic cannot accept favors that his friends lavish on him, his wife, their children, their siblings or their collaborators that involve thousands of dollars," Camarena added.

Enrique Pena Nieto

The president's office and the contractor involved have made efforts to explain away the appearance of impropriety, but it is unlikely that their justifications will sway a public that is used to malfeasance among the political class.

Pierdant has even said that Rivera asked him to make the property-tax payment on her property and that she reimbursed him for the expense. This explanation, however, came after Pierdant told Univision it was "totally false" that he had paid property taxes for the apartment that she owned.

Spokesmen for Pena Nieto said that Rivera had only rarely used Pierdant's apartment and that there was no conflict of interest because Pierdant was not currently bidding on government contracts. A spokesman also denied that the two apartments were connected and shared a telephone number.

The spokesman said the president hadn't used the businessman's property since he was elected in 2012  but couldn't say whether he had used it before that.

In an interview this week with Mexican journalist Joaquin Lopez Doriga, the president tried to downplay the controversy. He said his wife did not have another property in Miami and acknowledged that Pierdant, who Pena Nieto did not mention by name, lived in the building but did not have any contracts with the Mexican government.

Mexico Guerrero Ayotzinapa protest crime

As to the property-tax payment, Pena Nieto denied any sinister goings-on.

"He is a friend who is there and who effectively did her a favor. The only occasion in 11 years that she has the property, in the only occasion because my wife was here and she asked him, 'Hey, can you cover the property tax? I will cover it for you here,'" meaning she would pay him back, Pena Nieto said.

"As in fact it occurred," the president added.

The controversy over the Miami properties is only the latest such scandal.

Previous reports have found that Pena Nieto seemed to misrepresent how he had acquired property outside Mexico City on tax forms and, in another instance, that Rivera, his wife, was attempting to buy a home in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood from a contractor with close ties to Pena Nieto  the so-called Casa Blanca scandal.

In a Reforma poll done before The Guardian's report, Pena Nieto's approval rating had slipped to 23%, the lowest for any Mexican president since the newspaper started doing the survey in 1995, according to The Journal.

That poll also found that 55% of respondents believed corruption at the federal level had gotten worse  up from 40% in April.

Editor's note: The original Guardian report suggested that Pierdant's potential bidding on a Mexican government contract raised the possibility of a conflict of interest. However, on September 16, 2016, The Guardian acknowledged that neither Pierdant nor his companies had gotten any government contracts nor bid on them and took down its report. This post has been edited to reflect that correction.

NOW WATCH: Watch a volcano in Mexico violently erupt and spew a mile-high ash cloud





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Miami (AFP) - People at the epicenter of America's first homegrown outbreak of the Zika virus are worried that one of the weapons being used to fight it amounts to a cannon rather than a fly swatter.

To wit, a pesticide banned in Europe on health grounds is being used in occasional aerial fumigations to kill the mosquito that carries the virus.

In most people, Zika causes only mild symptoms but in pregnant women it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.

Now, people are also fretting over the mist of a pesticide called naled that is drifting down over north Miami every now and then.

"We do not know what it is or what it does, and we do not trust the government," said Fermin Gonzalez, a 38-year-old graphic designer. "I doubt it is healthy."

Some merchants in Wynwood, the tourist-popular neighborhood where the virus was first detected two weeks ago, have organized into a coalition opposed to naled fumigation. Over the weekend, demonstrators staged a protest.

A total of 30 cases of infection with homegrown Zika have been reported in Miami.

Environmental activists and some scientists say naled damages the nervous system and respiratory tract, and might be linked to leukemia in children.

It was banned in the European Union in 2012 because of its potential risk for human health and the environment.

But Miami-Dade County is using it with the blessing of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. They say it is safe when used in small doses.

But "if it's not safe to use in Europe, why is it safe to use in Miami?" asks Michelle Harriott, science and regulatory director of a Washington-based NGO called Beyond Pesticides.

- Small doses OK -

CDC director Tom Frieden has said that naled, which has been used in the United States since 1959 to combat mosquitos, is not harmful at the low concentrations in which it is used in America.

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The EPA website says "people aren't likely to breathe or touch anything that has enough insecticide on it to harm them. Direct exposure to naled during or immediately after application should not occur."

But it also cautions people sensitive to chemical products to stay inside with the windows closed during fumigation with naled.

Harriott said, "They use small doses at a time, but over several months that adds up. It depends on how long it will be sprayed. It could be for the rest of the year. If that is the case, we should be concerned about that."

In experiments with animals, exposure to naled at high concentrations has been shown to cause nausea, weakness, paralysis, convulsions and other problems including respiratory failure and even death, said Elvia Melendez Ackerman, a professor of environmental science at the University of Puerto Rico.

Naled breaks down into something called dichlorvos, which in 1991 the World Health Organization labeled as a possible carcinogen for humans.

Naled not only kills mosquitoes but is also toxic for bees, butterflies, fish and other aquatic species.

Melendez was active in the fight against using naled in Puerto Rico. Fumigations with it were halted in July on orders from Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

Now the US territory is being sprayed with an organic product that kills mosquito larvae.

Last week, the United States declared a health emergency in Puerto Rico after it reported 10,690 cases of Zika, 1,035 of them in pregnant women.

In the continental US, nearly 2,000 cases have been reported. Miami is so far the only place where people have been infected locally, as opposed to while traveling overseas or through contact with someone who did make such a trip.
By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Tension eased on Monday night in Milwaukee, as teenagers respected a late night curfew to deter a third night of the rioting that hit the U.S. Midwestern city following the police shooting of an armed black man. Milwaukee is the latest American city to have been gripped by a trend of violence over the past two years in response to fatal police confrontations with black men. However, by 10 p.m. (0300 GMT), the situation in the city appeared calm, city and police officials told reporters, although there had been several arrests earlier in the evening. "We think we are in, comparatively speaking, a positive place," Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, within an hour of the start of the curfew. The situation could change rapidly, however, Flynn warned. Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, cordoned off Sherman Park, the center of the neighborhood where the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances took place. Nearby, about 100 people held a picnic in a grassy area. As the sun set, pedestrians thinned out ahead of the 10 p.m. (0300 GMT Tuesday) curfew in the area, where police vehicles were seen parked in alleys and along major thoroughfares. "There is a curfew that will be more strictly enforced tonight for teenagers," Mayor Tom Barrett told a news conference. "So parents, after 10 o'clock, your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets." Barrett renewed his call for state officials to release a video of Saturday night's shooting in hopes it would convince angry protesters that deadly force against Sylville K. Smith, 23, was justified. Milwaukee, famed for its breweries, is also one of the most segregated cities in America, with a black population plagued by high levels of unemployment absent in the mostly white suburbs. Such inequality has afflicted many U.S. cities over the past three decades, sometimes stoking unrest when police use deadly force. Police say Smith was stopped on Saturday afternoon for behaving suspiciously and he then fled on foot between two homes. Smith was carrying a stolen handgun he refused to drop before he was killed, police said. The shooting led to a first night of violence in which gunshots were fired, six businesses were torched and 17 people were arrested. Police reported four officers were injured and police cars were damaged before calm was restored. On Sunday night, when police in riot gear faced off with protesters throwing bottles and bricks, four officers were hurt and one person suffered a gunshot wound, police said. Three police squad cars were damaged and 14 people were arrested, authorities said. 'I WANT THE VIDEO RELEASED' Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker activated the National Guard on Sunday in case more trouble flared, but despite the violence, police said the guardsmen were not called in. The weekend shooting in Milwaukee was distinct in that the person killed was armed, according to the police account. The officer who fired the deadly shot was also black. The mayor wants Wisconsin state officials to make the video public so as to corroborate the police account. State law that requires police shootings to be investigated by an independent state agency gives the state control over such evidence. "I want the video released. ... I'm going to urge that it be released as quickly as possible," said Barrett, who has yet to see it. Video from the officer's body camera showed Smith had turned toward the officer with a gun in his hand, Flynn said on Sunday. The video appeared to show the officer acting within the law, Flynn said, but because the audio was delayed, it was unclear when the officer fired his weapon. Police had stopped Smith's car, leading to the chase on foot. Police said the car was stopped because Smith was acting suspiciously, raising skepticism within largely African-American neighborhoods where people report racial discrimination from police. Smith also had a lengthy arrest record, officials said. (Additional reporting by David Ingram in New York and Eric Beech in Washington; Writing by Daniel Trotta, Peter Cooney and Curtis Skinner; Editing by James Dalgleish and Clarence Fernandez)




The Milwaukee police officer who shot and killed Sylville Smith last weekend, touching off a firestorm in the city, may have known him from high school.

The mans sister, Sherelle Smith, 22, told WITI-TV that her family knows the cop in question from his time at Pulaski High School, even though the Milwaukee Police Department has not publicly identified him.

The boy knew my brother personally from high school. They knew each other. You knew exactly how my brother was, and you shot and killed him, Smith said in an interview with the local Fox affiliate.

On Saturday, the unidentified police officer opened fire on her brother, 23, and struck him in the chest and arm. He allegedly was holding a stolen gun and refused to drop it during a foot chase.

According to his sister, the officer was not justified in using lethal force against Sylville Smith, even if footage from the officers body camera ultimately reveals that her brother had been brandishing a firearm.

Slideshow: Violent protests erupt in Milwaukee >>>

People pray for calm outside a business in Milwaukee on Aug. 14, 2016. The business was burned during unrest after a police officer killed Sylville Smith on Saturday. (Photo: Jeffrey Phelps/AP)

If my brother did have his gun in his hand, why he didnt shoot back? she asked. If hes going to go out, why not go out with a fight? Why not go out with a big bang?

Sherelle Smith also condemned the violence and rioting that broke out in northern Milwaukee in the aftermath of her brothers death. The shooting occurred at a time of heightened tension between law enforcement and the African-American community. Of the citys roughly 600,000 residents, around 40 percent are black, according to the Census.

Violence is never the key, though. Im not saying that. I dont want anyone to be violent, she said to WITI-TV.

However, Smith also said she would keep fighting for answers about her brothers death.

If we dont have answers, were going to find them, and were going to find them our way. Were not going to find them yall way no more. Were not going to compromise no more, Smith said.

A sign and candles were left at the location where Sylville Smith was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer. (Photo: Jeffrey Phelps/AP)

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said at a news conference that Sylville Smith had a lengthy rap sheet and had been arrested 13 times.

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He was accused of a shooting last year and subsequently intimidating the victim into recanting his statements identifying him as the gunman, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The charges were later dropped.

Clarke, who is African-American, has many supporters among conservatives who back his frequent condemnations of the Black Lives Matter movement and impassioned defense of U.S. law enforcement, including the one he gave at last months Republican National Convention.

In a Monday opinion piece in the Hill, Clarke accused liberal politicians and media of fanning the flames of resentment that grew into the riots in his city. He said the riots should reveal once and for all that liberal Democrats are responsible for misery-inducing, divisive, exploitative and racist manipulation of the urban populations.

As Sheriff of Milwaukee County, he wrote, I am furious that the progressive left has put my citizens in harms way and that I had to send my officers into cauldrons of anarchy and hatred that were created by the left.
Americans return to work after another weekend of violence, that brings, among other things, another unwelcome lesson in how difficult it is to talk about race in America. But this weekend also brings a small gift of understanding, involving Donald Trump supporters. (More about that in a moment.)

Let's start with Milwaukee. "We had a horrible night last night," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a press conference on Saturday. From 6 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday, the city had nine shootings, leading to five deaths. And then, things got worse.

Sometime after that press conference, a black man, apparently armed with a stolen handgun, was shot and killed by police after fleeing a traffic stop. Within hours, there were angry protests; a police car was smashed, another was set on fire and at least four businesses were burned. By Sunday afternoon, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker called in the National Guard.

See also: Simone Manuels Olympic Win Shines a Light on Ugly Fact of American Life

The online chatter that accompanied the stories and tweets of the shooting and riots were brutal and predictably polarized, with little middle ground.

The police are killing us.

He had a gun and deserved what he got!

This is what happens when you deny us basic rights and services.

You're looting your own businesses, nice work.

We need better jobs and schools!

Black on black crime.

Why should I care?

Why is it so hard to have meaningful conversations about race? In this case, you don't need to have an opinion about this particular weekend to understand there is something deeply disturbing about life in Milwaukee for black citizens. The infant mortality rate for black babies is three times that for white babies, with 15 deaths per 1,000 births versus five. Put another way, the white infant mortality rate is about the same as Canada's. The black rate is that of the Gaza Strip.

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See also: Who Is Funding Black Lives Matter?

And an important 2015 story from NPR, Why is Milwaukee So Bad For Black People?, dug deep into the data: K-12 schools in Milwaukee suspend black kids at a higher rate than any other U.S. city. Wisconsin has the largest achievement gap between black and white students. The state allots more money to the prison system than to education. And as a result of very specific policies, Milwaukee County incarcerates the most black men in the country. (God help you if you live in the 53206 zip code.)

Sign up for raceAhead, Fortune's daily newsletter on race and culture here.

Yet when something bad happens, like this weekend in Milwaukee, the discourse degenerates, people scream over each other, and the issues  at least in online conversation  fall to the wayside. There's another way to think about why this dynamic happens, which has implications for everyone.

And we have Trump supporters to thank for the insight.

Jonathan Rothwell, a senior economist with Gallup, has put out a draft white paper that seeks to explain what motivates Trump supporters. Rothwells findings indicate that contrary to current conjecture, Trump supporters are not struggling from rust belt neglect. "His supporters are less educated and more likely to work in blue-collar occupations, but they earn relative high household incomes," the report says. Instead, Trump supporters tend to be worried about other markers of status like health, and how well their kids will fare in the future, a factor known as "intergenerational mobility."

See also: A Best-Selling Novelist On Why He Doesnt Write About Race

But what really distinguishes most Trump supporters is how isolated they are:

This analysis provides clear evidence that those who view Trump favorably are disproportionately living in racially and culturally isolated zip codes and commuting zones. Holding other factors, constant support for Trump is highly elevated in areas with few college graduates, far from the Mexican border, and in neighborhoods that standout within the communting [sic] zone for being white, segregated enclaves, with little exposure to blacks, [A]sians, and Hispanics.

The findings are a nod to contact theory, which says that limited interactions with any type of "other" - in this case, immigrants and people of color, lead to stereotypes, prejudicial thinking, misunderstandings, and a deeply seated fear of being rejected or left behind.

Lack of contact helps explains why regular people (not only trolls) attack in online conversations. And why Uncle Ted, who is lovely in every other way, turns the Thanksgiving turkey into ashes in our mouths when table talk turns to race.

It also helps explain why corporate sponsorship programs work so well, particularly when high-ranking white executives are matched with younger people of color. Proximity helps us not only understand each other better, but helps us share each other's fears, anger and frustrations without being surprised or enraged by them. Thats how culture change happens.

Maybe it really is who you know.

Ellen McGirt writes Fortune's raceAhead, a newsletter about race and culture.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
In 2014, alcohol played a role a third of motor-vehicle deaths in the US. However, ride-hailing services like Uber and so-called self-driving cars could reduce the number of DUI accidents, fatalities and arrests, according to new research from Morgan Stanley.

And ride-sharing services and autonomous vehicles could also potentially be a boon for the alcohol industry  including bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, according to the research led by Morgan Stanleys Adam Jonas.

The alcoholic beverage industry is already huge; the global drinking population right now is 2.1 billion while the total drinks consumed per year is 1.1 trillion. Value per drink is $1.33, which all totals a whopping $1.5 trillion worth of drinks consumed per year. But according to the new report, the industry might have the potential to grow even more with shared and autonomous vehicles.

Shared and autonomous vehicle technology help address the mutual exclusivity of drinking and driving in a way that can significantly enhance the growth rate of the alcohol market and on-trade sales at restaurants, the Morgan Stanley study notes.

While the average person has 542 drinks per year, autonomous cars and ride-hailing apps could bring that number up to an additional 52 drinks, according to the Morgan Stanley report. With each drink valued at $2.32, that could create $98 billion in revenue. (Morgan Stanley placed a higher value on drinks resulting from autonomous or shared vehicles, as those drinks would be consumed in bars or restaurants rather than at home.)

The restaurants that stand to benefit include those whose alcohol sales account for 10% to 20% of revenue, including BJs Restaurants, (BJRI), Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD), and Brinker International (EAT), which owns Chilis among other big chains.

Morgan Stanley is not the first to suggest ride-hailing apps like Uber or Lyft could spur alcohol sales. In 2015, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Uber lets you drink more. That story quoted Francois Renaud, managing partner at restaurant called Terrine, who called ride-hailing apps a game-changer.

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The difference is in the second bottle of wine ordered, he told the LA Times.

Of course, the notion that autonomous vehicles, aka self-driving cars, could spur more drinking is more controversial. While so-called self-driving cars are still in their infancy, its generally assumed that drivers must be responsible for their vehicles even if theyre on autopilot mode.

Tesla itself  which is a pioneer in this area  has noted that drivers who use its autopilot feature need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle. Its hard to do that while drunk.

I think the automotive dealers where they are like Tesla and some of the others, I dont think they are at the point right now where they are suggesting that [the vehicle] could be unmanned, Michael J. Whitekus Ph.D., a toxicologist, says. They are suggesting that you will still have to be engaged with the driving process and an intoxicated person certainly cannot be engaged with the process.

Whitekus instead sees Uber as a safer option for intoxicated people: I see Uber as a better comparison [to autonomous vehicles] to be honest. Uber right now you can get in and someone else drives you. As long as you can trust them to get you home and they are not going to mug you or take advantage of you because you are intoxicated, which is a whole set of other issues, then youre going to be in pretty good shape. But these semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles, they are not there yet.

Minyoung Park is a writer for Yahoo Finance.

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Rabat (AFP) - Morocco on Tuesday arrested four men allegedly linked to the Islamic State jihadist group and planning attacks in the kingdom's economic capital Casablanca, the interior ministry said.

It said authorities had dismantled "a terrorist cell of four extremists who were active between Casablanca and Mograne", a rural area some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of political capital Rabat.

Initial findings in the investigation pointed to the men having "pledged allegiance" to IS and preparing to attack "vital sites in Casablanca", it said.

In late July, Morocco announced the arrests of 52 suspects it said were planning to set up a branch of IS and carry out attacks in the North African country.

Rabat says 159 "terrorist cells" have been busted since 2002, including 38 over the past three years with ties to jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

A study by the US-based Soufan Group said last December that at least 1,200 Moroccans had travelled to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria in the previous 18 months.

In 2011, a cafe bombing killed 17 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the central city of Marrakesh.

It was the deadliest attack in Morocco since the 2003 Casablanca blasts that killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers, and were claimed by Islamic militants.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
(Revises throughout with comment from JPMorgan memo)

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc made another change among consumer banking tech executives on Tuesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co revealed a change of its own as the big banks try to find their way through the changing landscape of digital finance.

Citigroup said it named Gavin Michael, who was JPMorgan's head of digital for consumer banking, to be head of technology for its Global Consumer Bank, replacing Mark Torkos, who retired in July.

On Thursday afternoon JPMorgan said in an internal memo, which was reviewed by Reuters, that Michael "will be looking for other opportunities" and was being replaced by Bill Wallace, who has been at the bank 23 years, heads consumer bank operations and runs the Customer Experience Council.

Michael had said he was interested in jobs outside of JPMorgan, according to the memo from Gordon Smith, the chief executive of JPMorgan's consumer bank.

Citigroup had been speaking to Michael "for some time" as it looked to fill the job, said Citi spokeswoman Elizabeth Fogarty.

Smith credited Michael, who was at JPMorgan for three years, with starting a mobile banking application and redesigning the online banking site.

Michael was named 2016 digital banker of the year by American Banker, Citigroup said in a statement.

At Citigroup, Michael will lead more than 4,000 employees and report to Stephen Bird, chief executive of the consumer bank, and work with Don Callahan, head of operations and technology for the entire company.

The developments come after it was announced last week that Heather Cox, who Citigroup hired two years ago to spearhead innovations in digital consumer banking, was leaving the bank for financial services provider USAA. Cox was head of the Citi FinTech unit, which is within the consumer bank and supported by the technology group to be headed by Michael.

Citigroup, the most geographically diverse of U.S. banks, has consumer banking operations in 19 countries globally. It is counting more on digital technology to sign and keep customers as it scales back branch offices to be more efficient.

JPMorgan is pruning branch locations and adjusting staff as customers change their use of branch services and digital account access. The bank recently said it had to add back some branch employees to reduce lines.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York and Richa Naidu in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Bill Trott)
(Adds Citi, Deutsche Asset Management and Duff & Phelps)

Aug 16 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Tuesday. To inform us of other job changes, email moves@thomsonreuters.com.

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO

The bank has set up a credit product development team, which will be headed by Ryan O'Grady, currently co-head of the bank's global debt syndicate, according to a memo.

CITIGROUP INC

The bank named Gavin Michael head of technology for its global consumer bank, replacing Mark Torkos.

DEUTSCHE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Deutsche Bank's fund management business said it hired Bobby Brooks as national sales manager for its retail coverage.

OLD MUTUAL GLOBAL INVESTORS

The unit of South Africa-based Old Mutual Plc appointed Richard Mo to the newly created position of head of China, effective Monday.

DUFF & PHELPS

The advisory firm said it relocated James Cook, managing director of its restructuring practice in London, to Hong Kong to improve the firm's corporate finance business in Asia.

(Compiled by Anet Josline Pinto and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru)
LONDON, Aug 16 (IFR) - JP Morgan has set up a credit product development team, which will be headed by Ryan O'Grady, currently co-head of the bank's global debt syndicate, according to a memo seen by IFR.

The unit is a new creation which aims to "better deliver the full range of credit products" to clients and "partner more effectively" with investment banking coverage and sales teams.

O'Grady started in his present position in October 2014, after the bank merged its regional debt syndicates into one global team.

His co-head, Bob LoBue, will remain in joint charge of this global syndicate team. But because of his new role, O'Grady will now only focus on international syndicate work. His direct reports in the global team will now also report to LoBue.

In addition, the global unit will now also include the public finance syndicate business, run by Robert Servas.

Previously, it consisted of supranationals, sovereigns and agencies, covered bonds and financial institutions in EMEA, as well as securitised products and Asia-Pacific, North America and International.

"Acting as one global team will promote the sharing of best practices and enable us to better coordinate across products as well as with our partners in coverage," said the memo from Matt Cherwin and Guy America, co-heads of Credit Trading & Syndicate, Securitized Products and Public Finance.

In May, JP Morgan promoted Richard Gustard and Keith Price in its SSA business after Carl Norrey retired from his position head of rates securities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Price is responsible for FIG syndicate within the global team.

(Writing by Christopher Spink, reporting by Helene Durand)
MTV is trying a new promotional stunt in a bid to hook audiences on its new docu-series: For the first time, the cabler will live-stream a show on Facebook Live and YouTube at the same time it airs on cable TV.

The Viacom-owned networks true-crime series Unlocking The Truth premieres Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. MTV also will simulcast the episode on its Facebook page and YouTube channel starting at 11 p.m. Eastern, with replays available on both platforms after the show airs.

Were making this appointment viewing across screens, said Matt McDonough, MTV senior director of digital strategy and fan engagement. Theres the desire to watch something right now  to be the first of your group to see it.

But sorry, cord-cutters: Only the premiere of the eight-episode series will be available free without a pay-TV subscription. MTVs digital simulcast is really just a different spin on the free sampling strategy TV networks have long used to gin up interest in a program. The live-streams of Unlocking the Truth on Facebook Live and YouTube wont carry ads; instead, viewers will see slates in the ad breaks that read, Unlocking The Truth continues soon stay right here.

Unlocking The Truth is hosted by Ryan Ferguson, who at the age of 19 was sentenced to 40 years in prison for a murder committed in 2001 that he was later acquitted of with the help of attorney Kathleen Zellner  who is representing Steven Avery, the central figure in Netflixs Making a Murderer. In Unlocking The Truth, Ferguson teams with Eva Nagao of the U. of Chicago Law Schools Exoneration Project to examine three cases of inmates who maintain they have been wrongfully convicted.

On MTVs website, the Unlocking the Truth show page will include interactive timelines, photos and other info related to each case, optimized for mobile devices.

If youre a fan of the genre, you want to go online to find facts from the case. We want the expression of it online to be as robust or more robust than it is on TV, McDonough said, noting that none of the three cases in the docu-series has been resolved.

Story continues

Beyond the digital push, MTV is banking on the popularity of the true-crime genre to lure viewers. Documentary series including Netflixs Making a Murderer, HBOs The Jinx and the Serial podcasts on public radio have each led to legal developments in the cases theyve reopened.

Unlocking the Truth is executive produced by Michael Davies, Debbie DeMontreux, Adam Kassen, Stacey Altman Shepard and Andrew Jenks.

Pictured above: Eva Nagao and Ryan Ferguson in Unlocking the Truth

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Nauru dismissed claims Tuesday that asylum seekers are subject to abusive treatment in Australian immigration facilities operating on the remote Pacific island.

The response comes after the leak of 2,000 case reports detailing the extent of sexual and physical violence and poor living conditions in Australias offshore detention camps, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Nauruan government maintained that the claims in the documents were fabricated by asylum seekers hoping to relocate to Australia.

Most refugee & advocate claims on Nauru fabricated to achieve goal to get to Aust. So called reports based solely on these claims, the government tweeted Tuesday.

The government also accused Australian left-wing media, Green lawmakers and refugee advocates for using refugees as pawns for their political agendas.

Accounts from those in detention on Nauru, documented in the dossier, include reports of denial of medical care, physical and sexual abuse from locals, inhumane living conditions, and instances of self-harm and suicide, as well as a litany of mental-health problems.

Last week, Australias Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said some of the allegations of sexual assault in the files were false.

Because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country, he said. Some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia and certainly some have made false allegations.

The leaked files have sparked fresh scrutiny into Australias policy of processing asylum seekers in offshore camps and reignited calls for a parliamentary inquiry into conditions in these offshore detention centers.

[AFP]
Nauru Tuesday dismissed as "fabricated" claims that asylum-seekers faced violence, abuse and humiliating treatment while living in Australian immigration facilities on the Pacific island, saying refugees had become political pawns.

The release of more than 2,000 leaked reports of incidents on Nauru detailing allegations of widespread abuse and self-harm, including children wanting to kill themselves, have sparked new calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

Hitting back at the claims contained in the leaked documents, which date from 2013 to 2015, the Nauruan government said asylum-seekers had made up most of them in hope of being relocated to Australia.

"Most refugee & advocate claims on Nauru fabricated to achieve goal to get to Aust. So called "reports" based solely on these claims," the government tweeted on Tuesday.

In a second tweet, the republic accused the Australian left-wing media, Greens MPs and refugee advocates of "using refugees as pawns for their political agendas. Very sad".

Australia, which since 2013 has denied asylum-seekers arriving by boat resettlement even if they are found to be refugees and sends them instead to Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, has also expressed scepticism about the reported incidents.

Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week said some of events reported in the leaked files involved "false allegations of sexual assault".

"Because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country," he said.

"Some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia and certainly some have made false allegations."

But the documents have sparked demands for greater scrutiny of operations in Nauru, where some asylum-seekers have lived for three years, with refugee advocates and journalists rarely granted access.

Story continues

"Instead of smearing vulnerable refugees, the Nauru and Australian governments should be investigating human rights violations and putting an end to them," said Amnesty Internationals senior director for research, Anna Neistat.

"The evidence is incontrovertible and Australia is going to have to end this shameful chapter of its history and resettle these refugees," she said in a statement Tuesday.

A report based on interviews last month with those detained on Nauru conducted by researchers from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch found that asylum-seekers and refugees on the island suffered "severe abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect".

The report accused Australia's government of failing to address serious abuses as it pursued what appeared to be a "deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat".

Offshore detention has bipartisan support in Australia, but doctors, lawyers and refugee advocates have strongly criticised the camps, arguing that some asylum-seekers suffer from mental health problems due to their prolonged and indefinite detention.

In April, a young Iranian refugee died after setting himself on fire on Nauru.

Canberra has long defended its policy of denying asylum-seekers resettlement in Australia, saying it has prevented deaths at sea and secured the nation's borders.
WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The Navajo Nation sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, one year after 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater spilled into three states from an abandoned Colorado gold mine.

In a court filing, the Navajo tribe alleged the EPA and other parties "recklessly" burrowed into the Gold King Mine in 2015, releasing waste into water upstream from the tribe's land.

A year later, the waterways remain contaminated and the Navajo people have yet to be compensated, according to the complaint that also names EPA contractor Environmental Restoration, the Kinross Gold Corp and Sunnyside Gold Corp.

"One of the Navajo people's most important sources of water for life and livelihood was poisoned with some of the worst contaminants known to man, including lead and arsenic," Navajo Nation said in the 48-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency could not comment on pending litigation.

The August 2015 rupture of the closed mine unleashed a torrent of yellow sludge with high concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead in areas of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. An EPA inspection team had been at the site to inspect seepage at the mine, which had been dormant for decades.

New Mexico has already sued the EPA, citing widespread environmental damage and economic harm.

In its suit, Navajo Nation - a federally recognized Indian Tribe - cited millions of dollars of damage to its people and a lack of "any meaningful recovery," pointing to the tribe's heavy reliance on the now-contaminated San Juan River.

"Efforts to be made whole over the past year have been met with resistance, delays, and second-guessing," it wrote. The EPA and the other defendants "ignored warning signs for years" and "failed to prepare for known risks of a mine blowout," it added.

The EPA has said it takes responsibility for the cleanup and that it has made more than $29 million available in response, including more than $1 million to Navajo Nation. It has yet to decide whether to designate Gold King as a Superfund site, which would give it access more cleanup funds.

Story continues

The agency has also put in place a plan to monitor water quality. Metal concentrations exceeded the tribe's agricultural screening levels for a short duration, but "EPA water quality experts believe the San Juan River is safe for agriculture and irrigation," according to its website.

The case is Navajo Nation v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. District Court for New Mexico, case No. 1:16-cv-00931.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by David Ingram in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Stone Creek Coffee, open since 1993 in the Milwaukee area, will open its first Madison cafe on East Washington Avenue this fall in the Factory District Apartment building.
Paris (AFP) - A widely-used class of insecticides called neonicotinoids has contributed to the large-scale and long-term decline of wild bees, according to research unveiled Tuesday.

A study covered 62 species from 1994 to 2011, examining the impact of exposure to the pesticide, which was used to treat oilseed rape crops in England.

In five of the species, including the spined mason and furrow bees, the chemicals accounted for at least 20 percent of local population extinctions, researchers estimated.

And compared to bees that foraged on a wide range of flowers, decline was three times more pronounced among species -- such as the buff-tailed bumblebee -- that feed regularly on the rapeseed.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, is timed to inform a review by the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) on the overall risks associated with so-called neo-nic pestkillers. The review is scheduled for completion by January 2017.

The results also bolster small-scale and short-term studies that have previously fingered neonics as a culprit in bee decline, especially species bred for pollination and honey production.

Unlike contact pesticides -- which remain on the surface of foliage -- neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant from the seed phase and transported to leaves, flowers, roots and stems.

They have been widely used over the last 20 years, and were designed to control sap-feeding insects such as aphids and root-feeding grubs.

"Our results have implications for the conservation of not only bee communities in intensively farmed landscapes, but the capacity of these systems to maintain stable crop pollination services," said lead author Ben Woodcock, a researcher at the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxfordshire.

Neonics are deemed to be only one of several causes for the dramatic decline in bee colonies, especially in Europe and the United States.

"It is unlikely that they are acting in isolation," Woodcock said in a statement.

Story continues

"Habitat loss and fragmentation, pathogens, climate change and other insecticides" are other likely factors, he said.

Previous studies have found neonicotinoids can cause bees to become disorientated such that they cannot find their way back to the hive, and lower their resistance to disease.

Recent experiments showed that the insecticides also diminish the viability of bee sperm.

The European Union (EU) has placed a moratorium on the sale of neonicotinoids, though some European countries continue to use them under various exemptions.

Wild bees provided crop pollination services worth billions. A recent study estimated that value at more than $3,250 (2,950 euros) per hectare ($1,300 per acre) each year.

Bees of all kinds account for an estimated 80 percent of plant pollination by insects.
surface book xbox one controller

Microsoft just announced Xbox Wireless  a new standard that will let you use Xbox One accessories on Windows 10 computers, too.

Microsoft has already been inching towards this announcement, which finally happened Tuesday.

The new Xbox One S console ships with a refined controller that supports Bluetooth, so it can connect to PCs and Android tablets just as easily as it can to the Xbox One console itself. Plus, Microsoft offers a $20 USB adapter to wirelessly connect an Xbox One controller to Windows 10.

Now, with Xbox Wireless, that's getting taken a step further. The Lenovo IdeaCentre Y710 Cube will be the first PC to ship with that Xbox One controller wireless adapter built right into the chassis, with more to come. Down the line, Microsoft is promising more devices with deeper integrations.

What this means for you: Starting with that Lenovo PC, and continuing on well into the future, it's increasingly likely that your next Windows 10 PC will support Xbox controllers straight out of the box. Microsoft promises that Xbox Wireless is more responsive and reliable than Bluetooth, while also supporting up to eight connected controllers.

Microsoft also promises that future third-party accessories, like the guitar controller that comes with the forthcoming "Rock Band Rivals," will support Xbox Wireless on both the PC and Xbox One. Which also lends a nice side benefit for gamers that mainly play on the Xbox One console, too.

lenovo ideacentre y710

By opening up Xbox Wireless to outside parties, it means accessory manufacturers can finally make wireless Xbox accessories. It sounds obvious, but Microsoft has long been loathe to share its wireless standard with anyone outside its own walls, meaning that most non-Microsoft controllers for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One needed unsightly wires.

Ultimately, Microsoft is doing all of this because it's trying to knock down the barriers between the Xbox One and Windows 10, bringing more games to both platforms. Given that ambition, it only makes sense to let you use the controllers you want in the place you want to use them.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: 5 hidden features to get the most out of your Xbox One





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(Adds quote from resident of flooded community, detail on victim)

By Sam Karlin

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug 16 (Reuters) - Search-and-rescue operations were still underway on Tuesday in Louisiana, where at least nine people have died in severe flooding that damaged about 40,000 homes, state officials said.

Emergency crews had already plucked more than 20,000 people and 1,000 pets to safety from flooded areas after a storm that broke records for 24-hour rainfall in multiple locations, Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters in Baton Rouge.

Rain-swollen rivers are receding in much of the state, but state officials warned of remaining dangers. Some communities in southern Louisiana could see waters crest later in the week, according to national forecasters.

More than 8,000 people slept in emergency shelters on Monday night, unable to return to their homes, Edwards told a news conference. The state planned to impose curfews on Tuesday night in the parishes with widespread damage.

"This is a historic flooding event," Edwards said of the unnamed storm. "It's unprecedented."

The storm dumped more than 2-1/2 feet (0.76 meters) of rain on an area near Watson, Louisiana, from Thursday to Monday morning, the highest total reported, according to the National Weather Service.

In Abbeville, Louisiana, a 125-year-old record for 24-hour rainfall was shattered with 16.38 inches (41.61 cm) of rain reported from Friday to Saturday, the weather service reported.

In some water-ravaged areas, houses flooded to rooflines, and coffins floated away. Motorists were trapped on highways. The extent of the damage prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to issue a disaster declaration on Sunday, with additional parishes approved on Tuesday for the federal assistance.

Already, 40,000 residents have registered for disaster aid, Edwards said.

In hard-hit Denham Springs, residents on Tuesday were gutting waterlogged homes, dumping soaked carpets and mattresses.

Sonya Mayeux was still in disbelief. On Saturday, she awoke at 9 a.m. to rising, knee-deep water in her backyard. By 11:30 a.m., the water was nearly above her white SUV.

Story continues

A neighbor rescued her family by boat. Ultimately, her house flooded nearly to the roof.

"The water just came up so fast," she said.

"VERY LARGE DISASTER"

Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters the "very large disaster" was affecting more people than flooding in March that left at least four dead and thousands of homes damaged in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Louisiana will mark the 11th anniversary later this month of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people when floods overwhelmed levees and broke through flood walls protecting New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.

The state's death toll from the latest inundation rose to nine on Tuesday with the discovery of 58-year-old Bill Borne, who officials say drowned near his home in East Baton Rouge Parish. He was founder and former chief executive of Amedisys Inc, a national provider of home health and hospice care.

In Tangipahoa Parish, authorities believe that a 20-year-old woman found inside her car was killed after her vehicle was washed right off the road, leaving it completely submerged.

A 59-year-old man who died in the same parish appeared to have been swept away by rushing floodwaters.

Many in Louisiana are trying to reach friends and relatives displaced by the storm, the governor acknowledged, noting that most were likely safe but without communications.

"We understand that there are a lot of people who are suffering," Edwards said.

(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Bryn Stole in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Writing by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Editing by Tom Brown)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Carolina on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state law requiring voters to show identification to remain in effect for the Nov. 8 U.S. election despite an appeals court decision that the measure discriminates against minority voters. Lawyers for Republican Governor Pat McCrory said the status quo should be maintained so close to the election, citing court precedent in their favor. The law, which also limited early voting, was enacted in 2013. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 29 that the law intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The same court refused to put its decision on hold for the November election. Critics say such laws, passed in Republican-governed states, make voting harder for minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats. Backers say the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud. The state directed its request to Chief Justice John Roberts, who has responsibility for emergency requests arising from the federal appeals court that covers the state. The state is not seeking to restore all provisions of the law that were invalidated, meaning some provisions will not be in effect for the election whatever the high court does. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Carolina on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state law requiring voters to show identification to remain in effect for the Nov. 8 U.S. election despite an appeals court decision that the measure discriminates against minority voters.

Lawyers for Republican Governor Pat McCrory said the status quo should be maintained so close to the election, citing court precedent in their favor. The law, which also limited early voting, was enacted in 2013.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 29 that the law intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The same court refused to put its decision on hold for the November election.

Critics say such laws, passed in Republican-governed states, make voting harder for minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats. Backers say the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud.

The state directed its request to Chief Justice John Roberts, who has responsibility for emergency requests arising from the federal appeals court that covers the state. The state is not seeking to restore all provisions of the law that were invalidated, meaning some provisions will not be in effect for the election whatever the high court does.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller)
They say the odds of being struck by lightning in your life are 1 in 12,000. The odds of you being killed by a shark are reportedly 1 in 3,748,067.



Statisticians, however, have yet to come up with an explanation for Carlo Bernarte. The Raleigh, North Carolina, man, whose home has been struck by cars for six times  the most recent being Saturday morning  appears to be some kind of statistical anomaly.



The car that hit his home Saturday morning plowed through the cross of flowers Bernarte set up to mark the death of the last person who hit his home, a drunk driver who struck Bernarte's house in October 2015 and later died in the hospital. That was the fifth person to collide with his home.



Bernarte moved into the home in 2004. He told WTVD that he knew the house had been struck once already, but assumed it wouldn't happen again. It was, in 2007 and 2008. Then again in 2013, 2015 and now 2016.



One of Bernarte's neighbors, Audley Murphy, actually estimates the figure is higher, telling WNCN in 2015 that the home or the neighborhood sign that occupies its front yard has been struck "at least 10 times" since it was built. "How can this happen to the same house over and over again?" she asked.



Bernarte lost his homeowner's insurance "from like two accidents" ago due to the frequency of collisions, and the city engineers have refused to extend a guardrail that borders his property on the grounds that it would then block the line of sight for drivers exiting his neighborhood.



"They said the only way they could extend the guardrail is if they close access to the neighborhood," said Bernarte.



The city has installed solar lights on the chevron signs that occupy the curve, but Bernarte has said they don't work and just plans on moving his family as soon as he can.



"While NCDOT and the City cannot ensure traffic law compliance, we do realize there is a pattern of vehicles leaving the roadway. However, every case involves a high rate of speed or an intoxicated driver. Neither NCDOT or the City are able to fix the outcome of poor compliance using typical safety engineering," the city wrote to him in a rejection letter responding to his request for a guardrail in 2015.



"Who is liable for this? Is it the city? NCDOT? The builder? The engineer who approved building a house here?" said Bernarte. "Probably no action would be taken until the next accident happens."
UPDATED Tuesday 6:11 p.m. The Chief Justice has called for responses to this application. The Justice Department and civil rights groups are to file by 4 p.m. next Thursday, August 25.

North Carolina officials, arguing that the Supreme Court intended for states that were freed from federal supervision to pass new voting rules, asked the Court on Monday to allow it to put back into effect its photo ID law for voters, and two other provisions also challenged by black voters and the federal government.

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The application (not yet docketed) argued that a federal appeals court that struck down those measures was attempting to revive the kind of federal oversight that the Supreme Court ended three years ago in the decision in Shelby County v. Holder. That decision, the filing contended, was designed to restore the sovereign powers of states long under federal government oversight because of past racial bias in elections.

The states filing insisted that there was no racial motive for the new voting provisions and that they had been used previously without any negative impact on minority voters.

The filing went to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., who handles emergency legal matters from the geographic area that is the Fourth Circuit, which includes North Carolina. Roberts can act on his own or share the request with the other Justices. The Court is in summer recess now, but able to act on such questions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for that circuit on July 29 struck down the photo ID provision and several other measures, calling the law the most restrictive law on voting since the era of Jim Crow.

The ruling nullified the provisions that eliminated the few kinds of IDs that black voters might have; two provisions that reduced or took away voting options used heavily by blacks  early voting before election day, including Sundays, and a right to register to vote on the same day of voting; a ban on counting votes that had been cast by mistaken in the wrong precinct, affecting black voters the most; and a ban on pre-registering to vote before youths reached the voting age of 18.

Story continues

In taking the dispute to the Supreme Court, the state insisted that it was trying to minimize the impact on this years elections of its request, so it did not ask that it be allowed to restore this year all of the measures invalidated by the Fourth Circuit Court.

The application asked permission to have the photo ID law, to limit early voting to 10 days instead of the 17 days under the appeals court ruling, and to bar early registration for 16-year-olds. Keeping those intact for this years election, the state argued, will avoid voter confusion. It contended that those measures will not have any detrimental effect on voters, minority or otherwise.

The Circuit Court had ruled that the state legislature rushed to pass the law, specifically aiming at provisions that had made it easier for blacks to vote, right after the Supreme Court in the Shelby County decision lifted the pre-clearance requirement long imposed on North Carolina and other states with a history of racial discrimination at the polls.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required states with that kind of history to get clearance in Washington, D.C., before they could put into effect any new election law or procedure, to make sure that the provisions did not interfere with minority voting rights.

The Court did not strike down Section 5 but made it virtually a dead letter by striking down the formula that Congress had used to determine which states had to pre-clear their voting laws or methods.

Even without Section 5, states can be put back under a pre-clearance requirement if they are found to have passed laws with the specific intent of discriminating on the basis of race. The Fourth Circuit Court found such specific intent in the North Carolina legislatures passage of the voting law. But it explicitly refused to invoke the pre-clearance option, saying it was sufficient to simply block enforcement of the invalid provisions.

Even though the state does not face pre-clearance under the Fourth Circuit Courts ruling, the states application dwelled on that regime and suggested that the appeals court had engaged in micromanagement of the states voting law that bore a striking resemblance to the pre-clearance regime.

The state also protested that the Supreme Court had made clear eight years ago, in an Indiana case, that photo ID laws for voters were a valid way to prevent voter fraud and build public confidence in the integrity of elections.

The states application was filed by prominent Washington lawyer Paul D. Clement. The states own attorney general had declined to defend the voting law.

The Chief Justice is expected to ask for a response from the Justice Department and from others challenging the law, before deciding whether to put the Fourth Circuit Court ruling on hold for this years election. The state plans to pursue a full-scale appeal later.

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, where this post first appeared.

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Three-year-old North West is ready to graduate from her sneakers and flip-flops to high-fashion footwear.

Kim Kardashian West and Kanye Wests daughter got into her moms closet, trying on a pair of Kardashian Wests silver Balenciaga thigh-high boots. Since shes not quite tall enough to wear them yet, Kardashian West snapped a photo of North laying on the floor wearing the boots.

Instagram Photo

The dramatic, metallic leather boots retail for $1,500. Kardashian Wests half-sister Kylie Jenner has shown off her pair of Balenciaga sneakers in the same metallic silver, as well as a black and white pair of similar thigh-high boots.

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

Although she cant wear these Balenciaga boots yet, North still has a very impressive shoe collection for such a young age. Shes worn styles by Vans, Dr. Martens and even has her own specially-made Yeezy Boost 350s.

Click through the gallery to see more of North Wests shoe style.

View Slideshow

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19 Standout Kylie Jenner Shoe Moments This Year

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Do you have a question about history? Send us your question at history@time . com and you might find your answer in a future edition of Now You Know.

Its right there any time you buy a plane ticket, register a new address, renew a piece of identification: the box that asks for your middle name or initial.

These days, in the United States, the assumption that people will have a middle name is fairly common. But early U.S. Presidents were two-named until John Quincy Adams. Even for decades after, presidential middle names were intermittent.

When did that change and why?

Students of Latin may remember some Romans having three names, but Karen Stern, a historian at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, says their naming system was not quite the same as todays use of a middle name. They used a praenomen or personal name; a nomen, or family name, which has the same placement as a middle name but has a different function; and a cognomen, which, she says, was a nickname indicating an attribute or, eventually, what branch of a family you were from.

But, while Rome was an empire for hundreds of years, Stern says, the three-part name wasnt used for everyone in Roman society or for that whole period of time. Women tended to have two names, and slaves often just had one. On the other hand, some aristocratic families used multiple cognomina to indicate their lineage; one inscription indicates that Q. Pompeius Senecio Sosius Priscus, ordinary consul in 169, had 38 names.

At some point the custom of long names faded, lost for centuries. According to Stephen Wilsons The Means of Naming: A Social History, the custom probably began in Italy of bringing back the middle name, and could be found there least as early as the late 13th century. In Italy, as would happen elsewhere, the practice first became common among the elitesamong whom it was common by the late 1400sand then spread to other social classes. The following century it spread to the countryside and took another hundred years to spread to some of the more isolated, backwater locations. The majority of these early middle names in Italy were those of saints, with the idea what that those saints would protect the children who bore their names.

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Eventually, the use of middle names spread throughout Spain and France, the idea often carrying with it the class and religious dimensions it had gained in Italy. The first decade of the 19th century saw more than half of boys born in France with just one first name, 37% with two and 8% with three (meaning one first name and two middle names). By the last decade of that century, just under a third had one first name while 46% of boys had one middle name and 23% had two.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

Englands upper classes began using middle names somewhat later. In 1605 William Camden, a British historian, wrote that Two Christian names are rare in England. That held true until the 19th century, though only about 10% of the British population had a middle name in 1800, writes Wilson (versus 40% in France).

The timing is mirrored in early modern Scotland, says Alice Crook, a PhD student at the University of Glasgow who analyzed Presbyterian records from 62,456 children born in Scotland between 1680 and 1839. She found middle names rare until about 1780 when their popularity began to rise dramaticallyalmost 99% of children in her sample who had middle names were born after 1780.

In general, then, in Europe, middle names became increasingly popular in the 19th century among all classes. The early United States picked up the same timing and meaning that was seen among the nations from which its colonists hailed. But why?

That ones easy: a name has a lot of work to do, so theres a clear benefit to spreading that work around.

Middle names provide an opportunity for people to shift identities throughout their life: the author George Sand wrote that her mother, who had three baptismal names, used each of them at various points throughout her life. Pablo Picasso was baptized with a string of more than a dozen names and though, like many people with multiple names, he wasnt known by all of them, he did test out different combinations: initially signing paintings as P. Ruiz, then trying P. Ruiz Picasso before sticking with Picasso.

Names are generally important representations of social allegiance and godparent relationships, says George Redmonds, who has written numerous books on names, including Christian Names in Local and Family History. He suggests that perhaps adding more given names could be seen as a way of piling up relationships.

Crook says that in the names she studied family is the most important thing that gets referenced in middle names, so it makes sense for the upper classes for it to be about lineage, for it to be about inheritance. Middle names, if not family names, might also come from other important people within the community. One tradition which appeared regionally was for the first child a new clergyman baptized to take his name, she says, so Katherine Imray McLeod was the first child baptized by John Imray.

Articles from the early 1900s sometimes note the growing frequency of hyphenated names, or a woman keeping her maiden name as a middle name. By the mid-1930s H.L. Mencken writes that it was common for a woman to do so in the U.S.

Today, as Wilson notes, middle names serve much the same purposes they always have: theyre a way to keep family names going and thus preserve relationships; theyre a way to try something new or put old names out to grass without cutting the cord entirely.



But maybe not for long: in recent years, as the New York Times explained in 2014, even people who have middle names are starting to use them less.
As a community, Parsis are historically the natives of Persia. As the Arab persecution began in the 7th century A.D, by the 10th century AD the survival of Parsis in their native land grew unbearable. That is when they immigrated to India. But unlike many foreigners who came to India with the sole aim to plunder and rule, Parsis have assimilated graciously without harboring any evil intentions. As a community, Parsis are historically the natives of Persia. As the Arab persecution began in the 7th century A.D, by the 10th century AD the survival of Parsis in their native land grew unbearable. That is when they immigrated to India. But unlike many foreigners who came to India with the sole aim to plunder and rule, Parsis have assimilated graciously without harboring any evil intentions.

Followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions of the world, the significance of the Parsi community cannot be quantified by their population, that stand at a meager count of about seventy thousand, concentrated majorly in the city of Mumbai.

Though mainly based in India, a handful of Parsis have also chosen and settled in Pakistan since pre-independence days. Despite the slim population, the community doesnt shy away from contributing their bit to the diversified society of India.

On the occasion of Parsi New Year, as we wish all members of this community wholeheartedly, we also present to you certain interesting facts about them you might not have known.
Protesters in New York City chanted Milwaukee, we got your back! during a rally on Monday, August 15. The marchers set out to support demonstrations in Milwaukee demanding justice for Sylville K Smith, who was fatally shot by the police on Saturday. The uploader of this video said NYPD arrested at least two people on Monday.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency and police made dozens of arrests in Milwaukee, following two violent nights of protests over the fatal officer-involved shooting of Sylville K Smith

Smith, 23, was carrying a stolen handgun and ran from police officers on Saturday night, according to the police. He was then fatally shot. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called on state officials to release body cam footage of the incident. Credit: Twitter/KeeganNYC
President Obama waves as he walks across the south lawn of the White House. (Carolyn Kaster/AP/File)

President Obama took a brief respite from his two-week summer vacation on Marthas Vineyard to attend a Democratic fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on the island Monday night. And with more than two months to go before the Nov. 8 election, the commander in chief said hes already tired of talking about Donald Trump.

You notice I havent said much about her opponent, Obama told the approximately 60 guests who contributed $10,000 each to attend the fundraiser at a private home in Chilmark, Mass., according to a White House transcript.

Frankly, Im tired of talking about her opponent. I dont have to make the case against her opponent because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy.

Obama said this despite the fact that he has yet to really hit the campaign trail for Clinton, who is running on an agenda that includes cementing the 44th presidents policy legacy.

At the Monday fundraiser, Obama further emphasized a sense of urgency in finishing the job of getting her elected.

This has been an unpredictable election season, Obama said. Not only because of anxieties and concerns that the American people have, but also because of the changing nature of the media and voting patterns. Theres still a lot of uncertainty out there. And if we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake.

According to RealClearPolitics most recent average of national polling data, Clinton has opened up a seven-point lead over Trump (48 percent to 41 percent) among likely voters. Following last months Republican National Convention, Trump held a one-point lead over the former secretary in RCPs poll average.

Obamas comments came hours after Clinton appeared at a rally in Scranton, Pa., with Vice President Joe Biden, who tore into Trump as a candidate who doesnt have a clue.

I can say that no major-party nominee in the history of the United States of America has known less or been less prepared to deal with national security than Donald Trump, Biden said. And what absolutely amazes me is he doesnt seem to want to learn it.

Story continues

At the fundraiser, which Clinton did not attend, Obama said he did not want to belabor making the case for her candidacy, noting that both he and Biden already did that at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia.

The main thing I want to emphasize is that this is somebody who I know and I have worked alongside for many years, Obama said of Clinton. And, look, Im a Democrat, and so its fair to say that whoever the Democratic nominee was I would want to get behind them. But I dont display the kinds of enthusiasm and energy and commitment to Hillarys candidacy just because of the fact that we belong to the same political party.

When I say that she knows what shes talking about, its because I have seen her do the work, he continued. When I talk about her work ethic, its because Ive watched her travel around the world and, at a breathless pace, manage a whole range of conflicts and open up opportunities that have resulted in American national security interests being served. When I tell you that Ive seen how she works not just with me, but with her staff and people below her in a way that is full of integrity and seriousness and good humor, its something that Ive witnessed on a day-to-day basis.

Obama added that hes learned that you dont know ahead of time how youre going to turn out as president until youre actually at that desk.

But I will tell you that I have as good a guess when it comes to how Hillary will respond as I would of anybodys, he said, because Ive seen her under really tough-pressure situations. And thats whats needed right now.
By Jeff Mason CHILMARK, Mass. (Reuters) - Declaring he was tired of talking about Donald Trump, President Barack Obama urged Democrats on Monday not to grow too confident about their prospects in the 2016 election despite Hillary Clinton's strong position in the race for the White House. Obama, who is on a two-week vacation in Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, took a short break from his relaxation time to raise money for Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee he hopes will succeed him when he leaves office in January. Clinton leads Trump in opinion polls, and the Republican nominee's campaign has suffered following remarks he made denigrating the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier and charging that Obama was the founder of the Islamic State militant group. The president warned his party, however, to maintain a sense of urgency until the Nov. 8 election. "If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake," Obama told some 60 donors who contributed $10,000 each to attend the fundraiser at a private home on the island. "If we do our job, then Hillary will be elected president of the United States. But if we do not do our jobs, then its still possible for her to lose." The remarks could foreshadow the president's role this fall in encouraging get-out-the-vote efforts for Clinton, his former secretary of state. Obama has made clear his disdain for Trump, calling him unqualified for the White House. He told the donors he was tired of talking about Clinton's rival. "I don't have to make the case against her opponent, because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy," Obama said. The president is expected to campaign heavily for Clinton in October. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Even though Donald Trump is sliding in the polls, President Barack Obama took a break from his vacation Monday to urge Democrats to not get complacent.

Obama said at a Democratic party fundraiser on Marthas Vineyard that to vanquish the Republican nominee, the party still needs a strong ground game and urgency to seal Hillary Clintons victory, Politico reports. If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake, Obama said. And if the Democratic ground game behind Clinton is not strong, he continued, then its still possible for her to lose.

Clintons opponent eight years ago, Obama has become one of his former Secretary of States staunchest allies. He has repeatedly blasted Trump for the Republican nominees comments on a myriad of issues and took a break from his vacation to stress that Democrats cannot be complacent with 83 days to go until the election.

The President added that the First Lady Michelle Obama normally urges him to withdraw from political life during his vacations. But he made an exception on the Massachusetts island to rally support for Clinton and make yet another jab at Trump.

I dont have to make the case against her opponent because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy, Obama said.

[Politico]
From Town & Country

Come fall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be making their way to North America. Earlier this summer, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invited William and Kate, along with Prince George and Princess Charlotte to visit Canada in honor of the country's 150th anniversary.

Today, the British Royal Family accepted his invitation. According to a spokesperson for Kensington Palace, both William and Kate "hold very happy memories from their visit in 2011 - their first overseas tour as a married couple."

"They are really looking forward to seeing other parts of this beautiful country and having the opportunity to meet many more Canadians along the way."

According to Vanity Fair, William and Kate will be bringing their kids along for the trip. Sources say, "We are told the children are coming and the itinerary is being coordinated accordingly. . . There will be a heavy focus on nature, the outdoors and there will be at least one private day factored into the trip. . . We're hearing hiking, walking and outdoor pursuits will feature while the family is in British Columbia. There's talk of going into the center where there are fresh water lakes and great kayaking."

Confirmed plans for the visit include trips to British Columbia and the Yukon.
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Runners Abbey D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin may not have won their 5,000 meter heat today in the Rio Olympics, but their attitudes are gold-medal caliber.

Hamblin, who is representing New Zealand in this summer's games, tripped on the packed track partly through the race, taking American D'Agostino down with her.

After the fall, a a clearly discouraged Hamblin lay motionless on the ground for several seconds. Get ready to cry, though: D'Agostino instantly helped Hamblin get to her feet.

SEE ALSO: This weightlifter dances at the Olympics for a very important reason

"This is the Olympic Games. We have to finish this," D'Agostino reportedly said. And finish the race they did  to a surely very teary-eyed audience.

Fortunately, the Olympic dream isn't definitively over for either runner. Because they were tripped, both will be allowed to run in the event final later in the week.

At this point, it is unclear if D'Agostino's apparent knee injury will prevent her from competing.

But talk about Olympic spirit.
An ecstatic Sarah Robles lifts her way to Olympic history. (Photo: Getty Images)

Sarah Elizabeth Robles. Olympian. Bronze medalist. Badass. Thats how Twitter user @haleshannon succinctly put it after Robles became the first female Olympian on Team USA to medal in weightlifting since 2000.

Female athletes come in many shapes and sizes based on their sport, but Robles, 28, still doesnt look like the majority of them. At about 273 pounds and a little more than 510.5, according to Team USAs official website, she may not even look like an athlete to many  specifically those who bullied her on social media during her competition on Aug. 14.

Things that used to get me bullied are the things that made me to become an Olympian. Consider that when some jerk tries to tear you down.  Sarah Robles (@roblympian) May 28, 2016

But the California native, who is often referred to as the strongest woman in America, according to the Daily Dot, is having the last laugh. She also hopes to have a major impact on girls and women throughout the world.

Of scoring bronze in the womens 75-plus-kilogram division, Robles told Reuters, This means a lot, to be on the podium and give exposure to our sport at a time when its already growing. Its good not just for me but for women of size, for women who want to get up off the couch and do something different.

Even before the competition, the Mexican-American expressed her desire to inspire young Latino athletes through her Olympic journey. As an Olympic athlete, I represent all Americans, but representing Latinos and Latinas is a great honor, she said earlier this month, according to Fox News Latino.

Do it for the five year old girls! #stronglikesarah A photo posted by Sarah Robles (@roblympian) on Aug 15, 2016 at 9:07pm PDT

For Robles, the victory is so sweet because the struggle has been real  and not simply because she outweighed others in her division by 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds), according to the Daily Dot. In January 2014, Robles was banned from competing for two years after testing positive for prohibited substances. It turned out she unknowingly had DHEA, testosterone, and pregnanediol in her system while on prescription medication for polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Still, the World Anti-Doping Agency denied her appeal of the ban, which expired just in time for her to qualify for Rio.

Story continues

But her road stretches back even further. Prior to Rio, Robles had to overcome body-image issues and near-poverty  she lived on $400 a month  while training to to compete in 2012 London Olympics. Despite being the highest-ranked weightlifter in the country (this woman can lift 568 pounds!), she couldnt manage to score any sponsorships, telling BuzzFeed, You can get that sponsorship if youre a super-built guy or a girl who looks good in a bikini. But not if youre a girl whos built like a guy.

If youre given a second chance, take it! A photo posted by Sarah Robles (@roblympian) on Aug 7, 2016 at 1:44pm PDT

Her struggle didnt impress one social media user, who suggested Robless poverty was self-inflicted, as she decided willingly to dedicate her life to mastering weightlifting instead of landing a high-paying job. The majority [of sportspeople] would probably earn more if they got proper jobs that were of benefit to their society, instead of doing their chosen sport for a living, he wrote.

Ever the good-natured, level-headed sport, Robles shut him down in a way that also opened up a dialogue on her Instagram:

The gold medal for pessimism goes to this guy! Theres no way participating in sports can benefit society. Lets stop competing and get real jobs, guys . #eyeroll How have you seen sports improve your life or community? A photo posted by Sarah Robles (@roblympian) on Aug 12, 2016 at 9:38am PDT

Despite obstacles and detractors, Robless sport gave her the self-esteem boost she needed to lift her way to the Olympics, twice. I still have bad thoughts about myself, but Ive learned that you have to love yourself the way you are, Robles said to BuzzFeed back in 2012, when she was headed to the London Games. I may look like this, but Im in the Olympics because of the way I am. Her mom, Joy Robles, echoed those sentiments to the site, saying, When she got into sports, she came home one day and she said, I finally feel accepted. Thats when she just kind of settled into herself.

Gearing up for her competition in Rio, Robles just wanted to have her best day, medal or no medal. For her, it was about the glory of being at the Olympics and the fact that her mind and body had gotten her this far. If it [competing] got me medals, cool, she said, according to the NBCs official Olympics website. If it didnt, then at least I had the best day. You cant complain when you do your absolute best.

Now Robles is doing the opposite of complaining  shes basking in her record-making accomplishment. She doesnt need to say much to express how she feels; its written all over her face. Between her triumphant expression after she lifted all the weights tonight, as she said on Instagram, to her beaming smile as she graciously accepted her medal, its easy to see that Robles achieved what she set out to do.

Terrifying one moment Adorable the next A photo posted by Sarah Robles (@roblympian) on Aug 15, 2016 at 12:37pm PDT

So how does an Olympic bronze medalist cap off one of the best days of her life? With a protein shake and a call to Grandma, of course. As one does.

I lifted all the weights tonight! Protein shake and a call to grandma is how Ill finish off my night. A photo posted by Sarah Robles (@roblympian) on Aug 14, 2016 at 8:47pm PDT

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(Adds statement on disqualification) RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Show jumping teams from the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany posted penalty-free rounds on Tuesday, putting them in a four-way tie ahead of the final round that will decide the Olympic medals. Brazilian riders have thrilled the crowds at Deodoro Park since jumping competition began on Sunday, with fans cheering loudly then collectively hushing each other to allow the riders to concentrate. "It is certainly more than we are used to. It gives us motivation not distraction," Brazil's Alvaro "Doda" de Miranda told reporters. "The horses feel the same." To stay in contention for what would be Brazil's first team show jumping medal since 2000, however, they will need strong performances from all three riders on Wednesday. Their fourth, Stephan de Freitas Barcha, was disqualified after a jury decided he was guilty of using excessive force with his spurs. A rider from Ukraine was eliminated for the same reason. "Disqualification under this rule does not imply that there was intent to injure the horse, but it is essential that the rules are enforced in order to ensure that horse welfare is protected," said Stephan Ellenbruch, president of the Rio 2016 Equestrian Olympic Ground Jury. Two riders, from Belgium and the Netherlands, were disqualified for rough riding on Sunday. "That is not an ideal situation," De Miranda said. "We need to stick together and get it done with the three of us." Teams are allowed to drop their worst score out of four in the team qualifications. The United States, for instance, did not count four-time Olympic veteran Beezie Madden's eight faults, or two rails down. Eight teams qualified for the final team round, though some riders will jump again for individual medals on Friday. Defending Olympic champions Britain did not make the cut. (Reporting by Caroline Stauffer, editing by Ed Osmond/Peter Rutherford)
By Pritha Sarkar RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Germany's Fabian Hambuechen soared past his rivals with a heart-stopping routine on the horizontal bar to win the Olympic gold on Tuesday. The 28-year-old finally claimed the top prize at his fourth Olympics, triumphing with a score of 15.766. American Danell Leyva picked up his second silver of the day after also finishing second on the parallel bars, while Britain's Nile Wilson took the bronze. Epke Zonderland's hopes of back-to-back golds ended when he suffered a crash landing midway through his routine. He finished seventh out of eight finalists with 14.033. (Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by)
* U.S. trounce home team Brazil 13-3, move into semis * Australia fall to Hungary in shootout thriller * Russia overpower Spain to reach final four * Italy clinch semi-final spot with win over China (Adds Russia beating Spain, Italy defeating China) By Joshua Schneyer RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The world champion U.S. women's water polo team won a spot in the Olympic semi-finals by overwhelming home team Brazil on Monday, prevailing 13-3 and moving a step closer to defending their London Games title. In the semi-finals on Wednesday, the U.S. women will face Hungary, who edged out Australia by winning a penalty shoot-out following an 8-8 draw. Russia's women advanced with a 12-10 win over Spain and will next face Italy, who reached the last four with a 12-7 victory over China. The United States and Italy are the only women's teams yet to lose in the tournament but it was the U.S. lineup that produced the most dominant display on Monday as they lived up to their status as gold medal favourites. After three U.S. wins in the group round, where the team beat Spain, China and Hungary, they faced their easiest game yet against Brazil. Californian Makenzie Fischer, 19, helped to lead the charge with two goals, and was one of eight U.S. players to score in the first half without reply. "Everyone is ready to step up and take a shot," Fischer said of the team. The U.S. may face a tougher opponent in their next game. Hungary came back from a 5-3 first half deficit against Australia, to even the score in the last quarter and go on to win a tense shoot-out. Hungarian centre-back Orsolya Takacs, 31, said her team have ample experience playing against the United States and will be studying videotape to devise a winning strategy for the match-up. "Everybody's beatable," Takacs told reporters. "We will do everything to win." Team USA won gold at the 2012 London Games and have clinched a spot on the podium at every Games since women's water polo was added to the Olympics in 2000. The women's gold medal match is set for Friday. The men's water polo tournament resumes on Tuesday, when world champions Serbia face Spain in the quarter-finals, after a series of mostly disappointing performances in the group phase. Brazil's men's team, who won three out of five group stage matches and upset the Serbian team earlier, face a strong Croatian side. The U.S. men's team failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. Olympic water polo teams have faced some unexpected challenges in Rio. Controversy erupted over the outdoor water polo pool conditions last week after some players complained about over-chlorination that stung their eyes. But play has now moved to the indoor pool stadium that hosted Olympic swimming events, where there have been no complaints. (Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Andrew Hay, Alison Williams and Mark Lamport-Stokes)
Most people would think if its not good looks that make a man most attractive to women, then its definitely a sense of humor.

But studies consistently show that altruism is a top quality women are drawn to when they are looking for a relationship.

And a new study in the British Journal of Psychology found altruistic men may have more sex, too.

The researchers asked unmarried Canadian adults how much they did good deeds like giving money to charity, or helping someone get their car out of the snow. They then asked the participants how often they had sex and how many partners theyve had.

Men who reported more altruistic acts had more sex  and more partners. For those who were in relationships, good-hearted men were more likely to have had more sex in the last 30 days, too.

In the second experiment of the study, the researchers had undergraduate students say whether they would like to donate money they might receive for participating to charity. Those who said they would also tended to have more casual sex, more sex in relationships, and more lifetime sex partners overall.

Another study, published in January 2016 in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, presented 202 women with different men to choose from. The different combinations of choices were either attractive or not, and they either did a good deed or didnt.

The women chose the selfish, attractive men for a one-night stand. But for a long-term relationship, they chose the altruistic man whether he was attractive or not.

A slightly older study, published in The Journal of Social Psychology in 2013, really drives this home. That study found that women valued altruism above other traits as a measure of whether a potential mate would make a good parent. The women also said that altruism was important for short-term relationships, but significantly more women said the trait mattered for the long-term.

Yet another study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science in July 2015, analyzed Germans responses to a large annual survey.

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Single people who reported doing good deeds were much more likely to say they were in a relationship the next year. They also took less time to find a partner than their non-altruistic peers.

All of this is not to say other traits dont matter. Humor is also important to women selecting a mate, researchers have found. It makes women assume a man is more intelligent.

A sense of humor is a good indicator of sexual activity, too. In one study, men who women rated as funnier reported having more sex with more partners.

For building long-term relationships, though, researchers find over and over again that altruism is a crucial and highly desirable trait.

Psychologists have yet to pit humor head-to-head against altruism. Its also important to keep in mind that many of these studies are small, and that people often behave differently in real life than they do in a lab setting, or when responding to a survey. Especially when reporting positive experiences like charity work or sex, men may be more likely to overestimate how much they actually do those things. And due to the way these kinds of studies are designed, they cant say conclusively that its altruism specifically thats attractive; it might be other traits associated with altruism, or that men attractive for other reasons might also happen to be altruistic.

But the large number of studies and the consistent findings in favor of altruism are building a pretty solid case that there are some side benefits to doing good deeds. No matter what, if youre a man seeking a woman  especially for a long-term partnership  helping others cant hurt.

NOW WATCH: Heres how long the average man lasts in bed





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In the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse, the streets of newly independent Ukraine began to teem with children, victims of the poverty and domestic abuse that followed like a domestic sinkhole. Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a priest, took it upon himself to abduct those homeless kids, forcibly relocating them to a rehab center (many were drug-addicted) that he had established in the city of Mariupol. His story is the dark, all-to-real focus of the documentary Almost Holy, which has its digital release today (Aug. 16).??

To draw attention to that release, one of the film's composers, Oscar winner Atticus Ross, sat down for an interview with Moog, whose equipment he used on the film. In the short, which Billboard is exclusively premiering, Ross explains where he located his passion for creating music (the studio, not the rehearsal room), the relationship between music and film and??how he employed the hefty modular synthesizer from Moog to create the "sonic world" of the film. Ross also talks about his creative relationship with Almost Holy director Steve Hoover, who he says gave him wide license to sculpt "part of the foundation" of the film.

Almost Holy's score was created by Ross, brother Leopold Ross and Bobby Krlic, who releases his own brilliant and foreboding pummel as The Haxan Cloak.

The result of Ross' work can be found below, in a clip from the film which features his composition "Wild Moose" -- a nickname that Mokhnenko self-applied.
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Oxis International Inc. (OTCQB: OXIS and Euronext Paris OXI.PA) announced today that Dr. Daniel Vallera, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of its wholly owned subsidiary, Oxis Biotech Inc., has been invited to speak to leading cancer researchers at the World Bispecific summit.

Dr. Vallera, director of the section on Molecular Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, said he will discuss Trispecific Killer Engager (TriKE) technology developed by researchers at the university. TriKE therapy helps natural killer (NK) cells target and destroy cancer cells.

Oxis recently signed an agreement with the University of Minnesota to develop and commercialize TriKE cancer therapies. The company named Dr. Vallera to its Scientific Advisory Board earlier this year.

Dr. Vallera was instrumental in the development of Oxis' promising cancer therapy, OXS-1550, which is currently in an FDA Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical trial in Minnesota. OXS-1550 is a bispecific cancer therapy that empowers the body's immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone.

The World Bispecific summit is a gathering of top cancer researchers who specialize in bispecific cancer therapies. It will be held Sept. 28 to Sept. 30 in Boston.

Dr. Vallera will be joined by researchers and scientists from several of the world's top pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Pfizer, Roche, and many others.

Dr. Vallera has spent 35 years with the University of Minnesota's cancer center, where he oversees a laboratory specializing in the development of biological recombinant drugs focusing on bispecific antibody therapies that directly deliver toxic signals to cancer cells.

Anthony Cataldo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Oxis, said Dr. Vallera's invitation is an indication that his work is widely recognized by his peers.

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"We have received many requests for more information about the TriKE platform we have licensed from the University Of Minnesota," Mr. Cataldo said. "There is keen interest from the biotech community, which is now realizing the potential for this platform technology and how it addresses the future of Targeted Immunotherapy."

"The ability to target specific cancers with an off-the-shelf technology allows us a more cost-effective and more user-friendly approach than costly and labor-intensive CAR-T programs from Kite Pharma Inc. (KITE) or Juno Therapeutics Inc. (JUNO)."

Dr. Vallera said: "I am pleased to present our disruptive next generation TriKE technology to the World Bispecific Summit 2016. We have received many request for more information about our Tri-specific NK platform and this is a good forum to discuss this."

About Oxis Biotech, Inc.: Oxis Biotech is an immuno-oncology focused company developing innovative drugs focused on the treatment of cancer and other unmet medical needs. OXIS' lead drug candidate, OXS-1550 (DT2219ARL) is a novel bispecific scFv recombinant fusion protein-drug conjugate composed of the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of anti-CD19 and anti-CD22 antibodies and a modified form of diphtheria toxin as its cytotoxic drug payload. OXS-1550 targets cancer cells expressing the CD19 receptor or CD22 receptor or both receptors. When OXS-2175 binds to cancer cells, the cancer cells internalize the drug and are killed due to the action of drug's cytotoxic payload. OXS-1550 has demonstrated success in early human clinical trials in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma or leukemia. OXS-4235 is a small molecule therapeutic candidate targeting the treatment of multiple myeloma and associated osteolytic lesions. In in vitro and in vivo models of multiple myeloma and osteoporosis, OXS-4235 demonstrated the ability to kill multiple myeloma cells, and decrease osteolytic lesions in bone. OXIS' lead drug candidate, OXS-2175, is a small molecule therapeutic candidate targeting the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In in vitro and in vivo models of TNBC, OXS-2175 demonstrated the ability to inhibit metastasis.

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are inherently unreliable and actual results may differ materially. Examples of forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the payment of dividends, marketing and distribution plans, development activities and anticipated operating results. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include such factors as the Company's ability to accomplish its business initiatives, significant fluctuations in marketing expenses and ability to achieve and expand significant levels of revenues, or recognize net income, from the sale of its products and services, as well as the introduction of competing products, or management's ability to attract and maintain qualified personnel necessary for the development and commercialization of its planned products, and other information that may be detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company website: www.oxis.com

Media contact:

Stuart Pfeifer, Sitrick & Co.

(310) 788-2850

spfeifer@sitrick.com

SOURCE: Oxis International Inc.
Noisy fans watching live TV coverage of the Olympics as well as a race starters pistol may have started the panic inside New Yorks John F. Kennedy Airport Sunday.

Read: Panicked Travelers Bolt For Exits After Reports of Shots at JFK; Reports Unfounded

The panic spread like a contagion, from terminal to terminal. When people saw others screaming and running, they joined in the stampede.

Security expert Bill Stanton told Inside Edition: It's the herd mentality. Someone sees someone all panicked and they get panicked and it has that domino effect.

It began at JFK's Terminal 8 at 9:34 p.m. with shots reported outside the security checkpoint.

Judy Rothman-Rofe was about to catch a flight to Los Angeles. She told Inside Edition: Suddenly we heard loud screams and people saying get down get down! At that moment it changed to a scary situation.

The panic spread to Terminal 1 at 10:15 p.m.

Audio from police radio has also been released. One officer can be heard saying: "Be advised Terminal 1, people are running out and yelling, 'active shooter.'"

As people fled, loud noises like doors slamming sounded like gunshots, which only exacerbated the situation.

Another wave of panic struck Terminal 2 around 10:30 p.m. when someone screamed: "Shots!"

Scenes like the events at one of Americas busiest airports have followed the all-too-real attacks earlier this year on Brussels and Istanbul airports, fueling more fear.

Read: Cop Who Killed Paul O'Neal Said He 'Perceived' Shots From Stolen Jaguar: Report

But what if there really had been an attack? Would you know what to do?

Stanton said: I'm constantly scanning. I'm looking at people. I'm looking for exits. For instance, I know there's an exit to my left. I know if I have to get out to street level, right down these steps and Im there.

He added: If something were to happen right now, all rules go out the window. I'm going to look to jump over this counter, see what's back there, [maybe there is] a place to hide barricade myself in or a separate entrance that goes downstairs.

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Stanton gave the powerful advice: "Whatever you need to do to survive, do!"

Watch: 'Black Lives Matter' Chant Erupts as 9 Moms Who Lost Children to Police and Gun Violence Speak at DNC

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Famous global macro hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, the founder of Tudor Investment Corp, doubled-down on his bet against the stock market, according to his funds most recent 13-F filing.

During the second quarter, Tudor Investment bought put options on over 5.95 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). The fund now owns puts on 8.34 million shares of the exchange-traded fund, making it the funds largest position, the filing shows.

Puts gain value when the price of an asset falls. Buying these SPY puts gives the fund the right, but not the obligation, to sell shares at a set price. If the S&P 500 or the ETF that it tracks falls, Tudor Investment should profit handsomely as it would effectively be able to buy at a low price and then sell at the puts price.

Tudor Investment also owns call options on just over 1.43 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. The fund added call options on approximately 420,700 more shares during the second quarter, the filing shows. Calls give the fund the right to buy at a certain set price.

Jones, who is famous for nailing the Black Monday October 1987 stock market crash, is not alone in his bet against the S&P.

Jones joined George Soros

Legendary hedge fund manager George Soros also doubled down on his bet against the S&P, buying put options on just over 1.9 million shares the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, making it so he owns puts on just over 4 million shares. Its his funds biggest holding in the filing too.

Soros, 86, is widely known as the man who broke the Bank of England following his short bet against the British Pound in 1992 while running the Quantum Fund alongside Stanley Druckenmiller. Ahead of the June 23rd Brexit vote, Soros had warned that a decision to leave the EU would be more disruptive than Black Wednesday.

On June 30, the last day of the second quarter, Soros gave a grim speech to the EU Parliament where he highlighted these concerns.

Soros warned that the Brexit may be a greater calamity than the refugee crisis. He added that the UKs shocking decision has unleashed a crisis in the financial markets comparable in severity only to that of 2007/8.

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Markets initially sold off following the UKs stunning decision to leave the EU. However, they have since rallied back. Stocks lately have been hitting all-time highs.

Hedge funds of a certain size are required to disclose their long stock holdings in filings known as 13-Fs. Of course, the filings only provide a partial picture since they do not show short positions or wagers on commodities and currencies. Whats more is these filings come out 45 days after the end of each quarter, so its possible they could have traded in and out of the position. Still, it does provide a glimpse into where some of the top money managers have been placing money in the stock market.

Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

Tiger Global ditches its billion-dollar Netflix stake, cuts Apple

Heres what hedge fund titans have been buying and selling

Hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb bought a bunch of Facebook

Warren Buffett ramps up his huge bet on Apple, cuts back Walmart
PEN America has announced that the Nabokov award, which ran biennially from 2000-2008, will be brought back in 2017, with its conditions modified to focus on multi-genre work by writers from outside the US. Its title will change from the "PEN/Nabokov Award for Fiction" to "PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature."

The original Nabokov Award

Launched in 2000, the Nabokov Award was first created to honor (translated) fiction from around the world. Named after the Russian-American "master of storytelling" novelist Vladimir Nabokov ("Lolita", "Pale Fire", "Speak, Memory"), the award initially offered a prize of $20,000 to any "living author whose body of work, either written in or translated into English, is of enduring originality and consummate craftsmanship." Previous winners were William H. Gass (2000), Mario Vargas Llosa (2002), Mavis Gallant (2004), Philip Roth (2006) and Cynthia Ozick (2008).

The "revitalized" PEN/Nabokov Award

In an attempt to "draw attention to outstanding global voices that may be unknown to most U.S. readers," according to PEN America President Andrew Solomon, the revived Nabokov Award will be specifically attributed to writers living outside the US whose work has been translated into English. Work will be considered from a wide variety of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

Closed to public nominations, five international (as yet unnamed) writers will make up the jury for the new award, financed by PEN America in collaboration with the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, which was founded by the author's only child, the late Dmitri Nabokov.

The PEN America Literary Awards

The awards ceremony for the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature will take place in New York in February 2017. The $50,000 prize will bring the total money awarded by PEN via grants and prizes (25 in all) up to $315,000 in 2017, almost double the 2015 sum.

www.pen.org
By David DeKok

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A jury on Monday convicted Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane of all counts in her politically charged perjury trial stemming from allegations that she leaked grand jury information, a prosecutor's spokeswoman said.

The jurors deliberated for little more than five hours before deciding that Kane, a Democrat, had leaked the information to a reporter in a bid to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

Kane's conviction in the case that has riveted Pennsylvania for a year was confirmed by Kate Delano, spokeswoman for Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Governor Tom Wolf called on Kane to resign immediately. "I implore Attorney General Kane to do what is right: put the commonwealths residents first and step down from office, the Democrat said in a statement.

Kane was alleged to have attempted to gain revenge against former prosecutor Frank Fina by leaking grand jury information to a reporter to embarrass him and then lied about it.

Kane faces up to seven years in prison.

During the trial in Norristown, outside Philadelphia, Kane's lawyers argued that she intended to make a legal leak of information to the press and did not know her aides would include grand jury material.

They contended she made "honest mistakes" when testifying to the grand jury, but did not intentionally lie. Kane did not testify in her own defense.

(Writing by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)
If there is one word to describe the competition in the Lead Actor in a Limited Series/TV Movie category this year it would be fierce. With past winner Benedict Cumberbatch and three-time nominee Idris Elba back in the hunt, in the all-too-familiar staples Sherlock and Luther respectively, the race also has lots of impressive fresh blood in the form of Bryan Cranstons much lauded LBJ in All the Way, rising superstar Tom Hiddleston in John le Carres The Night Manager, and a compelling pair in Cuba Gooding Jr. and Courtney B. Vance from The People v. O.J. Simpson. Its on.

Bryan Cranston

All the Way

HBO

Re-creating his astounding, dead-on, Tony-winning turn as President Lyndon B. Johnson in HBOs television adaptation of All the Way, Emmy favorite Cranston is about as far from his Breaking Bad days as possible. The six-time winner may make it seven, especially since voters love it when actors play well known historical figures.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride / PBS

Emmy voters have already showered love on Cumberbatchs unique take on the immortal Sherlock Holmes, with three previous nominations in the category resulting in a big win in 2014. Add to that the fact that Academy members are a sucker for anything British and he has a decent shot at an upset repeat victory after being AWOL last year.

Idris Elba

Luther

BBC America

This is the fourth nomination in six years for the ever-popular Elbas turn as DCI John Luther. The gritty series has brought him much acclaim, so it is no wonder he keeps returning to it. Elba has already won Golden Globe, Critics Choice, Image and SAG Awards, among others, for his efforts in the show that debuted in 2010, and his growing popularity might mean he is finally ready to add an Emmy to that list.

Cuba Gooding Jr.

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

FX

Playing the iconic role of O.J. Simpson might have been a double-edged sword, but Oscar winner Gooding Jr. managed somehow to put a human face on a person many regard as a monster. Emmy voters may want to reward him just for taking on the nearly impossible task of even playing Simpson in a story we know all too well, having watched it in real time when it all happened.

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Tom Hiddleston

The Night Manager

AMC

As undercover spy Jonathan Pine, Hiddleston was perfect casting in this gorgeously filmed and tension-filled six part adaptation of the John le Carre novel. You would be excused if you mistook the whole thing for a major feature film, since Hiddleston has the looks and style of a genuine film star and brought it all here. As someone who was constantly switching identities, it was also a tricky acting role. His only drawback is he made it all seem so effortless and natural.

Courtney B. Vance

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

FX

According to nearly every critic, it was Vance who stole this ten-part limited series with an astonishing turn as slick lawyer Johnnie Cochran, the man who famously said, If the glove doesnt fit, you must acquit. Vance dug deep into the role of a man we thought we knew but really didnt. With co-star Gooding Jr. to contend with, though, it is possible they may cancel each other out.

PETES PICK: Bryan Cranston. Emmy voters love him. Who doesnt?

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie

Although there are six nominees, they collectively come from just three shows, and this could surely benefit Hugh Laurie, an actor who was nominated every season for House but never won. His steely and frightening international arms dealer in AMCs The Night Manager was a brilliant change of pace, and he is the only actor from that show nominated here. Conversely Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian and John Travolta earning his first-ever Emmy nod as Robert Shapiro must all contend against each other in The People v. O.J. Simpson, likely cancelling themselves out. The same conundrum applies to the excellent Jesse Plemons and Bokeem Woodbine in Fargo. All three of the shows for which these actors are nominated had great critical and viewer success, so anything can happen, but odds favor the loner.

PETES PICK: Hugh Laurie. The class of the field and the most memorable character.

Hugh Laurie - The Night Manager.jpeg

This post was originally published August 16, 2016.

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Utah's Bear Ears region's archaeological and natural treasures are threatened. President Obama should designate it as a national monument.
The Philippine Islands has a problem. It has international law on its side in its quarrel with China over maritime territory, but no policeman walking his beat to enforce the law. That means that, despite an international courts findings, the dispute over rocks and islands off Philippine shores is far from over. On Aug. 2, Chinas defense minister, Chang Wanquan, even said China must prepare for a peoples war at sea. That leaves strategy as Manilas lone recourse; yet China overshadows the Philippines in every imaginable metric of national power.

But as I wrote in 2012, when South China Sea tensions were heating up, while the Philippines has no chance of winning in combat with China, it may win a peacetime confrontation. The hope for Philippine leaders, then as now, was to conjure the career of Fabius Maximus, the Roman dictator nicknamed Cunctator, or the Delayer. Fabius advised confounding antagonists through inventive strategy and tactics, constructing alliances to augment strength, and remaining united and resolute at home.

The Delayer spoke from experience. Greek historian Plutarch relates how Fabius envisioned combating Hannibal, who burst into Italy across the Alps in 218 B.C. and went on a rampage. Romans, accordingly, granted Fabius emergency powers to repel the threat. Fabius appeared unperturbed despite the menace in Italys midst. He reasoned that given time, Rome could amass power sufficient to vanquish the invaders. So he abjured efforts to crush the Carthaginians in an afternoon and postponed a battlefield decision.

The Fabian playbook is essentially this: (1) Exercise self-discipline, subduing your passion for quick victory. Refuse to fight a stronger foe on its own terms. (2) Keep your alliances robust, supplementing your strength. (3) Tend to the home front, sustaining political unity for a prolonged struggle while husbanding the sinews of national power. And (4) be patient. Let the foe exhaust its fervor over time, yielding an acceptable peace.

Its likely Fabius would have smiled at Manilas courtroom triumph. Its precisely the sort of stratagem he would have deployed when confronting a power mismatch. Unable to dissuade a muscle-bound China through diplomatic persuasion or overpower it through economic or military might, Philippine officials took their case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which last month struck down Beijings claim to de facto ownership of most of the South China Sea  including much of the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the offshore belt of sea where coastal states enjoy exclusive rights to harvest natural resources from the water and seafloor. Most strikingly, the jurists pronounced Beijings map of Southeast Asia, which bears a nine-dash line enclosing most of the South China Sea and delineating waters where China claims indisputable sovereignty, as bunk.

Under the doctrine of indisputable sovereignty, China would make the rules governing seaborne endeavors in the South China Sea. The logic behind Chinas stance was simple: the warrior who does battle on unfamiliar ground fights at a marked disadvantage relative to the warrior fighting on home ground. China wants to keep prospective foes like the U.S. Navy from knowing the theaters physical terrain and underwater geography, and to keep them from working with Southeast Asian allies before the outbreak of war. If successful, it can cripple its rivals operationally.

But while the UNCLOS tribunal ruled Chinas overreach unlawful, the court has no enforcement arm. China refused to take part in the legal proceedings, rejected the ruling, and, for good measure, flew a nuclear-capable bomber over Scarborough Shoal afterward, which the Chinese coast-guard vessels wrested from the Philippine Navy four years ago, precipitating the dispute.

Confronted with Chinese intransigence, Philippine leaders need to go back to Fabius playbook.

Having seized control of the narrative, for one thing, Manila must hang onto it. China wages three warfares 24/7/365, employing media, psychological, and legal outlets to mold opinion in its favor. The Philippines must reply in kind, telling its story well and telling it often. The UNCLOS tribunal ruling should become a standard talking point.

And spokesmen must fold pictures and video into Philippine public diplomacy. I am a close watcher of South China Sea issues, but I have yet to unearth a slick, visually impressive statement about the problem and how Philippine policy addresses it. For instance, Manilas initial official account of the Scarborough Shoal standoff, dating from April 2012, shows a few grainy pictures of boats containing contraband coral, claims, and sharks harvested from the waters around the shoal. There is nothing to put the standoff in context  say, by showing the Philippine Navy facing off against Chinese fishing and law-enforcement vessels. Nor does the shoal itself appear. That set an unfortunate pattern for Philippine public diplomacy from then until now. Manila must show people what China is doing and, in the case of fellow Asian powers, remind them they may be next if China gets away with grabbing something just because it can.

Second, Fabius beseeched Rome to nurture its alliances, a major reserve of Roman power. Manila must likewise aim its opinion-shaping efforts at current and prospective partners. It has no military option of its own. After all, the Philippine Navy is centered on three elderly U.S. Coast Guard cutters painted gray and renamed frigates. Chinas navy would make short work of them in battle.

In this regard, multinational bodies offer little promise. The UN Security Council could act. But China is a permanent member of the Security Council, wielding veto power over any resolution. ASEAN could act, but it isnt a military alliance, and its members make decisions by consensus in any event. (Just last month, Cambodia nixed an effort to release a joint statement heralding the UNCLOS tribunals decision.)

That leaves formal or informal alliances. A mutual defense treaty has bound the United States to the Philippine Islands since 1951. The pact obliges America to defend not just the main islands but island territories under [Manilas] jurisdiction. Washington has inched closer and closer to declaring that the treaty applies to offshore islands and atolls, as well as underwater features such as Scarborough Shoal. But it hasnt quite gotten there. Until then, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should beware of hinting that he might barter away the contested territory, which is one very plausible outcome of one-on-one negotiations. Why would the U.S. bother defending something its ally might give away? Stand firm, Mr. President  and let friendly powers see you do so.

That will help with Fabius third strategic imperative: steadying the home front for a long struggle. The Philippine electorate, like those anywhere, will come down hard on national leaders who appear to be dickering away sovereign rights and dignity. The good news is that Duterte appears to have internalized this lesson since taking office. In the wake of the UNCLOS tribunals ruling, Duterte told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that the courts decision is non-negotiable. Thats a message that will resonate with Philippine constituents as well as abroad.

Lastly, Fabius would counsel Philippine leaders to protract the competition until Chinas fervor subsides. How long will that take, and will China abandon its aims at all? Its hard to see how Beijing could ever formally give them up. Chinese Communist Party leaders staked national dignity and prestige on an empty claim to ownership of the maritime common. They portrayed the common as sacred territory that has belonged to China since antiquity, and made themselves accountable to nationalist sentiment  which they themselves set ablaze.

The best the Philippines and its friends can hope for is that Beijing will mellow out over time. It can never cancel its maritime claims altogether, for fear of fueling popular fury. But it could, perhaps, shelve them quietly for the sake of regional amity  as party potentates like Deng Xiaoping once did. Beijing could stop pressing its claims day in and day out.

To be sure, students of Roman history would affix a coda to all of this, pointing out that Fabius didnt win Romes war against Hannibal; Cornelius Scipio did. Fabian strategy wasnt enough. Fabius had to defend himself constantly from hotheads thirsting for decisive victory, and Florentine philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli opined that Fabius proved unable to escape his defensive-minded instincts. Rome needed a Scipio: a brash, offensive-minded, risk-taking commander. Scipio carried the fight across the Mediterranean Sea, marching on Carthage itself. Scipios army crushed Hannibal in North Africa, at the Battle of Zama, putting an end to the Second Punic War and earning the honorific Africanus for his exploits.

That endgame hints at the frustrations awaiting Manila. With no Scipio in waiting, Manila must resign itself indefinitely to stalling tactics. It must be more Fabian than Rome was, placing heavy emphasis on its alliances.

Then again, lesser antagonists have used just this strategy many times over the centuries, sometimes with rousing success. Look no farther than American shores. In 1777, Alexander Hamilton  who served on George Washingtons staff and reformed the Continental Army before becoming a star of stage and screen  boasted to Robert Livingston about the armys Fabian conduct. Rather than offer battle, and perhaps lose the Revolutionary War in an afternoon, Hamilton urged American forces to perplex and fret the redcoats. In so doing, Washington & Co. would precipitate British commanders into measures that Americans could turn to good account.

Our business, concluded Hamilton, is to avoid a general engagement and waste the enemy away by constantly goading their sides, in a desultory teasing way. In the meantime, the colonists tapped European help to construct a fighting force capable of facing British redcoats.

Speaking of America: if a Scipio-like commander capable of deterring or vanquishing China appears, it will probably be in the form of an American naval commander. That should concentrate minds in Manila. Staying on good terms with ones superpower patron is sound strategy. Reassuring Washington of Philippine steadfastness, liberalizing U.S. military access to bases close to likely scenes of action, and widening Manilas circle of allies represent obvious steps for Duterte and his advisers.

Entrusting vital interests to foreigners is less than satisfying for a proud society like the Philippines. The Philippines would surely have preferred to declare victory after years of Fabian strategy yielded a legal ruling starkly in Manilas favor. But such is life when small powers square off against big ones. Its time to dust off the Fabian playbook once again.

JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images
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It was like watching an internet forum argument, but on national television  as one tweeter put it.

British physicist Professor Brian Cox tried his best to explain human-induced climate change to avowed climate denier Malcolm Roberts, a newly-appointed senator of the far-right One Nation party in Australia.

SEE ALSO: Earth's hottest month on record was July 2016: NASA

The duo went head-to-head on TV program Q&A on Monday night, where Roberts claimed that there has been a pause in global warming for two decades.

"We've had a pause in this so-called warming for now 21 years, depends how you measure it, 21 years," Roberts claimed. That's when Cox pulled out the The Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index, a graph to illustrate how wrong that claim was.

Cox explained that it was easy for deniers to draw a "straighter line" between certain years on the graph, to try back up the pause claim, ignoring the fact that 2015 was the hottest year on record and that 2016 looks likely to beat it. Or even the clear rise in temperature stemming all the way from 1880.

Then Cox pulled out a graph showing a rapid increase of carbon dioxide in the air, which is currently at its highest levels in 650,000 years.

"So the question essentially, first of all, are those two things correlated, and secondly, do we understand the physical mechanisms  and we've understood those since the 19th century," Cox said.

That wasn't good enough for Roberts, who wanted to focus on the spike in temperatures during the mid-1930s to 1940s. "Yeah, the 1930s and '40s were warmer than the current decades," he claimed.

Except they aren't, as illustrated by Cox's finger-pointing.

Image: ABC Q&A

So then Roberts took aim at the source of the data on the graph: NASA. "The data has been corrupted, and we know the 1930s were warmer than today," Roberts said.

"What do you mean by corrupted? Corrupted," Cox shot back.

Story continues

"It's been manipulated," Roberts claimed.

"By who?" Cox asked.

"...by NASA," Roberts said, to the crowd's hilarious exasperation.

"NASA?" a vexed Cox responded. Roberts continued his claim that data was manipulated by agencies to make global temperatures look worse than they actually are.

"Can I just check one thing: NASA? The people who landed men on the moon," Cox asked. "The accusation that NASA, the Met Office in UK, everybody has collaborated to manipulate global temperature data is quite ... [so] they've all manipulated it in the same way and accidentally got to the same answer, is that what you're saying?"

It was unfortunately one of those situations where it doesn't matter how much data or facts one's armed themselves with, there's no convincing someone. And thus the conversation ended.

The director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), Gavin Schmidt, was "flummoxed" by claims of manipulated data following the Q&A episode. NASA's GISS is the source of the graphs which Cox used to illustrate his point on TV.

Schmidt took to Twitter to leave his thoughts on "climate deniers" who accused his team of fraud.

It's all a bit much, isn't it. But hey, at least Cox enjoys Australia's wine.

UPDATE: Aug. 16, 2016, 2:23 p.m. AEST Added tweets from NASA GISS director Gavin Schmidt.
The investigation into the disappearance of a 3-year-old girl missing since Monday likely came to an end Tuesday when police found remains believed to be hers and her mother's boyfriend, who first reported her missing, was charged with first-degree murder, PEOPLE confirms.



Jordan Ann Dumont was reported missing from her home in Gastonia, North Carolina, by her mother's boyfriend, 25-year-old Billy Joseph McCullen, police said in a press release obtained by PEOPLE.



McCullen told police that at 1 p.m. he put Jordan down for a nap and took a nap himself. He said when he awoke two hours later he realized she was not home and the front door was open.



An investigation was launched immediately. On Tuesday morning, police announced the discovery of the remains, which belong to a child, about 500 to 750 yards from Jordan's home.



"It appears the remains are that of Jordan Ann Dumont," the Gaston County Police said in a press release, which added, "Tests will need to be conducted by the medical examiner's office to determine a positive identification of the remains as well as the cause of death."



At a press conference, Gaston County Police Chief Joseph Ramey said, "We believe she may have been deceased prior to being placed where she was found."



Ramey added that "further charges could be forthcoming," and that authorities will "see where additional evidence leads us."



He said there were 49 calls for service at Jordan's home over a three-year period, but he declined to give specifics.



 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.



Tommy McCullen, Billy's uncle, tells PEOPLE he is shocked to hear the news.



"It surprises me, it really does," he said, adding that he hasn't seen his nephew in two or three years. He said his nephew had problems in the past "but I thought he had cleaned up his past."



With reporting by MICHELLE BOUDIN
Donald Trump may have won Florida over Marco Rubio in the primaries, but the two Republicans may be headed for a reversal of fortunes this fall.

A new poll shows shows Hillary Clinton ahead of Trump by nine percentage points, while Rubio is beating both his potential Democratic opponents in the Senate race. The Monmouth University poll shows Trump losing key demographic groups by wide margins, with Clinton drawing 48 percent of the total vote and Trump drawing 39 percent.

Only 19 percent of Floridas Hispanic, black and Asian voters say they will support Trump. Mitt Romney won white women in Florida by 17 points in 2012, but Trump is currently losing them by 10 points. The candidate is winning white men by 40 points.

Without Floridas 29 electoral votes, Trump will have to make major gains in other battleground states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, which have recently gone for Democrats. He is currently losing those states by large margins.

In the Senate race, Rubio is beating the two Democrats battling to face him in the fall with Rep. Patrick Murphy down five points and Rep. Alan Grayson down 11. Nearly half of Florida voters say they approve the job Rubio has done in the Senate, but more than half say his redirection to run for Senate reelection was more out of service to a future presidential run than to the public.

The poll had a margin of error of 4.9% with a sample of 402 likely Florida voters.
(Changes source, adds details)

By Mike Stone

Aug 15 (Reuters) - Industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc is in early talks to merge with Germany's Linde AG , according to a person familiar with the matter.

Details of the talks were not immediately clear and any potential deal could still fall apart, according to the person.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the talks and said there is no guarantee that antitrust regulators would approve if there is any agreement. http://on.wsj.com/2b9Njz2

This could be the second consolidation in the gas supplier industry after France's Air Liquide agreed to buy U.S. peer Airgas Inc in a $13.4 billion deal last year.

Analysts at that time pointed out that the deal would help Air Liquide overtake rivals including Linde AG, Air Products and Praxair to top spot in North America and speed diversification away from slow-growth Europe.

Praxair is an industrial gas supplier in North and South America, Asia and Europe, while Linde Group's core business division offers planning, project development and construction of turnkey industrial plants used in fields, such as petrochemical and chemical industries.

The companies could not be immediately reached for comment after regular business hours.

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in New York; Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)
House Speaker Paul Ryan, shown here speaking last month at a breakfast with Pennsylvania delegates during the Republican National Convention in Ohio, faced a primary challenger in the race to represent Wisconsin's 1st District in Congress. Ryan, R-Janesville, easily defeated Paul Nehlen in the Aug. 9 contest. PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shares of Praxair Inc. PX are up 5% in afternoon trading on Tuesday after the company confirmed that it is engaged in preliminary merger talks with German company Linde AG.

Based in Danbury, CT, Praxair is an industrial gas company that produces, sells, and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty gases, as well as surface coatings.

In late July, the company reported its Q2 earnings, posting $1.39 in earnings per share and $2.67 billion in revenue. These beat our Zacks Consensus Estimates of $1.35 and $2.61 billion respectively.

As our team has discussed, use of industrial gases has been on the rise across various industries, including refining, healthcare, oil, and gas, amongst others. Praxair was busy in Q2, acquiring the European Carbon dioxide business of Yara International ASA along with five other industrial gas companies.

A merger with Linde AG would create a company with a combined market cap of over $60 billion. Considering the currency headwinds and decreased economic growth that the industrial gas industry has faced recently, a merger could grant the two companies some needed stability.

Reuters reports that it is currently unclear whether a potential deal would be a merger of equals or one company buying out the other. It also mentions that Markus Meyer, an analyst at Baader Helvea, stated that overlaps between the two companies around the world could help generate synergies of up to 800 million.

As stated, talks are still in very early stages, so it is quite possible that the companies will not come to an agreement.

In the days since its earnings report, Praxair has seen downward earnings estimates for the foreseeable future. Current quartet estimates stand at $1.41 per share, down from the $1.44 estimate of 30 days ago, while full-year estimates slipped three cents to $5.53.

Praxair Inc. currently sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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* Linde says talks are ongoing, no agreement so far

* Deal would create No.1 player with value above $60 billion

* Linde wants merger of equals - sources

* Shares in Linde, Praxair jump (Adds Praxair statement, updates shares)

By Mike Stone and Jens Hack

NEW YORK/MUNICH, Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc and German peer Linde AG said on Tuesday they were in early-stage talks about a merger to create a market leader with a value of more than $60 billion, sending their shares higher.

An agreement would accelerate consolidation sweeping the industrial gas sector where slower economic growth has weakened demand in the manufacturing, metals and energy sectors and put pressure on smaller players to compete.

A combination of Praxair and Linde, which supply gases such as nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide, would face scrutiny from regulators after other major deals, such as U.S. oilfield services provider Halliburton Co's $34.6 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes Inc, were shot down due to antitrust concerns.

Linde has a strong position in healthcare in North America, where it supplies gases to hospitals and patients with respiratory disorders.

Praxair is more focused on industrial on-site production, which means a market share of close to 50 percent resulting from a merger should not spark opposition from U.S. anti-trust regulators, analysts said.

In separate statements, Linde and Praxair said talks were ongoing and had not yet yielded any concrete results or agreements.

VARIETY OF OPTIONS

Several people familiar with the matter had earlier said the two companies had held talks. One person had said Praxair was considering a takeover of Linde, while two other sources said Linde wanted a merger of equals.

One of the sources said a share swap was one possible structure of a deal but that talks were still very preliminary.

"A merger would be good for both companies, and for the sector as a whole," said Christopher Schaefer, a fund manager at Union Investment, a top-20 shareholder of Linde.

Story continues

Shares in Linde were up 11 percent at 154.55 euros, an eight-month high, by 1450 GMT, making them the top gainer on Germany's blue-chip index. Praxair shares were up 5.5 percent to $124.50.

Linde has a market value of around 28 billion euros ($31.6 billion), compared with about $33.7 billion for Praxair.

Analysts said talks may have been spurred by French Air Liquide's acquisition of smaller U.S. peer Airgas Inc for $10.3 billion this year, making the world's leading industrial gases group a strong second player in North America behind Praxair.

Union Investment's Schaefer said the two companies could be forced to sell some assets to win regulatory approval of a merger, for instance in Brazil, Germany and Canada.

"But not so much that it would hurt the merger partners," he added.

Baader Helvea analyst Markus Mayer said overlaps in the rest of the world could help generate synergies of up to 800 million euros in a merger.

Jefferies analysts said they estimated that Praxair could pay a 26 percent premium over Linde's market value to gain control of it and still achieve an 8 percent return on invested capital in the full year and improve its free cash flow per share by $1.70.

Perella Weinberg is advising Linde, while Credit Suisse , among others, is working for Praxair, sources said. ($1 = 0.8865 euros)

(Additional reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bangalore and Alexander Huebner, Jonathan Gould and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; Editing by Keith Weir and Marguerita Choy)
Since its creation, we have learned about the Islamic State from its enemies. Its story has largely been told by those fighting the group in Iraq and Syria, traumatized civilians who have escaped its brutal rule, and the occasional defector. That is about to change. This is the story of Abu Ahmad, a Syrian operative for the Islamic State who witnessed the groups lightning expansion firsthand and spent months among its most notorious foreign fighters.

In this series of three articles, he provides unique insight into how Abu Bakr al-Baghdadis political scheming paved the way for the Islamic States expansion into Syria, al Qaedas efforts to stem the groups rise, and the terrifying weapons in the arsenal of the self-proclaimed caliphate. Some names and details have been omitted to protect Abu Ahmad.

Abu Ahmad never hesitated in his embrace of the Syrian uprising. Born in a northern Syrian city to a conservative and religious Sunni Arab family, he was a student when the revolt began in March 2011, and joined the protests against President Bashar al-Assad from day one.

With excitement in our hearts we saw [the uprising in] Egypt happening, followed by the revolution in Libya, he said. We hoped the wind of change would not pass our country.

When the uprising became a full-fledged civil war by mid-2012, Abu Ahmad decided to take up arms and fight. He joined a jihadi-leaning rebel group, whose members were mostly Syrians but also included some foreign fighters from Europe and Central Asia. The composition of the brigades was in flux then  every couple of months, Abu Ahmads group would either change its name or unite with other jihadi rebels. But then the groups began to consolidate: In Spring 2013, Abu Ahmad chose to side with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant when it officially expanded into Syria, as tensions escalated between the jihadi group and the Nusra Front. The group would go on to proclaim itself a worldwide caliphate in June 2014, assuming the name Islamic State to reflect its global ambitions. To this day, Abu Ahmad is a serving member in the organization, with unique insight into the groups behavior and its history.

Story continues

Over the course of our more than 15 meetings with Abu Ahmad, we questioned him intensively about his knowledge of the jihadi group and his bona fides as one of the soldiers of the caliphate. Over a period of 10 months, we spent more than 100 hours with him. He patiently answered our questions on everything from how he ended up with the Islamic State, how the organization is organized, and the identity of the European foreign fighters within the group. Our interviews would go on for six hours a day, in week-long stretches.

Abu Ahmad took a great personal risk in talking to us. Because he is still with the Islamic State, we had to deliberately obscure some details about his life to protect his identity.

Abu Ahmad agreed to speak to us, he explained, for several reasons. Although he is still with the Islamic State, he doesnt agree with everything the outfit does. He is attracted to the organization because he views it as the strongest Sunni group in the region. However, he is disappointed that it has become too extreme, blaming it for doing such things as crucifying, burning, and drowning its opponents and those who violate its rules.

For example, Abu Ahmad objected to a punishment that the Islamic State implemented in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab, where it put a cage in the middle of the city center, known as Freedom Square, to punish Syrian civilians guilty of minor crimes, such as selling cigarettes. The group, Abu Ahmad said, imprisoned Syrians in the cage for three days at a time, hanging a sign around their neck stating the crime that they had committed.

Now the square is known as the Punishment Square, he said. I think this kind of harsh punishment is bad for us. It is making ISIS more feared than liked by Sunnis, which is not good at all.

In the past, Abu Ahmad said, he had hoped the Islamic State would become jihadi unifiers, capable of bringing Sunni jihadis together under one banner. He admired the foreign fighters whom he knew, mainly young men from Belgium and the Netherlands who had traveled to Syria to fight jihad. They had all lived in rich and peaceful countries, and while tens of thousands of Syrians had paid large sums of money to be smuggled to Europe to escape the war, these jihadis voluntarily traveled in the exact opposite direction.

These foreigners left their families, their houses, their lands and traveled all the way to help us here in Syria, Abu Ahmad said. So to support us they are truly sacrificing everything they have.

But Abu Ahmad would soon sour on aspects of the jihadi group. First, the Islamic State has not brought jihadis together; on the contrary, tensions have risen with other groups, and he worried that the rise of ISIS led to the breakup with the Nusra Front and the weakening of unified jihadi forces in Syria.

Secondly, while some of the foreign fighters were men who led truly religious lives in Europe, he discovered another group that he took to thinking of as the crazies. These were mostly young Belgian and Dutch criminals of Moroccan descent, unemployed and from broken homes, who lived marginal lives in marginal suburbs of marginal cities. Most of these crazies had no idea about religion, and hardly any of them ever read the Quran. To them, fighting in Syria was either an adventure or a way to repent for their sinful lives in Europes bars and discos.

There was Abu Sayyaf, a jihadi from Belgium, who often talked about beheadings. He once asked his emir, Abu al-Atheer al Absi, if he could slaughter somebody. I just want to carry a head, Abu Sayyaf said. Locally he was known as al-thabah, or the slayer.

In war, the first victim is often the truth. The stories Abu Ahmad told us were so incredible, and so close to the seat of the Islamic States power, that we were determined to put his assertions to the test.

In order to do so, we set up a quiz for Abu Ahmad. He said that he knew many of the Dutch and Belgian fighters who had joined the Islamic State, so we prepared a list with roughly 50 photographs of jihadis from those countries who are known to have left for Syria. During a meeting with Abu Ahmad, we asked him to identify the men in the pictures.

Abu Ahmads answers confirmed that he had extensive knowledge about the European jihadis fighting for the Islamic State. In front of us  without access to the internet and with no outside help  Abu Ahmad went through the images, and correctly identified roughly 30 of the jihadis by name. In most cases, he would add some anecdotes about the fighter. For the other pictures, he said that he had not seen the people and did not know their names.

A behind-the-scenes photograph supplied by Abu Ahmad showing an Islamic State execution in the city of Palmyra.

Abu Ahmad showed us private photos and videos on his laptop of some Dutch, Belgian, and Central Asian fighters in Syria, which are not posted online. The only way that he could have had these images was through deep, personal experience within the jihadi community.

Abu Ahmad also proved that he had behind-the-scenes access to some of the Islamic States most spectacular acts of violence. After the jihadi group captured Palmyra in 2015, Abu Ahmad paid a visit to the desert city to witness a Game of Thrones-like setting for executions of the groups opponents. One day in July 2015, two Islamic State members from Austria and Germany executed two people who they claimed were Syrian Army soldiers on the ancient citys great colonnade. This was one of many executions in Palmyra; on July 4, the Islamic State released a video showing the bloody spectacle of teenage fighters executing 25 alleged Syrian soldiers in the citys amphitheater.

Weeks before the official Islamic State video of the gruesome executions by the German and Austrian fighters went online, Abu Ahmad supplied us with a picture of the execution. The photograph not only shows the two prisoners moments before they are killed, but also shows two members of the Islamic States media unit capturing the horror scene. Never has the group published such a behind-the-scenes picture of one of its executions; it is not available online. The picture supplied by Abu Ahmad is truly unique  secretly taken by an insider.

Remarkably, one of the two cameramen in the photograph is Harry Sarfo, a German citizen who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State. He said he subsequently became disillusioned with the group and fled back to Germany, where he is currently imprisoned. The New York Times profile of Sarfo claims that Islamic State members told Sarfo to hold the groups black flag and to walk again and again in front of the camera as they filmed a propaganda video. The photograph supplied by Abu Ahmad, however, contradicts the narrative that Sarfo played a passive role in this production: While the video only shows him holding the black flag, the photograph shows that he was one of the two cameramen filming the killers who are about to execute the two Syrians.

Abu Ahmad has not just watched the growing war between Syrias jihadis from afar  he witnessed its beginning up close. The split between the Nusra Front and the Islamic State was one of the most epochal events of the Syrian war; it resulted in a massive divide within the anti-Assad ranks and signaled the rise of a new jihadi force, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, that has come to overshadow al Qaeda.

Abu Ahmad had a front-row seat to how the jihadi worlds biggest divorce unfolded.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivers a sermon during Friday prayer at a mosque in Mosul on July 5, 2014. (Photo by Al-Furqan Media/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The caravan of the caliphate

In mid-April 2013, Abu Ahmad noticed a dark red-brown car pull up in front of the headquarters of Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen (MSM), a Syrian jihadi group led by Abu al-Atheer, in the northern Syrian town of Kafr Hamra.

One of Abu Ahmads friends, a jihadi commander, walked up to him and whispered in his ear: Look carefully inside the vehicle.

The car was nothing special: not new enough to attract attention but not a jalopy, either. It wasnt armored and it did not have a license plate.

Inside the vehicle sat four men. Abu Ahmad recognized none of them. The man sitting behind the driver wore a folded black balaclava like a cap. On top of it was a black shawl, falling over his shoulders. He had a long beard. Except for the driver, all occupants held small machine guns on their laps.

PQ_doorn_2-2

Abu Ahmad could see that there was no extra security at the gate of the headquarters. As usual, just two armed fighters stood guard in front of the entrance. The internet connection at the headquarters was working normally. To him, there didnt seem to be any sign that today was different from any other day.

But after the four men got out of the car and disappeared into the headquarters, the same jihadi commander walked up to him again and whispered You have just seen Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Since 2010, Baghdadi had been the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), al Qaedas affiliate in that war-torn country. According to Baghdadis own account, he sent Abu Muhammad al-Jolani as his representative to Syria in 2011, instructing him to set up the Nusra Front to wage jihad there. Until the beginning of 2013, ISI and Nusra worked together. But Baghdadi wasnt satisfied. He wanted to combine al Qaedas Iraqi and Syrian affiliates to create one outfit that stretched across both countries  with him, of course, as the leader.

Every morning, for five days in a row, the red-brown car dropped off Baghdadi and his deputy, Haji Bakr, at the headquarters of MSM in Kafr Hamra. Before sunset, the same car with the same driver would pick them up from the headquarters and take Baghdadi to a secret location for the night. The next morning, the car would come back to drop off Baghdadi and Bakr.

Over the course of those five days, inside the headquarters of MSM, Baghdadi talked extensively to a group of important jihadi leaders in Syria. These were some of the worlds most wanted men, all gathered in one room, sitting on mattresses and pillows on the ground. They were served breakfast and lunch: roasted or grilled chicken and french fries, tea, and soft drinks to wash it down. Baghdadi, the most wanted man in the world, drank either Pepsi or Mirinda, an orange-flavored soda.

In addition to Baghdadi, the participants included Abu al-Atheer, the emir of MSM; Abu Mesaab al-Masri, an Egyptian jihadi commander; Omar al Shishani, a leading Chechen jihadi who had come to Syria from Georgia; Abu al-Waleed al-Libi, a jihadi leader from Libya who had come to Syria; Abed al-Libi, an emir in the Libyan Katibat al-Battar group; two Nusra intelligence chiefs; and Haji Bakr, Baghdadis second in command.

Abu Ahmad was fascinated by the congregation of so many senior commanders. During breaks in the talks, he would walk around the headquarters, speaking to people who attended the meeting. Abu Ahmad was full of questions: Why did Baghdadi come from Iraq to Syria? Why did all these commanders and emirs meet with him? And what was so important that Baghdadi himself discussed for days on end?

The answer to Abu Ahmads questions could be found in a speech made by Baghdadi, shortly before the Kafr Hamra meeting. On April 8, 2013, Baghdadi announced that his organization had expanded into Syria. All jihadi factions there  including Nusra  had to submit to his control. So we declare while relying on Allah: The cancellation of the name Islamic State of Iraq and the cancellation of the name Jabhat al-Nusra, and gathering them under one name, the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, he intoned.

The sheikh is here to convince everybody to abandon Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Jolani, one of the participants in the talks told Abu Ahmad. Instead, everybody should join him and unite under the banner of ISIS, which soon will become a state.

The Islamic State's fighters in Syria (from left to right): Abu al-Atheer, Abu Ahmads emir; Abu Shishan al-Belgiki, a Belgian citizen of Chechen origin; Abu Tamima, a French jihadist; and Omar al-Shishani, an infamous Chechen jihadist who rose to be one of the top commanders in the organization.

The al Qaeda allegiance lie

Baghdadi, however, faced one big problem in realizing his goal. The assembled emirs explained to the ISI chief that most of them had sworn allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Ladens chosen successor and the leader of al Qaeda. How could they suddenly abandon Zawahiri and al Qaeda and switch to Baghdadi?

According to Abu Ahmad, they asked Baghdadi during the meeting: Have you pledged allegiance to Zawahiri?

Baghdadi told them that he had indeed pledged allegiance, but hadnt declared it publicly, per Zawahiris request. But Baghdadi assured the men that he was acting under the command of the al Qaeda leader.

The jihadi leaders had no way to check if this claim was true. Zawahiri was perhaps the most difficult person in the world to contact  he had not been seen in public in years, and is still in hiding, most probably somewhere in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

With Zawahiri unable to mediate the dispute himself, the jihadi leaders had to make up their own minds. If Baghdadi acted on behalf of Zawahiri, there was no doubt they had to follow the order to join ISIS. But if Baghdadi was freelancing, his plan to take over Nusra and other groups was an act of mutiny. It would divide al Qaeda and create fitna, or strife, between all the jihadi armies.

So the commanders gave Baghdadi a conditional allegiance. They said to him: If it is true what you are saying, then we will support you, Abu Ahmad told us.

Baghdadi also spoke about the creation of an Islamic state in Syria. It was important, he said, because Muslims needed to have a dawla, or state. Baghdadi wanted Muslims to have their own territory, from where they could work and eventually conquer the world.

The participants differed greatly about the idea of creating a state in Syria. Throughout its existence, al Qaeda had worked in the shadows as a nonstate actor. It did not openly control any territory, instead committing acts of violence from undisclosed locations. Remaining a clandestine organization had a huge advantage: It was very difficult for the enemy to find, attack, or destroy them. But by creating a state, the jihadi leaders argued during the meeting, it would be extremely easy for the enemy to find and attack them. A state with a defined territory and institutions was a sitting duck.

Abu al-Atheer, the MSM emir, had already told his fighters before the arrival of Baghdadi that he was very much against declaring a state. Some people are talking about this unwise idea, Atheer told his men. What kind of madman declares a state during this time of war?!

Omar al-Shishani, the leader of the Chechen jihadis, was equally hesitant about the idea of creating a state, said Abu Ahmad. There was a reason why Osama bin Laden had been hiding all these years  to avoid getting killed by the Americans. Declaring a state would be an open invitation to the enemy to attack them.

Despite the hesitation of many, Baghdadi persisted. Creating and running a state was of paramount importance to him. Up to this point, jihadis ran around without controlling their own territory. Baghdadi argued for borders, a citizenry, institutions, and a functioning bureaucracy. Abu Ahmad summed up Baghdadis pitch: If such an Islamic state could survive its initial phase, it was there to stay forever.

Baghdadi had another persuasive argument: A state would offer a home to Muslims from all over the world. Because al Qaeda had always lurked in the shadows, it was difficult for ordinary Muslims to sign up. But an Islamic state, Baghdadi argued, could attract thousands, even millions, of like-minded jihadis. It would be a magnet. Baghdadi and other jihadi leaders, said Abu Ahmad, would compare this to Prophet Muhammads migration, or hijrah, from Mecca to Medina to escape prosecution.

The assembled jihadi leaders extensively discussed how a state would function, how it would deal with its population, what its aim would be, and its stance toward religious minorities.

After days of talking, every participant  including initial skeptics Atheer, Shishani, and the two Nusra Front intelligence officials  agreed with Baghdadis plan. The only condition they wanted from him was this: The newly created state must be declared in full cooperation with Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, another jihadi rebel group. Baghdadi agreed to these terms.

The next step was, on the spot, to pledge allegiance.

One by one they stood in front of Baghdadi, shaking his hand and repeating the following words: I pledge my allegiance to the Emir of the Faithful, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Qurashi, for compliance and obedience, in vigor and impulsion, abjectness and abundance, and in favoring his preference to mine, and not contending the orders of his trustees, unless I witness manifest disbelief.

Then Baghdadi asked each commander to bring in some of his fighters. Abu al-Atheer, the MSM commander, invited Belgian, Dutch, and French fighters who were under his command to the occasion. Among the foreigners who personally met Baghdadi and pledged allegiance were Abu Sayyaf, known as the slayer; Abu Zubair, a Belgian jihadi; Abu Tameema al-Fransi, a French jihadi killed in July 2014; and Abu Shishan-al-Belgiki, a handsome blond jihadi with a Chechen background wanted in Belgium, his home country, for possible participation in beheadings.

Later that day, the Europeans  who until recently mostly had been small-time criminals in Amsterdam, Brussels, or Paris  enthusiastically told everybody how they pledged bayah to Baghdadi.

Many others followed suit. Our narrator, Abu Ahmad, would offer bayah two days later to Abu al-Atheer.

comingtuesday2

The switch from ISI to ISIS meant that all groups or factions who had joined ISIS would cease to exist in name. For the Nusra Front and its leader, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, this development was a potential disaster; it could mean the end of their influence in the worlds most important jihadi battleground. Jolani ordered Nusra fighters not to join ISIS but wait until al-Zawahiri published a ruling on who should lead the jihad in Syria.

A large majority of Nusra commanders and fighters in Syria didnt listen. When Abu Ahmad visited Aleppo only weeks later, some 90 percent of the Nusra fighters in the city had already joined ISIS.

READ MORE

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Turkey Did Nothing About the Jihadists in Its Midst  Until It Was Too Late

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Baghdadis new soldiers ordered the few remaining Nusra Front loyalists out of the al-Oyoun Hospital, which had been until then the main Nusra base in the city. You must leave; we are from al-dawla [the state] and we hold a clear majority among the fighters, they told the Nusra men, according to Abu Ahmad. So this headquarters now belongs to us.

Everywhere in northern Syria, ISIS seized Nusra headquarters, ammunition caches, and weapons stores. Amazingly, al Qaedas affiliate in Syria was suddenly fighting for its existence. A new age had begun  the age of the Islamic State.
Aug 16 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Faced with pressure from local residents about rent and real estate costs, Vancouver is developing affordable-housing on four city-owned sites even before provincial or federal help is guaranteed. Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that the city has selected builders for four sites the city hopes to develop for lower-cost rental housing. (http://bit.ly/2bjWGh0)

** As many as 200,000 current and former Ontario inmates could be headed for a massive payday if allegations contained in a new lawsuit against the provincial government hold up in court. On Monday, a group of inmates filed a class-action lawsuit, arguing that these relentless lockdowns at Ontario prisons have caused "tremendous physical and psychological damages to inmates across the Province", according to the suit. (http://bit.ly/2bk477L)

* Ottawa is reviving a proposal that would force lenders to shoulder more risk in Canada's heated housing market. In a briefing note to Finance Minister Bill Morneau and released under Access to Information, department officials say they are studying an option to introduce "risk-sharing" for lenders. (http://bit.ly/2aXleho)

NATIONAL POST

** A four-member federal panel, appointed by Catherine McKenna, environment and climate change minister, will review how Canada handles environmental assessments for major resources projects and provide suggestions on how to "modernize" the National Energy Board. (http://bit.ly/2bjTKkj)

** Tervita Corp, a private Calgary-based oilfield and environmental services company, is attempting to renegotiate C$2.5 billion ($1.95 billion) worth of debt and will use a grace period to delay an interest payment to one group of creditors, the company said Monday. (http://bit.ly/2bk127S) ($1 = C$1.28) (Compiled by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru)
Aug 16 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- U.S. prosecutors and Volkswagen AG are negotiating a settlement that could result in significant financial penalties after Justice Department officials found evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the car company's diesel-emissions cheating. http://on.wsj.com/2aOP46M

- Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management said it had taken a $1.1 billion stake in Morgan Stanley, signaling a potential rallying cry for bank investors after years of poor returns. http://on.wsj.com/2aZN1d6

- The U.S. transferred 15 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United Arab Emirates, the largest such movement yet in President Obama's push to remove most prisoners from the prison before he leaves office in January. http://on.wsj.com/2bcW4GK

- Aetna Inc will withdraw from 11 of the 15 states where it currently offers plans through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Aetna's move puts at least one county, Pinal in Arizona, at risk of having no insurers offering exchange plans in 2017. http://on.wsj.com/2aVZqNB

- Tesla has failed to meet more than 20 projections made by its chief executive in the past five years, an analysis by The Journal shows. Tesla missed 10 of the stated goals by an average of nearly a year, including targets for the debut of two of Tesla's past three models. http://on.wsj.com/2b6qv3S (Compiled by Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru)
Aug 16 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Volkswagen owners in the United States will receive about $20,000 per car as compensation for the company's diesel deception. Volkswagen owners in Europe at most get a software update and a short length of plastic tubing. http://nyti.ms/2bupkKD

- Lyft, an American ride-hailing service, recently rebuffed takeover interest from General Motors, its 9 percent owner. There are reasons for Lyft to steer clear of Detroit, despite a shared vision for autonomous cars. http://nyti.ms/2bupHEV

- Google released its latest mobile app Duo, a video-calling app that is a direct alternative to Apple's FaceTime. The app lets you place video calls between Android and iPhone users, and increases the universe of people with whom you can hold a video conversation. http://nyti.ms/2buqfuE (Compiled by Bhanu Pratap in Bengaluru)
Volkswagen recently agreed to pay $15 billion to settle some of the allegations involving the carmakers use of so-called defeat devices to cheat on emissions tests in diesel cars, but a new report says federal criminal charges could be in the offing for VW. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports that Justice Department investigators turned up evidence of criminal wrongdoing at VW, and now prosecutors and the car company are in preliminary discussions on a settlement.

Sources say that VW and prosecutors from the U.S. Attorneys office in Detroit and the Justice Departments fraud and environmental crimes sections are expected to announced the settlement by the end of the year, but that timeline could be pushed back.

Related Articles From Consumer Reports

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How to Spend Your VW Buyback Money

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Guide to the Volkswagen Emissions Recall



As a result of the discussions, sources say VW could plead guilty or prosecutors can seek a deferred prosecution agreement that would essentially wipe out the charges if the carmaker adheres to settlement terms for a certain amount of time.

Deferred prosecution has been used several times in recent years when it comes to criminal activity from carmakers. Most recently General Motors agreed to the option related to its massive ignition defect.

Still, sources say VW will likely pay more than $1.2 billion in penalties for its wrongdoing. However, the amount of the fine could be lower, as the carmaker is reportedly cooperating with the regulator probe, the WSJ reports.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has said the DOJ is reviewing 1.5 million documents as part of its probe into VW.

U.S. Said to Uncover Evidence of Criminal Acts in VW Probe [The Wall Street Journal]





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Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
wealth ad

By 2044, America will be a majority-minority country, meaning that whites will only make up 49.7% of the population. Current minorities like Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans and Asians will soon make up a majority of the American populace.

And yet, the racial wealth gap is at its worst ever. And it wont improve anytime soon.

According to a new report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), a nonprofit for low-income families and communities in the US, black and Latino families wont match white wealth for centuries.

The report finds that over the past 30 years, the average wealth of white families grew by 84%, which is 1.2 times faster than the average rate of growth for Latinos, and three times the rate of growth for blacks. By 2044, when America becomes a majority-minority country, the wealth gap between white families and black families will double.

The wealth divide, via CFED

It will take black families around 228 years, and Latino families 84 years, the report estimates, to achieve the same average wealth white families have today.

If we keep going down this path of racial wealth inequality growing for minority populations, we are going to have an American economy that no longer has financial security but financial insecurity in exchange for wealth and inequality, says Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, primary author of the CFED report. And I dont think thats what America wants. Thats not good for anyonenot for the people on top and definitely not for the people in the middle and bottom.

What created this minority wealth gap in the first place?

Harry Holzer, public policy professor at Georgetown University, tells Yahoo Finance, We know that income inequality has grown, and we know how badly the bursting of the housing bubble hurt minorities, who were more likely to have home predatory loans, and whose rates of homeownership went up the most during the bubble years. If you put those two facts together, its not a huge surprise. Having said that, the numbers are very very stark. The numbers kind of slap you in the face, just how big these gaps have become. Its troubling.

Story continues

Homeownership is still the one of the biggest sources of American wealth. The report finds that 41% of black households and 45% of Hispanic households own their homes, while 71% of white households own their homes. On top of that, the report finds that blacks and Latinos built less wealth through homeownership than white homeowners did.

Even though housing is the biggest driver widening the racial wealth divide, the report cites other contributing factors: greater rates of unemployment; lower returns on income earned; lower entrepreneurship rates; and non-existent retirement savings, among others.

The average household wealth gap between white households and black or Latino households was $500,000 in 2013. Without significant change, the average gap could reach $1 million by 2044. The report predicts white household wealth would continue to rise, and top out around $1.2 million, while Latino households would only reach an average $165,000 in that time and black households only $107,000.

We are headed towards a more and more divided country by race and economics and I think we are on track for these divisions to become deeper, Asante-Muhammad says. And I think thats something troubling and it needs to be discussed.

What might help reduce the gap? Reforming the tax code, Asante-Muhammad argues, and fixing what he calls upside-down tax incentives.

Along with this policy intervention, the report also suggests an evidence-based, government-wide audit of federal policies to understand the role current policies play. Such an audit might require the appointment of a special federal advisor whose entire role would be to focus on reducing the racial wealth divide.

Because of the current political divide in Congress, many are not exactly optimistic that change will come. Unless the two parties say, Now is the time for a really big tax reform, where everything is on the table, corporate rates and individual rates, says Holzer, otherwise its gonna be pretty tough.



Minyoung Park is a reporter at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

Morgan Stanley: Self-driving cars and apps like Uber could boost booze industry

How the Supreme Court is hurting the economy by killing immigration reform

Americas brick-and-mortar retailers are vanishing
JUNEAU  A 37-year-old Beaver Dam man who was hospitalized after his motorcycle struck a steel pole at 301 Front St., is facing criminal charges after alcohol was found in his blood following the crash.

Benjamin Greenleaf is charged with operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration, fourth offense in five years. If convicted he faces up to six years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Greenleaf made his initial appearance in court Monday before Dodge County Circuit Court Commissioner Steven Seim. Seim set a $1,000 signature bond with the conditions that Greenleaf maintain absolute sobriety, not go upon the premises of any establishment whose main business is the distribution or sale of alcohol and not operate a motor vehicle without the permission of the court.

The court raised the issue of Greenleafs competency and a hearing will be scheduled.

The Beaver Dam Police Department, the Dodge County Sheriffs Office and Beaver Dam EMS were dispatched to a motorcycle versus pole accident at the intersection of Beaver Street and Front Street June 13 at 8:42 p.m. Numerous witnesses contacted dispatch to inform them of the crash and reported that the driver was not responsive.

Greenleaf had been operating a 1982 Suzuki motorcycle prior to the crash. He was transported by Flight For Life to ThedaCare Regional Medical Center in Neenah with life threatening injuries.

A witness at the scene told officers that Greenleaf was operating his motorcycle and was the lead vehicle at the intersection traveling south of Beaver Street at Front Street. The witness said that Greenleaf had completely stopped at the stop sign but then allegedly accelerated in an unnecessary fashion, squealing the tires and causing the bike to fishtail. Greenleaf then allegedly lost control of the bike, struck the curb and was launched into the air.

Another officer noted that he could smell intoxicants coming from Greenleaf after the crash.

Officers learned of another witness and made contact with him. That witness said that he saw the Suzuki motorcycle traveling at an unreasonable rate of speed on Mill Street traveling towards Madison Street about an hour prior to the crash. The witness said he believed the operator to be drunk or high and advised that the drivers habits were so significant that the witness yelled rookie to the driver.

The witness also allegedly told officers that it appeared that the operator of the motorcycle knew nothing about how to drive one.

Blood test results shoes that Greenleaf had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.066 percent which is a prohibited amount due to his three prior drunken driving convictions.

Greenleaf was previously convicted of operating while intoxicated in 2002, 2007 and 2013.

A competency hearing will be scheduled for Greenleaf once an evaluation is completed.
By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Anjem Choudary, Britain's most high-profile Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world, has been found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State. Choudary, 49, was convicted at London's Old Bailey court of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the banned group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. Notorious in Britain where the tabloids denounce him as a hate preacher, he is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims. "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations," said Dean Haydon, head of London police's Counter Terrorism Command. Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, had pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him. Both men, who had denied the terrorism charges and claimed the case was politically motivated, were found guilty last month but their convictions could not be reported until Tuesday for legal reasons. They are due to be sentenced in September and could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years each. Choudary, the former head of the now banned organization al-Muhajiroun, became infamous for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque. Despite his often controversial comments and refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists such as the London 2005 bombings, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence. Rahman served two years in jail for encouraging followers to kill British and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during a protest in 2006. BREEDING GROUND FOR MILITANTS Al-Muhajiroun has been regarded as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri, who was banished from Britain in 2005, and was banned under anti-terrorist laws in 2010. Police said it was suspected of being the driving force behind the London bombings while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests Choudary had organised. Last year, the trial of a teenage Muslim convert found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier in London was told he had fallen in with al-Muhajiroun. The group's influence is said to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot and killed a soldier in Canada's capital and then stormed parliament in 2014, followed Choudary on Twitter, although the preacher told Reuters at the time he had no links to him. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men," Haydon said in a statement. Both Choudary and Rahman say they abide by a "covenant of security" which forbids Muslims from carrying out attacks in non-Muslim lands where their lives and wellbeing are protected. "We're living in a global community and no doubt Muslims around the world who have their eye on what's happening in Syria and Iraq or want to know about the sharia (law) will come across us at one point or another," Choudary told Reuters in 2014. "That does not mean that we're encouraging people to carry out any acts of terrorism." (editing by Stephen Addison)
By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Anjem Choudary, Britain's most high-profile Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world, has been found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State. Choudary, 49, was convicted at London's Old Bailey court of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the banned group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq. Notorious in Britain where the tabloids denounce him as a hate preacher, he is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims. "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organizations," said Dean Haydon, head of London police's Counter Terrorism Command. Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, had pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him. Both men, who had denied the terrorism charges and claimed the case was politically motivated, were found guilty last month but their convictions could not be reported until Tuesday for legal reasons. They are due to be sentenced in September and could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years each. Choudary, the former head of the now banned organization al-Muhajiroun, became infamous for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque. Despite his often controversial comments and refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists such as the London 2005 bombings, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence. Rahman served two years in jail for encouraging followers to kill British and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during a protest in 2006. BREEDING GROUND FOR MILITANTS Al-Muhajiroun has been regarded as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri, who was banished from Britain in 2005, and was banned under anti-terrorist laws in 2010. Police said it was suspected of being the driving force behind the London bombings while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests Choudary had organized. Last year, the trial of a teenage Muslim convert found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier in London was told he had fallen in with al-Muhajiroun. The group's influence is said to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot and killed a soldier in Canada's capital and then stormed parliament in 2014, followed Choudary on Twitter, although the preacher told Reuters at the time he had no links to him. "Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men," Haydon said in a statement. Both Choudary and Rahman say they abide by a "covenant of security" which forbids Muslims from carrying out attacks in non-Muslim lands where their lives and wellbeing are protected. "We're living in a global community and no doubt Muslims around the world who have their eye on what's happening in Syria and Iraq or want to know about the sharia (law) will come across us at one point or another," Choudary told Reuters in 2014. "That does not mean that we're encouraging people to carry out any acts of terrorism." (editing by Stephen Addison)
Beirut (AFP) - Air raids killed 19 civilians, including three children, in rebel-held districts of Syria's battleground second city Aleppo on Tuesday, a monitoring group said.

Rebel fire meanwhile killed five people in a government-held western district, according to Syrian state television.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens were wounded, some of them critically, in the strikes on the rebel districts of Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur neighbourhoods carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft.

An AFP journalist in east Aleppo said there were heavy air raids throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in both districts.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

A dust-covered van with the windows blown out -- with the word "Ambulance" on its dented side -- slowly pulled away from the scene of the attack.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been divided between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The Britain-based Observatory said that 12 rebels were also killed in Russian air strikes Tuesday targeting a convoy of anti-regime fighters on the city's southern outskirts.

The monitoring group's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the convoy was travelling into Aleppo via the Ramussa road, the access route rebels opened in early August into parts of the city they control.

That road has been used to bring vegetables, petrol and other goods into eastern Aleppo, marking the end of a three-week government siege of those districts.

Rebels, Islamists and jihadists are locked in clashes with regime forces on the southern edges of Aleppo in a bid to keep the route open.

The Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved.

More than 290,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that escalated into a brutal multi-front war.
PARIS (Reuters) - Former French education minister Benoit Hamon said on Tuesday he would join the race in the Socialist party's primaries for next year's presidential elections, the latest candidate on the party's left bidding to challenge its pro-business line. Hamon quit President Francois Hollande's government in 2014 only three months after becoming education minister over disagreements about the president's pro-business U-turn. He joins an already crowded field of rebel politicians. "I believe that the president, because of the disappointment he created in his own camp, can no longer earn the French people's trust," Hamon said on France 2 television. Former French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, who has been making his ambitions more and more clear in recent months, is also expected to announce this Sunday he plans to run, at an outdoor gathering he holds each year in Burgundy. Hamon, who entered politics as a student, wants to raise the minimum wage, reduce the 35-hour working week further, and launch a 35 billion-euro stimulus package. Two other members of the party's left wing have already declared their own bids, Senator Marie-Noelle Lienemann and unionist Gerard Filoche. Hollande has said he will announce by the end of the year whether he will run again. Although still unpopular, polls show he could win the primary. (Reporting by Michel Rose, editing by Larry King)
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. RRGB plans to open a Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews restaurant in Buford, GA, on Aug 29. The outlet will be situated at the main entrance of the Mall of Georgia near the Regal IMAX movie theater.



Apart from the companys signature items like Royal Red Robin Burger and Bottomless Steak Fries as well as the Smoke & Pepper Burger and Royal Red Robin Burger, the restaurant will offer Freckled Lemonade. The menu will also include a variety of salads, entrees, soups and wraps.



Notably, as part of the opening celebrations, the company will donate the proceeds from the sales of Freckled Lemonade at the restaurant during the opening week  Aug 29 to Sep 4  to a non-profit organization, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.



Expansion



Red Robins unit expansion continues despite economic uncertainty in the domestic market. Moreover, Red Robin has been exploring opportunities in untapped markets of Florida, New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Texas to enhance its domestic presence.



Notably, keeping in line with its expansion plans, the company recently launched new Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews restaurants in Idaho, New York, Florida and Indiana.



Bottom Line



We believe that the companys efforts to expand its footprint through accelerated unit growth will boost revenues.



Moreover, we expect this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) companys initiatives such as menu innovation, focus on increasing speed of service, effective marketing strategy and remodeling programs to boost top and bottom-line performance.

RED ROBIN GOURM Price

RED ROBIN GOURM Price | RED ROBIN GOURM Quote

Stocks to Consider



Better-ranked stocks in this sector include Papa John's International Inc. PZZA, Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. TACO and Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR. All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



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BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles are finally returning home Tuesday, but they'll have to face the Boston Red Sox in the first game of an important two-game American League East series at Camden Yards.

Baltimore returns to town after going 5-5 on a long, three-city, 10-game trip that took the team to series against the White Sox, A's and Giants.

The Orioles (66-51) ended the trip with a stunning 8-7 victory over San Francisco on Sunday, rallying from an early six-run deficit to win in the ninth on Jonathan Schoop's two-out, three-run homer.

The Orioles have an American League-best 39-17 home record, and 11 of their final 16 games this month are in Baltimore, something they'll likely look forward to.

Baltimore had an off-day Monday after the long trip, and manager Buck Showalter said the team could need a few days to become re-settled to life back at home.

"It'll take two or three days for guys to get back acclimated to the time zone, but Boston's not going to feel sorry for us," Showalter said in the Baltimore Sun. "They're trying to accomplish the same thing we are. But we knew it was going to be a challenging road trip, and guys competed all the way through it, and we're still engaged in a competition. We haven't heard friendly voices in quite a while."

The Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays are tied for first in the American League East, with Boston one game back in third.

Boston (65-52) is coming off of a 3-2 victory in a make-up game at Cleveland Monday.

Yovani Gallardo (4-4, 5.17 ERA) will start for the Orioles versus Eduardo Rodriguez (2-5, 5.43) in Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. game. Gallardo has found more success recently and suffered a hard-luck loss in Oakland in his last start, throwing well but losing 1-0 last Wednesday.

Rodriguez, a former Oriole prospect, has pitched much better lately but still is winless in his last five starts. The left-hander gave up one run on just three hits in seven innings last Thursday against the Yankees but came away with a no-decision.

Story continues

The Red Sox are going to the second city of an 11-game road trip. They'll head to Detroit and Tampa Bay after Baltimore and are aware of what these games mean.

"It's definitely really important," Boston outfielder Mookie Betts said. "We're playing against some division guys and somebody we're in a race with, so it's going to be tough. They're really good teams, but we're a good team, too."

The Red Sox, like the Orioles and Blue Jays, have gone on a number of good runs this season. Boston appears to be on one again, having won four straight games to stay in the three-team battle for the American League East lead.

In Monday's win over Cleveland, retiring slugger David Ortiz crushed a long home run that helped the Red Sox to another crucial victory.

"Every win matters," Ortiz said on MLB.com. "We are in August right now, and we have to go for it. Any game you win, that's what matters to us."

On Monday, the Red Sox called up infielders Marco Hernandez and Deven Marrero along with pitcher Heath Hembree. They also had put right-hander Steven Wright on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Aug. 8, due to a shoulder strain. First baseman Hanley Ramirez got placed on the bereavement list on Monday.

The day before, Boston sent pitcher Roenis Elias back to Triple-A Pawtucket.
He graduated from Concordia High School and then Concordia College. Carl was drafted and assigned to the U.S. Navy. He served on the U.S.S. Rich Destroyer Escort 695 until it was sunk on June 8, 1944, while involved in the Normandy Invasion. He sustained grave injuries and was presumed dead. Over 24 hours later, during search and recovery (as opposed to search and rescue), he was pulled from the English Channel. While being administered last rites, the naval chaplain observed he was still breathing. Carl was rushed to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in Dover, England, where his first leg was amputated and his two shattered jaws set. He was then transferred to Chelsea Naval Hospital in Boston, where his second leg was amputated. Never once did his faith falter nor did he complain. After years of rehabilitation, he lived for over 72 years fiercely independent and mobile on two prosthetic legs. He came to Madison in 1947 and worked in the printing business as co-owner of Litho Productions until 1976 when he became owner of Books, Then and Now. On June 4, 1960, he married Myrtle G. Kosanke, who predeceased him on May 9 of this year.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Asia experts who served in past Republican administrations said on Monday they would back Hillary Clinton in the presidential race as a Donald Trump presidency would lead to "ruinous marginalization" for the United States in the region. In an open letter, the eight former senior officials said that with global strategic competition growing, including from China, it was "absolutely the wrong time to elect an unstable, ill-prepared amateur with no vision or foresight to meet the manifold challenges of the 21st century." They said the Republican nominee offered "only bluster or preposterous panaceas" for Asia that would "wreck our countrys credibility, economy, and leadership in very short order." The signatories to the letter included Michael Green, who served as President George W. Bush's top Asia adviser at the White House, James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, and Patrick Cronin, a former senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Should Trump get the chance to put his "nostrums" into practice, Asian countries would be forced to shift towards states challenging the United States, most notably China, and some might seek security through nuclear weapons, the former officials said. "In short, if the Trump brand ... becomes Americas brand, we can expect ruinous marginalization in Asia and unwanted compliance with rules which the Chinese and other challengers set," they said. Their letter was the latest repudiation of Trump's candidacy by Republican national security specialists. Last week, 50 former Republican national security officials, including a former CIA director, called Trump unqualified to lead and said he would be "the most reckless president in American history." Trump responded to that statement by deriding the signatories as members of "the failed Washington elite" who "deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place." Trump has caused alarm in Asia and beyond by saying he would consider letting Japan and South Korea build their own nuclear weapons, rather than have them relying on the United States for protection against North Korea and China. While making U.S. allies anxious, Trump has also irritated Beijing with his comments, such as by comparing the U.S. trade deficit with China to rape. One Chinese state newspaper equated him to Hitler. At the same time, Beijing also sees Trump as a businessmen with whom it could probably negotiate and may also hope he would be less tough on human rights than Clinton. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
BANGKOK (Reuters) - An international rights group on Tuesday called for the release of a Thai anti-junta activist in his tenth day of a hunger strike after he was detained for campaigning against a military-backed draft constitution. Thai voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution backed by the ruling junta in an Aug. 7 referendum, paving the way for a general election in late 2017. Ahead of the vote, the junta banned open discussion about the charter and criticism of the draft was made punishable by up to 10 years in jail. Critics of the junta say the constitution will enshrine the military's political role for years to come. Despite the ban on campaigning, students were among the most vocal critics of the constitution. On Aug. 6 Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, a student at Khon Kaen University in the country's northeast, was detained for handing out "vote no" leaflets. He is being held at a prison in northeastern province of Chaiyaphum province and has been on a hunger strike since Aug. 6, said Prim Boonpattararaksa, his mother and lawyer. Jatupat faces charges of violating the ban on campaigning. The New York-based Human Rights Watch called for Jatupat's release on Tuesday and said he should be given access to medical treatment after he passed out on Monday. "The junta should immediately free Jatupat and other activists who peacefully protested the proposed constitution," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "In the meantime, he should be under the supervision of doctors in case his health condition worsens." Thailand has been ruled by a junta since the military took power in a May 2014 coup. Junta spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said Jatupat should seek bail. "The court has allowed him to bail himself out so it is possible for him to leave the prison," he said. (Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Michael Perry)
Polluted water and air in Rio have harmful effects on the skin and the hair. (Photo: Getty Images)

Carbon monoxide. Nitrogen dioxide. Cigarette smoke. Minuscule metal particles  too tiny for the eye to see.

These and other noxious substances clog the air in just about every city around the world, and they can do a serious number on the skin and hair. Particularly when theyre at their zenith in highly polluted cities like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In Rio, particulate matter  reportedly the most dangerous form of air pollutant emanating from cars, trucks, and buses  is far higher than the limits set by the World Health Organization. Air pollution isnt the only problem there: The citys water is also filthy, teeming with sewage and industrial waste.

While air and water pollution have serious long-term effects on the skin and hair, anyone currently in Rio  athletes, tourists, and residents alike  is also bound to feel a difference in both.

Yahoo Beauty spoke to experts to get the lowdown.

SKIN

What happens:

Air pollution can very quickly make the skin appear dull and saggy, New York-based dermatologist Debra Jaliman, MD, tells Yahoo Beauty.

Pollution  particularly in a city like Rio  adds to the number of free radicals in the air, strips off the skins protective layer, and increases metalloproteinase, a process that results in collagen degradation and causes the skin to lose its elasticity.

And because pollution destroys the skins protective barrier, the skin can become more prone, in the long term, to acne, eczema, skin darkening, and other more serious conditions, including skin cancer, Jaliman says.

What to do:

Treat air pollution as you would UV rays, Jaliman says. Wear sunscreen so that your skin is well protected, and wear protective clothing to minimize the damage caused by air pollution.

Samantha Wright, a senior aesthetician at Dangene: The Institute of Skinovation in New York, advocates eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and upping the ante on these when in a highly polluted place like Rio.

Story continues

You want to eat lots of foods that are antioxidant-rich to guard against the free radicals, which in pollution have that aging effect on the skin, Wright says.

She also recommends using a bubbly cleanser to restore the skins pH, a gentle exfoliator to remove the top layer of grime that pollution layers onto the skin, and hydrating the skin with an antioxidant serum. But her No. 1 recommendation to counter pollution is to drink plenty of water.

In addition to hydrating the skin, water filters everything out of your system, it flushes out all the bacteria you come into contact with, Wright says.

In Rio, though, it goes without saying that consuming bottled water is paramount. In fact, Id say do everything with bottled water, including washing your face, she says.

HAIR

What happens:

Water that is rife with harmful chemicals  either the byproduct of industrial waste or added in for purification purposes  ends up becoming hard. This weakens the hair, causing split ends and fragile roots. Polluted water also strips the hair of moisture and exposes the cuticle, making it dry and brittle, limp, and frizzy.

Washing in this kind of water will inevitably cause the hair texture to change, even in a short period of time, says Rod Anker, founder of the Rod Anker Salons in New Delhi, one of the worlds most polluted cities. Curly hair may lose curl and straight hair may get a bend or curl, depending from person to person, he says.

What to do:

To counter the effects of pollution on the hair, Anker says its important to ensure that the scalp is cleansed properly and that the hair cuticles are closed after every shampoo.

Using a deep-cleansing shampoo every second day helps to reduce long-term chemical buildup, though the downside is that it can cause color fading, Anker says. Always use conditioner, a leave-in conditioner, and/or a serum to keep the cuticle closed so its harder for damage to occur.

He also urges his clients to rinse their hair with purified, bottled water after shampooing and conditioning. This last step, of course, is a must for anyone in Rio.

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A federal appeals court said late last week that a lower court should have dismissed Woodmans lawsuit against cleanser and food manufacturer Clorox over the stores claim that Clorox illegally denied it the right to sell large sizes and multi-packs of Cloroxs products.

In a 3-0 ruling issued Friday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, based in Chicago, wrote that U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker should have dismissed the case on motions from Clorox that challenged the stores price discrimination claim and asserted the case was moot after Clorox stopped selling its products directly to Woodmans.

Woodmans sued Clorox in 2015 after the company in 2014 stopped selling large sizes of its products to grocery stores, instead reserving those products for wholesale discount clubs such as Costco and Sams Club. Woodmans alleged that Clorox was engaging in unlawful price discrimination.

In addition to its familiar bleach and cleaning products, Clorox makes Glad plastic bags, Fresh Step cat litter, Kingsford charcoal, K.C. Masterpiece barbecue sauce, Hidden Valley salad dressings, and other products.

Cloroxs motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied, and after that, Clorox stopped selling its products to Woodmans. The store then obtained them through other means. Clorox then sought to dismiss the lawsuit as moot, because Woodmans no longer was a direct purchaser of products from Clorox. That motion was also denied.

The appeals panel, led by Chief Judge Diane Wood, ruled that Woodmans price discrimination claim and a separate claim, that Clorox was engaging in an illegal promotional service, both failed.

On the second point, the court agreed with a Federal Trade Commission brief filed in the case that said that package size alone is not a promotional service within the meaning of the law.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Rio police said Tuesday they killed three alleged gunmen in a raid on a favela dominated by drug traffickers where an elite police officer was shot a week ago.

The raid by heavily armed officers on the Vila do Joao area in the Complexo da Mare favelas was aimed at apprehending suspects in the killing of the National Force member, police said.

"In the action today, a few meters from where police officer Helio was killed, teams from CORE (elite police) entered a confrontation with about eight armed criminals," a statement said.

"Four of them were shot, three of them dying from their wounds," the statement said.

A fourth wounded man was taken into custody, along with two other people on charges including possession of a stolen car, drug trafficking and possession of ammunition.

Shootings, often deadly, are a regular occurrence in Mare and many other favelas in Rio, despite the presence of tens of thousands of police and army reinforcements during the ongoing Olympics.

Much of the Mare is controlled by drug traffickers and the National Force officer died when he and other agents mistakenly turned into the neighborhood, running into a barrage of bullets.
DETROIT -- Justin Verlander habitually gives the Kansas City Royals fits. Danny Duffy has done that to everyone over the past three months.

Their matchup at Comerica Park on Tuesday has all the makings of a stellar pitching duel.

Verlander (12-6) has reestablished himself as the Detroit Tigers' ace this season and he enters his 25th start in top form. He's recorded six straight quality outings, including a seven-inning performance at Seattle on Wednesday when he held the Mariners to one run.

Matched against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez that night, Verlander wound up with a no-decision. Verlander, who hasn't lost since June 26 against Cleveland, could face a similar situation on Tuesday.

"Most pitchers, when their counterpart is well-known or one of the better pitchers in the league, it gives you a little more adrenaline," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. "I think that probably happened when Verlander and Felix pitched against each other."

Verlander ranks second in the America League in strikeouts with 170 and fourth in opponents' batting average at .216.

The Royals know all too well how effective Verlander can be. He has 22 career wins against them, the most by an active pitcher. He's also won both of his starts against Kansas City this season while notching 17 strikeouts.

Duffy isn't focused on the pitching matchup.

"It's fun competing against those guys in general," Duffy said. "I don't look at who I'm going up against because I don't have to get him out."

Duffy was moved into the rotation on May 15 and has emerged as the Royals most reliable arm. He's 9-1 with a 2.79 ERA as a starter, including his current eight-game winning streak. He recorded his first career complete game in his last start against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

"I've been really simplified with everything. It sounds super boring but that's just kind of where I'm at," he said. "Trust is crucial. Trusting your stuff and trusting who's behind you. I have all of that. I trust my stuff and I trust my boys."

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Duffy is 4-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 career outings against Detroit, including four appearances this season.

"He's always had great stuff and he seems to have pitched well against us for the most part," Ausmus said. "The big thing is he's really throwing strikes now. He's always had a real good fastball but he's throwing strikes and he's become what a lot of people thought he would be, a dominant left-handed starter."

Ausmus' club has been hit hard by injuries recently and another one cropped up to his premier player on Monday. First baseman Miguel Cabrera left the Tigers' 3-1 loss to the Royals prior to the fifth inning with a left biceps strain. He was injured reaching for an errant throw by starting pitcher Daniel Norris in the first inning.

Ausmus considers the injury minor and said Cabrera might even return to the lineup for Tuesday night's game. Detroit already has three starting position players on the disabled list -- center fielder Cameron Maybin, third baseman Nick Castellanos and shortstop Jose Iglesias.
Rudy Giuliani said this about terrorism, leaving the world to wonder, WTF?!

Rudy Giuliani said this about terrorism, leaving the world to wonder, WTF?!

At a Donald Trump campaign event in Ohio this week, former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani slammed the Obama administration in a comment that seemed to suggest some severe memory loss.

Before Obama came along, we didnt have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks inside the United States. They all started when [Hillary] Clinton and Obama got into office.

UmmmMr. Giuliani, have you forgotten September 11th, 2001? The largest attack on U.S. soil ever? Which happened years before Obama even took office?

What makes it all even more bizarre is that Giuliani was literally mayor of New York at the time of the attack. Understandably, his comments have received a lot of backlash on social media.

If you're going to take a swing at revisionist history, make sure it's not something that you insisted that we never forget. #RudyGiuliani  Joe Gray (@TattooJoe152) August 15, 2016

I'm starting to think whatever is wrong with Trump is contagious - #RudyGiuliani https://t.co/rL0YoWLYZo  Cherisse Gardner (@cherissegardner) August 15, 2016

Jake Menges, a representative from Giulianis camp tried to clear the air by telling The Associated Press that Giuliani was referring to the lack of major terrorist attacks after 9/11, but while George W. Bush was still in office.

This unfortunately just feels like yet another instance of a politician using fear to try to get their way  even when the fear doesnt exactly make any logical sense in the context of, well, actual facts. Hopefully voters will know the difference come November, no matter who they choose!

The post Rudy Giuliani said this about terrorism, leaving the world to wonder, WTF?! appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Runner Shaunae Miller literally dove for the gold and the internet had SO many feelings about it

Runner Shaunae Miller literally dove for the gold and the internet had SO many feelings about it

When all else fails, just dive. Thats the mantra Bahamian runner Shaunae Miller acted on in Monday nights 400-meter dash at the Olympic Games when she literally dove across the finish line to narrowly eclipse Allyson Felix for the gold. In the last stretch of the race, Miller appeared to be giving every bit of her strength and will power, but stumbled to the track. The photo finish shows Felix sprinting across the line less than a second after her competitor mustered up enough energy to dive.

Heading into the race, Felix was a favorite, so many fans were understandably miffed. What does one do when their fave is denied the gold medal due to unconventional circumstances? Why, take to the internet to make fun of the outcome because, why not?

so i figured out why shaunae miller dove pic.twitter.com/9ca3yfzyeQ  RUSS BENGT$ON (@russbengtson) August 16, 2016

We heard you're good at diving @Hey_ItsShaunae. We got a deal on a Slip & Slide for you. https://t.co/wAHZYR72WK pic.twitter.com/kiYv7LwhK8  Fat Kid Deals (@FatKidDeals) August 16, 2016

Shaunae Miller diving for that gold. pic.twitter.com/fBjoEQlz1n  ThePostGame.com (@ThePostGame) August 16, 2016

Shaunae Miller was like pic.twitter.com/1szYvZHPHB  Peardrax Papi (@jarelxantoine) August 16, 2016

But not everyone had jokes. Some are crying foul:

Story continues

It is running not diving...Felix should be given the gold. Shaunae Miller should not have cheated #ShaunaeMillercheats #felixwasrobbed  Charlene (@drivingmomnuts) August 16, 2016

Shaunae Miller DIVING across the Finish Line feels a little like CHEATING to me. That race belonged to #AllysonFelix https://t.co/w2hQwnxN4L  Maggie (@MargaretClancy) August 16, 2016

Is it just me or do other people agree that Shaunae Miller cheated by jumping over the finishing line? #Rio2016  Dearbhla Ruiseal (@DervlaRussell) August 16, 2016

In the end, many support Millers do-or-die tactics:

Im 100% for what Shaunae Miller did last night. She was clearly exhausted and did what she needed to do to get across the line.  Penny Proud (@_MadameZeroni_) August 16, 2016

Those that don't like the dive should blame the rules and not the athlete. You'd risk a scrape and a floor burn too to secure Olympic gold.  Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) August 16, 2016

I'm just going to show the Shaunae Miller @Hey_ItsShaunae video on the 1st day of class. THAT'S how you want something. #Rio2016 #Olympics  Anne Charity Hudley (@ACharityHudley) August 16, 2016

Shaunae Miller literally did whatever she had to do to win. Salute  Joebinx (@Joe_binx) August 16, 2016

Despite the emotional reactions, this wasnt the first time a dive decided a close track and field race. As NBC Olympics pointed out on Twitter, U.S. runner David Neville dove his way to a bronze, knocking Bahamian runner Chris Brown out of medal contention.

The post Runner Shaunae Miller literally dove for the gold and the internet had SO many feelings about it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has deployed Tupolev-22 bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan where they will carry out air strikes against militants in Syria, Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel reported on Tuesday. The channel, citing Iranian and Arab media, said it was unclear how many Russian bombers had arrived at the base. It broadcast uncapationed images of at least three bombers and a Russian military transport plane, though it was unclear where and when the footage had been shot. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alexander Winning)
Looks like the U.S. and its allies have a new axis of evil in the Middle East: Syria, Iran and Russia. The growing pro-Moscow alliance got a big boost Tuesday after Iran allowed Russia to fly its bombers from one of its bases to attack rebels in Syria.

Relations between Iran and Russia continue to warm. Moscow recently provided Tehran with a sophisticated air-defense system after Iran agreed to international curbs on its nuclear-development program. Its another poke at Russias growing influence in the region at the expense of the U.S., which has steadfastly declined to involve itself in the bloody Syrian civil war.

The Russians are out to win the `Great Game, says Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general who oversaw U.S. military operations in this part of the world from 1997 to 2000. Hes referring to the 19th Century clash between the British and Russian empires for territory between them, focused largely in and around Afghanistan. This time, Zinni adds, the Russians are going a little further west.

Moscow is once again flexing its military muscle, in bold and unexpected directions outside its immediate neighborhoodthis time from Iran, said David Barno, a retired Army lieutenant general who commanded all U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. It reminds us again that [Russian president Vladimir] Putin wants Russia to be seen once more as a major military powerand one that will not be shy about poking the United States and its friends in the eye at every opportunity.

The Pentagon said the Russian military warned their American counterparts shortly before the bombing runs, giving U.S. warplanes time to get out of the way. They informed us they were coming through, and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target, and then when they passed out again, Army Colonel Christopher Garver told reporters at the Pentagon in a video conference from Baghdad. They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time.

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Militarily, it doesnt matter muchRussian bombers, flying from Russia, have been regularly attacking targets in Syria. But the development does allow Russian bombers to carry more weapons, because they dont have to carry as much fuel for the shorter flights, roughly half the distance as those flown from Russian soil. It means a lot more, politically, as it makes explicit Moscows and Tehrans mutual desire to preserve Syrian president Bashar Assads grip on power.

Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 tactical bombers took off from the Hamedan airbase (the Islamic Republic of Iran) and carried out a concentrated airstrike on objects of the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groupings, Russias ministry of defense said in a statement.

Targets included five ammo depots, three rebel command posts, rebel training camps as well as a significant number of militants, the Russian military said. Its list of targets echoed those put out daily by the U.S. military since it began bombing ISIS rebels two years ago.

Assad has been waging a civil war against varied rebel groups inside his country for more than five years. The conflict has killed an estimated 400,000 people, created 7 million refugees inside the country and 5 million outsidea wave of humanity that has flooded Europe and generated instability across the continent. The civil war, and turmoil in neighboring Iraq, also created a vacuum where ISIS declared a caliphate more than two years ago.

The Russian attacks on the two Sunni groups from Iran, a Shiite-run theocracy, highlights the rift between Islams two major branches. The attacks, concentrated in and around the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, killed dozens, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor. The U.S. has accused Russia of indiscriminate bombing in Syria. Aleppo, Syrias largest city, is split between Assads forces and those held by the rebels. Taking the entire city back from the militants would represent Assads biggest victory in the civil war.

Launching the Russian attacks apparently crossed two geo-political thresholds: it marked the first time the Iranians permitted a foreign power to use one of its bases to launch an attack since 1979s Iranian revolution. It also marked the first time Russia has used a third nation (other than Syria and Russia itself) to attack targets inside Syria. Moscow has been flying smaller planes out of a base in Syria, but its runways arent long enough for the bombers.

The Russian planes flew from and returned to Hamadan air base, in northwestern Iran, apparently after Iraq allowed them to traverse its airspace. The facility is also known as the Noje air base, in honor of U.S.-trained Captain Mohammad Noje, the first Iranian pilot killed in action. He and his co-pilot died after Kurdish rebels shot down their U.S.-made F-4 fighter in August 1979. The bombing runs launched Tuesday took place on the 37th anniversary of their deaths.
A Madison man was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison for shooting a friend during an attempted robbery, which happened during a struggle over a gun with the would-be robbery victim.

The shooting by Kamonzi Turner, 25, left his friend, Trevon D. Townsend, paralyzed from the chest down, Assistant District Attorney Robert Jambois said, calling it a very depressing case.

Turner and Townsend had gotten into a marijuana dealers car on Jan. 19, 2015, at the Dutch Mill Park and Ride on Madisons Southeast Side after arranging to buy a half-pound of marijuana from him, according to a criminal complaint.

When Turner pulled out a gun, the dealer struggled over it with him and it went off, striking Townsend in the spine, the complaint states.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke said that in his courtroom and in the media, he sees cases like this one again and again, and asks himself, For what?

Jambois argued for a 10-year sentence, noting that since he was a teenager, Turner has spent very little time outside the walls of jails and correctional institutions. He said theres a significant likelihood that Turner would re-offend if let out sooner.

Past is prelude, Jambois said.

Turners lawyer, state Assistant Public Defender Jon Helland, said he sees more promise in Turner, who he said is bright and is trying to leave the mistakes of his past behind. He asked for a six-year sentence, to be served at the same time as a prison sentence Turner is now serving that ends in September 2017.

Im ashamed to be here, Turner said, admitting responsibility for his acts and apologizing to Townsend, who was not in the courtroom. I want him to know I care and I will be a better friend.

But Ehlke said the shooting was serious and required a sentence closer to what Jambois asked. The sentence wont start until Turner finishes his current sentence, Ehlke said, effectively keeping Turner in prison for more than nine years from now.
(MOSCOW)  Russias defense minister said Monday that Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement that would help defuse the situation in the besieged Syrian city Aleppo.

Sergei Shoigu said in remarks carried Monday by Rossiya 24 television that step by step, we are nearing an arrangement. Im talking exclusively about Aleppo, that would allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, that long-suffering land so that people could return to their homes.

He added that Russian representatives are in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.

Fighting for Aleppo, once Syrias commercial capital and its largest city, has become the focal point of the nations civil war, now in its sixth year.

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

We have nothing to announce at this time, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters in Washington. We do speak regularly with Russian officials about way to strengthen the cessation of hostilities, improve humanitarian access and bring about conditions necessary to find a political solution.

Russia and the U.S. have been discussing greater coordination in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by the Nusra Front, the al-Qaidas branch in Syria.

Shoigu said in the TV interview that extremists in Syria are often positioned near groups that the U.S. considers moderate.

The Nusra has rebranded itself and now goes under the name of Fath al-Sham, an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led airstrikes targeting militants. Russia has dismissed the name change as window-dressing.

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___

Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday bemoaned Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch a bombing raid in Syria, but credited Moscow for having given a brief advance warning.

Russia's defense ministry earlier said long-range bombers and fighter jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups" in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib.

"It's unfortunate, but not surprising or unexpected," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

"Frankly, that only makes more difficult what is already a very contentious and complex and difficult situation, he said.

"And it only pushes us further away from what we're all... trying to pursue, which is a credible nation-wide cessation of hostilities and a political process in Geneva that leads to a peaceful transition."

Earlier, Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said Russian authorities had notified the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria shortly before launching the bombing mission from Iran.

The coalition since last year has operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria.

"The Russians did notify the coalition as per the memorandum of understanding for safety of flight," Garver said.

"They informed us they were coming through and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out again. They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time."

Garver noted that IS fighters are concentrated only in Deir Ezzor and not Aleppo or Idlib.

Toner said Russia continues to "predominantly target moderate Syrian opposition forces."

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Moscow had provided "not a lot" of warning but that it "was enough time to make sure that we could ensure safety of flight," Garver said.

He did not comment when asked if Russia had sought overflight permission from the government of Iraq, whose airspace provides quickest access to Syria from Iran.

Russia on Monday said it and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo, but US officials have not confirmed this.

"We continue to speak with Russia... about ways that we can put in place a credible, nationwide cease-fire, full access to humanitarian assistance, and then again get negotiations restarted in Geneva," Toner said.

The United States and various coalition partners have been bombing IS in Iraq and Syria for two years, while Russia's strikes have predominantly been in support of regime forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The Russian shoot of Colin Firth submarine disaster movie Kursk, produced by Luc Besson, has been postponed as the country's defense ministry is still reviewing the permit request.

The shoot was scheduled to start in Russia next month and run for about a month. A new start date hasn't been set.

"We haven't yet received a permit from the defense ministry," Andrei Sigle, a producer on the Russian side, told local radio station Radio Baltika. "They probably have other things to take care of."

According to Sigle, taking the shoot to another country, such as Norway, which observers immediately suggested, is currently out of the question. He said the producers still hope to get the green light from Russia's military.

The movie is based on a 2000 incident involving a K-141 Kursk submarine. A torpedo exploded inside the Russian submarine during a naval exercise in the Barents Sea, and the submarine's entire crew of 118 died.

Produced by Besson's EuropaCorp, the movie is to be directed by Thomas Vinterburg and will also star Matthias Schoenaerts.

Incidentally, Russia's defense ministry originally promised cooperation with the crew. But later it reportedly grew concerned about granting access to classified information and locations. It didn't comment on the delay of the shoot.

Read more: Why Movie Ticket Presales Don't Work in Russia

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Moscow (AFP) - Russia said Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb jihadist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo.

The deployment marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia.

Washington, which heads a separate coalition fighting IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq, said it was warned of the raid ahead of time as required by a mutual agreement on flight safety.

They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time, US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver told journalists.

Russias defence ministry said long-range warplanes took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib.

The strikes destroyed jihadist targets including weapons depots and command centres, killing a large number of fighters, Moscow said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air raids on Tuesday against two rebel-held districts in Syrias second city of Aleppo killed 19 civilians.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes on Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur, which left three children among the dead, were carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft and had also wounded dozens of people.

Fighting for control of the shattered city, a former economic hub in northwestern Syria, has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

Story continues

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been split between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement it was gravely concerned for the safety of civilians in Aleppo and called for immediate attention and response to their plight.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian and Russian warplanes of having repeatedly used incendiary weapons against civilians in northern Syria, saying it had documented their use at least 18 times since June.

- Carry more bombs -

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground as Russia provides airpower.

Both oppose calls for Assad to step down in a bid to resolve the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Moscow has so far used short-range craft stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard Syrian territory.

The use of the Iran base to launch long-range bomber raids could help boost Moscows firepower by cutting the time it takes for its jets to reach their targets from their base in southern Russia, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.

Bombers can transport more bombs if their flight time is short, he said.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA that Moscow and Tehran exchange capacities and facilities in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

An unnamed military source told Interfax news agency on Monday that Russia had also sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

- US cooperation? -

With Russias military cooperation with Iran on full display Tuesday, Moscow this week also evoked an increase of cooperation with Washington.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the situation in Aleppo with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo and begin battling together so that there is peace on this territory.

But US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.

A senior Russian diplomat in Geneva, Alexei Borodavkin, told Interfax on Monday that the Russian and American militaries were in the process of agreeing some concrete practical issues regarding humanitarian aid deliveries to the city.
For those concerned about the fallout from President Barack Obama and his administrations nuclear deal with Iran  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA  the hits just keep on coming. The recent revelation that the United States handed over $400 million in cash to Iran on the same day that it was releasing four American captives is but the latest disturbing detail in the saga that has become Obamas extended experiment in appeasing the mullahs. Add it to the long list of other threatening post-deal developments, including the intensification of Irans ballistic missile program, the continuation of its efforts to illicitly procure nuclear materials, and the expansion of its aggressive and destabilizing activities across the Middle East. Oh, and dont forget the detention of three new American hostages, of course.

Somewhat less noticed in the JCPOAs aftermath, but potentially no less consequential for regional security, has been the steadily escalating confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This was not a wholly unexpected development. Many analysts warned that the Saudis would not look kindly on a U.S.-Iranian agreement, negotiated largely behind their backs, that ended up leaving the countrys arch-enemy, the Shiite theocracy across the Gulf, with a large nuclear infrastructure, hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief, and a more or less open field to indulge its quest for regional hegemony. The Saudis, inevitably, would read it as America abandoning its historical role as the guarantor of Gulf security in favor of some new dispensation with an unreconstructed Iran  one that threatened to irreversibly alter the regions correlation of forces in Irans favor.

Obamas penchant for stoking Saudi paranoia and fears has no doubt made matters much worse: Declaring, for example, that his aim was to establish an equilibrium between the Saudis, a longstanding U.S. ally, and Iran, a revolutionary power that has systematically attacked U.S. interests for four decades. Or publicly complaining about the fact that hes compelled to treat Saudi Arabia as an ally at all. Instead, Obama has opted to diss the Saudis repeatedly as free-riders who seek to exploit American muscle for their own narrow, sectarian purposes. In Obamas telling, the Iranians  handmaidens to the Bashar al-Assad regimes multi-year campaign of war crimes and mass murder  have legitimate equities in places like Syria that deserve to be protected (Could he mean the land bridge via Damascus by which Iran supplies its Lebanese client, the terrorist group Hezbollah, with tens of thousands of missiles and rockets that will be used in its next war with Israel?). Rather than seeking to counter Irans revisionist agenda, Obamas view is that the Saudis need to accommodate themselves to sharing the Gulf with the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism.

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Needless to say, the Saudis beg to differ. Confronted with a newly empowered Iran and a retrenching America, the kingdom is striking back, not rolling over. It believes Obamas policies have purposefully created a dangerous vacuum in the region, one that is primarily being filled by an Iran bent on sowing chaos and destruction, ultimately targeting the downfall of the House of Saud itself. No longer able to rely on Pax Americana, and unwilling to watch passively as the mullahs slip the noose over their collective neck, the Saudis have increasingly taken matters into their own hands, especially since the ascension of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2015, adopting a much more assertive and high-risk, even provocative, national security posture with a single-minded mission to challenge and confront Iran.

The opening shot (literally) in Salmans new anti-Iran campaign was fired even before the JCPOA was finalized in July 2015. In March of last year, the Saudis intervened in Yemen to stop Iran-backed Houthi rebels from taking control of the country. The Obama administration subsequently supported the effort, reluctantly, by supplying intelligence and military equipment. Though the Saudis  and a handful of Sunni allies, led by the United Arab Emirates  succeeded in rolling back rebel gains in southern Yemen, the war has been bogged down for months, with the Houthis still entrenched in the capital, Sanaa, as well as their strongholds in the north, including strategic positions on the Saudi border. Peace talks and ceasefires have come and gone. Prospects for a political settlement appear dim. Desperately poor and dysfunctional even before the war, Yemen has largely been laid to waste, a failed state that  already home to one of al Qaidas most dangerous affiliates  appears destined to be a fertile breeding ground for jihadism, sectarian conflict, and regional instability for yeas to come.

The Saudis have also been active participants in Syrias civil war, supplying weapons to Sunni rebels seeking to topple the Iranian-backed Assad regime. While the Saudis have worked closely with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in this effort, the kingdom has persistently pushed for a more aggressive strategy to remove Assad from power and sever Iranian influence in Syria  including by supporting a number of radical jihadist groups, some with close links to al Qaeda. Following the large-scale intervention by Russias air force to bolster the Syrian regime in the fall of 2015, the Saudis, with CIA cooperation, increased the flow of weaponry to the rebels, helping to inflict significant casualties on pro-regime units  including leading elements of Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that, together with Iranian-backed Shiite militias, have served as the vanguard of Assads army. And even as the Russian/Iranian-led offensive has turned the tide of battle decisively in the regimes favor, the Saudis have not eased their pressure. In February 2016, the kingdom even announced that it was willing to commit its own ground troops to an international force should the U.S.-led coalition decide it was useful. The offer allegedly remains on the table. More recently, a surge of Saudi weapons to a jihadist-led rebel coalition helped foil, at least for now, the Syrian governments efforts to reconquer the strategic city of Aleppo.

Importantly, the post-JCPOA Saudi pushback against Iran extends well beyond the active battlefields of Yemen and Syria. Indeed, the list of initiatives is long and varied, with the Saudis increasingly seeking to flex their muscle across the security, diplomatic, economic, and even religious spheres. To recount the highlights in some detail helps to underscore the sustained and comprehensive nature of the current Saudi campaign:

 In August 2015, in an unprecedented operation for Saudi intelligence, Saudi agents captured the planner of the 1996 bombing of the U.S. military barracks in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mughassil, a Saudi Shiite with deep links to Iran and Hezbollah, was detained in Beirut as he was exiting a flight from Tehran and immediately rendered to the kingdom for interrogation. At the time, the United States had a longstanding bounty of $5 million for any information leading to Mughassils arrest.

 Last December, King Salmans son, Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdoms deputy crown prince and defense minister, announced the formation of an anti-terrorism coalition of 34 Sunni states that would be headquartered in Saudi Arabia and focused in particular on thwarting Iranian-backed aggression throughout the region. Only a few months later, more than 20 of the coalitions members conducted large-scale military exercises in northern Saudi Arabia, near the Iraqi border  coincident with the kingdoms public offer to commit ground forces to Syria.

 In January, the Saudis executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, despite Iranian warnings not to do so. When Iranian mobs sanctioned by the regime responded by burning down Saudi diplomatic facilities, the kingdom severed diplomatic relations with Iran. Several of Irans Arab allies also withdrew their ambassadors or otherwise downgraded ties, while the Arab League quickly condemned.

 The sole Arab League member that failed to back the anti-Iran measure, Lebanon, quickly felt the kingdoms wrath. In February, the Saudis abruptly canceled an estimated $4 billion of assistance to Lebanons armed forces and security services, making clear that it constituted punishment for the dominant influence exerted on the countrys institutions by Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons. Within days, the Saudis and several Gulf allies also warned their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon, pummeling the countrys critical tourism sector.

 In early March, the Saudi-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) formally designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization. In its statement, the GCC accused Hezbollah of hostile acts to undermine the sovereignty, security, and stability of GCC members. It also charged the group with responsibility for terror and incitement in Yemen and Iraq. Shortly thereafter, the Arab League followed suit, also declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

The next month, the Saudis ramped up their diplomatic offensive at the April summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. With more than 30 leaders in attendance, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the kingdom not only succeeded in passing a final statement that denounced Hezbollah for conducting terrorist attacks across the region; it also got an explicit condemnation of Iran for its continued support for terrorism and its interference in the internal affairs of member states, including Bahrain, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

 April also saw the Saudis exercising their economic muscle against the Iranians. At a meeting of major oil producers in Qatar, the Saudis scuttled a deal to freeze production that was aimed at increasing the price of crude and bolstering the badly flagging economies of several producer states, including Iran. At the last minute, the kingdom insisted that there could be no deal unless Iran also participated in the freeze  a non-starter for the Iranians, who had repeatedly made clear that after years of crippling sanctions, they would continue ramping up production until they reached pre-sanctions levels of over 4 million barrels per day. Few had any doubt that a primary purpose of the Saudi decision to keep prices depressed was to undermine Irans fledgling economic recovery in the aftermath of the JCPOA.

 At the end of May, Iran announced that none of its citizens would be traveling to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Islams holiest sites, because of obstacles created by Saudi officials. During the 2015 hajj, hundreds of Iranians had died in a stampede that Iran blamed squarely on Saudi mismanagement, greatly exacerbating Saudi-Iranian tensions. According to Gulf sources, in the preparatory talks for this years event, the Saudis did in fact go out of their way to make Iranian attendance difficult, if not impossible. For example, I was told that the final ministerial-level delegation that Iran sent to the kingdom to negotiate Iranian participation was not granted standard VIP courtesies at the airport. Its members were instead required to go through normal immigration and customs procedures, forcing them to wait in long lines to have their passports stamped. The Saudis were much stricter than in past years in capping the number of Iranian pilgrims that they would allow to enter the kingdom. Those Iranians that did come were to be banned from displaying any signs, symbols, or flags. Finally, the Saudis were insisting that the Iranians be kept in a closed camp, effectively barred from co-mingling and socializing with participants from other countries, often considered an essential element of the hajj experience. In the end, the mounting indignities and restrictions proved too much for the Iranians and they angrily broke off the talks.

 In June, it was Bahrain  a virtual satellite of Saudi Arabia  that took aggressive action against a highly-regarded Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Isa Qassim, revoking his citizenship and threatening to try him on charges of money laundering and supporting terrorism. That move came shortly after a court ruling that ordered the dissolution of Bahrains leading Shiite political movement, al-Wefaq, for whom Qassim served as spiritual leader. Iran reacted vociferously to the crackdown. Qassem Suleimani, the notorious commander of the Qods Force, the IRGCs elite special operations unit, issued an unprecedented threat against Bahrains ruling Sunni family. The Al Khalifa will pay the price of their actions, and its result will be nothing but the annihilation of this bloodthirsty regime, he said. He called the action against Ayatollah Qassim a red line, the passing of which would create flames of fire in Bahrain and the entire region. And in a not-so-veiled warning to the Saudis, Soleimani declared: The supporters of Al Khalifa should know insulting Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim and the continuation of pressure on the people of Bahrain is the beginning of a bloody uprising.

 The Saudis, it seems, were not deterred. On the contrary, there is reason to suspect that they could be escalating their anti-Iran campaign even further by targeting not just Irans external activities, but its internal stability as well. In early July, Prince Turk al-Faisal  a senior member of the ruling family, the former long-time head of Saudi intelligence, and one-time ambassador to London and Washington  appeared at the annual conference of the controversial Iranian exile group, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), long viewed by Iran as a terrorist organization.

 In his speech, Turki offered a full-throated endorsement of the MEK, its leadership, and its agenda of toppling the Iranian government. He attacked the Khomeini cancer for spreading chaos in the region and responded to the large crowds chants by declaring I, too, want the downfall of the regime. Provocative, to say the least. While questions persist about the extent to which Turki speaks only for himself, or accurately reflects official Saudi policy, few believe that he would be allowed to trigger such controversies if his actions in fact displeased the Saudi government. In the case of the MEK appearance, that view is certainly bolstered by the fact that Turkis speech was widely covered by the Saudi media, including live on several prominent Saudi-owned television stations.

Harder to gauge as it relates to Saudi policy, but nonetheless intriguing, has been a significant uptick in activity this summer by Iranian minority groups. Starting in June, after a long period of inactivity, Kurdish rebels in northwestern Iran initiated several clashes with IRGC forces, with dozens reportedly killed on both sides. Iranian police and politicians have also been targeted by Kurdish assailants. In the southeast, along Irans border with Pakistan, jihadi groups linked to Irans Baluch minority have launched a series of attacks against the IRGC and Iranian Border Guard Forces. And in southeastern Iran, ethnic Arabs have claimed multiple attacks this summer on critical infrastructure related to Irans oil and gas industry, including a petrochemical plant and several pipelines. Interestingly, in addition to seeking the end of Iranian occupation of Arab lands, several of the groups claimed to be defending broader Arab interests as well, condemning Irans interventions in the affairs of neighboring countries, including Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.

 While there is no hard evidence connecting the kingdom to this flurry of separatist attacks, Iran seems convinced that a Saudi hand lies behind many of them. After a major clash with the Kurds in June, Mohsen Rezaei, the former head of the IRGC and current secretary of Irans influential Expediency Council, alleged that Saudi Arabia had dispatched two terror cells to Iranian Kurdistan. He further claimed that the militants were acting upon orders issued by the Saudi consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan, which had opened just a few months earlier, in February 2016. The consulate flatly denied the accusation, as did the Kurdish group that carried out the attacks.

 A month later, following additional clashes, Rezaei repeated his claims about the role being played by the Saudi consulate, warning for good measure that The Saudis are the most evil government in the world and are driving into instability with their own insanity. Also in July, the IRGCs current commander, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, declared: The enemies of the Islamic Revolution  are doing their best to spread insecurity in Iran. Some regional countries and Saudi Arabia have been added to the [list of] apparent enemies. Concurrently, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, spoke about the attacks by Baluch militants, and in a clear allusion to the Saudis, charged that one Islamic country uses its own money to spread war and terrorism in the region on behalf of the Islamic worlds enemies.

 Heightening Irans paranoia in this regard, no doubt, has been a steady drum beat of reports for the past year that the Saudis are systematically seeking to improve relations with Israel as part of their efforts to counter Iran. Turki al-Faisal has appeared on a number of panels in the United States and Europe with former high-level officials in Israels national security establishment. More recently, in July, a retired Saudi general, Anwar Eshki, broke taboos when he led a delegation of businessmen and academics on an unprecedented trip to Israel. The delegation met openly with senior Israeli officials and conducted interviews with Israeli media outlets. Its an open secret that these accelerating public interactions between Saudis and Israelis have been supplemented by an expanding covert relationship, including meetings between high level government officials, security experts, and intelligence agencies.

The burgeoning Israeli-Saudi ties are clearly unnerving the Iranians. After the Eshki trip to Israel, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a harsh rebuke, tweeting: Revelation of Saudi governments relations with Zionist regime was stab in the back of [the] Islamic [community]. Days earlier, Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah, launched an extended attack on the kingdom, focusing in particular on Prince Turkis activities and the Eshki visit. Nasrallah insisted that None of this could have happened without the Saudi governments approval. He lamented that Israel is no longer viewed as an enemy by the Arab states, and claimed that the worst and most important development in this matter is Saudi Arabia taking its relationship with Israel from a clandestine connection to a public one. Nasrallah warned, Saudi Arabia is set to recognize Israel, and was ready to normalize relations for free, without receiving anything in return on the Palestinian issue.

A particular Iranian worry when it comes to deepening Saudi-Israeli coordination could well concern Irans internal stability. The Mossad, Israels intelligence service, has long viewed Irans large, disparate, and disgruntled minority communities as potentially a major vulnerability for the regime. This view was articulated most forcefully by Meir Dagan, the late Mossad chief, who regularly made the case to U.S. officials that promoting the downfall of Iran should be an essential element of any strategy, short of war, to end the Iranian nuclear threat. Dagan was convinced that more could be done to appeal to the Iranian people, in particular by working with dissatisfied minority populations who comprise an estimated 40 to 50 percent of Irans population. He also believed that the Arab Gulf states might participate in such a strategy, especially if the United States played a coordinating role.

Whether or not Dagans vision has yet come to pass, theres now little doubt about its growing plausibility in a post-JCPOA world. As detailed above, the nuclear deal, with all its implications, is leading the Saudis to adopt a much more aggressive posture in confronting what they see as a growing Iranian threat. The kingdoms historically defensive, risk-averse, even sclerotic national security doctrine has, under King Salman and especially his son, Mohammed bin Salman, increasingly given way to a bolder and more confrontational approach. Indeed, some have even called it reckless.

To be fair, the Obama administration can rightly claim a degree of credit for encouraging the Saudis to step up to this larger role. Obama has made clear that part of his mission as president has been to spur traditional U.S. allies, like the Saudis, to take action for themselves, rather than always waiting for the United States to lead and then holding our coat. The president has called this his anti-free rider campaign.

The problem, of course, is that the administrations effort to promote greater burden sharing has not been pursued by way of revitalizing alliances with a new sense of common purpose and cooperation, but by leaving traditional partners feeling abandoned and betrayed. Obama seems to have been under the illusion that the abrupt retrenchment of U.S. power and leadership from the Middle East would result in the organic rise of a new regional equilibrium as local actors were forced to play larger roles in ensuring peace and stability. Instead, the policy has created a dangerous vacuum thats been filled not only by predatory enemies like Russia and Iran, but by frightened partners such as the Saudis, who increasingly may seek to remedy their security dilemma through acts of self-preservation that not only fail to take U.S. interests into account, but could actually run counter to them.

That would include, of course, an endless war in Yemen that leaves in its wake a humanitarian nightmare and failed state on the Arabian Peninsula, and one running wild with jihadists of every stripe and sect, including a greatly strengthened al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula that still has its sights set on attacking America. Or a Syrian opposition wholly dominated by al Qaida, al Qaida lookalikes, or al Qaida wannabes. The surest way of getting Saudi Arabia to revert to its old playbook of plying global jihadist movements with money, weapons, and Wahhabi incitement is to leave the country feeling alone and desperate, abandoned by its chief patron to fight a series of escalating proxy wars against a supercharged Shiite theocracy. Ditto if you want to maximize the chances that at some point soon the kingdom pursues its own nuclear option to counter an Iran that, under the JCPOA, will in 10 to 15 years have a more or less clear path to the bomb.

As can be seen in the kingdoms capture of the Khobar Towers attack planner, or in its recent efforts to isolate Iran and Hezbollah in Arab and Islamic forums, a more assertive Saudi Arabia  prepared to challenge Iranian aggression using the full array of cultural, economic, political, and security assets at its disposal  could indeed make a uniquely valuable contribution to stemming the regional implosion now ripping the Middle East apart. But the chances of Saudi Arabia taking on those roles will be greatly enhanced if its assets are tightly harnessed to reliable American leadership that has the capabilities, vision, and will necessary to mobilize broad coalitions on behalf of a more benign regional order  an order that effectively deters enemies rather than exacerbates conflict and that bolsters allies rather than undermining them. Overcoming the deep mistrust that now plagues the U.S.-Saudi relationship, and that reached its pinnacle with the JCPOA, may well be difficult. But more difficult still would be trying to secure U.S. vital interests in a Middle East in which Saudi Arabia is left adrift, alone, and increasingly desperate.

Photo credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Sausage Party animators have a beef. A petition signed by 30 Vancouver-based cartoonists says they were forced to work unpaid voluntary overtime on the hit movie or face termination. Nitrogen Studios, which produced the film, denies the allegations.

These claims are without merit, Nitrogen said in a statement. Our production adhered to all overtime laws and regulations, as well as our contractual obligations with our artists.

The British Columbia Ministry of Labors Employment Standards Branch said it has not received any complaints regarding Nitrogen Studios at this time.

Compounding matters, theres no union in BC that covers animators.

They definitely need a union, said Jennifer Moreau, VP of Unifor Local 2000, which bills itself as the media union of B.C., though it doesnt have a contract covering animators, either. Weve been monitoring animation companies to make sure theyre not violating any employment standards, and were reaching out to those workers to see if they need help. Right now, none of the animation studios in Vancouver are unionized. There are other aspects of the industry that are unionized, but animation isnt.

She said its not surprising that the Ministry of Labor hasnt received any complaints because most people are afraid to speak up, and the Ministry only investigates if they receive a complaint. Her local, she said, is holding an open house on October 19 in the hope of starting a dialogue that could lead to organizing animation workers there.

A local animation website is full of anonymous complaints about the working conditions on Sausage Party, which overperformed in its domestic debut this past weekend. If you wouldnt work late for free, your work would be assigned to someone who would stay late or come in on the weekend, said someone who identified himself as an uncredited supervisor on the film. Some artists were even threatened with termination for not staying late to hit a deadline.

Story continues

The animation department signed a petition for better treatment and paid overtime.

The supervisor noted that when Annapurna Pictures, which produced the film, received the petition, They stepped in and saw that artists were paid and fed when overtime was needed.

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'Suicide Squad' Tops $243M Offshore & Rises To $466M Global; Will It Hang Onto #1 In 3rd Frame?- Intl Box Office Final

'Sausage Party' Opening Weekend Louder Than Expected: Monday Postmortem
It marks the longest flight by a low-cost carrier.

The budget airline will soon be flying to the European continent as it announces flights on its 787 Dreamliner to Athens starting 20 June 2017.

According to a press release by Scoot, its first European destination marks the longest flight operated by a low-cost carrier with flight distance exceeding 10,000km.

The report added that the first European flights signal the Singapore Airlines Groups strategic move to stimulate passenger traffic between Asia Pacific and Europe, as well as to boost connectivity through the Singapore hub.

To commemorate its foray into Europe, Scoot is offering attractive one-way Economy FLY fares to and from Athens starting from $288, inclusive of taxes; $888 for ScootBiz, the report noted.

Photo by Jordan Tan/Shutterstock





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scott walker

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday morning that Hillary Clinton is inflaming tensions in Milwaukee following riots in the city over the death of a black man shot by police last week.

Speaking in Pennsylvania on Monday, Clinton said that the shooting and riots in Milwaukee demonstrated that police and communities need to "rebuild trust," so that "everyone has respect for the law and is respected by the law."

In an interview on "Fox and Friends," Walker accused both Clinton and Obama of making the situation in the city worse, though he did not specify how.

"I think comments like that are just inflaming the situation," the former GOP presidential candidate said of Clinton's remarks.

He continued: "I think people understand in that neighborhood, in Sherman Park and Milwaukee, they want the law enforcement to step up and protect them. The people who live in that neighborhood want police in Milwaukee and the sheriff's department to step up and protect them. They don't want the the criminals who are doing those actions against those businesses to do that. I think statements like that and the lack of leadership we've had from the president on this issue only inflames the situation."

Milwaukee is just the latest city in the past several years to erupt in protest following a police shooting of a black man. Law enforcement officials in Milwaukee assert, however, that 23-year-old Sylville Smith was carrying a weapon when he was shot by police.

Walker deployed the National Guard on Monday evening to prevent a third night of rioting.

The governor has hardly removed himself from politics since exiting the presidential race last year.

Walker is scheduled to hit the campaign trail with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Here's what we know about Trump's youngest daughter, Tiffany





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MILWAUKEE  Following a night of violence that left a half-dozen businesses in flames and a second night of protests in which a man was shot, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer.

This was, quite frankly, unanticipated, Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the citys economically depressed and largely black north side.

The chiefs statement raised questions about whether authorities could have taken steps to curb the violence, perhaps by sharing details of the shooting earlier, including the officers race or footage from his body camera.

Randolph McLaughlin, a Pace University law professor and a civil rights attorney, questioned how Milwaukee leaders could have expected the streets to stay quiet on Saturday night given the national debate about law enforcement and race.

For a mayor to say everythings fine (and) we just killed somebody, thats turning a blind eye to his town, McLaughlin said.

He said Mayor Tom Barrett should have reached out to residents and community leaders and asked, What do we need to do to make sure your community is safe? McLaughlin said. He needs to stay on the job.

David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis sociology professor who studies police use of deadly force, said it would not necessarily have helped for police to release the officers race sooner. He pointed out that the city saw disruptions on Sunday night, after his race had been publicized, though the intensity was less than the previous night.

He also said the city may have hesitated to give the officers race sooner for fear it would identify him.

Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in St. Louis, said the officers race probably does not matter to many people in the community.

They see the institution as racist, not the individual, Cross said. Once you put on the uniform, youre blue, and blue sees black as bad.

Flynn said it was an error in narrative to assume that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial, so lets have a riot.

Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.

Theres so much anger in these kids, Brewer said. The shooting was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesnt matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true.

On Monday, the mayor issued a proclamation applying the citys curfew to 17-year-olds. Until then, it had applied to children 16 or younger.

Barrett also moved the summer curfew back by one hour, to 10 p.m., and warned that the rule would be enforced more tightly.

The problems began Saturday afternoon when police stopped a rental car that was driving suspiciously, Flynn said.

Sylville Smith bolted from the car with a gun, leading an officer on a short foot chase before the officer shot the 23-year-old.

Police said the man was fleeing a traffic stop but released few other details.

The violence erupted later that evening.

During a news conference around midnight calling for calm, Barrett said people were gathering at the scene when he left at 5 p.m. Saturday, but they were peaceful and he thought everything was under control.

At another news conference Sunday afternoon, Flynn offered new details, revealing that the officer who opened fire was black, like Smith, and said body-camera video showed Smith had turned toward the officer and refused to drop his weapon.

He also said the officer shot Smith in the chest and arm. Some people interviewed on the north side had speculated that Smith was shot in the back.

The body-camera footage has not been released. Its in the custody of the state Justice Department, which is leading the investigation into the shooting.

Flynn activated the departments 150-member crowd-control team on Sunday night, and Gov. Scott Walker put the National Guard on standby if needed. Hundreds of people gathered near the scene of the shooting that evening, but remained peaceful. Most of them eventually dispersed.

But around 10:30 p.m., a group of perhaps 100 demonstrators began marching through the streets, eventually blocking an intersection next to a BP gas station that burned down the night before.

They threw bottles, chunks of concrete and rocks at officers. Dozens of officers arrived and forced the group down the street.

Seven officers were injured and 14 people were arrested by the time it was over. An 18-year-old was shot near the intersection. Police had to use an armored vehicle to rescue him. He was taken to a hospital, but Flynn said his life was not in danger.

DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smiths death would have stopped the weekends unrest.

People are just so angry, he said.

Barrett said outsiders are trying to damage a great neighborhood, where he lived for 11 years.

Flynn blamed a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party for coming to town and inciting Sundays violence.

There is ample opportunity for second-guessing, Im sure, Flynn said.

Things appeared much calmer Monday night. Just before 11 p.m., Flynn said six arrests had been made, but there were no reports of property damage or violence.

Flynn said there were some confrontations that were heated, but the arrests seemed to calm the situation.
By Justin George Varghese

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets were

sluggish on Tuesday, with Thailand shedding nearly 1 percent to

a one-week low, amid expectations of an extended phase of

monetary easing after downbeat economic data from major

economies.

Most countries are easing their monetary policies, with

Britain, Australia and New Zealand cutting rates in recent weeks

and Japan stepping up purchases of exchange-traded funds.

The expected easing posture of central banks globally

suggests the Fed may be slower to raise short-term interest

rates and that could be reflected in the minutes, analysts said.

"We recommend taking profit on outperforming trades when

sentiment levels have moderated or Fed pricing has normalised,"

Nomura strategist Mixo Das said in a note.

Investor sentiment got a boost as oil prices remained near

five-week highs on Tuesday, gaining 16 percent in a rally since

early August as speculation intensified over potential producer

action to support prices amid a glut.

Thailand's SET index fell for a second day in row,

dragged down by financial stocks such as Siam Commercial Bank

Pcl and Kasikornbank Pcl.

A rapid rise in the baht could impede business and

the economy and the central bank will closely monitor the

currency, an assistant central bank governor said.

Malaysian shares rose for a fifth straight session,

led by telecom services and industrials, while Philippine stocks

extended gains into a second straight day, with consumer

cyclicals driving the rise.

Indonesian shares closed nearly 1 percent higher,

driven by consumer staples, with PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk

and PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia Tbk among

the biggest gainers.

Automobile sales in Indonesia rose 12.5 percent in July from

a year earlier, according to data released by industry

association Gaikindo.

Indonesia's financial markets will be closed on Wednesday

for a public holiday.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

STOCK MARKETS

Change on the day

Story continues

Market Current Prev. close Pct Move

Singapore 2858.8 2867.21 -0.29

Bangkok 1536.35 1549.11 -0.82

Manila 7983.38 7960.17 0.29

Jakarta 5371.846 5320.561 0.96

Kuala Lumpur 1699.89 1690.33 0.57

Ho Chi Minh 658.11 659.47 -0.21

Change this year

Market Current End prev yr Pct Move

Singapore 2858.8 2882.73 -0.83

Bangkok 1536.35 1288.02 19.28

Manila 7983.38 6952.08 14.83

Jakarta 5371.846 4593.008 16.96

Kuala Lumpur 1699.89 1692.51 0.44

Ho Chi Minh 658.11 579.03 13.66

(Reporting by Justin George Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)
From Seventeen

Unless you live under a rock, you know that last night was a Jelena Instapocalypse of epic proportions. After Justin Bieber threatened to make his profile private over all the hate rumored fling Sofia Richie was receiving, fans lashed out at him for not appreciating them. Then his ex, Selena Gomez, added her two cents, and it turned into a comment war between the exes, both pointing the finger at the other.

Justin responded to Selena, accusing her of using him for attention (OK Justin *eye roll*). And now, Selena appears to have clapped right back, and if the screenshot of her comment floating around is legit, things just got really messy.

In her comment, Selena accuses Justin of cheating multiple times and hints that his ungrateful attitude towards his supporters is why Beliebers are angry with him. "Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive," she wrote. "No wonder fans are mad. All love."

Selena Gomez ending Justin Bieber with this clapback  pic.twitter.com/aribugY5XK - EXPOSED (@Exposing_celebz) August 15, 2016

Woah. Selena isn't holding back.

Selena and Justin seemed to be on pretty cordial terms recently, with Selena teasing her version of his new track with DJ Snake, "Let Me Love You," on Snapchat. But no matter how much they end their comments with "All love," it's hard not to assume things have gone sour between them again based on this Insta spat.

Justin has not responded to Selena's comment yet - and maybe that's for the best.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a securities class action has been filed on behalf of those who purchased shares of Eaton Corporation plc ("Eaton" or the "Company") (ETN) and certain of its officers, during the period between November 13, 2013 and July 28, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period").

This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").

The Complaint alleges that Defendants issued false and misleading statements regarding Eaton's ability to divest its automobile-part manufacturing business. Eaton has primarily focused on vehicle component manufacturing, but as of 2008, Eaton has extended its electrical component businesses. In 2012 Eaton entered a merger with Cooper Industries plc, which reincorporated Eaton in Ireland. Following the Merger, Eaton's executives guaranteed its shareholders of the feasibility of divesting the automobile-part manufacturing business on a tax-free basis, thus artificially inflating Eaton's stock price. On July 29, 2014, Eaton's Chief Executive Officer, Alexander M. Cutler, informed investors that due to the merger with Cooper Industries plc and the associated tax-law restrictions, Eaton would not be able to divest its vehicle business until late. Cutler added the Eaton was "well aware" of these restrictions "all along." Following this news, Eaton stock dropped $6.24 per share, or 8.13%, to close at $70.51 on July 29, 2014.

No Class has yet been certified in the above action. To discuss this action, or for any questions, please visit the firm's site: http://www.bgandg.com/#!etn/d4r9k or contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484 or via email info@bgandg.com. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address and telephone number. If you suffered a loss in Eaton, you have until September 23, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firm's expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contact:

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC

Peretz Bronstein or Yael Hurwitz

212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com

SOURCE: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:

To: All Persons or Entities who purchased G&K Services Inc. ("G&K") (GK) stock prior to August 16, 2016 .

You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of G&K to Cintas Corp. (CTAS) for $97.50 per share. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to:

http://zlk.9nl.com/gkservices-gk

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Joseph E. Levi, Esq.

Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.

30 Broad Street - 24th Floor

New York, NY 10004

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Toll Free: (877) 363-5972

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
A sticky-fingered Florida woman spent nearly 10 minutes trashing a gas station convenience store after she was asked to return the candy bars she allegedly shoplifted.

Read: Mom Raised Thousands by Faking Daughter's Cancer for Years

According to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office press release, the convenience store owner at a Shell gas station noticed a woman put $11 worth of shoplifted candy into her pockets without paying.

He confronted the customer, but when she refused to return the items, he locked the doors and wouldn't let her out, cops said Monday.

That's when the woman began destroying the store.

Surveillance footage captured the woman walking down each aisle, and throwing products off the shelves and onto the floor.

Passersby can be seen peering through the locked doors, concerned.

An employee even follows her down the aisle at one point, attempting to stop her, but quickly gives up as she continued flinging packaged goods past him.

After nearly 10 minutes of wreaking havoc on the convenience store, the shopkeeper finally unlocks the door and the suspect leaves, stepping over the mess she created on the floor.

Read: Conscientious Burglar Calls 911 on Himself After Holding Girlfriend at Gunpoint: Cops

Police are now offering a $3,000 reward for anyone with information about the March incident.

Watch: Nun Caught on Surveillance Camera Stealing $23 Worth of Shampoo and Snacks

Related Articles:
The 2016 Rio Olympics are over for Simone Biles, but somehow shes still winning.

The world watched as the 19-year-old U.S. gymnast took home 5 medals while professing her love for Zac Efron along the way  and now Efron is professing his love right back.

RELATED: Simone Biles Adorably Reveals She Has a Life-Size Zac Efron Cutout: I Used to Kiss Him on the Cheek

The Neighbors 2 star surprised Biles on the Today show on Tuesday, just hours after she took home her fourth gold medal in floor exercise.

Of course, Biles couldnt help but brag about finally meeting  and kissing  her ultimate crush.

On cloud 9, she posted to Twitter, along with a video of herself kissing Efron on the cheek.

Thankfully, all Biles #winning hasnt gone to her head. He kissed me on the cheek just letting y'all know, she posted minutes later.

he kissed me on the cheek just letting y'all know @ZacEfron pic.twitter.com/VLyc62DXY7  Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 16, 2016

RELATED: Simone Biles Closes Out Olympics With Fourth Gold Medal in Floor Exercise

And then came the evidence of said kiss. proof: had to do a retake bc I thought we were taking a picture then he kissed me instead, she tweeted along with a video of the smooch.

proof : had to do a retake bc I thought we were taking a picture then he kissed me instead pic.twitter.com/rld33V14qe  Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) August 16, 2016

It was clearly love at first sight for this budding couple. just call me mrs. Efron already, the Olympian captioned another shot of Efron pecking her face.

Story continues

RELATED: Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky Unite for Sports Illustrated Cover

But being the gentleman that he is, Efron graced all the ladies of the Final Five with his gorgeous presence.

Another Olympic dream came true today in Rio! #FinalFive pic.twitter.com/nqyC5tTL24  USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 16, 2016

Its definitely been a dream come true for Biles, who hasnt been shy about her love for the 28-year-old actor. In fact, Biles admitted shes the proud owner of an Efron cut-out on NBC Nightly News. Sometimes I kiss him on the cheek, she said. Its a little strange.

Sometimes, honestys the best policy  and the only way to get a kiss from Zac Efron!

RELATED: Simone Biles and Aly Raisman Slay the Womens Gymnastics All-Around in Rio, Take Home Gold and Silver for Team USA

Now if someone can only introduce us to the shirtless Tonga flag bearer.

Related Articles
The University of Wisconsin Systems request for the next state budget includes a new initiative that would require all students, professors and staff members to take part in training programs designed to instill cultural fluency.

Called Fluent, the program echoes a demand of student activists pressuring the system to improve the experiences of minorities on UW campuses, as well as a cultural competency training that UW-Madison has started rolling out for incoming students this year.

System spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said Fluent is a result of feedback from the employers and workforce partners UW officials heard from in recent listening sessions.

Marquis pointed to notes from a meeting with Milwaukee and Madison businesses in which UW officials were told cross-cultural experience (is) necessary in employees.

The UW System will develop a premier curriculum for system-wide cultural fluency education and conduct training programs for all students, faculty and staff, UW officials wrote of the initiative. This will provide a foundation of civility and respect for all people who take part in university experiences.

UW officials have not said how much the initiative would cost. In the Systems budget request, which will go before the UW Board of Regents on Thursday, it is one of five programs meant to focus on the university experience that would in total cost $6 million over two years.

The system is asking lawmakers to increase its funding by $42.5 million in the 2017-19 state budget to pay for new programs that officials say will boost Wisconsins economy by bringing more educated college graduates into the workforce. The request faces uncertain prospects in the Legislature, however.

Tyriek Mack, a UW-Madison junior who has been involved in protests over the racial climate on that campus and others, called the Fluent initiative a step in the right direction. But Mack emphasized that students will still push UW to make other changes they have called for, such as new funding for mental health services and a reevaluation of campus diversity plans.

All of our demands are pieces to the puzzle, Mack said. Getting one thing accomplished will definitely benefit students on this campus, but more importantly making sure everything is accomplished, holistically, is our main goal.

Others at UW-Madison and in the Legislature have questioned plans for cultural competency training. State Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who has criticized UW officials for meeting with student activists in the past, derided the Fluent proposal as wasteful UW System spending on political correctness and called for legislators to reject it.

I have never met a business person yet that alleges the people of Wisconsin are culturally incompetent employees, Nass said.

If its approved in the budget, the Fluent initiative would let UW campuses develop their own training programs.

At UW-Madison  where officials started a cultural competency training program called Our Wisconsin for 1,000 new students this year and plan to expand the initiative to all incoming students in 2017  Fluent could require the university to further expand training to faculty and staff.

Meredith McGlone, a spokeswoman for UW-Madison, said campus officials will work with the System on how to implement the program.
New base for Russian bombers. Russian bombers have started operating from an air base in Iran, and on Tuesday launched a wave of bombing runs on targets in Syria. The strikes, by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi 34 fighters flying out of Irans Hamadan air base may signal a new wrinkle in Russias year-long bombing campaign in Syria, since the bombers will be able to carry larger payloads, given the shorter distances they have to fly.

The strikes may not be the first time Russian planes have taken off from Iran however, as Russian warplanes were spotted at Iranian air bases last fall.

The bombing runs come amid reports that Moscow has asked Iraq and Iran for permission to begin flying cruise missiles over their territory. Earlier this week, Moscow sent several ships into the Caspian Sea for exercises, the same location from which Russian ships sent cruise missiles into Syria in November 2015.

Tensions at Turtle Bay. While the Russia and Iran are teaming up in the fight against ISIS and other targets in Syria, the recent diplomatic thaw between Moscow and Ankara appears to have its limits. FPs Colum Lynch gets the exclusive details of a recent closed door session at the U.N. Security Council, where Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin slammed Turkey for permitting what he claims is the continued flow of weapons and terrorists across the border into Syria.

Lynch writes that the criticism underscored the tensions that continue to define Russias interactions with Turkey even at a time when they are trying to put their relationship back on track, and it reflects the fact that Moscow and Ankara remain deeply divided over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is receiving direct military assistance from Russia as he fights rebels armed and backed by Turkey.

More alliances? Russian Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu said Monday that Russia and the United States are inching closer to an agreement to join forces in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. U.S. State Department officials are a little more equivocal on the subject, however. Shoigu said the two sides, currently involved in talks in Geneva, Switzerland, are close to an agreement on Aleppo that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace. A State Department spokeswoman, however, offered only that the department has nothing to announce and that Washington is pushing for a broad ceasefire in Syria.

Story continues

And here comes Beijing. Guan Youfei, an official with Chinas Central Military Commission, was in Damascus Tuesday where he met Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij. Guan said that China wants a closer relationship with Syria, and Chinas military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Syrias military, Chinas Xinhua state news agency reported.

A Trump foreign policy. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered what was billed as a major foreign policy speech Monday, offering a performance that borrowed much from President Barack Obamas approach to fighting the Islamic State, while simultaneously declaring the presidents strategy a failure. Trump also said the United States should have left troops in Iraq to guard oil facilities while the U.S. took all the oil to pay for the war. FPs Molly OToole truth squads the address, here.

The AP also has a long list of the candidates mistakes and untruths in Mondays address.

GITMO. On Monday, Trump repeated his vows to maintain the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and fill it with new detainees  including, potentially, some U.S. citizens. But President Barack Obama answered just a few hours later with the announcement that the Pentagon had transferred 15 Guantanamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates, the largest such move during his tenure, FPs Molly OToole reports.

Hack attack. A mysterious online group calling itself The Shadow Brokers is claiming to have penetrated the National Security Agency, stolen some of its malware, and is auctioning off the files to the highest bidder, FPs Elias Groll writes. The authenticity of the files cannot be confirmed but appear to be legitimate, according to security researchers who have studied their content. Their release comes on the heels of a series of disclosures of emails and documents belonging mostly to Democratic officials, but also to Republicans. Security researchers believe those breaches were perpetrated by agents thought to be acting on behalf of Moscow.

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

China

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley is in Beijing for a sit down with his Peoples Liberation Army counterparts and the U.S. deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea is at the top of the agenda. Chinese officials have reacted angrily to the THAAD deployment, meant to protect the South from North Koreas growing ballistic missile threats, fearing it could be used to track Chinese missiles instead. In a statement, the Army said Milley told army chief General Li Zuocheng that the THAAD system in South Korea remains focused on threats from Pyongyang and not China.

Yemen

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi movement in Yemen have once again bombed a hospital belonging to the international humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), killing 15 people. The airstrike is the fourth such attack against MSF medical facilities by the coalition in Yemen, and follows the coalitions bombing of a school in northern Yemen which killed a number of children. The U.S. Air Force has stepped up its support to the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen over the past six months with an increase in refueling operations.

South Sudan

Following a victory in Juba in July, South Sudanese soldiers raped and beat foreign aid workers at gunpoint and murdered a journalist  all while United Nations peacekeepers looked on and did nothing, according to the AP. Witnesses tell the wire service that the troops, apparently drunk and buoyant from their recent victory, stormed the Terrain hotel complex and began torturing foreign guests. Multiple calls for help to U.N. peacekeepers, based just minutes away, were ignored, as were pleas to foreign embassies, including the U.S. embassy

Cybersecurity

China has launched a satellite featuring a new kind of encryption which Beijing claims is hack proof, Reuters reports. The satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, uses quantum communication to try and defeat third party interception and decryption. The system is based on the principle of the observer effect, which holds that the very act of measuring a phenomenon can change it. Chinese officials say the satellite will be used to link the capital Beijing and Urumqi in Xinjiang province, where Islamist militants have attempted to create an independent state.

Photo Credit: TASS\TASS via Getty Images
The Updated Website Features Major Improvements to the Sites Graphics along with New Products and Special Offers

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 16, 2016 / The founders of Skyes The Limit LLC, a company that is devoted to offering their customers top-quality supplements and beauty products, are pleased to announce the launch of their newly-revised website. The site underwent a major overhaul and features several new improvements, including better graphics on the homepage, an expanded inventory, expedited shipping options and special offers.

To learn more about Skyes The Limit LLC and a recent review of the company on SupplementHunter.com, please visit http://supplementhunter.com/skyes-limit-llc/.

As the review on SupplementHunter.com noted, Skyes The Limit LLC features products that are designed to improve the health and appearance of the skin, hair and nails. For example, one of the company's most popular products is Pure Moroccan Argan Oil. The moisturizing oil, which includes essential fatty acids and vitamin E, can be used on both the hair and skin.

Another product that sells briskly at Skyes The Limit LLC is called My Luminous Serum. As the review notes, the age defying serum is meant to literally live up to its nameby helping people who use it to have more youthful looking skin.

"This serum is specially formulated to defy the 'laws of nature,' preventing the onset, and in some cases reducing the appearance of wrinkles and other signs of aging likely to show up in the skin," the review on SupplementHunter.com noted, adding that the product can effectively rejuvenate and revitalize the skin by working with the skin's natural repair abilities and processes.

Another product that is getting a lot of attention from customers who visit the newly-updated website is My Luminous Eyes Advanced Skin Gel. The gel, which contains SYN-COIL and DUPONT GLIPUIRE, works by firming and restoring the delicate skin around the eyes.

Story continues

As the review on SupplementHunter.com noted, while the beauty products from Skyes The Limit LLC can do a great job on their own, when people use them together they turn into a powerful trio that can significantly improve the look and feel of the hair and skin.

"As stated prior, Skyes The Limit LLC's line of health and beauty products are among the best you will find," the review concluded.

About Skyes The Limit LLC:

Skyes The Limit LLC is a supplement and health product manufacturer dedicated to providing customers worldwide with high-quality health and beauty products. Learn more at: http://skyebetterlife.com/.

Contact:

Allen Washington

admin@rocketfactor.com

(949) 555-2861

SOURCE: Skyes The Limit LLC
Independent oil and gas company SM Energy Company SM has closed its public offering worth $172,500,000 of its 1.5% Senior unsecured convertible Notes, which are due in 2021. The offering also includes the option to purchase an additional $22,500,000 principal amount of Notes. This option has been exercised by the underwriters in full.

SM Energy has raised approximately $166.4 million from the offering, after deducting fees and estimated expenses. The company intends to use the net proceeds from the sale to pay for a section of the purchase price for its recent acquisitions, to pay the fee of the capped call transactions and also for general corporate purposes.

SM Energy is engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development, acquisition and production of natural gas and crude oil in North America.

SM ENERGY CO Price

SM ENERGY CO Price | SM ENERGY CO Quote

We expect the company's attractive oil and gas investments, balanced and diverse portfolio of proved reserves and development drilling opportunities to create long-term value for shareholders. Also, we view SM Energy as one of the most attractive players in the exploration and production space.



The company is increasing focus on oil, specifically in the Permian and Rocky Mountain regions. Hence, we expect it to see improved oil-weighted activity. Additionally, SM Energy has meaningful leasehold positions in the leading U.S. shale plays including the Bakken, Niobrara, Haynesville and Granite Wash. This, we believe, will offer many years of profitable drilling inventory. Growth drivers include the South Texas Eagle Ford Shale and Rockies Williston Basin Bakken/Three Forks shales.



In spite of the company holding considerable acreage in the Williston Basin, most of its holdings are in the low-yielding regions. Thus, its results will likely lag its peers which have acreage in the core region of the Bakken.



At present, SM Energy carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy sector are Devon Energy Corporation DVN, North Atlantic Drilling Limited NADL and Murphy USA Inc. MUSA. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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Zacks Investment Research
Beijing (AFP) - China leads the world in connecting everyday devices to the internet, but is creating huge hacking vulnerabilities for itself and others by doing so, renegade American software pioneer John McAfee warned Tuesday.

Hackers had already been able to gain control of devices such as safes and heating controls, and take over the computer systems of automobiles and aeroplanes, he said.

"China is taking the lead in putting intelligence into devices, from refrigerators to smart thermostats, and this is our weakest link in cybersecurity," he said in Beijing.

"I am hoping that in the short time I am here I can raise a warning flag that we have to take security of these devices even more importantly than our large computers or our smart phones," he told a conference of internet security professionals.

"Because there are so many more of these devices, and the more that are connected, then the higher the risk of a potential hack becomes."

McAfee, 70, is the colourful founder of an antivirus software company who once fled Belize after police sought to question him in a murder case.

He has since returned to the United States, where he announced he was running for president.

He amassed an estimated $100 million fortune during the early days of the internet in the 1990s, but lost most of it to bad investments and the financial crisis.

He was living with a 17-year-old girl in Belize when police came looking for him to discuss the killing of his neighbour -- a crime of which he maintains his innocence. He was briefly incarcerated and fled the Central American country.

McAfee's at times dire and alarming speech in Beijing came as his new company MGT Capital prepares to launch cybersecurity products later this year.

- Hacking threat -

"Our species has never before faced a threat of this magnitude. And we have not noticed it by and large," he said.

"You may thinking I am exaggerating, that I am an alarmist. I am friends with many of the hackers who have the capability to do enormous damage if they so chose."

Story continues

Chinese companies such as Xiaomi have been praised for innovation in adding internet connectivity to a variety of devices including air purifiers and rice cookers, allowing users to switch them on from work or on their way home.

Such connections create serious new weaknesses that could leave users' networks especially vulnerable to hacking, McAfee said.

But in a briefing with reporters he also commended Beijing's protection of its domestic internet, which is heavily censored and blocks many foreign websites, for its seeming security against the large-scale breaches seen recently in the US.

"You may notice that last year America suffered hundreds of major hacks from all around the world," he said, and added that he had "heard nothing" of similar hacks on China.

"Now perhaps that's the government's control of the press, I don't know," he said. "But I do know that within certain industries of China, the awareness of cybersecurity threats is far greater than our awareness in America."
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman was among a group of people kidnapped from a restaurant in the Pacific Mexican tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta this week, the state attorney general said on Tuesday. A group of six people suspected to be members of Guzman's feared Sinaloa Cartel were abducted by a group of armed men from an upscale eatery in the heart of the resort early on Monday. Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told a news conference that one of Guzman's son, Alfredo, was among those abducted. However it was not another son of Guzman, Ivan, as Almaguer had suspected earlier in the day. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Natalie Schachar)
It's been ten years since El Perro del Mar unleashed their Phil Spector-esque??'60s-inflected pop??on the indie music scene with their self-titled debut album; with a new album,??KoKoro, due??out in September, Swedish??frontwoman Sarah Assbring stopped by Soul Sisters during a brief stint in New York??to look back at the crazy decade behind her.

Assbring??tells us how, in the midst of an emotional, nearly existential breakdown on a beach in Spain years ago, a stray dog ran up to her and gave her both fresh perspective on life and inspiration for a new band name (El Perro del Mar literally means "dog of the sea" in Spanish.)

"It was a walking metaphor," she explains.??"I thought, 'That dog is sweet, that dog has a right to live.' Because that's how I felt. I was??kind of like, 'What is my place here? Do I even have a right to exist when I'm feeling like this?'"

"I just had an epiphany of, 'It can be simple, too.'??You know? It can be really easy, too.??You can make something good out of it.??Don't make it so hard."

Listen to the full conversation with Assbring below, hosted by Jessie Katz and Darah Golub and recorded at NYC's Chord Club, including a snippet of El Perro's new single "Breadandbutter." And be sure to subscribe to our iTunes channel to catch all future episodes of Soul Sisters!
* ANC lost majority in key urban centres in Aug. 3 local vote

* Biggest ever defeat for party of Mandela boosts rivals

* Coalition governments raise fears of instability

* Unlikely coalition councils of centrist and leftist party mooted

* Graphic http://tmsnrt.rs/2b0kPdk

By Joe Brock and Mfuneko Toyana

ATTERIDGEVILLE, South Africa, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Gladys Sithole had voted for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) ever since its long-jailed former leader Nelson Mandela swept to power in South Africa at the end of apartheid 22 years ago. She did not expect much in return, just a toilet.

Standing in the doorway of her house in Atteridgeville near Pretoria and wrapped in a blanket against the cold, she explained the sea change among ANC supporters in local elections on Aug 3 which nudged South Africa from post-apartheid one-party ANC rule into a new era of uneasy coalitions.

"The ANC promised us many things when they freed us but those things haven't happened," the 64-year-old said at the three-room home she shares with her frail husband and unemployed son in one of the townships blacks were confined to by apartheid.

She is pinning her hopes on the Democratic Alliance (DA), formerly the preserve of South Africa's white minority, while others in Atteridgeville support the Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical party vowing to shift wealth from whites to blacks.

The ANC still scored the most votes across the country but failed to win an outright majority in key urban municipalities, which means all three major parties are now scrambling to build coalitions, by an official deadline of Saturday.

It is a type of politics South Africa has little experience of, requiring compromises so great they threaten to dash the hopes of voters whose patience with politicians is wearing thin.

Successful opposition coalitions could show that the ANC's rivals can run local councils, strengthening their credentials to unseat the ANC nationally in 2019.

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But they may also descend into wrangling, slowing decision-making or triggering new elections at a time when Africa's most industrialised country teeters on the verge of recession.

"No one really knows what's going on. It's confusing," said 20-year-old student Wiseman Siyabonga, who stayed loyal to the ANC because of education and housing grants he benefits from.

"The thing with coalitions is no one gets who they voted for."

UNREST

Atteridgeville, the township on the edge of Pretoria where Sithole has lived since 1970, is typical of dozens on the fringes of South African cities that used to be so dominated by the ANC that opponents barely bothered to campaign.

That changed in Atteridgeville after the ANC, without consulting locally, replaced its mayor for the municipality that includes the township after he criticised the party.

Residents of the township barricaded roads, looted shops and set vehicles ablaze during riots in June and the ANC's share of the vote in Sithole's ward fell to 54 percent from 88 percent.

Nationally the ANC won 53 percent, down from 62 percent five years ago, opening the way for a possible challenge to President Jacob Zuma's leadership before the 2019 parliamentary election, in which the winning party's leader becomes president.

ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told reporters on Sunday the party's leadership was trying to "deal with perceptions of the ANC being arrogant, self serving, soft on corruption and increasingly distant from its social base".

Investors have largely welcomed the election results, and the rand has gained around five percent since the vote.

But future coalitions face the daunting task of improving the lives of millions of South Africans, with a quarter of the potential workforce unemployed and the jobless rate among black people aged 20-24 at almost half, not to mention poor housing.

"It's not nice, especially when it's cold," said Sithole, referring to the rickety cubicles in her own and other yards, which the ANC vowed to replace with inside toilets years ago.

There are 27 municipalities out of 278 where no party won an outright majority, including four urban municipalities wielding budgets totalling around 130 billion rand ($9.65 billion).

The DA, which elected its first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, last year, won the most votes in the symbolically important Nelson Mandela Bay, which includes the manufacturing centre Port Elizabeth, and Tshwane, home to the capital Pretoria.

The ANC narrowly won the largest share in economic hub Johannesburg and the neighbouring industrial region of Ekurhuleni where the main airport is based.

Julius Malema's three-year-old Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has been cast in the role of kingmaker, coming third with 8 percent of the national vote.

The three parties say they are holding talks with one other and other smaller parties but details have been kept secret.

"I think a coalition between DA and EFF could work. They might get something done," said Thabiso Clemenet, 26, an unemployed IT graduate who lives with six family members, aged between 8 and 80, in a two bedroom house in Atteridgeville.

Clemenet points at pot-holed roads that have not been fixed and an empty plot of land where a health clinic was supposed to be built three years ago as examples of the ANC's failure.

But his reasons for voting for the EFF, a party which has struck a chord with many young black men, hint at the difficulty of coalition building. "The EFF seems to offer the most radical offer of change," he said. "That's what we need."

AWKWARD BEDFELLOWS

On the surface, it would seem unthinkable that the pro-business DA with a white support base, could partner with the EFF, which proposes nationalising mines and banks and redistributing land from whites to blacks without compensation.

The DA and EFF do share common ground, notably an avowed determination not to work with the ANC, and the DA has the track record of a successful coalition with like-minded parties in Cape Town, where it boosted its majority to over two-thirds.

"I've no doubt there will be issues but I think a DA/EFF coalition is the best government citizens could get," said political analyst Prince Mashele.

"The two parties will watch each other so there is no corruption. They will also pull each other towards the centre and they should both want to deliver to the people if they are going to convince voters in 2019."

Lingering inequality is a central issue. Black people make up 80 percent of South Africa's 54 million population yet most of the economy remains in the hands of white people, who account for about 8 percent of the population.

"We are going to show what can be done," Solly Msimanga, DA mayoral candidate in Tshwane told Reuters, citing the creation of tax free zones outside townships like Atteridgeville where small businesses like bakeries and mechanics could thrive.

"You talk about nursery schools and health clinics. There are budgets for these sort of projects but they are not being spent," Msimanga said of projects neglected in the township.

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has said the party would announce its decision on coalitions on Wednesday and James Selfe, a senior DA executive who has led the party's negotiations, said on Tuesday talks were at an advanced stage.

"Everyone is in a position where they know what's on offer, they know what's at stake," Selfe told reporters. "They'll have to take a decision."

But in a country where coalitions remain largely untested, there are many who doubt they can succeed.

"There's no way the EFF and DA can work together," said student Siyabonga. "They will fight each other and the people will suffer."

($1 = 13.25 rand)

(Editing by James Macharia and Philippa Fletcher)
WEST BEND  Responding to rioting and violence in Milwaukee in recent days, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made an appeal to black voters and said the country needs more police officers during a rally here Tuesday night.

"Law and order must be restored for the sake of all, but most especially for the sake of those living in the affected communities," Trump told more than 3,000 supporters at the Washington County fairgrounds. "The main victims of these riots are law-abiding African-American citizens living in these neighborhoods."

Declaring "the war on our police must end and it must end now," Trump blamed decades of Democratic leadership for crime and poverty in major cities. He called Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton anti-police and held up as a model the tough-on-crime approach of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was one of the speakers who introduced Trump.

"Ill make sure we deliver safe neighborhoods in Milwaukee," Trump said, reading from a teleprompter. "The world is watching, right here in Milwuakee, but also across the country."

The Trump rally took place in heavily Republican Washington County, about a 45-minute drive from downtown Milwaukee. The capacity crowd of 3,600  which tapered off a bit as Trump was more than an hour late  was overwhelmingly white.

Trump was introduced by Giuliani, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, of Kenosha, and Gov. Scott Walker.

Walker was scheduled to participate in an event with the Aspen Institute in Colorado on Tuesday night but canceled early Monday, a spokeswoman for the event said.

"There are two names and only two names on the ballot who can be elected the next president of the United States," Walker said in introducing Trump. "One is Hillary Clinton. The other is Donald Trump.  It is clear, the American people, the people in this state, as well as people across this country, we want change."

Other top state Republicans were absent from the Trump rally. House Speaker Paul Ryan is out of state on a previously scheduled trip supporting House Republicans and Sen. Ron Johnson was attending prior commitments in northern and central parts of the state, their campaigns said.

Attendees chanted "lock her up" and "crooked Hillary" as state representatives and members of Congress warmed up the crowd at 7:30 p.m. as it waited for Trump to arrive from the taping of a town hall event at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Speaking to a crowd waving Trump-Pence signs to keep cool, state Rep. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, acknowledged "it has been a tumultuous campaign already, one that can be uncomfortable and unsettling," but he said it is imperative that Republicans defeat Clinton.

"(Clinton's policies) will drive businesses out of the United States," Knodl said. "Donald Trump, he builds businesses. The kind of businesses we want to stay here."

Jacquelyn Adamicki, 20, a University of Minnesota student from Waukesha, said she agrees with many of Trump's policies, especially on lowering taxes, but thinks building a wall along the Mexican border would be a waste of money. With family in Poland who have had difficulty immigrating legally to the United States, Trump's hard line on immigration still resonates with her.

"He wasn't my first choice, but he's our candidate now," Adamicki said.

In holding a rally in very conservative Washington County, Trump's campaign signaled it recognizes the reason he is trailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 15 points among likely voters and 10 points among registered voters statewide is because of dampened support in the reliably Republican counties surrounding Milwaukee.

The last three Marquette Law School polls show Trump leading Clinton 45-35 among registered voters in Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney won those counties 67-32.

Meanwhile Clinton, who has yet to visit the state since accepting the nomination, leads in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee 72-13. President Barack Obama won the city 79-20 in 2012.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who has embraced Trump since he clinched the nomination in May and met with him on Tuesday, said the key reason for Trump's poor showing in the Milwaukee suburbs has been the resistance to his candidacy among some conservatives, such as prominent talk radio host Charlie Sykes.

Thompson said it's still too early to write off Trump's chances in Wisconsin and nationally. He said the debates in late September and early October will sway the election more than any day-to-day stumbles on the campaign trail.

"When the debates start, youre going to see the base start shouting and the base is going to come back to Republicans," Thompson said. "Southeast Wisconsin is going to come back for Trump. Put that in your pipe and smoke it."

Brandon Scholz, a Republican strategist who is anti-Trump, said Trump's two visits and his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's three visits to the state, including a joint appearance in Green Bay on Aug. 5, suggest the campaign's internal polling shows a closer race than the latest Marquette poll.

Trump's last visit (and the poll) came after a week in which he refused to endorse Ryan in his primary election that he won by nearly 70 points. Trump ended up endorsing Ryan while reading from cards during his Green Bay rally.

Since then Trump has given speeches laying out his plans for the economy and defeating the Islamic State.

In addition to the West Bend rally and ticketed town hall event in Milwaukee, Trump attended fundraisers in La Crosse and Milwaukee and met with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.

State Senate Democratic leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, issued a statement Tuesday pushing back against Republican legislators embracing Trump.

"Wisconsin families have seen enough," Shilling said. "From suggesting we should abandon our allies to advocating the use of torture, Trumps policies would make us less safe. He lacks the temperament, experience and moral judgment to keep us safe."

Trump, in an interview Tuesday with the La Crosse Tribune, said his temperament is one of his greatest assets.

"Ive won all my life, Ive been winning," Trump told the newspaper. "I always thought that temperament  I mean I have always felt  and been told  that my single greatest strength is temperament."
South Korea said Tuesday that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.

A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.

They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Koreas National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Arguing that the high-profile nature of the restaurant workers' case made them unusually vulnerable, the NIS had announced in June that they would remain in protective custody rather than being sent to the centre.

Now that they have been released, the unification ministry said it would provide no further details of their situation "for safety reasons".

"They did not want to be interviewed or make public their whereabouts," the ministry official said.

The dispute over the defectors has fanned inter-Korean tensions that have been running high since the North's fourth nuclear test in January.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South.

But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in the North Korea-themed restaurants overseas and who are handpicked from families considered "loyal" to the regime.

The South's government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around $10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates -- with mostly North Korean staff -- in 12 countries including neighbouring China.

Story continues

North Korea's campaign for the return of the defectors has included emotional video interviews with the women's relatives in the North, angrily denouncing South Korean authorities and demanding a meeting with the women.

A group of liberal South Korean human rights lawyers -- having gained power of attorney from the relatives -- forced a court hearing into the case in Seoul in June.

But the NIS claimed the women were unwilling to testify and refused to bring them to court, saying they were being held incommunicado for their own protection and that of their families still in North Korea.

One member of the lawyers' group, Chae Hee-Joon, said he had no idea where the workers were but added that "we will continue our efforts to contact them".

Chae said his association was also pushing for legislation that would make it illegal for new defectors to be interrogated by the NIS without legal representation.
By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan will consider a United Nations plan to send in troops and stop the country's episode of violence, President Salva Kiir said on Monday, confirming a softer stance towards a U.N. vote to send in extra troops. The U.N. Security Council authorised an extra 4,000 troops on Friday, something Kiir's spokesman immediately said the government would oppose. On Sunday, however, the information minister said the proposal would be considered. "There are people who are accusing the transitional government of refusing and fighting the U.N. ... this is not accurate," Kiir said at a ceremony to reopen parliament. "The transitional government has not met to declare its final position. Deliberations will come later on a final position," he said, without saying when the government might make a decision. The U.N. decision was a reaction to days of fierce fighting in Juba, the country's capital last month. The violence raised fears of a slide back into civil war in the world's youngest nation, which gained independence in 2011. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had uncovered evidence of cold-blooded execution of civilians, including a journalist, by security forces during last month's fighting. The group also found evidence of civilians being raped by soldiers in the chaos of the fighting, it said on Monday. The U.N. made similar accusations against the military earlier this month. HRW criticised the U.N. for failing to impose a "long overdue arms embargo", calling for asset freezes and travel bans on those who carried out abuses. "The continued supply of arms only helps fuel the abuses on a larger scale," said Daniel Bekele, the group's Africa director. Ateny Wek Ateny, the president's spokesman, said he could not comment since he was still going through the report. Earlier, Kiir had said in his speech to parliament they were investigating reports of sexual assaults, calling them unacceptable. At least two civilians and a soldier were killed in fighting southwest of the capital on Saturday between Kiir's forces and troops loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar. Each side blamed the other for starting the violence. The extra U.N. troops, described as a protection force that has the backing of African nations, will fall under the command of UNMISS, the existing 12,000-strong U.N. mission. The U.N. resolution threatens South Sudan with an arms embargo if it does not cooperate. Kiir said the government had serious concerns about the U.N. decision but was willing to discuss them to find the best way of "achieving our mutual interests". Political differences between Kiir and Machar first erupted into conflict in late 2013. A peace deal ended the civil war in August 2015, but sporadic fighting continued. Machar withdrew with his forces from Juba after violence flared in July, setting up a potential armed standoff. (Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Robin Larry King)
Director Rian Johnson started editing Star Wars: Episode VIII on Monday, following the wrap of principal photography in late July.

The first-time Star Wars director, whose previous credits include Brick, Looper and three episodes of Breaking Bad, took to Instagram to show a picture of his editing bay with a dramatic "Picture Start" plastered across several screens. "Day 1!" Johnson captioned the photo, which saw an enthusiastic response from fans. Bob Ducsay (Godzilla, Looper) is set to lead the editing.

Day one!

A photo posted by Rian Johnson (@riancjohnson) on Aug 15, 2016 at 7:15pm PDT

Johnson will start to put together an initial cut of Episode VIII on the heels of the second trailer release for Rogue One: the first stand-alone live-action film in the Star Wars canon. If it's any indication of the kind of film Johnson will be piecing together, he has previously praised J.J. Abrams for utilizing practical effects, especially in action sequences.

The latest installment in the galactic franchise will be scored by John Williams, who also composed the music for the previous seven Star Wars films, starting with A New Hope in 1977. The 84-year-old composer, signed on for the next installment in the new trilogy, told a crowd at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts on Saturday that he would begin work on Episode VIII in a few weeks.

Star Wars: Episode VIII is scheduled for release Dec. 15, 2017.

Follow Heat Vision on Facebook and Twitter for more from Star Wars.
Earlier this month, President Obama made history by commuting the sentences of 214 people in federal prisons. That action, one of the largest exercises of presidential clemency powers since Gerald R. Ford granted pardons to Vietnam draft dodgers and deserters facing prison in 1974, has been hailed by the White House as a sign of Obamas commitment to clemency.

The White Houses contention that Obamas 562 commutations are more than the previous nine presidents combined only holds if Fords pardons arent included in the tally, because they didnt necessarily reduce sentences. But the benchmark of the last nine presidents is arbitrary, especially in light of statistics showing that presidential clemency was much more common before the Cold War. Woodrow Wilson granted 1,366 commutations and 1,087 pardons. Calvin Coolidge quietly granted 773 commutations and Harding commuted 386 sentences in only two years. Pardons and commutations have dropped precipitously in the past three decades for presidents in both parties. Why?

One organization asking that question is the Dream Corps, a self-described social justice accelerator that has spawned the #cut50 initiative to reduce the national incarcerated population by 50 percent over 10 years. Part of that initiative is its new #ClemencyNOW campaign, which aims to persuade the president to issue commutations for thousands of nonviolent drug offenders. Dream Corps president Van Jones told me that the campaign is our effort to convince the White House they're either gonna have to triple downnot double-down but triple-downon the resources that they're putting into the clemency process internally or change the process in very significant way to meet their own goals.

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The administrations own clemency initiative has committed it to issue clemency for certain federal offenders. The current criteria for the 2,000 or so eligible offenders are strict: They have to be convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, to have served a significant amount of time, and to have sentences that would be significantly shorter under current law. Although these offenders have now been identified and can be fast-tracked through the petition process, #ClemencyNOW argues that red tape and a lack of resources are impeding the initiatives progress. Externally, there are not enough lawyers that are teeing up these clemency petitions, Jones told me. We probably need maybe as many as a thousand lawyers just to get involved. And then internally with the administration, with the present pace and staffing, there's going to be thousands of people who might have been able to come home safely that are just going to miss out because of bureaucratic inertia."

Story continues

Currently, the bureaucratic inertia is formidable. According to Mark Osler, a legal scholar, professor at the University of St. Thomas, and former federal prosecutor, any petition for clemency by a federal prisoner under the clemency initiative involves as many as 12 often-redundant steps before the president can even see it. That includes being scrutinized by two review committees, the federal Pardon Attorney, the staff of the deputy attorney general, the deputy attorney general, the White House counsels staff, and the White House counsel. The pure bureaucratic burden alone might doom the project with only five months left to go in Obamas final term, and experts, including Joness campaign and Osler, have called on the president to expedite the process.

Recommended: If Hillary Clinton Wins, Will Texas Secede?

Osler notes that its not only bureaucratic inefficiency that hamstrings the federal clemency process, but an inherent conflict of interest in the current system. "Up until the end of the Carter Administration, there was a very different model, which was that the Pardon Attorney made a recommendation and it went to the president through the Attorney General, Osler told me. But we saw the numbers really dropping off severely once the process changed. And it's not surprising when you look at that process."

The clemency petition process now involves veto points by the Deputy Attorney General and staff of that office. To many, including Osler and Jones, the involvement of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General is an inherent conflict of interest, as that office supervises the federal prosecutors who put people in federal prison in the first place. As Osler says, I know that instinct that if you have made the argument in court that someone deserves a certain sentence, you meant it. And it's difficult to come out later and say: 'We were wrong."

The shift in the clemency process, and the accompanying drop in accepted petitions, came at the peak of crime-wave-hysteria and the beginning of Reagans War on Drugs. Thats indicative of a problem deeper than bureaucracy. There isnt a real legal or constitutional reason why any president couldnt just change the system to accommodate more requests, less red tape, and fewer conflicts of interests. Osler said that around Reagans presidency, we had a shift in cultural norms about that times in terms of becoming more retributionist."

Recommended: Trump Adviser: Hillary Clinton 'Should Be Shot in a Firing Squad for Treason'

Rachel Barkow, a law professor at NYU, argues that the politics of crime make elected officials loathe to rely on discretionary decisions at all levels of criminal justice, including parole, furloughs, and gubernatorial and presidential clemency. "There was a rise in violent crime in the 60s and 70s and just a huge change in the media coverage of it," Barkow says. "That dynamic of the public being very worried about disorder and crime because of what they see in the media creates a political climate where politicians know the public is concerned about this and they want to be on the side of safety and law and order. And it really did start in the 1960sBarry Goldwater runs a kind of law and order type campaign, the media is focused on that, and there is an increase in violent crime at the same time. And that kind of starts this cycle where it becomes a really important electoral issue for politicians."

Few politiciansDemocrat or Republicanare likely to risk the dreaded soft on crime label that damaged Democrat Michael Dukakis during his 1988 run for president against George H.W. Bush. Following the infamous Willie Horton adand regardless of its actual effect on the raceboth parties have positioned themselves as tough on crime and embracing the kind of racial bias that stood out as the subtext in the Willie Horton ad. The elder Bush established a record consistent with the fears fomented in that ad; his 74 total pardons and three total commutations rank among the lowest ever for a president who lived through a term. The political calculus of Willie Horton still shows up today. Almost on cue Donald Trump last week attacked President Obama for his existing commutation efforts, warning supporters to sleep tight after the recent clemency order released what he characterized as bad dudes.

Pardons and commutations have dropped precipitously in the past three decades for presidents in both parties. Why?

For Barkow, the inherent conflicts of interest in the clemency process that Osler identified make it "particularly ill-suited to fight the politics" of crime that discourage action on clemency. But #ClemencyNOW is using public pressure and legal aid to encourage action, facilitate petitions, and get past barriers for current prisoners, as well as to encourage Obama to remove them altogether. According to its campaign manager, Brittany Byrd, "the #ClemencyNOW initiative's direct ask of the president is to triple the resources dedicated to his clemency initiative, as well as either issue an executive order that places the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the White House reporting directly to himwhich eliminates the multi-level bureaucratic reviewor shift his strategy to a categorical approach to clemency." Those last two options are powers that both the experts cited here believe the president clearly possessesas evidenced by Reagans change in policy and Fords categorical clemencyand has thus far chosen not to exercise despite organizing a campaign around clemency.

One of the Obama administrations defenses of its own cautious approachthat true reform is in the hands of an ineffectual and gridlocked Congressis not invalid. Further, federal prisons only form a fraction of the criminal-justice system, and eliminating mass incarceration will involve an incredible effort at all levels of government, of which the president is only one part. Despite real momentum, the War on Drugs has not yet been brought to a close. It operates on a kind of autopilot that still continues to imprison people of color at higher rates despite mounting public opposition. Beyond that, the very specific portion of nonviolent drug offenders affected by this clemency initiative are an even tinier sliver of a group including violent offenders and people found guilty of property crimes who are still targeted at disproportionate rates.

But as in past examples, federal policies and actions are important both as indicators of public opinion and as symbols to emulate among states. And for thousands of people caught on mandatory minimums and life sentences for drugs in federal prisons with no parole option, Obama is a final hope, especially as they face the uncertainty of perhaps electing a president who wants to tighten clemency restrictions even further. As Byrd puts it, you have people serving these living death sentences, and that kind of punishment is unconscionable. Without President Obama, they're going to die in prison."

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Fox Searchlight

The Birth of a Nation, the period piece about the 1831 slave revolt led by Nat Turner, isnt in theaters for another two months, but its already suffering a major setback. The films director/writer/producer Nate Parker and a college rape trial are reportedly sending studio executives scrambling.

Apparently, Fox Searchlight reportedly had no idea Parker was on trial for rape in 2001 before shelling out $17.5 million for the Sundance Film Festival breakout movie. While attending Penn State in 1999, Parker and Nation co-writer Jean Celestin were accused of raping an 18-year-old woman who claimed she was unconscious when the men sexually assaulted her. Parker was acquitted based on testimony that he had consensual sex with his accuser before the alleged rape.

Celestin was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced to six months in prison. In 2005, Celestin appealed the verdict and was granted a new trial, but the accuser declined to testify again, thus stopping the case before it once again went to trial. All this remained essentially buried until recently when the 36-year-old Parker addressed the case during a press run, saying he has since moved on with his life.



With the rape case back in the headlines, Variety is reporting Fox Searchlight is now unsure on how to move forward with the films release strategy because of fear the case may overshadow and hurt the films sales.

But now, the studio is taking a wait and see approach to a proposed ambitious release plan that had called for extensive outreach to church groups, college campuses and prominent Hollywood figures. Parker not only stars in The Birth of a Nation   he also wrote, directed and produced the film. Parker, a devout Christian, was also going to directly sell the story of Nat Turner  himself a preacher  to churches and religious groups. Hed already given one of his first major post-Sundance interviews this month to Christianity Today. But questions about Parkers past could also dissuade religious audiences from buying tickets to see The Birth of A Nation.

Story continues

However, on the record, Fox Searchlight is standing 100 percent behind Parker. In a statement sent to Variety last Friday, the film distribution company said they were fully aware of Parkers past and the fact that he was found innocent and cleared of all charges. We stand behind Nate and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen, they concluded.

Meanwhile, the accusers brother is speaking out. His sister overdosed on sleeping pills in 2012, and her death certificate reportedly stated she suffered from major depressive disorder with psychotic features, PTSD due to physical and sexual abuse, and polysubstance abuse. Her brother claims it went all downhill for Parkers accuser after the alleged sexual assault. She became detached from reality, he told Variety. The progression was very quick and she took her life.

(Via Variety)
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f180715%2fpigmask2

There is no sight more terrifying on earth than that of a human dressed in a pig mask.

On Friday night in the tiny town on Insjon, Sweden, two teenagers were playing Pokemon Go when they discovered a couple wearing rubber pig masks. The couple, dressed in matching 'King' and 'Queen' shirts, then proceeded to shoot the teenagers with green laser pointers. After one of the lasers hit a teenager in the eye, the two ran from the site.

SEE ALSO: You shouldn't be ashamed of playing 'Pokemon Go' and loving it

"They wore rubber masks depicting pigs' heads and they started screaming and waving a green lasers," a mother of one of the teens told Dalarnas Tidningar, a Swedish newspaper.

Insjon is home to just over 2,000 residents, but the teenager's bizarre encounter has already made international headlines.

Shortly after the teenagers left, the couple decided to take the show a little bit further. They proceeded to have sex in front of the town's historic water wheel.

And yes, they kept their pig masks on. Keep that image in mind.

The couple caused a sizable traffic jam as drivers slowed down in horror (or delight?) to watch the couple have sex.

The teenagers remain unharmed. However, local police are taking the incident seriously, as assaults by laser pen can cause real injuries.

"Pointing at someone with a green laser can cause injury if it hits the eye," Officer Daniel Hagthorpe told Dalarnas Tidningar.

While most lasers are harmless, green lasers exceed FDA safety standards and can cause permanent retinal damage.

The psychological damage incurred by having to see "sex pigs" fornicate outside a Swedish waterwheel, however, remains unknown.

BONUS: Corgi Tea Party




By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi SWISS-ITALIAN BORDER (Reuters) - Nine months pregnant and desperate to cross from Italy into Switzerland after fleeing Ethiopia, a young woman along with her husband are among hundreds stranded by a Swiss border clampdown that is drawing international scrutiny. Swiss authorities reject accusations they are violating would-be refugees' rights to seek asylum. But a growing throng of migrants waiting near Como in northern Italy and aid workers tell a different story: The Swiss border is effectively closed. "Wait here until we understand the situation," volunteer Lisa Bosia Mirra told the Ethiopian couple, who did not give their names, after they sought her help with Swiss asylum applications. "One week at least." Mirra, a member of the regional parliament in Switzerland's Italian-speaking Ticino region that borders Italy, told them not to try to cross until then, since to be registered and deported could dash any hope of winning Swiss asylum. Still, the pair, fearing the prospect of the mother giving birth in a Como park without shelter or sanitation, said they would try their luck anyway and enter Switzerland, a longtime haven for refugees, by train. Several hundred migrants have slept on towels and blankets in the park near Como's train station since the Swiss clampdown began in mid-July, separating people from relatives or friends who had crossed some months before. Non-governmental and human rights groups like Amnesty International and Bosia's Associazone Firdaus have called for clarifications from Switzerland over migrants' claims that they were denied a chance to speak to border authorities and that requests to seek Swiss asylum went unheeded. Swiss left-wing politicians are checking for possible violations of Swiss asylum law. With the migrant crisis now in its third year, more people are arriving and more are dying on often dangerous journeys to Europe from northern Africa and the Middle East. For many migrants, Italy has become the gateway into Europe now that - in response to a public backlash over the more than one million who streamed to the continent in 2015 - borders have slammed shut along the Balkan corridor and an accord between Turkey and the EU has stemmed an influx into Greece. More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, up sevenfold from 2013. Italy has increasingly struggled to cope as Austria, France and Switzerland have turned back migrants seeking onward travel. "FAILURE OF DUBLIN SYSTEM" In Switzerland, asylum requests fell by more than a third year on year in July, even as those trying to enter rose. Last week alone, Swiss border guards swept up nearly 1,800 people trying to cross from Italy without permission. More than two-thirds have been turned away since July, up from one in seven through June this year. Swiss Customs said this upholds the law - under Europe's so-called Dublin System for handling refugees, migrants can be returned to their first country of registry - and reflects a rise in migrants aiming to transit elsewhere in Europe. Under Swiss law, its Secretariat for Migration (SEM) must process anyone requesting asylum. That means border officers or police must put asylum seekers in SEM's care even if they are ultimately deemed ineligible to stay. But many of Como's migrants, including minors, told Reuters in interviews that they were rebuffed directly at the border despite presenting documents showing they sought to join family in Switzerland. It remains unclear if people were being rejected en masse under any formal policy, Bosia said. Norman Gobbi, the local Swiss police director, has told local media of a more restrictive practice where only plausible asylum requests were being considered. Those requesting asylum only after being rebuffed for initially saying they wanted to travel onward were being returned to Italy, he said. "This situation is an expression of the failure of the Dublin system," Swiss parliamentarian Carlo Sommaruga said last week as he met young Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis, many of them children, who traveled across Egypt and Libya to Europe. These young people told stories of persecution at home - a father jailed, an uncle murdered, women raped - which they said made fleeing necessary. Abdurre Dire showed scars on his hands, face and wrist he said came from police in his native Ethiopia. "If I had not left, they would have killed me," he said. (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Crops are maturing quickly in Wisconsin this summer, thanks to a season-long pattern of heat, humidity and timely rains, according to the latest crop progress report.

The weekly report from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service for the week ending Aug. 14 said the prevailing weather pattern helped crops mature fast in most areas of the state, with good yields for hay, processing vegetables and small grains.

"Growing conditions have been excellent," a Dodge County report said. "Crops are definitely ahead of normal."

Rains weren't statewide last week, with heavy downpours reported in the north but little or no rain in the southeast.

"Another week with a deluge rainfall that halted all field work," a Barron County report said. "Most of the area got too much rain too fast."

Crops were in good shape overall and were ahead of schedule.

The corn crop was 88 percent good to excellent, with 97 percent of the corn acreage in or beyond silking, 51 percent at the dough stage and 7 percent dented.

The soybean crop was 87 percent good to excellent, with 99 percent of the acreage at or beyond blooming, 90 percent setting pods and 2 percent turning color.

Potatoes were 91 percent good to excellent, with 11 percent harvested.

The oats crop was 74 percent harvested and winter wheat was 95 percent harvested.

The third cutting of alfalfa was 78 percent complete and the fourth cutting was 12 percent complete.

All hay was rated 91 percent good to excellent and pasture land was 76 percent good to excellent.

Soil moisture was virtually unchanged from the previous week, with topsoil moisture rated at 92 percent adequate to surplus and subsoil moisture rated at 91 percent adequate to surplus.
Employees of AT&T Inc.s T internet service, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), has approved a strike if a new contract is not reached soon. The last contract expired in Jul 2016 and has been extended till today. However, the employees are now negotiating for a better contract including a reasonable increase in wages and benefits. The strike covers 2000 internet workers employed across all of the company's centers, who provide customer as well as technical support related to IP-based services such as IPTV and DSL.

Ongoing Negotiations

AT&T has been tied up with negotiations over new contracts covering over 16,000 employees in three of its operating states. The union has been condemning the telecom giant of taking a hard-line stance related to key bargaining issues. However, to its credit, AT&T has been able to resolve the issue of unfair labor practice recently. Further, the company is confident that it can strike a fair deal with the workers union soon.

The Bottom Line

Strike threat from workers is pretty common and usually do not materialize as negotiations are reached effectively before the occurrence of such an event. However, we must take note of the recent strike faced by Verizon Communications Inc. VZ from its wireline workforce, which materially dent its operations. In a competitive market, if labor issues halt any operation, telecom operators are likely face issues that can severely hamper their reputation. Other telecom players such as T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS and Sprint Corporation S are also facing or have faced worker issues in the past.

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nazi train

On Tuesday a team in Poland began digging for a World War II-era Nazi train, rumored to be filled with stolen gold, The AP reports.

Last August, two amateur treasure hunters said they had "irrefutable proof" of the train.

Peter Koper and Andreas Richter nazi train

Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper claimed they used ground-penetrating radar to locate the train, which is somewhere alongside a railway between the towns of Wroclaw and Walbrzych in southwestern Poland.

"The train isn't a needle in a haystack," Andrzej Gaik, a retired teacher and spokesman for the renewed effort to search for the train, told Agence France-Presse.

"If it's there, we'll find it," Gaik said.

'There may be a tunnel. There is no train.'

nazi train

In December, after analyzing mining data, Polish experts said there was no evidence of the buried train.

Janusz Madej, from Krakow's Academy of Mining, said the geological survey of the site showed that there was no evidence of a train after using magnetic and gravitation methods.

"There may be a tunnel. There is no train," Madej said at a news conference in Walbrzych, according to the BBC.

Koper insists that "there is a tunnel and there is a train," and that the results are skewed because of different technology used, The Telegraph reports.

Local folklore

According to a local myth, the train is believed to have vanished in 1945 with stolen gold, gems, and weapons when the Nazis retreated from the Russia.

nazi train

During the war, the Germans were building headquarters for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Walbrzych's medieval Ksiaz Castle, then called the Furstenstein Castle.

Below the castle, the Germans built a system of secret tunnels and bunkers, called "Project Riese."

The train is in one of these hidden passages, says Tadeusz Slowikowski, the main living source of the train legend. Slowikowski, a retired miner who searched for the train in 2001, believes the Nazis blew up the entrance to the train's tunnel.

Story continues

"I have lived with this mystery for 40 years, but each time I went to the authorities they always silenced it," Slowikowski told The Associated Press. "For so many years. Unbelievable!"

Slowikowski believes it is near the 65th kilometer of railway tracks from Wroclaw to Walbrzych.

NOW WATCH: A mysterious lost Nazi train  supposedly filled with gold  may have been found





More From Business Insider


Cancer may have robbed this Texas teen of her hair, but not her confidence.

Read: Meet The Survivors Inspired to Switch Careers After Cancer: 'Now I Feel Like I'm Making a Difference'

When Andrea Sierra Salazar, 17, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in February, her sister Sofia, 15, told InsideEdition.com, "We were all kind of freaked out. We didn't know what we were going to do. This is all new for us."

Andrea soon began treatment for the cancer, but said that as she started losing her hair, she started losing self-esteem.

"I would look at myself in the mirror, and think that's not really how I see myself," she said.

"I was right there next to her when she came out of the shower," Sofia said, "and all of her hair was in a ball. She was brushing the couple hairs that were left [on her head]. It was really sad."

Like many other women battling cancer, Andrea told InsideEdition.com she took to wearing a wig to avoid being treated differently, though it was uncomfortable: "I felt obligated to wear it out."

To take her mind off the painful treatments, her mom suggested she revisit modeling  something she had always loved, but never had time for.

"Chemotherapy was pretty hard but between each session, modeling has helped me so much to look forward to the next day," Andrea said.

Eventually, during a shoot with photographer Gerardo Garmendia, she decided to take off her wig.

"I wanted to give off the message that hair doesn't define you," she said. "I [felt] like a princess before, why shouldn't I now? Cancer shouldn't stop you from feeling like a princess."

Cancer doesn't stop me me from being a princess.  pic.twitter.com/39RaDuVwkH  Andrea Sierra (@sierraandrea99) August 10, 2016

She even posted the photo series to her Facebook, captioned: "All girls are princesses, and today, I feel beautiful inside and out."

Story continues

Read: Mom With Breast Cancer Gets Matching Head Tattoos With Daughter Who Shaved Her Head in Solidarity

Her younger sister told InsideEdition.com, "She's always had that spark. She found that instinct and put herself out there. It was a natural ability."

Andrea said she will undergo her final round of treatment Tuesday afternoon, and despite chemotherapy's effects, she wrote on Facebook: "This journey has taught me to love and accept myself regardless of the way I look."

Watch: Cop Raises Thousands of Dollars for Family After Finding Son Crying Over His Mom's Cancer

Related Articles:
Teen Mom OG" data-ad-channel="peoplenow" data-ad-subchannel="sharethisnow" data-auto-play="auto">

Babies, weddings, breakups and drama  where will the new season of Teen Mom OG take us?



Another season of TMOG is less than a week away, but if you're just tuning in, you've missed a lot. Let's break down where the girls have ended up since they wrapped filming for last season.





Farrah, Farrah, Farrah. Last season, fans witnessed the 25-year-old push a producer, threaten to quit the show, rekindle her on and off-again relationship with Simon Saran and, on the finale, pack up a moving truck and leave Texas for Los Angeles.



Now, with another reality show ( Million Dollar Matchmaker) under her belt since last season, Abraham is looking to find love again. Yes, that's right. Her volatile relationship with Saran didn't work out and now she's back on the market. Yet, fans may wonder how she will find the time to date. Abraham currently has her daughter Sophia in the modeling and fashion world and even created an Instagram and Snapchat account for the 7-year-old so fans can follow along on her journey.







"What I'm most proud of is Sophia is really into fashion," Abraham previously told PEOPLE. "She's opening up her own Sophia Laurent boutique store in Austin, Texas. She's mentioned in New York Fashion Week. She's in children model magazines. I'm so proud of Sophia and that doesn't even really impact her real life. She's just been so successful on her own so that's just awesome to me."





Hugs & Kisses! @rlsmodelsphotography #summertime A photo posted by SophiaLAbraham (@sophialabraham) on Jun 29, 2016 at 7:37am PDT





RELATED VIDEO: Farrah Abraham Opens Up About Posting Modeling Photos of Her Daughter on Social Media





The 25-year-old has had quite the busy year. Not only did her longtime boyfriend, Taylor McKinney pop the question on a beach in January, but a month later the pair learned that they were expecting another child together.



Bookout who is already mom to son Bentley, 7, with ex Ryan Edwards, and daughter Jayde, 14 months, with McKinney, welcomed her third child, son Maverick in May.



Now with a packed house of two boxer dogs (Bonnie and Clyde), three children and a T-shirt line, Bookout is preparing to walk down the aisle and straight into the arms of McKinney come this fall.





Story continues





A lot has happened in Lowell's life since the show last aired. Fans witnessed her endure a tough time battling postpartum depression last season, which eventually led her to check in to a treatment facility for mental health issues in March 16. Lowell told MTV News at the time that her treatment will focus on mental health issues and not drug use. She later followed up on Twitter by letting fans know she was doing great and that getting treatment was the "best decision I have ever made for myself."



Since returning, Lowell seems happier than ever. The 24-year-old and her husband Tyler Baltierra have been sharing adorable photos and videos on social media of their little girl, Novalee Reign, 1.





Comic con 2016 we had a blast!! #sandiego #comiccon2016 thanks for having us!! A photo posted by Catelynn Lowell (@catelynnmtv) on Jul 22, 2016 at 1:29pm PDT





After an explosive last season, Portwood has put her relationship with her fiance Matt Baier on the back burner.



Even after the cameras stopped rolling, more drama continued to pile up for the couple after reports surfaced alleging Baier wasn't paying child support for several secret biological children with multiple women. The couple were in the beginning stages of wedding planning, but that has since halted. She has even scraped him off all of her social media.



"Everything got thrown on the back burner when stuff happened," Portwood recently told PEOPLE, "but you'll see us working through certain things together and you'll see us talking about marriage and what we're going to do."





She's too beautiful A photo posted by Amber Leann Portwood (@realamberlportwood1__) on Jul 15, 2016 at 7:47pm PDT



One thing that hasn't changed is the 26-year-old's unconditional love for her daughter, Leah.



Teen Mom OG's two-hour season 6 premiere airs Monday at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai military court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for a second suspect in connection with a wave of deadly bomb attacks last week that killed four people and injured dozens, police said. Explosions rocked seven provinces in Thailand's south on Thursday and Friday, just days after Thais voted to accept a military-backed constitution. No group has claimed responsibility but police and senior officials have publicly ruled out any link to foreign militants. "The court has approved the arrest warrant for one suspect for the explosions. We can't say who that individual is," said Chaiyapol Chatchaidet, commander of the Counter Crime Planning Division. It was the second arrest warrant issued in connection with the wave of attacks. Police on Sunday said they had arrested one suspect for arson. Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday said the attacks might have involved southern insurgents hired to carry out the bombings but said the bombings were not an extension of a bloody separatist war in the country's three southern-most Muslim-dominated provinces. Security experts told Reuters official denial of involvement by Malay-Muslim insurgents was unsurprising as admitting that southern insurgents could be involved would have serious economic and security implications for Thailand. Thailand is a mainly Buddhist country, but the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are majority-Muslim and resistance to central government rule has existed there for decades, resurfacing violently in 2004. More than 6,500 people have been killed in the region since 2004 in bombings, shootings and arson attacks according to Deep South Watch, a Pattani-based group which monitors the conflict. (Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomat and Patpicha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Photo: Instagram/@vacationsf4sale

Its Vintage Week at Yahoo Style! In honor of our favorite environmentally friendly way to make sure youre never wearing the same outfit as anyone else, were bringing you insider intel on the best vintage  what to look for, where to find it, and how to make the most money when selling yours. Stay tuned all week for more.

If youre a fiend for fabulous 80s fashion, but your name isnt Lourdes Leon  or if you thirst after 70s style, but your mama aint Cher, then youve got just one viable option: shopping vintage.



There are endless perks to buying vintage clothing: Its typically more cost-effective than shopping for new pieces, its better for the environment, and your wardrobe is guaranteed to be unique  meaning youll never have to worry about showing up someplace wearing the same Zara slip dress as your frenemy. Plus, for those of us who get off on the thrill of the hunt, searching for and finding the ultimate vintage score can be mind-blowingly exciting.

That said, vintage shopping isnt something that any old lover of all things retro should attempt blindly. Weve laid out eight rules for successfully snagging vintage finds thatll make any amateur look like a pro.

Know the difference between vintage, thrift, and consignment

First things first: A vintage store is not the same as a thrift store, nor does it count as consignment. Sure, theyre all filled with older, preowned clothing  but in vintage shops, the garments for sale have already been curated for you by the shop owner, who purchased them herself from a variety of potential sources (like estate sales or, yes, true thrift stores). Thrift stores like Salvation Army, Goodwill, or Volunteers of America, on the other hand, are typically charity-run and feature donated clothing  the resale of which profits the charity. And consignment stores offer clothes that have been sold back by their previous owners. So, while you can still find amazing vintage items at thrift or consignment shops, youll have to be patient and dig a lot deeper. Whereas at a vintage shop, a lot of the dirty work has already been done for you  and the higher prices reflect that.

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Forget what you know about sizes

If youve ever been involved in an argument conversation about what size Marilyn Monroe wore, then this should come as no surprise: Womens clothing sizes have changed over the years. And because the practice of so-called vanity sizing wasnt in full swing until the mid-1980s, the sizes youll find on the labels in a vintage store will likely be a lot higher than those youre used to seeing on modern clothing. For instance, a dress from the 50s may claim to be a size 16, but its actually a current-day size 8. Kind of a big difference, eh?

Its also not uncommon for vintage pieces to have been tailored and brought in over the years by their previous owner(s)  also rendering the size on the tag fairly useless. The moral? When in doubt, try it on.

Photo: Instagram/@guermantes.vintage

No fitting rooms? No problem

But what about when there isnt a fitting room  or if youd just rather not deal with the line? The obvious answer is to go shopping in something minuscule and body-conscious  think leggings and a tank top  so that you can try stuff on over it inside the store without being escorted out for indecent exposure. But if leggings arent your bag, there are some other will-it-fit tricks to try.

If youre looking at pants or skirts that are meant to be worn at the natural waist (and most vintage styles will be), button or zip up the garment all the way, then wrap the waist around your neck, bringing the two sides together in the front. If you end up practically choking yourself while trying to meet the edges, then odds are that the item will be too small for you. But if theres about an inch or so of overlap  and you can still breathe normally  then theres a very good chance the pants or skirt will fit you to a T. Why does it work? Because for most people, waist circumference is twice that of the neck. Trust us: This really works!

Another option is to wear a skirt and pull a pair of pants on up under it to preserve your modesty  or, you can always bring along a good old-fashioned tape measure.



See now, buy now

If youre used to buying new clothes, chances are that youre also familiar with the mental dance of trying to decide whether that top or those shoes are worth the money, and eventually choosing to think it over for a while and possibly come back to it. But that same exercise in restraint wont work in your favor when it comes to vintage shopping.

It might sound obvious, but vintage finds are pretty much always one-of-a-kind. Which means that, if you see something and fall in love with it, you should purchase it immediately  or theres a good chance someone else will snatch it up while youre back home pondering. And if you decide you didnt actually need it? Hey, you can always resell it later on down the line.

Pay attention to tears and stains

So youve stumbled upon the vintage dress of your dreams. Congrats! Only thing is, its got some discoloration around the collar and a smattering of tiny holes near the hem. Is it worth bringing home and trying to patch it up, or should you call it a loss and walk away?

First, consider the fact that a reputable vintage store has already cleaned and presented the garment to a certain standard  which means that the way it looks now is likely as good as its gonna get. (You can ask the shop owner to make sure).

Water stains can go unnoticed in a dimly lit store; its best to hold the items up to a light or the window to reveal the telltale yellow marks and thinning fabric that could lead to easy tears. Certain marks, like brown mold stains, are just too hard to remove, period.

And before you attempt to clean your vintage pieces at home, consider the fact that clothing made before the 80s is often too fragile to survive the washing machine, and even dry-cleaning can be too rough on more delicate items.

For those who are clothes-cleaning fanatics, the Vintage Fashion Guild has an extremely in-depth guide to washing and preserving vintage thats intended for vintage sellers but is just as useful for buyers.

Photo: Instagram/@thebreakvintage

Think outside the womens section

While the womens section of a vintage store may be the most obvious place to look for some new-old clothes, dont discount the goodies you may find in other parts as well.

The more formal dress codes of the past make the mens section a treasure trove of spiffy topcoats, blazers, sweaters, and button-downs. And if your foot size falls on the larger end of the spectrum, you may even find a gorgeous pair of vintage leather oxfords that suit your fancy.

If youre petite, the childrens section  both boys and girls  often hosts a wide array of appealing (and less pricey) styles like cropped pants, schoolgirl skirts, and baby-doll dresses.

And dont forget about accessories: Vintage shops are typically lush with costume jewelry, bags, and hats that are guaranteed to make any fast-fashion-dominated outfit more interesting and fabulous.

Keep it in the family

The best things in life are free  and that includes vintage shopping. If your mother or grandmother had any semblance of style or a sense of nostalgia, then theres a good chance she held on to at least some clothing or accessories from her past. If you ask nicely, she may let you rummage through her attic or basement for those dresses shes been saving forever or the blouse she wore on her first date with your grandfather. It can even be a fun opportunity for you to bond with one another and make each wearing feel that much more meaningful. Oh  and it wont cost a dime.

If your own familys selection of vintage clothing is lacking, dont discount yard and estate sales  especially in neighborhoods where seniors live  as an alternate option for discovering other grandparents vintage items  even if they arent exactly your grandparents.

Photo: Instagram/@shopredone

Dont forget to check online

The clothes might be vintage, but that doesnt mean you have to shop for them the old way. The rise of websites and online marketplaces like Etsy means that buying curated vintage pieces can now be as painless as ordering new clothing.

Wondering where to start? For full-skirted Betty Draper dresses from the 40s and 50s, start with When Decades Collide and Vintage Vortex. If bohemian clothes from the 60s and 70s are your jam, check out Dig Vintage Clothing and Von Vixen Vintage. Try The Beard and Lady for a great selection of vintage T-shirts, along with Winston Vintage and Aiseirigh for some generally awesome, less-categorizable retro goodness. Looking to find the perfect-fitting vintage jeans? We made a guide for that. Theres even an entire online shop dedicated to awesome vintage maternity wear  the Vintage Maternity Co.

Instagram is currently having a vintage moment too, with plenty of stores utilizing the photo-sharing app to allow followers to purchase or bid on specific highlighted pieces. Try @Guermantes.Vintage for 20s and 30s vintage, @VacationSF4Sale and @ShopWorship for awesome 80s finds, @FriendsNYC and @TheBreakVintage for 90s throwbacks, and @NaNinVintage for ultra-trendy vintage clothes and accessories thatd drive any Reformation fan crazy with desire.



Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed every day.


Thomas Rawls

Thomas Rawls returned to the practice field this week for the Seahawks for the first time since injuring his ankle in the middle of December. Rawls says that his recovery is ahead of schedule and he may even play in the preseason. While its marvelous to see Rawls back on the field after so much time off, there are other far more important things going on in the world.

One of them is the ghastly all-time American tragedy that is the water crisis plaguing Rawls hometown of Flint, Michigan.

Thanks to some gross incompetence and criminal negligence, the citys water has been contaminated by lead for two and a half years now. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder only acknowledged the problem in January by declaring a state of emergency. In the meantime, the crisis may have caused the deaths of ten people and thousands of children have been poisoned.

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This kind of tragedy would never have been allowed to happen in a more wealthy city. Over 40 percent of Flints residents live below the poverty line.

Thomas Rawls is doing what he can to help but hes only one man. Apparently he used part of his rookie contract to buy his mother a house outside of Flint. However, most of his family is still being affected, per Gregg Bell at the News Tribune:

Most of my family are still in the heart of it They are still getting bottled water. Short showers Its all been swept under the rug, basically.

Rawls has first-hand knowledge of the problem, too. He told Bell that in college when he returned home his skin would break out bad, which was almost certainly related to Flints water quality.

Thomas Rawls deserves credit for speaking out on behalf of Flint, but we should be way past raising awareness for this problem. Accountability and justice for those responsible is crucial. What really matters is fixing Flints water. Every day that their supply remains tainted is a black eye on the city, the state and the country as a whole.

The post Thomas Rawls speaks on Flint water crisis appeared first on Cover32.
The Night Manager is really about Englishness in so many ways, says Tom Hiddleston of the Emmy nominated AMC limited series. That there is a man with a British Passport out there who is spilling blood and making money from it, the actor added of co-star Hugh Lauries role as arms dealer Richard Roper and his Jonathan Pine characters attempt to stop that in the Susanne Bier-directed 6-parter, and that in le Carres mind is a moral crime.

The Thor: Ragnarok and Kong: Skull Island actor was at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation on August 12 to talk about The Night Manager, his Emmy nominated role as Pine, the making of the series based on John le Carres 1993 novel of the same name and a compliment from the author on his performance. Hiddleston also detailed his process when he takes on a role like playing Hank Williams in 2015s I Saw The Light film, working on the two big budget pics out next year and the importance of the performing arts.

Adding some extra spice to all that, the actor showed his much admired skill at doing impressions  tackling his TNM co-stars Laurie, Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander plus Idris Elba, who appears with Hiddlestons Loki in the Thor franchise, and the late and great Pete Postlethwaite.

Check out the video above of Hiddlestons wide-ranging conversation with Deadlines Dominic Patten in front of a packed house at SAG-AFTRA. Courtesy of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, weve posted all of the more than 1-hour interview but if you are looking for those impressions in Hiddlestons catalogue of voices (he does a pretty great Chris Captain America Evans and Chris Thor Hemsworth too), you might want to fast forward to 19:58, 32:22 and a very special 1:11:11 as a trio of examples  youll need to find the rest. However, if accents are your thing, then youll really want to go to 1:08:13 where Hiddleston gives a concise masterclass in the art of other peoples voices.

Story continues

Will 12 nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Hiddleston plus supporting noms for Laurie and Colman and a directing nom for Bier, TNM could see some wins when the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 68th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards are handed out next month. Now, if only there was a Best Impressions category .

RelatedTom Hiddleston Talks Kong: Skull Island, Thor: Ragnorak, Bond & Comic-Con Fun

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OtkF5iXdsk&w=970&h=546]

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The eagerly awaited "TommyXGigi" capsule collection is now online to see at www.tommy.com. The fruit of a collaboration between the American fashion label and the star model, the collection has a sailor-chic vibe, with a multitude of details that nod to a life on the waves. This first sportswear chic collaboration is due to go on sale from September 1.

American model Gigi Hadid became a Tommy Hilfiger brand ambassador last December. The brand then announced that she would star in its upcoming advertising campaigns and participate in the creation of a ready-to-wear clothing and accessories line. That's now a reality, adding a first clothing collection to the 21-year-old model's ever-growing list of achievements.

Tommy Hilfiger sticks to its signature style for this collaboration, still channeling American heritage and preppy inspirations, while Hadid brings a modern and effortless touch to the line.

Each piece is finished with sharp clean cuts, while embellishments draw inspiration from sailor style (buttons, stripes, chevrons and badges). This is matched with highly feminine and chic touches, such as smooth leather, chiffon and cable-knit sweaters. Certain pieces have a more romantic feel, such as a long midnight blue patterned dress with a slim cord-style belt.

As well as ready-to-wear clothing, the collection includes shoes, sunglasses, handbags, watches and the brand's "The Girl" fragrance.

A first selection of looks from the "TommyXGigi" collection is now available to view online on the label's website, where the collection will go on sale from September 1. It will then roll out to stores from September 10.

The collection will also take its first steps on the runway on September 9 at Tommy Hilfiger's New York Fashion Week show, open to the public and streamed live via Tommy.com.
I want to clarify some false impressions that may have resulted from the State Journals Aug. 1 article DNR scales back proposed rules.

The state Department of Natural Resources is adding to  not eliminating  existing rules on livestock farms. Some readers misunderstood this, based on their online comments.

The state Natural Resources Board endorsed some of the additional rules Aug. 3, though the Legislature and governor eventually will make the final call. Because of input from agriculture groups, the rules will be more targeted, and arguably more effective, than those the DNR originally outlined.

The State Journal article also publicized a claim by some groups that the changes the DNR made to its original proposal will indefinitely delay the consideration of public health and water resources protections that were identified through lengthy scientific study and extensive public discussions. This suggests the policy recommendations from the UW Study Group on Manure Irrigation and the Groundwater Workgroup Report that focused on Kewaunee County will not be used. Thats false.

If a large dairy farm is a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO (a distinction based solely on the number of animals a farm has), it needs to seek specific permission from the DNR to use manure irrigation. The requests that have been granted since the UW studys release have included requirements consistent with those recommended by the study.

There is no reason to think this will change, even if no changes are made to the administrative rules.

The changes endorsed by the Natural Resources Board will help implement those recommendations dealing with best management practices in sensitive areas. Once implemented, these changes would make CAFOs and other farms subject to runoff management rules comply with new regulations if they are located in a sensitive area. This likely includes changes regarding when and how manure is applied in some of these specific areas.

In the State Journal article, Midwest Environmental Advocates called for the use of emergency rulemaking authority to fast track this process. Approaching this issue through the emergency rulemaking process would not have been a good thing for farmers, nor anyone else.

Farmers rely on existing rules when making significant investments on their farms. Major changes to these rules are not something to be undertaken lightly. More important, the DNR would have to spend a lot of staff time, political capital and administrative effort to get an emergency rule adopted. This time and effort would be better spent working on a permanent rule.

This does not mean we should merely adopt a wait-and-see attitude on groundwater quality concerns while rules are being written. Indeed, many dairy farmers are not waiting. The groundwater workgroups report includes more than two pages of short-term recommendations for change.

Not a single one of them calls for changing any administrative rule. Yet our association and many dairy farmers are actively engaged in implementing them in counties such as Door and Kewaunee.

The article pointed out that our elected officials have become much more involved in the process due to changes that were made in 2011. Elizabeth Wheeler from Clean Wisconsin lamented this change as another example of DNRs authority being cut back.

The DNR did not exist when Wisconsins Constitution was written. The agency is a product of the political process, and its authority comes from the Legislature.

A larger role for the Legislature in how the agency implements its authority is consistent with that. Its democracy. Its not always easy, but it consistently beats the alternative.

Similarly, some might want to paint the Wisconsin Dairy Business Associations involvement in the rulemaking process in a negative light. That is unfair. It makes logical sense for constituents who would be most directly affected by potential new rules to be consulted about them. The proposed changes are fairly technical.

Clean water is a shared concern. Sensible, effective, science-based solutions should be a shared goal.
The 41st Toronto Intl. Film Festival has announced its selections for its eighth City to City program, shining the spotlight on eight filmmakers from the sprawling metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria.

The eclectic selection, which includes raucous comedies, courtroom thrillers, and fast-paced period dramas, is a microcosm of Lagos itself  a fast, feisty, dynamic city of 20 million plus that is the cultural and economic pulse of Nigeria.

Boasting a mix of new wave indie films and selections from the countrys prolific Nollywood film biz, this years City to City offers a broader picture of the talent coming out of Lagos, according to TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey.

I think [audiences] are going to be surprised by what we show them, he says.

Nigerias home-grown Nollywood industry ranks as one of the worlds most successful movie-making machines, said to produce more than a thousand movies and rake in $5 billion each year. Famous for its frantic shoots and shoestring budgets, its films have raced across the countrys borders to captivate audiences around the world.

Yet while Bailey admits that the standard Nollywood fare is typically made quickly and made to be consumed quickly, City to City will include a selection of movies that reflect a sea-change in Nigerian filmmaking. Boasting bigger budgets, better production standards, and a higher artistic bar than their freewheeling predecessors, they are films, says Bailey, made to be savored.

The selected films are 76, by Izu Ojukwu, a period drama set in the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war; 93 Days, by Steve Gukas, a thriller based on the real-life response by health-care workers to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, starring Danny Glover; Niyi Akinmolayans The Arbitration, a drama set in the fast-paced world of the Nigerian tech sector; Abba Makamas coming-of-age story Green White Green, about three young boys from different ethnic groups on an adventure to make a short film; Just Not Married, by Uduak-Obong Patrick, a caper comedy-thriller about a college student trying to make his way out of the slums; Okafors Law, by Omoni Oboli, a comedy about a mans efforts to prove the maxim that a man whos slept with a woman can always bring her back into his bed; Daniel Emeke Oriahis Oko Ashewo (Taxi Driver), about how a struggling village mechanics life is turned upside-down when he moves to Lagos; and The Wedding Party, by Kemi Adetiba, a romcom romp about wedding hijinx which will open the City to City program.

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Five of the movies will be having their world premieres.

Along with screenings, City to City will feature an intimate onstage conversation with acclaimed helmer Kunle Afolayan and actress Genevieve Nnaji, widely considered to be the face of African cinema.

And for the first time, the Rising Stars program  which in the past has offered a platform for emerging Canadian actors  will travel beyond its borders to include Nigerian thesps O.C. Ukeje and Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, for what Bailey describes as a professional development boot camp, offering a range of specialized programming, workshops and seminars for the duo.

The program sets the stage for a rollicking Nigerian contingent to arrive in Toronto when TIFF kicks off Sep. 8. Bailey notes that anticipation for City to City was so high when he last visited Lagos that countless helmers, producers and actors said they were booking flights to Toronto, even if their films werent part of the final selection.

This is an unprecedented showcase at a major festival for Nigeria, he says, offering a rare opportunity for many Nigerian bizzers to rub elbows and swap business cards with colleagues from around the globe.

Theyre very confident filmmakers, and theyre here to let the world know what theyre doing, says Bailey.

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The Toronto Film Festival filled out its slate with two Gala Premieres and 14 Special Presentations, as well as a swarm of pictures in the Masters Section. Among the films added to the roster are The Promise, the sweeping drama written and directed by Hotel Rwandas Terry George about the Armenian Genocide campaign by the Turks; there is The Bleeder, the indie drama in which Ray Donovan himself, Liev Schreiber, portrays the hardscrabble heavyweight prize fighter Chuck Wepner, the man who inspired Rocky; and Voyage of Time: Lifes Journey, the long awaited Terrence Malick documentary exploration of our planetary past and a search for humanitys place in the future, with Cate Blanchett narrating Malicks findings. The whole roster is below:

Galas

Norman : The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall Of a New York Fixer, Joseph Cedar, USA/Israel, International Premiere.

Norman lives a lonely life in the shadow of power and money. Determined to make an impression, he uses any angle to make a connection. He finally bets on the right horse, buying a pair of expensive shoes for Micha Eshel. When Micha becomes Israels Prime Minister, Norman finds himself in the center of a geopolitical drama beyond anything he could have imagined and the fallout could destroy the reputation he spent his life building. Starring Richard Gere, Steve Buscemi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Michael Sheen

The Promise, Terry George, USA/Spain, World Premiere.

Michael, a humble Armenian apothecary, leaves his village to study medicine in cosmopolitan Constantinople. Chris, an American photojournalist who has come to the country to partly cover the geopolitics, is in a relationship with the talented Ana, a Paris- educated, Armenian artist. When Michael meets Ana, their shared heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Ottoman Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive  even as monumental events envelope their lives. Starring Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, and Christian Bale.

Story continues

Special Presentations

(Re)Assignment, Walter Hill, Canada, World Premiere

A revenge tale about an ace assassin who is double-crossed by gangsters and a rogue plastic surgeon operating on the fringes of society. The story becomes a trail of self-discovery and redemption against a criminal mastermind opponent. Starring Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, and Tony Shalhoub.

150 Milligrams, Emmanuelle Bercot, France, World Premiere

Based on the real life story of Irene Frachon, a pulmonologist who discovered a direct link between the drug Mediator  that had been marketed for over 30 years  and a number of suspicious deaths in France. Starring Sidse Babett Knudsen and Benoit Magimel.

The Bleeder, Philippe Falardeau, USA North American Premiere

The true story of Chuck Wepner, the man who inspired the billion-dollar film series Rocky  a liquor salesman from New Jersey who went 15 rounds with the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. In his 10 years in the ring, Wepner endured two knockouts, eight broken noses, and 313 stitches. But his toughest fights were outside the ring: an epic life of drugs, booze, wild women, incredible highs, and extraordinary lows. Starring Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, and Elisabeth Moss.

Brain On Fire, Gerard Barrett, Ireland/Canada

Brain on Fire follows Susannah Cahalan, a rising journalist at the New York Post who mysteriously starts having seizures and hearing voices. As weeks go by and Susannah rapidly descends into insanity, she moves inexplicably from violence to catatonia. Following a series of outbursts, misdiagnoses, and a prolonged hospital stay, a lucky, last-minute intervention by one doctor finally gives her a diagnosis and hope to rebuild her life. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Thomas Mann, Richard Armitage, Tyler Perry, and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Burn Your Maps, Jordan Roberts, USA/Mongolia, World Premiere

After his family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, an eight-year-old boy becomes convinced that he is actually a Mongolian goat herder. With the help of an aspiring filmmaker, he tries to convince his reluctant parents to take the long journey back to the village in Mongolia where he says he belongs. Burn Your Maps is a poignant story about family, loss, and faith. Starring Vera Farmiga, Jacob Tremblay, Virginia Madsen, Marton Csokas, and Suraj Sharma.

Christine, Antonio Campos, USA, Canadian Premiere

Always the smartest person in the room at her news station, Christine feels destined for bigger things and relentlessly pursues a promotion to a higher profile market. Plagued by self-doubt and a tumultuous home life, Christines diminishing hope begins to rise when an on-air co-worker initiates a friendship, which ultimately becomes yet another unrequited love. Disillusioned as her world continues to close in on her, Christine takes a dark and surprising turn. Starring Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, and Tracy Letts

The Duelist, Alexey Mzgirev, Russia

Returning to Saint Petersburg after a long exile, the dashing Yakovlev, a retired army officer, makes a comfortable living by winning other peoples duels. Unbeatable, he leaves a trail of dead bodies behind him as he swirls through polite society, frequently called upon to wield a pistol as a surrogate in dawn duels. When Yakovlev meets the young, beautiful Princess Martha, the two fall in love. What transpires uncovers a series of answers about his dark past. Starring Petr Fedorov, Vladimir Mashkov, Martin Wuttke, Yuri Kolokolnikov, and Franziska Petri.

The Exception, David Leveaux, United Kingdom, World Prmiere

May, 1940. The last German Kaiser has been living in exile in the Dutch countryside for 25 years. When the Nazis invade Holland, they send a young German officer to stop the old man from defecting to England. But the British have already installed a spy in his household. And then Himmler announces he is coming to dinner. The threads of history conspire with the recklessness of the heart to dumbfound them. Starring Lily James, Christopher Plummer, Jai Courtney, Janet McTeer, Ben Daniels, and Eddie Marsan.

I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach, United Kington/France/Belgium, North American Premiere

British master Ken Loach brings this timely drama about an aged, ailing handymans battle to survive after being denied his government health allowance. Starring Dave Johns and Hayley Squires.

In Dubious Battle, James Franco, USA, North American Premiere,

In the California apple country, 900 migratory workers rise up against the landowners after getting paid a fraction of the wages they were promised. The group takes on a life of its own  stronger than its individual members and more frightening. Led by the doomed Jim Nolan, the strike is founded on his tragic idealism  on the courage never to submit or yield. Based on the novel by John Steinbeck. Starring James Franco, Vincent DOnofrio, Selena Gomez, Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Robert Duvall, Bryan Cranston, Nat Wolff, Ashley Greene and Austin Stowell.

The Long Excuse (Naga Liwake), Miwa Nishikawa, Japan

A recently widowed writer whose wife died in a bus crash impulsively offers to care for the children of a working man who lost his wife in the same accident, in this gently humorous drama from Japanese writer-director Miwa Nishikawa. Starring Masahiro Motoki, Sousuke Ikematsu, and Eri Fukatsu.

Rage, Sang-il Lee, Japan, World Premiere

A grisly unsolved murder links three seemingly unrelated stories in three different Japanese cities, in this arresting ensemble thriller from director Sang-il Lee. Starring Ken Watanabe and Aoi Miyazaki.

Voyage of Time: Lifes Journey, Terrence Malick, Germany, North American Premiere

An exploration into our planetary past and a search for humanitys place in the future. The universe unfolds before the audiences eyes, melding innovative effects with awe-inspiring footage in this experience for the senses, mind, and soul. Working with scientific advisors and VFX artists, Terrence Malick shows an array of never-witnessed natural phenomena  macroscopic and microscopic  immersing audiences into a poetic journey full of open questions. Narrated by Cate Blanchett.

Wakefield, Robin Swicord, USA International Premiere

Howard Wakefields nervous breakdown leads him to hide from his life, and his family, in his garage attic. While his prolonged absence allows him to ponder the deeper questions around his life, he comes to realize that it may not be simple to cross the driveway and go home again. Starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner.

Masters Of Cinema

After the Storm, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan North American Premiere During a long restless night as they wait out a typhoon, a divorced man struggles to regain his estranged familys trust, in the latest

film from celebrated Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Afterimage (Powidoki), Andrzej Wajda, Poland World Premiere

Nonagenarian director Andrzej Wajda returns with a passionate biopic about the Polish avant-garde artist Wadysaw Strzeminski, who battled Stalinist orthodoxy and his own physical impairments to advance his progressive ideas about art. Starring Boguslaw Linda.

The Bait (Tope), Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India World Premiere

Buddhadeb Dasguptas latest work is woven from three stories about a nomadic girl who is a street circus performer, a cranky postman who decides to live in a tree, and a royal descendant thriving on his long lost glories, in this exploration of how people are used as bait.

The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez (Les Beaux Jours dAranjuez), Wim Wenders, France/Germany North American Premiere Wim Wenders adapts long-time collaborator Peter Handkes play for this engrossing two-handed (and 3D) conversation piece, in which the dialogue between a man and a woman elicits a reverie on love, freedom, and beauty.

Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt, USA Canadian Premiere

The lives of three women intersect in small town America. Laura is a lawyer summoned to reason with her client during a hostage situation. Gina is building her family a home where she is eager to claim a bit of history. And Jamie suddenly longs for more than her simple life when Beth passes through town. Starring Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, James LeGros, Jared Harris, Lily Gladstone, and Rene Auberjonois.

Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare), Gianfranco Rosi, Italy/France Canadian Premiere Twelve-year-old Samuele lives on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. But Lampedusa is not an idyllic island setting. It is the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern refugees hoping to make a new life in Europe. Glimpse into the daily lives of the islands inhabitants as Samuele explores the land and attempts to master the sea.

Graduation (Bacalaureat), Cristian Mungiu, Romania Canadian Premiere On the day before her final exams, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now her father, Romeo, has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.

Hissein Habre, A Chadian Tragedy Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France/Chad North American Premiere

When former Chadian dictator Hissein Habre was arrested in Senegal in 2013, it marked the end of a long fight for the survivors of his regime. Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, accompanied by the Chairman of the Association of the Victims of the Hissein Habre Regime, meets the survivors of the tragedy who still bear the horrific scars on their bodies and in their souls. Through their courage and determination, the victims accomplish an unprecedented feat in the history of Africa  bringing a head of state to trial.

J: Beyond Flamenco (JOTA), Carlos Saura, Spain World Premiere

Experience the joy and strength of the Spanish dance and music called la Jota. As with flamenco, tango, and fados, Jota has evolved from traditional folkdance to new artistic dimensions. With his own personal style, director Carlos Saura continues to distill the magic and explore the boundaries of art in its purest state.

Julieta, Pedro Almodovar, Spain North American Premiere

Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar adapts three stories from Canadian Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro for this time-tripping tale about the relationship and eventual rupture between a Madrid teacher and her beloved daughter. As the mother struggles to survive uncertainty, the film explores fate, guilt complexes, and the unfathomable mysteries that lead us to abandon the people we love, erasing them from our lives as if they had never meant anything, as if they had never existed.

Land of the Gods (Dev Bhoomi), Goran Paskaljevic, India/Serbia World Premiere After a long exile, Rahul returns to his village in the Himalayas. It causes commotion amongst the villagers, who have never forgiven him for his sins in the past. He must face the isolated world full of old prejudices, gender inequalities, and caste-based injustices.

Ma Rosa Brillante Ma Mendoza, Philippines North American Premiere To make ends meet for her family, Ma Rosa sells drugs as a side business from the small convenience store she owns with her husband in a poor Manila neighborhood. When the couple is arrested, Ma Rosa and her four children are ready to do anything

to secure their freedom from the corrupt police. Starring Jaclyn Jose, winner of the Best Actress Award at this years Cannes Film Festival.

The Net (Geumul), Kim Ki-duk, South Korea North American Premiere In the new film from provocative Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, a poor North Korean fisherman finds himself an accidental defector, and is groomed to be a spy by an ambitious South Korean military officer.

Never Ever (A jamais), Benoit Jacquot, France/Portugal North American Premiere A prolific filmmaker and a much younger woman meet, fall instantly in love, and hastily marry. Months later, he dies in a motorcycle accident and his wife is left alone in a big secluded house by the sea to experience the manifestations of grief and mourning.

Starring Mathieu Amalric, Julia Roy, Jeanne Balibar, and Victoria Guerra.

Once Again (Pinneyum), Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India International Premiere In his first feature film in eight years, director Adoor Gopalakrishnan explores love and relationships as an extended family gets drawn into the vortex of a crime, not realizing how it will change their lives forever.

Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas, France North American Premiere Kristen Stewart reunites with director Olivier Assayas for this artful ghost story about a young woman trying to reconnect with the spirit of her departed brother.

A Quiet Passion, Terence Davies, United Kingdom/Belgium North American Premiere Cynthia Nixon stars as the legendary poet Emily Dickinson in this luminous biopic.

Safari, Ulrich Seidl, Austria American Premiere

Documentary filmmaker Ulrich Seidl explores the world of trophy hunting in the wild expanses of Africa, where bushbucks, impalas, zebras, gnus and other creatures graze by the thousands. German and Austrian tourists drive through the bush and lie in wait, to stalk their prey. A vacation movie about killing and human nature.

Sieranevada, Cristi Puiu, Romania North American Premiere

Somewhere in Bucharest, a 40-year-old doctor attends his fathers wake, which turns into a full-on family brawl. Forced to face his fears and his past, and obliged to reconsider his place in the family, the man is left with no choice but to tell his version of the truth.

Sweet Dreams (Fai bei sogni), Marco Bellocchio, Italy North American Premiere Italian master Marco Bellocchio adapts the popular biographical novel by Massimo Gramellini, about an accomplished journalist haunted by the memory of his mother who died mysteriously during his childhood.

The Unknown Girl (La Fille inconnue), Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium/France North American Premiere Jenny, a young GP, feels responsible for not having answered the door of her practice to a young girl who is found dead shortly afterwards. From the moment she learns from the police that they have no way of identifying her, Jenny has only one goal: to discover the name of the young girl so that she will not be buried anonymously  so that she will not disappear as if she had never lived.

Yourself and Yours (Dangsinjasingwa dangsinui geot), Hong Sang-soo, South Korea World Premiere Painter Youngsoo and his girlfriend Minjung navigate the twists and turns of a modern romance with arguing, hearsay, mistaken identity, and infidelity in Hong Sang-soos latest work.

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With observation decks standing 202m above ground, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is a hidden gem. While its better-known cousins  Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree  are swarmed with tourists, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, affectionately known as Tocho, has a few tricks up its sleeves when it comes to giving a birds eye view of the city and beyond.

Panorama view of Tokyo - Airfrov Blog

It is completely free!

Who doesnt love it when there is absolutely no entrance fee when it comes to visiting Tocho?

Visitors are subjected to a bag check prior to boarding the specialised elevators to the observatories. It is a security measure employed to ensure safety, as the towers contain government offices. After a simple check, the elevators will bring you to the 45th floor, home to the panoramic views of the capital city, at absolutely zero charge!

Panorama view of Tokyo - Airfrov Blog

View from the top!

Two observatories with 360 degrees view of Tokyo

Tochos better-known counterparts might provide views that are seemingly unrivaled, but the metropolitan building offers something even better.The North and South Observatory in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building offer a panorama 360 degrees view of the city from Shinjuku. Famous landmarks such as the Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Dome and even the Mount Fuji are viewable from the two observatory decks! There are explanation panels near the glass windows, indicating the landmarks that you can see from the particular angle. Each observatory also houses a cafe and a souvenir shop, where exclusive Tocho-only souvenirs are available.

With the North Observatory opening till 23:00, the observation deck is a popular destination even with the locals for its night view. You will be able to see the neon lights that lit up the city, as well as the full view of the Tokyo Tower lighting up in the night from the North Observatory.

Panorama view of Tokyo - Airfrov Blog

Aerial view of Chuo Park

A park in the midst of the city

Standing right across the street from Tocho is the Chuo Park. From the top, the autumn colors that paint this mid-sized park will present a splendid aerial view. Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, a lovely waterfall in the middle of the park makes it a good place for pictures. There is also a small shrine in the park. Local office workers tend to have their takeout lunches in the quiet park, escaping from the hectic Shinjuku environment. It is common to see families having picnic here during the weekends, with the kids enjoying the play area facilities.

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Check ahead of schedule if a flea market will be happening at Chuo Park when you visit on Saturdays. Featuring approximately 200 vendors, the flea market will bring you cheap vintage goods that go as low as 20 yen!

Panorama view of Tokyo - Airfrov Blog

Getting to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building might be slightly complicated if you alight at Shinjuku JR Station. It is a 10-minutes walk from Shinjuku JR Station west exit. Follow the signs indicating the direction to the building, or just ask any Japanese along the way. They will be more than willing to help you on your way!

Alternatively, the building is directly above the Tochomae Station on the Oedo Subway Line.

Also read: How to Survive Japans Brutal Summer

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The post Travel Tip: Where to go for Panorama view of Tokyo and beyond for FREE! appeared first on Airfrov Blog.
From Town & Country

The United States often issues travel warnings against other countries for reasons ranging from the threat of natural disaster to political unrest, but more and more frequently the U.S. is becoming the subject of these advisories.

In recent weeks, countries including Germany, the U.K., Canada, and New Zealand have warned their citizens about dangers ranging from Zika to the threat of terrorism and gun violence.

Following the confirmation of mosquito-transmitted Zika virus in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, the U.K. and Canada released statements suggesting that travelers avoid this area, particularly if they are pregnant or looking to conceive.

The UK's advisory also warns against Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, additional territories where locally transmitted Zika has been confirmed.

New Zealand and Germany's warnings focus on gun violence and terrorism in the U.S.

The New Zealand government's "Safe Travel" website says, "There is some risk to your security in the United States due to the threat from terrorism and we advise caution...The United States remains a likely target for terrorist activity by domestic-based extremists and internationally-trained individuals and groups, and we continue to receive reports that terrorist groups are planning attacks against the United States."

According to USA Today, Germany is warning its citizens, "It is relatively easy to obtain a firearm in the U.S. If you find yourself the victim of a gun attack, do not try to resist!"

But these are hardly the first advisories against the U.S. this year. Earlier this summer, the Bahamas' Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration issued a statement cautioning its citizens from traveling to the U.S. regarding, "the recent tensions in some American cities over shootings of young black males by police officers."

"We wish to advise all Bahamians traveling to the US but especially to the affected cities to exercise appropriate caution generally. In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational and cooperate."

The U.K. warned gay and transgender travelers against visiting North Carolina and Mississippi, following controversial legislation limiting LGBT rights: "The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people differ hugely across the country. Transgender travellers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the state of North Carolina."

And in July, after an Emirati man wearing a traditional white robe and headwear was aggressively arrested at a hotel near Cleveland, Ohio after being falsely accused of association with ISIS, the United Arab Emirates's Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised its citizens "to refrain from wearing the national dress when travelling abroad and specifically in public spaces to ensure their safety."
WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish and German treasure hunters have started digging at a site in southwest Poland where they believe a Nazi-era train rumored to have gone missing is hidden - despite the scepticism of experts. Andreas Koper and Piotr Richter said last year they had located the train buried underground. According to local legend, it was carrying looted jewels and guns and disappeared into a tunnel ahead of advancing Soviet Red Army forces in 1945, towards the end of World War Two. They secured the permissions needed to begin digging despite a study by AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow concluding that a train is unlikely to be buried in the location the two amateur explorers have specified. On Tuesday, the pair led a team of explorers in excavations at three separate sites inside a fenced-off area in the district of Walbrzych. "We have to find a railway track, probably the entrance to a railway tunnel and, if the tunnel exists, there should be a train there," Andrzej Galik, a spokesman for the treasure hunters, told Polish media. "What do we expect? To unveil a sort of time capsule, something from that era, from the period of World War Two ... We are hoping to be successful." Galik said ground-penetrating radar examinations were "very promising". The team is expected to announce findings in coming days. (Reporting By Reuters Television)
(Photo illustration: Yahoo News, photo: Evan Vucci/AP, donaldjtrump.com [3])

The Trump campaigns email blast war against what it considers biased reporting is about to resume, according to its commander, senior communications adviser Jason Miller.

The emails, labeled MEDIA BIAS OFFENDER in screaming capital letters, began showing up in reporters inboxes on Aug. 3 and continued for five days. Miller said they will return, perhaps as soon as Tuesday night.

In a conversation with Yahoo News last week, Miller said it amuses him to see reporters react to these messages on Twitter and to imagine their reaction when they receive them. The emails are sent in the evening specifically because the campaign believes reporters are largely done with work and reading on their phones at that time.

I get a little bit of a smile when I see at night  when journalists take a look and essentially acknowledge that theyre reading these and that theyre paying attention, Miller said. Our goal in this is to call attention to what we see as the most extreme examples of media bias with an effort of making folks think twice about everything from story placement to fairness.

These messages are not sent out to Trump supporters; they only go the campaigns press list. Miller said the campaigns unique strategy of critiquing reporters for an audience of their peers is necessary because this election is taking place in a climate of historic media bias against Trump. He also described it as fitting with Trumps unconventional style.

Everything about this race is unconventional, and there are a number of political norms such as addressing media bias  maybe Washington insiders might be too timid to take that on, but we have made the decision that we are going to push back and call out media bias and not be shy about it, said Miller.

Up through Aug. 8, Millers team sent out six media bias offender emails, many directed at what the campaign considered negative coverage of Trump  and a lack of criticism toward Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton  on the New York Times front page and the Washington Post website. Illustrations in the messages showed examples of the offending coverage emblazoned with a bright red MEDIA BIAS OFFENDER stamp. This period coincided with a spate of controversies involving Trump, including his repeated attacks on the family of a slain Muslim soldier, his false claim that he saw footage of an American jet bringing cash to Iran and his initial reluctance to endorse two prominent Republicans, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

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Miller contends that American payments to Iran, Clintons use of a private email server to conduct official business and revelations about foreign donations to her familys charitable foundation should have earned similarly prominent placement at these outlets. He said the emails are designed to make reporters think twice about their coverage.

Its not just keeping them on their toes for keeping on their toes sake, Miller said of the emails. Were talking about promoting Mr. Trumps message and standing up and calling out or pushing back on clear cases of media bias when we see them.

The media has long been a ripe target for politicians, particularly conservatives. A Gallup poll released last year showed Americans trust in the media has hit a historic low, especially among Republicans. The poll found that less than one-third of Republican voters trust the press. This wariness has led many GOP candidates, including several of this years presidential hopefuls, to take shots at the media.

However, as with so much of his campaign, Trump has put his own unique spin on the practice. Longtime Trump associate Roger Stone suggested to Yahoo News that Trumps status as a political outsider makes taking on the media a particularly potent strategy for him.

Voters have kind of reached their saturation point with both political parties, with all political institutions, with career politicians as a class, Stone said. These same people have figured out that the establishment is in bed with the media establishment, that the mainstream media is merely a megaphone for the insiders and, therefore, the stuff they tell you isnt true.

CNN host Brian Stelter interviews Trump campaign communications director Jason Miller. (Screenshot: CNN/@ReliableSources)

Stone cut his political teeth working for President Richard Nixon, who mounted his own crusade against the media. And Stone says launching an anti-media offensive is more effective now than it was in the past.

Attacking the media wins you votes. The voters have become skeptical of the media, Stone explained. You know, its not like the days when everyone believed Walter Cronkite. Nobody believes these bastards now because the news is indeed biased.

But Stone thinks the media bias isnt entirely ideological, or even partisan. Instead, he suggests that a spate of stories about GOP officials preparing for the possibility of Trump dropping out of the race came from the Republican National Committee and its chairman, Reince Priebus. According to Stone, who blasted the stories as a false meme, Priebus was furious about Trumps reluctance to endorse Ryan in his reelection bid. Both Priebus and Ryan are from Wisconsin and have deep personal ties.

That sent Reince off the cliff, Stone said. That whole false meme Trump is considering dropping out, which has no basis in facts but still leads ABC News and gets on the front page of the New York Times, that is, my guess, is Republican spun, Republican originated.

Stone underlined Trumps status as an outsider in explaining his unique relationship to the party leadership.

In the end, hes going to get what he needs among Republicans, Stone said of Trumps prospects with GOP voters. This is not Republicans versus Democrats. Its insiders versus outsiders. Trumps the outsider. The endorsement of Romney and the Bushes would be detrimental to his candidacy. Hes the insurgent. His nomination is a hostile takeover of the Republican Party.

Before Trumps team began sending the MEDIA BIAS OFFENDER emails, the candidate regularly blasted the press and even singled out individual reporters for criticism at his rallies and on Twitter. The campaign has also closed Trumps events to media outlets it deems biased. On Aug. 10, Marie Claire magazine published an essay by NBC News reporter Katy Tur that detailed her experiences covering Trump for the past year, including multiple instances where she was singled out for his criticism. At one South Carolina rally last December, Tur said, the Secret Service took the extraordinary step of escorting her to her car after Trump blasted her as a liar from the stage. The agency, which protects presidents and presidential candidates, has never before had to protect someone else from a candidate.

Asked about the situation with Tur and whether the campaigns antagonistic stance towards the press might betray an authoritarian bent, Miller pointed out that the OFFENDER emails thus far are not personal and have not singled out individual reporters. Miller also said the emails are not meant as an indictment of the entire media industry.

Were always careful in the write-ups to never take on all journalists. Were always very careful to make sure that were calling out the media bias offenders and not casting a net to everyone, Miller said.

However, Trump himself has been willing to attack individual journalists, and Miller leaves the door open to the campaign doing so in the future. The closest the campaign has come so far was highlighting a USA Today column that referenced the factually incorrect claim that Trump kicked a baby out of one his rallies earlier this month. In the future, Miller said, a similar situation where the campaign has gone to a reporter to try to get something changed and theyre just not listening could result in a reporter being personally called out in one of the campaigns daily emails.

If were at a point  say you have the baby story where, you know, we went to the reporter, we went to the editor, things still didnt get changed, they still ran with this blatant falsehood, Miller said. Were going to call them out. Were going to make sure that everyone knows.

There have been no new MEDIA BIAS OFFENDER emails from the Trump campaign since Aug. 8. However, Trump and his team clearly have not halted their offensive. Over the weekend, the campaign launched a sustained attack against a New York Times article that reported Trump was in a sullen and erratic mood with aides urging him to change course and get on track following his recent controversies and slump in the polls.

Trump lambasted the article multiple times on Twitter and at a rally on Saturday evening where he threatened to revoke the Times press credentials for his events. On Sunday morning, Miller appeared on CNNs weekly media discussion show Reliable Sources where he dismissed the story as a liberal hatchet job. The shows host, Brian Stelter, repeatedly pressed Miller on whether there were specific things about the story that should be corrected. Miller simply said he would take the entire article and throw it in the trash.

In a text message exchange with Yahoo on Tuesday, Miller described his appearance on the show as one big media bias offender segment. He also suggested the campaigns focus on the story was one reason the campaign didnt send any new BIAS OFFENDER emails in recent days. He promised the next one will come this evening.

There was so much attention to the issue between myself and Mr. Trump that I found a press release to be anticlimactic, Miller wrote. I would expect to see a new one today. Believe me.

Miller ended his message with a smiley face emoji.
By revealing his apparently final plan for fighting terrorism and fixing immigration in one fell swoop on Monday, Donald Trump managed a rare feat of political clarification. Unfortunately for Trump, what he clarified were the cultural tensions within his own campaign.

In his address on foreign policy and national security, Trump promised one simple way to keep jihadis away from American shores. With an updated version of a Cold War-era ideological screening test, Trumps federal government would bar those who support bigotry and hatred, admitting only those who embrace a tolerant American society.

As Trump already showed during the Republican National Convention, his vision of bigotry is paradoxically broad. Despite courting the most virulent of nationalists, Trump  who counts Peter Thiel and Caitlyn Jenner as supporters  went out of his way to call the attack on the Pulse club in Orlando, Florida, the worst mass shooting in our history as well as the worst attack on the LGTBQ community. Those lines must have gone down sideways at best for the many Trump supporters who rail against the influence of Jews, Mormons, Latinos, and other non-Muslim minorities. But the reasons why Trumps plan should not be adopted go well beyond the hurt feelings of anti-Semites and xenophobes.

Obviously the easiest cases for any anti-jihadi screening program are the easiest to agree upon: You show up wrapped in an Islamic State flag, you dont enter the country. But Trumps seemingly liberal, ecumenical standards of decency and Western values promise a never-ending series of hard cases  even for a government with a ruthlessly lean and mean bureaucracy, and even in a society that isnt riven by a draining and bitter culture war. The fact is that neither Americans nor their government can handle Trumps would-be screening test. Given where the United States is today, an ideological exam of the sort Trump is proposing would purport to foster greater cultural unity but promise even fiercer disunity.

And, adding injury to insult, it wouldnt even solve Americas terrorism problem.

An early warning sign comes from fresh evidence in Europe about what a Trump-style test would entail. Our Western allies have proven that U.S. officials could at least design such a test. Just this March, the Dutch, a people on immigration and terror tenterhooks, launched a new entrance exam aimed at ensuring immigrants are at least aware of the Netherlandss liberal values, even if they do not agree with all of them. Supplying Muslim candidates with some free test prep, the Dutch government created an instructional feature-length film dramatizing Dutch values. And so: a topless woman illustrates the Dutch way of nudity; a kissing gay couple underscores Dutch laws and mores concerning homosexuality.

It isnt hard to imagine some American agency putting together similar content, even if many of Trumps more reactionary and traditionalist supporters would recoil in horror at the process. But it is impossible to imagine the thing ever getting out the door  whether an intransigent member of Congress bottlenecked the process or fierce public disagreement made compromise impossible. It would make comprehensive immigration reform look like a layup.

Thrown open to national political infighting, what expression of a common American culture would survive? Even if some standard were forced through by executive order, how often, and how acrimoniously, would it be replaced? Americans wouldnt even agree on the way to test subjects. Beltway bureaucrats sifting through social media profiles, on the hunt for signs of bigotry? Not in a country where post-Snowden disillusionment is so extreme that few really believe officials can be trusted to keep their hands off citizens private data. And amid an endemic culture of spin, where even U.S. intelligence about the Islamic State threat was massaged and manipulated, possibly even fewer Americans will consent to a profiling system conducted by federal shrinks.

The problem is not restricted to offending one (conservative) faction in the culture wars or another. The politicization of Americas culture conflict is systemic, complete with vested, moneyed interests ready at a moments notice to turn the slightest provocation or compromise into yet another all-out war. The most likely outcome of a push for a Trump Test would be interminable debate, incoherent and contradictory half-measures, and another failed federal initiative.

A more realistic litmus test for U.S. immigrants would ask whether they were prepared to join daily battles over how much official support should be granted to the ways they and others live. But the whole idea of limiting immigration is to put the brakes on the crippling culture conflict that has made it so difficult for Americans to govern and be governed. Even adding hundreds of thousands of people just as cantankerous as natural-born citizens would increase that burden.

Of course, the strong argument in favor of accepting many more foreigners is that, no matter how burdensome or impractical, we have a moral obligation to do so, especially if they hail from areas where our policies have harmed people. Thats why Trump, and others who generally appreciate those high standards, characteristically appeal to the extraordinary exception posed by the very real threat of continued jihadi terror attacks. Without the threat, in other words, we wouldnt need the test. However nativist Trumps base, the logic of Trumps test appeals to decent peoples abundance of caution.

But again, unfortunately, there just isnt much evidence that a Trump Test would manage to measurably decrease that threat. As many strictly observant Christians and Jews would attest, simply because you reject todays ascendant sexually progressive ideology does not mean you want to commit mass murder. Critics will counter that Islam is special, and not in a good way: that this religion, unlike the others, primes true believers to kill infidels. Were that so, the proper policy would be something like what Trump once suggested at the outset of this debate  a hard stop to Muslim immigration, period. But now even Trump has abandoned that untenable idea.

And as Trump himself might eventually concede, the best way to stop terrorist infiltration is by destroying the Islamic State, ramping up targeted surveillance, combating sponsors of terror, and keeping up robust international policing. At first blush, perhaps, an ideological immigration test sounds like a plausible way to supplement that effort. But Trumps attempt to advance an exam that could actually work has resulted in a putative policy too overbroad and too underbroad to be anywhere near viable. Until Americans bring their politicized culture war to some kind of conclusion, theyll be hard-pressed to use culture to bring the homeland closer to peace.

Photo credit: GREGG NEWTON/AFP/Getty Images
In his effort to reset a presidential campaign that has dangerously gone off track, Republican Donald Trump mistakenly continues to believe there is much to be gained politically by closely linking Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to President Obamas foreign policy record.

Trump last week shocked Republicans and Democrats alike by insisting that Obama was the founder of ISIS and that Clinton, his former secretary of state, was the cofounder because of their badly flawed policies in Iraq and Syria that led to the rise of the bloody terrorist group.

Related: Trump Promises to Get Vicious With Radical Islam

He tempered his comments during a major national security and anti-terrorism address in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday but still lumped the two together in sharply criticizing Democratic foreign policy over the past seven and a half years. Citing a long litany of tragic and disastrous developments in the Middle East and Libya, Trump insisted that Obama and Clinton were responsible for all of them.

In short, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy has unleashed ISIS, destabilized the Middle East, and put the nation of Iran  which chants Death to America  in a dominant position of regional power and, in fact, aspiring to be a dominant world power, Trump declared.

Our current strategy of nation-building and regime change is a proven failure, he added. We have created the vacuums that allow terrorists to grow and thrive.

Trumps campaign strategy appears badly flawed, and his insistence on taking on an increasingly popular two-term Democratic president as well as his Democratic rival appears to be working to Clintons advantage.

Related: The Russian Government Could Be Manipulating the US Election

A new Gallup survey released yesterday showed 48 percent of Americans say they approve of Obamas handling of foreign affairs. That is up substantially from the presidents 39 percent rating in February.

As voters struggle to choose between two major presidential candidates with remarkably high negative ratings on trust and honesty  Trump and Clinton -- Obama is enjoying a revival of public approval in the waning months of his administration.

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While Trump and other GOP leaders regularly ridicule Obamas foreign policy and anti-terrorists strategies, his latest Gallup rating on foreign policy is his highest since the 49 percent he registered in November 2012, just days before he won a second term against Republican Mitt Romney.

Americans highest ratings of his performance on key issues reflect neither personal nor historical highs, but they do compare favorably with his ratings on these issues over the past seven-and-a-half years, Gallup said in its analysis. His approval ratings on the economy and foreign affairs currently rank above the best since his first term.

Related: As Young Voters Flee Trump, Republicans May Be Losing a Generation

Although Clinton and Obama havent always seen eye to eye, the former secretary of state wisely tied her fortunes to the presidents popularity during her difficult primary battle earlier this year against liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

She generated substantial support among African Americans, Hispanics, women and center-right Democrats by steadfastly embracing Obamas key domestic achievements, including Obamacare and financial industry reforms.

She was most politically vulnerable on a number of issues, including her 2002 Senate vote to support the invasion of Iraq; her conduct as secretary of state in the 2012 terrorist attacks against a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya; and her gross mishandling of thousands of highly sensitive State Department email that might have resulted in a national security breach.

For better or worse, Obama and Clinton have been joined at the hip throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, as they sought to retain Democratic control of the White House and to preserve the Obama administration legacy. Trump has sought to use this Democratic alliance to his benefit, but so far, it hasnt worked at all.

Related: Joe Biden: Trump Has No Clue How to Lead the Country  or Deal With Putin

While Trump does better in many polls than Clinton on some issues, including bolstering the economy and fighting terrorists, she and Obama stand above Trump on conducting foreign policy.

Nearly six in 10 registered voters say they trust Clinton more than Trump on foreign policy, 59 percent to 36 percent, according to a recent CNN/ORC International poll. Thats a 23-percentage-point lead for Clinton, and it contrasts sharply with her meager five point lead over Trump in mid- July, 50 percent to 45 percent.

This vast improvement in Clintons approval rating on foreign policy  and more importantly, her surge in the national polls -- coincides with a concerted effort by her, Obama and vice president Joe Biden to portray the billionaire businessman as an ignoramus on foreign policy and a danger to the country and the world.

Obama's approval ratings have risen in every category and his overall rating is above 50 percent, which is good news for Clinton, said University of Virginia political scientist Larry J. Sabato in an email. Trump has no choice but to attack Obama at what Trump perceives are the president's weak points. Trump is struggling and he has to hope conditions change.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
(Adds comments from policy advisor, latest poll numbers)

By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump named 64 agriculture policy advisors on Tuesday, including the governors of Iowa and five other farm states and a former federal agriculture secretary.

The announcement came as Trump, a New York businessman seeking his first elected office, looks to improve his standing among voters, particularly those in swing states such as Iowa, where some recent opinion polls show Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a tight race.

Republican Governors Terry Branstad of Iowa, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota, Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska were included on a list of advisors distributed by Trump's campaign.

Branstad spokesman Ben Hammes said in an interview that the governor will focus on increasing government support for renewable energy as part of the committee.

Also on the list were John Block, U.S. agriculture secretary under Republican President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986, and former Governors Rick Perry of Texas and Jim Gilmore of Virginia, who both unsuccessfully ran against Trump for the Republican nomination.

"The members of my agricultural advisory committee represent the best that America can offer to help serve agricultural communities," Trump said in a statement.

Members of an executive board will "convene on a regular basis," he said.

Committee members have already talked via telephone to outline some of the issues they expect to tackle, committee member A.G. Kawamura said in an interview.

They range from immigration and climate change to global trade and "how to define food and energy security for the U.S. in the years ahead," said Kawamura, a former California agriculture secretary.

Battles between the agriculture sector and its critics have grown fierce in recent years - from fights over water access in California and declining grain prices, to mounting pressure from consumer groups over how food is produced and labeled.

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Both presidential campaigns have largely ignored the sector, though, Kawamura said, adding that lack of discussion was one of the reasons he joined Trump's committee.

In June, representatives of about a dozen agricultural associations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union, met with staffers for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for the first time to begin a discussion on farm policy.

Clinton had a 6-percentage-point lead over Trump in a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Tuesday.

(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is expected to receive his first national security briefing this week from intelligence officials, sources said on Tuesday. Representatives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will give the New York businessman a wide-ranging briefing on foreign policy and national security issues and current threats, but not ultra-sensitive information about ongoing U.S. undercover spy operations or the identities of intelligence sources and methods, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Director of National Intelligence serves as the head of the U.S. intelligence community, advising the president, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council on matters related to national security. "I know that there will be a briefing, and it will be this week," Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares confirmed in an email to Reuters. ABC News reported that Trump will be accompanied to the briefing by two top advisers, General Michael Flynn, a former Defense Intelligence Agency chief, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who heads Trump's White House transition team. A source familiar with briefing procedures said that it was unclear whether Flynn and Christie currently have the type of active security clearances that would allow them to participate in such a briefing but that they likely held them in the past. Neither Flynn nor a campaign spokeswoman immediately responded to requests for comment on the briefing. Officials have expressed some concern about whether Trump, who has never held public office, will be able to keep sensitive secrets he might hear to himself. Republicans have pointed out Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, when secretary of state, used a personal email system to transmit allegedly sensitive government messages, some of which were classified "Top Secret" after the fact. There was no indication on Tuesday that Clinton has thus far requested such a briefing for herself, sources familiar with the briefing process told Reuters. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Additional writing by Amanda Becker; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Ankara (AFP) - A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered the temporary closure of a newspaper accused of links with Kurdish militants and spreading terrorist propaganda.

The court in Istanbul accused the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem of "acting as the de facto news outlet" for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), state-run news agency Anadolu said. A Turkish official confirmed the court order.

The PKK -- considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States -- has waged an insurgency in the southeast since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed since it first took up arms.

Police raided the newspaper's office in Istanbul and detained four people, including journalists, the private Dogan news agency said.

Turkish opposition media reported that the editor, Zana Kaya, was also among those detained.

In one clip shared on Twitter, Gulfem Karatas, a presenter for pro-Kurdish channel IMC TV, could be heard screaming and the channel claimed on its website she and her cameraman were "assaulted" by police.

Launched in 1992, leftist daily Ozgur Gundem has been the subject of court closures and raids in the past and its journalists have been arrested. It was closed from 1994 until April 2011 when it started publishing again.

The paper has featured the writings of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned since 1999.

The Turkish-Kurdish language newspaper has a print circulation of less than 7,000, according to figures from earlier this month.

- 'Violation of rights' -

The Turkish official, who did not wish to be named, said the decision to close the newspaper had no links to the state of emergency declared after last month's failed coup.

"The defendants can appeal this decision," the official added.

The opposition Pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples' Party (HDP) said in a statement the action against Ozgur Gundem was "unacceptable".

"This decision is clearly a violation of the people's right to news and against freedom of expression and thought."

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Since the July 15 attempted coup, more than 130 media outlets have been shut down.

On July 27, 45 newspapers and 16 television stations were ordered to close, the official gazette said, prompting concern among Western leaders and press freedom organisations.

Also on Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) urged the United Nations to look into "credible allegations of gross human rights violations in Turkey" following the failed coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

HRF said Turkish journalists faced "constant threats and retribution for their work, and are often harassed and prosecuted under criminal laws designed to stifle government criticism".
By Andrea Shalal and Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkey faces a long and arduous path to obtaining visa-free travel within the European Union, and immediate prospects are not bright, Germany's European affairs minister said on Tuesday. Michael Roth told Reuters that it was clear from the start that a migrant deal struck between the EU and Turkey required completion of 72 criteria before Turks could be granted visa-free travel. "Turkey faces a very long and difficult path. The criteria must be fulfilled, and it doesn't look good at the moment," Roth said. "As long as the 72 criteria have not been fulfilled - and a few are still open - there cannot be visa liberalization." At the same time, Roth said it was important to keep open channels of communication with Turkey, which would remain an important partner given the refugee crisis, and because of the presence of over 3 million people in Germany of Turkish descent. Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union, said it was important to continue working with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to ensure his help in dealing with a flood of refugees from countries like Syria and Iraq. "I absolutely don't like what Erdogan is doing, but I don't agree that ... we should end cooperation with him," Schaeuble told an event in the northern German city of Rostock on Tuesday evening. "It is in our own interest to keep working together." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had warned on Monday that Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe if the EU failed to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October. Tensions between Ankara and the West have been aggravated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch, in which 240 people were killed. Roth, a member of the center-left Social Democrat junior partners in Merkel's ruling coalition, said Germany would continue to raise its concerns about Erdogan's detention of more than 35,000 people in a crackdown on suspected putschists. Shortly after Roth spoke, German broadcaster ARD published part of a confidential government report which it said marked the first official assessment linking Erdogan's government to support for Islamist and terrorist groups. "The many expressions of solidarity and support actions by the ruling AKP and President Erdogan for the Egyptian MB (Muslim Brotherhood), Hamas and groups of armed Islamist opposition in Syria emphasize their ideological affinity with the (broader) Muslim Brotherhood," ARD cited the government report as saying. Egypt has designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The group says it rejects violence. The European Union and the United States have blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist group. The report said Turkey had become "the central hub for Islamist groups in the Middle East region as a result of the gradually Islamicized domestic and foreign policy of Ankara since 2011," ARD reported. Germany's leftist Linke party said the report - which came in response to its parliamentary query - required a radical shift in Germany's approach towards Ankara. "The German government cannot publicly designate the godfather of terrorism Erdogan as a partner, while internally warning about Turkey as a hub for terrorism," said Sevim Dagdalen, a lawmaker and member of the Linke party. The German government released part of its response to the party, but declined comment on the secret portion. Even members of Merkel's Christian Democrats raised concerns about the report, which the interior ministry said it had not cleared with the foreign ministry due to a "office mistake." Roderich Kiesewetter, a conservative lawmaker and member of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said the assessment was "extremely concerning," but cutting off ties with Turkey would only strengthen radical elements there, the Handelsblatt newspaper. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Michael Nienaber and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Ralph Boulton)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister spoke with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday and discussed the extradition of the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Ankara blames for last month's failed coup, foreign ministry sources said. Mevlut Cavusoglu and Kerry also discussed the latest developments in Syria, including the situation in Manbij and Aleppo, the sources said. Turkey blames the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for the July 15 failed putsch and wants the United States to extradite him. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the charge and condemned the coup. Washington has said it would need to see clear evidence before it can take action on the extradition request. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan)
ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court ordered the closure of a leftist pro-Kurdish newspaper on Tuesday for spreading terrorist propaganda, saying it had acted as the "de facto news outlet" of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, a court document showed. Ozgur Gundem, whose print version has a daily circulation of around 7,500, focuses on the conflict with Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast and has faced dozens of investigations, fines and the arrest of correspondents since 2014. The newspaper had been used to "make propaganda for the PKK and act as its de facto news outlet", according to the court document seen by Reuters. Ozgur Gundem has in the past featured the writing of Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK's jailed leader, and has published columns by senior rebel commanders. Turkey has closed more than 130 media outlets since a state of emergency was declared in the wake of last month's failed military coup, stirring concern among Western allies and rights groups about deteriorating press freedom. A Turkish official said the closure of Ozgur Gundem was the result of a court order and was not related to the state of emergency. The defendants could appeal, the official said. (Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Istanbul (AFP) - A wildly popular Turkish television and film thriller franchise starring an action hero dubbed the "Turkish James Bond" will make a movie about the failed July 15 coup, its producer announced.

The "Valley of the Wolves" franchise, has resulted in dozens of television episodes and several spin-off films since it was first created in 2003, enthralling many Turks.

But it has long been accused by critics of having a strong ideological bent alongside a potent streak of Turkish nationalism and anti- American and Israeli sentiment.

"In response to intense public demand to make a film or television series about the coup bid, our firm has taken the decision to make the film 'Valley of the Wolves -- Coup'," production company Pana Film said on Twitter late Monday.

It did not give further details but the film will most likely see the return of Turkish secret service action hero Polat Alemdar -- played by Necati Sasmaz -- to do battle with the coup plotters who aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish authorities blame the coup on the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen and have slammed Washington for failing to hand him over to face trial at home.

According to the Aksam newspaper, the question of Turkey-US relations will play a prime role in the script.

- 'Did they know before?' -

Always ending up on top against the odds -- like British spy hero James Bond -- Polat Alemdar takes on a panoply of Turkey's enemies, be it the mafia, militants or even the West.

The franchise did not shy away from controversy with its first film "Valley of the Wolves -- Iraq" which centred on the US-invasion of Iraq and the story of the capture of 11 Turkish soldiers by a US military unit.

It then ventured into even stormier waters with a film on the deadly 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza.

The movie further ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Turkey and the Jewish State, prompting accusations of anti-Semitism that were vehemently denied by the producers.

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"Valley of the Wolves" has always been seen as in tune with the ambitious foreign policy and projection of a powerful Turkey espoused by Erdogan, who became prime minister in the year the series first came out.

However it has not been spared from controversy within the country, with the producers pulling the plug on a 2007 series "Valley of the Wolves -- Terror" which dealt with the fight against Kurdish militants after just one episode.

Meanwhile in a twist worthy of the franchise itself, Turkish media including the Hurriyet daily said the producers had taken possession of a website domain "Valley of the Wolves -- Coup" (kurtlarvadisidarbe.com) on May 18, two months before the coup even took place.

"Did 'Valley of the Wolves' know about the coup in advance?" became a viral question on social media, quoted by several media.

The Turkish government has over the last month vehemently denied unsubstantiated claims they had any prior intelligence of the coup.
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors have demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month's failed coup, state media reported on Tuesday.

In a 2,527-page indictment approved by prosecutors in the Usak region of western Turkey, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other accusations, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Thirteen out of 111 suspects in the case are remanded in custody, it said. All face prison terms ranging from two years to life in jail.

The so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO) -- the name Ankara gives for the group led by Gulen -- had infiltrated state archives through its members in the state institutions and intelligence units, according to the indictment.

The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its purpose of taking control of all state institutions, it added.

It has also collected funds from businessmen in the name of "donations" and transferred the money to the United States by means of front companies, and by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, Anadolu reported.

The case dates back to September 2015, even before the failed coup, and had been launched by the Usak prosecutor's office into the financial assets of FETO.

Gulen, the reclusive cleric in who has lived in the United States since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a "parallel state" since a corruption scandal embroiling President, then premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.

Since July 15, Turkey's crackdown on his supporters has intensified with tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education sector dismissed from their jobs or detained.

Turkey has pressed the United States to extradite Gulen to face trial at home and expressed frustration that Washington seems in no hurry to consider the matter. From his secluded Pennsylvania base, Gulen has vehemently denied playing any part in the coup.
Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month's attempted coup.

But in a step back from threats to reintroduce the death penalty in the wake of the July 15 failed putsch, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a fair trial would represent a harsher punishment for coup plotters than execution.

Ankara is sweeping ahead with a crackdown that has seen some 100,000 people either detained or lose their jobs, worrying Western allies, with simultaneous raids Tuesday against companies in Istanbul suspected of helping to finance the Gulen movement.

Gulen, who lives in a secluded compound in Pennsylvania, has vehemently denied that he and his supporters were behind the coup attempt.

In a 2,527-page indictment approved by prosecutors in the western Usak region, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other accusations, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO) -- the name Ankara gives the group led by Gulen -- had infiltrated state archives through its members in the state institutions and intelligence units, according to the indictment.

The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its purpose of taking control of all state institutions, it added.

It has also collected funds from businessmen in the guise of "donations" and transferred the money to the US through front companies, and by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, Anadolu reported.

- 'No patience, no faith'-

The symbolic punishment of two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for Gulen is one of the heaviest ever demanded in Turkey since the death penalty was abolished in 2004 as part of the country's bid to join the European Union.

Story continues

Yildirim on Tuesday called for a fair trial instead of the death penalty for suspected coup plotters, in comments seen as softer after Erdogan had suggested that the government could bring back capital punishment.

"A person dies only once when executed," Yildirim said in parliament.

"There are tougher ways to die than the death (penalty) for them. That is an impartial and fair trial."

The prospect of the death penalty being restored had stunned the EU, which makes the abolition of capital punishment an unnegotiable condition for joining the bloc.

Erdogan said on Tuesday it was only natural to discuss whether to introduce the death penalty after the botched coup, and blasted Europe for its criticism.

"If the people have such a demand, (parliament) will discuss it," he said.

Turning to Europe, Erdogan said if what Turkey faced had taken place in the West, "they would both introduce capital punishment and declare a non-stop state of emergency".

"Believe me, they do not have the patience, strength and faith that we have," he said.

- Businessmen detained -

Turkey declared a three-month state of emergency after the coup and the sheer magnitude of the crackdown prompted worries among its EU partners of a witch-hunt.

Police on Tuesday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects including CEOs, Anadolu said.

The suspects are accused of financing Gulen's activities, but the identity of the firms was not immediately clear.

Erdogan has vowed to eradicate businesses, charities and schools linked to Gulen, calling them "terror organisations" and "nests of terror".

Gulen, a reclusive cleric in who has lived in the US since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a "parallel state" since a corruption scandal embroiling then premier Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.

Ankara wants Washington to extradite Gulen to face trial back home, indicating that any failure to deliver him will severely damage ties.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed the extradition process in a telephone call Tuesday with US counterpart John Kerry, the foreign ministry said, and US Vice President Joe Biden is due to visit Turkey to discuss the issue later this month.

Turkey has meanwhile sent a file to Greece asking for the extradition of eight Turkish soldiers who fled in a helicopter soon after the coup, Anadolu said.

The eight men -- two commanders, four captains and two sergeants -- were given a month's extension for their asylum requests last month.
Scandal is thankfully sparing us from enduring another incendiary presidential election cycle.

When the ABC drama returns at midseason, the action will pick up on election night, exec producer Shonda Rhimes revealed to EW.com. Were not going to spend our time playing an election. When Season 5 ended, Mellie and Jake (aka the Republican ticket) and Francisco and Cyrus (aka the Democratic ticket) had just launched their respective campaigns.

RELATEDABC Drops #TGIT Tagline for Fall

As TVLine previously reported, Scandal star Kerry Washingtons real-life pregnancy forced the network to postpone the launch of Season 6 until early 2017.

Ready for more of todays newsy nuggets? Well

* Prison Breaks Robert Knepper has nabbed a recurring role in Homelands NYC-set sixth season, Deadline reports. Hell play General Jamie McClendon, the Department of Defense representative briefing President-elect Keane (House of Cards Elizabeth Marvel) and her transition team.

* Ex-Nashville star Will Chase has joined ABCs new Kevin Williamson drama Time After Time as a series regular, EW.com reports.

* Britney Spears will perform at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, Aug. 28 alongside her Make Me collaborator G-Eazy, the network announced Tuesday.

* Foxs new-ish trailer for Empire Season 3 offers a first look at Young Cookie and Lucious so, you know, get busy pushing PLAY below

Related stories

Scandal Season 5 Bloopers Include a Nixed Kiss, Potty-Mouthed POTUS

Homeland Creator: 'Quinn Is Alive' But 'Very Changed' -- Plus, End Date Plan?

Homeland Officially Renewed for Season 7 and Season 8 at Showtime
(Adds details on charges, background on Och-Ziff)

By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A Gabonese man who consulted for a joint venture involving a U.S. hedge fund was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe officials in Africa to obtain mining rights.

Samuel Mebiame, who authorities say worked as a "fixer" for the joint venture and one of its mining companies, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn for conspiring to violate the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The complaint did not name the fund, but its description matched that of Och-Ziff Capital Management, which has been in talks with the U.S. authorities to resolve probes into its involvement in bribes paid to African officials.

The complaint said the U.S. hedge fund involved in the case had formed a joint venture in January 2008 with a Turks and Caicos Islands entity.

Och-Ziff that same month formed a joint venture in Africa with Palladino Holdings Ltd, an investment vehicle incorporated in the Turks and Caicos Islands founded by South African businessman Walter Hennig.

Mebiame, the 43-year-old son of the late former Gabon Prime Minister Leon Mebiame, was arrested in Brooklyn on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said.

His arrest came after he voluntarily met with federal law enforcement in June 2015 to discuss his role in paying bribes to secure mining concessions for the joint venture, the complaint said.

A spokesman for Och-Ziff declined to comment on Tuesday, as did Benjamin Tymann, a lawyer for Mebiame. Contact information for Palladino could not be immediately located.

Och-Ziff said this month that it was in talks with the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve the probes and had set aside $414.3 million ahead of a final settlement.

Tuesday's complaint said Mebiame admitted supplying cash and cars to two married Nigerian officials; an S-class Mercedes Benz sedan and rented private Airbus jet to a Guinean official; and travel and shopping expenses for an adviser to Chad's president.

Story continues

For his work, the complaint said Mebiame was paid at least $3.5 million through 2012.

He also believed he would receive an interest in a mining company the venture owned, leading to a dispute over his stake. In an email in 2009, he later threatened to tell the media about its "illegal procedures to secure assets in Africa," the complaint said.

In the email, which he sent to an employee of the joint venture, Mebiame claimed it had "used corruption in Africa to get the assets you have."

The case is U.S. v. Mebiame, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 16-mj-752.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; editing by Dan Grebler and Diane Craft)
(Recasts with details from court hearing)

By Kevin Murphy

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Aug 16 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Kansas agreed on Tuesday to order an independent investigation into whether prosecutors violated attorney-client privilege by obtaining video recordings of confidential meetings between inmates and their lawyers from a privately run prison.

Defense lawyers told U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson at a hearing that U.S. prosecutors disregarded defendants' constitutional rights in requesting the recordings from the Corrections Corp of America, which manages the U.S. penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Investigators subpoenaed the videos as part of a drug-smuggling probe that has resulted in charges against multiple defendants, including a guard and inmates.

While the videos have no sound, defense lawyers said lip-reading or inferences based on body language would be possible.

"We are stunned by the cavalier attitude of the government," said Kansas Federal Public Defender Melody Brannon, who has asked for a broad review of all cases involving such recordings. "They have shrugged off the constitutional issues here."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett rejected that characterization but said the government supports the appointment of a "special master" for the limited purpose of examining videos in the drug case alone.

No prosecutors have seen the videos, which were turned over to a "taint" team to identify any potentially privileged communications, the government said in court papers.

U.S. law protects communications between individuals and their attorneys from outside parties in virtually all circumstances.

Last week, Robinson ordered detention facilities in Kansas and the western part of Missouri to stop recording such meetings and instructed prosecutors to turn over the footage to the court. Robinson said on Tuesday that the U.S. Marshals Service had confirmed that video recordings have ceased.

It is not clear whether attorney-client meetings are regularly recorded at all prisons operated by CCA, which manages 85 local, state and federal facilities in 20 states. Company representatives did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Story continues

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on Tuesday on its video recording policy.

Defense lawyers claimed at the hearing that inmates' phone conversations with attorneys were also recorded and provided to prosecutors. Barnett said a message before every phone call advises inmates that the call will be recorded and includes a warning about discussing confidential matters.

Robinson asked both sides to submit their views on how extensive the review should be. The judge said she would likely appoint a special master next month to investigate both the audio and video recordings in the case.

(Writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice cannot spend money to prosecute federal marijuana cases if the defendants comply with state guidelines that permit the drug's sale for medical purposes, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, comes as voters in nine more states will consider allowing the recreational use of marijuana this November.

Twenty-five U.S. states currently allow for medical marijuana. While the sale of the drug is still illegal under federal law, Congress in 2014 passed a budget rule which prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to interfere in the implementation of state marijuana regulations.

Due to this rule, defendants in 10 cases in California and Washington argued that their federal charges should be dismissed. The 9th Circuit in San Francisco, which covers nine Western states, ruled on Tuesday that the DOJ could not spend money as long as those defendants "strictly complied" with all state regulations.

The appeals court sent the cases back to lower courts to determine if the defendants had complied with state law.

A Justice Department spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

In November California and eight other states will consider whether to allow marijuana for recreational use. Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia, already permit it.

The unanimous 9th Circuit ruling on Tuesday was issued by a three-judge panel, two of whom are Republican appointees with a history of pro-law enforcement opinions.

Despite the outcome, however, Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote that medical marijuana purveyors should not feel immune from federal law.

"Congress could restore funding tomorrow, a year from now, or four years from now," he wrote, "and the government could then prosecute individuals who committed offenses while the government lacked funding."

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Alan Crosby)
By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - When the United States blacklisted John Angel Zabaneh, a banana farmer and exporter in Belize, for alleged ties to a top drug lord, it did more than just sideline one local businessman from the global financial system.

The action, designed to target only Zabaneh, his alleged associates and their businesses, also dented Belize's banana exports for months from last October, throwing hundreds of people out of work and undercutting a main source of hard currency for the tiny Central American country.

Zabaneh's blacklisting shows the ripple effects that U.S. sanctions aimed at stopping illicit activity such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and human rights abuses can have on the people and industries of economically fragile countries.

Broad U.S. sanctions against entire countries have drawn criticism for impoverishing millions while doing little to hurt those at the top. But Zabaneh's case shows that even laser-targeted actions against individuals and firms -- a strategy the United States is increasingly using -- can cause collateral damage.

Belize's banana crop, which makes up a fifth of the country's exports, faces other obstacles beyond sanctions. Droughts and floods have damaged crops and a further hit is likely after Hurricane Earl swept through the tiny nation this month.

But government officials and industry executives in Belize said Zabaneh's blacklisting -- part of counter-narcotics sanctions aimed at choking off the drug trade in Latin America -- had a marked impact on the country's overall banana exports in late 2015 and early 2016 and contributed to a sharp economic contraction. [Graphic showing banana export trend: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8WA97 ]

A 42 percent drop in banana shipments in the first three months of 2016, stemming from the closure of Zabaneh's farms and the floods, helped drive a two percent drop in economic output in the first quarter, according to the Belize Statistical Institute.

Story continues

"We're a smaller banana supplier, therefore the economics are very touch and go," said Sam Mathias, general manager of the Belize Banana Growers' Association (BGA). "You reduce our annual volume by a little bit, it does make a big difference."

Zabaneh, the U.S. Treasury said, was a key associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Zabaneh denied any connection to Guzman, and said he has sent Treasury information on decades of his finances in an effort to get his name off the blacklist.

A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on the designation's impact on Belize's banana industry.

TARGETED SANCTIONS

The banana crop, exported year-round, is vital to Belize, a country the size of New Jersey with a 40 percent poverty rate. It provides thousands of jobs to migrants and Belizeans in the country's southeastern agricultural region.

The United States has increased its use of targeted economic sanctions in recent years, with officials seeing them as an alternative to more deadly options like air strikes or military raids. They also view them as preferable to the kind of broad boycotts of Cuba, Iraq, and Iran that stunted those countries' economies, experts and former officials said.

"Increasingly the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on individuals, entities, and companies that are wrongdoers as opposed to entire jurisdictions because the more surgical approach is viewed as more effective and more fair," said Adam Smith, a former senior advisor at Treasury.

Wary of hurting a major economy with broad sanctions, the United States imposed highly tailored measures on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, targeting particular transactions in the energy, defense and finance sectors.

But even those specific measures had an "outsized impact" on levels of foreign investment in the Russian economy, said Eric Lorber, a senior associate at the Financial Integrity Network, which advises banks on sanctions.

Many sanctions can lead to unintended damage, but it is relatively common in counter-narcotics designations because major players in drug trafficking often have ties to legitimate business, Smith said.

"People who rise to the level of interest with respect to the U.S. government almost by definition are substantial players," said Smith, now an attorney at Gibson Dunn in Washington. "They may be important components of a country's economy."

"RENDERED USELESS"

The blacklisting of Zabaneh in 2012 had little impact for the first three years because Zabaneh, now 61, quickly stepped away from his business, once one of the largest banana farms in Belize.

Soon after the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Zabaneh, his company Mayan King, and a handful of other people and companies, Treasury and Belize officials explored the idea of transferring the farms to another firm, said Jose Alpuche, chief executive of Belize's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The officials' aim was to figure out how to "keep the banana industry up and running," Alpuche said. Treasury officials made clear in a 2012 phone call with Belize officials that it was up to private firms, not the U.S. government, to determine whether the solution was acceptable, he said.

Another company, Meridian Enterprise, took over management of the farms from Mayan King, Zabaneh said.

For years, the sole buyer of Belize's bananas has been Ireland-based Fyffes. The company said in a statement that the BGA had confirmed in 2012 that Zabaneh and Mayan King had resigned from the trade group, and that the farms were under new ownership not connected to Zabaneh. It continued to buy bananas from the farms for three more years.

But the blacklisting finally bit late last year when Zabaneh was quoted in local media speaking about the farms' operations. He said he was representing his mother, who, he told Reuters, owned the farms throughout the change in management.

The report publicly linking him to the farms prompted Fyffes to cut off purchases of the bananas, the company said in October 2015. It has continued to buy bananas from other farms in Belize.

"Those would have been bananas that were already ready for harvest and for shipment, so the minute he was stopped, then we lost his portion of exports," Alpuche said.

Fyffes' decision caused an instant 13.5 percent plunge in Belize's banana exports, said Mathias.

The value of banana exports dropped by $1 million in October 2015, or 20 percent compared to the prior year, according to the Belize Statistical Institute, which linked the drop that month to the closure of the farms.

Fyffes declined to comment beyond an October 2015 statement confirming it had stopped purchasing bananas from the farms, and that it had immediately cut ties with Zabaneh and his businesses following the Treasury sanctions in 2012.

Zabaneh's farms now lie dormant and overgrown with weeds, with the bananas sick with black sigatoka disease, said Alpuche, who recently visited the area. The farms used to employ about 900 workers, Alpuche said.

"It's been rendered useless," he said. "It's not in a condition where it can export any time soon."

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, editing by Stuart Grudgings)
By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the United States blacklisted John Angel Zabaneh, a banana farmer and exporter in Belize, for alleged ties to a top drug lord, it did more than just sideline one local businessman from the global financial system.

The action, designed to target only Zabaneh, his alleged associates and their businesses, also dented Belize's banana exports for months from last October, throwing hundreds of people out of work and undercutting a main source of hard currency for the tiny Central American country.

Zabaneh's blacklisting shows the ripple effects that U.S. sanctions aimed at stopping illicit activity such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and human rights abuses can have on the people and industries of economically fragile countries.

Broad U.S. sanctions against entire countries have drawn criticism for impoverishing millions while doing little to hurt those at the top. But Zabaneh's case shows that even laser-targeted actions against individuals and firms -- a strategy the United States is increasingly using -- can cause collateral damage.

Belize's banana crop, which makes up a fifth of the country's exports, faces other obstacles beyond sanctions. Droughts and floods have damaged crops and a further hit is likely after Hurricane Earl swept through the tiny nation this month.

But government officials and industry executives in Belize said Zabaneh's blacklisting -- part of counter-narcotics sanctions aimed at choking off the drug trade in Latin America -- had a marked impact on the country's overall banana exports in late 2015 and early 2016 and contributed to a sharp economic contraction. [Graphic showing banana export trend: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8WA97]

A 42 percent drop in banana shipments in the first three months of 2016, stemming from the closure of Zabaneh's farms and the floods, helped drive a two percent drop in economic output in the first quarter, according to the Belize Statistical Institute.

Story continues

"We're a smaller banana supplier, therefore the economics are very touch and go," said Sam Mathias, general manager of the Belize Banana Growers' Association (BGA). "You reduce our annual volume by a little bit, it does make a big difference."

Zabaneh, the U.S. Treasury said, was a key associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Zabaneh denied any connection to Guzman, and said he has sent Treasury information on decades of his finances in an effort to get his name off the blacklist.

A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on the designation's impact on Belize's banana industry.

TARGETED SANCTIONS

The banana crop, exported year-round, is vital to Belize, a country the size of New Jersey with a 40 percent poverty rate. It provides thousands of jobs to migrants and Belizeans in the country's southeastern agricultural region.

The United States has increased its use of targeted economic sanctions in recent years, with officials seeing them as an alternative to more deadly options like air strikes or military raids. They also view them as preferable to the kind of broad boycotts of Cuba, Iraq, and Iran that stunted those countries' economies, experts and former officials said.

"Increasingly the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on individuals, entities, and companies that are wrongdoers as opposed to entire jurisdictions because the more surgical approach is viewed as more effective and more fair," said Adam Smith, a former senior advisor at Treasury.

Wary of hurting a major economy with broad sanctions, the United States imposed highly tailored measures on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, targeting particular transactions in the energy, defence and finance sectors.

But even those specific measures had an "outsized impact" on levels of foreign investment in the Russian economy, said Eric Lorber, a senior associate at the Financial Integrity Network, which advises banks on sanctions.

Many sanctions can lead to unintended damage, but it is relatively common in counter-narcotics designations because major players in drug trafficking often have ties to legitimate business, Smith said.

"People who rise to the level of interest with respect to the U.S. government almost by definition are substantial players," said Smith, now an attorney at Gibson Dunn in Washington. "They may be important components of a country's economy."

"RENDERED USELESS"

The blacklisting of Zabaneh in 2012 had little impact for the first three years because Zabaneh, now 61, quickly stepped away from his business, once one of the largest banana farms in Belize.

Soon after the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Zabaneh, his company Mayan King, and a handful of other people and companies, Treasury and Belize officials explored the idea of transferring the farms to another firm, said Jose Alpuche, chief executive of Belize's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The officials' aim was to figure out how to "keep the banana industry up and running," Alpuche said. Treasury officials made clear in a 2012 phone call with Belize officials that it was up to private firms, not the U.S. government, to determine whether the solution was acceptable, he said.

Another company, Meridian Enterprise, took over management of the farms from Mayan King, Zabaneh said.

For years, the sole buyer of Belize's bananas has been Ireland-based Fyffes. The company said in a statement that the BGA had confirmed in 2012 that Zabaneh and Mayan King had resigned from the trade group, and that the farms were under new ownership not connected to Zabaneh. It continued to buy bananas from the farms for three more years.

But the blacklisting finally bit late last year when Zabaneh was quoted in local media speaking about the farms' operations. He said he was representing his mother, who, he told Reuters, owned the farms throughout the change in management.

The report publicly linking him to the farms prompted Fyffes to cut off purchases of the bananas, the company said in October 2015. It has continued to buy bananas from other farms in Belize.

"Those would have been bananas that were already ready for harvest and for shipment, so the minute he was stopped, then we lost his portion of exports," Alpuche said.

Fyffes' decision caused an instant 13.5 percent plunge in Belize's banana exports, said Mathias.

The value of banana exports dropped by $1 million in October 2015, or 20 percent compared to the prior year, according to the Belize Statistical Institute, which linked the drop that month to the closure of the farms.

Fyffes declined to comment beyond an October 2015 statement confirming it had stopped purchasing bananas from the farms, and that it had immediately cut ties with Zabaneh and his businesses following the Treasury sanctions in 2012.

Zabaneh's farms now lie dormant and overgrown with weeds, with the bananas sick with black sigatoka disease, said Alpuche, who recently visited the area. The farms used to employ about 900 workers, Alpuche said.

"It's been rendered useless," he said. "It's not in a condition where it can export any time soon."

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, editing by Stuart Grudgings)
(Repeats story with no change to text)

By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - When the United States blacklisted John Angel Zabaneh, a banana farmer and exporter in Belize, for alleged ties to a top drug lord, it did more than just sideline one local businessman from the global financial system.

The action, designed to target only Zabaneh, his alleged associates and their businesses, also dented Belize's banana exports for months from last October, throwing hundreds of people out of work and undercutting a main source of hard currency for the tiny Central American country.

Zabaneh's blacklisting shows the ripple effects that U.S. sanctions aimed at stopping illicit activity such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and human rights abuses can have on the people and industries of economically fragile countries.

Broad U.S. sanctions against entire countries have drawn criticism for impoverishing millions while doing little to hurt those at the top. But Zabaneh's case shows that even laser-targeted actions against individuals and firms -- a strategy the United States is increasingly using -- can cause collateral damage.

Belize's banana crop, which makes up a fifth of the country's exports, faces other obstacles beyond sanctions. Droughts and floods have damaged crops and a further hit is likely after Hurricane Earl swept through the tiny nation this month.

But government officials and industry executives in Belize said Zabaneh's blacklisting -- part of counter-narcotics sanctions aimed at choking off the drug trade in Latin America -- had a marked impact on the country's overall banana exports in late 2015 and early 2016 and contributed to a sharp economic contraction. [Graphic showing banana export trend: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8WA97 ]

A 42 percent drop in banana shipments in the first three months of 2016, stemming from the closure of Zabaneh's farms and the floods, helped drive a two percent drop in economic output in the first quarter, according to the Belize Statistical Institute.

Story continues

"We're a smaller banana supplier, therefore the economics are very touch and go," said Sam Mathias, general manager of the Belize Banana Growers' Association (BGA). "You reduce our annual volume by a little bit, it does make a big difference."

Zabaneh, the U.S. Treasury said, was a key associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Zabaneh denied any connection to Guzman, and said he has sent Treasury information on decades of his finances in an effort to get his name off the blacklist.

A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on the designation's impact on Belize's banana industry.

TARGETED SANCTIONS

The banana crop, exported year-round, is vital to Belize, a country the size of New Jersey with a 40 percent poverty rate. It provides thousands of jobs to migrants and Belizeans in the country's southeastern agricultural region.

The United States has increased its use of targeted economic sanctions in recent years, with officials seeing them as an alternative to more deadly options like air strikes or military raids. They also view them as preferable to the kind of broad boycotts of Cuba, Iraq, and Iran that stunted those countries' economies, experts and former officials said.

"Increasingly the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on individuals, entities, and companies that are wrongdoers as opposed to entire jurisdictions because the more surgical approach is viewed as more effective and more fair," said Adam Smith, a former senior advisor at Treasury.

Wary of hurting a major economy with broad sanctions, the United States imposed highly tailored measures on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, targeting particular transactions in the energy, defense and finance sectors.

But even those specific measures had an "outsized impact" on levels of foreign investment in the Russian economy, said Eric Lorber, a senior associate at the Financial Integrity Network, which advises banks on sanctions.

Many sanctions can lead to unintended damage, but it is relatively common in counter-narcotics designations because major players in drug trafficking often have ties to legitimate business, Smith said.

"People who rise to the level of interest with respect to the U.S. government almost by definition are substantial players," said Smith, now an attorney at Gibson Dunn in Washington. "They may be important components of a country's economy."

"RENDERED USELESS"

The blacklisting of Zabaneh in 2012 had little impact for the first three years because Zabaneh, now 61, quickly stepped away from his business, once one of the largest banana farms in Belize.

Soon after the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Zabaneh, his company Mayan King, and a handful of other people and companies, Treasury and Belize officials explored the idea of transferring the farms to another firm, said Jose Alpuche, chief executive of Belize's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The officials' aim was to figure out how to "keep the banana industry up and running," Alpuche said. Treasury officials made clear in a 2012 phone call with Belize officials that it was up to private firms, not the U.S. government, to determine whether the solution was acceptable, he said.

Another company, Meridian Enterprise, took over management of the farms from Mayan King, Zabaneh said.

For years, the sole buyer of Belize's bananas has been Ireland-based Fyffes. The company said in a statement that the BGA had confirmed in 2012 that Zabaneh and Mayan King had resigned from the trade group, and that the farms were under new ownership not connected to Zabaneh. It continued to buy bananas from the farms for three more years.

But the blacklisting finally bit late last year when Zabaneh was quoted in local media speaking about the farms' operations. He said he was representing his mother, who, he told Reuters, owned the farms throughout the change in management.

The report publicly linking him to the farms prompted Fyffes to cut off purchases of the bananas, the company said in October 2015. It has continued to buy bananas from other farms in Belize.

"Those would have been bananas that were already ready for harvest and for shipment, so the minute he was stopped, then we lost his portion of exports," Alpuche said.

Fyffes' decision caused an instant 13.5 percent plunge in Belize's banana exports, said Mathias.

The value of banana exports dropped by $1 million in October 2015, or 20 percent compared to the prior year, according to the Belize Statistical Institute, which linked the drop that month to the closure of the farms.

Fyffes declined to comment beyond an October 2015 statement confirming it had stopped purchasing bananas from the farms, and that it had immediately cut ties with Zabaneh and his businesses following the Treasury sanctions in 2012.

Zabaneh's farms now lie dormant and overgrown with weeds, with the bananas sick with black sigatoka disease, said Alpuche, who recently visited the area. The farms used to employ about 900 workers, Alpuche said.

"It's been rendered useless," he said. "It's not in a condition where it can export any time soon."

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, editing by Stuart Grudgings)
London (AFP) - The British government gave the green light Tuesday for what it called the world's biggest offshore wind farm to be built off the English coast.

The Hornsea Project Two farm should have up to 300 turbines and a capacity of up to 1.8 gigawatts. It could produce enough energy to power 1.6 million homes.

It is an extension of the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One which was in itself being trumpeted as the world's biggest offshore wind farm.

Both projects are being developed by Danish group DONG Energy, the world's largest operator of offshore wind farms.

London decided Tuesday to grant development consent for Hornsea Project Two, located around 55 miles (90 kilometres) east of the English coast.

DONG Energy made the final investment decision earlier this year on Hornsea Project One, but is yet to commit formally to funding the second wave.

British business minister Greg Clark said: "Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we're determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy.

"The UK's offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system."

If built to full capacity, the Hornsea Project Two investment would total around 6 billion ($7.8 billion, 6.9 billion euros).

The farm would create up to 1,960 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance jobs, the government said.

Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy's UK chairman, welcomed the development consent.

"Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind," he said.

The government said it expected 10GW of offshore wind to be installed by the end of the decade and a further 10GW of offshore wind capacity could be built in the 2020s.
London (AFP) - British cleric Anjem Choudary, who has long been accused of radicalising young Muslims, was facing jail on Tuesday after being convicted of encouraging support for the Islamic State jihadist group.

The 49-year-old and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, used a series of talks posted on YouTube to invite backing for the group, and pledged their allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

They were convicted of support for a proscribed terrorist organisation following a trial in London last month and remain in custody.

Legal restrictions meant the verdict could not be made public until now.

Choudary is the former head in Britain of Islam4UK or al-Muhajiroun, a now banned group co-founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad that called for Islamic law in Britain.

For two decades, the former lawyer who is of Pakistani descent, managed to stay on the right side of the law.

Judge Timothy Holroyde accused the two men of showing "a grudging compliance" to the legal system, adding: "You have made your disregard for the court abundantly plain."

Among those radicalised by Muhajiroun were the suicide bombers who killed 52 people on London's public transport system in July 2005, and the men who murdered soldier Lee Rigby in the capital in 2013, police say.

- Spreading hatred -

"These men have stayed just within the law for many years," Commander Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at London's Metropolitan Police.

"But there is no one within the counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations."

He said the oath of allegiance made in July 2014 was a "turning point", giving police the evidence they needed to prove that the men supported the Islamic State group.

Both men will be sentenced on September 6.

Choudary faces a maximum of 10 years behind bars, although judge Holroyde explained there was "very little in the way of precedent in the way of sentencing".

Story continues

The father-of-five previously hit the headlines for organising a pro-Osama bin Laden event in London in 2011, and was a member of a group that burned poppies, the symbol of remembrance for deaths in war, during an Armistice Day protest in the British capital in 2010.

The state prosecutor called it a "significant prosecution in our fight against terrorism" and said that the authorities would work with communities to ensure that the guilty men "are not replaced by others spreading hate."

"Both men were fully aware that Daesh (IS) is a proscribed terrorist group, the brutal activities they are carrying out and that what they were doing was illegal," said Sue Hemming, head of counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service.

"Terrorism can have no place in our society and those that encourage others to join such organisations will be prosecuted."
Univision has emerged as the winning bidder in the auction to buy embattled online publisher Gawker Media, bringing about the end of 14 years of independence under founder and CEO Nick Denton. The broadcast company has agreed to pay $135 million for all seven of Gawker's websites, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.

Denton confirmed the sale, which was first reported by Recode, Tuesday in a statement. "Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America's largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences," the statement reads. "I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership - disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism."

Bids were due at the end of business on Monday, with just two contenders, Ziff Davis and Univision, having made formal bids. Other companies that were said to be exploring making a bid included Penske Media, owner of Variety and Deadline, and Vox Media, which operates a portfolio of sites that include The Verge and Recode.

While the suspense has ended, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein will have to approve the sale before it is official, and a hearing currently is set for Thursday.

Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June, a month after a Florida jury ordered the publishing company to pay former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan a staggering $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy lawsuit. Gawker is appealing the ruling, but in the meantime, Hogan remains the company's largest unsecured creditor. Denton filed his own bankruptcy claim earlier this month after the court concluded he is personally responsible for $10 million in damages for his role in posting the wrestler's sex tape.

At the time of Gawker's bankruptcy filing, publisher Ziff Davis - which owns PC Magazine and IGN - put up a $90 million stalking horse bid for Gawker's assets, making it the automatic buyer if no other bidders emerged or none of the bids exceeded Ziff Davis' offer. At one point there appeared to be several potential bidders for Gawker, which owns a portfolio of sites including Jezebel and Deadspin, with chief restructuring officer William Holden testifying in July that 55 potential bidders had emerged during the auction process.

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Univision has been trying for more than a year to impress Wall Street in order to some day launch a successful initial public offering, hence its effort to beef up high-growth digital offerings that appeal to English-speaking millennials so that it is seen as something more than a media company for older-generation Hispanics. Over the last year it has acquired a growing portfolio of digital media properties including satirical news site The Onion, youth-targeted media brand Fusion and The Root targeted toward African-American audiences.

When Univision acquired The Onion, digital general manager Mark Lopez acknowledged that the company's strategy might not be immediately clear. "At a top level, these brands look unrelated," he said. "But we're looking at reaching the next generation of millennial and multicultural consumers, and the only way to do that is digitally."

At the time, Carl Salas of Moody's Investors Service commended them for looking beyond their core audience: "When you look at an IPO, you want to see a number of growth opportunities, and digital investments have higher-growth revenue streams."

Ultimately outbid by Univision, aging publishing company Ziff Davis, a subsidiary of internet company J2 Global since 2012, hoped to add the Gawker portfolio as it reinvents itself into a digital company through the ownership of websites including AskMen.com and Geek.com.

On Monday, the day before the auction was to take place, billionaire Peter Thiel, who backed Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker - over the publishing of a sex tape featuring Hogan - wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which he stated that he was "proud to have contributed financial support to his case."

Denton has painted Thiel as a billionaire bully who will lose in his attempts to silence Gawker, telling staff in a memo the brands will thrive under new ownership and continue to seek "sometimes gossipy truths."
Univision won the bidding for Gawker Media on Tuesday, agreeing to pay $135 million for the bankrupt digital publisher.

The deal ends Gawkers 14-year run as an independent company. Univision was one of only two reported bidders for the company. The other was Ziff Davis, which put in a $90 million bid in June.

A bankruptcy judge must still approve the sale. Gawker was forced to declare bankruptcy in June, after wrestler Hulk Hogan won a $140 million judgment against it in a Florida court for violating his privacy. Gawker has appealed the case, but did not have the resources to keep fighting on its own. Nick Denton, Gawkers founder, has also filed for personal bankruptcy.

Denton preferred Ziff Davis bid, and would have stayed on as a consultant had Ziff Davis succeeded in the auction. The $135 million sale price is, however, more than Denton might have expected to get for the company.

Univision has been buying up digital brands recently, including the Root and the Onion. It also launched Fusion, its own TV network and digital publisher.

Mark Patricof, the banker handling the bankruptcy auction, confirmed the deal to Recode.

The outcome exceeded our expectations. Both parties put in an awful lot of work, and Ziff Davis deserves credit for their effort, Patricof told the site. But ultimately Univision prevailed, and both sides are happy with the outcome.

In an email to CNN, Denton said that the sale ensures that Gawker will live on.

Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of Americas largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences, he told CNN. I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership  disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism.

Related stories

Story continues

Gawker Auction Elicits Bids from Ziff Davis, Univision (Report)

Copa America, Political Spend Lift Univision to Second Quarter Profits

Gawker Founder Nick Denton Files for Personal Bankruptcy
* 2nd-qtr profit $0.66 vs est. $0.56

* Sales $890.6 mln vs est. $886.4 mln

* Shares rise nearly 10 pct after hours (Adds details, analyst comment; updates shares)

By Subrat Patnaik

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters Inc reported a surprise rise in quarterly comparable sales, driven by higher demand for its namesake brand.

Shares of the company, which also posted better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit, rose nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Urban Outfitters' comparable sales rose 1 percent in the second quarter ended July 31. Analysts on average had expected comparable sales to fall 1.2 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

The Philadelphia-based retailer said comparable sales at the Urban Outfitters line, the company's second-biggest brand by sales, rose 5 percent, handily beating the 1.10 percent analysts on average had expected.

Urban Outfitters is attempting to draw back shoppers - who have shifted to online shopping and fast-fashion brands such as H&M, Inditex's Zara and Forever 21 - by adding bars, restaurants and hair salons to its stores.

"A focus on growth categories like the sporting and athleisure aesthetic, which UO has tapped into with its own active line and with brands like Adidas, have also afforded it some traction with consumers," Carter Harrison, analyst at research firm Conlumino, said.

The company's gross profit rate increased in the quarter, primarily driven by fewer promotions at the Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie brands.

The company's net income rose to $76.9 million, or 66 cents per share, from $66.8 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net sales at the company rose 2.7 percent to $890.6 million.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 56 cents per share and revenue of $886.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's shares closed unchanged at $31.24 on Tuesday. The stock had gained more than a third of its value this year.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Maju Samuel)
b61 12 nuclear gravity bomb 6 nnsa

The National Nuclear Security Administration recently authorized a life-extension program for about 480 of the US's 800 B61 nuclear gravity bombs for about $8 billion.

But as Laicie Heely of the nonpartisan Stimpson Center think tank points out, these bombs are completely irrelevant.

The B61s recently made news during Turkey's failed coup when it came to light that the US has 50 such nuclear weapons in Turkey's Incirlik Air Base. Headlines pointed out the loss of commercial power to Incirlik during the coup, the base's proximity to ISIS, and the country's over all instability as potential threats to the security of the nukes.

Even Heely remarked that from a security point of view, its a roll of the dice to continue to have approximately 50 of Americas nuclear weapons stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, just 70 miles from the Syrian border.

But as a briefing to Congress on the matter of the nukes at Incirlik points out, it's very hard to imagine these nukes falling into the wrong hands. The base was updated as recently as 2015, has two large fences, and is heavily guarded by US troops. Even if the facility was breached, the nukes themselves are 12 feet long and massively heavy and need to be dropped from an advanced bomber to be effective.

The prospect of ISIS or a renegade Turkish cell gaining possession of these nukes seems like an unimaginably slim possibility, but it doesn't matter  the US should still pull these nukes out of Turkey because they're useless and costly.

First off, the US is not allowed to land the nuclear capable planes these bombs require at Incirlik. Second, even Turkey doesn't operate planes that can carry these nukes. Third, the nukes are of an old and irrelevant design, and they should provide no comfort to anyone as a deterrent.

b 2 spirit

Story continues

General James Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote the following of the B61s in a 2012 report:

Their military utility is practically nil. They do not have assigned missions as part of any war plan and remain deployed today only for political reasons within the NATO alliance. The obligation to assure US allies in Europe ... would fall to US strategic nuclear and conventional forces, which are amply capable of fulfilling it.

In an interview with Business Insider, Heeley echoed these sentiments. The B61s are short-range and low-yield, not the type of bomb we would use in an actual conflict.

"The likely hood right is that we're going to use the big bombs, and not the little bombs," Heeley said.

B 61 nuclear bombs on rack

In the event that the US would move to use the B61s at Incirlik, a NATO ally would have to remove the bombs from Turkey, bring them to another base, and then the US could equip them onto a bomber. Such a feet of logistics would be hard to conceal from any worthy adversary.

Furthermore, the US is currently updating every leg of the nuclear triad  the ability to launch nuclear weapons from the air, land, and sea. This effort is expected to cost anywhere from $450 billion to $1 trillion, but the B61s don't need to be a part of that picture.

As they are gravity bombs, these nukes are dropped by bombers from the sky, which would require a bomber to fly over its target. In this age of advanced air defenses, gravity bombs have simply outlived their use. The Pentagon is currently developing a long-range standoff cruise missile to eliminate the need to risk bombers and crews over contested air spaces.

However much of the money in updating the US's nuclear weapons, specifically preparing them to be fixed to F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, and the coming B-21, has already been spent.

We recommend that the US forgo the procurement of B61s intended for delivery by fighter aircraft and remove the weapons from Europe immediately, the report, co-authored by Heeley states.

This would save approximately $3.7 billion from FY 2017-2021 and just over $6 billion during the lifetime of the program, resources that could be used more productively to strengthen conventional forces.

What would NATO think?

nato training

The nuclear weapons hidden across Europe during the Cold War were stashed for good reason. Though their potency as deterrents has decreased over time, they illustrate the US's commitment to NATO and stability in Europe and Turkey. To pull them out would surely ruffle feathers.

In the case of Incirlik, Heeley says there is a "very good possibility that they [Turkey] would feel slighted" by the US pulling out its nukes in a time of turmoil. Instead, Heeley and the Stimson group suggest the US should replace these useless, though symbolically important, nukes with an "additional commitment" of conventional forces.

Likewise, the Baltic nations, NATO's newest and most exposed members against Russia, would surely protest the US appearing to withdraw forces from the region. Again, the Stimson group suggests these nuclear forces should be traded in for "conventional measures we can take to bolster their confidence."

But stationing additional brigades in Europe and Turkey would be costly, and perhaps unpopular at home. According to Heeley, the costs of maintaining brigades in Europe would be slightly more than the savings that could be realized by pulling the B61s.

NATO Trident Juncture

"The money that's saved by removing the nuclear weapon could be poured into the European Assurance Initiative," said Heeley.

Further, the move away from relying on dated nuclear platforms signals a shift to a more practical tool for actual warfare, but a less meaningful deterrent. Simply put, a conventional war would be more likely to happen than a nuclear conflict because it doesn't automatically guarantee the destruction of both sides.

"From the US perspective and the Russian perspective, we would all much prefer that exchange take place using conventional forces and not nuclear forces," said Heeley.

"Both [nuclear and conventional forces] serve a deterrent purpose. If moving additional brigades, for a deterrent purpose to Russia and to reassure our allies, the cost is not significantly more than it is to rebuild this weapon."

NOW WATCH: ARMY RANGER SNIPER: Why Trump shouldn't have the nuclear codes





More From Business Insider


Washington (AFP) - The parents of seven children illegally taken from the United States to Brazil asked US Secretary of State John Kerry Monday to sanction the South American country.

The children living in Brazil were each taken from the US by a parent in violation of legal custody agreements, a situation that would require Brazil to return the children under a Hague convention that both the US and Brazil have signed.

"Our abducted children desperately need your help," the parents wrote in a letter to Kerry.

"We ask that you dramatically increase the diplomatic and economic pressure on the government of Brazil to follow its treaty obligations by employing the sanction options given to you two years ago," the parents said, requesting the US diplomatic chief apply a 2014 law allowing the US to punish countries that do not promptly return abducted children.

The law created an annual report to assess every country's history of child abductions and to require President Barack Obama to take action against nations with poor records.

Potential US measures include refusing export licenses for American technology, cutting development assistance and putting off scientific or cultural exchanges, punishments the president can waive.

Congress named the 2014 legislation the Goldman Law after Sean Goldman, whose father succeeded in bringing his son back to the United States after a five-year fight with Brazilian courts.

According to the State Department, Brazil has 13 pending cases of American children abducted for more than two years -- some for up to eight years -- but Congress has not yet applied the Goldman Law, the parents said.

"The government of Brazil has seen no evidence that our government takes the illegal abductions and detentions of United States citizens seriously," the parents wrote.

"Without any consequence for persistent non-compliance, there is no reason for the Government of Brazil to give attention to addressing our children's abductions and changing its laws to ensure that Brazil complies fully with the Hague Convention."
Washington (AFP) - The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group is tracking 100-200 jihadists after they used human shields to flee a key city in Syria, a US official said Tuesday.

IS fighters had controlled Manbij in northern Syria since early 2014, and the city had become a vital waypoint for the group as they funneled foreign fighters from the Turkish border to other parts of their self-declared caliphate.

But as it became clear that US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would re-capture the city last week, some 100-200 jihadists fled in cars and trucks, Baghdad-based coalition spokesman Colonel Chris Garver told reporters in a video call.

Unlike in Fallujah in Iraq, where local and coalition forces destroyed about 175 IS vehicles as they fled that city, the SDF outside Manbij did not open fire on outgoing cars.

"Civilians were observed in the convoy intermingled with fighters in every vehicle," Garver said.

"We have repeatedly mentioned the care that our partnered forces were taking to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage, so the partnered forces on the ground did not engage the convoy."

He said the coalition was tracking those IS fighters but declined to elaborate, saying only that they went north and split up. Parts of the Syrian border with Turkey are still controlled by IS.

"We're keeping track of them. I don't want to talk too much about that. It's an ongoing operation," Garver said.

Garver said those in the vehicles were likely a mix of IS fighters, civilian hostages and people traveling willingly with the jihadists, such as family members.

"We had to treat them all as noncombatants. We didn't shoot. We kept watching," he told reporters.

Hundreds of the civilians from the convoy were released on Saturday and others escaped.

He also noted that IS forces had apparently repeatedly tried to put civilians in harm's way during the SDF operation to free Manbij.

"They kept throwing civilians to basically walk into the line of fire, trying to get them shot, to use that potentially as propaganda, we think," he said.

The jihadists, who have suffered a string of losses in Syria and Iraq, have often staged mass abductions when they come under pressure to relinquish territory they hold.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - The "Pride of Uzbekistan" Ruslan Nurudinov said he planned to celebrate an emotional first-place finish in the men's 105kg weightlifting competition by hitting the golden sands of Rio.

Nurudinov bounced back from two years out of the sport following knee surgery to strike gold with a combined total of 431kg, beating an Olympic record along the way.

The 24-year-old raised 237kg above his head in the clean and jerk for a new Olympic record and a 14kg win over 19-year-old silver medallist Simon Martirosyan of Armenia.

"First I'm going to sleep because I'm really, really tired but then I want to go to the beach," said the charismatic Nurudinov, whose never stopped smiling throughout the contest.

"I just want to do a little bit of swimming and relax on Brazil's beaches," the Uzbek added, grinning wildly.

Nurudinov, who already had gold assured going into his final record-breaking lift, sank to his knees, roared and burst into tears as the reality of being an Olympic champion hit him.

Nurudinov, with his thick beard and shaved head, then ran a lap of the platform waving his country's flag as an adoring crowd stood and chanted "Uzbek, Uzbek, Uzbek".

His achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact that he missed two years of competitive action from 2013 to 2015 because of a recurring knee injury.

His left knee was operated on twice during his time out and Nurudinov, who finished fourth at London 2012, feared that he would never compete again.

"I want to thank the German doctors for being so awesome. I'm immensely thankful to them," he told reporters, adding that he expected a warm reception when he returned back to Uzbekistan.

The lifter is something of a celebrity back in his home country and he clearly feels that he has to have an image to match.

"I shaved my head two months back for style. It hasn't brought me good luck -- it's just an image," he explained.

Story continues

Martirosyan's silver was Armenia's first medal of the 2016 Olympics.

"Right now I'm the happiest person in the world," said Martirosyan who pledged to go one better and top the podium in Tokyo in four years' time.

Kazakhstan's Alexandr Zaichikov, who served a doping ban from 2013 to 2015, claimed bronze on 416kg.
Vanderbilt University will soon strike the word "Confederate" from the name of one of its dorms, but chipping away at history comes with a big price tag.

Per a 2005 court of appeals decision, the private college must shell out a hefty $1.2 million to the United Daughters of the Confederacy before chiseling the contentious word from Confederate Memorial Hall.

Read: Journalist Says 'Gone with the Wind' Should Go Away with the Confederate Flag'

The sum is today's equivalent of the $50,000 the Tennessee Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy paid for naming rights and to help build the residence hall back in 1933.

Vanderbilt will pay the sum with gifts from anonymous donors designated to be used specifically for this purpose. No institutional funds will be used to return the donation, the school said in a statement Monday.

"Our debates and discussions have consistently returned over these many years to the same core question: Can we continue to strive for that diverse and inclusive community where we educate the leaders that our communities, nation and world so desperately need, with this hall as so created? My view, like that of so many in the past, and so many in our present, is that we cannot," Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said.

Zeppos went on to call the name "a symbol of exclusion and a divisive contradiction of our hopes and dreams of being a truly great and inclusive university."

The school has referred to the building only as "Memorial Hall" since 2002 after Vanderbilt attempted to rename the building in honor of the American men and women who have lost their lives in armed conflicts.

However, the UDC pursued legal action to retain the original name. A Tennessee appeals court ruled three years later that Vanderbilt could remove Confederate from the inscription only if the university returned the donation to the UDC at its current value.

Story continues

Read: Warner Brothers Drops Sales of 'Dukes of Hazzard' Car With Confederate Flag

The Board of Trust authorized Zeppos earlier this summer to take action to remove the name.

The move comes a year after many Southern states saw a groundswell of sentiment in favor of removing Confederate flags and statues from public buildings.

Others have argued against such removals, saying the flag is a part of history that deserves to be preserved. The chancellor addressed those arguments in Monday's announcement.

"In removing this pediment, we are not seeking to rewrite history or to avoid the questions that should be asked of Vanderbilt and of our nation. We are realizing the truththat we have the privilege every day to teach, to learn and, indeed, to make history, Zeppos said.

Watch: Rep. Jenny Horne Makes Passionate Plea Against Confederate Flag

Related Articles:
Caracas (AFP) - A Venezuelan court sentenced three soldiers and seven civilians to two decades in prison for shipping more than a ton of cocaine to France, officials said Tuesday.

The three airport customs officers were arrested after 1.3 tons of the drug were seized in Paris in September 2013, smuggled aboard an Air France flight from Caracas.

The trio, who worked at the Maiquetia international airport, and their seven conspirators were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 22 and a half years each by a court in the northern state of Vargas, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

One of the men's wives was sentenced to 10 years for money laundering, it said.

Seventeen other defendants were acquitted, but prosecutors have appealed.

The alleged money man behind the plot, Harry Augusto Romero, is the next up for trial, after being arrested in Colombia last year and extradited to Venezuela earlier this month.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela on Tuesday sought the annulment of a World Bank arbitration award of $100 million (76.72 million pounds) to British meat producer Vestey Group, after the 2005 nationalisation of some of its farms.

In April, the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) determined that Venezuela should pay $98 million plus interest for having taken by force Vestey's ranches in the country's plains.

On Tuesday, the organisation said it had received a petition from Venezuela to annul the award and that it was temporarily on hold.

Despite leaving the organisation in 2012, Venezuela faces some 20 arbitration cases for nationalizations led by former President Hugo Chavez.

Expropriation was a key plank of the president's tenure. The country is now undergoing a major economic crisis, with many complaining of hunger and supermarket lines of hundreds of people a common sight.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Girish Gupta; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Vienna (AFP) - A giant panda on loan from China to Austria has given birth to two naturally conceived twins, an exceptionally rare event for the endangered species, Vienna's famous Schoenbrunn Zoo said Tuesday.

Measuring around 15 centimetres (six inches), the pink, hairless cubs arrived on August 7, it announced in a statement.

Initially the zoo thought mother Yang Yang had only given birth to one panda because the delivery happened inside a dark nesting box and was only observed via an infrared camera.

More than a week passed before zookeepers realised there was a second one.

"The cubs have little round bellies and panda mummy Yang Yang is very relaxed," zoologist Eveline Dungl said.

"You rarely see them because Yang Yang constantly warms them between her paws... What you can hear very clearly are their suckling and grunting noises when she feeds or licks them."

In accordance with Chinese tradition, the cubs will only be named after 100 days because up to 50 percent of newborns do not survive, Dungl explained.

But so far the siblings, which are being monitored around the clock, are doing very well, she added.

Female pandas are only fertile for a couple of days every year.

Yang Yang and her partner Long Hui, both aged 16, are already the proud parents of Fu Long, Fu Hu and Fu Bao, born in 2007, 2010 and 2013 respectively -- and all conceived naturally.

The twins are expected to have their first public outing in four months' time.

Panda fans can follow their progress via videos and updates on the zoo's website -- www.zoovienna.at
From Town & Country

When it comes to philanthropy, Warren Buffett's motto may as well be "Ask and ye shall receive." The Berkshire Hathaway CEO, who is currently thought to be the third richest person in the world, has given away millions of dollars over the past decade to people who simply asked for his help. But he doesn't do it alone.

Buffett receives thousands of letters every year from people requesting financial assistance (such is the plight of a billionaire), and according to the Boston Globe, he sends them all to his sister, Doris. She, along with a group of volunteers, determines which pleas to fund through her Sunshine Lady Foundation.

The fund has helped pay for everything from medical care, including hearing aids and tooth extractions, to children's clothing and used cars, to utilities bills and funeral services, though the fund never sends straight cash. Instead, Dorris and her volunteers buy the requested items or send payments where needed.

My brother is putting up the money, so we're sort of limitless. -Doris Buffett

In total, they've given away more than $12 million over the past ten years, making at least 250 gifts annually. And when funds get low, Buffett casually transfers over Berkshire Hathaway stock to refill the foundation's coffers.

"My brother is putting up the money, so we're sort of limitless," Buffett told the Globe. "He's told me that any time I run out of money, all I have to do is call him."

But writing in to Doris (grant applicants must submit by letter) doesn't guarantee a blank check; she is scrupulous with both fraud prevention and tough love, denying grants to people who smoke, gamble, or "accumulate debt through frivolous spending."

According to the Globe, "Her goal is to provide what she calls 'life-changing' grants to people who, for reasons beyond their control, have fallen on hard financial times."

The gifts average around $4,800, a fairly small sum, though, as one volunteer said, "When there's rent or cancer bills that have to be paid, a thousand dollars when you're in a very, very bad position in your life is like a million dollars."

For more on Doris, head over to the Boston Globe, and if you want to volunteer to help award the grants, instructions are available on the letters foundation's website.
By Joshua Schneyer RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The world champion U.S. women's water polo team won a spot in the Olympic semi-finals by overwhelming home team Brazil on Monday, prevailing 13-3 and moving a step closer to defending their London Games title. In the semi-finals on Wednesday, the U.S. women will face Hungary, who edged out Australia by winning a penalty shoot-out following an 8-8 draw. Russia's women advanced with a 12-10 win over Spain and will next face Italy, who reached the last four with a 12-7 victory over China. The United States and Italy are the only women's teams yet to lose in the tournament but it was the U.S. lineup that produced the most dominant display on Monday as they lived up to their status as gold medal favorites. After three U.S. wins in the group round, where the team beat Spain, China and Hungary, they faced their easiest game yet against Brazil. Californian Makenzie Fischer, 19, helped to lead the charge with two goals, and was one of eight U.S. players to score in the first half without reply. "Everyone is ready to step up and take a shot," Fischer said of the team. The U.S. may face a tougher opponent in their next game. Hungary came back from a 5-3 first half deficit against Australia, to even the score in the last quarter and go on to win a tense shoot-out. Hungarian center-back Orsolya Takacs, 31, said her team have ample experience playing against the United States and will be studying videotape to devise a winning strategy for the match-up. "Everybody's beatable," Takacs told reporters. "We will do everything to win." Team USA won gold at the 2012 London Games and have clinched a spot on the podium at every Games since women's water polo was added to the Olympics in 2000. The women's gold medal match is set for Friday. The men's water polo tournament resumes on Tuesday, when world champions Serbia face Spain in the quarter-finals, after a series of mostly disappointing performances in the group phase. Brazil's men's team, who won three out of five group stage matches and upset the Serbian team earlier, face a strong Croatian side. The U.S. men's team failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. Olympic water polo teams have faced some unexpected challenges in Rio. Controversy erupted over the outdoor water polo pool conditions last week after some players complained about over-chlorination that stung their eyes. But play has now moved to the indoor pool stadium that hosted Olympic swimming events, where there have been no complaints. (Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; Editing by Andrew Hay, Alison Williams and Mark Lamport-Stokes)
An unexpected matchmaker. Wendi Deng was responsible for getting Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner back together following the now-married couples brief split in 2008.

PHOTOS: Donald Trumps Most Offensive and Outrageous Quotes

According to The New Yorkers August 22 profile of the pair, Deng, now 47, invited Trump, 34, and Kushner, 35, on her and then-husband Rupert Murdochs yacht in an attempt to reconcile their broken relationship. However, Deng didnt alert the real estate heirs that she had invited both of them.

After Trump and Kushner broke up over their religious differences (Kushner is Jewish and Trump was Presbyterian at the time), Deng called Kushner (publisher of The New York Observer) and said, Youre working so hard. Come with Rupert and me on the boat for the weekend, according to The New Yorker.



PHOTOS: Celebrity CEOs: Stars Who Run Their Own Business Empires

Once Kushner arrived, he reportedly found that Trump had also been invited on the familys boat.

Things apparently went well, as the couple tied the knot in a traditional Jewish ceremony in October 2009. Prior to the wedding, Trump underwent a rigorous process to convert to Judaism, which included extensive study of the Torah, the laws of Judaism and a deep commitment to religious observance, The New Yorker reports.

Trump and Kushner now have three children, Arabella, 5, Joseph, 2, and Theodore, 4 months.

PHOTOS: Donald Trumps Former Flames

As previously reported, the former Apprentice boardroom judge  who is the daughter of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana Trump  and Deng recently went on a trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where the pals went sightseeing together.

Us Weekly exclusively revealed in March that Deng is now dating Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Related:

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In 2006, a 16-year-old high school sophomore received a life sentence for his alleged role in the murder of 25-year-old Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach. Last week, a federal judge reversed Brendan Dassey's conviction, leaving the state three months to appeal before the 26-year-old is freed. For PEOPLE's in-depth look at the case, pick up this week's issue on newsstands Friday or subscribe now.



Legal experts familiar with Brendan Dassey's case tell PEOPLE the 26-year-old  who, along with his uncle, Steven Avery, was the focus of Netflix's Making a Murderer docuseries  will likely remain in prison for at least the next year, even though a federal judge overturned his 2006 murder conviction last week.



Wisconsin's attorney general will probably appeal last week's ruling, according to three attorneys PEOPLE consulted.



"I think the attorney general of Wisconsin will appeal Friday's decision because the supreme court of Wisconsin affirmed the verdict with pretty much the same facts in front of it," explains Joe Friedberg, a Minnesota defense attorney who was not involved in the case but is familiar with Dassey's case. "I think the attorney general will feel compelled to defend the supreme court's decision."



Because the wheels of justice tend to churn at a sluggish pace, Friedberg anticipates Dassey will remain a resident of Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, for the next three years.



"If they appeal to the seventh circuit, my recollection is the seventh circuit is overwhelmed with cases, so it would take a long time for their decision to come out," Friedberg says.



Erica Suter, an appellate and post-conviction relief attorney based in Washington, D.C., also thinks last week's opinion will be appealed, but says she'd "be shocked if it is reversed. I felt like it was a very reasoned decision that should stand."



Suter thinks any appeal would merely delay Dassey's inevitable release, and claims the state "doesn't have much of a case" against him.



To read more about the latest in Brendan Dassey's case, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.



"We are really kind of in an interesting era, where the media attention coming to these cases gives defendants more traction and more of an opportunity to actually be heard," Suter says. "The state is getting that same degree of scrutiny. I would not be surprised if it took another year or two to wind its way through the system if there's an appeal."



Julius Kim, who had worked as an assistant district attorney in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County, tells PEOPLE he'd be surprised if the state didn't file an appeal. Prosecutors want to preserve the convictions they win, he says.



"If the appellate court rules in their favor, then the conviction stands," Kim explains. "That would be the easiest way to handle this. Why go through the hassle, the cost, and the risk of trying this case again? The court of appeals could reverse the federal judge's decision."



 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.



Kim claims "the underlying charges coupled with the high-profile nature of this case" make it ripe for appeal.



"I think the AG's office will do everything it can to preserve the conviction, because if they don't appeal, it could be viewed as a silent confession that they did something wrong to secure the conviction in the first place," he said.



In all likelihood, Kim says the state will appeal, and could even move to retry Dassey. "In the end, if they wanted to pursue the case, they could always offer Dassey a last-minute deal," Kim explains. "I think it is possible that they'll offer him a deal he couldn't refuse, like time served in exchange for a conviction."
Solar company JA Solar Holdings Company Ltd. JASO is set to release second-quarter results before the opening bell on Aug 17. Last quarter, the company delivered a positive 63.64% earnings surprise. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.



Factors at Play



JA Solar caters to a geographically diversified pan-continental customer base, spanning across Germany, Italy, the U.S., Spain, India, Korea, China and Japan. The companys focus on widening its geographical customer base has resulted in incremental international sales. It is particularly focused on expanding its market share in the emerging markets, particularly in India and the Americas.



The company expects to ship 1.41.5 gigawatts (GW) of cells and modules in the second quarter. The company anticipates module shipment of about 100 MW to its downstream projects. It expects demand to remain strong in China in the first half of 2016.



However, besides anti-dumping policies in the U.S. and Europe, JA Solar has to face cut-throat competition from its domestic peers. The fierce competition between Chinese solar companies often leaves them with a feeble margin.



The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the companys revenues is pegged at $689 million for the second quarter. This reflects an almost 57.7% increase on a year-over-year basis. Meanwhile, our estimate for the bottom line stands at 59 cents, reflecting 118.5% growth.

JA SOLAR HOLDGS Price and EPS Surprise

JA SOLAR HOLDGS Price and EPS Surprise | JA SOLAR HOLDGS Quote

Earnings Whispers



Our proven model does not conclusively show that JA Solar 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. But that is not the case here, as you will see below.



Zacks ESP: JA Solar has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 59 cents.



Zacks Rank: JA Solar carries a Zacks Rank #3, which when combined with a 0.00% ESP, makes 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.



Peer Releases



SolarCity Corp. SCTY, the largest U.S. rooftop solar installer, posted adjusted loss of $2.32 per share in the second quarter of 2016, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.43. However, the figure was much wider than the year-ago loss of $1.61. The wider loss can be attributed to the companys rising expenses.



First Solar Inc. FSLR reported second-quarter 2016 earnings of 87 cents a share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents by 50%. The reported number also surged 67.3% from the prior-year figure of 52 cents per share on the back of higher sales and gross profits.



SunPower Corp. SPWR reported second-quarter 2016 adjusted loss of 33 cents per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 31 cents by 6.5%. In the year-ago quarter, the company had reported earnings of 9 cents.



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



JA SOLAR HOLDGS (JASO): Free Stock Analysis Report



FIRST SOLAR INC (FSLR): Free Stock Analysis Report



SOLARCITY CORP (SCTY): Free Stock Analysis Report



SUNPOWER CORP-A (SPWR): Free Stock Analysis Report



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From Popular Mechanics

A federal board's Thursday decision to rename Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak surprised South Dakota's governor, but vindicated activists who unsuccessfully argued to state officials last year that the peak shouldn't bear the name of a man whose soldiers killed Native Americans.

The decision by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names will cause "unnecessary expense and confusion," Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Thursday in a statement. The governor said he's heard little support for renaming the peak, which is South Dakota's tallest and stands in the Black Hills National Forest.

"I suspect very few people know the history of either Harney or Black Elk," Daugaard said in a statement.

Black Elk was a Lakota spiritual leader who died in the mid-20th century.

"He's definitely a very powerful visionary that is at least deserving of the peak's name," said Wayne Frederick, a representative on the tribal council of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in southern South Dakota. "It's extremely uplifting."

Frederick said he was in a council meeting all day, and when he learned of the change, he passed his phone around to several representatives near him. "They were in disbelief," he said.

The federal board determined from the input received that Harney Peak was concerning to Native Americans in the area, said Lou Yost, the board's executive secretary for domestic names. The vote was 12 in favor, none against and one abstaining, he said.

"In this case, the board felt that the name was derogatory or offensive being that it was on a holy site of the Native Americans," Yost said, adding that the change applies to federal usage on new maps or other products.

Army Gen. William S. Harney's men massacred Native American women and children during a battle in September 1855, according to historic records.

Some people last year argued to the state's Board on Geographic Names that Harney Peak was offensive and should be changed, but the board decided against backing a new name. Members of Daugaard's administration opposed efforts to have the name changed, and state lawmakers eventually approved a law in 2016 that limited the board's autonomy.

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Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune said in a statement that the federal board's "unilateral" decision is upsetting and "defies logic" since it goes against state officials' recommendations.

Basil Brave Heart, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, proposed the change to Black Elk Peak. Brave Heart didn't answer a telephone call for comment Thursday.

"I don't want to see a peak that's named after someone that violated women and children," Brave Heart said in 2015. "Our people had to live under that icon, that man who did that to our people."

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A new video allegedly showing a fight between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard could have a major impact on the estranged couple's upcoming divorce battle, according to a legal expert.



The video, which was obtained by TMZ, apparently shows the 53-year-old actor throwing a wine bottle and a glass in a kitchen. It was reportedly filmed months before the 30-year-old actress was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Depp and filed for divorce. Heard denied releasing the tape in a statement to PEOPLE but otherwise both sides have declined to comment.



While the video could have serious ramifications in court, L.A. family law expert Steve Mindel tells PEOPLE, "The first question is whether or not it can be authenticated."



According to TMZ, Heard recorded the video herself but sources close to Depp say the leaked footage is "heavily edited." Though the portion leaked is a steady shot without any cuts, there allegedly are portions of the tape where Heard can be "seen smiling and egging him on," the website claims.



"Because video can be manipulated, the court needs to decide if it's authentic," Mindel continues. "So whoever shot the video, allegedly Heard in this case, has to be able to explain how they shot it and all the little things that have been done to it since. There's a lot you can do to change the video, some people still don't believe we landed on the moon."



If the video is determined to be authentic, "then the second second step is to sort out privacy issues. We have a right to privacy but not in public spaces. So if you're inside your house, you have the right to privacy. But if you're on the street yelling at your wife or husband, that probably isn't protected."



Because the State of California requires all-party consent when recording conversations, the court will also need to determine if Depp was aware he was being recorded and consented to continue the conversation anyway. In the video, it appears Depp does not realize he's being filmed until the end of the recording, when he seems to notice Heard's camera and says, "Oh you got this going? Oh reallya" before the video abruptly ends.



"If it was being recorded on something like a hidden camera or nanny cam, that could be inadmissible," says Mindel. However, the court might decide otherwise because it seems Heard was holding her camera phone in plain site.





RELATED VIDEO: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Divorce Cover Story



Mindel says he's "tried many court cases where video evidence was thrown out because it was found to be heavily edited." But in those situations, the lawyer says often times each side will be allowed to show still frames from the video in question. "Even if the full video doesn't get in, the still frames are likely still admissible," he explains. "It's the same thing as taking a picture: You donat have to show every single picture you have on your camera, so you can also pick and choose which frames of the video you want to show."



But whether it's still frames or video, any evidence showing Depp's alleged temper could be detrimental to his case. "Strategically, any time you're angry or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that doesn't play well to you, it just helps her credibility," says Mindel.



"She's trying to show an angry side to him that people don't usually see," he adds. "So if she can say, 'Your honor, you haven't seen his angry face like I have,' and then she can point to these tapes or frames and show the court his angry face  especially if he's really angry in an uncontrolled way  then that's not good for Depp.



"So having a video that verifies something you've been saying to the court can be really persuasive to a judge," adds Mindel. "[Depp] would have to be very concerned about any video tapes. Not to mention just that these could be very harmful to his reputation."



It remains unclear if the tape is one of the many recordings Heard plans to submit as evidence in court in her ongoing divorce battle with Depp.
Compensation is sometimes a taboo topic between employers and employees. Its one of the main motivations for employees at work, yet nobody talks about it. But keeping conversations on pay closed has created an alarming gap in perception, PayScale's 2016 Compensation Best Practices Report found.

Among nearly 7,600 business leaders surveyed in the U.S. and Canada 73 percent said their employees are fairly compensated -- but just 36 percent of employees agreed.

If employees dont consider their pay fair, chances are they may be dissatisfied, disengaged, and looking for greener pastures. Its time to open a dialogue about compensation. Heres how:

Adopt a transparent policy.

A major reason employees may think theyre paid unfairly is because they dont know what fair pay for their job looks like. In fact, an April 2016 Glassdoor survey found that nearly 70 percent of the 8,254 employees surveyed globally wish they had a better understanding of what fair pay is for their position and skill set at their company and in their local market.

Related: Money Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Motivate Employees

But even when employees know the industry standard, they still want to know how their pay is determined within the company -- its critical to satisfaction. After all, the same PayScale survey revealed that 82 percent of employees would be satisfied with below-market pay, as long as the employer was transparent about the reasons.

Open up conversations about compensation by embracing transparency. Build a communication plan that trains managers how to speak with employees about their salaries. Explain to employees the reasoning behind their salaries, bonus structures and more. The more information shared, the better.

Companies like Buffer, an application used for social media management, even share employees salaries, pricing models, revenue information, and fundraising processes with the company -- and the outside world.

While every employer doesnt need to be that transparent, some openness is still necessary. Instead of shrouding salary in secrecy, address it upfront with both candidates and current employees.

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Provide ongoing feedback.

Performance evaluations are often the determining factor for pay raises and bonuses, but the system is flawed. They typically only happen once a year, and employees arent give much of a chance to participate in the conversation. In fact, a March 2016 survey of 100 employees from TINYpulse found that 12 percent feel evaluations are one-way conversations.

Related: 5 Tips for Developing a Winning Employee Incentive System

That means employees dont have many opportunities to even discuss their pay with their managers. As part of a transparent culture, employers need to encourage open dialogues about performance, which will then impact compensation rates.

These should be two-way conversations, where employees self-assess, share their perspective on management, outline an action plan that helps build their strengths, and set goals for themselves. Management should also outline new expectations and empower employees to set goals that align with their role and with the larger scale company-wide goals.

This way, employees are involved in the process and feel like they have a voice in the compensation conversation.

Find a fitting strategy.

Strategies for determining and managing pay and benefits shouldnt be one-size-fits-all -- they should fit the company culture and employee needs. The main goals should be to motivate current employees to continue to grow and to attract new hires.

Start with a budget allocation to determine how money will be spent on benefits and other incentives. Define salary ranges that are competitive. Research the local area and industry and benchmark similar roles to create a pay structure. Plan to perform routine salary audits to ensure the ranges offered remain competitive as the industry changes.

Related: 4 Things Leaders Aren't Doing But Should to Increase Employee Satisfaction

Then, use data to determine bonuses and pay raises. Performance metrics are crucial because they provide concrete evidence on how employers and employees are performing their daily job duties. With powerful, insightful analytics, companies can establish a compensation strategy that works best for them.

Performance management platforms help employers find compensation strategies that improve employee engagement and productivity so annual goals are hit.
You sense that you're not well, despite showing no obvious signs or symptoms of illness. You just know something is wrong. After going to your doctor, who orders some basic bloodwork, you get the all clear; tests have turned up nothing wrong. You should be relieved -- but you just can't shake the feeling that something is amiss with your health.

"People are getting subtle messages all the time as to their state of well-being," says Dr. Larry Burk, a consulting associate professor of radiology at Duke University School of Medicine and musculoskeletal radiologist at Duke University Hospital. Experts say there's reason not to simply shrug off that nagging hunch. Research indicates that self-reported health -- how you say you feel -- can reliably predict that someone is going to get sick, including forecasting a person's long-term health and mortality risk, even when medical tests fall short.

However, because it can be difficult to understand how a vague feeling could indicate a health concern or predict a more serious illness down the road, it often gets ignored. Seeking evidence to better illustrate this link, researchers at Rice University in Houston conducted a study published last month in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology that found poor self-reported health was associated with higher levels of reactivation of latent herpesviruses (think cold sores) and inflammation. That's important because higher levels inflammation may be linked with health issues ranging from heart disease and stroke to Alzheimer's disease.

[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore.]

Kyle W. Murdock, a postdoctoral research fellow at Rice University who led the research with Christopher Fagundes, a Rice assistant professor of psychology, compares having high inflammation, which may leave someone feeling like they have a lack of energy and generally fatigued, to feeling a cold coming on -- but without obvious outward symptoms. "You can tell something's going on. But in this case it's a little bit different, because you don't have a cough or a runny nose or something like that -- those tell-tale signs of sickness," he says.

While researchers were testing specifically for herpesvirus activity, they noted that given the amount of time testing for this and inflammation take and the difficulty involved, it's unlikely a primary care provider would check for these issues. Nor do experts advocate that doctors run more tests, as a matter of course, given concerns about overtesting -- and the potential harms that can cause. Rather, clinicians say, it's about striking a balance between taking advantage of advances in modern medicine and paying attention to what the body's trying to communicate. "Use technology to your best advantage, and trust your hunches," Burk says.

For some, the moments of clarity come when all the lights are out. Burk published a small pilot study last year in the journal Explore surveying 18 women from around the world who had dreams that they had breast cancer -- before they were diagnosed with the disease. "They went into the hospital, got it checked out [and] sure enough they did -- and they had no symptoms," he says. Burk stumbled across the research focus after three of his friends reported they'd had dreams about having breast cancer before it was diagnosed. One of those friends, he says, whose doctor dismissed the dream and didn't order a mammogram, was later diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and died from the disease. He adds that some of the women who dreamed they had breast cancer, including another friend who was treated successfully, were able to point out precisely where the tumors were located in their breasts before they'd been biopsied (and without being able to feel a lump).

[See: A Tour of Mammographic Screenings During Your Life.]

Burk says there have also been reports of people having "warning dreams" about other types of cancers, from brain tumors to colon cancer, though he notes there's only scant information available. As to what might explain the dreams, he theorizes it could be anything from a person being in denial about something that's wrong with him or her and having that revelation come out in a dream to some sort of physiological signaling or intuitive process that's not yet understood.

Difficult though dreams or even a gut instinct may be to explain, when a person intuits a problem with his or her health, experts say, it's important not ignore it.

Dr. Salvatore Mangione, a pulmonologist and associate professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College in Philadelphia, says what's needed is measured collaboration between patient and doctor -- starting with the doctor listening intently to the patient. Despite advances in technology, he says the bulk of information used to diagnose patients still comes from what a patient shares, including his or her symptoms and health history, with tests only providing a relative sliver of the picture. "When the patient says something is wrong, they tend to be right," Mangione says. But he says that the difficult art of making a diagnosis is made harder by the fast pace of medicine and an overreliance on testing. Both can interrupt or shorten the all-important time doctors spend talking with patients. "[A patient's] interaction with a physician rarely goes beyond 10 minutes in follow-up -- a little longer in a primary visit," he says.

The happy medium, experts agree, is a dialogue in which a physician isn't dismissive of patient concerns -- even when tests don't bear those out -- and patients are, well, patient with the process in pursuing those concerns. In some cases, doctors find themselves in sticky situations, such as when a patient exhibits hypochondria or somatic symptom disorder, characterized by excessive or unrealistic worries about his or her health. More often, though, the dilemma patients and their doctors face is determining how far to go to find out what's the matter, particularly if it means running lots of tests.

[See: 10 Questions Doctors Wish Their Patients Would Ask.]

That's all the more reason patients should look for a physician who is a skilled diagnostician, Mangione says, and weigh the risks against the potential benefits for any tests run. Adds Burk: "If you get subtle warning symptoms, if it's a symptom, if it's a nagging feeling, if it's a dream, that is your body's screening technology, and it's telling you something that needs to be checked out."

Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com.
With disadvantaged people of various stripes backing Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders this year, is there any doubt that the United States have-nots have been wrung out by inequality?

The numbers seem to corroborate the tough-and-getting-tougher narrative: average real income up by 38 percent since 1989 for the top 5 percent of US households, while growing just 10 percent for the bottom 95 percent; the less wealthy half of Americans own a piddling 1 percent of the countrys total net wealth.

The numbers dont liebut they do overstate the problem, says Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University.

Related: Heres Why Income Inequality Is Grossly Exaggerated

In a recent paper posted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, he and coauthors Alan Auerbach of UC Berkeley and Darryl Koehler of Economic Security Planning say that for all their importance, inequality studies producing those numbers fail an important test: none measures inequality in living standards, which should be the ultimate concern when assessing economic fairness.

If you look at the effects of government fiscal policytaxes that people pay, especially the rich, and transfer payments (such as public assistance, Social Security, and Medicare) they receive, especially the needythose have a dramatic effect on lessening inequality in a key area: expected future lifetime spending by households, Kotlikoff argues.

The distribution of remaining lifetime spending, while still highly unequal, is considerably more equal then either net wealth or current income, the study says. For example, the top 1 percent of 40-49 year-olds ranked by resources account for 18.9 percent of total cohort net wealth and 13.4 percent of total cohort current income, but only 9.2 percent ofremaining lifetime spending.

The fifth of the population in that age group with the fewest resources has only 2 percent of net wealth and less than 5 percent of incomebut it accounts for 7 percent of total spending, the study says.

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Related: Why the Public Has Stopped Paying Attention to Economists

He spoke with university writer Rich Barlow about his study, which informs more than just his scholarship: he recently announced his write-in candidacy in this falls presidential election.

Q. How did you calculate expected future lifetime spending?

A. We infer that from two things. One is a survey from the Federal Reserve, the Survey of Consumer Finances, where they asked households about their wealth, their labor income, their 401(k)s. And then we infer what their future earnings are going to be based on another database, the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Census Bureaus measure of the US labor force, earnings, and education. So we look at trends in how wages grow over the life cycle. In the Survey of Consumer Finances, we start with about 6,500 households, including poor and super-rich people. The CPS is a bigger survey.

Then we have the software I developed [ESPlanner] that we augmented to do the study. It gives you a life cycle plan for how much you spend every year so that you dont run out.

Q. Why is lifetime spending a better gauge of living standards?

A. Ultimately, what were trying to do is compare peoples happiness, their well-being. If I told you that everything that you are going to experience in the future is going to be very bleakthat youre going to get to consume nothing, no clothes, no house, no car, starting an hour from nowyoure going to be very, very, very unhappy. To say that we should gauge your happiness just by your consumption right this instant, as opposed to taking all your future into accountthats just myopic.

Related: How Much Money It Takes to Be in the Top 1% In Every State

Q. How confident are you in your guesses about the future?

A. Were assuming that the current fiscal provisions will lastthe whole IRS code, state income taxes, food stamps, Medicaid. The current fiscal system is not a guess; you know what it is. To start things off, you need to have some assumptions. Along any life path that you experience, youre going to end up spending every penny that you have in resources. And that may be in the form of bequests.

What can we expect lifetime spending to be for this household, on average, and how does that compare with this other household? Some people might be living hand-to-mouth now because theyve got a lot of expenses, like kids at home or in college, or theyve got a big mortgage. But the program knows that at some point theyre going to be out from under that and spend more on themselves.

Q. What if theyre hand-to-mouth now because theyre, say, low-skilled, without prospects for improving their income?

A. If theyre going to be poor for the rest of their life, the program is imputing their earnings to be similar to what they are now.

Were trying to match up statistically people that have certain characteristics: sex, age, race. We have their current earnings; we go to the CPS and look at the wage growth of people with those characteristics. We apply that growth rate to the data. I think its the best that can be done, given that the future is uncertain.

Related: Why Clintons Plan to Boost Worker Pay Is Doomed to Fail

Q. A lot of people in your profession have said that economic mobility has eroded in this country, that people are not graduating to higher economic classes.

A. The CPS data were using for imputing wages goes back to 1968, so were talking about 45 years of data. The fact that wages havent grown in real terms is imbedded in those data. So when we project forward, were taking into account this slow growth in wages.

Q. This paper doesnt have a list of policy prescriptions?

A. No. Were happy to analyze them. Were in the process of doing them, and we will be getting a handle on what you can do to raise work incentives and lower marginal tax rates, but still maintain progressivity. I think were going to analyze replacing the income tax as well as replacing the payroll tax with a consumption tax, which taxes spending, but exempts savings and investment.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A wildfire that spread into a small Northern California town over the weekend has destroyed more than 175 homes and businesses, authorities said on Monday, as crews fought to save more dwellings from the flames. The Clayton fire, named for the creek near where it broke out, was driven by fierce winds into the foothill community of Lower Lake, 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco, forcing hundreds of residents to flee. That fire broke out on Saturday evening. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Monday afternoon that more than 175 structures had been destroyed by the fire and that 1,500 others were threatened. There were no reports of casualties. Lake County sheriffs deputies were investigating burned-out structures. The nearby community of Clear Lake was also evacuated. As winds abated on Sunday evening, crews made progress cutting containment lines around the flames and putting out hot spots, said Daniel Berlant of the California forestry department. "As temperatures heat back up again today, it's likely fire conditions will increase." "We've got over 1,600 firefighters ready to go to battle again when that happens." The cause of the Clayton fire, which had blackened about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) by late Monday afternoon, was under investigation. Fire managers said the blaze grew during the day, but remained about 5 percent contained. The conflagration is one of 24 major wildfires burning across the drought-parched U.S. West, which all together have charred nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares). The so-called Chimney fire, which erupted on Saturday afternoon in San Luis Obispo County, had scorched more than 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares) in less than 48 hours, destroying 20 structures and threatening some 150 others as hundreds of residents were told to evacuate. That blaze, which broke out near Chimney Rock Road, was only 10 percent contained as of Monday morning. Monday afternoon, California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, declared states of emergency for both the Chimney Fire and the Clayton Fire, which allows local authorities to receive help from emergency response agencies throughout the state. The Soberanes fire, one of the largest so far this season, has burned through more than 72,000 acres (29,100 hectares) near scenic Big Sur, destroying 57 homes and 11 outbuildings since it broke out on July 22. It was 60 percent contained as of Monday. A bulldozer operator died on July 26 when his tractor rolled over as he helped property owners battle the flames, the sixth wildfire fatality in California this year. Authorities have traced the Soberanes fire to an illegal campfire left unattended in a state park. (Additional reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif.; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Peter Cooney and Bernard Orr)
Celebrity

Wire actor Wendell Pierce loses second Louisiana home in flooding

The Wire and Treme actor Wendell Pierces home was destroyed by flooding in Baton Rouge, La., 11 years after his childhood home was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The 52-year-old Louisiana native revealed the news Sunday on Twitter. He says the response to his loss reminded him of the generosity given to my family during Katrina. Pierces parents home was damaged when Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Pierce, whose credits also include Confirmation and The Odd Couple, later tweeted phone numbers for the American Red Cross and Baton Rouge Food Bank.

I dont know what Im going to do. I just lost everything. Pierce told TMZ in a video posted Monday

Louisiana faced epic flooding, with seven people killed and thousands evacuated to emergency shelters after waterways in the southern part of the state overflowed their banks. Some areas have received more than 20 inches of rain since late Thursday, submerging vast swaths of southern Louisiana in muddy waters.
A woman in Burlington, Washington, was taken off her feet by her own car on August 9 after attempting to close its gas cap while waiting at a red light. After stopping at the junction, the woman left the car then noticed it was still moving. Unfortunately, her attempt to grab hold of the steering wheel resulted in the wheels colliding with her feet, sending her to the ground while the car freewheeled into the junction.

In an interview with KOMO News, the dash cam owner, David Alger, said that the woman told her she was fine when he offered to help. Credit: YouTube/KD Aerials
Riyadh (AFP) - The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen accused the militants on Tuesday of using peace negotiations to rearm, after an escalation of fighting following the talks' suspension.

"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting. They don't have any political agenda," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri, the coalition's spokesman, told AFP.

He said the coalition, which launched strikes against the Shiite Huthi rebels in March last year, would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.

Coalition warplanes resumed major strikes around the rebel-held capital Sanaa last week following the collapse of the talks in Kuwait after three fruitless months of negotiations.

Since then bombing has continued, with the coalition accused of deadly strikes on a school and a hospital over the last four days.

The coalition says the suspension of the talks followed increased ceasefire violations by the rebels, who are allied to forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Assiri said the rebels had violated the ceasefire -- which was in conjunction with the UN-brokered talks -- "since day one", Assiri said.

As a result, the coalition was forced to provide "reactive" air support to Yemeni troops while the talks continued, he said.

Now that heavier bombardments have resumed, the coalition aims to support Yemen's government to regain control of the country as well as to protect Saudi borders, Assiri said.

Days before the suspension of peace talks on August 6, 12 Saudi soldiers were killed in border clashes during the most serious fighting in months along the frontier.

Last week, the coalition said it intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia.

Intensified rebel shelling also killed two civilians on the Saudi side of the border, after months of relative calm.

Story continues

Questioned over what has been accomplished by almost 18 months of fighting, Assiri said the rebels are weaker than they were in March last year when coalition operations began.

But the "smuggling (of) weapons to Yemen does not stop," he said, despite a coalition blockade of the territory.

Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supporting the Huthis.

Saudi military operations in Yemen come as the kingdom battles a projected $87-billion (80-billion-euro) deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed over the past two years.

Asked how long the coalition can sustain the operation, Assiri said that the operation was "for national security, for (the) stability of the region".

"It takes whatever it takes," he said.

The Huthis overran the capital in late 2014 before moving into other parts of Yemen.
By Gina Cherelus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York City man appeared in court on Tuesday and denied charges he shot and killed a Muslim cleric and his assistant on a street in the borough of Queens over the weekend.

Oscar Morel, 35, faces up to life in prison without parole if he is convicted of killing Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, in a brazen daylight attack on Saturday that horrified the neighborhood's Bangladeshi community.

Morel, who was shackled at the hands and feet and wore a tan button-down shirt with black pants, was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court on one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

"It's the most horrendous and despicable act that can only be described as a cold-blooded and premeditated assassination," prosecutor Peter McCormack told the court as relatives of the victims looked on.

"The defendant ran up behind both of them and pumped numerous bullets into them striking them both in the head ... leaving them lying in the street mortally wounded," he said.

Authorities said on Tuesday that the suspect's motive remained unclear, and the possibility it was a hate crime was one theory being explored.

Morel, from the borough of Brooklyn, appeared calm and spoke little during his brief appearance. He agreed that surveillance video showed him at the scene of the murders earlier on Saturday, but denied being the killer.

Judge Karen Gopee set his next court date for Thursday, when an attorney will be assigned to represent him.

Speaking to reporters at the court, Uddin's brother, Mashuk Uddin, said the families of both victims were devastated.

"Everybody is very upset," Uddin said, adding that he believes it was a hate crime. "These two people here being killed at one time? What's the reason? There's only one reason (and) that's the hate crime."

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Outside court, several relatives of the dead men as well as friends and locals held signs reading "We demand justice."

SUSPECT CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Robert Boyce, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, told a news conference on Monday that surveillance video showed the suspect getting into a black sport utility vehicle after the shootings.

That vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run three miles (5 km) away in Brooklyn shortly afterward. After officers located the SUV, the suspect rammed a detective's car several times in an attempt to escape, but was arrested, Boyce said.

He said the suspect is believed to have worked at a warehouse in Brooklyn.

Citing unnamed police sources, the New York Times, the New York Daily News and other outlets reported on Tuesday that detectives who searched Morel's basement apartment in Brooklyn found an unlicensed revolver hidden in a wall that authorities believe he used in the execution-style killings.

Police also found clothes in his apartment that matched what the gunman had been wearing, according to the media reports.

Police confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that a .38 caliber Taurus revolver was recovered in connection with the investigation, but did not say where the firearm was found.

Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head at close range after leaving Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.

Addressing hundreds of mourners at the two men's funeral on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood.

A father of seven, Akonjee emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh several years ago, said Badrul Khan, the founder of the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque. He described the slain imam as a humble man who lived and breathed his religious faith.

"His whole life was his job, praying here, then going home," Khan said.

(Additional reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Daniel Wallis in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)
New York (AFP) - The city of New York has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the family of an unarmed black father of one, who was shot dead by a police officer.

Akai Gurley, 28, was shot in a darkened stairwell of a public housing building in November 2014 after taking the stairs when the elevator took too long to arrive in the poorly maintained apartment block.

He was killed by a police bullet that ricocheted off the wall.

Gurley's death, as with those of other unarmed black men at the hands of police, sparked nationwide protests and debate about police tactics and allegations of institutional racism.

The total settlement comes to more than $4.5 million, with $4.1 million payable by the city, $400,000 by the housing authority and $25,000 by the officer who shot Gurley, a lawyer for the family told AFP.

Peter Liang, who had been on the force just months, was found guilty of manslaughter by jury in February and sacked from the police.

In April, a judge downgraded his conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced him to five years probation and 800 hours community service.

Gurley's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in May 2015.

The settlement was reached on Monday afternoon in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's four-year-old daughter, is pleased with the results, her lawyer Scott Rynecki said.

"She wants to be able to move on with her life and she now hopes she can raise the child to be someone Akai would be proud of," he told AFP.

The funds will be held in a trust for Gurley's daughter, although her mother, a home health aide, can request monthly payments to help bring her up, he said.
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f17828%2faeac70d25bf240e3a194742fbf0e2290

Every New Yorker has seen the ads featuring subway supermodel Gregg Turkin, his face beaming with pride, captioned by the story of when he called the MTA's hotline to report some mysterious cars.

One New Yorker saw something and snapped something when he came across Turkin himself dozing on the train, right next to his ad.

SEE ALSO: Fit grandpa offered a subway seat turns it down with gymnastics

The amazing Snapchat was taken on the Long Island Railroad by Mike Giannone and shared on Twitter by RyGia7.

The campaign features photos of real New Yorkers (although Turkin lives on Long Island so him counting as a New Yorker is debatable) who reported something suspicious on their commute.

Because the models are real MTA users, it shouldn't be a surprise that Turkin actually rides the Long Island Railroad. But something about him sitting next to his ad and napping is absolutely perfect.

Incase that video doesn't give you enough of an idea about how influential Gregg T. is to NYC's subway riders, enjoy the parody Twitter someone made for him.
Lusaka (AFP) - Zambian police said Tuesday they had arrested 150 opposition activists over protests that erupted after President Edgar Lungu was declared the winner of a highly-contested vote.

Supporters of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took to the streets in Southern Province after the election results were released Monday, blockading roads with logs and burning tyres.

"The people of Southern Province were very sure that Hichilema was going to win... and this sparked riots... resulting in the arrest of 150 people," the province's police commissioner Godwin Phiri in a statement.

Hichilema, who heads the United Party for National Development (UPND), has rejected Thursday's poll as rigged and the party said it would formally challenge the result.

The 54-year-old self-made businessman hails from the south and enjoys widespread support in the region.

Hichilema, who was making his fifth bid for the presidency, claimed there were clear signs of fraud and vote rigging over the four days it took to release the results.

The poll results put Lungu narrowly ahead with 50.35 percent of the vote against 47.63 percent for Hichilema, a difference of about 100,000 votes.

The outbreak of violence prompted Lungu to call for calm, telling supporters his swearing-in would be delayed due to the rejection of the results by the opposition.

"I am appealing to you to be peaceful," Lungu told supporters at a rally to thank them for delivering him victory.

- Swearing-in delayed -

"We have a bit of time before I am sworn in, because I hear some people have gone to court."

"This is not to say the election was fraud," he added.

"By going to court they cannot frustrate the will of the people. I'm sure Zambians are very magnanimous. They will wait for the judicial process to be exhausted until their president is sworn in."

Police said calm had been restored in the southern towns but that protesters had indicated they would continue demonstrating.

Story continues

In the capital Lusaka, police decked in riot gear maintained a heavy presence in the streets but no violence was reported.

The run-up to the poll was tense, with clashes between Lungu's Patriotic Front and UPND supporters leaving at least three people dead. But election day was largely peaceful.

The UN has applauded Zambia for holding "peaceful and orderly" elections, urging all parties to reject violence.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded "all parties, especially political leaders and their supporters, of their responsibility to reject violence and to refrain from the use of inflammatory and incendiary language," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Zambia, which gained independence from Britain in 1964, has a long history of peaceful power transitions.

About 60 percent of the population of Africa's second biggest copper producing nation live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe plans to deploy aerial drones in its biggest wildlife sanctuary in the west to combat poaching of elephants, a parks official said on Monday, as the country aims to protect one of its top tourist attractions. Tourism contributes 11 percent to Zimbabwe's $14 billion economy, according to Ministry of Tourism data, with the country's wildlife parks popular with overseas visitors. Poachers have in the last two years killed dozens of elephants in Hwange National Park by lacing watering holes with cyanide, a toxic substance that kills within hours. Hwange holds two thirds of Zimbabwe's 80,000 elephants. Cephas Mudenda, a board member of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) told a committee of parliament that the agency had bought two drones, as well as sniffer dogs from South Africa. The parks authority is struggling with lack of funding and plans to gradually increase the number of game wardens. Mudenda said ZPWMA had about 2,000 employees, instead of 3,200. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia)
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe on Tuesday threatened to crack down on social media activists pressing to oust President Robert Mugabe's government, and warned of the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring.

Referring to activists working with "diaspora cyber-terrorists," information minister Christopher Mushohwe cautioned: "They must be warned that the long arm of the law is encircling them."

The comments at a press conference in the capital Harare come after a series of street protests in recent weeks, protesting at Zimbabwe's faltering economy and fuelled by Internet activism.

Mushohwe said the government would deal with social media activists and warned it was "closely watching the activities of these subversive elements".

Last week, Mugabe accused his opponents -- including popular pastor Evan Mawarire, the figurehead of recent demonstrations -- against trying to topple him through protest "like in the Arab countries", a refrain picked up by Mushohwe on Tuesday.

"Let Zimbabweans know, if it happened in Libya, if it happened in Iraq, if it is happening in Syria, it can happen anywhere, so let's not promote it," he said.

"That's why you see most of the Libyans and the Syrians are dying every day in the Mediterranean Sea trying to go to Europe to look for peace which they had destroyed in their country. They once upon a time had peace like Zimbabwe."

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 36 years.

But as his cash-strapped government struggles to pay civil servants and the military on time, the long-time leader has faced mounting opposition under the hashtag "ThisFlag" -- a reference to wearing the national flag in public.

"ThisFlag" founder Mawarire was detained last month for allegedly trying to overthrow the state, but a court dropped charges against him.

Last week, he traveled to the US to meet compatriots there and consider his next move, urging his compatriots to maintain the pressure on the government.

Story continues

"There are people who are now in trouble because they thought Mawarire was their leader. Where is Mawarire now?" said Mushohwe.

The 92-year-old president, who is increasingly fragile, has vowed to stand for re-election in 2018, though party seniors have long been jockeying to step into the role when he dies.

Mugabe's wife Grace and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa are among the possible successors to one of the world's oldest living heads of state.
Were sailing in a dugout wooden canoe, cutting across the opening of one of the largest natural bays in the world, water and wind whipping in our faces. Its early morning, but its warm out, and the local Malagasy sailors, born-and-bred fishermen, are perched precariously on the edge of the watercraft. Theyre equally comfortable standing over open water as they are on dry land, but Im imagining falling overboard and being gobbled up by sharks.

Its the perfect place for adventure travelers who are looking for something more backpacker than five-star, with all the same scenery and an even better vibe.

Thirty minutes later, we pull up to a tiny slice of white-sand beach on a small island in the middle of Madagascars Emerald Sea. Its our own private hideaway for the day in the middle of turquoise-blue waters, where well snorkel, relax and chow on some freshly caught fish. This isnt a pricey trip reserved for the worlds wealthy. Instead, its the perfect place for adventure travelers who are looking for something more backpacker than five-star, with all the same scenery and an even better vibe. Its the color of the sea. When you get there, you know its the Emerald Sea, says 19-year-old Erika Fabre, who sailed there in an old pirate ship she rented for around $10. Its a paradise, she says, and she would know  shes originally from Bali.

The Emerald Sea is a retro cab ride and a boat trip away from Antsiranana, also known as Diego-Suarez, a town lost in time on the northernmost tip of Madagascar. The taxis are nearly uniformly 20-year-old Renaults, and the island, once a French territory, has vestiges of the colonial: two-story buildings with wide verandas, a French-speaking population. But the feel of Diego is shaped by influences from its Indian Ocean counterparts, from East Africa to India. Aside from its blended cultural heritage, Diego is most known for its tiny fishing villages, remote beaches, killer kite surfing  thanks to Varatraza, the famous yearly winds  and intensely powerful hurricanes. The best part? Youll probably see only a handful of other tourists, if that. And after any day trip, you can plant yourself back in one of Diegos many karaoke bars, where people sip Malagasy rum or locally brewed Three Horses Beer and party. Island style.

As laid-back as it is, Diego does have a twisted history. It was once host to a French military base, and was the site of Operation Ironclad, a British plot to seize the towns port from the French in 1942. The battle launched a war that lasted throughout much of that year. But such history isnt what the local guides will tell you about. Instead, theyll focus on whats perhaps Madagascars biggest claim to fame: Upwards of 90 percent of its flora and fauna is endemic, meaning it cant be found anywhere else in the world. And its as close to a time hop as one can get. Unless Jurassic Park was real.

Related Articles
A figure from Amazons patent application shows how a delivery drones rotors would be encased in a protective shroud. (Credit: Amazon via USPTO)

A newly published patent application almost literally delves into the nuts and bolts of the package-delivering drones that Amazon is developing  but it also makes clear that the look of the drones could vary, depending on where and how theyre being used.

The proposed designs include quadcopters and octocopters, drones with motors as wide as 18 inches that are mounted vertically to push the craft and its cargo through the air, and drones with fixed wings that extend well beyond the crafts protective shroud.

That safety shroud is the common thread in all of the described designs.

The application was filed in December 2014 by Gur Kimchi and Rick Welsh, two of the lead engineers for Amazon Prime Air, but published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office only last week.

Amazons plans have moved much further forward over the past year and a half, as illustrated by last Novembers revelations about one of the companys drone prototypes. Nevertheless, the latest publication adds to the store of publicly available information about Amazons plans.

Amazon declined to comment on the application.

Previously released applications have described how Amazons drones could recharge themselves on docking stations that would be installed on streetlights, power poles and other potential perches, and how the drones could home in on the GPS coordinates sent from a customers smartphone.

The newly released filing focuses on the drones themselves: The crafts vertical propellers are shrouded in a molded structure thats designed to keep them from doing harm or sustaining serious damage, even if the drone were to crash into something. The structure could incorporate an antenna that receives and transmits data via wi-fi, near field communication, cellular networks or satellite links.

The navigation system could take its cues from GPS, an indoor positioning system or an inertial measurement unit. Thered be a motorized system to pick up and drop off payloads, but the application doesnt describe that system in depth.

Story continues

Amazon drone with fixed wing

Like the design shown in last Novembers reveal, the drones described in the patent application have vertically mounted pushing motors as well as the horizontally mounted lifting motors. The filing also covers a configuration with a fixed wing for aerodynamic lift.

Amazon has been working on its drone delivery system for years, with the aim of setting up the infrastructure to deliver packages weighing 5 pounds or less to customers by air in a half-hour or less.

In the United States, such a system would require the regulatory go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration  a go-ahead that would have to go beyond the limits laid out in the FAAs recently issued rules for commercial drones.

In the meantime, Amazon has been testing its drones on privately owned U.S. land, as well as in Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and potentially other undisclosed locales. Last month, Amazon said it was partnering with authorities in Britain to expand its drone development effort there.

More from GeekWire:
The Apple Watch hasn't yet become the groundbreaking and culturally transformative device many initially assumed it would be, but one would be hard-pressed to call the device a flop just yet. As we highlighted last week, the Apple Watch 2 will introduce a number of compelling new features that may transform it into an unequivocal and mainstream hit product as opposed to a device worn by a niche and passionate group of users.

With the Apple Watch nearly 18 months old, Fast Company recently sat down with former Apple employee Bob Messerschmidt, an integral member of the team that helped bring the Apple Watch to market. Specifically, Messerschmidt helped develop the heart rate sensor on the Apple Watch, one of the devices more widely used and important features. Indeed, there have even been instances where the Apple Watch's heart sensor has helped save lives.

DON'T MISS: iPhone 8 concept shows the major design overhaul everyone wanted on the iPhone 7

In a wide-ranging interview with Fast Company, Messerschmidt talked about some of the work that went into bringing the original Apple Watch to market while also touching on what it was like to work closely with Apple design group.

One of the more interesting -- though not surprising -- takeaways from the piece was how big a role Apple's vaunted design team played in the implementation of the Apple Watch's underlying technology. For instance, Messerschmidt recalls telling Jony Ive's design team that he wanted to put a heart rate sensor on the watch band underneath the wrist as this yields better readings. This, however, was a no-go because Apple was planning to introduce interchangeable bands. When Messerschmidt conceded and instead lobbied for a tight-fitting sensor atop the wrist, Apple's design team once again pushed back, ultimately forcing Messerschmidt and his team to come up with some clever engineering solutions.

Then at the next meeting I would go "we can do it here (on top of the wrist) but its going to have to be kind of a tight band because we want really good contact between the sensors and the skin." The answer from the design studio would be "No, thats not how people wear watches; they wear them like really floppy on their wrist." That creates a set of requirements that drives you toward new engineering solutions.

Story continues

Another interesting excerpt centers on Apple's unique obsession with product secrecy. Interestingly, Messerschmidt believes that not only has Apple's obsession gone too far, but he explains that some people use product secrecy as a shield designed to magnify the importance of their own products and contributions.

There is really a contingent at Apple that has resorted to the tools of secrecy. SJ wanted secrecy for very specific reasons. He wanted to be able to make the big splash at the product announcement. And thats almost as far as it went. Theres definitely a contingent at Apple that wants secrecy because it helps them maintain an empire, in a sense. It helps them create a sense that theyre doing more important things that they really are.

For a company as notoriously secretive as Apple, it's always fascinating when someone with first-hand experience at the company pulls back the curtain even just a little bit. That said, the full story is well worth checking out in its entirety via the source link below.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
I almost never use video calling apps unless its for a work meeting or to talk to a friend in another state. Beyond that, I generally feel like getting them to work properly is more work and worry than its worth. But Google wants to change that kind of thinking with its new Duo video-calling app.

Available Tuesday for both Android and iOS, Duo is Googles attempt at making video calling apps more personal. To accomplish that, the company specifically designed the app for one-to-one mobile calling. Yep, theres no desktop calling with Duo. If you want to talk, youve got to be on your phone.

Part of what makes Duo unique among video calling apps, at least as Google tells it, is its simplicity. When youre in a call, all you see is an end call button, a button to mute yourself and a button to switch from your phones front-facing camera to the rear camera.



Duo pulls in contacts from your phone

The north star was to make the app super, super simple, explained Googles VP of communications products Nick Fox. We stripped out all of the complexity, making it simple and making it just work.

Like Facebooks super popular WhatsApp, Duo requires you to use your smartphones phone number to create an account. When you first install the app, youll receive a text message sent to the phone number with which you want to use the Duo.

From there, the app will scour your phones contact list for other users whove registered with the app and add them to your Duo contact list. If you want to talk to someone via Duo, but dont have his or her number saved in your contact list, you can just enter their cell number and call.

The standout feature of Duo is Knock Knock, a kind of virtual peephole that lets you see whos calling and what theyre doing before you pick up. As long as the person youre calling has you saved as a contact, the first thing theyll see before even answering your call is a live video of you. If they arent saved as your contact, you cant see them.

Knock Knock lets you see a video of whos calling

Oh, and its important to note that the person calling never sees your face until they pick up. So you dont have to worry about someone sneaking a peak at you without your knowing.

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Whats neat about this, Fox said, is that the person thats calling starts making faces and jumping up and down to get the receivers attention. And because they see this, the first moment of the call is a happy warm moment.

Its totally true. I called someone who also had Duo installed from my phone and lit up as soon as I saw their face; it was a genuinely happy moment. Of course, Im sure youll get the occasional Knock Knock with someone on the other end looking particularly unhappy, but I guess thats also part of making the app more human. If you dont want to use Knock Knock, Duo gives you the option to turn the feature off entirely.

Googles goal is to make Duo work on as many smartphones as possible on virtually any connection you have available, whether thats the latest iPhone running on 4G LTE or a $50 phone on a 2G network.

To do that, Fox explained, the app has been designed to scale along with your connection. So if youre on LTE, youll see crisp video and clear sound. When your connection quality drops, though, the video will slowly degrade until it eventually goes blank.

All the while, Fox said, the apps audio will be maintained. Thats because Duo, despite being a video-calling app, prioritizes audio over video, since its easier to pass audio over a congested or unstable network.

So far, the app seems to work well over Wi-Fi and LTE connections. I havent had a chance to put it through the wringer on a slow connection, though. Ive noticed a few video hiccups when establishing a connection over Wi-Fi, but beyond that, everything with the app seems to run smoothly. I was especially impressed with how well Duo managed to move seamlessly between LTE and Wi-Fi networks without any downtime.

Google also wisely chose to set Duo to pause your video feed when you navigate away from the app during a call, which is way better than having to stare at the person on the other end of the line fiddle with their phone as you sit there.

So if Duo is Googles new consumer video chatting app, then where does that leave the companys popular Hangouts app? Well, according to Fox, Google will continue to support Hangouts, albeit with a more enterprise-friendly focus. That makes sense as more and more companies, including Yahoo, rely on Hangouts for group video chatting.

Duo, and its upcoming instant message-based partner app Allo, is part of Googles attempt to get in on the enormous messaging app market currently dominated by apps like the aforementioned WeChat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. With more people joining such services, it makes sense for Google to jump in as well.

Duo is currently rolling out for Android, and iOS and should be available globally in the coming days.

More from Dan:

Email Dan Howley at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
The iPhone 7 isnt the only hot new smartphone coming to town this year. In case you havent been paying attention, Google has two new HTC-made smartphones in the pipeline and they're rumored to launch in early October. But a new report says that rather than including them in the Nexus family, Google will do something entirely different: Itll launch its first ever Google-branded smartphones this year.

DONT MISS: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review

The report comes from Gadgets 360, which has supposedly learned from unnamed sources that Google will launch the devices later in September in a handful of countries, including India.

The phones will come in two sizes, including 5 inches and 5.5 inches. They will also run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and feature 32GB and 12GB variants. The source who saw the two handsets confirmed they ran Nougat, featuring the new launcher weve seen in leaks. The launcher lacks the iconic Google search box youre used to on Android handsets, and the phones come with Google Assistant preloaded, which would be a headline software feature of the new phones.

If these details sound familiar, thats because the HTC Sailfish and Marlin are supposed to be high-end Nexus handsets sharing the same specs. Recent leaks have suggested theres no Nexus branding on these devices. Instead, a G for Google might appear on the rear cases, something Android Police reiterated in a recent report.

This design detail seems to support Gadgets 360s claims. However, official documentation filed with the FCC says that the manuals for the upcoming HTC devices will be found online on Googles Nexus mini-site.

The report goes on to say that Google is looking to position these devices as premium smartphones with excellent overall experience, looking to better take on the iPhone. The phones will even come with a new mechanism to transfer data from an iPhone so that switchers can have a seamless transition to Android.

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Interestingly, market experts told the site that Samsungs high-end sales are most likely to be impacted by the launch of Googles phones in India. Does that mean the Google-branded phones will be cheaper than Samsungs top Galaxy devices?

On a related note, well also remind you that a few months ago, a Huawei exec let it slip that the Chinese company will have a new Nexus device in stores this year. However, that device failed to appear in recent rumors. Is it possible that Google will launch both new Nexus and Google phones this year? September cant come soon enough.

Trending right now:

See the original version of this article on BGR.com
UPDATED Tuesday morning with Edward Snowden's comments, Tuesday afternoon with a comprehensive list of purported NSA tools referenced in the data dump and Friday morning with a statement from WatchGuard Technologies.



It's either a very elaborate hoax, or it's evidence that someone has hacked into the U.S. National Security Agency.

On Saturday (Aug. 13), tweets and other online postings from a new group calling itself "Shadow Brokers" said that it was auctioning off files stolen from the "Equation Group." Equation Group is Kaspersky Lab's name for an extremely sophisticated cyberespionage group with ties to the Stuxnet computer worm, which in 2010 damaged Iranian nuclear-fuel-processing facilities. The unspoken understanding is that the Equation Group is part of the NSA.

"We hack Equation Group. We find many many Equation Group cyber weapons. You see pictures. We give you some Equation Group files free, you see. This is good proof no?" read an entertaining message posted on Pastebin by Shadow Brokers. "You enjoy!!! You break many things. You find many intrusions. You write many words. But not all, we are auction the best files."

MORE: 7 Ways to Stop NSA Spying on Your Smartphone

As proof, Shadow Brokers posted links to various file-sharing services, from which a 235MB Zip file could be downloaded. Shadow Broker said that the Zip file was just a sample of the Equation Group files it had. Security experts who have looked at the files say they bear names like EGREGIOUSBLUNDER, ELIGIBLEBACHELOR and ESCALATEPLOWMAN, and detail ways to get through commercially available firewall software.

Documents leaked in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, along with other evidence, indicated the existence of NSA tools with similarly sillly-sounding names, such as IRATEMONK, STELLARWIND and EGOTISTICALGIRAFFE.

Hoax or not, some of the files in the Shadow Brokers data dump appear to be genuine malware, said researchers.

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"There are actual exploits in the dump, with a 2013 timestamp on files," wrote Matt Suiche, a well-known French security researcher, in a Medium post Monday (Aug. 15). "We do not know if they are working as nobody has tried them, but they are actual exploits and not only references."

"Equation Group's ELIGIBLECANDIDATE exploits an RCE [remote code execution] vulnerability in HTTP cookies in a TOPSEC firewall CGI script," tweeted Mustafa Al-Bassam, a British researcher who was once a member of the Lulzsec hacking crew. (TOPSEC is a Chinese cloud-security provider.) "ESCALATEPLOWMAN is actually a privilege escalation exploit against WatchGuard firewalls."

In more (deliberately?) broken English, the Shadow Brokers missive instructed interested parties to bid for the files using Bitcoin. The document didn't say how many files in total Shadow Brokers had.

"If you like free files (proof), you send bitcoin," says the message. "If you want know your networks hacked, you send bitcoin. If you want hack networks as like equation group, you send bitcoin. If you want reverse, write many words, make big name for self, get many customers, you send bitcoin. If want to know what we take, you send bitcoin."

If the documents really are from the NSA, how did Shadow Brokers get their hands on them? Who's crafty enough to hack the NSA? The Grugq, a pseudonymous South African bug broker  i.e., he sells newly found "zero-day" software exploits to intelligence agencies such as the NSA  put forward a theory on Twitter earlier Monday.

"This dump does not support the assertion that NSA was hacked. That sort of access is too valuable to waste for (almost) any reason," the Grugq tweeted. "I would guess: the dump is the take from a counter hack against a pivot/C2 [malware command-and-control server] that was mistakenly loaded with too much data. [Stuff] happens."

UPDATE: Edward Snowden himself Tuesday (Aug. 16) piped in on Twitter about the purported NSA files, agreeing with the Grugq that they came from a malware command-and-control server. Snowden blamed Russian state-sponsored hackers trying to do damage control in the wake of the theft, and subsequent release, of embarrassing documents from the Democratic National Committee's email servers.

"NSA malware staging servers getting hacked by a rival is not new. A rival publicly demonstrating they have done so is," Snowden wrote. "I suspect this is more diplomacy than intelligence, related to the escalation around the DNC hack.

"Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility," he continued. "Here's why that is significant: This leak is likely a warning that someone can prove U.S. responsibility for any attacks that originated from this malware server."

"That could have significant foreign policy consequences. Particularly if any of those operations targeted U.S. allies. Particularly if any of those operations targeted elections," Snowden wrote. "Accordingly, this may be an effort to influence the calculus of decision-makers wondering how sharply to respond to the DNC hacks."

UPDATE: Mustafa Al-Bassam has posted a list of the purported Equation Group tools and exploits referenced in the "free" documents released by Shadow Brokers. Our favorite is EPICBANANA, which Al-Bassam describes as "a privilege escalation exploit against Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Private Internet eXchange (PIX) devices."

UPDATE: In a statement provided to Tom's Guide, WatchGuard Technologies responded to the Shadow Brokers data dump:

"WatchGuard takes all reported vulnerabilities seriously and values the effort that security researchers put into the responsible disclosure of potential exploits. We investigated the reported exploit and found that it cannot be used against any of our currently supported appliances. The referenced vulnerability was actually targeting RapidStream appliances, a company WatchGuard acquired in 2002. This RapidStream exploit did not carry over into any WatchGuard appliances and is not a vulnerability for our current customers."

Copyright 2016 Toms Guides , a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Chip giant Intel officially unveiled its very own virtual reality (VR) headset at its developer conference in San Francisco Tuesday. However, Project Alloy, as the headset is being called, wont actually compete head-to-head with the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Instead, its meant to be a reference design for other manufacturers  and a long-term bet to keep Intel relevant in the nascent virtual reality space.

Project Alloy is at its core a standalone headset that works without any external computer, and also doesnt require users to plug in their own mobile phones. This sets it apart from both the more expensive Rift-type VR hardware and cheaper mobile VR headsets like Samsungs Gear VR.

In addition to its own computing chips, Alloy also packs a number of camera sensors that make it possible to use ones own hands as controllers. Alloy is also capable of recognizing elements of the space around a user, which means that youll be able to play a game in your living room without inadvertently bumping into your coffee table. Intel has been developing this kind of sensor technology under the RealSense moniker for some time.

However, Intel wont be selling consumers Alloy headsets any time soon. The company is instead looking to open source the Alloy design next year, and allow third parties to build their own headsets based on Intels reference design. The company is also collaborating with Microsoft to bring some of its technology to Alloy-based headsets. Earlier this summer, Microsoft announced plans to bring the holographic technology that powers its own HoloLens headset to third-party devices.

So why is Intel throwing its head in the VR ring if it doesnt actually want to build its own consumer headsets? Because it wants other manufacturers to use its chips, and thats currently far from certain.

High-end headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are already often powered by Intel, since the companys chips are at the core of many gaming PCs. However, mobile VR headsets like Samsungs Gear VR use phones to do the heavy lifting, and mobile has long been a sore spot for Intel, as most phones are powered by ARM chips.

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The future of virtual reality is still very much undecided: Will consumers flock to stationary, more capable but also more expensive headsets? Or will they instead embrace cheaper and less-capable mobile headsets? Google is betting on the latter, and introduced a new Android-based VR platform called Daydream earlier this year. The company has alliances with a series of handset makers, and first Daydream-capable phones are expected to launch later this year.

For Intel, thats a worrying trend. If handset makers dictate the future of VR, then it may find itself once again shut out of a massive opportunity. By introducing Alloy now, Intel essentially signals hardware makers that it is ready to be a part of the future of virtual reality headsets  even if the first Alloy-based headsets wont ship any time soon.

Related stories

GoPro Starts Shipping Its Virtual Reality Camera Next Week

NextVR Raises $80 Million to Stream Live Virtual Reality Worldwide

Alibaba Pacts With Phone Maker HTC for VR Push
CA-based broadband and communications products & service provider, ViaSat Inc. VSAT, recently expanded its 'Edge to Cloud' Network Encryption portfolio with the launch of ViaSat KG-142.

KG-142 to Boost Network Speed

Touted as a first-to-market 100 Gbps Type 1 Ethernet encryptor, the latest offering from ViaSat can boost speeds up to ten times. KG-142 is designed to help government users meet the bandwidth and security needs for cloud computing and achieve real-time data transmission across the battle space. It has been designed to ensure interoperability across government networks, offer high security standards and morereliability.

The encryptor offers operating speeds of up to 100 Gbps, combining the encryption power of 10 encryptors of 10 Gbps speed, increased scalability and ability to minimize network overhead for Layer 2 Ethernet communications. Representatives of the Nation Security Agency (NSA) believe that the 100 Gbps Layer 2 encryptor will usher in a new era of cloud computing for classified government data and communications. The KG-142 conforms to the NSA's new Ethernet Security Specification (ESS) standard, the NSA certification for which is expected by Oct 2016.

ViaSat recently introduced NSA-certified KG-250XS, a compact rugged HAIPE IS v4.1 network encryptor, which is compatible with its field-proven Type 1 HAIPE devices. The latest launch reflects the companys attempt to bolster its Type 1 network encryptors that are much in demand for transmission of classified information communications needs of forces.

Government Satellite Business Strong

ViaSat maintains a leading position in the satellite and wireless communications market, leveraging on its advanced technology portfolio. The companys Government Systems revenues have been growing steadily on the back of a rise in government satellite communication system sales.

VIASAT INC Price

VIASAT INC Price | VIASAT INC Quote

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During the second quarter, Government Systems sales were record high, buoyed by strong performance in government satellite communications systems products. The segments EBITDA rose 14% to $32.8 million. In particular, strong performance in government satellite communications systems products and tactical data link products sales have been driving the government business. We believe that the recent string of product launches combined with thriving government prospects add to the companys strength.

ViaSat currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other favorably ranked stocks in the same space include Sonus Networks, Inc. SONS, Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI and Clearfield, Inc. CLFD. All the three stocks carry the same rank as ViaSat.

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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.
National carrier Air India has started the much awaited flights between Ahmedabad and Newark via London.

By India Today Web Desk: It's here! National carrier Air India has finally launched the flight from Ahmedabad to Newark via London.

Commencing the service on the Independence Day, Air India started operating its first Dreamliner service from India to the United States. As of now, Airline services all its European routes with the Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner plane.

Also read: Air India to start flights between Ahmedabad and Newark via London from August 15



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"Air India is happy to start this new flight today. It is a dream fulfilled for the people of Ahmedabad on India's 70th Independence day. This is the third international flight introduced by Air India and we shall be launching flights to more international destinations soon," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashnwani Lohani, said after launching the flight.

The maiden AI Dreamliner flight (AI-171) to Newark took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 5 am.

Also read: Coming this winter: Delhi to San Francisco in 17 hours, thanks to Air India's daily flight!



Making it convenient for global travellers, this Air India flight will thrice a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It will reach London at 10:15 hours, from where it will depart at 12:30 hours and arrive at Newark at 15:00 hours.

The return flight AI172 will leave Newark at 22:30 hours and reach London at 10:15 hours next day. It will leave London at 12:30 hours and land at Ahmedabad at 02:00 hours, Air India said.

(With inputs from PTI)



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A woman was thrashed, tied to tree and her hair was chopped by villagers in Rajasthan's Ajmer district on the Independence Day.

By Sharat Kumar: Once again it happened in Rajasthan. A woman was subjected to mob justice. This time it happened on the Independence Day and merely one kilometre away from where Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje unfurled the Tri-colour on Monday in Ajmer.

A woman, living in Ambedkar Kachchi Basti of Ajmer, was on Monday taken out of her house, tied to a tree and thrashed by all present. If you ever thought that Taliban mode of justice would not take root here because India is governed by the rule of law, this incident forces one to think again.



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MOB JUSTICE

The victim was accused of having multiple sexual relation in the village. Those who beat her up alleged that her behaviour was disrupting the social fabric of the village. Youths and children were being spoiled. And, this unproven charge was enough for them to hand her street justice.



The woman was dragged out of her house, tied her to a tree, cut her hair and beat her up black and blue. Scores of villages looked on as the woman was beaten up by not only men but also women, who had been her neighbours.

Having been deserted by her husband, the victim lives in Ambedkar Kachchi Basti with her two children. Interestingly, till this incident happened none of her neighbours ever complained against her for anything.



POLICE ON THE CRIME SCENE

The audacity of the perpetrators could only be gauged from the fact that one of them called up local police station. Police personnel visited the spot promptly but stood mute spectators as if they were there to ensure 'justice' was done to the poor woman. Police didn't stop the perpetrators or tried to rescue the woman safety.

The news of the incident spread to surrounding villages. Sensing trouble for himself, the SHO of the Christianganj Police Station Vijender Gill reached the spot and carried out preliminary inquiry.

Pushed for an answer, Gill said, "We got the information of two women fighting in the village. We don't really know as to what has happened. But, whosoever has done this will be brought to law. We have registered an FIR and will apprehend the culprits soon."



NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT

This is not an isolated incident of such nature in Rajasthan. In fact this is the third incident in past one month in which a woman was subjected to public brutality.

In Udaipur, another woman was paraded naked and was kept tied to a tree for several days on the suspicion of having multiple relationship with men. In Alwar, a woman was gang-raped and the rapists wrote down expletive on her body after committing the crime. Police swung into action only after much hue and cry.



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Although Amity denied it had anything to do with the 3rd year student's death, students say they will continue to protest till their demands are met.

By Ilma Hasan: Over a 100 students of Amity Law School, IP University, protested outside campus premises on Tuesday, demanding justice for Sushant Rohilla, a 3rd year student who hung himself after the college debarred him.

Students have refused to attend classes, and are demanding the resignation of college director BP Singh Sehgal and Professor Isheeta Rutabhasini.

Sushant's body was found by his mother at his residence last Tuesday, after he was told he would not be promoted to fourth year. Sushant was an active participant of Amity's extracurricular activities and represented the varsity at various moot competitions.

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COLLEGE AUTHORITIES DIDN'T RESPOND TO HIS APPEAL FOR HELP



Sushant's sister Mehak Rohilla said, "He won the college many laurels, and he also broke his foot, which is why he couldn't attend classes. The college knew this but still harassed him."

A few days before he took the drastic step, Sushant wrote to Ashok Chouhan, the founding member of Amity, asking for help. Sushant clearly stated in his email that he would not be able to "mentally survive" debarment, but got no response from the college authorities.

Sushant's father Jagdish Kumar said, "I had no clue Sushant was under so much stress. If he had written a letter pleading for help like this, why didn't the college inform us about it? Why didn't they tell us our son needed to be taken care of?"

UNIVERSITY SETS UP INQUIRY COMMITTEE



Following the incident, Amity University has set up an internal inquiry committee and the two concerned teachers have been asked to go on leave till the matter is settled.

Amity also released a statement expressing grief over the incident and claiming that the college had no role in Sushant's suicide.

Students, however, have said they will continue to protest till their demands are met. Ayush, Sushant's batchmate and friend said, "He was one of my closest friends. When he broke his foot, he came to classes on his walking stick just because of the draconian rules of this college. Few faculty members have been harassing us for years now."

ALSO READ: Youth uses tweet series to put focus on law college's apathy that cost talented student his life



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Nearly 600-700 students took out a procession to the governor's residence and police commissioner's office on the adjoining road, demanding the immediate arrest of those who chanted anti-national slogans.

By Rohini Swamy: Students of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) today took to streets to protest against Amnesty International and demanded the arrest of those who allegedly shouted anti-national slogans in a seminar on Saturday.

Nearly 600-700 students took out a procession to the governor's residence and police commissioner's office on the adjoining road, demanding the immediate arrest of those who chanted anti-national slogans.

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The police was only able to control the mob near the planetarium.

"They never took permission to take out a procession. Some of them were behaving in a violent manner and have been detained. We told the remaining crowd to disperse," Sandeep Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), said.

An FIR was filed on Monday after ABVP alleged that anti-India slogans were raised at the August 13 event. Bengaluru Police booked Amnesty International on charges of sedition and for spreading enmity among people.

However, Amnesty International refuted all charges and said that no seditious activities had taken place during the seminar and that the allegations had no substance.

Additional Commissioner of Law and Order, Charan Reddy, told India Today, "We are examining the video of the event. There is a lot of noise in the video and all you can hear is the word 'azaadi'. We have filed an FIR against some representatives of Amnesty International and some unknown persons based on a complaint filed by ABVP. We are still probing the case."

State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, comparing the incident to the JNU one, where anti-national slogans were reportedly chanted by students.

"I have spoken to Rajnath Singh and I have asked him to take stock of the situation. We should not allow such things to happen and we will continue to protest till those involved are booked," B S Yeddyurappa said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "An FIR has been filed. The government won't remain quiet on such issues, we will take action."

Amnesty International India had organised an event called 'Broken Families' to discuss human rights violations. At the event, 'azaadi' slogans were allegedly raised by a Kashmiri group. To counter the sloganeering, some BJP activists who were present at the event, raised 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram' slogans. This led to a scuffle between the two groups and the police had to intervene to stop the programme.

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By PTI: Bengaluru, Aug 16 (PTI) Amnesty Internationals India chapter today said none of its employee had shouted any anti-India slogan at an event on Kashmir in Bangaluru, allegations based on which sedition charges were slapped against the human rights body.

Amensty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an ABVP representative against it were "without substance" and that only discussion at the event on Saturday was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Local police had slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India yesterday following allegations that anti-India slogans were raised at the event, organised by it, during a discussion on Kashmir issue.

"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that "slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."

To charges that the event indirectly supported terrorists, Amnesty said the only discussion that had taken place was about allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir.

"These are issues that have regularly been discussed in the media. They have been written about at length by members of Parliament, politicians, judges and civil society,"it said.

The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report "Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir", published in July 2015, it said.

Amnesty said the report was based on in-depth research in Jammu and Kashmir, including interviews with family members of "victims", RTI applications, examination of police and court records, and interviews with civil society groups, lawyers, and government officials.

The families of three Kashmiri victims that were interviewed for the report were invited to share their stories at the event, said Amnesty.

About allegations that some people at the event tried to assault ABVP activists, it said, "No Amnesty International India employee was involved in any form of assault."

"Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for Azaadi (freedom). Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.

"However, Amnesty International India considers that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions. Amnesty International India had invited the Bengaluru police to be present at the event in the interest of the security of the invited families and other attendees," the statement said.

About allegations that Sindhujaa Iyengar, an Amnesty employee, and two others raised raised anti-national slogans, it said Iyengar was not present on stage at any point during the event.

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Amnesty said footage of the event has been shared with the police.

The rights body said Amnesty has worked extensively on human rights violations in Pakistan, including "the enforced disappearances and unlawful killings of political activists in Balochistan, violations by security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and violence against journalists by groups including the ISI". PTI MPB RT

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"Spoke to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and wished him on his birthday. My prayers for his long life and good health," Modi said in a brief tweet. Kejriwal thanked Modi for his wishes, saying he was "touched".

By Indo-Asian News Service: In a development that could end their frosty ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday greeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on his birthday to wish him "long life and good health".

Ahead of his departure to the United Arab Emirates, Modi said he had telephoned Kejriwal and wished him on his 47th birthday.

MODI'S TWEET

"Spoke to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and wished him on his birthday. My prayers for his long life and good health," Modi said in a brief tweet.



Birthday greetings to Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal. I pray for his long life and good health. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 16, 2016

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Kejriwal thanked Modi for his wishes, saying he was "touched".



"Thank you so much Sir for your wishes. I am touched. I look forward to meeting you soon to brief you on Delhi's situation," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said.



Thank u so much sir. https://t.co/SadCCp96du Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 16, 2016

FIRST DIRECT COMMUNICATION SINCE ELECTION

This is the first known direct communication between Modi and Kejriwal since the latter called on the prime minister after the AAP routed the BJP in the February Delhi assembly election.

The result left the Bharatiya Janata Party with just three of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly. The AAP won 67 seats.

WORKING AGREEMENT

Modi's gesture came a day after Kejriwal said in his Independence Day address here that there must be a "working arrangement" between the prime minister and the Delhi chief minister.

"As both the chief minister of Delhi and the prime minister of the country live in the national capital, there should be a working arrangement between them for the welfare of the city and (its) people."

Kejriwal also said in the speech that he had tried to meet Modi to discuss Delhi's problems but he could not get an appointment. He promised to try and meet Modi again.

The Delhi government has been locked in a conflict with Delhi's Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung - an appointee of the central government - over the city government's powers.

Kejriwal has in recent times publicly blamed Modi for Jung's involvement in subjects which the Delhi government says lie outside the Lt. Governor's domain.

Modi's tweet to Kejriwal and his reply were re-tweeted by several AAP leaders on Twitter.



ALSO READ:

PM Modi may get me killed: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

'Talk to AK' debuts with Kejriwal heavily criticising Modi government

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Noted Malayalam filmmaker-scriptwriter TA Razaq passed away in Kochi yesterday (August 15). He was 58. Razaq was reportedly undergoing treatment related to liver-related ailment at a private hospital, where he breathed his last.



ALSO READ: RIP Na Muthukumar- Dhanush to Siddharth, Kollywood express grief over eminent lyricist's death



ALSO READ: Veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam breathes his last

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Razaq began his career working as an assistant director with the film Dhwani in 1987. He went on to venture in script-writing and delivered some of the finest movies like Kanakkinavu, Ghazal, Perumazhakkalam, Aayirathil Oruvan and Thalolam to name a few. Razaq won his first state award for the film Kanakkinavu, which was directed by Sibi Malayil in 1997.

Kanakkinavu also bagged the National Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration the same year.

According to reports, Razaq body will be kept at Moyinkutty Vaidyar Memorial Hall in Kondotty for the public to pay homage. Kerala Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed his grief over the demise.

He was quoted by The News Minute as saying, "Razzaq's demise is a big loss for Malayalam film industry."

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Khalil Baloch, the chairperson of the Baloch National Movement, said that Narendra Modi's statement on Balochistan was a positive development.

By Smita Sharma: The chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), Khalil Baloch, has welcomed the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance on occupied Balochistan and the human rights abuses being committed by the Pakistani state against the Baloch nation.

The chairperson said that the policy of indifference towards Pakistani war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying.

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He said that the Indian Prime Minister's -the leader of the world's largest democracy- statement on Balochistan is a positive development.

The chairperson said that the Baloch Nation was hopeful that the international community will follow suit and help put an end to Pakistan's 68 year occupation of Balochistan and its latest genocidal military campaign against the Baloch Nation that is continuing for a 16th year now.

Also Read: Modi stumps Pakistan, refers to Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK from Red Fort

PM Modi attacks Pakistan in I-Day speech: They glorify terrorists while India cried for Peshawar

'INDEPENDENT BALOCHISTAN WILL CURTAIL PAK'S TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM'

The chairperson said that the Baloch have existed as an ethnic group for thousands of years and as a nation state for centuries and it is through the revival of the Baloch state that regional peace can be guaranteed; an independent Balochistan will help curtail the rogue Pakistani state's transnational terrorism.

The Pakistani state as part of its counter-insurgency policy is developing and strengthening religiously-driven terrorist groups, such as the Taliban, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Khurasan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the like, that the Pakistani state is supporting in every way- from logistical, medical and military support to the provision of finances.

PAKISTAN BANKING ON RELIGIOUS TERRORISM

Chairperson Khalil Baloch said that the world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively.

He referred to the terrorist attack on the civil hospital in Quetta and said that the attack, without any doubt, was yet another deceptive tactics of the Pakistani state to create a cause for accelerating the genocide of the Baloch Nation; ensuing punitive action has resulted in 36 abductions from Quetta City, all Baloch and intensified attacks on Baloch populations across Occupied Balochistan.

Khalil said that the Pakistani state is employing all means at its disposal to quell the Baloch independence movement, from bombing Baloch populations to the use of chemical weapons.

Recently, during operations in Spilinji and in Saiji, Pakistani forces dumped toxic chemicals in the towns' water sources; poisoning the populations' drinking water sources resulting in the death of livestock and endangering human lives.

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Most of Balochistan relies on streams and rainwater collected in small reservoirs for hydration purposes.

Khalil concluded the BNM's statement with the comments that the Baloch Nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch Nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch Nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom.

Also Read:

Modi's call resonates in Pakistan's Balochistan, activists appeal to PM to take the matter to UN

PM Modi's remarks on Balochistan proves Pakistan's contention: Sartaz Aziz



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The Rapid Action Battalion, in an overnight raid, arrested four women suspected for being members of Jamaatul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh - a home grown militant group.

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Bangladesh today detained four women suspected for being members of a home-grown militant group, Jamaatul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh (JMB), blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe last month.

The four women were arrested in an overnight raid in the capital, based on information from a regional militant leader who was detained last month, said Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiya.

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The detainees include fourth-year students from Manarat International University -- Khadija Parvin Meghna, Israt Jahan Mou, Aklima Rahman Moni -- and an intern from Dhaka Medical College Hospital -- Ispisna Afroz Oishee.



WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Based on information obtained from arrested JMB militant Ameer Mahmudul Hasan, RAB 4 Company on Monday arrested Aklima Rahman Moni from Sighnbord area under Tongi Upazila of Gazipur district.

Based on her confession, Oishee was picked from her residence in Moghbazar area, while another team of the unit detained Mou and Meghna from another location in Mirpur on Monday.

Medical intern Oishee in her confession said that she joined the organisation under a friend's influence and started the women's wing of the group last year.

RAB believes that the group is fairly new and agencies need to keep an eye on it.

A large number of jihadi books, notes, documentaries linked to Jammat-Shibir were discovered from their possession.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS Police believe that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the group. The four women were arrested in an overnight raid in the capital, based on information from a regional militant leader who was detained last month, said Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiya. "Three of them are students of a private university and the other one is working as an intern in the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital," he told Reuters, adding that jihadi books, audio and video clips of jihadi lectures were seized. More than a dozen suspected JMB militants, including seven women, have been arrested since the cafe attack. On July 26, police killed nine militants believed to be plotting a similar assault. Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims for a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the country over the past year. The government has dismissed the claims and pinned the blame on domestic militant groups.

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on Saturday firmly conveyed India's concerns to her visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during talks in New Delhi.

By Ananth Krishnan: Chinese media today stressed that Beijing "will not give up on the idea" of its economic corridor through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on Saturday firmly conveyed India's concerns to her visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during talks in New Delhi.

Responding to Swaraj raising the issue, the hard-line tabloid Global Times, published by the official People's Daily, said in a column that "it is regrettable to see CPEC become another unharmonious factor in Sino-Indian ties, but China is unlikely to give up on the idea of CPEC because of India's protest".

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The Chinese Foreign Minister had on Saturday reiterated China's official position that it did not take sides in the Kashmir dispute and that any projects were purely commercial and without prejudice to the issue.

Indian officials and experts however point out that China hasn't taken a similar view on the issue of third countries' economic projects in the South China Sea, also protesting India's cooperation with Vietnam on gas exploration projects.

OPEN ATTITUDE

Tuesday's column, however, asked India "to adopt an open attitude" to the economic corridor plan to "speed up development in the region and benefit the local population". "If economic cooperation between China and Pakistan can improve infrastructure in the region, including in the Kashmir area, India will have an opportunity to expand trade routes to Central Asia," it said. India, however, is unlikely to consider such an eventuality as the corridor is being built, despite India's protestations, in PoK, an integral part of India's territory.

Reiterating Beijing's stand, the Global Times column said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which runs from western Xinjiang, through PoK, to the Gwadar port that China has built and is managing on the Arabian Sea, "does not target any third party, India included", adding that "given that China has developed close economic ties with both India and Pakistan in recent years, Beijing is unlikely to be interested in taking a side between the two countries."

"Rather than prevent foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute," it added.

India has repeatedly protested China's infrastructure projects in PoK. The CPEC involves expanding the Karakoram Highway besides a number of energy and infrastructure projects. Feasibility studies are also under way for a railway line linking Kashgar in Xinjiang, through PoK, to Gwadar.

JOINT-BORDER PATROL

China and Pakistan have also started joint border patrols along the PoK-Xinjiang border , official media reported in July. The plan has also assumed a possible military dimension, experts say, with Pakistan boosting its military presence and the army taking an increasingly prominent role in the plan, ostensibly to provide security for Chinese personnel

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The Global Times columnist Hu Weijia, who is a reporter with the newspaper, said that it was "because of the region's worsening investment environment that PoK's economy is still heavily reliant on agriculture," surprisingly using India's reference although China officially uses "Pakistan-controlled Kashmir".

The paper said that "economic cooperation between India, Pakistan and China would create an open atmosphere for launching talks to solve the Kashmir dispute", asking Delhi "to take the long view for its national interests". "Any way in which India can put aside politics and join in the task of economic development would be welcome," it concluded.



--- ENDS ---
Fu Yuanhui is now known as the 'Most Lovable Athlete' at the Rio Olympics. Photo: Reuters

By Mandwi Singh: Chinese swimming star, Fu Yuanhui, recently did the unusual and revealed that she was on her period while competing in the 4x100m medley relay on Sunday.

In case you're reading her name for the first time, here are some insights: Yuanhui became the internet's darling Olympian after a reporter told her that she's won a bronze medal, having finished third in women's 100m backstroke. Her exaggerated and over-the-top face expression made her an overnight Olympic sensation and here she is again.

Me, if I ever won an Olympic medal: pic.twitter.com/GTChQ7RxBW #FuYuanhui Kath Faulkner (@t3dkath) August 11, 2016

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On Sunday, Yuanhui's team finished fourth in the women's 4x100-meter medley relay, and here's what she told a reporter, "I didn't swim well enough this time. It's because my period came yesterday, so I felt particularly tired - but this isn't a reason, I still didn't swim well enough."

While this might not be considered too bold a move by a large population, the Chinese are a bit "reserved" about women's menstruation in general, much like India.

In a welcome change, however, Yuanhui received tonnes of virtual support from supporters back home, with the hashtag #FuyuanHuiPeriod doing the rounds on Twitter. This also led to a debate--on the use of tampons while swimming.

So, we got in touch with Dr Leena N Sreedhar, senior consultant, Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Apollo Cradle, Delhi, and asked her how safe it truly is for women to go swimming while on her period.

"It is advisable to avoid going swimming during the time you're on your period, as there are chances of the menstrual blood getting mixed with the pool water. But if you are going on a family vacation to a beach-y place, where you know you have to go swimming, there are certain progesterone pills that help postpone the menstrual cycle. One must, however, consult a gynecologist before taking any such pills," said Dr Leena.

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Babu had complained to his family that he was beaten by three teachers and was verbally abused for talking back to them.

By Pramod Madhav: A class 9 student in Coimbatore committed suicide on Monday after he was insulted by his teachers.

Babu, son of Nagaraj, a daily wage worker, lived at Venkitapuram in Coimbatore. He was a student at Kamalanathan Government School.

BABU BEATEN, ABUSED BY TEACHERS

Babu had complained to his family that he was beaten by three teachers and was verbally abused for talking back to them. He pointed out three teachers who took him to a separate room and hit him repeatedly.

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NO ACTION TAKEN AGAINST TEACHERS

When Babu's parents approached the school headmaster regarding the matter, he told them that action would be taken but nothing was done. Following this, Babu was allegedly ill-treated by the teachers on various occasions. He was also depressed because the way he was treated before other students.

On August 15, Babu consumed poison to commit suicide. He was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately died on the way. Babu's parents have refused to accept his body unless action is taken against the teachers who ill-treated him.

Also read:

Youth uses tweet series to put focus on law college's apathy that cost talented student his life

Bengaluru: Class 12 student jumps from 9th floor, says 'I don't deserve to be your child' in his suicide note

Kerala: 19-year-old student commits suicide after being ragged

--- ENDS ---
The six-year old daughter of martyr Pramod Kumar gave final salute to her father, who died fighting terrorists in Srinagar on the Independence Day.

By India Today Web Desk: In an incredibly emotional scene that moved scores of people to tears, the brave 6-year old daughter of CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar gave her father the final salute when his body was brought to his home town, Jamtara in Jharkhand on Tuesday. Commandant Pramod Kumar was severely injured in a terror attack at Nawhatta Chowk in Srinagar on the Independence Day.



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Kumar later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital on Monday.

Hundreds of people lined up at Jamtara to pay last respects to the martyr. The scene of a six-year old girl giving the final salute to her father brought tears in eyes of those present there.



TERROR ATTACK IN SRINAGAR



Eight CRPF personnel got injured in the terror attack, which took place merely seven kilometres from where Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti hoisted the Tri-colour on the Independence Day. Two terrorists were also killed in the gun-battle that ensued.



Many parts of the Kashmir Valley have been on boil since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani on July 8. Many clashes have taken place between the security forces and the protesters leading to death of more than 60 people. Terrorists took advantage of the resentment among the people to scale up attacks on security forces in recent weeks.



Last rites of CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar who lost his life in Nowhatta attack, underway in Jamtara (Jharkhand) pic.twitter.com/eKoCnk5Z0sANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

--- ENDS ---
Dawood Ibrahim has directed his aides in Mumbai to overlook arrangements and monitor security measures.

By India Today Web Desk: Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted criminals, is likely to attend the wedding of his sister's son in Mumbai via Skype tomorrow.

Alishah is the son of Dawood's deceased sister Haseena Parkar, who died two years ago and Ibrahim Parkar who was killed by the Arun Gawli gang in the late 1990s.

Sources say that Dawood has directed his aides in Mumbai to overlook arrangements and monitor security measures.

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The grand event is expected to take place in the presence of over a dozen Mumbai police personnel. A gala reception has been planned Tulip Star hotel in Juhu. The nikah is supposed to take place in Nagpada.

Photo: Twitter/@Raajeev_romi

Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar will also attend the ceremony.



MUMBAI POLICE ON ALERT

"Over a dozen Mumbai police personnel will keep a close watch on the proceedings to see if any underworld elements attend the function," a police official told Mid-day.

Mumbai police and Crime Branch officials are prepared to keep a close watch on the guests and Dawood's wanted aides.

"We will keep a watch as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace," an officer told Zee News.

According to reports, Haseena's daughter got married last year but family kept it a low-key affair since it was less than a year since Haseena's death. However, this year the family wants it to be a gala event.

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Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered NATO obsolete.

By Reuters: Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he would work closely with NATO allies to defeat Islamic State militants if he wins the White House, reversing an earlier threat that the United States might not meet its obligations to the Western military alliance.

In a policy speech, Trump said he would wage a multi-front "military, cyber and financial" war against Islamic State, although it was not clear how this would differ from the Obama administration's fight with the jihadist group.



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WORK CLOSELY WITH NATO



"We will also work closely with NATO on this new mission," said Trump, whose remarks about the defense organization earlier this summer drew heavy criticism from allies and even some of his fellow Republicans.

Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered NATO obsolete. He was apparently referring to reports the alliance is moving toward creating a new intelligence post in a bid to improve information sharing.

While Trump appeared to claim credit for prodding NATO to focus more on the threat of terrorism, the 28-nation alliance has been grappling with the issue for more than a decade. NATO invoked Article 5, its collective self-defense mechanism, for the first time in its history to offer support to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Trump called for shutting down access to the Internet and social media for those who are aligned with the Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq, but said he did not want to detail military strategy because it would tip off potential foes.

"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we've faced at every age and before," Trump said, blaming his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama for aiding the rise of Islamic State.

In a speech in the swing state of Ohio, Trump also said that in implementing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the country, he would institute "extreme vetting" and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States.

As president, he said, he would ask the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat.

Reading from a teleprompter, he said Clinton does not have the judgment and character to lead the country.

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"Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face," he said.

Trump, a wealthy New York businessman whose volatile campaign has alienated some in the Republican establishment, faced a fresh rebuke on Monday as he falls behind Clinton in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial he should fix his campaign within weeks or step down. Echoing growing alarm about Trump's candidacy among many leading Republicans, the newspaper said Trump had failed to establish a competent campaign operation.



'STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE'

"If they can't get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races," the newspaper said.

Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5 this year, marks the end of U.S. summer vacations and traditionally launches the final phase of the long U.S. election season.

"As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president - or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence," it said, referring to the Indiana governor, who is Trump's vice presidential running mate.

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Adding to Trump's woes this week was the news, first reported by The New York Times, that the name of his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was on secret ledgers showing cash payments designated to him of more than $12 million from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia.

Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. "I have never received a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as falsely 'reported' by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia," he said.

Artem Sytnik, the head of Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau, confirmed in a briefing with reporters that Manafort's name appeared on a ledger and that more than $12 million had been allocated as an expenditure, referencing Manafort.

But Sytnik said that the presence of Manafort's name "does not mean that he definitely received this money."

The Clinton campaign said the news was evidence of "more troubling connections between Donald Trump's team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine."

Trump has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month he invited Russian hackers to find "missing" emails from Clinton's time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that comment as sarcasm.

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The current RealClearPolitics average of national opinion polls puts Clinton 6.8 points ahead of Trump, at 47.8 percent to Trump's 41 per cent. Polls also show Trump trailing in states such as Pennsylvania that are likely to be pivotal in the election.

Also Read: Barack Obama is founder of ISIS, says Donald Trump

--- ENDS ---
By Sunil Namdeo: Rampaging elephants have made life hell for people living in villages around dense forests in Chhattisgarh. These wild elephants trample their standing crops and also their loved ones. Chief Minister Raman Singh, however, blames the neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Odisha for this trail of death and destruction.



At least 34 people have died due to elephant menace in the region. In 2015 alone, nine villagers and four elephants died in clashes between the two. Villagers testify that elephants and humans are literally at war in the region. But, the government is in denial.



WHY ARE ELEPHANTS RUNNING AMOK?



Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand have dense forests providing a natural habitat for elephants. They breed in good numbers in these forests. As the forests are contiguous in the three states, the elephants move according to the availability of food and water.



Traditionally, elephants moved into Chhattisgarh region in the months of April and May and stayed till August-September. But, due to drought-like situation prevailing for the past two-three years, food availability for the pachyderms has shrunk, forcing them to make at least half a dozen districts in Chhattisgarh their permanent home. This is when the man-animal conflict took a turn for the worse.



CLASHES WITH HUMANS



The failure of the monsoon in the last two years means elephants don't have enough long grass and branches for consumption. As a result, standing crops lure these animals, who run towards such fields. But, they actually run into humans, who toil hard in the field and are ready to protect their crops at any cost.



Incidents of clashes with elephants have been reported with increasing frequency in recent times. Nine people were reportedly trampled by furious elephants. Many elephants have also died.



WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT SAY?



The state government's response on the matter is bizarre. Chief Minister Raman Singh said, "In late 1980s only 25-30 elephants used to enter Chhattisgarh forests from neighbouring states. Now, their number has gone up to more than 250. The elephants come in herds, so they wreak greater havoc."



So, basically the CM is floating a theory that it is the elephants coming from other states that are killing people and destroying their crops and homes.



Raman Singh also blamed the incomplete elephant corridor as a possible cause for clashes between villagers and elephants. A 600-kilometre elephant corridor was proposed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. But, no progress has been made since 2010.



THE GROUND SITUATION



Of all the affected districts, Korba seems to be the most affected district, where 32 deaths have occurred in elephant attacks, while 24 people have been injured. Hundreds of houses have also been destroyed by gangs of elephants. More than 15,000 farmers have reported damage to their crops.



Deaths of elephant have also increased. Though, government records say only 14 elephants have died in the past five years in clashes with villager, non-governmental records put the figure at over 100.



In official records the reasons for these deaths have been reported as electrocution and poisoning. Activists suspect that villagers have resorted to poisoning the elephants in fear of forest laws.



WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?



Under the Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972, killing an elephant is punishable with a jail term extending to life imprisonment. If a person gets trampled by a stray elephant, the compensation entitled is Rs 5,000 and if crops get damaged, a compensation of Rs 2,000 could be granted.

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ALSO READ:

Man trampled to death by herd of elephants in Chhattisgarh

Woman trampled to death by elephant in Chhattisgarh



--- ENDS ---
Move aside dengue, this is the other mosquito-transmitted disease you need to pay attention to.

By Nikita Bhalla: If dengue was worrying you enough to keep you from stepping out of your home in the morning, here's another viral disease that you need protection from--chikungunya.

First observed in Africa in 1952, the virus has since then afflicted people in tropical regions across Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and beyond. While the Capital is coming to grips with a number of chikungunya cases that have sprung up lately, there have also been a few reports which talk of laboratory workers and health care professionals getting infected by the viral disease.

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Just like dengue, the disease that is spread to humans by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, chikungunya features a sudden onset of fever, two to four days after exposure. The fever usually lasts two to seven days, with accompanying debilitating joint pains that typically last for weeks or months and in some cases, even years.

One of the most important elements in treating chikungunya is correct diagnosis and distinguishing it from dengue, since both diseases are caused by the bite of the same mosquito.

Also read: Dengue strikes again; here's our go-to guide



We spoke to Dr Sushila Kataria, Associate Director, Internal Medicine, Medanta--The Medicity, Gurgaon, and Dr V.K. Aneja, Internal Medicine Doctor, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, and have listed the five most important facts about this deadly disease that is slowly taking a toll on the health of many across the country.

Spread by mosquitoes: Both the Aedes Aegypti and the Aedes Albapictus mosquitoes are responsible for transmission. Dr Kataria says, "A mosquito that bites an infected person will transmit the virus to an uninfected person when it bites them." Dr Aneja added, "These mosquitoes not only transmit chikungunya, but also dengue and yellow fever."

Appearance of symptoms: Dr Aneja said, "Symptoms will typically start to show within three to seven days of a mosquito bite, though the full range of incubation period can be from one to 12 days. Acute onset of high fever is common, along with joint pain. Other potential symptoms include headache, arthritis, conjunctivitis, nausea, vomiting, and maculopapular rash."

Difficult to diagnose: "The incubation period for chikungunya may last as long as 12 days, although the incubation period is normally three to seven days. Travellers often return home without even knowing they are infected. Chikungunya is not easy to diagnose, especially without laboratory testing, as the symptoms resemble dengue and other viruses," says Dr Aneja.

Also read: 11 ways to prevent viral infections this monsoon, plus tips to recover

Precaution is better than cure: Since there is no cure (Dr Kataria confirms that no approved vaccines currently exist), doctors suggest that precautionary measures must be taken to prevent the disease. Dr Aneja said, "The best way to protect yourself from chikungunya is to protect yourself against mosquitoes--take measures such as wearing long sleeves to protect your skin from bites and use insect repellents as and when necessary." Dr Kataria added, "Controlling breeding sites is an important line of defence. Empty containers that can hold water and act as mosquito breeding sites should be removed." .

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Treatment: "While currently no specific treatment is available, supportive care is usually advised. NSAIDS for Fever and joint swellings and Non-aspirin analgesics like paracetamol are recommended apart from fluids. Aspirin can increase the risk of bleeding and anti-inflammatory corticosteroids may cause immunosuppression and worsen the infection. They are therefore not recommended," says Dr Kataria.



--- ENDS ---
British teen confessed using erotic details from Fifty Shades of Grey to put false accusations of rape on her father.

By India Today Web Desk: In one of the most bizarre cases of rape accusations, a British teenager used vivid details from the popular sadomasochistic sex novel 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and blamed her father of eight counts of incestuous rape over a period of six years.



Her father's attorney Defence Barrister Cathy McCulloch wrote a detailed account of the entire episode in a blog. In it, McCulloch said that the girl not only described what her father did, but also how her body felt. However, the barrister sensed that there was something amiss with 'descriptions of how she felt which seemed beyond her years.'

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The only defence that her father had for his daughter's savage accusations were, 'I didn't do it' wrote McCulloch. The realisation of something fishy dawned upon the barrister when her client said his daughter had a favourite book, "about a millionaire who takes a young woman under his wing and teaches her about art."

Cathy McCulloch had never read 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and decided to give it a quick read. That's when she spotted, "too many striking similarities between the daughter's police interview and the book to be a coincidence."

On the second day of the trial, the McCulloch requested the to Judge suspended the court session for lunch so she could spend some time for preparing for the cross-examination with the girl and reading the novel.

The following day, when she confronted the daughter during cross-examination she confessed that she made the whole thing up because she was frustrated with her strict father and wanted to "teach him a lesson."

The father was quickly acquitted of all charges following the revelation, according to the lawyer's blog, "The Judge directed the jury to acquit, stating that this case is "unique" in the whole of his career at the Bar and Judiciary."





--- ENDS ---
The airline has received approval to operate flights to nine countries, including Iran, China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.

GoAir has received government's approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan. Photo: Reuters

By Press Trust of India: GoAir has received government's approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan, with the Wadia group airline now expecting to take to international skies early next year.

The approval for the Mumbai-based carrier which has been operating for over a decade, comes more than two months after the government eased the overseas flying norms for Indian airlines.

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GoAir GETS PERMIT

The airline has received approval to operate flights to nine countries, including Iran, China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, a senior official said.

"We have got approval to fly to nine countries. We expect to start international operations from the next summer schedule," GoAir Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told PTI.

Generally, the summer schedule commences from the last Sunday of March and extends to the last Saturday of October every year.

FIRST TO FLY TO CIS COUNTRIES

GoAir would be the first Indian private carrier to fly to any CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). CIS countries for which the carrier has got flying nod include Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan and Azerbaijan.

Currently under the air service agreements, Indian carriers can operate 31 weekly services to Iran, seven to Azerbaijan, Kazakhastan (21), Uzbekistan (18) and China (42). In case of Vietnam, Indian airlines are allowed to operate 28 weekly services and permitted unlimited operations from 18 select tourist destinations in India.

Under the bilaterals, the quota for seats and services are equal for airlines of the two countries concerned.

GoAir GOT PERMIT AFTER MEETING NORMS

GoAir currently has a fleet of 21 Airbus aircraft including two fuel-efficient A320 neos. It is the lone one among the established players that is yet to start overseas flights. Its peers- IndiGo and SpiceJet -- already operate international flights.

The erstwhile 5/20 norm, whereby local carriers were required to have at least five years of flying experience and a minimum of 20 aircraft to fly overseas, had restricted GoAir since it did not have the required number of planes to operate on international routes.

Only in June this year, GoAir saw its fleet rise to 20 planes with the induction of first A320 neos.

Around the same time, the government decided to do away with the 5/20 rule and replaced it with 0/20 norm as part of the new civil aviation policy.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Forget the bulky paperwork, you can now apply, validate and activate new pre-paid and post-paid mobile connections using your Aadhaar card and fingerprint at the point of sale.

The government today issued e-KYC guidelines to make the online process of application and authentication faster and simpler for subscribers.

In contrast to the existing document-based process, the move is intended to cut down time for SIM activation as KYC is verified instantly.

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In e-KYC, a customer through her Aadhaar number and biometrics will online authorise UIDAI to provide demographic details such as name, address, date of birth and gender, along with the digitally-signed photograph, to the mobile operator.

"Digitally-signed electronic KYC data provided by UIDAI is machine readable, making it possible for licensees to directly store it as customer record in their database for the purpose of issuing a mobile connection," a DoT notification said.

COAI Director General Rajan Mathews felt that the move will be helpful for all stakeholders as it simplifies activation, eases verification process and enhances security.

"Earlier, the entire verification process would last 8-10 hours and it will now be greatly reduced," he hoped.

Bharti Airtel plans to start rolling out Aadhaar-based e-KYC solutions this week, MD and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

Vodafone India termed the e-KYC solution as "an instant, secure and green mobile subscriber verification project" and said all stakeholders will benefit from it.

Customers will soon be able to walk in with their Aadhaar card in any of the Vodafone stores and walk out connected within minutes, the company statement read.

"For the consumer, instant activation means better experience and security of personal confidential information. For Vodafone, it will improve quality of sales as well as regulatory compliance. For the regulator, it not only means a green initiative, but hassle-free governance and accurate audit results," said Sunil Sood, MD and CEO, Vodafone India.

According to Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, the move will bring down the cost of subscriber acquisition significantly as telecom companies will not have to spend on physical transportation of forms, verification, scanning and storage.

"Also, it would help easier compliance and reduction in litigation on account of audit carried out by term cell," Joshi said. PTI MBI ARD

--- ENDS ---
In yet another inflammatory speech, wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed says India "forcibly" occupied Kashmir, asks Pakistan to send troops.

By Press Trust of India: In a fresh rhetoric, 26/11 attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has asked army chief General Raheel Sharif to send troops to Kashmir to "obey" the pending order of Pakistans founder Jinnah.

Addressing a rally held under the banner of Defence Council of Pakistan in Karachi on Sunday, Saeed claimed, "Kashmiris had announced before the partition that it wanted to remain with Pakistan. But after partition India forcibly sent army to Jammu and Kashmir. On this Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered commander-in-chief to respond by sending troops but he refused (to obey his orders). Now I ask Gen Raheel Sharif to send troops in (Jammu and) Kashmir as Quaid-e-Azams order is pending."

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NOT ASKING FOR INDO-PAK WAR, SAYS SAEED



He said that he is not asking for a war with India but they (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Raheel) must form a strategy with regard to Kashmir issue.

Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who carries a USD 10-million bounty on his head, asked Prime Minister Sharif to break his silence and respond to Modis strong statements on Kashmir and Balochistan.

ASKS PAKISTAN TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR KASHMIR



"Pakistan has become a war zone and innocent Kashmiris are being killed while Modi is talking of separating Balochistan. Why our prime minister is silent and reluctant to respond to Modi in the same manner," he asked.

He said Sharif should take relief goods to Chakothi then Kashmiris would believe that the Pakistani Prime Minister is with them.

A JuD caravan led by Talha Saeed, the son of Hafiz Saeed, had staged a sit-in at the Line of Control near Chakothi in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), demanding that India accept relief materials brought by them for Kashmiris.

ALSO READ: Exclusive: How jihadi sons of jihadi generals spearhead Hafiz Saeed's rallies



--- ENDS ---
In the last one week, Hafiz Saeed appeared on a couple of private news channels talk shows, openly accusing the Narendra Modi government of killing 'innocent' Kashmiris.

By India Today Web Desk: Amid the ongoing war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the Pakistan government has reportedly 'relaxed' the media regulatory authorities' ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, allowing him to appear on private TV channels to plug the cause of Kashmir.

In the last one week, Hafiz Saeed appeared on a couple of private news channels talk shows, mostly Neo TV, where the Mumbai attack mastermind openly accused the Narendra Modi government of killing 'innocent' Kashmiris.

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This came after the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in November last year directed all Pakistani television channels to not provide coverage to the JuD, its front Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and about 60 other proscribed organisations and their leaders. PEMRA warned electronic media of legal action, in terms of fine, suspension or cancellation of license, if they were found flouting the order.

The watchdog notification also banned all TV channels and FM radio from coverage of banned groups including LeT, JuD and FIF under UN restriction.

However, despite the order, the FIF continued to get electronic media coverage for its activities.

PEMRA's refusal to take notice of the order's violation shows that the Nawaz Sharif government has indeed 'silently' lifted the ban, once again allowing Hafiz Saeed and his organisations to appear on Pakistani TV channels.

"The matter was brought to the knowledge of PEMRA chief Absar Alam but he did not order issuance of show-cause notice to the private channels violating its order, suggesting there seems to be a direction from the information ministry in this regard," a source in PEMRA told PTI.

Earlier, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief challenged the PEMRA ban on him and his organisations in the Lahore High Court, where the case is still pending.

With inputs from PTI



--- ENDS ---
Run to the book shelf and get your copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone out. Trust us, you'd need to rummage through it after reading this.

By India Today Web Desk: When bits of human culture become legends, even errors become legendary--as is the case with the Harry Potter series.

For anyone who's ever been into the fantastical series, this comes as HUGE news. If you own a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, you may be in for a chance to get a HUGE sum of money.

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As it turns out, your Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone copy may be worth thousands of dollars, thanks to a typo that exists in only 500 hardback copies of the first novel by JK Rowling.

According to the Independent, the error occurred in a passage on page 53, in which the words, '1 wand' have been repeated twice. The words were used in context of the list of supplies first-year wizards were expected to bring with them to Hogwarts. *Runs to the book shelf*

I found a typo in the first Harry Potter book! "1 wand" is listed twice. @jk_rowling pic.twitter.com/mF5cDgN8jT alien girl (@danasclly) September 1, 2014

So, how much many can this error fetch me, you ask? Well, when it is put up for sale at London's Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts in November, your book (with the error) is even expected to bring in more than USD 33,000!

"As the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has a special place in the affections of the millions of readers across the world and the proof reading error about the wand in the first edition has, of course, become a treasured piece of Harry Potter arcana," Matthew Haley, the head of Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams, told the Independent.

Planning a world tour already, are we?

--- ENDS ---
Two Muslim women - both wearing hijabs - reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood in Chicago.

By Press Trust of India: A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spit at and called ISIS by a woman in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The two Muslim women - both wearing hijabs - reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood.

POLICE INACTION



The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.

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Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them ISIS.

A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...you ISIS! ...you ISIS!"

Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from others who witnessed the incident, which possibly upset her even more.

"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.

In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe.



IS TRUMP RESPONSIBLE?

"That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?"

Damras mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments.

"People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.

Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault.

However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry.

"Its very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi.

"To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said.

--- ENDS ---
Gaur, who was the Home Minister just before he was dropped from the Madhya Praesh cabinet reshuffle, attended an Independence Day function organized by a local Congress MLA and was seen waving the Congress party flag.

By Rahul Noronha: Former Chief Minister Babulal Gaur, who had been dropped from the Madhya Pradesh cabinet in the last reshuffle on grounds of advanced age, has baited his party, the BJP, once again.

Gaur, who was the Home Minister just before he was dropped, attended an Independence Day function on Monday organized by a local Congress MLA and was seen waving the Congress party flag.

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GAUR WAVES CONGRESS' FLAG

On Monday, Babulal Gaur was invited in Bhopal as chief guest in the annual paigam-e-mohabbat function, organized by Congress MLA Arif Aqueel, to mark Independence Day.

Gaur was, however, seen at the function waving a Congress flag.

From Monday evening onwards, pictures of Gaur waving the Congress flag went viral on social media.

The function was also attended by former leader of opposition and Congress MLA Ajay Singh.

GAUR TO JOIN CONGRESS?



After being dropped from the cabinet, Babulal Gaur has reiterated time and again that he is a loyal worker of the BJP and will not abandon the party.

Congress leaders openly made offers to Gaur to join the party but he refused.

However, during the monsoon session of the assembly, a combative Gaur was seen asking the government tough questions often cornering ministers in debates and discussions. This had prompted a newly-inducted minister, Surya Prakash Meena, to demand Gaur's dismissal from the party.

DID IT BY MISTAKE

Talking to India Today Digital, Gaur said waving the Congress flag was not intentional. "When I was handed over the flag to wave, I thought it was the National Flag. I did not realise that it had the Congress symbol of 'hand' on it. However, the moment I realised, I returned it," Gaur said.

But it is hard to believe what Gaur said because the size of the flag and the Congress symbol printed on it were quite big enough for anyone to miss. It may be possible that Gaur may indeed have intentionally waved the Congress flag. But now he is trying to feign ignorance in a bid to control the damage it may have on the political career of his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur, who, just on Sunday, has been named as BJP's state secretary.



Also Read:

Babulal Gaur at it again? Caught on cam touching woman inappropriately

Babulal Gaur, Sartaj Singh upset over Modi Cabinet rejig



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) India has extended a grant of USD one million to Zimbabwe, responding to an appeal by the African nation for help to deal with severe drought caused by El Nino phenomenon.

External Affairs Ministry said Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe R Masakui handed over the grant to Dr Misheck Sibanda, Chief Secretary to President Robert Mugabe.

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India also said logistical modalities are being worked out for donating 500 metric tonnes of rice as part of the second phase of assistance.

Zimbabwe is facing worst drought in two decades induced by the El Nino phenomenon, a warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, that devastated its agricultural sector. An estimated 2.4 million people are now facing food crisis in the country.

Sibanda thanked India for the quick response to its appeal and said his country was happy with the "sound relationship" between the two countries.

"Last week, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe handed over USD one Million to the Government of Zimbabwe as a grant from government of India in response to the appeal made by Zimbabwe.

"Accepting the grant, Misheck Sibanda, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet thanked for the quick response by the government of India," the External Affairs Ministry said.

Referring to the ties between the two countries, Sibanda talked about cooperation between the two countries in critical sectors of the economy such as small and medium enterprises, information communication technology, energy, education and pharmaceuticals. PTI MPB SK

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Karan Patel and Ankita Bhargava's love story was not exactly a fairytale one. In fact, the sudden annoucement of their wedding invited more brickbats than bouquets, as it happened not long after Karan's breakup with Kamya Punjabi. The couple have left all this behind and have happily completed a year of matrimony. In fact as evident from their social media PDAs, their bond is getting stronger with each passing day.



Off to #LONDON .... Much needed holiday with the only one needed @ankzbhargava ... Love you baby ..!!#London #Holiday #FavouriteCityInTheWorld #A380BusinessClass #TheySpoilYouToTheCore A photo posted by Karan Patel (@karan9198) on Jul 22, 2016 at 8:19pm PDT

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So when Karan Patel wrote an open letter to wifie via a daily, it covered the entire gamut of their journey they traversed through-- doubts, mistakes, understanding, promises, gratitude, togetherness and much more.



It's not the first time Karan Patel has expressed love for his wife in written words, but it is definitely the first time he has openly said sorry to her for putting up with a 'brat like him'--admitting that he is miserable at keeping promises. However, we appreciate his honesty and for this we give him full marks. Here's a look at the open letter he shared with The Times of India.

To,

My darling wife Ankita

The happiest birthday to the Best Wife in the world. I've said I love you a million times to you but I should have rather said I love you and THANK YOU. Thank you for putting up with a brat like me and making my life the beautiful poetry it has become. I've messed up far more number of times than anyone can imagine and you've been very patient and kept giving me chances to work upon myself. But today, I want to say SORRY for all the hurt and pain that my doings may have caused you. I cannot even in my wildest dreams think of taking my next breath without having you as my wife. I have been amazing at making promises but miserable at keeping them. So today, in the presence of everyone reading this, I want to make a few promises, which I will keep this time. I promise I will try not to repeat the mistakes I've made in the past. I promise I will try and bring more smiles on your face than tears in your eyes.

I promise I will try and be the person you want me to become. And lastly, I promise I will try to be a better person, if not a better husband. It's your birthday and you're supposed to be getting gifts, but I think God changed the tradition and gifted YOU to ME instead. So with each passing day, I want to thank God for sending his most precious angel to me as my wife. I am sorry and I truly, deeply, madly, insanely, addictively and crazily LOVE YOU TO DEATH...! So, ANKITA KARAN PATEL (my name never sounded better) wish you a very very happy birthday my love. May you be showered upon with all that you ever wished for.

God bless....

From,

Your not so perfect husband, Karan

But it's a perfect marriage nonetheless.

--- ENDS ---
While two civilians were killed and four others critically injured after police fired at a mob in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir today morning, one more youth died in Anantnag.

Fresh clashes in the Valley today led to the death of two civilians.

By India Today Web Desk: In the latest development in Kashmir, one protester was killed and ten others were injured today in Anantnag district in police firing.

Earlier in the morning, two civilians died and four others were critically injured after fresh clashes were reported in Budgam district.

A mob reportedly clashed with security forces in the Beerwah tehsil of Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir today morning, resulting in the police opening fire to bring the situation under control.

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This firing has also led to injuries to 15 other civilians. With the death of these two civilians, the death toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley has risen to 64.

"To bring the situation under control security forces opened fire," a senior police officer told news agency IANS.

The injured have been taken to a hospital.



Also Read Kashmir unrest enters 35th day, mobile networks, internet services suspended

TWO DEATHS ON MONDAY

On Monday, two more deaths were reported.

While a 20-year-old youth identified as Yaseer Ahmed of SD colony of Batmaloo locality in Srinagar was killed when a mob indulged in intense stone pelting, two other youths sustained bullet injuries.

Another civilian, identified as Ashfaq Ahmed, who was injured in a stone pelting clash in the Tangmarg area of Baramulla district two weeks back, also succumbed to his injuries on Monday evening.

More than 4,000 people, including security personnel and civilians, have been injured in the Kashmir unrest.

Read: Blame game continues: Mehbooba Mufti accuses Centre for Kashmir unrest

CURFEW, SHUTDOWN CONTINUES

Meanwhile, curfew and separatist shutdown continued in Kashmir today for the 39th consecutive day.

While the police said curfew and restrictions would continue in all 10 district headquarters in the Valley, the separatis groups extended their protest shutdown till August 18.



(With inputs from IANS).

Also Read:

Pakistan formally invites India for talks on Kashmir

Amartya Sen to India Today: Kashmir brutality biggest blot on our democracy



--- ENDS ---
NC Kashmir province president, Nasir Aslam Wani, issued a statement accusing the government at the Centre and the state for not showing any empathy or solidarity towards Kashmir.

By Naseer Ganai: Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has ridiculed the NDA government for talking about Balochistan when Kashmir is in deep mess.

"Six protestors dead in Kashmir in 24 hours but WTH let's go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in J-K at the moment!!!," Abdullah tweeted.

NC LEADER ATTACKS GOVERNMENT

Later NC Kashmir province president, Nasir Aslam Wani, issued a strong worded statement accusing the government at the Centre and the state for not showing any empathy or solidarity towards Kashmir.

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"Today, at a time when Kashmir is in dire need of a reconciliatory approach internally and a cooperative approach between India and Pakistan, New Delhi has turned the narrative into a tit-for-tat political point-scoring while the Valley continues to simmer with fresh spate of killings," Wani said.

"It's tragic that New Delhi is being encouraged by its alliance partner - the PDP - to talk about Balochistan rather than address the current unrest in Kashmir that has resulted in the loss of more than 60 young lives till now. The brutality and strife continues while the Prime Minister, cushioned by a pliant and apologetic Chief Minister in Srinagar choose to look westward towards Balochistan rather than showing empathy and solidarity towards Kashmir", Wani said.

The NC leader said that the same PDP, that had promised to facilitate a dialogue between India and Pakistan, is today led by a Chief Minister who wastes no opportunity to rebuke and ridicule Pakistan while endorsing a hawkish narrative that comes at a great disadvantage to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"What is happening in Kashmir today can be attributed neither to Pakistan nor to radicalisation. Mehbooba Mufti is well aware of this reality. The fact that she chooses to lie again and again to distort the narrative is a reflection on her lack of integrity and honesty", Wani added.

"Both late Mufti sahab and then Mehbooba Mufti had claimed their alliance with the BJP would become a reason for the BJP-led Central government to engage in dialogue with Pakistan for the resolution of all outstanding issues, especially the issue of Kashmir. Ironically while the PDP continues to be driven by the spoils of political power in the midst of mourning and grief in the Valley, New Delhi and Islamabad are drifting farther away from each other, than they have at any point in the recent past", Wani added.

HURRIYAT CONFERENCE TO HOLD MARCH

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference said, talking about Balochistan or Sindhi or Timbuktu to divert attention will in no way alter the reality of Kashmir. "The resilience and defiance of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in face of such oppression is a loud and clear message that they will not give up their struggle," he said.

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The Hurriyat Conference has called people to march towards the United Nations Military Observers Group at Gopkhar, Srinagar. The Hurriyat said wherever people will be stopped by the government forces, they will sit and protest peacefully.

Also read:

Modi government is aloof to Kashmir and its suffering: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Kashmir: 3 protesters killed in fresh clashes, death toll hits 65



--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Katrina Kaif has been in the news this year more for her break-up with Ranbir Kapoor than anything else. People woke up to the news that Ranbir and Katrina, among B-Town's most gorgeous couple, had parted ways, sometime in January this year.

ALSO READ: Katrina Kaif. Fawad Khan. Together. If looks could kill, this film will!

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ranbir Kapoor gets candid about Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Katrina Kaif and competition

ALSO READ: Are Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif friends again?

The break-up happened during the time Katrina was busy promoting her film Fitoor with co-star Aditya Roy Kapur. And now, seems like Kaif has found love in the arms of Kapur.

A report in Bollywood Life says that Katrina and Aditya have been secretly seeing each other on the lines of the Dream Team tour in the US these days. In fact, the website goes on to inform, Katrina and Aditya apparently have all their performances for the tour too together.

Katrina and Aditya were first seen on the big screen in Fitoor, that hit the screens this February. Back then, Katrina is rumoured to have confided a lot in Aditya. In fact, there were even rumours that Aditya was trying to get his Fitoor co-star and friend Ranbir to patch up. However, seems like fate had something else in store for the trio.

The Fitoor stars have been appreciated for their mind-blowing chemistry on the big screen. Right through the promotions of the film, Katrina and Aditya made several heads turn with the effortlessness with which the two dealt with the events.

Apart from the Dream Team tour, on the work front, while Katrina is busy with the pre-release work of her upcoming film Baar Baar Dekho, OK Jaanu is keeping Aditya on his toes.

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Sony TV's Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi might not be topping the TRP charts, but its niche audience love the show's fresh flavour and its refreshing lead pair--Shaheer Sheikh (Dev) and Erica Fernandes (Sonakshi).

If sources from the sets of KRPKAB are to be believed, the couple's off screen bonding is the reason behind their sparkling online chemistry. The duo like to spend a lot of time together on the sets and that has got the tongues wagging.

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Also read: Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi actor Shaheer Sheikh's new house is white and wonderful; see pics



Shaheer, who was earlier dating an Indonesian girl Ayu Ting Ting, however says they are not dating. "Erica is fun, but I am not dating her. People assume that we are dating because we spend a lot of time together on the set. I don't intend to get into a relationship and marriage is not in the pipeline for another couple of years," Shaheer told TOI.

Erica also denies the reports. "Shaheer and I are good friends. We enjoy each other's company as we have common interests. That's about it," she told the daily.

Meanwhile, in the serial, Dev and Sonakshi have broken up as the former's mother Ishwari has not agreed to their alliance. In the coming episodes, Ishwari will set up a match for Sonakshi and a new face will soon enter the show.

Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi airs Mon-Fri at 9:30 pm on Sony TV

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Machli, Ranthambore National Park's erstwhile queen, who was reported critically ill two days ago, died today.



Here is a heart-breaking video of Machli, breathing her last.

DISTURBING VISUALS. VIEWER'S DISCRETION ADVISED



Day before morning, Anurag Sharma, the man behind Tigerwalah, a professional wildlife travel and destination management company, shared a photo of Machli (T16) with a heartbreaking caption.

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The caption read, "The longest surviving tiger in wild and queen of Ranthambore -- Machli -- has been reported sick for last 4 days as she is confined to a small patch on the fringe of park. Forest department team including veterinary doctor are monitoring her condition but at this age of 19 years medical intervention could be risky. She has lived a glorious life so should be the way forward."

Here's the photo Tigerwalah shared:

Photo Courtesy: Forest Department



Machli is arguably the most loved tigress of Ranthambore. She is 19 years old and is probably the oldest surviving tiger in Ranthambore and in the world. Tigerwalah's blog states that Machli inherited her name from her mother, Machli I and more than half of the tigers in Ranthambore and Sariska are her descendants. Machli was camera friendly and is certainly the most photographed tigress of Ranthambore.

Photo: Harsh Nagpal

Anurag gives more details on Machli on his website, says, she as born during the 1997 monsoons and that she was a dominant cub in litter of 3 females.

"In less than two years, she started hunting on her own & even took over a part of her mother's territory. Her first mating was with Bamboo Ram, a huge male around April 2000 & gave birth to first litter of two male cubs named Broken Tale & Slant Ear. In April 2002 she again gave birth to a litter of three cubs but only two survived, named Jhumru & Jhumri. Her third litter was born around March 2005 named as Bunty & Babli. Despite losing two of her canines in summer of 2005, she not successfully reared this litter but to everyone's surprise gave birth to another litter of three females (her fourth) in monsoon of 2006.

Photo: Vijay Raghavan

History repeated itself when her own daughter from last litter T17 drove her out of her territory. Machli II has two prominent marks on her face - mark just above the eye & 'fish gills' or 'fork' like mark on her left cheek.

Photo: Zuzar Tinwalla

Those who have met Machli responded to Anurag's post and had heartwarming messages for Machli.

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When we spoke to Anurag for more updates, he said that Machli has localised her movement to a small stretch, and that she's lost her canines fighting and feasting on alligators and due to old age. At this age, medical supervision is risky because the doze of tranquliser required is tough to estimate and any miscalculation can lead to worsening her condition or even result in death.



Those who have seen and known Machli, and have interacted with her, says she lived a glorious life.

We hope she rocks it up there too!

--- ENDS ---
Accused Santosh Pol, who was arrested last Saturday and who is now being called 'Dr. Death', has revealed that he has killed five women and one man so far.

By Indo-Asian News Service: A Maharashtra medico - arrested on the charge of kidnapping and killing an 'aanganwadi' worker - has confessed to murdering at least six persons by administering lethal overdoses of medicines, police said.

Satara's Wai Police Station Inspector Padmakar Ghanvat said accused Santosh Pol, who was arrested last Saturday and who is now being called 'Dr. Death', has revealed that he has killed five women and one man so far.

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Wai is a small picturesque town at the base of the Mahableshwar-Panchgani twin hill stations, famous for many Bollywood film shootings.

Pol's alleged crimes came to light after police began to investigate the suspicious disappearance of 49-year-old Mangal Jedhe, President of the Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS).

"She had left Wai for Pune to attend to her daughter's delivery, but never reached there," said MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan.

Police said that investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his (Pol's) alleged shady and criminal activities.

MODUS OPERANDI

Pol and his associates, including nurse Jyoti Mandre, allegedly kidnapped Jedhe as she waited at the Wai bus depot and took her to Pol's farmhouse around 13 km from Wai. The following day, Pol and Mandre allegedly administered her an overdose of a lethal medicine and killed her.

They buried the body at an isolated spot in the farmhouse, after which both Pol and Mandre went underground.

After Jedhe's sudden disappearance, the MPPSSS demanded an investigation by the state CID, following which police traced Mandre who is said to have spilled the beans on Pol's whereabouts.

Police tracked down Pol to a place in Dadar in central Mumbai and arrested him on August 13. He was remanded in police custody for a week while Mandre was sent to four-day police custody.

Pol allegedly admitted to killing Jedhe and burying her at his farmhouse, after which police recovered the victim's remains.

Police said Pol claimed he was in a relationship with Jedhe and Mandre, but since Jedhe was jealous of his affair with Mandre and threatened to expose them (Pol and Mandre), they decided to eliminate her.

CONFESSION

It was in police custody that Pol allegedly confessed that he had actually killed at least five women and one man in the past few years.

He told his interrogators that five women were buried at his country home, while one male victim's body had been thrown into a local water reservoir. All the victims were declared 'missing' by local authorities.

Ghanvat said police was making efforts to recover the other four bodies from Pol's farmhouse.

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Besides Jedhe, the missing victims were tentatively identified as Salma Shaikh, Jagabai Pol, Surekha Chikane, Vanita Gaikwad and Nathmal Bhandare, but police say the exact details will be known only after investigation.

Pathan said that since 2003, at least a dozen women have been reported missing from Wai and surrounding villages and demanded a police probe into all those cases.

Police said Pol's crimes were driven by lust and robbery. He used his medical knowledge to eliminate his victims when they threatened to expose him.



ALSO READ:



Gruesome murder of youth brings back memory of infamous Kolkata 'stoneman' killings

Chennai: Man kills family, stays with the bodies for two days

All you need to know about the brutal Nirbhaya-like rape case of Kerala

--- ENDS ---
State Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant said that both donors and recipients will now be linked via Aadhar card that will prevent fake donors from selling their kidneys for monetary gains.

By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: In order to bring transparency in organ transplants, the Maharashtra government has decided to formulate SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) to help the administration to identify both organ donors and recipients.

Speaking to reporters in Mantralay, State Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant said that both donors and recipients will now be linked via Aadhar card that will prevent fake donors from selling their kidneys for monetary gains. Both the donor and recipients will be shown a video explaining the implications, complications and hazards of kidney transplant.

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This step comes in the wake of the alleged kidney transplant racket at the Hiranandani hospital in Mumbai. Mumbai-based L.H. Hiranandani Hospital's CEO and four doctors were recently arrested in connection with the racket.

"Once the SOPs are finalised , the Lacunae in the Organ Transplantation Act will also be done away with," Dr Sawant.

The health minister also said that the state government would form a committee, headed by the minister himself, to formulate the SOPs in the next two weeks. Others in the committee would include a urologist, a nephrologist, members of the Medical Council and legal cell of government as well as private doctors.

--- ENDS ---
An entire barrack with 13 rooms of different size was found, it opens with a 20-ft tall gate and a ramp on the western side.

The bunker spread over an area of more than 5,000 square feet has rooms bearing the name shell store, gun shell, cartridge store, shell lift, pump, workshop etc.

By Sahil Joshi: A 150-meter long underground British era bunker which had been closed for several decades was discovered by Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao inside the Raj Bhavan complex at Malabar Hill. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is expected to visit the bunker late in the evening today.

BUNKER BEHIND WALL

The governor accompanied by his wife Vinodha visited the bunker on Thursday, after which the governor expressed his intention to consult experts from various fields to preserve it.

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About three months ago, when the governor was informed by old-timers that there exists a tunnel inside Raj Bhavan, he asked to get it opened.

The tunnel is 150 meter long, 3 meter wide and height is around 12 feet. Bunker is spread over area of 5000 sq ft. (Photo: Twitter@Dev_Fadnavis)

On August 12, when the staff of the Public Works Department at Raj Bhavan broke open a temporary wall that closed the entrance to the bunker on the eastern side, they were surprised.

ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND BUNKER

Instead of an underground tunnel, an entire barrack with 13 rooms of different size was found. The bunker opens with a 20-ft tall gate and a ramp on the western side.

Tunnel has several spaces created on its both sides to store arms and ammunition.It also has rooms for people to live. (Photo: Twitter@Dev_Fadnavis)

There are long passages and small to medium rooms on either side.The bunker spread over an area of more than 5,000 square feet has rooms bearing the name shell store, gun shell, cartridge store, shell lift, pump, workshop etc.

There are also scores of lamp recesses in the gangway. Even though the bunker was apparently closed after independence, it was found to be surprisingly intact. Interestingly the entire underground bunker has a drainage system and inlets for fresh air and light.

Tunnel starts from a big workshop type area and is built with lots of ventilation and drainage area. (Photo: Twitter@Dev_Fadnavis)

HISTORY OF RAJ BHAVAN

According to the History of Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Raj Bhavan, formerly known as 'Government House' served as the residence of British governors since 1885 when Lord Reay turned it into a permanent residence.

Prior to 1885, the Malabar Hill residence served as the summer residence of the British governors. The Government House at Parel served as the governor's residence before 1885.



--- ENDS ---
Due to utter carelessness of administration and kite flyers, a three-year-old girl lost her life in Delhi as her throat got slit by a kite thread, which is now called the Killer Manjha.

By Himanshu Mishra: On the Independence Day, the joy of freedom turned into mourning for the Goyals of Rani Bagh in Delhi. Their 3-year-old princess, Sanchi got her throat slit by a kite thread, called Manjha. Her only fault was that she looked out of the car, she was traveling in.

The incident took place on Monday evening when Sanchi was having a fun time with her parents in their Honda City car. She was standing on her mother's lap and looking out of the roof window of the car with her father, Alok Goyal at the driving seat. While she was having best of her times, a dangling Manjha slit her throat.

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JOY TURNS SORROW

When Sanchi hit the killer Manjha and cried, her parents thought that she was screaming out of joy. They realised the incident only when she fell back in her mother lap with lots of blood coming out of her throat and Manjha stuck in the slit.

Sanchi was rushed to the nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead by the doctors, who attended her. Killer Manjha did not give her enough time.

CASE REGISTERED

Police have registered a case of negligence against unknown persons. Meanwhile, the bereaved family demanded a total ban on lethal kite thread.

A similar incident took place in Vikaspuri area of west Delhi on Monday, when a biker got his throat slit by a kite thread.







ALSO READ:

Motorcyclist dies after his neck gets slit by kite thread



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Mumbai, Aug 16 (PTI) Reserve Bank Deputy Governor S S Mundra today called for increasing the credit absorption capacity of the farm sector to make agri-lending more sustainable.

"In agriculture, there is a year-by-year increase in targets which are accepted and are being achieved. But Id believe that there is a limit to it," he said at the annual Fibac conference here.

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"Unless there is an improvement in the credit absorption capacity of the farm sector, it (agri-lending) would be risky," he warned.

It can be noted that every year, the government sets a direct agri-lending target for banks. The Narendra Modi administration has set a target to double farm income by 2022.

Though typically farmers get crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at 7 per cent interest, the effective rate for them is only 4 per cent as the rest is subsidised by the government.

The 2016-17 Budget had set a target to double farmers income by 2022, and had allocated nearly Rs 36,000 crore for the farm sector while raising agri-credit target to Rs 9 trillion for this fiscal, from Rs 8.5 trillion in 2015-16.

Banks are also supposed to ensure 42 per cent of their overall advances is towards priority sector lending (PSL). As the overall credit growth increases, the quantum of funds going to the farm sector also goes up, Mundra said.

He also said land reforms, investments, a full ecosystem which involves insurance schemes, value chain, distribution and supply can help in increasing the capacity of agriculture sector to absorb credit. PTI AA HV BEN NRB ABM

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also called off his visit to the SAARC conference in Pakistan. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das is likely to represent India, sources said.

By India Today Web Desk: The war of words between India and Pakistan further intensified with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today comparing a visit to the country as "going to hell". WATCH VIDEO



Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also called off his visit to the SAARC conference in Pakistan. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das is likely to represent India, sources said.

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"Our soldiers sent back five terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell," Parrikar said, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at Pakistan for supporting terrorism.

"Pakistan has encouraged terrorism, and now they are facing the consequences of that policy," Parrikar said.

MILITANT ATTACK



Five militants were killed on Monday as the army foiled a major infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Kashmir. It was the fourth infiltration bid foiled by the army along the LoC in Kashmir in the past three weeks, killing 12 militants.

Incidentally, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry had on Monday invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to visit Islamabad for talks on Jammu and Kashmir, which India considers its internal matter.

India and Pakistan dispute the ownership of Jammu and Kashmir. While Pakistan holds the northern third of the state, which is called the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), India has the southern two-third.

In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Modi had openly came out in support of "freedom" for PoK and Balochistan, another disputed territory within Pakistan. In a first for any Prime Minister in an August 15 address, Modi referred to alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan and the part of Kashmir Pakistan controls .

THE RAJNATH EXPERIENCE

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had a bitter experience during his visit to Islamabad to attend the SAARC Interior Ministers' meet on August 4. His Pakistani counterpart Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan broke protocol and showed discourtesy by remaining absent from the lunch hosted by him during the break. Taking exception to the Khan's incivility, the Indian delegation skipped the lunch and ate it inside the hotel room instead. Further, when Singh and other delegates left Pakistan, there were no senior officers from the hosts.

While Singh, during his address, had sought to put Pakistan in a spot for calling terrorists as martyrs, Khan deviated from his written speech and sought to implicate India over alleged atrocities in Kashmir.

Even the Indian news agencies were blocked from covering the event. "ANI, PTI and Doordarshan were not allowed inside the SAARC meet," Singh had himself confirmed this in Parliament the next day.

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Modi stumps Pakistan, refers to Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK from Red Fort



--- ENDS ---
This woman lost the ability to walk after a traumatic accident but she stood up and learnt to walk again, all for love. Not just pictures but the mesmerising scene was also painted on a canvas.

By India Today Web Desk:

Couple Jaquie and Andy were in deep love. Recently they took their love to the next level and got married. This joy was amplified when the bride Jaquie walked down the aisle for her marriage but it was not an easy path that she took.

Jaquie lost the ability to walk after a traumatic accident. On July 12, 2008, Jaquie Goncher went to a friend's place and when she went inside the pool, she broke her neck and it paralysed her. After the surgery, the doctor told her mother that she would never walk again.

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But this did not hold her back from anything as she made it her goal to walk down the aisle on her big day.

This did not come easy as she went through a really hard and grueling physical therapy for an entire year to turn her dream into a mesmerizing reality.

Doing planks and lifting weights, crunching abs and pushing leg machines, standing on a bosu ball and learning to maintain the balance, this is everything Jaquie did to walk again.



Here is in photos, the wedding, the painting, and how she battled through all the odds.

The couple Jaquie and Andy.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

Walking down the aisle.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

Standing up against all the odds.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

Tears of joy.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

The celebration.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

Jaquie's mother hired a painter to paint the first dance.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

A sheet of empty canvas.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

The dance.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

And the painting.

Photo: Imgur by iamnotmaggie

--- ENDS ---
Pink police will monitor crowded areas from 8 AM to 8 PM and will be available on the toll free number 1515.

By India Today Web Desk: Make way for Kerala's Pink Police. No, they are not Kerala's fashion police but these women officers are deputed to ensure women's security improves in the state.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinari Vijayan inaugurated 'Pink Patrol' on August 15 and the Kerala Police has already deployed three women patrol teams in Thiruvananthapuram.

For now, five cars have been allotted by the state to the Pink Police.

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More such teams aiming to improve women security will be deployed in other districts by the police. The patrol team will consist of only women officers and the cars will be equipped with GPS tracking devices and cameras.

Pink police will monitor crowded areas from 8 AM to 8 PM, and will be available on the toll free number 1515.

The members of this team are specially trained female officers and will monitor security at bus stops, crowded areas, schools and hangout places. They will be initially working with a special wing constituted five years ago for crime prevention and resolution, and will be under supervision of city Police Commissioner G Sparjan Kumar.

However, the name of the team is another example of how gender stereotypes function and are deep-rooted.





--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Earlier, rumours were rife that there was a cold war between actor Shruti Haasan with Gautami over Shruti's costumes in the film. Reports also suggested that Shruti Hassan was allegedly involved in an ugly fight with Gautami that resulted in a day's shoot being called off.



ALSO READ: Kamal Haasan- My accident is silly, just like Amitabh's one in the '80s



ALSO READ: Sabash Naidu- Kamal Haasan to resume shoot from September

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Setting the record straight and putting an end to all the rumour mongering, her spokesperson said, "Being someone who's a fashion favourite and followed extensively for her style, it comes as no surprise to see Shruti's clear-minded approach to even her looks in her film. While being very hands on, she also ensures she's collaborating with the producer and director to freeze on her look so that everyone's vision is taken into account. Her role in her father's film is that of a young, feisty girl who's grown up in Los Angeles, who uses fashion as an expression of her quirky and devil-may-care attitude."

"Keeping this brief in mind, Gautami brought in a set of clothes for Shruti when the look test was happening in the pre-production stage. Styling being a collaborative and subjective effort, needs inputs from the producer, director and the actor and giving the stylist feedback, redoing looks etc. is standard procedure. The core team mutually felt the look needed more to be added and specific feedback was shared with Gautami. Being a thorough professional herself, Gautami understood and brought in a new set of clothes which seemed to work better. Shruti in fact, added in elements from her own closet to help Gautami and to really make the looks work given that she has lived in LA herself and is someone with a very distinctive sense of style."

Speaking about their rapport off-screen, a source close to the industry said, "Shruti and Gautami have always shared a good equation. Shruti and her dad share a very lovely and open relationship thanks to which Shruti has been very welcoming of Gautami into their little family. Gautami was present in Chennai for Shruti's birthday bash as well and their comfortable chemistry was there for all to see."

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan, who is currently recovering from a leg injury, will join the sets of his upcoming comedy trilingual flick Sabash Naidu from the second week of September.



--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Salman Khan and Iulia Vantur haven't made anything about their relationship official yet. But for the last few years, the two and their relationship have been the topics of discussion in innumerable gossip columns.

PHOTOS: Salman Khan and Iulia Vantur meet the Dalai Lama in Ladakh

PHOTOS: Salman Khan and Iulia Vantur party all night to celebrate the success of Sultan

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PHOTOS: Iulia Vantur celebrates her 36th birthday with Salman and Khan-daan



From a wedding date for Salman Khan sometime towards the end of this year, to rumours of the two already being engaged... the grapevine has done its bit for the Salman-Iulia love story.

Iulia, who hails from Romania, is a TV personality. And back in her country, people seem to be a step ahead of us Indians. Romanian tabloid Click has already been calling Iulia 'Doamna Khan', says a report in Mumbai Mirror. 'Doamna Khan', roughly translated to English, means 'royal Mrs Khan'.

While Romanian media is busy ringing wedding bells for Salman and his ladylove, the couple is yet to come out in the clear about all of it. Salman has been exceptionally tight-lipped about his relationship with Iulia, taking the aid of witty retorts and roundabout answers whenever a question on the subject is thrown at him.

Just a few days ago, however, Salman and Iulia met the Dalai Lama in Leh, Ladakh, where Khan's film Tubelight was being shot. Over the last couple of months, the couple has stopped worrying about the prying eyes of the paparazzi, and have been snapped together on dinners several times.

If rumours are anything to go by, Salman and Iulia are tying the knot by the end of 2016. Not sure if the media in Romania is better informed than us on the million-dollar question: Are Salman and Iulia already married?

--- ENDS ---
Harish, a class 12th student, fell into a 120 feet deep well while taking a selfie and died on the spot.He was a resident of Peelamedu near Coimbatore.

By Pramod Madhav: A student studying in class 12th died unfortunately while allegedly taking a selfie on Monday.

Harish, a student residing at Peelamedu near Coimbatore, went along with his friends on a sightseeing trip to enjoy nature on Independence Day.

WHAT HAPPENED

He noticed a huge well dug in a field, which was nearly 120 feet deep. Harsh wanted to take a selfie while standing on the protective wall.

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As he leaned inside the well to show the actual depth, Harish slipped and fell into it.

Hearing the screams of Harish's friends, villagers tried to jump into the well but did not as it was too deep.

Fire service rushed to the spot but were informed that Harsh had already died.

The well is close to 120 feet deep with a water level of 60 feet making it very hard to see.

His friends said that he loved modelling and taking photographs.

All he wanted to do was to click a picture of himself while showing the depth of the well in the background. And this one photograph turned fatal for him.

Also Read:

Die another day: Tourism ministry tells states to mark selfie danger zones

Couple drowns in sea while taking selfie in Kanyakumari

UP: Another athlete falls and drowns while taking selfie

Watch:

The killer selfie: India has highest number of selfie deaths



--- ENDS ---
Biles had been favorite to win her fourth gold medal of the Rio Games but drew gasps as she lost her balance during the event on Tuesday.

By Reuters: Dutch gymnast Sanne Wevers changed her game plan at the last minute on Monday after American Simone Biles lost her footing on the beam, and it paid off when she became the first woman from her country to win an individual gymnastics gold.

Biles had been favorite to win her fourth gold medal of the Rio Games but drew gasps as she lost her balance after a front somersault and had to grab the beam with both hands to stop herself falling. (Full Coverage - Rio Olympics)

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In a sport where athletes are judged on the sum of two scores - a "D-score" for difficulty plus a mark for quality of execution - Wevers said she had originally planned to go all out with her hardest routine.

"That was actually the plan but after I saw her score I was like 'OK, maybe just be safe and be as high as possible on my D-score, but also really watch my execution'," she said. (Also read: Pole Vaulter Thiago Braz wins Brazil its second Gold in Rio)

Performing immediately after Biles, she adjusted her D-score to 6.6 from 7.0 and executed a graceful routine featuring numerous spins, including a triple.

Having qualified only fourth for the final, she finished with a score of 15.466, with Laurie Hernandez of the United States taking the silver with 15.333 and Biles the bronze on 14.733.

On her way to talk to reporters, Wevers was congratulated in person by King Willem-Alexander -- "He just said he was really proud of me" -- and fielded a phone call from Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

"To be out there and do my best routine ever in such a big final, it's amazing," she said.





--- ENDS ---
Speaker after speaker at the Imam's funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.

Community members pray during the funeral service of Imam Maulama Akonjee, and Thara Uddin in the Queens borough of New York City (Photo:Reuters)

By Reuters: A New York man was charged on Monday with second-degree murder in the death of a New York Muslim imam and his assistant, who were gunned down at the weekend, a police spokesman said.

The charges against Oscar Morel, 35, of Brooklyn, came just hours after hundreds of mourners gasthered for the outdoor funeral of the two men. The killings in the borough of Queens had shocked the neighborhood's Bangladeshi community.

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CHARGE

Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, the police spokesman said.

He also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The spokesman did not disclose any possible motive for the shooting.

Morel had been questioned by police following his arrest on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday, the day of the shootings.

Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head at close range after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Queens' Ozone Park section.

Police told a briefing before the charges were announced that a suspect being questioned was an Hispanic man from Brooklyn.

NO CONNECTION WITH THE MURDER VICTIMS

Police said there was still no known connection between the man being questioned and the murder victims.

"We believe because of the evidence we have acquired thus far that, this is the individual," New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said when asked if he could reassure the rattled community.

CALL FOR JUSTICE

Speaker after speaker at the funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.

"We want justice," Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque, shouted to the crowd in the service's opening speech.

"We want justice," responded the mourners, most of them men dressed in Islamic garb.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.

Police had said earlier that there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.

Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the brazen daylight killings and said such a crime was rare in the normally quiet neighborhood.

ALSO READ:

Indian Muslim mans shop in US vandalised with hate graffiti



UK records 6,193 post-Brexit hate crimes





--- ENDS ---

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Even during the last month, several cases of cruelty against animals emerged in Hyderabad. In one incident 8 minors had burnt 3 puppies alive while filming the entire incident on a mobile camera while in another incident a youth was seen shooting dogs with a gun.

By Ashish Pandey: In a bizarre case the Hyderabad police has booked a case against several people under sector 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after three stray dogs were found shot dead in the city.

STRAY DOGS SHOT

Three stray dogs were shot dead by unidentified persons in a farm house at Alluri Sitaramaraju Nagar in Gudimalkapur suburb on Monday evening.

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The locals alerted the Tappachabutra police about the incident and later, police found three dogs bleeding with gun shot wounds.

Speaking to India Today Inspector B Ravindra told "We discovered that someone shot the dogs on an eight-acre farm house adjoining the colony. The farm house belongs to a realtor called Akbar Nijamuddin,".

INVESTIGATION ONGOING

Police are still investigating the incident after registering a case under Section 429 (Mischief by killing or maiming any animal of the value of Rs 50) of IPC.

Police grilled the workers of the farm house about the incident, and summoned the owner of the property for questioning.

Investigators have not yet identified the weapon used in the crime or if the farm house owner or someone close to him was involved in the incident.

Even during the last month, several cases of cruelty against animals emerged in Hyderabad. In one incident 8 minors had burnt 3 puppies alive while filming the entire incident on a mobile camera while in another incident a youth was seen shooting dogs with a gun. He was subsequently arrested by the police.

ALSO READ:

Doggone Hyderabad: Canine shot dead, puppies burnt alive in two animal cruelty cases

Humanity at its worst: Man throwing dog off the roof identified as medical student from Chennai





--- ENDS ---
From union ministers to senior party leaders, almost all are trying their bit to connect to the farthest and remotest reaches of the country.

Anurag Thakur rallied in his latest style by donning a moustache best suited for his recently achieved honour as Lieutenant of Territorial Army. Photo: Manogya Loiwal

By Manogya Loiwal : From the highest motorable road in the world to the remotest village, from daring landslides in Himachal to challenging heavy thundershowers in Lucknow, BJP party leaders are doing almost anything to ensure that the Tiranga Yatra is a success.

Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day, the Yatra intends to ensure a connect across the nation with political leaders walking, rather biking, that extra mile.

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And this time age is not the bar but it's rage that is in vogue.

From union ministers to senior party leaders, almost all are trying their bit to connect to the farthest and remotest reaches of the country.

Minister of State of Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, almost tested his biking skill on the highest motorable road of the world. By riding on more that 18,380 feet above sea level, Rijiju took the flag fluttering on one of the highest platforms too.



Kiren Rijiju took the flag fluttering on one of the highest platforms. Photo: Manogya Loiwal

Daring the chilly weather at this height, the minister was joined by many other enthusiasts in the Tiranga Yatra.

However, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, rode pillion with the tricolour in the remote tribal villages of Bonai and areas of his own constituency Sundergarh in Odisha.

Bringing the tricolour to the farthest reaches in Odisha too was a challenge, courtesy, no motorable roads in the region.

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, rode pillion with the tricolour in the remote tribal villages of Bonai in Odisha. Photo: Manogya Loiwal

Thronged by thousands of youth, Anurag Thakur, who plays multiple roles from being an MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh to BCCI president to Chief of All India Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, rallied in his latest style by donning a moustache best suited for his recently achieved honour as Lieutenant of Territorial Army.

As a part of the campaign Anurag Thakur is likely to traverse a distance of more that 700 kilometres with approximately 30,000 bikers on 800 bikes in just a matter of four days, making it a unique historic event.

What makes it even more challenging are the turbulent weather conditions and landslides across Himachal but that does not deter Anurag from wearing the helmet and leading the riders too.

Rajyavardhan Rathore and Piyush Goyal rode a stretch of 25 kms from Khatipur to Dhanakya Village in Jaipur. Photo: Manogya Loiwal

Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Mines, New and Renewable Energy were full of energy in real terms as they rode a stretch of 25 kms from Khatipur in Jaipur to Dhanakya Village.

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Rathore said, "Today's time there are so many issues that divide, unite the whole country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effort is to bring it to the people. Tricolour is beyond any government school event and it belongs to the people and so let the people carry the flag."

Mahendra Singh dared the rain almost drenched but kept the flag fluttering high. Photo: Manogya Loiwal

But there is always a dampness in the monsoon and perhaps that's what happened in Lucknow. Senior party leader and the man who scripted BJP's victory in Assam, Mahendra Singh, dared the rain almost drenched but kept the flag fluttering high along with the spirit of the party workers who had gathered for a mega bike rally as a part of Tiranga Yatra.

With Uttar Pradesh elections just a few months away, the party is leaving no stone unturned to garner the support of the youth and what could be a better place for it but the state capital of Lucknow. After all, all that matters in politics is the masses!



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--- ENDS ---
From Chris Gayle yelling in happiness to a gunfire scare erupting at JFK airport in New York, here's what followed Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt's latest Olympics win.

By India Today Web Desk: On Sunday night, world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, won the men's 100 meters sprint at the Olympics grounds in Rio, snatching away the gold medal with his 9.81-seconds dash.

And as he did that, the world went crazy.

While on one hand people celebrated the victory and Bolt's performance, in some places, the celebrations probably went a tad bit overboard. Take a look at some of these, well, 'events' that followed:

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Bolt winds, JFK cries 'guns'

Passengers at New York's John F Kennedy airport were hurriedly evacuated minutes after Bolt's victory, after police received reports of gunfire. Of course, chaos ate the place whole as authorities tried to keep their calm and save lives before things turned for the worse.

However, after the panic died down, no one seemed to determine the gunfire. No guns, no shell casings or spent rounds were recovered. In fact, there wasn't even any witnesses who saw anyone with a gun.

Now, police are considering the possibility that it was the boisterous celebration over Bolt's victory that lead to a false alarm.

An internal New York Police Department briefing document said a preliminary video review showed that some travelers had started to act "extremely disruptive" while watching the Olympics on televisions in Terminal 8.

That, possibly set off the chain reaction of panic. Then, at 9:34 p.m., about seven minutes after Bolt's run, police received an anonymous 911 call from a woman reporting gunshots in the terminal.

Looking at the cellphone footage that a freelance cinematographer, Albert Salas, captured during the gunfire scare, we think perhaps people should stick to watching the news when at the airport.



Bolt wins, Chris Gayle cheers

By the looks of it, Bolt has a sworn admirer in Chris Gayle. And it seems he knew how the men's 100 meters sprint would end.

Gayle posted this video on social media yesterday, in which he can be seen cheering Bolt through the TV screen along with his family and friends.

Just as Bolt crosses the finishing line, Gayle and the party bursts into roaring cheers.



Bolt wins, Grandpa gets groovy

The best of all the reactions, however, is this grandpa's dance.

A Twitter user uploaded a video clip of his grandfather's reaction to Bolt's sprint. From the moment the Olympian sets off for the race till he crosses the finishing line, the grandpa's bated-breath reaction proves what an admirer he is.

And in the end, that victorious dance that he breaks into after Bolt wins is just hands-down incredible.

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Check it out right here:





My grandfather reaction when Bolt just ran lol..... pic.twitter.com/sYiCVrGQEC ? Aug 15 ? (@ShantiDaGOAT) August 15, 2016





--- ENDS ---
Has absconding businessman Vijay Mallya launched a new venture abroad as agencies discover four new accounts related to Vijay Mallya in France?

By Atir Khan: Investigating agencies have found four new bank accounts of absconding business tycoon Vijay Mallya. All the bank accounts have been discovered in France.

These bank accounts are related to a company registered in France. His daughters have been mentioned as the founding members of the company. The accounts were first operated in October, 2015.

MALLYA'S NEW VENTURE IN FRANCE?

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The agencies are also probing Vijay Mallya's connections with a French company, called SCI 32 Avenue Foch?. This company started its operations in September, 2015. The registration number of the company is 813497989.

Leena Mallya and Tanya Mallya are founding members of this company. Both are Vijay Mallya's daughters.

Interestingly, Vijay Mallya has been described as manager in this company. Indian agencies have contacted counterparts in France for getting details.



ALSO READ:

Fresh trouble brews for Mallya; CBI registers cheating case

UBL withholds Rs 1.64 cr payment to Mallya



--- ENDS ---
Indian leather should have a bigger share

Redwood comment

In 2015 the per capita GDP of China was US$7990 while that of India was only $1617. Quite frankly this is astonishing. Looking back at the China and India I visited first in the early 1980s India was far ahead, and the factories in China were truly reminders of a different, rather primitive, age. Trying to get sensible meetings with staff who worked in dreadful offices along the Bund was difficult and getting round Shanghai, which was just seething with bicycles and poverty, was extremely hard.

Not that getting around Shanghai these days is that easy, congested as it is with traffic, but the modern city the global leather industry descends on in two weeks time is continuously being transformed and developed. And the meetings we will be having are less about the leather industry of today but more about how it will look tomorrow and the role that an already highly developed China will play in it, now that it's era of cheap labour and low added value manufacture is over.

What meantime, about India? The leather trade there grew initially out of its large and strong raw material supply with a long period making famous E.I. leather that was priced in auctions in Amsterdam and London. European tanners built up fantastic expertise to turn this material into some superb leathers. A shockwave ran through Europe in the 1970s when India stopped this trade and decided to finish out all its own leathers. Papers were written to prove that this just involved importing expensive chemicals for little increase in selling price, but India took no notice as it was the jobs in shoemaking, garments and leather goods it really wanted.

So began the building of quite an advanced tanning industry with a number of outstanding companies, and an Indian leather industry that did grow beyond the size of just its domestic raw material supply, but never by very much. It built strong, and apparently enduring, relationships with major brands but when Korea and Taiwan became too expensive for making footwear and other products from leather in the late 1980s it rarely figured as a potential destination.

Consequently, the Indian trade stayed powerful but did not grow as expected, losing out to China where all things leather not only expanded but developed and grew so much so that some American brands found it valid to transfer leather footwear sourcing from Brazil to put it into China: one country, one low price, one product of high quality and service that won the day.

So it is timely that as China becomes expensive and all major companies reconsider their supply networks that India has started its Make in India campaign. Yet it is not clever to get involved in what feels like a contrived campaign against those who collect the raw material, and feeds the publicity wagon much more strongly than the quality of the leather. Add this to the effluent plant deaths in Calcutta and greater Chennai, along with the weak enforcement of environmental regulations in Kanpur, the image of Indian Leather is tarnished before it reaches the start. No wonder that the battle is now with re-emerging countries like Portugal.

That background makes it hard for even the best tanners to build to their full potential under a Make in India banner. Now is the moment to take decisive action, and to be able to announce being part of the "Tannery of the Future" in Shanghai.

Mike Redwood

mike@internationalleathermaker.com

Follow Mike Redwood on twitter: @michaelredwood

Publication and Copyright of "Redwood Comment" remains with the publishers of International Leather Maker. The articles cannot be reproduced in any way without the express permission of the publisher.
According to the State Departments Report, The penal code specifies the death sentence for proselytizing and attempts by non-Muslims to convert Muslims, as well as for moharebeh (enmity against God) and sabb al-nabi (insulting the prophets).

Executions for these charges continue to be carried out in Iran.

Disproportionate levels of arrests, harassment and surveillance targets Christians, particularly evangelicals and converts, according to the Report for 2015, released on August 10, 2016.

The Report goes on to say that, under the Iranian constitution, Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only recognized religious minorities permitted to worship freely and to form religious societies, although proselytizing is prohibited.

The regime recently executed at least 20 Sunni Kurds, sparking criticism and protests across the globe. A number of other prisoners, including several Sunni preachers, remained in custody awaiting a government decision to carry out their death sentences. According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center database, at least 250 members of minority religious groups remained imprisoned, including Sunnis, Bahais, Christian converts, Sufis, Yarsanis, and Zoroastrians, said the Report.

Additionally, Shia religious leaders who did not support government policies reportedly continued to faced intimidation and arrest. The government continued to harass Bahais, and regulated Christian religious practices closely to enforce the prohibition on proselytizing. Security officials continued to raid prayer sites belonging to Sunnis. Government-sponsored public denunciations of the Bahai faith increased. Anti-Semitic rhetoric also continued to appear in official statements. There were reports of authorities placing restrictions on Bahai businesses or forcing them to shut down.

Iran has been designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) since 1999, under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

The Secretary of State redesignated Iran as a CPC On February 29, 2016, and identified the following sanction that accompanied the designation: the existing ongoing travel restrictions based on serious human rights abuses under section 221(a)(1)(C) of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, pursuant to section 402(c)(5) of the Act.

The report added, The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security monitor religious activity, while churches are also monitored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). All churchgoers must register with the authorities. Registration conveys certain rights, including the use of alcohol for religious purposes. Failure of churchgoers to register and attendance at churches by unregistered individuals may subject a church to closure and arrest of its leaders by the authorities. The law also requires Bahais to register with the police.

Also addressed in the Report is Irans discrimination against women. According to the law, the value of a womans blood money or testimony in court is half that of a man, with the exception of traffic accidents, and women are not granted custody or guardianship of their children. The age for criminal accountability for a girl starts from about age nine and about age 14 for a boys.

According to Amnesty International and other international human rights NGOs, the government convicted and executed dissidents, political reformers, and peaceful protesters on charges of moharebeh and anti-Islamic propaganda.

Religious minorities, both Muslim and non Muslim, continue to be discriminated against. For instance, By law, non-Muslims may not serve in the judiciary, the security services (separate from regular armed forces), or as public school principals.

In a vote at the UN Human Rights Council, the United States supported an extension of the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran. They also voted in in favor of resolutions in November and December, when the UN General Assembly expressed concern over Irans human rights practices. The United States submitted recommendations in October, related to religious freedom through the mechanism of the UN Human Rights Councils Universal Periodic Review of Irans human rights situation.
After refusing coast guard orders to surrender, one of the Iranian men was wounded, according to a statement by the state-run Kuwait News Agency.

A photo was released, showing nine of the men on their knees with their hands clasped behind their backs, on the website of The Interior Ministry.

It wont be surprising if the arrests draw more accusations by Arab Gulf countries of Iranian interference in their affairs. Iran stands accused of meddling in regional affairs by the largely Sunni bloc of nations, primarily in Bahrain and Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Iranian-allied militias for more than a year.

Fars news agency quoted Ali Hajatpour, deputy chief of Bushehr provinces coast guard in southern Iran, as saying some Iranian fisherman were detained in Kuwait because of a quarrel. He was quoted Saturday saying the dispute happened on Kuwaiti soil and that their detention was not related to a border violation.

Ties between Kuwait and Iran may be strained further, as an appeals court in Kuwait recently upheld the death sentence for a Shiite citizen on charges of communicating with Iran and the Lebanese militant Shiite group Hezbollah to commit hostile actions against the country.

Kuwait has aligned itself with Saudi Arabia against Iran. Kuwait recalled its ambassador after a mob ransacked the Saudi Embassy in protest of the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.
Monday, the rabbi worshipped at Arafat's tomb

Raleigh, North Carolina is not the only place where a rabbi thinks that Judaism requires him to go worship at the tomb of the father of terrorism. I'd like to introduce you to Rabbi Neil Blumofe of Congregation Agudas Achim (it's Conservative - contrary to what some of my Orthodox friends might conclude from the name) in Austin, Texas.Below is a letter written by Richard Brook, a congregant of Rabbi Blumofe, who vehemently objects to Blumofe's idol worship.And in case you're wondering what these tours do, here's an itinerary:Yes, the visit to Arafat's tomb is on Day 11. But it's only the start of the problems with this tour. This is how people are being educated to Judaism?As it happens, I was in Austin two years ago on business, as some of you might recall. Congregation Agudas Achim is located in a huge gated complex that was donated by Michael Dell, the chairman of Dell Computers, who donated $1.8 million to American Friends of the IDF in 2014. The complex includes a day school, a community center, and Orthodox, Conservative and Reform synagogues (although when I was there in November 2014, the Orthodox synagogue was meeting in a classroom in the school). One has to wonder whether Mr. Dell is aware of what is going on at his campus, and whether visiting Yasser Arafat's tomb violates the terms of the land grant to Congregation Agudas Achim (I have no way of getting a copy of that grant - just raising the issue).For the record, Mr. Brook has been in touch with me directly, and gave me permission to publish his letter (Hat Tips:).More to follow as this story progresses.

Labels: American Jews, anti-Israel Jews, Judaism, liberalism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat
[August 15, 2016] Next Generation Cyber Security Market Forecast Report 2016-2021: Companies Advancing Beyond Traditional Firewalls Towards Cloud Based & Big Data Solutions For The Internet of Things (IoT)

LONDON, Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Details

The latest report from business intelligence provider visiongain assesses that the global Next Generation Cyber Security market will generate revenues of $35.7 billion in 2016. See comprehensive analysis of the lucrative business prospects within this flourishing new sector.



Now: Cyber security has become one of the most important segments of homeland security in recent years, in lieu of the proliferation of advanced attack software, and the way in which more and more essential systems are coming to rely upon digitalisation. This is especially true in the critical infrastructure sector, where modern industrial control systems (ICS) and SCADA systems have proven particularly vulnerable. This is an example of the business critical news that you need to know about - and more importantly, you need to read visiongain's objective analysis of how this will impact your company and the industry more broadly. How are you and your company reacting to this news? Are you sufficiently informed?



How this report will benefit you

Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. Visiongain's new study tells you and tells you NOW.



In this brand new report you will receive 121 in-depth tables, charts and graphs PLUS 6 EXCLUSIVE expert interviews  all unavailable elsewhere.



The 209 page report provides clear detailed insight into the global Next Generation Cyber Security market. It reveals the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.



By ordering and reading our brand new report today you will be better informed and ready to act.



Report Scope

- Global Next Generation Cyber Security market forecasts from 2016-2021

- Regional Next Generation Cyber Security market forecasts from 2016-2021 covering Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and North America;

- Leading national Next Generation Cyber Security forecasts from 2016-2021 covering China, the USA, Japan, France, the UK, Germany, Inda, Russia, Italy, Brazil and RoW







- Next Generation Cyber Security submarket forecasts from 2016-2021 covering Application Security, Cloud Security, Content Security, Endpoint Security, and Network Security

- Analysis of the key factors driving growth in the global and regional/country level Next Generation Cyber Security markets from 2016-2021

- Who are the leading players and what are their prospects over the forecast period?

- BAE Systems

- Barracuda Networks

- Bay Dynamics

- Cisco Systems

- Check Point

- FireEye

- Fortinet

- Herjavec Group

- Hewlett Packard

- Intel Corporation

- Juniper Networks

- Norse

- Palo Alto Networks

- Splunk

- Watch Guard

- Analysis of game changing technological trends being employed by the leading players and how these will shape the cyber security industry.

- SWOT analysis of the major strengths and weaknesses of the market, together with the opportunities available and the key threats faced.

- Market conclusions & recommendations.

- 6 Full transcripts of exclusive Visiongain interviews with key opinion-leaders in the market, from the following companies:

- Delve Labs

- Digital Guardian

- LogRhythm

- Nymi

- Sandstorm.io

- Spikes Security



How will you benefit from this report?

- This report will keep your knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind

- This report will reinforce strategic decision decision-making based upon definitive and reliable market data

- You will learn how to exploit new technological trends

- You will be able to realise your company's full potential within the market

- You will better understand the competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships





Who should read this report?

- Anyone within the cyber security value chain.

- Cyber security companies

- Cyber security risk insurance companies

- IT Companies

- Internet of Things (IoT) companies

- Software developers

- Infrastructure security companies

- Chief information officers (CIO)

- Chief executive officers (CEO)

- Chief operating officers (COO

- Commercial directors

- Business development managers

- Marketing managers

- Technologists

- Suppliers

- Investors

- Banks

- Government agencies

- Contractors



Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the top companies in the cyber security market. You will find data, trends and predictions.



Buy our report today Next Generation Cyber Security Market Forecast Report 2016-2021: Companies Advancing Beyond Traditional Firewalls Towards Cloud Based & Big Data Solutions For The Internet of Things (IoT). Avoid missing out by staying informed  order our report now.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3812476/



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 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/next-generation-cyber-security-market-forecast-report-2016-2021-companies-advancing-beyond-traditional-firewalls-towards-cloud-based--big-data-solutions-for-the-internet-of-things-iot-300313651.html SOURCE ReportBuyer

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[August 15, 2016] Smart IOPS Exits Stealth Mode, Announces Industry's Fastest PCIe NVMe SSD and Flash Appliance Product Lines

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Flash Memory Summit (Booth 609) Smart IOPS, Inc. today announced the storage industry's fastest Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) SSD series that offer a whopping 1.7 million and 3.4 million random 4KB Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS). Smart IOPS' Data Engine SSDs deliver industry-leading dollar per IOPS, and sequential read speeds of 6,800 MB/s. Fully compatible with the latest NVMe specification, half-height half-length add-in card Data Engine SSDs range from 2TB to 10TB in capacity. "We are extremely excited to reveal the phenomenal Data Engine NVMe SSD family at the FMS event," said Ashutosh Das, CEO and co-founder, Smart IOPS. "Data Engine SSD products represent the highest-performing, best-in-class enterprise NVMe SSDs targeting latency-sensitive workloads such as in-memory analytics, high transaction trading applications, NoSQL database, and custom line-of-business applications that are the life blood of small and large enterprises." Dr. Manuel d'Abreu, co-founder and Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President at Smart IOPS who is an IEEE Fellow, and a former Fellow at SanDisk attributed this perormance breakthrough to the company's patent-pending TruRandom technology: "TruRandom is an innovative new technology born out of the convergence gap in storage, networking and compute. It dramatically improves the performance of flash-based storage sub-system architecture. Tight integration between our in-house design controller and firmware suite introduce advanced data pattern recognition heuristics for data access such that random and sequential I/O requests become indistinguishable  a feat not achieved by today's competing NVMe products. By democratizing I/O, be it sequential or random; read or write, small or large blocks, Data Engine SSDs offer unprecedented processing power that enable today's most demanding datacenter applications scale to new heights."



Additionally, Smart IOPS showcased its flash appliance that is based on a variation of its Data Engine SSD building block. When fully-configured, the company's shared flash appliance is capable of producing an unprecedented 200 million IOPS, equivalent to 800GB/second of data bandwidth. Smart IOPS believes that the economics of present generation of flash storage does not fully service the needs of enterprises and large scale datacenters. By blending its TruRandom technology in a system appliance configuration, Smart IOPS intends to deliver unmatched performance and availability at a TCO that is a fraction of the cost of All-Flash Arrays. Smart IOPS plans to ship Data Engine SSD to key customers in early Q3'2016, and on a larger scale in Q4'2016. The shared flash appliance is expected to begin sampling in 1H'2017.

About Smart IOPS, Inc. Privately-held Smart IOPS provides the next generation of flash storage devices and shared flash appliance system architecture for the enterprise, Cloud Service Providers and datacenters, delivering multiple orders of magnitude faster performance and lower latency for fraction of the cost of existing flash-based storage products. Based in Cupertino, Calif., the company was founded in 2013 by industry veterans from Intel, Micron, SanDisk and Juniper networks. For more information, please visit www.smartiops.com. Contacts

Smart IOPS, Inc.

Rick Hazell, Vice President of Sales

949-258-5367

[email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398232 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smart-iops-exits-stealth-mode-announces-industrys-fastest-pcie-nvme-ssd-and-flash-appliance-product-lines-300313670.html SOURCE Smart IOPS, Inc.

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[August 15, 2016] NetComm Wireless Wins Two Australian Business Awards for Innovation

SYDNEY, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NetComm Wireless Limited (ASX: NTC), has been recognised as an ABA100 winner in two categories of The Australian Business Awards 2016: Business Innovation and Technology Innovation for its fixed wireless technology, a network terminating device that connects homes and businesses to superfast 4G LTE fixed wireless networks in Australia, the US and globally. The awards recognise NetComm Wireless' achievements in promoting excellence through innovative business and technological initiatives. "We have the agility needed to sustain innovation across all areas of our business in a fast changing environment and it is a tremendous honour to have received the Australian Business Award for Business Innovation for the sixth consecutive year. Our 'Listen. Innovate. Solve.' approach allows us to continually transform our business, and develop innovative bespoke solutions for our customers and partners worldwide." "Innovation is all about finding better ways to do things and we are pleased to have won the Technology Innovation award for our fixed wireless network terminating devices as we continue to work with our operator partners to bring high-speed broadband to rural, regional and outer-urban homes and businesses in Australia, the US and Europe," said David Stewart, CEO and Managing Director, NetComm Wireless. NetComm Wireless' fixed wireless technology delivers guaranteed perfomance and an optimal network and customer experience utilising specialised hardware design, software development and project management.



"For over a decade, The Australian Business Awards have recognised organisations that prioritise innovation and technology as drivers of local and international markets; and provide their clients with solutions to modern challenges by prioritising innovative practices that continually push the boundaries of what's possible," Australian Business Awards Program Director, Ms Tara Johnston, said. "The ABA100 Winners have demonstrated a commitment to developing forward-looking solutions to challenges. This adaptability has cemented their position as major influencers in their respective industries. These organisations not only position themselves as industry leaders, but also push the wider business community towards excellence. Those organisations that can continue to evolve alongside ever changing business models will secure their longevity, continually contributing to the marketplace by disrupting the status quo in a positive way," Ms Johnston added.

Each year the ABA100 Winners are recognised through a variety of different award categories that demonstrate transformative business and product innovation. Corporate, government and non-government organisations are recognised for their ability to drive innovation through the application of technical expertise in the management of industry leading initiatives, and for the research and development of high-performing products and services. NetComm Wireless is exhibiting at CTIA Super Mobility 2016 from 7-9 September, 2016. Book a meeting and visit stand 5152 to find out more about NetComm Wireless' latest 3G/4G LTE M2M, Fixed Wireless and Fibre to the distribution point (FTTdp) technologies. Enquiries to: NetComm Wireless Communications

Phone: +61-2-9424-2000 or email: [email protected] About NetComm Wireless NetComm Wireless Limited (ASX: NTC) is a leading developer of Fixed Wireless broadband, wireless Machine-to-Machine (M2M)/Industrial IoT and Fibre and Cable to the distribution point (FTTdp/ CTTdp) technologies that underpin an increasingly connected world. Employing our Listen. Innovate. Solve. approach, we provide solutions for the unique requirements of leading telecommunications carriers, core network providers, system integrators, government and enterprise customers worldwide. For over 30 years, NetComm Wireless has engineered new generations of world first data communication products and is now a globally recognised communications technology innovator. Headquartered in Sydney (Australia), NetComm Wireless has offices in the US, Europe/UK, New Zealand and Japan. For more information, visit www.netcommwireless.com. Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150324/8521501794LOGO

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[August 15, 2016] Unique Gigastone iPhone Flash Drive Proves Perfect for Drone Enthusiasts

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gigastone the Leading Global Mobile Technology Accessory Brand announced that the latest Gigastone CR8600 iPhone and iPad Flash Drive is fast becoming the perfect companion for iPhone and iPad Drone enthusiasts. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398209 The CR8600 is a unique iPhone Flash Drive because it takes standard Micro SD Card memory. This device coupled with the best-in-class Gigastone complimentary IOS software, makes it an invaluable tool for drone flyers. Harold Katz, Gigastone CMO elaborated, "The unique features of this amazing device allow drone gadgeteers to fly their drone, take video and photographs and immediately view the multimedia on their iPhones or iPads, without having to lug around a laptop computer." At a recent meeting at the Gigastone US Headquarters in California, some of the benefits were detailed point by point; The majority of drone cameras use Micro SD Card's for memory.

After the Drone pilot lands, the Micro SD memory Card is removed from the Drone.

In most cases a new Micro SD Card is used and the video footage or photos are reviewed after all the footage is captured.

In order to view the footage drone users have to lug around a laptop with an SD Card Adapter.

With the Gigastone device the Micro SD Card can be inserted into the Gigastone CR8600.

The Gigastone CR8600 is then inserted into an iPhone or iPad via its Apple Lightning adapter.

Using the complimentary Gigastone IOS Software the footage can be: Reviewed. Deleted or Backed Up to Cloud Storage or the iPhone/iPad. Uploaded to YouTube and other Social Channels. Kept on the Micro SD Card memory to save iPhone or iPad memory. And more

The Micro SD Card can then be removed from the Gigastone CR8600 iPhone Flash Drive and reused in the drone.



Michel Hassan , Gigastone President, commented, "The CR8600 is Apple MFi approved and is an impressive product." He went on to say, "Gigastone distributes its product through large Electronic Retailers such as Amazon and Big-Box stores the likes of Walmart, Target and The Source. We work together with our customers to create products that satisfy consumers. The new Gigastone CR8600 iPhone Flash Drive Micro SD Card Reader has found a unique niche amongst Drone Gadgeteers. Other tech users are also discovering how empowering our technology can be." See the Gigastone web site for more information.

Gigastone also sells a full range of other memory products and mobile technology accessories, including SD Cards, iPhone Flash Drives, OTG Drives, SSD Drives, Memory Cables and USB Drives. About Gigastone Gigastone is the leading global mobile accessory brand, specializing in state-of-the-art, high-end mobile peripherals and technology. For two decades, Gigastone has been distributing technology to all the major big-box and Electronic Commerce stores. Gigastone has leveraged its engineering, manufacturing and quality control skills to drive world-class production and deliver quality products. A uniquely positioned company, poised to continue to grow and maintain its leadership in the fast paced consumer electronics space. Gigastone currently has eight major offices around the globe; USA, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, France, Brazil and China, with distributors in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Notable distributors include Walmart, Costco, Target, Best Buy, Amazon, Guo Mei, JD.com, E-Mart and The Source. Gigastone continues to launch world-class mobile peripherals, constantly diversifying its product range to meet consumer demand. Customer focus is the key to ongoing Gigastone global success. Related Images image1.png image2.png image3.png image4.png Related Links Gigastone CR8600 Micro SD iPhone Flash Drive Gigastone iPhone Flash Drives This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unique-gigastone-iphone-flash-drive-proves-perfect-for-drone-enthusiasts-300313649.html SOURCE Gigastone

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[August 16, 2016] Numecent's Cloudpaging Technology To Be Featured At IDF

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Numecent, a pioneer of cloud-based application delivery, today announced that it will participate in IDF16, the Intel Developer Forum being held in San Francisco, California on August 16-18. Numecent will be exhibiting its innovative Cloudpaging technology, and demonstrating how Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) takes application security one step further by providing capabilities to protect application execution. Numecent staff will be on hand to answer questions at IDF16, Booth 325 in the Technology Showcase. "Numecent is thrilled to be a part of IDF16 and to show how Intel SGX enhances security for our Cloudpaging Applications," says Nick Pandher, Vice President, Marketing, Numecent. "Numecent's Cloudpaging technology delivers native Windows applications to end users. This allows ISVs and software distribution partners to deliver applications without the need to support centralized service roll outs or subscription offerings, greatly enhancing security and reducing the IT burden." Numecent's Coudpaging technology allows native Windows applications to be compartmentalized for delivery to any form factor while empowering the end user to access apps through self-service or IT-initiated delivery. Applications can be packaged once, then delivered via Cloudpaging to different versions of Windows and between different platforms, including physical desktops and notebooks, VDI instances and application remote graphics platforms, all without time-consuming installation.



For IT departments, Cloudpaging reduces the burden of applications in master images, allowing more frequent desktop push cycles with less deployment risk. Zero day security fixes in apps, essential app updates and roll out of new apps can happen quicker, ensuring high application security. Cloudpaging takes application security one step further with Intel SGX, providing capabilities to protect application execution. Numecent is utilizing Intel SGX to further harden the security capabilities of Cloudpaging, ensuring applications cannot be used if any low-level tampering is attempted on the platform. This protects environments with highly controlled application usage and ensures that users are both authenticated and are running apps in a secure environment. "We're excited to collaborate with innovative software developers like Numecent to showcase the benefits of platform security technologies such as Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX)," said Rick Echevarria, Vice President of the Intel Software and Services Group. "By integrating support for SGX into their Cloudpaging technology, Numecent transparently protects its customers using 6th Generation Intel Core Processor platforms."

Numecent will be in booth 325 in the Technology Showcase at Intel IDF. About Numecent

Numecent is a fast-growing software and cloud-services company pioneering application delivery. Numecent's Cloudpaging technology brings rapid, secure and friction-free provisioning of native applications from the cloud through virtualization and containerization. Delivering solutions to Enterprise customers via the channel while also servicing Cloud providers and ISVs, Numecent has delivered cloudified applications worldwide reducing the pain points for application delivery while helping lower application deployment costs. Numecent was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. More information can be found at www.numecent.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160314/344191LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/numecents-cloudpaging-technology-to-be-featured-at-idf-300313553.html SOURCE Numecent

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[August 16, 2016] Converged Technology Group to CIOs, CSOs: How Secure is Your Network?

NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Being "hacked" today has a very different meaning than it did a decade ago. Cybercrime has evolved to a point where it could almost be called the next phase of organized crime. Cybercriminals are smart, dedicated and opportunistic, which means no organization is immune to attack. In fact, most are more vulnerable today than ever before simply because we live in an increasingly connected world. Work doesn't happen within the confines of four walls anymore  it happens anywhere and everywhere. And with the proliferation of the Internet of Everything (IoE), the idea of connectedness just got a whole lot larger, broadening intrusion opportunities for today's very sophisticated breed of hackers. The question is no longer if a company will be breached; the question is when it will happen and how much damage will be done. According to Converged Technology Group (www.convergedtechgroup.com), an award-winning Managed Services Partner (MSP) serving clients throughout the Northeast, the solution to securing business-critical data is to create and deploy a multi-faceted security architecture capable of both thwarting the attacks that can be stopped and shortening the time to detection and remediation of those that do occur. "There is no single product or service that will entirely mitigate the risk of attack," says Leo E. Galletta, President and CEO, Converged Technology Group. "With the help of an experienced solution provider, however, IT professionals can seamlessly integrate best-in-class security technology within a proven security architecture. And by combining that solution architecture with the right professional services, security professionals can mitigate risk and defend their companies' intellectal property and digital assets from any number of very real cyberthreats across the attack continuum."



Five Questions that Reveal Security Vulnerabilities

Because budgets are limited, it's critical for an organization's top IT professionals to seek prescriptive recommendations that will help them make informed, cost-effective security investments. And since there is no one-size-fits-all security solution, IT professionals must be both risk-aware and willing to ask themselves a series of pointed, revealing questions along the way. Would you characterize your approach to security as proactive or reactive? Are you prepared to defend your organization's digital assets throughout the entire attack continuum? Based on the complexity of today's threats, are you confident you have the technological barriers you need along the Internet perimeter to mitigate those risks? If a compromise begins inside your network, do you have the visibility to determine what is taking place within your production environment? Can your security solution adapt to real-time threats, stopping them before they infiltrate your network despite having users who connect with the world on any device, at any time, from any place? More Information:

Learn about the security frameworks that can address the varied threats your organization faces every day: http://bit.ly/2aMuKOy.

Find out how Converged Technology Group's Assist360 managed services can complement your existing staff: http://bit.ly/2bjNABi.

Did you know that Converged Technology Group, in business for over a decade, was recognized this year for its cutting-edge approach to delivering managed services and, in fact, was named one of the world's leading managed services providers? Read more here: http://bit.ly/2bjOwFP. About Converged Technology Group

Converged Technology Group is an award-winning Managed Services Partner (MSP) focused on improving IT performance and business outcomes while lowering the cost of technology support for businesses in healthcare, financial services, education, retail, legal and other cutting-edge industries. Located in New York City and Islandia, NY, Converged Technology Group provides enterprise networking, collaboration, data center, cloud solutions and managed services to both regional and multinational corporations. The company provides business-critical uptime all the time, and helps clients design, implement and operate their IT infrastructure, communication and computing systems for the greatest return on their IT investments. For more information on Converged Technology Group, please contact us at 631-468-5728 or [email protected], and visit our website at www.convergedtechgroup.com. Media Contacts: Anthony Malley

Director Business Development & Marketing

Converged Technology Group

631-468-5728

[email protected] Arthur Germain

Principal & Chief Brandteller

Communication Strategy Group

631-239-6335 x101

[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160813/397893LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/converged-technology-group-to-cios-csos-how-secure-is-your-network-300313353.html SOURCE Converged Technology Group

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Mattoon fire

Firefighters were dispatched to four motor vehicle collisions on Monday -- at 4:52 a.m. at County Road 500E and Skyline Springs, 8:42 a.m. at County Road 1000N and the Interstate 57 mile post 192 overpass, 9:01 a.m. at I-57 mile post 192, and 12:36 p.m. at I-57 mile post 183.

-- -- --

Firefighters were dispatched to a motor vehicle collision at 12:49 p.m. Aug. 10 at Illinois Route 16 and Swords Drive.

-- -- --

Firefighters were dispatched to two motor vehicle collisions on Aug. 9 -- at 8:55 a.m. at 16th Street and Broadway Avenue, and at 5:53 p.m. at 10th Street and Charleston Avenue.

-- -- --

Firefighters responded to a false alarm at 10:24 a.m. Aug. 9 in the 400 block of Hickory Lane.

-- -- --

Firefighters responded to the rupture of a gas or air pipe at 5:27 p.m. Aug. 8 in the 1200 block of Broadway Avenue.

-- -- --

Firefighters were dispatched at 3:57 p.m. Aug. 8 to a false alarm at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.

-- -- --

Firefighters were dispatched to a building fire at 1:51 a.m. Aug. 8 in the 2200 block of Charleston Avenue.

Mattoon police

Janet L. Rich of Mattoon was ticketed for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident for a collision with vehicles driven by David L. Behrends of Brownstown and Jeffrey L. Hill of Neoga at 2:13 p.m. July 26 in the 300 block of Charleston Avenue.

-- -- --

Yvette A. Rickelman of Mattoon was ticketed for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident for a collision with a vehicle driven by Debra L. Hilligoss of Humboldt at 7:40 a.m. July 26 at 10th Street and Broadway Avenue.

-- -- --

Nicholis W. Redfern of Mattoon was ticketed for disobeying a traffic control device for a collision at 5:36 p.m. July 25 with vehicles driven by Gideon E. Banton of Cerro Gordo and Beth A. Craig of Windsor at 5:36 p.m. July 25 at Charleston Avenue and Ninth Street. A Dunn's Ambulance crew took Banton's passenger to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center for treatment of injuries.
EFFINGHAM -- A new business called The Clinic is just the ticket for what ails Tyler McKelvey.

McKelvey, 29, suffers from a painful disease called fibromyalgia and smokes cannabis to ease his agonies enough so he can work his night job manning a hotel front desk. A patient with the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, the Toledo man used to make a four-hour round trip to Marion to buy his drug from an approved clinic in that city, the nearest one to him.

Until The Clinic arrived, that is. The new medical cannabis dispensary in Effingham is still awaiting final regulatory approval but expects to be serving patients like McKelvey before the end of August.

The trip here for me is just 25 minutes, he said, smiling. It's going to be so much easier. McKelvey was one of dozens of potential patients, along with invited guests like Effingham Mayor Jeff Bloemker, and lots of the just plain curious who packed an open house at The Clinic on Monday afternoon.

The secure areas where the drug will be stored were off limits, but the waiting rooms and dispensary area were all on show. Painted in muted, relaxing colors, carpeted and decorated with antique touches like large Edison-style light bulbs, the place had the feel of an upmarket hotel lobby. The only giveaway was artsy pictures of cannabis on the walls alongside a view of fall landscape.

Our patients are sick and so we try to make them feel comfortable, said Ross Morreale. He is co-founder of a company called Ataraxia (it means tranquility), one of the firms that co-owns the clinic. Ataraxia also runs a 53,000-square-foot cannabis cultivation farm near Olney.

With some 6,000 patients registered with the state's medical cannabis program, and more seeking help with about 40 medical conditions covered by the program, ranging from cancer to Alzheimer' disease, Morreale says medicinal marijuana grows ever more popular.

And Morreale says the public, even in an area he describes as relatively conservative like Effingham, has become more accepting of the drug's value in helping people. He points to the problems of opiate-based drugs that he says are associated with the tragedies of addiction and overdose.

Look at the data on those pharmaceutical opiate drugs; they're killing people, he added. Our products, our medicine, can help people get off of some of that stuff.

The Clinic will carry around 100 different cannabis products, according to manager Zachary Yborra, 29, from forms of the drug that can be smoked or inhaled to oils, capsules and brownies and caramels. And gummy bears are really popular, Yborra said.

The Illinois medical pot rules don't allow patients to consume their drugs on the premises. Yborra says they also shouldn't consume them in public and generally have to be careful because federal drug laws do not recognize cannabis as a legal drug.

He says the advantage of Effingham as a clinic location is its geography next to two interstates and within easy reach of patients heading home to use their drug like McKelvey from Toledo.

Effingham is the hub city for everyone down here, Yborra said. You pull off the interstates, make a couple of turns, and you're here at The Clinic. This is a great location for us.
To listen to Hillary, she will create a new Country that will be heaven rich for all people, but the only catch is, Where is the Money coming from? This lady has been in Congress in some form for the last 20 years, ask yourself What did she DO? If you will be honest with yourself, she has done nothing for the American citizens, be it white, black, Latin, and/or Mexican. She talks a good lie, but it is filled with smoke and mirrors.

This lady is promising the MOON to anyone that will vote in her favor. She wants to get the millennials to vote by promising free college, new jobs and raising wages, yet higher wages will only cut jobs or close businesses and someone must pay for college. She promises to protect jobs by being tougher on tariffs, yet she has supported Obamas tariff plans one day and not the next. She continues to rail against the rich and Wall Street yet she takes donations from Wall Street for her campaign and her wealth since in government now totals over $20 million. She wants to stop big business donations and know who made them, yet we know nothing about the Clinton Foundation and its scheme. She continues to want to alter or destroy our 2nd Amendment of the American Constitution, yet she fails to address mental illness, criminal access, and the family disintegration as problems of the gun violence. She talks of lifting people out of poverty, yet she has backed the Obama and Democratic policies that continue to hold down their ability to achieve prosperity.

People, it is time to look at yourself and your position in life. The Democratic Party is NOT out for your best interest! These elite politicians of Washington and in your State are out for only themselves and their cohorts. You must review your standard of living and what you can do to advance in the future. You must decide where you fit in society and what you are willing to fight for; Democrats will only want your vote.

David Kersey, Mattoon
CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- Streets in town are expected to be congested soon as thousands of university students and their families flock to the city to get moved into Eastern Illinois University's residence halls.

The on-campus halls officially open Thursday for the fall semester, and while students have been trickling in for the past few weeks or so for various extracurricular activities, most of the universitys on-campus student population will return to EIU on move-in day.

According to a press release, historically, traffic on streets near campus becomes congested on the first move-in day and continues until Sunday.

Those wishing to avoid the heaviest traffic are advised to avoid Grant Avenue, Fourth, Seventh and Ninth streets south of Lincoln Avenue from Thursday to Sunday as much as possible.

Historically, stores like Wal-Mart and County Market are also congested, as well as restaurants in the area, until Sunday.

Fall classes at EIU begin Monday.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 Pence Plays Here Today, Johnson To Rally Saturday, WaPo Puts Glow On Berry And Fewer Cops Means More Deadly ABQ Speed Demons



Then there's Gary Johnson's second quixotic presidential bid as the Libertarian party candidate. He's rescheduled an earlier ABQ campaign rally. It will now be held



It's stuff like this in



Next month will be the first anniversary of Albuquerques Theres a Better Way program, which hires panhandlers for day jobs beautifying the city. . .A van is dispatched around the city to pick up panhandlers who are interested in working. The job pays $9 an hour. . . At the end of the shift, the participants are offered overnight shelter as needed. In less than a year since its start, the program has given out 932 jobs clearing 69,601 pounds of litter and weeds from 196 city blocks. And more than 100 people have been connected to permanent employment.



Jeremy Reynalds, director of the homeless shelter Joy Junction, takes issue with the WaPo's glowing take on that homeless program, saying the root cause of the homeless problem is mental health and the mayoral administration can't say it's doing much on that front. As for the politics, Berry could just as easily use this good PR in a guv run as well as mayor.



What budget crisis? The



Gov. Martinez is in Colorado attending a meeting of the Republican Governors Association. Her office announced she was traveling to Aspen for a summer meeting of the association and will return to New Mexico on Wednesday. Martinez is the chairwoman of the fundraising arm of the Republican Party that focuses on the election of GOP governors across the country. The association is paying for the governors travel.



Maybe someone up there can tell her how to cut a deal with the Legislature on how to keep the state afloat as it deals with a budget shortfall upwards of $700 million?



We've told you how the speed demons have taken over the streets and freeways of ABQ as the severe APD staffing shortage continues unabated. And that means



. . . The number of fatal crashes in Albuquerque is on the rise. So far this year, there have been 39 fatal crashes. They include 11 deadly motorcycle crashes and eight involving alcohol. In 2015, there were 47 deadly crashes. . . APD said half of the crashes this year are related to speed and pedestrians not using crosswalks. The contributing factor to a lot of these accidents are excessive speed. If you slow down, people won't get as injured as much, fatalities wouldn't be so high. APD also said there is a correlation between fatal crashes and citations. Fatal crashes are on the rise while the number of citations being written are decreasing.



Be careful out there.



This is the home of New Mexico politics.







Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.



( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 With states far more important to a GOP presidential victory than New Mexico, maybe the reason VP candidate Mike Pence is making stops in ABQ and Roswell today is to build up his profile for a 2020 presidential run of his own. Just a thought. . .Then there's Gary Johnson's second quixotic presidential bid as the Libertarian party candidate. He's rescheduled an earlier ABQ campaign rally. It will now be held this Saturday at 2 p.m at the ABQ Convention Center. If you smell something funny in the air while you're there, well, you know what that is. . .It's stuff like this in the WaPo that keep a number of the Alligators speculating that ABQ Mayor Berry will seek a third term next year and forgo a run for the '18 Guv nod:Jeremy Reynalds, director of the homeless shelter Joy Junction, takes issue with the WaPo's glowing take on that homeless program, saying the root cause of the homeless problem is mental health and the mayoral administration can't say it's doing much on that front. As for the politics, Berry could just as easily use this good PR in a guv run as well as mayor.What budget crisis? The news Maybe someone up there can tell her how to cut a deal with the Legislature on how to keep the state afloat as it deals with a budget shortfall upwards of $700 million?We've told you how the speed demons have taken over the streets and freeways of ABQ as the severe APD staffing shortage continues unabated. And that means this Be careful out there.This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)
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 ...
A federal judge in Michigan has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Nelnet of padding its earnings by failing to credit student loan payments in a timely manner.

However, the dismissal was mostly due to technical reasons, and Judge Gordon Quist gave the plaintiff 14 days to file an amended complaint.

The plaintiff, Kurt Mirandette, argued in the lawsuit that Lincoln-based Nelnet delays crediting student loan payments made by mail to increase its interest and late-fee income.

In his suit, Mirandette said his mailed payments should be credited as of the postmark date on the envelope. He alleged breach of contract and violations of the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and the Nebraska Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Quist, in his dismissal ruling, cited the lack of statutory language as to when Nelnet must post the payments, the passing of a four-year statute of limitations for filing a Deceptive Trade Practices Act claim and a lack of case law that supports the claim that payments should be considered made and received when they are mailed.

He did, however, leave an opening for Mirandette to bring an amended claim.

"There may be a cognizable claim lurking in the factual scenario that Mirandette alleges -- i.e., delaying posting of checks in order to pump up interest and penalty income -- but it is not this court's responsibility to find it and plead it," Quist wrote in his ruling.

He gave Mirandette two weeks to file an amended complaint, "if he can discern a valid claim."

Derek Witte, one of the attorneys representing Mirandette, said they are reviewing their options and may either file an amended complaint or appeal the dismissal.

"We are concerned that the court did not actually address when the lender and/or servicer must give credit for student payments," Witte said in an email. "Thus, this opinion may be read to give the massive student loan servicers, like Nelnet, carte blanche to charge millions of dollars in unearned interest to America's student borrowers -- students who are already struggling to pay all of the money they actually do owe."

Nelnet spokesman Ben Kiser said in response to the development: "We are obviously pleased with the decision. We believed there was no basis for the claims, and the court agreed."
It appears members of the Legislature meeting this week can do more than just ask Sen. Bill Kintner to resign because he had cybersex on a state-owned computer last year.

The Legislature's Executive Board chairman sent Kintner a letter Tuesday asking him -- again -- to resign before a Friday morning meeting of the board that supervises all legislative services and employees, including committees, commissions and task forces.

If he doesn't, the board could talk about taking away Kintner's office, parking, staff and other things that help him to do his job, said Chairman Bob Krist.

"All those things are provided by the Legislature for senators in good standing," Krist said Tuesday. "And from my perspective, that's a question right now."

If the board took away Kintner's office, Krist said, he could continue to get calls from constituents through a call bank that would provide him messages.

"This action would avoid further embarrassment to you, your wife, Lauren, whom I deeply respect, and to this Legislature," Krist wrote in urging Kintner to step down. "Your conduct has not been consistent with the standards of this Legislature or those who preceded us."

The board can also take away committee memberships. Kintner is a member of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee.

Unless he resigns before Friday morning, the Executive Board's nine members and one ex-officio member will meet in closed session to discuss the recent action of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, which fined him $1,000 for improper use of a state-owned laptop computer.

Kintner, who represents District 2 in Southeast Nebraska, was out of state on a business trip when he used the laptop to engage in sexual activity via Skype with a woman in another country.

Sanctions against him would require approval by Executive Board members but not the entire Legislature, Krist said.

Only invited people will be allowed to testify during the committee meeting on Friday, he said. If Kintner wants to speak, the board will arrange another meeting at which he could do so.

Members of the Executive Board are: Krist, of Omaha, and Sens. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, Ernie Chambers of Omaha, Colby Coash of Lincoln, Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney, Dan Hughes of Venango, Tyson Larson of O'Neill, and John Murante of Gretna. Omaha Sen. Heath Mello is a nonvoting member.

Kintner was in his office Tuesday but would not comment on the letter except to say, "I was already aware of the Executive Board's planned August 19 meeting. Sen. Krist's individual view regarding my status as a senator is not new information."

He did have more to say on the "Kintner-grams" Chambers is writing and sending out around the Capitol.

His biggest concern right now, Kintner said, is that senators do not attack each other personally. Senators pride themselves on being civil. And even though he understands that Chambers is known for writing snarky poems about things that go on at the Capitol, he said, he has taken this to a new level.

"Those are personal attacks," he said.
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln student remained in critical condition at a Texas hospital Tuesday, as Corpus Christi police continued to search for the driver who hit her and her boyfriend early Sunday.

Maria Anderson, 21, and Tyler Sheets, 23, were walking south near a Sonic Drive-In on Padre Island when they were hit about 1:30 a.m. by an older model Dodge Ram pickup, Officer Kirk Stowers told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

The driver of the southbound pickup fled the scene, and Anderson and Sheets were taken to the hospital.

Anderson had surgery for a brain injury and has several broken ribs, a cousin wrote on an online fundraising page.

Sheets suffered a concussion and other minor injuries, his grandmother Mary Alice Sheets said Tuesday.

He has seen Anderson at the hospital and noted some improvements in her condition, his grandmother said.

"When Tyler talks to her, her heart rates goes up, she said, adding that small sign is heartening.

Investigators have released images captured by nearby surveillance video of a gray or silver pickup they believe was involved in the collision.

Anderson, a psychology student, was in Texas visiting Sheets, a UNL graduate, who is in Navy pilot school there, his grandmother said.

The fundraiser to cover Anderson's medical expenses had raised more than $13,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

"Besides any donations, we are asking for prayers," Anderson's cousin Morgan Kneip wrote on the fundraising page.

"Prayers of strength and healing for Maria and Tyler, prayers of wisdom for their doctors and prayers of comfort for our families as we lean on each other through this difficult time."
Grace Abbott, a champion for the rights of children, immigrants and women leader during the Progressive Era, will be the subject of a discussion and performance by Grand Island native John Sorensen Thursday, 5:30-6:30, in Room LS221 of Love Library on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.

Sorensen, who lives in New York, is the founder of the Abbott Sisters Project and the author of several books on Abbott, including his latest, "A Sister's Memories: The Life and Work of Grace Abbott from the Writings of Her Sister, Edith Abbott."

The free event at Love Library will include Sorensen presenting dramatic readings from Grace Abbotts most important speeches, reading from his current book and discussing the relevance of Abbott's work in today's world. There will also be a question-and-answer session.
While we shouldn't live in the past, we can certainly learn from it. We are not the first humans to walk the Earth and yet too many, especially the young, suffer from the conceit that history is just a boring subject in school.

PBS is rerunning episodes on its award-winning series "American Experience" on modern presidents and the challenges they faced. Each episode retraces what presidents believed to be good ideas at the time -- from Lyndon Johnson's program to wipe out poverty and defeat the communists in Vietnam, to George W. Bush's toppling of Saddam Hussein. In each episode, historians, as well as members of those administrations, are interviewed and provide perspective only hindsight can give.

One scene in the LBJ segment is particularly instructive when thinking about the two main candidates in the current presidential race. During consideration of Johnson's pledge to create a "Great Society," there is film of him signing a large stack of bills passed by a Democratic Congress. The narrator says the bills were passed and signed so quickly no one had any idea what the programs would cost, or how they would be implemented.

This is the heart of liberalism. Little consideration is given to whether a program or idea will accomplish its stated goal, only intentions matter.

In a speech last week in Warren, Michigan, Hillary Clinton borrowed from the past, not to learn from it, but to repeat it. "So starting on day one," she said, "we will work with both parties to pass the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II." She followed with recycled promises to repair infrastructure, such as bridges, highways and airports.

Those with short memories may have forgotten her pledges have been tried in the very recent past. Remember President Obama's "stimulus"? Remember "shovel-ready jobs"? When they didn't materialize, even the president had to joke that "shovel-ready was not as ... uh ... shovel-ready as we expected." Remember the infrastructure repair Obama promised?

Government doesn't create private-sector jobs, businesses do. Government can stimulate the private sector by lowering taxes and reducing unnecessary regulations. Hillary Clinton wants to do the reverse. In her view government has all the answers when, in fact, it has few. If it had answers, the problems we face would have long ago been solved. After so many failures, why would voters continue to trust government to fix anything?

Hillary Clinton again is using the liberal code word "investment." She means spending. As the debt approaches $20 trillion, a wise person might say we need to spend less, not more, starting with reforming entitlement programs, which consume a great deal of the budget. Would any business survive a sales strategy that has failed so dramatically?

President Obama has tried everything Hillary Clinton is proposing. It hasn't worked. Economic growth is stagnant and the 5 percent unemployment rate masks a labor force that has either given up looking for work, is working only part time or is working at jobs that pay less than the employee previously earned. Insurance companies are pulling out of Obamacare due to its high cost. Taxes will soon rise. Bloomberg.com reports home ownership is at its lowest level since 1965.

The experience of Democrat liberalism is a theme Donald Trump should hammer home. If you like the damage President Obama has caused, vote for Hillary. She will give you more of the same and you won't like it.

In his best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren writes, "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."

President Hillary Clinton would impose a life sentence of failed liberalism.
Not long after Donald Trump delivered his acceptance speech at the festival of rage, hate, and megalomania otherwise known as the GOP convention, leading Never Trump conservatives despaired that the GOP's nomination of Trump could cost the party a generation of young voters. As former Jeb Bush adviser Tim Miller pointed out, the two conventions did not give the average 18-year-old any reason to be a Republican. Miller added: "We're giving away a generation."

A new USA Today/Rock the Vote poll released Monday will not do much to assuage those fears.

The new poll's toplines are alarming enough for Republicans: They show that Hillary Clinton is beating Trump by 56-20 among voters under 35. By contrast, according to exit polls, John McCain won 32 percent of voters aged 18-30 in 2008 and Mitt Romney won 36 percent of them in 2012, though this is an imperfect comparison of age groups.

Here's what this all means, per the USA Today article accompanying the poll:

"The findings have implications for politics long past the November election. If the trend continues, the Democratic Party will have scored double-digit victories among younger voters in three consecutive elections, the first time that has happened since such data became readily available in 1952. That could shape the political affiliations of the largest generation in American history for years to follow."

And here is what the new poll finds in terms of which party young voters are now identifying with:

"In the new survey, half of those under 35 say they identify with or lean toward the Democrats; just 20 percent identify with or lean toward the Republicans. Seventeen percent are independents, and another 12 percent either identify with another party or don't know."

One in five young voters identifies with the GOP. Now, it should be pointed out that if this 20 percent number is accurate, it may be somewhat misleading to blame it on Trump alone. The Republican Party's failure to evolve on gay rights, immigration, and other issues was already alienating young people, as even the RNC's own autopsy into what went wrong in 2012 conceded.

But it seems reasonable to speculate that Trump may be exacerbating that problem. Democrats have tailored their messaging specifically towards young voters by emphasizing his chauvinism, his vow of mass deportations, and his own particularly buffoonish brand of climate denialism (he has called climate change a hoax invented by the Chinese). Trump's words and positions may be further alienating young voters to an untold degree.

Indeed, it's worth noting that there is broad agreement among Never Trump conservatives and Democrats, not just that Trump could be exacerbating an already-existing GOP problem with young voters, but also that it could have untold ramifications for the future. As I've reported, Democrats believe Trump may have presented a unique opportunity to deepen the contrast -- in the minds of a whole generation of coming-of-age voters -- between a GOP branded by Trump's Fortress America lack of curiosity about the world, his fondness for vicious abusiveness, his relentless appeal to voters' basest instincts, and his white ethno-nationalism, and a Democratic Party that is embracing culturally and demographically evolving America.

Now, it is always possible that, if Trump loses, the GOP could quickly rebound in 2018 and 2020, without sustaining long term damage from the depredations of Trumpism. But, given what the GOP nominee has proven himself capable of in recent days and weeks, it is striking to contemplate the specific warning that the post-2012 RNC autopsy delivered. "We do need to make sure young people do not see the Party as totally intolerant of alternative points of view," it said, adding that young voters "will continue to tune us out" and that the GOP's appeal risks "shrinking to its core constituencies only," if the party does not become more "welcoming and inclusive."

And that was before Donald Trump took over the party.
Tom Purcell is consistent; His op-eds are consistently superficial, uninformed, predictable and poorly written ("A comatose man wakes to 2016 presidential election," Aug. 9). Why does the Journal Star waste space on his columns? I have no objection to Purcell's conservative stance. A newspaper's op-ed section should contain various viewpoints. It should give voice to different political persuasions. It should challenge readers to think.

For the most part Mr. Purcell's articles don't do these things. He typically portrays history and current events in a black or white manner, whether deifying President Ronald Reagan or condemning President Barrack Obama. The reality is that things are simply not that good or not that bad. He has a predetermined theme that he is bound to voice and he will not let facts stand in the way. His either/or dialogue plays right into the us-against-them mentality that he claims to criticize.

While his presentation can be imaginative at times, his writing is not very good. I often find myself having to reread paragraphs over and over to understand the point he is trying to make. There are a lot of good op-ed writers out there. The Journal Star can and should do better than Tom Purcell. How about a little quality control?

Robert Lange, Lincoln
Sen. Ben Sasse is young in his political career. His success riding the economic wave up from the bottom while at Midland University quickly ignited his career. Perhaps the landslide victory in 2014 gave him a sense of immunity too quickly.

Sasse has ignored the cardinal rule in politics: You represent your people and you give your people what they want. His outspoken disdain and public condemnation of Donald Trump is a slap in the face to Nebraskans who put Sasse in office. His negative opinions about Trump are an insult to the Republican Party. We, the people who elected Sasse, were counting on him to represent us and to represent our party.

However, it is too late for that. It is too late because Sen. Sasse is simply not mature enough to hold any office yet and should resign immediately for outwardly condemning Donald Trump. Sasse cannot be trusted. We need leadership, commitment, family, conservatism, less government, repealed Obamacare and other needed changes that Trump will bring to us. We don't need another politician who can't represent his people or his party.

Erik Albertson, Valley
SEWARD -- The Nebraska National Guard Museum already had more than 11,000 pieces honoring the role of citizen soldiers since 1854.

But it was missing a tribute.

The museum wanted a display for parachuters, and they didnt just want to hang a guy from the ceiling, said Omaha artist and sculptor Dave Jenkins. They wanted to have something that was realistic -- something that was exciting and different.

Like an airplane. Like a C-130 Hercules, from which paratroopers have jumped into war zones for 60 years. But those weigh more than 80,000 pounds, and even a small section of fuselage would have overwhelmed the buildings interior wall.

Museum historian Jerry Meyer started talking to Jenkins about it last year, and the artist had a plan.

We said, We want the side of a plane, Meyer said. And he said, Lets just make it out of foam.

The result: Airborne! The museums newest exhibit was formally unveiled Tuesday for National Airborne Day. The 30-by-10-foot replica is mounted high on the wall above the museums classroom area, one soldier already plummeting, another waiting to jump.

The foam aircraft weighs a fraction of the actual plane, but you wouldnt know its a model, Meyer said.

Ive jumped out of a C-130 before, so I know what Im looking at. It looks really real.

And it honors the history of the former armory on the edge of Sewards downtown, which was most recently used to pack parachutes for the Nebraska National Guard. Just a few years ago, the floor here was covered with work tables, and chutes hung from the ceiling to dry.

The museum opened last year and, so far, is about one-third complete. The Guard has a 10-year plan to fill it with interactive displays, like a virtual drill sergeant and a harrowing, three-dimensional replica of a French hedgerow that could cost $500,000.

The Airborne exhibit cost about $20,000 and took months to create.

Once they agreed on the foam solution, Jenkins went to St. Joseph, Missouri, to tour a real C-130 at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base and take hundreds of photos.

But when I got back, I wished Id had more, he said. Theres always one angle youre missing.

He worked with a commercial insulation company in Mead to produce -- and roughly shape -- the seven foam blocks that would become the C-130. And then he began the long finishing process, coating the foam with a hardener, painting and sanding it, painting and sanding it again.

He covered the foam C-130 with photographs of the real plane from Missouri, giving Sewards version all of its scuffs and scratches and authenticity.

But he wasnt done. A C-130 is held together by thousands of rivets, and Jenkins replicated their look and texture with 3,000 deck screw covers and help from his son and other Boy Scouts from Troop 597.

He wasnt following a set of instructions, because he couldnt find evidence this had been done before.

We were making it up as we went along.

Meyers and Jenkins and others installed the exhibit a few weeks ago, and it looks down on memorabilia from Seward-area paratroopers Buzzy Hermann, who jumped at Normandy, and Korean War veteran Charles Nitz.

The new exhibit fits in here, Meyer said, as a tribute to the buildings former use. But it also keeps them busy. The foam panels shed a little during installation, and theyre still cleaning up.

It does get everywhere. Weve been sweeping up little bits of Styrofoam every day.
A $5,000 grant from the Viking Foundation of Lincoln is helping the Boys & Girls Club of Lincoln/Lancaster County expand its career exploration program, called CareerLaunch, for teenage club members.

Among the most prominent of our Viking Foundations core values is that All people deserve an opportunity to learn and work, and to learn to work, said Steven Eggland, who created the Viking Foundation in 2012 to help improve and enrich the lives of individuals  especially children  who are less fortunate.

The modest grant we have made to the Boys & Girls Club provided us with a perfect opportunity to help put that value into action, Eggland added.

The Viking Foundation grant really made us evaluate what we could do to step up the career exploration program and push it forward, said Nick Dean, executive director of the local Boys & Girls Club, which provides after-school and summer programs at Park Middle School, 855 S. Eighth St.

Before receiving the grant, the club only offered career exploration classes in a classroom setting with curriculum provided by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, said Andy Larson, operations director at the local Boys & Girls Club.

The grant afforded us the opportunity to expand what we did before, he said. Now we can physically transport kids to job sites or have business representatives come and talk to the kids at the club. It makes all the difference in the world. Otherwise, a lot of these kids wouldnt know those careers are possible.

So far, club teens have visited or hosted representatives from places like Career Academy (a joint venture between LPS and Southeast Community College), Crete Carrier Corporation, Duncan Aviation, EducationQuest, Old Navy, Southeast Community College, Sysco, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Innovation Campus, Wells Fargo and Talent Plus.

During a summer field trip to Talent Plus, 18 students underwent talent evaluations, Dean said.

Afterward they called every kid up front, awarded a certificate and told everyone about their strengths, he said. The kids got a lot out of it.

Marquell Richardson, 15, a sophomore at Lincoln High School, said the CareerLaunch program and a summer field trip to visit with Engineers Without Borders at UNL were excellent learning experiences for him.

It showed me that I want to have a career building things, so I plan to major in either engineering or construction at a four-year university, Richardson said.

Completing the program helped me land my first job, added Alex Torres, 17, a Lincoln High senior. Skills I learned in the program prepared me for filling out the application and how to present myself at interviews.

After completing the weekly CareerLaunch curriculum and visiting with various career representatives, 80 percent of working-age participants found part-time jobs this year, said Dean.

More about CareerLaunch

CareerLaunch includes skill-building activities that assist teens in finding and keeping a job, Dean said. Teens receive tips for job hunting, writing cover letters and resumes, and what to wear to an interview.

The program is designed to be comprehensive, introducing young people to the world of work and providing the tools they need to prepare for a career. The program gives youth the opportunity to explore various careers based on their interests and talents, helps them determine the corresponding educational path they need to pursue and guides them in mapping out a plan for their future.

In addition, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America offers a CareerLaunch website, http://www.greatfutures.org/pages/Gap-CareerLaunch.aspx, that helps club members match careers with their interests and talents, identify training and educational/college requirements, and seek financial aid.

Park School addition

Another aid to expanding Boys & Girls Club programs is a 12,500-square-foot addition to Park School. Construction began in April on the $3 million addition, which is one of the final projects paid for with proceeds from an LPS bond issue passed by voters in 2014. A capital campaign by the Boys & Girls Club organization will pay $350,000 toward the Park School addition, which will include a third gymnasium, two additional classrooms and a commons area.

The goal is to have the addition ready for summer 2017, Dean said. Well be able to expand our club hours and appeal more to older teens with a special night open until 11 p.m. one Friday a month, and well increase our hours overall until 8 or 9 p.m. for the older kids. New and exciting activities should bring in more older teens. We hope to reconfigure the existing area and dress it up for the younger kids.

Lincoln Boys & Girls Club

About 1,300 students participate in the local Boys & Girls Clubs after-school and summer programs at Park School, Dean said. A core group of about 250 students attend daily during the school year. Members include high school, middle school and grade school students.

As part of helping kids develop the tools they need to prepare for higher education and a career, club activities begin after school at 3 p.m. with Power Hour  a time designated for completing homework with tutoring from Park teachers in classrooms designated by grade levels.

Power Hour is the first program every day after school from 3 to 4 p.m., and everyone coming to the club that day is required to attend, Dean said.

After homework is done, club members eat dinner in the schools cafeteria and participate in a club activity of their choice. Programming at the club from 4 to 7 p.m. is supervised by youth development staff from the Boys & Girls Club.

The club has five full-time staff members and more than 100 volunteers each semester, many of whom are college students. During the summer, an additional 35 part-time staff members assist the program activities.

Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister has been a Boys & Girls Club board member for many years. Earlier this year he talked informally with kids at the club about exploring career opportunities in the policing profession.

We are excited to be part of programming at the Boys & Girls Club, to show the kids at a young age how they can contribute to the success of Lincolns future through employment at LPD and in the policing profession, Bliemeister said. We are able to show the human side of our officers, lay out challenges they would face and, most importantly, show how they can be a positive influence by being part of our agency. When our officers or I come to the club in uniform, we dont see hesitation or skepticism in our interactions. The kids want to know who we are and what our jobs entail.

Bliemeister noted that historically, the time immediately following school being let out and before parents are home is peak for criminal activity.

As a citizen of Lincoln and as chief of police, I am grateful for the passionate staff at the Boys & Girls Club who dedicate their lives to serving these kids, he said.

How you can help

Dean said he believes the CareerLaunch program will continue to improve, and well continue to try to sustain it, but there will be a need for future funds. If you would like to make a donation to the Boys & Girls Club, contact Dean at 402-477-4134 or ndean@lincolnbgc.org.
RACINE  The Racine City Attorneys Office will look to add an additional full-time assistant city attorney in the coming months, pending approval from the City Council, City Attorney Scott Letteney confirmed Monday.

Its something that weve talked about for a couple of years in this office, whether it would be more appropriate for us to try to keep more things in-house and, by so doing, reduce our professional services budget which we use to hire outside attorneys, Letteney said.

Its a move that could help the city financially, as the position would be entirely covered through reductions in the citys professional services budget, which it uses to hire outside legal counsel, according to Letteney. The city exceeded its budget in that area significantly in 2014 and 2015, and while Letteney says he anticipates they will come in under the $400,000 number set for 2016, the issue is still worth addressing.

Our professional services budget has been growing over the past few years, he said. Were trying to get a handle on it.

According to Letteney, the city budgeted for $275,000 in 2014 and spent $539,000, and budgeted for $350,000 in 2015 while spending $589,000. While that money was covered by reallocating money budgeted for other things, it still makes Letteney want to become less dependent on outside counsel.

The plan is by adding one more attorney to our in-house counsel is that we can develop additional expertise and not need outside attorneys as much, he said.

Comparative staffing

Racine currently has just three full-time attorneys on staff: Letteney, Deputy City Attorney Nicole Larsen and Assistant City Attorney Nhu Tran. By contrast, Kenosha has four full-time attorneys and one part-time attorney, while Waukesha has three full-time attorneys and two part-time attorneys.

The additional in-house attorney would increase the departments flexibility, Letteney said. He added that he would like his office to handle more litigation, as well as real estate and economic development matters, which would require a shifting of duties internally.

While handling issues in-house would lead to greater control for the city, the financial benefit appears most significant.

Weve had some litigious years, Letteney said. Salary plus benefits of an attorney thats an employee on an hourly basis is significantly less than an outside attorneys charge.
MOUNT PLEASANT  A man and woman face multiple charges after Mount Pleasant police on Sunday responded to a reported fight in the 5900 block of 16th Street.

Charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court were Cody J. Herman, 31, of the 3700 block of Clairmont Street, Mount Pleasant, and Alexandra L. White, 25, of the 1200 block of Carlisle Avenue, Racine.

According to a criminal complaint, police responding to the fight found Herman bleeding from his hand, but he denied involvement in any altercation, according to police.

Officers interviewed the victim of the fight, who was observed to have been severely beaten. The apartment where the altercation is alleged to have taken place was covered in blood, according to the complaint.

The victim stated White allegedly started the fight with a punch to the victims face, while Herman allegedly followed with a blind-sided punch to the face. The victim and Herman struggled to the ground and Herman also allegedly kicked the victim in the face, the complaint said.

During the fight, a .45-caliber handgun magazine fell out of Hermans pocket. Another person in the apartment grabbed the clip and threw it under a couch so it could not be reached, according to the complaint.

After the fight, Herman was seen by officers holding a white T-shirt. The shirt was later found under a car and allegedly contained six bags of cocaine and a pill bottle with Clonazepam inside, the complaint said.

Herman also was found in possession of 2.27 grams of marijuana. In a search of his car, a .45-caliber handgun with a missing magazine was allegedly found with blood on it, police said. The gun was reported stolen in May, according to the complaint.

According to court records, Herman faces a misdemeanor charges of battery, disorderly conduct and possession of a controlled substance. He also faces felony charges of possession with intent to deliver or manufacture marijuana, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon.

He has been scheduled a preliminary hearing for court Aug. 24 at the Racione County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

White faces a misdemeanor charges of battery as party to a crime and disorderly conduct. She is scheduled to be in court for a pre-trial conference Sept. 15 at the Law Enforcement Center. Both were in custody as of Monday night at the Racine County Jail, online records indicated.
MADISON  The Werner family will host Azizbek from Kyrgyzstan from August 2016 to June 2017; The Woelbing family hosted a Mexican delegate from July 1 to Aug. 1; the Deuster family hosted a Finnish delegate from June 30 to July 23; and the Geschke and Strickland families are each hosting a Japanese or Korean student from July 24 to Aug. 20 as part of a 4-H cultural exchange program.

Azizbek is part of a national delegation experiencing home stays and attending high school in the United States from Eurasia and East Asia. The national exchanges coordinated by 4-H International Programs, bring Japanese, Korean, and Eurasian youth to Wisconsin 4-H homes and send 4-H students to Japan and Korea on a yearly basis. Azizbek participated in the Future Leaders Exchange, a scholarship program coordinated by the U.S. State Department, as one of about 1,200 youth accepted from a pool of approximately 50,000 applicants.

The Mexican delegate is part of a six member delegation visiting Wisconsin this summer through a partner program. The program, coordinated through the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension, brings Mexican youth to Wisconsin 4-H homes.

Those interested in hosting or traveling to Norway, Finland, Argentina, Costa Rica, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, or many other countries with international 4-H exchange programs, may contact the county extension agent by calling 262-767-2929.
"We're never going to use our guns to solve our problems," said one of the students signing the pledge in Starbuck Middle School's hallway Wednesday afternoon before one of her friends added, "We're gonna solve them ourselves."
MOUNT PLEASANT  Temporary measures to stabilize the bluff in the Lake Park neighborhood have begun while officials, including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, await word on federal funding.

Residents and local officials met Tuesday with Baldwin, who toured the area along the lake east of Sheridan Road. The neighborhood has been hit hard by severe bluff erosion, which has threatened up to 20 homes in Mount Pleasant and others throughout the region, as well public utilities and infrastructure.

Its amazing what Mother Natures capable of and sort of shocking to see the erosion thats occurred very recently, Baldwin, D-Wis., told reporters. Im seeing the enormity of it, the threat that still exists because theres no reason to believe its come to a stop.

Baldwin and other state and federal officials have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for help through the agencys Section 14 emergency authority, which would allow the corps to expedite construction of bluff protection measures.

The first step is getting approval for a $100,000 study, said Robert Stanick, chief of operations for the Lake Michigan Army Corps office. It would then compete for funding with other projects. If successful, up to $5 million could be awarded for the project, Stanick said, adding that local government would pick up 35 percent of the cost.

The process will likely begin this fall when officials begin prioritizing projects. But it will be some time before any funding determination is made.

Many years ago, the Army Corps undertook emergency bluff stabilization measures near the former Lake Park fire station, 3809 Sheridan Road. The time from contacting the corps to construction was about three years, Stanick said.

Its definitely not a quick process, he said. Not when youre talking federal dollars.

Baldwin said she and others will continue to press for emergency funding. In the interim, concrete has been donated and shipped to the neighborhood for residents to install at the bottom of the bluff to temporarily halt erosion.

Several property owners have started laying concrete or are about to start, County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said.

Delagrave was encouraged by Baldwins visit, saying he hoped to bring more attention to the problem.

The more people that we can bring here to see this, it brings light to the problem that these homeowners are facing in more real terms, he said. A picture does tell some of the story, but not all of the story if youre here in person.
UNION GROVE  For Tori Crisp, Brett was no bum steer.

The 1,317-pound crossbreed steer named Brett certainly didnt let down the 13-year-old rural Union Grove resident, who was exhibiting last week for the first time at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Crisps steer won the title of Grand Champion at the fair last week. The teen watched a Kenosha meat company pay $52,500 for the beast at the 48th annual Governors Blue Ribbon Livestock Auction.

That was her best friend and it was tough for her, said Toris father, Mike Crisp. For all these kids who are exhibiting and were champions, this can be tough. She has cried a lot between last Wednesday until last night.

It was truly a labor of love for the entire family, said Glenn Blise, Toris uncle, who was at the auction. I can attest to that by the many tears I watched being wiped away.

The tears came after the thrill of winning the grand champion banner and the sweat of hard work raising the steer. Tori had spent up to eight hours a day since March tending to Brett and other cattle on the family farm in the Town of Paris.

Saying its her passion is an understatement, Mike Crisp said. She lives and breathes it. Her work ethic leaves me speechless.

Tori has turned that hard work into a string of prizewinners. She raised the overall grand champion and overall reserve champion steers at the Racine County Fair in 2014, the grand champion Maine steer at the County Fair in 2015, and grand champion Angus steer this year.

Its all hard work, Mike Crisp said. It takes a team to make a winner in almost anything, and this is no different. She busts her butt. Im so proud of her.

Tori, who starts eighth grade this fall at Paris Elementary School, also had the reserve champion Angus steer at the State Fair. She has already asked me when Im getting her a calf for next year, Mike Crisp said.

Other local winners

Tori was one of several Racine County winners at the livetsock auction. Cole Weinkauf of Rochester raised the champion Hampshire Barrow, a 265-pound pig that was bought for $12,000 by Beechwood Sales and Service. He also had the any other breed champion barrow that We Energies won at the auction for $5,000.

Kora Gunderson of Raymond raised the grand champion Berkshire Barrow. That pig was bought for $8,500 by Go Riteway and the Pork-toberfeast Syndicate.

Several Racine County residents also won Governors Blue Ribbon Livestock Auction scholarships. Winning a $2,000 scholarship  the top level  was Mason Sinda, Franksville. The $500 scholarship recipients included Maegan Ann Kreuscher of Kansasville, and Brett Waldron of Franksville.

The scholarships recognize leadership skills, academic achievements, accomplishments as Wisconsin State Fair junior livestock exhibitors, and potential future contributions to the livestock industry.
A consummate democracy activist

Suvash knew that real change would require activist institutions of civil society capable of collective action
At least 25 killed as bus veers off road in Kavre

At least 25 people were killed and 43 others injured when a crowded passenger bus swerved off the road and plunged down the hillside, around 500 metres, at Birtadeurali VDC in Kavre district on Monday, in one of the deadliest road accidents in the country in recent years.
Chamar receives Darnal Award

Raksha Ram Chamar (Harijan) was awarded the first Darnal International Award for Social Justice on Monday for his endeavour to seek justice for Dalits and marginalised community.
Chinese Foreign Ministry positive about Nepals invitation: DPM Mahara

The Chinese Foreign Ministry received formal invitation for Chinese President and Prime Minister to visit Nepal in positive note, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is in Beijing to extend the invitation said.
Dr KC urges MPs to help in his crusade

Dr Govinda KC on Monday urged parliamentarians to initiate the impeachment process against Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority chief Lokman Singh Karki.
Ganga Maya admitted to ICU

Ganga Maya Adhikari, who is on a fast-onto-death at Bir Hospital for the past six days to get murderers of her son booked, has been admitted to ICU of the hospital following deterioration of her health.
Govt teams start monitoring to check black marketing

At least 12 teams led by Ministry of Supplies have started inspection at market places for crackdown on black marketing.
Govt urged to send workers to Afghanistan in guarantee of full security

The government has been urged to send Nepali workers to Afghanistan only on the condition of guarantee of their full security.
Guantanamo Bay: US in largest detainee transfer under Obama

The US says it has sent 15 Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United Arab Emirates - the largest single transfer during President Barack Obama's administration.
Health Ministry scraps contracts of five doctors

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has terminated contracts of five government doctors who had submitted fake academic credentials and summoned three other permanent doctors to the ministry.
I can raise Rs1 trillion for reconstruction: Bhattarai

Coordinator of Naya Shakti Nepal (NSN), BaburamBhattarai has remarked that the government should give Rs 500,000 in a lump to earthquake survivors.
IBN may not extend closure deadline for Upper Karnali

With the deadline for the financial closure of the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project fast approaching, Investment Board Nepal (IBN) appears to be reluctant to agree to the developers request for more time.
Mobile operator Ncell embraces new logo

Ncell, the largest mobile operator in Nepal, is set to unveil a new brand logo of Ncell-an Axiata company on Tuesday, four months after the Malaysian telecom giant acquired the company from Swedens TeliaSonera AB
Model United Nations conference opens

US Ambassador Alaina B Teplitz on Monday opened the South and Central Asia university-level regional Model United Nations (MUN) conference.
Neighbourhood-first policy means regional prosperity, says Rae

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rajit Rae has said that Indias neighbourhood-first policy means that the country wants a prosperous and developed neighbourhood.
Nepali ko Shaan in Thailand

Upcoming Nepali film Nepali ko Shaan is slated to be shot in different parts of Thailand, the films producers informed during a press meet organised in the Capital on Monday.
NOC awards contract to expand Thankot depot

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has expedited the project to expand its fuel storage capacity by selecting an Indian company to construct a storage unit at Thankot.
NSU prez aspirants file nominations

Despite reservations of a faction on the voters list, as many as five Nepal Students Union president aspirants registered their nominations at the Nepali Congress headquarters in Sanepa on Monday.
Oli questioned why left alliance failed

Senior CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Monday questioned party Chairman and former PM KP Sharma Oli why a leftist alliance he presided over during his prime ministership had failed.
Panel formed for selection of proposals to be discussed in the House

Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar on Tuesday formed a nine-member sub-committee to select the proposals registered by the lawmakers to be presented for the discussion at the Legislature-Parliament.
PM instructs not to send migrant workers to Afghanistan unless security assurance

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed Ministry of Labour not to send migrant workers to Afghanistan unless full assurance of security.
Police confirms 27 deaths in Kavre bus accident

Kavre police has confirmed 27 deaths in a bus accident at Birtadeurali VDC in Kavre district on Monday.
Runaway cooperatives

The law should focus on making cooperatives membership-driven and geographically limited
Schools, campuses remain shut on 2nd day of strike

The educational institutions across the country remained closed on the second day of the 'educational strike' called by CPN (Maoist) aligned All Nepal National Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary).
Second Congress of Chinese Enterprises Association held

The Second Congress of the Chinese Enterprises Association of Nepal was held in Economic Counsellor office in Kathmandu on Tuesday.
UML claims PAC leadership

Three days after Janardan Sharma resigned as chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, the CPN-UML has claimed the post as the main opposition.
Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits

Yes, they will make the city more inviting

Maybe ... does it really matter?

No, the signs in place are fine

No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars

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Government has given assurance that it has enough land in Yumbe district to accommodate more refugees.

Earlier reports suggested that the available land in the district could only accommodate around 40,000 refugees.

While meeting officials of Office of the prime minister and the implementing partners at Bidibidi reception centre, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Eng. Hilary Onek said they have vast land to settle more refugees than the previously planned figure.

The Refugee Desk Officer for Arua Solomon Osakan estimates that about 800-900 refugees are received daily at Bidibidi reception centre and the current number settled is over 8000.

This comes a day after the United Nations High Commission for Refugees expressed worry over the growing refugee population yet funds to meet basic needs are becoming exhausted.

In a statement issued on Monday, the UN Refugee agency says there are 930,000 refugees in the region and more are arriving daily.

It thus appeals to the international community to support countries of asylum to protect and assist South Sudanese refugees.

It added that with refugees fleeing South Sudan in their thousands, surrounding countries are straining under the weight of large numbers of displaced people and critically underfunded operations.
Residents have expressed opposition to the plan, saying it makes Seongju a potential target.

The US and South Korea decided to put the system there after months of increasing tensions with North Korea.

North Korea launched its fourth nuclear test this January and has run other missile tests since then.

But residents of Seongju  some 300km (186 miles south of the capital Seoul)  fear they could bear the brunt of retaliation, which North Korea has already threatened. They held signs and chanted No Thaad!.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system is designed to shoot missiles out of the air.

South Korean president Park Geun-hye said on Monday: Thaad is a self-defensive measure weve decided to deploy to protect the lives of our people from North Koreas reckless provocations.
The 23 are alleged to have carried out the killings at a refugee camp in Ethiopias western Gambella province in April in retaliation for a car accident in which two refugee children died, it reports.

They have not yet pleaded.

Reuters quotes the charge sheet as saying that the gruesome murders were planned in advance and two women were among the dead.

More than 270,000 South Sudanese are taking refuge in Gambella, having fled violence which has hit their home country since it became independent in 2011.
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Welcome! You have come to the right place. Khmerization is a home to the Cambodian daily news, which is updated twice daily. Please take a tour and enjoy yourself. Thank you.

To contact Khmerization please send an email to:
Military members on the U.S. Olympic shooting team missed the mark in Rio, finishing behind Russia and China in rifle and pistol matches.

The five soldiers and one Marine competed Aug. 8-14 in 50-meter rifle, 10-meter air rifle, 25-meter pistol, and double trap shotgun events in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Heres a look at the final standings:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael McPhail finished 19th and Marine Corps 2nd Lt. David Higgins finished 40th in the Mens' 50-meter rifle prone on Aug. 12. Germany took gold, South Korea took silver and Russia took bronze.

Army Spc. Daniel Lowe finished 28th in the Men's 50-meter rifle 3 positions event on Aug. 14. Italy took gold, Russia took silver and France took bronze.

Lowe also finished 34th in the Men's 10-meter Air Rifle event on Aug 8. Italy took gold, Ukraine took silver and Russia took bronze.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Keith Sanderson finished 10th in the Men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol event on Aug. 12. Germany took gold, France took silver and China took bronze.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Josh Richmond finished seventh and Army Sgt. 1st Class Glenn Eller finished 14 in the Double Trap event on Aug. 10. Independent Olympic Athletes took gold, Italy took silver and Great Britain took bronze.

We hope to talk to team members soon to get their perspective on shooting in Rio.

--James Barber contributed to this report.
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Two or more serious bouts

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Eight people arrested over weekend

ANGOLA  The following people were arrested by law enforcement officers working in Steuben County over the weekend and lodged in the Steuben County Jail.

 Brice A. Grable, 19, of the 100 block of North Wayne Street, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor probation violation.

 William P. Macedo, 20, of the 700 block of West Carlton Avenue, Elkhart, arrested on West Maumee Street on misdemeanor charges of minor in possession of alcohol and false ID.

 Nacoma D. Perkins, 30, of the 1400 block of North C.R. 550E, arrested on West Maumee Street on a felony charge of habitual traffic offender.

 Corben C. Ruse, 23, of Hudson, arrested on a misdemeanor warrant alleging failure to appear.

 Dale R. Schaeffer, 61, of the 6300 block of North C.R. 200E, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging felony failure to register as a sex or violent offender.

 Trina R. Sitts, 36, of the 5000 block of South C.R. 200E, Pleasant Lake, arrested on a felony warrant alleging probation violation.

 Aaron S. Tecsi, 24, of the 3600 block of North C.R. 1200E, Orland, arrested at the sheriffs department on misdemeanor charges of operating while intoxicated.

 Brandon G. Wooster, 33, of the 100 block of Lane 146 Crooked Lake, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor marijuana possession and habitual substance offender.
ALBION  Walking with the other three Indiana State Troopers at the Republican National Convention, Trooper Brian Kreger was surprised when everyone at a restaurant they were passing broke into spontaneous applause.

I was looking around to see who they were clapping at, Kreger said. It was us. They were clapping for us.

Albions Kreger was part of a group of more than 100 Indiana State Troopers sent to Cleveland to help provide protection last week at the convention. His squad consisted of District 22 troopers Jeremy Brice, John Grant and another trooper who calls Albion home, Lesley Fox.

While requests of this nature are infrequent, they are not unprecedented, Indiana State Police Sgt. Ron Galviz said in an email. The Indiana State Police had a contingency of 60 state police officers that responded to Biloxi, Mississippi, in September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and also sent a handful of state police personnel to Long Island, New York, after Hurricane Sandy struck in October of 2012. The mechanism for such a request is called an Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) and all costs associated with such a request are borne by the agency requesting support.

The appreciation shown by the restaurant patrons was indicative of the reception police received at the convention.

In the wake of shootings of police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Kreger and Fox were wary when they received orders to join the Indiana contingent in Cleveland.

Going down there, I thought it was going to be very anti-police, Kreger said.

I was pretty worried going in, Fox said. It was a lot better than I expected.

At one point, a man wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt approached Kreger.

He said, I appreciate what youre doing out here, Kreger said.

Police ran into very little trouble during the convention. Kreger said only 29 people were arrested.

The police worked 14-hour days in groups of four.

We were assigned to the square, Kreger said. Thats where all the protests were.

When a group of protesters formed, the police kept close tabs on them, ready to intervene if things got physical between groups. Some of the protesters were preaching an anarchy, anti-government mantra, while others were spouting communism.

We just followed them around, Kreger said. It would get heated, but wed come in and separate them. We cut down through the middle. It kept everything from escalating.

The troopers brought their riot gear with them, but never had to put it on.

Kreger said of the thousands of people he saw, only two had derogatory things to say about the police.

Many more people wanted their pictures taken with officers. One Indiana trooper received a flower from an appreciate youngster.

It was a neat experience, Kreger said. It was pretty cool.

Kreger said the sheer number of police kept the clashes between various protesting groups from getting too violent.

You couldnt walk 25 feet without running into another police officer, he said.

Kreger met officers from Texas, Utah, Florida, Wisconsin, South Carolina and California  all of whom were on hand to supplement Ohio State Troopers and Cleveland police.

Kreger went to Ohio on Saturday, July 16. Many of the officers were assigned to sleep on the campus of Case University.The students did not want us there, Kreger said. They signed a petition.

The governor of Ohio stepped in, and the troopers had a place to sleep.

They were sworn in as Ohio officers. For their protection, the swearing-in included bomb dogs and snipers on roof tops.

The biggest problem police had was with anti-government groups.

He said he found commonality between the aims of Black Lives Matters protesters he met in Cleveland.

They want to stop the shootings, he said. So do we. Were trained that people are people. It doesnt matter if theyre white, black or green.
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Mildred Bernstein, 94, died peacefully of natural causes Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, at Benedictine Manor.

Millie was born Dec. 21, 1921, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Isidor and Caroline (Moskowitz) Tarnopol. She grew up in Brooklyn, with two older brothers, Sydney and Martin. She graduated from Brooklyn College and married Herbert Bernstein April 2, 1944. They lived in Brooklyn with their two children, Ken and Julie, until moving to Boca Raton, Fla., in 1981. They also owned a second home, first in Smallwood, N.Y., and later in Bellevue, Wash. After almost 30 years in Florida and the death of Herbie in 2009, Millie moved to La Crosse in 2010.

Family was always important to Millie, she loved chatting with her great-grandchildren about their adventures. Her home was filled with music, especially the opera that she learned to love at an early age from her parents. She did not really like to cook but was famous for her tsimmis, a traditional Jewish beef stew made with sweet potatoes and prunes, which took parts of two days to prepare, but was eaten up by her family and guests in minutes. She also loved speaking French and grabbed the opportunity to talk to anyone she encountered who knew that language.

An East Coast city girl from Brooklyn, she settled into a comfortable life in her last years, welcomed by La Crosses Midwest hospitality. The family is extremely grateful, and we know for sure that Mom was as well, because she told us repeatedly, for the friendly and compassionate care she received from Dr. David Momont and his staff throughout the six years she lived in La Crosse. She was also very pleased with the friendly help and support received from the good folks at Benedictine Villa and Manor, and the medical staff and facilities at Gundersen Health System. And of course she loved and appreciated the friendship, love, and support of Rabbi Simcha Prombaum, Keren Prombaum, and everyone at Congregation Sons of Abraham.

She is survived by her brother, Martin; son, Kenneth (Jill) of La Crosse; daughter, Julie Rosenberg of North Bend, Wash.; grandchildren, Andy Bernstein of Evanston, Ill., Cindy (Andrew) Merrill of Beaverton, Ore., Ilana (Jason) Brumble of Kirkland, Wash., and Amit Rosenberg of Bellevue, Wash.; beloved great-grandchildren, Amber, Nathan, Maya, Alex, and Ezrie; and nephew, Kevin Kortrel of Dallas.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug.18, at Dickinson Funeral Home, 1425 Jackson St., La Crosse. She will join her beloved Herbie in South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Fla. Friends may visit with the family 10 a.m. until time of services Thursday at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Congregation Sons of Abraham or to the Gundersen Medical Foundation.
BLACK RIVER FALLS  A Black River Falls attorney who sought a seat on the bench last year faces criminal charges that accuse him of paying for drugs for clients in exchange for sex, authorities announced Tuesday.

Three clients bought drugs in the alley behind James C. Ritlands office at 320 Main St. and used them inside his office before performing a sex act, according to the Jackson County Sheriffs Department.

Ritland, 62, faces charges of soliciting prostitution and maintaining a drug house when he appears in Jackson County Circuit Court. A special prosecutor will handle the case.

Ritland in an email statement said he has not yet been charged but that he is confident that I will be found not guilty if charges are filed. He declined additional comment.

Authorities began investigating Ritland shortly before Jackson Countys February 2015 judicial primary election in which he was one of six candidates, Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera said.

Ritland, who declined to be interviewed for the investigation, began practicing law in Black River Falls in 1978 and served as district attorney in 1981 and 1982 before opening his own practice in 1983, according to his website. He earned the fewest amount of votes in the judicial primary.

Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact the sheriffs department.

Were fully aware there may be other people that have experienced some of the things weve been investigating, Waldera said.
La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat wants to move the La Crosse Public Library under the La Crosse County Public Library system to save the city money, without substantially changing library services.

The idea is to eliminate the duplication of services and offset funding shortfalls for the city system, particularly when 20 percent of the city librarys users are nonresidents, Kabat said.

We would in essence be doing a similar type of arrangement to the ones in Onalaska and Holmen, Kabat said. The goal would be to have one library system in the county, rather than the two we have now.

Kabat drafted a resolution that will go before the citys Finance and Personnel Committee on Sept. 1 to call for an agreement with La Crosse County to provide library services, rather than the city providing it for themselves.

La Crosse Library Board president Daniel Gelatt called on Kabat to withdraw the resolution and instead take a more measured approach toward finding a way to equitably fund library services in both the city of La Crosse and La Crosse County.

His resolution is an intent to move that forward, and we dont disagree with that proposal, Gelatt said.

Representatives from La Crosse County declined to comment, saying they needed more time to review the proposal.

The La Crosse Public Library strategic plan, currently being written by the board, includes a project called One County, One Library, which would focus on ways to integrate the two systems. However, Gelatt criticized Kabat for putting the idea forward in the form of a resolution before sitting down with representatives from the both library systems and county leadership.

Shotgun marriages seldom succeed happily, Gelatt said. If there is going to be a marriage of the two systems, then it has to happen organically, in a thoughtful manner.

Under Kabats proposal, the primary difference would be how the library is funded. The La Crosse Public Library has a budget of $4.5 million for 2016. Under the current system, the two library systems are funded through individual tax levies, which are levied separately from the general tax levy for both the county and the city. That money is funneled into its own library fund for each system.

This would create a single levy for all of the taxpayers within the county, Kabat said, rather than the city residents being taxed one rate for the city library system and the noncity residents being taxed another for the county system.

The library tax were paying here for the city would decrease and it would increase in outer county to balance that out, Kabat said.

All three city libraries would remain open and staffing levels would be maintained under Kabats resolution, which also calls for the agreement to provide special protections to the city librarys two branches and the archives department.

It would include city of La Crosse dollars to keep those services -- both the archives and the branches -- in operation, Kabat said. We would provide local funding to make sure those operations stayed in place.

Kabat estimates the cost to augment the basic county services would be $580,000 to the city.

However, Gelatt said the library provides more services than historical records and neighborhood outreach, including programming promoting childrens literacy, senior activities and public access to computers for those who cant afford internet access at home. Gelatt wants to also protect those programs.

Despite Kabats assurances that he hopes to maintain the current level of staffing, Gelatt said that the way the proposal was made, library staff members are worried.

Libraries being in the crosshairs for three years makes it much higher for us to retain staff and hire staff, Gelatt said, referring to cost-saving efforts that began with a 2013 study that found there was a great deal of overlap between the two library systems. Already, library employees are sending out their resumes.

Kabat had the legislation drafted after other cost-saving measures and a more informal proposal he made to the county administration September 2015 did not get a response, he said.

Gelatt and the library board weighed Kabats proposals, but ultimately decided it wouldnt create enough of a cost savings to offset the loss caused by not having IT in-house.

Anybody who has studied the future of libraries knows that information technology is central to their future, Gelatt said, adding that to try to piggyback library IT with already stretched city IT services would be a mistake.

There was no convincing documentation that there would be real savings when the task force discussed these three years ago, Gelatt said.

However, with the library predicting at least a $200,000 deficit and having run down its reserves, Kabat said the funding issue was becoming increasingly urgent.

It works in Onalaska, it works in Bangor and it works in all these other communities. Why couldnt that work in La Crosse? Kabat asked.

Kabat disputed the characterization of La Crosse as someplace hostile to libraries and librarians, saying he has done everything (he) can to support library employees, including budgeting a total of 5 percent pay increases over his three years in office.

Libraries are absolutely critical to our neighborhood efforts, Kabat said. These are vital to what makes La Crosse a great place to live.
Donald Trumps attack on a Gold Star military family and his lack of respect for U.S. service members left a sour taste in the mouth of area veterans who spoke out Tuesday against the Republican presidential nominee after his visit to La Crosse.

Vietnam veteran Dan Krehbiel of Black River Falls said unequivocally, If I were still in the military, I would not want that man as commander in chief, citing his treatment of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Capt. Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq, and former prisoner of war Sen. John McCain.

The Khan family made the ultimate sacrifice, their son, and they had the right to speak out on any forum, whether it is public or private, Krehbiel said. They have a right to speak out and they have a right to be heard. Donald Trump just turned around and insulted that because he has too thin of skin to take criticism, and thats not the sign of a good leader, a good commander in chief.

Krehbiel pointed to Trumps statements last year disparaging McCain, when Trump famously said, I like people who dont get captured, while speaking of McCains five years in a Vietnamese POW camp.

Donald Trump says thats not something that is heroic, Krehbiel said. Donald Trump infers about John McCain and every prisoner of war that its their fault they got captured and they dont deserve any honor. We  veterans, everyone, I dont care who they are  know how wrong that is.

He also criticized Trumps proposed changes to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, which would close down VA medical centers and send veterans to doctors and care facilities that accept Medicare, according to Trumps website.

That is the single most dangerous and most reprehensible thing that any person in power could do, Krehbiel said. The VA system saved my life.

He added that the country deserves better and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, was much more qualified.

U.S. Army veteran Joanne Dexter, Sparta, added that Clinton gives the country, especially the countrys women, hope, citing Clintons Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, in which she said, When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone. After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit.

State Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, put together the event in response to Trumps visit Tuesday to La Crosse, saying that Wisconsin has had just about enough of (Trump and vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence).

We know that their rhetoric is dangerous, and, if their own party and the Republican leaders here in Wisconsin wont say anything, we certainly will, Shilling said.

The Wisconsin Senate minority leader described Trump as uniquely unqualified for the nations highest office, adding that he is thin-skinned and vindictive. Shilling hammered Trump on national security, saying his erratic and reckless behavior make him unfit for office.

If he becomes the next commander in chief, I worry about the safety of our courageous troops and the danger they put themselves in day in and day out, Shilling said. And sadly I worry about the treatment of our veterans and their families.

Shilling also criticized Trumps lack of foreign policy knowledge and what she called his lack of interest in learning more.

Just last week we saw another clear reminder of his lack of fitness and readiness for this job, Shilling said. Reading off of the talking points of Vladimir Putin and other adversaries, Trump falsely claimed that President (Barack) Obama founded ISIS. The world noticed.

As did retired Col. Ray Moss of La Crosse, who said he chose to speak out against Trump and in favor of Clinton on behalf of his 10-year-old grandson Beau.

Trumps lack of experience and overwhelming arrogance make him dangerous to the countrys future, particularly the future of its children, he said.

(Being president) is a tough job. Its an almost impossible job, Moss said. When youre not prepared for it, it is an impossible job.

Moss added that Trumps lack of respect for the nations service members makes it clear hes not prepared.

The baseline qualification for being a good commander in chief is a deep respect for your troops and their families, not only when theyre deployed, but also when they come back home, he said.

(Being president) is a tough job. ... When youre not prepared for it, it is an impossible job. Retired Col. Ray Moss, La Crosse
La Crosse County is becoming a beacon in the national Campaign to Change Direction, according to the founder of the movement to enlist communities in the quest for mental health.

Since the national crusade was launched on March 5, 2015, and the La Crosse County effort three weeks later, the county has begun to change the culture of mental health for your community and create a model for replicating it in community after community, Barbara Van Dahlen told about 100 people at a leadership breakfast in La Crosse Tuesday.

The entire state of Massachusetts is modeling its Change Direction effort in part on La Crosse activities that have enlisted not only health care organizations but also businesses, faith communities, schools and other groups, she said.

Change Direction is not an anti-stigma campaign because we found out there is a stigma with stigma, Van Dahlen said. This is about what you do  yoga, therapy, exercise, or whatever  for your mental health.

Beyond that is the campaigns overall thrust to help everybody learn the five signs of emotional suffering  personality change, agitation, withdrawal, poor self-care and an air of hopelessness  so they can recognize them in friends and acquaintances and steer them toward help, she said.

The campaign has enlisted notables ranging from First Lady Michelle Obama and Prince Harry of Great Britain to actor Richard Gere to encourage people to learn the signs so they can help others who may be suffering in silence.

Gere is so passionate about homelessness that he walked the streets of New York City disguised as a homeless man, with people stepping around and past him, not recognizing him or caring about what his plight might be, Van Dahlen said.

Van Dahlen cited her daughter Mira as an example of such awareness and action. Mira happened upon a razor blade in the drawer of one of her high school friends and became concerned that the girl might be considering self-harm.

Mira talked to the friend about her emotional challenges and helped connect her with a counselor, Van Dahlen said.

That is the power of education  and then it is up to the community to tap into the resources, of which La Crosse has many. The critical element is early intervention and prevention, said Van Dahlen, whom Time magazine included on its 2012 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Kids are social change agents, and we also want kids acting, Van Dahlen said. We want them to be able to say, I love you, but you drink too much. I love you, but you seem to be angry all the time.

People hesitate to talk about mental health issues, although they freely discuss other illnesses, she said.

Before people knew the signs of heart attacks, more people fell victim to them, while awareness has led to earlier diagnosis and treatment, she said.

Statistically, 1 in 5 people has a diagnosable mental illness, she said, but a comprehensive survey found that, If you ask people if they had a mental health challenge in the past year, 1 out of 2 said yes. We need to change the conversation.

Doing so includes changing people to think compassionately, she said. At least say hi to people. Wherever you have a passion (like Gere does), go there, and it will have a ripple effect.

Evidence that the conversation may be changing locally because of the campaign came from Mary Mundt Reckase, director of Great Rivers 211, an information, referral and crisis line serving Coulee Region residents 24 hours a day.

The highest areas of calls are mental health, Reckase told the broad audience attending the breakfast.

Great Rivers 211 chronicled 5,100 mental health-related calls from La Crosse County residents between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, including 108 potentially life-threatening, suicidal calls and another 362 crisis calls that were not life-threatening, she said.

That was 50 percent higher than the year before, Reckase said, explaining that she had tallied spring-to-spring statistics because theyre within the time Change Direction has been in existence and can help gauge the willingness of people to acknowledge the issue.

Although it is difficult to attribute the increase specifically to the campaign, the coincidence is worth noting, she said.

System-wide, including La Crosse and 20 other counties Great Rivers 211 serves, the nonprofit agency handled 8,300 mental health-related calls, including 212 potentially life-threatening.

Weve been taking a lot more calls, so we have been helping a lot more people, she said.

Don Weber, the founder of Logistics Health Inc. in La Crosse and one of the moving forces with Van Dahlen behind Change Direction, said 1.4 million of 22 million veterans in the United States have service-related injuries, including many with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Change Direction evolved in part from Van Dahlens Give an Hour, a national nonprofit organization in which she has enlisted more than 7,000 mental health professionals to donate an hour a week to provide services to veterans, Weber said.

That saved a cost of $15 million in fees, he said.

Regarding behavioral health, Im a very simple person, and I never got to college, said Weber, who grew up on a farm. I barely got myself out of high school.

But under his parents careful guidance and his experience as a Marine during the Vietnam War era, Weber said, I learned that nothing is of greater value than people, and (businesses) should take care of your people and their well-being.

Behavioral health is not a stigma, Weber said. Its a health issue.

Sam Van Riper, pricing director at Trane Co. and a member of the Campaign to Change Direction Steering Committee, opened the breakfast program. We have a saying at Trane that we want this to be the best place to work. With Changing Direction, we think we can make this the best place to live, he said.
For 40 years, Ronald Reagans ideas  and the idea of Reagan  have guided the GOP: Republican candidates for offices high and low have claimed his mantle, and even Democrats like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have had to contend with his legacy.

But Donald Trump is a departure from that tradition, and in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback  who has taken Reagans tax-cutting philosophies to their limit  earlier this month found himself repudiated at the polls when primary voters in his state chose to replace conservative Republicans with moderate challengers.

Does Reaganism have any life left? Why has it faltered? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk debate the issue.

Joel Mathis

When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.

For decades, all the GOP has had is Reaganism. While the political ideology may have been suited, in some ways, to its original times  government of the late 1970s really was sclerotic, taxes probably were too high, and the military definitely was mired in a post-Vietnam malaise  the 70s ended long ago.

More tax cuts wont boost the economy the way they did back in the 1980s. Just look to Kansas, where Brownbacks tax-cutting spree has left government underfunded and produced anemic economic growth.

And deregulation can certainly go too far, as Americans found out when unconstrained big banks led the country, and the world, into the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.

Fierce hawkishness, another tenet of Reaganism, can lead to unending folly, as the United States  with troops still stuck playing whack-a-mole in Iraq and Afghanistan  is reminded on a daily basis.

Whats left after that? Reagans sunny optimism and amnesty for illegal immigrants? His ability to raise taxes to avoid crippling government? Todays Republican Party has rejected all of that. Todays Trumpist GOP is a snarling ball of angry, anti-immigrant fury that stokes fear at every opportunity.

The clearest sign of the Republican Partys exhaustion: The Democratic Party isnt acting afraid anymore. Hillary Clinton isnt declaring that the era of big government is over. Obama is ending a presidency that saw the passage of a universal health care bill and gay rights make huge, unheard-of advances.

During the George W. Bush administration, conservatives were fond of asserting that this is a center-right country, and Democrats often seemed to believe them. Now? Well, its telling that Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, made Clinton work so hard for the partys presidential nomination.

Long story short: Reaganism long ago lost its usefulness, and Republican voters caught on before their party leaders did. The result? Trumpism. GOP leaders need to find a new tool, and soon, or the future will bring them, and us, more of the same.

Ben Boychuk

Republicans sometimes make fun of liberal Democrats for being stuck in 1965 or, for voters of a certain age, 1932. Yet for too many Republicans, its always 1980 or 1984.

Its true. Many Republicans, especially Republican presidential candidates, use Reagans name like an incantation. Simply say the 40th presidents name often and reverently enough, promise to cut taxes, and the votes will appear like magic, the thinking seems to go.

Ask Ted Cruz how that strategy worked for him. Or Marco Rubio. Or poor Jeb Bush.

Trump doesnt invoke Reagan the way other Republicans do. He doesnt talk about Reagan at all. Why not? Well, part of the reason may be that Trump never liked Reagan very much and famously dismissed the 40th president in The Art of the Deal as a con man who couldnt deliver the goods. (Years later, Trump would appear on Sean Hannitys Fox News program and claim Reagan as his favorite president.)

But its also the case that Reagan was the right man with the right policies at the right time. He was a unique politician and quite unlike many Republicans of the time.

Trump doesnt need Reagan to legitimize his campaign or his movement. Trump is making his own way.

My colleague Chris Buskirk argued at the website American Greatness the other day that its high time for conservatives to finally accept that the Gipper isnt coming back. He served his purpose. But its time to move on.

Yes, we honor his work and respect the man and the movement that made him president, Buskirk wrote. But conservatives have too easily retreated to a posture of nostalgia for a golden age that never really existed. Worse, most Americans dont care about all of the paeans to Reagan offered by the faithful  they want a political movement that speaks to todays issues.

Trump is a mess as a candidate. But he resonates with voters, including people who would have been Reagan Democrats 30 years ago, in a way no politician has in a long time. Trump may not win, but Trumpism isnt going away.


:    9         

         2013 .         9          .    .
At Thursdays campaign rally for vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, western Wisconsin Republicans urged voters not to stay home in November, a tacit acknowledgment that the party has not united behind presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Hes our man, said state Senate candidate Dan Kapanke, who has not formally endorsed the real estate mogul. There is no alternative.

Kapanke, a Republican running against state Sen. Jennifer Shilling for the 32nd Senate District seat he lost in a 2011 recall election, said he believes Trump will bring in new voters and help down-ballot candidates like him.

Trump came in second to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the Wisconsin presidential primary, though he did well in western Wisconsin, winning the 3rd Congressional District, including La Crosse and surrounding counties.

Kapanke urged voters not to sit out the election.

We have to lock arms. We have to get in the hunt, he said. If we do, well have a President Trump.

Julian Bradley, the vice chairman of the 3rd Congressional District GOP and a candidate for state Assembly, urged the cameras to zoom in, zoom in as he took the stage before Pences speech, suggesting no one would believe he was at a Trump campaign event.

Bradley, who said he has not endorsed any candidate other than himself, said it was important to represent the party and urged the crowd to get out and vote.

Have you ever voted for somebody you agree with 100 percent? he asked.

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, who introduced Pence, provided the strongest endorsement for Trump, brushing off liberal pundits who yap, yap, yap about his inflammatory statements.

Lets talk about Hillary Clinton, the 7th District Republican said, noting the former secretary of states private email server and allegations of trading favors for donations to her husbands foundation. This is pay for play. This is corruption at its worst.

Duffy addressed Trumps latest controversy, a claim that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton founded the terrorist group ISIS.

Maybe not literally, he said. (But) they set the policy up that ISIS could rise.

Duffy also urged those unsure about Trump to consider the Supreme Court appointments the next president is expected to make.

Theres only one clear choice, he said. Donald Trump.

Some of the approximately 250 people in attendance were less enthusiastic.

Im not a Hillary supporter, said Jack Zahn, a 68-year-old retired EMT and firefighter from Barre Mills who considers himself an independent. I dont see anyone else to vote for.

Zahn, a veteran, said he agrees with Trump on border security and support for the military, though he conceded the campaign has not been smooth.

Occasionally he puts his foot in his mouth, he said. And sometimes he changes feet.

Richard Lowe, who runs an equipment manufacturing company in Viola, Wis., said he has become a Trump supporter after initially favoring Cruz and fellow Sen. Marco Rubio. Though he favors free trade, Lowe said hes interested in how Trump  who has pilloried free trade agreements  would negotiate better terms for the United States.

Whats good for society is good for me, he said.

Dan Eumurian, who supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the primary, said he is staying tuned.

I cant stand Hillary, he said. Im repulsed by a lot of the things Trump says.

A piano tuner who considers himself a social conservative, Eumurian brought a list of suggestions for the candidate.

The only person who can defeat Donald Trump is Donald Trump, it read. Run it thru your head twice and run it by the Lord before you say it or Tweet it.
Marie Glenadine (Saxe) Green, 96, went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016. She had been a resident at Norseland Nursing Home for almost three years.

Marie was born Jan. 20, 1920, in rural Wayne County, Ill. She was the fifth child of eight, born to Glenn and Edith (Potter) Saxe. Marie graduated in 1938 from Edwards County High School in Albion, Ill. She then went on to earn her teaching degree from Warbler Eastern Illinois State Teachers College in Charleston, Ill. She taught a few years in one-room schoolhouses where, at times she would have up to 35 students in multiple grades. In 1947, she married Henry Wilson Green. They lived on a small farm near Plainfield, Ill., where their seven children were born. Later in 1967, they moved to a dairy farm between Westby and Cashton. Marie dedicated her life to God, family and home. Her Bible was forever open as a visible sign of the importance of God in everything she did; cooking, cleaning, canning, sewing in total service to her family. Later in life, she worked at the Westby Area School District in the library and kitchen. She also organized and maintained a library at Cornerstone Christian Academy, along with selling Christian books. She enjoyed reading, writing poetry, singing and sharing her love for Christ.

Marie is survived by one stepson and seven children, Gordon (Linda) Green of St. Joseph, Ill., Kenneth Green of S.D., Kathryn (Terry) M. Kirk of Houston, Texas, Karen (John) M. Schlesner of Westby, Timothy (Trudy) H. Green of Viroqua, Mina L. Richardson of St Paul, James (Lisa) W. Green of Westby, and Emily (Mark) E. Nelson of Westby; 15 grandchildren; and 12 great grandchildren; all of whom she loved so very much.

For all the little things she did, the wonderful humor she displayed at all times, and the lessons she taught, she will be greatly missed by her family and friends. Her family is truly grateful for the friendship of her dear roommate, Doris Leum, and the caring staff at Norseland Nursing Home.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Bethesda Lutheran Brethren Church, 210 Park St., Westby. The Rev. Paul Tjelta will officiate, with interment in the church cemetery. A visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the church. The Seland Funeral Home, Coon Valley, is assisting the family. Online condolences may be offered at selandsfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be made to the Salvation Army, 223 Eighth St. N., La Crosse 54601; and the American Indian Education Foundation, 2401 Eglin St., Rapid City, S.D., 57703.
PIERSON STATION, Ill.  Farm auctions in tiny towns like this one in Illinois often mark the end of a family legacy.

Land cultivated for generations is placed on the auction block. Sometimes the acreage is split up and sold to multiple buyers. Often, though, nearby farmers and investors secure another section of what some call the most fertile terrain in the country.

Last week, folks from far and wide gathered at the farm of Dale Fulton to bid on large machinery that  even at age 95  he has relied on to harvest corn and soybeans.

But Fulton said he will not sell a single acre of the flat land his family has owned since nearly the Civil War.

He feels a bond and doesnt want the estate broken up, even after hes gone. That will be one last obstacle for him to figure out and overcome.

At 80, I didnt have a single problem, physically, he said. I am losing ground now.

Indeed, weekly blood tests signal thats hes winding down. Hes been a little out of breath the past couple weeks hitching up things and preparing for the auction.

But he still has ambitious plans for his familys 633 acres, even though hes all the family thats left.

Fulton, a lifelong bachelor worth millions, has outlived his kin and contemporaries by a long shot. So it will fall to a younger business partner and a small local bank to see his plan for the farm forward.

Fulton is a profile in intrigue, independence and health  a man who still drives a pickup to the cafe for lunch, and shows up for work six days a week.

What I am trying to figure out, how can a man live out in the world like that and live that long, said Jacob Helmuth, 78, an Amish farmhand who worked at the Fulton farm for decades.

Helmuth, who has Parkinsons disease, was talking more about religion and worldly temptations than the limits of human longevity.

Fulton said his mother, Rosa, was a strict Baptist who wouldnt let him drink root beer. As an adult, he still doesnt drink much but leans heavily toward reason. Even so, he sees signs of the divine in the world around him.

If you consider biology and science, it couldnt have happened by accident, he said.

Taking flight

Born and reared here during the Depression, Fulton is grounded to the family farm.

That wasnt always the case.

When he was 17, his parents bought him his first airplane. And with it, Fulton flew the coop toward a full career as an international pilot for TWA.

Fulton said hes still baffled why his parents paid $1,000 for the used 50-horsepower Taylor Craft bought in Indianapolis. It must have been wild for them to look up and see their teenage son buzzing overhead, landing in pastures as he learned to fly.

Especially for his father, William B. Fulton, who was born in 1868. He was 52 when Dale, the youngest of three children, was born in 1921. Dales brother died at 7, his sister at 21.

And there Dale was, pushing the limit, initially on a motorcycle. Stories still linger about how the young daredevil rode standing on the seat.

Id never let a child of mine have a motorcycle, he said. We were always getting skinned up.

After getting his first ride with a barnstormer who was showing off an airplane in the area, Fulton started riding to the airport in Decatur, 30 miles away. An instructor there encouraged the adventurous boy. Once he got his own plane, he further honed his landing, heading and recovery skills.

He said his first major trip was in 1940. He flew to an air show in Miami. Hed watch the metal wire gas gauge on the 12-gallon tank sink as he flew each leg of the trip, usually about 175 miles, depending on the headwind.

He recalled landing at the airport in Atlanta during the voyage without a radio.

You try to do that today and youd be in Leavenworth 100 years, he said.

It was a job advertisement that soon took him out of the row crops for a long time. Pilots were needed in England to ferry airplanes from factories to fighter fields.

His credentials were thin.

They didnt care too much, as long as you could fly, he said, adding of his talent for figuring things out: If you have a job to do, your mind orients to it and thats what you have to do.

Over two years, he learned how to fly all sorts of aircraft. In 1942, as the United States dipped more heavily into World War II, Fulton signed on with Transcontinental and Western Air, which later became TWA. The company had a government contract to fly transport planes and they needed pilots.

You know, if it hadnt been for the war, I dont know what I would have done, said Fulton, who never went to college. Probably nothing.

He was the commander of various types of cargo planes that flew across the ocean dozens of times. One common route was from Natal, Brazil, to Dakar, in West Africa, then over to Khartoum, Sudan, and up the Nile Valley to Cairo.

He became a seasoned long-range pilot but still liked pushing the performance of smaller planes. Around 1946, he bought a used P-51 Mustang from the War Department for $3,500. While on vacation that year, he won notoriety with a first-place trophy at the National Air Races in Cleveland. His average speed was 352 mph.

Fly or farm?

He stayed on with TWA, flying passengers all over the world, for decades to come. He lived in Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco. After his mother died in 1969, he spent a lot of his downtime in Illinois, running the farm with the help of farmhands and others from the community.

Roger Harris, an electrician in nearby Atwood, said Fulton once left him a message about fixing a fan in a grain bin. No need to call back, he was in the French Riviera.

Hed tell you to do something, whether he was here or not, said Harris, 79. You did it and he was happy.

Fulton had a big decision to make when he retired from TWA in 1981 at the age of 60: Move to Singapore to fly for a different company and continue to wear tailor-made white shirts, or take on rural Illinois full time, where the family farm was worth a considerable amount. He said the fertile land could have more recently sold for $14,000 an acre.

I had to do something, he said. I couldnt have been happy with my feet up.

He dug into the farm, poured countless hours into work. Sometimes during harvest season, he wouldnt get to bed until midnight, then hed be up before sunrise.

Years passed. His reputation solidified as a man who wanted the best.

Hes been a frequent customer at the nearby Case International Harvester dealership, where a combine fetches $500,000. He is meticulous about machinery, wants the new stuff delivered straight from the factory. He demands that it be washed, even waxed sometimes, before leaving it in the shed for the next season.

Hes not as particular about his own accommodations. He lives in his parents old home. Parking is easy compared to where he used to live, he says with a smile.

Looking back, he said, maybe he should have put more effort into getting married.

The women I knew wouldnt have cared for farm life, he said. They wanted a few more bright lights.

Securing a legacy

Fulton has avoided retirement homes. Not able to fly anymore, growing soybeans and corn on land that his parents cultivated helped keep him alive, some said.

In recent years, he had a dog named Rambo that hed buy hamburgers for at the cafe. Other than that, it has just been him and some farmhands. Among the help is Rob Flavin, 53, who farms Fultons land and looks out for him.

You need to eat more, he told Fulton the other day.

Fulton weighs 116 pounds, down from 140 four years ago. His hemoglobin count needs to be monitored.

My future is not very far from here, he said.

But there are still plans to set in order, including the auction.

Fulton said hes happy to sell off the equipment he cared so much about. He was losing too much to depreciation. But selling the land, he said, would come with an enormous tax bill, and the government would just piss it away.

To keep the land intact after he dies, it will be left in trust.

Flavin will farm the land, largely using his own equipment  though a few tools and tractors are being spared from the auction. A new farm office was just built and siding is being replaced on a large shed and shop.If all goes well it will be a profitable enterprise for years to come.

Profits from Fultons side of the operation will be donated to nearby Friendship Hill Retirement Center, sometimes referred to as Pill Hill.

The center was set up by a homeopathic doctor from Hammond, the next little town over. The doctor, who didnt have children either, left it as her dying legacy. It operates out of her former summer home and is supported by an endowment that includes net income from 2,000 acres of farmland.

Fulton said he liked that approach and wanted to add income from his own land to the cause.

Hopefully, it will help keep the rates down, he said.
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We know very little about the bottom of our ocean. In fact, we have more information about other planets than we do of our sea floor.

That's why it's always a joy when scientists bring a submersible to the depths and record what they find. This summer, Dr. Robert Ballard and the crew of the E/V Nautilus (the same team that found the Titanic) have been embarking on an exploration of the Pacific Coast of North America and streaming it live on the internet. Last month they found a mysterious alien orb (turns out it's a sea slug!) off the Channel Islands, and just last week they came across an equally strange, yet adorable denizen of the deep.

In a video posted to the expedition's YouTube page last week, the Nautilus team encountered what's (also adorably) known as a stubby squid (Latin name Rossia pacifica). The crew can't contain themselves: "It's so cute!" "They look like googly-eyes... like they painted them on!" "It looks so fake... it's like some little kid dropped their toy."As Gothamist editor Jen Carlson suggested, it's as if they stumbled across a Pokemon at the bottom of the ocean. It kinda does look like an Omanyte (see right).

Despite the name, stubby squids aren't true squids, but part of a group known as sepiolids (confusingly known as bobtail squids) which are closely related to cuttlefish. Like cuttlefish, the stubby squid's eyes are more forward set than a true squid's.

Stubby squid are typically found in shallower waters in the North Pacific from Japan all the way to Southern California, but as previous expeditions and the Nautilus crew have found, sometimes they like the deep.

The Nautilus expedition has already left the warmer waters of Southern California and are now exploring the floor of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. You can watch their dives live on their website.


About 2.8 million American children were told at least once during the 2013-2014 school year to leave public school for bad behavior.

In the United States, forcing a student to leave school is a punishment known as suspension. It is designed to stop misbehaving students from interfering with classroom activities.

But a number of recent studies suggest the punishment does not work.

One group, for example, found that suspended students are more likely to be arrested by police or drop out of school. The Council of State Government carried out the study.

Another survey found that suspensions in 10th grade alone cost U.S. taxpayers $35 billion for extra prison and social welfare spending. That finding came from researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

And suspensions may unfairly target African-Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It reported in June that African-Americans are 3.8 times more likely to receive one or more suspensions as white students.

Education officials across the country are debating what to do with students who talk loudly in class, throw things at other students or arrive late. There is more agreement that a student who physically attacks a fellow student or teacher should be removed.

Misbehaving students must face consequences

Lynette Stream has three children attending public schools in Oskaloosa, southeastern Iowa. Oskaloosa is home to about 12,000 people.

In her daughters kindergarten class, Stream said, some students arrive late all the time. She said this forces teachers to repeat lessons, taking away teaching time.

Some students refuse to sit down in the classroom, choosing instead to walk around and talk. This makes it hard for other students to keep their attention on what the teacher is saying, Stream said. Bad behavior is even more of a problem in middle school, she added.

Students know they can run all over the teachers, Stream told VOA. Students need to know there will be consequences if they dont behave.

Alternatives that keep students in school

Better ways than suspension are available to deal with misbehaving students. So says Daniel Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA.

There are many alternatives that teach good behavior and hold students accountable for their conduct while keeping them in school, he said.

Russell Skiba is an education specialist and professor at Indiana University. He said more counselors for students and training teachers to deal with misbehaving students work better than suspensions from school.

No one argues that we should be tolerating students who are disrupting classes. But I think it is the schools responsibility to make it clear to parents there are more effective methods, he said.

Shaun Harper directs the University of Pennsylvanias Center for the Study of Race and Equity. Harper said he found a successful alternative program at 40 small public high schools in New York City.

The program uses student-led groups, working with teachers and counselors, to decide punishment for misbehaving students. Harper said the students are more likely to react positively when they are part of finding a solution.

John King is the U.S. Secretary of Education. In June, he reported a nearly 20 percent reduction in school suspensions nationwide.

Fewer suspensions is an important sign of progress, King said. But he said concern remains over continued higher suspension rates for African-Americans.

Union questions ban on suspensions

Recently, the labor union representing 200,000 New York City teachers objected to a plan to ban suspensions for young children. Under the plan, school officials would be barred from removing boys and girls in grades K (Kindergarten) through Grade 2.

In a perfect world, no child under the age of eight would ever be suspended, said union president Michael Mulgrew. But he said the proposed ban would hurt thousands of children who will lose education time because of disruptive students.

Mulgrew said ending suspensions will only work when New York City officials agree to more counselors and better teacher training.

In Texas, a member of the Dallas school board also proposed a ban on suspensions for students from pre-kindergarten through 2nd grade. Miguel Solis said his proposal would make suspensions the last alternative for students in grades 3-5.

Some Dallas school board members worry about doing anything to make it harder for teachers to teach and students to learn, reported the Dallas Morning News. The board decided to study the suspension issue before voting on the suspension ban proposal.

Solis understands. I think it best that we take a hard look at our own practices to see if they are adding to the problem, he told VOA.

Solis worries about higher suspension rates for African-Americans and higher school dropout and arrest rates for suspended students.

Im Bruce Alpert.

Bruce Alpert reported this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. What are your ideas on how to deal with students who disrupt classes?

____________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

consequence - n. something that happens as a result of a particular action or set of conditions

alternative - n. something that can be chosen instead of something else

accountable - n. required to explain actions or decisions to someone

conduct - n. the way that a person behaves in a particular place or situation

counselor - n. someone, usually a trained professional, who provides advice to someone

tolerate - v. to allow something that is bad or unpleasant to exist or happen

disrupt - v. to interrupt normal progress or activity

practices - n. the way a group or agency carries out its work
United Nations economic restrictions ordered against North Korea in March have produced mixed results.

Prices for goods in North Korea have remained stable. Reports note that business has slowed at the economic development zones. These zones were designed to appeal to foreign investment.

Lim Eul-chul is a professor of Korean Studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea. He spoke with VOAs Korean Service. He said economic activity decreased in two development zones near the Chinese border in the last five months.

Lim said China had planned to invest in the Mubong Economic Development Zone and the Onsung Island Economic Development Zone. But development in the zones stopped after China took part in the U.N. sanctions against North Korea.

The U.N. sanctions increased financial restrictions on companies that do business with North Korea. The United States also ordered sanctions against North Korea. They include measures to seize money and property from organizations and individuals involved with North Korean industries.

Adam Cathcart is an East Asia expert at Leeds University in Great Britain. He said that even without sanctions, international companies are reluctant to invest in North Korea's economic development zones. He added the zones do not provide enough infrastructure.

China slowdown

China is important to the North Korean economy. Close to 90 percent of North Korean trade flows either to or through China.

Last year, North Korean exports dropped almost 15 percent before the sanctions were in place. The Bank of Korea says the economic slowdown in China was the main cause of the drop.

Other reports suggest that sanctions are having some effect. Observers noted a drop in vehicle traffic at the Chinese and North Korean border. Some money transfers to North Korean banks have been suspended. Officials also have increased inspections of North Korean shipments entering Chinese ports.

However, there are also reports that say sanctions have not affected food and fuel prices.

News reports from Seoul show that the price of rice, corn, pork and fuel remained stable over the last year.

The reports say the price of gasoline increased by 45 percent immediately following the announcement of sanctions. But reports say the prices soon returned to normal.

Some experts say the growth of private markets under leader North Korean Kim Jong Un kept food and fuel supply prices stable.

North Korea reacted to the U.N. sanctions by testing multiple short- and medium-distance missiles.

China called on North Korea to end its nuclear program. But, China also wants a stable North Korea as balance to the U.S. and South Korean military alliance.

Im Caty Weaver.

Brian Padden wrote this story for VOA News with additional information from Kim Jung-woo and Youmi Kim. Jim Dresbach adapted the story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

stable  adj. in a good state or condition that is not easily changed or likely to change

zone  n. an area that is different from other areas in a particular way

sanctions  n. actions that are taken or orders that are given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country

asset  n. a valuable person or thing

infrastructure  n. the basic equipment and structures such as roads and bridges that are needed for a country to function

transfer  n. to cause something to move from one place

reluctant - adj. feeling or showing doubt about doing something
Observers and activists in Vietnam are concerned about a fine against a foreign-owned steel factory for polluting ocean waters along the coast.

The observers and activists say the record pollution fine would not pay all victims of the environmental disaster. They also say it does not send a strong enough warning to other export manufacturers.

The steel factory, Formosa Ha Tinh, was accused of letting toxic waste pollute the ocean in April. The pollution caused 80 tons of fish to wash up on coastal beaches.

In June, the government fined the Taiwanese-financed steel plant $500 million for fish deaths along 200 kilometers of a coastline southeast of Hanoi. That is believed to be the largest fine ever against a company in Vietnam.

The plant apologized and agreed to clean up the wastewater system. But people familiar with the issue say the fine cannot cover the continued losses to fishermen, seaside businesses and local people. Some have developed skin diseases from touching the water. The sale of seafood has slowed throughout Vietnam. That has hurt the fishing industry.

Citizens hope Vietnamese officials will test the ocean water to make sure it is safe.

Other foreign investors are watching

How involved the Vietnamese government gets in the fish death case will send a message to foreign investors. Some people think the government went easy on Formosa Ha Tinh to protect the companys $10 billion investment in Vietnam.

Foreigners have built export-manufacturing factories in the country to save on costs. Those plants helped to expand Vietnams economy by 30 percent over the past five years to $193 billion in 2015.

Le Cong Dinh is a lawyer at a law office in Ho Chi Minh City. He said the government will use the fish kill fine as an alert to all doing business in Vietnam.  [W]e want them to comply with the laws, and satisfy the condition of the environment, he added.

Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha told local media in June the fine covers only direct material damages. The money does not cover psychological losses to fishermen, who suffered a drop in earnings. He called the fine too small.

Vietnamese living in Taiwan protested last week. They called for the steel plants investor -- Formosa Plastics Corporation -- to leave Vietnam.

Criticism of government

Vietnamese officials say the fish deaths affected about five million people. Some have not recovered, said Duc Truong, an independent reporter and member of the non-governmental organization Brotherhood for Democracy.

Fishers in the oceans near the plant are catching less fish than a year ago. Fish sauce producers are suspected of using the dead fish illegally, Duc and other activists said.

An

An activist said environmental experts should test the water quality of the once-polluted seas. Tran Bang is an engineer and activist in Ho Chi Minh City. He said an independent report showed high levels of six chemicals. But officials in the coastal city of Da Nang told local media in April that its waters were already safe for swimming.

Im Anne Ball.

Ralph Jennings wrote this story for VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

toxic  adj. containing poisonous substances

beaches  n. areas covered with sand or small rocks that are next to an ocean or lake

alert  n. a message that tells people there is some danger or problem

comply  v. to do what you have been asked or ordered to do


Ronald Reagan

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive.

Albert Einstein

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.

Winston Churchill





It isnt so much that liberals are ignorant. Its just that they know so many things that arent so.

With integrity nothing else counts; Without integrity nothing else counts.

Winston Churchill





Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.

Harvey S. Firestone





It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. H. L. Menken



Referenda insure all have a voice in land use decisions.

U.S. Supreme Court

Listen carefully to first criticism of your work. Note just what it is about your work the critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping.

Jean Cocteau
Charges against the 31-year-old St. Petersburg man accused in a fatal DUI crash have been upgraded.



1 killed, 1 hurt in crash early Sunday in Pinellas Park

Bryce McCloud has been charged with DUI manslaughter



Caroline Sine died at local hospital

Pinellas County school officials mourning the loss

Bryce Albert McCloud is now facing DUI manslaughter charges after the death of Caroline Sine, who passed away late Monday at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg as a result of her injuries suffered in a traffic crash last weekend.



According to Pinellas Park police, Sine, 34 of St. Petersburg, and her boyfriend, Sean Hankins, 34, were driving just before 1 a.m. Sunday in the 4000 block of Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park when they were struck by a 2016 Toyota Corolla.



Deputies say McCloud was drunk when he drove through a red light and struck Sine's 2003 Toyota Camry.



Sine and Hankins were rushed to the hospital, where Sine later died. Hankins remains in critical condition. Sine was a local music teacher in the Pinellas County school system. Hankins, also, is an area music teacher.



McCloud is also facing two charges of DUI causing serious bodily injury.



Pinellas Park police said surveillance video from a nearby restaurant captured the crash. Police also said McCloud refused field sobriety tests at the scene of the crash. McCloud was not injured in the crash.



"We have the ability to force blood draws and that was done in this case," said Pinellas Park Police Sgt. Mike Lynch. "As we previously stated, he did refuse the FSTs, field sobriety testing initially."

A gofundme account has been set up for Hankins.

This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Bay News 9/News 13. For more information on how the site works and the rules, visit http://www.gofundme.com/safety.


Seven people from Manatee County returned this week following a 14 day mission trip in Kenya.

The philanthropic adventure was part of a larger Bay area organization -- Hearts Afire -- which was co-founded in 2006 by Rhonda and Dr. Joe Pecoraro.

Joe and Rhonda Pecoraro co-founded Hearts Afire in 2006



The charitable organization takes six mission trips every year

They currently in the process of raising $50K in funding for a full-time clinic in Kenya

Hearts Afire takes up to six mission trips around the world every year.

Each trip costs the ministry around $5,000 to $8,000, or so, just on medication, childrens supplies, the shoes, the bibles," said Dr. Pecoraro. "We gave out 300 bibles [this trip]."

That figure doesnt include the traveling costs. Each participant is expected to raise those funds on their own.

Six of the 14 days the missionaries are gone are spent working at clinics, serving up to 400 people. Every patient is given vitamins and treated for diseases ranging from malaria to HIV. For those not requiring immediate medical treatment, basic human necessities, including shoes, are given out.

Last year the trip was able to provide 300 children with adjustable shoes designed to grow as they do.



"The smiles of these people, who just have nothing but they're just full of this joy, thats just unexplainable," said missionary Tony Murfin. "That just really makes you be thankful for the abundance that you have here."

Hearts Afire is currently raising more than $50,000 to build a full-time clinic in Kenya.
A 14-year-old boy was transported to an Orlando hospital after he was injured during inclement weather Monday, school officials said.

First Academy middle school student injured during inclement weather

Fire officials said he was near a tree that was struck by lightning

The boy was taken to the hospital in stable condition, officials say

The boy was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children after he suffered what was reported as a "shock injury." The boy was in the parking lot when fire officials say lightning struck a nearby tree.

The incident happened around 12:53 p.m. at The First Academy, located at 2667 Bruton Blvd. The middle-schooler was responsive when paramedics arrived.

It's unclear what the middle school student was doing at the time.

Ashley Papagni, a spokeswoman for the Orlando Fire Department, said the teen was listed in stable condition after the incident.

Update: OFD transported teen via Rescue to APH after lightning struck a tree near Bruton Blvd. Teen was in parking lot. Teen is stable.  Orlando Fire Dept (@OrlandoFireDept) August 16, 2016

The First Academy posted the following statement on its website: "Today, during inclement weather, a middle school student was injured. He was responsive when EMS arrived, and transported to the hospital. Related family members have been contacted."

No other information was immediately available.

In Central Florida, you can be under blue sky yet have dangerous storms close by. News 13s Weather Experts say you should keep an eye out for quickly changing conditions - and dangerous lightning.

There is really no safe place outside when thunderstorms are around. When you hear thunder, you can be struck anywhere outside, so its best to go inside as quickly as possible, said meteorologist Mike Simon.

In fact, Simon points out you dont even have to be right underneath a thunderstorm to be in danger.

We can get whats called a bolt from the blue, and they name it that because sometimes we can get lightning that comes out of the anvil, which is running thirty to forty thousand feet up into the atmosphere, said Simon.

And that lightning can travel up to ten miles and strike you, even if you have sunny skies.

Simon says a good rule of thumb is to wait to go back outside 30 minutes after you stop hearing thunder  just to be safe.
In the film Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman sacrifices himself to assure the Trinity's victory over supervillain Doomsday. However, following Clark Kent's funeral service, the film ends with a shot of dirt rising from his grave, leaving the hero's fate up in the air.

While there is definite confirmation that the Man of Steel will be definitely returning for Justice League, we have no way of knowing how the resurrection will take place.

Since its a long way to go till Justice League releases on 17 November 2017, Henry Cavill surprised fans by posting a close-up shot of what appeared to be the all-black Kryptonian suit he will wear after his resurrection:

#Superman A photo posted by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill) on Aug 15, 2016 at 11:58am PDT

Cavill's post may hint at the DC Comics story arc his resurrection will be inspired by.

In the early 1990s DC comics Death and Return of Superman, when Superman died during his battle with Doomsday, he returned from the dead severely weakened and not at full strength. He wore an all black suit until he returned to his normal super-strong status. The comics also had the newly brought to life Superman sporting super-long locks that went well with his newly acquired 'I-don't-care-about-saving-the-world' attitude.

A few die hard fans have already started a hashtag #MulletForSuperman hoping Cavill will mirror the look in the new film.
Award-winning Malayalam screenwriter TA Razzaq passed away in Kochi on the night of Monday, 15 August.

Razzaq, 58, had been in hospital for over a month as he was seeking treatment for a liver-related ailment. His death is believed to have arisen out of complications in his condition.

Razzaq's film career began in the late 1980s, when he started work as an assistant director on the film Dhwani. As a scriptwriter his notable films include Kanakinavu, Ghazal, Perumazhakalam, Aayirathil Oruvan and Thalolam. Kanakinavu went on to win a National Award.

This year, Razzaq had turned to direction with Moonnaam Naal Njaayarazhcha, a film that took an in-depth look at religious conversions.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was among those who offered their condolences at Razaq's passing: "Razaq's demise is a a big loss for the Malayalam film industry," Vijayan said.

Incidentally, Razaq's younger brother TA Shahid was also a noted scriptwriter. He passed away in 2013.

 With PTI inputs
(This story has been updated with company spokesperson's comment.)

UK's exit from the European Union (EU), popularly known as the Brexit, in late June had fueled concerns of a likely adverse impact on several Indian companies with exposure to that country over a period of time.

And things are already beginning to look shaky, atleast, for the famed Indian IT companies. In just less than two months time, the UK referendum finally scalped its first victim.

Infosys Ltd, India's second largest software company, had to bore the brunt of Brexit after the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shelved plans to set up a separate bank in the United Kingdom, for which Infosys was a key technology partner, a Business Standard report said.

The report says the move could result in a loss of as much as $50 million for Infosys, which now plans to shift 3,000 people from this project to other clients.

However, the company in a statement issued to Bombay Stock Exchange has clarified that it would undertake job cuts in India in next few months.

"Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months," the company statement said.

A company spokesperson later clarified to PTI that it will reallocate the resources to other projects and not cut the jobs (read here).

On the loss of IT contract from RBS, brokerage firm Emkay sees a revenue loss of $70-80 million for Infosys in FY17 and $150-200 million in FY18.

"This will be a further headwind to Infosys's revised FY17 guidance of 10.5-12 percent c.c revenue growth (10.8-12.3 percent YoY in US$ terms) by 70-80 bps. We see risks to Infosys's revenue and margin outlook given the increasingly negative commentary across players," Emkay said in its report.

"We continue to back our 'Downside risks to modest growth expectations' thesis on the sector with Q1FY17 results reflecting that the sector is headed for a rough FY17 and most likely H1FY18," the brokerage firm said in its report.

The development will prove to be a major setback for Infosys' chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Vishal Sikka, who last month expressed his disappointment over the company's lower-than-expected first quarter earnings.

The IT major posted a 4.5 percent on-quarter fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,436 crore for April-June and also cut the full-year revenue guidance to 10.5-12 percent in constant currency terms.

The consolidated revenue for the quarter was up just 1.4 percent at Rs 16,782 crore, from Rs 16,550 crore in previous quarter.

The company's stock also faced relentless selling on the day of the result, tanking 9 percent as traders hammered the stock amid worries of tough times ahead.

In early trades today, Infosys stock fell more than 3 percent to touch a low of 1,028, before shedding some losses to trade 1.7 percent lower at Rs 1,045.30 a share on BSE.

In fact, such was his disappointment post the poor earnings numbers, Sikka shot out a mail to the Infosys staff in which he said, "I am disappointed. Disappointed that our revenue performance was not what we could have delivered, but even more so, that this overshadowed the many strong strides we made on executing our strategy. Our revenue growth of 2.2% to $2501M, included a shortfall in consulting revenue, some declines in package implementations, and small declines in our India business and Finacle."

"But at the same time, we made great progress in both, renewing our core, And in the new areas of our business, as well as in our culture of enabling this continual renew-new improvement. In Q2, and beyond, we must accelerate our work in all the key strategic aspects of our work, AND we must address the weaknesses of Q1," Sikka added.

Despite Sikka's hopes to quickly arrest the decline in fortunes of the company, analysts expect tough times for the Bengaluru-headquartered firm in next few quarters.

The numbers are disappointing and they are going to face a challenge getting back to the drivers seat in the remaining three quarters. Its not a very encouraging future guidance and we cant even write this off as a one-off weak performance, said Thomas George, senior vice president, CyberMedia Research, had told Bloomberg after the disappointing first quarter earnings.

Also, in late June, foreign brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch had highlighted in its reports that Brexit may create recession risks that could hurt IT demand further hurting 10-14 percent revenue growth for the UK businesses of the Indian IT companies in FY17.

According to BoAML, Infosys has 6.6 percent of its total revenue exposure to the UK, and sees a negative 3.3 percent impact to its FY17 EPS, Moneycontrol report said then.

On the Brexit impact on the country's IT industry, a Nasscom report said the immediate fallout of Brexit on the IT industry in India would be the impact of any possible decline in the value of the British Pound, which would render many existing contracts losing propositions unless they are renegotiated.

From an Indian tech industry perspective, an exit could thus create scenarios wherein companies will need to establish separate European headquarters. Skilled labour mobility across EU and UK would be impacted. Changes in the financial system, banks and impact on currency could ensue, the Nasscom blog said in mid June.

With Infosys having lost a major contract in the UK, Vishal Sikka faces an uphill task, given the growing future uncertainty with regards to UK-centric multi million dollar contracts.
New Delhi: Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel on Tuesday said it will acquire 74 percent state in JSW Praxair Oxygen Pvt Ltd (JPOPL) for Rs 240 crore in cash.

JPOPL produces industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon. It has two air separation plants, each with a capacity of 2,500 tonnes per day, in Bellary District of Karnataka.

"JSW Steel has executed a share purchase agreement with Praxair India Pvt Ltd to acquire their entire shareholding of 74 percent in JPOPL for a cash consideration of Rs 240 crore," it said in a regulatory filing.

JSW Steel holds 26 percent of the equity shares of JPOPL and post the aforesaid acquisition, JPOPL would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, it added.

The firm sources industrial gases from JPOPL amongst others at prices based on long term contracts.

"The said acquisition is strategic in nature as it will provide the company the benefit of backward integration of this critical input," JSW Steel said.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP and Bharucha & Partners, Advocates and Solicitors, carried out financial and legal due diligence, respectively for the company, it added.

Shares of JSW Steel were trading at Rs 1,746.05, up 1.23 per cent during the pre-close session on BSE.
New Delhi, Aug 15 (PTI) Indian cities' law and order infrastructure is not ready to support 24X7 retail operations, as envisaged under a model law allowing shops, malls and other

establishments to operate throughout the year, a survey said. According to online citizen engagement platform.

LocalCircles, the Model Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2016, will have a significant impact on the country's business climate, market

dynamics and employment rate.

The bill was approved by the Cabinet recently, and needs to be ratified by states and Union Territories.

However, a survey based on inputs from 12,788 citizens on LocalCircles noted that 73 per cent believe the cities' law and order infrastructure is not ready to support 24X7 operations of malls, cinemas and eateries.

Asked whether they support malls and retail outlets functioning round-the-clock, 50 per cent of 10,487 respondents voted in the positive, while 49 per cent said 'No' and 1 per cent said 'Can't say'.

"The cause for concern is the safety of not only customers but also the employees who work in such outlets. Not every city has adequate police staff to monitor or protect these employees from the criminal elements who chose to operate at night," the survey noted.

The law covers establishments employing 10 or more workers except manufacturing units and will provide freedom to operate 365 days with flexibility on timing to open and close.

It also provides for women to be employed on night shifts with adequate security and calls for better working conditions for employees such as drinking water, canteen, first aid, lavatory and creche.

The model law is aimed at generating additional employment as shops and establishments will have freedom to operate for longer hours requiring more manpower.

It also provides exemption to highly-skilled workers like those in IT and bio-technology from daily working hours (9 hours) and weekly working hours (48 hours).

The law is designed to bring in uniformity in legislative provisions, making it easier for all the states to adopt it and ensure uniform working conditions across the country.
New Delhi: A colonial bungalow -- Laxmi Nivas in Mumbai -- that hosted the likes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Ram Manohar Lohia, Aruna Asaf Ali, Achyut Patwardhan and Jaiprakash Narayan -- is up for sale.

Built by a Parsi family from Old Bombay in 1904, Laxmi Nivas was sold to the Kapadia family 10 years later, property consultant CBRE said in a statement.

The bungalow, which has since been home to over three generations of the Kapadia family, is situated just off Napean Sea road, it added.

CBRE has been appointed the sole advisor for this transaction to assist with the marketing and sale through a structured process and closed bid.

The heritage residence sits over 1,865 sq metre of land and is located opposite the diplomatic residence of the Consulate General of Russian Federation. It is also in close proximity to Priyadarshani Park, one the most sought-after and valuable neighbourhoods for homes in Mumbai, CBRE said.

CBRE Capital Markets MD Nikhil Bhatia said the rarity of such independent residences coming on the market has resulted

in considerable enquiries and interest.

High net worth individuals seeking discretion and more importantly, those who seek privacy prefer to buy independent

houses as opposed to staying in penthouses within high-rise developments, he added.
Mumbai - Flagging difficulties in getting top talent at public sector banks, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Monday said they tend to over-pay at the bottom but under-pay their top executives, even as he rued, albeit jokingly, himself being "under-paid".

"One of the problems, of course, is that as with all public sector entities, you overpay at the bottom and underpay at the top... Yes, you feel that you are doing the job for the broader public but you just make it harder to attract top talent, specially a lateral entry," Rajan said here while talking about public sector banks (PSBs).

Addressing a banking conference here, the outgoing Governor jokingly added, "I also feel under-paid." As per the latest data on monthly salaries made public by RBI, Rajan's total monthly emoluments stood at Rs 1,98,700 for

the month of July 2015. Rajan, on-leave professor of finance at Chicago University and former Chief Economist and IMF, will return to academia after his term at RBI ends on September 4.

The top-level salary disclosures made by the banks in their respective annual reports show a sharp difference between the total remuneration paid at the public sector and private sector entities.

Public sector behemoth SBI's Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya got just about Rs 31.1 lakh in the fiscal year 2015-16, while public sector major HDFC Bank's Managing Director Aditya Puri's total remuneration for the same period was more than 30-times higher at Rs 9.7 crore.

Rajan also suggested giving rewards like ESOPs by public sector banks, which is very common in private sector, by taking advantage of the current low share valuations of PSBs.

Rajan said a better payscale at bottom levels can also be a source of opportunity, and pointed out that the RBI's compensation packages even for class III employees are attractive enough to get really highly qualified people in.

"We get lot of engineers, MBAs even in class III jobs. Our strategy has been to try and expand opportunities these people have while saying that you are not just there for clerical work, we are asking you to do much more value," he said.

Rajan said while one of the strengths of the public sector sometimes is the absence of pay and promotion that is very sensitive to performance, too little sensitivity can also be a problem as high performers get demotivated, and the slothful are not penalised.

An increased emphasis on performance evaluation, including identifying low performers with the intent of helping them improve, may be warranted, he said.

"In addition, rewards like employee stock ownership plans (Esops) that give all employees a stake in the future of the bank may be helpful. With public sector banks' shares trading at such low levels, a small allocation to employees today may be a strong source of motivation, and can be a large source of wealth as performance improves," the Governor said.

The central bank chief said lateral hires are also important, but many banks as well as public institutions have strong aversion to lateral hires because they break the cadres.

The governor said one of the difficulties public sector banks has is the court judgements that prohibit hiring from specific campuses.

It is an anomaly that the National Institute of Bank Management is supported by public sector banks' funds, but sends most of its high quality graduates to work for private sector banks.

"Public sector banks can petition the courts to allow some modicum of campus hire, especially when the campus chooses openly through a national exam," he said.

Another alternative is to make bank entrance exams much less onerous to take, with applications, tests, and results, wherever possible, available quickly and online.

"Banks then have an easier task of persuading students on elite campuses to take the exam. We are following this latter course at the RBI," he said.

The governor said there is a need to be more liberal in allowing local hires. There are many places in the country where people may find it difficult to go, but local talent is available and can do a fantastic job.

"To have local information, be comfortable with local culture, be locally accepted, and be competitive in low-cost rural areas. Public sector banks will have to have more freedom to hire locally, and pay wages commensurate with the local labour market," he said.

Rajan said as banks adopt differentiated strategies, they should move away from common industry wide compensation structures and common industry wide promotion schemes across all public sector banks.

Rajan said the thinning of middle management ranks in public sector banks can be viewed as an opportunity to draw in more younger people and promote them faster by giving them significantly more support in terms of training, "Yes, we cannot give them 25 years seasoning as we did in the past, but may be we can give them training. I know many of you are looking at these possibilities, including using online training schemes in order to do this," the outgoing Governor concluded.
New Delhi: Infosys has said it will ramp-down about 3,000 jobs following Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel the project to set up a separate bank in the UK.

RBS announced last week that it will not pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), for which Infosys was a key technology partner.

"Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months," Infosys said in a statement.

An Infosys spokesperson clarified that these jobs are not being cut and that the employees will be reallocated to other projects.

RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and the company looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programmes, it added.

While Infosys has not specified the impact of the cancellation, market analysts peg it at around $40 million. The loss of the five-year 300-million pound RBS deal could force Infosys to further downgrade revenue guidance for FY2016-17. Infosys had in July slashed annual sales outlook citing weak demand to 10.512 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.513.5 per cent.

Infosys stock ended 1.2 percent lower at Rs 1,050.95 a share on BSE.
New Delhi: As violence continued in the Kashmir Valley, Army chief General Dalbir Suhag will visit

Jammu on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.

Incidentally, Eastern Command chief Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, who is slated to be the next Army chief, will also be

present in Jammu on Wednesday.

Defence sources said Lt Gen Bakshi will be there to participate in a regimental ceremony but could take part in

the review meeting.

General Singh will be meeting Northern Army commander Lt Gen DS Hooda and other top security officials.

Five persons were killed and several others injured in security forces action against stone-pelting protesters in

Budgam and Anantnag districts of Kashmir on Tuesday where normal life remained paralysed for the 39th consecutive day due to curfew, restrictions and separatist-sponsored strike.

With the fresh deaths, the toll in the ongoing unrest which began after the killing of militant commander Burhan

Wani in an encounter has now gone up to 63.
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday thanked the people of the state for spontaneously taking part in the 70th Independence Day celebrations, despite boycott calls by several militant outfits.

"The spontaneous manner in which the people of Assam came out to participate actively in the I-Day programmes of the state government despite the boycott calls is a strong indicator that people yearn for peace, harmony and progress," he said in a statement.

"The 70th Independence Day in Assam passed off successfully due to active participation of the people from Brahmaputra-Barak valleys, hills-plains encompassing the greater Assamese society", Sonowal said.

"I offer my profound thanks to the people of the state for participating in the celebrations completely ignoring the diktats of the militant groups," he said.
CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar had dutifully unfurled the national flag at the office of the CRPFs deputy inspector general one hour before he was killed in a gun battle against militants in the Nowhatta region of Srinagar on Independence Day, reported Hindustan Times.

WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

According to Hindustan Times, Pramod Kumar had unfurled the national flag, and given a speech where he had urged his fellow commandants to do their best and uphold the integrity of their country. Kumar had also read out a message by DG CRPF for jawans on the occasion.

CRPF sources, as quoted by the Hindustan Times report, said that the news of the militants had reached the officer as the ceremony was about to conclude. The officer along with his team had rushed to the spot, where he was shot an hour into the gun battle.

Kumar, died after sustaining a bullet injury to the head, reported Indian Express. Even as he was rushed to the hospital, by noon, Kumar was declared dead.

A CRPF statement in The Indian Express report, said, Leading from the front, Kumar and his men succeeded in eliminating two militants before he was hit. He was immediately evacuated to 92 Base Hospital, Srinagar, where he was brought in a state of coma. He succumbed to his injuries shortly after.

Kumar's wife Neha Tripathi and daughter Aarna live in Jharkhands Jamtara district, where his last rites were performed.

Gun salutes being paid to Late CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar during his last rites in Jamtara (Jharkhand) pic.twitter.com/yv1yzN2ydh  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Last rites of CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar who lost his life in Nowhatta attack, underway in Jamtara (Jharkhand) pic.twitter.com/eKoCnk5Z0s  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

According to Kumar's colleagues, he was one of the finest officers and usually volunteered for such operations, reported The Times Of India. CRPF chief K Durga Prasad was quoted as saying, "Pramod Kumar was given DG's commendation disc in 2015 and commendation certificate in 2014 for "highest operational acumen."

In Humhama, Srinagar, a wreath-laying ceremony was held for the martyred commandant on Monday evening, attended by J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
The Draft Indian National Defence University (INDU), 2015 has been placed online for public comments. The Ministry of Defence website among other things says that the Bill proposes: to establish a world class fully autonomous institution of national importance under defence ministry; it will be a teaching and affiliating university for the existing training institutions of the three Services, which will develop and propagate higher education in National Security Studies, Defence Management and Defence Technology and promote policy oriented research on all aspects relating to national security, both internal and external. It would also cater for open and distance learning program for service personnel deployed in far flung areas and it will inculcate and promote coordination and interaction between the Armed Forces and other government agencies including friendly foreign countries.

Considering that the idea of INDU was first conceived in 1967, endorsed by the K Subhramanyam headed Committee on the National Defence University (CONDU) in 2002, and the fact that it was to be established in seven years time (by 2008), passage of the Bill will be a feather in the cap of the Modi government, akin to sanctioning OROP notwithstanding controversy whether a single OROP or multiple OROPs was granted. Public comments on the Draft INDU Bill 2015 are reportedly being sought after it has already been approved by the defency ministry, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs. It would have been useful if public comments were asked before approval of these ministries. In all probability, the defence ministry will seek Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approval of the Draft Bill without making any worthwhile changes and then table it in Parliament during the forthcoming winter session. Land for INDU was acquired at Manesar, Gurgaon in September 2012 and infrastructure development has reportedly commenced in December 2015.

The Ministry of Defence would naturally maintain that discussions on INDU have been held with the Services, which is true. But what the public will never know is what was discussed, what the military recommended and how much of it was rejected by the bureaucracy. For example while the National Defence College (NDC) under the defence ministry is to be affiliated to INDU, military wanted the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) also functioning under the ministry also be affiliated to INDU but this was rejected. But then the defence ministry is adept in such stonewalling. The militarys recommendations for the 7th Central Pay Commission were shot down at the defence secretary level. On the behest of the defence ministry the 7th Pay Commission sought recommendations from Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) but used only a miniscule percentage of what IDSA recommended. The service chiefs combined letter protesting acceptance of 7th Pay Commission bringing armed forces below civil services has been palmed off to some committee without ever having addressed anomalies of 6th Pay Commission. These are routine bureaucratic ploys endorsed by the polity by default or design.

Recently, the director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania and an assistant professor in S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore wrote about the proposed INDU. They observed that the tri-services institutions for professional military education (PME) in NDC, College of Defence Management (CDM) and Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) exist in India. INDU was to augment existing PME capacities and provide intellectual underpinnings for "jointness" among different services.

Jointness cant be forged just by building another empire but requires new ways of thinking and bringing actors across a wide spectrum to build networks of trust that reach across narrow bureaucratic and service silos  which the INDU as currently constituted does not appear to meet. More public debate is needed after releasing documents like CONDU and DPR. DPR preparation by an ill-equipped public sector enterprise has killed conceptual creativity  the report represents virtue of Indian babudom who see higher education as an extension of their own mores.

INDU requires some 300 civilians for its faculty but student profiles of 29 Indian universities offering defence studies are depressing. More talent exists in the think tanks but without civilian talent INDU will become another babudom masquerading as deep thinking. Armed forces should have the largest representation in INDU but should not be a monopoly of the armed forces. These observations are undoubtedly very critical and reportedly have been trashed by the hierarchy. However, there are issues that need deeper examination.

The US National Defence University at Washington DC has a clear mission that states, "US National Defense University (NDU) supports the joint warfighter by providing rigorous Joint Professional Military Education to members of the US Armed Forces and select others in order to develop leaders who have the ability to operate and creatively think in an unpredictable and complex world."

In contrast, the Draft INDU Bill lists out some nine objectives, while preamble of the says: INDU will propagate higher education in National Security Studies, Defence Management and Defence Technology and promote policy oriented research on all aspects relating to national security, both internal and external. INDU will inculcate and promote coordination and interaction not just between the three Armed Services but also between other agencies of the government, civil bureaucracy, PMF, CAPF, intelligence services, diplomats, academicians, strategic planners, university students and officers from friendly foreign countries. So, does the Draft INDU Bill create ambiguity and would defining a focused mission be more appropriate? Is INDU meant for armed forces and for promoting jointness and training with others (as in case of the US NDU) or is it meant for all with armed forces a parallel entity? If latter is the case, then would it be more appropriate to name INDU as INSU  Indian National Security University.

The Draft Bill has lengthy elaboration about the top functionaries of INDU but no elaboration whatsoever on the three proposed Schools  National Security Studies, Defence Management and Defence Technology. If public comments are required then it should be mandatory that full details of the three proposed Schools are released for any meaningful inputs - management, courses to be run, course capacities, duration and the like, not just degrees that would be granted by these institutions. Release of such details would indicate who exactly we propose to educate but more significantly who will we eventually end up training? For example the public is unaware that most of the proposed course are generally of 120 capacity, with proviso that 50 percent vacancies are for the military and balance 50 percent for others. But considering that INDU will be augmenting existing PMEs like NDC, CDM and NDC and the shortage of officers in the military which is unlikely to be bridged, it is highly unlikely that military will be able to utilize 50 percent of the vacancies.

K Subhramanyam was very impressed when he visited CDM, Secunderabad but his observation was that student should be of Major/Lieutenant Colonel level, not Colonels and Brigadiers which was too late in Service. If military were to implement this, then even lesser students would be available for sending to INDU. Additionally, not many would know that the Senior Defence Management Course (SDMC) at CDM has two vacancies for joint secretary level officers from IAS, which have never really been utilized aside from detailing an undersecretary level officer sometime. The severe shortage of IFS officers is also well established. On face value it appears that the military may not be able to utilise more than 15-20 percent of the course vacancies.

With minimal bureaucratic participation in courses, bulk vacancies for courses among security forces will be utilised by the police and CAPF. Is this what we are looking at? What needs to be done is that to ensure adequate military representation at INDU, course vacancies military vacancies at NDC, CDM and Higher Command Course and divert these officers to INDU, the present situation being that officers on NDC and attending HC, SDMC, HDMC are not sure of further promotion because of lack of vacancies. The elite nature of these courses can only be maintained if we have lesser numbers attending. INDU must also have exchange programs for faculty and students with universities, IITs, IIMs as well as institutions abroad like the US NDU etc.

Only three tri-Service institutions (NDC, CDM, DSSC) being affiliated to INDU gives an impression that INDU is primarily meant for armed forces, which will anyway get diluted by the scale of attendance as discussed above. The bureaucracy may contribute to small number of students but will bag the lions share of running INDU. Whatever the top level military posts in INDU showcased can easily be manipulated through QRs and shear obduracy. Witness the top post of IDSA which was supposedly rotational but is sans a military head past decades.

Take the proposed School for Defence Technology  why are the Institute of Armament Technology, Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics or for that matter the DRDO not affiliated with INDU? Is this denied because it would expose their inadequacies or is it to give them additional posts through the backdoor with IITs restricted to contributing students? What about affiliating IITs, other training establishments? Why is it that neither the US NDU nor the Chinese NDU have Schools of Defence Technology? With INDU under defence ministry (dont mind the fully autonomous bit) who will be the faculty in the School of Defence Technology  scientists of DRDO to legitimise what the DRDO is doing? Should the School of National Studies be renamed as School of International Studies? Should we review the course strengths in the School of National/International studies considering post course employment opportunities? Lastly, why this elaboration on caste, creed religion etc  hope this is not a roadmap for reservations in future.

Unless the above issues are addressed, we are likely to end up with a dysfunctional bureaucratic monolith with the focus on policing India, with the military kept away from policy and decision making - like the Ministry of Defence, with the government making no move to induct military professionals in the latter. How are we talking of forging jointness in defence at the national level through INDU anyway without forging jointness within the military? INDU in present shape may well turn out to be another bureaucratic coup at the cost of the nations defence!

The author is veteran Lt Gen of Indian Army.
It began like a lot of other events in India. I was a little late as I swiftly walked into a packed audience, a whirlwind of activity on stage and a scramble of photographers and videographers jostling for position.

The broken families stood still and sombre with lit candles and the Amnesty India team members were scattered around them. I had arranged to meet my mother there so as the stage was being vacated, I found her waving frantically to me and pointing towards the empty chair she had saved for me.

However, I had already felt that familiar itch to take some photographs, so I decided to make do with my phone camera this time. It actually turned out to be a blessing since it forced me to go closer to the action.

The event was organised to kick off a tour of Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi with the bereaved families of victims of human rights violations in Kashmir, allowing them to share their own stories directly with an audience.

Video interviews with the families were played next and as heart wrenching tales of anguish and injustice played out on the screen, the otherwise quiet hall was punctuated with the sounds of wailing mothers sending visceral shockwaves through the audience. Tara Rao, the Programs Director for Amnesty India, held the shoulder of one the weeping mothers and offered words of consolation.

As the videos came to an end, Ali Muhammad Shah was invited on stage. He had lost his son Altaf, a house painter, to alleged torture by security forces in 2002. He spoke in eloquent Urdu-hued Hindi about his son, the events following his disappearance, the turmoil and the closure after his death was finally confirmed.

He also spoke poignantly about how he and his wife would never experience their sons shadow ever again, his voice breaking but his resolve untainted. As he finished he was joined onstage by a group of young men from Kashmir dressed in solemn black.

They performed songs and a skit detailing the trauma of loss and darkness that shrouds affected families in Kashmir, at one point hoisting one of the players, enacting a dead body on their shoulders and carrying him off stage. The event organisers, with an eye on the 8.30 pm deadline, made gentle overtures to the troupes teacher sitting off stage, to hasten things up. The group concluded with a song and vacated the stage for the now infamous panel discussion.

The discussion featured Seema Mustafa, a senior journalist who was moderating, the mother and brother of Manzoor Ahmad Mir, who was subject to an enforced disappearance since 2003. He still hasnt been found despite tremendous efforts by his family and support from the local police.

The army personnel responsible are protected under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Ministry of Defense (MoD) has denied any knowledge of this disappearance, saying that the allegation was motivated by vested interests to malign the image of security forces.

The last person on the panel was RK Mattoo, the president of the Bangalore Kashmiri Pandits Association. When it was his turn to speak he acknowledged the pain and suffering of all Kashmiris but asked that NGOs like Amnesty also look into the Kashmir Pandits issues from the late 80s and early 90s as a human rights violations. He urged them to help just as they are helping the Kashmiri Muslims.

He also stated that the Indian army was one of the most disciplined in the world. This comment drew cheers from the seven or eight gathered Pandits and jeers from one corner of the audience, comprised mainly of young, male Kashmiri students. At this point one of the Pandits completely lost his cool and started saying that they were driven out because of the people similar to the ones who were jeering then. He then stood up, turned around and faced them, calling them terrorists and the cause of all Kashmirs problems.

This did not go down well with them and many students went from upset to visibly agitated. A shouting match ensued with both sides (other Pandits had now joined in) trying to outscream the other in a show of male strength, with some chest beating.

Meanwhile all the employees of Amnesty India rushed into action and immediately tried to calm the two parties. Helping them were many Kashmiri students who were quietly diffusing the situation one person at a time, even cupping mouths and gently pulling them away from the melee. These guys were in operation through the event, keeping a close eye on things and pre-empting any foolhardy ideas. I heard one of them say very clearly to the agitated bunch, We are here in peace brother, let us not do this.

Finally, two or three shoutathons in, calm was restored when Raja Begum, the mother on stage for the panel, appealed in Kashmiri to the boys. The panel discussion was hastily concluded and Mattoo made it clear that he opposed the suffering of all Kashmiris and that they should all work together. He also rattled off a list of names of Pandits who were killed before their mass exodus, parroting names the other Pandits were shouting from the first row. I heard one of the Pandits loudly whisper, Yeh toh kuch nahi bolega, politician hai.

MC Kash, a well liked Kashmiri rapper took the stage next and performed his piece, Heart of a rebel, joined by raucous singalongs from a large section of the audience. What would have been a good way to blow off some steam was instead cut short after one song.

The police had started patrolling the hall and insisted that the organisers stick to their 8:30pm deadline. It was already 8:40 by then. The MC, as musicians often do when they are cut off, stormed off stage screaming This is Bullshit drawing loud cheers from the Kashmiri students who then broke off into their own cries of Azadi, Azadi, Hindustan se Azadi for a couple of minutes.

Is this Patriotism 101? Probably not. But to confuse protest with sedition is a dangerous game. After all, dont we still exist in a democracy where voices are allowed to be heard, especially those that are rarely heard in the mainstream narrative? Arent dissent and debate the hallmarks of a healthy democracy? Shouldnt they be? Again the silent hands and pacific faces of Kashmiri student monitors stopped the sloganeering at its inception.

As things died down, we discovered that the audience was being let out in small groups. A policeman told me that ABVP activists were protesting outside the United Theological Society (good on them for hosting this event) and that they were trying to disperse them and avoid any confrontations.

The scene was quite subdued and people filed out in an orderly fashion as I waited to leave with my mother. Suddenly she turned towards me with tears streaming down her face, a frog in her throat. She said she wanted to condole the mothers of the Broken Families and tell them that she was with them in spirit.

She walked across and held their hands, weeping with them, trying to communicate in her best broken Hindi. Isnt this what the evening was about? Trying to find a shred of empathy in this cynical world we occupy. Trying to reach out across perceived enemy lines with the warm hand of friendship and understanding? It would be great if the story was about letting go of our labels and definitions and personal truths for a brief while and seeing our sameness as human beings. After all, dont all mothers feel the same pain when their children perish?

We walked out through the leaving crowds with no untoward incident, no ABVP in sight and no slogans screamed got into an autorickshaw and sped away.

The author is an independent photojournalist. His work deals with social injustice, performing arts and the study of communities. Follow his work here: http://adivarekar.in, Twitter/@photohari
New Delhi: Facing threat of terror attacks, the Home Ministry has ordered security audit of nearly 100 civil airports and decided to bring all such facilities under CISF cover gradually.

It has also planned random checking of incoming air travellers at the entrance of airports. Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for random checking of incoming vehicles of air travellers in city side approach, thorough checking of cargo and detection of flying objects and drones are also being drawn.

A Civil Aviation Ministry's proposal to raise a separate force for aviation security has been turned down and all airports will be brought under the security cover of the Central Industrial Security Force gradually, official sources said.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting attended by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top officials of Ministries of Home and Civil Aviation here on 5 August.

The move came after the terror attack on Brussels' Zaventem airport where terrorists blew explosives inside the airport terminal, much before the 'security hold' area, where passengers and luggage are checked.

"We are going to completely overhaul the security apparatus of all airports. A dedicated plan is being worked out. Security audit of all airports have been ordered and based on the report, their security will be upgraded," Rijiju told reporters.

The meeting decided that 98 civil airports in the country will be be brought under the security cover of the CISF, the specialised force for airport security. Out of the total 98 functional airports in the country, 59 are under CISF cover, leaving out 39.

Among 98 airports, 26 airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, are considered hyper-sensitive. Of these hyper-sensitive airports, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar and Imphal, are being guarded by CRPF, the state police or by other paramilitary forces.

Under the sensitive category, there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have CISF cover and amongst 16 other airports, only four have CISF security. The report of the security audit being conducted by a team of experts from Ministry of Home Affairs, Intelligence Bureau, CISF and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security will be submitted within 20 days.

The proposal to raise an Aviation Security Force, on the lines of Railway Protection Force, was rejected as security is the domain of the Home Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry or the BCAS do not have the necessary expertise in it.

NSA Doval doubted the competence of BCAS in raising such a force saying the MHA has competence, expertise and experience. There was also a suggestion that airport security be funded by the MHA to reduce the burden on airport operators, who pass on the cost to passengers.

MoS Civil Aviation Sinha suggested the meeting to focus on 4-5 "low hanging fruits" like fool-proof security at the terminals and in the periphery through doable steps.

Calling for a realistic assessment of all airports, NSA Doval said each vulnerable facility needed to be identified and the gaps in security apparatus plugged. Director General of CISF Surender Singh expressed apprehension of "direct bold attack" from city side approach as well as assaults in cargo areas. He suggested frequent and effective patrolling by security and law enforcement agencies to thwart such attempts.

Singh said since cargo areas were vulnerable to terror attacks, high-tech luggage checking machines should be installed there. He also recommended presence of armoured vehicles at airports. The meeting felt that there was a need for both short-term and long-term steps to reduce vulnerability of airports of high value.

The meeting also discussed the threat emanating from high rise buildings located on the periphery of the airports and suggested that the Union Home Secretary should consult each state about the local police providing peripheral security.

Secretary, Civil Aviation, Rajiv Nayan Choubey suggested behaviour monitoring mechanism and profiling of travellers at the airports. The meeting decided that SoPs for detection of drones and other flying objects will be circulated to all airports for proper implementation.
New Delhi: Amidst allegations of anti-India slogans being raised at an Amnesty event in Bengaluru, the Home Ministry has launched a probe into the funding of the NGO, its expenses and "possible" violation of FCRA by it.

The probe is being carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to find whether there was any violation of the laws by the India chapter of Amnesty International, a Home Ministry official said today.

The NGO has not been registered under the FCRA and its application for registration under the FCRA is now under serious scrutiny following the Bengaluru event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised during a discussion on Kashmir on Saturday.

The probe will see whether the India chapter of Amnesty International has received foreign funds and if so under what laws, other sources of funding, it expenses and patterns of expenses, the official said.

Amnesty International, on its part, has rejected as "without substance" the allegations made by ABVP, the student outfit of RSS, and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.

The NGO was booked under IPC sections, including sedition, by Bengaluru Police.
Editor's note: In this extract from the book Sleepwalking to Surrender author Khaled Ahmed attempts to trace the impact of Narendra Modi's rise to power, in Pakistan's political arena and its handling of the question of terrorism.

Pakistan sinks in amnesia when discussing foreign policy and behaves like a state with its internal sovereignty intact. It has actually handed over the conduct of its foreign policy to jihadi elements it no longer controls. It also forgets that any reformulation of policy by the elected government may run up against the ingrained mindset of these non-state elements. Indeed what is amply proved on the streets is the capacity of these instruments of policy to also be the formulators of policy. Many incidents have to be owned by the state through the paradox of denial, that is, instead of punishing the instrument, denying that the instrument has orchestrated an event.

Pakistan has suffered economic damage pursuing the unchanging principled policy of revisionist challenge to India but this may not have hurt it enough to make it repent. In his latest comment, ex-World Bank Pakistani economist Shahid Javed Burki says: The past process was India-centric in the sense that Pakistan tried, sometimes with desperation, to balance Indias growing military might. That approach proved costly. In a 2007 report, I wrote I estimated the cost to Pakistan of the running dispute with India over Kashmir and other issues. I estimated that the Kashmir dispute alone had cost Pakistan 2.25 per cent to 3.2 per cent a year of growth loss in GDP terms. Compounded over a period of six decades, this suggests the magnitude of the colossal damage Pakistan has done to its economy by following this particular quarrel with India. This study used purely economic factors; it did not take into account the undeniable fact that some of the cost of this approach towards India contributed to the rise of Islamic extremism in the country. That, too, has resulted in serious economic losses.

Modi thinks India too has damaged its economy through the anti-business Nehruvian model, which his predecessor prime minister began to overturn but failed to complete the job. Prime Minister Sharif can hit it off with Prime Minister Modi but will be hampered by elements that force the world to call Pakistan a failed state by reason of lost internal sovereignty. Modi will take the trade-first option offered by Sharif; but if he is squeezed on the Kashmir-first option he will join the rest of the world on squeezing Sharif with do-more pressure against Pakistans instruments of foreign policy, the non-state actors.

Internal Demons

An impetuous interior minister in Islamabad stubbed his toe on the presence in Pakistan of a Mumbai don named Dawood Ibrahim. He assumed that Modi had made progress with Pakistan conditional to Pakistan coughing up Dawood Ibrahim, wanted for terrorism in India. It developed that Modi hadnt said anything about Dawood Ibrahim. But in the coming days, the Mumbai don and many others in the gallery of non-state rogues, let off with figleaf verdicts by Pakistani courts according to international opinion, will become a major agenda of bilateral discussion. Pakistan will balk; and Pakistan will suffer for being transfixed in a policy rut.

Most foreign policy experts in Pakistan study events keeping their eyes averted from how much Modi can gain from international reaction to Pakistans gallery of internal rogues. In 2008, a UN Security Council committee, on Indias request, designated Jamaatud Dawa the frontal organization of Lashkare- Taiba, as a global terrorist organization and its leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, chief of operations of Laskhar-e-Taiba, and Haji Muhammad Ashraf, chief of finance of the group, as terrorists. America went ahead and placed $10 million on Saeeds head.

While in jail, Lakhvi has been allowed to wed again and, after regular cohabitation, become the father of a baby. Unfortunately for Pakistan, in 2012, a terrorist called Abu Jandal but actually Zabihuddin of India, repatriated to India by seemingly friendlyto- Pakistan Saudi Arabia, revealed all. While Zabihuddin was doing R&R in Saudi Arabia after training in Pakistan, Lakhvi phoned him triumphantly from his Rawalpindi prison to tell himthat he was having the time of his life four years after his trial started with no end in sight in 2013. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India pronounced that the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai, which killed 257 people, were the result of the management and conspiracy of the blasts by Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, and that it was executed with the help of the ISI which played a vital role in imparting training to the accused. Dawood Ibrahim is officially not in Pakistan but his movement is apparently not restricted by any niceties of security although some Karachi publications have come under pressure for reporting his whereabouts. Rumours hit Lahore in April when he visited the city to shop for another wedding in the family.

The Afghan Factor

Islamabad is making up his mind about what policy to adopt for the post-withdrawal Afghanistan with a pro-India Abdullah Abdullah as President armed with a bilateral security agreement with the US. So far the strategy was to oppose the Indian presence in Afghanistan and make it tough for India by getting the Taliban and foreign militants through cross-border terrorism. This policy, dividing the Taliban into good (who attacked Afghanistan) and bad Taliban (who attacked Pakistan) was flawed because of the linkages the two categories developed when Islamabad tried peace talks with the bad Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistans trade-first approach to India will sort out other

complicated strategic issues. The foreign militants being nursed by Pakistan on its soil are hurting its friend China. In the latest incident on 20 May, a Chinese tourist was kidnapped in Dera Ismail Khan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and taken to North Waziristan, followed by a Taliban spokesman announcing that the Chinese tourist would be released if China were to free a number of Uighur warriors from its prison in Xinjiang. Next day, 21 May, the Pakistan air force bombed North Waziristan, killing seventy-one men, including, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Taliban commanders and foreign militants.

In the coming days, Modi will mount friendly pressure on Pakistan to do more on its non-state actors and the foreign militants, a strategy he will pursue in tandem with the US and, more delicately, China. The global view of these elements has been vague. More reliably, Pakistans doyen of commentators on the Taliban, RahimullahYusufzai, reported in the News of 28 May 2014:

Around 12 groups of foreign militants are listed, the prominent ones being the al-Qaeda led by late Osama bin Ladens successor Dr Ayman-al-Zawahiri, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the Islamic Jihad Union which is a breakaway faction of the IMU, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) made up of the separatist Chinese Uighur Muslims and headed by Abdullah Mansour, the mainstream Afghan Taliban movement and the powerful Haqqani Network affiliated with it.

Modis rise seems to coincide with Pakistans change of Afghanistan strategy, namely, its reliance on the instrumentality of the good Taliban to defeat India in Afghanistan. Under the new government in Kabul, the odds of the success of this strategy are stacked against RawalpindiIslamabad. The process of peace talks with the bad Taliban was a part of this strategy with which the Pakistan army was not in agreement. Prime Minister Sharif thought that if the strategy was inflexible and obdurately fixed, then he should at least make his government minimally functional in the midst of the pro-Taliban terrorist affiliates and madrasa-linked clergy spread across the country. That policy has luckily come to grief.

Excerpted from 'Sleepwalking to Surrender: Dealing with terrorism in Pakistan' with permission from Penguin Books India.
Chennai: Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who has always opposed allowing the popular bull-taming sport Jallikattu, on Tuesday said people should respect the ban on the sport by the Supreme Court.

"Most of them are against the sport (Jallikattu). The question is, it is not for me to say, it is not for BJP to say, it is not for anybody to say. The Supreme Court has ruled and we must, in this country, listen to the apex court," she told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

Though the Centre in January this year lifted the ban on Jallikattu, the apex court has stayed the notification. The Union Women and Child Development Minister has always advocated a ban on the sport. Gandhi-led People For Animals (PFA) had strongly condemned the lifting of ban on Jallikattu, saying it was against the ideology of the BJP-led government which believes in saving cows.
When the dust settles, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech on Monday will go down in the annals of Indian foreign policy as a watershed event. By implicitly calling Pakistans extant territorial claims into question  Balochistan makes for more than 40 percent of that country's landmass  Prime Minister Modi has brought a new and bold thrust to Indias unfortunately middling  and often muddled  Pakistan policy.

Analysts thrive on turning points  Modi's speech been no different. Tuesday morning's newspapers have also included voices opining that by drawing Balochistan to the already-volatile geopolitical mix, India runs the risk of scoring tactical victories at the risk of sacrificing its grand strategy of regional stability. It has also been suggested that New Delhi  by upping the ante in Balochistan  could take its eye of the real challenge, Kashmir. These are well-meaning and informed voices.

Nevertheless, they are mistaken on both counts. Indias Balochistan strategy could indeed become what dissuades Pakistan from further fuelling the Kashmir crisis. It could also be designed in a way that the nuclear stakes, as one analyst called them, are annulled.

As argued in this Firstpost piece, the contours of Indias strategy in Balochistan will be drawn by both diplomatic, as well as, covert means to deter Pakistan from further adventurism in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. The operative word here is deterrence. Simply put: India need not actually embark on a programme to dismember Pakistan. A credible threat  that it could do so at will if it chooses to  would do. The credibility of the threat would, in turn, depend on actual, selective and small-scale support for Baloch proxies.

The ongoing insurgency in Kashmir  and there is no other word to describe what is going on  has two components: an indigenous one fuelled by local grievances, real and imagined, as well as a politico-strategic one, driven by Pakistans grand strategy. Without the latter, the former is reduced to a pure internal-security issue. Indeed removing Pakistan from the picture is what is needed to reduce Kashmir to a version of Naxalism Plus, to be addressed by an appropriate stick-and-carrot mix.

Pakistan has long worked on the assumption that its nuclear weapons are what would prevent India from launching an all-out conventional attack in response to its intransigence. There is nothing that stops India from leveraging the same logic (moral quandaries aside). Indeed Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor (NSA), has long maintained that sub-conventional dominance  proxy wars or the threat thereof  may be the only route for states to jostle each other under the nuclear overhang. A year ago, NSA Doval delivered a remarkable speech in Mumbai. In his Lalit Doshi Memorial Lecture, he spoke of the mechanism of covert war, the proxy war you are fighting against someone, using somebody elses manpower and weapons.



As an example, Doval spoke of the American support of Afghan mujahideens through Pakistan. It would utterly insulting to the intelligence of KGB officers posted in the region to presume that they had no inkling that American-sourced weapons were being used to shoot down their helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts. Yet, the Cold War  albeit by then in its death throes  remained cold. Historical examples like these show that covert wars under the nuclear overhang can indeed be stable, an instance of the stability-instability paradox nuclear strategists speak of.

How does this apply to mitigating the Kashmir headache? A credible threat which seeks to deter by punishment  you do another Mumbai, you lose Balochistan, to use Dovals memorable phrase on another occasion  would most definitely put Pakistan on the back foot, especially when its army is overstretched with its own counter-terrorism programme Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The capacity of the Pakistani state is vastly limited, a weakness that could be utilized by India with telling impact. As much as Pakistan postures its support for Kashmir, without Balochistan it will indeed be reduced to a version of Greater Punjab and Sindh. It is highly unlikely that it would continue its support for Kashmiri terrorists at the risk of yet-another dismemberment. The long game for India would be to keep Pakistan distracted with Balochistan enough for the Pakistanis to deploy the same proxies it uses to prosecute its Kashmir agenda there. (Pakistan, already facing international pressure for the excesses of its military in Balochistan, will almost certainly use proxies to neutralize the Balochi insurgency so as to avoid an international diplomatic blow-back.) The likes of JeM, LeT and Harkat tied up in Balochistan will significantly weaken these groups  and the capacity of Inter-Services Intelligence.

But an important part of a coercive strategy is also a clever use of soft measures, predominantly diplomatic, something Doval alluded to in his Doshi Memorial Lecture. He said: If I want you to hate everything, I want you to be ashamed of your culture and civilisation and if I achieve that, I win the battle. Indeed the PMs reference to the glorification of terrorists in Pakistan yesterday exactly set out to do so. But at the end of the day, the simplest path for India do walk down would be to create a convincing illusion that it is indeed behind everything Pakistan has accused it to do. This manipulation of uncertainty  for in a well-designed proxy war, there is no way of convincing establishing responsibility  would be an important part of deterring Pakistan with Balochistan.

The author is a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and a national security columnist for Firstpost. Views expressed here are personal. He tweets @AbhijnanRej
Ahmedabad: Police have arrested 22 people in connection with the attack on Dalits returning to Bhavnagar after attending a protest rally in Una town in which cops were also targeted.

The attack took place last evening at Samter village near Una, about 350km from Ahmedabad. The policemen came under attack when they tried to control the violent mob that targeted the Dalits. The attackers were residents of Samter, around 11km from Una town in Gir-Somnath district "After the rally, anti-social elements blocked the road near Samter when Dalits were returning.

They attacked a group of Dalits. We lobbed 46 teargas shells, fired six rounds in the air and used batons to disperse the mob," Gir-Somnath Superintendent of Police HR Chaudhary said on Tuesday.

"We have arrested 22 people for the attack," he said. According to Una Police Inspector HG Vaghela, those arrested have been booked on charges of rioting and assaulting Dalits as well as policemen.

Some of them have also been booked for attempt to murder, said Vaghela, who was injured while trying to control the mob. At least 12 Dalits were injured and around eight of them suffered severe wounds.

The victims claimed that the residents of Samter attacked them to avenge the arrest of 12 people of the village in connection with last month's Una Dalit flogging case. They said of the 30-odd people arrested till date in the Dalit thrashing case, 12 hail from Samter, located near Mota Samadhiyala, where cow vigilantes assaulted a group of Dalits for allegedly skinning a dead cow.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said the incident shows there is a breakdown of law and order in the BJP-ruled State. "Monday's attack on Dalits proves there is complete lawlessness in Gujarat. Law and order does not exist

in Gujarat. Not just Dalits, members of Patel community, women as well as tribals are targeted regularly in Gujarat," Vaghela

told reporters.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel hit back, saying the main Opposition party is raising such issues for political mileage and with an eye on the 2017 Assembly election. "People very well know this Government has taken stringent action in the Dalit flogging case. But, Congress is trying to gain political mileage in the wake of 2017 polls by raising even small and insignificant issues. Such acts are tarnishing Gujarat's image," said Patel.
India celebrates 70 years of freedom and this marks off a new form of freedom for the youth of the nation, the freedom to express. The smartphone has played a vital role in this movement and every Indian is being empowered with the use of a smart phone. Everyone has found a new way to express themselves and raise their voice for what they believe in, at their fingertips with the help of a smart phone. Motorola has come up with an ingenious video that promotes the freedom to express, check it out on your mobile device to indulge in the Smartphone experience.

Fortunately for us, we have the pioneers of mobile technology, Moto, to help us in our freedom of expression. After 70 years, Independence today means the freedom to express and Moto encourages and empowers that freedom of expression. The video captures the essence of todays youth who are ever ready to express themselves and help make this world a better place. With every passing hour, we love to express our freedom through the use of our mobiles. Not only do we find it easy to communicate while on the go, but we also get alerted in a jiffy and avert many dangerous scenarios with the help of our mobile phones. From consuming real time news updates and social media alerts to sharing pictures to support social causes, theres nothing stopping us from doing what we want, as long as we have our phone in our pockets. From voicing our opinion to saving an injured animal, Moto encourages freedom of expression. Even when in trouble in a foreign country, a tweet is all it takes to get a response and free ourselves from the gravest dangers.

The 21st century Indian has redefined freedom as the freedom of expression, freedom to help and the freedom to communicate while on the go. Let Moto empower you with the freedom to express this Independence Day!

This is a partnered post.
Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday warned that the Gujarat government will be taught a lesson in the assembly elections next year unless it ends violence against Dalits.

Addressing the media, Kejriwal said that an environment of suppression was very much visible in Gujarat as Dalits were coming under attack repeatedly.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader spoke a day after some Dalits returning from a rally at Una were attacked by some people. The Dalits alleged that police took no action against the aggressors.

Police again did nothing to save them. This proves that the attackers are goons sent by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, Kejriwal said.

I want to warn the Gujarat government that if they do not refrain from doing such things, people will teach them a lesson in the assembly polls next year that they will remember for a long time, Kejriwal said.

He said the BJP government first targeted the Patidar community and was now harassing the Dalit community.

"It seems every community in the state is frustrated with the government and is raising its voice. There is 'jungle raj' (lawlessness) in Gujarat.

Kejriwal, who turned 48 on Tuesday, earlier flew into Ahmedabad and then reached Sarangpur to pay tributes to the late Pramukh Swami, the spiritual guru and head of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Santha who breathed his last on 13 August.

At Sarangpur, Kejriwal said: "He was a divine soul. He dedicated his entire life for the betterment of humanity and to promote Hindu culture. He kept on serving people his entire life."

The AAP is beginning to make inroads in Gujarat and is on a membership drive all across the state.
Prime minister Narendra Modis Independence Day Speech from the ramparts of Red Fort on Monday morning has been analysed threadbare to know what his words meant or not meant. A precise 77 words the PM uttered on on how people from Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir thanked him (Modi didnt specify why, but the reason is obvious) were shown as portents of a big tactical shift in Indias foreign policy on the Baloch issue. Praises for finally shedding the kid gloves and strong words of caution followed.

Modis claims on the NDA governments achievements in the last two years too were subjected to closer scrutiny. The accuracy of the data in his speech was looked at with suspicion. Some of the questions are: Whether India has indeed emerged as the worlds most preferred foreign direct investment (FDI) destination, as Modi claimed, or is it still at the tenth? Did solar energy grow 116 percent in one year or was it 95 percent? Did the government give 5 million new LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme or only 1.7 million?

There isnt an iota of doubt on why the PM should be more careful while using numbers in public speeches (else he risks serious trust deficit), but the point to note here is small variances in figures shouldnt worry one too much as long as there is visible progress.

But, where one should really thank PM Modi is for not announcing yet another set of new fancy schemes or more ambitious targets embellished with catchy phrases. Modi has done enough of that in his previous two I-Day speeches (and of course on other occasions too). We have several Modi schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Make in India, Mudra Yojana, Skill India, Start Up India Stand-Up India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat missions and a few other varieties of Yojanas and missions.

But post the grand launch, the actual progress of many of these schemes is still a matter of debate.

True, Jan Dhan accounts have crossed 22 crores and its a big step in direct benefit transfer promotion. But, how many of these accounts have generated fresh savings (discounting duplicate accounts and zero balance accounts), has the Make in India meaningfully contributed to job creation so far, how much the much-hyped Start-up India has helped Indian startups, what real changes the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has brought in are all questions that beg answers.

The point here is as the NDA government enters the crucial second half of its five-year term, more time should be devoted to implement the already announced schemes than announcing new ones. The PM has done well for doing so. Remember, China never launched a Make in China campaign 20 years back, they quietly started a manufacturing revolution, so are many developed countries.

On the reforms front too, lot of work is left to do. The passage of crucial Goods and Services Tax (GST) amendment and clearances of a slew of Bills, some of them incremental steps, such as bankruptcy code, coal, insurance, real estate and subsidy are only the beginning of a long journey. There is an urgent need to focus on implementation on all these fronts to make meaningful progress.

This is something experts have highlighted in the past - mainly on land and labor reforms. Modi has to focus on relentlessly implementing what has been initiated so far, said DK Joshi, chief economist at Crisil, Indian subsidiary of global rating agency, Standard and Poors, last week.

One could argue that the Centre has passed the onus on land reforms to states, but cant shed the responsibility of pursuing this crucial reform part, since making land available to industries is fundamental for any industrial development and inward investment flow.

There is an urgent need to overhaul the labour laws as well. In his last Independence Day speech, Modi spoke of the governments intention to club 44 labour laws into four codes to simplify them. Besides that, ever since he took charge, the PM, his colleagues and top executives have spoken of a complete overhaul of the countrys complex and archaic labour laws. However, not much progress has been made so far on the riskier part of it (except certain popular changes such as assuring longer maternity leave to women workers).

As Firstpost highlighted in an earlier article, Modi, who endorsed labour reforms in his earlier avatar as Gujarat chief minister, hasnt managed to overhaul the complex labor laws. Almost two-third of Indian workers arent protected by any laws and are outside the organised structure. The Modi government has to address the issue to deal with the emerging workforce and improve ease of doing business by negotiating with the countrys powerful trade unions, including the right wing unions.

As of now, except Rajasthan, no state can claim meaningful progress on the labour laws. One case in hand is the lack of progress on the Industrial Relations Bill that wasnt taken up even in the just concluded monsoon session. Passage of this would have enabled easier hire and fire policies for smaller firms, creating efficiency.

Implementation remains key to lift the spirits of the Indian economy too as countrys outgoing rock star central banker Raghuram Rajan stressed in an interview given to Australias Sydney Morning Herald early this year.

When Rajan was asked to nominate the three things that most need to change to make a difference to the Indian economy, he said, "Implementation, implementation, and implementation". "The gap in India has always been between the promise and the execution," the governor said.

This applies to not just reforms but all key government schemes. In this context, one should thank PM Modi seemingly breaking from the past in his I-day speech. Modis time is running out as the next year will be busy with state elections and the year after that with preparation for the grand fight in 2019. The government will do well to focus hard on the implementation of the previously announced schemes and make people feel their outcomes at the earliest. PM Modi has plenty on his plate already.
New Delhi: Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modis silence on pending appointment of judges in his Independence Day speech, the Congress accused him of delaying the matter and that he wants a "captive and not an independent judiciary".

Shortly after Chief Justice of India TS Thakur expressed his disappointment that the Prime Minister did not make any mention about delayed judicial appointments in his address, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said Modi in his 90-minute speech should have spared at least one minute to talk about the crisis situation on account of a number of judicial vacancies.

Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala accused Modi of stalling judicial appointments to foist a captive judiciary on the country. He said Modi should heed the CJI's advice and not do petty politics on the issue.

Surjewala told reporters that Memorandum of Appointment of Judges is deliberately not being cleared by Modi because the PM wants a "captive judiciary and not an independent judiciary" and this indeed is alarming on the 70th Independence Day of the country.

He also tweeted, "CJI questions PM Modi for deafening silence on judicial logjam in his I-Day speech. Unprecedented yet starkly true."

"1.25 Billion Indians demand a solemn commitment to a fair justice system on I-Day Modi Ji! Please heed CJI's advice. No petty politics. 75 names of HC judges cleared by SC stalled; Memorandum of Appointing Judges thwarted. Deliberate obstruction of justice by an obstinate PM," he said in a series of tweets.

Surjewala said its time the PM "introspected and ensured that the judiciary, the first refuge of the common man, remains independent and does not become captive to the whims of the Prime Minister."

CJI questions PM Modi for deafening silence on judicial logjam in his I-Day speech. Unprecedented yet starkly true. https://t.co/r74nHULI8d  Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 15, 2016

1.25 Billion Indians demand a solemn commitment to a fair justice system on I-Day Modi Ji!Please heed CJI's advice. No petty politics.  Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 15, 2016

75 names of HC judges cleared by SC stalled; Memorandum of Appointing Judges thwarted. Deliberate obstruction of justice by an obstinate PM.  Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) August 15, 2016

Sibal called for immediate clearance of pending judicial appointment files, asking who were the persons delaying the decision. "In 90 minutes today, the PM could have spared one minute for the judiciary as we are all running at 50 percent of the strength."

"And in the light of the fact that the Supreme Court has asked the Government to respond in four weeks as to why the appointment of judges have been kept pending for eight months and who are the persons who are blocking the files It is a crisis situation and at least the PM could have spared a minute and talked about it and committed that they would do this very quickly," the former Law Minister Sibal said.

Accusing the Government of flexing its muscle on account of an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, Sibal said, "The government thinks it has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and is flexing its muscles."

The former minister underlined the need for early judicial appointments saying lakhs of litigants come from far off places, spend money, reach high courts but their cases are not taken up because there are not enough judges and they pay their lawyers month after month year after year.

Surjewala also made the same demand describing an independent justice system as the first edifice of democracy. "A courageous CJI in an unprecedented move has lodged a serious protest on account of the continuing logjam on appointment f judges between the Modi government and the judiciary," he said.
The ubiquitous 'hand' is the election symbol of Congress party but a chameleon would have been a more apt representation. Decades and more of hunting with the hound and running with the hare has still not resulted in any pejorative branding for the Congress, it continues to enjoy the tag of a 'secular, liberal party'.

Depending on the political weather, Congress can miraculously switch between sheep and wolf's clothing; retain its pro-minority image despite presiding over massacre of religious minorities; ban books; try to bring regressive laws such as the Communal Violence Bill (which did not recognise communal violence committed by minority communities against the majority community) and still bask in liberal glory. As a party, which had power in the Centre, it has invoked Article 356 to impose Presidents rule no less than 88 times in 54 years and yet has the panache to accuse its political rivals of "murdering democracy" when they take the same route.

It is a rare feat.

The latest of this ideological nimbleness was evident in Congress-ruled Karnataka where the Bengaluru Police has booked Amnesty International on charges of "sedition and for spreading enmity among people."

According to reports, anti-India rhetoric and pro-azaadi slogans were raised during an event called 'Broken Families', organised on Saturday by Amnesty International's India chapter to discuss alleged human rights violations in Kashmir. Some Kashmiri students present at the venue, according to an NDTV report, exchanged heated words with Kashmiri Pandit leader and former journalist RK Mattoo for hailing the Indian Army.

Things took a turn for the worse when BJP's student wing ABVP took exception to the proceedings and lodged a complaint against the organisers after holding demonstrations on Sunday. On Monday, Bengaluru Police registered an FIR against Amnesty International India and charged it under Sections 124A, 142, 143, 147 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code, and filed cases of sedition against the organisers.

There shall be an intense debate on whether the police was right or wrong in slapping sedition charges on Amnesty when they were merely the organisers, not the ones raising the slogans. There still could be a larger debate over the ambit of a law which some feel is archaic, illiberal and should be scrapped. To recall, Parliament was disrupted earlier this year after JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar and a few others were arrested from campus for sedition.

But I'll leave that debate for now. Instead, let's focus on the Congress government's reaction. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwar told PTI on Sunday that the matter will be "investigated."

And after the case was filed by the police against Amnesty International India, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the state police is probing the case.

"The FIR has been registered. The police officials are probing the case. After the investigation, law will take its own course," said Siddaramaiah.

This is a markedly different line from the one Congress adopted when Rahul Gandhi rushed to JNU to show solidarity with students protesting against the arrest of their comrades on sedition charges over an event in support of Parliament-attack convict Afzal Guru.

That had prompted a sharp reaction from the government and BJP with Amit Shah in public rallies asking Rahul Gandhi to "clarify before the country" if he "supports anti-national slogans". Inside the Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had ripped into the Gandhi dynasty scion, for voicing "sympathies" for "those who raised slogans for breaking up India" and said it was the Congress vice president's "ideological hollowness" that he did something that likes of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi never did.

Even more interesting, the Congress party kept on sending confusing signals all through the day on Tuesday. While its own government had booked Amnesty for sedition, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared to question Siddaramaiah's decision.

"We have to look at the facts of the case. I can understand an FIR against an individual who has tried to fan anti-India sentiment. But I doubt if any institution can be accused of sedition charges in these circumstances An individual must have crossed all the limits of speech, I am not agreeing or disagreeing but, certainly, an institutional entity in a blanket manner cannot be accused of sedition," he was quoted as saying.

If all appears very confusing. So much so that even Congress backers became mystified. As Congress activist Tehseen Poonawala tweeted:

Shocking and sickening sedition charges filed against Amnesty in Karnataka & a usual the BJP behind this. Hope charge are dropped.  Tehseen Poonawalla (@tehseenp) August 16, 2016

Last we knew, law and order is a state subject. Little wonder that Congress is in such as predicament.
On Monday, India's 70th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke from the ramparts of the Red Fort. In his lengthy speech, Modi signalled a hardening stance against Pakistan and raised the issue of Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

Modi said, "I want to express my gratitude to the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK for the way they whole-heartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me.... People of a distant land I haven't even seen....When they thank the Indian prime minister, it's an honour for the 125 crore people of the country..."

Modi's stand sent a clear signal to Islamabad that India too is ready to target the integrity and unity of Pakistan.

But why is Balochistan relevant to India? How can India influence Afghanistan-Pakistan ties? What is the Durand Line?

To answer these questions, it is important to take a look at the history of Afghanistan, its geo-political positioning and its 19th century relations with British-ruled Indian empire, when the Durand line was stretched to separate Afghanistan from the rest of the Indian-subcontinent.

Geographical location of Afghanistan

Afghanistan of the 19th Century was a gateway between Central and South-East Asia. Due to its strategic geographical positioning, the country enjoyed a passage to most of the trade-rich countries in Asia. Its proximity to India was a concern to many.

Since it was the shortest route from central Asia to the Indian Ocean, this was the route that Persian conqueror Darius I took in 516 BC and Alexander took in 326 BC.

Various Muslim rulers too took this passage to enter into India. In 1526, the Moghul emperor Babur who established a flourishing empire in India, passed the Khyber Pass to take entry into India and conquered much of South-east Asia.

Now lets take a look at Afghanistan from a geographical stand-point. India has the Himalayas in the north, hence it blocks access from central Asia. The Hindu-Kush  the western most extension of the mountain range  houses the Salang Pass which separates the northern Afghanistan from the rest of the country. The Khyber Pass through the Spin Ghar mountains  the range which connects Pakistan and Afghanistan  is an extension of the Hindu Kush. These two passes have given many invaders a direct passage to India and have also played a pivotal role in the trade and in these regions. Due to this coveted placement, Afghanistan has been fought over by various super powers foremost of them all  the British Empire and Russia.

The Great Game

In the 19th century the two great empires  Russia and Britain  engaged in a competition to conquer territories between each empire's colonial possessions. This mutual contest was later termed 'The Great Game', where Afghanistan became the key to their struggle.

British intelligence suspected that Russia was trying to access the Indian sub-continent through Afghanistan. By 1770, Britain had a monopoly on opium production in India and wanted to spread cultivation to Afghanistan too. Since India was a jewel in the crown of their empire, it was impertinent for them to protect trade routes, for which Afghanistan was a strategic defense stand-point.

Russia which too was busy spreading its reign over central Asia was afraid that the British were gaining a commercial and military expansion in central Asia through India. Hence began the struggle between the British empire and Afghanistan in the form of the Anglo-Afghan wars which eventually resulted in the demarcation of territories, depriving Afghanistan of its strong-hold in central Asia.

Anglo-Afghan wars and the birth of the Durand Line



Britain engaged in three wars with Afghanistan which were later touted as the Anglo-Afghan wars. The friction between the two empires began when Britain grew anxious over the friendly relations between Afghan king Dost Mohammed and the Russians. The Britishers felt that Dost Mohammed was too hostile to them and hence in 1839 after failed negotiations, sent an expeditionary force of 12,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to dethrone the king and set-up their hand-picked king, Shah Shoja.

The Britishers won the war but Shah Shoja was soon dethroned after spontaneous rebellions by the Afghan people. Dost Mohammed who had escaped after the war, returned to Afghnistan, only to surrender to the Britishers in 1840 in a battle at Parwan.

Britain's position in Afghanistan was still intolerable due to civilian protests, and they soon discussed the terms of withdrawal with Dost Mohammed's son Akbar khan. As the British and Indian troops were making their way back, the Afghans killed as many as 12,000 of them in a guerrilla attack.

In 1843, Dost Mohammed was restored to the throne.

Despite the return to power, the Afghan government lacked the resources to sustain the nation. In 1859 England took control of all Afghan territory between Indus river and Hindu Kush including Balochistan, denying Afghanistan access to the sea. But the growing influence of the Russians was still a point of concern for the Britishers.

In 1878 when Sher Ali Khan  the third son of Dost Mohammed and the successor of the throne upon father's death  gave special treatment to Russia and denied entry to the British governor-general's envoy of the time This proved as a catalyst to the second Afghan war. It was waged between 1878 and 1880 complete with a British invasion, death of Sher Ali Khan in exile and the rise of the modern Afghanistan.

In 1893, taking stock of their territory, England created the Durand Line  an arbitrary 1,500-mile border separating 'British' India and Afghanistan. The agreement was signed between Sir Mortimer Durand, the Indian Foreign Secretary of the time and Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in Kabul. This new border divided the Pashtun tribal lands also called Pasthhunustan  into two, one half of it remaining with Afghanistan and the other half residing with the British India. The line ensured that a thin strip of Afghanistan stretched to the Chinese border, to separate Russian empire from the British empire.

This line became the principle issue in the foreign policy of Afghanistan and now is the contingent issue in the Afghan-Pak relationship.

According to the Durand Line agreement, Afghanistan gave up a few territories like the Swat, Chitral and Chageh, but gained other like Nuristan and Asmar. The original treaty was over a page long and was written in English  a language that Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan did not understand. Bowing under the might of the British empire, the Afghanistan reaffirmed the border line by additional treaties and agreements in 1905, 1919, 1921 and 1930.

At the advent of the 20th century, the Durand line still remained a long-running dispute between the government of Afghanistan and Great Britain and this prompted the third Anglo-Afghan war in 1919. Afganistan had trouble accepting the division of states especially since the separation of Balochistan robbed the country of its direct passage to the sea.

However in 1905, Amir Habibullah Khan  the successor of Abdur Rahman Khan  had signed a new agreement to confirm the legality of Durand Line. This legality was reaffirmed by the Anglo-Afghan treaty of 1919 (also known as the Rawalpindi agreement) on the basis of which Afghanistan reclaimed its independence. The Kabul agreement of 1921 surpassed even the Rawalpindi agreement and stated that the Durand line will be recognised as an international border.

Despite the annulment of the treaty (in three years) according to a clause of the Kabul Agreement, the border was reinforced by the king in 1921. According to some scholars, King Amanullah Khan  the Amir who saw one of the most progressive phases of Afghanistan  wanted to secure the independence of Afghanistan by any means.

The birth of Pakistan

After the founding of Pakistan in 1947, Afghanistan demanded that the Pashtuns living in the newly-created Pakistan should be given the choice to cross over the Durand Line and live in Afghanistan. This demand was not met by Britain or Pakistan and soon the Afghan government began to ignore the Durand Line, asserting claim over various parts near the border.

There were various instances of attacks and illegal immigration which further soured the relations of the two nations. The animosity was so apparent that in 1948, Afghanistan was the only nation which opposed Paksitan's membership in the United Nations.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Afghanistan drew great support from the United States, but after Pakistan struck an arms deal with the superpower, Kabul realised that the balance of power had tipped in the favour of Islamabad. Following suit, Afghanistan too approached the US for an arms deal. Looking to contain the Soviet Union, Washington conditioned that Kabul should improve its relations with Pakistan. However Kabul declined and turned to Russia to empower their military.

Experts believe that during this time, Afghanistan's dependence on Russia grew both economically and in military but it lead to an eventual fall-out.

Current stand of Afganistan

Soon after coming to power in 2014, President Ashraf Ghani realised that he needed to mend fences with Pakistan. The rise of Taliban and the power it wields, is of great concern for Afghanistan. As pointed out in an earlier Firstpost article Taliban has been steadily gaining more territories ever since the United States and Nato vacated Afghanistan in December 2014. Since that day the government forces and citizens of Afghanistan have come under constant attack. Many speculate this Taliban too is preparing for a time when it is ready for a political settlement. When that day comes, it will make the negotiations from a position of power.

This is probably why Afghanistan remains tight-lipped on the issue of the Durand Line. When quizzed about the issue, various Afghan leaders have assumed a diplomatic position. According to a report by The Atlantic, Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, the head of Kabul's Centre for Regional Studies in Afghanistan said that the Durand Line is a matter of national import but its future will be decided by the Pashtuns. "Recognising the legitimacy of this line is in the hands of the masses that live on either side of the border. This is also the formal position of the Afghan government," he reportedly said.

The United States considers the Durand line as a modern-day border between the two nations, however Afghanistan has strongly resisted against making the border official. In 2016, the violent clashes between the two nations on the Torkham border crossing brought the issue back to light. Many believe that the construction of a border post on Pakistan's side of the line, created tension because Kabul feared that the structure would make the border official. Even though Pakistan's claim of creating the post and controlling the flow of immigrants was within reason, Kabul strongly opposed it.

Afghanistan also believes that the imposed border was supposed to be annulled after the death of the king. Some speculate that the Durand agreement was signed under threat of a war and hence did not hold true after the independence of India. Many Afghans believe that the original agreement with Great Britain was only for 100 years after which the lands in question would revert back to Afghanistan. Some scholars also maintain that Afghan laws guide that the treaty was restricted to the lifetime of the king i.e. the agreement of the border should hold true only till the ruler who signed it is alive.

This presumption has a strong hold over the psyche of the Afghan people.

Current stand of Pakistan

Over the years, Pakistan has tried to control the Kabul regime and infiltrated the country with terrorists, killing thousands of Afghans. Pakistan has been reluctant to engage in a dialogue with Afghanistan on trade as well as peace talks because of a lack of trust.

Islamabad also believes that the Durand Agreement should hold considering the Rawalpindi agreement had cemented its existence.

However many Pashtuns still hope to reclaim the territories of their forefathers lost between the Indus river and the Durand Line. Many believe that the dream is unrealistic and cannot be realised because firstly Afghanistan lacks the political, military and economic means of doing so and there are 30 million Pakistani Pashtuns as opposed to 15 million Afghan Pashtuns.

Pakistan also has six times the population of Afghanistan and hence their military might is greater. The only way Kabul can dream of regaining its old territories is if there is a complete collapse of government in Pakistan.

Today Pakistan continues to rely on United States and China for the security of its territories. Hence the complexity of the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India relationships has direct consequence on the United States-Russia-China relationship.

Pakistan will use Taliban and other jihadist groups to maintain control over Afghanistan and hence, the issue surrounding the Durrand Line will have an impact on the formulation of the US policy in the region.

So maybe Modi's passing reference to Balochistan in his Independence Day speech was meant as a signal of support to Afganistan, even though it might not amount to much.

Maybe, India is finally waking up to the tit-for-tat strategy that Pakistan has assumed so long. And maybe, to reclaim their lost land, Afghanistan will find a friend in India.

After all an enemy's enemy is a friend.
New Delhi: Appealing to parties, including Congress, to speak with one voice on the issues of Balochistan and Gilgit, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said all should avoid making any statement which hurts India's interests.

Naidu's remarks came in response to a question on Congress Leader Salman Khurshid's statement in which he attacked the Prime Minister for raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address.

"As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking with one voice within the party also. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

"I only appeal to the main opposition party please bear with the country. Try to understand the implications. We must all speak with one voice. Our neighbor is aiding, habitating (sic) and funding terrorism in the country continuously. It can't go on like this," Naidu said at the sidelines of an event.

"I appeal to all domestic parties do not make any such statements which hurts India," he added. Khurshid had on Monday accused Modi of "ruining" India's case on Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. But later Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of "atrocities in Balochistan and PoK" in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.

Taking a strong note of Pakistan's position on Kashmir, Naidu said that Kashmir is integral part of India. "Government of India and state government are capable of handling Kashmir. There is an elected government in the state," he said.

"They are trying to give us lectures about Kashmir, that's why we have told them what is happening in Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit. Let them focus about human rights violation masscare and atrocities there," Naidu said.
Amidst escalating tension between India and Pakistan over the ongoing unrest in Kashmir Valley, government sources on Tuesday told ANI that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not attend South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Finance Ministers' summit in Islamabad on 25 and 26 August. India will be represented by Finance Secretary Shashikant Das at the regional summit, ANI further said.

The ministerial conference comes in the wake of Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad earlier this month where barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who only had a tense and uneasy handshake during the Saarc meeting.

In a bid to provoke India, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said that Kashmir is "not an internal matter" of India and the Valley "is witnessing a new wave of freedom movement."

However, NDTV reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take the final call over Jaitley's visit to Islamabad.

According to the news channel, New Delhi was unhappy with the treatment dealt to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who visited Islamabad on 2 and 3 August to attend the Saarc home ministers' summit.

On Sunday, Pakistan had said in a statement that it will play a "good host" and avoid a repetition of the tense atmosphere that prevailed during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's recent visit by according a "warm welcome" to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the Saarc summit.

FM Arun Jaitley to not attend SAARC FMs conference in Pakistan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das to represent India:Govt Sources

The relations between the two neighbours are at all time low after Pakistan termed Hiuzbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, killed by Indian security forces in south Kashmir on 8 July, as a martyr.

PM Modi on 15 August had highlighted human-rights violation by Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Gilgit Balistan and Balochistan in the annual Independence Day speech.

The killing of Wani last month has plunged the Valley into a series of violent protests that has led to the death of more than 50 civilians and security personnel and injured hundreds.

With inputs from PTI
On the 70th Indian Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 93-minute speech made clear references to Pakistan's mistreatment of Balochistan and the atrocities meted out in the region and in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

Modi's words did not just appease the Indian masses but have also been celebrated by leaders from Balochistan.

Brahumdagh Bugti of Balochistan Republican Party, quoted by ANI, said that he thanks "Prime Minister Narendra Modi sahab on behalf of the whole Baloch nation. And we hope that the Indian government and Indian media and whole nation will not only raise voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement."

Modi brought up Balochistan in his speech to highlight the hypocrisy of the Pakistani demand for Kashmir while ignoring a pertinent independence movement in their own country. Bugti, according to The Indian Express, also said, "I would request Indian cinema to make movies, the top producers and directors, and movie stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan to act in them. Amitabh can play the role of my grandfather very well."

Ashraf Sherjan, leader of the Baloch Republican Party also hailed Modi's speech and thanked him for highlighting the atrocities faced by the people of Balochistan.

Inshallah soon we will celebrate India's and Balochistan's independence day together.Jai Hind: Ashraf Sherjan,Baloch Republican Party  ANI (@ANI_news) August 15, 2016

Sherjan also said that he hopes for India and Balochistan to soon celebrate their independence together and also said, "Jai Hind".

Baloch Voice Foundation President, Munir Mengal also said that Modi's statements reflected the state of the nation and he hopes that the occupation and oppression of Balochistan people will end soon.

The current statement of Modi Jee is a great Strategical statement for the region. The face of South Asia will changes.DittoTV  Munir Mengal (@MMengal) August 15, 2016

DittoTV The opperessed and colonized are hoping to end occupation and opression of their lands and people togather with India.  Munir Mengal (@MMengal) August 15, 2016

According to Business Standard, Jamil Maqsood, a Baloch leader and Central Secretary, Foreign Affairs of the United Kashmir People's National Party, said that they welcome the statement by Narendra Modi. Journalist from the region, Faiz Baloch also expressed his graditude to Narendra Modi for remembering Balochis on 15 August.

We now hope India will raise the Balochistan issue officially on all forums including UN: Faiz Baloch,Journalist pic.twitter.com/cG0c7K3xeI  ANI (@ANI_news) August 15, 2016

However, it was not all praise for Modi's Independence Day speech, many people on Twitter claimed that it was "clownish talk". Former head of Radio Pakistan, Murtaza Solangi said that with such words, "war mongers won".

Forget India-Pak peace till next elections in India and Pakistan. After Modi mentioning Balochistan today, there is no hope. #WarMongersWon  Murtaza Solangi (@murtazasolangi) August 15, 2016

In response, Zameer Ahmad Malik, former youth Parliamentarian in Pakistan said that India "wants hegemony even on dialogue table."

#Pakistan tried its best but India wants hegemony even on dialogue table, which is unacceptable @murtazasolangi  Zameer Ahmed Malik (@ZameerAMalik) August 15, 2016

Farrukh Pitafi, a prominent Pakistani columnist said that Modi's speech was "clownish talk" and that it did great disservice to the people of Balochistan and their empowerment.

Clownish talk by Modi comparing Kashmir&Balochistan oblivious of context. I m no apologist for any1. But India has no locus standi in B'stan  Farrukh K. Pitafi (@FarrukhKPitafi) August 15, 2016

What is more, Modi's reckless comment does a great disservice to the Baloch people's movement for empowerment. Delegitimizes it. Hurts them  Farrukh K. Pitafi (@FarrukhKPitafi) August 15, 2016
Washington: Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement have sought support from the US and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.

"The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively," Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said in a statement.

"Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom," Baloch said.

While welcoming Modi's stance on Balochistan, he said the "policy of indifference towards Pakistan's war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying".

"The Indian Prime Minister's statement on Balochistan is a positive development," Baloch said. Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti  a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistan's destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

"In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government," Bugti said.

"The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s," he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech on Monday.
United Nations: The UN takes inspiration from various contributions made by India to the world, including the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent teachings and the harmony of Yoga, the world body's Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

In his message to India on its 70th Independence Day, Ban said the occasion also celebrates India's partnership with the UN.

"We are also celebrating India's strong partnership with the UN," he said in his message, which he began with a 'Namaste'.

The video message was played during Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman's concert at the UN on Monday.

India is a founding member of the UN, Ban said and expressed his gratitude to the country for its significant contributions to the world body's peacekeeping operations.

"We take inspiration everyday from many other Indian contributions - from the non-violent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi to the harmony and unity represented by the International Day of Yoga," the UN chief said.

The UN looks forward to further strengthening "those ties in every dimension of our work from peace to sustainable development to human rights", he said, concluding his remarks with "Aap sap ko mubarak ho (congratulations to everyone)".
Bangladeshi authorities named a third prime suspect on Monday in their investigation into the 1 July attack at a Dhaka cafe in which 20 hostages were killed, most of them foreigners.

Mohammed Saiful Islam from Dhaka's counter-terrorism police said Nurul Islam Marjan, a commander from the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group, had been identified on information from several different sources.

"We got this details and now we are verifying these information," Saiful, a senior officer, told Reuters.

Police have accused JMB of several attacks over the past 18 months that have ratcheted up fears about militancy. JMB says it is affiliated to Islamic State but the government insists Islamic State has no presence in Bangladesh.

On Thursday, police arrested five members of an Islamist militant group who, they said, were planning suicide attacks in the capital and counter-terrorism chief, Monirul Islam, said the third prime suspect had been identified.

Police officers had swooped on a cell on Thursday in the outskirts of Dhaka and said the suspects, including four would-be bombers and a bomb-maker, had been sent to the capital to bolster the JMB's attack capability.

They were all from the northern part of Bangladesh.

Marjan had disappeared from his family's village in the northern Pabna district, 160 km (100 miles) from Dhaka, eight months ago and was studying Arabic at Chittagong University, police said. His father has been detained, they said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the cafe attack and, while the government has dismissed the claim, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the assault suggest links to trans-national networks.

Police say Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen and the prime suspect, is still at large in Dhaka. Analysts say Islamic State identified him in April as its national commander.

Police are also still hunting for a sacked army major-turned militant, Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, as part of the investigation.
Bastia: A mayor on the French island of Corsica on Monday became the third nationwide to announce a ban on burqinis, following weekend clashes allegedly sparked by a row over the full-body Islamic swimsuit.

The announcement by the mayor of the village of Sisco follows similar prohibitions in the Riviera towns of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet, which have also controversially banned the garment from their beaches in recent weeks.

Sisco's Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said he aimed to "protect the population" after clashes Saturday in a cove outside his village in the north of the Mediterranean island that left five people injured.

Around 100 police were deployed to break up the fight between locals and families of North African origin that reportedly began over tourists taking pictures of women swimming in burqinis.

Three cars were set alight after the rivals, some of whom were armed with hatchets, hurled stones and bottles. Five people were hospitalised.

Vivoni told AFP in a telephone interview his decision to ban the burqini was "not against the Muslim religion but to avoid the spread of fundamentalism".

"I am absolutely not racist. I want to protect the population, notably my area's Muslim population because I think that they are the main victims of these extremist provocations."

The move comes at a highly sensitive time for relations with France's Muslim community following a series of jihadist attacks, mostly by young French acolytes of the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors in nearby Bastia said an inquiry had been opened to determine the cause of the weekend violence.

Vivoni said tensions over religion had been building in northern Corsica for a while.

There were tense scenes Sunday as around 500 nationalists gathered in the northeastern town of Bastia, seeking to enter the Lupino district which is home to a large North African community.

The police blocked them from entering.

Last month, a splinter group of the nationalist Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) warned Islamists that any attack on the island would trigger "a determined response, without any qualms".

'Profoundly archaic'

The question of Islamic dress has long been a hot-button issue in France, which was the first European country to ban the full-face veil in public places in 2010.

Opponents of the burqini argue it tramples secular values.

Anti-racism campaigners saying banning it amounts to discrimination against Muslims.

Women's Rights Minister Laurence Rossignol said the burqini, which has also been a talking point at the Rio Olympics where it has been sported by several athletes, was "profoundly archaic".

"The burqini has a goal. The goal is to hide women's bodies to hide women...there is something profoundly archaic about it," she told Europe 1 radio.

But she also warned against the "ulterior motives" of some in the conservative opposition whom she accused of stoking debates about burqinis and halal meat to try win votes from the far-right National Front.

Rossignol did not say where she stood on banning the garment.

France is on high alert after two grisly attacks in the last month claimed by, or carried out in the name of Islamic State, which was also behind November's coordinated assaults in Paris.

On 14 July, a Tunisian father of three ploughed a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 85 people.

Two weeks later, two teens claiming allegiance to IS killed a priest by slitting his throat.

The burqini ban in Cannes won court backing on Saturday, with a judge ruling the garment could be seen as a provocation after the Nice attack.

In the nearby resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, mayor Lionnel Luca has defended the ban by saying it is unhygienic to swim fully dressed.
Youngstown: Donald Trump's speech on foreign policy on Monday focused in large part on his proposal to suspend immigration from dangerous parts of the world and impose a new system of "extreme vetting" that would subject applicants to questions about their personal ideology.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," said Trump, proposing what he called an "ideological screening test."

"The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. Our country has enough problems," he said.

Trump didn't offer many specifics in his speech, raising a number of questions about how he would implement his proposals.

Here a look at some of the questions the Republican presidential nominee didn't answer on Monday:

What does 'extreme vetting' mean?

Trump defined it Monday this way: "In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles  or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our county."

US immigration officials already vet potential immigrants, conducting background checks on those who seek to live or work in America. Visa applicants already must answer questions about whether they have ever engaged in, or intend to engage, in any form of terrorist activity, along with questions such as whether they've ever ordered, incited, called for, committed, assisted, helped with, or otherwise participated in activity that includes "limiting or denying any person's ability to exercise religious beliefs."

What would be different under Trump's plan? To start, aides said, he would consider adding a review of social media accounts and conducting interviews with an applicant's friends and family.

But it's unclear how Trump's system would determine a potential immigrant's position on what could be highly subjective issues. What some may consider to be "support (for) bigotry and hatred" may be, in another person's view, an expression of free speech protected by the First Amendment. That raises questions about where a Trump administration would draw the line.

Who would be subject to the immigration on ban?

Trump proposed temporarily suspending immigration "from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism."

Which countries exactly? That's TBD.

Trump says that as soon as he takes office, he would ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify "a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place."

Trump said, "There are many such regions" and vows to "stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures."

Also unclear is whether such a ban would only apply to people seeking to immigrate to the US to live and to work, or would affect tourists, too. Trump used both "immigrants" and "visitors" during his Monday speech, raising the prospect he could scrap an existing waiver programme that allows people from friendly countries to visit the US as tourists without a visa.

How much will it cost?

Trump has not broached the topic of how much it would cost to set up and run his new vetting system.

The US already screens everyone who enters the country, said Doris Meissner, who heads the Migration Policy Institute's US immigration policy programme.

"The fact of the matter is we have very sophisticated vetting programmes in place," she said, noting that the country has invested billions in improving systems and information sharing since the 9/11 attacks.

The costs of an expansion of that system as Trump has proposed, she said, would likely be "extraordinary."

Does he still want to bar Muslims from the US?

Trump's unprecedented call in December 2015 "for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" is still listed on his campaign website, and he has yet to personally denounce the controversial proposal.

Following the June shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump appeared to introduce a new standard, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."

Trump's aides described the new language as a replacement for the religious test, but Trump has described it differently. "I actually don't think it's a rollback. In fact, you could say it's an expansion. I'm looking now at territory," he said in a July interview with NBC News, suggesting the change was more about language. "People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. 'Oh, you can't use the word Muslim,' remember this? And I'm OK with that, because I'm talking territory instead of Muslim."

Trump had promised to release a list of "terror countries," but never did. His speech Monday referred to regions, with the caveat that he might not name them until after taking office.
Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would soon submit interview notes from its probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private email setup to the Congress.

The contents would also include copies of classified emails handled via her private email account along with summaries of FBI's interviews with several senior Clinton aides, Xinhua news agency reported.

Copies of the 110 emails in 52 email chains that had contained classified information at the time when they were sent or received were also expected to be handed over to US lawmakers, although the documents were expected to be highly redacted.

However, all material would not be released publicly and would be presented to the lawmakers as classified information.

In March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint as the Secretary of State in President Barack Obama's administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the state department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, 30,000 emails in total, to the state department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information.

The finding triggered an FBI investigation into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information via the private email setup.

After a yearlong probe, FBI Director James Comey said in July that the agency would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. However, he called Clinton and her team "extremely careless" in handling sensitive information.
The strained ties between India and Pakistan only seem to be getting worse.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday equated Pakistan with hell. "Going to Pakistan or to hell is the same thing," CNN-News18 quoted him as saying. "Unable to inflict major damage, Pakistan is trying to inflict small wounds," he further said.

Parrikar's remark comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech on Independence Day at Red Fort in New Delhi, brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people  the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK)  for the way they wholeheartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently," Modi had said.

That was for the first time the disturbed areas in the control of Pakistan had been mentioned by any Indian Prime Minister during his Independence Day speech.

Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir Valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India. This was an obvious reference to Wani who has been hailed as a martyr by Pakistan.

The remarks also come in the backdrop of recent comments by Modi during an all-party meet on Kashmir that the time had come to expose the atrocities committed "by our neighbouring nation" in Balochistan and the areas of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation.

The Prime Minister had asked the international community to judge the behaviour of India and Pakistan in the context of terror attacks in each other's country.

"When children were killed in terror attack on a school in Peshawar (about two years back), there were tears in our Parliament. Indian children were traumatised. This is the example of our humanity. But look at the other side where terrorism is glorified," Modi had said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also blamed Pakistan for the unrest in Kashmir. On 10 August, he had in the Rajya Sabha, "What is happening in Kashmir is sponsored by Pakistan."

He had also responded to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's statement on Jammu and Kashmir and had said that "no power" could take away Kashmir from India.

"Two weeks ago, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif said that he is waiting for the day when Kashmir will become Pakistan's. He has also written a letter to the UN Secretary General saying there should be a plebiscite in Kashmir. On the basis of the statements made in the House, I can say that no power in the world can take Jammu and Kashmir from us. If there is dialogue with Pakistan, it won't be on Kashmir, it will be on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir," the Home Minister had said.

With inputs from PTI
Chicago: A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spat at and called 'ISIS' by a woman in Chicago in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The two Muslim women  both wearing hijabs  reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood in Chicago.

The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.

Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them 'ISIS'.

A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...you Isis! ...you ISIS!"

Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from others who witnessed the incident, which possibly upset her even more.

"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.

In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe.

"That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?"

Damra's mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments.

"People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.

Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault.

However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry.

"It's very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi. "To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said.
Jammu: As the country celebrated its 70th Independence Day, the Indian Army held a ceremonial Border Personal Meeting (BPM) with their Chinese counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh sector.

The agenda of the meeting was to strengthen relationship and maintain peace along Line of Actual Control, a defence spokesman said.

The Indian delegation was led by Brigadier R S Raman and Brigadier V Yadav, while the Chinese delegation was headed by senior Colonel Fan Jun and senior Colonel Guo Kexie.

"A ceremonial Border Personal Meeting (BPM) on the occasion of Indian Independence Day was conducted today at Indian BPM huts at Chushul-Moldo and newly constructed BPM Hut at DBO-TWD meeting points of Eastern Ladakh," the defence spokesperson said.

The ceremonial meeting began by saluting the Indian National flag which was followed by ceremonial address by both the delegation leaders. Later, both the delegations reaffirmed the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border, the spokesperson informed.

A programme showcasing Indian culture was also presented with traditional grandeur to mark country's 70th Independence Day.

"Both the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment", he said.

"Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling of upholding the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC", he added.
Washington: Refusing to be drawn into the war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the US has said it is for the two countries to determine the pace, scope and character of any discussions on Kashmir.

"Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions on Kashmir is for the two sides to determine. We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations," State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said.

"We're aware of the clashes. We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage to all sides to make efforts for finding a peaceful resolution," Trudeau said at her daily news conference on Monday.

The State Department spokesperson, however, did not respond to questions on the remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on Monday.

"I wouldn't speak to Mr Modi's comments, that would be for him to speak to," Trudeau said.

Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech on Monday.

"From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people  the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK)  for the way they wholeheartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently," Modi had said.

Responding to Modi's remarks, Pakistan said his references to Balochistan and PoK were an attempt to divert world attention from the "grim tragedy" that has been unfolding in Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in a war of words over Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statements on the situation in Kashmir which has been witnessing unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Islamabad: Ties between India and Pakistan look bleak after the two countries indulged in a war of words on their Independence Days on 14 and 15 August, a Pakistani daily said on Tuesday.

"At the moment, things do indeed look bleak between Pakistan and India and it would require extraordinary diplomatic manoeuvring to reshape relations from here," the Daily Times said in an editorial.

It said "things are spiralling from bad to worse" as Pakistan and India have engaged in a war of unsavoury words.

Pakistan dedicated its Independence Day on August 14 to the cause of "independence" in Jammu and Kashmir where militants are fighting against Indian troops.

New Delhi in turn accused Islamabad of exporting international terrorism, cross-border infiltrators, weapons, narcotic and fake currency.

And on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his annual Independence Day address, openly came out in support of "independence" in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-held Kashmir.

The Times said there was "sadly ... nothing new about any of this as Pakistan and India have long held intransigent positions, and indulged in political point scoring that has effectively precluded the possibility of any meaningful progress (in negotiations)".

While urging New Delhi to talk Kashmir, the daily said Pakistan must address India's security concerns and apprehend all those linked to cross-border terrorism.

However, it said that Modi's "confrontational" stand vis-a-vis Pakistan on India's Independence Day was "in appallingly bad taste".

"Modi's remarks would worsen Pakistan-India relations and give teeth to Pakistan's allegations," it said.

The News International too said that neither India nor Pakistan was in any mood for diplomacy now.

"What is more troubling is the possibility that the diplomatic war of words could translate into another extended period of firing across the LoC (Line of Control)," it said in an editorial.

"It is time for empty posturing and empty shelling to be rooted out of our regional politics," it added.
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met with new Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim who is visiting India on his first overseas trip after assuming office.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Mohamed Asim is here today on his first official visit to India, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Swarup said that Asim had a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, which was followed by a lunch hosted by the latter.

Asim also called on Vice President Hamid Ansari later in the afternoon.

Asim, formerly the Maidives' High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was appointed the country's Foreign Minister last month after Dunya Maumoon quit the post voicing opposition to the government's plan to implement the death penalty.

According to Swarup, Asim in his meeting with Sushma Swaraj emphasized that in keeping with the India first policy of the Maldives, this was his first overseas visit after assuming his new responsibilities last month.

External Affairs Minister extended a very warm welcome to Asim, acknowledging the priority given by the visiting Minister to his meeting with her, Swarup said.

In their discussions, the External Affairs Minister and Asim took note of the high level exchanges in recent weeks between the two countries and reviewed progress on various aspects of the bilateral relationship, he sated.

India First!

Reiterating Maldives' trust, FM Mohamed Asim meets EAM @SushmaSwaraj on his 1st official visit abroad pic.twitter.com/5ykigc6SCl  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) August 16, 2016

Asim apprised the External Affairs Minister about preparations for the Maldives Investment Forum to be held in New Delhi later this year.

Sushma Swaraj reiterated the view expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India wanted all its neighbours to benefit from the economic growth and development in India.

The two ministers also exchanged views on the consonance in the strategic perspectives of the two countries to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.

Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on Counter-terrorism (Asif Ibrahim) had visited the Maldives in mid-July 2016 and Defence Secretary (G. Mohan Kumar) had visited Male for the 1st India-Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue on July 17-18, 2016, the spokesperson said.

He said that Sushma Swaraj and Asim reaffirmed their resolve to continue strengthening the bilateral partnership between India and the Maldives.

The Foreign Minister of Maldives also shared his assessment on recent developments in his country and their engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy of the Commonwealth in the context of the forthcoming CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) meeting in New York, on the sidelines of the UNGA (UN General Assembly), Swarup said.
New York: The nations which use the "facade of human rights" to sponsor terror are "hypocrites of the worst kind", Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar said, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

In the city to lead India's 70th Independence Day celebrations, Akbar asserted that India is a nation which believes in "faith equality" and not faith "supremacy" as he called terrorism a major threat to human rights.

"Terrorism is the biggest enemy of human rights. Those who use the facade of human rights in order to sponsor barbaric terrorism are hypocrites of the worst kind," Akbar told PTI in New York.

"We (India) do not believe in faith supremacy. Nations created in the name of faith supremacy are coming apart alongthe fault lines of a failed idea," he said on Monday after unfurling the tricolour at the Indian Consulate in a ceremony attended by several members of the Indian community.

"That is why Bangladesh happened in 1971 and that is why Balochistan is simmering now," the journalist-turned-politician said on his maiden visit to the US after assuming charge.

Akbar's remarks came on a day when back home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also referred to Pakistan's atrocities in the restive Balochistan province and the PoK, prompting a sharp reaction from across the border.

In his address to the community members, Akbar said India represents the very essence of human rights.

"This is the moment to tell the world and ourselves that the greatest enemy of human rights is terrorist and terrorism.

"Faith equality emerges from the ancient philosophy of our nation. The challenge to civilisation and the challenge to stability is coming from those, including in our neighbourhood, who believe in faith supremacy rather than in faith equality, who believe that one faith is supreme or superior to others," he said, in another veiled reference to Pakistan.

He underscored that India believes in freedom and equality for every faith not just before the law but in society as well, adding that freedom is not simply the right to vote but it is the right to express oneself everyday.

"In India, I am a proud Indian Muslim and in my country the Azaan has been heard for 1,400 years and shall be heard for 1,400 years. It emerges out of the belief and will of the Indian people," he said.

Akbar noted the Indian Constitution, created under the "inspiration" of Mahatma Gandhi and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, represents a "template" of modernity, a template for the future and for the whole world.

"Freedom is engrained in our Constitution. Nobody can take away our freedom," he said.

"Our mission for the next 70 years is very clear. It is to turn India and put it on the high table of prosperity not just for some but prosperity for all. That is true nationalism," he said.
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their "indigenous freedom struggle".

Sharif's remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). The Prime Minister reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

"The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom," he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting states affairs during his term in office. The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the "democratic system" in PoK, said the Prime Minister. Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last month's parliamentary elections in Kashmir.

Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK. While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including Foreign Office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.

Khan was on Tuesday elected as the new president of Pakistani Kashmir. The legislative assembly of PoK met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president. Khan, who was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), got 42 votes and was declared as elected.

His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) got just six votes. The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.
By Chaitanya Mallapur

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised Pakistan  without naming the country  for supporting terror groups, 671 infiltration incidents and 738 terrorist attacks were reported in Jammu and Kashmir over the last three years, according to a government reply to Parliament on 19 July, 2016.

As many as 141 terrorists and 64 civilians were killed across the state between 2013 and 10 July, 2016, the reply said. As many as 23,061 terrorists, 1,431 civilians and 6,220 security personnel have died in Jammu and Kashmir over 28 years till 7 August, 2016, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Source: Lok Sabha; * 2016 figures till May.

Source: Lok Sabha; * 2016 figures till July 10 2016.

About 34,000 AK-47 rifles, 5,000 grenade launchers, 90 light machine guns, 12,000 revolvers, three anti-tank guns, four anti-aircraft guns, 350 missile launchers and 63,000 kg of explosives, including RDX and more than 100,000 grenades were seized by security forces from terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir over the last 25 years, Modi said on 12 August, 2016, at an all-party meeting on Kashmir.

During this period, more than 5,000 foreign terrorists were killed, which is almost equal to the strength of 5 Battalions, said Modi. Terrorism has cost Pakistan $118 billion over the last 15 years in direct and indirect costs, according to Pakistans Economic Survey 2015-16.

Source: Pakistan Economic Survey 2015-16; *Estimated on the basis of 9 months actual data

"Pakistan forgets that it bombs its own citizens using fighter planes. The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," Modi said on 12 August, 2016.

As many as 351 incidents of violence were reported against minorities in Pakistan between 2012 and 2015, according to the 2016 report State Of Religious Freedom In Pakistan by Jinnah Institute, a public policy advocacy in Pakistan.

Sindh and Balochistan, in particular, witnessed persistent targeted killings and bomb attacks against members of the Shia community. In Balochistan, anti-Shia messaging in public spaces and in the press continued with impunity, the report said.

People in Balochistan had thanked him for standing by them, according to Modi.

In 2015, 247 civilians were killed in Balochistan, of which 114 were attributed to militant outfits and 143 were considered the work of the state apparatus and its surrogates, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Since 2004, till April 17, 2016, at least 922 civilian killings were reported by militant outfits. In addition, 463 people went missing and 157 bodies were found mutilated in Balochistan in 2015.

The author is an analyst with IndiaSpend
Istanbul: A popular Turkish television and film thriller franchise staring an action hero dubbed the "Turkish James Bond" will make a movie about the failed 15 July coup, its producer announced.

The Valley of the Wolves franchise has resulted in dozens of television episodes and several spin-off films since it was first created in 2003, enthralling many Turks.

But it has long been accused by critics of having a strong ideological bent alongside a potent streak of Turkish nationalism and anti-American and Israeli sentiment.

"In response to intense public demand to make a film or television series about the coup bid, our firm has taken the decision to make the film 'Valley of the Wolves  Coup'," the production company Pana Film said in a statement on its official Twitter account late Monday.

It did not give further details but the film will most likely see the return of Turkish secret service action hero Polat Alemdar  played by Necati Sasmaz  to do battle with the coup plotters who aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Always ending up on top against the odds  like British spy hero James Bond  Polat Alemdar takes on a panoply of Turkey's enemies, be it the mafia, militants or even the West.

The franchise did not shy away from controversy with its first film Valley of the Wolves  Iraq which centred on the US-invasion of Iraq and the story of the capture of 11 Turkish soldiers by a US military unit.

It then ventured into even stormier waters with a film on the deadly raid by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010.

The movie further ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Turkey and the Jewish State, prompting accusations of anti-Semitism that were vehemently denied by the producers.

Valley of the Wolves has always been seen as in tune with the ambitious foreign policy and projection of a powerful Turkey espoused by Erdogan, who became prime minister in the year the series first came out.

However it has not been spared from controversy within the country, with the producers pulling the plug on a 2007 series Valley of the Wolves  Terror which dealt with the fight against Kurdish militants after just one episode.
London: UK Prime Minister Theresa May today expressed her condolences to the British Hindu community over the death of Swaminarayan sect's spiritual head Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

"I would like to pay my condolences to British Hindus, especially the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, on the passing away of Pramukh Swami Maharaj," May said.

"Pramukh Swami Maharaj inspired millions with his powerful motto: 'in the good of others lies our own'. This legacy of selfless service will continue to benefit humanity for a long time to come," she said.

Swami Maharaj, the president of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international Hindu organisation, and founder of London's famous Neasden temple died aged 95 on Saturday in Sarangpur in Gujarat.

"I remember fondly my visit to Neasden Mandir in March 2013, as Home Secretary, to speak at an inspiring conference for International Women's Day organised by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha," May said in a statement.

"I also had the opportunity to see the fantastic work that BAPS does across the world to improve the lives of others, and people giving up their time generously to do it.

"Pramukh Swami Maharaj exemplified the values of British Hindus whose contribution helps make the United Kingdom one of the world's most successful multi-cultural, multi-faith democracies."

Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the spiritual guru.
United Nations: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he would personally like to see a woman lead the United Nations for the first time since it was established more than 70 years ago.

As he nears the end of his second five-year term on 31 December, Ban said that "it's high time now" for a female secretary-general after eight men at the helm of the world organization. There are currently 11 candidates vying to succeed Ban, six men and five women.

But he stressed that the decision isn't up to him, it's up to the 15-member Security Council which must recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for its approval.

Sitting onstage in Los Angeles last Wednesday with US Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ban stressed that women comprise half the world's population and should be empowered and "given equal opportunities."

"We have many distinguished and eminent women leaders in national governments or other organizations or even business communities, political communities, and cultural and every aspect of our life," he said a day later in an Associated Press interview. "There's no reason why not in the United Nations."

"So that's my humble suggestion, but that's up to member states," Ban said in the AP interview last Thursday during a visit to the home of 99-year-old Libba Patterson in Novato where he spent his first days in the United States as an 18-year-old student from South Korea.

The Security Council has held two informal polls in which 12 candidates participated, and in each the highest-ranked woman was in third place, a disappointment to many. Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, a former UN refugee chief, topped both polls.

In the first "straw" poll Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, who heads the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, came in third but in the second she dropped to fifth. In the second poll Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, who was Ban's former chief of staff, moved up to third. Former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, who placed last in the first poll, dropped out of the race.

The three other women candidates are New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, and former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman. The Security Council has scheduled another "straw" poll on 29 August and at least one, and possibly two, are expected to be held in September.

Ban spoke of the qualities he thinks are important for "any secretary-general, he or she."

The prospective secretary-general should have "a clear vision for the world of the future" and "strong integrity and commitment" to make progress toward peace and promote development and human rights, he said.

His successor should also have "strong compassionate and visionary leadership" and be able to articulate the importance of human dignity for vulnerable groups including women and girls, the disabled and "people in homosexual orientations and minority groups," Ban said.

"If not the United Nations, who will take care of those people?," he asked.
Belgrade: US Vice President Joe Biden kicks off a short visit to Serbia and its former province of Kosovo on Tuesday.

The veteran lawmaker was a leading advocate of international intervention to stop the Balkan wars in the 1990s and is expected to address regional tensions during his trip.

The agenda was not disclosed, but on his first stop in Belgrade, Biden is expected to discuss Serbia's close relations with Moscow.

An EU membership candidate, Serbia traditionally looks to its ally Russia for support and has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow over the Ukrainian crisis.

Biden may also raise the unresolved murder of three US citizens in the aftermath of the 1999 war in Kosovo, and the 2008 torching of the US embassy.

The murdered brothers were last seen alive in the custody of Serbian police. Their remains were found in 2001 in a mass grave with bodies of ethnic Albanians killed in Kosovo and buried in eastern Serbia.

The US embassy was set ablaze during riots in Belgrade following Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February 2008, a move endorsed by the US and Western powers.

Biden is expected to press for a stronger campaign against corruption in Kosovo, a staunch ally of the US since it pushed NATO into intervening against Serbia to end the 1999 war.

A street in Pristina will be named after his deceased son, recognizing Biden's support for Kosovo's fight for independence from Serbia.

In both capitals he is set to push for a faster implementation of EU-brokered agreements aiming at restoring normal diplomatic ties between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serbia has not officially recognized Kosovo as an independent state.
Travel Oregon has become the first state tourism agency to earn the title of Certified Guest Service Partner from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI). To achieve this distinction, all staff members completed AHLEI's Guest Service Gold training and earned the Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP) designation.

"Having the entire team at Travel Oregon certified speaks to the value we see standout customer service making in a guest's impression of a destination," said Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson. "As we work to share the wonders of Oregon with travelers, we remind ourselves that individuals are as unique as our state, and finding special ways to connect and personalize their trip-planning process and stay is sure to instill positive memories."

Last fall, the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association Education Foundation (ORLAEF) signed an agreement with Travel Oregon to be the customer service training provider for the state's travel and tourism industry, using Guest Service Gold and CGSP. As part of that agreement, the staffs of both organizations completed the process themselves.

"Our staff had fun with the training and certification," said Carole Astley, director, Industry and Visitor Services for Travel Oregon. "We had a friendly contest to inspire staff to aim for the best possible exam score. Prizes were awarded and certificates were presented at one of our all-staff meetings."

Most of the Travel Oregon staff members used the online version of the program, which gave them flexibility to fit the program into their schedules with less disruption to regular business operations. AHLEI also offers a print version of the training, which some staff members used instead.

"As major proponents of the Guest Service Gold training and certification, it's very important that everyone in our organization has experienced the program first-hand," Astley explained. "This is not only for our own benefit, but to demonstrate our commitment to stand behind what we're advocating for our industry partners. As an organization, we discuss the impact that great guest service has on a visitor. And with an extremely competitive travel market, we need to find successful ways to make Oregon stand out. Committing to guest service training is a natural fit."

Apparently, the training is having a positive effect in making Oregon stand out. Astley reported that the Gold-certified staff at their main Welcome Center receive "amazing, heart-felt compliments" daily, with comments like "You've made my trip!" "Wow, people in Oregon are so friendly," and "You are SO helpful and the Welcome Center is awesome."

About the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI)

Established in 1953 as the nonprofit education and training arm of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), AHLEI's mission is to be the preferred provider of quality resources to educate, develop, and certify hospitality educators, students and professionals worldwide. AHLEI became part of the National Restaurant Association" Training & Certification division in 2017, connecting and leveraging the resources of two organizations that are deeply committed to a vision of career success and upward mobility for current and future hospitality, restaurant, and food service employees.

Elizabeth Johnson

Senior PR & Marketing Manager

407-999-8174
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be visiting Wisconsin today with stops in La Crosse, Milwaukee and West Bend planned. His campaign appears to be targeting areas of Wisconsin where he needs to do well to have a shot at winning the state in November.

Trumps Tuesday schedule includes fundraisers in La Crosse and Milwaukee, and an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee at 6 p.m. The day will end with a rally in West Bend at 7:30 p.m.

The Trump campaign has made several appearances in Wisconsin this August. He and his vice-presidential partner, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, were in Green Bay on August 5 and Pence returned to Wisconsin to visit La Crosse and Milwaukee on August 11. Pence also visited Waukesha in late July.

The fact that Trump and Pence are spending so much time in Wisconsin is an indication that the state is crucial for their strategy, said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School Poll.

"The candidate's time is an absolutely finite resource," Franklin said. "Looking at where they send the candidates is an awfully strong indicator of where they think it's worth their while to campaign."

Wisconsin is gaining significance as it becomes less likely that Trump can win traditional swing states like Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina. His campaign stops suggest that hes focusing on the Great Lakes or Rust Belt states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

My sense is that Trump is scrambling a bit to try to find a set of states to put together to win the Electoral College, said Barry Burden, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hes looking for a different strategy than Republicans traditionally follow.

His chances in Wisconsin dont look promising at the moment. Not only did he lose to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz here in the April primary, but the latest Marquette University School Law Poll showed Clinton with a 15-point lead among likely voters and a 10-point lead among registered voters. A major reason for this gap is that Trump is lagging in the northern and western suburbs of Milwaukee.

Republicans have traditionally won this area  Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties  handily. In 2012, Mitt Romney won by 14 points and in 2004, Bush won by 18 points. The latest Marquette poll shows Clinton with a 2 point lead in the area.

Trump is upside down in a way because hes weakest in an area where Republicans are typically the strongest, Burden said.

The suburbs represent demographics that Trump has been having problems winning over.

Those are suburban, higher income, often college-educated households, and Trump runs really poorly among those demographics, Burden said. Trump is a different kind of candidate who doesn't have the style, temperament and consistently conservative positions that appeals to them.

The Marquette poll showed that Clinton has a 38 point lead over Trump among white college-educated women while Trump has a 21 point lead over Clinton among white men without a college degree.

Franklin believes there are additional reasons Trump is losing big in the Milwaukee suburbs.

I think the psychological effects are probably stronger at this point than the purely demographic," Franklin said, including "the psychological effects of hearing him criticized by party leaders, people that normally Republicans would turn to for cues about who to support."

During the state primary campaign, party elites united for Cruz and conservative talk radio in the area was actively anti-Trump, Franklin said.

The Marquette poll did show that Trump is faring better in the northern areas of the state, like Green Bay and the northwest, than Romney did four years ago. These are areas that tend to be rural, with less education and lower income, Burden said.

Kathy Cramer, UW-Madison political science professor and director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, wrote a book titled "The Politics of Resentment," exploring political motivations among rural populations Wisconsin.

(Northern Wisconsin) is definitely a part of the state where I heard ... this sense of being on the short end of the stick in terms of getting their fair share of public dollars as well as talent from people in decision-making positions, or people in power, she said. Along comes Donald Trump, who is saying basically, 'You're right, you're not getting your fair share.'

Success in the north is helpful, but Trump needs to regain the southeast to win, Burden said.

He absolutely needs to run up the vote in those Milwaukee suburbs if hes going to be competitive statewide. Thats how Republicans win the state, Burden said.

Pence has spent time in Waukesha, and Trumps visit to West Bend is likely an attempt to focus on this area, Burden said.

Whether it will work is another question. Pences hastily organized Waukesha visit only drew about 700 people. Turnout for his visit in La Crosse last week was similarly underwhelming. But Trump traditionally draws sizable crowds for rallies and is successful at gaining free media, Burden said.

Everybody wants to be there. If he wants attention, running a rally in a swing state is the way to do it, he said.

Rallies are essential to Trumps campaign, especially as he has not run any general election television campaign ads, which is unheard of at this point in a modern presidential campaign, Burden said.

Adding to Trumps troubles is the fact that while has been formally endorsed by some Wisconsin Republicans, the Republican establishment in the state has sent mixed signals about him, Burden said.

While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker introduced Pence in Milwaukee and Waukesha, he did not join Trump in Green Bay. Instead, he attended a fundraising pasta dinner. He wont be attending the events on Tuesday, as he will be out of the state. House Speaker Paul Ryan, on a family trip Tuesday, will also not attend. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson also passed for a prior commitment.

He hasn't made nice with either Republican leadership or talk radio in the state, Burden said.

Traditionally in Wisconsin, Republican candidates build on Republican support and try to win over independents or Democrats. Instead, Trump has the support of disaffected Republicans and some independents, and is now trying to shore up support from the mainstream Republican establishment, Burden said.

Asked recently about Trumps chances in Wisconsin, Pence was optimistic.

"It's still so early in this campaign," Pence was quoted as saying in a Channel 3000 article. "Im very confident that by election day people are going to see a clear choice here."

Franklin believes that as the election nears, undecided Republicans will find it hard to resist the pressures of the party, especially because Clinton's favorability rating among Republicans in Wisconsin is so low. While Trump had a 60 percent favorable, 29 percent unfavorable rating among Republicans, only 4 percent of Republicans gave Clinton a favorable rating, with 94 percent rating her as unfavorable.

I think the contrast between those two (statistics) kind of vividly illustrates why Republicans in particular, if theyre undecided now, are likely to come home to Trump, Franklin said. Most of them like Trump better than they like Hillary Clinton.

Burden is skeptical whether Trump can ultimately gain back the necessary suburbs and win Wisconsin. Trump is significantly behind in statewide polls, and hasnt made much improvement since the Wisconsin primary or the Democratic and Republican conventions, he said.

I think he has a long way to go, Burden said. Its right now difficult to see a path where Trump could be victorious here.
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A breakaway Taliban faction in Afghanistan has appointed a new leader for the group, the nephew of the factions longtime leader who was killed in fighting with rivals last year.

The development reflects the complex layers of the insurgency in Afghanistan, where though dominant, the Taliban are not the only militant group waging war.

At a gathering this week in southern Zabul province, Mullah Emdadullah Mansoor was named leader of the faction known as Mahaaz-e-Dadullah. The meeting was attended by tribal and religious leaders, as well as the groups local commanders.

Associated Press video of the gathering shows Mansoor accepting the leadership position among a crowd of gunmen, mostly young guards. He is the nephew of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah who was killed in Khak-e-Afghan district of Zabul last year, fighting with rival Taliban.

I accept the leadership of these men, based on the decision of the clerics, said Mansoor, promising to fight foreign forces and exact revenge for the groups slain leader.

Before Mullah Mansoor Dadullah was killed in Zabul, the founder of the group, Mullah Dadullah, was also killed in an ambush, possibly by one of his bodyguards in southern Helmand province. He was also an uncle of the newly named leader.

At the Monday gathering, several armed men in white-colored clothing with black balaclavas who call themselves suicide bombers said they were ready to carry out attacks against the rival Taliban as well as foreign forces in the country.

I announce that I will take [] revenge from Mullah Haibatullahs group, said Mansoor. And of his rivals, he said it is time for them to pay the price.

Mansoor was referring to the current head of the rival Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious extremist who replaced Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in May.

The Mahaaz-e-Dadullah group, known for its fighting skills and suicide attacks, virtually disappeared from the Afghan killing fields after the death of Mansoors uncles. Their re-emergence could create a headache for the Taliban as the faction is present in various parts of the Taliban heartland in the south.

Now we are back on track with our mission said Mullah Nematullah Samim, Mansoors deputy.

Another would-be suicide bomber, Qari Misbah, said at Mondays gathering that he has been waiting for my turn for a long time ago and now its the time for me, I can give my body and soul.

Samim denied that Mahaaz-e-Dadullah has been uniting forces in Zabul with Afghanistans branch of the Islamic State group, which emerged last year, mainly in the countrys east, close the border with Pakistan.

We dont want to be weak or depend on others, he said. Mirwais Khan & Rahim Faiez, Kandahar, AP
A knife-wielding man attacked passengers yesterday on a train in western Austria, seriously wounding two, police said. The suspect was arrested.

The assault occurred near the village of Sulz, in westernmost Vorarlberg province. A police statement said that a 19-year old man suffered wounds to the stomach and back. The other victim, a 17-year old male, had a throat injury. Both were hospitalized.

The assault came three days after a man attacked passengers on a crowded Swiss train with a knife and burning liquid Saturday, in an assault that left him and one of his victims dead. In Austria, Vorarlberg police spokeswoman Elisabeth Engelhardt said police were searching for a motive as they questioned the man but at this point there is no knowledge of a copycat attack.

We assume that the perpetrator is mentally confused, she said in an email.

St. Gallen canton (state) police in Switzerland said yesterday that three victims of Saturdays attack remained in hospital, including a 17-year-old girl still in life-threatening condition.

The Austrian police statement said the 19-year old was the first victim in yesterdays incident, with the perpetrator lunging at him from a facing seat. He then attacked the 17-year old as the train slowed to a halt at Sulz, about 10 kilometers east of the Swiss border

The attacker was apprehended at the stop by two police officers who used pepper spray to subdue him, police said. A 22-year old passenger who helped police suffered minor cut wounds to a hand.

Such attacks reflect the difficulties of policing Europes labyrinthine transport system, particularly against individuals with unsophisticated weapons.

Last month in neighboring Germany, a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan with an ax and a knife wounded four tourists on a train, and stabbed a woman as he fled. The attacker was shot and killed by police. All his victims survived.

In May at a train station in the German state of Bavaria, a 27-year-old German man who had been in psychiatric care stabbed commuters, killing one and wounding three others before being apprehended by police.

Last year, a heavily armed gunman opened fire on a high-speed Amsterdam to Paris train but was overpowered by two young American servicemen and their companion. George Jahn, Vienna, AP
The Chief Executive (CE) believes that the idle lands that are being claimed lately by the government, due to their non-development during the 25-year contract term, are enough to cover the almost 89,000 square meters of land debts held by the government.

During a press conference held yesterday morning at the local airport before his departure to Beijing, Chui Sai On said: We are confident that these [idle] lands will be enough to respond not only to the developments [proposed on the five-year plan] but can also be reserved [for the reimbursements]. He reaffirmed that the policy never changed, the priority is always public housing and social infrastructure [only] after we will take care of the devolutions [] if we win the legal disputes it is more than enough to pay back.

The head of the government expressed total confidence that the land plots currently in legal disputes will all revert to the government as we took all the measures according to the law.

When questioned if there is any plan b in case that does not happen, the CE said that he couldnt reply to a hypothetical question, calling for the trust of people in the government.

Before departing to Beijing, the CE was questioned about the evaluation that he does for the work of Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam. Tam was recently involved in a controversy over the placement of a banner which heavily criticized him on the facade of Hotel Estoril.

In response, the CE gave a positive assessment of Tams governance: I have worked with him for more than ten years. He is a very committed and dedicated worker. He does have his own style but in all his projects he is very honest and he has been accepting the opinions of the population, especially the critics.

After being presented with examples of cases where the society and some lawmakers expressed different views to Tams, the CE replied: It looks like he is a naughty boy or that he wants to do everything [as he wishes]. He is a good colleague and is a good team member.

During his two-day visit to Beijing, the CE is going to meet with central government authorities. Chui said that he expects to discuss the MSARs five-year plan. RM
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stayed away yesterday from a Tokyo shrine that honors convicted war criminals among the nations war dead, a bid to avoid controversy with neighboring countries on the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II.

Abe instead sent a gift of money and religious ornaments to Yasukuni Shrine. His visit to the shrine in December 2013 drew sharp rebukes from China and South Korea, which see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japans wartime militarism and consider the visits an attempt to whitewash the countrys wartime aggression.

Abes government is reportedly trying to arrange a meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G-20 summit in China next month.

At an official memorial ceremony later yesterday, Abe reiterated his pledge not to let the tragedy of war be repeated, but neither mentioned Japans wartime actions in Asia nor apologized to its victims.

He also did not do so in his three previous speeches at the annual event, though he did touch on some of Japans wartime actions last year during a speech in Washington and in a separate statement for the 70th anniversary of the wars end.

Emperor Akihito reiterated his feelings of deep remorse, a phrase he used last year for the first time, capturing media attention because of the contrast between his words and Abes.

Akihito, 82, spoke after observing a moment of silence in his first public appearance outside the palace since he indicated his wish to abdicate in a video message last week.

Abe also visited the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery for unidentified soldiers on his way to the memorial ceremony at the nearby Budokan hall.

In a sign of lingering bitter feelings in Asia over Japans wartime actions, a group of South Korean lawmakers picked the day to land on small disputed islands in the Sea of Japan to celebrate their countrys liberation from Japanese colonization. The islands are controlled by South Korea but also claimed by Tokyo.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reiterated Japans claim to the islands and said the lawmakers action was unacceptable and extremely regrettable. He said Tokyo had protested to Seoul.

In Nanjing, China, Chinese and South Korea representatives gathered at a memorial hall for victims of Japans notorious 1937 Nanking Massacre to commemorate victory in what China calls the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

There was mixed reaction in South Korea, where President Park Geun-hye focused on future relations with Japan, while the Foreign Ministry expressed deep concerns and regret over visits to Yasukuni by others in Abes government.

At least four Cabinet ministers have visited Yasukuni since early August, two of them yesterday.

Abes special aide Yasutoshi Nishimura, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, told reporters that he offered a donation from Abe to the shrine along with the religious ornaments and prayed on his behalf.

Hidehisa Otsuji, head of a group of lawmakers from various parties who routinely visit Yasukuni, told reporters that Abes absence would be understood by the war dead if its a judgment based on national interest.

Separately, a group of conservative members of parliament chaired by Tomomi Inada, a recently appointed defense minister known for downplaying Japans wartime atrocities, also visited the shrine.

Inada is a regular at Yasukuni during ceremonial occasions but is currently out of the country. Mari Yamaguchi, Tokyo, AP


A motorist was arrested by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) for dangerous driving on Amizade Bridge during the early hours of Sunday morning, the PSP informed in a press conference held yesterday at the police headquarters.

According to the PSP spokesperson the police received a report around 4 a.m. of a driver in a white car making his way from Taipa to Macau driving in the wrong lane.

Officers were sent to the location but could not find the referred vehicle.

A further investigation that resorted to the utilization of security cameras on the bridge revealed that a few minutes before 4 a.m. a white car driving in direction of Taipa made a U-turn on the bridge and then drove on the wrong side of the road for about 3 minutes in the direction of Macau.

If that situation was not serious enough, the driver then made another U-turn recovering its original direction.

Through the vehicle registration the police were able to track down the owner and driver who was then interrogated by authorities.

The motorist, who admitted the unusual maneuver, told the authorities that while on the bridge he had decided to meet a friend back in Macau. A few minutes later he had given up on that idea and so made another U-turn and headed back to Taipa.

Further investigation revealed that the driver had consumed and was under the influence of methamphetamines (ice).

The PSP also found that the driver and vehicle owner, a local resident in his 20s, already possessed an extensive criminal record for drug consumption and trafficking, and also a traffic condemnation for being involved in a hit-and-run traffic accident.

He was yesterday transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on the accusations of dangerous driving and consumption of forbidden psychotropic substances.

Insurance broker cheats 6 over iPhone 7 pre-sale

In a separate case also reported by the PJ, an insurance broker has allegedly cheated six other insurance brokers in a pre-sale of the latest smartphone (not yet released).

According to cases reported by six different people between August 4 and 6, the suspect presented them with the chance of being the first to own an iPhone7, charging an undisclosed sum of money for the pre-sale of the product. According to the victims, the suspect told them she had a special relationship with a shop selling the product and showed them a fake invoice to prove the capacity for retrieving such an item.
President of the United States Bill Clinton has admitted having an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In a televised address Mr Clinton told the American people that he took full responsibility for his actions.

He said: Indeed I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong.

Aides close to the president now hope the confession will bring an end to the investigation into Mr Clintons affairs, brought by independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Mr Starrs four-year inquiry began as an investigation into land deals by Hillary and Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.

It moved onto his personal life when Mr Starr began to investigate allegations that Mr Clinton had had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky and then lied about it under oath in a sexual harassment case brought by Paula Jones in 1994.

The presidents confession follows months of denial. On 26 January this year, Mr Clinton categorically denied having sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky.

Appearing serious and contrite, Mr Clinton told the American people: I misled people, including my wife. I deeply regret that.

He concluded: This matter is between me, the two people I love most  my wife and my daughter  and our God.

He said he had not come clean earlier because he was embarrassed but he denied he had asked anyone to lie about the relationship.

He also criticised Mr Starr and the investigation, which so far has cost 25m.

On 6 August this year Ms Lewinsky told the jury that she had an 18-month sexual relationship with the President and that the pair had discussed ways of concealing the relationship.

She also presented one of her dresses as evidence, stating it had been stained with Mr Clintons semen during one of their sexual encounters.

If it is proved that he lied he faces possible impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

On 21 September President Clintons Grand Jury testimony was released to the public.

On 9 December 1998 the House Judiciary Committee proposed four articles of impeachment against the president.

Ten days later  after a bitter debate between republicans and democrats  the House of Representatives voted to confirm the recommendation.

Bill Clinton became only the second president in American history to face such an indictment, but he refused to resign.

His trial began on 7 January 1999 and ended on 12 February when senators voted to acquit him of the impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The University of Macau held its orientation and convocation for the 2016/2017 academic year yesterday to welcome 1,500 new students.

The institutions rector, Wei Zhao, encouraged the students to live a moral life, be considerate of others, give back to society, and observe the five virtues listed in the university motto.

The universitys statement outlined that students were challenged to take advantage of the institutions facilities and professors, and to strive to meet high standards in academic pursuits as well as personal development.

During the ceremony new students each received a brooch inscribed with the number 2020, indicating the graduation year of the new cohort.

To help students adjust to their life on campus, UM is holding a series of orientation activities, including general briefing sessions, orientation sessions organized by the various faculties and residential colleges, and information sessions and parties.

Classes for the new academic year will begin on Monday.



During the event, UM also awarded a total of MOP970,000 in scholarships to outstanding students.

In addition to the above scholarships, the university reported that it will grant another MOP2.5 million in more than 40 scholarships and academic prizes at its congregation and high table dinners at the various residential colleges to be held later this year.

In addition, 98 students with excellent academic performance and active participation in extracurricular activities and community services received scholarships or academic prizes yesterday. UM hoped the examples of the awarded students will inspire other learners to academically excel and actively participate in extracurricular activities.

Alan Baxter returns to Macau to lead USJs Faculty of Humanities

Alan Baxter, the former director of the department of Portuguese at the University of Macau (UM), will return to the territory to lead the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Saint Joseph (USJ).

The vice-rector of the institution, Maria Antonia Espadinha, disclosed the information in comments to Radio Macau yesterday. There was an international tender and he was the selected one, she explained. Espadinha was until now responsible for the functions to be taken by Baxter. The vice-rector justified her withdrawal from the position as she was only temporarily occupying it.

Away from the territory for about 5 years after having led the UMs Department of Portuguese between 2007 and 2011., Baxter spent these last five years teaching at Institute of Letters of the Federal University of Bahia.

The linguist and specialist in Portuguese-based creole languages will now lead a faculty that recently added to its portfolio a Bachelor in Portuguese-Chinese Studies (Language and Culture). Baxter has a Masters degree in Portuguese Literature Studies and a Pre-University Portuguese Intensive Course among his areas of his expertise.

According to USJs official website, the Faculty of Humanities has a total of twenty staff members, inclusive of Baxter. RM


The University of Macaus English Language Centre has organized a program to help secondary school students improve their English proficiency. According to a statement issued by the university, the event has attracted more than 100 local and international secondary school students.

The five-day camp encouraged the use of English in day-to-day interactions through a series of creative activities both inside and outside the classroom. Cecilia Chio from the Sacred Heart Canossian College (English Section), described the camp as a very special experience: We were exposed to an English-friendly living environment and we learnt something new each day, she said. Ive improved my English a lot through participating in the various activities both inside and outside the classroom. We practiced English through drawing, painting, performing drama, singing, and dancing. It was fun.

Another student from Malaysia, Goh Jia Shen, noted that the way of teaching and learning he had experienced during the summer course differed to most Malaysian high schools. The instructors arranged many interactive and fun activities for us to practice speaking English. The course provided a very good opportunity for us to learn how to communicate with people from different cultures, he said.

There were 100 local participants from 14 Chinese and English secondary schools in Macau. This number was selected out of more than 250 applicants. I would say that the students all came with different levels of English language proficiency, said Miranda Ma, one of the programs coordinators. My goal for this program was to help students strengthen their confidence in using English so that they could better express themselves and work with each other in the target language.

The summer camp coordinators lived in the residential college with the students to help them practice English and review what they had learned during the day. Some UM students also served as camp leaders and encouraged the participants to use English in everyday interactions. According to the statement, the UM plans to expand the English summer course in order to benefit more local students.
The 2016 GuangdongHong KongMacao Film Production Investment and Trade Fair commenced yesterday in the peninsula with 25 film projects, and the participation of over 50 investors from the three regions.

According to a statement issued by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, producers will meet with the investors during the fair and present their projects individually so as to explore pairing services, investment and development opportunities for the various projects.

To recognize projects with potential, three awards will be presented at the end of the event to the three projects with most votes.

The bureau said it conducted a meeting in early August with local film producers in preparation for the event, in which the schedule and content of the fair were examined in detail so that the producers could structure their presentations.

The trade fair has been held since 2014 in Macau, mainly to offer a quality platform for the exchange and pairing services between film producers and investors across the three regions.

The platform also creates a film investment and cooperation channel amongst the regions, focusing on supporting small and medium budget film production and on training professionals, as well as promoting the development of the film industry in the three regions.

Though the two-day fair is exclusively held for industry members, a seminar themed Film Financing is held concurrently with the meeting and open to the public.

The initiative is co-organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Hong Kong Film Development Council and the Guangdong Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
Three Hong Kong student protest leaders have avoided prison time for leading or encouraging an illegal rally that sparked huge pro-democracy street protests two years ago.

A magistrate sentenced Joshua Wong and Nathan Law to community service yesterday while a third activist, Alex Chow, received a suspended sentence.

Nineteen-year-old Wong became the most high-profile leader of the protests that erupted in late September 2014, which marked the former British colonys most turbulent period since China took control in 1997.

Youthful protesters occupied key thoroughfares for 11 weeks to press demands for unrestricted elections for the citys top leader.

Wong and Law were found guilty last month of taking part in an unlawful assembly. Wong was given 120 hours of community service by Magistrate June Cheung while the 23-year-old Law received 80 hours.

Chow, who was found guilty of inciting others to join an unlawful assembly, was also initially given 120 hours of community service. However, because the 25-year-old is due to start a year-long masters program at the London School of Economics in September, he would be unlikely to complete it so the magistrate instead gave him a three-

week prison sentence, suspended for a year.

Student leaders and rights groups have slammed the prosecutions for being politically motivated.

Wong told reporters outside court that he would still commit civil disobedience through non-violent direct action to show my commitment and persistence to fight for human rights, democracy and freedom in Hong Kong.

The three were charged with storming into a fenced-off courtyard known as Civic Square beside Hong Kongs government complex on the evening of Friday Sept. 26, 2014, in a bid to protest Beijings plan to restrict the elections.

They and dozens of other young activists were detained by police. In response, crowds of demonstrators flooded the area over the weekend to demand their release. Police responded late on Sunday Sept. 28 with dozens of volleys of teargas, a move that backfired and drove even more people on to the streets, kickstarting what became known as the Umbrella Movement protests.

In her sentencing, Cheung said she took into account the fact that the three, who had no previous criminal convictions, did not intend to harm anyone or benefit themselves with their actions.

She said she decided not to hand out tough sentences as a deterrent, saying it would be unfair to the three, who she said had shown milder behavior compared with that of other political events that have erupted in Hong Kong since then. AP
The cycle of expansion based on raw materials, which has sustained growth of economic relations between China and African countries like Angola, is playing out and the next opportunity is in human resources, says researcher David Dollar.

In the Brookings Institution study on Chinas Engagement with Africa: from natural resources to human resources, the US researcher holds that the foundation for the Africa-China economic relationship is shifting, after an in initial period where it was logical for the Chinese economy to import African raw materials while exporting back industrial products.

These patterns of trade and investment are now likely to gradually shift in response to changing demographics. The working-age population in China has peaked and will shrink over the coming decades. This has led to higher wages and rising domestic consumption, the economys most dynamic component, he says.

The model based on investment and exports is also running out of steam and there is excess production capacity in real property, manufacturing and infrastructures, whereby raw material demand should remain muted.

Dollar asserts that Africas demographics are heading in the opposite direction, with much resemblance to China before the economic reforms 35 years ago: half of the population is less than 20 years old, so the working-age population will increase in the next two decades, forcing the continent to create 20 million jobs per year.

Africas demographics present both an opportunity and a challenge. It is unrealistic to expect the China-Africa economic relationship to change overnight. Nor would it be reasonable to expect large volumes of Chinese manufacturing to move to the continent in the near future [] But if even small amounts of manufacturing shift, this could make a significant difference for African economies, he explains.

Preliminary conclusions of a study by the China Africa Research Initiative of Johns Hopkins University in the US, recently presented by the researchers Jyhjong Hwang, Deborah Brautigam and Janet Eom, indicate that of the USD86.9 billion of Chinese lending to Africa between 2000 and 2014 (by Chinese government, banks and companies), Angola received $21.2 billion or 23 percent of the total.

The China Development Bank was the institution that granted the most credit to Angola ($11.3 billion), followed by the Export-Import Bank of China ($7.36 billion) and others ($2.5 billion).

China should work with African governments to encourage Chinese firms to hire and train African workers and to limit the flow of labor to those countries, because there is a greater incentive for companies to hire locally due to the rising cost of sending in expatriate workers, Dollar says.

After analyzing the Chinese Commerce Ministry database on companies investing in Africa, he concludes that while the biggest companies focus on extracting natural resources, small and medium sized ones are above all dedicated to manufacturing and services, which meets the interests of many African economies.

In late July, 39 agreements between Chinese and African companies worth an estimated $17 billion were signed in Beijing on the sidelines of a meeting held to assess the second China-Africa Forum (FOCAC) Summit, according to Xinhua news agency.

The business seminar likewise held during that meeting was attended by more than 400 participants from government agencies, financial institutions, business associations and companies.

Among those present were Mozambiques Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nyeleti Mondlane, and Guinea Bissaus Minister of Public Works, Construction and Urbanism, Malam Banjai, among other representatives from the Portuguese-language countries.

The December 2015 FOCAC Summit in Johannesburg resulted in ten cooperation plans between China and Africa in the next three years, worth an estimated $60 billion. MDT/Macauhub
Indonesia, an aviation market with one of the worlds worst safety records, had its air-safety rating upgraded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, a move that may add momentum to flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesias expansion plans.

The Southeast nations transport ministry said it received a letter from the U.S. embassy saying Indonesia got elevated to Category 1, meaning local carriers including Garuda can fly to the U.S. and enter code-share agreements with U.S. airlines. In 2007, the FAA had cut the rating to Category 2, citing serious concerns about the local civil-aviation regulators safety oversight and operational control systems.

This is an achievement weve been waiting for since 2007, Suprasetyo, Director General for Air Transport at the ministry, told reporters in Jakarta. There are several airlines that are ready to fly to the U.S.

The higher rating holds better prospects for Garuda, which returned to profit last year, as it is allowed to add lucrative routes to North America. The upgrade came after the European Union scrapped a flight ban on Garuda in 2009 and in June this year abolished restrictions on three other Indonesian operators  PT Lion Mentari Airlines, Batik Air and Garudas low-cost unit Citilink. Among the four, only Garuda has scheduled flights to Europe.

Among efforts to improve its rating, Indonesia opened a new terminal at its main airport in Jakarta this month to ease congestion and has also added structures and equipment to bolster airport safety.

The efforts of the DGCA over the past year have demonstrated the commitment of the DGCA, the Ministry of Transportation and the Government of Indonesia to establishing a system of effective aviation safety oversight, the U.S. embassy said in its letter, referring to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the local regulator.

A Category 1 rating means a nations civil aviation authority complies with international standards. Category 2 means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee its airlines in line with minimum international standards, or its civil aviation authority is deficient in one or more areas.

Several aviation accidents in recent years have left Indonesia with a fatal air-crash rate of more than three times the global average even amid the governments efforts to improve transportation safety.

A shortage of skilled pilots, ground crew and air-traffic controllers as well as outdated equipment and planes have all contributed to the deadly accidents, including an AirAsia Bhd. Flight 8501 crash in December 2014 that killed all 162 people on board. Fathiya Dahrul, Harry Suhartono, Bloomberg
Entering now its fifth year, the Latin American Cultural Festival will occur between August 19 and September 15.

For approximately one month various elements of Latin American culture will be celebrated through such elements as gastronomy, the arts, and seminars.

Organized once again by the Macao Association for the Promotion of Exchange between Asia-Pacific and Latin America (MAPEAL), the festival runs every year as detailed to the Times by the executive director and treasurer of the association, Sonia Chan Prado.

The activities of the festival are divided into six programs and one of the highlighted ones is definitely the regarding gastronomy.

This year we are bringing [in] three Chefs: a Colombian, a Cuban and a Venezuelan who have never been in Macau, explained Prado. Each of these chefs will be in charge of a gastronomic week showcasing their countrys culinary specialties. This will include cooking demonstrations to be held in both the Institute for Tourism Studies and the Macau University of Science and Technology..

Another of the highlights will be a cultural seminar series held by the consul-generals of the several Latin American countries. Those seminars aim that letting the local students and people to know more about the culture of the different Latin American countries like Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. So we will hold cultural talks about these countries, Prado explained.

When asked about the degree of knowledge of Macau citizens with regard to existing connections between the territory and Latin American countries, she admitted that people know about some of them only. That is in fact one of the reasons that leads the organization to choose one theme for a photographic exhibition to show these different connections.

This year [the chosen topic] was Food & Drinks but maybe next year it will be on Architecture. Last year the photo exhibition was about the scenery of those countries, she added, saying that these activities contribute to the local knowledge of Latin American countries in addition to fostering comparisons between the two regions.

I think our work is starting to see results and one of these examples is the new Peruvian restaurant to be open at the new MGM resort in Cotai.

With regard to arts, literature will be a central focus with an introduction to two Latin American Nobel Prize winners, as well as the writing style, more broadly, of Latin Americans. There is also space for movie screenings related to several Latin American countries. The screenings will occur in several local universities as well as at the Rui Cunha Foundation.
Chinas launch of the first quantum satellite yesterday will push forward efforts to develop the ability to send communications that cant be penetrated by hackers, experts said.

The satellite launched into space from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern Chinas Gobi desert will allow Chinese researchers to transmit test messages between Beijing and northwestern China as well as other locations around the world.

If the tests are successful, China will take a major step toward building a worldwide network that can send messages that cant be wiretapped or cracked through conventional methods.

It moves the challenge for an eavesdropper to a different domain, said Alexander Ling, principal investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore. Lots of people around the world think having secure communications at a quantum level is important. The Europeans, the Americans had the lead, but now the Chinese are showing the way forward.

Quantum communications use subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points. A hacker trying to crack the message changes its form in a way that would alert the sender and cause the message to be altered or deleted.

Researchers around the world have successfully sent quantum messages by land. But a true satellite-based network would make it possible to send quickly encrypted messages in an instant around the world and open the door to other possible uses of the technology.

Cybersecurity has been a major focus in recent years for China, which has pushed regulations aimed at limiting technology imported from the U.S. in the wake of Edward Snowdens revelations of widespread surveillance by the U.S. through the use of American hardware.

China has in turn been repeatedly accused by the U.S. of hacking into computer systems to steal commercial secrets and information that could harm American national security. China has rejected claims that it runs a state-sponsored hacking program and says that it is among the leading victims of cybercrime.

Quantum messaging could become a major defense against hackers and have applications ranging from military and government communications to online shopping.

The biggest challenge, Ling said, is being able to orient the satellite with pinpoint accuracy to a location on Earth where it can send and receive data without being affected by any disturbances in Earths atmosphere. The results of Chinas tests will be closely watched by other research teams, he said.

Its very difficult to point the satellite accurately, Ling said. Youre trying to send a beam of light from a satellite thats 500 kilometers (310 miles) above you.

Hoi Fung Chau, a professor and quantum communications researcher at Hong Kong University, said that it was too soon to say if the tests will succeed, but added he expected quantum messages by satellite to become the global standard eventually.

The theory is already there, the technology is almost there, he said. Its just a matter of time.

The launch is a major triumph for China, which has spent years researching quantum technology and developing the satellite and other uses for it. China has previously announced the construction of a quantum link between Beijing and Shanghai that would be used by government agencies and banks.

Pan Jianwei, chief scientist on the satellite project, was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the launch proved China was no longer a follower in information technology, but one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements. Nomaan Merchant, Beijing, AP
The government has announced that it is planning to introduce a system that would penalize contractors who fail to meet their deadlines for public works, after discussing the issue of the indefinite launching date of the Islands Hospital.

During a Legislative Assembly committee meeting on Monday, authorities said they are considering to introduce an award and penalty scheme for contractors who fulfill or neglect their due dates.

According to the government, the program could also be applied to the Light Rapid Transit, one the regions controversial infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile during the meeting, lawmakers doubted whether the controversial Islands Hospital, which started in 2010, would be launched in 2019 as there would only be three years left to unveil the project.

Ho Ion San, president of the Legislative Assemblys Follow-Up Committee on Land and Public Concession Affairs hinted that there was a lack of coordination between the Health Services Bureau and the Infrastructure Development Office, implying that the deadline would not be met yet again.

The contract clients are the Health Services Bureau, which hired a company for its design, and the Infrastructure Development Office, or GDI, in charge of tenders, he explained, cited by TDM.

And this has meant that up to now the public tender has yet to be launched and the government doesnt know the final budget.

Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, admitted earlier that it was not possible to estimate the final cost for the controversial hospital.

He noted that the complex, which is comprised of seven buildings, will definitely take time, requesting the public to be more understanding.

As previously reported, the design process of the hospital has not yet been finalized. do Rosario noted that authorities needed to consult more than ten government departments in order to approve the sites construction blueprints.

english could be given official status

The committee suggested that English should be used more often by the administration or even given an official status. Lawmakers included the suggestion in the report about the Islands Hospital construction works, which will be delivered to the president of the Legislative Assembly. Members of the government attending this weeks meeting reportedly agreed that English should have more preponderance in Macau. However, lawmaker Leonel Alves, who is a member of the committee, said that the proposal doesnt mean that English could become an official language in Macau.
Portugal will open a consulate-general in Guangzhou following the approval of an agreement signed by the two countries. The statement released at the end of the meeting indicates that the new consulate-general will cover an area encompassing Guangdong, Hainan, Hunan and Fujian provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Under the terms of the agreement, China will have the right to establish a consular post in Portugal, the location and area of jurisdiction of which will be subject to diplomatic negotiation. Last April, Angola opened its third consulate-general in the Peoples Republic of China in Guangzhou, after those in Hong Kong and Macau.
Hundreds of protesters arrived yesterday at the Taipei District Court as a university student from Macau went on trial for allegedly torturing a stray cat to death last year. The student was also accused of killing another cat earlier this month.

The protesters were seeking tougher penalties for animal abuse under the Animal Protection Act as the student, surnamed Chen, admitted that he abused and killed the cat, known as Big Orange, last year.

The defendant who is set to graduate from the National Taiwan University, argued in court that he suffers from mental illness, which causes impulsive behavior, Taiwanese Central News Agency reported.

Taiwans court has raised the defendants bail to NT200,000 (MOP51,000) from NT50,000 (MOP12,800) the terms of which restrict the troubled student from leaving the region.

His actions were caught on a surveillance camera in December and showed authorities the exact location where he had hidden the animals body in the campus of the National Taiwan University.

The incident sparked outrage in Taiwan, attracting some 14,000 signatures in an online petition which demanded that the university expel the student.

The Times previously reported that the student begged for forgiveness from the residents in the neighborhood and expressed the hope that the incident would raise awareness of the safety of stray animals.

However after being charged for allegedly torturing the cat in May, he was again linked to the disappearance of another cat kept by a restaurant in the citys Wenshan district earlier this month.

He then admitted to authorities during the interrogation that he had beaten the cat to death and abandoned the body in the Xindian River.
Pakistani police have arrested the father and ex-husband of a British woman of Pakistani origin who was killed last month in what authorities suspect was an honor killing, a top investigator said yesterday.

Samia Shahids family buried her, claiming she had died of natural causes. But after her husband raised the alarm, the police reopened the case and later concluded the 28-year-old was strangled to death.

Abu Bakar Khuda Bux, the investigator heading the team, told The Associated Press that the womans father, Mohammad Shahid, and her former husband, Mohammad Shakeel, were prime suspects in the case.

The two were formally arrested on Sunday, although the police have been questioning them for several days, Bux said.

All the evidence we have is leading to their involvement in the murder, he said. We are collecting more evidence before we sent the case to court.

After her death, Shahids second husband, Mukhtar Kazim, accused the family of luring her back to Pakistan from Dubai, where the couple lived, on the pretext of her fathers illness. His statements prompted the investigation and Pakistani police eventually declared the case a murder.

According to two police officers, the ex-husband has confessed to the killing and has described to his interrogators how he used his ex-wifes scarf to strangle her. The officers, who are involved in the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details with the media before the case goes to court.

Bux declined to comment on the purported confessions, saying the investigation is not yet finished.

After she married the first time, Shahid lived in Pakistan for a brief period before moving back to England where she got a divorce in 2014. Her family had lived Bradford since 1950s.

Pakistan reports nearly 1,000 so-called honor killings every year. AP
Human rights victims of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos regime petitioned the Supreme Court yesterday to block and nullify a government directive to have the ex-leader buried in a heroes cemetery  an emotional and divisive issue for Filipinos who ousted Marcos in a 1986 people power revolt.

The respondents asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order, and after deliberations, to nullify the Executive Departments decision to allow Marcos burial at the Heroes Cemetery.

The petition said such burial for the tyrant and the plunderer par excellence is illegal, would flout principles enshrined in the constitution and violate regulations that outline who is entitled to be interred in the military

run cemetery.

It also would abandon a 1993 agreement between the Marcos family and then President Fidel Ramos government for Marcos to be buried in his hometown in northern Ilocos Norte province, the petitioners said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has remained firm in his stance to allow the burial despite growing opposition.

On Sunday, about 1,500 protesters carrying a large streamer that read Marcos not a hero braved the rain, wind and mud at Manilas seaside Rizal Park to call on Duterte to reconsider his decision. They launched a signature campaign to try to stop the burial, tentatively set for next month.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989. His remains are displayed in a glass coffin in his hometown.

The petitioners, including former congressmen Saturnino Ocampo and Neri Colmenares, are among human rights victims who won a class-action lawsuit in Hawaii against Marcos. The respondents include Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and two military officials who issued directives to carry out Dutertes order, which the petition said was made with grave abuse of discretion.

With thousands of Filipinos murdered and disappeared under his watch and billions of peoples money stolen during his regime, Marcos should have spent his last years in prison, and his death in an unmarked and desolate grave, the petition said.

A heros burial will not achieve closure for the nation because his victims, who continue to cry out for justice, can never rest in peace, it added. AP


The recently approved regulation to legalize ride-hailing services in Mainland China cannot be applied to the MSAR, a Public Security Police Force (PSP) representative has told the Times.

Questioned about the possibility of the applicability of the law in question to the territory, the PSP responded that as stipulated in Article 8 of the Basic Law, the laws previously in force in Macau and the laws enacted by the legislature of the MSAR shall be maintained. National laws shall not be applied in the MSAR apart from those listed in Annex III. The Police Force also cited Article 18 of the same law.

Since the provisional measures regarding online car-hailing services are not listed in Annex III of the Basic Law, the measures shall not be applied in Macau, the PSP concluded.

The mentioned Annex III of the Basic Law lists several topics, namely: Resolution on the Capital, Calendar, National Anthem, National Flag and Emblem of the PRC, Resolution on the National Day and Nationality Law of the PRC, Regulations of the PRC Concerning Diplomatic and Consular Privileges and Immunities, and the Law of the PRC on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.

The PSP also remarked that, as previously mentioned by both PSP and DSAT, making an appointment online to use hire car services is not forbidden by existing law in Macau, adding that the provision of such services is not inconsistent with existing law, as long as the vehicle is operating legally and that the motorist is qualified to drive the vehicle and has the relevant license as required by the law.

PSP does not excluded the possibility that authorities might choose to make amendment of existing relevant legal requirements in order to follow the practices in mainland China. However, they added that this issue is said to be beyond the purview of our force.

The topic has been addressed during last Fridays Legislative Assembly plenary session. Lawmaker Au Kam San argued that local authorities should follow Chinas legalization of ride-hailing apps. He stated that the MSAR government should take inspiration from the mainlands legalization of the taxi services in order to resolve issues with companies such as Uber.

Uber driver caught drunk driving sentenced to 4 months of imprisonment

The Uber driver who was stopped last Saturday driving under the influence of alcohol, was sentenced yesterday to four months of imprisonment and an 18 month driving prohibition, according to a statement from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP).

The statement detailed that the man was a repeat offender, and has been previously sentenced a similar misdemeanor. This is taken by the MP as proof that that the driver didnt learn [his] lesson and continued to commit [such an] offense.

The Court of First Instance (TJB) judged the case in summary trial.

Since the defendant appealed the decision, suspending the application of sentence while the appeal is pending, the judge of the TBJ ordered the application of the coercive measures of Term of Identity and Residence and mandatory periodic presentation to the authorities every 15 days.
Thai authorities said yesterday they are investigating whether bombings last week at several popular tourist destinations were related to long-term separatist violence in the countrys far south, backing away from assertions that partisan politics were behind them.

Police have made no formal arrests in the bomb and arson attacks in seven towns that killed four people and wounded dozens, including several foreign tourists. They told a news conference that several people have been detained by the military for questioning, but declined to provide details. Those detained have been identified in by Thai media as political activists opposed to the countrys ruling military junta.

The attackers tactics have led to speculation that the bombings were carried out by Muslim separatists in Thailands south who have staged a low-level insurgency since 2004. Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but its three southernmost provinces have Muslim majorities.

National police chief Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda acknowledged that there were similarities between the tourist spot bombings and those carried out by the separatists.

Ive always said since the beginning and Ive never said anything else, there are similarities in bomb-making methods and the equipment used, he said in response to reporters questions.

Senior Thai officials suggested strongly soon after the Thursday and Friday attacks at Hua Hin and other holiday spots that they were carried out by political opponents of the military government. The comments suggested the perpetrators were linked to supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup. His supporters and opponents have since then carried out a sometimes-violent struggle for power. The army in 2014 toppled an elected government that had been led by Thaksins sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

Evidence pointing toward southern militants includes at least one recovered cellphone used as a trigger in last weeks bombings that originated in Malaysia, which is on the other side of a porous border from Thailands southernmost provinces and hosts sympathizers to the separatist cause.

Malaysian police chief Khalif Abu Bakar confirmed that they received details from Thai police and are trying to track the phones dealer and buyer.

Several new attacks took place in two of the deep south provinces where bombings and drive-by shootings have become almost a daily occurrence over the past decade. Three homemade bombs exploded Sunday night in Yala town, causing property damage but no casualties, while roadside bombs detonated yesterday morning in Narathiwat province injured two patrolling soldiers.

A pro-Thaksin group, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, on Sunday accused the government of using the investigation of last weeks attacks to crack down on its opponents.

They accuse us of being responsible for the violent acts without any evidence or claim to support the accusations. Their intent is to destroy their competitors so that support would be given to a government that came into power from force, said a statement from the group, also known as the Red Shirts.

Questioned yesterday about the groups allegation, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan denied any political bias, and said that in regards to the finding of the phone and SIM card from Malaysia, we will have to keep investigating because everything has its origins. All the officials have collected all the evidence, just give us some time to work. AP
Turkey has protested to Austria over a news ticker at Viennas airport that claimed Turkey allows sex with children under age 15, an official said yesterday, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

A Foreign Ministry official said the Austrian charge daffaires was called to the ministry on Saturday for an official complaint about the distorted headline which appeared on a screen at the airport the same day. A ministry statement accused Austrian officials of encouraging news reports that besmear Turkey.

Turkeys Constitutional Court last month scrapped an article in the penal code that defined all sexual acts against children as abuse, triggering concern among child-rights advocates that the move will lead to an increase in child sexual abuse cases.

The court justices voted 7-6 to uphold a local court which argued that all cases should be reviewed individually and that someone who abuses a 4-year-old should not receive the same punishment as someone who has consensual sex with a 15-year-old. The previous law remains in force for six months, giving Parliament time to enact a new law, while child-rights advocates will seek to have the judgment reversed at the European Court of Human Rights.

A ministry statement said Turkey was attached to its international obligations regarding child rights and was conscious of its responsibilities.

The ministry official said the report was removed from the screen at the Vienna airport following the Turkish ambassadors intervention. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules.

Turkey also demanded the removal of another news ticker at the same airport a few weeks ago that said visiting Turkey would amount to supporting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ministry said.

Ties between Turkey and Austria have been tense for several weeks, with a top Austrian official saying Turkey was heading toward a dictatorship and other leaders calling for an end to Turkeys European Union membership talks. Turkey, in turn, has described Austria as the capital of radical racism.

European nations have voiced concern over Turkeys massive crackdown on alleged supporters of a religious movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara claims orchestrated last months violent coup attempt that killed at least 270 people. Turkey has accused European allies of not providing the elected government sufficient support in the face of the attempted coup or its bid to move against the coup plotters. AP

Three killed in car bomb attack targeting police

Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeast Turkey yesterday, killing two police officers and a young child, officials said. Some 25 other people were wounded.

The attack targeted a traffic-police station on a highway linking the city of Diyarbakir and the town of Batman, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The explosion tore a large crater on the highway while television footage showed a three-story building that appeared to have been gutted by the blast.

Officials blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. The Diyarbakir governors office said eight police officers were among the wounded.

Clashes between the PKK and Turkeys security forces resumed last year after a tenuous cease-fire collapsed. The PKK has frequently targeted police or military with roadside explosives or car bombs.

Last week, a wave of PKK attacks targeting Turkish police and soldiers in the mainly Kurdish southeast region, including Diyarbakir, killed at least 12 people. PKK commander Cemil Bayik had threatened increased attacks on police last week, in comments carried by Kurdish and Turkish media.

The attack came on the day the PKK marks the start of its armed campaign in 1984, with attacks on paramilitary police forces in the two southeastern towns of Eruh and Semdinli.

Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last year, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also died.

Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Chui Sai On will lead a delegation on a visit to Portugal, following an invitation by the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The trip will take place from September 10 to 15.

During the visit, the Chief Executive is also to meet Portugals Prime Minister, Antonio Costa. The CE will additionally co-chair  with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Augusto Santos Silva  the latest meeting of the Macau-Portugal Joint Committee. The latter will explore further opportunities for cooperation between the two territories.

The Macao-Portugal Joint Committee was established under the Framework Agreement of Cooperation between the MSAR and the Portuguese Republic, with the aim of strengthening cooperation between the two sides in a number of areas. The first meeting of the Macau-Portugal Joint Committee was held in Lisbon, in April 2011.

According to a statement issued yesterday by the Government Information Bureau, the Chief Executives upcoming visit aims to focus on areas like Portuguese-language teaching; education; culture; environmental protection and youth affairs.

The government is confident that Macau will further strengthen and expand its links with Portugal, so that Macau can further expand its role as a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, reads the statement.
Russian warplanes took off yesterday from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russias Defense Ministry said, widening Moscows bombing campaign in Syria in a major development in the countrys civil war.

The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 280 kilometers southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists said a wave of airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others yesterday, but it was not clear whether the strikes were carried out by the Russian or Syrian governments air force.

It is virtually unheard of in Irans recent history to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks from. Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assads government for nearly a year.

The announcement suggests cooperation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.

It comes a day after Russias defense minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, adding that Russian representatives are in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the ongoing talks.

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Qaidas branch in Syria.

In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged capacity and possibilities in the fight against the Islamic State group.

With constructive and extended cooperation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front [Hezbollah], the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them, Shamkhani said.

Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers that put restricted Irans nuclear program from weapons-grade capability.

A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russias decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is paramount right now.

The Russian ministrys statement issued said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target Islamic State and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.

The Nusra Front is al-Qaidas branch in Syria. However, the group recently announced it was changing its name to Fath al-Sham and severing ties with the global terror network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led airstrikes. Russia and the U.S. have dismissed the name change as window-dressing.

The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as terrorist objects in Syria.

The nearest air base to Hamedan is Shahid Nojeh Air Base, some 50 kilometers north of the city. The base has seen Russian aircraft land there before. A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggested the air base saw a Russian Su-34 Fullback strike fighter land there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 Candid transport plane also landed there around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.

The report described the air base as quite large with a 4,572-meter runway, extensive taxiways and multiple hangars and bunkers  all seemingly in good repair. It said it is ideal for providing covert ground support to Russian combat missions.

Irans constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.

The announcement from Russia marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since World War II, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.

Russia says its bombing campaign in Syria is focused on extremist groups but it has frequently struck other, including more moderate rebels fighting Assads forces.

Last week, Russian bombers launched a wave of airstrikes on the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State groups de factor capital in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians according to Syrian opposition activists. Nataliya Vasilyeva & Bassem Mroue, Moscow, AP

Separatists, Russians stage exercises again in Moldova

Moldovan separatists say Russian troops have joined their troops in the breakaway republic of Trans-Dniester for joint military exercises for the second time this month.

The official news agency Novostipmr.com said that special units took part in anti-terror exercises south of the separatist capital, Tiraspol.

The agency said local residents were warned about the simulations of real-life situations. It did not provide further details.

Moldova criticized the first exercise this month, but had no immediate reaction to the second.

Pro-Russian Trans-Dniester broke away from Moldova in 1990 fearing it would reunite with neighboring Romania. Separatists fought Moldovans in a war in 1992 leaving 1,500 dead.

There are some 1,000 Russian peacekeepers stationed in Trans-Dniester.
BOISE  Idaho Power was recently honored with the Outstanding Corporate Service award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The company won for the region comprising of Idaho, Montana, Utah and a portion of western Wyoming.

The award recognizes the companys contributions to engineering, support of IEEE activities and contributions to the community. Idaho Power was acknowledged for, among other things, its participation in the advancement of the Smart Grid, support of and participation in reliability organizations, engineering continuing education activities and corporate giving and service to the communities it serves.
TWIN FALLS  Police are searching for the suspect in a reported mid-afternoon robbery attempt Monday at a gas-station convenience store on Blue Lakes Boulevard North.

Twin Falls police believe the suspect was possibly armed with a gun but fled the store without stealing anything, police spokesman Joshua Palmer said. The suspect is believed to be driving a brown sedan, possibly a Buick.

At about 3:30 p.m. the man entered KJs Super Store, 1612 Blue Lakes Blvd. N., and gave an employe a robbery note, Palmer said. The employee told police the man was possibly armed with a gun and fled the store without making off with money or merchandise.

The suspect was described by multiple witnesses as a clean-shaven, skinny white man in his 20s or 30s, Palmer said. At least one witness reported he was wearing a camouflage hat. Police radio traffic indicated he may have been wearing a black long sleeve shirt.

Police responded to the area and were searching for the suspect and his vehicle, described as a brown sedan that was possibly a Buick. Several police vehicles and the department crime-lab van were parked outside the store, which is connected to the Phillips 66 gas station next to Jakers Bar and Grill on Blue Lakes Boulevard North.

About 4 p.m., evidence technicians from the police crime lab could be seen dusting the double glass doors for fingerprints as patrol officers and detectives came in and out of the store. Meanwhile, gas station customers were carrying on with normal activities as they pumped gas and washed their windshields.

Police ask anyone who might have seen something suspicious in the area or who has information on the robbery to call 208-735-4357.
Q: What is the quickest way to get to the City of Rocks? Part of the group I want to send there drive RVs that crawl up hills. What is the best route to send them?

A: Many navigational systems suggest taking Highway 27 to Oakley and then 19 miles of gravel road to the northwest entrance to the reserve, which is slightly shorter (total of 65 miles); however, this route is not only slower, but also frustrates many travelers who dont realize they are in store for a long, dusty, bumpy and narrow gravel road not suitable for trailers or RVs, said Wallace Keck, superintendent of the City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park.

The route via Declo, Albion, and Almo is paved, safer, and quicker even at a total drive of 87 miles, he said. We do recommend driving the scenic backcountry byway from Oakley if adventure is what you seek and you have no time schedule. Almo is the gateway community to the park and hosts the visitor center for the reserve and Castle Rocks State Park.

The Declo exit does have construction activities and the off ramp has been closed in recent weeks, Keck said. Check the transportation website for latest conditions. If closed, route through Burley, then take Highway 27 to U.S. Highway 30 East, to Highway 81 South to Highway 77 South.

The Idaho Transportation Departments website reports the I-84 eastbound exit ramp at the Declo interchange, exit 216, is closed until Aug. 31. It advises drivers to exit at the Heyburn interchange, exit 211, to Declo area and highways 77 and 81.
TWIN FALLS  The College of Southern Idaho is moving forward with a nearly $400,000 project to improve its website and operating systems.

CSI trustees unanimously voted Monday to award a $397,780 bid to POWER Engineers for a web enterprise initiative project. The one-time money will come out of the colleges general fund.

A college official says effective technology is directly linked to the success of classroom instruction and day-to-day college operations, such as taking payments and registering students.

CSI really needs to overcome some challenges that are technical based, chief technology officer Kevin Mark said.

The upgrade project will serve the needs of the entire campus, said Jeff Harmon, vice president of administration. The project will take an estimated 32 weeks to implement.

But we dont want to enter this contact lightly, he said. CSI officials have considered the project for a couple of months.

Theres a lot of interest among employees, Mark said, and the pressure is not light. He said hes confident the project is the right move for CSI.

When the project was mentioned during Monday mornings in-service event, there was a good response from employees, trustee Bob Keegan said.

The project will improve the public CSI website, plus modernize student applications and software used by employees, such as for admissions and performance management.

Its a complex request that requires a significant investment, executive vice president Todd Schwarz told trustees, so he wanted to make sure they understand the details.

Todays students are in a generation that expects a certain caliber of technological integration, Mark told trustees. And, he added, CSI has work to do to meet those expectations.

If CSI doesnt have a compelling web platform, students may go to competing schools, he said. Theres no way around it: Theres a need for technology thats reliable, resilient and predictable, he added.

New systems will stabilize core operations, Mark said, such as registering students and handling financial aid. He said those systems have to work like a light switch.

Upgrades will resolve the majority of online needs for student enrollment, community education sign-ups and upgrading CSIs website, which has been a point of concern, Mark said.

CSI put out a request for proposals for the project. Officials also reached out to companies to invite them to bid. The college receive only one bid  from POWER Engineers.

Other companies either said the scope of the project was too small or had timing conflicts, Mark said.

POWER Engineers has a depth of experience with similar projects, Mark said, and met all of CSIs requirements during the bidding process.

Board chairman Karl Kleinkopf said when he sees a nearly $400,000 bid with only one bidder, that raises concerns. He asked if CSI has met legal requirements. Harmon said he believes the college has.

During their meeting, trustees also:

Held a budget hearing for the 2017 fiscal year and approved a budget.

The budget is built assuming a 10 percent enrollment decline, Harmon said. But as of Monday, enrollment numbers were a bit better than predicted  down 8 percent.

CSI expects to bring in about $11.7 million in tuition and fees this fiscal year. And the total state apportionment is about $13.5 million  an 8.67 percent increase over last year.

The college also anticipates a 4.78 percent increase in county property tax revenues from Twin Falls and Jerome counties.

Unanimously awarded a $95,892 bid to Western Mountain Bus & Parts Sales of Nampa for a school bus for the Head Start program.

Voted 4-0 to award a $270,000 bid to Burks Tractor of Twin Falls and a $20,9000 bid to Idaho Instrument of Twin Falls for equipment for the colleges new agriculture diesel program, including two tractors, a backhoe, front end loader and electrical training boards. Trustee Laird Stone didnt vote, saying he does legal work occasionally for Burks Tractor.
TWIN FALLS  When actor Henry Winkler meets children, he tells them: You have greatness inside of you.

Educators need to ensure every child gets to meet their destiny, he said Monday during a keynote address to Twin Falls and Buhl School District employees.

Winkler gave two presentations Monday at Twin Falls High Schools Roper Auditorium about his life experiences and with undiagnosed dyslexia, part of the Twin Falls School Districts opening day ceremony to welcome back employees for a new school year. Students head back to school Thursday.

Reaching every child at their level is a burden like none other, Winkler told educators, and a Herculean effort. Teachers must reach children in the way they learn, not what we think they should learn, he said. The crowd cheered.

Education in the United States, he added, doesnt get the respect or attention it deserves.

Educators in a packed auditorium gave Winkler a standing ovation before and after he spoke. The keynote address was full of laughter and applause from the audience.

Winkler also gave a community presentation Monday night, followed by a meet-and-greet reception at Elevation 486.

Winker is best known for his role as Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days for 10 seasons, from 1974-84. Since then, he has made other film and television appearances and his accolades include two Golden Globe awards and three Emmy nominations.

Winkler and Lin Oliver wrote Hank Zipzer: The Worlds Greatest Underachiever, a childrens book series. Winkler also published Ive Never Met an Idiot on the River in 2011 and released the first in a series of childrens books, Ghost Buddy #1: Zero to Hero, in 2012.

Winkler told the crowd he typically talks and Oliver writes. We argue over every word. But that method works and has resulted in 32 novels.

He read an excerpt from the second Hank Zipzer novel, I Got a D in Salami. As he read, Winkler used different voices for each character in the story.

Winklers appearance in Twin Falls was paid for by a grant and organized by the Twin Falls School District and its education foundation.

During the daytime keynote address, Winkler told stories about his childhood in New York City. He showed a picture on a projection screen of himself as a 3-year-old.

The only reason that picture is there is to hear you say aww, Winkler said.

As a child, Winkler was in the bottom 3 percent academically in the country, he told local educators. He joked: I was great at lunch.

He said she still struggles to spell and has a note next to his computer with the correct spelling of schedule.

Winkler said he was told as a student hed never achieve his goals. And he had one teacher who was particularly harsh.

In fourth grade, I had Miss Adolf, Winkler said. I think she was related. She was the meanest teacher on the face of the Earth.

But he recalled another teacher who told him: If you ever do get out, youll be OK.

As a child, he didnt know he had dyslexia. Winkler said he spent one-third of his time trying to figure out school, one-third of his time figuring why he couldnt figure out school and one-third of his time trying to hide his shame and humiliation.

It wasnt until his son was struggling in school that he got answers about his own struggles as a child.

As a high schooler, Winkler took a geometry class for four years before he finally earned a D- to pass.

Winkler told educators all he ever wanted to be was an actor. But he couldnt be in school plays because his grades were too low. He finally had a chance to perform in a school musical when he was in 11th grade in 1962.

His German immigrant parents wanted him to work in the family business importing and exporting wood. Winkler said the only wood he was interested in was Hollywood.

He recalled how his parents used to call him a German word for dumb dog.

After going to Yale Universitys drama school, Winkler started out doing commercials. He told the crowd about his audition for Happy Days. He got a call on Oct. 30, 1973  his birthday  offering him the role of Fonzarelli.

Once he worked on the show, he was making $1,000 per week: more money than Id ever made in my life.

Winkler showed the audience a picture of him donating his leather jacket he wore as Fonzarelli to the Smithsonian. Hes pictured with his wife and parents.

Winkler said about his parents: I did not need them to be proud of me when I was successful.

Opening day for teachers

Before Winklers keynote address, Twin Falls school officials gave opening remarks.

This is probably the most exciting year ever to be involved in education in the Twin Falls School District, board chairman Bernie Jansen said.

He told the crowd two new elementary schools  Rock Creek and Pillar Falls  opened last week. Employees cheered and clapped.

Other changes this school year include a new classroom wing at Canyon Ridge High School and building upgrades at Twin Falls High, including air conditioning, and a new gymnasium floor and bleachers.

And earlier this month, school trustees voted to buy Magic Valley Highs building, which will allow for remodels. And a remodeling project for the school district office will be done in about six weeks, Jansen said.

Superintendent Wiley Dobbs and teachers union president Peggy Hoy noted the collaboration between the Twin Falls Education Association and school district. As a result of negotiations this spring, most teachers received at least a 4 percent raise, and those whove reached the top of the salary schedule will receive extra personal days.

They shared school district highlights, including an extended day kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary helping with reading proficiency, and Robert Stuart Middle School students dropping the number of failed classes by 50 percent thanks to a new Bear Essentials program.

The Twin Falls School District also ranked third among the states 10 largest school districts for SAT scores.
TWIN FALLS  Better connections between the Visitor Center and downtown. Restaurants and shops in residential neighborhoods. Growth to the citys west. Or should Twin Falls grow from the southeast?

The city is getting closer to deciding what Twin Falls will look like in the next 20 years and adopting the new version of its Comprehensive Plan  the planning document that seeks to provide a general vision of how development in Twin Falls should be steered going into the future.

The plan doesnt have any legal weight and it doesnt mandate City Council do anything or make binding decisions about zoning and land use. Its importance lies in that city officials frequently use it as a guide when making those types of decisions.

The (Comprehensive) Plan is probably one of the most significant documents we have, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said.

Grow With Us, or Twin Falls Vision 2035, an update to the previous Twin Falls Community Strategic Plan 2030, has been in the works for a while. The city started to solicit public input on the changes a little more than a year ago, using online surveys and catching people at events like Wings N Things, Death by Chocolate and at city fairs. The plan is more community-driven than it has been in the past, said Mayor Shawn Barigar, who is also head of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

That has gotten us a diverse mix of ideas and concepts of what people would like to see in the community, he said.

An advisory committee consisting of some City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission members, plus representatives of a few other government agencies and sectors, guided the development of the new plan. The city released a draft of the plan a couple of weeks ago, and has been asking for public feedback. That comment period is scheduled to end on Wednesday, and then the plan will come before the City Council sometime in the next couple of months for debate.

The end of the plan lists general goals for city staff, such as encouraging the preservation of farmland, protecting the views on the Snake River and Rock Creek canyons, ways to encourage a mix of housing downtown for different income brackets, looking into the feasibility of a public/private partnership to build a conference center, and encouraging commercial development in different areas of town. One new aspect, Palmer said, is a greater focus on encouraging multimodal transportation, a category that covers anything other than driving and that, in this case, seeks to encourage people to walk or bicycle more by building the bike lanes, trails and other infrastructure to make it easier.

As well as improving the connections between different areas of town for walkers and bikers, the plan talks about public transportation. The city is already doing initial planning work on a bus system that could come into being next decade, when the citys population will almost certainly exceed 50,000 after the 2020 U.S. Census. Federal rules will require the creation of a Metropolitan Planning Organization to handle transportation planning for the city and the area around it. The Comprehensive Plan talks about connecting the Visitor Center via public transportation with downtown, the College of Southern Idaho and the industrial area between Twin Falls and Kimberly.

As the city grows, the plan encourages industrial development to the southeast, which already has industries including big newcomers Chobani and Clif Bar, and residential and light commercial growth to the west, Palmer said. Barigar said one of the goals would be to make sure the city guides growth along the Pole Line Road corridor in a way that avoids some of the negative effects of growth on Blue Lakes.

The plan also aims to encourage mixed residential and small-scale commercial development in some areas, which could let people access some basic services in their neighborhoods without having to drive. Currently, businesses are mostly clustered along some busy arterials, with a lot of residential-only development in more outlying areas.

It would be nice to see a better mixing of those services, Barigar said.

Barigar said one example of this kind of development would be the Hyde Park area of Boise, which has a small commercial strip with some shops and restaurants surrounded by residential streets. He mentioned the area of Blue Lakes Boulevard between, roughly, Falls Avenue and the Snake River Canyon as an area to target for mixed development.

Personally, he said, I feel like there are great opportunities to find that balance and preserve that sense of neighborhood.
TWIN FALLS  Councilman Greg Lanting apologized Monday for a Facebook comment questioning whether the father of a sexual assault victim was involved in the childs life or had seen a video of the attack.

My military service always taught me that when youre wrong, say youre wrong, Lanting said at the beginning of Monday evenings City Council meeting. And I was wrong.

Lanting was commenting on a post in which he had been tagged, about the case of a 5-year-old girl who was reportedly sexually assaulted by three boys from Iraq and Sudan at the Fawnbrook Apartments a little more than two months ago. Lanting wrote the girls father did not live with her and couldnt have seen a video one of the accused boys recorded. He also said Internet Fake news agencies can lie about the case and never be proven wrong, because it is sealed due to the suspects ages.

Let justice be served and let this child have a chance at a normal life without making up lies about what happened to her, Lanting wrote. The police and the courts are doing every thing according to state law!!!

According to Breitbart, a politically conservative news and opinion website which reported on Lantings post over the weekend, the father lives with the girl and told its reporter about watching 30 seconds of the video. Public comment lasted about a half-hour Monday and most of it was about Lanting. Glenneda Zuiderveld, who has been helping the girls family, said Lantings saying he was wrong goes a long way with me but that he should publicly apologize.

He is the father I really inspire you all to be, she said. He is a caring father.

Ill do it again, Lanting responded. I was wrong. I apologize to the family, and if theres a way I can make amends, I will.

Lee Stranahan, a reporter for Breitbart who has been covering the case, spoke during the public comment period and questioned whether Lanting deleting the post was a violation of public records law, and said Lanting had made a statement showing knowledge of a sealed case that he shouldnt have.

I think that is a serious breach of your duty as a public official, Stranahan said. And I think it needs to be taken seriously.

Lanting denied deleting his comment, saying it was removed by the original poster.

Tami Billman spoke in Lantings defense, wondering whether Breitbart was the same website that posted an article recently saying Lanting was dead. It isnt; that was findposts.com, a website that mostly consists of hoax headlines about peoples deaths. Billman said people who want to see policy changes should take their concerns to the state rather than the City Council.

If youre going to help her, then help her and help the family, and stop doing all this crazy crap, she said. Its time to move on.

You should really learn about the issues before you talk about them, Stranahan said to her from the audience as she walked away from the podium, prompting Mayor Shawn Barigar to tell them to go outside if they wished to have a side conversation.

Budget

The Council also voted to set a maximum budget of $60.96 million for the 2017 fiscal year. This assumes a hike in property tax collections of 3 percent plus new construction value, bringing the property tax rate up to $8.16 per $1,000 of assessed value.

That doesnt mean that we wont choose to take a smaller number sometime in the next two weeks, Lanting said.

The public hearing will be at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29, after which the Council will set the final budget. Still to be answered is whether the Council will choose to spend almost $300,000 that is included in the budget but is not allocated. City Manager Travis Rothweiler presented the Council with a list of things on which the money could be spent, including an electronic reader board to advertise city events, updating the citys website, and hiring a victim-witness coordinator at the police department.

Councilman Chris Talkington said he would oppose hiring a victim-witness coordinator. The budget increases personnel costs already  it includes 5 percent raises plus adjusting the citys salary table  and Talkington said he would want to learn more about the position, which would cost an estimated $64,000 a year.

Councilman Don Hall, though, said he supports hiring one. Navigating the justice system is an inherently hostile experience, he said, whether youre a suspect or a victim.

The only winners in that system are the attorneys, he said. The rest of the folks are not.
NAMPA  Two gashes on the top of her head were stapled. Deep wounds on her forehead and face were stitched. Her left eye was temporarily paralyzed by nerve damage, and the iris settled into an awkward and constant gaze from the lower right corner of the socket.

Doris Dori Garner, who was encased in neck and full upper-body braces for months while her broken bones healed, recalls her horror when she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror.

I looked like Frankensteins bride, said Garner, a tiny 47-year-old woman who had a 2,500-pound bull land on top of her in a car-livestock collision last November on U.S. 95 in Adams County. It was scary to look at myself.

The injuries that she and her husband, William Jack Garner, now 54, suffered werent just cosmetic. The Nampa newlyweds  married just two months before the crash  suffered life-threatening head trauma and other critical injuries.

It was not until after she was released from the hospital a month later that Dori Garner heard the full story about the tragic aftermath of the crash: The bulls owner, Jack Yantis, had been shot to death by county deputies at the crash scene. State and federal prosecutors announced in late July that they found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to pursue criminal charges.

The Garners broken bodies have healed over the past 9 months, though they do have lingering physical and emotional pain. They have worked hard to regain their health and resume favorite hobbies, including dancing in the living room.

Jack Garner does not want to speak publicly, but Dori Garner told the Idaho Statesman that she plans to become an outspoken advocate for changing Idahos open range laws, which allow livestock to roam freely, even in areas with high-speed traffic on state and federal highways.

I cant let what happened to Mr. Yantis stop me from standing up for what I believe is right, she said. I have to speak out about the dangers of open range. If ranchers take offense, I cant help that. Laws need to be changed and added to keep travelers safer.

In Idahos open-range areas, longstanding tradition, eventually written into law, absolves livestock owners from liability when a driver hits livestock. As the law stands, the Garners could be liable not only for their injuries and damage to their vehicle, but for the replacement of the bull.

The Idaho Transportation Department crash report estimated the animals value at $4,000, though breeding bulls typically sell for $5,000 to $10,000, according to Treasure Valley Livestock Auction. The Garners have not heard from the Yantis family or anyone representing them.

LIFE-CHANGING NIGHT

The collision happened about 6:45 p.m. Nov. 1, right in front of the Yantis ranch along the highway north of Council.

That night, the Garners were traveling back to Nampa from Doris childhood hometown of LaCrosse, Wash. It is a 5 1/2- to six-hour drive, and they opted to take a route they dont normally take  U.S. 95  so they could stop to see Doris son in Lewiston.

Dori and Jack were both previously married to other people. They have eight children, ages 16 to 26, between them. The couple tied the knot in LaCrosse last September.

Jack was at the wheel of their 1994 Subaru Legacy wagon when it collided with the bull. Dori does not remember anything that occurred during the hour leading up to the crash.

The last thing I remember was stopping at a rest area outside of Riggins, she said.

The conditions that night were dry and clear, according to the ITD crash report. It was dark. There are no street lights in the area.

The Garners were traveling downhill on a straightaway before the collision, the crash report says, but Jack Garner told his wife that he believes a curve impeded his view of the bull.

He saw the black Gelbvieh standing in the southbound lane of the two-lane highway a split-second before hitting it. The bull hit the center front bumper, the crash report shows. It flattened the hood and smashed into the windshield and roof.

When Jack came to, he was not sure if Dori was alive. He was in an ambulance when he heard her screaming about pain in her foot. Strangely, that was one of the few parts of her body where doctors could find no injury.

The couple feel lucky they were not riding in their two-seat Mazda Miata. That was largely because they were traveling with their dog, a Bichon Frise-Maltese mix named Chloe. Riding in a kennel in the back of the Subaru, the year-old pup was unharmed.

Dori and Jack suffered bleeding concussions. An air ambulance took them to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.

Dori Garners other injuries included a broken bone in her neck and two in her back. Surgery was deemed too risky, so she had to wear a neck brace and stay as still as possible while her bones healed over three months. The upper-body brace came off only when she was lying flat on the bed. Jack was treated for a dislocated clavicle, or collar bone.

He was in as much pain as I was with my broken bones, said Dori, who had to be extricated from the crushed Subaru. Jack collapsed outside the car as he tried to walk around to the other side to help her.

Hes very emotional when he talks about it, and he doesnt like to talk about it, Dori Garner said. The emotions of that night are still very strong, and theyre still very painful for him.

The Garners have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and more to come. They were insured, though Dori Garner said a subsequent change in Jacks employment status as a respiratory therapist left them unable to afford insurance for a month before he returned to full-time status.

This is not the way they envisioned beginning their lives together, but they say they have become closer through it all.

Dori Garner expects to have two more surgeries. One would help improve the alignment of the eye affected by nerve damage; she has regained the ability to move that eye, though it has double vision, and she wears corrective glasses so she can drive.

Jack was able to get back to work as a respiratory therapist in February, but Dori lost her job as a family assistant  a nanny with extra responsibilities  and will be looking for a new job soon.

ADVOCATING LAW CHANGE

The couple is grateful to those who helped at the crash scene, from the paramedics to the deputies who were investigated in Jack Yantis death.

I want to go back there and thank people, Dori Garner said. They saved our lives and took care of us. Ive been so busy concentrating on my recovery that I havent got that far yet.

She also expresses sympathy for Yantis wife, Donna.

Dori Garner said she is close to being ready to go out and talk to lawmakers about changing open-range laws. She grew up in cattle country and knows that it is not possible to keep livestock in fences.

Idaho Transportation Department data show there were 300 crashes involving domestic animals, including livestock, across Idaho in 2014. Two crashes were fatal, including one in which an Emmett woman struck a horse on Idaho 16. That occurred in an area that is closed range.

I know theres always a possibility that an animal is going to find a way out, or push down a fence. That happens, Garner said.

She wants to do away with open range close to highways and high-speed traffic, and/or to lower speed limits in those areas, to minimize the risk of someone getting injured or losing their life.

I feel like [livestock in the roadway] should not be a common thing, she said. It should be a rarity.
Hillary Clinton supports adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act  that is, a government-run insurance program to compete with private health insurance. She announced her support in July, and the public option was the only specific change to Obamacare that she mentioned in her economics speech last week.

This position makes a lot of practical sense, as the New Republics Brian Beutler has been pointing out. The Congressional Budget Office has scored a public option as deficit-reducing, which means Democrats wouldnt have to raise taxes or cut spending to pay for it. A public option has also polled well. For example, back in December 2009 a CBS News/New York Times survey found 59 percent favored including a public option in Obamacare, with only 29 percent opposed.

It was a big disappointment to liberals during the 2009-2010 legislative fight over the ACA when the public option disappeared from the bill. So it would seem to be a logical next step for liberal politicians seeking to improve Obamacare.

But its one thing for Democrats to support a policy. Its quite another for it to be the kind of high priority they would fight for. Parties have many more goals than theyll ever have the opportunities to enact, even if they win large victories. Getting bills through Congress is hard, even if majorities in both chambers favor a measure. So especially for a major proposal such as the public option, the question isnt whether the party supports it. Its how much.

Unfortunately for public-option advocates, the candidates most likely to become new Democratic senators in 2017 dont seem especially interested in advocating that policy.

Only one of 11 candidates, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, mentions support for a public option on the issues section of his campaign website. Indeed, only six of the 11 that I surveyed even had a health care section on their websites. Kamala Harris, in solidly Democratic California, has nine different subject areas, from immigration to the environment and protecting animals. She has separate tabs for higher education and K-12 education. But no health care.

Sure, given the opportunity, the Democrats might move some relatively uncontroversial or small health-care measures. But their campaign messages suggest that they may not be up to a battle over consequential health-care legislation, which is what a push for a public option would be.

That doesnt mean it wont happen. Some of these candidates wont even be elected. Incumbent senators may have different priorities. And some of these candidates may yet add a ringing endorsement of the public option before the election.

Clinton has clearly committed to adding a public option to Obamacare  but shes also committed to dozens of other positions. If it isnt a priority for the rest of the party, it wont be a priority for her either.
An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition has killed at least 10 children and wounded 28 but the coalition has distanced itself from any responsibility with spokesman General Assiri saying when jets target training camps, they cannot distinguish between ages.

Spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, Malak Shaher, said the child victims they received were all under the age of 15 and the airstrike landed on a Koranic school in Haydan in Saada province. The coalition claims it is a training camp for child soldiers used by the Houthi Movement and their allies as scouts, guards, messengers and fighters, with reference to a Human Rights Watch report asserting that rebels are recruiting underage people.

Assiris statement did not deny the presence of children in the area but he argued that the site that was bombed is a major training camp for the militia. He said the Yemeni government confirmed that there is no school in this area.

The spokesman also claimed that Yehya Munassar Abu Rabua, one of the rebel leaders, was killed in the airstrike.

UNICEF deplored that violence has increased across the country since last week and the number of children killed and injured by airstrikes, street fighting and landmines has grown sharply.

Talks between the government and the rebels were suspended at the beginning of the month after the Houthis declined to sign a proposal submitted by the UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

The coalitions airstrike on the school comes barely ten days after it admitted shortcomings in two of the eight cases investigated for bombing civilian targets.

Spokesperson Shaher urged all parties to take the measures necessary to protect civilians while hoping that the MSF would take measures to stop the recruitment of children to fight in wars instead of crying over them in the media.
Pro UN-backed government forces are gaining grounds in the battle to end the control of the Islamic State on the coastal city of Sirte.

The forces have made more progress in neighborhood Number Two, with help from artillery and from naval forces, spokesman Rida Issa said.

They are also backed by US warplanes, which have been targeting militants of the extremist group for the past couple of weeks. IS fighters are reportedly encircled in the citys central residential areas but there are fears that some of them might have already fled to Europe through Italy.

Last week, Libyan fighters took over the Ouagadougou convention complex used by the group as their headquarters and found documents revealing the existence of an IS cell in Milan believed to be led by associates of Tunisian Abu Nassim; a commander in IS-Libya.

The Libyan forces are now in control of Sirtes former university and radio station that was used by the extremists for their propaganda.

A graffiti sprayed a few days ago saying the port of the Islamic State-the starting point for Rome has already raised concerns in Italy.

The president of the foreign affairs committee of the Italian parliament Pier Ferdinando Casini noted that while it is a great victory to recapture Sirte and it is the priority for us to liberate it , theres always a risk of people infiltrating the country through illegal migration.

Giacomo Stucchi, president of a parliamentary committee that oversees Italys intelligence services said the scenario has totally changed and the risk that militants could flee to Europe by sea has substantially increased but they need to know if the militants want to disappear without trace or whether they want to continue fighting in the name of their cause.

Meanwhile Giuseppe Perrone has been appointed as the new Italian ambassador to Libya ahead of the reopening of the embassy in Tripoli.
The stand-off between the Parliament and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi eased on Monday following the approval of all the ministers he picked up with the exception of the nominee for the trade department.

The government is however under pressure after the lawmakers rejected the explanations given by Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi during the question time at the beginning of the month about his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal regarding weapons contracts.

The Prime Minister wants to maintain Obeidi in the government in a bid to keep the momentum of the fight against the Islamic State ahead of the assault on Mosul.

A parliamentary vote is yet to be held to formally request the defense ministers resignation.

The newly approved ministers will oversee the oil, water, housing, higher education and transportation departments.

The new oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said in a first statement after his endorsement that the long-standing oil dispute over oil revenues between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan government could end. There are solutions to the existing problems  about the oil file, he said without going into details. Luaibi had headed the South Oil Company that produces most of Iraqs crude oil.

The approval of the appointed ministers ends a deadlock that had hampered the prime ministers effort to fight corruption. Abadi tried to overhaul the cabinet in February but the lawmakers blocked the process by failing to approve it, which led to storming of the parliament in May by supporters of influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The position of the interior minister is also vacant after he voluntarily resigned following the deadly ISIS bombing in the capital that killed more than 200 people last month.
King Abdullah II of Jordan expressed his dismay at the recent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, accusing the Jewish State of trying to impose a new reality.

In an interview with Jordanian newspaper al-Dustar, the King stressed that there are recurring violations and attacks by Israel and extremist groups which he claimed are blatant attempts to change the status quo in Jerusalem and its landmarks, its heritage sites and historical identity.

King Abdullah said defending the Palestinian Cause is a supreme national interest for Jordan as he warned that failing to reach a two-state solution to end the conflict is feeding violence and extremism in the region. He stressed that they will continue their historical and religious duty to defend the Al-Aqsa mosque and fight any plan to divide it temporally or spatially. Abdullah added that Jordan will work against Israeli violations of the rights of Arab residents, crackdown against them and their displacement.

Chairman Avi Dichter of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli parliament, a member of the Likud party and former Intelligence Chief, said Tel Aviv will not succumb to pressure. He stated that there has recently been an intensifying trend called the defense of al-Aqsa among Palestinians to not only stopping Jews from accessing the southern side of the Compound but they are talking about the entire area including non-Muslims.

He underlined that Israel will not lend a hand to this adding that while they honor the holiness of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and stand by their rights on Temple Mount, they will not allow it to become Mecca or Medina where access is only limited to Muslims. This type of twisted thought will not be allowed to be realized, he stated.

Haram al-Sharif for the Muslims or Temple Mount for the Jews, the site is considered religious and historic by both religions. It is the most holy place in Judaism and the third for Muslims.
Major oil producers could be on the verge of reaching an agreement to stabilize the oil market and boost prices. Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said there are consultations between Riyadh and Moscow and they are ready to achieve the widest possible level of coordination and put in place joint measures to achieve oil market stability, with the condition that these measures will not be for a limited period of time.

The revenue generated from oil plays a crucial role in the economies of both countries and Novak said dialogue between them is developing in a tangible way in bilateral and multi-lateral aspects. We are cooperating in the framework of consultations regarding the oil market with OPEC countries and producers from outside the organization, and are determined to continue dialogue to achieve market stability.

The recent statements made by Russian and Saudi officials over the past few days have led to a rise in oil prices from $42 a barrel to $45. They are among the worlds largest producers with an output of 10.85 million barrels a day of crude oil and 10.67 million respectively.

At the beginning of the year, an initiative to freeze production at January levels failed after Iran rejected the idea because it wants to reach its pre-sanction levels. The talks, which included Qatar, Venezuela, Russia and Saudi Arabia, failed after Riyadh stressed that Tehran must abide by the proposal if an agreement is to be reached.

Iran is yet to react to efforts to revive the talks although Saudis energy minister Khalid al-Falih said last week that they are willing to work with OPEC and non-OPEC members for the stability of the oil market.

Oil producing countries will be meeting in Algeria at the end of next month for the International Energy Forum (IEF) and they are expected to discuss oil prices on the sidelines of the meeting that assembles producers and consumers.
Algeria will host a military helicopters manufacturing plant under a joint venture with Italian aeronautics giant Leonardo-Finmeccanica.

The plant, located near Setif in eastern Algeria, will manufacture as of next year three types of light and medium AugustaWesland aircrafts to be used for multiple purposes including staff transport, medical evacuation, surveillance and control, Algerian news agency APS reported.

According to the Defense Ministry, the plant will support the development of national activities of great technologies, namely composite materials, precision engineering, electronics and optoelectronics.

The project will be coordinated by a joint Algerian-Italian company, which will provide customer service as well as all repair work services.

The Defense Ministry has embarked on the industrialization of the Algerian army equipment and seeks to reduce importation costs through the manufacturing of some equipment locally.

The Defense Ministry, in conjunction with Emirati and German funds launched, in 2012, the creation of three companies for the development of the national mechanic industry, local El Watan reports.

As part of the initiative, the trio funded Tiaret in October 2014 for the production of 6,000 Sprinter cars per year to be used for multiple purposes. Tiaret is detained by the Ministry of Defense, the Emirati group Aabar and German group Daimler; playing the role of technical associate.

Last year the three partners also launched Rouiba; a company specialised in truck production. The company expected to produce by 2018 and 2019 around 15,000 trucks has been set up to meet army logistical needs as well as local market demands, El Watan notes.

Oued Hamimine plant located in Constantine also launched last year, is the third company. Authorities expect the company to produce around 25,000 truck engines per year.
Senegalese president Macky Sall is accused of using dual citizenship to sideline political opponents in the West African Nation after a proposal to ban presidential candidates with dual citizenship.

According to the proposal, any candidate with dual citizenship should renounce the foreign one five years before running for office.

Although many Senegalese opposition leaders agree that it is necessary for a candidate to be of Senegalese origin before running for president, they say the law was purposely designed to eliminate stronger candidates like Karim Wade and the disgraced former premier Abdoul Mbaye who hold the French citizenship.

Karim Wade has been granted a presidential pardon but was still being pursued for swindling millions of dollars.

Mr Mbaye was President Macky Salls first premier in 2012 but fell out barely a year later over alleged ineptitude. He has since formed his political party with an eye on the presidency.

Analysts believe only Karim Wade and Mr Mbaye could give incumbent President Sall a tough ride in the upcoming poll.

Macky Sall has announced he will stay in power until 2019 after the countrys highest court rejected his proposal to shorten presidential terms of office.

The next presidential election is scheduled to be held in 2019.
Suspected Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have killed about 30 civilians in a massacre this weekend in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the army said on Sunday.

Ugandan Islamist militias that have been operating in eastern Congo since the 1990s, attacked the village of Rwangoma, about 5 km south of the commercial hub of Beni, local army spokesman Mak Hazukay told reporters.

He said the attack appeared to be in revenge for military operations in the area.

The government and the United Nations have blamed the group for repeated violence in the region.

Local activists estimate that the ADF has been responsible for the deaths of more than 500 civilians in the area since October 2014, according to Reuters, and one official told the outlet that the death toll may be as high as 50 in this most recent tragedy.

The ADF has distinguished itself with its signature: heinous move of hacking civilians to death with machetes. It vies for territory and supremacy.

Hunger and disease have also plagued Eastern Congo as a result of regional conflict, and the dire situation killed millions there between 1996 and 2003.

President Joseph Kabila visited the region last week and said he would work to bring about peace.
Zambias main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema on Sunday accused the nations electoral commission for slow progress in releasing the result of Aug. 11 vote.

So far, results from only 69 out of 156 constituencies have been released. The electoral commission had initially indicated that results would be announced within 48 hours after the close of voting, and no explanation has been given for the delays.

Why are they taking this long? asked Hichilema.

Its a total mess, the wealthy businessman who is making his fifth bid for the presidency told reporters at the national results centre in Lusaka, the capital.

Hichilema, the leader of the United Party for National Development, and President Edgar Lungu, who has been in power for about 18 months, are among nine candidates vying to lead Africas second-biggest copper producer.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia released the first results more than 25 hours after polls officially closed, and said delays had been experienced in transmitting tallies from regional centres amid a high turnout.

Copper-rich Zambia is usually known for its relative stability, but the run-up to the vote was marked by weeks of clashes between supporters of the UPND and President Edgar Lungus Patriotic Front (PF.)

Hichilema says the president has mismanaged the economy but Lungu blames weak growth in the major copper producer on plunging commodity prices.

Lungu only narrowly won a vote 20 months ago after the death of President Michael Sata. If he fails to win an outright majority this time, he will be forced into a second-round rerun.
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Adventure tourism school to open in Gudauri

An adventure tourism school will open in Georgias Gudauri ski resort, offering locals the chance to improve their knowledge about mountaineering and mountain safety.The school will provide training for those interested in mountain adventure tourism and other alpine high-risk professions.One area of teaching will see the school prepare and train hiking and the mountain guides, ski instructors, specialists for elevation works and landslide safety experts. On completion of the course, students will receive certificates to note their new-found skills.The school will cooperate with International associations of Mountain Guide Associations from all over the world (IFMGA/UIGAM/IVBV) and national federation members of these organisations.The agreement to build the adventure tourism school in Gudauri has been already signed between Georgias Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economy and the Mountain Resorts Development Company of Georgia.
Turkish Energy Ministry: Ankara, Moscow can mull discount for Russian gas

During the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia, Moscow and Ankara can discuss the discount for Russian gas supplied to the country, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend Aug. 9.The issue of a discount for Russian gas supplied to Turkey has been on the agenda for a long time, said the ministry.The ministry also noted that apart from this issue, during Erdogans visit to Russia, the sides will also discuss such important energy projects as the construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.According to Turkish media, on March 18, 2015, Turkeys Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) rejected Russia's gas offer, since it demanded additional concessions from Turkey on construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline.Afterwards, Turkey appealed to the International Court of Arbitration Oct. 26, 2015, over the prices for Russian gas supplied to the country.Turkeys private companies have been paying $390 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas since January 2015, according to Turkish media.In January-May 2016, Turkey imported 10.14 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia versus 11.22 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2015.The country imported 26.78 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia in 2015 versus almost 27 billion cubic meters in 2014, according to the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).Russias share in the total volume of Turkeys gas import was 50.84 percent in January-May 2016.Russia supplies gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan pipelines. Blue Stream is a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline with the capacity of 16 billion cubic meters per year that carries natural gas from Russia into Turkey.Currently, Turkey also imports gas from Iran, Azerbaijan, Algeria and Nigeria. Moreover, Ankara and Doha (Qatar) signed an agreement on the supply of 1.2 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas to Turkey.In January-May 2016, Turkey imported a total of 19.94 billion cubic meters of gas, 16.22 billion cubic meters of which were supplied via the pipelines, while 3.72 billion cubic meters accounted for the import of liquefied natural gas.The meeting of Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be held Aug. 9 in St. Petersburg.This is Erdogans first visit to Russia after the crisis in the two countries relations and also after the attempted military coup in Turkey.Turkish delegation includes Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, Minister of Culture and Tourism Nabi Avci, Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications Ahmet Arslan and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek.
THE STAGGERING COST OF ALL THAT 'CHEAP' LABOR: Encouraging both legal and illegal mass immigration continues to be a primary aim for both politicians and organizations on the left. Breitbart News previously revealed that the wealthy Ford Foundation poured an astonishing $114 million into organizations that push for mass immigration and amnesty. Spencer Lindquist
The Sanlam Group is pleased to announce key leadership appointments which will support and further strengthen the Groups Pan-African growth. This is also in keeping with the Groups expanded footprint on the continent following the recent acquisition of a 30% stake in Morocco-based Saham Finances.



These appointments will result in four distinct regionally focused units within Sanlam Emerging Markets (SEM) - Southern Africa; East Africa; North and West Africa; and South East Asia.





With effect from 01 September 2016:





 Mr Julius Magabe, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania since 2011, will assume the position of Regional Executive: East Africa for SEM. Magabe will remain based in Dar es Salaam. He will join the SEM Executive Committee and will be responsible for businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.



Among his successes at the helm of Sanlam Life Insurance, he is credited for growing the business and achieving 60% of the market share.

Magabe is an alumnus of the Johannesburg-based Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). He also holds an MBA from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) and is a graduate of the Institute of Finance Management Tanzania in Insurance and Risk Management. He joined Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania (formerly African Life Assurance) in 2007 as Head of Corporate Business. In 2010 he was appointed as Managing Director of the company, a position he has held up to now.





 Mrs Margaret Dawes, currently SEMs Executive Director: West and East Africa, will take up the position of Executive Director: North and West Africa. A Chartered Accountant, Dawes also holdsaBSc (Hons) Biology (London) and anHDip Tax Law (Wits).





She joined Sanlam in 2005 as the chief financial officer for Sanlam Developing Markets (now SEM) and has held various other positions within SEM. In her new role, Dawes will be responsible for the SEM businesses in Nigeria, Ghana as well as those businesses in the North and West Africa region which are part of the recently established partnership with Saham Finances based in Morocco.





Earlier this year, the Group made the following appointments:





 Mr Gaffar Hassamas SEMs Regional Executive: Southern Africa responsible for SEMs businesses in Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

An MBA graduate from Oxford Brookes, Gaffar is also a fellow member of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA). Prior to his SEM appointment, Hassam was the Group CEO for Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL) since 1 December 2011. Hassam joined BIHL in April 2003 as the Group Finance Manager and Company Secretary and held several positions within the Group, includingamong others, Head of Finance and Chief Operating Officer.





 Mr Prasheem Seebran as SEMs Regional Executive: South East Asia responsible for all SEMs businesses in Malaysia.





An Actuary, Seebran is currently completing his MBA at Henley Business School. He began his career at Marsh and held various positions at Guardrisk and Telesure before joining Sanlam in June 2013. In September 2013, hemoved to Malaysia where he has been responsible for all risk and capital related areas within Sanlams short term insurer, Pacific &Orient (P&O). He has also been in charge of developing P&Os actuarial capabilities and has worked with the regulator on developing the risk management function and optimisation of capital.



In June, Sanlam Group also announced the appointment of Mr Junior Ngulube as the Chief Executive Officer of SEM. Dawes, Hassam, Seebran and Magabe will report to Ngulube when he takes over from Mr Heinie Werth on 01 October 2016. Werth has been appointed the Groups Financial Director with effect from 01 October, succeeding Mr Kobus Moller who will retire.

Commenting on the appointments Sanlam Group CEO, Mr Ian Kirk, said: On behalf of the Sanlam Group Executive Committee, SEM and staff, I wish to congratulate these colleagues. We are confident that they will continue to add value to the SEM business and support us in our journey as a Pan-African leader in financial services.



We are pleased to have been able to fill the majority of these positions from organically grown Sanlam candidates through our succession planning and leadership development programmes, while balancing that by bringing in the right type of external exposure and experience.The Group is in the process of appointing Magabes successor at Sanlam Life Insurance in Tanzania and an announcement will be made in due course.

Ends





Issued by Sanlam Group Communications





ABOUT THE SANLAM GROUP





Sanlam is a leading financial services group listed on the JSE Limited and the Namibian Stock Exchange. Established in 1918 as a life insurance company, the South Africa-based Sanlam Group has transformed into a diversified financial services business.



Through its business clusters  Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Santam and the newly established Sanlam Corporate - the Group provides comprehensive and tailored financial solutions to individual and institutional clients across all market segments. The Groups areas of expertise include insurance, financial planning, retirement, trusts, wills, short-term insurance, asset management, risk management and capital market activities, investment and wealth.





The Group operates in Southern Africa through Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia; East Africa through Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda; West Africa via Nigeria and Ghana and in India and Malaysia. It has an indirect presence via associate companies in Burundi, The Gambia and Lesotho. The recently announced acquisition of a 30% interest in Morocco-based Saham Group will further extend the Groups footprint into an additional 20 countries mostly in Francophone Africa. The Group also has business interests in the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia and the Philippines. It has a stake in leading global micro-insurance specialists, UK-based Micro-Ensure Holdings Limited. For further information, visit www.sanlam.com





ENQUIRIES





Pearl Majola, Sanlam Group Communication




For years while living in the San Francisco Bay Area I wanted to take a road trip up the Oregon coast. Mr. Misadventures and I had planned several one-to-two week trips, but when it came time to pull the trigger we were always lured back to Europe. Last year when we bought the RV I knew that I was finally going to get the trip I wanted.

We spent five weeks slowly climbing the coast. We started on the Oregon-California border, staying in Brookings and getting our first taste of fresh seafood, rocky beaches, tidepools, and redwood trails.

Some posts on this site contain affiliate links, meaning if you book or buy something through one of these links, I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you!). Opinions are always my own and Ill never promote something I dont use or believe in. Also as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We also began experiencing the temperamental weather that would be the bane of Mr. Misadventures photography for our entire trip.

But he did get a few shots here and there. Like this one from McVay Rock Park and beach where we watched several sunsets and hunted creatures in the tidepools.

My favorite kind of hike is the redwood forest ones with cool air and pillowy trails. The shades of green are never-ending and we hiked the Oregon Redwood Trail with ease and with pleasure.

(Also, the road to get there allowed us to do a little off-roading which we were sorely missing!)

In Brookings, we got sushi for the first time in nearly six months! We ate tons of crab, Chinook salmon, shrimp, rockfish and halibut.

We changed RV sites every week, moving north about two hours each leg. We visited everything around and between our home bases so that we didnt miss an inch of the coast.

After Brookings was Bandon, one of our favorite places we stayed at. The beaches are magnificent, albeit cold and windy. The rock formations on the beaches are impressive.

The sand dune hikes, not so much.

We absolutely loved the Cape Arago area and spent several days there. The area is made up of several smaller parks and there was so much to do. From watching the sea lion colony at the Simpson Reef & Shell Island Overlook (bring binoculars!) to an eight-mile coastal hike, to a beautiful beach in calm Sunset Bay, to tidepools in the rough rocky Shore Acres Park with really unique striations in the rocks that reminded me of White Pocket.

All along the Oregon coast there are lighthouses to see as well, some better looking than others. I liked this one at Cape Blanco.

In Bandon, we ate more crab, more salmon, halibut and checked out the fish and chips at the superb Bandon Market.

Next, we hit Florence, catching up with our friends that we met in Moab. We arrived a couple of days of ahead of them and checked out the dunes out on the jetty, beautiful to look at, a pain in the ass to climb.

The same for the sand dunes behind our RV park near Woahink Lake. I can say after multiple attempts, I am no fan of dune hiking!

What we did love was the tidepools. Especially at Strawberry Hill Beach, north of Florence. So much so we went back nearly every day. Sometimes trying to catch the sunrise (we didnt, too much of that ever-present fog) but mostly timing it to hit the tidepools at low tide. I can honestly say these tidepools are THE BEST that I have ever been to!

Dozens and dozens of sea anemones in the oddest shade of green:

Lots of sea stars, a variety of life that is disappearing on the coast due to illness. We found them in shades of orange, purple and red.

A tiny patch of purple sea urchins that were quite difficult to get to, along with crabs of all sizes and about two dozen of these guys including their pups:

Every day was liking seeing it for the first time, new discoveries surfaced with the changing of the light and water levels. These mussels, which were everywhere, showed their flash of blue once the sun hit them, it was insane. And beautiful and so fun to explore.

About 15 minutes further north was the dramatic Thors Well part of Cape Perpetua. Standing next to this natural hole as the high tide enters and shoots water up through it, is scary but exhilarating!

One day we stepped away from the coast and headed up into the mountains on bumpy roads to do a short hike to Kentucky Falls.

In Florence, we ate more crab, salmon, lingcod, and the best clam chowder of my life along with many meals with our friends that included lots of salad and fish. We parted ways with them and continued north to Newport.

Newport, as expected, was busier and more crowded. We visited the aquarium, Rogue Ales Headquarters, and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We had a great view of the lighthouse every single day from our RV site, but most of the time it was covered in fog.

In ten days time, we got one fogless sunset. It was hilarious because every single person in the RV park sat at and watched it as if it was the last sunset they would ever see!

That same fogless night, Mr. Misadventures got up at 4 a.m. to catch the Milky Way on the beach. You can see the lighthouse doing its job as well!

I didnt mind the fog too much (more the lack of wifi!) and loved falling asleep at night to the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks on the beach.

We visited Lincoln City and Pacific City including driving on the beach at Cape Kiwanda to take a look at this giant rock that reminded me of Shiprock on the water!

Here we ate sockeye salmon, smoked salmon, and halibut. We would have eaten more fresh fish but the seafood markets are in the harbor which is where all the tourists go, meaning zero parking. It was aggravating!

Garibaldi, just north of Tillamook, was our last home base on our coastal trip, and we visited north and south including Cape Meares on Tillamook Bay which has an adorable lighthouse.

We also visited Hug Point, Cape Lookout, Cannon Beach, Seaside, and of course Tillamook. We ate our last Dungeness carbs and last fish and chips.

We did eat more than just seafood on our trip, we feasted on berries as well: blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, you name it  the fresh fruit and vegetables were welcome after missing them for many, many months.

We took advantage of all that the Oregon coast has to offer: beaches, tidepools, seafood, coastal trails, lighthouses, sand dunes, waterfalls, and forests. It really was the ultimate road trip, and despite the wait, it was definitely worth every single day we spent in this really special region of the West Coast.

How about you? Have you been to the Oregon Coast? What was your favorite spot? If not, where do you want to visit?

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Red Willow Center  For more information on the following classes at the learning center, 825 W. Kent, call 721-0033 or visit redwillowlearning.org:

"Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" with Greg Satya Shanks, Sept. 13-Nov. 8, 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, $300. Attendance at one of these free classes is required: Aug. 23 or Aug. 30, 6-8:30 p.m.

"Qigong Self-Massage" with Libby McIntyre, 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, $55.

"Basics of Resilience" with Kathy Mangan, Sept. 22, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free.

"Breath, Mindfulness and Movement" with Kathy McIntyre, Sept. 19, 6-7:30 p.m., $40.

"Intro to T'ai Chi Chuan" with Michael Norvelle, Sept. 7-28, 7:45-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, $40.

Ongoing classes include "Yoga for Wellness" at noon Mondays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Mindfulness Meditation" at 12:10 p.m. Tuesdays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Yoga Beyond Cancer" at 4 p.m. Tuesdays, $40 for any weeks; "Yoga for Chronic Pain" at 4 p.m. Wednesdays, $40 for four weeks plus $50 for prerequisite screening.

BodyTalk ACCESS  A class will be taught by Kathy Mangan on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Red Willow Learning Center. The cost is $125, including manual. For details and registration, call Tori at 880-8749 or register at bodytalksystem.com.

Ongoing programs

AA and Al-Anon  For the latest Alcoholics Anonymous meetings list, visit aa-montana.org or call the Missoula hotline at 543-0011. For more information on Al-Anon and Alateen, which are 12-step recovery programs for relatives and friends whose lives have been affected by alcoholism, visit mt.al-anon.alateen.org.

Acupuncture for cancer caregivers  Missoula Community Acupuncture, located in the Radio Central Building, 127 E Main St., Suite 314, offers free acupuncture treatments for friends, family, nurses, doctors or anyone who takes care of cancer patients 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays. No appointment is necessary. For more information, call Michael Peluso at 406-926-1611.

Adult Asperger's support group  An open meeting for those with Asperger's as well as their family and friends is held every Thursday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the University Center, Room 216, on campus. Contact Monique Casbeer at 721-3947 or Cindy Bacon Janego at cjanego@communitymed.org for more information.

Alzheimers support  Meets the second Wednesday of each month at noon at the Summit Independent Living conference room, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave. Another group meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, contact Jackie Johnson at 549-3433 or jackiej45@yahoo.com.

Alzheimers caregivers support group  Meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. of each month at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, call Jackie Johnson at 549-3433.

Arthritis programs  The Montana Arthritis Program offers physical activity and self-management education programs, such as the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program, Walk with Ease and Stanfords Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Classes are available in several communities including Florence, Hamilton, Kalispell, Libby, Missoula, Plains and Polson. To find a class or for more information, visit dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/arthritis.

Bereavement support groups  Frontier Hospice offers open door meetings 6-7 p.m. Thursdays at the following locations: The Springs at Whitefish on the first Thursday; Rising Mountains Assisted Living Community in Bigfork on the third Thursday; and Frontier Hospice in Kalispell on the second and fourth Thursdays. Call 406-755-4923 for more information.

Breast cancer support group  Meets the first and third Wednesday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon at the Montana Cancer Center, St. Patrick Hospital Broadway Building, second floor. Call 329-5656.

Cancer Center support group  Meets noon-1:30 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. For more information, call Bonnie at 240-0996.

Cancer Resource Guide  The online guide covers resources including support groups, treatment centers, camps and retreats, in Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties. It is available at CancerResourcesMT.org.

Cancer support group  A support group for anyone affected by cancer meets noon-1 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays at the Polson United Methodist Church, 301 16th Ave. For more information, call Tammy at 406-883-7284 or 824-2868.

Celebrate Recovery  The Christian-based 12-step recovery program meets 6-9:30 p.m. every Friday at Christian Assembly Foursquare Church, 1001 Cleveland St. Dinner is available from 6 to 7 p.m. and child care is provided for ages birth to 11. For more information, call 721-6884 or email cafc@4bible.com.

Cheerful Heart  Lake County cancer patients in treatment can receive a massage and help with hair and skin problems, free of charge, from local therapists and cosmetologists. Other non-medical services include transportation to treatment and doctor appointments, running errands, yard work and meal preparation. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 406-883-3070.

Colorectal Cancer Support Group  Meets 1-2 p.m. the third Friday of every month through March 20, Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2827 Fort Missoula Road.

"Coping, Education & Support for Women with All Cancer Types"  The support group for women in all stages of cancer treatment or survivorship will be held noon-1:30 p.m. the second Monday of every month through March 14, 2016, at the Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2837 Fort Missoula Road. For more information, call Deb Rivey at 327-3912, Terri Paxinos at 327-3957 or Kimberly Hardwick at 327-3906.

Diabetes program  At 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month, there will be a short presentation on a topic related to the management of type 1 diabetes at the YMCA, 3000 S. Russell St. It will be followed by the option for socializing in the foyer or being active together at the Y. A fee of $5 per individual will be collected at the door for those choosing to use the facility. Designed for ages 14 and older, children are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent/caregiver.

Double Trouble in Recovery  The 12-step program for people with mental health and addiction issues meets 3-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Winds of Change Recovery Mall, 2685 Palmer St., No. C (second floor). Coffee is provided. For more information, call Veronica at 721-2038.

Epilepsy support group  Meets the first Monday of the month from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Summit Independent Living Center, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave., Suite 101. Patients, friends, family and caregivers welcome. Call Debbie at 721-0707 for more information.

Free health exams  Women ages 30 to 64 who meet necessary income guidelines and either have no health insurance or have insurance that will not pay for breast and cervical health exams can receive free exams through Partnership Health Centers Montana Cancer Screening Program. Call 258-4162 for more information.

Gentle yoga class  The Missoula Senior Citizen Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., offers a class that focuses on balance training, back strength and core conditioning through gentle yoga matwork every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. Fee is $4 per class. All ages welcome. For more information, call 543-7154.

Health Insurance Assistance Service  Montana cancer patients can call the American Cancer Societys 24-hour toll-free number to be connected to a health insurance specialist to ask about coverage and insurance programs specific to the state. The number is 800-227-2345.

Mens cancer support group  Open to men in all phases of testing, treatment and followup, the group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. It is facilitated by Gary Weisbrich and Tom King. Call 329-5628 or email gary.weisbrich@providence.org for more information.

Narcotics Anonymous  Meets at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W., Polson. Call 406-883-4135.

National Alliance on Mental Illness  NAMI Missoula meets every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in the lower level (behind the cafeteria) of the Providence Center. It is open to anyone affected by mental illness or interested in learning more about the group. The NAMI Connection group for adults living with mental illness meets 1:30-3 p.m. Thursdays at the NAMI offices, 202 Brooks St., Room 210. Call 880-1013 with questions.

NAMI Family Support Group  National Alliance on Mental Illness Missoula meets Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St., in Room 210. The peer-led support for adult family members, caregivers and loved ones of individuals with mental illness is free. For more information, call 406-880-1013 or email namimissoula@gmail.com.

My No-Nonsense Nutrition Program  A seven-week webinar course to improve your nutrition and fitness. Faith based approach to better health. Free initial consult with Judy Gilman, registered nurse, diabetes and wellness educator. mynononsensenutrition.com or 546-7819.

Overeaters Anonymous  Local meetings include 7 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St. A meeting for newcomers is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday followed by a "Back to Basics" meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Paul's. Everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively is welcome. There are no dues, weigh-ins or lectures. For more meeting information, visit oa.org.

SAA  For the latest Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting list visit saa-recovery.org, call the Missoula hotline at 241-4005 or email MissoulaBetterway@yahoo.com. SAA is a 12-step fellowship of men and women who share experience, strength and hope for the purpose of finding freedom from addictive sexual behavior and helping others recover from sex addiction.

S-Anon  Local meetings are held weekly for this recovery program for people affected by another persons sexual behavior. Visit sanonmontana.org or call 406-544-1271 to learn more.

Stroke and Brain Injury Support Group  Meets the second Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Providence Center, 902 N. Orange St., in the dining area on the fourth floor. For details, call 329-5784.

Tai Chi for Arthritis  Class offered 9:15 a.m. Mondays at the Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. $4 per class. All ages welcome.

Tai Chi Chih  Classes are offered at the following locations: Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., 9:15 a.m. Wednesdays, $4 per class; PEAK Health & Wellness Center, 5000 Blue Mountain Road, 11 a.m. Tuesdays, call 251-3344; and The Womens Club, 2105 Bow St., 9 a.m. Fridays, call 728-4410.

TOPS  Take Off Pounds Sensibly, an affordable, nonprofit, weight-loss support and wellness organization, meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First Christian Church, 2701 S. Russell St. Another TOPS meeting is 6:30 p.m. Monday at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 2512 Sunset Lane. For additional meetings, go to tops.org, click on "Find a Meeting" and enter your zip code or call 800-932-8677.

The Women's Club  For more information on the following classes at The Women's Club, 2105 Bow St., call 728-4410:

Foundation Training, 12:15-1 p.m. Monday and Thursday. Improve posture, strength and athletic ability.

Pickle ball open play, 1-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Paddles provided. All levels welcome.

Kick and Core high-intensity cardio workout with focus on strengthening core.
BILLINGS  Health care experts have for years encouraged breastfeeding for the benefit of babies and their mothers, but it can be tough for new parents as they get back to work.

Chris Bartlett, a registered nurse and certified lactation consultant at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, said it's important to keep feeding babies breast milk as their mothers return to work.

A little preparation and some extra work along the way can make that transition easier, she said.

"Moms ask us all the time what they can do when they go back to work," Bartlett said. "You need to establish a good milk supply right after you deliver the baby."

That means starting with, and continuing, regular skin-to-skin breastfeeding whenever possible, especially early on.

A mother should stay home with a newborn for at least six to eight weeks and can start stockpiling breastmilk during that time, Bartlett said.

"The baby is establishing the milk supply in the first two to three weeks, really well, and you can't get that back," Bartlett said.

At that point, an investment in a new, high-quality breast pump is her next recommendation. They can cost up to $300 for a quality home model, although hospital-grade rentals might also be an option, and many insurance plans cover the cost.

At three weeks, the mother should learn to start using the pump and begin pumping once or twice a day, immediately after feeding her baby, to start a stockpile of milk in the freezer weeks before it's time to return to work.

At about one month old, offer the baby a few ounces of the stockpiled milk once a week while continuing to build a stockpile in the freezer. The idea is to have the baby used to the pre-pumped milk and to have a supply ready for feeding upon the return to work.

"If moms have extra milk in the freezer, we've found it builds confidence and eliminates extra stress," Bartlett said.

Breast milk stores can last up to six months in a refrigerator freezer or a year in a deep freezer, she said.

Babies should, if possible, breastfeed exclusively for at least six months before moving on to a mix of breast milk and solids until they're at least 1 year old, she said.

Nichole Borgen is a maternal child nurse at St. Vincent who is breastfeeding her 11-month-old son, Brady, and returned to work when he was 12 weeks old.

It took some time before she got used to pumping, even though she'd built up stores at home ahead of time.

"It was pretty stressful at the beginning," she said. "When you first come back, you're worried about your baby."

Borgen also had to train herself to step away from work regularly to get stores up  before maternity leave she never took breaks  which took some getting used to.

She used a dedicated space the hospital has set up for pumping and relied on co-workers to cover her duties during her breaks. Once she got comfortable with that, it began to come more naturally.

"I was worrying it would put a burden on other coworkers," Borgen said. "But they would actually encourage me to go do it and after that it was a lot easier."

Whenever the return to work does happen, Bartlett recommends that mothers pump for 15 minutes or so at work whenever they'd normally feed their baby while continuing to breast feed whenever possible, and pumping for a few minutes immediately after.

Kate Girard, with the Montana Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, said that the list of benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding is long.

For babies it helps to prevent infections and illnesses, makes them less likely to develop asthma or become obese, lowers the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and promotes better jaw and tooth development. Mothers who breastfeed have a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers while improving their bond with their baby.

Montana ranks fourth in the nation with 91.2 percent of mothers reporting initiating breastfeeding, well above the national average of 79.2, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

The challenge is to provide (Montana mothers) the needed support and resources to enable them to meet their goals beyond initiation, Girard said.

Challenges

A big part of the support and resources is education and ensuring mothers feel comfortable and empowered, Bartlett said.

For mothers who pump at work, that means surrounding themselves with people who support and encourage them, while knowing what to do and having a comfortable place to go. Federal law says employers must provide break time for employees to express breast milk for nursing, as well as provide a shielded place other than a bathroom for that purpose.

Borgen pointed to her coworkers, who were both supportive and encouraging, as helping to ease the stress and provide a hand when needed.

Bartlett said mothers shouldn't worry if they aren't able to pump what their baby usually draws. Many factors, such as stress at work or even simply being away from the baby can play a role.

"The baby does a much better job at getting the milk out than even a high-quality pump," she said. "Any milk is better than none. Every drop counts."

For some mothers, breastfeeding might not be an option due to a number of different circumstances, Bartlett said. In those cases, experts such as lactation nurses are trained, willing and able to work with them to find a solution.

"We support those mothers and try to help them work through that," Bartlett said. "We have to be supportive and reach out to them."

The state health department said that, in Montana, about 53 percent of children are still being breastfed exclusively at three months old, well above the national average of 40.7 percent.

Borgen recommended that new mothers start pumping early, long before returning to work, and keeping in mind that they're building up a supply to ensure they're baby is well-fed.

"You have to have milk ready for your baby on that first day," she said. "Build up that stash and know that it's there for your baby."

Bartlett noted that in can seem like a lot of work to continue breastfeeding and pumping even after returning to work, but that's it's worth the effort for both mothers and their babies.

"It's hard having a baby and then going back to work and dealing with everything," she said. "Mothers need so much encouragement and support."
Students and faculty returning to Big Sky High School will be offered counseling after their longtime librarian, Christine Fogerty, was killed in a car accident while visiting family in Bozeman on Friday.

Big Sky Principal Natalie Jaeger said until school starts, those who feel they need help right away are encouraged to call into Big Skys main office where they will be directed to the appropriate help. Jaeger said Big Sky also plans a vigil where students and faculty can pay their respects.

Fogerty, 58, died just before 9:30 a.m. on Baxter Lane in Bozeman when a dump trucks flatbed trailer came loose and crashed into her oncoming car, killing Fogerty and injuring the passenger, according to the Gallatin County coroner.

Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Patrick McLaughlin said the trailer was hauling a small road grader, which crashed directly into Fogertys side of the car, pushed it off the road and ripped part of the top off. Fogerty died instantly, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said the passenger had some broken bones and a facial injury, although he does not know how severe, and she was airlifted to Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman. The passengers name has not been released.

It is unclear why or how the trailer detached from the truck and McLaughlin said until the investigation is completed, the driver of the truck will not face charges.

Fogertys funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Alliance Church.

Because of Fogertys active involvement with Habitat for Humanity and Family Promise, her family has asked for donations to those organizations in lieu of flowers. Another service will be held later in her home town of Big Timber.

Although Big Sky Assistant Principal Matt Clausen said he only worked with Fogerty for two years, he knew her for nearly 10.

She was amazing, Clausen said. She was one of the most intelligent people Ive ever worked with. And yet she could be so silly because she knew what a great gift it is to be working with kids. She was so energetic.

Clausen said Fogerty supported education at Big Sky by helping students and faculty get the resources they needed to study for a project or to back lectures in class. Fogerty would often go into different classes and teach about the resources libraries offer.

During her time at Big Sky, Clausen said Fogerty became close with the student body, and everyone is taking it hard.

Fogerty is survived by her two daughters, Sundee and Sloan Fogerty, her parents and siblings. Kayla DeHoff, a friend of Sundees, launched a fundraiser for Fogertys daughters on gofundme.com, which has already raised $2,545.

Were going to miss her greatly, Clausen said. Its a huge loss for our school, our district and our community as a whole. Its really hard.
When Steve Nelson and Mike Boehme bought the former Stimson lumber mill site in Bonner in 2011, they saw potential in the blighted, polluted industrial area.

On Monday, the duo gave a tour to showcase the business activity going on there. Today, 10 separate businesses employing roughly 250 people occupy the 170-acre site, including a huge data center, an aluminum trailer company that employs 170 people and KettleHouse Brewing Co., which is set to begin producing more than 60,000 barrels of beer from a massive new facility this fall.

For Boehme, the revitalization of Bonner into a manufacturing hub has been a laborious process, but hes pleased with the tenants that now call it home.

Weve kissed a lot of frogs over the years, he said, referring to potential tenants that didnt work out for various reasons. But weve found some princes too.

Britt Fred is the president of Northwest Factory Finishes, a company that employs 40 people in a 195,000-square-foot warehouse on the site. They create pre-finished building materials and ship to customers all over the country, which means dollars are flowing back to Missoula from out of state.

His company was one of the first to occupy the site after Stimson shut down. The mills closure was a huge economic hit to Missoula and especially to Bonner, but companies like his have helped create a remarkable turnaround.

It was a ghost town out here in 2009 when we first arrived here, Fred said. But working with Mike and Steve, we were able to create space, which I had to have, and the opportunity to grow. And its been a great relationship and weve worked well together as pioneers out here and now its great to see all the other industry thats out here.

Zeb Harrington, the operations manager of KettleHouse Brewing Co., said the new brewing facility should be operational by October. Theyre putting the finishing touches on a canning machine from Germany, which will be able to crank out up to 200 cans of beer per minute. The new site will employ approximately 15 people and more than double KettleHouses current output. Again, the product will be shipped outside of Missoula and bring money back to the community that otherwise wouldnt be here.

Montana Data, LLC is a private company that built a massive data center inside the largest warehouse on the site, which happens to be one of the largest timber-framed structures in North America.

The firm employs more than a dozen people and uses huge computers to balance the energy loads of several states when wind dies down or prices change.

They found us on Zillow, Boehme said, referring to a real estate listing site.

In the end, the company chose Missoula because they were able to lease a huge space at an affordable price in a location where energy is cheap and humidity and temperatures are relatively low.

Coaster Pedicab, another company at the site, creates custom bikes and operates them all over the country. They manufacture the bikes using a crew of welders on the spot and then sell advertising to go on the side. Other companies include Willis Enterprises, a log chipping company, custom metal forgers Hellgate Forge, custom shipping container company Montainer, and organic fertilizer firm Montana Grow. Boehme and Nelson also rehabilitated 42 houses on the site that are now used for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments Section 8 program that helps very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled afford safe and sanitary homes.

Its a diverse array of business and residential activity that has Boehme hopeful about the future of the old lumber mill. Theres still about 100 acres on the site available for lease, and many companies can negotiate an option to buy. The tour on Monday was sponsored by the Missoula Economic Partnership, which has worked to attract businesses to the area.

Were constantly trying to do improvements out here, Boehme said.
I didnt mean to end up scooting across the dance floor of a night club in Livingstone.

Especially one with this invitation  or warning, in my case  painted at the base of the stairs leading to the VIP Lounge: Smartly Dressed.

I was dirtily dressed, having trekked down and up a long steep pathway to the Boiling Point at Victoria Falls, a place where the Zambezi River churns into a giant eddy.

Photo editor Kurt Wilson and I traveled to Africa this summer to work on a series of stories about conservation across continents, and I had been warned about this clubbing situation, albeit not directly.

Before leaving, I had lunch with a friend to talk about the trip, and she gave me this piece of advice, along with some others: Technology will fail you.

I believed her, but I didnt know it would fail me over and over again. Kurt and I had traveled to Zambia for a project related to the University of Montana School of Forestry and Conservation. Zambia and Montana face similar challenges in saving animals and wild places, and we were going to find and tell those stories.

We booked lodging at the cheapest option UM had suggested, the ZigZag Lodge. The price was right, at $50 a night per room, and the setup was perfect there for our work, with plenty of seats and tables outside in a courtyard where we could do our work.

One night, wed promised to send a story and photo to the Missoulian, and the editor was counting on it. We sat outside in the courtyard as close to the main building as possible. The building was locked since it was about 10 p.m., but we could still connect to WiFi. Well, Kurt could. He filed his photos, and about two minutes later, I tried to send my story. Alas, the connection was nowhere to be seen again that night.

I stayed outside for a while longer and kept trying to hook into this ethereal link to Montana, but to no avail. At this lodge, guards stand at a locked gate all night long, so it feels safe. I thought they might be able to help me out. I told one of the guards that I had an emergency email I needed to send. Was there any place in town where I could get WiFi?

No problem, the guard said. Hed call a cab to take me to the 7-Eleven. Perfect, I thought.

The 7-Eleven turned out to be a nightclub.

I could hear Bob Marley playing even outside the doors. The cab driver walked me through the downstairs dance floor, then the upstairs one, where I did not get kicked out for failing to be smartly dressed, and we handed my iPad over to the very-smartly-dressed-and-sporting-a-cute-hat manager, who punched the clubs password into the computer.

No luck.

The manager tried a couple more times, but it just didnt work.

So away we went, onto the next possibility, the Cafe Zambezi, a restaurant where Kurt and I had eaten earlier in the week. Server  and Missoulian rescuer  Martha swiftly plugged me into their WiFi, and I sent the story maybe a dozen times, just to be sure.

***

People refer to The Big Five in Africa, and if youre a hunter, you probably already know all about this phrase. It refers to five animals, lions, Cape buffalo, elephants, leopard (pronounced lay-o-perd in Zambia, which I heart), and rhinoceros. At first, I thought these animals were the ones tourists needed to see, without a doubt.

And it made me wonder. Whod decided on this list? Why five? Honestly, I didnt care if I ever saw a Cape buffalo, but I really, really wanted to see a giraffe.

So I started asking questions about The Big Five and promptly revealed my fish-out-of-water status. When I asked our favorite cab driver, Axon Zulu, why the giraffe wasnt one of the five, I thought he was going to have a heart attack.

The man howled in laughter at the notion, chortling on and on, and his hilarity gave me some insight into the absurdity of my proposal.

Zulu, though, didnt get the last laugh.

Later, I brought up the idea to Oluronke Oke, a planning officer with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. Ms. Oke clearly endorsed augmenting the list to The Big Six, and adding the giraffe  or trading out the buffalo altogether. Seriously, she was ready to toss out the list and start from scratch.

When I looked up The Big Five online, I learned the list originally represented the most difficult trophy animals to hunt in Africa, though tourists now use the reference too.

In case youre wondering, the giraffes were cool.

***

In Zambia, people went out of their way to give of their time, even of the food on their table.

One day, Ms. Oke took us to see the rhinos in a small national park adjacent to Livingstone, and one of the guards told me how lucky we were. Sometimes, tourists have to walk for hours to reach the animals, which the guards follow to ward off poachers. We walked not even an eighth of a mile.

The venture was short, and it wasnt enough time for me to talk with the guards or for Kurt to get the shot he wanted. We talked about these holes in our coverage, and we decided we needed to return to the rhinos.

Later the same week, we showed up in Ms. Okes office unannounced. We told her we understood wed already had a once-in-a-lifetime experience seeing the rhinos  and we wanted another shot. Ms. Oke has responsibilities at her desk, but she loves being in the field, and she went out of her way to get us to the rhinos a second time. She found a vehicle that was available, a guard that could talk with us, and she put us in the back of a pickup truck with her and away we went.

Sandy Simpson showed us the same generous spirit. The human-wildlife conflict manager hauled us all over the place in his Land Rover, to the Village of Maloni and back again, to Linda Village, to his favorite restaurant, an Italian cafe with gelato that rivals the dessert at Caffe Dolce. I asked him one time why he was showing us around, and he said, You seem interested.

In Linda, a mom cooking pinto beans and nshima, a traditional staple similar to polenta, shared the lunch she had cooked for her children. She passed around one small bowl of beans and nshima with one spoon so all the visitors could eat.

***

At times, Livingstone reminded me of Missoula. The people in town were friendly in the same way I think we are here. When I go to a new place, I like to lace up my sneakers and head out on a run in a random direction to see something different, and I always rely on strangers. The first morning I headed out of the ZigZag, I ran into some people getting off a bus within the first block, so I pointed the direction I was heading and got the nod from a couple of the guys. Just around the corner, the Forever Bridge stretched across a dry riverbed. It was a curved structure with old planks that rattled and banged when you stepped on them, but the view from the top was beautiful.

You could see homes down a dirt road, and the sun through a smoky haze. The bridge turned out to connect a residential area with town, and it was a pedestrian highway of sorts in the mornings, with school kids in uniforms and men in mechanic's coveralls walking up the lane. I was a person the opposite color going in the opposite direction and wearing opposite clothes, not work clothes but workout clothes, my fish-out-of-water status unmistakable. Ive never said good morning to so many people in such a short time in my life, or had as many people join me for a short stretch, mostly schoolchildren laughing, but also one old lady. I think the dudes on the bus steered me straight because that route turned out to be my favorite.

***

Ill tell you about my panic attack, too.

When Kurt and I first talked with UM professor Wayne Freimund about the connection hed built with conservationists in Zambia, wed planned to tag along with a class. Long story short, the class was canceled, but we decided to proceed at the recommendation of Freimund, and follow roughly the same itinerary since a couple of UM assistant professors were going anyway. The original itinerary included a three-day safari, so we booked that leg in Botswana.

The day we took off for the safari, I was thinking about one of the stories I wanted to write. I knew the theme, that you cant ask people to care about animals and the planet if their own homes on the planet arent safe, but I didnt know how I was going to tell that story. We were riding around the Kalahari desert, rolling along the sand getting the African massage, as the guide described it, and I had an epiphany, and shortly after, a bit of a panic. I figured out that the people in the village of Maloni were the ones I needed to spend time with to tell that story. But we were in another country, and running out of time. These cruisers carry 10 or so people, and I was sitting in the very back, and Kurt was riding shotgun, so I couldnt say anything to him until we arrived at camp that night. The second we got there, I told him I needed to go back to Maloni ASAP. He agreed to go, too: Were a team.

When we got back to Livingstone, we walked to Cafe Zambezi for dinner, and Martha greeted us with open arms. It felt like running into a friend at a Missoula restaurant. The next day, Sandy took us back to Maloni, and thats the reason you were able to read about Robby Kilebwenta and Anthony Sishau, the farmers, and British Mambwe and the Kukus last week.
A Washington man charged with nearly hitting another car while driving the wrong way on Interstate 90 early Sunday was found parked in the passing lane with his lights off.

According to a court affidavit, several people called 911 shortly after 2 a.m. to report a driver traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-90 near Frenchtown. One driver told a sheriffs deputy he was forced to pull into the shoulder to avoid being hit.

Law enforcement located the Honda Civic parked in the passing lane of the interstate east of Frenchtown. The court affidavit said the car was still running but the lights were off and the driver, 22-year-old Titus Henry Pascua, was asleep inside.

Although he was traveling east, Pascua said he was on his way to Washington state, where he lives, according to the court documents. The deputy noted open containers of alcohol in the vehicle.

Pascua provided a breath sample with a 0.152 blood alcohol content, according to court documents. His passenger, 21-year-old Enrrique Barragan, was also arrested on a warrant from Washington.

Pascua made his initial appearance in Missoula County Justice Court on Monday, charged with felony criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor for driving under the influence.

Justice of the Peace Marie Andersen set Pascuas bail at $5,000 and said he will be monitored for alcohol use if released.
There is no better place than the Last Best Conference coming up in Missoula Aug. 25-26 to see firsthand the convergence of technology with the passions of thinkers, creators and innovators. This years inaugural LBCon, hosted by the Blackstone Launchpad at the University of Montana, aims to grow into a SXSW-style festival that grows Montanas regional and national business, creative and entrepreneurial connections.

As leaders in Montanas broadband industry and co-chairs of Gov. Steve Bullocks Main Street Montana Broadband Key Industry Committee, LBCons timing couldnt be better. Weve heard from all corners of the state, from manufacturing to health care to education, just how important entrepreneurship is in the Treasure State. As we promote broadband accessibility for our state and regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, we are thrilled to support LBCon. Weve seen how this events guiding principles have helped us grow our own businesses.

Since 1954, Blackfoot Telecommunications has grown to serve customers in 15 states, from Washington State to Texas. Today Blackfoot is 170 employees strong because of how weve leveraged the strengths of Montanas business environment and our relationships with world class universities, including UM. These relationships  the exact sort we hope others will build during LBCon  have been responsible for our growing interests in Idaho and recent expansions into Utah, Washington and beyond. As Montana grows, we grow. Simply being from Montana, and having business colleagues in common, opens doors throughout the region.

Similarly, Vision Net has 135 employees and operates across Montana and partners regionally to provide services nationwide. With offices in Great Falls, Billings, Helena and Missoula, Vision Net delivers a wide range of advanced telecommunications network services. Regional and national connections have played a large role in the companys success.

Missoulas vibrant startup ecosystem is no accident. The Kauffman Foundation has recognized our states growing reputation as a center of innovation and entrepreneurship. Blackfoot and Vision Net aim to support our states entrepreneurial culture by building and operating state-of-the-art networks that will provide the broadband infrastructure support these nascent enterprises require to be successful.

This spirit and passion, made tangible through broadband, will be leveraged by LBCon in Missoula, but is also very much alive around the state. Think Wisetail or Oracle in Bozeman. In Livingston, Printing for Less has been a game-changer. Billings remains the states economic center for healthcare services, thanks largely to Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare. Helena is home to Boeing, and Great Falls has Vision Net and numerous other startups. This statewide energy must be shared regionally for Montana to fully benefit economically, which is why LBCon is so important.

Montanans are known for their incredible work ethic, and our state draws workers and entrepreneurs from all over thanks to our natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities. Talented employees may come for the great outdoors and clean air and rivers, but they stay because of the vibrant, entrepreneurial business environment.

Join us in supporting LBCon and making sure the last best place doesnt remain the last best secret when it comes to building a more vibrant and innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem. Lets shine a bright light on Missoula, Montana and the entire Mountain West, lead the way in innovation, and feed the passions of our people to build a more prosperous future. Learn more and register by Aug. 19 at www.lastbestconference.com.
It is common practice for our government to threaten curtailment of federal funding if a state fails to comply with certain of its policies. The entire forestry industry has been destroyed through mandated and enforced federal restrictions and regulations. Montana is getting closer to 50 percent dependency upon federal funding with controls. Meanwhile, government is going after our land, water, natural resources and even our minds.

Some years ago Gary Callihan, well versed in the European-proven technology of using forest fuels to produce electricity, attempted to introduce that concept to Montana. This common-sense operation would have helped solve the problem of overgrown and dying trees on mismanaged federal lands, while providing renewable energy production and ongoing productive mill operation.

When Gov. Judy Martz learned about biomass energy production she assured Callihan that it all made sense to her. She endorsed its economic development but later indicated that the feds had threatened to cut her school funding if she pursued it further. Complications have now been ongoing to finally wipe out our entire timber industry. We must be concerned about such deliberate, knowledgeable undermining of our system of government built upon the free enterprise system, while initiating governmental policies that increase federal dependency.

We need a businessman in the presidency who doesnt walk, talk and think like professional politicians we have known. So much the better! Donald Trump has proven himself a success in the business world and is highly motivated to save our country. He cannot move his many skyscrapers, buildings, tenants and workers overseas like the factories and financial corporations have done. He wants to put dedicated, qualified, responsible people into positions where they can save America for the people, including his own family. We all want to live happy and secure here in America, able to provide for our own needs.

Clarice Ryan,

Bigfork
Do black lives matter? No, not to Democrats. Are blacks better off today, after eight years of Barack Obama? Hardly. They are poorer by any standard used to measure prosperity. Race relations are worse than any time since the '60s. Rather than admit their social and economic policies have failed, liberals look for others to blame. Republicans and now cops are convenient targets.

Democrats have done nothing to address the root causes of problems within the black community. In fact, they are responsible for most of them. When challenged, they use their willing accomplices in the media to demonize opponents as racists and bigots. No, the real racism comes from the left in America. That is the dirty secret that must be kept a secret. They are aided in this by the media and race-baiters like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and many others.
BUTTE  A humble, behind-the-scenes civic servant and true-blue Butte boy who conceived the idea of the Our Lady of the Rockies statue, Bob OBill truly made a difference in many lives.

Beloved and remembered as a gentle soul, OBill, 83, died Sunday in Great Falls, where he had been hospitalized since Friday.

The Lady was lit for the first time in December 1985  his crowning moment.

That night when the lights went on was the greatest day of my life, he famously said at the time. That was pay day. Were elated.

The general consensus is if it werent for OBill, the 90-foot iron statue of Mother Mary overlooking Butte from atop the East Ridge would not have been built. An electrician by trade, he originally envisioned a 5-foot statue to thank God for his wife Joyces recovery from a serious illness in 1979.

He was quiet  he didnt like publicity, said Leroy Lee, a working friend, machinist and welder on the statue. He could get anybody and everybody to help. He had that chemistry to ask, Would you donate or help? No one could say no to him.

Not even Joe Roberts, businessman and salesman behind the statues construction who hired Lee, could keep OBills quiet persistence at bay.

Initially in 1979, OBill dropped off a ceramic knick-knack of the Virgin Mary, arms extended, at the Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment Company shop where Lee worked. It was Bobs way of keeping the OLR idea foremost in their thoughts.

The more Bob talked, the more Joe was in, added Lee. But thats the kind of guy Bob was. He was very gentle, easy-going and everybody just loved him.

Retirement kept the OBills busy taking care of the less fortunate.

OBill also had a passion for feeding the hungry, said Kathy Griffith, Butte Emergency Food Bank director for the past six years. She and her staff were clearly overwhelmed while talking about losing their star volunteer on Monday.

He ran the back warehouse, but he did so much for us, said Griffith. I dont think I can put into words how instrumental he was for the food bank. He and Joyce  the two of them have been amazing. For many years theyve watched the food bank grow.

The food bank opened in 1981.

Sister Mary Jo McDonald, a longtime friend of the OBills, echoed Bobs penchant for caring about the less advantaged.

Its not easy to do  and Bob was so patient and kind, said McDonald. Bob and Joyce deserve great thanks.

Setting a serene example, Bob eventually fulfilled his dream for Joyce.

He loved his wife dearly and vice versa, said Sister Mary Jo. He worked very diligently preparing Our Lady of the Rockies.

It was the work of many hands, but he made a promise to his wife. I dont think he anticipated a 90-foot statue, though.

Last Nov. 18, 700 citizens celebrated the 30th anniversary of OLR with an emotion-packed dinner at the Butte Civic Center.

What a blessing OLR was to this community, Sister Mary Jo said, adding: Together we can do all things.

Many tears were shed during the On the Mountain video viewing at the anniversary gala. OBill is among a handful of original project workers featured in the film.

Griffith called him humble.

He would never have wanted anything (written) about him, Griffith said. He was so humble. He has touched so many lives. He always did what needed to be done.

Granddaughter Shawna Gibson, 43, said her grandfather had a weakness for stray animals, too. Plus his spirit rubbed off on her and her daughter, Lillian Koefelda, 12.

He taught me how to love unconditionally all people, said Gibson. He instilled in me compassion. He was a big part of my heart and my life.

Living up to OBills big-hearted legacy could be a trick.

We are all better people in this world who have known Bob, Griffith added. Youll never find a more generous man. Weve all lost a good friend.

There were givers and takers  and he was a giver.

Relatives and friends are asked to join with the family from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday in St. Patricks Church for visitations. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Interment of ashes will follow in Mount Moriah Cemetery
BUTTE - A wife and husband who died Monday in a murder-suicide in Butte have been identified by the county coroner.

Amanda Peck, 36, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to her upper torso, Butte-Silver Bow County Coroner Lee LaBreche said Tuesday.

Her husband Keith Peck alerted police dispatch that he had shot his wife and then turned the high-power rifle on himself. He was killed by a single gunshot to the head.

Amanda was found on the living room floor and her husband was lying on a mattress nearby, Undersheriff George Skuletich said Tuesday.

He added that neighbors on the 1800 block of Oregon Avenue did not hear the gunshots about 8 a.m. Monday.

The couple reportedly have children, but they were not inside the home at the time of the shooting, authorities said. The undersheriff said there were no signs of struggle.

Police have no record of dispatch calls from the Pecks to report domestic violence or other incidents.

A suicide note was not found at the scene, Skuletich said.
HAMILTON - The charred remains of Scott Edsons Hamilton home are mostly strewn outside his cinderblock foundation rather than inside where they would have fallen.

The sheriff told me that they thought I had died in the Roaring Lion fire, so they raked through this stuff trying to find me, Edson said. They were hoping to find bones but at that temperature, it was a crematorium. No human flesh or bones would have survived.

He wasnt home when the raging wildfire started on July 31, Although my friends would have assumed I was, he said. I loved Sundays at home enjoying the solace and not having the phone ring.

Instead, Edson was working as a Boy Scout merit badge counselor on Melita Island at Flathead Lake and didnt return to Hamilton until five days after the fire raced through his Judd Hollow neighborhood and incinerated 15 homes  including his.

The fire also destroyed his carport and shop where he lost two vehicles, many expensive tools, treasured collections and a lot of outdoor equipment.

Standing next to his 2002 Toyota Tacoma that used to be painted white, Edson pointed out the remains of his rifles that were in the back seat, the strings of radials where tires used to be and the puddles of silver metal that melted off the truck and dripped onto the ground.

Edson owns 20 acres a little more than two miles up from the mailboxes at the Judd Hollow turn off Roaring Lion Road. His property includes a sloped hillside and a perennial stream that is still percolating through ash-covered ground.

It almost feels and sounds like snow as you walk around here, he said of the blackened soil. Now you can see five times farther than when it was vegetated, he said of his view of the forest and horizon.

In the evening, almost two weeks after the fire ignited, the view from Scotts homesite is like a black and white picture of barren trees with an occasional dot of orange where a pine has been felled by a chainsaw. Underground smoldering of logs and roots creates a mist of smoke that hovers over the ground ominously.

This was the most beautiful place on Earth and now it looks like a field of punji sticks, he said.

He pointed to granite rocks that he said looked like cracked eggs with layers of shale sliding off. Only an extreme fire could do that to granite, he said.

Closer to the stream, Edson said hes seen dragonflies emerge and shoots of green grass push through the ash. It doesnt take long for nature to try to rebound, although it will never be the same in my lifetime, he said.

While Edsons vehicles were insured, his off-the-grid, solar-powered log cabin was not. So I dont know if Ill rebuild, its too early in the thought process to think clearly, he said. Ive just got to focus on clean up at this point.

Although the effects of the wildfire are a shock to Edson, the fire itself was not.

It was only a matter of time, he said. About 11 years ago, more than half of the residents up here qualified and participated in a Forest Fuels Fire Reduction Grant. We contracted with a local logger and most opted for him to come in for a fee that was covered by grant money and turned over the harvest to him. I chose to split 50/50 and worked alongside him.  We had several retired foresters who worked with the state in this effort and helped us identify which trees should be part of the harvest. It was a cooperative effort among several agencies.  What they were after was favoring the native Ponderosa Pines and taking out the Douglas Firs. The fir brought in more money anyway so it was a good deal for everyone involved.

Edson said the tragic part of forest management in the Roaring Lion area was, About 25 years ago, the forest service sent out an RFP (request for proposal) to all the loggers throughout the region, he said. The loggers submitted their proposals on how to reduce the fire hazards and burn the slash. After all this work, all the free consulting the loggers basically gave them, the proposals were ultimately filed in a circular file. I know it was probably a funding issue, but its all very alarming to me that so much good work that would have benefit this area and prevented the degree of destruction here was discarded.

Edson was born and raised in the Seattle area and earned many degrees specializing in biology and botany. He worked for most of his career as a fish biologist in Alaska but was able to move to Hamilton in 1990. His consulting work has taken him back and forth between Montana and Alaska over the last 26 years.

I was married to my career, he said. But I always wanted to come to Montana to see and explore, so this was definitely a dream of mine. Its hard to make a living here so Ive had to leave at times, but I always come back.

He is proud of his efforts to have a pure strain of cut throat trout officially recognized in the stream on his property.

Most believed there were no fish in this creek, but finally I invited a hydrologist to come and we electrofished and took some samples. I was very proud to work through that process of having the trout officially recognized. So now, my main concern after the fire is for them because of the erosion factor since theres no vegetation to bind the banks. I want to make sure theyre protected.

For the time being, Edson is staying with his friends, Chet and Penny Nelson. Chet was the one who tracked down Edson on Melita Island to tell him the progress of the fire.

He tried to get up to my house and gather a few things, but the sheriff wouldnt let him, Edson said. It was a safety issue, I know that. Im just lucky to have a friend like him. Hes always doing good for others.

He was so committed to his assignment at Scout camp that he didnt leave the island when he could have.

Im helping these boys with their requirements to earn their eagle, he said. Scouts has done so much for me, I wanted to give back. This was my first time as a merit badge counselor and to be surrounded by the boys energy and all kinds of ideas. It was a blessing to be with them since there was nothing I could do here.

Edson chokes up when he talks about the kindness of friends and strangers. Weve had a tremendous outpouring of support, he said. When I saw what was left of my house, I was pretty well braced for it. I didnt fly off the handle or get too emotional. But its all these kind deeds that touch my heart.

Ill miss it here, he said. My big window used to be right here and I had a table and chairs from my mom right here. In the winter when the snow fell, Id sit by this window and watch huge snowflakes fall in slow motion. You talk about tranquility  it was tranquility supercharged. It saddens my heart to think Ill never experience that again. But you just have to go forward.
At any given moment, about half of the private-sector employees in the United States  some 60 million people  do not have any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan. The result is a growing American underclass, in which a third of current retirees live almost entirely on Social Security and fully half of future retirees will face reduced standards of living. Worse, the coverage gap has long proved intractable, with Congress and the financial industry unable or unwilling to design or support truly simple and low-cost retirement savings plans.

And yet, retirement prospects are about to improve for the 6.8 million employees without retirement coverage who work in California for businesses with five or more workers. Next week, the California Legislature is set to vote on a plan, nearly four years in the making, to automatically enroll most uncovered workers in individual retirement savings accounts. Employee advocates are confident the measure will pass, and Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign it. When that happens, Californians will gain more security  and the rest of the nation will gain a national model for promoting retirement savings.

Under the plan, uncovered employees would have up to 5 percent of pay deducted from their paychecks, unless they opted out. Those contributions would be pooled and managed by investment professionals chosen by the state through a bidding process. The plan, called the California Secure Choice Retirement Program, would be overseen by a board of public- and private-sector leaders, appointed by the governor and the Legislature in 2012, when the legislative effort first got underway.

The benefits of such a plan are the lower fees and higher returns that come with pooled contributions and professional management. The burden on employers is minimal: They have to deduct the employees contributions from paychecks. The risks to the state are also minimal: Because the accounts are financed entirely with employee contributions, they do not present the fiscal problems associated with many public pension funds.
A humble, behind-the-scenes civic servant and true-blue Butte boy who conceived the idea of the Our Lady of the Rockies statue, Bob OBill truly made a difference in many lives.

Beloved and remembered as a gentle soul, OBill, 83, died Sunday in Great Falls, where he had been hospitalized since Friday.

The Lady was lit for the first time in December 1985  his crowning moment.

That night when the lights went on was the greatest day of my life, he famously said at the time. That was pay day. Were elated.

The general consensus is if it werent for OBill, the 90-foot iron statue of Mother Mary overlooking Butte from atop the East Ridge would not have been built. An electrician by trade, he originally envisioned a 5-foot statue to thank God for his wife Joyces recovery from a serious illness in 1979.

He was quiet  he didnt like publicity, said Leroy Lee, a working friend, machinist and welder on the statue. He could get anybody and everybody to help. He had that chemistry to ask, Would you donate or help? No one could say no to him.

Not even Joe Roberts, businessman and salesman behind the statues construction who hired Lee, could keep OBills quiet persistence at bay.

Initially in 1979, OBill dropped off a ceramic knick-knack of the Virgin Mary, arms extended, at the Roberts Rocky Mountain Equipment Company shop where Lee worked. It was Bobs way of keeping the OLR idea foremost in their thoughts.

The more Bob talked, the more Joe was in, added Lee. But thats the kind of guy Bob was. He was very gentle, easy-going and everybody just loved him.

Retirement kept the OBills busy taking care of the less fortunate.

OBill also had a passion for feeding the hungry, said Kathy Griffith, Butte Emergency Food Bank director for the past six years. She and her staff were clearly overwhelmed while talking about losing their star volunteer on Monday.

He ran the back warehouse, but he did so much for us, said Griffith. I dont think I can put into words how instrumental he was for the food bank. He and Joyce  the two of them have been amazing. For many years theyve watched the food bank grow.

The food bank opened in 1981.

Sister Mary Jo McDonald, a longtime friend of the OBills, echoed Bobs penchant for caring about the less advantaged.

Its not easy to do  and Bob was so patient and kind, said McDonald. Bob and Joyce deserve great thanks.

Setting a serene example, Bob eventually fulfilled his dream for Joyce.

He loved his wife dearly and vice versa, said Sister Mary Jo. He worked very diligently preparing Our Lady of the Rockies.

It was the work of many hands, but he made a promise to his wife. I dont think he anticipated a 90-foot statue, though.

Last Nov. 18, 700 citizens celebrated the 30th anniversary of OLR with an emotion-packed dinner at the Butte Civic Center.

What a blessing OLR was to this community, Sister Mary Jo said, adding: Together we can do all things.

Many tears were shed during the On the Mountain video viewing at the anniversary gala. OBill is among a handful of original project workers featured in the film.

Griffith called him humble.

He would never have wanted anything (written) about him, Griffith said. He was so humble. He has touched so many lives. He always did what needed to be done.

Granddaughter Shawna Gibson, 43, said her grandfather had a weakness for stray animals, too. Plus his spirit rubbed off on her and her daughter, Lillian Koefelda, 12.

He taught me how to love unconditionally all people, said Gibson. He instilled in me compassion. He was a big part of my heart and my life.

Living up to OBills big-hearted legacy could be a trick.

We are all better people in this world who have known Bob, Griffith added. Youll never find a more generous man. Weve all lost a good friend.

There were givers and takers  and he was a giver.

Relatives and friends are asked to join with the family from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday in St. Patricks Church for visitations. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Interment of ashes will follow in Mount Moriah Cemetery
Former longtime Democratic legislator Joe Quilici, 91, of Butte, who was part of a powerful group of Anaconda-Butte Democratic lawmakers in the 1970s, died Sunday.

A soft-spoken man, Quilici was known for effectively working both sides of the aisle in the Legislature, and for playing integral roles in getting passed legislation that benefited Butte and the area.

Quilicis death follows that of State Sen. Beatrice Bea McCarthy, 81, of Anaconda, who died on August 8.

Quilici and McCarthy were among members of the powerhouse of Butte-Anaconda legislators that included former Rep. Fritz Daily, former state Sen. J.D. Lynch and former state Sen. Judy Jacobson.

The Montana Standard reported in a 1994 article that Quilici and Lynch were the backbone of that delegation of local lawmakers who were known for their tenacity, unity and ability to get things done for Butte and Anaconda.

Lynch called the years he and Quilici served  both entered the Legislature in 1971 and left it in 1999  a very special time.

When we started in the House, there were seven house members alone. Now were down to three. When the population declined, we lost some of our power, Lynch said Monday.

Fritz Daily said Quilicis prowess as a legislator was due, in part, to his willingness to cross the aisle.

Lynch agreed, and also attributed Quilicis success as a legislator to a willingness to work with Republicans.

I think the reason we were so successful, we got along with both sides of the aisle. Some of our best friends were Republicans. We didnt think we were representing the parties, we were representing our communities, Lynch said.

Daily shared living quarters in Helena with Quilici during the legislative sessions from 1979 to 1993.

Daily echoed Lynch when he said that Quilici and the other Butte-Anaconda Democrats were willing to vote for their communities, even if that meant voting against other Democrats in Helena.

Theres no doubt we were a powerful force, Daily said. We stuck together and we worked together. And while we were all Democrats, we didnt necessarily always toe the Democratic Party line. We were independent. We voted (with the other Democrats) 95 percent of the time, but we stepped out when we needed to do so for our communities. It gained us a respect. We werent afraid to do that.

Lynch added that Quilici was the chairman of the Business and Labor Council and that he also sat on the Appropriations Committee while he was in the House.

That (being on the Appropriations Committee) was very influential, thats where the money was spent, Lynch said.

Daily believes that Quilicis greatest influence during the nearly 30 years he served the Legislature was in saving Montana Tech.

Daily explained that in those years, Tech had to ask for money directly from the Legislature, and the state representatives wanted to save money by turning Tech into a junior college. Daily said it was a continual fight to protect Tech from such a fate.

We faced a lot of challenges back then, Daily said. Only one time did we have excess money. Every other time, we were in a situation where we were cutting things, raising taxes, whatever we had to do to balance the budget.

But that did not mean sacrificing Tech.

Quilici was also responsible for carrying legislation that helped bring the Port of Montana, a rail hub about 8 miles southwest of Butte, to Butte-Silver Bow County, according to Daily.

Judy Jacobson called Quilici a really nice guy. Jacobson worked with Quilici both in Helena as well as in Butte. She was Butte-Silver Bow chief executive from 2000 to 2004. During those same years, Quilici served on the countys council of commissioners. He was easy to work with, Jacobson said.

He was very conscientious. He was always ready to help other people and he was extremely loyal to his hometown, Jacobson said.

Lynch recalled Quilici as a fun-loving great Italian fellow with many great stories.

Butte has lost a great friend by losing Joe Quilici, Lynch said.

Funeral services will be conducted Friday at 11 a.m. in the Butte Civic Center Annex with Sister Mary Jo McDonald SCL officiating. A reception will follow in the Civic Center. Private entombment services will be conducted.
Newspaper coverage of the Franklin Graham August 9 rally in Helena suggests that science and religion have finally come together. But not in reconciliation.

First the science: After World War II, our government funded a massive project by social psychologists to try to understand why so many Germans had been receptive to Hitlers brand of fascism. The result was a two-volume tome titled The Authoritarian Personality.

The authors, T. W. Adorno and his associates, described the typical personality of one who would be receptive to strong, non-democratic leadership based on nationalism, bigotry and exclusion. The authoritarian personality, they wrote, believes that we live in a threatening world, and one way to cope is to stick to the straight and narrow path of conventional morality. Additionally, he sees the world in black-and-white terms; is uncomfortable with ambiguity; seeks answers from strong authority figures; has a we-they orientation, being suspicious of the other; and is extremely nationalistic. Subsequent research in political science, psychology and sociology has replicated this description, and since authoritarianism is seen predominantly among political conservatives, some studies use the term conservative personality.

Recently, the New York Times quoted from a political science study that found the single factor that most accurately predicts a Donald Trump supporter is being relatively high on an authoritarian index. This is something that we see every day played out in the news.

I think it fair to say that in religion this personality type is usually a fundamentalist/evangelical, whether the religion be Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or something else. In my last book, If You Live by the Sword, I suggested that no matter what the religion, there are two basic approaches: (1) the liberal, love-and-forgive, social justice model, and (2) the conservative, judge-and-condemn, social control model. Authoritarians seem to flock to the second.

That religious conservatives in America seem to be Republicans first and Christians second, and that the evangelicals who attended the Graham rally are overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, in spite of his decidedly non-Christian beliefs and behavior, in contrast to Hillary Clintons lifetime of adhering to her Methodist faith and the beatitudes, should not surprise us. Disappointment, yes, but surprise, no.

-- Larry Pettit, Ph.D, taught political science at Penn State and Montana State, was Montanas first Commissioner of Higher Education, and subsequently headed universities in Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. He is retired and lives in Helena.
BILLINGS  Jack Haney just wants 10 more weeks.

On Aug. 31, he and other medical marijuana providers will drop all but three of their registered cardholders under a new Montana law that takes effect that day.

On Nov. 8, voters will decide whether to revert back to the current law, which has no restriction on the number of people providers can serve. Haney views the 10 weeks in between is an interim period with significant changes for both his business and his patients.

Theres no way that these people are going to be able to set up their grow, find seeds or clones and be able to have a crop before we vote, he said.

Other providers are shutting their doors ahead of the August deadline as the number of dispensaries in Montana continues its downward slide. And while the new law marks a sea change in the states rollercoaster medical marijuana industry, the November vote in its wake could bring another.

Nick Frentsos said hell be shutting down his Lockwood dispensary, Bloom Montana. After opening a year ago, Bloom now serves more than 100 patients across half of the state, Frentsos said.

He said that he wouldnt be able to keep a storefront open with just three customers.

Its a financial decision to shut our doors, and that financial decision is affected by the legal limits of the new law, Frentsos said. If we could provide for maybe 12 people, then it might be reasonable to stay open. But thats not the case.

The incoming law passed in 2011, but a five-year legal challenge postponed certain parts. The most hotly contested provisions were the three-patient limit and an automatic state review of doctors who recommend the drug to more than 25 patients.

The law passed the Montana Legislature as SB 423, and it was designed to slow a booming medical marijuana trade.

There were concerns about the number of shops popping up in Montana cities after the number of registered cardholders ballooned to more than 30,000. Others worried that people with minor ailments were getting access to marijuana for primarily recreational purposes.

Jeff Essmann, who was a Republican state senator at the time, carried the bill. He said in 2011 that the intent was to return to what the voters intended  a small program for truly ill individuals.

Now a ballot initiative, I-182, has been approved for the fall ballot. Sponsored by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, the measure will remove the provisions brought by SB 423.

I-182 would also add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of approved ailments for medical marijuana treatment and require product testing.

Even while the law sat in legal limbo, the number of providers dropped 89 percent since the programs peak in June 2011, according to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Thats a drop from 4,650 to 487 as of July 2016.

A large number of the remaining providers could leave the program ahead of Aug. 31. Providers needed to register their three patients under the new law by Aug. 1, otherwise the health department assumes they will no longer operate.

About 35 percent of remaining providers didnt register or have requested to be removed from the program, according to health department spokesman Jon Ebelt.

It can be a big change for patients who get dropped by their providers, as well. Their choice is to grow their own marijuana, which is legal under the law, or to stock up and wait for November.

Growing medical-grade marijuana can be costly, time-consuming and difficult for people with serious medical conditions.

Its not the easiest plant to grow, especially because a lot of us grow indoors, Frentsos said. Its rather expensive.

Jason Smith, who co-owns Montana Advanced Caregivers in Billings, said that he has patients who might be able to grow on their own but arent able to because many landlords wont allow it on rental property.

Smith is also hoping that a legal push might bridge those 10 weeks. In the meantime, hes staying in business and already registered his three patients. His business has served hundreds.

Were not going to give it up for nothing, he said. Were continuing to rent right through it.

Proponents are hoping that implementation of the law will be held off yet again through court action. The Montana Cannabis Industry Association, of which Haney is a board member, has requested Lewis and Clark County District Judge James Reynolds to order a stay on the law.

Reynolds made the same move back in 2011 when the MTCIA challenged SB 423.

Among those speaking out for 10 more weeks is Bob Ream, a former Democratic Montana legislator and professor emeritus of wildlife biology. Hes also a stage IV cancer patient.

In July, Montana newspapers carried his letter, in which he shared his challenges with illness and his experience with medical marijuana. He wrote that a three-patient limit would put too many providers out of business, cutting off access to patients like himself.

After shutting down his business, Frentsos said that he may try to provide for three patients himself. In the meantime, he said that most hopes are pinned on the November vote.

Its so important at the local level, he said. And thats become very evident with this whole medical marijuana deal.
WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.,

Plaintiff,

vs.

ESTATE OF KENNETH EUGENE BEEDING; SPOUSE OF KENNETH EUGENE BEEDING; SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; STATE OF IOWA; ESTATE RECOVERY PROGRAM; ALL KNOWN AND UNKNOWN CLAIMANTS AND ALL PERSONS KNOWN OR UNKNOWN CLAIMING ANY RIGHT, TITLE OR INTEREST AND ALL OF THEIR HEIRS, SPOUSES, ASSIGNS, GRANTEES, LEGATEES, DEVISEES AND ALL BENEFICIARIES OF EACH AND ALL OF THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ALL CREDITORS, HEIRS, SPOUSES, ASSIGNS, GRANTEES, LEGATEES, AND DEVISEES OF KENNETH EUGENE BEEDING,

Defendants.

To the above-named Defendants: Estate of Kenneth Eugene Beeding, Spouse of Kenneth Eugene Beeding and All known and unknown claimants and all persons known or unknown claiming any right, title or interest and all of their heirs, spouses, assigns, grantees, legatees, devisees and all beneficiaries of each and all of the above-named defendants, including but not limited to all creditors, heirs, spouses, assigns, grantees, legatees, and devisees of Kenneth Eugene Beeding

You are notified there was on 5/3/2016 filed in the Office of the Clerk of the above-named Court a Foreclosure Petition, which prays for foreclosure of a mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described herein and judgment in rem in the amount of $46,400.76 plus interest at the rate of 4.31% per annum from 5/21/2009, such amount equaling $6.21 per day, the costs of the action including title costs of $250.00, and reasonable attorney fees and that said sums be declared a lien upon the following-described premises from 5/21/2009, located in Muscatine County, Iowa, to-wit:

Lot Eight (8) of Scholten's Addition to the City of Muscatine, Iowa, according to the Auditor's Plat thereof, together with the perpetual use, with the owners of the property of the South and West thereof, of a driveway as described and referred to in a Deed recorded in Book 61 of Lots at page 210 of the records of Muscatine County, Iowa

that the mortgage on the above-described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court may deem just and equitable. The attorney for the Plaintiff is David M. Erickson, whose address is The Davis Brown Tower, 215 10th Street, Suite 1300, Des Moines, Iowa 50309-3993, Phone: (515) 288-2500, Facsimile: (515) 243-0654.

NOTICE

THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITH REDEMPTION.

You must serve a motion or answer on or before the 12th day of September, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter, file your motion or answer, in the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Iowa, at the County Courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the Petition.

If you need assistance to participate in court due to a disability, call the disability coordinator at 563-328-4145. Persons who are hearing or speech impaired may call Relay Iowa TTY (1-800-735-2942.) Disability coordinators cannot provide legal advice.

IMPORTANT

YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS.

Date of Third Publication

23rd day of August, 2016
Civil #: 16-001309

Special Execution

U.S. ROF III Legal Title Trust 2015-1, By U.S. Bank National Association, As Legal Title Trustee

VS.

Chester Theodore Smith, Discover Bank, And Parties In Possession

As a result of the judgment rendered in the above referenced court case, an execution was issued by the court to the Sheriff of this county. The execution ordered the sale of defendant(s) Real Estate Described Below. To satisfy the judgment. The property to be sold is

Lot No. 1 in Block 4 of the Town of Nichols, Iowa, situated in Muscatine County, Iowa.

Property Address: 502 Main Street, Nichols, IA 52766

The described property will be offered for sale at public auction for cash only as follows:

Sale Date: 09/20/2016

Sale Time: 9:30 am

Place of Sale: Muscatine County Jail Lobby, 400 Walnut Street, Muscatine

Homestead: Defendant is advised that if the described real estate includes the homestead (which must not exceed 1/2 Acre if within a city or town plat, or, if rural, must not exceed 40 Acres), defendant must file a homestead plat with the Sheriff within ten (10) days after service of this notice, or the Sheriff will have it platted and charge the costs to this case.

This sale not subject to redemption.

Property exemption: Certain money or property may be exempt. Contact your attorney promptly to review specific provisions of the law and file appropriate notice, if applicable.

Judgment Amount: $27,065.76

Costs: $13,444.98

Accruing Costs: Plus

Interest: $1,115.00

Sheriffs Fees: Pending

Date: 08/02/2016

Attorney:

Brian G. Sayer

925 E. 4th St.

Waterloo, IA 50703

(319)234-2530

C.J. Ryan

Muscatine County Sheriff

Melissa Hurlbut

Civil Deputy
COLUMBUS, Iowa  Columbus board policies on the length of the school year, post-secondary enrollment (PSE) and online class options, drivers education, at-risk programming and class size and groupings received final approval from the Columbus School Board during the boards regular monthly meeting Monday.

While most of the updates were based on recent changes in state laws, the PSE and online class options policy reflected more local concerns. According to previous discussions, Columbus has paid over $10,000 annually in recent years to cover the cost of classes, including many at Muscatine Community College (MCC).

Superintendent Gary Benda told the school board at earlier meetings the high cost was a concern for the district, which has been fighting to reverse growing budget deficits for the past few years.

Benda explained to the board Monday the schools current policy for the classes did not actually need to be rewritten.

I believe we have to enforce (the policy), he said, explaining the current policy actually limits the schools cost to $250.

He said part of the problem Columbus found itself in stemmed from MCC charging a higher rate for some of its classes. Benda said enforcing the existing policy would likely reduce Columbus costs.

If a student wants to take a course that will cost more than the $250 we have the students/parents pay the whole fee, he said.

Once the student successfully completes the course and submits a transcript, the district would then provide a $250 reimbursement.

Local resident Seth Todd asked the school board to continue paying for the classes during the public participation portion of the meeting.

You are essentially telling kids not to try, he said.

After Benda explained the board policy to Todd and assured him the school district would continue to support the PSEO and online classes, Todd indicated he was satisfied.

In other board policy discussion, Benda said he would likely present a proposed policy at the boards next meeting to control late certified staff resignations.

He pointed out two resignations presented to the board at Mondays meeting came after July 1, including one that had been presented that afternoon and was too late to even include on the printed agenda.

Benda suggested setting an early July deadline for resignations and requiring a $1,500 payout if a resignation request came after the deadline. He also suggested any late resignation be accepted pending a suitable replacement.

Board members indicated the proposal was a step in the right direction.

In other action, the board reviewed a proposed set of guidelines for selecting the districts annual Distinguished Graduate award. Board president Sandi Martin developed the guidelines after confusion developed over the process during past selection efforts.

Under the proposed guidelines, the program would be identified with a dual purpose: to broaden the horizons of the graduates to the vast array of possibilities that a Columbus diploma may provide and to display to the community the versatility and effectiveness of the lives of (Columbus) graduates.

The guidelines, which will be acted upon at the next meeting, also outlined the nomination and selection processes.

In final action, the board:

Approved several personnel changes;

Completed routine appoints for legal counsel, newspaper and official depositories;

Approved the districts non-discrimination policy.
Louisa County Supervisor Randy Griffin did not catch all the fish he wanted during a July 1 auction that included several Civil War memorabilia, but he did manage to snag two Civil War recruitment/meeting posters that will eventually end up in the county courthouse.

During a short ceremony at the county board of supervisors regular meeting on Tuesday, Griffin presented the two framed posters to Louisa County Auditor Sandi Elliott as a donation to the county from him, his wife Peg and other contributors.

They call these broadsides, Griffin said, explaining the posters had been part of local resident George Bells Civil War collection.

Griffin said the two, along with several other posters - including one that specifically mentioned recruitment bounties being paid by the Louisa County Board of Supervisors - had previously been on loan to the county from Bell.

The posters had been displayed in the supervisors former meeting room while on loan.

When we moved out (to the Louisa County Complex), I took them back and George had an auction and put them up for sale, Griffin explained.

There were three of them that specifically said Louisa County on them and this one I think is the prize, he continued, pointing to a large broadside with a banner headline that screamed Citizens of Louisa County - To Arms.

The poster was a plea from then-Iowa Governor Samuel Kirkwood for recruits to join the Union army and march off to war. His name was as prominent as the other headlines.

The smaller broadside was a notice specifically asking Union supporters to attend a mass meeting to be held at the Louisa County Courthouse in Wapello in 1861 to nominate candidates in an upcoming election.

Although Griffin was pleased to have been able to win the bid on the two posters, he was disappointed over losing the supervisors bounty broadside. He said after beating out several competing bids for the Kirkwood poster he tried to use a psychological ploy on the other bidders he assumed would try and acquire the bounty poster and a few others that also had Louisa County connections.

I wanted that badly, Griffin said, so when he went up to collect the Kirkwood poster, he announced that poster would be donated to the county and be available for viewing by the public.

The crowd clapped and I thought that would slow everyone down, Griffin recalled, but another bidder declined to take the bait and won the poster with a higher bid.

I chickened out, Griffin acknowledged.

However, shortly after the posters sold, several local residents came over to Griffin and said they wanted to help with the purchase of the two posters he had purchased.

The people started stepping up and saying let me help you, thats a really great idea, he said.

Eventually, in addition to Griffin and his wife, the donors list or recognition wishes included: Kevin Schlutz and Linda Martin; the Bill and Mackie Krahl Estate; Gloria Newell; in memory of Patrick and Margie Smith; Max and Nancy McGill; Ball Brothers Farms; Paula and Bob Buckman; and Tim and Carol Whitaker.

In other action, the supervisors:

Received a monthly department update from conservation board executive director Katie Hammond;

Approved a modification of an existing master matrix for the Peartree/Greiner Site Expansion in Oakland Township.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The vacancy on the Veterans Affairs Commission has been filled.

Ronald Miller was approved with all ayes to serve on the commission for a three-year term ending July 30, 2019, at the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday morning.

Nancy Schreiber, the director of administrative services for Muscatine County, said the position has been vacant since May.

To fulfill gender balance requirements according to Iowa Code, the county had to actively seek a female applicant for three months, as only one woman currently serves on the commission.

Schreiber said the three-month search was completed on Aug. 5, and the first applicant to apply, Miller, turned in his application about one week ago.

"Ron was on it (the commission) before and was an active member," she said.

According to his application, Miller served in the Vietnam War, and he wants to serve the veterans of the Muscatine community.

Supervisors also approved the second reading of an ordinance to add wind energy conversion systems to the zoning ordinance as a permitted special use in A-1 Agricultural, I-1 Light Industrial and I-2 Heavy Industrial Districts, and the second reading of a flood plain management ordinance revision.

Muscatine County Emergency Management Director Matt Shook said the installation of a radio site in Wilton is on schedule, and there have been no delays thus far.

"The City of Wilton has been fantastic to work with," he said.

The goal will be to have the radio tower in place before school begins in the new Wilton school building, which has been difficult for radio signals to penetrate.

In other business:

The board approved an amendment to the High Quality Jobs Program between Muscatine County, Monsanto and Iowa Economic Development. The amendment was needed due to a minor clerical error, according to Greg Jenkins, the president of the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The board voted to allow 2016 homestead tax credits and military tax exemptions as recommended by the Assessors Office.

The board approved various utility permits, presented to the board by Muscatine County Engineer Keith White.

The board approved the purchase of a replacement work truck for the purchase price of $31,254. The budgeted amount was $30,500.

The board accepted the resignation of Dr. Rebecca Mueller from the Muscatine County Board of Health. Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff Sorensen said he and the board appreciate her service, and wish her and her family well.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Three vehicles were involved in a car accident that occurred Monday afternoon at Highway 61 and Cedar Street.

Muscatine County Sheriffs Deputies responded to the accident at 3:10 p.m. Monday.

Norman Miller, 67, of Grandview, was driving an Oldsmobile Cutlass on Highway 61 when he turned left onto Cedar Street, according to a press release from the Muscatine County Sheriff's Office.

Denise McGhee, 33, of Tipton, was traveling northbound on Highway 61 in a Ford Focus when she and Miller collided.

Miller's vehicle was then pushed into a Chevrolet Silverado pickup operated by Jason Karr, 37, of Center Point. Karr was stopped at a red light on Cedar Street facing westbound.

Miller and McGhee suffered minor injuries. The three drivers were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The Muscatine County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crash.

The Muscatine Police Department, Muscatine Ambulance, Fruitland Fire Department and Fruitland First Responders assisted on the scene.

Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal
We had to do something.

Thats what Governor Branstad said when asked why he was privatizing Medicaid. That something has been fiscally reckless and has resulted in terrible consequences for patients and the providers that care for them.

The privatization is not going well by just about any measure. 79% of providers are not getting paid on time by the for-profit insurance companies. 80% have had to deny claims they wouldnt normally turn away. But most importantly, 61% of doctors have said that the quality of services they can provide has been reduced because of the privatization. There are cost savings to be made in our healthcare system, but handing over the care of 560,000 of Iowas most vulnerable to for-profit insurance companies was not the right choice.

As Ive spoken to voters around the 91st House district, Ive begun to notice a pattern. A woman whose son cant get treatment for his schizophrenia because of the lack of mental health funding in the state. A man whose family cant get by on his minimum wage job. Teachers who are unsure if theyll have the resources they need to educate our next generation. People are struggling in Iowa, and its not because they need to be. Its because politicians in Des Moines arent looking out for everyday Iowans. They dont understand how essential school funding is to our future, or how providing for the most vulnerable among us is a core Iowan value. This disregard for the concerns of Iowas middle class isnt something we should take lying down.

Thats why Im running to represent Iowas 91st House District. I want to go to Des Moines to stick up for the average Iowan, not private corporations. Im going to make sure we properly fund our schools and end the $42 million in handouts we give to businesses that arent paying state income tax. And most importantly, Ill work to reverse the disastrous Medicaid privatization.

Im not running for personal gain, or so I can give handouts to my friends in big business. But so I can stand up to the bullies that trample over everyday Iowans. So I can ensure that our government helps us all, and not just the wealthy few. I hope to earn your support this November so that together, we can build a better Iowa.

Submitted by Phil Wiese, candidate for Iowa House District 91

Phil Wiese

1716 Ward Ave.

Muscatine, Iowa 52761

(319) 800-9709

Don Paulson

2451 Jasper Ave.

Letts, Iowa 52754

(563) 299-1842
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The Muscatine County Historic Preservation Commission would like to invite county residents to be part of history in Muscatine County. The commission recently received a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa to complete a Planning for Preservation project.

As the first step in this project, a seminar on historic preservation in Muscatine County will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Aug. 29 in floral hall on the Muscatine County Fairgrounds in West Liberty (101 N. Clay St, West Liberty). The seminar will provide information on historic preservation projects and their importance in a county, outline preservation activities in Muscatine County to date, and gather public input on the role of historic preservation in the future of Muscatine County.

The Muscatine County Historic Preservation Commission is a county organization that has worked in Muscatine County over the last three years. They have been active in the county, providing a voice for preservation in the county and serving as a resource for local residents.

One of their first projects was the successful nomination of the West Liberty Fairgrounds Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The organization is looking towards planning future historic preservation projects, such as research and documentation of historic buildings and neighborhoods within county towns and rural townships. This work could lead to designation of other buildings and historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying additional buildings for state and federal financial incentives. Other projects are also under consideration.

The seminar at 6:30 p.m. on August 29 in West Liberty will provide a forum for discussion of historic preservation in Muscatine County. Information will be presented on historic preservation and activities completed in other communities. The initial steps will be taken to identify the unique aspects of Muscatine County and its significant history. Members of the public are invited to attend, learn about historic preservation, and provide their perspective on historic preservation in Muscatine County.
MUSCATINE, Iowa Diving off the diving board, sliding down slides, and treading water were some of the activities children enjoyed at the Muscatine Aquatic Center Monday as they soaked in the last bits of freedom before school begins.

The center, which has a kiddie pool, slides, fountains, and other features to entertain a variety of ages, will be open only on weekends beginning next week.

Although the day was partly cloudy and only 81 degrees, many students splashed in the pools. For Muscatine students this will be the last full week of summer vacation.

Six-year-old Madison Smyser had her birthday party at the Aquatic Center Monday morning.

"My friend made me cookies that match my swimsuit," she said.

Her family came back to the pool Monday afternoon because they had enjoyed their time there that morning.

"I like to swim and to slide down the slides," Smyser said.

Eight-year-old Madison Pender, of Hampton, was also enjoying splashing in the pool.

"I like the slides and that there's a place for little kids to play," Pender said.

Mike Koester, and his six-year-old daughter Nichole, both of Aledo, Ill., said they visit the Muscatine Aquatic Center often.

"I like the slides too," Nichole Koester said.

While they said they were excited to go back to school, Nichole and her friends said they would miss splashing in the pool.

Parks and Recreation Director Richard Klimes said 35,000 people have visited the center this year.

"The typical season is about 40,000, and we still have time left. It looks like the numbers are pretty strong yet," he said.

He said the community has utilized the Aquatic Center as a resource.

"The citizens have had a great time," Klimes said.

The Muscatine Aquatic Center will be open daily the rest of this week from 12-6 p.m., but will be closed to the public on Sunday, Aug. 21 for a corporate event being held in Weed Park, according to the Muscatine Parks and Recreation Department.

The aquatic center will re-open from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, and will remain open from 12-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday through Labor Day.

For more information, contact the Muscatine Parks and Recreation Department at 563-263-0241.
WAPELLO, Iowa  After failing to take action last week, the Wapello School Board held a special meeting Monday and awarded the bid for a capital improvements package in the school district to Myers Construction, Sperry.

Myers and two other contractors had originally submitted bids on Aug. 3 for the work, with the Myers bid of $2,088,350 the apparent low bid. Action on the bid was then placed on the boards Aug. 10 regular meeting agenda.

However, at that meeting, board members raised several questions over roof specifications, flooring, subcontractors and other issues. The uncertainty caused the board to vote 3-1 to table action until architects with BLDD Architects, Davenport, were able to provide more explanations.

Superintendent Mike Peterson indicated Monday those explanations had not been fully addressed, but would be handled once the board moved forward on the bid award.

Those issues will be handled at the pre-construction meeting, he said, adding the school district had not discussed the bid with Myers.

School officials said the architects would now be notified about the bid award and a notice to proceed would be issued to Myers. They said no date for the pre-construction meeting had been set, but construction was still expected to begin this month.

Included in the construction is a new gymnasium and additional parking at the high school, security upgrades at both the elementary and secondary buildings and renovation of the high school Family and Consumer Science room.
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 []
While a debate still rages over how the Film and Publication Board (FPB) should regulate online content in South Africa, the body remains responsible for placing the age restrictions on media such as movies and games.

The FPB decides the age restrictions of everything from movies to video games in South Africa, and requires that they be displayed on media sold in the country.

This raises the question: how does the board decide what the rating of a movie or game should be?

FPB Classifiers

FPB spokesperson Janine Raftopoulos said their classifiers watch movies and look for classifiable elements.

Classifiable elements are depictions of: violence (V), sex (S), nudity (N), prejudice (P), substance abuse (D), language (L), blasphemy (B), horror (H), sexual violence (SV), criminal techniques (CT), and imitative acts and techniques (IAT).

These elements are assessed according to their impact.

Games are classified similarly, but include an additional classifiable element called competitive intensity (CI) which relates to the rewards and incentives given  especially in the case of violence.

Classifiers are not required to play a whole game, but are sent videos of gameplay.

Distributors also complete a matrix used for self-regulation. If they indicate a classifiable element that is not visible in the supplied footage, the FPB may request additional gameplay.

Qualifications of classifiers

Raftopoulos said the FPB calls for nominations for classifiers from the public, with certain qualification requirements.

A recent advertisement for vacant classifier positions in Durban listed the following requirements:

A Bachelors Degree or equivalent qualification  (NQF Level 6) and/or work experience in relevant fields including: Arts and Culture Social, legal, or educational services NGO experience with children, women, men, and people with disabilities Advocacy and community service

Knowledge on FPB legislation, Guidelines, and Regulations.

Knowledge on Classification Standard Operation Procedures and Governance Framework.

Ability to interpret legislation.

Age restriction alerts

The FPB summarised its age restrictions and classifiable elements in the infographic below.

FPB classification guidelines

Classification guidelines, last updated in October 2014, stipulate that all ratings decisions must consider the context of the material.

The release format must be taken into account as well, looking at things such as the ability to replay scenes and interactivity.

A classifier must also consider whether scenes will be viewed out of context.

The impact of classifiable elements are assessed according to the following categories: None, Low, Mild, Moderate, Strong, Very Strong, and Presumptively Harmful.

No Impact

There are no classifiable elements in the film that justify an age classification.

Low Impact

There are no significant single or cumulative occurrences of classifiable elements.

Classifiable elements are not realistic, using limited accentuation techniques such as lighting, perspective, and resolution.

The material is not threatening, disturbing, or harmful.

The theme causes no moral harm.

The FPB defines moral harm as: desensitising to the effects of violence, diminished empathy, encouraging a dehumanised view of others, suppressing pro-social attitudes, encouraging anti-social attitudes, reinforcing unhealthy fantasies, or eroding a sense of moral responsibility, retarding social and moral development in children, distorting a childs sense of right and wrong, and limiting a childs capacity for compassion.

Mild Impact

Limited occurrences of significant classifiable elements.

Classifiable elements may be realistic.

The material is not threatening, disturbing, or harmful.

The theme causes no moral harm.

Moderate Impact

Occurrences of classifiable elements which may be realistic.

The material may be threatening, disturbing, or harmful to children 13 and under. The theme causes no moral harm to children 13 and older.

Verbal reference, but no visual presentation of elements such as sexually-related activity, sexual conduct, or violence with no noticeable effect.

Classifiable elements form part of a bona fide storyline.

Strong Impact

Occurrences of significant classifiable elements which may:

Be realistic.

Contain details, close-ups or slow motion of sexually-related activity, sexual conduct, or violence.

The material maybe threatening, disturbing, or harmful to children 16 and under. The theme does not cause moral harm to children 16 and older.

Verbal reference or visual presentation of sexually-related activity, sexual conduct, or violence which may have an impact.

Classifiable elements form part of a bona fide storyline.

Very Strong Impact

Allows for depictions of graphic details, close-ups, or slow motion of sexually-related activity, sexual conduct, or violence.

Excludes explicit sexual violence.

Classifiable elements do not necessarily form part of a bona fide storyline.

X18, XX, Refused Classification

Media is rated X18 or XX when it contains explicit sexual conduct, unless it is judged within context to be a bona fide documentary or is of scientific, dramatic, artistic, or public interest.

If the sexual conduct shows disrespect for the right to human dignity of any person, such as bestiality, incest, or rape, it may receive an XX rating.

Presentations of extreme violence may also receive this rating, unless they qualify under the exceptions listed above.

The FPB may also refuse classification if the material:

Contains propaganda for war or incitement of imminent violence.

Advocates hatred based on any identifiable group characteristic and constitutes incitement to cause harm.

Child pornography is immediately reported to the police, and cannot qualify under the exceptions listed above.

More on the Film and Publication Board

South Africas new Internet censorship law  FPB will force ISPs to block online content

We will block Netflix in South Africa if they dont pay up: FPB

Netflix  dont pay R795,000 to the FPB
The possibility of a strike against local telecommunications giant MTN is extremely high as a key meeting with management was postponed, said a union.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has threatened strike action against MTN over the companys plan to outsource call centre staff.

A meeting between the union and MTN was scheduled for Tuesday but has been postponed to a later date.

However, confusion exists over when this meeting is planned to take place.

CWUs Secretary General Aubrey Tshabalala told Fin24 by phone on Tuesday afternoon that the meeting has been pushed back to Friday, August 19.

But in a statement issued on Tuesday, MTN said the meeting with the union is scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, sparking questions from Tshabalala.

They [MTN] dont even know if we [CWU] are available or not on the date, Tshabalala told Fin24.

I think thats the crux of the matter. Were the union that represents workers. Why do you have people joining a union if theyre not going to consult with a union?

Theyre trying to avoid us, Tshabalala said.

Meanwhile, Tshabalala told Fin24 on Tuesday afternoon that the threat of strike action against MTN is extremely high.

To us a strike is always, should I say, the last option. But its always our strong tool to hit the employer, Tshabalala told Fin24.

If theres no agreement and the employer insists on doing what hes always doing, we have no choice [but] to embark on a strike.

So it becomes clearer and clearer on a daily basis, ultimately it seems like workers will end up on the street. Because well have nothing left to prove but to defend our jobs, well be left with no other alternative, said Tshabalala.

Meanwhile, MTNs Chief Human Resources Officer, Nhlanhla Qwabe, said in a statement on Tuesday said that the company wants an amicable resolution to the issues raised.

A meeting between MTN staff and management over the planned outsourcing move is also scheduled for Wednesday, 17 August, said the company.

Fin24

More on MTN

MTN employees ready to protest and strike

Telkom explains its FreeMe packages to MTN SA CEO
Bloomberg reported that Discovery has sold 9 out of every 10 Apple watches in South Africa, which forms part of its Vitality Active programme to promote health.

Vitality Active members can get the Apple watch for free, if they have a Vitality credit card and follow a strict exercise regime. If they miss exercise targets, they pay in a monthly fee for the watch.

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore told Bloomberg that weve distributed more than 30,000 Apple watches in South Africa.

Gore said Discovery plans to offer the Apple Watch programme in the US, Asia, and the UK.

More on Apple

Apple Watch 2 here later this year: report

Best Apple iPhone tips and tricks

iPhone 7 pre-order and launch date rumours
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Given the choice to go green when making purchases online, a lot of people would follow through, new research suggests. They just need companies to provide them with enough information to do so.

The new study , just out this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that Internet-based companies (which include the likes of Amazon and Airbnb) have the opportunity to slash their products' carbon footprints by providing customers with environmentally friendly choices to cut down on greenhouse gases and other ills. The researchers tested the idea out using mock versions of four types of industries -- online retail, video streaming, ride shares and housing shares -- and found that consumers are willing to make climate-friendly selections when the options are available to them, whether it means purchasing carbon offsets or just choosing the product with the lowest carbon output.

Companies typically have access to data about the carbon footprints of the products and services they sell, said the study's lead author Steven Isley, a behavioral scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. The problem is retailers don't always make this information available to consumers.

"If an individual is going to try to calculate the carbon footprint of anything, that's actually a really hard thing to do and it requires a lot of specialized knowledge," Isley said. "Individuals are actually not in a good position to try to figure out what the environmental impacts are of the different options available to them. Firms can potentially do that once and then share that information across all of their customers."

Isley and the rest of the research team set up a series of experiments designed to test whether making these green choices available to consumers actually influences their decision-making. They created fake (but realistic-looking) versions of the online interfaces for four companies: Amazon Prime, Uber, Netflix and Airbnb. Then, they asked participants to use the interfaces and behave as though they were real customers making real purchases.

For the Netflix and Airbnb experiments, the researchers simply offered participants information about the carbon footprints of the options available to them. For instance, when it comes to video streaming, higher definition content is more carbon-intensive. So participants were given the option to choose standard definition, high definition or ultra-high definition content, along with information about the carbon footprint of each option. Similarly, the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient listings in the Airbnb experiment were denoted with a special leaf icon, so consumers would know they were the greenest choices.

The researchers found that providing such information significantly influenced consumers' decision-making. When the carbon footprints of the streaming options were explained in terms of equivalent miles driven in a vehicle, the result was a 24 percent reduction in the carbon footprints of the videos consumers chose to watch. And the researchers also found that the Airbnb participants were willing to pay slightly more for listings with the environmentally friendly designation.

The researchers also designed several experiments using the Amazon Prime and Uber interfaces to test whether consumers were willing to purchase carbon offsets if the option were available. Purchasing a carbon offset essentially provides financial support for companies to take measures to reduce their carbon output. The price of the offset generally corresponds to the amount of carbon saved.

In this case, the researchers designed ways for consumers to purchase offsets that would negate the carbon footprint of the products they purchased. In Amazon Prime, carbon offsets were offered as a way to make two-day shipping -- which can be much more carbon-intensive than standard shipping -- carbon neutral. And Uber participants had the option to purchase carbon offsets equivalent to the footprint of their ride.

The researchers found there was a market for this type of climate-friendly decision-making as well. In the Amazon Prime experiment, 88.2 percent of participants overall added offsets to their bill when the option was selected by default. Even when the option was not the default, 40 percent of participants went on to select it.

In the Uber experiment, a majority of participants were willing to purchase the offset for at least a single ride, regardless of the price. And at low costs, a majority of participants were also willing to say they would purchase the offset for all future rides. (This willingness decreased substantially for more expensive carbon offsets.)

The takeaway from all the experiments is that a market does exist for climate-friendly options -- and making the information and the choices available really can make a difference in consumer behavior.

"If you decrease the barriers to action, then more people will act, it turns out," Isley said. "I'd say one of the big takeaways is that there are opportunities for a lot of win-win situations where, at very low costs or even negative costs, firms can provide information to consumers that the consumers appreciate, that make their lives better and help the business."

That said, the participants in these experiments weren't making actual purchases -- just hypothetical ones. And there is some concern that their decisions might change in real-life situations. It's an effect known as "hypothetical bias," in which the amount consumers are willing to pay for a product or service in hypothetical situations is greater than what they'd be willing to pay in real life.

But Isley noted that research on hypothetical bias has suggested the effect is strongest for high-dollar purchases, and the experiments his team conducted included generally inexpensive options. The greatest concern about bias would likely exist for the Airbnb experiments, he said, which included room listings with costs of up to $100.

But, of course, the only way to find out for sure how consumers would behave in real life would be for real companies to conduct real tests by experimentally making these types of options available to their customers.

"Online firms in particular are constantly running experiments, they're constantly trying out minor changes," Isley said. "We think that this could be a really promising area for those types of experiments."
MIDDLETOWN  Authorities said a 40-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the blaze that destroyed more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures in a Northern California community.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail.

Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott says the blaze has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

Officials made the announcement at a news conference but didnt take questions or give any other details on Pashilk.
I find George Whitneys nonsensical attack of Sen. Susan Collins and his defense of Donald Trump (Sen. Collins spouts nonsense about Trump, Aug. 14) a typical rationalization for Trumps actions by his supporters.

What I have found so disturbing about Republicans/conservatives over the last 30 years is their sheer inability or outright refusal to admit or apologize for their bad actions. I often have had these political discussions with conservative friends and relatives and what I find is that they will go to any lengths to defend the person they politically supported. The facts dont matter. Even when I rained the inarguable failures of the Bush administration (2000-2008) upon staunch conservatives, as close as they would come to condemning those failures is Well, all politicians are rotten.

I think it's a matter of ego that these folks can never admit that they are wrong or misguided. I think they must proceed through life saddled with the blind bias that they are morally superior and so much smarter than others; to admit that they were wrong just might collapse their entire psychological house of cards. We have all known people like this -- the ministers who predict the end of the world and encourage their flocks to divest themselves of all their wealth and worldly possessions -- multiple times. The relatives who love conspiracy theories and blame everyone else for their personal failings. Facts just bounce off of them, they never, ever allow the personal curse of self-introspection or doubt to furl their brow.

Sadly many authoritarian enablers (like the supporters of Donald Trump) make excuse after excuse to defend his insulting, callous behavior. Trump is absolutely correct when he cavalierly says, I have the most loyal people  I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and I wouldnt lose voters. He understands manipulation and blind faith; his supporters dont.

Mr. Whitneys attack on Megyn Kelly for posing a rather tough but valid question to Mr. Trump in 2015 (his disparaging public comments about women) is so typical of Trumpers. It ends with a school yard taunt of If she cant take it, she shouldnt start it.

It infuriated Trump that someone from FOX would dare throw him anything other than a softball. Mr. Whitney, are you aware that women outnumber men in America? Did you know that women vote more than males in this country? Do you realize working women have more college degrees than working men in this nation? Women may very well decide this election and the data shows they overwhelmingly dislike Trumps lack of character and nastiness.

As to John McCain -- I somewhat agree that his heroics have been overplayed by his handlers and promoters. I think there are many others who died or were wounded in battle doing more heroic deeds and did not receive such lavish attention. But most of the nation, and military folk in particular, disagree with Trump and Whitney because McCain refused to let the North Vietnamese send him home early from the Hanoi Hilton. He insisted others who had been there longer go before him. That led to his increased mistreatment and torture by the NVA who detained him.

Most would agree that was an act of selfless heroism. What acts of heroism did Mr. Trump ever do for his nation other than avoid the draft with four student and one medical deferment?

Mr. Whitneys assertion that the Donald is essentially honest is laughable. PolitiFact and other organizations who evaluate statements made by Trump and other politicians show his statements are false over 70 percent of the time. But isnt it fascinating, or sad, how the Trump true believers will flush their memories of did he really say that? and replace them with the terrible and dishonest rationalizations of the Trump election organization? They are utterly committed and willing to throw out their own judgment and internalize those excuses that must be manufactured daily to somehow convince supporters that Trump was really just kidding or using sarcasm.

But then Mr. Whitney is just doing what the Trump campaign has been encouraging the loyal to do all along -- anytime you see a negative about Trump, take the time to attack the accusations in the media. And, after all, we all know the system is rigged and the media are the enemy who are attempting to derail Trumps coronation.

Since Mr. Whitney claims to know how to use a dictionary, I would encourage him to look up the following: megalomania, paranoia and willful self-delusion.

Ron Rogers

Napa
NAPA  The Culinary Institute of America, which has won Napas support to move into the shuttered Copia wine and food center, will have more funds for the revival.

A $40 million bond issue has gained the approval of the Napa and St. Helena city councils, with $5 million earmarked for Copias redevelopment. The bond, which will be issued by a joint-powers agency of various California cities, will help pay for remodeling at the First Street complex that has been dormant since Copias failure eight years ago, as well as upgrades to the academys Greystone campus in St. Helena.

Weve waited a long time since 2008, when it closed to the public, Mayor Jill Techel said of Copias demise amid mounting debt and sinking attendance. We couldnt pick a better partner than the CIA to bring that energy, that vitality back to the site.

CIA is seeking the bond funding from the California Statewide Communities Development Authority, which provides tax-exempt financing for local projects that create a public benefit. The bond is an obligation of the authority and not the two cities individually.

Since buying the property at 500 First St. in October 2015 for $12.5 million, the culinary institute has outlined its plan to remake it as CIA at Copia, a home to cooking demonstrations, exhibits and special events. The city Planning Commission approved the project July 21.

Although the school plans relatively modest changes to the exterior of the 80,000-square-foot main building, the interior would see major changes to its layout.

The restaurant would gain a separate entrance from the outside, and a nearby staircase would be removed for easier access into the building. CIA will install demonstration kitchens upstairs in a former gallery, and the center will house two free-access collections  the artworks of the Vintners Hall of Fame, and a tableware and cookware collection assembled by the late Chuck Williams, who founded the Williams-Sonoma kitchenware firm.

Copias outdoor amphitheater facing the Napa River will gain a shade canopy and terraced seating, and the school also seeks a greenhouse to replace one that was removed after the buildings closure.

If there were any doubt about the Copia propertys usefulness to Napans under CIA control, the inclusion of the two museums should settle that question, said Vice Mayor Mary Luros.

This fills a pretty clear public benefit, she said before the vote. We have a real lack of museums here in the city of Napa.

Copias reopening is scheduled to begin with the debut of its restaurant in late September, and work is expected to continue through 2017.

Earlier in July, the St. Helena City Council gave its own approval to the bond issue to support CIA. Funds for the Greystone property will go toward renovating instructional kitchens, adding bake shops, building a separate kitchen for catering, and moving office and support operations.
School district staff met last Friday in the St. Helena Performing Arts Center at St. Helena High School, some of them getting their first look inside the $14.5 million building.

New employees were introduced, and longtime staff members were recognized for reaching milestones in their years of service. Friday featured a full day of staff development, as the school district prepared for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

The school district is planning an official grand opening celebration for the new Performing Arts Center, on a date to be determined.

Francesca Menegon, Chloee Ambrosini and Brigitte Sandoval had the honor of being the first to perform in the building when they sang the national anthem on Friday.
Backers of a watershed and oak woodland protection initiative have lost their last chance to place the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot.

They turned to the courts after Napa County disqualified the measure on a technicality. On Wednesday, Aug. 10, the Supreme Court of California denied their latest legal effort to overturn the countys decision in time for election deadlines.

Initiative proponent Jim Wilson called the legal effort a hail Mary, given the time constraints. The deadline for the county Board of Supervisors to place measures on the Nov. 8 ballot was Friday.

Wilson said the appeals courts ruled ruled against their request for an emergency decision, but he doesnt believe they ruled on the merits of the case. That could allow proponents to still pursue an appeal of the Napa County Superior Court decision. If successful, they could qualify the measure for the 2018 ballot without further signature-gathering, he said.

Another option is to once again gather signatures for a 2018 measure. After Nov. 8, the next scheduled Napa County election is on June 5, 2018.

We will if we have to, Wilson said. We believe its important.

But what looked to be a Nov. 8 election showdown is over. Opposing the initiative as adding unnecessary complications and expenses to farming were Napa Valley Vintners, Napa County Farm Bureau, Napa Valley Grapegrowers and Winegrowers of Napa County.

The Water, Forest and Oak Woodland Protection Measure came amid controversies over removing forests in hills to make room for vineyards. It seeks to increase buffers near streams and limit how many oaks could be cleared from a hillside property.

Proponents Wilson and Michael Hackett said the measure would help protect watersheds and the water quality in local reservoirs. Wilson said the issue is one of health.

Hackett predicted the issue of increased watershed protections will continue, even with the measure off the Nov. 8 ballot.

There is a very small segment of greedy people in the valley who want to have things their own way, Hackett said. There will be a rising up of vintners and citizens and politicians to support enhanced protections for the watershed. Theres no question about that.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Alfredo Pedroza said last Thursday hes confident the county and the wine and farming sectors will have whatever discussions need to be had on watershed issues.

Napa County has tried to manage its resources and the challenges posed by its success, doing such things as forming the Agricultural Protection Advisory Committee and addressing groundwater issues, Pedroza said. It has shown a commitment to the community that it does the right thing, he said.

The wine industry has done such things as help form the Napa Green environmental certification program for land and wineries. Multi-generational farmers are thinking about the next generation, Pedroza said.

We dont need an initiative hanging over our heads, Pedroza said. We have people who want to make sure the future of our community isnt worse, its better.

Wilson had a different view of the initiative.

The people want to have a say, he said. Theyre not going to have it this November, unfortunately.

Proponents of the initiative gathered 6,298 signatures on a petition, more than the 3,791 required to qualify a ballot measure. Registrar of Voters John Tuteur in June certified that enough of the signatures were from registered voters.

But a few days later, the county said that signature-gathers failed to include the full text of the proposed measure with the petition, as required by state law. The initiative refers to policies in an existing county oak woodland plan appendix and the county said the petition needed to include this language.

Napa County Superior Court Judge Diane Price on July 22 agreed with the county. Initiative proponents then turned to the California 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco and ultimately the California Supreme Court, but failed to win their point.

Napa Valley Vintners, Winegrowers of Napa County, Napa Valley Grapegrowers and Napa County Farm Bureau said in an April letter that the proposed laws seek to change a system that already works.

There is no question that Napa County has already taken a forward-looking approach to environmental protection, the letter said.

Existing Napa County law for sensitive domestic water supply drainages requires maintaining a tree canopy of at least 60 percent of what exists. It requires replacing oaks at a 2-to-1 ratio. It requires stream setbacks of 35 feet to 150 feet, depending on slope.

The proposed initiative would require owners in agricultural watershed zoning areas wanting to clear oaks on properties of 5 acres or larger to, in most cases, submit oak removal plans to the county. They would have to retain at least 90 percent of the oak canopy on a parcel. They would replace trees that are removed at a 3-1 ratio.

Stream buffer zones would be increased. For the first time, a 35-foot buffer would be required for Class III streams that are impressions serving as the headwaters for larger streams feeding rivers and bays.

Five nonprofit groups wrote to the California Supreme Court urging it to allow the Napa County watershed measure to be on the Nov. 8 ballot. They are California Native Plant Society, California Wildlife Foundation, Forests Forever Inc., Forests Unlimited and Corporate Ethics International.
This weekend was a tough one for us, in great part because we could see the huge plume of smoke from the Clayton Fire from our driveway  and it reminded us of the terrible Valley Fire from last September.

On Saturday evening, our neighbors, Nancy and Tom, were looking at the smoke. She was understandably nervous and said she didnt think shed sleep well that night. At that time, we didnt know that the Clayton Fire was going to destroy much of downtown Lower Lake and many of the surrounding homes. As of Wednesday morning, the fire had scorched 4,000 acres, destroyed 175-plus buildings, caused $10.5 million in damage, and was 40 percent contained. Fifteen hundred structures were threatened and Cal Fire officials estimated the fire had cost $5 million in suppression costs.

On Sunday evening, eight of us gathered at the Hidden Valley Lake Campground, where Tom and Vivian were staying, because they had evacuated their home on Spruce Grove Road. We had all evacuated our homes for last Septembers Valley Fire, and one of the couples had lost their beautiful home and shop. They still own the property on Yankee Valley Road, but they wont be rebuilding there, because they bought a home elsewhere in Hidden Valley Lake.

We talked about many things, but mostly about the Clayton Fire and the damage it was causing to lives and property. On Sunday, the fire jumped containment lines and swept through the downtown, burning a historic Methodist church and many of the buildings downtown and many houses throughout the small town of Lower Lake.

We wondered how Bud and Carolyn Shipley fared in the fire. Bud owned a real estate company that was based downtown and had a display of old walking canes in his office. I once worked with Carolyn more than 20 years ago, when we were both working for different publications in Clearlake. Unfortunately, Buds building was one of the ones burned in the downtown, as was the car repair shop next to it, which specialized in repairing old Volkswagens.

The post office was saved, although fire spread right up to it and firefighters put up a tremendous fight to save the historic schoolhouse museum, which is up a knoll on the east part of town. Also saved were the Lower Lake elementary and high schools.

Thankfully, firefighters stopped the blaze before it got to St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake, although the patients there were evacuated on Sunday and taken to a Lakeport hospital.

Our group also talked about the Valley Fire and how emotionally difficult it is to be suffering through another fire. Earlier on Sunday, people wanted to know the most up-to-date information, where is the fire heading, how many acres have been burned, are the roads closed, that sort of thing. I spent a lot of time Sunday seeking that information, going to newspaper and news websites, the Cal Fire website and other websites from official sources. We turned on the TV  many people had neither cable TV nor Internet access on Sunday  to find out the latest news, because TV reporters were in the area and covering the fire.

Monday evening, Joni and I hosted our evacuated friends for dinner. They came in and were starving for news of the fire. After dinner, we turned on the 8 p.m. news and saw the outdoor news conference at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown. Cal Fire officials had identified a 40-year-old Clearlake resident, Damin Anthony Pashilk, who allegedly set the Clayton Fire as well as others, though they were unnamed. Pashilk was charged with 17 counts of arson and was arrested Monday. He is being held on $5 million bail.

As of Tuesday morning, 1,664 firefighters in 32 crews were battling the blaze. The rest of the resources included 241 engines, 12 helicopters, 26 bulldozers and 20 water tenders.

Thousands of people have been evacuated and centers were set up at Twin Pine Casino, the Kelseyville High School and the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Lakeport.

According to the Cal Fire website Tuesday, firefighters were battling 16 fires in the state, including the huge Soberanes Fire that has burned 76,000 acres, destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings, and killed one person and injured three others. It was 60 percent contained and was caused by an illegal campfire.

Other current fires include:

Mineral Fire from Fresno County, 7,050 acres, 95 percent contained;

Chimney Fire, San Luis Obispo, 6,400 acres, 10 percent contained

Stafford Fire, Humboldt County, 23 acres, 100 percent contained

Summit Fire, also Humboldt County, 21 acres, 75 percent contained.

California is on fire from the north to the south this summer, and the wildland fire season is nowhere near finished. Weve suffered through five years of drought and everything is incredibly dry. Its no wonder that there is fire after fire after fire. But with Mondays arrest, at least, there should be fewer arson fires in southern Lake County. And thats good, especially for a community that still hasnt recovered from the Valley Fire.
Looking into the future of the wine industry for the next 25 years is the theme of the Wine Industry Financial Symposium that will be held Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 26-27, at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel Conference Center in Napa.

Robert Trone of Total Wine & More will deliver the keynote address, focused upon the changing landscape of the industrys wine retail environment. The 25th annual Wine Industry Executive Survey will be presented by Dr. Robert Smiley of UC Davis. And the current grape market and the ongoing results of the 2016 harvest will be discussed by a panel consisting of Glenn Proctor and Chris Welch of Ciatti Company, with Karl Wente of Wente Vineyards.

David Freed of the Silverado Group will present an overview of the state of the wine industry. Russell Miller of RBC Capital Markets in New York will present Wine 2020: How to Think About the Future and Money. A discussion on selling wine will be given by Jon Moramarco of BW166, Robert Trone of Total Wine & More, Curtis Man of Raleys, Daniel Grunbeck of Youngs Market, and Michael Osborn of Wine.com

A discussion of mergers and acquisitions will include Robert Nicholson of International Wine Associates; Hugh Reimers, president of Jackson Family Wines; and Roger Nabedian, general manager of E. & J. Gallo. John Gillespie, founder and CEO of Wine Opinions, will detail his organizations research on the iGeneration.

Registration for the Wine Industry Financial Symposium is open at WineSymposium.com. Special rates are available through Sept. 4.
Ayotte report to Pentagon: We release GiTMO detainees at our own peril

(NationalSecurity.news) A just-released Pentagon report on recent terrorist detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility was made public last week by a lawmaker who opposes White House efforts to shutter the military-run prison over concerns that some inmates will return to the battlefields of Afghanistan and the Middle East, AMI Newswire reported.

The report, which summarizes the activities of 107 prisoners suspected of links to terrorism, was delivered by the Defense Department to Sen. Kelly Ayotte. The New Hampshire Republican had been seeking the information since last year, when she asked the Pentagon to compile particulars on the prisoners into a single unclassified document. Ayotte posted the log Wednesday on her Senate website.

The report consists of thumbnail sketches of prisoners held at the U.S. Navys base on Guantanamo, Cuba, as of Nov. 25, 2015. A number of the prisoners have since been transferred out of the facility known as GTMO.

Some of the prisoners are characterized in the document as having been inconsequential enemies. Among them is Abdul Rahman Ahmed, about whom the report states: He probably exaggerated his involvement in and knowledge of terrorist activities and likely did not play a senior role in terrorist activities.

Other detainees, however, are depicted as prime actors. They include Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, identified as the mastermind and local manager of the bombing of the USS Cole; and five men facing charges related to the 9/11 attacks.

The most prominent of these is Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, described as the driving force behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks as well as several subsequent plots against U.S. and Western targets worldwide.

Muhammad is charged with murder, terrorism, hijacking and other offenses.

Information on the prisoners is key, Ayotte said, in light of the administrations ongoing plans to release them to third-country caretakers.

The Obama administration promised transparency, but this new report shows why theyve been so reluctant to uphold that promise when it comes to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Ayotte said in an emailed statement. The more Americans understand about the terrorist activities and affiliations of these detainees, the more they will oppose the administrations terribly misguided plans to release them.

The primary concern is recidivism, the senator said.

Most of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, as demonstrated by the fact that 93 percent of the detainees who remained there as of late last year had been assessed as a high risk for a return to terrorism.

Those concerns were echoed this year in a finding from the director of National Intelligence.

Based on trends identified during the past 11 years, we assess that some detainees currently at GTMO will seek to re-engage in terrorist or insurgent activities after they are transferred, reads a March 2016 report from the department led by James Clapper. Transfers to countries with ongoing conflicts and internal instability, as well as recruitment by insurgent and terrorist organizations, could pose problems.

Speculation on future behavior is not enough to justify continued detention, though, one expert said.

The idea of preventive detention, in GTMO or anywhere else, is abhorrent, said David Remes, a human rights lawyer who has represented over two dozen detainees and currently represents nine detainees. No one should be held based on a prediction of how the person will act if released. We certainly shouldnt be holding someone simply because we believe that the person may be a threat to someone else.

One ex-detainee, Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Diyab, was the subject of international fears that he would harm others, after he vanished for more than a month this summer in South America. As reported by AMI Newswire, Diyab, a Syrian national, disappeared in June from Uruguay, where he was released to in 2014. Diyab resurfaced July 26 in Venezuela.

Rather than wage jihad, though, the former prisoner was arrested and once again is incarcerated. He is being held in Venezuela.

In a statement this week to AMI Newswire, Diyabs former lawyer expressed concern that the former hunger striker had once again stopped eating.

I find it tragically ironic that, because of an apparent quest to be reunited with his family, he now finds himself once again being detained without charge or trial and beyond reach of the rule of law, Jon Eisenberg wrote in an emailed statement. And I am concerned about the conditions of his current confinement and whether he might have resumed hunger-striking in protest.

The question, meanwhile, persists on what to do with the 76 prisoners at GTMO.

Ayotte wants what she called a common sense law of war detention policy  focused on the security of Americans and nothing else  that keeps terrorists off the battlefield and gathers the intelligence necessary to prevent future attacks.

The lawyers advocate for the types of procedures that are used in American civilian courts.

Those being held without charge should be released, Remes said. Those who are charged should be prosecuted fairly.

The prisoners cases will be decided by the Pentagons ongoing Periodic Review Board, which reviews each case every three years. At least five cases are scheduled to be reviewed through September.

Reporting by Susan Katz Keating, AMI Newswire.

More:

NationalSecurity.news is part of USA Features Media.
This op-ed was originally published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 16 August 2016.

In close to forty years working on relations between Russia and the West  including as U.S. Ambassador to Moscow and as Deputy Secretary General of NATO  Ive witnessed some tense times. But its hard to think of a period, at least since the end of the Cold War, when relations have been as strained as they are today.

The fact is that Russias illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea and its ongoing support of separatists in eastern Ukraine have rocked the European security order we have all taken for granted for so long. For the first time since 1945, a European power has sought to change international borders by force.

In recent months, we have also seen new permanent deployments all along Russias western border with NATO Allies, from the Barents to the Baltic Sea, and from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. There are currently an estimated 300,000 Russian troops based in its Western Military District, and in May, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu announced the deployment of three further divisions, meaning an additional 30,000 troops. These forces are backed by new air bases, naval forces and nuclear-capable short-range missiles.

We have also seen a series of massive military exercises. These have included unannounced, snap exercises, in some cases exceeding 100,000 troops - more than double the size of even the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War. Russia has also irresponsibly buzzed NATO ships and aircraft with its combat planes.

Meanwhile, Russias decision to suspend implementation of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and its dismal record of implementing the other long-standing international security agreements  which Russia has signed up to  such as the Vienna Document, the Open Skies Treaty, and the Helsinki Final Act, have helped raise tensions to a level not seen since the 1980s.

NATOs response has been robust and transparent. At the recent NATO Summit in Warsaw, the Alliance announced the deployment, by rotation, of four multinational battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, totalling several thousand troops. This is a clear demonstration of Allied solidarity and determination to defend NATO territory against any possible aggression.

Despite claims by the Kremlin, these steps are a proportionate, sober and measured response to Russias actions.

A number of longstanding agreements exist to regulate the military actions of all the states in the region  Russia and NATOs 28 member states among them  including the conduct of large-scale exercises. Chief among these are the Vienna Document, agreed by all 57 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member states, and the NATO-Russia Founding Act  signed in 1997 in a spirit of mutual cooperation.

For years, NATO Allies have called on Russia to engage constructively to modernise the Vienna Document. We need to set a lower limit on exercises that require advance notification and observation, and close the loophole for no-notice snap exercises.

We also need to increase military transparency, and so help prevent incidents or accidents spiralling out of control. Unfortunately, aside from a welcome but narrow proposal on air safety in the Baltic Sea it made last month, Russia has refused to engage on these issues, instead accusing NATO itself of being the aggressor.

In fact, Moscow has gone so far as to accuse NATO of violating an important part of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act related to new permanent stationing of forces. Its called the Substantial Combat Forces pledge, and while it may sound like an obscure point, it represents yet another attempt by Russia to falsely raise doubts over the legitimacy of NATOs actions.

Back in the 1990s, I was part of the US delegation that helped negotiate the NATO-Russia Founding Act  and the Substantial Combat Forces pledge in particular. That pledge stated that in the then current and foreseeable security environment NATO would carry out its collective defence and other missions by ensuring the necessary interoperability, integration, and capability for reinforcement rather than by additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.

NATO has taken great care to uphold both the letter and the spirit of this pledge. NATO never agreed to a specific definition of substantial combat forces, but official statements by Russia at the time proposed a limit of one brigade per country. The four battalions spread across four eastern Allies agreed by Alliance leaders at our recent Warsaw Summit, plus the additional bilateral deployments by the US under the European Reassurance Initiative, are well below even those proposed definitions.

Any accusation that NATO is violating the Founding Act, or breaking its promises, is therefore untrue. In 1997, the number of Allied forces stationed in other NATO countries was around 100,000  already far fewer than at the end of the Cold War. Even accounting for new deployments agreed in Warsaw, next year that number will be fewer than 75,000. In the same two decades, Russian forces along NATOs borders have increased substantially.

NATO exists to keep the almost one billion citizens of the Alliance safe. It has done this for almost seventy years by acting in a defensive, proportionate and wholly responsible way. This is, and always will be, how NATO conducts itself.

At the same time, Russia is NATOs biggest neighbour and, historically, a country with which we have cooperated widely. The NATO-Russia Founding Act, agreed in more optimistic times, spoke of a shared commitment to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe, whole and free, to the benefit of all its peoples. That is still NATOs goal.

But, for that to be possible, Russias behaviour must change  in Ukraine and beyond. As part of that, Moscow urgently needs to participate in the OSCEs talks to update the Vienna Document.

Europe  and the world  need a Russia committed to transparency, cooperation and dialogue. Vienna would be a good place to start.
Italian prime minister demands that she be addressed as prime minister in masculine form

Pentagon to send Ukraine new aid package worth $275 million

Europe will ban sale of one type of car

European Commission head announces new aid and investments for Serbia

Biden calls Putin's rhetoric on nuclear weapons 'dangerous'

Lukashenko on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict: What are you fighting for in these mountains, where not even goats walk?

Swedish authorities offer to create united northern army

Lukashenko: Conflict issue between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be resolved now - with Ilham Aliyev

Lukashenko about situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border: Where are we racing horses, where are we rushing to?

Pashinyan: Armenia-Diaspora relations undergo profound substantive changes

Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Sit down with Aliyev and make a decision, if you don't make it today, it will be worse

Bulgarian interim government urges to speed up transition to euro zone

President of Karabakh: It is necessary to unite all national potential and efforts

IMF: China's sharp and uncharacteristic economic slowdown will stall growth in Asia by the end of 2023

Iran: Riots in country were planned by the intelligence services of the USA, England, Israel and the KSA

Steinmeier: Ukraine war caused 'epochal break' in Germany's relations with Russia

Gas prices in Europe remain high in coming years

Ararat Mirzoyan and Toivo Klaar stress importance of hosting EU civilian mission in Armenia

Armenia's ambassador-at-large: Daily false propaganda can't cover up Azerbaijani war crimes

Taiwan MFA outraged by Putin's speech on his status and Pelosi's visit

Armenia gives no response to peace treaty proposals, Bayramov says

Netanyahu expects return to power after 5th Israeli election in 4 years

Armenian gravestone found in Trabzon, Turkey neighborhood

Pashinyan: CSTO Secretary General's report mainly reflects existing realities

Azerbaijan talks possible deliveries of its gas to international Turkish hub

CSTO leaders to meet in late November: Situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border will be discussed

Dollar, euro continue falling in Armenia

Pelosi's house attacked, her husband injured

Russias Putin to have private talks with Armenias Pashinyan, Azerbaijans Aliyev

Mher Grigoryan: CIS needs a new scientific and technical agreement

Pentagon strategy doesn't rule out use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats

French National Assembly plans to pass resolution proposing certain sanctions against Azerbaijan

Mher Grigoryan: There are no other corridors in the trilateral statement other than Lachin's

Konstantin Zatulin: Russia should have made maximum efforts so that there would be no war in Karabakh

The Hill: The American people deserve to know how the war in Ukraine will end

Sochi to host trilateral talks of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders on October 31

Poland receives first Turkish drones

Hungarian government may extend price limits on fuel and some basic foodstuffs

Armenias Simonyan attends meeting of heads of EEU countries parliaments

Polish general appointed as head of EU mission to train Ukrainian troops

Russia MP: Karabakh status decision is in fact its Armenians safety guarantee

Zatulin: West seeks to push Russia out of negotiation process at any cost

Legislature head proposes to organize, under CIS auspices, return of Armenians detained in Azerbaijan

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

Lazarevsky Club: 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

Armenia parliament speaker: Use, threat of force undermine processes aimed at establishing peace

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

Armenia legislature head: Policy of threats, coercion is unacceptable to us

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

Viking swords embedded in mound 1,200 years ago discovered in Sweden

Residents of Moldova asked not to go out into street in dark

Bloomberg reports fuel shortages in some parts of Europe

British schoolboy writes book that became bestseller

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
YEREVAN. - The Russian military base dislocated in the territory of Armenia serves as a guarantor of stability in the Caucasian region, Deputy Defense Minister of Russia Anatoly Antonov told journalists on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reports.

The successful functioning of the Russian 102nd military base is another index of the level of our ally relations, Antonov noted.

He also stressed that the Russian-Armenian Interstate Committee on the presence of the Russian military base in Armenia works actively. Its subsequent meeting took place in Yerevan in late July, the Deputy Defense Minister said.

In his words, the plan of joint work of Russian and Armenian Defense Ministries for 2016 is successfully being carried out.

It includes over 40 different activities, 22 out of which have already been carried out, Antonov said.

Referring to the meeting between the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and his Armenian counterpart Seyran Ohanyan on Tuesday, he noted that the issue of preparing skilled workers for the Armed Forces of Armenia was discussed.

Currently 203 Armenian servicemen are learning at 24 higher education institutions of the Russian Defense Ministry free of charge. They are getting quality education. This year we will admit 211 other people, Antonov said.

According to the assessment of the military leadership of both countries, the practical experience of joint military preparation events is significant. This year, the subdivisions of the armed forces of both countries have been engaged in the CSTOs Unbreakable brotherhood 2016 and the CSTO Operative Response Collective Forces Cooperation 2016 drills, which will be held in Belarus and Russia respectively.

The Armenian teams performed decently during the completed International Army Games. They demonstrated high professional qualities in Tank Biathlon, Army Scout Masters and Sniper Frontier competitions, Antonov said.

Besides, the Russian official added that the Russian Defense Minister Shoygu has personally invited his Armenian counterpart to the subsequent meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member-states, which will be held in Moscow in November. Seyran Ohanyan was also invited to attend the international military and technical forum Army 2016 as a guest.
The preparation for signing an Agreement on Establishing United Military Group of the Russian and Armenian Armed Forces is coming to its end.

Deputy Defense Minister of Russia Anatoly Antonov told the aforementioned to journalists after the meeting between the defense ministers of both countries, RIA Novosti reports.

During the talks, the Russian Defense Minister also proposed to his Armenian counterpart Seyran Ohanyan to sign an agreement on cooperation in the areas of identifying and assessing radiation, chemical and biological situation in the interest of the United Military Group of both countries. The agreement was signed.

Its implementation will allow to precisely regulate the joint actions in this sphere and provide timely and necessary information to the group, Antonov said.

He also stressed that the Russian military agency is considering Armenia as its ally and key partner in the South Caucasus.

We effectively cooperate in the bilateral format and in the framework of international organizations - first of all within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which the Armenian side chairs this year. The high-level cooperation between the military agencies allows to operatively decide the current tasks of cooperation and timely react to the changes happening in the region, the Deputy Defense Minister said.

In his words, over 50 agreements and treaties have been signed between Armenia and Russia in the military sphere, the work on the further development of the legal framework being underway.

Decision-making mechanisms in the sphere of security have been formed and are actively applied; joint military planning is [also] carried out, Antonov noted.
EDC CEO Lynda Weatherman Brevard Clerk of Court Scott Ellis

BREVARD COUNTY, Florida  After three years and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent in legal fees, the Economic Development Commission of Floridas Space Coast (EDC) produced documents to Brevard County Clerk of Court, Scott Ellis.



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A cursory review of the documents show that EDC President, Lynda Weatherman, referred to BlueWares management as goofy and instructed staff to obtain a confidentiality extension from BlueWare days after Ellis had already made a public records request. Weatherman specifically instructed staff to make the request to BlueWare without   looking like we are asking for it just the usual stuff 



Since 2013, Ellis has maintained that the EDC and BlueWare back-dated the confidentiality extension after confidentiality had lapsed.





The documents also show that the EDC pushed the BlueWare project through for economic development incentive money despite red flags raised by Enterprise Florida. Specifically, that there was no valuation assigned for BlueWares software on its balance sheets.



The EDC also attempts to name drop political connections with Florida Governor Rick Scott by emphasizing BlueWares relationship with Community Health Systems:



 One of BlueWares most important clients is Community Health Systems (CHS). We have been told by BlueWares CEO, Rose Harr, that Governor Scott may likely know Gary Seay, who is the CIO of CHG. Ms. Harr advises that Mr. Seay can speak to the bona fides of BlueWare.





This story is breaking. Brevard Times is reviewing years of documents, timelines, court testimony and filings, along with statements made by EDC personnel to the Brevard County Commission, the public, Ellis, and the media. A more in-depth article will be forthcoming in the days ahead.





Background





BlueWare is the company caught up in a public corruption criminal case brought by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney Phil Archer against former Clerk of Court, Mitch Needelman, his former business partner Matt Dupree, and BlueWare CEO Rose Harr . Their criminal trial is scheduled to begin in September.





The EDC helped BlueWare and some of its affiliated companies to qualify for various government programs and other workforce incentives that could have totaled nearly $2 million in taxpayer money. None of those incentives were ultimately awarded to BlueWare because it did not meet its performance benchmarks.





Brevard Times Brevard Times that the BlueWare incentive contract was canceled on April 5, 2013, the Clerk sent his auditors to the EDC in Rockledge the next day to request a copy of the EDC file on BlueWare. When the EDC refused to comply with the public records request, Ellis then filed this lawsuit. After the Clerks office learned from a investigative article published on August 26, 2013 that State of Florida Department of Economic Opportunity officials said the BlueWares confidentiality had lapsed and Governor Rick Scotts Office stated tothat the BlueWare incentive contract was canceled on April 5, 2013, the Clerk sent his auditors to the EDC in Rockledge the next day to request a copy of the EDC file on BlueWare. When the EDC refused to comply with the public records request, Ellis then filed this lawsuit.





In March 2014, the trial court ruled in favor of Ellis . The EDC then appealed that decision to the 5th District Court of Appeals. In October 2015, the appellate court then sent the case back to the trial court for a second trial. The EDC and Ellis later settled the case in March 2016, with the EDC agreeing to produce all documents not exempt under Florida Statute Chapter 119 and section 288.075. The trial court later ordered the EDC to produce the documents by August 16, 2016.




A memorial service will be held at Oxford College this month for Emory students Abinta Kabir and Faraaz Hossain, who were killed over the summer in a terrorist attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The service will take place Sunday, Aug. 28, at 6 p.m. in Allen Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 803 Whatcoat St. in Oxford, Georgia, with a reception following in the Oxford College Library.

The lives of Kabir and Hossain were honored earlier this summer in a July 7 interfaith vigil held at Emorys Cannon Chapel to remember the 20 individuals killed in the attack, as well as victims of violence around the world.

At that service, the students were remembered as bright, warm and humble campus servant leaders. Both had served as chair of the programming subcommittee for Oxfords Student Activities Committee (SAC), the epicenter of social planning on campus.

The Rev. Lyn Pace, Oxford College chaplain, says the Aug. 28 memorial service will provide an opportunity to come together in our continued grief to mourn their deaths while also celebrating the impact and legacy of their lives.

Kabir, 19, was a rising sophomore at Oxford College from Miami, Florida. Hossain, 20, was a junior from Dhaka  a fall 2015 graduate of Oxford College who began his studies at Goizueta Business School in January. Both were graduates of the American International School of Dhaka (AISD) and close friends who dreamed of earning business degrees and bringing their skills and knowledge back to help those in Bangladesh.

The students were visiting friends and family in Dhaka over the summer when the attacks took place. On July 1, Kabir and Hossain had arranged to meet fellow AISD graduate and University of California sophomore Tarishi Jain at a popular restaurant when heavily armed militants stormed the cafe.

Those seeking support or help in the wake of the tragedy can find assistance through the following resources:
21:55





Incidentally, Eastern Command chief Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, who is slated to be the next Army chief, will also be present in Jammu.





Defence sources said Lt Gen Bakshi will be there to participate in a regimental ceremony but could take part in the review meeting.





General Suhag will be meeting Northern Army commander Lt Gen D S Hooda and other top security officials.





Five persons were killed and several others injured in security forces action against stone-pelting protesters in Budgam and Anantnag districts of Kashmir on Tuesday where normal life remained paralysed for the 39th consecutive day due to curfew, restrictions and separatist-sponsored strike.

With the fresh deaths, the toll in the ongoing unrest which began after the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in an encounter has now gone up to 63.

As violence continued in the Kashmir Valley, Army chief General Dalbir Suhag will visit Jammu Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
22:03

Four Naxals, including a 'commander-rank' woman cadre and another wanted in the deadly Jiram Valley attack, were on Wednesday gunned down while a jawan was injured in a fierce encounter between security personnel and the ultras in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

The encounter took place in wee hours in the restive Dabba-Kunna hills when the joint team of CRPF, District Reserve Group and STF was out on an anti-Maoist operation, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.

"While four cadres, including two Maoist commanders, were killed, a jawan was also injured in the face-off," he said.





Based on specific inputs, the operation was launched by security forces last night to flush out the ultras hiding in the forests near Dabba and Kunna villages, the SP said.

The two villages are located on top of a hill which lies along the Dantewada and Sukma districts border, about 500 km from the state capital Raipur.

A group of armed Naxals opened indiscriminate fire at the security personnel close to Dabba village following which an encounter broke out between the two sides.




We are aware of the clashes (in the Kashmir Valley). We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage all sides to make efforts to finding a peaceful resolution, State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters here.

Trudeau was asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's open support to freedom for Balochistan in Pakistan and parts of Kashmir under Islamabad's control.

She refused to be dragged into it and said the US has not changed its position on Kashmir that it remains a bilateral issue between the two countries.

Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions in Kashmir is for the two sides to determine, Trudeau said in her daily briefing on Monday.

We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations.

The Kashmir Valley has been tense after the July 8 killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani triggered widespread clashes between protesters and security forces. At least 65 people have been killed in five weeks of the unrest.

--IANS ahm-sar/mr

( 213 Words)

2016-08-16-17:20:01 (IANS)
In a video accessed by IANS, Saeed made an impassioned appeal to Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif at a rally of supporters in Lahore on August 14 -- the country's Independence Day.

"After partition India sent its army forcibly to Jammu and Kashmir to which Quaid-i-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) told then (Pakistan) Army Chief to respond by sending forces too but he didn't do so.

"I urge you (Gen Sharif to) follow the command and avenge the brutalities of Indian forces on Kashmiris," Saeed said.

Saeed, accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, had earlier warned that he would avenge the killings in the ongoing protest in the Kashmir Valley.

Saeed's latest statement came as violence escalated in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking up the death toll to 65.

--IANS ahm/mr

( 164 Words)

2016-08-16-20:10:01 (IANS)
While the Christian community has no objections to Baba Ramdev's boycott call, it is unhappy over the use of the holy Cross to show British rule in India.

"We strongly object to the depiction of the holy Cross, the very symbol of the Christian faith. We feel this is Baba Ramdev's agenda of targeting a particular minority community. We demand that this commercial should be immediately withdrawn from all public domains," ICV President Abraham Mathai told IANS.

Such demagoguery would definitely result in increased attacks on churches and Christian institutions in India, Mathai pointed out.

He added that ICV was writing to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other concerned officials and departments on the objectionable commercial.

The latest commercial shows a black-and-white clip depicting the pre-Independence 'Swadeshi' movement and suddenly zooms to a map of India with three crosses jutting out in three directions.

Between the crosses the words E, I and Co. are shown to represent the East India Company which subsequently paved the way for British colonial rule in India.

The ICV chief said that by obliquely singling out a particular minority community would make them vulnerable to hate attacks and extremism.

"All Indians of all communities have been living harmoniously side by side for centuries. The last thing we need is someone trying to make us a 'one-religion' country. Baba Ramdev and his followers would do well to understand the beauty of Indian democracy and brotherhood," Mathai said.

--IANS qn/mr

( 284 Words)

2016-08-16-15:56:01 (IANS)
Chinese smart phone company Xiaomi is planning to ramp up sourcing of its smart phones, increase service centre network, and add more products to its portfolio in India, a top official of the Indian outfit said on Tuesday. "We are in talks with Foxconn for increasing the number of lines at their factory in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. We are also planning to have two more plants in India," Manu Jain, India Head, Xiaomi told reporters here. However, he declined to share any numbers regarding the intended hike in capacity. "For the past four quarters, we are selling more than one million smart phones in India and over 75 per cent of them are made at Foxconn's facility in Sri City," he said. Xiaomi gets its smart phones manufactured at Foxconn's plant and imports some models. The Xiaomi official was here to launch the new smart phone models Redmi 3S priced at Rs 6,999 and Redimi 3S Prime priced at Rs 8,999. Jain said the company will be launching its air purifiers later this year while the launch of smart television in India will have to wait till the company readies good volume of content for viewing on the internet. With 90 per cent of the sales for Xiaomi India happening online, the company is going slow on the offline channels, Jain said. On the other hand, the company is increasing its exclusive and non-exclusive service centres nationwide, he added. --IANS vj/in/dg ( 254 Words) 2016-08-16-16:40:02 (IANS)
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday appealed to the government to take steps to ensure a levelling of imbalances in pay scales in public sector banks (PSBS) to ensure greater fiscal efficiency and effectiveness. Maintaining that PSB staffers are overpaid at the bottom and underpaid at top, Rajan pitched for ending government role in top-level appointments at PSBs He said there is need for the RBI to be allowed to empower bank boards more to take all major governance decisions without being under pressure to satisfy the demands of multiple constituencies and authorities. He also proposed withdrawing central bank nominees from these boards. "Today, a variety of authorities - Parliament, the Department of Financial Services, the Bank Board Bureau, the board of the bank, the vigilance authorities, and of course, various regulators and supervisors including the RBI - monitor the performance of the public sector banks. "With so many overlapping constituencies to satisfy, it is a wonder that bank management has time to devote to the management of the bank," he added. "One of the problems, of course, is that as with all public sector entities, you overpay at the bottom, and underpay at the top. Compensatory, the difference is that, yes, you feel that you are doing the job for the broader public but you just make it harder to attract top talent, specially a lateral entry," Rajan said. He said there is a need to streamline and reduce jurisdictional overlaps. He was addressing bankers at the annual FIBAC, FICCI's premier conference on the Indian banking industry. (ANI)
New Delhi, Aug.16 (ANI-Newsvoir): The Tyques, an online community for students in Classes 6-10 has partnered with Scholastic India to bring to schools The Shakespeare Challenge. Starting this August, school teams of students in the age group of 10-16 years can participate in this competition from their school premises yet compete against the best nationally due to online platform. An eminent jury comprising practicing professionals and academic leaders would judge the entries. Noted theatre and film actor,Swaroopa Ghosh, award-winning documentary film-maker, Rajesh Jala, veteran academician, Meenakshi Bana and Anukta Ghosh, Associate Editor at Scholastic India, would comprise the jury for this competition. "In a first of its kind offering, the competition will be judged on the basis of 21st century interdisciplinary skills straddling the English language, theatre and visual grammar," says Shalini S. Dagar, founder, The Tyques. Scholastic India has fostered the habit of reading among children since its inception. Simultaneously, the organization has encouraged expression of thought. The same is carried forward while partnering with The Tyques for the Shakespeare Challenge - a competition that encourages genuine learning. "Such activities stimulate imagination and creativity in a student's mind, and helps perpetuate and inculcate a reading habit. Scholastic India is happy to partner with The Tyques in this new venture," says Shantanu Duttagupta, Head of Marketing, Scholastic India. Given the goals of providing useful feedback to students and making sure that students all across India have access to a common competition, there is a nominal participation fee of Rs.599 per team for the contest. (ANI-Newsvoir)
The Oscar-winner celebrated her birthday on Sunday, and shared a somewhat revealing snapshot to Instagram to commemorate the milestone, reports etonline.com.

"With open arms I welcome 50," Berry captioned a photograph of herself standing in a field wearing nothing except for a semi-sheer white, flowing wrap that showed off the outline of her toned body.

She added: "I'm so blessed to be here!"

The actress joined Instagram in March and has made sure to frequently show off her figure on the photo-sharing site.

--IANS nn/sug

( 106 Words)

2016-08-16-01:40:01 (IANS)
Amnesty India of the international human rights organisation was booked for sedition and other unlawful acts after anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised here last week, police said. A case of sedition and rioting has been booked on Monday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised at its event here on August 13, a police official told IANS. The charges, including sedition, rioting, an unlawful assembly and promoting enmity were mentioned in the FIR (first information report) police filed on Monday, two days after the RSS-affiliate ABVP lodged the complaint with audio-video evidence on August 13 and protested against Amnesty on Sunday at the venue (United Theological College) in the city centre where the event was held. "We are investigating the complaint and checking the video to ascertain the charges and identify those who raised the slogans for culpability," the official said but declined to elaborate. The sedition charge under section 124A of the IPC amounts to an attempt to cause hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards the government of India. The 90-minute event was held to interact with some Kashmiri families who were victims of alleged human rights violations in the strife-torn Valley and hear their struggle for justice. The case, however, did not name any individual or member of the organisation, but implicated Amensty Indian for holding the event and allegedly allowing slogans to be raised against the country and the Indian army. Claiming that they were yet to receive a copy of the FIR, Amnesty executive director Aakar Patel regretted that organising an event to defend constitutional values was being branded 'anti-national and a criminal act. "As police were informed about the event in advance, they were present at the venue. Registering a case of sedition on a complaint against us shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedom in the country," Patel said in a statement after police filed the FIR. Admitting that some persons at the event had raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azaadi' (freedom), Amnesty India programmes director Tara Rao said on Sunday it was important that the conduct of some should not distract attention from the denial of truth and justice to those who have suffered in Jammu and Kashmir. "Among those who spoke at the event were the family of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, one of the men killed in the Macchil extra-judicial execution, where five army personnel were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment," Amnesty said in the statement. A representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community in the city, who was invited to attend the event, also spoke on the occasion about the 'human rights violations' in the Valley. BJP's Lok Sabha member from Mysuru Pratap Simha was dismayed that police had allowed such an event and lamented that the state intelligence agency was unaware ot it in advance or later. "The state government should order an inquiry into the event where pro-azaadi and anti-national elements from Kashmir participated," Simha said on Sunday. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists, some of whom were present at the event, alleged that a group of Kashmiri youth raised slogans claiming atrocities by the Indian army. --IANS fb/pgh/ ( 556 Words) 2016-08-16-01:18:03 (IANS)
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Director Intelligence Bureauand other high-ranking officers attended the meeting that took place in the North Block here this morning.

At least four people were killed and some others injured in fresh firing by security forces during a demonstration in the central Kashmir district of Budgam this morning.

Several areas in the valley are under curfew for more than 35 days and protests and demonstrationduring the period have so far claimed 64 lives.UNI SS SV 1201

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-889371.Xml
Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday went hammer and tongs at Pakistan, equating that country to hell. A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and 'Pakistan-occupied Kashmir', Parrikar, who was in Haryana's Rewari to participate in 'Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani' programme, said, "Yesterday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell." "Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism. Now sometimes, even it is bearing the consequences of terrorism," he added. Parrikar also said that if anybody decides to attack India, he will not remain silent. He said that Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to every attack. He said that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is part of India and the violation of human rights should stop in Balochistan. Prime Minister Modi, during his address on the nation's 70th Independence Day, said, "People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) have thanked him a lot in the past few days and he is grateful to them." "Today I want to specially honour and thank to some people from the ramparts of Red Fort. For the past few days the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the way their citizens have heartily thanked me, the way they have acknowledged me, the goodwill they have shown towards me, the people settled far across, the land which I have not seen, the people I have not met ever, but people settled at far across acknowledge the Prime Minister of India, they honour him, so it is an honour of my 125 crores countrymen, it is respect of my 125 crores countrymen and that is why owing to the feeling of this honour, I want to heartily thank the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir for having an expression of thankfulness," he added. (ANI)
He cautioned that the casualties of both the civilians and security personnel in the violence-hit state should be minimum.

The minister was, in turn, briefed by top officials on the prevailing situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector in Kashmir.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies and other top civil and security officials attended the meeting, sources said here.

The meeting was held even as reports from Srinagar said five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces in fresh violence in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the deaths to 65 since the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.

Pramod Kumar, commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was killed on Monday after four militants hurled a grenade and opened fire at a security patrol in an old city area of Srinagar.

There have been reports of violence and stone-pelting in Budgam and Anantnag districts as well, sources said.

At the meeting, Rajnath Singh also reviewed the overall security scenario in Assam, which also saw militant attacks.

Suspected militants exploded five bombs in Charaido and Tinsukia districts as the state was celebrating the 70th Independence Day on Monday.

On August 5, 14 persons were killed and at least 20 injured by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) militants in Kokrajhar district of Assam.

--IANS nd/tsb/vt

( 286 Words)

2016-08-16-15:58:02 (IANS)
The Tamil Nadu Government has resolved 27,807Industrial Disputes in the last five years, including 5,140 this year, LabourMinister Dr Nilofr Kafeel told the State Assembly today. Moving the demand for grants for her department, she said of the 27,087IDs resolve in the five years, 10,268 were setled amicably. She said indusrial prosperity mhinges on a millieu of peace and contendedworkforce as a sine qua non of harmonious relations between labour and management as partners in production. Stating that the Tamil Nadu government strives for robust industrial relations, which was being achieved through effective reconciliation ofIDs, Dr Kafeel said in the current year 5,140 cases were resolved outof 6,417 disputes. ''Nearly, 3,048 industrial disputes were settled amicably and specialefforts were being made to avert and resolve simmering issues in industries which lead to strike or lock out and 14 strikes and six lockouts were effectively resolved in various industries'', the Minister said. She said in the past five years, 27,087 IDs were resolved of which10,268 were settled amicably. ''Due to timely intervention of conciliation authorities, a total of 153strikes and 32 lock outs were effectively resolved'', she said, adding, the major strike issues related to Tamil Nadu Transport workers,18 cooperative sugar mills, 108 ambulance services, Arasu rubberCorporation and Beedi industry which were resolved by appropriateintervention by the conciliation officers of the department.UNI GV 1530 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-889713.Xml
Anti-talk faction ULFA (Independent) led by Paresh Barua today said the militant organisation has carried out the series of blasts in upper Assam on the Independence day.A series of blasts rocked the Tinsukia district of Assam on Independence day yesterday. However, no one was injured in the blasts.In an e-mailed statement to media houses, ULFA chairman Arunoday Asom said the group has executed all the blasts and in future it will continue to carry out such attacks against the state.The statement also criticised the senior police officials and said all of them were exported from outside the state and are incapable of handling the security situation in the state.Nearly every year on the eve of Independence day, ULFA (I) indulged in such activists to spread terror among the masses. In fact, two days ago suspected militants of the faction killed two-Hindi speaking people in Doomdoma district in Upper Assam.UNI ABI SW AE 1451 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0431-889499.Xml
A court here on Tuesday ordered Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to vacate the government accommodation allotted to Omar in the national capital. District Judge Amarnath dismissed her plea to quash the eviction notice issued on June 30 by the Estate Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government for vacating bungalow No. 7 on the Akbar Road here. --IANS akk/tsb/vt ( 83 Words) 2016-08-16-16:26:02 (IANS)
Union Minister for Women and Child DevelopmentManeka Gandhi today participated in a couple of functions in the cityand also launched 'Abhayam' and held regional consultations with civilsociety organisation on the draft Anti Trafficking Bill-2016. Ms Maneka Gandhi first launched 'Abhayam', a project of the DayaFoundation founded by Latha Rajinikanth to rescue and rehabilitatestreet children and ensure child safety. Speaking on the occasion, she said Abahyam was proposing to set up a Citizen Council for Child safety, which would the first of its kindinitiative to bring the citizens together. ''It is a very good initiative and I would like se it extended to othercities as well, she added. She also witenssed a programme performed by the children rescuedby the Daya Foundation. In her address, Ms Maneka also highlighted various initiatves of theWomen and Child Development Ministry and said a new initiative forproviding birth certificates and Aadhar Cards for street children would be launched. Later, at the regional consultative meeting with civil society organisations,Ms Maneka gandhi said an important point suggested was that timelinesfor repatriation of trafficked victims should be included in the Act. Another key issues was since beegary was a big area where traffickingwas rampant, it should also be given an important consideration in theAct, she said. Apart from officials of Tamil Nadu gtovernment, a total of 21 NGOs participated in the meeting. Ms Maneka Gandhi winded up her visit to the city by flagging off a motorbike rally to mark the occasion of "AZADI 70".UNI GV 1625 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-889847.Xml
Federation of Central University Teachers Association President Ram Lakhan Meena today alleged that he has been expelled by Central University of Rajasthan for helping a dalit student. Mr Meena told media persons here that he has been raising his voice against corruption in the university for the past three years. He said he was expelled despite the fact that an order was issued on June 3, 2015 to regularize his services. He said he had also written to President Pranab Mukherjee about alleged irregularities in the university. Mr Meena said he had recently helped a dalit student who was harassed and expelled from the university. He alleged that university did not give balance amount of scholarship to the student despite the victim approaching to the court.UNI XC SHK 1830 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-890225.Xml
Security forces on Tuesday fired at stone pelting mobs at two places in the Kashmir Valley, leaving five civilians dead in a sudden escalation in violence, officials said. In Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a security review meeting on Kashmir and told officials to restore peace in the valley with minimum casualties. It was the second day of heightened protests in the valley. The latest deaths took the death toll to 65 in the weeks of Kashmir unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani. A police officer told IANS here that four protesters were killed in Budgam district and one more in Anantnag. The officer said hundreds of people, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Budgam's Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here, in central Kashmir. The security forces fired as they tried to bring order on the streets. One person was killed on the spot and three succumbed to injuries at a hospital. More than a dozen persons sustained injuries. Another civilian was killed when security forces fired at stone-throwing protesters in Naidpora village of Anantnag district, some 60 km south of here. At least a dozen civilians were also injured in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Kashmir Valley in over five weeks. Protests continued till late into the evening in Naidpora village. The mob later set ablaze the house of a soldier posted with the counter-insurgency 19 Rashtriya Rifles. Locals allege that he was one of the soldiers who fired at them. As violence in Kashmir flared afresh, Rajnath Singh cautioned against rising casualties of both civilians as well security personnel in the state. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies and other civil and security officials attended the meeting, informed sources said. The minister was briefed by officials on the situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bids from Pakistan. The valley has seen an upsurge in violence after Wani, a 22-year-old commander of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, was shot dead by security forces in a south Kashmir village. Much of the valley has been under curfew and a separatist-called shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday. While the separatists have called for the protest shutdown till August 18, authorities are likely to enforce curfew again on Wednesday. Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have asked people to come out on the streets for a 72-hour sit-in. They have asked the people to rally towards the UN office in Srinagar and wherever forces stop you, stage a sit-in there for 72 hours. The government has banned the assembly of four or more people and the protest march to the UN office is likely to be thwarted. There will be a complete curfew on Wednesday, an officer told IANS here. Security forces on Monday killed seven militants in two shootouts in Kashmir. Five of them allegedly tried to cross the Line of Control - the de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Two more died after attacking paramilitary troopers in Srinagar. --IANS sar/mr ( 547 Words) 2016-08-16-19:22:00 (IANS)
The martyred trooper's seven-year-old daughter Arna performed the last rites.

Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Randhir Singh and senior officials paid tributes to Pramod Kumar, one of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were attacked on Independence Day by terrorists in Nowhatta area of Srinagar.

Pramod Kumar was born in 1972 and joined CRPF in 1998. He was promoted to commandant rank last month.

He was Commanding Officer of the 49 battalion of CRPF.

--IANS ns/kb/dg

( 114 Words)

2016-08-16-19:28:01 (IANS)
The Crime Branch CID of the Tamil Nadu police, the investing team of the train heist, in which unidentified persons looted Rs 5.75 crore from a huge consignment of soiled currency transported in a parcel van attached to the Salem-Chennai express,visited the Ernakulam South station as part of their investigation. Since, the train was started from here, the investigation officials made a thorough inspection at the station as part of their investigation in this regard, said southern railway Ernakulam area manager today. He said that the officials went through all the papers in this regards and could not find anything abnormal here. He also said that the CCTV footage at the Egmore station found no such damage to the boggies and was suspected that the crime was taken place after passing Egmore station. As much as Rs. 342.75 crore of soiled currency (Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denominations) from three nationalized banks were stuffed in 226 wooden boxes and loaded in a parcel van of the train on Monday night. When it reached Chennai Egmore the next morning, RBI officials who opened the seal found a hole on the roof and Rs. 5.75 crore missing.UNI CGV JW AE 1951 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-890400.Xml
At least seven people, including a doctor killed and five others sustained injuries, in separate accidents across Jammu region. "A critical ambulance on way towards Amritsar this afternoon rolled down near Chadwal in Kathua district, when the driver lost control over the speedy vehicle,"police spokesperson here said. He said that three persons including a doctor died on the spot. The vehicle was ferrying the attendants and a patient to Amritsar from Jammu Hospital, they added. The deceased were identified as Dr Manav Gupta of Ustad Mohalla, Jammu, Vishal of Reasi and Pamma of village Maralian, Miran Sahib, Jammu. Meanwhile the injured were rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital Jammu. In another accident four persons were killed, when a car in which they were travelling plunged into a gorge in Rajouri district. The vehicle this afternoon on way to Mendhar in Poonch, skidded off the road and fell into the gorge at Bilogra area of Rajouri, police said. Four people died in the accident while operation was immediately launched to evacuate their bodies.UNI VBH JW AE 1957 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-890417.Xml
Rallying behind the Government over the issue of Balochistan and PoK--raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address--the Congress today held that human rights violations are being committed there by Pakistan forces and establishment. In a tweet on its official social media handle, the Opposition party wrote "INC(Indian National Congress) believes that there are Human Rights violations in Balochistan/PoK by Pakistani agencies. "Congress Party and the previous UPA government had condemned the human rights violations in Balochistan as also in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) by Pakistani forces and establishment on multiple occasions in the past", the party has said in a statement. However, the party spokesman and former Union MInister Jairam Ramesh did not appreciate the Prime Minister's approach of "whipping patriotism"( over such issues) and viewed it as an attempt to divert the attention of the people from real issues of skyrocketing of prices of pulses and other commodities and contentious issues of concern. On being grilled by the media over references made by the Prime Minister over Balochistan, Mr Ramesh tried to avoid comment saying the party and its Media Cell Chief Randip Surjewala had already made clear the views of the Congress on it. However, over repeated queries from journalists, the AICC spokesman charged the PM with a bid to whip up patriotism unduly as part of his "diversionary tactics".MORE UNI SS-RG RP1954 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-890206.Xml
The state government today informed the Allahabad High Court that it has decided to retain senior IAS officer Rama Raman in Noida, as CEO of Noida Authority. This information was provided by the chief standing counsel Ramesh Upadhyay, as the bench hearing the issue of transfer of Rama Raman, consisting of chief justice DB Bhosale and justice Yashwant Varma, had on the last occasion asked the state government to apprise the bench as to whether the government is ready and willing to transfer Rama Raman or not. The government during the course of argument pointed out to the bench that the retaining of the CEO Noida, Rama Raman was necessary as the scheme for running next phase of the metro trains will commence from March 2017 and for that his continuation at Noida was necessary. The judges after hearing the argument of the respective party deferred the hearing of this case till Friday, August 19 and has asked the state government to place the transfer policy of the IAS officers and the rules if any which governs the field. Noteworthy, that during the summer vacation in June 2016, a division bench of this Court had restrained the IAS officer from working as the CEO, chairman of Noida, Greater Noida and Jamuna Expressway.UNI XC-JDM MB PR 2026 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-890439.Xml
Criticising the TRS government for neglecting the well being of farmers which was crucial in an agriculture-rich state, All India Congress Committee in-charge of party Affairs in Telangana, Digvijaya Singh today said most of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's poll promises were mere a farce. Addressing a public meeting organised as part of " Rythu Garjana" (on farmers' issues), here, Digvijay Singh alleged that most of the poll promises made to the farmers by TRS-led KCR government had failed to fulfill it including waiver off loans. The re-designing of the irrigation projects initiated by the ruling TRS party would be burden on the public and it would be benefited only to gain commissions, he said. Terming the 'Haritha Haram' program is nothing but a farce and number game, Digvijay said the KCR also failed to provide reservations to the Muslims and Tribals as promised earlier. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President N Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that KCR changed his wards on farmers' loan waiver immediately after coming to power in the state. No bank was offering loans for the farmers who were defaulters, Uttam and alleged that the input subsidy provided by the Central Government was not utilised by the State Government. Leaders of Opposition K Jana Reddy (Assembly) and Mohammed Ali Shabbir (Council), TPCC Working President Mallu Bhatti Vikaramarka, Adilabad district Congress committee working President Naresh Jadhav, party legislators and other senior leaders also addressed the meeting and raised issues on behalf of the beleaguered farming community in the youngest 29th state in the country.UNI KNR JW PR 2303 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-890613.Xml
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz returned home today after a month-long holiday in Morocco, and ordered a month's extra pay for Saudi military and security personnel actively involved in military operations in Yemen, state news agency SPA said.Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef had been left to manage the kingdom's affairs in the king's absence.Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Arab states backing Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces who control Yemen's capital Sanaa.Hadi is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia, while his forces, backed by the coalition, are waging an offensive to try to recapture Sanaa from the Houthis and troops loyal to their ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.SPA said King Salman flew back from Tangier in Morocco to the Red Sea city of Jeddah, where the government of the world's top oil exporter usually moves in the summer to escape the scorching heat of the capital Riyadh.Referring to the two stages of the military campaign in Yemen that began in March 2015, the agency said that King Salman ordered a month's salary for staff in the Defence Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the National Guard who are "actual participants in the front line of the Decisive Storm and Restoring Hope" operations. REUTERS PS 0229 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-888030.Xml
Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said on Monday that an officer and 11 soldiers were wounded during the encounter with the militants, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Army spokesperson said that the troops will continue to intensify vigilance and high level of alertness through patrols and reconnaissance.

--IANS pgh/

( 80 Words)

2016-08-16-02:38:01 (IANS)
US officials said 15 inmates from the Guantanamo Bay prison were transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the single largest transfer of Guantanamo detainees during President Barack Obama's administration.The transfer of the 12 Yemeni and three Afghan citizens brings the total number of detainees down to 61 at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most have been held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.Obama, who had hoped to close the prison during his first year in office, rolled out his plan in February aimed at shutting the facility. But he faces opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.While Obama's plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States, US law bars such transfers to the mainland. Obama, though, has not ruled out doing so by executive action."I think we are at an extremely dangerous point where there is a significant possibility this is going to remain open as a permanent offshore prison to hold people, practically until they die," said Naureen Shah, Amnesty International's US director for security and human rights.Shah added that keeping Guantanamo open gave cover to foreign governments to ignore international human rights."It weakens the US government's hand in arguing against torture and indefinite detention," she said.One of the detainees who was transferred is an Afghan national, identified as Obaidullah, who has spent more than 13 years at Guantanamo. He had been accused of hiding and storing mines to be used against American forces in Afghanistan."The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention center, said."The support of our friends and allies - like the UAE - is critical to our achieving this shared goal," Wolosky said.A US State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity said the UAE had resettled five detainees transferred in November 2015.REUTERS PS 0457 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-889190.Xml
Imam Maulama Akonjee was a devout spiritual leader beloved by his Bangladeshi Muslim community, according to those who knew him in the New York City neighborhood where he lived, worshiped and died violently.Nearly everyone who knew the cleric and his religious associate Thara Uddin asked the same question: What reason would anyone have to gun down two revered, humble men as they left their mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens on Saturday?In a diverse neighborhood with a reputation for tolerance and relatively low crime, the mystery has raised suspicions among many residents that the brazen, daylight murders were inspired by hatred of their religious or ethnic identities. An outdoor funeral was held for the two men yesterday.Badrul Khan, founder of Ozone Park's Al-Furqan Jame Mosque, said he had known Akonjee for a long time. The 55-year-old cleric, a father of seven, emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh several years ago, he said.Judging from what he knew about the imam, Khan said he could think of only one reason the fatal shooting could have happened: "This is a hate crime, nothing else."Police say the gunman stalked the men, who were dressed in religious garb, as they left Al-Furqan on Saturday afternoon and then shot them point-blank in the heads before fleeing.A man was being questioned by detectives yesterday, but he had not been charged in connection with the killings. A motive had not yet been established, and police had not discovered a connection between the suspect and victims.Khan, who spoke at the funeral for the two men in Ozone Park yesterday, told Reuters that the imam was a man of simple routines who lived and breathed his religious faith."This imam is a speaker, a translator for us," Khan said, referring to the cleric's role on interpreting the Koran. "His whole life was his job, praying here, then going home."Akonjee never expressed political views in public, but instead was known for his kindness, humility and abhorrence of violence, Kahn said.Rana Miah, 38, said he had known Akonjee since 2003. Miah's brother is married to the imam's daughter."He taught people at the mosque and visited them at their homes to teach them, with what time he had. He also used to cook for his family," Miah said.Miah said Akonjee and Uddin used to walk together from the mosque to the block where they both lived. Akonjee had booked a ticket to return to Bangladesh at the end of the month to visit his mother, who is ill, Miah said.Hasina Aktar, 33, a stay-at-home mother, said her father and husband both go to Al-Furqan mosque to pray.She described the imam as a "nice, decent" man of strong faith, and she couldn't imagine why anyone would target him."He never fought. He encouraged Muslims in the community to pray, encouraged us to pray five times every day, to come to the mosque, to remember Allah."POLITICAL OVERTONESAbsent any other good explanation for the crime, she said she was inclined to think the murders were motivated by hate. Aktar said she has become afraid to wear her hijab in public, not because of the killings but because of what she sees is an escalating national anger against Muslims.The funeral took on political overtones given the circumstances of the killings. The mayor and other elected officials condemned the shooting, and dozens of men in a sweltering parking lot held placards demanding justice.To be sure, not everyone in Ozone Park believed the murders were linked to the men's religion or ethnicity.Tyrone Fields, 51, who works at a nearby hospital, emigrated from Barbados but has lived in Ozone Park for years, he said."People really keep to themselves here. This is a nice neighborhood," he said. "I think it must have been something personal." REUTERS PS 0547 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-889200.Xml
Turkish police launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies in Istanbul today and had warrants to detain 120 company executives as part of the investigation into last month's attempted military coup, state-run Anadolu agency reported.It said the companies were accused of giving financial support to the movement of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the July 15 putsch. He denies the accusation.None of the companies involved were named. Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the agency said.Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended in a purge of Turkey's military, law-and-order, education and justice systems.REUTERS SDR PM1100 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-889326.Xml
The demonstrators demanded fundamental rights for Kashmiris in Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). They said Pakistan had thrown an iron curtain across POK and Gilgit.

Slogans were also raised for Pakistan to leave the region.

Shabir Chaudhry, spokesperson of the Kashmir National Party, who participated in the demonstration, while speaking to the media, stated that the protest had been organised to raise the issue of human rights atrocities against Kashmiris in Pakistan and Gilgit.

Referring to the killing of Arif Shahid, leader of the All Parties National Alliance in Rawalpindi in 2013, Chaudhry said taht there was no doubt that Shahid had been killed by the Pakistani establishment simply because he had raised his voice for the basic rights of the people of Pakistan and Gilgit.

Chaudhry further said that it was odd that the Pakistani Government could refer to Burhan Wani, commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen as a martyr but people like Shahid, who never raised a gun against Pakistan, are labelled as terrorists.

Chaudhry said that Shahid must be declared a martyr for having spoken all his life for the rights of the marginalised in Pakistan. (ANI)
Zambian police have arrested 133 people protesting against the re-election of President Edgar Lungu after his main opponent Hakainde Hichilema said the vote was rigged, a senior officer said today.Lungu scraped home yesterday in a tight contest to rule over Africa's second-largest copper producer which has suffered an economic slump due to depressed commodity prices."They targeted perceived supporters of the ruling party, destroying their property," Southern province police chief Godwin Phiri told Reuters."It is like this was well planned and they were just waiting for the winner to be declared. Calm has now returned following the arrests," he added. REUTERS SDR PM1302 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-889460.Xml
The Ministry of External Affairs in an official statement said Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe R. Masakui had last week handed over the grant to Dr. Misheck Sibanda, Chief Secretary to President Robert Mugabe.

Accepting the grant, Sibanda thanked the Indian Government for the quick response to an international appeal made by Zimbabwe in the wake of El Nino induced drought disaster.

He also said that Zimbabwe was happy with the sound relationship that exists between Zimbabwe and India in critical sectors of the economy such as SME, ICT, energy, education and pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, India also announced that the logistical modalities are being worked out for donation of 500 metric tonne of rice in the second phase of assistance, the statement said. (ANI)
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi on Tuesday called on fellow ASEAN member states to work together to further safeguard their collective home in Southeast Asia following a year of distrust among neighbours. In a speech commemorating ASEAN's 49th anniversary on Monday, the Jakarta Post quoted Marsudi, as saying the time was right for member states to reflect on key challenges ahead of the bloc's golden jubilee next year and overcome them together. "For 49 years we have nurtured a strong and mutually beneficial bond. Together we have built peace and stability, strengthened solidarity and unity. With peace dividends as the foundation, we grow and prosper," Retno said. She noted that in almost five decades together as a regional organization, ASEAN had become the world's seventh largest economy, having reached a combined gross domestic product of USD 2.5 trillion with a potential market of over 600 million people, rivaling that of the European Union or North America. "Let us not stop there, for we have much to do and much more to achieve," the minister said, only hinting at the recent turmoil the bloc has had to face. "ASEAN as our home" has been adopted as the unofficial slogan by the region's leaders following the latest developments in the South China Sea, where a number of ASEAN member states have competing claims in the area with China. In the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, earlier this month, ASEAN foreign ministers issued a joint communique, dismissing previous concerns that ASEAN might disintegrate under external pressure from parties with vested interests in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. The meeting followed the July 12 ruling at The Hague, which ruled China's claims in the South China Sea "baseless". The communique urged the adoption of a joint statement on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea" at the ASEAN-China Commemorative Summit scheduled for September 7 in Vientiane. However, critics say the bloc needs to reassure the wider public of its benefits in general, as many ordinary people have begun to question the necessity of ASEAN. ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh acknowledged the slow progress of the bloc's community-building efforts, but insisted they had been "all-encompassing". (ANI with inputs)
Japan has said that Indonesia has a huge responsibility to maintain unity and promote the integration of the ASEAN. Japan's Ambassador to ASEAN Kazuo Sunaga said since Indonesia is the biggest country in the ASEAN, in terms of population and size of the economy, it has a major responsibility to maintain ASEAN's unity and promoting its integration. Ambassador Sunaga was addressing an event to commemorate the 49th ASEAN Anniversary on Monday, reports the en.tempo.co website. Highlighted ASEAN's role in maintaining regional peace and stability, particularly with regard to territorial disputes, including the South China Sea, the Senkaku Island and neutralising escalating tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Ambassador Sunaga said there was need for the grouping to remain united and send out a message in this regard to the world community. Japan, he said, would always respect the centrality of ASEAN, which is the principle that the Southeast Asian grouping of 10 countries should remain at the center of regional cooperation in addressing regional or common global issues. Currently, the ASEAN is facing tough challenges related to conflicts and disputes among countries in the region, including the dispute between some ASEAN member countries and China over territory in the South China Sea, North Korean missiles trials, as well as the escalating tensions between China and Japan after some Chinese vessels equipped with a long-range radar sailed near the disputed Senkaku Island. However, escalating tensions in the East Asian region occurred after regional countries, including China, North Korea, and Japan, met at the East Asian Summit organised as part of the ASEAN ministerial meetings in Vientiane, Laos, in July. (ANI with inputs)
More than 2,000 people, including government, military officials and students joined the event, Efe news quoted the organiser Saya Indonesia as saying.

While tourists surfed the waves, hundreds of people marched at the beach, each holding Indonesian flags attached to bamboo poles.

They then lined up and listened as Bali's military chief gave a speech about the country, followed by a group singing the national anthem.

A speaker announced that at the end of the celebration 100 baby sea turtles which were kept in two large buckets would be released into the ocean.

More formal ceremonies will be held in Bali on Wednesday for the country's Independence Day.

On August 17, 1945, Indonesia was declared independent from The Netherlands, which had colonised the archipelago since the early 19th century.

--IANS py/vt

( 168 Words)

2016-08-16-18:24:01 (IANS)
The forces conducted the operation in Kurdamac and Halgan villages in Daynile where 313 persons were arrested, Xinhua news agency quoted a government official as saying.

The operation was aimed at ensuring peace and security in the district by flushing out the terrorists, he said.

He said that similar security operation were going on in the rest of the capital over the past two weeks, which comes ahead of the Somalia election set to be held between September and October 2016.

--IANS sm/py/dg

( 121 Words)

2016-08-16-19:26:03 (IANS)
Hundreds of activists belonging to Left wing student organisations today protested against the proposed power project to be set up by India and Bangladesh jointly near Sundarbans in Bagerhat district. The activists belonging to Pragatishil Chhatra Jote, an alliance of Left wing student organisations in Bangladesh, blocked Dhaka roads to protest against 1.5 billion dollar Rampal Thermal Power Plant. The agitating students blocked the busy Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka demanding cancellation of the 1,320 megawatt plant to be set up by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Power Development Board (PDB) of Bangladesh and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India. Agitating students also took out a procession at the Dhaka University campus, where several people were injured in a scuffle between the police and protestors.A Pragatishil Chhatra Jote leader, said they will hold demonstrations across Bangladesh tomorrow.The protestors claim that the discharge from the plant such as fly ash and sulphur dioxide will harm the fauna and flora of the mangrove forest, a Unesco World Heritage site. Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove forest which straddles both India and Bangladesh.The project officials, however, say that super critical technology would be used to curb the much talked-about carbon emission.UNI XC SHK RP2017 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-890460.Xml
Turkey's foreign minister spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry today and discussed the extradition of the US-based Islamic cleric Ankara blames for last month's failed coup, foreign ministry sources said.Mevlut Cavusoglu and Kerry also discussed the latest developments in Syria, including the situation in Manbij and Aleppo, the sources said.Turkey blames the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for the July 15 failed putsch and wants the United States to extradite him. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the charge and condemned the coup. Washington has said it would need to see clear evidence before it can take action on the extradition request. REUTERS JW AN2202 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-890556.Xml
BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the Group of 20 (G20) summit scheduled for Sept. 4-5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.

Xi will also attend relevant events, including an informal meeting with other BRICS members' leaders, and deliver a keynote speech on the opening ceremony of the Business 20 (B20) summit to be held on Sept. 3-4, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in a press release.

This year's G20 summit features a theme of "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."
NAIROBI, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to begin monitoring the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the end of the year, a senior government official said on Monday.

Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry for Devolution and Planning Mwangi Kiunjuri told a development forum in Nairobi that Kenya has already mapped out the 230 indicators that have been adopted agreed upon by the United Nations.

"Beginning in 2017, we can confidently start reporting and monitoring 128 indicators as we work on developing the rest through a number of surveys," Kiunjuri said during the National Workshop on Data Ecosystems for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Kiunjuri said Kenya hopes to become among the first countries in the world to begin reporting on the implementation of SDGs.

In 2015, the UN General Assembly agreed on 17 SDGs and 169 targets to be met by all UN member states by the year 2030. Kenya plans to include non-state actors in the monitoring and implementation of the SDGs.

"This is because many of the goals require data that is properly collected and meets universal standards from non traditional actors," Kiunjuri said.

The CS noted that the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs require enormous data using complex data collection methodologies and therefore the government has embarked on the development of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS).

He added that the SDGs are a culmination of concerted efforts by a broad spectrum of stakeholders to alleviate poverty, preserve our planet and ensure peaceful co-existence among all people.

"As a country, these tenets align quite well with our national development blueprint Vision 2030," he said. He added that advances in technology over the past decade has increased the speed of generation of data.

"In fact, what countries are now grappling with is how to leverage on this volume of data that is held by a variety of both private and public institutions," he said.
ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Four pro-government Yemeni soldiers were killed and six others injured in a suicide car bombing that rocked the country's southern province of Abyan on Monday, a security official told Xinhua.

According to the local security source, the suicide car bomb targeted pro-government soldiers who gathered in the eastern outskirts of coastal Shoqra town in Abyan province, leaving at least four soldiers killed and six others injured at the scene.

The suicide attack was followed by intense clashes between the pro-government soldiers and al-Qaida assailants in the same area, the security source said.

The car bomb attack came just one day after Yemeni government troops backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition recaptured three major cities from the Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot in Abyan in an anti-terror military offensive.

Hundreds of Yemeni soldiers newly trained and armed by the Arab coalition in Aden launched on Sunday a wide-scale military operation and successfully kicked out al-Qaida militants from the three strategic cities, including Zinjibar city which is Abyan's provincial capital.

The Saudi-led warplanes provided air power and air-covered the government forces on the ground and destroyed several al-Qaida arms caches and heavy weapons.

The local government building and key state facilities in Zinjibar city were retaken by the government forces that deployed heavy armored vehicles and tanks in the city's streets, according local Yemeni sources.

Scores of al-Qaida mid-level commanders used private cars and moved their families outside the region after the UAE-backed Yemeni forces approached and entered the city of Zinjibar, al-Qaida's key stronghold in southern Yemen, residents told Xinhua.

The city of Zinjibar is strategically important due to its proximity to the port city of Aden, which houses ministers of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government after the capital Sanaa was occupied by the Shiite Houthi group in September 2014.

Last December, gunmen of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took full control over two strategic towns in neighboring Abyan province, about 45 kilometers away from Aden, where Yemen's internationally recognized government has based itself.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.

The AQAP, also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.

It took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence and seize more territories in Yemen's southern part.

Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

More than 6,400 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians.




China launches the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016. The world's first quantum communication satellite, which China is preparing to launch, has been given the moniker "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese scientist, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Monday. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

JIUQUAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday.

In a cloud of smoke, the satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), roared into the dark sky on top of a Long March-2D rocket.

The 600-plus-kilogram satellite will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes after it enters a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

It is nicknamed "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.

In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground, and provide insights into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics -- quantum entanglement.

Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.

With the help of the new satellite, scientists will be able to test quantum key distribution between the satellite and ground stations, and conduct secure quantum communications between Beijing and Xinjiang's Urumqi.

QUESS, as planned, will also beam entangled photons to two earth stations, 1,200 kilometers apart, in a move to test quantum entanglement over a greater distance, as well as test quantum teleportation between a ground station in Ali, Tibet, and itself.
by Larry Neild

LONDON, Aug 15 (Xinhua) -- A leading expert in politics at Oxford University has put the Labour Party's current civil war under the spotlight and said the two divided sides need each other to save the party.

Dr Matthew Williams from the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford's Wadham College outlined his analysis of the party's crisis in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Current leader Jeremy Corbyn, backed by a group of supporters known as Momentum, is facing a challenge for his job from Owen Smith, one of more than 170 MPs serving in the British House of Commons who have passed a vote of no confidence in Labour.

Smith is fighting his campaign on the basis of reuniting the party. Corbyn has massive grassroots support, and is packing rallies with thousands of people backing his new style of politics. The result will be announced next month in Liverpool.

Dr Williams told Xinhua: "I think the Labour Party has a future but they are facing an existential crisis." "In Scotland and northern England there is a strong parochialism in politics that Labour's instinctive internationalism jars with. I can't see a Corbyn-led Labour winning many seats in either of these Labour heart lands."

"All looks bleak at present as Corbyn is likely to win the leadership in September. There will then probably be a British general election connected with article 50 and Brexit (the formal mechanism to triggering Britain's exit from the EU) in 2017/18 which could almost wipe out the party north of Watford," Williams said.

"In 2018 there will be redistricting of parliamentary constituencies to reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons from 650 to 600. This will also affect Labour more than any other party as they benefit from small urban constituencies at present."

"So, where's the hope for Labour? I think they're unlikely to split because it will be a lose: lose strategy. Both Momentum and the establishment will be trashed if they split. They haven't fully realized it yet, but they need each other."

Various political commentators have warned that the civil war could spell the eventual end of the party.
BEIRUT, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Five Lebanese soldiers were injured Monday in a roadside bomb attack targeting an army patrol in the northeastern border town of Arsal, the military said in a statement.

The blast went off near a "transmission pole" in the Ras al-Sarj area at Arsal's entrance, the National News Agency reported.

The roadside bomb was remotely detonated, and it contained small pieces of metal aimed at maximizing injuries, said the statement.

Militants from the extremist Islamic State group and Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly al-Qaida linked al-Nusra Front, are entrenched along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border.

The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles.
by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming G20 summit to be held in China on Sept. 4-5 would provide a good chance to improve global economic governance, an Italian analyst said.

"The G20 forum is a proper framework where to make decisions impacting on global economy," Alessia Amighini, senior associate researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), told Xinhua in an interview.

"It has a lightweight and flexible structure, and not too much bureaucracy," she said.

The analyst added the Chinese presidency of the G20 has proved the summit's crucial role in terms of global governance.

"The Chinese presidency is lucid and clear-headed, as showed by its active role in the preparatory meetings, and by its tight cooperation with the previous G20 Turkish presidency and with its successor, Germany," she explained.

Amighini, an adjoint professor of International Economics at Catholic University in Milan, and assistant professor of Economics at the University of Eastern Piedmont, joined world experts who gathered at the Think 20 (T20) preparatory meeting for the G20 summit held in Beijing on July 29-30.

In her view, two specific factors were fostering positive expectations among experts."The first one is the establishment of the Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI), which was finally initiated by China after years of debate."

The second was the emphasis being given by G20 members so far on promoting e-commerce among various tools needed to bring new development and growth.

"The WGTI is important because trade and international investments have been the main engine of global growth from the early 2000s until the global recession, and the recent trade slowdown is the main cause of the weak global economy growth rate," Amighini explained.

Indeed, after a two-day meeting in Shanghai in early July, G20 trade ministers stressed that "global trade growth has slowed significantly since 2008, from an annual average of over 7 percent between 1990 and 2008, to less than 3 percent between 2009 and 2015. The 2015 marked the fourth consecutive year with global trade growth below 3 percent."

"Now, the (G20) goal is to find a new path to exit this situation and recover growth, which, however, does not mean returning to the growth rates prior to the crisis," the expert pointed out.

The growth registered before the financial crisis was in fact "drugged" by a proliferation of financial instruments that allowed housing bubble, according to the economist.

"That was not a healthy pattern at which to look. The 'new normal' that China has in its sight is a more realistic model of growth."

This was why the G20 Working Group on Trade and Investment would be so important.

"There were interesting cues from this perspective at the T20 meeting: we discussed how to get close to implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), for example, which would bring about a decrease in global trade costs."

The TFA was concluded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Dec. 2013, but it will not enter into force before two-thirds of WTO members ratify it. The deal is expected to bring down total trade costs by 13 percent to 14 percent, according to the WTO.

Meanwhile, a new G20 debate on developing digital infrastructure provided "new insights," according to Amighini.

"Experts are looking hopefully to the discussions launched over promoting e-commerce at global level. Digital infrastructures are a common public good essential to further development," she said.

"It seems we are witnessing a 'third wave of globalization' on this regard in recent months, and this would be a pressing topic for those countries with geographical obstacles limiting trade," she added.

Creating a first group of countries enjoying a sort of "e-commerce beyond frontiers" would be the most relevant step forward, and might work as a driver for developing a new perspective of growth, according to the professor.

The analyst added the need of soft (digital) infrastructure would of course go along with that of hard infrastructures.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian judo athlete has been sent home after refusing to shake his Israeli opponent's hand, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday.

The IOC said Islam El Shehaby received a "severe reprimand" for his behavior following his first-round heavyweight bout loss to Or Sasson on Friday.

When Sasson extended his hand, El Shehaby backed away. The referee called the 34-year-old El Shehaby back to the mat and demanded him to bow. He gave a quick nod before walking off amid loud boos from the crowd.

The IOC said in a statement that the Egyptian's conduct "was contrary to the rules of fair play and against the spirit of friendship embodied in the Olympic values."
ACCRA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian political parties have agreed to sign and observe a code of conduct to ensure peaceful elections in December, local media reported here Monday.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa, Dr Ibn Chambas, revealed this at a press conference here at the weekend.

This was after he led a five-member delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), and UN on a three-day joint high-level mission to Ghana.

The mission, he said, was to reiterate the strong support of the international community for peaceful, transparent and credible elections.

Chambas told the media the signing of the code of conduct would be a public event to be witnessed by Ghanaians and international observers comprising the ECOWAS, AU and the UN. He expressed the hope that political all parties would demonstrate what the signed in their campaign and general political activities.

Other key issues to be addressed by the accord are the assessment of risks of election-related violence and the need to explore further options to support dialogue and consensus by stakeholders on critical issues.

The envoy called for the strengthening of Ghana's institutions, adding that the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Judiciary deserved the respect of all Ghanaians.

He warned that nothing should be done to undermine the two institutions between now and the elections.

The December 7 poll is expected to be a very close contest between the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic party (NPP).
ALGIERS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Algeria on Sunday described as "alarmist" the latest report of the World Bank, which predicts a drop in the oil-rich nation's foreign exchange reserves to 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

Foreign exchange reserves at the end of 2018 will be "significantly higher," said the Algerian bank in a challenging report released on Sunday, official APS news agency reported.

The prediction is "not evidence-based," said the bank, as it "ignores the foreseeable progress of various indicators which highlight an evolution of foreign exchange reserves of Algeria."

Foreign reserves would be around 122 billion dollars at the end of 2016 as the bank predicted with figures delivered by the International Monetary Fund and the state-run energy company of Sonatrach.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal also assured that foreign exchange reserves would "by no way fall below 100 billion dollars."

The bank also noted remarkable decline in Algeria's imports bill since early 2015, which decreased by 7 billion dollars to 52.7 billion dollars.

Algeria, which is fully dependable on oil revenues, has seen its foreign exchange reserves shrinking amid global oil price plunge.
HARARE, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe government will set up a board of inquiry to investigate rhino horns that are missing from its storage, an official said on Monday.

Following the discovery of the missing 56 rhino horns, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in June sent its director-general Edison Chidziya on a two-month forced leave to facilitate investigations.

The missing horns have a weight of 228 kg.

A board member of the national parks agency Cephas Mudenda said government would now appoint a board of inquiry comprising various stakeholders to investigate the missing horns.

"We decided as a board to send Chidziya on forced leave after he failed to report about the missing rhino horns," said Mudenda while presenting oral evidence before a parliamentary committee on Environment, Water, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry.

"The missing horns were identified in an internal audit report but Chidziya kept the report to himself and did not report to the police," he added.

Rhinos are one of the endangered species in the southern African country after its population has declined significantly over the years to about 800 due to poaching.

Zimbabwe's ivory stockpile has now grown to 70 tonnes worth about 35 million U.S. dollars amid an international ban in ivory trade.

The country will thus lobby for the removal of the trade ban at the upcoming 17th session of Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa next month.

The country argues that it needs to sustainably utilize its abundant wildlife to drive social-economic development.
JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- South African Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande said on Monday that zero fee increases would force universities to down size or shut down certain programs.

"Some of our institutions are at a very precarious position, so we have to take into account all that," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

The minister said students should have to wait until the end of this month to know if there will be fee increases for the next year.

Students need to remain calm, as a decision on fees will only be made following a consultation process with various interested parties, the minister told reporters in Johannesburg.

"The universities have the issue of the implications of whatever action we take in relation to this matter. That was why we were in discussion and sharing the report. The report itself does point out that what would be the consequences of the fee increase across the board. We are looking at all these things," he said.

"We want to settle this fees issue once and for all," Nzimande added.

The minister addressed the media as the Mangosuthu University of Technology and the Pietermaritzburg Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) were shut down due to student protests.

South African Union of Students (SAUS) Secretary General Sthembiso Ndlovu told Xinhua that more universities would be shut down if fee increases for 2017 were implemented.

The Council for Higher Education has recommended a 6.3 percent fee hike for next year, saying a zero increment will put a lot of pressure on the institutions of higher learning.

Meanwhile, students are adamant that they wanted no fees increases for next year.

The Pan-Africanist Student Movement (PAM) has also threatened to make the country ungovernable if universities increase fees for 2017.

If the needs of the youth are not attended to, the students will make sure that universities are not operational. Nothing continues without the students," PAM General Secretary Justice Digashu told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

"We will close down all universities and also close down the Union Buildings (the seat of government). The reality of the matter is that there are above 8 million youth unemployed across the country. They can't afford education. The system must be able to cater for the needs of poor students," he added.

Meanwhile, chaos erupted on Monday outside the University of Johannesburg's Doornfontein campus when protesting students attempted to block roads.

Some of the students had placards that read in parts: "Fee Must Fall." The students, who were dancing and singing, demanded free education and set alight bins in the vicinity.

South African universities were hit by widespread protests over fee increases last year. According to the Department of Higher Education and Training, the unrest cost more than 145 million rand (about 10.8 million U.S. dollars) in damage.

Following the unrest, President Jacob Zuma appointed a commission to look into the students' concerns.

The government then suspended fee increases for 2016 and provided universities with billions of rand for the shortfall.
CARACAS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The 5th Technical Secretariat of the Mixed Venezuela-China High Level Committee (CMAN) began on Monday here in the Venezuelan capital, seeking to move forward important bilateral issues.

During the opening ceremony, Venezuelan Minister for Planning and Knowledge Ricardo Menendez greeted the Chinese delegation led by Wu Hongliang, secretary of CMAN, and Zhao Bentang, Chinese Ambassador to Venezuela.

At a press conference, Menendez said the meeting would tackle important topics, including new Chinese vehicles entering the Venezuelan distribution sector, the boosting of logistical capacity and the setting-up of Chinese production lines in Venezuela.

"We have seen with deep gratitude the initiatives the Chinese government has shown us," said the minister, adding that the Asian giant has helped Venezuela particularly in the oil industry and in terms of foreign exchange.

The technical secretariat will also begin a five-month working process where the two countries will advance on topics such as joint financing, cooperation in oil and mining, and electrical energy.

Venezuela will also introduce to China some of the engines of its Bolivarian Economic Agenda, specifically for hydrocarbons, agriculture and mining.

Both delegations will travel outside Caracas to take in progress on key policies of the Venezuelan government, including the Great New Tricolor Neighborhood Mission and the Great Venezuela Housing Mission.

Venezuela will also present its new distribution plan to ensure the supply of food and medicine in the country.

This CMAN meeting will also serve as a preparatory meeting for the the countries' 15th meeting of the Venezuela-China High-Level Mixed Committee, set to happen in late 2016.
LA PAZ, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia will install a network of 13 radars across the country to monitor its entire airspace in an effort to fight drug trafficking and smuggling, Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira said Monday.

The minister said the radar network will be bought from French company, Thales Air Systems, for a value of 213.4 million U.S. dollars.

The network, made up of five military and eight civilian radars, will be installed across airports and military bases, with an emphasis on the country's Amazon, central and southern regions.

The final contract for the deal will be signed in the coming weeks and Ferreira said that it would be a turnkey operation, with Thales installing the radars.

The first civilian radar will be set up at the El Alto International Airport in La Paz within six months of the signature of the country.

"The civilian radars will be installed first as Bolivia is one of the only countries in South America to still need such equipment to control commercial flights," said the minister.

The military radars will be tasked with identifying and helping to intercept clandestine flights linked to drug trafficking.

Ruben Lazo, Thales' vice-president for Latin America, said in July that this deal would allow Bolivia to have the most advanced air traffic control system in Latin America.
Photo taken on Aug. 14, 2016 shows cars damaged by violence in Milwaukee, U.S. state of Wisconsin. Gunshots were fired, businesses were set ablaze, people were detained and police vehicles damaged after a confrontation between police and protestors turned violent Saturday night in Milwaukee in the north-central U.S. state of Wisconsin. The confrontation was sparked by the police's fatal shooting of Sylville K. Smith, a 23-year-old black man, when he was trying to flee from two police officers who had stopped his car. (Xinhua/Emily Molli)

MILWAUKEE, the United States, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- A nighttime curfew was imposed for teenagers in the U.S. city of Milwaukee starting on Monday following two nights of violence over the fatal police shooting of a black man.

The mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, imposed the 10 p.m. curfew in the city located in the north-central U.S. state of Wisconsin in a bid to deter further escalation between protesters and police.

Gunshots were fired, businesses were set ablaze, people were detained and police vehicles damaged after a confrontation between police and protestors turned violent Saturday night and again on Sunday night.

"This is not the place where you go to gawk; it is not the place where you go to take pictures; it is not the place to drive your car around," Mayor Barrett told a news conference Monday.

The curfew will last one week.

Meanwhile, City Sheriff David Clarke ordered the closure of a park nearby the protest site from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the schedule will continue until further notice.

But protests are expected to continue in the northern suburbs of Milwaukee, where police shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith on Saturday afternoon.

The death in the police related shooting angered residents, as the incident was preceded by a series of deadly police killings involving mainly African American suspects.

Milwaukee has experienced two nights of unrest, when protesters fired gunshots and threw rocks, bricks, and bottles at police and bystanders. Eight officers were injured by rocks and bricks thrown by protesters.

The police arrested 17 protestors Saturday night and 14 people Sunday night.
FREETOWN, Aug. 15 ( Xinhua ) -- China and Sierra Leone have signed an agreement on medical aid in maternal health care as well as eye surgery.

The agreement was signed over the weekend by Dr. Abu Bakar Fofanah, Sierra Leone's Minister of Health and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yanbo.

In the signing ceremony, the Chinese Ambassador said that during the Ebola outbreak, they realized that Sierra Leone did not have enough doctors working for the Chinese built Jui hospital on the outskirts of the capital city Freetown.

He said that now the Ebola was over, but the problem of shortage of doctors was still existing in the country.

For this reason, China has decided to provide medical aid in maternal health care and eye surgery to Sierra Leone, he said, adding that the medical equipment will be left for the Health Ministry after the Chinese doctors leave the country.

Since 1973, China has been sending medical personals and supplies to Sierra Leone.

"We are grateful for all the assistance the government and people of Sierra Leone received," Sierra Leone's minister of health said.

He said they were looking forward to working with Chinese doctors and contributing better health care to the country.
MELBOURNE, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A world-first trial has allowed West Australian residents with solar panels to sell excess power to each other.

The trial, made possible by the technology behind the virtual currency Bitcoin, allowed participants in Bunbury, the third largest city in Western Australia (WA), to sell excess power to their neighbors for between 5 U.S. cents and 20 U.S. cents per unit.

Under the current system, consumers can only sell excess power back to providers for 5 U.S. cents per unit but if they then need to buy more power they would pay 20 U.S. cents per unit.

Jemma Green, chairwoman of start-up Power Ledger who ran the trial, said the success of the experiment demonstrated the demand by consumers for greater control of their power usage.

"It's clear people want control of their electricity and to commercialize it how they see fit," Green told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

Special 'Blockchain' software allowed participants in the trial to see the implications of selling or buying power at any given time such as how much money they would make or spend.

"A local government might have demand in one area but no roof space, and lower energy use down the road in a place that can have panels installed. They could then use the blockchain to provide for more of their own energy needs," Green said.

"At the moment we pay a flat energy tariff and also a time of day tariff based on how much it costs to produce energy at that time of the day. So people can store energy and sell it while the price is high."

"Apart from people getting a return on their solar panel investment sooner, there will be an increase in installations."

Green said Power Ledger has had discussions with companies in Japan, Brazil and New Zealand about deploying the new technology.
CANBERRA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Australian security officials said on Tuesday that severe faults in IT giant IBM's software are to blame for last week's online census debacle.

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the nation's top cybersecurity agency within the Defence Department, said flaws within IBM's design of the census webpage gave weight to pre-census concerns the servers would not be able to handle the amount of traffic while simultaneously warding off cyber-attacks.

Last week, millions of Australians attempted to fill out the nation's first online census - which gives the government an accurate snapshot of the nation. However the website failed a number of times before it was taken offline by the government due to a number of perceived "security threats."

Later in the week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned that "heads would roll" over the poor planning, and said that denial of service (DOS) attacks were "very predictable" and should have been easily thwarted on the night.

According to a News Corp report on Tuesday, the ASD learned there was no 'back-up' server when the IBM and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) system came under pressure from a DOS attack, in which a website is bombarded with so much traffic - legitimate or otherwise - that it becomes impossible to access.

According to the ASD, a key failure on the part of IBM was the absence of an 'upstream provider' to keep the website running and online when the initial system came under pressure.

IBM was reportedly paid up to 7.5 million U.S. dollars to host the census, and has so far refused to apologize for the failure, adding to government frustrations over the evening.

The prime minister's chief cyber-security adviser, Alastair MacGibbon, former director of the Australian High Tech Crime Center, has been asked to chair an official inquiry into the census failure. It is expected to consider the ASD advice as well as responses from both the ABS and IBM.

As of Tuesday, less than half of all Australian households have filled in the online census - which is back online - however concerns about security are reportedly scaring Australians off from filling in the data.

The ABS has confirmed it has implemented "additional protective measures" in the wake of the debacle to protect private information from falling into the wrong hands.
Volunteers and Army personnel take care of a seriouly-injured passenger brought back by Army helicopter at an airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Nepal Army)

KATHMANDU, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's Home Ministry said that as many as 29 people were killed and 72 people were injured in two separate bus accidents that took place in Kavrepalanchowk district in central Nepal and Baitadi district in far-western Nepal on Monday.

As many as 26 people were killed and 42 injured in the passenger bus accident in Kavrepalanchowk as the bus veered off the road and plunged down at Birta Deurali area of the district, the ministry said in a press statement.

The bus had moved from capital Kathmandu and met an accident at around 1:30 p.m. local time as the bus plunged 300 meters down the road out of control, according to the ministry.

Army personnel take an injured woman to hospital from an airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 15, 2016. (Xinhua/Nepal Army)

In another accident that took place at Siddheshwor village of Baitadi, three people were killed while other 30 were injured.

Police were mobilized and Nepal Army sent its helicopter for the rescue of the injured passengers at Birta Deurali, according to the government's statement.

Out of injured people, 28 were brought to Kathmandu in helicopters and taken to different hospitals. Another 15 injured were treated in local Dhulekhel hospital. Likewise, those injured in accident in Baitadi were also taken to sub-regional hospital in nearby Dadeldhura district.

The ministry said that such accidents have been taking place for carrying more passengers than their capacity. "The local administration and police have been given stringent order to control such practices," said the ministry.
File photo taken on July 16, 2016 shows Donald Trump speaking during a campaign event in New York, the United States. New York billionaire Donald Trump clinched enough delegate votes to be officially selected as Republican presidential nominee Tuesday evening in the roll call voting at the ongoing Republican National Convention. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump outlined his anti-terror plan on Monday, proposing an extreme ideological vetting for all immigrants and visitors to the United States to fight what he called "Radical Islamic Terrorism."

"We will be tough, and we will be even extreme," said Trump at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, casting the fight against "Radical Islamic Terrorism" as this generation's Cold War.

His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as well as U.S. President Barack Obama have refused to use the term as they think it demonizes the Muslim faith.

"The common thread linking the major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil...is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants," the New York billionaire argued.

"In addition to screening out all members of the sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out anyone who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law," said Trump.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he said, "I call it extreme vetting."

While claiming that if elected, his administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslims, Trump reiterated his initiatives to temporarily suspend visas from Muslim-majority countries and countries with a history of exporting terrorism.

In fighting terrorism, Trump also said he would focus on destroying the Islamic State through joint military operations with other countries, create "a commission on radical Islam," end "our current strategy of nation-building and regime change," keep Guantanamo Bay open and stop trying terror suspects in civilian courts.

"The rise of ISIS (the Islamic State) is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton," said Trump, who controversially labelled Obama and Clinton as "the founders of ISIS" last week.

"Hillary Clinton wants to be America's Angela Merkel and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to Germany," he told a crowd.

"My opponent wants to increase, which is unbelievable no matter who you are and where you come from, the flow of Syrian refugees by 550 percent," he said.

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, a senior policy adviser to Trump, described Trump's strategy as "foreign policy realism," while Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Trump should take a U.S. naturalization test himself as he prepares to propose new political hurdles for immigrants coming to the country.

"Since Donald Trump wants to impose new tests on immigrants, he should take the one test every immigrant has to pass to become a United States citizen," Reid said in a statement. "He would almost certainly fail, given his general ignorance and weak grasp of basic facts about American history, principles and functioning of our government."

Despite increasing criticism on his national security remarks from the Democrats and many Republicans including 50 senior former national security experts who issued an open letter last week saying he was too reckless to be president, Trump went on with a more nuanced tack in his Monday speech, local analysts observed.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Following a report from the New York Times on Sunday, the U.S. Democratic Party is now questioning if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is receiving money from pro-Russian groups.

According to the report, Ukraine's anti-corruption agency has found a ledger of the former Ukrainian government under pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych that included a 12.7-million-U.S.-dollar payment to Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort.

But the agency has yet to determine whether Manafort has received the money.

The report also alleged that Manafort advised the Yanukovych government until it was overthrown by protests in 2014.

Citing the report, Hillary Clinton's campaign urged Manafort to disclose any links with the pro-Russian politician.

Manafort has denied pocketing the record cash. "I have never received a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as falsely 'reported' by the New York Times," Manafort said.
MANAGUA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Nicaraguan army displayed its new T-72 combat tanks bought from Russia in an equipment exhibition opened Monday in Managua.

General Julio Cesar Aviles, the commander-in-chief of Nicaragua's armed forces, told reporters that Nicaragua was amidst an overhaul of its armed forces and that the T-72 tanks would replace T-54 and T-55 tanks, bought from the former Soviet Union.

"The modernization and development (of the army)...includes the revision and purchasing of new equipment, such as BTR armored vehicles...and the T-72 tanks, which will replace the old T-54 and T-55 tanks," Aviles said.

According to official figures, Nicaragua bought 50 T-721B1 tanks at a cost of 80 million U.S. dollars.

On Aug. 12, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he had asked the U.S. and Russian governments to help his country improve its ability to fight drug trafficking and organized crime.

Ortega promised that his country would spend much of its national budget to stop drugs from crossing Nicaragua on its way to the U.S. and other countries.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned an airstrike on a Yemeni hospital operated by the humanitarian association Doctors Without Borders, calling on all parties to end hostilities and find a negotiated solution.

On Monday, at least 20 people were killed and 15 others wounded when Saudi-led warplanes attacked the hospital in the northwest province of Hajja.

"Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," said a statement released by Ban's spokesperson.

Yemen has been locked in a civil war since the Houthis seized power and overturned the Yemeni government in late 2014.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to support exiled the Yemeni government in 2015, but failed to bring it back to power in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

The war and ensuing airstrikes have killed over 6,400 people, mostly civilians. According to the UN, over 70 health centers have been damaged or destroyed in the conflict.
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chief of the U.S. Army plans to visit South Korea this week, Seoul's defense ministry said on Tuesday.

Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Army chief of staff, will make a three-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday, meeting his South Korean counterpart on Friday, a South Korean army official told a regular press briefing.

The U.S. army head will receive an update on plans to deploy one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on South Korean soil, his office said. It would mark his second visit to South Korea since he took office in August 2015.

High-level U.S. army official's visit to South Korea would come amid heightened tensions surrounding Seoul and Washington's abrupt decision last month to house one THAAD battery in southeastern South Korea by the end of next year.

Objections from civic group activists and opposition lawmakers to the U.S. missile shield are getting louder at home, while China and Russia have strongly opposed the THAAD deployment as its X-band radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories.

If deployed, it would escalate the already heightened tensions in Northeast Asia as arms race is expected.
NEW YORK, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Monday's outdoor funeral for a Muslim imam and his associate shot dead over the weekend in New York City, the largest city in the United States, drew about 1,000 mourners near a mosque in Queens Borough.

Police are questioning a 36-year-old suspect arrested on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday afternoon when Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were slain after prayers at the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.

The motive for the killings that set off fear and anguish in the Bangladeshi community in the neighborhood has not been determined, said police, who have found no connection between the Hispanic suspect and the two men murdered.

The suspect was arrested late Sunday night. He was seen on video surveillance fleeing the area of the shootings in a black GMC Trailblazer just after the murders, and a car matching that description was found to hit a bicyclist about 5 km away in Brooklyn, local media reported.

Police said they also recovered a revolver in searching the suspect's home.

While asking for security measures to protect mosques, speakers at the traditional Islamic funeral service believed the murders were hate crimes against the Islamic faith, and that the victims were targeted.

They also deemed it necessary for authorities to beef up security at the Muslim-populated Ozone Park and other similar parts of the New York City.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told the mourners that the entire city was "mourning with you."

He promised earlier in a statement that "our NYPD will bring this killer to justice."

The shootings occurred around 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) near the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque where the two victims were attending their Saturday afternoon prayers.

The two men in traditional Muslim garb were both shot in the head from close range. The male killer, described by witnesses as dark-haired, bearded and with glasses, approached them from behind and fled with a gun in his hand, according to police. Surveillance footage showed the suspect tailing the victims.

Imam Akonjee moved to the United States from Bangladesh two years ago, said media reports. The culturally diverse, working-class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam has denounced the shootings as a "cowardly act on peace-loving people."
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the mass killing of civilians in the Beni area in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Local authorities said at least 45 people were found dead in a massacre perpetrated on Saturday night at the village of Rwangoma in the outskirts of the Beni city. Rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group of Ugandan origin, were suspected to be responsible for the attack.

Ban was "appalled" by the attack and called for those responsible for this attack to be brought to justice, said a statement released by Ban's spokesperson.

Ban also reiterated the UN's commitment to support the country's authorities to address the threats posed by armed groups and end impunity, said the statement.

The eastern part of the DRC has been plagued for two decades by chronic instability caused by local and foreign armed groups who have perpetrated ethnic violence while fighting for mineral resources.

According to local authorities, more than 1,000 people have been killed in the province of North Kivu since last year.
NEW DELHI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- While summing up his accomplishments in the past two years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thought building 20 million toilets across the country deserved a special mentioning.

In a speech delivered on Monday during the Indian Independence Day celebrations, Modi told a cheering crowd that "more than 20 million toilets have been built in India's villages and more than 70,000 are free of open defecation."

Though providing people with toilets does not seem like a very high standard in the 21st century, the feat is indeed a leap for the South Asian country which was notorious for its poor sanitation conditions.

Open defecation has long been a major health and sanitation problem in India, where almost 594 million people -- nearly half the population -- defecate in the open, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

The lack of toilets has led to a host of chronic social issues as it can help spread diseases such as diarrhoea and has even contributed to rampant sexual assaults on females, according to news reports.
HANOI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- German rock band Scorpions will attend the Monsoon Music Festival in Vietnam's capital Hanoi in October.

The five-member male band is expected to have one night performance at Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Hanoi during the three-day show from Oct. 21 to 23.

Scorpions was established 50 years ago. More than 100 million records of the band have been sold to date, making it the most successful rock band of the continental Europe by far.

Together with Scorpions, other artists from Britain, Denmark, France, South Korea, among others, will also perform during the concert.

The Monsoon Music Festival has been held annually in Hanoi since 2014.
MANILA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered concerned government agencies to facilitate the travel of leftist rebel consultants who will participate in the formal resumption of talks later this month, a government peace panel official said Tuesday.

Government peace panel member Angela Librado-Trinidad said the president instructed the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Foreign Affairs to assist the consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army (CPP-NPA), who will be travelling to Oslo, Norway for the August 22 formal talks.

About 10 detained high-ranking leftist rebels, including couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, have been allowed to post bail to be able to join the peace negotiations in Norway, the third party facilitator in the peace process.

Duterte met Monday in Malacanang, the presidential palace, NDF lawyers, assuring that the released consultants will fly to Oslo, said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who heads the government panel negotiating with the NDF.

Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process, will head the Philippine delegation during the opening ceremony.

"The President said, that while he was hurt by the sharp exchanges between him and CPP founding chair Jose Maria Sison who is based in The Netherlands, he gave assurances that he will walk the extra mile for peace," Dureza said.

The CPP, along with its armed wing - the New People's Army (NPA), is waging Asia's longest running insurgency.

The formal peace talks between the government and the leftist rebel group bogged down in 2011 during the Aquino administration.
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed, two others injured and one missing in an explosion at a submarine repair dock in a South Korean naval base, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday citing Seoul's military.

A military official was quoted as saying that the explosion occurred at about 8:30 a.m. local time at a submarine repair dock in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, which serves as home for the South Korean navy.

The accident happened while a midget submarine was being repaired, but the exact cause of the explosion was yet to be confirmed.

Among the two wounded, one is in critical condition.

The missing person was thrown into the water from the shock of the explosion.

All of those killed, wounded and missing were commissioned or uncommissioned officers, the military official was quoted as saying.
NANJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Two rocket-carrying ships on Tuesday departed to pick up and transport the Long March-5 rocket, China's largest carrier rocket scheduled to be launched later this year.

Yuanwang-21 and Yuanwang-22 set out for north China's Tianjin Port to pick up containers holding the Long March-5 and will arrive at Qinglan Port in Wenchang in South China's Hainan Province after a seven-day journey.

Long March-5 will be launched from the Wenchang satellite launch center.

The Yuanwang ships are China's first ships made exclusively to carry rockets.

In early May this year, Yuanwang-21 transported Long March-7 to Wenchang. As Long March-5 is a heavy-lift rocket, it needs two carrying ships.
TOKYO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government is debating whether to lower the age limit for drinking, smoking and gambling, with some in the ruling party arguing it would drive up sales and tax revenue.

The discussions fall under a larger initiative to lower the adult age from 20 to 18 next year, which would give Japanese citizens aged 18 and 19 the right to get married and sign contracts for expensive items without the consent of their guardians.

However, legislators within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have not reached consensus on whether the new adult age bill would blanket the acts of drinking, smoking and gambling.

The move follows a new legislation pushed through in June that lowered the voting age from 20 to 18.

The Japanese Times cited government plans as saying that there would be a three-year transition period after the bill is enacted, so that the new adult age would not be introduced before 2021.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States transferred 15 Guantanamo detainees from Cuba to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release over the last seven years, Pentagon announced on Monday.

The transfer of the 15 detainees, among whom 12 were Yemeni nationals and the other three Afghans, reduced the population of the military prison to 61 and came six months after U.S. President Barack Obama made what was widely seen as his last plea for support from the Republican-controlled Congress to close the facility.

In a statement released on Monday, the Pentagon said the United States was "grateful to the Government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility."

In February, Obama unveiled a long-stalled closure plan in his apparent last-ditch effort to seek cooperation from the Congress to close the Guantanamo prison.

According to the plan, some of the detainees still held in Guantanamo would be transferred to other countries, and the Obama administration would review the threat posed by detainees who were not eligible for transfers and identify those eligible for military trials.

However, the closure plan left unanswered a crucial question as to where the administration would put some detainees ineligible for transfers inside the United States.

Republicans in the Congress have pledged to fight against bringing any Guantanamo detainees back to the United States.
File photo taken on Jan. 31, 2013 shows USS San Francisco (SSN-711), a 6,800-ton Los Angeles-class submarine, anchoring at Jinhae naval base in Changwon, about 410 km southeast of Seoul, South Korea. (Xinhua/Reuters/Newsis)

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed, two others injured and one missing in an explosion at a submarine repair dock in a South Korean naval base, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday citing Seoul's military.

A military official was quoted as saying that the explosion occurred at about 8:30 a.m. local time at a submarine repair dock in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, which serves as home for the South Korean navy.

The accident happened while a midget submarine was being repaired, but the exact cause of the explosion was yet to be confirmed.

Among the two wounded, one is in critical condition.

The missing person was thrown into the water from the shock of the explosion.

All of those killed, wounded and missing were commissioned or uncommissioned officers, the military official was quoted as saying.
SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A vessel linked to one of Western Australia's largest drug bust in history has been sold, local media reported on Tuesday.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the vessel and tender had been sold to separate Australian buyers for under 30,000 Australian dollars (23,049 U.S. dollars).

The boat was seized this May after authorities discovered 200 million Australian dollars (150 million U.S. dollars) worth of crystal methamphetamine onboard. It saw 14 people being charged for the offense.

The vessel was being auctioned online last month on a five-day sale.

Confirming this, a spokesperson for AFP said the sale was allowed under the Australian Maritime Powers Act.

Proceeds from the sale will be determined later, but in the past money derived from confiscated assets was used to fund programs such as crime prevention or law enforcement initiatives that benefit the community, the spokesperson added.

The advertisement for the boat stated that the vessel had holes in its floors, does not have safety equipment and has never been registered in Australian waters.
JAKARTA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- President Joko Widodo on Tuesday said poverty, unemployment, and social inequality as main challenges that Indonesia needs to tackle in pursuing the acceleration of development.

In his annual Independence Day speech, Joko said that all of Indonesia's presidents have worked very hard to overcome the three challenges, but the country continues to struggle with them especially with the ongoing global shifts.

"We still face those problems, but the difference is that now we are also in the middle of the fierce global competition. This is an era where all countries are connected to one another, and a nation's problem can become a problem for other nations across the world," said the president who took office in October 2014.

Joko said that his administration is currently focusing on implementing three measures to overcome the challenges: expediting infrastructure development, preparing productive capacity and human resources, and deregulation and de-bureaucratization.

To implement those measures, Joko vowed that the government would carry out legal and bureaucratic reformation, reorganizing the management of development budget, partaking in international politics, and maintaining Indonesia's democracy, political stability, and security.
SUVA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fiji has extended its well wishes to South Korea as the Asian nation marked its 71st anniversary of liberation, the Fijian government announced Tuesday.

In a congratulatory note to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said Fiji reaffirms its desire to work closely with the South Korean government to address issues such as climate change, regional peace, security and social and economic development.

"With the direct air link between our nations, we continue to strengthen our people-to-people ties, as well as our formal diplomatic relationship," Bainimarama said, thanking South Korea for the assistance it has provided to the country.

The Fijian prime minister said he is especially keen to secure increased South Korean investment in Fiji and an expansion of trade between the two countries.

To this end, he said, Fiji looks forward to working with South Korea to strengthen economic links in the months and years ahead.

Fiji and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1970, according to Fiji's Department of Information.

South Korea marked on Monday the 71st anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, during which the Korean people suffered numerous atrocities such as forced recruitment of Korean women as sex slaves for Japanese military brothels and compulsory labor for Japan's munitions factories.
China launches the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

JIUQUAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday.

In a cloud of thick smoke, the satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), roared into the dark sky on top of a Long March-2D rocket.

The 600-plus-kilogram satellite will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes after it enters a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

It is nicknamed "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.

In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground, and provide insights into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics -- quantum entanglement.

Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.

With the help of the new satellite, scientists will be able to test quantum key distribution between the satellite and ground stations, and conduct secure quantum communications between Beijing and Xinjiang's Urumqi.

QUESS, as planned, will also beam entangled photons to two earth stations, 1,200 kilometers apart, in a move to test quantum entanglement over a greater distance, as well as test quantum teleportation between a ground station in Ali, Tibet, and itself.

"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role -- from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," said Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of QUESS project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The scientists now are expecting quantum communications to fundamentally change human development in the next two or three decades, as there are enormous prospects for applying the new generation of communication in fields like defense, military and finance.

File photo taken on July 26, 2016 shows technical staff install thermal control materials for the experimental quantum communication satellite at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Xinhua)

SPOOKY & ENTANGLED

Quantum physics is the study of the basic building blocks of the world at a scale smaller than atoms. These tiny particles behave in a way that could overturn assumptions of how the world works.

One of the strange properties of quantum physics is that a tiny particle acts as if it's simultaneously in two locations -- a phenomenon known as "superposition." The noted interpretation is the thought experiment of Schrodinger's cat -- a scenario that presents a cat that may be simultaneously both alive and dead.

If that doesn't sound strange enough, quantum physics has another phenomenon which is so confounded that Albert Einstein described as "spooky action at a distance" in 1948.

Scientists found that when two entangled particles are separated, one particle can somehow affect the action of the far-off twin at a speed faster than light.

Scientists liken it to two pieces of paper that are distant from each other: if you write on one, the other immediately shows your writing.

In the quantum entanglement theory, this bizarre connection can happen even when the two particles are separated by the galaxy.

By harnessing quantum entanglement, the quantum key technology is used in quantum communications, ruling out the possibility of wiretapping and perfectly securing the communication.

A quantum key is formed by a string of random numbers generated between two communicating users to encode information. Once intercepted or measured, the quantum state of the key will change, and the information being intercepted will self-destruct.

According to Pan, scientists also plan to test quantum key distribution between QUESS and ground stations in Austria. Italy, Germany and Canada, as they have expressed willingness to cooperate with China in future development of quantum satellite constellations, said Pan.

Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2016 shows technical staff install the unlocking device for the separation of satellite and rocket for the experimental quantum communication satellite at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Xinhua)

LIFE CHANGING

With the development of quantum technology, quantum mechanics will change our lives in many ways. In addition to quantum communications, there are quantum computers that have also drawn attentions from scientists and governments worldwide.

Quantum computing could dwarf the processing power of today's supercomputers.

In normal silicon computer chips, data is rendered in one of two states: 0 or 1. However, in quantum computers, data could exist in both states simultaneously, holding exponentially more information.

One analogy to explain the concept of quantum computing is that it is like being able to read all the books in a library at the same time, whereas conventional computing is like having to read them one after another.

Scientists say that a quantum computer will take just 0.01 second to deal with a problem that costs Tianhe-2, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, 100 years to solve.

Many, however, is viewing this superpower as a threat: if large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to crack all existing information encryption systems, creating an enormous security headache one day.

Therefore, quantum communications will be needed to act like a "shield," protecting information from the "spear" of quantum computers, offering the new generation of cryptography that can be neither wiretapped nor decoded.

Combined photo shows China launching the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

GOING GLOBAL?

With the launch of QUESS, Chinese scientists now are having their eyes on a ground-to-satellite quantum communication system, which will enable global scale quantum communications.

In past experiments, quantum communications could only be achieved in a short range, as quantum information, in principle, could travel no more than 500 kilometers through optical fibers on the land due to the loss of photons in transmission, Pan explained.

Since photons carrying information barely get scattered or absorbed when travelling through space and the Earth's atmosphere, said Pan, transmitting photons between the satellite and ground stations will greatly broaden quantum communications'reach.

However, in quantum communications, an accurate transmission of photons between the "server" and the "receiver" is never easy to make, as the optic axis of the satellite must point precisely toward those of the telescopes in ground stations, said Zhu Zhencai, QUESS chief designer.

It requires an alignment system of the quantum satellite that is 10 times as accurate as that of an ordinary one and the detector on the ground can only catch one in every one million entangled photons fired, the scientist added.

What makes it much harder is that, at a speed of eight kilometers per second, the satellite flying over the earth could be continuously tracked by the ground station for merely a few minutes, scientists say.

"It will be like tossing a coin from a plane at 100,000 meters above the sea level exactly into the slot of a rotating piggy bank," said Wang Jianyu, QUESS project's chief commander.

Given the high sensitivity of QUESS, people could observe a match being lit on the moon from the Earth, Wang added.

After years of experimenting, Chinese scientists developed the world's first-ever quantum satellite without any available reference to previous projects. Now they are waiting to see QUESS's performance in operation.

According to Pan, his team has planned to initiate new projects involving research on quantum control and light transmission in space station, as well as tests on quantum communications between satellites, all-time quantum communications and the application of quantum key network.

"If China is going to send more quantum communication satellites into orbit, we can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030," said Pan.
YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's upcoming visit to China will further promote Myanmar-China relations, the National League for Democracy (NLD) has said.

Aung San Suu Kyi will pay an official visit to China from Aug. 17 to 21 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the first Myanmar leader to visit China since the Southeast Asian nation's new government was formed in late March.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, U Win Htein, member of the NLD Central Executive Committee (CEC), said the objectives of both sides are identical as the principle of Aung San Suu Kyi's foreign policy is that neighboring countries should maintain exchanges closely and friendly.

Aung San Suu Kyi visited China in June 2015 as NLD chairperson and the success of her last visit "has promoted the relations between the two countries and the two parties," according to U Win Htein.

U Win Htein said that prior to Aung San Suu Kyi's second visit to China, a delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) just visited Myanmar, which is beneficial to the development of both countries as well as both parties' relations.

"I believe that the bilateral relations would further develop in a better direction," he said, adding that Aung San Suu Kyi's upcoming visit would make more achievements than the previous one.

In Myanmar's general election in November last year, Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD won an absolute majority of seats in both houses of parliament.

On April 5, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar, and his visit was the first of a foreign minister to the country after the new government took office.
QALA-E-NAW, Afghanistan, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Taliban massive offensive on Balamurghab district in the western Badghis province has been repulsed and the militants after leaving 53 bodies behind fled the area, a local official said Tuesday.

"Hundreds of Taliban rebels launched a massive and coordinated offensive to capture the stratigically important Balamurghab district late last night but fortunately the attack was repulsed in hours and the militants after leaving behind 53 bodies retreated to the mountains," District Governor Ahmad Zia Akazai told Xinhua.

A Taliban commander Qari Ahsanullah is also among those killed in the fighting, he added.

Nearly 50 more insurgents sustained injuries in the firefight lasted for few hours.

Taliban militants have been fighting government forces in several parts of the country to regain power are yet to make comment on the report.
NANNING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A major woman culprit of a transnational child trafficking gang, Huang Qingheng, was executed by a court in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Tuesday.

Huang's execution was sanctioned by China's Supreme Court.

Huang, whose nationality was not clear, claimed to be born in 1982 and lived in Vietnam. Huang and her gang were found guilty of trafficking more than 20 infants and children since 2010, according to court verdicts.

Children were smuggled from Vietnam to be sold in China, mainly in Guangdong Province, or pregnant Vietnamese women were sent to China and to sell their children after they were born.

Eleven of the children were rescued by Chinese police, 10 of whom were Vietnamese and sent back to Vietnam. The rescued were aged from 10 days to seven months old.

There were 23 members with Huang's gang, who are both Chinese and Vietnamese nationals. Apart from Huang, they were given jail terms ranging from 22 months to life imprisonment after they were convicted of child trafficking.

Huang was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Fangchenggang City in Guangxi for being found guilty of child trafficking in a first-instant trial held in May 2014. She was also stripped of all her property. Huang appealed her case to a higher court.

The higher people's court in the region dismissed her appeal in January 2015 and upheld the ruling made by the lower court before submitting Huang's death sentence to the Supreme Court for approval.
CARACAS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela on Monday rejected accusations that it has not met all its membership obligations in the capacity of part of Mercosur, as alleged by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez stated that "manipulations and illegal falsehoods" were being spread by the "Triple Alliance" (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay).

Venezuela is now holding the rotating presidency of Mercosur -- a sub-regional bloc of which the full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Rodriguez denounced a "boycott" that seeks to stop "the Venezuelan direction of the bloc", and that is "led by the U.S. government.

Finally, Rodriguez said that "not only has Venezuela taken on board a large part of...Mercosur's norms...but as equaled, or in most cases, has also surpassed these parties."

Uruguay's Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said Monday that he was opposed to the proposal that the presidency of the Mercosur should be held collectively.

He added that Aug. 13 was the deadline for Venezuela to be sworn into its duties and legal norms as a member of Mercosur, including the bloc's human right standards and tariff regulations.

While Caracas has not met these norms, Nin Novoa warned, "there are no sanctions contemplated for those who do not meet these norms. Nobody has predicted this."
HAVANA, Aug.15 (Xinhua) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived Monday afternoon in Cuba to participate in the celebrations marking the 90th birthday of the Cuban Revolution leader, Fidel Castro, an official statement said.

"The visit of President Evo represents another example of the excellent state of the relations between the peoples and governments of Cuba and Bolivia," said the document published by the daily Granma newspaper.

Castro turned 90 on Saturday and his birthday has been celebrated by several national and international events.

Morales arrived here after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who had accompanied Castro in a big cultural gala on Saturday night.

The Bolivian president had also sent his best wishes through Twitter, calling Castro's entire life "admirable."

Castro beat foreign domination with strength and perseverance, Morales said.

"The Cuban Revolution is the mother of the Latin American revolution, with united people mobilized to beat the North American imperialism," he said.
DHAKA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police in Bangladesh capital Dhaka said Monday that they have identified the third Dhaka terror mastermind.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Police official who preferred to be unnamed told Xinhua that the suspected mastermind is Nurul Islam Marjan, a student of Chittagong University in southeastern Bangladesh.

He said photographs taken by the militants during the attack were sent to Marjan who maintained communication with the attackers and the other two masterminds.

The attack was carried out on July 1 in Spanish Holey Artisan cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan.

He said Marjan is a member of the banned local Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) which has been blamed for the terror attack that killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers.

Earlier this month Bangladesh revealed the identity of two Dhaka terror masterminds and announced a cash reward of 4 million taka (about 50,632 U.S. dollars) to anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the militant kingpins.

Inspector General of Bangladesh Police AKM Shahidul Huq said that one Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury along with former army officer Syed Md Ziaul Haque, who has been dismissed for a coup attempt, plotted to attack the cafe.

According to the police chief, both Chowdhury and Haque were also behind the attack near the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue on July 7 and the militants were gunned down in Dhaka's downtown Kalyanpur area during a raid on July 26.

Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack 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.

Responsibility for the Gulshan attack has been claimed by the Islamic State group, an assertion rejected by the authorities, who blamed "homegrown" JMB terrorists for the incident.

Six of the gunmen were killed while one was captured, but he later died in a hospital.

Huq had earlier said militants gunned down in Dhaka's Kalyanpur area during a raid on July 26 were involved with JMB.

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombing attacks in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.

Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007.
SYDNEY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea's prime minister on Tuesday dismissed allegations the country's new cybercrime laws are a bid to curtail free speech an in the lead up to the 2017 election, claiming they will strengthen public debate.

Like all pacific countries, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is embracing mobile technology for productivity gains but also to discuss matters of local and national importance.

PNG parliament last week pushed through a new cybercrime bill to curtail computer related crimes such as fraud and hacking, however prominent media personalities claim the vague references to "defamation" and "undermining the state" are designed to limit public dissent.

"The Internet also opens up many new opportunities to expand free speech and democratic debate," O'Neill said in a statement on Tuesday.

"It is only people who break laws, incite violence, and who bully or slander who have to be concerned that their actions will see them become the subject of a criminal investigation.

"The internet must be a place where human rights are respected and cowards cannot misuse technology to hurt people and incite violence."

The pacific nation has been riding a groundswell of unrest over calls for O'Neill to resign amid allegations of corrupt, while prominent bloggers and journalists have shed light on the country's economic failings.

Civil unrest erupted in June after police fired live bullets into protesting students who were attempting to march on parliament in support of a vote of no confidence motion against O'Neill. Parliament was abruptly suspended before the bill could be tabled, only to be recalled in July following the Pacific nation's Supreme Court deeming the adjournment unconstitutional.

O'Neill survived the no-confidence motion, however with national elections just 10 months away, political unrest is likely to continue.

Prominent blogger and social media personality Martyn Namorong told Radio New Zealand on Monday the new laws could be used to quash criticism of the government. Namorong has previously won the country's prestigious Crocodile Prize literary award, however in light of the "draconian" laws, his blog is no longer for public viewing.

"You use social media to talk about protesting... is that undermining the state or undermining the government?" Namorong told the broadcaster, questioning where the line will be drawn.

"The rest of the stuff that's in the law, they need to be there. But the other stuff that could potentially prevent community organizing... it's really quite scary."

Namorong's fears aren't without precedent after PNG Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari in July said any civil unrest from striking civil groups was a threat to national security, thus establishing a National Security Joint Taskforce monitoring public dissent.

"Any threats in the form of social media, (mainstream) media as well without checking the facts and your report is a threat," Lupari said, according to local PNG newspaper The National at the height of tensions before the July vote of no confidence.

"Any politician who issues threats through press conferences (and) petitions by landowners, those are potential threats to national security (and) they will come under the scrutiny of the task force now established."

O'Neill said those who feels strongly about their views should seek public endorsement by running for office in the national election instead of hiding behind "fake online names", just as the internet begins to shape the 2017 national election.
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Members of a Chinese dance group perform a traditional folk dance during the African-Chinese cultural festival, organised by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism, on the historic Moez Street, in Cairo, Egypt July 25, 2016. Picture taken July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Warm sunshine, peaceful beaches, colorful reefs and a cup of iced drink are always essentials for a heaven-like vocation, and also compose the reason why Sharm el-Sheikh is famous around the world.

However, as Egypt's most famous tourism city, Sharm el-Sheikh is still suffering from the sluggish income growth in the tourism sector, with hope on the coming season and a new market, China.

"We have gone through a very tough period because of the terrorism," Egyptian Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently, adding that the declining dollar income in tourism is the main reason of the current economic woes in his country.

Egypt has been suffering from the weak economy, especially in tourism, the second largest U.S. dollar income sector, over the past few years due to political turmoil.

The situation further deteriorated due to the Russian plane crash in Sinai that killed over 200 in October last year and a tragic fall of an EgyptAir flight in May that killed all 66 people on board.

"Egypt is where the history started, and tourism is a very cultural embedded industry. We have one-third of the antiquities of the world and the largest beaches on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which I believe is very attractive for the Chinese tourists," Rashed explained Egypt's interests in Chinese market.

"With the testimony of all people, including the Chinese living in Egypt, it is evident that Egypt is safe and a good choice for everyone for holidays," he added.

According to a report by the Egyptian statistics authority, the number of tourists coming to the country declined in May by 51.7 percent, comparing to the same month last year, with the main reason of the flight bans carried out by Russia, Britain and some other Western states after the plane accident last year.

At the same time, the number of Chinese visitors to Egypt increased from 65,000 to 135,000 in 2015, while the tourism ministry targets to multiply the number in 2016, given the growing bilateral relations the two countries.

"The good news is we have witnessed a slow growth in tourists recently, especially during the vocational month in the Arab countries," Khaled Fouda, South Sinai Governor of Egypt, said in an interview on Sunday.

"Besides the traditional origins of tourists, now we have turned our eyes on China, a country with a large population and ancient culture, similar to Egypt," the governor said, adding that Sharm el-Sheikh is highly and technologically-based re-secured, ready to welcome people around the world.

He also told Xinhua that Chinese people still don't know enough about Egypt. "It means that we have broad prospects in Chinese market," Fouda added.

Along the coastal strip of Sharm el-Shaeikh lays hundreds of hotels, resorts, travel agencies and night clubs. Some of them have been shut down, only leaving the dedicate buildings beside the sea, while others are trying to attract the shrinked number of tourists with lower price.

"Sharm el-Sheikh has become a habit for my family, every summer we come here with friends," George Turk, a middle-aged Jordanian told Xinhua. His wife and daughters were playing in a swimming pool within a hotel.

He said that years ago, Sharm el-Sheikh was always full of people from Britain and Russia. Now he noticed the increasing number of Chinese tourists.

A Chinese student named Li Ruiqing told Xinhua, echoing the governor's words, that "for most Chinese people, Egypt is still a distant country with mysterious culture. They like beaches and old temples, but they don't know well about Egypt."

For Semih Elbaba, the manager of a famous hotel named Rixos Seagate Sharm, his business idea is a little different from others.

"Differing from the other owners who have shut down their hotels or promoted cheaper packages while firing some staff, we choose to maintain our price and develop more projects," Elbaba told Xinhua.

As an experienced practitioner in the field of hotel management, Elbaba said Sharm el-Sheikh is reviving slowly, and his hotel will work on some promotion campaigns in China.

"We don't worry about the income in a short term, we cast our hope in the future," he said.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City has proposed the country's Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Transport to issue regulations on punishing fake helmet wearers, the municipal authorities said Tuesday.

Motorbike riders wear cheap or fashionable helmets which do not meet safety standards will be liable to be fined according to the new regulation, said Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.

The city's police and other relevant agencies have recently fined 47 fake helmet producers and traders, and confiscated 12,546 helmets. They have also fined over 200,000 motorbike riders who did not wear helmets or wore helmets in improper ways.

Wearing helmets while sitting on motorbikes is compulsory in Vietnam, and local police will fine those who do not wear helmets or wear them but do not fasten their straps.
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court on Tuesday acquitted charges against five Chinese nationals who had been accused of murdering their housemate in Phnom Penh in November last year, according to a verdict.

The five defendants are Yang Pei Pei, 25, Zeng Wenxuan, 53, Zhao Chunxi, 51, Xu Fuju, 58, and Lou Zaizun, 44.

They were initially suspected of killing Chinese woman Chen Huaying, 25, an employee for Chinese construction company Tong Fang, in their shared apartment in Phnom Penh's Por Senchey district on Nov. 15, with multiple stab wounds in her torso and her throat slit.

"The court found that fingerprints on knives found at the scene did not match any of the five suspects," said the verdict pronounced by Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Ly Lipmeng on Tuesday.

It added that other evidence materials also showed no involvement of the suspects to the murder case.

"Based on a thorough examination, the court decides to acquit charges against the five suspects," said the verdict.

The court also ordered the prosecutor to launch a reinvestigation into the case in order to bring the real perpetrator(s) to justice.

In a final hearing on July 25, Chhay Vannak, a security guard at the apartment building, told the court that guard Orn Sanghar, who was on duty at the time of the murder, had disappeared the day Chen Huaying was killed without providing a reason.

Orn Sanghar, who is still at large, is now a new suspect in the case.
MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Most Russians believe that the government's task is to strengthen the country's sovereignty, stability and order, according to the results of a latest survey.

The results of the poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) show that 63 percent of those polled chose stability as the main task for the government and 66 percent chose order, the research center said on its website on Tuesday.

Sixty-nine percent of the respondents are of the view that the state should consolidate its role in society, while 22 percent stress the need to liberalize all spheres of public life.

Seventy-two percent of the respondents said the Russian authorities should focus on strengthening the country's sovereignty, whereas only 20 percent think the government should prioritize strengthening of international ties.

The poll also shows that 77 percent of the Russians take care of public interests in their daily life, protect nature and care for the environment.

The polls, conducted in July, covered 1,600 people in 46 regions in Russia.
Two attendants display a Chinese currency note and a Kenyan Shilling note during the opening ceremony of a new branch of the National Bank of Kenya in 2015. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

NAIROBI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's CFC Stanbic Bank has planned to expand its trading facility for the yuan in order to meet the growing demand for the Chinese currency.

CFC Stanbic Bank Chief Executive Philip Odera told Xinhua that the growing volumes of Sino-Kenyan trade were fueling the demand for yuan.

"We are looking to expand the holding of yuan currency notes which will be available in all branches by the end of the month," Odera said as the bank released a statement on its financial performance for the half year period ending June this year.

Odera said that having the physical currency in Kenya would reduce exchange rate losses incurred by international traders.

"Previously, the business community trading with China had to take the Kenyan shilling and convert it to the U.S. dollar which is then converted to the Chinese yuan," he said.

The CFC Stanbic Bank is headquartered in the Kenyan capital Nairobi with branches in Kenya and South Sudan.

In the financial statement, the bank says it plans to convert its branch in South Sudan into a subsidiary in order to improve operation efficiency.

The bank also reveals that it made a pre-tax profit of 28 million U.S. dollars for the six month ending June, a 27 percent decrease from a year ago, which is blamed on increased expenses and the conflict in South Sudan.
TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) were killed in the clashes with the Iranian security forces in the west of the country, the local official of Kermanshah province said on Tuesday.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi will pay an official visit to China from Wednesday to Sunday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

The following are major facts about the visit.

WHY INVITED BY PREMIER LI

Aung San Suu Kyi is the first Myanmar leader to visit China since the Southeast Asian nation's new government was formed in late March. She visited China in June 2015 as chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Although constitutional rules bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president, she is still considered as an icon in the current Myanmar government.

State counselor is a new position created by the new Myanmar government.Analysts say that Aung San Suu Kyi, considered as Myanmar's second figure after the president, is the country's "de facto premier."

In June, Aung San Suu Kyi paid a three-day official visit to Thailand at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Considering Aung San Suu Kyi's rank in Myanmar and China's diplomatic protocol, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang invited her to visit China and China will receive the leader with due etiquette, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday.

TORTUOUS LIFE

Aung San Suu Kyi's China visit has attracted great attention because of herself -- a Myanmar stateswoman with a tortuous life.

The youngest daughter of Aung San, Father of the Nation of modern-day Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi became NLD general-secretary in 1988.

In the 1990 elections, the NLD won 81 percent of the seats in Parliament, but the results were nullified, as the military government refused to hand over power.

Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for almost 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010.

In 2013, Aung San Suu Kyi announced she would run for president but a clause in the Constitution -- her late husband and children are foreign citizens -- prohibited her from becoming the president. In the 2015 elections, her party won a landslide victory.

WHY SHE CHOOSES CHINA

China is the first major country Aung San Suu Kyi will visit after she took office and visited Laos and Thailand as Myanmar's state counselor.

Some Myanmar experts say the destinations of Aung San Suu Kyi's first overseas visits can be considered as an indicator of the new government's diplomacy -- developing friendly relations with neighboring countries first and then with major countries.

Myanmar media reports said that Aung San Suu Kyi chose China before she visits the United States out of the new government's strategy of rebalancing between China and the West.

Currently, China is Myanmar's most important trade partner and one of the main sources of foreign direct investment.

However, problems, such as armed conflicts in northern Myanmar that once undermined peace and stability in the border areas between China and Myanmar as well as the suspended Myitsone dam project, have emerged in the development of bilateral ties.

Still, the visit to China -- the first country outside the Association of Southeast Nations that Aung San Suu Kyi visits after she came to power -- holds great significance to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries in the new phase.

WHO MAKES ADVANCE PREPARATIONS

To reinvigorate their ties, China and Myanmar have conducted bilateral exchanges at various levels.

Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), paid a good-will visit to Myanmar from Wednesday to Sunday. Song and Aung San Suu Kyi held a meeting on Thursday.

Noting that China and Myanmar have deep paukphaw (fraternal) friendship and development of China-Myanmar friendly ties conforms to the fundamental interest of the two countries, Song voiced support for Myanmar in its pursuit of a development path in accordance with its national conditions.

Song expressed willingness to render assistance for Myanmar's stability and development, hoping that the two countries' ruling parties would enhance exchange and cooperation to promote the development of bilateral relations.

Aung San Suu Kyi said the Myanmar side attaches great importance to the development of the Myanmar-China ties, anticipating that her upcoming visit to China would lift the two countries' cooperation to a higher level.

She expressed the aspiration of her National League for Democracy to deepen exchange with the CPC and continuously strengthen mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides.

Zhou Shixin, a research fellow with Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said Song's visit prior to Aung San Suu Kyi's China visit, during which they conducted in-depth exchanges and early-stage communications for important meetings between leaders of the two parties, will provide more targeted and constructive topics for cooperation in more areas and add impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

Since April, Aung San Suu Kyi, as Myanmar's foreign minister, has met with her counterparts from several countries, among whom Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the first she met.

In her upcoming visit, Aung San Suu Kyi will hold talks with Chinese leaders and exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest. Apart from Beijing, Aung San Suu Kyi will also visit other Chinese cities, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Fan Hongwei, an expert on Myanmar issues with China's Xiamen University, said Aung San Suu Kyi's visit will touch upon the principles and directions for the development of the China-Myanmar relations, including the Paukphaw (fraternal) friendship between the two peoples, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, stability and cooperation in the region especially in the border areas, national reconciliation in Myanmar and Chinese investment in the country.
TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) were killed in clashes with Iranian security forces in the west of the country, the local official of Kermanshah province said on Tuesday.

Following the cooperated operations by the Iran's security forces in Kermanshah province, a 10-member team of IS terrorists who intended to carry out terrorist acts inside the country was busted, Asadollah Razani, the governor general of Kermanshah province, was quoted as saying by state IRIB TV.

In the operations, four of them were killed and six others were arrested, Razani said, adding that they were equipped with suicide vests and belts.
BEIJING, Aug.16 (Xinhua)-- China's State Council has approved plans to connect the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, the Chinese premier said Tuesday.

The preparation for the launch of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect is generally in place, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in remarks at a State Council executive meeting.

A similar link between the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses was launched in 2014. It allows investors on the mainland and those in Hong Kong to trade selected stocks on each other's exchanges.

"The roll-out of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect after that between Shanghai and Hong Kong marks another concrete step for China's capital market towards one that is more law-based, market-oriented and global; it will generate many positive outcomes," Li said.

The Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect will help investors to share more of the dividends from economic growth on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong and promote closer partnership between the two markets while shoring up Hong Kong's role as an international financial center, Li added.

The scheme will be launched at a proper time this year after the regulatory rules and technological preparations are completed, China's securities watchdog said Friday.

Opening up is a key feature of modern China and the opening up of capital markets and other financial markets has played an important role in helping boost the Chinese financial sector's international competitiveness and its capability to serve the real economy, Li said.

Related:

China reaffirms connecting of Shenzhen, HK bourses
Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani makes a speech during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Baku on August 8, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) were killed in clashes with Iranian security forces in the west of the country, the local official of Kermanshah province said on Tuesday.

Following the cooperated operations by the Iran's security forces in Kermanshah province, a 10-member team of IS terrorists who intended to carry out terrorist acts inside the country was busted, Asadollah Razani, the governor general of Kermanshah province, was quoted as saying by state IRIB TV.

In the operations, four of them were killed and six others were arrested, Razani said, adding that they were equipped with suicide vests and belts.
SINGAPORE, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative is making solid progress and demonstrating bright prospects, President of the China Public Diplomacy Association Li Zhaoxing said here on Tuesday.

In a keynote speech at Singapore Regional Business Forum 2016 on Tuesday, Li Zhaoxing, former foreign minister of China, stressed that the Belt and Road Initiative is not a solo for China itself, but a chorus performed by all countries along the routes.

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, it has got off to a good start, producing important early-harvest in various fields.

It's estimated that China has signed government agreements on jointly building the Belt and Road with 34 countries and international organizations and concluded production capacity cooperation agreements with 20 countries.

With joint efforts, China has built 46 cooperation zones in 17 countries along the routes. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese enterprises have made a total investment of over 14 billion U.S. dollars and created 60,000 local jobs.

"In a word, the Belt and Road Initiative is making solid progress and demonstrating bright prospects," said Li Zhaoxing, "Asian countries are the main participants and beneficiaries of Belt and Road cooperation."

Responding to concerns over maritime disputes, the South China Sea issue in particular, Li stressed that China's policy for the South China Sea is all about safeguarding its own legitimate rights and interests and upholding regional peace and stability.

"China has no geostrategic intention of seeking the so-called sphere of influence," the former foreign minister added.

Li noted that the Belt and Road Initiative is no narrow path in someone's backyard, but a broad road shared by all, noting China is ready to work with all countries to seek win-win outcomes.

"The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is about trade, commerce and cultural interaction, which leads to thriving business, free flow of people and cultural integration," said Li.

During the forum on Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador to Singapore Chen Xiaodong underlined Singapore's role in building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and expressed China's willingness to work with Singapore as well as other ASEAN countries.

"China and Singapore have much more to achieve under the Belt and Road Initiative. Our Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI) is a pace-setting project, and we are also seeking a new model of trilateral or multilateral cooperation with Singapore. With all these efforts, we hope to forge an anchor for jointly building the Maritime Silk Road between China and ASEAN," said Chen.

Singapore Business Federation Chairman Teo Siong Seng echoed with Chen's words. The chairman said the CCI will be a demonstration project for the "Belt and Road Initiative" under the theme of "modern connectivity and modern services," enabling synergistic flow in goods, capital and people.

"The benefits from the Belt and Road Initiative can be multiplied if ASEAN countries integrate and cooperate further," added Teo.

Singapore's Minister in Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing also shared his insights on CCI and China-Singapore relations during the lunch talk. Chan noted that China's development will not only benefit China itself, but also the region and the world. That's the basis of how Singapore and China have established cooperation in various areas.

Organized by Singapore Business Federation, Singapore Regional Business Forum 2016 has come in the second edition this year with about 500 representatives from 35 countries and regions participating in.

The theme of the forum is "21st century Maritime Silk Road", which enables business leaders and industry experts from the region to share insights on regional connectivity, infrastructure, finance, ICT and people-to-people linkages in the 21st century Maritime Silk Road.
by Charles Mafa

LUSAKA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Losing candidate in Zambia's presidential election, Hakainde Hichilema, has disputed the results of Thursday's vote, citing "irregularities in totaling thousands of votes" in key areas of Lusaka.

The United Party for National Development (UPND) leader described the election, whose results he will challenge in court, as a "military coup through a democratic process".

Edgar Lungu, leader of the Patriotic Front (PF), was re-elected for the second time as president despite facing stiff competition from his longtime rival, Hichilema, in the country's election.

Lungu won 50.35 percent in Thursday's vote, while Hichilema secured 47.63 percent.

Hichilema has since accused PF of "acting with impunity to change the people's will". He said, by refusing to recount the votes in affected areas, the Electoral Commission has taken the decision away from the people.

"We endured countless obstacles and perversions of our democracy throughout the campaign period," he said. "We cannot now accept the manipulation of the vote itself."

He has cited, among others, the withholding of G12 forms -- the certificate of the announced results at polling stations -- as the basis for launching a court process. Other reasons, he said, include intimidation of his polling agents at polling stations by PF supporters, and the discovery of pre-marked ballot papers outside of Airforce headquarters in Lusaka on Sunday morning.

Millions of Zambians voted in the election on August 11 to elect a president and members of the national assembly, amid warnings that the violence seen during the campaigns could reduce turnout. However, large voter turnout was recorded in most of the country's 7,700 polling stations on the Election Day.

Although nine presidential candidates took part in the election which was held alongside the national referendum on the Bill of Rights, the main contest was between Lungu and Hichilema.

It was seen as a repeat of a 2015 special election that Lungu won by a slim margin to complete the term of President Michael Sata, who died suddenly in October 2014.

On Wednesday, the last day of campaigns, Lungu urged voters to give him a full term. "I have been on probation for one year, six months, and I think I have done very well," he said at a rally.

Hichilema, who was seeking the presidency for the fifth time, said that he was better equipped to "fix the broken economy.

Zambia has had smooth elections and transfers of power since 1991, long before multiparty democracies emerged elsewhere on the continent. But the clean record was under threat during election campaigns, a number of people were killed and several others injured in political violence.

The violence was mainly between the two the PF of Lungu and the UPND of Hichilema.

On Tuesday before the vote, Justice Esau Essau Chulu, chairman of the Electoral Commission, said that the violence was "unprecedented and has marred Zambia's historic record of peaceful elections."

But some critics said that the PF, as the governing party, bore greater responsibility for the violence.

Beyond the elections, Zambia's economy remains largely dependent on copper, which makes up more than 70 percent of the country's exports. But falling prices and decreasing demand form the country's main export market have led to the closing of mines and the loss of jobs. And severe power shortage, resulting from an El Nino-induced drought and mismanagement of its water resources, deepened the country's economic woes.

There is also the issue of a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Lungu's government has agreed on measures to control spending, including cutting back on electricity and fuel subsidies, though only after the elections.

Despite such economic problems, Lungu campaigned on promises to increase spending on infrastructure, health and education.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- German automaker BMW will recall 156,922 cars in China over defects in their child seats, China's top quality watchdog said Tuesday.

Starting Sept. 1, the recall will involve more than 134,000 X3 models produced between November 2010 and April 2016 and over 22,000 X4 models produced between March 2014 and April 2016, according to a statement from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Welding problems were found in the lower anchors of the child seats on those models, which may prevent the seats from being secured properly and raise the possibility of passenger injuries during accidents, the administration said.

BMW China Automotive Trading Co., Ltd. will repair the anchors of the recalled cars for free, according to the statement.
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, confirmed the death sentence on Tuesday to another 11 "hardcore terrorists", who were involved in committing heinous offences related to terrorism, the military said.

The convicts were involved in the killing of intelligence and police officers in Balochistan province.

"These terrorists also include those who were involved in sectarian killings, kidnapping and slaughtering of civilians and personnel of Frontier Constabulary and killing of Major Abdid Majeed of Pakistan Army," a military statement said.

They also planned and executed a number of attacks on Law Enforcement Agencies and Armed forces of Pakistan. They were also involved in destruction of Schools and communication infrastructure. These convicts were tried by military courts.

The convicts belonged to the Taliban and other militant groups.

The army courts were set up after the terrorist attack on an army school in December 2014 for the speedy trial of the terrorism-related accused.

The convicts have the right to appeal to the president under the law. The president has previously rejected all mercy petitions in terrorism-related cases.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had advised the president to reject all mercy petitions of the militants as they have been responsible for the killing of the security personnel and civilians.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (R) meets with Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Apple will increase investment in China and actively participate in China's "Internet Plus" strategy and smarter manufacturing, said Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday.

Cook made the remarks in Beijing while meeting with China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who called on U.S. companies to increase their investment and expand the industrial chain of their business.

Zhang said trade and investment cooperation between China and the United States injects dynamism into the two countries' economic development and boosts global growth.

Cook also said that Apple plans to set up an independent research and development center in China before the end of 2016, the first in the Asia-Pacific region, though he did not reveal the specific location.

Terry Gou, founder and CEO of Foxconn, Apple's major supplier, also attended the meeting.
Carrie Lam, Chief Secretary for Administration of the HK Special Administrative Region Government, delivers a speech at the luncheon titled "Opportunities for Hong Kong and Vietnam under ASEAN Regional Cooperation" in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Aug. 16, 2016. Nearly 300 participants, including CGCC committee members, government officials and business leaders from ASEAN, Chinese mainland and HK attended the luncheon.(Xinhua/Le Yanna)

HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong and Vietnam should enhance their collaboration so as to grasp the opportunities proposed by ASEAN regional cooperation, stated Carrie Lam, Chief secretary for Administration of the HK Special Administration Region Government here on Tuesday.

Lam made the statement at an luncheon titled "Opportunities for Hong Kong and Vietnam under ASEAN Regional Cooperation", co-organized by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong (CGCC) and the HK Economic and Trade Office in Singapore.

Sharing the competitiveness and enduring strengths of HK with audience, Lam believed upon the conclusion of the ASEAN-HK Free Trade Agreement which is under negotiation, HK will enhance its "super-connnector" role between the Chinese mainland and the ASEAN economic community.

The FTA will strengthen the economic and trade ties between HK and ASEAN member states including Vietnam, by facilitating the flow of goods, services and investments, said Lam.

Dr. Jonathan Choi, Permanent Honorary President of CGCC pointed out in his welcome speech that Vietnam has long been an important trade and investment partner for HK.

As the East Asian economies are entering a new stage of regional cooperation and integration, there is a great deal of potential for HK and Vietnam to work closer together to make strategic contributions in regional collaboration, claimed Choi.

Speaking to Xinhua, Choi stressed that HK and Vietnam can join hands to act as a bridging platform and facilitator for companies from Vietnam, HK and the Chinese mainland in seeking prospective investments in the region, as well as grasping huge potential opportunities under the Belt and Road initiative.

Nearly 300 participants, including CGCC committee members, government officials and business leaders from ASEAN, Chinese mainland and HK attended the luncheon.
by Xinhua writers Yang Chunxue and Yu Fei

JIUQUAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- "Three, two, one, ignition!" A rocket blasted off after the countdown, amid waves of fire and quake-like trembling in northwest China's Gobi Desert early Tuesday.

The crowds began to dissipate after seeing the rocket fade away and become a tiny spot of light in the distane. But the atmosphere in the Control Hall at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center remained tense.

Rocket scientists and engineers there had to stay focused on data transmitted back from the rocket, and it was not until 13 minutes after the launch that they were able to declare that the rocket had sent the world's first quantum communication satellite into orbit.

It was the 29th mission of the Long March 2-D rocket, taking the number of Long March rocket missions to 234. Since the end of 2015, the Long March 2-D rocket has sent a series of scientific satellites into orbit, including one to probe dark matter, a retrievable SJ-10 and the latest one now set for quantum communication.

"Scientists will discover more mysteries by conducting cutting-edge experiments in space, and what we do is to give them a lift," said Tan Xuejun, commander in chief of the Long March 2-D rocket progam, based at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

GOLD MEDAL WINNER

Preparation work for the launch of the quantum satellite was made during the hottest time of the year, with temeratures going over 40 degrees Celsius every day for a week at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

"Twenty-four years ago, in 1992 our seniors also tolerated such heat to launch the maiden flight of the Long March 2-D," Tan said. "But their conditions were much worse. Without air conditioners, they held a bucket of cool well-water to sleep."

Since the launch of its first space satellite Dongfanghong-1 in 1970, China has gradually become one of the most advanced in the world in terms of the ability to access space.

Over the past five years, there were 70 to 80 rocket launches around the world every year, and China accounted for nearly a quarter. Over the past two years, Long March 2-D rocket' emissions made up almost the same amount of China's overall emissions, according to Tan.

"The pace of launching has accelerated compared with 10 years ago, which means we are more pressed for time in launching," said Tan.

Tight work schedules makes Tan's shuttle back and forth between Shanghai and the Gobi Desert more frequent than ever. The total time he has spent in the desert is up to nearly half a year for this year's mission.

"Ever since my career began, I have always been asked to never fail a mission," Tan said.

With rockets made up of tens of thousands of parts, however, it is no easy task to ensure zero mistakes. Tan pointed out that being meticulous is the basic working attitude the chief commander asks of his team members.

"Various measures are taken to reduce human errors to the absolute minimum," Tan said.

Over the past five years, the success rate for rocket launches in China has reached 97.7 percent, the top in the world, while the Long March 2-D rocket has been honored as a "gold medal rocket," boasting a 100 percent success rate.

"Every detail counts. Only when every one of us play his or her role well does our team work well," Tan said.

EVERY SCREW COUNTS

As a Chinese proverb goes, "the smallest errors cause the widest change in results," and this is particularly true of rocket assembly, where the tiniest screw can decide the fate of a rocket weighing hundreds of metric tons.

Xu Chao, 25, is the youngest operator on the assembly line of the Long March 2-D rocket. Wearing a headlamp, he moves about swiftly in the dim and narrow rocket chamber. He is also fully aware of the importance of one single screw.

"There are numerous screws, nuts and washers of different sizes and shapes. I always have to be extremely careful when assembling them, or something on the rocket could go wrong," Xu said.

Aside from making sure the right parts are in the right position, Xu needs to perfectly judge each twist of the screws to make sure they are not too tight or too loose.

The narrow work-space also poses a challenge for operators like Xu.

"In some place, it's even hard to stretch out our hands," says Xu, who often experiences aches and pains in different joints after keeping the same posture at work for such a long time.

As the only child in his family and one of the post-'90s generation, Xu believes that the work has somehow made him more prudent.

"Before the work, I was quite careless and not good at arranging things. The work has helped me grow up," he said.

Xu feels heartened every time he sees the rocket lifting off, as that is the time when he sees his hard work finally paying off.

"I hope to do the job well for the rest of my life," he said.

NEW PROSPECT

With the more environmentally friendly Long March-7 making its maiden flight in June, and China's largest carrier rocket the Long March-5 set to be launched later this year, the new generation of Long March rockets are under the public spotlight. Many wonder if the Long March 2-D rocket will soon be replaced.

Hong Gang, chief designer of the Long March 2-D rocket, believes it will take time for a new generation to replace it, as the rockets currently in service are more reliable and the technology relatively mature.

Different kinds of rockets play different roles in various fields. The Long March 2-D will not be withdrawn from the stage of history in the next ten years, said Tan.

The Long March 2-D, with its high reliability, has launched missions from other countries, including Turkey, Ecuador, Argentina and Spain in recent years.

"It is a cost-effective rocket with 100 percent successful launching rate, which gives us the greatest advantage in the international market," said Tan.

Moreover, the current rockets are being improved and made more efficient and competent with the adoption of new technologies, said Hong, the chief designer of the Long March 2-D rocket.

In an effort to lower costs, the Long March 2-D research team is now dedicated to developing an upper stage aircraft, dubbed a "space shuttle bus." The aircraft will be carried by the carrier rocket, with the ability to send 10 satellites into different orbits using its own power system.
JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Time is running out for South African political parties to conclude coalition talks by Aug. 20 in more than two dozen municipalities and metros where no party won majority seats in the Aug. 3 local government elections.

Experts say the most important talks are over the control of the administrative capital city of Pretoria and the economic hub of Johannesburg.

Different ideologies between the three leading parties, namely, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are becoming a stumbling block derailing the conclusion of the talks.

Out of the total of 213 municipalities, the ANC has majority in 161, with the DA dominating 19. In 26 municipalities no party achieved a majority, the three top parties are to scramble for coalitions to achieve 51 percent required for a majority rule.

However, the black-dominated ANC, the white-dominated DA and the EFF, have in the past battered and bruised each other's image. This has made it very difficult for these parties to compromise in the ongoing coalition talks.

The DA, which is the new party in charge of Pretoria after winning 43 percent of the votes, is involved in intensive coalition talks with the EFF which got 12 percent of the votes.

However, independent political analyst Piet Croucamp said these talks will not be easy considering the differences between the two parties.

"Given a choice, both the ANC and the DA will not necessarily consider the EFF as a reliable partner because they have seen in the past the EFF can use destructive means of gaining political influence," said Groucamp.

"Under normal circumstances, both the ANC and the DA will do everything they can to avoid having a coalition with the EFF."

However, the DA has no other option.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has made it clear that no coalition will be formed between DA and the ANC, which obtained 41 percent of the votes in Pretoria.

On the other hand, the ANC is working extra time to form a coalition that will give it majority rule in Johannesburg where it won 45 percent of the votes.

With chances of a coalition between the ANC and the DA, which won 38 percent of the vote, having already been ruled out, the ANC is now only left with the EFF and smaller parties to clinch a coalition deal.

These, however, have also proved to be difficult coalition partners for the ANC.

United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa, who is coordinating coalition talks for smaller parties including the EFF, revealed that part of their demands for the ANC includes resignation of President Jacob Zuma and streamlining of his cabinet.

ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe indicated that these talks are not easy at all.

"If we agree, we will go and form a government. If we do not agree, we are also psychologically ready to be in opposition benches," Mantashe said.

DA Federal Council Chairperson, James Selfe, has already expressed confidence that his party will be able to conclude the talks before the Saturday deadline.

The EFF has also indicated that it could be announcing its coalition partners in the next few days.

There is no doubt that the negotiations are tough and tense, but above all, heavy compromises will be required.
by Ahmed Shafiq, Zheng Kailun

CAIRO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China and Egypt should carry out extensive archaeological cooperation to help each other discover their buried treasures, which is necessary for both the Chinese and Egyptian civilizations, experts said here Monday.

Wang Wei, head of the institute of archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) told Xinhua that over the past 30 years, Chinese archaeologists have been concentrated on their own excavation and relic protection, but now they are ready to carry out new missions with international partners.

"Now we are prepared to work overseas, both because we have enough financial supports, and we have realized that as a major country in the world, it is not enough to only focus on our own historical sites and relics," Wang said.

Chinese archaeologists have acquired much experience and expertise from working on Chinese relics, he noted.

China now holds the world's leading three-dimensional remote sensing and imaging technology, as well as advanced indoor testing and analysis techniques.

Wang said that Chinese teams are ready to cooperate with Egyptian authorities and archaeologists as soon as possible.

"The geography and climate in Egypt are quite like those in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. So I cannot see why we will not achieve success here," he said.

Wang explained that high-tech Chinese technologies will work even better in Egypt than in China. For example, he said, remote sensing technology has not been working very efficiently in many Chinese archaeological sites because their locations are too close to high-voltage power lines and expressways.

However, most of the relics and historic sites in Egypt are isolated in deserts and remote areas, "which is perfect for remote sensing."

"Our teams can finish the imaging of a grotto or a tomb within two days. It would take most of European, American and Japanese teams two months to do the same thing," he said.

Wang, who is visiting Egypt, said he met in January with the then head of Egyptian Museum, Khaled El-Anany, who is now the minister of antiquities.

"Mr. El-Anany expressed his eagerness to cooperate with us," Wang said.

During his visit in January, Wang announced that the CASS will collaborate with Egyptian experts to carry out archaeological excavations, cultural relics protection, and safety monitoring and control in key sites in Egypt. The Chinese institute will also train Egyptian experts in the protection of archaeological discoveries.

Meanwhile, a 10 million yuan (1.51 million U.S. dollar) fund has been approved to boost Chinese-Egyptian archaeological cooperation in the next five years, according to Wang.

Instead of applying for a new project, he said, the CASS is considering working with an institute that has already begun working in Egypt.

The CASS will invite several archaeologists from Egypt and other countries to Beijing this September, hoping that they "can finalize a plan to work in Egypt."

While in Egypt, experts believe that archaeological collaboration of two of the four ancient civilizations could be a milestone in the history of bilateral cultural exchanges.

Zahi Hawass, world-renowned Egyptologist and former antiquities minister, said that the atmosphere and the current ties between the two countries are helpful to build a good base for archaeological cooperation.

A Chinese-Egyptian Culture Year was launched by the two countries earlier this year to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt.

"I myself would love to go and make a discovery in China," Hawass told Xinhua.

He pointed out the necessity of the Chinese-Egyptian cultural year which would in return reflect positively on the archaeological field.

Hawass said the Egyptians need the Chinese archaeological technology to help them discover lots of hidden sites across the country.

"Chinese technologies as well as Chinese experts are badly needed for excavation works in Egypt because China has notably developed in this field recently," he said.

"In return, Egyptian archaeologists have great expertise and they can help their Chinese colleagues make new discoveries in addition to maintenance and preservation works," the expert added.

In the past six decades, China and Egypt have been promoting their friendship and bilateral cooperation.

In December 2014, leaders of the two countries upgraded relations between the two countries to "a comprehensive strategic partnership."

China has become Egypt's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching 12.9 billion dollars in 2015.

Chinese investment in Egypt hit more than 6 billion dollars and the number of Chinese enterprises in Egypt exceeded 80 in 2015.
China launches the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016. The world's first quantum communication satellite, which China is preparing to launch, has been given the moniker "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese scientist, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Monday. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China plans to send more quantum communication satellites into orbit after the successful launch of the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite, according to the chief scientist of the project.

Early Tuesday morning, the world's first quantum satellite, nicknamed "Micius" after an ancient Chinese scientist, lifted off from a Long March 2-D rocket. After three months of in-orbit testing, the satellite is designed to start "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.

Quantum communication is ultra-secure as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated. Accordingly, it is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack information it transmits.

"If the new satellite operates well, China will follow up with projects Micius-2 and Micius-3," said QUESS chief scientist Pan Jianwei.

China is striving to set up the first-ever global quantum communication network by around 2030, through linking a satellite constellation consisting of dozens of quantum satellites and ground-based quantum communication networks, said Pan.

Based on this network, China will be able to establish a highly secure quantum Internet, a quantum communication industry, and a new generation of information security systems, scientists say.

Given that QUESS is a low-orbit satellite with limited coverage, it can only be used for satellite to ground quantum communication during the night to avoid sunlight interference. More quantum satellites will be needed to realize highly efficient quantum communication on a worldwide scale, Pan said.

By the end of the year, China will complete and put into operation the world's first secure quantum communication network, the Beijing-Shanghai network.

The 2,000 km network will be used for secure data transmission in the fields of the military, finance and government affairs.

So far, several banks in China have been the first users of quantum encryption.

However, scientist say that it will take another a decade or more for quantum communication to reach individuals. This will involve intensive efforts updating Internet infrastructure and the setting of industry standards.

Meanwhile, Chinese scientists expect more uses for quantum technology in the future, including quantum computers, devices used for energy storage and transfer, as well as for ultra-precise physical and medical measurements.

The successful launch of QUESS marks China taking a lead in the fierce global competition in quantum technology.

This March, the EU announced its initiative on quantum technology with an investment of 1 billion euros (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars), which is scheduled to launch in 2018.

Pan said that China will push forward international cooperation on quantum information technology research. The first project will test transcontinental quantum communication between China and Austria, he added.

Related:

China launches first-ever quantum communication satellite

JIUQUAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The son of late Chinese scholar Ji Xianlin and a prestigious university are at loggerheads, after Ji junior failed to reclaim items donated to the college by his father.

On Tuesday, a Beijing court dismissed Ji Cheng's lawsuit against Peking University, which accepted 649 items from Ji Xianlin based on a donation agreement inked in 2001.

In 2012, Ji Cheng filed a lawsuit against the university demanding the return of all the "precious items," including books, manuscripts, pictures, calligraphy and paintings. According to Ji Cheng, before his father's death in 2009 he had been entrusted to take care of the items in question.

Peking University holds that Ji Xianlin never withdrew the donation agreement, and that his donations are owned by the nation and society as a whole.

"The collection is for the good of academics and the public, and the law protects public donations."

Ji Cheng said he will appeal against the ruling.

Ji Xianlin, a native of east China's Shandong Province, was born on Aug. 6, 1911. He was best remembered for his research into ancient Indian aboriginal languages, primeval Buddhist languages and Sanskritic literature. He also translated works from ancient Indian and primeval Buddhist languages.

Ji could speak 12 foreign languages. He was a professor with the oriental studies department of Peking University from 1946 to 1983. He also served as deputy president of the university between 1978 and 1984.
ASTANA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Over the past three years, China-Kazakhstan cooperation projects within the framework of the "Belt-Road" Initiative have yielded early fruits, setting an example to other countries along the Belt and the Road.

"Many countries have shown interests in the initiative, in hope of knowing the initiative better and realizing the initiative through investment and economic cooperation," Shigeo Katsu, president of Nazarbayev University, told Xinhua.

The Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was brought up by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.

Over 70 countries and organizations have voiced support for and willingness to join the initiative. Over 30 countries and international organizations have signed memorandums of understanding to jointly undertake construction of projects within the framework of the initiative. China and other 17 countries along the Belt and Road have jointly built 46 China Overseas Eoconomic and Trade Cooperation Areas (OETCAs), creating more than 60,000 jobs for locals.

EARLY FRUITS

According to the Chinese Embassy to Kazakhstan, China and Kazakhstan have reached 51 agreements on promoting the industrial production capacity, with the total investment amounting to 26.5 billion U.S. dollars. The 12 projects already launched or to be launched, including the construction of light rails and subway expansion, take up 4 billion dollars.

The two countries have made great progress in inter-connectivity. Large-scale cooperation between the two countries therein helps improve local people's livelihood, said Ren Shi, minister-counselor of the Chinese Embassy to Kazakhstan.

These cooperation projects will bring about great changes in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries, said Katsu who was present when Xi was delivering a speech promoting the "Belt-Road" Initiative at Nazarbayev University on September 7, 2013.

"The ongoing construction of the Eurasian transport corridor will make landlocked Kazakhstan an important transit hub that connects China and Europe," Katsu added.

CLOSER TIES

Nazarbayev University, one of the youngest universities in Kazakhstan, is always dedicated to research and innovation in order to boost long-term development of the country. To enhance the Kazakh people's understanding of China, it has launched joint research projects with Chinese universities and research institutions, and has established a research center for China studies, said Katsu.

These positive developments are in accordance with Xi's emphasis on the need to step up policy communication, improve road inter-connectivity, promote unimpeded trade, monetary circulation and enhance understanding between the two peoples.

Katsu and his colleagues will revisit Beijing and Shanghai in September this year, in hope of deepening cooperation with Chinese research institutions on Belt and Road studies. Nazarbayev University has already held consultations with several Chinese universities, such as Beijing University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, and Beijing Normal University.

At Nazarbayev University where courses are normally taught in English, an increasing number of students are now learning Chinese and many express their wishes to study in China in the near future.

The Chinese Embassy to Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan Diplomatic Service have jointly initiated a service named "Quick Chinese," in order to help Kazakh people learn Chinese, and promote academic exchanges between Chinese and Kazakh universities.

The initiative is a long-term arrangement. In efforts to promote inter-connectivity, it is important to maintain long-term cultural and academic exchanges, Ren said.

China has coordinated comprehensively with Kazakhstan on various development strategies, setting an example to other countries along the Belt and Road. With growing cooperation among countries along the Belt and the Road, a promising future is yet to come, Ren added.
SINGAPORE, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean visited Putrajaya, Malaysia from Monday to Tuesday, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry said Teo called on Malaysian Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Najib Razak. During the meeting, they reaffirmed the excellent bilateral relations and good cooperation between the two countries on a wide range of issues. This included the Memorandum of Understanding on the Singapore-Malaysia High-Speed Rail which signalled the two governments' commitment on a long-term bilateral project.

Teo also met his counterpart DPM and Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, according to MFA. They exchanged views on the latest developments in the region, including regional security and strengthening bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation. In addition, Teo also met several other Malaysian leaders.

MFA added that Teo returned to Singapore on Tuesday.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) released a circular on Tuesday making it mandatory for relevant officials of government bodies to personally appear in court when there are trials involving major administrative disputes.

The stipulation applies to administrative cases that affect the public interest, are under huge public scrutiny, and are likely to induce mass incidents. Courts should also issue notices to recommend officials' appearance in other cases, the circular said.

"Officials who should appear in court include principals of a government department as a defendant as well as other officials in charge of the specific areas concerned in the case," it said.

According to the SPC, those who cannot attend should designate other government staff to appear on their behalf. They should not have lawyers as their sole representatives in court.

The circular also banned courts from refusing or delaying such lawsuits, stating that principals of the courts caught doing so will be disciplined and punished.

"Resolute efforts should be made to deter any illegal act to interfere in and obstruct a court's handling of an administrative case," the circular said, urging courts to keep a clear record of government officials attempting to influence case management and outcomes for future liability.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, Aug.16 (Xinhua) -- The new government of Nepal will continue a friendly and cooperative policy toward China, said Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Tuesday.

Mahara made the remarks as special envoy of new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Mahara, who is on a two-day visit to China, said that both the new government and Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal attach great importance to relations with China.

Presenting a letter from the Nepalese leader to the Chinese leader, Mahara said Nepal-China relations have a solid foundation, and a friendly policy toward China is the consensus of the government and the public.

Nepal will adhere to the one-China policy and work with China to forge ahead with projects agreed on by the previous government and China, said Mahara, who is also minister of finance.

Wang welcomed Mahara's visit as a special envoy shortly after the formation of the new government in Nepal on August 3.

Hailing their time-tested bilateral relations, Wang said no matter what changes take place in the international situation or Nepal's domestic situation, China-Nepal friendship, mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation will remain unchanged.

Wang said that China is willing to work with Nepal's new government to implement the consensus between leaders of the two countries and deepen cooperation in areas including connectivity, transportation, free trade agreements, post-disaster reconstruction and energy.

China looks forward to seeing a united Nepal to promote peace, stability and development in the country.
RAMADI, Iraq, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Seven border guards and a civilian were killed on Tuesday in a mortar barrage by Islamic State (IS) militants near the border between Iraq and Jordan, a security source said.

The militants fired mortar rounds before dawn on the base of the border guards near a border crossing point of Trebil, a villiage in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the provincial source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack came as the Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary tribal units are fighting to drive IS militants out of the province after they reclaimed key cities and towns, including the provincial capital of Ramadi and Fallujah, the source said.

Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the IS took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014.
MILWAUKEE, the United States, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Protests continued here Monday, but in a peaceful way, after police shot and killed a local black man Saturday.

Protesters gathered at the Sherman Park neighborhood in the northern suburbs of Milwaukee in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, holding a cookout for both protesters and bystanders and accepting donations for the victim's family.

Local church groups also joined the protesters in holding a prayer for the neighborhood, where police shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville Smith, who was trying to flee from two police officers that had stopped his car.

"Hopefully they can voice their problems and their opinions to us," local chaplain Marcy Spoke told Xinhua.

"We have unrest happening in the city and we want peace. We need to unite the community and love one another," another local chaplain, Melvin Reese, said.

Levon Reid, a local teenager, said he had decided to come to the protest with his church group after hearing about the shooting.

"I think having the church groups out here is important to show they care and support and try to do things in a non-violent way, because reacting with violence doesn't solve anything," Reid told Xinhua.

A dozen protesters left the Sherman Park neighborhood by car for a shopping center parking lot later Monday night, but were dispersed by police.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett imposed a one-week curfew in the city starting on Monday after two nights of violence between protesters and police over the fatal police shooting.

A confrontation between police and protesters turned violent Saturday night in Milwaukee, with gunshots heard, businesses set ablaze and police vehicles damaged.
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- An ammonia leak at a chemical plant in Sabah of Malaysia has killed two workers, Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad, the country's state-owned oil and gas company that owns the plant, said Tuesday.

The leak, which happened at around 9:30 local time on Tuesday morning, had been contained, the company said in a statement.

Another three workers who got injured have received medical treatment, it said, adding "The incident posed no immediate threat to the surrounding communities or environment."

Petronas said an investigation was being carried out to determine the cause of the leak.




Participants attend the 13th Senior Officials' Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in Manzhouli, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Aug. 16, 2016. Senior officials from China and ASEAN have reaffirmed plans to solve disputes on the South China Sea through negotiations and by using a regional framework of regulations. (Xinhua/Zou Jianpu)

HOHHOT, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials from China and ASEAN have reaffirmed plans to solve disputes on the South China Sea through negotiations and by using a regional framework of regulations.

The statement came as senior officials held a meeting in Manzhouli, a land port city in northern China, on Monday and Tuesday, which focused on implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

The meeting was held after the China-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in late July and before the upcoming China-ASEAN leaders' meeting in September.

Both sides agreed to continue to implement the DOC and reaffirmed plans: to solve disputes via negotiation, manage differences with a regional framework of regulations, deepen maritime cooperation, and move forward negotiation on the code of conduct in the South China Sea (COC) to safeguard peace and stability of the region.

The meeting agreed on the importance of the China-ASEAN senior diplomats' hotline to address maritime emergencies and a joint statement on the application of rules about accidental encounters between China and the ASEAN in the South China Sea.

The two documents will be issued as part of the China-ASEAN leaders' meeting in Laos in September.

Both sides also exchanged views on how to strengthen maritime cooperation and the negotiation on the COC.




A constructor works at the main conference hall in the Silk Road International Convention Center in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Two main venues of the Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, Dunhuang Silk Road International Convention Center and Dunhuang Grand Theater, have been almost completed. The expo will be held in Dunhuang on Sept. 20. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Progresses in the Belt and Road Initiative and China's urbanization drive are among the bright spots in the country's efforts to fulfill targets in its development plan.

Capacity, infrastructure and education cooperation with countries under the Belt and Road Initiative have made substantial progress, said Zhao Chenxin, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at a news briefing.

ADVANCES IN BELT AND ROAD

The total value of bilateral industrial cooperation has exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars under the framework. So far, Chinese companies have built 46 cooperation zones in countries along the routes, while China's Ministry of Education has inked over 60 deals with those countries.

In 2015, nearly half of the international students in China came from countries along the routes, Zhao said. Nearly 400,000 foreign students from 202 countries and regions came to study in China in 2015, data showed.

Meanwhile, China has built railways, highways and ports along the routes while signing MOUs with its neighbors and partners.

Launched in late 2013, the initiative is an umbrella term for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. It will be a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes.

PROGRESS ON URBANIZATION GOALS

China has also made significant progress in shanty-town renovation and building affordable housing and public transportation, the spokesperson said at the same briefing.

As of the end of June, the country had met 66.9 percent of its annual shanty-town renovation target, 8.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

As for urban affordable housing projects, 97.9 percent of the annual target had been reached as of the end of June, Zhao said.

In the first half of 2016, city and inter-city railway networks grew rapidly. Rail transit in 25 cities reached a length of more than 3,300 kilometers, and another 3,800 km was under construction in 37 cities. The intercity traffic network hit 1,250 km.

Governments of all provincial regions have released their reform plans on the household registration system.

The central government is supporting 37 towns to innovate infrastructure investment financing and help medium and small cities and towns to improve infrastructure weak points in water, heat and gas supply as well as sewage and garbage treatment.

Zhao also said that China will strive to foster new pillars of economic growth and deepen international cooperation in its urbanization drive.

CHALLENGING CAPACITY CUTS AHEAD

However, overcapacity reduction casts a shadow over the Chinese economy. China still faces daunting challenges in reducing capacity for the rest of 2016, despite an acceleration in July, according to Zhao.

By the end of July, capacity reduction in China's steel sector totaled just 21 million tonnes, or 47 percent of the annual target, Zhao said. This marked substantial progress, as China had only completed about 30 percent of planned cuts for the year by the end of June, but it is still far from the target.

To fulfil the annual target, local governments were urged to be more resolute in cutting capacity and introducing measures such as accountability systems, public exposure and blacklisting, according to Zhao.

China had reached 38 percent of annual coal capacity reduction targets as of the end of July, Zhao added.

Zhao attributed the default largely to a spike in steel and coal prices this year and local governments' reluctance to cut capacity in order to protect jobs and local economies.

Despite the default, Zhao said China's overcapacity cutting efforts will not drag on the country's growth or harm the world economy.

Overcapacity is a global problem resulting from the 2008 financial crisis and occurs in many industries such as crude oil, iron ore and auto making, causing shale oil and gas stockpiles in the United States and iron ore overproduction in Australia, Zhao said when responding to concerns raised by a Reuters correspondent.

Even in the steel sector, overcapacity is not just a "China problem." "Many countries are confronting the problem. It is a global issue," he said. In 2014, China's rate of capacity utilization of crude steel was about the same as the world's average of 73.4 percent.

Moreover, China's iron and steel products are mainly for the domestic market to support the country's urbanization, manufacturing and infrastructure development.

Related:

Belt and Road Initiative making solid progress, demonstrating bright prospects: Li Zhaoxing

SINGAPORE, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Belt and Road Initiative is making solid progress and demonstrating bright prospects, President of the China Public Diplomacy Association Li Zhaoxing said here on Tuesday.
COLOMBO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) The United States is willing to work with Sri Lanka in rebuilding the island country's economy, advance good governance and ensure equal rights and equal opportunity for all, a statement quoting a U.S. diplomat said here Tuesday.

U.S. Ambassador to Colombo Atul Keshap said that while Sri Lanka and the United States shared strong ties, the United States was ready to support the people and the Sri Lankan government in their shared vision for a reconciled and unified country.

"As Sri Lanka seizes on this golden moment of national reconciliation, we will remain your friend and partner. The whole world applauds the vision of a strong, unified, democratic, and prosperous Sri Lanka. We want to join hands with you and your government to help rebuild the economy, advance good governance, and ensure equal rights, equal opportunity, and the full benefits of post-conflict development for all, regardless of ethnicity or religion or gender," Keshap said.

He added that while in eight months, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will report on the Sri Lankan government's progress towards implementing its reconciliation and accountability promises made in Geneva last year, the United States will support Sri Lanka's efforts to meet its commitments made in Geneva.

"And we will help. This will be difficult but it is necessary, and it is for the good of all Sri Lankans and for the happiness of all of her people," he said.

Speaking further, Keshap applauded the return of critical debate, free press, and independent civil society in Sri Lanka within the past 19 months and welcomed the establishment in law of the Office of Missing Persons.

The Sri Lankan parliament recently approved the establishment of such an Office to probe the whereabouts of the thousands of people who were missing during and soon after the country's civil conflict which ended in May 2009.
With a thorough shake-up of its armed forces, a reassessment of foreign policy and the biggest purge in its modern history, Turkey has undergone a transformation in the month since the July 15 coup bid. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

ANKARA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkey submitted file to Greece Tuesday for extradition of eight soldiers who fled there by helicopter after the failed coup attempt, Daily Sabah reported.

The extradition goes in accordance with an extradition agreement between the two countries, and was sent from Turkish Justice Ministry to Greece authorities, according to the report.

The eight military officers -- two commanders, four captains and two sergeants -- requested asylum in Greece after landing a Sikorsky military helicopter in Alexandroupoli of northern Greece four days after the coup attempt.

A Greek court sentenced them to two months in jail for entering the country illegally.

The asylum case threatens to strain ties between the uneasy NATO allies, with Ankara labeling the eight "terrorists," local Daily News reported.
An injured member of Kurdish Peshmerga forces reacts as smoke rises after an attack at Bai Hassan oil station, northwest of Kirkuk, Iraq, July 31, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

RAMADI, Iraq, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Seven border guards and a civilian were killed on Tuesday in a mortar barrage by Islamic State (IS) militants near the border between Iraq and Jordan, a security source said.

The militants fired mortar rounds before dawn on the base of the border guards near a border crossing point of Trebil, a villiage in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the provincial source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack came as the Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary tribal units are fighting to drive IS militants out of the province after they reclaimed key cities and towns, including the provincial capital of Ramadi and Fallujah, the source said.

Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the IS took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014.
Photo taken on Aug. 4, 2016 shows workers of the state-owned Venezuelan oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) working at the facilities of the Chinese-Venezuelan joint company SINOVENSA S.A. in the Orinoco Petroleum Belt in Monagas state, Venezuela. State-run oil companies of Venezuela and China are joining hands to boost oil output from the Orinoco oil belt in southeastern Venezuela, which boasts one of the world's largest oil reserves. (Xinhua/Boris Vergara)

CARACAS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The 5th Technical Secretariat of the Mixed Venezuela-China High Level Committee (CMAN) began on Monday here in the Venezuelan capital, seeking to move forward important bilateral issues.

During the opening ceremony, Venezuelan Minister for Planning and Knowledge Ricardo Menendez greeted the Chinese delegation led by Wu Hongliang, secretary of CMAN, and Zhao Bentang, Chinese Ambassador to Venezuela.

At a press conference, Menendez said the meeting would tackle important topics, including new Chinese vehicles entering the Venezuelan distribution sector, the boosting of logistical capacity and the setting-up of Chinese production lines in Venezuela.

"We have seen with deep gratitude the initiatives the Chinese government has shown us," said the minister, adding that the Asian giant has helped Venezuela particularly in the oil industry and in terms of foreign exchange.

The technical secretariat will also begin a five-month working process where the two countries will advance on topics such as joint financing, cooperation in oil and mining, and electrical energy.

Venezuela will also introduce to China some of the engines of its Bolivarian Economic Agenda, specifically for hydrocarbons, agriculture and mining.

Both delegations will travel outside Caracas to take in progress on key policies of the Venezuelan government, including the Great New Tricolor Neighborhood Mission and the Great Venezuela Housing Mission.

Venezuela will also present its new distribution plan to ensure the supply of food and medicine in the country.

This CMAN meeting will also serve as a preparatory meeting for the the countries' 15th meeting of the Venezuela-China High-Level Mixed Committee, set to happen in late 2016.
GENEVA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 13 health workers lost their lives and another 23 were injured since March 2015 in Yemen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

A WHO spokesperson told a press briefing that during the period, a total of 102 health facilities have been partially or totally damaged, compounding the already poor health system in the country.

The spokesperson condemned the latest attack on a MSF-supported hospital in Hajjah governorate of Yemen, which reportedly claimed the lives of 11 people including an MSF staff member and injured 19 others.

WHO called on all parties with their commitments and obligations under international humanitarian law to protect health workers and facilities.

According the latest UN figures, ground battles and airstrikes in Yemen have killed 3,704 civilians and injured 6,566 since March of 2015 when Saudi Arabia led a military coalition against the Houthis and Saleh's forces.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Following eight years of tightened regulation and an industry overhaul, Chinese dairy products are emerging from the shadow cast by high-profile safety scandals, according to a report released Tuesday.

The quality of domestic milk products has improved substantially, according to a report from the Dairy Association of China (DAC). It was the first DAC report released to the public.

Official spot checks last year showed 99.5 percent of dairy products were up to standard and no illegal additives, such as melamine, had been detected for 7 consecutive years, the report said. Some major indicators, including nutrient content, exceeded the standards of the United States, Europe and Australia.

"Domestic milk products appear to be one of the safest foods in China," Wang Jiaqi, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and researcher with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said during a press conference for the report's release.

China has been trying to regain the trust of the public, which had been bruised by scandals in recent years.

In 2008, infant formula produced by Sanlu Group, a leading dairy company, was found to contain melamine, killing six babies and leaving thousands seriously ill. Since then, more cases have been discovered, prompting Chinese consumers to turn to overseas milk products.

To revive the battered industry, Chinese authorities passed strict laws, tightened supervision, shut down unqualified dairy operations, encouraged industry consolidation, and increased policy support to improve milk quality.

Thanks to those measures, quality has improved greatly and the industry has expanded.

The country produced 38.7 million tonnes of milk products last year, or 4.8 percent of the world's total, ranking third after India and the United States, the report showed.

Per capita consumption of dairy reached 36.1 kilograms, up 5.9 kilograms from 2008.

Twenty major domestic dairy companies account for more than half of the total output and revenue of the whole industry.

The global reputation of the Chinese dairy industry is also on the rise. Industry giants Yili Group and Mengniu Dairy squeezed onto a 2015 list of the world's top 20 dairy companies published by Dutch banking and finance group Rabobank. Junlebao's baby formula earned the top quality and safety certificate from BRC Global Standards last year, and Modern Farming has won gold awards two years in a row from the Brussels-based Monde Selection, which judges food quality.

"China's dairy industry has seen dramatic changes," DAC vice president Gu Jicheng said.

Gu believes there is still much room for improvement, but Chinese companies will hopefully be able to face their global rivals in another eight to ten years.
HELSINKI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Finnish law enforcement is tightening its grip on drivers who take paying customers as Uber service providers, the police said on Tuesday.

The Helsinki police told local media that from now on a criminal investigation will be started in all cases when an alleged Uber driver is apprehended. The practice has been agreed with prosecutors. Before the latest decision, police issued direct fines in most cases.

The new system is likely to lead to fines in most cases, but also opens the way to imprisonment up to half a year for the crime of running illegal cab services.

Criminal Police Inspector Pekka Seppala told national radio Yle that if the investigation shows that a person has driven for the organization for a longer period, he or she will have to surrender the earnings to the state.

There are currently some 50 cases under investigation. Notices are reaching the police at an increasing rate, but Seppala described the phenomenon as "marginal."

While the drivers may face harder allegations, the Finnish court system has faced problems in prosecuting the organization.

Prosecutor Kaisa Ahla has recently suspended an initial investigation into the business activities of the Finnish Uber organization. She explained in a written decision obtained by the internet news service Uusi Suomi that further investigation would be too costly as the people responsible were abroad.

The CEO of the Helsinki Cabs Anssi Roitto criticized the decision of the prosecutor. Roitto told newspaper Uusi Suomi that the cab industry attributes the problem to the Uber organization, not individual drivers. "But now this illegal activity can continue with a tacit consent," Roitto said.

According to prosecutors, Uber Finland does not consider itself as the actual operator, but the drivers in Finland sign contracts with a Dutch subsidiary of Uber. The company in Holland also handles the payments.

In a case in Finland earlier this year, an Uber driver said he had made 3,500 euros (3,940 U.S. dollars) a month and the organization had taken 20 percent as commission. The driver worked five or six days a week.
Turkish special force police officers stand guard as people wawe Turkish national flags on August 7, 2016 in Istanbul during a rally against failed military coup on July 15. (AFP/Xinhua)

ISTANBUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday demanded two life sentences plus 1,900 years in prison for U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara has blamed for masterminding a failed coup bid last month, local media said.

Prosecutors in the western city of Usak prepared a 2,527-page indictment against Gulen and 111 other suspects after a yearlong investigation, and the indictment has been approved by a court in the city, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

In the indictment, Gulen and other suspects are accused of "forming and running an armed terror organization," "financing terrorism," "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "attempting to topple the government," Anadolu said.

According to the indictment, Gulen and the so-called Fethullah Terrorist Organization under his leadership transferred funds obtained through charities or donations to the United States via front companies by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, the news agency noted.

The indictment also stated that Gulen is aiming to seize all of the state institutions rather than destroy the existing system.

Turkey has been pressing hard for Gulen's extradition for trying to bring down the government and orchestrating the coup bid on July 15, in which 237 people were killed and more than 2,190 others injured.

A Turkish court issued an arrest warrant against Gulen early this month, though Washington has been asking for solid evidence over Gulen's case.

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry are both expected to visit Turkey later this month.
Syrian refugee children play at Syrian Zattari refugee camp near the city of Mafraq, Jordan, July 14, 2016. The Czech Government funded a project to provide new electric power network at Syrian Zattari refugee camp. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh)

TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that Iran and Russia are "strategic" allies in fighting terrorism in Syria, local Press TV reported.

"Tehran-Moscow cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is strategic and we exchange capacities and potentialities in this field," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.

His remarks came after an earlier statement by Russia's Defense Ministry on Tuesday that Russian warplanes used an air base in the western Iranian city of Hamedan to target Islamic State (IS) terrorists and other militants in Syria.

"On Aug. 16, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base, conducted a group air strike against targets of the IS and Jabhat Fath al-Sham terrorists in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and Idlib," the Russian ministry said.

Shamkhani also said Iran will continue to provide military advice to countries plagued with terrorism, including Syria.

Iran, a major regional ally of the Syrian government in its fight against militant groups, has repeatedly acknowledged the presence of its military advisers in the Arab state.




A still image, taken from video footage and released by Russia's Defence Ministry on August 16, 2016, shows a Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bomber based in Iran dropping off bombs at an unknown location in Syria. (Reuters photo)

TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian security official said on Tuesday that Iran and Russia are "strategic" allies in fighting terrorism in Syria, local Press TV reported.

"Tehran-Moscow cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is strategic and we exchange capacities and potentialities in this field," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.

His remarks came after an earlier statement by Russia's Defense Ministry on Tuesday that Russian warplanes used an air base in the western Iranian city of Hamedan to target Islamic State (IS) terrorists and other militants in Syria.

"On Aug. 16, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base, conducted a group air strike against targets of the IS and Jabhat Fath al-Sham terrorists in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and Idlib," the Russian ministry said.

Shamkhani also said Iran will continue to provide military advice to countries plagued with terrorism, including Syria.

Iran, a major regional ally of the Syrian government in its fight against militant groups, has repeatedly acknowledged the presence of its military advisers in the Arab state.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that smartphones are growing in importance as they add new functions, and they will not be replaced by other products any time soon.

"For most people, the smartphone is either the primary or the sole window that they have to the Internet... and there is nothing that eclipses it any time soon or maybe any time in the distant future," he said in an interview with Xinhua in Beijing.

Cook is optimistic about the world smartphone market as penetration in many markets is very low, such as India, where the 4G network is just rolling out this year.

"It's not something you use once a month or once a week. You are gonna be using it all the time. It's a constant companion," he said.

The company plans to release a new iPhone model in September. Its sales in China in recent quarters have not been that favorable.

Figures show the quarterly revenue of Apple in greater China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, dropped by 33 percent year on year to 8.848 billion U.S. dollars from April to June.

According to statistics released last month by Counterpoint Research, Apple dropped to the fifth place in China's mobile market in the first quarter, after Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi, which secured 53 percent of combined market share.

Cook responded that the company saw a significant reduction of channel inventory, particularly in the quarter from March to June, meaning customers are buying more products than the shown revenue.

Another factor that has influenced the financial figures is the depreciation of the Chinese yuan, he said.

Cook said he is optimistic about the company's sales prospects in the fall, especially as the iOS 10 operating system will be launched.
RABAT, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan security forces have arrested four people with suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) group, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspects, who were operating in the cities of Casablanca and Kenitra, some 36 km away from the capital, pledged allegiance to the so-called emir of the IS group.

"They planned dangerous terrorist projects to undermine security and stability of the North African kingdom," said the statement.

Preliminary investigations showed that terror attacks against key sites in the Moroccan economic capital Casablanca were planned, the statement said.

The suspects will be brought to justice after the completion of the probe, which is led under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor's office.

Morocco is facing a growing threat from the IS as 159 terrorist cells in the country were dismantled, which had links to terrorist groups that are active in Iraq and Syria, including the IS, said the Interior Ministry.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have solved 158 major cases involving underground banks and money laundering this year and apprehended 450 suspects, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Tuesday.

In a crackdown launched by the MPS, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, 192 locations where illegal banking services were provided have been discovered, involving nearly 200 billion yuan (30 billion U.S. dollars), the MPS said.

Crimes committed by underground banks are still rampant, although years of police efforts have managed to curb them to some extent, according to the MPS.

Underground banks in different regions have increasingly colluded with one another, with crimes spreading to more places and committed in more covert ways.

Underground banks have become channels for transferring illicit money obtained through all sorts of illegal activity, including public funds embezzled by corrupted officials, the MPS said.

This year's crackdown has focused on cross-regional and cross-border underground banks, as well as those who transfer money gained from corruption and other crimes, according to the MPS.
DOLAKHA, Nepal, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), a Chinese NGO working in Nepal right after the earthquake of 2015, provided educational assistance to schools in one of the earthquake-hit district on Tuesday.

In separate events organized here in Charikot, district headquarters of Dolakha, CFPA handed over furniture and stationary items to the students of two schools, which were severely damaged by the earthquake last year.

The foundation handed over desk-benches and stationary items to Shree Bhim Higher Secondary School and Bal Mandir Primary School. More than 500 students have benefited from this educational assistance.

Zou Zhiqiang, country director for CFPA Nepal, told Xinhua "The earthquake destroyed school buildings and infrastructures due to which students were lacking learning environment and materials. Our assistance is to make sure that students learn in a well-equipped environment".

The foundation is also planning to conduct psychological training to the children of these two schools in Dolakha in near future.

"We are thankful to the Chinese government and the Chinese people for extending support to the education of Nepal. This assistance of furniture and stationary items will enable our students to strengthen their learning capacity", Ram Bahadur Budathoki, principal of Shree Bhim Higher Secondary School, said to Xinhua.

Dolakha is the epicenter of the second massive earthquake that hit the Himalayan nation on May 12. Most of the schools of this district were severely damaged by the quake compelling the students to study in temporary learning centers.

Rakesh Hamal, executive board member of the Social Welfare Council of Nepal, told Xinhua "The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation has been doing a great job in this post-quake scenario by undertaking various projects on health and education. Their support is highly beneficial for the Nepalese people and students".

CFPA has recently completed personal hygiene and sanitation training under its WASH program benefiting more than 800 local population of Nagarjun municipality in Kathmandu.

Also on Tuesday, the foundation distributed computers to the disabled children of Kalinchowk Higher Secondary School. The computers with blind accessible software JAWS are handed over to 10 visually-impaired students.

Rabir Thami, a visually-impaired Grade 12 student, shared with Xinhua "Finally, we can learn computer skills through the blind software. I am very much excited to use computer as my classmates".
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military had conducted 48 airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Libya since it launched its anti-IS campaign there on Aug. 1, U.S. Africa Command said on Tuesday.

According to a press release, the U.S. campaign, named Operation Odyssey Lightning, destroyed one IS vehicle and four IS fighting positions during latest airstrikes on Monday, bringing the total number of U.S. airstrikes there to 48 since Aug. 1 when the United States started its anti-IS campaign there at the request of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA).

While U.S. military conducted air strikes against IS targets in Libya in the past, it was the first time the GNA had officially requested U.S. air strikes.

Despite the expansion of IS' influence in Libya, the U.S. military had before Aug. 1 publicly admitted to only a couple of airstrikes against IS targets inside Libya, compared to its daily air raids against the group in Syria and Iraq, according to examinations of the Pentagon's previous statements.
ATHENS, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four people died and another four were injured, while there were fears for missing people after a collision between a small tour boat and a speedboat near the Greek island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf on Tuesday, the Greek coastguard announced.

An eight-meter-long speedboat rammed into the tour boat and turned it over. As a result, all passengers fell into the sea, with four of them losing their lives and four getting injured.

Among the casualties were the captain of the tour boat and a two-year-old child. The identities of the other two victims have not been revealed.

All injured and rescued passengers were transferred to the Health Center of Aegina. The tour boat was transferring passengers from Perdika village in the southwest of Aegina to a beach on a near islet Moni for swimming.

Private vessels along with three watercraft of the coast guard rushed to the scene to check for survivors.

The circumstances of the collision were unclear.

The speedboat captain was arrested and interrogated by Greece's coast guard.
MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces have freed four villages in the south of the Islamic State (IS) major stronghold of Mosul on Tuesday, a security source said.

The troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition air strikes, launched an assault at dawn on the villages scattered near the IS-held town of Qayyara, some 50 km south of Mosul, the security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

They have so far freed the villages of al-Huwish, al-Jaw'ana, Jubla and al-Ghaziyah, with the village of Jad'a still being surrounded.

The source did not give the exact number of casualties, only saying dozens of IS militants were killed in the battles.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Kurdish fighters repelled a pre-dawn attack from the IS militants outside the town of Sinjar, some 100 km west of Mosul, Brigadier General Luqman al-Khansouri, commander of the town's security forces, told Xinhua.

The Kurdish security forces, backed by coalition warplanes, killed at least 27 IS militants and destroyed several vehicles, Khansouri said.

The Iraqi army and the Kurdish security forces, known as Peshmerga, are now fighting to seize back positions around Mosul amid a major offensive to liberate the whole city.

Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, has been under IS control since June 2014, when the Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, giving opportunities for IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
NAIROBI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A police man and two civilians were arrested in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, while transporting elephant tusks valued at 3,000 U.S. dollars.

The officer attached to a police station in Machakos County of eastern Kenya and his accomplices, who were arrested on Monday night, appeared in a Nairobi court on Tuesday.

The three suspects appeared before Kibera Chief Magistrate Ann Ongijo on Tuesday and denied charges of possession and trafficking of ivory and were each released on a 5,000 dollars bond and the case will be heard on December 5.

According to investigators, the three suspects had previously arrested suspects with the ivory then decided to hide it in the police officer's house.

The officer then decided to move with the 8-kg ivory after he was transferred to another location but was nabbed along the way.

The arrest comes after the High Court last month sentenced ivory kingpin, Feisal Mohamed to 20 years imprisonment and pay 20,000 dollars for trafficking in ivory worth 440,000 dollars in the coastal city of Mombasa.

Mohamed was found in possession of 314 pieces of ivory weighing more than 2.1 tonnes, including 228 complete elephant tusk.
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 militants were killed when Pakistani military launched an armed offensive in the country's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency on Tuesday, local media and officials said.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the mouthpiece of Pakistani army, said in a statement that the military has launched the operation in Rajgal area of Khyber Agency, along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, to reinforce troop deployment for effectively checking and guarding against movement across the porous border of the Agency.

Director General ISPR, Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa, said in a tweet on Tuesday night that the army has destroyed nine militants'hideouts in ground and aerial strikes in the high mountains of Rajgal area.

"Large dumps/terrorist dens hit precisely. Treacherous terrain. Resolute action will reduce cross border move of terrorists," Bajwa tweeted.

Local Urdu TV channel Dawn News reported that 15 militants were also killed in the operation, however, their identities were not revealed.

Tuesday's operation is the continuation of the security measures being taken by the Pakistani government, after a deadly blast at a hospital in the country's southwest Balochistan province left 74 killed and over 100 injured.

Following the attack, army chief General Raheel Sharif ordered a combing operation in the country to bust terrorist sleeper cells and eliminate the militants who fled to various areas of the country in the wake of armed offensive Zarb-e-Azb in the tribal areas.

The combing operation has so far claimed the lives of four militants while scores of others were arrested from all the four provinces of the country.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, police in the capital city Peshawar of the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, arrested a suicide bomber carrying an estimated 2 kg of explosives in his explosive jacket during a combing operation.

The army chief also signed death sentences of 11 hardcore militants on Tuesday morning.

The condemned terrorists were tried by military courts for heinous offences related to terrorism including killing of senior police and army officers, sectarian killings and kidnapping and killing of civilians.
TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) were killed in clashes with Iranian security forces in the west of the country, Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday.

One of the killed terrorists was the regional commander of the IS group, Alavi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

"Carrying out terrorist operations in some religious and populated cities of the country were among the objectives of the busted group," Alavi said.

Also, Asadollah Razani, the governor general of western Kermanshah province, said earlier on Tuesday that following the cooperated operations by the Iran's security forces in Kermanshah, a 10-member team of IS terrorists who intended to carry out terrorist acts inside the country was busted, according to state IRIB TV.

In the operations, four of them were killed and six others were arrested, Razani said.

Sizeable amount of ammunition, including the suicide vests and belts, grenades, and communication equipment were seized from them, Alavi said without detailing on the time of foiling the terror plot.

On Aug. 3, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced that it had dismantled a "terrorist" cell in the western province of Kurdistan suspected of attacks on security forces.

The members of the "Tawhid and Jihad" group had killed 20 Iranian officials and people, injured 40 others and were involved in armed robbery during the past seven years, the ministry said in a statement.

Moreover, Iran's Intelligence Ministry in a statement, issued on June 20, said that it had thwarted "one of the biggest terrorist plots" potentially targeting Tehran and other Iranian cities.

It said investigations showed the IS was behind a foiled bombing plot and the plotters received 600,000 euros (667,500 U.S. dollars) from the IS.
NAIROBI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said it will assist Kenya in developing a health observatory in the next two years.

WHO Kenya Focal Point for Health Observatory Leonard Cosmas told Xinhua in Nairobi that currently funds are being mobilized in order to finance the establishment of the National Health Observatory.

"We hope to have a prototype in place by the end of the year and a fully operational health observatory in two years," Cosmas said on the sidelines of the National Workshop on Data for Sustainable Development.

A health observatory is a web based platform that contains health related information that assists in decision making.

It helps a country monitor health trends, respond to disease outbreaks in a timely manner as well as achieve internationally agreed health targets.

Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cameroon are also currently establishing health observatories. The WHO established the Global Health Observatory in 2010 and the Africa Health Observatory one year later.

Cosmas said discussions are currently on going with the Kenya government on modalities of implementation process. "We are identifying the components that will be included on the online platform," he added.

Kenya currently has a lot of information on health data but they are not available in one platform.

Cosmas said that once in place the health observatory will serve as a platform for better synergy and harmonization of researchers, academics, public and private sector actors in the health sector.

He noted that health observatories are meant to strengthen existing health information systems and not replace them.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council has approved a plan to connect the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

Preparation for the launch of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect is generally in place, Li said at a State Council executive meeting.

A similar link between the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses was launched in November 2014. It allows investors on the mainland and those in Hong Kong to trade selected stocks on each other's exchanges.

"The roll-out of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect after the one between Shanghai and Hong Kong marks another concrete step for China's capital market in becoming more law-based, market-oriented and global. It will generate many positive outcomes," Li said.

The Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect will help investors share more of the dividends of economic growth on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong and promote closer partnership between the two markets while shoring up Hong Kong's role as an international financial center, Li added.

The scheme will be launched at a proper time this year after rules and technological preparations are complete, China's securities watchdog said Friday.

Opening of the economy is a key feature of modern China, and the opening of capital markets and other financial markets has played an important role in boosting the Chinese financial sector's international competitiveness and ability to serve the real economy, Li said.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Tuesday in a statement that it signed a joint announcement with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission on approving the establishment of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect mechanism.

The announcement said the formal launch will only take place after full preparations for trading and clearing rules and systems, regulatory approvals, operational and technical systems, regulatory and enforcement cooperation, as well as investor education.

"It should take approximately four months from the date of this joint announcement to complete the above-mentioned preparations," the document said.

A separate announcement will be made about the formal launch date, it said.

There will be no aggregate quota under the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect, and the aggregate quota under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect will also be abolished starting Tuesday.

The daily quota under the mechanism will be the same as that under the Shanghai-HK mechanism, or 13 billion yuan (1.96 billion U.S. dollars) for northbound investment and 10.5 billion yuan for trading Hong Kong-listed shares.

The quota may be adjusted by the parties in light of actual operational performance.

For trading Shenzhen-listed shares, eligible shares include any constituent stocks of the Shenzhen Component Index and Shenzhen Small/Mid Cap Innovation Index with a market value of 6 billion yuan or above, as well as Shenzhen-listed companies with both A and H shares.

For investment in Hong Kong, the scope of eligible shares will be the constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Composite LargeCap Index and Hang Seng Composite MidCap Index, some constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Composite SmallCap Index, and all shares of HK-listed companies with both A and H shares.

The Shenzhen-HK mechanism is conducive to promoting opening up and reform of the mainland capital market, CSRC spokesman Zhang Xiaojun said.

Zhang added that the mechanism can meet diversified demand from investors for cross-border investment and risk management and attract more long-term capital into the A share market.

Wang Jianhui, an expert with Beijing-based Capital Securities, also said the new mechanism will be a useful supplement to the Shanghai-HK link program in promoting the mainland capital market's opening up.

Related

Regulators announce approval of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect

HONG KONG, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Tuesday announced the approval, in principle, of the structure of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, which will provide mutual stock market access between Hong Kong and Shenzhen via a northbound trading link and a southbound trading link.
ANKARA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held phone talks on Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, discussing a number of issues including the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt last month.

According to local NTV, they also exchanged opinions on the current developments in Syria, including the situation in Manbij and Aleppo.

Cavusoglu talked about the upcoming visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to Turkey on Aug. 24 during the conversation.

Last Thursday, Biden told Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim that the U.S. would work with Turkey on the extradition of Fetullah Gulen.

The U.S. vice president is scheduled to meet with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Yildirim, the White House said last Saturday.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said his visit comes amid strained relations between the NATO allies following the July 15 failed coup bid in Turkey.
A doctor examines a man before he donates his blood at a blood bank on a street in Sanaa, Yemen, on Jan. 10, 2016.(Xinhua/Hani Ali)

GENEVA, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 13 health workers lost their lives and another 23 were injured since March 2015 in Yemen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

A WHO spokesperson told a press briefing that during the period, a total of 102 health facilities have been partially or totally damaged, compounding the already poor health system in the country.

The spokesperson condemned the latest attack on a MSF-supported hospital in Hajjah governorate of Yemen, which reportedly claimed the lives of 11 people including an MSF staff member and injured 19 others.

WHO called on all parties with their commitments and obligations under international humanitarian law to protect health workers and facilities.

According the latest UN figures, ground battles and airstrikes in Yemen have killed 3,704 civilians and injured 6,566 since March of 2015 when Saudi Arabia led a military coalition against the Houthis and Saleh's forces.
Israeli soldiers search a Palestinian at an Israeli checkpoint in the Palestinian al-Fawwar refugee camp, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Aug. 16, 2016. A Palestinian teenager was killed Tuesday in clashes between dozens of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, medics said. (Xinhua/Mamoun Wazwaz)

RAMALLAH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian teenager was killed Tuesday in clashes between dozens of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, medics said.

Mohamed Abu Hashash, 17, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers' gunfire in the clashes that broke out between the soldiers and dozens of Palestinian stone throwers at al-Fawar refugee camp close to the city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society emergency announced that 42 Palestinians were injured in the clashes since early Tuesday in the Palestinian refugee camp. The Israeli army forces stormed the refugee camp later in the day.

Eyewitnesses said the Israeli soldiers fired intensive gunfire and tear gas canisters, adding that one teenager was killed and dozens injured, many of them are still in moderate conditions.

Spokesman of Hamas movement in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said in an emailed press statement that his movement condemns the Israeli army escalation against the Palestinians in the refugee camp.

The Israeli army forces have been carrying out a regular security activity and searching for Palestinians wanted for being involved in planning attacks into Israel, reported Israeli Public Radio.

The Israeli army forces seized pistols, hand grenades and commandos' knives during the security mission, said an Israeli army spokesman quoted by the report.

Since October last year, tension between Israel and the Palestinians has been growing, with figures showing 220 Palestinians and 40 Israelis been killed.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN emergency relief coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, on Tuesday released 50 million U.S. dollars for severely underfunded aid operations in six areas, including Africa and Yemen, a UN spokesman said.

O'Brien, who is also the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the funds from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund will provide life-saving assistance for 2 million people in dire humanitarian need, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here.

Some 35 million dollars will allow humanitarian partners to respond to protracted humanitarian emergencies in central Africa, caused by armed conflicts, political instability and human rights violations, and compounded by food insecurity and disease outbreaks, he said.

"The funds will support the delivery of critical health services, access to food, emergency shelter, protection of women and girls, and water and sanitation in the Central African Republic, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Haq said.

A further 13 million U.S. dollars will boost relief operations in Yemen where an estimated 21.2 million people require humanitarian assistance, he said, adding that 2 million U.S. dollars will support humanitarian partners in Eritrea.




Khaled Fouda, South Sinai Governor of Egypt, gives an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Cairo, capital of Egypt, Aug. 14, 2016. "Besides the traditional origins of tourists, now we have turned our eyes on China, a country with a large population and ancient culture, similar to Egypt," the governor said, adding that Sharm el-Sheikh is highly and technologically-based re-secured, ready to welcome people around the world. (Xinhua/Meng Tao) To match "Feature:Egypt's tourism sector turns more attention to Chinese Market"

by Mahmoud Fouly, Wang Xue

SHARM EL-SHEIHK, Egypt, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A breakthrough in the ailing tourism sector in Egypt is expected soon following the recent and coming visits of foreign delegations from Britain, France and Russia to check security measures in the country, especially in the popular Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai governor Khaled Fouda told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

"The return of tourists to Sharm El-Sheikh is so close and there will be a big breakthrough in the coming period," Fouda said, noting the recent visit of a British parliamentary delegation in late July left them "a very good impression in terms of security measures, order and cleanliness in the city."

"A member of the three-member delegation from the British House of Commons even said in a later press conference that he regretted not brining his wife, saying he will bring her to Sharm El-Sheikh next time," the governor said.

He said the British delegation's visit was "more than wonderful," where they saw the traffic inside the airport, the two checkpoints, the places of loading luggage and all security procedures.

Fouda pointed out that several other delegations from France, Russia, Germany and other countries visited Sharm El-Sheikh to check the security procedures and they all left with satisfactory impressions.

Egypt has been struggling to survive a sharp tourism recession over the past few years due to political turmoil.

The situation further deteriorated due to a Russian plane crash in Sinai that killed over 200 mostly Russians in October last year, an Italian student's mysterious death in Cairo in early February and a tragic fall of an EgyptAir flight in May that killed all 66 people on board, including 15 French.

The security concerns led Russia and some Western states, including Britain, to ban their citizens from visiting the country, which represented a blow to the country's economy where tourism represents a main source of national income and foreign currency with some four million people working in the field.

The South Sinai governor said there is about 30 percent to 40 percent decline in tourism in Sharm El-Sheikh at present compared to the same period last year.

"We lost around 2.5 billion dollars over the past 10 months, which negatively affected our economy," Fouda told Xinhua, noting the lost revenues could have been used in building more hospitals and schools, improving education, providing job opportunities and other purposes.

The deadly Russian plane crash that took place in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula was claimed by a Sinai-based militant group affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS).

Fouda said the anti-Egypt travel ban was "a reward to terrorism," and that countries should rather cooperate and work with Egypt to fix any issues or shortages instead of rewarding terrorism by harming tourism.

"On Aug. 17, a high-profile Russian delegation is scheduled to visit Sharm El-Sheikh for a final check to report to the Russian government and this may mark a start for the return of Russian tourists," Fouda told Xinhua, hoping they will be satisfied with the security measures at the airport and the city in general.

The governor said he paid a visit to Germany a few days ago and some German tourist companies announced they will start visiting Sharm El-Sheikh in late September and early October, noting Germany was not among the Western states that imposed a travel ban to Egypt but it just needed reassurance about the security conditions in the country.

"Also a Polish tour company already started to come to Sharm El-Sheikh from Aug. 9, arranging a flight every week. I met with the head of the Polish company in Sharm El-Sheikh and he said there will be two flights per week from Aug. 23," Fouda added.

As for Chinese tourists, the governor said that they are not that many in Sharm El-Sheikh for the time being, expecting larger numbers in the near future, given the distinguished bilateral relations between the two countries.

"We respect the great, hardworking Chinese people who developed their country and put it in the ranks of big powers. We tell them that Egypt is the right destination for their enjoyment, leisure, vacation and therapy. So, we tell our brothers and friends in China that they are so welcomed in the city of peace, the city of Sharm El-Sheikh," Fouda said in a message to China and its people.

The number of Chinese visitors to Egypt increased from 65,000 to 135,000 in 2015, and the tourism ministry has been targeting to multiply the number in 2016.

"I assure you that the city, as you see, is well-secured and its airport is technologically re-secured as testified by the foreign delegations that visited the city," the governor added.

"The visitors who come to Egypt leave it with better understanding of its civilization and culture. We are friend nations and tourism is a means of brining people closer and improving their relations," the governor concluded.
RIYADH, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi civil defense said on Tuesday that seven civilians were killed in a missile attack launched from Yemen to Saudi border city Najran, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The attack was one of the recent strikes by the Houthis from Yemen, most of which have been intercepted by Saudi military forces, the report said.

Such attacks became more frequent after the Kuwait talks involving Yemeni political parties ended without major results.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a war against the Houthis since March 2015 in support of the Yemeni elected government.
A woman holds her malnourished son next to their tent at a camp for internally displaced people near Sanaa, Yemen, August 15, 2016. (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN emergency relief coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, on Tuesday released 50 million U.S. dollars for severely underfunded aid operations in six areas, including Africa and Yemen, a UN spokesman said.

O'Brien, who is also the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the funds from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund will provide life-saving assistance for 2 million people in dire humanitarian need, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here.

Some 35 million dollars will allow humanitarian partners to respond to protracted humanitarian emergencies in central Africa, caused by armed conflicts, political instability and human rights violations, and compounded by food insecurity and disease outbreaks, he said.

"The funds will support the delivery of critical health services, access to food, emergency shelter, protection of women and girls, and water and sanitation in the Central African Republic, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Haq said.

A further 13 million U.S. dollars will boost relief operations in Yemen where an estimated 21.2 million people require humanitarian assistance, he said, adding that 2 million U.S. dollars will support humanitarian partners in Eritrea.
Sculpture artist Lin Cheng-Fa demonstrates artworks he created at his studio in New Taipei City, southeast China's Taiwan, Aug. 16, 2016. Despite of the car accident which occurred to Lin when he was 24 years old, he has persisted in sculpture creation and made over a thousand pieces of artworks on wheelchair.(Xinhua/Song Zhenping)
Cop charged with assaulting cop

The officer who is assigned to the Guard and Emergency Branch, appeared in the First Court before Magistrate Sharon Gibson. It is alleged that he assaulted a policeman, failed to comply with the instructions of a police officer in uniform and used a vehicle contrary to its registration. The charges stemmed from an alleged incident along the Southern Main Road, Chase Village, Chaguanas. Cpl Ramsubhag, of the Chaguanas Police Station, laid the charges.

Police court prosecutor Sgt Ken Ali yesterday reminded the court that because the officer is a serving member of the TT Police Service, a State attorney has to be appointed to prosecute the accused cop.

Defence attorney Taradath Singh represented the accused who, over the weekend, was granted $50,000 bail to cover the three charges. Singh requested that the bail bond remain the same, to which the magistrate acceded. The case was adjourned to December 8.
Fyzabad pensioner goes missing

Rondon, of Colley Street, Fyzabad, is diagnosed with schizophrenia and Parkinsons disease and has not received his medication for the past few days. Coupled with that, the pensioner, who lives alone, was expected to undergo surgery at a private hospital last Friday for an enlarged prostate.

Wendy Sookraj, who holds the power of attorney for Rondon, said he visited her nearby home on Monday.

When he failed to show up the following day she and other relatives became worried and a searched ensued.

Sookraj said she has been taking care of Rondon for many years and, in 2011, she obtained the power of attorney with the blessings of his sister Shirley Aunty Leemai Cadore, 75, who lives in the USA. Every morning, he comes by us and on Monday he left at about 1 pm.

When we did not see him on Tuesday, we went by his house. He is family too. We were told a green car came with two strangers- a man and a womanand he left with them.

On Wednesday, we got a call from a woman who is claiming she has the power of attorney.

Chin did not show up for his surgery, Sookraj explained.

The woman, who described herself as a relative of Rondon, migrated to the US at the age of 18 and is now 49 years-old, Sookraj said.

The woman was expected to return to the US over the weekend.

Sookraj recalled that Rondon retired medically unfit from Texaco (now called Petrotrin) in the 1970s after he sustained head injuries while on duty. Sookraj said she cooks daily meals for Rondon, washes his clothes, takes him to the doctor and barber along with other chores. Our phones are ringing off the hook because people keep calling to find out if we locate him yet. People are checking homes for the aged to see if this woman dropped him off. We do not know if he alive or dead, Sookraj said, adding that she will be seeking legal advice.
$250 fine for littering

Appearing in the San Fernando Magistrates Court, Anthony Gaskin, 58, of Embacadere, apologised to Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde- John, and promised that he would never commit such an act again.

He was arrested on Sunday night at Mucurapo Street, San Fernando.

The charge was laid by Police Constable Luke Ramcharith. Gaskin pleaded guilty to the charge.

The court heard that Ramcharith was on patrol duty at about 9.20 pm when he saw Gaskin throw away the cup.

When confronted by the policeman, Gaskin responded, Officer ah sorry. Give me a bligh. Failure to pay the fine would result in Gaskin serving 14 days in prison.
$300 for 6 zabocas

Shameer Mohammed, 30, pleaded guilty before magistrate Nanette Forde-John, to the charge of larceny.

The court was told by police prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan, that Mohammed, 30, was spotted on Sunday with a red plastic bag on the outskirts of La Romaine.

The owner of the zabocas called out to Mohammed and held him.

The police was then called in.

Mohammed told the police,Boss I really jumped the fence and thief the zaboca. He was arrested and taken to the San Fernando Police Station.

Mohammeds attorney, Frank Gittens, pleaded for leniency saying that Mohammed obeyed the owner of the property when he was asked to sit under the tree and wait until the police arrived. Nanette- John ordered Mohammed to pay the fine forthwith or serve seven days in prison with hard labour.
Zika unconfirmed cases in the thousands

A Ministry of Health High release said that high risk cases include pregnant women, children under five years, persons over 60 years, and hospitalised cases.

The confirmed cases stood at 254 with 78 being pregnant women as of August 12, the release said yesterday. Six of the cases confirmed are from Tobago.

Meanwhile acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Clive Tilluckdharry has confirmed that the number of people with the zika virus was in the thousands.

Doctors at private clinic have also told Newsday that many persons are visiting their clinics with rash, fever, conjunctivitis (red eyes) and headaches - all symptoms of the zika virus.

A breakdown of the confirmed cases shows St George West, 91; St George Central, 39; St George East, 30; St Andrew/ St David, four; Caroni, 20; Victoria, 45; St Patrick, 12; Tobago, 6; Unknown, eight; non-citizen, one.

The ministry said that it continues its efforts to monitor and manage the outbreak of the zika virus and other mosquito borne diseases.

It urges citizens to follow to continue taking steps to protect themselves and others by keeping their environment clean, using protective clothing and sleeping under mosquito nets.
Family wants probe, medical records

In the letter to Groome-Duke dated August 15, Martin Anthony George and Company indicated that their clients (Resa and Karena Smart) have indicated their consent to have their mothers medical records released.

They are also calling for an independent team of medical experts to conduct a full and thorough public investigation into this matter.

The attorneys said they hoped the said records and notes will be released no later than tomorrow and delivered to their offices in Scarborough. They asked that Groome-Duke submit a response no later that Friday. The attorneys indicated that in accordance with the provisions of pre-action protocols as set out in the amended Civil Proceedings Rules (1998), there will be no further notice or warning.

The ruling of Justice Frank Seepersad in the matter of Chantal Williams v TRHA was cited as a precedent in this case.

They said Sammy Smart was admitted to the Scarborough Regional Hospital on April 24 to undergo minor surgery to remove a boil on the lower right side of her chest.

The attorneys claimed the procedure was done without anaesthetic and not in a surgical theatre. They said two days after the procedure, Sammy Smart suffered two heart attacks. The attorneys said Sammy Smart had no previous history of heart disease.

They said for the last four months, Sammy Smart has been in a comatose state at the hospital.

The attorneys said the TRHA has not offered her family any explanation as to what medical negligence disaster and medical calamity has befallen her.
Dad vows to continue trusting God despite only daughters death

Ali made the comments yesterday before hundreds of mourners who flocked to Faith Centre, San Fernando, for the funeral service of his daughter Anastazia Ana Ali  a pupil of the St Gabriels Girls RC School, in San Fernando.

I will continue to pray and always be grateful to God. Just like Job, I will never be angry with Him, I will never curse Him. I will praise Him for the rest of my life, Ali said to which he received a lusty round of applause from mourners.

Anastazia, together with her grandfather, Morris Sammy, 75, drowned on August 7 when they got into difficulties at a Mayaro beach. Sammy, also called Shac Shac and Bouji, observed her experiencing difficulties and rushed to her aid. But both grandfather and granddaughter were pulled under the waters and drowned.

Sammys funeral service was held on Friday last.

Standing a few feet away from the coffin which bore the body of his only daughter, Anastazias father noted that he was grateful that God granted him the privilege of being a father to such a wonderful human being.

My daughter is awesome.

She loved life, she loved people and she was a blessing to whomever she met and where ever she journeyed. Ana loved God and always wanted to pray for everyone, Ali said as he showered praises on her.

Anastazia lived at Gopaul Circular Drive, Marabella, with Ali, her mother Stacy Sammy- Ali (daughter of Sammy) and five yearold brother, Zayne Ali.

The bereaved father noted that there is a passage of scripture which has given him a formula to life, which he appreciates more and more every day.

It is taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 which states: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. So whatever situation I find myself in, the Lord wants me to rejoice. He wants me to pray, to be greatful because that is His will for me and my wife and family, Ali said to the mourners.

Anastazias teacher, Dixie-Ann Lee delivered the eulogy and shared some fond memories.

Many mourners paid tribute among them classmates, relatives, pastors and even Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan.

Pastor Victor Jogee and Roman Catholic priest, Msgr Christian Pereira officiated at the service.

Anastazias body was taken to the nearby Paradise Cemetery for burial.
Sources confirm psych drugs scarce

Previously, Deyalsingh had stated that there was a process by which drugs were procured, adding there was a shut-off time for applications to be made when manufacturers shut down for mandatory cleaning and upkeep of their plants.

Sometimes in a bipolar patient the mood may go up in such a way that they may be manic or psycho-manic where they have impulse control, the doctor told Newsday yesterday. They get hyper-sexual. They spend a lot of money. They get out of control.

It is a high feeling. Then they could switch and go down into a depression where they could become suicidal at that stage. They dont want to come out of the house and all the fantastic ideas they had at the high stage disappear. The doctor said patients who did not receive mood stabilisers would have difficulty coping in their jobs and fitting in.

We have a lot of artistes who are bipolar, the doctor pointed out.

The challenge that we are facing is that most of the things on the check list we really do not have (them).

When we dont, we are forced to tell patients to come into clinic just to talk. People who are working cannot take that time from work to come here. These are the patients we have to look at: those where something may trigger them off, cause them to go into depression.
PM returns home today

Rowley left the country on August 4 to have detailed medical examinations done and take some vacation time. The Prime Minister has said he did examinations locally, the results of which were sent to his doctors abroad and both sets of doctors agreed further tests should be done.

He said these examinations should take a week and he planned to return home on August 15 (yesterday).

However, Newsday understands that due to the flight schedule, he is now due back around 5 am today.

Rowley has said his health remains a private matter, although he is a public figure.

At last Thursdays post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert confirmed that Rowley is expected to return home this week.

Asked specifically about Rowleys health, Imbert said, The Prime Minister would like all questions relating to his overseas travels to be directed to him. Government officials yesterday said they have received no information whether Rowley will hold a news conference at the airport on his return.

The Prime Minister has held briefings at Piarco International Airport on returning from official government engagements overseas. His last such briefing was in July, when he returned from an official visit to Jamaica. However, Rowley has not held press conferences after being away on private business. Government officials said it would be up to the Prime Minister to determine if he would address the media when he returns today. Rowley is due to chair the Peoples National Movements (PNM) local government screening exercises which begin tomorrow at Balisier House from 5 pm. He and his wife Sharon are scheduled to host an event at the Diplomatic Centre in St Anns on Saturday to launch a Cazabon exhibition.

The paintings were bought by the Office of the Prime Minister last October at an auction put on by Christies in London. Saturdays event forms part of a series of events being held by the Community Development, Culture and Arts Ministry from August 31 to September 24 to mark National Patriotism Month.
National Emergency Operations Centre opened

Speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony to open the Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in Mausica yesterday, the Minister expressed optimism that the facility would serve as the solution to coordinating relief efforts towards preserving maximum life and property.

In the Caribbean over the past year alone, over 11,000,000 persons have been affected by natural disasters, Dillon said.

This has prompted a paradigm shift in how we approach natural disasters. In doing this, we take a step away from traditional, response- centric strategies to more proactive forms of risk-reduction. Dillon also said that the safety of citizens, during times of disaster, remains a top priority to the Ministry of National Security and added that it was one of the major concerns that would be addressed during Octobers Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas.

The Minister also said that preparedness against natural disasters is everyones concern and implored citizens to do their part in minimising risk and vulnerability.

United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, John L Estrada, echoed, Dillons sentiments and lauded the efforts of both local and international agencies in getting the facility operational. Estrada said that despite intensified storms and natural disasters, the United States and other international agencies, remain committed to providing relief and aid in times of crisis.

The construction of this Emergency Operations Centre is just one example of numerous initiatives by the United States Southern Command as they work with US Embassies like ours to assist our regional partners in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response, Estrada said.

The commitment we have to Trinidad and Tobago can be seen in the mutually beneficial programs we have conducted that exposed US and TT personnel to seminars, conferences and training in disaster preparedness and management. The Ambassador, further urged citizens not to take their safety for granted and called on all persons to take the necessary precautions in ensuring their safety during times of natural disaster.

I know many of you are pretty sure, as they say, that God is a Trini, and sometimes when I look at this beautiful country I cant help but agree. I am also reminded that we must never take anything this blessed for granted and that being prepared to respond quickly and efficiently is a responsibility that the personnel at the ODPM take very seriously. Remember, today is always the best day to prepare for tomorrow. The facility, which was funded by the United States Southern Command, features a computer system and monitoring centre used to provide real time footage of meteorological changes and can also be used to track relief efforts using the latest tracking software. The facility, which has also been used as the site of various training exercises and seminars in disaster preparedness seeks to prepare over 300 persons from various ministries and agencies.
Moonilal bats for CEPEP

I strongly condemn the planned move to arbitrarily dismiss contractors and almost 12,000 workers of The CEPEP Company Limited, said Moonilal, a former Housing Minister.

The publicly-advertised plan would displace several contractors who have invested in equipment and are the employers of thousands of dedicated working class citizens. He complained that this harsh and oppressive measure is taking place at the start of the school year, when parents must spend significant sums on their childrens future.

Moonilal said the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government had made CEPEP into an all-embracing organisation performing extensive activities of environmental protection, which extended to marine and non-traditional roles.

A major reason why there were no widespread floods between 2010 and 2015 was CEPEPs innovative mandate of small-scale environmental projects and flood alleviation policies. Regrettably, the current administration has abandoned this critical aspect of CEPEPs mission, he said.

I, therefore, predict more floods, property damage and terrible inconvenience to come across the land as a result of the mismanagement and lack of vision at CEPEP.

The wanton firing of contractors would result in fewer clean-up activities and more blockage of water courses.

leading to more suffering of residents across the country. Moonilal added that the CEPEP Marine clean-up exercises also removed tens of thousands of items of waste and pollution from the ocean.

He complained that any move to summarily sack CEPEP contractors and workers paves the way for the installation of more friends, relatives and political associates of the PNM government, in a manner similar to what is taking place across the State sector.

This adds to the destabilisation that is already evident through the loss of jobs, increased taxes and reduction in funding of essential programmes, such as GATE, and other stringent and repressive measures.

I call on the government to reconsider its ill-advised plan for CEPEP, and to safeguard and sustain contractors and the thousands of employees.
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

news
5 times the Clintons have escaped federal charges

Reports the DoJ rejected the FBIs request to investigate the Clinton Foundation have created a stir this week. While it is not the first time investigators have gotten close to the Clintons, the couple seem immune to cases and charges. (Article by www.rt.com) A new batch of Hillary Clintons emails has shed more light on the State Departments close ties with Bill Clintons foundation in the times when it was supervised by the former First Lady. Nearly 300 pages of back-and-forth emails exposed senior officials at the foundation seeking favor and special connection on behalf of wealthy donors. It has just recently appeared that the FBI has long been interested in the Foundation and even requested the Department of Justice (DoJ) to probe the former presidents non-profit earlier this year, but was denied.According to CNN, the DoJ said it did not have enough evidence to bring up a corruption probe.

@FoxNews Clinton is guilty as hell and the FBI is controlled by the DOJ and that mean Just Us .Clinton is above the law.  #Trump45 (@Barber2012Jeff) August 12, 2016

Should the report turn out to be true, it would add to the list of situations when the Clintons fell under federal scrutiny that stopped just short of official probes.

1.Whitewater case, 1992

It is now known as the Whitewater controversy, a case that dates back to 1978 and involves both the former President and his wife Hillary Clinton, currently the Democratic presidential nominee herself. The case, once dubbed by NPR the granddaddy of Clintons scandals,centered on real-estate investment Bill and Hillary Clinton into a real estate entity known as Whitewater Development Corporation. At the time, he was serving as Arkansas governor in the late 1970s. However, it did not surface until Bill Clintons bid for the presidency in 1992, when the New York Times shared details in its March 8 article. The Justice Department eventually launched an investigation into the legality of the Whitewater transactions in 1994, but no evidence of wrongdoing has ever been found. At the time, they were suspected in participating in illegal activities related to Whitewater Development Company aspotential beneficiaries. Even though the case stretched into Clintons presidency, neither he nor Hillary were ever charged. Their partners in the real estate investment, Jim McDougal and his then-wife Susan, were convicted of fraud charges.

2.Travelgate, 1993

A year after Whitewater, Bill Clinton fell under the FBIs scrutiny in the case that was later dubbed Travelgate. Soon after Clinton moved into the White House, seven workers from the Travel Office were fired under the pretext of financial problems. However, critics suspected that, in fact, the Clintons wanted to make room for cronies. The reasons for the firings were probed by the DoJ, a congressional panel and special prosecutors, but no basis was found to bring charges against either Bill or Hillary.

3. Benghazi deadly attack, 2012

Nearly 10 years after the 1990s controversies, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire after extremists attacked the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. In October 2015, Clinton testified in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi during an 11-hour hearing. One of the longest and costliest partisan congressional investigations in US history ended with no charges. The final 800-page report, issued this past June, said lawmakers found no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing in the 2012 attacks.

Just as more of Clintons emails were released, parents of two Americans killed in Benghazi filed lawsuits against the 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee. The families accused the then-secretary of state of mishandling government secrets.

4. Clintons homebrewed server

Along with Benghazi probe, Clinton also was a part of a separate investigation. Both the FBI and Justice Department have been looking into whether Clintons private email server compromised government secrets during her tenure at the State Department.

According to the federal investigation, Clinton used several different servers and numerous mobile devices to send and read emails on her personal domain from 2009 to 2013.

Of the 30,000 emails turned over to the State Department, the FBI found that 110 messages in 52 chains contained information that was classified at the time, of which eight were Top Secret, 36 were Secret and eight were Confidential.

However, on July 5, FBI Director James Comey recommended no charges against Hillary Clinton over her handling of classified information on a private email server, still calling it extremely careless.

Testifying before the Congress, Comey admitted that Clinton lied when she said that she did not send or received any classified in her emails.

&

Attorney General Loretta Lynch then accepted the bureaus recommendations.

5. The Clinton Foundation donations

As the private server case proceeded, more cases grew around Clinton and her team. In January 2011, Fox News reported that the FBI expanded its probe to investigating the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation donations, the dispensation of State Department contracts and whether regular processes were followed.

A court ordered the former secretary of state to release some 55,000 pages of emails, following a Freedom of Information Act request from Vice News reporter Jason Leopold.

At the end of June, a federal judge ordered the State Department to hand over records detailing Hillary Clintons schedules during 14 overseas trips. It has been exposed, that then-secretary of state kept meetings with dozens of donors to her familys foundations off her official calendar.

AP filed a lawsuit that also turned up evidence that Clintons official calendars omitted dozens of donor meetings.

Read more at: www.rt.com

Submit a correction >>
George Soros confirmed through email leaks as Clintons puppet master while she was Sec. of State

For many years now, many political pundits have suspected that, when it comes to foreign policy, billionaire businessman George Soros has been pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Despite being attacked by the lie-spewing mainstream media, new evidence proves that those people have been right all along.

Recently, groups run by Soros were hacked by DCLeaks  who released thousands of documents online. As always seems to be the case with these political email leaks, the content reveals all sorts of political collusion. No matter how hard the global elite try to keep it hidden, the truth always comes out in the end.

The leak reveals that Soros was the puppet master behind Hillary Clintons decisions as Secretary of State.

One of the emails, dated January 24, 2011, reads:

Dear Hillary, A serious situation has arisen in Albania which needs urgent attention at senior levels of the US government. You may know that an opposition demonstration in Tirana on Friday resulted in the deaths of three people and the destruction of property. There are serious concerns about further unrest connected to a counter-demonstration to be organized by the governing party on Wednesday and a follow-up event by the opposition two days later to memorialize the victims. The prospect of tens of thousands of people entering the streets in an already inflamed political environment bodes ill for the return of public order and the countrys fragile democratic process. I believe two things need to be done urgently: 1. Bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements. 2. Appoint a senior European official as a mediator. While I am concerned about the rhetoric being used by both sides, I am particularly worried about the actions of the Prime Minister. There is videotape of National Guard members firing on demonstrators from the roof of the Prime Ministry. The Prosecutor (appointed by the Democratic Party) has issued arrest warrants for the individuals in question. The Prime Minister had previously accused the opposition of intentionally murdering these activists as a provocation. After the tape came out deputies from his party accused the Prosecutor of planning a coup detat in collaboration with the opposition, a charge Mr. Berisha repeated today. No arrests have been made as of this writing. The demonstration resulted from opposition protests over the conduct of parliamentary elections in 2009. The political environment has deteriorated ever since and is now approaching levels of 1997, when similar issues caused the country to slide into anarchy and violence. There are signs that Edi Ramas control of his own people is slipping, which may lead to further violence. The US and the EU must work in complete harmony over this, but given Albanias European aspirations the EU must take the lead. That is why I suggest appointing a mediator such as Carl Bildt, Martti Ahtisaari or Miroslav Lajcak, all of whom have strong connections to the Balkans. My foundation in Tirana is monitoring the situation closely and can provide independent analysis of the crisis. Thank you, George Soros

Shortly after the email was sent, Hillary followed orders. Soros had successfully convinced her to fulfill his demands.

The theory that Hillary knows nothing about foreign policy and has merely been Soros puppet the entire time is heavily backed up by this email. Soros is essentially telling her exactly how to do her job  and considering hes a businessman with a lot to gain from her decisions, this is quite alarming.

The leaks serve as further proof that American politicians are owned by corporations and fueled by the almighty dollar.

These email leaks continue to prove that skeptics and alternative media outlets arent the insane conspiracy theorists that they are often portrayed as being. These days, they seem to know the truth for weeks, months and even years before its revealed by the mainstream media.

We, as American citizens, deserve to know who is really pulling the strings behind all of the political decisions being made by our government. Why bother electing officials if theyre only going to make decisions that their handlers ask them to? At what point will we finally reach our breaking point?

It feels like the timer is ticking down

Sources:

Breitbart.com

DailyCaller.com

Submit a correction >>
After two weeks of haphazard fits and starts and a confrontational protest with tenant activists, City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez and the City Council Land Use Committee unanimously disapproved a plan to rezone the corner of Broadway and Sherman avenues, which would have paved the way for the construction of a 15-story apartment building known as Sherman Plaza.

Washington Square Partners and Acadia Realty Trust had planned to build a 355-unit residential project at 4650 Broadway, in the borderlands between Inwood and Washington Heights. The city had worked out a deal with the developer to subsidize half those apartments178 unitsand rent them at below-market rates.

Initial plans had called for a tower as tall as 23 stories, but after negotiations with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, the developers agreed to scale down the building to 15 stories, according to Politico New York. Without the rezoning, the developers could put up a 14-story, market-rate building with 199 apartments, according to zoning documents posted in June.

Rodriguez announced that he wouldnt support the rezoning at a press conference last night in front of the development site on Broadway. The move came as an about-face for the councilman, who has said at a previous rally that it would bring much-needed affordable housing to the neighborhood.

In last nights speech, which he also posted on Facebook, he said, The building must be 50 percent affordable, it must provide ample permanent space for local cultural non-profits and neighborhood service providers, and it must be supportive to small businesses struggling to compete against big box stores, banks and chain pharmacies.

Its not entirely clear why Rodriguez changed his mind and pulled his support for project. It may have simply been pressure from his constituents. Roughly 100 Inwood residents gathered last week to oppose the development and argued that many long-term residents dont earn enough to qualify for affordable units in the building, according to Gothamist. Housing activists claim the typical family living east of Broadway earns only $25,000, and the developers had hammered out a deal to rent 20 percent of the buildings units to families who earn an average of $31,000 a year (40 percent of the Area Median Income).

Sources told Politico that the councilman began asking for perks the mayors team found too costly.

We didnt think it was possible [to support the project] without major concessions to the community, explained Russell Murphy, Rodriguezs chief of staff. Those concessions included deeper affordability, large community spaces, and commercial spaces that offered reduced rents to small businesses.

Murphy explained that the council member had been focused on a planned rezoning of the neighborhoods industrial zone. They hope to rezone Inwoods eastern waterfrontwhich only allows manufacturing and commercial uses right nowto enable the construction of large, mixed-use buildings with affordable apartments. The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) released a plan for the northern tip of Manhattan last month, and the Department of City Planning should release initial zoning documents next month.

The Sherman Avenue tower would have been the first major project to secure city approval under Mayor Bill de Blasios new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. The policy, which was greenlighted by the City Council in March, requires any developer who wants to build on rezoned land to rent at least 20 percent of the units in their new building at below-market rates.

The large corner site on Broadway was formerly home to a Packard showroom, and is now a two-story garage with a curved facade.

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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.
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The Egyptian judo athlete who caught world attention for snubbing handshake with his Israeli opponent after their contest in the Rio Olympics has been sent back home by his own team for the unfriendly behavior, the International Olympic Committee announced Monday.

The Disciplinary Commission (DC) considered that his behavior at the end of the competition was contrary to the rules of fair play and against the spirit of friendship embodied in the Olympic Values, the IOC said.

The DC issued a severe reprimand for inappropriate behavior to the athlete and asked the Egyptian Olympic Committee to ensure in future that all their athletes receive proper education on the Olympic Values before coming to the Olympic Games, the IOC said.

The Egyptian national committee reportedly reprimanded its athlete for his behaviour.

El Shehaby, on Friday caused controversy after refusing to shake hand with Or Sasson from Israel in their men +100kg category. Shehaby who lost the bout turned down the handshake even when the refree called him back to the mat for friendly handshake. He quickly nodded and paced up under public boos.

Shehaby noted that he did not break any rule in refusing to greet his opponent adding that he had nothing against Jewish people or any other religion.

Shaking the hand of your opponent is not an obligation written in the judo rules. It happens between friends and hes not my friend, El Shehaby said after their bout.

I have no problem with Jewish people or any other religion or different beliefs. But for personal reasons, you cant ask me to shake the hand of anyone from this State, especially in front of the whole world, he said.

Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 but the accord is still unpopular among the Egyptian populations. Any public nodding with Israelis is viewed as a treason.
After they were flushed out of their stronghold in Sirte, the majority of Libyan jihadist fighters are feared to be heading south and attempting to sneak into neighboring countries wherein they hope to regroup particularly in the Sahel zone, according to intelligence experts.

Libya shares a long porous border with Algeria and Niger. The vast desert of the Sahel region offers a refuge to militant fighters. However, some militants may prefer to stick to their guns and stay in Libya, exploiting the countrys insecurity and longstanding tribal rivalries.

The extremist fighters have a robust presence in the east, in Derna and Benghazi, the countrys second-largest city. In early 2014, the terror organization ISIS announced the formation of its Libyan branch taking advantage of the countrys post-revolution civil war to establish a foothold in the country.

At the request of the UN-backed Libyan unity government in Tripoli, the US launched lately airstrikes against ISIS positions in the strategic port city of Sirte to enable local government forces make a decisive and strategic advance to capture the city.

Sirte was the only city Islamic State fully controlled in Libya and was considered the militants beachhead in North Africa and just across a narrow strip of the Mediterranean Sea from Europe. The loss of this city by the jihadists is the latest setback for the extremist group, which is also under pressure in Syria and Iraq after losing key cities.

Libya, following the death of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has descended into chaos, with no central government. The Islamic State has taken advantage of the situation to conquer vast swaths of land in the country, mostly in coastal regions where many criminal gangs indulge in illegal migrant trafficking.

Rival groups signed a political accord that hashed out a Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Serraj. Despite strong and vast backing from the international community, the GNA is still struggling to assert its authority challenged by Islamists and armed groups.
Morocco is interested in strengthening its military capabilities with Russian weapons through the purchase of the SU-34 tactical bombers and the Amur-class 1650 diesel electric submarines, local media reported.

The Russian warplanes, particularly the export version of the Su-34 bomber has grabbed the attention of Morocco after its performance in the operation in Syria.

So far, the two countries are still discussing the feasibility of the Amur-1650 submarine sale to the Moroccan Navy. The Russian submarine will significantly boost Moroccos capabilities because it will carry Club cruise missiles  an export variant of the Kalibr.

The submarine also features an air-independent propulsion (AIP) plant designed to make it unnecessary for her to surface in order to recharge her batteries,

If confirmed the Russian arms sale deal will help Morocco keep Algeria in check, as the latter uses oil wealth to tilt the regional balance of military equipment in its favour.
The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) arrested Tuesday morning four members of a terrorist cell that was planning terror acts in metropolis Casablanca.

A statement from the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of the four individuals whose terrorist cell was active between Casablanca and Kenitra, some 40 Km north of Rabat.

According to the Interior Ministrys press release, preliminary investigations showed that the captured members had pledged allegiance to the alleged leader of Daech (Arabic acronym of ISIS) and were planning to carry out terrorist acts against vital sites in Casablanca, the biggest city in the North African Kingdom.

Moroccan authorities are waging a tireless war against Islamist extremists and fanatics. They have disrupted over 160 terror cells since 2002, and nearly forty over the past three years.

As the international coalition intensified its airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the extremist group started moving to North Africa and particularly to Libya where the jihadists have enhanced their influence and presence.

After the setbacks they suffered over the past two weeks in their stronghold in Sirte, there are growing fears that the Libya-based Jihadist fighters would head southward and attempt to sneak through Libyas long porous borders with Algeria and Niger into neighboring countries, particularly in the Sahel zone.
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Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The consensus among political observers seems to be that the first presidential debate, scheduled for September 26 on Long Island, will provide a rich opportunity for Hillary Clinton to expose and embarrass Donald Trump. Clinton is, after all  whatever else you want to say about her  a policy wonk who has been immersed in the minutiae of everything from bankruptcy law to foreign policy for decades. Trump, on the other hand, is Trump, and in those few instances in which journalists have done what a moderator can do in a general-election debate  that is, poke and prod and ask follow-up questions  he hasnt performed well. He responded to a question about tactical nukes from the Washington Posts editorial board by telling the boards members they were very good looking, for example, and in an extended interview with the New York Times David Sanger and Maggie Haberman, he seemed to say that as president he would unilaterally renege on Americas NATO obligations.

But, according to a New York Times article, Trump just picked up a potentially valuable ally in his attempt to defy expectations next month: Roger Ailes, who was recently forced out of his role as head of Fox News as a result of what a large group of former and current female employees there say was a long and disturbing history of sexual harassment and corporate cover-up of his behavior  Megan Kelly is an alleged Ailes victim, and one former employee told New York Magazines Gabriel Sherman she was psychologically tortured by Ailes over the course of years. Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks swiftly denied the Times report.

Valuable might be a strange-sounding way to describe this alleged arrangement at first, given how widely reviled Ailes is at the moment and the blowback likely to follow from this news. But as Maggie Haberman and Ashley Parker of the Times note, Ailes is a seasoned veteran of political campaigns, having worked for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, as well as an expert (of course) on conservative messaging more broadly. According to Newt Gingrichs website, Haberman and Parker write, Ailes is responsible for one of the most famous moments in modern debate history: when Ronald Reagan was asked about his age in a debate in 1984 and responded, I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponents youth and inexperience.

Clinton, meanwhile, does face one disadvantage as the highly anticipated debate approaches, though: the formidable task of finding someone who can realistically imitate Trump to help her prepare. It needs to be someone who is naturally smart, glib and utterly irreverent, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum told Politicos Annie Karni. You cant learn to be utterly irreverent. As Karni notes, Out-Trumping Trump to prepare Clinton is an inherently awkward enterprise, one which is expected to unfold only in front of a small group of trusted aides. Clinton allies are comparing the confidentiality surrounding the tricky upcoming prep sessions to that of a closed film set when actors are shooting a nude scene.

All this stands in marked contrast to how Democratic debate prep went down during the last presidential election cycle. Then, Obamas opponent was Mitt Romney, and Romney is not a hard man to imitate: Just wear a nicely fitting suit, be handsome, look directly at the camera, pause between sentences, and rattle off anodyne remarks about Family and Hard Work and America Being on Not-Quite-the-Right Track. Making the task even easier, Obama already had, in his very administration the Senate, a master of handsome suit-wearing anodynity of his own, and by all accounts John Kerry did a solid job. (Update: A commenter pointed out, correctly, that at the time Kerry was still in the Senate.)

This time, lacking any obvious options, Clintons campaign appears to be casting a wide net in its search for someone to step into the big shoes (and, presumably, reach into the tiny hands) of Donald Trump:

Self-made billionaire Mark Cuban, who endorsed Clinton last month, told POLITICO he was happy to do it, but noted that no one had yet asked.



But Democrats said he might have the the swagger to avoid being too deferential to Clinton. Rep. Joe Crowley, a New Yorker with a large presence, could perhaps more accurately channel Trumps Queens heritage, other Clinton allies said. Other potential Trump stand-ins discussed include James Carville, a naturally irreverent character who is trusted by the Clintons, Sen. Al Franken, a longtime Clinton ally with an actors rearing, and Ron Klain, the former Biden aide who is running Clintons general election debate prep and is already part of her leak-free inner circle.



Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell joked that he is probably one of the only ones who says things bordering on the outrageous like Trump does but that he was not angling for the job.



Franken certainly has the showiness to pull this off. But given how unusual a campaign this is, it might be time to expand the list to include some less orthodox possibilities. Four options:

- A coked-up gorilla

- Howard Dean after being kept awake for three straight weeks in a windowless cell 2,000 feet under DNC headquarters

- Donald Trump (just tell him its the actual debate)

- A starving grizzly that has been trained to act more aggressively than it would otherwise

What a time to be alive.
Gerald Ford was left for dead in 1976 but nearly won. Photo: Bettmann/Corbis via Getty Images

Now that its becoming clear Hillary Clintons lead over Donald Trump in the polls is not some ephemeral convention bounce, the oddsmakers are becoming skeptical of Donald Trumps ability to play catch-up at this relatively late date. Betting markets now give Trump a 19 percent chance of winning; FiveThirtyEights polls-only forecast gives the mogul only an 11 percent chance. Current polls aside, there is not a whole lot of precedent for a candidate coming back from a sizable post-convention deficit to win, much less a candidate with Trumps various issues.

But as Nate Cohn reminds us at the Upshot, there are two precedents in living memory of major-party nominees in similar straits who later came back to very nearly win: Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and Gerald Ford in 1976. In both cases, the candidates in question were suffering from the aftereffects of hotly contested nomination contests and serious intraparty ideological tensions. In both cases, they made big strides in public-opinion standing late in the general election race as partisans came home. Since Trump is also struggling to keep Republican voters in his column, is it possible he can engineer a similar comeback when an insanely polarized electorate goes to its opposite corners?

Sure, its possible. But there are differences between Humphrey and Ford on the one hand and Trump on the other that go beyond the obvious fact that, well, HHH and Ford were longtime distinguished members of Congress and vice-presidents (and in Fords case, president), while Trumps a real-estate mogul and reality-TV star.

Humphrey and Ford were the nominees of parties fresh from historic landslide wins in the prior presidential cycle, making their potential vote totals enormous. Trump is the nominee of a party that has lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Both HHH 68 and Ford 76 ran conventional presidential campaigns benefiting from the wholehearted support of established party constituencies and the best campaign techniques money and party loyalty could buy. Trump, by contrast, has been repudiated or abandoned by more of his fellow partisan elites than any major-party nominee since George McGovern or Barry Goldwater, and his campaign isnt exactly top-heavy with talent.

And finally, Humphrey and Ford, for all their shortcomings, were extremely well-known commodities and reassuring figures. Whatever you think of Donald Trump, hes about as reassuring as a kick in the teeth.

Setting aside his prospects for victory or his standing in the polls, Trump actually has some notable similarities to the eventual winners of the 1968 and 1976 races. The parallels to Richard Nixon are most obvious; its no accident that Trump calls his following a silent majority and reportedly modeled his nomination acceptance speech on the Tricky Ones in 1968. And despite vast differences, Trump also has a few things in common with 1976 winner Jimmy Carter: Hes a consummate outsider who is upsetting many traditional partisan patterns (Carter not only swept the South in 1976, he also ran behind George McGovern in some more liberal parts of the country).

But the more you look at it, Trumps not much like anyone who wound up in a very tight race in 1968, 1976, or any other year. He cannot rely on history to come to his rescue between now and November 8. To win, hes going to have to make history and defy as much precedent as he did in winning the GOP nomination in the first place.
A judge has reportedly finalized a $4.1 million settlement in a wrongful-death suit between New York City and the family of Akai Gurley, the 28-year-old Brooklyn man who was fatally shot in 2014 by an NYPD cop in a dark stairwell in an East New York housing project.

The parties apparently agreed to the terms Monday, after nearly two months of negotiation, reports the New York Times. The city is responsible for the majority of the payment, most of which  about $4 million  will go to Gurleys girlfriend, Kimberly Ballinger, and their daughter, Akaila Gurley. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)  included for its failure to replace the lightbulbs in the corridors of the building  will pay $400,000.

Officer Peter Liang, the cop convicted in Gurleys death, will contribute $25,000. Liang was on vertical patrol with his partner in a stairwell of the building when he fired off his gun. The bullet ricocheted and hit Gurley, who died at the scene. Liang was found guilty of manslaughter, but his crime was knocked down to criminally negligent homicide. Liang was sentenced to five years probation and 800 hours of community service, but no prison time, in April 2016.

According to the Daily News, the settlement sum will be invested in a fund for Akaila Gurley, which will be paid out in structured settlements once she turns 18. A college fund will also be set up for Gurleys daughter.
Gitmo. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The Obama administration transferred 15 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the largest such release of the presidents tenure. All those released were being held without charges, some for as long as 14 years. The detainees still may not be able to go home, according to the Washington Post, because U.S. policy forbids sending detainees back to their countries of origin. Of those sent to the UAE, 12 were Yemeni nationals and three Afghans, according to the Pentagon.

Barack Obama has long pledged to close the military prison by the end of his time in office. The president sought congressional approval for Guantanamos closure in February. Lawmakers were less than receptive. Currently, 61 detainees remain at the facility, including 20 that have been approved for release. Only seven remaining prisoners are facing charges, and none have been convicted. At the peak of its population in 2003, 684 detainees were housed at Guantanamo.

Ex-US soldier who guarded me in #Gitmo just stayed with me & met my family. This time I had the keys #TheConfession pic.twitter.com/1kaNuJVGuW  Moazzam Begg (@Moazzam_Begg) August 14, 2016

On Monday, Donald Trump promised to keep Guantanamo Bay open and add to its population, should he become president this November
Noam Chomsky. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

It is possible to agree with some things Donald Trump has said and think that he is an authoritarian demagogue who represents the worst of our nations impulses. In fact, its pretty much impossible for anyone not to agree with something Trump has said  the GOP nominee has been on both sides of nearly every major issue in American politics (and quite a few minor ones). Everyone from Noam Chomsky to Dick Cheney can find something worth seconding in Trumps back catalogue of political musings.

This point might seem obvious to you. If so, then you are not Daily Beast columnist Jamie Kirchick.

On Monday, Kirchick wrote a piece titled Beware the Hillary Clinton-Loathing, Donald Trump-Loving Useful Idiots of the Left. In the column, Kirchick observes that Donald Trump once said that he was uncomfortable with the idea of American exceptionalism  and (gasp) many left-wing thinkers agree! Thus, Kirchick reasons, all left-wing critics of American foreign policy must be Trump fans who are recklessly validating a reactionary. That may sound like a caricature of his argument, but the cartoonishness is Kirchicks own. After (justifiably) mocking leftists who believe Trumps election might usefully heighten the contradictions, Kirchick writes:



But it is the second group of progressive Trump fans, subtler in their sympathies, who warrant the most concern. These are the so-called anti-imperialists who harbor deep revulsion at the idea of American power being used for good in the world. America, they believe, is more often than not a source of evil and disordera jaundiced view of our global role that they share with the Republican nominee 



Trump is right, we are flawed messengers, declared radical left-wing Brooklyn College political science professor Corey Robin in reaction to Trumps Times interview. As evidence, Robin cited a United Nations hearing on American police brutality, where delegates from human rights luminaries like Pakistan, Russia, China, and Turkey denounced Uncle Sam. No matter the DC freakout over Trump NYT interview, think his tacit repudiation of US exceptionalism is praiseworthy, echoed Washington Post blogger Ishaan Tharoor 



 Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct, Trump declared in his first foreign policy address back in April.



Such words are music to the ears of those on the left who paint Hillary Clinton as a warmonger for her mainstream foreign policy views and traditional support for the American-led liberal world order.



The only alternative to Trumps frothy isolationism is Clintons liberal hawkishness, sighs The New Republics Jeet Heer. Writing for The Electronic Intifada, whose worldview is exactly what it sounds like, Rania Khalek concludes that Clinton is also dangerous to world stability. And unlike Trump, she has the blood on her hands to prove it. Though Khalek admits that Trump is riling up fascist sentiments, she says that hes doing so by tapping into legitimate anger at the negative consequences of trickle-down neoliberal economics driven by establishment politicians like Clinton.

Its worth noting that all of the thinkers Kirchick cites in these passages have publicly denounced Trump, and many have indicated a preference to see Hillary Clinton elected in November. Its also worth noting that Kirchick has expressed public opposition to the Iran deal during this campaign cycle  a jaundiced view of American diplomacy that he shares with the Republican nominee. In fact, the foreign-policy speech Trump delivered on Monday was far more consistent with Kirchicks stated views than with those of the left-wingers he casts as closet Trumpists. Does the fact that Kirchick agrees with Trump that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq was a disastrous mistake mean that Kirchick is a Trump admirer? What about the fact that he, like Trump, is a raging hypocrite?

But Kirchicks piece is less significant for its deceit and hypocrisy than for the way it attempts to dismiss critiques of interventionist foreign policy without actually making a substantive case against those critiques. For champions of the bipartisan consensus on issues of national security and globalization, Trump is an awfully convenient figurehead for challenges to the status quo. In those short paragraphs excerpted above, observe how many ideas Kirchick is able to dismiss simply by equating them with support for Donald Trump:

- American exceptionalism is a dangerous notion that keeps Americans from being able to recognize their own countrys shortcomings on issues of human rights.

- Hillary Clintons liberal interventionism is dangerous and often exacerbates the crises it seeks to solve.

- Trump is tapping into legitimate anger over three decades of neoliberal economic policy.

Kirchick never attempts to engage any of these ideas and show why they are misguided. Instead, he suggests that such positions are dangerous because they validate Trump. This despite the fact that Trump is now running on an aggressive foreign policy that disdains international law and human rights, and, on the same day Kirchicks piece was published, vowed to promote the exceptional virtues of Americas way of life.

Kirchicks method of combating dissent is significant, because it is hardly unique to him. Nor is it unique to other dishonest polemicists like him. In an otherwise illuminating piece in Politico, public policy scholar Justin Gest illustrates how this habit of dismissing challenges to orthodoxy  by linking them to Trump  can manifest more innocently. Gests piece is about the surprisingly broad appeal of Trumps nativist politics to the Republican base. It includes this paragraph:

It is worth acknowledging that these survey results hold some risk for the Democratic Party as well. Hillary Clintons campaign has also been tugged to more populist stances by white, nativist voters on the left.

During the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton called for a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants and, at one point, promised to spare the entire non-violent, undocumented population from deportation. The only conceivable nativist policy that Gest could be referring to is Clintons opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

There are a lot of reasons why some Democratic voters oppose the TPP, and almost none can be described as specifically white or nativist. Is it xenophobic to think that we shouldnt raise the price of pharmaceuticals in poorer nations by imposing American patent law on them? Or that, if a trade agreement establishes an investor-state dispute settlement process, it should also establish similar mechanisms of trade enforcement for labor unions and environmentalists?

Despite its intellectual bankruptcy, the idea that opposition to a specific trade agreement is tantamount to supporting a Trumpian turn away from international cooperation is pervasive in American discourse. Asked about the growing opposition to the TPP earlier this month, President Obama replied, Well, right now, Im president, and Im for it  And I think Ive got the better argument. And Ive made this argument before. Ill make it again: We are part of a global economy. Were not reversing that.

If you do not support this specific trade agreement, you dont want America to be part of a global economy. If you do not support Hillary Clintons proposal for a no-fly zone in Syria, you must want to hand the nuclear codes to Donald Trump. If you think American exceptionalism enabled a disastrous invasion of Iraq, you are a useful idiot for Vladimir Putin.

Champions of the elite consensus on trade, immigration, and foreign affairs should defend their policy preferences on the merits, not by likening their skeptics to Donald Trump. Doing the latter only heightens the suspicion that the case for the status quo is weaker than its defenders care to admit.
Sad! Photo: Ty Wright/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump has seen a lot of dismal polls in recent weeks. But few (if any) have been as bleak as Monmouth Universitys latest survey of Florida.

Monmouth Florida poll:

Clinton 48%

Trump 39%

Johnson 6%

Stein 1%https://t.co/HXjqv5I9EV  McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 16, 2016

If that result is within five points of accurate, the GOP nominee can start scouting locations for the Trump News Network. What makes this poll so devastating for Trumps chances? Let us count the ways.

1. It shows Clinton with nearly a double-digit lead  and total support near 50 percent  in a four-way race. Typically, Clinton performs even stronger when head-to-head with her opponent. Trump is so broadly unpopular, he likely needs third-party candidates to peel off a significant number of Clinton-leaners to win. This poll suggests that isnt happening.

2. Florida is one of the most heavily populated swing states. Roughly 8.5 million Floridians voted in 2012. Overcoming a nine-point deficit in the state would require converting hundreds of thousands of Clinton voters in just three months.

3. If Trump loses Florida, he could win Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa  and all of the red-leaning states  and still lose. And hes down by double digits in Pennsylvania and Colorado. (He also trails by so huge margin in Virginia that it no longer seems appropriate to call it a swing state.)

All of this raises the question: Is the Monmouth poll accurate? One aspect of the survey that may strain credulity is the astounding size of its gender gap: Among white male Floridians, Trump leads 64 percent to 24 percent; among white women, Clinton leads 49 percent to 39 percent. That is a lot of divided households. (Clinton dominates among nonwhite voters of both genders, for some strange reason.)

On the other hand, if any Republican is capable of generating a gender gap of that size, its Donald you have to treat them like shit Trump.

More to the point, the RealClearPolitics average of the Sunshine States polls now has Clinton up by 4.5 percent. In a state of Floridas size, thats yuge. All signs suggest that, come November, liberals will owe the good people of Florida an apology for having doubted their good judgment.


I wouldnt want to belong to any country that would have me as an immigrant. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Imagaes

Donald Trumps national-security speeches tend to be grab bags of flagrant lies, half-true critiques of Americas discredited foreign-policy consensus, and enough little ironies to fill an Alanis Morissette song. His latest offering is no exception.

In Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Trump vowed to speak out against countries that oppress gay people, then promised a stronger alliance with Putins Russia. He argued that any country that opposes ISIS should be considered an ally, then demanded a new round of sanctions against Iran. And he suggested that we need to limit Muslim immigration  because Muslim immigrants tend to make bigoted generalizations about Jewish people.



But its possible that Trump has never served up so delicious an irony as his new ideological test for prospective immigrants.

On Monday, the GOP nominee unveiled the latest, audaciously vague iteration of his plan to discriminate against Muslims. In his initial proposal  which still adorns his websites issues page  Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Later, he decided to discriminate on the basis of region, rather than religion, vowing to suspend immigration from countries with a history of terrorism.

In Youngstown, Trump supplemented that regional ban with a new plan for extreme vetting of all immigrants seeking residency in the United States:

In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today.



In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principlesor who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country. Only those who we expect to flourish in our countryand to embrace a tolerant American societyshould be issued visas.

Lets put aside the thorny question of whether this ideological test is itself a violation of the Constitution. Trump has made his own lack of belief in the Constitution explicit, dismissing constitutional objections to his Muslim ban by arguing that such concerns are irrelevant.

Our Constitution is great, Trump told NBCs Chuck Todd. But it doesnt necessarily give us the right to commit suicide, okay?

Just yesterday, Trump declared his opposition to the First Amendment, as defined by the Supreme Court.



It is not "freedom of the press" when newspapers and others are allowed to say and write whatever they want even if it is completely false!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2016

That Trump has lent support to bigotry throughout his life should go without saying. (This is a landlord who discriminated against black tenants, and once expressed the belief that laziness is a trait in blacks.) But even if Trump had been the most politically correct man in America before he opened his mouth in Ohio on Monday, he would have disqualified himself for American citizenship by the time he was done talking.

Trump argued that as we have seen in France, foreign populations have brought their anti-Semitic attitudes with them. He repeated an extravagant lie about how a neighbor of the San Bernardino killers saw bombs on the floor of their house but didnt report it because they were too scared of being seen as anti-Muslim (thus suggesting that non-Muslim Americans should resist any inclination to give their Muslim neighbors the benefit of the doubt). Most critically, his entire speech proceeded from a bigoted premise: that the primary threat to Americas public safety is violence committed by Muslims.

The GOP nominee began his speech by cataloguing every high-profile act of violence committed by a Muslim in recent years, from Fort Hood to Paris to Orlando. At one point, he invoked a recent attack in Germany  not the shooting by an apparent white extremist that took ten lives  but the axe attack by a Muslim that wounded five.

Jihadist terrorism is obviously a legitimate threat to our national security. But it is not the only one. Homegrown right-wing terrorists have taken no small number of lives on U.S. soil over the past decade. By suggesting that the common thread that runs through all recent acts of mass violence is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants, Trump supported bigotry on Monday afternoon.

But the irony of Trumps proposal may prove even cruder. The GOP nominees advisers told the Associated Press that his test would assess a candidates stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

Now, to be fair, Trumps platform on gay rights appears to be that gay people have a right not to be stoned to death. Presumably, Mike Pence could pass that threshold. But Pence is an avowed opponent of gender equality, at least when it comes to military service. And many Republican voters would say that mandating support for religious freedom and gender equality is downright Orwellian. And theyd have a point.

Thus, the best thing that can be said for Trumps ideological test is this: If he proposed it as a requirement for the presidency  rather than for entry into the U.S. it really would eliminate the No. 1 threat America currently faces.
Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

On the eve of Gawker Medias sale to  somebody, the author of its bankruptcy, Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel, was graciously given op-ed space in the New York Times to lay out his case against the blog network. Thiel, who funded the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that brought Gawker to the point of sale, casts his intervention as just one good deed in a crusade against privacy violations. That a man who became superrich thanks to a timely investment in Facebook, and who is an investor in surveillance contractor Palantir, is arguing for greater privacy protections is about the least-striking contradiction in the whole op-ed.

Thiels umbrage with Gawker dates back to 2007, when Owen Thomas, a writer for Gawker-owned site Valleywag, published a post called Peter Thiel is totally gay, people. By Thiels account, the post outed him, revealing his sexuality: I had begun coming out to people I knew, and I planned to continue on my own terms. Instead, Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it.

Thomas disputed this last June when he looked back on the blog post, in the San Francisco Chronicle.

By then, friends and others in Thiels circle had known he was gay for years. He was not in any kind of closet. I was aware that he had concerns about the idea of my writing a story on the subject, but those concerns, as far as Id been able to determine, were purely professional, not personal  he was worried that it might place him at a disadvantage when raising money for a new Clarium Capital hedge fund in the Middle East.

Since Thiels involvement in the Gawker case came to light, its led to hand-wringing about the possibility that billionaires like Thiel could bury adversaries in the media under expensive litigation by funding court cases that dont directly involve them. Thiel  who had no case against Gawker himself  funded Hulk Hogans case against Gawker, the one in which a jury awarded Hogan $140 million and bankrupted the company, calling it strategic deterrence back in June.

I will support him until his final victory  Gawker said it intends to appeal  and I would gladly support someone else in the same position, Thiel now writes. The final part of that sentence is a not-so-thinly-veiled threat to anyone who might report on deep-pocketed individuals like Thiel.

Thiels argument that his litigation is in support of defending individual privacy from prying journalists falls apart when you consider a few things. Firstly, Thiel is a prominent investor in a number of Silicon Valley efforts to harvest personal information and undermine individual privacy, chief among them, as noted above, Facebook and secretive law-enforcement contractor Palantir. As Anil Dash points out, Facebooks recklessness when it comes to user privacy outed gay users to advertisers and earned the company two decades of federal supervision.

In addition, Gawker is now the subject of two other lawsuits likely funded by Thiel (the lawyer funded by Thiel in the Hogan suit, Charles Harder, is representing the plaintiffs in both cases, though nobody will confirm that Thiel is once again footing the bill). One concerns journalist Ashley Terrill, the other Shiva Ayyadurai, who claims to have invented email. Neither lawsuit is related to privacy; both concern defamation.

In his op-ed, Thiel does not explain why those lawsuits also target individual writers and editors at Gawker. The Hogan suit has nearly bankrupted A.J. Daulerio, who was reported last week to have only $1,500 left in his (frozen) checking account. The two other suits name former writer Sam Biddle and current executive editor John Cook.

If the indemnification clauses in those writers contracts are nullified by the bankruptcy court, that leaves Biddle and Cook responsible for funding their own defense against Harder, and likely against Thiels bottomless pockets  even though, again, neither suit has anything to do with the privacy protections Thiel claims to be so passionately protecting.

It is ridiculous to claim that journalism requires indiscriminate access to private peoples sex lives, Thiel writes, a misrepresentation of Gawkers legal defense strategy. That strategy had argued that because Hogan had repeatedly bragged about his sex life in public, the details of it would be of public interest. (Oddly enough, Thiel admits, Since sensitive information can sometimes be publicly relevant, exercising judgment is always part of the journalists profession.) Unsealed documents also indicate that Hogan filed the lawsuit as a defensive move to prevent records of his use of racial epithets from becoming public, not out of embarrassment.

A free press is vital for public debate, Thiel writes while actively funding litigation that will certainly produce an industry-wide chilling effect. Its not for me to draw the line, he admits, while drawing that line.

Perhaps the oddest part of Thiels essay is during its endorsement of the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, a bill pending before Congress which would make it illegal to distribute explicit private images, sometimes called revenge porn, without the consent of the people involved. Nicknamed the Gawker Bill, it would also provide criminal consequences for third parties who sought to profit from such material. Exactly who is calling it the Gawker Bill? As BuzzFeed reports, a spokesperson for its sponsor, Representative Jackie Speier, said, I have no idea where the Gawker Bill name comes from, but its incorrect. Its mostly being called that among publications like the Daily Caller and Gateway Pundit, in the famously tolerant right-wing blogosphere.
Yup, thats what it looks like. Photo: Marie Docher

While Americans are still battling it out over whether abstinence-only sex education is a good idea (spoiler: it isnt), our French counterparts are way, way ahead of us. Paris-based researcher Odile Fillod has created an open-source, 3-D-printed, anatomically correct clitoris that can be used in sex-education programs  and The Guardian reports that both primary and secondary schools in France will utilize it in the classroom starting in September.

The vast majority of sex-education classes neglect to introduce such a comprehensive overview of the clitoris  or really anything beyond a slight mention of it  so Fillods model serves as a revolutionary piece of equipment. Along with offering a straightforward way to explain the actual physical makeup of the clitoris, its also a tool for explaining various facets of sexual pleasure.



Its important that women have a mental image of what is actually happening in their body when theyre stimulated. In understanding the key role of the clitoris, a woman can stop feeling shame, or [that shes] abnormal if penile-vaginal intercourse doesnt do the trick for her, Fillod told The Guardian. Its also vital to know that the equivalent of a penis in a woman is not a vagina, its her clitoris. Women get erections when theyre excited, only you cant see them because most of the clitoris is internal. I wanted to show that men and women are not fundamentally different.



Slate does point out that its not as if this model clitoris is going to be introduced in every single school immediately, but its certainly a start. And since the blueprint is open-source, feel free to forward it to your ex-boyfriend so he can figure out exactly what he was doing wrong.
Good policy. Photo: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

The Obama administration hasnt exactly been shy about expressing its support for the transgender community. In May it introduced sweeping guidelines designed to protect transgender students from discrimination in all public schools, and the Justice Department has stated that North Carolinas law (which requires people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their birth gender) violates transgender citizens civil rights.

Now, the current administration is set to introduce a rule that guarantees transgender bathroom access in federal buildings. According to BuzzFeed, which obtained a draft of the new rule, it covers not only people who work in government facilities (an estimated 1 million) but anyone who enters those facilities, which include courthouses, social security offices, and prisons. All told, the rule will reportedly effect 9,200 properties across the country owned by the General Services Administration.

We wanted to make clear that a person can use facilities that match their gender identity, and we think thats a good thing, said Ashley Nash-Hahn, a GSA spokeswoman. And although the rule, as activist Mara Keisling points out, is pretty unsurprising, it cements the Obama administrations commitment to the transgender community.
Photo: Missy Berberabe Umandal/Facebook

Save for the copious amounts of tomato juice, flying isnt exactly the most pleasant experience these days  but travelers on a Cebu Pacific Air flight from Dubai to the Philippines got a rare good surprise when a baby was unexpectedly born mid-flight.



Missy Berberabe Umandal, one of those passengers, shared her account of the babys birth on Facebook. After the woman began to have contractions mid-flight, two months earlier than expected, flight attendants brought her to the front of the plane to give birth. We only heard one semi-loud screech, and a few seconds later, there were tinier, cute screeches, and it was when we knew the baby was born, Umandal wrote. Luckily, she only had to push ONCE. Moments later, the woman got up to go back to her seat, baby in arms (mighty strong, I might say).

Both flight attendants and passengers pitched in to help, handing out infant clothes and washing the baby, who Umandal believes was named Haven. The flight was diverted in India so that the mother and baby could receive medical attention, and though it ended up being 18 hours of travel instead of 9, Umandal says there were no complaints.

All in all, it was a lucky delivery  and even luckier for the baby, who will receive a lifetime of free flights from the airline.
Baby Zephany Nurse, pictured 19 years ago just before she was kidnapped, with her biological mother Celeste Nurse. Photo: GasantAbarder/Twitter

Everyone at school said another girl looked just like her. Zephany Nurse was 17. The girl with her same features was four years younger. Nobody knew they were sisters, or that one of them had been kidnapped. They became friends.

The girls families lived a few miles apart in Cape Town. Over burgers at McDonalds last year, the friends father asked Zephany Nurse when she was born. He would later remember this moment in court: Her birthday was the date my daughter was abducted. She said she didnt look like her parents. When he asked why she thought they all looked so much alike, sitting there together, she laughed. She said she felt confused.

On April 30, 1997, Zephany Nurse was three days old when a woman kidnapped her from her sleeping mothers hospital room. Witnesses at the Cape Town hospital saw an unknown woman wearing a nurses uniform around the time she disappeared. Her parents, Celeste and Morne Nurse, would celebrate their missing daughters birthday every year for the next 17 years, hoping for her return. They had three more children.

The woman now accused of kidnapping Zephany Nurse took the infant home to her partner that day, in 1997, and lied to him: She said shed given birth to the baby girl. They raised her as their own daughter under a different name and a falsely registered birth date, until Morne Nurse realized he was at McDonalds with his missing child.

He called the police, a DNA test proved Zephany Nurse was his biological daughter, and her accused abductor  a woman shed always known as her mother  was arrested and charged with kidnapping. When the family reunited in February of last year, her biological mother, Celeste Nurse, couldnt stop crying. I said, Finally, I found you. For 17 years Ive been looking for you, Celeste Nurse told CBS. I found you finally. Youre mine again.

This story gave all of us in the newsroom - some who had seen it all - goosebumps last night. #ZephanyNurse pic.twitter.com/XFr1jvjU7a  Gasant Abarder (@GasantAbarder) February 27, 2015

On Monday, 19 years after Zephany Nurse vanished, her alleged kidnapper was sentenced to ten years in prison. She was found guilty of kidnapping, fraud, and violating sections of South Africas Childrens Act in a case that captivated the country for over a year. For privacy reasons, both the accused woman and Zephany Nurse are not publicly identified by name. In court, the woman denied she committed the crime and told a different story: After a secret miscarriage, she arranged to meet a woman named Sylvia on April 30, 1997, at a train station, where they would discuss adoption.

A stranger apparently arrived with a baby girl wrapped in a blanket instead. She was told the infants biological parents didnt want her. In court, the woman couldnt remember Sylvias last name and said she no longer had Sylvias phone number, but admitted she let her family believe Zephany Nurse was hers  she hadnt told anyone about the miscarriage, so it appeared to be true.

The judge wasnt swayed. Your story, if anything, is a fairytale and the court rejects it with the contempt it deserves, he said. He went further at the sentencing hearing on Monday: At the very least, one would expect you to apologize, but you chose not to. She had all the time in the world to return the baby, he said, but hadnt. She would have seen media coverage of the Nurse familys birthday celebrations for Zephany Nurse over the years. Her choice to plead not guilty was counted against her.

After the sentencing, Zephany Nurses biological family expressed hope in building relationships with her, as well as disappointment, as they had hoped for a 15-year sentence. She belongs to us, one aunt said, according to the Associated Press. She has our DNA. Her DNA will never change.

But Zephany Nurse, now 19, may not want to return: Previously, local media outlets reported she still considers her accused kidnapper her mother and doesnt want a relationship with her biological parents. Now she reportedly lives with the convicted womans husband, the man shed always known as her father, and is not Zephany Nurse: She uses the name the couple gave her.

Her biological father, Morne Nurse, seemed to think this will change: I think once this lady is locked up, I think the breakthrough will come eventually, he said. I think theres been a lot of indoctrination from that familys side and its no good lying to the world. My relationship was fine with my daughter but the minute she [the accused kidnapper] got bail, things collapsed.
scrappy little nobody



does everyone need a fucking memoir smack dab in the middle of their careers? jesus christ.

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Not even a memoir, just some mildly amusing, ghostwritten anecdotes-- pardon me, "essays."

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it's so unnecessary! wait until you're in your fifties! or something. until you've actually accomplished an entire life worth writing about.

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Pretty much

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It is premature, but I want Twilight dirt.

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I mean, for someone who has had an insane amount of life packed in by that point, I could see a memoir. Like someone who has dealt with mental illness, addiction, fame, etc, but just for some quirky stories? Nah.

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Gotta make that money. If you do it now and you're still around for a while longer, people will continue buying throughout the years

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she irrationally annoys me sfm.

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It's not irrational imo

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she tries so hard to be someone she's not and it comes across fake af. she's like jlaw when it comes to being ~relatable~ and it doesn't seem genuine AT ALL, just annoying. like, be yoself, my dude! like that phrase says "be yourself. everyone else is already taken" lol

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It's not irrational!

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She is the definition of a try hard. She's always on. Good in small doses.

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so kewl and relatable, not like the other girls etc etc let me help you out:so kewl and relatable, not like the other girls etc etc

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what an asshole!

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I don't see what's wrong with her tweet?



She was called unattractive by some troll and responded humorously.

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Fucking same

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I saw it, and the female roles are just as big as the male roles. It's pure sexism.

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"Tina Fey is an influence on every man, woman and child alive and Amy Schumer is a genius."



LOL

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I stopped reading at Tina Fey.

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She's obviously not going to bite the hand that feeds

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neither have ever given anna much of anything tho, career wise.

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this lowkey 'use your voice for something that fucking matters' approach

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Lol as though people aren't simultaneously fighting for equal pay and combatting rape culture.

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"Tina Fey is an influence on every man, woman and child alive and Amy Schumer is a genius."

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True wisdom <3

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this is going on my vision board

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I like Anna but every thing in this interview sounds exhausting

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TRP people are gonna have a field day with this one

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love her, but she needs to make better movie choices. this movie looks crap.



also, watched into the woods recently and thought the storyline was crap. can't believe I wasted 2 hours in that mess.

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but she needs to make better movie choices



i lost all hope for her when she thought that starring in rapturepalozza was a good idea.

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the broadway musical is iconic, they just changed a lot of shit for the movie and it didn't work at all

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I did like the part where Chris Pine and that other guy were frolicking in the river, competing. That shit was hilarious.

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when chris pine is the best part of your film, there is such a problem lol

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This is the only part of that movie I liked lol.

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I didn't see the film version of Into the Woods, but the main thing I associate that movie with is this:





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Into the woods was painful. I watched it with my god daughter and she was like.. can we watch something else?

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It was shitty af. And all my cousins were pissed at me because I dragged them to see it in theatre. Plus all these people who cannot sing and there they are belting lyrics. Good god I hate musicals.



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Her career is pretty impressive, good for her for always getting multiple roles per year

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Most of her movies are unwatchable though and she always plays herself. I think she's actually talented when she takes on a character (Camp, Up in the Air) but she insists on vapid comedy where she can be her try hard, uncharismatic self.

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"Tina Fey is an influence on every man, woman and child alive and Amy Schumer is a genius."



ugh

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she and Aubrey Plaza couldn't be cast until the studio cast the male roles



gotta make sure the men approve of them right??

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More like the men are the protagonists of the movie, so it only makes sense that they're the first priority.

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Because when women are the protagonists (see: very minimally compared to how often men are), they're given casting approvals of their male costars so often, right?



No.

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Except Plaza and Kendrick's characters are protagonists too. They have just as much screentime and just as much perspective as the two guys.

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In this movie, they were all protagonists.

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Nah. Male leads typically have a say in who they want to be cast against in regards to love interests. That's probably why they were cast first.

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The thing she does with her mouth really bugs me. :|



But anyway, people are so weird about disregarding issues in specific fields. Surprisingly you can talk about two issues at the same time. Especially if you are personally involved/aware of sexism in Hollywood why not talk about it? I don't need an actor to talk about sexism in Apple Co. etc.

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But then whenever actresses do talk specifically about their experiences in the industry people say their activism is too self-involved. They'd be torn apart if they didn't acknowledge their privilege.

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That's true. I forgot how stupid the public is in regards to feminism/rights :|

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"Theres a lot of me trying to navigate Hollywood and high school. I embarrass myself constantly."



"I was like, 'No, thats not what I meant. Never mind' I shouldnt be allowed to talk to people"



"Amy Schumer is a genius"





"Sexism exists and its a fucking problem. But pinpointing it to Hollywood isnt helpful.""Theres a lot of me trying to navigate Hollywood and high school. I embarrass myself constantly.""I was like, 'No, thats not what I meant. Never mind' I shouldnt be allowed to talk to people""Amy Schumer is a genius"

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she's the worst.

i know we're all supposed to like her because she's twee, and burps and farts but she's so annoying. not shocked at all she's a ~theater kid~. You can tell.

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Oil prices hit one a month high on Monday thanks to speculation about potential producer curbs on supply and new data from market intelligence firm Genscape showing an estimated draw of more than 350,000 barrels per day at the Cushing OK delivery point.

(Click to enlarge)

(Click to enlarge)





(Click to enlarge)

Chart of the Week





 The Permian Basin, after suffering a downturn in production, is poised to rebound next month. That prediction comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administrations Productivity Report.

 While the Permian should see a spike in production, the report says that collectively, the areas will see a decline in production next month.

 Although oil prices reacted stoically on last weeks rig count report, the amount of rigs added to the Permian basin is starting to add up, offsetting production decreases elsewhere in Texas.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Russian Energy Minister Novak said his country is consulting with Saudi Arabia: Novak says his country wants to achieve oil market stability. That news helped bolster oil markets following last week's comments from Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih suggesting Saudi Arabias willingness consider price support measures at an OPEC informal meeting next month.

Morgan Stanley says oil price reversal could begin Wednesday; Morgan Stanley oil analyst Adam Longson says that the recent oil price jump has been driven by traders covering bearish bets. He expects oil to remain weak for the next few months and sees a decline in prices starting later this week.

Parsley Energy Buying Midland Acreage for $400M: Parsley Energy agrees to acquire almost 12,000 undeveloped acres and producing oil and gas properties for $400 million. The sale includes associated mineral and overriding royalty interests in the Texas' Midland Basin. The transaction was done with unnamed sellers, and to finance the deal, PE launched a 7M-share public offering plus an underwriters option to purchase up to an additional ~1 million common shares. Finally PE is offering a $200M private placement of 6.250% senior notes due 2024.

Concho Resources Buying Midland Acreage: Concho Resources is agreeing to acquire roughly 40,000 net acres in the Midland Basin for $1.625 billion using cash and stock. Funds for the deal will come from a 9M-share public offering, with an underwriters option to purchase up to an additional 1.35M common shares.

Drexel Hamilton Maintains Buy Rating on Cabot Oil: DH sees COPs output more than doubling over the next two years with EBITDA substantially above current market forecasts

Anglo American faces breakup pressures: The Times is reporting that Anglo American is under pressure from South Africas Public Investment Corporation to break up the company. Anglos platinum business will not be part of a selloff - mining the metal will continue to be one of the companys three core businesses along with copper and diamonds.

Piper Jaffray Likes SM Energy: SM moved higher after Piper Jaffray upgrades shares to Overweight from Neutral with a $42 price target, raised from $38. PJ likes SMs valuation and the company's recent Permian Basin acquisition. Related: Is A Meaningful Rebound On The Horizon For U.S. Natural Gas?

Energy Storage Is Finally Finding Its Way: Energy storage growth rates have been phenomenal in recent years, but to continue that trajectory, customers need to see a path to making money from installing batteries.

A Virtual Power Plant Built With Solar and Storage Is a Blueprint for Australias Energy Future: AGL Energy of Australia has a new project in the works which could offer an effective template for future solar and storage projects. The $15 million virtual power plant is built around aggregated residential solar systems and battery units all connected through an overarching software platform. "This project could act as a catalyst and provide evidence for regulatory change to enable more Australian virtual power plants, said Ivor Frischknecht, CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Xcel Energy's challenge: remake itself and boost profits amid flat demand: Minnesota utility, Xcel Energy is shifting away from its traditional focus on coal power and looking to ramp up its wind portfolio. The company has a history of success with wind power projects in the breezy Midwest including a $1 billion wind farm in Colorado announced in May. At peak times, that project would produce as much power as Xcels nuclear plant in Monticello.

The nations first offshore wind farm takes shape off R.I.: Rhode Island is capitalizing on its geography with the nations first offshore windfarm. Once completed, the project should supply 30-megawatts to the regions electrical grid generating enough electricity to cover roughly 17,000 homes, including all of the tourist hub Block Island. The project is moving ahead in competition with similar developments taking place in Massachusetts.

Scotland just produced enough wind energy to power it for an entire day: Feeding into perceptions about the windy highlands, wind turbines in Scotland have generated more electricity in one day than what was used in the entire country. WWF Scotland did an analysis and found that stormy weather led wind turbines to create 106% of the total amount of electricity used by the country on 7 August. That situation while exception nevertheless highlights how wind power is changing the utility industry.

Williams Updates Board Search: WMB says it will begin a search to add three new independent directors to its board. That search is expected to wrap up prior to the companys annual meeting in November.

Rosneft Earnings Fall: Rosneft says its Q2 net profit fell 34% year over year to 89B rubles or $1.4B. The result was driven by a fall in revenue of 8% to 1.23T rubles. Results were helped by a one-time cut in operating costs versus the previous quarter. Despite the downbeat results, investors had been expecting worse from the firm due to the beleaguered Russian economy and miserable oil markets.

Bill Barret Resumes Drilling: The firm will resume its drilling program in the Denver-Julesburg basin. The company says it expects up to 12 new wells set to spud by the end of the year. The wells will generate a competitive rate-of-return in the current commodity price environment thanks to lower well costs and operating expenses in addition to benefits from a narrowing DJ Basin oil price differential.

By Evan Kelly of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Afghanistan may have mouth-watering oil riches, but opium still rules this economy amid a lack of any real investment in getting oil and gas out of the ground.

In 2011, the United States Geological Survey released a report on Afghanistan arguing that the responsible exploitation of the countrys natural resources, including oil and natural gas, could help alleviate its economic addiction to opium sales.

At that time, opium production represented just under 50 percent of Afghanistans Gross Domestic Product. Since then, the nation has set new opium cultivation records.

With an estimated 59 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources hidden in its ground, Afghanistan does not seem to get the financial attention it deserves as a potential game-changer in the Central Asian natural gas market.

American efforts to rebuild Afghanistans economy through the energy industry have created opportunities for Republican candidates to criticize the ability of the U.S. governmentand of the Obama administration, in particularto affect positive change in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas in the Middle East.

Case in point: the scandalous story that broke last November about a $43 million compressed natural gas station built in Afghanistan by the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO).

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said the costs of the Sherberghan station appeared to exceed 140 times the amount of capital needed to build a comparable station in Pakistan.

However, as Glenn Kessler from The Washington Post pointed out in February in a MythBusters-style piece, the $43 million figure cited by SIGAR included misallocated overhead costs and other expenditures from non-related TFBSO projects. Related: Scientists Suggest Aliens Are Harnessing Energy From This Star

The inflated number made for catchy headlines, even though Sherberghans real cost stood under $10 million.

Regardless, corrective journalistic endeavors rarely generate the attention or coverage the original mishap is able to conjure, allowing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to capitalize off of bureaucratic fumbles.

However, the Department of Defenses (DOD) motivations behind the construction of the gas station speak to how far behind Afghanistan has fallen in taking full advantage of its domestic energy supplies.

The station, located in northern Afghanistan, serves as a pilot project for the introduction and spread of the use of CNG as fuel for vehicles. The site included a compression station, a pipeline extension from the gas grid to supply the fuel, vehicle conversion kits to equip cars with the necessary facilities, and more.

Pakistan - Afghanistans further developed, yet still third-world neighbor - has managed to prop itself up as the largest user of CNG in the world. An estimated 70 percent of vehicles registered in the South Asian country run on the environmentally-friendly fuel, and the nation hosts 3,000 stations to service the converted vehicles.

To add an additional CNG station in Pakistan would be a cookie-cutter operation, whereas developing Afghanistans first site requires developing human resources and know-how to make the process successful and replicable.

Though the DOD took the first steps in developing Afghanistans CNG infrastructure, the lack of meaningful energy investment will keep the country from returning its oil and natural gas output to the levels it enjoyed during the late 1960s, when it conducted big business with the Soviet Union.

The Afghani natural gas industrys heyday came to an end when, after decades of working with Afghani leaders to build natural gas extraction capacity, the USSR invaded its former Central Asian ally as part of the Cold War.

Production declined in the decades of fighting that followed, with current natural gas output levels at just 450,000 cubic meters for the domestic market.

Even the newest industry developments in the region do not lend themselves to further Afghani energy goals. The $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) or Trans-Afghanistan pipeline, to be completed in 2019, will link natural gas from Turkmen waters in the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, cheaply and economically.

Because the line creates a huge new market for Turkmen gas, Turkmenistan has pledged to pay 85 percent of the modern day Silk Roads construction costs. Related: What Will You Do When The Lights Go Out? The Inevitable Failure Of The US Grid

Overall, the move blocks Russian and Iranian control of export pipelines to the region. Both nations have previously refused TAPI nations access to their pipeline network during political impasses.

Though the pipeline is outstanding as a political victory for the newly neighborly countries, the US$400 million in revenues Afghanistan stands to gain from natural gas customs fees and a new, cheap energy source could make the country complacent regarding domestic exploration and extraction efforts.

As Afghanistan distances itself from its Soviet history and modern Russia, and as new projects provide effortless revenue streams, will Afghani oil and natural gas ever make it to the world stage?

And as a side note, presidential candidates should refrain from using Afghanistanhowever tantalizingas a point of criticism, or he or she will become the next president to fail in Afghanistan.

No one is going to fix Afghanistan in this lifetime, and everyones been trying to bring Afghanistan into the fold since the time of Peter the Great.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Global oil markets have become volatile once more as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced on August 8 that they will hold informal talks during the September meeting of the International Energy Forum in Algeria.

Initial speculation centered on recent moves by cartel members including Kuwait, Venezuela, and Ecuador to re-impose caps on output to force a rise in prices. Acting on this suspicion, Brent crude prices spiked to over $45 per barrel before beginning to settle back.

This initial reaction to the announcement of the September OPEC meeting is premature, however. There are several reasons why it is unlikely any action will be taken by OPEC at the meeting to restrain output. Nevertheless, continued speculation prior to the meeting in late September will likely hold oil prices above $40 per barrel for now.

1. U.S. production higher than expected

On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. production will fall from 9.3 million barrels per day in 2015 to 8.73 million barrels per day in 2016. This production estimate, though, was revised upward from their original forecast of 8.61 million barrels per day for 2016.

The rise in expected U.S. output comes on the heels of higher oil prices through the spring and early summer. With prices climbing over $50 per barrel in June, there was a significant uptick in new drilling rigs which have come online over the past 6 weeks. New output from these rigs should begin to stabilize U.S. output by the fall.

These revised numbers will certainly make OPEC action to cap output less likely during their September negotiations. OPEC has recently opposed limiting output in part to keep prices low enough to discourage significant new production in the U.S.

In this way, OPEC has already made the strategic decision to maintain their approximately 40 percent share of global output rather than to allow prices to rise and encourage new market entrants outside the cartel. With new rigs drilled as a result of a relatively modest rise in the price of oil, capping output in September would run counter to OPECs longstanding strategy.

2. Iran capitalizes on sanctions relief

Following a U.S.-Iranian agreement on nuclear development, a host of long-standing, international sanctions against the country are being lifted, freeing Iranian energy markets to international investment. Iran has already begun negotiations with several firms interested in development of the countrys energy infrastructure, including Siemens and Rolls Royce.

As Iran continues to integrate its energy exports into a wider global market, it has expressed little interest in supporting an OPEC-led reduction in output. While direct engagement between U.S. companies and Iranian oil infrastructure remains complicated, sanctions relief will prove a windfall for production and revenue generation.

At the April OPEC meeting, Saudi Arabia stated that it has little interest in curbing production without support from Iran. As it is unlikely that Irans interest in developing its infrastructure following the deterioration of the sanctions regime will abate by September, their opposition will prove another impediment to curbing output.

3. Global increase in demand

In its August report, OPEC updated its estimates for global supply and demand. The Organization now projects global demand will increase by 1.22 million barrels per day, 30,000 barrels per day higher than last month, to 94.18 million  largely driven by India and a rise in demand in the United States. Concurrently it anticipates non-OPEC production will fall by 790,000 barrels per day widening the demand gap.

Capping output at this time would jeopardize OPECs ability to capture this anticipated supply shortfall, driving prices up and encouraging increased output from non-OPEC countries.

By Jon Lang via Global Risk Insights

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
London-based Premier Oil is close to unveiling a 2.6-billion (around US$3.35 billion) restructuring agreement with lenders as it seeks to avoid defaulting on its loans amid the low crude oil prices, The Telegraph reports.

Premier Oil  the UKs largest independent oil and gas group  is expected to announce details on its restructuring plan later this week, on August 18, when it reports its first-half results.

Earlier this month, the group said it had agreed to a further deferral of its financial covenants until August 31, 2016 from July 31, 2016 as it continued to hold talks with lenders on existing debt arrangements.

Premier Oil has taken on more loans to fund its ambitious projects in the North Sea. In April, the company announced its first test output from the offshore Solan field near Shetland. When maximum production rates at Solan are reached, it will yield about a third of Premier Oils current daily output, which at the end of 2015 stood at 57,600 barrels per day. For this year, the company projects average daily output of 65,000-70,000 bpd.

In its trading update in July, Premier Oil said that it expected to report on August 18 total revenues for the first six months of around US$390 million, compared to US$577 million for the same period of 2015. Net debt was estimated at some US$2.6 billion as of June 30, 2016.

Solan is currently producing at a rate of 11,000 barrels per day and is ramping up to 14,000 bpd from the first production well with water injection providing reservoir support, Premier Oil noted, expecting full-year production at or above the upper end of the previous guidance of 65,000-70,000 bpd.

Premier Oils current agreements with lenders envisage keeping below the net debt-to-earnings ratio of 4.75, but the crude price crash would make the company breach that threshold with a 5.2 ratio. According to The Telegraph, the restructuring deal would relax the debt covenant to a net debt-to-earnings ratio of 6.0 from 4.75.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Analysts at UBS warned on Tuesday that OPECs crude oil production may fall this monthafter having hit an eight-year-high in Julyas attacks and growing unrest in Iraq, Nigeria and Libya may reduce their respective outputs.

In July, OPECs output went up by 150,000 b/d to 33.39 million b/d, as Saudi Arabia increased production to all-time highs and Iraq pumped more, figures by the International Energy Agency (IEA) show. OPEC itself said last week that Saudi Arabia had reported production of 10.67 million barrels per day, up by some 120,000 bpd on the prior month.

Looking to August data, UBS now expects Iraqs production to decline after Islamic State fighters killed five people in an attack on the largest oil field in Kirkuk, Bai Hassan.

UBS analysts also see Nigerias production down this month, with no respite in militant attacks there.

Over the weekend, Petroleum Minister Ibe Kachikwu said that Nigerias losses in daily oil production due to militant attacks had hit 900,000 barrels.

UBS is not optimistic on increased Libyan output either, despite the de facto agreement to reopen key ports in the east. Earlier this month, Libyan militia Operation Dignity attacked the Zueitina oil terminal near Benghazi. The attack was repelled by Petroleum Facilities Guard forces, which are another militia operating in the country.



Related: What The Fall Of OPEC Means For Global Oil Markets

Since OPEC said it would hold an informal meeting on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria on September 26-28, rumors and commentaries have been piling up on whether the cartel would take any action to support crude prices and agree on some sort of production freeze.

UBS sides here with the majority of analysts who do not expect a production freeze.

Our view is that agreeing a freeze is likely just as difficult as in Aprilit's arguably not as needed  and likely has little effect on actual market balances, with most of OPEC running flat out and Saudi output seasonally ramping down by September after peak summer demand, CNBC quoted UBS analyst Jon Rigby as saying in a report.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The UKs Business and Energy Secretary, Greg Clark, approved on Tuesday the development of the worlds largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two, which will take up a total investment of 6 billion (US$ 7.79 billion) if built to full capacity.

The wind farm -- which is being developed by a unit of Denmark-based DONG Energy -- will be able to deliver up to 1,800 megawatts of low carbon energy to some 1.8 million homes in the UK.

The wind farm, which will be located some 55 miles off the Yorkshire coast, will operate with up to 300 wind turbines.



Secretary Clark said: Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we are determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country. We expect 10GW of offshore wind installed by the end of this decade and could see up to 10GW of new offshore wind in the 2020s as costs come down.

DONG Energy, in turn, said that the development consent it had received was very welcome. The consent covers the whole project including turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables and export cables.



The go-ahead to the development of the huge wind farm comes just weeks after the UK took more time to review the Hinkley Point nuclear project. The board of Frances EDF, the projects builder, had just given the go-ahead to this controversial project, with the directors split on the advisability of the project. This reluctant approval, already delayed, was to have been the last hurdle prior to the start of construction.

The Hinkley Point plant, a joint UK-French-Chinese venture, has been at the center of an ongoing debate in the UK over the future of the countrys energy infrastructure, its relations with China and its place in the world post-Brexit.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
Several Sherman Park residents spoke of their pain and sadness over the violence that shook the neighborhood on a recent Saturday night.

Homeowner Danell Cross described it as "a serious grieving, like death," that "sits on (me) so that my throat is choked up."

And there is fear, especially for the youth.

"Those young people  could be my children, my friends children  and were just so scared  that one of them, or 10 of them, (will) lose their life or be in jail forever," added Cross.

The residents who were interviewed all pointed to frustration and lack of hope caused by racism and poor conditions in central city neighborhoods, including lack of employment and high-quality education; deteriorating streets, commercial strips and homes; and a lack of interest in investment by the larger community. Nonetheless, violence and destruction of property were not the answer, they agreed.



A diverse group of Milwaukee residents gathered near Sherman Park to pray for healing.

Cross likened the response to those unjust conditions to physical illness. "This is the vomit that (we) are seeing. When you get so much bile in your stomach that you cant hold it no more, you throw it back up," she said.

Milagro Jones, 26, a single father raising a 2-year-old daughter, moved here in 2005. "I love this city. But Ive seen so much segregation, discrimination and internalized racism (here)," he said. Though hes lived all over the United States, he said he has never seen or experienced as much racism anywhere as he has in Milwaukee.

Frank Finch, who has lived in Sherman Park since 1982, said there is a desperate need for jobs in his neighborhood as well as a lack of opportunities and activities for youth.

"We need to find things for the youth to do to prevent these types of things from happening," Finch said.

Jones and Cross also expressed concern for the neighborhood youth.

"These kids are not getting educated in our failed system, then when they get older there are no jobs, a lack of opportunities  and investment and then the only place they have to be at is on the (street)," Jones said.

A large crowd gathered on West Auer Avenue where Sylville Smith was shot and killed by Milwaukee police Saturday.

According to Cross, some of the young peoples behavior comes from not knowing how to say they are suffering and need help. "They want to say, I need somebody to care," Cross said.

Both Cross and Jones were surprised by the violence.

"I have worked with the community, and I have seen that the people are so pressed down that they cant find their own inner strength to fight back even  on simple things like people dumping (tires, mattresses and the like) in their neighborhood," said Cross, a community organizer and Building Neighborhood Capacity Program coordinator.

Finch, who volunteers for Milwaukee Rising, a housing revitalization initiative of Common Ground, fears the destruction of property may have a lasting effect on business and job development in Sherman Park.

Public officials first priority should be development in the central city at the same level as in more affluent areas, according to Cross.

She plans to ask community leaders to come together and let the communitys young people know that they are going to turn their attention to their needs and push for changes that will improve their lives.

Jones, who lives near 39th and Locust streets. was away from the neighborhood but followed the turmoil on a live-streaming website. When he saw the first scene, a gas station on fire, he said his "spirit was hurting."

And he added," Its just a surprise to me that people on the outside dont even know whats going on in our community or dont have an interest in it until something like this happens."

Brendan OBrien and Edgar Mendez contributed to this report.
Teenagers love the nighttime.

Midnight movies, bonfires and going to a friend's house at 11 at night; we're known for staying up until an ungodly hour. But while we may do it often, it isn't always legal.

Not many teens know the details of official curfews, they just know when their parents want them home. Many parents don't know what time curfew is, either, nor to who it applies. They just set one for their particular child.

I talked with many friends and got mixed answers about how much they know about the "official" curfew. One of my friends knew exactly what time it was because he had been stopped by an officer on the way home from his girlfriend's house late one night. I talked to their parents also. I was surprised that more than a few knew what time curfew is.

However, whenever my friends and I are ready to go out and start an evening, the curfews set by our parents vary. Some of us need to be home by 10 p.m., and others at midnight. So what are the rules on curfew in the Milwaukee area? I talked with Milwaukee Police Department Lt. Ray Banks to find out.

Big city nights

The curfew for anyone under 17 in Milwaukee is 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

The fine for violating the curfew is a $74 ticket for juveniles. The individual is a court appearanace and may be given an alternate program such as community service. If the individual doesn't show in court, his/her driver's license will be suspended.

There is also an ordinance in Milwaukee that allows officers to give the juvenile's parents a $125 responsibility citation for letting the child stay out past curfew. Because the juvenile often doesn't have a job, the parents sometimes get saddled with paying both tickets.

Banks said more tickets are given to parents because police want moms and dads to understand the importance of curfew because of all the dangers young people face at night. Banks believes that while everyone knows there is a curfew, not all know the specifics.

Lt. Banks said the police department actively enforces curfew, conducting regular sweeps to look for juveniles out past curfew. Officers, he notes, are proactive in working with the kids, especially kids that come from broken homes or other tough situations, to help them understand that the curfew was put in place to help protect them from the dangers of the street at night.

There are exceptions to the curfew, including one that allows juveniles to return home from work or babysitting.

As an example, I asked Lt. Banks about what would happen if a teen was stopped returning from a movie that began at 10:30 p.m. and didn't finish until midnight or later. He said that every officer would treat that situation differently, but that he might ask to see the ticket stub then ask for the parent's phone number. He would give them a call, to let them know that their child was out after curfew and to not let it happen again.

Suburban teens also face curfew

Some local suburbs also have curfews, including Menomonee Falls, Sussex and Brookfield, where curfew is 11 p.m. daily for teenagers 16 years of age and younger.

Curfew is a fact of life that teens will never likely want to obey. Whether it's by the law or by parental edict, teens have to be home by a certain time.

We may not like it, but it keeps us out of trouble.
Last year, Milwaukee Public Schools joined with the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County to create the Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership and launch a wrap-around services program at four MPS schools: two high schools and two K-8 schools.

The program kicked off at Auer Avenue School, Hopkins Lloyd Community School, James Madison Academic Campus and Bradley Tech.

According to the partnership page of the United Ways website, "Community Schools is a proven model to increase a schools capacity to better engage and align partnerships centered on the self-identified, real-time priorities of schools and communities. Our strategy places the focus on the whole child by providing academic supports, social and emotional learning, health and wellness, family and community engagement, and a safe and supportive climate."

Its the kind of program that not only works to educate children during the school day, but to address issues outside the building that may effect how children do in the classroom.

In June, the district and United Way announced that two more schools  Browning and Lincoln Avenue Elementary Schools  will join the programs roster this coming academic year, which kicks off at traditional calendar schools on Thursday, Sept. 1.

According to district statement, issued at the announcement of the new additions, "The Community Schools model has been implemented across the country, showing that authentic engagement and shared leadership, combined with coordinated community partnerships focused on equity, can improve educational outcomes, school climate, and investment in local neighborhoods.

"In Cincinnati, which has become a hub for the effort, graduation rates rose from 51% to more than 80% and the achievement gap between African-American and white students was dramatically reduced."

The program was launched with a $300,000 grant that is rapidly dwindling, so it seems that six schools might be the max for now, though further grants or funding sources could expand the reach.

We caught up with Ingrid Henry, a veteran teacher  who taught at Auer Avenue  who currently serves as a teaching and learning organizer with the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association, to ask her about the community schools model and how its working in Milwaukee.

OnMilwaukee: How is a community school different than a traditional school?

Ingrid Henry: The Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership is a collective strategy to transform schools into a place where students, families, staff and the surrounding community can work together to ensure every student is successful.

The difference is the inclusion of parents, children and the community decision making. The decision making is focused on academics, extra-curricular, family supports and more.

Are there others who are making the switch or considering it?

Educators and MPS have recognized the need for community-wide supports. There are many school communities that have expressed interest in the process. MTEA, MPS and United Way want that expansion to be real and sustained, so the work around what it means to be a community school and making it happen is progressing.

What are the benefits of a community school? Is there research that shows their benefits?

A return on investment study by The Finance Project and the National Center for Community Schools shows a social return of $10-$14 for each dollar invested in community schools. Students in high-implementing community schools in Tulsa, Okla. had math scores 32 points higher than those in other Tulsa schools; their reading scores were 19 points higher.

Evaluators of Baltimores community school initiative found that experienced community schools had significantly better attendance and lower chronic absence than non-community schools. From 2009 to 2014, experienced community schools increased their average attendance rates by 1.6%, compared to a 1.8% decrease for non-community schools, and decreased early chronic absence rates by 4.1%, compared to non-community schools, where early chronic absence increased by 3.6%.

In Cincinnati, high school graduation rates climbed from 51 percent in 2000 to 83 percent in 2009, and the achievement gap between African American students and white students narrowed from 14.5 percent in 2003 to 4.3 percent in 2009.

A research review of community school models by Child Trends found growing evidence that community schools reduce grade retention and dropout rates while they increase school attendance, math achievement, and grade-point averages.

What are the biggest hurdles to getting community schools going?

Hurdles to getting community schools going are funding for the community school coordinator (position), finding the right partnerships to support the school and community in growth and having the time to take the emphasis off of tests and into an education that addresses the whole child.

How do we overcome those?

Educating the public on what a community school is and the promise of what it entails is one way to overcome hurdles. Having elected officials understand, believe, and support the work is also essential.

How have the results been so far at the schools that have adopted the approach?

There have been early positive gains in enrollment, early literacy, attendance rates, family engagement and program partnerships. At this point we try not use academic data because a year is not a trend. In cities that have successfully community schools, we can look at data over a minimum of seven years.

How important is public education to addressing the problems that Milwaukee faces?

Education is one part of the issues Milwaukee faces. With the community school initiative we want to provide a good start for children in Milwaukee, as well as some of the vital supports the families and communities need.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) exists for one reason: to advance a radically conservative agenda for privatizing and destroying public institutions through abusive and relentless lawsuits and threats of lawsuits.

Sometimes that means they step into my house: education policy in Wisconsin generally and Milwaukee specifically. As you can imagine, they and I do not agree on much. They have been constant critics of the Milwaukee Public Schools and allies of the Milwaukee Parental Choice (voucher) Program. They would like nothing better than to see MPS dismantled brick by brick and handed over to private operators only, in particular religious institutions.

So I was surprised to find myself nodding along in agreement with the first paragraph of this post of theirs the other day:

"While the debate over failing schools has been framed as a Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) problem (and MPS is certainly troubled), there are also low-performing private and charter schools. Among all schools in Milwaukee with over 80% free-and-reduced lunch and 80% African American students, the average reading proficiency is a shocking 7.3%. While charters and private school choice have helped many students, educational failure in Milwaukee is not just a sector problem. Its a Milwaukee problem."

"A Milwaukee problem." Wow! I thought, I could have written that myself! Indeed, I have. I could link to probably 50 past pieces, but I don't want to put my poor editor through the hassle. If you doubt me, try this, this, this or this.

The short version of my argument, should you not want to click through those links above, is that if better conditions existed in the City of Milwaukee for our children  more jobs, less crime, better health, universal quality pre-K, books in every home, etc.  the outcomes we see in schools would improve. Not linked above is my recent OnMilwaukee column pointing out that in Wisconsin, as across the nation, the single best predictor of a school district's academic success is the income of its families. This is a legacy of this country's long history of racism and economic policy favoring the haves rather than the have-nots.

Want to improve a school's outcomes? Improve economic conditions for its students. Period.

What the WILL authors, Colin Roth and Will Flanders, diagnose here as the symptom  that poor, minority urban students routinely achieve well below their wealthier, whiter suburban counterparts across all education sectors in Milwaukee  is one hundred percent accurate.

But their very next sentence prescribes a solution for a completely different problem than the one of economic and societal inequality: "We wonder whether these issues could be addressed with an 'enhanced voucher,' targeted at students attending failing schools regardless of sector."

I kept reading though, giving Roth and Flanders the benefit of the doubt. "Voucher" sure is a trigger word for me, but given the quality of that opening paragraph, I thought, it's entirely possible that what they're proposing is something I could support rather than, you know, the voucher program that they already support.

Sadly, no. An "enhanced voucher" is simply another iteration of what already exists in Milwaukee  that is, the single most extensive marketplace for school choice in the country. This city has no fewer than five fully taxpayer-funded sectors: MPS, independent schools chartered through MPS, schools chartered through the city, schools chartered through UW-Milwaukee and the voucher program. It's six if you count inter-district open enrollment, which gives Milwaukee students the ability to attend schools in other cities like Shorewood, Wauwatosa or St. Francis for free.

This new "enhanced voucher" is literally more of the same conservative solutions that in the last 25 years have failed to move the needle on student achievement in Milwaukee. Except, they argue, "it adds services and programming and the expectation of results" (their italics). Yes, people, you are reading that right. What would make this new voucher different is that parents and students both would expect the schools they choose to be successful! Yippee!

It may take a moment for that level of stupid to settle in, so let me take a step back now. This WILL post I'm discussing is actually part two of a three-part series in which the group "will investigate ways for improving Milwaukees failing education system." Part one, you'll be unsurprised to learn, also advocates a new kind of voucher, an "education savings account." That post, written by Flanders with WILL's CJ Szafir, fully admits to being "School Choice 2.0."

But because it's their first post, WILL also needs to lay some groundwork, which they do mostly by abusing statistics and touting their own debunked research. For example, they try to create outrage by saying MPS "ranks 13th in the country in per-pupil spending among districts with more than 40,000 students." This is an old, old trick for critics of MPS (and for logical fallacy fans everywhere), cherry-picking data or presenting data out of context to create a false impression. "Thirteenth in the nation," MPS-haters will scoff, "that's way too high!"

There are, in total, only 29 districts in the country with 40,000 students or more, according to the very source they cite, which puts Milwaukee at the 45th percentile in that group. Right about average. WILL's implication that MPS's spending is outrageously high sounds dumb when you rephrase it to say that MPS's spending is average for a district its size.

Their data is also out of date: It's from a 2014 release of U.S. Census Bureau data that covers the 2011-2012 school year. More recent census data show MPS slipping in its national ranking for per-student spending as many states not named Wisconsin have returned to funding schools at or higher than pre-Great Recession levels.

Szafir and Flanders also make great hay about a WILL study purporting to show that non-MPS schools are more "efficient" than other schools. The study was massively flawed, as both I (eighth letter down) and actual professional education researchers pointed out. According to them, the best option for parents, students and taxpayers alike is spending less on MPS.

They go so far as to argue that if a student wants to use her "educational savings account," valued at less than current MPS per-student funding, at an MPS school, MPS "would not be given any additional funding beyond the ESA when taking on an ESA student." Or maybe, they say, we should "explicitly ban ESA participants from using public school services."

So, to sum up, that's two out of three posts from WILL (the third has not yet dropped) proposing to strip Milwaukee's public schools of students and funding, further weakening the only one of the five sectors Milwaukee has that is required to teach all students regardless of ability or disability, regardless of their willingness to learn or readiness for school, whatever disadvantage they may come from. The only one.

Put another way, WILL blames MPS schools, administrators and teachers for the problems we didn't create, but ourselves struggle to overcome every day, and argue as a consequence that MPS must be punished.

This is doubly frustrating, for in that "part one" post, just as in "part two," Szafir and Flanders make some very reasonable points. "Education scholarship shows that the time disadvantaged students spend out of school is one of the key causes of the achievement gap," they write, and then talk about wrap-around services outside of school hours and summer enrichment programs as ways of working to close that gap. I agree completely with both their summary of the research and their recommendations there.

But rather than advocate for, say, a more aggressive expansion of the MPS community schools model (which they praise, even though Szafir in particular threw a hissy fit when Demond Means proposed to implement one through the OSPP), they instead advocate stripping MPS of resources.

They don't argue for something so easy  and relatively revenue neutral  as repealing the state law mandating public schools can't begin the school year before September 1. I'm an MPS teacher, and I would in a heartbeat support shortening summer break by, for example, trimming 20 minutes from every school day and starting school in mid-August while ending at the same time in mid-June. That cuts the time when a "summer slide" might occur by 20 percent and eases burdens on the crowded and underfunded summer programs that do exist. But MPS is legally prohibited from doing something that simple; WILL's friends in the legislature could change that tomorrow if they wanted.

Mostly, though, all of this is just damning evidence that WILL, the Republican lawmakers they ally with and the conservative foundations that fund them aren't really interested in addressing the roots of Milwaukee's educational challenges or empowering the largest player in their "marketplace," MPS, to make the kind of changes we know can actually work. That's because they aren't really interested in acknowledging this state's (and this country's) debilitating economic inequality and long history of legal and institutional racism.

The real answer, the one I would prescribe, is fully dismantling the system that benefits and privileges WILL's clients and benefactors at the expense of the children of Milwaukee, and instead helping this city's residents this city's public schools fix, really fix  as someone smart once put it  the "Milwaukee problem."
I read two accounts of cruelty today to animals. If there were only two, how

wonderful that would be -but sadly there are probably millions of like stories

of cruelty to our sentient brothers and sisters of the animal kingdom. throughout

the world.

I found this account on Care2 written by Laura Goodman re Libre a mange-covered

emaciated puppy dying on July 4th of this year in a breeding farm (probably puppy

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It's not hard to do. You can probably accomplish it at home quite easily. In These Times just published an article, for example, that calls Veterans For Peace, United National Antiwar Coalition, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Seymour Hersh, Gareth Porter, Kathy Kelly, Counterpunch, Consortiumnews, Antiwar.com, and many more, including me supporters of Bashar al Assad.

How did I win this honor? I spent years denouncing war making by all parties in Syria. I wrote article and books questioning the hypocrisy that held Assad to have been a good torturer when he was working for the United States but a bad torturer now. I severely criticized my fellow peace activists when some of them cheered for Russian bombings in Syria. I even went after Russia for its warmaking in Syria repeatedly on Russian television. I wrote not one article or blog post and gave not one speech defending Assad's atrocities in any way, shape, or form. That record ought to have been enough, I suppose, to get me accused of supporting Assad and Putin. No good deed goes unpunished and all that.

But I also made the truly fateful mistake of trying to accommodate the "You're an Assad lover" crowd. Someone named Andy Berman sent me nasty messages with that false accusation. I proposed that he write down exactly what he thought I had been so nefariously censoring. He did. And I published it with my own response afterwards but with not a word or a comma edited. Here was an attempt at civil discourse over an issue that has divided peace activists, and what did it get me?

Andy Berman's wife, Terry Burke, is listed as the author of the attack piece for In These Times accusing me of all the same tired old lies. She didn't contact me. No editor, if In These Times has those, contacted me. There's no quote or paraphrase of anything I supposedly said. Instead, there's a denunciation of having been a speaker at a rally. But, as I would have pointed out if asked, I wasn't at the rally at all or within 500 miles of it. It was, however, a rally that I had helped promote before it happened. Burke might have looked at those promotions, rather than at what someone showed up at the rally waving, in order to figure out what I was for or against.

Clearly that would have been too much to ask. Others became Assad lovers on even less basis. Some were denounced for having gone to Syria and met with Assad. I interviewed someone who went on that trip and asked her whether they had confronted Assad with his crimes. You can listen to the response on my website. Clearly Burke didn't bother to even contact the people she libeled. But most of those condemned as Assadites by In These Times are so condemned on no stated basis whatsoever.

Now this is getting very tiresome after all of these years of it, and a couple of dangers loom ahead for activists who can't seem to graduate from preschool mentalities. The fact is, of course, as many of us are sick to death of having to explain, that denouncing the war-making by all parties in Syria does not put you in the camp of cheering for whichever party somebody else has chosen as the Bad Guy.

If the United States and Russia escalate a joint bombing campaign in Syria, things will go from very bad to even worse for those not killed in the process. Will those who have thus far believed that bombing by only one of those parties or the other is evil come to grips with the evil in bombing conducted by the pair of them?

And if Hillary Clinton launches a greatly escalated effort to overthrow the Syrian government by bombing campaign, will those who oppose that criminal catastrophe have to listen to more chants of "Assad lover!" "Assad lover!" Does criticizing Hillary Clinton about anything win one the accusation of "privilege" anyway? As if living in one of the countries she doesn't want to bomb isn't a huge privilege for all of us!

This was my response to Berman's article:

Thank you to Andy Berman for giving me and Code Pink a bit of credit in this article. I think more credit is due more groups and individuals. In particular, I think the public pressure in the U.S., UK, and elsewhere that stopped a massive U.S. bombing campaign of Syria in 2013 deserves a great deal of credit and far from being an example of a peace movement that has completely failed constitutes the most noteworthy success for peace of recent years. Of course it was incomplete. Of course the U.S. went ahead with arming and training and bombing on a much smaller scale. Of course Russia joined in, killing even more Syrians with its bombs than the United States was doing, and it was indeed deeply disturbing to see U.S. peace activists cheer for that. Of course the Syrian government went on with its bombings and other crimes, and of course it's disturbing that some refuse to criticize those horrors, just as it's disturbing that others refuse to criticize the U.S. or Russian horrors or both, or refuse to criticize Saudi Arabia or Turkey or Iran or Israel.

All of this selectivity in moral outrage breeds suspicion and cynicism, so that when I criticize U.S. bombing I'm immediately accused of cheering for Syrian bombing. And when I read an article like this one that makes no mention of the 2013 bombing plan, no mention of Hillary Clinton's desired "no-fly zone," no mention of her position that failure to massively bomb in 2013 was a mistake, etc., I have to struggle not to wonder why. Then when it comes to what we ought to do about this war, I'd love to have seen some acknowledgment that the party that has repeatedly blocked exactly what is proposed in point #5 (a negotiated settlement) has been the United States, including rejecting a Russian proposal in 2012 that included Assad stepping down -- rejected because the U.S. preferred a violent overthrow and believed it was imminent.

I would also like to have seen greater recognition that people usually have the most influence over their own governments, as opposed to over the governments of others. I think one also has to have a view of U.S. imperialism to explain U.S. actions in Syria, including its failure to condemn Russian cluster bombs and incendiary bombs while U.S. cluster bombs are falling in Yemen, and while Fallujah is newly under siege. One has to have an understanding of Iraq and Libya to know where ISIS and its weapons and much of the weaponry of other fighters in Syria come from, as well as to understand the conflicted U.S. policy that can't choose between attacking the Syrian government or its enemies and that has resulted in CIA- and DOD-trained troops fighting each other. I also think a negotiated settlement has to include an arms embargo and that the greatest resistance to that comes from the greatest arms dealer. But I think the broader point here, that we should oppose and be aware of and work to end war, regardless of who is doing it, is the right one. And I think part of making that work will be both including a comprehensive list of criticisms of all parties in any mention we make of a conflict, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt rather than making accusing each other our top priority.

Coleen Rowley added this comment to my response:

"A good place for Berman to look to regain some of his own dignity would be to stop pushing for U.S. 'regime change' in Syria and elsewhere. When he parroted the official pre-condition for any peace negotiations that 'Assad must go,' and when he constantly promoted speakers and writers, even neocon groups, engaged in the bloody effort to topple the Syrian government, they essentially doomed Syria to continuing and worsening war and the destabilizing vacuum that allowed ISIS to grow. From the start, Berman sided with speakers who advised not to worry about the al Qaeda presence among the 'rebels' but to focus only on toppling the Syrian government. In any event, here is an article that Margaret Safrajoy and I co-wrote in December 2014 when this sick hypocrisy had become so painfully clear: https://consortiumnews.com/2014/12/25/selling-peace-groups-on-us-led-wars/

"Another sign of Berman's constant pushing for more US military intervention on the side of the 'rebels' (which includes jihadists aligned with Al Qaeda) can be seen in his social-media posts encouraging people to contact members of Congress to support HR 5732, the 'Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act.' The bill would be great if it actually would serve to protect civilians but, in actuality, it increases sanctions against Syria and requires the U.S. President to present proposals regarding the establishment of safe zones and a no-fly zone as U.S. policy options in Syria. ('No-fly zone' being a code used by 'humanitarian war hawks' for bombing a country to smithereens if you recall what happened to Libya.)

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This is a reprint from NewsBred.

A section of Indian media is playing a divisive role that could only weaken the country and give rise to extremism--an extremely dangerous trend world over. All the citizens of the world have a duty to be alert to such propagandists and use social media to question them. The piece below concerns Indian Express, which is losing its reputation by the day with its manipulated stories. Below they are made accountable in a mock session of people's press council.

The first mock hearing of People's Press Council concerns the "Indalit Express" of August 11, 2016. They are asked a few questions on their front-page story of the day, headlined: "UP youth caught for theft is killed when he says he's Dalit."

Press Council: Your report says that the unfortunate victim was killed on disclosing his Dalit identity, right?

Indalit Express: Right.

Press Council: And that this was witnessed by his neighbour Prasoon, a first-hand eye-witness. Right.

Indalit Express: Right.

Press Council: And Prasoon is a 14-year-old neighbour of the victim who was accompanying him, right.

Indalit Express: Right.

Press Council: And that Prasoon was injured by the assaulters when he tried to intervene, forcing him to run away, right.

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The U.S. government remains the greatest threat to our freedoms.

The systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government has done more collective harm to the American people and our liberties than any single act of terror.

More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, the U.S. government has become a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.

This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.

As I explain in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, when the government views itself as superior to the citizenry, when it no longer operates for the benefit of the people, when the people are no longer able to peacefully reform their government, when government officials cease to act like public servants, when elected officials no longer represent the will of the people, when the government routinely violates the rights of the people and perpetrates more violence against the citizenry than the criminal class, when government spending is unaccountable and unaccounted for, when the judiciary act as courts of order rather than justice, and when the government is no longer bound by the laws of the Constitution, then you no longer have a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."

What we have is a government of wolves.

Worse than that, we are now being ruled by a government of scoundrels, spies, thugs, thieves, gangsters, ruffians, rapists, extortionists, bounty hunters, battle-ready warriors and cold-blooded killers who communicate using a language of force and oppression.

Does the government pose a danger to you and your loved ones?

The facts speak for themselves.

We're being held at gunpoint by a government of soldiers--a standing army. While Americans are being made to jump through an increasing number of hoops in order to exercise their Second Amendment right to own a gun, the government is arming its own civilian employees to the hilt with guns, ammunition and military-style equipment, authorizing them to make arrests, and training them in military tactics. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government civilians armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines. Clearly, the government is preparing for war--and a civil war, at that--but who is the enemy?

We're being robbed blind by a government of thieves. Americans no longer have any real protection against government agents empowered to seize private property at will. For instance, police agencies under the guise of asset forfeiture laws are taking property based on little more than a suspicion of criminal activity. Homeowners are losing their homes over nonpayment of taxes (for as little as $400 owed) and municipal bills such as water or sewer fees that amount to a fraction of what they have invested in their homes. And then there's the Drug Enforcement Agency, which has been searching train and airline passengers and pocketing their cash, without ever charging them with a crime.

We're being taken advantage of by a government of scoundrels, idiots and cowards. When you've got government representatives who spend a large chunk of their work hours fundraising, being feted by lobbyists, shuffling through a lucrative revolving door between public service and lobbying, and making themselves available to anyone with enough money to secure access to a congressional office, you're in the clutches of a corrupt oligarchy. Mind you, these same elected officials rarely read the legislation they're enacting, nor do they seem capable of enacting much legislation that actually helps rather than hinders the plight of the American citizen.

We're being locked up by a government of greedy jailers. We have become a carceral state, spending three times more on our prisons than on our schools and imprisoning close to a quarter of the world's prisoners, despite the fact that crime is at an all-time low and the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world's population. The rise of overcriminalization and profit-driven private prisons provides even greater incentives for locking up American citizens for such non-violent "crimes" as having an overgrown lawn.

We're being spied on by a government of Peeping Toms. The government is watching everything you do, reading everything you write, listening to everything you say, and monitoring everything you spend. Omnipresent surveillance is paving the way for government programs that profile citizens, document their behavior and attempt to predict what they might do in the future, whether it's what they might buy, what politician they might support, or what kinds of crimes they might commit. The impact of this far-reaching surveillance, according to Psychology Today, is "reduced trust, increased conformity, and even diminished civic participation."

We're being ravaged by a government of ruffians, rapists and killers. It's not just the police shootings of unarmed citizens that are worrisome. It's the SWAT team raids gone wrong that are leaving innocent citizens wounded, children terrorized and family pets killed. It's the roadside strip searches--in some cases, cavity searches of men and women alike carried out in full view of the public--in pursuit of drugs that are never found. It's the potentially lethal--and unwarranted--use of so-called "nonlethal" weapons such as tasers on children for engaging in childish behavior.

We're being forced to surrender our freedoms--and those of our children--to a government of extortionists, money launderers and professional pirates. The American people have been repeatedly sold a bill of goods about how the government needs more money, more expansive powers, and more secrecy (secret courts, secret budgets, secret military campaigns, secret surveillance) in order to keep us safe. Under the guise of fighting its wars on terror, drugs and now domestic extremism, the government has spent billions in taxpayer dollars on endless wars that have not ended terrorism but merely sown the seeds of blowback, surveillance programs that have caught few terrorists while subjecting all Americans to a surveillance society, and militarized police that have done little to decrease crime while turning communities into war zones. Not surprisingly, the primary ones to benefit from these government exercises in legal money laundering have been the corporations, lobbyists and politicians who inflict them on a trusting public.

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For years and years, activists demanded that the U.S. government make public 28 (turned out to be 29) pages it had censored from a report, because it was suspected they would show a Saudi Arabian role in funding and facilitating the crimes of September 11, 2001. When the pages were finally made public, they showed a great deal of evidence of exactly that. But the U.S. government and its pet media outlets buried the story on a Friday evening, declared that verily this is that, and moved on.

If you happen to have caught wind of this and smelled a rat, you'll be interested in another 203 pages, those making up Medea Benjamin's new book, Kingdom of the Unjust. If you live in the United States, you should be aware of how much effort your government puts into facilitating and defending the crimes of Saudi Arabia in the United States, in Saudi Arabia, and in places like Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, etc. If you pay U.S. taxes, you should know what you're buying. If you work for a U.S. weapons maker, you should know who's buying what you make, and what they're using it for. If you drive a car, you may be helping to destroy the earth's climate while funding the Saudi royalty.

The Saudi royals keep millions poor while blowing fortunes. They send religion police around to beat the hell out of people, while they themselves party with alcohol, cocaine, prostitutes, and gambling. Like many a televangelist closer to home, they don't believe their own bull, but they use it to abuse the people of Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. The religious police don't just want you to be religious. In fact most religions are banned and you can be imprisoned, tortured, mutilated, or beheaded for being a follower of them. And they don't just want you to be a fundamentalist Muslim of the proper variety. They want puritanical misogynist conformity -- or death. They beat a man to death for possessing alcohol, locked up a woman for riding alone in a taxi, and killed 15 girls by refusing to allow them to flee a burning building because they were not wearing their abayas, garments to completely hide their bodies.

With U.S. support, Saudi Arabia manages to be both the only nation that bans all churches and any non-Muslim religious building, and the leading proponent of global terrorism. Saudi Arabia actually bans Jews from entering the country, perhaps inspiring Donald Trump's plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States, while still creating at least an inconvenience for U.S. humanitarian warriors who are constantly wanting to bomb new countries in order to supposedly avoid a repeat of the holocaust -- even while urging Saudi Arabia to spend more on wars (as Trump and Bernie Sanders and President Barack Obama have done most prominently). In fact, Saudi Arabia spends three times as much per person as the U.S. does on its military, and it spends the biggest chunk of it buying weapons from U.S. profiteers.

An "indefinite waiver" upheld by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama lets Saudi Arabia off the hook in the U.S. State Department for its religious cruelty. Waivers by Bush and Obama also allow the U.S. military to go on training the Saudi military. A waiver created by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allows U.S. weapons sales. Clinton made that her personal mission after Saudi Arabia put at least $10 million into the Clinton Foundation. As the U.S. State Department was and is well aware, there are no civil liberties in Saudi Arabia. People are jailed, whipped, and killed for speech, and speech is tightly censored. Saudi Arabia didn't even ban slavery until 1962 and maintains a labor system referred to as "a culture of slavery." The "sharia law" that U.S. bigots are constantly fearing will appear in their town actually takes a truly nasty form in Saudi Arabia under a brutal government propped up by U.S. funds and arms.

Saudi Arabia doesn't put its own atrocities on Youtube the way ISIS does, and doing so is a tremendous risk for ordinary people in Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless it is starting, and there are outrages you can watch if you are so inclined.

Saudi Arabia has yet to become a target of the Clintonite cabal of philanthropic warriors claiming to overthrow governments for women's rights, yet Saudi Arabia practices gender apartheid, with women forbidden most of the rights of men, women controlled by men utterly, women's testimony in court sometimes valued at half the worth of men's, and a woman's reporting of an attack by a man is considered to be a crime by the woman. You don't see Saudi women at the Olympics because they are forbidden to wear the attire required for the competitions. Saudi restaurants have front and back sections, with the front for men only. Saudi Arabia lives off fueling cars, yet is the only country in the world where women are forbidden to drive.

Are Saudi's made happy by their sadistic society? There are many indications otherwise, including emigration, travel, courageous protest, and including this: men who practice polygamy in Saudi Arabia are four times more likely to have heart disease.

Happy or not, Saudis have been proficient at exporting their madness. Hollywood could take lessons (and has helped out). Saudi schools have helped to create branches of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups across Western Asia and Northern Africa at least since the joint U.S.-Saudi operation in Afghanistan that created the Taliban, not to mention the Saudi role in Iran-Contra, but also including Boko Haram in Nigeria, and including in Europe. The terrorists who attacked in Paris last year and in Belgium this year came from an area in Belgium with strong Saudi influence. In 2014 the Saudi Interior Ministry conservatively estimated 1,200 Saudis had gone to Syria to join ISIS. A 2014 study by the Washington Institute found that private Saudi donations were critical to the growth of ISIS.

Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a 2009 cable (thank you, WikiLeaks), "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide. . . . More needs to be done. . . ." So, what did Clinton do? Sold Saudi Arabia more weapons, of course! Saudi Arabia is now the biggest weapons customer for the United States, and therefore for anyone. That includes about $100 billion in U.S. weapons sales under the Obama regime, with more pending. Benjamin quotes Obama officials who have praised these sales as a means of creating jobs. This is of course despite the fact that peaceful spending creates more jobs, and the fact that the weapons create something else as well: death.

The United States keeps rushing more weapons to Saudi Arabia as it uses them -- with help from the U.S. military -- to bomb houses, hospitals, and schools in Yemen, killing civilians by the thousands and non-civilians by the thousands, including with the use of cluster bombs.

When Tunisia overthrew a dictatorship without a war in 2011, Saudi's royal thugs got excited. They offered refuge to the Tunisian ruler. They sent funds to Jordan and Morocco to prop up their brutal governments. They backed a military coup in Egypt. They smashed a nonviolent popular uprising in Bahrain with murder, torture, and imprisonment -- still underway. And, of course, they started bombing Yemen, once U.S. drone killings had done their damage and helped to distabilize that country. In fact, U.S. drones flying over Yemen take off from a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia, something Obama created after Bush pulled U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia and closed the bases -- a move motivated by the crimes of 9/11 and the explicit and widely available answer to the stupid lament "Why do they hate us?" They said what they hated: the U.S. bases that Bush The First had put in Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia had refused to kick them out when bin Laden demanded it because the Saudi government depends on the United States to maintain its unjust existence.

Obama, who recreated this fuel for violence, and who claims to be outraged by Saudi Arabia's atrocities, claims to back Saudi Arabia for the cause of "stability." "Sometimes," says Obama, "we have to balance our need to speak to them about human rights issues with immediate concerns that we have in terms of countering terrorism or dealing with regional stability." Yet Saudi Arabia is possibly the biggest cause (outside of the United States itself) of instability in its region, al Qaeda and ISIS are wreaking havoc within Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi government itself is about as stable as a cork in a volcano. To Obama's credit, he hardly ever means anything he says, and in fact he has backed down on holding Saudi Arabia to account when the Saudis have threatened to pull investments out of the United States, not when they have somehow appeared to be a source of stability and safety.

Still, some would take offense when a foreign government and its elites backed terrorism in your country (on 9/11) and then threatened to hurt you financially if you even said anything about it. But why doesn't anyone say anything about it? In 2015, according to The Hill, the Saudis employed eight DC lobbying firms including the Podesta Group, run by top Hillary Clinton fundraiser Tony Podesta, and cofounded by Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Saudi Arabia dumps money into U.S. "think tanks" that would be forbidden to exist in Saudi Arabia, and other institutions including the Middle East Institute, Harvard, Yale, the Clinton Foundation, the Carter Center, etc.

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Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said that he would start a discussion among European heads of government to quit talks with Turkey about joining the European Union because of the country's democratic and economic deficits.

European leaders have voiced concern over Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's crackdown on dissidents after a failed coup attempt month his idea of reintroducing the death penalty in Turkey.

In an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF, Kern said: "We are all well advised to now say we're pressing the reset button," calling membership talks a "diplomatic fiction".

Nearly three decades after its official bid to join the European club, Turkey is not yet a European Union member. Talks on possible EU membership for Turkey have been taking place since 1963, when Ankara and Brussels drafted an association agreement stating the country would aim to be a member of the bloc.

Not astonishingly, according to YouGov's latest Eurotrack survey, there is immense hostility to Turkey joining the European Union. Britain is the least hostile of all the EU countries with 67% against the Turkish entry into the EU. In other countries the opposition is: Denmark 82%, Finland 83%, France 74%, Germany 86% and Sweden 73%.

On June 22, 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bluntly said Europe doesn't want his country to join the EU because the majority of the nation's population is Muslim. He said his government will ask the public whether negotiations with Brussels should continue. He was quoted by Reuters as saying at a graduation ceremony in Istanbul:

"Europe, you don't want us because the majority of our population are Muslim...we knew it but we tried to show our sincerity,"Erdogan said at a graduation ceremony in Istanbul."

The comments were made on the eve of Britain's historic 'Brexit' vote, in which UK citizens decided no to remain part of the EU.

Referring to Britain's vote, Erdogan stated that Turkey could also hold a referendum on the EU. "We will go and ask the public whether we should continue negotiations with the EU ."

Tellingly, Turkey's chief negotiator with the EU, Egemen Bagis, was quoted by daily Telegraph in September 2013, as saying that Turkey will probably never become a member of the European Union because of stiff opposition and "prejudiced" attitudes from current members.

Vatican opposes Turkish membership of EU

In December 2010, The Guardian reported that previously secret cables sent from the US embassy to the Holy See in Rome indicated that the pope is responsible for the Vatican's growing hostility towards Turkey joining the EU.

In 2004 Cardinal Ratzinger, the future pope, spoke out against letting a Muslim state join, although at the time the Vatican was formally neutral on the question.

The cable released by WikiLeaks shows that Ratzinger was the leading voice behind the Holy See's unsuccessful drive to secure a reference to Europe's "Christian roots" in the EU constitution. The US diplomat noted that Ratzinger "clearly understands that allowing a Muslim country into the EU would further weaken his case for Europe's Christian foundations".

The Vatican's acting foreign minister, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, responded by telling US diplomats that Ratzinger's comments were his own rather than the official Vatican position.

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Airstrikes carried out against Islamic State from base near Hamadan is a major step in collaboration between the two Assad allies

The Guardian

Russian jets have carried out airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria from an airbase in Iran for the first time  a major development in the collaboration between the two crucial allies of Bashar al-Assads regime.

Russian state media cited the countrys defence ministry on Tuesday as saying that an unspecified number of long-range bombers, including Su-34 and Tu-22M3 warplanes, have taken off from near Hamadan, a city in the west of Iran , to target Isis near Aleppo. At least 19 civilians have been killed, according to an exiled activist group.

Hosting Russian jets on Iranian territory is a departure for Tehran from its hitherto history of covert operations in regional conflicts. It is believed to be the first time Russian warplanes have been deployed in Iran in at least half a century.

Al-Masdar, a news website which covers the conflicts in the Arab world, published a string of photos of Russian warplanes in the Hamadan airbase, saying it would shorten the flight time to Syrian targets by 60%.

The distance of these flights [from the Russian airbase] equal roughly 2,150km (1,340 miles) to reach a target near Palmyra. In comparison, the Hamadan airbase in Iran is roughly 900km from Palmyra, al-Masdar said. It added that the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia, Syria , was not suitable for the deployment of large bombers such as the TU-22M3.

The chief of Irans supreme national security council, Ali Shamkhani, confirmed the Russian reports. Tehran and Moscow have strategic cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria and we have the capacity and the capabilities for this collaboration, he said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Irna news agency.

The location of three airbases used by Russian jets in the campaign against Isis in Syria.

Shamkhani condemned Saudi Arabias involvement in Syria and also in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition is countering the advances of the Houthi rebels. It is not acceptable for the Muslim world to see Saudi Arabia investing towards the empowerment of terrorist and Takfiri groups [Iranian terminology for extremist jihadis sympathetic to Isis] instead of fighting the occupation by the Zionist regime [Israel].

Iran has invested heavily in protecting Assad, dispatching some of its most experienced Revolutionary Guards commanders to Syria to plan and oversee operations and recruiting Afghan refugees to fight against Syrian rebel forces. A rising number of funerals held in Iran for those killed in Syria, often referred to as defenders of holy sites, is testament to that.

The state-run Russia Today said: The long-range bombers with full bomb payload took off from Hamadan airfield to attack Islamic State and al-Nusra Front facilities in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib provinces, it said.

At least 19 civilians, including three children, were killed in an aerial bombardment on Tuesday in al-Sakhour and al-Bab areas of Aleppo, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said fighting between rebel forces and Isis sympathisers continued in al-Rai, in northern Syria close to the border with Turkey.

Although Iran has been involved in some of the Middle Easts most bruising conflicts in recent years, it has refrained from overt collaborations to avoid being openly accused of militarily interfering in the region. Tehran has previously allowed foreign jets to use its airspace, but never before in recent decades its airbases.

Shashank Joshi, a senior research fellow at Royal United Services Institute in London, said Tuesdays news was unprecedented because it was the first time in 70 years that there had been overt Russian military presence in Iran. The Iran-Azerbaijan crisis in 1946 was the last time Russian troops would have been present on Iranian soil.

The willingness to host foreign forces on your oil soil is a big diplomatic and political step, he told the Guardian. Just like other countries including India, Iranians have always had a historical aversion to any foreign deployment on their soil.

Joshi said the move revealed more about Iran than Russia: Russia has no problem deploying forces outside its borders, but for Iran its a bit different. It cuts against the traditional way that Iran has thought about hosting military forces and forming alliances.

Rebel successes in Aleppo in the past two weeks may have changed Iranian calculation and prompted Tehran and Moscow to escalate military operations to signal their commitment to Assad, he said.

In Iraq, Iran and the west appear to be fighting a common enemy  Isis  with the US secretary of state, John Kerry, having described the Iranian role there as helpful; but the two are in opposing fronts in Syria.

Iran also says it is fighting Isis to prevent its advance towards its borders. On Tuesday, Irans semi-official Tasnim news said three Takfiri terrorists had been killed in Irans western province of Kermanshah. After clashing with the three Takfiri terrorists, the security forces managed to kill all of them, Tasnim reported.

Morad Veisi, an expert on Irans armed forces, said the Russian deployment indicated that Iranian leaders were pursuing a new approach, prompted by Saudi Arabia, Tehrans regional rival, taking an overt and active role, particularly in Yemen. Its Irans reaction to Saudi Arabia, and saying that it will stand by Assad in spite of Saudi threats, Veisi said. Tehran and Riyadh are particularly at odds in Yemen.

The Mohammad Nojeh airbase in Hamedan was best located for military operations in Syria because of its closeness to Syria, he said.

Veisi said a group of people in Iran, among them supporters and critics of the state, backed the Iranian intervention because they believe it had contributed to maintaining the security inside Iran. However, he also said it was difficult for those who were opposed to voice their view because many feared reprisal.

Iran has maintained that its involvement in Syria and Iraq is based on an invitation from their central governments and is aimed at fighting Isis. However, critics say Syria is important to Iran because it gives Tehran physical access to Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is strategically valuable to Iranian leaders because of the groups geographical position in respect to Israel.

Lina Khatib, the head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the thinktank Chatham House, said the use of Iranian base by Russia was a tactical move meant to increase efficiency of Russias air operations in Syria.

This comes hot on the heels of the rebels breaking of the siege in Aleppo, which has been embarrassing for Russia and Iran and the Syrian regime, she said. Both are also using the Syrian conflict as a way to increase their international influence, so their partnership remains a partnership of convenience rather than a strong political alliance.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: Americas Voice for Energywhich expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.

If you get your news from the mainstream media, you likely think the views expressed by the environmental activists represent the majority of Americans. After all, their highly visible protests against the Keystone pipelinesit-ins in front of the White House, locking themselves to the White House fence and then being arrested for it, and parading down the National Mall carrying a huge inflated tube emblazoned with the words: Just say no to Keystonewere effective. Despite repeated polling that showed a majority of Americans supported the pipeline, with a small minority opposed, the loud theatrics of the anti-fossil fuel crowd eventually won out. After years of stall tactics, President Obama finally bowed to their demands and said no to the job-creating infrastructure project.Earlier this year, the usual group of suspects, led by well-known anti-fracking activist Bill McKibben, planned a global wave of resistance called BreakFree2016 scheduled to take place from May 3-15on six continents. The events website announced the various activities, including an appearance and speech by McKibben, a Vermont resident, at the Colorado rally that promised: the largest mass mobilizations for climate action in the history of Colorado. It confirmed that there would be civil disobedience.Did you hear about it? Probably not.A news report of the planned Colorado activities said : And on May 14, 350 Colorado is planning a day of speeches, live music and activities protesting oil and gas developments close to neighborhoods and schools in Thornton. The goal is to draw 1,000 people to the upcoming events. The website, post-event, states : about 800 people joined the action throughout the day with about 30-40 people still there at the end of the day for the dramatic frack-site invasion. Yet, as even their own Facebook page photos indicate , not even 100 were present for the big McKibben speech. Without vendors and media, he may have had no audience at all.After flying in to Denver, and then being driven to the protest site in a limousine, McKibben jetted off to Los Angeles, California, where he was joined by the greens  Daddy Warbucks , billionaire political campaign donor Tom Steyerwith much the same results: a few hundred protesting fossil fuels and, as Energy In Depth reported , the very social and economic underpinnings of liberal democracy. The typical anti-everything protestors were presentbut only a few.In Iowa, as I addressed last week, a meeting of the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalitionwhich according to the organizer includes those with concerns about the impact it could have on the environment, farmers who worry about their cropland and religious groups who view expanding use of fossil fuels as a moral issue because of climate changeexpected a crowd of 200. Instead, according to the Ottumwa Courier, only 40 or so were seated when the meeting began. Others trickled in as the meeting progressed.Now, Colorado is ground zero for one of the biggest environmental fights in the country this year, as Lauren Petrie, Rocky Mountain region director for Food and Water Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based group advocating for safety in food production and oil and gas production, called it. Two ballot initiatives, 75 and 78, have the potential to, according to Colorado regulators, effectively halt new oil and gas development in as much as 90 percent of the state. In order to get the initiatives on the ballot, 98,492 valid signatures needed to be turned into the Colorado Secretary of State by August 8no later than 3:00 p.m.In June, The Tribune reported that Tricia Olson, who has pumped in most of the funding for a group backing initiatives 75 and 78, hoped to collect 160,000 signatures to account for the invalid signatures that inevitably pop up. (Politico just announced : recent campaign finance reports were filed with the Colorado secretary of state, the Sierra Club gave $150,000, making it the largest single reported contributor to the anti-fracking effort.)Because the Colorado Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on May 2, declared local fracking limits invalid and unenforceable, as state law trumps local ordinances, Olson sees the ballot initiatives as their last ditch effort.On Monday, August 8, exercising stagecraft, at 2:30 p.m. , dozens of supporters emptied a U-Haul truck and delivered box after box of signatures to the Secretary of States office. They celebrated their victory. 350 Colorado, one of the groups behind the measures, proclaimed : We did it! Over 100,000 signatures delivered on initiatives to limit fracking!not the 160,000 originally hoped for, and likely not enough to get on the ballot in November.By CBS Denvers accounting about 105,000 signatures were turned inmost in half empty boxes. Lynn Bartels, Colorado Secretary of State Communications Director, tweeted : Proponents of fracking measures turned in lots of boxes with very few petitions in them. Once the petitions were consolidated, there were roughly 50 empty boxes. Simon Lomax, an associate energy policy analyst with the conservative Independence Institute in Denver and a consultant who advises pro-business groups, said : To make it look more impressive they added a bunch of empty boxes, or boxes with very few petitions. It just sort of shows, these groups dont do substance, they just do deceptive publicity stunts.On CBS Denver, former Secretary of State Scott Gessler explained that you need about 98,000 signatures to get on the ballot because, for a variety of reasons, at least 30 percent are rejected, you need to submit at least 140,000. He says that for the 105,000 signatures turned in to qualify would be unprecedented, something that has never occurred in Colorado for a ballot initiative. According to Gessler, the effort is doomedthough we will not know for sure until next month when the final counts are released.Noted election reporter and national affairs columnist for the National Review, John Fund, told me: If there is enough public support for an issue to get the votes needed to pass, getting a surplus of signatures to get it on the ballot is an easy task.Many Democrats, including Governor John Hickenlooper, support hydraulic fracturing and have come out against the ballot initiatives. Politico posits that because mainstream environmentalists fear that their movement will suffer a demoralizing defeat if the two proposals make it in front of the voters, they hope the ballot initiatives will die instead. Additionally, A decisive referendum on oil and gas production would increase calls for [Hillary] Clinton to explicitly take a side. Shes previously aligned with 75 and 78which could spoil her attempts to attract moderate Republicans shell need to win the state.Despite their drama and declared victory, it doesnt seem that the Colorado anti-fossil fuel crowd has enough signatures, or support, to make it onto the November ballot. They may be loud, but, alas, they are few.
A Ghanaian citizen, Elikplim L. Agbemava has filed a lawsuit praying the courts to block the President from granting pardon to the Montie 3.



A petition signed by several government appointees including ministers of state asking the President to pardon the three has been forwarded to the Council of State for advice.



The three were sentenced to four months imprisonment after they were found guilty of contempt by the Supreme court.



In a suit filed Monday, Elikplim wants the court to put on hold any action the President plans to take on the matter.



The application said: on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 72 and 296 of the constitution, the exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy ought to be governed by regulations that set out, in an open and transparent manner, the grounds and requirements for the submission and consideration of application for pardon to ensure certainty, consistency, and fairness in the process that leads to the grant of pardons.



It further stated: the President and the Council of State shall exercise the prerogative of mercy in a judicial manner that assures the people of Ghana of some certainty, consistency, and fairness in the processes that lead to the grating of pardons.

Source: kasapafmonline









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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said the only way it would revoke the suspension of its National Chairman, Paul Afoko, is when he confesses his sins and asks for forgiveness.



Head of NPPs Constitutional Committee, Professor Mike Ocquaye, said the conventional way of re-admitting persons who have been suspended in any organisation on grounds of misdemeanor would be when the person has shown remorse for his misdeeds.



In this world, you must be flexible. When you go to confession it is what you say in Latin that is valued. He must show remorse and go for confession before he will be readmitted into the party, Prof Ocquaye said on Joy FM Monday.



For nine months, Mr Afoko has been in court challenging a suspension handed down to him by the NPPs Disciplinary Committee for alleged misconduct.



He said his suspension was unconstitutional, arguing the Disciplinary Committee was infiltrated by persons who had no right to be a part of the Committee.

He cited a Member of Parliament (MP), Gifty Kusi, who was included in the Committee to buttress his claim.



The battle has been rancorous with some political pundits concluding the continuation of the legal banter could be injurious to the partys fortunes in the upcoming election.



Mr Afoko was confident the court would uphold his argument but the court held a contrary opinion. The Accra Human Rights Court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah dismissed the case Monday on grounds of lack of substance.



He said the party did not err in co-opting Gifty Kusi into the Disciplinary Committee. He also said the NPP did not contradict any Constitutional provision in the suspension of Mr Afoko.



Even though Mr Afoko said he respected the decision handed down by the court, he disagreed with it.



He said he would challenge the decision even to the highest level.



But Professor Ocquaye believes a continuous battle over the issue in the court will not help the reputation of the suspended National Chairman.



He said the suspension of Afoko was without malice but only to ensure that every member of the NPP, irrespective of ones position, is disciplined and respects the Constitution of the party.



We can [demand] discipline to the highest level and I dare say that the flagbearer [Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo] is subject to the discipline of the party, he said.



According to him, the best option opened for Mr Afoko would be for him to confess and show remorse for the party to forgive him of his wrong doings.



By your conduct, you can be admitted within a week or two and this happens in boarding school. If you are suspended from school, your behavior will show if you will be readmitted, he said.



Reacting to Professor Ocquaye on Joy FM, Spokesperson of Mr Afoko dismissed the option of remorse.



Nana Yaw Osei said the suspended National Chairman does not owe anyone an apology for what he has been accused of.



Who is he showing remorse to, at what and to whom and for what? he asked, adding, What wrong has Mr Afoko done to show remorse?



He claimed it is rather some key members of the party who have to apologise for what they have done to him.

Source: myjoyonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A team from Amari Phuket recently visited the Phuket Livestock Development to donate used linen and bed sheets in support of the Stray Dog Home project of the province and to further promote the use of the sterilisation process. The team also donated dry food for cats and dogs. This activity is a part of Amari Phukets CSR project in donating used materials to those in need. Surajit Vicchuwan, Head of Phuket Provincial Livestock (right) gave a donor certificate to Pierre-Andre Pelletier, Vice President and Area General Manager, South Thailand (middle) and Suchela Jackson, Manager, Learning and Development (left) to express gratitude for all the support.
Phuket  15 August, 2016: JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa in collaboration with Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation participated in the auspicious of the 84th Birthday Anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara as well as the Mothers day festivities on last Friday, 12th August 2016, at the Phuket Marine Biological Center, from 9 am to 4 pm.

Throughout the day, saw volunteers from JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation, International Union for Conservation of Nature, business partners and 43 orphanage children from Yaowawit school joined the hands-on programs included beach-cleaning, marine life and conservation education, released the turtles and more.

Mr. Sean Panton, Co-Chairman & Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Marriott Thailand Business Council, together with Mr. Kittipan Sabkhoon, Manager of Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation also has received the good-deed certificates on behalf of the company and association that are engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, given by Phuket Vice Governor, Mr. Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee at the event.

The celebration continued to the evening, Mrs. Khanittanee Kanthanit, Director of Human Resources and Miss Kunthari Sangchat, Director of Rooms, JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa led the management team and guests to join the country-wide candle-lighting ceremony in honour of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara at the hotels lobby.
The Observatory at Chich'en Itza, the building where a Mayan astronomer would have worked. Credit: Gerardo Aldana

For more than 120 years the Venus Table of the Dresden Codexan ancient Mayan book containing astronomical datahas been of great interest to scholars around the world. The accuracy of its observations, especially the calculation of a kind of 'leap year' in the Mayan Calendar, was deemed an impressive curiosity used primarily for astrology.

But UC Santa Barbara's Gerardo Aldana, a professor of anthropology and of Chicana and Chicano studies, believes the Venus Table has been misunderstood and vastly underappreciated. In a new journal article, Aldana makes the case that the Venus Table represents a remarkable innovation in mathematics and astronomyand a distinctly Mayan accomplishment. "That's why I'm calling it 'discovering discovery,' " he explained, "because it's not just their discovery, it's all the blinders that we have, that we've constructed and put in place that prevent us from seeing that this was their own actual scientific discovery made by Mayan people at a Mayan city."

Multitasking science

Aldana's paper, "Discovering Discovery: Chich'en Itza, the Dresden Codex Venus Table and 10th Century Mayan Astronomical Innovation," in the Journal of Astronomy in Culture, blends the study of Mayan hieroglyphics (epigraphy), archaeology and astronomy to present a new interpretation of the Venus Table, which tracks the observable phases of the second planet from the Sun. Using this multidisciplinary approach, he said, a new reading of the table demonstrates that the mathematical correction of their "Venus calendar"a sophisticated innovationwas likely developed at the city of Chich'en Itza during the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-1000). What's more, the calculations may have been done under the patronage of K'ak' U Pakal K'awiil, one of the city's most prominent historical figures.

"This is the part that I find to be most rewarding, that when we get in here, we're looking at the work of an individual Mayan, and we could call him or her a scientist, an astronomer," Aldana said. "This person, who's witnessing events at this one city during this very specific period of time, created, through their own creativity, this mathematical innovation."

The Venus Table

Scholars have long known that the Preface to the Venus Table, Page 24 of the Dresden Codex, contained what Aldana called a "mathematical subtlety" in its hieroglyphic text. They even knew what it was for: to serve as a correction for Venus's irregular cycle, which is 583.92 days. "So that means if you do anything on a calendar that's based on days as a basic unit, there is going to be an error that accrues," Aldana explained. It's the same principle used for Leap Years in the Gregorian calendar. Scholars figured out the math for the Venus Table's leap in the 1930s, Aldana said, "but the question is, what does it mean? Did they discover it way back in the 1st century BC? Did they discover it in the 16th? When did they discover it and what did it mean to them? And that's where I come in."

Unraveling the mystery demanded Aldana employ a unique set of skills. The first involved epigraphy, and it led to an important development: In poring over the Table's hieroglyphics, he came to realize that a key verb, k'al, had a different meaning than traditionally interpreted. Used throughout the Table, k'al means "to enclose" and, in Aldana's reading, had a historical and cosmological purpose.

Rethinking assumptions

That breakthrough led him to question the assumptions of what the Mayan scribe who authored the text was doing in the Table. Archaeologists and other scholars could see its observations of Venus were accurate, but insisted it was based in numerology. "They [the Maya] knew it was wrong, but the numerology was more important. And that's what scholars have been saying for the last 70 years," Aldana said.

The Preface of the Venus Table of the Dresden Codex, first panel on left, and the first three pages of the Table. Credit: University of California - Santa Barbara

"So what I'm saying is, let's step back and make a different assumption," he continued. "Let's assume that they had historical records and they were keeping historical records of astronomical events and they were consulting them in the futureexactly what the Greeks did and the Egyptians and everybody else. That's what they did. They kept these over a long period of time and then they found patterns within them. The history of Western astronomy is based entirely on this premise."

To test his new assumption, Aldana turned to another Mayan archaeological site, Copan in Honduras. The former city-state has its own record of Venus, which matched as a historical record the observations in the Dresden Codex. "Now we're just saying, let's take these as historical records rather than numerology," he said. "And when you do that, when you see it as historical record, it changes the interpretation."

Putting the pieces together

The final piece of the puzzle was what Aldana, whose undergraduate degree was in mechanical engineering, calls "the machinery," or how the pieces fit together. Scholars know the Mayans had accurate observations of Venus, and Aldana could see that they were historical, not numerological. The question was, Why? One hint lay more than 500 years in the future: Nicolaus Copernicus.

The great Polish astronomer stumbled into the heliocentric universe while trying to figure out the predictions for future dates of Easter, a challenging feat that requires good mathematical models. That's what Aldana saw in the Venus Table. "They're using Venus not just to strictly chart when it was going to appear, but they were using it for their ritual cycles," he explained. "They had ritual activities when the whole city would come together and they would do certain events based on the observation of Venus. And that has to have a degree of accuracy, but it doesn't have to have overwhelming accuracy. When you change that perspective of, 'What are you putting these cycles together for?' that's the third component."

Putting those pieces together, Aldana found there was a unique period of time during the occupation of Chichen'Itza when an ancient astronomer in the temple that was used to observe Venus would have seen the progressions of the planet and discovered it was a viable way to correct the calendar and to set their ritual events.

"If you say it's just numerology that this date corresponds to; it's not based on anything you can see. And if you say, 'We're just going to manipulate them [the corrections written] until they give us the most accurate trajectory,' you're not confining that whole thing in any historical time," he said. "If, on the other hand, you say, 'This is based on a historical record,' that's going to nail down the range of possibilities. And if you say that they were correcting it for a certain kind of purpose, then all of a sudden you have a very small window of when this discovery could have occurred."

A Mayan achievement

By reinterpreting the work, Aldana said it puts the Venus Table into cultural context. It was an achievement of Mayan science, and not a numerological oddity. We might never know exactly who made that discovery, he noted, but recasting it as a historical work of science returns it to the Mayans.

"I don't have a name for this person, but I have a name for the person who is probably one of the authority figures at the time," Aldana said. "It's the kind of thing where you know who the pope was, but you don't know Copernicus's name. You know the pope was giving him this charge, but the person who did it? You don't know his or her name."

Explore further UCSB scholar's reading of hieroglyphic verb alters understanding of Mayan ritual texts
Credit: Northeastern University

If you were using Facebook on a desktop last week, you may have noticed that your ad-blocking software was being blocked. That was a move by Facebook, which said it was updating its approach to ad blocking while also expanding the tools it gives people to control their advertising experiences. (A Facebook vice president explained the moves in a blog post.)

We asked two Northeastern faculty membersassistant professors Yakov Bart in the D'Amore McKim School of Business and Christo Wilson in the College of Computer and Information Scienceto explain how new strategies and technologies are changing the digital landscape for users, content providers, and advertisers. Bart is an expert in digital marketing and social media, while Wilson's research lies at the intersection of Big Data, security, and privacy.

According to one report, the number of people using desktop ad blockers has reached almost 200 million has reached almost and continues to rise. Given this trend, and moves by Facebook and others in response, how would you assess the current dynamic between online content consumers and online advertisers? What are the likely future developments?

Bart: This move was not surprising. Facebook, like most other social network sites and digital publishers, relies heavily on advertising revenue. Industry experts estimate that publishers might be losing up to 30 percent of their ad revenue due to ad blockingand that adds up quickly for Facebook, one of the largest digital publishers today. Many traditional publishers, such as Forbes, Wired, and The New York Times, have already rolled out initiatives designed to stop ad blocking, mainly by preventing users of ad-blocking software from accessing their sites. However, this method negatively disrupts the browsing experience of ad-blocking users, who are suddenly forced to make an explicit choice between switching off their ad-blocking software or losing an opportunity to consume publisher's content. Consequently, if a large number of users choose the latter, publishers would continue losing traffic and face a sharp decrease in advertising revenue as a result. Interestingly, Facebook decided to get around this problem by changing how ads are rendered in a desktop browser, so that current ad-blocking software is not able to tell the difference between ads and other page content, and thus not able to block the ads. This way, even ad-blocking users do not have to make this cease-or-leave choice, but would simply start seeing ads when logging in to Facebook, leading to a less disruptive experience overall.

In the future, it is likely that makers of ad blockers will continue perfecting web-based techniques to filter out ads. However, this will probably be hard to achieve without substantially (and negatively) altering the seamless, personalized, and optimized content that users are accustomed to seeing. So, ultimately, consumers will have to choose. Some will prefer a seamless, user-friendly interaction with publishers and social network sites, and accept the cost of being exposed to ads, while others may sacrifice some elements of that experienceor even reduce their content consumption by not visiting anti-ad-blocking publishersbut enjoy zero ad exposure. Publishers and makers of ad-blocking software will continue working to convince consumers to join the former (publishers) or the latter (ad blockers) camp. I look forward to observing how this tug-of-war unfolds in the next couple of years and studying the consequences for consumers, publishers and marketing industry overall.

According to Wired, Facebook said it is changing the way it renders ads on the desktop version of its website, so ad blockers won't be able to distinguish between ads and the rest of the content on the page. A New York Times article also noted this would be "a costly and laborious process." As technology continues to evolve and companies get savvier, what are the most significant challenges facing both developers creating ad-blocking software and parties such as Facebook who are developing workarounds? And does one side have the upper hand?

Wilson: Today's ad blockers are actually pretty simple: they come with a list of "patterns," and whenever your browser tries to connect to a URL that matches one of these patterns, the blocker stops the connection. For example, DoubleClick is a major online advertiser owned by Google; there's no reason for the average person to ever visit doubleclick.com, so your ad blocker has a pattern that stops all connections to that URL. Modern ad blockers can have tens of thousands of these patternsthe one in my browser has 56,000in order to block as many ads as possible.

It's not exactly clear at this point how Facebook plans to try to evade ad blockers, but the general idea is that they intend to make ads look just like all other content in the news feed. In theory, if stories and ads are indistinguishable, then I can't write a pattern that will match and block ads without also matching and blocking actual content. In practice, though, there are federal rules that require disclosure of ads: they need a little icon, or some fine print that says "sponsored content." Blocking software can detect these tiny differences and use them to block ads.

Overall, this is a cat-and-mouse game between blockers and advertisers that will continue to escalate, but blockers definitely have the advantage. Developing evasions is costly, whereas developing patterns to block ads is comparatively cheap. And at the end of the day, users are in control of their browsers; if users choose to adopt sophisticated ad-blocking software, there's very little that advertisers can do about it.

In addition to blocking ad blockers, Facebook also gave its users greater power to pick and choose what ads they want to avoid, saying that this would improve the consumer experience. However, in your recent research, you've shown that highly targeted ads based on consumer preferences may not lead to higher profits for companies. Is there a "happy medium" in which consumers and advertisers can both get what they want?

Bart: Advertising messages from a firm may be tailored (i.e., personalized) to what the consumer prefers, as companies are legally allowed to practice persuasive puffery. However, the mathematical model my collaborator, Pedro Gardete at Stanford University, and I have developed, shows that most personalized ads are likely to be ineffective because consumers may worry that they are being exploited. Therefore, companiesand Facebook advertisers in particularmay benefit from collecting less data from consumers while simultaneously letting them know it by being transparent about what information is collected, what information isn't, and why. We show that the more mass marketing a business does, the less information it should collect about consumers. Similarly, consumers do not benefit from disclosing their tastes in a mass-market setting. The exception is that, when you look for niche products, you might be better off revealing your likes and dislikes, so that companies that specialize in niche markets can find you and offer products that match your tastes.

Explore further Facebook sidesteps ad-blocking on desktop computers
Distances and ages of the newly found clusters within 500 pc. (The new clusters are shown as black squares, whereas the MWSC clusters (Kharchenko et al. 2013) are shown as crosses. The open squares mark the age spread of the cluster RSG9. Credit: arXiv:1608.02704 [astro-ph.SR]

(Phys.org)Astronomers from Heidelberg University in Germany and the Observatory of Strasbourg in France have detected nine new open star clusters within 1,500 light years from the sun. The discovery, presented in a paper published Aug. 9 on arXiv.org, improves our knowledge of star cluster population in the vicinity of our solar system.

Studying star clusters is crucial for our understanding of star formation and of the history of our Milky way galaxy. Open clusters, formed from the same giant molecular cloud, are groups of stars loosely gravitationally bound to each other. So far, more than 1,000 of them have been discovered within the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more, especially within the larger solar neighborhood, hoping to find a variety of these stellar groupings.

However, recent observations and studies have shown that old open clusters are very rare within about 3,000 light years from the sun. This under-density was subject of an investigation by a team of astronomers led by Siegfried Roser of the University of Heidelberg. The researchers have analyzed Tycho-2 and URAT1 astronomical catalogs in order to look for target objects.

Tycho-2 is an astrometric reference catalog containing positions and proper motions as well as two-color photometric data for the 2.5 million brightest stars in the sky. In order to test what proper motions, more precise than those of Tycho-2, can do for open cluster studies, the scientists have also used the URAT1 catalog containing positional data on about 228 million stars with a magnitude ranging from 3.0 to 18.5.

"We derived proper motions from a combination of Tycho-2 with URAT1. () We detected nine hitherto unknown open clusters in the vicinity of the sun with ages between 70 million years and 1 billion years, and distances between 200 and 500 parsecs," the researchers wrote in the paper.

The newly found clusters were designated RSG1 to RSG9. According to the study, RSG2 is the nearest cluster, only 650 light years away, with the largest proper motion. The most distant is RSG7, located some 1,490 light years from the sun. With an age of about one billion years, RSG3 is the oldest cluster of all nine.

The team noted that it was not their intention to determine the most accurate astrophysical parameters of these clusters as they are expected to be provided by European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia astrometric space observatory. Launched in 2013, Gaia aims to create the largest and most precise 3D space catalog ever made, containing approximately one billion astronomical objects. Roser and his colleagues rather wanted to prove that even a moderate progress in the precision of proper motions allows to reveal previously unknown open clusters in the solar neighborhood.

"Our results show that with highly precise proper motions and carefully selected search parameters it is still possible to reveal hitherto unknown open clusters even in the closer neighborhood of the sun up to 500 parsecs," the paper reads.

The scientists also underlined that the findings contribute substantially to our current knowledge of the nearby open cluster population, including old clusters.

"Although we could only search on 67 percent of the sky, our results increase the total number of clusters within 500 parsecs by 10 percent. () RSG3 adds one more cluster to this old cluster generation," the researchers concluded.

Explore further Seven new embedded clusters detected in the Galactic halo

More information: Nine new open clusters within 500 pc from the Sun, arXiv:1608.02704 [astro-ph.SR] Nine new open clusters within 500 pc from the Sun, arXiv:1608.02704 [astro-ph.SR] arxiv.org/abs/1608.02704 Abstract

One of the results of the Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey by Kharchenko et al. (2013) was the detection of a slight under-density of old (ca. 1 Gyr) clusters within the nearest kilo-parsec from the Sun. This under-density may be due to an ineffectiveness in the detection of larger structures with lower surface brightness. We report on our attempts to reveal such clusters. We derived proper motions from a combination of Tycho-2 with URAT1, and obtained a mean precision of about 1.4 mas/y per co-ordinate for 1.3 million stars north of -20 degree declination. We cut the sky into narrow proper motion slices and searched for spatial over-densities of stars in each slice. In optical and near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams stars from over-densities were than examined to determine if they are compatible with isochrones of a cluster. We estimated the field star contamination using our data and the Besancon Galactic model.We detected 9 hitherto unknown open clusters in the vicinity of the Sun with ages between 70 Myr and 1 Gyr, and distances between 200 and 500 pc.

 2016 Phys.org
Researchers at MIT have for the first time identified the structure of a Class I fumigate hydrates enzyme, which could be a target for drugs combatting diseases prevalent in the developing world. Credit: Drennan Lab

Scientists at MIT and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil have identified the structure of an enzyme that could be a good target for drugs combatting three diseases common in the developing world.

The enzyme, fumarate hydratase (FH) is essential for metabolic processes of parasites that are responsible for the spread of three diseases: Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness. As such, understanding the enzyme's structure could help researchers figure out how to inhibit FH enzymes, thereby providing new medical therapies.

"This enzyme is really critical for the metabolism of organisms like Leishmania major," says Catherine Drennan, an MIT professor whose lab hosted the research. "If you knock it out, the organism should be dead."

Leishmaniases are a group of diseases varying from severe skin ulcers to debilitation of internal organs, and are present in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Southern Europe. Chagas disease, located mostly in Latin America, causes cardiac and intestinal complications, and can lead to heart failure. Sleeping sickness affects humans and other animals and is an often-deadly disease concentrated in Africa.

The study of FH began at the University of Sao Paulo, where researchers Patricia R. Feliciano and M. Cristina Nonato made important progress on studying Leishmania major FH. Feliciano then moved to MIT to complete the analysis of the enzyme structure with Drennan, a professor of chemistry and biology, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

"The exciting thing about this is thinking that my work could help people who have those diseases," says Feliciano.

The paper, "Crystal structure of an Fe-S cluster-containing fumarate hydratase enzyme from Leishmania major reveals a unique protein fold," is being published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors are Feliciano, Drennan, and Nonato.

First in class

Fumarate hydratase enzymes fall into two types, class I and class II. The current study represents the first time that a class I fumarate hydratase enzyme has been mapped.

Significantly, the Leishmania major FH enzyme has a protein architectureit vaguely resembles a human heart in appearancethat is distinctive from the structure of human fumurate hydratase.

"When we looked at the structure for the first time, it was like, 'Whoa, it is completely different from the human FH enzyme,'" says Feliciano.

"The fact that it is a novel fold does add to the idea that this is a good drug target," Drennan adds. "It has a lot of potential."

Here's why: The distinctive structure of class I FH makes it possible that drugs could target the parasite variant of the enzyme alone, while leaving intact the functionally equivalent enzymes that humans use.

"It's an enzyme that does the exact same thing, but it's a completely different enzyme," Drennan explains. "That's what makes this such an exciting target."

Brazil connection

The finding stems from work Feliciano started doing nine years ago in Brazil in Nonato's lab, but was not able to complete at the time, in part because of difficulties accessing the right equipment.

In 2012 Feliciano arrived at MIT, where the Drennan Lab has tools that let researchers form crystals of proteins under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions. Having formed a crystal of the Leishmania major FH enzyme, it still took Feliciano several months to completely map out the enzyme's structure, partly because of its complexity, she notes.

Drennan emphasizes the complementary aspects of the research arrangement, with the research problem identified and important groundwork accomplished in Brazil, while MIT provided the right tools to solve the enzyme structure, and with the results hopefully having long-term application in Latin America and Africa.

"It's a really lovely collaboration between the two groups and two countries," Drennan says.

For that matter, Drennan says, the nature of globalization means diseases can spread worldwide in relatively short timespans these days. That means the need to find remedies for Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness is potentially global, too.

"I think it's important to reflect on these health issues, and more people in the U.S. need to be aware of these diseases," Drennan says. "The world is getting to be a smaller place."

Explore further Chemists discover how a single enzyme maintains a cell's pool of DNA building blocks

More information: Patricia R. Feliciano et al. Crystal structure of an Fe-S cluster-containing fumarate hydratase enzyme fromreveals a unique protein fold, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2016). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Patricia R. Feliciano et al. Crystal structure of an Fe-S cluster-containing fumarate hydratase enzyme fromreveals a unique protein fold,(2016). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1605031113

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.
A nesting male ocellated wrasse with a female in his nest. Nesting males are large, colorful, and preferred by females over other types of males that do not provide parental care for the fertilized eggs. Credit: Susan Marsh-Rollo

Biologists studying a small, colorful fish in the Mediterranean Sea have discovered a new way in which a female can choose the best father for her offspring.

The animal kingdom is full of elaborate traits and behaviors by which females choose mates. Even in species in which the female mates with multiple males, biologists have found evidence of "cryptic female choice" involving mechanisms in the reproductive tract that influence which male's sperm fertilize the eggs.

The new study, published August 16 in Nature Communications, demonstrates cryptic female choice in a fish, the ocellated wrasse, in which fertilization takes place externally during spawning. The researchers found that something in the ovarian fluid released with the eggs influences which male's sperm is most likely to fertilize them.

Female ocellated wrasses prefer males that build nests and take care of the fertilized eggs as they develop. But there are other types of males that do not provide parental care and compete to fertilize the eggs a female lays in the nest prepared by a nesting male. Small "sneaker" males hang out around the nest and dart in to release large amounts of sperm when a female is spawning. The females, however, seem to have found a way to thwart the sneaker males by giving an advantage to the nesting male's sperm.

"The sneaker males release more sperm than the nesting males, and you'd think that would give them a better chance to fertilize the eggs, but there is something in the ovarian fluid that removes that advantage," said first author Suzanne Alonzo, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

Alonzo's team conducted fertilization experiments in petri dishes with and without ovarian fluid. Nesting males produce fewer but faster sperm than sneaker males, and the results showed that the presence of ovarian fluid tips the balance such that sperm quality matters more than quantity. The ovarian fluid does not appear to affect sperm from the different male types differently, but generally enhances how fast and straight the sperm swim and the strength of their attraction to the egg. The overall effect is to increase the relative importance of sperm velocity over sperm numbers.

Sneaker males are smaller than nesting males and do not provide parental care. Credit: Susan Marsh-Rollo

A nesting male cares for the eggs in his nest regardless of the efforts of sneaker males, but the female still has good reasons to prefer that her eggs are fertilized by the nesting male. Nesting males are older and grow more quickly as juveniles than sneaker males, so they may have genetic traits that would be advantageous to their offspring.

"We know that the nesting males grow faster and have survived into their second year, so if either of those has a genetic basis it makes sense that females would prefer their offspring to carry those genes," Alonzo said.

In evolutionary terms, this means that by favoring nesting males, cryptic female choice in the ocellated wrasse can cause "directional selection" that influences the evolution of male traits. Other researchers studying chinook salmon have found that ovarian fluid can favor genetically compatible sperm, but have not shown directional selection.

"Directional selection is required for cryptic female choice to actually shape male traits," Alonzo said.

Research on cryptic female choice over the past ten to 20 years has revealed a range of surprising hidden interactions between the sexes in different species. For the many aquatic animals with external fertilization, however, those kinds of interactions had not seemed possible.

"These new results open up a whole new world of possibilities," Alonzo said. "When we think about why marine species look and act the way they do, part of what we are seeing depends on this cryptic level of interactions between males and females, or really between eggs and sperm. It makes sense that you would see these kinds of effects in the reproductive tract, but that it's happening in the water is pretty amazing."

Explore further Why fruit fly sperm are giant
Female scientists from the U.S. and Canada will set sail Aug. 20 on all five Great Lakes and connecting waterways to sample plastic debris pollution and to raise public awareness about the issue.

Event organizers say eXXpedition Great Lakes 2016 will include the largest number of simultaneous samplings for aquatic plastic debris in history. The all-female crew members on the seven lead research vessels also aim to inspire young women to pursue careers in science and engineering.

Teams of researchers will collect plastic debris on the five Great Lakes, as well Lake St. Clair-Detroit River and the Saint Lawrence River. Data collected will contribute to growing open-source databases documenting plastic and toxic pollution and their impacts on biodiversity and waterway health, according to event organizers.

Two University of Michigan faculty members, biologist Melissa Duhaime and Laura Alford of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, will lead the Lake St. Clair-Detroit River team, aboard a 30-foot sailboat.

The crew of up to eight people will include an Ann Arbor middle school teacher, an artist and student at the Great Lakes Boat Building School, and girls from Detroit-area schools. Onboard activities will include water sampling and trawling for plastic debris using protocols developed by the 5 Gyres Institute.

"There is a place for scientists in this type of public outreach, and it is a complement to the research that we do," said Duhaime, an assistant research scientist in the U-M Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"In a single day through an event like this, we can potentially reach orders of magnitude more people than we do when we publish our scientific papers, which are read mainly by other scientists. And greater public awareness about this topic, rooted in rigorously collected and interpreted data, can certainly lead to changed behavior in our relationships with plastics."

Duhaime's lab studies the sources of Great Lakes plastics, as well as how they are transported within the lakes and where they end up. The work has involved a summer on three of the Great Lakes, trips to Detroit-area wastewater treatment plants, and the sampling of fish and mussels.

The group's first Great Lakes project included multiple U-M labs, one of which analyzed the stomach contents of fish and mussels, looking for tiny plastic beads, fibers and fragments. They found no plastic "microbeads"spheres typically less than 1 millimeter in diameterbut plastic fibers were present in a third of the zebra and quagga mussels and at various levels in all the fish species they checked: 15 percent of emerald shiners and bloaters, 20 percent of round gobies, and 26 percent of rainbow smelt, according to Duhaime.

The stomach-content study, which will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, was based on work done in lakes Erie and Huron and was led by Larissa Sano, who is now at U-M's Sweetland Center for Writing.

For years, plastic microbeads were added as abrasives to beauty and health products like exfoliating facial scrubs and toothpaste. But the federal Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 28, bans the manufacture of microbeads beginning next year.

Sources of tiny plastic fibers that make it into the Great Lakes include fleece jackets and other types of synthetic clothing. These microfibers are released during laundering, then slip through wastewater treatment plants and into waterways. Fibers found in common household textiles such as carpets, upholstered furniture and curtains also make their way into the environment and can end up in the lakes.

"Microbeads were just the tip of the iceberg," Duhaime said. "I think fibers are the future of this research and a much more important issue than microbeads, because of the prevalence and the pervasiveness of these plastic textiles in our lives."

Researchers like Duhaime are also investigating the possibility that tiny bits of Great Lakes plastics can transfer toxic pollutants from the water into fish and other aquatic organisms. It is unclear what level of human health risk, if any, these microplastics pose to people who eat Great Lakes fish; it is a topic of active research.

On Aug. 20, the team led by Duhaime and Alford will sail up the Detroit River to Lake St. Clair, sampling water and trawling for plastics along the way. Throughout the day at Detroit's Belle Isle, members of their team will host a beach cleanup and data collection. In addition, a free public-awareness event will be held throughout the day outside Belle Isle Aquarium, followed by a plastic-free community picnic with live music.

Members of the general public are also encouraged to collect Great Lakes water samples and to participate in shoreline cleanup events on the 20th.

The mission leaders for eXXpedition Great Lakes 2016 event are two women who met during an all-female voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 2014. Jennifer Pate is a filmmaker, and Elaine McKinnon is a clinical neuropsychologist. Pate plans to use video footage and photographs gathered during the Aug. 20 event to create a film called "Love Your Greats."

"In parts of the Great Lakes, we have a higher density of microplastics than in any of the ocean gyres," Pate said. "So the problem isn't just out there in the oceans. It's right here in our backyard, in our lakes and on our dinner plates.

"We are all a part of the problem, but that means we are also all part of the solution. That's why we are holding this event, to give people an opportunity to change the story and create a healthier future."

Explore further Disturbingly little known about microbeads and plastics in the Great Lakes
This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
School officials can breathe a little easier, as the percentage of teacher salaries that they will have to contribute to pensions in the 2016-2017 will decrease to 11.72 percent.

The Teachers Retirement System set the rate at its August meeting, according to an article in the New York State School Board Associations On Board magazine.

This is a drop from the 2015-2016 contribution rate of 13.26 percent. The rate had peaked at 17.53 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, as the state was attempting to make up shortfalls because of losses in the stock market when the Great Recession hit. The rate is calculated on a five-year rolling average.

Pension contributions can make up a large percentage of a school districts budget.

On the other hand, health insurance costs are likely to rise about 11 percent, according to state Department of Civil Service projections. This is above the 10-year average of 5.3 percent for individual plans and 6 percent for families.
GRANVILLE  A Granville man was jailed Monday for allegedly having an unregistered handgun during a traffic stop by State Police, officials said.

Peter J. Penor Jr., 22, had an unloaded semiautomatic handgun when troopers stopped him in connection with an investigation late Monday, authorities said.

The handgun was unregistered, which prompted police to charge him with felony criminal possession of a firearm, according to State Police.

Penor was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail.
QUEENBURY  Town resident John Salvador read from The Federalist Papers, a collection of 18th-century essays encouraging ratification of the U.S. Constitution, at a public hearing on a proposal to extend the terms of Town Board members from two to four years.

The founders were very, very concerned about that issue, which they referred to as tenure, he said.

Supervisor John Strough asked Salvador to clarify whether he personally supports increasing terms of office.

I know what Alexander Hamilton and James Madison think, Strough said, referring to two of the 18th-century writers. But do you support this?

Absolutely not, Salvador said, suggesting four-year terms would provide Town Board members with more power.

The Town Board approved conducting public referendums on the Nov. 8 general election ballot to extend the terms of office for ward representatives on the Town Board from two to four years and to extend the terms of office for town highway superintendent and clerk from two to four years.

If approved, the term extensions will be effective Jan. 1, 2018 for officials elected in November 2017.

The Town Board term extension vote will be separate from the vote on highway superintendent and clerk term extensions.

The board voted 3-to-1, with Strough opposed, to conduct the Town Board term extension referendum, and 4-0 to conduct the highway superintendent and clerk referendum.

There will not be a referendum on the term for town supervisor this year.

Referendums to extend the term of supervisor can only be on the ballot the same year as a supervisor election, said Town Attorney Robert Hafner.

First Ward Councilman Tony Metivier said four-year terms would enable board members to devote more time to governing.

Half your time in government is spent campaigning, he said.

Travis Whitehead, a Queensbury resident, said two-year terms enable voters to remove a corrupt official from office sooner.

If we get a bad apple in there, its a lot easier to get them out after two years than four years, he said.

Fourth Ward Councilman William Van Ness, who supports the term extension, said its unlikely the entire board would be corrupt.

If you get one bad apple, you hope the other four will counter him, he said, which led to a lighthearted philosophical discussion between Van Ness and Strough about whether one bad apple, indeed, can spoil the whole bunch.

Strough, who voted against the Town Board term extension, said it was voted down in a previous referendum.

It got voted down very strongly, and I suspect it will this time, too, he said.

Queensbury at-large Supervisor Rachel Seeber said the referendum would be approved if voters knew the term extension would be linked with term limits.

Term limits, to me, are really connected with this discussion, she said.

Town Board members said they are waiting to discuss term limits until they know the length of terms.

Term limits can be set by the Town Board without holding a public referendum.

George Winters, a resident, and Salvador said they oppose both referendums, while Whitehead and Seeber both said they support extensions for highway superintendent and clerk.

You could argue that their jobs are more professional than political, and longevity affects their jobs, said Strough, referring to highway superintendent and clerk.

Town Clerk Caroline Barber spoke in support of extending the term for clerk.

I feel that continuity is a must, she said. Town clerks are non-policymakers.
QUEENSBURY  Nearly a year after questions were raised about a geothermal energy project at a Warren County-owned building, county leaders have chosen a consultant to review whether the system has saved the money it was supposed to.

Bergmann Associates of Albany was chosen Monday from among a field of 14 who sent proposals to review a geothermal energy system at the county Municipal Center.

The system was built and has been maintained by Siemens Building Technologies of Latham, part of the international energy conglomerate Siemens USA.

Bergmann Associates will be paid up to $23,800 for its work.

The county Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in January authorizing the hiring of a consultant to analyze the $4.3 million project to determine whether the county got the savings it paid for.

That move came after Queensbury engineer Travis Whitehead, whose concerns several years ago prompted an investigation of a Siemens natural gas cogeneration project at the former county nursing home, provided a review last fall that showed that the geothermal system didnt live up to its billing in terms of energy savings.

Siemens has maintained that the project brought the savings that were promised.

The delay between questions being raised and the hiring of a consultant did not sit well with the local engineer whose analysis and contention that the project has not saved money spurred the review.

Whitehead also questioned whether the board broke state Open Meetings Law in discussing which firm to hire in a closed-door executive session meeting without following proper procedures.

He said that delaying the review has made it so that it wont be complete before the annual deadline Dec. 1 for the countys $260,000 payment to Siemens for the geothermal project.

Whitehead and a small group of county supervisors have advocated for the county to halt payments to Siemens for its projects.

I think the whole point of why you are doing this has been missed and maybe lost, Whitehead told county supervisors Monday.

The geothermal system has also been the subject of a Warren County Sheriffs Office criminal investigation, focusing on whether the county was defrauded. The county is awaiting word from federal prosecutors as to whether charges should be filed, and Sheriff Bud York said a report on the investigation will be released at the conclusion of the investigation.

Geothermal systems use the earths energy for heating and cooling, though the Warren County system is not being used for heat.

Warren County has been negotiating a possible civil settlement with Siemens over concerns that the natural gas cogeneration system at the former Westmount Health Facility did not save money as promised.
WHITEHALL  A tax exemption on solar farms wont save them from being taxed, Washington County supervisors decided.

They will require a payment in lieu of taxes from Borrego Solar when it builds its solar farm in Whitehall, they decided in a special meeting Monday.

The supervisors might toss the tax exemption altogether at the regular board meeting on Friday. The action would only affect county taxes, not town or school taxes. But many towns in the county have also gotten rid of the exemption this year, requiring all solar development to be taxed.

Whitehall is one of the few towns left that has kept the exemption. Town officials plan to pursue payments in lieu of taxes for large solar developments instead of taxing every solar panel installed in the town.

County Attorney Roger Wickes will negotiate the payments for the new Whitehall solar farm. Borrego Solar asked its local developer to comment on the issue, but the developer did not return a call Tuesday.

Wickes is enthusiastic about getting rid of the exemption, saying it will save him a step.

That way you wont have to worry about these PILOTs, he said. Then it wont matter. Theyll just pay taxes.

But he acknowledged there is a benefit to the exemption.

You can leave the exemption in and require a PILOT, he said. You can pick out which (projects) you want to require a PILOT.

Whitehall Supervisor George Armstrong wants to keep it that way, at least for town taxes.

I think we should get some taxes, but Im a big supporter of renewable energy, he said.

Getting rid of the exemption sends the wrong message to solar companies, he added.

Theyre not going to go in to those towns, he said.

Keeping the exemption signals that the tax is open to negotiation, he argued.

You can sit down and make accommodations, he said.

Hes hoping the Whitehall assessor will also use the income method to derive a value for each solar farm, rather than calculating the worth based on the value of the equipment, which could be many millions of dollars. The income method would lead to a lower value for the property, and thus a lower tax bill, which would be further reduced by negotiation for the PILOT.
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
Speaking as the chairman of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative dissemination workshop on the 2014 mining sector reports in Takoradi, Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II observed that the percentage of royalties paid to the traditional authorities and the district assemblies is just about 9 percent. In DR. Congo, its about 35 percent, in Nigeria, its about 30 percent, in other domains, it is 100 percent, and the 100 percent is taxed. Unfortunately, even the 9 percent is not released on time.

As I speak, government owes us GH120m. I am told two weeks ago government released GH4m. How can we all the district assemblies and traditional authorities in the country spend GH4m, what can we do with it?

He said the sporadic release of the royalties is denying traditional authorities from honouring their pledges to sponsor brilliant but needy students in their traditional areas.

Nananom use part of the royalties to grant scholarships. Unfortunately, when you delay, this thing affects our students in the secondary schools and other tertiary institutions.

He warned that the practice is also leading to the mounting of excessive pressure on mining companies as district assemblies and community members turn to them for support.

Increase royalty percentage

Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II also called on the government to increase the percentage allocations to the district assemblies and traditional authorities. He said I am also calling on the Ministry of Finance to increase the percentage. The percentage is rather too low. The chiefs have said it several times and we do not know what is stopping our honorable and the people in the ministry from increasing the 9 percent to about 35 percent. Otherwise, development levels at Tarkwa and Obuasi will continue to be in this deprived state.

Let mining companies pay royalties directly

Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II suggested to the government that isnt it possible to ask the mining companies to pay royalties directly to Nananom and the district assemblies such that, the delays and the bureaucracies will be curtailed and fasten the development of the mining communities?. It is stated clearly in the law that a certain percentage must go to the two institutions.
According to Borealis Foods, Barclays Bank allegedly failed to transfer an amount of funds to its client in Turkey, making the company lose 40 percent of the contract in question.

In the statement of claim filed at the High Court in Accra, Borealis Foods Ghana Ltd said it presented a First Atlantic Bank Cheque with a face value of GHC200,000 to Barclays on November 9, 2015. Barclays Bank, Ghana, on the next day credited the companys cedi account but deducted same from the account on December 15, 2015 without any reason or consent.

The company said, when Barclays Bank Ghanas attention was drawn to the issue, the Bank accredited the companys account on March 29, 2016.

Borealis then asked Barclays Bank to convert the GHC 200,000 to 50,000 dollars to be deposited in its U.S Dollar account with the Bank, for onward transfer to Ozkaya Gida San TIC Ltd STI, a Turkish company it had signed a 10 million-dollar contract with. The transfer was for part payment for goods supplied to the Borealis Foods Ghana Ltd.

Barclays Bank Ghana, then presented a SWIFT receipt dated April 7, 2016, according to Borealis Food, to confirm that it had transferred the 50,000 dollars to the Turkish Company, an amount the Turkish Company says it never received, though Barclays had deducted charges for the transaction.

On April 14, 2016, however, Borealis says it requested for a statement of its accounts and realized that Barclays had reversed the 50,000 dollar back into its dollar account, converted the said same into Cedis and had deposited the cedi equivalent back into its Ghana Cedi account.

The defendant (Barclays) again deducted the GHC200,000 from its Ghana Cedi account and have failed, neglected and refused to credit the Plaintiffs account, it said, emphasizing that Barclays breached its duty to transfer funds to the Turkish company, resulting in the termination of the contract.

According to Borealis, Barclays conduct of crediting its account and deducting the amount credited without any reason or the plaintiffs consent is a breach of the banker customer relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant.

It is consequently praying the court for general damages and compensatory damages for the loss of the 40 per cent profit from the contract, as well as cost including legal fees.

Pulse Business has tried to contact Barclays Bank for a response to this suit but at the time of publication were unsuccesful.
Here was a Professor Johnbull, who is seriously averse to the decision of his son, Churchill, an engineering-graduate, to tow the path of music as a career. Viewers will be treated to one of life's complexities as Professor Johnbull encounters Flavour. Will Professor Johnbull buckle and change his attitude to music as a profession or will he obstinately transfer to Flavour, his aversion to his son's musical passion?

In the episode, Professor Johnbull also dissects the issues of stars and household chores, parental guidance and child upbringing. This episode of the Glo-sponsored TV drama series, Professor Johnbull, which will run on Saturday at 7.30pm on UTV, is a must watch for all lovers of good and compelling drama.

Featuring the Nigerian superstar, Flavour, a Glo brand ambassador, this episode entitled A Good Flavour, deconstructs the erroneous notion that celebrities should be deified and should completely abstain from lifting any finger in the house.

Viewers who have never seen the soft side of Flavour in a typical home-setting will see a sharp contrast between the musician's disposition and that of the celebrity wannabe Churchill who has not even waxed a single album, yet carries on like he controls the entire universe from his palms.

Will Caro (Mercy Johnson Okojie), the illiterate house maid of the retired professor and Elizabeth (Queen Nwokoye), his undergraduate daughter, who have never hidden their disdain for Churchill's unearned arrogance, find Flavour's humility a refreshing breath of fresh air?

What happens when the duo have the rare opportunity to whip Churchill back in shape? How does the disciplinarian professor react when Churchill's chickens come home to roost? These and many more didactic lessons will be presented to the viewing public.
Other nominees include Reggae/Dancehall musicians Tarrus Riley, Morgan Heritage, Sean Paul, Skip Marley and Major Lazer.

The award scheme, which seeks to acknowledge and honour the accomplishments and contributions of reggae and world music artistes, including: songwriters, performers, promoters and musicians saw a total of 160 nominations. This is Shatta Wales third time at the awards. He was nominated for "Best Music Video" and "Best African Song/Entertainer" category with his hit "Chop Kiss".

Wizkid, Maitre Gims, Koffi Olomide, and Flavour are among other African nominees for the event. They compete for the Best African Song/Entertainer category. Other nominees include Christopher Martin, Nezbeth, Jah Cure, Ziggy Marley, Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths, Etana, PopCaan, Spice, OMI, Inner Circle, Sly & Robbie, JBeatz, Klass, Daniel Musgrove, Alkaline.

The graceful event which is sponsored by Martin International will come off on Sunday, 2nd October, 2016 at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, in Florida beginning with red carpet arrivals and a reception.
Lumba who was arrested on Monday, August 15, blew the cover of his leader of their gang 50 Cent who was shot dead after opening fire at an undercover police officer but missed him in the process causing the officer to return fire leading to his death.

READ ALSO:In Western Region Woman abandons baby in forest

Addressing the press on Tuesday, August 16, the Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander ACP Ampofo Duku said the police have been trailing the two robbers, Emmanuel Nyamekye and Kojo Asare, a.k.a, 50 Cent and Lumba respectively, for some time now.

According to him, the two were part of a five-man gang who robbed some taxi drivers at the Asuoyeboah SSNIT flats and guests at the Rees hotel both in Kumasi.

READ MORE:Police Recruitment Exercise Six arrested for forging documents

Speaking in an interview with Pulse News, the Public Relations Officer for the Ashanti Regional Police Command ASP Mohammed Tanko revealed that the two suspected robbers who have been on their wanted list were killed after been shot by a policeman.

Meanwhile, 50 suspected armed robbers were paraded at the Central police station with several robbery charges and would be arraigned before the court after investigations.

34 other suspects were also in a swoop and would be screened in the process of investigations.
Law to regulate polls yet ready

AFOKO THROWN OUT

The legal action by the suspend National Chairman of the NPP Mr Paul Afoko, challenging his suspension was yesterday dismissed by the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court.

PRESIDENT CHALLENGED OVER MONTIE TRIO

A legal practitioner, Mr Elikpilim Agbemava, wants the Supreme Court to restain President John Mahama from pardoning the Montie trio until a suit challenging the Presidents prerogative of authority is determined by the court.

REINTRODUCE TABOODAYS TO PRESERVE ENVIRONMENT  REV. DR FRIMPONG-MANSO

NPP FLOORS AFOKO

A human rights court in Accra presided over by Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, yesterday affirmed the indefinite suspension of Paul A. Afoko as the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

FOREIGN VOTERS MISSING IN COURT

Some voters in the Ho West Constituency of the Volta Region who are suspected to be foreigners failed to appear before a magistrate court where a case was filed against their eligibility to be registered as voters.

ONLY 6.6M VOTERS VERIFIED; 29550 NHI CARD VOTERS RE-REGISTERED

Despite the fact that exhibition of the voters register is very important in the electoral process, less than half of registered voters verified their names during the 21 days of voters exhibition exercise carried out by the Electoral Commission.
The suspended Chair had earlier described his suspension as unconstitutional and a breach of natural justice.

But the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court on Monday, August 15, 2016, dismissed a suit filed by Paul Afoko in the case in which he is challenging his suspension as national chairman of the New Patriotic Party.

According to the judgment of the presiding judge, Justice Anthony Yeboah, the suspension of Mr. Afoko was just, lawful and fair.

He further added that the procedure used for the suspension was right and was not breached in any way by the NPP.

Afoko had subsequently said that even though he respected the decision handed down by the court, he disagreed with it.

He said he will launch an appeal against the decision at the appropriate time.

Many have said that Paul Afoko should not have gone to court over the matter, and have subsequently called on him to return to the party and settle all differences.

But Afoko's Spokesperson, Nana Yaw Osei argues that going to court is never bad.

He said: Those who were creating the problem, they have behaved as if they have done nothing. When they were fermenting trouble, did they spare a minute to think about the possible effect on our chances on the 2016 elections? Now that the fight on quote is on, the impression now is Mr Afoko should go back...Mr Afoko loves the party. If it is genuine, he will consider it."
Lawyers of the suspended Chairman after the ruling indicated that they were not happy and were going to seek redress at the Courts of Appeal.

In a statement signed by Nana Yaw Osei, spokesperson of Mr. Paul Afoko, said: lawyers for Afoko will carefully study the judgment and launch an appeal against the decision at the appropriate time.

But lawyer of the NPP in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM said he didnt think an appeal was necessary but indicated that he didnt have an issue if Mr. Afokos legal team still went ahead to appeal

I do not have any qualms or whatsoever about the fight not being over. As far as I am concerned, the suspension of Mr. Afoko has been declared lawful by the High Court. Now a greater burden is on him to convince the court of appeal about the irregularities of the decision taken today. This indication by Mr. Afoko is very worrying. It is very worrying he disclosed.

According to him, he wonders why Mr, Afoko will act contrary to the spirit of unity, peace and reconciliation shown by the party by going a further up to the appeal process.
According to final figures, 29,550 voters, representing 52% of National Health Insurance (NHI) card registrants who were deleted, re-registered at the end of the entire exercise, the Head of Communications at the EC, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu has said.

The order followed the case in which former National Youth Organiser of the Peoples National Convention, Abu Ramadan, and one Evans Nimako challenged the credibility of the electoral roll for the general elections.

Following the deletion, the EC gave the opportunity for the NHIS registrants to re-register.

But during phase one, which was from July 18 to 28, 2016, a total of 24,287 voters, representing 42.78% of 56,772 NHIS card holders, re-registered.

This means 27,222 NHI card registrants whose names were deleted failed to re-register, Eric Dzakpasu told the Finder Newspaper.

Voter register exhibition exercise

Mr Dzakpasu revealed that out of the 15.7 million (15, 744, 730) names on the voters register, 6.6 million (6,693,292) voters, representing 43%, verified their names in the exercise.

READ ALSO: Exhibition Exercise

He explained that data compiled by the EC indicates that at the end of the exhibition, 6.5 million (6,566,049) voters visited polling stations to check their names.
Voters in Africa dont vote on issues but on small favours and nepotism Elections on the continent have been abused and characterized by fraud but with the social media, which provides freedom of speech, he believed, citizens can share information amongst themselves.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said this Monday when he delivered a lecture in the UK Parliament during the launch of two books authored by two Ghanaians, Ivor Agyeman Duah and Nana Ayebea Clarke.

READ ALSO: Mahama's campaign in Western Region strategic - NDC

The books are All The Good Things Around Us: An Anthology of African Short Stories; and May Their Shadows Never Shrink: Wole Soyinka and the Oxford Professorship of Poetry.

Otumfuos lecture was on the theme: Africas Democratic Path And The Search For Economic Development.

His comments on social media come on the back of fears by some stakeholders that social media could be used to cause mayhem and disrupt the election process.

There was public uproar when the Inspector General of Police, in a press interaction, said blocking social media during the November polls was an alternative the police was considering in a way to prevent any mayhem.

But President John Dramani Mahama has recently stated that social media will not be banned on election day.

Meanwhile, Otumfuo observed that challenges in democracy and competitive elections have been [the] abuse of freedom of speech on the continent.

He believed colonialism has undermined the integrity of the traditional systems.
The Montie three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase alias Mugabe were sentenced to four months in prison by the Supreme Court after they were found guilty of contemptuous comments against the court.

The contempt proceedings came after the three threatened the Supreme Court judges who sat on the Abu Ramadan and Gary Nimako versus the Electoral Commission case.

READ ALSO: Mahama hands over Montie petitions to Council of State

A petition book was subsequently opened by pro-government group Research and Advocacy Platform (RAP) which gathered signatories from government appointees including the deputy minister of Education in charge of Tertiary, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare and the Education Minister, Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang and members of the general public alike.

Chief of Staff Julius Debrah received the petition on behalf of President Mahama and it was forwarded to Council of State for advice.

READ ALSO: Hanna Tetteh signs Montie trio petition

Those who signed the petition argue that the ruling by the court was harsh. But Agbemava in his suit argues that,

He also mentioned that the exercising of the prerogative of mercy must guarantee every citizen some level of fairness.

He is, therefore, seeking an injunction to prevent President Mahama from granting a presidential pardon to the Montie trio, until the final determination of his suit.
The NPP flagbearer while in the region disparaged the Mahama-led administration of doing little in terms of road construction in the region.

However, president Mahama wasted no time in responding to Akufo-Addo, accusing him of sleeping during his five days in the region, as he begins campaigning in the Western Region.

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Speaking in Fante and Twi at separate rallies at Axim, Abura and Agona Nkwanta, president Mahama said during the 2012 election campaign, he realised that roads in the Western Region were nothing to write home about.

He continued: I promised that we will invest monies into cocoa roads. So if you realise, the majority of roads we are doing are all in the western region.

They said someone came here recently and said he did not see any [good] road. He was probably sleeping.

The president described his achievement in the last four years as unprecedented in the country, beseeching voters to renew his mandate.
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Both released a joint statement on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, burying the hatchet concerning what has been a tumultuous experience for them.

According to TMZ, Depp allegedly agreed to make payment in the sum of $7 million to the actress, who revealed that the amount will be donated to charity.

ALSO READ: Actress to provide proof of domestic violence against Johnny Depp

Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love,

Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future."

"Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity. There will be no further public statements about this matter, the statement read.

It was gathered in earlier reports that the pair had been lining up witnesses in anticipation of their court date.
Now, the rapper has shared her name with fans. Proud of his Nigerian roots, Wale shared an adorable photo with his daughter writing, "Love.. Unconditional (Oluwakemi few days old)".

So sweet!

The US rapper who was scheduled to perform at the Barclays Center for the One Africa Music Fest in Brooklyn on Friday, July 22, canceled his performance after welcoming his first child that afternoon.

TMZ reports that Alexis had gone into labour on Wednesday, delivering their daughter at a New York City Hospital the next day.
According to Punch News, the pair were on their way to Jos for a National Fellowship of Christian Medical Laboratory Science Students conference when the incident occurred.

ALSO READ: Rivers State Police make breakthrough against kidnappers

They had just approached the Kaduna-Jos part of the journey, when the armed men opened fire on their vehicle for failing to stop so that they could search their vehicles.

Though, it only lasted for a few moments, the impact of the shooting left other casualties in the vehicle, who sustained gunshot wounds and are being treated .

Mr. Ralph Njokuobi, the spokesperson for the university gave a confirmation of incident stating that their corpses are expected to arrive the state as soon as possible.

Two of the students were shot dead on the spot, while many were seriously injured.
According to reports, the pair produced fake certificates associated with high profile government establishments such as exemption letters for the National Youth Service Corps and the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) in Enugu.

Prof. B. C Nwobodo, the prosecutor in the case told the court that the accused persons had forged the certificates in the year 2014 and 2015 respectively, in a bid to secure a job.

ALSO READ: Rivers State Police make breakthrough against kidnappers

One of the criminals reportedly used the certificate to get a job at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology Teaching Hospital, Park-Lane, Enugu.

Nwobodo maintained that the accused are guilty of committing crimes which contravenes the dictates of the Criminal Code Law of Enugu State, 2004.

The pair, who were reportedly granted bail in an earlier ruling on the matter, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Following his first arraignment on August 19, 2015, the convict was found guilty of a five-count charge of rape, assault, threat to life, drugging and taking indecent pictures of his victim.

Mrs Kikelomo Ayeye, the chief magistrate of the court gave the verdict on Tuesday, August 16, 2016.

In her ruling on the matter, she said, With all the evidence before the court, you are found guilty."

You are hereby sentenced to five years imprisonment each on the first three counts which you are to run concurrently."

You are sentenced to three years on the fourth count and one year on the fifth count.

According to the Daily Post, the prosecutor in the case, Nurudeen Thomas, Oyewole committed the offence at Aro Hotel, Lagos, on August 16, 2015.

He stated that the criminal deceptively had his way with the victim after her father insisted that she should accompany him to a party.

The accused lured the victim into the Hotel in her sedated state, tore her clothes, soaked them in water, after beating and raping her."

He also took her nude pictures. When the victim regained her consciousness, the accused threatened to post her pictures on the internet if she told anyone what happened."
News Agency of Nigera (NAN), reports that the 50-year-old Yusuf, had sent Salamat to distribute the snacks to the beggars at Offin Street in the area on August 5, 2016, and it was later realised that the bean cakes had poisoned needles inserted in them.

The State Prosecuting Counsel, Barrister Ben Ekundayo, who said the two suspects are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and attempted murder, narrated how they carried out the crime with the intention of with intent to endanger the lives of the beggars in the guise of doing a good deed.

Ekundayo told the court presided over by Magistrate Ade Adefulire:

The Muslim cleric sent his daughter to give the beggars, near the Mosque, the bean-cakes, but when one of them (the beggars) opened the bean-cake, he found needles in the middle.

Other beggars were notified; one of them, who knows the daughter and the school where she teaches, led them there and she was apprehended. She also led police to her father.

Ekundayo said that the offences contravened Sections 228 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

When the charges were read to the accused, they pleaded not guilty and Adefulire admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two sureties each in like sum.
The Governor also said the menace of land grabbing had hindered investors from coming into the state.

Ambode added that The Lagos State Properties Protection Law will give legal backing to the operations of our law enforcement officers. The main objective of this Law is to ensure that our investors, businessmen and the general populace carry on their legitimate land/property transactions without any hindrance or intimidation henceforth.

The Properties Law will eliminate the activities of persons or corporate entities who use force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent any person or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property, ensure that the Special Task Force on Land-Grabbers work with all Security agencies to ensure enforcement of state government and Private property rights in the state, and ensure proper coordination of the efforts of the various agencies of Government charged with enforcing the state governments rights over land in Lagos.
The former military ruler made the comments on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, while speaking to journalists in Minna, Niger State in preparation for his 75th birthday on August 17.

 In 1989, we proposed that the national assembly should be optional, that is part-time. I still believe that if I had the opportunity, I would make the national assembly part-time. I believe in that very strongly and is part of efforts to cut down the cost of governance in Nigeria, he said according to The Cable.

During my public life, there were several decisions we took as military officers or as political officers  when I was a dictator  that if given another chance, I would do differently.

I am not the evil genius that quite a lot of people consider me that I am. I have had a very excellent background and training. We have to love one another. However, I can understand the feeling people have towards me.

ALSO READ: Babangida dismisses death rumours

By the virtue of the job I was doing, I was bound to be misconstrued and my actions misinterpreted as evil. I consider what people say as an opinion as long as I am not what you think I was; I feel satisfied, he added.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, disclosed this at a lecture organised by the FCT Correspondents Chapel of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture with the theme, "Media-Military Relationship in the Fight against Insurgency, was part of the activities marking the 2016 Press Week of the chapel.

The general also disclosed that more than 10,000 Boko Haram captives had been rescued by the military.

He said some of them were reunited with their families, while others were taken to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

Abubakar said that Boko Haram had been successfully decimated by the military and government was working hard on the rehabilitation of the victims and reconstruction of the affected areas.

The general also said that the military would soon launch "Operation Safe Corridor to address the menace of herdsmen across the country.

He assured that the military operation would put an end to the wanton killings by the herdsmen.

Responding to questions on the recent action by the military declaring some journalists wanted, the general urged the media not to allow sentiments to influence their judgment on the issue.

He said the military should be allowed to do its work, while assuring that no member of the media would be victimised unnecessarily.

Abubakar said that good military-media relationship was crucial to winning the war against insurgency.He said the media drove public support for the military which in turn had boosted the morale of officers and the rank and file.

Earlier, the Secretary of NUJ in FCT, Hajia Rafat Salami, said there was the need for the military and the media to work together in the fight against terrorism and other crimes.

She said the military must see the media as partner in progress and not as enemy.
The minister made the comments while speaking to CNNs Richard Quest on Quest Means Business on Monday, August 15, 2016.

Not quite so, at all. On the contrary, since President Muhammadu Buhari resumed, I think his first steps were targeted at the northeast and the Chibok girls, Kachikwu said.

If you remember, most of his first state visits were to neighbouring countries, trying to gather alignment among neighbouring countries military forces in fighting this issue, and the military has been engaged in that territory.

One of the crises the president had to inherit, was the fact that once he came in, he found that monies that were allocated to the military to be able to deal with these issues, were largely diverted, and he spent a lot of time trying to find funds.

He first had to deal with that problem, but once he dealt with that, the army has got more brisk in its business, however, we havent found the girls and its sorrowful for every Nigerian who thinks about it.

I have children, the last thing I want is for peoples children to be in the forest abandoned, and we are doing everything we can, I sympathise with all parents who are in this situation, but the president hasnt given upon this, he added.

The over 200 girls were abducted by Boko Haram on April 14, 2014, and most of them remain in captivity.

The Chibok girls plight gained fresh attention on Sunday, August 14, when Boko Haram released a video showing 50 of the girls.
According to an EFCC source, Peters is connected to the Northern Belt Gas Company Limited, a company that allegedly gave kickbacks to Diezani.

The money is said to be part of the funds used to bribe staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the run-up of the 2015 elections.

The anti-graft agency also said the businessman is wanted for criminal conspiracy, diversion of funds and money laundering.

Punch reports that the EFCC source said We have launched investigations into the companies that gave Diezani money in form of kickbacks. About $60m came from Northern Belt Gas Company Limited. We have not been able to ascertain the directors of the company. However, we found out that Mr. Benedict Peters is the sole signatory to the account at Fidelity Bank.

All attempts to get him have proved abortive. We currently do not know where he is and he is hardly ever in one place because he has a private jet.

An EFCC statement signed by Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said Dark-complexioned Peters is wanted in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy , diversion of funds and money laundering. He hails from Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. His last known address is 8B Agodogba Avenue, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The for allegedly receiving the sum of $115m from Diezani.
Oba Akiolu also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be mindful of the fact that hes no longer a soldier.

The monarch made the comments on Monday, August 15, 2016, during the unveiling of SunTrust Bank Limited in Lagos, Punch reports.

All of us just have to support the President and I advise him to know that he is no more a military man. I am not afraid to say that, Oba Akiolu said.

The measures they are taking on the rot of the past, honestly whether they like it or not, it was not totally the fault of former President Goodluck Jonathan. I dont hide the fact that he (Jonathan) is my personal friend, he added.

Buhari has made the fight against corruption a priority and his administration has gone after many former public officials who have been accused of looting.

Jonathan, on June 6, admitted that he was being investigated by the Buhari government.

Obviously, Im being investigated. I wouldnt want to make certain comments because, when a government is working, its not proper for immediate past presidents to make certain statements, the former president told Bloomberg TV.

I will allow the government to do the work it is supposed to do. I wouldnt want to make serious comments on that, its not proper. After all these investigations, the whole stories will be properly chronicled. Ive just left office, and I should allow the President and his team to do what they believe is good for the country, he added.

ALSO READ: Goodluck Jonathan denies links with Niger Delta Avengers

Jonathan also denied claims that he left behind an empty treasury.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, August 16, in Abuja, the Navy spokesman said NN has continued its crackdown on the activities of illegal crude oil thieves and pipeline vandals.

He said: "On Aug. 10, a Patrol Team deployed by NNS Jubilee raided an illegal refinery site at Ikoh Imoh community in Akwa Ibom.

"During the operation, the Patrol Team destroyed a Cotonou boat Laden with suspected stolen crude oil; 103 drums of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and two motorcycles.

It also said that on August 12, at about 6. 30 a.m., a Patrol Team deployed by NNS Delta raided several illegal refinery sites along Jones creek in Delta.

According to the statement, during the raid, the Patrol Team destroyed unquantifiable amount of stolen crude oil and illegally refined AGO.

Similarly, the Service has also arrested a Marine vessel, MV Star Shrimper in Akwa Ibom.

ALSO READ: In Niger Delta - Demonstration against Chevron expands

"The vessel was alleged to have tried to evade interrogation when intercepted by the NN vessel, with an unclear reason for its action.

"The vessel and its crew are being investigated by the Nigerian Navy personnel, the statement said.
According to The Cable, an anonymous source gave the the names of those killed as Monday Hamza, 24, Toma Masara, 35, Chaka Rubutu 26, Julius Golkofa 19, Boboo Okocha 18 and Sambo James, 17.

The source said: Last Saturday, these young men that were killed went out as a group to their farms with a few others.

We were told that armed Fulani men had attacked them on their farms and some of them escaped with bullet wounds.

A search party on Sunday found them ridden with bullets and machete cuts and they were all dead. The police took their corpses to the mortuary in Kafanchan.

It was gathered that thousands of the panicking villagers are now migrating to Godogodo, a neighbouring community.

Godogodo is full to the brim with refuges who have fled their villages seeking for safety here because it is a bigger village on the highway and has better security, the source said.

There is no day that someone is not killed by Fulani men around here.

After that, the attack, they would cut down all the crops or move their cattle into the farm to eat the growing crops. They are going about from farm to farm, destroying our crops and killing people with their sophisticated weapons.

There will be hunger this year because we cannot go to farm and our crops are being destroyed by the herdsmen. What they are saying is our villages are now cattle grazing reserves and they want everybody out.

ALSO READ: 40 reported dead in Enugu after attack by Fulani herdsmen

The Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said one of the leaders of the herdsmen was previously killed, adding that they were avenging his death.

He said the herdmens are not crazy like that - to just kill indiscriminately.
A Tinubu Chief Magistrates' Court handed down the verdict on Tuesday after it found the rapist guilty on all five-count.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oyewole was first arraigned on Aug. 19, 2015 on a five-count charge of rape, assault, threat to life, drugging and taking indecent pictures of his victim.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Kikelomo Ayeye, ruled: "With all the evidence before the court, you are found guilty.

"You are hereby sentenced to five years imprisonment each on the first three counts which you are to run concurrently.

"You are sentenced to three years on the fourth count and one year on the fifth count.

Ayeye said the nine years in prison would be effective from the date of arraignment.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Nurudeen Thomas, told the court that the accused committed the offences on Aug. 16, 2015 at 8.00 p.m. at Aro Hotel in Lagos.

The prosecutor further explained that Oyewole put some drugs in the Irish cream he served her and refused to let any other person at the party take the drink with her.

"The accused lured the victim into the Hotel in her sedated state, tore her clothes, soaked them in water, after beating and raping her.

"He also took her nude pictures. When the victim regained her consciousness, the accused threatened to post her pictures on the internet if she told anyone what happened.

"The accused followed her to her mothers shop where her mother and others at the shop noticed her unusual appearance and started asking questions, he said.

Thomas said Oyewole bolted when he saw that the victim was going to tell her mother what happened, but was caught by a mob who handed him over to the police.

"The girl's underwear was found in his possession and the nude pictures were also in his phone.
Edet made the comment following a threat by the sect to invade Lagos to free its detained members.

It is not the first time they have threatened. The Federal Government, which the army serves, takes any threat to lives and property seriously. We have been putting efforts on ground and that has made them not to succeed in Lagos, he said according to The Nation.

We have been arresting Boko Haram elements almost on a daily basis since I came to Lagos. I have said so in one of my press statements. We have been doing this without the threats made in the press. So, what we do isnt what we should put up in the media. We take no threat lightly, he added.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram has demanded the release of its detained members in exchange for the abducted Chibok girls.

The group released the video, showing 50 of the girls, on Sunday, August 14, 2016.
Under Jonah Jang as governor of Plateau State, N2 billion was released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Small and Medium Scale (SME) businesses in Plateau State. The N2 billion was released to Jang in April 2015, a month before the expiration of his administration. The money disappeared. And theres no trace or evidence that SMEs in Plateau State benefited from the CBN fund meant, a source told The Nation.

The administration of former Governor Jonah Jang got N6.1 billion from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Jang collected N982, 526451.02 from the Plateau State government using a front company, Darmatist Consult, for a purported, non-existent recovery of N7.56 billion from Nasarawa State. The money was paid to Darmatist as a consultancy fee.

Under Jang, millions of naira was debited monthly from the accounts of the 17 local governments in Plateau State. Jang claimed the debited funds will be used to construct a five kilometre road in each of the 17 councils.

But most of the roads were never constructed. Just a few councils in Jangs Plateau North benefited from this scheme but the funds disappeared from the state accounts before the emergence of the Simon Lalong administration.

Questions are also being raised on how SURE-P funds were disbursed by the Jang administration. As a matter of fact, Jang, in his handover notes, did not provide the information on how much was released, how much was received and what the funds were used for, the source added.

ALSO READ: Jang government incurs N18bn debt in 8yrs

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has ordered the reopening of corruption cases against 30 former governors in the country.
The cleric stated this on Monday, August 15, 2016 at the inaugural meeting of retired Christian leaders of major denominations in Nigeria facilitated by El-Rehoboth Global Leadership Foundation, in Abuja.

Dr Makinde maintained that the current economic situation may cause the country to explode.

"The APC is part of the corruption in the country," he said.

"They are not fit to be there, they must handle the issue of padding very carefully. We are sitting on a keg of gun powder. The day it will explode, it will consume us. So many graduates are not employed. Unemployed people are the people behind the militancy in the Niger Delta region.

I want to warn Christians in the National Assembly. They should be careful, they should not take the issue of Sharia law and the grazing bill in the National Assembly lightly. Nobody can acquire my land. Northerners cannot acquire my land to graze their cattle. Let them go and graze in their own part of the country, he added.

The cleric also advised the federal government and the APC to be fair in their fight against corruption.
Jibrin has alleged that Speaker, Yakubu Dogara along with Doguwa and other principal members of the House connived to smuggle N284 billion into the 2016 budget.

Doguwa made the threat via a statement. The statement reads in part:

With this clear violation of our extant internal code of legislative conduct, which must attract legislative sanctions against Honourable Jibrin, Nigerians should know that all sorts of statements and pronouncements made by Honourable Jibrin were mere sham and misrepresentations of facts.

He has lost out his campaign of calumny against the House. He has also lost out with the executive arm of government and our great party, the All progressives congress (APC).

Having realised that he is already consumed, he is now resorting to court options, which I believe, he would lose out as well. Our respected judiciary would never fall victim of his misrepresentations. I finally want to categorically state that whichever steps the House may take on Honourable Jibrin on resumption in September, I Honourable Alhassan Ado Doguwa, would in my personal capacity, definitely charge Honourable Jibrin to court for slander.

He has maligned and defamed my hard-earned reputation and integrity. No matter what the House decides on Jibrin, I will never step on my responsibility to protect my good name and seek redress through our conventional courts.
According to INEC daily bulletin issued in Abuja on Monday, August 15, the approved list includes 33 domestic observer groups and eight foreign observer groups.

The local observer groups include: the Transition Monitoring Group; Community Life Project (Reclaim Naija); African Initiative for Sustainable & Positive Development as well as Alliance for Credible Elections in Nigeria.

The foreign observer groups include: the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI); British High Commission; International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the European Union Delegation.

The bulletin stated that INEC has directed the accredited groups to obtain, complete and return Form EPMC 002 for the election from the Elections and Party Monitoring Department, INEC Headquarters from Aug. 15 to Aug. 22.

"In the same vein, the accredited groups are expected to submit names and photographs of members who would participate in the exercise in hard and soft copies (CD Drive, using JPEG format) to the same department latest by Aug. 29," the bulletin stated.

ALSO READ: INEC confirms Osagie Ize-Iyamu as PDP flagbearer in Edo guber poll
Speaking in Lagos on Tuesday, August 16, the Deputy State Chairman of the party, Chief Ola Apena urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to put in place measures to prevent courts from delivering conflicting judgments.

Justice Abang had yesterday, Monday, August 16, suspended the party's National Convention scheduled to take place on August 17, in Port Harcourt, River State.

However, Prior to the Monday's judgement, a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had ordered the PDP to proceed with the convention as scheduled without hindrance.

Apena said: "Our position is that some of these court houses make themselves a willing tool in the hands of some of these people who are fast in purchasing black market injunction and all the rest.

"So, if the judiciary will not put its house in order, then they would want to make themselves a subject of ridicule.

"If two courts of coordinate jurisdiction give contradicting judgments then, you are giving the litigant the freedom to choose which one suits him.

"I was expecting that some internal mechanism to prevent what happened yesterday could have been done.

"I believe that the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court can consolidate all cases involving the party in one particular court; but, what is happening is just putting the judiciary to a kind of ridicule.''
In his judgement on Tuesday, August 16, sequel to an application by counsel to the Ali Modu Sheriff faction seeking to stop the convention, justice Okon Abang gave an interlocutory injunction restraining the PDP from holding the convention.

After hearing submissions from both parties on Tuesday, the judge said: An order of interlocutory injunction is hereby made restraining the defendants, any of them, their servant agents from conducting the national convention of PDP and supervising and monitoring same under any guise or electing any national officer of the defendant pending the determination of the substantive suit.

An order of Interlocutory injunction is hereby made restraining PDP from presenting anybody and sponsoring any person for election and holding any national convention or conference in the purpose of electing any national officers of the second defendants.

An order of Interlocutory injunction is hereby made restraining INEC from monitoring the national convention of PDP scheduled for Port Harcourt on 17th August.

The judge added that there are processes of setting the judgement aside.
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High court, Abuja, had on Monday, August 15, ruled that the convention be suspended pending the determination of an application by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction.

But in a statement issued hours later by the Makarfi faction's spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye, the convention will hold on the ground that a federal high court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, had given a superior order for it to proceed.

The statement said: Our attention has been drawn once again to another act of judicial recklessness by the honourable judge of the federal high court, Justice Okon Abang of the purported suspension of the PDP national convention holding in Port Harcourt, Rivers on Wednesday the 17 of August 2016.

We wish to however state that a federal high court in Port Harcourt Rivers state has earlier in the day given a comprehensive order wherein the honourable judge specifically ordered the PDP to proceed with the convention as scheduled without hindrance.

Indeed, his lordship while given the order mandated all relevant agencies including the Police, DSS and INEC to cooperate with the party in organising a hitch-free national convention.

You may also wish to note that the federal high court in Port Harcourt, Rivers state gave an interlocutory order while Justice Okon Abang, Abuja, gave an interim order. The order of Port Harcourt is clearly superior and earlier in time to the interim order given by Justice Okon Abang.

In the light of the above, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a law abiding party is obeying the order of the Port Harcourt, federal high court until set aside by any competent court of jurisdiction.

In view of the above, the 2016 repeat national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will continue as scheduled as we welcome all delegates, party leaders, other critical stakeholders, INEC monitoring team and other friends of PDP to Port Harcourt, Rivers state while wishing all our members and supporters a successful national convention.
Premium Times reports that Adeyeye said the action by Justice Abang, was a show of his judicial recklessness.

Despite the court order, the Makarfi led PDP insists the national convention will still hold.

Adeyeye also said the Federal High Court in Rivers State had earlier issued an order giving the PDP the go-ahead to hold its convention.

Adding that The order of Port Harcourt is clearly superior and earlier in time to the interim order given by Justice Okon Abang. In the light of the above, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a law abiding Party is obeying the Order of the Port Harcourt, Federal High Court until set aside by any competent Court of jurisdiction.

In view of the above, the 2016 Repeat National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will continue as scheduled as we welcome all Delegates, Party leaders, other critical stakeholders, INEC monitoring team and other friends of PDP to Port Harcourt, Rivers State while wishing all our members and supporters a successful national convention.
Justice Okon Abang of the court had barred INEC from monitoring the PDP convention.

According to a statement issued by the INEC Deputy Director on Publicity and Voter Education, Mr Nick Dazang, today in Abuja, staff of the agency are on standby for further directives on the election.

Dazang: "Even though the commission has been served the Port Harcourt High Court judgment, it is yet to be served the Abuja High Court judgment by Justice Abang.

"As soon as it (the Commission) is served the Abuja High Court judgment, it will take a decision.

"In the meantime, and following the Port Harcourt judgment, our monitoring staff are on standby, Dazang said.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, had on Monday barred the PDP from holding its planned National Convention on Aug. 17, in Port Harcourt, pending hearing and determination of the substantive suit filed by Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff.

Justice Ibrahim Watila of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had ordered that the partys National Caretaker Committee proceed with the convention in Port Harcourt as scheduled.

Watila also ordered that INEC and security agencies should monitor the convention.
The senator who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, August 15, also accused el-Rufai of impoverishing the Kaduna indigenes with his programmes and policies.

Sani said: If you google el-Rufai, you will see him from 1999 but if you google Shehu Sani, you will see him from 1989. So you can see. He was brought to limelight by virtue of being in the politics of the PDP.

I laughed at him when he said the PDP has destroyed Nigeria for 16 years while he enjoyed 14 years out of the 16. For somebody who has spent 14 out of the 16 years, you cannot say he is a repented man in two years.

If you repent in two years, it has to take time to reach people who have never been sinners, like me. I have never eaten from the PDP nor have I ever been under their umbrella. But he was part and parcel of it for this period of time.

They do not want criticism; they do not want contrary opinions, but that is what drove them from that very party. When they moved out of the PDP what they said is that they were denied the right to express themselves on the way the party should be run.

Nigerians have a, very sadly, short memory. We forget people who were part and parcel of the destruction of this country simply because they change political parties and then they become saints.

It is good when you repent, but we should remind you each time you try to insult our intelligence, to tell us that you are clean and every other person is dirty.

Since el-Rufai took over power, he has kept on unleashing one programme after another that further made things difficult for the people.

We are still within the APC but right now, the problem has gone beyond me and him. It also involves stakeholders in the state: the party is divided."

ALSO READ: el-Rufai threatens to imprison parents whose children are not in school
The National President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

NAN reports that following the scrapping of the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Federal Government, the universities came up with fresh measures to screen candidates for the 2016/2017 admission.

Ogunyemi, who is also a lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, said, I want to say that so far, we are satisfied with the screening procedure.

We cannot be in all the institutions at a time, but reports reaching us and from our observations, the universities are on the right track.

You see, no dictation from outside the universities can stop the institutions from doing this screening.

It is part of the procedures spelt out by the Senate of the various universities for admission of candidates.

Government can only provide guidelines such as quota for the academically less-advantaged areas, but the issue of merit is strictly for the universities to determine.

ALSO READ: Union accuses FG of being the cause of educational backwardness in Nigeria

He urged the universities not to lose focus in ensuring that only qualified candidates were admitted into the respective programmes in the institutions.

According to him, the screening will also raise the quality of undergraduates which will transform to quality graduates.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, had recently announced the scrapping of post-UTME while declaring open a Combined Policy Meeting on admission into the tertiary institutions.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
"That's four years now. The contingent cannot stay in Guinea-Bissau forever. It's costing us a lot, and more and more often the head of state has asked me to organise the demobilisation," said Marcel Alain De Souza, the head of the ECOWAS Commission.

"That's what we are working on, to extend our stay for a year so that the security situation can be reinforced," he added after leaving a meeting with Prime Minister Baciro Dja.

De Souza added that the ECOWAS contingent would concentrate its efforts on training up the tiny state's own armed forces.

"In the next six months, we are going to train men capable of replacing ECOMIB who will then be able to progressively pull out," he said, referring to the ECOWAS military mission.

De Souza had already said Sunday there was "no miracle" for the country's political and economic crises as he made an official visit, saying a country could not be "perpetually in crisis".

Guinea-Bissau is in the throes of a protracted power struggle, which dates back to the sacking of ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) leader Domingos Simoes Pereira in August 2015.

President Jose Mario Vaz named Dja as his choice for premier in June 2016 and a powerful faction of the party have protested the decision ever since.
Abdulrazak al-Nazhuri, chief-of-staff for General Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), also restated a threat to target oil tankers that do not have permission from eastern authorities to dock.

Since a 2011 revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's oil sector has been steadily disrupted by competing governments and their armed allies, as well as by militant attacks.

Haftar's LNA has mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields and their former allies, the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in recent weeks, as the PFG agreed with the U.N. backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to stop blockading the facilities.

"We will enter the ports of Zueitina and Es Sider and Ras Lanuf," Nazhuri told Reuters in an interview at a military base in the eastern town of Marj.

The three ports are occupied by the PFG, which signed the deal with the GNA at the end of last month to enable the Tripoli authorities to restart production, a major step towards asserting its control across the country.

Last week one LNA brigade entered Zueitina in a show of force, though it stopped short of the oil port controlled by the PFG. A resident and a security source said LNA troops were still stationed there on Monday. There was no immediate sign of major military movement near it or the other ports.

"Our entry into the ports is to protect them, not to occupy them or to be substitutes for the mercenaries or thieves who preceded us," Nazhuri said.

BATTLE FOR SIRTE

Haftar and his allies in the east oppose the GNA, saying it is empowering armed groups in the western city of Misrata and Tripoli.

Misrata brigades aligned with the GNA have largely driven Islamic State from their former North African stronghold of Sirte, raising fears splits between eastern and western factions could deepen, reigniting a civil conflict that erupted in 2014.

Sirte lies in the centre of Libya's coastline, just 180 km (112 miles) west of Es Sider and close to other key oil fields and installations.

Haftar's LNA initially said it would lead the campaign against Islamic State in Sirte, but mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields instead.

Partly because of the blockades at the eastern ports, Libya's oil production is currently about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was producing before the 2011 uprising toppled Gaddafi.

The agreement with Jathran was part of efforts to revive output, ease a financial crisis, and bolster the fortunes of the GNA, which has been struggling to impose its authority.

But the deal was controversial, with the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli warning that the payments to Jathran's forces could set a dangerous precedent.

The NOC office in Benghazi, which is loyal to the eastern government and parliament but is meant to be reunifying with the Tripoli branch, also spoke out against the deal, adding to uncertainty over whether exports could resume.

"We have said that in the event that permission is not sought from the National (Oil) Corporation that answers to the (eastern) parliament, we will target the ships with our air force as we deem them militias or smugglers," said Nazhuri.

"The goal is not to threaten any nation but to protect the Libyan people's assets."

All desert oil fields in the east of the country are under the control of Haftar's forces, Nazhuri said.

Nazhuri also defended a decision last week to replace the municipal council in Benghazi with a security official, which raised concerns of growing military control in the east.

He said the LNA had intervened at popular request because "the council was internally split and not offering anything for citizens", seeking to manage the situation until the liberation of Benghazi, "not a return to military rule".

For the past two years Haftar has been waging a military campaign in Benghazi against a coalition of Islamists and other opponents, including Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked militants.
"They targeted perceived supporters of the ruling party, destroying their property," southern province police chief Godwin Phiri told Reuters.

"It is like this was well planned and they were just waiting for the winner to be declared. Calm has now returned following the arrests, he added.

Zambia has been one of Africa's most stable democracies although there were skirmishes during campaigning. The kwacha strengthened 2.5 percent on Tuesday, in a sign investors welcomed an outright winner in the election.

Lungu won 50.35 percent of the vote against 47.63 for Hichilema. If any candidate had won less than 50 percent it would have led to a run-off.

Hichilema's United Party for National Development (UPND) said it will appeal the result at the Constitutional Court, accusing election officials of fraud during the count which began after voting ended last Thursday.

"The PF has effected a coup on Zambias democratic process," Hichilema said in a statement late on Monday.

"We submitted evidence before the declaration of the results regarding the gross irregularities that have taken place. That is why we will not accept the result."

The ruling party and the electoral commission have rejected the UPND's charge.
The U.N. Security Council authorised an extra 4,000 troops on Friday, something Kiir's spokesman immediately said the government would oppose. On Sunday, however, the information minister said the proposal would be considered.

"There are people who are accusing the transitional government of refusing and fighting the U.N. ... this is not accurate," Kiir said at a ceremony to reopen parliament.

"The transitional government has not met to declare its final position. Deliberations will come later on a final position," he said, without saying when the government might make a decision.

The U.N. decision was a reaction to days of fierce fighting in Juba, the country's capital last month. The violence raised fears of a slide back into civil war in the world's youngest nation, which gained independence in 2011.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had uncovered evidence of cold-blooded execution of civilians, including a journalist, by security forces during last month's fighting. The group also found evidence of civilians being raped by soldiers in the chaos of the fighting, it said on Monday.

The U.N. made similar accusations against the military earlier this month.

HRW criticised the U.N. for failing to impose a "long overdue arms embargo", calling for asset freezes and travel bans on those who carried out abuses. "The continued supply of arms only helps fuel the abuses on a larger scale," said Daniel Bekele, the group's Africa director.

Ateny Wek Ateny, the president's spokesman, said he could not comment since he was still going through the report.

Earlier, Kiir had said in his speech to parliament they were investigating reports of sexual assaults, calling them unacceptable.

At least two civilians and a soldier were killed in fighting southwest of the capital on Saturday between Kiir's forces and troops loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar. Each side blamed the other for starting the violence.

The extra U.N. troops, described as a protection force that has the backing of African nations, will fall under the command of UNMISS, the existing 12,000-strong U.N. mission.

The U.N. resolution threatens South Sudan with an arms embargo if it does not cooperate.

Kiir said the government had serious concerns about the U.N. decision but was willing to discuss them to find the best way of "achieving our mutual interests".

Political differences between Kiir and Machar first erupted into conflict in late 2013. A peace deal ended the civil war in August 2015, but sporadic fighting continued.
A major player in the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Iowa says it will continue selling policies in the state in 2017, even as it is dropping out of most other places.

Aetna is the latest large insurer to back away from the Affordable Care Act exchanges in the face of challenging financial results.

Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool," Aetna Chairman Mark Bertolini said in a statement posted on the company's website. Bertolini said 55 percent of its individual on-exchange is new this year, and in the second quarter, the company saw a larger share of that membership seek "high cost care."

Following a thorough business review and in light of a second-quarter pretax loss of $200 million and total pretax losses of more than $430 million since January 2014 in our individual products, we have decided to reduce our individual public exchange presence in 2017, which will limit our financial exposure moving forward," he said.

Aetna announced that it is reducing the number of counties it will offer policies in from 778 to 242.

It is continuing in Iowa, Nebraska, Delaware and Virginia.

Earlier this year, Aetna filed with Iowa regulators seeking an average premium increase of 22.6 percent.

As in Iowa, the company's latest statement pointed not only to rising medical costs but also an inadequate mechanism to adjust risk, which it said is contributing to higher premiums.

Asked why it was continuing its business in Iowa, Aetna said it had analyzed numerous factors.

"We are focusing our individual on-exchange presence where we believe we are best positioned to provide access to quality care at an affordable cost," the company said in an email.

Enrollment for 2017 insurance plans will begin Nov. 1.

In Illinois, Aetna participated in the marketplace in the Chicago area in 2016, but Illinois is not one of the states where the company said it would continue to have a presence.

When the exchanges first opened, in 2014, Aetna offered policies in the Illinois Quad-Cities.

Aetna joins other insurers UnitedHealth Group and Humana Inc. that have reduced their participation in the Affordable Care Act exchanges. UnitedHealth Group announced in April it would leave most markets, including Iowa. Humana made its announcement in July.

Aetna that it will continue to sell individual policies off the exchange. However, people have to buy insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces to be eligible for the subsidies that help lower costs.

The news of Aetna's pullback comes as it and Humana are seeking to merge. The Justice Department has filed suit to oppose it on anti-trust grounds.
A Rock Island man charged in the late April shooting death of 15-year-old Jescie J. Armstrong has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

Trey B. Gustafson, 19, appeared briefly in court Tuesday at the Rock Island County Justice Center and waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

During a preliminary hearing, a judge determines whether there is enough probable cause to justify a trial.

Rock Island County Associate Judge Norma Kauzlarich set a tentative trial date of Oct. 3.

Gustafson will be back in court Sept. 16 for a pretrial conference.

Prosecutors say Armstrong was shot in the head April 27 while Gustafson and co-defendants Kire G. Carr, 18, and Chelsea M. Raker, 21, were committing an armed robbery.

Carr was arrested April 28 in Columbus, Ohio. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Raker, arrested a month later in Georgia, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. She also is charged with aiding a fugitive to flee.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa  U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst got an earful from Iowas veterans about their problems with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

More than 50 people traveled from across the region to a veterans roundtable Ernst held Tuesday at the University of Northern Iowa campus. Their frustrations ranged from wait times to problems with using the Veterans Choice Program to their treatment at the Iowa City VA hospital.

But for many, their problems could be summed up in just one sentence.

Weve got to get back to the old way where the VA was started to take care of us, to take care of the widows and the orphans, and weve forgotten that, and until that changes, we can have these (forums) every day, Black Hawk County VA Director Kevin Dill said.

Dill joined Lyman Campbell, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Waverly, in expressing a frustration about seeing a new doctor each time they visit the VA to see a specialist. Dill explained how a new doctor comes up with a new diagnosis or enters something wrong into the patients record.

Each time that happens, Dill said, it bogs down the system.

Donald Shellenberger, with Waterloos AMVETS organization, added that he would like to see specialists travel to regions occasionally rather than have veterans regularly travel hundreds of miles round trip to access care in Iowa City.

The issue of veterans mental health did not come up during the forum, but Ernst, R-Iowa, made clear during a brief news conference that she is continuing to push for answers to better address mental health care through the VA.

Ernsts advocacy has come to light especially after the death by suicide last month of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Brandon Ketchum of Davenport, who had been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nothing will ever bring him (Ketchum) back, but what we need to do is look forward and find a way to correct this epidemic, Ernst said of the estimated 20 veterans who die by suicide each day.

Veterans at Tuesdays forum, however, were focused on frustrations with the top levels at the VA administration, both here and nationally, as well as their ability to access care through the system in Iowa City.

We have some of the very finest receptionists and lower-level people in the system in Iowa City and this area up here; the administrators above them, to my way of thinking are the problem, Shellenberger said.

Ernst said she sees those problems as starting at the top of the VA with its head, Secretary Robert McDonald.

Although McDonald was confirmed before Ernst was elected to the U.S. Senate, Ernst said her initial impression of him was that he would be a go-getter and someone who would change the system. But since then, she said, shes seen little follow through and now advocates for his removal.

They have forgotten that the VA exists for the veterans, so we need someone that truly believes that, and well make sure that the best interests of the veterans are taken to heart, Ernst said of a possible replacement to McDonald in the next administration.

Most veterans focused on frustrations, none of which Ernst said she was surprised to hear after holding similar forums across Iowa. But Ernst said part of the reason for holding the discussions is to invite examples of success or proposed solutions.

Cory Champagne, a U.S. Navy veteran, voiced concerns, but he also offered the few positive comments on the VA system.

Champagne moved to Waterloo from the Baltimore, Maryland, region last April, and he said the system here is much improved from his dealings with the VA in Maryland.

I want to comment and praise the way things are done differently here than in Maryland, Champagne said. Its night and day in terms of how fast you can get things done there and that you can get things done here.

He also proposed one solution to the lack of providers in the VA system, as well as a way to employ veterans, by following Virginias lead in certifying veterans with medical backgrounds in the service so they can be more easily employed at hospitals and clinics after they leave the service.
This might be hard to believe about an 83 year-old man who has been a U.S. senator for 36 years but there are still some things that Iowans need to know about Chuck Grassley.

If he believes that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) should be repealed and replaced then what should the replacement plan be?

When is the cut-off date for when a president cant make any further appointments to the Supreme Court even though the Constitution does not specify one?

As the Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee, why are there so many judicial vacancies in the federal court system?

Does he think that U.S. citizens should be tried in military courts at Guantanamo Bay?

Should there be a religious test to determine who is allowed to immigrate to the U.S.?

Can a person who is banned from flying on an airplane be allowed to purchase as many guns and as much ammunition as they want?

Does he fully endorse Donald Trump and does Donald Trump fully endorse him?

All of these questions and more could be answered during a series of debates with his Democratic opponent Patty Judge. I know that at this late date there would not be enough time to do a Full-Grassley and hold a debate in every county in Iowa, but we could at least get one in each of the four congressional districts. If not, then one final question, why is he afraid of debating Patty Judge and coming clean with the people of Iowa?

Bill Jacobs

Clinton
When lifetime appointments were added to the U.S. Supreme Court, the life expectancy was about 55. That factor should be considered in an overhaul of Iowa's court system.

Iowa will never have justice until the Iowa Supreme Court rules are changed to match most of the U.S. Supreme Court rules, such as lifetime appointment, which should be until age 80 in Iowa.

Few people realize that this country is now run by bureaucrats. They protect each other. Some problem comes up and they help each other hide it or get rid of it. And the sword of Damocles hanging by the slenderest of threads hangs over the Iowa Supreme Court justices. They have to worry about keeping their jobs and politics comes into their decisions as does Darwins survival, even though they swear it does not.

If an Iowa Supreme Court ruling went against some Iowa Bureau, justices have to worry about the bureaucratic backlash. The members would say it does not affect them, but most people on any type of job have to watch what they say or do, and rightly so.

When Iowa protects its judges through 80 years old, then justice will be provided and if one such justice does something that breaks a law, impeachment is always available. Until such time, the public will see Iowa Supreme Court decisions that protect the bureaucrats.

Fred R. Benton, PhD.

Sioux City
SPRINGFIELD  A task force investigating life insurance companies practice of withholding unclaimed death benefits will convene statewide hearings this week.

Democratic Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs created the panel after audits, which were conducted on behalf of his office since 2011, identified more than $550 million in unpaid benefits. This weeks hearing, the first of at least four planned across the state, will be 10 a.m. Wednesday in the council chambers in Normal (Illinois) Town Hall, 11 Uptown Circle.

Meanwhile, a bill awaiting Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners signature would require insurers to check Social Security records to identify deceased policyholders whose benefits remain unclaimed by survivors. The bill passed unanimously in the closing days of the General Assemblys regular spring session.

While the Illinois Department of Insurance oversees the industry, Frerichs has taken an interest in the issue in his role as the states steward of unclaimed property that includes insurance benefits and bank accounts.

Ive never met a man or a woman who purchased life insurance with the expectation that the death benefits would be kept by the insurance company rather than paid to their family, Frerichs said in a prepared statement that announced the hearing. Families need to know how to protect themselves from insurance companies who manipulate the rules to avoid paying death benefits.

Greg Rivara, a spokesman for the treasurers office, said insurance companies wait until an actuarially determined age, typically around 100, to begin paying out benefits if they havent been notified of a policyholders death.

As a result, a surviving spouse or children may wait decades to receive money to which theyre entitled, Rivara said. He added that family members sometimes are unaware that they are named as beneficiaries of life-insurance policies.

Last year, three subsidiaries of Chicago-based insurance company Kemper Corp. sued the treasurers office in Sangamon County Circuit Court to stop the audits used to identify unpaid benefits.

In court filings in the ongoing lawsuit, the companies argue that their policy agreements dont require them to begin paying benefits until they receive official notification of a policyholders death.

Mike Schrimpf, whose public affairs firm Red Tack Strategy works for Kemper, said there are other issues with the treasurers audits and the proposed law as well.

Schrimpf, Rauners former deputy chief of staff, wrote in an email that the audits for Frerichs office have created a windfall for Connecticut-based audit firm Verus Financial, which has received more than $21.5 million in fees since 2011.

Verus takes a cut of the unclaimed money it tracks down from insurance companies, and the state then has to make up the difference with money that would otherwise go into its severely underfunded pension systems, Schrimpf said.

Obviously, a better way to do this is to have the state do all the work itself or at least not pay out massive contingency fees, he said.

Rivara said the money is tied to the pension funds because thats the way state law establishes the treasurers unclaimed property program.

When Verus finds it, Verus does get paid for their work, and they should be paid for their work, he said, noting that government agencies across the state hire outside auditors all the time.

The real issue, Rivara said, is that forcing insurance companies to pay out benefits theyd otherwise hold on to hurts their bottom lines  or, as Kemper put it in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could have a material adverse effect on the Companys profitability, financial position and cash flows.

The Frerichs task force includes members of the General Assembly, Citizen Action/Illinois, AARP and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) representatives of Kemper were invited to participate but havent said whether they will, Rivara said.
DES MOINES  Landowners in the path of an underground oil pipeline being built across Iowa were joined by protesters Tuesday calling for the Iowa Utilities Board to address permit violations, establish a liaison to handle complaints and halt construction when proper methods are not being followed.

Mahaska County landowner Pam Alexander said Iowans' property rights are being trampled by a Texas-based company granted an IUB permit last March as part of a 1,168-mile interstate crude oil pipeline from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dakota Access officials plan to complete the $3.8 billion pipeline by the end of the year.

"Landowners who signed voluntary easements are not being treated right," Alexander said during a protest held outside the IUB headquarters. "The IU Board needs to appoint someone to take care of our concerns. We need someone to stand up for Iowans who live here, pay taxes here and love this state dearly."

Likewise, Dick and Judy Lamb, a farm couple with land west of Ames that will be cut diagonally by the pipeline, said they were informed Monday that their crops had been cut but were told they would not be notified 48 hours prior to construction commencing on their land.

"There just aren't words to describe having the government seize your land and destroy it and have no recourse and nothing you can do. It's an anger and a hopelessness that I have difficulty expressing," Dick Lamb said.

Landowners and protesters delivered petitions Tuesday demanding the Iowa Utilities Board respond to complaints over violations they alleged have been committed by construction crews building the pipeline in Iowa.

"The fault rests here with the Iowa Utilities Board and the government of the state of Iowa. They allowed this to happen, they enabled it to happen and now they're washing their hands of it, walking away and not even listening to our complaints or the violations," he told the protest rally. "We're not pleading, we're not begging, we're demanding it. They need to set up somebody to deal with the infractions."

Dakota Access spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger refuted the claims made during Tuesday's protest rally.

"We are constructing this pipeline in accordance with applicable laws, and the local, state and federal permits and approvals we have received," Dillinger said in a statement. "This is an important energy infrastructure project that benefits all Americans and our national economy."

However, Carolyn Raffensperger of the Science and Environmental Health Network in Ames said there is evidence construction crews - most from outside of Iowa - have ignored accepted practices of not working dirt when it's too wet, mixing clay and topsoil, contributing to river sedimentation and other concerns documented by "watchdogs" monitoring pipeline work.

The opposition groups say state regulators have been missing in action after approving the project permits.

"The basis of legitimate government is the consent of the governed and we are here to tell you that we have withdrawn our consent," Raffensperger said. "You do not have our consent to take landowners' land, to pollute our water and to threaten the future of future generations."

Protesters said state officials need to establish a public liaison officer similar to South Dakota and create a process for receiving and addressing complaints about pipeline construction rather than continue a "blank check" arrangement currently allowing problems to go unchecked.

During Tuesday's monthly IUB meeting, David Lynch, the board's staff general counsel, said a motion was filed Monday by the Sierra Club asking the Iowa board to appoint a public liaison officer. IUB staff is awaiting a response from the company before reviewing the request and making a recommendation.

Six complaints have been filed with board regarding the construction process, with three having been resolved or closed and one unlikely to proceed without follow-up information from the complainant. Another request relates to the issue of a 48-hour advance notice to landowners, he said.

In providing a construction update, Lynch said pipeline-related field activities are taking place in all but two counties -- Webster or Calhoun. About 60 percent of the right of way in Iowa has been cleared, 40 percent graded, 15 percent with trenches dug and 20 percent with pipeline "stringing and welding" taking place, he added.

"In general, the project appears to be the most advanced at the northwest and southeast ends of the approved route and less advanced at the central Iowa area like Story, Boone, Buena Vista and Cherokee counties," he told IUB members.

Almost all of the county compensation commission hearings have been held, with the last six hearings scheduled to be completed by Aug. 24. He did not know if any appeals had been filed regarding the compensation commission awards.

Lynch said a number of challenges have been filed and consolidated in Polk County District Court to the board's March 10 order granting Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, a hazardous liquid pipeline permit and the power to use eminent domain to acquire farmland for the pipeline. A hearing is scheduled Friday on a motion for stay of construction activities taking place on the petitioners' respective properties, he said.
TRUMP: "I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats.

THE FACTS: NATO established a Defense Against Terrorism program in 2004, long before Trump ran for president. And its latest efforts in Iraq were already under discussion when Trump criticized the alliance in March.

Trump's comments reflected a broader frustration of the U.S. and others that NATO members weren't playing an active role against IS in Iraq and Syria.

At a July summit, the alliance agreed to contribute aircraft and conduct training in Iraq. It also has stepped up intelligence coordination. No one has cited Trump as a motivation for such decisions.
Over 360 entrees from 132 artists were submitted for the South Dakota Governor's seventh biennial Art Exhibition, and it's taken over a year for the judges and curators to pick the right work.

"It's hard to hit all of the bases," said Denise Du Broy, curator of the Dahl Arts Center and one of the judges. "But we've got four jurors from different parts of the state, and it's hard to get more democratic than that. We all know what artwork is like in South Dakota."

The exhibition will debut at the Dahl on Friday and will remain until Dec. 10. It is the premier showcase for the most gifted contemporary artists living and working in South Dakota.

Over the course of 2017, the exhibit will make its way to the South Dakota Art Museum on the South Dakota State University campus in Brookings, the John A. Day Gallery on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion, and the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls.

Curators and directors of each of the four participating galleries took part in the selection process, inviting nine artists to participate and then holding an open call for other participants, eventually accepting 49 of the 132 artists who submitted entrees.

"There are artists on the eastern side of the state that I don't know as well, artists on the western side that others don't know," Du Broy said. "So we had to match up our knowledge, and through that we found the artists we were in agreement on."

Featured artists

The nine featured artists include Dale Lamphere, artist laureate of the state of South Dakota; Dwayne Wilcox, whose "Cut & Paste" exhibit is currently at the Dahl; Paul Peterson, an artist active in the Biennial since its inception in 2003; Roger Broer of Hill City; Keith Brave Heart of Rosebud; Diana Behl of Brookings; and Carl Grupp, Ceca Cooper and Anna Youngers of Sioux Falls.

This is the first year the Dahl has served as the premier location of the exhibit since 2012, the year of the fifth biennial.

"It's exciting, because we do all of the intake," Du Broy said. "We're unpacking and seeing the work for the first time. There's always a difference between the digital images we juried and the piece in real life, so we're always eager to find what the works actually look like."

Gov. Dennis Daugaard attended the show's tour when it appeared at the Dahl in 2015 and spoke for a few minutes. Daugaard has a previous commitment this year, but the governor is always invited to write a statement and open letter for the catalog, look at all of the images and endorse the show.

South Dakota Arts Council Director Patrick Baker has written a statement for the catalog and will appear at the reception, where hundreds of Black Hills residents and visitors will get a chance to view 60 pieces of art in what Du Broy called the largest volume of work in the Biennial exhibition's history.

"We've included a number of very large paintings," Du Broy said. "There are nine fairly large two-dimensional pieces this year, and they've very impressive."

Du Broy said that the exhibition is one of the most diverse they've had, ranging from classical figurative work to abstract contemporary work "and points where they meet in between."

"There's always a danger of jurors going in one direction over if they can't see past their own personal interests," Du Broy said. "This show doesn't do that. We chose to steer clear of only accepting commercial work because we wanted it to be about the aesthetic quality of the work, not just how easy it is to sell it.

"The show really has the ability to show and define what's going on, artwise, in the state of South Dakota. It's going to be a very strong show."
HOT SPRINGS -- When the Dave Scott Memorial Walk/Run kicked off on July 23, racers had the fun of seeing their finish time in bold bright numbers on a brand new, double-sided digital race clock as they crossed the finish line. Well, not quite brand new, because although the clock only arrived in town at the end of June, it had already been used to time the Firecracker racers on the Fourth of July and the Dakota Challenge Archery Triathlon.

A race clock doesnt just keep official time, said Dusty Pence of Challenge HS. A visible clock adds to the excitement of the event. Participants and onlookers alike watch the clock counting down the seconds as the runners approach the finish line.

The clock was purchased thanks to the generosity of the First Interstate Fall River Area Fund of the South Dakota Community Foundation, which made a grant distribution of $2,500 to Challenge HS. Challenge put in the remaining $1,000 need for the purchase of the clock.

Challenge also purchased a stopwatch, which can be used in combination with the clock for precise timing of races. Challenge will charge a modest fee for the use of the clock; those fees will be used to build up a fund ready to handle repairs and eventual replacement of the clock, an eventuality that Pence hopes will be in the very distant future.

The clock will be used in August and September for two exciting inaugural events: August 20th, for the Wildcat Classic mountain biking race and on September 24th for the Climb Hot Springs stair climbing race, sponsored by the local Rotary club. It will also be used in September at the Southern Hills Triathlon and at the Boys & Girls Clubs Light & Fright fun run in October.

All in all, a great debut for the first year owning the clock, Pence commented. The wide range of community groups that can benefit from the club was likely a big reason why the foundation helped to fund this clock. It was certainly the primary motivation for Challenge to pursue the purchase and commit funds to the effort.

One of Challenges primary goals is to build a race kit for use by event planners in the area. This clock is the most important component in that kit, Pence said. It is the one piece that individual groups simply cannot afford to purchase for their event.

Challenge Hot Springs is under the fiscal sponsorship of the Black Hills Area Community Foundation and plans to apply for non-profit status in January of 2017. Pence can be reached at 605-890-1515 or info@ChallengeHS.com.
Math isn't fun.

While not true for everyone, that sentiment is especially common among middle school students, who are easily bored and distracted.

But Rapid City School Superintendent Lori Simon wants to introduce some excitement to the oft-maligned subject under a new partnership with the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

If funding for the proposed initiative is approved, middle school math classes in the Rapid City school district will soon be bolstered with a new range of activities and educational programming geared toward increasing participation and scores.

"Math is an area that, not only district-wide but nationwide, that we have to take a harder look at," Simon said. "We know that when we looked at our math scores that we need to do better. We need to show kids that math can be fun, it can be engaging, and it can lead to a rewarding career."

Simon was house-hunting in the months before she moved to Rapid City when she met with School of Mines President Heather Wilson. The duo decided to share ideas on how their two institutions could collaborate for the betterment of the student body and the community as a whole. One idea that rose to the forefront was an initiative to get middle school students interested in math by using the resources available at the School of Mines.

Math is the language of engineering and science, Wilson said. "Being innumerate should be just as unacceptable as being illiterate."

Wilson wants to create a culture change in which students are given more real-world evidence of the power of math and math knowledge.

The South Dakota Board of Regents supported the partnership as a potential line item in Gov. Dennis Daugaard's proposed budget for 2017-2018. The initiative, as approved by the Regents, would cost $53,500.

It would be led by a middle school math teacher in the summer and a School of Mines math faculty member on a part-time basis. The two would help administer a series of new programs and activities, including:

 Increased participation in extracurricular math programs, clubs, and competitions.

 A MathCircle learning program.

 Coordinating classroom visits by guest mathematicians.

 Adding mentorships on math research projects to be exhibited at local science fairs.

 Developing workshops and seminars related to mathematics competitions.

The overall hope is to create more extracurricular math clubs for middle school students, not just in Rapid City, but in all of western South Dakota, Wilson said. The more students who are engaged in math outside the classroom, the rationale goes, the better the participation in state and nationwide math competitions.

This competitive angle is important to the success of initiative. You learn a skill, you apply that skill, and then you compete against others in a team and it becomes a lot more fun, Wilson said.

If all goes according to plan, the program will increase the number of annual middle school math competitions at the School of Mines from one to four, and create opportunities to participate in the American Mathematical Competitions.

Putting students in contact with role models in the community, such as professional scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, can give their budding young minds something real to strive for, Simon said.

I have 2,800 jazzed engineers and scientists I get to work with who are under the age of 22, Wilson said. And we encourage our students to engage in the community.

Wilson said she likes to instill in her students the value of community leadership and partnership.

And one of the best partners to serve, she added, is the public schools.
Lawyers for those charged in the murder of Jessica Rehfeld on Monday asked a Seventh Circuit Judge for additional time to go over their case material.

The defense teams of Jonathon Klinetobe, 26, Richard Hirth, 35, and David Schneider, 24, were granted 60 days to evaluate new evidence submitted by prosecutors. Judge Heidi Linngren scheduled their next hearing for October.

The men, detained at the Pennington County Jail, have been charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping in the first degree and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping in the first degree.

Authorities charge that Rehfeld's ex-boyfriend, Klinetobe, hired Hirth and Schneider to stab her to death on May 18, 2015, and help him bury her body in the woods south of Rockerville. Rapid City police considered Rehfeld, 22, a missing person for close to a year, until a witness came forward this May and led law enforcement to her grave site.

At the hearing Monday morning, each defendant was joined by one new lawyer: Michael Stonefield for Klinetobe; Joseph Kosel for Hirth; and Gregory Erlandson for Schneider.
Kyrie Murrie of Rapid City stood in San Diego's Friendship Park, watching a church service held at the border fence between the California city and Tijuana, Mexico.

There, families separated by immigration laws and a physical fence could meet for the service, but because of the mesh over the fence, they could only touch their pinky fingers as a way to make physical contact.

"It was extremely heartbreaking," said Murrie, 21. "People can't hug or share food like they used to. This is the only way families can visit with loved ones who have been deported. It's a bittersweet place to be."

Murrie visited the park, along with other stops on both sides of the border, as a part of a mission trip with American Baptist International Ministry from July 24-31. The trip was meant to help members understand the fraught immigration issue from multiple perspectives, from border patrol agents to those deported.

Murrie, a student starting at nursing school at St. Cloud State University in the fall, said in an interview shortly before the trip that she had a heart for missions, having traveled to Haiti several times since 2011 as a part of a medical mission trip. Still, she said she wasn't sure what to expect on the trip.

"I'm going to take it day by day," Murrie said in the interview.

What Murrie found was firsthand proof that the United States' immigration issue is as emotional and as difficult an issue today as it has ever been, including on the presidential campaign trail.

Stops during the trip included Tijauna's Casa del Migrante, where people who have been deported stay as they try to get on their feet; Tijuana's shelter for abused women and children; and a tour with the border patrol. The group also took hikes through the desert to get an understanding of what it was like to be in a migrant's shoes.

"We did not make it to the wall," Murrie said. "It's a tough journey, and that's the reality of people trying to cross ... they face a difficult, dangerous journey. I got sick, my heart was racing badly."

Murrie and company left bottles of water in the desert, meant to hopefully keep people from dying of dehydration, and also left crosses in remembrance of those who passed away or had gone missing in the desert.

At Casa del Migrante, Murrie met with people who were trying to find ways to live in Tijuana after being deported. The home helps people find jobs and apartments and allows them to stay for 15 days, giving them meals, basic toiletries and the opportunity to meet with a psychiatrist.

"Sixty percent of them have not lived in Mexico during their adult life, and sometimes they don't even speak Spanish," Murrie said. "It's their home country, but it's basically foreign to them."

The charity also helps people get the documents they need, such as birth certificates, and helps them to meet with a lawyer to explore what options they might have for finding a visa back to the United States. That journey isn't easy.

"Some of them definitely want to try to go back, but it's difficult," Murrie said. "Many have accepted that they're going to have to make a new life in Mexico."

Murrie said that one man she spoke to had been separated from his wife and three children (who were all born in the United States), and that he got very emotional speaking about what his options were.

Most of the people in Casa del Migrante were men. In the same city, Murrie and company visited a women and children's shelter with women (primarily from Mexico) who had made their own pilgrimage, one necessary to escape abusive husbands and fathers.

"It's hard for them to be there, but they want to find their kids a better life," Murrie said.

The trip continued with a tour with the Border Patrol, which Murrie described as "hard."

"We spent most of the first half of the week listening to stories from people who were just trying to go to America to work or allow their children to learn and live better," Murrie said. "Listening to them (the agents), it was all about drugs and criminals."

Murrie said that it was a bit of a shock to the system, especially after hearing that those in the group who had made this trip in past years had previously met Border Patrol Agents who said that they were sympathetic to families trying to cross but had to do their job to keep criminals and drugs out.

"We brought that up to them, 'What about families?'" Murrie said. "The answer we heard was, 'It's probably just cartels taking drugs over the border.' It was hard to see that after everything we'd heard."

Murrie said, however, that she saw the importance of their work.

"There are drugs, and there are bad people, and we need to work to keep that out," Murrie said. "It's just that there are also people escaping abuse or poverty who are basically refugees, and it's hard for them. The process to come here legally is long, so many think their only chance is to cross illegally."

Murrie said that the trip ended on an encouraging note with a meeting with Border Angels, an organization that encourages community education and awareness of border issues and engages in activities such as placing water along the border and taking clothes and toiletries to shelters.

"Their main concern is safety," Murrie said. "The trip through the desert is dangerous, and the environment isn't always welcoming. Their work is worth it."

Murrie said that her biggest takeaway after meeting people on both sides of the argument and the border was the importance of listening, whether it was in person or online. "These stories are on YouTube," she said.

Murrie acknowledged that South Dakotans don't often hear firsthand accounts, but felt it was essential top get a deeper understanding of the situation.

"I think the biggest thing to do is to listen to the stories," Murrie said. "To meet these people and hear their stories makes a difference. You have to listen with an open mind and open heart."
WASHINGTON | Apparently we've reached the part where Donald Trump, not satisfied with having demolished the Republican Party, tries to bring down the rest of the political system as well. No one should be surprised.

The garbage that comes out of his mouth gets more vile and putrid by the day. On Tuesday, he suggested that fervent defenders of the right to keep and bear arms could take things into their own hands if Hillary Clinton were elected. It was a shocking incitement to political violence.

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump told a rally in North Carolina. "Although the Second Amendment people  maybe there is, I don't know."

We all understood exactly what he was saying. House Speaker Paul Ryan suggested that perhaps he was trying to be funny. Since Trump knows nothing, perhaps Ryan will explain to him that five of our 44 presidents have been shot while in office.

A day later, Trump was equally unhinged at a Florida rally when he went on a bizarre rant about the terrorist Islamic State, also known as ISIS. "In many respects, you know, they honor President Obama. ISIS is honoring President Obama. He's the founder of ISIS. He's the founder of ISIS. The founder. He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton."

Be honest, all you Republicans who support Trump despite knowing better. If you were walking down the sidewalk and someone coming toward you was screaming those words verbatim, you'd cross the street. This is the man you want to entrust with the nuclear codes? Seriously?

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt tried gamely to help Trump clean up the mess. "I know what you meant," he told the candidate Thursday, "you meant that (Obama) created the vacuum, he lost the peace."

"No, I meant that he's the founder of ISIS, I do," Trump said. "He was the most valuable player."

Hewitt suggested this line of attack was a mistake. Trump's reply: "No, it's no mistake. Everyone's liking it. I think they're liking it."

So much for the idea that Trump, at some point, will undergo a metamorphosis and turn into a normal candidate, the kind who doesn't go around encouraging political assassination or accusing the president of founding a terrorist group. If the cheering crowds at his hate-filled rallies are happy, Trump is happy.

Speaker Ryan and all you other reluctant Trump supporters, you know as well as I do that he's not going to change. Not ever. You will recall that this was supposed to be the week when Trump turned to the economy. He even gave a teleprompter-aided speech Monday that was generally praised by conservatives, who clearly are willing to grade their candidate on an absurdly generous curve. But within a day, Trump was back to setting new lows in the history of modern presidential campaigning. If there is a trophy for Most Dishonest and Destructive, Trump is determined to retire it.

He is also determined, apparently, to rationalize his likely defeat by claiming the election was stolen from him.

The other trope he keeps returning to these days is that the election is somehow being "rigged." He claims that the striking down of discriminatory voter ID laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin and elsewhere would make this possible. He fails to explain why Republican officials  who administer the voting process in most states  would want to steal the election from their own party.

The point isn't logic, of course. It's emotion. Trump strikes a chord with Republicans who cannot bring themselves to admit they were beaten fair and square by Barack Obama, not once but twice. Trump has long sought to delegitimize Obama by refusing to disown all the "birther" nonsense and insinuating that the president has some sympathy for jihadists. Now Trump seeks to delegitimize the likely next president as well by claiming the election will be rigged.

In 2000, after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Florida recount must cease, Al Gore graciously conceded to George W. Bush. Gore said he was doing so "for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy."

Can anyone imagine Trump ever giving such a speech?

Trump wants to stoke anger, resentment and victimhood. He abases our democracy  and Republican elected officials abase themselves by supporting him. History will have no mercy for Trump's enablers.
Googles appeal in anti-monopoly case set for August 17

MOSCOW, August 16 (RAPSI) - The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals will continue considering an appeal filed by Google against a ruling that the US company had broken Russian anti-monopoly legislation by abusing its dominance on the Russian market of mobile applications, according to court records.

The case is heard behind closed doors.

On September 18, 2015, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) found Google guilty of violation the legislation.

On March 15, 2016, the Moscow Commercial Court dismissed Googles petition requesting to abolish the FAS decision and order issued in September 2015, which stated that the company had violated the Federal Law on Protection of Competition and accusing it of abuse of dominance on the market of preinstalled applications in the Android operating system.

FAS requested Google to remedy the detected breeches by amending agreements the company made with producers of devices until December 18. The case was opened at the request of Yandex, one of the largest internet companies in Europe, operating Russia's most popular search engine and a website. Google filed a lawsuit against the FAS order but it was dismissed by the Moscow Commercial Court.

At the end of March, FAS informed that Google had submitted the complete set of data with regard to the companys operations on the Russian market in 2014, including information about earnings on the part of Google Play and related products. At that time the antimonopoly watchdog stated that it could calculate the amount of fine, but did not make it public.

On April 19, Igor Artemyev, FAS Head, said that Google was to be fined for its operations on the Russian market; however, the amount of the fine would be much less than in Europe.

In August, FAS fined Google Inc. 438 million rubles ($6.7 million) for violating antimonopoly legislation by preinstalling applications on Android smartphones.

Earlier, a Google representative said that the company had lodged an appeal against this decision. According to this representative, Google continued to cooperate with Russian authorities and explain how Android ecosystem operated.

[It  ed.] actively encourages competition allowing consumers to get mobile devices of superior quality across the price range,  the Google representative noted, adding that the platform permitted consumers and producers of gadgets, as well as carrier service providers to make choices.

In its turn, Yandex claimed that Google was trying to deflect attention away from the main issue of the case, since the FAS decision and order have nothing to do with Android merits as a platform and in no way restrict its development and potential. According to a Yandex representative, the question was primarily about anti-competition practices, i.e. bans and restrictions on the distribution of competitors applications Google used to prohibit them preinstall applications and to gain unjustified advantage.
Russian Authors Societys head charged with fraud to remain in detention

MOSCOW, August 16 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko)  Moscows Tagansky District Court on Tuesday extended the detention of the Russian Authors Societys (RAO) head Sergei Fedotov charged with a 500 million ruble ($7.8 mln) fraud until September 17, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The hearing was held behind closed doors upon investigators petition.

The Moscow City Court earlier invalidated the Tagansky courts refusal to hear an appeal filed by Fedotov against initiation of a criminal case against him and remanded the complaint for reconsideration because of committed violations.

As previously reported, employees of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) revealed fraud scheme over illegal alienation of RAOs property. Damage to the RAOs property amounted to 500 million rubles ($7.6 mln). In July, Fedotov was charged with commission of large scale fraud.

Fedotovs lawyer Denis Baluyev told journalists that his client is a victim of calumniation.

The Russian Authors Society is a non-governmental organization created in 1993 for collective management of authors rights. At this moment over 25,000 people are listed as its members.
While some thrive on the flurry of activity that surrounds life in the city, others may seek a more tranquil atmosphere with fewer neighbors and more trees.

For those in the latter group, a move outside New Jersey -- or far away from a major city -- isn't necessary. You can tap into your inner-Henry David Thoreau at a number of wooded retreats available throughout the state, including a cedar log cabin set on nine acres of land about an hour outside of Center City Philadelphia and a two-bedroom home in a private lake community about an hour outside downtown Manhattan.

Want to be closer to the Jersey Shore while still getting the privacy a wooded lot affords? There are properties that fit that bill too.

Check out a nearly 2,000-square-foot cabin that's surrounded by a large swath of state-owned land in Monmouth County and a one-bedroom home on a five acre lot in Atlantic County.

Take a look inside those homes, as well as several others that offer a more rural lifestyle, in the gallery posted above. All of the homes are on the market and looking for a buyer.

Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance!
J. Robert Smith

Elections aren't about finalities, they're about processes. They may be about departures. Case in point, the 2016 presidential contests, which feature Hillary and The Donald. If Trump wins, the process of the November election might start a departure in more than politics. It could be historic. It won't be good, however, for the global elites inhabiting New York, DC, Boston, and San Francisco -- or wherever else ivory towers, mahogany-paneled offices, pricey secured buildings, and gated communities are found. Trump's election would have reverberations overseas, too, in London, Paris, Berlin -- yes, wherever else ivory towers, et al, are found.

A Hillary victory means there won't be a departure; merely a doubling-down by the elite, as they act with renewed zest to secure their interests -- versus the national welfare. The Great Imposition -- a war waged on average Americans -- will continue with awful consequences.

Impose and divide  divide to conquer. Blacks against whites. (That's more Milwaukees.) Hispanics against Anglos. (That's more illegals and all legalized). Poor against rich. (Lots more free sh*t.) Takers versus producers. (Lots more free sh*t.) Marginalize the working class. (Further cede manufacturing to the Chinese; shut down coal and domestic energy production, generally.) Demean the middle classes. (Who knuckle-drag their bibles, guns, and backwater values through life.)

The worldview among many of our elite is anti-nation -- dare we say -- anti-American, anti-law and order, anti-tradition, anti-faith (with exceptions carved out for Islam), anti-durable values and enduring truths, like marriage between a man and woman, and family, as defined by a man, woman, and children. The elite, so very cosmopolitan, have evolved past antique beliefs and ways.

The dangers are domestic and foreign. President Hillary and anti-nation elites would continue failed policies toward Islamic militants and insurgencies. They'd serve up more perverse rationalizations for why Islam doesn't animate jihadists. More dangers in the offing with rogue nations Iran and North Korea. Mounting danger in Asia, with China, where the PRC is boldly militarizing the South China Sea.

All pose existential threats, to one degree or another. To the elite? Obstacles to the world they've created for themselves. Perhaps to be solved with appeasements, like tribute (it worked for the Romans -- for a while.). Ransoms (monetary and otherwise). Accommodations. Retreats. Misdirection and outright lies.

Peggy Noonan just penned a brilliant analysis for the Wall Street Journal. She captured the global elite, nailing them to a "T."

Referring to the nearly million Syrians (disproportionately males) admitted to Germany last year by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Noonan wrote:

But there was a fundamental problem with the decision that you can see rippling now throughout the West. Ms. Merkel had put the entire burden of a huge cultural change not on herself and those like her but on regular people who live closer to the edge, who do not have the resources to meet the burden, who have no particular protection or money or connections. Ms. Merkel, her cabinet and government, the media and cultural apparatus that lauded her decision were not in the least affected by it and likely never would be.

Nothing in their lives will get worse. The challenge of integrating different cultures, negotiating daily tensions, dealing with crime and extremism and fearfulness on the street-that was put on those with comparatively little, whom I've called the unprotected.

More from Noonan:

The powerful show no particular sign of worrying about any of this. When the working and middle class pushed back in shocked indignation, the people on top called them "xenophobic," "narrow-minded," "racist." The detached, who made the decisions and bore none of the costs, got to be called "humanist," "compassionate," and "hero of human rights."

So, too, on these shores, our elite aim to imitate Merkel, from Obama, who aids and abets illegals, and who's pushing the import of Syrians, to Paul Ryan (an elitist on the spectrum), who speaks of compassion and fairness toward illegals and Muslim refugees. Never mind they'll be no costs attendant to the speaker. But Ryan isn't merely being abstract. His favoring amnesty serves cheap-labor business interests at the expense of struggling citizens.

Mind you, a Trump victory bringing about a departure will come with disruptions and conflict aplenty. Wider political and societal changes invariably do. The drama of recentering America will play out over years. The progressives and New Dealers didn't succeed in remaking society immediately. Both had epicenters: industrialization, World War I, and Wilson's presidency for the progressives; the Great Depression for FDR and his New Dealers.

Trump represents an opportunity for a new direction -- a recreation and amalgam of two critical strains. One nationalist; in other words, a reemphasis on the preeminence of American interests and the American people. The other, conservative, as defined practically and politically by diminishing Washington's power internally through reduction and decentralization, with much power returning to the states, localities, and citizens.

And companion social conservativism, which enlists Middle Americans to vigorously battle smothering -- elitist -- PC; which pushes for a reinvestment of traditional values and virtues in the culture and academy and arts; which counteracts cancerous and nihilistic relativism with bold proclamations for "eternal truths" that asserts the right of the faithful to be openly, proudly faithful.

Ambitious? Right. We can't afford not to be ambitious.

A Hillary win this November assures an exacerbation -- and likely, acceleration -- of troubles and conflict for a decaying, fractious society. Her victory would embolden the elite to greater highhandedness, to greater "bullying" and imposition of its worldview on citizens, who resent the trampling of their beliefs and values, and resent the elites' notion that America is nothing more than an open-air mall, where anything and everything American can be sold, traded, bartered or discarded where people's livelihoods and welfare are subordinate to a global economy that mostly benefits the privileged... where nation and patriotism are dismissed as the province of yokels.

A Trump win would mark a departure, both destructive and creative. Global elites would have to find new ways in a new world. It's not what they want. With Hillary, though, the fuse will burn down and the powder keg will blow sky-high. That's when, not if. The consequences of an explosion are surely cataclysmic but, otherwise, unpredictable, with one exception: it won't end well for global elites.
Guwahati, August 15: The 70th Independence Day was celebrated at Guwahati Press Club (GPC) with scribes, senior citizens and members of civil society congregating enthusiastically on the occasion. As senior journalist Anup Sarma hoisted the tricolor, Journalists Forum Assam president Rupam Barua spoke of the freedom movements that began earlier than the first nationalistic struggle of 1857, followed by the Mahatma Gandhi-led Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India movements, Netaji led INA war and Navy Mutiny, all of which culminated in 1947 with India emerging as a free nation of immense promise.

It may be recalled that in 1998, challenging the terrorist threats, a few journalists with the support of handful patriotic citizens hoisted the national flag in the press club. Since then, the flag hoisting ceremony has become regular events on 15 August and 26 January every year. These events encouraged the people with inspiration which has culminated in today's atmosphere of hoisting national flag without trepidation & fear.

'Our country's independence came about through the supreme sacrifices of countless patriots and martyrs. It is in their honour that we observe Independence Day. It is their contributions we need to remember gratefully when we bow our heads under the Tricolor,'A Barua said, adding that it is improper to raise demands or go on protest on such days when other days in the year are available. Veteran journalist Ranen Kumar Goswami then pointed out that these national celebrations are for every citizen, that it is wrong to label these as government organized jamborees.

Later, a doctors' chamber was opened at press club premises on the occasion. Inaugurated by young citizens Dhiman, Kristi, Shantanava, Arya, Shambhavi, Nistha and Arunava, the chamber has been reconstructed by the city-based Dispur Hospitals. A qualified doctor will be available every Saturday evening (5 to 8 pm) for free medical consultation with scribes and their close relatives. 'It is a dream comes true for the press club as we have seen journalists suffering from a host of ailments in the course of heir demanding work. Consultations with doctors will surely guide them about necessary preventive measures to stay healthy and fit,'A said GPC secretary Nava Thakuria.

Dropping in at the press club on a goodwill visit, Guwahati Mayor Mrigen Sarania interacted with scribes and guests, with issues plaguing the city figuring in their freewheeling discussion. Dr Jagadindra Raichaudhury, Col. Ranjan Dutta, Girindra Karji, Pradip Thakuria, Kailash Sarma, Raman Bora, Pramod Kalita, Manoj Agasti, Pulin Kalita, Bipul Sarma, Bikash Singh, Nayan Pratim Kumar, Rajeev Bhattacharyya, Chinmoi Roy, Kiran Mukherjee, RaviAjitacharya, Baldev Pandey, Dilwar Hussain, Ujjal Saikia, Purabi Baruah, Mamata Mishra, Anita Kalita Goswami, Akshyamala Bora, Anjali Kumar, Namrata Dutta, Sewali Kalita, Tarali Chakravarty, Nabanita Mazumdar, Azlina Khanam, Rupen Sarma, Rajiv Bora with many others were present on the occasion.
Guwahati, August 15 : Six explosions rocked Assam on Monday morning as the state celebrating 70th Independence Day.

Suspected ULFA(I) militants had triggered six explosions in different parts of Oil and Tea riched Upper Assam on Monday morning.

There was no reports of any casualties in any of the explosions.

An IED was exploded near Indira Gandhi Higher Secondary School at Laipuli area in Tinsukia district at around 7-15 AM.

Followed the first blast another IED exploded at 6 no Badlabheta tea estate near Doomdooma in the same district where the third blast took place at 8 no line area near Doomdooma.

The fourth bomb exploded at Philobari Gabharubheti Tiniali area.

These were followed by another bomb exploded at Lakuwa area in Sivsagar district where sixth bomb exploded at Tengapukhuri area near Nazira.

There are no reports of any casualties in these explosions.

Meanwhile a top official of Assam police said that ULFA(I) militants had triggered all six explosions.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Chinaas Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) speaks with Nepal Premieras special envoy Krishna Bahadur Mahara, left, during their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. Photo: Wu Hong, Pool Photo via AP

BEIJING: Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday he hoped all political factions in Nepal would unite and promote stability, after Nepal sent an envoy to Beijing to clear up questions over the future of bilateral agreements.

Nepals Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, 61, who led a decade-long insurgency that ended a feudal monarchy, replaced communist KP Sharma Oli this month amid uncertainty about a slew of deals made by Oli during a visit to Beijing in March.

Those deals included permission for Nepal to use Chinese railways, roads and ports to trade with third countries, and signaled a shift by the landlocked Himalayan nation away from its traditional reliance on overland trade with its southern neighbor, India.

Wang told the envoy, one of Prachandas trusted lieutenants from the insurgency period, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, that Chinas friendship toward Nepal would not change even with the political shift.

China expects that all political forces in Nepal will strengthen unity and jointly advance Nepals peace, stability and development, Wang said.

He said China hoped to carry out the consensus already reached by the two countries leaders and deepen cross-border transport, trade and energy cooperation, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Nepal prime minister's special envoy Krishna Bahadur Mahara speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. Photo: Wu Hong/Pool Photo via AP

Nepal prime ministers special envoy Krishna Bahadur Mahara speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, on Tuesday, August 16, 2016. Photo: Wu Hong/Pool Photo via AP

Mahara told Wang the foundation of bilateral ties was firm and would not change because of the new government, according to the Chinese statement.

Prachanda led a Nepali uprising in the name of the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, but it did not enjoy the overt backing of Beijing. The conflict ended in 2006 when the rebels laid down their arms under a peace deal.

Nepal Premier's special envoy Krishna Bahadur Mahara (L) delivers documents to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, 16 August 2016. REUTERS/Wu Hong/Pool

Nepal Premiers special envoy Krishna Bahadur Mahara (L) delivers documents to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, 16 August 2016. REUTERS/Wu Hong/Pool

Instability in the young republic  Prachanda is the eighth prime minister in as many years  has also raised doubts over a planned visit by President Xi Jinping in October, which would be the first by a Chinese president in two decades.

Mahara had said he was carrying an invitation from President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the Chinese leader to come as planned.

Nepali officials have said Prachanda would send another deputy, Bimelandra Nidhi, as an emissary to India this week to give reassurances that closer ties with China would not come at a cost to India. China and India compete for influence in Nepal.
Kathmandu, Nepal: At least four people have been killed seven others sustained injured when a passenger jeep met with the accident at Daunne of Nawalparasi district on Tuesday.

The ill-fated jeep with registration number Na 1 Ja 1317 that was heading towards the district headquarters Parasi from Kawasoti met with the fatal accident along the East-West Highway at around 3:30 pm.

The deceased have been identified as jeep driver Sudhakhar Pandey, 28 and three passengers- Indian national Chintu Sahani, 26 of India, Thanam Singh Chaudhary, 25 and her sister Chetmaya, 18.

Among the seven injured passengers, three passengers have reported as critical in condition.
It's almost hard to believe, but in three months time, the United States presidential election of 2016 will be a thing of the past. And the only thing which is sure at this point, is that there will be a new president, and a highly contested, controversial one at that. I cannot recall a time when the two likely nominees were so much opposed to each other as is currently the case.As a European foreigner, I'm seeing this battle unfold (or unravel) in disbelief. It's bizarre. Are the United States growing towards a model where in the election, not only does the winner become POTUS, but the loser ends up in jail?Still, strife has always made for good and interesting stories. Which brings us to the question of the week: in your opinion, which film best captures the spirit of the current election?It can be a film about elections of course, but seeing as how the current one deviates quite a bit from what we usually consider a normal election, feel free to throw in titles which are weird, outlandish, gonzo, zonky, or even ostrobogulous (yes, I Googled).Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY!And ehm... I know this goes without saying, but please keep it civil.
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The Dreaded Bandit's reign of bank-robbing terror may have finally come to an end. The Chronicle reports that Friday afternoon police arrested the man they believe to be the serial bank robber. He was sporting his trademark dreadlocked wig and fake mustache and approaching a Richmond District bank on the 5400 block of Geary Boulevard at the time of his arrest.

The unnamed suspect was apparently under surveillance, and officials were reportedly watching when he got out of a 2006 Lexus GS 300 driven by a what police are calling a 47-year-old accomplice. According to police, the 59-year-old suspect was wanted for at least four different bank robberies, and was in possession of a loaded revolver when they grabbed him.

The "Dreaded Bandit" earned his nickname as a result of the heavy disguises he wore during his heists. A thick layer of makeup, glasses, and in at least one case a wig with dreadlocks all contributed to the moniker.

Although it is unknown at this point, the arrest might have been made possible by a tip. The FBI doubled the reward for information leading to the man's arrest just last month.

Previously: 'Dreaded Bandit' Wearing Muni Jacket Robs Two Bay Area Banks

Video: FBI Doubles Reward For Capture Of Muni-Jacketed 'Dreaded Bandit'
While we all know that stealing is bad (duh), and can have serious consequences both for victims and thieves, stealing from a law-and-order elected official is likely to turn out notably worse for the thief. At least, as the Chronicle reports, that is the case in the aftermath of the December 2015 theft of Supervisor Scott Wiener's cell phone.

On December 18, 2015, Wiener was standing on the corner of 16th and Valencia, smartphone in hand. It was at that time that a woman allegedly grabbed his phone and demanded $500 for its return. She was not alone. "I told them that, for $500, they could just keep the phone," he explained to San Francisco Magazine.

He convinced the phone-snatcher to accept $200, and she and her male accomplice walked to an ATM. "It was an opportunity to get them on video," Wiener told the magazine. "She said if I yelled or gestured to anybody she'd mace me and she showed me a black canister. She indicated one of the guys had a gun."

Wiener got his phone back, and both the woman accused of stealing it and the man she was with were arrested shortly thereafter. That's where the story mostly ended for the Supervisor, but definitely not for 40-year-old LaSonya Wells and her 20-year-old son Damian Wells.

Ms. Wells was soon charged with kidnapping for ransom, and faced the possibility of life in prison. Like thousands of San Franciscans who have had their phones snatched, its upsetting  but its not the crime of the century, Public Defender Jeff Adachi told the Chronicle. To see an otherwise ordinary case suddenly be elevated to life in prison is positively medieval. The fact that the DA was willing to have a low-level, nonviolent woman die in prison is extremely troubling.

The Public Defender's office managed to get that charge dropped, but Ms. Wells, who's life spent battling depression, homelessness, domestic abuse, and substance abuse is touched upon by the paper, still faces two felony charges and two misdemeanor charges, including extortion and grand theft. If convicted, she will still likely spend many years in jail, which is prompting calls of prosecutorial overreach because of the victim in the case.

Back in December, Wiener told SF Mag that the theft of his phone was "not a very well-thought-out crime."

Now, as he prepares to testify in Wells' trial, set to begin August 26, Wiener simply says, "They committed a crime against me, they were apprehended, and theyre being prosecuted. Im sure there will be a fair and just resolution."

The DA's office defends its initial charge of kidnapping for ransom as well, saying, that between January 2015 and July 2016, 13 robbery cases have included counts of kidnapping for ransom as well.

Previously: Supervisor Wiener Thwarts 'Not A Very Well-Thought-Out' Phone Theft
Gawker Media, bankrupted by a lawsuit regarding the website's release of a sex tape involving Hulk Hogan, is up for auction today, and the New York Times is using the occasion to offer Peter Thiel, the enigmatic Silicon Valley billionaire who funded Hogan's lawsuit, a chance to explain his sometimes confusing views of the free press. In an opinion piece titled "The Online Privacy Debate Wont End With Gawker," Thiel defends his use of the legal system, explains how he felt personally victimized by Gawker, whose blog Valleywag outed him in 2007, and argues for a bill in Congress called "the Intimate Privacy Protection Act."

Thiel first brings up his speech at the Republican National convention, where he endorsed that party's problematic nominee Donald Trump. He called himself proud to be gay, invoking in his opinion piece, as he did then, the "fake culture wars" that serve to "distract." Thiel also sets the stage for his argument by noting that "lurid interest in gay life isnt a thing of the past," citing the now-retracted Daily Beast article of last week that outed a number of closeted Olympic athletes from anti-gay countries. While he doesn't pretend the situations are analogous, Thiel says he relates: "In 2007, I was outed by the online gossip blog Gawker," he writes. "It wasnt so many years ago, but it was a different time: Gay men had to navigate a world that wasnt always welcoming, and often faced difficult choices about how to live safely and with dignity. In my case, Gawker decided to make those choices for me. I had begun coming out to people I knew, and I planned to continue on my own terms. Instead, Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it."

Eventually, that brings Thiel to the Hogan case and his involvement in it: "Terry Bollea is better known as the wrestler Hulk Hogan, a fact that Gawker claimed justified public access to his private life... At first he simply requested that Gawker take down the video. But Gawker refused. It was getting millions of page views, and that was making money." In the end, it would be the media company's undoing.

Four years later, the financial calculus has changed. Gawker Media Group has put itself up for sale (bids are due Monday afternoon) in part to satisfy the legal judgment of a unanimous jury that ruled against Gawker and assessed damages of $140 million, proving that there are consequences for violating privacy. Mr. Bollea could not have secured justice without a fight, and he displayed great perseverance. For my part, I am proud to have contributed financial support to his case. I will support him until his final victory  Gawker said it intends to appeal  and I would gladly support someone else in the same position.

Gawker founder Nick Denton has defended his company's editorial decision to treat Thiel as a public figure in the past, observing that "A Silicon Valley billionaire is a hundred times, a thousand times more powerful than a Congressman," and arguing that journalists should cover him and people like him "even if the billionaires don't like it."

Thiel writes that "it is ridiculous to claim that journalism requires indiscriminate access to private people's sex lives," and he's totally right because that is ridiculous and no one is asking for that. Instead, and more accurately, he writes that, "sensitive information can sometimes be publicly relevant, exercising judgment is always part of the journalists profession." While saying "Its not for me to draw the line," that does feel a lot like what Thiel did, exerting his financial might. And let's not forget that Thiel is a board member of Facebook, whose massive power in the future of publishing is not to be overlooked.

Thiel concludes with a plug for a bill: "The United States House of Representatives is considering the Intimate Privacy Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that would make it illegal to distribute explicit private images, sometimes called revenge porn, without the consent of the people involved." Though he says it's "nicknamed the Gawker Bill," a Google search shows it's rarely called that, and the first reference is here, on a small, far-right blog that touts itself as being featured on Sean Hannity and rush Limbaugh.

Like fights about privacy and freedom of the press, Thiel speculates that Gawker isn't really going anywhere  "suggesting otherwise would be an insult to its writers and to readers," he writes. So, does that mean he's made a bid to buy the company? It could use, you know, a transfusion of capital, and maybe, you know, some new blood.

Related: Billionaire Trump Supporter Peter Thiel Wants The Blood Of Young People
The San Francisco Police Department is understaffed and having trouble filling the gaps. So reports CBS 5, which notes that the department blames a myriad of factors for the 200 open positions.

"Its kind of difficult to hire police officers these days because one, a lot of agencies are hiring, SFPD Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield told the channel before pivoting to something much less rosy. "The climate and the atmosphere that you hear about is cops getting killed.

This isn't the first time department officials have said they fell short of desired numbers. In 2012 the San Francisco Appeal reported that the SFPD was also 200 officers short of staffing levels set by law. At that time, SF still had double the police force of Oakland.

Then, as in now, a wave of retirements was partly to blame. To give recruitment efforts a boost, the department today launched a social media campaign titled "We Are SFPD" with videos like the one below. While it's too soon to tell if the campaign will have the desired effect, officials hope the videos will showcase a diverse department and perhaps draw recruits from various backgrounds.

In the meantime, crime (except for homicides) is down across the city.

Related: SFPD Starts Slow Deployment Of Body Cameras
Possible bag of bones washes ashore at #SanFrancisco's Pier 14 https://t.co/xjdFiYTN0V pic.twitter.com/QIRN0A2dE6  KRON 4 News (@kron4news) August 16, 2016

A blue bag that washed up on Pier 14 is being investigated by police and San Francisco's Medical Examiner, after a passer-by noticed bones  perhaps human ones  spilling out of its opening.

According to KRON 4, a man walking his dog along Pier 14, which is located just off the Embarcadero between Howard and Mission Streets, "noticed a backpack and called authorities after he spotted what looked like bones inside the bag."

KRON 4 reports that "There were also payroll receipts inside the bag that have been collected for evidence."

Of course, this isn't the first time that Pier 14, a popular San Francisco tourist attraction, has been the scene of a police investigation: In a case that made international headlines, on July 2 of last year, SF resident Kate Steinle was allegedly shot at random by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez.

Two TV news crews were subsequently attacked and robbed on Pier 14, as they reported on the shooting. The suspects in that case were arrested in August of last year.

When contacted by SFist, a Medical Examiner's staffer confirmed that their office had been called to Pier 14 this morning, but could not provide any details on the investigation. A call to the San Francisco Police Department for further information was not returned at publication time.


San Francisco's Recreation and Parks Department is now under scrutiny after a woman walking with her two children on Friday in North Beach's Washington Square Park was struck and seriously injured by a fallen tree branch that weighed roughly 100 pounds. As CBS 5 reports, the branch fell from a pine tree about 50 feet up the tree, and the question is whether this should just be considered a freak accident, or if Rec and Parks deserves any blame for not maintaining the trees in this park.

The incident comes on the heels of a debate going back several years relating to another city department, the Department of Public Works, which began a process of "transferring ownership" of street trees to property owners five years ago  something that Supervisor Scott Wiener and others have called absurd, but an issue for which new funding to give back responsibility to DPW has still not been secured  it's actually something we'll be voting on on the November ballot. And as CBS 5 was reporting on that issue just last month, DPW cited an interval of five to seven years as the proper average time between pruning for street trees.

But the tree involved in Friday's incident would be under Rec and Parks oversight, and they say this tree was last "assessed" six years ago. In a statement, Rec and Parks spokesperson Elton Pon tells the Chronicle, "The tree at Washington Square Park was considered healthy. Any tree, young, old, healthy or otherwise, has the potential to fail, given a certain set of circumstances."

The tree that failed was a Canary Island pine, one of a group lining the children's playground in the park. Reportedly, since the six-year-old assessment, this group of trees was actually pruned in 2013, per the Chronicle, "after the Friends of Washington Square donated the service to the [Rec and Parks] department."

Freak accidents don't play well, politics-wise, however, and Supervisor Aaron Peskin in whose district the accident occurred has raised alarm bells, saying to the paper, "It raises the larger question, is Rec and Park properly assessing their trees?"

Six years sounds like a proper amount of time in which the tree may have been about due for a checkup, if DPW's figure stands, and a pruning three years ago sounds reasonable  and due to lack of funding in recent decades, DPW said they had shifted, in terms of street trees, to going 10 to 12 years between prunings, which is potentially why just a little bit of rain in 2014 caused a spate of fallen tree branches that renewed this whole debate.

The ballot measure, co-authored by Wiener and John Avalos and passed by the Board of Supervisors in late July, will use a $19 million set-aside from the city's general fund to cover maintenance and liability of street trees, and add 155,000 new trees to the city's population. Rec and Parks also has its own $4.8 million budget for urban forestry.

Meanwhile, the woman who was struck, who has not been identified except to say she lives in Visitacion Valley, remains in critical condition after sustaining a head injury.

Previously: 100-Pound Tree Branch Falls And Critically Injures Woman In Washington Square Park

Property Owners No Longer Responsible For Street Trees Under Proposed Measure
Everything seemed to be going so very well for democracy lately that we almost forgot there were still powerful, anti-democratic forces in high places eager to put a stop to protecting voting rights.

In just a few weeks, federal courts in six states struck down Republican-backed voting restrictions intentionally making it harder for minority groups and other voters who support Democrats to exercise their right to vote.

They included two Wisconsin federal courts and federal judges in Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, North Dakota and Kansas.

But just as a clear legal pattern emerged nationally eliminating dishonest Republican tactics of voter suppression, three Republican-appointed judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago abruptly reminded us every Americans right to vote wasnt fully guaranteed yet.

For the second time in two years, a three-judge panel of Republican-appointed justiceswith former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Diane Sykes on bothstruck down a decision by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman that eliminated some voting restrictions in Wisconsin.

Sykes role in reinstating Republican voting restrictions is significant because Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has named Sykes as one of the judges he would consider appointing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Full disclosure: I worked with both Diane and her former husband, Charlie Sykes, a right-wing radio talk show host, at The Milwaukee Journal and consider them to be personal friends. Yes, I have friends with varied political beliefs, but Im sure she understands why I would dread to see her on the Supreme Court.)

In 2014, a Sykes panel reinstated Wisconsins strict photo ID law for voting that Adelman ruled violated both the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed that appeals court decision before the midterm election, reinstating Adelmans injunction against the law.

The most recent appeals court decision by Sykes and two other Republican appointees overruled another Adelman decision permitting voters who had difficulty obtaining a state voter ID to vote after signing a sworn affidavit. That decision also is likely to be appealed.

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Republican legislators in Wisconsin and elsewhere claim their voting restrictions prevent vote fraud, but that claim itself is fraudulent. The restrictions are aimed at specific racial groups with almost surgical precision, in the words of one court decision.

The other Wisconsin voting rights decision by U.S. District Judge James Peterson blocked Republican restrictions on the use of college student IDs and reductions in early voting, including the elimination of weekend and evening voting hours.

Those restrictions had nothing to do with voter fraud. They simply created obstacles to voting and longer lines on Election Day in densely populated Democratic urban areas.

No Evidence of Voter Fraud

Republicans never produce evidence of much voter fraud in America because there isnt any.

Ari Berman, the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, cites a 2014 Loyola University Law School study that found only 31 credibly documented incidents of voter impersonation out of more than 1 billion votes cast in the U.S. since 2000. About 30 people die every year as a result of being struck by lightning.

But in Sykes big fan Donald Trump, Republican legislators have a presidential nominee whos an even bigger liar about voter fraud than they are.

After all those court decisions eliminating Republican voting restrictions, Trump said: We may have people vote 10 times. . . . Why not? If you dont have voter ID, you can just keep voting and voting and voting.

Hardly. As Berman wrote recently in The Washington Post, if Trump wanted to vote 10 times in New York, which requires registered voters to sign their names at the polls, hed have to vote in 10 different places, know the names and addresses of nine other registered voters in nine other precincts, forge their exact signatures and know that they hadnt voted yet.

And heres the biggie, each fraudulent vote would carry a penalty of five years in jail, a $10,000 fine and additional state penalties.

Very few political supporters are dim-witted enough to risk years of incarceration for a few meaningless fraudulent votes that would make little difference in a national election.

That hasnt stopped Trump from using voter fraud as a convenient excuse to explain away what both Republican and Democratic political professionals expect could be a historically massive defeat for the vicious, offensive Trump in November.

While campaigning in Pennsylvania, Trump said, the only way he could lose Pennsylvania is if cheating goes on. Most other people believe Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits in nearly every battleground state should be enough to do it.

After November, a fully stocked U.S. Supreme Court is expected to continue the pattern of upholding the constitutional right to vote.

America will then dodge all the potential horrors of a Trump presidency including roving NRA death squads, the Trump-Putin Anti-World Alliance and Justice Sykes on the Supreme Court.
 Expand Ashanti Hamilton, Facebook

Milwaukee has been through a hell of a lot this past weekend. Were still trying to figure out what happened when a Milwaukee Police Officer fatally shot Sylville Smith after a traffic stop Saturday afternoon in the Sherman Park neighborhood, which led to outrage. As we piece together the circumstances of Smiths death and its aftermath, local leaders have weighed in with their responses to the weekends events.

City of Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton

For generations, Milwaukee has been a city crying out for justice. But there is no justice in a mob scene, and the time is now to come together as a city and peacefully reflect on our problems instead of inciting more of them.

Accordingly, Im calling on every Milwaukeean to practice nonviolence and restraint in the nights ahead. If you feel the need to make your voice heard, I would expect you to do it peacefully, and to obey the lawful orders of the police officers charged with protecting our lives and our property.

There is a process for investigating the police-involved shooting that precipitated this weekends unrest, and I would ask our residents to withhold their judgment until they have learned more of the facts in this matter. I am told there is body camera footage of the shooting, and that when it is shared, it will bring additional facts to light. We are pushing to expedite the release of this video and these facts as much as possible.

Friends of the Shepherd Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly newspaper. LEARN MORE

Make no mistake about it, the frustration and the anger that weve seen expressedsometimes violentlyare very real, and so are the disparities that created them. Our city is home to neighborhoods full of kids and young people who feel trapped without opportunity, without hope and without role models. They see a world thats passing them by because of where they were born and the color of their skin.

We have struggled for too long just to begin to rebuild our city, and we will not stand by and let violence and incivility tear it all down again. The sort of unchecked rage and destruction we have witnessed these past two nights hasnt put us any closer to finding solutions for our problems. Hurling bricks through windows doesnt fix anything, but picking those bricks up and building something, as a community, might. I hope my neighbors will join me in seeking a peaceful solution to our problems.

Alderman Khalif J. Rainey

I need to be perfectly clear about these two things: while the residents of Sherman Park and Milwaukees impoverished neighborhoods have just cause for anger and frustration, absolutely nothing justifies the display of violence and incivility weve witnessed in our neighborhoods these past two evenings.

My plea to my neighbors is to do everything they can to stop the violence immediately. In a neighborhood where the opportunities for employment are so few and far between already, it is foolish and counter-productive to take out your anger on the few businesses that choose to operate on your block. Looting and burning wont create opportunities to get a job and get ahead in life.

Yes, our neighborhood has problems. Yes, it is unjust that many of us are denied economic opportunities because of the color of our skin and the zip code in which we were born. Yes, too many of our young people are mired in frustration, hopelessness and crime. But you cant fix the roof of a burning house.

We need to put down the bricks and put away the guns. We need to pick up some brooms and paint brushes and get to work. We need to get our kids off the streets and teach them to act out of love and hope instead of fear and anger. We need to stop creating additional problems and start seeking solutions.

If youre angry, good; it means youre paying attention. Once weve restored peace in our neighborhoods, I hope you will join us in the work of creating opportunity and equality for all of Milwaukees citizens.

We need peace, calm and healing on Milwaukees North Side, and I respectfully ask every one of my neighbors to join me in pursuing that goal.

Kalan R. Haywood II, Milwaukee Youth Council President and Sixth Aldermanic District Representative

Following the events of this past weekend, we all saw Milwaukee at one of its darkest moments. However, our love for our city and our zeal to ensure a brighter tomorrow obligates us to come together at this moment. All communities must do their respective parts. More so, the black Community must unify. To many onlookers it may be perceived that the black community came together this past Saturday night, but that is not the case. Saturday night was a manifestation of hopelessness, irritation and frustration. It is very true that with every action, there is a reaction. But not every action leads to a solution, and a solution is what we are searching for.

In order for the black community to make substantial headway in its endeavors, Milwaukee cannot and must not have another repeat of Saturday night. I am calling on everyone to gather that same energy, anger and motivation and direct it toward strategically addressing the root causes of the issues.

Collectively we have the power to right wrongs. However, we must use our brains, we must think. I encourage our city to step out of the shackles that have limited our minds and constrained our possibilities for far too long. The mission will be tough and the climb will be strenuous, but there has never been any great undertaking that hasnt extracted its due portion of sweat, tears and labor upon the victor. I am calling on all of us, from the residents on the north side to the south side, Blacks, Whites, Latinos and Asians, the rich and the poor, to stand up and demand that we invest in the discussions, policies and actions that will produce the Milwaukee that we all can be proud of.

I also issue a special charge to Milwaukees youth: I ask you to think before you act. I encourage you to think of what outcome you want to see and ask yourself if the action you are about to partake in will yield that result. Trust me, as your peer I understand that screaming voice that yells from deep inside your gut that tells you that no one is listening.

But I also know that if we lead by example, everyone will take notice. We have to be the change we want to see.

State Rep. LaTonya Johnson

Today, we call for calm in our community, but also demand action. Our city does not need a military intervention, we need a humanitarian response-- we need a surge of support for at-risk youth and their families, and we need to provide our law enforcement with the mandate and the resources necessary to reduce crime and improve community-policing initiatives. Most importantly, though, we need to listen to what the community is telling usthat they dont condone violence and destruction of local businesses, but they also understand the deep well of anger and frustration that results from decades of declining opportunities and rising poverty that have been allowed to take hold in parts of our city.

Sunday morning, we saw hundreds of residents come out of their homes to assist in the clean-up of the neighborhood. Milwaukee showed that when we respond with action and with resources, there are people that are ready and willing to do whatever they can to restore their neighborhoods vitality. As policy makers, we have the responsibility to ensure that our state government helps supply the tools we need to rebuild.

State Rep. Evan Goyke

Listening and understanding is often difficult in difficult times, but my hope is that we listen and seek to understand why the events over the weekend unfolded the way they did. We know that everyday too many people wake up in a world without honest opportunity and too many law enforcement officers are called to be more than resources allow. This is not sustainable. We must break this cycle by listening to the voices of those who have been ignored for far too long, as well as those sworn to protect and serve our communities.

Milwaukee is defined not only by acts of protest, but also by acts of healing. On Sunday I joined hundreds of my neighbors to work together in service, to heal, clean the neighborhood, and begin the process of positive and sustained change. I believe our community can grow and succeed together. I hope this weekend is a call that is answered.

Together Rep. Goyke and Rep. Johnson pledge to continue to work together to help heal the community. It starts first with listening and ends with legislative action in Madison. In the coming days, weeks, and months, Representatives Johnson and Goyke will be working on strategies to better improve community and police relationships and welcome positive, solution-based input.

Attorney General Brad Schimel

I am saddened by the senseless destruction caused by a handful of citizens in Milwaukee and appeal for calm. I know the vast majority of Milwaukee residents are law-abiding citizens who want and deserve safe neighborhoods and communities. This is evidenced by the citizens who spent today helping clean up the Sherman Park neighborhood.

I pray that the law enforcement officers and firefighters who are working to protect the citizens of Milwaukee will be safe throughout this ordeal and that no other journalists or innocent citizens will be further harmed.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), at the request of the Milwaukee Police Department, is leading the investigation of yesterdays officer involved death. DOJ will work expeditiously to ensure a thorough and transparent gathering of the facts.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore

The fractured relationship between local law enforcement officials and the communities they are sworn to protect has become further strained by Saturdays officer-involved shooting. There is still much to learn regarding this incident, however, we simply cannot close our eyes to the hostile environment cultivated by the flagrant racial inequality and segregation that has plagued Milwaukee for generations. We also cannot allow anyone to take out their aggressions on our local businesses and homes or take the law into their own hands.

I share the frustration of my constituents who feel they live in a city where justice is only afforded to some and not all. I also share the frustration of our local police officers who are desperately trying to uphold public safety in what they perceive as a caustic climate. We must find a way to strike a balance where we can peacefully point out the racial inequities in our society while recognizing the valuable role police play in our community.

As details continue to emerge about this shooting, I ask our community to remain calm and recommit to doing everything in our collective power to live up to our nations promise of justice for all. Together, Milwaukee will weather this storm.

Alderman Bob Donovan

The mayor has announced a strict 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18 in the City of Milwaukee.

While Im not at all interested in piling on to the mayors already full plate during this period of crisis in Milwaukee, I feel compelled to make it clear that although I support the curfew move, in my mind it simply doesnt go far enough.

During the riots of 1967 a strict curfew for EVERYONE was enforced, and I honestly believe the current unrest and violence is no different. The all-out curfew was needed then (I know, I lived through it!), and its needed now.

And we need a much firmer hand tonight with the protestors so that order is restored. We have the resources, and the National Guard has been activated by Governor Walker. I believe its time to deploy and utilize those Guard members and to make the arrests when needed to protect officers and citizens.

Over the years we have allowed far too much leeway with individuals protesting without permits. These individuals are engaged in unlawful assembly and need to disperse or be arrested.

Honestly I cannot in good conscience stand by and say nothing and watch one more night of our officers being pelted by bottles, bricks, and rocks (and possibly shot at with bullets!), and them just standing there taking it. Seriously, how many more nights are we going to allow our officers to be punching bags?

(And now we are hearing that individuals are coming up from Chicago to instigate violence and confrontations with our officers; all the more reason to get a better handle on these protests.)

We cannot be proactive until an all-out curfew is enforced. I sure hope Im wrong, but the 10 p.m. curfew the mayor just announced does not sound like it will be at all effective.

With all due respect mayor, we should be more proactive because we owe it to our officers and their families.

ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin has been working to improve police community relations in Milwaukee for years. The major focus of our work has been to try to hold police accountable to constitutional standards, including ensuring equal protection and refraining from unreasonable searches and seizures.

The ACLU of Wisconsin urges local leaders to heed the cries for solace, help, and change from residents, young and old. The family and friends of the deceased resident, Mr. Sylville Smith, deserve everyones respect and sympathy. Both Black and white residents of Sherman Park deserve to receive professional, unbiased police service to help keep their neighborhood a good place to live. Young people, who feel that law enforcement is occupying their park and neighborhood and treating them all as suspicious, deserve to be heard before violence occurs, so that change will make a difference in their lives now.

Although civil unrest, such as throwing bricks or discharging firearms, is not protected expressive activity, residents have and retain their constitutional right to engage in free speech and to peaceably assemble to demand changes they believe will improve their lives, including better police-community relations. They will be critical of police when there is a fatal shooting by a police officer. Law enforcement should not respond to such criticism by escalating or militarizing the situation. Law enforcement must be sure to distinguish free speech and peaceable assembly and allow it to occur unless there is a clear and present danger of an imminent breach of the peace.

Replacing tension with trust also requires transparent interactions between residents and law enforcement. Law enforcement should not offer a narrative that prejudges the issue by denigrating the character of the victim while withholding the facts surrounding the events leading to the shooting. One way to demonstrate that residents and critics are being heard is to take steps to assure the whole community that the investigation into Mr. Smiths killing will be comprehensive, unbiased, and transparent. Therefore the ACLU of Wisconsin calls upon MPD and the Wisconsin Department of Justice to release the full dash cam video and audio and the full body worn camera video from this incident.

Good police community relations can result in a decrease in crime and better conditions for residents. Trust between police and community members is essential. Unfortunately in Milwaukee, including the Sherman Park neighborhood, tension between many residents and police has existed for a long time and appears to have increased this summer. Law enforcement and city leaders must work to restore that trust.

Representative JoCasta Zamarripa

Like many Milwaukeeans, I am disappointed, disheartened, and still in disbelief about the rioting that occurred this weekend. I never condone violence, and I implore Wisconsinites to recognize the good in our state's largest city, which was exemplified on Sunday morning when Milwaukeeans like my colleagues, Representatives Evan Goyke and LaTonya Johnson, their neighbors and constituents helped clean up the damage done to their near north side community.

This terrible situation should force all of us to reflect on the circumstances that led our community to this point. The truth is, there are racial disparities in our law enforcement, justice and correctional systems. Consider the fact that African-Americans are much more likely to be shot by police than their white peers. African-Americans were 31 percent of those killed by police in 2012, but they make up just 13 percent of the population of the United States. One study showed that between 2010 and 2012, African-American teens were 21 times more likely than white teens to be shot and killed by police officers. And although African-Americans arent more likely to use, buy or sell illegal drugs, they are disproportionately arrested and imprisoned for those offenses and face longer prison sentences than white offenders.

I say this to provide some perspective. Violence against people and property is abhorrent, and I hope that those who perpetrated it are brought to justice. I am frustrated and angry, as are many of my constituents, at the sight of the burned buildings on Milwaukees near north side. However, Im also frustrated and angry at the continuing racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Condemning violence is necessary, but doing so without being willing to honestly discuss the factors that brought us here is irresponsible. Its time to move beyond the archaic politics of city versus suburbs and find solutions to our citys, and states, problems.
 Expand Littas Dime Museum, home to some of the strangest sights in Milwaukee.

Cannibals, smoking monkeys, bearded women, and wild men it was all on display at the Milwaukee Dime Museum, which mystified and horrified Milwaukeeans back in the 1880s. Located on the north side of Wisconsin Avenue (then known as Grand Avenue), between Plankinton and Second, the Milwaukee Dime Museum opened in 1883, but was only a minor curiosity in the city until it was purchased by showman Jacob Litt in September 1884. Litt was only 25 when took over the museum, but he had been in the theater business since the age of 12 and had worked his way up through the local ranks.

Litt renovated the four-story museum, basing it on the design used by P.T. Barnum at his famous American Museum in New York City. Shows started every hour at the museum, with the eight-piece house orchestra playing Only a Pansy Blossom in the lobby to alert passersby to the beginning of a show. After passing over their dimes, the guests were led up a stairway to the fourth floor of the building, where the museums menagerie was kept. Monkeys (the non-smoking variety), snakes, and other exotic animals greeted the guests from cages and glass cases and the house lecturer began to explain the wonders that lay before them.

Jacob Litt, who made the Dime Museum famous.

After the lecturer explained the various lethalities of snake venom and the ways in which man is not much different than ape, he led the group down to the third floor, known as the Chamber of Horrors. The Chamber was a series of wax figures, modeling awful and notorious chapters of American history. One notable display recreated the deaths of the five men convicted in the Haymarket Square bombing of 1886  the four who were hanged and one who committed suicide in his jail cell. The freaks and curiosities were on the second floor. Deformed persons, dwarves, fat ladies, and trained animals stunned onlookers as the lecturer detailed their particular peculiarities. Irene Woodard, the famous tattooed lady, made a stop at the museum, as did Annie OBrien, the tallest woman in the world. One of the oddest of the odd to appear was Otto Topfer, the Man with Two Mouths, who was able to smoke a cigar and play the harmonica at the same time. Spectators were encouraged to purchase picture postcards from the performers on the second floor, which were usually sold for a quarter apiece.

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The first floor was home to the house orchestra and a regular series of belly dancers and peep show performers. Litt claimed that his museum sold as many as 3,000 admissions per day and brought in a staggering 83,000 visitors during his first month of operation.

A novelty card featuring Annie OBrien, the tallest woman in the world. OBrien was billed as being 7 8, but was in reality about a foot shorter.

Just as Barnum had long known, Litt found that people were willing to believe just about anything given the proper setting and context. One of his greatest natural wonders was also one of his greatest hoaxes. For years, Litt made a killing off of his Wild Man of Borneo, a huge beast-man supposedly trapped in the jungle after months of chase by expert trackers. The man was displayed shackled in a cage and horrified audiences. Long after Litts death, the true story of the Wild Man emerged. An old Milwaukee plumber recalled that one afternoon in the 1880s, he and his crew were doing some work in Litts museum. It was a hot day and one of my men, a big burly Slav, was stripped to the waist as he dug away with pick and shovel. Each time he hit the ground with his pick he let out a guttural sound, a grunt, the plumber told a newspaper reporter. [Litt] immediately became interested in the appearance of the Slav and the noises he made. He was particularly interested in the thick, curly hair that grew all over the mans body. Once Litt found out that the man made only $9 a week at the hard labor, he offered a job requiring no work at all for $100 per month. The man agreed and Litt dressed him in tatters, chained a horseweight to his feet, and stationed him in a cage as the Wild Man. The Slav was not a natural performer, but his unease with the crowds made for a convincing recently-tamed beast. He later toured with Litt all over the country.

Local newspapermen also suspected Litt of trickery when he introduced the man who never slept to the Cream City. The mans gimmick was simple, he claimed that he never needed to sleep, rest, or even sit down. Guests of the museum were encouraged to stare at the man as long they could  and were promised they would never see him show any signs of fatigue. Newspaper reporters figure the claims would be easy to reveal as humbug, but  despite watching the man in shifts  no one ever saw him sit down. He merely stood on his platform, looking bored. The mystery was never solved.

In a 1927 retrospective on the museum, the Milwaukee Journal noted that the freak acts were a close-knit bunch and were often heard to mutter snide things to each other about the gawking hoards who paid their dimes just to get a look. Whoever the true freaks were, the Milwaukee Dime Museum was never able to regain the burst of popularity it experienced during Litts first months of operation. Eager to get into the legitimate theater game, Litt sold the place in 1889. It went out of business the following year.

Matthew J. Prigges newest book  Outlaws, Rebels, & Vixens: Motion Picture Censorship in Milwaukee, 1914-1971  is available now. Buy it direct for a 20% discount.
CROFTON, Neb. | As a child growing up in Crofton, Sandy Thunker would visit the two-story brick building on West Kansas Street to see the doctor.

Sitting in the waiting room against the wall of a grand staircase, she'd peer upstairs, wondering what was behind the walls and door that blocked the view to the second floor.

"Now I can go up there whenever I want to," said Thunker, who in January bought the historic building, home to the Historic Argo Hotel Bed & Breakfast.

Opened in 1912, the Argo Hotel was built for rail workers and train passengers when Crofton was a booming railroad town. Since then, it's been a sanatorium, the aforementioned doctor's office and quarters before being reopened as a bed and breakfast and restaurant in 1994.

While Crofton natives of Thunker's generation grew up with not-so-pleasant memories of receiving their school vaccinations in the building, Thunker said she realized its charm in 2010, when staying there while she and her husband, Bob, were home for his mother's funeral. The Victorian architecture inside the Argo captivated her.

"That's kind of when I fell in love with it," Thunker said.

The Argo happened to be for sale at the time, and it was a chance for Thunker to realize her dream of owning and operating a bed and breakfast. Thunker's attempt to buy the building was unsuccessful, and it was sold in 2013 to someone else.

"I was pretty disappointed I didn't get it the first time," said Thunker, who lived with Bob, her high school sweetheart, in Virginia, where he has worked as a government contractor after serving 21 years in the military.

But when a local real estate agent called in October to tell her the Argo was once again for sale, Thunker jumped at the chance. She's lost no time returning the Argo, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, to glory while Bob remains in Virginia for the time being.

There has been a lot of remodeling. She's reopened the restaurant and bar, which had been closed for the past two years.

Upstairs, 11 rooms welcome guests, and a bar and dance floor in the basement have been a popular site for meetings, private parties, wedding rehearsal dinners and weddings and receptions.

The Argo once again is a place not only for overnight guests, but for Crofton area residents to celebrate special occasions or enjoy a nice evening out.

"Everybody's been excited about the Argo being open full-service again," Thunker said.

Thunker has embraced the history of the Argo, which for years has filled the unofficial role of a city museum of sorts. Several photos from Crofton's early days hang in the restaurant and bar. Composite photos of Crofton's high school graduating classes once were displayed here. Thunker hopes to bring them out of storage and once again display them.

The dining room and one of the guest rooms is named for Leslie Brooks, a former Hollywood starlet who stayed at the hotel in the summers of 1931 and '32 when the hotel was owned by her grandparents. Another room pays homage to Jesse James, the famous outlaw who hid out in the heavily forested hills and valleys west of here.

Thunker welcomes the tales of ghosts and paranormal activity inside the Argo as part of its history and charm. She's quick to share tales of workers who have reported seeing people who later couldn't be found or watching as glasses were pulled off of shelves as if by an invisible hand and dropped on the floor.

She has no problem with any spirits who choose to stay here, on one condition.

"I made an announcement when I moved in here," Thunker said. "They can play tricks on me and move things around. I just don't want to see them."

The ghost stories are just one of many reasons for Thunker's enthusiasm for returning home and seeing her dream of opening a business come true.

"It meets what I like in a job. I get to meet a lot of people," she said. "I've lived in a lot of places around the world, but I always considered Crofton home. Crofton has given me a lot growing up here. I'm giving something back by providing employment and providing them a service they enjoy."

All while she enjoys getting better acquainted with the historic building, especially the second floor.
Patients will have their choice of filling, extraction or cleaning. Tri-State Dental Lab will also be offering free denture repairs until noon that day.

Registration starts at 8 a.m. and patients are encouraged to arrive early as they will be seen on a first come, first serve basis. Summit team members will volunteer their time to see as many patients as they can.
SIOUX CITY | The final vote on a proposed rezoning near the Sergeant Floyd Monument will have to wait another two months while the property owner resolves drainage issues, the Sioux City Council decided Monday.

The council deferred a vote on the third and final reading of an ordinance that would rezone a tract of land at 2627 1/2 South Rustin St. and 2819 Lincoln Way from residential to commercial. If approved, this would allow a local developer to erect storage units on the premises through an approval process.

Community Development Operations Manager Jeff Hanson said the developer is still working with a neighboring property owner to connect a storm water drainage pipe between the two properties. Since the infrastructure is private work, the city is not involved.

"It is my understanding that that work has not been started yet, that that contractor has not been selected, the materials are on site and they're waiting for that to be installed," he said during the meeting.

Improving drainage has been a stipulation for final council approval of the property. The reading had already been deferred once for similar reasons.

Mayor Bob Scott said once drainage is in line, he believes the rezoning will pass.

"Drainage has been a real issue out on that particular piece of property," Scott said. "I think it'll probably pass as long as we have a really good drainage plan."

The proposal to rezone the land drew opposition from multiple historical groups when it came before the Planning and Zoning Commission in June. They were worried rezoning could lead to future unwanted development in the area.

In July, the developer presented site plans and volunteered to work with local historical groups and the city to maintain the historical integrity of the area.

Scott said Monday that he believes opposition has mostly subsided.

Theyre all happy as long as he works with them, Scott said. But as long as this design pretty much meets what he originally showed them, I think the opposition has gone away.

Pearl Street renovation



In other action Monday, plans to transform a vacant building in Sioux City's Historic Pearl District into a restaurant-bar received the council's stamp of approval.

The council issued a certificate of appropriateness for future renovations at the building at 401 Pearl St., across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Certificates of appropriateness are required by city code for proposed additions or modifications to buildings within Sioux City's historic districts.

Contract approvals



The council also approved a contract of $932,322 to Knife River Midwest for road resurfacing on Nebraska and Sixth streets and contracts of $41,330 and $33,640 to JEO Consulting for the design and construction of the splash pads at Cone Park and Leeds Park, respectively.
SIOUX CITY | A Waterbury, Nebraska, man was arrested Monday morning following a short pursuit in a stolen taxi cab.

LeRoy Russell McNaughton, 38, was taken into custody after the taxi was spotted on Interstate 29 by Woodbury County Sheriff's deputies. McNaughton was charged with robbery and operating a vehicle without the owner's consent. A gun was also located and it was determined to be an air soft gun that had been used in the robbery.

At approximately 2:20 a.m., the Sioux City Police Department responded to a robbery call at a rest area by mile marker 137 in Sioux City. A cab driver told authorities that he had picked up a man at the South Sioux City Wal-Mart and was driving him to Love's Travel Stop in Sioux City.

During the ride, the cab driver said the suspect pulled out a gun and told him not to stop. The driver exited his vehicle at the rest area where he was assisted by another motorist.

McNaughton reportedly fled the rest area in the taxi, according to the Sioux City Police Department.
MAURICE, Iowa | The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a pair of fish kills that resulted in the death of nearly 38,000 fish in Sioux County.

According to a DNR news release, investigators visited an 8-mile-long fish kill on the west branch of the Floyd River north of Maurice Sunday after receiving reports. The fish there had been dead for several days.

Investigators estimate nearly 38,000 fish perished, including minnows, shiners, dace, chubs and suckers, as well as an estimated 1,273 catfish.

DNR field tests came back normal for ammonia levels and dissolved oxygen, so investigators believe the pollutant has already washed downstream, the release said.

DNR investigators visited a second fish kill on the Rock River, located in a pool off 10th Street on the west side of Rock Valley.

According to the release, DNR staff found about 24 decaying carp in stagnant water. Investigators believe the carp were trapped as water receded after rain last week, the release said.

Water samples are being tested to see if the fish kill resulted from petroleum or oxygen levels.

The DNR is continuing to search for information regarding the party responsible for the Floyd River fish kill. Anyone with information can contact the DNR's Spencer field office at 712-262-4177.
LAS VEGAS -- Nevada, which calls itself the "Battle Born State," actually was born prematurely because of Republicans' anxiety. Now, 152 years later, it again is a subject of their anxiety.

Entering 1864, Abraham Lincoln and his party were intensely, and reasonably, in doubt about his re-election. So, scrambling for every electorate vote, Republicans decided to conjure three from thin air -- thin desert air. They began the process of admitting Nevada to the union, even though the 1860 census said its population was 6,857, far short of the 60,000 ostensibly required for statehood. Nine days before the election, the Republican-controlled Congress made Nevada a state (although Gen. Sherman's Sept. 2 capture of Atlanta probably guaranteed Lincoln's victory).

On election night 2016, the nation's attention might be focused on Nevada, where Republicans have their most promising, and probably their only realistic, chance to capture a Democratic Senate seat. Harry Reid, Senate minority leader, is retiring, and Republicans' hopes of retaining their majority might depend on Joe Heck replacing Reid.

He is a strong candidate for his party, as his opponent is for hers. Catherine Cortez Masto is a former two-term state attorney general who won re-election even against the 2010 anti-Democratic wave. She would be the Senate's first Latina.

Heck, an emergency room physician and a brigadier general in the Army Reserve, is a third-term congressman from the Las Vegas metropolitan area, where 75 percent of Nevada voters live. His district, where he defeated his 2014 Democratic opponent by 24.6 points, is 19 percent Hispanic and 16 percent Asian-American.

The state's non-Hispanic white population was 79 percent in 1990 and is now 54 percent. There are about 70,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, down from 90,000 in 2012, when Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney here by 67,806 votes.

According to the Almanac of American Politics, Nevada was the fastest-growing state in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and from 2000 to 2007, before the economy cratered. Since 1990, the population of Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, has quadrupled to 286,000, the size of Cincinnati. Heck says many people come to Nevada, which has no income tax, in flight from Democratic governance in contiguous California -- but some come with, and retain, Democratic attitudes.

Only 24 percent of Nevadans were born in the state, the lowest percentage of any state, which is one reason Nevada was devastated by the subprime mortgage crisis, which left 62 percent of Nevada homeowners "underwater" -- owing more on the mortgages than their homes were worth. Today, only 24 percent are, but Cortez Masto is picking at the scab of the post-2008 trauma with ads accusing Heck of putting the "big banks before Nevada families," partly because he has received contributions from the financial industry.

Heck notes that Trump's candidacy has energized Nevada Republicans. He says their February caucuses on a Tuesday evening attracted more participants than the 2008 and 2012 caucuses combined. Which is good for Heck, unless it isn't: Trump might similarly energize the Hispanic 17 percent of the electorate against Trump, with Heck as collateral damage.

Nevada has a senator from each party and a split (three Republicans, one Democrat) House delegation. Polls show a close contest between Heck and Cortez Masto. Today, there are 54 Republican senators, seven of whom are in difficult re-election races: Arizona's John McCain, New Hampshire's Kelly Ayotte, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey, Ohio's Rob Portman, Missouri's Roy Blunt, Wisconsin's Ron Johnson and Illinois' Mark Kirk. Johnson and Kirk are currently trailing by five or more points. If Hillary Clinton becomes president, Vice President Tim Kaine will vote with Democrats to organize a 50-50 Senate. Republicans, needing 51 seats for control, must have a net loss of no more than three.

If, in October, Clinton seems headed for the presidency, Heck may need to convince many Nevadans who are tepidly for Clinton to vote strategically -- supporting him so a Republican Senate can restrain her. Reid is determined to keep his seat Democratic, but Heck says that in 2014 Reid's celebrated turnout machine was "an utter disaster."

In 1908, the Silver State (another Nevada nickname, a legacy of the long-since-depleted Comstock Lode) voted for a third and final time for the Democrats' presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan, who favored free coinage of silver. Since then, only once (in 1976, when it favored President Gerald Ford) has Nevada not supported a winner. Which is another reason the nation will be watching Nevada late on Nov. 8.
SPENCER, Iowa | The last line of the obituary for Theodore Hoyt Cate, of Spencer, pertained to pets. "Monetary remembrances should be made out to 'People for Pets,'" it said.

Ted Cate, 91, died on Dec. 18, 2015, at Spencer Municipal Hospital. His body was donated to the Mayo Clinic for Medical Research.

"Lymphoma," says his widow, Phyllis Cate, sitting at home at their dining room table. "Ted was crazy for pets, dogs. He had dogs all the time."

Ted Cate, a native of Rossie, Iowa, graduated from Spencer High School and enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He served as a gunner's mate and a deep sea diver in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II.

He earned medals in the war and took his G.I. Bill to the University of Iowa where he studied civil engineering, a career he enjoyed for decades upon his return to Spencer.

When he wasn't working or helping raise their three children, Ted participated in several professional organizations, as well as the Hy-Noon Kiwanis, the Spencer Community Board of Education (for 14 years) and found time to serve as a Cubmaster for Cub Scout Troop 128.

He also fished and hunted, and lined his den with a few photos of his great catches, including the prize turkey he shot weeks before his death last fall. The den remains as it was prior to his death, a place where Phyllis takes a guest to show a statue of Liz, Ted's beloved retriever.

"The effort to establish a pet cemetery in Spencer dates back to 2003," Phyllis says.

"Man's best friend deserves an appropriate legal resting place, and our groundwater and neighbor's well deserve protection," Ted Cate said in 2008.

The city council's cool reception put Ted to work, obtaining more than 100 signatures on a petition and information for presentations on the topic, and his role as committee leader. Phyllis hands over 11 binders of facts, letters, emails and proposals on the establishment of a pet cemetery. Ted believed De Wolf Park on Highway 18 on Spencer's east side made the most sense.

"We loved our dogs," she says. "Ted would ask, 'How could you not?'"

The Cates once detoured on their way home from Des Moines, stopping at Ankeny, Iowa, to tour a pet cemetery attached to a cemetery serving humans. He listed 50 states from Alabama to Wyoming that had pet cemeteries or pet crematories, as well as those in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Ted Cate pressed on after the city council rejected his idea by a vote of 4-3 in 2013. He provided more signatures and noted how the proper handling of a deceased pet, burying said pet in a container designed for sanitary handling, would reduce dangers of polluting groundwater. As Spencer directs money to safeguard the Little Sioux from pollution, did it not make sense to prohibit residents from burying a pet in the backyard?

Cate disclosed that a local veterinary service would provide cold storage for deceased pets for $9.40 per month. And he noted how a resident stepped forward to show interest in locating, opening and closing graves, thus saving man-hours for the Spencer Parks Department or the City of Spencer.

"In 2015, he was still getting signatures," Phyllis says, noting that the idea didn't die with her husband.

A note in his obituary sums up his spirit: "He was a firm believer that political trees need a good shaking from time-to-time and that the ship of the state needs a good shakedown cruise occasionally."

Even in death, he was reaching out, seeking help in making Spencer a little better, for those living, and for those who have passed.

"He also requests your help in having the city establish and operate a self-supporting pet cemetery in De Wolf Park," the obituary says. "...Monetary remembrances should be made out to 'People for Pets.'"
Small businesses are devoting more of their efforts toward compliance, just another way of describing the effort businesses put into dealing with government regulations.

And if small business owners are talking about it more and devoting more resources to it as part of the necessary process of running a business, that means theres more of the proverbial red tape to deal with.

Its only going to get worse, says Manta CEO John Swanciger.

2016 has already brought major changes at the federal and state levels, and more changes are on the horizon, he said. Entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to remain profitable amidst the growing costs of compliance.

Swancigers comments come on the heels of a new study by his company, the Semi-Annual Wellness Index, which gauges the small business community on several factors.

Small businesses tell Manta that compliance is a pain point on the federal, state and local levels.

What are the Top Compliance Issues?

The survey found that tax compliance was the top bete noire of small business owners. One in three of those surveyed by Manta confirmed that tax regulations  and the way they are constantly changing  are the most baffling.

If you were thinking Obamacare, known also as the Affordable Care Act, would be the biggest compliance nightmare for small business owners, you were close.

Obamacare compliance was picked as the most confusing by 21 percent of those responding to the Manta survey.

Another 15 percent said SEC crowdsourcing rules and regulations were the most perplexing and just 7 percent said dealing with OSHA regulations was their most difficult task.

And complaints over regulations go much deeper than ideaology, the survey found.

Sure, some regulations are designed to protect the common good, but entrepreneurs say things have now reached a point where compliance is taking a substantial amount of time.

Mantas survey shows that 41 percent of owners say regulations have negatively impacted their operations. Nearly as many  40 percent  said that compliance was costing them 1 to 5 hours per week. Ten percent said they spend between 6 and10 hours on compliance and another 11 percent spend at least 10 hours devoted to compliance issues.

So, how does your small business deal with the 40-pound-and-growing gorilla in the room?

Voting away regulations and government red tape isnt likely. No matter where your vote is cast in November  yes, even for a Libertarian  its likely that government red tape and the growing burden of compliance will not go away.

But what you can do is arm yourself and your business with help and resources.

First, have a handy list of people on virtual standby whom you can call when theres a tricky compliance issue. This could help shave hours off your week.

Manta also suggests joining local and other affiliated organizations that can help your business with compliance. This may even just be a group that keeps you informed of the latest in compliance updates.

Half of Mantas respondents said theyre not getting these updates in a timely manner.

If you recognize that compliance is a growing problem for your business, its time to implement training programs that help make compliance requirements a part of your companys routine.
Latin America  August 16, 2016  Kyla Sankey

When the pink tide of left-leaning governments first rose to power on the back of anti-neoliberal protests across Latin America in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the initial reaction from the Left was euphoric. Striving to move beyond the there is no alternative mantra, many pinned their hopes on what seemed to be a new wave of actually existing alternatives to neoliberalism. Amidst the revolutionary fervor of social forums, solidarity alliances, and peoples councils, it appeared an epochal shift was underway, which Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa optimistically dubbed a genuine change in the times.

But in retrospect, the 2005 political mobilizations that led to the defeat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) may have been the high point of the pink tide project. Since then, the balance of power has slowly shifted back toward the Right, with the popularity and efficacy of left-wing governments rapidly diminishing.

Since 2012, economic decline has generated political instability throughout the region. In Venezuela, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) suffered a major defeat in recent National Assembly elections, casting doubt on the governments future. The Movement for Socialisms (MAS) power in Bolivia was dealt a blow with the recent referendum loss, which if passed would have extended term limits for leftist president Evo Morales.

Argentina and Brazil

However, the biggest defeats have come in the two largest pink tide economies. The election of Mauricio Macri in Argentina represents the first time a government from Latin Americas progressive coalition has been defeated in a presidential election, while in Brazil the opposition has achieved what it was not able to in the electoral process through an effective coup detat against President Dilma Rousseff orchestrated by the judiciary and members of Congress.

There is no doubt that the United States is maneuvering to take advantage of the crisis. In contrast to the 1970s and 1980s, its current efforts to reassert its dominance in the region are not primarily via military coups (with the exception of Honduras and Paraguay), but soft coups.

Strategies of economic sabotage and shortages, alongside protracted propaganda campaigns and scandals in media and social networking sites are generating a climate of fear, desperation, and instability. All this is paving the way for the Right to deliver the final blow through institutional mechanisms like judiciaries, elections, and in the case of Venezuela a recall referendum that would cut short the presidency of Nicolas Maduro.

Nonetheless, it is insufficient to invoke imperialism to explain the crisis facing the Latin American left. Previously, when opposition forces had attempted to overthrow left-wing governments through coups detat in Venezuela in 2002, Bolivia in 2008, and Ecuador in 2010, popular support for these governments was sufficient to resist pressure from the Right. This was despite economic sabotage and fierce opposition from the mass media. By contrast, today these governments have much weaker defenses against attacks from the Right.

To understand the current crisis, the Left must also look inwards. The current political and economic crisis is also about the limitations and structural contradictions inherent in the project of the pink tide itself, which have increasingly undermined its radical goals.

Challenging Neoliberalism

The left-wing governments which together comprised the pink tide  including Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and to a less radical extent Brazil and Argentina  first achieved electoral victory on the back of widespread popular discontent about the effects of neoliberalism. Accordingly, the main thrust of their project was anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal.

In response to massive popular mobilizations, these governments softened the harshest blows dealt by neoliberalism, reversing privatizations, promoting growth based on production rather than speculation, recuperating the role of the state in wealth redistribution, and expanding public services, especially in health care, food, and education.

The initial objective was to build an alternative hegemonic bloc capable of breaking with U.S. hegemony and the neoliberal world order. The shared goals of alternative forms of industrialization, trade, finance, and communications were accompanied by important efforts toward integration through initiatives such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Carribean States (CELAC). The most interesting of these projects was the Venezuelan initiative, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), which sought alternative forms of cooperation based on the principles of complementarity and solidarity.

There is no doubt that the social programs of pink tide governments brought significant gains for poor and working people. Many for the first time gained access to basic goods, housing, higher education. and health care.

With the possible exception of Venezuela, the reforms of progressive governments were only designed to confront U.S. hegemony and mitigate the effects of neoliberalism. They did little to challenge the more fundamental structures of capitalism in these countries. The main targets for nationalization were foreign assets, while the structures of power within Latin American countries were mostly left intact.

Social programs sought only to assist the poor, but they refrained from compromising the rich. There was no significant agrarian reform, and major resources like mining, agro-industry, finance, and mass media remained in the hands of a small sector of elites, who continued to profit under pink tide governance. As a result, as the pink tide project unfolded it was increasingly undermined by its own contradictions.

Neo-Developmentalism

The key defining characteristic of the pink tides economic strategy was the neo-developmentalist model. This was an updated version of the import-substituting industrialization model promoted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the postwar period designed to help Latin American countries break North-South dependency and regain national sovereignty.

Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador attempted to reduce dependence on foreign capital by promoting local entrepreneurship and forging alliances with their national bourgeoisies. But subsidies to business owners failed to promote investment in ways that could support the goals of national development or economic diversification. Throughout the pink tide countries structural economic imbalances persisted, leading these countries to depend even more on raw material exports to fuel economic growth and fund social welfare programs.

Indeed, the increasing dependence on natural resource extraction has been the most problematic aspect of pink tide development strategies. Although the extractivist model was defended by governments as a necessary stage of development to move toward a more advanced economy, in fact the opposite has been true.

The reprimarization of economies has further restricted their productive base and locked them into a path of dependency on raw material exports. Despite attempts to implement neo-developmentalist strategies for channeling agro-mineral rents into alternative productive activities, these projects never got off the ground.

The most significant geo-economic change associated with the primary-export-led growth strategy has been the increase in ties with China. But these new trade links have been neither able to provide the basis for regional sovereignty nor break the logic of dependence. Rather, trade with China has brought new forms of subordination, reinforcing primary commodity export-led growth with very little transfer of technology.

But perhaps the biggest problem with the extractivist model is its association with a highly undemocratic concentration of power and resources, characterized by structural unemployment on the one hand, and wealth accruing in the hands of a small stratum of investors and multinational corporations on the other.

The extractivist growth model has in fact prevented the possibility of any further progressive change, instead encouraging a deeper penetration of capital into Latin American territories. Critics describe this model as predatory capitalism because the costs of economic growth are placed on natural resources and rural communities, dispossessing peasants and indigenous peoples and precipitating ecological disaster. This has generated a new cycle of territorial struggles against extractive projects.

As a result, despite making significant gains in social welfare, pink tide governments have been unable to overcome the tensions inherent in this growth model. They had dealt a blow to the new world order represented by U.S. imperialism and neoliberal globalization by blocking free-trade agreements and reversing privatizations. But in the end, the pink tide governments never extended their mission to that of transcending capitalism as such. Instead they accommodated to it, deepening their dependence on global capital.

Whats more, extractivism increased governments vulnerability to boom-bust cycles. Plummeting commodity prices  a result of declining growth in China, reduced demand for agro-fuels, and the development of shale and other substitute oil  have been devastating to pink tide economies, leading to reduced or negative rates of growth, currency devaluations, and declining fiscal resources. The region now faces its fourth year of economic decline. Meanwhile, very few alternative trade and industrialization goals have been achieved, compounding economic stagnation.

Transformation Undermined

There is no doubt that the extractivist model provided pink tide governments with the rents necessary to implement significant welfare programs. But unaccompanied by a more radical project for structural transformation, these social programs have only been a temporary solution; the systemic mechanisms which reproduce inequality and social exclusion are left intact.

The absence of a broader project for transforming society and social consciousness has limited the effectiveness of social programs. In Argentina, food emergency plans and soup kitchens were set up to provide life support to the most impoverished sectors of the population during the economic crisis. But they were unable to tackle the underlying structural causes of poverty in the long run. After the initial emergency these programs were never replaced by efforts to organize alternative livelihoods for people beyond the mold of individual consumption.

Emptied of their radical potential, social assistance programs became mechanisms for co-opting popular sectors and social organizations. The Kirchners unemployment schemes were used as a tool to divide and conquer the piquetero movement. Loyal activists were rewarded with official positions and resources, while those more critical were isolated. The result of these clientelistic practices was the depoliticization, demobilization, and delegitimization of the movement.

In Brazil, the rise to power of the Workers Party (PT), was associated with the dissolution rather than activation of left-wing social forces. The PTs relationship with movements was primarily defined by the appointment of leaders from unions, social organizations, and NGOs to public administrative positions. But this meant that activists and progressives left the ranks of popular leaders to form part of the elite, resulting in a loss of popular legitimacy. The Left was disoriented and deactivated, unable to form an independent political stance.

Across the board, social programs were not accompanied by new forms of popular education, mobilization, unification, and political formation. The role of the poor was to act as passive beneficiaries of social programs rather than radical political subjects. They were inserted into consumer society but were not part of a project seeking to challenge that form of society or transform social consciousness. This has thwarted the possibility of building toward postcapitalist societies.

As a result, the political horizon of the pink tide project was limited to a temporary increase in consumption capacity for poor and working people. While this was most clearly evident in Brazil and Argentina, a similar dynamic also evolved in the more radical projects of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

The commodity price slump has laid bare these contradictions in the pink tide project. Governments are no longer able to fulfill their dual role as both facilitators of higher profits for capital and benefactors for the poor. And in the absence of a more radical strategic vision to confront capitalism through popular mobilization, governments have retreated to the right, implementing pro-market reforms in response to economic stagnation.

In Brazil, Rousseff cut back social policies and appointed a liberal finance minister. In Ecuador, Correas initial attempts to increase tax revenues and social programs were curtailed and he was eventually forced to increase public debts and exports, and award oil concessions to large corporations. Meanwhile, the governments market-friendly policies and strategic alliances with sectors of the elite caused confusion amongst their popular base.

Rising Tensions

The limited political horizon of the pink tide project fostered tensions between governments and social movements. Governments were unable to establish relationships with movements that allowed the latter to maintain their autonomy whilst opening up to self-criticism and holding constructive dialogue when protest arose.

The proposed societal transformations of Bolivia and Ecuador have been emptied of their radical content. In Ecuador, the popular mobilizations and constituent assemblies reached a high point in 2008, when the rights of nature were recognized in the Constitution and buen vivir  living well, an alternative vision of development based on the cosmovisions of ethnic groups and the principles of ecology  was incorporated into the national development plan.

But in practice, these goals were always subordinated to the neo-developmentalist growth strategy, as demonstrated last year when Correa abandoned the Yasuni Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) initiative to keep oil in the ground in favor of opening drilling operations in the Yasuni national park.

Ecuadors extractivist growth model has heightened the tensions between the Correa government, which has become increasingly top-down, and popular protests of peasant, indigenous, and environmentalist movements. Movements organized marches and petitions against the governments expansion of agribusiness and mining, as well as the criminalization of social protest. The governments hostility to these protests ended up providing an opening for the Right, which took the opportunity to mobilize against higher taxes with the ultimate goal of restoring the conservative government.

Similarly, in Bolivia the MASs appeal to plurinationality and pluriculturalism emphasizes the issues of identity and values for indigenous peoples primarily through legal recognition, but pays insufficient attention to the material conflicts arising for these communities within the national development strategy.

The model of Andean-Amazonian capitalism acknowledges the coexistence of diverse cultural-economic modes within Bolivian society: the ayllus, the family, the informal sector, small business, as well as national and transnational capital. But again, the practical experience of conflict between these sectors over infrastructure and mining projects would appear to demonstrate the dominance of the latter two.

When the highway proposal for the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) was pushed through despite popular protests, the Bolivian government was accused of intimidating, dividing, and criminalizing indigenous organizations. Social movements have been weakened in the face of divisions over popular protests, suffering a loss in autonomy and militancy. In this context, the project risks becoming not one for promoting radical activation, but for accommodating social forces to the demands of capital accumulation.

Governments too focused on the economic agenda and technocratic state administration have lost their relationship with autonomous, organized social sectors. Mass protests against the PT in Brazil in 2013 started as left-wing demands concerning public transport. However, the partys disregard for these popular demands opened the doors for the right-wing media and upper middle classes to seize the opportunity to mobilize the discontent, which eventually became a major force behind the toppling of the government in 2016.

It has become evident that the social mobilizations that initially brought pink tide governments to power have had little continuity. This is partly because they lacked a long-term project to become a self-sustaining force, but also because they were undermined by the agendas of their governments. Even if activism has not disappeared completely, it is nonetheless the case that forces on the Left are a far cry from constructing a clear project to build an alternative hegemonic force.

The result is that social forces on the Left were unprepared for the current economic crisis. While governments made alliances with the Right and adopted pro-market policies, popular forces lacked the capacity to understand what was happening and mobilize for a popular alternative. Absent a strategy to push for a radical exit from the crisis, in both Brazil and Ecuador movements criticizing governments ended up promoting the cause of the Right.

What these experiences make clear is that a project for societal transformation cannot be limited to greater social redistribution without also seriously confronting deeper power structures and building a radical popular base. It is not that greater access to basic goods, education, and health are unimportant, but that their effectiveness does not fundamentally alter the reproduction of class and power inequalities.

Nor do they necessarily encourage the mobilization, education, and political formation necessary for a longer-term transformative project. It is not enough to defeat neoliberalism without also having a transitional strategy toward a postcapitalist society.

Venezuelas Example

Venezuela is the only country that attempted to go beyond the post-neoliberal project, paving the way toward a postcapitalist society. Following the coup attempt and the oil strike of 2002, Hugo Chavez realized that his social agenda could only move forward if it turned in a more radical direction on the basis of popular participation. Chavezs vision of twenty-first-century socialism sought to construct a communal state accompanied by revolutionary activism and popular protagonism.

Venezuelas Bolivarian Missions are an extensive set of social programs tackling a range of issues from poverty reduction, food, housing, education, and health care to indigenous rights. But more important than material redistribution in Venezuela has been the attempt to transform popular political culture, with a surge in grassroots organization, class consciousness, and popular mobilization.

The Bolivarian Missions have been accompanied by new mechanisms for political participation. Community councils have empowered people to make decisions on a variety of issues in their everyday lives, from health to water and transport. There is no doubt that elements of these processes demonstrate a radicalism that sets them apart from those of the rest of the pink tide, promoting the activation of popular forces outside the state bureaucracy and the transformation of social consciousness.

Yet the limitations of Venezuelas project for socialism still lie in the structural contractions of the process. Throughout the Venezuelan process there has remained a major contradiction between the expansion of popular protagonism and the failure to accompany these processes with fully socialized productive property.

The nationalization of oil and other industries represented important steps in precipitating a rupture with capitalism and bringing the economy under social control. But these projects were often carried out as an immediate response to conflict and were not part of a broader strategic plan for societal transformation.

Moreover, the project would always be limited by its inability to escape the extractivist model that, as described above, is inherently undemocratic. Despite major attempts to channel oil funds to diversify the economy through a system of cooperatives, these lacked the capacity to become self-sustaining independently of the government subsidies that propped them up.

Dependency on subsidized imports for food and other basic goods left the top-down rentier model intact. With no economic diversification, local business remained dedicated only to imports rather than productive industry. This has limited real popular participation. Despite a significant surge in popular protagonism, the fact that these new forms of organization had no foundation in the productive relations of Venezuelan society meant they were unsustainable. Social transformation was mainly limited to the political sphere, taking place only at the local level with no foundation in the productive base of the economy.

This means that it is still top-down decisions made by the state and in the world market that will ultimately impact peoples livelihoods. In Venezuela this top-down model has been accompanied by an extensive corruption of state bureaucrats that popular mobilization could not overcome.

These underlying contradictions have been unveiled by the current economic crisis. When oil prices plummeted they took with them the access to food and medicine for the poorest sectors of society. Even if the horror stories presented in the mainstream media of famine, desperation, and the failure of socialism are politically motivated exaggerations, there is nonetheless no doubt that the Venezuelan project has proven unsustainable.

Like his counterparts, Maduro has desperately turned to Canadian mining companies to make up for the shortfall in dollars. The hope for Venezuela lies in the continued empowerment of popular classes, who have mobilized bottom-up solidarity initiatives like communal networks for production and consumption of basic goods to confront the crisis.

Left Neoliberalism

The experience of left-wing governments in power is representative of the problems of trying to humanize capitalism, or build an Andean-Amazonian capitalism without going beyond it. Despite a fierce anti-neoliberal platform, with the exception of Venezuela few steps were taken toward a complete rupture with the previous order.

Instead, the result was what some described as left neoliberalism, whereby the new governments continued to manage a post-neoliberal society but were not able to overcome capitalism. So far, they have been successful neither in preventing the contradictions of the operations of global capitalism in Latin America from erupting into crisis, nor in preparing the masses to organize and propose their own solutions going forward. This must change if these governments are to retain their hold on power.

In the face of crisis, people want change. Bolivian vice president Alvaro Garcia Linera has pointed out that the Right has no alternative proposal. The neoliberal policies they propose resemble those implemented in the 1980s and 1990s that initially caused economic devastation and popular protest. Yet after over a decade in power, the pink tide governments seem unable to move beyond the impasse and provide an alternative to the economic woes facing the people.

Rather than implementing pro-market policies and making pacts with sectors of the elite, the key is to push for a solution to the crisis by increasing popular protagonism through mobilization, unification, and education. In the face of crisis, the popular sectors must be prepared to build toward another type of society.

This involves strengthening political consciousness and collective organization to protect the social gains made under progressive governments, but also providing greater space for social activism to limit the expansion of capitalism, and building a social and ecological economy beyond extractive capitalism.

Political parties must open up to self-criticism and national-level debate with popular movements about the type of social, ecological, and economic model people need The primary task is to steer away from extractivism toward a socialized economy that is ecologically sustainable.

This cannot be achieved simply by spontaneous self-activity, but nor can it come from technocratic decisions from above. Political parties must open up to self-criticism and national-level debate with popular movements about the type of social, ecological, and economic model people need, that will have a real impact on the partys program. The primary task is to steer away from extractivism toward a socialized economy that is ecologically sustainable.

An important example of a left alternative is emerging from the continent-wide ALBA social movements project. The goal of ALBA movements is the construction of a continental social movements network in order to mobilize, unify, and educate diverse sectors of the popular movement around a common project, from peasant, indigenous, and African communities to students, workers, and co-operatives.

ALBAs response to the current conjuncture is to build toward the creation of an alternative proposal based on popular power which seeks a solution [to the crisis] in accordance with the interests of popular organizations. This means precipitating the struggle for the construction of an alternative, postcapitalist economy that can be socialist, ecological, communal, feminist, and self-sustaining.

In the face of an exhausted model, processes like ALBA will be critical to building political subjects capable of acting as forces of radical change. The pink tide governments may have failed to tame capitalism, but what the Peruvian journalist and socialist activist Jose Carlos Mariategui envisioned as the socialism of our Americas is still a project worth fighting for. 
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
William "Billy" Wendell Cusic Sr., of Chaptico, Maryland, passed away on August 13, 2016 at his home in Chaptico. Born on February 23, 1941 in Leonardtown, Maryland, Billy was a lifelong resident of St. Mary's County having grown up in Mechanicsville. As a child, he was an altar boy at St. Joseph's Catholic Church and also attended St. Joseph's Catholic School. He went on to graduate from Margaret Brent High School, Class of 1960. On June 16, 1962 he married Joyce Ann Knott from Chaptico at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bushwood, Maryland. From there they went on to celebrate 54 years of marriage and had three children.



During his younger years, he worked with his father, Elwood Cusic and brothers Bobby and Teenie on the Patuxent View Farm. There he raised cattle, hogs, grew tobacco, hay and other products. Billy was a proud part of showing prized Hereford Cattle winning many awards at county fairs throughout the state. He continued that job until 1963. From his years of being a farmer Billy acquired quite an ability to fix mechanical things. He moved on from being a farmer to work for Maryland Tobacco Growers in Waldorf, Maryland. There they sent him to maintenance and repair school for International Trucks and Tractors. He later moved on to work for Joe McKay (International Tractors) in Leonardtown, Maryland and being promoted to Shop Foreman.



In the early 1970's Billy decided it was time to venture out on his own and become self-employed as a mobile mechanic. He then purchased a used potato chip box truck which belonged to his twin brother and the rest is history. Billy began his mobile mechanic service by going to customer's farms and places of business and repaired whatever truck, tractor or equipment that needed to be fixed.



In 1976 he moved from a small house trailer in Leonardtown where he and his wife and three children lived and built a home with a one bay garage in Chaptico "Crossroads". There his business continued to grow and as the business grew he slowly expanded his shop. What started as a one man operation with a lot of help and support from his wife, Joyce Ann, had turned into something larger than he had ever dreamed. Over time he expanded to numerous service trucks, light and heavy duty wreckers and rollbacks with 24 hour a day service/towing.



In what little free time Billy had over the years he loved going to antique car shows and restoring antique cars. He and his wife along with their son, Johnny, restored several cars that were pristine down to the exact style nut and bolt from the factory. One such vehicle, a 1956 Ford Victoria, took 2nd place in the Nation in Nashville, Tennessee. Another one, a 1956 Chevrolet Belair, 2 door hardtop, won Best 1956 at the Classic Chevy Show in Baltimore, Maryland.



Over the years, Billy has volunteered many hours too many different causes. He was a past member of the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. He was instrumental in the restoration of the Old St. Joseph's Cemetery on Busy Corner Road in Morganza, Maryland. Along with the help of former Sheriff and friend, Wayne Pettit, Billy was able to gain access to work inmates on weekends to come and help his family, friends and others restore the old cemetery back to the way it should have looked by showing respect for those who had passed before us while giving their families the ability to find their loved ones. He was also a very big supporter for our local Fire and EMS and Law Enforcement in the county. The guys and gals in red and blue knew if they got in a jam they could give him a call and he would be right there to help without question!



Billy was predeceased by sons: William Wendell Cusic, Jr., "Billy Boy", and Timothy Allen "Timmy" Cusic, brother, Joseph "Teenie" Cusic, Jr., Father, Joseph Elwood Cusic and Mother, Elvie Wood Cusic. He is survived by his wife, Joyce Ann, son, Johnny Cusic (Amy), twin brother, Bobby Cusic (Betty Jean) and grandchildren: Christian Cusic-Wilson, Connor William Cusic and Carson Blake Cusic.



The family will receive friends on Friday, August 19, 2016 from 5:00 PM- 8:00 PM with prayers recited at 7:00 PM in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home Leonardtown, MD. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 10:00 AM in St. Joseph's Catholic Church with Father Charles Gallagher officiating. Interment will follow in Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery Helen, MD. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hospice of St. Mary's County P.O. Box 625 Leonardtown, MD 20650. Arrangement provided by the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A. Leonardtown, MD.
Residents interested in learning more about the inner workings of county government have only a few days remaining to apply for the 2016 St. Mary's County Citizens Academy. The deadline to submit an application is August 19.Academy sessions will take place on seven Tuesday evenings, between September 6 and October 25, from 6 to 9 p.m. at various county operated locations. St. Mary's County residents, 18 years of age and older, are eligible to participate. Enrollment is limited to 25 pre-registered applicants.The Academy provides an overview of county programs and services. Participants will gain a better understanding of county government operations and will receive a certificate upon completion.The first session features an overview of county administration. Subsequent sessions will focus on the departments of Aging and Human Services, Economic Development, Land Use and Growth Management, Recreation and Parks, Public Works and Transportation and Emergency Services and Technology.Citizens interested in learning more about the academy, or participating, can go to www.stmarysmd.com/SMCG-Citzens-Academy.asp to download the brochure or to apply. To view the invitation video go to https://youtu.be/qOdwBCPmY8E The August 17 meeting of the St. Mary's County Economic Development Commission (EDC) has been canceled as EDC staff will be attending the Maryland Association of Counties conference.For more information about the EDC, contact Robin Finnacom, Deputy Director, St. Mary's County Department of Economic Development at 301-475-4200, ext. *1407.The August 18 meeting of the St. Mary's County Commission for People with Disabilities has been canceled.For more information about the Commission for People with Disabilities contact Cynthia Brown, Human Services Division Manager, St. Mary's County Department of Aging & Human Services at 301-475-4200, ext. *1849.The location for the scheduled Monday, August 22 Commission on Aging meeting has been changed. The meeting will be now held at the Lexington Park Adult Community, 21895 Pegg Road, Lexington Park, MD 20653 beginning at 1 p.m.For more information, please call the Department of Aging & Human Services at 301-475-4200, ext. *1051.
Sergeant Anthony T. Fenwick (retired).

Sergeant Selina M. Dorsey (retired).

First Sergeant John Vanhoy, Captain Daniel Alioto, and Captain Steven Hall meet with the Southern Maryland Young Marines Unit.

(L-R) Sheriff Tim Cameron, Deputy James Maguire, and Carlie Maguire during Deputy Maguire's swearing-in on August 2, 2016, at Sheriff's Office Headquarters.

On Friday, August 5, four new Correctional Officers began their careers after graduating from the 55th Corrections Officer Entrance Level Training Program, held at the Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy. The program requires each Correctional Officer to complete an eight-week, 320 hour Basic Corrections Academy, which exceeds the state minimum for all Correctional Officers working in local Correctional Facilities across Maryland.Captain Michael R. Merican, Warden of the St. Mary's County Detention Center, congratulated the graduates and conferred their certificates of completion. Command representatives from the St., Mary's County Sheriff's Office joined the family, friends, and guests of the graduates, honoring their graduation.Correctional Officer Rainer Hersh received the Steve Allen Leadership Award, and Correctional Officer Dale Wade improved his fit test by 60% and dropped twenty-five pounds while in the academy.On behalf of Sheriff Tim Cameron and the men and women of the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, it is our pleasure to welcome the Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy 55th Session graduates: Correctional Officers Rainer W. Hersh Correctional Officer Alexander G. Tasciotti Correctional Officer Briana M. Edelen Correctional Officer Dale I. WadeOn July 31, Sgt. Anthony T. Fenwick of the St. Mary's County Detention Center retired after 25 years of dedicated service. Sgt. Fenwick began his career on August 12, 1991, and completed his Academy training on November 22, 1991. In July 1998 he was promoted to Correctional Officer First Class and promoted again in December 2013 to Corporal. In 2013 he received the rank of Sergeant after Rank Restructure.Sgt. Fenwick led a very successful career in the Detention Center. In addition to being one of the original members of the Emergency Response Team, he was a Field Training Officer, Transport Supervisor, Operations Squad Supervisor and a K-9 Officer, with his partner Bandy, within the facility.Sgt. Selina M. Dorsey of the St. Mary's County Detention Center retired after 25 years of dedicated service on January 29, 2016. Sgt. Dorsey began her career on January 7, 1991, and completed her academy training in July of that year. In July 1997 Sgt. Dorsey was promoted to Correctional Officer First Class and promoted again to Corporal in August 2000. In July 2013 Sgt. Dorsey was promoted to Sergeant after Rank Restructure.Sgt. Dorsey led a very successful career in the Detention Center. In addition to being one of the original members of the Emergency Response Team, she was a Field Training Officer, Operations Squad Supervisor and a member of the Transport Division. Sgt. Dorsey also became a Duly Authorized Inspector for the Maryland Commission Correctional Standards.An act of kindness has morphed into an ongoing partnership between the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office and the Southern Maryland Young Marines Unit. The Young Marines' mission is to impact America's future positively by providing quality youth development programs for boys and girls. These programs nurture and help members develop into responsible citizens who enjoy and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. Recently, the Southern Maryland Young Marines Unit was selected for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Enrique "KiKi" Camarena Division Award. The award honors six units, one award per division, for drug demand reduction efforts through community education and peer-to-peer role modeling.In recognition of their common cause, the Young Marines invited deputies from the Sheriff's Office to their Saturday, July 16, 2016 meeting, for light refreshments and conversation. During the meeting, the officers volunteered to take part in an impromptu panel discussion. They encouraged the Young Marines to ask them open and honest questions about recent events surrounding law enforcement and told the Young Marines how mutual respect between citizens and law enforcement officers can have a positive impact on interactions between the two.The officers also spoke about the nature of leadership and shared the characteristics of leaders. When the Young Marines told the officers about their own drug reduction efforts, the idea of the partnership was born."When we learned the Young Marines wanted to get involved, we immediately recognized the benefit of bringing this group of young men and women into Sheriff's Office initiatives to help us change the culture surrounding drug misuse and abuse in St. Mary's County. We can police, we can educate, but you start to see the fruits of your labor when community groups such as the Young Marines get involved," says Capt. Daniel Alioto of the Sheriff's Office. "We are both working toward the same goal in the community. Why not bring the two together and extend our resources?"After the initial meeting, deputies began brainstorming on how to utilize Young Marines in a way that would connect with their mission. Corporal Peggy Smolarskly, Leonardtown Community Policing Deputy, proposed involving the Young Marines in community policing events, specifically in downtown Leonardtown.In addition, Young Marines will act as Camp D.A.R.E. counselors, under the leadership of Cpl. Angela Delozier. The previous work by Young Marines in drug-demand reduction efforts will be valuable to the Camp D.A.R.E. program, and as counselors, they will play a vital role in helping to coordinate Camp D.A.R.E. Also, they will be able to enhance their leadership skills by serving as youth leaders.Further, during Red Ribbon Week, an alcohol, tobacco, violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States, the Sheriff's Office and the Young Marines will co-host "Chasing the Dragon". "Chasing the Dragon" is an FBI documentary that attempts to combat the surge in heroin addiction through increased awareness and features interviews with survivors of substance abuse and family members of those suffering from addiction.On Thursday, August 4, Southern Maryland Young Marines Unit Adjutant, Mrs. Leigh Willis, and her son, Young Marine Sgt. Jake Willis, met with Sheriff's Office deputies, to discuss these and other ideas. Sheriff Tim Cameron says, "We are excited to partner with this bright group of young men and leaders in our community. We have formed a mutually-beneficial partnership with will serve the community and the youth in St. Mary's County for years to come."Rob Willis, Unit Commander, Southern Maryland Young Marines, concurs, "As a National Youth Organization, we are committed to creating the next generation of leaders and engaged citizens. The Southern Maryland Young Marines are excited about our partnership with the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office as we seek to impact young men and women in communities across Southern Maryland in a positive way."Deputy James Maguire was sworn in on August 2, by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Ms. Joan Williams and he started his first shift back on patrol this past Friday. During the swearing-in, he was joined by his daughter Carlie, Sheriff Tim Cameron, and fellow Sheriff's Office employees. Deputy James Maguire was with the Sheriff's Office for nine years, before moving with his family to Virginia and serving as an officer for Loudon County Sheriff's Office for three years."When I left a little over three years ago, I always knew I'd someday return. St. Mary's County and the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office will always be home to me, and it's great to be home," said Deputy Maguire.Sheriff Cameron and the men and women of the Sheriff's Office welcomes Deputy First Class James Maguire back to the Sheriff's Office to continue in his law enforcement career.
(EDGE) A high-ranking California priest is being accused of sexual harassment after allegedly sending sexually explicit pictures of his genitals to a male parishioner, Fox 40 reports.

Monsignor Larry McGovern allegedly texted the risque pics to the man who was a parishioner with the Church of the Presentation in Stockton, California.

"It's extremely disturbing that the person who is head of this parish would be sending text with photographs of his exposed genitals," the man's attorney Vince Finaldi told Fox 40. He added McGovern also sent the man, who is a pool maintenance contractor for the church, a text message of the priest's private parts in July.

"Someone's who's engaging in that type of conduct has very, very serious credibility issues and issues with judgment," Finaldi told the news station. He said the man confronted McGovern about the photo, and asked him about his celibacy. The man claims the priest allegedly told him "Oh, that just means that you're not married."

Related: Catholic Priest Discovered with Secret Grindr Account, Dick Pics

Finaldi said the man was fired from his job with the church last week, just days before filing the lawsuit.

The Diocese of Stockton released a statement regarding the allegations.

"Today the Diocese of Stockton learned for the first time of employment related allegations against Monsignor Lawrence McGovern, the Pastor of Presentation Parish in Stockton. In accordance with the Canon Law of the Church, Bishop Stephen Blaire has placed Monsignor McGovern on administrative leave pending a full and complete investigation."

Finaldi and the parishioner want McGovern to be removed from the Church, however.

"That person has no business being in a parish and head of a school where there are numerous young children walking around everyday," Finaldi told Fox 40.

Watch the news station's report on the incident below.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 15 August 2016. NASA

Today: Mouse Epigenetics Cage Unit Maintenance: The crew completed standard maintenance for the Mouse Epigenetics experiment by refilling the Transportation Cage Units and Mouse Habitat Cage Unit with water and checking the water nozzles of the individual cages.

The Mouse Epigenetics investigation studies altered gene expression patterns in the organs of male mice that spend one month in space, and also examines changes in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of their offspring. Results from the investigation identify genetic alterations that happen after exposure to the microgravity environment of space.

NanoRacks Platforms-1 Module Removal: Four NanoRacks Modules were removed from NanoRacks Platform 1 and installed in the Minus Eighty-degree Freezer for ISS (MELFI). NanoRacks Modules 43 (Slime Mold), 44 (Awty-Yeast Cell Growth in a Microgravity Environment), 45 (Duchesne-Light Wavelengths on Algae Production), and 46 (Duchesne-Plant Growth Chamber) will remain in MELFI until they return on SpX-9.

At Home in Space Questionnaire: The CDR completed a questionnaire for the At Home in Space investigation. This Canadian Space Agency (CSA) experiment assesses culture, values, and psychosocial adaptation of astronauts to a space environment shared by multinational crews on long-duration missions. It is hypothesized that astronauts develop a shared space culture that is an adaptive strategy for handling cultural differences and they deal with the isolated confined environment of the space craft by creating a home in space.

NeuroMapping Operations: The crew performed testing in both a strapped in and free floating body configuration for this investigation which studies whether long-duration spaceflight causes changes to the brain, including brain structure and function, motor control, and multi-tasking abilities. It also measures how long it would take for the brain and body to recover from possible changes. Previous research and anecdotal evidence from astronauts suggests movement control and cognition can be affected in microgravity. The NeuroMapping investigation performs structural and functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (MRI and fMRI) to assess any changes that occur after spending months on the ISS.

Fluid Shifts Hardware Transfer and Service Module Setup: To prepare for Ultrasound activities in the Service Module (SM) this week, the crew transferred and set up hardware that supports the Fluid Shifts investigation from the Russian Segment. The experiment measures how much fluid shifts from the lower body to the upper body, in or out of cells and blood vessels, and determines the impact these shifts have on fluid pressure in the head, changes in vision and eye structures.

Fine Motor Skills: A series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet was completed for the Fine Motor Skills investigation which tests skills needed to interact with technologies required in next-generation space vehicles, spacesuits, and habitats. The crewmembers fine motor skills are also necessary for performing tasks in transit or on a planetary surface, such as information access, just-in-time training, subsystem maintenance, and medical treatment.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: The crew completed a procedures review in preparation for next Fridays planned International Docking Adapter (IDA)2 EVA. Topics covered included prebreathe protocol review, Equipment Lock activities and suit donning plan, egress/ingress plan and EVA extension considerations. Following the review the crew participatet in a debrief with ground teams to discuss questions or concerns. The crew also verified that the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) glove heaters are functional and that the EMU TV is receiving power from the Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA).

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC): This morning the crew reported the WHC fan powered off during use which was followed by a Check Separator Light illumination. The crew performed the standard troubleshooting procedure to clear the Check Separator Light. The WHC was returned to normal use upon completion of the malfunction procedure. Additionally, the crew reported they have been seeing the Check Separator Light on previous use. The engineering team has scheduled a coordination meeting tomorrow to discuss these developments.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation: Today, ground controllers moved the MSS MT from work station 4 to workstation 6 in preparation for the removal of IDA2 from the SpaceX-9 trunk on Wednesday, and the installation of IDA2 onto PMA2 during the EVA on Friday.

LA Multiplexer/De-multiplexer (MDM) Patch  Ground Controllers successfully loaded a patch to the LA 1 MDM in preparation for IDA installation.

Payload MDM Transition  Ground Controllers were performing a scheduled PLMDM-2 High Rate Data Link (HRDL) reset which resulted in a complete lockup of the PLMDM-2 HRDL card. To recover from the HRDL card lockup, ground controllers performed a PLMDM transition. PLMDM-1 was subsequently powered ON and reconfigured as the primary PLMDM. All payload Health and Status (H&S) indications pre- and post-recovery were nominal. The PLMDM transition resulted in a loss of Health and Status for ~57 minutes.

Todays Planned Activities

All were completed unless otherwise noted.

Install 17??.2076?-0 case onto SM ??? thermal control pipework r/g 3003

FINEMOTR  science ops run.

Video equipment installation for ??-2 exercise video shooting / r/g 2071

Replace MRM2;s [??1], [??2] dust filters and [?1], [B2] fan grids

On MCC Go test ??-2 ??-2 exercise  3

MOUSE  h/w setup

DRAGON. Cargo transfer ops

WRS  water sample analysis

XF305 camcorder setup

EVA procedures final printout

MOUSE  module water replacement

MRM2 [??1] & [??2] air ducts vacuuming

Video equipment de-installation for ??-2 exercise video shooting r/g 2071

Mouse Epigenetics  Habitat 4 cleaning and Micro-G battery R&R, part 1

???s [?-?] container and hose R&R. Post-R&R ??? activation / r/g 3061

DAN. Science Ops run r/g 2780

EVA procedure reviews

INTER-MAI-75. [???] h/w setup and activation. Refer to comment 6 r/g 3057

On-orbit life photography and video / r/g 2747

DAN. Science Ops run r/g 2780

Review EVA-related IDA installation procedure

AHIS. Questionnaire fill-up

FLUID SHIFTS. Equipment transfer to ROS.

FLUID SHIFTS. Ultrasound 2 hardware install in SM

Equipment preparation for PAO in LAB

FLUID SHIFTS. Ultrasound equipment connection to [???] / r/g 3054

Crew preparation for PAO / r/g 3060

PAO with Pyaty Element Project team r/g 3060

Mouse Epigenetics  Habitat 4 cleaning and Micro-G battery R&R, part 2

NMAP  science ops run

BIMS. Science Ops run r/g 3053

MRM2 Science Ops conference comm config

COULOMBIC CRYSTAL. H/w installation and setup r/g 3052

NANO. Module retrieval from the rack.

Regular preventive health care sprint exercise (at crew discretion).

DRAGON. Cargo transfer ops

COULOMBIC CRYSTAL. Science Ops run r/g 3052

INTER-MAI-75. H/w deactivation and closeout / r/g 3057

EDV (KOV) or EDV-SV fill (separation) for ELEKTROB. Inspect ??? No. 1212

NANO. Sample insertion into MELFI

Progress 432 (h/w compt) unstow and IMS update. Unstow ??? items from Progress 432 Zone 3

EVA procedure conference

??? maintenance

Return to MRM2 nominal comm config

COULOMBIC CRYSTAL. Data copy and downlink / r/g 3052

Glacier 2 trays removal

EVA camera D4 batteries charging

2.085 MSG file transfer

REBA batteries install

REBA-powered equipment c/o

Symbolic activity setup / r/g 3064

DRAGON. Cargo transfer ops

Downlink exercise data via ???

DRAGON. Dragon  cargo transfer conference

TOCA  data recording

HABIT reminder review

FLUID SHIFTS. Reminder 2 about Chibis suit measurements in SM

Completed Task List Items

Mouse M6 food R&R

EVA NZGL familiarization

Ground Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

EVA prep

MT translate from WS4 to WS6

Nominal ground commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Tuesday, 08/16: Fluid Shifts, FIR ACE T1 install, Microbial Air Sample pack for return, Mouse Epigenetics cage maintenance

Wednesday, 08/17: Fluid Shifts, OGA H2 sensor R&R, Dragon cargo ops

Thursday, 08/18: EVA procedures review/tool config/Equipment Lock prep, Mouse Epigenetics cage maintenance

QUICK ISS Status  Environmental Control Group:

Component  Status

Elektron  On

Vozdukh  Manual

[???] 1  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1)  On

[???] 2  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2)  Off

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab  Standby

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3  Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab  Idle

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3  Operate

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA)  Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA)  Standby

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab  Off

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3  Full Up
NASA FISO Presentation: NASA's Space Launch System: Powering the Journey to Mars. NASA/Aerojet Rocketdyne/Boeing/Orbital ATK

Now available is the August 3, 2016 NASA Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon material. The speakers were Chris Sanders (AeroJet Rocketdyne), Mike Fuller (Orbital ATK), and Bob DaLee (Boeing), who discussed NASAs Space Launch System: Powering the Journey to Mars.

Chris Sanders is a 32 year propulsion veteran developing and flying large liquid rocket propulsion systems supporting the NASA Space Shuttle Main Engine and Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle programs. In his current position, Chris is serving as Director, Strategy & Business Development, Advanced Space & Launch Programs, for Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR). Located in Huntsville Alabama, Chris has responsibility for leading the companys efforts developing future business opportunities across NASAs exploration programs working directly with NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA Headquarters. Chris earned a bachelor of science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Auburn.

Bob DaLee is the Global Sales & Marketing Senior Manager for Boeings Exploration Launch Systems program element within the Space Exploration Division. He is responsible for Space Launch System strategy development, research and development activities, long range business planning, marketing, and new business capture. In this role, he is helping to shape the future of human space exploration through capabilities and systems development in support of NASA. During his 33 years with Boeing, he has held positions of increasing levels of responsibility in all aspects of engineering and program management, including Spacelab Thermal/Fluids design analysis, International Space Station (ISS) Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) design analysis and IRIDIUM satellite constellation ground control system. A graduate of the University of Alabama, DaLee holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society.

Mike Fuller has been with Orbital ATK for 11 years. He is currently working in Business Development and is responsible for NASA programs. Mikes responsibilities include NASAs Space Launch System booster, NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign along with Deep Space Habitats, and other SLS-related activities. Preceding working in Business Development, Mike spent seven years in Research and Development working thermal protection and ultra-high temperature materials before becoming the thermal protection systems lead for Ares I First Stage. Prior to coming to Orbital ATK, Mike spent 10 years with a small materials development company working on ceramic metal composite materials. Mike received a bachelors degree in Ceramic Engineering and a masters degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Ohio State University.

Listen to podcast of NASAs Space Launch System: Powering the Journey to Mars telecon:

 Download the MP3 File.

 Download the presentation (PDF).
Have you ever stayed at a hostel? If youre reading this from outside North America, chances are the answers yes. But here in the United States hostels have a cultural stigma around hostels that can be baffling to our friends abroad. Theyre often in a rough part of town, and the folks youre staying with aint all friendly Alpine backpackers if you catch my drift. Good coffee is not typically part of the American hosteling experience.

Unless you happen to be in Cleveland, where Passengers Cafe have teamed up with The Cleveland Hostel for what sounds like a not-at-all sketchy union of coffee goodness and reasonable room rates. The space is now open, adding one more tasty option to the growing coffee destination of Cleveland, Ohio. Maybe by hostel they hip boutique hotel with shared bathroomsthat sounds pretty okay. Its like a WeWork where you sleep!

As told to Sprudge by Trey Kirchoff of Passengers Cafe.

For those who arent familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Passengers Cafe is a coffee and espresso bar featuring specialty coffee roasters from across the country. Weve partnered with The Cleveland Hostel and are serving Ohios casual to connoisseur bagel and toast chewers as well as hostel guests from abroad. Coffee. Espresso. Toast. Bagels. Falcons at your wrist. The wind in your hair. This is what is best in life.

Owner/Operator Trey Kirchoff has spent a decade in specialty coffee most recently as the Regional Manager for Macro Roaster of the Year award-winning Gimme! Coffee in New York City. Since transplanting to Cleveland in 2015, Trey has worked as General Manager for Chef Jonathon Sawyers Noodlecat and Chef Heather Havilands Luckys Cafe.

Owner Mark Raymond has traveled to over 70 countries and estimates having stayed in almost 100 hostels. The man lived his business, saw a need, and now caters to hostel travelers in this city which has fascinated and excited him since a very young age.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

The hostel lobby was previously little more than a reception desk in the corner and some second-hand furniture. The space is ripe for a proper build-out featuring a massive window facade, exposed brick, original plank flooring, 15-foot ceilings; full of possibility, primed for something great. Our focus in transforming the space into a 25-seat cafe has been to keep with the travel theme and compliment the already existing hostel space and focusing on the specialness of certain accents.

There is now a window bar, an espresso bar, a community table, and four-handkerchief tables bolted into the brickwork down the back hallway that leads to a bike share parking space. Sunrise blasts our logo decal from the front window against the gray ceramic subway tile that wraps the espresso bar. The self-serve coffee station is built into an old telephone booth that occupied Marks family basement throughout his childhood and is flanked by what can be lovingly described as cushioned benches from a stopover airport in the mid-1980s.

A nice sidewalk patio greets customers, comprised of three fold-up tables and fenced by flower boxes currently exploding with flora in this hot Cleveland summer. However, the crown jewel of the entire cafe experience is the rooftop patio now open to guests of the cafe. Weve recently installed Wi-Fi up there to give you the best third location with a view of the Cleveland skyline. We are hosting rooftop yoga classes a couple times a week and have ambitions for comedy nights, open mics, and other small events planned for the rooftop this summer.

The newly introduced retail wall offers 12-ounce bags from our featured roasters as well as items for travel: dehydrated instant cappuccino, pocket journals, single-use soap and local detergents, universal adapters, locks, first aid kits, sewing kits, postcards, t-shirts, tote bags, etc.

Whats your approach to coffee?

Anybody can make a good cup of coffee and a good cup of coffee can save the day! Our focus is on batch brew and classic espresso drinks paired with a bagel or toast. Breads and brown, baby! The cafe is designed to put our guests in control, encouraging unintended palate development and education about coffee through repeat visits and effortless conversation. Enjoy a cup of something new, talk about it a bit, and then take a bag to the home or office or your next travel destination.

Our goals are:

to create a space where locals and travelers can collide to share stories from their travels and get recommendations on places of interest in Cleveland

showcase a rotating catalogue of exciting coffees from roasters around the country

focus on the simple technique of making good, strong coffee and espresso drinks while encouraging our guests to do the same and try it themselves

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

We have a two-group Nuova Simonelli and a BUNN brewer that can crank out something like 20 gallons of coffee per hour. Whole bean grinder is a Bunn-OMatic, espresso grinder is a Mazzer Jolly. Nothing too fancy schmancy, no Wonkaesque glassware or intimidating science equipment. Instead, were focusing on fast, approachable service and consistently, superior beverage quality. It should be noted that our toaster is dangerously powerful, its like if RoboCop was a toaster and its prime directive is to serve the public toast.

Whats your hopeful target opening date/month?

We soft-opened for the second half of June to get our feet under us and had our grand opening July 9, 2016.

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that youd like to mention?

Our logo was designed by the talented Joe Lanzilotta.

Our retail wall and free library were designed in collaboration with the wizards at Room Service.

Photos courtesy of Trey Kirchoff.
A friend sent me a message saying we should check out a new exhibition at Counterpart Coffee Gallery called New Wabi-Sabi. Truth was, I didnt even know what wabi-sabi meant. Still, Id heard good things about Counterpart, and I needed coffeethese were valid reasons to go.

I texted a friend while on the train and asked what wabi-sabi meant. Its not about extravagant expressions of beauty, she replied, but simplicity and quality. And in that, depth.

I gathered that it was a unique Japanese aesthetic, a worldview through which beauty lies in the imperfect. I looked at a few definitions in English. My favorite read: Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

I liked this; it made me feel better about the failed cups of coffee I brewed each morning.

Counterpart Coffee Gallery is a three-story, faded-yellow building on the corner of an intersection in Nishi-Shinjuku. The Glitch Coffee symbol is painted high on an outside wall. Inside, Counterpart feels just like Glitch Coffee roasters in Jimbochowhite concrete walls, simple wooden tables and chairs, and naked lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. Its all very minimal, very lived-in, and strangely comforting.

I ordered a coffee and asked manager Yuya Kosakada about the shop. He said the coffee is all Glitch, and the concept is lifestyle-centric.

Music, photography, art, coffee: theyre all subcultures we want to link together. Coffee is a tool for communication, and we want to use it to connect people, and show them [other kinds] of lifestyles.

Photographer Masayoshi Kusunaga sat at the counter. New Wabi-Sabi is his exhibition, and he offered to give me a tour. He told me the term wabi originated with a famous Japanese tea master, Sen no Rikyu, and developed into wabi-sabi through Matsuo Basho, a famous poet. Kusunaga said the connection to tea and ritual for traditional wabi-sabi made coffee a nice fit for a contemporary view of it.

We went upstairs. At a small table, two men sipped at beer; another customer sat at a counter by the window, staring out at passing traffic. Kusunaga talked about the photos on the walls. He said that, though simple, the photography had hidden depth. In combination, the photographs told stories. It made me think of coffeea simple drink on its own, you could still follow it down any number of different rabbit holes.

Kusunaga gestured at an image of a lotus leaf, and said, You can see here the leaf is beginning to wither; its dying. This photo captures the moment a life hangs between two worlds.

On the third floor, a narrow space of vintage sofas and small wooden tables, we stood before three picturesa collection of carp streamers, a peaceful riverside, and a low-hanging moon. Kusunaga said the asymmetry was important. Everything follows the same line, he said, and your imagination fills in the blanks. Theres a flow of time and life here: from day to night, and life to death.

It was odd to think of the act of fading and disappearing as beautiful. Kusunaga said the Japanese are sensitive to beauty in impermanence; he said the sakura cherry blossom was a good example. The beauty is in the fleeting nature of its bloom.

Downstairs, while I sipped at an iced coffee, I mentioned to Kosakada that the photography captured moments not easily found outside Japan. He said he hopes future exhibitions and events also get at this ideathe sharing of culture and art unique to Japan. Counterpart is a gateway to that, he said, with coffee as the conduit. He pointed to a CD on the counter as an examplea collaboration between Counterpart and Madcore Records called Chill Mix, a light, mellow set of jazz, funk, and soul, designed as a companion to a similar style of coffee.

It was intriguing to think of this coffee shop as a space for sharing and experiencing culture. In its own way, coffee is an extension of the tea ceremony, but for a new generationone that wants its own way to express ideas and create art.

And what a cool idea, I thought, for a coffee shop to be a window into the art and culture of a generation.

It gave me reason to look forward to whatever exhibition Counterpart might hold next.

Hengtee Lim (@Hent03) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in Tokyo. Read more Hengtee Lim on Sprudge.
Montreal, August 14, 2016 (SPS) - The International Alliance of Women has reaffirmed its support and solidarity with the struggle and resistance of the Saharawi women for freedom and independence.

At a workshop held under the theme "Women's resistance during wars and armed struggles" in the World Social Forum held in Montreal, member of the International Alliance of Women, Ms. Rita Acosta, stressed that all freedom-loving women must support the Saharawi women in their struggle for freedom and independence.

"Colonialism is one. And all the oppressed women in Western Sahara, Palestine, Kurdistan, Philippines and Canada or other countries share the same oppression and suffering," said Rita Acosta, calling on women to unite their efforts for peace, justice and a better world.

For her part, Secretary General of the National Union of Sahrawi Women (NUSW), Fatma El Mehdi, spoke about the recent developments in the Western Sahara issue and the serious violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan occupation authorities against the Saharawi civilians in the occupied territories, including the Saharawi women.

She also addressed the resistance of the Saharawi people, the role of vanguard played by Saharawi women in the refugee camps and the occupied territories and its struggle against the Moroccan policy of intimidation, persecution and deprivation of all fundamental rights.

She urged all participants to support the Saharawi women in their struggle against the Moroccan occupation, participate in the international campaign to raise awareness about the Saharawi question throughout the world, demand the release of all Saharawi political prisoners, protection of Saharawi civilians, and end the suffering of the Sahrawi women through the holding of a free, fair and impartial allowing the Saharawi people to exercise their right to self-determination and independence.

The participants welcomed the presence of the Saharawi delegation and the work of Sahrawi women as part of that organization. (SPS)

062/090/TRA




MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Boko Haram extremist group began large-scale attacks in northeast Nigeria in 2009. Last year, the group expanded attacks into neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The extremist group pledged allegiance to the Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries, in March 2015.

"Troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE at harbour in Kangarwa yesterday successfully repelled suspected remnants of Boko Haram terrorists attack. The alert troops rose to the occasion and dealt a decisive blow on the insurgents, by killing 16 of them and recovering arms and ammunitions from them," the statement published Monday reads.

During the operation, 11 soldiers and one officer were wounded, the press service added.
CAIRO (Sputnik)  Russian air safety inspectors are due in Egypts two main seaside resorts on August 28 to see what measures were taken after a tragic downing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai desert last year.

"It will probably be the final visit before Russia restarts charter flights to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada airports," the tourism source told the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Four suspected Daesh members were arrested in Morocco for plotting terrorist attacks in the kingdom's largest city of Casablanca, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

"They plotted dangerous terrorist attacks against the stability and security of the Kingdom," the ministry said in a statement, cited by the Le Matin newspaper.
The tradition has been upheld since by a series of equally politicized and sycophantic Chairmen and Chiefs.

As a result, top generals have colluded with US presidents to cover up major policy failures, Macgregor explained.

Whenever the White House feels the need to compensate for failed policies and strategy, presidents and their administrations pressure the militarys senior leadership to provide good news [and] to spin the story, Macgregor said.

Macgregor praised late Soviet Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov for trying to warn the Soviet leadership about the military difficulties of intervening in Afghanistan in 1979.

Deckers warning is reminiscent of Marshal Ogarkovs later warning to the Politburo regarding Afghanistan.

A recent example of the pattern was the exaggerated claims of success for General David Petraeuss counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq a decade ago, Petraeuss policies in reality consolidated Iranian control of Iraq and set the stage for a regional Sunni-Shia war, Macgregor maintained.
Reputation, career, and post-military career depend on creating an upbeat story, Brenner stated.

US President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had both led and approved the shaping of US strategy against the Daesh so both of them also were deeply concerned that these policies appeared to be successful although they were not, Brenner noted.

At the political level, Obama's legacy, Hillary's electoral prospects, and the Democratic Party's standing all are significantly affected by public impressions of how the war against ISIS [Daesh] is going, Brenner said.

This confluence of selfish interests for US civilian and military leaders put enormous pressure on intelligence analysts to provide the kinds of analysis and conclusions that they knew their bosses wanted, Brenner added.

The net effect is to corrupt analysis and presentation right down the line, Brenner concluded.

Retired US Army Major Todd Pierce told Sputnik that pressures on US military and other intelligence agencies to serve up favorable, rose-colored assessments about the struggle against Daesh had distorted and contaminated the professional integrity of the entire process.

Unfortunately, the United States is even more corrupt, though its corruption is better disguised than the many foreign countries whom we routinely accuse of corruption [and] failed to identify the most egregious form of corruption in our system, Pierce argued.

The American public and US leaders alike had failed to recognize the distortions in their military and intelligence systems that were still regularly producing disastrously flawed assessments, Pierce warned.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  On August 4, the Mil Mi-17 helicopter crash-landed in Afghanistan when reportedly flying from Pakistan's Peshawar to Uzbekistans city of Bukhara. Seven people on board, including air navigator Sevastyanov, the only Russian member of the crew, were taken hostage by the Taliban militants.

"The Embassy of Russia last night sent Russian national Sergei Sevastyanov home in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the host country," press attache of the embassy Damir Galiulin told RIA Novosti.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  The latest clashes took place in the Budgam district on Tuesday, resulting in 15 people being killed, the NDTV broadcaster reported.

According to earlier media reports, over 8,000 people have been injured due to the violence that has been unraveling in the disputed border state over the past month.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lambasted Pakistan for human rights violations in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Balochistan in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.

Pakistan termed Prime Minister Modis Independence Day speech as an attempt to divert world attention from growing unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

Responding to Modis speech Pakistani Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that, Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian Occupied Kashmir over the past five weeks. Thousands of unarmed youth are protesting every day for their right of self-determination. More than 70 innocent Kashmiris have been killed and more than 6000 injured.

Sartaj Aziz further said that, The events in Kashmir have nothing to do with terrorism. It is an indigenous movement for self-determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council.

India should recognize that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan, Sartaj Aziz said.

The Kashmir valley has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever since the partition of the two countries in 1947. India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Australia detains people who come to the country to seek asylum on the islands of Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, a practice which has been criticized by rights groups for subjecting the detainees to inhumane conditions.

The Nauru facility was opened in 2001 and run until 2008. In 2012, it was reopened following a surge in the number of maritime arrivals of asylum seekers.
In fact, India is unhappy with the way Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh was treated by Pakistan at the SAARC Home Ministers conference held in Islamabad earlier this month.

Apart from that India is expecting more trouble in Pakistan due to Prime Minister Modi's Independence Day speech in which he said that the people of
This is not the first time the daily has found itself under pressure. On June 20, a Turkish court ordered the arrest and pre-trial detention of a journalist for the paper, Erol Onderoglu, and his two colleagues, Ahmet Nesin and Sebnem Korur Fincanci, who have been charged with spreading terror propaganda while participating in a campaign of solidarity with Ozgur Gundem.

Turkey's crackdown on journalists and restrictions on freedom of speech have been condemned by the international community, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
The arrested militant, who originated from Afghanistan, confessed to having been recruited by the Daesh militant group in the country's southern province of Zabul and then was taken to Pakistan to study insurgency tactics, the media outlet added.

The city of Quetta has been recently hit by two explosions. On August 8, a bomb blast went off at Quetta civil hospital and killed over 70 people. On August 11, a second explosion near Al-Khair Hospital left about a dozen injured. The militant group Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban militant group, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The analyst spoke about the future of the military relations between Russia and China saying that it may be possible that the two countries form a joint center for missile attack warnings.

As the next step it may be possible to conduct joint exercises in the Russian Ashuluk range. China, in turn, has combat lasers that are able to influence the objects in the near space. There was an incident when a Chinese laser made a Japanese satellite virtually unable to function. In Russia such lasers in combat methods have not been used yet, Yevseyev said.

The analyst further explained that China is currently creating an analogue of the Aegis system, which is a marine version of the missile defense systems.

Russia also has a missile defense system around Moscow, which has its own system, and it is not available in China so far. This system allows interception of destructive elements at altitudes of up to 60 kilometers. Thus, Russia and China have much to offer to each other.

If such a decision is made, which would establish a joint missile defense system; it will be a logical response to the US deployment of a missile defense system in South Korea, according to Yevseyev.

The first joint Russian-Chinese anti-missile drills using computer modeling was held in Moscow in the spring of this year.

The next step for Russia and China, according to Vladimir Yevseyev, can be real experience of intercepting ballistic targets at firing range in Ashuluk in the Astrakhan Region, if diplomacy and protests by the South Koreans are not able to stop the construction of the US missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula.
"Such actions by the US and South Korea do not correspond to their stated goals and threaten to deal serious damage to the strategic security of neighboring countries, including China and Russia, and worsen the situation in the country," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement last month.

Speaking to Sputnik, military expert Vladimir Yevseyev suggested that Beijing and Moscow may be forced to deploy their own joint missile defense system.

"China has radar stations that can be deployed as an early warning system for any missile attack. Russia, of course, also has such stations of various types. Among the latest radar early warning systems is the Voronezh-M and Voronezh-DM," Yevseyev said.

"As the next step, it may be possible to conduct joint exercises in the Russian Ashuluk range. China, in turn, has combat lasers that are able to influence the objects in the near space."
A Japanese administrator, responding to report, said Tokyo had no official comment at this time.

"The United States is studying [its options]," stated the Japanese representative, "and as it is still in the middle of making a policy decision, [Japan] cannot comment on every news report."

Japan isnt alone. A number of US allies are skeptical of Obamas proposal, including South Korea, France, and the United Kingdom.

"Moreover, allied governments dont believe that a unilateral no first use declaration would necessarily help to establish an international norm, because theres no guarantee that other countries would follow suit," Rogins report said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Nigeria, which has recently suffered from oil production outages due to militant activity in the Niger Delta, has been seeking to boost output to make up for the shortfall in revenue. In June, Kachikwu announced plans to increase oil production from the current level of 1.6 million barrels per day up to 2.2 million barrels per day until the end of 2016.

"On oil production cuts by OPEC, optimism on my part is quite sparse but I believe engagement with the 70% oil producers might have impact," Kachikwu wrote on his official Twitter account on Monday.
!-- >

Moscow (Sputnik)  Earlier, ONGC acquired 15 per cent of Vankorneft for $1.26 billion, while its share in the project is planned to grow to 26 per cent.

"As of June 30, 2016, we received a base payment of 72 billion rubles for the transaction. The conditions of the transaction also stipulate a final payment. As of the date of signing the current report, the parties have not yet come to an agreement on the final payment," Rosneft says.

Apart from ONGC Videsh, the Indian companies Oil India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petro Resources will also become Vankorneft shareholders. On June 17, Rosneft signed a contract to sell 23.9 per cent of Vankorneft to them and a shareholders' agreement.
KIEV (Sputnik)  Earlier in August, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Igor Nasalik said that Westinghouse was ready to consider building a factory in Ukraine that would supply local nuclear power plants with fuel.

At the moment, there is an excess capacity for the production of nuclear fuel in the world, so the construction of the new factory will not bring significant economic benefits for a country. However, if the country decides to make such investments, Westinghouse will consider the possibility of participation in the project, Dag told the Deutsche Welle newspaper.
The labor shortage is reportedly growing in many Swedish industries, such as construction and engineering, although there are more than enough people with the right skills and perfectly fit for the task. Although there are both jobs and job-seekers present, Sweden is running an unemployment level of 7.6 percent, which fuels bitter disputes between employment services and employers.

Recently, Swedish national broadcaster SVT has gained access to internal material from the country's Employment Service that shows that over 4,000 people reportedly have both the qualifications and the training needed in industries that are crying out for workers. Instead, employers are forced to turn overseas to recruit personnel.

"We are forced to chase workforce across Europe. We have employed more than 20 Romanians, Jorgen Westh, marketing manager at Neoplan told SVT.
BEIJING (Sputnik)  Tim Cook made the statement during talks with China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli , China's state news agency Xinhua reported.

The CEO added that his company would take an active part in Chinas Internet Plus strategy that refers to the application of information technologies and the Internet in conventional industries.

This comes amid decline in gadgets sales and tighter cybersecurity laws in China, which used to be one of the US tech giants fastest-growing regions.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Luaibi added that Iraq was going to increase its oil reserves by boosting exportation and investment activities.

"We are working on the policy of achieving balance within OPEC and strengthening the role of Iraq," Luaibi said as quoted in a statement on the Oil Ministrys website.

Baghdad is interested in cooperation with neighboring states to achieve common goals, he noted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The aggregated output of oil pumped from the Badra oil field in Iraq by a subsidiary of the Russia oil giant Gazprom Neft has reached 3 million metric tons, the company said on Tuesday.

"Gazprom Neft Badra, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, has pumped its 3 millionth tonnes of oil," the company's statement reads, adding that this result has been reached in less than two years of commercial exploitation.

Oil production in Badra since the beginning of 2016 has exceeded the rate of 1.3 million metric tons, according to the company.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  This comes after the British government pushed the final decision on the new nuclear plant in England back to early autumn. The facility is to be built by Frances EDF with Chinese money.

"Its significance to the UKs needs for secure, modern supplies of electricity has been repeatedly overplayed," SSE boss Alistair Phillips-Davies wrote in an article for the Politics Home website.
"The time has come for the provincial government to take strong, unambiguous action," the release stated. "Fracking is brute-force technology. It can trigger earthquakes. It has no place near critical dams or reservoirs."

In 2009, CCPA received documents from British Columbia officials through Freeform of Information Act requests confirming that fracking could cause greater number of earthquakes "than the original design criteria for this area," the release revealed.
On July 1, Russia also imposed temporary ban on automobile and railway transit of some Ukrainian goods to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan through the Russian territory.

In 2016, according to our estimations, our economy will lose about $1 billion because of the measures introduced by Russia, Mykolska, the trade representative of Ukraine, told the Ukrainian media Apostrof.
The suspects were arrested during August 13-14 raids in Vienna and two other Austrian provinces. Aged 21-47, the men are either refugees or asylum seekers.

The victim, a 28-year old woman from the northern German state of Lower Saxony, was visiting Vienna for New Years Eve. Celebrating at the city center near Schwedenplatz Station after midnight on January, 1, 2016, she became separated from a friend and remembers being taken by a group of men before becoming unconscious.

The next morning she turned to police, saying she couldnt recall the exact events of the previous evening, but that something bad had happened, according to the police report.
Reforms to Polands Constitutional Tribunal proposed by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party have been met with international opprobrium and have sparked internal protests.

In March, the Council of Europes advisory panel, known as the Venice Commission, said that the reform of the Constitutional Tribunal, as well as other legislation passed by Poland's ruling party was a threat to democracy and rule of law in Poland.

On July 27, the European Commission set out its concerns and recommendations on how to address a constitutional crisis in Poland, giving it three months to make the Constitutional Tribunal compliant with EU regulations.
Last spring, hundreds of Finnish farmers drove their tractors into the Finnish capital Helsinki to protest the government's measures to aid the country's ailing agricultural sector. Whereas the blunt protest was duly observed by Finland's political establishment and brought the farmers a lot of sympathy and compassion from fellow Finns, it still failed to ease their plight.

The organizers of last spring's tractor "offensive" on the capital feel that they and their fellow farmers were abandoned by elites, who failed to live up to their own promises. Today, they are ready to renew their protests, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.

"We never got anything except a warm reception by consumers and the people of Helsinki. We never got anything from the politicians," Ahti-Pekka Vornanen, farmer in the rural community of Kiuruvesi in North Savo, told Yle.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Russian Emergencies Ministrys Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft managed to put out two fires in continental Portugal, which has been suffering from wildfires for the past week, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Russian Emergencies Ministrys airgroup, consisting of two Be-200ES aircraft, continues to work on extinguishing large forest fires in Portugal. On August 15, [Russian pilots] extinguished two fires covering a total area of 500 hectares [over 1,200 acres]," the statement reads.

According to the statement, on Monday, the aircraft carried out two sorties to extinguish the burning forests. They made 17 discharges of water with a total weight of 200 metric tonnes (220 US tons), the statement added.
This is a government that is hard to manipulate, including from abroad. There are more divisions between various opposition parties than between the opposition and the government. I see good chances of constructive cooperation between the government and some opposition parties on particular issues, Alexander Chepurin said.

He added that even though Belgrade remained committed to its desire to join the European Union, measures to speed up economic development and raise the living standards of the Serbian people remained a major priority, just like preserving the countrys territorial integrity and strengthening its regional and international status.

He also underscored the importance of closer across-the-board cooperation between Serbia and Russia.

Even though Russian agriculture is now on the rise, we will always need quality food imports from Serbia and other southern countries. We need to have a clear picture of what we are going to do in this respect over the next few years.

When asked whether he was satisfied with official Serbian interest in relations with Russia, Alexander Chepurin said that Aleksandar Vucic mentioned Russia four times during his speech in parliament and all of them in a positive key.

The new Serbian government is seen by some as pro-Western. First and foremost, the government should be pro-Serbian and stand up for the interests of Serbia.

It is also imperative that it not be anti-Russian, but I dont think that a Serbian government can possibly be anti-Russian, Chepurin emphasized.

Apart from socioeconomic issues, Aleksandar Vucic also focused on relations with Serbias neighbors, above all with the Republika Srpska, which is one of two constitutional and legal entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Balkans is a very volatile region, a real powder keg. As for the Republika Srpska, there are many ethnic Serbs living there. Even though they live in different states, they are closely tied together and it is only natural that Belgrade cares for its compatriots no matter where they are, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alexander Chepurin said.

When answering a question about media speculation about Vladimir Putins role in the Cabinet formation in Serbia, and about the Russian man in the Serbian government, Alexander Chepurin said that he didnt know anyone there who could say he is anti-Russian.

What I know for sure, however, are people who have good feelings towards Russia and Putin. There can be some nuances here, of course, but well be working with everyone, Alexander Chepurin said in conclusion.
'Larry the Cat Can Stop Him From Doing Anything Silly'

The news, while not expected to serve any functioning purpose, has been met with bemusement and humour by opposition political figures and the public alike, who have questioned Johnson's suitability for such a role.

"Putting Boris Johnson in charge of the country is like putting the Chuckle Brothers in charge of Newsnight," Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron said.

Amidst all this Olympic Hoopla, you know Boris Johnson is in charge this week? No really. pic.twitter.com/qLrY42mZfw  Christian O'Connell (@OC) August 16, 2016

"Still, at least if he's here, he's not in Rio offending everyone he meets  and there's always Larry the cat to stop him doing anything silly."

People asking if Boris Johnson is running the country while Theresa May is away; happy to confirm he has to run all decisions past me.  Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) August 15, 2016

"Perhaps he can do something useful with his time in charge, like finding the 350 million a week for the NHS that he promised."

Apparently Boris Johnson is currently in charge of the country: / The good news is everyone can take their toys into work on Friday  Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) August 15, 2016

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson also joined the criticism, saying: "Very few people could have imagined a short time ago that Boris Johnson would be in temporary charge of the country this week, including Mr Johnson himself.

"Perhaps that explains why he apparently has nothing to do, despite occupying one of the great offices of state."

Apparently with every other minister on holiday, Boris Johnson has been left in charge of the country. Like Homer Simpson running the plant.  Christopher Fowler (@Peculiar) August 15, 2016

"Many will suspect that, like his old school chum David Cameron, Mr Johnson craves high office but doesn't really know what to do with it when he achieves it."

Boris: A History of Insults

The former Mayor of London was a surprise choice for the role of foreign secretary in Theresa May's first cabinet as PM, particularly given his history of gaffes and offensive remarks aimed at those from other countries and cultures.

Earlier this year, Johnson won a poetry prize for his limerick about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he suggested the leader had had sex with a goat.

Boris Johnson in charge of country while May on holiday.. he is going to throwing mad parties at number 10 and trashing the place  Richard Fenton (@RichFenton) August 15, 2016

Johnson has also taken aim at allies much closer to the UK, accusing US President Barack Obama of harboring an "ancestral dislike" for Britain as a result of his "part-Kenyan" heritage.

The verbal attack came after Obama has said his preference was for the UK to remain in the EU.
In December 2015, the Polish Government added five "politically friendly" judges to the country's Constitutional Tribunal, in a move seen by critics as making it easier to push through legislation with less opposition. Poland's Chief Justice ruled the changes unconstitutional, but the government ignored the ruling.

In July 2016, however, further changes were made  which come into force on August 16  allowing for rulings to be made a simple majority, with 11 judges being present. It also allowed for rulings on the constitutionality of a law to be made by only five judges.

POLAND: Justice Paralyzed: Polish President Signs New Constitutional Tribunal Bill https://t.co/lxC88hFgIF  Statewatch (@StatewatchEU) 15 August 2016

The most controversial provision is an article that introduces the so-called blocking mechanism: during a full bench debate, four judges may veto the ruling proposition, which would lead to a three-month adjournment. The veto may be repeated once more. Despite a court ruling that the new law is unconstitutional, the government has enacted the law.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will not invoke Article 50 this year, and has given no indication for when she will.

David Felton is a spokesperson for the #PokemonGoHome campaign.

He told Sputnik that he hopes the widespread interest in the smash hit Nintendo game Pokemon Go, can be channeled into awareness of the fate of 590,000 EU nationals living in the UK.

"There has been so much uncertainty. We're hearing that Brexit may be delayed. In fact we don't even know when Article 50 will be triggered. And that is the biggest problem for EU Nationals, this uncertainty looming over their heads, especially for people who have just moved here for work. It's very difficult," David Felton told Sputnik.

"I think what we're doing with this campaign ties into the British sense of humour, satire and parody that is innate to the UK."

The #PokemonGoHome team is asking people to sign an online petition pressing the government to make the post-Brexit situation clearer.

"We need a statement from the government saying that we as a country are committed to the rights of people who want to come and live and work here. They have families and friends and a life here," Felton said.

The target is 10,000 signatures, which will be enough for Parliament to respond to the request. As of Tuesday (August 16) morning, roughly 5,000 have signed the petition.

In the meantime, even pro-Brexit advocates are expressing concern over the uncertainty lingering over British politics.

On Tuesday, Gisela Start, co-chair of Vote Leave, the official group which campaigned for Brexit, has warned that EU citizens have been "left in limbo."

Good of Gisela Stuart to start worrying re rights of EU citizens living in UK. Can't imagine why she didn't mention this in the campaign!  rosetta delisle (@elisled) August 16, 2016

The Labour MP will head a research project on what legal status could be granted to EU nationals; how that would affect custody battles and employment disputes; as well as how best to protect their rights after the UK does leave the EU.

Prime Minister May has thus far indicated that she does want to protect EU citizens' status, but only as long as a reciprocal deal can be negotiated for British ex-pats living in EU countries.
A team of 30 Europol experts are being sent to refugee camps in Greece to look for anyone they suspect who may be about to carry out an act of terrorism on EU shores.

The anti-terrorism agency believes that there may be existing would-be terrorists among the crowds arriving from the Middle-East.

They believe that these potential terror suspects are hiding within the crowds of refugees staying in the camps, given that those people behind the November 2015 Paris attacks are known to have passed among the refugees and entered Greece.
The EU-Turkey migrant deal was designed to encourage Ankara to stem the flow of migrants into Europe in return for visa-free access for its citizens to the EU Schengen area.

"We must not give in to blackmailing and we do not need a Plan B, but a decent Plan A. We need a strong Europe that protects its own external borders. Those who travel illegally to Europe must be brought to islands at the external border and sent back to centers in safe third countries, rather than come in to Central Europe," Kurz told German magazine Focus.

We continue to inform about heinous coup attempt and FETO across the world & stress importance of cooperation. https://t.co/mNylfloo3L  Mevlut Cavusoglu (@MevlutCavusoglu) 14 August 2016

His comments came as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, told the German Bild newspaper that the migrant deal will be called off if visa-free access is not agreed by October.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In the first days of September the officials of both countries are due to meet for a new round of discussion to decide on the fate of approximately 5,000 migrants that have entered Austria from the Hungarian territory, and, as Vienna maintains, should now be taken back by Budapest.

"We are holding a discussion about return [of migrants] from Austria to Hungary, it will be the main issue Under the Dublin agreement we do have a number of cases for return from Austria to Hungary but for the time being there are certain challenges regarding this return," Grundboeck said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said that the country's authorities could consider the introduction of a special border regime amid the influx of asylum seekers, with September 6 named as "a good date for the cabinet meeting to evaluate the draft."

"According to the actual legal situation, someone applies for asylum in relation to the border check and those people get the permission to enter Austria and then we have a formal procedure in order to identify the responsibility of Hungarian authorities and only then will be the question of return. According to the new legal act, the situation will be different [A migrant] can be turned down without formal procedure we do now," Grundboeck explained.
BERLIN (Sputnik)  The written reply to Germanys Left Party, seen by the public broadcaster ARD, pointed to ideological links that have existed between President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Muslim extremists in the Middle East for at least five years.

"As a result of gradual Islamization of Ankaras domestic and foreign policy, primarily since 2011, Turkey has turned into the central action platform for Islamist groupings in the Middle Eastern region," the reply read.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In an interview revealed on Sunday, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian senate, urged the European Union to hold a summit on the volatile situation in Libya.

"I can only confirm that there is no such summit foreseen at this point," the EU source said.

The statement comes amid reports that hundreds of Daesh-affiliated militants started to flee Libya after attacks of ground forces as well as US air strikes against militants during fighting for the Libyan city of Sirte.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to Irina Bessmertnaya, Berdnik left home early on Tuesday but had to return after she met SSU officers in the street, who accompanied her to her apartment.

I dont remember the exact number of them but there were more than three [SSU members]. They behaved properly. Read out the court order for the search in connection with some criminal case, but  I do not remember what case it was. The searches lasted three hours, Bessmertnaya told Sputnik.

According to her, the SSU confiscated Berdniks computer, cell phone, USB flash drive and a brochure about the Great Patriotic War.
A year ago we were calling to seal off our western borders against the migrant influx, but to no avail. Since then the refugees have found new ways to get in, traveling by bus or by plane. After they killed a priest in France everyone started talking about the need to protect Catholic churches, stadiums, cultural monuments, etc. But who can do this? The army? No, only volunteers, the National Guard, Obrtel emphasized.

He complained about the governments inability to stand up to the EUs attempts to infringe upon the Czech Republics sovereign rights and to hamper its efforts to solve the migrant problem.

Responding to accusations of extremism and kowtowing to Russia, Marek Obrtel said that we cant afford having a specific ideology because this will immediately bury the idea of a peoples initiative. We are above any party affiliations, we are open to anyone who sticks to common sense.

He said that his organization now has 90 branches across the nation whose members are ready to defend people against possible threats.

When asked if he felt like a pariah after sending back his NATO awards, Marek Obrtel said that despite everything he was happy about what he did.

I have no regrets. Judging by the feedback Ive been getting from people, I see that many are on my side and would like to raise their voice against NATOs policy, including towards Russia. Many are afraid to speak out, but, believe me, there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, Marek Obrtel said.

Marek Obrtel is a former military doctor who participated in missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan. In an open letter sent to the Czech Defense Ministry and the Czech government he asked them to take back his NATO medals, calling the North Atlantic alliance a "criminal organization."

Obrtel said he was giving back four NATO medals he received for his role in international peacekeeping missions as
Photos with human-like figures made from beetroot, located behind a fence and barbed wire, were published on a Facebook support page for Hungarian border guards and the military.

The explanatory text under the post says that, surprisingly, such method have been successful; over the past four weeks no one has crossed the border.

Border guards probably constructed these scary figures as no one else has access to the installations where the photos were located.
In July, Erdogan announced that the country would reinstate the death penalty if the people demanded it after a coup attempt on July 15 failed. According to the Turkish leader, a 57-percent majority of the country's citizens back the idea of reinstating capital punishment.

The European Union has warned Turkey that any reintroduction of the death penalty would be viewed by Brussels as a "deal-breaker" that would end the countrys efforts to join the bloc.

The death penalty was abolished in Turkey in 2004 to bring its legislation in line with EU standards.
Greater London Assembly says serious youth violence has been on the increase in the capital since 2012-13. According to London's Metropolitan Police, there were more than 9,000 stabbing related incidents during April 2015 and April 2016.

The boroughs with the highest levels of youth violence in London include, Newham, Croydon, Tower Hamlets and Southwark.

Meanwhile, inner-city borough of Islington is offering children as young as five year's old advice and support to steer them away from gangs, so often the entry point for serious youth crime  including knife crime.
During World War II, the Romani were the third most exterminated group of people in Yugoslavia, after the Serbians and Jewish. In Europe, the extent of the Roma destruction was even worse: about 3.5 million were killed there, according to the President of the World Roma Organization (WRO) Jovan Damjanovic.

Germany has never recognized the genocide of this people, therefore, the WRO intends to seek official recognition, Damjanovic told Sputnik.

"We hired American and Swiss lawyers, as well as our lawyer Milan Vujin. Of course, we cannot compel anyone, but we can legally fight for our rights and for the recognition of our victims. At the International Court of Justice, we will do everything to prove the losses our people suffered through, and the fact that we, too, should be compensated, along with the Serbs and Jews," Damjanovic said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The protesters wore t-shirts depicting US presidential candidate Donald Trump and urged to vote for him as a "friend of Russia," according to the Blic tabloid. The attendees also donned nationalist symbols. The protest was soon dispersed after it was stopped by the local police.

Biden is currently on a three-day visit to the Western Balkan states.

Earlier in the day, he met with Vucic and will later visit Pristina, Kosovo.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On August 5, Choudary and Rahman were charged with encouraging support for Daesh, outlawed in Russia and numerous countries, via social networks between June 2014 and March 2015.

"Between 29 June 2014 and 6 March 2015 invited support for a proscribed terrorist organization, namely ISIL, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State [Daesh], contrary to section 12 Terrorism Act 2000. Choudary and Rahman are believed to have been recruiters and radicalisers for over 20 years and have been closely associated with another proscribed organisation Al Muhajiroun [ALM]. ALM is believed to be the driving force behind a number of people who later committed terrorist attacks including the 7/7 bombers and Lee Rigby's murderers," the police said in a statement.

Choudary and Rahman reportedly face up to 10 years in prison, they are to be sentenced in September.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The police added that as part of the same investigation, two other men , arrested in south London in May, returned to answer bail on Monday.

"The 20-year-old man was arrested at approx 07.00hrs that day [Monday] at an address in south London on suspicion of conspiracy to provide terrorism funding (contrary to Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977) as part of an ongoing investigation into the funding of terrorism in Syria," the press release read.

The suspect's house and car were searched. He bailed and will return for further questioning later in October, according to the statement.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The Canadian military has launched a course to train Ukrainian Armed Forces flight safety specialists and officers, the Royal Canadian Air Force said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We are proud and very pleased to collaborate with our Ukrainian counterparts on aviation safety matters, and I fully support this initiative," Royal Canadian Air Force commander Lt-Gen. Mike Hood stated.

The goal of the three-week program is to train up to 60 Ukrainian flight safety specialists and their commanding officers before the end of March 2017, the statement noted.
WARSAW (Sputnik)  Two people, who returned to the country from the Dominican Republic and Colombia, are confirmed to have contracted the Zika infection.

"According to our data, these are the first Zika cases in Poland," Dr. Renata Welc-Faleciak, from the university's Department of Biology, was quoted as saying in a press release on the university's website.
"There are serious suspicions that the 31-year-old man sold the Glock 17 [pistol] used in the Munich shooting to the 18-year-old German of Iranian origin. Based on the chat analysis and evidence found during [the gunman's] flat search, we can presume that the seller and the buyer agreed on the weapon sale in the Darknet in May 2016. Then, the 18-year-old traveled to Marburg on May 20 where he received the weapon in person."

The gunman purchased 350 rounds of ammunition from the same seller during their second meeting on July 18, according to the statement.
According to the El Comercio newspaper, the natural disaster destroyed 132 houses and partially damaged 556 buildings, a church and a hotel.

The list of deceased includes a US citizen and a Peruvian minor, according to local authorities.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Both Portugal's mainland and Madeira have been experiencing wildfires for days after temperatures soared to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Five people have died and over 300 have been injured, according to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection (ECHO) agency.

"The Ka-32A11BC multirole helicopters, produced by the Russian Helicopters holding, have taken part in extinguishing major fires on Portugal's Madeira Island. The Russian-made helicopters, belonging to the Portuguese Interior Ministry, have shown their ability to extinguish fires quickly and effectively in the most difficult situations," Russian Helicopters, which is a part of the Rostec State Corporation, said in a statement.
"China is highly dependent on food imports. So, there is a big interest from the Chinese side in the Brazilian agribusiness, therefore they invest in it. But it is not China's only concern regarding Brazil. China has also expressed interest in the infrastructure projects that contribute to the transport of exported agricultural goods to China," the expert explained.

A major investment was also recently made in the electric power and oil industries, Fendt said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, the organization announced that the MSF medical facility had been hit in the city of Haijah, prompting the United Nations to condemn the attack.

UPDATE #Yemen #Hajjah 11 people dead & at least 19 injured after airstrike hits Abs hospital https://t.co/U2gQHSJ4ex pic.twitter.com/1aZCtpnXuV  MSF International (@MSF) August 15, 2016

According to the aid group, the airstrike immediately killed nine civilians, including one MSF staff member, as well partially destroyed the hospitals building.
The names of the companies have not been disclosed yet. Police officers are said to have detention warrants for 120 companies' heads.

On July 15, the Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup was taking place in the country, which was suppressed the next day. Over 13,000 people have been detained in connection with the coup. Ankara believes that US-based Islamic cleric Gulen and his supporters were seeking to overthrow the current government. The FETO is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to Police Chief in Iran's western Kermanshah province Manouchehr Amanollahi, quoted by the ISNA news agency, the security forces and police jointly conducted the operation after receiving information regarding the arrival of radicals.

Apart from the explosive vest, the law enforcers are also said to have found a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition and knives during the operation.
Al-Bab, meaning the gate, has been viewed as a gateway to Aleppo, one the most populous city in the country and Syria's commercial capital. Aleppo is currently divided between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and radical groups, including al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham.

Abd Salam Muhammad Ali emphasized that Kurdish fighters do not intend to clash with the SAA that managed to cut all supply routes to the rebel-held areas in Aleppo last month.

Senior research fellow at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies Boris Dolgov maintained that the SDF's offensive in northern Syria is aimed at expanding the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.

"The Kurds are openly saying that they intend to create an autonomous region," he said. "At the same time, the Syrian leadership criticized the Kurds for their plans, saying that all similar issues must be resolved according to the constitution."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Fighting in Aleppo has escalated over the past few weeks, with the Syrian army and local militia forces having managed to encircle large groups of militants in eastern districts of the city.

"The Commission is gravely concerned for the safety of civilians, including a reported 100,000 children, living in eastern Aleppo city, where violence has reached new heights in recent weeks as asymmetric warfare intensifies over control of armed group-held neighbourhoods and their principal remaining supply lines, currently the Castello road and access through Ramouseh neighbourhood," the Commission said in a statement.

In the statement the Commission urges both government and militant forces to observe international law and allow civilians that are still in combat zones in Aleppo access to humanitarian aid as well calling for an end to attacks directed against the civilian population.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the Kurdistan24 broadcaster, the violence broke out after the pro-government militia arbitrary arrested several Kurds earlier in the day.

Kurds are Syrias largest ethnic minority. The Kurdish population also lives in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Syrian Kurds say they want to be part of Syria and do not strive for independence, yet have previously called for more autonomy.

In March, they declared a federal region in northern Syria. The Syrian government responded by saying that the Kurds unilateral decision had no legal power.
According to the representatives of the Manbij military council, more than 172 thousand residents of the city previously evacuated to refugee camps or those who managed to find refuge in the cities of Kobani and Afrin have started returning back to their homes.

Abdulaziz Yunus, head of the external relations of the Syrian Democratic Forces, spoke to Sputnik about the current situation in the city and short-term plans on how to restore normal life for the citizens of Manbij.

Residents of Manbij with tears of happiness in their eyes are returning to their hometown. They are celebrating the liberation of the city from Daesh terrorists. Throughout the city, a festive mood prevails. People are dancing and singing in the streets, hugging each other and crying, Yunus said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The US-led coalition against Daesh carried out 21 airstrikes against the terror group's positions in Syria and Iraq on Monday, the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve said in a press release.

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes using bomber, ground-attack, attack, and fighter aircraft against ISIL [Daesh] targets, the release said on Tuesday. Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using rocket artillery and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets.

In Syria, the airstrikes destroyed 10 Daesh oil tankers, a mortar system, multiple fighting positions, a heavy machine gun, a rocket propelled grenade, and a weapons cache near the towns of Raqqa, Manbij, and Mara, according to the release.
No matter how hard the Afghan army is trying to flush the rebel militants out of Helmand, the long-term effect of this effort is next to nil. The terrorists often find refuge with local families who dont trust the government. There is a real war going on in Helmand where the government forces control a mere five percent of the province, Toufan Waziri said.

He added that people had lost their trust in government officials, central and regional alike, who they believe are enmeshed in all kinds of corruption scandals.

They have their hands full settling their own disputes and stealing the peoples money, they simply have no time to keep an eye on the terrorists who are seizing ever new territories without facing any serious resistance, Toufan Waziri continued.

MPs, representing Helmand Province in the national parliament, have tried to draw attention to this problem, but the government is doing nothing to improve the situation.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter congratulated the forces who helped liberate the city from Daesh and highlighted the support of the Turkish government for the operation.

The Soufan Group explained that Kurdish victories in Syria have led to the creation of a "Kurdish zone of relative autonomy."

"This has created tensions with neighboring Turkey, and those tensions will only increase with the liberation of Manbij, which will connect zones of Kurdish-controlled territory on both sides of the Euphrates," the report said.

The Kurds, Turkey's largest ethnic minority, have been striving to create their own independent state. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been trying to promote the self-determination for the Kurdish community, is considered to be a terrorist organization in Turkey.

The intelligence firm suggested that Ankara considers the Kurdish issue more critical than the operations against Daesh or resolution of the civil war in Syria.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The number of victims from Monday's airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a hospital in north-western Yemen has increased to 14, the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) aid group said Tuesday.

"According to the latest information gathered by the MSF teams in Hajjah, late last night three of the five patients hospitalised after yesterdays airstrike died. The death toll from the airstrike on the MSF-supported hospital in northwestern Yemen now stands at 14," MSF said in a statement.

Twenty four people were also injured in the airstrike and were referred to different health facilities in the area, it added.
Another participant of the course, a young teenage girl, Waad Zkhuri, shared the specifics of this course with Sputnik.

We are taught to create news and are told how to be professional journalists, 15-year-old Waad said.

In addition, she said that she was trained to make reports and has already recorded a small report on the surrounding camp. During these courses, the young Syrian has also learnt English which is part of the curriculum for the young journalists.

Most of all we are writing about the events and problems that occur in refugee camps, Waad added.

At the end of Sputniks interview with the young journalists, Syrian boy Jamal Ibrahim demonstrated his skills in journalism, by playing the role of a correspondent in the refugee camp.

Five years have passed but the war goes on But here, in the Journalism club, there still lives hope of peace and love! This is Jamal Ibrahim for Sputnik Agency live from Omaria Camp, Lebanon! Ibrahim concluded.
However, Garver would not say whether the coalition believes Daesh fighters fleeing Manbij crossed into Turkey.

The coalition does believe that the number of foreign fighters entering Syria has declined from a height of 2,000 per month to 200-500 per month, Garver noted.

Russia and a number of international actors have repeatedly called on Turkey to seal its porous border with Syria to stop the flow of foreign fighters, weapons and munitions destined for Daesh and other extremist groups.

Daesh Continues to Ignite Oil Infrastructure to Prevent US-Led Coalition Strikes

Daesh terrorists have turned to setting oil infrastructure on fire in order to prevent airstrikes by the US-led coalition, Army Col. Garver told reporters.

"Daesh [Islamic State] continues to ignite oil and oil industry infrastructure in order to attempt to prevent coalition targeting of their forces," Garver stated.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Several thousand Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have begun clearance operations near three villages southeast of Iraqi Mosul to prepare for the citys liberation from Daesh, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson Col. Christopher Garver said in a briefing on Tuesday.

"These operations seek to secure additional ground lines of communication, which will provide multiple routes for forces and logistics supporting eventual Mosul liberation operations and to limit freedom of mobility by Daesh," Garver told reporters.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The formal split between al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front, now known as Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, could present new challenges to the US counterterrorism strategy of arming opposition groups in Syria, according to a Congressional Research Service report publicly released on Tuesday.

"Increased battlefield integration between the Nusra Front and other Syrian opposition groups could complicate efforts to strike the Nusra Front without impacting other groups with which the United States may prefer to maintain a relationship," CRS analyst Carla Humud wrote.

In July, al-Nusra Front formally renounced its association with al-Qaeda, declaring itself an independent group  Jabhat Fatah al Sham.
The IDF chief stressed that in order to stop "illegal infiltrations" of Israel it needed $69 million to finish the construction of the so-called security fence, which cuts deep into the West Bank. A 2004 resolution by the UN General Assembly said the barrier violated international law.

Earlier in the day, the IDF announced it had allegedly thwarted terror attacks against Israelis in Judea and Samaria by "multiple operatives" of Lebanons Hezbollah militant group who were recruited via social network.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The statement issued by Ban's spokesperson explained that the parties to the Yemeni conflict have damaged or destroyed more than 70 health centers to date, including three other MSF-supported facilities.

"Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," the statement said.
"The deployment of our long-range bombers at the Hamadan airbase will shorten the distance [] by twice. This, in turn, will enable a larger bomb load, reduce response time to arising problems, as well as decrease fuel consumption and the general tear of the aircraft," Russian political expert Victor Murakhovsky said.

For his turn, the chief editor of "National Defense" magazine Igor Korotchenko said that the agreement between Moscow and Tehran demonstrates Iran's resolute attitude toward the fight against Islamic extremism in the region.

"Taking a fully responsible stance toward the fight against international terrorism, Iran provided an opportunity for the deployment of Russian military aircraft what demonstrates the strong commitment of the Iranian leadership to finally defeating Daesh," Korotchenko stated.

At the same time, senior fellow at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Boris Dolgov views the agreement between Russia and Iran as an important event in the Middle East.

"Airstrikes by Russian bombers will be to some extent more efficient. First, of course, they will contribute to the suppression of Daesh, and secondly, such a powerful support in the fight against radical Islam could contribute the stabilization of the situation in the region," Dolgov said.
Iran and Russias cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria has reached a new level. It is good to see that apart from a political front, this cooperation has acquired a new color in the form of reliable military partnership. Iran has given its consent to Russian bombers to use the Iranian airfield and its entire infrastructure to attack positions of Daesh in Syria, Zanganeh said.

The expert further said, Such a tactical move will improve the speed and accuracy of carrying out military operations against the terrorists in Syria by shortening the distance and flight time, which will give more opportunities to the Russian air forces.

Zanganeh pointed out that the expectation of the Russian-Iranian military cooperation is to as soon as possible eliminate the terrorists in Aleppo and around the province, so that eventually the Syrian residents are able to return to their homes.

Another expert, Hassan Khani Zadeh, who is a political analyst and former chief editor of the Iranian news agency MehrNews told Sputnik that the use of the Iranian airfield in Hamadan by the Russian Air Forces is of great tactical importance, because in this way it increases the intensity of the attacks on the positions of the terrorist groups in Syria.

He said that considering the fact the Syrian Army has blocked the city of Aleppo, significantly advancing towards the north, one can assume that the way out of the Syrian crisis is more clearly visible now.

Russia's role in the fight to destroy the terrorist organization Daesh is so significant that in order to block any route that the terrorists may use, the decision to allow the Russian Air Force to use Iranian bases was made, Khani Zadeh said.
TEL AVIV (Sputnik)  The Palestinians were recruited by Hezbollah to carry out suicide bombings and shootings targeting civilians, according to the IDF.

"A joint operation of the Israeli Security Agency, army and police resulted in arrests of a group of militants in Judea and Samaria area [Israeli name for the West Bank] who planned terrorism attacks on the Israeli people," the IDF press service said in a statement.
The number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire regime in Syria has increased to 410, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Within the last 24 hours, truce agreements have been reached with representatives of two settlements in Homs and Hama provinces, bringing the total number of settlements that have joined ceasefire to 410," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website.

According to the document, negotiations on joining ceasefire regime have been continued with field commanders of armed opposition units operating in Homs, Rif Dimashq and As-Suwayda provinces.
Jihadists of the group outlawed in Russia and many other countries worldwide used mortars during the attack.

Aleppo has been mired in intense fighting, with the Syrian army and local militia forces having managed to encircle up to 8,000 militants headed by the Jabhat Fatah al Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, outlawed in Russia, in eastern districts of Aleppo.
"General Atomics  Aeronautical Systems [of] Poway, California, has been awarded a $370.9 million contract for fiscal 2015 MQ-9 Reaper production," the announcement stated on Monday.

According to the US Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper is an armed, multi-mission, medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft that is employed primarily against dynamic targets and secondarily as an intelligence collection craft.
"On August 16, 2016, Tu-23M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 bombers, having taken off from their base in Hamadan [Islamic Republic of Iran], carried out group airstrikes against targets belonging to Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian bombers also destroyed three militant command points and training camps in Syria's Serakab, Al-Bab, Aleppo and Deir Ez-Zor, killing "a significant number" of terrorists, according to the ministry.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The drills involved 3K95 Kinzhal surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, which are capable of providing air defense against air attacks coming from various directions and altitudes, he added.

"The Northern Fleet's large anti-submarine ships, the Vice-Admiral Kulakov and the Severomorsk, have conducted a joint exercise to repel air attacks by simulated enemies in the Barents Sea, using air defense systems and combat firing at simulated aerial targets," Andrei Luzik, the acting head of the fleet's press office, said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia's Ministry of Defense confirmed earlier in the day its Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers and Su-34 strike aircraft took off from the Hamadan airfield to conduct airstrikes against terrorist groups in Syria.

"Similar to the ratification of the agreement with Syria on the deployment of our air group, ratification with Iran may be required. The Federation Council I think is ready to make this decision," Sen. Viktor Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted for ratification by the lower house an agreement with Syria on the deployment of Russias air grouping in the Arab republic.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Airborne Forces Chief of Staff said earlier this month its units would depart for Serbia in September to take part in joint drills, then to Egypt in October.

"Negotiations lay ahead for these exercises. Anti-terrorist drills are planned in Egypt, our 106th Tula airborne division and task force will be involved," Col. Alexander Vyaznikov told RIA Novosti.

Vyaznikov said the forces 31st guards airborne division took part in joint peacekeeping exercises with India earlier this year.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Reports emerged last week, citing military officials, indicating that Seoul was planning to deploy dozens of the German-made Taurus cruise missiles by the end of the year.

"If true, Germany's decision is an act that violates the peace and that ignores even its national legislation banning the export of weapons to regions of conflict, and that will strain the situation on the Korean peninsula more," the embassy said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti.

The statement noted that the sale of German missiles to South Korea, "fraught with breaching peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region, should be discontinued immediately."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Airborne Forces Chief of Staff said earlier this month that its units would depart for Serbia in September to take part in joint drills, before heading to Egypt in October.

"The joint exercises in Serbia will involve intelligence units and equipment drills. At the moment, the issue of the participation of a third party, the Republic of Belarus, is still being decided. They will be a continuation of the exercises, which were held last year near Novorossiysk, 'The Slavic Brotherhood,' with the only difference being that then combined arms units participated [in the drills], while in Serbia it will involve intelligence units," Alexander Vyaznikov told RIA Novosti.
THAAD should "protect South Koreans and Americans from the North Korean ballistic missile threat and is not a threat in any way to China," the release said.

In July, South Korea and the United States announced that they had agreed to deploy the system in the South Korean Seongju County amid increased tensions on the peninsula over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program.

The THAAD system is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage. The system's deployment to Seoul has caused concerns in North Korea, as well as China and Russia.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  He clarified that the decision could be taken based on similar agreements made with Syria on the use of the Hmeymim facility and the latest use of the Hamadan airfield in western Iran to carry out airstrikes against terrorist groups in Syria.

"Turkey can provide the Incirlik base to the Russian Aerospace Forces for its use in counterterrorism operations [in Syria]. This can become a logical continuation of Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogans step toward Russia," Morozov told RIA Novosti.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that a joint Russian-Syrian operation has been using incendiary weapons in civilian areas of the country, including in attacks on rebel-held areas of the cities of Aleppo and Idlib on August 7.

"There are no air ammunition with incendiary substances such as napalm in Russia. Of the incendiary weapons in service in the Russian army, there are only flamethrowers, but, firstly, they are applied locally, and strictly aimed, and secondly, there is no such equipment in Syria. This non-governmental organization is simply included in the system of the information war and discreditation of Russia and the Syrian regime," Ivashov told RIA Novosti in an interview.

In December 2015, Human Rights Watch said in a report that Moscow and Damascus had used cluster munitions, which are internationally banned, in the fight against militants in Syria. Kremlin subsequently denied the allegations.
The first option to counter the threat of hypersonic glide vehicles is an advanced model of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), or THAAD-ER, he said. Unlike its predecessor, THAAD-ER has a two-stage interceptor, with higher velocity.

THAAD-ER is certainly one candidate and one of the more near-term options that the US government has [in order] to begin addressing some of the advanced threats that are emerging, Graham said.

Talking about THAAD-ER last February, Syring said the project, if approved by Congress, could take ten years to complete.

Lasers are another option the Defense Department is mulling over. Lockheed is working to meet the demand, developing high-power airborne lasers that could destroy hypersonic missiles in the boost phase, before they gain full speed.

High energy lasers are the fastest, most agile intercept capability that we have, Graham said.
A senior UK diplomat has delivered a message from the new British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying her country supported China successfully hosting the upcoming G20 summit.

Alok Sharma, the newly-appointed minister in-charge of Asia in the UK Foreign Office, made the comments during a meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday in Beijing.

Sharma said he came to China to send an important message: that the UK paid great attention to cooperation between the two countries and regarded China as a significant global strategic partner.

Xi's successful visit to the UK last year was a milestone, Sharma said.

He also said that May had written a letter to Xi and Premier Li Keqiang to express her expectations for the G20 summit.

The UK supports China successfully hosting the summit and expects to enhance its cooperation with China on trade and the economy as well as on global issues, May said.

During their meeting, Wang said China was willing to work together with the UK to push forward the partnership between the two countries and further deepen practical cooperation in various fields.

He said the China-UK relationship had kept up a good momentum of development in recent years, and that President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK last year had pushed bilateral ties to a new historical level.

He also asked Sharma to extend China's welcome to the new UK Prime Minister, ahead of her attendance at the G20 summit to be held in Hangzhou in September.

"China is willing to keep communication and negotiation with the UK in this regard and make sure that the summit is a success," Wang said.

Wang appreciates Sharma's visit to China at the beginning of the establishment of the new UK government, saying that he believes that the UK will continue to pursue an active and open policy towards China.

Stronger cooperation between China and the UK is in line with the fundamental interests of people from both countries, and is also conducive to world peace, stability and development, Wang added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  During the August 11-14 trip, McGurk and other US officials attended a joint planning session with IKR President Massoud Barzani and Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh Fayyad.

"This was the second joint meeting between these leaders, and the US delegation was encouraged by the commitment to partnership and ensuring close coordination between Baghdad and Erbil as the planning for Mosul accelerates."

In meetings with other leaders involved in planning the Mosul operation, McGurk emphasized the need to coordinate a military, political and economic campaign plan to liberate the city.
The former NATO commander advocated focusing on "zones of cooperation" where the United States and Russia have proven common interest.

Such areas include stabilizing Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, and counter-piracy efforts, and increasing the use of air, land and sea military "hot lines" to avoid accidental conflicts.
"Many of the comments that Donald Trump has made create unrest Trump has made statements about women and minorities that we do not need and that do not belong in the 21st century," Brende told the NRK broadcaster in an interview on Monday.

Trump has been widely criticized for his controversial statements, including in relation to women, immigrants and Muslims, promising to build a fence on the southern border with Mexico if elected president.
"Art market experts suggested the creation of a database including information, such as museum catalogues, that could help verify if art market items were stolen," the report said on Monday. "US officials GAO contacted generally agreed with this suggestion."

Department of State officials noted that the agency already provides funding to support several projects annually to inventory museum and archaeological sites, including in countries where cultural property may be at risk, the GAO acknowledged.
"For instance, last year a joint Alpine force, involving Taurinense, an Italian Alpine brigade, and Chasseurs, the French mountain infantry, was established," he said.

Cucco also noted that he was skeptical about the idea at first, but now thinks that such operations as a joint European campaign aimed at tackling human trafficking from Libya is a prime case of military cooperation on a level that politicians seem to be unable to attain.

"In other words, [European] troops could serve as an example of harmony between declarations and actions that politicians lack," he said.
Following a bitter diplomatic row on the web, Sweden's ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Swedish national broadcaster SVT reported.

"It is scandalous for a foreign minister to post such a tweet based on false information or speculation," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in televised comments, explaining the decision to summon the Swedish envoy.

Earlier, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom had used her official Twitter account to call on Turkey to reverse its "decision to allow sex with children under 15." The tweet was later lambasted by her Turkish colleague Cavusoglu as "unacceptable." He also slammed Wallstrom for irresponsible behavior, as well as spreading lies and slander.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A day after the coup attempt, eight Turkish servicemen flew a helicopter to the northern Greek border town of Alexandroupoli where they sought political asylum.

Turkey demanded their extradition, while the men in question deny any involvement in the coup attempt, stating that they acted out of fear for their lives.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, Seleznevs lawyer John Henry Browne told RIA Novosti that the arrested Russian national was in need of medical attention.

I dont have any information concerning this issue [Seleznevs state], but we continue to pose these questions to the United States, and concerning healthcare, too, [we stress] the need to provide him with adequate medical assistance, Dolgov said.

According to Dolgov, Seleznev has head injuries that require ongoing treatment. Seleznev reportedly received a massive brain injury during a terrorist attack in Morocco in 2011.
BOCHAROV RUCHEY (Sputnik)  Earlier, the Kazakh foreign minister said that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev used his relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to help mend ties between Moscow and Ankara.

"You mentioned the restoration of Russian-Turkish relations. In this regard, I would like to thank you for the efforts that you have undertaken, meaning your mediation. As you can see, it was a success," Putin told Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Approximately 26,000 people have been arrested since the July 15 attempted overthrow of the Turkish government that led to over 260 deaths. Ankara has requested the United States to extradite Gulen, who denies the accusations of masterminding the plot, to face charges in Turkey.

The 2,500-page indictment in a criminal case launched last September has been submitted to the countrys high criminal court, according to the Anadolu news service. A total of 111 people are accused of financing terrorism and attempting to overthrow the government, among other claims.

In addition to the two life sentences and 1,900 years in prison, the prosecutor is seeking to fine Gulen an equivalent of $4.8 million, the outlet said.
CAIRO (Sputnik)  On Monday, Bogdanov said he would meet with Syrian opposition in Doha the following day. Khatib said later on Facebook he would be meeting the Russian official.

The discussion of the political resolution to the Syrian crisis and putting an end to civilian deaths is a priority now, Khatib said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Serbian Radical Party supports US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump because he has offered an apology for the 1999 US bombing of Belgrade and his cooperative stance toward Russia, the party's deputy secretary general told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"We support Donald Trump as he is the only US politician that said the United States should not have bombed Serbia in 1999 and he apologized publicly for his country doing that. We also support his stance on cooperation with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin," Aleksandra Belacic said.

Earlier in the day, Serbian Radical Party President Vojislav Seselj said the political group is set to rally against US Vice President Joe Bidens visit to Belgrade and voice its support for the republican presidential candidate.
The Russian energy giant and the Austrian firm plan to sign an asset swap deal by the end of the year. Under the agreement, Gazprom will receive a share of OMV's North Sea subsidiary, while OMV will receive a 25 percent stake in developing the Achimov deposits at the Urengoyskoye field in Russia.

Last week, OMV CEO Rainer Seele expressed hope that the deal would be finalized in the second half of 2016 and added that the approval process would then take up to two years.
Somehow, Tokyo and Seoul's reluctance to hear each others side has become particularly evident in the celebration of historical dates, according to Head of the Korean program at the Institute of Economy, Russian Academy of Sciences Georgy Toloraya. The expert spoke to Sputnik in an interview.

The relationship of the two countries is still far from rosy, with historical dates, in fact, only adding fuel to the fire. Despite the persistent efforts of America to reconcile two of its main allies in the Asia-Pacific region during the past few years, South Korean President, Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe almost never meet, Taloraya said.

In an effort to overcome this gap by just a little, Tokyo and Seoul recently made an attempt to resolve a historic event. The catalyst for this was the long-awaited decision by Tokyo to recognize at the government level the problem of the so-called comfort women," Korean women who were kidnapped and used in Japanese brothels during the Second World War.

It was decided that these women should receive compensation for what they were put through. After which it would seem that the matter would be closed.

However, that was not the case. According to the expert, The Japanese government most likely made the compensation attempt quite late because the public reaction in South Korea was not met with understanding. Moreover, the majority of South Koreans believe this deal to be dishonorable because the honor and dignity of these women have not yet been restored, Taloraya said.

He further explained that only a few of those women are still alive, although the protests, though less frequently, still continue to this day.

The expert noted that even now anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea is still very strong. Therefore, historical dates in both the countries arouse feelings of nationalism.

Especially today, when Japan is taking a more serious course of militarization and making attempts to restore its imperial power. In all the neighboring countries of Japan this is a matter of apprehension raising serious political concerns, Taloraya said.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik)  On March, Brussels and Ankara agreed that Turkey citizens would be granted visa-free travel to the Schengen zone once it had met the 72 conditions set by the European Union, in return for taking back all undocumented migrants arriving at European shores via Turkey. Ankara has not fulfilled the five conditions that relate to data protection and anti-terror laws.

"The situation has not changed since we published our last progress report where we outlined the five remaining benchmarks that are still to be met," Bertaud told journalists.

According to Bertaud, the required reformulation of the definition of terrorism, which is a sensitive issue in Ankara, is designed to increase the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism.
BELGRADE (Sputnik)  Sweden respects the position of Serbia, which aspires to join the European Union while maintaining its military neutrality, as Sweden itself is a part of the European bloc but not a NATO member state, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven said on Tuesday.

"Sweden, like Finland, is an EU member, but not part of NATO. We respect such a position and will continue to stick to it, because it is important for stability," Loefven was quoted as saying in Belgrade by the Tanjug news agency.

Loefven, who arrived in the Serbian capital on Monday evening, stressed that Sweden "will contribute to the strengthening of the EU while maintaining neutrality."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The letter comes after Chinese Ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming said earlier this month that the two countries bilateral relations were at a "crucial historical juncture," as reports emerged of May ordering a delay in the approval of the UK-Chinese Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project.

"It is about reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations," the source was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.

The letter was reportedly handed by UK diplomat Alok Sharma to Chinese Foreign Ministry officials in Beijing.
For the analyst, this is not merely a battle between Damascus-led forces and rebels, but rather a "standoff" between the Russian and US-led coalitions.

This is why Washington and its allies are increasingly active in Syria.

The United States "is trying to undermine the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) operation aimed at freeing Aleppo, the city that the US views as the capital of 'moderate' Syrian opposition. They also want to fuel tensions in Damascus suburbs and strengthen their positions in areas close to Raqqa and northeastern provinces," the analyst said.
"Obama is trying to resolve a problem that he himself created. He received the Nobel Peace Prize and now needs to show that it was well-earned. He also understands that history will remember him as a president who destroyed one country (Libya), fueled tensions in Ukraine, filled the Middle East (particularly Syria) with terrorists and as a result sparked the refugee crisis in Europe," the source explained

US defense agencies do not share Obama's desire to put an end to violence in Syria.

"The CIA and the Pentagon are interested in a prolonged conflict in the Middle East," the source noted, adding that this was the primary reason why US foreign policy was so ambiguous.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Ankara accuses Gulen of orchestrating the failed July 15 coup that led to over 260 deaths and around 26,000 arrests. Washington has so far refused to extradite the cleric, who denies his involvement in the attempted government insurrection.

Cavusoglus phone talks with Kerry also discussed US Vice President Joe Bidens visit to Turkey on August 24, according to the Daily Sabah newspaper citing diplomatic sources.

On Friday, the Turkish diplomat said a US Justice Department delegation overseeing the request to extradite Gulen was expected to arrive in Turkey on August 22, and hold talks with Turkish counterparts the following two days.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, Pavlopoulos stated that Greece would continue fighting for the recognition of the mass murder of Pontic Greeks by Turkey during World War I, as well as demanding a "sincere" apology from Turkey for the ethnic cleansing. The president also condemned Turkey's decision to close the Greek Orthodox Sumela Monastery in eastern Turkey for access on the Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox holiday.

"The statement of the Greek President Pavlopoulosis a demagogy, far from goodwill and responsible statesmanship," the ministry said in a statement.
OSIFE specified that this "second group" comprised key opinion-makers, a number of traditional mainstream players, emerging political parties  especially in Southern Europe  such as M5S in Italy, Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece, and "a wide range of liberal NGOs in western Europe."

In order to tackle the "problem," the organization offered to kick off a series of initiatives aimed at shaping public opinion in the West regarding the Ukrainian affairs.

The document revealed that OSIFE pursued three major objectives.

First, it sought to "stimulate debate and doubt in those democratic left movements, parties and audiences of Western Europe where a negative perception of the transformation of Ukraine is hegemonic, or very preponderant."

Second, it wanted to "discredit the idea that the independence and integrity of Ukraine is an ideological cause of the Right."

Third, OSIFE intended to "influence the way information about Ukraine is heard and perceived in Southern Europe, especially among the group of doubters."

The issue was dramatically complicated by the fact that the major driving forces of the so-called "Euromaidan Revolution" of February 2014 were the Ukrainian far-right groups, most notably the nationalist All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda and Right Sector, founded by ultra-right Trident and the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO) paramilitary group.

"The surge in violence sparked by Right Sector has revealed how uncritical and undiscerning most of the media has been of the far-right parties and movements that have played a leading role in the 'Euromaidan,'" US journalist Alec Luhn warned on January 21, 2014, in his article for the Nation.

It was again the right-wing militants who championed Kiev's Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine aimed against the breakaway Donbass regions.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Tehran's prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari-Dowlatabadi, was quoted in Iranian media earlier in the day as saying that the suspect had been active in the economic field.

The UK Foreign Office in turn said it was trying to confirm the reports, the BBC broadcaster reported.

Another dual British-Iranian national, aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was detained on April 3 in Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on suspicion of working on an anti-government campaign spread through foreign media outlets.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  After the Russian Federal Security Service troops said it had detained a group of suspects on the Crimean Peninsula who were allegedly instructed by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to prepare acts of sabotage, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned on Friday that Moscow is unwilling to rupture diplomatic ties with Kiev, yet it may be forced to take such measures as the only remaining option.

"We maintain diplomatic relations despite Russian aggression," Klimkin told Austrian newspaper Der Standard. "We have millions of Ukrainian nationals living in Russia we have to care about. If Russia makes such decision, it will be its responsibility."

Crimea became part of Russia after almost 97 percent of those who voted in a local referendum on the issue in 2014 supported the move.
The two diplomats discussed, among other issues, anti-Russian sanctions, the situation in Ukraine and Syria, the migration crisis, the surge of terrorism in Europe, economic cooperation between Russia and the European Union as well as the "Nord Stream-2" project.

The outcome of the meeting

Former German Ambassador to Russia Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz told RIA Novosti that both sides have shown the will to enhance their cooperation. According to him, the meeting itself, as well as bilateral, such as the German-Russian Year of Youth, demonstrate the desire of both sides to improve their relations.
PARIS (Sputnik)  French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called for the continuation of talks on Ukrainian reconciliation in the so-called Normandy Four format, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko, the Elysee Palace said.

"The Republic's President and Chancellor Merkel had a conversation today with President Poroshenko, at the latter's request, to discuss the current situation in Ukraine. During the conversation, he stressed the necessity of continuing the discussion in the Normandy format to achieve a peaceful settlement of the crisis in eastern Ukraine," the presidential office said in a statement.

Holding a Normandy Four meeting with Ukraine, Germany and France on settling the Ukrainian conflict at the upcoming G20 summit in China would be futile given the uncovering of a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, Russian President Putin said after the FSB had foiled a terror attack plotted by the Ukrainian main intelligence governorate.
Furthermore, even though Ankara is unlikely to give up its Sunni allies among the rebels, it may "change its strategy in the country to appease Iran and Russia," the report suggests, citing Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's remark that no Syrian solution is possible without Russian support.

Stratfor also calls attention to the fact that "Turkey's recent closure of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, even if temporary, could be a Turkish concession already made to Russia."

On the other hand, there are rumors that Ankara and Damascus have scheduled a bilateral meeting, facilitated by Iran, the report adds.

"Though Turkey is highly unlikely to ever support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, it could decide to talk directly with al-Assad or support a transition government that includes him. For Iran, supporting al-Assad has been a critical part of its regional strategy, and it is in Iran's interests to maintain that relationship," Stratfor points out, stressing that both Ankara and Damascus are opposing the emergence of YPG-run independent Kurdish entity in northern Syria.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Biden is currently on a three-day visit to the Western Balkan states.

"This is not the first time we've met I think we've become friends. My visit today is much too short but I believe we've accomplished a great deal. The Prime Minister [of Serbia Vucic] and I have got to know each other over the past several years and I mean it sincerely, I along with President Obama respect the leadership you've shown in some very tough challenging moments, Mr Prime Minister, and your positive vision for the future of Croatia," Biden said.
Tensions between Turkey and the EU have sharply risen, following the failed coup in July which Erdogan has accused of being promoted by the US and the 75-year-old US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey wants to extradite.

There have been clashes in Germany between supporters of Erdogan and Gulen, with nearly 40,000 pro-Erdogan fans staging a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president. The tensions could not have come at a worse time for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is still trying the keep the controversial EU-Turkey migrant deal on track.

"EU is mostly worried about the refugee issue. In this regard, Turkey is very important for Europe. In turn, the EU countries are important trading partners for Turkey. I think that taking this into account the parties are now looking at each other, weighing all the "pros" and "cons" of bilateral relations and showing distrust of each other at the highest level. At the very least, this process should bring a more or less clear understanding of the spheres where the parties could cooperate and where not," the expert said.

Under the deal, the EU was due to pay Turkey  initially  US$3.95 billion to bolster its refugee camps and accept "irregular" migrants denied asylum in Greece in return  on a one-for-one basis  for Syrian refugees in Turkey being relocated in the EU. The EU, for its turn, 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 Union.

The deal had already hit trouble over Erdogan's increasing grip on power, crackdown on opposition parties and the media as well as criticism of his human rights record. Since the attempted coup, however, his massive suppression of those associated with the coup  the judicial system, the military and the police  have caused further tensions between Turkey and the EU.

"It seems that the issues of a refugee deal and the visa-free regime between the two countries can either bring relations between Turkey and the EU to a new level, or completely destroy them. In the event of a further deterioration of the relationship between the two parties, the negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU are likely to be frozen," the expert said.
"This funding is a lifeline for the world's most vulnerable people caught up in forgotten crises In recent years, the global refugee crisis has put enormous pressure on CERF to help millions of people fleeing conflicts that linger for lack of a political solution. This allocation is made possible by the generous contributions of donors who are committed to leave no one behind, and to helping us reach the furthest behind first," Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen OBrien was quoted as saying in an OCHA statement.

Six countries will get additional aid, namely the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Yemen and Eritrea.
"The Vice President commended the commitment of Serbia's leadership to implementing reforms that move Serbia forward along its European path," the statement said.

The two officials also agreed on the importance of Serbia strengthening relations with its neighbors to ensure regional stability, the White House said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Over the recent years, the North Korean leadership has been repeatedly accused of human rights violations. In 2014, a UN Commission of Inquiry detailed wide-ranging human rights abuses in the country.

The North Korean Embassy in Britain tried to find him, but it is said that it has failed, the source told Korea JoongAng Daily, adding that the diplomat was in the process of landing in a third country as an asylum seeker.

According to the source, the diplomat was tasked with dealing with the international outcry over Pyongyang's alleged human rights violations.
Nearly one in five Republican voters say they want Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race according to a new poll. The Republican Party is in chaos as the party ranks continue to be split on Trumps surprise nomination. But the Democrats arent faring much better, as supporters of Bernie Sanders reject Hillary Clinton or turn to third parties. Whats led to the crises in the two major political parties? Is this the end of the two-party system as we know it? And will third parties soon challenge the Democrats and Republicans in a serious way?

To address these issues, Brian is joined for the full hour by Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of political economy at St. Marys College and the author of Systemic fragility in the global economy and the new book Looting Greece: An Emerging New Financial Imperialism; Anoa Changa, part-time volunteer staff with Brand New Congress, contributor to the Benjamin Dixon Show, and host of the weekly progressive talk show The Way with Anoa; and Walter Smolarek, producer for Loud & Clear on Radio Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier this month, Deutsche Welle published a cartoon created by Russian political cartoonist Sergey Elkin, showing the Olympic logo with one ring acting as a wheelchair for a Russian disabled athlete, who is heading away.

"Today, on August 16, around 50 people took part in a picket near the German embassy in Moscow, mostly students and young people. According to the participants, they have all come to express their protest over the caricature published by Deutsche Welle regarding the Russian Paralympic team," the organization said in a statement.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was due to hear the case on Sunday and release its ruling the next morning.

"CAS advised that Hearing to be held in Rio de Janeiro at 9.00 local time [12:00 GMT] on 22 August 2016," the Russian Paralympic Committee cited its Executive Committee Chairman Pavel Rozhkov as saying.
This positive trend can be explained by several factors. Russia's success has arisen not only from good weather conditions, but also clever financial investments.According to Russian newspaper Vzglyad, one of the main reasons has been sustainable financial investments into the agricultural sector.

Moreover, anti-Russian sanctions introduced by the US and the EU amid the Ukrainian crisis are another factor that has given impetus to increased agricultural exports.

"The sanctions also turned out to be beneficial as they cheered up the Russian agricultural market," Russian financial expert Kirill Yakovenko told the newspaper.
An agreement between Russia and India on upgrades to the aging Indian Air Force Su-30 fighter aircraft fleet, sources in the Defense Ministry told Sputnik.

The upgrade process and its implementation were discussed during the visit of Russian delegates early this month.

According to sources, upgrade of the Su-30s will include adding new avionics, sensors and radar, improving its stealth capability to reduce its radar cross-section, modernization of the cockpit, better electronic warfare capabilities and equipping its long range missiles with an infrared system.

Indian Defense Ministry has decided to upgrade the Su-30 as there is long delay in materializing the much hyped Rafale aircraft deal and the Indian Air Force urgently needs an FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) into its squadron. So it has been decided to upgrade and modernize the fleet of Su-30s to become closer to FGFA, sources in the Defense Ministry told Sputnik.
The army hopes both headsets will be in the field in just a few months, to run through Middle East conflict scenarios to help develop strategy and anticipate possible threats.

Microsoft's HoloLens units are the company's attempt to cash in on the interest in virtual reality innovation.

They're available for developers and companies to snap up at $3,000 a unit.

So far, they are being used to help airlines train mechanics and flight crews; medical students to learn anatomy; and even the next generation of astronauts to reach for the stars.

But how exactly could a soldier use this virtual reality gear?

Major Bashi's team has already created an app that allows commanders to oversee troop positions from vantage points held by the enemy.

With the new HoloLens headsets, they will also be able to manipulate military terrain models and gain access to intelligence data.

Army medics would be given an extra aide when performing complicated surgery on wounded soldiers, through being able to watch and hear additional instructions provided by other trained surgeons.

If military equipment broke down, combat soldiers will be able to use HoloLens to fix malfunctioning parts.
Reduced defense spending will constrain the ability of the CBDP to develop, procure, and sustain Joint Service priority capabilities that improve the ability of the Warfighter to counter, the report reads.

Official statistics reveal that CBDP budget cuts have not been substantial. Within last two years, the programs budget has been decreased by some $100 million, leaving it with a budget of about one billion dollars.

The Pentagon, however, is ringing alarm bells, claiming that the cuts are leading to increasingly complex program management decisions with no margins for error.

The combination of evolving [chemical and biological] threats, reduced budgets, and uncertain fiscal futures forces the [CBDP] to focus its limited resources to address the highest priorities and greatest risks.
The womans feet can be seen dangling in the air.

The incident, which was captured in a series of videos by a bystander, occurred near Howard University, blocks from the US Capitol building.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The request came as the NAACP unveiled a document for officials to sign called, Pledge to Protect and Preserve Our Lives.

"By signing the pledge, officials promise to take action to cut off funding to law enforcement agencies that discriminate," the NAACP release stated.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The National Guard continues to provide the necessary resources to the local, parish and state emergency officials, including high-water vehicles for search and rescue, bridge-erection boats and helicopters to combat the flood waters and protect communities.

"We currently have 1,700 people mobilized. Those numbers will build up toward 2,000 and possibly as high as 2,500 as requests come in," Curtis stated on Monday. "We can also bring on military police and give police officers a chance to rest and check on their homes."
"For seven years the defendant was one of the largest traffickers in stolen credit card numbers in the world. He stole millions of credit card numbers and he sold them on his websites," Wilkinson said in an opening statement at Seleznevs trial in Seattle on Monday.

According to Wilkinson, the Russian national left digital fingerprints on servers, computers and email accounts associated with several major sellers of stolen credit card numbers.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Clayton Fire has destroyed over 175 structures and is only 5 percent contained, while the Chimney Fire is currently 5,400 acres and 10 percent contained.

"Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued an emergency proclamation for Lake County due to the effects of the Clayton Fire, which has burned thousands of acres, damaged critical infrastructure, destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of residents," the statement published Monday reads.

In a separate statement Brown announced a state of emergency in San Luis Obispo County due to the Chimney Fire, which has destroyed 12 buildings and injured two people.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The new leak includes documents on congressional races in several districts in Florida. The documents, titled "path to victory summary" and "campaign overview," contain various strategies for winning specific races. Strategies include particular targets for gaining support within various population groups, such as women, racial minorities and people of various ages, as well as points such as "leverage early vote to increase turnout in favorable demographic groups and geographic areas."

"Here are the DCCC docs on Florida: reports, memos, briefings, dossiers, etc. You can have a look at who you are going to elect now. It may seem the congressional primaries are also becoming a farce," the hacker wrote on his website in a post containing a number of DCCC electoral campaign documents.

The leak comes ahead of the US House of Representatives elections which are due to be held alongside the US presidential election on November 8.
The fertilizer market is highly competitive, and in the coming years US manufacturers will open a large number of new facilities, which will reduce imports.

Still, this is good news for us as it means that the US lobby groups are working with Russian, not, say, Indian manufacturers, Sergei Sudakov told Sputnik.

He added that the ongoing presidential race in the US could also have played a role here.

The presidential campaign has hit the home stretch now and [Democratic hopeful] Hillary Clinton is a clear favorite. Thats why many in the Democratic Party have been forced to ask the lobby groups to try to mend business, not political, fences with Russia just to gain additional points in the race, he noted.

I think that [Russian manufacturers] will make a good deal of profit too. Even though the terms of these contracts remain under wraps, I guess that the Americans are going to buy a lot because otherwise the lobby groups would have never come into play. When contracts are in the ballpark of just a few tens of millions of dollars, they are simply not interested, Sergei Sudakov said in conclusion.

The decision to lift import duties on Russian fertilizer comes into force on August 20.

Since 2010, the US fee imposed on Russian fertilizer imports has been 253.98% reviewed once every five years by the Department of Commerce.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Monday, Obama transferred twelve Yemeni and three Afghan detainees to the United Arab Emirates, the largest single transfer of prisoners from the facility.

The President is giving more terrorists a one-way ticket back to the battlefield, McCaul said in a press release. We are a nation at war, and our commander-in-chief shouldnt be handing back operatives to the other side.

McCaul cited national intelligence estimates that as many as 30 percent of Guantanamo prisoners likely return to the fight after being released.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  A 2010 law, known as the Pre-Election Transition Act, formalized the transition process by providing resources, including office space in Washington, DC for teams from each presidential campaign, according to the release.

"While our campaign remains focused on the task at hand of winning in November, Hillary Clinton wants to be able to get to work right away as president-elect on building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top," the release explained.
During an incident in September 2015, Seaman Recruit Xavier Johnson allegedly tried to smother the woman with a pillow, struck her head against the floor and choked her. He then sexually assaulted her as she lay unconscious. Johnson joined the Navy in November 2015 and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush.

Johnson did not enter a plea when he was arraigned in military court on Monday, and is currently held at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake. He is also charged with an April assault of a civilian woman in Virginia.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The US Department of State has agreed to release the emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during the criminal investigation into the use of her private server, the US watchdog group Judicial Watch reported on Tuesday.

"State [Department] has voluntarily agreed to produce non-exempt agency records responsive to plaintiffs FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request contained in the information transmitted," the release stated.
According to Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of political economy at St. Mary's College and author of "Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy," the primary reason behind Trump's evident decline in popularity is that he is deliberately attacked in corporate media.

"They take things out of context, and they interpret them in their articles, and then in their talking heads, to make them sound like they are more dramatic, extreme than they may be," Rasmus told Radio Sputnik's Brian Becker.

"Of course, Trump plays into that. He doesn't anticipate that that's what's going to happen, so he contributes to that to some extent, but the media is on a full-court press to show that Trump is incompetent."
Some 70% of new adherents had "basic knowledge" of sharia law, with 24% claiming "intermediate" familiarity and 5% saying their understanding was "advanced." West Point's Combating Terrorism Center published a study saying that the less versed a fundamentalist was, the more likely they were to carry out suicide bombings, suggesting that they viewed extreme action as a substitute for doctrinal proficiency.

Some reported being taken aback and regretful about their their experience with Daesh, with one European former member saying, "I realized that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these forms like 'When you die, who should we call?'" A former CIA Middle East extremist expert remarked that this kind of thinking is typical of many Daesh recruits from the West, who join to receive "a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitementReligion is an afterthought."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Monday, the trial of Seleznev on charges of cybercrime began in Seattle. Wilkinson, who represents the prosecution in the case, is blacklisted by Russia as well as banned from entering the country.

"The Maldives does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, there is not a formal agreement. So the US agents called the Maldivians and they told them about Roman Seleznev, and they asked for help. And the Maldivians agreed to hand Mr Seleznev over to the US authorities," Wilkinson said.
VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, the Chinese city of Changchun hosted a meeting of Russian and Chinese regional delegations.

"The sides agreed that agriculture was a promising field for cooperation. The sides are expected to discuss further details at the Russia-China forum for development of modern agriculture, which will start later in the day in the capital of Jilin province, Changchun," the administration said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Moscow has no information on constant presence of Daesh terrorist group in Pakistan, the source in the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

"We dont know whether its possible to say whether ISIL [Daesh] is present in Pakistan. Yes, sometimes they catch someone putting up flyers on behalf of ISIL. There are people who have fallen out of the pan-Taliban structure, such as dissidents, they can sometimes pose themselves as some sort of a cell. But in reality we do not have information that extremists in AfPak [Afghanistan and Pakistan] have stable ties to Syria, directly to this Middle Eastern group," the source said.

"We interact actively, including special services. We have an interagency group to counter terrorism, accordingly it comprises not only representatives of foreign ministries, but also of security agencies," the source said.
The fields are set for the upcoming Italian American Friendship Races. The three-track series will kick off on Wednesday (August 17) at Monticello Raceway with two divisions set to head to post in Race 2 and Race 5 on the 10-dash betting card.

The competition will then move on to Yonkers Raceway for the second leg, which has been carded as Race 2 on the Thursday (August 18) betting card; and the competition will conclude on Friday (August 19) at Tioga Downs with events in the second and fourth races, also of which are on the wagering program.

As previously announced, the veteran Italian team of Roberto Michelotto, Giancarlo Moretti, Raffaello Ruffato, and Otello Zorzetto will be constant and the visitors will drive in the races at all three tracks.

But for the American home team a different driving foursome will be in action at each venue.

At Monticello, Bob Hechkoff, Bobby Krivelin, Peter Kleinhans and Dave Offenberg will carry the fortunes for the American team there. Then at Yonkers Raceway, the American team will consist of Hannah Miler, Joe Faraldo, Tony Verruso and Tony Ciufettelli. Anchoring the Americans at Tioga Downs will be Alan Schwartz, Gerry Fielding, Matt Zuccarello and Joe Lee.

Guests of the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) the visiting Italians arrived on Monday, August 15, and will be chauffeured throughout the week by members of NAADA. Besides the driving rivalries, the Italian guests will be lodged at different hotels along the journey and treated to dinners each night, much of which was arranged by NAADA event planner Alicia Schwartz.

Along the way will be sojourns to Historic Track, the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, Blue Chip Farm, the Mark Ford Training Center, as well as excursion to Bethel Woods, the site of the original and world famous Woodstock Festival of 1969.

I truly believe that our Italian guests will enjoy what we have planned for them, said NAADA President Joe Faraldo. And win, lose or draw, our NAADA members will also have an enjoyable time, but the our enjoyment would certainly be kicked up a notch if we happen to come out on the winning end.

(NAADA)
While the Asmussen name is most recognized for its involvement and success on the Thoroughbred side of horse racing, it has started to appear in harness racing programs as well.

Trainer Steve Asmussen, associated with Thoroughbred stars the likes of Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, spends most of the summers with his family in the Saratoga area. As told by Mike Sardella in a recent edition of The Saratogian, the Asmussen family joined a family friend at Saratoga Hotel Casino last summer for a night of Standardbreds. They eventually made their way to the winner's circle and were invited to the stable of trainer Andy Sardella -- who simply saw a family of five new to the races and didn't recognize who they were.

The Asmussens (minus Steve) paid the stable a visit. Looking for a horse that they could own and watch while in town for the summer, Julie made the jump into harness horse ownership. Oldest son Keith would even jog for Sardella from time to time.

Last summer Julie claimed pacer This Is Wyatt, who had one start for her -- finishing second -- before being claimed back. The Asmussens then nabbed trotter Credit Score from a claiming event, and he won twice before being claimed from them.

When he won, it was just a total thrill, Julie Asmussen told The Saratogian. It was something we all really enjoyed, a great family memory for us.

This year they returned and kept the involvement going, claiming pacer Esprit De Kayjay A. The 12-year-old helped the Asmussen family cap an amazing weekend, as Steve was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday (along with Rachel Alexandra). On Saturday, the family looked on from a drier location as their horse navigated a 'sloppy' Saratoga surface to win for the Asmussens for the first time.

It was really the icing on the cake on what was just a terrific week for us, said Julie, who inducted her husband into the Hall of Fame the night before.

The Asmussens, still holding the papers on their pacer, have now returned to their Texas homebase to allow for the boys to start school.
Local Resident has a Vision for the Homeless Community of Tulsa

Contact: Lori Bell, Liberty Resource Group, 918-760-2039, lori@libertyresoucegroup.com

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 15, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Sarah Thomas, who is a monthly partner of the ministry, CfaN, has a vision for the homeless community of Tulsa to attend the Reinhard Bonnke Gospel Crusade in Oklahoma City. (For more information on how to become a partner of the ministry please click here ). Sarah has chartered a bus and plans to fill that bus to capacity to take 55 homeless people to the crusade. In addition to "The Good News Bus" ride, the attendees will also receive a free meal for the journey there. Sarah is currently in the process of raising funds to make this vision possible. To give toward or get more information about "The Good News Bus," visit www.gofundme.com/2dqzmqs

Who: Sarah Thomas together with the ministry, Christ for all Nations (CfaN)

What: Local Glenpool resident, Sarah Thomas, needs funding to charter a bus to feed and take 55 homeless people to the Reinhard Bonnke Gospel Crusade in Oklahoma City.

When: August 20th and 21st, 2016

Where: From Tulsa to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, and the ministry, CfaN, are excited to receive Oklahoma City guests at the upcoming Gospel Crusade. Attendees of the crusade can anticipate two nights of powerful messages as well as praise and worship. Worship will be led by Jonathan Stockstill and Bethany Worship, and there will be performances by Ingrid Rosario and NBC's The Voice contestant, Brian Nhira.

This live event will begin at 6 PM on Saturday, August 20th and on Sunday, August 21st. The doors will open at 5:00 PM.

The crusade is free to attend and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

Online registration is encouraged but not mandatory.

For all conference details, visit gospelcrusade.org/oklahoma

About Reinhard Bonnke

Over a 50-year span, Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke has spoken to nearly 100 million people and has seen millions commit their lives to Christ through his ministry, Christ for all Nations (CfaN). CfaN has recorded more than an astounding 75 million documented decisions to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Evangelist Bonnke is best-known for his great Gospel Crusades across the continent of Africa, and now Evangelist Bonnke has a vision to see America saved.
Er is iets heel griezeligs aan de gang in Nederland. Dat wij geleidelijk aan in een totalitaire 'democratie' wegzinken wordt steeds ...
It's Election season and our editor's mailbox is overflowing. Who do your neighbors support? Read about it here.
Kelso School Board members approved a $57.9 million budget for the 2016-17 school year on Monday, which includes funds to expand the districts Special Ed program and add 14 teachers to comply with state class size reduction standards.

Board members reviewed a similar budget at a July meeting, which anticipated an additional $2 million in revenue this year, including increases in local levy collections and almost $900,000 from state class size reduction funds.

But the district still will have to make some cuts and use about $363,000 from its cash reserves to balance the budget, though thats less than $582,000 which the district had predicted in June.

Chief Financial Operations Officer Scott Westlund acknowledged that using reserves is problematic and sustainable only for a short period of time.

Other budget reductions include the elimination of the Director of Student Services position, previously held by Chris Rugg, which will save the school approximately $155,000. The district has also postponed upgrading the elementary video surveillance camera project, pushing off another $120,000 in spending.

Westlund said the district faces more budgetary challenges. One of the biggest would be moving away from using local levy funds to pay for basic education. This issue was the center of a lawsuit filed recently by Superintendent of Washington Public Schools, Randy Dorn. Dorn filed the suit against seven of Washingtons biggest districts: Seattle, Everett, Bellevue, Spokane, Tacoma, Evergreen and Puyallup, alleging that the districts reliance on local levies to fund basic educationincluding teacher salariesis illegal.

Board president Patty Wood acknowledged that most school districts rely on local levies to support basic education, and that Dorns lawsuit was to make an example out of the bigger districts. Dorn has also said that the point of the lawsuit is to put additional pressure on the Legislature to fully fund K-12 education.
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Instant messenger app Hike on Tuesday announced that it raised financing of over 175 million led by Chinese company Tencent Holdings and Taiwanese electronic manufacturing company Foxconn Technology Group. This has led to the value of the company amounting to close to around 1.4 billion, with existing investors Tiger, Bharti and SoftBank also participating in this round.

"Tencent and Foxconn both have pedigrees that speak for themselves and such investment shows the strong foundation on which Hike is being built. The new fund-raise is going to allow us to push Hike to greater heights and invest in areas that will be key to our long-term vision and success," said Hike Founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal at an event held here. This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, taking the total investment to over more than 250 million.

The company said it will be investing the raised fund in improving the technology of the app as well as for better service. Talking about end-to-end encryption, Mittal said they were planning to introduce it soon and were in talks with the government.

IANS
tech2 News Staff

The final verdict on the Volkswagen diesel emission case might come in soon as The Wall Street Journal has reported that the German car maker will be facing criminal charges in the United States. The charges could result in significant financial penalties as Volkswagen and Department of Justice prosecutors are said to be in negotiations with Volkswagen. The settlement could be finalised by the end of this year, although the information is not confirmed.

Currently the prosecutors are wondering if they should seek a guilty plea to criminal charges from Volkswagen or if the Department of Justice should set up a deferred prosecution agreement where charges could be dismissed if the company sticks to settlement terms.

The German car manufacturer admitted in September to installing software to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million diesel cars. Of these, 8.5 million were sold in Europe. Volkswagen had reached a $14.7 billion deal with federal regulators over Dieselgate back in June, including an offer for the buyback of affected vehicles. Weeks later the company was sued by several US states for violating a number of state environmental statutes. The various criminal charges, civil lawsuits and settlements will continue and could cost Volkswagen billions of dollars in penalties.
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Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Monday said it has increased its stake in Apple Inc by 55 percent, boosting its bet on the iPhone and iPod maker even as prominent investors like George Soros and Carl Icahn shed theirs. Berkshire owned 15.23 million Apple shares worth $1.46 billion as of June 30, up from 9.81 million shares as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing from Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate.

The filing also said Berkshire cut its stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, by 27 percent to about 40.23 million shares from 55.24 million. Wal-Mart has been in Berkshire's portfolio for more than a decade. It was unclear whether Buffett or one of his portfolio managers, Todd Combs and Ted WWeschler, are investing in Apple. Berkshire owned more than $133 billion of equities as of June 30. Buffett is typically responsible for larger investments such as Wal-Mart, while his deputies handle smaller investments.

"They have more of a trading orientation than Buffett, and may view Apple as attractive because the stock appears cheap or may have a catalyst later this year," Jim Shanahan, an equity analyst at Edward Jones, said in a phone interview. "If Warren Buffett is buying a stock, he's probably not going to sell it, or at least not sell for a very long time." Berkshire also owns roughly 90 businesses including Geico car insurance, the BNSF railroad, Dairy Queen ice cream, Duracell batteries, and Fruit of the Loom underwear. It also paid $32.1 billion in January for aircraft and industrial parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, Buffett's largest purchase.

Share prices often rise when investors perceive that Berkshire has given them its imprimatur, including the 3.7 percent one-day boost that Apple got in May after Berkshire unexpectedly revealed it had taken a stake. Berkshire revealed its higher Apple stake on the same day George Soros' firm Soros Fund Management and Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors Inc said they dissolved their own Apple stakes. Icahn in April said he had sold his entire Apple stake, citing concerns about China's policies regarding the company. He later said he would reinvest in Apple if his concerns ebbed.

Reuters
Aricent announces a partnership with FalconSmart Technologies to launch FalconBenchmark, an advanced solution for multi-carrier performance benchmarking. The FalconBenchmark solution suite combines Aricents vast expertise in telecom consulting and analytics with FalconSmarts products and solutions.

Wireless network benchmarking solutions enable carriers around the world to substantiate their market competitiveness, validate their marketing campaigns, and optimize the quality of service. Falcon Benchmark evaluates operator network performance and compares the quality of service against that of competitors. It includes data collection strategies for macro sites and indoor venues based on industry-standard key performance indicators, including time and location. The data collection is coupled with FalconONE, the most advanced cloud-based analytics platform for remote management, real-time monitoring, instant reporting, and analysis. Aricent data scientists will use the date to create detailed reports that provide carriers with actionable insights into the quality of service and consumer experience.

This partnership brings a unique value proposition to the Indian and North American market in the competitive benchmarking space. FalconBenchmark is a vendor-neutral and highly scalable technology-agnostic suite, that provides unparalleled insights into customer experience and quality of service, said Munish Rishi, President and CEO, FalconSmart Technologies.

Aricent is always looking to enrich our portfolio with innovative solutions that can leverage our vast experience and expertise in the telecom and analytics space. The launch of FalconBenchmark is highly strategic for India and North America, especially at a time when the wireless market is rapidly advancing from 3G to 4G networks, and quality of service is becoming extremely critical to operators and customers alike, said Rakesh Vij, Chief Business Officer, Communications Business, Aricent.

@Technuter.com News Service
Tally Solutions announced the rollout of Release 5.4, the latest version of the Release 5 series from its Tally. ERP 9 suites, in the national Capital Territory of Delhi and five states  Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. While this is the maiden launch of Series 5 in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh; Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu stand to benefit from the enhanced performance experience the 5.4 version has to offer.

With the constitutional amendment for GST now passed, the entire country is gearing up for the biggest indirect tax regime. Through GST, the government intends to bring about greater transparency in business transactions and simplify compliance needs. Tally.ERP 9 Release 5.4 aims to help businesses ensure that their transactions are correct and complete through the powerful concept of triangulation and with it Tally Solutions will help prepare businesses across the country for the GST regime.

The Tally.ERP 9 Release 5 series is designed to empower businesses to be fully tax compliant, ensuring that tax returns reflect the books of accounts accurately. This helps businesses with simpler, easier and quicker compliance.

The VAT capabilities in Release 5 are being launched in an incremental manner across India. In line with its preceding versions, Release 5.4 is also aimed at supporting businesses with a comprehensive compliance solution for the geographies mentioned above, and provides the latest VAT capabilities. In this regard, Release 5.4 includes all the features present in the releases before it. Additionally, users of Release 5 Series, also stand to benefit from the performance enhancement features incorporated in central taxation capabilities (Excise, Service Tax and TDS) that is applicable across the country.

Since its release in July 2015, Release 5 series has already been made available in 18 Indian states and union territories. With the introduction of the latest version 5.4 in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the product currently provides comprehensive compliance support to 20 States across the country.

@Technuter.com News Service
You are going to love these Easy Butter Cake Recipes! We've compiled our favorite and most popular butter cake recipes, and they're perfect for all of the occasions in your life!

We seriously love butter cake around here. It is so moist and sweet, and an ideal dessert for any sort of party or just for an easy night in with your family.

Easy Butter Cake Recipes

We've compiled our favorite and most popular butter cake recipes, and they're perfect for all of the occasions in your life!

Butter Cakes are some of these most delicious desserts out there. Not only are they moist and flavorful, but there are so many different types of butter cakes that you can make. Each and every one of them is fantastic.

1. Gooey Blueberry Lemon Butter Cake

From Tastes of Lizzy T :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Ooey gooey and delicious this addicting and flavorful Gooey Blueberry Lemon Butter Cake is quick, easy and absolutely tasty.

2. Kentucky Butter Cake

From Gonna Want Seconds :: Click HERE for the RECIPE This unique Kentucky Butter Cake is tender, moist and deliciously unique. The cake is soaked with a wonderful Butter Sauce then topped in an amazing Butter Glaze.

3. Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake

From Wishes and Dishes :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake is a homemade moist and buttery cake recipe with an irresistible caramel butter sauce that is rich, addictive, delicious, and soaks right into the cake!

4. Blueberry Butter Cake

From My Incredible Recipes :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Everyone goes crazy in general for butter cake- its perfectly rich and moist with sensational flavor throughout- now this just has a nice boatload of blueberries added to make it even BETTER.

5. Kentucky Butter Cake

From Homemade Hooplah :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Extra moist and crumbly pound cake covered in a crispy sugar coating (with no alcohol in it, so it's family friendly!) Fair warning, this cake is addictive!"

6. Glazed Walnut Butter Cake

From The Recipe Critic :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Glazed Walnut Butter Cake is a perfectly moist and tender buttery cake filled with walnuts and made with ingredients you already have on hand. This cake gets a delicious glaze and is topped with chopped walnuts and will become a new favorite!

7. Maple Gooey Butter Cake

From Baking a Moment :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Maple Gooey Butter Cake: rich, buttery, and full of warm maple flavor. Made completely from scratch, no cake mix required!

8. Sweetened Condensed Milk Butter Cake

From Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen :: Click HERE for the RECIPE This Sweetened Condensed Milk Butter Cake is my take on a vintage single layer cake thats made using condensed milk. This butter laced version was inspired by a local restaurant that serves warm individual size butter cakes drizzled with a seasonal fruit coulis then topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

9. Nutella Gooey Butter Cake

From Tidy Mom :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Nutella adds a delicious twist to a St. Louis tradition, where the cake becomes the crust and holds a gooey cream cheese filling. NUTELLA GOOEY BUTTER CAKE is a great addition to parties or potlucks and can be prepared up to three days in advance, getting better with time.

10. Butter Cake

From Baking a Moment :: Click HERE for the RECIPE A stellar recipe for a simple golden butter cake thats moist, springy, and really butter-y tasting. Make it into mini-bunts, cupcakes, or tall layer cakes; its super versatile and easy to make!

11. Kentucky Bourbon Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Salted Caramel Sauce

From The Suburban Soapbox :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Celebrate derby day with an impressive Kentucky Bourbon Butter Cake. A slight departure from the original Bourbon Butter Cake, this version is layered with cream cheese frosting and salted caramel sauce.

12. Pumpkin Spice Gooey Butter Cake

From Spicy Southern Kitchen :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Pumpkin Spice Gooey Butter Cake tastes almost just like pumpkin pie but it is so much easier to make and feeds more people.

13. Lemon Gooey Butter Cake

From Lady Behind the Curtain :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Brace yourself before you take of bite of this creamy Lemon Gooey Butter Cake. I promise if you dont you will fall over from sheer delight!

14. Apple Butter Cake

From Inside BruCrew Life :: Click HERE for the RECIPE This spicy and dense Apple Butter Cake is topped with a brown butter vanilla frosting. This is a delicious dessert for fall parties.

15. Original Gooey Butter Cake

Tastes Better from Scratch

Its a real tragedy that it took me moving to Saint Louis before I ever heard about Gooey Butter Cake. The stuff is pure gold. And in Saint Louis, where it originated, its highly revered.

16. St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

From Tidy Mom :: Click HERE for the RECIPE This coffee cake is a St. Louis tradition, where the cake becomes the crust and holds a gooey cream cheese filling. It's generally served for breakfast, but can easily make an appearance on any dessert table.

17. Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars

From Wishes and Dishes :: Click HERE for the RECIPE Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars dessert recipe, also known as Chess Squares or Chess Cake Bars are easy, rich, and truly addictive! Butter makes everything better!

18. Brownie Butter Cake

From Bitz N Giggles :: Click HERE for the RECIPE A moist, sweet, layered loaf cake  perfect for entertaining!

19. Kentucky Butter Cake

From 5 Boys Baker :: Click HERE for the RECIPE This Kentucky Butter Cake is unbelievably delicious! A sweet, buttery cake coated with a sweet buttery sauce that soaks into the cake and leaves a sugary crust on the outside. Its out of this world!

20. Kentucky Butter Cake

From THE BEST BLOG RECIPES :: CLICK HERE For the full printable recipe. Kentucky Butter Cake is, as the name suggests, buttery and sweet. Its coated with a buttery glaze that soaks in and keeps the cake moist for days! Some even say the cake tastes better the next day. Made in a bundt pan, it makes a beautiful centerpiece when dusted with powdered sugar.
Russia, US close to start joint military action in Aleppo

A man rebuilds a wall of a damaged building in the rebel held al-Katerji district in Aleppo, Syria.

Reuters, Moscow :Russia and the United States are close to starting joint military action against militants in Syria's Aleppo, Russian news agencies on Monday quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.Fighting for control of the divided city of some 2 million people has intensified in recent weeks and there have been some gains for rebel groups battling Syrian government forces.Russia backs Syrian President Bashar al Assad in the five-year-old Syria conflict, while the United States wants to see Assad step down. But both are participating in talks to try to find a political solution to end the civil war.Senior Russian and U.S. military officials have held Geneva negotiations on Aleppo and on restoring an overall ceasefire, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said last Thursday."We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues," the RIA news agency cited Shoigu as saying. "We are moving step by step closer to a plan - and I'm only talking about Aleppo here - that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace so that people can return to their homes in this troubled land."Asked about Shoigu's remarks, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters in Washington: "We have seen the reports and have nothing to announce ... We remain in close contact (with Russian officials)." Trudeau said the United States continued to push for a broader cessation of Syria hostilities accord with Russia.The battle for Aleppo is "one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times," Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Monday."No one and nowhere is safe. Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense," Maurer said in a statement.The ICRC reiterated its call on all warring parties to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver supplies to civilians in desperate need of food and clean water across Aleppo. Russia has delivered aid to Aleppo and is helping to rebuild damaged water pumping stations, Shoigu said. About 700,000 people are still living in Aleppo and residents in the eastern part of the city were "hostages of armed groups", he added.Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Syrian militants had used a temporary ceasefire around Aleppo to regroup.Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should play a more active role in helping to resolve the Syria crisis."(They should) sit down at the table and negotiate," Bogdanov told RIA news agency, saying he would meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Aug. 16.But the official spokesman for the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Riad Nassan Agha, said on Monday the HNC was unaware of this meeting. He said it did not know which "opposition" Bogdanov was referring to.
Miscreants loot cattle laden truck

Jhenaidah Correspondent :

A gang of miscreants on Sunday midnight looted 12 cattleheads with the truck stabbing the driver and putting sleeping pills in to the mouths of the cattle traders near Chariarbil area on Jhenaidah-Kushtia Highway under Sailkupa police station of Jhenaidah.

The driver and four of the unconscious cattle traders were rushed to Jhenaidah Sadar hospital. Of them condition of the driver Shariful Islam, son of Ainuddin of Abalpur village under Kotchandpur upazila was stated to be critical. the hospital sources said.

Injured Joynal Hossain of Dingaidah village in Chuadanga Sadar upazila said, the driver with a helper and four cattle traders started their moving at about 11.00 PM on Sunday from Chuadanga. The driver stopped the vehicle to remove some troubles in the way. After an hour at about 12.00 or 12.30 AM some eight to nine miscreants equipped with Ramda and other sharp weapons swooped on them and put sleeping pills in their mouths.

They tied all the five with ropes and started beating up. They also stabbed the driver Shariful Islam who lost his sense. Later, on Monday morning , they found themselves in the hospital bed. The sense of the three cattle traders were not regained till Monday noon, the said.

Sailkupa police station officer in charge Tarikul Islam when contacted said, the fire fighters have rescued the five and sent them to Jhenaidah Sadar hospital in the morning of Monday.

The police have been investigating the matter and rescue the cattle heads, the police sad.




BB vow to seek fed help for recovering stolen money

Reuters , Dhaka/New York :Bangladesh's central bank said it has reversed its plans to sue the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the SWIFT money transfer network, and instead intends to seek their help recovering $81 million stolen by cyber thieves in February."At the moment we have no plan to go for any legal action against the Fed bank or SWIFT; rather we will seek their assistance," said Subhankar Saha, the spokesman for Bangladesh Bank. He declined to provide reasons for the turnabout. A source close to the Asian central bank last month said it was preparing litigation to seek compensation, claiming errors by the New York Fed and SWIFT had made Bangladesh Bank vulnerable. In the February heist, hackers issued false transfer orders on the SWIFT network to move funds out of Bangladesh Bank's account at the Fed. Bangladesh's finance minister had also said in March he was weighing legal action. "We only assessed different options, including the legal (option)," Saha said on Tuesday. "We look forward to cooperation both from the Fed and SWIFT." Officials from the Fed and Bangladesh's finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith were not immediately available for comment.The shift came as meetings were to begin in New York on Tuesday between officials from Bangladesh Bank, the New York Fed and SWIFT. It also comes after the New York Fed last week published its standard contract with correspondent banks, which spells out that the burden of preventing and reporting breaches lies largely with the correspondent bank, in this case Bangladesh Bank.Saha said there was no link between the decision not to pursue a lawsuit and the contract. "We were assessing options, and we prefer cooperation," he said. Deputy governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan, who is heading the Bangladesh Bank team in the New York meetings, said the bank operates under the standard Fed contract. He did not comment on any possible lawsuit. The standard contract includes a requirement for the correspondent bank to "immediately" notify the US central bank when it learned it was hacked, and to give the Fed "a reasonable opportunity to act" on cancellation requests. The Fed was bound to then "make reasonable efforts" to halt any fraudulent payments it had made. The New York Fed is liable for acting on unauthorized payments only if it does not comply with agreed authentication messages, or fails to exercise good faith when filling a payment request, according to the contract. The published contract notes litigation must be heard in a US court. In the Feb. 4 heist, the hackers peppered the Fed with payment requests, four of which were filled. Much of the money disappeared into casinos in the Philippines.Reuters reported last month that Bangladesh Bank did not realize it had been hacked and d id not attempt to alert the New York Fed until two days after the money had been sent. By that time, a weekend in New York, the Fed took two more days to respond. Reuters also reported that the New York Fed attempted and failed to cancel the payments and did not immediately inform Bangladesh Bank of its efforts. A team from Bangladesh is scheduled to meet officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US justice department this week in New York in connection with the cyber theft of $81 million from the South Asian country's central bank in February, sources said. Two people close to the Bangladesh central bank said the goal of the meetings starting on Tuesday would be to discuss what led to the heist, carried out by unidentified hackers, and how such events can be prevented in future. A New York Fed official told Reuters the aim would be "to understand what happened, what remediation steps have been taken by Bangladesh Bank to meet its contractual obligations, and to begin a path to normalize operations."In one of the largest cyber heists ever, hackers penetrated Bangladesh Bank's systems and sent the New York branch of the US central bank dozens of payment requests from an account it maintained for Bangladesh. They sought nearly $1 billion, and $81 million was paid out and lost.The New York Fed in June wrote to the Philippines' central bank, prodding it to help Bangladesh Bank recover the money that was transferred to beneficiary accounts at the Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) (RCB.PS) before most of that was laundered through casinos there.Bangladesh Bank officials believe the nudge from the New York Fed was one of the reasons the Philippines central bank last week slapped a record fine of 1 billion pesos ($21 million) on RCBC in connection with the heist, and that it was important to sustain the pressure. Bangladesh Bank holds RCBC accountable for letting most of the money out despite stop-payments requests from Dhaka.But Maria Celia Estavillo, RCBC's legal and regulatory affairs head, told Reuters her bank should not be held accountable for the loss and that they were "victims too"."The theft took place in Bangladesh and the money is not with RCBC," she said in an interview last Tuesday. "They know where the money went. They should pursue them. We believe that people who received the funds should return the funds."Bangladesh Bank hopes the meetings in New York will prompt the Philippines to work toward retrieving the money, said the sources with direct knowledge of the meetings. Bangladesh's central bank already has said it had a commitment from Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that the money would be returned.The meetings with the FBI and Justice Department will help to identify the hackers, who remain at large more than six months after the heists, said one of the sources.The New York Fed declined to comment. Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha could not immediately be reached for comment. The FBI and Justice Department, both of which are investigating, did not immediately respond to calls.Bangladesh police have been working with FBI officials but this would be a rare meeting between Bangladesh Bank officials and the US agency.The team from Dhaka will consist of Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Abu Hena Mohd. Razee Hassan, Abdul Rab from its financial intelligence unit, the bank's lawyer Ajmalul Hossain, Debdulal Roy from its information systems development department and Zakir Hossain Chowdhury from its accounts department.
BD nat'l hurt in BSF firing

Jhenaidah Correspondent :A Bangladeshi cattle trader sustained bullet wounds when the BSF soldiers opened fire into a group of Bangladeshi nationals on Monday night near the international borders inside the Indian territory.The injured identified as Abdul Hakin, 27, and son of Nurul Amin Sarder, hailed from Laraighat village of Moheshpur upazila in Jhenaidah district. He was rushed to Jessore General Hospital in the morning of Tuesday.Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), 58, Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Tajul Islam said, a group of cattle traders entered India through the Laraighat frontier on Monday night. When they walked into about one kilometer inside the borders, the BSF men from Fatehpur opened fire into them, leaving Abdul Hakim injured. After the BSF men left the place, the companions of Hakim brought him back to Bangladesh and admitted him to Jessore General Hospital. Following the incident, both the BGB and the BSF sat for a flag meeting at Laraighat frontier on Tuesday. But the BSF during the flag meeting denied the firing charge on the Bangladeshi men. The BGB officials have been trying to find out the reason of the incident, the BGB man said.
Threat to genuine subscribers

Md Joynal Abedin Khan :

A huge number of SIM (subscriber identity module) cards of different mobile phone operator companies, now active in the country by using fake information for registration, may cause a serious threat to genuine subscribers.

Even such as SIM cards (pre-activated) with biometric details are reportedly being sold in capital Dhaka and other parts the country by neglecting the government's recent ultimatum of stern action against the offenders.

These cards may cause of harassment or threat to the genuine owners in anytime for using in different types of crimes by the organized gangs though the customers have no idea about the registration of their SIMs by using their information.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regularity Commission (BTRC), there are 13.13 crore active mobile phone subscribers in the country. And the regulator has collected details of the SIM retailers and others linked to the biometric registration process.

Of the total 13.26 crore active connections, 11.5 crore were re-registered, claimed senior executives of different mobile phone operators.

Meanwhile, some unscrupulous officials of mobile phone operators and their retail agents have already registered thousands of SIM cards by using information of many people during biometric registration and verification, claimed BTRC official sources.

A number of various organized gang have already sold several million pre-activate SIM cards

in high rate and they have stocked many SIM cards for earning huge money, they said.

The SIM card forgery-gang has many teams in the capital and other cities and districts across the country, they added.

In the meantime, members of law enforcing agencies have seized more than three lakh fake SIM cards and arrested many people in this connection.

Hafiz Uddin, a city dweller, expressed concern that the main goal of biometric registration of SIM cards would go in vain if the sale of such SIM cards was not stopped.

"It's a dangerous issue. Terrorists and criminal will push innocent people to danger taking the chance," he said.

"I bought a pre-activated SIM card for Tk 300 instead of maximum fixed Tk 180," said Mina Rani in the city's Dhupkhola area.

Dilruba Akter, a former student of Dhaka University, found that eight SIMs were registered under her name with Robi and three more with Airtel. She herself just registered one SIM each with the two operators.

"I am confused and am feeling vulnerable. I don't know the numbers that are registered under my name," she said.

Jahanur Rahman Shantu, a student of Jagannath University, said he had registered two Airtel numbers, but on July 2 he got a text message from the operator saying he has four SIM cards under his name.

"This is a hassle for me. And both the government and the operator are responsible for this, as SIMs were registered without proper authentication," he said.

"We don't know the persons whose voter ID cards and fingerprints were used," Mizan Uddin, a SIM seller in city's Gandaria area told The New Nation on Monday.

On September 22 last year, around 14,000 SIMs purchased against a 'fake' National Identification (NID) card were detected during the ongoing verification process for SIM card registrations.

It is to be mentioned that the biometric SIM verification had been completed on May 31 this year which was began on December 16 last year.

To stop the pre-active SIM, in 2012, the telecom regulator directed the operators to activate SIM within 72 hours of its sell after verifying the buyers' information. "If the operators fail to comply with the order, they have to pay a fine of $50 for each case," added the directive.

On July 25, the Detective Branch (DB) of Police seized nearly 4,000 illegally registered SIMs, which were being sold in the market, and arrested seven people for their alleged involvement from Chittagong city.

Earlier on June 23, police seized around one lakh illegal SIM cards of mobile phone operator Airtel with false biometric and owner information.

On June 29, police seized about 100,000 illegally registered mobile SIMs, which were being sold in the market from the city's Tejgaon area. The seized SIMs were registered illegally using National Identity Card information of different people without their knowledge or permission.

Police also arrested 22 people, including Airtel's territorial distribution managers Shafiqul Islam, Momin Miah and Md Wahid, from the capital in this connection.

Cautioning the operators for the pre-activated SIMs, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said, "We are going to instruct the telecom regulator to 'fine $50 for each pre-activated SIM."

"We would deactivate the SIMs if we find something is wrong there," the minister said.

BTRC Chairman Shajahan Mahmud said, "We will take action against the alleged mobile pone operators. We shall hold a director-level meeting to finalise the next step."
HSC results tomorrow

Staff Reporter :The results of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations will be published tomorrow across the country. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will ceremonially hand over copies of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at 10am of the day. And then he will officially announce the results at a press conference around 1pm in his Secretariat office. After announcement of the results, the ministry will send the results to all the educational institutions of the country. The students will be able to get the results in their institutions and on the website (http:/www.educationboard.gov.bd/) after 2pm.Results will also be available on mobile phones.A student will have to text 'HSCfirst three letters of relevant boardroll number2016' to 16222 to get the result in a return SMS.The HSC examinations began on April 3 with over 1.2 million (12,18,628) examinees from 8,533 educational institutions.Of the total examinees, 654,114 were males and 564,514 females.The theoretical part of the examinations ended on June 9 while the practical examinations were held from June 11 through June 20.
Four female JMB suspects nabbed

DMCH intern, Manarat students involved

Four female JMB activists were arrested by RAB-4 from city\'s separate places on Tuesday.

Staff Reporter :Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested four persons including an intern of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) and three students of Manarat International University (MIU) from the city and Tongi in suspected connection with the female wing of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).One of them identified as Ispisna Afroz Oishee, intern at DMCH. Her father Dr Biswas Akter Hossain, 58 and mother Dr Nasima Sultana, 48, are working as senior doctors at DMCH.The three others Khadija Parvin Meghna, Israt Jahan Mou, and Aklima Rahman Moni, are fourth year students of the Department of Pharmacy at Manarat International University.RAB-4 Company Commander Lutfor Kabir daid this in a press briefing its Headquarters in the city's Paikpara on Tuesday. "A team of RAB-4 at first arrested Moni from Sighnbord area in Tongi of Gazipur district early Monday following information extracted from JMB south unit Ameer Mahmudul Hasan who had been arrested on July 21," the RAB official said. According to Moni's confession, the elite force members picked up Oishee from her residence in the city's Moghbazar area on Monday night, he said.Later, another team of the unit detained Mou and Meghna from a house of Janata Housing in Mirpur -1 at the same night, the elite force official said. The RAB commander said, one year ago, Hasan directed Moni to form the female unit and one of her friends, who is staying abroad, influenced her to joint the militant organisation.RAB suspected that the formation of the unit is in the initial stage and they had been analysing its shape, he said.He opined that Mou damaged the memory card of her cell phone soon after sensing the presence of RAB as the device could be a source of information.A large number of jihadi books, notes, documentaries and, audio and video files linked to Jamaat-Shibir were discovered from their possession. "Aklima ran initiatives at different areas in the name of Arabic studies," he said.The elite force official said that they found 'substantial information of militant activities' from Aklima's mobile phone.Aklima reportedly told RAB that out of the Tk 12,000 collected in June, Tk 8,000 was given to her by Manarat University student Oishi, who has been involved with the JMB for the last three years.In July, law enforcers arrested seven female JMB activists from Sirajganj and Tangail with arms, explosives and jihadi literatures.The legal action against them was under processing while the report filed at Tuesday night.
Gulshan, Banani see trade debacle

Businessmen to incur loss Tk 200 cr: Eviction drive adds salts into wounds

Gazi Anowarul Hoque :

Hotels and restaurants of city's posh areas, especially Gulshan and Banani, see trade debacle since July 1 terror attack.

Locals and foreigners, who used to visit the hotels and restaurants in Gulshan and Banani area, to reside or to have food, refraining themselves to going there in fear of terror attack or law enforcers' harassment.

Besides, the locals and the foreigners, who usually book the hotels during their visit to capital Dhaka, have also cancelled their scheduled programme.

Meanwhile, the government's move to evict illegal establishments from the city's residential areas, also added another blow to their business fate, businessmen talking to The New Nation on Tuesday said.

"We will have to incur loss about Tk 200 crore this year if the prevailing situation is not changed. Besides, the government will have to stop eviction drive," MH Rahman, adviser of Hotel, Guesthouse and Restaurant Owners' Association of Bangladesh said.

He added the government will also have to incur loss huge amount of VAT & Tax from tourism sector.



While this reporter visiting hotels, motels and restaurants in Gulshan and Banani areas, found that almost all business houses are passing hard days due to absence of customers.

Talking to The New Nation, residents of Gulshan and Banani said people from abroad or other parts of the country are not coming to the restaurants and shopping malls.

"No one is coming unless it's urgent," a dweller said. Gulshan South Avenue known as restaurant of village used to be crowded with locals and foreigners, but on Tuesday, it seemed like a haunted house.

"We have assured security measures but still it's not like before. We have stopped buffet lunch and are not even taking reservations for parties," said a hotel manger requesting not to be named.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director of Dhaka Bank said, the investment at hotel and restaurants in Ghulsan and Banani areas are about Tk 4,000 to 5,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the government has declared 2016 as Tourism Year. Considering the overall scenario, the government should implement its eviction decision step by step, he said.

Eviction drive against commercial establishments in city's posh areas should not be done at this moment as it would hamper bank investment, employment, government revenue as well as tourism, he added.

Taufiq Rahman, Director of Tour Operators' Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) told the New Nation on Tuesday that there are about 500 hotel and motels at Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas where almost 3000 foreigners stay at those in night.

The foreigners would face a crisis of places to stay if the hotels and motels are evicted, which in turn will hit the national economy, he added.

Entrepreneurs of the areas run their business with the city corporation's approval and pay taxes regularly.

Syed Nasim Manzur, President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said many businesses are related to hotels and restaurants.

"Security measures and available living space will have to be ensured for foreigners. Otherwise it will hit on all," he said.

An official of the Dhaka Regency Hotel said that the US embassy has cancelled a scheduled seminar.

He said that more than 1,000 rooms had been reserved in different hotels for participants of the conference on money laundering and telecommunications.

Preferring anonymity, he said that eight out of the 10 scheduled events at the Dhaka Regency Hotel have been postponed and two have been cancelled.

The contribution of hotel and restaurant sector to GDP in FY 2014-15 was 1.03 percent, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.


BEIJING -- China on Monday voiced "firm" opposition after two Japanese cabinet members paid homage to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II.

"That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said in response to a question from the press.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from the WWII, is regarded as a symbol of the past Japanese militarism.

Lu urged the Japanese side "to squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way, and work to win trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete moves."
Citycell license cancelled

Subscribers asked to find new operators within 7 days

Staff Reporter :The government has cancelled the license of country's first mobile phone operator Citycell and asked its subscribers to select new operators within seven days. The network of the operator will be shutdown after seven days counting from yesterday."As the company failed to pay taxes for an amount of Tk 477.51 crore despite several reminders, the government took the decision of cancelling the license," said, Post and Telecommunications State Minister Tarana Halim in a press briefing at her office on Tuesday.The State Minister said, the process will begin today (Wednesday) adding that the subscribers of the operator can use the network for seven more days. The deadline expiring, the network will be switched off automatically, she added. On July 31, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said in a press release that they would close the Citycell soon. BTRC then advised the Citycell clients to choose any other operator by 16th August (yesterday). The BTRC officials also said in the press release that they had decided to cancel the permission for use of spectrums and radio equipments of the Citycell for non-payment of taxes.BTRC officials said that the Commission took the decision as Citycell failed to pay taxes for an amount of Tk 477.51 crore despite several reminders.BTRC officials said that after the biometric re-registration the operator found around two lakh subscribers.'As Citycell could not pay its taxes even after several reminders, we had to take the decision." BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told journalists on July 31.The BTRC, earlier in April, filed a certificate case against Citycell to realise the taxes under the Public Demand Recovery Act 1913.
Gulshan attack 7-8 more top suspects identified

Marzan was a Shibirman

Staff Reporter :

Police on Tuesday claimed that seven to eight more top suspects involved in the July 1 deadly terror attack in the city's Gulshan cafe, have been identified.

Apart from three -- Bangladesh-origin Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, sacked army official Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Major Zia and Marzan, seven to eight more suspected persons have been identified over July 1 Gulshan cafe attack, Monirul Islam, Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told the journalists on Tuesday. "We have already obtained some important information about their organisations as well as activities. The information is now being examined," he said.

Marzan, who was earlier identified as one of the masterminds involved in the Gulshan carnage, was an associate (Shathi) of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, Chittagong University unit, CU Proctor Ali Asgar Chowdhury said.

Talking to journalists Professor Iftekhar Uddin Chowdury, Vice Chancellor of CU, said Marjan's real name is Nurul Islam.

"Nurul Islam alias Marjan completed his Alim degree from Pabna Alia Madrasa and then got himself admitted into the Arabic Department of Chittagong University in 2014. He was a second-year student. But he remained absent since 2015," he said.

Son of Nizamuddin, Marzan hails from village Afuria at Hemayetpur union of Pabna district. Locals know him as Nurul Islam.

Police said the assailants of Gulshan carnage sent pictures and situation reports to Marzan from inside the cafe during the siege on the night of July 1.

Marzan's father Nizamuddin said his son (Marzan) married a girl named Priyoti one and a half years ago.

"My son came to us eight months back and he took his wife to Chittagong. Since then he did not communicate with us. I demanded punishment to my son if he is found guilty," the ill-fated father told local journalists.

Nizamuddin detained on Monday is now under police custody for interrogation.

Monirul, also the Chief of DMP's specialised Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, said they got Marjan's photo while they were carrying out investigation into the Gulshan attack.

"Besides, the militants arrested earlier, gave information about Marzan's involvement in the Gulshan attack," he said, adding they already launched a hunt to nab Marzan.

He further said Marzan's parents and other locals would be interrogated to know about his activities.

Earlier on Friday police released Marzan's photograph. As police on Monday said Marzan is one of the suspected masterminds involved in the July 1 terror attack in Gulshan cafe, the Chittagong University authorities took initiative to know about him.

On Tuesday, CU Vice-Chancellor held meeting with the deans and chairmen of all faculties and departments. The chairman of Arabic Department was also asked to give details about Mrazan in the meeting.

According to university sources, Marzan was seen last in the campus on February 14 in 2015.

He had taken part in the second year final examination. But he did not complete the examination. Marzan's classmates are now fourth years students of Arabic Department of the University. His classmates knew him as Nurul Islam Faahd.


BD investigators in Kolkata to quiz Musa, track Suleiman

Sagar Biswas :A three-member Bangladesh investigators' team, comprising the officials of different security agencies, is now passing a busy time in Kolkata to conduct an inquiry connecting to recent back-to-back Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, officials said.According to information provided by Police Headquarters, the team reached Kolkata on Monday night. The members of the team have been chosen from Rapid Action Battalion [RAB], Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit [CTTCU] and Police Bureau of Investigation [PBI]. The investigator's team started its assigned task from Tuesday morning. The team was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting with the concerned officials of Indian National Investigation Agency [NIA] at Salt Lake, sources said.Meanwhile, the Bangladesh team yesterday quizzed a high-profile militant suspect Mohammed Masiuddin alias Musa for link to Islamic State [IS] and banned Islamist terrorist outfit Jama'atul Mujahedin Bangladesh [JMB]. "So far as we know, one Musa has been nabbed in India. He is a member of a banned militant outfit. To quiz him, a three-member team of Police Headquarters went to Kolkata," Assistant Inspector General of Police [Confidential] Md Moniruzzaman told The New Nation last night. The AIG also said that the team may go to other Indian states for the sake of investigation.Quoting an NIA official, the Indian media said that it was not clear the reason behind the visit of Bangladesh team, though both the countries have common interest over 'rising trend of terrorism and counterfeit currency businesses.'Reliable sources said the Bangladesh team is now collecting information about one Abu Suleiman also known as Mohammad Suleiman, 30, leader of JMB. Masiuddin, a resident of Birbhum, who was caught by NIA agents at Bardwan Railway Station in the first week of July, at first revealed the name of Suleiman during interrogation. He was staying in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur with his family and two children. It was learnt that Suleiman asked Musa to start work for IS in 2014. Suleiman also met Musa twice, once at Birbhum and next time at Malda same year. Official sources said Suleiman is a prime suspect of Gulshan and Sholakia terror attacks, who is also believed to be a coordinator, and main source of finance and arms used by the militants in the assaults. Local security officials, requesting to remain anonymous, said that Musa was seen in the video footage being present on the spot during bomb and gun attack at Sholakia. Meanwhile, Bangladesh police provided a picture of Suleiman to NIA. After analyzing the photo, investigators suspected that it is not his real name. Not only that, Musa also during the interrogation divulged information that Suleiman was known to him as "Jihadi John", a code name used for safe operational movement. But investigators also suspected that "Jihadi John" is not also his real name, it might be something else. The investigators, however, are trying to find a link between Musa's link and Suleiman, an important member of the JMB, who had played a crucial role in the terror attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on July 1. As per information available, Musa being directed by Suleiman killed a promoter at Lavpur in Birbhum and at the same time murdered his maid after rape by cutting throat. The incident of double- murder, recorded in a video phone, was planned to send Bangladesh. But their plan went in vain when Musa along with his two accomplices were nabbed by Indian authorities in July. They were identified as Kallu Sheikh and Amin Sheikh -- both suspected members of militant outfit. Musa came to visit West Bengal after almost six years. Masiuddin during interrogation had revealed his connection to top leaders of at least two terror groups and admitted that he had been assigned to spread their tentacles in West Bengal and other places. His phone records also showed that he had several times communicated with people from Bangladesh, Syria and Iraq, according to officials.
Decoding the strategic logic of IS

Fawaz A. Gerges :

The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) continues to pose a serious challenge not just to the Middle East, but to the entire world. While the efforts of a US-led coalition have weakened ISIS, destroying the group has proved difficult - and it has continued to inspire attacks in faraway places, from Brussels to Bangladesh.

To understand how to defeat ISIS once and for all, we first need to comprehend its strategy. And make no mistake: even if the ISIS-associated international attacks seem random, the group's global crusade does have a strategic logic.

ISIS is fighting for its survival. It has neither the money nor the manpower to fight anything like a traditional war against the US-led coalition and its local allies - at least not for long. What it does have is a message that resonates with certain groups - typically marginalized, disenchanted, and tormented young men - within a broad range of countries, in the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere. And it has become very good at tapping these sources of manpower.

The group's spokespeople have repeatedly called on followers and supporters worldwide to strike its enemies, particularly in the West.

Inspiring lone wolves and stay-at-home groupies or tight-knit local cells to launch attacks in distant, unpredictable locations is the ultimate weapon of the weak in asymmetric conflicts. It enables ISIS to reap all of the benefits of an attack, while incurring none of the costs.

The benefits are substantial. Such attacks divert attention from ISIS's losses in Syria and Iraq, and can even make it seem that the group is getting stronger. This not only enhances ISIS's capacity to recruit and inspire more terrorists; it also penetrates the thinking of citizens in coalition countries. ISIS hopes that, as the human and economic costs of the fight against ISIS accumulate in those countries, particularly in Europe, public opinion may turn against military involvement in Iraq and Syria.

As pressure on ISIS builds - particularly in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and Raqqa, the Syrian city that has become the self-proclaimed caliphate's de facto capital - its calls for attacks will intensify. Given a widespread willingness - from San Bernardino to Nice - to heed those calls, the results could be devastating.

Of course, ISIS does not rely entirely on inspiration. It also recruits skilled combatants from just about anywhere - including Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Jordan, Turkey, France, Belgium, and Britain - whom it then sends to launch spectacular operations, such as those in Istanbul, Brussels, and Paris. There are credible reports that ISIS has even established an external branch responsible for plotting terrorist operations abroad.

If Mosul and Raqqa fall in the coming year, as seems likely, thousands of surviving ISIS combatants will return to their home countries, where they are likely to continue waging their war with terror attacks. As a result, the coming year is bound to be at least as bloody as the last one.

Who will bear the brunt of ISIS's desperation? The US tops the list of ISIS's enemies. But dispatching fighters there from the Middle East poses a logistical challenge. And there are only about 100 Americans fighting with ISIS, meaning that, in the US, inspiration is ISIS's main tactic.

European and Muslim countries are much more convenient targets, and not only in geographic terms. Most ISIS fighters are from the Arab world, and 4,000 European men and women have joined the group.

Of the European countries, France, which has assumed a leadership role in the fight against ISIS, is the most vulnerable. It has already suffered more casualties than all of its neighbors together, with 235 people killed in the last 18 months.

One reason for this is that the sense of exclusion and alienation felt by a large segment of France's Muslim community has made it easier for ISIS to recruit in the country. Some 1,200 French nationals have joined as fighters - the largest contingent of Westerners in the group. Add to that serious gaps in France's domestic security arrangements, and the odds of further attacks appear high.

But as much as ISIS wants to hurt the West, the countries of the Middle East - especially the Shia regimes of Iraq and Syria, plus their Iranian ally - remain its prime target. After all, ISIS's effort to build a caliphate requires it to control territory.

The struggle against America, Europe, and even Israel must be deferred until a Sunni Islamic state is built in the heart of Arabia.

Given this, it is crucial that the security threat posed by terror attacks does not overshadow, particularly for Western leaders, the imperative of dismantling ISIS's pseudo-state in Iraq and Syria. But even when that task is finished, ISIS will still wield its ideology as a weapon to attract fighters to engage in guerrilla warfare in Iraq and Syria, and in terrorism abroad.

That is why it is also necessary to cut off the social and ideological oxygen that has nourished ISIS's spectacular rise. This means addressing the Middle East's broken politics, including both its causes (such as the geostrategic rivalry between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-led Iran) and its symptoms (including the civil wars spreading through the Arabian heartland). Only then can the Arab-Islamic world and the international community defeat ISIS and others like them.



(Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is the author of ISIS: A History).

Courtesy: Project Syndicate
Prices of essential drugs must be held in check

PRICES of essential drugs have shot up at astronomical height, as government has no control over the prices of commonly used drugs for treatment in the country. Report by a leading daily on Tuesday shows absence of government monitoring over about 96 percent of basic drugs is allowing pharmaceutical companies to recklessly increase drug prices on high profiteering motive. Many companies are also producing substandard drugs unchecked and cheating the patients.

The Drug Law of 1982 clearly stipulates that the authorities concerned should have annual update of drug prices while monitoring the quality of drugs and their prices. But such practice is reportedly missing for the last 22 years. It invariably shows utter neglect of the controlling authorities or that they have compromised the application of the law for material gains. Meanwhile the prices of essential medicines have gone beyond the affordability of common people in absence of regulatory measures in the market. It can't be acceptable at all.

Pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh are producing 2,833 generic drugs at a time when the government reportedly controls prices of only 117 medicines from a list of commonly used drugs. But such control also seems to be much on paper only. What appears quite ironic in recent time is that despite Bangladesh being a leading drug producing country, most people are failing to buy basic drug here for being exorbitantly costly. According to World Health Organization findings, about 65 lakh people in Bangladesh spend everything they have to become poor every year due to meeting treatment expenditure where the cost of medicine figures out prominently. Here the most serious allegation is that governance in the pharmaceutical sector has almost totally collapsed. As per the Drug Law the authorities are required to make gazette notification on maximum price of basic drugs. But it is not at work since long.

The chaos in the pharmaceutical sector has become really scandalous to force the country's apex court to intervene. A High Court bench early this month directed the government to halt production of substandard medicine by 20 pharmaceutical companies and withdraw anti-biotic drugs of 14 companies from market immediately. They are presumably running the business under the protection of powerful people in the government like in the past.

The Drug Law of 1982 was highly appreciated that required compliance of highest standard along with control on exorbitant rise in medicine prices. We have been alarmed seeing the opposite now. Everyone knows that prices of medicine must be held in check only next to food item because they are basic requirement of human life. In our view the anarchy in the pharmaceutical industry must go and especially the prices of essential drugs must be held in check.






The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.
Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.

What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?

Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.

Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property  there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:

You get to see exactly what will happen to your money

When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.

Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.

A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.

You find out about potential major repairs

Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.

If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.

You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on

One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.

Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.

You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for

While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.

This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.

Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.

You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price

If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.

You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.

You can sell your home faster and for more money

If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.

In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.

Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.

Your home will hold its value longer

As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.

When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.

You can make smart decisions about property investments

Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.

If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.

There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.

If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage

If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.

They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.

You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors

If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.

For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.

You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition

Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.

You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.

Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.

As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Showers and thundershowers early, then overcast overnight with occasional rain. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Showers and thundershowers early, then overcast overnight with occasional rain. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Add caption

You could see how important they think the lives of oil workers are, at the annual oil and gas business conference in Baku in June. No-one from the oil companies or the government expressed any regret about the disaster. It was not even mentioned by any of the main speakers. Not even a moments silence.

Also about the Caspian

Nine months after 31 workers drowned in Azerbaijans worst-ever oil industry disaster, the countrys authorities have still not said a word about how it happened or what mistakes could be avoided in future.Most of the victims were thrown into the water when a lifeboat smashed against the side of production platform no. 10 at the Guneshli oil field in the Caspian sea, as they tried to escape a fire during a force 10 gale on 4 December last year.The Oil Workers Rights Protection Organisation (OWRPO), a campaign group, says state oil company managers broke safety laws for the sake of keeping production going, and that workers did not even have life jackets on during the attempt to evacuate the platform.State officials lied to the media and the public during the emergency, and treated oil workers families with contempt, the OWRPO said in a report published in February The government was quick to dismiss the report  but its own 14-person commission, set up to deal with the disasters consequences, has not breathed aword. The prosecutor has opened a criminal case (which is standard procedure), but has made public no details of its investigation. It is not known whether it has questioned managers accused by oil workers of glaring safety breaches.Mirvari Gharamanli, president of the OWRPO, said in an interview with People & Nature : Its oil first, people second, just like in Soviet times. The human factor is devalued. It should be other way round: people first, and then the oil.People should have been evacuated in a timely way. Attention should have been paid to these safety issues. But the human factor comes at the end, she said.The oil workers trade union should have been monitoring safety standards, but were not interested in that, nor in investigating the causes of the accident, she said. They helped with a bit of money to the families, thats all. And we are talking about human lives here.The events of 4 December, as described in the media and the OWRPOs report, were as follows. (The OWRPO report is here ; there are news agency reports here and here ; and a valuable analytical article on the Caspian Barrel web sit e .)Wind speed had risen to 38-40 metres per second, and the height of waves rose from 8 metres to 9-10 metres. At about 17.40, a submarine gas pipe running from the platform broke. There was an explosion of gas escaping from it, and a fire broke out, which soon spread to a number of the oil and gas wells operated from the platform.Due to the strength of the storm, firefighting and rescue vessels were unable to reach the platform, which is operated by Azneft, a production division of Socar (the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic).There were 63 workers on the rig; most of them evacuated via the north side of the platform and boarded two lifeboats. The OWRPO says that the way the evacuation was implemented by those in charge on the platform showed a lack of safety training and awareness.Both of the boats were lowered on cables to about 10 metres above sea level: it was decided not to lower them into the water for fear of being dashed against the platform by the storm.One of the lifeboats was blown by the wind and got wedged between the platforms supporting legs. That saved the lives of its occupants, who were rescued after the storm subsided.The cables holding the other boat snapped. It was blown against the side of the rig and broke into pieces. Those on board were thrown in to the water.The rescue vessels, still held back by the force of the storm, only managed to pull three men from the water, one of whom died straight away.The rest of those who had been on that lifeboat perished. The OWRPO concluded that there were 12 dead and 19 missing, presumed dead (listed in the OWRPO report here ). There has been no official list of victims published by the government or Socar.Three other Azerbaijani oil workers lost their lives on 4 December  Dzhavad Khudaverdiev (44), Bakhman Dzhafarov (54) and Rovshan Mamedov (41) were swept out to sea from production platform no. 501 at the Oil Rocks oil field  bringing the total number of deceased on that day to 34. (Reported here in Russian .)The OWRPO conducted its own investigation into the tragedy, and published it on 24 February this year. The organisation concluded that: Workers had reported a gas leak from the pipeline a day before the disaster. They were told by the managers of the 28 May oil and gas production department not to stop production  although doing so might have minimised losses when the accident happened. The practice, and legal requirement in Azerbaijan, of reducing worker numbers on rigs to the minimum during stormy weather, was not followed. Of the 63 people on the rig when the fire began, 15 were members of a construction and drilling team  in breach of the Labour Code, which states that construction, installation and dismantling work on platforms should be stopped during stormy weather. There were other non-essential workers, including five catering staff, on the platform. The heads of departments are obliged to explain to society, and the families of killed and missing oil workers: why didnt they send them away, if they received information about a hurricane? the OWRPO report states. Azerbaijans law requires that in storms of force 8 or greater, most types of production work should be stopped, and that in storms of force 10 or greater, all work, except to flush and cool tools, should be stopped. This did not happen. Many of the workers were not wearing lifejackets during the evacuation. Mirvari Gharamanli said that this is confirmed by photographic evidence from the scene, and her own meetings with survivors in hospitals. (Note. There are different requirements for safety clothing in different countries. On the North Sea, the standard now is for each worker to have a survival suit; in some oil producing countries, lifejackets are still the norm. UK oil worker trade unionists say that it is unthinkable that, during an evacuation during stormy weather, that either survival suits or lifejackets were not available.) Safety rules were seriously violated, the OWRPO said; direct responsibility lies with the heads of the 28 May oil and gas production department, the complex drilling trust, the transportation department, Caspian Catering Service and others. During the rescue operation, oil workers were not given proper instructions. (The report stated that some industry experts believed that the evacuation should not have been attempted, and that workers would have had a better chance of survival by remaining on the platform, in the living quarters. Other industry specialists dispute this.) Questions were raised by industry specialists about the quality of the lifeboats, and when they had been inspected.The OWRPO report also detailed the fog of lies and deceit created around the accident by the government and Socar on the evening that it took place.For six hours after the emergency began, no public comment was issued by Socar or the ministry of emergency situations; then Socar issued a statement that there had been no injuries or deaths. Mirvari Gharamanli explained in her interview how her Facebook page became a lightning-rod for information in the midst of an official blackout.The OWRPO also accuses the authorities of treating oil workers families with contempt. Although, under pressure, they established a central information point, no psychological support was provided  and some families were sent away by intolerant officials.Socar in March issued an inconsequential rebuttal to the OWRPO report ( reported here ), which failed to deal with any of the main points, but has itself said nothing about the causes of the disaster, or the possibility that safety procedures could be improved.It is hard to think of a more cynical, money-grubbing attitude to the safety of a companys employees.The background to the disaster is the generally poor safety culture in the Azerbaijani oil industry, the OWRPO says. In 2014, 19 people were killed; in 2015, as a result of the accident on platform no. 10, this figure more than doubled to 40. The organisation blames production-oriented management and the spinelessness of the officially-sanctioned trade union, which has raised no protest at the official failure to investigate last years tragedy.But this is also an issue for the oil industry, and oil workers, internationally. (James Marriott raised some key issues in December last year, in this article .)The Guneshli death toll was the highest on an offshore oil platform since the explosion on Piper Alpha in the North Sea , which killed 167 British workers in 1988, and the highest in any offshore accident since the American drilling ship Seacrest capsized in the Gulf of Thailand in 1989, killing 90 people. And yet the international reaction to it has been minimal.The British government, a key supporter of the Azerbaijan regime, has maintained a polite silence. BP, which operates the largest oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan and has billions of dollars worth of joint projects with Socar  although it has no operational involvement whatever with the Guneshli field where the accident took place  sees the Azerbaijani company as one of its most important business partners.An acquaintance who works in the oil business said:Senior BP managers and Baroness Nicholson, representing the UK government, were among those who had more important things to discuss.Oil is an international business; we need to find a way to link up international struggles in workers and communities interests.Lets hope the international trade union federations can find ways of putting pressure on Azerbaijan over its appalling safety record. Maybe British and Norwegian oil workers could take up the issue.Lets find ways of supporting OWRPOs efforts to organise Azerbaijani oil workers, to improve workplace conditions and dismantle the safety culture that subordinates human life to production. GL, 4 August 2016.
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
PINCKNEYVILLE  Despite the eight to nine inches of rain that fell this weekend at the Perry County Fairgrounds, this week's Steam, Gas and Threshing Show is still going on, one organizer said.

The ground has turned soggy and muddy and led to the cancellation of Thursday's antique tractor pull, said Josh Giacomo, president of the American Thresherman Association Inc., which is hosting the 57th annual celebration. It takes place this week, Aug. 17 to 21, at the Perry County Fairgrounds.

"Being that it's so wet, it's kind of nerve-wracking at times, because we have to change the way we do things," he said. "The antique tractor pull had to be canceled  because it's just too wet."

The county fairgrounds has roads in it, but portions of the ground still need some support.

"We're putting rock in places and woodchips where we can to make it better," he said.

This annual event attracts about 15,000 to 20,000 people to the fairgrounds and the city of Pinckneyville, including those who travel from close by and those coming from as far as 15 states away, he said.

New this year will be a demonstration of four Rumely tractors being attached, with four belts, to pull a load, he said.

Visitors can look forward to traditional offerings, such as blacksmithing, steam engines, wheat threshing, baker fans and corn shelling, among other attractions. There will also be steam train rides on the American and Southern Illinois Railroad on the fairgrounds, a large flea market, concessions and other attractions.

He's hoping the organizers can shell enough corn to create the corn pit, similar to a sand pit  but one filled with the kernels.

General admission is $7, and admission is free for children 12 years old and younger. There is an additional charge for evening shows, with children 6 and younger being admitted free.

Parking is also free, but adjustments are also being made because of the rain. Guests might have to park in drier locations and take a tram or bus to and from the fairground site, likely in 10 to 15 minute intervals.

Here is a partial lineup of events:

 Wednesday, Aug. 17: Farm pull and horse/mule relay/obstacle course and a mule-jumping competition in the 4-H barn

 Thursday, Aug. 18: Thursday's tractor pull and antique tractor pull has been canceled.

 Friday and Saturday, Aug. 19 and 20: From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., there will be bluegrass music bands playing at the north end of the fairgrounds in the Steam Shed; the ITPA pulls are at 7 p.m.

 Saturday, Aug. 20: Kids' Pedal Tractor Pull (the tractors will be provided);

 Sunday, Aug. 21: Outdoor worship and memorial service at 8 a.m.; Antique Auto Show and Swap Meet at 9 a.m. The judging for that car show starts at 2 p.m.

For more information, call 618-654-9474 or 618-318-0745 or by visiting online at www.americanthresherman.com.
SPRINGFIELD  Frustrated with a lack of legislative progress, a group of agriculture leaders is bypassing the General Assembly to form a private foundation to support the state fairgrounds in Springfield and Du Quoin.

Characterizing it as a completely private initiative, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner applauded the effort, which was announced Tuesday morning during Agriculture Day at the state fair.

The governor has been a proponent of legislation to create a fairgrounds foundation since taking office, but the idea hasnt won support in the General Assembly.

The wonderful thing for the people of Illinois is now private citizens  farm families, community leaders, agriculture executives  are stepping forward to take the leadership on this initiative, Rauner said. Were not going to wait.  The General Assembly wont do it; private citizens are going to do it.

The foundation hasnt raised any money yet, but Rauner said he and his wife look forward to donating.

State officials estimate that there is a backlog of repair projects at the two fairgrounds totaling roughly $180 million. The bulk of the work is in Springfield, but there are at least $12 million worth of repairs needed in Du Quoin.

Were not going to kick the can down the road anymore, said Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Raymond Poe, who as a state representative sponsored legislation that wouldve created a similar foundation.

As Poe spoke to a large crowd at an Agriculture Day breakfast at the fairgrounds, a slide show displayed pictures of crumbling mortar, peeling paint and other deterioration.

Poe will serve on the foundations board, but his will be an honorary role without voting privileges. Heidi Brown-McCreery, director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, will serve on the board in the same capacity.

John Slayton, a vice president at U.S. Bank whos been involved with the fair for decades, will serve on the board as a full member.

There are many individuals and corporations that are eager to give money to support the fairgrounds, Slayton said, and hes been involved in discussions about creating a foundation for about a decade.

Gov. Rauner really took the lead, Slayton said, and hes the one that gets credit for the formation of this foundation.

The foundation is likely to face scrutiny from Democrats in the Legislature, who've been skeptical of the Rauner administration's proposed collaborations with private nonprofits. House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, created a task force to look into a similar relationship between the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and a newly formed economic development corporation headed by the departments former director.

I assume that the group thats looking at public-private partnerships will look at this as well and be monitoring their activities, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.

Brown said that while theres no dispute that the fairgrounds facilities need support, the bills to create a foundation contained big loopholes that wouldve circumvented the competitive bidding process used for state projects.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, who represent the Springfield fairgrounds, both praised the new foundation in a statement issued by the governors office. Brady sponsored the most recent foundation bill, which stalled in the Senate this spring.
SPRINGFIELD  Chicago police officers' emails discussing the Laquan McDonald shooting can't be kept secret even though they were transmitted privately, a state official has decreed in what open-records advocates say is a solid step toward transparency on an issue that has roiled Illinois and reached as high as Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The binding opinion last week by Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan follows quickly on a May Cook County Circuit Court ruling that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's emails about separate issues aren't automatically exempt from disclosure even though sent on private devices.

The opinion has the force of law, requiring the police to search officers' private accounts and turn over relevant emails  although the police department can ask a judge to overturn it. The dictum also fuels an ongoing national debate about access to discussions of public business on privately held cellphones and computers under decades-old disclosure laws which didn't anticipate such an explosion of electronic communication.

The ruling determined that the Chicago Police Department improperly failed to search 12 officers' personal email accounts for discussion of the October 2014 fatal shooting of McDonald, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer. Atlanta-based CNN appealed that omission to the public access counselor under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

"This binding opinion will hopefully make clear that public employees cannot evade FOIA by using private devices when conducting public business," said John Costello, a Chicago public-access lawyer.

Among the officers whose emails CNN is seeking are Officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot McDonald 16 times, and Deputy Chief David McNaughton, who approved the report that the shooting was justified and who abruptly retired Monday.

A CNN spokeswoman would not comment on the matter, but it's likely the television network is trying to determine what other news media organizations have sought  whether officers on the scene cooperated in covering up the true sequence of events leading to McDonald's shooting, a sequence that became clear a year later when a judge ordered police to release a dashboard-camera video of the shooting.

The examples of the tussle over access to public discussions on private devices are piling up. Just in the last year, the news media have challenged not only Emanuel and his police department, but Gov. Bruce Rauner's education adviser, who was conducting public business with a private email account. And The Associated Press filed a lawsuit last year over the State Department's failure to turn over Clinton's emails. Separately, the FBI declared in July that while she was secretary of state, Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, had improperly read and sent classified government information on private devices.

The issue cost former University of Illinois chancellor Phyllis Wise her job last fall in a case in which the university turned over the privately sent emails in question but declared that the law is "not settled." That's because an Illinois appellate court in 2013 addressed the issue of whether an electronic message sent by a city council member was under a public body's control if the council member was not acting as part of the public body while convened for business.

Following that reasoning, Chicago police argued that the officers' emails were not under the police department's control. The attorney general's opinion cited a federal court ruling released last month which maintained that such a claim was akin to a public official putting documents "in a file at his daughter's house and then claiming that they are under her control."

To the police department's complaint that it would violate officers' privacy by searching their email accounts, the attorney general noted privacy is not an exception when public records are at stake. The police had not even asked the officers if such emails existed and could avoid jeopardizing privacy by asking the officers to voluntarily surrender emails involving McDonald, the attorney general said.

Emanuel argued the privacy issue in May, asking a Cook County judge to dismiss the Chicago Tribune's lawsuit over his emails involving the city's problematic red-light camera program and his dealings with a Chicago hedge-fund manager and campaign contributor. The judge refused, saying public records are public, regardless of how they're stored. The watchdog Better Government Association has won similar court rulings against Emanuel and the state comptroller in recent months.

As for the attorney general's recent decree, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency is considering options. Binding opinions can be challenged in court.

Don Craven, Springfield-based lawyer for the Illinois Press Association, said if the police abide by the opinion, or if a judge upholds it upon legal challenge, "We are a long way toward good news" in ensuring government officials can't hide their work on private phones and computers.
A proposed electric rate cut by an Illinois power company isnt as much as it should be, according to a organization representing the interest of utility users in Illinois.

The Citizens Utility Board, along with an industrial customers group, said Friday that the proposed cut in 2017 by Ameren Illinois should be doubled, accounting for a decrease of about $30 million.

We are glad that Ameren Illinois has proposed a rate cut for its customers, but our expert testimony shows that customers deserve double the decrease, said Utility Board Executive Director David Kolata in a news release. Were going to do everything we can to make sure customers get a fair rate cut.

On Friday, the board asked consumers to visit its website where they can send a message to the Illinois Commerce Commission  the states utility regulator  urging it to approve a larger decrease.

The commission is considering the cut which would decrease delivery rates by $14.4 million. The decrease would take effect on Jan. 1. The delivery rates take up about a third to a half of Ameren electric bills, according to the board, and it is determined by a formula each year due to state law.

Ameren Spokesperson Marcelyn Love released a statement Wednesday saying this is the fourth rate decrease Ameren Illinois has proposed since 2011, totaling more than $128 million.

During that time we have developed a stronger, more technologically-advanced grid that has increased reliability by 17 percent while keeping electric rates below the national average, she said in a news release.

It's ironic that CUB fails to disclose that they receive millions of dollars each year from utility customers under this legislation that they annually criticize.

Ameren Illinois plans to continue to focus on building a stronger electric grid, supporting our communities and delivering new technology that will help our customers use less energy and save more of their money."

The rates are meant to help pay for high-tech upgrades to the power grid. Amerens proposed decrease means the revenue it is gaining has caught up with the cost of the upgrades, the utility board says.

While the utility board reports that it hopes the decrease is a sign the upgrades are benefiting consumers, the summer, an expert analysis commissioned by the board, and a group called the Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers  representing large manufacturers  showed the rate cut should be larger.

According to the board, Michael Gorman, an expert from Brubaker and Associates, Inc., a Missouri-based consulting firm specializing in utility regulation, pinpointed inflated costs in Amerens proposal and recommended an additional $15.5 million deduction  a total cut of $29.9 million.

The board said Gorman explained Ameren Corp.  Ameren Illinois parent company  uses an affiliated services company to perform the day-to-day administrative tasks for companies with the Ameren name. Ameren Illinois  the electric utility  shares those administrative costs with its sister companies, and requests that a certain port of the costs be included in delivery rates.

For more information, visit www.citizensutilityboard.org.
My current read is a biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright written by the renowned author/historian David McCullough. Though much of the book is technical and beyond the scope of my brains capacity, the fact that two young men dreamed of man flying and dedicated their lives to making it happen is also beyond my brains capacity.

Its much like the researcher who thought, Maybe if I put a modified polio virus into a deadly brain tumor, the virus will destroy the tumor and patients will live. Really? Just what kind of brain imagines that? It worked, though, and today, more patients outlive a glioblastoma because the researcher believed in a dream.

Today, man also soars through the air without thought after the Wright brothers were mocked for the very notion that they could create a flying machine. One such comment came from Simon Newcomb, a Johns Hopkins professor, who described the idea of flight as a myth. The first successful flyer will be the handiwork of a watchmaker, and will carry nothing heavier than an insect, he said.

Newcomb, you were wrong. The Wright brothers were right. On Dec. 17, 1903, after four years of trials, Orville flew the flying machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for 12 seconds over a 120-foot distance. Later that day, Orville flew 175 feet; then Wilbur flew for 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.

According to author McCullough, They had endured violent storms, accidents, one disappointment after another, public indifference or ridicule, and clouds of demon mosquitoes. To get to and from their remote sand dune testing ground, they had made five round trips from Dayton (Ohio)  a total of seven thousand miles by train, all to fly a little more than half a mile. No matter. They had done it.

A little later in the biography, their associate, Charlie Taylor, who managed the bicycle shop in Dayton where Wilbur and Orville made their living wages, said, They were always thinking of the next thing to do; they didnt waste much time worrying about the past.

The Wright brothers were right. Have you ever gotten stuck in the past? Have you ever lost the momentum to take a step forward because you are rooted to the pain, disappointment or disillusionment of life experiences? Its not a healthy place to be. I know because I let myself get stuck for 18 years.

Yes. 18 years. As I look back now, I realize how much joy and love I wasted because I could not see beyond the distress and aching pain of unfulfilled expectations. There were wonderful people in my life who lovingly encouraged me to move forward. I heard, but I did not listen. I rooted my souls feet to the solid ground of a crushing ache and stood firmly resolved not to move forward.

Life was not fair, and I set out to prove it by indulging every negative word, experience and action. We all have to learn that life is not fair. Things that are beyond our control happen. People disappoint. Experiences anger us. Life treats us unkindly. I hurt others, I know, but the person I hurt the most was myself. I regret those lost years. I was stubborn, self-righteous and angry.

If youre there, I hope youll make every effort to think about what you need to do next to move out of that pit. Read again what Charlie Taylor said about the Wright brothers.   they didnt waste much time worrying about the past.

The Wright brothers were right. If youre thinking about the next thing to do, you simply dont have time to waste in the past.
Ross and Louise Jamison lived next door to us when we moved to Easley. They were an older couple (as people are old to a 5- and 8-year-old) with no children, and they welcomed my younger brother and me into their lives.

One of my fondest memories of time spent with them was Sunday evenings. Ross and Louise had color television. We did not. When The Wonderful World of Disney was broadcast, my brother and I were perched in front of the television waiting for the living color as they called it back then!

Im reminded today of The Wizard of Oz broadcast, especially the scene in which Dorothy clicks her ruby red shoes together and repeats, Theres no place like home to return to her aunts and uncles farmhouse in Kansas.

Our daughter became a Charleston girl when she moved there in 2004 after finishing college. She spent six years there working, attending medical school, making friends, enjoying all the fine dining options and spending time at the beach. Charleston became her home.

She left two years ago after graduating from the Medical University of South Carolina, moving to Nashville, Tennesse to complete a three-year residency in pediatrics. She enjoys Nashville and has made many special friends. She has flourished in her training with mentors nurturing her along the way. But, as Dorothy repeats, there is no place like home.

With her ultimate career goal becoming a pediatric cardiologist, our daughter had to apply for a fellowship for four more years of specific training. She interviewed at eight hospitals with pediatric cardiology fellowships from Cincinnati to Philadelphia to Birmingham, Charleston and others. Like the residency process, she had to enter into a computer program her choices for fellowship; likewise, the hospitals had to rank her as a candidate. The ideal situation occurs when the candidate and the hospital choices match.

Such was the case on Wednesday when she logged in to view her results. Her hope was Charleston, primarily because it has a superb fellowship program and because theres no place like home. At 11 a.m. precisely, the news appeared on the screen. She and MUSC had chosen each other  they matched!

Later in the day, she received a telephone call from one of the physicians on the interview committee welcoming her to the program. Out of 80 applicants, she and two other physicians will join the pediatric cardiology program as fellows. Though it will be yet another year before she returns to Charleston, shell have time to buy her ruby red slippers and arrive home in style!

We are all thrilled that she will be returning to South Carolina, closer to most of her family. More than anything else, however, we are encouraged that her chosen career is taking her to an Oz of sorts, where she will train with superb cardiologists in the latest techniques and procedures that enable children to live and thrive after being diagnosed with heart ailments. Her life in Charleston will be busy and intense, and she will face many challenges, but she will be home.

Click your heels together, Dr. Daughter, and know that we are looking forward to welcoming you back to South Carolina. After all, theres no place like home!
Dr. W. Franklin Evans says he realized the challenges of turning around South Carolina State University were bigger than the work of any one man.

As interim leader for 16 months at S.C. State, Evans presided over a critical time in the history of the states only publicly supported historically black university.

The challenges were many in working with a specially appointed board to set S.C. State on a course that removed the threat of closure. A balanced budget, enrollment increase and removal of probation by the accrediting Southern Association of Colleges and Schools were immediate and major objectives.

Clark and the board made difficult decisions in closing facilities, cutting programs and reducing personnel. And the university moved into the black fiscally as enrollment showed increases.

That led to a groundswell of support for Evans to become the permanent SCSU leader, so much so that when the board decided in June to name one of its own as president, trustees faced a backlash of criticism.

Whether scripted or not, the explanation from board leadership and Evans himself was that the decision was best for him and the university.

Board Chairman Charlie Way thanked Evans for his service and said he free to pursue his professional goals.

Evans thanked the board for the opportunity to serve as interim leader and said he was prepared to return to the academic side of higher education at S.C. State.

That was not to be, as Evans record of success at S.C. State was bound to have other institutions looking at him as a potential leader. The call came quickly.

In late July, Voorhees College in Denmark announced Evans was the choice to succeed Dr. Cleveland Sellers as president.

This is more than a story of alls well that ends well. Evans has stated he wants to guide a school that is stable and prosperous. He has that opportunity at Voorhees  but there is work to be done.

Just as he faced key challenges at SCSU, they await him at Voorhees. An enrollment increase is the first order of business, as the private Episcopal-affiliated HBCU has seen its student population slip to 400 from 700 in 2010.

Sellers and Voorhees trustees believe Evans is the right leader at the right time to bring enrollment back to needed levels.

I have passed the torch to the very capable Dr. Evans, Sellers said. The circle is complete. I graduated from then-Voorhees High School in 1962, and now I am retiring from Voorhees College. We have accomplished many things during my tenure, including building a new living-learning facility. I am confident that Dr. Evans will leave his mark as well.

Evans will also be prioritizing fundraising through the increased involvement and support of alumni. He was successful in increasing such support at SCSU and should be able to use his experience to do the same for Voorhees.

Evans said of his new position: Voorhees College is on the move. Weve already left the station. Get your ticket  get on board. Were moving upward and onward.

Looking to the future of higher education in The T&D Region, we join in thanking Dr. Evans for his work at S.C. State during a critical time. And we are happy to see that he will keep his talents here at home by working to make Voorhees College all it can be.
To highlight the importance of immunizations for people of all ages -- and make sure children are protected with all the vaccines they need as they go back to school -- the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is joining with partners nationwide in recognizing August as National Immunization Awareness Month.

"Getting children all of the required and recommended vaccines is one of the most important things parents can do to protect their children from serious diseases," said Dr. Teresa Foo, DHEC immunization medical consultant.

"If you haven't done so already, now is the time to check with your child's doctor to find out what vaccines your child needs, Foo said.

DHEC says when children are not vaccinated, they are at increased risk for diseases and can also spread diseases to others in their classrooms and community - including babies who are too young to be fully vaccinated and people with weakened immune systems due to cancer or other health conditions.

In South Carolina, children are required to have certain vaccinations in order to attend school. Talk to your child's doctor to find out which vaccines are recommended for them before going back to school.

S.C. parents can learn about the vaccines required for school and day care at www.scdhec.gov/Health/Vaccinations/VaccinesNeededforSchoolAdmission.

For more information about vaccines visit www.cdc.gov/vaccines/ or www.scdhec.gov/health/vaccinations.
Title: A Fatal Romance

Author: June Shaw

Publisher: Lyrical Underground

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Format: Ecopy

Meet the Author

June Shaw lives along a lazy bayou in south Louisiana. She became a young widow with five children, completed a college degree, and started teaching junior high students. Then her deferred dream of becoming a writer took hold.

Between grading papers and being involved in her growing children's activities, she sold stories and learned to write plays. She won a playwriting contest in Boston, and two of her short plays were produced Off-Off Broadway. A short screenplay she wrote aired on a channel for the arts in New Orleans.

She eventually worked on novels, became a grandmother, and then sold RELATIVE DANGER, which received excellent reviews. Deadly Ink nominated it for their new David award for Best Mystery of the Year. Harlequin reprinted it, and Books in Motion bought audio rights.

June_ShawKILLER COUSINS was June's second book in the series that features Cealie Gunther, a spunky young grandma with attitude, and her hunky sometimes-ex lover that she tries to avoid so she can rediscover herself. But he opens Cajun restaurants in all the places she travels, and she is so bad at avoiding tempting dishes and men.

DEADLY REUNION, the third book in her series, takes you aboard a cruise ship in Alaska for a class reunion you wont want to miss!

June represented Louisiana on the board of the southwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America for two years.

When June is not writing, she enjoys reading, swimming, fishing, dancing, traveling, meeting new people, and being with her friends and large family.

Find out more at http://www.juneshaw.com
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By Azertac





Nakhchivan region has great potential. It has ancient history and modern infrastructure, said Chinese ambassador to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua during his visit to Nakhchivan. Despite various difficulties the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic has constantly developed is economy and protected its stability, said the ambassador, adding that this was his first visit to Nakhchivan.





The main purpose of my visit here is to get better acquainted with the Autonomous Republic. Nakhchivan is the motherland of Azerbaijani national leader Heydar Aliyev. Apart from being the leader of the Azerbaijani nation, Heydar Aliyev was also a great friend of the Chinese people. I recall very well when Heydar Aliyev made his first visit to China back in 1994 and held a number of fruitful meetings in our country. It was at that time when the foundations of cooperation between the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of Azerbaijan were laid. This is why when I was coming here, I thought that I am also travelling to Heydar Aliyevs motherland, he said.





The Chinese ambassador hailed cooperation between Nakhchivan and China. Jinghua said Chinese companies engaged in the communications sector and automobile production in Nakhchivan. This, according to the ambassador, was indicative of Nakhchivan`s openness for investments. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Peoples Republic of China last year and discussed with the Chinese leadership the issues of bilateral cooperation in a host of fields. So we are trying to help the regions of Azerbaijan, including Nakhchivan build wide relations with China.





Jinghua said that despite his visit was short, only two days, he managed to gather important information about the regions potential. I am confident that this visit will play a crucial role in my further activity, and, in mutual cooperation between Nakhchivan, and Azerbaijan, in general, and the Peoples Republic of China, added Ambassador Jinghua.








By Trend





The Pentagon said Monday it is committed to conducting Manbij operations consistent with commitments made between the U.S. and Turkey, Anadolu reported.

"We have been clear with all elements of this operation that the aim is to defeat Daesh in Manbij and return it to the control and governance of the local population," Pentagon spokesman Adrian Rankine-Galloway told Anadolu Agency.

Galloway said the U.S. is grateful for Turkey's partnership in the fight against Daesh and the aim of the ongoing operations by the U.S.-led Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC) in Manbij is to defeat the militant group and return it to Syrian Arabs.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter congratulated Manbij residents and the SAC for the "significant milestone" in successfully liberating Manbij. Carter said he appreciated the Turkish government for its support for the operation.

"The success in Manbij city will also help reinforce the growing isolation of Raqqa and enable us to achieve the next objective of our campaign in Syria - collapsing ISIL's control over that city," he said in a statement.

Manbij is historically an Arab city and the main group fighting Daesh in the city is the SAC. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- a group Ankara does not recognize as a legitimate Syrian opposition  is fighting alongside the SAC to defeat Daesh in Manbij.

Since operations began in May to liberate Manbij, the U.S. has promised Turkey the PYD would leave the area after the city's liberation.

Manbij lies west of the Euphrates River. Turkey wants PYD to return to east of the Euphrates after Manbij's liberation as the city is Daesh's key lines of communication between the Turkish border and Raqqa, the self-declared capital of the militants.

Asked what the recent efforts were in the city's liberation from Daesh, the Pentagon said the situation was "very fluid" but U.S. partners on the ground were "closing in" of the fight.

"The final positioning of forces is under the command and control of SAC and SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces]. We won't speculate as to a timeline," Rankine-Galloway said in an email.
By Trend

Russia is sincerely seeking to restore full-fledged relations with Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Aug. 16, RIA Novosti reported.

We are sincerely seeking to restore full-fledged relations with friendly Turkey, a country with which unique cooperation and interaction relations have developed over the past years, Putin said at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Sochi, Russia.

The last visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Russia confirmed our mutual intention for a full-fledged work regarding not only restoration, but also development of our bilateral relations, said the Russian president.

He also thanked Nazarbayev for his mediation in repairing the relations between Moscow and Ankara.
Abu Dhabi's government has hired Bain & Co and Landor Associates to advise on the merger of two of the emirate's biggest sovereign funds, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.



In late June, Abu Dhabi announced it would merge Mubadala Development Co and International Petroleum Investment Co and had formed a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahayan to oversee the process.



The combined fund would have assets worth around $135 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on both funds' latest financial statements.



The source, who declined to be named, said both advisers had signed contracts, with Bain, a global management consulting firm, handling the area of business strategy and Landor, a US-based brand consulting firm, serving as branding adviser.



Because the common shareholder is Abu Dhabi and neither fund is publicly traded, it is unlikely that there will be an outside financial adviser for the merger, the source added.



The merger, which Abu Dhabi says will increase the emirate's investment power and revenues, is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. - Reuters
The Emirates Diplomatic Academy, the UAEs international relations training, academic best practice and research platform, has appointed Tom Fletcher, a leading diplomat, as senior adviser to the EDAs director general Bernardino Leon.



Fletcher is a former British Ambassador to Lebanon. An honorary fellow of Oxford University and visiting professor of International Relations at New York University, he is also the author of Naked Diplomacy: Power and Statecraft in the Digital Age.



He also works to promote access to education as strategy director at the Global Business Coalition for Education and chairs the international advisory council of the Creative Industries Federation.



Fletcher recently completed a review of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and is leading a report on the future of the UN.



Fletcher will work with the UAEs diplomats to drive the use of digital and online tools to engage with people and governments around the world. Fletcher believes digital technologies can make a difference in international relations, especially at a time of rapid global change.



Leon said: It is extremely important that in a fast-changing world facing multiple challenges, the UAE remains at the cutting-edge of international relations thinking. Tom Fletcher brings to us an unrivalled wealth of experience and insight, which will be of immense benefit to the UAE government students we are training.



He will also help us develop into a centre of global international relations thought leadership, that reflects the UAEs position as a key trading nation between east and west.



Fletcher will oversee the development and teaching of a new tailored skills course, 21st Century Diplomacy, to ensure that the UAE is at the forefront of efforts to approach global issues in an open-mined and innovative way that delivers results.



The course will focus on how to effectively use communications and new technology in international outreach, positioning and negotiations and how best to build momentum and emotional connections with people to drive change.



Fletcher will also create a new Diplomatic Innovation Hub at the Emirates Diplomatic Academys HQ in Abu Dhabi. It will aim to develop fresh thinking on how diplomacy can harness digital technology and innovation to better fulfill it's vital role.



The Emirates Diplomatic Academy supports the UAE government and its departments, including the UAE missions abroad, by training employees and diplomats on relationship building and offering strategic advice on key issues and trends. - TradeArabia News Service
Dubai-based global marine terminal operator DP World will study the use of a Hyperloop tube system to move containers from ports, under an agreement signed today.



DP World has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US-based Hyperloop One to conduct feasibility studies that analyse the value of using Hyperloop systems in the UAE.



The initial focus in Phase 1 will be on moving containers from ships docked at DP Worlds flagship Jebel Ali Port via the Hyperloop tube to a new inland container depot in Dubai, said a statement from the company.



The initial study will focus on efficient handling of containers, costs, benefits, demand and volume patterns of moving cargo using the new technology, it said.



DP World group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said: We continually strive to think ahead and foresee change to create the most efficient, safe and profitable trade solutions.



With this collaboration, were leading innovation in our industry once again and by testing the Hyperloop technology at Jebel Ali for cargo use, we are taking a first step in exploring new ways of enabling trade and underlining Dubais commitment to innovation, he said.



The world is changing at a pace never seen before in our history and we intend to be part of a new revolution in transport, connecting markets and economies around the world, he added.



This is an example of leading innovation in our industry and pushing the boundaries in the delivery of goods. The potential to use these kind of technologies in emerging markets outside the UAE such as Africa and Asia with large land mass is significant, Bin Sulayem concluded.



Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop One, said: We are pleased to extend our global footprint into the Middle East with the signing of the deal with the UAE and DP World.



This partnership allows us to embrace the innovation of the UAE and to utilise the creativity of DP World, while expanding the variety of use cases for Hyperloop, he said.



The UAE has taken a leadership role in pushing global transportation solutions to the forefront and we believe that it is the perfect market for Hyperloop, he added.  TradeArabia News Service


Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of the world's leading aluminium smelters, recently hosted visits from the Riffa Social Centre and Royal Academy of Police, as part of its community development programme.



A number of youth in the age group 12-17 from the Royal Academy of Police visited the company in five different batches, said a statement from Alba.



They were given a tour of the smelter and briefed about its operations and its training and development programmes as well as career opportunities within the aluminium industry, it said.



Riffa Social Centres group comprised youth members who were also given a tour of the smelter and presentations about its various safety, health and environment programmes, including the community-based initiatives of the company, it added.



Albas acting director for administration Waleed Tamimi, said: As one of the leading national companies in Bahrain, we are committed to partnering with various community-based organisations who play an important role in promoting the exchange of knowledge and continued development of the youth.



Through these visits we hope to educate them about our companys role in Bahrains economic development and the benefits we bring to the society, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service


File photo shows Seoungju residents chant slogans during a protest against the government's decision on deploying a US THAAD anti-missile defense unit in Seongju, in Seoul, South Korea, July 21, 2016. The banner reads "Desperately oppose deploying THAAD". [Photo/Agencies]

While dividing public opinion in the Republic of Korea and provoking strong opposition from neighboring countries, including China, the recent decision by the ROK to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on its soil has also antagonized the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Aside from making fierce objections to the move, the DPRK has launched medium and short-term missiles in response to the announcement. Pyongyang is likely to further escalate its military reactions to the deployment of the United States' THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in the ROK, which will further worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The reason openly cited for the deployment of THAAD in the ROK is to defend against the threats from the DPRK. However, such a pretext has essentially exposed the US' rigid policy toward regional security pressures and its passive approach to resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

It is also a reflection of the US' pursuit of so-called absolute security, even if that means sacrificing the interests of its allies.

Looking at the development of the Korean nuclear issue indicates that the DPRK's nuclear and missile program is first for self-protection and then for use as a bargaining chip with the US. Pyongyang expects to end the decades-long Cold War hostility by persuading Washington to engage in talks. However, the US administration of President Barack Obama has shown no willingness to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue through talks and has instead chosen to exert increasing pressure on Pyongyang.

Aside from imposing sanctions on the DPRK via the United Nations, the Obama administration has also chosen to deepen the US' military cooperation with its Northeast Asian allies, increasing the number of joint drills and accelerating its military deployment in the region. In so doing, the US appears to be actively responding to the "security concerns" from its allies, and is presenting the image of a "responsible superpower" to audiences at home and abroad.

Washington also wants to utilize THAAD deployment to bind the ROK more tightly to the US chariot, and further advance its established "pivot to Asia-Pacific" strategy through stationing its advanced missile-intercepting system on the doorstep of China and Russia.

Deploying THAAD in the ROK will increase rather than ease the complex security issues the ROK faces. It threatens the ROK with more direct military strikes from the DPRK as a retaliatory measure. The deployment will also inevitably make the much weaker DPRK feel a more immediate security threat and then motivate it to develop more conventional and even nuclear weapons to ensure its security. Compared with the US, the ROK is an easier target for military vengeance from the DPRK.

Its deployment of THAAD will also likely lead to political instability within the ROK. The anti-missile system is mainly for the security of US military bases in the ROK, and Seoul will not be under its protective umbrella. The green light the ROK has given to the system is more out of its consideration for a closer alliance with the US. However, the move has sparked objections from many in the ROK.

The decision has also damaged the ROK's relations with neighboring countries. The anti-missile system obviously goes beyond ROK's normal self-defense needs and has thus inevitably caused grave security concerns and strong opposition from neighboring countries such as China and Russia. So, it should come as no surprise if they decide to take corresponding countermeasures.

The standoff between the US and the DPRK is the core issue on the Korean Peninsula. Its settlement will ease ongoing tensions on the peninsula and greatly improve the security situation in Northeast Asia. Only talks can break the stalemate. The vicious circle resulting from escalated military moves and countermeasures will only result in escalated military tensions.

The US should adjust its policies toward the DPRK and create a conciliatory environment for talks instead of further stoking regional tensions by escalating its military confrontation. The deployment of THAAD in the ROK will not only compromise the security of the ROK, it will also sabotage regional security, global strategic stability, and finally its own long-term strategic interests.

The author is an associate research fellow with the Institute of Strategic Studies at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army.
Oil prices edged away from five-week highs on Tuesday, with traders cashing in on a 16-per cent rally since early August that has largely been fuelled by talk of producers taking action to prop up the market.



International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $48.14 per barrel at 8.55 p.m. ET, down 21 cents from their previous close. Despite the dip, prices remained over 15 per cent higher than the monthly $41.51 per barrel low from Aug. 2.



US West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $45.56 a barrel, down 18 cents from its previous close, but still over 16 per cent above its $39.19 monthly low from Aug. 3.



Traders said the price falls were the result of cashing in following more than two weeks of rallying prices.



The previous gains had been driven by producer talk of reining in ballooning oversupply.



"Crude oil rose to a four-week high as speculation continued to mount that Opec would discuss a potential cap on production at an upcoming meeting between the members of the group. Russia joined in, saying it was open to such talks as well," ANZ bank said.



Led by top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), has re-launched a debate about oil producers potentially capping soaring output in an effort to reduce a global overhang in production and storage of crude oil and refined fuel products.



Analysts said that concerns over oil production in Venezuela were also impacting markets.



"News of an imminent collapse in oil output from Venezuela also supported prices," ANZ said.



Venezuela, which holds the world's largest crude oil reserves, is on track to suffer its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it struggles with an economic and political crisis and years of underinvestment and mismanagement.



In the 12 months to June, Venezuela's crude output fell 9 per cent to 2.36 million barrels per day (bpd), and internal trade and supply data seen by Reuters show that state-controlled oil firm PDVSA's crude exports, which account for 94 per cent of the country's hard currency income, fell to 1.19 million bpd in July, excluding independent sales made by its joint ventures.- Reuters
Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he would work closely with Nato allies to defeat Islamic State militants if he wins the White House, reversing an earlier threat that the United States might not meet its obligations to the Western military alliance.



In a policy speech, Trump said he would wage a multi-front "military, cyber and financial" war against Islamic State, although it was not clear how this would differ from the Obama administration's fight with the jihadist group.



"We will also work closely with Nato on this new mission," said Trump, whose remarks about the defense organization earlier this summer drew heavy criticism from allies and even some of his fellow Republicans.



Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered Nato obsolete. He was apparently referring to reports the alliance is moving toward creating a new intelligence post in a bid to improve information sharing.



While Trump appeared to claim credit for prodding Nato to focus more on the threat of terrorism, the 28-nation alliance has been grappling with the issue for more than a decade. Nato invoked Article 5, its collective self-defense mechanism, for the first time in its history to offer support to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.



Trump called for shutting down access to the Internet and social media for those who are aligned with the Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq, but said he did not want to detail military strategy because it would tip off potential foes.



"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we've faced at every age and before," Trump said, blaming his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama for aiding the rise of Islamic State.



In a speech in the swing state of Ohio, Trump also said that in implementing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the country, he would institute "extreme vetting" and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States.



As president, he said, he would ask the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat.



Reading from a teleprompter, he said Clinton does not have the judgment and character to lead the country.



"Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face," he said.



Trump, a wealthy New York businessman whose volatile campaign has alienated some in the Republican establishment, faced a fresh rebuke on Monday as he falls behind Clinton in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.



The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial he should fix his campaign within weeks or step down. Echoing growing alarm about Trump's candidacy among many leading Republicans, the newspaper said Trump had failed to establish a competent campaign operation.



'STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE'



"If they can't get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races," the newspaper said.



Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5 this year, marks the end of U.S. summer vacations and traditionally launches the final phase of the long U.S. election season.



"As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president - or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence," it said, referring to the Indiana governor, who is Trump's vice presidential running mate.



Adding to Trump's woes this week was the news, first reported by The New York Times, that the name of his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was on secret ledgers showing cash payments designated to him of more than $12 million from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia.



Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. "I have never received a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as falsely 'reported' by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia," he said.



Artem Sytnik, the head of Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau, confirmed in a briefing with reporters that Manafort's name appeared on a ledger and that more than $12 million had been allocated as an expenditure, referencing Manafort.



But Sytnik said that the presence of Manafort's name "does not mean that he definitely received this money."



The Clinton campaign said the news was evidence of "more troubling connections between Donald Trump's team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine."



Trump has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month he invited Russian hackers to find "missing" emails from Clinton's time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that comment as sarcasm.



The current RealClearPolitics average of national opinion polls puts Clinton 6.8 points ahead of Trump, at 47.8 percent to Trump's 41 percent. Polls also show Trump trailing in states such as Pennsylvania that are likely to be pivotal in the election.  Reuters
A New York man was charged on Monday with second-degree murder in the deaths of a New York Muslim imam and his assistant, who were gunned down at the weekend, a police spokesman said.



The charges against Oscar Morel, 35, of Brooklyn, came just hours after hundreds of mourners gathered for the outdoor funeral of the two men. The killings in the borough of Queens had shocked the neighborhood's Bangladeshi community.



Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, the police spokesman said.



He also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The spokesman did not disclose any possible motive for the shooting.



Morel had been questioned by police following his arrest on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday, the day of the shootings.



Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head at close range after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Queens' Ozone Park section.



Police told a briefing before the charges were announced that a suspect being questioned was an Hispanic man from Brooklyn.



Police said there was still no known connection between the man being questioned and the murder victims.



"We believe because of the evidence we have acquired thus far that ... this is the individual," New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said when asked if he could reassure the rattled community.



Speaker after speaker at the funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.



"We want justice," Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque, shouted to the crowd in the service's opening speech.



"We want justice," responded the mourners, most of them men dressed in Islamic garb.



Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighbourhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.



Police had said earlier that there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.



Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the brazen daylight killings and said such a crime was rare in the normally quiet neighbourhood.  Reuters
Oil prices reached their highest levels in more than five weeks on Tuesday as the market rode optimism over potential producer action to prop up the market.



Oil production losses in Nigeria, where more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) was missing due to militant attacks and pipeline problems, were also helping to support prices in the Atlantic Basin.



Brent crude futures hit a high of $48.74 per barrel, their highest since July 7, in morning trade. They were trading at $48.59 per barrel at 1042 GMT, up 24 cents from their last close, and around 17 percent higher than the $41.51 low for the month on Aug. 2.



U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude reached $46.16 per barrel, their highest since July 15, before easing to $45.98, up 24 cents from the previous close. The level was roughly 17 percent above its $39.19 monthly low from Aug. 3.



While there were early losses as some investors cashed in during Asian hours, the market has held its roughly 16 percent rally since early August.



Much of the gains have been attributed to investor optimism that oil producers will take action to rein in ballooning oversupply. The hopes stemmed from comments by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said his country would work with others to stabilise oil markets.



But a slew of analysts are sceptical of any such deal, and even Nigerian Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu expressed doubts.



"Optimism on my part is quite sparse, but I believe engagement with the 70 percent oil producers might have an impact," Kachikwu wrote on his Twitter account.



Still oil production losses in Nigeria, which has been beset by escalating militant attacks in the oil rich Niger Delta region this year, as well as lower output in Venezuela, were backing higher markets.



"August and September, from a fundamental perspective, look strong," said Dominic Haywood of Energy Aspects, citing robust refinery runs, production losses and subdued oil production in the United States.



Venezuela, which holds the world's largest crude oil reserves, is on track for its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it struggles with an economic and political crisis and years of under investment and mismanagement.



In the 12 months to June, Venezuela's crude output fell 9 percent to 2.36 million barrels per day (bpd). Trade data seen by Reuters show that state-controlled oil firm PDVSA's crude exports, which account for 94 percent of the country's hard currency income, fell to 1.19 million bpd in July, excluding independent sales made by its joint ventures.  Reuters
Russia used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants for the first time on Tuesday, widening its air campaign in Syria and deepening its involvement in the Middle East.



In a move underscoring Moscow's increasingly close ties with Tehran, long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Iran's Hamadan air base to strike a range of targets in Syria.



It was the first time Russia has used the territory of another nation, apart from Syria itself, to launch such strikes since the Kremlin launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in September last year.



It was also thought to be the first time that Iran has allowed a foreign power to use its territory for military operations since the 1979 Islamic revolution.



The Iranian deployment will boost Russia's image as a central player in the Middle East and allow the Russian air force to cut flight times and increase bombing payloads.



The head of Iran's National Security Council was quoted by state news agency Irna as saying Tehran and Moscow were now sharing facilities to fight against terrorism, calling their cooperation strategic.



Both countries back Assad, and Russia, after a delay, has supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defence system, evidence of a growing partnership between the pair that has helped turn the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing US influence in the Middle East.



Relations between Tehran and Moscow have grown warmer since Iran reached agreement last year with global powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of UN, EU and US financial sanctions.



President Vladimir Putin visited in November and the two countries regularly discuss military planning for Syria, where Iran has provided ground forces that work with local allies while Russia provides air power.



TARGET: ALEPPO



The Russian Defence Ministry said its bombers had taken off on Tuesday from the Hamadan air base in north-west Iran. To reach Syria, they would have had to use the air space of another neighbouring country, probably Iraq.



The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State as well as militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces. It said its Iranian-based bombers had been escorted by fighter jets based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province.



"As a result of the strikes five large arms depots were destroyed ... a militant training camp ... three command and control points ... and a significant number of militants," the ministry said in a statement.



The destroyed facilities had all been used to support militants in the Aleppo area, it said, where battle for control of the divided city, which had some 2 million people before the war, has intensified in recent weeks.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said heavy air strikes on Tuesday had hit many targets in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, killing dozens.



Strikes in the Tariq Al-Bab and Al-Sakhour districts of northeast Aleppo had killed around 20 people, while air raids in a corridor rebels opened this month into opposition-held eastern parts of the city had killed another nine, the observatory said.



The Russian Defence Ministry says it takes great care to avoid civilian casualties in its air strikes.



Zakaria Malahifi, political officer of an Aleppo-based rebel group, Fastaqim, said he could not confirm if the newly deployed Russian bombers were in use, but said air strikes on Aleppo had intensified in recent days.



"It is much heavier," he told Reuters. "There is no weapon they have not dropped on Aleppo - cluster bombs, phosphorus bombs, and so on."



Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, is divided into rebel and government-held zones. The government aims to capture full control of it, which would be its biggest victory of the five year conflict.



Hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in rebel areas, facing potential siege if the government closes off the corridor linking it with the outside.



Russian media reported on Tuesday that Russia had also requested and received permission to use Iran and Iraq as a route to fire cruise missiles from its Caspian Sea fleet into Syria, as it has done in the past.



Russia has built up its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and the Caspian as part of what it says are planned military exercises.



Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier on Tuesday broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and a Russian military transport plane inside Iran.



The channel said the Iranian deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent. The Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which before Tuesday had conducted strikes on Syria from their home bases in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's own air base inside Syria, Russian media reported. - Reuters
Hyundai Motor has unveiled its first hints about the New Generation i30, which will celebrate its world premiere on September 7 before making its debut at Paris Motor Show next month.



Peter Schreyer, president and chief design officer of Hyundai Motor Group, said: Its a car for everybody - for the design of the New Generation Hyundai i30, we didnt just look at one customer, we focused on a wide range of different people. The design is an evolution of Hyundai Motors design language with natural flowing lines, refined surfaces and a sculpted body to create a timeless appearance. With the New Generation i30, we are introducing our further developed grille: the Cascading grille.



Designed, developed, and tested in Europe, the New Generation i30 offers highest value, an efficient and dynamic powertrain line-up, state-of-the-art safety and connectivity to meet European and global customers needs, a statement said.



Mike Song, head of Africa and Middle East Operations for Hyundai, said: This evolution of the Hyundai i30 establishes new benchmarks for design and technology in a highly competitive market segment, and is the next step forward in what we believe the Hyundai name should represent.- TradeArabia News Service
The second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, UAE which holds a capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), will be operational by April 2017, according to top officials.



The parks ongoing projects support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to provide 7 per cent of Dubais total power output from clean energy sources by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030, and 75 per cent by 2050.



Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), recently visited the Park, in Seih Al-Dahal, Dubai, and followed up with the implementation process to ensure that projects are completed as per their expected date.



Al Tayer was briefed by officials from Shuaa Energy 1, about the progress made in construction. Dewa has set a new world record by obtaining the lowest price globally, at $0.056 (5.6 cents) per kilowatt (kW), for the second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The project is worth Dh1.2 billion ($326 million).



Last June, Dewa announced the Masdar-led consortium as the selected bidder for the 800 MW third phase park, which will be constructed based on the IPP model, to be operational by 2020. The consortium bid a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), of USD $2.99 cents per kW, a new world record.



Al Tayer also visited the water desalination unit at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to check its progress. The desalination plant is powered by a photovoltaic (PV) array, and uses reverse osmosis technology to produce 50 cu m of drinking water a day. The project supports Dewas R&D efforts, to provide high-quality drinking water.



Dewa cooperates with other international organisations to conduct research on water desalination using solar energy. The project also supports Dewa and the UAE Water Foundation (Suqia)s efforts to supply clean drinking water, for drought affected countries.



Al Tayer also followed up with the progress made on the Innovation Centre, which will act as a museum, exhibition and convention centre for solar and renewable energy.



The proposed 4,000-sq-m building will have four floors and be ready by 2017. Al Tayer was briefed about the latest developments on the main Dh275 million 400/132kV substation, which has a conversion capacity of 1,515 megavolt amperes (MVA).



Swiss company ABB was the main contractor on the 400 kV substation, which is 88 per cent complete and is expected to be ready next month in September 2016. Representatives from ABB highlighted the on-site construction works at the substation, which is divided into four sections. The first includes a 400kV substation with 11 gas-insulated switchgears (GIS). The second section converts from 400 kV to 132kV with a conversion capacity of 1,515 MVA.



It includes three 400/132 kV interconnecting transformers. The third section has 21 GIS and the fourth section houses the control and safety facilities. ABB is cooperating with a number of companies, including Energo and Comodor, to finish the project by next month.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is operated and managed by Dewa and will be the largest single-site solar park in the world. The 13MW first phase became operational in October 2013, while the 200MW second phase will be operational in April 2017. It will produce 1,000MW by 2020 and 5,000MW by 2030. When completed, the project will achieve a reduction of approximately 6.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually.  TradeArabia News Service
British oilfield services company Petrofac and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas are likely to win contracts to build projects for state oil giant Saudi Aramco's Uthmaniyah and Ras Tanura plants, industry sources said.



Tecnicas Reunidas is the lowest bidder to build units for a cleaner fuels project at Ras Tanura refinery, originally estimated to cost more than $2 billion, aimed at removing sulphur from refined oil products, the source said.



The project is part of a drive by the kingdom to meet stricter environmental standards in export markets.



Petrofac is the front-runner to build a gas treatment facility at Uthmaniyah gas plant, expected to cost around $600 million, the sources said.



Petrofac declined to comment while Tecnicas Reunidas and Saudi Aramco did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.



Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is struggling to keep up with domestic demand for gas, used in a number of sectors such as petrochemicals that are key to diversify the economy.



The aim of the Uthmaniyah project is to recover ethane as well as propane and other natural gas liquids (NGL) from 1.4 billion standard cu ft per day (scfd) of sales gas.



Uthmaniyah is one of the operating areas of Ghawar, the world's largest onshore oilfield. The gas plant has a processing capacity of 2.5 billion scfd.



Saudi Arabia is building a number of gas plants to meet rising domestic gas demand. It has said its Fadhili, Midyan, and Wasit gas plants will add more than 5 billion scfd of non-associated gas processing capacity.  Reuters
Oil prices could set new highs for 2016 over the next four to six weeks if Brent crosses the $50-a-barrel threshold and US crude pierces the $48 mark, technical analysts said.

During the session, both benchmarks hit highs last seen in July, with Brent coming within $5 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate less than $6 from this year's peaks.

Over the past three sessions, Brent gained 14 per cent and WTI around 10 per cent, on speculation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could agree at a meeting in Algeria next month to an oil price support pact with non-Opec countries such as Russia.

While that fundamental news was the main driver of the rally, analysts also noted the emergence of strong technical trends that could keep the momentum going.

"In under two weeks, we've retraced over 60 per cent from Brent's last low and around 50 per cent on WTI," said Matthew Sferro, technical analyst at New York's Informa Global Markets. "The tone from here is certainly bullish despite whatever resistance comes."

"So it could be another two weeks before we set new peaks for the year. But to be more conservative, I would say four to six weeks, provided the current momentum holds."

In early August, oil prices fell into bear market territory, with Brent and WTI losing about 20 per cent each from the year's peaks on fears of a supply glut.

Sferro said Brent must meet his 76.4 per cent Fibonacci retracement target of $50.18 to attempt a test of the 2016 high of $52.86 it set on June 9. Brent reached $48.54 in the post-settlement trade.

For WTI, Sferro's 76.4 per cent Fibonacci target is at $48.72. WTI hit a 2016 peak of $51.67 on June 9 and reached $45.93 in the post-settlement trade.

Brian LaRose, technical analyst with ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey, said his resistance target for Brent was $48.75, while for WTI, it was at just under $46.

"Right now, I'm still treating this as a bear market correction," La Rose said.

"But if we don't reverse this trend in the next 24 hours, then I think we are definitely on target to test the highs we put in place earlier this year." -- Reuters
Ikea Saudi Arabia and Memac Ogilvy together swept three gold and one silver award at the Cannes Lions International festival of creativity.



"Winning these prestigious awards is not only an achievement for our company, but also to all those who played an instrumental role in helping us achieve this global recognition said Saud Al Sulaiman, CEO of Ikea - Saudi Arabia. These achievements are a true testament of the competence and creativity of our partners at Memac Ogilvy, and a clear indication of their ability to compete and win on a global level. We are truly proud of these achievements".



The campaign was centered on Ikeas product affordability, and was communicated through displaying several pictures of Ikea products on affordable items you buy on a daily basis. One of the advertisements created had a picture of multiple cans of refreshment drinks with an Ikea lamp imprinted on them to showcase the price of these cans is equivalent to that of an Ikea lamp. Channels for the campaign included print and outdoor (the categories they won the award for), and the message was clear and simple, Ikea products are really that affordable!



Karim Zarka, managing director of Memac Ogilvy, said: The awards bestowed on us today are a result of the teams utmost dedication to maintaining the highest level of service and creativity which is synonymous with Memac Ogilvy today. We are very proud to have been able to achieve these prestigious awards in collaboration with Ikea Saudi Arabia, making them the first ever gold wins for a Saudi based client, and that is not a coincidence but rather a direct result of the hard work and dedication by all team members.



It is worth mentioning that these awards mark the first wins for Ikea Saudi Arabia at the Cannes Lions International festival of creativity, and that by itself is a clear indication of the status the brand has reached in the market, and the creative standards by which Ikea Saudi Arabia and Memac Ogilvy team work by. - TradeArabia News Service
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, will expand its services to Italy with a daily flight to Venice Marco Polo Airport.



The new service will begin from October 30 and be served by an Airbus A319, offering 16 seats in Business and 90 in Economy. Together with Alitalia, its codeshare and equity partner, Etihad Airways will offer 35 weekly flights in and out of Italy, including double daily services to Rome and Milan.



Etihads Venice flight will offer convenient travel times for guests travelling between the UAE and the Italian city. In addition, the new service will offer seamless connections through Abu Dhabis hub to the popular Australia routes of Sydney and Melbourne, as well as key destinations in the GCC, Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia.



Venice, renowned for its picturesque bridges and canals, is one of the worlds most popular tourist destinations, while Italy is the worlds fifth most visited country - with over 50 million international arrivals in 2015, according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).



Etihad Airways started flights to Milan in 2007 before Rome was added to the network in 2014, contributing to a strong trade relationship between the UAE and Italy. Bilateral trade was valued at $6.14 billion in 2015 and the UAE Ministry of Economy has registered more than 90 Italian companies.



Kevin Knight, Etihad Airways chief strategy and planning officer, said: Launching our service to Venice further supports a very popular passenger route between Italy, our Abu Dhabi hub and onwards throughout Etihad Airways growing network, as far afield as Australia. Together with our codeshare and equity partner Alitalia, we are also strengthening the significant trade relationship between Italy and the UAE.



Alitalia currently operates the Venice to Abu Dhabi route in code share with Etihad Airways and has decided to redeploy its aircraft on its international network from the 2016 winter schedule. Alitalia will codeshare on the new Etihad flight, maintaining access to Abu Dhabi and Etihad Airways' global network for its Venice-based customers. - TradeArabia News Service
Dubai-based Emirates airline has made several key management movements across its commercial operations team in the Middle East.



The rotations will help further strengthen the airlines commercial footing across the region and help position it in its next stage of development.



The new appointments will see five commercial managers take on new leadership roles in the region.



Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president Commercial Operations, Centre said: Market dynamics are constantly evolving in each of our destinations in the Middle East, each with its unique challenges and opportunities. These appointments, and the combined commercial expertise and industry knowledge our UAE Nationals brings to each role, will be central to meeting our challenges, and advancing new business development opportunities for the future.



The new changes to the regions management team will include:



 Omar Al Banna, new country manager - Kuwait. Al Banna joined Emirates in 2006 as part of the UAE National Commercial Operations Management Trainee Programme. He most recently held the corporate sales manager role at Emirates UAE Sales, and has also held area manager roles in Ethiopia, Tunis, and Jordan.



 Mohammed Al Nahari Al Hashemi, new corporate sales manager role at Emirates UAE Sales. Al Hashemi has worked for Emirates for the last 12 years. He has previously held country manager roles in Kuwait, Syria and Indonesia, as well as a sales manager role in India.



 Tariq Almutawa, new country manager - Qatar. Almutawa has been with Emirates since 2012 and previously held the role of country manager in Bahrain. He has also held commercial manager roles in India and Dubai.



 Omar Alhemeiri, currently commercial support manager, has been appointed as manager - Bahrain. Alhemeiri previously held the country manager role in Oman and also held commercial support roles in both Uganda and Dubai.



 Saeed Bin Hafez, currently manager - Qatar, has been appointed as manager - Oman. - TradeArabia News Service


The Egyptian Tourism Authority has announced its sponsorship of the Talking about our homelands initiative, which has been launched by the Council of Arab Youth Integrated Development under the auspices of the Arab League, in Cairo.



The initiative, which targets Arab youth, is also sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism.



As part of the move, youngsters were invited to participate and showcase their history and national symbols of their countries through various mediums of expression, portraying positive images about their home countries, and supporting Arab tourism by initiating an effective dialogue between Arab youth.



The initiative is meant to complement the Youth Council programmes, which aims to fight intellectual extremism.



Commenting on the launch, Samy Mahmoud, chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, said: "Choosing Egypt to launch this great initiative is a source of pride for us as Egyptians. Egypt has always been the cradle of history in the region, so it is an ideal platform to revive and support such initiatives dealing with general youth issues and to support the national tourism in particular.



Within this initiative we will witness the launch of another section called the Arab youth for the love of Egypt", which aims to promote tourism and encourage Arab youth to visit Egypt and spend their holidays there. This is done by introducing them to the most important tourist and archaeological attractions that suit their interests.



Under the Talking about our homelands programme, 150 young Arab participants will go on a journey to visit five Egyptian governorates that are renowned for their history and culture, which will be documented and showcased during the closing ceremony. Participants will showcase their best work during the ceremony and the winner will be presented with the "Arab Youth Council Award for integrated development award, which is being held for the 10th year. - TradeArabia News Service


Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village
CHEYENNE  Officials in Wyoming and Montana are weighing how to respond to last week's ruling by an Oregon judge that rejected the states' claims that federal interstate commerce protections should ensure them access to a proposed terminal on the Columbia River to export coal to Asia.

Gov. Matt Mead says he's disappointed with the judge's decision. He said coal is a critical economic driver for Wyoming and the nation.

Trial is set for November for continuing appeals on whether the building the terminal would hurt Oregon's water resources, including tribal fishing grounds. Wyoming and Montana could appeal the judge's interstate commerce ruling following the trial.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the ruling underscores the importance of having a balanced state energy plan to deal with events outside state control.
Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is up for grabs as voters head to the polls in Tuesday's primary election.

Liz Cheney is the best funded candidate in the Republican field and has top name recognition. She's the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and she has raised money from prominent Republicans nationwide.

Other GOP candidates include State Sen. Leland Christensen of Alta; State Rep. Tim Stubson of Casper and Cheyenne attorney Darin Smith.

Registered Republicans in Wyoming outnumber registered Democrats better than three-to-one. The eight-way GOP primary contest likely will prove the most important vote in determining who will fill the state's lone seat in the U.S. House.

Republican U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis is not seeking re-election this year after serving four terms.

County clerks in Natrona and Sweetwater counties are reporting light turnout so far.

However, both counties say absentee voting is up from previous elections.

Natrona County Clerk Renea Vitto says she expects nearly 4,000 absentee ballots to be cast.

Sweetwater County Clerk Dale Davis says an effort to promote absentee voting seems to be working. The county received about 1,200 requests for absentee ballots.

However, Davis says polling stations reported very light turnout Tuesday morning.

It's not unusual to see candidates and supporters standing at busy intersections in Cheyenne on election day, trying to sway undecided voters.

But morning commuters in north Cheyenne were treated to something different Tuesday morning.

Wyoming state Senate candidate Bill Weaver rode his horse along a street with a campaign sign in one hand.

Weaver says he wanted to try something different than standing on the street corner.

The Republican is facing two opponents in Tuesday's primary election.
Wyoming 11th graders performed marginally better in statewide exams this spring, but recent changes to the test have made it difficult to compare the performance of younger high school students to past years.

The Wyoming Department of Education announced the results of 2016 high school performance tests Monday for ninth- through 11th-graders, with juniors improving in each subject area over former years and lower grade levels exceeding performance goals in English.

Ninth-graders surpassed the 426 benchmark score set by the test providers in English by 1.58, while 10th-graders scored an average 2.55 points higher than the goal.

However, both grades failed to reach similar benchmarks set in math, science and reading.

Eleventh-graders fared better. Juniors averaged a score of 18.8 last year in English. Those scores rose to an average of 19.1 in this years tests. Composite scores increased from 19.8 to 20.04.

Math, reading and science averages each increased for 11th-graders, though by less than a percentage point per subject area.

Though growth in each subtest is relatively minor, the upward trend is encouraging, said Deb Lindsey, assessment administrator for the department.

Each spring students are assessed in science, math, reading and English through the ACT standardized test. The goal of the testing is twofold: to gauge the high schoolers readiness for college and to provide a spectrum of data to judge the performance of Wyoming teenagers over the years.

However, changes in testing and performance standards over the last five years make that job challenging.

In contrast to this years growth, the department in 2015 reported students performed about the same as the year before. But this year the education agency used a new, online test for ninth- and 10th-graders, ACT Aspire, and so lacks comparative score date from previous years.

Similarly, Wyoming established guidelines in 2014 for performance to match with the federal standards of accountability in the recently replaced No Child Left Behind Act.

Those guidelines grouped scores according to corresponding proficiency levels, like basic and advanced.

In the fall of 14, we conducted standard setting in order to decide how much students needed to know, and be able to do, in order to earn a score in the proficient-advanced range or the basic range, Lindsey explained. So, in terms of proficiency rates we only have comparable data from 2014-on, so three full years.

Nonetheless, the department is reporting success for ninth- and 10th-graders this year due to strong performance in English.

State schools chief Jillian Balow called this years results a good baseline for future assessment.

I would say everything that Ive gotten from staff about the Aspire, because its a new test, is basically we were looking for successful administration so that we have a baseline for future years, department spokeswoman Kari Eakins said in a news conference Monday.

The most recent scores will play a role in determining how well schools and districts are doing when the education agency releases school performance ratings in September.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools were held accountable on a pass or fail basis. Schools that performed poorly over consecutive years were considered failing schools and could risk losing funding.

New federal guidelines, passed in late 2015, allow Wyoming officials to determine how well schools and districts are succeeding. State officials also decide the appropriate steps to improve performance at struggling schools.
University of Wyoming officials are approaching their goal of slashing $19.3 million from this years budget.

The states only public four-year university has cut 97 vacant positions and seen 55 employees take advantage of early retirement and separation incentives.

The current cuts total $16 million. Eliminating positions led to the largest reduction, with a savings of $5.7 million.

UW President Laurie Nichols declared a financial crisis at the school in June because of an almost $41 million loss in state funding for the two-year budget cycle. School officials are looking for ways to reduce the 2017 budget by $15 million.

The presidents declaration allows for expedient cuts of programs during times of extreme financial difficulty, according to the universitys bylaws. A committee is working with the president to determine where to make reductions. A second panel is investigating new revenue streams.

We didnt have a great deal of lead time to prepare a reduction plan for the current fiscal year, so the fact that we were able to realize some significant savings is remarkable, Nichols said in a statement Monday. The task before us for the following fiscal year is an extremely challenging one, and I appreciate the efforts of many to help the university make the additional reductions with a minimal impact to our students while holding true to our mission of education, research and service.

A university-wide program review initiated in the spring is likely to lead to the elimination of some academic programs in the 2018 school year. A number of factors triggered review, including low demand and low graduation rates.

The review is not limited to academic programs. A consulting firm is also gauging the performance of the universitys administrative branches.

A preliminary plan for program cuts will likely be available for public comment Oct. 11. Nichols will present a plan to the UW Board of Trustees on Nov. 8. The board will consider the plan at its Nov. 16 meeting.
BILLINGS, Mont.  A proposal to transfer wild bison from Yellowstone National Park to a Montana American Indian reservation ran into resistance on Monday from state livestock officials who said the animals pose a potential disease threat.

Leaders of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes are pressing state officials to support the transfer of 49 bison to the tribes northeastern Montana reservation. The request is backed by Yellowstone park administrators looking for alternatives to the current practice of shipping park bison to slaughter when they cross into Montana.

More than $500,000 has been spent on the Fort Peck reservation to build new fences and other facilities to keep the bison contained, said tribal Chairman Floyd Azure. The animals have been tested five times to guard against transmissions of brucellosis, said Fort Peck Fish and Game Department Director Robert Magnan.

With the steps weve taken and the amount of money weve spent on this, we should be allowed to take bison, Azure said. We have numerous tribes and other organizations that want these bison and they are there to assist us.

But Montana veterinarian Marty Zaluski told livestock board members that state law prohibits moving the bison until they are certified as disease-free. Zaluski said they would need to remain in quarantine inside or near Yellowstone for up to two-and-a-half years to be certain theyre not infected.

The one sticking point that seems to be non-negotiable is the legal one, Zaluski said. No one has identified a legal way for us to do it.

Many Yellowstone bison carry brucellosis, a disease feared by the livestock industry because it can cause cattle to abort their young. No transmissions from bison to cattle have been documented.

The 49 bison were captured last winter under an agreement between Montana and federal officials that restricts the animals seasonal migration into Montana.

Yellowstone administrators at the time proposed establishing a quarantine program at Fort Peck that would use the bison to create or augment herds elsewhere. A similar quarantine previously operated north of the park but was shut down when money ran out.

In the absence of such a program, thousands of park bison were shipped to slaughter over the past two decades.
The second Tucson location for Kneaders Bakery & Cafe is set to open on Friday, Aug. 19, bringing its fresh-baked, house-made ethos to the corner of North Craycroft and East River roads.

The restaurant will open its doors at 7 a.m. Friday and the first 100 guests Friday and Saturday get free french toast.

The restaurant, founded and based out of Orem, Utah, will donate 10 percent of the proceeds from the opening weekend to local schools, a Kneaders spokeswoman said.

The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and until 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. It's closed on Sundays.

Meanwhile work is progressing on the third Kneaders, set to open in late September on North Oracle Road and Linda Vista Boulevard.
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP)  A southwestern Michigan man and a civil rights group are suing a theater company, saying it does not provide captions at a Benton Harbor venue.

Graham Forsey of St. Joseph and the National Association of the Deaf say the discrimination suit was filed Monday against Loeks Theater, Inc.

They say that without captions, deaf and hard of hearing patrons can't understand movie dialogues and soundtracks. Forsey is deaf.

Loeks operates Celebration! Cinema in Benton Harbor, southwest of Grand Rapids.

Celebration! Cinema Vice President of Marketing Steve VanWagoner says in a statement that updated standards for supporting the deaf community are being reviewed by the Justice Department.

He says theaters in "Benton Harbor and other locations will receive captioning equipment in the coming months upon the adoption of the new standards."
Police Department Will Be Raked Fore And Aft By Council

Widest Publicity Is Promised Findings of Police Committee

The investigation of a number of matters connected with the administration of the police department will be taken up at a meeting of the police committee to be held Thursday afternoon in room 2 of the Postoffice building.

It was stated yesterday that there will be an investigation of the action of Desk Sergeant James Sullivan in releasing Nick Brown, of Phoenix, a United States revenue official, who was arrested by Officer T. S. Sullivan on a charge of bringing liquor into the restricted district. This occurred a number of months ago.

Sergeant Sullivan has stated that the charge against Brown, that of carrying liquor into the restricted district, was not a violation of any city ordinance or state law and has declared that he is responsible for the release of Brown.

This is only one of a number of matters in connection with the police that will be investigated at the meeting Thursday afternoon, Acting Mayor Bernard stated yesterday. He has declined to state the nature of the investigations but has promised that, whatever they are, they will be given the widest publicity.

There are no charges against former Bicycle Patrolman T. S. Sullivan, Acting Mayor Bernard stated yesterday, and his case will not be taken up at all at the investigation. He was dropped from the force at the beginning of the month, but there are no formal charges against him, it is stated.
A woman from Sinaloa, Mexico was fined $300 after chorizo was found in her suitcase at the Mariposa crossing in Nogales, Arizona.

More than 14 pounds of the Mexican pork sausage was found wrapped in diapers in a suitcase that belonged to a woman who was traveling into Arizona on a commercial bus Aug. 5, federal authorities said in a news release Monday.

The woman was fined and the bus and its passengers proceeded through the port of entry without further incident, said officials. The seized pork sausage and diapers were destroyed by incineration.

"Agriculture specialists in Nogales are always observant to prevent the introduction of prohibited agricultural products, said Luz Garlarza, port director in Nogales.

"This includes pork meat and pork products, which could lead to the introduction of animal diseases like classical swine fever," said Garlarza.

Among federal officers duties, is to protect the nation's food supply and agriculture industry from pests and diseases, said officials.

Travelers must declare all agricultural items upon their arrival to the United States, authorities said.
Four people were displaced and three cats missing, after a mobile home was engulfed in flames during a Monday night fire on Tucson's south side, authorities said.

Firefighters responded to the 6100 block of South Park Avenue at about 9 p.m., after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting heavy smoke and flames coming from a mobile home, said Capt. Barrett Baker, a spokesman for Tucson Fire Department.

When crews arrived, they saw a large column of smoke coming from the home, which was fully involved in flames. Firefighters confirmed that all four residents were out safely, but learned that there were still possibly pets inside the mobile home, Baker said.

The fire was too large for crews to enter the home, and multiple hose lines were used to extinguish the blaze, as well as protect the three neighboring homes. It took twenty-three firefighters from nine units to extinguish the blaze in less than 20 minutes, Baker said.

No one was injured in the blaze, but three of the family's cats are still missing. Red Cross will be assisting the four residents, Baker said.
University of Arizona president Ann Weaver Hart is asking for an independent probe into allegations about the university's health sciences leadership.

In a statement released late Monday, Hart said she was caught unaware by Arizona Board of Regents president Eileen Klein's comments at the beginning of a Regents meeting held in Tucson on Friday.

Klein referred to both misuse of public funds and the "alteration of public documents" when she opened the meeting, which focused on the leadership of the UA's two medical schools  the UA College of Medicine Tucson and the UA College of Medicine Phoenix.

"I expect the full cooperation and candor of everyone at the University of Arizona in this process," Hart said in her prepared statement.

The special four hour meeting of the Regents' Health Affairs Committee in Tucson, and another one held in Phoenix Aug. 5, were convened after the Arizona Medical Association took a vote of no confidence in the UAs health sciences leadership.

Public attention on the executive leadership of the UA's two medical schools began after six key leaders at the UA College of Medicine Phoenix left earlier this year, including its dean, Dr. Stuart Flynn.

Dr. Joe G.N. "Skip" Garcia, the senior vice president for health sciences who earns $870,000 per year, has also come under public scrutiny following an Arizona Republic article that focused on his travel expenses, including $475 chauffeur-driven car rides between Tucson and Phoenix.

The association asked the regents to conduct an independent investigation. And association vice president Chic Older has made it clear that the association wants the investigation conducted at the behest of the Regents, and not the UA.

Hart had told originally told the Regents at both meetings that the UA was hiring a third party to conduct a "climate survey" in the UA Health Sciences colleges and to also do exit interviews with the UA College of Medicine Phoenix leaders who left.

But on Monday she issued a new statement calling for an independent third-party review with no UA or ABOR employees involved.

In her statement, Hart said Klein's comments at the beginning of Friday's meeting went "far beyond" complaints about leadership, style, morale, organizational climate and resource allocations.

"Ms. Klein's allegations, including misuse of public funds and alteration of public documents, were previously unknown to me," Hart said in her prepared statement.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors officially adopted all tax rates and levies for the 2016-2017 fiscal year Monday, with a 3-2 vote. As with the approval of the final budget in early July, District 4 Supervisor Ray Carroll and District 1 Supervisor Ally Miller were the two no votes.

The supervisors control only four property tax rates in Pima County: the primary and secondary county rates, the library district tax and the flood control district The tax. Those rates for the coming year will be $4.29, $.70, $.52 and $.33 for every $100 of valuation, respectively. Their combined levy is about $458 million.

The remaining 90 rates approved Monday were for school boards, fire districts, and a number of special taxing districts across the county, like improvement districts. A PDF of the full list of levies and rates is included with the online version of this story.

Supervisor meetings are generally held on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, but was held Monday this week to meet a statutory deadline that tax rates and levies be adopted on or before the third Monday of August.

Also at the meeting Monday, District 4 Supervisor Sharon Bronson recognized the Tucson Fire Department and Tucson Police Department for participating in her rescue last Tuesday, when floodwaters carried her car an eighth of a mile near Fort Lowell and Oracle roads.

I would not be here today if not for your efforts, she said, before offering her rescuers a pizza dinner.
Two former Republicans are running for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 1.

The district includes Oro Valley, Marana and parts of 10 other counties in Eastern and Northern Arizona. Incumbent Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick is running for U.S. Senate.

Candidate Tom OHalleran spent nine years as a Republican in the Arizona legislature before he became and independent and now a Democrat. He touts his experience working on bipartisan issues like passing all-day kindergarten and boosting funding for what was then Child Protective Services.

If elected, OHalleran said he will work on incentivizing jobs in rural America, improving veterans medical care and addressing tribal unemployment.

Miguel Olivas, who has never held elected office but has run for Congress two other times, said he has gained an extensive knowledge of the federal government from years working as an aide for five Republican federal legislators and as a nonprofit and business consultant helping secure federal funding and legislation.

He emphasized his understanding and work with the federal appropriations process, education policy, trade agreements and agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, compared to OHallerans state-level experience.

I know which congressman will support something and I know which congressman wont, he said.

On healthcare

While expressing general support for the Affordable Care Act, the candidates had differing ideas on how to improve Obamas trademark healthcare initiative.

Olivas would like to see more federally qualified health centers that receive some federal dollars and serve the uninsured, the underinsured and low income individuals on a sliding fee scale.

OHalleran said he would support allowing consumers to buy insurance plans across state lines and would push for negotiating for better pharmaceutical prices.

Both candidates said an analysis is needed to look at why insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and HealthNet are dropping out of Arizona counties.

I think the alternative thats workable is to take what we have in place, OHalleran said.

On gun control

OHalleran said he doesnt support banning high capacity magazines or assault rifles, but said hes behind expanded background checks and banning gun sales for people who are on the governments no-fly list.

Olivas said hes not in favor of expanding gun control laws, saying that the government needs to better enforce the laws it has on the books. He does support bolstering federal and state reporting requirements for mental health providers.

On social issues

One of Olivas biggest focuses is the protection of personal freedom when it comes to things like gay and transgender rights, marriage equality and womens reproductive rights.

When it comes to civil rights Im very Libertarian-leaning type of guy, he said.

He struggled to explain a quote on his 2014 campaign website about the Obama administration being a monstrosity that encroaches on our personal freedoms, saying that its actually related to the Bush-era USA Patriot Act that approved an expansion of legal surveillance and investigation techniques.

Olivas views stand in contrast to some of OHallerans previous votes on social issues. In 2008, OHalleran voted in support of a resolution proposing a state constitutional amendment to allow only a union of one man and one woman to be recognized as a marriage and to increase penalties for late-term abortions.

Jacob Becklund, a spokesman for OHallerans campaign, said the candidate supports marriage equality and said his views on the issue have evolved over time.

On immigration

Militarization of the border is not the answer to the countrys immigration struggles, Olivas said. Instead, hes advocating for a secure economic zone where the United States, Mexico and border-region tribal nations would work together on green energy-focused economic development projects.

Both he and OHalleran support a path to citizenship.

OHalleran supports the Gang of 8 proposal that includes a ramp up in border patrol and surveillance technology, e-verify for employers and incorporates versions of the DREAM Act. He also supports the Obama Administrations deferred actions for immigrants brought to the country as young children and undocumented parents of legal residents.

On the environment

OHalleran criticized the EPAs Clean Power Plan for not giving appropriate consideration to the economics of rural Arizona, but emphasized his work on incorporating climate change considerations into Colorado River planning.

Both candidates support a Grand Canyon National Monument proposal.

Both candidates oppose the concept of transferring federal public lands to the state, with Olivas saying the state would simply sell the land to the highest bidder and OHalleran saying the state already doesnt take appropriate care of lands that it has.

Both said they would pursue a more equitable settlement with the Hopi and Navajo tribes to help resolve decades-long claims to water in the Little Colorado River basin.

On education

Both Olivas and OHalleran support more state control over education.

Olivas said he is against federally mandated testing, especially when thats used to determine teacher pay, and wants to see federal grants better address needs like food insecurities.

OHalleran said he opposes any federal influence in dictating student curriculum and would advocate for rolling back regulations that come attached to federal education funding.
Capt. Martin Green, a veteran firefighter with the Tucson Fire Department, died Saturday after a sudden illness. He was 51.

Green joined the department in 1990 and served as a firefighter and engineer before becoming a captain, said TFD spokesman Capt. Barrett Baker. He is survived by his wife and three children.

The Tucson Firefighters Associations Facebook post saying it is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the passing of our brother was met with hundreds of messages of condolence from community members, as was a similar post by TFD.

Maredith Clack, pastoral associate at the Most Holy Trinity Parish where the Green family are parishioners, said she has been in contact with the family and they are grateful for the amazing outpour of love and support from the community.

Clack described Green as a loving, kind gentleman who would give you the shirt off his back.

Anytime you needed something he was always there, Clack said. Hes going to be missed tremendously.

One of Greens contributions to the fire department was to communicate with the Spanish-speaking community, such as through interviews with the Telemundo news station, Baker said.

Marcos E. Moreno, youth minister at Most Holy Trinity, said he grew up a few blocks from Green in South Tucson.

Green had a warm personality and would always greet him with a handshake and a smile, Moreno said.

Green and his brother fixed up properties in South Tucson and rented them, rather than flip them for a quick profit, Moreno said, adding the Greens were known as kind-hearted landlords.

South Tucson considers itself a small town and Green was a small-town legend.

This was a man who never forgot where he was from, the way they were raised, Moreno said.

Services are tentatively planned for 9 a.m., Saturday at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Ave. After the burial, a reception is planned at Most Holy Trinity, 1300 N. Greasewood Road.
A University of Arizona assistant dean has been named president of the DM50, a nonprofit, volunteer group that advocates for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and its airmen.

Bob Logan, assistant dean for external and corporate relations at the UA College of Science, replaces real estate broker Brian Harpel to serve a two-year term as DM50 president.

Others selected as officers of the DM50 board are: OK Rihl, vice president; Carla Keegan, treasurer; and Michael Franks, secretary.

Rihl is development manager of Crown West Realty; Keegan is president of the accounting firm of Keegan, Linscott & Kenon; and Franks is owner and principal in Seaver Franks Architects.

The DM50, which has no formal ties to the base, was founded in 1986 by a diverse group of Tucson civic and business leaders.

The group has raised more than $1.5 million for initiatives to improve the quality of life for military personnel at D-M and to protect the future of the base and expand its missions.
Isabella Dinsmore Selmes was born in Kentucky on March 22, 1886. After her fathers death, she and her mother moved to New York City where she became a lifelong friend of one of her schoolmates, Eleanor Roosevelt, probably sparking an interest in politics that lasted the rest of her life.

Isabella would attain one of the highest pinnacles in politics open to women at the time, a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as Arizonas first woman in Congress.

When Eleanor married her cousin Franklin Delano in 1905, Isabella served as one of her bridesmaids. That same year, Isabella married former Rough Rider Robert (Bob) Ferguson. Martha Ferguson was born in 1906 and Robert Ferguson Jr. in 1908.

The family moved to New Mexico after Bob developed tuberculosis. At the beginning of World War I, Isabella worked for the Red Cross, organized the New Mexico Womens Auxiliary of the Council for Defense, and chaired the Womens Land Army for New Mexico encouraging women to harvest sorely needed produce.

At the end of the war, she headed the states Land Service Committee overseeing increased food production and served as the womens representative on the Sate Labor and Reconstruction Board.

After her husband died in 1922, Isabella turned to old friend John Campbell Greenway, another Rough Rider, for solace.

John and Isabella married a year after Bobs death and settled in Ajo, where John oversaw operations at the New Cornelia Copper Co. John (Jack) Selmes Greenway was born in 1924.

Less than two years later, John Greenway died. Distraught over the loss of her husband of only three years, Isabella miscarried their second child four days after her husbands death.

She moved to Tucson and eventually bought a cattle ranch in northern Arizona near Williams. As the widow of two war veterans, she frequented a Tucson hospital to comfort veterans suffering from tuberculosis as had Bob Ferguson.

The men spent their days creating wooden items to earn a few dollars, crafts Isabella realized were skillfully built.

Purchasing woodworking tools, she established Arizona Hut, a place where veterans could produce high-quality furniture and artifacts that were sold to stores across the country.

Campaigning for Presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith in 1928, Isabella served as Arizonas Democratic Committeewoman, helping to reorganize the local party.

Her reputation as a hardworking devotee of the Democratic Party led to speculation she might consider a run for Arizona governor. But Isabella quickly dispelled the rumors, declaring she had her hands full chasing after 4-year-old Jack.

On December 18, 1930, Isabella opened the doors of an upscale hotel in the heart of Tucson, the Arizona Inn, filling the four pink stucco cottages and main building with furniture from Arizona Hut. The hotel is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Isabella attended the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as an Arizona delegate. Selected to second the nomination of Franklin Roosevelt as president , her name was even mentioned as a possible vice-presidential candidate.

Fulfilling a promise to Roosevelt to bring a unified Arizona delegation to the convention, Isabella addressed the crowd. I speak for the youngest state of the union, Arizona, a land possessed by the spirit of youth, which is the essence of life, the source of hope, and inspiration of courage. And because Arizona ... is filled with life and hope and courage and demands a leader of her own undefeated quality she wishes Franklin D. Roosevelt for the next president of the United States.

She took to the air to support Roosevelt on a month-long tour across the state and hosted over 100 people when Franklin and Eleanor visited her ranch during their 17-state campaign tour. She attended the Roosevelt inauguration as the official Arizona representative.

Isabella was again touted as a possible candidate for governor but when she learned that Roosevelt planned to appoint Arizonas only congressman, House of Representative member Lewis Douglas, as director of budget, she decided to run for his congressional seat. It was no easy task for me to make up my mind to toss my sombrero (or shall I say bonnet?) into the coming congressional race, she said.

Ironically, two other women considered running for the position  Yuma representative Nellie Bush and Grace Sparkes from Prescott. Both withdrew their names when Isabella announced her candidacy.

With the endorsement of almost every newspaper in the state, she won the primary with 70 percent of the vote and the general election by an even wider margin. I didnt congratulate her, Eleanor Roosevelt told the press, I congratulated ourselves. I am very glad to have her coming here.

In Congress, Isabella argued for endorsement of the Nogales Flood Control Project that would bring employment to Santa Cruz County residents. Within 10 days of her arrival, the Public Works Administration approved the initiative. She fought to restore veterans pensions and hospital benefits, and lobbied to improve existing irrigation canals that would bring 9,000 jobs into the state.

She often worked late into the night with young Jack keeping her company. After a quick dinner at her desk, the two took to the legislative hallways on roller skates before settling down to finish her congressional duties and Jacks schoolwork.

With little opposition when she ran for her second term, Isabella introduced a bill to provide electricity from Coolidge Dam to farmers in the Casa Grande Valley. She helped bring the Civilian Conservation Corps into Arizona, lobbied for better prices for U.S. copper, and was instrumental in having every mile of Route 66 paved across the state.

Fifty-year-old Isabella chose not to run when her term expired in 1936, and in 1938, she married for the third time, Harry Orland King, once deputy administrator for the National Recovery Administration.

When Roosevelt decided to run for an unprecedented third term, Isabella believed he was wrong to do so and refused to campaign for him. Writing to Eleanor, she fervently hoped their friendship could weather this political split. The friendship remained intact.

At the beginning of World War II, Isabella moved to Washington, D.C., to chair the American Womens Voluntary Services recruiting women for national defense work. She often returned to Arizona where her children resided.

She died in Tucson on Dec. 18, 1953. In 1981, Isabella was inducted into the Arizona Womens Hall of Fame.
Marian Lupu a social activist and zealous warrior for older adults, died at her Tucson home on Sunday. She was 91.

Lupu founded the Pima Council on Aging and was its director for 40 years  waiting until she was 82 to step down and even then continued on as a consultant. Her former co-workers and others who knew her credit Lupu with creating a system of services and resources for aging Pima County residents.

Thousands of older adults in this community every day are getting assistance and thats because Marian knew what needed to happen and made it happen, said Debra Adams, chief operating officer at the Pima Council on Aging. Lupu hired Adams in 1986.

Glasses on her head

Known for her habit of stuffing two or three pairs of glasses into her piled-up hair, Lupu was for decades an omnipresent and outspoken activist for elders in the Tucson area.

Former Tucson Mayor Lew Murphy, who died in December 2005, recalled in a 2003 interview with the Star that Lupu had a well-known tactic in advancing funding for seniors she would pack the City Council chambers with elderly people. She was relentless.

Marian, just tell us what you want, and well get this over with, Murphy would direct her.

Lupus ability to fill rooms and agitate for change was fueled by a passion for her causes, Adams said.

People paid attention to her. You could see she cared and so she drew you in to also share in her caring, Adams said. She could talk to anybody. She was known not only in this community but at the state and national level.

Lupu also spoke against poverty among local families and gaps in health care. During the 90s she became angered by the bloated salaries of several HMO executives.

It is obscene for any one individual to be able to profit to that extent out of what really is a necessity to peoples lives, she told the Star in 1998.

Singleminded

Over the years, Lupu went to several White House conferences on aging and was singleminded about improving the lives of older adults, Pima Council on Aging President and CEO W. Mark Clark said.

Clark became CEO in 2014 long after Lupu had retired. But her influence at the organization never waned. During the application process he knew he was in a good position to get the job when Lupu friended him on Facebook, he said.

But she was never heavy-handed about trying to run the organization after she left. Rather, she was one to show up at fundraisers, holiday parties and other events, he said, and always asked before getting involved.

The council is one of hundreds of area agencies on aging funded through the federal Older Americans Act of 1965.

Thats the same year that Lupu, a public policy researcher with a masters degree from the University of Chicago, moved to Tucson from Pittsburgh with her husband, Charles, a biochemist, and their three children.

She became director of what was then Tucson Council on Aging in early 1967. She worked for nine months without pay, drawing her first paycheck that October.

Over the years, Lupu created an awareness of aging issues that helped position the state to address the governors Aging 2020 plan to meet the needs of the aging population.

In 1975, she became the first fellow of the Gerontological Society of America serving in a non-academic position and served on numerous local, national and state boards, including the Governors Task Force on Retirement and Aging.

In her role with the Pima Council on Aging, she fostered partnerships with other leaders in Tucson, including former Tucson Medical Center President and CEO Don Shropshire.

Together, Lupu and Shropshire launched numerous initiatives, including a Centenarian celebration to honor local residents who reached their 100th year, Tucson Medical Center spokeswoman Julia Strange said. That celebration continues as an annual event.

We are all better for Marians passion, dedication and tireless advocacy for older adults throughout Southern Arizona, Strange said.

Adina Wingate, hired by Lupu at the council in 2006, says Lupu nurtured the organization to become a, singular and outstanding nonprofit.

She put into place a system of services that many local seniors rely on today, like home-delivered meals and help with home repairs, her former co-workers say.

Her commitment to improving the safety net of aging services is an example of her leadership, grit and tenacity, as a true leader in her field, Wingate said.

Dancing in the Streets

Adams said as a boss, Lupu was both warm and engaging and had a genuine interest in her employees lives. In turn, she shared her own life with her co-workers.

I feel very blessed that I was able to learn from her, Adams said.

In her later years, Lupu became a volunteer helping young people with Dancing in the Streets Arizona, founded by her daughter and son-in-law, Soleste Lupu and Joseph Rodgers.

Staying involved with what excites me challenges me to give meaning to my life beyond my own existence, she told the Arizona Jewish Post in 2014. Thats why Im so happy to be working with children.

But Clark said Lupu also had the lives of seniors in mind while she was working with children.

On more than one occasion she said that improving the lives of young people was really a long-term strategy of improving the lives of older adults, Clark said. Raising children well ensured they would get jobs, pay into Social Security and take care of older adults.

Monday was a sad day at the Pima Council on Aging, Wingate said.

It was a genuine privilege to be hired by her a decade ago in 2006, to get to know her and her loving family, and to experience her kindness and generosity, too, Wingate said. I will miss her a lot.

Clark predicts Lupus influence will remain in the Tucson community.

I think Marian has left a tremendous legacy and example for us to live up to. Her presence is so large she will be with us always, he said. Im honored to have known her and blessed to be a successor.

Information about a memorial service was not immediately available.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  As waters receded in parts of Louisiana's capital city, some residents returned to their flood-damaged homes Tuesday for the first time and found a soggy mess.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of "muddy nasty bayou water." There were fish and thousands of spiders. And mold has started to set in.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably," he said. "But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family."

State officials confirmed an eighth death from the floods in southern Louisiana, and the extent of damage was coming into clearer view. Eight more parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total number to 12.

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a "total loss."

But Lori Steele, spokeswoman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, was upbeat, saying the rescues taking place now are less of a "life-saving nature" and more to help people who were running low on supplies in flooded areas. As the main roads drain, emergency crews were going to be able get hot meals, water and medical supplies to the 25 shelters in the parish.

"We're tired but today's a good day," she said.

Though the rain had mostly stopped, new places in the state faced flood dangers from the deluge that has sent thousands into shelters.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as people filled sandbags there to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south. In Ascension Parish, officials said some small towns have already been inundated.

Since the flooding began Friday, more than 20,000 have had to be rescued in some of the worst flooding the state has ever seen. And at least 11,000 have hunkered down in shelters to wait out the floods.

The slow-moving, low-pressure system that dumped more than 20 inches of rain on some parts of Louisiana was crawling into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned the danger of new flooding remained high due to the sheer volume of water flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico.

In and around Baton Rouge, many were anxious to check on damage. But a police officer at one Baton Rouge area roadblock warned Jack Miller that the 60-year-old was risking arrest if he tried to drive a boat on a trailer down a stretch of the highway down to just two lanes.

"I'm trying to get back to my home and rescue my cat," Miller said.

The eighth storm-related death was the accidental drowning of a 66-year-old man whose body was found in the Sherwood Forest area, which has been a site of severe flooding, state officials said.

Karla and Johnathon McDaniel waded through chest-deep water to revisit their home they fled late Saturday night but the water was too deep to get inside.

On their way out, the McDaniels stopped to gawk at a monster truck revving its engine in a failed attempt to free a National Guard vehicle mired in a muddy ditch. It was a welcome moment of levity after days of worry around the state's southeast, which saw thousands of water rescues.

Julee Doiron, 56, and a friend walked down the road to a flooded storage facility where she has a valuable record collection. She felt fortunate the flooding stopped a block short of her home, but she owns a couple of water-damaged rental properties that aren't covered by flood insurance.

"None of these places are in a flood zone," she said. "Why buy it if you don't need it? My agent didn't recommend it to me."

In a state more accustomed to hurricanes, forecasters said the rains were nearly off the charts in intensity. Meteorologist Ken Graham of the National Weather Service's office in Slidell, near New Orleans, said forecasters had alerted people days ahead of the rain. Yet the forecasts Thursday were for 8 inches of rain, with higher totals expected in some areas.

One town, Zachary, received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Another, Livingston, got nearly 22 inches over the same stretch. Rivers in the region reached historic highs  occasionally shattering old records dating to 1983 floods.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards defended the state's response, saying unprecedented flooding "presented tremendous challenges for everyone."
LOWER LAKE, Calif.  Fire crews gained ground on a massive Northern California wildfire that has destroyed 175 homes, businesses and other structures and charred nearly 7 square miles, fire officials said Tuesday.

The fire in Lower Lake, about a two hour drive from San Francisco, was 20 percent contained Monday, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

The progress came as authorities arrested Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake, California, on 17 counts of arson Monday. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend. Officials say he is also suspected in several other fires over the past year in Lake County.

Roughly 1,600 firefighters are battling the blaze Tuesday through warm temperatures and light winds.

The flames earlier reached historic Main Street, where firefighters couldn't save an office of Habitat for Humanity, an organization that had been raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched a year ago.

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time," said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott.

Several thousand people fled the blaze, some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe. No one was reported hurt.

While firefighters worked in the surrounding countryside, in town crews swept up ash and worked to clear roads of fallen powerlines and telephone poles. Homes  some dating to the 1880s  were burned to their foundation. A wooden threshold in front of one home still carried the address but the house behind was gone. Other homes nearby were completely spared.

Lower Lake seemed safe Sunday morning from flames that first rose the afternoon before.

Like any other Sunday, Pastor John Pavoni spoke to his congregation and left after locking the front door to his small United Methodist church just off Main Street.

On Monday, he stood in front of burned rubble.

Previous fires in the area had not driven families away, he said.

"Those people have been through a lot," he said, "people will rebuild."

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Last summer, during a devastating period from the end of July through September, three major blazes came within a few miles to the east and south of town.

Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The Lake County blaze was one of 11 large wildfires in the state. In central California, a 2-day-old wildfire destroyed 12 structures, damaged others and threatened 200 homes. The wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to 10 square miles and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat. It was 10 percent contained.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert. Underlying it all: A five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.
OPINION: "We must outright reject extremist ideology and those who only recognize victory when it is in their favor. We must also categorically reject any candidate or political party that accepts and normalizes violence, gives cover to white supremacists, uses migrants as political tools and tolerates any form of racist, sexist or homophobic rhetoric," writes Tim Kennedy, an Oro Valley resident and teacher in the Marana Unified School District.
Twins pulled from hot tub, are critical

TEMPE  Authorities say 2-year-old twins were pulled from a hot tub Sunday and rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

A 911 call reporting the children had been found in the hot tub came in around 11:15 a.m. on Sunday. Emergency crews administered CPR to the toddlers, a boy and a girl, before they were taken to a hospital.

Assistant Fire Chief Paul Nies said the hot tub was not fenced.

Suspects animals attack sheriffs K-9

MESA  A law enforcement K-9 bitten by a suspects dogs during a SWAT situation is recovering, authorities say.

Sheriffs Officer Courtney Palma said the dog, Marco, required stitches but is expected to be OK.
Help India!

By Yoginder Sikand

A fortnight ago, the walls of my locality in New Delhi were plastered over with posters depicting a bearded man bearing a ponderous turban, below which were etched slogans fiercely denouncing Pakistan. Pakistan Promotes Islamic Terrorism, Islamic Terrorists Rule Pakistan, Declare Pakistan a Terrorist State and so on the posters proclaimed. They were issued by The Mehdi Foundation International (MFI), a little-known outfit with a rather bombastic name.

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Curious to learn more, I dialed the cell number mentioned at the bottom of the posters. A man (who, I later learnt, was the General Secretary of the MFI) answered in broken English in a jarring pseudo-American twang, and informed me about the demonstration against Pakistan that a group of Pakistani citizens associated with the MFI was organizing the next day outside the Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi.

I got to the venue a short while before the demonstration got over. A group of some sixty-odd young men and women, who claimed to be Pakistani citizens, were raising full-throated slogans against Pakistan, accusing it of fomenting Islamic terrorism. Intriguingly, with equal gusto they chanted slogans hailing India. Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Hindustan Zindabad, they screamed. The placards they carried announced various other messages: that true Islam did not sanction violence against innocent people, that some Hindu deities and saints were also truly men of God, and, most curiously, that a certain Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi was the saviour of the entire world.

Draped on the fence behind where the demonstrators stood were banners depicting the same face that I had seen on the posters pasted on the walls in my locality. That figure was of Riaz Ahmad Gohar Shahi, who, the banners announced, was considered by MFI followers as the Imam Mehdi of the Muslims, the Kalki Avatar of the Hindus, the Promised Messiah of the Jews and the Christians and the Buddha himself.

The slogan-shouting crowd then gathered in a circle and set alight an effigy of the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani cleric and politician, who happened to be in Delhi at that time. And, surrounded by a bevy of media persons whom they had specially invited, they set ablaze their Pakistani passports in a fit of fury.

We refuse to return to Pakistan, said a demonstrator, a young woman from Karachi. Burning her passport was illegal, I informed her. Our Imam, she shot back, has told us that India will help us, so we are not worried. Nothing will happen to us. False cases of blasphemy have been lodged against our people and we are being harassed for our religious beliefs, claimed another angry demonstrator, a man from Lahore.

Predictably, the Indian papers and television channels that covered the dramatic event presented it, as the demonstrators themselves had wished, as a case of a religious minority in Pakistan being allegedly persecuted by the state and Islamic groups. The demonstrators virulent demand that Pakistan be declared as a terrorist state was music to the ears of the reporters who covered the event, and whose selective reporting of it further reinforced the stereotypical image of Pakistan being a hot-bed of religious bigots.

But that, as I was to discover, did not really reflect the reality of the MFI. None of the newspapers and television channels that covered the event had examined the MFIs beliefs and doctrines. Had they cared to do so, they would probably not have enthusiastically endorsed the claims that the demonstrators had so passionately made.

Over the next two days I scanned the Internet for whatever I could access on the MFI. I also met with Mir Lali, the MFIs General Secretary, who is based in North America and who was the key organizer of the Delhi demonstration. In his missionary enthusiasm, Lali arranged for me to speak through the Internet with the head of the MFI, the London-based Yunous Al-Gohar, who is styled as the outfits Chief Executive Officer.

What emerged from my reading and the conversations that I had with these people was that the MFI hardly appeared to be the benign inter-faith group committed to universal peace and harmony that its activists claimed it to be. Rather, it struck me as a completely bizarre cult that made such outrageous claims for its cult-figure, Riyaz Ahmad Gohar Shahi, that no sensible Christian, Hindu and Buddhist, in addition, of course, to Muslim, would ever make. In other words, the demonstrating MFI activists protestations that the group was being falsely and unfairly accused of anti-Islamic beliefs by the Pakistani state and Muslim groups in Pakistan were not quite true.

Briefly put, the MFI cult is centred on the figure of Gohar Shahi, who was born in a village in 1941 in the Gujaranwala district in Pakistans Punjab province. In 1980, he began publicly preaching, presenting himself as a sort of Sufi, although several of his followers began considering him the Imam Mahdi, the Promised Saviour who, according to Muslim tradition, would arrive in the world just prior to the Last Days. In the late 1990s, a number of criminal cases were instituted against Gohar Shahi, forcing him to flee to Britain. There, he set up his centre, making a fairly significant number of followers, particularly among expatriate Pakistanis. According to the MFI, Gohar Shahi went into occultation in November 2001. MFI activists believe that he is omnipresent, although visible only to his followers, and that he will again reveal himself in his physical form shortly before a grand apocalyptic battle that he will wage, along with Jesus, against the Dajjal or Anti-Christ that will herald the Day of Judgment.

In the meanwhile, MFI followers believe, Gohar Shahi is in touch with Yunous al-Gohar, said by some Pakistani newspapers to be a London-based billionaire and hypnotist, who claims to be his deputy. On the other hand, a rival group of Gohar Shahis followers, led by his own son, members of the Pakistan-based Anjuman-e Sarfaroshan-e Islam, believe that Gohar Shahi is dead and they have built a grave over what they say is his tomb in the town of Kotri, in the Pakistani province of Sindh.

As appears from its name, the Anjuman-e Sarfaroshan-e Islam presents itself as somewhat closer to mainline Islam, while the MFI appears as a completely new cult, having little or no relation with Islam, although almost all of its followers are of South Asian Muslim, particularly Pakistani, origin. The MFI claims to have several hundred thousand followers in Pakistan, Europe, North America and South-East Asia, although these numbers are probably grossly exaggerated. Presently, there are said to be a few dozen followers of the cult in India, and the MFI has a small centre in Mumbai. The MFI appears to be using the publicity that it received for the demonstration that it recently organized in Delhi to establish a more salient presence for itself in India.

The MFI makes such preposterous claims on behalf of Gohar Shahi that even the Anjumjan-e Sarfaroshan-e Islam insists that these are blasphemous, arguing that Yunous and his group are engaged in a conspiracy to destroy the movement from within. Gohar Shahi, announces an issue of the Hatif-e Mehdi, the MFIs Urdu-English tabloid, is, in fact, God himself! The cover page displays a picture of Riyaz Ahmad Gohar Shahi along with a slogan announcing, There is no god but Riyaz, and inside an article that seeks to claim Gohar Shahi as the God of all gods announces, When the age of God the Merciful and Compassionate gets over, the age of the God of all Gods will begin. In place of Khuda Hafiz or Allah Hafiz, the standard South Asian Muslim way of saying farewell, MFI activists use the phrase Gohar Hafiz. Similarly, Inshallah (God willing) is replaced by Insha Gohar, and the place of the Quran is taken by the Din-e Ilahi, a tract said to have been penned by Gohar Shahi. Those who do not believe in Gohar Shahi or oppose him, the MFI insists, are in league with the Devil and would be consigned to hell.

As humanity awakens, Yunous writes in clumsy English an article hosted on the MFIs official website, every nation will claim Gohar is ours. True saviour of humankind is the one who turn the humanity into Divinity. And that is Gohar Shahi. Gohar Shahi is already turning humanity into Divinity. No wonder he is the Promised Messiah, Awaited Mehdi and Predicted Kalki Avatar. Yunous says so. Prophets came for nations, saints for groups, but Gohar is for all humanity.

Needless to say, these absurd beliefs and monopolistic claims that would offend not just Muslims, but equally so Christians and Hindus, too, were left cleverly concealed by the MFIs activists demonstrating in Delhi, who sought to present themselves as a harmless group of mystics, committed to universal love, peace and harmony transcending the narrow boundaries of religion.

We are not Muslims, insisted Yunous as I spoke to him online. We are Goharians and follow the Goharian philosophy. And this philosophy is for all people, irrespective of religion. The Lord Gohar Shahi, he went on, had appeared in the world and had, he claimed, met with Jesus. Together, they had planned a grand scheme to herald the End of Times. Mir Lali, Yunous said, had been present at that alleged meeting. I could ask him more about if I wanted to, he advised.

Suppressing a laugh with difficulty, I asked Lali to tell me more. As if he expected me to believe his fanciful tale, Lali told me about how Jesus had allegedly met Gohar Shahi in 1997 in a hotel in New Mexico in the United States, where they had a detailed discussion about global politics. After that, so he said, Jesus traveled to Sri Lanka, where he still is, while Gohar Shahi had gone into occultation or concealment.

I was there myself in the hotel and I saw it all, Lali insisted, visibly disappointed when I bluntly announced that this was obviously hogwash. I could barely conceal my horror listening to him, especially because Lali claimed to have been working as an engineer in America for almost four decades.

Jesus will become the Imam Mahdis disciple, so you can see what a great stature our Lord Gohar Shahi possesses, Lali exclaimed, undeterred by my obvious complete disbelief.

Yunous then came back online to carry on with the story. As he talked, I watched him on the web-camera that Lali had attached to his laptop. Half-bald, corpulent and stern, he hardly seemed the saintly figure that his followers believed him to be.

I asked Yunous about a statement carried on his outfits website that announced that Gohar Shahi had prophesied that America had been specially blessed by God to lead the world. O America, the site quotes Gohar Shahi as having said, God has chosen you. You will be the leader of humanity [] I want to inform you that God has chosen you for deliverance of humanity.

How could a real man of God, I asked Yunous, make such an untenable claim and unabashedly support America, given that American imperialism is today such a global scourge?

America helps people in need with aids, Yunous shot back, in what was presumably, although not inappropriately, a slip of the tongue. He brusquely shrugged off my queries about American imperialism. America has liberated Afghanistan and is now liberating Iraq, he thundered.

I butted in to tell Yunous that he had got his politics all wrong, but he sought to silence me by insisting that I was naive. I dont know what sort of doctorate you have done, he blurted. It is clear that you have little knowledge.

Although not amused at that accusation, I decided not to contest it. After all, I was not there to have an argument with Yunous but to know more about his cult.

The Lord Gohar Shahi, Yunous went on, had predicted that America, Britain, Israel and India would jointly support the army of Jesus Christ and the Imam Mahdi or Kalki Avatar in a global war that would herald the Day of Judgment. Saudi Arabia, he added, would be with the army of the dreaded Dajjal or Anti-Christ, whom he identified as the Taliban leader, Mullah Umar. Many other Muslims, too, would be, so he argued, in that camp. And as for Pakistan, his original homeland, Yunous made the absurd claim that India would soon invade and annex it. In the global Armageddon that Yunous said was soon to break out, all those who refused to accept Gohar Shahi as the Imam would rally behind the Anti-Christ and would, presumably, be consigned to perdition in hell.

As supposed proof that Gohar Shahi was the Imam Mehdi and the Kalki Avatar, Yunous claimed that his image had appeared in the sun and the moon, on Mars, in a Shiva temple in Pakistan and also in the black stone, the Hijre Aswat, in the Kaaba in Mecca. That weird claim is also constantly repeated in MFI literature. Indeed, MFI propaganda material consists of little else than an endless repetition of this fanciful argument. So far does the MFI go in this regard that it has even staked ownership of the black stone in the Kaaba on these grounds. It tirelessly repeats a bogus tale of the Saudi rulers having allegedly painted over the image of Gohar Shahi in the Kaaba in order to conceal it from Muslims. Quite obviously, these arguments appear carefully crafted to inflame Muslim passions and probably to win cheap and easy publicity for the group, particularly in anti-Muslim circles.

In short, then, as emerged from what Yunous and Lali told me, the MFI was hardly the benign interfaith group committed to global peace that they sought to pass it off as. It was also hardly apolitical, contrary to what they claimed. After all, their self-styled Imam Mahdi was a political figure par excellence: he would, they said, lead a global war and would, in effect, rule the world. In more practical terms, the MFI has been involved politically in its own way in Pakistan. As its website reveals, the MFI has organized demonstrations in support of Musharraf in and outside Pakistan, claiming that he came to power because of the MFIs spiritual power. However, recently the MFI appears to have changed its position, as exemplified in the burning of Musharrafs effigy by its activists in Delhi.

Further evidence of the political agenda of the MFI emerges from the ongoing conflict between rival camps of followers of Gohar Shahi. The Pakistan-based Anjuman Sarfoshan-e Islam has accused Yunous of deliberately distorting the teachings of the founder of the cult. Yunous, they say, is working as an agent of anti-Islamic and anti-Pakistan forces in order to pursue his own worldly interests.

Yunous bizarre claims about Gohar Shahi, his unconcealed support for America, particularly for its so-called war on terror, and his own claim of being Gohar Shahis deputy, all clearly show that Yunous and his MFI have a clear political agenda of their own. The MFIs absurd claims appear to fit perfectly in with the political interests of American and Israeli establishment. This raises the question of whether the cults stated beliefs have been consciously tailored in order to win the support of certain governments that have a clearly anti-Muslim agenda.

While the sixty-odd supposed Pakistani MFI activists who burnt their passports were promptly dispatched to Delhis Tihar prison, an MFI activist I met in Delhi spoke about the possibility of another batch of twenty or so of their followers shortly leaving Pakistan to seek asylum in India. In this regard, a question that remains unanswered is how Pakistani MFI activists were able to acquire Indian visas, given that the visa granting rules for citizens of both countries are so stringent. When asked about this, Yunous simply replied that it was easier for Pakistanis to get Indian, as opposed to American, visas. But that, to many, may not sound convincing enough.

Given its absurd beliefs, which most Muslims, Hindus, Christians and others would find deeply offensive, the MFI must not be allowed to establish itself in India, which, as is clear from the dramatic demonstration that it recently organized and the sympathy that it is trying to evoke through the Indian media, is precisely what it is seeking to do. It may be recalled that some years ago the Government of India had banned another cult with almost identical eccentric views about the Imam Mehdi and the Kalki Avatar, the Deendar Anjuman, which has its international headquarters in Karachi, accusing it of being involved in a series of bomb blasts in the country. The Government would be well advised to be similarly careful in its approach to this new bizarre cult as well.
Help India!

By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

Incumbency encumbers Maya as Mulayam picks up momentum in UP.

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New Delhi: Who is going to sit on the throne of UP? The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind, as Bob Dylan sang. Well, in a manner of speaking.

The old journalistic way of sensing the peoples mood through a road journey in a battered taxi, stopping at every dhaba to chat with the country folk, including the dhaba wallah, does no longer work.

Real people from the locality seem to be knowing by increasing degrees of illumination that matdaan (vote) is gupt (secret). The more gupt, the better.

One way of finding which way the wind is blowing this election season could be asking random voters, but few people volunteer an honest answer. Another is through psephological forecasts, which stands out for not upto the mark, as it was in the defeat of the NDA, in spite of huge India Shining campaign.

Interestingly the India Shining campaign had won hearts of journalists and psephologists, even though it had failed to impress the Janta Janardhan (India electorate). This is so because the psephologists and media hiring their services are apt to put their own wistful thinking on to the projections.





Can Mayawati repeat her performance of 2007?



Yet another is, you talk to a cross section of journalists on the beat and try to see for yourself whether what they say (different journalists would, of course, say different things) matches your findings. The truth is likely to lie somewhere in between those positions.

For the first time in all these years one hears Dalits saying that BSP rule has not changed their material condition to any degree. Across the board their state of deprivation is virtually the same.

Whatever change for the better is visible today was inevitable in any case as the fast economic changes in the larger society would by default reflect, howsoever lightly, in some small parts of Dalit society as well.

Whatever improvement is visible in Dalit condition today has come as a consequence largely of the dynamics of long-term policies like reservation and other legal and constitutional provisions put in place at the very beginning of the Republic.

Despite good laws relating to the elimination of Dalit utpidan (oppression of Dalits) Uttar Pradeshs Dalits dont feel any more secure today compared to the pre-BSP days. Whatever the claims of the government on the issue, Dalits feel as insecure now as they ever felt.

Ironically, Dalits are a highly stratified society: one Dalit caste could be as high as a Brahmin for another Dalit caste, who would be the lowliest of the lowly among the Dalits, looked down upon by the castes higher in the Dalit hierarchy.

In this highly differentiated society all Dalits are not necessarily on the same wavelength as Mayawatis caste people. This time round, the earlier Dalit attraction to Congress is also visible here and there.

By and large Rahul Gandhi is a mere curiosity to voters of different castes and communities, but there are sections of Dalits who have begun to rediscover their lost interest in Congress (thanks largely to Rahul Gandhis assurance and BSPs indifference). This is bad news mainly for Mayawati and her party.

On the other hand, Congress has not gained any great traction, not enough to be a dominant player. However, it is enough to throw Mayawati off balance.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, UP still figures high on crimes against Dalits. In 2009, UP had a 22.4 per cent share of crimes against Dalits on an all-India level.

The state share of 624 Dalits murdered in 2009 in India was 37.7 percent; and of the 1,346 SC-ST women raped all over India during the same period, 23.6 belonged to UP. Out of 195 cases of arson attacks on Dalits in the country 38 percent occurred in UP, which does not cast the Mayawati government in a favorable light.





SP chief Mulayam Singh addressing an election rally.



Political analysts also say that Mayawati, on the one hand may lose Hindu upper caste votes, but end up consolidating her core vote base of Dalits. But its yet to be seen whether she will successfully be able to retain her Dalit core vote base, because in recent by-election a pattern was seen where SP was able to attract votes from dalit caste like Pasee.

Congress has marginally improved its ratings but it stands much weaker than Mulayam Singh Yadavs SP and Mayawatis BSP.

There is a huge talk among media about Muslim parties this time. Parties like Peace Party, Ulema Council prominent among others, which were the biggest parts of Ekta Manch, an alliance of small parties, most of which do backward politics. They seem to be talking in quite big terms like emerging as king makers in the process of government in the post- poll scenario.

Interestingly the poll campaign started with the media highlighted them as a potentially black sheep but as the election comes nearer, the division in Ekta Manch became quite prominent. Even though the Muslim Political parties were expected to get few seats, Peace Party and Ulema Council walked out of the Ekta Manch and brought the prospect of maximum political potential of the smaller parties to a minimum.

BJP may not be a great challenge to the SP and BSP, the estimated lead and second lead player this time. This time it has not been able to divide society on communal lines, which has always been its winning formula.

Attempts to trigger massive anti-Muslim riots have not generally succeeded anywhere and men in Muslim disguise found creating trouble have been nabbed and identified as non-Muslims belonging to some Hindutva outfit, which is often a front of the RSS.

Importantly, as an after thought the Ram Mandir issue has been resurrected, but it may not ignite passions enough to be effective.

Higher-caste Hindus are wary that if they vote for BJP it would ally with BSP, whose long-term agenda is antithetical to high-caste dominance. In that case their choice would have been Congress, but it is not a winning horse.

Congress is weakened by the recent massacre of Muslims in Bharatpur of Rajasthan which is under Congress rule and Batla House encounter in Delhi under the nose of UPA rule at Centre and Congress rule in Delhi state.

Muslims are convinced that Batla House encounter was fake. The mass arrest and torture of Muslim youth in Congress-ruled states has also turned the Muslim vote off.

Over the years a substantial chunk of Muslim vote has remained loyal to SP through thick and thin. Only when the Babri Masjid breaker Kalyan Singh joined SP there was a partial swing away from Mulayam Singh.

In elections a minor swing is a major factor in defeat or victory. Some of the swing away from Congress, BSP and BJP (of all voters, not just Muslims) has gravitated towards SP and most of the Muslim vote swinging away from Congress and BSP is also gravitating towards SP.

As of now, the SP star seems to be on the ascendant as the Elephant pace slows down.


Help India!

By TCN Special Correspondent,

New Delhi: In yet another case of police highhandedness, lawyer and Human Rights activist Bilal Kagzi, along with his clients, were severely beaten up in village Kosamba, Surat District of Gujarat. He was beaten up by police officials of the Kosamba Police Station within the premises of the station. They were kept in lock-up for 5 hours and released around 3 PM. Kagzi fears of further attack on him.

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Bilal Kagzi



The incident occurred on Wednesday morning, at around 10:30 am when Kagzi, along with two locals, Muhammed Rafeeq and Shahnawaz Khan, had gone to register a complaint about the destruction of public property by a local criminal, Mohd. Haneef Malik. The previous night, Mohd. Haneef had destroyed an RCC road of the village and blocked the way, with the claim that the traffic that passed through the road created a nuisance, since his house stood beside the road.

Advocate Kagzi, while talking to TwoCircles.net over phone from his village said, Today morning, I was approached by some locals to accompany them to the police station to register a complaint of damage to public property by Mohd. Haneef Malik. But as soon as we reached the station, the police officials, instead of listening to us, started hurling abuses. According to Kagazi, they dragged him and beat him severely when he tried to argue with them. The officials involved are Inspector Mr. A G Jadav, Constable Jaswant, ASI Kanti Surty and one driver who was in plain clothes.





Bilal Kagzi in police lockup



They dragged me in the premises of the police station and at point blank, threw me into the lock up, alleged Mr. Kagazi. They also threatened to encounter me, he added. Tujhe human rights ki bahut padi hui haitumhara encounter hi karna padega, if you dont stop working on all these issues, warned the police officials. No rules of arrest were followed and I was illegally detained for 5 hours for no reason, said an agitated Kagzi. He was also forced to sign a compromise paper. According to him, Mohd. Haneef Malik, the accused, is an infamous criminal of the area and has as many as 15-20 cases in his name, including charges of rape. But since he is a police informer and enjoys political patronage of the ruling party, nothing is done against him, alleged Kagzi. They can attack or forge a case against me anytime, fears Kagzi.
Help India!

By IndScribe,

It was a major embarassment for the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The lone Muslim legislator, Arif Aqueel of Congress came up with a private bill for ban on trade of bones and fat of the cows.

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This was not the first time when Aqueel has brought up the issue, as he has consistently spoken about condition of old cows and need for protection of cows, which is considered sacred in India.

Aqueel said that while cow is termed as gau mata and given status of mother, old cows are left to die. Those involved in trade of bones and fat of cow, kill the bovines. He said that the trade should be banned and there must be proper system in place to hold last rites of cows on government expense.

While minister for Animal Husbandry Kusum Mehdale praised Aqueel and even suggested giving him an award for his concern, she refused to take any action in this regard. The speaker suggested that the bill could later be introduced, after there is talk with religious gurus.

But Aqueel didnt back down. He kept raising the issue in the house. The MLA who represents Bhopal North Assembly seat and has won five times from the constituency since 1989, said that BJP is expected to ban the trade.

Muslim MLA speaks for cow conservation, BJP opposes it!

You have won because on your plank that you would work for conservation of cow, he said.

The BJP legislators created uproar but Aqueel remained defiant and stood his ground.

Finally, the speaker decided to take voice vote. The BJP being majority in the house, the bill was defeated by 55 to 31 votes.

Interestingly, most newspapers didnt report this debate in the Vidhan Sabha, properly though two newspapers carried it in their online editions. Read the report in Hindi newspapers and a brief report in the Agency below.

1. Government in a fix over Aqueels private bill seeking ban on trade of cow fat, bones

2. Govt didnt accept proposal for last rites of cows

3. Agency report on the same issue



IndScribe is an India-based journalist. He blogs at http://www.anindianmuslim.com
Help India!

By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,

Nandurbar: In an exceptional display of huge gathering at a function for Independence Day celebration, more than 15000 students of Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom, Akkalkuwa in Maharashtra remained present during flag hoisting, saluted it and participated in various programs held on the occasion.

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Established in 1979, the Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom, Akkalkuwa in Nandurbar district is an organization that imparts several educational courses along with Islamic classes.

The grand program was held here on the occasion of 70th Independence Day where students of all courses studying at Jamia took part in debates, speeches and singing patriotic songs. The flag was hoisted by Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the founder of the Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom and more than 15000 students offered salute to the national flag.

During their speeches, many students underscored contributions of Muslims in the freedom struggle. Speeches were delivered by students in different languages  English, Marathi and Urdu. Students also resonated national song and other patriotic couplets.

Many social activists and regional political people were present during the program that included  Inspector A T Pawar, Anusya Padwi, Vishwas Marathe, Rajiv Patil, Sandeep Marathe, Lateef Ansari and Musa Makrani.

While addressing the gathering after flag hoisting, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, stressed upon the need of education, movements and businesses so as to uplift the Muslim community and to overall develop the country.

At this moment it is also essential to remember the great sacrifices of Ulema in the Independence struggle so that their contribution is not erased from the history. Ulemas participation in the freedom movements should be passed on to the next generation, Vastanvi underlined Muslim leaders contribution in independence struggle.

Maulana Huzaifa Vastanvi, head of the education department at Jamia told the gathering that Muslims should contribute for the development of the country and for that they should increase education in the community.

Maulana Abdur Raheem Falahee centered his talk on the Muslims participation in the independence movement and said, More than 2 lakh Muslims and 51 thousand Ulema laid their life during the Independence struggle. Although attempts are made to erase their contribution from the history but it remains the fact that Muslims too have laid their blood to see todays independent India.

The program ended with a supplication for the martyrs who fought for the Independence of India.
Help India!

Ahmedabad : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday warned that the Gujarat government will be taught a lesson in the assembly elections next year unless it ends violence against Dalits.

Addressing the media here, Kejriwal said that an environment of suppression was very much visible in Gujarat as Dalits were coming under attack repeatedly.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader spoke a day after some Dalits returning from a rally at Una were attacked by some people. The Dalits alleged that police took no action against the aggressors.

Police again did nothing to save them. This proves that the attackers are goons sent by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, Kejriwal said.

I want to warn the Gujarat government that if they do not refrain from doing such things, people will teach them a lesson in the assembly polls next year that they will remember for a long time, Kejriwal said.

He said the BJP government first targeted the Patidar community and was now harassing the Dalit community.

It seems every community in the state is frustrated with the government and is raising its voice. There is jungle raj (lawlessness) in Gujarat.

Kejriwal, who turned 48 on Tuesday, earlier flew into Ahmedabad and then reached Sarangpur to pay tributes to the late Pramukh Swami, the spiritual guru and head of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Santha who breathed his last on August 13.

At Sarangpur, Kejriwal said: He was a divine soul. He dedicated his entire life for the betterment of humanity and to promote Hindu culture. He kept on serving people his entire life.

The AAP is beginning to make inroads in Gujarat and is on a membership drive all across the state.


Help India!

Hyderabad : The Joint Action Committee of students groups at University of Hyderabad ON Tuesday condemned police raids at Delhis Jamia Millia Islamia University on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.

The group of Social Justice, an umbrella grouping of various students organisations, said it stands in solidarity with the students of Jamia to resist and destroy the ground which gives legitimacy to the criminalization and oppression of minorities, and to safeguard the autonomy of academic spaces at all costs.

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Throughout its history, Jamia has been the target of communal profiling and repression, such as in the aftermath of the Batla House encounter in 2008, or the brutal attack on April 9, 2000, when students were assaulted by the Delhi police, the JAC said in a statement.

This comes at a time when we are already witnessing the heavy militarisation and policing of all academic spaces across the country in an attempt to stifle any kind of dissent, and to stop any critical questions from being raised, it added.

The JAC noted that the way university administrations in JNU, HCU, Jadavpur and other universities gave a free hand to the police to exercise brutality on the students, points clearly to the fact that the administrations work hand in glove with the police and the state to stifle and silence, rather than protect the rights of the university community and resist the attack on the universities autonomy.
Help India!

By TCN News,

Aligarh: India Wisdom Foundation (IWF), a group dedicated to assist weaker sections of Indian society in the fields of education and health, distributed scholarships to students in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on the eve of Independence Day.

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The function was organized at the Ismat Literacy Centre behind the university post office here on Sunday.

On this occasion the scholarships worth Rs.210,000 was distributed among 36 students from school to professional courses like engineering.

Masood-ul Hasan, a retired professor of English and Mother Mary Stanislaus, former principal, Our Lady of Fatima School, were the chief guests who encouraged the students to work hard and excel in life.

Dr Shahid Jameel, one of the founding members of IWF, said, The idea is to motivate students from financially poor background. We want to tell them that financial considerations should not come on their way if they want to study.

Named as Aligarh Project, is a scholarship program run by IWF to support the education of meritorious students, who are unable to afford it. Every year 30-35 students are supported through this program with a spending of about Rs. 2.5 to 3 lakhs.

In addition to this IWF provides financial support to the Ismat Literacy Centre of the AMU Ladies Club. This Centre provides non-formal education and vocational training to about 200 girls of various ages.

It also provides Iron-Folic acid and Calcium supplements to post-puberty age girls studying in the Ismat Literacy Centre. With sustained support from IWF, one acid attack victim completed BA from Delhi University and the other has completed the nursing course from Jamia Hamdard.
It is true that 2015 was not a good year for horror flicks. However, in 2016 a lot of Horror Movies are doing great business in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and worldwide. We expect that by the end of this year, a few of them would definitely receive awards for best script, best horror sequences, and other categories. The movies like The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist, Amityville: The Awakening, and The Forest are expected to become highest grossing horror films of the year. Let us take a look at the list of best horror movies 2016 that are doing great business in the US and all over the world.

The Forest

The Forest is a 2016 Hollywood film. It has been directed by Jason Zada. The script is writtenbyBen Ketai, Nick Antosca, and Sarah Cornwell. In this marvelous movie, Natalie Dormer and Taylor Kinney have played the leading roles. The film was released in January 2016, and so far it has done great business. The story of this Gramercy Pictures film is fascinating.

It revolves around the Aokigahara Forest. Sara Price (Natalie Dormer) has received a call from cops, and they say that her sister has lost her life during her journey in the Aokigahara Forest. So, Sara decides to visit that forest along with her beloved Rob (Eoin Macken). During her stay at a hotel, she meets Aiden (Taylor Kinney).

The three begin their journey towards the dark forest where a lot of strange things happen. Most of the scenes of this film were shot in Tokyo. As filming in the Aokigahara forest is not allowed, so the director selected a Serbia forest for the shooting.

Martyrs

Kevin and Michael Goetz have directed this Hollywood film. Mark L.

Smith has written the story. It is a remake of the 2008s film of the same name. According to the story, a little girl Lucie (Troian Bellisario) has been kept in a prison. Here she is irritated by awful things, and Anna (Bailey Noble) decides to help her.

Actually, Lucie has been trapped by demons, and they are not ready to set her free.

In this film, Troian Bellisario, Bailey Noble, Caitlin Carmichael, Romy Rosemont, and Toby Huss, played the leading roles. Screenwriter Mark has told in an interview that he has tried his best to avoid elements of violence. Martyrs has received mixed comments by critics.
UK Not-for-Profit Tells IP PBX Migration Story

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By Paula Bernier

Executive Editor, TMC By Paula BernierExecutive Editor, TMC

Organizations are increasingly adopting IP- and software-based business phone solutions in an effort to save costs, increase productivity, and more away from outdated legacy systems. Avante Care and Support is one such example of this trend.





The Kent County Council formed Avante a quarter of a century ago as a charity to manage residential care facilities and provide in-home support. Now the organization, which has 14 locations, also offers services for youth and runs nine dementia care facilities.

Avante was recently looking to replace a collection of legacy PBX (News - Alert) systems. What was in place was difficult to configure and maintain, costly to connect, required frequent reboots, and was easily susceptible to outages. Also, Avante wanted to support its mobile and remote workers on its telephone system in a seamless way.

That led Avante to select a software-based IP PBX from 3CX.

The 3CX Phone (News - Alert) System for Windows is a software-based, open standards platform that replaces proprietary PBXs. It cuts telco costs and boosts company productivity and mobility with the 3CXPhone clients for iOS, Android (News - Alert), Mac, and Windows.

3CX is a great business phone system; it does everything you could possibly want at an extremely competitive price, said Carl Vivash, Avantes IT manager. The support services are great, and the user guides available are outstanding. The best thing about 3CX is that it is a software you can install on a standard PC and have a basic phone system working within hours.

Avante is just one of many companies using the 3CX Phone System today. Others include such notable names as American Express (News - Alert), Boeing, Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles, Intercontinental Hotel & Resports, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McDonalds, Mitsubishi, Pepsi, ReMax, Schlumberger (News - Alert), and Wilson.

In addition to the phone system, 3CX offers a solution called 3CX WebMeeting. Its a web conferencing solution that leverages WebRTC technology, thereby eliminating the need for any plugins or clients. Browser-to-browser communication and click2call as well as advanced online classroom features are among the features of 3CX WebMeeting.

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Article comments powered by Disqus Article comments powered by

Edited by Maurice Nagle
A team of Chinese ophthalmologists have started to conduct free cataract surgeries for Sudanese patients in Khartoum as part of a medical cooperation program between the two countries.

Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health organized a ceremony at a local eye hospital on Monday to inaugurate the therapeutic Light Program.

"This therapeutic program indicates the level of the distinguished ties between Sudan and China and their cooperation in what brings benefit for the two peoples," said Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz, Sudanese official in charge of maintaining Sino-Sudanese relations, when addressing the ceremony.

"Sudan and China are tending to make their relationship comprehensive and strategic in all fields. We hope this practical application would push the bilateral ties to a strategic level with mutual benefits," he said.

According to Sudan's Federal Minister of Health Bahar Idriss Abu Garada, the Light Program aims to conduct 1,000 free eye surgeries at an average of 30 operations a day.

"We launch the Light Program which tends to conduct 1,000 eye surgeries by specialized Chinese ophthalmologists, using the most modern medical devices, as part of the National Program for Combating Blindness," the minister said.

In his address at the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Khartoum Li Lianhe reiterated China's concern with enhancing ties with Sudan in all fields and reviewed the health cooperation between the two countries starting about 50 years ago.
Egypt's tourism sector turns more attention to Chinese market Updated: 2016-08-16 09:07 (Xinhua)

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - Warm sunshine, peaceful beaches, colorful reefs and a cup of iced drink are always essentials for a heaven-like vocation, and also compose the reason why Sharm el-Sheikh is famous around the world.

However, as Egypt's most famous tourism city, Sharm el-Sheikh is still suffering from the sluggish income growth in the tourism sector, with hope on the coming season and a new market, China.

"We have gone through a very tough period because of the terrorism," Egyptian Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently, adding that the declining dollar income in tourism is the main reason of the current economic woes in his country.

Egypt has been suffering from the weak economy, especially in tourism, the second largest U.S. dollar income sector, over the past few years due to political turmoil.

The situation further deteriorated due to the Russian plane crash in Sinai that killed over 200 in October last year and a tragic fall of an EgyptAir flight in May that killed all 66 people on board.

"Egypt is where the history started, and tourism is a very cultural embedded industry. We have one-third of the antiquities of the world and the largest beaches on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which I believe is very attractive for the Chinese tourists," Rashed explained Egypt's interests in Chinese market.

"With the testimony of all people, including the Chinese living in Egypt, it is evident that Egypt is safe and a good choice for everyone for holidays," he added.

According to a report by the Egyptian statistics authority, the number of tourists coming to the country declined in May by 51.7 percent, comparing to the same month last year, with the main reason of the flight bans carried out by Russia, Britain and some other Western states after the plane accident last year.

At the same time, the number of Chinese visitors to Egypt increased from 65,000 to 135,000 in 2015, while the tourism ministry targets to multiply the number in 2016, given the growing bilateral relations the two countries.

"The good news is we have witnessed a slow growth in tourists recently, especially during the vocational month in the Arab countries," Khaled Fouda, South Sinai Governor of Egypt, said in an interview on Sunday.

"Besides the traditional origins of tourists, now we have turned our eyes on China, a country with a large population and ancient culture, similar to Egypt," the governor said, adding that Sharm el-Sheikh is highly and technologically-based re-secured, ready to welcome people around the world.

He also told Xinhua that Chinese people still don't know enough about Egypt. "It means that we have broad prospects in Chinese market," Fouda added.

Along the coastal strip of Sharm el-Shaeikh lays hundreds of hotels, resorts, travel agencies and night clubs. Some of them have been shut down, only leaving the dedicate buildings beside the sea, while others are trying to attract the shrinked number of tourists with lower price.

"Sharm el-Sheikh has become a habit for my family, every summer we come here with friends," George Turk, a middle-aged Jordanian told Xinhua. His wife and daughters were playing in a swimming pool within a hotel.

He said that years ago, Sharm el-Sheikh was always full of people from Britain and Russia. Now he noticed the increasing number of Chinese tourists.

A Chinese student named Li Ruiqing told Xinhua, echoing the governor's words, that "for most Chinese people, Egypt is still a distant country with mysterious culture. They like beaches and old temples, but they don't know well about Egypt."

For Semih Elbaba, the manager of a famous hotel named Rixos Seagate Sharm, his business idea is a little different from others.

"Differing from the other owners who have shut down their hotels or promoted cheaper packages while firing some staff, we choose to maintain our price and develop more projects," Elbaba told Xinhua.

As an experienced practitioner in the field of hotel management, Elbaba said Sharm el-Sheikh is reviving slowly, and his hotel will work on some promotion campaigns in China.

"We don't worry about the income in a short term, we cast our hope in the future," he said.
Beijing condemns top officials' shrine visit Updated: 2016-08-16 07:53 By Cai Hong in Tokyo and Mo Jingxi in Beijing(China Daily)

Two Cabinet ministers, 70 lawmakers pay their respects; Chinese experts say PM unrepentant

China expressed strong opposition to Japanese Cabinet members' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, saying it again reflects the Japanese government's wrong attitude toward history.

Also Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dispatched an aide to make an offering at the controversial shrine on the anniversary of Japan's wartime surrender.

Two Cabinet members - Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda - visited the shrine, along with about 70 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition group, the Democratic Party.

"We seriously urge the Japanese side to earnestly face up to history and reflect on its past aggressive history, and properly handle related issues in a responsible manner," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on its website.

Tomomi Inada, Japan's new defense minister, who is a regular visitor to the shrine on the Aug 15 anniversary of Japan's wartime surrender, was unable to go because she was on a three-day trip to Djibouti for a review of Japanese military personnel stationed there.

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal, and is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed deep concern and regret on Monday, calling on Japanese politicians to show humble introspection and sincere repentance over the country's militaristic past.

Abe vowed on Monday at a ceremony honoring victims of the war that Japan would work for world peace, according to Reuters.

"Going forward, and sticking to this firm pledge while facing history with humility, we will make every effort to contribute to world peace and prosperity and the realization of a world where everyone can live without fear," he said.

In Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Japanese citizens attended a gathering on Monday to mourn the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were murdered by Japanese soldiers in 1937.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University, said Abe's offering at the shrine was a cunning choice to declare right-wing sentiments while also considering the concerns of the international community.

"However, if the Japanese government does not face up to its wartime aggression and admit the existence of the Nanjing Massacre, it will be a political trick no matter whether Abe chooses to visit or not," he said.

Da Zhigang, a Japanese studies researcher at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said Abe's offering shows his ambivalence.

"You can tell that he wants to visit the shrine in his heart, but as a politician, he is under pressure to maintain a good diplomatic environment," he said.

Contact the writers at caihong@chinadaily.com.cn
A Beijing shutterbug captures Denmark's fairy-tale quality Updated: 2016-08-16 07:35 By LIN QI(China Daily)

Visitors at the ongoing art shows at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Before Beijing-based artist Liu Jin, 45, started a photography residency program in Denmark last summer, his impressions of the country came from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

So, he used this as inspiration during his residency program.

"I don't think that Andersen's works are exclusively for children. Rather, there are metaphors and satires which reveal reality and truth," he says.

His photographs of Copenhagen and Aarhus, where he spent most of his time during the program, accentuate the peaceful, fairy-tale landscapes that reflect Denmark.

In the photos. there is always a phantom-like figure, covered in different colors standing in empty streets or forests.

The figure was modeled by Liu's assistant. In one photo, he draped the Little Mermaid sculpture with a robe.

Echoing Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, Liu uses a surreal, whimsical perspective to tell people to question things that they see.

Liu's photos are now on show at an exhibition called New Clothes for the Fairy Tales at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone, along with an installation and a video he created during his stay in Denmark.

For Eric Messerschmidt, director of the DCC, Liu's works reveal a sense of fear that sometimes belies the ideal, clean and friendly appearance of people or the objects, something which can also be found in Andersen's works.

He also says that Liu's works are a sensitive statement on the tension and unrest that the Danes feel, thanks to the refugee issue in Europe.

Besides Liu's exhibition, which opened on Saturday, the center is also staging Danish Cool, an art show introducing the late Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen.

An official platform to promote Danish arts and culture, the DCC was officially opened last May in 798, which is typically dominated by galleries and artists' studios.

It was joined by German's Goethe-Institut Beijing, which also opened a space in 798 in October.

The DCC sits in the heart of 798, close to star neighbors such as the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, the Pace Gallery and the Faurschou Foundation.

Messerschmidt says that, as the 798 management transforms the area, he sees the DCC evolving into a unique entity.

"The area is open 24 hours, so it means the center can have live performances and film screenings also," he says.

He adds that the DCC does not want to focus just on pure art like galleries typically do, but address contemporary issues on a broader scale, whether they are about arts or about society.

"We want to deal with issues that interest both Danish and Chinese, and put them into a cultural narrative."

He says that though the current exhibitions may be artistic, the center has had exhibitions about the democratic changes in Denmark and sustainable development. It wants to communicate on a constant basis such issues as climate change, sexuality and such changes in gender as women getting stronger and men becoming more feminine.

He says that the DCC also hopes to produce at least two "truly Nordic" events a year.

In March, it held a two-month exhibition, The Weather Diaries, which explored the relationship between climate and fashion design in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

"We want to keep the center fresh and cool ... and to catch people who are used to quality and spectacular events."

If you go

10 am-6 pm, Tuesdays through Sundays, until Sept 18. Danish Cultural Center, 706 Bei Yi Jie, 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5762-6100.
People-to-people exchanges between China and the US could happen anywhere, anyplace through various platforms, as long as the initiator recognizes the importance of goodwill communication and is willing to promote a deeper, better and more candid dialogue.

Institutions of higher learning in particular must prepare their students to thrive in today's global economy and communicate well in an international workforce, through facilitating cross-cultural exchange.

That is the impression I was left with when I walked out of the Art of Dentistry, a photo exhibition that features 34 pieces of microscopic photography by a Chinese physician to celebrate the spirit of collaboration and innovation between the medical worlds of China and the US.

Starting at the Dugoni School of Dentistry at the University of the Pacific (UOP) on Aug 12, the exhibition features artistic works by Li Tiejun, associate dean and professor of oral pathology in the School of Stomatology at Peking University.

Students from both universities, which have had exchange programs for a decade, brainstormed on the exhibition blueprint - how to choose, enlarge and frame the images; secure a venue; and finally, open to the public.

Under the microscope, Li finds everything - an irritated blood vessel, decalcified bone tissue or a section of cartilage tissue - poetic, mysterious and magical.

"In fact, every cell has a story to tell, every molecule works a miracle. They are themselves very artistic and have waited thousands of years to be explored and to be appreciated," he said.

With his instincts as a painter and photographer, Li eventually decided to use scientific tools, the microscope, for example, to record his medical explorations and present his findings through capturing, processing and interpreting microscopic images by deploying the Chinese philosophy of yin and yang and the five elements and calling his collective album Beauty of Life.

The names that Li gives to each of his works, Under the Moon, Rainy Season, Winter Branches and Boundless, for example, are his interpretation of the essences of Chinese culture and civilizations - the necessity to harmonize with the environment, the pursuit of spiritual eternity and tranquility, and inner peace.

Through special staining, changing of prisms, unlimited imagination and creativity, Li's cross-boundary microscopic photography resonates with professional photographers and academic colleagues alike, said Nan Xiao, a student of Li 10 years ago and now an associate professor of biomedical science at UOP.

"Today's event celebrates the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry's globally connected culture and explores clinical excellence and leadership," said Nader Nadershahi, dean of the Dogoni School. "Our long-standing partnership with Peking University School of Stomatology is one example of how we build bridges with others."

The photomicrographs take you through the mists of technology to a little-traveled land of life, said Colin Wong, adjunct professor at UOP who connects the school's international programs with China and beyond.

"Currently, we are hosting eight young students from Peking University, and they are among us tonight," said Wong, when announcing the start of the exhibition at the reception, adding that the young civic ambassadors are not only learning from Western technological know-how but spreading friendship between young generations.

On a personal note, Li called the student-exchange program a budding relationship inspired by humanism, leadership, creativity and clinical excellence between China and the US.

"I hope this is an opportunity to further strengthen our long, existing friendship between our two universities," said Li.

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com
Republican US presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio August 15, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON -- US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump outlined his anti-terror plan on Monday, proposing an extreme ideological vetting for all immigrants and visitors to the United States to fight what he called "Radical Islamic Terrorism."

"We will be tough, and we will be even extreme," said Trump at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, casting the fight against "Radical Islamic Terrorism" as this generation's Cold War.

His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as well as US President Barack Obama have refused to use the term as they think it demonizes the Muslim faith.

"The common thread linking the major Islamic terrorist attacks that have recently occurred on our soil...is that they have involved immigrants or the children of immigrants," the New York billionaire argued.

"In addition to screening out all members of the sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out anyone who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law," said Trump.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he said, "I call it extreme vetting."

While claiming that if elected, his administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslims, Trump reiterated his initiatives to temporarily suspend visas from Muslim-majority countries and countries with a history of exporting terrorism.

In fighting terrorism, Trump also said he would focus on destroying the Islamic State through joint military operations with other countries, create "a commission on radical Islam," end "our current strategy of nation-building and regime change," keep Guantanamo Bay open and stop trying terror suspects in civilian courts.

"The rise of ISIS (the Islamic State) is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton," said Trump, who controversially labelled Obama and Clinton as "the founders of ISIS" last week.
New York seeks intrepid tourists Updated: 2016-08-16 10:51 By Amy He in New York(China Daily USA)

The head of NYC & Company wants tourists to get off the beaten path

While Chinese tourists are known for coming in tour groups to New York to see such destinations as the Empire State Building, Wall Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Macy's, Fred Dixon wants Chinese tourists to have a more immersive "real New York experience".

He would love for them to stay at a New York hotel, exercise in Central Park and take a nighttime stroll on the city's streets.

That may be more likely as the individual traveler becomes more common, said Dixon, president and CEO of NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing arm.

NYC & Company wants to convince Chinese travelers to stay in New York hotels and visit boroughs outside of Manhattan, perhaps learning the subway system and acclimating to the bustle of city life.

Right now, Chinese tourists headed to New York - NYC & Company projects that number to break 900,000 in 2016 - mostly visit in group tours that go on large sweeps of the Northeast, stopping in Washington, New York, Boston and Niagara Falls in upstate New York in two to three weeks.

Such forays make their stays in New York touch-and-go, said Dixon, which makes sense given that the Chinese are acting as most tourists do when they first start traveling abroad.

"[The way the Chinese are traveling now is] the way Americans traveled to Europe in the '60s and the '70s. There's the joke in American travel that, 'If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium,'" he said.

"You don't know where you are, you've seen so much - 14 capitals in 14 days. That's the way Americans used to go into Europe," he told China Daily at NYC & Company headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.

"And it's just a whirlwind tour, and that's what you do when a market first emerges. The travelers are probably coming outbound for the first time; they've been saving, they've been dreaming about this their whole lives, and they don't know if this is the only shot they get. So they're going, 'I want to see everything I can in one shot, and if I get another chance to go back, then I'll go and dive deeper,' " he said.

Because the itineraries of the Chinese tour groups are so aggressive, in order to stay moderately priced, groups often stay outside of New York, in New Jersey or elsewhere, to keep their travel costs economical.

Dixon said that approach leads to an incomplete New York experience. NYC & Company sees the chance to educate travelers on how to have a deeper New York experience, he said.

That includes marketing the numerous Chinatowns across the city, the rise of Brooklyn and Queens as must-see destinations, and of course working with New York City's retailers to promote shopping.

The company opened its first China office in 2007 in Shanghai, and although it does not disclose how much of its $37 million budget goes toward China, Dixon said that it invests more in China than it does in any other market.

The investments have paid off in many ways - visitation from China was 229,000 in 2010, and has quadrupled in six years. The 10-year US-China visa extension will play a large role in pushing that number even higher: By 2018, the number of travelers from China is expected to hit 1 million.

This summer, the company launched a city partnership with Shanghai, which sends the most Chinese travelers to New York of all the Chinese cities.

The partnership includes an ad swap, with ads for New York City running in four major subway stations in Shanghai, and in the fall, ads for Shanghai will run on 164 bus shelters across New York.

"The cool thing is that it's not often you get to see a market emerge like this. It's so exciting to see China grow and be a part of this experience," Dixon said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com
Radical British cleric Anjem Choudary convicted of inviting support for IS Updated: 2016-08-17 01:12 (Xinhua)

LONDON -- Britain's radical cleric Anjem Choudary has been found guilty of inviting support for the Islamic State (IS), British Sky News reported Tuesday.

Choudary, 49, has been convicted of inviting support for IS in a series of lectures released on YouTube, and is facing up to a decade behind bars, according to the British broadcaster.

The cleric is linked to 500 British extremists who have fled Britain to join IS in Syria and Iraq, Sky News reported citing security sources.

Choudary, from east London, insisted he was merely exercising his right to freedom of speech.

"If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship," he was quoted by Sky News as saying.

"If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that," he added.

"If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you don't really have freedom to express yourself in this country," said the cleric.
I have an interesting relationship with watches. At one point in my life  in my early college years  I had to wear a watch. I was so faithful in wearing the same watch every day that I had a tan line on my left wrist (and I loved that tan line). At that time, though, smart phones were not what they are today. If memory serves me right, the smart phones available back then were the Sidekick from T-mobile and the Palm Pilot from Sprint and other carriers. Remember them? I had neither one of these phones (I had the cutest little Sony Ericsson phone) because I could not afford them.

Anyway, although I had several name-brand watches, there was one particular one I loved, and I wore it every day. Eventually, my mom permanently borrowed some of my watches, and then I got a smart phone and slowly stopped checking time on my wrist. Consequently, I stopped wearing a watch every day.

But I still love watches. The difference now is that since I met Igwe six years ago, my watch style has changed. I no longer like the feminine watches with little faces surrounded by sparkly stones. Nope! One day, I wore Igwes watch, and all of a sudden, all his watches became our watches. The bigger and less feminine it is, the better for me. One of the advantages of my new watch style is that we can save money on watches since we wear the same ones anyway.

One day, I was on Instagram and I discovered the Daniel Wellington brand of watches. I loved everything I saw. I told someone about the brand and he ended up buying me one with a red, white, and blue strap (called the NATO strap). He said he bought it for me, but I know he really bought it for us. Then one day, Daniel Wellington contacted me to do a sponsored post for them and I did mental back flips. They said I should go to their website and pick ANY watch. Haaa! Me? Any watch? Any one at all, at all?

Here is our watch in all its glory. I love it!!! Its clean and classic and not trendy. In twenty years time, itll still be clean and classic and not trendy. Its everything I could ever want in a watch. I know that my Nigerian people are fashionistas and fashion-misters, so dont sleep on Daniel Wellington. Look at their collection online  and some of the straps are interchangeable! If youre wondering about the exact one I have on, its this one right here.

This is a sponsored post by Daniel Wellington (and I was compensated for it), but all opinions are 100% mine. The wrist wearing the watch also belongs to me.

P.S. My first time wearing the watch was at the BlogHer16 Conference.
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Gold medal for bravery?

A woman in HCM City had her gold necklace robbed when she was driving her motorbike on Phan ang Luu Street on Saturday. The thieves were driving a motorbike in the same direction, the Phap luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh ( HCM City Law ) newspaper reported.

The female victim, instead of crying out as many people would do in a similar situation, calmly followed the thieves.

Meanwhile, after grabbing the necklace, the thieves sped up but a few minutes slowed down to normal speed, not knowing they were being followed.

The necklace owner caught up with them on inh Tien Hoang Street. She reportedly pulled the woman who was sitting in the back of the bike, and started screaming thieves to call for help.

Although one of the thieves ran away, the other admitted their crime to police.

Some applauded the calmness and bravery that enabled the necklace owner to retrieve her prized possession. Others said she took too great of a risk.

The man who didnt die

A 60-year-old biker was said to come back to life half an hour after his motorbike collided with another motorbike in southern Binh Duong Provinces Di An Town on Saturday evening.

Witnesses said the collision happened when the man, with a three-year-old child on his motorbike, tried to cross a road. A young driver on the main road failed to avoid them.

The young driver and the kid were promptly taken to hospital, while the older driver stopped breathing, witnesses said.

Local residents even donated incense, fruit and a mat to cover the victim.

But, unexpectedly, the man wrapped in the mat moved after about half an hour, witness said.

He is now in hospital. The lesson? Dont rush to conclude that someone is dead.

Good help is hard to find

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Ky, deputy head of Nha Trang Police, said on Sunday that police are investigating the alleged appropriation by a domestic helper of her employers house.

The 81-year-old employer, Le Thi Hao, and her relatives reported to police that the domestic helper stole housing documents and used them as collateral to borrow money.

Hao lives alone in a three-storey house estimated to be worth VN 5 billion (US$ 224,200) on Bach ang Street, Nha Trang City. In 2012, she hired the domestic helper as her health deteriorated.

Hao told police that last month, the domestic helper took her to visit a doctor, but not her usual one. She was asked to sign and press her finger print on many documents, which she hardly read.

As soon as the domestic helper admitted her acts, Haos relatives found housing documents, including a land-use right certificate and house ownership certificate granted by Nha Trang City Peoples Committee on July 28, and another housing transfer contract saying Hao had sold her house to a man for VN 500 million (one tenth of the houses current price).

However, the 53-year-old helper said that she received only VN150 million in the deal that also involved a couple who dealt with the housing documents.

And the lesson? Good help is hard to find.  VNS
Trade value between Viet Nam and the European Union (EU) in the first half of this year has gained a year-on-year growth of 9.05 per cent to US$21.2 billion. Photo doanhnghiepvn.vn

HA NOI  Trade value between Viet Nam and the European Union (EU) in the first half of this year has gained a year-on-year growth of 9.05 per cent to US$21.2 billion.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trades European Market Department, during the period, export value from Viet Nam to the EU increased by 8.68 per cent to $16.2 billion and import value to Viet Nam from the EU surged by 10.28 per cent to $5 billion.

Viet Nam mainly exported traditional products to the EU, including textile, garment, footwear, and coffee, in addition to seafood and computer.

Viet Nam especially started exporting telephone and its components to the EU in 2011, but the export value of those products in 2015 reached $9.7 billion and accounted for 75 per cent of its total national export value to EU, it was reported on the ministrys website on August 10.

In addition, some other products retained growth of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent per year in export value though they did not have large export value, including plastic products, wood and wooden products, handbag, suitcase, and umbrella, apart from pepper, and cashew.

In the first six months, Viet Nam mainly imported from most of EU member countries products that the nation had not produced, or which they lacked, such as machines, equipment, tools and pharmaceutical products, in addition to milk and milk products.

Over the past years, the trade relationship between Viet Nam and the EU has gained rapidly and developed efficiently. The bilateral trade value increased by 10 times from $4.1 billion in 2000 to $41.2 billion in 2015.

Of this, the export value from Viet Nam to the EU surged 11 times from $2.8 billion to $30.8 billion while import value from the EU to Viet Nam rose eight times from $1.3 billion to $10.4 billion.  VNS
A variety of moon cakes have hit the market with more than a month to go for the Mid-Autumn Festival.  Photo vietq.vn

HCM CITY  A variety of moon cakes have hit the market with more than a month to go for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Unlike in previous years, famous confectioners like Kinh o Mondelez, ong Khanh, Bibica, Huu Nghi, and Givral have this year come to the market even before the seventh lunar month.

Kinh o Modelez began its moon cake season nearly a month ago by exporting a batch of products to the US.

At home it has launched 62 varieties ranging from traditional style cakes to modern variations with abalone, Alaska shrimp, and crab.

They cost VN35,000 (US$1.6) to VN460,000 ($21) for a box.

Without disclosing the planned volume of supply, Vu Quoc Tuan, the companys deputy director of the foreign relations and communications division, told Viet Nam News It will be higher than last year. The market this year will surely grow and consumption will rise in all segments.

ong Khanh Food and Foodstuff Company Ltd told Viet Nam News that it has introduced nearly 20 kinds of moon cakes this year.

Mai Thi Loc, head of its marketing department, said We have just launched the new products and are waiting for consumers reactions. The plan may change then.

Bibica Corporation has increased supply 11 per cent this year to 550 tonnes.

It has set up some 500 kiosks in addition to 12,000 shops that would sell its cakes, the company said.

There will be 50 products in three lines -- luxury, nutrition and tradition  besides fruit moon cakes for online customers, it said.

The prices are 5 per cent higher than last year at VN37,000-140,000, with a luxury selection priced at VN370,000-1.3 million (US$16.5  58.29) per box, it added.

Bibica plans to gift 10,000 moon cakes and other confectionery to disadvantaged children and those living in remote areas around the country.

Like in recent years amateurs too are offering moon cake by posting many kinds on Facebook and other social media.

They have become very popular due to their unique designs.

Moon cakes imported from Hong Kong and sold on social media have also attracted many buyers this year.

Luxury segment in high demand

Many of the confectionary firms predict demand for moon cakes to gift relatives and business partners will increase this year.

Loc of ong Khanh told Viet Nam News that the full-moon festival this year falls at the same time as Independence Day, another occasion on which Vietnamese give gifts.

The demand will surely increase, she said.

Seeing the potential, ong Khanh decided to produce some high-end products.

This segment will account for up to 10 per cent of our companys total output and its production will be 15 per cent higher than last year.

Concurring, Tuan of Kinh o Mondelez said Demand for moon cakes used as gifts for companies and partners will surely increase.

His company has worked to improve quality and design to capitalise on the opportunity, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Entrepreneurs are hailing a national plan to reduce corporate income tax for small- and medium-sized enterprises from 20 per cent to 17 per cent starting next year.

In a recent proposal submitted to the Government, the Ministry of Finance said businesses making less than VN20 billion (US$893,000) in revenue per year would enjoy the lower tax rate for four years, from January 1, 2017.

This was among the incentives included in a draft resolution of the National Assembly on tax measures to help domestic business improve competitiveness as Viet Nam integrates into the global economy.

The ministry expects this policy to benefit some 430,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or 86 per cent of 500,000 SMEs operating nationwide.

The tax reduction will help us save hundreds of million of ong anually, and we will use this amount to invest more in human resources and product development, said Tang Van Khanh, director of the investment firm K&G Viet Nam.

Khanh told Viet Nam Television (VTV) that this was important for his company, which was meeting financial difficulties four years after its establishment.

Tong Quang Huy, director of the paper company Hai Tien, told the Voice of Viet Nam (VOV) that SMEs were facing obstacles in production and distribution. With the tax reduction, they would have more resources to expand.

Supermarkets are seeing fierce competition from foreign retailers. We are very glad about a tax drop, Ta Minh Son, who directs Tu Son supermarket in the southern province of An Giang, told VTV.

Le Thanh Man, deputy general director of the trading firm Nguyen Hue in An Giang, told the television It is good that the authorities see the point. Such a policy is likely to stimulate business growth and efficiently growing businesses will foster tax development.

Pham inh Thi, head of the ministrys Tax Policy Department, said SMEs with annual revenues of up to VN20 billion currently contribute a combined VN2.46 trillion to the State budget.

When the corporate income tax is slashed to 17 per cent, State budget revenues will decline by some VN473 billion a year.

We see such a tax cut as reasonable in the current context. It will create certain motive for enterprises to develop while not affecting the State budget, which is bearing burdens, Thi said.

The ministry said the corporate income tax had already been sharply cut over nearly two decades. It was 32 per cent in 1999, 28 per cent in 2004 and 25 per cent in 2009, before falling to 22 per cent in 2014 and 20 per cent this year.

The current level is significantly lower than a rate of 30 per cent in the Philippines and 25 per cent in China.

A law on supporting SMEs, which is being drafted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in October, defines SMEs as companies making less than VN100 billion in revenue per year.

Despite this, the finance ministry said corporate income tax should only be given to firms making less than VN20 billion in annual revenue in order to avoid a significant decrease in budget collection.

It said budget collection could drop by VN1.5 trillion each year if the 17 per cent tax was applied to businesses making less than VN100 billion in annual revenue.

Tax is not the main point. It is important for us to make sure the business environment is equal for enterprises to compete healthily, Thi said.

Official data indicates SMEs contribute some 46 per cent to Viet Nams gross domestic product and 31 per cent of all tax revenues, employing 60 per cent of the countrys workforce.  VNS
HA NOI  The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that it was necessary to identify shrimp as a national strategic product to boost farming, enhance quality and build a globally-recognised Vietnamese shrimp brand.

At a conference on Monday which gathered shrimp producers and processors from 28 coastal provinces and cities, Cuong said that Viet Nam had a large potential for shrimp production. However, scattered farming, shortage of quality raw materials together with the lack of a comprehensive development strategy and value chain were blocking its potential, Cuong said.

He said that shrimp had immense consumption markets.

In addition, boosting shrimp farming turns out to be a good choice for Viet Nams agricultural production as it could turn the salt intrusion in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta into an opportunity.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, for the long term, will join hands with relevant agencies to build up a strategy for shrimp farming and processing towards a world-recognised Vietnamese shrimp brand, said Cuong.

He urged local authorities to enhance management towards all shrimp farming stages, from breeding to disease prevention, while shrimp farmers apply new farming techniques and technologies to improve shrimp quality.

Experts at the conference said that developing breeding shrimp became critical to boosting shrimp farming, adding that heavy reliance on imported breeding shrimp existed as a major challenge.

ang Quoc Tuan, deputy director of Viet Uc Seafood, a leading shrimp farming company, said Viet Nam had a great opportunity to become one of the worlds biggest shrimp producers, given the chances coming from the participation in free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the ASEAN Economic Community and Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Quality breeding shrimp is the decisive factor for success, Tuan said.

According to Nguyen Hoang Anh, president of Binh Thuan Province Shrimp Association, the quality of breeding shrimp will decide up to 70 per cent of the output of shrimp farming.

However, failure in controlling the origin and quality of breeding shrimp as well as managing the uses of chemicals were badly affecting shrimp quality.

The association proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development attach greater attention to shrimp breading to ensure quality and promote domestic breading.

Viet Nam currently needed around 130 billion breeding shrimp every year, but local breeding could meet only 40 per cent of the demand.

Especially, farming of white leg shrimp remained heavily reliant on imported breeding shrimp, mainly from the US, Singapore, Thailand and Mexico.

Statistics from the Directorate of Fisheries showed that as of June, Viet Nam had 1,750 giant tiger prawn breeding farms and another 510 white-leg shrimp breeding farms.

In the first half of this year, shrimp output reached 191,000 tonnes.

The Viet Nam Seafood Exporters and Processors early this month forecast that Vietnamese shrimp exports would top US$3 billion this year, after achieving $1.4 billion in the years fist half.  VNS
ONG NAI  The southern ong Nai Province has decided to stop the operations of automatic wastewater monitoring stations that were installed by investors in provincial industrial zones.

According to Vo Niem Tuong, head of the local environment protection department, the investors had spent more than VN23 billion (over US$1 million) in installing 21 stations in 16 industrial zones in the province since 2010.

However, most of the stations did not show accurate data after the wastewater was treated in industrial zones, he said.

Lack of synchronised devices, parameters and routine maintenance were blamed for the inaccurate figures, Tuong said.

In many cases, wastewater in industrial areas was contaminated, but automatic monitoring stations still showed the water quality to be within permissible limits.

To deal with such situations, the province has started using 19 other stations funded by the government in 18 industrial zones to replace old ones.

After a period of operation, the test results showed more accurate data, Tuong said.

The department has also proposed sanctions against some local industrial zones for environment violations.

The province now has 30 industrial zones that discharge about 94,600cu.m of wastewater each day.  VNS
THANH HOA  Alluvium, mud and soil brought down by floods are the reasons behind the mass fish death in central Thanh Hoa Province over the past few days, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said today.

Fish being bred in cages along the Ma River reportedly began dying on Sunday night. All the fish, collectively weighing nearly eight tonnes, have died, according to the local authority.

Native fish in the Ma River have also died en masse.

The department conducted tests on the fish and water samples and concluded that the floods caused a sudden change in the environment that led to the fish deaths.

Deputy director of the department, Nguyen Viet Thai, said that the authority had recommended farmers harvest their fish or move the cages to safe locations to limit the loss.

He said the dead fish were collected and destroyed.

The case was reported to provincial authorities so that the cause of the mass deaths could be identified and measures taken to assist farmers.

In May, more than 17 tonnes of fish being bred in cages in the provinces Thach Thanh District died. Investigations in that case showed that a large amount of wastewater from cassava starch and sugar plants released in the nearby Hoa Binh Province without proper treatment had caused the mass fish deaths.  VNS
A NANG  a Nang Citys Department of Natural Resources and Environment has sent to the police details of alleged toxic waste dumped by an environmental company at the Khanh Son dumping site.

The department also reported the incident to the municipal Peoples Committee, it said on Monday.

Earlier, local residents in Lien Chieu Districts Hoa Khanh Nam Ward discovered that Anh Duong Environmental Services One Member Co. Ltd had transported and dumped tonnes of black waste at the Khanh Son dumping site to be buried there.

Observed by reporters, the waste was dumped on the area of 500 square metres.

Many holes with the depth of four metres were covered by canvas. Bags of waste were seen scattered in the area, which turned red after remaining under the sun for a while.

Local residents asked the company what kind of waste it was, but received no replies. They have reported the incident to local authorities as they fear toxic waste might harm the environment.

On August 12, local authorities had inspected the scene and asked the company to halt the burial of waste. Waste samples were taken for tests.

The total waste was estimated to be more than 30 tonnes.

Nguyen Huu Thiet, vice chairman of Lien Chieu Districts Peoples Committee, said that the company owned business operation licences granted by the city.

The committee has asked the city authorities to investigate the origin of the waste and its hazard levels. The results should be announced soon to local residents, he said.

Nguyen ang My Uyen, director of Anh Duong Environmental Services One Member Co. Ltd said that the amount of waste was collected from Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone and a company in the north for burial.

The company agreed to take the waste as it assumed it contained no toxic substances. -- VNS
HCM CITY  A new book on the late President Ho Chi Minh and National Assembly of Viet Nam (NA) has been published in HCM City by the Tre (Youth) Publishing House.

Titled Bac Ho Voi Quoc Hoi Viet Nam (Uncle Ho and National Assembly of Viet Nam), the book aims to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and National Day (September 2). It is co-written by Ha Minh Hong, Tran Thuan and Luu Van Quyet.

It features the history of the National Assembly, including stories about the first democratic election in the country (January 6, 1946).

It also covers the founding of the NA (1946 to 1960) and the period of building Social Republic in the north (1946 to 1969).

The first President and his works are featured through these historical events.

Bac Ho Voi Quoc Hoi Viet Nam reviews and highlights the role and contributions of the NA and President Ho Chi Minh during the process of building and protecting the country.

The 100-page book includes different sources of books, reports and documentaries stored by institutes, libraries and museums in the country as well as personal collections of national leaders.  VNS
HA NOI  Many years after being released from Hoa Lo Prison, US veteran Walter Eugene Wilber still felt grateful to the Viet Nam Government for his good treatment. He always wanted to visit Viet Nam and the prison once again, but never got to do so.

Yesterday, Thomas Eugene Wilber executed his fathers wishes and presented items related to US Navy Captain Walter Eugene Wilber to Hoa Lo Prison in Ha Noi.

During nearly five years of imprisonment, Capt Wilber was always treated well and he appreciated that, his son said. He actively joined the antiwar movement when he was set free.

When Capt Wilber returned to the US, Pennsylvanias Star Gazette newspaper of February 23, 1973 issued a special edition to welcome him, with a series of stories entitled Capt Wilber: Still Relaxed, Easy-going, Happy, Cool.

Wilber told the newspaper that he was never tortured and his food and water were just as good as that consumed by the civilians outside the walls of the prison.

The newspaper was among the items Thomas Wilber presented to Hoa Lo Prison Historical Relics management board.

I look forward to how these items and others to come will be used to show another dimension to the narrative of history here in Hoa Lo, said Thomas.

After four years and eight months, he was returned healthy and happy to our family. We all felt grateful for that.

My father was provided with food, clothing, shelter and medical care during his time in Ha Noi. He believed that he was treated well, especially considering the difficult condition of the Vietnamese people during wartime.

Items presented by Thomas Wilber.  VNS Photo Minh Thu

Walter Wilber grew up on a farm and joined the Navy in 1948 when he was 18 because he was told he would be able to fly airplanes. He wanted to fly, said Thomas.

He became a naval aviator and flew many types of airplanes and became commanding officer of a flighter squadron. He was shot down on June 16, 1968 over the central province of Nghe An. His parachute landed in Thanh Chuong District. Several days later, he arrived at Hoa Lo Prison.

One of the items presented at Hoa Lo is the last letter written by Capt Wilber on June 15, 1968 to wish Thomas a happy 13th birthday. He posted the letter and on June 16, he was shot down.

Two weeks after, I received the letter, said Thomas.

Its very important to me because although he didnt know when he wrote it that he would be in captivity and be gone from home for nearly five years, he told me to continue to be helpful to my mother during the sad time.

He remained both a true patriot of his country and a firm believer that the war in Viet Nam was wrong, all of his life, he said.

Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, head of the management board, said she expected that Thomas Wilber would inspire other organisations and individuals to donate war memorabilia and to spread the truth of the Viet Nam War.

Hoa Lo receives many visitors everyday who want to understand the Viet Nam War, she said.

These items presented by Thomas Wilver tell a story that will touch peoples hearts. We will display them in the near future.  VNS
Nguyen Xuan Cuong, newly-appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, speaks to the Lao ong (Labour) newspaper about his resolve to reorganise the farming sector so that farmers would earn higher incomes.

What challenges will Viet Nam face when the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement comes into force?

Viet Nam is one of the 12 members of the TPP. However, most of the member countries are economically developed nations. This is a big challenge for an agricultural-based economy like Viet Nam. When the TPP comes into force, our agriculture products will face fierce competition from advanced agricultural economy members. If we dont make good preparations, we  both the farmers and the enterprises  will be defeated right in our own market.

Our farm products will face challenges in output markets, both inside and outside the country.

For the domestic market, our agricultural goods and services are not yet sustainable. In the international market, the cost of marketing services is high, while the market forecast remains weak. Another challenge many Vietnamese enterprises are facing is the application of the country of origin principle due to their dependence on the importation of raw materials.

It is high time for us to reorganise our agricultural production, and apply advanced science and technology in production, processing, conservation and in post-harvest losses. All in all, it is important for the countrys primary industry to improve its competitive edge right in our own market and also the international market. To achieve this goal, both the farmers and enterprises should co-operate together to create a good linkage and ensure good quality of both the inputs and outputs.

At present, our agriculture products are mainly exported to China. However, in the near future, a series of Free Trade Agreements and the TPP will come into force. In your opinion, what preparations should be made right now?

With a population of 1.4 billion, Chinas market has been and will remain a very big and potential market for Viet Nams agricultural products.

In the past five years, agricultural exports to China accounted for about 35 per cent of the countrys total exports. In 2015 alone, the export turnover from agricultural products was about US$5 billion. In the first four months of 2016, the volume of vegetables and fruits Viet Nam exported to China increased by 47.7 per cent compared with the same period of 2015.

I have to concede that China does not require a very high quality of imported products from Viet Nam. In the long run, we should focus more on official trade with China while trying to expand our foreign trade with Japan, the United States, Australia, the EU and others. This is the right path for agricultural development.

Food safety has become an anxiety for all Vietnamese. In your position as Commander in Chief of the countrys primary industry, do you have a plan to solve this serious problem?

In the past two years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has considered food safety its primary task. Particularly, this year, food safety has received special attention from the whole agriculture sector. To date, the campaign has achieved certain successes. But quite a lot of work must be done to meet the general publics demands on food safety. We vow to do our best to set law and order in food safety to protect the peoples health through the campaign of food safety from farm to fork.

The MARD has encouraged enterprises to invest more in agricultural production and in the food safety chain nationally and internationally.

Could you please elaborate on the food safety chain, both nationally and internationally?

Our agriculture industry is mainly based on small and scattered production. Up to 69 per cent of Vietnamese agricultural households have less than 0.5ha for their production, and 34.7 per cent have less than 0.2ha.

In addition, there remain many weaknesses in production, particularly the problem of middle men during the production process. This has led to the problem of high costs in inputs, thus weakening the farmers benefits.

Another problem that I think has become a serious problem for our farmers is that the quality of their products is unstable and fails to meet buyers taste and requirements. In other words, they have focused too much on increasing products yield, yet not on product quality.

Another problem I want to mention is that in the production chain, the farmers are the ones having to bear all the risks, including natural calamity, epidemics and market factors. All in all, the farmers earn just about 25-30 per cent profits from their products. But for coffee, the profit is just between 5-7 per cent. This is a big absurdity! We should create a production chain to bring more benefits to farmers by cutting down benefits to middle men. In the meantime, from my point of view, the MARD will review existing policies with an urgent objective to bring more benefits to farmers.  VNS
NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan delivers speech at the 14th National Assembly Standing Commitee (NASC) session. VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  Providing the foreign Minister, and heads of Supreme Peoples Procuracy and Supreme Peoples Court with bodyguards was proposed in the draft Law on Guard Force which was discussed in the 14th National Assembly Standing Commitee (NASC) session.

Senior Lieutenant-General To Lam, Minister of Public Security delivered a report on the Draft Law in the morning session.

Protecting more senior officials was suitable with current guarding activities, Lam told the meeting.

They [the Foreign Minister, and heads of Peoples Supreme Procuracy and Peoples Supreme Court] are leaders of procedural agencies and foreign affairs so their jobs are high risk, he said.

With the trend of legal reform and crime fighting, and expanding international co-operation, their jobs will become more complicated, he added.

So, they need to be offered bodyguards, said Lam.

Deputy Nguyen Khac inh, Chairman of the NA Legal Committee suggested that the minister of the Public Security, and Defence should also have bodyguards.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan opposed providing bodyguards to the senior officials. She said this was not neccesary.

The draft law also included allowing body guards to shoot their weapons.

Many deputies agreed that use of weapons must be mentioned in the law because it relates directly to human rights and citizenship.

The NA chairwoman said that the draft law should regulate in details the use of weapons by guards, and when guards can shoot and who they can shoot.

The draft Law on the Guard Force was discussed for the first time at the second session of the NASC and is set to be submitted to the upcoming NA session.

Participants said an ordinance on the guard force was issued in 2005, providing an important legal foundation for the force to fulfill its tasks.

It is necessary to make a law on the guard force to concretise relevant articles in the 2013 Constitution, they said, adding that the law will facilitate the forces security safeguarding activities and ensure human rights and citizens rights.

The draft comprises five chapters with 29 articles. Concluding the discussion, NA Vice Chairman o Ba Ty said lawmakers agreed to upgrade the ordinance on the guard force to a law.

As this was the first time the draft law came under consideration, the drafting board needs to continue working with agencies prepare for further discussion, he noted.

During the three-day session, lawmakers will also make an initial assessment of the 14th legislatures first session in July and talk about arrangements for the second session.

It will also examine draft laws on communal police which will be appraised at the NAs second session. Participants will also discuss the Governments proposals on the adjustment to the 2016 foreign capital plan.

The NASC resolution on evaluating and monitoring the State budget estimation, distribution and expense will be discussed during the meeting.  VNS
NGHE AN  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc underscored the need for the central province of Nghe An to change its thinking about development and optimise its strength to grow.

The Prime Minister made the comments at a meeting with provincial leaders yesterday to review the provinces socio-economic development over the past seven months as well as its three-year implementation of a Politburo resolution which outlines development orientations for the locality to 2020.

Nghe An should diversify development and resources, especially from the private economic sector, he said.

Economic development must be paired with environmental protection, he said, citing the recent environmental incident related to Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company as a lesson.

The PM asked the provincial Party Committee to raise the capacity and virtue of local officials and Party members.

The province was also requested to seek sustainable and comprehensive measures to become a centre of the countrys north central region.

PM Phuc praised Nghe Ans achievements in building new-style rural areas, and maintaining political security, social order and safety.

He, however, pointed to the provinces limitations in carrying out the resolution such as low per-capita income, high poverty rates and low competitiveness.

Nghe An has failed to create major breakthroughs in socio-economic development, he said.

Leaders of ministries and agencies suggested Nghe An generate more jobs for local labourers, especially in education and health care, and prioritise investments in infrastructure.

The same day, PM Phuc visited Nam Giang, a new-style commune in Nam an District, where he praised efforts to restructure local agricultural.

While in Nghe An, the PM inspected the construction of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park, which began in September last year and visited the Vissai seaport project.

He asked the investors to ensure the quality and progress of the projects, helping boost socio-economic development of the locality and the region.  VNS
HCM CITY Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in HCM City has opened a dialysis centre in collaboration with the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy.

The high-tech centre is equipped with 20 dialysis machines and can provide haemodialysis to 50-60 patients suffering from renal failure daily.

The equipment, medicines, and haemodialysis therapy are based on Japanese safety and quality standards.

Five Japanese nephrologists and haemodialysis experts will work at the centre and provide technical assistance to Vietnamese doctors for a month after the opening.

Tanaka Urology Clinic Group also collaborated in the setting up of the centre.

Vo uc Chien, director of the hospital, said the centre would offer internationally accredited training courses in nephrology and dialysis for doctors and nurses in future.

Last year the hospital upgraded its dialysis unit into a dialysis department to meet the increasing need for haemodialysis.

It has been operating beyond its capacity, providing haemodialysis for more than 150 patients suffering from chronic renal failure. VNS
An irrigation construction in Phu Tho Province. Signs of cracking, subsiding and leaking water have been found on 16 irrigation reservoirs in the province, falling short of safety standards during rainy reason.  Photo baophutho.vn

PHU THO  Signs of cracking, subsiding and leaking water have been found on 16 irrigation reservoirs in northern Phu Tho Province, falling short of safety standards during rainy reason.

The reservoirs are Cay Quyt, Rom, at Doi, am Gai, Vo, Nui au, Nha Giac, Choi, a en, Tram Can, Vinh Lai, Tram Sat and Ba Gac.

The provincial Irrigation Division said they were degraded as they were all built 3-4 decades ago.

A lack of funds to repair and upgrade the reservoirs was another problem, the division said.

The divisions statistics revealed that no reservoir in the province was equipped with devices to observe and measure meteorological data.

This resulted in inaccuracy of data and difficulties in controlling water levels in the reservoirs, the division said.

Lam Viet Tuan, head of the division, said the division made plans to minimise risks caused by degraded reservoirs during the rainy season. Senior experts were told to be ready to take action in emergencies.

The division also proposed the provincial Peoples Committee allocate funds for repairing and upgrading the reservoirs.

Nguyen Van Loi, director of the State-backed Phu Tho Irrigation Work Exploitation One Member Co Ltd  the company assigned to operate all irrigation works in the province, told Phu Tho newspaper that it attempted to fix damaged reservoirs step by step.

From early this year, the company began assessing the degradation of local reservoirs. After the assessment, it repaired six damaged reservoirs with money from the provincial Natural Disaster Prevention and Controls funds, he said.

The company also assigned teams on duty 24 hours a day at each irrigation works to ensure safety during the rainy season, he said.

The province now has 420 irrigation reservoirs.  VNS
LAO CAI  Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has asked the public security ministry and the local peoples committee to investigate and quickly arrest the murderer(s) of four people in Lao Cai.

The victims, who were four members of a family, were found dead in Bat Xat Districts Trinh Tuong Commune in the northern mountainous province, following an incident of suspected robbery last Tuesday evening.

The robber(s) ransacked the house and stole more than VN10 million (US$434).

Based on clues collected from the scene, the local police said a man was the prime suspect in the case, Nguoi Lao ong (Labourer) online newspaper reported.

The suspect lived near the house of the victims and has been missing since the day of the massacre, the police said.

Col Nguyen Van Thai, deputy head of the local border guard, yesterday said hundreds of soldiers had been mobilised to find the killer.

Local residents and the task force for drug crime prevention were also called to join the search for the murderer, he said.  VNS
The overwhelming majority of Virginia Techs nearly 7,000 graduate students are juggling full- or part- time jobs and families while earning their degrees. Brenda Harris, the Virginia Tech Graduate School registration and information specialist, works hard every day to support these students and assist them throughout their academic careers. Her commitment, enthusiasm, and problem-solving skills make her one of the go-to people for students who need a solution for their academic issues.

We all work together as a team to achieve a common goal, which is academic progress for all graduate students and a rewarding school experience, Harris said.

She is one of seven Virginia Tech employees who are being honored for 45 years of service to Virginia Tech. She was recognized during the 2016 Service Recognition Program this spring.



From her office in the Graduate Life Center, Harris primary responsibilities are to research and help solve issues that students have regarding their course schedules, grades and financial concerns. She works closely with the registrars office, bursars office, associate deans for the graduate school, and Karen DePauw, vice president and dean for Graduate Education.

Brenda serves the entire graduate student community well and is always eager to assist students, said DePauw. She does so with a wonderful smile and takes great pride in her work.

Harris began working at Virginia Tech in 1962, immediately after graduating from Blacksburg High School. She worked as an administrative assistant in various departments, including the Department of Entomology and the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, for seven years until 1969 when she took a nine-year hiatus from her career to raise her three children.

She returned to Virginia Tech part-time in 1978 with responsibility for a variety of tasks, including registering architecture and urban studies students for classes under the quarter system, setting up an inventory system for Virginia Tech equipment, and mailing out W-2 forms for the bursars office. In 1989, she accepted a full-time position as a registration and information specialist for the Graduate School, a position she still holds today.

Harris said one of the biggest changes she has noticed during her career is the rapid transformation of technology and how it has affected the efficiency in her office.

In 1978, there were lines and lines of students outside the office who were trying to register for class because it wasnt an option to do it online at that point, Harris said.

Students now register online through course request and drop/add, which Harris said makes the process more efficient.

Today, the Graduate School has 6,792 students enrolled in 71 masters degree programs, 54 doctoral degree programs, and 46 post-masters certificate programs. Nearly 2,000 of these students are international students, the majority of whom come from China, India, Iran, South Korea, and Egypt.

Although technology has changed the registration process, today her job entails everything from answering basic questions about how to register to assisting students with financial issues and scheduling conflicts.

Harris said she enjoys her job because she gets to interact and work together with different departments, faculty/staff, and students to solve such problems as course scheduling, grade changes, and late drop/adds.

I love meeting students and working with them to fix any issues that they might be facing during the registration process, she said. Even though my contributions are small, I enjoy being part of the team that Dr. DePauw has built here at the Graduate School. It is easy to give 100 percent when you have fair supervision, great co-workers, and an enjoyable work environment.

Written by Mackenzie Nicely, a senior from Lexington, Virginia, majoring in public relations and political science.


A team of Virginia Tech researchers is looking for ways to protect and preserve 11.5 acres of forest on the universitys Blacksburg, Virginia, campus commonly referred to as Stadium Woods.

The remnant old-growth white oak forest located behind Lane Stadium contains dozens of trees that are believed to be more than 300 years old.

This summer, Emily Newton, a senior studying wildlife conservation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment from Blacksburg, Virginia, established permanent plots that can be used to measure the ecological health of the forest over time.

Newton is measuring the size and species of the trees to establish a baseline on the forests current state. She is also examining whether new trees are beginning to grow from existing vegetation in a process called natural regeneration.

Having this information allows us to take the actions necessary to ensure the health of the trees, said John R. Seiler, Alumni Distinguished Professor and The Hon. and Mrs. Shelton H. Short Professor of Forestry. For example, if we find few or no seedlings in our sampling locations, well know that the trees are not naturally regenerating and that may mean we need to plant seedlings or take other corrective actions.

Newton also worked with several community groups this summer to remove invasive plants, like privet, multiflora rose, and oriental bittersweet, throughout the woods.

These are plants not native to the area and they pose the greatest, immediate threat to the health of the woods. Species such as privet can become so thick that no native oak seedlings can get established said Seiler.

The research project and removal of invasive plants are two of the recommendations included in the Stewardship Plan for Virginia Tech's Old-Growth Forest near Lane Stadium.

The plan was written by Rodney Walters, a 2016 Virginia Tech graduate who completed his masters degree in urban forest ecology and management.

The 377-page plan includes a list of recommendations the university is considering for implementation.

This report will be a valuable tool for as we work toward putting a plan into place for the future of the woods, said Jason Soileau, university architect and assistant vice president.

Funding for Walters' work was provided by the Division of Administrative Services and the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

Walters developed the plan as part of the requirements for completing his degree, under the guidance of an advisory committee composed of Seiler; Eric Wiseman, associate professor of Urban Forestry and Arboriculture; Mike Sorice, assistant professor of natural resource recreation; and Sarah Karpanty, associate professor of wildlife.

Walters now teaches arboriculture at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon. Prior to attending Virginia Tech, he was the lead arborist at Montana State University.

For more information visit the website.
on Monday invited India for talks on Kashmir, saying it is the international obligation of both the countries to resolve the issue, notwithstanding Indias insistence that it would talk on contemporary and relevant issues in Indo-Pak relations.

Foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement that Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was called to hand over a letter of invitation for talks.

The foreign secretary called in the Indian high commissioner this afternoon (Monday) and handed over a letter addressed to his Indian counterpart, inviting him to visit for talks on Jammu and Kashmir dispute that has been the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan, Zakaria said.

The invitation was extended amid tension in bilateral ties due to the war of words between the two nations over the issue.

The letter highlights the international obligation of both the countries to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, the statement said.

Pakistans advisor on foreign affairs said last week that a conference of envoys of earlier this month had agreed that Pakistan seek talks with India.

The invitation came days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed Parliament on the Kashmir issue and said that India was willing to discuss only Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with Pakistan, and that the question of discussing Jammu and Kashmir with Islamabad only does not arise.

India also turned down Pakistans proposal that it would invite India for a dialogue on J&K and made it clear that it would talk on contemporary and relevant issues in Indo-Pak relations.
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.
WATERLOO  Investigators found six spent shell casings in the parking lot where DaeQuan Campbell was shot and killed in November 2013.

On Tuesday, jurors heard where some of those bullets ended up.

Authorities said Perquondis Holmes, 25, shot and killed 18-year-old DaeQuan Campbell behind a Langley Road apartment building after Campbell and passengers in a Camry he was driving followed a Ford Mustang driven by Dejoni Norris, a friend to Holmes.

The defense alleges Norris, who wasnt charged in the incident, was the shooter, and said Norris acted in self-defense when the Camry drove at him after he left the Mustang and was on foot.

Kerry Devine, a sergeant with the Waterloo Police Department crime lab, walked the jury through a row of four holes and one dent found in the Camrys hood, windshield and side door.

The first hole pierced the Camrys hood on the drivers side, and the bullet entered the engine compartment, where officers found a fragment of the bullet, Devine said. A second bullet punched a hole in the bottom corner of the windshield on the drivers side and broke into the dashboard where police found the bullet and parts of the bullets copper jacket, she said.

Two more bullets hit the front section of the rear drivers side door, and police found a bullet and more jacket fragments inside the door.

Police also found a dent from a bullet in the front drivers side door frame and parts of jacketing in the weather stripping, Devine said.

Devine said she concluded that the bullets that made the four holes didnt hit Campbell because there were no signs they left the engine compartment, dashboard and doors.

She said she didnt know if the bullet that created the door frame dent struck Campbell and couldnt rule out the possibility. She said the projectile that dented the frame could have been the round that shattered the drivers side window, and a sixth bullet could have broken the glass.

Campbell suffered two gunshot wounds.

The Mustang left the scene before police arrived, and police said they found the driver of a Ford Mustang on foot and miles away from the parking lot where it happened.

Investigator Jeff Tyler with the Waterloo Police Department said police located Norris walking in the area of Fletcher and Reber avenues and interviewed him within a few hours of the shooting. Norriss Mustang was found parked about a mile and a half away on Doreen Avenue, police said.

During Tylers testimony on Monday, he said Norris was wearing a black dress jacket without a hood and tan-colored, leopardy-looking pants with a red belt. Neighbors who witnessed the shooting earlier testified the gunman was wearing jeans or dark-colored pants, and passengers in the Camry said the gunman was wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

Defense attorney Robert Montgomery, who during openings suggested a gun inside the Camry accidentally fired during the encounter, asked Tyler why he didnt ask passengers in the Camry if there had been a firearm in the vehicle during their initial interviews.

Tyler said he felt like he was walking on egg shells when he interviewed them after the shooting and, he felt they would leave if he pressed them on the possibility of guns in the Camry.

Montgomery also questioned Tyler about the lack of gunshot residue tests to see if Norris or any others involved in the case had fired a weapon. The state crime lab discontinued processing such kits years ago.

In this instance, testing that, I believe probably would have been prudent; I also believe there are a lot of different factors. Just because theres a presence of it, or not a presence of it, doesnt mean he had a gun, didnt have a gun at the time. It could have been days before, weeks before, if he wouldnt have washed his clothes, if he would have been at a firing range, or if he just would have shot a gun, Tyler said.
WATERLOO -- The Republicans of Black Hawk County will host an open house at their new headquarters on Saturday.

The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the headquarters, 910 Decathlon Drive, in Waterloo.

The event is free and open to the public. They are invited to see the new location that will provide the local party more visibility, floor space and parking.

Refreshments will be provided, with a hot dog roast around the lunch hour, along with Scratch Cupcakes, coffee and lemonade.

The office will officially open for the election cycle beginning on Monday, Aug. 22.

Hours for the first few weeks will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Starting Tuesday, Sept. 6, the hours will be Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The office will be closed on Labor Day.

Those who have questions can call the party at 233-2183.
DES MOINES -- More farmers likely would adopt clean-water conservation practices if their economic benfits can be proven, according to a Tama County farmer who joined Gov. Terry Branstad at the Iowa State Fair Monday.

John Weber, a Dysart farmer who previously served as president of the Iowa Pork Producers, said he has been impressed by the positive environmental and economic results he has seen from using buffer strips and cover crops to preserve soil and reduce nitrogen runoff.

"I really became sold on the use of cover crops," said Weber. He joined Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey at a water-quality exhibit in the Agriculture Building at the Iowa State Fair.

"In the big picture, agriculture is starving for data," Weber said at the governor's weekly news conference. "We need this kind of data desperately to defend what we're doing and to learn how to change, to make improvements in Iowa's water quality."

Northey said about $3.8 million in cost share funds have been obligated in 97 counties to help more than 1,900 farmers install nutrient-reduction practices. The state funds will be matched by nearly $6 million from Iowa farmers who are investing in practices "even in a challenging time economically in agriculture," he said.

Northey said there currently are 45 "demonstration projects" underway around the state.

"We want that; farmers want that because that's how you see what works," the governor said. "It needs to be data-driven. We need to get as much data as possible so farmers can make the best decisions."
WATERLOO  Opposition from Crossroads Mall tenants helped shoot down a proposed billboard along San Marnan Drive.

Waterloo City Council members voted 5-2 Monday in favor of Lamar Advertisings request to erect a new 45-foot-tall, 378-square-foot digital billboard next to Advance Auto Parts at Sears Street.

But the request needed the support of six council members to override a recommendation of denial by the Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission.

Councilmen Bruce Jacobs and Pat Morrissey voted against the billboard, with Morrissey saying the zoning commissions previous two votes against the sign were telling decisions.

Jacobs cited the opposition from Crossroads Mall and Pancheros Restaurant  factors that drove the zoning commission votes  as swaying his decision.

I dont want to do anything to harm that going concern at Crossroads Mall, Jacobs said. I think weve got to balance it out and take care of the business owners that weve already got here and were trying to support.

We dont want to do anything to drive them away or discourage growth or more businesses to locate in Crossroads Mall, he said.

John Harshbarger, the malls general manager, said the billboard would join other signs and buildings blocking the view of the mall from busy San Marnan Drive.

Retail is a tough game right now, and any disadvantage to me or my tenants would be detrimental, Harshbarger said. Were fighting for every inch that we have. Throw a billboard up there and people driving by dont see me.

Lamar Advertisings Tom Weber said the sign would not block visibility of the mall and said the proposed billboard meets all regulations and setback requirements. He said Lamar was still talking to Crossroads Mall about allowing mall tenants to advertise on the billboard.

Theres always going to be people opposed to a big sign, Weber said.

Lynn Hennings, director of operations at Pancheros, was opposed to a big lighted sign directly next to his business, especially one that could detract from his building, send light through his windows and possibly attract bugs.

Its going to be right in our dining room, Hennings said.

Councilman Steve Schmitt said he supported the request because the sign met city ordinances, suggesting the council should rewrite those rules if it disagreed.

Councilman Ron Welper said he believed turning down the sign would send the wrong message to other businesses.

I do support free enterprise, Welper said. I certainly dont want to discourage anybody from wanting to do business with the city of Waterloo.
CEDAR FALLS  U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, got an earful from area veterans about their problems with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

More than 50 people attended a veterans roundtable Ernst  a veteran herself  held Tuesday at the University of Northern Iowa campus. Their frustrations ranged from wait times to problems using the Veterans Choice Program to their treatment at the Iowa City VA hospital.

But for many, their problems could be summed up in one sentence.

Weve got to get back to the old way where the VA was started to take care of us, to take care of the widows and the orphans, and weve forgotten that, and until that changes, we can have these (forums) every day, said Black Hawk County VA Director Kevin Dill.

Dill joined Lyman Campbell, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Waverly, in expressing a frustration about seeing a new doctor each time they visit the VA to see a specialist. Dill explained how a new doctor comes up with a new diagnosis or enters something wrong into the patients record.

Each time that happens, Dill said, it bogs down the system.

Donald Shellenberger, with Waterloos AMVETS organization, added hed like to see specialists travel occasionally rather than have veterans regularly travel hundreds of miles to access care in Iowa City.

The issue of mental health did not come up during the forum, but Ernst made clear during a brief press conference she is continuing to push for better care through the VA.

Ernsts advocacy follows the suicide last month of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Brandon Ketchum of Davenport, who had been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nothing will ever bring him (Ketchum) back, but what we need to do is look forward and find a way to correct this epidemic, Ernst said of the estimated 20 veterans who commit suicide each day.

Veterans Tuesday expressed frustration with the VA both in Iowa and nationally and difficulties accessing care in Iowa City.

We have some of the very finest receptionists and lower level people in the system in Iowa City and this area up here; the administrators above them, to my way of thinking, are the problem, Shellenberger said.

Ernst said the problems start at the top with VA Secretary Robert McDonald.

Though McDonald was confirmed before Ernst was elected to the U.S. Senate, Ernst said her initial impression was he would be a go-getter who would change the system. But she said shes seen little follow through and now calls for his removal.

They have forgotten that the VA exists for the veterans, so we need someone that truly believes that and will make sure that the best interests of the veterans are taken to heart, Ernst said.

While acknowledging frustrations, Ernst said also sought examples of success and proposed solutions.

Cory Champagne, a U.S. Navy veteran, voiced concerns but also offered positive comments on the VA system.

Champagne moved to Waterloo from the Baltimore, Md., area in April.

I want to comment and praise the way things are done differently here than in Maryland, Champagne said. Its night and day in terms of how fast you can get things done there and that you can get things done here.

He proposed Iowa follow Virginias lead by certifying veterans with medical backgrounds in the service so they can be more easily employed at VA hospitals and clinics after they leave the service.
DES MOINES -- The owner of a New York-based company that sells allegedly deceptive systems for winning at gambling -- including the lottery, slot machines, roulette and horse races -- will permanently stop targeting Iowans through an agreement with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller.

The agreement, called an assurance of voluntary compliance, requires Stephen L. Young, of Brooklyn, N.Y., to stop soliciting Iowans for systems that claim to achieve better-than-chance results in lotteries or other chance-dominated gaming activities. Young denies liability, according to Millers office.

The agreement requires Young and his operations to make refunds to any Iowan who requests one within the next six months. On Tuesday, Miller urged any Iowan denied a refund to contact his offices Consumer Protection Division.

According to the AGs office, Young sold a $75 system to Iowans called $5,000/Week Super Power Lotto, and other so-called big-money gambling systems. The mail solicitation assured Iowans there was no risk, because of an ironclad 1-Year unconditional guarantee promising a full refund, no questions asked, a news release issued by Millers office stated.

An Iowan who bought the systems, however, complained to the Consumer Protection Division that Youngs company completely ignored his written request for a refund.

In this case the company kept its promise to not ask any questions about the refund request, but broke its promise to actually make the refund, Miller said in a statement.

Young owns FPH Communications Publishing and operates through other business names, including, National Funds Clearing House, Communications Publishing, American Grant Network, and Hamilton Publishing.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine will return to the Cedar Rapids area Wednesday to discuss Hillary Clintons economic proposals. He is expected to highlight her 100-day jobs plan.

Kaine is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. at the Michael J.H. Gould Recreation Center, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW. Doors will open at 9 a.m.

Tickets are free, but people who want to see the candidate are asked to RSVP at www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/6Q7BWC4H65RLKHI4/.

Virginia Sen. Kaine visited Cedar Rapids in 2014 to campaign for 1st District Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with veterans to talk up Braleys record on veterans issues.

Kaine, who has an aunt and uncle who live in Fort Madison, rode in RAGBRAI in 1996 and campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008 as well as for Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 caucuses.
DES MOINES -- Landowners in the path of an underground oil pipeline being built across Iowa were joined by protesters Tuesday calling for the Iowa Utilities Board to address permit violations, establish a liaison to handle complaints and halt construction when proper methods are not being followed.

Mahaska County landowner Pam Alexander said Iowans' property rights are being trampled by a Texas-based company granted an IUB permit last March as part of a 1,168-mile interstate crude oil pipeline from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields, through South Dakota and Iowa, to a distribution hub in Illinois. Dakota Access officials plan to complete the $3.8 billion pipeline by the end of the year.

"Landowners who signed voluntary easements are not being treated right," Alexander said during a protest held outside the IUB headquarters. "The IU Board needs to appoint someone to take care of our concerns. We need someone to stand up for Iowans who live here, pay taxes here and love this state dearly."

Likewise, Dick and Judy Lamb, a farm couple with land west of Ames that will be cut diagonally by the pipeline, said they were informed Monday that their crops had been cut but were told they would not be notified 48 hours prior to construction commencing on their land.

"There just aren't words to describe having the government seize your land and destroy it and have no recourse and nothing you can do. It's an anger and a hopelessness that I have difficulty expressing," Dick Lamb said.

Landowners and protesters delivered petitions Tuesday demanding the Iowa Utilities Board respond to complaints over violations they alleged have been committed by construction crews building the pipeline in Iowa.

"The fault rests here with the Iowa Utilities Board and the government of the state of Iowa. They allowed this to happen, they enabled it to happen and now they're washing their hands of it, walking away and not even listening to our complaints or the violations," he told the protest rally. "We're not pleading, we're not begging, we're demanding it. They need to set up somebody to deal with the infractions."

Dakota Access spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger refuted the claims made during Tuesday's protest rally.

"We are constructing this pipeline in accordance with applicable laws, and the local, state and federal permits and approvals we have received," Dillinger said in a statement. "This is an important energy infrastructure project that benefits all Americans and our national economy."

However, Carolyn Raffensperger of the Science and Environmental Health Network in Ames said there is evidence construction crews - most from outside of Iowa - have ignored accepted practices of not working dirt when it's too wet, mixing clay and topsoil, contributing to river sedimentation and other concerns documented by "watchdogs" monitoring pipeline work.

The opposition groups say state regulators have been missing in action after approving the project permits.

"The basis of legitimate government is the consent of the governed and we are here to tell you that we have withdrawn our consent," Raffensperger said. "You do not have our consent to take landowners' land, to pollute our water and to threaten the future of future generations."

Protesters said state officials need to establish a public liaison officer similar to South Dakota and create a process for receiving and addressing complaints about pipeline construction rather than continue a "blank check" arrangement currently allowing problems to go unchecked.

During Tuesday's monthly IUB meeting, David Lynch, the board's staff general counsel, said a motion was filed Monday by the Sierra Club asking the Iowa board to appoint a public liaison officer. IUB staff is awaiting a response from the company before reviewing the request and making a recommendation.

Six complaints have been filed with board regarding the construction process, with three having been resolved or closed and one unlikely to proceed without follow-up information from the complainant. Another request relates to the issue of a 48-hour advance notice to landowners, he said.

In providing a construction update, Lynch said pipeline-related field activities are taking place in all but two counties -- Webster or Calhoun. About 60 percent of the right of way in Iowa has been cleared, 40 percent graded, 15 percent with trenches dug and 20 percent with pipeline "stringing and welding" taking place, he added.

"In general, the project appears to be the most advanced at the northwest and southeast ends of the approved route and less advanced at the central Iowa area like Story, Boone, Buena Vista and Cherokee counties," he told IUB members.

Almost all of the county compensation commission hearings have been held, with the last six hearings scheduled to be completed by Aug. 24. He did not know if any appeals had been filed regarding the compensation commission awards.

Lynch said a number of challenges have been filed and consolidated in Polk County District Court to the board's March 10 order granting Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, a hazardous liquid pipeline permit and the power to use eminent domain to acquire farmland for the pipeline. A hearing is scheduled Friday on a motion for stay of construction activities taking place on the petitioners' respective properties, he said.
WATERLOO  Iowa House District 62 candidate Todd Obadal didnt imagine hed be running for office in November. But a few well-timed suggestions and a desire to make a difference led him to get on the ballot.

As a Republican, he believes he can do the most good in the district by working in Des Moines to get government out of the way.

Obadal, 48, of Waterloo, is one of three people vying for the seat currently held by retiring state Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo. Democrat Ras Smith and independent John Patterson, both of Waterloo, are also on the ballot.

House District 62 covers east Waterloo, Evansdale, Raymond and Elk Run Heights.

I think we in the Cedar Valley can make improvement to our lives, to our communities, to our schools, to our families, much, much better because we care. We care more about the Cedar Valley than anybody else in the state does, Obadal said.

He added, Certainly, theres a role for Des Moines in some ways, but I think a good starting point, it needs to be demonstrated why Des Moines needs a role in any aspect of our lives.

Though Republicans are a distinct minority in the district  2,455 to Democrats at 8,556 and no party at 5,967  Obadal is trying to find common ground with voters without compromising his principles.

The pro-life, libertarian-leaning Republican says hes a different choice.

Obadal, who was born in the district and moved back to the area a year ago, said he wont make any pie in the sky promises. His only promises are to be forthright about his votes and to read every bill he votes on.

I want to listen to what people say, because my life experience, my perspective on life, isnt universal by any stretch, Obadal said. The people that are out there teaching in the schools, working in the plants, driving the trucks  I think theyre being forgotten.

Obadal, who served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps, said his priorities are education and the economy.

Though he stresses a desire for adequate funding for schools, Obadal said, throwing money at education wont lead Iowa to be the best in the nation again.

Instead, he is looking at ways of utilizing the newly trained educators at University of Northern Iowa to work in the state and reducing regulatory burdens on teachers. Obadal also wants to make Waterloo schools, particularly East High, a magnet for open enrollment students.

He supports incentives to bring business to the area but stresses they must be uniformly applied.

Obadal moved back to the Cedar Valley about a year ago to be closer to family. He is currently devoting all his time to his campaign. He said participating in the 2016 caucus opened his eyes to the impact he could have on the process.
CEDAR RAPIDS  A heavy contributor to Republican candidates denies being named to Donald Trumps Agricultural Advisory Committee is part of a plan to land an appointment as Secretary of Agriculture.

Its a step in the direction of providing ag policy, which is something Ive had an interest in my whole life and its really important to Iowa, said Bruce Rastetter of Alden, president of Summit Ag Group and president of the Iowa Board of Regents that oversees the state universities.

He has given millions to GOP candidates, including Gov. Terry Branstad, who also was appointed to the Agricultural Advisory Committee, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie  a Trump confidante.

There are a host of issues on the agricultural front and rural issues, but renewable energy will be an important part of the advice Branstad offers Trump, the governors spokesman, Ben Hammes, said.

Rastetter, Branstad and four other Iowans have been named to the committee, which according to the campaign, will provide pioneering new ideas to strengthen our nations agricultural industry as well as provide support to our rural communities.

Rastetter, who is invested in corn and soybeans, which are used to make ethanol and biodiesel, respectively, expects to advise Trump on how important open markets and trade are to U.S. ag across the globe.

The importance of accessing growing markets for grain and protein is pretty critical. Beyond that, the importance of ethanol to agriculture in general and as a component of U.S. energy should be part of a national policy, he said.

Although Trump has frequently criticized trade agreements, Rastetter is confident he understands the need for trade.

We just need to make sure its fair and on a level playing field, that U.S. producers have access to those markets without caveats that limit access to those markets, Rastetter said.

Branstad has been very supportive of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Hammes said. Donald Trump is just saying he thinks he can get us a better deal. We agree that of he can get us a better deal were all ears.

Other Iowans named to the Trump ag advisory panel are Annette Sweeney of Alden, a former state legislator, farmer and ag advocate; Ron Heck, a farmer and past president of the American Soybean Association; and Iowa Secretary of Ag Bill Northey.

Sam Clovis of Hinton, national chief policy adviser to Trump, also will serve on the committee.
Leave your gun at home and grab a corn dog instead.

Terry Branstad said as much last week, publicly supporting a ban on weapons at the Iowa State Fair, which kicked off Thursday in Des Moines. Iowa State Police provide substantial security, Branstad correctly noted.

You really dont need to have your own firearm for your protection at the fair, he said.

The venerable governor was absolutely correct. And his assessment strikes at the heart of the American gun debate. Guns just dont belong in some places, even when carried by those permitted to carry concealed weapons.

Schools, bars, churches: The always-armed populace movement thats taking hold in much of the country  and the good guy with a gun myth that supports it  dont withstand reason nor investigation. Branstad essentially admitted he doesnt buy it. Only pressure from Branstads right flank instigated his remarks.

What Branstad didnt say is an interesting glimpse into a longtime Republican talking point about guns within the current political ecosystem.

Branstad didnt comment on whether hed veto a bill to permit firearms at the state fair. Political reality meant he didnt have to comment. Republicans are making a run at the state Senate this year. But Democrats are likely to maintain control of the upper house, so the chances are slim such a bill ever sees the governors desk.

The gun control debate has raged for decades. Yet, in the past decade, its taken a stark rightward turn. A few states, primarily in the Northeast, enacted tough gun restrictions after mass shootings, particularly in the wake of the one in Newtown, Conn. Many more states, though, have moved toward total deregulation. Permitless and open carry is the newest fad. These bills have striking success rates considering police forces often oppose them. Police chiefs cite data showing few people are prepared for a live-fire situation.

Politics, too often, has steamrolled knowledge.

Its just another example of a world that rejects experts and prefers emotionally driven opinions.

Branstad, in his own way, rejected the National Rifle Association narrative. Its a position right-minded gun owners, including members of the Quad City Times editorial board, should appreciate.

The fact is, limitations of gun ownership are as old as the country itself.

It was common to ban pistols within the boundaries of Western cities. The government does have an interest in stalling unfettered access. Some shooters arent criminals until they start squeezing the trigger. Thats a fact many forget when they make the law-abiding gun owner argument.

Even late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia  the intellectual standard bearer of conservative ideology  acknowledged the Second Amendments limitations.

Guns never belonged within every corner of society. Its become increasingly true as weapons become more effective killers. Guns in university classrooms can muzzle spirited debate. Guns at political rallies increase the chances of assassination. Guns have absolutely no place in bars.

Too many elected officials roll over for the gun lobby, moneyed organizations that represent a tiny fraction of gun owners. They fear political retribution in poor ratings and the anti-gun label. Its a black or white position that, when mixed with a solid dose of fear mongering, keeps a vocal few pushing for more.

Branstad pushed back last week, and in so doing took a stand for reason.
If you have opinions about the subject matter of posts on this blog please share them. Do you have a story about how the system affects you at work school or home, or just in general? This is a place to share it.
Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Aug. 15, 2016 | BARDWELL, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 15, 2016 | 03:06 PM | BARDWELL, KY

A Carlisle County woman who taught in the county school system has been arrested and charged with having inappropriate relationships with two male students.



On June 28, Kentucky State Police got a report of a substitute teacher having inappropriate contact with two teenagers. Their investigation determined that 27-year-old Kasey Warren of Bardwell was employed by Carlisle County Schools during the last half of the 2015-2016 school year. During that time she met the two 16-year-old boys, and the alleged sexual contact happened in McCracken County. Warren is not currently employed as a teacher.



On Friday, Warren was indicted by a McCracken County Grand Jury on three counts of third-degree sodomy and three counts of third-degree rape. She turned herself in to Kentucky State Police on Monday, and was taken to the McCracken County Jail.



Third-degree rape and sodomy charges apply when the suspect is in a position of authority or special trust, and engages in sexual activity with a victim under 18 years old.



The investigation is continuing by KSP and Warren's arraignment is set for September 15.
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Courtesy StarFire PR

Albuquerque, NM (July 26, 2016)  For the first time ever, New Mexico visitors (and locals) can enjoy full tour packages designed and hosted by locally-owned and operated company: Albuquerque Tourism & Sightseeing Factory (AT&SF). Starting August 9th, ABQ Trolley Co., a division of AT&SF, is offering half-day, full-day, and multi-day tour packages. Provided year-round on AT&SF's newest vehicle, ABQ Trolley X , excursions immerse patrons in local art, culture, nature, and history.

"There's not another company in Albuquerque or New Mexico that does half-, full-, and multi-day tours for leisure tourists," says AT&SF co-founder Jesse Herron. "Typically, people have to sign up with a large group tour from an outside company."

"We're two local guys, helping people experience our destination in the most unique and enriching way possible  a small-batch' craft tour with a private guide for VIP service," adds other co-founder Mike Silva.

NM Xcursions, as the tours will be known, begin August 9, and take place Tuesday-Friday. Full schedule details at www. abqtrolley. com. More excursions are in the works and will be unveiled soon. Multi-Day tour packages will begin this fall.

NM Xcursion #1  Kicks on Route 66



This is a full-day outing that celebrates the Mother Road like only Albuquerque can. Not only does our city have one of the best-preserved sections of this highway, we have two of them. Sixteen miles of the legendary road pass through Albuquerque, with neon signs buzzing overhead and nostalgic restaurants, shops and attractions along the way. This excursion includes history, interactive demonstrations, visits to AT&SF All-Star shops, and lunch at a local diner. It also includes a drive on the musical highway, a new attraction many locals have yet to discover. All museum fees, lunch, snacks and water are included.

NM Xcursion #2 - TRAMsporter

This summer also marks the 50th anniversary of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway. In all of those years, there has never been affordable transportation from Old Town to this popular attraction. AT&SF is making history by offering an evening excursion directly from Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town to the Tram. The TRAMsporter will enable patrons to experience the stunning sunset views and mountain vistas of the Sandias at the most beautiful time of day. It is perfect for visitors and locals who want a fun, unique evening or a great date night. Ticket includes round trip TRAMsportation to the base of the mountain where patrons will experience the Sandia Peak Tramway (Tram tickets are not included), restaurants and nature trails at their leisure.

"There's definitely been a huge need for a service to the Tram since it opened in 1966," says AT&SF co-founder Mike Silva.

"Sandia Peak receives numerous requests seeking transportation options. We are pleased that ABQ Trolley Co. has taken the initiative to provide this alternate service to visitors," says Debi Owen, Director of Communications at Sandia Peak.

NM Xcursion #3  Not Your Father's Santa Fe



AT&SF is partnering with revolutionary arts production company, Meow Wolf, to invite guests to step outside of the adobe box in Santa Fe. This full-day excursion follows the Turquoise Trail from Hotel Albuquerque to Santa Fe for a fully immersive and unique tour. The final destination is Meow Wolf's House of Eternal Return for an other-worldly experience described as "surreal" and "mind-blowing." Other highlights include unusual art collections, a ghost town brought back from the dead and lunch at Duel Brewing. This is the perfect tour for visitors who want more from Santa Fe than traditional arts, museums and historic sites.

"Not only are we proud to work with Meow Wolf to showcase the hip, active and exciting part of Santa Fe, we are also looking forward to offering this much-requested tour service between our two cities," says Silva. Albuquerque Tourism & Sightseeing Factory (AT&SF) is the parent company of ABQ Trolley Co., Duke City Pedaler, Albucreepy Downtown Ghost Walk, Albu-Quirky, and Mother Road Bike Taxi. ABQ Trolley Co. was founded by Jesse Herron and Mike Silva in 2009 and expanded to AT&SF in 2015. Additional information can be found on www.atsfworks.com

AT&SF is proud to have recently been inducted into TripAdvisor's Hall of Fame, and has now received their esteemed Certificate of Excellence for six years in a row.

*For media inquiries, please contact Kristi D. Lawrence with StarFire PR & Marketing at kristi@starfirepr. com or call (505) 720-7403 .


Rebirth of a Nation Jeff Thomas

email: jeff.thomas1066@gmail.com

Posted Aug 16, 2016



Regular readers of 321gold will be familiar with my frequent comments that all countries have a shelf-life  that they experience a slow rise, typified by a strong work ethic and a free-market philosophy, which results in a highly productive country. That productivity later results in a high level of sympathy for the disadvantaged, which political leaders turn into a justification for government largesse. That, in turn, results in a population that grows complacent and, eventually apathetic, culminating in a decline into totalitarianism.



This pattern has existed for thousands of years. Sometimes, the process is a slow one, as in ancient Rome; sometimes, it can take place over mere decades.



In commenting on the EU, US, Canada, etc., Ive often described my view that these jurisdictions are in the latter stages, just prior to totalitarianism. In making this comment, I offer the reminder that, at any time in history, there are countries at every stage of development. For those who think internationally, the goal is to exit from a country if its in the death throes of complacency/apathy and to seek another home thats in its ascendancy.



On rare occasions, we witness a country thats right at the birth stage, or possibly the rebirth stage. At present, we have an excellent example in Cuba, a country thats been famously in the totalitarian stage for over half a century, due to a collectivist political regime.



Of course, collectivism always ends at some point, as it destroys initiative. Eventually, initiative reaches such a low point that the lack of productivity is insufficient to sustain the system itself. The system literally goes broke and the country is ready for a reset.



Economic collapse in Cuba began over 25 years ago, when the USSR folded and Cuba no longer received three times the value of their sugar from the Russians. Since then, a feeble attempt has been made to promote tourism, but, as everything was owned by the collectivist government, the country was rife with inefficiency and physical decay, making it unattractive to tourists. Finally, the government realised it had reached the end  they could no longer guarantee jobs to all their citizens, so they allowed some of them to create their own businesses. The first were the paladares  home restaurants. This came as a result of an existing proliferation of black-market restaurants that the Cuban people created themselves. Since they contributed heavily to the economy and the government was failing to prevent them in any case, they were legalized in 1995. (They pay a monthly fee to the government.)



Paladares were pretty tatty affairs initially. They were in dilapidated buildings, with no menus and poor food. But, in 2010, government relaxed its restrictions further. The paladares then took off. Today, Cubans operate everything from hamburger stands to chi-chi theme restaurants with interesting menus, good service and excellent food. (English is now spoken in most paladares.)



The government still runs most of its own restaurants, but theyre losing popularity, as the staff are unmotivated, the premises in poor repair and the food is uninspired. Its only a question of time before theyre offered to the cuentapropistas, who are running paladares successfully.



Next came the casas particulares (privately run apartments for daily rental), in 1997. (The owner pays an annual fee per room to the government.) Like the paladares, at first they were shabby, but in the spirit of free enterprise, the owners continually reinvested their profits into the apartments and many are now an odd mix of modernity and Cuban kitsch.



Then it became legal to own transportation-for-hire. Although recent prosperity has allowed the government to import fleets of Hyundai sedans, painted uniformly in yellow with black checks, tourists prefer to ride in almendrones - 1950s cars that are now taxis. For decades, these relics have been deteriorating, but, their use continued as long as they could be kept operable.



However, with the opportunity for private operation of a taxi service, Cubans have revitalized the old cars as taxis, reinvesting their profits into their vehicles, restoring them with fancy new paint jobs, replacement interiors and even re-chroming the bumpers. Many tourists today will only travel in almendrones.Video here



The government has done its best to limit these developments, whilst endorsing them, as they are a clear affront to the official policy of collectivism. Periodically, they threaten to punish those who make too much money, creating economic inequality. As recently as 2005, Fidel Castro spoke fervently that the rise of free-market entrepreneurs was counter to his revolution and that, The abuses will end In this battle against vice, nobody will be spared. Either we will defeat all these deviations and make our revolution strong, or we die.



Trouble is, the writing is on the wall. Collectivism left the Cuban people in dire poverty and only free enterprise has made improvements possible. The Castros therefore have had a terrible dilemma: how to continue to support the concept of collectivism, whilst living off the reality of the free market. (Taxes and fees levied on entrepreneurs are now filling government coffers as never before, making major civic improvements possible for the first time.) A decade or more ago, the government began to restore the buildings on the more historical plazas, like those in the image above, in la Plaza Vieja. (After decades of neglect, all of historic Havana was in bad repair.) But, soon, they realized that, any section of Habana Vieja that they restored would attract more cuentapropistas and the government would soon receive more income as a result. Soon, the government was trying to play catch-up, restoring as many blocks as possible.



In past years, a street might be torn up for repairs and take months to be repaired. Today, the old broken tarmac in a street is removed, the plumbing lines refitted, the old cobblestones reinstated and the street is even swept  sometimes all within a week. Everywhere in Habana Vieja, there are blocks being restored. Every restored block means more tourism revenue for the entrepreneurs, who in turn are providing the government with the greatest income theyve had in decades.



And, of course, tourists, who might have come as a curiosity in previous decades, are flocking to Havana, as the amenities are now at a more acceptable level. Most are English speaking  Britons, Canadians and Americans (with or without government permission.)



To accommodate the influx of tourists, the government has built a second, more modern airport terminal, complete with tourist shops and cafes. Also new: credit cards, even American ones, are now taken.



Officially, some 1.1 million Cubans are employed in private enterprise, either full- or part-time, but the real number is certainly larger than that. At this point, theres no turning back. Theyve gotten their teeth into the free market and are creating new businesses daily. For its part, government is receiving ever-increasing revenue from businesses and cannot return, even if they wished to.



Most importantly, the rebirth of Cuba is bottom-up. The free market is driving the economy. Like any country with an ineffectual, inefficient government, regulatory laws are few and most are not followed, allowing the people of Cuba more freedom to run their businesses and lives as they see fit, unlike their neighbours to the north, where regulation stifles free enterprise and ambition.



US president Obama has recently paid a visit to Cuba  the first by an American president in some 90 years. He made speeches to the Cuban people that hes prepared to let up on the punishment the US has doled out over the last half-century, by easing the US embargo. In doing so, he stated that he intends to make it possible for Cubans to enjoy a better life. For Cubans who have heard his proclamations, its too little, too late. Cuba is already on a roll and wont be turning back. Both the population and the government are headed for a free-market future.



To be sure, the retired Fidel Castro is not pleased, trying to describe the new freedoms as a revised form of communism, rather than admit that communism is a dead duck walking. But, for most everyone else, Cuba is in essence emerging as a new country.



For fifty years, Cubans feared that when the Castros were gone, the Miami Cubans would return, taking over the country and returning it to the dreaded Batista days. This is now far less likely. Certainly, Cubans have no individual wealth and own little in the way of property, but what they do have is the determination of a new nation. The wealth will come.



Presently, the government still owns the utility companies, the large hotels, etc. These will be the last to open up to private enterprise, but it will come in time, as will increased investment from overseas. Hopefully, these will be partnerships with the Cuban people, assuring that the people will be along for the ride and not sidelined by large overseas corporations.



We are witnessing the birth of a new Cuba. In future years, it will be both an investment opportunity and a home for those who choose to increase their opportunities through internationalization.



### Jeff Thomas

email: jeff.thomas1066@gmail.com Jeff Thomas is British and resides in the Caribbean. The son of an economist and historian, he learned early to be distrustful of governments as a general principle. Although he spent his career creating and developing businesses, for eight years, he penned a weekly newspaper column on the theme of limiting government. He began his study of economics around 1990, learning initially from Sir John Templeton, then Harry Schulz and Doug Casey and later others of an Austrian persuasion. He is now a regular feature writer for Casey Researchs International Man, Strategic Wealth Preservation in the Cayman Islands and 321Gold. 321gold Ltd




Mohammed Hanif in the New York Times:

Karachi, Pakistan  Last month I witnessed an 11-year-old boys first interaction with the internet. My nephew knew what the internet was, but he had never had the opportunity to use it. (Internet access in Pakistan is still quite low.) What did he want to look for, I asked. Bermuda Triangle, he said. Why exactly was he interested in the Bermuda Triangle? Because dajjal, our version of the anti-Christ, lives there now. Not much has changed, I thought: As a teenager I devoured stories about clever djinns, heartless monsters and harsh terrains.

Next, he wanted to look for scenes of the torture that angels inflict on dead sinners. Surely, such a thing doesnt exist on the internet? It does. Getting worried that the boys parents might accuse me of corrupting him, I tried to take away the laptop. Just one more, he said, and after haggling over what he meant by one more  one more search, no matter how many hits? Or just one more page?  settled on a blood-curdling video set to a war anthem in which Pakistani soldiers are seen shooting at the Taliban and rescuing kidnapped children.

How did my nephew know about dajjals residence and those goings-on in the grave? Because he had heard about them from school friends. And by the end of his first tour of the internet, he had seen with his own eyes what he had only heard as rumor. Dajjal did reside in the Bermuda Triangle: We saw more than one image of that.

Growing up with myths and legends is an essential part of coming of age anywhere, but there comes a time when you expect to outgrow them and confront real monsters, like who you are and your role in making the world what it is. Initially you believe in a terrifying god. Then you think she isnt terrifying all the time and realize you have to find your own way in life.

More here.
Asl Bali at Dissent:

Turkey has faced an unprecedented number of crises in the last year. The spillover from the war in Syria has undermined a peace process between the government and the countrys Kurdish community, with the success of Syrian Kurdish militias on the border with Turkey producing fears of separatism among Turkeys Kurds and prompting the government to relaunch a counter-insurgency campaign (read: war) in the largely Kurdish southeastern provinces. Nationwide, the country has experienced at least five major Islamic State attacks since June 2015. Meanwhile, Turkey now hosts some 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Turkey has also experienced increasing political polarization since the 2013 protests against the government that began in Istanbuls Gezi Park revealed a deep split in the country. All of these challenges have destabilized the countrys economy and unnerved its population.

Yet almost no one expected, one Friday night in mid-July, to turn on their televisions and see Turkish jets dropping bombs on the countrys own parliament building. Government reforms over more than a decade had civilianized control of Turkeys military and the armed forces were already embroiled in a brutal war in the southeast. The attempted coup of July 15 and its aftermath has eclipsed the previous crises of the last few years in its magnitude and potential to radically transform the country.

more here.
With popular landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge, its namesake urban park, and a host of other urban attractions, camping typically isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about exploring the San Francisco Bay Area.

Well, we're here to tell you it should be.

In a state that is home to nine national parks including Yosemite and Redwoods, camping competition can be fierce. Yet those familiar with the unique coastline and impressive diversity of public lands around the Bay Area know full well that proximal camping options rival some of the most coveted campgrounds in the state.

Whether you're traveling through or residing in the Bay Area and simply looking for a nearby outdoor overnight, one need drive no further than a few hours drive from the urban core. In many cases only a fraction of that drive time is necessary to access campground gems set among scenic coastal backdrops, redwood groves and rolling oak savannah hills.

Below is a list of some of our favorite Bay Area campgrounds located within a 100-mile radius, stretching from the Sonoma Coast to northern Big Sur. While most campgrounds listed below are accessible by vehicle, some require a short walk or hike in. Note that reservations are recommended during weekends and holidays where applicable.

GERSTLE COVE CAMPGROUND, Salt Point State Park



Gerstel Cove Campground in Salt Point State Park has 30 drive-in sites located on the ocean side of Highway 1. While other campgrounds are available in the park, Gerstle Cove Campground offers the nearest ocean access and remains open year-round. As the name suggests, the campground is adjacent to Gerstle Cove, a State Marine Reserve that hosts a healthy underwater kelp forest. The rich marine ecosystem makes Gerstle Cove a popular spot for divers staying at the campground.

The campground is situated around a single loop, and the outer campsites offer more privacy than others. There are no showers. Reservations are possible year-round and strongly encouraged April through September.

PROS: Easy access to Gerstle Cove. Exploring Salt Point State Park.

CONS: Can be booked weekends April through September.

REGION: Sonoma Coast + Napa Area, CA

CONGESTION: High

PREFERABLE SEASON(S):Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

CAMPING FEE: $35.00

DAY-USE/PARKING PASS REQUIRED: $8.00

TENT/CAR SITES: 30

PICNIC TABLES: Yes

DOGS ALLOWED: Yes, at campground but not on trails or beaches
Located in the heart of Jackson Square with its entrance on the picturesque Hotaling Place, Shinola's San Francisco address captures the area's rich historyhoused inside the landmark Belli Building, erected during the Gold Rush circa 1850. The 3,200-square-foot space offers the full lineup of Shinola's quality goods.

The courtyard at Shinola San Francisco (Courtesy of Shinola)

Founded in 2011, Shinola was conceived with the belief that products should be well made and built to last. As makers of modern watches, bicycles, journals, and leather goods, Shinola stands for skill at scale, the preservation of craft, and the beauty of industry.





Shinola is devoted to partnering with American manufacturers to celebrate the excellence of craft and support the local makers and businesses based in the towns, cities, and neighborhoods where they operate. Through September 6th, 2016, San Francisco-based Argent will host a pop-up shop in Shinola's Jackson Square store, showcasing its own collection of functional work clothes. Argent, a rowdy collective on a mission to make clothing that equips women to push the envelope and take their seat at the table, is redefining the office dress code.





The brand follows in the footsteps of several other beloved local companiesincluding Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, Tempest + Bentley, and Golden Bearthat have collaborated with Shinola.





"When we opened Shinola's Jackson Square flagship, it was important to collaborate with like-minded companies that fit into the Shinola story, and Argent is one of those brands," says Bridget Russo, Shinola's CMO. "By partnering with designers, artists, and makers we admire, we are able to create greater engagement by presenting product categories we don't currently offer."





// Monday through Saturday10am to 7pm, Sunday11am to 6pm; Shinola, 53 Hotaling Place (Jackson Square), 415.513.1640, shinola.com; argentwork.com










Stand-up paddle boarding is all the rage among tropical vacationers. But turns out, you don't have to go to Hawaii to give it a try. Here are four local places to paddle out.





City Kayak

Just a skipping stone from South Beach Harbor, City Kayak offers paddle board rentals in addition to boats. Take an Intro to SUP class before you decide to go all in and buy your gear. // City Kayak, Pier 40 (Embarcadero), citykayak.com





California Canoe And Kayak

Snap on your waterproof iPhone case and head east to Oakland where California Canoe and Kayak offers both on-site and takeaway rentals year-round. We really like the variety of lessons on offer here: Get zen in the Oakland estuary with yoga and moonlight SUP classes. // 409 Water St. (Jack London Square), calkayak.com

Sign up for the Intro Clinic at Boardsports' Alameda location





Boardsports California

Keeping the small-shop vibe alive, the store dog or another seagoer's friendly pup is likely to greet you at one of Boardsports' two Bay Area locations. In Alameda, the larger shop offers onsite rentals and a choice of classes including the Intro Clinic, which helps newcomers stand strongly on their sea legs, with on-site rentals to boot. The SF location is smaller, with takeaway rentals only. Don't forget to bring them back! // Boardsports California, locations in SF and Alameda, boardsportscalifornia.com





Cal Adventures

An outdoors program of UC Berkeley, Cal Adventures offers classes and private lessons in SUP, in addition to sailing, windsurfing and more. Intro classes are offered on weekends in the mellowBerkeley Marina. Once you fall in love with the sport, Cal Adventures offers two-month and 12-month plans in addition to your hourly needs. // Cal Adventures, 2301 Bancroft Way (Berkeley), recsports.berkeley.edu





--

This post was originally published in March 2016
Author Jeffrey Toobin's new work, American Heiress, follows the true story of Patty Hearst's kidnapping from her Berkeley apartment, her conversion to the beliefs of her kidnappers, their ensuing crime spree, and her conviction after capture.







It's a tale that captivated American television and newspaper audiences in the 1970s as the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, founder of The San Francisco Examiner, went from sympathetic victim to gun-toting bank robber and bomb thrower in a few short and shocking months. Toobinan attorney, columnist for The New Yorker magazine, and legal analyst at CNN who has also written bestselling books about OJ Simpson, President Bill Clinton, and the Supreme Courttalked with 7x7about his latest work.





DL: Can you give me a description of who Patricia Hearst was at this time of her life, right before the kidnapping happened? Why did the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) choose her?



Toobin: She was a sophomore at UC Berkeley. All the SLA knew about her was that she was the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst and that she was an undergraduate at Berkeley. They knew nothing about her personality. What was significant about her stage in life is that she was nineteen years old and at a very restless, unhappy moment. "Mildly suicidal" as she later described it.





She had a difficult relationship with her mother, a very conservative woman who was appalled that she was living in sin with her boyfriend, Steven Weed. Yet Hearst was not happy either, and began regretting being engaged to him. She was starting to develop a political consciousness like a lot of people were in the 1970s and people do in general at that age. She was at a uniquely vulnerable moment in her life and she was very young.





DL: That is surprisingly young for what happened to her. What happened to Steven Weed after this, did he just disappear out of the picture?

Toobin: Steven Weed is a real estate broker in Palo Alto.





DL: Do you think that she was brainwashed? That because she was young and impressionable and she was developing a political conscience that she bought into the belief system of the SLA?

Toobin: In my book, I try to avoid words like brainwashing and Stockholm Syndrome, because those are journalistic terms, not medical ones. It was a horrible thing that she was kidnapped, but it is also true, I think, that she reacted rationally under the circumstances. Given who she was and given what happened to her, it was a rational choice to join the SLA. In my opinion, she joined the SLA and voluntarily committed robbery.





DL: Do you think it was a rational choice because it allowed her to survive?

Toobin: No, because she could have left at many different times during her involvement. It was a rational choice because like a lot of young people in the '70s, she got involved with people in a situation that was really dangerous and unwise. But it was a voluntary choice on her part eventually.





DL: I vividly remember this saga from my youth. I was 7 and 8 at the time, and had nightmares about the SLA coming for me. American TV was only five channels, so your parents watched national news at 5:30pm and you saw what they saw. How were you aware of this growing up?

Toobin: I was 14, so I probably had more of a memory of it than you did, but not a lot more. The news and the media was a much smaller entity than it is now. There was three half-hour evening news shows. There wasn't even Good Morning America, there was just the Today Show. I think that contributed to the fact that people weren't more panicked. When you think about 1,000 to 1,500 bombings a year in this period. Imagine what cable news would do with that today.





It's interesting how many people have told me as I have been talking about this book, that they had nightmare about it growing up. You were far from alone.





DL: Wow, 1,500 bombings a year. Were these all committed by what would be considered leftist organizations at the time?

Toobin: Pretty much, to the extent that you can call them left or right. They were mostly just insane. It was the Weather Underground and splinter groups related to the Weather Underground. It was Puerto Rican nationalists. I think you could generally say, it was the radical counter culture, which was certainly left wing in its orientation, but they were hardly thoughtful or political. What the SLA did was steal. They robbed these 3 banksin part for theatrical reasons, but they also just needed the money.





DL: How did you go about writing this book? Did you use Hearst's memoir as a basis?

Toobin: I interviewed everyone that I could who was still alive and a lot of people are still around. That was the main thing I did was just original reporting. I was able to talk to Bill Harris, but not Emily Harris. She doesn't talk about it.





DL: What was the most surprising thing that you learned in your research?

Toobin: The sheer scope of Patty and the SLA's criminal behavior during their year on the run. I knew, like a lot of people, about the Hibernia Bank robbery in San Francisco for which she was convicted. But there were two other bank robberies, including the one where Myrna Opsahl was killed in Sacramento. When she shot up the street in Mel's Sporting Goods in Ingleside, California, when they set off bombs in San Francisco. Their's was an extraordinary reign of terror.





DL: It's kind of shocking that this happened in this country.

Toobin: And it's kind of shocking that she got a pardon and a commutation notwithstanding that.





DL: And why do you think that is?

Toobin: Wealth and power.





DL: Do you think it's also media sympathy?

Toobin: I think there was sympathy for her, and there should have been a measure of sympathy for her, but a lot of people in this country take wrong turns and get involved with bad people and make terrible mistakes. They don't get pardons and commutations.





A revealing and interesting part of her story is that she led the life for which she was destined. She was, has been a socialite, a homemaker. She had a few quirky things that she did like the John Waters movies, but she is now a matron in the suburbs. That to me is a pretty amazing turn of fate, considering what this chapter in her life consisted of.





DL: There are many powerful players in this story. How did Ronald Reagan play into this?

Toobin: Well, then California governor Ronald Reagan had appointed Catherine Hearst [Patricia Hearst's mother] to the California Board of Regents, which runs the state university. She was a big ally of his in the crackdown on student protesters. The fact that she accepted re-appointment from Reagan to the board, shortly after Patty was kidnapped, was something that really alienated Patty and the SLA. That was a significant thing and also, later, after Patty is arrested and convicted, Reagan was one of the people agitating for a pardon for her, which was, I think, very much a favor for his friends, the Hearsts.





DL: What is the next project that you're working on?

Toobin: You know, I don't know. I find these books emotionally and physically exhausting to write and when I finish one, I am not ready to jump back on the horse right away.





DL: How long of a process was this for you?

Toobin: This one came together pretty fast, it was not a lot longer than 3 years. By book standards, that's not very long.





DL: What's your process for writing?

Toobin: My process is very simple. When I am writing a book, I write 1,250 words a day5 pages, 5 double spaced pages. I am merciless about insisting that I meet my quota every day, because I just find that the single easiest thing in the world to do is not write. If you give yourself excuses, you will take them. So my view is, I get a limited amount of leave from The New Yorker, I have to get the book done in a certain period of time, the writing part. This isn't the reporting part, I don't have a similarly mindless quota there, but I do have a quota when I'm writing. That's, 25 pages a week, 100 pages a month and it adds up.





DL: Out of those 5 pages a day, how much do you think you retain on a good day, all of it?

Toobin: Well, the way I work is, I'm very focused on chapter by chapter. I begin the day by editing what I have written in the current chapter so far. Then I continue writing the chapter. That means that every chapter which may be 4,000 or 5,000 words, gets edited many times. Editing to me is an ongoing process. It's not just edited, and it's done. Each morning I reread and edit what I've written for that chapter, then add the next 5 pages.





// Want to catch Toobin in person? He will be appearing August 16th at Book Passage in Corte Madera (51 Tamal Vista Blvd.) at 7pm, bookpassage.com/event/jeffrey-toobin-american-heiress-corte-madera


They said it couldn't be done: Hops could not be grown in Florida.The state's abundant heat, bugs and proximity to the equator made the cultivation of the hop plant, Humulus lupulus , out of the question.Everybody knew that.But horticulturist and hobby beer crafter Brian Pearson knew better, because he'd already done it -- quietly and without fanfare on a tiny patch of dirt at the University of Florida's Apopka research center.Later it would be considered something of a scientific breakthrough. But that's not exactly what Pearson had in mind at the time."The biggest thing for me personally was to have a Florida-hopped beer," he says.The timing couldn't have been better.While Pearson was keen on brewing a Florida-centric beer, local growers were looking for a new niche crop to supplement dwindling citrus production.Meantime, the state's home-grown craft beer breweries were bubbling up at a phenomenal rate and Florida-grown hops offered brewmasters an opportunity to stamp their product with a unique local flavor.That would be a boon to local breweries, says Simon Bollin, Hillsborough County's Agribusiness Industry Development manager."Typically the consumer of craft beer tends to be someone who likes to eat and drink locally; it's a main theme in the industry," says Bollin, who was instrumental in getting the Florida hops project off the ground.Consumers' hunger and thirst for non-corporate, locally sourced food and drink has driven the eat-and-drink-local phenomenon that has accompanied the breathtaking rise of craft breweries across the state and across the nation.Florida went from 50 breweries to more than 150 between 2011 and 2015, the last year tallied by the national Brewers Association.More breweries opened in Florida last year than in any other state.Local ingredients and exotic flavor combos like oatmeal raisin cookie and chocolate peanut butter stout are the foundation of neighborhood brewpubs and taprooms where aficionados flock to quaff their favorite hops-based elixir.Geography is essential to the character of hops, which imparts a citric bitterness to beer that is regionally distinct, depending on where the plants are grown."For us, it would be really exciting to be able to have local-grown hops. We kind of thought it would be impossible to get it," says Justin Clark, COO for Cigar City Brewing , one of the oldest Tampa breweries and, along with Coppertail Brewing and Six Ten Brewing , was among the first to embrace the Florida hops project.Local brewers offered input into preferred hop varietals that might be tested, and also supported securing the grant with assurances of a commercial market for the crop.Aside from being able to add a fresh key ingredient to the hyper-localized craft beer industry, Florida hops could offer a distinct new flavor due to a phenomenon called terroir -- where environmental factors like soil, air, water and climate combine to infuse artisanal crops like grapes or agave with a unique character.The question was, could this indispensable hop plant -- the foundation for creating the world's most popular alcoholic beverage -- be grown in sufficient quantities to support commercial production and feed the state's burgeoning craft beer industry?That's what researchers at UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) aim to discover with a $158,000 grant and a few choice acres in Wimauma and Apopka -- where latitudes and climate diverge wildly from hops' typical growing grounds in the Pacific Northwest.The flowers of the hop plant are generally shipped in dried or pellet form from Oregon and Washington state.On the other side of the country, UF's Pearson wanted something more for his own home brew. He yearned for what he calls "the creme de la creme" -- wet-hopped beer -- and for that he would need fresh hops.The only way to get that was to grow it himself. "I figured: I'm a horticulturist, so why not give it a shot?"Pearson's quest began in 2012, when he used his own seed money, so to speak, to spring for a handful of rhizomes that, remarkably, turned into a healthy little crop of hops."It blew all expectations out of the water that I had for them," he says.Yes, it could be done. But was there a market for Florida hops?Pearson figured other craft beer hobbyists might be interested in growing their own backyard hops, so he wrote a paper geared toward them and put it on the IFAS website."What came was an overwhelming response," he said.Not from backyard hobbyists, but from commercial citrus growers looking for alternative crops to expand and diversify their production.Growers have been hit hard in recent years by plant diseases, like citrus greening, which have cut into crop yield and cast a long shadow over the future of Florida's leading agricultural commodity.Enter Bollin, who brought growers and brewers and researchers together to explore the possibilities.Seeing the explosive growth of craft beer in Hillsborough alone, he was quick to grasp how it might energize Florida agriculture and help subsidize King Citrus."A Cascade hop from Oregon will taste different from a Cascade hop grown in Florida," says Bollin. "The brewers were very interested."Of some 100 hops varieties, Cascade is by far the most widely used in brewing craft beer -- and the one that has, so far, shown the most promise in the Florida trials, says UF's Zhanao Deng, lead researcher on the Florida hops project.Deng came to Pearson nearly two years ago to express interest in trying his hand at hops at UF's Gulf Coast Research Center in Wimauma.While Pearson continues experimenting with four varieties of hop plants in Apopka, Deng and fellow UF researcher Shinsuke Agehara have been nurturing and assessing a dozen or more in Hillsborough County.An early winter trial with a few plants in a greenhouse proved somewhat disappointing, he said.But the spring crop planted in an acre of ground in Wimauma started producing hops cones in early June and the harvest goes on.There are 40 20-foot telephone poles in Deng's hops yard and the vines were expected to reach the top; but only a few of them realized their potential.The plants are much shorter than in Oregon and Washington State," says Deng. "They can produce some cones, but not as much as we want."What's missing is hours of daylight, he says. Hillsborough County sees 13 hours of daylight, while plants grown in the Pacific Northwest get 16 to 17 hours. Hop plants need at least 15 to produce a good commercial crop.The Wimauma researchers plan to add artificial lighting to their field to give the plants another three or four hours."That's something the hop growers in South Africa have done and it was very good," he said.There are also new varieties of plants being bred that don't require as much exposure to daylight, so that's another option they might try, Deng adds.The state block grant, made possible by the Florida Specialty Crop Foundation , is only good for two years."Ideally we would like to test five years or longer," says Deng.It is still too early to know whether their efforts will yield a commercially viable crop, but Pearson -- now in his third year of growing hops -- is optimistic.He was especially excited to discover that the plants he was growing in Apopka contained twice the amount of essential oils as the hops imported from the Northwest."They have a much stronger aroma and flavor -- much stronger," he says. "That adds a whole new dimension to the agricultural sector, the brewers and consumers.Just why Florida's hops are twice as aromatic and flavorful is not clear, but it is definitely related to an environmental influence, perhaps a stress response, says Pearson.The hops cone that's used by brewers is the female flower of the plant, like the cannabis flower of the marijuana plant, its closest cousin."The hop plant could be exuding extra compounds to protect itself or enhance its ability to reproduce," he says.In any case, time will tell whether Florida hops will figure at all in the state's agricultural future, or might even open a whole new world for local brewers and beer-lovers.Interest in the project from around the state, and from other states interested in feeding their own craft beer breweries, continues to grow."With the grant, it caught fire. Very rarely a day goes by that I don't hear about it," Pearson says.Just this summer the Florida Hops Consortium was launched to bring brewers and growers together on Facebook.Meantime, Pearson can't believe he gets paid to do beer research."I never thought in a million years that I would be doing work on hops and beer," he says. "It's been exciting to work with the brewers and exciting to help launch new ag products at a time when growers need it."Then, there's another bonus coming to the office these days."It smells so good. Like fresh beer."Jan Hollingsworth has been reporting on Florida's agriculture industry since the 1990s. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees
The White House is the official residence of the President of the United States which was constructed between 1792 and 1800, this place not only holds tremendous political weightage but it is a museum of American history, art and culture. The White House has been collecting an integral collection of fine and decorative art pieces that are considered to be national treasures, these items includes historic objects, significant or representative works by a variety of American and European artists and craftsmen. One of such treasures is the BUSH & GERTS pianos.

On display in the musical instruments section BUSH & GERTS pianos are among two other prestigious and distinguished piano manufacturers. BUSH & GERTS hold a rich legacy that spans over a hundred and thirty years, through their exquisite professional craftsmanship and Integrity management, these musical instruments have established an important place in the hearts and culture of America. BUSH & GERTS have also left its impact on the international world of music by receiving admiration from pianists and musicians. The founders of The Bush & Gerts Piano Co. Wm.H.Bush, John Gerts and Wm.L.Bush has a great love and passion for music which motivated them to develop a company that will unfailingly design well-made and excellent pianos that were comparable or more superior to the European makers.

That is not all, the White House National Treasures collection has a furniture collection, the most prominent of which is the President-Hayes-Desk, a double pedestal partners desk, which is usually known as the Resolute desk, the name comes from the material the desk was made from, the oak timbers of the British ship H.M.S. Resolute. This historic piece of furniture was a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from Queen Victoria in 1880. The furniture section holds some other gifts that were presented to different U.S. presidents.

Other sections include the diner service section and the paintings section which holds pieces such as the Rocky Mountain Landscape painted by Albert Bierstadt, who created the pieces in 1870. According to history, Bierstadt had not seen the Rockies for seven years and he worked from studies made in 1863.

About:

Richard White Home Designs are a boutique custom home design firm located in Portland, Oregon. They have been in business since 1993, proudly designing custom homes, providing marketing and technical support to clients, builders, and realtors.

For more information, please visit their website: http://www.richardwhitehomedesigns.com/

Media Contact

Company Name: Richard White Home Designs

Email: ?pianoson@outlook.com

Country: United States

Website: http://www.richardwhitehomedesigns.com/
Grand View Research, Inc.  Market Research And Consulting.

According to report published by Grand View Research, global hemophilia market is expected to reach USD 15.2 billion by 2024, Increasing need for diagnosis of the target population in order to initiate prophylaxis treatment and supportive government programs is expected to be the vital impact rendering driver.

Global hemophilia market is expected to reach USD 15.2 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing need for diagnosis of the target population in order to initiate prophylaxis treatment and supportive government programs is expected to be the vital impact rendering driver.

The market players are predicted to adopt strategies such as pipeline product development and geographic expansion in underdeveloped and developing regions, such as Middle Eastern and West African countries.

As of 2015, federal bodies such as the World Federation Hemophilia have vast information and treatment regulation in about 172 countries, of which 20 were added in 2013,including Nigeria, Togo, Mali, Zambia, Mauritania, and others.

Competitive pricing strategy is a vital factor promoting market players growth over the forecast period. For instance, Biogen launched Eloctate in 2014 in the U.S. at a lower price than the existing vastly used drug Advate.

Full research report on Global Hemophilia Market Analysis:http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/hemophilia-treatment-industry

Further Key Findings From the Study Suggest:

Hemophilia B is expected to grow at a rapid rate of over 6.0% during the forecast period. Higher emphasis on pipeline products with an extended half-life and increasing incidence of hemophilia B affected patients are expected to be the prominent growth factors.

On-demand treatment dominated the segment over the forecast period and is expected to contribute more than 50.0% by 2024. However, prophylaxis is expected to be the fastest growing segment because of the requirement for better control of bleeding episodes and growing financial assistance programs by healthcare providers and industry players.

For instance, Grifols has launched the AlphaNine SD Copay Card and ALPHANATE Copay Program for immediate enrollment in prophylaxis treatment by patients.

On the basis of therapy, gene therapy is expected to be the fastest growing segment as a result of increasing R&D and innovations in the field. Furthermore, replacement therapy is expected to witness lucrative growth due to the launch of extended half-life versions of currently available drugs.

For instance, Novo Nordisk is working on N8-GP, CSL Behring is working on CSL689 rVIIa-FP, and Bayer is working on BAY 94-9027.These are expected to be commercially available around 2017/2018. This is expected to improve treatment over the forecast period thereby boosting growth.

Major market players include Biogen, Novo Nordisk, Baxalta, Octapharma, CSL Behring, Pfizer, Inc., and Bayer Healthcare. Most of the companies are actively involved in the awareness and treatment programs launched by regional governments and hemophilia associations. Majority of their products that are awaiting FDA approval have extended therapeutic use in adults as well as children.

View more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/pharmaceuticals

Grand View Research has segmented the global hemophilia market on the basis of type, treatment, therapy, and region.

Global Hemophilia Market by Type (USD Million), 2013  2024

Hemophilia A

Hemophilia B

Hemophilia C

Others

Global Hemophilia Market by Treatment (USD Million), 2013  2024

On-demand

Prophylaxis

Global Hemophilia Market Therapy(USD Million), 2013  2024

Replacement Therapy

Immune Tolerance Induction Therapy

Gene Therapy

Hemophilia Market By Region (USD Million), 2013  2024

North America U.S. Canada

Europe UK Germany

Asia-Pacific Japan China

Latin America Brazil Mexico

Middle East and Africa

South Africa



Saudi Arabia

Access press release of this research report by Grand View Research: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-hemophilia-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services

For more information: www.grandviewresearch.com

Media Contact

Company Name: Grand View Research, Inc.

Contact Person: Sherry James, Corporate Sales Specialist  U.S.A.

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Phone: 1-415-349-0058, Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Address:28 2nd Street, Suite 3036

City: San Francisco

State: California

Country: United States

Website: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/hemophilia-treatment-industry
staySky Celebrates Two Years of Growth and Recognition

staySky Vacation Clubs is set to ring in its 2nd year anniversary with another year of top rankings and recognitions for their premier family-friendly hotel experiences and commitment to growth.

staySky Vacation Clubs began sales in June of 2014, introducing members to an innovative, dynamic membership program that offers a points-based vacation product that takes the best components of a traditional timeshare and combines it with innovative flexible features that meet current market demand as well as the trends of the next generation of vacationers. The program is comprised of three different packages to meet the needs of every type of vacationer:

staySky Vacation Club is the classic vacation club program. staySky Vacation Clubs guarantees a lifetime of vacation options including a points-based membership which offers access to comfortably appointed accommodations within the staySky Vacation Club portfolio, plus exchange options with Interval International, and endless benefits and uses for staySky Escapes using Reward Credits which offer members the ability to stay happy each year.

staySky Vacation Membership Club is also modelled on the classic vacation club program; but with a twist of flexibility. It provides members identical benefits to the staySky Vacation Club membership, but with an opt-out feature, which provides members the opportunity to discontinue their Membership along the way if they need to.

staySky Explorer is a simple introduction to the club programs, providing an opportunity to explore the many benefits of the staySky Vacation Clubs for a limited period of time. During an 18 month timeframe, members will enjoy a full week stay at one of the staySky Hotels & Resorts locations, gain access to car rentals, cruises, popular destinations plus a multitude of exciting benefits from the staySky Explorer program.

The flexibility and choice that staySky Vacation Clubs offers is one of the primary reasons for our success in these first two years, alongside our commitment to quality and service says Jack Chevrier, president, staySky Vacation Clubs.

The past year has also seen the staySky team grow, a team that continues to receive recognition for its workplace practices and environment.

This year brought new talent and exciting promotions to the companys existing team, with Joyce E. Stratton being promoted to Director of Member Services while maintaining her position as head of the Contracts Administration Department. Stratton joined the team in April of 2014 and is a timeshare industry veteran of over 15 years specializing in quality assurance, regulatory compliance, risk calculation and management, and credit underwriting. Prior to joining the company, she held various positions within the time share industry, most notable of which was her position as Vice President of Contracts Administration & Owner Services which she held for over 4 years.

Joyce has been an incredible asset to us since she came on in 2014. Im confident that she will exceed all our expectations in her new position as Director of Member Services commented Chevrier.

Continuing with its focus on hiring top level talent, Ann Chandler was recently brought in to serve as Marketing Manager; adding her experience of over 25 years in the marketing arena towards the companys future endeavors. As an industry veteran, Chandler has worked in several top vacation ownership companies as Senior Manager of Marketing and has developed and helmed marketing programs that generated millions in revenue and new clients.

We are very excited to add Anns experience and industry know-how to our team. said Chevrier, adding: Her marketing prowess will no doubt be a great asset for us as we continue to grow and flourish within the vacation ownership industry.

Recently, staySky has been recognized by Florida Governor Rick Scott as one of Central Floridas powerful employment growth entities. Additionally, the Orlando Sentinel ranked the company as one of the top 100 companies for working families for the second year in a row. For over 20 years, the Orlando Sentinel has recognized and honored the companies in Central Florida that are committed to creating a great workplace for their employees.

As a way of bringing new talent into the company. staySky Vacation Clubs actively promotes their sponsorship of an EB-5 program. With this direct job creation EB-5 visa program the company will be committed to provide employment opportunities for 10 new employees for every EB-5 visa subscriber as a part of their on-going growth plan.

With another successful year gone by and a future poised for growth and expansion, staySky Vacation Clubs is set to continue its status as one of the fastest growing vacation ownership companies in Central Florida.

About staySky Vacation Clubs

staySky Vacation Clubs is a membership-based program offering superior vacations worldwide in addition to its own four Orlando, Florida-based resorts: Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa, Hawthorn Suites Lake Buena Vista, staySky Suites-I Drive Orlando, and Enclave Suites. For more information, visit http://stayskyvacationclubs.com

Media Contact

Company Name: Perspective North America LLC

Contact Person: Luis R. Perez

Email: keishabarber@perspectivegrp.com

Phone: 4077303565

Address:4700 Millenia Blvd Suite 370

City: Orlando

State: Florida

Country: United States

Website: www.perspectivemagazine.com
Symbio Holdings Limited (ASX:SYM) is a software company changing the way the world communicates.

Symbio's technology replaces old-fashioned telecom networks with software, making it faster and easier to deliver modern cloud-based communication services, unlocking endless new applications for calling, messaging and phone numbers.

Symbio is the backbone for the global cloud communication industry. Over 500 service providers - from telecom start-ups to the world's biggest software companies - rely on Symbio for the connectivity, quality and expertise they need to solve complex communication challenges.

Headquartered in Sydney, Symbio powers billions of calls and messages each year, owns networks in three countries and employs over 450 staff worldwide.

For more information about Symbio visit www.symbio.global


Reports Record Full Year Result

Sydney, Aug 16, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of global voice specialist MNF Group Ltd ( ASX:MNF ) are very pleased to report another excellent profit for the full year ending 30 June 2016.



Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 46% to $17.8 million, on total revenue of $161.2 million - an increase of 88%. This produced a final net profit after tax (NPAT) of $9.0 million which is 7.0% above the company's published forecast.



The total Dividend for the full year has increased by 22% to 7.0 cents per share fully franked, with the company now declaring a final dividend of 3.5 cents per share.



"Our strong overall performance this year is a result of solid contributions from all three segments of the business - Domestic Retail, Domestic Wholesale and Global Wholesale. Organic growth played a key role in this result, with Domestic Wholesale leading the growth with its gross profit contribution up a very solid 50% on last year." said MNF Group CEO, Mr Rene Sugo. "The TNZI acquisition integration is progressing very well with the new Global Wholesale segment already performing above expectation, and showing excellent prospects going into FY17." added Sugo.



The result produces a robust full year balance sheet with plenty of capacity to fund organic growth and a comfortable buffer to pursue potential acquisitions. A healthy cash balance has resulted from a combination of factors, including: final working capital adjustment from completion of the TNZI US business, finalising TNZI supplier novations, excellent receivables management, and the company's strong EBITDA performance.



The big increase in the company's top line revenue was largely due to the full year contribution of the TNZI Global Wholesale business (excluding the US). The US component of this transaction was completed at the end of May 2016, resulting in only 1 month of TNZI US revenue being recognised in this financial year. However, in relation to the TNZI US business, it should be noted that a full 12 months of EBITDA contribution was recognised in this result due to the interim transition arrangements in the TNZI acquisition.



TNZI Post-Acquisition Update



The integration of the TNZI acquisition is progressing well, with all major project milestones for the year having been achieved. These include - staff integration, Wellington office relocation, IT systems separation, customer & supplier novation, and US licensing & transaction completion. The global network expansion and upgrade program is well underway. The expansion of the UK (London) Point of Presence (PoP) was finalised earlier this calendar year, and the US (Los Angeles) PoP upgrade has been completed in July 2016. After some logistics delays, we can now announce that the Hong Kong PoP first phase construction has just been completed and we expect it will be fully operational very shortly.



Business Outlook and Guidance



The MNF Group is now operating three very solid and independent segments - Domestic Retail, Domestic Wholesale and the Global Wholesale. Inside each segment are multiple product lines with excellent customer diversity and profit contribution. All segments operate in our core area of expertise, being: enabling new and disruptive voice communications through software development and network deployment. Each segment has a well-defined strategy for investment & expansion to produce strong and sustainable organic growth, now and well into the future.



The Board believes that MNF Group has demonstrated its ability to harvest value from accretive acquisitions and integrate them quickly & effectively to improve the overall performance of the business. With a discerning and conservative approach, we will continue to actively search for further acquisition opportunities; whilst we remain totally committed to driving growth and performance within the business.



There will be a teleconference and results presentation held on Tuesday 16 August at 3:30 pm AET. A recorded version of this presentation will be made available for later viewing at the same web address, for details please check http://mnfgroup.limited/investors



To view the Financial Report, please visit:

http://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/H1L61I86



To view MNF Group Investor Presentation, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/D0F8459J



About Symbio Holdings Limited





Symbio Holdings Limited (ASX:SYM) is a software company changing the way the world communicates.

Symbio's technology replaces old-fashioned telecom networks with software, making it faster and easier to deliver modern cloud-based communication services, unlocking endless new applications for calling, messaging and phone numbers.

Symbio is the backbone for the global cloud communication industry. Over 500 service providers - from telecom start-ups to the world's biggest software companies - rely on Symbio for the connectivity, quality and expertise they need to solve complex communication challenges.

Headquartered in Sydney, Symbio powers billions of calls and messages each year, owns networks in three countries and employs over 450 staff worldwide.

For more information about Symbio visit www.symbio.global
KINSHASA, Congo  Suspected rebels have killed at least 36 people in northeastern Congo, spurring residents to stage street protests against the ongoing violence, officials said Sunday.

Allied Democratic Forces, with origins in neighboring Uganda, likely carried out the attack late Saturday after the army pushed them from their bases, said Congo army spokesman Gen. Richard Kasonga.

Two days ago we won back their positions in Mwalika about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Beni and we destroyed their underground dwellings, he said. In their flight they killed at least 30 civilians in Rwangoma.

Congos government said the country will observe three days of mourning starting Monday.

The bodies of 22 men and 14 women are in the morgue and the toll is likely to rise, said North Kivu provincial governor Julien Paluku.

The area around Beni has been the site of repeated attacks. The ADF rebel group has killed at least 500 civilians in the region since October 2014, according to a local rights group that tracks attacks in the region.

Residents in Beni marched to the mayors office in protest, and one resident said that others brought the body of a dead woman.

The city woke up with strong emotions following the killings, and we see people in small groups in several neighborhoods, said Nicole Katavali, a Beni resident.

The attack comes just days after Congo President Joseph Kabila visited Beni. Kabila, in nearby Goma on Sunday, denounced the brutality of the attacks and the threat posed to civilians.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned in the strongest terms the latest attack in the Beni area and called for those responsible to be brought to justice, according to a statement released by his spokesman.

Scores of militia groups and rebels continue to destabilize Congos east more than two decades after the end of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when many of those who carried out the killings fled across the border into eastern Congo.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Don and Debbie Pugh were just driving to work in Joplin when a gunman opened fire on their pickup as part of apparently random shootings that left six people and two dogs injured before the suspect was captured.

Rather than being bitter, the Pughs said Monday they were stunned but grateful after their ordeal on Saturday. Don, 60, suffered no permanent damage from the gunshots and Debbie had minor injuries when shrapnel hit her hand.

While treating Don, doctors found one of his heart valves was almost completely blocked. But during surgery Monday to insert a stent, surgeons decided even that wasnt necessary and said Don Pugh could be released and go home to Duquense.

It could have been a lot worse, Don Pugh said in a telephone interview before he was released from Freeman Hospital in Joplin. Docs said if I had ducked down one of the bullets could have hit me in the head. Its a miracle that it wasnt (worse). Im thankful that Im able to get around.

Police say the Pughs were shot by Tom S. Mourning II, 26, of Joplin, shortly after he shot at a van carrying members of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, wounding four people and two comfort dogs. Mourning remained jailed Monday in Jasper County on several felony counts. He also faces charges in Newton County, where parts of Saturdays events occurred. The motive for the attacks remained unclear, Joplin police Sgt. Trevor Duncan said Monday.

The trouble began just after 5 a.m. Saturday when Mournings father told police shots had been fired in the duplex where he and his son lived. With officers in pursuit, Mourning pulled up behind the church van and started shooting, police said. After that, Mourning stopped at another intersection, where he fired five shots at the Pughs truck, police said. He surrendered a short time later.

Don Pugh said the man started shooting after he flashed his lights because the truck didnt have its lights on.

All of a sudden there were five shots. I pushed my wife to the floor and tried to turn around, he said. I didnt realize at first that Id been hit. It wasnt reality at first until it finally sunk in. It was a shocker.

By the time emergency workers got the Pughs to the hospital, Don Pugh was laughing and joking, while his wife was a basket case, she said.

Because a piece of shrapnel hit Don Pugh in the neck, doctors performed an ultrasound, which found the blocked artery. On Monday, the surgeon determined the artery was no longer useful and another artery was compensating for it, so the stent would do no good. Pugh, who works with his wife in the health care industry, said hell take two weeks off work and will take aspirin for the rest of his life but he is otherwise going to fully recover.

The detective and the doctor treating me said I was a tough old bird, and I said Yes I am,' he said. Funny thing is, I spent 18 months in (Vietnam) and came home without a scratch. I do believe someone was watching out for me and Im grateful for it.

Both the Pughs said they were not angry at the shooter and expressed concern for the other victims and the shooters family. They also said they were deeply grateful to their doctors and law enforcement.

We are praying for him, Debbie Pugh said. Whatever is so troubling him in his life that caused his life to come to this, we hope he will seek out God or someone to help him straighten out his life and get the help he needs.

The driver of the church van, Kenneth Eby, was taken off a ventilator and he was improving Monday, Duncan said. One woman in the van was shot in the arm, a boy suffered a graze wound and a woman was hit by shrapnel, police said. Two comfort dogs also were hit but survived. The dogs, Louie and Jackson, have traveled to several sites of tragedies, including Joplin after the deadly 2011 tornado and to Connecticut after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Albuquerque city councilors on Monday asked Mayor Richard Berrys administration to report back in three weeks with an updated financial plan for operating and building Albuquerque Rapid Transit.

The request came as the council debated a resolution that would have required a series of more detailed reports on ART, including a map showing where parking spaces would be added and removed and a budget for the project if some of the federal funding falls through.

But the council opted instead to simply ask the administration to provide a financial update at the next council meeting, scheduled for Sept. 7, before taking action on the resolution.

Michael Riordan, Albuquerques chief operations officer, said he should have good information by then because the city is negotiating a contract that will guarantee a maximum construction price.

The project is expected to cost about $119 million, with most of the money coming from the federal government. Some of the money is already available  enough to start work  but final action by Congress may not come until later this year.

Theres also litigation that could halt the project. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering an appeal filed by opponents of ART.

The rapid-transit project would create a network of bus-only lanes and bus stations in the middle of Central Avenue, roughly between Coors and Louisiana.

Supporters say it would provide fast, reliable mass transit in a key city corridor that features shopping districts, major employers and other attractions. Mayor Berry has made it a priority and says ART will encourage redevelopment along Central Avenue.

Opponents say the project will choke traffic and damage the car-friendly character of what was once Route 66. They fear the impact of reducing the number of lanes available for general traffic, a necessity to create bus-only lanes in the median of Central Avenue, and new limitations on where cars can make left-hand turns.

Councilor Ken Sanchez sponsored the bill calling for detailed reports.

There are still a lot of questions that are unanswered, he told councilors Monday.

In other action, the City Council:

 Adopted a resolution declaring Albuquerque a bee-friendly city. The city parks department will designate a liaison to work with beekeepers on improving bee habitat, among other work.

The proposal was sponsored by Councilors Isaac Benton and Brad Winter.

 Approved a bond issue that will provide $150,000 to buy a computer system that can track the blueprints of shell casings and match them to the gun that fired them. Albuquerque police said they used a similar system, provided by the federal government, to successfully investigate some recent shootings.

Officers were able to link the casings at several crime scenes to the same persons gun using the technology, officials said.

Councilor Pat Davis sponsored the funding.
PASTORURI GLACIER, Peru  The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. But experts say that the slow process measured in inches of glacial retreat per year also can lead to a sudden, dramatic tragedy.

The melting of glaciers like Perus Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a glof  glacial lake outburst flood.

A glof occurs when the weak walls of a mountain valley collapse under the weight of meltwater from a glacier. Recent examples include the rapid draining in 2013 of a lake at Chiles Ventisquero glacier in the Bernardo OHiggins National Park, six years after another, nearby lake essentially disappeared there.

Those sites are in remote, sparsely populated Patagonia. But if the glacial Palcacocha lake collapsed, it could cause a damaging flood, say experts in Peru, sort of like a smaller, modern cousin of the ancient glof that is thought to have carved the English Channel.

As glaciers disappear around the world, there is less water available for use for hydroelectric power, as a renewable resource for agriculture, for human consumption, said Benjamin Orlove, a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University in New York. The glacier retreat also brings many disasters. Entire slopes are destabilized, creating landslides that travel many miles and have destroyed entire towns.

Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Perus National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the countrys glaciers are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity  these glaciers are also a source of glacial catastrophes.

The problem is that glacial lakes are often fragile structures, created when rocks and rubble carried by a glacier form a moraine that dams up its water outflow. The dam can also be created by chunks of a glaciers own ice. These inherently unstable structures can collapse quickly, especially in a place like Peru that is prone to frequent, violent earthquakes.

At a conference last week on the glacier retreat in Peru, Morales Arnao said that Huaraz, a city of about 100,000 people, is particularly at risk from the glacial Palcacocha lake, just 12 miles (20 kilometers) up the mountain above the city, and called for resources to mitigate the risk. In the past, dams, spillways and other waterworks have helped in other places.

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, the retreating ice of a glacier is seen from Huaraz, Peru. Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Peru's National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the country's glaciers "are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacier glacial catastrophes." (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, the retreating ice of the Pastoruri glacier is seen in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. The melting of glaciers like the Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a "glof," or glacial lake outburst flood. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists ride horses to the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016, a block of ice is seen in the lagoon next to Pastoruri glacier in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. The melting of glaciers like the Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a "glof," or glacial lake outburst flood. A glof occurs when the weak walls of a mountain valley collapse under the weight of meltwater from a glacier. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016, a glacier is seen in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. Peru has 70% of the world's tropical glaciers and is facing imminent water resource issues while the glaciers retreat. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, the Pastoruri glacier is reflected in a lagoon in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. Glacial lakes are often pretty fragile structures, created when rocks and rubble carried by a glacier form a moraine that dams up its water outflow. The dam can also be created by chunks of a glacier's own ice. These inherently unstable structures can collapse quickly, especially in places like Peru that are prone to frequent, violent earthquakes. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk backdropped by the Tuco" glacier in the Huascaran National Park, in a tour called "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru. The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk past a photo featuring an image of the Pastoruri glacier before its retreat, during a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Peru's National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the country's glaciers "are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacier glacial catastrophes." (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a block of ice of Pastoruri glacier is melt. Tourist visit this glacier in a tour called "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru. "As glaciers disappear around the world, there is less water available for use for hydroelectric power, as a renewable resource for agriculture for human consumption," said Benjamin Orlove, a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University in New York. "The glacier retreat also brings many disasters. Entire slopes are destabilized, creating landslides that travel many miles and have destroyed entire towns." (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) A group of tourists walk in front of the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru, on Aug. 12. (Martin Mejia/Associated Press) A group of tourists ride horses to the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru., on Aug. 12. (Martin Mejia/Associated Press) In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a glacier is seen from inside a bus in Huaraz, Peru. Peru has 70% of the world's tropical glaciers and facing imminent water resource issues while glaciers retreat. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Prev 1 of 12 Next

Massive glofs have occurred regularly in sparsely populated parts of Iceland and other nations.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, a regional intergovernmental research center serving the eight countries of the Himalayas, said that in Nepal  whose proximity to the highest and largest meltwater sources in the world makes it particularly vulnerable  little attention was paid to the phenomenon until the sudden outburst of the Dig Tsho, a relatively small meltwater lake in the Mount Everest National Park.

On Aug. 4, 1985, the lakes moraine dam collapsed, and all its water drained into a downstream valley in four hours, causing losses as far as 30 to 35 miles (50 to 60 kilometers) downstream.

Scientists later determined that a large ice and rock avalanche had cascaded into the lake, creating a wave that spilled over the moraine and caused it to collapse, the centers report said. It discharged an estimated 6 to 10 million cubic meters (as much as 2.6 billion gallons) of water into the valley below.

Digging stone- or cement-lined channels through glacial dams is one solution to the threat. Many moraine dams collapse because meltwater erodes them by seepage or over-topping them. Stopping global warming that is increasingly causing glaciers to melt is another.

Experts at the International Forum on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems held in Huaraz last week concluded that the world is going to have to plan on melting glaciers, at least for the time being.

The processes of climate change and glacial melting are irreversible, the forum said in its conclusions. We have to carry out actions to adapt, and mitigate the risks.

The long-term solution is for the world to shift to different energy sources, sources that are renewable, sources that do not emit gases that cause climate change, Orlove said. In the short term we have to find adaptations, like installing early warning systems for disasters in the most sensitive areas.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

Journal Staff Writer

Three professors at the University of New Mexico wont be teaching classes in the fall for the anthropology department in connection with a recent sexual misconduct investigation of a professor in the department.

Professors Ronda Brulotte and Lindsay Smith, both in the ethnology department, told UNM they had deep concern about recent events in the department and have decided to focus their contributions to UNM in other areas at this time. Effectively, that means the two wont be teaching classes for the department in the fall, said university spokeswoman Dianne Anderson.

The department will hire some temporary professors to fill in the teaching gaps caused by the professors absence.

The university also confirmed that professor Erin Debenport had left the university for a job at UCLA.

The news comes just after the university suspended Cristobal Valencia for a second time after new complaints.

Earlier this year, UNM found probable cause that Valencia had offered special treatment to some students and sexually harassed others. He was briefly suspended and was set to return to the classroom this fall under close monitoring from other faculty members. That decision angered some at the university.

Valencia, however, never got that chance to return as others at the university raised new complaints against him. The school suspended him as staff investigate the latest grievances. Valencias attorney Michael Mozes said he would not be speaking to the Journal about his client.

Brulotte, a former anthropology professor, was recently named the associate director for academic programs at the Latin American & Iberian Institute. She will no longer work in the anthropology building though she still holds the title of associate professor in anthropology. Smith is currently on research leave and holds the same title.

Brian Moore, an attorney representing two professors in the anthropologys ethnology department, confirmed his clients left their roles as graduate student advisers out of fear of retaliation.

One faculty member has left graduate committees specifically because of Dr. Valencias presence on the committees, Moore said.

And he said that a faculty member recently left the university partially because of frustration with the universitys response to the allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against Dr. Valencia.
A state district judge on Monday declined the states request to seize assets of Mukhtiar Singh Khalsa, doing business as Praedium Preservation, for alleged violation of consumer laws protecting homeowners in foreclosure and instead announced a limited temporary restraining order.

The New Mexico Attorney Generals Office alleged in a complaint and motion seeking to freeze assets, appoint a receiver and impose civil penalties that the organization has victimized at least 50 New Mexico homeowners and not only taken their money, but also left them in a worse position than before they went to Praedium for help.

Praedium Preservation is a nonprofit incorporated by Khalsa, its president, in New Mexico in 2014 to advise consumers of their legal rights in foreclosures.

The attorney generals 97-page complaint, filed July 26, alleges that the enterprise  the individuals and entities collectively involved  took thousands of dollars in illegal fees and payments from consumers in distress, some of whom testified at a hearing before 2nd Judicial District Judge Alan Malott on Monday. Praedium Preservation, through Khalsa, also has engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, and taken possession of homes in foreclosure and collected rent on them, the complaint says.

After hearing testimony, Malott ruled that the defendants must scrupulously comply with federal debt relief counselor legislation known as the MARS (Mortgage Assistance Relief Services) rule, a 2010 federal rule that bars upfront fees and requires certain disclosures in ads. Malott did not seize or freeze the assets, as requested, however. He announced from the bench that he will file a written order shortly.

The consumer protection division of the Attorney Generals Office said in requesting the TRO that they warned defendants in writing in 2014 about alleged illegal practices, but Praedium and other defendants still brazenly continue their operations.

In court filings, the Attorney Generals Office says one harm is that consumers believe another named defendant, New Mexico attorney Joshua Simms, staff counsel to Praedium Preservation, is representing them in trying to keep their homes, but in actuality clients are not allowed to meet with him and money paid by clients goes to Khalsa.

Besides Khalsa and Simms, named defendants include Paul Lucero, Gregory Molinar, Heartland Financial, and other individuals and John Doe corporations.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

Some health insurance policies covering New Mexicans include an exemption of coverage for injuries that happen as a result of being drunk  a fact that surprised a Socorro man in 2009 when he crashed a four-wheeler while intoxicated and ended up with $500,000 in uncovered hospital bills.

Terry Alan Brawleys insurance plan at the time was through his wife at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, which had a private insurance plan that included the drunken injury exemption.

When he crashed his all-terrain vehicle while heading home from a Socorro bar, his hospital bills for the month he was in a coma and the months of subsequent rehabilitation were included in the DWI exemption.

Although such exemptions may surprise consumers, they are fully legal in New Mexico, said Lisa Reid, director of the Life and Health Division of state Office of Superintendent of Insurance.

Reid said some state-regulated policies in New Mexico have such an exemption. The federal Department of Labor regulates private plans, such as New Mexico Techs.

The state Court of Appeals ruled that New Mexico Tech and the insurance company, HCH Administration, applied the exemption properly in Brawleys case.

Brawleys wife worked as a professor at Tech, through which they got their health insurance, when in 2009 Brawley attempted to drive an ATV home after drinking at a bar in Socorro, according to the Court of Appeals December 2015 opinion.

Brawley crashed, causing serious injuries that required him to be airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital.

He says that although he had been drinking, it wasnt intoxication that caused him to crash  it was a dangerous wash in the road.

His HCH Administration private health insurance plan through the university includes an exemption that allows for denial of coverage of injuries suffered while intoxicated.

According to the Court of Appeals, the university had the right of final determination whether the expenses were covered, but New Mexico Tech spokesman David Lepre Jr. said the school did not have that option.

He said the school only had the option to approve the exclusion when it entered the contract with the insurance company, and at the time it agreed to it. The school still has the same insurance policy.

In Brawleys case, the health plan used the original police report and incident medical records to support the exemption.

But Brawley claimed, in a civil trial attempting to force coverage, that the blood test at the hospital didnt meet legal standards for a DWI blood draw and shouldnt have been used by the company and school as evidence of his drunkenness.

Bernalillo County District Judge Alan Malott agreed but said, as the state Court of Appeals would later echo, that there was sufficient other evidence to show drunkenness.

Also, Brawley on his appeal tried to prove a dangerous road contributed to the crash, meaning his drunkenness wasnt the sole cause, and thus the exemption shouldnt apply. But Court of Appeals Judge Michael Bustamante said that because Brawleys lawyers hadnt made this argument in the first round in District Court in Albuquerque, they couldnt bring it up in the appeal.

The Court of Appeals in December agreed with the lower court, and the state Supreme Court has refused to hear the case.

That leaves Brawley, whose wife died after the incident, carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

Brawley told the Journal he wasnt even sure he was driving that night because he always made arrangements for a designated driver. The Court of Appeals opinion mentions testimony from the bartender that Brawley told him he had to leave the bar because his ride was there waiting for him.

I was in a coma 30 days  and the hospital for four months, Brawley said. And they (the insurance company) paid some of the bills but not all of them. It just doesnt make sense.

The appellate courts opinion said he has paid the balance down to just under $300,000.
Rosalyn Zimmerman called me here at the Journal newsroom last spring.

She said she had been reading my columns and stories and that she enjoyed them. Some of them, anyway.

I get calls and emails like that from time to time. Theyre appreciated. I started in this business more than 40 years ago, but I still like to be assured that Im not wasting newsprint.

But my talk with Rosalyn was a little different from others. She asked me when I was going to write about her.

Whats your story? I asked. What kind of a story would I write about you?

I write poetry, she said.

Oh, I said. Has your poetry been published?

No, she said. But I think you should write a story about me.

Oh, I said. It was the best I could come up with at the time.

I wrote down Rosalyns name, her phone number and her address at the Atria Vista Del Rio assisted living center here in Albuquerque. I told her I would call her soon. And I would have, but she called me back first. And then again. And again.

Im the kind of person who is very determined, she told me. Im going to get something done.

One day last April, I started out of the newsroom, telling my city editor I was going to interview Rosalyn Zimmerman.

Whats the story? he asked.

I dont know, I said. But back in Journalism 101 they told me everybody has one.

Rosalyns story starts in the Bronx in New York City on July 27, 1917. She turned 99 a few weeks ago, an occasion celebrated at Atria with balloons, flowers, a cake and a song.

She is the daughter of Benjamin Adelson, who was a furrier, and his wife, Esther, both immigrants from Kiev, Ukraine, who settled in the Bronx.

Rosalyn earned an undergraduate degree in history from Hunter College in Manhattan in 1937 and a masters in history from the City College of New York in 1958. She lived in New Jersey for 40 years and taught for 26 years at Cresskill High School in Cresskill, N.J., becoming head of the history department there.

I have been a teacher all my life, she told me during a visit in her sun-filled room at Atria. I set a very high bar for my students. I used to play (Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s) I Have a Dream speech. This was at a school that had one black student.

Rosalyn married Harry Zimmerman, an artist who signed his work  oils, inks, acrylics  Zim. Rosalyns field is history, but she got a top-notch education in art while living with Harry and visiting museums with him.

Harry contracted Parkinsons, a disease that devastated not only Harry but Rosalyn as well.

It is very hard to see a man become nothing, she said.

Needing the support of family, Rosalyn and Harry moved to Albuquerque in December 1996 because their son Mark, a physician, lived here at the time. Three weeks after they arrived, Harry died.

Suddenly, Rosalyn was 2,000 miles from everything she knew  Albuquerque is a little strange. People here dont dress up.  and freed from the duty of caring for Harry.

She was 79 then, but she went back to teaching. For six years, she taught art history for the University of New Mexicos continuing education program. She worked for 13 years as a docent at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History and tutored at Albuquerques Apache Elementary School for a dozen years.

I tutored fourth grade, any subject, she said. They (the students) didnt believe me when I told them diamonds came from coal. They thought I was kidding. Fourth-graders are just beginning to grow up and look around and find out about the world.

Everybody has a story. By this time, I knew Rosalyns story is about someone who has never stopped looking around, never stopped learning, never stopped squeezing all she can out of life.

She moved into Atria two years ago and is an active participant there in Scrabble games and the in-house Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune competitions. She keeps up with current events and borrows books  usually large-print nonfiction  every three weeks from the visiting library van.

And she writes poems with titles such as The Horizon of My Mind, Serenity, Im Sorry and Eccentrics (Do eccentrics foster happiness and joy/ or are their actions just a ploy). She writes her poetry in longhand, often in the middle of the night.

There are times when I go to bed and my head is jiggling with words, she said. I get up and I may be sitting up at 1 a.m. writing. Now, the next morning I may throw it out because I dont like what I wrote. But I dont care. Ive taken care of that craving, that desire to write something.

I called Rosalyn on Monday to tell her I was writing about her.

I cant wait to see what youve come up with, she told me. Ive written a new poem.

Whats it called? I asked.

 A Word,  she said. Want to hear it?

Sure, I said. After all, Ive found out that no is a word Rosalyn does not understand.

UpFront is a front page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Ollie at 823-3916 or oreed@abqjournal.com. Go to ABQjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
Cutting public school funding not the answer

I AM WRITING in response to the editorial in Sundays Journal (Disconnect between NM school funding and rank, Aug. 7).

The Journal/editorial board is correct when saying voters need to ask themselves if the candidate they are choosing truly has the best interests of the states students at heart. I have lived in this beautiful state for 39 years and, in all of those years, I have never seen true leadership in our state and/or city politics from either political party.

Clearly, our current administration doesnt have students best interests at heart. The disconnect between the Public Education Department, the (Gov. Susana) Martinez/(Public Education Secretary Hanna) Skandera team and the real reasons that our children do not succeed in public schools is that 30 percent of New Mexicos children live in poverty, 10 percent have had at least one parent incarcerated at some point in their lives and nearly one third of children in our state go to bed hungry.

Unemployment rates in New Mexico are the highest in the southwestern states. These are statistics I found in the Albuquerque Journal from 2015. I dont know what the answer is, but cutting funding to our public schools will not solve it  maybe we should look at the ridiculous testing and teacher evaluations that keep changing every year. How much is spent on that?

As a long-time educator in the Albuquerque Public Schools system, I see teachers who spend their own money for their classrooms, spend late nights poring over data, making lesson plans and worrying about their students. Our state is poor  I get that. But happy employees are the last people you should throw under the bus when there is a disconnect between school funding and test scores.

LINDA GLOUDEMANS

Albuquerque

Many NM students place little value on education

YOU CAN LEAD a horse to water, but you cant make him drink. In that same vein, you can send a kid to school, but you cant make him learn.

There is nothing  certainly less than many people insist  wrong with the education system in New Mexico. As evidence, I offer all the young people who do graduate from high school, who do go on to some form of higher education, who do get scholarships from prestigious universities. Success, often great success, is there for the taking.

A very large segment of New Mexicos population places little or no value on education. Many parents dont tell their children education is important. A significant segment of the population is quite content with menial, low-paying jobs for which education is not important.

No amount of money from any level of government is going to improve education for students who dont think education is important. If their goals are less education and a quicker start in life with any job, then no matter how great our education system is, they will not benefit from it.

Only when there is a significant and widespread change in the populations attitude will the outcome of our education system improve.

Lets not blame the grocery store for diabetes just because people buy junk food instead of vegetables.

LEWIS E. GREEN

Belen

APS should talk to RRPS about how to catch up

SCHOOL HAS BEGUN and I am dismayed at the information I am aware of in several areas regarding Albuquerque Public Schools system.

There are so many unnecessary pressures on the teachers, counselors, nurses and other staff that APS is looking to hire approximately 300 persons. Compare that to Rio Rancho, which needs approximately 30 professionals.

APS dropout rate is significantly high. Compare it to Rio Rancho schools. Ouch!

Could some of the problem be that APS does not value counseling for potential students with difficulty, when they modified family counseling services and reduced the number of counselors available to students in the school. And perhaps given them (counselors) additional responsibilities, which lessens direct contact with children. Little is now available to those students in need of help to succeed.

Our school ratings generally are not as good as Rio Rancho. Why? I think their student population is similar to APS.

I would like to suggest that our new superintendent invite the superintendent of Rio Rancho for information and compare the differences. Being new, she has the opportunities to be open to different concepts and make changes so APS can once again be proud of success.

HARRIET KNIGHTEN

Albuquerque

Martinez and Skandera short-changing students

FOR THE SECOND year in a row, Gov. (Susana) Martinez decided to insult New Mexicos students and educators by doling out pittance $100 gift cards to classroom teachers instead of adequately resourcing our public schools. On Aug. 8, Gov. Martinez created a spectacle of the gift cards, while using students as backdrops for her political photo-op.

Its hypocritical for the governor and (Education) Secretary (Hanna) Skandera to repeatedly suggest that funding public education through the State Equalization Guarantee is throwing money at the problem, while at the same time acknowledging that teachers have to buy books and materials for their students classrooms using money from their own pockets. Her own distribution of the gift cards is her admittance that she and her administration have shortchanged our students and our classrooms.

As we enter a special session to address the budget, let the governor and her administration not forget that the weight of tax breaks for corporations weighs heavily on the backs of our teachers, our students and their families. Martinezs patchwork corporate tax cuts mirror her insincerity in distributing gift cards to teachers: Both plans attempt to plug gaping holes in a sinking ship.

Martinezs duplicity reflects her insincerity regarding the support of public education in the state of New Mexico. In her attempt to funnel money into her friends pockets, she is willing to throw anyone, including our students and teachers, under the bus.

ELLEN BERNSTEIN

President, Albuquerque Teachers Federation

Albuquerque

Out-of-state tests, evals not helping things in NM

WHAT CAN WE do? New Mexico is now circling the drain in education, according to the Aug. 2 Journal article New survey ranks NMs education system almost last in the nation.

Lets first learn from what we have done, which education is all about. Six years ago, New Mexico education was ranked around 35th by some measures, which people will contest, but certainly not near 50th by any measures. There certainly is room for improvement as 35th, but what happened that we are now almost dead last?

We collapsed our elected state education board to a single education secretary position, designated by the governor. This was to bring us swiftly into compliance with the federal law, remnants of No Child Left Behind, which evolved into Race to the Top with packaged deals from publishers and test companies. Hanna Skandera, our education secretary, is the chairperson for the PARCC organization, whose test is the statewide tool.

The implementation of these reforms was rushed and feedback about their effects on the classroom was assumed to be whining from individuals who, like a stone, needed turning. The reforms were put in knowing that there would be collateral damage  casualties within the old guard in teaching, etc., that would be well worth the trade if we could just hold to the long view.

Six years later, with end-to-end years of hundreds of teaching vacancies, budget cuts and sinking morale, Skandera reports that it is the educators attitude that is the actual problem and it will take decades more to fix, according to the Journal article Skandera blames NM education troubles on low expectations (Jan. 13).

More than pointing fingers and saying to wait decades, we should go ahead with a plan to improve things now. Lets stop spending millions of dollars on out-of-state student tests and textbooks and teacher evaluation companies whose products clearly have not improved anything in our state. Many of those things are available right now for free online. Ask me how I know how to do this. So do many of us. This is not military protocol for us to do as we are told. Its what the military fights for: our democracy. Hear our voice and we can teach.

JEFF TUTTLE

Monte Vista Elementary

Albuquerque

Parents must motivate, encourage kids to learn

THIS IS IN reference to the editorial Disconnect between NM school funding and rank on Aug. 7.

Its a delusion that education and funding are connected. There would be some truth to it, but a majority of it is false. Otherwise, Abraham Lincoln, who had to study in the illumination of street lights, would not have become the 16th president of United States. He received very little formal education and he taught himself in his log cabin.

Benjamin Franklin had to stop early education because his parents could not afford to send him to school. Finally, he made soap and sold it to go to school. His parents played an important role by receiving a guest speaker for dinner every week so that the children could learn from all the experiences.

In some countries, students spent less than $10,000 for their entire education and are still successful.

Education depends on motivation and perspiration. Parents need to take time to motivate and encourage our children. Too much funding also develops a lack of interest in the students as they are entertained, not educated.

Parents, educators and government should stop the blame game and must realize that our children are a piece of clay, which can be molded at the right time into the appropriate vessels which the Creator has designed them to be.

SHEMA RAJU

Gallup
The Washington Post.

Olga Murra warned one of the women she kept as a slave that if the woman disobeyed, immigration officials would come to Texas, kill her and bury her in a field with other illegal aliens.

And the punishment wouldnt stop there.

For 14 years, Murra convinced two women that she was the voice of God  even making them listen to recordings of her reading Bible verses as they cleaned houses, sometimes seven days a week, court documents said.

If they didnt do as she said, Murra convinced the women, they would spend eternity in hell.

Last week, a jury convicted Murra, 64, of two counts of forced labor and two counts of harboring an illegal alien, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The crimes were committed in Fort Worth and El Paso.

When she is sentenced in November, Murra faces 20 years in federal prison for each labor charge and 10 years apiece for the harboring convictions, according to ICE.

Murra made the women sleep on the floor and ask permission to use the bathroom, court documents say.

They could only talk to Murra  not anyone else in the homes where they lived. She only fed them bread and water.

One woman told the FBI that Murra would hit her.

Another said she was allowed to sleep on the floor of a bedroom  but if either woman misbehaved, they were forced to sleep in the garage or the backyard.

Almost every day, they worked. The women cleaned on average, three or four homes a day, according to court documents. They also cleaned Murras house and prepared her meals.

All the while, the women were turning their money over to Murra from cleaning houses.

Murra also made them get jobs at McDonalds and Walmart using forged documents, according to court papers.

Murra was born in the United States, but lived in Mexico from shortly after her birth until September 1997, when she moved to Texas  first El Paso, then Fort Worth. She operated cleaning businesses in both cities, ICE said.

When Murra returned to the United States, she brought a 33-year-old Mexican woman with her.

A year later, she arranged for another woman, who was 21, to come to the United States, according to ICE.

The women would be her slaves for the next 14 years and endured a steady stream of abuse and indoctrination.

According to the indictment:

[Murra] represented herself to (the victim) as the voice of God on earth, and caused (the victim) to believe (the victim) would go to hell if she did not obey the defendant.

Approximately once or twice a week, the defendant required I.G. to attend religious instruction in the residence, during which the defendant preached for two to three hours. Additionally, the defendant required (the victim) to listen to religious recordings when she cleaned homes, which consisted of the defendant reading Bible verses and discussing their meaning. 

Murra threatened at least one of the women that if she disobeyed her, she would contact immigration and the woman would be buried in a field with other illegal aliens.



The United Nations Polaris Project, which tracks human trafficking, estimates there are 20.9 million people across the globe who are slaves, trapped in jobs they cannot leave.

Thats about three of every 1,000 people in the workforce. Women make up 55 percent of the trafficked, according to the project:

Although slavery is commonly thought to be a thing of the past, human traffickers generate hundreds of billions of dollars in profits by trapping millions of people in horrific situations around the world, including here in the U.S. Traffickers use violence, threats, deception, debt bondage, and other manipulative tactics to force people to engage in commercial sex or to provide labor or services against their will.

Homeland Security agents investigated Murras case, but its unclear how the slaves came to the attention of authorities.

texas-woman

_____

Keywords: Olga Murra, slave, ICE, immigrant, McDonalds
SOFIA, Bulgaria  A French citizen with family ties to the attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris will be extradited to France to face terror charges, a Bulgarian court ruled Tuesday.

The Sofia City Court announced that Mourad Hamyd, 20, didnt take advantage of a three-day deadline to withdraw the approval he had given to be sent back to France.

Hamyd was arrested on a French arrest warrant in Bulgaria on July 29. French authorities say they suspect he planned to join the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq.

Hamyd, who has denied the allegations, is the brother-in-law of Cherif Kouachi, one of the men who attacked Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

He initially was suspected of a role in the attack that killed 12 people at the paper. His high school classmates launched a successful social media campaign to clear his name, saying he was in class at the time.

The warrant for his arrest last month was based on his sister Khadijas report to police that her brother had boarded a train via Hungary and Serbia to Bulgaria, even though he had told her he would travel to Morocco.

This route corresponds with the route that is usually chosen by the jihadist volunteers that want to join the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq, the arrest warrant said.

If he is found guilty of the terror charges by a French court, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Tuesdays court decision is final and cannot be appealed. The extradition legally must be take place within the next seven days.
FALLS CHURCH, Va.  The Latest on a fatal shooting by a sheriffs deputy near a hospital (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

Police say a northern Virginia sheriffs deputy fatally shot a hospital patient who they say was wielding a metal sign post and appeared to be mentally disturbed.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid released details about the Monday night shooting at a news conference Tuesday.

Roessler says a 29-year-old Hispanic man had just been discharged from Inova Fairfax Hospital when he began wielding a sign post with a sharp metal end. Roessler said a hospital security guard was injured before a sheriffs deputy responded.

Roessler says the deputy, an 18-year veteran, tried to talk the man down, but he continued to charge at the deputy until he fired multiple shots. Roessler didnt identify either the patient or the deputy, who is on administrative leave. He also did not release the deputys race.

The deputy had been guarding another patient at the hospital when he responded. In Virginia, deputies hold the same authority as police in responding to incidents.

___

11:20 a.m.

An official at a northern Virginia hospital says a man fatally shot by a sheriffs deputy in a confrontation near the hospital was a patient.

Inova Fairfax Hospital spokeswoman Tracy Connell declined to comment in an email because the man involved was a patient, citing privacy laws. She referred questions to police.

Police said in a statement that that hospital security reported a man with an edged weapon at a campus bus stop Monday night. Police say a deputy on assignment at the hospital found the man, who threatened the deputy with an object. Police say the deputy fired, striking the man. He was taken to the nearby hospital, where police say he later died.

Police say the deputy will be on routine administrative leave.

___

8:20 a.m.

Authorities say a man has died after he was shot by sheriffs deputy he threatened with an unidentified object outside a northern Virginia hospital.

Fairfax County police spokesman Don Gotthardt said by telephone Tuesday that the man has died. Police initially said his injuries werent life-threatening.

Police said in a statement that that Inova Fairfax Hospital security reported a man with an edged weapon at a campus bus stop Monday night. Police say a deputy on assignment at the hospital found the man, who threatened the deputy with an object. Police say the deputy fired, striking the man.

Police say the sheriffs office will conduct an internal investigation and the deputy will be on routine administrative leave. Police didnt release the names or races of the man or the deputy.
The Washington Post.

At the very end of May, a young boy climbed the fence that surrounds the Cincinnati Zoos gorilla enclosure. He fell.

You probably know how the rest of the story goes: The boy survived the tumble only to be snatched by a 17-year-old male gorilla. The gorilla dragged the 3-year-old boy through the exhibit by his ankles. Fearing for the childs life, a zoo employee shot the ape. The western lowland gorilla, Harambe, died. Primatologist Jane Goodall called it a devastating loss to the zoo, and to the gorillas.

But the great apes tale did not end with the usual news-outrage cycle.

Months after the gorilla was killed, he was resurrected by the Internet, as The Washington Post previously reported. Harambe now belonged to all of us, but he belonged to the Internets dank corners and edgy teens most of all.

As an Internet meme, Harambes second coming is mostly jokey tributes. Memes have key signifiers, or hooks, that get repeated, Jean Burgess, an expert in digital culture and memes at the Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane, Australia, told The Washington Post on Monday.

For a single word, Harambe has a lot of hooks: He is the noble caged animal. He is how we value human life versus the rest of the natural world. He is how we value cute animal lives more than human lives  particularly black human lives, Burgess said. He is the relatively new phenomenon of online mourning and celebrity death.

In July, The Post traced some of the earliest cheeky tributes to Black Instagram, with its overly sincere memorials to the gorilla. From there, the messages spread to Twitter, were fruitful and multiplied. On social media, Harambe (which is a Swahili word that roughly translates to cooperation) became an exhortation, an annotation and an ironic hashtag. Like bacterial strains, Harambe memes morphed to thrive in new media, including YouTube memorial songs and a protest sign caught on cable news  Bush, an MSNBC punkster told us in July, Did Harambe.

Almost three months after his death, Harambe persists.

The memorial meme has mutated yet again into new forms. Someone dug up an old photograph of George W. Bush with Harambes mother  Bush Did Harambe, v. 2.0. Other mock-mourners erected memorials to Harambe in video games. According to a Change.org petition that launched Wednesday, Aug. 10, aimed at Nintendo and the Pokemon Company, Harambe deserves to live on forever in our hearts. Support this petition if you want Harambe to become a Pokemon.

As of this writing, nearly 60,000 people have requested Nintendo turn Harambe into a cartoon ghost/fighting monster. And Pokemon is not the only popular game where cheeky players have inserted Harambe references  in the space sim No Mans Sky, explorers have named a few of the quintillions of computer-generated planets after the gorilla. Welcome to Planet Harambe.

Harambe has enjoyed an incredible shelf life. He is the Twinkie of memes. Consider The Dress  that dress, the black and blue one  which drove so much traffic to Buzzfeed that the media company celebrated with champagne and a press release. Its reign of terror was intense but brief.

The dress drove us all mad, Burgess said. But neither optical tricks nor escaped llamas have cultural richness.

Harambe, argues Burgess, does. The Dress provoked few substantial reactions to mock. Harambes many aspects  as diverse as gorilla conservation and parenting  provided plenty of fuel.

Jokes about Harambes death walk a special line. Cracks at the expense of dead animals are too dark for brands to sensibly co-opt, as a smart New York Magazine piece argued in July. The corporate touch will never make Harambe lame. On the other hand, in most circles a celebrity gorilla jest is a safer bet than one about a celebrity human.

Plus, the best Harambe jokes are not, in and of themselves, offensive: Memorializing Harambe as a Pokemon is silly, but unlikely to prompt outrage. #Harambe is the joy of finding ridiculousness in buttoned-up earnestness.

Harambe! as an exclamation is popular among teens, Burgess said. Teens love edgy, slightly unacceptable humor. (And then we get actor Danny Trejo growling, [male genitalia slang] out for Harambe.)

In Burgesss taxonomy of memes, Harambe is a platform, a joke with endless permutations, like rage comics or image macros (think pictures of LOLcats or the toddler fist-pumping on the beach). Even among such platforms, Harambe is a unique beast. When asked if she could think of a comparable meme that so transcended its real-life origin, Burgess replied, A real-world event that had serious news value, which became a cultural phenomenon that became a meme? Maybe not.

pokemon-gorilla

_____

Keywords: Post Keywords
LAS VEGAS, N.M.  Authorities say a man shot and wounded by a State Police officer had stolen a vehicle north of Albuquerque and fled before the pursuit ended and an officer opened fire.

A New Mexico State Police spokesman said 52-year-old William Wilson took a vehicle by threatening the owner with a bladed weapon near San Felipe Casino, at exit 252 on Interstate 25.

The suspect fled north in the vehicle to the Las Vegas area, where the pursuit ended and Officer Carlos Vigil shot Wilson, authorities said. The suspect suffered a non-life-threatening injury.

State Police Sgt. Chad Pierce said that the events leading up to the shooting remain under investigation and that further details are not available.

Wilson faces charges that include aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery and credit card fraud.
LAS CRUCES  Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a suspect in the murder of Hatch police officer Jose Chavez with federal firearms and carjacking offenses, while state prosecutors filed drug trafficking charges against the suspects traveling companion.

The state is charging Jesse Hanes, 38, with first-degree murder, willful and deliberate, according to court documents.

Echoing their approach in the 2015 murders of Albuquerque police officer Daniel Webster and Rio Rancho police officer Gregg Benner, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico is now also charging Hanes with federal crimes including being a felon in possession of a firearm; carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury; and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Hanes has been convicted of at least one prior felony, robbery, in 2013, according to the federal complaint. He is also wanted in the murder of a transit driver shot dead in Ohio last month.

We believe there are those folks out there that are the worst of the worst individuals and they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in the federal and state system, said U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez. The goal is to try to ensure they are kept away from the community for as long as possible to keep the community as safe as possible.

The shooting

Hanes  alongside another fugitive suspected in the same Ohio murder, James Nelson, and a hitchhiker named Tony Jones  was driving a 1991 Silver Lexus sedan when Chavez, 33, pulled the vehicle over in Hatch on Friday.

State prosecutors allege the two fugitives were on a cross-country spree paid for by robbing banks and dealing meth. Court documents suggest they picked up Jones somewhere along the way.

A criminal complaint filed in the Third Judicial District on Tuesday charged Nelson, 36, with trafficking with intent to distribute methamphetamine; distribution of marijuana; and possession of drug paraphernalia. His arrest warrant requests a $100,000 secured bond, according to a court clerk.

Nearly 50 grams of large rocks of a white crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine were allegedly found in the Lexus, according to the states complaint. Also found in the vehicle were about a dozen grams of marijuana in plastic vials and burnt marijuana cigarettes.

In the states criminal complaint against Hanes, FBI agents who interviewed Nelson and Jones said the two were sleeping in the car and awoke when they realized they were being stopped by police.

Jones, who is charged with possession of meth, told FBI agents he was in the backseat and saw a police officer standing at the front passenger window when Hanes pulled out a handgun and shot the officer through the front passenger window.

Nelson told FBI agents he remembered the officer asking for the vehicle registration and then instructing Hanes to exit the vehicle, according to the complaint. Nelson said Hanes raised a .45 caliber handgun towards the officer and fired a single shot.

The Lexus then sped off, leading authorities on a high-speed chase along Interstate-25 before Hanes pulled over at a rest stop near Radium Springs and all three men got out of the car. Hanes allegedly approached a motorist, demanded his car keys, then shot the man when he refused to go with him.

Hanes sped off in the stolen red Chevy Cruz, leaving Nelson and Jones behind. After a manhunt that involved multiple law enforcement agencies, authorities eventually arrested Hanes, Nelson and Jones.

After allegedly fatally shooting Chavez, Hanes suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg and remains in stable at University Medical Center in El Paso, according to the Dona Ana County Sheriffs Office.

A public funeral for Chavez is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, at the Pan American Center on the campus of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
The Washington Post.

LONDON  Britains most infamous defender of Islamist extremism was found guilty of eliciting support for the Islamic State, officials said Tuesday, marking what authorities described as a milestone in the British campaign to combat homegrown terrorism.

The verdict against Anjem Choudary, 49, is the first major conviction against a man seen across Europe as a Pied Piper for young radicals and a cheerleader for the Islamic State. His conviction immediately became the most significant example of how Britain and other European nations are moving to expand their counterterrorism operations, targeting not just active cells but also the voices of incitement.

A top associate of Choudary  Mohammed Rahman, 33  was also convicted, and both now face up to 10 years of jail time. The verdict came after years in which both men had mostly dodged British justice, doing so by successfully playing the same democratic system they often railed against.

Choudary, for instance, is a trained lawyer, and he often maintained that his polemic statements  such as calling for strict Islamic law in Britain and turning Buckingham Palace into a mosque  were expressions of free speech designed to bait the British press. His conviction, however, came after he appeared to cross a line by openly supporting the Islamic State.

In lectures and statements posted on social media and YouTube, he encouraged youths to embrace the Islamic State and denied its documented war atrocities, prosecutors said. In one piece of vital evidence, officials said, he pledged allegiance to the Islamic States leader in a conversation with a terrorism suspect.

These two men knowingly sought to legitimize a terrorist organization and encouraged others to support it, Sue Hemming, head of counterterrorism for the Crown Prosecution Service, said in a statement. They used the power of social media to attempt to influence those who are susceptible to these types of messages, which might include the young or vulnerable.

The men were convicted on June 28, but the verdict was announced Tuesday, after the conclusion of a related trial. They are set for sentencing on Sept. 6.

Counterterrorism officials and experts have long described Choudary  a soft-spoken lawyer with a salt-and-pepper beard known for wearing traditional Muslim robes  as a leading figure in the dark networks across Europe that have fostered homegrown extremism and encouraged young Muslims to fight in the Middle East.

These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counterterrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organizations, Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Command.

During the investigation, Haydon said, 20 years worth of material was considered. They included information recovered from 333 electronic devices containing 12.1 terabytes of storage data. In a meeting in a restaurant in July 2014. Choudary and Rahman, officials said, had contacted Mohammed Fachry, a convicted terrorist in Indonesia, and pledged their allegiance to the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Via social and traditional media, Choudary has openly defended known terrorists and called for the spread of Islamic law. His comments often harbored an air of the grandiose, leaving some wondering whether he was a publicity hound more than anything else.

We believe there will be complete domination of the world by Islam, he told The Washington Post in 2014. That may sound like some kind of James Bond movie  you know, Dr. No and world domination and all that. But we believe it.

But over the past 15 years, counterterrorism experts say, the majority of Britons convicted of offenses related to Islamic extremism have been members or supporters of his shadowy organizations. They included the two men charged with slaughtering Lee Rigby, a British army soldier killed on the streets of London in May 2013.

Yet other than a minor charge for holding an illegal demonstration, a series of allegations against Choudary never really stuck.

In September, 2014, however, exasperated British authorities arrested Choudary and Rahman after mounting their most rigorous case against him. A detailed report compiled on Choudary by Hate Not Hope, a British anti-extremist organization, portrays Choudary as a sinister but savvy figure with deep connections to extremism. Well over 100 Britons with some connection to Choudary and his al-Muhajiroun network have gone to Syria to fight, the group said.

Choudary has disputed that he ever coaxed jihadists to go and fight. But he routinely painted the Islamic State as a religious utopia.

If you look now in the area controlled by the Islamic State, the Jews, the Muslims and the Christians are living side by side in security, he once told the Guardian. Its not true that people are being slaughtered. Those people who are allied with the previous regime or those who are fighting against the Muslims, certainly they will be fought against.

Choudary also maintained early and long ties with a host of other radical groups across Europe, including Sharia4Belgium. That group is now labeled a terrorist organization in Belgium, and authorities see it as an incubator of homegrown terror and young jihadists who have joined the Islamic State.

It seems incredulous that he was allowed to continue all these years, said Nick Lowles, executive director of Hope Not Hate. This really does put an end to his organization. Others will try to step into his place. But the people who come after him wont have the same credibility or media profile.

  

The Washington Posts Karla Adam contributed to this report.

britain-isis

_____

Keywords: Anjem Choudary, ISIS, Islamic State, Mohammed Rahman
LOS ANGELES  A wildfire broke out Tuesday and spread at a staggering pace in every direction through drought-parched canyons east of Los Angeles, burning at least a dozen buildings  including some homes  and prompting evacuation orders for entire communities.

The blaze that began as a small patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had scorched 15,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains. By nightfall, it had churned up and over ridges and was descending into the Mojave Desert.

The smoke is on the desert floor, said Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Snaking walls of flame rising 50 to 100 feet high turned nearly two dozen square miles of chaparral to ashes, along with outbuildings and homes in the ranchlands 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

I can confirm that weve lost structures, both residential and commercial, Sherwin said at the scene of a hard-hit cluster of ranches. Im looking up here and Im seeing buses, Im seeing outbuildings, Im seeing houses.

At least a dozen buildings had burned, including the Summit Inn, an historic diner near Interstate 15, he said.

Mandatory evacuation calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, ranging for the ski resort of Wrightwood to the sprawling high desert town of Phelan, with more than 14,000 residents.

This fire is burning in significantly different terrains at multiple elevation levels, making it difficult to fight, Sherwin said.

Hundreds of animals, including dogs and horses, also were evacuated.

The flames were fueled by thick stands of drought-stricken brush in the canyons and grass at lower elevations. The flames burned faster in the grassy areas, making them less likely to burn homes but also making them more vulnerable to wind shifts, Sherwin said.

The fire forced a shutdown of Interstate 15, leaving commuters stranded for hours.

Blue Mountain Farms, a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire  just as it was for another fire in the area a year ago.

Breathing smoke again, just like last year, Shannon Anderson, a partner in the ranch, said as she panted into the telephone. Its raining ash.

Ranch hands used hoses to wet down fences and anything else that could burn.

Six firefighters were briefly trapped by flames at a home where the occupants had refused to leave, forcing the crew to protect the house, fire officials said.

We were fully engulfed in smoke, county firefighter Cody Anderson told KCBS-TV. It was really hard just to see your hand in front of your face.

We just hunkered down and sat there and waited for the fire to blow over, he said.

Anderson and another firefighter were treated for minor injuries.

Gov. Jerry Brown quickly declared a state of emergency in the fire area, freeing up special resources and funds for the firefight and recovery.

As that fire surged, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.

Their relief, however, was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend along with 16 smaller fires dating back to last summer.

Investigators in Northern California said Tuesday they had been building a case against the suspected arsonist, 40-year-old construction worker Damin Anthony Pashilk, for more than a year but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest until the weekend blaze ripped through Lower Lake.

Nearly a decade ago, Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters. He was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to fight wildfires for four months in 2007.

The fire destroyed 175 homes, Main Street businesses and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake.

What Id do to him, you dont want to know, said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbors home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. Cancilla still doesnt know the fate of his own home and spoke at a center for evacuees set up at a high school.

A lot of people want to hang him high, his wife, Jennie, added.

An attorney listed as representing Pashilk did not return a call requesting comment. Pashilk is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Roughly 1,600 firefighters were making progress on the blaze as it burned through wilderness. It was 34 percent contained.

___

Thanawala reported from Lakeport. Associated Press writers Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco, Don Thompson in Sacramento and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
In a campaign foray into whats been a reliably Democratic state in recent presidential election years, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence told New Mexicans on Tuesday to ignore polls that show Donald Trump trailing in this years race.

Were going to put New Mexico on the board to make Donald Trump the president of the United States of America, Pence told a crowd of roughly 600 cheering supporters in a Sandia Resort and Casino ballroom.

Pence, who is the governor of Indiana and was picked last month to be Trumps running mate, appeared at ease during a question-and-answer session after a 20-minute speech that was not interrupted by protesters, as Trump was during a May rally in Albuquerque.

However, there was a chorus of boos from the crowd when Pence, in response to a question from one audience member, described Gov. Susana Martinez as having done a great job for New Mexico.

Martinez, a fellow Republican, was attending political meetings in Colorado on Tuesday and was not on hand for either of Pences public events in New Mexico  the town hall meeting at Sandia Resort or a rally later in the day in Roswell.

Martinez has criticized some of Trumps comments about immigration and said she was too busy to attend his May rally in Albuquerque, prompting searing criticism from Trump on her job performance.

Elaine Aragon of Albuquerque, who attended Tuesdays rally with friends, said Martinez should have attended the rally.

Hes the (vice presidential) nominee, and she should be here to support him, Aragon told the Journal.

Some high-profile state Republicans did attend Tuesdays campaign events, with U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, GOP secretary of state candidate Nora Espinoza and House Majority Whip Alonzo Baldonado of Los Lunas all delivering speeches at the Sandia Resort stop.

Pearce, who previously served with Pence in the U.S. House, introduced Pence to the crowd and said the Trump-Pence ticket would end an era of dark days for our country.

Baldonado spoke out against naysayers who dont think Trump can win the November general election, while also criticizing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, whos been outpacing the New York businessman in many recent national polls.

Hillary Clinton makes millions of dollars giving speeches, Baldonado said. Donald Trump makes millions putting people to work.

New Mexico Democrats blasted the economic policies of Trump and Pence in advance of the vice presidential nominees visit to the state.

On Tuesday, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., accused Pence of advocating for discriminatory policies as Indiana governor, an apparent reference to a 2015 religious freedom bill that Pence signed into law.

The bill drew criticism from opponents who claimed it allowed discrimination against gays and lesbians, and Pence ultimately backtracked on some of its language.

When Mike Pence comes to New Mexico, he brings with him the same convictions and extreme views as Donald Trump that are wrong for New Mexico and wrong for our country, Lujan said in a statement.

Pence did not mention the flap during his Tuesday remarks, and largely sidestepped a pointed question from one audience member about a possible civil war if Clinton were to try to overturn the constitutional right to bear firearms.

Instead, he focused on familiar themes from the campaign trail, saying Trump would rebuild the nations military, strengthen border security and lead a repeal of Obamacare if he is elected president in November.

Donald Trump, I do believe, has given voice to the aspirations and frustrations of millions of people like no one I can remember since our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, Pence said.

The turnout for Tuesdays town hall meeting at Sandia Resort was far smaller than for Trumps rally in May, which drew an estimated 8,000 people.

That rally also featured a large number of protesters, and was marked by clashes between police and anti-Trump protesters that received national media attention.

Pence, who was also scheduled to attend a private Albuquerque fundraiser on Tuesday, said this years presidential race could come down to a question of values.

Weve simply got to decide if were going to have a government as good as our people again, he said.
PHOENIX  The Maricopa County Stadium Districts board of directors is scheduled to meet Wednesday to consider possibly selling Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, to private investors.

County officials said in a statement Tuesday that the board will discuss and vote on whether to sign a letter of intent with Integral Group, LLC, identified as a potential purchaser.

They said the minimum purchase price would be $60 million and current agreements would remain to keep the Diamondbacks at the downtown Phoenix ballpark through the end of the teams contracted tenancy in 2027.

The letter of intent would allow the county to choose the appraiser and the potential buyer to visit and inspect the property.

The vote comes amid tension between the county and the Diamondbacks over whos financially responsible for as much as $187 million in repairs to Chase Field over the next 12 years.

Team officials have suggested recently they might seek a way to leave the ballpark before their current contract with the county ends.

A lawyer representing Integral Group has already told county officials that the potential investors want to keep the Diamondbacks at Chase Field and would complete stadium improvements agreed on by the team within a two-year window.

The ballpark opened in 1998 for the Diamondbacks inaugural season. It is owned entirely by the county despite a team investment in its construction.

County officials said as facility manager, the Diamondbacks would have to agree to any stadium sale.

Diamondbacks officials submitted letters to county officials in June and July requesting funding for repairs for the fifth oldest ballpark in the National League.

One letter sought reimbursement for about $650,000 in improvements the team made to suites, the dugout, concession areas, locker rooms and heating and cooling systems. County officials denied some items and said others might be approved with additional documentation.

The other letter outlined about $64 million in proposed repairs over five years, from replacing scoreboards to renovating party lounges.

County officials agreed to continue funding structural issues such as repairs to concrete and steel, but denied other expenses as superficial.
The state has agreed to end double-celling at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants under a settlement agreement filed in U.S. District Court this month.

An inmate at the facility filed documents last December alleging that the Department of Corrections was in violation of a consent decree the state entered in 1991 agreeing to maintain certain standards in the states prisons.

Attorneys who litigated the underlying case, filed in 1977, investigated the recent claims filed by prisoner Barry Holloway, acting as his own attorney, whose handwritten motions claimed housing two prisoners in a cell designed for one person violated the Duran Consent Decree. He asked the court to find the state in contempt.

Inmate attorneys Mark Donatelli and Peter Cubra reached an agreement with Assistant Attorneys General Ari Biernoff and Regina Ryanczak that sets up a procedure for double-celling should the prison population increase such that Corrections finds it necessary. Chief Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen is to be notified at least 10 days in advance of such action and the lawyers agree to meet and confer in good faith.

In the meantime, corrections officials will remove all additional bunks bolted onto the walls at the Grants prison by Oct. 1.

Another aspect of the settlement deals with lost good time by inmates who may have acted out because of too-close quarters and backed-up sewers while living two in a 6- by 11-foot room.

For instance, one inmate with a bad back and knee complained about having to jump down from the top bunk for nighttime head counts. Another said in a statement filed in court that inmates in the unit in question were walking on egg shells in a noisy and smelly environment.

Believe me, there were many fights.  In my pod and the other two pods. Fight after fight. Half the time rec was cancelled  and the pods were so hot and crowded everyone was frustrated, another wrote of the situation.

Any double-celled inmate who lived in a cell built for one and lost good time will get a records review within a month of the situation being corrected to determine whether that loss  was reasonably related to that inmate being placed in double-cell housing in a single occupancy cell. If theres a correlation, the inmate is eligible for restoration of his good time, the document says.

Disputes will be discussed between corrections and inmates lawyers and submitted to the court if they cant agree on the outcome.

Inmates will withdraw their motion for emergency relief. The settlement does not constitute an admission by the state of any violations, according to the Friday filing.
JACKSON, Miss.  A Mississippi man imprisoned for mailing poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others was denied his request to change a court transcript.

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock denied a request by James Everett Dutschke to change what he said was an incorrect quote from a sentencing hearing he abruptly ended.

Specifically, he claims that the transcript is incorrect in that it quotes him as stating that letters containing a toxic substance, ricin, were mailed to individuals chosen by courtesy, when he actually stated that they were mailed to individuals chosen by Curtis, the individual he purports is responsible for mailing the letters at issue in this case, Aycock wrote in an Aug. 5 order denying the requested change.

Aycock said shes not conceding the transcript is wrong. But she said even if it were, it wouldnt matter because Dutschke affirmed in another hearing days later in May 2014 that he intended to plead guilty. He was sentenced in the latter hearing.

Prosecutors say Dutschke sent letters containing ricin in 2013 to Obama, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and local judge Sadie Holland in what prosecutors said was an elaborate plot to frame a rival  an Elvis impersonator named Paul Kevin Curtis.

The letters addressed to Obama and Wicker were intercepted before delivery, but one was opened by Lee County Justice Court Judge Holland, the mother of a state representative Dutschke had challenged in 2007. Sadie Holland was unharmed.

Dutschke, now 45, is serving a 25-year sentence at a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

Curtis was initially arrested by federal authorities but was abruptly released after officials found no evidence of ricin in his home in Corinth, Mississippi.

Dutschke, a former martial arts instructor, accused Curtis of mailing the poisoned letters.

But in a statement during the sentencing hearing he ended, Dutschke said federal prosecutors lied when they said he made the poison and they had found his DNA on a dust mask. Dutschke said he was guilty only of using castor beans to make a fertilizer that couldnt hurt anyone.

____

Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  An Arizona woman who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and assault charges in New Mexico has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

Prosecutors say 41-year-old Miranda Rentz of Red Valley, Arizona, also was sentenced Tuesday to three years of supervised release after she completes her prison term.

Rentz was arrested in January 2015 after authorities say a car she was driving crashed head-on into another vehicle in New Mexicos San Juan County.

Authorities say one person in the other car was killed and another seriously injured.

They say Rentz was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Rentz was indicted in February 2015 and pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2016.
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Stephen Casaus to 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The sentence will run consecutively to the 39 years Casaus already is serving for convictions in state District Court.

Casaus, 44, previously was sentenced to 30 years for various child abuse and other charges in connection with the beating death of his stepson, Omaree Varela. He was subsequently given nine years on an unrelated drug charge.

Knowing that sentencing on his federal gun charge was coming up, Casaus wrote a letter to Chief U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo, asking for leniency and requesting that any sentence he might receive run concurrently with the 39 years he already is serving.

His sentencing hearing on Tuesday, however, was held before Senior U.S. District Judge Robert A. Junell from the Western District of Texas. It was unclear if Junell had a copy of Casaus letter or took it into consideration; he sentenced Casaus to the maximum time and ruled it would be served consecutively.

U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez said that Casaus federal prosecution was pursued under the federal worst of the worst anti-violence initiative, which targets violent or repeat offenders and sentences them for as long as allowable under the law.

Casaus has an extensive criminal record including drug trafficking convictions, driving under the influence, disarming an officer, aggravated assault on a peace officer, receiving stolen property, credit card fraud, cocaine and meth trafficking, receiving stolen property and passing worthless checks.

Casaus was charged in a criminal complaint on April 25, 2014, with unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition after being arrested by Albuquerque police who observed what they believed to be a drug deal. At the time of his arrest, Casaus was in possession of nearly $20,800 in cash, 1.3 grams of meth, drug paraphernalia and a firearm loaded with six rounds of ammunition.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
TheAICPA and theChartered Institute of Management Accountants(CIMA) announced this week that Isabella Grabner, associate professor of accounting atMaastricht University School of Business and Economics, Netherlands, is the recipient of the2016 Best Early Career Researcher Award.

The award looks to recognize the "best overall body of research in management accounting" and is sponsored by the AICPA and CIMA on behalf of theChartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA)designation. The award is granted in collaboration with the Management Accounting Section of theAmerican Accounting Association(AAA).

Grabner was honored with the award at the annual AAA Conference in New York. It was presented by selection committee chair Geoff Sprinkle, professor at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. The award includes a $2,000 grant.

Grabners research utilizes insights from labor economics to explore performance measurement and incentive systems. Her research includes analysis of effort-based versus risk-based incentives and the choice of performance measures in promotion decisions.

Supporting management accounting research is a critical element of the CGMA mission, stated Valerie Rainey, chair of the AICPAsBusiness & Industry Executive Committee and CFO of CMACGM America.Dr. Grabners research deepens our understanding of the role and influence of incentives, adding to the insight that CGMA designation holders can deliver within their organizations to drive stronger performance.

Grabner holds a Ph.D. from WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and has seen her work published in journals such asAccounting, Organizations and Society,Journal of Accounting Research, andThe Accounting Review.

For a list of previous winners of the AAAs Best Early Career Researcher awards, head to their site here.
BBH India today launched an ad campaign for Gustoso, the latest addition to Mumbais fine dining scene.

With its rich, fertile soils; nurturing climate; and bountiful oceans, Naples is the natural kitchen of Italy. Drawing inspiration from this gourmet city, Gustoso is the first of its kind to bring delectable Neapolitan fare into Mumbai.

The insights for the campaign came from common misconceptions people have about Neapolitan food. Statements like, pizzas need to be thin and crispy or they need to be laden with ketchup or Tabasco, pasta needs to soft and so on were common fallacies appearing as part of reviews across popular food listing websites. BBH decided to use quirk and wit to educate people about authentic Neapolitan cuisine.

The press ads display artistic illustrations of Neapolitan stereotypes and food paired with humorous headlines.

The campaign will employ an integrated strategy that includes print ads, posters, outdoor, radio and digital activations.

Speaking about the campaign, Russell Barrett, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer at BBH India, said: "Print ads in mainstream media have either become dull reminders of TV commercials (read key visuals) or purely functional reminders that youd rather forget. We wanted to ensure we communicated, engaged and entertained people while still only doing print. Because its possible. Gustoso is unique in that it doesnt cater to what were used to in Italian food. The food here is lovingly crafted to taste like genuine Italian cuisine. Whether you like it or not. We hope to have captured the spirit of the offering and the spirit of the people of Naples as well. Most importantly we hope weve been able to create enough curiosity for the growing tribe of foodies in this city to visit Gustoso.

Arja Shridhar, Partner, Indianapoli Hospitality saysAt Gustoso, we want our patrons to experience food that pleases all their senses. We have taken great effort in designing the menu with the help of Chef Giulio Adriani to ensure that we provide dishes with freshest ingredients at the same time are lip smacking, as you would experience in Naples. The team at BBH has skillfully put together communication that helps us convey this and break the clutter with jest.
Brand-comm, a leading pan-India brand communication consulting and advocacy company, has announced its educational and training initiative Brand Academy, an online platform for teaching holistic brand management. The academy will offer courses in Brand Management, Advertising Management and Market Research.

The curriculum of the first programme on Brand Management is designed by veteran brand practitioner Ramanujam Sridhar, Founder & CEO, brand-comm, to meet the contemporary market requirements and will be taught by him. The course is designed for easy comprehension of individuals (above 18) from different streams like sales, marketing, branding and advertising. It will specially help entrepreneurs who are keen on building their own brands.

Speaking about the initiative, Sridhar said, A well-known brand commands more revenue, higher market share and easy acceptance from consumers as compared to a lesser known brand. With this realisation more and more organizations are focusing on building strong brand equity in market. But the ever-increasing competition is making it a challenge for marketers. Therefore, this programme will help marketing professionals and brand practitioners in enhancing their overall marketing understanding, application and processes. Entrepreneurs (budding as well as seasoned) will learn to build a strong brand from scratch using the right blend of marketing mix appealing to their audiences.

Branding is an integral part of business, but unfortunately, the discipline is in its nascent stages in India. Yet, there exists a body of practical wisdom, examples and learnings that will benefit anyone in business or in academics who is exposed to the course. The classes will happen weekly for an hour and courses will be covered in the period of 12 weeks. Online classes will be aided with comprehensive reading material. All the queries and doubts will be clarified individually through email, Skype or teleconference. On successful completion of plan the participants will get the certificate of having done the programme.
As India celebrated her 70th Independence Day, television channels, social media platforms, and brands of various hues kept consumers engaged over the long weekend with different initiatives. Be it movie premieres, back-to-back episodes of popular shows, special emojis, sales and offers  the engagement was varied.

Zee Studio premiered the Cold War spy drama Bridge of Spies, while Star Movies premiered an espionage caper, Kingsmen: The Secret Service. Star Gold brought on the nostalgia factor with the classic Sholay

Meanwhile, Nat Geo was back with a brand new season of Indias Megakitchens. The new season not only showcases the preparation of food and delves into the history and cultural aspects within that environment, but also celebrates the hard work, dedication and unending resolve of the people who operate these massive kitchens of India. HomeShop18 kicked off its annual Now or Never Sale. Talking about the initiative, Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO, HomeShop18, said, True to its name, Now or Never Sale is an abhi nahi toh kabhi nahi shopping opportunity for our customers. The products are not only available at great prices, but are also cherry picked by our expert teams. To make Independence Day even more special for our customers, we will start programming at 6 am in the morning, which means people can switch on HomeShop18 channel early morning and start shopping. HomeShop18 has been holding the Now or Never Sale for the last eight years around Independence Day.

Twitter India added on to the celebrations with the launch of a new Tri-colour emoji featuring the map of India. The emoji went live on August 14, 2016 at 6.30 pm and will be available till 6.30 am on August 17, 2016.

Indians across the world could be a part of the Independence Day conversations by using the hashtags #India # #IndiaAt69 # #IndiaIndependenceDay when composing a Tweet. Twitter continues to celebrate Indian culture with special Twitter emojis for Independence Day, Diwali, Republic Day. Twitter emojis are a delightful way to bring together people to celebrate cultural moments.

To acknowledge and recall all the freedom fighters who struggled for Indias independence, multiplex chain Inox Leisure provided a platform to Women in Film and Television (WIFT) to assist in creation of awareness about the need for empowerment of Indian women to assist them in their struggle for independence. This was done through exclusive screenings of a series of six short films starring Shabana Azmi, Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Diya Mirza, Shriya Saran and Rituparna Sengupta, exclusively at Inox properties across the country.

Snapdeal embarked on its Wish for India Sale. Commemorating the 70th year of the nations Independence and celebrating the spirit of freedom, customers were also be able to share their wish lists for India with Snapdeal on all social media platforms. Saurabh Bansal, Vice President - Category Management, Snapdeal, said, We are delighted to announce the Wish for India Sale. With this sale, we present exciting deals every hour for our customers, thereby, adding another reason for them to rejoice and celebrate freedom. Looking back at the incredible response we have seen on special sales on earlier occasions, we believe that Wish for India sale will be a grand success.

New entrant Tata CLiQ celebrated Independence Day with a twist by offering a counterpoint concept in its Dependence Sale.

Aircel launched a unique recharge Aircel Ka Azaadi Offer at Rs 123. The exclusive product designed especially for the Independence Day offers unlimited calling to any local network and unlimited data with a validity of a day. Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel, said, With Azaadi Offer we are removing the cost barrier for our customers and replacing it with unlimited benefits. We truly cherish the relationship with our customers and this is our way to be a part of their Independence Day celebrations.

NovaPlay, a leading gaming platform for multiplayer gaming communities, came up with special offers for its game lovers under its NovaPlay Lock-n-Load Sale - Independence Day Edition. The Lock-N Load Sale offers a three-day sale to celebrate the occasion that began from August 15 and will conclude on August 17.
LiveHealth Online Launches Cuidado Medico Providing Access To Video Doctor Visits in Spanish

For the first time in California, Spanish-speaking Anthem Blue Cross members have an easy and convenient way to see a doctor for non-emergency needs when their own doctor is not readily available. Members can now use their smartphone or tablet to have a live video visit with a US-based, board-certified doctor of their choice to discuss common health conditions in Spanish from home, work or wherever they happen to be as long as they have internet access. The doctors who see Anthem members using Cuidado Medico on LiveHealth Online can assess a members condition, provide a treatment plan and even send a prescription to the pharmacy if needed.

Spanish-speaking doctors using Cuidado Medico on LiveHealth Online can see patients from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. pacific time, 365-days a year, including holidays. In fact, Anthem members have online visits using LiveHealth Online as a covered benefit under their health plan which means the cost of the visit is the same or less than a primary office visit.

Cuidado Medico on LiveHealth Online is just one of many ways Anthem is making getting quality health care more convenient for our Spanish speaking members, said Brian Ternan, president of Anthem Blue Cross. We all know how important it is to talk to a doctor in the language in which youre most comfortable. Cuidado Medico on LiveHealth Online offers a secure way for our members to use their insurance plan and contact a Spanish speaking board-certified doctor via your smartphone or tablet.

According to a 2013 Pew study, Latinos are among the most likely to go online using their smartphones.

California residents who do not have Anthem coverage or who have no coverage at all can also have access to Cuidado Medico on LiveHealth Online in Spanish for $49 per visit.

Online care, for non-emergency medical conditions, is more convenient and affordable than visit to the local urgent care clinic. Anthem members who have used LiveHealth Online reported that the service has helped them save two to three hours of time when they have a common health condition because they do not have to leave work or home to visit a doctors office or urgent care facility.

Members can initiate video visits from their home or workplace at any time through a smartphone or tablet by downloading the free LiveHealth Online app.

Patients use online care typically to communicate face-to-face with a doctor about colds, sinus infections, aches, sore throats, allergies, skin infections, rashes and more. Doctors do not prescribe for controlled substances or lifestyle drugs. A summary of each visit is created, and at the patients request, can be forwarded to their primary care doctor -- supporting continuity of care and collaboration among providers.

LiveHealth Online represents a true shift in healthcare delivery by using technology to make healthcare easier and more consumer friendly, said John Jesser, Anthem Blue Cross vice president of provider engagement strategy. LiveHealth Online is having an unprecedented impact on the lives of Spanish speaking consumers in California. For the first time, thousands of Latino consumers have at their disposal the ability to visit with a doctor online in Spanish.

LiveHealth Online can also lessen the burden on primary care doctors who are increasingly feeling the pressure from the growing doctor shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimated that in 2015 the country would have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed. LiveHealth Online can help reduce wait time when trying to get in to a see a doctor. Getting care early on can help reduce the severity and duration of many typical illnesses such as the flu and infections.

About Anthem Blue Cross

Anthem Blue Cross is the trade name of Blue Cross of California. Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Association.  ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross Association. Also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AskAnthem or www.twitter.com/AnthemPR_CA, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AskAnthem.

About LiveHealth Online

LiveHealth Online is a communications tool that provides consumers with a convenient way to have video visit with a doctor, to receive treatment for common health conditions. Consumers can access board certified doctors through livehealthonline.com or on an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet using the free app. It is secure, private, easy-to-use and affordable. Consumers can have live, visits with their choice of doctors seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. in Spanish, using two-way video conferencing, along with instant messaging. LiveHealth Online is the trade name of Health Management Corporation, a separate company, providing telehealth services on behalf of Anthem Blue Cross.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005261/en/

Anthem Blue Cross

Darrel Ng

916-403-0528
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and Little Rock-area Hyundai dealers will present Arkansas Children's Hospital with a $50,000 Impact Grant tomorrow to be used to improve care and increase treatment options for kids with cancer. Arkansas Children's Hospital was chosen because of its proven track record of caring for children with pediatric cancer, and is one of 18 recipients across the country to receive a 2016 Hyundai Impact Grant from Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW).

The $50,000 Impact Grant will be presented during a Handprint Ceremony, during which the handprints of local Little Rock-area brave young cancer patients will be captured on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson  the Hyundai Hope On Wheels hero vehicle  to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will also feature:

JaKiah Collins, pediatric cancer patient and 2016 Children's Miracle Network Champion Child; and Crystal Collins , JaKiah's mother

, JaKiah's mother David Becton , MD, Chief of Hematology Oncology, Arkansas Children's Hospital

, MD, Chief of Hematology Oncology, Arkansas Children's Hospital Tammy Webb , Vice President, Acute Care, Arkansas Children's Hospital

About the Hyundai Hope On Wheels Impact Grant

During the months of July and August, HHOW will award 18 hospitals in the US with a $50,000 Hyundai Impact Grant for pediatric cancer research to help end childhood cancer. The Impact Grant supports the programmatic needs of pediatric oncology. The grant may also be used to support direct patient assistance programs, such as enrichment programs, play room/teen center equipment, family on-site support, educational initiatives, or other efforts to improve care and cure for kids fighting cancer.

In addition to the Impact Grant winner, Hope On Wheels will soon announce the winners of its Hyundai Scholar and Young Investigator Grants. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source).

Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah was five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Twelve-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org

"Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Scott Stark, Chairman, Hyundai Hope On Wheels Board of Directors. "By funding transformational research through our Impact Grants and celebrating the lives of the brave young cancer fighters at our handprint ceremonies, we move closer to our dream of a day without cancer. This is a fight you can count on us to be in until no child ever has to hear the words: you have cancer."

HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS

Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure.

To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels.

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide.

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO

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SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- KINBE Moccs are a unique shoe with patent-pending adjustable straps that offer unlimited flexibility. The shoes are a new product from LA-entrepreneur and single mom, Amber Cruse. Cruse's mission is to offer stylish, practical shoes for parents everywhere while also helping children in need. The company recently announced their plan to donate over 8,000 pairs of Moccs to children in Guatemala. The company has partnered with Hope of Life International who will be distributing the shoes to children in need.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398152

"At KINBE, we realize how vital it is for children to grow up in a loving and supporting environment," KINBE CEO Amber Cruse says. "That is why with each KINBE Moccs purchase, we are donating a percentage of all proceeds to Hope of Life International, a nonprofit organization that rescues abandoned children in the mountains of Guatemala. As we continue to build momentum with our crowdfunding campaign, we are happy to announce we're donating thousands of Moccs to children in need."

Hope of Life International provides family-style housing for orphans and offers a supportive, nurturing environment to encourage healthy child development, including counseling. Cruse has worked closely with Hope of Life International and aims to continue helping this organization make a difference.

Overall, KINBE Moccs have been very popular among parents. Indiegogo selected KINBE Moccs has a featured project in their "Celebrating Moms, Dads & Families Collection" category. With the support over over 145 backers, the KINBE Moccs campaign continues to build momentum as it approaches its $25K funding goal.

Available in a variety of colors and patterns, KINBE Moccs offers two sizes, small and medium. Between the two sizes, KINBE Moccs fit infants ages 0-20 months old. The secret behind KINBE Moccs' creative design is its two adjustable straps with one located on the top of the shoe and one placed on the back heel. KINBE Moccs, are made in the USA, with 100% genuine leather.

KINBE Moccs are now available on Indiegogo. The campaign's early bird rewards quickly sold out, but KINBE Moccs are still available for backers starting at only $35. KINBE Moccs are available in both small and medium sizes in a variety of patterns and colors. For more information on KINBE Moccs, visit the campaign at bit.ly/KINBEIndie.

About KINBE

Founded by Amber Cruse, KINBE is a lifestyle children's brand whose purpose is to empower children through love. A portion of all proceeds go toward funding loving homes for children in need. The company's first product, Kinbe Moccs, are a patent-pending baby shoe that adjusts and grows with a baby's foot. For more information on KINBE, visit www.kinbe.co.

Media Contact: Sarah Hunter, KINBE, (704) 497-4980, sarah@kinbekids.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE KINBE
NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Roughly 60% of the world population of four billion people reside in Asia. As the world shifts its focus to Asia, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) introduces its newest graduate degree program, the Master in International Affairs (MIA). NUS is ranked #1 in Asia, #12 in the world and #7 in Social Policy and Administration according to QS University Rankings. Since 2004, LKY School has trained over 2,350 leaders from a diverse student body representing over 80 countries. The overall focus is on shaping Asia's influence in the world and addressing global issues of poverty, governance, conflict resolution, economic development, international security, world trade, religious and cultural differences, and geopolitics.

The MIA curriculum offers a 2-year degree and is now open for admission to students in the US and around the world for the school year beginning in August 2017. The total cost for the 2-year graduate degree is $ 22,000.

"Most young people today understand that we live in a small and interdependent world. Instinctively, they aspire to be global citizens. They also know that the 21st century will be the Asian century. No school is better placed to explain Asian perspectives. We therefore offer a unique educational opportunity for future world leaders," says Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and former Singapore Ambassador to the United Nations.

It is critical to recognize that jobs today are becoming international. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that one in five American jobs is tied to global trade; and that number is expected to rise significantly in coming years. Research about leaders in 30 different countries reported that nearly half of them had international experience.

"For anyone interested in pursuing a career in international affairs, international experience is essential. Studying at the LKY School allowed me to deepen my exposure in the Asia Pacific region and connect directly with governments that face the challenge of striking a balance between rapid economic growth and political stability. There are very few, if any, international affairs programs that offer these direct connections. The increasing impact of the Asia-Pacific region on global, political, economic, and security events add greater value to this experience," said Andrew Billo who works as a humanitarian affairs officer at the United Nations in New York.

Singapore is often regarded as the gateway to Asia, with its reach to China, India and the ASEAN nations. Recognized for its quality of life, Singapore offers students one of the cleanest, safest and greenest cities in the world to live in with an award-winning urban infrastructure, modern amenities, great food, and world-class healthcare.

The LKYSPP has extensive collaborations within the global academic community and has strategic partnerships with the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as with the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), which includes Columbia University, the London School of Economics & Political Scient (LSE) and L'institut d'estudes politiques de Paris (Siences Po). LKYSPP is located at the National University of Singapore. For more information on the MIA program, visit http://programs-lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/ .

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/singapores-lee-kuan-yew-school-of-public-policy-prepares-graduate-students-as-global-leaders-300313522.html

SOURCE Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
An AF first for aircraft research, development

For the first time the Air Force has a means to conduct airworthiness assessments on non-Defense Department military type aircraft. This process enables the Air Force to gain a much deeper understanding of the state of civil aviation, while providing industry with an expert, independent evaluation of the safety and reliability of their products.



The Air Force is establishing cooperative research and development agreements with industry to perform these airworthiness assessments. CRADAs generally grant the government the ability to provide services, facilities or both to partners to conduct federal research development and engineering activities.



In this case, the Air Force and industry partners work together to define a set of evaluation criteria using MIL-HDBK-516. When the assessment criteria have been established the Air Force performs an independent compliance assessment using design, analysis and test data provided by the industry collaborator. At the end of the process, the Air Force produces a comprehensive risk analysis document, called an airworthiness assessment report.



The Air Forces new Non-Defense Military Aircraft Office will execute CRADAs with any interested industry partner on a first-come, first-serve basis. Last month, the first CRADA of this kind was executed between the Air Force and Textron AirLand.



Over time, these government-industry collaborations will help the Air Force better understand commercial innovations and support its broader research and development goals.



These partnerships will help our military maintain its technical superiority while supporting a robust defense industry base, said Jorge Gonzalez, the Air Forces Technical Airworthiness Authority.



Industry benefits by utilizing the Air Forces valuable expertise to receive an expert assessment of the companys aircraft type design against applicable military airworthiness criteria. This helps to reduce design risk and also results in an official assessment that may be advantageous to future foreign customers. While the assessment procedure follows the Air Force airworthiness certification process to its fullest extent as outlined in Air Force policy and guidance, the aircraft will not receive an airworthiness certification.



The airworthiness process is fact-based and data-driven. The standard CRADA period of performance is two years, but can be completed early, terminated by either party at any time or extended as necessary upon agreement from both parties. Government costs for the assessments are fully reimbursed by industry for all expenses incurred under the agreement.



This is a win-win for the Air Force, industry, and our national defense, said Camron Gorguinpour, the Air Forces director of transformational innovation. Not only are we gaining insight into technical innovation, were also finding innovative ways to collaborate with industry to our mutual benefit.
Goldfein talks air coalition ops during CENTCOM region visit

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein recently visited the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to get a sense of not only how the campaign is going as a member of the joint chiefs but also to get an understanding of how he can better support Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and coalition partners regarding the impact on the service today.



To date, the air coalition has flown over 107,500 sorties and participated in more than 14,400 strikes in Iraq and Syria since operations began in August 2014. In addition, over 800 sorties and more than 140 strikes were conducted in Afghanistan since June 2016.



The U.S. Air Force has played a significant role as part of the 20-nation air coalition. Each Airmans ability to evolve and innovate remains key to the joint fight, as the air coalition continues to adapt while using legacy systems in different ways, Goldfein explained.



Since its first sortie in April, the B-52 Stratofortress has flown nearly 270 sorties, employing in excess of 1,300 weapons during more than 325 strikes in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. In addition, the B-52 recently flew two sorties in Afghanistan, employing 27 weapons in two strikes in support of counterterrorism operations.



We got the B-52 back in the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, Goldfein said. We have the B-52 contributing to a significant ground effort and employing weapons in close proximity of friendly troops who are under attack, who are preparing the battlefield in new ways.



An integral part of the strike process has been the success achieved by indigenous ground forces. However, with limited coalition forces on the ground, it drove innovation as a coalition. Innovation in thought led to new tactics and advancements in doctrine.



In this campaign, real-time video now feeds information to joint tactical air controllers who work in various strike cells coordinating with aircraft to execute procedures to employ airpower. JTACs and strike aircraft confirm targets and look to minimize the time required to help those in need.



We are going to fly to the sounds of the guns or we are going to die trying, Goldfein said. Whether you are a Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Airman JTAC on the ground, if you call for air, we will be there. We will throw everything we have at it and you can always count on us to deliver.



The flexibility of coalition airpower continues to enable forces on the ground in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, shaping the battlefield and further degrading ISILs combat capability and capacity for sustainment. The air coalition is working to maximize the capability it offers.



This is not about coalition partners following an American effort, Goldfein said. Its about Americans being part of  an effective coalition that brings the best capabilities of each coalition partner to the campaign.



Momentum is occurring as airpower is effectively shaping the battlespace. In late June, ISIL members fled Iraq in several large convoys of up to 120 vehicles. Over the course of the two days, the linking of capabilities enabled the U.S. and international aircraft to destroy an estimate of 175 suspected ISIL vehicles, resulting in Iraqi forces declaring the city of Fallujah fully liberated.



Operating in the AOR for 24 years, the air coalition today has more than 750 coalition aircraft assigned throughout the AOR that could be called upon for operations at any time to support OIR, NATOs Resolute Support Mission, Operation Freedoms Sentinel and as needed in theater.



Goldfein describes airpower as the oxygen the joint force breathes.



Have it and you dont even think about it. Dont have it, and its all you think about, Goldfein said.
Airmen load, airlift fire truck 3,700 miles to Nicaragua

A New Jersey fire truck recently made a 3,700-mile journey to its new home in Managua, Nicaragua.



The 1982 Mack fire truck was loaded onto a 439th Airlift Wing C-5B Galaxy here Aug. 12, thanks to the combined efforts of Airmen from the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and active-duty Air Force, as well as a host of government agencies.



It wasn't an easy task, and it took an individual to recognize a countrys need for that fire truck and pursue it to make it a reality.



Master Sgt. Jorge A. Narvaez, a New Jersey Air National Guardsman with the 108th Security Forces Squadron, was responsible for getting that fire truck sent to Nicaragua.



Narvaez, who is originally from Nicaragua, came to the United States in 1981 and has served with the Princeton Police Department in New Jersey as a patrolman for 22 years. He joined the 108th Wing in October 1992 and in 1999, he transferred to security forces, where he serves on the commander's support staff.



Ive always felt compelled to help; it fulfills me as a human being, trying to make a difference, Narvaez said.



In 2014, Narvaez traveled to Nicaragua. While he was there, he visited the headquarters of the Benemerito Cuerpo de Bomberos, a group of volunteer firefighters located in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.



I saw that they were in dire need of serviceable fire trucks and equipment, Narvaez said. I offered to help and get them assistance in the United States. I explained to them that I couldnt make any promises, but that I would try to do my best.



Narvaez talked to Ray Wadsworth, the former fire chief of Mercer Engine No. 3 in Princeton, New Jersey, and was able to get some coats, boots and hoses that had been slated for replacement. Like their counterparts in Nicaragua, the Princeton firefighters are also volunteers.



The Nicaraguan firefighters were grateful for the donated gear, but their need for a new truck remained. In 2015, an opportunity presented itself.



The Occupational Safety and Health Administration informed Mercer Engine No. 3 members that they would have to replace two of their fire trucks. One of them, a 1982 Mack 1250 GPM pumper truck, could no longer be used because the open cab was considered a safety hazard.



Mr. Wadsworth felt that one of the trucks could be donated, Narvaez said. We began to work together and doing all that was required to get the truck from the city.



To get the ball rolling, Narvaez sent a letter to Robert Gregory, Princetons director of emergency services, explaining how the retired truck could be put to good use in Latin America. Princeton officials responded by putting the truck up for a symbolic auction.



They sold it to me for a dollar, Wadsworth said.



In addition to the truck, 13 sets of boots, six jackets, and 1,200 feet of 2 -inch hose were included.



The truck is fully equipped; all it needs is for the tank to be filled with water, Wadsworth said.



Narvaez added, I also took a video of the truck  giving directions on how to operate it.



But one cant just donate a fire truck to another country. Theres a process for it, and it involves the Denton Program.



The Denton Program, which is jointly administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of State and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, allows U.S. citizens and organizations to use space available on military cargo aircraft to transport humanitarian goods to countries in need.



Former U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton created the program as an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Since 1998, more than 5.6 million pounds of humanitarian supplies have been sent to more than 50 countries.



What followed was a flurry of activity as Narvaez made contact with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Managua and Air Force officials who would arrange for the trucks 3,700-mile journey. The sign things were moving along came when he was put in touch with Chief Master Sgt. Juan Claudio of the 514th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, who went to Princeton to get the trucks measurements and provide guidance on getting it ready for flight.



The only thing left was the letter of approval -- the airlift certification letter.



It came on June 3.



The letter assigned the 439th Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit based at Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts, with airlifting the fire truck on one of their C-5 Galaxy aircraft.



On Aug. 12, all the work by Narvaez and Claudio, along with others and their organizations, came together.



For Narvaez, there is one final takeaway from this.



I want Airmen to see this and know that they can do this as well, Narvaez said. There are many countries in the world that can use our help and there are always things you can do to help people.
AF to grow, enhance Nellis group with close air support focus

Nevadas Nellis Air Force Base plans to restructure the 57th Operations Group to enhance its focus on close air support integration, Air Force officials announced Aug. 16.



The groups mission will include high-end fight training as well as an increased emphasis on tactical-level close air support with experts to integrate fires in joint operations, advancing the joint CAS enterprise and preserving the Air Forces CAS culture.



CAS is one of the most important jobs we have, and over the past 15 years weve developed exceptional capabilities and expertise in this mission area, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the commander of Air Combat Command. The changes were making at Nellis are an important step in refining our CAS skills through future generations of Airmen so we can continue to provide ground forces with all the advantages airpower brings to close combat.



In March 2015, ACC hosted a Future Close Air Support Focus Week, which brought together joint experts and leaders to assess the current state of the CAS mission, discuss future challenges and requirements, and determine items for further study to ensure the effectiveness of this critical mission.



One of the recommendations from the forum included standing up a CAS-dedicated organization to help preserve what has been a highly effective CAS culture and help meet the close air support challenges of tomorrow.



The Air Force intends for the 57th OG to include the CAS-dedicated organization with a tactical air support squadron, which would provide dedicated air support to the Joint Terminal Attack Controller Qualification Course, USAF Weapons School, and Green Flag and Red Flag exercises capitalizing on the existing CAS expertise and schoolhouses currently at Nellis AFB.



The tactical air support squadron would initially consist of eight permanent F-16 Fighting Falcons to be relocated from Hill AFB, Utah, with potential for expansion to a total of 16 at full operational capability. In addition to the newly assigned F-16s, the 57th OG will also leverage geographically separated contract light aircraft as cost-effective augmentation to enhance JTAC training with Air Force fighter aircraft.



The Air Force has already begun to evaluate the effect of basing the additional F-16s at Nellis AFB. Final Air Force decisions will be made regarding the new squadron upon completion of the environmental impact analysis process.



Upon reaching full operational capability, the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB will conduct all graduate-level CAS training as well as operational training for the forward air control mission. The wing currently conducts the JTAC weapons instructor course, the air liaison officer qualifying course, and Green Flag, the Air Forces series of premier air-to-ground training exercises.



The 57th Operations Group is uniquely positioned to become the Air Forces center of excellence for close air support training, said Jennifer Miller, the deputy assistant Air Force secretary for installations.



The 57th OG educates, exercises, and advocates the integration of airpower into the joint fight and supports the preparation of the combat air forces' maintainers and aircrews. To execute its mission, the group oversees operations of six squadrons and three detachments from Nellis AFB and four geographically separated locations.
Since an Ebola outbreak was declared in Uganda on 20 September, health assistant Nyangoma Kirrungi has been on the frontline of the countrys response day in and day out, working as a contact tracer in Madudu sub-county, one of the areas affected by the outbreak.
As relations between India and Pakistan plummet, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to attend a regional summit in Islamabad next week, said government sources. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Tuesday, decided not to attend the SAARC Finance Ministers conference scheduled to take place in Islamabad from August 25-26.



However, source further said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take a final decision on this, but New Delhi is unhappy with the way Pakistan has behaved with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh when he visited for a SAARC conference of home ministers in Islamabad in a first week of August.

Earlier, it was expected that Jaitley would visit Pakistan. Pakistan was planning to play a good host during Jaitleys visit and accord him a warm welcome. However, government sources said that economic affairs secretary Shrikanta Das would represent India at the meet, instead of Jaitley.

The ministerial conference comes in the shadow of Singhs visit to Islamabad earlier this month where barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, complete with a tense and uneasy handshake.

Rajnath also made it clear that he was not treated well in Pakistan, confirming that he skipped a lunch hosted by his counterpart during a meeting of SAARC ministers.

It is true that Pakistan Interior Minister (Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan) invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch, Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

The meetings are taking place ahead of the SAARC Summit to be held in November in Islamabad.

All SAARC countries have a lot of potential to develop together utilising each others potentials and energies. The cooperation is necessary in promoting the welfare and improving the quality of life of the people of the region, said Pakistan finance minister Ishaq Dar.

The upcoming conference is an important event in this regard, he added.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The French government has defended municipal bans on body-covering Muslim burkini swimwear but called on mayors to try and cool tensions between communities.



Three Mediterranean towns  Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica  have banned the burkini, and Le Touquet on the Atlantic coast is planning to do the same.

The mainly conservative mayors who have imposed the ban say the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism.

The burkini debate is particularly sensitive in France given deadly attacks by Islamist militants, including bombings and shootings in Paris which killed 130 people last November, which have raised tensions between communities and made people wary of public places.

The socialist governments minister for womens rights, Laurence Rossignol, said municipal bans on the burkini should not be seen in the context of terrorism but she supported the bans.

The burkini is not some new line of swimwear, it is the beach version of the burqa and it has the same logic: hide womens bodies in order to better control them, Rossignol told French daily Le Parisien in an interview.

France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public.

Rossignol said the burkini had sparked tensions on French beaches because of its political dimension.

It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and womens emancipation, she said.

On Saturday, a brawl broke out between Muslim families and a group of young Corsicans in Sisco after a tourist took pictures of women bathing in burkini. The mayor banned burkinis on Monday.

Apart from the Paris attacks, a Tunisian deliberately drove a truck into crowds in Nice on July 14, killing 85 people, and a Roman Catholic priest priest had his throat cut in church by two French Muslims.

The string of attacks have made many people jumpy. On Sunday, 41 people were injured in a stampede in the Riviera town of Juan-les-Pins when holiday makers mistook the sound of firecrackers for gunfire.

Villeneuve-Loubet mayor Lionnel Luca, member of the hardline Droite Populaire faction of the conservative Les Republicains party, said the burkini was an ideological provocation.
[dropcap]K[/dropcap]ashmir has been undergoing turmoil, from last two months as clashes has been witnessed between security forces and protesters at over a dozen places in the Valley. At least 1,500 persons, mostly youths, had been injured in clashes following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani last month. A majority of the injured had been hit by bullets and pellets above the abdomen, causing grievous injuries and probably lifelong disability. On the evening of 15 August, young boys were digging a grave at Dandirkah graveyard for the son of a carpenter, Abdul Salam Sheikh. Everyone stood silently watching a group of boys struggling to dig the grave in haste, as the slogans blared out from the loudspeakers from a mosque nearby. They were friends, neighbours, and acquaintances of Yasir Salam, who was shot dead, earlier in the day, allegedly by police. When friends, carried his dead body on a stretcher in pitch dark, they showed light on his face with their mobile phone torches  there was rage even in their footsteps. Salam, a tenth class student, was shot dead near the Batamalo yard in Srinagar.

Civilians were killed in central Kashmirs Budgam district when CRPF personnel opened fire on a group of protesters in Aripanthan area of Beerwah. Witnesses said a CRPF party was on way near Aripanthan when it faced a group of people who were protesting against excesses. Clashes, encounters, and slogans continued on 38th and now will continue on 39th day as Kashmir continues to reel under a strict curfew. Over 80 people were injured some with pellets, in forces action on pro-freedom protesters. There were protests, hundreds of people gathered out and inside his house, and on the streets they chanted slogans, protest demonstration were held against the killing, but no one was asking why he was really killed? They all seemed to have an answer.

A curfew is still in force across much of the region and mobile Internet and train services remain suspended. The last bout of serious violence in the region was in the summer of 2010, when more than 100 people died in anti-India protests, which broke out after police shot dead a teenager. This is not the first time that these kind of incidences happened in Valley. There is always an ongoing clash but this time it was the death of their Hero and Kashmiris could not forgive the killers. Everyone thought that the valley will calm down in few days. However, now with Yasirs death, the number of people killed in the ongoing unrest stands at 63, killed in police, para-military CRPF and Army firing since 9 July. More than 7000 civilians have also been injured in action by government forces, hundreds of them have lost their eyesight and others maimed for life due to firearm injuries.

Income from tourism has gone down to less than 10% in Kashmir compared to last year. This incident is good for those who want to enjoy stone pelting game. But what about those who survive on tourist income and daily wages? Schools and colleges are closed, then what about their studies? Will their parent want them to indulge in this stone pelting business throughout their life? Kashmiri people need to take stand on what they want, development or mere politics. Moreover, the government needs to inform the local population that the UN resolution clearly tells Pakistan to vacate the part ILLEGALLY occupied by it so Indian government can stabilize the zone and initiate plebiscite process? The turmoil and killing in Kashmir is occurring due to the outcome of local populations love for terrorists and Pakistan. There is nothing to repent if violent anti-national elements backed by Pakistan are killed because our security forces are safeguarding the country against these elements, and they will also not be ideal spectator if their own life is at risk, or they are threatened. These terrorists and anti-national elements and their leaders must be dealt with an iron hand because leniency will make them more bold against the country and security forces.

Majority of Kashmiri Muslims, who do not support anti-India movement, are silently watching the dirty game of Pakistan for last three decades. The separatist leaders like Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik who are stooges of Pakistan are pushing Kashmir towards destruction. Sixty deaths are purely attributed to Geelani and other separatists. While their own family members and children are settled outside Kashmir. They are misguiding young Kashmiri Muslims and using them as tools for violence to push their pro-Pakistan agenda. It hurts to read about deaths of youths wherever it is occurring in the world, but Kashmiris needs to tell the world, what are they protesting for? The killing of a terrorist? Or not let them be ruled by the Pakistani army who treat the PoK people like their slaves, or the people of Balochistan? If they want real freedom, they have to be in Kashmir which is part of India and fight for bringing back PoK also. Why dont those who are fed up with the depression is staying in that part of Kashmir, when they are sure that Pakistan will give them the real freedom? Why are they not migrating to PoK and ask for Pakistan citizenship, for which they dont need a visa or any other legal documents. And let the people in Kashmir live peaceful life forever!

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Actress Sonam Bajwa, who currently juggles between the Telugu and Punjabi industry, says she intends to focus on doing more Telugu films going forward and explore a variety of characters in the process.

Sonam makes her Telugu debut with this weeks release Aatadukundam Raa, which stars Sushanth in the lead.

I couldnt have asked for a better debut. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project, said Sonam, who is keen on shifting her focus on Telugu filmdom.

Even though Ive been offered a few projects since Aatadukundam Raa, I havent been in a position to sign any because Im occupied with some commitments in Punjabi industry till October. As soon as Im relieved off these assignments, I really want to focus more on Telugu films, she said.

In this project, she plays a bubbly, simple girl who will be seen in a mix of Indian and western outfits.

I come from this family thats modem but at the same time values traditions. As a film, its got everything for everybody in the audience. Theres comedy, romance, action and even some element of science-fiction, she said.

Talking about her co-star Sushanth, she revealed: Hes very friendly and bonds very well with everyone on the sets. Hes very humble too. The whole unit was very friendly and ensured that I never felt like a newcomer.

Although Sonam had difficultly picking up an alien language, she feels Telugu isnt as tough as Tamil.

Ive done a Tamil film called Kappal. I found learning Tamil tougher than Telugu. All that it took me to get my lines right in Telugu was a couple of readings to perfect my dialect.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 - Donald Trumps campaign has set up a geographically diverse team of agricultural leaders that includes congressmen, governors, state agriculture commissioners, trade association leaders and producers of grain, livestock, poultry and fruits and vegetables.

The men and women on the committee will provide pioneering new ideas to strengthen our nations agricultural industry as well as provide support to our rural communities, noted the campaign in a release today. Mr. Trump understands the critical role our nations agricultural community plays in feeding not only our country, but the world, and how important these Americans are to powering our nations economy.

As Agri-Pulse has previously reported, Charles W. Herbster is chairing Trumps Agricultural and Rural Advisory Committee, guided by National Chief Policy Advisor Sam Clovis. See more in this video about the leaders of Trumps Ag Team.

Herbster, a Trump contributor, has an Angus breeding operation and farm in Nebraska and owns the Conklin Co., a network marketing company involved in agronomic services and other products.

The governors on the Committee are Terry Branstad of Iowa, Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, Jack Dalrymple of North Dakota, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Sam Brownback of Kansas.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (a former Texas agriculture commissioner) also is included on the council as well as former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and James Gilmore, former governor of Virginia.

The agriculture advisory council also includes one former agriculture secretary, John Block; a former deputy secretary during the George W. Bush administration, Jim Moseley; a former assistant Army secretary under Bush who oversaw the Army Corps of Engineers, John Paul Woodley; Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas.



Other members of Congress on the list: Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt, Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, and Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte.

The current state agriculture secretaries, commissioners and directors included: Sid Miller of Texas, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Mark Killian of Arizona, Sid Miller of Texas, Ryan Quarles of Kentucky, Jim Reese of Oklahoma, Mike Strain of Louisiana, Ted McKinney of Indiana, Bill Northey of Iowa, Gary Black of Georgia and Walt Whitcomb of Maine. Also on the team is A.G. Kawamura, a former California agriculture secretary and third-generation fruit and vegetable grower in Orange County.

Agribusiness and trade associations are represented on the committee by Chuck Conner, CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Tom Nassif, CEO of Western Growers and Rebeckah Adcock, Senior Director for government affairs at CropLife,

The farm leaders on the committee include Garry Niemeyer of Auburn, Ill., a former president of the National Corn Growers Association who is on the board of The Waterways Council; Marcus Rust, CEO of Seymour, Ind.-based Rose Acres Farms; and Michael J. McCloskey, co-founder and CEO of Select Milk Producers, the nations sixth largest milk cooperative and chairman of the board for Fair Oaks Farm in northwest Indiana.

Like what you see here? Agri-Pulse subscribers get our Daily Harvest email and Daybreak audio Monday through Friday mornings, a 16-page newsletter on Wednesdays, and access to premium content on our ag and rural policy website. Sign up for your four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription.

Other producers backing Trump include Jay Armstrong, a grain and soybean producer at Muscotah, Kan., who is former chairman of the Farm Foundation; Steve Foglesong, a cattle producer and feedlot operator at Astoria, Ill., former president of the National Cattlemens Beef Association, Steve Wellman and Ron Heck, both former presidents of the American Soybean Association.

Others: Brent Jackson of Autryville, N.C., a fruit and vegetable grower; Johnny Trotter, president and general manager of Bar-G Feedyards, a 125,000-head cattle feeding operation near Hereford, Texas, Kip Tom, CEO of Tom Farms in Indiana, Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Ag Group in Iowa, and John Kautz, CEO of Ironstone Vineyards in California.

Also included on the council is Tsosie Lewis, an agricultural consultant in New Mexico and former CEO of Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, the Navajo Nations agribusiness operation.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who married Marion, Ark., soybean grower Boyce Johnson last year, is on the council, too. Rutledge spoke in support of Trump at the Republican convention.

Brian Klippenstein, a former Senate aide who is executive director of Protect the Harvest, an organization formed to fight animal rights organizations. The group was founded by Forrest Lucas, who started Lucas Oil Products Inc. and who is also listed as a member of the agricultural advisory committee.

Despite the geographic diversity, the Trump team has strong Indiana ties, including McCloskey, Moseley, Rust, Tom, Conner and Lucas.

For the full committee list, click here

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
The Lost Generation of Iraq's Nineveh Province

The Iraqi government and international community have repeatedly failed to protect minorities from IS, further fuelling militants. On 10 June 2014, militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) conquered the city of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's Nineveh province. By mid-August 2014, IS militants also controlled nearby areas, including the city of Tal Afar, the population of which is mostly Turkmen; the Sinjar Mountains, home to the Yazidi people; and the Nineveh Plains region, which is mainly inhabited by Assyrian Christian and Shia Shabak communities. IS's rapid expansion between June and August 2014 revealed the incapacity -- or strategic unwillingness -- of the Shia-aligned Iraqi government led by then prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to protect Iraqi civilians in the Nineveh province, which became an epicentre of Sunni insurgency following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, IS's June-August 2014 campaign revealed the unique threats to Iraqi ethnic and religious minorities. According to the Simon-Skjodt Centre for the Prevention of Genocide's latest report, between June and August 2014, IS militants targeted Iraqi civilians based on group identity. Moreover, the authors of the report argue that IS militants perpetrated genocide against the Yazidi people, and committed crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and war crimes against other Iraqi minorities in the Nineveh province. Two years later, IS continues to present a serious threat to Iraqi minorities. All systems fail In a June report titled "They came to destroy": ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic -- mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and record all violations of international law since March 2011 in Syria -- argued that IS militants are committing genocide and other war crimes against the Yazidi people. In addition, the panel found that more than 3,200 Yazidi women and children were being held as sex slaves and child soldiers by IS fighters, mostly in neighbouring Syria, which is immersed in a five-year-old civil war. Unfortunately, the international community has failed to address the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by many parties during Syria's civil war, as well as the crime of genocide against the Yazidi people in Iraq. "The crime of genocide must trigger much more assertive action at the political level, including at the [UN] Security Council," Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the commission, said in June, calling for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague or to another international tribunal. In fact, the commission has repeatedly made this recommendation, but no action has followed from the UN Security Council, in which Russia -- a permanent member, and the closest ally of the Syrian regime led by President Bashar al-Assad -- wields a veto. "Nothing has been done to save these people, and we hope for stronger action by the international community," Pinheiro said, highlighting the obligation for countries under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to take action to prevent genocide from happening. So far, the state parties of the convention have not met their obligations, contributing to the loss of a generation in the Nineveh province. Will the Iraqi government and the international community have the capacity and the sustained political will to protect these minorities? Risk of continued violence The near future of at-risk minorities in the Nineveh province depends on the resolution of the administrative status of the disputed territories of northern Iraq, the creation of an accountable security sector, and the reduction of sectarianism within the Iraqi government and its security forces. Today, parts of the Nineveh province are regarded as Disputed Internal Boundaries areas (DIBs) under the Iraqi constitution. Since 2003, both the Iraqi government, now led by Haider al-Abadi, and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been competing to control those areas -- in addition to the oil reserves near Kirkuk. The status of these areas was supposed to have been resolved in 2007, yet it remains a point of contention between the Iraqi government and the KRG. The risk of further violent conflict remains high as long as there is no resolution between the Iraqi government and the KRG for the disputed status of these areas, many of which are under IS control at the time of writing. To each, his own This territorial dispute has contributed to a chronic under-resourcing of the Nineveh province, with many areas lacking in basic services and the creation of a security vacuum. In turn, this vacuum has contributed to the proliferation of armed actors, and generated growing support for extremist groups such as IS. In the absence of security afforded by the Iraqi government or the KRG, civilians have created armed militias, mainly ethnic and religious self-defence forces, each focused on its own interests. Even if they do not sympathise with the group's ideology, many Sunnis have also joined IS's ranks. Human rights organisations have repeatedly concluded that the Iraqi army and its allied Shia militias have committed human rights violations and war crimes in the process of recapturing IS-held territories, which are home to Sunni Iraqis. This situation, in which both state and non-state armed actors have little oversight or accountability for their actions, has ignited existing sectarian tensions. Until the Iraqi government can guarantee that its security forces and affiliated militias abide by international human rights and humanitarian law, and are held accountable for any violations, Sunnis will continue to distrust Iraqi national institutions. Furthermore, without guarantees from the Iraqi government and the KRG on a process integration of Sunni civilians into state organisations, including the Iraqi army, the Sunni population in the Nineveh province will continue to distrust the Shia-dominated Iraqi army and its allied Shia militias, as well as the Kurdish Peshmerga, and conceive of IS as a plausible security provider. The lost generation For decades, the Nineveh province has been subject to demographic manipulation. Its ethnic and religious minorities have been the targets of a historical process of forced Arabisation, human rights violations, and mass atrocities. The minorities of the Nineveh province continued to be the target of mass atrocities following the 2003 US-led coalition's overthrow of the Sunni-dominated Baathist regime led by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the absence of a peace-building strategy to complement military operations against IS, the province's minorities will continue to be at risk of violence, particularly after the recapture of Mosul, which will likely generate a new security and humanitarian crisis. To avoid the loss of another generation, Iraq must abide by its obligations as a party to the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, and formally accept the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Iraq must also enact comprehensive legislation criminalising genocide, and pursue prosecutions for alleged perpetrators that adhere to internationally recognised legal standards. The international community must encourage the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Iraq to the ICC, and provide assistance to the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and Iraqi local civil society organisations to gather evidence of atrocities -- including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes -- perpetrated by IS and other armed groups.

Tania Ildefonso Ocampos is a Spanish political analyst who specialises in EU strategy in the Middle East. She is a former Schuman trainee (Euro-Med and Middle East Unit of the European Parliament's Directorate-General for External Policies), and holds an MA in Middle Eastern History from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Sichuan Airlines officially launched twice-weekly Airbus A330 passenger flights from Chengdu to Prague on August 12.

Operating on Tuesday and Friday, departure from the central Chinese city is at 12:45 and arriving in Prague at 17:15, local time. The return flight departs at 19:15 and arrives in Chengdu at 10:45. Connections are available at Chengdu to and from Western China.

Sichuan Airlines already operates flights from Chengdu to Moscow.

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July 29, 2016

The British government is picking up the Western-backed oppositions $1.4 million annual tab influencing policymakers in Washington and at the American United Nations mission in New York, Justice Department records reveal. And Saudi Arabia helps get the rebel point of view in the media via the kingdoms $8 million contract with PR giant MSL Group (formerly Qorvis).

The nonprofit Syrian Emergency Task Force, meanwhile, has relied on anonymous private donors and US and other government grants to continue building support for the revolution to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.

Together, the financial disclosures offer a window into foreign intervention in a conflict that has claimed almost 500,000 lives and turned into a proxy war between powerful regional actors such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Since early 2013, the Syrian rebels have been represented in Washington by Najib Ghadbian, the special representative to the United States for the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. A British government fund known as the UK Conflict Pool in turn paid the New York-based advisory group Independent Diplomat $1.4 million last year to lobby the State Department on the groups behalf, part of the United Kingdoms international support for the Syrian opposition.

At least two of the registered lobbyists on the account  Independent Diplomat founder and Executive Director Carne Ross and Policy Director Reza Afshar  are former British diplomats. Former State Department official Nicole Sedaca headed the practices Washington office until joining Georgetown University full-time.

The UK has spent over 5 million pounds [$6.5 million] since the start of the conflict supporting the Syrian opposition, a Foreign Office spokesperson told Al-Monitor in an emailed statement. This includes providing negotiation and communication support along with advice and training to staff at their international offices.

The Conflict Pool was created in 2009 to reduce the impact of conflict and instability around the world, according to the British government. It is described as a flexible fund for small-scale conflict prevention activities jointly managed by the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

The fund was replaced in April 2015 by a 1 billion pound ($1.3 billion) Conflict, Stability and Security Fund under the direction of the National Security Council, a Cabinet committee created in 2010 to help coordinate British national security policy. That fund made headlines in the UK earlier this year for spending 2.4 million pounds ($3.2 million) to run a shadow press office for the Western-backed opposition aimed at building support for the "moderate" rebels within Syria while showcasing their battlefield successes to their military backers, notably the Pentagon.

Separately, Riyadh pays to provide "media support" for the Syrian High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella group that includes the opposition coalition, as part of a broader contract with MSL Group worth $7.96 million in 2015. The PR firm has helped to get the opposition's message out to major media outlets such as Fox News, Reuters and The New York Times, according to the latest available lobbying records.

The rebels can also count on assistance from the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US nonprofit founded in 2012 by a Syria-born former congressional staffer named Mouaz Moustafa. The task force declared $289,000 in revenues in 2014  down from $498,000 the year before  according to its latest available filing with the Internal Revenue Service.

The task force played an active role in shaping US opposition to Assad in the early years of the conflict, when its political director Elizabeth O'Bagy was a familiar face on US news shows. The group helped organize a meeting with the rebels inside Syria by their fierce advocate Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., but its luster was tarnished when O'Bagy (now a McCain staffer) was forced to resign after she got caught inflating her academic credentials.

Still, the task force has continued to play an important role behind the scenes, with Moustafa himself serving as interpreter when an apparent Syrian defector codenamed "Caesar" testified before Congress in 2014 that many thousands of prisoners have been tortured to death in Assad's prisons since the start of the war. The hearing prompted the House Foreign Affairs leaders to develop new Syria sanctions legislation that cleared the committee last month.

Despite bipartisan support in Congress, opposition lobbying has had decidedly mixed results on the all-important military front.

On paper, the Obama administration has stuck to its strategy of training and equipping vetted rebels in hopes of empowering a political counterweight to Assad in ongoing peace talks. The Pentagon has asked for $250 million for the coming fiscal year, which would bring the controversial program to $1.1 billion over the past three years.

The United States also remains the biggest provider of humanitarian assistance to displaced Syrians. Since the start of the conflict the State Department has doled out more than $5 billion in assistance, about evenly split inside and outside the country.

President Barack Obama's focus on combating the Islamic State (IS) and reluctance to get further drawn into the Syrian civil war has long been apparent, however. Even as the United States is reportedly developing a backup plan to provide the rebels with heavier weapons should current stop-and-go efforts at peace talks definitively collapse, Secretary of State John Kerry visited key Assad backer Vladimir Putin in Russia last month with an offer of cooperation against IS and other "terrorist" groups, which Damascus and Moscow paint with a very broad brush.

"It would be foolish to believe that Assad would actually negotiate when he is convinced he can gain a military victory through Russian and Iranian support against his own people, Moustafa told Bloomberg earlier this year. Kerry is on a mission to achieve a diplomatic solution while the White House allows Russia and Assad to entrench his regime through war crimes.

The future of Britains commitment to the cause is also in doubt as the island nation retrenches into an isolationist crouch. After voting to divorce the European Union, Britain in July chose as its foreign secretary a man who once praised Assad patron Putins ruthless clarity in propping up his protege.

No matter how repulsive the Assad regime may be  and it is  their opponents in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) are far, far worse, Boris Johnson wrote in a March 2016 op-ed in The Telegraph. If Putins troops have helped winkle the maniacs from Palmyra, then (it pains me to admit) that is very much to the credit of the Russians.
August 12, 2016

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity - AMAN launched Aug. 1 its annual contest for integrity and transparency with the aim of granting the Public Sector Integrity Award, the Media Integrity Award and the Best Anti-Corruption Investigation Award. These awards will be distributed during a ceremony held by the coalition annually in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, on International Anti-Corruption Day (Dec. 9). The awards will be granted to citizens who provide information to competent authorities such as the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of Financial and Administrative Control or AMAN to help them detect or prevent corrupt practices. The awards will also be granted to people who do not engage in corrupt practices by refusing bribes.

AMAN was established in 2000 upon an initiative by a number of civil society organizations working in the field of democracy, human rights and good governance, in the framework of a civil movement seeking to combat corruption and promote integrity, transparency and accountability in the Palestinian community. The coalition operates in the West Bank and Gaza and was endorsed by Transparency International in 2006.

Abdel Kader Husseini, the head of AMANs board of directors, told Al-Monitor, The main objective behind this award [ceremony] is to stimulate the various parties to take action against corruption and the corrupt, put an end to impunity and encourage everyone to assume their responsibilities by reporting acts of corruption that they witness or fall victim to, based on the grounds that reporting corruption is a national heroic act and not a tip-off.

He added, Palestinian citizens, regardless of their whereabouts or the nature of their work, are the most important element in the fight against corruption  be they employees in the public sector, the private sector or civil society institutions.

AMAN has been granting, for the 11th year in a row, annual financial awards to those who contribute to disclosing suspicions of corruption or assist in the protection of public money, be it in the public sector, the local authorities or the media.

Mohammed Abu Shahmeh is a journalist with newspaper Felesteen. In 2015, he won the Media Sector Integrity Award for his investigative report about the Gaza Strip bakeries use of water containing high concentrations of nitrates causing cancer.

Abu Shahmeh told Al-Monitor that his work is a real translation of the political will through which he was able to bring about positive change based on a negative and serious phenomenon that some bakeries had been practicing in the Gaza Strip, thus harming citizens without facing any sanctions.

I am happy that my report could mobilize the competent authorities to take legal action against the corrupt," he said.

Mohammed Abu Bakr, who won the 2015 Public Sector Integrity Award, told Al-Monitor, I am very happy that I detected a corruption case in the public sector by revealing the smuggling through the borders of low-quality, fraudulently mixed diesel to be sold as mineral oils. This deprives the Palestinian Authoritys treasury of the financial revenue and ruins the cars of citizens who bought this low-quality fuel.

On May 17, AMAN published a guide for those wishing to run for the Public Sector Integrity Award. The guide explains that the goal of the award is to encourage workers in the public sector and local bodies to protect public money, enhance integrity values among workers in the public sector, honor workers seeking to protect public money and protect whistleblowers.

According to the guide, the awards are granted based on several criteria, including the size and relative importance of the reported case, the administrative level involved in the case, the strength of the evidence, the outcome of the reporting  i.e., whether the issue was addressed or not by the concerned party  and the detection or reporting mechanisms in terms of the safety of the measures taken by the employee to report corruption. These should be compatible with the legally adopted procedures and should adhere to the administrative hierarchy required, meaning the person who detects corruption should report the case to their manager, who, in turn, should report it to the institution's management, to obtain a referral to the competent authorities. Another criterion that is taken into consideration is the amount of time that it took the employee to report the case of corruption.

Najwa Rashid, the secretary of AMAN, told Al-Monitor, The best anti-corruption and good governance research award at the level of the public sector, the local bodies and the media sector aims at involving and motivating young researchers and Palestinian university students to prepare research related to combating corruption and integrating young people in the integrity system and culture in Palestinian society. It also encourages them to engage in efforts to fight corruption in Palestinian society by raising awareness about the risks, consequences and causes of this phenomenon with the aim of creating a counter-community that rejects corrupt practices.

She added, The role of this award is to find transparent people who enjoy integrity and believe that the fight against corruption is a national effort that every citizen ought to take part in. Citizens should have the courage to reveal the facts and realize that they are partners in public money and contribute to protect it even if conveying an anti-corruption message exposes them to the risk of losing their jobs."

The Whistleblower Protection Policy grants employees the opportunity to report violations and corruption cases, and ensures they are not subjected to retaliation and victimization as a result. It also protects them from the risk of losing their job or being subjected to any form of punishment. Violations, however, should be reported in good faith and the employees suspicions should be based on honest and reasonable data.

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted a poll June 7 in the West Bank and Gaza covering domestic Palestinian issues such as the elections, the reconciliation issue, government performance, unemployment, poverty and corruption. One of the most important results achieved by the poll was that 80% of those questioned believe corruption is rampant in PA institutions, while 38% believe that the fundamental problems facing Palestinian society today are unemployment and the widespread poverty; 10% believe that the fundamental problem is the rampant corruption in public institutions.

In this context, Rafik Natsheh, the head of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, told Al-Monitor, There have been several and numerous forms of corruption. There were cases where people were granted high-level positions based on personal connections. There have been crimes of food corruption amid ineffective sanctions, increased nepotism, favoritism, bribery, breach of trust, abuse of public positions and embezzlement.

Mohammed Abu al-Rub, an economics professor at An-Najah National University, told Al-Monitor, Administrative reform within the government and civil society institutions and the reporting of corruption should be supported by a public will and real reform mechanisms to overcome the challenges and problems.

Reporting administrative, financial and corruption cases is important in the presence of a genuine will and serious anti-corruption mechanisms that encourage people to detect and report corruption by rewarding, awarding, promoting and, more importantly, protecting them.
August 15, 2016

On Aug. 4, the day before an assassination attempt on Egypt's former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, four Turkish intelligence officers infiltrated the Sinai Peninsula and were arrested by Egyptian security forces. Several hours before the assassination attempt, the Huffington Post Arabi website, which is headquartered in Istanbul, published segments of an extended interview with Mehmet Gormez, the head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, concerning the ties between Gomaa and the Fethullah Gulen movement. Turkish authorities have accused the latter of being responsible for the failed coup against the government in July.

Is this evidence enough to point accusing fingers in Ankaras direction for the assassination attempt?

It all started Aug. 5, when Gomaa headed to a mosque for Friday prayer. A number of armed men fired shots at him. After Gomaa escaped, the Hasm movement claimed responsibility for the operation through their official accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

The Hasm movements official social media pages were launched over a year and a half ago. They have been active against the Muslim Brotherhood opposition, but for most of that time, all their activity was conducted online. Perhaps for that reason the pages were never closed. However, they reportedly launched their first terrorist operation in July, claiming responsibility for an assassination attempt targeting the chief investigator at the Tamiya police station in Fayoum. The operation was carried out in the same style as the attempted assassination of Gomaa: a burst of gunfire directed at the target.

Maj. Gen. Ashraf Amin, a retired deputy minister of the interior and a security expert, told Al-Monitor he believes the operation was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and that the Hasm movement is actually one of their so-called qualitative committees. Amin said the assassination operations claimed by Hasm were similar in style to other attacks carried out by the Brotherhoods qualitative committees. Among those, for example, was the infamous case of the assassination of Wael Tahoun, the former chief investigator of the Matareya police department, in April 2015. Their operations, according to Amin, have generally targeted men from the investigations bureau for their prominent role in liquidating these qualitative committees.

When asked about the likelihood that other organizations were involved in Gomaas attempted assassination, Amin did not rule it out. We cannot just accept the claim of responsibility for the operation by some terrorist group or another. There are investigations and inquiries [that must be conducted]. And perhaps that movement was attempting to draw the notice of the police away from other movements. And so the investigation must run its course, especially since it is highly unusual for a movement to claim responsibility for a failed attack, such as the one directed against Ali Gomaa.

Abd al-Hamid Khayrat, the former deputy chief investigator of State Security, in a social media post on his personal Facebook account, ascribed the assassination attempt on Gomaas life to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in response to the Egyptian armys assassination of their leader Abu Dua al-Ansari in early August. He added that he expects that their operations will extend beyond the border of Sinai, since the armed forces have placed their home base in Sinai under a tight siege.

In statements to Al-Monitor, Khalid Mutawi, a retired brigadier general and security expert, dismissed the possibility that there could be a direct relationship between Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and the attempted assassination. In his assessment, all those organizations are in contact and coordination with one another. However, as he put it, What were talking about here is the direct perpetrator, and the assassination attempt indicates that the elements that carried out the attack dont enjoy the same level of training that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis does. That much is evident from the amount of ammunition they wasted and from their failure to assassinate their target, even though he was clearly visible. Moreover, he was targeted with small arms, which Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is not particularly known for. They prefer to employ remote-detonated explosives most of the time.

Mutawi added, One cannot ignore the evidence pertaining to what the head of Turkeys Department of Religious Affairs [Gormez] said about Gomaas relationship with Fethullah Gulen, and the four Turkish intelligence officers who snuck in [to Sinai] a day before. Therefore, the investigations should not neglect the possibility that entities outside Egypt were involved. Mutawi did not name any entities or openly accuse any state, however.

Retired Col. Khaled Okasha, the director of the National Center for Security Studies, agrees with Mutawi on this point. He believes that the evidence of four Turkish intelligence officers infiltrating Egypt should not be ignored. And then there are Gormezs remarks about Gomaa as well as the state of agitation felt by some Turkish agencies toward the Gulen movement and anyone suspected of having a relationship with it.

In addition to all this, Okasha said that one cannot ignore the concentration of many Brotherhood leaders inside Turkey or the fact that they are in indirect communication with their cells in Egypt. This is increasingly important to note given the high probability that the Hasm movement belongs to the Brotherhoods qualitative committees, according to Okasha, particularly since the Brotherhood has absolutely declared war on the Gulen movement and all who support it, following the lead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who declared war on the movement. Gomaa would be considered a good catch, especially since he is an old enemy of the Brotherhood and, perhaps, the Turkish authorities now consider him an enemy of theirs, given his communications with the Gulen movement.

Al-Monitor attempted to communicate with Brig. Gen. Khalid Fawzi, the official responsible for handling public and media relations in the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior, to learn about the latest developments concerning the investigation on the attempted assassination of Gomaa, the investigation of the Turkish intelligence officers detained in Sinai, as well as the likelihood that the two events are related. However, as of the time of this writing, he had not returned our calls.

The state of near-permanent tension between Egypt and Turkey since the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 has continually raised doubts. These incidents, whereby four Turkish intelligence officers infiltrated Egypt and the head of Turkeys Religious Affairs remarking on Gomaas ties to Gulen only hours before an attempted assassination, have only served to magnify those doubts. However, by themselves, these pieces of evidence do not prove anything, nor do they rise to the level of concrete evidence. However, it is probable that they rise to the level of opening the door to yet further inflamed tensions between the two countries. The two sides may even reach a point where the only way they can express further irritation is to embark on a complete and total break in relations.
August 15, 2016

The Egyptian government has recently proposed a draft law to amend the countrys nationality law. It would give investors the right to apply for citizenship after living and investing in Egypt for five years. The bill has caused controversy and dispute both within parliament and among the public. While some Egyptians argue it will encourage investment and help the countrys financial recovery, others maintain that nationality is not something that should be sold.

The draft law was submitted to the Cabinet by Egyptian economist Sameh Sidqi earlier this month. It would amend Presidential Decree No. 89 of 1960 on Entry, Residence and Exit of Foreigners and Law No. 26 of 1975 Concerning Egyptian Nationality. The government announced Aug. 2 that it was being discussed in the Egyptian State Council.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Sidqi said, The bill grants Egyptian nationality to foreigners who deposit $500,000 [in foreign currency] in an Egyptian bank. If nationality is granted, the sum may not be refunded. The foreigner shall obtain nationality within five years, but if the application is rejected, the sum may be retrieved.

He said that approving this bill requires amending the clause related to nationality in the Egyptian Constitution, as well as another clause of the Investment Law, so that any investor who deposits the required sum may be granted Egyptian nationality if he or she meets the conditions set by the Cabinet.

Sidqi argued that more than 5 million expatriates now reside in Egypt, and they include Iraqis, Syrians and Libyans, in addition to 4 million Sudanese living in Egypt since the era of Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiri. Like Egyptians, these expatriates benefit from subsidies on oil, electricity, bread and other food supplies.

Such legislation is applied in many countries that encourage foreign investment, including the United States and Canada, Sidqi added, indicating that he had previously presented this proposal to the Dubai government when working as an economic adviser during the international financial crisis a few years ago. Although the proposal was initially approved, he said, the number of expatriates that would be granted Emirati nationality exceeded the Emirates native population, leading the Dubai government to reject the proposal.

Sidqi pointed out that at least 100,000 of the foreigners living in Egypt with no criminal records wish to obtain Egyptian citizenship. This means that the state could potentially benefit from billions of dollars without recourse to loans subject to terms from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Egypt is currently negotiating a $5 billion loan with the IMF in order to cover growing budget deficits as a result of the decline in tourism and tourism revenues.

Sidqi further said that his proposal has already been approved by the Cabinet and has now been submitted to the State Council and parliament for ratification.

According to Sidqi, the opposition claims that the bill would grant citizenship to anybody in return for money. However, this not the case, he argued, as competent authorities shall conduct background checks on all applicants, including their relatives up to a fourth-degree kinship.

Sidqi added that to obtain Egyptian nationality, applicants must submit a certified list of all the countries they traveled to in the past 10 years, noting that the Egyptian government reserves the right to withdraw citizenship, without prior notice, from any applicant convicted of a crime against honor, spying for a foreign country against Egypt or if the applicant obtained another citizenship.

He further explained that the bill would not give equal opportunity for all applicants even if the financial requirement is met. Other criteria will be taken into consideration, giving certain applicants an advantage over others. For instance, the holders of a doctorate degree will be given a higher evaluation than those with a masters degree. This way, applicants will be carefully selected so that Egypt can benefit from the best foreign elements.

Sidqi dismissed the possibility that the bill would open the door for fugitives or individuals affiliated with terrorist organizations, arguing that by submitting an official application for Egyptian nationality, these individuals will be risking a security inquiry, whereas terrorists prefer to keep a low profile.

The man behind the proposal stressed that many Libyans, Iraqis and Syrians are wealthy, with considerable investments in Egypt, and by obtaining Egyptian citizenship, theyll be able to settle down with their families.

In the past three years, revolutions across the Arab world forced many to flee their home countries. For instance, some Syrians who chose Egypt as a destination launched investments in 6th of October City west of Cairo, while Libyans relocated to Alexandria, the northern coast and Borg el-Arab, where they invested in real estate. Sidqi said that Cottonile, a famous clothing company, is owned by a Syrian who has been living in Egypt for 20 years and wishes to obtain citizenship at any price.

Parliament member Alaa Abdel-Moneim of the For the Love of Egypt bloc rejected the bill, telling Al-Monitor, Many European Union countries like Portugal, Cyprus and Malta grant nationality in return for money. But why would anyone seek an Egyptian nationality knowing he or she can become a citizen of one these countries and benefit from their membership to the EU?"

He said that those opting instead for the Egyptian nationality would likely be people well aware that these European countries would not grant them citizenship for security reasons, thus opting for an Egyptian one for hidden motives. Abdel-Moneim stressed that the bill would turn Egypt into a refuge for the worlds fugitives, arguing that implementing this law will have a demographic impact on Egyptian society.

Abdel-Moneim has demanded that the government reveal to the public the number of potential applicants as concluded from the examination of this proposal, as well as the expected number of expatriates to be naturalized after implementing the bill.

Muataz Mahmoud, the head of the parliamentary housing committee, told Al-Monitor that the bill is by no means an Egyptian invention, as it is currently applied in many countries around the world, noting that, if passed, the bill would attract at least 50,000 individuals. As a result, the government can make up to $250 billion out of it.

Mahmoud said that the bill would not constitute a national security threat as some might claim, as citizenship would only be granted after conducting a background check on the applicants, which will prevent the infiltration of terrorists.
August 16, 2016

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Gazans are always open to opportunities that might bring them joy, including passionately welcoming the chance to participate in artistic events. The political situation has limited the arts, but that appears to be slowly changing, as evidenced by the recent Palestine International Festival for Dance and Music.

The festival opened in Gaza City on July 27, and in a first, did so in parallel with the festival opening in the West Bank, a landmark in sharing Palestinian art. This was the first year that Gazans took part in the festival and that Gaza hosted festivities, which was founded in 1993 by the Popular Art Centre.

On opening night, Iman Hamouri, the director of the Popular Art Center, delivered a speech at the Palestine International Theater in Ramallah that was broadcast live in Gaza City, in Rashad al-Shawwa Hall. After Hamouri's speech, some bands performed, including the Dawaween Band. Their participation in the festival came about after members of the Popular Art Center visited Gaza and discussed the possibility with the bands and the Ministry of Culture in Gaza. Event organizers told Al-Monitor that over two evenings, July 27-28, the festival attracted some 3,000 people in Gaza. The festival closed in Hebron on Aug. 8.

Dima al-Shalti, 22, among the audience in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, I was happy to attend, and I hope that the Gaza Strip will participate again in the festival in the coming years. She said that she had not expected so many people to attend. It was a full house, and she wasn't able to enjoy the show as much as she would have liked because of that. She reiterated her passion for the art at the festival. Shalti attended the second evening of performances, during which al-Anqaa Band and the band from the National Center Sun Dignity for Arts and Culture performed.

The festival management chose for this year the theme Freedom of Movement, to challenge Israel and the obstacles it puts in the face of Palestinians in all aspects of life, including art, Adel Abdel Rahman, festival organizer in Gaza and founder of the Dawaween Band, told Al-Monitor. We agreed to hold two evenings in the Gaza Strip. The Gazan Dawaween Band was to perform in al-Hakawati Theater in Jerusalem Aug. 6, but Israel refused to grant permits to the band members for unknown security pretexts.

Instead, in an unprecedented event, members of the Dawaween Band performed Aug. 6 at the Beit Hanoun/Erez checkpoint, on the Gaza-Israel border. Empty chairs, on which was written Jerusalem Audience, were set up in front of the stage, and the band sang and played music, including Palestinian national songs, for almost an hour.

Abdel Rahman said that authorities in the Gaza Strip, including the Ministry of Culture and the police, had facilitated holding the event. He also said more events will be organized at the checkpoint so that the world can see the siege is not, as Israel claims, due to Gazas exportation of terrorism.

Sharaf Dar Zeid, another festival organizer in Ramallah, said that this year's freedom of movement theme appeared in ads, hung in theaters and was reiterated throughout the festival. It could also be seen on buses going from city to city in the West Bank to transport people attending festival events.

The Dawaween Band, which includes 40 members, was formed in December, adding a new musical touch to Palestinian artistic heritage. Abdel Rahman said that bands in Gaza suffer from a lack of instruments, and when available, from their high price. In addition, the electricity crisis impedes bands from properly practicing. There is also the issue of tight financial resources. Ticket prices for most shows do not exceed $4.

Dar Zeid said the Palestine International Festival has always aimed to break the cultural and artistic isolation imposed on Palestinians. The festival showcases Arab and foreign bands and encourages local bands to increase their artistic output by participating in the festival each year. Dar Zeid said that bands are selected based on their new work.

He noted that the Popular Art Centre had previously not included Gaza in the festival because organizers believed that Gazans were not interested in the arts. Cultural differences are not limited to the Gaza Strip, he said. There are other areas in the West Bank that do not accept such arts, but we are trying to change this perspective and raise artistic awareness.

Ramy Massaad, the official in charge of the Festival Venue Committee in Ramallah, told Al-Monitor, The obstacles facing the festival included the Israeli blockade and Israels refusal to grant some bands permits. This year, the Dawaween Band from Gaza and Eskenderella from Egypt were banned [from going and performing in the West Bank]. In addition, social obstacles sometimes prevent artistic performances in some regions, as [some Palestinians] disapprove of Western dance groups.

Massaad said that there were 15 festival evenings this year in five West Bank provinces, with the focus on artistic caliber rather than consumerist art. Ticket prices were in line with the economic situation. In Gaza, Hebron and Jerusalem, tickets were free, but in Ramallah, they sold for $8 and in Jenin for $3.

Sami Abu Watfa, the director general of civil work at the Ministry of Culture in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that his ministry does not object to holding events that respect the traditions and norms of Palestinian society. He indicated that the artistic and cultural situation in Gaza is experiencing diversification and recovery. He blamed the political situation in Gaza for the absence of the festival in previous years. The ministry does not have information on the number of art bands in the Gaza Strip.
August 16, 2016

Municipal elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are slated for Oct. 8. On the face of it, this is a local matter that should not be of much concern to Israels decision-makers or the public at large. However, the Hamas-Fatah agreement for holding municipal elections that was reached in the setting of their reconciliation efforts and following their endless talks since the May 2011 Cairo Agreement is not only an internal-local issue. It is also liable to further complicate the already complex relationships between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

For the first time in over a decade, the elections will take place in some 300 municipalities, villages and regional councils across the West Bank and Gaza. The last time PA President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to hold elections  or more precisely was forced to hold them by former US President George W. Bush  was in 2006. Back then, Hamas took everyone by surprise, winning the seats to the Palestinian parliament by a landslide. And even though the upcoming elections are neither for the presidency nor for the parliament, senior Fatah officials, as well as Hamas officials, are nevertheless convinced that they will see Hamas win over a large number of local authorities in the West Bank, thus indicating that it is poised to take over power centers outside Gaza.

Ever since Hamas coup in Gaza in 2007, the areas of the PA have been clearly divided: Gaza is under Hamas control whereas the West Bank remains under Fatahs near full control. It is not unreasonable to assume that this division is now about to change. Speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, senior Fatah officials have said that Abbas does not rule out the possibility that Hamas will see victory in many local authorities across the West Bank and could even cause the tables to turn in major towns such as Hebron, Jenin and Nablus.

So why did Abbas agree to hold elections whose results could embarrass both him and his movement? And on what is the previous scenario that foresees a significant achievement for Hamas based? Although the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has yet to release the results of its public opinion polls, senior Fatah officials are fully aware of the trends on the ground. During the 2006 elections for the Palestinian parliament, Hamas managed to win thanks to an across-the-board protest of the majority of the Palestinian public that wanted change and wanted to take revenge against the members of the Fatah movement whom they perceived to be corrupt and responsible for the economic situation and the ongoing Israeli occupation.

Fatah activists who spoke to Al-Monitor in recent days say that they are concerned the current atmosphere among rank-and-file Palestinians in the West Bank is similar to that of 2006, which is further evidenced by the individual intifada of the past year. West Bank Palestinians are disheartened by the political-diplomatic situation and are greatly disappointed with the conduct of the Fatah movement, whose approval ratings have significantly dropped in recent years. Given this climate, the movement might face a crushing defeat in the municipal elections in the West Bank, thus handing Hamas a victory in some of the local authorities on a silver platter. It is not impossible that this will usher in a major change at the end of which Hamas will have gained control over PA institutions.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Fatah official in Ramallah claims that many of his colleagues cannot comprehend what prompted Abbas to hold the elections despite knowing that a defeat is inevitable. The only explanation they can come up with is that the president is fed up with the diplomatic stalemate, as well as with the lack of interest by the international community in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mainly with Israel's nonstop construction in the settlements that systematically undermines any possibility for reaching a two-state diplomatic solution. Abbas is willing to push forward the internal Palestinian reconciliation even at the risk of losing some of his movements significant political strongholds. A Hamas victory in the upcoming October municipal elections could send a clear message to Israel as to what the future holds if it were to pursue its current policy.

In less than two months time, Israel could be facing a new reality whereby Hamas has its feet firmly planted in the West Bank. It is hard to predict what Jerusalems reaction will be, and particularly what will be the reaction of the defense establishment that is now headed by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. What is certain, however, is that security tension in the area, which has already been running high in the past few months, will be further intensified.

The situation could also very well bring about change in the Gaza Strip. Senior Gaza-based Fatah officials have ramped up preparations ahead of the elections. Having felt battered for the past 10 years (since Hamas rose to power in Gaza), Fatah activists have been working on the assumption that they could win many protest votes from Gaza residents who are sick of Hamas rule. Hence, it appears that Hamas, too, could stand something to lose in the upcoming elections. According to the senior Fatah officials who spoke with Al-Monitor, Hamas has long been sending Abbas signals that it is willing to make headway toward reconciliation.

This could prove to be a golden opportunity for the organizations leaders to take off some of the heavy burden resting on their shoulders. If Fatah were to take over some of the local authorities in Gaza, it will help resume the infusion of money from European Union countries that have refused to donate funds to Hamas. The movement has been desperately looking for solutions to its dire budgetary constraints that have prevented it from paying salaries to its civil servants.

The Israeli intelligence community is well aware of these scenarios. Begging for assistance for months, Hamas is about to be thrown a lifeline that it plans to take advantage of in order to gain traction in the West Bank.
August 15, 2016

Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about regional issues. Zarif also was the first Iranian official to visit Turkey after the attempted coup in July. Zarif met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During a press conference with Cavusoglu, Zarif said, Its true there are differences, but the two countries have always insisted on the territorial integrity and national unity of Syria. On matters in which we have differences, we must talk and resolve them.

On Aug. 14, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister and President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Tehran to discuss the region and Syria with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, and Zarif. After the meeting, Ansari spoke to the Iranian media about Syria. He said that as a result of Zarifs trip to Turkey, Iran and Turkey reached "a general agreement on fundamental principles on protecting the territorial integrity of Syria and the formation of a pervasive and national government. Ansari said that while these are general agreements, they can be the beginning steps of resolving the Syria crisis.

In response to a reporter's question on whether or not Russia, Iran and Turkey are forming a new axis in Syria, Ansari said that such a grouping would inflame the sensitivities of the various actors involved in the country. Rather, he said, Iran is pursuing a consensus of the influential countries involved. He said that Iran is not after a closed coalition, but would prefer a type of understanding of shared principles with other regional and international players.

On the current battles between opposition groups and the Syrian government in Aleppo, Ansari said, Terrorist groups have a number of times tried to capture the city. He described the situation in which a large segment of the population has been forced to flee a humanitarian disaster and said that Iran and Russia would attempt to bring the situation in Aleppo to an end so that people could return to their homes.

Ansari did not get into greater detail on the talks or the solutions to resolving the situation either in Aleppo or Syria. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a Russian news agency Aug. 15 that the United States and Russia are close to an agreement on joint military action in Aleppo. If true, this would be a major shift in the war. Russias entrance into the Syrian civil war to back the Syrian government and Iranian and Hezbollah forces has been a huge blow to opposition forces backed by Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The airstrikes by the United States so far have been limited to al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups, while Russia has targeted with airstrikes a larger number of opposition groups backed by regional countries.

Ansari said that he will soon travel to Moscow and Ankara to meet with officials from each country to continue negotiations and consultations regarding Syria and the region.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Aug. 15 that after resolving differences with Israel and Russia, the time has come to improve relations with Syria. However, one of the conditions that Yildirim proposed was that in a future Syrian government, no one sect would have dominance over the other and current President Bashar al-Assad would not have a position in the long term.
August 16, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran  A majority of car consumers in Iran complain about the low quality and high prices of vehicles produced by local manufacturers, according to a poll conducted by news website Khabar Online. Citing another poll, leading economic newspaper Donya-e Eqtesad reported Aug. 11 that more than half of Iranian car consumers think that the vehicles' quality does not justify their prices.

The two leading Iranian automakers Iran Khodro Co. (IKCO) and SAIPA both saw a sharp decline in sales last year. The situation began to deteriorate after a nationwide campaign called on citizens to boycott new domestically produced cars in protest of their low quality. Eventually, the government offered a stimulus package providing loans for potential consumers of Iranian-made cars. The package boosted sales without manufacturers needing to cut prices.

IKCO and SAIPA recently displayed their new car models in an automotive exhibition in the city of Mashhad, unveiling prices that critics say are still high. IKCO, which signed a 400 million euro ($446.5 million) joint venture with Peugeot a few months after the nuclear deal's January 2016 implementation day, announced earlier this month that prices for Peugeot's 208, 2008, 301 and 508 models will range from 500 million rials ($16,000) to 1.8 billion rials ($57,900). Meanwhile, SAIPA revealed that prices for its Citroen models C4L, C3, C4 Aircross and C6 will start at 600 million rials ($19,300) and go up to 1.3 billion rials ($41,800).

Critics say the new cars are too expensive to be affordable to a majority of potential Iranian customers. The price of a car may substantially increase for having what [automakers] call extra options, mechanical engineer and businessman Mehdi Jabbari told Al-Monitor. Of note, at the expo in Mashhad, an IKCO official was quoted as saying that the Peugeot 301 model, for instance, could be sold between 470 million rials ($15,100) and 600 million rials ($19,300), depending on the installed options. Jabbari added, It is an abuse of their monopoly. The options are in many cases essential parts of the car, like its airbags. The way they charge customers is not fair at all. Theyve been able to increase prices as they want, simply because they dont have any real rival.

IKCO and SAIPA, however, claim they do have rivals: Chinese companies hold about 10% of the Iranian auto market. These Chinese makers offer some 20 models, most of which are assembled by smaller companies in Iran. Ghadir, who works in a repair shop in central Tehran, talked to Al-Monitor on condition that his surname be withheld. Chinese carmakers are in fact not serious rivals of local manufacturers, he said, explaining, Their cars are full of problems, technically speaking.

Although demand for automobiles has not yet substantially increased since the sanctions relief rolled out early this year, Entekhab News reported that prices rose by up to 10 million rials ($320) per vehicle in the last month. Iran has so far signed agreements to set up joint ventures with Peugeot and Citroen to produce new models. However, the appetite for creating a regional car manufacturing hub in the country has pushed authorities to also pursue negotiations with other European carmakers, including Renault, Volkswagen and Fiat.

The looming arrival of these vehicles is good news for the Iranian automotive industry, which is set to be among the fastest growing sectors in the coming decade. At the same time, low- and middle-class consumers in Iran may increasingly argue that these developments will not benefit them unless competitiveness is restored.

Ali Shahindoust, an accounting manager at a private company, rhetorically asked Al-Monitor why Iranians should pay double the price of a European-made car for locally assembled vehicles with poorer quality. He said, Sanctions are an excuse to cover up their corruption and mismanagement, in a reference to claims by Iranian carmakers that sanctions had a negative impact on the quality of their products. We faced the same problems for long years even before sanctions intensified.

The Iranian government protects the domestic auto industry through various means, including a tariff system, which increases prices of foreign-made vehicles by up to 150%, according to Ali Khaksari, a car market expert and lecturer from Allameh Tabatabai University. In comparison with global standards and given the average income of Iranian households, car prices in the country are 15 times those on global markets, Khaksari said in a recent interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The official car import duty is 40% for cars with up to 2000 cc motor capacity and 55% for 2000-2500 cc motors. However, additional costs, as listed in the following table, could drive prices for imported cars as high as double the original price, auto market analyst Farbod Zaveh told ISNA.

Extra Import Costs of Original Price Duties for development of ambulance fleet 5% Duties for standards, orders, loading and unloading in customs 3% Warranty expenses 3% Vehicle registration plates (payable to police) 10% Vehicle registration plates (payable to tax office) 4% VAT 9% Disposal fee for old car 100 million rials ($3,200) Transportation About 1,000 euros ($1,120) Importers profit margin 3-8%

Source: ISNA news agency

The monopolistic practices and the decisions made by the state-run auto-pricing council, in which IKCO, SAIPA and auto parts companies have representatives, could be blamed most for the high prices.

One policy that could establish a balance in the market is the lowering of tariffs. However, it is not clear whether the government and the market players that benefit from the high import duties are supportive of such an idea. With the administration of President Hassan Rouhani having failed so far to come up with an effective solution, consumers can only hope that Irans accession bid to the World Trade Organization will gain more international support in the coming years, so that the government will be forced to cut import tariffs in line with the organizations trade rules. As this process could take as long as a decade  in the most optimistic scenario  it appears that Iranians will have to wait a while for a fair auto market.
August 1, 2016

Congress and the White House dont see eye to eye on burying the hatchet with Iran.

Neither does the million-strong Iranian diaspora in the United States.

A number of Iranian-Americans have joined two competing organizations that share starkly different views about how Washington should deal with Tehran, from ending sanctions to toppling the clerical regime. Both groups claim to represent the "real" Iran while denouncing their rival as a tool of foreign masters, further deepening the already substantial ideological polarization among US policymakers when it comes to Iran policy.

In one corner is the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) , a nonprofit created by a Swedish-Iranian former congressional staffer in 2012 to advocate closer ties with Tehran. NIAC founder Trita Parsi was a staunch supporter of last years nuclear deal and now advocates ending the trade embargo, arguing that closer diplomatic and commercial ties will increase US leverage while staving off the risk of war.

Americans wont succeed at influencing the decisions of Irans leadership, or the opinions of the Iranian people, without increasing ties with Iran, Parsi co-wrote with NIAC fellow Tyler Cullis in a July 12 Washington Post op-ed. Permitting competitors unrivaled influence over one of the regions major powers, the United States risks losing its ability to shape favorable outcomes in the Middle East, whether in the Syria conflict, the sectarian stalemate in Iraq or the transit of US naval forces in the Persian Gulf.

A distinctly different discourse emanates from supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Paris-based organization of dissidents who fought Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s before turning against the mullahs. The NCRI has an office in Washington, across the country from the West Sacramento headquarters of the nonprofit Organization of Iranian-American Communities-US (OIAC), which shares its message of regime change and claims chapters in 40 states.

No version, form, or faction of the current regime represents the Iranian people or their democratic aspirations, the OIAC states on its website. The current regime must therefore be replaced in its entirety: by the people of Iran and their organized resistance.

Each side has sought to forge relations with US policymakers while seeking to demonize the other, with varying levels of success.

Parsi has long had to fend off accusations that hes Irans man in Washington. Critics in particular point to his close ties to people inside Iran as well as emails between him and the then-ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, made public during a NIAC defamation lawsuit against one of its detractors, that show Parsi and Zarif discussing outreach to US lawmakers seeking better relations with Tehran during the George W. Bush administration.

Parsi told Al-Monitor that he was first introduced to Zarif, now Irans foreign minister, when he was an aide to former congressman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, in the early 2000s. Ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2007 for his role in a lobbying corruption scandal.

It wasnt uncommon at all that members of Congress would ask me, Hey, how can I talk to [Zarif], how can I have access to the Iranians? Parsi told Al-Monitor. Keep in mind, when all of this is happening this is when talk of war with Iran is almost at its height.

The organization has also been accused of skirting lobbying disclosure rules, and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., unsuccessfully sought a Justice Department probe in 2009. NIAC launched a separate NIAC-Action entity last year to take over most of the groups lobbying, but that organization hasnt registered as a foreign or domestic lobbyist either.

The organization and its staff spends less than 20% of time and resources on lobbying, Executive Director Jamal Abdi told Al-Monitor in an email, so we don't meet the threshold that triggers the requirement to register under LDA [Lobbying Disclosure Act].

Parsi flatly denies lobbying for Iran and insists his advocacy is solely on behalf of Iranian-Americans who seek to defuse US-Iran tensions. He said NIAC has a mailing list of 70,000 people and a donor base of about 8,000 people who give anywhere from $5 to $150,000 a year; 80-85% of its revenues ($1.1 million in 2014 according to IRS records) comes from donors, Parsi said, with the rest from foundations such as Ploughshares and the Rockefeller Fund.

Todays critics, Parsi said, are the same Iran hawks  and their allies in the NCRI  who urged a tougher stance against Tehran at the time.

In particular, Parsi points to the fact that the legal defense of Seyyed Hassan Daioleslam, the man NIAC sued for defamation, was spearheaded by an organization led by Daniel Pipes, a hawkish critic of radical Islam. Pipes wrote in a blog post that his Middle East Forums legal initiative took on the case without his knowledge.

The firm chosen to represent Daioleslam? Legal giant Sidley Austin, which just so happens to have been the US lawyer for arch-Iran foe Israel since 1992. NIAC failed to prove Daioleslam was acting out of malice and lost the case, even though the veracity of his claims was not established.

While Parsi and NIAC have built close ties to the Obama administration throughout the Iran deal negotiations, the NCRI and its allies have focused their attention on Congress. An umbrella organization, the NCRI successfully lobbied to get its principal member, the Peoples Mujahedeen of Iran (Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK), off the US terrorist list in 2012.

The group has raised eyebrows for reportedly spending millions of dollars to get former US officials and lawmakers to speak on its behalf. The NCRI says it has the support of thousands of Iranians around the world who believe the groups leader, Maryam Rajavi, should be the rightful leader of Iran; its critics say the group is little more than a cult with very little popular support inside Iran after it aligned itself with Saddam Hussein during the 1980s war with Iraq.

The NCRI and the OIAC hired three former US lawmakers at two different lobby firms in 2013 to press for the relocation of MEK members from Camp Liberty near Baghdad, where they live as unwanted  and regularly targeted  refugees following the fall of their former patron. Congress has repeatedly expressed support for their safe relocation, and the Obama administration has helped several dozen move to Albania and other countries.

The groups have also sought to build support for Rajavis claim that the NCRI is the legitimate government of Iran. The OIAC notably spent just shy of $100,000 over the past three years sending six House members and five staffers of both parties to the NCRIs annual rally in Paris, according to the for-profit congressional data aggregator Legistorm, and helped put together a special section of the conservative Washington Times newspaper in conjunction with this years rally.

As you boldly call for democracy and human rights in Iran, the American people stand with you in your fight against violence, oppression and terrorism in Iran, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., wrote in the Times. Your display of unity is an inspiration to our nation and its people, who like you, sacrifice blood and treasure in pursuit of freedom.

The investment helped Rajavi briefly grab the Washington spotlight last April when the House Foreign Affairs terrorism subcommittee invited her to testify on the Islamic State, to the consternation of the other witnesses on the panel. Subcommittee Chairman Ted Poe, R-Texas, attended her Paris rally on the OIACs dime in both 2013 and 2014, Legistorm records show.

The organization declared revenues of $138,000 in 2013 and $276,000 in 2014, according to its latest available tax filings. Expenses included $84,000 under the description conference, convention, meeting in 2013 and $234,000 in legal fees the following year; the OIAC did not respond to questions about what the expenditures are for.

Editor's note: This story was updated with comment from Daniel Pipes.
August 16, 2016

One may say that Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is crass, radical and cynical, but one absolutely cannot accuse him of stupidity, naivete or negligence. The announcement condemning the president of the United States that Liberman demanded his ministry's spokesman (and not, as is customary, his own media adviser) issue on Aug. 5 was no slip of the tongue. A seasoned politician like Liberman surely knew that the mere mention of the Munich Agreement with Hitler would stir the media out of its weekend doldrums. And indeed, Munich did the job. The defense minister as well as the prime minister then apologized for the style, but not for the message.

The half-hearted apologies provided them an opportunity to reiterate their message: that the agreement signed with Iran a year ago is not worth the paper its written on. A clarification issued by the Defense Ministry read, Israel remains deeply concerned by the fact that even after the agreement with Iran, the Iranian leadership continues to declare that its central goal is the destruction of the State of Israel and continues to threaten Israels existence with words and deeds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Aug. 5 that Israels position on the Iran deal ''remains unchanged. Its stance is that the Iranians were and still are a gang of con men whose signature means nothing. Liberman praised the United States and the president for their tremendous contribution to Israels national security. Netanyahu was careful to sign off with, The prime minister firmly believes that Israel has no more important ally than the United States. It almost goes without saying that important allies dont prevent each other from equipping themselves with the best means of deterrence and warfare.

Israels political echelon cannot ignore the declaration by the US president that the agreement has worked exactly the way we said it was going to work. Obama was right in saying recently, That would be a shock.  If some of these folks who had said the sky is falling suddenly said, 'You know what, we were wrong and we're glad that Iran no longer has the capacity to break out in short term and develop a nuclear weapon.'

An admission by the prime minister of Israel or the defense minister that they were wrong is not a shock. Its an earthquake. Israeli recognition of the fact that Iran does not have the capacity to produce nuclear weapons is the sky falling on Israels entire defense perception.

If Irans nuclear threat has dissipated, why does Israel need the hundreds of nuclear bombs it has (according to foreign sources)? If theres no nuclear threat on the horizon, theres no need for nuclear deterrence. Why does Israel deserve to be the only country in the Middle East exempted by the United States from joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)? On the day Israel concedes its mistake regarding the nuclear agreement with Iran, what reason would the United States have for maintaining Israels qualitative military advantage  a laundered way of saying that it protects Israels nuclear policy? Not only that, but if the threat has indeed been eradicated, as the president says, theres no reason to keep boycotting Iran.

Since his 2009 call to rid the world of nuclear weapons speech at the start of his presidency, and up to his dramatic visit to Hiroshima in May of this year, Israel has been anxiously following Obamas nuclear policy. Speaking in Hiroshima, the site of a nuclear bomb, the president urged nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles" to "have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them. He pointed a finger at all nations, without exception.

On the other hand, following Israeli-Jewish pressure, Obama shelved his initiative to convene a December 2012 conference in Helsinki to promote a Middle East free of nuclear weapons under the auspices of the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. Instead, the United States joined Israel, Canada, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau  the only UN member states to vote against a resolution calling on Israel to immediately adopt the NPT and open up its nuclear facilities to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Obama was worried that a clash with Israel on the nuclear issue would derail negotiations with the Palestinians. Either way, the forecast that Obama would force Israel to change its nuclear policy was proven wrong.

Several recent reports say Jerusalem is preparing for the possibility that Obama will take advantage of the twilight period between the November presidential elections and the passing of the White House torch on Jan. 20 to drop a new initiative on Netanyahu for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obama could also take advantage of his remaining months in office to justify the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him for his promotion of a world without nuclear weapons. Having eliminated the Iranian nuclear threat, so he says, what would be more natural than dealing with the Israeli nuclear program?

If that happens on a day after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, she will not be able to complain that Obama foisted on her a policy opposed to her worldview. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was a pledged partner in Obamas non-proliferation vision of the world. Speaking at a 2010 New York Review Conference on the NPT, Clinton said, We support efforts to realize the goal of a weapons of mass destruction-free zone in the Middle East.  The Middle East may present the greatest threat of nuclear proliferation in the world today. Clinton argued, "Iran is the only country represented in this hall that has been found  to be currently in noncompliance with its nuclear safeguards obligations  the only one. Today, the president of the United States has determined that Iran is compliant with its commitment under the treaty, while Israel is resolute in its refusal to sign it.

One can assume that like her predecessor and husband, Clinton, if elected, will be in no rush to jump into Israels heavy water and splash her Jewish supporters.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump doesnt even understand why a country that has nuclear weapons cant use them. If the Republican candidate becomes the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces, rest assured that champagne corks will be popping in Dimona.
August 15, 2016

When Abu Mohammed al-Golani, leader of what used to be the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, on July 28 announced the rebranding of his group, there were few reactions in Tehran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi made a brief statement describing the rebranding as a game aimed at delisting the group as a terrorist organization, adding that the ugly image of extremism and terrorism cannot be purified though such moves. Qassemi added that the move indicates the political bankruptcy of the extremists' regional sponsors, led by Saudi Arabia as the founder and principal supporter of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Daesh [Islamic State], Jabhat al-Nusra and many other terrorist groups in the region, and particularly in Syria. Moreover, Qassemi called on the international community to pay serious attention to the root causes of terrorism and its repercussions, and to pressure the founders and supporters of terrorist groups to end extremism.

Even among Irans allies, there was no direct reaction to the rebranding of Jabhat al-Nusra  which was the talk of the region for days  reflecting the view of the Resistance Axis, which brings together Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanons Hezbollah movement. This was strange given the fact that the Iranian-led coalition is the main  if not only  ground force in direct war with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, and that implications related to the groups rebranding could affect the course of the war, which has been stuck between two edges of an abyss.

Nothing really happened, an Iranian military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. What does it really mean in the field?  It's only a public relations move that makes it easier for backers of the terrorist group to pay money and send arms [to it] without being criticized. So rather than paying in secret, they'll do it openly.

To Iran, Jabhat al-Nusra, Jaish al-Fatah and Ahrar al-Sham are much more dangerous than the Islamic State, the Iranian military source told Al-Monitor. International and regional backers are doing whatever possible to tell the world that these groups are moderate Islamists, while they know that they are all  like Daesh  of the same origin, which is al-Qaeda. The Iranian military source said, Today, the central command of al-Qaeda is weak. The killing of Osama bin Laden left the group with nothing but some heritage thats being exploited every now and then by its leaders to preserve influence, but now that even this heritage is gone, the [al-Qaeda-linked] groups are giving up their mother because of her enemies. But this means that one day, when they are stronger, they [al-Qaeda affiliates] wont mind giving up their new allies for whoever will preserve their existence. Thats why we are going to rid the world of them.

The source added, For years now, weve been doing our duty without looking at names and without giving attention to whoever is backing and supporting [these groups]. Well continue to do what we have to do, wherever we need to be, and whether its [Jabhat al-] Nusra, al-Qaeda, Daesh  or the new name it [Jabhat al-Nusra, now Jabhat Fatah al-Sham] was given  our mandate is to uproot it and rid the region of such a terrorist group. But its not us who should be on alert; its their backers who will be the first to be hit. Those who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks were one day sweethearts of the United States in Afghanistan, and theres no doubt that those in Syria, when strong enough, will want to do 10 times what happened in New York in 2001. We know our enemy well, but others  despite their advanced techniques in foreseeing dangers  are still supporting their real enemies.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Irans parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, said Aug. 4, Dividing terrorists between good ones and bad ones doesnt change anything. Following a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Boroujerdi said, Changing the names of terrorist groups doesnt change the fact that they are terrorists. This wont change the nature of such groups, and Jabhat al-Nusra continues to embrace the same radical, terrorist mentality despite the name change.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, Iran has stood by the defiant Assad and viewed any armed group fighting to topple him as terrorists. This included IS, al-Qaeda affiliated groups and the Free Syrian Army even when Iran was only defending Assad politically. From the day that Iran decided to send senior officers to help the Syrian army with their expertise, the Iranian encounter with anti-regime militant groups became physical, with reports indicating that the number of Iranian casualties since 2012 has jumped to over 300, including members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian army and the paramilitary Basij militia.

Of note, Golanis announcement of Jabhat al-Nusras rebranding July 28 came only a few days before opposition factions, including his group, launched a fierce attack on Aleppo in northern Syria to end the government forces siege on opposition-held areas. A senior Iranian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested in a phone call with Al-Monitor that the rebranding of Jabhat al-Nusra was related to this attack. In his telling, The attempt to rebrand was the prelude to open cooperation during the recent Aleppo operation, suggesting that the latter move was made with the blessing of regional and international backers of the opposition in Syria.
August 16, 2016

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, spoke to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Aug. 16 about the security and military developments in the region and Irans growing relationship with Russia.

Cooperation between Tehran and Moscow to fight terrorism in Syria is strategic, and in this field we exchange capacities and resources, said Shamkhani. While Shamkhani did not address this, Russian officials confirmed Aug. 16 that Russia used an air base in Iran to launch airstrikes against Syrian militants Aug. 16.

The use of the Hamedan air base by Russian long-range Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers marks both the first time that Russia has used another country other than Syria to launch airstrikes against the Syrian opposition and reportedly the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran has allowed a foreign power to use its territory for military operations.

According to Russian media reports, the air base in western Iran was used to launch strikes against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda targets in Aleppo, Idlib and Deir ez-Zor.

In the interview with IRNA, Shamkhani suggested that cooperation, such as the use of the air base, is a sign of further cooperation rather than an exceptional situation. With constructive and widespread cooperation between Russia, Iran, Syria and the resistance front [Hezbollah], the situation for terrorists has become very difficult, and with new operations, this process will continue until their complete destruction, said Shamkhani.

On the name change of the al-Qaeda branch Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Shamkhani said, Cease-fires with groups that do not have a clear identity or continuously change their names in order to escape the terrorist list and who are not bound to any pacts is meaningless.

The use of the air base has caught many people on social media by surprise, and Iranian media has, as of Aug. 16, not offered much commentary on the unprecedented moment. In November 2015, when Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there were signs that the two countries would expand their military and economic ties. Khameneis foreign policy adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, called that meeting the most important meeting of the last 37 years and a turning point.

Shamkhani also met Aug. 16 with Faleh Fayaz, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis national security adviser. He stressed the importance of speeding up the creation of a joint committee to implement border pacts in order to facilitate trade between Iraq and Iran. He also said that Iran would continue to offer the governments of Iraq and Syria advisory help until the complete elimination of terrorist threats.

Iran also announced Aug. 16 that it had arrested a dual citizen on spying charges for British intelligence. Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that the individual arrested was active in the economic field. Tasnim News Agency referred to the arrested individual as a British-Iranian and said that the UK government was seeking more information. There are a confirmed six dual nationals currently under arrest in Iran for various security and intelligence charges. Security officials believe that, post-nuclear deal, foreign governments are attempting to conduct a soft coup inside Iran.
August 4, 2016

Relations between Washington and Erbil have gotten so tight that the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) security forces are now on Uncle Sam's payroll.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced during a visit to Baghdad on April 18 that the United States would be contributing $415 million to pay the salaries and expenses of peshmerga fighters on the front lines of the fight against the Islamic State (IS). The agreement, formalized in a July Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Washington and Erbil, came just days after Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani visited Washington with hat in hand.

"The existential threat facing Kurdistan today is the state of our economy," Talabani said at an April 14 event at the Wilson Center. "It's important for our friends around the world to realize that this threat facing Kurdistan is great, this threat facing Kurdistan is real, and without immediate, direct support, the experiment of Kurdistan is in danger, but more troubling, the front line against [IS] is in danger."

The Pentagon's quick response is a testament to the close ties that have developed between the United States and the KRG since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Much of the credit goes to the regional government's liaison office in Washington, established in 2006, and the stable of lobby firms under its authority.

Despite a 50% drop in KRG lobbying expenses in 2015 (from $1.2 million to $600,000, not counting the liaison office budget), due in part to bottom-of-the-barrel oil prices, the Kurds have continued to make inroads with lawmakers in their search for ever-greater independence from Baghdad.

The pending House foreign aid spending bill, in particular, requires that the State Department set aside at least $95 million in Counterterrorism Partnership funding for nonlethal assistance to the KRG. The bill also mandates that Erbil receive no less than 17%  its theoretical share of the Iraqi national budget  of both a $260 million sovereign loan guarantee that the State Department has requested for fiscal year 2017 and a proposed $2.7 billion US loan for Iraq to buy military equipment.

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Members of the House Armed Services Committee have been no less supportive. Section 1222 of their authorization bill for FY 2017 calls for directly arming the peshmerga, a policy that is strongly opposed by Baghdad.

"It should be the policy of the United States to support, within the framework of the Iraqi Constitution, the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga, the Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribal forces in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [IS], the bill states. Recognizing the important role of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga within the military campaign against [the Islamic State] in Iraq, the United States should provide arms, training and appropriate equipment directly to the Kurdistan Regional Government."

The bill has forced the Obama administration to once again do an awkward diplomatic dance and try to express support for one of its best allies in the fight against IS while trying to keep Iraq from splintering. The United States officially remains convinced that a unified Iraq remains the best bulwark against extremism, and the White House has threatened to veto the bill in part because of the KRG provision.

"A unified Iraq led by a multisectarian government is a US national security interest, but the bill's approach for supporting the Kurdish forces contradicts stated US policy of countering [IS] by, with and through [Baghdad], the White House said in its Statement of Administration Policy opposing the House bill. Current policy has not inhibited US support to Kurdish or Sunni forces, who with the Iraqi army have reclaimed territory from [IS] control.

White House opposition has carried the day in the past, notably last year when the Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass an amendment to the Senate Defense bill from Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to directly arm the Kurds. This year, the Senate passed its version of the bill in June without such a provision, setting up a potential compromise over the issue with the House when lawmakers return from their lengthy summer recess.

Events on the ground may yet force Washingtons hand, however.

In a March interview with Al-Monitor, KRG President Massoud Barzani said he wants to hold a long-awaited referendum on independence by October, before the US presidential election. Such a vote could force the Obama administration to contemplate an option it has long hoped to be able to avoid.

The president is committed to the united, federal and democratic Iraq that is defined in the Iraqi Constitution, the White House said last year after being presented with a petition for Kurdish independence that had gained 107,136 signatures. Our partnership under the US-Iraqi Strategic Framework Agreement will continue to support the efforts of Iraq's political leaders to unify the country and, as part of this commitment, we have encouraged all sides to strengthen their partnerships and to work together to fight against their common enemy.
August 16, 2016

WASHINGTON  The United States said Aug. 16 it was still assessing Russias surprise use of an Iranian air base to fly long-range bombers to strike targets in Syria  the first known time Iran has overtly allowed a foreign nation to use its military base since before the 1979 revolution. But while the State Department called the latest developments unhelpful, it said they would not derail ongoing US-Russian negotiations to restore a cease-fire to Syria and get political talks back on track.

I think we are still trying to assess what exactly they are doing, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told journalists at the department press briefing Aug. 16, referring to the Russians use of Irans Hamedan air base. It is unfortunate, but not unexpected or surprising.

Toner said, Frankly, that only makes more difficult what is already a very contentious and complex situation, and pushes us farther away from what we are all trying to pursue: a credible nationwide cessation of hostilities and a political process in Geneva that leads to a peaceful transition.

What is unclear to us right now is the extent to which they are using Irans [base], Toner added. It may be a one-off thing.  We just dont know at this point.

Russia notified the US-led international coalition combating the Islamic State (IS) using established deconfliction channels just shortly before its Tu-22 Backfire bombers flew over coalition-controlled air space in Iraq and Syria, a coalition spokesman said.

The Russians did notify the coalition, Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon Aug. 16. [They] informed us they were coming through.  We did know in time  not a lot of time, but its enough, to ensure flight safety over Iraq and Syria.

But beyond the short-notice notification, US officials indicated they had not been given a heads-up about the Russian plans to use the Iranian air base near Hamedan to carry out strikes in Syria, which they suggested was prepared only in the past days. The Russian bombers that took off from the Iranian air base returned to Russia after conducting their mission in Syria, media reports citing US officials said.

Iranian officials barely acknowledged the Russians use of their base, suggesting they were nervous about public sensitivity to any perceived infringement of Irans sovereignty.

Asked about the official Russian Defense Ministry announcement of the use of the Iranian base, Irans national security adviser replied only indirectly, in what Iranian reporters said was the only official Iranian comment on the matter at all.

Tehran-Moscow cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is strategic, and we exchange capacities and potentialities in this field, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, told the Islamic Republic News Agency Aug. 16.

The Russian use of the Iranian base is not a game changer, Ilan Goldenberg, a former Pentagon and State Department Middle East official, said.

It is an interesting development, but not a strategic game changer, Goldenberg, now with the Center for New American Security, told Al-Monitor Aug. 16. Russia has certainly been expanding its reach into the region, and this is a further indicator of that. But at the end of the day, they are jointly cooperating with Iran on an issue of common interest.

What is interesting is that the Iranians, who have a long history of independence and suspicion of foreign interference, including Russian interference, are actually letting this happen, Goldenberg added. I would be surprised if it is a strategic long-term shift. Seems more like a natural result of Iranian and Russian common interests in Syria.

US officials said they still aimed to reach a deal with Russia on Syria, but said recent developments in Aleppo, where Jabhat al-Nusra forces played a key role in helping break the Bashar al-Assad regimes besiegement of rebel-held East Aleppo, make that even more complicated.

I dont see how there can be a deal when Russian and regime offensive operations in Aleppo continue, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor Aug. 11.

Russia continues to say we are close [to a deal], but in fact there are many issues that remain, including on how to bring down violence in Aleppo, a second US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor Aug. 16. [The Syrian] opposition has shown they will not stand for continued Assad regime advances.

Toner said, We are continuing to have those conversations [with the Russians], we continue to pursue that goal, to create a coordination cell with Russia  because we believe that is the best mechanism to get this back on track."

Analysts said the Aleppo situation makes any understanding between the United States and Russia both hard to reach and awkward for the United States to announce.

I think [US Secretary of State John] Kerry got some sort of handshake, but can't make things public until this Aleppo fight dies down, Michael Kofman, a Russia military expert at the Wilson Centers Kennan Institute, told Al-Monitor Aug. 16. Russia is increasingly forced to deal with IS attacks, while it still has to support Assad's forces in the battle for Aleppo.

It appears that as long as the Assad regime and the Russians continue to aggressively push in Aleppo, it will be hard to actually implement any agreement, Goldenberg said. I'm highly skeptical that there is anything effective we can work out with the Russians if there isn't also clarity on what the consequences for Russia would be if they violate an agreement.
August 16, 2016

BAGHDAD  The Shabak community is one of the ethnic minorities in Iraq, speaking a language distinct from Arabic and Kurdish. Its members live on the Ninevah plains with other religious minorities including Christians, Yazidis and Kakais.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced Aug. 10 the end of the first and second phases of the Mosul liberation operations. Since the third and last phase will take place this year, per his previous statements, minorities, especially Shabaks, are afraid of a Kurdish-Arab rivalry around their regions. This conflict will reveal divisions among Shabak leaders over their fate and identity.

Young activist Hussein al-Shabaki, who lives in a refugee camp in southern Iraq's Wasit province, is looking forward to returning to his village on the plains. Although he participates in various activities to defend the rights of the Shabak people, he often returns to the refugee camp, devastated.

"I can no longer wait" to return home, he said. "I feel I am locked up in prison, and I have no choice. Our return to the Ninevah plains after the liberation of our lands is not certain, and it remains a political decision."

Thousands of Shabak refugees dream of returning home but worry about falling victim to the Arab-Kurdish rivalry over their villages and about potentially losing their identities among the Kurds or other Shiites. The majority of Shabaks are Shiite, and their lands are located in disputed areas claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Displaced Shabaks face a complicated situation, as they have been dispersed between the Kurdistan region and central and southern Iraq, and because of political conflicts among Shabak representatives over their alliances with major Arab and Kurdish political currents.

Shabak leader and parliament member Salem Jumaa declared his resolve Aug. 4 along with other Shabak leaders to hold a public referendum for Shabaks to determine their fate. He believes that turning the Ninevah plains into a province affiliated with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will offer Shabaks protection from the displacement and killings they suffered under the Islamic State (IS).

Jumaa told Al-Monitor he believes the Shabak people once were part of a Kurdish tribe, but over time they split from it and joined other tribes. However, he said, they remain proud of their origins and the Kurdish language.

Some Shabak politicians such as Ghazwan Hamed, the Shabak quota representative in the Ninevah provincial council and a member of the Council of Free Shabaks, agrees with Jumaa that it is in the Shabaks' interest to join the KRG, which would offer them protection and recognize their rights as citizens.

Some other Shabak politicians believe the Shabaks should remain under the authority of the federal government. Hunain Qaddo, the secretary-general of the Democratic Shabak Assembly, told Al-Monitor that other views only aim to divide the Shabaks. He said, "The Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] is working hard to take over the regions of the Ninevah plains in any way  including trying to change the identity of the indigenous minorities  due to the economic importance of Ninevah province and its oil reserves, in addition to the fertile agricultural lands of the Shabaks. The KDP also wants to establish a buffer zone between Arabs and Kurds to set the stage for declaring the Kurdish state."

Qaddo suggested forming a province in the Ninevah plains that would be affiliated with the federal government, which would provide security and stability. "The province would have a special administration allowing the Shabaks to manage their affairs independently," he said.

Independent Shabak politician Qusay Abbas, who was a member of the Ninevah provincial council from 2009 to 2013, is trying to balance the different views.

"I believe most Shabaks question the seriousness of any party in recognizing them and their rights. We cannot say the Shabaks have interest in favoring one party over the other. They advocate those who respect and recognize their rights. And, both parties [Baghdad and Erbil] are slackening in this regard."

Abbas told Al-Monitor that it is important for Shabaks to participate in liberating their regions. He said the state must recognize armed factions of minorities whose lands have fallen into the hands of IS.

The bigger picture seems much more complicated, as there are two armed Shabak units, and their militarization has caused a clear and deep rift among them. One of the units is affiliated with the Kurdish peshmerga, while the other fights under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which is affiliated with the federal government.

Jumaa pointed out that Shabak fighters in peshmerga ranks number about 655 and will play an effective role in liberating the land. The fighters are equipped with heavy and light weapons, he said, citing sources in the Peshmerga Ministry.

Qaddo said there are 900 Shabak fighters in the battalion fighting under the PMU against IS. The PMU is supplying the battalion with light and medium weapons, and he expects it to advance to participate in the liberation of Hawija (30 miles south of Kirkuk) and Sharqat (in northern Salahuddin province). He said the battalion will participate in liberating Ninevah province with other Iraqi security forces.
August 15, 2016

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans warnings that Turkeys refugee deal with the European Union will collapse if it fails to waive visa restrictions for Turks have become more frequent, almost routine in recent days, signaling a looming and serious crisis in Turkish-EU ties.

The emergency rule Erdogan declared after surviving the failed July 15 coup has meant the suspension of a series of basic rights and freedoms in Turkey, making the planned visa waiver even more difficult and hastening the course toward collision. The row was aggravated by a psychological factor as Erdogan feels anger and mistrust toward EU leaders who, according to him, failed to extend him adequate support after the putsch.

Since the beginning of August, Erdogan has grown markedly tougher on the issue, warning every five days on average that Turkey will stop readmitting refugees if the EU fails to introduce visa-free travel for Turks, with the Turkish press calling his warnings a showdown.

In his most recent challenge Aug. 12, Erdogan told Germanys RTL television, The visa liberalization and readmission are very important. The process is currently ongoing. Unfortunately, Europe has failed to keep its promise on the issue. We want to take steps simultaneously. If [the visa waiver] happens, fine. If not, Im sorry but well stop the readmissions. He had made similar remarks on Aug. 2 and Aug. 8 as well.

Erdogans warnings are based on the March 18 deal between Turkey and the EU, under which Ankara pledged to take back all refugees who cross illegally from Turkey to Greece after March 20. Visa-free travel for Turkish nationals was part of the agreement  hence the reciprocity link Erdogan draws between the two. The introduction of the visa waiver was slated for June, but that target was missed, and all signs now indicate it is not forthcoming anytime this year.

Originally, the EU had planned to lift visa requirements for Turks in October 2016 if everything went smoothly under a visa liberalization agreement the two sides signed on Dec. 16, 2013, more than two years before the refugee deal. The plan was brought forward to June and incorporated into the refugee deal as a result of personal efforts by Turkeys then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The EU agreed because the new timing changed nothing about the 72 criteria Turkey was supposed to fulfill for the visa waiver, something that Ankara was perfectly aware of.

So far, Turkey has met 67 of the said criteria. Erdogan is reluctant to fulfill the remaining five, but wants the visa waiver to go ahead all the same  a demand that lies at the core of the dispute. The most important part of the homework Ankara refuses to do requires amendments in Turkeys anti-terror law in line with EU norms. The EUs objective here is pretty clear: to strip Turkish security and judicial authorities of a legal framework that allows for violations of basic rights and freedoms and thus make sure that visa-free travel does not encourage victimized Turks to seek political asylum in EU countries. So, the EUs rationale is to protect itself against a possible new wave of migration, facilitated by visa-free travel while oppressive and restrictive laws remain in place.

Of note, two of the four other criteria at which Erdogan balks require legal amendments to align with EU norms on fighting corruption and the protection of personal data.

Its worth recalling, however, that Erdogans threats to abolish the refugee deal did not begin after the July 15 putsch. The 2013 agreement, with all its 72 conditions, had been signed in Erdogans presence in Ankara, yet in May he was able to say, They have put forward 72 points, saying we should do this and that. This story is something new. These [conditions] didnt exist before. Where did they come from?

In the days before the putsch, Erdogans pretext for rejecting the five outstanding criteria was the all-out war Ankara had launched on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in July 2015. He argued that amending anti-terror laws while the fight against the PKK was in full swing would play into the hands of the militants. Now, he has an even stronger reason to dig in his heels: to sustain unhindered the massive, merciless purges and clampdowns targeting the Gulen community  officially branded by Turkey the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization  whose military network has emerged as the planner and perpetrator of the putsch.

Under the state of emergency, Turkey has become a country run through legislative decrees exempt from constitutional checks, with freedoms further suppressed and the European Convention on Human Rights put on hold. Thus, it has drifted further away from the EU and can in no way be expected to fulfill the pending conditions for a visa waiver.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people have landed in police custody or in jail, lost their jobs and seen their properties confiscated as the draconian onslaught on Gulenists rages both at state institutions and public life in general, threatening an exodus of political refugees to Europe.

In sum, the post-putsch conditions have reinforced the EUs reasons to maintain the visa restrictions, while Erdogan has become tougher in demanding their removal. As long as these conditions prevail, the eruption of a severe crisis between Turkey and the EU is only a matter of time.
August 16, 2016

Like Moscow, Tehran is capitalizing on the favorable Turkish mood toward Iran because of its immediate support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party as the coup attempt unfolded July 15.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was among the first world leaders to call Erdogan after the failed coup to offer his support.

The optimistic mood on Turkish-Iranian ties was also discernible during last weeks unscheduled visit to Ankara by Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu could not shower enough praise on his Iranian guest during a joint press conference.

During the coup night, I did not sleep until morning, nor did my friend Javad Zarif. He was the foreign minister I talked to most, calling me five times during the night," Cavusoglu said. Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim also received Zarif warmly.

Turkey has been grateful for Irans position on the coup attempt in part because it contrasts sharply with the reticence of the West. Moscows similar early move to support Ankara and statements from Russian and Iranian government officials since the coup have fed speculation about a new axis between Ankara, Moscow and Tehran that could work together to end the Syrian crisis.

Abdulkadir Ozkan, a veteran Turkish columnist from the Islamist Milli Gazete, pointed out in a recent article that there are no lasting ties or enmities in Turkey's international relations, which he said are determined by other interests.

These interests can change over time. Sometimes new alliances can be sought as protection against enmity, and sometimes existing alliances may start operating against a countrys interests, he argued, claiming that the less-than-friendly positions toward Turkey taken by the United States and Europe were forcing Ankara to seek new arrangements with Russia and Iran.

Official Russian and Iranian statements have also encouraged such views. Zarif expressed satisfaction in Ankara over the improvement in ties between Turkey and Russia, which soured in November after Turkey downed a Russian jet on a bombing mission against anti-regime forces in Syria.

We are very happy over the cooperation between Turkey and Russia, and are prepared to help this along. These three countries have to work for regional peace, Zarif told reporters after his talks with Cavusoglu.

Zarifs visit took place within days of an Aug. 9 summit between President Vladimir Putin and Erdogan in Moscow. The day before, Putin met Rouhani in Baku.

The Russian Sputnik agency quoted Irans Deputy Foreign Minister Ibrahim Rahimpour as saying prior to the Baku meeting that Putin and Rouhani would also discuss how they could help Erdogan. Pointing out that Arab countries and the West could not provide this help, Rahimpour said, Our region requires that Russia, Turkey and Iran have good relations.

Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov also fueled speculation about a new axis when he said in a statement after Zarifs talks in Ankara that the three countries could meet soon on Syria. However, prospects for a genuine axis between the three countries remain questionable at best, given the significant differences that remain between Ankara and Tehran, and Ankara and Moscow regarding Syria.

Ankara remains opposed to President Bashar al-Assad staying in power, even though there are signs that it will accept a Syrian administration that includes Assad supporters. Moscow and Tehran, however, have made it clear that they are not prepared to bargain over Assads future. Ankara is also unhappy about Russian military operations against what it considers legitimate anti-Assad fighters as well as Irans overt and covert efforts to keep the regime standing.

Russia and Iran, for their part, continue to believe that radical Sunni groups in Syria they call terrorist organizations are being facilitated by Ankara, which they claim has prolonged the Syrian crisis. There are areas, though, where Turkish-Iranian interests overlap. For example, both countries underscored the importance of maintaining Syrias territorial integrity during Zarifs visit. Both countries are also united in their desire to block the aspirations of Kurds for an autonomous region in northern Syria, although Cavusoglu and Zarif did not spell this out openly during their press conference in Ankara.

Cavusoglu touched on the topic, merely saying that Ankara considers Irans security and stability on par with Turkeys security and stability, adding that the Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey, the Kurdistan Free Life Party in Iran and the Democratic Union Party in Syria pose threats not only to the two countries, but the whole region.

Turkey and Iran also agree on the need to fight the Islamic State and similar groups operating in Syria and Iraq.

Given its strategic military ties with the West that are expected to continue despite current tensions and its developing ties with Saudi Arabia, Irans regional rival, Ankara also has to tread cautiously to avoid giving the impression that it is realigning its foreign policy in a way that would be detrimental to other countries.

Turkey got a taste of just how strained ties between Tehran and Riyadh are during the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit in Istanbul in April, when the tensions between the two sides surfaced openly, leaving Ankara caught in the middle.

Bozkurt Aran, a former Turkish ambassador to Tehran, points out that Iran is in the stronger position currently and is unlikely to accept Turkeys stance on Syria. Irans position with regard to Syria is a historic one. It is not realistic to expect this to change at a time when its influence in the Middle East is increasing, Aran told Al-Monitor.

Aran likened Turkey and Iran to porcupines, saying, When the weather is cold, porcupines stick close to each other to keep warm, but not so close that they prick each other. He added, Both sides are aware their political and military ties can only go so far.

It is equally unlikely Ankara will do a complete about-face on Syria and accept Irans position, even if it is being forced by circumstance to recalibrate its policy to make it more realistic.

Instead of strategic ties between Turkey and Iran, the trend appears more to be the two countries moving toward restoring the status quo that existed before the Syrian crisis strained their relationship. Turkeys improving ties with Iran while developing its ties with Saudi Arabia appear to suggest that Ankara is aiming for the middle ground it held in the region prior to the Arab Spring, from which it could also act as a mediator or facilitator in regional crises.

This fits in with Ankaras new foreign policy orientation defined by Yildirim after he assumed power in May, when he declared that increasing the number of Turkeys friends while reducing the number its enemies would be his priority.

The bottom line is that Turkey and Iran will most probably return to their traditional position of agreeing to disagree on specific issues while continuing to pursue their specific interests, but not allowing differences to undermine their overall ties. In the meantime, they will cooperate on regional issues to the extent possible.
August 1, 2016

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long accused Washington of siding with his country's enemies in Syria and harboring them inside the United States.

Heady after the failure of a coup he has called a "gift from God," the Turkish president now seems convinced he can force the United States to rethink its support for the Syrian Kurds and turn over his Pennsylvania-based nemesis, Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan demanded the cleric's extradition at an Istanbul rally on July 16, less than 24 hours after the coup attempt.

"I call on the United States and President Barack Obama: Dear Mr. President, I told you this before, either arrest Fethullah Gulen or return him to Turkey. You didn't listen," Erdogan said ominously. "If we are strategic partners or model partners, do what is necessary."

The Obama administration has demurred, warning that any such action would need to go through the legal system  a process that could take months or even years. Gulen has denied any involvement in the coup and insists he is being scapegoated.

"Give us the evidence, show us the evidence," Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN July 17. "We need a solid legal foundation that meets the standard of extradition in order for our courts to approve such a request."

Long before the high-stakes diplomatic spat exploded onto the public scene, Turkey had been taking steps to make just such a case.

The embassy in Washington hired international lawyer Robert Amsterdam in October 2015 for $50,000 a month to shut down a network of Gulen-affiliated charter schools that the Turks say generate a half-billion dollars a year. That contract is in addition to the $1.7 million Turkey spent in 2015 on its general lobbying arrangement with the Gephardt Group of former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and its six subcontractors.

"Turkey's position is [Gulen] has a terrorist organization, Amsterdam told Al-Monitor. "And one of the things you do with a terrorist organization is you cut off their funding."

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Amsterdam's firm suffered a setback in December when a court in Pennsylvania threw out a lawsuit on behalf of three Turks who claimed their human rights were violated by the cleric's religious followers. Erdogan claims Gulenists operate a "parallel state" and has used the coup to further purge the ranks of alleged Gulenist sympathizers throughout the public sector.

The firm has also filed legal complaints against the charter schools in California and Texas, alleging that they're violating immigration laws and ripping off consumers. Amsterdam has put together a small army of lobbying and public relations firms to help make its case in court and in the press, hiring one new subcontractor every month during the first six months of 2016, according to lobbying disclosure records. And he has personally met with legislative aides to top members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, including Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

"What we've been doing is explaining to a bunch of people what he's been doing in the United States," Amsterdam told Al-Monitor. "It's a massive, massive conspiracy that they're involved in."

Amsterdam said he's had to hire regionally focused firms to counter Gulenist influence nationwide. He estimated pro-Gulenist lobbying nationwide at anywhere from $7 million to $12 million  not including donations to political candidates  but offered no concrete evidence.

"We can't even begin to keep up with what they're spending, and they're doing it on the state, federal and local level," Amsterdam said. "He uses these political donations to try to shelter his conduct."

As part of its contract, Amsterdam's firm has also been retained to "provide legal advice and representation related to the extradition of persons from the United States to Turkey as required by treaty. Amsterdam said the Turkish government itself has handled extradition-related issues for now, but that his firm had to cover "every eventuality" as part of its lobbying registration with the US Justice Department.

"That activity is conducted by Turkey, though obviously if asked I would support it in any way," Amsterdam said. "I'm sure there will be further filings [with other lobbying firms] down the road as well."

Gulen and Erdogan are former Islamist allies in Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party who had a falling out in 2013. The influential cleric has lived a quiet life in a Poconos compound for the past decade and a half, but his supporters have long been suspected of playing a powerful role behind the scenes.

"You must move beyond into the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers," he famously said in a 1999 sermon broadcast on Turkish television.

Gulen's supporters are believed to be behind Turkish-American nonprofits such as the Turkic American Alliance, the Rumi Forum and the Rethink Institute, as well as a number of political action committees especially active in states where Gulenists operate charter schools. Gulenists may also have funded some 200 congressional trips to Turkey over the past decade, according to a USA Today investigation. As Ankara has intensified its crackdown, the pro-Gulen umbrella group Alliance for Shared Values in May hired the powerhouse Podesta Group to lobby on "human rights issues."

"For more than 40 years, Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet participants have advocated for, and demonstrated their commitment to, peace and democracy," the Alliance said in a statement as the coup was unfolding. "We have consistently denounced military interventions in domestic politics."

Ankara for its part can count on an assist from sympathetic associations such as the Turkish Coalition of America, the Turkish Heritage Organization and the Turkish Institute for Progress. The former has spent more than $1.1 million to fund 178 congressional visits with Turkish officials since 2000, according to LegiStorm, while the latter two have hired a total of three firms over the past 10 months to lobby on behalf of US-Turkish relations.

Adding to the mixed messages, representatives for the secularist opposition Republican People's Party and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party also have offices in Washington, which they've used to warn against Erdogan's authoritarian drift and get expatriate voters organized.

While the focus for the foreseeable future will remain on the failed coup and its aftermath, Ankara isn't expected to let down its lobbying against US support for the Syrian Kurds who are carving out a de facto Kurdish state on Turkey's southern border. The US military relies on the so-called People's Protection Units (YPG) to fight the Islamic State (IS) because of a dearth of Sunni Arab allies in Syria, but Turkey says they're a terrorist group aligned with Turkey's banned Kurdistan Workers Party.

As the leader of a NATO ally on the front lines of the war against IS, Erdogan has quite a few ways to exert pressure on Washington to rethink its alliances in Syria. Ankara turned off the power at the Incirlik Air Base used by US strike aircraft for a week after the coup, forcing the US Air Force to rely on a backup generator and curtail anti-IS operations while YPG fighters were getting clobbered.

Erdogan has also purged hundreds of top military officers who regularly work with their US counterparts, upending the bilateral military relationship. All that has some US observers worried that Turkey's efforts to repair relations with Russia and Israel are but the prelude to a larger scale pivot away from the United States if Erdogan doesn't get his way.
August 15, 2016

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans recent visit to Russia produced some significant symbolic messages. The first goal of the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was to tell the United States and European Union, We can solve our problems without you, even despite you, and become friends.

For the past 300 years, Turkish-Russian relations have been shaped by the dynamics of their relations with the West. There is a historical tendency for Russia and Turkey to use their bilateral relations as a card to play in their ties with the West. Turkey especially has sought to improve its relations with Russia whenever ties with the West seemed shaky.

The Aug. 9 meeting was Erdogan's first foreign visit after a July 15 attempted coup. It also came 268 days after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian jet Nov. 24 for violating Turkish air space.

Based on Erdogan and Putin's joint press conference and subsequent media comments, Ankara above all wants to restore trade volume to the level it had reached before Turkey shot down the Russian jet, especially in tourism, agriculture and construction. Erdogan's target of a $100 billion trade volume says Turkey places a priority on trade balance. Ali Bilgin Varlik of the Ankara-based Central Strategy Institute said Turkeys exports to Russia make up only 25-27% of the trade volume between the countries. The balance is skewed because of Turkeys dependence on Russian natural gas. In 2014, 55% of Turkeys natural gas imports were from Russia.

This is why during the meeting there was special emphasis on reactivating the shelved Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline, which is to carry Russian gas under the Black Sea to the Balkans and Europe via Turkey. Ankara knows this project would make Turkey an energy hub, but isn't sure Russia fully intends to follow through. The other key energy issue discussed was the Akkuyu nuclear power station that Russia is to build in Turkey. Ankara has agreed to expedite the construction process and to attribute strategic status to it, which means attractive perks.

The summit also referred to cooperation in the defense industry. Turan Oguz, a defense industry researcher who spoke to Al-Monitor, noted Defense Industry Undersecretary Ismail Demir's presence at the summit and a statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu, who said Aug. 10, Until today, we wanted to cooperate with NATO member countries, but results were not satisfactory. Turkey has to set up its own defense system by developing its technology in cooperation with other countries.

Oguz said the first step toward that goal could involve a heavily debated long-range air defense system. But even when Turkish-Russian relations were at their best, he said, the Russian offer of an Antey-2500 system for Turkeys Long Range Air and Missile Defense Systems (T-LORAMIDS) program was among the first to be rejected because of its lower specifications and refusal to transfer technology. "I think that now, until Turkey develops its own national system, it could opt to procure a few Antey-2500 systems. This will also be a strong message to NATO," he said.

Defense analyst Arda Mevlutoglu told Al-Monitor that he also thinks efforts to boost defense industry cooperation between Russia and Turkey could be a card in Turkeys hand against the United States, NATO and the EU.

Varlik says such cooperation with Russia could equip Turkey with new capacity in the defense industry, though he has reservations. He said, Such cooperation could be troublesome because of differing technological standards of the two countries, doctrinal dependence of the Turkish defense industry on US/West military doctrines, sustainability of the Russian arms industry and its declining share in international markets. Varlik noted that Turkeys military cooperation with Israel had never surpassed the levels of cooperation with the United States and NATO. I dont believe that Turkish-Russian military cooperation will overtake in the next one or two years Turkeys commitments and responsibilities to the NATO alliance, he added.

Erdogans inclusion of Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkeys National Intelligence Organization, in the delegation to Russia indicated that Syria was one of the key agenda items of the summit. It appears that Ankara and Moscow want to cooperate toward a solution in Syria and reconcile their divergent political objectives about Syria's future.

To this end, and to avoid another incident such as Turkey shooting down a Russian jet, it appears Russia and Turkey will be sharing intelligence, similar to what was done with Israel. Erdogan has given the go-ahead for Turkey to set up a tripartite system for aligning military, intelligence and bureaucratic interests between the two countries.

It is not hard to guess that Turkey lobbied feverishly for its warplanes to have access to Syrian air space, especially the area of northern Syria controlled by the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD). Recent headlines such as Turkish warplanes resuming Syrian flights after 10 months are but reflections of this hope.

It is also likely that the status of the PYD and Turkeys struggle against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were among sensitive issues at the summit. After the meeting, Erdogan said, My friend Putin learned from us for the first time that the PYD had opened an office in Moscow. We had photographs of it. We showed them to him. He told us he will follow it up." Erdogan's statement raised many eyebrows, as the office opening in February was reported internationally. Though some media referred to the group opening the office as a Kurdish nongovernmental organization, the mission was led by a PYD member.

Whether the PYD office closes will become a test of the importance Putin places on his relationship with Erdogan and the sincerity of Moscow in its relations with Turkey.

It also appears the leaders discussed at the summit a cease-fire in Syria, military and political solutions, refugees and, most importantly, the status of Syrian opposition groups, especially of moderate jihadis.

Cavusoglu said easing regional competition in the Black Sea was also on the agenda. He said lowering the tension there will allow Turkey at least some breathing space in the north after the July 15 coup attempt.

Varlik, Mevlutoglu and Oguz agree that the most important aspect of the summit was its timing after the coup attempt and whether its outcome could be a turning point not only in Turkish-Russian ties, but also in relations with the United States, NATO and the EU, particularly regarding Syria. Obviously, Ankara leaders returned from the summit with high hopes. Moscow tends to be a bit more guarded.

To really learn the ramifications of the St. Petersburg summit, it is time to look at developments in the military and security fields, especially for a solution in Syria; Turkeys war with the PKK and its relations with the PYD; the future of moderate opposition groups in Syria; and Turkey's relations with NATO and the United States.
August 16, 2016

Turkeys diplomatic initiatives to overcome its long-felt isolation internationally and in the Middle East have begun to yield results. After reconciling with Israel and Russia and sending friendly messages to Cairo, Ankara appears to have extended its initiative to Damascus, taking its pulse for a possible reconciliation.

Ismail Hakki Pekin is the one name associated with back channel diplomacy for the Ankara-Damascus file. Pekin, a retired lieutenant general who served as head of intelligence for the chief of the General Staff, is currently deputy chairman of the Homeland Party, which is known to have maintained good relations with the Damascus regime from the outset of the Syrian crisis. Pekin said he assumed a mediation role after an indirect request from the Ankara government. He spoke with Al-Monitor on the feasibility of reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus and also on the recent developments between Ankara and Moscow.

Pekins counterparts in Damascus and Moscow between 2007-11, when he was the head of Turkish military intelligence, still occupy critical posts in their respective capitals. Pekin said he has traveled to Damascus three times, in January, April and May, and is about to head back there with a delegation that will include new and old deputies and businesspeople.

Among Pekin's contacts in Damascus are Abdullah al-Ahmar, the secretary-general of the Baath Party; Maj. Gen. Ali Mamluk, the chief of the National Security Bureau; Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem; and Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad. What has resulted, thus far, from these unofficial Ankara-Damascus contacts through Pekin's mediation?

Pekin said that Ankara has not altered its most critical red line  [President Bashar al-] Assad must go  and explained Ankaras expectation, stating, Sunnis, Arabs and Turkmens must have voices in the coalition to be set up in Syria. The Ankara government continues to oppose a Alawite-heavy government.

Summarizing the Damascus regimes stance in the talks, Pekin said, Of course they categorically reject Turkeys demand for a Syria without Assad. They say they are ready to discuss all options but wont allow a division of the country, and they wont agree to a federation. They particularly want Turkey to cease all support to opposition groups and block terrorists' passage through the border.

Pekin noted that during their talks, Mamluk was frequently going next door to brief Assad. During talks in Damascus, Pekin said, Ankaras messages were faithfully conveyed to the Syrians in total conformity with Turkeys interests. The Turkish Armed Forces and the Foreign Ministry were briefed before and after the Damascus meetings.

In regard to the Ankara-Moscow reconciliation, Pekin said his party's leaders received an indirect request from the government to deal with the tensions between the two countries that followed the downing of a Russian warplane by the Turkish air force late last year.

Asked how they were approached, Pekin said, After the rise in tensions with Russia, businessmen close to the AKP [Justice and Development Party] visited advisers of the president and the prime minister and explained how badly the crisis with Russia was affecting their business. Advisers told the businessmen to meet with Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the Homeland Party. We saw this counsel as an unofficial request by the government for us to take action. We had contacts with the government and then contacted Moscow, made appointments and visited Moscow in December.

Perincek knows well Alexandr Dugin, Russian President Vladimir Putins personal representative and foreign policy adviser. Contacts with the Kremlin were set up through the efforts of Dugin and Pekin, who went to Moscow at the head of a three-person delegation. Pekin has said that in Moscow they had meetings with Dugin and Konstantin Malofeyev, a businessman close to the Kremlin.

In their talks, the key agenda items were steps that could be taken to restore relations between Moscow and Ankara and Moscows approach to the Syrian crisis. Russian participants in the meetings told the Homeland team that Moscow expected a written apology and explained Russia's demands and expectations on Syria. Pekin said that upon their return, Turkish team members had briefed the relevant office at the Foreign Ministry about their Moscow contacts.

Pekin said they were asked by government advisers in May to invite Dugin to Ankara. Dugin was so informed. When he responded positively, the official invitation to Dugin was extended by the Eurasia Local Administrations Union, which is known to be close to the government in Ankara. This is how the relations that were almost severed moved toward restoration June 27 with the invitation letter sent to the Kremlin.

While other measures were being taken to restore relations between Turkey and Russia, Moscow took its first unofficial step toward Ankara, with Dugin arriving in Ankara on July 13 and meeting with advisers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Undersecretary for Public Order and Security Muhammet Dervisoglu. The key subject discussed with Dugins Ankara contacts was Syria. The message Dugin delivered to Turkish advisers was about Turkeys cooperation for a solution in Syria and its taking concrete and quick steps to severe its logistics-political support to anti-regime elements in Syria.

According to Pekin, Dugin returned to Ankara on Aug. 3 and had bilateral meetings with advisers to Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Again, the subject was Syria.

The Putin-Erdogan summit at St. Petersburg on Aug. 9 marked the beginning of a new era in relations between Russia and Turkey. Murat Yetkin, editor-in-chief of Hurriyet Daily News, in an Aug. 9 article provided details of the secret diplomacy that eased Turkish-Russian tensions. According to Pekin, the Homeland Party believes it played a critical role in improving relations, but in the diplomatic corridors of Ankara, there are suggestions that the party is trying to make a name for itself through political maneuvering.

As Ankara's relations with the United States soured over Turkey's demand for the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen, Turkey was able to repair its relations with Russia thanks to quick, wise diplomatic initiatives. Just before his meeting with Putin, Erdogan told Tass, The most important actor for bringing peace to Syria is Russia.

The current mode is one of waiting to see if Ankara will soften its red line and adjust the priorities of its Syria policy.
August 4, 2016

After a delayed response that enabled the Islamic State (IS) to rampage through much of the country, President Barack Obamas administration has overcome its deep reluctance to get sucked back into the Middle East vortex. More than 4,000 US troops have now been deployed ever closer to the action, while US jets, drones and now Apache attack helicopters offer vital aerial support.

The beefed-up military presence and the US role in leading an international coalition is paying off as IS is on the back-foot across the country. After a slew of recent victories in Anbar province, US advisers are now helping Iraqis plan the recapture of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, possibly by the end of 2016.

The trajectory is positive. [IS] has not had a major battlefield victory in over a year. It has lost 47% of its territory in Iraq and 20% in Syria, Obamas special envoy to the counter-IS coalition, Brett McGurk, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee June 28. More important than percentages, however, is the strategic nature of the territory that [IS] has lost: nearly the entire border between Syria and Turkey, iconic cities like Ramadi, Tikrit and Fallujah, and all the major transit points between Raqqa and Mosul.

Some Iraqis warn, however, that the United States must forge a deep strategic partnership in order to avoid a repeat of what happened after US troops departed in 2011. In an exit interview last month, Iraqs ambassador to Washington for the past three years told Al-Monitor that hes setting up a new venture to continue pressing for deeper ties.

There's a lot of good going on now," Lukman Faily said. "But let me give you a bit of warning here: If the relationship is only about IS and not [about] substantial, mutual threats and opportunities, then as soon as [IS] as a threat goes, where are we with that relationship? Are we back to square one?"

US agencies across the Obama administration appear to have grown more receptive to the message that the United States cant just pull out after IS is dealt with and hope for the best.

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The State Department, for example, is asking for $333 million in economic support in its fiscal year 2017 budget request, including $260 million for a sovereign loan guarantee that would help Iraq borrow up to $1 billion in the international credit market. Thats almost seven times more non-military aid than the average over the past three years.

Recent military, political and economic developments have placed a higher importance on US assistance to the government and people of Iraq, the State Department said in its budget justification. Ensuring the [Iraqi governments] active and visible role in responding to stabilization and reconstruction  is crucial for sustained success against extremists.

And in June, the US Embassy in Baghdad announced that the United States had extended a $2.7 billion line of credit for Iraq to buy military equipment. The deal gives Iraq almost a decade to pay for ammunition and maintenance for its F-16 jets and M1 Abrams tanks battling IS.

The increased cooperation follows mounting pressure from Faily and the well-connected Podesta Group, which the embassy hired in 2013 to lobby on its behalf. The firm has 10 registered lobbyists on the account and was paid almost $1 million last year.

It hasnt all been smooth sailing, however. The Obama administration and Congress do not always see eye to eye with Baghdad regarding Iranian influence and relations with the Kurds, to the detriment of the bilateral relationship.

Congress in particular has been particularly receptive to Kurdish lobbying for more autonomy. Section 1222 of the pending House Defense authorization bill, for example, calls for directly arming the peshmerga, a policy that is strongly opposed by Baghdad.

And the pending House foreign aid spending bill requires that the State Department set aside at least $95 million in Counterterrorism Partnership funding for nonlethal assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The bill also mandates that Erbil receive no less than 17%  its theoretical share of the Iraqi national budget  of both the proposed $260 million sovereign loan guarantee and the $2.7 billion US loan to buy military equipment.

The administration does want unity of the country and doesn't want to challenge or undermine Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Faily said. But, at the same time, we don't always have that view of Congress, for example, or the United States at large."

The signing last month of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Pentagon and the KRG is particularly problematic, Faily said. While Baghdad has no objection to Washingtons military cooperation with the peshmerga and its $415 million contribution to their salaries, formalizing the agreement through an MOU is another matter, even if there are reports that Abadi did not object.

"This projects that this is a state affair. It's another sign of bypassing Baghdad. At the end of the day, these are federal [government] issues," Faily told Al-Monitor. It's an immediate fix [that] will create a long-term problem. Where does the central authority finish, and where does the authority of provinces start?"

The issue doesnt just concern the Kurds, said Faily, who is himself Kurdish. Anbars Sunni tribes, for example, have also launched a lobbying effort to carve out more power for themselves, a message that resonates with US policymakers on and off Capitol Hill who are concerned about Irans influence on Baghdads majority-Shiite government.

We need to lay the foundation for a second Sunni awakening," Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in a Nov. 19 Council on Foreign Relations speech. "We need to put sustained pressure on the government in Baghdad to get its political house in order, move forward with national reconciliation and finally stand up a national guard. Baghdad needs to accept, even embrace, arming Sunni and Kurdish forces in the war against [IS]. But if Baghdad wont do that, the coalition should do so directly."
Dunkin' Donuts has no plans to slow down anytime soon in Alabama.

The coffee and baked goods chain said it has signed a multi-unit development agreement with two existing franchisees to launch nine Dunkin' Donuts restaurants, including a multi-brand unit with Baskin-Robbins.

The stores will open in the greater Birmingham and Montgomery areas over the next several years.

"We are thrilled that these existing franchisees have chosen to expand Dunkin' Donuts' and Baskin-Robbins' presence in Alabama," said Grant Benson, CFE, vice president of global franchising and business development, Dunkin' Brands. "We know these new restaurants will satisfy a growing consumer demand in the local communities they serve."

The agreement says Bluemont Group of Knoxville, Tenn., will develop five Dunkin' stores in Gadsden, Talladega, Anniston and Oxford. Bluemont, led by Dave Baumgartner, already has 22 restaurants in Tennessee and will expand soon in Atlanta.

Shri Ambe will also launch four Dunkin' restaurants, including one unit that will serve sister brand Baskin-Robbins, in Montgomery. The company, which is run by Sachin Patel, Samir Patel and Hemen Patel, has one store in Auburn.

The company did not disclose the addresses or exactly when the nine restaurants will open, but did say Bluemont and Shri Ambe will launch stores in 2017.

Dunkin' Donuts, which said more franchise opportunities are available in greater Birmingham and Huntsville, is dropping royalty fees for three years and providing up to $5,000 in local marketing support for timely openings. Candidates interested in learning more or attending a franchising webinar can click here.

The quick-service restaurant has more than 19,000 locations, including 11,900 Dunkin' stores and 7,600 Baskin-Robbins. The Massachusetts-based business added 198 net new restaurants worldwide and saw revenues increase 2.3 percent in the most recent quarter.
hacked image

Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott and Westin hotels in 10 states have been hit by hacker, and payment card information has been compromised. (File image)

Here are the top stories in and affecting Alabama business for Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Read all of Alabama's business news here anytime.

Here's a travel headache no one needed this Monday. Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott and Westin hotels in 10 states have been hit by hackers. Payment card information has been compromised.

If you're one of those who prefer the ease of online shopping and your website of choice is Amazon, you will soon be paying more for your purchases.

A new shuttle service is now available to travelers from Huntsville to some of the largest cities in the Southeast, making airports in Birmingham and Nashville much less hassle to reach.

Twenty-one locations of Logan's Roadhouse will be closed as part of the chain's bankruptcy proceedings, but none of them is in Alabama. Travel to Florida or Georgia, however, and it's a different story.
Construction is underway on a new high-profile mixed use development at the former Holiday Inn hotel site in downtown Huntsville.

Shane Davis, director of urban development for the City of Huntsville, gave an update on CityCentre at Big Spring at last week's City Council meeting. The project, which is being developed by Huntsville-based RCP Companies, will feature two hotels, 240 multi-family units and an artisanal food hall inspired by Ponce City Market and Krog Street in Atlanta, Eataly in Chicago and The Source in Denver.

AC Hotels will make its Alabama debut at CityCentre with a 150-unit, six-story Marriott hotel, which will have a standalone restaurant, bar and rooftop deck for the public and hotel patrons.

"This will be the 10th AC Marriott in the world and they're all custom-designed for their specific location," Davis said. "Not any one AC Marriott looks alike."

Davis said the food hall, designed by Orlando-based The Gravity Company, will include up to 14 food options in a sit-down dining/fast-casual atmosphere that provides customers the experience of seeing their meal prepared.

The CityCentre presentation lists the following concepts for the market-style food hall: seafood, patio, raw bar, biscuit food stand, burgers, Asian tacos, pizza bar, ice cream, creme brulee, torta food stand, olive oil, coffee, chopped salad, and Mexican street food.

"Where you would sit to dine is a very open format kind of like a food court in a mall would be," Davis said.

Another urban-style hotel, which Davis identified as Residence Inn by Marriott, will have at least 100 rooms and begin construction in the third quarter of 2017. Residence Inn currently has an extended-stay facility on 6305 Residence Inn Road in Huntsville.

RCP has not officially announced Residence Inn's expansion at CityCentre.

"As we commit to plans, elevations, designs, and more great tenants, the ground work construction at CityCentre is well underway," RCP Director Odie Fakhouri told AL.com. "While we are in discussions with Marriott to bring another one of their upscale hotels for guests downtown, the AC Hotel by Marriott and the food hall will be entirely new experiences to Huntsville."

The addition of 250 units between AC Hotels and Residence Inn will bring the city one step closer to its goal of attaining 1,000 rooms in the downtown area. Davis said about three more hotels, or 300 rooms, are needed to help Huntsville compete with peer cities for major conferences.

It is unknown at this time if one or more hotels could rise at the vacant Coca-Cola bottling plant at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Monroe Street near the Von Braun Center.

"We've identified some sites," Davis said. "Naturally, it's up to the private property owner to do that, but we think we'll be successful around the VBC area to get that in the next 24 months or so."

A multistory office, retail or mixed-use component could begin taking shape at CityCentre during the last phase of the project. Davis said the final uses will be determined by market demand.

RCP's private investment in CityCentre will top $60 million, Davis said. The city's 20-year return on investment for the project will be as follows:

Lease revenues: $3.6 million ($14.4 million for entire lease term)

Phase II land sale: $1 million

Property tax: $13.9 million

Sales tax: $10.2 million

20-year ROI: $28.7 million

"The city is not performing any work on the site," Davis said. "All site work and construction for the development will be performed by the developer."

As part of the Lowery Boulevard project, Davis said the city will upgrade the sidewalk and streetscape to blend in with construction. It will cost approximately $1 million to upgrade sidewalks and improve connectivity between Lowery Boulevard, Big Spring International Park, and CityCentre, he added.

Huntsville Councilman Bill Kling questioned Davis about landscaping standards at CityCentre. Davis said Urban Design Associates, the Pennsylvania-based master planner for the project, has committed to heavy landscaping, public plazas for recreation and meetings, expansive courtyards and green spaces at the site.

RCP is also building MidCity at Madison Square Mall, which shares similarities with CityCentre at Big Spring. Davis said RCP has submitted 120 pages of MidCity design guidelines, which officials are reviewing and will make minor comments on before presenting a final agreement to the council.

Watch the full CityCentre presentation on YouTube, beginning at 25:30:
I bought tickets to see the Dixie Chicks in Birmingham, England.

On purpose.

That two-word clarification proved necessary in the months before my overseas excursion. Some people were mystified, but my explanation was simple. Two of my greatest regrets are giving away a pair of Dixie Chicks tickets and not studying abroad in college. This was an opportunity to right those errors.

Besides, I'm too detail-oriented to make that mistake, I thought. But while I was in Brum, as they call it, a British couple drew attention for booking their Vegas trip from the wrong Birmingham.

Tonight, Richella Heekin and Ben Marlow begin a 36-hour stay in the Southern Birmingham. I can only hope they're as delighted by our city as I was theirs during a similar whirlwind trip.

GETTING THERE

I've long wanted to visit my hometown's namesake. I'd been told there wasn't much to see, but my curiosity outweighed that advice. After all, one of the people who said that is my own sister, who fled the South as quickly as she could. We clearly have different ideas about place.

When I bought the pair of concert tickets, I wasn't certain I'd actually make the trip. But two of my college roommates were quick to jump onboard, admittedly drawn more by London than a day trip to the West Midlands. Motivation didn't matter, though. We were on our way.

This excursion was filled with firsts: My first time flying first class, first European trip and, on the way to Birmingham, my first train trip. It's an easy ride from London, where we spent most of our spring vacation. The trip from London's Euston Station to Birmingham's New Street station took about two hours, and it was everything we hoped. We spent the ride gazing out at the English countryside, wondering what the fields of yellow were (the unfortunately named rapeseed, also known as canola) and admiring rolling hills and sheep. We were a trio of American tourists, and I'll admit it didn't take much to please us.

Tickets will vary based on your seating selection, day and time, but our round-trip excursion cost 20 pounds each. That's about $25.95 in American dollars.

GETTING AROUND

Birmingham's New Street Station is centrally located, making for an easy walk from the train to many area attractions. The British Birmingham is home to many more people than Alabama's, with more than 1 million people in city limits. But everything we visited was within a mile-and-a-half. Uber is also readily available. There's also a bus system, but we didn't try it.

SITES TO SEE

I expected an industrial city; after all, we're named after Birmingham because of shared manufacturing and iron history. But that industry has declined since the 1970s, and now service is among the city's economic draws. It's also a top research center, and home to one of the country's largest shopping malls.

If shopping's your thing--as was the case for one of our group--leave the station and walk directly to that mall, Bullring Shopping Centre. It's immediately adjacent to the train station and includes more than 160 shops. (Our shopper was delighted to realize Burberry styles are available in England before the States, making for a memorable souvenir.)

History and literature grab my attention, and so two of us set out for the Library of Birmingham. The three-quarter mile walk took us through Victoria Square, named for Queen Victoria 12 days before her death. Town Hall and the Council House frame the pedestrian square, and we were taken by the architecture.

Those late 19th-century buildings stand in contrast to the Library of Birmingham, which opened in 2013. The postmodern building is not only a sizable library, but also one of Europe's largest public cultural spaces.

Its exterior is jaw dropping, but you know the saying "it's what's inside that counts"? It applies.

I can't recall who suggested I visit the library, but I'll be eternally grateful. It houses the Shakespeare Memorial Room, which was originally designed in the late 1800s and has been moved from library to library since. Ornate wood surrounds one of the world's most important Shakespeare collections. The bard lived 30 miles away in Stratford-upon-Avon, and more than 43,000 copies of his work reside here. We take pride in our Southern and especially Alabamian authors; Brummies similarly have reason to boast.

We visited days after the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and the library celebrated with an additional exhibit of Shakespeare memorabilia. That included a copy of the First Folio, printed in 1623. It cost no more than a pound at that time. In 2001, a copy sold at auction for 3.73 million pounds.

The exhibition closes Sept. 3, and you can find future exhibit listings at the library's website. The memorial room remains open year round. While you're at the library, stop by the seventh-floor Secret Garden for a view of the city.

After checking in at our AirBNB in the city's nearby jewellery quarter, dinner beckoned. We walked to The Red Lion for traditional fish and chips. Throughout the trip I had to laugh, repeatedly, at the similarities between Brum and our 'ham. The Red Lion is a popular name--we have one in Homewood--but I didn't expect the letters UAB to adorn the pub's exterior. In this case, it stands for Urban Art Bar, and the bar includes an art gallery. The space is casual and cozy, with low seating and an atmosphere that invites relaxation. We also split a braised shoulder of lamb and ordered a couple of beers from a smaller but respectable list.

After dinner, it was time for the show. The Dixie Chicks were the impetus for our Birmingham trip, but the city offers plenty of cultural options regardless of when you visit. You'll find large-scale productions at the 15,000-seat Barclayard Arena, where we saw the Chicks. Town Hall and Symphony Hall host a variety of concerts, including the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is also nearby, and you can take in performance art at the Birmingham Hippodrome. If we'd had more time, I would have liked a walk along the canals.

Instead, we concluded our Birmingham trip with a visit to Urban Coffee Company in the jewellery quarter. We're regulars at Birmingham, Alabama's Urban Standard, so this was a must-visit coffeehouse. It served some of the best coffee we had in the country, good enough that I took a second cup for the train ride back. Breakfast was also delicious; I enjoyed smashed avocado with salmon, and I've thought of it often since.

WHEN CAN I RETURN?

When Richella and Ben booked a flight out of the wrong Birmingham, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson booked the couple a flight from Manchester to Vegas and dismissed our city. "Manchester is a lot better than Birmingham, Alabama."

That comment prompted folks in Alabama to bring the couple to our city, and I hope they'll draw the same conclusions as at least one Huffington Post travel writer.

That attitude, though, is one of many parallels between our cities. Brum, too, grew up around industry and has made its way with science, technology and research. Like Alabama's largest city, Brum is too often dismissed. Few people understood why I would make it part of my British vacation. But after 24 hours in this diverse and culturally rich city, I'm eager for a return trip.

DETAILS

Headed to the other Birmingham? Here's a map of several of the sites I visited and others on my wish list.
Federal officials have proposed almost $264,000 in fines against a Tyson Foods chicken processing facility in Texas after an employee's finger was amputated on the job.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration says Tyson, the U.S.'s largest meat and poultry processing company, also exposed workers to high levels of carbon dioxide and peracetic acid without providing personal protective equipment.

According to OSHA, the worker suffered an amputation when his finger became stuck in an unguarded conveyor belt as he worked in the plant's deboning area and tried to clear chicken parts that were jammed in the belt.

In all, inspectors at Tyson's Center, Texas plant identified two repeated violations and 15 serious violations. According to OSHA, one repeat offense was not separating compressed gas cylinders of oxygen and acetylene while in storage. Inspectors had already cited Tyson in 2013 for similar problems at its Albertville plant.

Violations included failing to ensure proper safety guards on moving machine parts, allowing carbon dioxide levels above safety limits and not training employees on the dangers of peracetic acid. The disinfectant can cause burns and respiratory illness if used improperly.

In addition, inspectors found slip and fall hazards due to lack of proper drainage and fire hazards.

Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor of OSHA, said the company must do more to prevent injuries.

"As one of the nation's largest food suppliers, it should set an example for workplace safety rather than drawing multiple citations from OSHA for ongoing safety failures."
Alabama Lottery

People play the Florida Lottery at the Flora-Bama Liquor and Lottery in Perdido Key, Fla. on Wednesday, July 27, 2016. Many who were playing want to see the lottery in Alabama. (Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com)

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange on Tuesday issued a statement opposing a lottery to help fund state government. But he said the governor's proposal is the least likely among competing plans to lead to casino gambling and a protracted legal fight.

"I am personally opposed to any lottery to fund state government," Strange stated. "I believe the lottery is, at best, a band aid on the state's budgetary problems and will not provide the kind of long-term solution we need."

"As Attorney General, I have been approached by the Legislature to offer a legal interpretation of the impact of the various lottery proposals upon the state," Strange stated. "My office has reviewed the Governor's proposed constitutional amendment (SB3). If the amendment passes as proposed and is followed by responsible enabling legislation, my legal team believes it will create a limited lottery without the kinds of loopholes that will lead to casino gambling or protracted litigation."

Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, also has a competing proposed state lottery.

"However, if Senator McClendon's proposed constitutional amendment (SB11) passes, my legal team believes it will not only allow for a lottery but will lead to casino gambling and protracted litigation," Strange stated

State lawmakers returned to Montgomery on Monday for a special session to consider Gov. Robert Bentley proposal for a state lottery.

Bentley's proposal calls for a lottery run by a seven-member commission, with members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. It also would allow the state to enter agreements with multi-state lotteries, like Powerball.

Proceeds from the lottery would go to the state General Fund, which means legislators would determine how the money is used.

The special session began Monday afternoon with the election of a new speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Mac McCutcheon, a Republican from Monrovia.
A Jefferson County judge on Monday gave final approval to a $310 million settlement of a lawsuit that claims MedPartners, a health care company once led by former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, lied to more than 20,000 stockholders about how much the company could pay them under the settlement of a 1990s lawsuit.

The new settlement is one of the largest fraud recoveries in Alabama legal history, according to a statement from Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, LLP, one of the law firms that represented investors.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Pat Ballard issued the final order after a hearing last week to determine, among other things, whether a preliminary settlement was "fair, reasonable, and adequate."

After fees and other administrative costs are deducted, the remainder of the $310 million settlement of the class-action lawsuit will be doled out to the investors filing approved claims.

"This class has waited patiently for more than 12 years for their investment losses to be recovered," Scott Powell, attorney at Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton and lead counsel for the class, stated in a law firm statement.

The class is made up of more than 20,000 investors who purchased MedPartners securities from 1996-1998.

Lawyers for the class are: Powell, John Haley, Ralph Cook, Bruce McKee, Brian Vines and Tempe Smith of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, LLP and John Somerville of Somerville, LLC; and Tim Francis of Francis Law, LLC.

History

The lawsuit against CVS Caremark Corp., the company that ended up owning the former MedPartners, is a class-action litigation in which investors claim they lost $3.2 billion in a 1990s securities fraud.

Twenty one lawsuits were filed by investors in 1998 against MedPartners. Those lawsuits claimed MedPartners made false and misleading statements to the public about its financial condition and prospects at the time.

The lawsuits were combined and settled for $56 million after MedPartners claimed it was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and that $50 million was all its insurance would cover.

However, five years later investor John Lauriello, one of the original plaintiffs, filed a new lawsuit claiming MedPartners lied about having limited insurance coverage during the settlement negotiations. The lawsuit claims that in October 1998, prior to the original settlement being finalized, MedPartners paid for unlimited insurance coverage.

If the unlimited insurance coverage had been known at the time, Lauriello's suit claims, investors could have negotiated a higher settlement amount. Sam Johnson and the City of Birmingham Retirement and Relief System later became the named plaintiffs.

MedPartners changed its name in 2000 to Caremark and in 2007 merged with CVS.

A trial was to have been held this spring, but was postponed and both sides worked out a settlement.

Under the terms of the settlement insurance company AIG will pay $230 million and CVS will pay $80 million.

In the settlement CVS denies it has any liability for the claims asserted against them and believes it has good defenses to those claims. But the company agreed to enter into the agreement "to eliminate the burdens, distractions, expense, and uncertainty of further litigation and thereby to put this controversy to rest fully and finally by obtaining complete dismissal with prejudice of the Class Action," according to the settlement.

CVS issued a statement when the preliminary settlement was approved by Ballard.

"This relates to a 1999 settlement of a securities class action by MedPartners, the former parent company of Caremark and is not related in any way to the business practices of CVS Health, which was formed from the merger between CVS and Caremark in 2007," according to the statement from Mike DeAngelis , Senior Director, Corporate Communications CVS Health.

"The company denies that its predecessor entity engaged in any wrongdoing and denies any liability in the action," DeAngelis wrote. "A settlement was reached in order to eliminate the burdens, expenses and uncertainty of continued litigation. We are pleased that the settlement agreement has been preliminarily approved by the court and we look forward to putting this matter behind us."

The original fraud allegations from the 1990s stemmed from a proposed deal by former MedPartners CEO Larry House for competitor PhyCor Inc. to pay $7 billion to buyout MedPartners. The deal, billed at the time as the biggest deal in Alabama history, fell through after PhyCor found questions about MedPartner's practices and bookkeeping.

House had been chief operating officer of HealthSouth at one point before taking over as CEO of MedPartners.

Scrushy, who had also been involved in MedPartner's founding while leading HealthSouth, for a time served on the MedPartner's board and later as its interim CEO.
Karen McPherson Parole Hearing.jpg

Karen McPherson, left, is serving a life sentence in the 1991 of 25-year-old Jasper lawyer Carrie Smith Lawson, whose body has never been found. The main suspect, Jerry Bland, committed suicide as lawmen surrounded his Walker County home.

(ADOC/The Birmingham News)

A woman who has been in prison for 25 years in the kidnapping of a young Jasper lawyer, whose body has never been found, was denied parole today.

Karen McPherson, now 54, is serving a life sentence in the kidnapping of Carrie Smith Lawson, who was abducted from her Jasper home in the early-morning hours of September 11, 1991. McPherson's cousin, Jerry Bland, was identified as the main suspect and committed suicide as lawmen surrounded his home.

The kidnapping happened about 3 a.m. at the home Carrie Lawson, 25, shared with her husband, 26-year-old Earl Lawson, also an attorney. They received a middle-of-the night call from a woman claiming to be a nurse who said a close family member was at the hospital. As the couple left for the hospital, a gunman appeared at their vehicle. Earl Lawson was bound, and Carrie Lawson was never seen again. She had recently graduated from the University of Alabama law school.

A ransom demand was made, and paid, but Carrie Lawson was never found. A search of Bland's property found the majority of the $300,000 paid by her family. Carrie Lawson was declared dead two years after her disappearance.

Today marked the fourth time McPherson appeared before the parole board. Her last appearance was in October 2013, at which time her request for release was rejected.

Carrie Lawson's sister, Margaret Smith Kubiszyn, and father, 82-year-old David Smith, were concerned about McPherson's early release and both spoke at this morning's hearing in Montgomery, as did Walker County District Attorney Bill Adair. "You can only imagine what she went through,'' Smith said of his daughter's ordeal.

"This case affected our community," the district attorney said, noting hundreds of people carried out searches and held prayer vigils. "Thousands of people sympathized, empathized with their family."

Smith said today McPherson deserves her life sentence. They were concerned about today's hearing. "We are afraid that, due to prison crowding concerns, this parole is being expedited,'' Kubiszyn said Monday.

In 2015, the legislature passed a law capping the maximum set-off at two years for certain cases, said Meridith H. Barnes, chief legal counsel for the parole board. McPherson was on today's docket because of the Board's Special Docket process targeting the Tutwiler prison population. Her case met the criteria the board set for that docket, Barnes said.

Kubiszyn said McPherson's role in the disappearance has always been understated. "She was alone with Carrie for a long time when they were holding her and she got to know her and still didn't let her go,'' she said. "That's always been really hard for me to swallow, that anyone could get to know Carrie and then turn her over to her executioner."

Years ago, McPherson agreed to meet with David Smith and give details about the crime in return for the family not protesting parole. "She sat down with my dad for five hours and told all lies,'' Kubiszyn said. "He has lost so much financially, emotionally, everything. That's really what makes me saddest about the whole thing."

Kubiszyn said she doesn't hate McPherson, and actually feels sorry for McPherson's daughter who also has been devastated by the events 25 years ago.

"I know she (the daughter) has had a really hard time, and I feel a lot of sympathy for them, but Karen McPherson did get a life sentence and it was a kidnapping that ended in murder,'' she said. "We do not take lightly the effect that this has had on Karen McPherson's daughter, or the fact that we are asking for the board to keep a mother and grandmother incarcerated and away from her family for five more years."

Kubiszyn said she's thankful for the board's decision. "Of course we're very pleased,'' she said. "This crime impacted this family, the community and the entire state really."

The board set McPherson's next parole hearing for 2021 but, like this time, there is always the possibility her case could be heard before then. "We're glad to have five more years,'' Kubiszyn said, "and we'll be back at it in five years."

"It's always painful to think about,'' she said of having to contest parole every few years, "but we think about her every day anyway."
HPD cadets & pepper spray

A Huntsville Police Department training officer sprays a cadet in the face with pepper spray. (FILE PHOTO The Huntsville Times/Dave Dieter)

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday will hear the Birmingham Police Department's appeal of a federal judge's order that includes requiring new training and decontamination procedures for School Resource Officers' use of pepper spray at city high schools.

Police also are appealing U.S. District Court Judge Abdul Kallon's ruling that the officer's use of the spray on students for non-violent minor incidents was excessive force, unconstitutional, and that five students are entitled to $40,000.

Kallon, however, did not forbid officers from carrying pepper spray in schools for use in addressing violent situations.

The 11th Circuit will hear the appeal at a session at the Frank M. Johnson, Jr. United States Courthouse in Montgomery.

Attorney E. Travis Ramey will present arguments for Birmingham police. Brooke Menschel, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center that filed the lawsuit on behalf of students, will argue on the other side.

Ebony Howard, associate legal director at the SPLC, said that part of their argument will be that the issue isn't ripe for appeal yet because Kallon did not issue an injunction against the police nor a final order.

While Kallon's ruling is specific to Birmingham, it is "one-of-a-kind" ruling that other school systems and police departments may be watching. "It signals that using these harsh practices in school settings, on school children, is inappropriate and also unconstitutional," she said.

An attorney for the city declined comment on Wednesday's hearing.

But in its written appeal earlier this year, attorneys for Birmingham police argued that Kallon overstepped his authority with the ruling.

"The district court entered an injunction that invades the power of the City of Birmingham's elected government to control the BPD through Chief Roper," attorneys for the police department argued in its brief to the 11th Circuit. "The district court seeks to control: (1) SRO duties; (2) SROs' use of Spray; (3) SRO training; (4) and SROs' decontamination of students that have been sprayed."

"The decontamination protocol the district court has ordered is detailed, even ordering Chief Roper to procure clothing, fans, and trash bags," Birmingham lawyers state in their brief. "Further, the court has ordered Chief Roper to engage in speech regarding the effects of spray and appropriate decontamination methods."

"Such a heavy-handed intrusion into the internal government of the City of Birmingham is unwarranted," Birmingham police lawyers argue in the brief. "The district court reached the wrong conclusions about what the Constitution requires. It compounded that error by injecting itself into internal municipal affairs."

"At most, an injunction prohibiting Chief Roper and SROs from violating the Constitution would have been sufficient. By doing what it did, the district court abused its discretion," Birmingham states in its brief.

The SPLC in its response to Birmingham's arguments stated that the named plaintiff students, who represent all current and future students, allege that police SROs, acting pursuant to Chief Roper's policy and practice on chemical spray, violated their Fourth Amendment rights to be free from excessive force by spraying them with chemical spray and failing to decontaminate.

The SPLC argues that Kallon did not issue an injunction and that the judge properly concluded that the SROs are not shielded by qualified immunity on the excessive force claims and that Chief Roper is liable for the constitutional violations.

SROs have been stationed in Birmingham high schools since 1996, the SPLC brief states. Currently, there are sixteen SROs stationed at seven Birmingham high schools, the SPLC states.

"Though SROs have been stationed in BCS for approximately twenty-one years,

there is no agreement between BPD (Birmingham Police) and BCS (Birmingham City Schools) governing SRO roles and responsibilities," the SPLC argues. "Moreover, during that twenty-one-year period, BPD has provided SROs with only two trainings on school-based policing. The result is that SROs often resort to 'using chemical spray to deal with this normal--and, at times, challenging--adolescent behavior.'"

From 2011 to Spring 2013, there were at least 110 incidents involving chemical spray deployment by SROs against students, the SPLC states.

In those incidents, SROs intentionally exposed approximately 200 students to chemical spray. The SPLC argues that police policy on decontamination of students after spraying incidents was inadequate.
A 36-year-old man who died shortly after he was struck by a Birmingham police stun gun suffered a fatal drug overdose, authorities announced today.

Danny Morel Cupps Jr. was pronounced dead July 12 at St. Vincent's Hospital. Birmingham police arrested Cupps after they found him burglarizing a home. They said he was growling when officers used a Taser on him, and then took him into custody.

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates today said the manner of Cupps' death has been ruled accidental, and the cause of death was methamphetamine toxicity.

The incident began shortly after 3:30 p.m. that day at a home in the 5200 block of Lewisburg Road. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards gave this account of what happened: Birmingham Officers responded to a burglary in progress in the 5200 block of Lewisburg Road about 3:35 p.m. When they arrived, the officers met the homeowner who said he heard glass breakage and someone yelling and growling in his basement.

Additional officers arrived and told the homeowner to go next door for his safety. As officers walked around the house, they observed several windows broken and they entered the home. Once inside, they saw a white male wearing only shorts and wrapped up in material that looked like the air conditioner duct work.

"Officers immediately gave the suspect verbal commands but he did not comply,'' Edwards said at the time. "Officers Tased the suspect several times but suspect continued to resist. Officers closed in on the suspect and handcuffed him."

Cupps was taken outside to await medics. "During the entire incident, the suspect acted extremely irritated and growled at officers,'' Edwards said.

Cupps, who was from Sterrett, was charged with burglary in Walker County in 2011. That case had not yet been adjudicated, according to court records. In 2005, he was convicted of cocaine possession and received a one-year suspended sentence.
A Homewood special issues committee met tonight to discuss issues including the foul odor and loud noises coming from the Buffalo Rock Company and Mayfield and Barber's Dairy in West Homewood.

The committee, which included Council President Bruce Limbaugh, Peter Wright, Fred Hawkins, Britt Thames, Walter Jones, Alex Wyatt, discussed the smell and noise issue at the beginning of the meeting.

Councilors discussed a shed that was recently built over Buffalo Rock's blowers to try to contain the noise, but a resident who lives in the West Homewood area said that the noise is "still pretty prevalent."

The resident, Rob Post, also said that he isn't sure if the shed has helped at all.

"This isn't a political issue... this is about right and wrong and I'm getting tired of it," Limbaugh said.

Post also said that the Buffalo Rock Company is within 75 feet of a residential area because of an extension of the original structure. The extension was allowed because it shares pipes with the main building, but Post said that extension should not have been built.

"It's not part of the existing building at all," Post said.

Councilors and Limbaugh said they would discuss city ordinances, including zoning and proximity issues, at the next city council meeting.

Other councilors said that the board was in the process of talking to residents and working on a permanent solution.

The committee will hold another meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Buffalo Rock Company conference center.
Police at Jefferson State Community College are investigation a sexual assault that happened earlier today in northeast Jefferson County.

According to campus police, the attack happened at 8 a.m. when the victim was walking near Sunhill Road and Jefferson State Parkway adjacent to the campus. The victim is not a member of the campus community. An alert was sent to students and faculty at 10:40 a.m.

Police said the victim was a male in his 20s who was on his way to a nearby gym. The suspect was a black male, believed to be between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing a white sleeveless undershirt and black shorts, said school spokesman David Bobo. The suspect did not have any facial hair and was not wearing glasses.

Police said they couldn't release additional information because of the nature of the attack. "We hope travelers on these roads can help identify the person responsible,'' said Jefferson State Police Chief Mark Bailey. "We are still investigating and appreciate any help we can get from our community."

Jeff State police ask that anyone with information call 205-856-6093. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
As waters receded in parts of Louisiana's capital city, some residents returned to their flood-damaged homes Tuesday for the first time and found a soggy mess.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of "muddy nasty bayou water." There were fish and thousands of spiders. And mold has started to set in.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably," he said. "But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family."

State officials confirmed an eighth death from the floods in southern Louisiana, and the extent of damage was coming into clearer view. Eight more parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total number to 12.

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a "total loss."

But Lori Steele, spokeswoman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, was upbeat, saying the rescues taking place now are less of a "life-saving nature" and more to help people who were running low on supplies in flooded areas. As the main roads drain, emergency crews were going to be able get hot meals, water and medical supplies to the 25 shelters in the parish.

"We're tired but today's a good day," she said.

Though the rain had mostly stopped, new places in the state faced flood dangers from the deluge that has sent thousands into shelters.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as people filled sandbags there to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south. In Ascension Parish, officials said some small towns have already been inundated.

Since the flooding began Friday, more than 20,000 have had to be rescued in some of the worst flooding the state has ever seen. And at least 11,000 have hunkered down in shelters to wait out the floods.

The slow-moving, low-pressure system that dumped more than 20 inches of rain on some parts of Louisiana was crawling into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned the danger of new flooding remained high due to the sheer volume of water flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico.

In and around Baton Rouge, many were anxious to check on damage. But a police officer at one Baton Rouge area roadblock warned Jack Miller that the 60-year-old was risking arrest if he tried to drive a boat on a trailer down a stretch of the highway down to just two lanes.

"I'm trying to get back to my home and rescue my cat," Miller said.

The eighth storm-related death was the accidental drowning of a 66-year-old man whose body was found in the Sherwood Forest area, which has been a site of severe flooding, state officials said.

Karla and Johnathon McDaniel waded through chest-deep water to revisit their home they fled late Saturday night but the water was too deep to get inside.

On their way out, the McDaniels stopped to gawk at a monster truck revving its engine in a failed attempt to free a National Guard vehicle mired in a muddy ditch. It was a welcome moment of levity after days of worry around the state's southeast, which saw thousands of water rescues.

Julee Doiron, 56, and a friend walked down the road to a flooded storage facility where she has a valuable record collection. She felt fortunate the flooding stopped a block short of her home, but she owns a couple of water-damaged rental properties that aren't covered by flood insurance.

"None of these places are in a flood zone," she said. "Why buy it if you don't need it? My agent didn't recommend it to me."

In a state more accustomed to hurricanes, forecasters said the rains were nearly off the charts in intensity. Meteorologist Ken Graham of the National Weather Service's office in Slidell, near New Orleans, said forecasters had alerted people days ahead of the rain. Yet the forecasts Thursday were for 8 inches of rain, with higher totals expected in some areas.

One town, Zachary, received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Another, Livingston, got nearly 22 inches over the same stretch. Rivers in the region reached historic highs -- occasionally shattering old records dating to 1983 floods.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards defended the state's response, saying unprecedented flooding "presented tremendous challenges for everyone."

"But I'm very proud of the effort that we're making. More than anything else, I'm proud that Louisianians are taking care of their own and people are being neighbors to one another," he said.
Birmingham native Jarrod Robertson made headlines this week when he posted a picture of himself on an Italian mountaintop on imgur and Reddit- the same screensaver that he had used on his phone for two years.

Robertson, 27, grew up in Alabaster and moved downtown when he attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He lived in the city until January, when he decided to move to Spain.

"I thought, 'What is keeping me here?' I need to at least try living there," he said.

Robertson started traveling yearly to European countries three years ago, when he randomly bought a plane ticket to London.

He planned to live in Cabo Roig, Spain, for three months as a "test-run," but decided to stay longer and apply for dual citizenship.

Before moving to Spain in April, Robertson lived for three months in Italy. He traveled often, and loved to visit the different mountains. His goal was always to find the place that he used as his phone's screensaver for two years- a dolomite mountainside that he knew was in the northern part of the country, but didn't know the exact location.

Instead of finding the picturesque-location, Robertson found another Italian town named Santa Cristina that he fell in love with. When his parents and siblings from Birmingham came to visit Robertson in Spain last month, he knew that he had to take them to Santa Cristina.

The group toured Italy and ended with bus trip to the small town. On the bus ride, Robertson's mother saw a ski lift.

"I kind of tried to talk her out of it... they're really expensive in the winter, but they were only about 15 euros in July, so we did it."

"As soon as we got out of the ski lift, I saw it."

Robertson stood in front of the Alpe di Siusi- his phone background for two years.

"You walk off the ski lift and your mind just explodes... It was just a really cool moment."

After "freaking out" for five minutes, Robertson said his brother took photos while Robertson stood in front of the dolomite mountains, holding his phone to show the screensaver.

Robertson posted the photo on imgur two days ago, and the photo has received more than 1 million 'likes.' His story has also been shared on Telegraph and Metro.

"I don't think most people get to do something like this...To actually go there, when most people use their background as a place they would like to escape to, was really awesome."
A Tuscumbia couple has been indicted for manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of a 2-year-old boy who was visiting their home.

William Braxton Whitfield Jr., 22, and his wife, 22-year-old Chelsie Desirae Whitfield, are charged in the July 14 death of Robert Micheal Reaves. The boy, son of Spring Valley Volunteer Fire Chief Keith Reaves, accidentally shot himself with a handgun he found in the Whitfields' home.

The indictment, handed down by a grand jury last week, states that the couple "recklessly" caused Reaves' death by "leaving a loaded firearm, with a live round in the chamber, in an area easily accessible by a small child."

According to the Times-Daily, the couple turned themselves in on Friday and were released on on bonds of $5,000 each.

The toddler was visiting the Whitfield home with family members the day of the shooting. He was rushed to Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, where he died.

Investigators have said that there were other loaded weapons in the bedroom where the shooting took place, as well, the newspaper reports.

A lawyer for the couple, Billy Underwood, told the Times-Daily that Chelsie Whitfield is "beside herself with grief" over the death of the toddler and that William Whitfield is being charged for something that happened when he was not even home.

He called the indictment a "classic clash of Second Amendment rights."

Colbert County District Attorney Bryce Graham Jr. said, however, that the indictment is not about the Second Amendment or gun ownership, but about "recklessness and irresponsibility."

"I'm a gun owner; we are privileged to live in a country where you can own a gun," Graham said. "But this is about being responsible with that gun."
child abuse .jpg

Petronia Fail and Michael Owens (MCSO)

Montgomery police say a man and woman are charged with aggravated child abuse after knowingly withholding food from their 7-year-old child.

Michael Owens, 52, and Petronia Fail, 32, of Clanton Avenue in Montgomery were arrested Monday. They are being held in the Montgomery County Detention Facility on $30,000 bond.

Court records claim the couple caused serious injuries to the young boy by withholding food from him.

The alleged abuse is believed to have begun on around July 15.

The pair was arrested in their home after police received a report of a family disturbance, police say.

No other details in the case were released.
Una, Gujarat  Thousands of people belonging to the Dalit community, the former untouchables, have staged a massive protest in Indias Gujarat state in response to atrocities against the community.

The 10-day Dalit Pride March culminated in Una town in southern Gujarat on August 15  Indias Independence Day  as Dalits pledged to seek freedom from atrocities and caste-based discrimination.

The latest development started as a reaction to an incident last month in Una when members of a Dalit family were publicly assaulted and humiliated by members of a Cow Protection Committee for skinning a dead cattle.

ALSO WATCH: How to address the plight of Indias Dalits?

A group of mostly young people and civil society members formed the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti [Una Dalit committee to fight atrocities] demanding an end to the practice and the right to at least five acres of land, as most Dalits are landless.

Amid the chanting of Jai Bheem  a form of greeting popular among Indias Dalits  people vowed not to dispose of dead cattle  a task that has been traditionally carried out by the lower caste people for centuries.

Members from the Muslim community  which has borne the brunt of the cow vigilantes  also joined Dalits in the 400km-long march that started in the state capital, Ahmedabad.
The remedy cannot simply be an apology or an official acknowledgement that these women have been wronged.

Each number has a name, a family, a life story and, tragically, an unresolved ending.

One of those stories belongs to Danita Faith BigEagle (PDF). The youngest of six children, Danita was born in Arcola, a tiny town known as the city of angels that sits in the southeast corner of the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan.

Like her ancestors, Danita is part of the Ocean Man First Nation, just one among the countless indigenous communities that was a fixture on the prairie long before European settlers arrived and remains an essential part of the Canadian mosaic.

On February 14, 2007, the 32-year-old mother of two, Danita was reported missing after she didnt show up for a visit to her mother who was caretaker to her young son and daughter while she got help for drug and alcohol addiction. Her whereabouts and fate are unknown.

Sadly, Danitas story is far from unique. In 2014, Canadas national police first revealed that between 1980 and 2012, 1,017 Aboriginal women and girls were murdered across the country and another 164 were missing. These appalling figures continue to climb.

Canadas shame

The disappearance of Danita Faith BigEagle and all the other murdered and vanished Aboriginal mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives is, undeniably, Canadas shame.

Despite the pleas of surviving family, in too many cases the missing and murdered women and girls have never been found, and the perpetrators have never been pursued, discovered or prosecuted.

Instead, for decades, the disappearance of indigenous women and girls has been met by political indifference, police negligence and a collective shrug by too many Canadians who have seemed content to do and demand nothing in the face of such unfathomable suffering and loss.

But the conscience of Canada and Canadians may be in for a sharp reckoning following the Liberal governments decision earlier this month to launch a commission of inquiry to address belatedly what has been appropriately described by Amnesty International as a national human rights crisis (PDF).

Whatever the inquiry's ultimate recommendations, the institutional efforts to finally find the missing women and girls must be redoubled and the perpetrators must be apprehended. by

Certainly the inquiry, which is scheduled to begin its difficult work on September 1, will sorely test, if not erode, Canadas international reputation as a tolerant nation that celebrates its diversity and fidelity to justice at home and abroad.

The horrible history of these murdered and missing women and girls and their grieving families will, no doubt, be on graphic and distressing display day after day at the inquiry.

As such, the unvarnished truth  buried by design by so many  will shatter any illusion about how the rest of Canada has treated its First Nations.

Perhaps more profoundly, Canada and Canadians will be obliged to confront, yet again, the uncomfortable fact that justice has been denied to scores of indigenous women, girls and their families.

The remnants of myopia

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deserves credit for convening the inquiry and appointing Marion Buller, the first female First Nations judge in British Columbia, to head up the five-person commission.

A succession of other Liberal and Conservative prime ministers, however, blithely allowed this human rights crisis not only to fester like an untreated national wound, but to mushroom in size and scope without holding anyone in any position of authority to account.

Indeed, Trudeaus predecessor, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, repeatedly rebuffed persistent calls by the families and others to establish an inquiry, once even suggesting dismissively that an inquiry wasnt really high on [his governments] radar.

OPINION: Dont be fooled, Justin Trudeau is an old-boy at heart

Harper argued that the response to Canadas missing and murdered indigenous women and girls had been studied to death and, in any event, it was up to the police to find out what happened and why, not the government.

Make no mistake, while Harper may be gone, the exasperation he expressed about the attention to the plight of these women and girls continues, regrettably, to be shared by many Canadians who are convinced that too much time, money and resources have already been spent trying to uncover the root causes of the violence against indigenous women.

The corollary to this myopia is, of course, a fallacious belief that these women and girls were largely the architects of their own misfortune. Harper gave crass, reactionary voice to the its time to move on sentiment that is echoed by much of the corporate media today.

Justice shall be served

The inquiry will have to confront this ugly, persistent blame the victim mentality, too. In doing so, it will be compelled to pick away methodically at the scab of simmering intolerance and racism endemic in Canada and other so-called inclusive Western societies.

This time, the remedy cannot simply be an apology or an official acknowledgement that these women, girls and their surviving loved ones have been wronged.

Whatever the inquirys ultimate recommendations, the institutional efforts to finally find the missing women and girls must be redoubled and the perpetrators must  if possible  be apprehended.

Only then, will Canadians be able to right, in part, the injustice visited upon their indigenous neighbours for generations.

In the end, the world will learn soon enough whether Canada and Canadians will fulfil that solemn duty and responsibility or shrink from it.

Andrew Mitrovica is an award-winning investigative reporter and journalism instructor.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Authorities quickly deny southern separatist involvement in move some analysts see an attempt to protect booming trade.

Bangkok  A series of bomb blasts that killed four people and wounded dozens in tourist towns across Thailand last week shattered the countrys carefully crafted image of laid back beaches and gilded Buddhist temples.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but authorities have been quick to deny any involvement by separatists waging a violent campaign in the countrys far southern provinces.





For some analysts, however, the official rejection of separatist involvement is more about protecting Thailands booming tourism sector, which accounts for more than a fifth of the countrys GDP, than adopting a considered approach to the investigation.

The evidence and the rhetoric are completely disconnected, Anders Engvall, a research fellow at the Stockholm School of Economics, told Al Jazeera.

Engvall, who has conducted research on the Southern Thailand rebellion for more than a decade, said that regardless of evidence, Thai authorities were likely to deny any link with the violence that has plagued the south of the country for more than a decade.

Even if you have Thai courts sentencing southern separatists for doing something, [the military] will still say they are not involved, he said.

The southern region, which the country annexed more than a century ago and which borders neighbouring Malaysia, has been battered by 12 years of violence as Malay Muslim rebels seek greater autonomy in a Buddhist-majority country.

READ MORE: Thailand blast: Hunt on for suspects

Near daily shootings and roadside bombs in the area have killed more than 6,500 people since 2004, most of them civilians.

Yet, police officials say the bombings and arson attacks that hit some of the countrys best known tourist resorts on Thursday and Friday, including Hua Hin, Phuket, Phang Nga and Surat Thani, were orchestrated by a single perpetrator.

I can assure you that these current attacks arent linked to incidents that have occurred in the Deep South of Thailand, Pongsapat Pongcharoen, a deputy national police chief, told reporters days after the attacks.

On Monday, assistant national police chief Suchart Theerasawat said that, while the bombs used in the attacks were related and similar to those found in insurgent attacks in the Deep South, it was too early to conclude there was any link.

A reflexive exclusion of southern separatist groups from the investigation was also motivated by efforts to contain perceptions of the deadly, yet localised, southern conflict, Engvall said.

The Thai authorities have been very eager to avoid any type of international involvement in the conflict so they do everything possible to prevent UN or Western nations from getting involved in any way, he said.

Bloody conflict

In 2004, tension in the so-called Deep South between the majority Malay, Muslim population and their Buddhist countrymen, erupted into bloody conflict.

Bombings, shootings and arson attacks are regular events in the three-most affected provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, as well as parts of Songkhla province.

The violence has mostly been confined to the three provinces, and no attack outside the region of the scale and complexity of August 11-12 has ever been linked to armed groups.

Engvall, however, said a recent vote for a new military-drafted constitution, within the context of floundering peace talks with the separatists in the south, could have acted as a catalyst for more audacious attacks.

They [the separatists] have gone on for 12 years in isolation with little success. In the first 10 days of August, they did 50 of exactly the same type of attacks in the Deep South and no one cared, Engvall said.

They have a motive to go outside and aim further north to achieve their political aims.

The potential push north comes after military statements that the referendum on the constitution, which gives the army more power in how the country is governed, had passed peacefully.

WATCH: Into the south

Other Deep South watchers said similarities in the modus operandi of last weeks attacks with those of the fighters were another reason to consider separatist groups.

Of particular interest to analysts was the use of so-called double tap explosions, where two bombs in close proximity explode one after another to target emergency workers responding to the first  an established tactic of Deep South separatists.

Instead, officials are laying blame for the attacks on a vaguely defined network conspiring to commit local sabotage  phrasing which seems to focus on enemies of the military government who are likely to be aggrieved by the referendum results.

It also indirectly focuses attention on the countrys Red Shirt political movement, and those loyal to popular former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra.

Thaksin was removed by a military coup in 2006 and his sister, Yingluck, Thailands first female prime minister, was removed by the Constitutional Court of Thailand in 2014. The military launched a coup soon after.

While not explicitly named, the Red Shirts have rebuffed the implicit accusations, one leader even threatening defamation lawsuits to anyone trying to link them to last weeks attacks.

Addressing the nation on Friday night, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army commander who now rules Thailand, asked for patience and calm in the investigation.

He discouraged speculation about the possible identity of the attackers before speaking of bad people who had been taking action against his government since before the August 7 referendum.

READ MORE: Thailands southern region hit by fresh blasts

The remarks, again, firmly placed last weeks attack in the context of domestic politics and not the southern insurgency.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and director at the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said there was a need to wait for more substantial evidence before making any conclusions about the tourist town attacks.

But, he conceded, that theres a built-in bias to put it to a domestic political problem.

Either way we are likely to see more violence, not less, he said.
The secretary-general says its high time for female leadership at the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said a woman should lead the United Nations for the first time since it was set up more than 70 years ago.

As he nears the end of his second five-year term, Ban said it was high time for a female secretary-general after eight men in a row have led the organisation.

There are 11 candidates vying to succeed Ban: six men and five women.

Ban stressed that the decision was not up to him, but to the 15-member security council, which must recommend a candidate to the 193-member general assembly for an approval usually seen as rubber-stamping.

We have many distinguished and eminent women leaders in national governments or other organisations or even business communities, political communities, and cultural and every aspect of our life, Ban said.

Theres no reason why not in the United Nations.

WATCH: Al Jazeera hosts first debate for secretary-general candidates

Without giving any names, he said there were many distinguished, motivated women leaders who can really change this world, who can actively engage with the other leaders of the world.

So thats my humble suggestion, but thats up to member states, Ban said during a visit to the home of 99-year-old Libba Patterson in Novato, California, where he spent his first days in the United States as an 18-year-old student from South Korea.

He praised the general assembly for holding the first ever public hearings for all the candidates.





By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among different regions of the world. Officials from Asia, Africa, Latin America and western Europe have all held the post.

East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn. A group of 56 nations are campaigning for the first female UN chief.

The security council has held two informal polls in which 12 candidates participated, and in each the highest-ranked woman was in third place, a disappointment to many.

Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has also headed the UN refugee agency, topped both polls.

READ MORE: UN debate showcases new leadership  and its woes

In the first straw poll, Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, who heads UNESCO, came in third but in the second she dropped to fifth. In the second poll, Argentinas foreign minister Susana Malcorra, who was Bans former chief of staff, moved up to third. The former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic, who came last in the first poll, dropped out.

The three other female candidates are New Zealands former prime minister Helen Clark, who heads the UN Development Programme; Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, a UN official who played a key role in shaping last Decembers historic agreement to fight climate change; and the former Moldovan foreign minister, Natalia Gherman.

The security council has scheduled another straw poll on August 29 and at least one, possibly two, more are expected to be held in September.
Projectiles land in industrial area of Najran city, killing four Saudi citizens and three expatriate workers.

Projectiles fired by Yemens Houthi rebels have killed seven civilians in the southern Saudi city of Najran, Saudi state television has reported.

The Houthis targeted a crowd on Tuesday at an industrial area of Najran, close to the Yemeni border, Ekhbariya television channel said.

Four Saudi citizens and three expatriate workers were among the dead, it said.

An Arab military coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, has been conducting air strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen since March 2015 in support of the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition stepped up the raids this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and the internationally backed government were suspended.

On Tuesday, the coalition launched an investigation after international condemnation of an air raid that Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said killed 14 people at a hospital in Yemen.

Another 24 people were wounded in the strike that hit the hospital on Monday in Abs in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said.

An MSF staffer was among the dead, it said, naming him as Abdul Kareem al-Hakeemi.

A team from coalition has seen the UN Secretary Generals call for an investigation into MSFs claim and is initiating a probe, said the group known as the Joint Incidents Assessment Team.

This investigation will be independent and will follow international standards. The JIAT will make the results of its investigation public, it said.
Residents say they came under heavy gunfire when escaping as government prepares major offensive to retake Hawija.

Iraqi civilians fleeing the town of Hawija have been shot at by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, as government forces and their allies have said they were preparing a major offensive to retake the town.

Several residents told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that they came under heavy gunfire from the fighters of ISIL (also known as ISIS) on Monday as thousands managed to escape at night before making it to the safety of the rugged mountains of northern Iraq

We have been walking for 16 hours, a displaced woman who requested anonymity told Al Jazeera.

We were suffering across the mountain. ISIL was shooting at us. We are asking officials to look at our misery, and we want those officials to look after all IDPs (internally displaced peoples) from different locations.

Everybody is suffering here. We have received nothing so far, no mattresses, no blankets, no water and no ration. We are here left unattended.

Abandoning ISIL is punishable by death, but in the past few days there has been a heavy flow of civilians fleeing Hawija since Iraqi and Kurdish forces dropped leaflets warning of a looming offensive.

We left because of ISILs trickery, a young man who managed to flee told Al Jazeera.

They are destroying us. We agreed to leave and cross to the other side where Iraqi forces are located. It is better for us. The rest of the people could hardly escape.

Hawija fell to ISIL in June 2014, shortly after the armed group captured Fallujah. Analysts say recapturing the town, which is just 25km southwest of Kurdish-held Kirkuk, could cut a key supply route to its fighters.

Kirkuk province is divided between areas mainly controlled by the Kurdish autonomous region and areas held by ISIL.

The Kurdish Peshmerga fighters took control of Kirkuk in late 2014, and since then, the oil-rich region has been at the centre of a territorial dispute between the Kurds and the central government in Baghdad.

ISIL overran large areas north and west of the capital, Baghdad, in 2014, but has since lost ground to the Iraqi forces backed by the US-led air strikes and other fighters.

Since recapturing Ramadi in late December, Iraqi forces have continued to battle ISIL and retook Fallujah  the first city to fall to the group. In recent weeks the government has pushed through with an offensive to retake Mosul, Iraqs second largest city.

Mosul, which fell to ISIL in June 2014, was once home to some two million people, but the current population has been estimated at around half that figure, with the number of those fleeing their homes increasing.
Al-Walaja, occupied West Bank  The illegal Israeli settlement of Har Gilo towers over the only remaining entrance to al-Walaja, a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.

Through the entrance on the southern edge of the village, away from the prison-like fences and barbed wire that surround the illegal Israeli settlement, rolling hills and fields of olive trees tell of the traditional lifestyle still led by the residents of this small agricultural community.

Walaja is a quiet village, apart from the rumblings and bangings of the much larger Gilo settlement expanding on its eastern side  disruptions that are expected to intensify after Israels announcement to build 770 new settler units.

As parts of both the Har Gilo and Gilo settlements are built on Walajas land, residents believe that their further expansion solidifies the confiscation of land that previously belonged to the village, removing any hope that residents could one day get their land back.

INTERACTIVE: Building the occupation

For the past six years, Walaja resident Omar Halajay has been fighting for his right to keep the home and land passed down to him from his father. Halajays home, which lies on the eastern edge of the village, is the sole house on the edge of a mount overlooking the Gilo settlement.

I have a front-row seat to the expansion, Halajay told Al Jazeera as he sat outside on his large patio, with his chair facing directly towards Gilo.

Since 2013, Halajays home has been isolated by various Israeli barriers that have also cut off nearly a third of Walajas land. The Israeli government has tried to confiscate Halajays land and home on several occasions, but he took the orders to court and won the right to remain.

Ive been allowed to stay in my home, but that means an electric fence and settlement on one side, a wall on the other, a closed military zone behind us, and the only way to access my home is through a tunnel under a settler-only road, Halajay said. Im not sure it is winning, but I still have my home and my family.

Across from Halajays home, expansion of the Gilo settlement has already begun on the side of the mountain, creeping down to the edge of the valley that separates it from Walaja.

When there are no settlements on a piece of land that has been taken, there is hope that we can get it back, but the second they start building on it, thats it  we know its gone for good. Walaja will not get any of that land back once the new settlement homes are built on it, he said, pointing towards the piles of gravel across the valley, which signal new construction.

When there are no settlements on a piece of land that has been taken, there is hope that we can get it back, but the second they start building on it, that's it - we know it's gone for good. by Omar Halajay, Walaja resident

Gilos expansion has been heavily criticised by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations as a move by Israel that undermines the viability of negotiations towards a solution in the Israel/Palestine conflict  a position the Israeli Foreign Ministry has decried as baseless.

Hillel Schenker, co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli government is too caught up in its own internal politics to consider the international communitys stance.

The international community agrees that any additional settlement-building creates further obstacles in regards to the goal of two states, Schenker said. But what we have right now is the most right-wing government in Israeli history, and there is a struggle going on within the government with the right-wing parties kicking for the position of who is more right-wing, and who is more supportive of the settlements.

Physically watching the settlement expansion day after day has had a negative psychological effect on his family, Halajay said  particularly on his three young children, who cant see anything good in their future as long as the occupation continues.

What are my children supposed to think? That there will be peace? Halajay asked. How is that so, when they are watching with their own eyes Israel continue to take more and more of Palestines land, of their villages land?

READ MORE: Israel settlement expansion a war crime

Down the hill from Halajays house, through a tunnel built specifically for his family to access the rest of the village under a settler-only road, residents in central Walaja do not have a direct view of the Gilo settlement, but they are reminded of the expansion by the noises that resonate through the valley.

We hear the bangings of the settlement getting bigger and bigger all the time  even before the news of the expansion. They are always building there, but now it will be worse, Mohammed, who did not provide a last name, told Al Jazeera from behind the counter of the small Walaja market where he works.

Its a war on the mind, hearing them building all the time and knowing that that is our land they are building on. We know now we will never get it back. Soon we will be completely surrounded by the wall and the settlements will be built right up on the edge of it, he said. And then all this space you see in al-Walaja will be gone  They will want more security for their bigger settlement, and it is the Palestinians that will deal will the checkpoints and stops. More settlements will for sure mean more violence against our community.

Asked whether he believes that settlement expansion threatens a two-state solution, Mohammed just laughed.

What solution? This two-state talk is for the politicians, its not for us. We know better than that, he added. We see it: Israel will keep building and taking land, they have no plans to allow Palestine statehood. If someone believes this two-state stuff after these new settlements, then they are either crazy, lying or they have never been here to see for themselves. But in Walaja we see it every day.
Seventeen-year-old was killed after soldiers entered al-Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron to uncover weaponry.

A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead during an overnight confrontation with Israeli forces at a refugee camp south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials have said.

Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with [Israeli forces] in the al-Fawwar camp, a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.

At least 40 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, Red Crescent medics estimated.

The violence broke out when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered the camp where about 10,000 Palestinians live, witnesses said.

The Israeli military did not confirm or deny casualties during the operation, which a spokeswoman said aimed to uncover weaponry in the camp.

The soldiers used tear gas and fired .22-calibre rounds.

The army closed off the al-Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver.

READ MORE: Killing them slowly  diabetes in Palestine

A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of neighbouring Jordan has condemned Israeli attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

In an interview with the Jordanian broadcaster Ad-Dustour on Monday, the monarch promised to fight repeated violations and attacks carried out by Israel and extremist groups at the holy site.

We are continuously dealing with  the blatant attempts to change the status quo in Jerusalem, at its landmarks, its heritage sites and historical identity, the king said.

Jordan is the custodian of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem and has repeatedly denounced what it says are violations of rules at the site, Islams third holiest.
At least 20 injured in unrest between protesters and Indian troops, as death toll since last month rises to 63.

At least five people have been killed and more than 20 injured as fresh clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the India-administered part of Kashmir, police said.

The latest deaths have taken the toll to 63 in demonstrations in towns and villages across the disputed region, which were sparked last month by the killing of a young opposition leader, Burhan Wani.

The Kashmir Valley has been under a strict curfew, but protesters continue to take to the streets shouting anti-India slogans, some of them hurling stones at security forces who try to disperse them with force.

In Beerwah area of Budgam district, paramilitary forces fired at a group of stone-throwers on Tuesday as the protesters broke through barricades. Four were killed and at least 10 injured, a local police official said.

In neighbouring Anantnag district, another person was killed after security forces began firing at a mob, throwing projectiles in Larkipora village, police said.

WATCH: Can Kashmir anger be a turning point?

Kashmir is divided into two parts, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.

India claims Pakistan has been supporting a violent secessionist movement in Kashmir. Islamabad has consistently denied this charge. It calls Kashmiri rebels freedom fighters.

Seven fighters were killed by security forces on Monday. Five had been trying to sneak across the border with Pakistan and two had attacked security forces in Jammu and the Kashmiri capital Srinagar, killing a paramilitary officer, police said.

There is a strong anti-India sentiment in the Kashmir Valley region, which has seen a huge build-up of troops tasked with containing the opposition movement.

The troops have sweeping powers to search, arrest and even shoot on sight in special circumstances.
Following the recent arrest of several Jews at al-Aqsa, King Abdullah vows to fight Israels repeated violations.

Jordans King Abdullah II said on Monday that he stands firmly against any Israeli attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

In an interview with the Jordanian broadcaster Ad-Dustour, the monarch promised to fight repeated violations and attacks carried out by Israel and extremist groups at the holy site.

We are continuously dealing with  the blatant attempts to change the status quo in Jerusalem, at its landmarks, its heritage sites and historical identity, the king said.

Jordan is the custodian of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem and has repeatedly denounced what it says are violations of rules at the site, Islams third holiest.

Jews, who consider the compound their holiest site and call it the Temple Mount, are allowed to visit but not to pray on the esplanade in order to avoid tensions with Muslims who worship there.

READ MORE: Israeli troops clash with Palestinians at al-Aqsa

On Sunday, about 400 Jews entered the compound to commemorate the destruction of two ancient temples, but several who tried to pray there were expelled by Israeli police, while seven were arrested.

Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told Al Jazeera that the Jewish visitors who had not abided by visitation guidelines were removed from the premises.

There are rules for visitation. For instance, there are certain areas in the Temple Mount that Jews arent allowed to enter, and certain areas they are not permitted to visit, Rosenfeld said.

Seven Jews were removed from the premises and released afterwards for deviating from visitation guidelines.

Police units were stationed at several locations throughout the area, he said, in order to prevent clashes from occurring between the Jewish visitors and employees of the Waqf.

READ MORE  Analysis: Why Israel wants a religious war over al-Aqsa

This was the first time that such a large number of Jews had visited in one day, Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, said, adding that the majority of Palestinians who sought to pray in the mosque on Sunday were denied entry.

The Israeli police only allowed the elders to pray, and prevented the youth and women from entering.

Palestinian fears of Israeli intentions to undermine Muslim control of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound were a key factor in a wave of violence that erupted 10 months ago.

Palestinians argue that Israel is seeking to change the status quo at the compound, a claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.
Neighbour shoots dead Lebanese-American man after years of alleged violence and racial slurs against Arab family.

Arab communities in the United States are in shock after a Lebanese-American man was shot and killed by a neighbour who had allegedly used violence and racial slurs against the family for years.

Khalid Jabara, 37, was shot and killed on his front porch in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday.

The familys neighbour, 61-year-old Stanley Vernon Majors, was arrested and he is expected to be charged with first-degree murder later this week, Tulsa police said.

My family lived in fear of this man and his hatred for years, read a family statement shared online by Jabaras sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, on Monday.

Majors was awaiting trial for aggravated assault after allegedly hitting Jabaras mother, Haifa, with his car last September, which caused her numerous injuries. He was released on bail in May.

Only 30 minutes prior to my brothers shooting, Khalid called the police stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen. The police came and told him there was nothing to be done, the familys statement said.

The family said Majors repeatedly used anti-Arab slurs against them, including calling them dirty Arabs, filthy Lebanese, Aye-rabs, and Mooslems.

A spokesperson for the Tulsa police department told Al Jazeera it was too early in the investigation to say whether Majors will be charged with a hate crime.

Police confirmed in a statement that officers had responded to a call from Jabara the evening he was killed. Officers arrived at the location and were unable to locate any criminal activity. Officers then left the scene, the police said.

Tulsa police also confirmed that Jabaras mother had a protective order out against Majors, which ordered him to stay away from her and her home, and that he had a criminal history with his neighbours.

Today, in our pain, we are also keenly aware that this is not just another murder to be added to crime statistics. Our brothers death could have been prevented. This man was a known danger, the familys statement read.

Not the first time

Veronica Laizure, civil rights director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Oklahoma chapter, said the shooting was probably motivated by anti-Arab bigotry and it is indicative of a larger problem of anti-Arab xenophobia in the United States.

This isnt even the first time that anti-Muslim sentiment has resulted in this kind of tragic loss of life, Laizure told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

A year and a half ago, three young Muslims were brutally murdered by their own neighbour after a series of incidents where their neighbour said similar hateful things about what he perceived to be their religion and their ethnicity.

In February 2015, Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were shot and killed in their home near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Over the weekend, an imam and his friend were shot and killed in broad daylight in New York City as they left a mosque after mid-afternoon prayers.

Anti-Muslim hate crimes have also risen alongside anti-Muslim rhetoric linked to the US presidential election campaign, according to a recent report put out by The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has advocated a ban on all Muslims entering the country, for instance.

Rising Islamophobia

Last year, 174 instances of anti-Muslim violence were reported across the US, signalling that the 2016 US presidential season began against a backdrop of already rising Islamophobia, the report found.

Laizure said the Jabara case raised serious questions about how someone like Majors was able to continue to harass and threaten the family and others in the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, she said CAIR-Oklahoma was respecting the familys request for privacy and was working to mobilise community groups to support them at this difficult time.

An online fundraiser, launched on Monday in support of the Jabaras, had raised $2,500 by midday on Tuesday.

The family, meanwhile, said their world was shattered when Khalid was killed.

He was a kind spirit, loving brother, uncle and son. Khalids heart was big. He cared for our entire family, our friends and people he didnt even know. He created every Jabara family joke and filled our lives with love and laughter, the familys statement reads.

All of that has been taken away from us by this hateful man and a system that failed to protect our community.
Thirteen anti-slavery campaigners in Mauritania claim to have been tortured while detained by authorities.

Thirteen anti-slavery activists in Mauritania on trial for rebellion and use of violence told a court on Monday that they had been tortured during their detention, their lawyer said.

They were arrested last month after a protest in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the West African country prepared for an Arab League summit.

One by one, the 13 spoke out against the forms of torture they had been subjected to in custody, according to lawyer Brahim Ould Ebetty, representing the members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement.

He added that the campaigners demanded that proceedings be brought against the torturers they have mentioned by name.

READ MORE: Mauritania jails anti-slavery activists

The 13 are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years.

The Nouakchott slum was home to many so-called Haratin  a slave caste under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.

About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials.

Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to slave castes are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay.
A former Palestinian prisoner, who developed muscular dystrophy while carrying out his sentence in Israeli jails, has died from the condition three years after he was released.

Rights groups say his death was the result of Israeli medical negligence in prison.

Naim Shawamreh, 46, died while hospitalised on Tuesday at the al-Ahli medical centre in the town of Dura, on the suburbs of the city of Hebron.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995 along with two other men for allegedly planting an explosive device and killing an Israeli explosives expert, charges that his family say are false.

READ MORE: Kerry faces prisoners dilemma in Palestine

Shawamreh was released in 2013 after serving nearly 19 years in prison, following peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, in which 26 Palestinians who had served between 19 and 28 years in prison were freed.

As he was being released, the authorities told him You are already dead, Shawamrehs brother, Nabil, told Al Jazeera, explaining that Shawamrehs health had severely deteriorated by the time he was released.

We took him to Germany, to Jordan, and we even submitted our papers to go to the United States to get him further treatment, but nothing worked.

The reason why Shawamreh developed the disease in prison remains unclear.

Medical Negligence

Jerusalem-based prisoner rights group Addameer, whose lawyers regularly visited Shawamreh, says that because of the lack of healthcare, such cases in which prisoners die following their release from jail are common.

Naim died as a result of the deliberate medical negligence in Israeli prisons. He would not have got to this point if he had been taken care of, Muhammad el-Azza, a lawyer at Addameer, told Al Jazeera.

In general, there is an attitude in Israeli jails of disregard for all prisoners, and on all levels  whether from an Israeli dentist or physicians that deal with chronic diseases. They are deliberately slow in giving the prisoners treatment. Often it takes the prison services months or even years to get a patient to surgery.

Azza added that prisoners are treated very poorly at Ramle hospital, run by the Israeli Prison Service, in which Shawamreh was being held.

They are chained from their arms and legs on the beds. The room remains shut all the time, and those who need assistance  such as someone to help them get up or move around  are ignored.

INTERACTIVE: How many Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel?

According to the Hebron-based Palestinian Prisoners Study Centre, there are about 280 Palestinian prisoners who have died in prison, or shortly after their release.

Today, the case of Naim Shawamreh sheds light on the cases of hundreds of other sick prisoners in Israeli jails, said Osama Shaheen, the centres director.

There are 1,200 prisoners that are currently sick inside the prisons. Twenty-one of those are in very critical condition and are being treated at Ramle hospital, according to Shaheen.

We ask the world to pay attention to our prisoners as they get sicker and sicker in Israeli jails, and we pray that all our prisoners are released, Nabil told Al Jazeera.

They are suffering.
The fighter jets took off from western Iran and conducted air strikes in Aleppo, Idlib and Deir el-Zor provinces.

Russian jets based in Iran on Tuesday struck targets inside Syria, the Russian defence ministry said, after Moscow deployed aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.

The ministry said the strikes, by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers, were launched from the Hamadan airbase in western Iran.

It is thought to be the first time Russia has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

The ministry said the strikes had targeted the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and fighters affiliated with the group previously known as the al-Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir el-Zor provinces.

OPINION: Rojava  A libertarian myth under scrutiny

Both groups have been designated as terrorists by the United Nations. Last month, al-Nusra Front changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and said it had severed a relationship with al-Qaeda.

The United States said it was still assessing the extent of Russian-Iranian cooperation but described the new development as unfortunate.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the US was looking into whether the move violated UN Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.

Its unfortunate but not surprising, Toner told reporters. It speaks to a continuation of a pattern weve seen of Russia continuing to carry out air strikes, now with Irans direct assistance,  that predominantly target moderate Syrian opposition forces.

A sizeable military presence

Earlier on Tuesday, Russias state-backed Rossiya 24 channel said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.

Russian media said the Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which had already conducted many strikes on fighters in Syria from southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russias airbase inside Syria.

The Tupolev-22M3 is a fairly large, supersonic, long-range, strategic bomber. It needs a bigger air field than Russia already has in Syria. The previous sorties that this plane has been on have been flown from an airfield in southern Russia, but the problem with that is that its 2,000km away from the targets that its striking in Syria. This airfield in Iran is only 900km away, Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said.

The advantage in reducing flight-time, costs, and what the Russians say is the effectiveness of the strikes, makes this a pretty clear tactical decision to make.

WATCH: Witness  Syrias White Helmets

The Iranian airbase near Hamadan, sometimes also called Hamedan, is located in north-west Iran and the Russian bombers would have to over fly Iraq to conduct strikes in Syria.

Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer called Moscows transfer of heavy bomber planes to Iran a major move.

Its not just Russian planes touching down in Iran. To establish an operational base, theyd have to move hundreds of servicemen as well. Thousands of tonnes of munitions, fuel, [and] other equipment to operate heavy bombers from an Iranian base. So this is actually Russia establishing a rather sizeable military presence inside Iran, he told Al Jazeera from Moscow.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that Iraq, which lies between Iran and Syria, had granted Russia permission to use its air space, on the condition the planes use corridors along Iraqs borders and refrain from flying over Iraqi cities.

Abadi told a press conference the same permission has been given to air forces of a separate U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State flying to Syria from Kuwait.

Russia also gave advance notice to the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, complying with the terms of a safety agreement meant to avoid an accidental clash in the skies, said U.S.

Army Colonel Christopher Garver, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S-led coalition.

Incendiary weapons

Separately on Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Syrian government forces and their Russian allies of using incendiary weapons, which burn their victims and start fires, in rebel-held civilian areas of north and north-western Syria.

Incendiary weapons have been used at least 18 times over the past six weeks, including attacks on the opposition-held areas in the cities of Aleppo and Idlib on August 7, 2016, the rights group said.

Photographs and videos recorded by Human Rights Watch at the time of the attacks indicated there were incendiary weapon attacks on opposition-held areas in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces between June 5 and August 10.

Countries meeting at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva on August 29 should condemn the use of air-dropped incendiary weapons  and press Syria and Russia to immediately stop using incendiary weapons in civilian areas, HRW said.

Fighting in Aleppo intensified in early July when government forces captured the last supply route to the rebel-held eastern sector of the city, raising fears that its estimated 250,000 to 300,000 remaining residents could suffer a lengthy siege.
Mayor says the full-body swimsuit provokes locals after brawl erupts on beach in Corsica.

A Corsican seaside resort on Monday became the third French town to ban full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women after weekend scuffles on the beach.

The cities of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet have also banned the swimsuit  which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed  arguing that it violates French laws on secularism.

Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni of Sisco, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, told BFM Television that wearing it was not acceptable in the town.

People here feel provoked by things like that, he said.

He said he was not targeting Muslims but he wanted to get rid of what he called Islamist fundamentalists on the island.

These people have no business here, he said.

On France Info radio, Vivoni denied media reports saying that a scuffle on Sisco beach on Saturday night had been sparked by a tourist taking pictures of Muslim women bathing in the swimsuits.

The brawl was not due to a burkini. Young Corsicans were defending tourists who were peacefully taking pictures of the landscape, he said.

He said the ban on the burkini  the word is a combination of burqa and bikini  aimed to protect both people of North African descent as well as others in the community.

The population of Sisco lives in permanent fear. There are many provocateurs here  We are living on a powder keg, he said.
Fifteen Guantanamo Bay prisoners have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, leaving 61 detainees at the notorious US military-run jail.

The Pentagon said on Monday that 12 Yemenis and three Afghans, some of whom had been held for more than 14 years without charge, would settle in the UAE in the largest single transfer of Guantanamo detainees during President Barack Obamas administration.

FULL LIST OF DETAINEE TRANSFERS: Abd al-Muhsin Abd al-Rab Salih al-Busi

Abd al-Rahman Sulayman

Mohammed Nasir Yahi Khussrof Kazaz

Abdul Muhammad Ahmad Nassar al-Muhajari

Muhammad Ahmad Said al-Adahi

Abdel Qadir al-Mudafari

Mahmud Abd Al Aziz al-Mujahid

Saeed Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah Sarem Jarabh

Mohammed Kamin

Zahar Omar Hamis bin Hamdoun

Hamid al-Razak

Majid Mahmud Abdu Ahmed

Ayub Murshid Ali Salih

Obaidullah

Bashir Nasir Ali al-Marwalah

The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close Guantanamo, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Congress was notified of the transfers as required under US law, the Pentagon added.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, about 780 inmates have been kept at Guantanamo.

Amnesty International USA, a rights group, welcomed the announcement as a sign that US President Barack Obama was serious about closing the controversial jail before he leaves office.

Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a UAE-based political commentator, called the men low-value detainees and said the move was a humanitarian gesture.

Its a gesture of goodwill, not only to the US President but also to the Pentagon and the US government in general. Regardless of who becomes the next president, whether its Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, the UAE is signalling a continuity in relations between the US and the United Arab Emirates.

Qassemi also said that there might be a reintegration programme that the detainees would undergo.

These individuals have not been charged with any crime. They have been cleared for release, some of them for a number of years. They are low-value detainees, he added.

READ MORE: Sami al-Hajj  Remembering Guantanamo

Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the British-based advocacy group Reprieve, told Al Jazeera that after years of torture  the UAE, an Arab-speaking country, was a good place for the detainees to habilitate.

After being tortured for 14 or 15 years, you cant kick them out and expect them to get on with life.

One of my clients, Mohsen Aboassy, was 23 when he was sold to the US for a bounty. Hes now 37. He wants to get married, he wants a job, he wants to get on with his life. He hasnt met 13 of his nieces and nephews  so theres a lot for him to get back into.

Smith also said that Obama could easily shut down the prison.

President Obama is the most powerful person on the planet. There are only 61 people left there, 21 have been cleared so that will leave at most 40, probably fewer. If the most powerful person on the planet cant do something about 40 people and Guantanamo Bay, which a is a blot on the American copybook and is costing over $3m per prisoner a year  he really shouldnt be president.

When Obama took office there were 242 detainees at Guantanamo. After Mondays announcement, of the 61 remaining, 19 have already been cleared for transfer.

Donald Trumps vow

Novembers presidential election is likely to help to determine the future of the prison, as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to fill Guantanamo with bad dudes should he win the White House.

Trump has said he would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding, referring to a method of torture banned by the US government in 2007.

To date, just 10 of the prisoners have faced a criminal trial, including the 9/11 Five led by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who were accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Police accuse the opposition of attacking perceived supporters of the president after disputed election result.

Zambian police have arrested 133 people protesting against the re-election of President Edgar Lungu after his main opponent Hakainde Hichilema said the vote was rigged, a senior police officer said.

Lungu, leader of the Patriotic Front (PF), won 50.35 percent of the vote, against 47.67 percent for Hichilema, of the United Party for National Development (UPND), according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

The opposition party quickly rejected that result, saying that the electoral commission had colluded to rig the result in favour of Lungu.

They targeted perceived supporters of the ruling party, destroying their property, Godwin Phiri, a Southern province police chief, told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday, referring to those arrested.

It is like this was well planned and they were just waiting for the winner to be declared. Calm has now returned following the arrests.

READ MORE: Zambia: President Edgar Lungu elected in disputed vote

Hichilemas United Party for National Development (UPND) said it will appeal the result at the Constitutional Court, accusing election officials of fraud during the count which began after voting ended last Thursday.

The PF has effected a coup on Zambias democratic process, Hichilema said in a statement late on Monday.

We submitted evidence before the declaration of the results regarding the gross irregularities that have taken place. That is why we will not accept the result.

Al Jazeeras Tania Page, reporting from the capital Lusaka, said the opposition was also trying to block the presidential inauguration to protest leaving it up to the countrys courts to settle the differences between Zambias fierce political rivals. The EU also supported Hichilemas view that police had acted with politically at times, and had also cracked down quite harshly on some of his political gatherings, Page said. The ruling party and the electoral commission have rejected the UPNDs accusations. READ MORE: Zambia\s voices on the elections and their future hopes Zambia has been one of Africas most stable democracies although there were skirmishes during campaigning.

Lungu, who can only be inaugurated 7 days after being proclaimed victor, was due to hold a celebratory rally on Tuesday. His re-election secures him another five-year term.
           2005     ..        
The Secretary-General is appalled by reports of the killing of at least 36 civilians on 13 August in the area of Rwangoma village, North Kivu province of the DRC, by suspected members of the Allied Defense Forces (ADF). The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms this latest attack in the Beni area where, since October []Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in DRC and Head of MONUSCO, Maman Sambo Sidikou, offers his condolences to the Congolese people in general and to the population of Beni in particular, following the attack on the civilian population during the night of 13 to 14 August 2016, in the village of Rwangoma []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
A recent hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee examined why virtually no new banks have been organized since 2009. The hearing focused on why that mattered as well as why it is happening. The findings should be of interest to everyone concerned about our nation's economic policies.

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond published in 2015 helped frame the issue. It began by noting that, prior to 2009, between 100 and 200 new banks were formed every year. Of all new bank applications filed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved about 75%. By contrast, in the past seven years, only three new bank applications have been approved.

The Richmond study analyzed whether this pattern was similar to prior recessions and found it was very unusual. In all prior periods, the quantity of new bank applications dipped during the recession. But they never reached zero, and they quickly rebounded to normal levels during the recovery. But following the last recession, the numbers dropped virtually to zero and remain flat-lined today.

This is a matter of serious concern. The banking system is not static. The Richmond study describes well how the industry is dependent on growth and renewal.

The dynamic nature of the banking industry is illustrated by what happens as existing banks grow. Maturing institutions tend to alter their customer base, changing their products and services as they attempt to reach out to new markets. Newer banks can then pick up the slack, serving customers in less populated and rural areas on which the older institutions no longer focus.

Two bad outcomes will occur if new banks do not develop to fill in these gaps.

One is a lack of sufficient services for small businesses and consumers, which are primary drivers of the economy. Rural areas are particularly harmed.

The other concern is that a dearth of new banks will lead to the industry to become even more concentrated in a few very large banks. This could eventually undo the fundamental structure of the U.S. banking system, which has led to there being so many different banks in the nation relative to other countries. This structure largely derives from the prevalence of decentralization in our economic system, favored by Thomas Jefferson in his debates with Alexander Hamilton.

For much of early U.S. history, the federal government left bank charters and regulation entirely to the states. That ended with the Civil War, when the need for a single national currency to finance the war resulted in the passage of the National Bank Act and gave birth to the dual banking system.

Decentralization, however, remains as fundamentally important today. "Too big to fail" highlights the risks if banks grow too large to effectively be regulated or even managed.

While fair-lending rules and the Community Reinvestment Act help ensure that rural, minority and lower-income areas have access to financial services, a more effective policy is the traditional one of enabling new banks to form when opportunities arise to profitably serve customers and develop new technologies.

There is also the issue  not unique to banking  that an industry not growing and innovating is dying. The Richmond study describes many factors that cause the number of established banks to decline, primarily through consolidation and acquisition. Without new banks, the needs of the people and communities in the gaps will either grow or credit will originate outside the banking system. This trend is clearly demonstrated by the declining market share of banks, which was about 60% at the end of World War II but today is only about 20% of the nation's credit markets.

This is a dangerous trend for the nation and the economy. An ideal economy would have at its core a wide array of well-regulated banks. Because of regulatory factors, banks are not always the most efficient or innovative providers of financial services. But they are the most stable financial institutions servicing our communities and are the least likely to create asset bubbles.

Credit drives the economy today and a stable supply of credit is a critically important policy goal. Banks mostly originate loans to hold them, which requires a direct interest in credit quality and provides an income stream to support the bank in a downturn. Other credit providers primarily originate loans to sell and must constantly originate new loans to generate fee income, which can be challenging in bad market conditions. The Great Recession of 2008, which was the first recession caused by a disruption in the supply of credit rather than a drop in demand, was a clear example of the instability lurking in an economy dominated by originate-to-sell lenders.

The good news is research like the Richmond study suggests regulatory policies have a significant role in the dearth of new banks, not entirely economic conditions. It is not surprising that regulators tightened their standards during the recession, but the time has come to readjust for the good of the economy. Hopefully the recent hearings in Washington mark the point where that pendulum begins to swing back.

George Sutton is an attorney at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough. From 1987 to 1993, he was the Utah commissioner of financial institutions.
Gavin Michael, head of digital banking for JPMorgan Chase's retail unit, is moving to Citigroup.

Michael will replace Mark Torkos as head of technology for global consumer banking, which includes branded cards and retail services, retail banking and mortgages, commercial banking and Citi FinTech. Torkos retired in July.

The news follows the announcement that Heather Cox, chief executive of Citi FinTech, will join USAA as chief technology and digital officer this fall.

In his new role Michael will lead the long-term strategic direction, planning and management of Citi's technology organization and oversee its cloud architecture and data and services strategies.

Michael "brings a depth of international experience driving an enterprise-wide digital agenda and a unique blend of expertise across branch technology innovation, data analytics, product design, engineering and core and consumer technology," Stephen Bird, the CEO of the global consumer bank, said in a staff memo shared with American Banker.

Michael joined JPMorgan in 2013 and helped launch its digital revolution, beginning with an overhaul of its mobile app. Last June, JPMorgan became the first large bank to adopt Touch ID for customers who use Apple devices. He also led an in-house team through a complete redesign of its website  the first in a decade  unveiled this March. Shortly afterward, he was named American Banker's 2016 Digital Banker of the Year.

Michael will begin his new role Nov. 14. Anil Wadhwani, head of operations for global consumer banking, will lead the technology organization in the interim.


Pioneer Bank in Dripping Springs, Texas, has turned to its chief operating officer for temporary leadership.

The $1.1 billion-asset bank said in a press release Monday that it appointed Ron Coben to become its interim chief executive, succeeding Jeffrey Wilkinson, who resigned "to pursue his next entrepreneurial challenge." Wilkinson, who had also been president, helped form Pioneer in 2007.

Coben, 58, became Pioneer's COO when it merged with FC Holdings last year.

Coben started his career with Texas Commerce Bank in 1986; two years later, he joined Bank United in Houston, where he was executive vice president of retail banking. He has also been a consultant for firms such as Barclays and Guaranty Bank.

"As we transition into a new phase of the Pioneer Bank story, we are very pleased to have an experienced executive like Ron Coben step into the role of interim CEO and provide leadership," Whit Hanks, Pioneer's chairman, said in the release.


HSBC has hired Anthony Glover, a veteran of JPMorgan Chase and American Express, to be its head of retail banking in the U.S., a newly created position.

Glover reports to Pablo Sanchez, the regional head of retail banking and wealth management for the U.S. and Canada. Sanchez, who also used to work at JPMorgan, joined HSBC in mid-2015.

"We're growing our business in the U.S.," Sanchez said in a press release. "Tony's deep consumer and retail banking experience will help us to further capitalize on our strategy to be the retail bank of choice for all our customer segments."

Glover's job encompasses the duties of the former head of the U.S. retail network, Bill Brown, who left HSBC last month, along with other retail banking responsibilities, a bank spokesman said.

Most recently, Glover was the head of corporate development for Chase Merchant Services, the JPMorgan unit that signs up merchants for the card networks. He left that job in October, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He joined Chase in 1998 and served in a variety of senior leadership roles including general manager of affinity credit cards, head of human resources and head of retail banking in regional markets across the country. Before that, he spent 14 years with American Express in various roles in the company's finance organization.


Why is the headquarters of the United Nations still in New York? If it is removed, Sudanese President Omar al Bashir, who canceled plans to attend in 2013, can attend meetings of the U.N. General Assembly. So far he has been denied a U.S. visa because he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes he allegedly committed in the Darfur region of Sudan, where 300,000 were killed and two million were displaced.

For the benefit of Bashir and the other numerous dictators, tyrants, and ruthless violators of human rights, it is incumbent on well meaning people to find a more suitable location for the U.N.  perhaps Khartoum, Kabul, Mogadishu, or Aleppo, where they could obtain visas and would feel more comfortable.

Given the past actions of the UNHRC, can any rational person really be surprised that at the UNHRC meeting on March 24, 2016, Israel was proclaimed the worst violator of human rights in the world? Five resolutions condemned Israel, and only one each criticized Syria, North Korea, and Iran. It is hardly a surprise that a Palestinian engineer working for the U.N. Development Program in 2016 improperly transferred 300 tons of construction rubble to be used by the terrorist Qassam Brigades in Gaza for the anti-Israel tunnels they were building. It is no surprise that the World Vision Gaza director diverted more than $50 million to the terrorists of Hamas.

During its 70 years, the U.N., with its UNICEF program saving children, its international development programs, and its Disengagement Observer Forces, has made some useful contributions. But its positive actions are completely overshadowed by the way in which its various organizations have been the instruments for political warfare and vicious attacks on democratic systems, above all on the State of Israel.

Sadly, the United Nations, whose charter was signed on June 26, 1945, has lost its moral compass. The preamble of the charter reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights. Article 1 states the purpose of the U.N.: to be a "center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these (previously mentioned peace and security) common ends." It is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its members.

Equally all objective commentators have observed that the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Human Rights Council, UNESCO, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the U.N. Committee on the Status of Women have all subverted the honorable principles of the founders of the world organization. They have all been forceful avenues not only for condemning and demonizing the State of Israel and "Zionism," but also for disseminating hatred of Jews, anti-Semitism, and Holocaust denial.

Only a few examples are necessary to illustrate the disgraceful behavior of the U.N. institutions. The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) has been guilty of an unprecedented tide of biased and prejudiced condemnations of Israel and its citizens. Between 1955 and 2013, there were 77 such resolutions. In 2015, UNGA recorded 90 votes on countries; 18 were condemnations of Israel.

In the competition for the most ridiculous and absurd organization in the world, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) would be a favorite. Of its 47 members, 17 are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Council has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel, 545, or 45% of the total, than on all the rest of the world combined. The rule is that at every UNHRC session, the Israeli record of human rights must be discussed. In January 2013, UNHRC implicitly recommended a boycott of Israel by private companies. This was followed in March 25, 2016 by approval, 32-0-15, of a "blacklist," a database of businesses "involved in activities in the Occupied West Bank."

UNRWA was set up to provide services for displaced Palestinian refugees. Whatever its value as a humanitarian organ, it has been used as a tool by Palestinians for disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda as well as hostility to Israel. Shamefully, UNRWA allowed Hamas to use its property for war crimes, as a storage area for missiles, rockets, and other weapons during the Gaza War.

Similarly, the U.N. Conference on the Status of Women (CSW), a group that includes Sudan and Iran, has been misused to serve a political purpose, often anti-American and always anti-Israeli. At its annual meetings in March 2015 and on March 24, 2016, the CSW issued a condemnation of only one country, Israel. In 2016, the CSW, in a one-sided vote, 27 to 2 (U.S. and Israel), called for a review of the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women.

The CSW forgot that according to the World Economic Forum Report, Israel is about on the same level as the U.S. for female political empowerment. Of the 120 members of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, 27 are women.

Women also were part of the U.N. World Conference on Racism (Durban Review Conference). At both its September 2001 and April 2009 sessions, the State of Israel became the main target. In the latter session, the then Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose sanity was questionable, referred to Israel as "totally racist" and averred that the Holocaust was used as a pretext for aggression against Palestinians.

Israeli medical facilities and hospitals have provided health care every day for wounded Syrians fleeing the brutal civil war, and also for Palestinians. Israel has set up a program providing cardiac surgery to 3,500 children from 48 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), remains unaware of this. In May 2015, by 104 to 4 with 6 abstentions, and 65 absent, the WHO singled out Israel as the violator of health rights of the inhabitants in "occupied Syria Golan." A year later, on May 25, 2016, by a similar vote of 107-8-8 and 58 absent, Israel was still the only violator of "mental, physical, and environmental health rights." Among the eight countries opposed were the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Israel. The WHO consequently commissioned a delegation to report on health conditions in "occupied Palestinian territory" and in "occupied Syria Golan."

Perhaps most disappointing in the shabby U.N. behavior have been the resolutions of UNESCO, established in 1945 to foster peace and culture. Its preoccupation with alleged misdeeds of Israel has been excessive and concentrated. UNESCO has been erasing any connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount and the site there of two ancient Jewish temples. Indeed, it has accepted the Palestinian Narrative of History, the rewriting of history. It has ignored two facts: the Temple area has been managed by the Waqf, controlled by Muslims of Jerusalem, and the Jordanian rule over the area from 1948 to 1967 did not allow Israelis access to the site.

The UNESCO resolution of April 15, 2016, submitted by seven Arab and Middle East Muslim states, referring to Israel as the "occupying power," spoke of the Mount as al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif, and referred to the Western Wall as Al-Buraq Plaza. Adopting the Palestinian formula, it condemned Israel for "illegal measures against the freedom of worship at the "Muslim holy site of worship." The resolution, which also referred to Hebron and Bethlehem as "Palestinian sites," was passed by 33 to 6 with 17 abstentions

Another resolution, proposed by Palestinians and Jordan, calling for a return to the "historic status quo that existed before the 1967 war," presumably banning Jews and Christians from entering the mount, was to be presented at the UNESCO meeting in July 2016 in Istanbul but has been delayed because of the attempted coup in that city. The draft resolution found Israel guilty of intrusive constructions, tunneling and underground excavations, and aggressions against religious sites and prayer places.

Among its other decisions the 58 members of the Executive Committee of UNESCO on October 21, 2015, in again accepting Palestinian falsifications, condemned Israeli "aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship" as well as the "persistent excavations and works [in fact, archeological work] in East Jerusalem."

The various U.N. institutions are misusing valuable real estate in New York, Paris, Geneva, Rome, and other places. The present annual U.N. budget is $5.4 billion, of which the United States provides $2.9 billion. Either the Obama administration or the next U.S. president should have as a high priority seeking out less expensive places for U.N. operations unless all the U.N. institutions with their passionate intensity end their relentless and dishonorable discrimination against and concentration on the State of Israel and begin to deal with pressing real problems of the other 192 U.N. nations.
Elections arent about finalities, theyre about processes. They may be about departures. Case in point, the 2016 presidential contests, which feature Hillary and The Donald. If Trump wins, the process of the November election might start a departure in more than politics. It could be historic. It wont be good, however, for the global elites inhabiting New York, DC, Boston, and San Francisco -- or wherever else ivory towers, mahogany-paneled offices, pricey secured buildings, and gated communities are found. Trumps election would have reverberations overseas, too, in London, Paris, Berlin -- yes, wherever else ivory towers, et al, are found.

A Hillary victory means there wont be a departure; merely a doubling-down by the elite, as they act with renewed zest to secure their interests -- versus the national welfare. The Great Imposition -- a war waged on average Americans -- will continue with awful consequences.

Impose and divide  divide to conquer. Blacks against whites. (Thats more Milwaukees.) Hispanics against Anglos. (Thats more illegals and all legalized). Poor against rich. (Lots more free sh*t.) Takers versus producers. (Lots more free sh*t.) Marginalize the working class. (Further cede manufacturing to the Chinese; shut down coal and domestic energy production, generally.) Demean the middle classes. (Who knuckle-drag their bibles, guns, and backwater values through life.)

The worldview among many of our elite is anti-nation -- dare we say -- anti-American, anti-law and order, anti-tradition, anti-faith (with exceptions carved out for Islam), anti-durable values and enduring truths, like marriage between a man and woman, and family, as defined by a man, woman, and children. The elite, so very cosmopolitan, have evolved past antique beliefs and ways.

The dangers are domestic and foreign. President Hillary and anti-nation elites would continue failed policies toward Islamic militants and insurgencies. Theyd serve up more perverse rationalizations for why Islam doesnt animate jihadists. More dangers in the offing with rogue nations Iran and North Korea. Mounting danger in Asia, with China, where the PRC is boldly militarizing the South China Sea.

All pose existential threats, to one degree or another. To the elite? Obstacles to the world theyve created for themselves. Perhaps to be solved with appeasements, like tribute (it worked for the Romans -- for a while.). Ransoms (monetary and otherwise). Accommodations. Retreats. Misdirection and outright lies.

Peggy Noonan just penned a brilliant analysis for the Wall Street Journal. She captured the global elite, nailing them to a T.

Referring to the nearly million Syrians (disproportionately males) admitted to Germany last year by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Noonan wrote:

But there was a fundamental problem with the decision that you can see rippling now throughout the West. Ms. Merkel had put the entire burden of a huge cultural change not on herself and those like her but on regular people who live closer to the edge, who do not have the resources to meet the burden, who have no particular protection or money or connections. Ms. Merkel, her cabinet and government, the media and cultural apparatus that lauded her decision were not in the least affected by it and likely never would be. Nothing in their lives will get worse. The challenge of integrating different cultures, negotiating daily tensions, dealing with crime and extremism and fearfulness on the streetthat was put on those with comparatively little, whom Ive called the unprotected.

More from Noonan:

The powerful show no particular sign of worrying about any of this. When the working and middle class pushed back in shocked indignation, the people on top called them xenophobic, narrow-minded, racist. The detached, who made the decisions and bore none of the costs, got to be called humanist, compassionate, and hero of human rights.

So, too, on these shores, our elite aim to imitate Merkel, from Obama, who aids and abets illegals, and whos pushing the import of Syrians, to Paul Ryan (an elitist on the spectrum), who speaks of compassion and fairness toward illegals and Muslim refugees. Never mind theyll be no costs attendant to the speaker. But Ryan isnt merely being abstract. His favoring amnesty serves cheap-labor business interests at the expense of struggling citizens.

Mind you, a Trump victory bringing about a departure will come with disruptions and conflict aplenty. Wider political and societal changes invariably do. The drama of recentering America will play out over years. The progressives and New Dealers didnt succeed in remaking society immediately. Both had epicenters: industrialization, World War I, and Wilsons presidency for the progressives; the Great Depression for FDR and his New Dealers.

Trump represents an opportunity for a new direction -- a recreation and amalgam of two critical strains. One nationalist; in other words, a reemphasis on the preeminence of American interests and the American people. The other, conservative, as defined practically and politically by diminishing Washingtons power internally through reduction and decentralization, with much power returning to the states, localities, and citizens.

And companion social conservativism, which enlists Middle Americans to vigorously battle smothering -- elitist -- PC; which pushes for a reinvestment of traditional values and virtues in the culture and academy and arts; which counteracts cancerous and nihilistic relativism with bold proclamations for eternal truths that asserts the right of the faithful to be openly, proudly faithful.

Ambitious? Right. We cant afford not to be ambitious.

A Hillary win this November assures an exacerbation -- and likely, acceleration -- of troubles and conflict for a decaying, fractious society. Her victory would embolden the elite to greater highhandedness, to greater bullying and imposition of its worldview on citizens, who resent the trampling of their beliefs and values, and resent the elites notion that America is nothing more than an open-air mall, where anything and everything American can be sold, traded, bartered or discarded where peoples livelihoods and welfare are subordinate to a global economy that mostly benefits the privileged... where nation and patriotism are dismissed as the province of yokels.

A Trump win would mark a departure, both destructive and creative. Global elites would have to find new ways in a new world. Its not what they want. With Hillary, though, the fuse will burn down and the powder keg will blow sky-high. Thats when, not if. The consequences of an explosion are surely cataclysmic but, otherwise, unpredictable, with one exception: it wont end well for global elites.
Patriots, to save our country, it has become clear that we must hoist Trump up on our shoulders and carry him across the finish line into the Oval Office. The mainstream media has blatantly joined crooked Hillary and her minions to brand Trump unfit to serve as president. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

I cannot stomach watching CNN. Almost every evening I am at my local gym on an aerobic machine working to keep my blood sugar numbers good. CNN is always on a few of the TV sets hanging from the ceiling. Reading headlines posted on the lower third of the screen with the sound turned down is quite revealing. It makes it plain to see CNN's relentless efforts to demonize and destroy Trump.

For example: The news that the father of the Pulse nightclub shooter was seated behind Hillary at her rally was not helpful to her campaign. A day or so later, CNN's lower third headline read, Disgraced Congressman Sits Behind Trump at Rally. This was CNN's attempt to defend Hillary by saying, see, a not-so-good person was seated behind Trump at his rally.

I have seen numerous lower third graphics on CNN purposed to portray Trump as a racist and a nut case (standard Leftist tactics to silence and destroy).

The other night at my gym, the CNN lower graphic read, Breaking News: Confederate Flag at Trump Rally Tonight. Do you see what CNN was attempting to do? CNN, along with most of the mainstream media are Hillary operatives disguised as news outlets. CNN wanted to convey the message that a Confederate flag at a Trump rally means Trump and his supporters are rabid racists.

Leftists are divisive, dishonest, and evil, folks. Leftists do not care if they stir up racial hate as long as it generates enough racial division and fear to cause duped voters to vote for Democrats. I hate that Leftists continue to successfully dupe the masses into perceiving them as paragons of compassion. In reality, the Democratic Party (Leftists) is the birth place and is still the home of racism. Leftists are the polar opposite of true compassion.

Folks, we have seen Leftists use this tactic from their How to Make Patriots Abandon Their Heroes playbook before. We (patriots) prayed for a hero to come along and push back against political correctness; someone who would courageously and boldly defend and fight to preserve traditional values that have made America great and exceptional. Our prayers were answered in the form of a beautiful woman named Sarah Palin. I was touring on Tea Party Express back then. I witnessed at first hand the massive crowds and excitement whenever Palin spoke at our rallies. Fearing Palin's power, the Left launched a shock-and-awe, 24/7, no-holds-barred campaign to destroy Palin. I expected the Left to trash Palin. However, it turned my stomach the way many conservatives abandoned her when she failed to walk on water.

We are in the midst of Hillary and her operatives using the same tactics they used against our strong advocate Palin to take out our strong advocate Trump. Hillary and company seek to brand Trump so toxic and crazy that Republicans and conservatives will run to the tall grass out-of-range of the Left's bombings of him.

Folks, we cannot allow that to happen. When one of my brothers parroted Hillary's rhetoric about Trump, I lovingly laid into him, setting him straight; telling him he must vote for Trump.

A relative told my wife Mary she dislikes both candidates and was going to write in Mickey Mouse.

Mary told her this is not a time to be cute. Mary explained to the relative that she must vote for Trump. This is what all who love America as founded must do this election. America cannot survive patriots pulling a Palin on Trump, abandoning him because of Hillary and company's smear campaign.

Another way to help Trump is to host a Tea Party for Trump rally Sunday, August 28th. Tea Party for Trump will follow up the rallies with a massive, well-orchestrated, national get-out-the-vote campaign.

It is truly repulsive hearing Hillary attempting to brand Trump unfit while she is the epitome of an unfit candidate. Even more disturbing is watching the Left (corrupt federal government, mainstream media, and Hollywood) spin a cocoon of protection around her.

Dinesh D'Souza's movie, Hillary's America, exposes the Clinton's well-documented history of deceit, corruption, and criminal activity. D'Souza revealed that Hillary went from zero to $300 million on a government salary. That is impossible, folks.

As a black American, it is insulting hearing Hillary pander and talk down to black audiences. Using her best colored people accent, Hillary spouted, I don't feel no ways tired.

Hillary is a pander. Hillary told a black radio host that she carries hot sauce in her purse. Folks, it is time to vote this evil woman out of our lives.

Patriots, we must carry Trump to victory. We can do this, folks. Together, we have great power. I look back with fond memories of the 2010 rally to stop ObamaCare. I sang at that rally. Despite a mainstream media blackout insidiously ignoring the protest rally, we got 1.7 million patriots to come to DC to protest ObamaCare. We used word of mouth, social media and the internet.

We the People must carry Donald Trump across the finish line. He ain't heavy, he's our next president.

Lloyd Marcus: The Unhyphenated American

http://www.lloydmarcus.com/
At the beginning of the battle in King Henry IV Part One the cowardly drunk Falstaff whines to Prince Hal: I would twere bedtime, Hal, and all well.

Dont we all. A year ago we could all imagine that the American people would sensibly decide it was Time for a Change after eight years of Obamian race and gender politics, not to mention the disappointment of an economy thrashing in regulatory hell.

Thats what politics has been about for the last few decades, in retrospect. Yes, we all imagined the worst of the Other Party, but it now all seems a rather tame affair when compared to what is coming up. The two parties had their various political factions nicely house-trained, and made sure that they didnt frighten the horses in the street. Not anymore.

Now we have people saying We Dont Care, and looking for a fight. The white working class, the suckers of the last half century of race and gender politics, have found a leader that tells it like it is for people like them. Black Lives Matter is trying to kick over the traces of inner-city policing, openly encouraging young urban blacks to riot and mayhem. And who can fail to understand their anger after eight years that didnt Hope and Change the lives of African Americans as advertised? Then there is the corps of social activists: they are not sated by their success with gay marriage and rape culture. They are inspired to greater efforts.

The last week has seen reports of Donald Trump exhausted, bewildered, and of Hillary Clinton seriously ill with recurrent seizures. What does that portend?

The coward Falstaff just wanted everyone to go home at the end of the day so that the professionals could compose their differences. But in fact the Wars of the Roses went on for a century and ended with the power of the feudal order demolished by the new nation-state of the Tudors, and many ordinary drunkards lost their lives in the process.

Are we beginning a Time of Troubles where people dont go home any more after the election to let the politicians sort it all out in Washington DC? The Wars of the Roses started when the weak Richard II allowed the ambitious Bolingbroke to gather political strength while he was off fiddling around in Ireland. When he got back to England, the country had already joined up with the new Big Man.

But what about us? Will the white working class continue to die of despair or will it stand up and fight? Will Black Lives Matter burn the cities or unite the nation against it? Will the social activists declare victory and go home, or will they hunt down every last racist sexist bigot and get them fired from their jobs? Will the politicians do their job and curb the enthusiasm of their crazies, or will they egg them on to bigger and better outrages?

The idea of democracy is that we stage a sham fight every election at which our chosen hero battles with the other guy in single combat in the debates. Then we all come together as one nation and compromise our differences. This is perfectly satisfactory for those that are not that interested in power.

But it is not enough for the secular religion of activism, because they believe in power.

The idea of activism, peaceful protest version, is that you march and protest until your non-negotiable demands are met. The idea of activism, revolutionary version, is that you fight and burn until you destroy The Man and his racist police. Good little girls with Studies degrees think that their peaceful protests are all about peace and justice, because that is what they are taught. They are, in fact, merely just one end of a continuum of violence that aims to enforce its will by force, either by a demonstration -- a show of force -- or by the real thing. The other end of the continuum is frank rebellion and revolution, insurgencies and ISIS.

The ugly truth about the world is that periods of normal politics like ours, where things are settled by negotiation and compromise, are followed by Times of Troubles, where things are decided by force, and the losers are lucky to survive.

Our liberal activist friends think that they are all underdog Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings, nonviolently protesting for a better world. They do not understand that in the 21st century they are the tools of the ruling class and that their violation of the rules of democracy and government by legislation are unleashing the dogs of war, as they bully their opponents to the choice of submitting to injustice or resisting by force.

We can still hope that it will all be over by bedtime. But hope is not enough.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class.
Why is it that the only promises Obama keeps are the ones that make us less safe?

The president took another step toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when the administration announced the transfer of 15 prisoners. It was the largest transfer made during the Obama administration.

All 15 detainees are being sent to the United Arab Emirates.

CNN:

The inmates, who included nationals from Afghanistan, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, will be transferred to the UAE, a US State Department official told CNN. The official added that six of the detainees had been approved for transfer back in 2009. The others had been evaluated by the interagency Periodic Review Board and it had been determined that their "continued detention was no longer necessary to protect against a significant continuing threat to the security of the United States." The move brings the population at the famed detention facility down to 61. There were 242 detainees at Guantanamo when the Obama administration came into office. The latest transfer is part of an acceleration in the prison population's decline, with the State Department official noting that in the past 11 months alone, 55 detainees have been transferred to 13 different countries. The majority of Guantanamo prisoners already approved for transfer hail from Yemen, but the US has had a policy against transferring detainees to Yemen due to the ongoing instability there. Wolosky thanked the UAE for its "continued assistance in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay" and emphasized the need to shut the prison down. The administration's latest moves to close the facility quickly drew the ire of Republican opponents in Congress, who have passed legislation that would prevent the Department of Defense from transferring the prisoners there to the US. "In its race to close Gitmo, the Obama administration is doubling down on policies that put American lives at risk. Once again, hardened terrorists are being released to foreign countries where they will be a threat," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a California Republican. "I fear we will be dealing with the consequences of this recklessness for years to come." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged earlier on Monday to keep the detention facility open during his speech on countering ISIS.

The criteria for judging if an inmate is a threat have changed since the Bush administration. Instead of determining if an inmate is likely to rejoin the fight against the U.S., the question now is whether it is "no longer necessary to protect against a significant continuing threat to the security of the United States."

It may be semantics, but it means that more prisoners  some more dangerous than those transferred by the Bush administration  are being allowed to leave.

Obama will not succeed in closing the facility before he leaves office. There is a hard core of about 50 dangerous terrorists yet to be tried by a military tribunal, including Khalid Sheihk Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind. If Clinton wins the election, she will attempt to move the prisoners to the U.S. and try them as common criminals. The outcome will depend on whether the Republicans can maintain their majority in Congress to prevent it.
The pro-gun, pro-Trump Milwaukee County sheriff, David Clarke, penned an op-ed for The Hill and proceeded to destroy myths about the reasons for the Milwaukee riots while putting his finger an the real reason they occurred.

Here are the facts: Milwaukee is run by progressive Democrats. Their decades-long Democrat regime has done nothing to reduce these urban pathologies, in fact, their strategies have exacerbated the situation by expanding the welfare state.

That things have not improved and in fact worsened in the American ghetto after eight years ofBarack Obama is remarkable only to those who have not been paying attention to our nations cities.

Theres only one answer, which is for the citizens of America to expose and heap scorn on this lying and dangerous triad of big government, liberal mainstream media, and the lost souls of the urban ghettos both these institutions feed upon for their power.

A self-examination and self-criticism by the underclass is in order as well - as is an admission by Progressive Democrats that they have failed Milwaukee would be the first step in reversing this urban decay and reversing the growth of the underclass and their accompanying cultural rot.

What happened Saturday night and again Sunday night had little to do with police use of force  it was a collapse of the social order where tribal behavior leads to reacting to circumstances instead of waiting for facts to emerge. The law of the jungle replaced the rule of law in Milwaukee Saturday night over an armed career criminal suspect who confronted police. Four other people were murdered in Milwaukee in separate incidents before the cop shooting and no riots ensued.

The actions were the manifestation of a population with no hope, no stake in the American dream that could provide advancement and purpose and pride of self. They are the ones lied to, exploited by and ultimately manipulated by the Democrats who claim to care. They are victims of the left, but they are not without blame. Its time for them to remember their own humanity, their own dignity, and to fight for that return to the American Dream that the left would withhold from them.
One of the consequences of President Obama's failed Syria policies has been Russia and Iran drawing closer to form a strategic partnership. Nature and diplomacy abhor a vacuum, and with the U.S. policy in disarray, both Russia and Iran have moved together to take advantage.

NBC News:

Russian bombers took off from a base in Iran to conduct airstrikes in against ISIS in Syria on Tuesday, officials said, marking a new development in the country's civil war.

It was the first time Russia used the territory of another Middle Eastern country for its operations inside Syria in support of President Bashar Assad.

Russia's defense ministry said Tu-22M3 and Su-34 bombers took off on raids targeting ISIS and allied Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, Deir el-Zor and Idlib  destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.

The airstrikes also hit "numerous militants," it said in a statement.

The jets took off "with a full bomb load" from the Hamadan base and were protected by Su-30sm and Su-35s military airplanes, the statement added.

Iran's state-run news agency IRNA on Tuesday quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow will share "facilities and capacities" in the fight against ISIS.

Moscow and Tehran are the main international backers of Assad, with Russia supporting the regime's forces with airstrikes, and Iran with ground troops.

Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria also have set up a joint center in Baghdad with the goal of coordinating the campaign against ISIS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani last week, though neither made any mention of a possible deal on Iranian air bases.

Tuesday's announcement came a day after Russia's defense minister said Moscow and Washington were edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged city of Aleppo.

Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would "allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory," according to The Associated Press. He said Russian representatives are "in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues."
The minimum wage is an issue this campaign season, but there is a different approach I have not heard mentioned. What if we could simultaneously try 50 different approaches and determine which approach is the most effective?

The federal minimum wage requirement was originally determined to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. After FDR threatened to pack the Supreme Court with an additional six justices, the Supreme Court gave in to pressure and ultimately ruled the federal minimum wage constitutional.

One thing unique to the United States is that it was set up as a confederation of different states. Each colony had its own identity. They gathered together in order to gain independence from Great Britain. The federal government was set up by the states to do certain things it could do better than the states  for example, to conduct foreign policy and settle disputes among member states. The states were not carved up by the federal government. Per the original Articles of Confederation and the subsequent Constitution, the federal government was given a limited number of powers. The states and local governments were the source of most laws and regulations, thus keeping government closer to the people.

In the developed world, some countries do not have a required minimum wage. In 2014, seven European Union countries, Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, did not mandate a minimum wage. A Cato study shows that unemployment rates were lower in the counties without a minimum wage than they were in the EU counties with a minimum wage.

All but five states have their own minimum wage laws. The ones who have them deal with them in a myriad of different ways. Some states' minimums are higher; some are lower. Some are more complex and treat different industries differently.

The cost of living is different in every state. In Hawaii, $15.00 will buy you the same amount of goods $6.60 will buy you in Mississippi. In Massachusetts, $15.00 will buy you the same amount of goods $8.85 will buy you in Indiana. A federal minimum wage does not treat each state equally.

The smallest state in population is Wyoming with over 500,000 residents. That is more people than many countries. Iceland has around 330,000. Iceland has a wonderful first-world society. It has good schools, good roads, good medical care, a police force, its own currency, and  guess what  no mandated minimum wage. If a country as small as Iceland, with the limited natural resources it has, can function quite well without a minimum wage dictated to it from Washington, D.C., doesn't it make sense that Wyoming and the other 49 states can, too?

The debate about a federally mandated minimum wage should be about whether or not to abolish it rather than how high it should be. You may say, "That'll never happen." But if I had said back in 1980 that we would be debating who should be allowed in what bathroom in 2016, who would have believed it?

The first step is to get the conversation started. The federal government should not dictate wage rates. If government is to do it, the states can do it in a fairer manner.
The job of vice president of the United States as president-in-waiting, if (please no!) a president dies or is otherwise seriously incapacitated while in office, is obviously important. So why is Joe Biden vice president? Can he be trusted not to reveal important information?

Based on past evidence, the answer is "absolutely not!" He blithely exposed the role of SEAL Team 6 in the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, although obviously it was, until then, top secret. As Time Magazine reported at the time:

Can you confirm that it was a SEAL team?

to which the senior defense official, who under the ground rules of the briefing cannot be further identified, responded:

Not going to comment on units or numbers.

How tough was that? Apparently too tough for two of the nations top leaders. Later the same day, May 3, Vice President Joe Biden let the cat out of the bag. While the press had been reporting SEAL Team 6 carried out the mission, no one in government had confirmed that fact.

But at a fancy dinner in honor of the Atlantic Councils 50th anniversary, where U.S. NATO chief Adm. James Stavridis was honored, Biden couldnt contain himself.

Let me briefly acknowledge tonights distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.

(Feel free to ignore the fact that the SEALs killed bin Laden on Monday.)

Biden, never one known for verbal reticence, then repeated his gaffe:

Folks, Id be remiss also if I didnt say an extra word about the incredible events, extraordinary events of this past Sunday. As Vice President of the United States, as an American, I was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community, the CIA, the SEALs. It just was extraordinary.

(If youve every been to one of these shindigs, you know how boring they can be  so credit goes to Biden for livening things up.)

Not only did Biden say it twice, he got confirmation that same evening from a pretty good source: CIA director Leon Panetta, who told PBS that the decision to shoot bin Laden was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs.

Back at Lejeune on Thursday, Gates surrendered on the operational details  including the unit involved. He retreated, and set up a new line of defense:

The one thing I would tell you, though, is that I think there has been a consistent and effective effort to protect the identities of those who participated in the raid, and I think that has to continue. We are very concerned about the security of our families  of your families and our troops, and also these elite units that are engaged in things like that. And without getting into any details, I would tell you that when I met with the team last Thursday, they expressed a concern about that, and particularly with respect to their families. As you say, I cant get into the details in this forum, but we are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security.

Those steps, in addition to providing some additional physical protection to SEALs and their families, will also include cyber defenses, to protect their online life, defense officials suggest.(snip)

That should make things easier for touristsand terrorists.
Google had introduced Android 7.0 Nougat already, but the OS still did not ship on a single device. As were waiting for the Nexus devices to land, it looks like smartphone manufacturers are gearing up to push this update on their top-tier smartphones as soon as possible. Just a few days ago weve reported that Sony has started accepting sign-ups for testing Android 7.0 Nougat for its Xperia X Performance smartphones. Now, LG has started rolling out a beta version of Android 7.0 Nougat to LG G5 users running on the LG U+ carrier network in South Korea though the Preview Program.

This early preview program is available for the fairly limited user base. LGs plan is to test this preview build with 2000 LG G5 users on a first come, first-served basis. The preview program is kicking off from today and will run until August 16th. Those who want to test out an early version of Android 7.0 Nougat will have to download LG OS preview app on their LG G5 device from the Google Play Store, and then have to follow the steps described in the app to install this beta version of the software on their LG G5 smartphone. Beta testers will be able to send their feedback directly to LG in order to address possible bugs and issues, which LG will take into account during the development of the final build of Android 7.0 Nougat, in order to deliver a more stable and polished user experience. LG says they will release the final version of Android 7.0 Nougat for LG G5 in a few weeks, once the build is ready to go. However, the company didnt provide any details on whether this software preview program will be made available to users of LG G5 outside the Korea, or whether this program will be extended to more LG devices later.

Android smartphone manufacturers have always been criticized for taking too much time to update, or even worse not update their devices at all. Its great to see that OEMs are now finally getting serious about pushing the latest software updates to their smartphones as soon as possibly. Just recently, a report surfaced stating that Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 phablet will get Android 7.0 Nougat in just 2 to 3 months, while HTCs 10 flagship is also expected to get the update soon.
Samsung is one of the companies who is trying fairly hard to ensure its devices receive regular updates. Besides the major macro updates that come through, this also includes much smaller, more frequent and security-driven updates, with the latest of which being confirmed only a few days ago for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. While this update was basically the August security patch update, it has quickly become clear that the security patches were not the entirety of the update or even the most interesting aspects.

When the update was first noted, it was also picked up on that in addition to the various security fixes, the update also brought with it access to Samsungs newly announced cloud service, Samsung Cloud. A service which was expected to only initially be available to the Galaxy Note 7. However, with the access now being granted to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the availability of Samsung Cloud on smartphone smartphones is growing and the timing of the update effectively meant that Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners were able to try out the new feature before owners of the Galaxy Note 7. Now it seems to be the case that as well as the August security fixes and the access to Samsung Cloud, the update also includes an improved gallery experience.

According to the details, the Samsung Gallery now seems to be adopting a feature which is readily available in Google Photos, image object recognition software. Although, not to the same degree as what is on offer with Google Photos, following the update Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners will be able to make use of improved image search capabilities, like the ability for the software to distinguish between faces, animals, food and so on. Like Samsung Cloud, this also seems to be a feature which has been taken from the new Galaxy Note 7 and is being migrated over to the Galaxy S7 series, which does highlight that Samsung is not wasting any time in ensuring that their other flagship range for 2016 comes boasting features which would otherwise be reserved for the Galaxy Note 7. If you do own the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and have received that recent update, then you should see both the Samsung Cloud feature and the new improved Samsung Gallery face and object recognition software available. To make use of the recognition software, simply open the gallery app and apply a search filter by using a target keyword, like dog, food, me and so on.
Google appears to be preparing to launch smartphones into a limited number of markets around the world, including India, under its own branding rather than using Nexus branding. There are reputed to be two devices, both running Android 7.0 Nougat, but of a different specification. One will have a 5.0-inch display and the other will offer a 5.5-inch display. At this juncture, other than a leak that one device will be offered with 32 GB of internal storage and the other 128 GB, there are no other details of the specification of either model. It is also unclear what other markets will receive Google branded devices rather than Nexus branded hardware. These two handsets may well be rebranded HTC Nexus devices, which are alleged to be arriving in the near future.

It is possible that Google is experimenting with a Google-branded pair of devices for the India  where Android has cornered some 97% of the market, pushing out the competition. Perhaps given how significant Android is to the Indian smartphone market, Google is seeking to capitalize on its branding rather than pushing the Nexus line. Google is positioning the two new devices as high end or premium models, perhaps in an attempt to tackle Apples iPhone head on. For the Indian market, this would appear to be a one way bet given how little of the market Apples expensive, premium devices have captured. The Google-branded devices are also said to include a means of importing data from the iPhone although it is unclear the source of this rumor or how this particular technology might work.

Although a new premium Android device, branded Google or even Nexus, might seem designed to steal sales from the iPhone, it is more likely to be stealing shows from other high end Android manufacturers. Samsung is the worlds largest smartphone manufacturer offering the Galaxy S7 range in addition to the Galaxy Note 7, which has yet to officially release. Any premium Google-branded device would be competing for a similar set of customers as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note 7 devices. We have already seen how Google has tried selling a device using its own branding in the shape of the Google Pixel C, so perhaps these two new devices will be sold under the Pixel name? Its entirely possible that Google may be planning to release Nexus devices in some parts of the world and their own Google-branded devices in other parts.
HTC is now rolling out the August Android Security Update on two of its latest smartphones, including the HTC 10 and the HTC A9. The announcement was made via Twitter by HTC Vice President of Product Management Mo Versi; the update has been approved for an August 15 release (starting yesterday), and should continue to expand its reaches to more and more units in the wild. However, as yet the Security Update is only available for the unlocked HTC A9 and HTC 10 variants.

Although HTC did bring the June Security Update to the unlocked HTC 10 flagship a couple of months ago, the Taiwanese smartphone maker skipped the month of July for unclear reasons, and is now releasing the July Android Security Update alongside the August update for both the HTC A9 and HTC 10, as long as they are the unlocked models. Carrier variants are a different story for HTC, and as some readers might recall, earlier in October 2015 the President of HTC USA, Jason Mackenzie, stated that carriers make monthly security updates unrealistic given their time-consuming approval process. In any case, as yet theres no word on when carrier variants will start receiving the latest Android Security Patch, but more details should emerge in the foreseeable future.

Owners of the unlocked HTC A9 or HTC 10 should receive an update notification any second now  if they havent already  but on the other hand and as is usually the case with OTA (over-the-air) software updates, it may take a few days before the software package reaches all the eligible units. In other words, the update notification could arrive earlier for some users than others. Otherwise, HTC A9 and HTC 10 owners can also attempt to trigger the process manually by heading down to the phones Settings menu, accessing the About Device section and verifying if a new software package can be queued for download. As for what the updates contain, much like their names suggest, Android Security Updates are designed to improve security on Android-powered smartphones, and as a result, theres not much of a change log to reveal. All changes take place under the hood and consist of vulnerability patches, meaning that these updates should take top priority for any Android smartphone user wanting to access online services and content in a secure environment.
It seems one of the very clear and obvious battles now emerging among manufacturers is for your wallet. More specifically, for the right to be the mobile payment solution provider that you pay for goods and services with when using your smartphone. If you are of the iOS persuasion, then Apple Pay is for you. If you are of the Android way of doing things, then you do have a much greater degree of choice with Android Pay and Samsung Pay both now available. Although, the latter is only available for owners of select Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

Of course, then there is LGs aptly named LG Pay and now the the latest Pay has arrived in the form of Mi Pay. The name alone is enough to highlight that Mi Pay is being brought to market by Xiaomi and in spite of coverage on Xiaomis Pay alternative coming through for months now, the details are still a little light. However, Xiaomi is reported to have now unveiled Mi Pay at an event in China last night and so it is now officially announced.

In terms of the details, Mi Pay seems to be one which works much in the same way as the rest of the Pays and makes use of NFC to establish a connection and make payment. Like Samsungs service, it seems that Mi Pay will only be available on Xiaomi devices and of course, can only be available on those which come with support for NFC. Likewise, Mi Pay is only launching in China at the moment with no details on any further international expansion plans confirmed. Which is probably to be expected with Xiaomi products yet to reach the shores of many international markets. In terms of compatibility, the reports detail that Xiaomi has already reached agreements with various Chinese banking institutes including the likes of Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, Huaxia Bank, Industrial Bank, Minsheng Bank and Ping An Bank. Although as to be expected, this list will grow further in time. At the moment, no further details were provided on when the service will actually be turned on in China for Xiaomi device owners, or which already-existing device owners will be able to make use of the service. Although, it is likely much of the compatibility of current Xiaomi devices will be determined by whether they come equipped with NFC or not.
UKIPs Lisa Duffy rises above the trolls

Can we offer a word of praise for Lisa Duffy, the unlovely would-be UKIP leader? The HuffPost says Dear Lisa is being mocked on the web.

The candidate with the most momentum seems to Lisa Duffy, who has secured a number of significant endorsements in the past few days. While Duffy has attracted support from established party members, some members of Ukips youth wing  Young Independence  have been mocking the leadership contender.

Mocking. Not trolling? So says the Huffost, on which you can read such anti-trolling stories as:

Jess Phillips Reveals The Extent Of Trolling As Even More Women Are Forced Offline

We Often Forget Online Abuse Has Real World Repercussions Why Female Journalists Are A Major Target For Internet Trolls (Sexism Has Something To Do With It) London Metropolitan Police Service Take A Massive Step To Tackle Online Hate Crime

Is it only mockery when you dont much like the person on the receiving end, but criminal trolling when you do? The HuffPost provides a few examples of the mocking:

In a closed Facebook group called YI Faculty, Oscar Gomez, a former local election candidate in North East Derbyshire, wrote: Roll the fat fuck down the street and straight to the RSPCA. We can flog her off as an unwanted butchers dog. Another group member, Edwin Smith, wrote: She rolls her sleeves up before assaulting another bucket of deep fried poultry. After a picture was posted of Duffy mocked up as Mr Blobby with the caption: Mrs Duffy says Move on, Smith wrote: She needs to move on to a treadmill.

And how has Duffy responded to this trolling, which looks a lot like being rude, fattist, sexist (shes being called a dog) and, lest it go unsaid, offensive?

Duffys campaign manager Jay Beecher said: These vile attacks on her are clearly just a childish attempt by some of her competitors who see her as the main contender. Were busy fighting for a bright future for Ukip, so well do what weve always done: rise above them

Stick and stones, eh. Meanwhile, over at Labour, one MP has called in the police after being told to get in the sea on twitter. Oh, grow up.

Anorak

Posted: 16th, August 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
Italy arrested 85 for terror, monitored 110 foreign fighters Interior ministry releases data from past year

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 16 - Over the past year, Italy has arrested 85 extremists with links to international terrorism and 793 traffickers in charge of migrant boats, while some 154,047 migrants have landed on Italian coasts over the past year. The data was released by the interior ministry as part of a traditional August 15 press conference by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. In addition to the 85 arrested in the period between August 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016, some 109 people were expelled from the country for security reasons and 110 foreign fighters were monitored. Some 406,338 web contents were checked and 527 were blacked out by the police. A total 164,160 people, 35,022 vehicles and 349 motorboats were checked. Some 67% of the landings happened on Sicily and 90% of those who arrived over the past year on the Italian coasts went through the police identification process. Asylum requests rose from 71,539 to 105,867. Some 94,027 were examined but two-thirds were rejected (60,365). Currently, 139,724 migrants are housed in various reception facilities in the country and there are over 4 million foreigners in the country with stay permits, including 693,236 minors. (ANSAmed).




Eid sheep part of Moroccan efforts against voter fraud Politicians ordering as many as 300 animals each

(ANSAmed) - RABAT, AUGUST 16 - The Moroccan interior minister is taking action to prevent voter fraud and is focusing on the sheep that will end up on Muslims' tables for the upcoming Feast of Sacrifice (Eid Al-Adha).



The holiday will be shortly before the elections for the House of Representatives. Eid Al-Adha, considered the holiest Muslim holiday, will this year fall in mid-September. Tradition calls for a sheep to be sacrificed in memory of the one killed by Abraham/Ibrahim instead of his son Ismael, who he had been about to offer as a sacrifice to God according to the Bible and the Quran. Parliamentary elections will be held on October 7 and the authorities' eyebrows have been raised by large advance orders received by sheep breeders. Helping the less fortunate, especially during religious holidays, is a Muslim duty. Those who can afford it tend to buy a sheep for their own family and ones for those who cannot afford to buy one. However, orders for 200 and sometimes 300 sheep by individual politicians have raised suspicions. Over 8 million sheep are killed every year for the Feast of Sacrifice, on which an estimated 10 billion dirham are spent (about 100 million euros). The sum is a significant windfall for the agricultural sector, which accounts for 16% of GDP in Morocco. (ANSAmed).




ROME - The Community of Sant'Egidio held a Mass at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere on Sunday dedicated to peace and salvation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.



Some of those who attended the Mass were Christian Syrians from Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus, who received safe passage to Italy through the use of humanitarian corridors set up in recent months by the Community of Sant'Egidio and Protestant Churches of Italy.



Amid the melody of an ancient Syrian hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the recitation of the "Our Father" in Arabic, Father Marco Gnavi celebrated the Mass in honour of the "Syrian city symbolic of the cohabitation of cultures and religions, victim of a siege that spares no one, starting with the weakest, the sick, and children," a statement from the Community of Sant'Egidio said.



"Aleppo, a city symbolic of cohabitation, a rare jewel in a long history made up of ancient relationships and respect between Christians and Muslims, a city that has also had a Jewish presence, today is dying in both the east and west, from bombs, missiles, hunger and thirst, and above all the obliviousness of those who could but don't want to listen to the cries of the innocent and the pleas to spare Aleppo," Father Gnavi said during his homily.



"Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox bishops have come to Santa Maria in Trastevere from this city, and have brought us into the drama facing their communities. But worldwide public opinion has seen with its own eyes the skeletons of gutted buildings, the anguish of the sick without treatment, the horror over hospitals targeted by unrestrained hate, cynical to the point of hitting maternity wards and newborn life. We can't resign ourselves in the face of the suffering cry of Aleppo, and we pray that the Father will shake the conscience of the people, of the politicians, of the faithful, that the siege of death killing Aleppo and its children might be broken".(ANSAmed).
Turkey calls on Kurdish fighters to leave Manbij Foreign minister says US promise must be kept

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, AUGUST 16 - Turkey has called for Kurdish forces to retreat to the area east of the Euphrates following the taking last week of the formerly ISIS-controlled Syrian city of Manbij.



Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, cited by Kurdish site Rudaw, said the US had promised the Kurds would retreat after the operation, which was led by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made up predominantly of Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG).



The YPG is an ally of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), a group of Turkish separatists that the US and the EU have called a terrorist organisation. (ANSAmed).




Community of Sant'Egidio holds Mass for peace in Aleppo Some attendants came through Sant'Egidio humanitarian corridors

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 16 - The Community of Sant'Egidio held a Mass at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere on Sunday dedicated to peace and salvation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.



Some of those who attended the Mass were Christian Syrians from Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus, who received safe passage to Italy through the use of humanitarian corridors set up in recent months by the Community of Sant'Egidio and Protestant Churches of Italy.



Amid the melody of an ancient Syrian hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the recitation of the "Our Father" in Arabic, Father Marco Gnavi celebrated the Mass in honour of the "Syrian city symbolic of the cohabitation of cultures and religions, victim of a siege that spares no one, starting with the weakest, the sick, and children," a statement from the Community of Sant'Egidio said.



"Aleppo, a city symbolic of cohabitation, a rare jewel in a long history made up of ancient relationships and respect between Christians and Muslims, a city that has also had a Jewish presence, today is dying in both the east and west, from bombs, missiles, hunger and thirst, and above all the obliviousness of those who could but don't want to listen to the cries of the innocent and the pleas to spare Aleppo," Father Gnavi said during his homily.



"Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox bishops have come to Santa Maria in Trastevere from this city, and have brought us into the drama facing their communities. But worldwide public opinion has seen with its own eyes the skeletons of gutted buildings, the anguish of the sick without treatment, the horror over hospitals targeted by unrestrained hate, cynical to the point of hitting maternity wards and newborn life. We can't resign ourselves in the face of the suffering cry of Aleppo, and we pray that the Father will shake the conscience of the people, of the politicians, of the faithful, that the siege of death killing Aleppo and its children might be broken".(ANSAmed).




ROME - Over the past year, Italy has arrested 85 extremists with links to international terrorism and 793 traffickers in charge of migrant boats, while some 154,047 migrants have landed on Italian coasts over the past year. The data was released by the interior ministry as part of a traditional August 15 press conference by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.

In addition to the 85 arrested in the period between August 1, 2015 and July 31, 2016, some 109 people were expelled from the country for security reasons and 110 foreign fighters were monitored. Some 406,338 web contents were checked and 527 were blacked out by the police. A total 164,160 people, 35,022 vehicles and 349 motorboats were checked.

Some 67% of the landings happened on Sicily and 90% of those who arrived over the past year on the Italian coasts went through the police identification process. Asylum requests rose from 71,539 to 105,867. Some 94,027 were examined but two-thirds were rejected (60,365). Currently, 139,724 migrants are housed in various reception facilities in the country and there are over 4 million foreigners in the country with stay permits, including 693,236 minors.
TEL AVIV - A 17-year-old Palestinian boy named Muhammad Abu Hashhash died on Tuesday after sustaining injuries in clashes with the Israeli army in the southern part of Hebron in the West Bank. Some 32 other Palestinians were also injured, the news agency Maan quoted the Palestinian health minister as saying. The spokesman for Palestinian emergency health services, Errab Foqoha, was quoted by Maan as saying that the boy died after being hit by live bullets near his heart that had been shot by the Israeli army during the clashes.

Palestinian sources quoted by local media say that the incidents occurred during searches conducted by the Israeli army for weapons in the Al-Fawar refugee camp near Hebron.


Syria: 20 civilians killed in airstrike on Aleppo, SOHR Three children among victims

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, AUGUST 16 - At least 20 civilians including three children were killed in airstrikes on Tuesday that hit areas of Aleppo under opposition control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The Sakhour and Al-Bab areas were targeted, SOHR said, adding that the death toll was likely to rise. (ANSAmed).




Airstrikes on Syria from Iran cheaper, says Moscow Important 'strategically and tactically'

(ANSAmed) - MOSCOW, AUGUST 16 - Having aircraft used to conduct attacks in Syria take off from Iran is less expensive and safer, Russian Admiral Vladimir Komoedov said on Tuesday. ''Flying out of the European part of Russia is costly and time-consuming. The issue of spending on war and the military is currently of great importance. We must not exceed the current defense ministry budget. Tupolev Tu-22 flights from Iran mean less fuel and more bombs,'' Komoedov, the head of the Russian State Duma's Defense Committee, said.



The admiral added that taking off in Syria entails risks stemming from having to fly over conflict areas. Franz Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, echoed his words and said that it was a ''very important step from both a tactical and a strategic point of view. First of all, it increases flight safety, and second it increases the efficacy of airstrikes against the Islamic State significantly, reducing flight time and increasing the bomb load.'' (ANSAmed).




Human Rights Watch denounces incendiary weapons in Syria Says Syrian and Russian forces are illegally using them

(ANSAmed) - ROME, AUGUST 16 - Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday denounced the use of incendiary weapons by Syrian and Russian forces, which it said have been used at least 18 times in the past six weeks, including in August 7 attacks on opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo and Idlib, in violation of international law.



HRW called on countries scheduled to participate in the August 29 conference on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva to condemn the use of incendiary bombs - which are designed to burn their victims and cause fires - in areas with civilian populations, which is in violation of Protocol III of the CCW. (ANSAmed).




PLO calls on ICC to end Israeli settlement expansion PLO secretary general asks ICC to open legal investigation

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, AUGUST 16 - Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General Saeb Erekat has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to make a ruling on the PLO's "complete dossier" regarding Israel's expansion of settlements within Palestinian territory, and to open a legal investigation into "these crimes", said Palestinian media sources.



Israeli media, including Israeli daily Haaretz, said Israel may possibly claim as "state territory" a wide area southeast of Jerusalem near the Efrat settlement in the hills of the West Bank near Hebron. m(ANSAmed).




Pope says migrants are opportunity for cultural growth In message to youth conference on migration in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - VATICAN CITY, AUGUST 16 - Pope Francis, in a written message to participants at a youth conference in Puglia on migration in the Mediterranean, asked them to "consider the presence of the many migrant brothers and sisters an opportunity of human growth, of meeting and dialogue between cultures and religions, also as an occasion to witness the gospel of mercy," said Religious Information Service (SIR) on Tuesday. Pope Francis on Monday called for peace and justice for women who have been raped and forced into sex slavery, especially in war zones. Francis urged the faithful to pray for "women overwhelmed by the weight of living and the drama of violence, slaves to the bullying of the powerful, children forced into inhuman work, women forced to yield in body and spirit by men's greed". "May the start of a life of peace, justice and love come for them as soon as possible," he said. "The silence on the innocent victims of wars is shameful," the pope said, urging peace in Congo after recent massacres. (ANSAmed).




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Guangzhou will join more than 40 destinations on Emirates extensive global network served by its highly popular A380 aircraft, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, Bangkok, and Seoul.

Since the routes inauguration in 2008, Emirates has been flying a two-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on its daily flights between Guangzhou and Dubai, and the airline has seen steady growth for its service on the route. Once the A380 service commences, it will increase capacity by 15% to meet the growing travel and trade demand from Southern China to Dubai and beyond.



Emirates will deploy its three-class A380 on the Guangzhou route, offering a total of 491 seats, with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 mini pods with lie-flat seats in Business Class and 401 spacious seats in Economy Class. Flight EK362 will depart Dubai at 10:20am and arrive in Guangzhou at 22:05. The return flight, EK363, will depart Guangzhou at 12:15am and arrive in Dubai at 03:50.
The new service will begin from October 30, 2016. Together with Alitalia, its codeshare and equity partner, Etihad Airways will offer 35 weekly flights in and out of Italy, including double daily services to Rome and Milan.

Kevin Knight, Etihad Airways chief strategy and planning officer, said: Launching our service to Venice further supports a very popular passenger route between Italy, our Abu Dhabi hub and onwards throughout Etihad Airways growing network, as far afield as Australia. Together with our codeshare and equity partner Alitalia, we are also strengthening the significant trade relationship between Italy and the UAE.
In a joint letter to Ministers of Trade, Industry and Transport, and Directors of Civil Aviation in the worlds largest lithium battery manufacturing and export countries, IATA, PRBA, the US Rechargeable Battery Association, Recharge the European Advanced Rechargeable and Lithium Battery Association, the Global Shippers Forum (GSF) and the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) have called for lithium battery safety regulations to be enforced at the point of origin including the initial shipper and the battery manufacturer.

The letter also called for implementation of cooperative enforcement initiatives between jurisdictions to address situations, where lithium batteries manufactured in one state are driven over a border to be flown from another state. The global associations also called for significant fines and custodial sentences to be imposed on those who circumvent the regulations.

"Safety is aviations top priority. Airlines, shippers and manufacturers have worked hard to establish rules that ensure lithium batteries can be carried safely. But the rules are only effective if they are enforced and backed-up by significant penalties. Government authorities must step up and take responsibility for regulating rogue producers and exporters. And flagrant abuses of dangerous goods shipping regulations, which place aircraft and passenger safety at risk, must be criminalized," said Tony Tyler IATAs Director General and CEO.

"The actions of a minority threaten to undermine confidence in legitimate battery and product manufacturers. This a matter of deep concern for our members," said George A. Kerchner, Executive Director of PRBA which represents most of the worlds largest manufacturers of lithium ion and lithium metal batteries and manufacturers of products powered by these batteries.

IATA and the PRBA have repeatedly called upon governments to address the danger posed by the wilful disregard of the international regulations by rogue manufacturers and shippers and to close existing legal loopholes that prevent prosecutions of serial offenders. Lack of enforcement is increasing pressure on airlines and regulators to unilaterally ban all forms of lithium battery shipments from aircraft. This would add to the cost of global supply chains and consumer goods, and encourage those who flout the law to increase mislabelling of batteries, further increasing safety and security risks.

"A ban on the shipment of lithium ion batteries aboard aircraft would put lives at risk by slowing delivery of life-critical and lifeenhancing medical equipment and jeopardize the security of many countries because a large number of military applications are powered by lithium batteries," said Kerchner.
The award for X-ray scanners, people screening systems and trace detectors is part of national programme to provide an additional layer of security to existing equipment at airports. Smiths Detection systems were chosen by the Egyptian Ministry of Defence for their lifetime high performance and quality, as proven by earlier contracts.



The HI-SCAN 6040aTiX (right) and HI-SCAN 6040-2is HR, which combine multi- or dual-view, high resolution imaging with sophisticated software to automatically detect explosives in carry-on baggage, will be deployed at security checkpoints. The innovative millimeter-wave eqo scanners, which can detect threat items of any material under clothing, will provide additional passenger screening. The recently launched IONSCAN 600, which detects and identifies explosives from traces found on baggage or clothing, will be deployed at passenger checkpoints and in hold baggage screening.

The contract also includes HI-SCAN 100100T-2is and HI-SCAN 145180-2is X-ray machines for screening oversized baggage and air cargo for explosives and other threats. Additional vehicle and cargo screening will be provided by the CIP-300 and HCVP Z60 car inspection X-ray portals and the mobile HCVMe35 for the inspection of loaded trucks and containers at airport entrances. Deliveries will be completed by August 2016.

Falcon Group is the main security supplier for Egypt and is in close relationship to the Military Intelligence which is a part of the Egyptian Ministry of Defence.

Tony Tielen, regional vice president EMEA, at Smiths Detection, said: Enhancing aviation security through leading-edge technology is our top priority. With a broad portfolio of detection technologies, an excellent customer-orientated sales team and a strong local partner, ITI, we are proud to be a trusted partner of the Egyptian Ministry of Defence. The range of screening systems included in this contract will help provide world-class detection capabilities to protect against evolving threats.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, has described the fight for the Syrian city of Aleppo as one of the most devastating conflicts in modern times. Fighting has been intensifying during the past weeks with hundreds of people killed and untold numbers injured. Public services have all but broken down. Tens of thousands are trapped and without aid, the ICRC reported.

"No one and nowhere is safe. Shell-fire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense. For four years, the people of Aleppo have been devastated by brutal war, and it is only getting worse for them. This is beyond doubt one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times," said Mr. Maurer.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, and many others forced to leave temporary shelters they had been living in.

There has been massive damage to the city's infrastructure. With water and electricity supplies cut or severely reduced, the population is at risk from untreated and unsafe water. Humanitarian organizations, among others the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have begun trucking drinking water as an emergency measure.

"The human cost of the fighting in Aleppo is simply too high. We urge all parties to stop the destruction and indiscriminate attacks, and stop the killing. Parties involved in the fighting need to respect the basic rules of warfare, in order to prevent the loss of more innocent lives. Besides the direct threat posed by the fighting, the lack of essential services such as water and electricity, poses an immediate and dramatic risk for up to two million people, who have great difficulty in accessing basic medical care," said Mr Maurer.

The ICRC calls on all parties to allow humanitarian agencies to reach civilians in desperate need of help in all parts of the city, as well as in neighboring rural areas. Regular humanitarian pauses are needed to allow in humanitarian aid and allow enough time to carry out repairs to essential services.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he would enact "extreme vetting" of immigrants, BBC reported.

In a speech in Ohio, the candidate outlined his plans to combat Islamic extremism, including a new screening test for arrivals to the US.

Applicants will be tested to determine if they share Western liberal values like LGBT and religious tolerance.

Democratic rival Hillary Clinton poured scorn on his plan, labelling it a "cynical ploy".

"This so-called 'policy' cannot be taken seriously," said her spokesman.

"How can Trump put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and selected as his running mate the man [Mike Pence] who signed an anti-LGBT law in Indiana?"

Under Mr Trump's plan, citizens from countries with a history of terror will be banned but it is not clear which nations.

In the speech, he did not lay out his own military strategy for defeating the so-called Islamic State.

But he did repeat his claim he was opposed to the Iraq War before it began, whichfact-checkers say is untrue.

And he said that the oil in Iraq should have been seized by the US government to prevent it from becoming the property of IS.

In his speech, Mr Trump promised to:

Ban immigration from countries where terrorism is widespread and vetting is poor.

Make alliances with all countries fighting against terrorism.

Introduce an ideology test for new immigrants arriving to the US.

Keep Guantanamo Bay prison open.

Establish a presidential commission to investigate Islamic terror.

Work with Nato, despite previously calling it "obsolete".

The billionaire initially proposed a blanket ban on all Muslims but has changed it to one that is based on an unspecified list of countries that export terror.

The latest proposal includes creating an ideological test for immigrants entering the country, with questions addressing how each applicant views American values such as religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

"Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country," he said.

Mr Trump said that the test will not only expose terrorist sympathisers, but also will "screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles".

He heavily criticised his rival Hillary Clinton, saying that she lacks the "mental and physical stamina" to defeat IS.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. New York City has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man killed in a Brooklyn housing project in 2014 by a police officer on patrol, according to a lawyer for Mr. Gurleys family, New York Times reported.

The city will pay the bulk of the settlement, $4.1 million, said Scott Rynecki, who represents Mr. Gurleys domestic partner, Kimberly Ballinger, and their 4-year-old daughter, Akaila Gurley. The New York City Housing Authority will pay an additional $400,000, and the officer, Peter Liang, will pay $25,000, Mr. Rynecki said.

The settlement, reported by The Daily News, was finalized on Monday afternoon by Justice Dawn M. Jimenez-Salta of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, after two months of negotiations. Efforts to reach a lawyer for Mr. Liang and the citys Law Department late Monday were unsuccessful.

Mr. Gurley was killed on Nov. 20, 2014, by a ricocheting bullet fired by Mr. Liang, who was on a night patrol in a dark stairwell in the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood.

Mr. Liang was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and the Police Department fired him. But in April, Justice Danny K. Chun of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn reduced the charge to criminally negligent homicide, describing the shooting as essentially an accident. He sentenced Mr. Liang to five years of probation and 800 hours of community service.

The case frustrated many in the Asian-American community who felt that Mr. Liang, who is Chinese-American, was used as a scapegoat during a national debate about the policing of black communities. And many African-Americans protested the shooting, citing concerns with tactics used by officers in housing projects and drawing parallels to other fatal shootings of unarmed black men.

At the sentencing, Mr. Liang apologized to Mr. Gurleys loved ones. The shot was accidental, he said. My life has forever changed.

The $4.1 million will be paid out in structured settlements to Akaila, starting when she turns 18 years old, though Ms. Ballinger may petition the court to receive a small portion, perhaps in the form of a monthly stipend, Mr. Rynecki said. A college fund will also be established for Akaila.

She looks forward to raising Akaila to be a productive member of society and someone Akai will be proud of, Mr. Rynecki said.
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Belgium will sign a new agreement on air communications, reports Armenpress.

The issue of approving the agreement will be discussed during the Armenian Governments August 18 session.

The draft agreement is comprised of 25 Articles and the Appendix. The Articles mainly define and regulate the powers, the rights and obligations of the airlines set for carrying out international flights, the aviation and flights safety maintenance requirements, the provisions of tariff formation, fair competition, the commercial cooperation between the airlines, the applicable laws, and the procedures for solving misunderstandings. The Appendix defines the routes of air communications agreed by the airline or airlines and the related provisions, stated in the proposition.

It is expected the approval of the draft will enable to expand the Armenian-Belgian cooperation in an aviation sector, will contribute to the development of tourism and economic relations between the two states.

Taking into account the above-mentioned, the Ministry of Economy of Armenia considers appropriate the signing of a new agreement.

The relations on air communications sector between Armenia and Belgium are being regulated by an agreement on air transfers which was signed on June 7, 2001 in Brussels and came into force on November 1, 2003. The agreement was developed until the adoption of Open Sky policy by the Armenian Government up to October, 2013, thus it is not relevant and doesnt correspond to principles of that policy.
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One of the biggest comforts of fast food is its familiarity. Generic from location to location, you know not only what the food will be and how it will taste, but that the ritual of the experience will be familiar too. It isnt that fast food people are necessarily unadventurous; but at least some of the time, theyre drawn to the familiar.

Theres a parallel on the internet. Remember the sense of adventure when the web was first new and you were always discovering new websites? Or when social media became a thing and suddenly information and people opened up in whole new ways? After a while though, you get used to your pathways, your trusted sources of information and daily conversations, and the rituals of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram or Snapchat are familiar and comforting. Fewer and fewer of us boldly go off to explore far corners of the internet.

Kyle Chayka has a fascinating piece in Verge suggesting that the familiarity conveyed by our online apps has begun to make our real world experiences more generic.

Its easy to see how social media shapes our interactions on the internet, through web browsers, feeds, and apps. Yet technology is also shaping the physical world, influencing the places we go and how we behave in areas of our lives that didnt heretofore seem so digital. Think of the traffic app Waze rerouting cars in Los Angeles and disrupting otherwise quiet neighborhoods; Airbnb parachuting groups of international tourists into residential communities; Instagram spreading IRL lifestyle memes; or Foursquare sending traveling businessmen to the same cafe over and over again. We could call this strange geography created by technology AirSpace. Its the realm of coffee shops, bars, startup offices, and co-live / work spaces that share the same hallmarks everywhere you go: a profusion of symbols of comfort and quality, at least to a certain connoisseurial mindset.

As we depend on social media apps to find things we like, we find ourselves increasingly in the same kinds of places wherever we are. After a while they feel placeless, like they could be anywhere, and they could be. Tourists flock to shopping districts in far off cities to shop in a version of the Gap they could have gone to at home. That artisanal coffeeshop you just discovered through your app feels comfortably familiar because artisanal is the new generic and you like it that way.

So whats wrong with generic culture? Dont we need some generic so the extraordinary can stand out? And why does generic by definition need to be looked down on by those who are more adventurous? Chayka suggests that cyber-genericity leads to de-personalization and life in a bubble. That bubble gets increasingly more difficult to exit.

Left unchecked, there is a kind of nightmare version of AirSpace that could spread room by room, cafe by cafe across the world. Its already there, if you look for it. There are blank white lofts with subway-tile bathrooms, modular furniture, wall-mounted TVs, high-speed internet, and wide, viewless windows in every city, whether its downtown Madrid; Nrrebro, Copenhagen; or Gulou, Beijing. Once you take the place of the people who live there, you can head out to their favorite coffee shops, bars, or workspaces, which will be instantly recognizable because they look just like the apartment that youre living in. You will probably enjoy it. You might think, This is nice, I am comfortable. And then you can move on to the next one, only a click away.
by Thanh Tin

The priest dedicated 48 years of his life to ministry and care for the poor, lepers, Montagnards, abandoned children, single mothers, students. He served 10 years in prison for being chaplain to the South Vietnamese troops during the war. Since 2006 he had been director of Caritas Saigon. A thousand thank him again: "Whatever difficulties we had, Fr. 'Ut' was always with us".

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Five years after his death, the Church in Vietnam recalls Fr. Joseph Dinh Huy Huong, known as Fr. "Ut", a priest who dedicated his life to supporting the poor, lepers, single mothers, orphans, AIDS patients, Montagnards, with no distinction between Christians and non Christians.

Many believers, in the north, center and south of Vietnam, prayed for him on August 9, the anniversary of his death: "We are very grateful to Fr. Joseph Dinh Huy Huong. When we were in trouble, he was always there to help us both in material and spiritual terms".

"Ut" was born May 6, 1940 in the diocese of Phat Diem, and became a priest of the diocese of Saigon (later Ho Chi Minh City) in 1969.

To serve the Catholic soldiers during the Vietnam War, in 1972 he was drafted into the army. He was chaplain of the Republic of Vietnam troops (ally of the US), giving the sacraments even on the battlefield. Before the North Vietnamese victory, he received an offer to leave the country to go to the USA, but declined to accept. His decision to remain cost him 10 years of hard labor (1975-85). Released but kept under house arrest, he began to serve the poor and by 1995 he was parish priest of Duc Tin, on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. In 2006, Card. Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man named him head of the Commission for social and charitable work of the diocese. In the following years he collaborated with two priests, two nuns and three parishioners to help thousands of poor people of the area.

After 1975, when the revolutionary government began arresting all religious in the country and to close congregations and seminaries, Fr. Joseph Dinh Huy Huong took charge of maintaining contacts and helping to secretly ordain Redemptorist priests.

One of them, Fr. Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, said: "In 1990, I and two others went with Fr. Joseph Dinh Huy Huong to be ordained priests. Following this, a series of Redemptorist brothers received the ministry in these conditions. In all 34 brothers. From that moment a new phase in the vocations of the Redemptorists began".

From 2009, due to a heart disease, Fr. "Ut" had to live in a nursing home in Phat Diem. But poor health did not stop him: he launched a Du Sinh charity fund (Qui Bac Ai Du Sinh), to support the poor and the abandoned Vietnam.

Many believers in the district of Can Gio and Ho Chi Minh City parishes remember him with affection: "We faced many difficulties: typhoons, poor or orphaned children, sickness. Fr. Huong has always helped us with love. Thanks to him, we still have free medical care in the diocese".
On the feast day of the Assumption the whole community attended the function, celebrated by Mar Sako. For the patriarchal vicar, this is an historic moment for the frontier town long threatened by jihadists. The Chaldean primate calls on children to "contribute to the community." In Kirkuk His Beatitude opened a grotto dedicated to Our Lady.

Alqosh (AsiaNews)  The first communion Mass in Alqosh was an historic moment" for a "frontier town" that has been under threat from the militants of the Islamic State (IS) for a long time. Now it can "hope for peace and normalcy" around these hundred children, said Mgr Basil Yaldo, auxiliary bishop of Baghdad and close associate of the Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako.

The Chaldean primate presided over the ceremony that was attended by "all the priests of the city, the nuns and more than 700 people. The faithful were excited because for the first time, the patriarch celebrated communions in the community."

Alqosh is an historic town in the Nineveh Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan. It is located about 50 km north of Mosul, a Jihadist stronghold, and constitutes one of the main centres of the Assyrian-Chaldean Christian tradition.

At about 3 km from the centre, in the mountains overlooking the city, stands the ancient monastery of Rabban Hormizd, see of the Nestorian patriarchs from 1551 to 1804.

Over time, the original structure, too exposed to attacks from outside as well as a symbol of a troubled period of the local Church, was replaced by the new monastery of Our Lady of Messi, just outside the city.

Today it is inhabited by a group of monks, who opened their doors to orphans and unaccompanied minors separated from their families because of Islamist violence.

Like many other towns in Iraqi Kurdistan, Alqosh too welcomed scores of refugees.

"Life in the area is almost back to normal, said the vicar of Baghdad. We hope that soon the whole plain [of Nineveh] can be liberated from the jihadists, and that refugees can return to their villages.

The work to secure the area, he added, has "already started and for the past two days Iraqi troops have launched the battle to liberate the villages surrounding Mosul."

Addressing the boys and girls who received the first communion, Patriarch Sako urged them not to abandon their land, the city of Alqosh, but to stay and help in the reconstruction "because there is a (Christian) heritage to be preserved. "

The Chaldean primate, Mgr Yaldo noted, also called on young people to "be stronger, come to church and participate in the life of the Christian community as one participates in the life of a family."

After the service, the children asked Patriarch Sako some questions. One of them, Mgr Yaldo noted, said that when he "grows up he wants to become a priest to serve the poor and the needy."

The patriarch could not hold back his emotion after listening to such words, adding that "it is important to support and share the suffering."

After Mass, the Chaldean Patriarch and his deputy reached Kirkuk, where Mar Sako has been archbishop for ten years. Here he celebrated the Mass of the Assumption.

The service was held in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, the prelate said, and "was attended by about a thousand faithful." This was followed by "the opening of a grotto dedicated to the Virgin, to coincide with the day of celebration".

The current archbishop of Kirkuk Mgr Yousif Thoma Mirkis, nuns, the citys deputy governor representing the local government and some members of the City Council, Muslims, were presented at the function (pictured).

At the end, a meeting was held with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who today are gathered in chapter to choose a superior general.

"After weeks of violence, bombings, and bloodshed, the situation is now calmer, Mgr Yaldo said. However, Patriarch Sako called for prayers for peace in all the celebrations he officiated. We need to pray for peace and for the future of the country."
by Card. Oswald Gracias

On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of Independence, celebrated yesterday, the Archbishop of Mumbai thanks God for the gifts granted to the Catholic community. The festival falls in the year of the Jubilee and Mother Teresa's canonization, a "special gift" for the whole world. The commitment of Catholics is dedicated to mutual understanding. Condemnation of forced proselytism but a firm request for freedom of religion and conscience.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - We are so proud of our country, we all journey onward, towards development and progress, each citizen has a role to play. On our 70th Independence Day, we give thanks to God, that the Catholic Church of India continues to play an integral part in nation building as well as building up of a human community of freedom and fellowship, equality and justice.. The Catholic Church has been building up the Indian nation and has significantly contributed toward the progress of our beloved nation.

The contribution of the Catholic Church in the field of education, health care and various social, political and cultural upbringing in India is unique and without discrimination of caste and creed. Responding to the need of the time the Catholic Church of India the Church has been able to promote human dignity and life.

Statistics reveal that 85 percent of the health care institutions run by Church in India are in the rural villages where the Church has been selflessly serving the poorest of the poor and reaching the unreached, with a non negotiable respect for life and regard for Christian ethical principles and a holistic outlook on health.

Indian Christians also took part during the Swadeshi Movement (1905), the Non-Co-operation Movement (1920), the Civil Disobedient Movement (1930) and Quit India Movement (1942). Indian Christian presence in the freedom struggle was being made felt at the national level as well as regional local level. They were able to establish their credentials as freedom fighters at state and regional level

In our 70th Independence Day, on the Feast of the Assumption, in this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy is a great time for the Church too, in many different States, we are celebrating Centenaries, in Mumbai,(Maharashtra) St Andrews Church, Bandra is celebrating 400 years as a Parish, in Goa, the Holy Spirit Church, Margao celebrating 500 years, and in Chennai, Our Lady of Light Church commonly called Luz Church is Celebrating 500 years, this is truly a Gift of God to celebrate these centenaries in our beloved motherland.

Importantly, in our 70th year of Independence ,Bl Mother Teresa a naturalised citizen- will be cannonisation, and Indian government welcomed the cannonisation and is participating in the by sending a high powered delegation for the cannonisaion.

India is a multi religious and pluri-cultural country. Such diversity is its divinely bestowed blessing and grace. The Churchs mission in this context calls for it to be a truly dialogical community. The dialogical mission of the Church also implies that it becomes an agent of reconciliation and peace among the various groups. mutual misunderstanding, hatred, discord and discrimination could be opposed, and we could together build up a nation with justice, peace and harmony

The Act of Consecration of the Archdiocese of Bombay to the Immaculate Heart of Mary includes this prayer :

On the Solemnity of the Assumption we come before you on the 70th Anniversary of our Nationas Independence to intercede for our beloved Motherland before the throne of Almighty God that His peace may reign on our nation and that the people of India may live in harmony within the diversity of cultures, customs and beliefs and help us all to live as loyal citizens united under the same national banner and as children of the loving Father who is in heaven.

God Bless India.
by Sumon Corraya

The two killed on 13 August were both natives of Bangladesh. They were gunned down in Queens while they were returning from the mosque. Msgr. Gervas Rozario, Bishop of Rajshahi: "We condemn the murder in the strongest possible way. Those who spread hatred against religion must be stopped".

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - On August 13 last, an imam and his assistant, both from Bangladesh, were shot dead in New York. After afternoon prayer, the two were approached by the murderer near Ozone Park, Queens. The man shot both in the ead at point blank range.

The victims, Maulana Alauddin Akonjee (55 years) and Thara Uddin (64), were dressed in religious clothing. Akonjee was carrying $ 1,000, but the murderer did not steal the cash. On August 14, the New York police arrested a suspect in the murder. He is Oscar Morel, 35 from Brooklyn. Officers reportedly found a revolver and some clothing similar to those which appear in the surveillance video, in his home.

The motive of the double murder is yet to be verified. Some of the city's Muslims have demonstrated to demand more security, accusing the Republican candidate for the presidency Donald Trump, of inciting hatred towards Islam during his election campaign.

Msgr. Gervas Rozario, Bishop of Rajshahi and president of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, has strongly condemned the murder of the two Bangladeshi Muslims in New York: "We are very shocked and sorry for the incident, which we condemn in the strongest terms. We condemn in the same way all those who spread hatred and discrimination against other religions. They must be controlled by authorities".

According to the prelate the murder could have been caused by "racial hatred.

In a tweet, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh expressed sorrow for "a cowardly act committed against peaceful people.

On August 14 hundreds of faithful gathered at the mosque in Ozone Park - frequented mostly by people originating from Bangladesh - to remember the victims.

Yesterday the Akonjee relatives spoke of the grief that struck their family, asking: "How can you kill because of religion in a civilized country like the United States?".
Some 300 young people from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan attended the event. For Grace (from China), the discovery of the cross made her feel closer to God. The theme of the gathering was The courage of mercy.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews)  The East Asia youth meeting organised by the Taize Community on Cheung Chau Island ended yesterday.

Eight months in the making, the gathering brought together 300 young people from different parts of Asia: 100 from mainland China, 30 from South Korea, 25 from Japan and the others from Hong Kong.

The topic of the meeting was The courage of mercy and participants took part in work activities, told their stories and held moments of silence.

Fr Paul Kam, one of the host priests, is involved with youth in Hong Kong. He said that one of the events goals was to promote unity between Catholics and Protestants. Hong Kong was chosen to facilitate the arrival of young people from China.

Brother Han-yol, of the Taize Community, said that next years meeting will also be held in Hong Kong.

Many young Chinese came here without knowing precisely the kind of meeting they would be participating in. They were invited by their priest or some member of the sister Churches (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau).

Grace Shijiazhuang (Hebei), said that before coming here she "felt God very far from her life", but when she found the cross, "with tears in her eyes," she felt very close to God.

Miki from Guangzhou stressed that she learnt much more about herself through prayer, and meeting many new people who attended the event.

Ji Sun, from South Korea, acknowledged that "before my faith was weak. After this meeting I feel that I am stronger."
Seoul (AsiaNews) - More than 900 residents of the area of Seongju have shaved their heads to protest the decision to build the THAAD, anti-missile system that should defend the country from the North's attacks. The protest leader, Kim An-soo, says: "This is our strongest protest. We can not do more". In total, 908 people shaved their heads: in Korean culture - and in East Asia in general  a shaved scalp is the prerogative of the monks or those condemned to death.

The residents of the county, for most growers of a particular and very famous type of melon, remained silent during shaving. All that could be heard was a chorus that said "No to Thaad". Yoo Ji-won, 63, says: "It is not just about the selected site. The THAAD simply should not be built in South Korea.

On 13 July, 2016 the government announced that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be built in Seongju by the end of 2017. This is intended to counter threats from North Korea and It will have the ability to defend two-thirds of the South Korean peninsula from North Korean missiles. It will also protect industrial zones, nuclear power plants and fuel depots. The bishops of the country have spoken out against the plan, which is likely to exacerbate tensions between the two nations.

The South Korean government defends its agreement with the United States. Speaking on the occasion of the Liberation Day (from Japanese rule), marked on August 15 in many Asian nations, the President Park Geun-hye said: "I call on the government of the North to immediately stop any provocation and threat, as well as the development of weapons of mass destruction. True liberation will only happen with the reunification of the peninsula, but this in turn is possible only if you eliminate the fear of war".
by Joseph Masilamany

The government rules against infidels" working in private homes. Associations, employers and workers protest. Domestic workers are the main target. One job placement agency wonders why Saudi Arabia and Qatar allow Muslims to hire non-Muslims whilst Malaysia does not.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews)  Malaysias Immigration Department has banned non-Muslim domestics from working in Muslim households.

The decision sparked protests by employment agencies and employers, who wonder what logic is behind the decision.

Comments on social media all tend to share the same view, namely that religion should not be an obstacle to work and coexistence.

"Religion should not be an obstacle, said Engku Ahmad Fauzi, head of the Malaysian Maid Employers Association. When you work in an office, you don't base it on religion and likewise, this should not be the case for the maid in the home," he noted.

One job placement agency owner who wished to remain anonymous wonders why other Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar allow Muslims to hire non-Muslims as maids and in Malaysia it is disallowed.

Business owner Zubir Rahman who has three children voiced concerns over the new policy. Zubir who has a maid from the Philippines, is seeking another Filipino when the contract for his current maid expires in December. He said he preferred Filipino maids as they were more reliable.

For Harussani Zakaria, the mufti of the state of Perak, the problem is the skills of Christian domestic workers.

In terms of the law, it is not haram (forbidden) and it is not makruh (frowned upon) for Muslims to hire non-Muslim maids, he admitted. However, he said he was worried that children cared for by non-Muslims would adopt practices from other religions.
by P. Felix Raj

Opposed, misinterpreted or misunderstood, Mother Teresa was always dominated by Christ's love for the dignity of every human being. A presence which generated change. The testimony of a Jesuit who met her.

Calcutta (AsiaNews) - Mother Teresa has a universal message, for all mankind, not only for Catholics. And even if at times she had enemies, was misinterpreted, or opposed, she never lost the style of her charity and mission. This is according to Fr. Felix Raj, as we draw near the date proclaimed by Pope Francis for the canonization of the religious sister of Calcutta, next September 4th. Fr. Raj, a Jesuit, rector of St. Xavier's College in Calcutta, personally knew the future saint.

With this reflection we begin a series of articles dedicated to Mother Teresa, to help our readers deepen their participation in the event of Mother's canonization and her mission. In this regard, on September 2, at the Pontifical Urban University, AsiaNews will hold an international symposium, dedicated to "Mother Teresa, mercy for Asia and for the world".

Pope Francis will declare Mother Teresa of Kolkata a saint on September 4, 2016 at St. Peters Square, Vatican City, in Rome. He will declare her a saint of the universal Church, on the day he has set aside for the celebration of the Jubilee for volunteers and workers of Mercy, since Mother is a symbol of God's mercy for the poor and the marginalized of this world.

The canonization of Mother Teresa gives us an opportunity to reflect deeply on her life and mission for the poorest of the poor. Mother has long been a saint. For us in Kolkata, she is the song of celebration, hymn of compassion. The city of Kolkata shall shine in her holiness. I wish and pray that her Sainthood washes away our sinfulness.

Mother believed that God is specially revealed in the mystery of the human person who is 'created in the image and likeness of God'  she probed the meaning of human life and arrived at the radical goodness that resides in every individual.

She has inspired thousands of followers in several nations as well as individuals around the globe. World leaders have recognized her as an inspiration. She was one among us, one among the poor, dying and destitute. She identified herself with them. She demonstrated that a person could live a faith-filled life even when in agony and doubt.

Her message is universal. No matter what religion a person belongs to, or even if they don't believe at all, Mother Teresa's message is to serve with love.  Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa was misunderstood  critics blamed her for working for conversion. Didnt Judas, one of the Apostles betray Jesus Christ? In her epic years as a missionary, Mother has not converted a single person to a particular religious faith. She converted many, to the communion of Humanity, beyond considerations of parochial religious culture.

I have had a close association with Mother. On many occasions, I had brought Mother Teresa in touch with Calcutta youth. Whenever I invited her to St. Xaviers College to address the staff and students, she was there with her characteristic smile, humility and a presence that created an atmosphere of prayer and veneration. She was always inspiring and every time she met the youth, she had a message for them. Whenever I invited her for youth programmes, she never said No.

About thirty years ago I had met Mother Teresa in Mother House. I had just been ordained as a priest. As soon as she came to greet me she stretched out her hand and touched my feet  I hastily withdrew; she said, you are a new priest and I want your blessing. I said who am I in front of you? She responded in her humble way as a priest you are the image of Christ to me. So it is you who must bless me. When I asked for her blessings she gave me a Rosary and said Pray for me and for my work for the destitute and dying. I discovered in this lady the divine dispensation that reached the core of my heart. Every word she spoke, every touch and every look exuded a transformative tint.

We are eagerly awaiting the canonization of Mother as Saint. We would have preferred our Holy Father to canonize Mother in the very city where she lived and served. It would have been a momentous gift from the Pope to the people of this country.

Now that the canonization will be officially held in Rome, in St. Peter's Square on September 4, 2016, we express our gratitude to Pope Francis for his extraordinary gesture of approving the canonization of Mother Teresa. The following words of Mother have always inspired me.





The Fruit of Silence is Prayer.

The Fruit of Prayer is Faith.

The Fruit of Faith is Love.

The Fruit of love is service.

The fruit of service is peace.
The attack devastated a MSF facility in the city of Abs, Hajjab province. The victims include members of the international NGO staff. A strike follows days of intense bombing against the Houthi rebels. Previously an attack on a Koranic school in Haydan killed 10 children.

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least 11 were killed in a Saudi led coalition airstrike yesterday which hit a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in northern Yemen. The attack on the city of Abs  Hajjab province, under Houthi rebel control - 19 people were wounded, some of them seriously.

The Saudi-led coalition, which supports the government of President Hadi to fight Shiite militias, has so far refused to comment on the episode. Local witnesses reported that yesterday's airstrike came after days of intense shelling in the area.

First responders had to move cautiously, for fear of new attacks by the Saudi fighter.

MSF sources in Yemen reported that nine people were killed in the bombings, including MSF staff members operating on the territory. Two more people died later, during transport to the hospital.

Since July last year the Abs hospital has treated more than 4,600 people. A United Nations commission has opened an investigation on the attack, now engaged in gathering information.

Last year, one person had died during a Saudi led coalition attack in the neighboring province of Saada, on a medical center again supported by MSF and a mobile clinic in the southern province of Taiz. In January, a missile had hit a hospital in Saada, killing six people.

The Abs attack comes 48 hours after a Saudi raid that hit a Koranic school in Haydan district in Saada, killing10 children. The coalition and Saudi Arabia - often accused of "errors" in the military operations, which eventually also involve civil - deny the attack, claiming to have hit a Houthi child soldier training camp.

Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war pitting the countrys Sunni leadership, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital For Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, who are allied to forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are militarily supported by Iran, a charge the latter angrily rejects.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and jihadist militias linked to the Islamic State group are active in the country, which adds to the spiral of violence and terror.
by Mathias Hariyadi

Dutch missionaries founded the institute in Muntilan, the "Bethlehem of Java", the area where Christianity was born. So far, the seminar has trained hundreds of priests, 14 of whom have become bishops. On 15 August the diocese marked the event by celebrating Mass and putting on a puppet show depicting the life of Saint Paul.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  The Indonesian Church yesterday marked the first 80 years of the Major Seminary of St Paul Kentungan in Yogyakarta (Central Java), the nation's oldest seminary, located in the cradle of Christianity in Indonesia.

On Sunday, the diocese held a day of events on the feast day of the Assumption attended by hundreds of faithful to celebrate the anniversary of the educational facility.

The festivities opened with a Mass celebrated by Mgr Julius Darmaatmadja, archbishop emeritus of Jakarta, along with a dozen priests from the diocese of Semarang.

Fr Agustinus Handi Setyanto, from the Diocese of Purwokerto, presented a show of traditional puppets centred on the figure of Saint Paul, the patron saint of the seminary.

Fr Joseph Kristanto Suratman, rector of the seminary, explained that the figure of the Apostle is very important for the young men who take the path of the priesthood.

"Through this great apostle of the early years of Christianity, we are urged to imitate his mission in our work, he said.

St Paul Seminary was founded in 1936 in the small town of Muntilan, the " Bethlehem of Java," where Christianity began to spread thanks to the Sendang Sono Shrine, and the work of the Dutch Jesuit priests (until 1945 Indonesia was under Dutch rule).

Bishop Willekens wanted the seminary to make evangelisation of the country more effective, after the minor seminary was founded in 1911. The institute also sought to create a class of indigenous priests who did not have to rely on Dutch missionaries.

In 80 years of history, St Paul Seminary has moved nine times, until settling in Kentungan (Yogyakarta) in 1968.

The first ordinations occurred in 1942, when four seminarians received the sacrament of ordination in the Parish of St Joseph Bintaran.

In the following 26 years, the seminary trained another 72 priests, then parish priests in 10 dioceses.

To date, hundreds of priests, 14 bishops and religious from different congregations graduated from the school.
A family law expert is saying that maybe its time social media use has more influence in the courts granting of domestic violence orders.



Jennifer Hetherington, principal lawyer and founder of Brisbane firm Hetherington Legal, also says that any sparring on social media could easily cross the line into domestic violence.



The comments are prompted by the developing social media war between high-profile couple Salim Mehajer and estranged wife Aysha.



The two used to operate a single Instagram account under the username _salim_aysha._ but Aysha has now renamed the account aysha_lea and appears to have deleted any trace of Salim on the account, according to reports.



The woman has also sought an apprehended violence order or AVO, using her maiden surname of Learmonth, against her husband. It is believed the new Instagram handle is in reference to her last pre-married surname.



The AVO prevents her husband from contacting her or even approaching her within 50 metres.



The couple made headlines last year for their lavish wedding but reports say that their relationship is on the rocks, despite Salim giving no indication that this is the case and even telling reporters that only death could separate the couple.



Salim is now operating his own Instagram account under the salim.mehajer username which he uses to post photos of including those of him and Aysha.



Hetherington says that social media wars like this do not look good to a Family Court judge and could backfire against estranged couples, especially if they are seeking parenting orders.



If you have kids it doesnt look great to a judge if you have posted eleventy-billion messages about your ex, and if you are trying to co-parent it makes this process harder, said the Accredited Family Law Specialist.



Furthermore, in the case of Salim and Aysha Mehajer, Salim could actually also be violating his wifes AVO by monitoring her social media pages, said Hetherington.



Under the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 the definition of domestic violence includes unauthorised surveillance of a person such as monitoring a person's account with a social networking internet site, she said.



My worry is that social media could become the main way people like this pair communicates and a disintegrating relationship should not be fought out in the public eye, especially if they use influential social media platforms to portray their side of the case to the outside world.



In particular if one partner has taken out a DVO against their ex, then any sparring via social media could easily cross the line into domestic violence, and media reporting of such exchanges needs to be considered in this light.



Hetherington also said that the attention mainstream media is giving social media fights give these more prominence with children often caught in the crosshairs.



As a Mediator, Im especially worried if children are caught up in feuding exs fighting on social media. Parents owe it to their children to minimise the stress of a relationship breakdown and conduct themselves in a respectful manner, she said.



Every family lawyer will tell you the essential priority in any family split is the wellbeing of the children and minimising any of the fallout of the separation upon them, she added.




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The homeless have a new ally in Joshua Browder, the 19-year-old wiz Stanford student who created DoNotPay Browder is expanding the capabilities of the service to include helping the homeless. The free robot lawyer has already appealed US$4 million in parking tickets, according to The Telegraph.Browder's inspiration to enhance the capabilities of DoNotPay came when he was emailed by a woman who said she was afraid to face the end of her hospital treatment because she had been evicted from her home and had nowhere to go.Browder noticed that he was being messaged a lot about evictions and repossessions, many by people in the UK, according to The Washington Post. The student then worked with volunteer lawyers to make DoNotPay capable of helping with public housing claims in the UKJust like the process the robot lawyer undertakes when tackling parking ticket appeals, it asks its users questions to determine how a legal document can be crafted for each specific case to maximise chances of the request to be granted.DoNotPay is a free service and all people need to do to use it is to register to get an account.According to The Washington Post, Browder plans to expand the housing aid feature to outside of the UK soon.Nonetheless, the same report noted comments from Shelly Nortz from the New York City-based advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless who said using robot lawyers for processes like housing aid applications can be incredibly flawed.She said that nuances such as immigration status, mental illness and criminal history may not be fully taken into account by an automated system.However, Browder believes that DoNotPay provides otherwise unavailable option that levels the playing field, he told the publication.
By Thuong Hoang, Research Fellow, Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interface, University of Melbourne

Shutterstock/Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley

Did you sleep well last night? If your answer is no, there could be an app or a gadget that could help you with that.

But are they any good? Do they really monitor how much you toss and turn while trying to sleep? And can they help you improve your sleep time?

How do we track sleep?

Sleep is an important part of our well-being. A few nights of bad sleep can cause negative effects on alertness, memory and your mood throughout the day.

There are three types of devices available to help you try to monitor your sleep patterns:

mobile apps

wearable devices

embedded technologies.

Mobile apps track sleep through digital diaries, such as Sleep Diary, where the user has to enter their sleeping time. Apps such as SleepBot track sleep automatically through the smartphones orientation sensors and microphones to check for movement and sound during the night.

Wearable fitness trackers, such as Fitbit, and smart watches, such as the Samsung Galaxy Gear, also use movement and noise to track sleep. Since these devices are worn on the body, they can provide more accurate tracking than mobile apps.

Sensors can be embedded in the mattresses (Luna), bed sheets (Beddit), pillows (Sense by Hello) or into devices on the bedside table (S+). These technologies track noise, light, temperature movement and heart rate to provide more accurate sleep data.

How good are they?

With a range of devices to choose from, how do you decide which one is the best for your needs?

We looked for answers by collecting 1,152 posts from 287 users talking about their experiences with sleep tracking technology, in five online forums (BulletProof Sleep, Lifehacker, Connectedly, Gizmodo and Quantified Self).

Heres what we found.

Understanding sleep patterns requires consistent tracking over a long period of time to identify patterns. But more than a third of the discussion was focused on the various reasons stopping users from tracking their sleep consistently. Many users said they were not comfortable with wearing a watch or a fitness tracker to bed.

Batteries were another issue. Most fitness trackers and mobile phones are designed to be used during the day and charged overnight. People reported that they lost data overnight when their battery ran out, or they found it difficult to track when they did not have a power outlet near the bed.

In our analysis many users expressed their lack of trust in the technology. We know consumer sleep trackers are not as accurate as clinical methods.

Nearly all consumer devices track sleep duration and quality based on sensors that check for body movement, which is prone to errors.

Some people reported that the tracker thought they were awake, when in fact they were asleep. The problem was that their device wrongly registered movement from their partner or a pet who was moving on their bed.

Conversely, a common error is when users are awake and lying still but the app thinks that they are asleep.

Some users tried two or more apps at the same time to get better results. But having two different sleep quality scores can make it even harder for the user to decide which technology to trust.

Many users reported that the sleep tracking apps did not allow them to edit the data in the way that they wanted. Some people wanted to add entries later on or fix errors.

The ability to export the data was not well supported by most technologies. This was a problem for those users who found the visualisations on the apps not very useful. They had hoped to be able to export the data to visualise it in a way that helped them to analyse the information. But without data export, this wasnt possible.

The most important issue that dominated these forums was how to make sense of sleep data. Sleep trackers present a lot of information to the users, including length, sleep time for light or deep sleep, or wake time.

But many users said they had trouble understanding the information without sleep-related knowledge. They questioned what the sleep quality score meant, how many hours of sleep they really needed every day, and how many hours of deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep they need.

Finally, many people commented that apps lacked information on how to take action to improve sleep.

Sleep tracking devices can provide people with an awareness of their sleep patterns and a possible lack of sleep. But they do not provide people with support on how they can improve their sleep. Hence one person asked what to do:

Buy a new mattress? Move to a different apartment? Work out harder?

What can be done?

Clearly there are important design considerations for future sleep tracking devices arising from our findings. Fixing things such as discomfort, battery limitations and inaccurate tracking need to be a strong focus for manufacturers.

Users want ownership of their data, including the ability to access, edit and export sleep data. Most importantly, users need support to help them understand how the technology works, what the data means and how to improve their sleep.

It is important that whatever device we take with us to bed should help us sleep well rather than disrupt our sleep.

Thuong Hoang receives funding from the Victorian State Government and Microsoft through their contributions to the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI).

Bernd Ploderer is co-founder of the Melbourne Quantified Self Group. He received funding from the Victorian State Government and Microsoft through their contributions to the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI). He also received funding from the Australian Research Council.

Originally published in The Conversation.
SunnyyBoi said: Hi guys, my eligible date for 801 is 09 Oct 2016, I heard that you can start the application 2months prior. I havn't been contacted by the immigration. I am wondering if there is somewhere on the internet I can start the application or should I ring the immigration for an update? Click to expand...

Hi, I am on the same boat as you. My eligibility date is 13 of October this year. I applied by post on 2014 and got 820 granted last year.I haven't received an email from them yet. Another friend of mine who applied for the easy suggests that I do it online as it much easier and faster.I got too excited and was about to submit all the documents by post this week but decided to wait till my eligibility date to apply online.I guess i have to certify my documents again plus get a new AFP police check.
SUV

In Bentleys 97-year history, no model has ever been offered with a tow bar, but the companys first-ever SUV marks another premiere . The brand from Crewe will exhibit the very first tow bar option for one of its models, the Bentayga , during this years Monterey Auto Week. The vehicle will also be showcased at the Quail event, as well as in Bentleys Pebble Beach Signature Party, held this Saturday night.Now, do not think that Bentley just placed a tow hitch on a Bentayga and called it a day. Instead, the brand from Crewe designed a retractable lifestyle option for its, and put a Bowlus Road Chief on it. The pair will be showcased on the Laguna Seca circuit, where the brand will have a display in turn 10.Bentleys exhibit during the Monterey Car Week is not composed of the Bentayga and its new tow accessory. Instead, the brand from Crewe will bring the Continental GT Speed Black Edition, the most powerful production Bentley ever manufactured. This model can attain a top speed of 206 mph (331 km/h).The third Bentley presence at this prestigious event comes in the form of the most luxurious model ever built by the brand, the Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase. This particular version of the Mulsanne was first launched in China, but it will now mark its U.S. debut.As Bentley explains the existence of the Extended Wheelbase version of the Mulsanne, it is designed for those that prefer to be driven, but want to experience the level of comfort usually found in first-class air travel.A welcome bonus will be that the car will not have to file any paperwork with any local authority for every trip, something that even private jets have to endure.The last and final item on Bentleys list for the Monterey Car Week, including the Pebble Beach Concours DElegance , is the Flying Spur V8 S, which also marks its American debut.
AWD

DCT

While the GLA has been in-market for about two years, the subsequent time has allowed Infiniti to improve or enhance various aspects of this new Crossover platform and in the process, refine it for their particular brand of customer. Is it a case of fresh fruits of labor, or a steamy rotting mess? Shall we take a look?Companies join together to share technologies, designs and expertise in an effort to save the costs of developing new vehicles using strictly their own wallets or bankbooks. In the case of the 2017 Infiniti QX30, the result is a right-sized urban assault vehicle that can help a young city dweller attack his or her own urban jungle.Infiniti showed us the fruits of this merger in the Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, home to Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing and Starbucks. It provided proper insight into this new crossovers capabilities.The QX30 is a C-segment Crossover vehicle that is perfect for around-town living and the occasional off-road excursion. Available in North American, European and Chinese markets, it features a stylish turn on a familiar two-box design that should appeal to most global tastes. Inspired by the Infiniti Etherea concept vehicle, it bridges the gap between Infiniti coupes and sedans on one side, and the brands sport utility vehicles on the other.Built in Sunderland, UK, it features flowing lines and a crisp, muscular stance which all contribute to making a strong exterior vision of this new Infiniti. Available in three ride heights, the base model starts with 6.7-inches of ground clearance. The Sport version drops 0.6-inches while therides with a total of 7.9-inches of skyscraping attitude that reveals a whole lot of confident looks that are part of this vehicles new vibe.Power for the QX30 in the North American market comes exclusively from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine making 208 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque, available at a barely-breathing 1,200 rpm. Developed by Daimler, this engine also finds its way into the Mercedes-Benz GLA and CLA. Infiniti/Nissan engineers tweak it further before squeezing it under the QX30s aluminum hood.A Daimlerseven-speed automatic transmission is standard in the 2017 QX30. Further tweaked by Infiniti engineers, it runs on the principle of a dual clutch system, which preloads the next gear to avoid the jolt during a gear change known as shift-shock. The principle is that the result is a smoother, more enjoyable ride. In the base version, this gearbox works in concert with the QX30s front wheel drive system.The all-wheel-drive version can send up to fifty percent of the torque to the rear wheels, and then gradually returns power back to the front wheels once cruising speed has been achieved. The 18- or 19-inch wheels are planted on terra firma via a MacPherson strut front end and a multilink rear kit with stabilizer bars at both ends. Steering comes from an electric power-assisted rack and pinion set up.The QX30 has been developed to compete with its distant cousin, the Mercedes-Benz GLA, as well as Audis Q3, and BMWs X1. Infinitis baby crossover is available in six configurations ranging from front-wheel-drive, including base QX30 (starting at $29,950), QX30 Luxury, QX30 Premium, and QX30 Sport models ($42,100 with Moonroof, Navigation and leather). Two all-wheelers are available as well, including QX30 Luxury AWD and QX30 Premium AWD ($39,550 with Navigation and Moonroof) versions. There is a $950 delivery and destination fee that is not included in the MSRP.In the European market, buyers will also be able to opt for an available diesel-based powertrain.Dont think that just because the Infiniti QX30 and the Mercedes GLA ride on the same platform that they feature the same interior. The Infiniti includes a much more evolved driver-centric cockpit/dashboard arrangement that found in Cousins Mercedes GLA. The QX takes advantage of Nissan and Infinitis seating expertise with zero gravity chairs like those found in many Nissan sedans.Entry and exit can sometimes be tight, but there is a seating feature that somehow makes it easier. Rear seat legroom can become a bit cramped and is suitable for short rides only. You will most likely feel more at home with the rear seats folded permanently forward to haul around all your worldly possessions, instead. Infiniti claims this five-seater accommodates 19.2-cubic feet of cargo behind the rear seat. Fold that seat forward, and the amount of space jumps to nearly 90-cubic feet.The centerpiece of the Infiniti QX30s interior is its console-mounted controller, which operates the navigation, audio and Bluetooth systems and is not such a far reach as those controls found at the top of the center stack, as in previous Infiniti examples.Still, the QX30 shares some of its interior controls, including the flat-bottomed steering wheel, and various switches with the Daimler product, although interior designers have attempted to refine them further. Unlike the GLA, the QX30 features an integrated seven-inch display monitor that looks like it belongs rather than the seven-inch display found in the GLA that appears like an iPad-style tablet has been glued to the top of the dashboard as an afterthought.The QXs base interior can be had with a base-spec synthetic Fibretec material, while various optional packages including wood and leather trim and a full sport leather interior complete with contrasting red stitching are offered at added cost.From a safety standpoint, the QX30 can be ordered with Infiniti Driver assistance technologies that include their proven Forward Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Intelligent Cruise Control, Blind Spot Warning and Lane Departure Warning systems. Front and rear parking sensors, Moving Object Detection, Intelligent Park Assist, and Infinitis Around View Monitor system with cameras that stitch together a birds eye view from above are also value added options.This newest Infiniti is powered by the same proven 2.0-liter turbocharged powerplant that is being rolled out through the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Tweaking by company engineers now offers a more distinctive ride and power point than that found in the German examples.The 2.0-liter engine offered plenty of power and pep, just as its German relative. Infiniti says that It may take 6.4-seconds to run from Zero-to-60 mph. Easily an all-day cruiser, the QX30 is also a quick-change artist on the fly, with the ability to pass slow moving lolly-gaggers despite any limited passing distance.Autoevolution sampled both the front-drive Sport model and the AWD version, which we think is the better of the two. Buyers get the best of Infinitis front and all-wheel-drive worlds with a powertrain that will take you -in most cases- everywhere you want to go.Between the front- and all-wheel-drive versions of the QX30, buyers will have a decision to make whose choice actually depends on where the cars primary residence will be. As specd, the QX30 Sport rides on 19-inch low-profile run-flat tires that, while offering superior grip, transmit substantial road noise on coarse road surfaces like those found in the Northwest. On the other hand, we felt more comfortable with the 18-inchers that equipped the AWD versions. Surprisingly, despite the fact the QX30 AWD rode nearly two-inches higher than the Sport, it seemed equally at ease while negotiating twisties in the Seattle area.Once we found smoother road surfaces, both versions of the QX30 managed to perform with a confidence that made certain a buyer felt they were getting their moneys worth. When you couple that with the lower price of entry versus the Infinitis Mercedes cousin, it seemed even more of a bargain.To gain access to this information, autoevolution attended an event sponsored by the vehicle's manufacturer.
In many peoples eyes, the ignition switch problem is General Motors worst moment after the shameful Chapter 11 reorganization in June 2009. The United States government lost $11.2 billion on the bailout, while General Motors lost a smattering of car brands in the process.But theres one big difference between the bailout and the ignition switch problem. That difference is human casualties, something that the General Motors Corporation can never wash off its hands.As per a story from Bloomberg , General Motors chief executive officer Mary Barra had the following things to declare to jurors at a trial from 2015: A series of mistakes were made over a period of time that caused the ignition-switch defect, testified the head honcho of the biggest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit. This had tragic consequences, added the big kahuna.The video testimony clipped from a previously unreleased deposition features Barra talking about what the engineers did back in 2004 and 2005.According to the most powerful woman in the auto industry, GM engineers misdiagnosed it [the ignition switch problem] as a customer satisfaction issue and not a safety issue. So yeah, even Mary Barra agrees that Old GM was as rotten as a corporation can be.This bit of General Motors news comes a week after an ignition switch lawsuit was dismissed in Texas. A judge in Harris County, Texas, had dismissed a case from 2013 regarding a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt fitted with the faulty switch. Still, thats better than being fined $900 million over the ignition switch fiasco or spending $600 million on compensations for the dead and injured.
Mooney International has appointed Dr. Vivek Saxena as CEO of the company, replacing Jerry Chen, who has led the firm for the last three years. The change at the top, confirmed by AVweb on Monday, was officially announced by the company in a news release on Tuesday. Chen, who is from Taiwan, is the head of Soaring America Corporation, which bought Mooney in 2013. Chen will remain with Mooney, the company said on Tuesday,moving to a senior advisory role, reporting to the new CEO.

Saxena has worked in the aerospace industry for 25 years, Mooney said in their news release, and most recently was vice president at ICF International, aglobal aviation consultancy, wherehe led their aerospace operations practice. Prior to ICF, Saxena served in senior roles at Pratt & Whitney for 16 years. He holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cambridge, and has taught engineering at Cornell University. Saxena will dividehis time between the companys Kerrville and Chino facilities.
16 August 2016 14:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The statement on alleged 10-percent GDP growth in Armenia, which was made during the meeting between the Armenian and Russian presidents, has nothing to do with reality, Armenian economist and former MP Vardan Bostanjyan said at a press conference on August 15.

In his words, this figure has pleasantly misled both Armenian and Russian specialists.

Its not that the presidents dont master statistical data, stressed Bostanjyan. This shows that they just dont care about these figures. They could say 20 or 30, it had absolutely no value.

As per the economist, this statement is a sign that the presidents want this.

He also considered Armenia to be squeezed out from all regional events and projects because of recent meeting of Russian President with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Lately it was announced that tripartite mechanism between Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey may be created in the near future.

It is obvious that there is a clash of big political interests. In fact, the current situation in the region is unfavorable for Armenia, Bostanjyan acknowledged.

Referring to the current economic situation in Armenia, the economist said that fundamental changes are needed in the system of governance: Not cosmetic but fundamental. The psychological factor also plays a role. A psychological decline reigns throughout Armenia.

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16 August 2016 10:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Armenias armed forces have 16 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Aug. 16.

The Armenian army was using large-caliber machine guns.

The Armenian armed forces stationed in the Paravakar village of the Ijevan district and on nameless heights of the Berd district of Armenia opened fire at the Azerbaijani positions located on nameless heights of the Gazakh district and in the Munjuglu and Kokhanebi villages of the Tovuz district.

Positions of the Azerbaijani army also underwent fire from the Armenian positions located near the Horadiz and Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages of the Fizuli.

Moreover, Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the Armenian positions located on nameless heights of the Goranboy and Khojavand districts.

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.

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16 August 2016 16:24 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

GoAir, the leading Indian Airlines offering the lowest and cheapest fares for flight, has received permission from the countrys authorities for conducting flights to nine states, including Azerbaijan, Indian media reported on August 16.

The Mumbai-based airline has got an admission for carrying out scheduled passenger flights to Azerbaijan, Iran, China, Vietnam, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from March 2017.

GoAir received permission to make regular passenger flights from Mumbai or Delhi to Baku with a frequency of three times a week, according to the report.

As of February 2016, GoAir was the fifth largest airline in India with an 8-percent passenger market share. It began operations in November 2005 and currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft in all economy configurations.

As of August 2016, the airline operates over 140 daily flights to 22 cities from its airports at Mumbai and Delhi.

Earlier, a number of Russian air carriers received permission to fly to Azerbaijan, which will allow facilitating direct flights from a number of Russian cities to Azerbaijan.

Over the past year, Azerbaijan received over 2 million tourists. Taking into account all newly opened flight routes, this figure is expected to rise in the near future.

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16 August 2016 17:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Association of vegetable and fruit producers and exporters has been established in Azerbaijan, the countrys Economy Ministry reported.

The Association was established on the initiative of the Economy Ministry and with the support of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (ASK).

ASK will render its assistance to coordinate actions of producers and exporters of fruit and vegetable products, increase output as well as expand export potential of the country in this field.

The decision on the creation of the association was taken during the meeting held in the Guba-Khachmaz regional development centre on August 16. Representatives of leading companies, engaged in the production and export of fruit and vegetable products participated in the meeting.

Bashir Guliyev, the head of the Zire greenhouse complex, was selected a chairman of the association.

Deputy Economy Minister Sahib Mamedov, addressing the meeting, gave thorough information about measures taken within the framework of the economic reforms, carried out in the country. He underlined that the development of entrepreneurship in the country is one of the issues on top priority of the economic policy, pursued in the country.

The country aims to reduce its dependence on oil revenues and diversify economy, therefore it is working to create a more attractive business environment, and become more alluring for foreign investments.

A number of economic reforms have been recently introduced in the country in this regards. The reforms seek to stimulate business development in the country by introducing new privileges for entrepreneurs.

Being considered one of the most important sectors of the economy, the agriculture field provides goods not only for the local market, but also for neighboring markets where fresh fruit and vegetables are in great demand.

The fertile lands, abundance of water and climatic diversity create favorable conditions for a strong agricultural sector in the country and allow growing a wide range of fruit and vegetables, such as apples, pears, quinces, pomegranates, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants.

The country seeks to further develop its agriculture and food industry both for import substitution and export.

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16 August 2016 17:55 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Body (FMSB) has appealed to the commercial banks operating in the country with the request not to implement any banking or currency exchange procedures in the points of sale belonging to recently closed Dekabank, Kredobank, Parabank and Zaminbank.

The appeal is made on behalf of Ibrahim Alishov, CEO of the entity and Imran Mammadov, department head on the supervision over banking activity.

Banking activity and currency exchange procedures carried out in the points of sale of the banks on the basis of deals made between the banks employees and third parties are characterized as unofficial franchising operation, according to the appeal of the entity.

FMSB assesses such actions as deviation from corporate standards as well as unhealthy banking practice.

The licenses of DekaBank, KredoBank, Parabank and Zaminbank were cancelled in accordance with the decision of the Financial Market Supervisory Body, dated July 21, 2016.

The reason of a halt is the failure of banks to classify assets in line with the law and comply with statutory minimum capital requirements as well as manage their activities in a safe and prudent manner. The banks didnt create adequate reserves and the aggregate capital of these banks didnt meet the minimum requirement which stands at 50 million manats ($31.8 million).

FMSB aims to license, regulate and control the securities market, investment funds, insurance, credit organizations (banks, non-banking credit organizations and operator of postal communication) and payment systems.

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16 August 2016 19:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Economic Zones World (EZW), a global developer and operator of economic zones, technology, logistics and industrial parks, will be involved in creation of Azerbaijans first-ever free trade zone, said Taleh Ziyadov, Director General of the Baku Port, while addressing the second meeting of the working group on the creation of FTZ in Baku.

As it is known, we have used Dubai model as a basis. Economic Zones World Company, which belongs to DP World Corporation have been an operator of the FTZ in Jebel Ali Port for 30 years. Therefore, we have decided to engage the company as a consultant in the process of FTZ creation. The talks have lasted about six month, and completed successfully, the agreement is expected to be signed this week. As of the financial part of the agreement, it was approved and got a support from the head of state, he said.

He mentioned that a special legal regime, the work on which is currently underway, will be pursued at the territory of FTZ, and all further legislative acts related to the FTZ will comply with the regime.

Among the participants of the meeting were representatives of different ministries and committees including ministries of taxes, economy, transport, ecology and natural resources, finances, and justice as well as State Customs Committee, State Committee on Property Issues, State Town Building and Architecture Committee, Caspian Marine Services Company, Azerbaijan Railways and state oil company (SOCAR).

Creating a free trade zone is considered to be a milestone of Azerbaijan's policy to strengthen the country's position as a regional logistics and transportation hub. The project is expected to bring huge benefits to the state budget of the country once established. Registration of the residents of the FTZ is expected to begin in January 2017. FTZ is expected to bring up to $1 billion just in the first few years.

Presidential decree on the establishment of a special economic area in the Alat settlement, which will also include the territory of the new Baku International Sea Trade Port, was signed on June 10.

--

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16 August 2016 13:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Minsk Group stays in touch with Azerbaijan and Armenia for organizing the next meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

The American co-chair of the OSCE MG, James Warlick announced about this while talking to RIA Novosti on August 16.

The last meeting between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan was held on June 20 in Saint-Petersburg in a trilateral format with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier, Sargsyan and Aliyev met in Vienna on May 16.

During both meetings, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia confirmed their readiness for the next meeting to ensure progress in the negotiations process.

We continue to explore opportunities to bring them together again, and we remain in regular contact with them and their Foreign Ministers to discuss the existing proposals, said Warlick.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Two decades of talks mediated by the OSCE MG group have failed to produce a breakthrough, and the renewed hostilities, the worst since the ceasefire deal signed in 1994, were assessed as the result of inactivity of the international community.

The American diplomat also noted that the MG welcomes the willingness of Russia to act as guarantor of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

Warlick said the OSCE MG hails the personal involvement of Russias President Vladimir Putin in the efforts aimed at achieving a sustainable settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Following the negotiations with Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan on Aug. 10 in Moscow, Vladimir Putin said Azerbaijan and Armenia really want to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis.

Russia and some other countries of the OSCE Minsk Group could act as guarantors in the settlement of the conflict, Putin noted.

Russia hopes Azerbaijan and Armenia will be able to reach a compromise settlement of the existing conflict  without winners or losers, added Putin.

Warlick also added that the deployment of international peacekeeping forces to ensure security in Nagorno-Karabakh has always been considered as part of the settlement of the conflict.

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16 August 2016 15:57 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

American journalist Raoul Contrerass book on Khojaly genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh was presented in California, Day. az reported.

The book titled "Murder in the Mountains" was presented in Warwicks bookstore, one of the oldest bookstores of the United States.

Contreras, addressing the event, said he faced during his research the facts on occupation of twenty percent of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and ethnic cleansing and other crimes committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis.

He also spoke about cruelties against Azerbaijanis during Khojaly genocide and facts revealed during the meetings with survived Azerbaijanis, who became victims of these events.

Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992.

About 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.

The author also informed the audience about the history of Armenian terrorism, terrorist acts committed in Azerbaijan, U.S. and other countries and informed the participants about radical Armenian lobby in the U.S. and damages to U.S. national interests by this lobby.

This is the first book on Khojaly genocide published in the U.S. and put up for sale. Published by the U.S. Floricanto Press, the book was put up for sale on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other e-bookstores. Its also possible to buy this book in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil and other countries.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

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16 August 2016 11:11 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Nakhchivan region has great potential, along with its ancient history and modern infrastructure.

Chinese ambassador to Azerbaijan Wei Jinghua made the remark during his visit to Nakhchivan, Azertac reported.

The ambassador, who paid his first visit to Nakhchivan, stated that despite various difficulties the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic has constantly developed is economy and protected its stability.

The main purpose of my visit here is to get better acquainted with the Autonomous Republic. Nakhchivan is the motherland of Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev. Apart from being the leader of the Azerbaijani nation, Heydar Aliyev was also a great friend of the Chinese people. I recall very well when Heydar Aliyev made his first visit to China back in 1994 and held a number of fruitful meetings in our country. It was at that time when the foundations of cooperation between the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of Azerbaijan were laid. This is why when I was coming here, I thought that I am also travelling to Heydar Aliyevs motherland, he said.

The Chinese ambassador further hailed cooperation between Nakhchivan and China, noting that Chinese companies engaged in the communications sector and automobile production in Nakhchivan.

This, according to the ambassador, was indicative of Nakhchivan`s openness for investments.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev visited the Peoples Republic of China last year and discussed with the Chinese leadership the issues of bilateral cooperation in a host of fields. So we are trying to help the regions of Azerbaijan, including Nakhchivan build wide relations with China, he added.

Jinghua said that despite his visit was short, only two days, he managed to gather important information about the regions potential. I am confident that this visit will play a crucial role in my further activity, and, in mutual cooperation between Nakhchivan, and Azerbaijan, in general, and the Peoples Republic of China, added Jinghua.

Azerbaijan and China opened a new page in their relations after President Ilham Aliyev visited China in December 2015. During the visit, several meetings, negotiations were held and 10 documents were signed. Cooperation issues almost in all spheres were discussed.

China is a huge opportunity and a priority market for Azerbaijan. More than 50 agreements were signed between the two countries so far. Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) has recently opened a representative office in China to support and encourage relations between the two countries businessmen, as well as expand Azerbaijani goods export to the Chinese market and attract China's leading investment funds to the Azerbaijan economy.

The trade turnover with China reached $565.1 million last year, while its unit weight in the total trade turnover of Azerbaijan amounted to 2.74 percent, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.

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16 August 2016 11:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku and Moscow considered topical issues of bilateral military and technical cooperation between the two, as well as problems of regional and international security.

The talks were held during the two-day visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Baku, where he met his Azerbaijani counterpart on August 15.

Program of the military and technical cooperation with Azerbaijan is to be corrected, stated Shoigu at the negotiations with his Azerbaijani colleague Zakir Hasanov.

I am confident that we will find solution of these issues, stressed the head of the Russian defense department.

Hasanov, for his part, assessed the visit of great importance for the development of bilateral military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries.

The sides discussed the current state of military cooperation, military-technical and military education, and the prospects of cooperation in the fields of military medicine.

The ministers also exchanged views on international and regional security issues, military cooperation in the Caspian Sea, including joint military exercises, mutual visits of delegations comprised of experts, and other issues of mutual interest.

The Russian defense minister said that Russia is an important partner of Azerbaijan and relations between the two countries were based on strong friendship.

He emphasized that such meetings are important in terms of expanding bilateral ties, as well as military and military-technical cooperation.



Zakir Hasanov, in turn, noted that the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia is based on friendly relations and mutual trust, and the bilateral ties have been developing constantly.



The Azerbaijani minister also spoke about the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He noted that over a million Azerbaijanis became IDPs and refugees as a result of the Armenian aggression against the country.

Russias Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, summing up results of negotiations between the two ministers, noted that Russia-Azerbaijan dialogue on creation of security system in the Caspian Sea will be intensified, the Russian defense ministry reported.

He also noted that training of military servicemen for the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is held successfully.

Antonov informed journalists that Shoigu had invited his counterpart Colonel General Zakir Hasanov to participate in the session of the Council of Defence Ministers of the CIS to be held in Moscow in November, and the International military technical forum ARMY 2016.

Hasanov was also informed about the work of the International Mine Action Centre of the Russian Armed Forces in the territory of Syria, particularly in Palmyra. The Russian party suggested the colleagues from Azerbaijan to participate in this work.

During his brief Baku visit, the Russian minister laid a wreath at the tomb of Heydar Aliyev, the national leader, founder of the modern Azerbaijan.

Russian delegation also visited the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku within the framework of the visit. They also viewed Pearls of Azerbaijan exhibition, which reflects the countrys history and culture. The delegation then viewed Mini Azerbaijan and classical cars exhibition, and toured Auditorium.

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16 August 2016 17:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Earth just broiled to its hottest month in recorded history, as July 2016 was the hottest month in the world for over the past 136 years.

The American space agency calculated that July 2016 was 0.84 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1950-1980 global average.

Even after the fading of a strong El Nino, which significantly affects the Earth's climate, this July burst global temperature records, according to NASA.

NASA chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt said that that's clearly hotter than the previous months, about 0.18 degrees warmer than the previous record of July 2011 and July 2015, which were so close they were said to be in a tie for the hottest month on record.



July is typically the planet's hottest month of the year due to the fact that the Northern Hemisphere has more land area than the Southern Hemisphere, making Northern Hemisphere summer the warmest month.

Earlier Head of the ANAS Geography Institute Maharram Hasanov said that closer to the end of the month the temperature was 1-2 degrees higher than long-term average temperature for July in Azerbaijan.

This summer, especially in the first weeks of August, Azerbaijan also experienced terrible heat, as the mercury has exceeded +42 degrees C. Thus, 2016 virtually beat 2015 for the dubious distinction of the hottest year on record.

The national forecasters predicted that the temperature in Azerbaijan would increase after July 25 and abnormal hot weather would continue until 15 August.

However, despite hot August, first three weeks of this July in Azerbaijan has become relatively cool for the first time since 2000.

Asif Verdiyev, Chief Metrologist of the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry earlier said that the temperature this July in Baku was 1-2 degrees lower of climate norm, noting that northern and north-westerly winds contributed to this.

In July 2016, the highest temperature in Baku was 37.5 degrees Celsius on July 18, while the lowest temperature was recorded on July 13 -- 19.2 degrees C.

The studies covering period from 1991 to 2012 showed that temperature throughout Azerbaijan increased by 0.5-0.6 C, while precipitation decreased by 15-89 mm.

Many scientists believe that the reason for warming on the planet is greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. However, scientists have not reached consensus on the causes of climate change, although the change itself is obvious to them.

Doug Smith, a Met Office expert on long-term forecasting earlier said that they cannot say exactly how warm the weather will get but there is no doubt the overall upward trend of temperatures will continue. We cannot say exactly how hot 2018, 2019 or 2020 will be. That will depend on other variables. But the general trend is going to be upwards.

Fortunately, the hottest days are over and summer is coming to it's natural end, as the weather in Azerbaijan will be changeable cloudy, occasionally gloomy, mainly rainless this week.

The temperature is expected to be +20-24C at night, +29-34C in the afternoon in Absheron peninsula, +22-24C at night, +31-33C in the afternoon in Baku.

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16 August 2016 12:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

SOCAR Polymer project, which envisages construction of polypropylene and polyethylene plant in Azerbaijan, has so far drawn about a third of funds from the credit issued by the Russian Gazprombank, a source in the petrochemical industry told Trend.

Socar Polymer has already drawn some $150 million from the credit worth $489 million, while the funds were received within several tranches. The funds were used up for the implementation of engineering processes, purchase of equipment and construction works within the framework of EPC-contract (Engineering, procurement and construction).

We have recently started welding procedure. The works on both projects are implemented according to schedule and within the scope of the planned budget, the source said.

The source also mentioned that construction works have already started in the plant on the production of high-density polyethylene.

Being located in the territory of Sumgayit chemical industrial park, which is located 30 kilometers north of the capital city Baku, the project is expected to contribute to expanding the national economy of the country.

The Sumgait Park, which provides a number of significant privileges for its residents, is expected to become a major new petrochemicals hub in the region.

Along with being the first of its kind and scale in the petrochemical industry of Azerbaijan over the past 40 years, Socar Polymer is considered to be the project of international standing.

The plant on the production of polypropylene is scheduled to be put in commission in the first quarter of 2018, while polyethylene plant is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter.

The annual producing capacity of plants upon completion of the project will reach 180,000 tons of polypropylene and 120,000 tons of high density polyethylene. The figure may increase up to 570,000 tons of output by 2021.

Currently, Azerbaijan exports low-density polyethylene and imports high -density one.

The products of the SOCAR Polymer will be used for the production of high pressure gas, sewage and water pipes, packaging, textiles, stationery, automotive components, electronic and electrical appliances, and medical industry.

As much as 30 percent of the production output will be directed to the domestic market while the remaining 70 percent will be exported to CIS, Turkey and other European countries.

SOCAR Polymer was incorporated on July 16, 2013 in order to reinforce development of chemical industry of the country.

Gazprombank granted a ten-year loan for the project in June 2015.The project is expected to generate approximately 60 permanent jobs when it starts operation

--

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16 August 2016 15:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Oil prices hit one-month highs on August 16, gaining about 11 percent in a four-day rally as speculation intensified over potential producer action to support prices amid a crude glut.

The traders' confidence increased on the possible deal on the limitation of oil extraction, and as a result global benchmark Brent crude oil October futures on ICE Futures stock were trading at $48.45 per barrel on August 16.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude September futures on NYMEX stood at $45.85 per barrel, recording an increase of 0.24 percent ($0, 11), Interfax reported.

The daily basket price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $43.92 a barrel on August 16, recording an increase of $1.32 compared to the previous index of 42.60 fixed on August 12.

Crude oil prices have increased by 75 percent since February, but still remain lower the level of $115 per barrel observed in 2014.

In tote, oil prices have risen by more than 10 percent since early August. Moreover, market participants have ignored data of Baker Hughes, an American oilfield service company, on the significant growth of the number of rigs in the USA. The company said the number of rigs in the country increased by 17 units, which made 3.94 percent and stood at 481 units as of August 12.

The traders are now focused on the forthcoming informal meeting of OPEC members in Algeria, which is scheduled for September 26-28. OPEC members and non-OPEC members are expected to discuss the market situation, including any action that may be required to stabilize prices during the meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of International Energy Forum.

Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih previously spoke about possible participation of the country in the coordinated actions of OPEC and main exporters to stabilize the market.

Moreover, Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, talking to Asharq Al-Awsat agency, expressed readiness of his country to continue its dialogue with OPEC countries, saying that the possibility of Russian participation in the talks on the limitation of oil extraction is not excluded.

Azerbaijan has not yet got an invitation to the Algeria meeting nevertheless the countrys Energy Ministry said the invitation will be surely considered, should the country receive it.

Meanwhile, Eulogio del Pino, Venezuelas oil minister has started his foreign tour to oil-producing countries, Ria Novosti reported. Iran is the first country to be visited within the framework of the tour. The aim of the visit is a search of joint solutions for the support of equitable prices in the market.

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has recently called on world energy players to work together to reach the price of $70 per barrel.

The issue of putting ceilings on oil production to help restore stability and order to the oil market was also on agenda during the meetings of OPEC members in April and July.

Some traders still remain skeptical to the outcome of the forthcoming meeting, expecting a repeat of the Doha meeting.

Oversupply resulted in the sharp decrease of oil prices sending them from $115 per barrel in 2014 to as down as $27 in January 2016, which is considered to be the weakest price since 2003. The prices recovered and averaged $50 amid global production outages from Canada (due to wildfire), Libya and Nigeria ( due to attacks on oil facilities) but then fell again towards $40 in July.

Global oil production continued to grow in July and totaled 95.12 million barrels per day, which is 0.24 million barrels higher that the index of June, according to OPEC estimates. Moreover, oil production in OPEC countries increased by 46,400 barrels per day up to 33.11 million barrels a day in July.

Global demand growth is expected to decline from 1.4 million barrels per day in 2016 to 1.2 million billion barrels in 2017, according to IEA. The forecast for 2017 was cut by 0.1 million barrels per day from last month's report, while the 2016 outlook is unchanged from the last months report of IEA.

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16 August 2016 11:46 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Hasanova

Iranian tourists will be able to visit Turkey again since the authorities are abolishing the travel ban imposed on visits to Turkey after a military coup attempt of July 15.

Iranian travel agencies will resume the sale of tours to Turkey on August 22 after the removal of the ban imposed due to the military coup attempt, RIA Novosti reported with reference to the ISNA agency.

"Some companies are already selling tours to Istanbul, but the official sale will begin on August 22," said Behrouz Seferi, Head of the Association of Iranian Travel Agencies, Day.Az reports.

The July 15 coup attempt occurred when rogue elements in the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country's democratically elected government.

Turkey's government has repeatedly said the deadly plot, which martyred at least 246 people and injured more than 2,000 others, was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.

Previously, Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran is ready to resume the flow of tourists to Turkey after the failed military coup attempt in the country.

The attempt of a military coup had little effect on the flow of tourists from Iran to Turkey," he said.

Turkish-Iranian bilateral relations are evolving on the basis of the principles of non-interference in domestic affairs, mutual respect and good-neighborliness. Efforts are made to further enhance the political dialogue both on bilateral and regional issues, through reciprocal visits and mechanisms such as High Level Cooperation Council and joint commissions in different sectors.

Trade turnover between Turkey and Iran amounted to $2.9 billion in 1Q 2016. The figure was $9.76 billion in 2015.

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16 August 2016 16:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Turkmenistan and China held bilateral political consultations in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported on August 16.

The Chinese delegation was led by Assistant Foreign Minister Li Huilai during the consultations.

The sixth session of the Security Cooperation Subcommittee of the Turkmen-Chinese Cooperation Committee was held during the visit.

The sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Special attention was paid to implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries leaders for development of cooperation in security and strengthening peace and stability in the region.

The sides also noted the strategic character of relations between Turkmenistan and China.

The possibility of bilateral cooperation in industry, high technologies and agriculture were also discussed in Ashgabat.

The parties expressed mutual interest in development of relations in the energy and transportation sectors through implementation of joint projects.

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Margate-based wholesale bakery Speciality Breads pepper brioche roll has become the bread of choice for P&O Ferries new steak burger.

The new burger will take centre stage in The Brasserie fine dining rooms on all P&O Ferries going to Belgium, France and Holland.

The steak burger was launched at the end of July in anticipation of National Burger Day on 25 August.

The pepper brioche roll is made with free range eggs, 100% British butter and Red Tractor-certified flour that is light, sweet and buttery, with a peppery after-taste.

Speciality Breads managing director Peter Millen said: With creativity at an all-time high when it comes to burgers in foodservice, its essential we continue to keep ahead of the trends, innovate and offer products which can help provide chefs with that premium point of difference and visual stand-out.

Were extremely proud of our brioche range so it is incredibly exciting and a real honour to have it showcased in the amazing brasseries on board the prestigious P&O Ferries.

In June, Speciality Breads was one of 16 shortlisted companies for the overall Responsible Business Champion award.
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Criminal cases against former District Judge Layne Walker and a retired Jefferson County sheriff's deputy will go forward, but tampering charges against two other deputies have been thrown out by a visiting judge, though they could be refiled.

Calling detective Sgt. John Chad Kolander "collateral damage" and "a small fish in this political fight," his attorney, Marsha A. Normand, said the indictments did not specify how Kolander tampered with evidence.

Larry Eastepp, attorney for Chief Deputy Timothy Smith, joined Normand's argument since their clients faced identical charges.

Visiting Judge Stephen Ables quashed the indictments because they state only that Kolander and Smith knew a probable cause affidavit was false when they submitted it in June 2013, several days after a process server tried to serve Walker with a lawsuit while he conducted court business.

Appointed prosecutor Josh Schaffer was given 10 days to amend the indictment and specify what lie the deputies' are accused of telling.

Without that, Normand said, attorneys have no idea what allegations to build a defense case.Former deputy Steven Broussard, Walker's bailiff, was charged with tampering with physical evidence. According to court documents, he took home a pen camera confiscated from the process server, which might have shown what happened that day in the courtroom.

Schaffer said Broussard's wife helped access the camera footage, and the deputy viewed it before returning it to the sheriff's office evidence room.

Broussard told Kolander the pen camera might contain evidence, prompting Kolander to seek out a search warrant.Smith, who at the time worked for the Jefferson County District Attorney's office, helped Kolander draft the document. Smith is now the second-highest ranking sheriff's deputy. Kolander, who has been with the sheriff's office for 23 years, is one of its lead investigators.

The affidavit made no mention that Broussard might have taken the camera home and viewed its contents before establishing probable cause, which the prosecutor said would mean Smith and Kolander lied by omission.

Both Kolander and Smith have been on paid administrative leave since their May 11 indictments.

"(Kolander) is just sitting at home cutting the grass," Normand said, suggesting Schaffer only be allowed five days to amend the indictment.

Ables earlier in the day ruled against setting aside the indictments based on defense attorneys' claims that Schaffer overstepped his authority in presenting the cases to a grand jury after deciding to pursue a new case against Walker.

District Attorney Bob Wortham voluntarily handed over cases to Schaffer last summer based on obstruction allegations against Walker related to the 2013 courtroom incident with the process server.

By April, Schaffer identified additional complaints in the case file sent by Wortham.

The complaints, by Criminal District Judge John Stevens, accused Walker of having county employees prepare his campaign finance reports and handle other personal business unrelated to their official duties.

Stevens is also the judge who appointed Schaffer, empaneled the grand jury that indicted Walker and the three deputies and approved expanding Schaffer's authority beyond Wortham's original request for an independent prosecutor.

Defense attorneys say the move was improper, considering Stevens' personal stake in the case against Walker."I've never seen a case like this, where a judge picks his own prosecutor to get back at another judge he's had a longstanding feud with," Eastepp said.

Ables sided with Schaffer, who said even a procedural glitch on Stevens' part would not invalidate the grand jury indictments.

Wortham, who had previously said Schaffer lacked authority over the cases and advocated tossing all four indictments, was not present at Monday's hearing.

Pat Knauth, Wortham's top assistant DA, spoke on his behalf. Knauth said the DA's office maintained its position that the cases were handled improperly but decided against asserting its own authority.

In essence, the DA's office believed any qualified attorney - other than Schaffer or one from its own ranks - should prosecute the case.

The controversial affidavit in question was signed by Wortham, who was the 58th District judge at the time. He is the named complaining witness in cases against Kolander and Smith.

"I find no grounds at this time to dismiss Mr. Schaffer as attorney pro tem," Ables said. Walker and Broussard both waived a formal arraignment Monday and pleaded not guilty.

Ables scheduled a conference call with attorneys for Sept. 15 at 10:30 a.m.

At that point, the indictments against Kolander and Smith could be reinstated with amended language to the documents.

Normand, however, said she plans to challenge any changes.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
When District Judge Kent Walston first ran for the bench two years ago, neither he nor his treasurer had to explicitly solicit money for the campaign, he said.

Thousands of dollars in checks signed by the attorneys who now practice before him just kept coming by mail.

"They called me and said, 'We have money for you,' " Walston said.

Walston collected $115,700 from practicing private attorneys in that cycle, a chunk of the $367,000 lawyers have spent on four Jefferson County civil judgeship races since 2013, a review of finance reports found.

That sum represents 58 percent of total campaign money raised by those seven judicial candidates; the share grows to 71 percent when counting only the winners' funding, showing judges rely heavily on attorneys to bankroll their campaigns.

It raises questions about whether attorneys are getting additional influence in exchange for their checks, though attorneys, judges and candidates said quid pro quo is not a factor.

Walston, for example, said he ruled against one of his donors in a summary judgment, terminating the case early.

"Judges have philosophies that aren't swayed much," said Tom Rugg, an attorney who briefly served as an appointed civil court judge before losing the election to Walston. "Given the amount of money it takes to run a successful campaign and the limits on lawyers and law firms, I'm not terribly concerned about there ever being an undue influence."

Attorneys gave Walston $14 to every $1 they gave Rugg, according to their campaign finance reports. The $115,740 Walston raised from lawyers was 71 percent of his total funding.

James Mehaffy Jr., a former three-term Jefferson County civil judge, attorney and president of the county bar association, said such relationships could at least subtly impact how judges view attorneys.

"We're human beings, and we're subject to being influenced by (people who) have been generous to us," Mehaffy said. "I think we're talking about a matter of degree here."

The prevalence of attorney contributions to judicial candidates can be striking.

Current 60th district candidate Justin Sanderson, running to replace his father, has raised $37,000 from attorneys since mid-December, when it became publicly know that he would not face an opponent.

"The way the system is set up, you have to raise money," Sanderson said.

Texas, one of 20 states that selects trial judges through partisan elections, restricts the amount district judicial candidates can raise in counties the size of Jefferson to $2,500 per attorney and $15,000 per law firm.

Judicial candidates can only raise money during a 22-month "election period," including four months after election day, regardless of whether the candidate is opposed.

Cash finds winners

In 2014, when two civil court judgeships were contested, the winners collected 95 percent of the $189,600 attorneys pumped into the races.

The Enterprise's review of judicial campaign finance reports was limited to the four civil court benches, leaving out two criminal districts and two family districts.

It's unclear in which direction, if any, cause and effect can be attributed in election outcomes. Attorneys' money mostly flows to the Democratic candidates, who haven't lost a district judgeship election to a Republican since Reconstruction.

"I just know there's a lot more registered Democrats than registered Republicans in Jefferson County," said David Starnes, a solo practicing attorney who has not given to judicial candidates.

Starnes said that the plaintiffs attorney-heavy donations to local judges are part of a wider landscape, in which corporate or insurance interests contribute heavily to the Republican-heavy appellate courts.

Appellate judges also are chosen through partisan elections, as opposed to political appointments or elections where judges don't declare a party affiliation.

"There's no way (attorneys) can keep up with large corporations, health care providers and insurance companies," Starnes said.

That appellate court oversight is why judges can't make decisions based on their donor lists, said Jason L. Cansler, whose solo practice has given $7,500 to district judges in the past three years.

"I think that's a misconception," Cansler said. "The trial court judge, if that's their homework assignment, they get graded by appellate court judges. ... Did you like failing classes when you were a student?"

Mehaffy said that's true only to an extent: 90 to 95 percent of a judge's rulings are "absolutely obvious," leaving little room for bias because they would be overturned.

"One would not expect those to be influenced by political donations," Mehaffy said. "But 5 or 10 percent of the calls are absolutely so discretionary that you can fairly call it one way or the other."

At a time when most cases are settled or dismissed before trial, motions to allow evidence or postpone a hearing date can be crucial to the cases's outcome, Mehaffy said.

"That's a good bit of discretion that affects just how easy it is to do business there," Mehaffy said. "Yes, the appellate court is a check. Sometimes more or sometimes less. But on the discretionary part, not so much."

Pattern continues in '16

Because he lacks an opponent, Sanderson is virtually guaranteed to replace his father, Judge Gary Sanderson, who decided against re-election after holding the 60th district bench for 36 years.

Although Sanderson has spent several thousand on donations to organizations, print ads and other typical campaign expenses, his contributions are essentially being earmarked for 2020 and beyond.

"We expect (Sanderson) to have somebody run against him at some point," said Cansler, who gave him $2,500. "There's nothing wrong with assisting him in building up some war chest."

Sanderson's campaign account contained $104,000 as of June 30, topping all Jefferson County elected officials. County Judge Jeff Branick ranked second with $31,000 less.

Of the $114,800 total Sanderson raised through June 30, attorneys contributed $98,500, or 85 percent, according to his campaign finance report.

"I don't know what the motivating factor is behind the attorneys that donate money," Sanderson said. "Ethically, as a judge ... you try to do the best your can and base your decisions on the facts and case law that's been set 100 years before you."

The three district judge candidates this year - Baylor Wortham and Dana Timaeus are running for the open 136th district seat - have pulled 70 percent of their funding from attorneys, though it predictably leans heavier toward the Democrats.

Wortham, son of former judge and current District Attorney Bob Wortham, has raised $73,800 from attorneys compared to Timaeus' $4,700, a 15-to-1 disparity ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

"It's fair to say that I'm not part of the political establishment," Timaeus said.

Wortham, like other attorneys, attributed the high share of lawyer contributions to two primary factors: first, the general public not being interested enough in the day-to-day courthouse and second, fellow members of the bar know one another well and want to pledge support.

"There's no quid pro quo for any of this," Wortham said. "Nobody should expect to get any favors. There aren't any strings attached to this."

EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/EricBesson_news
Aetna will stop offering individual Affordable Care Act plans in 11 state exchanges, according to Bloomberg.

Here are five things to know:

1. This year, Aetna offered plans in 15 states. The company's latest decision to exit 11 exchanges will leave customers in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida left to seek coverage elsewhere.

2. Aetna will offer plans on state changes in Iowa, Nebraska, Virginia and Delaware.

3. Aetna said it anticipated losses totaling $300 million on these state exchanges earlier this year. Similarly, UnitedHealth Group and Humana are also leaving several ACA exchanges after suffering million-dollar losses.

4. In July, Humana reported it will leave many ACA exchanges and will participate in "no more" than 11 state marketplaces. Humana suffered $1 billion losses on ACA exchanges last year.

5. Aetna said the Department of Justice's lawsuit against its deal with Humana did not play a part in the payer's decision to leave 11 exchanges.

"The vast majority of payers have experienced continued financial stress within their individual public exchange business," Aetna Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini said in the statement. "Providing affordable, high-quality healthcare options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool."

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Physician dissatisfaction with EHRs is not news at this point. Complaints about integrating the technology into practice and whether they add anything meaningful to the patient experience and care delivery process have been flying since the ONC first incentivized adoption. But after a few years into life with EHRs, physicians are able to pinpoint with more precision exactly what isn't working with the technology.

"At present, the spectacular effects of computers in science and in the secular world are not reflected in the EHR, which for physicians remains burdensome, all-consuming, and far from intuitive; this is not surprising, when the dominant EHRs are designed for billing and not primarily for ease of use by those who provide care," the authors of a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association wrote this week.

Their criticisms are in line with much of the oft-cited shortcomings of EHRs, such as their potential to create alert fatigue and to generate an overload of bloated data through which clinical staff must wade. However, the authors also offer specific ways that electronic record systems could be improved, such as compiling captured data into single graphs to enable both patients and providers to visualize what the raw information represents in a more meaningful way.

They also emphasize that technology to track, synthesize and visualize information in a way that makes sense to users is widely in use, but for some reason hasn't been integrated into EHRs.

"There is building resentment against the shackles of the present EHR; every additional click inflicts a nick on physicians' morale," the authors conclude. "Current records miss opportunities to harness available data and predictive analytics to individualize treatment. Meanwhile, sophisticated advances in technology are going untapped. Better medical record systems are needed that are dissociated from billing, [are] intuitive and helpful and allow physicians to be fully present with their patients."
The University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor is participating in the National Institutes of Health-funded Data and Research Support Center, a part of President Barack Obama's national Precision Medicine Initiative, according The Michigan Daily.

The initiative is dedicating $55 million to further research into precision medicine, which aims to treat patients based on factors unique to them, such as lifestyle and medical history. The initiative was launched in January 2015.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health is already gathering genetics data for research through the Michigan Genomics Initiative. It has collected genetic information from 32,000 patients.

The university's Michigan Genomics Initiative is one reasons NIH selected the university to participate in the federal initiative, said Goncalo Abecasis, chair of the biostatistics department and the Felix E. Moore Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Jackie Somerville, PhD, RN, senior vice president of patient care services and CNO of Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, will step down from her position Oct. 1, according to a Boston Business Journal report.

She is stepping down to focus on "opportunities in academia and consulting," the hospital administration said in a memo to staff, according to the report.

Dr. Somerville has been senior vice president of patient care services and CNO of Brigham and Women's since January 2011. Prior to joining Brigham and Women's, she worked for Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital as associate chief nurse of the MGH Cancer Center, surgical services, orthopedics and neuroscience nursing.

During her tenure at Brigham and Women's, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents 3,300 nurses at Brigham and Women's, reached an agreement with the hospital, averting what would have been the largest nurse strike in the state's history.

Boston-based Partners HealthCare, which owns Brigham and Women's, took an $8 million hit from spending on strike preparations earlier this summer at the hospital. The week before the planned the strike, the hospital dialed down operations, transferred hundreds of patients and canceled procedures and appointments, causing the hospital to lose another $16 million in revenue.

Still, hospital officials complimented Dr. Somerville's work, noting that under her leadership, Brigham and Women's was recognized as one of 13 national affiliates of the international nonprofit foundation Watson Caring Science Institute, according to the report. Dr. Somerville was also inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as an academy fellow, one of the highest honors in the nursing field, in July 2015.

The hospital hopes to name Dr. Somerville's successor by the end of this year.
The following hospital and health system layoffs were reported by Becker's Hospital Review so far in August. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.

1. Kindred plans to close Texas long-term care hospital

Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare told the Texas Workforce Commission it plans to close its transitional care hospital in Baytown, Texas, according to the Houston Business Journal. Kindred said it is closing Kindred Hospital Baytown to consolidate services between its other Houston-area facilities, including Kindred Hospital Bay Area in Pasadena, Texas. Kindred told the Texas Workforce Commission the closure will affect 37 jobs, according to the Houston Business Journal.

2. Baystate Health System to lay off 300 employees

Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health will lay off roughly 300 people as a result of a projected $75 million budget shortfall, according to the Boston Business Journal. The reduction, which will eliminate approximately $40 million in expenses, represents 2.4 percent of Baystate's 12,500-person workforce, according to the report.

3. NY hospital cuts 22 nursing jobs

Samaritan Hospital in Troy, N.Y., cut 22 full- and part-time positions for licensed practical nurses as part of a new staffing model, according to a Times Union report. That new model, also used at Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter's Hospital, employs registered nurses and aides, but not LPNs, Norman Dascher, CEO of Samaritan and St. Mary's hospitals in Troy, told the Times Union.

4. Ascension Wisconsin job cuts unknown following Wheaton Franciscan acquisition

Ascension Wisconsin continues to integrate corporate and operating structures of four health systems following its acquisition of Glendale, Wis.-based Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, according to a Milwaukee Business Journal report. But the number of jobs affected by these efforts has yet to be disclosed. Ascension Wisconsin, part of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, acquired Wheaton's Southeast Wisconsin operations and related corporate offices last March. Ascension Health also owns Milwaukee-based Columbia St. Mary's and Ministry Health Care, and Affinity Health System in Appleton, Wis.

Vince Gallucci, chief marketing and communications officer for Ascension Wisconsin, acknowledged to the Milwaukee Business Journal that Ascension Wisconsin has been consolidating and streamlining its organization in recent months. Employees have already reported layoffs at the former Wheaton corporate office in Glendale, Wheaton hospitals and the Columbia St. Mary's headquarters, according to the report. They claim the job cuts have been in front office and clinical positions.

5. Sonoma West Medical Center cuts 25 jobs amid revenue cycle overhaul

Sebastopol, Calif.-based Sonoma West Medical Center laid off 16 percent of its administrative staff, affecting 25 jobs, according to The North Bay Business Journal. The layoffs, which are expected to save Sonoma West $200,000 a month, came about three weeks after the hospital signed an agreement for Pipeline Health to manage its operations.
In less than three short months, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will take the White House. Our nation's next president will play an integral part in healthcare's next steps, with Ms. Clinton pledging to continue building on President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Here are eight healthcare quotes from Hillary Clinton:

1. After a woman spoke about her daughter receiving cancer treatment due to the ACA during a speaking engagement at Grand View University, as reported by CBS News, Ms. Clinton said, "I want you to understand why I am fighting so hard for the Affordable Care ActI don't want it repealed, I don't want us to be thrown back into a terrible, terrible national debate. I don't want us to end up in gridlock. People can't wait!"

2. In a statement reported in The Hill, Ms. Clinton doubled down on her promise to crack down on health insurance companies, saying, "As we see more consolidation in healthcare, among both providers and insurers, I'm worried that the balance of power is moving too far away from consumers."

She also wrote, "These mergers should be scrutinized very closely with an eye to preventing the undue concentration that they appear to createThe evidence from careful studies shows that too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers."

3. When asked about whether undocumented workers should have access to healthcare insurance in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Ms. Clinton responded, "If they can afford it, they should be able to go into the marketplace and buy it. But it is not going to apply to people who are in need of subsidies in order to afford that because the subsidies question has to be worked out in comprehensive immigration reform. And what I do want to see is that we have more options for undocumented people to be able to get the healthcare they need."

4. "What we have to do, I think, is defend the Affordable Care Act and fix it," Ms. Clinton said in a campaign video as reported by The Street, "And [Valeant Pharmaceuticals] is one of these companies that is absolutely gouging American consumers and patientsI'm going after them; we are going to stop this. This is predatory pricing."

5. "More than 20 percent of all American women have used Planned Parenthood. Make no mistake, it is under brutal attack everywhere that Republicans are in charge," said Ms. Clinton on a campaign stop at the University of Nevada earlier this year before the state's democratic caucus, according to KOLOTV.

6. "Yes, we've cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive healthcare and safe childbirth, and laws don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice  not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed," Ms. Clinton said at the sixth annual Women in The World Summit in New York City and reported in The Christian Post.

7. At a Democratic Town Hall in 2016 hosted by CNN, Ms. Clinton spoke on end-of-life care: "We need to have a conversation in our country. There are states that are moving to open up the opportunity without criminal liability for people to make this decision, in consultation with their families, even with medical professionals. It is a crucial issue that people deserve to understand from their own ethical, religious, faith-based perspective. I want, as president, to try to catalyze that debate because this is going to become an issue more and more often. I don't have any easy or glib answer for you. I would want to really immerse myself in the ethical writings, the health writings, the scientific writings, the religious writings. We have to be sure that nobody is coerced, nobody is under duress. And that is a difficult line to draw."

8. "The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work," Ms. Clinton Tweeted, as reported in USA Today.





For comments and/or questions, please contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com or Mary Rechtoris at mrechtoris@beckershealthcare.com.

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The air cargo markets deceleration this year had a greater impact on third-quarter cargo revenues at American Airlines than its primary rivals, Delta and United Airlines. But the best revenue quarter in company history and a $483 million profit painted a positive financial picture that could be replicated in the final quarter thanks to resilient []
The presidential election is drawing closer, and the two contenders  Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton  have both made headlines over their past and current convictions.

Mr. Trump has vowed to repeal and replace President Obama's Affordable Care Act, and the Republican nominee has not shied away from voicing his opinion about the turbulent healthcare landscape.

Here are eight memorable healthcare quotes Mr. Trump has said over the years:

1. At an American Airlines Center in Dallas last year, Mr. Trump said, "Obamacare. We're going to repeal it, we're going to replace it, get something great. Repeal it, replace it, get something great!"

2. During his June 2015 presidential announcement speech, Mr. Trump said, "But Obamacare kicks in in 2016. Really big league. It is going to be amazingly destructive. Doctors are quitting. I have a friend who's a doctor, and he said to me the other day, 'Donald, I never saw anything like it. I have more accountants than I have nurses.' It's a disaster. My patients are beside themselves. They had a plan that was good. They have no plan now."

3. In September 2014, Mr. Trump tweeted, "I'm not against vaccinations for your children, I'm against them in one massive dose. Spread them out over a period of time & autism will drop!"

4. Mr. Trump told The Hill the federal government should not play a huge role in healthcare regulation. He said, "The only way the government should be involved, they have to make sure those companies are financially strong, so that if they have catastrophic events or they have a miscalculation, they have plenty of money. Other than that, it's private."

5. In a 1999 interview with Larry King Live, Mr. Trump took a different stance, saying, "If you can't take care of your sick in the country, forget it, it's all over. I mean, it's no good. So I'm very liberal when it comes to healthcare. I believe in universal healthcare. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better."

6. In an interview on "60 Minutes," Scott Pelley asked Mr. Trump about his plans to fix the healthcare system.

"There's many different ways, by the way. Everybody's got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say because a lot of times they say, 'No, no, the lower 25 percent that can't afford private' I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now."

7. When Mr. Pelley asked Mr. Trump how his health law would care for the uninsured, Mr. Trump said, "the government's gonna pay for it. But we're going to save so much money on the other side. But for the most it's going to be a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything."

8. At a Republican rally in New Hampshire in February, Mr. Trump said negotiating with pharmaceutical companies could reap huge savings, according to Fortune.

The candidate said, "Because the drug companies have an unbelievable lobby. And these guys that run for office, that are on my left and right and plenty of others, they're all taken care of by the drug companies. And they're never going to put out competitive bidding. So I said to myself wow, let me do some numbers. If we competitively bid, drugs in the United States, we can save as much as $300 billion a year."

For comments and/or questions, please contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com or Mary Rechtoris at mrechtoris@beckershealthcare.com.

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Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, Vt., has chosen Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network as a potential partner.

The board of Porter Medical Center has been engaged in a strategic planning process for more than a year to decide whether the hospital should remain independent or affiliate with a health system.

"It is abundantly clear that if we choose to partner, our best partnering option would be with the UVM Health Network," said Fred Kniffin, MD, CEO of Porter Medical Center. "This is now the only affiliation option that we are considering, should we decide to make that choice."

UVM Health Network was one of four organizations that responded to Porter Medical Center's affiliation request for proposals.

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In conjunction with the federal and state government's pending antitrust suit against Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte, N.C., the San Francisco-based law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein is looking for Charlotte-area residents who could sue for related damages, reports Charlotte Observer.

The investigation concerns the antitrust suit filed against Carolinas June 9 by the Department of Justice and the North Carolina Attorney General's Office. The suit alleges Carolinas Healthcare used its market power to require steering restrictions in contracts with every major health insurer in the area, resulting in higher healthcare costs by reducing market competition.

Lieff Cabraser is asking Charlotte-area residents who feel they've been harmed by Carolinas anticompetitive activity to contact the law firm. Although the firm's investigation is preliminary, it could lead to a separate class-action suit.

Carolinas filed a motion earlier this month to dismiss the suit on grounds the DOJ has not provided evidence the contract provisions led to an increase in insurance premium prices or marginalized other area hospitals in the market.

Government officials and Carolinas' lawyers declined the Observers' request for comment.
Rockledge, Fla.-based Health First has reached a settlement with Melbourne, Fla.-based Omni Healthcare and a group of physicians, resolving a nearly three-year-old antitrust suit accusing Health First of maintaining a monopoly in southern Brevard County through its ownership of hospitals, physician practices and health insurance plans.

The antitrust trial began Monday and was expected to last three weeks. However, during the second day of the trial, a settlement was announced by the parties and U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton issued an order dismissing the suit with prejudice, according to Florida Today.

Judge Dalton's order didn't disclose details of the agreement, and the parties didn't immediately respond to requests for further information.

The plaintiffs alleged Health First maintained its monopoly by "intimidating physicians or otherwise obstructing their ability to practice medicine in south Brevard County if they do not play ball with Health First and refer patients exclusively to Health First hospitals and physician specialists." According to the complaint, Health First's alleged monopoly began with its 2013 purchase of Melbourne (Fla.) Internal Medicine Associates, a multispecialty physician group. The lawsuit refers to the MIMA deal as a "merger to monopoly."

Health First denies the allegations, saying it is a positive competitive force in the community.

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Police shot and killed a 29-year-old man Monday who allegedly attacked a security guard and charged at a police officer with a metal sign after his release from Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., according to The Washington Post.

During a news conference Tuesday, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said hospital security guards escorted the patient to a bus stop after he was discharged from the hospital. Soon after, just before 10 p.m., hospital security received a call that the man was wielding a weapon at the bus stop. When hospital security guards responded to the scene, the man allegedly struck a guard with a metal sign post, according to the report.

When a radio call went out on the hospital security channel, a Fairfax County Sherriff deputy who was at Inova Fairfax guarding a patient from the jail responded to the scene. Police say the deputy tried to negotiate with the man, but the man charged the deputy with the sign post over his head, prompting the deputy to fire his weapon.

The man was taken to the hospital and later died of his injuries.

Police say the deputy was trained to handle incidents involving people with mental illness. He has been placed on routine administrative leave, according to the report.
A judge has delayed the trial of Malachi Love-Robinson, the 19-year-old accused of posing as a physician, according to the Palm Beach Post.

The trial was slated to begin in September, but it has been postponed until November to allow Mr. Love-Robinson's lawyer time to explore whether an insanity defense is viable. The court ordered Mr. Love-Robinson to undergo a mental health evaluation, and the results led his lawyer to explore the option of a defense centered on the teen's mental state, according to the report.

Mr. Love-Robinson was arrested in February and charged with practicing medicine without a license. He allegedly performed physical exams and gave medical advice to people  including an undercover officer  at an illegal medical office he ran in West Palm Beach, Fla.

That incident was not the first time Mr. Love-Robinson had been accused of masquerading as a physician. He was previously investigated by the Florida Department of Health for practicing medicine without a license in October 2015, and he is the same teen caught in January 2015 pretending to be a physician at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Mr. Love-Robinson played physician at St. Mary's for a month before he was ousted by Sebastian Kent, MD, an OB/GYN whose office is on the St. Mary's campus.

In addition to being accused of practicing medicine without a license, Mr. Love-Robinson also faces charges of grand theft for cashing checks he allegedly stole during house calls with an 86-year-old patient.

If convicted on the 10 charges pending against him, Mr. Love-Robinson faces a minimum of eight years in prison, according to the Palm Beach Post.

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Last spring, an Arizona physician took a cross-country bicycle trip where he solicited Americans' thoughts on the Affordable Care Act. While he received many angry responses, he felt as though he could address the concerns he was hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Paul Gordon, MD, took the trip and "listening tour" while on sabbatical from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he teaches. Traveling from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, he at times was joined by his wife, his adult children, a couple he'd befriended in Arizona and a medical student, Laurel Gray, who treated the trip as a research project.

Here are four takeaways from the trip, as stated in the report.

1. Dr. Gordon found that Americans are angry at the government, at the healthcare system and at fellow citizens who gained coverage through the ACA.

2. Americans complained about a myriad of issues, such as rising insurance bills, and at least one person alleged that the ACA encourages Americans to take advantage of the healthcare system.

3. When Dr. Gordon asked people to think about how they would fix the healthcare system, they didn't provide solutions.

4. At the end of the trip, Dr. Gordon concluded that physicians could help Americans better understand the nation's healthcare system.

For more on this story, read Noam N. Levey's full report in the Los Angeles Times.

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Jess Jacobs was many things. She was a director with Aetna's Innovation Labs, an advocate for improving the healthcare system and a blogger who shared personal stories about receiving care for the two rare conditions she battled, among others. She died in California on Saturday at 29, and afterwards the hashtag #UnicornJess began to trend on Twitter, as friends and admirers highlighted her important efforts to bring attention to her dissatisfying experience navigating the U.S. healthcare system with chronic illness.

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"If you've wondered why I've been under the radar lately, look no further than my odyssey of medical maladies; in addition to my ongoing struggle with [postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome], this year I've had: a kidney infection, shingles, pneumonia, a pulmonary embolism, and four blood transfusions," Ms. Jacobs wrote in one of the final posts on her blog in November 2015. "Since I'm a numbers person, I downloaded my claims data from my insurer to get a better idea of how much time I've wasted in the healthcare system since January 2014."

Following this excerpt, the post demonstrates in detailed graphs exactly how much time Ms. Jacobs spent trying to receive care for her conditions. Ultimately, she calculated she spent 1,540 hours, or 64.2 days, waiting for care instead of receiving it in 2015, according to her post.

One healthcare professional who took notice after Ms. Jacobs' death, retweeting numerous tweets from other users and posting himself about her work shedding light on the ways healthcare in the U.S. can fail patients, was CMS' Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt.

If you want to read a patient-centered analysis of health care experience, read this by @jess_jacobs. She just died.https://t.co/KC8rwNIon8  Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) August 15, 2016

Another excerpt from Ms. Jacobs' blog post entitled "On Wasting My Time  The Numbers," illustrates in heartbreaking detail how poor organization and a mess of inefficiencies in the way her care was delivered worsened her quality of life.
In June, the CDC recommended against using AstraZeneca's nasal flu vaccine, FluMist, citing a lack of evidence regarding the vaccine's efficacy. Now, results from a new Canadian study contradict this decision and point to the vaccine's effectiveness.

In the study  published in Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday  researchers from the McMaster University in Ontario randomly assigned 1,186 children aged 3 to 15 to receive either the live nasal vaccine or the inactivate flu vaccine injection.

For the past three flu seasons from 2012 to 2015, 5.3 percent of kids in the live nasal vaccine group and 5.2 percent of kids in the inactivated vaccine group had confirmed cases of the flu, showing the two vaccine forms were equally effective.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices based its recommendation on data that showed the live nasal vaccine was highly effective until 2013, when the vaccine changed from covering three strains to four.

While the ACIP analyzed data using the quadrivalent vaccine, the Canadian study used the trivalent vaccine, which is like "comparing oranges and tangerines," Kawsar R. Talaat, MD, an assistant scientist at the Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told NPR.

However, he new study's findings corroborate evidence presented to ACIP from three separate studies that proved 46-58 percent efficacy for the quadrivalent nasal vaccine in children.

Experts hold different views on how much  if at all  ACIP should consider the study's findings when they meet again in October.

London-based AstraZeneca has taken an $80 million hit since the CDC's ruling on FluMist.



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Neptune City, N.J.-based Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Redbank, N.J.-based Riverview Medical Center added neurosurgeon Howard Eisenbrock, DO.

Here are five notes:

1. Dr. Eisenbrock specializes in neurosurgery and minimally invasive surgery.

2. He treats conditions including tumors, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, spinal abscess, cervical and lumbar fusions as well as carpel tunnel.

3. Dr. Eisenbrock most recently worked at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where his practice focused on operative multimodal pain management protocols for spinal fusions.

4. After earning his medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, he completed his neurosurgery residency at the same institution. He underwent his complex spinal surgery fellowship at Boston-based New England Baptist Hospital.

5. Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center recently joined Hackensack Meridian Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization in New Jersey.

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For a single employee, taking one or two paid sick days a year is likely to have little or no impact on their personal finances. However, in the case of both large and small companies where multiple workers may be off at any one given time, absenteeism presents a series of financial pressures that can weigh heavily on a company's bottom line.

Research shows that Northern Ireland has some of the highest levels of absenteeism in the UK, with 3.1% of work time per annum being lost to sick leave compared to the national average of 2.8% (XpertHR). To put it into perspective, this equates to 7.1 days per employee in Northern Ireland, which contributes to an overall cost of 16bn to UK businesses.

Setting the financial implications aside, employers may also experience a loss in productivity, staff morale and quality of goods and services when faced with high levels of absenteeism, as employees covering for absent colleagues are put under increased pressure coping with a greater workload and less resources. This risks perpetuating the vicious cycle of employees suffering from occupational burnout and work-related stress, which can exacerbate levels of absence even further.

With businesses already at the mercy of today's turbulent financial climate that has on occasions resulted in job losses, budget cuts and closures across both the private and public sectors, it remains paramount that employers protect and nourish their most prized asset, employees.

Not only is this a more economical and efficient approach for any responsible business, but more importantly the most ethical too.

For many organisations, having the right policies in place allows the opportunity to identify issues and offer support to each employee as a means of managing absence effectively and compassionately.

By rule of thumb, each policy should address key areas of concern such as physical health, mental health, work-home balance and environmental health to cover all bases fully and lawfully.

However if line managers suspect an employee is suffering from a health issue, it's crucial that they avoid counselling them or assuming a diagnosis unless of course the information has been volunteered by the individual themselves. Treating someone differently at work on the basis of an assumed medical disorder or disability is likely to be inappropriate and leaves the door open for potential litigation.

To help ensure cost-effective compliance with employment and data protection law, many organisations employ the professional services of an occupational health provider to deal with sensitive issues while delivering a duty of care owed to staff on behalf of the employer.

In addition to their moral responsibilities, employers also have a legal obligation to ensure that all employees are safeguarded from occupational risks that may pose a threat to their health under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

To identify such risks, an occupational health specialist will advise HR on reasonable workplace adjustments to assist the needs of an employee were appropriate.

When employees feel valued and supported, they recover from sickness more quickly and experience a greater sense of wellbeing and purpose both inside and outside the workplace.

Needless to say, healthier employees have higher levels of motivation, productivity and engagement, which reflects positively on a company's bottom line thanks to reduced overtime payments and the number of appointed temporary staff.

By working in collaboration with occupational health and implementing practices that will help to reduce absenteeism, identify occupational risks, and facilitate staff to remain in or return to work, businesses will soon reap the financial benefits of a healthier, happier workforce.

Dr Alan Black is the managing director of occupational health provider, Blackwell Associates Ltd
Entrepreneur Michael Nugent at the Nugelato ice cream shop in Newcastle, Co Down

Co Down couple Michael Nugent and Caitriona Doherty are whipping up sweet success with their second "ice cream boutique".

And they plan to scoop up even more business with a chain of dessert cafes, north and south.

The pair have just opened a new branch of Nugelato in Newry town centre. Queues of families and teenagers are now a familiar site outside the cafe on aptly-named Sugar Island.

"It's been a phenomenal first few weeks in Newry, the customer response really bowled us over," said Michael (32). "We started out with four staff and immediately had to start hiring more people.

"We've now got 25 staff, full and part-time, and we're still struggling to cope at peak times. On busy days, the shop is serving up to 1,000 customers.

"The Newry business community has been very welcoming. There's a brilliant Chamber of Commerce and the businesses really support each other. The city has a very vibrant atmosphere and I think it has huge potential."

The new shop comes less than a year after the opening of Michael's first Nugelato outlet on Newcastle promenade last summer, next door to his juice bar, Sucos, which opened five years ago.

"This has been our strongest year to date in Sucos and we're thinking of opening a branch in Newry, too," said Michael.

Between the three outlets, Michael is employing 52 people and spends his days driving back and forth over the Mournes to keep an eye on his growing empire.

"We've had a very successful summer, it's been massively busy in both Newcastle and Newry," he said.

"It's a very strong business and I believe we can grow significantly, with potential for more outlets. We hope to open five more shops over the next three years.

"We're looking at opening one in Belfast, as well as moving south into the Republic, perhaps into Dublin. The Newry shop attracts a lot of cross border business, with many customers coming up from Louth and Monaghan.

"Initially, I was concerned about the Brexit result and how it would impact on cross border business in the longer term. But I believe that it won't affect our ability to trade in the south. And the drop in the value of sterling has certainly helped to attract custom from across the border."

Michael, whose family have been making ice cream for 85 years, is even considering an outlet on the North Coast - deep in enemy territory dominated by the Morelli family's well-known brand.

"I think Nugelato could do well almost anywhere," said Michael. "We put a lot of thought, planning and effort into the design of the shops, and customers really like them.

"Ice cream is a hugely popular treat and there's a lot of competition in the market, but if you give people great quality and an experience that's different from other places, they will keep coming back."

Nugelato's ice cream is manufactured at the Nugent family's Strand cafe on Newcastle seafront, which is run by Michael's parents, Mary and Michael senior.

"I couldn't have done this without my parents, they've got so much great business experience in the ice cream trade and I've learned a lot from them," said Michael.

"They really encouraged me to expand and it's paid off. Dad is always in the shops in Newcastle and Newry, helping out and keeping me right. He gets a great buzz out of it."

The other important person in Michael's life is fiancee Caitriona (29), who works as a barrister in Dublin, dashing away from court to drive north for a busy shift serving ice cream in Newry or Newcastle.

"Our wedding is booked for New Year's Eve this year in Donegal and there's hardly been a moment to plan it," said Michael.

"All we ever think or talk about is ice cream, so we're looking forward to the wedding to get a break from it."
The fast-growing market for gin in Northern Ireland has another new player.

Copeland Spirits is raising money through crowdfunding for its fruit infused gin, distilled by hand in Saintfield, Co Down.

"We're hoping to raise 23,750 and to date, we've raised more than 17,000," said owner Gareth Irvine. The 23-year-old, who's in the final year of a business management degree at Ulster University, said he was very confident of attracting the full amount.

"We've still got five weeks to go and I've no doubt we'll get there," he said. "The support has been smashing. Apart from raising much-needed money for production costs, crowdfunding allows us to introduce our gin to the market. People are already buying into it and they haven't even tasted it yet."

Gareth is a keen gin drinker and says the spirit has moved on from its rather fusty old image - it used to be known as 'Mother's Ruin'.

"I've always liked gin and lots of younger people are drinking it now because there's a lot of choice in craft gin which is really innovative and exciting. All of my friends have moved away from mainstream drinks towards craft beers and spirits," he said.

"I'm very impressed by what other local gins, like Shortcross and Jawbox, are doing and I'd be delighted to compete with them."

Gareth is using locally-grown fruit for his 'ginfusions' and he turns the mixture by hand at premises in Saintfield, producing small batches that will be sold in 70cl bottles, costing 30 each. He's created two flavoured varieties - raspberry and mint and 'rhuberry', made with rhubarb and blackberries.

"All of our produce comes from local farmers in Co Down," said Gareth. "It's amazing what you can find and the quality is fantastic. Ours is one of the few gins that can be drunk neat, but it also works well with mixers or in cocktails.

"We'll be holding tastings and a big launch in September, with the aim of having it on the shelves in independent off-licences and in bars in October, in time for the Christmas trade."

Even a small taste of the local gin market could prove very lucrative for Gareth. Last year, gin sales in UK shops hit 400m, up 10% on the previous year, while 500m worth of gin was sold in pubs and restaurants across Britain.

According to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, seven new gin distilleries were opened in Northern Ireland in 2015 as entrepreneurs tap into the seemingly insatiable demand for the spirit.
A study says a small pay rise for some low-paid British-born workers will probably be undermined by a predicted wage growth weakening

Workers expecting to receive a pay boost following a potential drop in migration after the UK's vote to leave the European Union are likely to be disappointed, according to a new report.

The Resolution Foundation has concluded a cut in migration could deliver a small boost in the pay of some low-paid British-born workers.

However, any increase is likely to be undermined by a weakening of wage growth forecast by the Bank of England in the wake of Brexit.

Stephen Clarke, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: "The impact that recent widespread migration has had on British-born workers is hotly disputed.

"While there has been no effect on wages overall, increased migration has caused a slight drag on wages for some low-paid British workers.

"However, those expecting a wage boost off the back of a post-Brexit fall in migration are likely to be disappointed.

"Any such gains will be dwarfed by the losses caused by the post-referendum slowdown in the economy."

The report, to be published on Tuesday, examines the impact of migration on the labour market over the last decade when the share of migrants in the population increased from 10% in 2004 to 16% in 2016.

It combined that with an assessment of how meeting the Government's ambition of cutting migration numbers to the tens of thousands could affect future earnings and employment.

The report shows that the increase in migration has had no impact on the wages of British-born workers overall but it has impacted on the earnings of some occupations like skilled trades.

Migration levels were one of the key issues during the EU referendum campaign.

The report shows reducing migration to the tens of thousands immediately could boost the wages of British workers in sectors most affected by migration by between 0.2% and 0.6% by 2018.

But those increases would be dwarfed by the 2% downgrade to average wage growth which has been forecast by the Bank of England.

While cuts in migration are not expected to have much of an effect on the earnings of British workers overall, the report stresses the need for the Government to move quickly to address post-Brexit challenges faced by businesses.

The report points to sectors like food manufacturing, clothing manufacturing and domestic personnel services as those which could potentially be harmed by lower levels of migration.

It suggests replacing migrant workers with British-born workers is unlikely to be a realistic solution given apparent disparities in pay between the two groups.

The Foundation wants the Government to come up with a plan to help low-paying sectors adapt to the post-Brexit world.

It wants ministers to guarantee the rights of existing migrants to continue to work in the UK and to help industries move to support more highly paid roles.

The report also suggests that any new post-Brexit migration system is likely to include a role for more temporary workers and, as a result, more of an emphasis will need to be placed on enforcement of labour market rules.

It calls for the creation of a single enforcement unit with greater resources than the three existing enforcement agencies to prevent new types of illegal migration to the UK.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the report showed the Conservatives' "low-wage, low investment" economy was unable to deal with the fallout from Brexit.

"It is no good Tory ministers trying to scapegoat migrants for the failures of their policy. We need an emergency programme of investment to create jobs and lay the foundations for high-skill, high-wage economy we deserve," he said.

"It's time for Chancellor Philip Hammond to stops putting Britain on hold until he can make a decision, instead he should reject Tory austerity spending cuts and commit to a major programme of investment in infrastructure to rebuild and transform Britain, so no one and no community is left behind."
Pizza Express is aiming to double its restaurant numbers here - with around six on the cards across Northern Ireland - creating more than 200 new jobs.

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the chain's operations director Zoe Bowley - who is originally from Co Fermanagh - said it is eyeing up locations outside Belfast, as part of its big expansion here.

That could include locations such as Bangor, Newry, Carrickfergus, Londonderry and Enniskillen.

It will be launching two new Belfast restaurants next month. That includes one at St Anne's Square in the city centre, and a second in the Ballyhackamore area of east Belfast, creating 60 jobs.

"(Northern Ireland) is now ripe for investment. We've been here for 20 years...you get the brand to where people know us, and love us," Ms Bowley said.

"We think there is probably one more in Belfast, in the Titanic Quarter. We would then look to move out to Carrickfergus, Derry, Newry, Bangor.

"We talk in five-year plans. I think we don't ever have an end point. It's opportunities that we develop with the market.

"We've got a strong acquisition team that will bring us an opportunity every time there is a development in the market, or indeed, we have a target town list.

"We would identify markets which we would like to go in to...we never put a finite number."

While it's been for 20 years - opening its first store at Bedford Street in 1996 - Pizza Express only has three locations here, including Victoria Square and the Lisburn Road.

Pizza Express has more than 400 stores across the UK.

"We've even evaluated places like Enniskillen, where I'm originally from," she said.

Ms Bowley grew up in the small Co Fermanagh village of Tempo, before moving to Portstewart in her early teens.

She then moved back to England when she was 15.

Speaking about the performance of the restaurants in Northern Ireland, Pizza Express regional director, Graham Fenwick, said:

"(They have performed) exceptionally well. They are high-volume stores. Equal stores in the UK would perform at a less high sales rate.

"Over the last three years I have been involved in it, it's just been growing and growing... a strong customer base."

Aside from pizza, the chain sells a range of other Italian dishes, including risotto and polenta chips.

The new restaurants, which open early September, were fitted out by Carrickfergus firm McCue Crafted Fit.

The firm said it targeted St Anne's Square due to the building itself, and the type of businesses - including The Mac - that are based close-by.

Asked whether it's concerned about competing with nearby Coppi - a fellow Italian restaurant which has become a popular spot over the last few years - Mr Fenwick said he thinks Pizza Express "would be quite complementary".

"We will bring more people to this area, and the name carries a lot of weight to it," he said.

The restaurant, at the former Potted Hen, will compete against other spots such as House of Zen and Salt Bistro.

Ms Bowley said: "We can go in and punch above our weight with brands, and we also trade very successfully in other markets up against independents."

She said the success of the company was buoyed by many of its original ideas, created by founder Peter Boizot in the 1960s.

"The products he put on the menu are still there on the menu - down to the passata we put on the base. He sourced those from Italy, and we still use the same supplier."

Pizza Express has also started deliveries across Belfast. The company operates over 400 restaurants across the UK, along with 14 in the Republic of Ireland.
Office space provider Regus has landed additional room in Belfast city centre.

The firm has taken the third floor of Arnott House, which is located on Bridge Street. The floor space measures just over 6,000sq ft.

Arnott House has undergone refurbishment of the communal areas and first floor to provide modern accommodation behind a listed facade.

Regus will share the building with a number of businesses, including Boston-based cyber security firm Rapid7.

The other two floors, including the third floor taken by Regus, are currently being refurbished.

The deal for the new letting was completed by commercial property firm CBRE.

David Wright, director of office agency at CBRE, said: "We have been working closely with Regus as strategic partner to assist with its global expansion.

"Our aim was to secure a strong, prominent location and Arnott House is an example of an office building that will appeal to a wide range of companies seeking flexible office space.

"The serviced office sector is an extremely important aspect of the property market, providing short-term flexible office space for a multitude of businesses, from start-ups to large, global companies. The sector is set to continue to expand in the future with the continued rise in agile working practices."

Richard Morris, UK chief executive of Regus, added: "This letting will enable Regus to strengthen our presence in Belfast and get a foothold for further growth into the regions across Northern Ireland."
Staff at Co Down manufacturer Glen Dimplex to strike over pay

Staff working at a Co Down manufacturing firm are due to strike on Thursday over pay.

Workers at the Glen Dimplex in Newry, which produces heating appliances, are due to stop work on Thursday over pay, according to the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (Siptu).

Members of Siptu at the plant are due to strike between Thursday morning at 7.45am and 7.30am on Friday, the union said.

Siptu organiser, Denis Sheridan said: The workers had been involved in negotiations with the company for some time concerning an increase in pay.

Unfortunately, due to the intransigence shown by management at these talks no agreement was reached.

This work stoppage is the first of several planned for the coming weeks and is in addition to an ongoing work-to-rule campaign at the plant which includes a ban on overtime and call outs.

There are around 120 Siptu members working at the Glen Dimplex plant in Newry.

Established by Dublin native Martin Naughton in 1973, Glen Dimplex's brands include Morphy Richards, Creda, Belling along with Dimplex.

Siptu's Alan Clark, said: Our members have sought to find a negotiated solution to this dispute. Glen Dimplex is a profitable company and it is only fair that the workers who produce its high quality heating and other products are rewarded in an acceptable manner for their work.

We regret that we have found it necessary to implement strike action in an attempt to bring an end to this dispute.

Glen Dimplex in Northern Ireland consists of a base in Craigavon, where electrical appliances are distributed, one in Portadown, where heaters are manufactured, and one in Newry, where convector heaters and heat pumps are manufactured.
The Craigavon company, which recently received a visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, sends its luxury products to customers ranging from US casinos to Middle Eastern luxury hotels

Ulster Carpets, one of Northern Ireland's best-known manufacturers, has announced "record" sales in the last year while warning of some uncertainty due to Brexit.

Turnover was up 6% to 64m at parent company Ulster Carpet Mills (Holdings) in the year to March 31, 2016 - partly as recovery in the housing market led to a pick-up in demand for its Axminster carpets. But a change in accountancy rules contributed to a fall in pre-tax profits to 6.6m in the year to March 2016 - down 20% from 8.3m a year earlier.

The Craigavon company, which recently received a visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, sends its luxury products to customers ranging from US casinos to Middle Eastern luxury hotels.

And customers included Buckingham Palace, which ordered 415 square metres of highest-quality covering for the Ball Supper room.

However, the company said there had been signs of "a slowdown or hesitation" in key business areas in the present financial year. However, finance director David Acheson said that the vote to leave the EU had so far had no direct impact on customers' appetite for its products.

The previous year had brought a record performance, according to a statement accompanying the accounts by chairman Edward Wilson  the uncle of chief executive Nick Coburn.

Employment was also up from 532 to 564  and its cash in the bank and at hand was 19.3m, up from 18.2m.

Mr Wilson said its plants had been running at full capacity, and sales had grown in most areas during the year.

And he remarked that the sales increase was made more remarkable by lower prices from competitors, which Mr Wilson claimed did not reflect the real costs involved.

But trading was difficult in eurozone countries.

Trading conditions with the euro bloc countries continue to be difficult, reflecting their failure to achieve significant growth in GDP.

However, he said that fluctuations in the pound sterling/US dollar exchange rate had worked in the companys favour.

And on markets closer to home, he said: The demand for our Axminster products for the residential market, which has declined markedly in recent times, this year showed a significant increase.

The present financial year had brought some slowdown so far, but he added that the firm expect trade to improve over the latter part of the year as there is a good pipeline of prospective orders.

He added: The UK economy appears to be continuing to improve although, at the time of writing this report, there is a degree of uncertainty resulting from the June 23 referendum.

Finance director, David Acheson, said the fall in profits was mainly due to the company adopting accountancy standard FRS 102, which requires firms to restate foreign currency contracts from an earlier financial year at the rate in the present tax year.

And he said Brexit had not had an impact on the firm. In terms of the uncertainty, we have not seen a huge impact on our business.

As an exporter, were finding that people in those countries are still buying our products and we are cushioned from a lot of the impact.

Were not seeing any discernible impact at this stage on our order book.

But the future depends on how the government goes from here and how they manage things.

Asked whether the company was in favour of the UK staying in the single market, he said: Were in favour of making our products as easy to export as possible.

Economist John Simpson said the fall in pre-tax profits was mainly due to the change in the accounting standards imposed on the company. In all other respects, this has been an extremely good year for the company.

Since the year end covered in the results, the firm has appointed four new directors, Lydia Inglis, Jeremy Wilson, Caroline Somerville and Mr Acheson.

Mr Acheson said he was the only director of the four not to be linked to the Wilson family. The company recently bought interiors company, Roger Oates Design, in England.
Shares in William Hill were down more than 2% on the news

Betting giant William Hill has batted away a revised takeover approach from Rank Group and 888, saying it is highly opportunistic and substantially undervalues the company.

Online operator 888 and casino giant Rank have tabled an improved proposal of 352 pence per share, compared with their previous offer of 339 pence made last week.

888 and Rank Group have called on the board of William Hill to begin constructive discussion in a bid to reach a deal.

Shares in William Hill were down more than 2%. The business trades as Willstan Ltd in Northern Ireland.

Gareth Davis, chairman of William Hill, said: This revised proposal continues to substantially undervalue the company and the cash element of the proposal has not changed. Therefore, the board sees no merit in engaging.

As we have said before, this is highly opportunistic and complex and does not enhance the strategic positioning of William Hill.

The board continues to believe we have a strong team to deliver superior value to our shareholders and trading at the start of the second half gives us renewed confidence in our stand-alone strategy.

The fresh proposal would see William Hill shareholders owning 48.8% of BidCo, the company being formed by 888 and Rank Group in order to buy the betting giant.

It would mean William Hill shareholders would take 199 pence in cash and 0.86 of shares in BidCo for each share they own.

The previous deal would have seen William Hill shareholders take 199 pence in cash and 0.725 BidCo shares, with investors holding 44.6% of the combined group.

Rank chief executive Henry Birch said: With a 48.8% share in the combined business, the largest proportion of the benefits would accrue to William Hill shareholders (as well a significant cash payment), and we hope to engage the William Hill Board in constructive discussions to deliver a deal that makes compelling strategic sense for all three businesses.

888 and Rank Group said the tie-up would deliver cost savings of 100m per year and would create a the UKs largest multi-channel gambling operator.

It comes after William Hill said half-year profits were boosted by a strong Euro 2016, helping offset a dire Cheltenham Festival.

Itai Frieberger, 888 chief executive, said: We are extremely excited by the prospect of creating a dynamic, broad-based, multi-channel gambling business of real scale.

We expect the combined business to lead innovation in the sector, drive growth and deliver superior returns for all shareholders.

The gambling industry has seen a number of mergers, with Ladbrokes and Gala Coral set to join forces.

And Paddy Power and Betfair completed their merger in February this year.
Touts are selling tickets to a new Harry Potter play starring Belfast actor Anthony Boyle for more than 8,300 online.

And now young fans buying the tickets to see hit West End production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child could be turned away from theatre doors.

Anthony Boyle (22), from Poleglass in the west of the city, won his big break this year when it was announced he had secured the role of Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy.

Before the show opened last month, Potter author JK Rowling paid tribute to Poleglass actor Boyle, declaring that Scorpius would "do nothing to turn girls off the Malfoy men".

Theatre critic Henry Hitchings singled out the young star as having "the most layered and absorbing" of all the performances.

But the sell-out play, which stars Jamie Parker as Harry Potter, has become a victim of its own success, with secondary ticketing websites imposing a massive mark-up.

The most expensive seat is at the Palace, where the play is showing in London is 140.

But just to see part two of the play next March will set fans back an eye-watering 8,327.19 using online ticket marketplace Viagogo - 60 times the original asking price.

StubHub - owned by eBay - offers the chance to see both parts next April for a mere 4,999.

Last week, 250,000 tickets for the show, which runs until December 2017, sold out on the day.

Now the furious play producers - Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender - are taking action.

"The secondary ticket market is an industry-wide plague, and one which we as producers take very seriously," they said.

"Our priority is to protect all our customers and we are doing all we can to combat this issue.

"We have already been able to identify, and refuse entry, to a significant number of people who purchased tickets through resale sites and will continue to track down touts and refuse entry to anyone who has knowingly bought a ticket from a tout through the secondary market."

Around 60 bookings made using unofficial tickets are understood to have been declined.
A parish priest has said he is outraged after an Orange Hall in Co Londonderry - whose members have helped build good cross-community relations - was extensively damaged in an overnight arson attack.

The blaze at the Salterstown hall, near Ballyronan, was discovered during the early hours of yesterday morning after the alarm was raised by a local resident.

The inside of the rural building suffered substantial damage, with a lodge banner, collarettes and instruments belonging to a local band destroyed.

Rev Peter Donnelly, parish priest in Ballinderry, close to where the attack took place, said he was outraged at the incident.

"I want to express the abhorrence of the whole Catholic community at this attack.

"We sympathise with the members of the Salterstown Orange Hall - it is thoroughly condemned by everybody.

"There are excellent community relations in this area.

"I was outraged by it; it's shocking. Everybody is very shocked by what happened."

Members of the Salterstown lodge have been left "devastated" by the attack.

This latest incident brings the total number of attacks on Orange Halls to 21 this year.

<< Scroll down for full list of attacks>>

The Church of Ireland Primate, Dr Richard Clarke, said his thoughts and prayers were with the lodge at this difficult.

"The arson attack on Salterstown Orange Hall was a disgraceful act, causing great hurt to members of the local lodge and their families and neighbours," he said.

"Every effort should be made to promote goodwill and respect for one another's traditions in Northern Ireland. I would also appeal for anyone with information about the attack to bring it forward to the PSNI for investigation."

Alan Day, treasurer of Salterstown Orange Hall, commented: "I am devastated at the attack on our rural Orange Hall which we have only recently finished renovating.

"Salterstown Loyal Sons of Derry are very much a family oriented rural lodge, with close ties to Ballinderry Parish Church.

"The lodge recently commemorated the centenary of three members killed in World War One, and regularly raises money for charity.

"The lodge has a very good relationship with all communities in the local area."

A spokesman for Salterstown Orange Order said lodge members were in a "complete state of shock" at the attack on the premises.

He explained: "We are absolutely devastated that our property should be targeted in such a manner, and are simply crestfallen by the scene of devastation inflicted by the abhorrent individuals responsible.

"The hall has been a part of community life for over 100 years, serving as a meeting place for local groups, and its unavailability for a period will be keenly felt. Despite this major setback, the lodge and the wider Orange fraternity will rally around and ensure our hall is once again fully restored."

Alliance Justice spokesperson, Trevor Lunn MLA, described the incident as a "mindless sectarian attack".

He said: "This is simply vandalism which achieves nothing except to attempt and intimidate one section of our community. Attacks like these have no place in our society. The people responsible for this attack offer nothing positive to our society."

Senior Orangemen are due to formally meet with the police soon to discuss the situation.

In response to the recent spate of attacks on halls, senior Orangemen are due to formally meet with the police in the coming days to discuss the situation.

21 attack on Orange Halls in 2016

17/02/2016 Strawletterdallon Orange Hall Tyrone Windows broken at rear

19/02/2016 Strawletterdallon Orange Hall Tyrone Windows broken at front

22/02/2016 Rasharkin Orange Hall Antrim 1916' Republican Graffiti

23/04/2016 Clifton Street Belfast Paint attack

03/05/2016 Strawletterdallon Orange Hall Tyrone Windows Broken

10/05/2016 Ballyneal Orange Hall, Magherafelt Londonderry Attempted Arson

29/05/2016 Wattlebridge Orange Hall, Newtownbutler Fermanagh Hoax bomb alert

04/06/2016 Crewe Orange Hall, Upper Ballinderry Antrim Paint attack

14/06/2016 Derrighy Orange Hall Antrim Graffiti Attack

26/06/2016 Muckery, Lurgan Armagh Attempted Arson - Oil tank set alight

30/06/2016 Tanvally, Banbridge Down Graffiti

30/06/2016 Corbet, Banbridge Down Graffiti

02/07/2016 Ballyneal Orange Hall, Magherafelt Londonderry Flags Stolen

09/07/2016 Ballyneal Orange Hall, Magherafelt Londonderry Flags Stolen

10/07/2016 Dysart Orange Hall Down Graffiti

20/07/2016 Newmills Orange Hall, Dungannon Tyrone Graffiti

21/07/2016 Dervock Orange Hall, Antrim Bus destroyed in Arson Attack outside Hall

29/07/2016 Augharan Orange Hall, Dungannon Tyrone Flags Stolen, Vandalism

02/08/2016 Dungonnell Orange Hall, Ballymena Antrim Graffiti

03/08/2016 Flowerhill Orange Hall, Lisburn Antrim Graffiti

15/08/2016 Salterstown Orange Hall, Magherafelt Londonderry Arson Attack- Internally Gutted
Sharon Rafferty (in the middle with hand over her face)

Serious concern over the release of three "high risk" dissident republican terrorists has led to demands for new terror sentencing laws.

Members of a deadly dissident gang are back on the streets less than two years after they were jailed over a terrorist training camp in Co Tyrone.

Both police and the security services are concerned at the release from jail of Omagh brothers, Gavin Joseph Coney and Terence Aiden Coney, and Pomeroy woman Sharon Rafferty.

Rafferty, who currently goes by the name Sharon Girvan, was recently pictured at the front of an anti-internment march in Belfast city centre alongside supporters of terror suspect, Carl Reilly.

A fourth member of the gang, Sean Kelly from Toomebridge, who was on early licence under the Good Friday Agreement at the time of his arrest, has not yet been released. All four are deemed "high risk", a police source said.

The DUP's Nelson McCausland warned that the current sentencing regime "is simply too lenient", and said that serious terrorist crimes "require longer sentences than are currently being handed out".

The gang was caught plotting and training to murder police officers and a judge, following a major MI5 sting operation - one of the security service's biggest successes in recent years.

They were arrested at a terrorist training camp in Formil Forest, Omagh, in 2012 after a year-long covert security operation.

The camp was a makeshift firing range. Approximately 200 rounds had been fired at balloons and tins.

The four were secretly monitored for several months before enough evidence was gathered to bug their conversations.

Secret recordings between Kelly and Rafferty heard them discuss a potential attack on police officers near a car park in Toomebridge, targeting Catholic police officers and the publicity surrounding killing people. Kelly was also recorded talking about the name and address of a prison governor and how to handle an AK47. Conversations were recorded over a six-month period from 2011 to April 2012.

The four were jailed in September 2014 after they admitted a series of terrorist charges.

Kelly was jailed for five years, with five on licence; Rafferty for four years and four on licence, while the Coney brothers were jailed for five years and nine months.

Due to time on remand from their initial arrest, the Coney brothers and Rafferty were released less than two years after sentence was passed.

"This case highlights one of the major issues around removing paramilitarism from our society, and that is the appropriateness of the sentences being handed out in the courts," said Nelson McCausland (left). The Policing Board member said that considerable resources, involving MI5 and the PSNI, were devoted to the uncovering of this terrorist operation and to the arrest and conviction of these republican terrorists.

"They were convicted of very serious offences and the intention was to kill police officers. It is therefore wrong that they should be out on the streets just over a year after they were sentenced," he said.

Mr McCausland added: "This group of convicted terrorists spent time on remand before they were sentenced, but the current sentencing regime is simply too lenient. Serious terrorist crimes require longer sentences than are currently being handed out.

"A stronger sentencing regime would send out a strong message to the terrorists and to society, and would have a greater impact on the operation of these organisations. The sentences should more adequately reflect the seriousness of the crimes and the resources that are required to put the terrorists behind bars."

The group is still viewed as "high risk", a police source said.

And a security source recently told the Belfast Telegraph that these are "dangerous individuals".

"The convictions speak for themselves," a source said.

"It's not as simple as people serving their time and then it's just all forgotten about. It comes as no surprise when we see people coming out the other side (of jail) and re-engaging with violent extremism," he added.
Celebrity Big Brother contestant Chloe Khan (right) during her This Morning interview with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford yesterday

Eamonn Holmes has created another Twitter storm after he was accused of being too harsh with a Celebrity Big Brother star during a This Morning interview.

Chloe Khan (25) was the third star evicted from the CBB house on Friday and went on ITV's breakfast show yesterday to "set the record straight".

Holmes (56), co-host with his wife Ruth Langsford, questioned Khan's relationship with co-contestant Stephen Bear.

"He's a controller and you fell for it," Holmes said. "He controlled you."

He then asked if their relationship would continue after the show, and Khan said she and Bear planned to go away for a few days after he got off.

"He did ask me to wait for him," Khan said.

Holmes also brought up the rumours that were started when Khan and Bear went behind a closed door with their microphones still on. "You were in that toilet and you weren't having a wee," Holmes said. But Khan replied: "We honestly didn't do as much as people think, in fact a lot less. It's a shame it was behind a closed door and you couldn't see."

Langsford also called Khan's pole dance a "step too far," but Khan defended herself, saying all the other contestants did pole dances, but only hers went on the show.

"Yes, but you were the only one who took your clothes off," Holmes said.

Khan responded: "Actually, other people took off more clothes than me, but I seemed to get all the flak for it."

Viewers took to Twitter to accuse Holmes of being "disrespectful", "judgemental" and "disgustingly patronising".

"Eamonn is going WAAAAY over the top interrogating Chloe Khan, give the girl a break," said Twitter user @Chri5tiano94.

One viewer, @oliviaxmartin, tweeted, "@itvthismorning how judgemental are Ruth and eamonn?! She's a young girl she deserves to have fun in a boring environment! #cbbchloe."
A man who tried to kick a stranger who had been knocked to the ground during fighting in a Belfast nightlife district has avoided being sent to jail.

Ian Cochrane was told his five-month prison term was only being suspended because of his early guilty plea.

The 30-year-old, of Tulleevin Drive in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, admitted charges of common assault and disorderly behaviour.

He was arrested amid clashes in the Bradbury Place area on June 12 this year.

Belfast Magistrates' Court heard CCTV operators saw one man punch another man and then attempt to kick him while he was on the ground.

Cochrane later accepted it was him shown on the footage.

"He stated that he couldn't remember why he and the other male had been fighting," a prosecution lawyer said.

"He did not know the other male."

The attempt to kick the other man on the ground did not connect, she confirmed.

Defence counsel insisted Cochrane has displayed remorse - for the victim and to members of the public who witnessed the incident.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall responded that the offences "pass the custody threshold".

But suspending the five-month sentence for two years, she said: "It's only because he put his plea in at the outset."
Those taking in the new sights at Exploris included Noah (5), and Amelia (1), Gardner with dad, Rory

The smiles on the faces of children in Portaferry yesterday said it all, as the much-loved Exploris Aquarium finally re-opened its doors.

This time last year, Northern Ireland's only aquarium had been under threat of permanent closure.

But as the cars snaked their way down the Ards peninsula yesterday morning, it was clear that the grand re-opening was proving a huge success. After a 2m refurbishment programme, Exploris - which had been closed for two years - now houses a range of new enclosures showcasing its breathtaking range of fish and aquatic animals.

More than 1,000 people visited yesterday to see colourful coral reefs before watching playful Strangford sea otters.

One of the first in the queue was MLA Kellie Armstrong, who said: "Exploris has seen a fantastic refurbishment, which showcases Portaferry as a true tourist destination and is an economic boost for the entire Ards peninsula. Credit goes to the operator, Crumlin Road Gaol Ltd, and to all those who have helped us get to this point."
Mervyn Whyte with Nico Mawhinney, Ryan Farquhar and Ben Wilson on their return to the Vauxhall International North West 200 circuit following their crashes this year

Motorbike ace Ryan Farquhar has vowed to return to the racing circuit after returning to the course where he suffered life-threatening injuries during a terrifying crash at this year's North West 200.

The top road racer from Dungannon suffered a lacerated liver and six broken ribs in the high-speed accident at Dhu Varren in May, and subsequently shed three stone during an eight-week recovery period.

Farquhar was rushed to intensive care in Belfast after the incident, and wife Karen later told the Belfast Telegraph that without the surgeons who helped her husband, he would have lost his life.

The 40-year-old admits he has a long road to recovery ahead of him and that it could be years before he is fit enough to race again.

"I don't really want to finish my career the way I am at the minute.

"I would love at some stage to take part in a motorcycle race - not to be competitive, but just to put it to bed possibly. But it's too early yet, it's only three months since my accident," he said.

"I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but I'm far from being fit. It could be a few years down the line before I am fit again, I just don't know.

"I need a bit of time to get things sorted out, I'm sitting out at the side deciding what I want to do.

"I may never be fit enough to take part in a race again, I may never be able to get a medical again."

Farquhar was left in intensive care for two weeks following his accident. He said he has been recovering well from his injuries, adding that he has gained a stone since his release from hospital.

"So far my injuries are coming along well, but I still have a long way to go before I can walk or jog or cycle. There's still a good road ahead of me before I can get back there.

"Karen would be happy for me to knock it on the head, she's been through a lot."

Farquhar joined other top road racers, Ben Wilson and Nico Mawhinney who were also injured during this year's racing event.

North West 200 director, Mervyn Whyte said: "It is great to see all three of these guys back on their feet and returning to the North West 200.

"Ryan, Ben and Nico know better than anyone the dangers of road racing and we really value their support and advice as we strive to improve safety around the track.

"They still have some way to travel with their own recoveries and everyone at the North West wishes them well with that."
Convicted drug smuggler Michaella McCollum has been pictured trying to keep a low profile at the Co Tyrone family home after her arrival back in Northern Ireland.

The glamorous 23-year-old was photographed getting into a car on Sunday in Dungannon, where she had just enjoyed a homecoming party with family and friends.

Wearing a grey hoodie and with dark rings under her eyes, McCollum appeared tired.

As one man opened the silver-coloured car's door for her and another sipped coffee in the driver's seat, Michaella appeared not to be wearing any make-up.

Her dowdy appearance was in stark contrast to when the drugs mule arrived at Dublin airport on Saturday night on a flight from London, before heading back across the border.

The former dancer strutted through arrivals in a black low-cut top and fashionable camel-coloured jacket, wearing high gloss lipstick and dark eyeliner.

After three years in jail in Peru for attempting to smuggle 1.5m of cocaine out of Lima, McCollum has been in the media spotlight since her flight touched down.

But her arrival back in Ireland has sparked criticism.

DUP MLA Lord Morrow said her homecoming had resembled that of a "minor celebrity".

"The harm caused by the drugs she attempted to smuggle affects communities everywhere and that should not be forgotten," Lord Morrow said.
The Northern Ireland Secretary is to canvass public opinion on the implications of Brexit on a two-week tour of the region.

James Brokenshire, who took up the cabinet post last month, said he hoped to spend the rest of August talking with business representatives, community leaders and politicians.

He said the series of day-long visits is part of the Government's effort to ensure Northern Ireland's voice is heard in the forthcoming negotiations with the EU.

The Conservative MP will also hold a number of meetings with groups representing victims and survivors of the Troubles as he prepares for fresh political talks on resolving an impasse over mechanisms to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland's turbulent past.

On a visit to the Bushmills Distillery in North Antrim, Mr Brokenshire said: "I have seen first-hand the dynamism, creativity and diversity of Northern Ireland's businesses and spoken about the UK Government's priorities here - political stability, economic prosperity and keeping people safe and secure.

"We all want to make a success of the decision by the people of the UK to leave the EU and I want to get alongside people to hear what they think. On behalf of the UK Government I am determined we prepare together for the challenges ahead.

"These visits are an opportunity to listen and learn about the diverse issues faced by people from every part of Northern Ireland. I will also be explaining that the UK Government is committed to working alongside them and the Executive. The UK is a great and strong country with a bright future and Northern Ireland will have a huge part to play."
The family of a soldier rescued from no man's land on the Somme have met the descendants of his saviour for the first time a century later.

Private Sam Neill from Tandragee in Co Armagh was serving with the Royal Irish Fusiliers when he was hit by shrapnel in the leg and spent hours lying between German and Allied lines near Thiepval Wood in northern France.

Lt Geoffrey St George Shillington Cather brought him to safety under enemy fire and was to receive the Victoria Cross for saving four people during the first two days of the First World War's most bloody battle. His heroics brought him death on that second day.

The families were traced by the British Legion in Portadown in Co Armagh following a chance encounter with his VC in a museum.

Lt Shillington Cather's cousin Anthony Shillington said: "We are terribly proud of what he did - the courage.

"It is a funny business who has courage when it comes to the crunch.

"He wasn't, for example, an amazing rugby player at school. It is not those that necessarily show courage in the face of battle, you can never tell in advance who they will be."

Pte Neill went on to have children, spawning a line of four generations.

His great nephew Peter Neill said: "Our uncle was lucky because he was recognised by Shillington Cather as one of his regiment and got him back in.

"Otherwise he was left for dead. He would not have survived."

Shillington Cather was from London but his family was from Portadown in Co Armagh.

He brought three men in on the first day and went out the second day and rescued another as well as tending to wounds and giving the lost causes water.

At the Royal Irish Fusiliers' Museum in Armagh, retired major and president of the Legion in Portadown Philip Morrison saw Lt Shillington Cather's VC medal being cleaned.

He had his photo taken with the honour and his colleague Peter Neill saw the photo and said Shillington Cather rescued his great uncle from no man's land on July 1 1916.

Pte Neill survived the war and worked in the US and later on the family farm in Tandragee.

The Cather family was contacted by a local photographer in Portadown and the two sets of relations met on Tuesday in Portadown and laid a wreath at the town's war memorial.

Mr Neill said his predecessor was in no man's land for most of the day.

A lot of people didn't make it because there were not enough stretcher bearers to go out and bring them in.

Many of the wounded succumbed through lack of medical attention.

Mr Neill said: "Shillington Cather came on him and recognised him as one of his regiment and then brought him back in again.

"He had been wounded in the calf and the foot and was in a pretty bad way."
The alleged victim, a man in his 30s, remains in a serious condition in hospital.

A teenager was remanded in custody today accused of carrying out an attack in Belfast city centre that left a man with a serious head injury.

Jordan Snoddy, 19, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm in an incident outside a fast-food outlet on Donegall Place at the weekend.

The alleged victim, a man in his 30s, remains in a serious condition in hospital.

Police said an altercation broke out inside the restaurant early on Sunday morning before continuing outside.

Snoddy, of no fixed address, appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court to face the single charge against him.

No questions were put to an investigating detective after she said she could connect him with the alleged offence.

Defence lawyer Stephen Cassidy confirmed Snoddy was not seeking bail at this stage.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall remanded the accused into custody to appear again by video-link on September 13.

As he was being led from the dock he called out to friends in the public gallery: "You boys take it easy."

One of his supporters replied: "Look after yourself."
A toy store with a difference has just opened in Belfast - but just don't expect to find Halloween paraphernalia or Harry Potter-related goods in The Entertainer.

The UK chain's new shop in CastleCourt Shopping Centre - its first in Northern Ireland - will contain most of the merchandise youngsters look for.

But as well as refusing to stock goods related to the bespectacled wizard and the autumnal celebration of Halloween, it also closes on a Sunday.

However, the model seems to be working - the company's 2015 accounts show a 22m increase in turnover, rising from 106m to 129m the year before.

It's now the fastest growing toy store in the UK and opens one new store on average every month - each representing an investment of around 250,000.

The Entertainer was founded more than 30 years ago by husband and wife team Gary and Catherine Grant, when they opened an independent toy shop in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Since then it has since grown to 128 stores - however, the pair have strived to keep their values at the centre of the company.

The UK independent toy chain opened its first Northern Ireland shop this weekend, but bosses say it's just the start of their plans for Northern Ireland.

Parents in Belfast were largely ambivalent to the idea of the Christian company, with most saying the chain's ethos did not matter to them - however, some said it put them off while others said it made them more likely to buy at The Entertainer.

New Yorker Joe Walden also visited rival firm Toys'R'Us. He said the firm's values didn't change how he saw it: "My son loves magic, but I guess we could just buy those things elsewhere."

Belfast woman Leah Doyle said she had been looking forward to visiting the store all week.

She said: "My son's not really into Harry Potter, so it's not something I look out for. A lot of people say they won't shop in certain chains because of their owners, but as long as the prices are better and the quality is good I'll shop wherever."

Eileen McCullough from Antrim was out shopping with granddaughter Eva. She said: "I'd still use the shop; it wouldn't stop me from going, but it would make me less likely to go - I don't like people forcing their views on to others."

However, Danielle Stevenson said: "I didn't realise it was a Christian company, but hearing that makes me more likely to go. I'm not overly religious, but I just thought that the staff were friendlier and think that the people in companies like that tend to be nicer."

The brand's first Northern Ireland store was 18 months in the planning, but it's hoped it will be the first of many.

The 3,400 sq ft store at CastleCourt in Belfast will employ up to 20 staff in peak season, with 12 permanent staff the rest of the year.

Phil Geary, marketing and e-commerce director, said: "We have a successful formula - we want to retain that local feel and to do that we need all the demo-ing and engagement in the store. While the stores are making profit for us and while there are the openings, we will just continue to open new stores.

"Unless you have an Entertainer in your town you don't know who The Entertainer is, so our next challenge is to make the brand a little more well known."
A man and woman were jailed for separate assaults and disorderly outbursts in a Belfast hospital

A man and woman were jailed for separate assaults and disorderly outbursts in a Belfast hospital.

Gerard Magee (34) and Ashley Fleming (23) received prison terms of five months and four months respectively for aggressive behaviour at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Passing sentence at the city's Magistrates' Court, a district judge hit out at those who subject nurses and medical staff to abuse and the threat of violence.

Fiona Bagnall said: "This is unfortunately the type of behaviour that staff in our hospitals have to endure as a matter of course in their work."

Fleming, of Brown Street in Belfast, struck a nurse in the ribs and spat on a curtain partition on a ward after arriving drunk at the accident and emergency department on June 3.

She also threw resuscitation equipment and a defibrillator to the floor, although neither was damaged.

Fleming admitted charges of assault, criminal damage and attempted criminal damage.

According to a defence lawyer, Fleming's life has "spiralled out of control" since losing custody of her child.

Referring to his client's drug abuse, he told the court: "She was completely off her head (in the hospital) and can't recall anything about what happened."

Magee, of North Queen Street in the city, attended the Royal for treatment to his ear on May 19.

Prosecutors said he appeared drunk and started shouting abuse at staff. When asked to wait, he replied: "Don't treat me like a f****** 12-year-old," the court heard.

As security staff were called to the scene, one nurse was said to be in fear of the defendant during the incident.

Magee also claimed he was "going to sue the hospital and everyone in it", Mrs Bagnall was told. He was convicted of common assault and disorderly behaviour.

Defence barrister Conn O'Neill said Magee was dealing with bereavement following the deaths of "two key people in his life".

But Mrs Bagnall insisted hospital workers have been faced with unfair and inappropriate displays of disrespect "far too often".

She also ordered Magee to serve an extra month behind bars for a separate breach of a probation order.
A whistleblowing website aimed at gathering information from anyone who believes they have been unfairly treated by Nama has gone live

A whistleblowing website aimed at gathering information from anyone who believes they have been unfairly treated by Nama has gone live.

Namaleaks.com bills itself as a "secure and anonymous" site and Independent TD Mick Wallace has encouraged people to come forward with any evidence they might have of poor practice by the State's so-called 'bad bank'.

The site is being operated in conjunction with Intercept, the online forum that assisted CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the US-based Freedom of the Press Association.

Mr Wallace claimed recently he had been approached by up to 40 people, including developers, solicitors, former Nama employees and businesspeople, with serious allegations of misconduct involving Nama.

The Independent TD has been relentless in his pursuit of claims of wrongdoing at the State agency. The most serious of these centres on the sale of Nama's 5.6bn Northern Ireland loan book - code-named 'Project Eagle' - to US private equity giant Cerberus.

All parties involved in the transaction have denied any impropriety, but the deal is the subject of an investigation by the UK's National Crime Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States.

Following the launch of Namaleaks.com yesterday, Mr Wallace pledged that the website would "hold Nama to account in the interests of the people of Ireland".

He added: "The best interests of the people of Ireland have not always been served by this State organisation."

A spokesman for Nama declined to comment.
A 35-year-old man has been held in connection with the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave in 1994

A man arrested in Portugal in connection with the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave more than two decades ago has been returned to the UK.

The 35-year-old man, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was arrested by local officers in Lisbon. After a court appearance in Portugal on August 4 2016 he was extradited to the UK, Cambridgeshire Police said.

Rikki was found strangled in woodland near his home in Peterborough in November 1994.

The man was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant on suspicion of breaching his licence and has been taken to Bedford prison to be dealt with by the probation service.

Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit travelled to Portugal to return the man, working with the National Crime Agency, police in Portugal and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary, who helped radicalise a string of terrorists including soldier Lee Rigby's killers, is facing years in jail for drumming up support for Islamic State.

The British-born 49-year-old encouraged backing for the terrorist group in a series of talks posted on YouTube, and recognised a caliphate - a symbolic Islamic state - had been created under an IS leader after it was announced on June 29 2014, the Old Bailey heard.

Despite being a leading figure in the banned group al-Muhajiroun (ALM), and a series of former supporters going on to be convicted of terrorism, Choudary stayed on the right side of the law for two decades before investigators were able to pin him down.

Choudary and co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of inviting support for IS between June 29 2014 and March 6 2015. The verdicts were delivered on July 28, but for legal reasons can only be reported for the first time today.

As the pair were convicted, Mr Justice Holroyde said they had only shown "a grudging compliance" to the court, adding: "You have made your disregard for the court abundantly plain."

Choudary faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, although the judge admitted: "There is very little in the way of precedent in the way of sentencing. Although this has been an offence under an Act of Parliament for some time, it's very far from being one of the most common."

Police pounced after Choudary, along with three other influential radicals, lent their names to an oath of allegiance to IS which was posted on the internet.

The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by officers as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed - the founder of the banned extremist group ALM.

He courted publicity by voicing controversial views on Sharia law, while building up a following of thousands through social media, demonstrations and lectures around the world.

In one speech in March 2013, Choudary set out his ambitions for the Muslim faith to "dominate the whole world".

He said: "Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says 'What do you want when you grow up? What is your ambition?', they should say 'To dominate the whole world by Islam, including Britain - that is my ambition'."

Supporters included Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the murderers of Lee Rigby, and suspected IS executioner Siddhartha Dhar.

Shortly after the announcement of the caliphate, Choudary held a meeting with his closest aides at a curry house on the Mile End Road in east London to discuss it.

Before accepting it was legitimate, he also consulted his "spiritual guide" Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of ALM in Indonesia.

On July 7 2014, the trio's names appeared alongside Rahman's on the oath, which stated the Muhajiroun had "affirmed" the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State".

The defendants followed up by posting on YouTube a series of lectures on the caliphate, which Choudary promoted to more than 32,000 Twitter followers.

The father-of-five denied encouraging his followers to back the terror group and insisted the oath had been made without his knowledge. He said of the pledge: "It is completely unnecessary. For the rest of the Muslims it is obedience from the heart."

Despite protesting his innocence, he continued to express extreme views during his Old Bailey trial, refusing to denounce the execution of journalist James Foley by so-called Jihadi John, aka Mohammed Emwazi, in Syria in 2014.

He told the jury: "If you took an objective view there are circumstances where someone could be punished."

Choudary, of Hampton Road, Ilford, and Rahman, of Sidney Street in Whitechapel, east London, will be sentenced on September 6.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command, said: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations.

"Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men.

"The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported Isis.

"This has been a significant prosecution in our fight against terrorism and we will now be working with communities to ensure that they are not replaced by others spreading hate.

Sue Hemming, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "These two men knowingly sought to legitimise a terrorist organisation and encouraged others to support it. They used the power of social media to attempt to influence those who are susceptible to these types of messages, which might include the young or vulnerable.

"Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group, the brutal activities they are carrying out and that what they were doing was illegal. Terrorism can have no place in our society and those that encourage others to join such organisations will be prosecuted."

Choudary's conviction was welcomed by leading British Muslims who condemned his "evil" and "hateful" views.

Imam Qari Asim, senior imam of Leeds Makkah Mosque, said: "We have to be very careful of those who look to spread a hateful ideology by preying on vulnerable individuals to lead them down a violent path."

Kashan Amar, network co-ordinator of Birmingham based group Upstanding Neighbourhoods, said the organisation was formed to counter Choudary's "evil messages".

He said: "His distorted world view and hateful vision have led to him facing time in prison.

"There is no place for individuals like him in our community and I am glad to see his pariah status confirmed. It is an important moment in our Say No To Anjem Choudary campaign which has always been clear that his rhetoric encouraged the support of terrorists."

Imam Irfan Chishti, imam of Manchester Central Mosque, said: "British Muslims across the UK welcome this verdict. The community has been unanimous in its rejection of these individuals and everything they stand for.

"This conviction demonstrates the influence of these hateful views together with the power they had over people by encouraging them not to think for themselves. We shouldn't be complacent that these convictions will be the end of young people being targeted."
The move comes after unrest over the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project

Theresa May has written to China's president Xi Jinping to reassure him of Britain's continuing commitment to strong relations with Beijing.

The Prime Minister's letter was handed over by Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma to his Chinese counterpart during an official visit to the Chinese capital.

The move comes after China expressed dismay at a decision by Mrs May to put the development of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station on hold amid reported concerns about the role of Beijing in the project.

The text of the letter, which was described as "private correspondence", has not been released by Downing Street.

A No 10 source said: "It is about reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations."

Earlier this month, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, voiced concern at the delay to the 18 billion Hinkley Point project, warning that relations between the two countries were at a "crucial historical juncture".

The surprise decision by Mrs May, just three weeks after taking office, to review the project to build the Somerset power station was widely seen as reflecting concerns about allowing China to invest in Britain's critical national infrastructure.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Nick Timothy, had previously written about the possibility that China could covertly install software which would allow it to close down the power station at will.

There was speculation that Mrs May would take a markedly different approach to relations with Beijing from David Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne, who sought to encourage Chinese investment in the UK.

However, in her letter to Mr Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Mrs May said Britain "looks forward to strengthening co-operation with China on trade and business and on global issues".

On his Twitter feed, Mr Sharma said he had had a "great first meeting" with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with a "warm welcome and forward-looking approach".
Remember Martin Galvin, that attention-seeking Irish-American who liked people to kill for Ireland? Well, he's announced that conditions don't exist at present for "the continuation of the armed struggle". Why?

Galvin came to prominence as the publicity director for Irish Northern Aid (Noraid), which from the early-1970s claimed to raise money for the families of republican prisoners. Of course, by taking a financial burden off the IRA, they freed up money for weapons.

They also, said Galvin, ran "educational programs in the US," which is a nice euphemism for spreading hate-filled anti-British propaganda.

Among those who believed that Noraid also raised money for US arms shipments to Northern Ireland was the US Department of Justice, which took them to court to demand they register the Provisional IRA as their "foreign principal".

The judge ruled: "The uncontroverted evidence is that [Noraid] is an agent of the IRA, providing money and services for other than relief purposes."

Noraid continued merrily on, shaking buckets in Irish pubs and extracting donations from ignorant, gullible or malign Irish-Americans.

From the mid-19th century, the island of Ireland was cursed by the interference of bitter Fenian exiles and their followers, who fomented and financed revolution.

They sat in their armchairs exulting as people thousands of miles away killed and died for hatred. Without them, there would almost certainly have been no rising in 1916.

Galvin was one of their heirs. He explained once that, as a 20-year-old New York fireman's son, he visited Ireland and discovered that, 60 years earlier, his grandfather had emigrated because "an English landlord had determined that he could get a higher price from the field that my family farmed to support itself".

This "made me see that this system, which had oppressed members of my own family, is oppressing people today".

Galvin is typical of a particularly stupid, tunnel-visioned strain in Irish-America, that finds a romantic vision that suits and never questions it.

The only time I lost my temper on the US lecture circuit was when two Noraid women, who had never set foot in Ireland, told me I didn't have a single drop of Irish blood in my veins.

Galvin, however, liked a bit of action and did sometimes visit. In 1984, at a time when he was excluded from the United Kingdom, he snuck into Northern Ireland to appear on republican platforms.

Violence broke out when the RUC tried to arrest him at a rally outside the Sinn Fein Belfast offices and, in the ensuing melee, Sean Downes was killed by a plastic bullet.

The police reservist who shot him was cleared of manslaughter after the judge saw a video of events, but, of course, for Galvin and Sinn Fein, his death - which they called murder - was a heaven-sent propaganda opportunity.

Galvin fell out with Sinn Fein over the peace process and quit Noraid. He became best friends with the Real IRA and Michael and Bernadette McKevitt, becoming the US support group for their 32 County Sovereignty Committee.

His comment on the Omagh bomb was: "People have to not simply react to the immediate, but to look to the bigger picture."

Galvin has adjusted his sights a bit, thrilled to have been nominated as an aide to the Grand Marshal in this year's Ancient Order of Hibernians St Patrick's Day New York shindig. The Grand Marshal is Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York.

Clearly, he had to make a big concession to avoid being blocked in the present climate, which is why he wrote an open letter to the AOH in which he said: "It is categorically untrue that I support armed actions today by any IRA, or as your writer puts it, 'denounce the Sinn Fein leadership as traitors.'"

He'll have his parade, but his hatred will remain intact. It's clear from a recent interview that he hopes that politics will fail so "nationalist areas, or at minimum in republican heartlands" will give support again to violence.

As the Omagh relatives said in 2000 in a Press release after picketing a 32CSM fundraising event in which Galvin starred, he "is contributing nothing to the people of Ireland only misery".

Expect no change.
Leaving the EU will lead to "difficult issues relating to the border", potentially creating a "catalyst" for criminality and an "incentive for those who would wish to undermine the peace process". "Northern Ireland must retain competitiveness" and, "importantly, retain access to labour", both skilled and unskilled, particularly given the "many thousands of people who commute each way across the border to work on a daily basis".

And, of course, the uncertainty around the 3.5bn that Northern Ireland expected to draw down from the EU between 2014-2020 is "of real concern to a range of sectors".

While I share each of these concerns, these warnings do not come from me, but from the office of the First and Deputy First Minister and, in particular, DUP leader Arlene Foster, who advocated a vote to Leave the European Union.

After months of dismissing the Remain campaign's arguments as scaremongering, the First Minister has co-written a letter (along with the Deputy First Minister) to the Prime Minister, outlining the key concerns for Northern Ireland ahead of the exit negotiations with the EU.

On reading the letter, one could only hope that there had been a sudden outbreak of reasonableness in the DUP.

Despite wide-ranging political differences, those of us who campaigned to stay in the EU would welcome a Damascene conversion from the DUP and the First Minister on the benefits of staying in Europe - even at this very late stage.

After all, it would not be the first time the DUP came to accept political realities that everyone else had already thought obvious for years.

Unfortunately, that is not what we have seen, with the First Minister having since refused to admit her party made any mistakes on Europe and, instead, expressed excitement over the "opportunities" she expects outside the EU.

Nevertheless, we must now work to ensure the First Minister does not dismiss concerns on Europe as lightly as she has adopted them. We must focus our efforts on protecting freedom of movement for goods, services and people and European investment - as well as fighting for those things left out of the ministers' letter, like the European human rights protections central to the Good Friday Agreement and sustainable peace in Northern Ireland.

MARGARET RITCHIE (SDLP)

MP for South Down
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, or IICSA, is in crisis. Its third chair, New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard, has just resigned and a replacement, Professor Alexis Jay, appointed. Dame Lowell and her predecessors were appointed by Theresa May in her previous role as Home Secretary to chair the inquiry examining the institutional abuse of children in England and Wales.

The two previous appointees had to step down because of their closeness to the very Establishment that they were supposed to be examining. More than a year on from its formation the inquiry has barely got into its stride.

One of the central roles of IICSA is to look at allegations against senior politicians who have been accused of abusing children. It is hoped the inquiry will consider whether Establishment abusers had been protected, and to determine what changes to the child protection system should be made in light of allegations against prominent people.

Two now-deceased politicians - Lord Greville Janner and Sir Cyril Smith - faced extremely serious allegations of serial sexual child abuse which are central to the inquiry and which were to be examined in detail. Both were accused during their lifetime, but the allegations were rejected as unfounded. But there is now uncertainty over the Janner strand of the inquiry. His family have stated that they intend to take legal action to prevent the allegations made against him from being considered by the inquiry. Meanwhile, the police are continuing to investigate people alleged to have abused children alongside Janner.

In a separate development the Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 11 people - assumed to be former and current police officers - over their handling of allegations against Janner in years gone by. Consequently, the sessions on Janner have had to be postponed until at least next spring - if they ever take place.

There is a consensus among prosecutors, the police and the judiciary that Janner should have been prosecuted, with a trial determining if the allegations against him were true. Some 33 individuals made statements to the police, claiming to have been abused by Janner between 1963 and 1988. The police believe those allegations are credible, including that Janner misused his role as a politician to gain access to children to abuse them.

In some respects the Janner case is not unique. Janner was a senior MP, a powerful international figure and one of Tony Blair's appointed members of the House of Lords. Sir Cyril Smith was also a politician of considerable influence. He was one of the best-known Liberal MPs and the party's chief whip. He was also alleged to be a serial abuser of children, manipulating his position of authority within Rochdale to have almost open access to a children's home there.

Then we have the case of Peter Righton, a founder of the Paedophile Information Exchange and former director of education at the National Institute of Social Work. Righton helped write Government policy on child protection. Tom Watson, the Labour Party's deputy leader, claimed in the House of Commons that Righton was linked to "a widespread paedophile ring" - one of whose members "boasts of his links to a senior aide of a former Prime Minister... suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and Number 10".

These allegations have a resonance with what took place at the Kincora Boys' Home in Belfast. It is alleged that the Kincora abuse involved senior figures in the British Establishment, including some who have been accused of abuse in England. That abuse was, it is claimed, known about by the RUC and security services in order to obtain information useful for security reasons and also to protect powerful political figures.

These examples illustrate two concerns about the relationship of politics with the abuse of children. Politicians are often given open access to children and, in the past, these might have been both unrestricted and unmonitored.

Smith came and went from a children's home as he pleased, while Janner was a regular visitor to various children's homes in Leicestershire. Janner's access was assisted by being an accomplished magician and member of the Magic Circle.

But the other concern is how politicians can misuse their power in writing the rules that determine how children are protected and from whom.

Our book, Abuse Of Trust, was initially published in 1998 and looked at the case of institutional abuse in children's homes in Leicestershire, which was possibly the most serious example of its kind in England. It has just been republished with additional material that considers the allegations against Janner.

The principal abuser in Leicestershire was Frank Beck, who was given five life sentences for his crimes (he died in jail in 1994). It was at Beck's trial that the first public allegations were made against Janner.

Beck was a children's care home manager and senior social worker. He was also himself a local politician for the Liberal Party, who was influential in determining local child care and child protection policy. As such, he was able to protect his interests and prevent proper inspection of the homes he managed.

Beck oversaw the worst kinds of institutional abuse. He sexually and physically abused children in his care, while also abusing his co-workers, who, in some instances, were co-opted into the abuse of children.

One of his co-workers, Colin Fiddaman, was perhaps even more sadistic and evil than Beck - and was another local politician for the Liberal Party. It has even been alleged that the two of them killed one of the children in their care, when a session of physical abuse went too far.

It seems likely that Beck and Fiddaman became obsessed with exercising almost unlimited power over those around them. Their roles in local politics assisted them with this. For Beck, it meant that he had apparently limitless capacity to abuse children for 13 years in Leicestershire.

There are strong reasons to be worried about the relationship between politics and child abuse. In the past child protection has tended to focus on who has access to children - teachers, youth workers, social workers and scout leaders, for example.

But we need to give more consideration to the status of individuals that has shielded them from proper scrutiny.

To quote the final paragraph from the new edition of our book: "We know from the cases of Jimmy Savile, Cyril Smith, Rolf Harris and Stuart Hall that status protects abusers. This is probably especially so with politicians who abuse children.

"If one beneficial lesson can be taken from the Janner case it is that the voices of vulnerable children should be heard - and that the words of politicians should be treated with greater scepticism."

Abuse Of Trust by Mark D'Arcy and Paul Gosling has just been republished by Canbury Press as an ebook and in hardback
Four suspected female members of militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (left) are shown with members of Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion after their arrests, in Dhaka, Aug. 16, 2016.

Bangladeshi authorities Tuesday announced the arrests of four women suspected of links to the banned extremist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB), bringing to eight the number of alleged female militants taken into custody in Bangladesh during the past three weeks.

The four who were picked up by Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday included an intern physician and three students from a private university, officials said.

Early Tuesday, we arrested Aklima Rahman, Mou and Meghna for their militant links. They are students in the pharmacy department at the Manarat International University. We also nabbed Oishi, an intern doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, for links with the militants, Lutful Kabir, an additional deputy inspector general of RAB, told a news conference in Dhaka.

He did not release full names for three of the suspects.

According to a statement issued by the battalion, officials built a case against the four suspected female militants after arresting a JMB commander, Mahmudul Hasan, who allegedly recruited one of these women into the group about 18 months ago.

Following last months arrest of the first batch of four women, police said that JMB was now recruiting women to its cause, and that JMB male members were radicalizing their wives.

Aklima used to collect funds and hand them over to Hasan for the purpose of expanding the party (JMB) to establish a caliphate and prepare to fight the government forces, Kabir told reporters.

He said RAB had recovered extremist materials including books, photos and videos while arresting the four suspects in Dhaka and neighboring Gazipur district.

In addition to studying at the university, Aklima used to interact with different people in the guise of working as an Arabic tutor. Many people used to maintain contact with her, Kabir added.

He said RAB recovered information relating to militant activities from Aklimas mobile phone.

Rich women, poor women

Intern doctor Oishi is the daughter of physicians serving at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, authorities said.

We have seen students from the affluent families and private universities involved in militancy. But for the first time, we see that female students from a private university have been involved in militancy. This is very serious, Ishfaq Elahi Chowdhury, a retired air commodore and registrar of East West University in Dhaka, told BenarNews.

The government has also blamed JMB for carrying out acts of terrorism in the country, including an attack on a cafe in Dhakas diplomatic quarter last month in which 20 hostages were killed.

Three of the five suspects who carried out an overnight siege at the Holey Artisan Bakery, and who were killed when security forces stormed the building on the morning of July 2, were young men who belonged to affluent families and studied at private universities and high schools.

On July 24, police arrested the first group of female jihadists in northwestern Sirajganj district. Compared with the other suspects, those four women were from poor backgrounds and, in some cases, were married to JMB operatives, officials said.

The JMB is recruiting women because they can slip through some security screenings, according to Chowdhury. Previously, police had said that role of women in militant activities was limited to delivering weapons to target sites, as well as gathering intelligence for terror plots and communicating with the attackers.

The arrests of the female JMB jihadists exposed the deep penetration of militant outfits such as the JMB. We have to involve women to counter the militants move to radicalize our girls, Chowdhury said.
A Kashmiri woman hugs the body of a civilian during a funeral in Aripanthan Maga village in Budgam district where four people were killed during anti-government protests, Aug. 16, 2016.

Security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday fired on protesters in two districts, killing five civilians even as the government scrambled to solve weeks of violence after a separatist leader was slain last month.

The deaths occurred when stone-throwing anti-India protesters and security forces clashed in the curfew-bound districts of Budgam and Anantanag in Jammu and Kashmir state, police said.

Fresh clashes were also reported in Srinagar district, where police fired tear gas shells to disperse an angry crowd protesting the killing of an 18-year-old youth by a police bullet on Monday.

The new cycle of violence in the restive Himalayan region, which has endured a separatist insurgency since the late 1980s, began after security forces gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) leader Burhan Wani on July 8.

Since then, 65 people, including two policemen, have been killed and more than 6,000 injured in ongoing clashes between armed forces and Kashmiri residents who are demanding freedom from Indian rule.

Separatists to march to U.N. office

Following the latest killings, separatist outfits called on the people of Kashmir to defy a statewide curfew and walk to the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group in Srinagar.

We cannot sit in our homes and get killed. I appeal to the people of Kashmir to come out on the streets and march toward the U.N. office in Srinagar on Wednesday to launch the decisive phase of the on-going movement, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations that has been fighting since 1993 for Kashmiri independence from India, said in a statement.

On Aug. 4, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that Kashmir  a Himalayan region claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan  was Indias internal matter and that the agency had no mandate beyond the Line of Control (LoC) to monitor the situation there. The line is a de facto boundary that separates the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled sides of Kashmir.

Wednesdays rally was aimed at reminding the world body of its promises made to the people of Kashmir who are suffering so much because of its inaction, Farooq said.

If we are stopped, we will sit wherever we are and protest for 72 hours peacefully, he said.

New low for Indo-Pak ties

In New Delhi, Indian Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh on Tuesday chaired a high-level emergency meeting of the countrys top security officials to find solutions to end the crisis in Kashmir, sources said. The details of the meeting were not made public.

New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for the current unrest, a charge that Pakistan has denied.

What is happening in Kashmir is sponsored by Pakistan, Singh told parliament last week.

Two weeks ago, Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he is waiting for the day when Kashmir will become theirs. He has also written to the U.N. Secretary General saying there should be a plebiscite in Kashmir, the home minister said then, adding, No power in the world can take [Kashmir] from us. If there is a dialogue with Pakistan, it will be on Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

During his Independence Day speech on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said people in the conflicted Pakistani states of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-administered Kashmir had reached out to him for help. He also accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists.

In a sarcastic comment on Twitter on Tuesday, Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, came out strongly against Modi for worrying about Pakistan-administered Kashmir. 6 protesters dead in Kashmir in 24 hours but WTH lets go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in J&K at the moment! he said.

Islamabad, too, hit out at Modi for his reference to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

PM Modis reference to Balochistan, which is an integral part of Pakistan, only proves Pakistans contention that India though intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) has been fomenting terrorism in Balochistan, Pakistani Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz said.

On Tuesday, Sharif reiterated his governments stance of continuing to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The international community needs to take stock of the brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people, who are giving unprecedented sacrifices for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom, Sharif was quoted as saying in Pakistani media.

I-day attack

Indian security agencies, on the other hand, accused Pakistan of mobilizing cadres of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant outfit based in the neighboring country, of unleashing terror amid the on-going crisis in Kashmir.

As India was celebrating its 70th Independence Day on Monday, the countrys security forces said they had neutralized seven suspected LeT militants who launched two separate attacks in Srinagar and Baramulla, killing a policeman and injuring 11 others.

Pramod Kumar, a commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was shot and killed in the encounter in Srinagar, police said, adding that two senior army officers and nine police personnel were injured.

A large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the slain Pakistan-sponsored militants, Rajesh Yadav, spokesman for the CRPF, told BenarNews.
Charles Patrick Burrows, known as Romo Carolus, is interviewed at his home in Cilacap, Central Java, Aug. 9, 2016.

The locals in Central Java provinces Cilacap Regency know Charles Patrick Burrows, a Catholic priest from Ireland, by another name: Romo Carolus.

He landed in Indonesia in 1973 and has stayed on since, working to help alleviate poverty in the regency and, relatively recently, offering comfort to inmates on death row at nearby Nusakambangan prison and escorting some as they walked toward the firing lines.

Romo Carolus began by counseling Catholic inmates, but provides guidance for other inmates as well.

Im a Catholic, but I feel honored to counsel people from other religions, Carolus, 73, told BenarNews.

He also opposes the death penalty and has campaigned against capital punishment in Indonesia, which still strictly enforces executions of convicted drug offenders, despite widespread criticism from aboard.

The priest shared his memory of witnessing the executions in June 2008 of two Nigerians convicted of drug trafficking.

I still remember it clearly when they were released from the ropes tying them up. For a moment, they were groaning before they died, he said.

That same year, the priest testified against Indonesias death penalty law before the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, calling executions by firing squad torture.

Romo Carolus  now an Indonesian citizen  urged the government to consider a more humane way of execution, if capital punishment was inevitable.

But officials have not change the policy and, since then, no religious leader has been allowed to accompany inmates and observe their executions at Nusakambangan, a prison island in Central Java.

We were asked to leave before they were executed, he said.

In late July, Indonesia executed four more drug convicts by firing squad at Nusakambangan, but postponed putting to death 10 others who faced capital punishment. An Indonesian, two Nigerians and a South African were lined up and shot on July 28.

While hoping that the government will change the law, Romo Carolus keeps providing counseling to inmates there who are condemned to die.

They cant choose how they die, but at least let them die in dignity, he said.

The universal values that Romo Carolus expresses have left a deep impression on a Muslim cleric and long-time colleague at the prision, Hasan Makarim.

We have known each other for a long time and we are solid working together, Hasan told BenarNews.

Helping to fight poverty

When Carolus, a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Dublin, arrived in Indonesia 43 years ago, he encountered poverty in Cilacap Regency during a visit to Kampung Laut, a fishing village.

At the time, the village was known as a home for sympathizers of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), whose membership and leadership was wiped out during a bloody anti-communist purge in 1965-66.

When he first arrived in Kampung Laut, villagers were suffering from an outbreak of eye infections. He treated them and later initiated efforts to construct a road and bridge in order to open access to the village. It then only had one small road that passed between swamps and sea.

After becoming an Indonesian citizen in 1983, Carolus set up Yayasan Sosial Bina Sejahtera, a nongovernmental organization working to eradicate poverty. The foundation has helped 25 schools  kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school and special-needs  in and around Cilacap.

With the love and passion of faith, he taught villagers to empower themselves by preserving fish and planting vegetables in vacant lots to improve their quality of life.

In 2012, Romo Carolus, who was assigned to St. Stephanus parish church in Cilacap, received the Maarif Award from the Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity for his role as a local figure helping to preserve and observe universal religious values.

Cilacap Regent Tatto Suwarto Pamuji said he appreciated the old priests efforts.

He always visits the neighborhoods and listens to the public complaints by himself, Tatto said.

Do good unto others

Carolus stresses the importance of education as the only way to reduce poverty and ignorance. God provides people with everything as long as they want to give their best, he said, adding that all people are meant to live on their own without waiting for others help.

Whenever there is a chance, no matter how small, he advised everyone to show good will toward others.

Even when death is coming to you and you still have time to plant a tree, then plant it. Show generosity in every chance, even the tiniest one, he said.
Thai soldiers patrol near the Erawan Shrine, a landmark popular with tourists in Bangkok, on the eve of the first anniversary of a bombing that killed 20 people there, Aug. 16, 2016.

Thai authorities are looking for a man from the insurgency-hit Deep South who may be connected to last weeks bombings of southern tourist hotspots, Thailands deputy police chief said Tuesday, although he did not link the suspect outright to regional rebel groups.

Authorities in Nakhon Sri Thammarat province on Tuesday put out a warrant for the arrest of a suspect identified as Ahama Lengha, a native of Narathiwat  one of the provinces in the Deep South. He is wanted for an attempted bombing at a beach in Phuket on Aug. 10, and for his alleged role in bomb and arson attacks.

The bomb at Patong Beach did not go off but police believe that Ahama played a role in a wider conspiracy that resulted in the deaths of four people in 11 bomb attacks and five arson attacks across upper southern Thailand on Aug. 11 and 12.

It was one of two bombs planted in the Phuket area on Wednesday but that were destroyed by bomb disposal squads, according to the Bangkok Post. The next day and on Friday, 11 bombs exploded in Nakhon Sri Thammarat and six other provinces in Thailands upper south.

The evidence from the crime scene showed DNA matching with the suspect who maneuvered in Tak Bai, Narathiwat [province] since 2004, Deputy National Police Chief Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul told a press conference in Nakhon Sri Thammarat on Tuesday.

According to our investigation, he is believed to be the key to other culprits in these cases, Srivara said.

Ahama planted a bomb at Patong Beach in Phuket on Aug. 10. We have concrete evidence, the deputy police chief added during the news conference at the headquarters of the 8th regional police command.

He said Ahama had a long criminal record dating to 2004, the year when the long-running separatist insurgency in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South re-ignited.

Two others wanted in arson case

A court in Nakhon Sri Thammarat Court on Tuesday also issued arrest warrants for two other men suspected of being linked to a related arson attack at a Tesco Lotus supermarket in Phuket on Friday, Srivara said without disclosing their identities.

A third man, identified as Chiang Mai resident Sakharin Karuehas, was arrested earlier on suspicion of taking part in setting the market on fire. On Tuesday, Sakharin was transferred from military to police custody, Srivara said.

A police source at the 8th regional command, which covers many of the southern provinces that were attacked, told Thai Rath newspaper that footage from the a security camera showed the two other suspects boarding a bus to Had Yai, a town that serves as a gateway to the Deep South, after the supermarket was set on fire.

Police have not ruled out a possible connection between the bombings and insurgent groups based in Thailands restive southern border region, although authorities in the past few days have given conflicting information about this possibility.

On Monday, the national police chief was quoted as saying that there were similarities between the tourist spot bombings and those carried out by the separatists.

Earlier on, authorities said they suspected that last weeks bombings were likely driven by politics and tied to an Aug. 7 constitutional referendum where a majority of voters supported a draft charter backed by Thailands junta.

Malaysia probes SIM card, phone used in Thai bombing

A bomb that was set off in Phuket last week was triggered by a mobile phone which may have originated from neighboring Malaysia, according to Thai officials.

The officials sent the phone, which was recovered from the site of the bombing, to Malaysian police to track down the owner.

But on Tuesday, Malaysian Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the phones SIM card had no serial number or characteristics that would clearly identify it.

As far as our investigation is concerned, there is still no evidence that it can be said that the SIM card is from Malaysia, the Malaysian police chief said.

Each SIM card issued by [telecommunications companies] in Malaysia has a serial number by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), but we did not find the serial number, he added.

Haireez Azeem Azizi in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
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First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

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For Immediate Release, August 15, 2016 Contact: Aruna Prabhala, (510) 844-7100 x 322, aprabhala@biologicaldiversity.org Administrative Appeal Challenges Destructive Napa Vineyard Development NAPA COUNTY, Calif. The Center for Biological Diversity today challenged the approval of a large vineyard development northeast of the city of Napa, filing an administrative appeal with the Napa County Board of Supervisors. The large project will tear out 429 acres of undisturbed riparian, oak and native grassland habitat and develop it into vineyards sprawled haphazardly across the 2,300-acre Walt Ranch property; it will destroy habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog, valley elderberry longhorn beetle and endangered Contra Costa goldfields. Walt Ranch is home to a vibrant wildlife community and contains some of the most important oak and riparian habitat in Napa County, said Aruna Prabhala, a staff attorney with the Center. We cant let this proposed vineyard cut a jagged hole right into the heart of it. The Centers appeal outlines Napa Countys violations of the California Environmental Quality Act, which include inadequate review of the proposed vineyards impacts to wildlife, water supply and air quality. It raises concerns over impacts arising from the construction and improvement of more than 20 miles of roads and fencing that will reduce habitat connectivity and restrict wildlife movement; the use of harmful pesticides; the drawdown of local groundwater aquifers; and a host of other activities that will impair water quality in streams crucial to the survival of local salmon, reptiles and amphibians. However you dice it, this vineyard is bad for the environment and the rare animals and plants that rely on it, said Nicholas Whipps, a legal fellow with the Center. Napa County needs to go back to the drawing board to make sure its decision to approve this project doesnt kick its wildlife to the curb. 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.


Manduca sexta caterpillars can grow up to 10 cm long making them ideal for laboratory experiments to investigate their biochemistry and physiology. "Whooo ... are ... you?" asked the hookah-smoking caterpillar of Alice, in Wonderland. Asking the question of the caterpillar instead, an international team of scientists have published their findings from the sequencing, annotation, and exploration of the genome of the tobacco hornworm moth. The project involved 114 scientists from 50 research institutions worldwide, including from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the University of Geneva (UNIGE). This remarkable moth and strikingly beautiful and very large caterpillar are known by the Latin name, Manduca sexta, but also as the tobacco hornworm, Carolina sphinx moth, goliath worm, or 'Le sphinx du tabac'. The giant caterpillars are a favourite childhood pet, but they are considered serious agricultural pests as they feed voraciously on tobacco, potato, tomato, and pepper plants. The large size of the caterpillars means that this moth has become one of the most important model species for studying insect physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology, and sequencing its genome opens many new research avenues.

The large-scale research project to sequence, annotate, and explore the genome of the tobacco hornworm moth started in 2009 and was led by Prof. Michael R. Kanost from Kansas State University and Prof. Gary W. Blissard from the Boyce Thompson Institute and Cornell University. Their efforts were made possible through grants from the US National Institutes of Health and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DNA sequencing and genome assembly were performed at the Baylor College of Medicine, benefitting from Prof. Stephen Richards' experience overseeing genome projects as part of the i5K arthropod genome initiative. Exploring this new wealth of genetic and genomic data relied on the expertise of 114 scientists from around the world, including from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine. Their findings from exploring the 420 megabasepair genome and its 15'451 encoded genes are published in a comprehensive manuscript in the journal Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Manduca sexta has a long history of being used as a model species for classical biochemistry and physiology experiments spanning many different areas of research. This is mainly due to the large size of the larvae that can grow up to 10 cm long and weigh more than 10 grams, and which are relatively easy to rear in the laboratory. 'Manduca' from the Latin for 'glutton' emphasizes how the hungry caterpillars can quickly consume several plants to reach such sizes, and 'sexta' for the six orange spots along the moth's abdomen. Such laboratory studies have facilitated great advances in our understanding of many biological processes such as animal development and insect metamorphosis, immune system functions and their roles in interactions with pathogens, the chemistry behind the wars waged between pest insects and the plants on which they feed, as well as many other aspects of insect biochemistry, physiology, and behaviour.

The sequencing and annotation of the tobacco hornworm genome now allows researchers to pinpoint some of the underlying genetic components of the processes that they have been studying - to hunt down the genes or genomic regions that are responsible for the observed effects on the biology and behaviour of this important insect. "In my laboratory we have been studying the immune system for many years", explained Prof. Kanost, "and sequencing the genome has now allowed us to identify almost 600 genes that are likely to be involved in defence against various pathogens." Kanost and Blissard also coordinated the publication of an Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Special Issue with additional research articles that explore particular topics in more detail.

Comparing the moth's genes and genome to those from other insects revealed an intriguing peculiarity: "In many insects we know that genes often jump around from one location to another in their respective genomes", described Dr Robert Waterhouse from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the University of Geneva, "but in moths and butterflies something seems to be reducing their freedom of movement". Prof. Marian Goldsmith from the University of Rhode Island explained that "This exceptional conservation of gene order may be linked to the special structural properties of moth and butterfly chromosomes."

The tobacco hornworm genome and its catalogue of genes, made publically available by the authors through the US National Agricultural Library, provides a rich source of genetic information from which to begin to investigate questions about the specific roles of individual genes and genomic elements in various biological responses as well as to learn about how insect genomes have evolved.

Source: Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
LAGOS, NIGERIA: With smartphone usage on the up and IT literacy expanding, bringing Internet of Things (IoT) level connectivity is a natural progression for this tech-hungry continent.

Brett Parker

Africa is no stranger to connectivity. While Africa may be behind when it comes to IT infrastructure compared to more developed nations, the fact is that more than double the population of sub-Saharan Africa has mobile phone access.

The future is connected

The IoT should be considered more than just technology. Rather, it is an ecosystem of products and services - from software to cloud technology - where effective connectivity adds real business value. This derived value presents an exciting prospect for the region. It also has the potential to drive significant economic growth and, in time, bring African IT up to speed with the rest of the world.

And the adoption of IoT solutions across Africa is not a farfetched idea: research from McKinsey estimates that Africa will have tripled its internet penetration to over 50% - the equivalent of 600 million regular internet users - by 2025. It's also predicted that the potential of the IoT in developing countries is huge, with such nations to be accountable for 40% of the worldwide value of the IoT market by 2020.

Currently, 15% of the global population resides in Africa. More than half of global population growth from now until 2050 is expected to stem from the continent. This means having a global, connected system is crucial.

Infinite possibilities

The IoT has the potential to solve many of the issues the continent is currently facing. And many African countries have already embarked on the IoT journey. Healthcare providers in Ethiopia are monitoring the health status of outpatients to better adjust treatment. Intelligent traffic lights in Nairobi are helping ease traffic congestion.

Utility providers in South Africa are using load-limiting smart meters that can warn residents ahead of imminent controlled outages. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite imagery, DNA analysis and apps are being used as part of conservation efforts - by predicting poaching attempts and monitoring wildlife.

The potential is limitless. As technology advances and encroaches upon most people's day-to-day lives in some shape or form, people can expect more IoT enabled solutions that address the unique issues facing Africa.

Agriculture is a vital, yet struggling, industry. Sub-Saharan Africa has 95% of arable land that is dependent on rainfall-fed agriculture. This means food crop productivity is often low, with food insecurity a constant issue. This is where the IoT can help: wireless sensors can track crop growth, soil moisture and water tank levels. Unmanned vehicles can reduce physical labour. The result will be better yields at a lower cost.

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, food production must increase by 60% to be able to feed the growing population expected to hit nine billion in 2050. With SAP's help, John Deere for example, is taking the IoT out into the field and boosting efficiencies with the goal of improving per-acre crop yields. They are using Big Data to step into the future of farming.

This interconnectivity with owners, operators, dealers and agricultural consultants helps farmers enhance productivity and increase efficiency. Sensors on their equipment help farmers manage their fleet and decrease downtime of their tractors as well as save on fuel. The information is combined with historical and real-time weather data, soil conditions, crop features and many other data sets.

Future looks bright

Connected robots and systems can help limit the effects of a mass disaster. The ongoing Ebola outbreaks in West Africa highlight the ramifications of human contact. While current technology is still relatively immature, the future of the IoT-enabled technology and better-developed robots and outbreak control mechanisms, like SAP's SORMAS, could see many lives saved and the spread of disease minimised.

The future looks bright, but there are still barriers to overcome. The cost of implementing the IoT is huge and investment will most likely come from outside the region. As well as that, the potential risks of hacking remain a threat as long as there is internet-enabled technology involved. And, having the right skills and training programmes in place will be imperative when making the most of the opportunities that come with new technology.

Overall connectivity is clearly an important enabler. As it stands, many African nations fall short in this area. Yet the lack of a legacy infrastructure can actually be beneficial for Africa. Instead of gradual tech upgrades, the continent can jump ahead into new technologies in ways more developed countries cannot. This also means that the decisions of those spearheading change now are likely to impact the solutions of the future.

There is no question: the IoT is coming to Africa and African businesses cannot ignore it. For now, having the right mindset to embrace innovation is crucial. Added to this, being aware of the inevitable security challenges, and being able to articulate the return on investment to fellow board members will be key skills when pushing for a new tech ecosystem. For a continent fuelled by its entrepreneurial spirit, the prospect of an IoT enabled future presents an exciting period to come.

Source: African Media Agency.
Despite the internal and externals that journalists face every day, the industry is strong, delivering excellent work in newspapers. This excellence was on display last night when the stalwarts of the newspaper industry came together to reward and celebrate the best in their industry at the annual Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards held at the Green Venue in Sandton.

The big winners are Beauregard Tromp (who also won the Hard News Category) and James Oatway who were awarded SA Story of the Year, Nokuthula Mbatha who was named Young Journalist of the Year and Siphe Macanda who was awarded Newspaper Journalist of the year.

Siphe Macanda

Oatway, who also won the News Photography Category for the same story, says he is pleased the killing of Emanuel Sithole, in the Sunday Times, was given this Award. I am very honoured to have been awarded this as it brings this story into the public eye for a second time and makes people think about what happened again. We can never forget what happened to Sithole so we can stop this kind of thing from happening again in the future.

Twenty-five-year-old Mbatha, was awarded Young Journalist of the Year for her story Deep in the devils drug in The Star. The young journalist was ecstatic with her Award. I will never forget the feeling when I heard my name being called out. I am so grateful for the Award. It shows that hard work does pay off. This was also a dangerous story for me so this is very rewarding.

She says the Award has motivated her even more. This has motivated me so much to move forward and focus on my passion which is highlighting womens issues.

Macanda who won the Investigative Journalism category, was awarded Newspaper journalist of the year for his "Siyenza toilet scandal" story in the Daily Dispatch. He says he was hopeful that he might receive the Award. My editor told me my story was good so he thought I could win so I was feeling a bit hopeful and confident. Now I am over the moon, I am so happy and it has excited me to go out there and do more great work.

Mail & Guardians Mia Malan, was awarded the Feature Writing Award for her story on Diepsloot Rape. A story she says left her traumatized. It was the first time ever that a story did that to me, but I had to pursue it. I wanted to know why so many people get raped there and then write about it for others to also understand and make sense of it without being judgmental.

This is the third year in a row that she has won the Award for Feature Writing.

Mia Malan

Paula Fray, the Awards judges Convenor, says the feature writing category attracted a wide variety of good work, making it a difficult category to judge. There were a total of 94 entries, of which many were very good but not all of them could make the shortlist. In the end the criteria, the relevance of the subject and the quality of writing determined the finalists and the winner.

Fray used the opportunity at the Awards to express her concern on what was currently taking place in the industry. It is hard to celebrate without acknowledging that many of our colleagues have been served with notice letters.

She adds that the environment that journalists have to function is not only uncertain, it has also become increasingly dangerous. It is in times such as these that we need to find that courage and commitment to continue to seek out the truth and to be fair, independent and accountable.

Sponsored by Standard Bank, group chief executive of the Standard Bank Group (SBG) and the chief executive of Standard Bank South Africa (SBSA) Sim Tshabalala, also touched on the importance of the media in a democracy, pointing out that when it comes to press freedom South Africa is ranked on a par with the United States and Great Britain. Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen ample evidence of the strength of the South African press with the men and women of the press instrumental in keeping us up to date on what has been the most important event in this country since the 1994 elections.

Ishmet Davidson, Media24 GM distribution and board member of the Publishers Support Services (PSS), which hosts the Awards, voiced the Awards' gratitude to Standard Bank for sponsoring the Awards for the past five years. As an industry we are hugely grateful to Standard Bank, as it is their sponsorship that has enabled us to honour the people who work and contribute every day to one of the cornerstones of democracy, the media.

Newspaper excellence

The Frewin Award was awarded to Beeld newspaper which also shared the Joel Mervis Award with Mali & Guardian, while Die Volksblad was awarded the McCall Award. The winners were chosen from 10 finalists that had been selected out of the 28 newspapers that entered the Awards, which recognise newspaper excellence in advertising, printing and production, layout and typography as well as the balanced use of pictures and graphics.

View all the winners.
A global search by Glenfiddich aims to recognise and reward maverick individuals who collaborate with artists outside of the traditional drinks world in order to create a more surprising, inventive and unique drinking experience.

The competition aims to find people in the bartending industry, who are pairing up with masters from other creative fields, such as musicians, chefs, designers or artists, in order to push the boundaries of bar keeping. They will be challenged to create a sensory experience that is inspired by Glenfiddich.

Finalists from countries around the globe, including South Africa, will be invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to the inaugural Glenfiddich Experimental Bartender Academy in Scotland, where they will compete to win the opportunity of bringing their idea to life. The collaborators will be taught how to make whisky from scratch. They will have the exclusive opportunity to absorb knowledge from distillery experts, who will share the techniques that have made Glenfiddich the most awarded single malt Scotch whisky today, including an opportunity to meet the malt master, Brian Kinsman.

The winner will earn a reputation as The Worlds Most Experimental Bartender, with his or her creativity being showcased globally.

Glenfiddich South Africa has announced that Gareth Wainwright, bar consultant and one of the most creative bartenders in the South African bar industry, as the ambassador for the campaign. For all the aspiring collaborators, he offers the following advice, I believe that you can never know enough and lessons come from the strangest places. Try everything. Inspiration can come from anywhere and no detail is too small. Respect the classics and remember: theres always a bigger fish.

We want to celebrate bartenders who are masters of their craft, yet continue to push beyond the expected by finding inspiration in the most unexpected places. We are thrilled to have Gareth, a maverick in his own right, as part of this exciting campaign, comments Edward Snell & Co. marketing manager, Lauren Kuhlmey.

The winning collaborative idea will be announced at the end of the programme, and then Glenfiddich will work with the winning duo throughout 2017 to bring their creation to life for the on-trade, an impressive addition to any creators portfolio. For more information, www.glenfiddich.com/explore/experimental-whisky.
Workers at South African Breweries (SAB) who own shares through the Zenzele scheme are to get an average advance payment of about R32,000 when the deal with Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) goes through, following a hard-fought battle by the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu).

The deal was struck on Friday, after Fawu had threatened to strike over the issue. The union had complained that while 1,700 SAB managers would receive a $1.9bn early payout on their share options, workers had to wait until the Zenzele scheme matured in 2020.

SAB initially offered an immediate payout of about R16,000, which would have been an interest-bearing loan against the value of the shares when they vest. SAB had wanted to charge Zenzele members interest on the prepayment equivalent to 85% of the prime rate.

The improved offer, which is largely attributable to Fawus determination, doubles the amount proposed originally by SAB and removes the requirement that recipients pay interest on what is essentially a prepayment of dividends.

Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola said the revised terms fell considerably short of his unions demands and were far less generous than the payouts enjoyed by management, but he was pleased industrial action was off the table.

"The matter was before the (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) and industrial action was looming," he said.

Masemola said that although the SAB employees were relatively well paid, they had debts they were keen to pay off. "This debt burden weakened their resolve to fight."

Masemolas determination to ensure that the Zenzele scheme was included in discussions about AB InBevs acquisition of SABMiller and that employees should benefit as much as management has won the union support among white-collar workers at SAB who face an uncertain future under the new owners.

"The merger conditions have guaranteed manning levels at the company, but its unclear what will happen to the quality of jobs. White-collar workers are joining us now, not in droves, but in surprising numbers," Masemola said.

AB InBev said in a statement that it was pleased to have reached agreement with Fawu on enhancements to the Zenzele scheme.

When the megabrew merger is completed, Zenzele participants will receive a total R1.5bn, up from the original R750m.

"We have also confirmed that we will guarantee that Zenzele participants will benefit from the premium implied by the revised cash price of 45 per share being offered to SABMiller shareholders," AB InBev said.

In terms of the new deal, Zenzele participants will receive a R32 dividend for every participation right they hold. The R32 is equivalent to the previous five years dividends. The prepayment will be deducted from the final payout when the scheme matures in 2020.

Each blue-collar worker has an average of 1,000 participation rights.

SAB employees hold 40% of the Zenzele participation rights equivalent to 18.5-million shares in unlisted SAB. In terms of the original plan, the SAB shares were to be converted into SABMiller shares in 2020.

AB InBev has committed to converting the Zenzele participation rights into cash at a minimum value of 45, the price paid to SABMiller shareholders. Zenzele participants will also benefit from any accretion in SAB value up to 2020.

SAB employees account for just 9,146 of the Zenzele scheme participants. Liquor store owners and taverners, who account for another 30,000 plus, will also benefit from the deal agreed with SAB.

Although the Zenzele discussion was withdrawn from consideration before the Competition Tribunal, the merging parties are required to implement a new black economic empowerment scheme when the Zenzele scheme matures.
Hi-Q has been voted South Africa's No.1 Tyre Retailer for the 7th year running at Icon Brands Survey by Ask Africa.

From left: Jaco vd Merwe, owner of Hi-Q Croydon; Maria Petousis, director of TGI handing over the award to Sean Harrison MD Hi-Q automotive and Dominic Mphasa Hi-Q retail marketing coordinator.

The Icon Brands Survey by Ask Africa, in association with City Press and Rapport, is the largest of its kind in South Africa with 19 sectors, hundreds of products and thousands of brands included in the measurement. This year, over 15,000 individuals were surveyed representing over 24 million adult South African consumers.

Hi-Q managing director Sean Harrison had this to say on the win: "Hi-Q has been around for almost 20 years, and in that time we have put everything into providing the best possible service and quality products for our customers. We have built a strong relationship with South African consumers and they know that our Hi-Q franchisees can always be trusted to give of their best. I believe that is why they choose us as their No.1 tyre retailer year after year. On behalf of our entire network, we are honoured to receive this title yet again, and we will keep giving South Africans our all."
The next wave of broadband will see companies benefiting from faster speeds at the same price point as their current expenditure. Businesses in South Africa will soon be able to get a 500 Mbps fibre line for the same price as a 100 Mbps one.

Warren Bohheim, CCO of Zinia, a business internet provider and wholesaler, believes it wont stop there. There is a flatter connectivity buying structure which will result in more capacity becoming available in the country. Combined with fibre rollout and pricing bottoming out, this will drive networks to offer more in a bid to keep customers satisfied.

He explains that in the past connectivity required a change of many hands before internet providers could purchase capacity, whereas soon buying will happen much closer to the source which will result in lower barriers to entry for smaller players and increased competition in the telecommunications space. As more connectivity lands in Africa more supply is available to meet the demand for internet.

Demand for connectivity in South Africa remains high and is therefore far more expensive than other countries around the world, but bandwidth supply into Africa is growing, says Bonheim.

Monet cable

Earlier this year the Angolan government announced the building of the first transatlantic cable system  a 6,165km route - which will cross the South Hemisphere, connecting Africa and the Americas. This will build an alternative route to the North Atlantic cables and it will also allow alternative connections from Asia and Africa to the rest of the world. The Monet cable system is also underway which when completed will provide access from Sao Paulo to the Americas, Miami, Florida (USA).

This coupled with the existing WACS West Africa Cable System connecting 11 West Coast African countries and three European countries could provide a total internet capacity of 70Tbps. With the Monet cable there will be a shorter route to the US through South America  this means less points of presence (POPs) to go through  making our latency lower than other cable systems, he says. Speed is not the most determining factor when purchasing internet: consistency and latency are just as important.

He explains that currently when companies use the internet for data, voice or video it has to travel through many different locations throughout the world and often these are not the quickest routes which slows internet speed down as well as produces high latency. Latency is when the internet lags or takes time to respond.

With the proliferation of cloud-based applications, video and voice, businesses require a consistent internet service with a very low latency. Bonheim says, The Angolan cable, which Zinia has early access to, means local businesses will have a more direct route to key places, so their lines will be quicker, latency will be better and the customer experience will dramatically improve.

The fibre landscape

We are seeing providers roll out fibre at break-even prices to win territory in what is known as telecommunications 'land-grab', says Bonheim. The strategy here is to build a market by attracting as many fibre customers as possible to pay off the cost of the infrastructure and secure a 'locked-in' customer base. As customers come onto the fibre network their experience is so phenomenal, there will be little reason to change.

But as we know customers always want more, they want better speeds, better performance and better prices. Because business internet is still expensive the only option is to give customers more in the way of speed.

He explains that it doesnt cost the networks to increase speeds as the existing fibre infrastructure can handle it: offering more for the same price is the logical next step. In addition while most businesses are all looking for greater speeds the reality is that not everyone will use the speeds provided. This makes it easy for the networks to offer higher speeds at the same prices and with more capacity landing in Africa, supply has increased.

For many businesses this is great news, but we also know that for many keeping abreast of the latest technology is not always about the cheaper offering, it is about what will work for their business from a contention, latency and speed perspective.
South African vehicle components suppliers have poached a senior government official in a move they hope will give them more muscle and insight in future automotive policy negotiations.

Alistair Cotton via 123RF

Renai Moothilal, a senior official in the Department of Trade and Industry's automotive unit, is leaving the department after 10 years to become executive director of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) on 1 September.

In the early phases of South African automotive policy, components companies were viewed by government as junior partners of vehicle manufacturers who received the lion's share of investment incentives.

Although the playing field has levelled in recent years, particularly through the 20132020 Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), there remains a prevailing sense among many suppliers that they are still playing catch-up. That is one of the reasons Naacam officials approached Moothilal early in 2016 to head their association, which represents about 150 components companies employing 82,000 people - about three times the number employed in vehicle manufacturing. In 2015, suppliers generated R82bn in sales.

Naacam president Dave Coffey said at the weekend that Moothilal's experience and background would "put us across more strongly" in coming discussions on a successor to the APDP. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has said he wants planners to look as far ahead as 2035.

Strengthening partnerships

Having already played a part in the transition to the APDP from its predecessor, the Motor Industry Development Programme, Moothilal has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for what has been called the future "automotive master plan". He has also advised many companies across the automotive sector on investment and production.

Coffey said: "He has a very good understanding of the auto sector. His relationships within government will give us a strong partnership with the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) in future."

Moothilal said the department's director general Lionel October had given his blessing to the switch, as it would help build a strong partnership with the sector. "Having been part of strategy development for so many years, I think I can make a different contribution from the outside. I have a number of ideas on what needs to be prioritised and how to optimise the needs of components suppliers."

He said the future success of the motor industry "is necessary for the development of South African industry as a whole".

Source: Business Day
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Universities from mainland China broke into the global top 100 in an annual ranking for the first time Monday, 15 August 2016, but Harvard remained number one for the 14th consecutive year.

 ANTONIO BALAGUER SOLER  123RF.com

China's prestigious Tsinghua University was 58th, beating elite Peking University in 71st place, in the "Academic Ranking of World Universities" compiled by the independent ShanghaiRanking Consultancy.

The National University of Singapore also entered the top 100 for the first time, tying for 83rd, it said.

For the top 10, Stanford maintained second place but MIT dropped from third to fifth, with the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cambridge each moving up one spot to take third and fourth.

The Shanghai Ranking is consistently largely static at its top levels, and this year nine of the top 20 were in unchanged positions, and another nine moved by only one place. The biggest change was by Britain's Oxford University, which climbed three spots from 10th to seventh.

Princeton University was sixth again, with another three US institutions - the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University and the University of Chicago in places eight to 10. The ranking, which was launched in 2003, has generated controversy in the past for what critics say is stressing science over the humanities in its grading.

According to the statement the rankings use "objective indicators" including the number of staff and alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, and articles published in the journals of "Nature" and "Science", according to a statement.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the University of Tokyo was top at number 20 overall.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich was the highest-ranked entry from continental Europe, in 19th place, while the University of Copenhagen in Denmark - which came 31st - overtook France's Pierre and Marie Curie University (39th) as mainland Europe's next best, the statement said.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
Facebook is supporting young creative talent by sponsoring the Loerie Student Awards, celebrating the achievements of the next generation of creative professionals who will define creativity in a mobile-first world.

 kzenon via 123RF

Our sponsorship for 2016 is an opportunity to celebrate the young professionals who are telling rich, creative brand stories using our platforms. We believe creativity unlocks the power of technology and young people in the creative community especially are at an exciting place to craft beautiful and relevant work. Young creatives can play an important role in solving bigger problems by building or creating for mobile as more people become connected, says Rob Newlan, head of Facebook Creative Shop EMEA.

The Loerie Awards are about celebrating great ideas and increasingly the Facebook platform is a canvas to bring great ideas to life and share it with millions of people. We want to support the young talent that is redefining the rules of creativity by exploiting mobile, the most important medium of the generation. In South Africa alone, Facebook has more than 14 million active users, 90% of them on mobile, adds Nunu Ntshingila, head of Facebook, Africa.

Facebook events

17 August 2016: Facebook Made on Mobile workshop  a full-day workshop in partnership with KCap (KwaMashu Community Advancement Projects) aimed at equipping disadvantaged youth with the skills to create marketing campaigns for small businesses using only their phones.



18 August 2016: Facebook Hack for Good  a 48 hour creative hackathon for some of the best advertising students nationwide which, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, will see them create a cutting edge video campaign.



19 August 2016: Student Portfolio Day  Facebook will support the Adams and Adams Student Portfolio Day, giving students the tools to build online creative portfolios, and promoting these to the industry using Facebook Canvas Ads.



19 August 2016: DSTV Seminar of Creativity  Sarah Personette, vice president of Facebook's Global Business Marketing team. Facebook is delivering a keynote here.

Click here to view the list of the Loeries 2016 student finalists.
Topco Media and Standard Bank have announced the finalists for the 2016 Standard Bank Top Women Awards. The Awards ceremony will be held on 18 August 2016 at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg.

 Cathy Yeulet via 123RF

The finalists have committed themselves to the implementation of policies and management systems that empower women as well as demonstrating their contribution to the economy and to the empowerment of other women.

Director of the awards, Karla Fletcher says that individuals and companies that promote the agenda of diversity in the workplace are celebrated as the trailblazers of the South African vision of empowerment. This year, Topco Media and the Standard Bank Top Women Awards are proud to once again host the awards to celebrate and recognise leaders in business and on the forefront of transformation and gender empowerment.

More should be done to support women in business. These are the women who have consciously decided to take control of their destiny, relying on their own smarts for a livelihood. As a bank, we have strategically positioned ourselves for women such as these, says Hannah Sadiki, executive head of customer channels at Standard Bank at Standard Bank.

To view the finalists, click here.
As part of the SMME Opportunity Roadshow, Cape Town will host a free function on 6 September 2016 from 8am-5pm at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. SMMEs are invited to register and receive focused guidance to assist them to make the most of their competitive advantage.

 Hongqi Zhang via 123RF

The SMME Opportunity Roadshow is a valuable educational event that helps SMMEs discover how to implement a winning business model that will create jobs and improve employee skills, says Abigail Botha, event manager at Cape Media, organisers of the SMME Opportunity Roadshows.

We understand the difficult environment in which small businesses have to operate and the challenges they endure. However, we believe that successful entrepreneurs are needed to build a strong and thriving economy in South Africa and this is why we want to provide them with the vital resources needed to transform their drive, passion and ambition into a sustainable business.

Speakers

The programme director for the day is Justin Asher of Picup Technologies, while other invited speakers include Luvuyo Rani (Silulo Ulutho Technologies), Adii Pienaar (Receiptful & Rockstar Foundation), Edith de Vries (director-general, Department of Small Business Development) and Tshidi Mahlangu (SAA).

Masterclasses will cover:

Fundamentals of sustaining & growing SMMEs



Enabling funding for SMMEs



Scaling up SMMEs: the future growth drivers of the SA economy

Western Cape businesses are also invited to exhibit on the day and network during the engaging breakaway sessions.

Final show in Port Elizabeth

Registration is still open for the final SMME Opportunity Roadshow of 2016, which will take place on 16 November at the Boardwalk Hotel & Conference Centre in Port Elizabeth.

To register, click here, select Cape Town, and a free registration will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you are unable to attend any of the Roadshows, you can still benefit from the knowledge sharing by following the live stream on http://www.capemedia.tv/ or by joining the discussion on Twitter (@SMME_Roadshow) or on Facebook.
The acting deputy director-general of Consumer and Corporate Regulation at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), MacDonald Netshitenzhe, says consumer enforcement agencies should strengthen intra- and extra-cross border enforcement initiatives in order to achieve common consumer protection law and policies.

Image by 123RF

Netshitenzhe was speaking at three-day African Consumer Protection Dialogue Conference in South Africa, this past week. The objective of the conference is to discuss synergies and strategies for the effective consumer protection, competition policies, and laws to better protect consumers.

Regional inter-governmental group of experts on consumer protection law and policy must build and strengthen capacity, develop norms and standards - but not impose individual standards that may hinder trade among countries, said Netshitenzhe.

He added that all over the world consumers drive the economy and that consumer issues go beyond the issues of credit and indebtedness. He said countries must collaborate and prioritise goods that are coming into a country not labelled or harmful and must put systems in place to detect goods before they are sold to consumers.

Netshitenzhe encouraged all African countries to adopt the African Peer Review Mechanism on national consumer policies in order to have a sustainable consumption across board and to review systems on the ground. He said the issue of the Peer Review Mechanism was mainly on governance generally, but should be extended to common policies and laws relating to consumer protection.

The director of the United States Federal Trade Commission, Chuck Harwood, said since their first African Dialogue so much has been accomplished in terms of capacity building to deal with consumer protection issues and help consumers.

African states were also encouraged to act as a collective and come up with tangible ways to strengthen regulatory activities.

We have also developed a strong communication and support network among African consumer protection officials and agencies as well as laying a stout foundation for sharing complaints, education, legal and enforcement information among African Dialogue members, said Harwood.

He also said that there were challenges of widening communications channels and using the information sharing foundation constructed to build a strong and lasting structure.

For example, how do we track and report our successes, what mechanism do we use to facilitate communications and what specific issues and problems do we use to test our ability to collaborate? What the Dialogue has taught us through, is that even in the continent where between 1500 and 2000 languages are spoken, when it comes to consumer rights everyone speaks the same language, Harwood said.

National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, CEO, Asogan Moodley, indicated that the conference was necessary in that it provides a platform for organisations in the regulatory environment to come together and discuss a uniform approach to consumer protection in that what is unsafe in South Africa should be considered unsafe in other African countries as well.

The regulatory burden sits with all of us as regulatory bodies because consumers all over the world are driven mostly by price and not issues of safety in their daily transactions. We should come up as a collective with tangible ways to strengthen our regulatory activities, said Moodley.

The conference is targeting government, civil society, academic, private sector stakeholders from throughout Africa, as well as regional and international bodies as they play an important role in implementing consumer protection frameworks and civil society initiatives.
The south Asian country is constructing a massive Padma bridge, which has been recognized as the longest bridge in Bangladesh.

The valuable stones were lifted from Maungdaw-Teknaf border area via Teknaf land port. The port is located on Naf River that separates Myanmar from Bangladesh, said a report in Coxs Bazar online news.

Till date, over 110 metric tons of stones have been sent through Teknaf land port after the stones were transported by trawlers.

Dhaka Pathmark Engineering Services Limited has been operating the function of sending stones from Myanmar to Bangladesh taking advantage of a bilateral agreement signed with the Arakan State Administration in Western Burma.

Bangladesh has not only imported stones from Myanmar, but also some other items like woods/timbers and animal-husbandry like goat, cattle and chicken from Arakan.
Representatives of the government, political parties, and ethnic armed groups gathered last week at the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC)formerly called the Myanmar Peace Centre.

Salai Lian Hmung, vice-chairman of the Chin National Front, said with the inclusion of the ethnic armed groups that have not signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) the meeting went well.

He said: We believe the 21st Century Panglong Conference will be held successfully. We have reached an agreement on principle from the non-NCA signatory groups that they will attend the conference.

U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the Ministry of the Presidents Office, was also very satisfied with the meeting.

He said: The peace journey is not a journey that can be accomplished within a day, and it has been on-going for 70 years. But, I have found that everyone that took part in the discussion have discussed with openness and with patience. Political dialogues will run well only when the framework for political dialogue has been cleared up and everyone have a clear understanding.

U Kyaw Tint Swe, union minister of the State Counsellors Office, said that ethnic armed groups will make up 150 out of 700 seats for the peace conference slated for 31 August.

However, three groups excluded from taking part in the NCAthe Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Taang National Liberation Army and Arakan Armywere noticeably absent from the meeting.

The armed groups met with the governments Peace Commission in Mong La in eastern Shan State last week to discuss conditions for attendance of the peace conference but neither side could see eye to eye on the wording of a statement that the government required the groups to jointly issue.

In a nutshell, the Burma Army is pushing for their unconditional surrender. The groups have expressed interest in ending their armed struggle but want guarantees before any consideration is made towards laying down arms.

None of the other armed groups have been asked to disarm before taking part in discussions.

Reporting by Aik Sai for MNA

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited by BNI staff
More than 1.6 million people in Myanmar have been displaced over the past 18 months, since last years military coup, according to the Institute for...
The budget for the new regional parliament in Shan State capital Taunggyi was approved during the tenure of the previous government led by President Thein Sein.

Nang Mya Oo, the secretary of SNLD Taunggyi Township, said that the government should use the budget in ways that are useful to people who are in need rather that to design a new assembly building.

The existing office is a historical Shan State building, Nang Myo Oo said. We still want it to be used as our state government office.

But the central government wants the Shan State parliament to be expanded because it believes the current working environment is too restricted in space.

According to an August 10 statement by the NLDs Taunggyi office, the ruling party also objects to the new construction plans.

Last week, a petition signed by numerous local people and environmental groups called on the Shan State government to reconsider, saying the new location will affect the local environment with some 80 trees slated to be cut down.

If it is not necessary, do not use the state government budget, she said. These trees [in the area where the new office is scheduled to be built] portray the beauty of Taunggyi city. We do not want them to be cut down.

Nang Noon Mo, a resident in Taunggyi and executive member for the Shan Literature and Culture Association, said that they are collecting signatures in order to launch an objection to the project. She said that they will submit a letter outlining their case to President Htin Kyaw, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, both union and state governments, and environmental groups.
The reason why she is right where she is now, as she told them, is because she had herself taken just that: a calculated risk, the word meaning, according to Cambridge, one that you consider worth taking, because the result, if it is successful, will be so good.

The Business Dictionary, however, has a rather different definition: A chance of exposure to loss or injury that might be undertaken after its advantages and disadvantages have been carefully weighted and considered.

Had this particular government official given assurances of 100% success, I wouldnt have taken a chance on the 2012 by elections, she informed the leaders. But he on the contrary had suggested taking a calculated risk, which made me think it over and revise my plans. Now I would urge you to do the same.

Since the meeting, the EAOs, both signatories and non-signatories, have met twice to consider her advice. Two of which have declared attending the UPC#2 aka 21st Century Panglong: United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA). On the other hand, Naypyitaw has so far failed to reach a compromised press release acceptable to both sides with 3 EAOs: Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). And the rest led by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) continue to negotiate with the government at the time of this reporting on how they can join the UPC.

But, according to the reports coming out of the meetings held last week in Chiangmai, the EAOs now exert less leverage than they did during the tenure of the Thein Sein government (2011-16). In those days, we had an almost level playing field, because the government was facing a crucial legitimacy issue, one participant commented. And if there was a fight, few found fault with us. Now things are different.

The NLD, at least in the eyes of the democratic world outside, they reasoned, doesnt have any legitimacy issue.

Now it seems we may have to beg for everything we want from it, despite the fact that both have since early days adopted democracy and federalism as their avowed aims.

One other participant suggested, Maybe the government now needs the Tatmadaw (military) more than us (EAOs).

So are the EAOs, especially those who have signed the NCA, at the mercy of the NLD-cum-military regime? Should they choose to be satisfied with whatever the government is ready to hand out?

No, the meeting concluded. They still have the NCA which was signed by the President and the Commander-in-Chief, and ratified by the Union Legislature. Therefore, as long as both the government and the military (plus the EAOs) swear by it, a chance, however slim it may seem now, still exists. And the balance, depending on how proactive the EAOs are, may change in their favor.

As Sun Zi of the Art of War said:

To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence

Being able to lift a hair isnt a sign of great strength

Being able to see the sun and moon of having sharp eyes

Being able to hear a thunderclap of having quick ears

But at least one thing is certain:

We will all know by 31 August how many EAOs have taken calculated risk.


The new satellite launched by China. A Xinhua photo

BEIJING (PTI): China on Tuesday successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite which boasts of establishing "hack-proof" communications between space and the ground as it is equipped with security features to prevent wiretapping and intercepts.



The satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in north western Gobi Desert at 1:40 AM, state- run Xinhua news agency reported.



The 600-plus-kilogramme satellite will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes after it enters a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kms.



It is nicknamed "Micius," after a fifth century BC Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in

human history conducting optical experiments, the report said.



In its two-year mission, the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) is designed to establish "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground and provide insights into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics - quantum entanglement.



Quantum communication boasts of ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated.



It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it. A quantum key is formed by a string of random numbers generated between two communicating users to encode information.



Once intercepted or measured, the quantum state of the key will change, and the information being intercepted will self-destruct.



With the help of the new satellite, scientists will be able to test quantum key distribution between the satellite and ground stations, and conduct secure quantum communications between Beijing and Xinjiang's Urumqi.



QUESS, as planned, will also beam entangled photons to two earth stations, 1,200 kms apart, in a move to test quantum entanglement over a greater distance, as well as test quantum teleportation between a ground station in Ali prefecture in Tibet, and itself.



"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role - from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of QUESS project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said.




Concept image of the interior of a deep space habitat. Photo: NASA.

WASHINGTON (BNS): NASA has selected six US companies to help advance the Journey to Mars by developing ground prototypes and concepts for deep space habitats.



Through the public-private partnerships enabled by the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement, Appendix A, NASA and industry partners will expand commercial development of space in low-Earth orbit while also improving deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human spaceflight missions, according to a NASA news release.



The selected companies are Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas; Boeing of Pasadena, Texas; Lockheed Martin of Denver; Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia; Sierra Nevada Corporations Space Systems of Louisville, Colorado; and NanoRacks of Webster, Texas.



"NASA is on an ambitious expansion of human spaceflight, including the Journey to Mars, and we're utilising the innovation, skill and knowledge of both the government and private sectors," Jason Crusan, director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems was quoted as saying in the release.



"We are now adding focus and specifics on the deep space habitats where humans will live and work independently for months or years at a time, without cargo supply deliveries from Earth," he added.



The six partners will have up to approximately 24 months to develop ground prototypes and/or conduct concept studies for deep space habitats. The contract award amounts are dependent on contract negotiations, and NASA has estimated the combined total of all the awards, covering work in 2016 and 2017, will be approximately $65 million, with additional efforts and funding continuing into 2018. Selected partners are required to contribute at least 30 percent of the cost of the overall proposed effort.



The ground prototypes will be used for three primary purposes: supporting integrated systems testing, human factors and operations testing, and to help define overall system functionality. These are important activities as they help define the design standards, common interfaces, and requirements while reducing risks for the final flight systems that will come after this phase.



These missions will demonstrate human, robotic and spacecraft operations in a true deep space environment that's still relatively close to Earth and validate technologies for the longer journey to Mars.



Habitation systems will provide a safe place for humans to live as we move beyond Earth on our Journey to Mars.



In addition to US industry, NASA is in discussions on collaborative opportunities with our international partners to enable fully operational deep space habitation capability.



NextSTEP is managed by the Advanced Exploration Systems Division (AES) in NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.






NEW DELHI (PTI): The Defence Ministry's top acquisition council is likely to take up this month the final report submitted by a team negotiating the much-anticipated Rafale fighter jet deal with France.



The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, is likely to meet on August 18.



The Council had last month reviewed the multi-billion Euro Rafale deal and directed the Indian negotiating team to submit its report "expeditiously".



"The negotiating team has submitted its report which is under examination," the Minister said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on August 12.



During his visit to France in April last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that India would purchase 36 Rafale jets in a government-to-government contract.



Soon after the announcement, the Defence Ministry scrapped a separate process that was on to purchase 126 Rafale fighter planes, built by French defence giant Dassault Aviation.



The new deal comes with the clause of delivering 50 per cent offsets, creating business worth at least 3 billion Euros for smaller Indian companies and generating thousands of jobs in India through offsets.



The commercial negotiations on the pricing of the planes, equipment and other issues began in mid-January this year.




An F-16 Fighting Falcon flies near China Lake Naval Air Weapons Center during a successful AIM-9X missile test. Photo: US Air Force.

TUCSON, ARIZONA (BNS): The US Air Force, US Navy and Raytheon Company successfully test-fired three AIM-9X Block I missiles from an F-35A aircraft at airborne targets, resulting in direct hits.



The weapon is the first short-range, air-to-air missile to be used on the F-35.



"These tests validated the on-board communications and handoffs between the aircraft and the missile required to prosecute an aerial target," Mark Justus, AIM-9X programme director for Raytheon Missile Systems was quoted as saying in the Raytheon news release.



The series of guided live fire tests proved the end-to-end system capability of AIM-9X on the F-35. AIM-9X will help ensure our pilots and allies have the most reliable and effective weapons on the F-35.



The F-35 can carry two AIM-9X missiles on its wings and four AIM-120s internally when configured for an air dominance mission. These test firings advances integration of the AIM-9X, with introduction across the F-35 fleet expected in 2017, the release added.



Complementary Raytheon weapons (AMRAAM and AIM-9X) ensure allied pilots flying the newest fighter aircraft have the most reliable, effective and lethal arsenal to assure victory in combat.



The fourth guided test in the series is expected to take place later this year.



AIM-9X is a US Navy-led, joint Navy and US Air Force programme.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who jumped into a two-on-one beating and then stole the victims beer has been jailed for the attack.

It happened at the Crystal Hotel in downtown Brandon while the offender was banned from being there for a prior offence.

The last conviction for violence was at the same location, had you not been there you wouldnt have been involved, Judge Donovan Dvorak said.

Robert Arnold Creasy, 50, received seven months in jail on Monday for assault, theft and breach of probation.

Police were called to the hotel on May 7 and found the victim with a red and swollen face.

The woman told police that shed been assaulted by a group of people during an argument with her ex-boyfriend.

Crown attorney Brett Rach said surveillance video showed what happened.

It showed the victim in a heated argument with her ex who was with a group of people that included Creasy.

As she walked away, the victim frequently stopped to have further words with her former boyfriend.

A woman with the group then attacked the victim by repeatedly hitting her in the head, and a second woman then joined in.

Creasy became the third assailant by striking the victim in the face. He then stole her beer, continued to hit her and also kneed her two to three times in the face.

The attack stopped when an employee exited the hotel, and Creasy was arrested at the scene.

Creasy has a record for violence. His lawyer, Andrew Synyshyn, said Creasy was most recently convicted for a separate prior incident in which he brandished a knife while confronting a Crystal Hotel employee.

Rach said Creasy got 12 months jail for that assault with a weapon, and was in breach of his probation during the assault on the woman because he wasnt supposed to be at the hotel in the first place.

Creasy received 152 days credit in remand time toward his sentence. That leaves about two months to serve.

After hes out, Creasy is once again banned from being at the Crystal Hotel as part of a one-year probation.

Two co-accused remain before the courts.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobas Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart hosted a roundtable discussion in Brandon on Monday, bringing together approximately 25 people to discuss labour market transfer agreements.

Held at Assiniboine Community Colleges North Hill campus, the consultation saw representatives from Brandon University, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, ACC, Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples Council, Manitoba Beef Producers and Canadian National Institute for the Blind, among others.

We certainly heard some unique thoughts, especially designed for the marketplace in western Manitoba, Wishart said. Thats why we came here for the consultations, hoping we would get something that was regional in nature, which we can build into our overall provincial consultations  and I think we got it.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Provincial Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart listens in to a roundtable discussion involving local stakeholders regarding employment and skill-training programs and services during a consultation at ACC's North Hill campus on Monday.

The Brandon event was the fourth roundtable discussion hosted by Wishart. There was one held in Winnipeg on July 25, followed by Thompson and Portage la Prairie last week.

The goal of the roundtable series is to gather input on employment and skills-training programs/services. This comes after a commitment of federal, provincial and territorial ministers to work together to examine key opportunities and challenges facing the Canadian workforce, according to the province.

Improved communication and flexibility in labour market agreements were two common themes coming out of the feedback at the Brandon discussion.

Wishart said its time to revamp the way labour market agreements are done, since it hasnt seen a major review since 1997.

How much have things changed since 1997? In 1997, we were just learning how to use cellphones, we cant function without them now, Wishart said with a laugh. Were getting new things all the time into the workplace, certainly much more different than it was 20 years ago  now were training for higher tech jobs, more specific in nature.

Wishart noted workforce development programming is valued at almost $3 billion nationally, and is foundational to ongoing economic growth and job creation in Manitoba and across Canada.

Jordan Ludwig, past president of Brandon Chamber of Commerce highlighted the chambers most recent climate survey, which indicated labour force issues as the single greatest challenge affecting business in our community.

Its important that we engage our stakeholders  business leaders, provincial leaders and education institutions alike to ensure that were addressing these challenges in a proactive manner. These roundtables are a great way to get issues on the table and to identify unique solutions and plan strategy to deal with these challenges as they present themselves, Ludwig said in a press release.

Brandon East Progressive Conservative MLA Len Isleifson and Brandon West PC MLA Reg Helwer were also in attendance.

Its a great opportunity to bring the business community with the education community together to find out what do we need to do to provide a future in education, to gain employment going forward for our youth, Isleifson said. Communication was probably a key component from all the groups  To me, it just opened it up so that people are now aware that  Brandon is here, Brandon is important, were part of the process, and theres lots of opportunity.

Now that the four roundtable events are complete, a summary of the feedback will be put together. Wishart indicated consultations with provincial colleagues and the federal government will be next on how they renovate or change this agreement and how we move forward. The goal is to have the report ready by October.

Funding agreements with the federal government provide almost $76 million to Manitoba each year for employment and skills-training programs, according to the province. This funding supplements the provinces own investments in labour market development, which include apprenticeship training, programming for employers to meet workforce needs, work experience for youth, labour market integration programming for immigrants, supports for people with disabilities, entrepreneurship, as well as learning and literacy, among others.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustin
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is a perfect moment for the crisis in Ukraine to heat up, and worrying developments are afoot, prompting fears Russian President Vladimir Putin might be planning an invasion or some other kind of hostile action against Kyiv after all.

Last Wednesday, Russias secret police, the Federal Security Service (FSB), said it had prevented a series of terror attacks in Crimea, and one of its operatives and a Russian soldier were killed in several shootouts with what the FSB says were agents of the Ukrainian defence ministrys intelligence directorate. The FSB didnt elaborate on the foiled attacks, but said it had seized a cache of weapons and explosives and arrested a Ukrainian military intelligence operative named Yevgeny Panov.

The FSB announcement would normally be only moderately troubling. Russia has reported attempted Ukrainian terror attacks in Crimea before, though it has never directly blamed authorities in Kyiv. But it was Putins emotionally charged language that raised alarm bells.

The people who seized power in Kyiv and who continue to hold on to it, he said, have moved on to the practice of terror instead of looking for paths toward peaceful resolution.

Putin called off a Normandy format meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, tentatively planned during the G20 summit in China early next month. He called on western powers to exert pressure on Ukraine to make it more interested in a true peaceful settlement and warned Russia would not look on at hostile action against it.

This is the most aggressive rhetoric on Ukraine from Putin this year. It suggests he is no longer vested in the Minsk peace process brokered by German Chancellor Angel Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

Under that process, Russia is supposed to return control of Ukraines eastern border to Kyiv once Ukraine grants amnesties to pro-Russian separatist rebels, agrees to elections in the areas they hold and gives these regions broad autonomy. Yet Kyiv has dragged its feet on the elections, claiming (with some justification) they would be impossible to hold fairly in areas under de facto Russian control. So the semi-frozen conflict continues to claim lives every day.

That stalemate seemed to suit Putin fine. The persistent threat in the east destabilized Ukraine, limited its European-integration ambitions and put enough economic pressure on the government so it might be expected to collapse in the foreseeable future. Yet the status quo means Russia remains under western sanctions, and Ukraine is learning to live as a partitioned country, even showing some timid economic growth. Putin may be tempted to give the situation a push.

This is a good time for him to do it. The U.S. is embroiled in a contentious presidential election campaign, and one of the candidates, Donald Trump, has stated his preference for not playing an active part in the Ukrainian situation. In France, which faces an election of its own in eight months, a series of deadly terror attacks has made domestic security the top priority for voters. Germany has faced several attacks, too, and though they were less severe than the French ones, Merkel is still preoccupied with security in addition to her Brexit-related concerns as Europes de facto leader. Ukraine is on the periphery of western leaders attention.

Besides, the Olympics are on, and thats an ominous sign. During the Beijing Games of 2008, Russia overran Georgia. During the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, the Crimea annexation was planned.

In Ukraine, there has been a wave of angry denials of the FSB report. Oleksandr Turchynov, head of Ukraines National Security and Defence Council, called it a hysterical lie. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared the report pointless and cynical and said Ukraine was dedicated to restoring its territorial integrity and sovereignty, including the cessation of the occupation of Crimea, exclusively by political and diplomatic means.

What actually happened in Crimea is not easy to figure out. The Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab attempted to find digital traces of the shootouts that reportedly led to the two Russian deaths. It failed to find much evidence anyone in Crimea had witnessed the firefights and drew parallels between reports of armed Russian deserters on the loose in Crimea and the FSB information about Ukrainian saboteurs who, according to the Russian government-owned newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, had been planning to blow up a major highway.

Panov, the alleged Ukrainian operative arrested by the FSB in Crimea, has been identified as a truck driver who had served in the Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. One of his friends, a businessman, claimed it was he who had sent Panov to Crimea to check on some real estate the businessman owned there.

Of course, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of Ukrainian attacks in Crimea. Last year, Kyiv looked on as Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian nationalists blew up transmission towers near the border to cut off power supply to the occupied peninsula.

But its just as easy to suspect Russia of staging the whole thing to establish a casus belli. False Russian accusations toward Ukraine to justify future retaliation? Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius wrote on Twitter. Vladimir Milov, a Russian anti-Putin politician, likened the incident to the Nazi false-flag operation in the Silesian town of Gleiwitz just before the Second World War began. A group of German intelligence officers dressed in Polish uniforms briefly seized a radio station in the town, which then belonged to Germany, to broadcast a message in Polish. The idea was to blame Poland for the attack and use it to justify an invasion.

Of course, Putin is talking rather than shooting or moving tanks, and that likely means no large-scale operation is imminent. Yet the Russian leader clearly wants Poroshenko and his western allies to worry. This is a signal Russia is getting restless with the current peace deal. It forced the first ceasefire in eastern Ukraine by helping the separatists defeat the Ukrainian army at Ilovaysk, and it forced its renegotiation on more favourable terms by assisting another rebel push in the Debaltsevo area. It wouldnt be unrealistic to expect a quantitative leap in fighting around Donetsk and Luhansk so Russia could re-energize the negotiation process and perhaps get even better terms.

 Leonid Bershidsky, a Bloomberg View contributor, is a Berlin-based writer. His column was also recently published by the Winnipeg Free Press.

 Bloomberg
Opinion

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This article was published 16/08/2016 (2264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The urge to make a martyrdom video was Aaron Drivers undoing. The 24-year-old supporter of so-called Islamic State recorded himself ranting against Canada for helping to make war against IS so people would know why he had planted his bomb.

He sent the video somewhere, and it promptly fell into the hands of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mounties recognized the masked ranter among their list of known IS fanatics, and so Aaron Driver was surrounded and killed on a quiet street in Strathroy, Ont., as he set out on his mission.

For the most part, the supporters of Islamic State in Canada have been people of limited personal gifts, acting more or less alone. John Stewart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody attempted a terrorist act on Canada Day in 2013 by setting off pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the B.C. legislature. They were convicted of conspiring to commit murder and possessing explosives, but RCMP undercover agents played such a large role in encouraging the conspirators the conviction was recently overturned by the B.C. Supreme Court.

In Quebec, Martin Couture-Rouleau struck two Canadian soldiers with his car, killing Patrice Vincent, in October 2014. A few days later, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he stood guard at the Ottawa war memorial. Zehaf-Bibeau then ran into Parliaments Centre Block, where he was killed. Neither of these crimes shook the foundations of the Canadian state. Neither caused Canadians to doubt the importance of defeating IS.

All of these people had already come to the attention of the police. They were all born in Canada, and they were all known to the authorities as radicalized supporters of Islamist terrorism. The police were in close contact with Mr. Nuttall and Ms. Korody throughout their adventure. Mr. Couture-Rouleau and Mr. Zehaf-Bibeau struck before the police could nab them.

The difference in the case of Mr. Driver was he felt a need to let the world know about his motives by means of a martyrdom video. He sent the video presumably with the intention the recipient would post it on the Internet after he had set off his bomb in some public place. Little did he know he was also delivering it into the hands of the FBI.

The RCMP played the video at their news conference Thursday. It showed they had excellent reasons for arresting him and using all the force necessary to stop him from planting his bomb.

It was not immediately clear whether Driver died by police gunfire or whether he was hoist with his own petard, but it scarcely matters. He had made his intention abundantly clear. The explosion of one device in the back seat of the taxi he had just boarded showed he had with him some means of carrying out his announced plan.

However, its unfortunate that it took a tip from the FBI before the RCMP were made aware of Drivers plans. We suggest radicals that are known by the authorities should be more carefully scrutinized by our governments security operations.

As Reuters reported last week, Driver had agreed to a court order known as a peace bond that restricted his online and cellphone use. He was considered mildly radicalized by authorities  thus a lower risk than others  and not followed regularly, according to Ray Boisvert, a former assistant director of intelligence at the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.

Drivers father, Wayne Driver, questioned why authorities did not intervene earlier, and expressed a wish that his son had been forced into a de-radicalization program.

I dont think (the pace bond) was very effective at all. I mean, look at the outcome, Wayne Driver told the CBC.

On Sunday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tried to further reassure Canadians that his government is effectively combating terrorist threats to this country, by saying he plans to move ahead with a program designed to reach out to those who are vulnerable to radicalization.

Its good to know that Canadian, American and other international authorities work well together to thwart terrorist threats to our national security. In Drivers case, it was successful in as much as he was unable to carry out his threat.

But more needs to be done to curb radicalization in the first place, while better monitoring those whose actions garner interest from police and government operatives. Police surveillance of Canadians purely because of their political beliefs would infringe our liberties, but the track record of supporters of IS speaks for itself. This is a terrorist group that incites its supporters to carry out terrorist acts, and enough of them do so that Canadian police forces must keep their eyes open and their files up to date.

 Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun
Let Me Tell You is a new bespoke podcast series from



Hosts Daniel McConnell and Paul Hosford take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments in recent Irish political history from the unique perspective of one of the key players involved.


Talks aimed at averting a national rail strike get underway today.

Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union are attending discussions with Irish Rail at the Workplace Relations Commission.

Yesterday, the unions suspended the holding of a strike ballot in order to attend the talks.

Train drivers are looking for a shorter working week and recognition for past productivity.

NBRU general secretary Dermot O'Leary is optimistic about the chances of success.

"The WRC probably wouldn't have called us back in unless they saw that there was a basis to begin discussions, but more importantly for us, to get involved in more intensive discussions," he said.

Separately, unions at Dublin Bus have told management to make a new offer, if they want to reverse the threat of strike action by the end of the month.

Siptu says three grades have already voted to take industrial action and the union is now waiting to see what their remaining members decide.

Divisional organiser Owen Reidy said that they will be in talks today, and probably tomorrow, and while they are willing to negotiate with management, they cannot do that on their own.

"I do think Dublin Bus management should use the time wisely and should try and initiate a talks process immediately, because what is clear is industrial action and strike action does look inevitable unless management come back with a revised offer."
More than 50,000 children attended the Emergency Department of Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin last year.

In total, 126,000 children were treated at the hospital last year, with the biggest attendance rates by children from North and South County Dublin.

The figures come as the hospital opens its newly extended and refurbished Emergency Department this morning.

The cost of the renovation came to 690,000 which was provided by the HSE, and includes two new treatment rooms along with a new reception and waiting area.

Dr Roisin McNamara, Consultant Emergency Medicine Physician at the hospital, said: "The new Rapid Assessment and Treatment Unit (RATU) does not come with additional staff but will allow us to stream patients more efficiently and the extra space will give an overall better patient experience with less congestion in the waiting area.

"In winter finding a bed to examine a patient when the majority of beds are occupied by admitted patients can be difficult so the addition of four extra beds to the ED will help with this.

"We also now have four isolation rooms, which will allow us to isolate patients in specific rooms without affecting the normal functioning of the ED and will provide a more comfortable environment for overnight patients."
Two Irish cities  Dublin and Galway  have made it into the top six friendliest cities in the world in a major US travel magazine.

The annual reader survey of Conde Nast Traveler magazine saw Dublin in third position, with Galway coming in sixth place.

Galway

Every year, the magazine asks its readers to weigh in on their favourite cities around the globe, in its Worlds Best Awards  its annual reader survey which rates destinations and travel providers.

The magazine has unveiled the results of its 2016 survey  taken by some 128,000 readers  including its list of the worlds friendliest cities, where readers felt most welcome.

"I am delighted to see two of our cities appear once again in the prestigious Conde Nast Traveler survey of friendly cities around the globe," said Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland.

"It is another well-deserved accolade for Dublin and Galway.

"Again and again, our research shows us that the friendliness of our people is one of our unique selling points.

"It is the warm welcome and the craic here that resonates with our overseas visitors and makes our cities, and the island of Ireland, such a great choice for a short break or holiday.

"This accolade by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine gives Tourism Ireland another great platform to continue to promote our cities and Ireland around the world as a must see destination."

Comments from readers about Galway included: Just look at this city  it's hard not to be charmed. On Ireland's west coast, Galway enchanted our readers with the "live music in the pubs and in the street, the food," and, of course, the vibe. One reader, in all caps, said (or maybe shouted?), "THESE ARE THE FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE I HAVE EVER MET.

This is what readers had to say about Dublin: "The people make the place" here, with "pubs and restaurants filled with locals and tourists alike, coming together to celebrate life." ("I've never been somewhere with friendlier drinkers.") "The Irish are so much fun," and "there's always a smiling face to talk to." "We had best recommendations on where to go and what to see from the locals better than any guide book." In short (and again, in caps): "LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IRELAND. THE PEOPLE ARE THE NICEST IN THE WORLD."

The top ten friendliest cities, according to survey, are:

1. Charleston, South Carolina

2. Sydney, Australia

3. Dublin

4. Queenstown, New Zealand

5. Park City, Utah

6. Galway

7. Savannagh, Georgia

8. Krakow, Poland

9. Bruges, Belgium

10. Nashville, Tennessee
Hillary Clinton has vowed to conduct a national security and foreign policy that Americans could be proud of, adding that Donald Trump "just absolutely bewilders" her when he talks about his policies around the globe.

The Democratic presidential candidate embraced the US Olympic team's success at a voter registration rally in Philadelphia, describing it as an example of an optimistic nation that runs counter to what she considers Mr Trump's pessimism and negativity.

"It just absolutely bewilders me when I hear Donald Trump try to talk about national security," Mrs Clinton said, pointing to US vice president Joe Biden's dissection of Mr Trump's foreign policy at a Pennsylvania event on Monday.

"What (Trump) often says hurts us. It sends the wrong message to friend and foe alike."

Referring to the Olympic team, she said: "Team USA is showing the world what this country stands for."

Mr Trump said on Monday that the country's national security requirements demanded "extreme" vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the United States, pointing to the threat of the Islamic State group (IS) and terrorism elements.

However, he offered few specifics about how the process might work or how it would be paid for by taxpayers.

Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump have each sought the upper hand as the chief executive most capable of battling terrorism.

While the GOP business mogul has vowed to project strength and decisive action against terror, the former secretary of state has pointed to her deep foreign policy credentials and warned that Mr Trump could plunge the nation into another war.

Its not just that Trump doesnt know what hes talking about when it comes to national security. His words are dangerous, and they hurt us.  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 16, 2016

Mr Trump has previously called for an unprecedented temporary ban on Muslims entering the US, and said in his Ohio speech that he would overhaul the nation's screening process and block those who sympathise with extremist groups or fail to embrace American values.

The Republican nominee has made changes to the nation's immigration system and the construction of a wall along the Mexican border a key part of his fight against terrorism and IS, which he compared to the struggle against communism during the Cold War.

As president, Mr Trump said, he would encourage immigrants to assimilate and urge parents, teachers and others to promote "American culture".

However, he declined to say which regions of the world would face "extreme" vetting and how federal agencies would go about conducting the review.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump was travelling to Milwaukee, the site of ongoing protests over the fatal shooting of a black man by a black police officer.

His visit follows several days of violence that has left businesses in flames and the Milwaukee police chief expressing surprise at the level of unrest.

Mrs Clinton said during a stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Monday that the Milwaukee protests showed the nation had "urgent work to do to rebuild trust between police and communities" and that "everyone should have respect for the law and be respected by the law".

Donald Trump says he'll create a new test for immigrants.



It's a test he'd fail.https://t.co/LZoCq8bJFx  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 16, 2016

In an interview on Fox News Channel, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker accused Mrs Clinton of "inflaming the situation" with her comments.

"I think people understand in that neighbourhood and Sherman Park and in Milwaukee, they want law enforcement to step up and protect them," he said, adding that "statements like that" from Mrs Clinton and a "lack of leadership" from President Barack Obama "only inflame the situation".

Mr Trump was expected to hold an event with veterans and law enforcement officers on Tuesday.

While polls have shown Mrs Clinton building a lead following the Philadelphia convention, Democrats are fearful that a depressed voter turnout might diminish support among the minority, young and female voters who powered Mr Obama to two victories.

Mrs Clinton said at the voter registration event at a Philadelphia high school that she is "not taking anybody anywhere for granted" in the race for the White House, saying the stakes "could not be higher".

While guarding against complacency, Mrs Clinton is also preparing for a potential administration.

Her campaign announced that former interior secretary Ken Salazar, a former Colorado senator, would chair her White House transition team.

It will also include former national security adviser Tom Donilon, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and two long-time Clinton advisers: Neera Tanden, the president of the Centre for American Progress, and Maggie Williams, who now leads the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

Her team, which is being overseen by campaign chairman John Podesta, will handle long-term planning for a potential Clinton White House should the former secretary of state win the election in November.

Mr Trump has already tapped New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to lead his transition efforts.

By law, both nominees have access to national security and other federal government briefings.
Islamic State fighters holding civilians hostage were allowed to leave the northern Syrian city of Manbij in a large convoy after US-backed forces seized the town.

A US military official said that some of the IS fighters may have already made their way into Turkey, but many were still in Syria.

Cololnel Chris Garver, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS, told Pentagon reporters that the decision to let the convoy leave the city was made by commanders of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

He said there were civilians in each of the vehicles, and the military wanted to avoid casualties.

He added that he did not know how many of the civilians may have been in the cars voluntarily, but some were very likely to be hostages.

It was not clear if the militants left under a pre-arranged agreement between the SDF and the IS fighters. During the offensive, the SDF had offered fighters a safe route to leave the town but they refused.

IS has repeatedly used civilians as human shields, including in recent battles in Iraq.

"They kept throwing civilians to basically walk into the line of fire, trying to get them shot to use that potentially as propaganda," said Col Garver.

He said the coalition has been tracking and watching the vehicles as they headed north, but he declined to say where they were.

Syrian Democratic Forces seized control of the city on Friday and are now clearing the districts looking for militants and bombs.

Col Garver said that a "significant number" of explosive devices were left in the city by IS insurgents as they retreated.

Manbij is a key victory for the SDF and the coalition because it lies on a major supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS group's self-styled caliphate.
A 52-year-old man has died in England after being attacked by a dog which had been returned to its owner despite concerns that it was dangerous.

West Yorkshire Police said the man, who has not been named, was out walking with his Yorkshire terrier when he was attacked by another dog in the Sheepbridge area of Huddersfield on Monday.

He died later in hospital.

The incident has been referred to the UK's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) because the dog involved in the attack was seized by officers earlier this month but returned to its owner after it was determined that it was not a banned breed.

A 29-year-old man, who is the owner of the dog, was arrested in connection with the incident and later released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Swift said: "Clearly our thoughts go out to the family at this tragic time. They are understandably devastated by what has happened and are being supported by specially trained officers.

"Our investigation is continuing. We believe that the victim was out with his own dog at the time of the attack near to his home address on Riddings Road. His dog, a Yorkshire terrier, was also injured during the incident and received emergency veterinary care."

He said the suspect dog was captured and taken to kennels.

A force spokesman said officers were called to the scene at 9.48am on Monday and found the victim with serious injuries.

He was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary but pronounced dead at 9pm.

The spokesman said that in June this year a dog warden visited the address where the suspect animal was being kept following concerns from members of the public.

A referral was then made to police amid fears the dog may be a dangerous breed, he said.

The spokesman said: "As a result, the same dog was seized by police and, following a screening, it was determined the animal was not a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The dog was returned to its owner on August 8."
The decline of wild bees across England is linked to the use of controversial pesticides, according to scientists.

Species of wild bee exposed to oilseed rape crops treated with neonicotinoids suffered population decline of up to 30% between 2002 and 2011, the research led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology found.

The pesticide is the subject of an EU-wide two-year ban amid concerns over its harmful impact on bees, such as damaging their ability to forage and navigate, and colony growth.

The research looked at changes in occurrence of 62 species with oilseed rape cropping patterns across England between 1994 and 2011, examining data from 31,818 surveys across more than 4,000 square kilometres of land.

It found an average population decline across all species of 13%, of which more than half - 7% - was attributable to the use of neonicotinoids between 2002 and 2011, after the pesticide came into wide-scale commercial use.

Species which forage on oilseed rape were three times more seriously affected on average than those which did not.

Neonicotinoids caused declines of more than 20% for the five most seriously affected species, according to analysis of the data, provided by Fera Science - formerly the Food and Environmental Research Agency - and the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Scheme.

Dr Nick Isaac, who co-authored the paper, said the damaging effects of the pesticide reported in small-scale studies had been replicated.

"The negative effects that have been reported previously, they do scale up," he said. "They scale up to long-term, large-scale, multi-species impacts that are harmful."

Bees play an important role in agriculture, with their pollinating services worth around 600 million a year in the UK in boosting yields and the quality of seeds and fruits.

The research is the strongest evidence yet of harm caused by neonicotinoids, Friends of the Earth's nature campaigner Paul de Zylva said, as he urged the Government to continue the pesticide ban after Britain leaves the EU.

He said: "The study uses data from real field conditions over 17 years and adds a huge new peak to the existing mountain of evidence showing the risk these chemicals pose to our bees.

"If the Government genuinely wants to safeguard Britain's bees, it must keep the ban on neonicotinoid pesticides regardless of what happens with Brexit - and tighten the way pesticides are tested and licensed for use."

But the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said the research does not show the chemicals cause widespread decline in populations.

NFU bee health specialist Dr Chris Hartfield said: "This study is another interesting piece to an unsolved puzzle about how neonicotinoid seed treatments affect bees. It does not show that neonicotinoids are causing widespread declines in pollinator populations and it certainly does not show that neonicotinoid use has caused any extinction of bees in England."

Dr Hartfield, who said farmers are well aware of the importance of bees and would not want to cause them harm, called for more science-based regulation but warned against over-regulation of chemicals for fear of the effect on the farming industry's future.

"Without many of these (plant protection) products, our ability to produce wholesome, affordable food for the nation will continue to stagnate," he said.

He said there are still knowledge gaps and a "limited evidence base" to guide and inform policymakers on the issue.

Decline was measured in terms of how much less widespread the species was compared with a scenario when neonicotinoids were not harmful, the researchers said.

They added that the study showed a decline in the number of populations of bees, not a decline in the number of bees.

Among the worst-affected of wild bee species, the lime-loving furrow bee, saw a 23% decline in the number of populations, while Hawthorn mining bee populations declined by 18%.

Neonicotinoids are applied to the seed prior to planting and can be transported to all tissues of a crop, meaning they can be ingested by pollinators which feed on the nectar.

"As a flowering crop, oilseed rape is beneficial for pollinating insects," said Dr Ben Woodcock, lead author of the paper published in Nature Communications.

"This benefit however, appears to be more than nullified by the effect of neonicotinoid seed treatment on a range of wild bee species."

The moratorium on the pesticide could be lifted following a review by the European Food Standards Authority, which is expected to be completed in January and will be informed in part by the new paper.

But Dr Woodcock warned neonicotinoids should be considered as a "contributory factor" to decline in the number of populations of wild bee and said a "complex array of drivers" including habitat, climate change and disease were also important.

"It's not a simple case that pesticides are causing declines," he said. "It's likely that there's a whole series of interacting factors and while people like a one-shot solution, it's probably not the case in most situations."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The use of neonicotinoids is restricted and we are committed to ensuring pesticides are available only when the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to the environment.

"Bees and other pollinators are vital to the diversity of our environment and food production, which is why we are leading on a nationwide strategy to better protect them.

"We are encouraging farmers to provide the food and habitats pollinators need on their land, as well as promoting simple actions the public can take such as cutting grass less often and growing pollen-rich plants."
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LONDON: Rishi Sunak on Tuesday became Britains third prime minister this year and the first person of colour to...
A former public servant who embezzled more than half a million dollars from the Australian Taxation Office has avoided time behind bars.

Rishi Khandelwal, 33, will serve his four-year jail term in the community under an intensive corrections order after a magistrate found he had been motivated purely by greed when he used hundreds of fake tax returns to claim $521,719.

Rishi Khandelwal. Credit:Richard Briggs

Khandelwal worked for Food Standards Australia and New Zealand when he used the identities of international students who had returned to their home countries in an extensive scam carried out between April 2008 and July 2010.

He was found guilty of 302 charges of fraud and was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday, nearly six years after his arrest.
Dr Kamalini Lokuge's heart broke when she heard how a Sri Lankan preschool child told his teacher that "his dad always drinks and his mum runs around the house at night saying she's going to kill herself".

His teacher was telling the senior research fellow at ANU, who recently set up a preschool education program in Sri Lanka targeting family violence and alcohol abuse, how the once cheerful, fast-learning boy became a destructive, inattentive student when his father returned to the family home.

Dr Kamalini Lokuge recently returned from Sri Lanka where she started an education preschool program for family violence and alcohol abuse. Credit:Graham Tidy

Dr Lokuge was part of a team of Canberra experts that set up the program aimed at educating teachers about domestic and alcohol violence and connecting them to support services in an effort to break down the stigma attached with seeking help.

A woman is raped every 90 minutes in Sri Lanka, according to women's rights pressure group, Women For Rights. The group's research showed a steady increase in domestic violence reports, increase in child abuse reports and higher economic dependence of women.
An allegedly forged signature, a finishing school in Switzerland and a fake fur coat  the battle between ANZ Bank and flamboyant Indian couple Pankaj and Radhika Oswal is heating up, with Mrs Oswal taking to the witness box to accuse the bank of pressuring her into signing a $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) guarantee.

Mrs Oswal told the Supreme Court of Victoria ANZ had "gone nuts" when it asked her to guarantee nearly $US1 billion in debts accrued by her husband's business.

Mrs Oswal told the court the bank's chief legal officer said their children 'would be orphans' Credit:AAP

The bank would later enforce the guarantee, stripping the Oswals of their shares in Burrup that in 2010 were said to be worth $US2 billion when the bank called in their loans to the business.

Mrs Oswal and her husband Pankaj are suing ANZ and PPB over the 2011 sale of the West Australian fertiliser company for what they allege was a knockdown price of $US560 million.
Talk about trickling down the trickle down. Surely if lower company tax is the big reform it needs to deliver jobs and growth, the sooner you do it the better. Be decisive. Take risks for the good of the nation. But Turnbull lacked the leadership to increase the goods and services tax or to cut the top personal tax rate. Such a disappointment. And he performed so poorly against Labor and the mushrooming populists  when could you ever accuse big business of trying to be popular?  he looks unlikely to be able to deliver on the company tax cut. Such a disappointment. Then, to top it off, no sooner is the election over than Liberal loudmouths like Michael Kroger start blaming the Business Council of Australia for their poor performance. The Libs went out to bat for big business, but we failed to back them with donations or ads. There's talk Turnbull had to pay for a lot of the campaign himself.

Well, really. It's not the business council's job to pass round the hat. The Liberals' job is to fight for the interests of big business purely in the national interest. What part of "all care but no responsibility" do the Libs not understand? And then there's the way the pollies suck-up to small business. All that bull about small business being "the engine room of the economy". Yeah, sure. Say it enough times and the punters forget most of them work for big business, not small. It couldn't be because small business has more votes than we do, could it? We could try telling our employees who to vote for, but I'm not sure we'd get far.

So politicians on both sides are a huge letdown. Why won't they show a bit of leadership? Why won't they put their jobs on the line in the national interest? Don't they think we would? As for the voters themselves, big business is more in sorrow than in anger. How can you blame people for acting like sheep when they're so badly led? There are so many crazy ideas abroad that the pollies have failed to scotch. Do you know there are people who think business should be paying more tax, not less? There are people who can't see why business needs a tax cut when it's already doing such a good job of avoiding paying much. This is so unfair. Some of us do pay quite a lot of what we're supposed to. The pollies' failure of leadership makes it hard to blame ordinary people for not understanding there's a budget repair job to do and we have to get on with it. There are "harsh realities" that must be faced.

Strong policy action must be taken and the public must be persuaded to take its medicine. If the budget is to be balanced we all have to give up something. Businesses have already offered to give up some of the tax they pay, and now it's your turn to volunteer. Government spending is growing unsustainably. Surely you could give up some of those free visits to the doctor. Surely you could pay more for your pharmaceuticals. Surely your pension doesn't need to be so generously indexed. Someone needs to tell you this: all the talk of a royal commission is reducing confidence in the banking system. Stop it, or on your own head be it. And lack of support for big business on both sides is sapping confidence in the economy.
The union says the case is based on what it calls Senator Cash's refusal to talk to the CPSU or to "consider the union's fair and reasonable proposals to settle bargaining across multiple Commonwealth agencies".

The Community and Public Sector Union accuses Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, in an application to the Fair Work Commission, of a "failure to engage in good faith around enterprise agreements for Commonwealth public sector workers".

The main public sector union has launched another legal attack on the federal government over the Australian Public Service's three-year pay dispute, alleging bad faith and a refusal to negotiate.

The minister was dismissive on Tuesday of the union's efforts, saying the legal action was a "frivolous stunt" and she was not an officially recognised bargaining representative.

The action, against 11 agencies and departments and all naming the minister as a party to the case, is part of an orchestrated effort from the union to force progress on the stalemate still affecting up to 100,000 public servants around Australia.

It follows an unsuccessful bid in the commission in May this year to force the minister to send delegates to talks in each of the agencies and departments thatare still in dispute with their workforces.

The union says its latest strategy also includes strikes by Border Force and Agriculture Department officials at international airports and other sites, community campaigning targeting marginal electorates and repeated efforts to engage directly with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Senator Cash.

CPSU national president Alistair Waters said the application to the commission was about challenging the government's approach to bargaining, in particular the unpopular Abbott-era "public sector bargaining policy".
Afraid of upsetting his on-off girlfriend by severing their relationship, Michael James Quinn gave her a kiss on the cheek, put a knife in his pocket and went outside to kill himself.

But when his girlfriend Cherie Vize, 25, tried to wrest the knife from him, he "pulled back and noticed blood coming from the right side of her neck".

Michael Quinn appears in Kiama Court in July 2013 charged with murder. Credit:Andy Zakeli

Angry and shocked at what had occurred, he gave a bleeding Ms Vize "a cuddle and kiss and told her everything was going to be all right" before he turned the knife on himself.

This is the account of Ms Vize's fatal stabbing that Mr Quinn, whose self-inflicted wounds left him quadriplegic, gave to a forensic psychiatrist while in Long Bay jail.
A war of words has erupted between the Labor state government and the Liberal National Party Brisbane City Council administration over the funding of the council's free CityHopper inner-city ferry network.

The inter-governmental spat began on Tuesday morning, when deputy public transport chairman, Andrew Wines, successfully moved a motion for the council to demand state funding for CityHopper.

That was prompted by a Facebook video posted on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's Facebook page on Sunday, in which she appeared to take credit for "delivering" the council-run service.

LNP councillors took umbrage at that suggestion and on Tuesday morning moved to write to Ms Palaszczuk to demand the state government fund the council service.
A bushwalker who went missing with his dog west of Brisbane, has been found safe and well.

Earlier:

A man phoned family on Tuesday saying he was lost at Mount Glorious. Credit:Darren Pateman

Police will resume their search on Wednesday for a bushwalker who is missing in a rainforest north west of Brisbane.

The 38-year-old man is familiar with Mount Glorious National Park, about 40km from Brisbane, where he set out with his dog on Monday evening.
Crates of live chickens appear to have flown off the back of a moving truck and right onto the doorstep of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant outside of Melbourne.

The aftermath was captured on film by vegan Jessica Carter, who said she was walking nearby when she noticed the commotion in Bacchus Marsh at 2pm on Tuesday.

Do you know more? Email scoop@theage.com.au

Ms Carter said injured and dead birds were being crammed into cages while passersby joked that those who survived would likely end up in KFC anyway.
A woman has been arrested after state MP Jane Garrett was allegedly pushed and grabbed by the hair in a "frightening" attack in inner-Melbourne.

The former Emergency Services Minister was allegedly assaulted as she was walking home in Carlton on Monday afternoon.

Jane Garrett leaving her home in June. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The woman is accused of grabbing Ms Garrett by the hair, and reportedly tried to push her through a plate glass window

Ms Garrett said she was shaken by the incident, which allegedly happened outside the Shaw Davey Slum Pub on Elgin Street.
A sea search and rescue operation for a man reported missing from a commercial crab fishing boat off WA's coast on Monday morning has been called off.

"The aerial search has been completed and all vessels involved in the search are currently heading back to port," police announced.

The local man, identified on Tuesday as Luke Anthony Murray, disappeared around 6.30am from the vessel, 45 nautical miles west of Steep Point in Denham.

The search for the 40-year-old resumed at first light on Tuesday, with numerous boats and a police fixed wing aircraft scouring the area.
The state government has approved West Coast's tree demolition plan for Lathlain Park despite last-ditch efforts by residents to delay the decision.

The Town of Victoria Park site will host the AFL club's new $5 million training facility near the new Perth Stadium.

Residents are heartbroken at the loss of their tree canopy - but the Eagles say the new facility will benefit the wider community. Credit:Facebook

Even though several trees were identified as potentially salvageable depending on the yet-to-be-finalised building design, the Eagles proposed chopping down all 98 anyway  amounting to 36 per cent of the park's trees.

The Town endorsed this to the WA Planning Commission based on community consultations that it and the Eagles say were extremely thorough, but that locals say were flawed.
New York: Hundreds of mourners have gathered in New York for the outdoor funeral of a Muslim imam and his associate who were gunned down over the weekend, as police questioned a man about what many in their Bangladeshi community believe was a hate crime.

Traditional Islamic services on Monday for Imam Alauddin Akhonji, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, drew a large crowd to a parking area near where the men were killed after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

Speaker after speaker at the funeral implored law enforcement to investigate the murders as a hate crime and step up efforts to protect sections of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.

"We want justice," Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the service's opening speech. "We want justice," responded the mourners, most of them men dressed in Islamic garb.
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Pockets of Brisbanes inner city apartment market have been labelled no-go zones as more evidence mounts that oversupply is taking its toll on the area.Released late last week, Place Projects June Quarter Inner Brisbane Apartment report revealed that just 464 off-plan-plan apartment sales were recorded in the three month period, the lowest total since the December 2012 quarter.The June quarter total for sales was 44% lower than the 828 recorded over the March quarter, while the weighted average sale price of $586,315 in the three months to June was 3% lower than the previous quarter.Figures earlier this month from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland revealed the rental market for apartments in the inner Brisbane market is weakening compared to the rest of the city.While the Place Project report claims the slowdown over the June quarter was driven by factors such as the federal election, changes to foreign buyer stamp duty arrangements and investor lending constraints, Brisbane based buyers agent Wendy Russell said the market in certain areas is struggling with the amount of new stock on offer.In my opinion theres definitely some no-go zones you really need to stay away from. Places like Fortitude Valley and Newstead are ones where there is really some oversupply and its starting to impact their neighbouring suburbs as well, Russell told Australian Broker's sister publication, Your Investment Property.[Oversupply] is definitely affecting the apartment market in those areas and weve definitely seen a slowdown in buyers looking at those areas. The prices seem to be coming down now as well, she told Your Investment Property.While the available apartment stock in Brisbanes inner ring, which measures five kilometres out from the CBD, matches the price range of many investors, Russell said investors need to take a further step out from the city to find properties that are going to perform well.Any investors that come to me with a budget around that $450,000 to $600,000 Im keeping out of those areas and the neighbouring suburbs as well because its starting to have a bit of a flow on effect, she told Your Investment Property.Areas like Morningside, Hawthorne I think still have room to grow and then there are others like Churinga which has the university and students looking for accommodation. Theyre all in the 10 kilometre ring, but they arent neighbouring those suburbs that are really hit by the oversupply.According to the Place report, the current slowdown will mean future projects in the inner Brisbane apartment market are of a higher quality as those who are not full time developers and industry professionals defer until the next property cycle, but Russell believes even best available properties will not be immune to current market conditions.When you have a situation of oversupply like this you want to be looking for the properties that have a point of difference.Things like an oversized courtyard or a ground floor apartment are ones to look for or even the older 80s style apartments because they typically have a larger footprint and offer some renovation potential.If theres a scarcity factor to your property then thats going to help you maybe stay immune from whats happening with all the new projects, but in saying that I think the perception in the market is still going to impact them at the moment.While there may be a negative perception with in inner Brisbane, Russell said investors, particularly those from outside Queensland, shouldnt let that colour their view of the entire city.Theres a lot of talk around and lot in the media that is basically red flagging all of Brisbane, but really thats not the case.The Brisbane market is still doing really well and I think it will continue to do well, but its just about being mindful of the particular inner city pockets that have been affected by oversupply.
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Teachers Mutual Bank has announced plans to broaden its third-party distribution footprint by launching its UniBank brand to brokers.UniBank  formerly Unicredit  merged with Teachers Mutual Bank in August last year and services the tertiary education sector. Teachers Mutual Bank national manager of third party distribution, Mark Middleton, told Australian Broker that UniBanks third party launch will give brokers access to over four million university graduates and their families.The UniBank piece is a much larger, broader, and more significant opportunity for brokers, Middleton said. The reason for that is we are focussing on graduates of university as one of our key segments.There are four million graduates out there and we have got brokers who continually want to be able to send us business, and this will be the gateway to make that happen.Middleton said UniBank will offer competitive variable and fixed mortgages for both owner-occupiers and investors, however, its big draw card will be its first home buyer product targeting the four million graduates.We have a specific My First Home Loan product. The My First Home Product lends to 98%, inclusive of mortgage insurance and with a 40-year-term, he told Australian Broker.Some people might not like a 40-year-term but I can tell you now, not everyone will go the full term. We understand  and thats the difference  that for a first home buyer, their income stream is much lower. They can still pay as much as they want off that loan but we are helping them get into that market [with that term].The product will also feature a 100% offset account.Middleton told Australian Broker that the decision to launch UniBank to brokers was a logical one, given the success Teachers Mutual Bank has seen through the channel.We have had tremendous support from the third party channel. It has been instrumental in our achievements, he said.We are now seeing 25% of our flows coming through [the broker channel]. It was a logical fit considering we were so successful in the channel.
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Australias apartment sector may soon hit a bumpy period, but the wider property market is not at any real risk of a widespread housing bubble, according to one of the mortgage industrys biggest names.According to a report in The Australian, Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond believes the Australian property market is relatively healthy, outside of concerns around off-the-plan apartments.I dont believe theres a housing bubble risk at all. Ive been saying that for 10 years since the GFC, Symond told The Australian.I think theres going to be a temporary concern of oversupply of apartments in certain regions only, he said.Symonds concerns echo recent warnings raised by the Reserve Bank of Australia about the health of the apartment market.While construction in the apartment sector has been strong of late, Symond said much of the concern about oversupply stems from the decision of numerous Australian lenders cut off finance to foreign buyers.You can talk to any developer of high-rise and they will tell you up to 50 per cent of presales are to Chinese sign-ups. The fact is thats stopping with a thud, Symond told The Australian.While over-exposure to the apartment market and foreign buyers was sighted by lenders as the reason to shut their books, others also had concern about widespread mortgage fraud.There could be some positives from the situation however, with Symond saying the drop off in foreign investors could lead to apartment projects being shelved, which will help to minimise concerns.There wont be as many new developments happening and  some of those projects will take a hit on expected sales price by ambitious developments  The end result will be a more healthy housing market, he told The Australian.
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Talk about political theater!

An exuberant, overstuffed play is using 30 actors, 12 crew members, five live musicians, a traveling stage, a giant hand-cranked moving backdrop, life-size puppets, masks, and a live-action Pikachu to convince New Yorkers to vote. Election Selection, or You Bet! is appearing around the five boroughs this summer, with three performances in Brooklyn, starting Aug. 19 on the Coney Island boardwalk.

The shows writer said that she wanted to address every topic that might matter to voters this election season.

We have every single issue in our play! said Crystal Field, who also plays an angry grandma in the show.

Julia Staff

Election Selection is a bonanza of ideas and ideals, tackling global warming, gun violence, health care, war, the Middle East, immigration, discrimination against Muslims, affirmative action, civil rights, Stonewall, the economic crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, the gig economy, police violence, violence against police, poverty  all delivered with songs and a bit of time travel.

This years presidential candidates only appear briefly in a dream sequence, represented by Wonder Woman and the Joker. But Field swears the play does not back Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

Theyre both a little on the wrong side, she says  too busy fighting each other to deal with real issues, which are represented in the play by a costumed monster representing global warming, war, and poverty.

The show is aimed at residents of the neighborhoods where it performs, and while one message is that voting is important, Field thinks local organizing is even more so.

Power to the people: The play Election Selection, which lands in Coney Island on Aug. 19, brings together community activists, 1920s suffragettes, drag queens, and refugees to battle political problems. Tim Esteves

We want people to vote and we want them to get involved in politicswe dont want them just to vote, but to actually get involved, talk to each other about the issues, join together, she said. The theme of this play is that political power begins at the bottom: with your block association, your zoning board, your community board, your school board, your city council, your mayorthats where it starts.

Election Selection, or You Bet! on the Coney Island Boardwalk (at W. 10th Street in Coney Island, (212) 2541109, www.theat erfor thene wcity.net ]. Aug. 19 at 6:30 pm. Free.

Additional performances Aug. 21 at 2 pm in Herbert Von King Park (670 Lafayette Ave. between Marcy and Tompkins avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant); and Aug. 27 at 2 pm in Sunset Park (Sixth Avenue at 44th Street in Sunset Park). Free.
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Brooklynites are understandably nervous about Neo-Shtick Theaters new satirical farce Murder at the Food Co-op, set as it is inside the much-mocked Park Slope Food Co-op.

A preview article in this very news organ featured a comment from a reader bidding, Fingers crossed this is the anti-Park Slope musical I have been waiting for.

Alas, it is not.

Instead, Murder at the Food Co-op is a funny, though certainly imperfect, comedy  a parody, if you will, more of Agatha Christie than of Park Slope in general. Yes, all the obvious targets for the neighborhoods legions of haters are here  liberal pieties, locavore hypocrisies, the endless rule mongering, and the shortcomings of our Western-style-and-therefore-racist democracy, as one character puts it  but they are gently, almost lovingly, mocked.

The plot, insomuch as there is one: Doris Chiang Kai Shenkman (a spirited Alex Covington), the Co-ops brass-plated founder, is discovered dead just outside the environmentally friendly freezer unit (cheekily identified as a Gore 3000). After a laborious, Roberts Rules of Order-fueled debate about whether to call in the cops, Det. Dick Johnson (Doug Chitel) arrives to start his investigation.

Suspects include everyone at the Co-op: Ali al-Muhammad (Michael Gellert) and his secret Jewish lover Muffy Golda Meir Finkelberg (Alaina Fragoso); the Coops heartthrob rock star Johnny Endive (a heartthrobb-y Brian A. Mason); okra addict Schmuel Guevara (Johari Frasier); Jackie Sojourner Truth Smythe (Brittany Shaffer), a reporter for the in-house newspaper, the Weekly Composter (written in 17 languages and in Braille, and responsibly printed on dried-up kale); and the detective himself.

Director Eric Oleson does a stellar job keeping all the balls in motion as subplots bounce off in riotous directions, and the lyrics by Marc Dinkin are consistently outstanding  and much better than the dialogue, written by longtime tabloid hack Gersh Kuntzman. Smythes love song to Johnson, Ill Make a Liberal Socialist Wack Job Out of You Yet, and Johnsons anti-liberal Sometimes a Melons Just a Melon are the highlights. A much subtler number, a love song between Ali and Finkelberg called In the Freezer, is as close as Murder at the Food Coop gets to touching as the pair mourn their ill-fated love amid a backdrop of 2,000 years of Jewish-Arab violence.

Kuntzman, who purports to be a joke machine, uses one-and two-liners to the detriment of getting the story told. To my eyes, as the nations foremost puppetry and mime critic, he redeems himself with a small but critical role at the end, entering the Co-op with his comfort animal, Trotsky, who then reveals a key clue. Kuntzmans puppetry work with the dog doll is reminiscent of Mandelbaums best fingering from the String and Hand Institute of Technology, where I honed my craft back in the day.

Other minor quibbles: Several actors defy everything I believe about theater by not allowing themselves to be heard. A shtick comedy like this must be emoted as if the back row is in Canarsie; here, some characters whisper key set-up lines, hindering the punch of the punchline. And a malfunctioning air conditioner at Sundays performance left the audience wilting during the shows almost two-hour run.

No, Murder at the Food Co-op is not the rapier attack on every one of Park Slopes many self-righteous mores. And you should definitely not see it if you want an earnest, sobering, serious drama about humanity  something Kuntzman is clearly incapable of. But if you want a few self-knowing laughs at the expense of Brooklyns most controversial population this side of the hipsters, then this is the show you have, indeed, been waiting for.

Thurston Dooley III has been reviewing puppet theater, juggling and mime for more than three decades. He is editor emeritus at Modern Marionette and a member of the Puppet Critics Circle. He is a periodic contributor to The Brooklyn Paper.
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He is a local hero-n.

An eagle-eyed Kensington resident aided a kestrel in distress on Coney Island Avenue on Aug. 11, marking his second rescue of a wounded fowl this summer. But the good Samaritan  who in June shepherded a sickly goose off Ocean Parkway long enough for a professional animal rescuer to come to its salvation  said coming to the aide of an ailing bird of prey was a whole different animal.

I never expected to come across a small bird of prey on Coney Island Avenue, said Ocean Parkway resident Antonio M Rosario.

Rosario, a photographer and cameraman, was on Coney Island Avenue between Courtelyou and Dorchester roads filming a segment for community television station Bric TV when his lens fell upon the downy critter in distress on the sidewalk.

In the high heat, the camera jockey didnt realize he was looking at a real-life kestrel  a type of small falcon, which distinguish themselves by hovering over their prey before striking.

At first I thought it was a pigeon, then I thought it was a parrot, and then my brain kicked in, and I realized, Hey, hes not green!  said Rosario.

It took a few attempts to properly gather up the bird, which had lost the power of flight, but was nonetheless able to peck and claw at his benefactor, the photographer said.

The bird looked parched but after several failed attempts to persuade the beast to drink some water, Rosario and his producer Shirin Barghi canceled their shoot and hailed a cab to Sean Casey Animal Rescue in Windsor Terrace, which had assisted him with the daring goose rescue a few weeks prior.

There, volunteers contacted a specialist bird rehabilitation clinic located in the city, which came to pick the bird up and will hopefully release it back into the wild when it is well, according to Rosario.

Sean Casey Animal Rescue did not return requests for comment.
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.
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German automaker will recall over 156,000 cars in China over defects in their child seats, the country's quality watchdog said on Tuesday.

Starting from September 1, the recall will involve more than 134,000 X3 models which were produced between November, 2010 and April, 2016 and over 22,000 X4 models produced between March, 2014 and April, 2016, a statement by the General Administration and Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said.

Welding problems were found in the lower anchors of the child seats which may prevent the seats from being secured properly and raise the possibility of passenger injuries during accidents, the administration said.

China Automotive Trading Co Ltd will repair the anchors of the recalled cars for free, state-run Xinhua agency reported.
Escorts managing director Nikhil Nanda is thanking the skies. An above normal monsoon after two consecutive deficit years has revived demand for tractors, which brings 80 per cent of his companys annual revenues of Rs 3,500 crore. The optimism drove his companys share price to more than double since February this year. But, last week, there was a new trigger and it took the stock price to a new high of Rs 305, up 177 per cent from the price six months ago.
Karnataka continues to remain the most attractive state for IT investments in the country, with the state accounting for nearly a fourth of the total investment the sector saw during the financial year 2015-16.

According to body Assocham, the investments drawn by Karnataka's IT sector during the last financial year stood at Rs 53,396 crore from both public and private sources. The overall investment the country drew in the sector stood at Rs 2.2 lakh crore.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals fears that lack of sufficient products in the pipeline may come in the way of meeting market demand. In its latest annual report, the firm has also pointed out that its inability to comply with global norms was a risk which could impact prospects in the long-term.
The war of words between Infocomm and the incumbents seem to be showing no sign of abating. On 12th August, shot off another letter to the telecom regulator R S Sharma requesting the authority to direct incumbent telecom operators to provide requisite number of additional E1s (Points of Interconnections) and complete augmentation within seven days.
A day after Amnesty International India was booked on the charge of sedition, activists on Tuesday staged a huge protest here, demanding arrest of those who allegedly raised slogans against India and the Army at an event on Kashmir held by it.

In a statement on Tuesday responding to the allegations mentioned in its complaint, Amnesty International India said they were "without substance".

No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point, it said, replying to the charge that "slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."

Karnataka government said police were examining video and CCTV clippings to identify the culprits.

As activists held a protest in front of Raj Bhavan and nearby. Police struggled to control the agitated students and tried to baton chase them away.

The students demanded action against Amnesty International and speedy arrest of those who had allegedly raised "pro-freedom" and anti-Army slogans at the event on Saturday.

"The police have been slow in bringing to book the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised slogans. We demand that the police expedite the investigation and arrest the culprits as soon as possible," BJP MP Pratap Simha said.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said police were examining video and CCTV clippings to identify the "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who raised "independence" slogans.

"Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. Police are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised independence slogans at the event," he told reporters.

Amnesty International had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir, which took an ugly turn with heated exchanges and alleged raising of anti-India and anti-Army slogans.

ABVP activists had submitted a CD containing video recording of the event after filing a complaint with police, who yesterday registered an FIR against Amnesty International.

IPC sections-- 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. And doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) have been invoked against Amnesty.

Asked whether Amnesty International India Executive Director Aakar Patel is likely to be arrested, Parameshwara said, "Not to my knowledge. Not at the moment.

Asked about reports that "anti-India" slogans were also

raised by some students at the Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology in Tumkuru, 70 km from here, with which the Home Minister is associated, Parameshwara said an FIR had been registered in that case also and police were investigating it.

"One security fellow says I don't understand what they (students) said. We don't know at this stage - it is not very clear. There (Tumkuru) also an FIR has been registered and they are looking into it," he said.

Asked if any action has been suggested against the culprits, he said action would be taken as per the law.

"No, no, no. I will go according to law. Action will be taken according to results obtained from police investigation. Beyond that I don't think I can do anything," he said.

Asked whether the government had swung into action due to the central government's pressure, Parameshwara denied such reports, saying the government has its own duty to fulfil.

"It is not like that. Why should the Centre force us to register a simple FIR?. I don't think so. We have our own duty to fulfil. If there is any such case, naturally the law will take its own course and police definitely work under those laws," he said.

Simha said there has been no FIR filed against Kashmiris who raised the slogans, but only against Amnesty International.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "Police are enquiring.

An FIR has been registered."

Noting that an FIR had already been registered on sedition charge, he said after an enquiry, police would take action according to law.

Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said patriotic and nationalist people could not tolerate "anti-India" slogans.

"What happened in JNU is being repeated here", he said, adding, "this must be stopped."

Yeddyurappa said BJP would fight to ensure that the culprits were brought to book and added that he had written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue.

Amnesty India today said none of its employees were involved in any form of assault against anyone at the event.

It said that towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'Azaadi' (freedom).

But, it said, Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.

However, it considers that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions.

Amnesty International India had invited Bengaluru police to be present at the event, in the interest of the security of the invited families and other attendees.

"We have shared our footage of the event with the police," it said.
An FIR was registered on Monday against India in connection with alleged raising of "independence" slogans by "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army.

A police official involved in the investigation said that a First Information Report has been registered and investigations will proceed.

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections-- 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), he said.

A panel discussion on Saturday had turned chaotic as some "pro-freedom" Kashmiris, most of whom were youngsters and students, entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army.

The event was organised by India at United Theological College here.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara had on Sunday said the intention and background of those involved will be investigated.

ABVP activists, who staged a protest on Sunday against the event calling it "anti-national", had also filed a complaint with the police along with a CD containing video recording of the event.

Holding that it had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir, India in a statement had said towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azadi' (freedom).

Noting that as a matter of policy it does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination, Amnesty had said it, however, considers that the right to freedom of expression under international human rights law protects the right to peacefully advocate political solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
With India's relations with Pakistan touching a new low, Finance Minister is likely to give a miss to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Finance Ministers' meet in Islamabad scheduled for August 25-26.

"Ultimately, it is the government's decision whether the finance minister goes to Islamabad or not. But so far, he is not likely to go. I think this is one way to snub Pakistan," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh told IANS on Tuesday.

The possibility arises after Home Minister Rajnath Singh was given a cold shoulder by Pakistan authorities, when he visited Pakistan this month to attend the Saarc Home Ministers' conference.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar compared Pakistan with hell.

"Going to Pakistan and going to hell is the same thing," Parrikar said in Rewari in Haryana. He did not elaborate.

India has been accusing Pakistan of fanning unrest in the Kashmir Valley in the wake of 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani being killed in a gun battle with security forces on July 8.

In the ensuing violence, 65 persons have died and around 5,000 injured in clashes between protesters and security forces. Pakistan has been trying to draw international attention to the issue, and India has accused it of fomenting unrest in the valley.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister on Tuesday visited Sarangpur to pay homage to Pramukh Swami, the spiritual head of the Swaminarayan sect, who passed away last week in Botad district.

"I believe there are some souls who take birth once in ages for the greater good of humanity. Pramukh Swami was one of them. He dedicated his entire life for the service of humanity and promotion of Hindu culture," Kejriwal told mediapersons.

Swamiji's "selfless dedication for the service of humanity" through numerous temples and hospitals he built across the world "will stay with humanity for times to come", the Delhi Chief Minister said.

"His passing away has shocked not just Gujarat or India, but the entire world. He may have left his body, but his soul, his consciousness and his message will stay with the humanity for times to come," Kejriwal said.

The AAP convener said it is "hard" for him to believe the news of Pramukh Swami's demise, and had to "confirm this several times" with others.

Kejriwal said that while he never met Pramukh Swami, he learnt about him and his works through several persons and was "strongly drawn" to pay his last respect.

The head of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, died last Saturday.

His mortal remains, which have been kept at a temple in Sarangpur, near here, to enable devotees and citizens pay their last respect, will be cremated tomorrow in the temple premises.

BJP chief Amit Shah will attend the cremation ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had visited the place to pay his tributes to the departed soul.
Trade and business to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore was hit in with the state Congress party's Tuesday state-wide 12-hour 'bandh' to protest the ongoing Mahanadi river dispute with Chhattisgarh.

"The traders have shut their establishments with the bandh observed during the day. Business turnover to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore was hit on Tuesday with the 12-hour stir. However, there was no formal directions from the association side", said Sudhakar Panda, general secretary, Federation of All Traders Association (FAOTA).
China is "unlikely" to give up on the $46 billion Economic Corridor (CPEC) being built through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) despite India's protests but it may not be interested in taking sides in the Kashmir dispute due to close economic ties with both nations, state-run media said on Tuesday.

"It is regrettable to see CPEC become another unharmonious factor in Sino-India ties, but China is unlikely to give up on the idea of CPEC because of India's protest," an article in Global Times said.

"In fact, the economic corridor, linking northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan, does not target any third party, India included. Given that China has developed close economic ties with both India and Pakistan in recent years, Beijing is unlikely to be interested in taking a side between the two countries," it said.

Significantly, the article uses the term "Pakistan-occupied Kashmir" twice even though at one place it makes the mention attributing it to Indian media reports.

"Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj voiced India's concerns over the Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's India trip, Indian media reported," the article said.

"It is precisely because of the region's worsening investment environment that PoK's economy is still heavily reliant on agriculture. Also, the northern part of India bordering Pakistan" and Kashmir both lack basic infrastructure, the article said.

Chinese media usually refers to PoK as Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Another state-run news outlet, the People's Daily, which published photos of Chinese and Pakistani troops patrolling for the first time Xinjiang and PoK border last month, referred to the area as the border.

Global Times is part of the People's Daily publishing group controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China.

In its article, the Global Times said, "The dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan makes the two countries habitually vigilant against any possibility of large-scale foreign investment flowing into the region, but it is the Kashmir conflict itself, rather than any alleged political intent behind the foreign investment, that creates tension in the region."

"Rather than prevent foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negotiations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute," it said.

"The CPEC is not a zero-sum game where Pakistan gains and India loses. If economic cooperation between China and Pakistan can improve infrastructure in the region, including in the Kashmir area, India will have an opportunity to expand trade routes to Central Asia," the article said.

"New Delhi may need to adopt an open attitude toward CPEC so the project can speed up development in the region and benefit the local population. Hopefully India can also improve infrastructure in the regions bordering Pakistan to promote regional economic integration," the article said.

Any way in which India can put aside politics and join in the task of economic development would be welcome, the article said.

"Economic cooperation between India, Pakistan and China would create an open atmosphere for launching talks to solve the Kashmir dispute. In this regard, New Delhi may need to take the long view for its interests," it said.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making a reference of Balochistan in his Independence Day speech, the Congress on Tuesday said it seems that the Centre is ready to sacrifice Kashmir for Balochistan.

Asserting that it was matter of concern that Prime Minister Modi was comparing Kashmir issue with Balochistan, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said the former should not take up two issues together.

"The way our Prime Minister is bringing in the Balochistan issue every time he speaks of Kashmir, it is a grave matter of concern, it is indeed frightening. If he talks about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, I can understand as it's a part of Kashmir," said Nirupam.

"To compare the Kashmir issue with Balochistan is not correct. So, does it mean that the Prime Minister is willing to sacrifice Kashmir for Balochistan's freedom? He Should never rake Kashmir and Balochistan issue together," he added.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an oblique reference to the human rights situation in Pakistan's Balochistan province besides Gilgit and other areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

"People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing the nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.

"This is the example of our humanitarian approach, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists. To the youth who have taken up guns, I urge them to return to their parents and shun violence," he added.

Gilgit-Baltistan has witnessed massive protests that erupted against a crackdown by Pakistan's security forces in recent weeks and resource rich Balochistan province has seen a crackdown by the Pakistani authorities who say they are quelling an insurgency in the region.

In the past, Pakistan has accused India of supporting the Baloch insurgency.
Union Defence Minister on Tuesday went hammer and tongs at Pakistan, equating that country to hell.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and 'Pakistan-occupied Kashmir', Parrikar, who was in Haryana's Rewari to participate in 'Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani' programme, said, "Yesterday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell."

"Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism. Now sometimes, even it is bearing the consequences of terrorism," he added.

Parrikar also said that if anybody decides to attack India, he will not remain silent.

He said that Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to every attack. He said that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is part of India and the violation of human rights should stop in Balochistan.

Prime Minister Modi, during his address on the nation's 70th Independence Day, said, "People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) have thanked him a lot in the past few days and he is grateful to them."

"Today I want to specially honour and thank to some people from the ramparts of Red Fort. For the past few days the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the way their citizens have heartily thanked me, the way they have acknowledged me, the goodwill they have shown towards me, the people settled far across, the land which I have not seen, the people I have not met ever, but people settled at far across acknowledge the Prime Minister of India, they honour him, so it is an honour of my 125 crores countrymen, it is respect of my 125 crores countrymen and that is why owing to the feeling of this honour, I want to heartily thank the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir for having an expression of thankfulness," he added.
A four-page circular issued in the first week of January 2016 by the expenditure department in the finance ministry to regulate foreign visits of government officials looked like another austerity drive memo. But, seven months later, several key ministries and departments are struggling to cross what they believe is a difficult hurdle. Many argue theres a mismatch between Prime Minister Narendra Modis focus on international exposure and his governments diktat to officials on limiting travel.
As the country celebrated its 70th Independence Day, the Indian Army held a ceremonial Border Personal Meeting (BPM) with their Chinese counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh sector.

The agenda of the meeting was to strengthen relationship and maintain peace along Line of Actual Control, a defence spokesman said.

The Indian delegation was led by Brigadier R S Raman and Brigadier V Yadav, while the Chinese delegation was headed by senior Colonel Fan Jun and senior Colonel Guo Kexie.

"A ceremonial Border Personal Meeting (BPM) on the occasion of Indian Independence Day was conducted on Tuesday at Indian BPM huts at Chushul-Moldo and newly constructed BPM Hut at DBO-TWD meeting points of Eastern Ladakh," the defence spokesperson said.

The ceremonial meeting began by saluting the Indian flag which was followed by ceremonial address by both the delegation leaders. Later, both the delegations reaffirmed the mutual desire of maintaining and improving relations at functional level at the border, the spokesperson informed.

A programme showcasing Indian culture was also presented with traditional grandeur to mark country's 70th Independence Day.

"Both the delegations interacted in a free, congenial and cordial environment", he said.

"Both sides also sought to build on the mutual feeling of upholding the treaties and agreement signed between the governments of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC", he added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to attend a meeting of finance ministers from the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) nations, to be held in Pakistan later this month, mainly due to political reasons.
The last rites of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandant Pramod Kumar, who was killed in a terror attack in Srinagar's Nowhatta area hours before an Independence Day parade on Monday, were organised in Jamtara, his hometown in .

The braveheart who is survived by his wife, Neha, seven-year-old daughter Aarna and 63-year-old father, was also given a gun salute.

His mortal remains were brought to Jamtara earlier this morning and were handed over to his family.

Kumar, a Commanding Officer of the 49 battalion, died after sustaining a bullet injury on his head. He had also unfurled the Indian flag during the celebrations of the 70th Independence Day an hour before he was killed in the attack.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday had expressed concern over his death and said, "CRPF commanding officer Pramod Kumar fought valiantly when attacked by terrorists in Srinagar. I am deeply pained at his death."

Saluting the CRPF officer for his valour and supreme sacrifice, Singh said in a statement that Kumar served the nation till his last breath.

Eight security personnel were injured, as the militants opened fire at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) patrol at around 8 in the morning near the Naqshband Sahib shrine in the city's Nowhatta area.
MHA launches probe into "possible" FCRA violation by Amnesty New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Amidst allegations of anti-India slogans being raised at an Amnesty event in Bengaluru, the Home Ministry has launched a probe into the funding of the NGO, its expenses and "possible" violation of FCRA by it.



The probe is being carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to find whether there was any violation of the laws by the India chapter of Amnesty International, a Home Ministry official said today.



The NGO has not been registered under the FCRA and its application for registration under the FCRA is now under serious scrutiny following the Bengaluru event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised during a discussion on Kashmir on Saturday.



The probe will see whether the India chapter of Amnesty International has received foreign funds and if so under what laws, other sources of funding, it expenses and patterns of expenses, the official said.



Amnesty International, on its part, has rejected as "without substance" the allegations made by ABVP, the student outfit of RSS, and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.



The NGO was booked under IPC sections, including sedition, by Bengaluru Police.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said an FIR had already been registered on sedition charge against India. He said after an enquiry, police would take action according to law. FIR or first information report is a document that initiates criminal proceedings.On Tuesday, members of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), took to streets demanding arrest of India officials for reportedly allowing anti- statements at a event they organised on August 14 (Sunday) in Bengaluru. ABVP is the student wing of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). Amnesty is an NGO (non-government organisation) that works towards protection of human rights. It had organised the Sunday meeting on alleged rights abuse against families in Jammu and Kashmir. It has dismissed the allegations as "without substance". Amnesty says it has shared footage of the event with police and points out that journalist Seema Mustafa and its employee Sindhujaa Iyengar did not raise any slogans nor sang songs at the event. ABVP had raised an issue against Amnesty, saying calls for azaadi (freedom) were made at the event. Police have registered a case against Amnesty under sections of sedition, unlawful assembly, rioting, and promoting enmity.The Union home ministry has launched a probe into the funding of the NGO, its expenses, and "possible" violation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.The probe is being carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to find whether there was any violation of the laws by the India chapter of Amnesty International, a Home Ministry official said today."Merely organizing an event to defend constitutional values is now being branded 'anti-India' and criminalized," said Aakar Patel, executive director, India in a statement. "The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India."Amnesty claimed that among those who spoke at the event were the family of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, one of the men killed in the Macchil extrajudicial execution, whose trial led to conviction of five Army personnel who were sentenced to life imprisonment.While ABVP and the Bharatiya Janata Party have alleged that Kashmiri Pandits were not invited for the event.Amnesty International India said that it had also invited representation from the Kashmiri Pandit community in Bengaluru at the event to speak about the human rights violations faced by members of the community.The NGO also said that towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'Azaadi' (freedom). However there was no clarification on what exactly were the slogan.B S Yeddyurappa, the head of Karnataka unit of BJP has alleged that slogans were raised against the Indian Army and call for cessation of Kashmir from the Indian union."Indian army murdabad, go back Indian army go back, lenge lenge Bharath se azaadi lenge , Bharath se lenge azaadi azaadi," were the slogans raised at the event, said a letter from Yeddyurappa to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.The former chief minister, who is leading BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, claimed that there is video footage of the episode where anti-India slogans were raised.The NGO said that as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination."However, Amnesty International India considers that the right to freedom of expression under international human rights law includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions, as long as it does not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,\" the statement added.The NGO also said that India's archaic sedition law has been used to harass and persecute activists and others for their peaceful exercise of their right to free expression.
Maharashtra has expressed desire to join Centres regional connectivity scheme (RCS) for the development of existing airstrips and airports to promote passenger and cargo services. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is slated to meet Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju next Tuesday.
Home Minister on Tuesday reviewed the security situation in violence-hit Jammu and Kashmir and is understood to have given instructions to avoid casualties of both civilians and security personnel.

Singh also took stock of the situation in Assam in the wake of militant attacks.

Top security officials including Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies briefed the Home Minister on the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been witnessing unrest after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani more than a month ago, official sources said.

A CRPF commanding officer was killed on Monday and nine other personnel of the paramilitary force were injured in a militant attack in Nowhatta in downtown Srinagar. Five persons were killed and several others injured on Tuesday in security forces action against stone-pelting protestors in Budgam and Anantnag districts.

Singh instructed officials to try their best to restore peace in the border state as early as possible and avoid casualties of both civilians and security personnel, the sources said.

The Home Minister was given a detailed briefing on the infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Kashmir, where five militants were killed by security forces on Monday.

The sources said the Home Minister was briefed on the overall security scenario in the country and the steps taken to foil any attempt by terrorists and other elements to disturb peace anywhere in the country.

Singh also reviewed the situation in Assam where suspected ULFA militants exploded a series of five bombs in Charaido and Tinsukia districts as the state was celebrating country's 70th Independence day on Monday. However, there was no casualty or injury in any of the explosions.

On August 5, 14 people were killed and over 20 injured by NDFB (Songbijit) insurgents at Balajan in Kokrajhar district.
In the wake of Pakistan inviting India's Foreign Secretary for a dialogue on Kashmir, the Party on Tuesday said there is no scope of resuming talks with the neighbour until it stops patronising terrorists and take stringent action against them.

leader Sanjay Nirupam said Pakistan brews terrorism and till the time it mends its ways, India should not resume talks with it.

"At this time, there is no point of resuming talks with Pakistan, because India has always taken a stand that it will not talk to Pakistan until it mends its ways. Till the time Pakistan does not stop encouraging terrorist organisation to attack India, we cannot think of working on our relationship," said Nirupam.

"It is useless to talk with Pakistan until it stops patronising the terrorists and the Pakistan army and ISI forfeit its support from the terrorist group and put a halt on this whole nexus and take an action against them," he added.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to visit Islamabad for a dialogue on Kashmir even as New Delhi had last week rejected Foreign Affairs Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz's statement that his country has planned to invite the Indian Foreign Secretary for peace talks on Kashmir.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj last week said fighting the global scourge of terrorism is a central part of India's diplomatic engagements with Pakistan.

"Among the issues that dominate global concerns today is the threat of terrorism," Swaraj said while releasing a book, 'The Modi Doctrine: New Paradigms in India's Foreign Policy' here.

She said India is putting a lot of diplomatic energy on an early conclusion of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

"Equally important, we have made counter-terrorism cooperation a key element in many of our bilateral interactions," she said.
has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) to set up a research centre in IIT Madras Research Park as part of its long term strategic roadmap in the area of advanced materials.

The Advanced Materials Research Center (TSAMRC) will be developing new materials, which are unique combinations of physical and chemical properties that were either absent or difficult to obtain using conventional materials.

Gopichand Katragadda, group chief technology officer, Tata Sons said that the centre is part of the Tata group's effort to advance progress in science and materials into technologies that meet market needs.

IIT Madras and will be working closely together to come up with new materials, which will include graphene, that will have new applications, said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT Madras. "We hope to discover many innovative materials together and hope that in few years TSAMRC will be noticed globally," he added.

Anand Sen, president (Total Quality Management and Steel Business), Tata Steel Limited added that the Centre will initially focus on developing green energy and light weight technologies using carbon- based materials.
Andhra Pradesh, which is home to one-fourth of the country's port-based edible refining capacity, has decided to do away with tax incentives for new units as excess capacity stifled the existing units.
Prime minister Narendra Modis pet project since his days as the chief minister of Gujarat, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City or at Gandhinagar, has attracted admirers and detractors both. managing director and group chief executive Ajay Pandey tells Vinay Umarji that recent moves by the Centre and state governments will boost the project. Edited excerpts:



What has been the progress of infrastructure development within and outside the SEZ (special economic zone) area?



By September, roughly 100,000 square feet of area will be operational, where people will set up their offices for IFSC (international financial services centre) or any other SEZ activity. The shift to towers will happen later. A lot of hardware (infrastructure) is already operational, including amenities like restaurants and medical shops. On the software (regulations/enablers) side, there are some enabling factors that are being set in place.
If the Patidar and Dalit agitations were not enough, another major challenge may be in the offing for Gujarat government. The state has received medium to heavy rains during August this year, but despite this, many dams have insufficient water storage for drinking purposes, especially in north Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch regions.

According to data from water supply department, of 203 dams, 136 dams have less than 50 per cent water available for drinking purpose and of it 60 dams are only 10 per cent full. If the state does not receive good rains in next one and half months, the situation could turn critical for the government. This may become biggest challenge for the new chief minister Vijay Rupani in the Assembly elections to be held next year.
Last August, 22-year-old Patidar leader Hardik Patel caught the imagination of the nation when his firebrand speeches and ability to gather masses led to a huge agitation against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. His demand: Reservation in government jobs and institutions for Patidars.
Madhya Pradesh government, which has been pursuing a legal battle to include its 13 districts under the Geographical Indication tag for basmati rice, faced ire of the division bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to loss-making public-sector behemoths now making profits could be an indication that this government has greater confidence in reviving loss-making public-sector enterprises (PSUs) rather than selling them.
Union Minister on Tuesday pulled up officials for slow pace of work to fix accident-prone spots and even warned them of strict action if concrete results do not come by within six months.

During a video conference with regional officers of NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Gadkari asked them to do the job on a "war-footing" to correct 786 black spots that see large casualties.

"Make detailed project reports more stringent by incorporating improved provisions of traffic signals, crash barriers and other safety features. Expedite land acquisition. Bring results. We cannot allow people getting killed on roads every day. Do not work on papers alone, visit spots," the road transport and highways minister told officials.

Regionals officers of NHAI from Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states attended the video conferencing.

When officials brought to his notice that it was drunk driving and related issues that mostly lead to accidents, the minister asked them to correct road engineering designs, saying "reforms should be visible in six months".

He also asked them to speed up land acquisition and utility shifting.

"Our aim is to bring down accidents by 50 per cent. We see 500 deaths in road crashes every day, which does not happen in even wards and epidemics," the minister said while briefing the media later.

For good measure, Gadkari said regional officials will be given more power so that it leads to better execution of policies.

As many as 786 accident black spots have been identified across the country and the ministry has a target to fix these at an estimated Rs 11,000 crore, including Rs 2,000 crore through road engineering.

The list has been drawn up based on data provided by various states covering such spots under their jurisdiction. The ministry will rope in international engineers to improve road design so that mishaps can be minimised.

India accounts for one of the highest number of road accidents globally. About 1.5 lakh people are killed in 5 lakh road crashes here annually that leave 3 lakh maimed.

The cost of such accidents is estimated at three per cent of GDP.

The government has already come up with a national action plan aimed at reducing road accidents by half by 2020. Also, the proposed Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2016, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the just-concluded session, has several provisions of road safety, including stringent penalties for those violating traffic norms.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is set to unveil Odisha's start-up policy and the master plan for Infovalley, the upcoming hub for IT and ITes units at the Global Investors' meet organised by the state government in Bangalore on August 25-26.

The Investors summit is being held in collaboration with the Karnataka government and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). The event is likely to witness the participation of top corporate houses in the country.
In the wake of increased instances of cyber attacks, Governor on Tuesday said Reserve Bank is improving its capabilities and also urged the lenders to strengthen their systems.

"There have been cyber incidents in the recent past. I think it would be overly complacent for anyone of us to say we are well prepared to meet all cyber threats," he said at the annual Fibac event.

"Too many access points are left unmonitored, too many people share passwords or have easily penetrated passwords, and too little surveillance is maintained of vendors and the software they create," Rajan said.

Calling for a cultural change on the cyber security front, the Governor urged the lenders to take a "fresh look" at their security architecture.

The Governor said at RBI, the process of setting up an IT subsidiary is on and after hiring a chief executive, the second rung is being hired directly from the market.

"The RBI is working on upgrading the capabilities of its inspectors to undertake bank system audits as well as to detect vulnerabilities in them," he said.

The comments come after some recent cyber security breaches at a couple of state-run lenders.

Bengaluru-based Canara Bank faced an attack last week, wherein a hacker allegedly based in Pakistan tried to block its e-payments.

Last month, the Union Bank of India had reported problems on its offshore accounts.

Earlier this year, the central bank of Bangladesh had also faced a breach which resulted in the illegal transfer of millions of dollars.

According to media reports, a similar attack on a large domestic bank was averted due to the presence of mind shown by a counterparty.
Making a strong case to cut the regulatory maze surrounding public sector banks (PSBs), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor said their boards should be empowered to take all major governance decisions freely without having multiple constituencies to satisfy. In a lighter vein, Rajan said he felt he was underpaid as PSBs tend to overpay at the bottom but underpay their top executives.
In every wine country, vintners anxiously scan the skies all year, hoping weather challenges will still let them make great, or at least good, wine. French wine makers in Chablis lit fires earlier this year to protect their vineyards from irreparable frost damage. So far, 2016 has been a very rough year for Europe's vintners, with one weather catastrophe after another. Hailstorms in Barolo. Spring frosts, then mildew, in Champagne, and equally disastrous weather events in Burgundy, Chablis, and Beaujolais. In some instances, 70 per cent of the crops were lost. Some tiny growers may go ...
Twenty- five Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers conducting searches in a refugee camp in the southern West Bank on Tuesday, Red Crescent medics said.

Some of the wounded had been hit by live ammunition, by rubber bullets, the medics said.

The clashes erupted when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered Al-Fawwar camp, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, witnesses said.

Troops conducted searches and destroyed the wall of a house in the camp, which is home to some 10,000 people.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the troops were conducting "activity to uncover weaponry" in the camp, when "dozens of Palestinians hurled IEDs (improvised explosive devices), blocks and rocks" at them.

The troops "responded with riot dispersal means and fired 0.22 calibre bullets towards main instigators," the spokeswoman said, adding that the troops had found "two improvised handguns, other weapons and ammunition."



The clashes continued until around noon (0900 GMT), an AFP photographer reported.

The army closed off the Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road causing a crash that killed the driver.

The Israeli army has been clamping down on Palestinian workshops manufacturing arms.

The Hebron area has been one of the main focuses of a wave of deadly unrest that has rocked Israel and the Palestinian territories since last October.

The violence has killed 219 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not be attending the Finance Ministers' conference scheduled to take place in Pakistan.

According to government sources, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will represent India at the two-day event to be hosted in Islamabad from August 25-26.

Earlier, media reports from Pakistan claimed that the country had decided to give a "warm welcome" to Jaitley amid speculation that he was likely to visit Islamabad for the conference.

The conference is taking place weeks after the Home Ministers' conference that was held last month.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken part in the conference where he called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, saying terrorists should not be glorified as "martyrs". Pakistan blocked news media organisations from covering Rajnath Singh's speech which received bipartisan condemnation in Parliament.

"I did not see whether my speech was covered live or not. The media personnel from DD, ANI and PTI reporters who had come from India were not allowed to enter," Singh had said in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Finance Ministry officials have said that almost all regional countries except Bangladesh have confirmed their participation in the conference.
The head of Australia's foreign investment review board said a decision to block the A$10 billion ($7.7 billion) sale of the country's biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders was based on new information and not politically motivated.

In a series of interviews with local media published on Tuesday, review board chairman Brian Wilson defended the agency's handling of the proposed sale of Ausgrid to the short-listed bidders, State Grid Corp of China and Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings.

Treasurer Scott Morrison announced last week that the government would veto the sale to those based on national interest grounds.

Wilson said the board had not "changed its mind" on the suitability of the bidders after it greenlighted the short list a few months ago.

"It is not about the board changing its mind, it is a case of responding to new information," he told The Australian newspaper. "This is not a politically influenced decision. It is a result of a confluence of events."

The sale of Ausgrid was expected to fetch a record sum for an Australian privatisation.

Wilson told the Australian Financial Review newspaper that he felt obliged to speak publicly, a rare occurrence for the FIRB chair, to correct the record.

A "genuine national security issue" became apparent as detailed work was done by the agency, he told the newspaper, without specifying the concern.

"The proposed structure is contrary to the national security interest because it leaves a material national security vulnerability," Wilson said. "Almost by definition it is not a security issue you can disclose."
US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's ideas are very dangerous and un-American while he attacked the billionaire of playing into the hands of Islamic State by his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"Trump's ideas are not only profoundly wrong, they're very dangerous and they're very un-American. You know, they reveal a profound ignorance of our constitution," Biden said.

"It's a recipe for playing into the hands of terrorists and their propaganda," Biden said at an election really in Pennsylvania where he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Last year, ISIS's top leader who we had been tracking since we got Bin Laden, his name is Al-Baghdadi and he revealed the goal of ISIS, he just said it straight out. You can go on their website," Biden said.

He said their goal is to, quote, "compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zones themselves," meaning anywhere where Christians and Muslims live, he calls a gray zone. He said the objective is to actively destroy that gray zone," he said.

"Muslims in the west, he says, will have to quickly find themselves between two choices. Either apostatise or emigrate to the Islamic state and thereby escape prosecution. How does he make the case? By pointing out that no Muslim is welcome in the west," Biden said.

"ISIS wants to manufacture a clash of civilisations between us versus them. Trump is trying to give them exactly what they want," Biden said.

"Last week he stood in front of a crowd in Florida and said President Obama founded a terrorist organisation, ISIS," he said as he described this as an outrageous statement.

"But let me tell you why it's a dangerous statement. Why -- as he might say, the bad guys are listening. Yesterday, the head of Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation, Iran's top terrorist surrogate, and a direct threat to our ally Israel, repeated Trump's claim in the entire Muslim world and - I mean, around the world, that President Obama founded ISIS," he said.

Trump, he alleged, is already making the country less safe.

"He has said, "Hillary hasn't forgotten more about American foreign policies than Trump and his entire team will ever understand.

"Ladies and gentlemen Hillary has been there, she has

been tested. I have been in the room with her as we jointly have with the president's leadership, sent some of these killers to the gates of hell," Biden said.

In her remarks Clinton reiterated that Trump is not fit to lead the country.

"I said in Philadelphia that a man you can bait with a Tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. It's also not a man you can trust to run our economy, help heal our cities, or be a role model for our children," Clinton said.

"There is no doubt Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States and Commander-In-Chief," she said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would soon submit interview notes from its probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private email setup to the Congress.

The contents would also include copies of classified emails handled via her private email account along with summaries of FBI's interviews with several senior Clinton aides, Xinhua news agency reported.

Copies of the 110 emails in 52 email chains that had contained classified information at the time when they were sent or received were also expected to be handed over to US lawmakers, although the documents were expected to be highly redacted.

However, all material would not be released publicly and would be presented to the lawmakers as classified information.

In March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint as the Secretary of State in President Barack Obama's administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the State Department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, 30,000 emails in total, to the State Department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information.

The finding triggered an FBI investigation into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information via the private email setup.

After a year long probe, FBI Director James Comey said in July that the agency would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. However, he called Clinton and her team "extremely careless" in handling sensitive information.
Vice President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump's ability to lead America at home and abroad today, branding him as indifferent to the needs of Americans in his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Biden, who decided not to make a third presidential bid last year, said in his native city of Scranton that Trump was "totally, thoroughly unqualified" to be president, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

On the economy, he said, Trump's reveling in his TV reality show tag-line, "You're fired," showed his true colors. "He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break. It's such a bunch of malarkey," Biden told a crowd of about 3,000 at Riverfront Sports, adding: "He doesn't have a clue."



Pennsylvania has not supported a Republican in a presidential election since 1988, but is among the most-contested battleground states between Clinton and Trump, who are both vying for white working-class voters here.

Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness in the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and over her family's sprawling foundation.

She has tried to make the case that working-class voters would fare better under her economic policies than Trump's and that her opponent would inject danger into an already unstable world.

Offering himself as a powerful character witness for Clinton, Biden portrayed the former secretary of state as the most qualified person to lead the country, singling out her foreign policy experience and passion for improving people's lives.

He cited his long history with Clinton, saying he's known her for three decades, since before she was first lady in the 1990s.

"Hillary has forgotten more about American foreign policy then Trump and his entire team will ever understand," he said. And he cited Clinton's gender as a powerful asset, saying electing the first female president would change the lives of American women and girls.

"Hillary Clinton is going to write the next chapter in American history," he said.

Introducing Biden, Clinton sought to sow doubts about Trump's ability to bring jobs back to blue-collar communities like Scranton, where Biden lived for the first decade of his life before moving to Delaware.
Pakistan Prime Minister on Tuesday said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their "indigenous freedom struggle".

Sharif's remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The Prime Minister reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

"The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom," he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting state's affairs during his term in office. The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the "democratic system" in PoK, said the Prime Minister.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last month's parliamentary elections in Kashmir.

Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK.

While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including Foreign Office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.

Former ambassador and career diplomat Masood Khan was today elected as the new president of Pakistani Kashmir. The legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as the region is known in Pakistan, met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president.

Khan, who was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), got 42 votes and was declared as elected.

His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) got just six votes.

The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.
military today launched an offensive in the northwestern tribal region close to Afghan border to check and guard against militant movement along high mountains and in Khyber Agency.

The operation has been unleashed in the Rajgal valley of Khyber, one of seven tribal districts, where militants had a strong presence before army recaptured the region in 2015.

"An Operation has been launched along Pak-Afghan border to reinforce troops deployment in Rajgal valley to effectively check and guard against terrorists movement along high mountains and all weather passes in Khyber Agency," said military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa.

The area is notorious for its treacherous hilly passes and forested valleys, providing militants a natural location for hiding, training and attacking security forces.

The army launched decisive operation called Khber-2 after Peshawar school attack in Khyber and completed in July 2015.

It helped government to establish its writ in Tirah valley, a strategic area close to Afghan border.

Khyber border provincial capital Peshawar and sits on key route to Afghanistan through Torkham border crossing.

accused Afghanistan in the past for sending militants through Khyber for attacks.
Pakistan's Army Chief on Tuesday confirmed the death sentences of 11 "hardcore terrorists" who were convicted by special military courts for their involvement in killings of senior police and military officials and sectarian violence in the country.

They were awarded death sentence by the special military courts which were set up following the Peshawar school attack of Dec 16, 2014 to expedite punishments against people convicted under terror charges.

A military spokesperson said that those found guilty by the courts were involved in "heinous offences".

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 11 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences related to terrorism," it said.

Those convicted included militants who had killed a senior police officer in Balochistan, DIG Fayyaz Sumbal, and army's Major Majeed.

Other convicts were involved in sectarian killings, kidnapping and killing of civilians and personnel of Frontier Constabulary and army.

They were also charged with the crimes of destroying schools and communication infrastructure.

It is not clear when and where their trials were held and completed, as army courts operate in secrecy due to fear of retaliation by militants.
owners in the United States will receive about $20,000 per car as compensation for the companys diesel deception. owners in Europe at most get a software update and a short length of plastic tubing.
Come Sunday, you will be able to inspect some high-end luxury cars and Sports-Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in Badkhalsa village near Haryana's Sonipat. Eight Audis, Six BMWs, four Range Rovers, a couple of Jaguars and Mercs.
Steel Authority of India Chairman P K Singh injects a massive dose of reality as he says the continuing crisis in the world steel industry has got much to do with unmanageable surplus capacity built principally by China in the past decade and a half. As a consequence of its 300 million tonnes (mt) excess capacity in a situation of falling domestic demand, China's compulsion to export has grown. Low priced Chinese exports made possible by subsidies provided at different government levels have brought many steel mills, particularly in relatively high cost centres in the world to their knees. No other country has suffered as much as Britain where operations of Tata Steel Europe remain loss making. It also has a deficit of 700 million pound in its UK pension scheme. It reportedly invested 4 billion pound in the UK steel business in the past eight years. While nothing has come out of that, its 4.9 mt mill at Port Talbot in south Wales will need further investment of 2 billion pound to become viable. The near- to medium-term steel outlook looking difficult, it will not be easy for Tata Steel to find a party ready to grasp the nettle that Port Talbot is all about.
Shares of have fallen to its lowest level since December 9, 2015, to Rs 1,028, down 3% on the BSE in early morning trade after a key client Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) scrapped a project to set up a separate bank in the United Kingdom, for which IT major was a key technology partner. LINK The stock is currently trading nears to its 52-week low of Rs 1,012, touched on November 11, 2015 during intra-day trade.
Financials have been the flavour in this season of initial public offerings (IPOs) and that of RBL Bank (RBL) may not be very different. But, apart from the IPO-related clamour, RBLs offering provides an interesting proposition for investors. The most appealing feature of the Kolhapur-based private bank is its transformation process. Even as it commenced its operations in 1943, its growth and the makeover story was etched in the past six years, led by the takeover of RBL by its current management.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Centre on petition of former Urban Deputy Secretary of Maharashtra, P V Deshmukh in connection with the .

The apex court said that he is seeking intervention in the case.

Deshmukh was a deputy secretary in the Urban Development Department when Adarsh files were cleared by the state government. His intervention plea was earlier rejected by the Bombay High Court.

The Supreme Court had last month directed the Centre to take over the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai within a week, saying that its present incumbents would not be allowed to deal with its administration or other matters related to it.

The society was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and war widows, but was converted into a 100-metre-tall building with politicians, bureaucrats and army officers allegedly conspiring to get flats allotted to them in the cooperative society at below-market rates.

The scam was unearthed in November 2010 which forced the then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan to resign.
In a move to promote peace, the two Afghan cyclists Dr. Nader Shah and his son Firoz Khan started a round-the-world trip in 2015. In a span of a year and two months they have travelled more than 11000 KMs by bicycle to 15 countries in Asia, Europe and American to convey the message of the people of Afghanistan to the world. On their trip they met with Secretary General of United Nations H.E. Ban Ki Moon in May this year and conveyed to him the message of peace and friendship of the people of Afghanistan

"We, the people of Afghanistan, deliver the message of peace and friendship to the United Nations and the world at large through our cyclist champion, Dr. Nadir Shah Nangarhari and his son Fairooz Khan. Afghans are tired of incessant conflict imposed on them. They want to live in peace and be an active member of the United Nations. Our nation has suffered a lot from various violent extremist groups and their divisive and destructive agendas. We deserve to live in peace and prosperity, with proper security, good governance, and equal rights for all. We urge the United Nations and member states for continued support so that we can prove to be a productive member of this beautiful world."

The two cyclists will arrive at the Embassy of Afghanistan on Wednesday (August 17) at 11 a.m. Dr. Shaida Mohammad Abdali, the Afghan Ambassador to India will receive them at the embassy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bihar Assembly today passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill.

After Assam became the first state to ratify the GST (Constitution Amendment) Bill, the Bihar Assembly today held a one-day special session to clear the GST Bill, which has been passed by Parliament.

The one-day session was called by Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary for the ratification of the Bill.

It is reported that Bihar is the first non-BJP ruled state to convene an assembly session to give its consent to the GST Bill.

The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for the rollout of the GST was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 8 with 443 members present in the House voting in favour of the legislation.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on last week announced that the deadline for the rollout of the bill was April 1, 2017.

As per constitutional provision before enacting the law of GST, the bill has to be passed by at least 50 percent of the state assemblies.

The GST Bill is aimed at bringing uniform tax regime in the country by subsuming state levies. Under it, a single rate of GST will replace various taxes to ensure seamless transfer of goods and services.

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Condemning former external affair minister Salman Khurshid's remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday urged the Congress to stand by the Centre on issues.

Naqvi said that when the people of Balochistan welcomed Prime Minister Modi's statement, it is difficult to comprehend why is the Congress opposing his speech.

"One thing is clear that peace and democracy is India's international commitment. India has always stood by peace and democracy and always will. We understand the way people of Balochistan welcomed and appreciated Prime Minister's reference of the nation in his Independence Day speech but we are not able to understand the criticism of the confused Congress party," said Naqvi.

"On one hand Balochistan is thanking our Prime Minister and on the other the congress in drawing flaks. Pakistan got anxious by Prime Ministers statement this we can accept but why is Congress objecting to. The whole nation should stand united on issues like these. I would like to tell this to congress that you want to criticize the BJP or the Prime Minister you do it but if it also opposes Centre on issues then it will not be forgiven by the people of the nation," he added.

Khurshid yesterday said the Prime Minister should not have spoken openly about Balochistan.

"We do this in private conversations. between diplomats and leaders. and convey our concerns. We don't make these pronouncements as policy pronouncements," he said.

"We have been complaining about Pakistan. Should we be doing the same, then are we not ruining our case and losing the high moral ground. It would give an additional handle to Pakistan to target India," he added.

However, the Congress went into damage control mode after Khurshid's statement and party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said former EAM's comment about Balochistan being an internal matter of Pakistan may be his personal opinion.

He further asserted that the Congress believes that human rights violations in Balochistan is an issue related to India.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an oblique reference to the human rights situation in Pakistan's Balochistan province besides Gilgit and other areas of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

"People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing the nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.

"This is the example of our humanitarian approach, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists. To the youth who have taken up guns, I urge them to return to their parents and shun violence," he added.

Gilgit-Baltistan has witnessed massive protests that erupted against a crackdown by Pakistan's security forces in recent weeks and resource rich Balochistan province has seen a crackdown by the Pakistani authorities who say they are quelling an insurgency in the region.

In the past, Pakistan has accused India of supporting the Baloch insurgency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday it was for the Centre to decide whether Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would attend the SAARC Finance Ministers' conference or not.

As per government sources, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das would represent India at the two-day event to be hosted in Pakistan's Islamabad from August 25-26.

"The Central Government has to decide whether Finance Minister would go and attend the conference or not, I cannot give my opinion as it is the government, who decides," said, senior Congress leader Azad.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the Centre would decide about it, however, adding that Pakistan is a country that promotes terrorism.

"India has a very important role in the formation of SAARC, and we give importance to SAARC and the Government will take right decision at the right time," Hussain added.

As per reports, Jaitley will not be attending the SAARC Finance Ministers' conference in Pakistan.

Pakistani media reports claimed that the country has decided to give a "warm welcome" to Jaitley amid speculation that he was likely to visit Islamabad for the conference.

The conference is taking place weeks after the SAARC Home Ministers' conference, where Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken part.

Rajnath called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, adding that terrorists should not be glorified as "martyrs".

Pakistan blocked news media organisations from covering Rajnath's speech, which received bipartisan condemnation in Parliament.

"I did not see whether my speech was covered live or not. The media personnel from DD, ANI and PTI, who had come from India were not allowed to enter," Singh had said in Parliament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese President Xi Jinping will host leaders of the Group of 20 summit scheduled from September 4-5 in China's eastern city of Hangzhou.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in a Foreign Ministry statement on Monday said that President Xi will also attend relevant events, including an informal meeting with other BRICS members' leaders, and deliver a keynote speech on the opening ceremony of the Business 20 summit to be held on September 3-4, reports Xinhua.

The theme for this year is "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Hangzhou in China to attend the .

He is expected to hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi along the sidelines.
A loyalist of the ISIS terrorist group arrested by Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Nangarhar province has admitted he received terrorist training in Pakistan.

The militant who was arrested along with two others said he received training in the Kuchlak area near Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan province, reports the Khaama Press.

He admitted to being a resident of Afghanistan's southern Zabul province and to being taken to Kuchlak to receive insurgency training under the ISIS flag.

This revelation comes as the local officials in Nangarhar earlier said the loyalists of the ISIS terrorist group fighting in the country were mostly the residents of Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the governor's spokesman, Ataullah Khogyani, said that documents obtained from the dead bodies and those arrested during the operations in Achin, Kot, Haska Mina and other parts of Nangarhar, showed that the militants were originally residents of Orakzai Agency.

He added that intelligence information gathered by the Government also reveal that the ISIS loyalists mostly comprise of Pakistani nationals.

Khogyani also said that the residents of Tajikistan were fighting alongside the Pakistani nationals for ISIS terrorist group after being deployed completing training in Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday went hammer and tongs at Pakistan, equating that country to hell.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and 'Pakistan-occupied Kashmir', Parrikar, who was in Haryana's Rewari to participate in 'Jara Yaad Karo Qurbaani' programme, said, "Yesterday, our soldiers sent back five terrorists. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell."

"Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism. Now sometimes, even it is bearing the consequences of terrorism," he added.

Parrikar also said that if anybody decides to attack India, he will not remain silent.

He said that Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to every attack. He said that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is part of India and the violation of human rights should stop in Balochistan.

Prime Minister Modi, during his address on the nation's 70th Independence Day, said, "People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) have thanked him a lot in the past few days and he is grateful to them."

"Today I want to specially honour and thank to some people from the ramparts of Red Fort. For the past few days the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the way their citizens have heartily thanked me, the way they have acknowledged me, the goodwill they have shown towards me, the people settled far across, the land which I have not seen, the people I have not met ever, but people settled at far across acknowledge the Prime Minister of India, they honour him, so it is an honour of my 125 crores countrymen, it is respect of my 125 crores countrymen and that is why owing to the feeling of this honour, I want to heartily thank the people of Baluchistan, the people of Gilgit, the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir for having an expression of thankfulness," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Looks like Shah Rukh Khan's Los Angeles trip is something more than just a family holiday.

Going by the 50-year-old actor's recent tweet, he was at the University of Southern California this morning, although no specific reason is mentioned.

"At USC so many lovely young boys and girls. So many hugs. So many selfies. Thanks for the 'crowded' welcome. Fight on kids and rule," he tweeted.

However, the term 'fight on kids' from his tweet can be speculated as college-hunting for Aryan and Suhana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Janata Dal (United) on Tuesday advised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to take cognizance of Chief Justice of India (CJI) T.S. Thakur's remarks on the appointment of judges while asking it to act on it.

Former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said that the CJI is not speaking in the regard for the first time and it is high time that the Centre addresses his concern to end the enormous pendency of cases.

"The collegiums had sent a huge list of names of judges. The pendency of cases is grave, the condition of appointment is bad. And the chief justice is not speaking for the first time, the government should pay attention to the demand of the chief justice," said Yadav.

"This is a grave issue and this shows that the government's relationship with the judiciary are not okay and this is not good," he added.

Thakur launched a scathing attack on the government yesterday, accusing it of bringing the judiciary to a standstill by stalling the appointment of judges to high courts.

Justice Thakur cracked the whip after finding that his tearful appeal in April to the government to speed up appointments had not worked.

"This logjam in appointment of judges to HCs is unacceptable . There is a stage when we have to ask for accountability. Where is the file stuck? We will call for an explanation for the concerned official to understand the reason for delay. The institution cannot be brought to a grinding halt. The government must tell us what is the problem," he said.

"I was hoping that there would be talks about justice, about the appointment of judges. These days, cases are piling up and so are people's expectations, which is making things very difficult. Which is why I have time and again made this request that attention be given to this matter as well," he added.

The Supreme Court on Friday had slammed the Narendra Modi-led government accusing it of "sitting over" judges' appointments.

The Chief Justice sought a reply from Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi over the delay in appointment of judges as recommended by the collegium.

He said, "Don't force us to pass orders to remove the logjam".

The apex court asserted that time has come to take judicial note of appointments and transfers, which have not been made despite the collegiums' clearance eight months ago.

Regarding the collegium, the apex court stated that 75 names of high court judges have been cleared, but have not been approved.

"The vacancies in high courts have increased to 43 percent when the pendency in high courts has reached to four million cases. If the government has any objection on the names, it should be sent back to the collegiums with relevant matter, but the process can't be stalled," the court observed.

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Normal life remained paralysed for the 39th consecutive day in the Kashmir valley due to curfew, restrictions and separatist sponsored strike following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

More than 60 persons, including two policemen have been killed, and several thousand others have been injured in the clashes that began on July 9.

However, restrictions were tighter on Monday as separatists had called for pro-freedom protests to mark the Independence Day.

Two terrorists were killed by the army yesterday morning, in the Uri sector along The Line of Control (LoC), foiling their infiltration attempt.

In the Nowhatta terror attack, a CRPF commandant and two militants were killed in a gunfight despite the strict curfew in the Valley in view of terror threats on India's Independence Day.

Reports of five CRPF jawans and one policeman getting injured in the Nowhatta district, after three terrorists attacked security forces in Srinagar, came in on the morning of India's 70th Independence Day. Police reinforcements were rushed in as the exchange of fire continued.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who was participating in the Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar's Bakshee Stadium, urged the people to denounce violence in the valley and said, "If we can't find our solution in the world's biggest democracy, we won't find it anywhere else.
The Congress Party on Tuesday said that Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's warning to the Uttar Pradesh government and to Chief Minister and son Akhilesh Yadav not to target his brother Shivpal Yadav was indicative and supportive of its "27 Saal UP behaal" campaign.

"Mulayam Singh has put his stamp on the Congress anti-government and '27 Saal UP behaal' campaign being carried out in Uttar Pradesh," Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit told ANI.

"I will welcome his comment, for realising his mistake and realising Samajwadi Party (SP) has become a cheap political party of criminals, land grabbers and people who don't work," he added.

On Monday, Yadav extended support to his younger brother and cabinet minister Shivpal Yadav who had threatened to resign, after charged some party workers and office-bearers with committing "wrongful acts of 'land-grabbing and harassment of the public."

Mulayam said, "Shivpal is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he quits, then the situation for the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him," Yadav said in Lucknow while addressing his party workers on the occasion of nation's 70th Independence Day in Lucknow.

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Pakistan's Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday ratified the death sentences awarded to eleven terrorists by military courts involved in committing heinous offences.

The Inter-Services Public Relations in a statement said the convicts were involved in killing of DIG Fayyaz Sumbal and ASI Raza Khan of Balochistan Police and Inspector Kamran Nazir of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at Quetta, reports Dawn.

The statement added that the convicted terrorists also include those who were involved in sectarian killings, kidnapping and killing of civilians and personnel of Frontier Constabulary and killing of Major Majeed of Pakistan Army.

The culprits were found guilty of planning and executing a number of attacks on law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and the armed forces.

Those convicted have been identifies as Zia Ul Haq, Fazal e Rabbi, Muhammad Sher, Umer Zada, Latif Ur Rehman, Muhammad Adil, Israr Ahmed , Abdul Majeed, Hazrat Ali, Mian Said Azam, Qaiser Khan.

All are said to be an active member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to highlight important issues during his address on the occasion of nation's 70th Independence Day, saying the latter has failed to talk about the implementation of Lokpal and also about farming crisis which has been plaguing India.

"The Prime Minister in his speech spoke on many things, he said perform, reform, transform. Now if you look at reform, one of the main reforms was the corruption reform in which Lokpal lost there for the last almost three years but still no Lokpal is being appointed," Bhushan said.

"Then he doesn't say anything about the farmers and the whole crisis of farming, so therefore his speech has disappointed a lot of people," he added.

He supported Chief Justice T.S.Thakur's assertion over the appointment of judges while rebuking the Prime Minister for remaining silent on the issue.

"One of the main things was to appoint more judges but appointments are being held up at the government. Therefore the Chief Justice has rightly criticised the Prime Minister for not saying anything about the appointment of the judges because judiciary is a very important part for the whole system," Bhushan told ANI.

Bhushan, however, lauded Prime Minister Modi for pointing good things done by the government like opening back accounts and construction of toilets.

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In a somersault, Odisha minister Jogendra Behera, who had yesterday said his Personal Security Officer's (PSO) strapping his shoes was justified as he was a "VIP", on Tuesday said he had problem in his left knee that was why the security official volunteered to tie his shoelaces.

"My left leg is in a lot of pain. I can't bend. In fact, I have been consulting an AIIMS doctor in Delhi.I can show you prescriptions. The PSO volunteered to tie my shoelaces. He is like my son. I am thankful to him. If the media think I have done something wrong, I will be careful now on," Behera told ANI.

Family doctor of Behera, Rajesh Rana said the Cabinet Minister's left knee is totally damaged and he has severe arthritis.

"He is going to AIIMS tomorrow and there will be a replacement. He is not in a condition to stand on his left leg. There is problem in both the knees but more in the left leg. Total knee replacement is the only solution. It's a major surgery. He can't take weight in his left leg. It is very difficult to stand on left knee for a long period of time," he added.

Behera earlier seemed surprised at all the fuss, saying repeatedly that he was a VIP. "Well, I have hoisted the flag.the personal security officer did not," he explained.

However, the minister's clarification came after he drew flak from several quarters when a video of the episode went viral.

.

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RezNext, the world's only true real-time enterprise distribution technology and profit management company has won recognition as the Best Enterprise Distribution Technology Partner for West and South. The award was conferred at the recently held India Hospitality Awards event at Novotel in Pune.

A prestigious recognition in the industry, India Hospitality Awards is supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and other esteemed trade bodies including SKAL, HOTREMAI, ARCHII and HPMF.

RezNext has been at the forefront of product innovation driving continuous value to its customer base. With the new release of the Intelligent Distribution Platform, RezNext has added the dimension of speed to the hotel distribution . Key clients like the Golden Tulip Group have been able to improve their ROI from OTAs and drive 35 percent of their reservations from demand generators with RezNext's distribution platform.

Another leading Indian chain of hotels - Clarks Inn were able to improve their room nights by 25 percent once they upgraded to the new release of RezNext's Intelligent Distribution Platform.

"In our evaluation we found that real-time data transfer is a key need of the hour. RezNext has enabled this for the industry today with their dynamic distribution model and we see that this has helped hoteliers improve their revenues significantly. We are happy to recognize RezNext as the Best Hotel Distribution Technology Partner," said SanJeet, Mentor, India Hospitality Awards.

"RezNext is celebrating its 4th year of operations this quarter and this recognition is a great boost to the entire company. I want to thank all our customers for their support and patronage. We are committed to addressing the challenges in the hotel distribution environment and our comprehensive product portfolio allows hotels to be in complete control of their hotel distribution plans. We have brought about a significant change in the way hoteliers have managed their reservation operations - moving them from reactive to a proactive approach that is backed by real-time intelligence," said Avinash Lodha, Chief Executive Officer, RezNext Global Solutions.

RezNext's release of product functionality this year includes the distribution platform powered by speed, booking engine with advanced package functionality, intuitive rate shopper and the purpose - built mobile application.

RezNext has an aggressive market outreach program to understand the specific challenges that general managers and revenue managers face in their day-to-day operations. "This interaction is important to us and our customers are always part of our product review meetings. Based on the need we sense in the market, the immediate future will see us release our integrated central reservations solution that will help hoteliers completely automate their reservation covering all sources of booking end-to-end while enabling interoperability for seamless flow of information," added Avinash Lodha.

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The Tyques, an online community for students in Classes 6-10 has partnered with Scholastic India to bring to schools The Shakespeare Challenge.

Starting this August, school teams of students in the age group of 10-16 years can participate in this competition from their school premises yet compete against the best nationally due to online platform.

An eminent jury comprising practicing professionals and academic leaders would judge the entries. Noted theatre and film actor,Swaroopa Ghosh, award-winning documentary film-maker, Rajesh Jala, veteran academician, Meenakshi Bana and Anukta Ghosh, Associate Editor at Scholastic India, would comprise the jury for this competition.

"In a first of its kind offering, the competition will be judged on the basis of 21st century interdisciplinary skills straddling the English language, theatre and visual grammar," says Shalini S. Dagar, founder, The Tyques.

Scholastic India has fostered the habit of reading among children since its inception. Simultaneously, the organization has encouraged expression of thought. The same is carried forward while partnering with The Tyques for the Shakespeare Challenge - a competition that encourages genuine learning. "Such activities stimulate imagination and creativity in a student's mind, and helps perpetuate and inculcate a reading habit. Scholastic India is happy to partner with The Tyques in this new venture," says Shantanu Duttagupta, Head of Marketing, Scholastic India.

Given the goals of providing useful feedback to students and making sure that students all across India have access to a common competition, there is a nominal participation fee of Rs.599 per team for the contest.

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The union Minister for Urban Minister Shri Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated a consultative workshop on Scaling Up Citizens' Participation in Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) {SBM(U)} to a 'Jan Andolan'. The two day workshop is being organised jointly by Ministry of Urban Development and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

On the occasion, Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that with the participation and involvement of all the stakeholders, the SBM will transform rapidly into a full-scale 'Jan Andolan' of citizens. Shri Naidu said that, in India, there are different culture, different tradition, different languages and different habits, which poses a huge challenge in communicating to the masses. He said that, this workshop will help to share ideas, experiences and also to know the good practices which will help to bridge the gaps in SBM.

Shri Naidu said that the Mission has reached a new heights in its journey and pointed out some of the inspiring examples, like

A doctor couple from Chalapalli district have been undertaking cleanliness drives in their surroundings every day of the year.

A 104-year old lady in Ahmedabad devotes her time selflessly to educating shopkeepers against littering.

Women and girls are taking a stand against marriage into families without toilet facilities.

Celebrity icons are coming forward to contribute their time and efforts to the cause of the SBM.

Highly qualified professionals are giving up lucrative careers to devote time and efforts to 'swachhata'-related technology and services,

Media houses are devoting programs and channels to the cause of SBM.

Religious leaders and monks are devoting time and energy in motivating followers and volunteers to take up cleanliness drives.

Corporates are building in 'swachhata' related initiatives as part of their business practices

RWAs are proactively taking up decentralized composting and waste management initiatives

School children are becoming more aware of the concept of cleanliness and motivating their parents to adopt sanitary habits and practices.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that all these instances and along with some of the initiatives, such as the Swachh Survekshan, thematic drives with citizen participation, engaging students and Self-Help Groups to be the drivers and change agents for social behaviour change, engaging nearly 20,000 swachhagrahis across the country to motivate communities to stop open defecation, intensive PR and social media campaigns being run continuously to engage with citizens to trigger and sustain their motivation to participate in cleanliness drives, reinforces the fact that citizens are becoming active participants.

The Minister said that, along with these initiatives, the creation of infrastructure is also important, be it construction of individual and community / public toilets, facilitate waste processing into value-added products, setting up technology-enabled collection and transportation systems for solid waste, setting up waste-to-compost and waste-to-energy plants for waste processing.

Speaking on Waste to Compost and Waste to Energy, Shri Naidu said that, the Cabinet has introduced a series of policy interventions to promote the processing of waste.

He said that, to encourage production of city compost from solid waste, it has now been made mandatory for fertilizer companies in states to purchase the compost produced by city compost manufacturers. He said that India is now looking at a potential compost production of 23 lakh MT per annum by March 2017, which is likely to go up even further.

Shri Naidu said that 122 cities have achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status so far and a total of 739 cities will achieve ODF status in this financial year. He said that three States - Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala have committed to be 100% ODF by March 2017. The Minister said that 21 lakh individual household toilets and 90,000 community and public toilet seats have been constructed so far and another 21 lakhs individual household toilets and 1.4 lakh community and public toilet seats are under construction.

The Minister said that there is a need to scale up citizen engagement and participation, in a more structured and institutionalized manner. He said that, for SBM to become a true 'people's movement', it will have to become institutionalized within the Mission framework itself, with necessary policy interventions, and supplemented by capacity building of the states and cities in engaging people's participation.

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Cipla dropped 0.42% to Rs 514.50 at 9:30 IST on BSE after the company reported 43.74% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 365.24 crore on 6.94% fall in total income to Rs 3618.92 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 12 August 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 27.18 points or 0.1% at 28,125.22.

More than usual volumes were recorded on the counter. On BSE, so far 2.64 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 1.94 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 517 and low of Rs 509 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 748 on 17 August 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 458.25 on 25 May 2016.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 160.72 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

Cipla's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 42% to Rs 611 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. EBITDA margin dropped to 17% in Q1 June 2016 from 27.5% in Q1 June 2015.

Cipla said that the growth momentum in key markets - India, South Africa and the US with focused cost containment measures has resulted in enhanced profitability in the base business. The recent acquisitions of InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc. are EBITDA margin-accretive at a consolidated level with the integration plans progressing smoothly. The company is preparing itself for the future with focused investments in R&D as well as portfolio build-up through strategic inorganic moves. The quarter also saw an improvement in cash flows on account of operational efficiencies, Cipla said.

Cipla also announced the appointment of Umang Vohra as the Managing Director & Global Chief Executive Officer of the company effective 1 September 2016. The current incumbent, Subhanu Saxena will step down from his position on 31 August 2016 to attend to emergent family priorities. Subhanu joined Cipla in February 2013 as CEO. Umang joined the company in October 2015 as the Global Chief Financial & Strategy Officer and was elevated as the Global Chief Operating Officer early this year as part of a planned progression. MK Hamied will continue to serve on the Board as the non-executive Vice-Chairman.

Cipla is a global pharmaceutical company. The company's portfolio includes over 1,500 products across wide range of therapeutic categories with one quality standard globally.

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Cipla reported 43.74% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 365.24 crore on 6.94% fall in total income to Rs 3618.92 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 12 August 2016. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 42% to Rs 611 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015.

Cipla said that the growth momentum in key markets - India, South Africa and the US with focused cost containment measures has resulted in enhanced profitability in the base business. The recent acquisitions of InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceuticals Inc. are EBITDA margin-accretive at a consolidated level with the integration plans progressing smoothly. The company is preparing itself for the future with focused investments in R&D as well as portfolio build-up through strategic inorganic moves. The quarter also saw an improvement in cash flows on account of operational efficiencies, Cipla said.

PowerGrid Corporation of India will announce its Q1 results today, 16 August 2016.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) announced after market hours on Friday, 12 August 2016 that the proactive inspection of the rear driveshaft on all Rexton vehicles, manufactured on or before September 2014. The inspection and subsequent rectification will be carried out free of cost for all Rexton customers, who will be individually contacted by the company. Rexton is a auto brand of company's group company, SsangYong Motors of South Korea.

Shares of automobiles and public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) will be watched as prices of petrol and diesel were reduced with effect from midnight of 15 August 2016. Petrol prices were reduced by Re 1 a litre at Delhi (including state levies) with corresponding price revision in other states. With this change, the price of Petrol in Delhi reduced to Rs 60.09 a litre. Diesel prices were decreased by Rs 2 a litre at Delhi (including state levies) with corresponding price revision in other states. With this change, the price of Diesel in Delhi reduced to Rs 50.27 a litre.

Infosys will be watched. The company announced on Saturday, 13 August 2016, that The Royal Bank of Scotland will no longer pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), and instead will pursue other options for the divestment of this business. Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months. RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and the company said it looks forward to further strengthening its strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programs.

Indiabulls Housing Finance announced before market hours today, 16 August 2016 that the board of directors of the company will consider the proposition of raising the funds by way of a secured and/or unsecured debt issue at its meeting scheduled to be held on 19 August 2016.

Videocon Industries reported net loss of Rs 286.64 crore in Q2 June 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 10.59 crore in Q2 June 2015. Total income fell 12.46% to Rs 2897.17 crore in Q2 June 2016 over Q2 June 2015. The result was announced on Sunday, 14 August 2016.

Aditya Birla Novo turns ex-dividend today, 16 August 2016, for dividend of Rs 5 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016).

SRF turns ex-dividend today, 16 August 2016, for interim dividend of Rs 6 per share for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017).

KPR Mill turns ex-dividend today, 16 August 2016, for final dividend of Rs 1 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY 2016).

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Dhanlaxmi Bank's failure to pay a coupon on a subordinated debt instrument in July 2016 highlights the increased risk to bank capital investors from the mounting asset-quality and capital-adequacy pressures on India's banking sector, says Fitch Ratings.

This is the first time investors in India have had to forgo interest on a bank capital instrument. We view this as a positive development for a system with a high expectation of support for banks and where moral hazard has developed around the assumption that support could be extended to regulatory capital instruments.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can prohibit banks from paying coupons on subordinated debt instruments if capital adequacy ratios fall below the minimum requirements. It raised these to 9.625% in April 2016 from 9%, exposing creditors to risks at banks with tight capital ratios. The RBI is progressively pushing minimum capital requirements higher to meet Basel III capital requirements, and will reach 11.5% by end-March 2019. Systemically important banks will have a higher threshold of an additional 0.2%-0.6%.

Market concerns about bank capital have increased because of the RBI-imposed asset-quality review, which uncovered higher non-performing loans, triggering first-time losses at some banks. This limits banks' ability to generate new capital internally and makes it more difficult for them to access new sources of capital from the market.

We believe Indian banks will need to raise an additional USD90bn of capital by 2019 if they are to meet minimum capital adequacy requirements.

As long as potential capital shortfalls persist, creditors will remain exposed to high non-performance risk, which will affect banks' market access to new capital. This is likely to put pressure on the government to inject additional capital into the banks, over and above what it has budgeted so far.

Capital ratios are particularly thin at the state-owned banks, which represent around 75% of sector assets in India.

The RBI appears to be making a distinction between banks that have new capital lined up (which so far have been public-sector banks) in decisions about the performance of regulatory capital instruments. Where capital ratios fell below, or very near to, regulatory minimum requirements, public-sector banks have received capital injections from the government and were able to make coupon payments on regulatory capital instruments.

This was the case in 2014 at United Bank of India, and more recently at UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank. But Dhanlaxmi Bank is a privately owned, small regional bank that was unable to attract new capital from its shareholders. State support appears not to be on offer, and therefore creditors are more exposed to non-performance if there are capital pressures.

Sovereign support remains a relevant ratings factor for us, particularly for the large state-owned banks and systemically important private-sector banks.

We think asset-quality indicators are close to their weakest point, but expect bank earnings to remain weak at least for the next 12-18 months. Capital ratios will continue to show signs of strain over the short to medium term, and banks will remain under pressure to raise additional funds. Until they do, risks for creditors will remain high.

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Infosys dropped 1.96% to Rs 1,042.45 at 10:00 IST on BSE after the company lost a contract from Royal Bank of Scotland as Royal Bank of Scotland decided not to pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn.

The announcement was made on Saturday, 13 August 2016.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 26.71 points, or 0.09%, to 28,190.97.

On BSE, so far 1.01 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 2.63 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,049.40 and a low of Rs 1,027.60 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 1,278 on 3 June 2016. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,012.25 on 18 November 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 August 2016, falling 9.58% compared with 1.24% gains in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, dropping 12.14% as against the Sensex's 9.16% rise.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 1148.47 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

Subsequent to the decision by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) not to pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), Infosys will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months. Infosys was a W&G program technology partner for consulting, application delivery and testing services.

Infosys said in a statement that RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and that the company looks forward to further strengthening its strategic partnership and working with RBS across other strategic and transformation programs.

As per reports, the decision of RBS will impact revenues of Infosys for the year ending 31 March 2017 (FY 2017) by about $40 million.

On a consolidated basis, Infosys' net profit fell 4.5% to Rs 3436 crore on 1.4% growth in revenue to Rs 16782 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q4 March 2016. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Infosys is one of the leading information technology outsourcing services providers. The company provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services.

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DADF to Focus More towards Entrepreneurial Activity in Poultry Sector

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has asked to the State Governments especially Andhra Pradesh and Bihar to come up with proposals wherein they may like to upscale the Rural Backyard Poultry Development program under NLM with 150 birds distribution to be done in a focussed manner in 5-6 contiguous villages/ cluster in one block of one district of the State The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries will focus more towards entrepreneurial activity in poultry sector. These steps have been discussed in a meeting to discuss Poultry Development Schemes under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DADF), Shri Devendra Chaudhry.

The meeting discussed about the present status of schemes being implemented by DADF, Poultry development schemes implemented by selected States for the small and marginal farmers and look forward to sustainable projects for them.

It was also decided that commercial broilers may also be considered in rural areas, for which, PFI, AIPBA, NECC may consider making proposals with SHGs/ Cooperatives and Farmers' Producers' Organization to be submitted to NABARD and NCDC for direct funding under their respective schemes.

The meeting was attended by States viz. Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, who are implementing both Rural Backyard Poultry Development (RBPD) and Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation- Poultry Venture Capital Fund (EDEG-PVCF) programs under National Livestock Mission. Convergence with NCDC (Funding for Poultry Cooperatives) and NABARD schemes (Producers Organization Development Fund and Rural Infrastructure Development Funds) were also be discussed. Director, RKVY is also invited to give valuable inputs on a focussed approach. NGO PRADAN and JEEViKA Society (NRLM), Bihar shared their experiences with various models ranging from desi birds, low-input technology birds and broilers in a cooperative / Self-Help Group set-up. Private sector participants from Poultry Federation of India (PFI), National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) and All India Poultry Breeders' Association (AIPBA)'s views were also taken.

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Held on 13 August 2016

Nutricircle announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 13 August 2016, has :

1. Took on record the Reduction of Capital as approved by the Hon'ble High Court Judicature at Hyderabad in connection with Company Petition for Reduction of Capital No. 156/2016 on 14 June 2016.

2. The Board decided to re-cast the Audited Accounts in light of the above court order to give effect to the reduction of the capital of the company with effect from appointed date 01 April 2015.

3. The Company, because of financial difficulties company failed to made the purchase consideration for the shares of M/s Inner Being Nutricare Private Limited, hence company return the shares to the seller by cancelling the deal

4. Appointed Bharat Kanungo as Additional Independent Director of the company.

5. For the above reason, the Board authorized the Managing Director to seek extension from the Registrar to hold the Annual General Meeting and explore the increase of capital of the company.

6. Fixed the Board meeting on Monday 29 August 2016 to allot the new set of shares to the members whose name appeared as on the record date and entitled for the shares post reduction of capital of the company.

7. Appointed Secretarial Auditor.

8. Appointed Internal Auditor.

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FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) comments on the passage of amendments to the Maternity Benefit Act 1961

FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) applauds the decision of the Government for giving ex-post facto approval for amendments to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 by introducing the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Parliament, which aims to raise maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, as an Amendment to the original Bill of 1961.

As a 33 year old Business Chamber, working towards women empowerment in India, FLO has always been reiterating on the need of looking at maternity benefits as a tool for attracting and retaining women in the work force.

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute points out that India's 2025 GDP can increase from 16% to 60% by simply increasing female workforce participation by giving them same opportunities as men.

We at FLO, believe in creating an environment that is conducive to the personal and professional growth of all employees. Whether it is safety in the work place or realistic maternity leave and benefits or flexible working hours and most importantly existence of quality crhes.

This initiative would be a good step towards finding solutions to retain female employees and simultaneously it would also be a strengthening move towards increased return to work postmaternity and greater employee retention in the long run, said Ms. Vinita Bimbhet, President, FLO. This will finally pave the way to create more inclusive work environment and promote gender diversity in workplace, added Ms. Bimbhet.

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At least 82 militants were killed and 64 others injured as the Afghan army launched wide-scale operations in 17 of the country's 34 provinces, Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

At least 36 Taliban militants were killed and 24 wounded when troops struck militants positions in Chamkani and Jani Khel districts of Paktia province, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

"A total of 32 terrorists were killed and 20 wounded during a cleanup operation in Dahana-e-Ghori district of Baghlan province," it said.

Sporadic clashes continue in the district after Taliban captured its centre and took control of all government office buildings there.

The joint forces supported by the army's artillery and warplanes also detained 12 militants during the above raids, the statement said.

It also confirmed loss of seven army personnel over the same period.

The Afghan army have beefed up security operations while Nato-led forces increased drone attacks against militants since April after Taliban started their annual offensive and stepped up attacks across the country.

The Taliban have yet to make comments.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the sale of Non-Service Pattern (NSP) weapons by the army to its officers should be done under "strict scrutiny and supervision" and in conformity with the provisions of the Arms Act and its rules.

"...the mechanism for sale of NSP weapons must be under the strict scrutiny and supervision of the competent authority in accord with the provisions of the Arms Act and the rules, including the Defence Services Regulations, without any exception," said the bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in their judgment.

The court said this while disposing off a public interest litigation by Supreme Court lawyer Arvind Kumar Sharma who sought action against army personnel for unauthorised selling of Prohibited/NSP bore-weapons that they purchased through the Jabalpur-based Central Ordinance Depot based on the orders passed by the Allotment Committee of the army.

The petitioner relied on a July 3, 2007, report of the Sriganganagar Collector that named army officers who had indulged in the illegal sale of NSP weapons they purchased from the army and which found their way to the general public, including persons with criminal antecedents and terrorists.

Noting that the authorities both at the Centre and the Rajasthan government had acted in the matter and proceeded against the army officers and those belonging to the Indian Administrative Service and others, the bench said in some cases action had reached its logical conclusion.

On the remaining cases, the court said: "We have no doubt that the appropriate authority/court will take the same to its logical end expeditiously in accordance with law."

Directing the Centre to pay a cost of Rs 10,000 to the petitioner, the court rejected his contention that the authorities had taken a lenient view in awarding punishment to the erring army officers.

The court said the argument that authorities took a lenient view in handing down the punishments "though attractive at the first blush, on a deeper scrutiny does not commend to us."

The court said its intervention might have been warranted if the case had been that all the army officers were awarded the same punishment or absolved and exonerated.

"Merely because some other punishment could also be awarded, by itself, can be no ground to continue with the probe in this public interest petition," Justice Khanwilkar said while speaking for the bench.

Saying that nothing more was required to be done in the matter, the court said "there is no material before us to even remotely suggest that the punishment awarded against any particular army personnel is to favour him in any manner".

--IANS

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Massive protests by ABVP activists against Amnesty International India spread to other cities in Karnataka on Tuesday demanding the arrest of its representatives for organising an event here where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

"We have intensified our protests in Bengaluru, Tumakuru, Hubballi and Belagavi. Rallies will be taken out in more cities tomorrow till the culprits are arrested and punished," ABVP city convener Prem told the media.

In Bengaluru, police blocked the activists from marching towards the Police Commissioner's office to submit a memo.

When the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists refused to disperse, police caned them and took about 30 of them into preventive custody.

"We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed," Prem said, adding, the FIR registered in the case was not enough.

"Police not only gave Amnesty permission to hold the event but also did not act against the anti-national elements though they were present at the event when the slogans were raised," he said.

At Tumakuru, about 70 km from here, at least 200 ABVP activists staged a protest against the anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans allegedly raised by some students of the Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology.

Home Minister G. Parameshwara's family runs the institute.

"An FIR has been registered against some students who raised the slogans and police are investigating," Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.

Similar protests took place at Hubballi, about 400 km from here, and Belagavi, some 500 km from here, condemning the Amensty.

Bengaluru police filed a sedition case against Amnesty India on Monday night for the slogans allegedly raised at the event it organised on August 13.

"We have filed a case of sedition and rioting against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised," Deputy Police Commissioner T.R. Suresh told IANS on Tuesday.

The ABVP activists also protested against Amnesty on Sunday at the United Theological College in the city centre where the event was held.

"We are checking the video to ascertain the charges and identify those who raised the slogans for culpability," Suresh said.

The sedition charge under section 124A of the IPC amounts to an attempt to cause hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards the government of India.

The 90-minute event was held, ostensibly, to interact with a few Kashmiri families who were victims of human rights violations in the state.

The FIR has not named any individual but implicated Amensty India for holding the event and allegedly allowing slogans to be raised against the country and the Indian Army.

Admitting that some persons raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azaadi' (freedom), Amnesty India programmes director Tara Rao said it was important that the conduct of some must not distract attention from the denial of justice to those who have suffered in Kashmir.

Refuting the ABVP's allegations, Amnesty's India chapter said none of its members shouted anti-India slogans.

"The allegations are without substance. They (ABVP) are preventing the families of victims of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir from having their stories heard," Amnesty said in a fresh statement.

Asserting that the organisation was independent of any political, economic or ideological interests, Amnesty said the event was held as part of a campaign based on a report on alleged rights abuses by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

The report was based on in-depth research, including interviews with family members of victims, RTI applications, examination of police and court records and interviews with civil society groups, lawyers and government officials.

"The families of three Kashmiri victims interviewed for the report were invited to share their stories at the event," Amnesty said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said: "An FIR has been registered on sedition charge. Action will be taken according to the law."

--IANS

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Actor Aadi, who awaits the release of forthcoming Telugu entertainer "Chuttalabbayi", says his approach towards his career and selection of scripts is set to undergo a drastic transformation.

"Post 'Chuttalabbayi', my approach towards career will be very different. Audiences will see a different Aadi in the coming months and if the process requires transformation, I'm game for it. This is exactly why I haven't signed any new scripts," Aadi told IANS.

The "Garam" actor is pleased with the output of "Chuttalabbayi", which is slated for release in cinemas on Friday.

Calling it an out-and-out entertainer, he said: "The entire team is very positive about the film. Unlike my last two releases which focused more on appealing to the masses, this project has been made keeping in mind all sections of the audience."

"There's nothing heroic about my character. There are no punch dialogues," said Aadi, heaping praise on his director Veerabhadram.

"He's a hard worker and he's someone who doesn't compromise on his vision. He's known for making highly entertaining films and he has lived up to that image. He has made aChuttalabbayi' stand out with its presentation," he said.

In the film, which also stars Namitha Pramod and Sai Kumar, he plays a character called "Recovery Babji".

"I play a recovery agent. I accidentally get involved in a problem and how I find my way out of it forms the crux of the story. I laughed through the narration and that's when I realised this is going to be a great entertainer," he added.

Aadi's last two films earned lukewarm response at the box-office. Asked what according to him went wrong, he said he might have chosen wrong scripts.

"I did characters above my age and I think that didn't suit my on screen image. Also, I don't want to do heavy characters, as I feel audiences might not be able to relate," he said.

--IANS

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After being in denial that the AAP had no standing in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday admitted that the young party was now "mushrooming" in the state.

Addressing a gathering to mark the martyrdom day of revolutionary Karnail Singh Issru, who died during the liberation of Goa from Portuguese, in Issru village in Ludhiana district, Badal said the electorate of Punjab should be wary of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress as both were "anti Punjab, anti-Sikh and anti-farmers".

"I urge the people of Punjab not to blindly justify the sinister moves of these parties as both these parties are inimical to the interests of the state and are constantly working against the interests of its people," said Badal, who is also the Shiromani Akali Dal chief patron.

Assembly elections in Punjab are to be held in February 2017 and the emergence of the AAP as a challenger to the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress could make the contest triangular on all 117 assembly seats.

Attacking the AAP, Badal said: "In the garb of 'Aam Aadmi' (common man), this party is in fact a band of fugitives and opportunists who are vying to attain political power at every cost.

"This new party, which is now mushrooming in the state, has no sympathy with the people of Punjab. The AAP government in Delhi has taken a stand contrary to the interests of Punjab on the issue of SYL in the apex (Supreme) court."

The Akali Dal, and particularly its President and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, have been dismissive about the AAP. Badal junior has been saying that the contest will be between the Akali Dal-BJP alliance and the Congress.

"The Congress and AAP are two sides of a coin that are suffering from same anti-Punjab syndrome. Punjabis must remain vigilant of the nefarious designs of both these parties to ruin the state. Both these parties have a proven track record of anti-Punjab and anti-Sikhism," the Chief Minister said.

The Akali Dal-BJP alliance has ruled Punjab since 2007.

The AAP won four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in the 2014 general election. The AAP leadership is confident of securing a clear majority in the forthcoming assembly polls.

--IANS

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The Bihar assembly on Monday in a special session unanimously passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, 2017.

All the parties including the ruling Grand Alliance of Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party supported the passage of the Bill, state assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary said.

It paves way for July 1 roll out of the GST, the single tax regime that will replace multiple state and central taxes to create one national market.

Senior Congress leader Sadanand Singh said the Bill was brought during the Congress led UPA government but the BJP delayed its passage in the parliament.

"GST will benefit people across the country," he said.

It was passed in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav and Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar.

--IANS

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A forgotten 150-metre long, underground British-era bunker has been unearthed inside the sprawling Raj Bhavan complex at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai, an official said on Tuesday.

Governor C.V. Rao and his wife Vinodha and senior officials went around the bunker on Tuesday.

Around three months ago, some old-timers informed the Governor of the existence of a tunnel inside the Raj Bhavan on the shores of the Arabian Sea. He asked to get it opened.

Accordingly, on August 12, the PWD staff broke open a temporary wall that had been erected at the tunnel's entrance on the eastern side.

The revelation was suprising. Instead of what was believed to be an underground tunnel, it turned out to be a huge barack with 13 rooms of varying sizes spread over an area of more than 5,000 square feet.

The bunker opens with a 20-feet tall gate and a ramp on the western side. There are long passages connecting small to medium room on both sides.

The bunker's rooms are named Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store, Shell Lift, Pump and Workshop and there are scores of Lamp Recesses in the gangway.

Though the underground bunker had apparently been closed after India's independence in 1947, it has remained surprisingly intact and has a drainage system with inlets for fresh air and light.

An aide to the Governor said that according to the book, "History of Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra", it was formerly known as Government House and served as the residence of the British Governors since 1885 when Lord Reay converted it into a permanent residence.

Before that, while the Malabar Hill residence served as the Summer Residence of British Governors, the Government House at Parel was the Governor's official residence.

After the discovery of the Bunker, Rao has said he would consult experts to preserve it.

Maharashtra Raj Bhavan is built on lush green 50 acres of land at Malabar Hill, lashed by Arabian Sea on three sides. It has its own private beach and a mile long forest.

In October 2010, a huge and well-maintained tunnel believed to be over two centuries old was discovered in the premises of Mumbai GPO.

--IANS

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British Minister for Asia Alok Sharma is on an official visit to China amid bilateral tensions owing to the UK's decision to delay a nuclear power plant project with Chinese investment, officials said on Tuesday.

Sharma, who met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Monday, the first day of his trip, is the first high-ranking British official to visit China after last month's decision by Prime Minister Theresa May's government to delay the setting up of the Hinkley Point power station, EFE news reported.

The decision was prompted in principle by concerns about the safety repercussions of the project funded by Chinese state-owned company, China General Nuclear, and managed by French energy group EDF.

In an evident attempt to re-establish bilateral confidence, Sharma said, "The UK's relationship with China is strong, growing and delivering benefits for both our countries."

"Britain is open for business and an attractive destination for international investors, including from China. Our trade is at record levels. UK exports to China have grown 57 per cent since 2010 and China is expected to be the UK's second largest foreign investor by 2020," he added.

"As permanent members of the UN Security Council, we are working together to tackle global issues of the 21st century," Sharma emphasized.

Sharma, whose visit to China comes as London seeks to promote agreements with partners outside the European Union after its exit from the bloc in June, will also visit Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

--IANS

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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the opposition Congress was "divided" on issues concerning national security.

The BJP reaction came after Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raking up the Balochistan issue in his Independence Day address to the nation from the Red Fort here.

The Congress, however, distanced itself officially from Khurshid and backed the Prime Minister's stand on countering Pakistan by raising the Balochistan issue.

"The divisions in the Congress and among its leaders were even visible at Sharm el-Sheikh. They are divided over the issues concerning national security," BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh told the media here.

The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani met in July 2009 on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

The joint statement issued by the two nations after the meeting mentioned Balochistan, which was criticised by the BJP which was then in opposition at the Centre.

He also accused some of the Congress leaders of issuing statements which tend to support Pakistan.

"They say one thing during all-party meetings and another thing outside," he said.

"Pakistan has lost the golden opportunity given by India to walk along on the path of peace. We had extended our hand for friendship and peace," Singh said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to reach out to the neighbouring country.

In December 2015, Modi made an unscheduled landing in Lahore to meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

"Now India will pay in the same coin," Singh said.

Prime Minister Modi, during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on Monday, raked up the issue of Balochistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and announced his support to the causes of people of these regions.

Earlier, the BJP leader also criticised Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, asking him why he did not ask his son, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, to resign over poor governance.

"If Netaji (Mulayam Singh) is so concerned about the misgovernance, land grabbing and high-handed behaviour of SP cadres in Uttar Pradesh, why did he never ask his son to resign," Singh said.

He said, "Kya putrahit janhit ke upar hai (Has love for his son taken precedence over public interest)?"

He also said that people are waiting to see what action the Uttar Pradesh government will take against those Samajwadi Party leaders who illegally grab public land.

--IANS

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An Egyptian judoka has been sent home after refusing to shake his Israeli opponent's hand, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.

The IOC said on Monday that Islam El Shehaby received a "severe reprimand" for his behaviour following his first-round heavyweight bout loss to Or Sasson on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

When Sasson extended his hand, El Shehaby backed away. The referee called the 34-year-old El Shehaby back to the mat and demanded he bow. He gave a quick nod before walking off amid loud boos from the crowd.

The IOC said in a statement that the Egyptian's conduct "was contrary to the rules of fair play and against the spirit of friendship embodied in the Olympic values".

--IANS

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Excessive fishing is becoming a threat to the marine ecosystem of China -- and the authorities are mulling a 10-year ban on fishing in the country's longest river Yangtze.

According to China's Ministry of Agriculture, fishery resources are severely depleted and there are "no fish" in some areas such as the East China Sea.

"The situation in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea is no better than the East China Sea, while the situation in the South China Sea is better," Wang Yamin, a professor with the School of Oceanography at Shandong University was quoted by state media on Tuesday as saying.

Despite a moratorium being in place during designated months, over-fishing continues in the country. Fishing is a source of livelihood for many in China and illegal trade adds to the pressure.

Academicians at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have called for a 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze instead of a temporary moratorium.

The country's annual catch in the seas hit 13 million tonnes in recent years, although the allowed volume is set between 8 million to 9 million tonnes, according to the ministry.

The ministry added that currently the annual freshwater catch in the Yangtze River, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country's total freshwater fish output, was about 100,000 tonnes per year, less than a quarter of what Yangtze fishermen routinely caught in 1954.

The Yangtze is regarded as a cradle of China's freshwater fisheries and a valuable reserve of aquatic biodiversity.

The Yangtze fishing moratorium started in 2003, covering 10 provinces and municipalities. The ban originally took effect from February to April in the upper reaches, and from April to June in the lower reaches. In 2016, the ministry extended the area and the time to four months.

China has also imposed an annual summer fishing ban in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea since 1995, and later in the South China Sea.

(Gaurav Sharma is the Beijing-based correspondent of IANS. He can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com or gaurav.s@ians.in )

--IANS

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The father of the young man who sent obscene messages to Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee and a Congress leader, has apologised, saying that his son is undergoing psychiatric treatment, she said on Tuesday.

The Delhi Congress leader advised the father of Partha Mandal to surrender his son to the local police and let the court decide if he is actually "sick".

"Partha Mandal's father has written to me on FB (Facebook) claiming that his son is under psychiatric treatment and apologising for his behaviour," Sharmistha Mukherjee wrote on her facebook account on Tuesday.

"In this case, I advised the father to ask his son to surrender to local police. Let the court decide if he is actually 'sick' or as we say in Bengali, a 'sheyana pagol'," Sharmistha Mukherjee said.

The Congress leader had publicly named and shamed Partha Mandal on facebook for sending obscene messages to her on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

"One consequence of this episode of 'naming and shaming' and tagging the person has been, in this case, that his family and friends have become aware of his loathsome behaviour," the Congress leader added.

She had also filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police on Saturday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act as she found the messages of Partha Mandal "indecent and intimidatory".

The Delhi Congress chief spokesperson, who unsuccessfully contested the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015, also urged every woman facing this problem to follow the "naming and shaming" practice.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces as fresh violence erupted in the Valley on Tuesday, taking the toll to 65 in the weeks of unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.

A police officer told IANS here that four protesters were killed in Budgam district and one more in Anantnag.

The officer said the protesters, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Budgam's Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here, in central .

The security forces opened fire to bring the situation under control. One person was killed on the spot and three more succumbed to their injuries at a hospital. More than a dozen persons sustained injuries in the incident.

Another civilian was killed when security forces fired at an unruly mob who were throwing stones at police and paramilitary troopers in Larkipora village of Anantnag district, some 60 km south of here.

At least a dozen protesters were also injured in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Valley in more than five weeks.

The valley has been on the boil amid curfew and separatist shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday.

Police said curfew and restrictions would continue in all the 10 districts of the valley. Separatists have already extended their protest shutdown to August 18.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.

--IANS

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Four Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in clashes with the Iranian army in Kermanshah province, an official said on Tuesday.

Following the cooperated operations by the security forces in the province, a 10-member team of IS terrorists was busted, Xinhua news agency quoted Asadollah Razani, the governor general of Kermanshah province, as saying.

In the operations, six others were arrested, Razani said, adding that they were equipped with suicide vests and belts.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The unprecedented executive-judiciary logjam has sparked an emotive and highly divisive debate about the future of the courts, but most lawyers are unanimous that both sides must get on with business rather than spar at the cost of litigants.

Lawyers are, however, divided on who to blame for the deadlock that has arisen over the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) -- which lays out the exact procedures to be adopted in the appointment of a judge -- but agree that appointments can't be held up as arrears pile up.

While former Delhi High Court judge Justice Rupinder Singh Sodhi says the standoff is because of an "ego problem" on both sides, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan feels that "it is clear that the government is trying to stall the appointments because they want veto in the MoP on the appointment of judges."

Be it ego or the government's urge to have a decisive say in the appointment of judges -- which it first tried to achieve through the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) -- the unsuspecting sufferer is the poor litigant whose right to speedy justice under Article 21 of the Constitution is being denied.

The gravity of the problem faced by litigants can be gauged from the fact that even if all sanctioned positions at the subordinate courts, the 24 high courts and the Supreme Court are filled, there would still be just 18 judges per million population (going by the 2011 Census).

Of the sanctioned strength of 20,502 judges in the subordinate judiciary, 4,432 are lying vacant. Similarly, the high courts are functioning at about 50 per cent of their sanctioned strength -- of the 1,079 positions, 477 are vacant.

There are 2,70,19,955 cases before the subordinate judiciary and 38,70,373 cases before the high courts as on December 31, 2015.

The Law Commission in its 120th report in 1987 had favoured 50 judges for one million population, but 27 years later, in 2014, it found that the calculation had no scientific logic as the number of cases was rising.

Whichever way one may look, it is nobody's case that the existing 18 judges for one million population is a happy situation for the country's judiciary.

So who is to blame for the stand-off between the government and the five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court who constitute the collegium?

Justice Sodhi, who is a practising senior advocate, says that after striking down "Parliament's opinion" (ie, junking the NJAC) it was the Supreme Court which had by its judgement said that the appointment of judges would be made by way of the MoP.

"Until there was an MoP and the procedure for making appointments is not available, no appointment can be done," he said.

However, senior counsel Sanjay Hegde feels that an impression is gaining ground that "government wants to frustrate the apex court judgement in NJAC case".

"It (the government) is seeking to enter through the back door and engaging in an unnecessary war of attrition with the judiciary," Hedge says.

"By not making appointment in time," Hegde adds, "it is sending a message that it is either the government's way or the highway."

Constitutional expert and former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, Subhash C. Kashyap, says: "The role, jurisdiction and functions of the three organs of the State -- judiciary, executive and legislature -- are clearly defined and delimited under the Constitution and if they stay within their defined jurisdiction then no problem would normally arise."

The problem arises only when any one organ tries to exceed its defined limit, he says.

In the matter of appointment of judges, Kashyap says: "I think the Supreme Court's stand amounts to exceeding its jurisdiction because by their judgement they declared NJAC unconstitutional. Anything that is declared unconstitutional, the point of reference is the Constitution and which provision of the Constitution has been violated?"

"I think the Supreme Court had exceeded its jurisdiction," adds Kashyap, pointing to the genesis of the present logjam.

Suspecting the government's intent, however, Bhushan says: "To push their own people in the judiciary, they want to bargain with the collegium. In any case, it is a reprehensible tactic to defy the law declared by the Supreme Court."

Bhushan, who likes to see things in black and white, advocates a criteria-based appointment of judges -- a point of view he had argued even during the hearing of the challenge to the constitutional validity of Constitution's 99th amendment paving way for the NJAC and the NJAC Act.

"There needs to be a criterion for the selection of judges and a full-time committee of people to evaluate the proposed candidates on that criterion," says Bhushan.

(Parmod Kumar can be contacted at saneel2010@gmail.com)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday delivered his annual state of the nation address to parliament ahead of the country's Independence Day.

Speaking to the members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council, and with senior members of the government and military standing beside him, the president addressed several issues including terrorism, the economy and the budget, EFE news reported.

After several terror incidents this year including the January terrorist attacks in Jakarta which left eight people dead, and the killing on Sulawesi island last month of Islamic State-allied militant leader Santoso, Widodo in his speech urged Indonesians to be vigilant in fighting terrorism and to prevent its growth in the archipelago nation.

Speaking about the economy, the president said the government's bureaucracy has been deregulated and simplified to speed up services, and boost investment and productivity.

He added that more than 3,000 regulations related to trade and investment had been revoked because they weren't enabling economic development.

Regarding the 2017 state budget, Widodo said it must follow priority programs and not just be evenly divided among working agencies.

"We have committed to ensuring that the 2017 state budget is drawn up accurately, with the aim of improving the people's welfare," he said.

His speech to Parliament comes a day before the Southeast Asian country celebrates its Independence Day, marking 71 years after Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands, which ruled Indonesia since the early 19th century.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised Pakistan -- without naming the country -- for supporting terror groups, 671 infiltration incidents and 738 terrorist attacks were reported in Jammu and over the last three years, according to a government reply to parliament during its just-concluded monsoon session.

As many as 141 terrorists and 64 civilians were killed across the state between 2013 and July 10, 2016, the reply said.

A staggering 23,061 terrorists, 1,431 civilians and 6,220 security personnel have died in J&K over 28 years to August 7, 2016, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

About 34,000 AK-47 rifles, 5,000 grenade launchers, 90 light machine guns, 12,000 revolvers, three anti-tank guns, four anti-aircraft guns, 350 missile launchers and 63,000 kg of explosives, including RDX, and more than 100,000 grenades were seized by security forces from terrorists in J&K over the last 25 years, Modi said on August 12, 2016 at an all-party meeting on J&K.

"During this period, more than 5,000 foreign terrorists were killed, which is almost equal to the strength of five battalions (of the Indian Army)," said Modi.

Terrorism has cost Pakistan $118 billion over the last 15 years in direct and indirect costs, according to Pakistan's Economic Survey 2015-16.

"Pakistan forgets that it bombs its own citizens using fighter planes. The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Baluchistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," Modi said on August 12.

As many as 351 incidents of violence were reported against minorities in Pakistan between 2012 and 2015, according to the 2016 report State Of Religious Freedom In Pakistan by Jinnah Institute, a public policy advocacy in Pakistan.

"Sindh and Balochistan, in particular, witnessed persistent targeted killings and bomb attacks against members of the Shia community. In Balochistan, anti-Shia messaging in public spaces and in the press continued with impunity," the report said.

People in Balochistan had thanked him for standing by them, according to Modi.

In 2015, 247 civilians were killed in Balochistan, of which 114 were attributed to militant outfits and 143 were considered the work of the state apparatus and its surrogates, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Since 2004, till April 17, 2016, at least 922 civilian killings were reported by militant outfits. In addition, 463 people went missing and 157 bodies were found mutilated in Balochistan in 2015.

(16.08.2016. In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, with which Chaitanya Mallapur is an analyst. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be reached at respond@indiaspend.org)

--IANS/IndiaSpend

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Four persons suspected of having links with the Islamic State (IS) have been arrested in Morocco, the country's Interior Ministry said.

"They planned dangerous terrorist projects to undermine security and stability of the North African kingdom," said a statement on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The suspects, who were operating in the cities of Casablanca and Kenitra, some 36 km away from the capital, pledged allegiance to the so-called emir of the IS group.

Preliminary investigations showed that terror attacks against key sites in the Moroccan economic capital Casablanca were planned, the statement said.

The suspects will be brought to justice after the completion of the probe, which is led under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor's office.

is facing a growing threat from the IS as 159 terrorist cells in the country were dismantled, which had links to terrorist groups that are active in Iraq and Syria, including the IS, said the Interior Ministry.
The city of New York has agreed to pay over $4 million to the family of a black man who was killed by the police in 2014.

The unarmed victim, Akai Gurley, 28, died due to a fatal gunshot on the stairs of a public housing complex in Brooklyn, in November 2014, EFE news reported.

According to reports, the New York City Mayor's office will pay $4.1 million and the remainder $400,000 will be paid by New York City Housing Authority in charge of public housing in the city.

The settlement was reached in the presence of Judge Dawn Jimenez-Salta in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Monday after two months of negotiations.

In addition, police officer Peter Liang. who killed Gurley and was convicted of negligent homicide, must also pay another $25,000.

Liang was expelled from the police force and sentenced to five years of probation and 800 hours of community service.

During the trial, the prosecution said Liang acted imprudently pulling the trigger of his gun and also reproached him for failing to provide medical assistance to the victim afterwards.

Gurley's death had taken place amidst strong protests in the country after the police had killed two black men, Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet investors at the 'Invest Odisha' meet in Bengaluru on August 26, an official said here on Tuesday.

The Odisha government will hold the investors' meet in Bengaluru on August 25-26 to attract investments to the state.

Sources said around 50 large and medium industries have been invited to the meet.

Several industry leaders, including Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon have been invited to the two-day meet.

The Chief Minister will meet the investors on August 26 and hold discussions with industry leaders, said an official statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

The meet is organised jointly by CII, Karnataka and Odisha government.

Besides, the Chief Minister would launch the Start Up policy of the state government at a seminar on 'Industrial Development and Investment Opportunities in Odisha'.

The master plan of proposed Info-valley project would also be unveiled on the occasion, the statement said.

The state government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Wadhawani Foundation for assisting the Odisha administration on vocational and skill development training of youths.

A preparatory meeting under the chairmanship of Naveen Patnaik was held at the state secretariat here on Tuesday.

International sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik would create a sand art at the event. The government would also hold cultural programmes on the same evening to celebrate the birth centenary of legendary leader Biju Patnaik.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A sarcastic former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said it was time for India to sort out Pakistan's Balochistan problem since the government was already doing "such a good job" in Jammu and with fresh six killings.

"Six protestors dead in in 24 hours (since Monday) but WTH (what the hell) let's go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in Jammu and at the moment," Abdullah tweeted.

The National Conference leader was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporting "freedom" for Balochistan and the parts of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan. Modi, in his Independence Day speech on Monday, referred to alleged atrocities committed by Pakistan security forces in these regions.

Abdullah's tweet came after four protestors were killed on Tuesday morning in central Kashmir's Beerwah -- his assembly constituency. One more civilian was shot dead at Anantnag in south Kashmir.

A Class 10 student was killed on Monday evening in a clash with police and paramilitary troopers in Srinagar.

With the latest deaths, the toll mounted to 65 in the Kashmir unrest that was triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander, Burhan Wani, in a shootout with security forces.

--IANS

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One person was killed and two others were injured in an explosion on Tuesday at a South Korean naval base, a military official said on Tuesday.

The official said the explosion occurred at around 8.30 a.m., at a submarine repair dock in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, Xinhua news agency reported.

The incident ocurred while a midget submarine was being repaired, but the exact cause of the explosion was yet to be confirmed.

--IANS

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Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of violence in the Kashmir Valley, Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said on Tuesday that South Asia should not remain a "prisoner of the past".

"South Asia must not remain a 'prisoner of the past' but it should radiate fresh ideas and aspirations of our combined future," Radio Pakistan quoted Sadiq as saying.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the First South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Young Parliamentarians' Conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo of Biju Janata Dal of Odisha, Devji Patel of Bharatiya Janata Party and Alok Tiwari of Samajwadi Party are attending the first such meeting.

Deo and Patel are members of the Lok Sabha while Tiwari is from the Rajya Sabha.

The two-day conference is aimed at offering young parliamentarians' a narrative in the run-up to the Saarc Summit Pakistan is to host in November.

Sadiq's comments come in the wake of violence in Jammu and Kashmir that has left at least 65 people dead in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

In his Independence Day speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi came out openly in support of "freedom" of Balochistan and the Kashmir under Pakistani control.

Sadiq said that South Asia must not remain a "prisoner of the past" but it should radiate fresh ideas and aspirations of our combined future.

He said that statesmanship demanded that we confront our issues judiciously and address them honestly with an aim to solve them sincerely.

"He outlined that shared cultures and histories of the region, and developing economies could provide ample opportunities to work together to address common challenges," Radio Pakistan reported.

He highlighted that the goal of holding this conference was to build bridges between the future leaders of South Asia on a platform that supports continued engagement and cooperation.

--IANS

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Four petrol pump workers were robbed of Rs 36 lakh here on Tuesday while going to a bank to deposit the money, police said.

The victims were travelling in a car to an Axis Bank branch when they were intercepted at Nand Nagri in east Delhi by four or five men on two motorcycles, a police officer told IANS.

The men snatched the cash and escaped.

--IANS

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President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday congratulated the Parsi community on the occasion of Parsi New Year (Navroz), praising their all round contribution to the country.

"On the auspicious occasion of the Parsi New Year, I convey my greetings and good wishes to all my fellow citizens, particularly my Parsi brothers and sisters.

"The Parsi community has played a major role in the building of our nation and contributed immensely to development of our country in various spheres including industry, commerce, trade and education," Mukherjee said.

Vice President Hamid Ansari also greeted the Parsis and said the occasion "reflects the spirit of fraternity and compassion".

--IANS

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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday reiterated his resolve to extend Pakistan's moral, diplomatic and political support to the "indigenous freedom struggle" in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sharif made the remarks to Sardar Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing President of the Pakistani side of Kashmir, Radio Pakistan reported.

The Prime Minister said the world needed to take stock of the latest "brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom".

Sharif's remarks came a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, openly came out in support of "freedom" for Balochistan and the Kashmir governed by Pakistan.

Islamabad termed Modi's Red Fort speech a "diversionary tactic".

Foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz said: "The contrast between the Indian Kashmir and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir could not be more stark."

The Kashmir Valley is witnessing weeks of unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani.

Five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 65.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Wani was killed.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Police on Tuesday said they had found bodies of four of the six people murdered in cold blood by a self-confessed medico, Santosh Pol.

Satara Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil, who rushed to Wai town with colleagues, said that following the shocking revelations by Pol, police dug his farmhouse premises and found the remains of four bodies at various locations.

Charged with kidnapping and murdering an 'aanganwadi worker' Mangal Jedhe on June 16, Pol admitted to committing a total of six murders, including that of a man, after administering them lethal overdose of some medicines, earning him the sobriquet 'Dr. Death'.

The 41-year-old Pol's associate, nurse Jyoti Mandre, has also been arrested. Both have been sent to police custody by a court. The case has stunned Maharashtra.

"We are trying to find out where the fifth victim's body was disposed off and also one victim whose body was thrown into a water reservoir," Patil told the media on the stunning developments in the case.

Among the victims were an orphan woman, Salma Shaikh, who was missing from January this year. Another, Vanita Gaikwad, belonged to a jeweller's family and went missing in July 2006.

A majority of the victims either worked with him or came in contact as patients.

Though Patil did not specify the exact motive behind the killings, initial investigation pointed to he cheating his victims of their gold and more.

"We shall investigate all the missing persons' cases in and around Wai since 2003, the hospitals where he worked, question other patients and employees, tackle all possible angles," Patil asserted.

Meanwhile, a police team was busy digging Pol's sprawling farmhouse land for possibly more bodies.

Patil said that skeletal remains found would be sent for forensic analysis to match them with the missing persons.

Pol, described as an 'Electro-Homoeopath', practiced in some local hospitals and at his farmhouse, 13 km on the outskirts of the quaint Wai town, at the base of the twin hill stations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani, around 175 km south of Mumbai.

The medico's alleged crimes came to light after police began to probe the suspicious disappearance of 49-year-old Mangal Jedhe, President of the Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS), on June 16.

"She had left Wai for Pune to attend to her daughter's delivery but never reached there," said MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan.

Wai police officer Padmakar Ghanvat said investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his activities.

Pol has confessed that he kidnapped Jedhe from the Wai Bus Depot and eliminated her the following day by administering an overdose of a lethal medicine.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political parties in India should unite and speak in one voice on "international issues", Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday.

"I appeal to all parties, do not make statements which hurt India. As far as international issues are concerned, India should speak in one voice," Naidu said.

"Unfortunately, the Congress is not speaking in one voice within the party also. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, another by Kapil Sibal and subsequently another statement by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala," he said.

Naidu said this while reacting to Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's statement on Monday wherein the latter criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking on the Balochistan issue in his Independence Day address.

"I appeal to the main opposition party, please bear with the country. Try to understand the implications. We must all speak in one voice," Naidu said.

Making a veiled attack on Pakistan for aiding and abetting terrorism, Naidu said: "...our neighbour is funding terrorism. It can't go on like this."

Naidu said this while defending Modi's reference to Balochistan in his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

"They are trying to give us lectures about Kashmir, that's why we have told them what is happening in Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit. Let them focus on human rights violation, massacres and atrocities there," he said.

Regarding India, Naidu said: "There is an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, the central and state government are capable of handling challenges in the state."

National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said in a sarcastic remark that it was time for India to sort out the Balochistan problem since the central government was already doing "such a good job" in the state.

And while Congress leader Kapil Sibal was quoted in the media as describing the Balochistan reference as "unnecessary", party spokesman Randeep Surjewala dismissed Khurshid's remarks as "personal opinion" of a senior leader.

--IANS

nd/py/dg

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met new Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim.

"India First! FM Mohamed Asim meets EAM @SushmaSwaraj on his 1st official visit abroad," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Asim, formerly Maidives' High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was appointed the country's Foreign Minister last month after Dunya Maumoon quit the post voicing opposition to the government's plan to implement the death penalty.

--IANS

ab/dg

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met with new Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim who is visiting India on his first overseas trip after assuming office.

"Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Mohamed Asim is here today on his first official visit to India," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Swarup said that Asim had a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, which was followed by a lunch hosted by the latter.

Asim also called on Vice President Hamid Ansari later in the afternoon.

Asim, formerly the Maidives' High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was appointed the country's Foreign Minister last month after Dunya Maumoon quit the post voicing opposition to the government's plan to implement the death penalty.

According to Swarup, Asim in his meeting with Sushma Swaraj emphasized that in keeping with the "India first" policy of the Maldives, this was his first overseas visit after assuming his new responsibilities last month.

"External Affairs Minister extended a very warm welcome to Asim, acknowledging the priority given by the visiting Minister to his meeting with her," Swarup said.

"In their discussions, the External Affairs Minister and Asim took note of the high level exchanges in recent weeks between the two countries and reviewed progress on various aspects of the bilateral relationship," he sated.

"Asim apprised the External Affairs Minister about preparations for the Maldives Investment Forum to be held in New Delhi later this year."

Sushma Swaraj reiterated the view expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India wanted all its neighbours to benefit from the economic growth and development in India.

The two ministers also exchanged views on the consonance in the strategic perspectives of the two countries to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.

"Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on Counter-terrorism (Asif Ibrahim) had visited the Maldives in mid-July 2016 and Defence Secretary (G. Mohan Kumar) had visited Male for the 1st India-Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue on July 17-18, 2016," the spokesperson said.

He said that Sushma Swaraj and Asim reaffirmed their resolve to continue strengthening the bilateral partnership between India and the Maldives.

"The Foreign Minister of Maldives also shared his assessment on recent developments in his country and their engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy of the Commonwealth in the context of the forthcoming CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) meeting in New York, on the sidelines of the UNGA (UN General Assembly)," Swarup said.

--IANS

ab/vt

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The security forces shot dead four civilian protesters in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the toll to 64 in the violent unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.

A police officer told IANS here that protesters clashed with security forces in Budgam district of central Kashmir.

The protesters, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here.

The security forces opened fire to bring the situation under control. One person was killed on the spot and three more succumbed to their injuries at a hospital.

More than a dozen persons sustained injuries in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Kashmir Valley in more than five weeks.

The Valley has been on the boil amid curfew and separatist shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday.

A 20-year-old youth identified as Yaseer Ahmed of Srinagar was killed in firing by security forces on Monday when a mob indulged in intense stone pelting. Two other youths sustained bullet injuries in the incident.

Another youth, Ashfaq Ahmed, who was injured in a stone pelting clash in the Tangmarg area of Baramulla district two weeks back, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital here also on Monday evening.

Police said curfew and restrictions would continue on Tuesday in all the 10 districts of the valley. Separatists have already extended their protest shutdown to August 18.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.

--IANS

sar/vm

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Actor Billy Bob Thornton has rejected claims that he had an affair with actor Johnny Depp's estranged wife Amber Heard.

The 61-year-old, who stars alongside Heard in new film "London Fields", says allegations made by Depp are false, reports tmz.com.

Thornton says that he never socialised with "The Danish Girl" actress off set, apart from a cast dinner, and rarely spent time with the 30-year-old on set.

Their relationship was strictly professional, he said and added that he barely spoke to Depp either.

Thornton has also assured his sixth wife and Puppeteer Connie Angland, whom he married in 2014, that he has not been unfaithful.

--IANS

ks/rb

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Rome, Aug 16 (IANS/AKI) A 49-year-old Tunisian drowned attempting to rescue his 13-year-old son who got into difficulty while swimming at a beach near Ragusa in Sicily, police said on Tuesday.

A double tragedy was avoided when an off-duty policewoman swam out to the teen and rescued him after she heard his 12-year-old brother screaming for help from the shore.

Averted by the police officer, beachgoers formed a human chain to reach the boys' father and a 24-year-old Italian swimmer who was struggling to swim back to shore but the Tunisian died at the scene.

The Italian was taken to hospital but was not in a critical condition, doctors said. Police are investigating the incident, which happened at the resort of Costa Fenicia.

--IANS/AKI

mr/

--IANS/AKI

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At least two passengers were injured when a knife-wielding man went on a stabbing spree in a train in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg on Tuesday, the media reported.

The attacker, a 60-year-old German national, was arrested by police and the case is under investigation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The injured were sent to a hospital for treatment and their condition could not be immediately confirmed.

The attack took place in Roethis locality near the border with Switzerland.

There have been several incidents involving knife attacks on trains in Europe over the past weeks.

--IANS

py/dg

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Chief of the US Army is slated to visit South Korea this week, Seoul's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

General Mark Milley will make a three-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday, meeting his South Korean counterpart on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported citing a senior official as saying.

Milley will receive an update on plans to deploy one Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery on South Korean soil, his office said. It would mark his second visit to South Korea since he took office in August 2015.

High-level US army official's visit to South Korea would come amid heightened tensions surrounding Seoul and Washington's abrupt decision last month to house one THAAD batteryby the end of next year.

Objections from civic group activists and opposition lawmakers to the US missile shield are getting louder at home, while China and Russia have strongly opposed the THAAD deployment as its X-band radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories.

If deployed, it would escalate the already heightened tensions in Northeast Asia as arms race is expected.

--IANS

ksk

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Actress Sonam Bajwa, who currently juggles between the Telugu and Punjabi industry, says she intends to focus on doing more Telugu films going forward and explore a variety of characters in the process.

Sonam makes her Telugu debut with this week's release "Aatadukundam Raa", which stars Sushanth in the lead.

"I couldn't have asked for a better debut. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project," said Sonam, who is keen on shifting her focus on Telugu filmdom.

"Even though I've been offered a few projects since 'Aatadukundam Raa', I haven't been in a position to sign any because I'm occupied with some commitments in Punjabi industry till October. As soon as I'm relieved off these assignments, I really want to focus more on Telugu films," she said.

In this project, she plays a bubbly, simple girl who will be seen in a mix of Indian and western outfits.

"I come from this family that's modem but at the same time values traditions. As a film, it's got everything for everybody in the audience. There's comedy, romance, action and even some element of science-fiction," she said.

Talking about her co-star Sushanth, she revealed: "He's very friendly and bonds very well with everyone on the sets. He's very humble too. The whole unit was very friendly and ensured that I never felt like a newcomer."

Although Sonam had difficultly picking up an alien language, she feels Telugu isn't as tough as Tamil.

"I've done a Tamil film called 'Kappal'. I found learning Tamil tougher than Telugu. All that it took me to get my lines right in Telugu was a couple of readings to perfect my dialect.

Sonam, who has played both glamorous as well as deglamorous roles in her Punjabi films, wants to follow a similar approach in Telugu industry too.

"I want to do versatile roles and take up modern characters. As much as I want to play glamorous roles, I think there's beauty in playing simple characters too," she said.

--IANS

hp/nv/vm

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I agree with the view expressed by Ajit Balakrishnan in his article, "Indian salaryman: Changing times" (August 9), that the middle class has subtly manoeuvred itself for a disproportionate share of the economic pie. But I differ with him on the concept of middle class.
Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the US prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six US government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon.

Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the US was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention center's closure.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Wolosky said.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced yesterday are a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office."



US Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as "hardened terrorists."



The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 per cent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 per cent are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21 per cent confirmed and 14 per cent suspected during the Bush administration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in US military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by US special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target US and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he hasn't expressed any anti-US sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little "insight into his current mindset."



One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.

A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the US, which they identified as "an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad.

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Two college students were killed and three others are feared drowned in the Krishna river today, when a boat carrying them to a bathing ghat for a holy dip during the ongoing Pushkaram, capsized near Chandarlapadu in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district.

The boat capsized as they were trying to reach an undesignated bathing ghat for a holy dip during the Krishna Pushkaram, Joint Collector G Chandrudu said, adding six others swam to safety.

Two bodies were fished out and search is on to trace the others, the official said, adding further details are awaited.

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Infosys has said it will ramp-down about 3,000 jobs following Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel the project to set up a separate bank in the UK.

RBS announced last week that it will not pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), for which Infosys was a key technology partner.

"Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months," Infosys said in a statement.

An Infosys spokesperson clarified that these jobs are not being cut and that the employees will be reallocated to other projects.

RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and the company looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programmes, it added.

While Infosys has not specified the impact of the cancellation, market analysts peg it at around USD 40 million.

The loss of the five-year 300-million pound RBS deal could force Infosys to further downgrade revenue guidance for FY2016-17. Infosys had in July slashed annual sales outlook citing weak demand to 10.5-12 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.5-13.5 per cent.

Stock of Infosys was trading at Rs 1,054.10, down by 0.87 per cent on BSE in afternoon session.

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Three women students of a private university and a woman intern at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital have been arrested for their alleged links with the outlawed JMB group, blamed for the terror attack on an upscale cafe in Dhaka that killed 22 people, including an Indian girl.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) today said the Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh women operatives were monitored before the arrests last night.

"We came to know about women operatives from an earlier arrest of a JMB regional chief. We secretly monitored one of them and then arrested the four from different areas of the city," a RAB official said.

He confirmed one of the arrested JMB operatives was an intern at the state-run hospital and the three others were pharmacy students of Manarat University.

One of them is believed to be the recruiter of the gang.

"We secured substantial information about JMB from her phone records," he said.

The RAB issued a group photo of the four in custody in which the women could be seen in veils covering their faces.

The arrests were the second major success for authorities probing JMB's women activists after the arrest of seven women last month from central Tangail district. Of the seven, at least three were part of "suicide squad", police had said.

In another development, police's counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam told reporters they have identified seven more suspects involved in the attack on Holey Artisan cafe on July 1, apart from fugitives Tamim Chowdhury and Nurul Islam Marzan.

"We have identified the fresh suspects by their organizational names so far. Investigations are underway to gather more information about them," Islam said.

The police also claimed to have tracked down Chowdhury and Marzan and "they are staying very much in Dhaka".

On August 12, police unidentified Marzan and Chowdhury. The next day, they named former university teacher Hasnat Karim in the case.

Police have arrested more than a dozen presumed JMB activists, which they call neo-JMB activists because of their inclination towards the Islamic State terrorist group, which initialy claimed the cafe attack. But authorities have denied presence of IS in Bangladesh.

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A five-year-old boy was seriously injured when kite string (manja) slashed his neck while he was travelling on a motor cycle with his parents at Vijay Nagar here, police said today.

Aryan, son of Raja a resident of Krishna Bagoo colony of Vijay Nagar, received 24 stitches after the kite string slashed his neck yesterday.

No FIR has been registered by victim's father.

A 48-year-old man had died on the spot at Thakur dwara Fly over with a major portion of his throat sliced by kite string last month.

The matter of the sale of Chinese Kite string which is very dangerous and sharp like surgical blade has come to my knowledge, said District magistrate Nidhi kesrawani.

All the Deputy Superintendents of police and SHO's have been instructed to ensure a ban on Chinese kite string in the district.

Chinese kite string (manja) coated with powdered glass has been banned by the Delhi government after claiming many lives.

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A 52-year-old factory worker sustained serious injuries after he was allegedly attacked by a bear near here today, police said.

The incident occurred when Varadharajan was heading to his workplace in Ellanahalli, and two bears pursued him, police said.

As the worker took to his heels, one of the bears chased and attacked him, inflicting serious injuries on his hand, thighs and abdomen, police said.

The animal then ran into a nearby bush, after the villagers reached the spot and made noise.

Varadharajan was immediately rushed to the Government hospital here, from where he was referred to Government Hospital in Coimbatore.

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Video footage of an Amnesty event on Kashmir in Bengaluru to identify those who allegedly raised anti-India slogans were being examined by police today even as ABVP activists staged protests in Bengaluru, a day after the NGO was booked on sedition charge.

The India chapter of Amnesty International, on its part, rejected as "without substance" the allegations raised by the ABVP, the student outfit of the RSS, and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.

The ABVP activists, who clashed with police, protested against the rights organisation and demanded arrest of those who allegedly raised slogans against India and the Army at a panel discussion on Saturday. They also demanded action against Amnesty International.

The event was organised by Amnesty India aspart of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of humanrights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. Police are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised independence slogans at the event," Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.

Asked whether Amnesty India Executive Director Aakar Patel is likely to be arrested, Parameshwara said, "Not to my knowledge. Not at the moment."



ABVP activists had submitted a CD containing video recording of the event after filing a complaint with police, who yesterday registered an FIR against Amnesty International.

In a statement, Amnesty India said that allegations mentioned in the complaint by the ABVP representative against it were without "substance" and that only discussion at the event was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir



"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that "slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."



IPC sections-- 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. And doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony have been invoked against Amnesty.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said "Police are enquiring. An FIR has been registered."



Noting that an FIR had already been registered on sedition charge, he said after an enquiry, police would take action according to law.

Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said patriotic and nationalist people could not tolerate anti-India slogans.

"What happened in JNU is being repeated here", he said, adding, "this must be stopped.

(REOPENS DEL28)



At the Congress briefing in New Delhi, party spokesman Jairam Ramesh downplayed the incident.

"An FIR has been lodged by the police. Investigations are on. It is very premature to say what happened. Whatever has to be done will be done as per the law of the land," he said.

Karnataka is ruled by Congress.

He dismissed suggestions that what has happened in Bengaluru was akin to the recent incident at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

"There is a big difference. JNU is an institution of higher education where thousands of students come from across the country and also from abroad. It is among the best institutions," he said.
The Supreme Court today sought the Centre's response on a plea of a former Maharashtra government official seeking to implead himself as a party in the Adarsh society scam matter pending before it.

A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre issued notice to the Centre on the plea of P V Deshmukh, former deputy secretary urban development in the state whose alleged role in the scam has been probed.

Deshmukh in his plea sought impleadment in the case saying he is not a party to the ongoing hearing in the matter pending with the apex court and certain remarks have been made against him in his absence during the hearing.

The court took note of his plea and asked the Centre to respond to it in four weeks.

On July 22, the apex court has said that the 31-storey scam-tainted Adarsh apartments, built at Colaba in posh South Mumbai locality for Kargil war heroes and war widows, will not be demolished for the time being.

It had asked the Centre to secure it after taking its possession from the housing society by August five.

The apex court had asked the Registrar General of Bombay High Court to ensure that either he or other Registrar, nominated by him, supervises the handing over of the possession of the building.

Simultaneously, an inventory of documents of the Housing Society pertaining to the apartments be prepared and handed over to the housing society to enable it to pursue its legal battles in various courts of law, the bench said.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had ordered demolition of the apartments and sought initiation of criminal proceedings against politicians and bureaucrats for "misuse" of powers, holding that the tower was illegally constructed.

In its order, the HC bench had asked the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to carry out the demolition at the expense of petitioners (Adarsh Society).

The Adarsh scam had kicked up a huge political storm after it surfaced in 2010, leading to the resignation of the then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

In February this year, the Maharashtra Governor accorded



sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chavan under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code in the case.

In 2011, the state government had set up a two-member judicial commission headed by Justice J A Patil to inquire into the scam.

After probing the issue for over two years, it submitted its report in 2013, which found that there had been 25 illegal allotments, including 22 purchases made by proxy.

Later, the CBI, the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also investigated the scam.

In January 2011, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a demolition order mainly on the ground that the society did not have Coastal Regulation Zone clearance.

Adarsh Society had filed a petition in 2011 in the Bombay High Court challenging the demolition order issued by the Ministry.

The Defence Ministry also filed a petition in the high court seeking implementation of its demolition order, besides filing a title suit in the high court claiming that it was the owner of the plot on which the plush Adarsh Society building stands in South Mumbai.
BJP in Kerala today said it would file a review petition before the Environment Ministry's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), seeking quashing of its decision to grant Terms of Reference to the project proponent to conduct yet another Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed Aranmula airport.

State BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan claimed the project proponent KGS group, which was trying to push the airport project, was not eligible to conduct further studies and alleged that the group had "violated" all laws, including the Kerala Land Reform Act and Environment Protection laws.

"If they are planning to go ahead with the project, we will resist it with all our strength. We will file a review petition before the EAC, requesting them to quash its decision to grant ToR for conducting yet another EIA for the airport. The review petition will be filed in two days," he told reporters here.

He claimed that Union Environment and Forest Minister Anil Madhav Dave had assured him that the EAC recommendations to conduct a fresh environment study would be cancelled.

"We have submitted a memorandum to the Minister against the project. No sanction has been given by the Aranmula panchayat for the project," he said.

Stepping up its campaign against the proposed airport, BJP's state unit today released a letter written by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to Rajasekharan in May this year informing him that the Defence Ministry has not given the green signal to the proposed airport in Aranmula.

"I would like to inform you that I have directed the Secretary, Defence, to examine your objections, pending the same the 'in principle no objection' is being kept in abeyance and concerned departments informed accordingly," Parrikar had said in his letter.

The project, promoted by KGS Group, had run into trouble when it was mooted nearly seven years ago with environment groups and people in the area claiming that it would cause environmental hazards.

The EAC under the environment ministry had permitted the KGS group to conduct an environment study at a meeting on July 29.

The permission was to hold a fresh study on various issues, including seeking the opinion of people on the need for an airport.

The project has faced stiff resistance from devotees of Sri Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple, who have said the airport would cause structural damage to the ancient temple.

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Model-reality TV star Kendall Jenner's alleged stalker has been arrested.

Police were called to the Hollywood home of Jenner after an alleged stalker was discovered in her driveway, reported TMZ.

The 20-year-old supermodel called the police when she arrived at her home and the man followed her as she drove through the gates.

The man was arrested for alleged stalking and there was also reportedly already a warrant out for his arrest.

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British minister in the Foreign Office Alok Sharma is in China this week for a three-day visit to hold talks with the top leadership of the world's second largest economy on trade and investment in the post-Brexit world.

Sharma, who chose India as his first official overseas visit last month soon after taking charge as Minister for Asia under the Theresa May-led government, is also believed to be carrying a letter from the British Prime Minister for the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

"The UK's relationship with China is strong, growing and delivering benefits for both our countries. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, we are working together to tackle global issues of the 21st century," Sharma said as he began his visit yesterday.

"Britain is open for business and an attractive destination for international investors, including from China. Our trade is at record levels. UK exports to China have grown 57 per cent since 2010 and China is expected to be the UK's second largest foreign investor by 2020.

"There are huge trade opportunities here that we want to help British business take advantage of," said the Indian- origin minister.

He held a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to discuss the UK and China's global strategic partnership as two world powers working together to solve global issues, build economies of the future, and develop strong bilateral trade, investment and people-to-people links, the UK Foreign Office said.

In Beijing, Sharma is also scheduled to hold meetings with clean energy experts and companies to discuss projects supported by the UK government's Prosperity Fund, aimed at helping to promote the economic reform and development needed for growth in partner countries over the next five years.

This work is expected to create opportunities for international business, including UK companies, creating long- term benefits for UK taxpayers, the Foreign Office said.

From Beijing, Sharma will travel to Shenzhen to discuss new energy technologies and investment into the UK with BYD, who are already trialling e-buses and electric taxis in London and across Europe.

In Guangzhou, Sharma will open a new VisitBritain office in a key visitor market, meet Chinese business leaders and hold talks with British companies focussed on corporate social responsibility.

The visit comes against the backdrop of some unease in UK-China relations after May last month unexpectedly delayed a deal which would have seen French firm EDF build two nuclear reactors in Britain, partly financed by China General Nuclear Power.

The project, referred to as the Hinkley nuclear deal, is estimated to be worth 18 billion pounds and had been green-lit under former UK Chancellor George Osborne.

Its future remains in doubt following a change in UK administration in the wake of Britain's June 23 referendum in favour of leaving the European Union.

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The Punjab government today gave its nod for setting up of Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar Centre for Constitutional Studies at Punjabi University in Patiala to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the chief architect of Indian Constitution.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting to review the arrangements of the birth anniversary celebrations here, an official release said.

Taking part in the deliberations, Badal asked the Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University to study the model of the centre at Nagpur University.

Principal Secretary (Cultural Affairs & Tourism) apprised Badal that the university had organised a seminar on August 5 on the role of Ambedkar on women empowerment.

Likewise, five more seminars would be organised on different subjects related to Ambedkar.

Badal also gave his consent to preside over the seminar to be held at Central University, Bathinda on October 7.

A state-level function will also be organised at Ludhiana on November 26 to commemorate 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar. Badal asked Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal to personally monitor the arrangements of the event.

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Family members and friends of a 20- year-old Amity Law School student, who had allegedly committed suicide last week, today staged a protest outside the college here, alleging foul play on the part of its authorities.

Sushant Rohilla, a 4th year student of BA-LLB course in the college, had last week committed suicide at his residence in south Delhi's Sarojini Nagar area.

Amity University, however, has denied of having any role in Rohilla's death and expressed grief over the incident.

The deceased, who was son of a joint secretary-level official in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, was debarred from appearing in the sixth semester exams in May due to "shortage of attendance".

According to his family, Sushant and 19 other students, who were not permitted to take the exams, were promised that they will be allowed to take the exams and promoted to the next semester.

"The college authorities did a volte-face and sent him an email, one month after the exam, stating that he had been detained due to short attendance and he should apply for readmission in the same semester. He was under lot of pressure since," Mehak Rohilla, the deceased's sister said.

Rohilla's kin and friends today gathered outside the law school premises and staged a protest, demanding a probe into the incident.

When contacted, an Amity spokesperson said, "Amity Law School, Delhi, is affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh IP University. The students were detained as per the decision of that varsity and Amity Law School, itself, had absolutely no role."



"Rohilla had 43 per cent attendance, while the IP University mandates that a student should have at least 75 per cent attendance. This was conveyed to his parents many a times through e-mails.

"The attendance, as per the rules of IP University, was sent to IPU, which issues admit cards to the students for examinations," the spokesperson added.

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The Telangana Chapter of Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) will host the second Southern Regional Conference- 'Arch Dakshin 2016' for two days from August 19, here.

Over 800 architects from across the country are expected to participate in the event, IIA Telangana Chapter Chairman Gururaj Manepally told reporters today.

The theme of the this year's conference is "Collaborative Architecture" and it will delve into the emerging trends and see if there is a new definition of architecture on the anvil and how the architectural fraternity can better contribute to the well being of society, he said.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy and Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University Vice-Chancellor Prof P Padmavathi will be among the dignitaries who will address the two-day event.

"Being the centenary year of IIA, we are planning to commemorate the occasion with a 'Retrospective of Architecture of Hyderabad for the past 100 years', with an exhibition of panels tracing the growth of our city through its landmark buildings," Gururaj said.

Architects will participate in professional presentations, panel discussions, design exhibitions besides debates and quizzes.

SRC consists of five states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Union Territory of Puducherry.

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Amid the ongoing unrest in Kashmir, Commander of the Army's Srinagar-based Corps Lt Gen S K Dua today met Governor N N Vohra here and briefed him about the situation in the valley.

Lt Gen Dua called on Vohra at Raj Bhavan and briefed him about the internal and external security situation and the Army's preparedness to deal with any arising exigency, an official spokesman said.

Kashmir valley is on the boil since July 9 in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces. So far 65 people, including two policemen, have died and several thousand others have been injured in the unrest.

The meeting comes a day after Army foiled a major infiltration bid in Uri sector of north Kashmir's Baramulla district, killing five militants.

The meeting also assumes significance as militants carried out a deadly attack in Nowhatta locality yesterday, after over a decade in downtown Srinagar, which left a CRPF officer and two militants dead, while 11 CRPF and policemen were injured.

CRPF Inspector General Atul Karwal also called on the Governor and briefed him about the obtaining internal security situation in the state.

The Governor conveyed to Karwal his grief on the loss of Commandant of 49th Battalion Promod Kumar in yesterday's terrorist attack at Nowhatta, the spokesman said.

He said the Governor wished speedy recovery to the CRPF personnel who have been injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and its affiliated associations today staged a peaceful protest march here against the civilian killings and pressed for resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Carrying black banners and placards, the march led by KCCI president Mushtaq Ahmad Wani was taken out from KCCI office at Residency Road and culminated at Press Enclave, a distance of about two kms.

Some of the participants chanted pro-freedom slogans.

Members of Kashmir Economic Alliance, All Kashmir Chemists and Druggists Association and Kashmir Transport Welfare Association participated in the march and staged a peaceful sit-in at Press Enclave before dispersing peacefully.

"We organised this march to protest the killing of innocent civilians and press our demand for early resolution of Kashmir issue," a spokesman of the KCCI said.

The separatists, headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, had asked the traders to stage a sit-in from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm at all market places today.

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Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement in Washington have sought support from the US and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.

"The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively," Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch Movement, said here in a statement.

"Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its freedom," Baloch said.

While welcoming Modi's stance on Balochistan, he said the "policy of indifference towards Pakistan's war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying".

"The Indian Prime Minister's statement on Balochistan is a positive development," Baloch said.

Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti -- a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistan's destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

"In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government," Bugti said.

"The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s," he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech yesterday.
A three-member team of Bangladesh Police today interrogated suspected terrorist Mohammed Masiuddin who was arrested by the NIA last month for his link to terror groups like Islamic State and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

According to a top National Investigation Agency (NIA) officer, the Bangladesh Police team came here to look into Masiuddin's role in fake currency being smuggled into India through Bangladesh.

"India and Bangladesh have a Standard Operating Procedure to tackle the fake currency issue. These officers from Bangladesh have come to look into Masiuddin's role in the fake currency issue and other aspects," the officer told PTI over phone from New Delhi.

Another source in the NIA said that the officers were also looking into Masiuddin alias Musa's link to Mohammad Suleiman, an important member of the JMB module in Bangladesh, who had played a crucial role in the recent terror attack on a restaurant in Dhaka's Gulshan area.

"Suleiman is believed to have played a crucial role in the Dhaka terror attack... And after grilling Masiuddin it was found that Musa was quite close to him. So the officers have arrived here to know more about his link to Suleiman," the source said.

Masiuddin, who was called as Abu Al Musa Al by leaders of the terror groups and was close to the former chief of the Islamic State (IS) in the country Shafi Armar, had met Suleiman at an event in Malda four months ago, the officer said.

In a joint raid by the NIA and West Bengal CID, Masiuddin was arrested from Viswabharati Fast Passenger train at Burdwan station last month.

During interrogation by the state CID, NIA and the IB, Masiuddin had revealed his connection to top leaders of at least two terror groups and admitted that he had been assigned to spread their tentacles in West Bengal and other places in the eastern part of the country.

A resident of Labhpur in West Bengal's Birbhum district, Masiuddin's phone records showed that he had communicated several times with people from Syria, Iraq and Bangladesh.

Masiuddin was using a mobile application to keep in touch with top leaders of terror groups in those three countries, CID sleuths had said.

Two of his accomplices Kallu Sheikh and Amin Sheikh were also arrested by the investigating agencies.

Masiuddin, who was staying in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur with his family and two children, visited West Bengal this July after almost six years.

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Bar Council of India has stayed its July 24 order suspending 126 Tamil Nadu lawyers, including leaders of various bar associations, in view of the temporary withdrawal of their three month-long protest over recent amendments to the disciplinary rules under the Advocates Act.

Staying the suspension till August 22, the BCI directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTP) to file a report with regard to attendance of lawyers in the courts across the state, BCTP sources here said today.

BCI had suspended the 126 lawyers and prohibited them from practising in any court or tribunal in the country on the eve the move by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of various bar associations to stage a sit-in at the Madras High Court here, High Court bench in Madurai and subordinate courts on July 25, protesting the amended rules to Advocates Act.

Those suspended included JAC Chief Co-Ordinator P Thirumalairajan, its member M Velmurugan, Madras High Court Advocates Association Secretary Arivazhagan, Women Lawyers Association President Nalini and Egmore Bar Association President Chandan Babu.

Undeterred by the action, the lawyers, who have been on a warpath over the amended rules which among others provide for disciplinary action against erring lawyers, went ahead with their protest and several of them had courted arrest on July 25.

However, at a meeting of the JAC held in Erode on August 14, the lawyers decided to temporarily withdraw all forms of agitations, including boycott of courts, and attend courts from today.

In the backdrop of this, BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has stayed the suspension till August 22.

The lawyers are opposing a notification issued by the Madras High Court in May last making amendments to existing rules under the Advocates Act with a view to ensure peaceful conduct of court proceedings and suggesting disciplinary action to be taken against erring advocates.

The court later constituted a judges committee to look into the grievances of the lawyers and repeatedly urged the lawyers to give up their agitation and approach the panel.

It had also made it clear that practically the rules were already in abeyance for the time being in view of a Full Court's assurance that no action would be taken under the rules till they were reviewed.

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West Bengal Congress leader Manas Bhunia today wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi requesting her to allow him to continue as the chairman of the important Public Accounts Committee.

"I have written a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting her to allow me to continue as the chairman of the PAC. In the letter I have briefed her about the series of events that had taken place since the nominations for the post of PAC chairman were filed," he told PTI.

"Our party supremo should know how state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan have misguided the AICC and the Congress leadership," Bhunia said.

The development came a week after a meeting was convened by Congress general secretary C P Joshi which was attended by Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Abdul Mannan, state party chief Adhir Chowdhury and Bhunia to discuss the contentious issue after the party had favoured a CPI-M representative for the post.

According to Congress sources, Joshi had last week suggested Bhunia to write a letter to the AICC describing the series of events and his wish to continue as the PAC chairman.

After last week's meeting, Chowdhury had said, "The decision over giving the post of PAC chairman to CPI(M) was taken by our party chief Sonia Gandhi. Now if our party chief endorses the decision of Manas Bhuniya keeping the post, then I have no problem. Whatever she decides we will follow that."



Bhunia had been issued a show cause notice after he refused to step down from the post despite repeated requests by party leaders. Thirtynine Congress MLAs had also jointly appealed to Bhunia to step down.

The Congress wanted the PAC chairman's post to go to CPI(M) with which it had contested the West Bengal Assembly election.

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Bihar today became the first non-NDA state to ratify the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar counted virtues of the tax reform.

With all the major parties in the state including JD(U), RJD, Congress and BJP in favour of the tax legislation, the House approved the GST Bill through a voice vote.

CPI-ML MLA Mehboob Alam opposed GST and staged a walkout. CPI-ML has three MLAs but only Alam was present.

After ratification by the Legislative Assembly, GST Bill was introduced in state's Upper House. Passage of GST by Bihar Legislative Council is a mere formality after its ratification with consent of all major parties in the state.

Bihar became the first non-NDA state and overall second after BJP-ruled Assam to pass GST Bill.

The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST has already been passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform after Independence, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures out of a total of 29 before the President notify GST Council which will decide new tax rate and other issues.

The central government has set a deadline of April, 2017 for its rollout.

Intervening in the discussion on GST Bill piloted by Commercial Tax minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar highlighted virtues of the new tax legislation.

The Chief Minister said he has been in support of the GST from the beginning as it was beneficial for a consumer state like Bihar and has been in favour of it when it was piloted first during UPA time in 2006-7 by then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Counting virtues of the GST, Kumar said it would bring transparency in tax collection and distribution among the Centre and the states.

In addition the new tax reform would enable a state to earn a handsome portion from the service tax which earlier used to be an exclusive source of earning for the Union government. The state would have its share from service tax on Telecom, Railway, Bank and power among others which would bring handsome cash to us, he said.

GST would bring parity between manufacturing and consumer states and also do away with expenses on maintaining checkposts on state borders.

GST Council to come up for implementation of GST will have 67 per cent weightage against 33 per cent of the Centre.

To pass any resolution in the Council a minimum of 75 per cent support of members, Centre and states, would be needed which is an assurance that states concern cannot be ignored.

But, besides lauding GST, the Chief Minister also expressed certain concerns which he said would be stand point of the state during process of formulation of laws on GST.

(Reopens CAL2)



The Bihar Chief Minister said although he was against capping on the rate of GST, it should be the concern of both the Centre and the states to keep the tax rate at a reasonable level to prevent it from having an inflationary effect.

Kumar said the state has wholeheartedly supported the GST in principle but would place its standpoint in the GST Council during formulation of laws by the Centre and the state for its implementation.

The first concern of Bihar would be that small traders upto Rs 1.5 crore should be taxed only by the state and they should not be brought under the Centre's domain.

In addition, for trade above Rs 1.5 crore, the machinery to collect GST should be the exclusive right of the state and the Central Commercial Tax department need not interfere in it in any state.

The state machinery would collect GST on trade above Rs 1.5 crore and would honestly give the due share to the Centre and retain its own.

"We are against Central Commercial tax department opening office at district level and officials of both state and the Centre conducting raids for tax realisation from traders which would result in their harassment," he said.

Besides, Information Technology arrangement developed for implementation of GST needs to be well integrated with banks, Railways, Telecom and Power to help the state realise its share of service tax on these services, he added.

Kumar said he has held talks with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on GST and how to protect interest of states during implementation of the new taxation system.

Survey suggests that there are more than six crore mobile phone users in Bihar besides Railway passengers and unloading of Railway freight would generate handsome revenue to state, he said.

Earlier, after introducing GST Bill, Commercial Tax Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav listed benefits of the new taxation law and also hailed the Chief Minister for being an important force for the GST legislation.

Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the initiative to make GST operational.

Congress Legislature party leader Sadanand Singh said it was Congress which first introduced GST which could not be passed during UPA regime due to opposition from BJP-ruled states.

CPI-ML MLA Mehboob Alam opposed GST Legislation which he said symbolised "tax terrorism" introduced on behalf of capitalist oriented World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

(REOPENS CAL4)



The GST bill was passed unanimously by the Legislative Council after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made a request for passage of the important tax reform.

The Chief Minister said he has spoken to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and asked him to minimize the transition period for its implementation.

He said that he had requested the Union Finance minister that GST must be rolled out from April 1, 2017.

"It would create difficulties if it is implemented in the middle of the year. If the GST roll out is delayed, it would create a kind of laxity in the existing system," Kumar said intervening in the discussion on GST in the Legislative Council.

The new tax system would benefit both consumers and traders, he said.

GST system will bring transparency, a single tax regime, one common market and would make tax collection easier, he said.

Kumar reiterated Bihar's concerns on GST and laid it (concerns) on the table of the House.

Earlier, speaking on the GST Bill, leader of opposition in Legislative Council Sushil Kumar Modi highlighted significance of the new tax legislation.

Sushil Modi, who as Finance minister of Bihar during NDA rule, had headed empowered committee on GST during UPA rule, said the GST would do away with multiplicity of tax rates.

The Union government's 7 taxes would be incorporated in Central GST including Excise, Service Tax, Additional duty, surcharge, cess etc. Besides, 10 taxes of state government like VAT, entry tax, luxury tax, entertainment tax etc would be included in state GST, Sushil Modi said.

There would be fewer rates in GST as compared to multiplicity of rates, he added.

GST would also end central tax and entry tax, he said.
The body of a five-year-old girl, who died of dengue, was found lying outside her grave under mysterious circumstances at Rangpuri Pahari in Mahipalpur area today.

The girl, identified as Shristi, died of dengue at Safdarjung Hospital yesterday. Her body was later buried at Rangpuri Pahari.

Police received a call this morning that the body was lying outside her grave and rushed to the spot. The body was sent to AIIMS where it was preserved.

Police ruled out any assault on the body and added that it was possibly dug up by some stray animals. There was no external injury on the body.

"Post-mortem examination has been conducted and the initial report has ruled out the possibility of any assault," a police officer said.

Police has launched an inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the CrPC.

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Government bonds (G-Secs) eased further on sustained selling pressure from banks and corporates while, the inter-bank call money rates finished higher due to persistent demand from borrowing banks amid ample liquidity in the banking system.

The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2026 edged-down to Rs 103.28 from Rs 103.2975 previously, while its yield held stable at 7.10 per cent.

The 7.59 per cent government security maturing in 2029 fell to Rs 103.58 compared to Rs 103.67, while its yield edged up to 7.15 per cent from 7.14 per cent.

The 7.88 per cent government security maturing in 2030 declined to Rs 106.26 as against Rs 106.3725, while its yield moved up to 7.15 per cent from 7.14 per cent.

The 7.61 percent government security maturing in 2030, the 7.72 per cent government security maturing in 2025 and 8.12 per cent government security maturing in 2020 were also quoted lower at Rs 104.35, Rs 103.67 and Rs 104.0150, respectively.

The overnight call money rates ended higher at 6.40 per cent from last Friday's close 6.35 per cent. Its resumed higher at 6.50 per cent, after moving in a range of 6.60 per cent and 6.35 per cent.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), purchased securities worth Rs 86.22 billion in 20-bids at the 2-day repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.50 per cent as on today. While, its sold securities worth Rs 69.96 billion from 38-bids at the over- night 4-day reverse repo operation at a fixed rate of 6.00 per cent as on Aug 12.

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A class IX student of a government school allegedly committed suicide at his home here for getting scolded by his teachers over a 'false' complaint by some of his classmates.

Babu (14) consumed poisonous cow dung powder last night and was found lying unconscious by his parents this morning. He was declared brought dead at the government hospital here.

According to police, Babu recently reported to the class teacher about three of his classmates who had created trouble in his (teacher's) absence.

In order to take revenge, the trio cooked up a story and told their teacher that Babu was spreading rumours and linking his name with a woman colleague of the teacher.

The teacher along with two of his colleagues had allegedly used harsh words while reprimanding the boy. Babu was upset over this and took the extreme step of ending his life, police said.

The boy's relatives staged a protest at the hospital demanding stringent against the teachers.

They claimed that they had lodged a complaint with the headmaster of the school, but no action was taken against the teachers, police said.

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UK Prime Minister on Tuesday expressed condolences to the British Hindu community over the death of Swaminarayan sect's spiritual head Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

"I would like to pay my condolences to British Hindus, especially the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, on the passing away of Pramukh Swami Maharaj," May said.

"Pramukh Swami Maharaj inspired millions with his powerful motto in the good of others lies our own. This legacy of selfless service will continue to benefit humanity for a long time to come," she said.

Swami Maharaj, the president of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international Hindu organisation, and founder of London's famous Neasden temple died aged 95 on Saturday in Sarangpur in Gujarat.

"I remember fondly my visit to Neasden Mandir in March 2013, as Home Secretary, to speak at an inspiring conference for International Women's Day organised by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha," May said in a statement.

"I also had the opportunity to see the fantastic work that BAPS does across the world to improve the lives of others, and people giving up their time generously to do it. Pramukh Swami Maharaj exemplified the values of British Hindus whose contribution helps make the United Kingdom one of the world's most successful multi-cultural, multi-faith democracies," she added.

Earlier, the President Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of the spiritual guru.
A Bulgarian court ordered today that the brother-in-law of one of the men who attacked French magazine Charlie Hebdo be extradited to France after he was caught allegedly trying to join Islamic State fighters in Syria.

Mourad Hamyd, 20, whose sister was married to Charlie Hebdo gunman Cherif Kouachi, was barred from entering Turkey late last month and handed over to Bulgaria's border authorities.

On January 7 2015, the Al-Qaeda-linked Kouachi brothers killed 12 people at the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris.

France requested Hamyd's extradition on July 29, accusing him of "conspiring to prepare of acts of terrorism".

The route taken by Hamyd -- by train through Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria -- "corresponds to the one traditionally taken by jihadist fighters wanting to join the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq," French prosecutors said.

Hamyd denied the accusations on Monday, saying he never wanted to go to Syria, denying any links to the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack. He nevertheless agreed to be extradited.

Sofia City Court's ruling is final and the transfer of Hamyd to France should happen within a week, the court said.

If found convicted of terrorism offences in Frances, he faces 10 years in jail.

Hamyd first came into the spotlight in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack, when he was wrongly identified on social media as being among the killers -- along with brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

He was taken in for questioning and later freed.

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British explorer Cairn Energy plc today said it has initiated an international arbitration to seek USD 5.6 billion in compensation from the Indian government in case a retrospective tax demand of Rs 29,047 crore is not quashed.

In its half-yearly earnings statement, the company said its subsidiary Cairn UK Holdings Ltd has received an assessment order from the Indian Income Tax Department relating to the intra-group restructuring undertaken in 2006 prior to the IPO of its India unit, which cites a retrospective amendment to Indian tax law introduced in 2012.

"Cairn strongly contests the basis of this attempt to retrospectively tax the group for an internal restructuring," it said in the statement.

The assessment order levies a tax of Rs 10,247 crore plus Rs 18,800 crore of interest back dated to 2007.

"The total assets of CUHL have a current value of USD 475.2 million (about Rs 3,180 crore), comprising principally the group's 9.8 per cent shareholding in Carin India Ltd and any recovery by the Indian authorities would be limited to such assets," the statement said.

Cairn said it is pursuing its rights under Indian law to appeal the assessment, both in respect of the basis of taxation and the quantum assessed.

"CUHL's 9.8 per cent shareholding in Cairn India was originally attached by the Income Tax department in January 2014 and CUHL continues to be restricted from selling such shares," it said.

Cairn said it has commenced international arbitration proceedings under the UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty on the basis that India's actions have breached the Treaty by expropriating the company's property without adequate and just compensation, denying fair and equitable treatment to it in respect of its investments and restricting its right to freely transfer funds in connection with its investment.

"Based on detailed legal advice, Cairn is confident that it will be successful in such arbitration," it said.

The seat of arbitration has been agreed as The Hague in the Netherlands and Cairn has filed its Statement of Claim, demonstrating that applying the retrospective amendment and seizing Cairn India shares was in breach of the UK-India Investment Treaty obligations of fair and equitable treatment and its protections against expropriation.

India is expected to file its defence in Q4 2016 with evidential hearings in 2017.

"Cairn has asked the arbitration panel either to order India to withdraw its unlawful tax demand and compensate Cairn for the harm suffered by the seizure of the Cairn India shares, being not less than USD 1 billion (plus costs); or, if the tax demand remains in place, compensate Cairn for the quantum of the tax assessment and the harm suffered by the seizure of the Cairn India shares, being together not less than USD 5.6 billion (plus costs)," the statement said.

The British firm sold majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources in 2011 but still holds 9.8 per cent stake in the company, which was attached by Income Tax Department.

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China has protested to two Japanese leaders visiting a controversial shrine for war dead on the occasion of 71st anniversary of the end of World War II, saying it once again proved Japan's "wrong attitude" to the history-related issue.

"That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said.

Lu urged the Japanese side "to squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way and work to win trust from its Asian neighbours and the international community with concrete moves".

China takes exception to such visits by Japanese leaders as it also honours "Class-A criminals" of World War-II who were accused of committing atrocities in China.

Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine that honours convicted war criminals among the war dead is regarded by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.

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Two children and a youth died on Independence Day as Chinese kite string (manja), coated with powdered glass, slit their throats in separate incidents across the national capital, prompting the Delhi government to finally ban the killer thread.

All the incidents took place within a span of four hours yesterday. In another case, a Delhi Police Sub-Inspector sustained minor injuries as a kite string grazed his neck when he was returning to Anand Vihar police station after Independence Day duty.

The first incident took place around 6.30 PM on August 15, a day that sees frenzied kite flying across the city, when three-year-old Saanchi Goyal was returning home with her parents after watching a movie in Naraina.

The girl was peering out of the open sunroof of the car when her neck got slit by a hanging thread in the Rani Bagh area, a police officer said. She was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her brought dead.

"A case has been registered under section 304(A) (causing death by negligence) and we have to determine whether it was Chinese manja that took the girl's life," said Vijay Singh, DCP (Northwest).

Neighbours said that Saanchi was the only child of her parents. Her father, Alok Goyal runs a wood business while her mother is a homemaker. She was a nursery student of Bal Bharati School Pitampura.

The other child identified as four-year-old Harry had a similar end as manja-laden thread connected to a stray kite inflicted fatal injuries on his neck. He was looking outside the sunroof of the car at the Tilak Nagar area when the thread got wrapped around his neck leaving him profusely bleeding.

Police has registered a case under Section 304 A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC in the case.

"The child accompanied by his parents and six-year-old sister was returning home around 8 PM when the incident occurred on the flyover near Janakpuri district centre. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead," said a senior police officer.

In west Delhi's Vikaspuri area, a 22-year-old man, Zafar Khan, lost his life as his neck was slashed by a the lethal thread while he was riding motorbike on a flyover.

The family members, who are in a state of shock, could not even interact with the cops to furnish details, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Buoyed by the success of its Varanasi roadshow, Congress on Tuesday deliberated on the way ahead in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The coordination committee of the party met in New Delhi in which party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rajiv Shulka, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and state leader Pramod Tiwari were present.

The meeting comes at a time when Congress is making all-out efforts to become a relevant force in Uttar Pradesh where it has been out of power for nearly three decades.

Taking the battle to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turf, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on August 2 launched her party's campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election with a massive roadshow in Varanasi.

Thousands of Congress supporters and workers took part in the roadshow from the Circuit House to Englishiya Line, a distance of about eight kilometres.

The march began with Gandhi garlanding the statue of B R Ambedkar at the Circuit House. The marchers criss-crossed lanes and bylanes of the temple town.

But she had to cut short the programme due to ill health.
In order to curb corruption in the state, Congress in Uttarakhand today asked Chief Minister Harish Rawat to speed up the appointment of the anti-corruption watchdog Lokayukta.

"In the absence of these constitutional authorities, it has become all the more difficult to keep corruption under check," Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said in a letter to Rawat.

Citing the non-appointments of other key posts of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner, he also requested the state government to order judicial probe into all corruption cases unearthed in the state since its creation.

Upadhyay said with the Congress now back in power after the President's Rule, it can initiate steps in that direction.

He also attacked the Centre for toppling a democratically-elected government in the state on the basis of a "so-called sting CD," and asked the Governor K K Paul to provide the original copy of the CD to the party.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a first, a special course for officers of the rank of Colonel and equivalent of maritime security agencies from friendly countries in the immediate neighbourhood today began at the Naval War College in Goa, a sign of increasing defence diplomacy.

Defence sources said the plan is to eventually have it for countries in the larger neighbourhood -- the Asia-Pacific region.

Officers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Maldives, Oman and Sri Lanka have arrived to attend the course. The participant from Indonesia is also likely to join by end of this week.

The eight-week Regional Maritime Security Course (RMSC) includes international relations theory, international maritime law, UNCLOS, energy and natural resources security, maritime domain awareness, Indian Ocean studies as well as a table top humanitarian assistance and disaster relief/out of area contingency exercise.

"The conduct of the maiden RMSC is considered to be a shot in the arm for naval cooperation initiatives, and would enable better understanding between regional navies at the operational level," the navy said in a statement.

The course would provide a concrete forum for developing common understanding of regional maritime security issues, disseminate Indian Navy's perspective on the subject, as well as provide an opportunity for Indian officers undergoing the Naval Higher Command Course to interact with the foreign participants, and understand the perspectives of regional navies, on issues of common concern.

Indian Navy has been providing training to naval personnel from friendly countries over the last five decades, during which it has trained more than 13,000 foreign personnel from 42 countries.

The training interactions would complement in fulfilling our national objectives of "strengthening cooperation and friendship with other countries to promote regional and global stability".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, today failed to get any relief from a Delhi court which directed her to vacate the bungalow in Lutyen's zone where she has been living since 1999.

However, her plea in the Delhi High Court to retain the residence or get an alternate government accommodation on security grounds was today adjourned to August 19.

On the last date of hearing on August 12, the high court had extended till today the interim protection from eviction granted on July 12.

However, today when the matter came before Justice Indermeet Kaur, Payal's counsel sought adjournment and it was renotifed for hearing on August 19.

She had also approached the trial court seeking stay of the June 30 eviction order issued by the Estate Officer of state of Jammu and Kashmir, contending that the order was passed without allowing her to lead evidence and without granting her any personal hearing.

District Judge Amarnath today dismissed her plea against the eviction order which she had challenged on the ground that the estate officer of the state did not have the jurisdiction, as the property belonged to the central government.

The Centre and the state of Jammu and Kashmir had earlier told the high court that government accommodation was only provided to SPG protectees, to which Payal claimed parity with Subramaniam Swamy, K P S Gill and others, who have Z and Z plus security cover, and had been granted government accommodation.

While she enjoys Z category security cover, each of her sons has Z plus security, comprising of a total 94 personnel.

Payal has claimed that so many personnel, their weapons and other security arrangements cannot be accommodated at her private flat in the city.

With regard to the Centre and the state's claim that the



7, Akbar Road bungalow was meant for the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, she has told the high court that it was alloted to her husband from 1999 onwards and was never cancelled, even when he was not an MP or an MLA.

In her plea in the high court, Payal has contended that the Centre's letter of September 2015 by which the bungalow at here was allotted for official use of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was "a manipulative document" as it put the premises under the state's disposal with effect from a retrospective date six years prior.

Payal in her plea and her reply has also contended that the website of the Department of Hospitality and Protocol of Government of Jammu and Kashmir shows that the residence of Chief Minister of the state was 5, Prithviraj Road.

She has also claimed that as per information obtained from the internet, "the number of security personnel required for protecting a protectee assigned a specific category of security cannot be changed".

"All protectees being provided Z plus category security have a total number of 36 security personnel protecting them, Z category has a security cover of 22 personnel, Y category has a security cover of 11 personnel and X category has a security cover of 5 or 2 personnel and the number of security personnel cannot be reduced depending upon the size and location of the accommodation of the protectee," her reply said.
"It is a very important day," these were the last words of CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar after he unfurled the tricolour at the forces' base in Srinagar, minutes before he fell to militants' bullets in the Nowhatta area of the Jammu and Kashmir capital.

44-year-old Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 49th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force deployed in the Kashmir valley, hoisted the flag between 8:30-8:40 AM and made a speech saying with India clocking 70 years of its freedom, the responsibility on security forces has "increased" and they have to effectively tackle militants and incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Just before he ended his speech, Kumar, in a video of the event, is seen looking at his watch as he said "it is an important day", unaware of the fate that awaited him.

The officer who joined the paramilitary in 1998 also read out the names of those personnel of the force who were awarded gallantry medals on the eve of the Independence Day and congratulated them.

Soon after, officials said, the wireless set in the CRPF control room crackled informing it about militants hurling grenades and firing on security forces at four places in downtown Srinagar like Nowhatta Chowk, Gojwara Chowk, Bata Gali and Khaniyar Chowk, as they sought reinforcements.

Kumar, along with a small team of his personal security team, dashed out in a bullet proof vehicle and soon after landed at the incident spot.

"The militants were still firing. Kumar led from the front and was shot grievously on the upper part of his neck," they said.

He was rushed to the 92 Base Hospital of the army in Srinagar where he succumbed to his injuries.

A senior CRPF officer who had served with Kumar in the counter-insurgency grid in the north-east earlier said the officer was very "cool but daring."



"We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time yesterday," he said.

While Kumar and his men eliminated the two militants, nine other personnel including a state police official were injured in the attack.

Kumar was posted to Srinagar in April 2014 and was recently promoted as a Commandant. He hailed from Patna in Bihar but was living at present in neighbouring Jharkhand's Jamtara district.

He is survived by his wife Neha Tripathi and 7-year-old daughter Aarna.

Kumar had been thrice decorated with the CRPF Director General's commendation in 2015, 2014 and 2011. He has earlier served in the Special Protection Group for 3 years.

His last rites were today performed with military honours in his native village Mihijam in Jamtara.

(REOPENS DES20)



In a tweet, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi condoled the death of the officer.

"Heartfelt condolences to the family of the brave CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar. Salute his courage and sacrifice," he said.
Dawood Ibrahim's nephew Alishah Parkar will tie the knot in the megapolis tomorrow even as the Mumbai Police and other security agencies are going to keep a close watch on the event, which is likely to be attended by the mob boss via Skype.

Alishah, son of Dawood's late sister Hasina Parkar, will marry Aisha Nagani, daughter of a city-based businessman at a hotel in Mumbai.

Police sources said Dawood is likely to attend the function via 'Skype'.

Mumbai Police's Crime Branch has asked the anti-extortion cell to keep a hawk-eye vigil on the events.

"Police will keep a close watch on the proceedings as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace," a senior police official said.

Alishah's elder brother Danish had died in a road accident in 2006, while his sister Umaira got married in May last year.
A day after kite strings claimed three lives in the national capital, the Delhi government today imposed a ban on the sale, production and storage of glass-coated threads or Chinese manja even as a blame game erupted with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claiming the Environment Secretary took seven days to clear a notification.

According to the draft notification issued by Environment Secretary Chandraker Bharti, kite flying will be permissible only with a cotton thread and natural fibre free from any metallic and glass components.

Violation of directions will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to five years or fine which may be extended to Rs 1 lakh or with both.

However, sources in the LG office said the Lt Governor had approved the draft notification on August 8 and sent it back to the government the next day.

The AAP government delayed issuance of the draft notification despite the fact that the LG office had sent the notification with his approval to Environment Department on August 9, they said, adding that notification may not make a good impact as the flying kite season is almost over with the wrapping up of Independence Day celebrations.

Sisodia said he was writing to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung seeking action against the Environment Secretary for "gross negligence in duty and insensitiveness in Chinese manja case".

"Environment Secretary took 7days to issue notification though file was cleared by my & Env Minster's office within minutes on 9th August," the Deputy CM tweeted.

A government official said as the LG is in-charge of the Services Department, he should seek clarification for the delay from the officer concerned.

Environment Department of Delhi government has sought public suggestions and objections on its draft notification asking them to file the same within 60 days and thereafter, a final notification will be issued.

"There shall be complete ban on 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 such as by being laced with glass, metal or other sharp objects in National Capital Territory of Delhi," the notification stated.

Yesterday, three-year-old Saanchi Goyal, who was returning with her parents after watching a movie, was killed after a stray kite string slashed her neck in Rani Bagh area when she was looking out of open sunroof in their car.

A four-and-a-half-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man also died after their necks got slit while a Delhi Police sub- inspector was injured in such incidents.

"During kite flying, a lot of injury is caused to the people and birds on account of pucca thread made out of plastic or similar such synthetic material commonly known as Chinese thread. These injuries many a times turn out to be fatal causing death of people and birds.

"It is, therefore, desirable to protect the people and birds from the fatal effects of the kite thread made out of plastic or synthetic thread as Chinese thread," notification also said.

On August 11, the Delhi High Court had asked the AAP government and the civic bodies to issue advisory ahead of Independence Day making the public aware of fatal effect of the use of razor sharp kite-flying threads.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi government today issued a draft notification banning sale, production and storage of metal-coated kite thread or Chinese manja in the capital, a day after two children and a youth were killed and a sub- inspector was injured in incidents of stray kite strings grazing their necks.

According to the notification, kite flying will be permissible only with a cotton thread and natural fibre free from any metallic and glass components.

The violation of directions will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to five years or fine which may be extended to Rs 1 lakh or with both.

However, sources in the LG office said the Lt Governor had approved the draft notification on August 8 and sent it back to the government the next day.

The AAP government has delayed in issuing the draft notification, they said.

The AAP government has refuted the charge and said Environment Minister Imran Hussain had signed the file pertaining to the ban on manja on August 5 and sent it to the LG office the same day when he was admitted in a hospital owing to the notification's importance.

"Whatever he (LG) has to seek, he should seek from the officer concerned since he is in-charge of the Services," a senior government official said.

The Environment Department of Delhi government has sought public suggestions and objections on its draft notification asking them to file the same within 60 days and thereafter, a final notification will be issued.

"There shall be complete ban on 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 such as by being laced with glass, metal or other sharp objects in National Capital Territory of Delhi," the notification stated.

Yesterday, three-year-old Saanchi Goyal, who was returning with parents after watching a movie, was killed after a stray kite string slashed her neck in Rani Bagh area when she was looking out of open sunroof in their car.

A four-and-a-half-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man also died after their necks got slit while a Delhi Police sub- inspector was injured in such incidents.

"During the kite flying, a lot of injury is caused to the people and birds on account of pucca thread made out of plastic or similar such synthetic material commonly known as Chinese thread. These injuries many a times turn out to be fatal causing death of people and birds.

"It is, therefore, desirable to protect the people and birds from the fatal effects of the kite thread made out of plastic or synthetic thread as Chinese thread," notification also said.

On August 11, the Delhi High Court had asked the AAP government and the civic bodies to issue advisory ahead of Independence Day making the public aware of fatal effect of the use of razor sharp kite-flying threads.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi Police wants a senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer to look after its public relations office, which is traditionally managed by senior officials from the force.

The Delhi Police has written to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that the post of Public Relations Officer, on which a senior official from the force is deputed till now, be now looked after a senior Indian Information Service officer.

"The Ministry has received a request that the post of PRO be assigned to an IIS officer. Perhaps, this is the first such request from a police force looking after law and order in a state. However, IIS officers have earlier handled public relations for central police forces like CRPF and CBI etc," a senior official said.

Following the request from the force, the Ministry has invited applications from its officers for the post.

The position requires sensitivity,



a sound knowledge of law as well as procedures and practices of the police, a senior official said.

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Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to shed his "confrontationist attitude" for finding a solution to the Kashmir problem.

Speaking to reporters here, Digvijaya also raked up the handling of the Pathankot terror attack by the Centre and its aftermath.

"BJP is a coalition partner with PDP in J&K. But the two parties do not agree on basic issues. They want to retain only power. Congress has suggested taking an all-party delegation to Kashmir valley for achieving peace. Please agree to that," he said.

"If you want peace there (in Kashmir), then Modi-ji drop your confrontationist attitude. Stop making provocative speeches," he said.

He ridiculed Modi's unscheduled visit to Pakistan to attend a wedding in Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family.

The NDA government should have put conditions before allowing Pak investigators to probe the Pathankot incident, he said.

"During the oath ceremony he (Modi) invited Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif) and without any formal invitation he broke off his journey from Afghanistan to attend a family wedding. And two days later the Pathankot attack took place where four or five terrorists came....NIA says there were six terrorists. But there were only four bodies found. Where were the other two terrorists?" Singh asked.

Earlier, the Congress leader addressed a farmers' meeting in the district.

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: Nearly 200 DMK workers and locals who tried to stage a demonstration seeking immediate shifting of a garbage dump yard at nearby Vellalore which reportedly caused breating problems to residents, were removed from the spot by police today.

The workers raised slogans against the city corporation for its poor maintenance of the yard and complained that it caused mental agony to the residents, as they were unable to eat due to the swarm of flies entering their homes.

Moreover, the frequent small fires also caused health problems, especially among children, the residents said.

The garbage in the yard caught fire yesterday afternoon, causing inconvenience to the residents in the vicinity as thick smoke engulfed households in the locality.

However, the blaze was put out after a two-hour battle.

Suspecting foul play, the corporation is considering lodging a complaint against those behind the fire.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a surprising move, former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, an accused in several coal scam cases and presently out on bail, today told a special court that he intended to "face trial from inside the jail" and withdraw his personal bond to secure bail due to financial difficulties.

After Gupta moved the application before Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar, the court "extensively enquired" from him about the reasons for filing such a plea.

Responding to the court's query, the former bureaucrat said he was in financial difficulties, even for engaging a lawyer.

"Accused H C Gupta has moved an application seeking to withdraw his personal bond submitted earlier for his release on bail and also to withdraw the authorisation letter in favour of his advocates... Along with the application, a note explaining the reasons for moving the aforesaid application has also been annexed," the court noted in its order.

"Gupta states that he does not wish to examine any witness in his defence and intends to face the trial from inside the jail. Upon this, Gupta was extensively enquired about the reasons for moving of the said application. Gupta also stated that he is also facing financial difficulties even in engaging a lawyer," the judge said.

After Gupta told the court about financial difficulties in engaging lawyer, the court told him that if he was facing any such problem, he could be provided services of an advocate from New Delhi Legal Aid Services Authority or an amicus curiae can be appointed on his behalf.

Gupta, however, refused to avail such services, following which the court gave him time to think over his plea and posted the matter for hearing tomorrow.

Meanwhile, CBI said they would respond to Gupta's plea.

During the day's proceeding, the court talked to the wife and son of Gupta regarding the application moved by him.

"After getting the court room vacated from all persons present except the court staff, the undersigned (judge) had a talk with the wife and son of accused (Gupta) in open court and informed them about the application moved by Gupta," the court noted in its order.

"Thereafter, Gupta was also called inside the court room and in the presence of court staff, the undersigned had a talk with him and his wife and son in the open court itself. Gupta has been given time to think over the plea made by him today in the application and has been told that a decision on the application shall be taken at a subsequent date," it said.

The court is presently recording the statements of



defence witnesses in the case involving Madhya Pradesh-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL) and others.

The court had earlier granted bail to Gupta, the then Joint Secretary of Coal K S Kropha, the then Director (Coal Allocation-I section) K C Samaria and two officials of KSSPL in the case.

In May, the court had dismissed Gupta's plea seeking joint trial in several cases against him in related to the matter, saying all the matters were at different stages.

On August 8, the Supreme Court also rejected his plea for joint trial.

Eight different charge sheets have been filed against him and the proceedings are going on separately.
The swollen Yamuna River today damaged an embankment near Kelra village in Shamli district, submerging huge tracts of farmland.

According to a revenue official,Yamuna River has submerged the land of several farmers and erosion continues along Kelra village.

Officials have started construction of stone walls to prevent further erosion.

The farmers have demanded compensation from the state government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Police has arrested a five members of a gang who had kidnapped an 11-year-old boy from Narela area of outer Delhi for ransom, police said today.

Inspired by crime-based television shows, six people from Delhi and Haryana planned the kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy from Narela.

The 11-year-old boy was kidnapped a couple of weeks back from Narela market where he had gone to meet his relatives with his mother, police said.

The kidnappers called the boy's father demanding a ransom of Rs one crore but after the family expressed its inability to pay such a high amount, the kidnappers brought down their demand, they said.

After the ransom was paid and the child was returned safely, the police began a search for the kidnappers. The child had no memory of his kidnappers as he was sedated. Based on certain inputs, the police raided a number of places in Haryana and arrested five people. The mastermind of the kidnapping, Pawan, is still absconding, said Vikramjit Singh, DCP (Outer).

During interrogation, it has emerged that Pawan had drawn inspiration from crime shows that frequently show such episodes of kidnapping. Since Pawan had previous experience of working as a compounder with a physician, he knew which drugs would sedate the kid.

The police has recovered the vehicles that were used in the kidnapping and the injections that were administered to the kid.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five undergraduate students from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh met with watery grave in the Krishna river this afternoon.

The incident occurred at a ghat in Guntur district, police said.

The deceased students belonged to Nandigama and Chandarlapadu mandals of Krishna district and were B Com final year students at Chaitanya College in Nandigama.

A group of 11 students had hired a boat at Chandarlapadu and sailed to Digudu ghat near Amaravati in neighbouring Guntur district.

This being the 'Pushkaram' festival time, they got down into the river for a dip without realising that the river was very deep at that spot. While five of them drowned, others managed to swim to the river bank.

Initial reports suggested that the boat capsized, leading to the tragedy, but subsequent investigation revealed the students themselves had got into the river for a dip.

"We have erected warning boards indicating that the river is very deep in the area but they seemed to have ignored that," Krishna district Superintendent of Police Vijaya Kumar said.

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy expressed shock and grief over the incident.

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Former cabinet minister Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury today suffered a heart attack and was admitted to a private nursing home here.

Doctors attending on him said Chowdhury was admitted to the nursing home after he complained of chest pain this morning.

He was later taken to Kolkata for further treatment, doctors said.

Chowdhury (58) is the chairman of Englishbazar municipality.

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Veteran BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur created flutter in the political circles when he held the Congress flag during a programme organised on the occasion of 70th Independence Day here.

Local Congress MLA Arif Aqueel, who has been organising 'Paigam-e-Mohabbat' programme on Independence Day since many years, yesterday invited religious heads, freedom fighters and prominent party leaders for the event.

Gaur took part in the event is his capacity as a freedom fighter. Congress MLA and former Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh was also present.

A rally was taken out from Bhopal Talkies which was flagged-off by those present there. At this point, to everyone's surprise, Gaur took in his hands the Congress flag, causing murmurs in political circles.

"Gaur Sahab is no doubt angry with BJP, but he is a very senior leader of the party and deeply rooted with it. Somebody handed over him a Congress flag which he had held in his hands in true spirit of the programme. Nothing more should be read into it," Aqueel said today.

However, he added, "If he (Gaur) leaves BJP and joins Congress, the party would welcome him with open heart."



When contacted, Gaur said, "I have been attending this programme every year in my capacity as freedom fighter. Aqueel used to honour those who fought for the country, including MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) detainees among others."



"During the flagging-off ceremony somebody handed me a flag and the moment I noticed it was not of my party I gave it back. Nothing more should be read into it," he said and asserted that he will not leave BJP.

"The question of leaving BJP does not arise as it had made me the chief minister from a mere labourer. It made my daughter-in-law mayor of Bhopal and has given me a lot. Why should I go to a party whose existence is in danger," Gaur asked.

Gaur, who was also the state home minister, was reportedly not happy the way he was asked to resign from the state Cabinet in the last reshuffle apparently on ground of old age.

He had also created unpleasant situation for the ruling party a few times during the monsoon session of the Assembly by asking unpalatable questions.

(Reopens BES4)



Meanwhile, in a letter to Aqueel today, Gaur expressed



displeasure over the matter, stating that he was under the impression that the flag given to him was the national flag.

The veteran BJP leader termed the incident as a "political conspiracy", and alleged that Congress should not have done such a thing on the occasion of the independence day.

The former Chief Minister asserted that he will remain in BJP, where he started his political career, all his life.
Investor confidence in Germany rebounded slightly in August, as the shock over Britain's vote to leave the European Union began to wear off, a leading survey showed today.

The investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute gained 7.3 points to stand in positive territory at 0.5 points in August, recovering from a massive 26-point slump in July that had brought the index to minus 6.8 points.

The index shows a "recovery somewhat from the Brexit shock," said the institute's president Achim Wambach.

"As before, political risks within and outside of the European Union are weighing on an optimistic economic outlook for Germany. In addition, there are further uncertainties with regards to the ability of the EU banking sector to withstand shocks," he added in a statement.

Britain sent financial markets plunging over its referendum on June 23 in which 52 per cent of the population voted to leave the EU.

In a sign that investor fears are easing, the ZEW's sub-index measuring financial market players' view of the eurozone economy showed a sharp improvement, jumping 19.3 points to 4.6 points.

Their assessment of Germany's current economic situation was likewise more positive, rising by 7.8 points to 57.6 points.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
German police today arrested a man believed to have supplied a gun and bullets used by a teenage gunman to kill nine people in a rampage at a Munich shopping centre, prosecutors said.

Police had began tracking the 31-year-old German suspect while investigating two cases of illegal arms transactions that were unrelated to the Munich gunman, David Ali Sonboly.

After establishing the suspect's transaction procedure through the internet and encrypted emails, investigators set up a fake deal for the purchase of a machine gun, pistol and ammunition.

During the process, the unnamed "suspected weapons dealer" said that he had supplied the Glock 17 pistol and ammunition to the Munich assault gunman", prosecutors said in a statement.

"The 31-year-old man was arrested as he was handing over a shotgun" in the set up, police said.

Sonboly killed himself after his murderous spree on July 22 with the pistol he had bought on the internet.

His attack, which began at a McDonald's branch, also left 35 people injured.

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The pilot of an ultralight aircraft in Germany spent more than 12 hours stuck up a tree after rescuers were unable to reach him overnight.

Police in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said the unidentified man crash-landed in the tree late yesterday about 30 kilometres east of Stuttgart.

Attempts to bring the man down from his lofty perch 30 metres above ground had to be abandoned at nightfall because of the risk that the plane and its pilot might be dislodged and fall to the ground, police said.

The 59-year-old was eventually rescued unharmed today.

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GoAir has received government's approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan, with the Wadia group airline now expecting to take to international skies early next year.

The approval for the Mumbai-based carrier which has been operating for over a decade, comes more than two months after the Government eased the overseas flying norms for Indian airlines.

The airline has received approval to operate flights to nine countries, including Iran, China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, a senior official said.

"We have got approval to fly to nine countries. We expect to start international operations from the next summer schedule," GoAir Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told PTI.

Generally, the summer schedule commences from the last Sunday of March and extends to the last Saturday of October every year.

GoAir would be the first Indian private carrier to fly to any CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). CIS countries for which the carrier has got flying nod include Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan and Azerbaijan.

Currently under the air service agreements, Indian carriers can operate 31 weekly services to Iran, seven to Azerbaijan, Kazakhastan (21), Uzbekistan (18) and China (42). In case of Vietnam, Indian airlines are allowed to operate 28 weekly services and permitted unlimited operations from 18 select tourist destinations in India.

Under the bilaterals, the quota for seats and services are equal for airlines of the two countries concerned.

GoAir currently has a fleet of 21 Airbus aircraft including two fuel-efficient A320 neos. It is the lone one among the established players that is yet to start overseas flights. Its peers --IndiGo and SpiceJet -- already operate international flights.

The erstwhile 5/20 norm, whereby local carriers were required to have at least five years of flying experience and a minimum of 20 aircraft to fly overseas, had restricted GoAir since it did not have the required number of planes to operate on international routes.

Only in June this year, GoAir saw its fleet rise to 20 planes with the induction of first A320 neos.

Around the same time, the government decided to do away with the 5/20 rule and replaced it with 0/20 norm as part of the new civil aviation policy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nagaland Governor P B Acharya today asked the state government to implement the 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies and Lokayukta.

"I have asked Chief Minister T R Zeliang to establish Lokayukta so that corrupt officials can be checked and also make the functioning of the government transparent," he said during an interaction with media persons at Raj Bhavan here.

He said constitutional checks and counter checks will run the government as they make the state machinery accountable to people.

On the recent Cabinet decision to conduct polls to urban local bodies with 33 per cent women reservation, he said this was mandatory and constitutional and the state government has already amended the Nagaland Municipal Act.

Stating that the women group of the state had gone to the court demanding implementation of 33 per cent women reservation in urban local bodies and the case is pending in Supreme Court, Acharya said the state government has decided to implement women reservation but some tribal organisation were against it.

The Governor said he has asked the state government to convince these people and conduct elections to the urban local bodies by implementing women reservation.

On the Naga peace talks, the Governor expressed hope that "something concrete will come out in near future" without giving any time frame.

He quoted the Centre's interlocutor R N Ravi and NSCN(IM) general secretary Th Muivah stating that purposeful talks were going on and an agreement was in sight.

The Governor therefore appealed to all the Naga underground groups to join the peace talks so that there won't be any dissension and it will be unanimous, and the state can march forward when 'real peace; was achieved.

On the law and order front, Acharya said the government has to win the confidence of the people.

He regretted that the enquiry reports of March, 2015 lynching of a rape accused and killing of a businesswoman in December, have not been made public till date and requested the government to appoint a new probe team.

On the development activities, the Governor lamented that major projects like medical college in Kohima and railway connection were being stalled as some of the landowners rejected the compensation system.

"Any injustice should be sorted out. A public project should not suffer because of individual greed," he said and called upon the people to think of wilful contribution in case of a public cause.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A meeting between the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley-led ministerial panel and (BMS) to discuss its demands remained inconclusive on Tuesday, a union leader said.

A total of 10 central trade unions have threatened a nationwide strike on September 2.

"Various issues were discussed. The meeting remained inconclusive," BMS general secretary Brijesh Upadhyay told reporters after the nearly three-hour long meeting in New Delhi.

He said another round of meeting will be held on August 22.

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said he was hopeful of a positive outcome.

"We are hopeful that some positive decision will be taken on August 22," he said.

It was the first meeting of the ministerial panel with a central trade union over the 12-point charter of demands in almost a year. It had met trade unions on August 26-27, 2015.

Ten central trade unions had gone on a nationwide strike on September 2 last year over a set of demands. Earlier this year, they decided to go on strike on the same date again in view of the government's indifference to their demands.

Dattatreya said BMS presented a memorandum of demands.

The union is asking for increase in minimum wages, he said, adding that a formula with regards to contract labour was also discussed.

"We are coming out with some norms on contract labour," the minister said.

Regarding increasing minimum pension of Rs 1,000, he said the government is already providing Rs 900 crore towards it.

Among other things, trade unions are demanding minimum monthly wage of Rs 18,000, minimum assured pension of Rs 3,000 and no foreign direct investments in sectors like the railways, defence and insurance.

BMS has strongly condemned the callous delay and neglecting attitude of the government in not fulfilling the promises on demands raised by the joint forum of central trade unions.

The promises were made by both Labour Minister and Labour Secretary in August last year as a follow-up to the decisions taken by the ministerial group headed by Jaitley, which was formed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BMS had said in a statement.

After a meeting of its central working committee in Bhopal last week, BMS had said it has decided to take strongest action, including strike.
Government may consider a proposal to start bidding round for mega-spectrum auction from October 1 -- two days later than the scheduled date -- Telecom Secretary J S Deepak said today.

"Telcos have asked if auction can coincide with the 'auspicious' period starting October 1 instead of September 29," Deepak told CNBC TV18.

He said that government may consider it but no final decision has been taken yet.

As per present schedule, bids for airwaves in the country's biggest ever spectrum auction valued at Rs 5.63 lakh crore is scheduled to start from September 29, which falls during the 'Shradh' rituals to pay homage to ancestors and people generally abstain from starting new work.

Government expects about Rs 64,000 crore upfront collection this financial year.

While industry experts have been skeptical on success of spectrum sale due to high price of mobile airwaves, Deepak expressed confidence saying the buyers of airwaves in most expensive frequency band, 700 megahertz, will be able to save 70 per cent cost that they will spend in rolling out infrastructure.

He said that the auction has ample spectrum to resolve industry woes around service quality.

Deepak also said that government will take a call on proposed amendment in Trai Act to give regulator more power, "in few weeks".

On long-pending VSNL's (now Tata Communications) land issue, he said that the Department of Telecom is making effort to take possession of land lying with Tata Communications, in this financial year.

Erstwhile VSNL has 740.63 acres of surplus land valued at Rs 6,156.58 crore in 2012.

The issue of surplus land has been pending since 2002 when Tata Communications acquired the PSU. Following Tata's acquisition, the surplus land was lying unused.

The firm has surplus land at five locations which include Dighi in Pune, Hali Shahar in Kolkata, Chattarpur and Greater Kailash in Delhi and Padianallur in Chennai.

As per 2012 valuation, the value of land at two locations in Delhi stood at Rs 5,375.52 crore, in Pune it is Rs 512.13 crore, while in Chennai and Kolkata, it is Rs 186.22 crore and 82.71 crore respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu on Tuesday, said the state government will get the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill passed in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the legislative Assembly commencing on August 26.

He also termed the passage of the Bill in Parliament as a revolutionary step and said that would be implemented by the Centre from April, 2017.

The economic world feels that the Bill should be passed quickly so that similar tax system could be enforced in the states too, Abhimanyu said.

To a question, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' programme from Panipat. With the success of the programme, the sex ratio has jumped over 900 from 850 in the state.

The Finance Minister said women police stations had been set up in every district of the state to ensure safety of women. Concrete steps were also being taken for the recruitment of women in the police force, he added.
In a fresh rhetoric, Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has asked army chief General Raheel Sharif to send troops to Kashmir to "obey" the pending order of Pakistan's founder M A Jinnah.

Addressing a rally held under the banner of 'Defence Council of Pakistan' in Karachi on Sunday, Saeed claimed, "Kashmiris had announced before the partition that it wanted to remain with Pakistan. But after partition India forcibly sent army to Jammu and Kashmir.

"On this Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered commander-in-chief to respond by sending troops but he refused (to obey his orders). Now I ask Gen Raheel Sharif to send troops in (Jammu and) Kashmir as Quaid-e-Azam's order is pending," Saeed said.

He said that he is not asking for a war with India but they (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Raheel) must form a strategy with regard to Kashmir issue.

Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who carries a USD 10-million bounty on his head, asked Prime Minister Sharif to break his silence and respond to Modi's strong statements on Kashmir and Balochistan.

"Pakistan has become a war zone and innocent Kashmiris are being killed while Modi is talking of separating Balochistan. Why our prime minister is silent and reluctant to respond to Modi in the same manner," he asked.

He said Sharif should take relief goods to Chakothi then Kashmiris would believe that the Pakistani Prime Minister is with them.

A JuD caravan led by Talha Saeed, the son of Hafiz Saeed, had staged a sit-in at the Line of Control near Chakothi in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), demanding that India accept relief materials brought by them for Kashmiris.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court today ordered a fresh inquiry by police into a Rs three-crore cheating complaint against former DMK MP J K Ritheesh.

Setting aside the November 12, 2015 closure report filed in the case by an Inspector of the City Crime Branch (CCB), Justice P N Prakash directed the CCB Assistant Commissioner of Police to conduct a fresh probe into the allegations made by the petitioner and take action in accordance with the law.

He gave the order on a petition from city-based NRI Athinarayanan Subramanian alias Shiva who had alleged that he had given Rs three crore to Ritheesh for business purpose.

However, he did not get any contract as assured and when he sought the money back, the cheques allegedly issued by Ritheesh bounced, the petitioner submitted.

He said he paid the entire amount of Rs three crore through bank transfer.

Stating that police had only given a CSR (community service register) number when he lodged the complaint in October 2015, he sought a direction for registration of an FIR.

When the matter came up for hearing, counsel for the state government conveyed that the complaint was closed on November 12, 2015.

Recording the submission, the judge directed the ACP to conduct a fresh inquiry into the complaint.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of the recent hi-tech ATM robbery allegedly committed by a group of Romanians, police today decided to keep a close vigil on the ATMs in the state between 9 PM to 6 AM.

The order in this regard was issued by Director General of Police Loknath Behara.

The Highway Police and night patrol police teams will keep a close watch on the ATMs. They would examine if any mysterious objects have been placed near the ATM counters or if bank networks have been meddled with or if the kiosks have suffered any damage.

They would also keenly watch if the guards are doing their duty diligently and if there are any lapses, it would be reported to banks concerned, a police release said.

The DGP has also asked the Zonal ADGPs, Range IGs, district police chiefs to file an action taken report in a week's time.

Police had arrested a Romanian from Mumbai on August nine within days of the incident here and brought to Kerala. The accused has been taken to Mumbai for collecting evidence.

Four other Romanians are suspected to have fled the country.

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A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spit at and called 'ISIS' by a woman here in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The two Muslim women  both wearing hijabs  reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood here.

The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.

Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them 'ISIS'.

A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...You ISIS! ...You ISIS!"

Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from who witnessed the incident, which possibly upset her even more.

"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.

In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe.

"That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?"

Damra's mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments.

"People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.

Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault.

However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry.

"It's very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi.

"To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said.
National award winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has slammed the idea of censorship in films.

The director said he feels to have censorship in a democracy is "silly" and such rules can only survive in dictatorship.

"I don't believe in any censorship. I don't want to be told what to do and what not to do. It is very silly in a democracy. Only under dictatorship you need censorship of any kind," he told reporters here.

"What is it that you are censoring? An opinion. But democracy functions on different opinions...," he added.

According to the filmmaker, he was once part of a film study group, which included directors like Shyam Benegal and Ramesh Sippy, where they discussed the issue of censorship.

"There should be no censorship in a democracy. I am basically against the idea. In fact, we were all together in a committee which was studying all these issues, it was a film study group, under the chairmanship of doctor Shivaram Karanth.

"Shyam Benegal, Ramesh Sippy and others were there. Majority of us decided that we should scrap this (censorship). Then Mr Sippy said no please don't do that. We save ourselves with the censor certificate."



The 75-year-old "Swayamvaram" helmer said censor certificate can be used by filmmakers as a way to safely release a film during crisis.

"Suppose on the day of the release or on previous day, somebody goes to the court and if the release is disturbed, so now what helps them is the censor certificate. They can show them, that it has been censored and approved. That kind of security is being given by this certificate.

"But the idea of censorship doesn't stop there. That's the problem. When somebody becomes in-charge of the censor board and thinks that he has supreme authority over everyone, who makes films in this country, that means it is the misuse of what is intended by certification, it is not even censorship," he added.

"They have no business to censor any films. Even



according to the rules...," the filmmaker added.

Adoor said after Sippy explained his stand, there were only two people opposing censorship in the committee.

"So when Mr Sippy explained this, there were only two people opposing. We thought the commercial cinema would want it without censors. But there are the ones who want it."



The director also spoke about how the government must not behave "royal" and should consult even the opposition.

"Also the majority should not think that they are the complete authority and they can behave like a government which is royal. Government has to consult even with the opposition and take decisions. Our constitution is very clear on these things," said the helmer.

The director was speaking at a press meet for celebrating his 50 years in the film industry and his upcoming film "Pinneyum", organised by Gateway LitFest.
As someone who has made a mark without a godfather in the industry, actress Esha Gupta is proud of her journey and is happy that she does not need to give credit to anyone for her Bollywood career.

"I have to work really hard because no one has got your back, no one has got my back. It is a good thing because I don't end up giving anyone credit for where I am. Some people might take it the wrong way but that's the truth. There is no one I give credit to for making me an actor," she told PTI in an interview.

The 30-year-old actress is, however, thankful to certain people for helping her in the journey.

"There are a lot of people I am thankful to in this process and Mukeshji (Mukesh Bhatt) is on top of that list because he is the one, who said, 'We will cast you in Jannat 2'."



The Delhi girl says like any struggler in Mumbai, she did not know how she was going to pay the rent next month but she knew her time will come.

"It was really tough. I have seen those days when I did not know how I was going to pay the next month's rent. There is no one looking out for you and if your film flops, you are not going to get a second chance. I did not have a godfather. The only father I have is not from the industry."



Esha says hard work, patience and luck are important to survive in the industry.

"I have seen beautiful girls, good looking men who can do almost everything possible, coming to Mumbai.... When I used to audition, I would think that I will not survive in front of them. It is a lot of luck but you need a lot of patience too. Like I knew, my time was coming and I kept at it. I am a very instinctive person. I just wanted to be ready when it comes."



Esha was last seen in Akshay Kumar-starrer "Rustom". She has Vipul Shah's "Commando 2" and Milan Luthria's "Baadshaho", which also stars Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi, in her kitty.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iceland has announced that it plans to lift nearly all the restrictions on currency movements imposed on its citizens in the 2008 global financial crisis.

The country, which introduced capital controls at the time to prevent a capital flight and shore up the national currency, the krona, said it can now begin progressively lifting restrictions.

The finance ministry unveiled draft legislation which will allow Icelanders, for example, to buy property overseas and expand "significantly" their right to purchase foreign currency in cash.

"Important steps are being taken to lift the capital controls in full," said the ministry in a statement setting out details of the draft law.

"With the measures provided for in the bill, the capital controls should not place substantial restrictions on most individuals, and by the turn of the year, only a very few individuals should be affected," it added.

Drafted with the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the bill is due to be presented to parliament today, and is expected to be approved without difficulty.

The progressive easing of restrictions imposed by the 2008 global crisis has been one of the main successes of the centre-right government in power since 2013.

Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson aims to complete the work in time for early legislative elections scheduled for October 29.

However, he remains deeply unpopular due to his perceived closeness to business and the fallout from the so-called Panama Papers, which revealed that hundreds of Icelanders held interests in tax havens.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Non-banking financial institution on Tuesday announced opening of its first branch in Telangana. It also informed about plans to open another 24 branches in the state and Andhra Pradesh region by end of this year.

"Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are major market for us. The main objective of this initiative is to tap more customers and increase our penetration," ICL's managing director & chief executive officer K G Anilkumar said in a statement.

The company's first branch would be in Old Alwal area of Secunderabad and upcoming offices in Hyderabad region would be in Dr A S Rao Nagar, KPHB Colony, Malkajagiri, Dilshukh Nagar, Ameerpet, Begumpet, BHEL, Balanagar, Jeedimetla and West Marredpalli, it said.

ICL now has 42 branches across Kerala and Tamil Nadu and plans to expand its portfolio from 100 branches in the current financial year, the statement said.

said it is planning to open as many as 1,000 additional outlets within next four years and expects around Rs 5,000 crore business from these 1,000 branches.
Indian Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya, has said that India and Egypt have a close partnership in various fields and wants to expand this agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities.

Ambassador Bhattacharyya met with Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali this week, who both confirmed their continuous support and collaboration in new projects that engage both countries.

"India and Egypt have a very close partnerships in various fronts and we want to expand our agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities," Ambassador Bhattacharyya told PTI.

India has collaborated with Egypt recently in achieving two very large development projects; the solar project and a vocational training centre.

The ambassador said that both countries are keen on achieving more success on various sides.

"We are also looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University. This will be the setting stone for more such projects," the ambassador said.

"I had the opportunity to call on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar some weeks ago and we had discussed this project as well with him and the Grand Sheikh was very happy about this project. He has said that we will used that Indian model in the other institutions of Al-Azhar University across Egypt."



"So we hope we could be able to cooperate together in this project because we see the very central role of Al-Azhar on the development - not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world," the ambassador said.

As India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner and both countries enjoy strong economic ties, Bhattacharyya was keen on discussing future projects in this field with officials.

"We are also looking at how we can collaborate further between India and Egypt into the sector of micro and small enterprises, in the sector of renewable energy particularly solar energy," he said.

"And whether we can utilise the line of credit that India has offered under the Africa summit funds for project in Egypt," he added.

During his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity the ambassador discussed a wide range of issues including collaborating between civil society on both sides.

"Also we discussed the issues of addressing empowerment of women and youth so that they can become more participating members of society," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Egypt have a close partnership in various fields and want to expand this agenda that will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities, the Indian envoy here has said.

India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya met with Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali this week, who both confirmed their continuous support and collaboration in new projects that engage both countries.

"India and Egypt have a very close partnerships in various fronts and we want to expand our agenda which will include the possibility of new cooperation opportunities," Ambassador Bhattacharyya told PTI.

India has collaborated with Egypt recently in achieving two very large development projects; the solar project and a vocational training centre.

The ambassador said that both countries are keen on achieving more success on various sides.

"We are also looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University. This will be the setting stone for more such projects," the ambassador said.

"I had the opportunity to call on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar some weeks ago and we had discussed this project as well with him and the Grand Sheikh was very happy about this project. He has said that we will used that Indian model in the other institutions of Al-Azhar University across Egypt."

"So we hope we could be able to cooperate together in this project because we see the very central role of Al-Azhar on the development - not just in Egypt but in the entire Arab world," the ambassador said.

As India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner and both countries enjoy strong economic ties, Bhattacharyya was keen on discussing future projects in this field with officials.

"We are also looking at how we can collaborate further between India and Egypt into the sector of micro and small enterprises, in the sector of renewable energy particularly solar energy," he said.

"And whether we can utilise the line of credit that India has offered under the Africa summit funds for project in Egypt," he added.

During his meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity the ambassador discussed a wide range of issues including collaborating between civil society on both sides.

"Also we discussed the issues of addressing empowerment of women and youth so that they can become more participating members of society," he said.
India has extended a grant of USD one million to Zimbabwe, responding to an appeal by the African nation for help to deal with severe drought caused by El Nino phenomenon.

External Affairs Ministry said Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe R Masakui handed over the grant to Dr Misheck Sibanda, Chief Secretary to President Robert Mugabe.

India also said logistical modalities are being worked out for donating 500 metric tonnes of rice as part of the second phase of assistance.

Zimbabwe is facing worst drought in two decades induced by the El Nino phenomenon, a warming of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, that devastated its agricultural sector. An estimated 2.4 million people are now facing food crisis in the country.

Sibanda thanked India for the quick response to its appeal and said his country was happy with the "sound relationship" between the two countries.

"Last week, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe handed over USD one Million to the Government of Zimbabwe as a grant from government of India in response to the appeal made by Zimbabwe.

"Accepting the grant, Misheck Sibanda, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet thanked for the quick response by the government of India," the External Affairs Ministry said.

Referring to the ties between the two countries, Sibanda talked about cooperation between the two countries in critical sectors of the economy such as small and medium enterprises, information communication technology, energy, education and pharmaceuticals.

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India and Maldives today discussed strategic perspectives for maintaining peace and security in the Indian Ocean region amidst China's efforts to increase its footprint even as Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim briefed the Indian side of the recent developments in his country.

On his first official visit, Asim during his meeting with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj also communicated details of his country's engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy of the Commonwealth ahead of the crucial meet of Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in New York next month.

The two ministers reaffirmed their resolve to continue strengthening the bilateral partnership between India and Maldives, with the visiting dignitary emphasising that his visit was in line with the "India first" policy of Maldives.

Asim also apprised Swaraj of the preparations for the Maldives Investment Forum to be held in New Delhi later this year. On her part, Swaraj reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's view that India wants all its neighbours to benefit from the country's economic growth and development.

"The Ministers also exchanged views on the consonance in the strategic perspectives of the two countries to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region," MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

A career diplomat, Asim was appointed to the post last month after his predecessor Dunya Maumoon, daughter of former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, quit office protesting against the government's plan to implement death penalty.

In their discussions, the two ministers took note of the high-level exchanges in recent weeks between the two countries and reviewed progress on various aspects of the bilateral relationship.

Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on Counter-terrorism had visited Maldives in mid-July 2016 and Defence Secretary made a trip to Male for the 1st India-Maldives Defence Cooperation Dialogue on July 17-18, 2016.

Swarup said the Maldivian Foreign Minister also shared his assessment of recent developments in his country and their engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy of the Commonwealth in the context of the forthcoming CMAG meeting in New York, on the sidelines of the UNGA.

The September meeting assumes significance given that the CMAG had expressed concern over the prevailing political situation in Maldives in its April meeting and sought urgent measures in various areas including detention of political leaders.

India is also part of the group and is understood to have made efforts to "tone-down" the severity of the statement.

However, the UK has already indicated that if the Group finds that "sufficient steps" for reform have not been taken by Maldives by September, it will "carefully consider appropriate bilateral action" to help support reform efforts there.

Asim also called on Vice President Hamid Ansari in the afternoon.

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Refusing to be drawn into the war of words between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the US has said it is for the two countries to determine the pace, scope and character of any discussions on Kashmir.

"Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions on Kashmir is for the two sides to determine. We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations," State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said.

"We're aware of the clashes. We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage to all sides to make efforts for finding a peaceful resolution," Trudeau said at her daily conference yesterday.

The State Department spokesperson, however, did not respond to questions on the remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address yesterday.

"I wouldn't speak to Mr Modi's comments, that would be for him to speak to," Trudeau said.

Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech yesterday.

"From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people -- the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) -- for the way they whole- heartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently," Modi had said.

Responding to Modi's remarks, Pakistan said his references to Balochistan and PoK were an attempt to divert world attention from the "grim tragedy" that has been unfolding in Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan have been engaged in a war of words over Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statements on the situation in Kashmir which has been witnessing unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

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A wild Indian elephant, which had been trapped in swamps after being swept away more than 1,700 km into Bangladesh by raging flood waters, died today despite valiant efforts by villagers and forest officials to save him.

'Bangabahadur', meaning Hero of Bengal, died around 7 am at Koyra village in northern Jamalpur district, about 200 km from capital Dhaka.

"We had mobilised huge manpower, provided it decent food and treatment but could not save it," a forest department official familiar with the efforts to rescue him told PTI.

Bangabahadur weighed four tonnes.

A post-mortem has been orderer, the BBC reported.

The elephant had a heart attack - with stress, dehydration and electrolyte imbalance being factors, a local newspaper quoted a veterinary doctor as saying.

It was separated from its herd on June 27 in Assam - where monsoon floods have made life difficult - and got washed away in the streams of mighty Brahmaputra to downstream Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, after it was thought to have travelled for nearly 1,700 kilometres, Bangabahadur was rescued on August 11 by a forest team following six weeks of frantic efforts.

On its way from India, it was forced to stay in marshes as the highlands were occupied by flood-hit people who were unwilling to let the frightened animal share their shelters.

The elephant entered Bangladesh through Roumari frontiers of northwestern Kurigram and then travelled miles to Jamalpur.

It appeared agitated after being tranquilised more than once and moved indiscriminately for nearly an hour before it fell into a ditch unconscious during rescue efforts.

Forest officials and villagers dragged him off the ditch.

It died as a process was underway to shift it to the Bangabandhu Safari Park from the remote village. Officials had planned to bring in two trained elephants to support the transportation.

Witnesses and people in the neighbourhood suspected that excessive tranquillising might have partly led to its death.

They alleged Bangabahadur was provided less than what it deserved to eat as officials feared with regained strength, it could break the shackles and pose threat to the neighbourhood.

Without proper food it gradually lost its strength.

Earlier, an expert team from India led by a retired chief forest conservator on July 4 joined the Bangladeshi team in rescuing the elephant but left the scene three days later.

(Reopens FGN 18)



Shrinking natural wildlife habitat has made it difficult for animals to move to safer areas during monsoon floods. Over the past weeks, Bangabahadur was forced to travel the distance in a hostile situation due to the flooding in Assam.

A Bangladeshi official had previously said India can take it back if possible "otherwise we will keep the elephant". The official had cited two cases in 2004 and 2013 in which one attempt to return an elephant succeeded while another failed.

According to officials, the elephant was stranded in waters which disrupted the joint rescue mission as it could not be driven to a dry piece of land to be tranquilised for treatment and transportation.

Forest officials said the elephant remained calm, though it showed some signs of abnormal behaviour as it was forced to live in swamps for weeks despite being habituated to hills.

Soon after it had crossed the border, the elephant grabbed media attention as it was followed by hundreds of people in boats every day requiring police deployment to keep it undisturbed.

Over the past nearly 50 days, it roamed along the river shoals and swamps in three northern districts.
India's cry for freedom from the British empire began in Meghalaya, years before the first War of Independence took place and a century before Bhagat Singh and others were hanged and long before Mahatma Gandhi arrived on the scene, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh said today.

After paying floral tribute at the bust of U Tirot Sing here, the birth place of the legendary Khasi tribal ruler who resisted the British army for four long years from 1829-1833, the minister said, "His (U Tirot Sing) contribution happened years before even before the first war of Independence.

'He was also hanged a century before Bhagat Singh and others were hanged," Singh told a gathering of Tirot's clan, villagers and party workers here, about 70 km away from the state capital.

"This is an indication of the fact that India's freedom cry began from Meghalaya long before Gandhi arrived on the scene," he said.

While this legendary ruler of a small Khasi state in remote Meghalaya has already bore the brunt of his resistance to the British's annexation, the awakening in the rest of the country came only after 1857, he said.

Stating that the present Government at the Centre is keen in honouring unsung heroes of freedom struggle, the DoNER Minister said Governments in the past have failed to acknowledge and give him his due.

"That is why we have started the process of honouring such heroes who went unsung in a countrywide celebration which began since August 9 to August 23," Singh said.

Earlier, the sixth generation ruler of Hima Nongkhlaw (hima aka state) P M Syiemlieh also felicitated the DoNER Minister even as he acknowledged the fact that this is the first official recognition made by the Government of India for U Tirot Sing.

U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan Sangma were among the three prominent freedom fighters in Meghalaya and whose legendary battles against the British do not find a mention in history text books.

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One of Egypt's largest vocational textile training centres, upgraded with latest technologies using the USD 1 million support from India, was today inaugurated by the Indian envoy here.

"Egypt was identified by India as one of the countries for setting up of a Vocational Training Centre (VTC) at the India-Africa Forum Summit with an outlay of USD 1 million," a statement released by the Indian Embassy said.

The inauguration ceremony of the upgraded Vocational Training Centre on Textiles in Shoubra El Kheima, Cairo, was attended by Indian Ambassador Sanjay Bhattacharyya alongwith Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil and Sahar Nasr, Minister of International Cooperation.

The centre, one of the largest in Egypt, has been upgraded in the field of spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing and will offer several courses in electrical, mechanical, energy and textile sectors.

The VTC trains an average 350 students each year.

The project was implemented by India's National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), which will also provide consultancy for the operations of VTC for the next three years.

The upgraded VTC will provide new skills, raise productivity, generate jobs and raise the GDP of the country, the statement added.

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An Indian elephant, which had been trapped in swamps after being swept away over 1,700 km into Bangladesh by raging flood waters, died today despite valiant efforts by villagers and officials to save him.

The elephant, named 'Bangabahadur' (hero of Bengal), died around 7 AM at Sarishabarhi's Koyra village under Sharisabari upazilla of Jamalpur district, about 200 km from here, rescue team's chief Ashim Mallik was quoted as saying by bdnews24.Com.

The elephant, weighing about four tonnes, was rescued on August 11 by a Bangladeshi forest department team after more than six weeks of frantic efforts since the jumbo was swept away to Bangladesh from Assam.

It initially appeared agitated after receiving a tranquiliser and moved indiscriminately for nearly an hour before it fell unconscious in a ditch. Forest officials and enthusiast villagers dragged her off the ditch.

An expert team from India led by a retired chief forest conservator on July 4 joined the Bangladeshi team in rescuing the elephant but left the scene three days later.

In the past several weeks, the elephant travelled several thousand kilometres in a hostile situation since the flood waters drove it out of Assam.

A Bangladeshi official had said India can take it back if possible, "otherwise we will keep the elephant", citing two cases in 2004 and 2013 in which one attempt to return an elephant succeeded while another died on its way back.

According to officials, the elephant was stranded in waters which disrupted the joint rescue mission as it could not be driven to a dry piece of land to be tranquilised for treatment and transportation.

Forest officials earlier said the elephant remained calm despite being tired though it showed some signs of abnormal behaviour as it was forced to live in swamps for weeks despite being habituated in hilly forest environment.

A huge crowd of people took makeshift refuge on higher lands at the scene leaving their homes inundated by flood waters.

It crossed the common Brahmaputra river on June 27 and soon grabbed media attention as it was followed by hundreds of people in boats every day requiring police deployment to keep it undisturbed. In the past 456 days, it roamed along the river shoals and swamps in three northern districts.

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The first international educational program for naval officers of 'friendly foreign countries' was today inaugurated by former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash (retd).

Stressing the importance of maritime security in nation-building during his speech, Prakash said in a dynamically changing geo-political scenario, navies from the Indian Ocean Region must forge stronger ties and develop an efficient security architecture.

The programme was organised by the Naval War College at Goa, the Indian Navy's premier institution of higher military education.

Rear Admiral Monty Khanna, Commandant of the college, welcomed the participating Navy and Coast Guard senior officers of Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman and Sri Lanka.

Aimed at building consensus among the regional maritime nations towards a collective approach to maritime security issues, the course curriculum includes international relations theory, geo-politics of the region, etc.

During the 8-week program, the participants would visit Command Headquarters of Indian Navy in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi in the first phase.

In the second phase, they would be integrated with the Naval Higher Command Course, a flagship program for the Indian officers scheduled to start in September.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may refer a plea challenging the validity of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) resettlement Act to a constitution bench if it finds that some issues needed interpretation of the Constitution.

The Act envisages grant of permit for resettlement of Pakistani nationals who had migrated to Pakistan from Jammu and Kashmir between 1947 and 1954 after India's partition.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it will hear the matter and if during the course of proceedings it is found that no constitutional issue is involved, then it will pass an order.

The bench, which also comprised Justices Prafulla C Pant and A M Khanwilkar, made the observation after it was informed that the earlier bench hearing the matter had referred it to a five judge constitution bench.

Jammu and Kashmir Panther Party (JKNPP) president and senior advocate Bhim Singh said the matter should be heard finally by the Court.

He informed the Court that a division bench in 2008 had issued direction to list the case before a constitution bench but the Chief Justice in the same year had over-ruled the decision and ordered the matter to be listed before a three judge bench.

Singh said that people of Jammu and Kashmir who migrated to Pakistan from 1947 could be considered for their return but their descendants could not be.

He said the law passed by the Assembly was draconian, unconstitutional and improper which threatened the security of the state.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

JKNPP through Harsh Dev Singh, a then MLA, had challenged the Act passed by the J&K Assembly in 1981.

In 1982, the Act was first challenged by Singh before the apex court and then Governor B K Nehru had refused to sign the Bill and sent it back to the Assembly.

Later Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then President of newly constituted Bharatiya Janata Party, had also filed a petition before the apex court seeking intervention.

The matter was considered by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 2001 on a presidential referrence. The apex court returned the reference back to President with a three-word pronouncement: 'Returned, respectfully, unanswered'

JKNPP through its then MLA Harsh Dev Singh in 2001 filed a writ petition in the apex court seeking quashing of the Resettlement Act.

The Supreme Court while admitting the plea, had ordered for stay of operation of the Act and in 2008 the matter was referred to the constitution bench on the plea that the subject relates to the interpretation of the Constitution of India.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to visit Pakistan to attend the two-day conference of SAARC Finance Ministers later this month mainly due to "political reasons".

The conference is scheduled on August 25-26 in Islamabad.

"It is due to political reasons that the Finance Minister may not visit Pakistan. You all know what happened last time and what is happening," highly placed sources said, referring to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad earlier this month, which was also for a SAARC Ministerial meeting.

Barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who only had a tense and uneasy handshake during the SAARC meeting.

Pakistani authorities did not allow entry of Indian mediapersons, including those from PTI and Doordarshan, inside the venue of 7th SAARC Home Ministers Meeting in Islamabad.

Singh had informed Rajya Sabha that after the meeting was over, Pakistan's Home Minister, who was the host, invited the participants for lunch but left in a car soon thereafter.

"Keeping in mind the country's prestige, I did what I should have done. I have no complaints. I had not gone there for lunch," he had said.

That apart, in his Independence Day address to the nation yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India will not bow before terrorism, and also brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Baluchistan and PoK, saying that they have thanked him for doing so.

Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India.

Pakistan's Finance Ministry in a recent statement had said the country would play the role of a "good host" and try to keep the overall ambiance positive.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Jaitley said there are mechanisms for buying stressed



assets and if there are companies within the country, whether public or private sector, which think it is right time to buy at right value, they obviously will make commercial judgement.

"And then, some banks themselves have been considering a stressed fund (asset reconstruction company). But, I think, one of the hopes that the banks have is that two major sectors (steel and infra) over the next few months will see a certain positive direction," he said.

Observing that NPA situation is not either static or permanent, he said: "I think, the current phase which has been reached, at least tells us where the problem is, tells us the magnitude of the problem, it doesn't put anything below the carpet."



Therefore, Jaitley said, "it gets into a position of readiness to brace up for the challenge and I think the silver lining is the two principle sectors which are contributing to it, namely infra and steel -- proactive steps taken with regard to the sector do indicate that probably at some stage this problem could itself start seeing a reversal".

With regard to wilful defaulters, he said, banks have initiated proceedings against them.

"Wherever criminal liability is made out, investigating agencies are also in action. With regard to some of the very glaring cases, banks today even in the meeting have shown clear determination that all money due to the government itself would be recovered and we would take the legal process to the logical conclusion," he said.

On strengthening cyber security, Jaitley said banks have been informed about the kind of problems they may face and what precautions they need to take.

Asked about higher capital requirement by banks, Jaitley said obviously "the more the merrier, but the budget has its limitation".

On the question over farm debt waiver demand, he said: "Highest ever agriculture credit will be provided and Rs 9 lakh crore target that we have set for the current fiscal that we will achieve.

(REOPENS DEL 50)



On MUDRA loans, Jaitley said the target of Rs 1.22 lakh crore set for last year has been exceeded.

"This year, Rs 1.80 lakh crore is to be disbursed under MUDRA and till September almost Rs 46,000 crore has been disbursed and banks have been told to speed up so that in the remaining months they can meet the target," he said.

He indicated that housing loans appeared to have picked up and overall, MSME loan disbursals have increased.

During the meeting, the financial performance of the public sector banks were reviewed along with credit growth.

Banks collectively earned operating profit of Rs 32,967 crore during the first quarter of the current fiscal, but the net profit was Rs 222 crore because of increase in provisioning, he said.

Regarding Stand Up India, Jaitley said as many as 10,000 beneficiaries have taken loans under this initiative.
Amid fall in arecanut prices in the domestic market, the Centre is ready to procure the commodity from Karnataka but has found the rate Rs 300-400/kg proposed by the state government "exceedingly" high.

The Union Agriculture Ministry has sent its senior official to Bengaluru to discuss Karnataka government's proposal for procurement of 40,000 tonnes of arecanut under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS).

In June, senior BJP leaders from Karnataka including Union Minister Ananth Kumar had demanded that the Centre should take steps to check sliding prices. They had sought ban on import of arecanut, among others.

"We are examining Karnataka's proposal. It has been found that procurement rates, market prices and cost of production figures given by the state are on the higher side," a senior Agriculture Ministry official told PTI.

On the state government's proposal to buy white supari at Rs 300 per kg and red supari for Rs 400 per kg, the Agriculture Ministry is of the view that this price is "exceedingly" high compared to Rs 172 per kg recommended by the Kerala-based Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development.

Moreover, the Directorate has informed that the prevailing market price of arecanut in Karnataka is above the cost of production. The market prices have fallen by 18 per cent for white variety and 16 per cent for red variety of arecanut over the previous year.

The Union Agriculture Ministry also felt that the state government's estimate of arecanut production in Karnataka is lower at 4.07 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), as against 4.5 lakh tonnes projected by the Directorate.

The ministry also found that the cost of production of arecanut in the state was quoted on a higher side at Rs 300-400 per kg, as against Rs 172 per kg by the Directorate.

On quantity of procurement, the ministry felt that it should be restricted up to 10 per cent of the total production of different varieties. Therefore, it should be 24,471 tonnes of white supari and 16,314 tonnes of red supari.

However, the state government has proposed procurement of 28,000 tonnes of white supari and 12,000 tonnes of red variety.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kerala today bid farewell to well known Malayalam film scriptwriter T A Razzaq, who passed away at a private hospital in Kochi.

The 58-year-old writer died last night while undergoing treatment for some ailment, hospital sources said.

Razaaq's body was buried with full state honours at a mosque here with hundreds paying tributes when the mortal remains was brought.

The body was first taken to Kozhikode, where actors Mammootty, Mohanlal, Manoj K Jayan and film directors Kamal and Sibi Malayil, among others, paid their last respects and then brought to his home town Kondotty in Malappuram district.

Razzaq, who started his career with "Vishnulokam" in 1991 in which Mohanlal and Uravashi had essayed memorable roles, went on to work for around 30 films, in the area of scripts, story and dialogue.

A recipient of the Kerala state film award for best story for the much acclaimed Kamal movie "Perumazhakkalam" in 2004, he had won the state award for best story for "Aayirathil Oruvan", directed by Sibi Malayil in 2002.

He also received the state award for the best story and screenplay for 'Kanakinnavu' in 1996.

"Vishnulokam", "Naadodo", "Bhoomigeetham" and "Gazal" were among the films for which he wrote the screenplays, which struck a chord among the movie buffs.

"Sukamayeeirukattae", released this year, was the last film for which he penned the script.

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"Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall will star in Agatha Christie thriller- "The Witness for the Prosecution."



The 59-year-old actress will film alongside "Dad's Army" star Toby Jones and "Birdman"'s Andrea Riseborough, reported Digital Spy.

The two-part drama, which is adapted from the author's short story, will reunite the team behind 2015 popular mystery thriller "And Then There Were None."



Set in 1920s London, it begins with the brutal murder of glamorous Emily French, played by Cattrall.

Directed by Julian Jarrold, "The Witness for the Prosecution" is currently filming in Liverpool.

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Normal life was paralysed across Odisha today due to a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by Congress against construction of dams on Mahanadi river in Chhattisgarh and demanded intervention by the Centre to halt the projects, even as the party threatened to intensify its stir.

The party also hit out at the BJD regime in Odisha and the BJP government in Chhattisgarh, holding them responsible for the controversy.

While Congress accused the Naveen Patnaik government of "inaction" and silence on the issue despite being aware of the projects on upstream of the river since 2001, the Chhattisgarh government was attacked for "unilateral" constructions.

Rail services were hit and over two dozen trains delayed as bandh supporters staged dharna on railway tracks in Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur and Cuttack leaving a large number of passengers stranded, a police official said.

Vehicular movement virtually came to a standstill at many places with Congress supporters blocking roads by burning tyres and putting up blockades.

Shops, business houses, educational institutions and offices were shut in most parts of the state as Congress supporters picketed to enforce the bandh, police said.

Tight security arrangements were made to prevent any untoward incident. Many Congress leaders and workers were held here to stop them from entering the state secretariat. Bandh supporters were detained in some other places also, they said.

The bandh remained by and large peaceful, barring some stray incidents in Bhubaneswar, Angul, Keonjhar and Athgarh, police said, adding a bandh supporter was attacked with knife allegedly by a shopkeeper in Kendrapara district.

Apart from Bhubaneswar, the impact of the bandh was felt in Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Bhawanipatna, Angul, Kendrapara, Balangir, Talcher and Dhenkanal, officials said.

Describing the bandh as a success throughout the state, Odisha Congress president Prasad Harichandan claimed that people from all sections spontaneously supported the shutdown to safeguard the interest of the state.

Stating that the bandh was a warning to the Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments who had betrayed the people, the PCC chief said Congress would intensify its agitation as part of its battle to protect Odisha's rights over Mahanadi water.

Asking the BJP-led Central government to intervene immediately in the matter, Harichandan said the government should instruct the Chhattisgarh government to stop construction of barrages and dams in the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi river till the issue was resolved.

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In a shocking case, a 42-year-old doctor from Satara district of Maharashtra, who was arrested last week in connection with the murder of an anganwadi worker, has "confessed" to killing five more people including four women between 2003 and 2016, and burying them in his farmhouse, police claimed today.

Dr Santosh Pol from Wai spilled the beans on the multiple murders during interrogation in the case of 47-year-old anganwadi worker Mangala Jedhe's death, following which police exhumed four bodies, apart from Jedhe's, from his farmhouse last night, Sandip Patil, Superintendent of Police, Satara told PTI.

Pol, dubbed as 'Dr Death', is in police custody till August 19 after his arrest on August 11 for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Jedhe, president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh, on June 16.

On the motive behind the murder of five women and a man, Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.

According to police, Pol and his aide Jyoti Mandre, a nurse who allegedly has an illicit relation with the accused, had kidnapped Jedhe and killed her by administering a lethal overdose of a medicine and buried her near Pol's farm house.

During investigations in the missing complaint about Jedhe, police found that before her disappearance she was in touch with Pol and had threatened to expose his criminal activities.

Subsequently, as the investigation progressed, Mandre confessed to killing Jedhe and burying her near Pol's farmhouse.

"We then laid a trap and arrested Pol (on August 11), who was absconding after the murder," Patil said.

"Later, Pol showed us the place, where he had buried Jedhe," he said.

"Pol then confessed to have killed five more people --four women and a man--besides Jedhe between 2003 and 2016," Patil said.

Apart from Jedhe, the other missing people, who were allegedly murdered by Pol, were Salma Shaikh, Jagabai Pol, Surekha Chikane, Vanita Gaikwad and Nathmal Bhandari, the SP said.

"We have managed to exhume four bodies except of Gaikwad who was killed and thrown into water reservoir in the vicinity in 2008," said Patil.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killer's medical degree too.

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A 150-meter long underground British era bunker which had been closed for several decades was discovered by Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao inside the Raj Bhavan complex at Malabar Hill here.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is expected to visit the bunker today, a Raj Bhavan official said.

Rao accompanied by his wife Vinodha visited the bunker today, after which the Governor expressed his intention to consult experts from various fields to preserve it.

The Governor had directed to get the bunker opened after he was informed by old-timers three months ago about the presence of a tunnel inside the Raj Bhavan.

On August 12, the staff of the Public Works Department at Raj Bhavan broke open a temporary wall that closed the entrance to the bunker on the eastern side, the official said in a statement.

Instead of an underground tunnel, an entire barrack with 13 rooms of different sizes was found.

The bunker opens with a 20-ft tall gate and a ramp on the western side. There are long passages and small to medium rooms on either side, he said.

The bunker spread over an area of over 5,000 square feet has rooms bearing the name Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store, Shell Lift, Pump, Workshop etc. There are also scores of Lamp Recesses in the gangway.

Even though the bunker was apparently closed after independence, it was found to be surprisingly intact.

Interestingly the entire underground bunker has a drainage system and inlets for fresh air and light, the official said.

According to the history of Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Raj Bhavan, formerly known as 'Government House' served as the residence of British Governors since 1885 when Lord Reay turned it into a permanent residence.

Prior to 1885, the Malabar Hill residence served as the Summer Residence of the British Governors. The Government House at Parel served as the Governor's residence before 1885.

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Taking serious note of the alleged kidney transplant racket at a leading Mumbai hospital, Maharashtra government has decided to soon lay down a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that will help identify both organ donors and recipients.

Both the donors and recipients will be linked via Aadhar card that will prevent fake donors from selling their kidneys for monetary gains, state Health Minister Deepak Sawant told reporters here today.

Mumbai-based L H Hiranandani Hospital's CEO and four doctors were recently arrested in connection with the alleged kidney transplant racket.

"After the Hiranandani (hospital) racket was busted, I had a meeting with the Chief Minister in which it was decided to finalise SOPs on a priority bases. This will help authorise both donors and recipients," Sawant said.

"There are some discrepancies in Organ Transplantation Act-1994 that will be done away with once the SOPs are finalised," he said.

The minister said that a committee, chaired by him and comprising a urologist, a nephrologist, members of the Medical Council and legal cell of government along with some private doctors, will be formed and entrusted with the task of submitting their suggestions within 15 days.

"The committee will be formed within next eight days and will be tasked to make a set of SOPs in a period of 15 days," he said.

Sawant said that in future, both donors and recipients will be shown a video in which the implications, complications and hazards of kidney transplant will be explained to them.

"The whole process will be video recorded and later a declaration form will have to be filled by both that they understand and agree for kidney transplant.

"Also, a workshop will be held of doctors involved in organ transplants. Many a times even doctors don't know about the correct method of procedures. They will be given ranking based on performance in their training," he said.

The Minister said that at present there are 75 licensed



kidney transplant centres, 21 liver transplant centres, 7 heart transplant centres and 5 for lung transplant in the state.

"In the Hiranandani case, their organ transplant license has been cancelled. However, cancelling of their (doctors who have been arrested) practising license will depend on the final verdict in court," Sawant said.

The racket was exposed after the police were tipped off that a kidney transplant operation had been scheduled on July 14 at the privately-run Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, where donor and recipient were not related.

Following the bust-up, nine persons (other than the arrested four doctors and hospital CEO), including the donor, receiver and agents were arrested.

The operation on Brijkishor Jaiswal, the recipient, was stopped at the last moment as police found that the woman who was donating the kidney to him was not his real wife, contrary to the papers submitted by the duo.

The woman had pretended to be Jaiswal's wife only to be able to donate him the kidney for monetary gains, according to police.
A 52-year-old man in the UK has died after being attacked by a large dog, days after the pet was returned to its owner after it was previously seized by police over fears it was dangerous.

On Monday morning, police received a call that a man in his fifties had been attacked by a dog in the Sheepridge area in Huddersfield town.

Officers attended at the scene and found the man with serious injuries.

It is believed the victim was trying to protect his own dog when the larger dog turned on him, the BBC reported.

The man was treated by paramedics and taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with potentially life threatening injuries. He later died in hospital, ITV reported.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Swift of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team who is leading the investigation, said: "Clearly our thoughts go out to the family at this tragic time."



"Our investigation is continuing. We believe that the victim was out with his own dog at the time of the attack near to his home address on Riddings Road. His dog, a Yorkshire Terrier was also injured during the incident and received emergency veterinary care," Swift said.

The suspect dog was detained in to kennels by police.

A referral is being made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

In June this year, a dog warden visited the address following concerns from members of the public about the dog. A referral to police was made following concerns the dog may be a dangerous breed.

As a result, the same dog was seized by police and following a screening, it was determined the animal was not a banned breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The dog was returned to its owner on August 8.

Following yesterday's incident, A 29-year-old man, who is the owner of the dog has been arrested in connection with the incident and has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

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A three-year-old girl died and a Delhi Police sub-inspector was injured after their necks got entangled in metal-coated kite thread (manjha) in separate incidents in Delhi, police said today.

The first incident took place around 6.30 PM yesterday when the girl, Saanchi Goyal, was returning home with her parents after watching a movie in Naraina.

The girl was looking out of open sunroof in the car and suddenly her neck got slit by a 'manjha' when they were passing through Rani Bagh area, a police officer said.

She was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared her brought dead, he said, adding that they were trying to ascertain whether the girl was entangled by 'Chinese manjha' which has sharper lead coating.

A case of negligence has been registered at Rani Bagh police station.

"A case has been registered under section 304(A) (causing death by negligence) and we have to determine whether it was 'Chinese manjha' that took the girl's life," said Vijay Singh, DCP (Northwest).

In the second incident, Delhi Police sub-inspector (SI) Manoj Kumar sustained injury as a kite string grazed his neck when he was returning to Anand Vihar police station after Independence Day duty yesterday evening.

He was riding a motorcycle at the time of incident which took place near Cross River Mall. Manoj didn't sustain severe injuries and no case has been registered in connection with the incident, said DCP (East) Rishi Pal.

In west Delhi's Vikaspuri area, a 22-year-old man, Zafar Khan, yesterday lost his life as his neck was slashed by 'manjha' while riding bike on a flyover.

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Amidst allegations of anti-India slogans being raised at an Amnesty event in Bengaluru, the Home Ministry has launched a probe into the funding of the NGO, its expenses and "possible" violation of FCRA by it.

The probe is being carried out under the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to find whether there was any violation of the laws by the India chapter of Amnesty International, a Home Ministry official said today.

The NGO has not been registered under the FCRA and its application for registration under the FCRA is now under serious scrutiny following the Bengaluru event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised during a discussion on Kashmir on Saturday.

The probe will see whether the India chapter of Amnesty International has received foreign funds and if so under what laws, other sources of funding, it expenses and patterns of expenses, the official said.

Amnesty International, on its part, has rejected as "without substance" the allegations made by ABVP, the student outfit of RSS, and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.

The NGO was booked under IPC sections, including sedition, by Bengaluru Police.

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Facing threat of terror attacks, the Home Ministry has ordered security audit of nearly 100 civil and decided to bring all such facilities under CISF cover gradually.

Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for random checking of incoming vehicles of air travellers in city side approach, thorough checking of cargo and detection of flying objects and drones are also being drawn.

A Civil Aviation Ministry's proposal to raise a separate force for aviation security has been turned down and all will be brought under the security cover of the Central Industrial Security Force gradually, official sources said.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting attended by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top officials of Ministries of Home and Civil Aviation here on August 5.

The move came after the terror attack on Brussels' Zaventem airport where terrorists blew explosives inside the airport terminal, much before the 'security hold' area, where passengers and luggage are checked.

"We are going to completely overhaul the security apparatus of all . A dedicated plan is being worked out. Security audit of all airports have been ordered and based on the report, their security will be upgraded," Rijiju told reporters here.

The meeting decided that 98 civil airports in the country will be be brought under the security cover of the CISF, the specialised force for airport security.

Out of the total 98 functional airports in the country, 59 are under CISF cover, leaving out 39.

Among 98 airports, 26 airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, are considered hyper-sensitive. Of these hyper-sensitive airports, 18 are under CISF cover while six like Srinagar and Imphal, are being guarded by CRPF, the state police or by other paramilitary forces.

Under the sensitive category, there are 56 airports out of which only 37 have CISF cover and amongst 16 other airports, only four have CISF security.

The report of the security audit being conducted by a team of experts from Ministry of Home Affairs, Intelligence Bureau, CISF and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security will be submitted within 20 days.

The proposal to raise an Aviation Security Force, on the lines of Railway Protection Force, was rejected as security is the domain of the Home Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry or the BCAS do not have the necessary expertise in it.

NSA Doval doubted the competence of BCAS in raising such a



force saying the MHA has competence, expertise and experience.

There was also a suggestion that airport security be funded by the MHA to reduce the burden on airport operators, who pass on the cost to passengers.

MoS Civil Aviation Sinha suggested the meeting to focus on 4-5 "low hanging fruits" like fool-proof security at the terminals and in the periphery through doable steps.

Calling for a realistic assessment of all airports, NSA Doval said each vulnerable facility needed to be identified and the gaps in security apparatus plugged.

Director General of CISF Surender Singh expressed apprehension of "direct bold attack" from city side approach as well as assaults in cargo areas. He suggested frequent and effective patrolling by security and law enforcement agencies to thwart such attempts.

Singh said since cargo areas were vulnerable to terror attacks, high-tech luggage checking machines should be installed there. He also recommended presence of armoured vehicles at airports.

The meeting felt that there was a need for both short-term and long-term steps to reduce vulnerability of airports of high value.

The meeting also discussed the threat emanating from high rise buildings located on the periphery of the airports and suggested that the Union Home Secretary should consult each state about the local police providing peripheral security.

Secretary, Civil Aviation, Rajiv Nayan Choubey suggested behaviour monitoring mechanism and profiling of travellers at the airports.

The meeting decided that SoPs for detection of drones and other flying objects will be circulated to all airports for proper implementation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not the first to raise concern over the situation in Balochistan, Congress said today, insisting that the party-led UPA government had consistently spoken about the "spiralling violence" and "heavy Pakistani military action".

"Congress and UPA government have condemned the human rights violations in Balochistan as also in PoK by Pakistani forces and establishment on multiple occasions in the past," party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, noting that the first time the UPA did so was on December 27, 2005.

Besides, he said, none less than the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in reply to a parliamentary question on March, 2, 2006, categorically condemned the spiralling violence in Balochistan and heavy military action, including use of helicopter gunships and fighter jets by the government of Pakistan to suppress the people of Balochistan.

Earlier, in the wake of reported killing of 50 Baloch people in the Pakistani army action, a spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry had expressed hope that the government of Pakistan would exercise restraint and take recourse to peaceful discussions to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan, Surjewala said.

His statement came a day after the Congress appeared to be speaking in different voices on the issue and the AICC even distancing itself from the remarks of senior leader Salman Khurshid on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to Balochistan in his Independence Day address.

Congress had termed Khurshid's remarks as "his personal view".

In his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort yesterday, Modi had talked about the situation in PoK, Gilgit and Balochistan and said people from there have thanked him for raising their issues.

Noting that Modi must realise the "folly" of BJP and its leadership in opposing Congress and UPA earlier, Surjewala said the Prime Minister instead of indulging in self-praise and self-promotion as he did in the Independence Day address, needs to have a sense of history and must thank his predecessor Singh.

"Rhetoric from Red Fort and headline management by PM Modi is fine but he needs to tell the nation about the BJP government's actual 'Pak Policy' that leaves even the most vocal supporters of Modi completely confused and bewildered," he said.

Surjewala said that in August, 2006, the UPA had spoken



about the unfortunate killing of the veteran Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, describing it as a "tragic loss" to the people of Balochistan and Pakistan. It had underlined the need for a peaceful dialogue to address the grievances and aspirations of people of Balochistan, noting that "military force can never solve political problems", he said.

Besides, he said, a reference to Balochistan also appeared in the joint statement dated July 16, 2009 at Sharm-el-Sheikh when Pakistan "conceded for the first time" its role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack as also recognised the overwhelming evidence handed over by India.

"It is a different matter that BJP, which was then in opposition, had bitterly attacked Manmohan Singh, the then PM, and UPA for compromising India's position," he said, adding even at that time, Balochistan leaders had thanked Singh and the UPA government for raising the issue.

Raising a number of questions about the Prime Minister's remarks, Surjewala wondered how does he propose to take the issue of human rights violations in PoK and Balochistan further? What is his government's policy as also 'way forward' on the issue?



"Has the Prime Minister raised the issue of these human rights violations even once in bilateral talks with Pakistan over last 24 months?" he asked.

He asked whether the government would take it up now either in bilateral dialogue or at another international forum.

Claiming that Modi's "flip-flops" on Pakistan have become legendary, he said suddenly the Prime Minister and his government have started speaking in a different language without following up on the issue of punishing the perpetrators of terror attacks in Pathankot, Udhampur and Pampore.

Surjewala said the Prime Minister should immediately take stock of the alarming situation in Kashmir and provide the much required healing touch.

"The Prime Minister, who even indulges in the symbolism of observing Diwali in Kashmir, has not found time to visit J&K even once, although 65 people have died and nearly 3,000 injured since the latest episode of unprecedented violence in Kashmir Valley," he said.
Mizo student organisations today took strong exception to the Centre's intention to felicitate Mizo warrior Khuangchera as an Indian freedom fighter.

A joint resolution adopted by the Mizo Students Union (MSU) and the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo students association said that "Khuangchera did not die for India but for the Mizo people".

The joint meeting was convened in view of the proposed visit of the Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain on Thursday.

Gohain, who is visiting the state on Thursday would attend a public meeting at Ailawng village, about 30 km from Aizawl, to pay tributes to Khuangchera as an Indian freedom fighter among the tribals in the north east.

The students opposed the Centre's intention claiming that the Mizos at that time were not in India.

Khuangchera, with his friend Ngurbawnga were killed in 1890 when they tried to expel the British invaders from Lushai country and save the Mizo people, the resolution said.

At that time, Mizos were neither under the rule of the Britishers nor India, it said, adding that no Mizo should attend any meeting aimed at declaring Khuangchera as an Indian freedom fighter.

"We appeal to the Indian government to respect our history and not try to change it," the student leaders said.

Mizo hills were formally declared as part of the British India by a proclamation in 1895. North and South Hills were united into Lushai Hills district in 1898 with Aizawl as its headquarters, according to Mizoram government website.

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet industry captains at an investors meet in Bengaluru on August 26, official sources said.

The state government has invited several industry leaders, including Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, to the two-day meet starting from August 25.

The meet is being organised jointly by CII, Karnataka and Odisha governments. Patnaik, while reviewing on the state's preparedness for the two-day meet, accorded his consent to hold discussion with industry leaders on August 26, an official statement issued by the chief minister's office said.

The state government will organise a seminar on 'Industrial Development and Investment Opportunities in Odisha' in the investors meet. Patnaik will unveil the state government's 'Start Up Policy' in the seminar, it said, adding that the chief minister will also release the master plan for the proposed Info Valley Project, Bhubaneswar, in the meet.

On the occasion, the state government will sign an MoU with Wadhawani Foundation for assisting the Odisha administration on vocational and skill development training of youths. "International sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has been invited to make sand art at the investors meet to attract people," said an official of the industries department.

"The state government has invited around 50 large and medium industries from sectors like engineering, IT, hardware, aviation, textiles, medical devices, lubricants, aerospace, beverages, telecom, defense, transport and consumer durables," said Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra.

Mishra said the investors meet aimed at meeting the target set by Odisha's Industrial Policy Resolution-2015. The IPR-2015 targets to attract investment worth Rs 1.73 lakh crore by 2019-20 from different sectors.

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National Conference today criticised the "Balochistan narrative" of the central government, saying India and Pakistan are drifting farther away from each other which does not augur well for Kashmir.

"Today at a time when Kashmir is in dire need of a reconciliatory approach internally and a cooperative approach between India and Pakistan, New Delhi has turned the narrative into a tit-for-tat political point-scoring while the Valley continues to simmer with the fresh spate of killings.

"Both (former Chief Minister) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and (her daughter and Chief Minister) Mehbooba Mufti had claimed their alliance with the BJP would become a reason for the BJP-led central government to engage in dialogue with Pakistan for the resolution of all outstanding issues, especially the issue of Kashmir.

"Ironically, while PDP continues to be driven by the spoils of political power in the midst of mourning and grief in the valley, New Delhi and Islamabad are drifting farther away from each other than they have at any point in the recent past," NC provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani said in a statement here.

He said the current narrative of hostility and acrimony between New Delhi and Islamabad was "diametrically and dramatically" opposite to what PDP had promised vis-a-vis a sustained dialogue between the two neighbours.

He termed it as a "smoke-screen marketed as an alleged cornerstone of its opportunistic and unholy alliance" with the BJP.

Wani said the same PDP, that had promised to facilitate a dialogue between India and Pakistan, is today led by a Chief Minister who wastes no opportunity to "rebuke and ridicule" Pakistan while endorsing a "hawkish narrative" that comes at a great disadvantage to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"What is happening in Kashmir today can be attributed neither to Pakistan nor to radicalization. Mehbooba Mufti is well aware of this reality. That she chooses to lie again and again to distort the narrative is a reflection on her lack of integrity and honesty," the NC leader said.

"It's tragic that New Delhi is being encouraged by its alliance partner the PDP to talk about Balochistan rather than address the current unrest in Kashmir that has resulted in the loss of more than 60 young lives till now," he said.

Wani said, "The spectre of brutality and strife continues while the Prime Minister, cushioned by a pliant and apologetic Chief Minister in Srinagar chooses to look westward towards Balochistan rather than show empathy and solidarity towards Kashmir."



Expressing profound grief and sorrow over the fresh spate of killings in the Valley, the NC leader expressed alarm over the worsening situation and said both the central and state governments cannot absolve themselves of their responsibility to the prevent loss of lives and address the growing alienation.

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A court in Beed district of Maharashtra has granted anticipatory bail to NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, in connection with a loan scam.

"Munde was granted pre-arrest bail last Friday after we argued that he was not absconding and custodial interrogation was not necessary in the case," his lawyer Aniket Nikam said today.

A case was registered in 2013 at Parli police station in Beed against Munde and others. It is alleged that Sant Jagmitra Cooperative Cotton Mill, of which Munde was one of the directors, took loans of over Rs 10 crore from the Beed District Cooperative Bank, and failed to repay them.

In the application, Munde said that he was the Leader of the Opposition, and if he was arrested, it would damage his political career.

Nikam argued that the cooperative mill which took the loans, had paid a substantial amount towards the interest, and also mortgaged its property with the bank.

Considering this, the intention to cheat the bank was not proved, the lawyer said.

Additional District Judge N S Kole accepted the argument and granted anticipatory bail to Munde.

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The Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor, S S Mundra, on Tuesday called for increasing the credit absorption capacity of the farm sector to make agri-lending more sustainable.

"In agriculture, there is a year-by-year increase in targets which are accepted and are being achieved. But I'd believe that there is a limit to it," he said at the annual Fibac conference in Mumbai.

"Unless there is an improvement in the credit absorption capacity of the farm sector, it (agri-lending) would be risky," he warned.

It can be noted that every year, the government sets a direct agri-lending target for banks. The Narendra Modi administration has set a target to double farm income by 2022.

Though typically farmers get crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at 7 per cent interest, the effective rate for them is only 4 per cent as the rest is subsidised by the government.

The 2016-17 Budget had set a target to double farmers income by 2022, and had allocated nearly Rs 36,000 crore for the farm sector while raising agri-credit target to Rs 9 trillion for this financial year, from Rs 8.5 trillion in 2015-16.

Banks are also supposed to ensure 42 per cent of their overall advances is towards priority sector lending. As the overall credit growth increases, the quantum of funds going to the farm sector also goes up, Mundra said.

He also said land reforms, investments, a full ecosystem which involves insurance schemes, value chain, distribution and supply can help in increasing the capacity of agriculture sector to absorb credit.
Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Bimlendra Nidhi will visit India on Thursday as the special envoy of Prime Minister Prachanda, days after the new Nepalese government sent an emissary to its northern neighbour China.

The move to send emissaries to India and China is said to be Nepal's bid to woo its two giant neighbors and firm up bilateral ties after the formation of the new government.

Nidhi, who also holds the Home Affairs portfolio, will begin his two-day visit on Thursday.

He is likely to discuss matters relating to the proposed visit to Nepal by President Pranab Mukherjee and Nepalese President Bidya Bhandari's visit to India, according to official sources.

Ahead of the visit, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae today met Nidhi at his office in Singhdurbar Secretariat.

During the meeting, they discussed matters relating to Nepal-India relations, mutual interest and "other relevant topics", according to a statement issued by the Home Ministry.

Rae assured Nidhi of India's continued support to Nepal in areas including security and implementation of development projects.

Prachanda, the Maoist chief, assumed office earlier this month for his second term as prime minister.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara yesterday left for Beijing with an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Nepal.

Mahara's two-day trip to China is the first high-level visit by a Nepalese official to a foreign country after the formation of the Prachanda government.

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Union Water Resources Ministry has proposed to set up a statutory authority to take action against those industrial units which pollute the Ganga river and its tributaries.

Currently, only the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) can take action against such industrial units.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti also said a "good news" is expected in the next 15 days in connection with the ambitious Ken-Betwa river-linking project, which is stuck "for eight months" for want of environmental clearances.

"Until now, we would recommend to the CPCB to take action against (industrial) polluters under Section five of under Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 as it has the powers.

"Now, the authority we are proposing, will have those powers to issue (show cause) notices under the section concerned," she told mediapersons here today.

The "independent/autonomous" authority will have powers to spend money, besides that of taking action against polluters, Bharti said.

According to Union Water Resources Secretary, Shashi Shekhar, draft of the proposal has been circulated to the Law Ministry for its consideration and is expected to be put before the Union Cabinet for its approval "soon".

The proposed authority can issue show cause notices or can direct any other authority including the Chief Secretary of a state to take action against the polluters, he said, adding, "If they fail to take action, the new authority will approach court seeking to impose penalty on the polluters concerned."



Bharti said her ministry has not decided on the name of the proposed authority yet, adding the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NCMG), which is currently a registered society, could well be "that authority".

The minister reiterated that she plans to set off on a two-year-long foot march from October to ensure that the Namami Gange programme is implemented in the desired way and pace and also seek suggestions regarding the Ganga Act which her ministry plans to come up with.

A committee headed by Justice Girdhar Malviya (Retd) has been entrusted with responsibility of preparing its draft, which aims at fast tracking the implementation of the programme.

Besides the Ganga basin states, Bharti urged people to submit their suggestions in connection with the proposed act so that the river's glory is restored.

"If we have to ensure that the Ganga river remains clean on permanent basis, somebody will have to dedicate himself or herself to the cause. Hence, I am thinking to set off a foot march for two years beginning upcoming October," she said.

Bharti said her ministry aims to make the stretch of the



Ganga river between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal "arsenic-free" and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is working on it.

She also said the Centre will revive projects undertaken under Ganga cleaning schemes envisaged prior to the NDA Government's Namami Gange programme. Rs 4,000 crore was spent on such projects, she added.

On Ken-Betwa river-linking project, aimed at connecting two inter-state rivers, the Union Minister said, "We have tried to satisfy the concerns of environmentalists for Ken-Betwa. So, we expect to receive good in that regard in the 10-15 days.
The city of New York has agreed to pay more than USD 4 million to the family of an unarmed black father of one, who was shot dead by a police officer.

Akai Gurley, 28, was shot in a darkened stairwell of a public housing building in November 2014 after taking the stairs when the elevator took too long to arrive in the poorly maintained apartment block.

He was killed by a police bullet that ricocheted off the wall.

Gurley's death, as with those of other unarmed black men at the hands of police, sparked nationwide protests and debate about police tactics and allegations of institutional racism.

The total settlement comes to more than USD 4.5 million, with USD 4.1 million payable by the city, USD 400,000 by the housing authority and USD 25,000 by the officer who shot Gurley, a lawyer for the family told AFP.

Peter Liang, who had been on the force just months, was found guilty of manslaughter by jury in February and sacked from the police.

In April, a judge downgraded his conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced him to five years probation and 800 hours community service.

Gurley's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in May 2015.

The settlement was reached on Monday afternoon in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's four-year-old daughter, is pleased with the results, her lawyer Scott Rynecki said.

"She wants to be able to move on with her life and she now hopes she can raise the child to be someone Akai would be proud of," he told AFP.

The funds will be held in a trust for Gurley's daughter, although her mother, a home health aide, can request monthly payments to help bring her up, he said.

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A plea alleging that reckless dumping of garbage and municipal solid waste near a school in East Delhi was causing health hazard to the children has prompted the Green Tribunal to retrain authorities from throwing any waste in front of the school.

A bench headed by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and sought its reply in two weeks on a plea filed by a former scientist.

"In the meanwhile we restrain the EDMC or any other person from throwing municipal solid waste or any other kind of waste in front of the school in question and the Corporation should also take all steps to remove the waste that has been dumped in front of the school gate," the bench also comprising justices M S Nambiar and Raghuvendra S Rathore said.

The tribunal also took exception to unplanned dumping of municipal solid waste and said that school children were suffering due to the mismanagement of the Corporation.

The matter is now listed for next hearing on September 23.

The green panel was hearing a plea filed by retired scientist C V Singh seeking directions to "collect, segregate, dispose and transport" the solid waste of the dump sites according to the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Singh, in his plea filed through advocate Gaurav Bansal, said that while passing through Indraprastha Extension here, he observed that two 'dhalaos' (garbage collection points) are situated at the gate of a government school in West Vinod Nagar and near Mohammad Chowk, Vinod Nagar respectively.

"A vegetable market also assembles near the said school on a daily basis and the residue vegetables cause a lot of intense foul smell around the said area...It is respectfully submitted that natural process of decomposition of an organic matter in an unmanaged form leads to intense foul smell resulting into various critical diseases.

"Due to mismanagement and littering of solid waste dumped at dhalao no 1, the adjacent road gets automatically covered with solid waste resulting into traffic congestion leading to vehicular pollution," the plea said.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today inked a pact with Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for planting trees along NH 7 in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

"National Green Highways Mission (NGHM) under NHAI has collaborated with PFC for plantation work at NH 7 in Nagpur region (Borkhedi-Wadner & Khatara-Kelapur) covering 87 km stretch," Road Transport and Highways Ministry said in a statement.

PFC has provided financial assistance of Rs 13 crore for the plantation and five-year maintenance under its CSR funds, it said.

"This event marks the first collaboration with the NGHM - NHAI under their 'Adopt a Green Highways' Programme," the statement said. The programme engages corporates, public sector units, governmental organisations, institutions and individuals under CSR and Public-Private Partnership for developing green corridors along NHs.

The pact was signed between PFC and NHAI today in the presence of Raghav Chandra, Chairman - NHAI; G S Ghai, Executive Director - PFC; A K Bhattacharya, MD NGHM and other senior officials of PFC and NHAI.

Bhattacharya said this will open new vistas for PSUs and corporate houses to utilise their CSR funds for greening of highways and creation of ecological assets.

Discussions with other PSUs such as Coal India and other corporates are underway.

For the proposed work in Nagpur, NGHM has engaged four empanelled agencies to execute plantation and maintenance work.

The agencies have been mandated to engage at least 70 per cent work force from the local community, thereby enhancing livelihood opportunity.

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An Austrian court remanded nine Iraqi migrants in custody today for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of a German tourist on New Year's Eve in Vienna.

The men, aged between 21 and 47, were arrested over the weekend at raids across Austria after months-long police investigations.

They were put in detention at a jail in Vienna pending trial, a court spokeswoman said.

The suspects are accused of bringing the 28-year-old victim, who was under the influence of alcohol, to one of the suspects' flats and taking turns in raping her on the night of December 31, 2015.

The men have rejected the allegations, but investigators found DNA traces of four of the accused at the alleged scene of the crime.

It is not clear yet how long the Iraqis have been in Austria, but one applied for asylum after the incident took place, police said.

Allegations of sexual assault involving migrants have been on the rise in Austria since the start of the European Union's worst refugee crisis since World War II last summer.

The country has received one of the bloc's biggest influxes of asylum seekers per capita, boosting the popularity of the far-right.

Earlier this month, neighbouring Germany passed a law making it easier to deport foreign nationals committing sex crimes, after more than 1,000 women reported sexual assaults and robberies in the city of Cologne on New Year's Eve.

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A North Korean diplomat posted at the country's London embassy has defected to another nation, according to a media report here today.

The diplomat, whose name has not been disclosed, left the embassy in west London earlier this month for a "third country", BBC quoted reports in the South Korean media as saying.

The UK Foreign Office has not commented on the alleged defection but has indicated it is trying to verify the reports.

The diplomat from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)hasreportedly lived in the UK for 10 years with his wife and family.

"A DPRK diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country," claims a report in the South Korean daily newspaper 'JoongAng Ilbo'.

"The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat's whereabouts, but has failed," the paper's report added, citing an anonymous source.

The paper said that in this context "a third country" means one which is not either North or South Korea.

"The intelligence benefits to the UK and its allies from such a deflection are likely to prove valuable," John Nilsson-Wright, an expert on Asian affairs at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told BBC.

The North Korean embassy is located in the residential area of Ealing in west London and is headed by Ambassador Hyon Hak Bong.

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military killed at least 14 militants in an offencive in the northwestern tribal region close to Afghan border that was launched to check and guard against terror movement along high mountains and in Khyber Agency on Wednesday.

The operation has been unleashed in the Rajgal valley of Khyber, one of seven tribal districts, where militants had a strong presence before army recaptured the region in 2015.

"An Operation has been launched along Pak-Afghan border to reinforce troops deployment in Rajgal valley to effectively check and guard against terrorists movement along high mountains and all weather passes in Khyber Agency," said military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa.

"In today's air strikes 14 terrorists were killed and 11 were injured," Bajwa said.

The area is notorious for its treacherous hilly passes and forested valleys, providing militants a natural location for hiding, training and attacking security forces.

The army launched decisive operation called Khber-2 after Peshawar school attack in Khyber and completed in July 2015.

It helped government to establish its writ in Tirah valley, a strategic area close to Afghan border.

Khyber border provincial capital Peshawar and sits on key route to Afghanistan through Torkham border crossing.

accused Afghanistan in the past for sending militants through Khyber for attacks.
For the second time within a week, Pakistan today offered India a bilateral arrangement for not conducting a nuclear test, saying it will send a positive signal to the NSG where both the countries have applied for membership.

Pakistan's offer to India for a bilateral arrangement on non-testing of nuclear weapons was initially announced by the Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on August 12.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria today said that following the nuclear tests in 1998, Pakistan had proposed to India simultaneous adherence to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) but the proposal did not elicit a favourable response from India.

"Once again, in the larger interest of peace and stability in the region, as also in the global context, Pakistan has indicated the possibility that the two countries may consider a bilateral arrangement, which is reflective of its policy of promoting restraint and responsibility in South Asia and its consistent support for the objectives of the CTBT," he said.

"The bilateral non-testing arrangement, if mutually agreed, could become binding immediately without waiting for the entry into force of the CTBT at the international level," the spokesperson added.

He said while the unilateral moratoriums declared by the two countries were voluntary, legally non-binding and could be withdrawn unilaterally, a bilateral arrangement will be mutually binding and difficult to withdraw from unilaterally.

Both countries could consider working out the details of the arrangement and mutually agreed confidence-building measures in relation to it. It could set the tone for further mutually agreed measures on restraint and avoidance of arms race in South Asia.

He said a bilateral arrangement on non-testing will also send a positive signal to the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) countries which are discussing the non-proliferation commitments of non-NPT states in relation to the question of membership.

Earlier, Aziz had said that Pakistan is prepared to consider translating its unilateral moratorium into a bilateral arrangement on non-testing with India.

He had added that Pakistan is confident of the merits of its membership application as its export controls were harmonized with those of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Australia Group.

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A Palestinian teenager was shot dead today during clashes with Israeli forces at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

"Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with (Israeli forces) in the Fawwar camp," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.

At least 25 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, Red Crescent medics said earlier.

The violence erupted when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered the camp, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, witnesses said.

The Israeli military did not confirm or deny casualties during the operation, which a spokeswoman said aimed to "uncover weaponry" in the camp.

The army closed off the Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver.

A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

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The Madras High Court today directed its registry to tag a petition filed by PMK challenging the constitutional validity of two amendments by the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply regarding to civic body elections.

The Division Bench comprising Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and M V Muralidharan directed the registry to tag it along with similar petitions filed by DMK.

The matter relates to the petition challenging constitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (2nd Amendment) Act 2016 and the Tamil Nadu Panchayat (2nd amendment) Act 2016.

The Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (2nd Amendment) Act 2016 paves way for indirect selection of Mayor, whereas till date it was a direct election by the people to the post of the Mayor.

The Tamil Nadu Panchayat (2nd amendment) Act 2016 paves way for conduct of local body elections on the basis of the census taken in the year 2001 and not on the basis of the fresh census that was taken in the year 2011 on which the recent assembly elections were held.

In his petition, PMK State Deputy General Secretary A Tamilarasu contended that the present amendment was introduced only on the basis of the outcome of the assembly elections by the ruling party, when it apprehended that if no change was brought in the local body elections, the results would be in favour of the opposition party and other parties in various Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations in Tamil Nadu.

Noting that the benefit ensured by the Constitution to reserve seats for the reserved category shall be based on the population of the concerned area, the petitioner submitted that it is necessary and justifiable to adopt the latest census of 2011, instead of 2001.

Stating that the object of the Constitution was to make local bodies perform effectively as vibrant democratic units of self-governance, the petitioner submitted that the amendments to the Acts are depriving people of their rights and compelling to adopt the unchanged delimitation what based the election, which in turn defeats the very object of the Constitution.

The present amendments were made to get over the apprehension or fear of defeat by the ruling party in the local body elections, the petitioner alleged and sought to declare the impugned amendments as unconstitutional, motivated, unreasonable and ultra virus of constitution, he contended.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed the bail application of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent Anand Chauhan in a special court, arrested in a money laundering case also involving the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, apprehending that he could tamper with the evidence.

The agency made the submission before Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who reserved the order on Chauhan's bail plea for August 20.

During the hearing, the agency argued, "There are ample evidences against Chauhan. If he is released on bail, there are serious apprehensions that he may tamper with evidences. If he is granted relief, he is likely to influence the witnesses who are yet to be examined and those about whom we are yet to know."

"The persons against whom the case was filed are still holding very high posts. He (Chauhan) should not be granted bail as it will hamper the further course of investigation," the agency told the court.

The counsel appearing for the accused, however, submitted, "I (Chauhan) am not the fountain-head for generating the money. Neither the money was mine, nor I was the beneficiary. I was arrested on July 9 while no other accused has been arrested in the case yet. Isn't it a dubious way of the probe agency?"

The accused, who is currently in the judicial custody, had sought relief on the ground that the case against him was documentary in nature and there was no need to keep him in custody.

Chauhan was arrested from Chandigarh on July 9 under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was allegedly not cooperating with investigating officer of the case.

ED had earlier claimed in the court that during Chauhan's interrogation, it was revealed that as an LIC agent, he had entered into a modus operandi to launder disproportionate assets by investing in LIC policies.

The agency had submitted that Virbhadra Singh, while serving as a union minister, invested huge amount in purchasing LIC policies in his own name and his family members through Chauhan.

"Further, Virbhadra Singh, while functioning as Union minister during the period from May 28, 2009, to June 26, 2012, acquired assets, disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 6,03,70,782 and further tried to justify the same in the form of agricultural income," the ED said.

"Pratibha Singh, wife of Virbhadra Singh, Chauhan, with whom has signed the alleged MoU for managing his apple orchard and Chunni Lal Chauhan, proprietor of M/s Universal Apple Associates, who purportedly showed purchase of apple of Shrikhand Orchard, have facilitated in justifying the disproportionate assets of and thereby abetted the offence," the ED had alleged.
A left-leaning student's alliance today held a protest here against the proposed 1,320 megawatt Indo-Bangla joint venture power plant near Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.

Activists of Pragatishil Chhatra Jote blocked Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka for one hour demanding cancellation of Rampal power plant's construction.

Environmental groups believe that the plant could affect the delicate ecosystem of the the world's largest mangrove forest spreading over both Bangladesh and India.

Vehicular movement remained suspended as the activists blocked the intersection, one of the busiest roads in the capital, Daily Star reported.

"We will stage demonstration across the country on August 18 in favour of our demand," Naima Khaled Monika, an activist said.

They withdrew the blockade after police officials requested them to clear the road.

At least six persons were injured during a scuffle with the law enforcers while breaking through the barricades, the report said.

Prior to gather at Shahbagh intersection, the activists took out a procession on the Dhaka university campus and broke through two barricades put by police there.

The Rampal power station is a proposed 1,320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna, Bangladesh. It is a joint partnership between India's state owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

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Shiv Sena and Dogra Front today took out a "pro-Balochistan and pro-Pakistan Occupied Kashmir" (PoK) rally in Jammu to express support to the people of both the regions in "their fight and struggle" for "independence from Pakistan"



"People of countries who live in glass houses should not pelt stones on others. In Balochistan, the Baluch organizations brought down the Pakistan flag and waved the Baluchistan flag, demanding freedom of Baluchistan from Pakistan against its highhandedness, inhumane behavior, human rights violations and no development since independence" President, Local Shiv Sena unit, Ashok Gupta said.

"The region of POK is a high casualty area for the civilians as the people of POK have no rights and when they demand it they are beaten and killed by the Pakistani Army," he said.

"On the day of the Pakistani Independence, the people of Balochistan raised slogans against the Pakistan demanding independence from the terror haven Pakistan," Gupta said.

He said ISI was "supporting" and "financing" people in Jammu and Kashmir to project Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani as a "martyr".

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The ongoing protest and dharna by the Kashmiri Hindu employees today entered the 34th day as they criticised the centre and state governments for turning a "blind eye" towards their demand of absorbing them in Jammu region due to the prevailing unrest in the Valley.

Most of 1600 employees had migrated from the Valley soon after stone pelters attacked their transit camps at many places in Kashmir following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

The Kashmiri Hindu employees including females sat on dharna and held protests for the 34th day today at Relief Commissioner's officer here.

"We cannot return to Kashmir Valley in worst situation in 26 years of terrorism. We have talked to the Central government and state leadership and have asked them to absorb us in Jammu region," said a protesting employee R J Saproo.

The protesting employees hit out at the state and the central government for turning a "blind eye" towards them, saying not a single government representative has visited them so far.

Over 1600 displaced Kashmiri Hindus were recruited under Prime Minister's special employment package and posted in Kashmir in 2009.

"Nobody is thinking of us who have now migrated again from Kashmir. This is second migrantion from Kashmir in the last 26 years, when our parents fled Valley to killing and terrorising on Kashmiri Pandits in 1990," said Dheeraj Kumar.

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In a step towards setting up the country's first Railway university, an MoU will be signed tomorrow between National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) here and Maharaja Sayajirao University to award MBA degrees to rail employees in various fields like accounts and personnel.

NAIR, the apex training institute for imparting training to railway officers, has been selected for upgradation as a full-fledged Railway University as part of efforts to enhance the skills of railway officers.

It is envisioned that Railway University, when set up, would act as an affiliating University. Five other premier Central Training Institutes of the Railways at Pune, Nasik, Jamalpur, Secunderabad and Lucknow, which train officers of various specific disciplines in the Railways, would be affiliated as constituent colleges.

As a measure of enhancing professional management education in the railway field to the Probationary Officers, it was decided that NAIR shall tie-up with Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara for awarding MBA degree in specific Railway fields to Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) and Indian Railway Store Service (IRSS) officers, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The MoU will be signed by Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani here. This was ratified earlier by the academic council and Senate of MS University.

Railway probationary officers who are currently trained at NAIR, will study and obtain MBA degree from the University with specialisation in respective fields such as Finance, Human Resource Management, Production and Operations Management and Marketing Management.

The tie-up also enables MS University to select students at their end for MBA along with Railway officers. These students will also be awarded MBA degree in respective disciplines.

He said this will also serve the requirements of railway-related infrastructural construction contractors, suppliers, Metros and Port Railways.

They can also seek employment in Railways, by appearing in exam conducted by UPSC, he said.

The programme starts with the first batch of IRSS joining NAIR in August 2016.

Other initiatives for railway related education and research as a railway budget initiative, four Centres of Railway Research (CRR) were to be set up in premier educational institutions of India.

Memorandum of Understandings have since been signed



between Ministry of Railways and University of Mumbai on April 18, 2015, IITs Kanpur, Madras and Roorkee on December 22, 2015. One Centre for Railway Research is also in existence at IIT Kharagpur.

The areas of research are also earmarked for these different CRRs based on the core competencies of the different institutes. It is expected that these Centres for Railway Research would contribute immensely towards providing solutions for utilisation of Railways assets in a more cost-effective manner and its various processes towards complete customer satisfaction.

To expand the areas of research further, Indian Railways have also set up the Malviya Chair at IIT BHU, Varanasi for development of proper materials for use by Indian Railways and a 'Chair on Sustainable Mobility' has also been set up at TERI University, New Delhi.

The assigned areas of the CRRs include civil infrastructure of high speed rail, bridges and structures, track management system, environmental engineering, and rail wheel dynamics at IIT Roorkee.

Geo-tech engineering, advanced fuel efficient systems, fire safety management, advanced electronics, high speed rolling stock design, advanced signalling and fog vision at IIT Kanpur are among other assigned areas of the CRRs.

IIT Madras will have structural health monitoring of railway infrastructure, intelligent transportation, computer vision and imaging, reliability engineering and energy management.

RDSO, the research arm of the Indian Railways is coordinating with all the CRRs and chairs.

Centre for Railway Research, Mumbai University shall carry out research related to heavy haul technology, high-speed technologies, energy efficient traction power supply systems and track research.

The CRR will in due course also offer degree programme, post graduate programmes and PhD programme in research areas related to Railways and will also involve students in research projects and offer course electives related to Railway technology.

Mumbai University's academic council has recently approved a undergraduate course in Railway Engineering for the current academic year at the Railway Research Centre at their Ratnagiri sub-campus.
Four employees of a petrol pump were robbed of cash Rs 36.50 lakh that they were carrying to deposit in a bank, at Nathupura flyover in east Delhi's Nand Nagri area today.

Police said the employees of the petrol pump in Nand Nagri were going to a bank in Durgapuri to deposit Rs 36.50 lakh which was looted from them at gun point by bike borne robbers at around 11 am.

The four employees Arvind, Vinod, Narendra and Manoj were carrying the cash in a car which was followed by four robbers on two motorcycles. As soon as the car reached the Nathupura flyover they were intercepted and forced to stop.

The robbers then got down from their bikes and surrounded the car and broke open its windowpane with the butt of guns and snatched away the bag containing Rs 36.50 lakh, said a senior police officer.

A case has been registered in this connection and investigation has been taken up. Police is screening CCTV footage on the route followed by the employees to identify the robbers, he said.

The employees and owner of the petrol pump have also been questioned in connection with the loot.

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Russian authorities notified the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria shortly before launching a bombing mission from Iran, a US military official today.

The coalition has since last year operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria.

"The Russians did notify the coalition as per the memorandum of understanding for safety of flight," US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said.

"They informed us they were coming through and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out again. They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time."



Russia's defense ministry today said long-range bombers and fighter jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib."



IS fighters are concentrated only in Deir Ezzor and not Aleppo or Idlib, Garver noted.

Russia yesterday said it and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo, but US officials have not confirmed this.

Garver said the Russians had provided "not a lot" of warning but that it "was enough time to make sure that we could ensure safety of flight."



He did not comment when asked if Russia had sought overflight permission from the government of Iraq, whose airspace provides quickest access to Syria from Iran.

The United States and various coalition partners have been bombing IS in Iraq and Syria for two years, while Russia's strikes have predominantly been in support of regime forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

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South Korea said today that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.

A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.

They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Arguing that the high-profile nature of the restaurant workers' case made them unusually vulnerable, the NIS had announced in June that they would remain in protective custody rather than being sent to the centre.

Now that they have been released, the unification ministry said it would provide no further details of their situation "for safety reasons".

"They did not want to be interviewed or make public their whereabouts," the ministry official said.

The dispute over the defectors has fanned inter-Korean tensions that have been running high since the North's fourth nuclear test in January.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South.

But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in the North Korea-themed restaurants overseas and who are handpicked from families considered "loyal" to the regime.

The South's government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around USD 10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates -- with mostly North Korean staff -- in 12 countries including neighbouring China.

North Korea's campaign for the return of the defectors has included emotional video interviews with the women's relatives in the North, angrily denouncing South Korean authorities and demanding a meeting with the women.

A group of liberal South Korean human rights lawyers -- having gained power of attorney from the relatives -- forced a court hearing into the case in Seoul in June.

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The Holy Quran was sacrileged in a village in this district of Punjab for which police has arrested a close relative of the maulvi of the mosque where the incident occurred.

The incident took place yesterday in Mehlan Chowk village of Suman, with over 100 pages of the holy book being found torn in the mosque premises, police said, adding these pages were later buried as per Muslim tradition.

Later today, police claimed to have cracked the case by arresting one Israr Mohammad of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Police said a secret information was received that the sacrilege incident was committed by Israr and he was arrested.

The accused is the brother-in-law of Maulvi Mohmmad Mustafa, complainant in the case, police said.

The accused had allegedly committed the sacrilege to take revenge against his sister Mohseena Begum and brother-in-law Maulvi Mustafa, police said.

Earlier, the accused used to reside at the mosque along with his sister and brother-in-law.

"Israr fell in bad company and started taking drugs, because of which his sister and brother-in-law beat him and he was forced to leave the mosque three-four months ago," police said.

Earlier, the Holy Quran was desecrated in Malerkotla town on June 24 and the accused arrested in that case included Delhi's AAP MLA Naresh Yadav. He is out of jail on bail now.

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The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen launched an investigation today after international condemnation of an air raid that Doctors Without Borders said killed 11 people at a hospital it supports.

More than 19 people were also wounded in the strike that hit the hospital yesterday in Abs in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said.

A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staffer was among the dead, it said.

The hospital strike was the latest in a series of coalition raids that allegedly hit civilian facilities -- including a school on Saturday where 10 children were killed.

The coalition began the bombing campaign in March last year after Shiite Huthi rebels seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

It increased air strikes this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and Yemen's internationally backed government were suspended.

The coalition's spokesman Tuesday accused the Huthis of using the three months of negotiations to rearm.

"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri said.

MSF said yesterday's attack was the fourth on one of its facilities in less than a year.

"Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no respect for medical facilities or patients," said Teresa Sancristoval of MSF's emergency unit in Yemen.

MSF said the hospital's GPS coordinates "were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, and its location was well-known".

Key Saudi ally Washington expressed concern, with a State Department spokeswoman saying: "Strikes on humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, are particularly concerning."



UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed" by the intensification of air raids in Yemen.

"Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," Ban said.

Amnesty International said the bombardment "appears to be the latest in a string of unlawful attacks targeting hospitals, highlighting an alarming pattern of disregard for civilian life".

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In a nearly 13-year-old illegal money pooling case, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has ordered Ion Exchange Enviro Farms to deposit Rs 3 crore within a week's time and then Rs 5 crore every month till the dues of investors are settled.

Back in November 2003, the had ordered the company to refund little over Rs 20 crore raised by way of unregistered collective investment schemes in the name of purchase and maintenance of land.

After the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) upheld the Sebi's order in May 2006, the firm approached the Supreme Court against the SAT order but the plea was rejected in February 2013.

In a seven-page order dated August 12, the Sebi's Recovery Officer D V Sekhar has directed the company to Rs 3 crore, as committed by it, within a week.

Further, the company has to deposit Rs 5 crore per month from September 20 till the completion of entire balance dues along with assured returns, interests, costs and charges, the regulator said.

The latest move is part of the Sebi's recovery process as the the firm failed to refund the investors within the mandated timeframe. In this regard, various bank and demat accounts were attached in December 2015.

Apart from directing Ion Exchange to deposit the money in instalments, the regulator has ordered it to submit all original title deeds owned or held by the company in the name of its nominees within two weeks' time.

Although Ion Exchange claimed to have repaid the money in the form of transfer of lands to most of the investors, said the firm has not furnished any details of the claimed repayments in the form of transfer of title of lands or payments towards development expenses.
A rocket fired by Yemeni rebels killed seven civilians inside Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the civil defence agency said.

It was the highest reported number of civilian casualties in the kingdom's south since a Saudi-led coalition intervened 17 months ago in .

"It killed four citizens and three residents," the civil defence spokesman in Najran city said of the rocket strike, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

He said emergency personnel were called at 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) after a report of "a military rocket that had been fired from landing in Najran city".

Social media video purportedly from the scene showed fires burning and the ground strewn with debris across a wide area.

Two men lay apparently dead, one with blood pouring from beneath his head, beside a pickup truck.

"Najran is sad and hurt today," one local resident told AFP.

"We are worried but we are not afraid," he said, adding that the city has been targeted before.

The rocket hit a busy industrial-commercial area where many garages are located.

More than 100 civilians and soldiers have been killed in southern Saudi Arabia by retaliatory rocket strikes or skirmishes since the coalition began operations to support Yemen's government against Huthi rebels.

Fighting along the border has intensified since the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks earlier this month.

Two civilians on the Saudi side of the border died in shelling last week, after months of relative calm.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their "indigenous freedom struggle".

Sharif's remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The Prime Minister reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

"The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom," he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting state's affairs during his term in office. The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the "democratic system" in PoK.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last month's parliamentary elections in Kashmir.

Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK.

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IAF's iconic unit 'Siachen Pioneers', which is a lifeline for thousands of soldiers posted in the arduous and world's highest battlefield, wants to replace ageing Cheetah choppers with the Cheetals that come equipped with modern engine.

114 Helicopter Unit, also known as Siachen Pioneers, is the mainstay of the soldiers who are posted even at the height of 22,000 feet, as they carry essential food and equipment to various posts in the Siachen Glacier.

The highly decorated unit currently operates 14 helicopters of which 10 are Cheetal and four are Cheetah, first made available in the 1970s.

Cheetal is the re-engined version of the Cheetah helicopter and comes equipped with French-origin Turbomeca engine which also powers the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv.

The project initiated during 2002 was aimed at enhancing high altitude operational capabilities and maintainability as well as to provide a mid-life upgrade for safe and reliable operations.

"We are very happy with the performance of the Cheetals. They are not only more powerful than the Cheetah but also fuel efficient which means that a little bit more load can be carried on them," Wing Commander S Ramesh, Commanding Officer of the of the 114 'Siachen Pioneers', told PTI.

He added that the Unit is looking at replacing the four Cheetah helicopters it has with the Cheetal.

Everyday, the 'Siachen Pioneers' carries out numerous sorties to Siachen glacier braving inclement weather conditions including high speed icy winds. The squadron is tasked from Kargil to eastern Ladakh.

And all this comes at a cost. The unit, which is perhaps the only in the world to be deployed in action continuously for over three decades because of "Operation Meghdoot", has lost 13 officers till now.

The work routinely involves landing at the highest helipads in the world in Siachen glacier and flying the helicopters to the edge of its flight envelope over a very treacherous terrain marked by uncertain weather.

The unit has also found a place in the Limca Book for World Records for the highest helicopter landing at a density altitude of 25,140 feet.

Besides this, the Unit is well-known for its daring



rescue of mountaineers and trekkers from across the globe year after year.

It regularly undertakes flights to assist locals who live in the remote regions of Leh and Ladakh area.

This includes ensuring that the students and teachers are airlifted in IAF helicopter to reach their schools at Leh and back home.

Earlier, the dangerous 'Chaddar' trek over the frozen Zanskar river was the only way for children and teachers of the area to reach Leh.

Another team of the IAF, 153 Helicopter Unit (Daring Dragons), which flies Mi 17 V5 also assists the soldiers since they carry higher load of men, ration and equipment.

Asked how he would describe his unit, Wing Commander Ramesh showed the book 'Soldier Mountaineer' written by Colonel Narinder 'Bull' Kumar, highly-decorated officer of the Kumaon Regiment who planted the Indian flag on the Siachen Glacier in 1981.

"To CO, 114 Helicopter Sqn - Lifeline of the Siachen Glacier Garrison," read the personally signed note of Kumar.

In the summer of 1984, the Indian army launched its first major offensive against the Pakistani army at Siachen and established bases along the glacier. Their main weapon was the detailed maps, plans, photographs made by Kumar and his team.
China leads the world in connecting everyday devices to the internet, but is creating huge hacking vulnerabilities for itself and others by doing so, renegade American software pioneer John McAfee warned today.

Hackers had already been able to gain control of devices such as safes and heating controls, and take over the computer systems of automobiles and aeroplanes, he said.

"China is taking the lead in putting intelligence into devices, from refrigerators to smart thermostats, and this is our weakest link in cybersecurity," he said in Beijing.

"I am hoping that in the short time I am here I can raise a warning flag that we have to take security of these devices even more importantly than our large computers or our smart phones," he told a conference of internet security professionals.

"Because there are so many more of these devices, and the more that are connected, then the higher the risk of a potential hack becomes."



McAfee, 70, is the colourful founder of an antivirus software company who once fled Belize after police sought to question him in a murder case.

He has since returned to the United States, where he announced he was running for president.

He amassed an estimated $100 million fortune during the early days of the internet in the 1990s, but lost most of it to bad investments and the financial crisis.

He was living with a 17-year-old girl in Belize when police came looking for him to discuss the killing of his neighbour -- a crime of which he maintains his innocence. He was briefly incarcerated and fled the Central American country.

McAfee's at times dire and alarming speech in Beijing came as his new company MGT Capital prepares to launch cybersecurity products later this year.

"Our species has never before faced a threat of this magnitude. And we have not noticed it by and large," he said.

"You may thinking I am exaggerating, that I am an alarm0ist. I am friends with many of the hackers who have the capability to do enormous damage if they so chose."



Chinese companies such as Xiaomi have been praised for innovation in adding internet connectivity to a variety of devices including air purifiers and rice cookers, allowing users to switch them on from work or on their way home.

Such connections create serious new weaknesses that could leave users' networks especially vulnerable to hacking, McAfee said.

But in a briefing with reporters he also commended Beijing's protection of its domestic internet, which is heavily censored and blocks many foreign websites, for its seeming security against the large-scale breaches seen recently in the US.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday targeted Congress alleging that some of its leaders are seen offering support to Pakistan after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in his Independence Day speech. The party also said it's a sad commentary that it is divided on issues of interests.

It said while the main opposition party offered support to Modi on his reference to PoK and Balochistan in an all-party meeting on August 12, its leaders were outside seen offering support to Pakistan.

"As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking in one voice. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala," party leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said.

The saffron party was aggressive in its attack on Congress at its briefing in which its Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh targeted it.

"This division of the party and its leaders had reflected in the joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh," he said, referring to the statement which spoke about threats in Balochistan and invited strong criticism from the BJP, then in opposition.

"Its leaders are seen to be supporting Pakistan. It is obvious that the country is supporting Modi on his comments on Balochistan and PoK," Singh said.

Khurshid had on Monday accused Modi of ruining India's case on PoK by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. But later, Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of atrocities in Balochistan and PoK in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.

"They (Pakistan) are trying to give us lectures about Kashmir, that's why we have told them about what is happening in Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit. Let them focus on human rights violations, massacre and atrocities there," Naidu said on the sidelines of an event.

Singh also attacked former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his dig at the government on its handling of the situation in the Valley and said he and his father (Farooq Abdullah) state one thing in Parliament and another outside.

He said Pakistan had lost a golden opportunity given by Modi by rejecting his hand of peace, inviting questions from the media as to whether the Prime Minister's reference to PoK and Balochistan was driven by the failure of his peace exercise.

"The government has evaluated and come up with a policy which is in the best interest of the country," Singh replied.
The suspect in custody for brutally killing a Bangladeshi-origin imam and his associate was today identified as a 35-year-old Hispanic man and charged with intentionally carrying out the double murders near a New York mosque that has shocked the Muslim community.

Oscar Morel from Brooklyn was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon by New York police, which did not give any motive for the Saturday killing in the borough of Queens.

The charges came hours after hundreds of mourners attended the funeral service for the 55-year-old mosque leader Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, who was respected locally, and his 65-year-old associate Thara Uddin.

The duo, who were walking home dressed in Islamic attire after afternoon Zuhr prayers at Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighbourhood, were approached from behind by a male with medium complexion wearing a dark polo shirt and shorts who shot them multiple times in the head from point-blank range.

Video of the horrific execution-style killing had also shown the brazen crime to be a planned murder following which the killer fled.

Morel was originally arrested Sunday night on charges related to a hit-and-run accident, some five kilometres from the spot of the murders, and the assault of a police officer, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters.

The murder charges were added later after police recovered a revolver and clothing from his house that matched what the shooter wore in a video of the attack, reports said.

"We believe, because of the evidence we've acquired thus far, that we strongly believe this is the individual," Boyce said.

Police said witnesses saw his black Chevy TrailBlazer flee the scene of the shooting.

Muslim leaders chanted "We want justice" and sought a stepped up security including installation of CCTV cameras outside mosques in the area following the incident, that has sent a shockwave among the Bangladeshi community in the neighbourhood and prompted concerns over growing Islamophobia.

The leaders slammed "xenophobic statements" made against the community in speeches by "politicians and candidates seeking the highest office in the land", in a clear reference to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, among those who paid respects to the slain duo, promised deployment of more police personnel to protect mosques and the Muslim community as he underlined the entire city stood shoulder-to-shoulder with those in mourning.

Authorities had earlier said hate crime was being probed as a possible motive - as demanded by Muslim elders, who have rejected a report that said the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics.

The New York chapter of Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organisation Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had offered a USD 10,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest or conviction in the incident.

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Condemning the latest killings in security forces firing, senior CPI(M) leader and MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami today said the "indifferent and callus attitude" of state and central governments was only inflaming the already worsening situation in Kashmir Valley.

"With every passing day, the number of unfortunate killings of teenagers goes up. Since yesterday evening, six young persons were killed in continued brutalities committed by law enforcing agencies. How long Kashmir will bleed, is a question being asked by every Kashmiri," Tarigami said.

"The indifferent and callus attitude of those in power in Delhi and Srinagar is only inflaming the already worsening situation further," he said in a statement here.

Tarigami said the least people expected from Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to "express his concern" about the tragic situation which has overtaken Kashmir and has resulted in "huge loss of life and mounting miseries" of the common people.

"Prime Minister in his long speech yesterday on Independence Day did not even bother to mention the sad happenings in Kashmir and did not say even a word about the sufferings of the people," he said, adding that "instead he spoke about human rights abuses in Balochistan and Gilgit."



"This is a refrain taken up from what he said in the all-party meeting," Tarigami said.

Meanwhile, state unit of Congress also expressed deep sorrow over the latest killings and demanded an end to the firing on the protesters, saying the "use of brute force has damaged the peace in the valley besides making people feel apprehensive and unsafe."



"Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) condemns the killing of unarmed people. We express deep sorrow over the unfortunate incidents of firing at Aripanthan in Beerwah area of Budgam and Larkipora in Anantnag district which left several persons dead and scores of others injured," State Congress chief G A Mir said in a statement here.

Terming the unabated civilian killings as "highly deplorable and objectionable", Mir questioned both State and Centre governments on how long incidents of killings will continue.

Sixty-three persons including two policemen have been killed and several thousand others injured as security forces used force to tackle widepsread protests triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind today claimed that a "jungle raj" prevailed in Gujarat, citing the recent attacks on Dalits and the Patidar agitation.

Kejriwal raised the issue of Dalits who were again attacked at Una yesterday after an Independence Day ceremony, alleging that the government is deliberately organising such attacks.

"When Dalit community members were yesterday returning after Independence Day celebration at Una, they were again attacked and police did nothing. It is obvious that those attacking Dalits repeatedly are criminals sent by the BJP government of Gujarat," Kejriwal told reporters here.

"It appears that people from different communities in the state are frustrated with the government and are raising their voice as a way of protest. There is a kind of 'jungle raj' in Gujarat," he said.

Kejriwal alleged that the Gujarat government is intolerant towards peaceful protesters, whether they are Dalits or Patidars.

"An environment of oppression prevails in Gujarat... BJP government should understand that this is a democracy and not dictatorship. People matter. They will teach such a lesson that it will never forget," he added.

"Government is doing it deliberately. When I came here earlier (to meet Una Dalit atrocity victims), I said it is either government's failure or government is doing this deliberately. Why otherwise should police remain a mute spectator? They have an order from above that they are our people, don't do anything to them, we have to teach them a lesson," he said.

"Whosoever holds peaceful protest, whether they are Patidars or Dalits, are being attacked. They use tools like police to beat them up, then file false FIR against poor people, as a poor person will not even be able to hire a lawyer," the Delhi Chief Minister added.

Kejriwal was among several political leaders who had visited Una in Gir Somnath district to meet Dalit youths who were attacked by a group of cow vigilantes.

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Three workers with the Catholic aid organisation Caritas were abducted today in a troubled region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the charity said.

The incident occurred 125 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital of Goma, in an area notorious for attacks by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group.

"Two Caritas-Congo vehicles were ambushed in Misinga and three Congolese workers were kidnapped," Caritas-Congo spokesman Guy-Marin Kamandji said.

"One of the vehicles came under fire... (but) was able to turn around," he said.

One of its occupants, a German photojournalist, was wounded in the leg, he said.

The vehicles were carrying neither money nor aid, Kamandji said.

FDLR members are the "suspected authors" of the kidnapping, he said.

Set up in the eastern DRC after the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, the FDLR has been accused of committing frequent atrocities against civilians in areas under its control.

Several of its chiefs face accusations of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, has been the scene of repeated clashes for nearly two decades, and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

Abductions of aid workers have been a frequent occurrence this year in the areas of Masisi, Lubero, Rutshuru and Walikale, despite fierce condemnation by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

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Three drug smugglers, including a terrorist-turned-proclaimed offender, were arrested in separate incidents, police said today.

According to Phagwara SP Jasbir Singh Rai, Ravinder Singh alias Bittu, Gurpartap Singh and Husan Lal alias Johni were arrested last night and 440 grams of smack and a motorcycle were recovered from their possession.

The three were arrested by separate police patrolling teams from in and around Phagwara, the SP said, adding that they were booked under sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

Of the three, Ravinder Singh alias Bittu was associated with terrorist activities during the peak of militancy in Punjab, the SP said, adding that he belonged to the Pardhan Singh Bhuchar and Nishan Singh Mehindipur faction.

He was also involved in the Kalyan railway station blast in Mumbai in 1991 and was serving a life sentence in that case, the SP said, adding that he was out on parole in 2007 but was declared a proclaimed offender after he did not return.

A native of Saidpur village in Patti, Bittu had adopted the false name of Swaran Singh and also used to claim that he belonged to Sherpur village, the SP said, adding that he was arrested by a police team near the Maheru village school.

The SP said 300 grams of smack was recovered from Bittu, adding that Mumbai police was being informed of his arrest.

In another incident, notorious drug smuggler Gurpartap Singh was arrested and 100 grams of smack was recovered from his possession, he said.

A resident of Rakhjhuthe village in Tarn Taran district, Gurpartap had served a five-year jail term for drug smuggling earlier, added the SP.

In yet another case, a local resident, Husan Lal alias Johni, was arrested with 40 grams of smack, the SP said, adding that he was also involved in robbing Roop Lal, a fruit commission agent, of Rs 62,000 at gunpoint here on August 2.

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Three students of the city's prestigious Hindu School were injured this afternoon when a window grille fell on them, the police said.

The students of class two were trying to climb over the grille when it gave away and fell on them. The three were rushed to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and released from there after primary treatment, school sources said.

Describing the incident as 'unfortunate', state education minister Partha Chatterjee said, "Preventive action should be taken to avoid such incidents. I will discuss the matter with the Hindu School head teacher.

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Three youths were picked up by police from Jafrabad area of north-east Delhi tonight in connection with alleged betting racket, after which the family members of the youths and locals staged demonstration outside the police station.

Three youths - Danish, Subhan and Fazil were picked by police from Matke wali Gali in Jafrabad at around 10.30 PM.

"A police team had gone to pick up a few suspect in connection with betting racket has nabbed the three youth. We are verifying the facts," said a senior police officer.

However, the locals claimed that Danish and Subhan were Delhi University students while Fazil worked at a motor workshop and had "nothing to do with betting".

They also alleged the police used force as the family members staged a protest outside Jafrabad police station where the youth were detained.

Police force has been deployed outside the police station as tension prevails in the area.

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With several Trinamool Congress councillors facing allegations of involvement in syndicate business (supply of construction materials) and extortion, the party has convened a meeting of party councillors on August 19, where it is slated to draw up a "guideline of conduct".

According to TMC sources, party chief Mamata Banerjee was "extremely disappointed" with the "high-handed" attitude of a section of councillors, especially their involvement in syndicate and real estate business.

A TMC source said that Banerjee had warned against "high-handedness" by public representatives.

"Some of them have mended their ways and some not. It is giving a wrong perception about the image of the party," he said.

A TMC councillor of ward no 41 of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Anindya Chattopadhyay was arrested last month on a complaint by a resident of the area about an alleged extortion bid, triggering stern action against several TMC leaders and councillors.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said at an election rally in Ohio.

"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.

"Those who did not believe in our Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country. Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.

To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

"As soon as I take office, I will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where inadequate screening cannot take place. There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those area until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," he said.

"The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening. We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the middle east every year. Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions," he said.

"Hundreds of thousands. If we don't control the numbers, we can't perform adequate screening. There's no way it can take place," he added.

Trump said one of his first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will hopefully work with his administration.

"We want to build bridges and erase divisions. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalisation, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalisation," he said.

"This commission will be used to develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners. And while I'm at it, we should give a hand to our great police officers and law enforcement officials," he said.

Trump said his administration will keep open Guantanamo Bay, and place a renewed emphasis on human intelligence.

"Drone strikes will remain part of our strategy, but we

will also seek to capture high value targets to gain needed information to dismantle their organisations. Foreign combatants will be tried in military commissions," Trump said.

"Finally, we will pursue aggressive criminal or immigration charges against anyone who lends material support to terrorism. There will be consequences for those people. There will be very serious consequences," he said.

Meanwhile, a top American Muslim group opposed Trump's policies.

"Donald Trump proposed an ideological 'test' to ensure that potential immigrants support American values. American values include the right to hold unpopular or non-majority opinions," said Robert McCaw, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in a statement.

"Trump himself would likely not gain entry into the US if tested for basic American values of tolerance and pluralism, given that his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States and his views on Latinos are in complete contradiction to America's traditions of ethnic diversity and religious freedom," he said.
Vowing to halt the spread of radical Islam, Republican presidential candidate has laid out his strategy to defeat global terrorism and called for a new Cold War-like "ideological screening test" as part of "extreme vetting" of would-be immigrants.

Trump also stated that the era of nation building should come to an end as he unveiled a blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with NATO and Middle East allies.

The 70-year-old real estate tycoon said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.

"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach -- which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East -- must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating 'radical Islam' in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he asserted.

Trump also proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said yesterday.

"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition, to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.

Trump stressed that those who did not believe in the Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into the country if he is elected as President.

"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.

To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

He also proposed calling an conference focused on stopping the spread of radical Islam.

"We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.

A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.

"I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," Trump said.

"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against ISIS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with ISIS," he said.

Trump asserted that the US cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by its enemy.

"We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said.

Trump alleged that the rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of State.

"Let's look back at the Middle East at the very beginning of 2009 before the Obama-Clinton administration took over. Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the US," Trump said.

"Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence. The group that would become what we now call ISIS was close to being extinguished. Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions. Fast forward to today. What we have -- and think of this -- and the decisions made by the Obama/Clinton group have been absolutely disastrous," he said.

Trump said as soon as he becomes President, he will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place.

"There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those area until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," Trump said.

"The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening. We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the middle east every year. Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions," he said.

Trump said one of his first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will work with his administration.

"We want to build bridges and erase divisions. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalisation, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalisation," he said.

"This commission will be used to develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners. And while I'm at it, we should give a hand to our great police officers and law enforcement officials," he said.

Trump said his administration will keep open Guantanamo Bay, and place a renewed emphasis on human intelligence.
Turkish police on Tuesday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects wanted after last month's botched coup attempt, state media reported.

Police carried out simultaneous raids on 44 businesses including a holding firm in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The suspects are accused of financing the activities of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is blamed by authorities for orchestrating the July 15 putsch.

Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants against 120 people, including company managers, the agency added.

The companies targeted have not been named so far. It is not clear how many suspects have been detained in the raids.

Turkish authorities have undertaken a relentless crackdown on alleged Gulen supporters in the wake of the coup, detaining over 35,000 people. Almost 11,600 have since been released.

Gulen, in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the government's accusations.

Turkish police on Monday raided four major courts in Istanbul, detaining 136 of the wanted prosecutors and other judicial staff working at the courts.
A wildly popular Turkish television and film thriller franchise staring an action hero dubbed the "Turkish James Bond" will make a movie about the failed July 15 coup, its producer announced.

The "Valley of the Wolves" franchise, has resulted in dozens of television episodes and several spin-off films since it was first created in 2003, enthralling many Turks.

But it has long been accused by critics of having a strong ideological bent alongside a potent streak of Turkish nationalism and anti-American and Israeli sentiment.

"In response to intense public demand to make a film or television series about the coup bid, our firm has taken the decision to make the film 'Valley of the Wolves -- Coup'," the production company Pana Film said in a statement on its official Twitter account late yesterday.

It did not give further details but the film will most likely see the return of Turkish secret service action hero Polat Alemdar -- played by Necati Sasmaz -- to do battle with the coup plotters who aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Always ending up on top against the odds -- like British spy hero James Bond -- Polat Alemdar takes on a panoply of Turkey's enemies, be it the mafia, militants or even the West.

The franchise did not shy away from controversy with its first film "Valley of the Wolves -- Iraq" which centred on the US-invasion of Iraq and the story of the capture of 11 Turkish soldiers by a US military unit.

It then ventured into even stormier waters with a film on the deadly raid by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza in 2010.

The movie further ratcheted up diplomatic tensions between Turkey and the Jewish State, prompting accusations of anti- Semitism that were vehemently denied by the producers.

"Valley of the Wolves" has always been seen as in tune with the ambitious foreign policy and projection of a powerful Turkey espoused by Erdogan, who became prime minister in the year the series first came out.

However it has not been spared from controversy within the country, with the producers pulling the plug on a 2007 series "Valley of the Wolves -- Terror" which dealt with the fight against Kurdish militants after just one episode.

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Turkish prosecutors have demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month's failed coup, state media reported today.

In a 2,527-page indictment approved by prosecutors in the Usak region of western Turkey, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other accusations, the Anadolu agency reported.

Thirteen out of 111 suspects in the case are remanded in custody, it said. All face prison terms ranging from two years to life in jail.

The so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO) -- the name Ankara gives for the group led by Gulen -- had infiltrated state archives through its members in the state institutions and intelligence units, according to the indictment.

The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its purpose of taking control of all state institutions, it added.

It has also collected funds from businessmen in the name of "donations" and transferred the money to the United States by means of front companies, and by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, Anadolu reported.

The case dates back to September 2015, even before the failed coup, and had been launched by the Usak prosecutor's office into the financial assets of FETO.

Gulen, the reclusive cleric in who has lived in the United States since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a "parallel state" since a corruption scandal embroiling President, then premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.

Since July 15, Turkey's crackdown on his supporters has intensified with tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education sector dismissed from their jobs or detained.

Turkey has pressed the United States to extradite Gulen to face trial at home and expressed frustration that Washington seems in no hurry to consider the matter. From his secluded Pennsylvania base, Gulen has vehemently denied playing any part in the coup.

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Two workers were killed and three injured by an ammonia leak today at a Malaysian chemical plant, the company said.

"Five contractors were affected. The company however regrets to inform that two fatalities have been reported," Petronas Chemicals Group said in a statement.

The firm is a unit of state energy group Petronas. The leak happened at its plant in the eastern state of Sabah.

Petronas Chemicals produces a range of petrochemical products including olefins, polymers and fertilisers.

The company said the leak had been contained and authorities are investigating the cause.

Petronas is Malaysia's only Fortune 500 firm and the single largest source of government revenue and of national export earnings.

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Two persons have been arrested for allegedly cheating around Rs 20 lakh from a retired government employee in Ashok Nagar area of east Delhi.

Accused Amit Singh and Rehan Siddique, were arrested by police from Shastri Nagar area, said DCP(east) Rishi Pal said.

The arrest also resulted in recovery of 26 walkie-talkie phones, eight SIM cards, a laptop containing data of potential victims who were called and lured on the pretext of life insurance policy bonuses.

The duo were arrested following a complaint by retired government employee Kailash Nath Singh who was made to deposit Rs 19,88,500, in the bank account details provided by the accused who had introduced themselves as LIC agents, said the officer.

During interrogation, they revealed that several offices were run by them in different parts of Delhi and Noida which were used to lure potential victims and obtain money from them through bank deposits. They would purchase customer data from vendors who sold them names, phone numbers and other details of large number of persons.

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Oxford City Council today become the latest local governing body in the UK to consider a proposal for the use of gender-neutral title of 'Mx' alongside Mr or Mrs to be seen as more inclusive.

A panel of councillors for the university town in southern England have decided that all official forms should include an option of Mx - pronounced 'mix', with titles eventually being phased out from documents altogether.

The proposals have been laid out in a new report by the council's Equality and Diversity Review Group.

Councillor Tom Hayes, chair of the group, said in the report, "Clearly the council needs to build confidence in the monitoring that it does. Otherwise employees will go on declining to disclose and the council will keep on facing under-reporting."



"In particular, the council can take practical steps to build a workplace that's friendlier to transgender employees, and how we gather together personal information on employees is central to that."



The review found that the council's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workforce was "very small", with staff reluctant to disclose their sexuality.

The gender neutral titles are expected to help with making the council more accessible to a broader talent pool.

"The requirement to record a title could also be made optional rather than mandatory," the report said.

Oxford's plan comes a few years after Brighton and Hove City Council looked into titles and now offers the option of Mx on online forms, as well as the option of no title.

Some government departments and universities in the UK also offer the option of Mx on their online applications.

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A UK-based Islamist preacher, known for his radical views, has been found guilty of supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group and faces up to 10 years in jail, it emerged today.

Anjem Choudary was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London on July 28 but the judge had imposed a reporting ban while a linked trial of Choudary's associate was ongoing.

"You have been convicted by the jury of offences which you must expect to result in sentences of imprisonment," Justice Holroyd told the 49-year-old preacher.

"It is true that you have complied with the conditions of your bail. I am afraid however, it has been an evidently grudging compliance and you have made your disregard for the court and its processes abundantly plain throughout these proceedings," the judge said.

Choudary and his co-defendant, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of telling their supporters to obey ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and travel to Syria to support Islamic State or the so-called "caliphate".

The duo face up to 10 years in jail for inviting support for a proscribed outfit and will be sentenced on September 6.

"Terrorist organisations thrive and grow because people support them and that is what this case is about. Do not confuse that with the right of people to follow the religion of their choice or to proclaim support for a caliphate," Prosecutor Richard Whittam told the trial.

London-born Choudary, who has a long history with groups involved in radical Islamist demonstrations in the UK, such as the now-banned Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK, denied he was inviting support for ISIS and claimed to be a "lecturer in Sharia law" giving "the Islamic perspective".

Just before his conviction, he told Sky News: "If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship.

"If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that. If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you don't really have freedom to express yourself in this country."



Choudary's conviction comes after a two-year, multi-million-pound investigation by Scotland Yard designed to bring to an end his two decades of extremist preaching.

He had been arrested last year and been in and out of prison after breaching his bail conditions.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command said: "We have a key individual here in the UK posting vast amounts of information on social media that is radicalising individuals in the UK. Part of that information encourages them to travel to Syria. His mistake was pledging an oath of allegiance. That was the key piece of evidence that tipped him over the line for a terrorist offence."



Among Choudary's many UK followers is Indian-origin ISIS fighter Siddhartha Dhar dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media and now believed to be among the senior ISIS commanders.

One of the Bangladeshi attackers, who killed 22 people during an assualt on a Dhaka cafe on July 1, was also a follower of Choudary on social media.

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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he would personally like to see a woman lead the United Nations for the first time since it was established more than 70 years ago.

As he nears the end of his second five-year term on Dec 31, Ban said that "it's high time now" for a female secretary-general after eight men at the helm of the world organisation.

There are currently 11 candidates vying to succeed Ban, six men and five women.

But he stressed that the decision isn't up to him, it's up to the 15-member Security Council which must recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for its approval.

Sitting on stage in Los Angeles last Wednesday with US Rep Ed Royce, a California Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ban stressed that women comprise half the world's population and should be empowered and "given equal opportunities."

"We have many distinguished and eminent women leaders in national governments or other organisations or even business communities, political communities, and cultural and every aspect of our life," he said a day later in an Associated Press interview. "There's no reason why not in the United Nations."

"So that's my humble suggestion, but that's up to member states," Ban said in the AP interview last Thursday during a visit to the home of 99-year-old Libba Patterson in Novato where he spent his first days in the United States as an 18-year-old student from South Korea.

The Security Council has held two informal polls in which 12 candidates participated, and in each the highest-ranked woman was in third place, a disappointment to many. Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, a former UN refugee chief, topped both polls.

In the first "straw" poll Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, who heads the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, came in third but in the second she dropped to fifth. In the second poll Argentina's Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, who was Ban's former chief of staff, moved up to third. Former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, who placed last in the first poll, dropped out of the race.

The three other women candidates are New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, and former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman,

The Security Council has scheduled another "straw" poll on Aug 29 and at least one, and possibly two, are expected to be held in September.

Ban spoke of the qualities he thinks are important for "any secretary-general, he or she."

The prospective secretary-general should have "a clear vision for the world of the future" and "strong integrity and commitment" to make progress toward peace and promote development and human rights, he said.

His successor should also have "strong compassionate and visionary leadership" and be able to articulate the importance of human dignity for vulnerable groups including women and girls, the disabled and "people in homosexual orientations and minority groups," Ban said.

"If not the United Nations, who will take care of those people?," he asked.
The said it is freeing up $50 million from its emergency response fund to bolster severely underfunded aid operations in six countries, including Yemen and Eritrea.

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) said in a news release that the money will provide crucial assistance for 2 million people, including 200,000 refugees, 665,000 internally displaced persons, 170,000 returnees and 530,000 people in host communities.

CERF said $13 million will be used to boost relief operations in war-torn Yemen, where more than 82 per cent of the population needs humanitarian assistance, and $2 million will support humanitarian partners in Eritrea.

The remainder of the funds will go to Central African Republic ($9 million), Chad ($10 million), Congo ($11 million) and Rwanda ($5 million), all belonging to a part of Africa that has suffered greatly due to armed conflict, political instability, a lack of food and disease.

"This funding is a lifeline for the world's most vulnerable people caught up in forgotten crises," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien.

"In recent years, the global refugee crisis has put enormous pressure on CERF to help millions of people fleeing conflicts that linger for lack of a political solution.
The US Army chief of staff is visiting China amid tensions over American ally South Korea's decision to deploy a powerful missile defence system.

The Army said General Mark A Milley was due to meet today with his Chinese counterpart and other senior People's Liberation Army leaders to find ways to work on cooperation while handling differences.

Milley will also visit the PLA's Academy of Military Science.

China has objected strenuously to a decision to base the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital Seoul, believing it's X-Band radar is intended to track missiles inside China.

Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the US and South Korea, and China has cancelled events involving South Korean entertainers.
Observing that violence and terrorism are not the solution to any problem, a Jain spiritual leader has said that the United States and India need to unite in order to stop terrorism and violence.

"Peace is necessary for development but the whole world is affected by violence and terrorism. Violence and terrorism are not the solution to any problem," Acharya Lokesh Muni said at the flag hoisting ceremony organised by India's Chicago Consulate General Dr Asuf Sayeed at Richard J Daley Centre in Chicago on the occasion of Indian Independence Day yesterday.

"The US and India need to unite in order to stop terrorism and violence. We should work together to find ways and means to propagate peace, harmony and human brotherhood," he said.

Congratulating Indian-Americans on 70th anniversary of India's independence, the spiritual leader said India's non-violent struggle for freedom, its rejection of terrorism and extremism, its belief in democracy, tolerance and the rule of law have been an inspiration and beacon of hope for people around the world.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On the occasion of India's 70th Independence Day, top American lawmakers have said India has now solidified its role as a regional and global power.

"This Independence Day let us celebrate not only India's rich cultural heritage but its bright future and the continuing strength of US-India relations," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey.

"Let us recognise that India, home to one of the world's most diverse and populous democracies, has seen rapid economic growth in the last twenty years and has solidified its role as a regional and global power," Menendez said.

"Today, one of the US's great allies, India, celebrates 70 years of independence," tweeted Congressman Gregory Meeks.

"The US celebrates with them!" he said.

"Happy Indian Independence Day to the largest democracy on earth! US-India ties must remain strong to protect our homeland and grow our economy," tweeted Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois.

Congresswoman Grace Ming from New York also tweeted to greet India, Pakistan and South Korea on the occasion of their Independence Day.

In a statement, Congressman Frank Pallone congratulated the people of India on this occasion.

"India is a dynamic and important US ally, an influential leader on the international stage, and an important player in the world economy," he said.

"As a representative of one of the largest Indian-American constituencies in the US, and co-founder and former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Issues, I strongly support strengthening the US-India partnership. I look forward to our continued work together on global strategic, economic, and environmental issues," Pallone said.

Earlier this year, Pallone introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that India should have a permanent seat on the United Nation's Security Council.

The resolution would put the US House of Representatives officially on record in support of India's bid.

Democratic Congressman from California Xavier Becerra tweeted a picture of his along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter visited US this Summer to wish people of India happy Independence Day.

Meanwhile, a large number of Indian-Americans attended the Independence Day celebrations at the residence of Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh.

The tri-colour was also unfurled at various diplomatic missions in the US in Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and the United Nations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
On the occasion of India's 70th Independence Day, top Americam lawmakers has said that India has now solidified its role as a regional and global power.

"This Independence Day let us celebrate not only India's rich cultural heritage but its bright future and the continuing strength of US-India relations," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey.

"Let us recognise that India, home to one of the world's most diverse and populous democracies, has seen rapid economic growth in the last twenty years and has solidified its role as a regional and global power," Menendez said.

"Today, one of the US's great allies, India, celebrates 70 years of independence," tweeted Congressman Gregory Meeks.

"The US celebrates with them!" he said.

"Happy Indian Independence Day to the largest democracy on earth! US-India ties must remain strong to protect our homeland and grow our economy," tweeted Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois.

Congresswoman Grace Ming from New York also tweeted to greet India, Pakistan and South Korea on the occasion of their Independence Day.

In a statement, Congressman Frank Pallone congratulated the people of India on this occasion.

"India is a dynamic and important US ally, an influential leader on the international stage, and an important player in the world economy," he said.

"As a representative of one of the largest Indian-American constituencies in the US, and co-founder and former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Issues, I strongly support strengthening the US-India partnership. I look forward to our continued work together on global strategic, economic, and environmental issues," Pallone said.

Earlier this year, Pallone introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that India should have a permanent seat on the United Nation's Security Council.

The resolution would put the US House of Representatives officially on record in support of India's bid.

Democratic Congressman from California Xavier Becerra tweeted a picture of his along with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter visited US this Summer to wish people of India happy Independence Day.

Meanwhile, a large number of Indian-Americans attended the Independence Day celebrations at the residence of the Indian Ambassador to the US, Arun K Singh.

The tri-colour was also unfurled at various diplomatic missions in the US in Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and the United Nations.

In addition to normal committees, Jayapal will serve as a



Senior Whip for the House Democrats and as a Vice Chair for the Congressional Progressive caucus. As a Senior Whip, Jayapal will play a key role in mobilising her Democratic colleagues, discussing upcoming legislation with them, and coordinating legislative strategy with the leadership.

"I'm pleased to welcome Rep Jayapal to Congress and to my whip team," said Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Whip in the House



Of Representatives. "She's hit the ground running since her arrival, and she's already hard at work representing the people of Washington's Seventh District, drawing on her experience as a state legislator and an advocate for social justice," he said.

As a leader in the progressive Caucus, Jayapal will fight for policy solutions like a USD 15 per hour national minimum wage, comprehensive immigration reform, debt-free college, criminal justice reform, protecting women's reproductive rights and gun violence reform, a media release said.

In the Judiciary Committee, Jayapal said she looks forward to bringing her passion and experience to immigration reform, real criminal justice reform, women's reproductive rights, voting rights, and civil liberties,



"In the 115th Congress, I pledge to fight for our progressive values, and block the Trump administration's plans to deport vulnerable undocumented immigrants, create a Muslim registry and violate our civil rights and civil liberties," Jayapal said.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, who will serve on the House Education and Workforce Committee along with the powerful House Democratic Policy and Steering Committee, said his committee assignments will focus on job creation and affordable higher education.

The House Democratic Policy and Steering Committee administers the House Democratic Caucus. Krishnamoorthi was appointed to the committee by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

This is the highest number of Indian-Americans in the history of the US Congress.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today shared Chief Justice of India T S Thakur's concern over a large number of vacancies of judges and said these should be filled soon.

"Judiciary has its own concerns. There are large number of vacancies in various high courts. These should be filled soon. The concern which the Chief Justice of India has expressed is quite natural," Kumar said.

Kumar, who was talking to reporters at the Legislative Council premises after the passage of GST Bill by the state legislature, was responding to a query by a journalist.

Justice Thakur had yesterday expressed his disappointment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make any mention of the problems faced by the judiciary in his Independence Day address.

"I heard the popular Prime Minister for one and a half hours... I expected some mention about justice also, about appointment of judges," the Chief Justice said at a function in the national capital where Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was present.

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Facing heat over recent deaths of over 20 cows at a bovine shelter in Kanker district, Chhattisgarh government today suspended a veterinary doctor for alleged dereliction of duty.

"Veterinary Assistant Surgeon Dr K P Rai, who was in- charge of Dugakondal Veterinary Hospital, has been suspended in connection with death ofat least 22 cows at the state- aided Kamdhenu Gau Sewa centre at Karramad village in Durgkondal development block of the district," an official here said.

"The action was taken based on a preliminary probe report in connection with the incident," he added.

On Sunday, Kanker District Collector Shammi Abidi had said that 22 cows had died at the shelter since August 1.

As per the order issued by Animal Husbandry Department here, Rai was suspended under the Chhattisgarh Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1965 for "failing to take preventive measures and dereliction of duty in connection with the consistent sudden deaths of cows at the shelter home".

The state government had already ordered a probe into the death of cows, besides weekly inspection of all shelters in the state following a controversy over the incident.

A seven-member probe committee headed by the chairman of Krishi Sthai Samiti, Zila Panchayat Kanker constituted to probe the incident, has been asked to submit its report to the state government within seven days, the official said.

Prima facie, the administration found that negligence on the part of shelter home management led to the incident.

"However, the enquiry team will carry out its investigation on various points, including aid to the shelter home since 2012-13, its use, fodder for animals, veterinary facilities and other arrangements for the livestock at the centre," he added.

Meanwhile, on the direction of state's Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, the Director of Veterinary Services has ordered constitution of committees at the district level for inspection of cow shelter homes.

As per the circular, the committees will submit inspection report of all the cow shelter homes in their respective areas within seven-day to higher authority.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A villager was shot dead, allegedly by Maoists, in Giridih distict while security personnel exchanged fire with Naxals for the second day within Gurabandha police station limits in East Singhbhum district, police said today.

A group of four Naxals last night slit the throat of one villager, identified as Dinesh Manjhi, after they shot him dead in Markando village under Sasarkho Panchayat of Dumri police station in Naxal-affected Giridih district, a police officer said.

Officer-in-charge of the police station, Shyam Chandra Singh said the victim was linked to the Naxal group in the past.

Police recovered leaflets from the spot accusing the victim of raising levy in the name of CPI (Maoists).

Meanwhile, security personnel, comprising CRPF, Cobra Battalion and District Armed Police force, exchanged fire for the second consecutive day with the Naxals at Teensomani village on Pouda Pahar under Gorabandha police station of Ghatsila sub-division of East Singhbhum district, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Md Arshi said.

Arshi said around 50/60 rounds of fire were exchanged between them before the Naxals, headed by Kanhu Munda, made a hasty retreat.

No casuality was reported in the encounter incident.

Today's encounter succeeded a similar battle of bullets between security forces and Naxals on Monday at Barakocha under the same Gurabandha police station when a Naxal camp was razed to the ground.

Among other things, security personnel had recovered 50 detonators on Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
State-run WAPCOS Limited has paid a dividend of Rs 25.25 crore -- the highest ever since its inception -- for 2015-16 to the Union government.

A dividend cheque of Rs 25.5 crore was handed over to Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti at a ceremony held here, a statement said.

The Water Resources Ministry in the statement said that bonus shares certificate for Rs 100 lakh were also presented to Bharti.

During the year 2015-16, the consultancy services provider achieved highest ever profitability of Rs 129.19 crore and secured new business of Rs 1,747.46 crore. The net worth of WAPCOS has reached Rs 362.61 crore, it said.

WAPCOS, a PSU under the Water Resources Ministry, has declared a composite score of 100, which is the highest achievable score as per the MOU evaluation system of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

The company forged ahead to secure new business in Asian and African countries like Angola, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tabago, etc.

Further, Bharti hailed the PSU for successfully completing construction of India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam, for which. RK Gupta, CMD, WAPCOS Ltd also attended the ceremony, it added.

Set up in 1969, WAPCOS provides consultancy services in the fields of water resources, power and infrastructure sectors.

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The Delhi High Court today asked the government to explain what problem it has in changing the names of two transgenders from male to female in the official records.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva raised the query while hearing the pleas of two city-based transgenders seeking change of their names and gender from male to female in the government records.

"Have you not published any name change in your Gazette (public journal)? Change of gender is something different. What is the problem in a name change," the court asked the counsel for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Controller of Publications, which publishes the Gazette.

Government lawyers said they will seek instructions regarding the queries raised by the court.

Central government standing counsel Monika Arora said a bill has been introduced in the Parliament on August 2, which takes care of all the prayers raised by the two in their plea.

The court has fixed the matter for hearing on October 4.

The petitioners have alleged discrimination by the authorities and sought "disciplinary enquiry" against them.

In support of their claims, they referred to a Supreme Court order holding that a person's self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and a person cannot be forced to undergo medical procedures, including SRS or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity.

The two have claimed that they were MtF (male to female) trans-sexuals who, due to duality between their appearance, voice, mannerism, dressing style and their male IDs, faced discrimination in the society.

The petitioners have contended that the department officials had refused to consider their applications for change of name without a certificate stating that they had undergone Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

They have sought quashing of any guideline of the publications department which mandates an SRS before changing the gender, as well as directions to the Centre "to constitute a board or committee for certifying the petitioner as a MtF transgender".

They have also contended that "the action of respondents in refusing to allow the name change infringes the petitioner's fundamental right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that the era of nation building should come to an end, as he laid out a foreign policy approach to deal with the Islamic State militant group and radical Islam.

"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach - which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East - must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating radical Islam in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he said.

"As president, I will call for an conference focused on this goal. We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.

A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.

"I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," he said.

"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against ISIS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with ISIS," he said.

Trump said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.

cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyber warfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting. Their recruiting is taking place right now, and they're setting records. It's got to be stopped, he said.

"We cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by our enemy. We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said.

Trump alleged that the rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of State in his first term.

"Let's look back at the Middle East at the very beginning

of 2009 before the Obama-Clinton administration took over. Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the US," Trump said.

"Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence. The group that would become what we now call ISIS was close to being extinguished. Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions. Fast forward to today. What we have - and think of this - and the decisions made by the Obama/Clinton group have been absolutely disastrous," he said.

"In Egypt, terrorists have gained a foothold in the Sinai desert near the Suez Canal, one of the most essential waterways of the world. Iraq is in chaos. And ISIS is on the loose. ISIS has spread across the Middle East and into the West. In 2014, ISIS was operating in seven nations. They were in seven nations. Terrible, but that's what it was," Trump said.

"Today they're fully operational in 18 countries with aspiring branches in six more for a total of 24. And many believe that number is actually 28 to 30 countries. They don't even know. The situation is likely worse than the public has any idea," he said.

"A new congressional report reveals that the Administration has downplayed the growth of ISIS with 40 percent of analysts saying they had experience efforts to manipulate their findings in trying to make it look much better than it is. It's bad," he added.
Buoyed by encouraging response to its handsets, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi -- which has a contract manufacturing facility with Taiwan-based Foxconn near here -- today said it would ramp up production by adding more assembly lines.

Currently, Xiaomi India sells various models produced at the manufacturing facility of Foxconn located at Sri City Special Economic Zone, Tada near Chennai.

"The plan is to increase number of (assembly) lines in our existing facility in Sri City (SEZ). We will be ramping up production," Xiaomi India Chief Manu Jain told reporters.

Besides ramping up production, Jain said the company along with Foxconn is holding talks with many state governments to set up two more manufacturing facilities in the country.

"We are exploring options to have two more factories. Discussions are on. We are discussing with multiple state governments (in this regard). We will announce once we finalise the location (for setting up the factory)," he said.

Declining to reveal any figures on the plant capacity at Chennai, he said the company sold 90,000 units of Redmi 3S Prime smartphone within eight minutes of its launch last week.

"Last week, we launched the model Redmi 3S Prime that is available in Flipkart and also in our e-commerce site Mi.Com. We sold over 90,000 units in eight minutes," he said, after launching the phone in Tamil Nadu market.

"Tomorrow the sale will begin at 12 noon in both Flipkart and Mi.Com website. This time we will be launching the Redmi 3S priced at Rs 6,999 along with Redmi 3S Prime variant priced at Rs 8,999," he said.

Xiaomi India retails Redmi 2, Redmi Note 3, Mi 5, Mi Max, Redmi 3S, Redmi 3S Prime in India. "75 per cent of our products sold in India are manufactured locally while Mi5 is fully imported from China," he said.

Asked whether the company would export products made at its factory, he said the products manufactured in India would cater to local demand.

On future launches, he said the company was looking to unveil "smart air purifier" currently sold in China in the domestic market before the winter season.

"That is something very exciting. We are looking to launch smart air purifiers some time later this year (in India). Maybe before winter season we may launch it", he said.

Xiaomi India currently has about 100 service centres across India including 70 exclusive outlets, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Zambian police said today they had arrested 150 opposition activists over protests that erupted after President Edgar Lungu was declared the winner of a highly-contested vote.

Supporters of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took to the streets in Southern Province after the election results were released yesterday, blockading roads with logs and burning tyres.

"The people of Southern Province were very sure that Hichilema was going to win... And this sparked riots... resulting in the arrest of 150 people," the province's police commissioner Godwin Phiri in a statement.

Hichilema, who heads the United Party for National Development (UPND), has rejected Thursday's poll as rigged and the party said it would formally challenge the result.

The 54-year-old self-made businessman hails from the south and enjoys widespread support in the region.

Hichilema, who was making his fifth bid for the presidency, claimed there were clear signs of fraud and vote rigging over the four days it took to release the results.

The poll results put Lungu narrowly ahead with 50.35 per cent of the vote against 47.63 per cent for Hichilema, a difference of about 100,000 votes.

The outbreak of violence prompted Lungu to call for calm, telling supporters his swearing-in would be delayed due to the rejection of the results by the opposition.

"I am appealing to you to be peaceful," Lungu told supporters at a rally to thank them for delivering him victory.

"We have a bit of time before I am sworn in, because I hear some people have gone to court."



"This is not to say the election was fraud," he added.

"By going to court they cannot frustrate the will of the people. I'm sure Zambians are very magnanimous. They will wait for the judicial process to be exhausted until their president is sworn in."



Police said calm had been restored in the southern towns but that protesters had indicated they would continue demonstrating.

In the capital Lusaka, police decked in riot gear maintained a heavy presence in the streets but no violence was reported.

The run-up to the poll was tense, with clashes between Lungu's Patriotic Front and UPND supporters leaving at least three people dead. But election day was largely peaceful.

The UN has applauded Zambia for holding "peaceful and orderly" elections, urging all parties to reject violence.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded "all parties, especially political leaders and their supporters, of their responsibility to reject violence and to refrain from the use of inflammatory and incendiary language," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Zambia, which gained independence from Britain in 1964, has a long history of peaceful power transitions.

About 60 per cent of the population of Africa's second biggest copper producing nation live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Khettiya Jittapong and Pairat Temphairojana

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai elderly care robot Dinsow can not only keep track of your medication and video-phone your relatives, but can also exercise with you and even entertain you with its karaoke skills.

Its manufacturer, CT Asia Robotics, is one of many Thai firms investing heavily in healthcare for the aged in a country where the working-age population will decline this year - a first among the emerging economies of Southeast Asia.

By the end of 2016, almost 15 percent of Thailand's roughly 68 million people will be over the retirement age of 60. The government expects the proportion to reach 20 percent by 2020, adding strain to an already stretched healthcare sector.

"Doctors and nurses have responded positively to Dinsow because it helps them monitor patients," said Chief Executive Chalermpon Punnotok. CT Asia Robotics has got 1,000 orders from Thailand and Japan for the 85,000 baht ($2,445) droid, he said.

Thailand's population swing towards the elderly comes as living and education costs rise along with economic development that has outpaced neighbours, according to the World Bank.

The government estimates households spend almost of third of their income on caring for elderly relatives, and KGI Securities estimates healthcare spending will be as high as 7.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2026 from 4.5 percent in 2015.

Thailand's $4 billion medicine and healthcare industry is therefore gearing up for a surge in demand for elderly care products, as well as for doctors, nurses and care givers, plus hospital beds, nursing homes and customised private housing.

Housing developers such as Sena Development PCL and Nusasiri PCL have been adding features to cater to elderly tenants, such as ramps for wheelchair users, sliding doors, touch-screen light switches and emergency alarm systems.

"Elderly clients make up about 10 percent of our customer base," said Sena's Deputy Chief Executive Kesara Tanyalakpark. "That could easily rise to 15 percent or more in coming years."

In personal products, diaper maker DSG International Thailand PCL has seen adult diaper sales grow 30 percent this year, and expects double-digit growth over the next five years, said its chief operating officer.

"We see Thailand moving in the direction of Japan whereby the adult diaper market will become larger than the baby diaper market, perhaps in 10 years' time," Justine Wang told .

Another company seeing opportunity in the demographic change is medical equipment supplier Samaphan Health, which with Taiwan's Apex Medical Corp <4106.TW> sells mattresses to prevent bed sores as well as respiratory products to aid sleep.

"Demand from wealthy clients is very strong," said Managing Director Chinnakarn Samalapa. Sales of its elderly care products have grown 10 percent annually since 2011 and will continue growing, he said. "They don't mind spending to improve the quality of life for elderly relatives."

With so much money being spent on care, the government is considering allowing reverse mortgages which would allow elderly homeowners to convert some of their home value into cash - an initiative that would further boost the market for goods and services targeting the elderly, economists said.

But as the market booms, some seemingly essential products and services could take a little longer than others to benefit.

Thai Riei & Elderly Care Recruitment Co opened in January but attracting customers is a challenge, said Facility Manager Pornchanok Jeanmpudsa. The reason, she said, was a cultural perception that nursing homes are places to abandon the elderly.

($1 = 34.7600 baht)

(Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong and Pairat Temphairojana; Additional reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Editing by Simon Webb, Miyoung Kim and Christopher Cushing)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Reserve Bnak of India governor called on Monday for a new structure to oversee state-owned lenders, saying too many regulators had overlapping jurisdictions.

Rajan listed a number of institutions that oversee banks, including parliament, the recently created Banks Board Bureau to improve governance at state-owned lenders and the RBI.

He added that the government and the central bank also needed to reduce the difference in treatment towards private lenders and their state-owned rivals, which are subject to mandates including lending to under-served segments of the population.

However, the RBI governor, who is due to step down on September 4, said his views were intended to start a discussion and did not represent the formal stance of the RBI.

"With so many overlapping constituencies to satisfy, it is a wonder that bank management has time to devote to the management of the bank," Rajan said in an address to a bankers' conference in Mumbai.

"It is important that we streamline and reduce the overlaps between the jurisdictions of the authorities, and specify clear triggers or situations where one authority's oversight is invoked."

Rajan added that banks' boards needed to be empowered to provide proper oversight of banks, suggesting the RBI should withdraw its representative from boards at state-owned lenders and provide a "pure regulatory role", an action that would require a change to current legislation.

Restoring India's state-owned banks to health is vital for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive lending, investment and create jobs for the million young Indians who join the labour market each month.

Government-owned lenders account for around 70 per cent of lending in Asia's third-largest economy.
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to visit Pakistan to attend the two-day conference of SAARC Finance Ministers later this month mainly due to "political reasons".

The conference is scheduled on August 25-26 in Islamabad.

"It is due to political reasons that the Finance Minister may not visit Pakistan. You all know what happened last time and what is happening," highly placed sources said, referring to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad earlier this month, which was also for a SAARC Ministerial meeting.

Barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who only had a tense and uneasy handshake during the SAARC meeting.

Pakistani authorities did not allow entry of Indian mediapersons, including those from PTI and Doordarshan, inside the venue of 7th SAARC Home Ministers Meeting in Islamabad.

Singh had informed Rajya Sabha that after the meeting was over, Pakistan's Home Minister, who was the host, invited the participants for lunch but left in a car soon thereafter.

"Keeping in mind the country's prestige, I did what I should have done. I have no complaints. I had not gone there for lunch," he had said.

That apart, in his Independence Day address to the nation yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India will not bow before terrorism, and also brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Baluchistan and PoK, saying that they have thanked him for doing so.

Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India.

Pakistan's Finance Ministry in a recent statement had said the country would play the role of a "good host" and try to keep the overall ambiance positive.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised Indians on Independence Day that he will remove the fear of taxman. Modi said that he is putting in place a system of accountability and answerability that would end harassment by income tax (I-T) officials.

"Middle class, upper middle class used to get hassled more by I-T officials than the police. I have to change this situation. I am working on it and will make the change happen," he told the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort.

In the past honest citizens felt harassed while claiming tax refund, but now the entire system has become electronic and refund reaches bank account within a week, he added.

"There was a time when ordinary, honest citizens used to give his or her income tax and used to carefully give some extra money so that there was no problem going ahead. But after the money came to the exchequer, then he or she used to have a hard time to get refund; they had to use contacts and it used to take months for the citizens to get their refund from the exchequer. Today, we have moved towards online refund. In a week, two weeks or three weeks, refunds are made. This is a result of measures like accountability and answerability," the PM explained.

Seeking to eliminate corruption and promote the ease of doing business, the I-T department has been taking various taxpayer-friendly measures, including e-verification of returns, paperless email-based inquiry and e-scrutiny. Till August 1, refunds of up to Rs 5,000 have already been issued to more than 11.91 lakh assesses involving a total amount of Rs 244 crore.

In order to bring in transparency, the Central Board of Direct Taxes recently published comprehensive data based on I-T returns (ITRs) filed for the assessment year 2012-13. India had stopped publishing detailed I-T data since 1999-2000.

In order to rectify this anomaly and promote transparency, as well as to facilitate wider analysis, the government has decided to resume publication of this data in greater scope and detail, according to revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, who coauthored a paper on the issue with chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian.

They are of the view that making the data public is consistent with the government's strong commitment to promote transparency.

"In 2011-12, 2.9 crore individuals and 5.8 lakh corporates filed ITRs. If we also include those whose tax was deducted at source (TDS) but did not file returns, there were a total of 4.4 crore individual income taxpayers and 6.5 lakh corporate taxpayers. Thus, 3.7 per cent of the population and 9.1 per cent of the workforce were part of the individual income tax system," according to the Adhia and Subramanian report.

The Confederation of Indian industry (CII) said, "The Prime Minister's call that everyone has a role to play is particularly encouraging to all sections of industry right from start-ups to matured large industrial conglomerates irrespective of their ownership."
In May this year, Atanu Chakraborty, who last headed the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), was cherry-picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the new Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). The office of the DGH regulates the exploration of oil and gas reserves in the country, alongside providing technical support to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. In his first detailed interview after taking over, Chakraborty speaks to Business Today's Anilesh S. Mahajan. Edited excerpts:

The auction process of small oil and gas fields has just started. What are your expectations from it?

It is almost five years since new acreage was offered to investors in India. What are currently being offered are discovered fields. So the risk in exploration is very low. These are all small fields, both onshore and offshore. It is a nice, balanced bouquet of offerings. Reserves have already been discovered up to a certain level, and those with good understanding of oil and gas fields can extract even more. Processing facilities are also there. People should come in to improve the investment climate for larger things that will come subsequently.

Global crude prices have fallen to record lows and the projection is that they will not climb up to $100 a barrel again for the next two years. Is this the right environment for India to auction these blocks?

Since the blocks are small, the investment required to develop them will not be very big either. Investors will not have to spend too much on facilities for processing and related activity, as we are trying to link these fields to either ONGC's (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) or OIL's (Oil India Ltd) existing processing facilities. We are offering almost 2,000 sq. km. of seismic surveys and about 1,300 sq km of seismic data for 130 wells across 67 fields in 46 contract areas. It is very substantial data we are providing. It makes sense to invest in these blocks. We are offering revenue sharing contracts. Earlier governments offered profit sharing contracts and that was a major issue for operators. Now revenue risk is completely out.

How much interest have investors shown?

We had expected small and medium companies to show interest with industry professionals or capital providers like PE (private equity) firms tying up with them. But now we are seeing interest from companies across the board. We have opened a centre in Noida which provides all the data relating to the 46 contract areas on offer. We intend to open similar centres in Houston, Calgary and London. Potential investors can buy the data packages, interpret them and then come up with bids.

After NELP (New Exploration and Licensing Policy) which existed for many years, the cabinet has now approved HELP (Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy). What difference will this make?

HELP is predicated on a Unified Licence Scheme, which allows exploration of both conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbons. We are also considering open acreage, so that companies are not restricted by the boundaries of a contract area. That reduces exploration risk, and the government is okay with it, either through HELP or OALP (Open Acreage Licensing Policy). Both choices exist. There is also the National Data Repository (NDR), in which we have already collected substantial data relating to almost 50 per cent of the sedimentary basins in the country. There is both raw and processed data, which will help anyone looking at India as an investment option in extracting oil and gas. We have also worked out the outline of the revenue sharing contracts we will use with HELP or OALP. We are now working out detailed packages. We want to start as soon as these small fields' bid is over. Mixing the two is not advisable.

What sort of work is still left with the NDR?

NDR is complete but in a sense it will always remain a work in progress. You have to always keep updating data. We are now working on improving the reliability (of the data), working on disaster recovery and testing it out, ensuring that access is free as far as possible.

If a company decides on an area and wants to explore it, how will you ensure the government gets a good deal?

The company will have to go through a bidding process because this is a natural resource. There will have to be bidding.

Won't that be unfair to the company which first approached you if others are allowed to bid for the same area?

We will ensure that the company which approaches us first for exploration does not lose out. I'm unable to outline any structure at this stage, because we are working on the legality of various options. There is the Swiss challenge structure, which comes in many variants and is quite commonly used. When some company does the initial exploration and its work is taken up and we ask for bids, we can pay the company the cost of exploration. We don't want the company which came in first to be at a disadvantage, or else no one will come at all.

Till the time you finalise HELP or OALP, can we expect a NELP, Round X?

NELP X was part of the PSC (profit sharing contract) series, which is now over. We have moved to revenue sharing contracts. We can have HELP 1 or OALP 1 or a combination of both. We can offer a data package (HELP) or ask people to look and build their own data (OALP), or both can go on simultaneously. We will also have to see how the market responds. Sometimes markets are slow. It's a strategy that needs to be worked out.

How will OALP 1 and HELP 1 be different?

OALP will have to be an ongoing exercise because a company will come in (to explore an area) and decide and bid. It will not wait for six other companies to also show interest and bid at the same time. But if you put together a package where the area choice is not open and ask for bids? that would be HELP 1.

Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi's experience with oil and gas in Gujarat help frame the new policy? How do you analyse the scenario?

There are two or three basic things about the new policy. First, it brings market forces into play. Second, it gives market access. The oil and gas market is no longer tightly controlled and fragmented. Any investor, when he looks at an area of potential investment, looks at the market structure, whether market forces are being allowed free play or whether the sector is heavily regulated. Highly regulated markets have their negatives. The heavy regulatory burden, along with issues related to the environment, made the previous regime's policy unviable.

What has happened now? Markets and access are being opened up and the regulatory burden substantially reduced. Companies don't have to depend on government committees clearing their costs. They are free to plan their own programmes, but must adhere to a minimum work programme. Complementing this, permissions are flowing fast across all sectors. The regulatory risks are gone.

Should the DGH be made completely autonomous like some of the other regulators?

There can be different opinions on this. The regulator is important in a scenario where the market is controlled in monopolistic fashion. In hydrocarbons, we are now allowing free entry and exit. Market access is open, as is pricing. Many of the usual functions of a regulator are not required in this sector. Here, the regulator's job is to bring more data into the public domain, and possibly at some time in the future, coordinate the sharing of facilities so that companies do not have to duplicate infrastructure and hydrocarbons can be brought into the market earlier. These are two areas which may need some amount of regulation. I think the present system is working all right and no overnight overhauling is required. But the term 'regulator' implies a certain amount of regulatory risk and we want to reduce that.

As a regulator, you report to the petroleum ministry, which also runs ONGC, OIL and other oil and gas PSUs. How fair is that?

As I said, there is free entry and free exit in the sector. In such a situation, I guess the role of government as regulator and as owner of oil and gas companies are completely separate. But perhaps we need more debate on this.

Is the current auction, using the new formula for the first time, the biggest test of your career?

It is a dipstick to test investor sentiment. These are small fields. In all, we are offering around 15,000 sq. km. across these 46 areas. Some of the single blocks under exploration are bigger than all these fields put together. The response will be crucial in determining how the policy should be tweaked in future for the bigger fields.
The Infosys stock fell on Tuesday after the firm said Royal Bank of Scotland has cancelled its plan to separate and list a new standalone bank, Williams and Glyn (W&G), and instead will pursue other options for the divestment of this business.

The bank had awarded a five-year 300 million Euro IT contract to Infosys and IBM for W&G.

At 11:07 am, the stock was trading 1.25 per cent lower at Rs 1050 on the BSE. It opened at 1,042 level and hit a low of 1,027 level, later recovering some ground.

The stock closed lower 1.16 per cent or 12.35 points lower at Rs 1,050.95 on the BSE.



The move is likely to hit 3,000 Infosys employees and impact revenues for the year by about $40 million to $50 million, media reports said. In 2013, Infosys won the contract to develop applications for W&G, a bank planned to be set up in the UK.
The Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday closed lower amid lacklustre trade.



The Infosys stock pulled down the Sensex in opening trade as it fell as much as 3.25 per cent on Royal Bank of Scotland cancelling its plan to separate and list a new standalone bank, Williams and Glyn (W&G) in the UK. The stock later recovered and closed at Rs 1,050, a loss of 1.16 per cent.



While the Sensex lost 87 points to close at 28,064 level, Nifty too fell 29 points to 8642 level at the end of day's trade.



Wockhardt fell 3.64 per cent or 29 points to 781.15 level after the firm reported a 82.65 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 15.89 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June, mainly on account of dip in sales and increased expenditure.

The Jet Airways stock fell 2.27 per cent in early trade on the BSE after the airline reported a 44 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 126 crore in the three months to June as total income from operations fell amid "intense competition" in the industry. It later closed 0.27 per cent lower at Rs 540 on the BSE.



Among gainers, the SBI stock closed 1.34 per cent higher at Rs 246.35 after the state lender reported a lower-than-expected rise in bad loans on Friday. On Friday too, the SBI stock rose more than 5 per cent on the BSE.

Meanwhile, Sensex heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 1.04 per cent at Rs 1024.20 on the BSE.



Market breadth was mildly negative with 230 stocks advancing against 266 declines on the BSE 500.


After fighting out on the money power to acquire spectrum, the slugfest between newcomer Reliance Jio and existing telcos - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular - has shifted to the regulatory terrain. First, it was SUC charges and now IUC (interconnection usage charges), the battle lines seem to be shifting.

It started with telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) proposing a flat 3 per cent SUC charge for all telcos, which could have benefitted Airtel, Vodafone and Idea at the cost of Reliance Jio. The matter was settled when the telecom department decided to go for weighted average method, which was the demand of RJio.

The latest point of contention is IUC. IUC has several components, including termination charges that telecom operators pay to each other for calls made by their subscribers to other networks. For instance, if a Vodafone mobile subscriber calls an Airtel mobile subscriber, Vodafone is supposed to pay 14 paisa to Airtel because the call is terminating on Airtel's network.

On August 5, TRAI floated a consultation paper on IUC that talks about adopting bill-and-keep method for IUC, which, to put it simply, will mean slashing IUC to zero. In such an IUC regime, the existing telcos are likely to lose a large chunk of their revenues. In fact, large telcos tend to lose more because their network would typically receive more calls from other networks as compared to smaller telcos. Industry body COAI, led by Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, has reportedly accused TRAI of favouring RJio.

However, TRAI says that its new consultation paper (on IUC) primarily tackles emerging technologies like VoLTE (voice over LTE) and FMT (fixed mobile telephony). RJio is going to launch its voice services on VoLTE network whereas FMT was launched by BSNL. Both these technologies don't come under the usual types of calls - wireless to wireline, wireline to wireline, wireless to wireless and wireline to wireless. The current rules are framed around these four types. The IUC regime was started in 2003, and since then it has been amended several times.

In addition, the telecom lobby body COAI complained to the telecom department that RJio is choking their networks with its 1.5 million subscribers, and has launched services without submission of a tariff plan or interconnection agreements. Hence, the calls emanating from RJio's network are not subject to IUC, which is causing loss to them. RJio, on the other hand, has defended that it is testing networks, which is within the scope of the terms and conditions of the Unified Licence.

While the matter is still under debate, the ball has gone to the telecom department's court, which has to take final call on whether RJio can continue to operate without formal launch.

The next round of telecom auction is taking place in September-end, which is likely to be lacklustre given the high reserve prices and high indebtedness of telcos. In the first phase of this fight, the focus was to acquire more spectrum; the current round of battle is likely to be fought on the regulatory landscape.
GoAir has received government's approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan, with the Wadia group airline now expecting to take to international skies early next year.

The approval for the Mumbai-based carrier which has been operating for over a decade, comes more than two months after the Government eased the overseas flying norms for Indian airlines.

The airline has received approval to operate flights to nine countries, including Iran, China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, a senior official said.

"We have got approval to fly to nine countries. We expect to start international operations from the next summer schedule," GoAir Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told PTI.

Generally, the summer schedule commences from the last Sunday of March and extends to the last Saturday of October every year.

GoAir would be the first Indian private carrier to fly to any CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). CIS countries for which the carrier has got flying nod include Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan and Azerbaijan.

Currently under the air service agreements, Indian carriers can operate 31 weekly services to Iran, seven to Azerbaijan, Kazakhastan (21), Uzbekistan (18) and China (42).

In case of Vietnam, Indian airlines are allowed to operate 28 weekly services and permitted unlimited operations from 18 select tourist destinations in India.

Under the bilaterals, the quota for seats and services are equal for airlines of the two countries concerned.

GoAir currently has a fleet of 21 Airbus aircraft including two fuel-efficient A320 neos. It is the lone one among the established players that is yet to start overseas flights. Its peers --IndiGo and SpiceJet -- already operate international flights.

The erstwhile 5/20 norm, whereby local carriers were required to have at least five years of flying experience and a minimum of 20 aircraft to fly overseas, had restricted GoAir since it did not have the required number of planes to operate on international routes.

Only in June this year, GoAir saw its fleet rise to 20 planes with the induction of first A320 neos.

Around the same time, the government decided to do away with the 5/20 rule and replaced it with 0/20 norm as part of the new civil aviation policy.
Google is ready to take on Apple's Face Time, Microsoft's Skype and Facebook's Messenger with its newly launched video chat app 'Duo'.

"Today, we're releasing Google Duo - a simple 1-to-1 video calling app available for Android and iOS. Duo takes the complexity out of video calling, so that you can be together in the moment wherever you are," the company posted on its official blog.

To get started on Duo, all you need is your phone number and you'll be able to reach people in your phone's contacts list. No separate account is required.

The company claims that the video chat app will switch between Wi-Fi and cellular data automatically without dropping your call.

Duo comes with a new feature called 'Knock Knock' which gives you a 'live video' of your caller before you take the call.

The new app, originally announced in May, is being released as a free service for phones running on Google's Android operating system as well as Apple's iPhones.

Google claims that all Duo calls are end-to-end encrypted.
The latest search to find Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) has been launched by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O Connor.

With a 2 million investment fund available, the enterprise initiative from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices around the country, supports young entrepreneurs through training, mentoring and direct financial investments.

The initiative is co-ordinated by all 31 Local Enterprise Offices and begins with a nationwide competition across three categories at county level: Best Idea, Best Start-Up Business and Best Established Business.

A total of around 450 applicants across every Local Authority area will be invited to regional Entrepreneur Bootcamps in November to help them develop their business and new venture ideas.

Young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 are now being encouraged to apply, before the closing date of Friday, October 14th 2016.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms. Mary Mitchell O Connor said, "Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition offers a very significant stepping stone into the world of running your own business for young people aged 35 or under."

She added, "Since the first running of the IBYE competition in 2014, over 180 young entrepreneurs have received investments of up to 70,000 to turn their business ideas into a reality or to develop their existing business into a better one."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Germany's European Affairs Minister on Tuesday held out the possibility of Britain achieving "special status" in its relationship with the European Union but pressed London to get on with starting talks on leaving the bloc early next year.

British media reported at the weekend that London could delay triggering the procedure for exiting the EU until later next year. Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday she would not begin the proceedings before the end of the year.

Michael Roth, Germany's European Affairs minister, said Britain should be ready to negotiate at the start of 2017.

"Until the end of the year should really be sufficient time to get organised and adjust to the new situation," he told Reuters in an interview. "We should not let too much time go by."

Asked if Britain needed pressing to get on with the talks, he added: "There is no need for further political pressure. I am quite sure that the economic pressure from Britain itself will be strong."

Many business surveys indicate that Britain's economy has slowed sharply and may even be entering recession after the June 23 Brexit vote, though it is too soon for official data on how the referendum result is affecting output.

European leaders do not want Britain to hold the bloc hostage by horse trading on the terms of an EU exit before it commits to leave.

Roth, a member of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, said only when Britain triggers "Article 50", which sets the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to leave the EU, could serious discussions begin.

It should be possible to complete the negotiations within two years, in time for the next elections for the European Parliament in 2019, he said.

"We can't quibble about it. Even if we didn't want or hope for it, Brexit won and, as it won, there can't be any British members in the next European Parliament," Roth said.

Asked whether Britain could adopt a model similar to that of Switzerland or Norway, which are not members of the EU but have close ties to it, Roth said the deal agreed with London would probably be unlike those struck with other countries.

"Given Britain's size, significance and its long membership of the European Union, there will probably be a special status which only bears limited comparison to that of countries that have never belonged to the European Union," he said.

"I want relations between the European Union and Britain to be as close as possible," he said, but added: "There cannot be any cherry picking."

Much of the negotiating on Britain's EU exit is likely to focus on a trade-off between access to the bloc's internal market and the free movement of people. Roth showed little sign of a readiness to compromise here.

Asked if Britain could retain the market access while putting limits on the free movement of people, he replied: "I can't imagine that."

"The free movement of workers is a highly prized right in the European Union and we don't want to wobble on that." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
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By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

Oak Park staff wore "Straight Outta (Improvement Required)" shirts on Monday. They had reason to be happy, though principal Kellye Loving was reserving her excitement for later.

Loving said her campus last week was predicted to meet state academic standards, based on preliminary scores.

Employees were anxious to celebrate after three consecutive years of the campus falling short of the goal.

They wore the shirts as a sign of relief.

Oak Park and five other Corpus Christi Independent School District under performing campuses met state academic standards this year, according to preliminary ratings released Monday by the Texas Education Agency. Three schools  Oak Park, Gibson and Kostoryz elementary schools  were rated "Improvement Required" by TEA the past three years. Travis, Crockett and Garcia elementary schools had received the rating once in the past three years. Based on data from the 2015-16 school year, the schools were rated as having "Met Standard."

Final numbers are expected to be released in December.

In all, 93 percent of Texas school districts and charter schools received the "Met Standard" rating compared to last year's 94 percent. Of 1,131 districts, 66 were rated "Improvement Required," compared to last year's count of 55 out of 1,152.

All school districts in Nueces, San Patricio, Kleberg, Aransas, Jim Wells and Bee counties met standard. Nineteen campuses in the six counties, except in Aransas County, were rated "Improvement Required."

The ratings are determined by a campus or district's performance in four areas: student achievement, student progress in core subjects, closing performance gaps and post secondary readiness, which includes graduation rates and diploma plans. To earn a rating of "Met Standard" or "Met Alternative Standard" for alternative campuses or districts, a campus or district must meet the target on closing performance gaps and post secondary readiness and either student achievement or student progress.

TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said this year there are several changes to take into account:

State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, math exam results for grades 3-8 were included in determining ratings. Last year, the scores were not;

Test rigor for all grades went up, adding students were expected to answer 2-3 more questions correct per test, compared with last year;

TEA for the first time included an accommodated version of STAAR's results  administered to students with special needs  in determining ratings.

Culbertson said scores for STAAR Alternate 2, administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities, also were considered when determining ratings for a district's or campus' performance in student achievement, student progress in core subjects and closing performance gaps.

Premont ISD, about 73 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, met standard for the first time since 2011. The Commissioner of Education offered an abatement to the district Dec. 18 after a notice of the Texas Education Agency's intent to shut it down was issued Nov. 17. At that time, the district was informed its accreditation was revoked, and it would close July 1.

The district's accreditation will remain in limbo until ratings are finalized in December, Superintendent Eric Ramos said.

The commissioner has not issued a final response to a Dec. 2 review of the revocation. He offered to abate the review process until preliminary academic and financial accountability ratings were released. Premont most recently received a "Superior" financial accountability rating, Ramos said.

Monday's announcement indicates Premont is on the path to becoming fully accredited, Ramos said, although with the rating the district dodged having to replace its school board and superintendent.

Culbertson said while Premont ISD met standard, it's still too early to determine its ultimate fate.

"The high school failed to meet standard and (the agency) will be taking a look at that," Culbertson said. "Until the ratings are finalized (in December), there is not a lot we can say."

Four CCISD schools  Zavala and Martin elementary schools, and Driscoll and South Park middle schools  were rated "Improvement Required" a fourth consecutive year. Although the campuses didn't hit the mark, there was "tremendous growth," Superintendent Roland Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the district in the past two years has improved its monitoring and tracking, which led to early and accurate predictions of accountability ratings released to Caller-Times Wednesday. He added enhanced monitoring is key to being deliberate about targeting performance weaknesses at each campus. That makes him hopeful about schools that have yet to receive the "Met Standard" rating.

About half of the CCISD's annual federal funds will be used to help five campuses undergo systemic changes this coming school year.

Gibson, Oak Park and Zavala elementary schools as well as Driscoll and Martin middle schools submitted two-year "turnaround plans" that call for more than $919,000 in additional positions, professional development and new technology. The district has the option not to require Oak Park and Gibson to implement the plans because of improved ratings, but Hernandez said the plans will be implemented.

Targeting campuses by means of allocating resources as well as a districtwide curriculum overhaul have proved fruitful, Hernandez said. He said this year's outlook will focus on maintaining the momentum.

"If there is one thing our efforts have made clear is that in some cases, we need to put more resources into schools to do what needs to be done," Hernandez said.

Twitter: @CallerBetty

Area accountability ratings

Nueces County

Agua Dulce ISD: Met Standard

Agua Dulce HS: Improvement Required

Banquete ISD: Met Standard

Bishop CISD: Met Standard

Calallen ISD: Met Standard

Corpus Christi ISD: Met Standard

Driscoll MS: Improvement Required

Martin MS: Improvement Required

South Park MS: Improvement Required

Zavala EL: Improvement Required

Corpus Christi Montessori: Met Standard

Dr. M L Garza-Gonzalez Charter School: Met Alternative Standard

Driscoll ISD: Met Standard

Flour Bluff ISD: Met Standard

London ISD: Met Standard

Port Aransas ISD: Met Standard

Robstown ISD: Met Standard

Salazar Crossroads Academy: Improvement Required

Seale JH: Improvement Required

Seashore Charter Schools: Met Standard

Tuloso-Midway ISD: Met Standard

West Oso ISD: Met Standard

San Patricio County

Aransas Pass ISD: Met Standard

Gregory-Portland ISD: Met Standard

Ingleside ISD: Met Standard

Mathis ISD: Met Standard

Mathis MS: Improvement Required

Odem-Edroy ISD: Met Standard

Sinton ISD: Met Standard

Taft ISD: Met Standard

Taft JH: Improvement Required

Aransas County

Aransas County ISD: Met Standard

Jim Wells County

Alice ISD: Met Standard

Salazar EL: Improvement Required

Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco ISD: Met Standard

La Gloria ISD: Met Standard

Orange Grove ISD: Met Standard

Premont ISD: Met Standard

Premont HS: Improvement Required

Kleberg County

Kingsville ISD: Met Standard

HM King HS: Improvement Required

Pogue Options Alternative Academy: Improvement Required

Gillett Intermediate: Improvement Required

Memorial MS: Improvement Required

Kleberg EL: Improvement Required

Ricardo ISD: Met Standard

Riviera ISD: Met Standard

Kaufer HS: Improvement Required

Santa Gertrudis ISD: Met Standard

Bee County

Beeville ISD: Met Standard

Thomas Jefferson Intermediate: Improvement Required

Pawnee ISD: Met Standard

Pettus ISD: Met Standard

Pettus Secondary: Improvement Required

Skidmore-Tynan ISD: Met Standard

St. Mary's Academy Charter School: Met Standard

Source: Texas Education Agency

TEA Accountability Ratings by Beatriz Alvarado on Scribd
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By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

West Oso ISD's superintendent remains on administrative leave and is facing termination because of financial mismanagement and spotty attendance, among other allegations listed in documents about her potential firing.

A notice of proposed termination for Elizabeth Saenz sent last week states she failed to conduct annual evaluations of administrators, spent "significant expenditures" on attempting to obtain a work visa for an undocumented employee, failed to implement an effective financial system and manage the district's fiscal interests, failed to maintain a working relationship with the board and failed to maintain an effective presence in the district, among other allegations.

"The district has had checks that have bounced and the district's fund balance has been significantly reduced since (Saenz was) appointed as superintendent," the notice states. "(Saenz has) physically been out of the district for a significant amount of time resulting in ineffective leadership for the district."

Notice of Proposed Termination Elizabeth Saenz by Beatriz Alvarado on Scribd

Saenz's attorney, Tiger Hanner, said he's confident in being able to defend Saenz's integrity.

"A fraction of the board is simply trying to throw a bunch of allegations against the wall and hope that something sticks," Hanner said. "We look forward to defending this case. Ms. Saenz has served the district with honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, certain members of the board are more interested in personal agendas than what is best for the students, staff and parents of (the West Oso Independent School District)."

Hanner said Tuesday Saenz plans to contest the proposal, but has not yet requested a hearing.

Negotiations to establish a separations agreement last month were unsuccessful, Hanner said.

Saenz has declined to comment since she was placed on leave.

District trustees on Aug. 9 proposed to terminate Saenz after placing her on administrative leave in July. During a special meeting, the board discussed Saenz's employment and the proposal to terminate her three-year contract, which is set to expire June 30, 2018. The motion to propose Saenz's termination and authorize board President Lucas Jasso to give Saenz notice of the decision passed with a 4-2 vote, with one abstention.

Saenz has led the district since 2011. Retired administrator Conrado Garcia was appointed interim superintendent July 18.

The district's legal counsel, Tony Resendez, said his employer  The Walsh Gallegos law firm  hired retired superintendent Ann Dixon last month to assist in the investigation. The results of the investigation led to the proposal for termination, he said earlier this month. Resendez declined to comment Tuesday, citing personnel limitations.

Saenz will remain on paid leave until the matter is resolved.

According to the Texas Education Agency, Saenz earned a salary of $169,402 as of October 2015 to lead a district with just over 2,000 students. Her contract could have been extended in the spring, but it wasn't because of the board's concerns with her performance, according to the notice.

According to board policy, the board may terminate an employee's contract at any time for good cause as determined by the board. Before a contract is terminated, the employee will be given a notice detailing the grounds for the proposal to terminate the contract.

An employee can request a hearing before an independent hearing examiner, or contest the proposal for termination. A written request for the hearing needs to be submitted to the Texas Education Agency Commissioner of Education within 15 days of receiving the notice from the board.

Twitter: @CallerBetty
City Hall

By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times

City Manager Margie Rose hasn't wasted time getting started on what the council-appointed water quality task force calls necessary improvements to the city's water system.

On Tuesday, former City Councilman Ed Martin  who was tapped to chair a water quality task force in May  told the City Council there was "no smoking gun" behind the city's third boil water notice in nine months, but there are a number of issues that need to be addressed immediately.

Rose has already begun working on all of those, he said.

"Once I know there are issues, it's my responsibility to make sure council's aware, the citizens are aware and then I need to move forward in the implementation process," Rose said.

The task force identified five main components of the city's water woes that need attention, Martin said.

Those include restoring public trust in the city; improving communication and trust with the state regulators; fixing operational, reporting and testing practices; making leadership and staffing adjustments; and moving forward with needed capital improvement projects.

"What happened is a series of very unfortunate incidents on everyone's part that led to this boil water order," Martin said. "The city violated regulations ... and (the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) came down with an unbelievably strict ruling complete with making a statement that the water system was unstable."

The task force, which included Rose and national water expert Bob Bowcock of California, found the city's water "was never unsafe" during the boil water notice, he added.

Still, that doesn't mean swift work wasn't needed.

"She didn't wait for us to get started," Martin said of Rose.

Some of that work includes acquiring new disinfectant equipment for the O.N. Stevens Water Treatment Plan and beginning work on an update to the city's nitrification plan, Assistant City Manager Mark Van Vleck said.

Both those initiatives will require more frequent free chlorine treatment cycles like the one employed this summer and last year to pull the city out of state-mandated boil water notices.

The next free chlorine treatment cycle, which could again cause strong chlorine odors and tastes in the water, is likely to begin in the next few months as the new disinfectant equipment is brought online, Van Vleck told the City Council.

"If we see the chlorine residuals and we're not keeping them where we want them to be, rather than even getting close we'll (begin corrective measures)," Van Vleck said.

"What we're going to do is use the data to determine when we should (use free chlorine)," he added.

The approach is designed to prevent boil water notices caused by low disinfectant levels, Van Vleck explained.

The task force's work  and that of Rose and her city staff team  earned praise from City Councilman Michael Hunter, who said it was sorely needed.

"They're doing a very good job at a very quick pace," Hunter said. "What I'm most impressed with is their blatant honesty about the whole thing ... This is a very good start."

Twitter: @reportermatt
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By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

A man who duped Alice residents into a stock-trading operation was sentenced Thursday.

Michael Anthony Collins, who pleaded guilty to theft, money laundering and securities fraud, was sentenced in Jim Wells County State District Court to 15 years in prison, according to a news release from the Texas State Securities Board. He was also ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.

From 2012 to 2015, Collins, 42, sold investment plans in a small storefront near the Jim Wells County Courthouse. He told investors their money would be used to trade stocks that would make investors profit within a few months, according to the release.

Victims invested between $2,000 and $700,000, and some sent him money on multiple occasions.

Collins paid bonuses to some of his early investors, but the release states money came from other customers who invested in his operation later.

Collins also lied to investors, claiming he was licensed to sell securities although his registration expired. He also did not disclose to investors that the IRS filed a tax lien of $74,204 against him and another individual.

Twitter: @Caller_Fares
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By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

Buying property in the Hillcrest neighborhood is just the first step to making way for the state's Harbor Bridge replacement project.

The Port of Corpus Christi on Tuesday made the next big move by hiring two companies to clear the land.

Port commissioners voted to hire Corpus Christi-based Coastal Bend Demolition Inc. on an "indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity" contract to tear down scores of properties after the port acquired them as part of a voluntary relocation and property purchasing program.

The commission approved a similar contract to Professional Services Inc., an Illinois company with more than a dozen offices in Texas, including two in Corpus Christi. That company will conduct environmental inspections and other demolition contract administration related to the properties bought by the port.

Agencies use indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts when they can't determine the exact quantities of supplies or services that will be required during the contract period. In this case, 544 properties in Hillcrest are eligible for the relocation and property purchasing program, but it's not yet clear how many owners will sell within the three years they have to make a decision.

On its website, Coastal Bend Demolition Inc. says it performs both structural and selective demolition, as well as site preparation for commercial, industrial, governmental and residential sites. The company also does asbestos abatement, lead and hazardous material removal and mold and soil remediation. PSI describes itself as a consulting engineering and testing firm that provides integrated services in several disciplines that include geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing and environmental consulting.

The 6-0 vote came during the commission's regular meeting. Commissioner Barbara Canales was absent.

State officials last week broke ground on a $930 million project to replace the aging Harbor Bridge, which was built in the 1950s. Construction is expected to heavily impact the Northside community, and last up to five years.

The port has authorized up to $20 million to buy properties and relocate Hillcrest residents who are interested in moving.

Del Richardson, a consultant hired by the port to coordinate the relocation program, told commissioners a growing number of property owners have indicated their willingness to sell.

In all, 149 property owners have shown interest in selling since May, the month the voluntary relocation program started, according to an Aug. 14 report by Del Richardson & Associates. Of them, 83 of the properties are owned by people not living in Hillcrest, the report said.

A total of 85 property appraisals that are being processed, Richardson said.

"We're pretty excited about that," she said.

The Texas Department of Transportation will pay any expenses that exceed the package put forth by the port.

Workshops have been scheduled for Aug. 23 and Aug. 25 to update property owners who live in the affected area to learn the eligibility requirements, benefits and available assistance for the relocation program.

They also will learn the eligibility requirements for city programs.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam

In other business

The Port of Corpus Christi commission:

Approved an electric transmission line easement with AEP Texas Central Co. The decision enables the utility to replace two 138kV transmission lines across the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. The easement will be granted for a 50-year term and fee adjusted every 10 years, payable in advance, port documents say. The fee for the first 10-year period will be $34,273. Fees for each 10-year period afterward will be subject to an adjustment based on the port's current fee schedule at the time, a port staff report says. The vote was 6-0. Commissioner Barbara Canales was absent.

Voted to approve a lease agreement with Flatiron/Dragados, LLC for temporary construction areas on the north side and the south side of the Corpus Christi Turning Basin. The consultant firm was hired by the Texas Department of Transportation last year on a contract to design and build a cable-stayed span to replace the Harbor Bridge. The temporary lease agreement, approved on a 6-0 vote, will be for a four-year primary term with two one-year options. The annual lease fee is $82,800, paid in monthly installments of $6,900.

Designated Capt. Mike Kershaw as pilot work hour auditor on a 5-0 vote. The vote came while the commission was convened as the Aransas-Corpus Christi Pilot Board. Harbormaster Ray Harrison was named alternate. Canales was absent, port commissioner Richard Valls Jr. does not serve on the pilot board.
GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Chiffon Jordan and her son Everett hold a drawing of a police badge with their last name in honor of her husband Corpus Christi Police Officer Andrew Jordan.

SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Chiffon Jordan and her son Everett hold a drawing of a police badge with their last name in honor of her husband Corpus Christi Police Officer Andrew Jordan. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Tanya Simpson holds a photo of her husband, the late Corpus Christi Police Chief Floyd Simpson. She said the support she received from the Sisters of the Shield in the months following her husband's 2015 death was encouraging. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Michelle Herrera, president of the Sisters of the Shield, holds a sign advocating for a more united relationship between police and the communities they serve. The group, formed last year, is made up of local police officer spouses who support each other and their officers. Photos by GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Natalie Nixon makes a heart with her hands as she holds the police badge of her boyfriend Corpus Christi Police Officer Carl Williams. Nixon is part of Sisters of the Shield, a group formed last year that is made up of local police officer spouses who support each other and their officers. Related Photos PHOTOS: Sisters of the Shield

By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

Chiffon Jordan has resolved herself to the fact that her husband may not come home one day.

Maybe that's why when she got the call last year that he had been shot in the line of duty she was shocked, but kept calm.

"It was a high risk warrant they were running, and everything was fine," Jordan said. "Then a guy started shooting at them."

In the days following the SWAT-involved shooting and the six surgeries that Corpus Christi Police Officer Andrew Jordan underwent, she stayed strong for her family. She also wasn't alone. Even before she rushed to the hospital to be by her husband's side she had support. A member of Sisters of the Shield was there to take care of their toddler son. For the first two weeks, the Jordans also had every breakfast, lunch and dinner covered by the newly formed group of local police officer spouses.

"I had lots of support. We had a meal train that was set up by one of the 'sisters,'" she said. "It was flowing out of my fridge. It was a big group of support, full-time."

Before the February 2015 shooting on Churchill Road, two women met at a wedding and realized they had a major thing in common: their significant others were police officers.

"We ended up having dinner together, and the whole time we were laughing and crying and wishing we had people to talk to all the time about this stuff," said Michelle Herrera, the group's president. "Each of us knew some girls, wives or girlfriends. We just asked who we could."

A year and half later, the group is 178 women strong. Chief Mike Markle's wife, Debbie, is a member, along with Tanya Simpson, the wife of late Police Chief Floyd Simpson, who died in a motorcycle wreck in 2015.

The group meets regularly at the police officer's association building with food for fellowship, event planning or upcoming business.

Being an officer's spouse is a unique blend of pride and fear. Loving an officer means giving him to God every day, Herrera said.

"Unless someone is in that situation, they don't really understand," said Natalie Nixon, who has dated Officer Carl Williams for three years. "You can't really tell your girlfriends who don't have a police officer boyfriend or husband. They're like, 'What do you mean you don't see him two days out of the week?'"

Simpson said the support she received from the group in the months following her husband's death was encouraging during her time of grief.

"I think it was their first time of really losing somebody, and especially with my husband being the chief," Simpson said. "They didn't think about what they were doing wrong or right. They just got themselves together and made our lives easier."

Since becoming a widow, Simpson has jumped at any opportunity to help other people experiencing grief. After the Dallas police officer attack in July that left several officers dead, she made her way north to offer any help she could. Her husband had been a longtime Dallas police officer before becoming police chief in Corpus Christi.

"If I can reach out to anyone going through what I went through, even though we grieve differently even just to let somebody know, 'Hey, I know what you're going through' (I will do it)," Simpson said.

It's not just in hard times that the sisters are a beacon of support.

"We feel like we don't need to just notice the police officers when something bad happens," Herrera said. "They are out there every day, all day long, they have a tough job but they love what they do."

Assistant Police Chief Michael Alanis said officers feel the love and appreciate it.

"Any time you can have a support group that knows what the needs of the officers and police department are, (that's important)," Alanis said. "They work together so closely to provide certain things when officers are in need."

Alanis said the group's support during the SWAT standoff shooting, Simpson's death and National Police Week were invaluable. Everyone was taken care of because of the group's efforts, he said.

Their efforts have included setting up schedules to make sure injured officers' families were fed, among other things. The group also is planning to organize a peace march in the coming months along the bayfront.

"Whether it's a graveyard or a morning shift, SOS will work around their schedule to bring out things to help the officers, in critical times and in good times," he said.

Information: email admin@sistersoftheshieldcc.com.

Twitter: @Caller_Jules
Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times Brittney Fernandez (left) works on Elijah Milligan's haircut and Lissa Gonzalez (right) styles Jessica Milligan's hair. The siblings were among a few kids and their parents who took advantage of free back-to-school haircuts by Del Mar College dual credit cosmetology students.

SHARE Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times Kimberly Carrera (left) chats with Jessica Milligan about heading back to school. Jessica got a free back-to-school haircut Monday by the Del Mar College dual credit cosmetology students. Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times Kimberly Carrera and Alexandra Sifuentes watch their instructor Lissa Gonzalez style Jessica Milligan's hair Monday. Carrera and Sifuentes are among 10 students who gave kids free back-to-school haircuts Monday. Natalia Contreras/Caller-Times Brittney Fernandez uses clippers to cut Elijah Mulligan's hair Monday.

By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times

Jessica Milligan, 9, knew exactly what kind of haircut she wanted on her long blonde locks.

"I don't think I want to get bangs anymore," Jessica told her stylist Monday. "I only want to cut off my split ends."

Jessica and her brother Elijah, 7, wanted to be prepared before going back to school next week.

The two Garcia Elementary School students were among those who took advantage of the Del Mar College dual credit cosmetology class free back-to-school haircuts. Cuts were offered at the Del Mar College West Campus, in room 211 of the Flato Building, to area kindergarten through 12th grade students.

This was the first time the cosmetology have offered free cuts for kids, cosmetology instructor Lissa Gonzalez said.

"We try to run this lab like a salon as much as possible," Gonzalez said. "The students have to be ready to work on different types of people. They have to be flexible and be able to think on their toes."

The free cuts will continue until Thursday.

Jessica and Elijah's mother, Brittney McGee, said she heard about the offer on TV and decided to give it a try.

"This is great, especially for those parents who have more than one child," McGee said. "When it comes to back-to-school stuff these things, like free haircuts just helps us out a lot."

While also helping the parents, students also get to practice their cuts and learn to carry on a conversation with clients. Talking with customers is important because it establishes trust and makes them comfortable, Gonzalez said.

Brittney Fernandez, 17, will start her senior year at Harold T. Branch Academy. She worked on Elijah's hair Monday.

She always tries to understand the kind of haircut her clients want, and attempts to start conversations with them.

"I have worked with kids before and I try to always talk to them so they can feel comfortable," Fernandez said. "I try to multitask as much as I can."

Alexandra Sifuentes, 18, worked on trimming Jessica's split end ends. She said she still gets nervous when she starts cutting but the class is helping her get better at it.

"We are definitely a lot more hands-on in this class," Sifuentes said. "It's always good to learn from our mistakes."

Gonzalez said the class will continue to offer free haircuts for veterans and kids going back to school.

Twitter: @CallerNatalia

More information: 361-698-1782

Haircuts: From 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Room 211, Flato Building on Del Mar College West Campus
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Brian Watson

Beholden GOP

As national Republican leadership struggles to disengage from Donald Trump's bizarre viewpoints and disingenuous campaign style, Texas leadership remains beholden to him and his "organization." That leadership must include Gov. Greg Abbott himself, as he allegedly accepted $35,000 in gubernatorial campaign funds from the Donald after canceling an investigation of Trump University's activities in the Lone Star State. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive"  Shakespeare.
SHARE Rain in the Gulf has been persistent this morning and is causing thunderstorms to develop in Corpus Christi today. (Photo: Krista M. Torralva/Caller-Times)

By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

Flash flood warnings are in effect for Jim Wells and Live Oak counties as the area continues to get drenched with scattered showers.

Jim Wells County has had two inches of rain fall just this morning and could experience at least another inch before the end of the day, said Kevin Wagner, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi.

Heavy rain bands will continue to pass through that area today, but Nueces County is pretty clear of storms.

The rain in the Gulf has been persistent this morning and could cause a thunderstorm to develop in Corpus Christi. As the day warms up, there is more potential for an isolated thunderstorm, Wagner said.

KEDT TV and Radio went off the air for about 30 minutes this morning due to weather, officials said.

Engineers were able to repair damage to radio towers and programs were back on about 8:45 a.m.

Hurricane Alley Waterpark near Whataburger Field has closed for the day because of the rain, according to their Twitter account.

This is a developing story. Check back to Caller.com for updates.

Staff writer Natalia Contreras contributed to this report.

Twitter: @Caller_Jules
| BY Ricki Green |

Australasian production company, Robbers Dog has announced the signing of internationally renowned director, Alison Maclean, to its growing roster.

Canadian-born but New Zealand-raised, Maclean burst onto the scene in 1989 after her short film, Kitchen Sink, garnered global plaudits  winning eight awards at festivals worldwide as well as securing a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes Film Festival.

Maclean followed Kitchen Sink with two highly successful feature films: Crush, which was an official selection at Cannes, and Jesus Son, which won the Little Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival, as well as securing Maclean a Best Director nomination.

Since then Macleans work has grown to include, longform broadcast, commercials and shorts. Longform work includes episodes of critically acclaimed series Sex and the City, Carnivale, The Tudors, The L-Word, and Gossip Girl. Within commercials she has directed films for clients including, IKEA, Intel, AT&T, amongst others.

Macleans arrival at Robbers Dog comes after the completion of her latest feature, The Rehearsal. The film is based on the novel by Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton, which she says reignited her interest in Australasian creative.

Says Maclean: Having lived in Sydney for four years and been raised in New Zealand, I have a strong connection to the area that Id like to rekindle. I had a great experience working in Auckland this past year making The Rehearsal, and Im keen to consolidate the relationships I formed and create new ones.

A couple of friends and colleagues in the industry recommended Robbers Dog. I like the size of the company  theyre selective and everyone is invested. Plus, I appreciate the range of their work and interests, from advertising to branded content and TV drama.
| BY Ricki Green |

Its a little known fact that only 5% of Australias 110,000 homeless sleep rough in public places. The remainder are largely invisible to us, theyre people (and often families) forced into refuges, rooming houses, motels, cars, vans or onto couches and floors. Its an unseen epidemic that Homelessness Happns, a campaign by Victorias peak homelessness body, the Council to Homeless Persons (CHP), hopes to address via a pro-bono initiative from Melbourne agency, By All Means.

Homelessness Happns, which launched during Homelessness Week, highlights just how close to home homelessness can be via the hugely popular dating app Happn, which uses geo-location technology to introduce you to people you cross paths with.

Says Jenny Smith, CEO, Council to Homeless Persons: Homelessness is much more than rough sleeping. We catch the tram with people experiencing homelessness, and we wait in line at the supermarket together, yet we probably wouldnt even know it. Homelessness Happns is a campaign that shows that homelessness can happen to anyone at any time regardless of their age, or employment status.

The campaign unexpectedly introduces users of the app in Melbourne to profiles of individuals all too familiar with hidden homelessness. The profiles appear within Happn whenever a user passes by a location where these spokespeople once experienced homelessness: rooming houses, motels, or sites where they slept in vans or cars across the city. Allowing individual stories of hidden homelessness to be revealed, at the locations where they occurred.

Says Toby Cummings, co-creative director, By All Means: Homelessness is a topical issue, and has been for some time  the problem, of course, is that people tend to switch off, so its important to keep finding new ways to talk about the problem. Were thrilled that our thinking has been of some service for continuing the conversation. The novel use of the dating app platform has allowed us to push the conversation into mainstream media otherwise unreceptive to another story about homelessness.

The campaign calls on the Federal Government to extend critical national homelessness funding set to soon expire. The National Partnership Agreement on Homelessnes (NPAH) funds about 180 programs nationally and assists 80,000 people each year.

Client: Council to Homeless Persons (CHP)

CEO: Jenny Smith

Manager Policy and Communications: Kate Colvin

Media and Communications Officer: Lanie Harris

Media and Communications Officer: Eddie Staltari

Creative Agency: By All Means

Creative Directors: Ed Howley & Toby Cummings

Managing Director: Mat Cummings

Photographer: Heather Dinas

Stills Producer: Jayma Nann

Video DoP/Director: Michael Bainbridge

Website: Monica Clapcott

Logo Design: Richard Walker
| BY Ricki Green |

Coca-Cola Amatil brand Deep Spring today launches a live crowd coloured mural in central Sydney in partnership with UM to help reconnect people to the brands mineral water roots and the enjoyment of simple pleasures.

Capitalising on the adult colouring-book craze that is currently sweeping Australia, about 400 people are expected to contribute to the live artwork being created to support Deep Springs All Thats Needed positioning.

ays Gaelle Boutellier CCA GM marketing and category: In a world that is constantly connected, Deep Springs new campaign is designed to remind us of the value in simple moments of refreshment and provides us with a platform to relax and disconnect from busy lifestyles.

Says Sophie Price, CSO of UM: This execution is a great example of Creative Connections coming to life, where we involve our agency partners and client to bring a moment of mindfulness to audiences across a range of owned, earned, shared and paid connections.

The Sydney mural launching today will be the second version of the crowd-sourced creative show-piece, with the first version in Melbourne achieved with great success.

People in the Kidman Lane precinct of Sydneys Paddington, as well as students from the University of New South Wales  Art & Design, will be working on the mural starting today (Tuesday) and finalising on Thursday evening. To accelerate the reach of the campaign UMs sister mobile-specialist agency Ansible has created a mobile colouring-in game and interactive OOH panels designed to help people relax and disconnect from daily pressures.

User generated content from the mobile game and interactive out of home panels will be distributed across social channels with a signed personalised touch from the content creator.

Supporting the live mural and mobile game will be proximity placed out-of-home panels within the JCDecaux and Adshel networks. One Green Bean has also worked on bringing the All Thats Needed campaign to life across Deep Springs social channels.

Client  Deep Spring

Connections Agency  UM

Creative Agency  Saatchi & Saatchi NZ

Software Development  Ansible
| BY Lynchy |

K3 Communications Singapore has had two new business wins  Afton Chemical Asia and SIM University.

The Afton Chemicals appointment is for creating through-the-line marketing solutions including strategy, creative, advertising, digital, sales support and activation. The appointment followed a hotly contested three-way pitch, and elevates K3 further on the regional stage with works spanning across the Asia Pacific, including China for the fuel additive client.

K3 Founder Goh Wee Kim said, We are heartened by the recognition and trust that international and regional accounts like Afton have for independents like K3. It attests to the confidence that international clients have with our ability to understand their businesses and to effectively communicate for their brands in an ever-evolving media landscape.

Creative Partner Nicholas Leong (pictured) added that the synergy between the business approaches of both agency and client played an important role in securing the win. Besides being an established global leader in the fuel additive industry, Afton Chemical is an organisation run by highly passionate people who are sincere and down-to-earth. I believe our shared dedication to create whats right for our customers is the Cupids arrow that led to our marriage, he said.

After winning the pitch for SIM Universitys Full-time Programmes two years ago, K3 is back to working with SIM University once again. K3 proposed an integrated campaign with a new branding message that urges students to Join the U That Believes in U, whatever your goals and aspirations are. The campaign seamlessly blends traditional advertising, BTL, activation and digital together. The campaign is now running in print, digital, online video, in-campus, outdoor and transit mediums.
"The most common tattoos [people want removed] are drunken mistakes and dodgy jobs from tattoo artists in Thailand. But a lot of people also want all or part of their tattoos removed  so maybe their sleeves  so they can have something different or even start over."
"Mr Mortimer, this is way above my pay scale," he said. "What you're asking me to do is set aside the whole of the Australian land laws system.
"If we can discuss with them the return of money in such a way as Murray Goulburn is not put at peril of collapse, then of course that's what we're going to do."
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Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

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.

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Educational institutions need to have rules in place to watch students' behaviour within their premises. The rules, no doubt, define a school or a college or a university. It is a bonded duty of an institution to frame rules and regulations to regulate and boost both academic and moral conduct of its students.

The students of any institution are bound to follow the rules of the institution they are studying in. And that is how they fulfill their duties towards that institution. However, an educational institution too has its duties to be fulfilled towards its students. It has to set aside its rigid rules and pay heed to the genuine issues of a student due to which he/she could not attend classes or write exams or write internal tests or attend an important academic event.

Let us take an example from the bollywood film '3 Idiots'. There is an engineering student who is not able to finish his project within a given period of time and pleads the Dean of the college to extend the deadline a bit. The Dean is very strict and does not extend the deadline. Further, the Dean calls that boy's parents to inform them that their son is not doing well in studies and he would not be allowed to write exams. The impact of the call? The engineering aspirant commits suicide.

The aforementioned film went on to become one of the highest earning films ever in the history of Indian cinema. However, the message has hardly been received by us; rather, we have hardly understood the intensity of that scene in the film. Students have not stopped committing suicide. They are sacrificing their precious lives either because of illogical cut throat competition or due to rules and regulations which do not give them a second chance.

The suicide case of Sushant Rohilla

As the whole nation was gearing up to celebrate the 70th independence day, Sushant Rohilla, a bright 3rd year student of Amity Law School, IP University, Noida chose to commit suicide rather than living with the humiliation of losing a chance to write exams. Sushant is the recent addition to the list of students who committed suicide due to the rigid rules of educational institutions. According to a friend of Sushant, the deceased could not secure 75% attendance because of his foot injury. He was debarred for the unintended poor attendance.

Sushant was a budding talent in the field of law. Taking another chance to sit for the exams next semester or year is no big deal, but getting debarred causes an irreparable damage on the minds of studious students like Sushant. That is exactly what happened. Sushant could not understand why he was punished for no mistake of his. It was a severe blow to him and his dreams built on the foundation of his excellent academic performance.

Everyone should be treated equally

It is high time the educational institutions with rigid rules and regulations to rethink about the same and revamp them. Rules are there to teach discipline to students, not to harm them or their personality. They should not hinder their personality development. Rules are made to treat all the students equally. However, Amity Law School was lenient in the case of a student who could not secure the required percentage of attendance as she was busy preparing for Miss India contest.

Sushant, on the other hand, had produced medical certificates related to his foot injury and tried as much as possible to attend classes. Yet, he could not reach the required percentage of attendance. This kind of arbitrary conduct of any educational institution is objectionable. So, it is not a bad idea to have rules in place, but it is very important to see if the rules are benefiting the meritorious students or pushing them towards suicide.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has directed to cease the working of evening law colleges. The recommendation has been made on the basis of an adverse report that has been submitted by the BCI committee, the apex regulatory body for legal education and legal profession about infrastructure and quality of education at the centres of DU's law faculty.

Around 800 students are currently registered in the evening colleges of DU offering law.

In 2014, the BCI had decided to de-recognize DU's law course after it failed to seek timely extension of the affiliation of its three centres, namely Campus Law Centre, Law Centre-I and Law Centre-II.

However, provisional extension of affiliation for the 2014-15 session was given after the Delhi University had proposed to shift to a new building which had adequate space.

But, after a fresh inspection, the council noted hat besides fresh violations, the illegalities earlier highlighted remain unattended.

Earlier this year, the BCI had asked the DU to close down colleges offering law courses in evening shifts, saying such programmes do not ensure proper quality of legal education.

With view of the upcoming student union elections, the students uinions including ABVP, AISA and NSUI have submitted a memorandum to the HRD ministry requesting for an intervention.
According to the announcement made by Google, 2 Indian teenagers are among the 16 global finalists who will be competing in the sixth "Google Science Fair 2016". All the 16 finalists, including 2 from India will be competing for the $50,000 scholarship prize.

All 16 finalists will travel with their families to Mountain View city located in Santa Clara County, California, and the winner will be announced at a ceremony on September 27.

"From a breathalyzer test that could predict lung cancer to a carbon filter that may significantly decrease styrofoam waste, these top 16 projects from nine countries around the world represent the brightest ideas to make things better through science and engineering", said Andrea Cohan, Programme Lead, Google Science Fair, in a statement.

Making India proud on the global stage, the two finalists from India are:

Shriyank, 16, from National Public School, Bengaluru and Mansha Fatima,15, a junior at Sadhu Vaswani International School, Hyderabad.

Shriyank from Bengaluru, submitted his project titled "KeepTab: A novel way to aid memory with deep learning algorithms!"

KeepTab is a wearable device-based solution which uses a cloud-based deep learning framework to aid human memory recall the location of day-to-day objects.

Mansha Fatima from Hyderabad, focussed on creating an "Automated Water Management and Monitoring System in Paddy Fields".

The project aims to help farmers monitor water levels in rice paddy fields as well as automate water levels for the best possible crop yields.
Jamshedpur/India, 16th August, 2016 - XLRI - Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur one of India's premier B-Schools, has earned accreditation for its flagship management and doctoral programs by AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. This is the second coveted International Accreditation for XLRI after Association of MBAs (AMBA), which XLRI had received in 2015. Importantly, XLRI joins a select group of global business schools to have received AACSB accreditation for its doctoral program.

This is the second coveted International Accreditation for XLRI after Association of MBAs (AMBA), which XLRI had received in 2015. Importantly, XLRI joins a select group of global business schools to have received AACSB accreditation for its doctoral program.

Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting.

AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world's business management programs. Achieving AACSB accreditation is a multi-year process of rigorous internal review, engagement with an AACSB assigned mentor, and peer review. During the process the school focuses on developing and implementing a plan to align with AACSB's Accreditation standards. These standards require excellence in areas relating to strategic management and innovation; student, faculty, and staff as active participants; learning and teaching; and academic and professional engagement.

"It takes a great deal of self-evaluation and determination to earn the AACSB Accreditation, and I commend XLRI Jamshedpur for its dedication to management education, as well as its leadership in the community," said Robert D. Reid, Executive Vice President and Chief Accreditation Officer of AACSB International. "Through accreditation, XLRI has not only met specific standards of excellence, but has also made a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high quality education to its students. The entire XLRI team-including the administration, faculty, directors, staff, and students-are to be commended for their roles in earning accreditation."

Fr. E. Abraham S.J. Director, XLRI- Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur remarked on the new development, "The AACSB Accreditation is an important milestone for XLRI, India's oldest management school founded in1949. Staying true to our core Jesuit philosophy of "MAGIS" - 'Pursuit of Excellence in all Endeavors', this very prestigious AACSB accreditation will take us a step ahead to strengthen our foothold and reputation in the global arena and evolve towards becoming a preferred management institute of choice for discerning, future business leaders from India and abroad. "

"The International Accreditations from AACSB along with AMBA which we had received last year has added twin feathers to XLRI's cap. A management institute with two coveted international accreditations and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accreditation is a rare phenomenon in India. This accreditation will further enhance the credibility of XLRI vis-a-vis the recruiters looking to recruit the top talent, knowing that our graduates have received the highest quality and the most relevant management education" Fr. E. Abraham added.

About AACSB International:

As the world's largest business education network connecting academe with business, AACSB provides business education intelligence, quality assurance, and professional development services to more than 1,500 member organizations across 91 countries and territories. Founded in 1916, AACSB Accreditation is the highest standard of quality in business education, with over 775 business schools accredited worldwide. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, USA; its Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore; and its Europe, Middle East, and Africa headquarters is located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For more information, visit www.aacsb.edu.

About XLRI:

XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur is a premier, private management institute in India founded in 1949 by Fr Quinn Enright, S.J. in the 'steel city' of Jamshedpur (www.xlri.ac.in). Over the last six decades, the institute has grown into a top-ranking business management school of international repute with a wide portfolio of management programs and research publications. Its alumni are spread around the globe and have demonstrated responsible business leadership in their organizations.

XLRI continually strives to contribute its mite to the professional growth and management of numerous organizations and institutions across industry sectors. XLRI has been awarded two prestigious International Accreditations, viz., AACSB - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and AMBA - Association of MBAs. XLRI has also earned the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accreditation.
Want to catch a glimpse of the latest Bentleys? Monterey will be the place to be next week, because the British automaker is rolling into town with three new models that have never been shown in North America before.



First up is the new Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase, the stretch limousine that will soon have the segment all to itself once arch-rival (and former sister brand) Rolls-Royce ushers out the current Phantom  until it brings in the new one.

Joining it under the Northern California sun will be the new Flying Spur V8 S, the latest version of the four-door Continental. With 521 horsepower, it slots in between the base V8 model and the flagship W12, rockets to 60 in 4.6 seconds and tops out at 190.

Finally the crew from Crewe is also bringing the new Continental GT Speed Black Edition. With 633 hp on tap, itll hit 60 in 3.9 seconds and top out at 206 mph, and looks that much sportier with blacked-out trim, contrasting aerodynamic elements and carbon-fiber interior trim

As if thats not enough, the Bentayga will also be on hand to demonstrate its towing capabilities. Now fitted with a tow bar for the first time in Bentleys 97-year history, the Bentayga will pull an Airstream-style Bowlus Road Chief trailer to Turn 10 at Laguna Seca where the pair will stand on display.

Therell be several vintage Bentleys going up for auction at events throughout the week as well, including a 1932 8-Litre Tourer by Vanden Plas that RM Sothebys values at $2.5-3 million. The long and short of it is that therell be plenty of Flying B action to check out at Pebble Beach this year.

PHOTOS
According to fresh reports, a Tesla Model S 90D caught fire in France during a routine test drive over the weekend.



Electrek claims that during a test drive within the marques Electric Road Trip across Europe, the Model S made a loud noise and displayed a warning on the dashboard that there was an issue with charging.

The Tesla employee in the passenger seat is said to have told the driver to pull over and just moments after, the electric sedan burst into flames. While fire crews responded to the blaze, the car was completely destroyed. All passengers escaped without injury.

In a statement, a Tesla spokesperson says that the firm is investigating the fire and working with the local authorities.

We are working with the authorities to establish the facts of the incident and offer our full cooperation. The passengers are all unharmed. They were able to safely exit the vehicle before the incident occurred, the company said.

While Tesla fires are heavily reported, fires involving electric cars are far less common than those of petrol and diesel vehicles.

Another Tesla fire (please no freaking out, gas cars are just as flammable) https://t.co/AOnfOk26ID E.W. Niedermeyer (@Tweetermeyer) August 15, 2016

PHOTO GALLERY
The rumor mill insists that a 928-successor is coming our way, especially as a shortened Panamera-based test mule was caught testing recently.



But according to Motor Trend, even though it wears a camouflaged Porsche suit, the vehicle has nothing to do with the German car makers future products. Its neither a Panamera-based, front-engine coupe, nor a small sedan, but rather a test bed for Bentleys all-new twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8, slated to appear under the hood of the next-gen Continental GT and Flying Spur.

The reason why the mule looks like a Porsche is because the Stuttgart-based firm was appointed to develop VWs new MSB architecture and the aforementioned 4.0-litre V8 engine, which also means it doesnt signal a Panamera-based or derived automobile.

The companys plans have reportedly changed (drastically) along the way, as new rumors suggest that the small(er) sedan is being developed as the production variant of the Mission E concept, while the Panamera Coupe (the fabled 928-succesor) will remain just an idea.

According to well-placed sources in Stuttgart, the idea has been reviewed at the highest level within Porsche, and it wont materialize in order to prevent cannibalizing Bentleys Continental GT sales. Meanwhile, were left with the thought of what couldve been and a few renderings, hoping that Porsche will change its mind.

Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops

PHOTO GALLERY
Hyundai is intent on promoting its recently launched eco-friendly model and, to that purpose will be giving away the first Ioniq Hybrid to land in the UK.



Announced as part of the start of a three-year title partnership of the Hyundai Mercury Prize, the hybrid will be the main prize in a competition hosted by the brands UK social media channels.

In order to become eligible to win the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid, entrants will need to join in the conversation by using the #HyundaiMercuryPrize hashtag on Twitter or by commenting on any related post on the Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Participants will have until September 23 to enter, but in order to make things just a tad more interesting, Hyundai will also add 12 VIP spot prizes, which include a pair of tickets to the Hyundai Mercury 2016 Awards Show with one nights accommodation, travel cost allowance and transfers. Winners for the VIP package prize will be announced after August 29.

Hyundais campaign comes more than a month after the Ioniq, which is the worlds first vehicle to be offered with three electrified powertrains, has been launched in the United Kingdom, with prices kicking off from 19,995 ($25,800) for the Hybrid SE 1.6 GDi, or from 28,995 ($37,413) for the electric version.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Dustin Godfrey

Campsites along Penticton's channel have been cleared out.

Penticton RCMP spokesman Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth said officers of the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations were down at the channel, which is Crown land, instructing campers to disband from the area.

Wrigglesworth said he was in attendance to ensure a peaceful interaction.

He said five campsites had been given notices from the FLNRO that they were not allowed to camp in the site, and that local RCMP and bylaw enforcement had received several complaints from the public as well.

As officers were arriving, he noted that the campers were in the middle of packing up, and that the process went along incident-free.

One of the sites, however, had been given several warnings in the past, which had all been ignored.

Wrigglesworth said there were around seven people altogether, and that while there had been some mess, including human waste, there was no indication of drug use or stolen property in the sites.

He said illegal camping has been a problem in the Penticton area as a whole, including along the channel.

While unsure whether there has been any new sites set up along the channel so far, Wrigglesworth said the RCMP would assist the FLNRO in clearing any that come up in the future.
Photo: Getty Images

Perhaps you saw news coverage of the commercial-truck collision on the Coquihalla Highway last Friday.

Witnesses speculated that the tractor-trailer unit lost its brakes, and may not have stopped at the mandatory brake inspection pullout nearby. No doubt this will be either confirmed or disproved when the investigation is complete.

There are mandatory brake checks before significant grades on many B.C. highways.

Drivers of specified vehicles must stop and check the braking system before they start down the hill.

If the air brakes are out of adjustment or any other defects are found, the driver must remedy the problem before proceeding. It's hoped this insures heavily loaded vehicles dont lose their brakes and become involved in a collision.

You might be surprised to find out that heavy commercial trucks with air brakes are not the only vehicles required to stop and check brakes at these mandatory check locations.

Any truck with a licensed gross vehicle weight over 5,500 kilograms must stop and check, regardless of the type of braking system. This could include a pickup truck towing a large recreational trailer.

Properly licensed drivers of vehicle combinations like this often have either a higher qualification or endorsements and are familiar with how to proper check their braking systems.

ICBC highlights a proper inspection procedure in the Driving Commercial Vehicles manual. It includes a pre- and post-trip list and a pre-hill section.

The manual is worthwhile reading for any driver who would like to gain a better understanding of the heavy vehicles that we share the road with in addition to the brake information.

Many brake checks have signs posted that remind the driver of what they should be checking when they stop.

This is how we hope that the system works and we are protected by its operation when we share the road with heavy loads. When the driver is a conscientious one, all is well. In the real world, Ive seen drivers pull in, stop, pause and continue without ever leaving the cab.

If they did alight, a good tire thumping to discover flats was all that occurred as they never stooped to look underneath. I even knew of trucking companies where a ticket for out-of-adjustment brakes on trailers was a virtual certainty if I found them during patrols.

Even the courts have not helped the situation. Unless case law has changed since I ended my policing career in 2005, the courts held that the simple act of being able to stop the vehicle at the check was sufficient to comply with the sign directing drivers there.

Unless the driver failed to stop at all, there were no grounds to issue a ticket for disobeying. Police would have to examine the vehicle and find a defect, then ticket for the particular defect in order to take any enforcement action.

Even with a perfectly functional, correctly adjusted braking system, over use of the brakes on a hill can result in a runaway truck. Experience, anticipation and proper control of vehicle speed through the use of the transmission on hills is critical.

Signs at the check showing distance and grades are priceless information for drivers who have not encountered the hills of British Columbia.

To comment or learn more, please visit DriveSmartBC.ca.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
West Kelowna resident Carolyn Thomas is well on her way to becoming a NASCAR racer, with 10 seasons behind the wheel.

However, the 20 year old suffered a major setback in July at the Miller 200 race in Washington.

I was waiting for directions from my crew chief, I was hanging out by myself, she explained. When all of a sudden some guy runs into the quarter panel of my car.

The force of impact flipped the car over Thomass.

Thomas estimates the other driver was traveling at about 100 km/h.

At this point, I am hitting the wall, he is tumbling over me, there is no saving it, she said.

Coincidentally, the two were the only Canadians in the race that day.

Both walked away uninjured, but Thomass car is destroyed.

Essentially, I need a brand-new car. The engine is good, the tranny is good, but I will need a new rear-end from the damage.

She has set up a GoFundMe Page to help with the cost of rebuilding the racecar.

Thomas has Lucas Oil as a sponsor and is looking for more, but hopes her fans will help her get back on track.

 with files from Rob Balsdon and Jen Zielinski
Photo: Google Maps

The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed the identity of a man who was found dead on the shore of Upper Arrow Lake on Aug. 6.

He was Leslie Raymond Wetselaar, 69, of Revelstoke.

A boating party looking for a place to beach their boat came upon the body about three kilometres north of the Shelter Bay boat launch.

The Coroners Service says Wetselaar was reported missing on April 20, while swimming from the Centennial Park Boat Launch in Revelstoke.
Photo: Google Maps

Police are investigating a fatal motor vehicle incident involving a logging truck in the Fraser Valley.

The crash happened just before 12:30 p.m. on Lougheed Highway, east of Mission, near Harrison Mills.

A fully loaded logging truck rolled over, causing its cargo to come loose. One of the logs struck another vehicle.

The female driver of that vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene, RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau said in a press release. The driver of the logging truck was uninjured.



A nearby power pole was also knocked down, and BC Hydro crews turned off power to allow traffic investigators into the scene.



Lougheed Highway between Mount Woodside and Mission is closed in both directions and not expected to reopen for another six to seven hours.

Motorists are asked to avoid the area.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking the wildfire that destroyed more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

"The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year," Pimlott said. "Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time."

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 per cent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking the wildfire that destroyed more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

"The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year," Pimlott said. "Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time."

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 per cent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

A wind-whipped wildfire decimated a hardscrabble California town, destroying more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures, including a Habitat for Humanity office, in an area that was spared last year by another major blaze, officials said Monday.

The fast-moving wildfire had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just five per cent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smouldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge," he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire."

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Police arrested and charged a man with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque over the weekend.

Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Morel, who police said hit a bicyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after Saturday's shooting in Queens, was taken into custody late Sunday night, said the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce.

Morel could be seen on the surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer right after Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot in the head, Boyce said.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist about three miles away in Brooklyn, he said.

Morel was arrested outside a Brooklyn apartment after he intentionally rammed his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said.

Charges against the Brooklyn man were upgraded Monday night after police said they recovered a revolver at his home and clothes similar to those being worn in a surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Earlier Monday, about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, "Justice!" periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you."

Authorities have not released a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is "certainly on the table."

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.
Photo: Contributed

A Chicago-based communist revolutionary group blamed by Milwaukee's police chief for stoking a second day of violence said that some of its members did go there to "support a revolution" but didn't set out to cause trouble.

Police chief Ed Flynn said members of a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party turned what had been a peaceful night into a tense one by leading marchers down several blocks at around 11:30 p.m. TV footage showed a small group of protesters walking or running through the streets, sometimes toppling orange construction barriers.

"The (communist group) showed up, and actually they're the ones who started to cause problems," Flynn said at a news conference Monday.

The fatal police shooting of a 23-year-old black man, Sylville Smith, touched off a weekend of tense and at times violent protests that left at least six businesses burned and several officers injured by flying objects Saturday night. The demonstrations on Milwaukee's north side resumed Sunday evening but were milder and less destructive. Fourteen people were arrested overnight, and three police officers and four sheriff's deputies were injured.

That group released a statement later Monday referring to the protests as a "righteous rebellion." Reached by phone, party co-founder Carl Dix said he wasn't in Milwaukee but confirmed several party supporters from Chicago travelled the 90 miles north to protest against police, who he blamed for both Smith's death and the subsequent violent protests. It is not clear how many of the group went to Milwaukee.

"This system sees police wantonly murdering people as part of the normal order of things," Dix said. But he added that people take issue with protests in response to those killings. His group advocates dismantling the police.

The Revolutionary Communist Party was founded in 1975, with a sharp focus on issues affecting black Americans. Dix repeatedly said party members are seeking to "dismantle" police and other government systems. The group is distinct from the Communist Party of the USA.

Police have said Smith was shot and killed after a traffic stop on Saturday afternoon. After reviewing body camera footage of the incident, Flynn said Smith fled the officer, who was also black, then turned toward the officer and raised his arm as he held a gun. Footage of the shooting has not yet been released publicly.

Asked about the violent conduct of some protesters, Dix referred to Smith's killing and other officer-involved deaths of black men in Milwaukee and elsewhere as the real problem.

"It's happened with some regularity in Milwaukee, and the killer cops always get off. People are sick of that," he said.

On Flynn's suggestion that members of his party were responsible for any violence, Dix said: "If anybody wants to allege that our people were actually committing those acts, they should bring that to us. That wasn't what we went up there to do."
Photo: NewsKamloops.com

Royal Inland Hospital's Clinical Services Building opened to the public for the first time Monday in Kamloops.

As trades workers put on finishing interior touches, people requiring outpatient services were making use of the new walkway that links the new building with the hospitals main tower.

Lab equipment was moved in over the weekend, causing temporary disruption to lab services, but they were open for service first thing Monday with people queuing up at 6:45 a.m.

That was hopping this morning, said Health Service Director Kris Kristjanson.

Hospital staff were on hand to lend assistance to people looking for services and getting their bearings.

We put additional staff on to help people adjust to the changes, Kristjanson said. We wanted to make it as easy as possible in order to assist in the transition.

The plan is to bring the building into service for patients and work out any kinks in the operation before celebrating the new facility, said an RIH spokeswoman. An official opening ceremony for the $80-million facility wont be held until fall.

The building houses several outpatient services, including the lab, electrocardiogram services, pre-surgical screening, cardiopulmonary, neuro-diagnostics, community respiratory therapy, IV therapy and the vascular improvement program. The new building will also provide teaching space for the UBC Medical School program and a new lecture theatre.

A parkade that accommodates up to 350 vehicles was opened last month.

 NewsKamloops.com
Dustin Godfrey

Penticton city council has doubled down on its position on cannabis dispensaries in the city.

Two more pot shops are losing their business licences as city hall continues to deliberate regulating them.

Council voted in favour of staff recommendations that Green Essence on Martin Street and Avitas Pharmaco on Main Street lose their licences ahead of potential municipal regulations expected to be presented in the coming weeks.

Both votes were 5-2 in favour, with Mayor Andrew Jakubeit and Coun. Tarik Sayeed dissenting.

The votes were held in a full house, which saw applause and disruptions, including two people who were kicked out  one who left peacefully, followed immediately by another who left with a curse-laden rant about the integrity of the city.

Both store operators made their case to keep their business licences.

Avitas owner Robert Kay said his operations in Kelowna and Vernon have private club licences.

He said he has a federal Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations licence, however neither Avitas nor his other business, BeKind, appear on the federal governments list of licenced producers, cultivators and sellers.

He also said he and his employees hold certificates used in Washington and other states with legalized pot that he likened to a Food Safe certificate for dispensaries.

He estimated about 17,000 people use medical cannabis in the Okanagan, and said the numbers could be 2,500 to 5,000 in the Penticton area.

Owner of Green Essence Melissa Osiowy said she and her partner have been waiting for a federal licence for two years.

While Osiowy told council the shop does not serve minors, Kay differed, saying all ages can be affected by diseases that precipitate the use of medical pot.

Cancer doesnt have an age, he said. MS doesnt have an age. Epilepsy doesnt have an age.

The decision followed a July 19 meeting at which council voted to cancel the business licence of another pot shop, the Rush In and Finish Cafe.

At that same meeting, council voted to direct staff to consider potential regulations for the city, and return with a report within 60 days of July 19. Mondays meeting came just short of the halfway mark.

As with the July 19 meeting, Sayeed voted against the cancellations, taking aim at cannabis prohibition.

Abortion ... was illegal, and same with same-sex marriage, he said. Its illegal because were keeping it illegal.

The other dissenting vote came from Jakubeit, who said cancelling the business licences may put the city in a position of conflict for a short period while they wait to put regulations in place.

If we had to wait until January to get a staff report, then I probably would go along with cancelling the business licences, he said. But the fact that were going to be discussing this further in a months time, or thereabouts, Id be happy to sort of continue the status quo.

Some councillors said they would like to see the shops work together with the city to come up with a set of regulations.

An agreement of the need to act with or without the federal government was reiterated by councillors, with Coun. Helena Konanz expressing frustration with Ottawa leaving us to dangle on country-wide guidance or regulations.

Osiowy told council that if council were to cancel her business licence, she would move shop to another city.

Council agreed that the city needs to treat every shop the same, saying it would be unfair to close and fine the Rush In and Finish Cafe, while allowing the business licences of either Green Essence or Avitas to continue.
Photo: Contributed

A hungry bear was spotted Monday, close to Naramata Village.

The black bear was spotted in some shrubs near Ellis Avenue and McGibney Road.

It was chowing down on the contents of a garbage bag, according to Zoe Kirk, WildSafeBC community co-ordinator.

"The resident did all the right things. She removed herself from the area, avoided staying long enough to take a picture and once at home alerted the General Store and the Naramata Centre," said Kirk.

Monday is garbage day in Naramata, and the incident is a reminder to residents to secure their garbage, placing at the curb on the morning of pick up.

Bears can become habituated to garbage, and the plastic can make them sick  and more more unpredictable, said Kirk.

Residents are reminded to keep birdfeeders inside and seed securely stored away until winter, to pick all ripe fruit from their trees, pick up fallen fruit, and alert neighbours about bear sightings.

Kokanee salmon are returning to creeks, which also attracts bears.

Bears have also been sighted in recent days along the Mission Creek Greenway in Kelowna.

One was spotted Sunday between KLO and Leckie roads.

If you see a bear, call the BC conservation officer reporting line at 1-877-952-7277
Photo: Twitter - Justin Trudeau

An alleged terrorist plot in Ontario that created anxieties over police monitoring of suspects hasn't shaken Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's emphasis on balancing civil liberties with public safety.

In his first reaction to an alleged plot that led to the death of Aaron Driver in Strathroy, Ont., Trudeau said Tuesday that balancing individual rights with keeping Canadians secure from bombing threats has to be handled with care.

"Canada is a country that values its freedom (and) its basic charter rights," he said during a stop in Bridgetown, N.S., for an infrastructure funding announcement.

"All Canadians expect their government to do two things: to keep Canadians safe and to defend and uphold the values and rights that all Canadians hold dear."

"Getting that balance right isn't always easy in the challenging situation we now live in but it's extremely important."

Last week, the RCMP fielded media questions about why it was the FBI and not the Mounties who discovered a video that led them to Driver, who police said had threatened to detonate an explosive in an urban centre.

Driver died Wednesday night after a confrontation with police that saw a bomb detonated in a taxi cab.

Trudeau said to applause from about 300 people gathered along the tranquil Annapolis River that he congratulates the security services and police for "having managed to prevent any serious incidents related to this particular individual."

"It is something we continue to work very, very hard on to keep Canadians safe in their homes and communities right across this country."

The prime minister mentioned the continuing presence of Canada's special forces in northern Iraq, where they are assisting in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

He said the wider response against domestic terrorism will be rolled out by Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale as the Liberals continue plans to reform former prime minister Stephen Harper's Bill C-51.

During the last federal election, the Liberals pledged to guarantee that all Canadian Security Intelligence Service warrants respect the charter, that the right to lawful protests and advocacy aren't violated, and they pledged to "narrow overly broad definitions (in Bill C-51), such as defining 'terrorist propaganda' more clearly."

They also said a Liberal government would limit the Communications Security Establishment's powers by requiring a warrant to engage in the surveillance of Canadians and emphasize community outreach to battle radicalization of youths.

Asked if the reforms are being revisited in light of cases like Driver's, Trudeau said the Liberals plan to create an all-party committee of parliamentarians to oversee national security agencies.

He said the committee will ensure the agencies "don't go too far and violate our fundamental rights and freedoms when they work hard to keep us safe."

"But at the same time, oversight will ensure that our intelligence and security agencies do everything necessary to keep Canadians safe," said Trudeau.

"This situation of last week and situations like it will be exactly the kind of thing I expect this committee of parliamentarians to weigh in on and advise how we can do an even better job of keeping Canadians safe, like we were able to do last week."
Photo: Twitter - Justin Trudeau

An appeal by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Canadians living abroad for donations to the Liberal party has struck a sour note with disenfranchised long-term expats.

The cash solicitation on Trudeau's Facebook page calls on Canadians living abroad to be part of "Canada's most open and progressive movement," and says under a picture of the prime minister that "your donations help fuel our party."

Various comments reflect the displeasure of those unable to vote in federal elections because of a law  only enforced by the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper  that strips voting rights from those who have lived outside Canada for more than five years.

"Asking for my donation after removing my right to vote is just offensive," wrote Ian Doig, who lives in Houston.

Another commenter, Angus McGillicuddy, offered a similar sentiment.

"Not going to waste my money until our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote is restored," McGillicuddy said.

The disenfranchising of an estimated 1.4 million long-term expats has been a running legal battle since Canadians abroad found they could not vote in the 2011 election. While the rules were first enacted in 1993, they had not been enforced until then.

Two Canadians living in the U.S. went to court to argue the relevant parts of the Canada Elections Act were unconstitutional.

In May 2014, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled in their favour. However, the Harper government appealed on the grounds that it would be unfair to resident Canadians to allow those abroad to elect lawmakers. Ontario's top court sided with the government. The Supreme Court of Canada is slated to hear the expats' appeal of that decision in February.

"Canadians living abroad should be able to vote with more than their pocketbooks," Gillian Frank, one of those who launched the constitutional challenge, told The Canadian Press.

The voting issue became a flashpoint for many expat Canadians during last year's election that propelled Trudeau to office. He has since indicated a willingness to review the ban, and a spokesman has said the government believes "more Canadians should have the right to vote, not the opposite."

However, nothing has changed and the Supreme Court case remains pending.

"You have some gall asking for expats' money when you've done nothing to restore our vote, despite promises during the election by your members that you would rectify the situation," Kate Tsoukalas wrote in a post.

In the interim, the New Democrats put forward a private member's bill in June that would enfranchise the expats as an "act of fairness."

"The prime minister should support the Canadian diaspora by endorsing the proposed legislation that restores our right to vote and by instructing the attorney general not to challenge our Supreme Court case this coming February," Frank said.

Requests for comment from Trudeau received no immediate response Tuesday.
File photo

Two Ontario women got some advice from police on neighbourly harmony after a dispute between the two neighbours saw volleys of dog feces being flung across the property line.

Police in Brockville, Ont., say the altercation started last Thursday when one woman found what she believed was her neighbour's dog's excrement in her yard.

They say the woman then threw the feces into her neighbour's yard.

Police say the dispute escalated when the neighbour replied in kind, throwing handfuls of dog droppings back.

Then the confrontation got physical as the neighbours "grabbed hold of one another."

Police say they gave the women advice on how to get along in future and suggested they stay away from each other.
Photo: Contributed

Another member of a major Canadian cocaine smuggling ring faces prison time in the U.S. after pleading guilty to federal drug charges.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo says 35-year-old Alvin Randhawa of British Columbia entered the plea Monday, admitting to exporting large quantities of cocaine from the United States to Canada.

Prosecutors say Randhawa was part of an operation that smuggled more than two tonnes of cocaine into Canada via several international bridges, including ones in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

Randhawa faces a sentence with a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of life, and a US$10 million fine.

Four others involved in the smuggling ring have been convicted.

Charges are pending against a fifth person.
Malaysia: CMS relies on cement demand

ICR Newsroom By 16 August 2016

Despite its stock falling in April, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) has managed to pick up momentum, registering a share price growth of 17.7 per cent between May and 12 August 2016. The company will be looking to capitalise on the MYR16bn (US$4bn) Pan Borneo Highway infrastructure project.

MYR9bn (US$2.2bn) worth of contracts have already been awarded by Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd for the project and local market players will now be focussing on increasing capacity and sourcing materials. Those securing contracts are likely to turn to CMS for the supply of construction materials as it holds a dominant market share in the states cement business. CMS owns the only two cement plants in the area, with a combined capacity of 1.75Mta. Alliance DBS Research have said that CMS will benefit from the higher demand for its cement as well as construction materials and trading divisions.

The Pan Borneo Sarawak Highway project is expected to triple CMSs order book to MYR1.45bn.

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Luxury hotels in the historic center for a Catholic family. Only luxury hotels can provide a paradisiacal vacation for a big Catholic family. A high-level vacation for families, children and not only. The gorgeous views, divine service, and the best location are all luxury hotels. Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, and more. Everyone will find their place in this corner of paradise.

Popular destinations

Breckenridge, CO, United States

In Breckenridge, Colorado, there are plenty of places to visit, whether you're a nature lover or thrill seeker. For nature lovers, the Blue River runs right through town and there are plenty of trails to explore. If you're looking for a thrill, Breckenridge is home to some of the best skiing and snowboarding in the country. There's also plenty of shopping and dining options in town, so you'll never run out of things to do.

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Savannah, GA, United States

Savannah, Georgia is a beautiful city with lots of places to visit, including Forsyth Park, River Street, and the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. Another place to visit is the Savannah History Museum, which is jam-packed with interesting exhibits on the history of the city.

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Naples, FL, United States

Naples is known for its stunning white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters. Its also home to a wide variety of attractions, including world-class golf courses, vibrant nightlife, and interesting cultural experiences. Here are five places to visit in Naples, Florida:  Naples Pier: Stroll along the pier and enjoy panoramic views of the Gulf of Mexico.  Fifth Avenue South: This popular shopping and dining district is home to eclectic boutiques, award-winning restaurants, and lively bars.  The Ritz-Carlton, Naples: This luxurious resort is set on 26 acres of pristine waterfront property and offers superb amenities, including a world-class spa and championship golf course.  The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens: This zoological park is home to more than 700 animals representing 150 species, including flamingos, lemurs, and tigers.  Tin City: This eclectic shopping and dining district is housed in a series of restored waterfront warehouses and features eclectic shops, galleries, and award-winning restaurants.

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Louisville, KY, United States

Louisville is in the heart of Kentucky and is known for being the home of the Kentucky Derby. There are a lot of great places to visit in Louisville, including the Louisville Zoo, the Muhammad Ali Center, and the Frazier History Museum. There are also a lot of great restaurants and bars in Louisville, and it's a great place to visit for a weekend getaway.

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Galveston, TX, United States

Galveston is a Texas coastal town that is rich in history and offers visitors a variety of places to visit and things to do. Some of the most popular attractions include the Moody Gardens, Schlitterbahn Waterpark, and Historic Downtown. There are also a number of museums and other historical landmarks, as well as plenty of shopping and dining options.

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Omaha, NE, United States

The birthplace of Warren Buffett, Omaha, Nebraska, is a great place to visit. There are plenty of things to see and do in Omaha, from touring the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium to visiting the Durham Western Heritage Museum. Other popular tourist destinations in Omaha include the Joslyn Art Museum, the Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium, and TD Ameritrade Park.

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Columbus, GA, United States

Columbus is a charming small town in Georgia that is worth a visit. There are several places to visit in Columbus, including the Riverwalk, the Chattahoochee River, the National Infantry Museum, and the Coca-Cola Space Science Center. The Riverwalk is a beautiful walkway along the Chattahoochee River that is perfect for a relaxing stroll or a bike ride. The Chattahoochee River is a great place to go fishing, swimming, or kayaking. The National Infantry Museum is a museum dedicated to the infantry of the United States Army. It is a must-see for history buffs. The Coca-Cola Space Science Center is a museum dedicated to space science. It is perfect for kids and adults alike.

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Anchorage, AK, United States

Anchorage is a great place to visit if you're looking for an adrenaline rush. From skiing and snowboarding in the winter to rafting and fishing in the summer, Anchorage has something to offer everyone. In addition to its outdoor activities, Anchorage also has a variety of cultural and historical attractions, including the Anchorage Museum and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

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Portland, OR, United States

Portland is a city that is located in the US state of Oregon and it is known for its art scene, food, and coffee. There are a lot of interesting places to visit in Portland, such as the Portland Art Museum, where you can see a variety of art from all over the world. Another place to visit is the Powell's City of Books, the largest independent bookstore in the world. If you're looking for a place to eat, Portland has no shortage of amazing restaurants, such as Pok Pok, which serves Thai cuisine, and Le Pigeon, which serves French cuisine. And, of course, no trip to Portland would be complete without trying some of the city's famous coffee, such as Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

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Florence, Italy

No trip to Italy is complete without a visit to Florence. This historic city is home to some of the country's most famous attractions, including the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and Michelangelo's David. There's also plenty to see and do outside of the city center, including the picturesque Tuscan countryside and the vibrant university town of Arezzo.

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Asheville, NC, United States

Asheville is a city in western North Carolina. It is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Buncombe County. Asheville is home to the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the United States. The city of Asheville proper had a population of 84,236 in 2010. The city is known for its art deco architecture, mountain scenery and outdoor activities, and as the birthplace of American novelist Thomas Wolfe. It is also home to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, the second largest craft brewery in the United States.

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Long Beach, CA, United States

There's plenty to do in Long Beach, California without ever having to leave the city limits. If you're looking for a little adventure, head to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a glimpse of the ocean's creatures or take a walk on the boardwalk at Rainbow Harbor. If you're more of a history buff, the Queen Mary is a must-see. This retired ocean liner is now a hotel and museum with plenty of stories to tell. And no trip to Long Beach is complete without a visit to the iconic Vincent Thomas Bridge.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States

Cincinnati is a city located on the Ohio River in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. The city was founded in 1788 and named after the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers. Cincinnati is a major U.S. city and the metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million people. The city is well-known for its German heritage, Oktoberfest celebration, and its variety of chili dishes. Cincinnati is home to three major sports teams: the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, MLB's Cincinnati Reds, and the NBA's Cincinnati Cavaliers. The city is also home to the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. The city's historic neighborhoods include Over-the-Rhine, Mount Auburn, and Hyde Park. Cincinnati is a popular tourist destination and offers a variety of attractions and places to visit, including the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the Newport Aquarium, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

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Laughlin, NV, United States

Laughlin, Nevada is a great place to visit if you're looking for a fun and affordable vacation. There are plenty of casinos and resorts to choose from, as well as plenty of outdoor activities and attractions. Be sure to check out the local nightlife, and don't forget to take a trip down the mighty Colorado River.

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Anaheim, CA, United States

Anaheim, California is home to both Disneyland and California Adventure Park. The parks are just a short walk away from each other, and make for a great day of exploration. Anaheim is also home to the Anaheim Angels and the Anaheim Ducks, so there's always a game to catch. If you're looking for something a little more low-key, Anaheim has a great shopping district and a variety of restaurants to choose from.

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Santa Cruz, CA, United States

Santa Cruz is a great place to visit! There are so many places to see and things to do. Some of my favorite places to visit are the Boardwalk, the wharf, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Boardwalk is a great place to go for a walk, ride on the amusement park rides, and eat some of the delicious food. The wharf is a great place to go for a walk, eat some seafood, and listen to the street performers. The University of California, Santa Cruz is a great place to visit to learn about the history of the area and to see some of the beautiful architecture. I highly recommend visiting Santa Cruz if you are looking for a fun and interesting place to visit!.

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Eugene, OR, United States

Eugene, Oregon is a great city to visit with a lot of places to see and things to do. One of the most popular attractions is the University of Oregon campus, which is home to a number of museums and a large football stadium. The city also has a vibrant arts scene, with a number of theaters and art galleries. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy the dozens of parks and hiking trails in the area, and there are also a number of wineries and breweries in the area.

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Branson, MO, United States

There's plenty to see and do in Branson, Missouri, from state parks and amusement parks to theaters and shopping. Here are some of the most popular places to visit: Silver Dollar City is a theme park with rides, shows, and craftsmen demonstrations. is a theme park with rides, shows, and craftsmen demonstrations. The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theatre puts on a variety of shows, including "The Legend of the Shepherd of the Hills" and "The Catfish Fry." puts on a variety of shows, including "The Legend of the Shepherd of the Hills" and "The Catfish Fry." Table Rock State Park has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. The Titanic Museum features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. Branson Landing is a shopping and entertainment complex on the waterfront. There's something for everyone in Branson, Missouri  come visit and see for yourself!.

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Panama City Beach, FL, United States

The white sand beaches and emerald waters of Panama City Beach, Florida, are a popular tourist destination. The city is home to numerous hotels, resorts, and restaurants, as well as amusement and water parks. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, kayaking, and surfing.

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Monterey, CA, United States

Monterey is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, United States. It stands at the southern end of Monterey Bay, on the Pacific coast. The city is also the home of the Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey is the largest city in the Central Coast region of California. The main attractions in Monterey are the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, and the downtown area.

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Norfolk, VA, United States

Norfolk, Virginia is a great place to visit for its historical places and military bases. Some places to visit in Norfolk are the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, and the Norfolk Naval Station.

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Palm Springs, CA, United States

Palm Springs is a vibrant city located in the Coachella Valley and is known for its year-round sunshine, resort atmosphere and Mid-Century Modern architecture. Top places to visit include the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs Art Museum, Indian Canyons and Moorten Botanical Garden. For a truly unique experience, be sure to check out the Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale  the worlds largest vintage furniture and design event.

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Rochester, NY, United States

Rochester is a city in western New York State and is the county seat of Monroe County. Rochester is known for its annual festivals, including the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, and the Holiday Folk Fair International. Places to visit in Rochester include the George Eastman Museum, the Strong National Museum of Play, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and the Seneca Park Zoo.

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Pigeon Forge, TN, United States

Visit the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge for a unique experience. This museum is dedicated to the Titanic, one of the most infamous ships in history. Tour the ship and learn about the passengers and crew who were on board. You can even see the actual artifacts recovered from the shipwreck. If you're looking for a little more excitement, head to Dollywood. This amusement park is home to roller coasters, a water park, and plenty of other rides and attractions. Plus, the park is themed around the life and music of Dolly Parton. No trip to Pigeon Forge is complete without a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. These mountains offer a variety of activities, including hiking, fishing, and horseback riding. Plus, the natural beauty of the area is simply breathtaking.

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Jacksonville, FL, United States

Jacksonville is less than an hour's drive from the beaches of Amelia Island and St. Augustine, and a little more than two hours from Orlando. The city has a lot to offer visitors, including a riverwalk, museums, and a vibrant arts scene. Jacksonville is also home to the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team.

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Minsk, Belarus

Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is a city that has something for everyone. If you're looking for a little history, Minsk has plenty of it, with churches and monuments dating back to the 12th century. If you're looking for a lively nightlife, Minsk has that, too, with plenty of bars, clubs, and restaurants. And if you're looking for a little nature, Minsk has parks and gardens to enjoy. Here are just a few of the places you can visit in Minsk: The Holy Spirit Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Minsk, is a must-visit for history buffs. The National Library of Belarus is a huge library with more than 18 million items in its collection. The Opera and Ballet Theatre is a beautiful building that hosts performances of both opera and ballet. The Victory Park is a large park with a war memorial, a children's playground, and a lake. And for a little bit of nature in the heart of the city, the Botanical Garden is a great place to relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle of Minsk.

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Jaipur, India

Jaipur is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. It is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and is known for its palaces, forts and temples. Some of the places to visit in Jaipur include the Amber Fort, the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar Observatory and the Hawa Mahal. Jaipur is also a great place to shop for traditional Indian handicrafts.

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Chicago, IL, United States

Chicago is a city full of culture and history. There are plenty of places to visit, such as the Willis Tower, Buckingham Fountain, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago is also home to many restaurants and bars, so there is something for everyone.

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Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland is a beautiful city located on the north island of New Zealand. There are many places to visit in Auckland, including the Sky Tower, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and the Auckland Domain. The beaches in Auckland are also worth visiting, especially Karekare and Piha. Auckland is a great place to visit, and I highly recommend it!.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

If you're looking for a city that's got it all, Amsterdam should be your go-to destination. From the city's lively and vibrant nightlife to its charming and quiet neighborhoods, Amsterdam has something for everyone. Be sure to check out the Anne Frank Huis, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum, as these are some of the most popular attractions in the city. And if you're looking for a little bit of nature, be sure to take a walk or bike ride through Amsterdam's many parks.

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Berlin, Germany

There are so many great places to visit in Berlin that it can be hard to know where to start. From the iconic Brandenburg Gate to the fascinating Reichstag Building, there's something for everyone in this vibrant city. If you're looking for a bit of history, make sure to check out the Berlin Wall Memorial or the DDR Museum. And for those looking for a bit more fun, there's always the Alexanderplatz Christmas Market or the Zoologischer Garten. No matter what your interests, Berlin is a city you won't want to miss.

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Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok is a city of contrasts with its gleaming temples and skyscrapers, chaotic markets and tranquil canals. While it's a popular tourist destination, Bangkok is a city that can be enjoyed by visitors of all ages. Some of the top places to visit in Bangkok include the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, the floating markets and the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

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Bruges, Belgium

Bruges is a city in Belgium that is worth visiting. It is full of medieval charm and there are a lot of things to see and do. Some of the places to visit include the Markt, the Belfry, and the Begijnhof.

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Brussels, Belgium

Brussels is a city in Belgium that is best known for its chocolate, waffles, and beer. But there is much more to see and do in Brussels than just indulge in the local cuisine. There are a number of interesting historical landmarks to visit, such as the Grand Place and the Atomium, as well as a variety of parks and gardens. And, of course, Brussels is also a great city to explore on foot.

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Budapest, Hungary

Budapest, Hungary's capital, is a city of thermal baths and medival, baroque and art nouveau architecture. Crowded with tourists, the city is bisected by the Danube River into the hilly Buda and the more developed and flat Pest. Among the main places of interest are the neo-Gothic Parliament, the Chain Bridge linking Buda and Pest, the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda bank, and the State Opera House and Heroes' Square on the Pest side.

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Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Home to some of the best beaches in Mexico, Playa del Carmen is a favorite tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. With its lively nightlife, gorgeous coastline and ample shopping opportunities, there's something for everyone in this tropical paradise. Don't miss the opportunity to visit some of the area's most popular attractions, such as the ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum and Coba, or the eco-friendly Turtle Beach. With its friendly people, delicious food and stunning scenery, Playa del Carmen is a place you'll never want to leave.

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Denver, CO, United States

Denver is a great city for visitors. There are so many places to see and things to do. Some of the top places to visit include the 16th Street Mall, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Art Museum, and the Colorado State Capitol. There are also plenty of great restaurants and shops to explore. Denver is definitely a city worth visiting!.

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Dublin, Ireland

Dublin is a city located in Ireland. It's a city full of culture, with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist spots are the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, and the Dublin Castle. There are also plenty of pubs and restaurants to discover.

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Dusseldorf, Germany

Dusseldorf, Germany is a city with many different places to visit. The city has a mix of old and new buildings, and a variety of activities to do. The best places to visit in Dusseldorf are the Konigsallee, the Rhine Tower, and the Oktoberfest. The Konigsallee is an open-air shopping mall that has many high-end stores. The Rhine Tower is the tallest building in the city and offers great views of Dusseldorf. The Oktoberfest is a week-long festival that celebrates German culture and food.

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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, Scotland is a beautiful city to visit. The architecture is very old and unique, and there are plenty of historical places to visit, like Edinburgh Castle. There are also plenty of parks and gardens, and lots of shops and restaurants.

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Rome, Italy

Rome is a city rich in history and filled with beautiful places to visit. Make sure to stop by the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon. Also be sure to visit St. Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel while in Rome. If youre looking for a little more nature in your trip, head to the Villa Borghese gardens or the Janiculum Hill for some wonderful views of the city. And of course, no trip to Rome is complete without a gelato!.

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New York, NY, United States

There are many amazing places to visit in New York State. Some of my favorites are the Niagara Falls, the Adirondack Mountains, and the Finger Lakes. If you're looking for a city break, New York City is definitely worth a visit. There's endless things to see and do, from touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to visiting world-famous museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. No matter what your interests are, you'll be able to find something to enjoy in New York State.

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London, United Kingdom

London is a city rich in history and full of amazing places to visit. Some of my favorite places are Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. There is so much to see and do in London, you could spend weeks here and never run out of things to do. If you're looking for a city full of culture and history, London is the place for you.

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Madrid, Spain

Madrid is one of the most beautiful and culturally rich cities in the world. From the Royal Palace to the Prado Museum, theres plenty to see and do in Madrid. If youre looking for a little bit of nature, Madrid has plenty of parks, like the Buen Retiro Park, to relax in. And dont forget to try some of the delicious tapas and wine while youre in town.

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Memphis, TN, United States

The birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Memphis is a city rich in history and culture. From Graceland to Beale Street, there are plenty of places to visit in Memphis. Be sure to check out Sun Studio, where rock 'n' roll was born, and the National Civil Rights Museum, which tells the story of the African-American civil rights movement. Memphis is also home to some amazing food, so be sure to try some of the city's famous barbecue and soul food.

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Miami Beach, FL, United States

There is much to explore in Miami Beach, from the famous Art Deco district to the vast beaches and crystal-clear waters. Outdoor enthusiasts will love the opportunities for fishing, kayaking, and paddleboarding, while history buffs can explore the ancient burial mounds at Miami Beach. Shoppers and foodies will find plenty to keep them busy, with vibrant neighborhoods like Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive offering unique boutiques and award-winning restaurants. And of course, no trip to Miami Beach is complete without a visit to world-famous South Beach.

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New Orleans, LA, United States

You can't visit New Orleans without trying some of the local food. Beignets, Po' Boys, and gumbo are just a few of the must-try dishes. While you're in town, be sure to check out the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and St. Louis Cathedral. If you're looking for some nightlife, Bourbon Street is the place to be. And, of course, no trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to Mardi Gras!.

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Milan, Italy

Milan is a city located in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is a popular tourist destination because of its historical and artistic heritage. Some of the places you should visit while in Milan are the Duomo, La Scala, and Castello Sforzesco.

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Naples, Italy

Naples is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Italy. There are countless places to visit, such as the Royal Palace, the Museum of San Martino, and the Church of Gesu Nuovo. Naples is also home to excellent shopping and dining options. Be sure to enjoy a cup of coffee at one of the city's many cafes and take a stroll through the picturesque streets.

Naples Luxury Hotels

Paris, France

Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It's home to iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, as well as a thriving nightlife and restaurant scene. If you're looking to explore all that Paris has to offer, here are some of the top places to visit: The Eiffel Tower: This iconic landmark is a must-see in Paris. Climb to the top for stunning views of the city, or take a ride on the elevator to the bottom for a closer look at the structure. The Louvre Museum: This world-famous museum is home to some of the most famous works of art in the world, including the Mona Lisa. The Notre Dame Cathedral: This beautiful cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris. Make sure to climb to the top for some amazing views of the city. The Champs-Elysees: This famous avenue is a popular destination for shopping and dining. Be sure to wander down the street and take in all the sights and sounds. The Arc de Triomphe: This towering arch is another iconic landmark in Paris. Climb to the top for some amazing views of the city.

Paris Luxury Hotels

Paris Luxury Villas

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is a city rich in history and culture. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, and the Old Town Square. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars to enjoy, and the nightlife is vibrant. Prague is a truly unique city and a must-visit for anyone traveling to the Czech Republic.

Prague Luxury Hotels

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Located on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana is known for its beautiful beaches and turquoise waters. This paradise is a favorite destination for travelers looking for a Caribbean getaway. Punta Cana is home to a wide variety of resorts and activities, from enjoying the sand and surf to golfing, spas, and shopping. Nature lovers can also explore the areas jungles, caves, and waterfalls.

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Marbella, Spain

If you're looking for an idyllic and luxurious Spanish escape, look no further than Marbella. Located on the country's Costa del Sol, Marbella is home to stunning beaches, top-notch resorts, world-class golfing, and much more. A visit to Marbella is the perfect way to experience all that Spain has to offer.

Marbella Luxury Hotels

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Marrakesh, Morocco

Marrakesh is a city in Morocco that is full of culture and history. There are several places to visit in Marrakesh, including the Palace of the Bahia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and the Saadian Tombs. The souks (markets) are also a must-see, where you can find everything from souvenirs to spices to traditional clothing. Be sure to enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants or cafes in Marrakesh; the food is delicious and the atmosphere is always lively. Marrakesh is a wonderful city to explore and definitely worth a visit!.

Marrakesh Luxury Hotels

San Francisco, CA, United States

San Francisco is a popular tourist destination, and for good reason. There are plenty of things to see and do in this vibrant city. Here are some of the top places to visit: 1. Fisherman's Wharf: This neighborhood is home to a variety of shops and restaurants, as well as a popular pier where you can enjoy views of the bay. 2. The Golden Gate Bridge: This iconic bridge is a must-see for any visitor to San Francisco. 3. Alcatraz Island: This former federal prison is now a popular tourist attraction. It's a must-see for fans of history and crime dramas. 4. Chinatown: This colorful neighborhood is home to some of the best food in San Francisco. Be sure to check out the Dragon Gate entrance. 5. The Mission District: This trendy neighborhood is home to hip restaurants, bars, and art galleries.

San Francisco Luxury Hotels

Moscow, Russia

Moscow, Russia is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some of the most popular tourist attractions are the Kremlin, Red Square, and Saint Basil's Cathedral. Other great places to see include the Bolshoi Theatre, Gorky Park, and the Tretyakov Gallery. There are also many churches and other historical buildings to explore. Moscow is a lively city with a lot of culture and nightlife. There is something for everyone to enjoy in Moscow.

Moscow Luxury Hotels

Venice, Italy

Venice is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The city is built on a lagoon in northeast Italy and is known for its canals and gondolas. There are many places to visit in Venice, including the Grand Canal, St. Marks Square, and the Rialto Bridge. Venice is also home to many museums, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Venice Luxury Hotels

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria is a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Vienna, including the Hofburg Palace, the Ringstrasse, and St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna is also home to some of the world's best shopping, including the Karntner Strasse and the Graben. Finally, no visit to Vienna is complete without experiencing the city's world-famous nightlife.

Vienna Luxury Hotels

Zurich, Switzerland

Zurich is a marvelous city located in the heart of Switzerland. It is a city that has something to offer for everyone. From amazing restaurants and beautiful architecture to exciting nightlife and gorgeous parks, Zurich has something for everyone. Some of the most popular places to visit in Zurich include the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the city's most famous shopping street, the Lindenhof, which is a beautiful park with amazing views of the city, and Grossmunster, which is a stunning Romanesque church. Zurich is also home to some of the best museums in the world, including the famed Museum of Art and the Swiss National Museum. With its mix of old-world charm and modern amenities, Zurich is a city that is definitely worth exploring.

Zurich Luxury Hotels

Acapulco, Mexico

If you're looking for a Mexican vacation spot with plenty of history and culture to explore, Acapulco is a great option. From the archeological wonders of the ancient city to the stunning coastal views, there's something for everyone in Acapulco. Plus, with its temperate climate, it's a great escape from colder winter weather.

Acapulco Luxury Hotels

Acapulco Luxury Resorts

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Nashville, TN, United States

One of the United States' most interesting places to visit is Nashville, Tennessee. There's plenty to see and do there, from the Grand Ole Opry to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Music is a big part of the city's history and culture, so be sure to catch a show while you're in town. Other popular attractions include the Ryman Auditorium, the Parthenon, and the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Nashville is also a great place to eat, with a wide variety of restaurants serving up everything from barbecue to Mexican food. So if you're looking for an exciting and diverse city to visit, be sure to add Nashville to your list.

Nashville Luxury Hotels

Nashville Luxury Villas

Atlanta, GA, United States

What's not to love about Atlanta? From the iconic Georgia Aquarium to the World of Coke, from the Fox Theatre to Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta offers a wealth of destinations for tourists. Sports fans will want to check out the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and history buffs will enjoy the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Braves fans can take a tour of SunTrust Park, and shoppers will enjoy the many boutiques and malls in the city. There's also a great restaurant scene in Atlanta, and music lovers will want to check out the many venues offering live music. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation spot or a place to explore on your own, Atlanta is a great choice!.

Atlanta Luxury Hotels

Miami, FL, United States

The Magic City is a top tourist destination for a reasonthere are endless things to do in Miami! From exploring the trendy neighborhoods and dazzling beaches to soaking up the Latin culture and nightlife, Miami is jam-packed with amazing places to visit. Here are a few of our favorites: 1. Wynwood Walls: This outdoor art exhibit is a must-see for any art lover. The colorful murals are awe-inspiring and definitely Instagram-worthy. 2. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: This estate is dripping with luxury and opulence, from the grandiose architecture to the expansive gardens. It's the perfect place for a day of relaxation. 3. South Beach: This world-famous beach is a must-visit for any sun-seeker. The crystal-clear water and soft sand make for the perfect day-long beach getaway. 4. Little Havana: Experience Cuban culture at its best in Little Havana. From delicious food to lively music and dance, there's something for everyone in this vibrant district. 5. Art Deco District: This district is home to Miami's most iconic architecture. Take a stroll down the charming streets and admire the colorful buildings that make Miami so unique.

Miami Luxury Hotels

Miami Luxury Villas

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is a must-see destination in Japan. There are endless places to explore in this city - temples, shrines, gardens, and more. The Shinjuku district is a great place to start, with its neon-lit streets and myriad shops and restaurants. For a taste of traditional Japan, visit the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa or the Imperial Palace. Nature lovers will enjoy the Hamarikyu Gardens or the Hama-rikyu Teien Garden. And for a unique experience, take a trip to Mount Fuji.

Tokyo Luxury Hotels

Tokyo Luxury Villas

Buenos Aires, Argentina

There are plenty of places to visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Some popular tourist destinations include the obelisk, the Casa Rosada, and the Puerto Madero district. Every barrio (neighborhood) has its own unique culture and flavor. San Telmo, La Boca, and Palermo are some of the most popular barrios. There are also many parks and plazas, such as Plaza de Mayo and Plaza de la Republica, that are worth checking out.

Buenos Aires Luxury Hotels

Hamburg, Germany

One of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany is Hamburg. From the lively and colorful harbor district to the grandiose City Hall, there is plenty to see and do in Hamburg. Some of the other popular places to visit include the Reeperbahn district with its pubs and nightlife, the Planten un Blomen botanical gardens, and the architecturally stunning Rathausmarkt square.

Hamburg Luxury Hotels

Lisbon, Portugal

The capital of Portugal, Lisbon is a city of fascinating contrasts. From its coastal location, visitors can enjoy stunning ocean views, while its hilly, narrow streets are home to a maze of charming traditional homes and lively nightlife. A city of 7 hills, Lisbon is a bustling metropolis with something for everyone. Here are some of the top places to visit: The Belem Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Lisbons most iconic landmarks. This 16th-century fortress and lighthouse is a must-see for visitors. The Alfama district, with its winding streets and tile-roofed homes, is the oldest district in Lisbon. This is the perfect place to get lost and explore the citys history. The Lisbon Zoo is a great place to enjoy a day out with the family, with over 2,000 animals from around the world. The Christ the King statue, located atop a hill in the suburb of Almada, offers impressive views of Lisbon and the river Tagus. The Lisbon Oceanarium, located in the Parque das Nacoes district, is home to more than 12,000 marine creatures and is one of the largest aquariums in Europe.

Lisbon Luxury Hotels

Lisbon Luxury Villas

Malaga, Spain

Malaga is an attractive seaside city in southern Spain with a long history. There are many places to visit in Malaga, including the Gibralfaro Castle, the Alcazaba fortress, and the Malaga Cathedral. Malaga is also home to a variety of museums, including the Picasso Museum. The city is well known for its beaches, and there are many delightful places to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea.

Malaga Luxury Hotels

Malaga Luxury Villas

Munich, Germany

When planning a vacation to Munich, Germany, be sure to include these top places to visit: The Marienplatz is a must-see square in the city center, featuring a beautiful Glockenspiel show and the Old and New Town Halls. The Englisher Garten, Europes largest city park, is a great place for a relaxing stroll or a picnic. OlympiaPark is home to the famous 1972 Olympic Stadium as well as a huge amusement park. The Frauenkirche is a stunning church in the old town with a Glockenspiel of its own. Beer lovers will want to visit the Hofbrauhaus, the worlds most famous beer hall. For a bit of history and culture, check out the LudwigMaximilians-University and the Deutsches Museum. There is so much to see and do in Munich  these are just a few highlights!.

Munich Luxury Hotels

Granada, Spain

Granada is a city in southern Spain that is known for its Moorish architecture and history. The city is home to the Alhambra, a palace and fortress that was constructed in the late 1300s. Visitors can also enjoy the citys many churches, including the Cathedral of Granada. Granada is also a convenient base for exploring the other cities and towns in Andalusia.

Granada Luxury Hotels

Bucharest, Romania

Bucharest is a city full of history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Palace of Parliament, which is the world's largest civilian building. Other places to visit include the old city center, which is full of charming streets and buildings, and the Botanical Garden, which is the largest botanical garden in Romania.

Bucharest Luxury Hotels

Bologna, Italy

Bologna, Italy is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist destinations include the Piazza Maggiore, the Tower of Asinelli, and the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. There are also plenty of museums and churches to explore, and the city is full of charming restaurants and cafes. Bologna is an excellent destination for a vacation, and there is something for everyone to enjoy in this amazing city.

Bologna Luxury Hotels

Porto, Portugal

Porto is a port city in Portugal that is well known for its wine. It's also a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Porto, including the old city center, the Dom Luis I Bridge, and the Clerigos Tower. Porto is also home to the famous Port wine caves, which are a must-visit for wine lovers.

Porto Luxury Hotels

Cologne, Germany

Cologne, located on the Rhine River in western Germany, is a city well worth visiting. The city has a long and rich history, dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. Some of the city's most popular tourist attractions include the Cologne Cathedral, Hohenzollern Bridge, and the RheinEnergieStadion. Additionally, Cologne is home to a wide variety of museums, shops, and restaurants. In fact, the city has been ranked as one of the best places to live in Germany. So, if you're looking for a great European city to visit, be sure to add Cologne to your list.

Cologne Luxury Hotels

Istanbul, Turkey

If you're looking for an exotic and affordable vacation destination, look no further than Istanbul, Turkey. Filled with historical places to visit and bargains to be found, Istanbul offers something for everyone. Be sure to visit the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and the Blue Mosque while you're there. Don't forget to bargain for the best prices when shopping in the bazaars, and enjoy some delicious Turkish cuisine while you're at it. Istanbul is sure to leave you with a lasting impression.

Istanbul Luxury Hotels

Istanbul Luxury Villas

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai is a fascinating and exotic city that offers visitors a mix of traditional Middle Eastern culture and modern, cosmopolitan life. There are plenty of places to visit in Dubai, from the towering skyscrapers of Downtown Dubai to the luxury shopping malls and luxurious hotels of the Palm Jumeirah. Don't miss a chance to experience an Arabian night out on an epic dhow cruise, or take a trip out into the Arabian Desert to see the stunning sand dunes.

Dubai Luxury Hotels

Dubai Luxury Resorts

Dubai Luxury Villas

Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp is a city located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital of the province of Antwerp and has a population of over half a million people. Antwerp is a popular tourist destination due to its many historical buildings, museums, and art galleries. Some of the most popular places to visit in Antwerp are the Cathedral of Our Lady, the City Hall, the Rubenshuis, and the Antwerp Zoo.

Antwerp Luxury Hotels

Lyon, France

Lyon is a beautiful city in the south of France that is full of culture and places to visit. Some of the most popular places to visit in Lyon are the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere, the Place Bellecour, and the Vieux Lyon. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere is a beautiful cathedral that is a must-see when visiting Lyon. The Place Bellecour is a large square in the heart of Lyon that is full of restaurants and cafes. The Vieux Lyon is a district in Lyon that is full of old buildings and is a great place to wander around and take in the sights.

Lyon Luxury Hotels

Athens, Greece

If you find yourself in Athens, there are definitely some spots you won't want to miss. The Acropolis, Parthenon, and Olympic Stadium are all essential stops, but there are plenty of others, too. If you're looking for a bit of history, the National Archaeological Museum is a must-see, while nature lovers will enjoy a visit to the botanical gardens. If you're looking to relax, take a walk along the beach in Glyfada or head to the Plaka district for a charming and picturesque setting. No matter what you're interested in, Athens has something for you.

Athens Luxury Hotels

Athens Luxury Villas

Helsinki, Finland

While in Helsinki, make sure to visit these popular tourist destinations: The Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral The Sibelius Monument Ateneum Art Museum Market Square Helsinki Zoo.

Helsinki Luxury Hotels

Vilnius, Lithuania

The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is a picturesque city with a rich history. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is full of charming churches, narrow streets, and pretty squares. There are also lots of museums and other places of interest to visit, including the Hill of Crosses, Gediminas Tower, and the Presidential Palace. Vilnius is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of cafes, restaurants, and bars to enjoy in the evening.

Vilnius Luxury Hotels

Reykjavik, Iceland

A city of remote beauty, Reykjavik is teeming with interesting places to visit. One of the worlds most northern capitals, Reykjavik offers stunning landscapes and a wealth of cultural experiences. From the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church to the popular Golden Circle tour, theres plenty to see and do in Reykjavik. Be sure to check out the citys lively nightlife scene, too  you wont be disappointed!.

Reykjavik Luxury Hotels

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Some of the most popular places to visit in Glasgow include the Gallery of Modern Art, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Riverside Museum, and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. There are also many wonderful parks and gardens to explore, including the Botanic Gardens and Glasgow Green. For those interested in history and architecture, there are many fascinating old buildings to see, such as the Glasgow Cathedral and the University of Glasgow. And for those looking for a lively nightlife, Glasgow has no shortage of pubs, clubs, and restaurants.

Glasgow Luxury Hotels

Los Angeles, CA, United States

As the birthplace of Hollywood and home to some of the world's most recognisable landmarks, there's no shortage of places to visit in Los Angeles. Start by exploring the city's iconic neighbourhoods like Beverly Hills and Hollywood, then venture out to attractions like the Griffith Observatory, Venice Beach and Disneyland. And don't forget to savour the city's world-famous cultural scene, with its abundance of museums, theatres and restaurants.

Los Angeles Luxury Hotels

Los Angeles Luxury Villas

San Diego, CA, United States

San Diego is a city located in California and is a major tourist destination. One of the main reasons people visit the city is for its many beaches. Coronado Beach, Mission Beach, and Pacific Beach are some of the most popular and are all within close proximity to the city center. Other attractions in San Diego include the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, and the USS Midway Museum. Restaurants, bars, and shopping can be found throughout the city, and world-renowned museums, like the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, are also located in San Diego.

San Diego Luxury Hotels

San Diego Luxury Resorts

San Diego Luxury Villas

Washington, DC, United States

Washington, D.C. is a city full of history and places to visit. Some popular places to visit are the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the Smithsonian. D.C. is also home to a number of monuments and memorials, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. There are also a number of museums in D.C., like the American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum.

Washington Luxury Hotels

Cancun, Mexico

Cancun is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico. Aside from its beautiful beaches, there are plenty of places to visit and things to do in Cancun. Some of the most popular attractions include the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza, the eco-park Xcaret, and the nightclubs and bars in the resort district.

Cancun Luxury Hotels

Cancun Luxury Resorts

Cancun Luxury Villas

Virginia Beach, VA, United States

Virginia Beach is one of the top tourist destinations on the East Coast. From the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to the miles of sandy beaches, there's something for everyone to enjoy. There are also plenty of restaurants, shops, and other attractions to keep visitors busy. Some of the most popular places to visit in Virginia Beach include: The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. The Virginia Beach Boardwalk: This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. First Landing State Park: This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. Cape Henry Lighthouse: This lighthouse is one of the oldest in the country and offers stunning views of the Chesapeake Bay. There are plenty of other things to do in Virginia Beach, including dolphin and whale watching tours, kayaking, and golfing. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation or a romantic getaway, Virginia Beach is sure to please.

Virginia Beach Luxury Hotels

Virginia Beach Luxury Resorts

Beijing, China

If you're looking for an amazing cultural experience, be sure to add Beijing, China to your travel bucket list! With beautiful temples, charming hutongs (traditional alleyways), and a lively food scene, there's something for everyone in this bustling city. Plus, Beijing is home to some of the most iconic attractions in China, like the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. So if you're looking for an unforgettable East Asian adventure, be sure to add Beijing to your list!.

Beijing Luxury Hotels

Seoul, South Korea

Seoul is a metropolitan city that is home to over 10 million people. It is a city full of culture, history, and a vibrant nightlife. There are plenty of places to visit in Seoul, including the Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and N Seoul Tower. The Jeongdongne district is a must-see for anyone interested in art and culture, and the Itaewon district is a great place to go for a night on the town.

Seoul Luxury Hotels

South Lake Tahoe, CA, United States

Known for its dramatic lake and mountain scenery, South Lake Tahoe offers visitors plenty of places to visit and things to do. Some of the most popular attractions include floating down the river on a tube, hiking the trails in the summer and skiing or snowboarding the slopes in the winter. The city also has a variety of restaurants and nightlife options, as well as casinos for those looking to try their luck.

South Lake Tahoe Luxury Hotels

South Lake Tahoe Luxury Resorts

Daytona Beach, FL, United States

Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It is approximately 40 miles northeast of Orlando, and 85 miles southeast of Jacksonville. The city is known as "The World's Most Famous Beach." Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida. The Daytona Beach area is a popular tourist destination. It is well known for its beaches, sports events, and motorsports. Daytona Beach was the birthplace of NASCAR and home to its first track, Daytona International Speedway. Dayton Beach also features a large number of tourist-oriented businesses, such as motels, restaurants, and bars.

Daytona Beach Luxury Hotels

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The coastline of Rio de Janeiro is breathtaking, and the views from Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain are unforgettable. Rio's world-famous beaches are the perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun and the surf. The city's rich culture and history can be experienced in its many museums and in the lively nightlife. Rio is also a great place to shop for souvenirs.

Rio de Janeiro Luxury Hotels

Rio de Janeiro Luxury Villas

Jaco, Costa Rica

Jaco is a town on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. It's about an hour drive from San Jose and is a popular spot for surfers, sunbathers, and tourists. There are a number of beaches in the area, as well as restaurants, bars, and hotels. If you're looking for a place to relax and enjoy the Costa Rican sun and beaches, Jaco is a great option.

Jaco Luxury Hotels

Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway is a city with plenty of places to visit. You can find the peace and tranquility of nature parks and green spaces, experience the city's vibrant nightlife, or take in the historical and cultural sights. Here are a few of the top places to visit in Oslo: The Royal Palace: Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Vigeland Park: Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. The Maritime Museum: This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. The National Gallery: The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. Aker Brygge: Aker Brygge is a popular waterfront district in Oslo, home to a variety of bars, restaurants, and shops. The area is a great place to people watch and enjoy the view of the Oslo Fjord.

Oslo Luxury Hotels

Lima, Peru

If you're looking for a city that's bursting with culture and flavor, Lima, Peru is the place for you! This vibrant destination is home to some of the most amazing places to visit in all of South America. From ancient ruins to lush rainforests, there's something for everyone in Lima. Here are just a few of the must-see attractions in this amazing city: The Larco Museum is one of Lima's top tourist destinations. This incredible museum is home to one of the largest collections of pre-Columbian art in the world. The Historic Center of Lima is a must-see for any history lover. This vibrant area is home to some of the oldest architecture in Lima, including the iconic San Francisco Monastery. If you're looking for a little bit of jungle in the city, head to the Parque de la Reserva. This lush park is home to beautiful gardens, a zoo, and even a butterfly farm! No trip to Lima would be complete without a visit to Machu Picchu. This ancient Inca citadel is one of the most iconic sites in all of South America.

Lima Luxury Hotels

Ankara, Turkey

Ankara is the cultural and political center of Turkey. The city is home to many museums, including the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, and is a popular destination for tourists. The Citadel, the Ataturk Mausoleum, and the War of Independence Museum are all popular tourist destinations in Ankara. The city is also home to a vibrant nightlife and is a popular destination for students.

Ankara Luxury Hotels

Birmingham, United Kingdom

There are plenty of great places to visit in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Some of the most popular places to go include the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and the Black Country Living Museum. These places are all great for tourists, as they offer a variety of attractions, including beautiful gardens, interesting art, and a recreation of an old-fashioned town. Additionally, there are plenty of other great places to visit in Birmingham, such as the Jewellery Quarter and the German Christmas Market.

Birmingham Luxury Hotels

York, United Kingdom

With a rich history that spans back over 1,000 years, York is a must-visit destination in the United Kingdom. Explore the city's medieval architecture and narrow cobblestone streets, or enjoy a leisurely walk along the River Ouse. Visitors can also enjoy a variety of cultural experiences, such as the York Minster cathedral, the Jorvik Viking Centre, and the National Railway Museum. There are also plenty of shops and restaurants to enjoy in York.

York Luxury Hotels

Inverness, United Kingdom

Inverness, Scotland is a must-see destination on any traveler's list. Filled with rolling green hills, historical sites, and plenty of outdoor activities, there's something for everyone in this charming town. Start by exploring the city center, which is home to a variety of shops and restaurants. Make sure to check out the Inverness Castle, which offers commanding views of the area, and the Inverness Cathedral, a beautiful example of medieval architecture. Outside of the city center, there are plenty of other attractions to explore. The Loch Ness Monster is said to make its home in the loch here, and visitors can take boat tours to hunt for the mythical creature. If you're looking for a more active adventure, take a hike in the hills or go fishing on the loch. No matter what you choose to do, Inverness is a beautiful and welcoming town that is sure to charm you.

Inverness Luxury Hotels

Marseille, France

The Vieux Port (Old Harbor) is the oldest port in France. It is a beautiful place to visit with its sailboats, restaurants, and cafes. The Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica is also worth a visit. It offers stunning views of the city. If you're looking for a more lively atmosphere, head to the La Canebiere. It's a wide avenue with plenty of shops and restaurants.

Marseille Luxury Hotels

Marseille Luxury Villas

Honolulu, HI, United States

Honolulu is a city located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, United States. It is the most populous city in the state of Hawaii and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu. Honolulu is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world and is located in Honolulu. Other places to visit in Honolulu include Diamond Head, the USS Arizona Memorial, and Hanauma Bay.

Honolulu Luxury Hotels

Honolulu Luxury Resorts

Honolulu Luxury Villas

Bar Harbor, ME, United States

Famous for lobster and stunning ocean views, Bar Harbor is a popular destination in Maine. There are plenty of things to do in the town and its surroundings, including hiking, biking, whale watching, and exploring Acadia National Park.

Bar Harbor Luxury Hotels

Colorado Springs, CO, United States

There are many places to visit in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods is a popular park with beautiful rock formations. Pike's Peak is a 14,115 foot mountain that offers great views and outdoor activities. The Broadmoor is a world-renowned resort with lovely gardens and a championship golf course. Royal Gorge Bridge is the world's highest suspension bridge and a popular tourist spot.

Colorado Springs Luxury Hotels

Fort Myers Beach, FL, United States

Just an hours drive from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach is a popular tourist spot, especially in the winter when the snowbirds migrate down. The seven-mile-long beach is known for its white sand and clear water and is a popular spot for swimming, sunbathing, fishing, and kayaking. There are also a number of restaurants and bars in the area, as well as a few stores.

Fort Myers Beach Luxury Hotels

Biloxi, MS, United States

There are plenty of places to explore in Biloxi, Mississippi  from the citys iconic Beaches to the picturesque Bay Saint Louis. Venture into the citys downtown area to check out the many shops and restaurants, or take a walk along the shoreline. No matter what you choose to do, youre sure to have a great time in Biloxi.

Biloxi Luxury Hotels

Palermo, Italy

If you're looking for a city with a rich and diverse history, Palermo is the place for you. This coastal city in Italy is teeming with medieval architecture, churches, and cathedrals. Be sure to check out the Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Europe, and the Palazzo dei Normanni, the seat of the Sicilian government. Don't miss out on the city's vibrant nightlife and vast array of restaurants that serve up some of the best food in the country.

Palermo Luxury Hotels

Palermo Luxury Villas

Manila, Philippines

The capital of the Philippines, Manila is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant culture. There are plenty of places to visit in Manila, including the walled city of Intramuros, the Rizal Park, and the Manila Bay. The city is also home to a large number of churches, including the Manila Cathedral and the San Agustin Church. Manila is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of restaurants and shops to enjoy.

Manila Luxury Hotels

Zermatt, Switzerland

Zermatt is an alpine village in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is famous for its ski resort, mountaineering and hiking trails. The views of the Matterhorn from Zermatt are iconic. The village is car-free, making it a cyclists' and pedestrians' paradise. There are many places to visit in Zermatt, including the village's beautiful churches, impressive museums, and great restaurants.

Zermatt Luxury Hotels

Basel, Switzerland

Basel is a city located in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel has a population of about 176,000 and is the third most populous city in Switzerland. Basel has many interesting places to visit, including the Basel Munster, the Basel Rathaus (town hall), the Basel Zoo, and the Munsterhof, the old town square. Basel also has a number of art museums, including the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Fondation Beyeler, and the Schaulager. Basel is a great city to visit, and I highly recommend it!.

Basel Luxury Hotels

Copenhagen, Denmark

There are a number of places to visit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include Tivoli Gardens, Nyhavn, and the Rosenborg Castle Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is a beautiful amusement park that has something for everyone. It is perfect for a day of fun with family or friends. Nyhavn is a charming canal district that is popular for its brightly colored houses and lively atmosphere. Visitors can enjoy a relaxing cruise down the canal or take a seat in one of the many cafes and restaurants. The Rosenborg Castle Gardens are home to a majestic castle as well as beautifully landscaped gardens. There is plenty to see and do in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Copenhagen Luxury Hotels

Steamboat Springs, CO, United States

Steamboat Springs is located in northwestern Colorado. The town is named for the steamboats that traveled up the Yampa River in the 1800s. Today, the town is a popular tourist destination, known for its skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and rafting.

Steamboat Springs Luxury Hotels

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and is home to many tourist attractions. Some popular places to visit in Abu Dhabi include the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Ferrari World Theme Park, and the Yas Island Waterpark. There are also a number of museums and shopping malls in Abu Dhabi, making it a great destination for those looking for a mix of culture and leisure.

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Bogota, Colombia

There's a lot to see and do in Bogota. Some of the top places to visit include the historical La Candelaria district, the cobblestone streets of Plaza de Bolivar, the Monserrate mountain, the Bogota Botanical Garden, and the Gold Museum. La Candelaria is home to many brightly-colored colonial buildings, churches, and plazas. Plaza de Bolivar is the center of Bogota and is surrounded by important landmarks like the Presidential Palace and the National Capitol. The Monserrate mountain is a popular tourist destination due to its stunning views of Bogota. The Bogota Botanical Garden is the largest in Colombia and features a wide variety of plants and trees. The Gold Museum is home to the largest collection of Pre-Columbian gold artifacts in the world.

Bogota Luxury Hotels

Cebu, Philippines

Due to its location and its rich history, there are plenty of places to visit in Cebu. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include the Cebu Taoist Temple, the Fort San Pedro, the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, and the Magellan's Cross.

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Lagos, Portugal

Lagos is a small town in Portugal with a population of around 22,000. It's located in the Algarve region and is a popular tourist destination. Some of the places to visit in Lagos are the beaches, the old town, and the Marina. The beaches are beautiful and there are a lot of them to choose from. The old town is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways with lots of shops and restaurants. The Marina is a great place to walk around and watch the boats.

Lagos Luxury Hotels

Medellin, Colombia

Some places to visit in Medellin, Colombia are: the Botanical Garden, the Ethnographic Museum, the Jardin Botanico, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Park of Lights, and the San Pedro Claver Church.

Medellin Luxury Hotels

Genoa, Italy

While there are many places to visit in Genoa, one of the must-sees is the city's cathedral. Dedicated to San Lorenzo, the church features an intricate Gothic facade and a Renaissance interior. If you're looking for a place to take in some stunning views, head to the Genoa Aquarium, which is located on the promenade stretching along the city's harbor.

Genoa Luxury Hotels

Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vietnam. Its a bridge town thats best explored on foot. The narrow streets are a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese architecture. There are tailors, artisans, and lantern shops galore. The food is also some of the best in Vietnam. Be sure to try the local specialties, like Cao Lau and White Rose dumplings.

Hoi An Luxury Hotels

Hoi An Luxury Resorts

Baku, Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan is a city with a lot of culture and history. There are a lot of places to visit, like the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower. There are also a lot of great restaurants, like the Flame Club, which has a great atmosphere and delicious food.

Baku Luxury Hotels

San Luis Obispo, CA, United States

San Luis Obispo is a city located in the central coast of California. It's known for its natural beauty, relaxed vibe, and abundance of things to do. Some of the top places to visit in San Luis Obispo include the Madonna Inn, Hearst Castle, and the Paso Robles wine country. The city is also home to a variety of beaches, parks, and other attractions. In addition, San Luis Obispo is a great place to live, with plenty of restaurants, shops, and other amenities.

San Luis Obispo Luxury Hotels

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Colombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The city is located on the west coast of the island and is the administrative, commercial, and industrial center of Sri Lanka. Colombo is also the center of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, with numerous Buddhist temples. There are a number of places to visit in Colombo, including the Galle Face Green, the Dutch fort, the Pettah Bazaar, and the Sri Lankan National Museum.

Colombo Luxury Hotels

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The city of Yogyakarta in Indonesia is home to some of the most stunning temples and historical landmarks in the country. The city is also a great place to enjoy traditional Javanese culture and cuisine. Some of the must-see places in Yogyakarta include the Borobudur Temple, the Prambanan Temple, and the Sultan's Palace.

Yogyakarta Luxury Hotels

Cefalu, Italy

Looking for a beautiful and historic place to visit in Italy? Look no further than Cefalu. This town is teeming with history and stunning architecture, and its location on the coast makes it the perfect place to relax and take in the stunning scenery. Don't miss the Duomo di Cefalu, a 12th century Norman church that is definitely worth a visit, or the Palazzo dei Normanni, a former royal palace.

Cefalu Luxury Hotels

San Jose, CA, United States

San Jose, California, is home to a variety of tourist destinations. Some popular places to visit include the Winchester Mystery House, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. There are also a number of lovely parks, such as Kelley Park and Plaza de Cesar Chavez, that are well worth a visit. San Jose is also home to a number of great restaurants, so be sure to check out the local cuisine. Whatever your interests, San Jose has something to offer visitors.

San Jose Luxury Hotels

Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in China. There are many places to visit in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Victoria Peak, and the Temple Street Night Market. Hong Kong is also a great place to shop, with many high-end malls and markets.

Hong Kong Luxury Hotels

Hong Kong Luxury Resorts

Orlando, FL, United States

Orlando is a city in the central region of Florida, in the United States. The city is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the metropolitan area also known as Greater Orlando. Orlando is well known for its theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld Orlando. Other tourist destinations in Orlando include the Holy Land Experience, the Orlando Science Center, and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities in the United States.

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Philadelphia, PA, United States

If youre looking for a place thats rich in history and culture, Philadelphia is the place for you. The city is home to numerous iconic landmarks, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Theres also a great variety of museums and other attractions to explore, such as the Philadelphia Zoo and the Please Touch Museum. And, of course, Philly is the birthplace of Americas favorite sandwich, the cheesesteak. So why not visit Americas most historic city and see for yourself what all the fuss is about?.

Philadelphia Luxury Hotels

Nice, France

France is known for its many beautiful places to visit, and Nice is no exception. With its stunning coastline and mild climate, Nice is a popular tourist destination. Some of the most popular places to visit in Nice include the Promenade des Anglais, the Castle Hill, and the Old Town. There is also a wide variety of shops and restaurants to enjoy in Nice. If you're looking for a beautiful and relaxing place to visit in France, Nice is definitely worth considering.

Nice Luxury Hotels

Nice Luxury Villas

Singapore, Singapore

Singapore is a popular tourist destination, brimming with cultural and natural attractions. From award-winning restaurants to serene gardens and pristine beaches, there is much to explore in this diverse city-state. Here are some of the top places to visit in Singapore: 1. Marina Bay: This iconic waterfront district is home to stunning architecture, world-class landmarks, and a vibrant nightlife. 2. Gardens by the Bay: These stunning gardens feature a mix of plants from around the world, as well as towering sculptures and a biodome. 3. Chinatown: This lively district is home to traditional Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as vibrant street markets. 4. Little India: This neighborhood is known for its vibrant culture and colorful temples. 5. Sentosa Island: This resort island is home to sandy beaches, lush rainforests, and a variety of entertainment options.

Singapore Luxury Hotels

Singapore Luxury Resorts

Nottingham, United Kingdom

Nottingham is a city in the East Midlands of England. It is one of the United Kingdom's major cities, with a population of over 321,000. The city is home to two universities, Queen's Medical Centre, and seven football grounds. Nottingham is known for its lace-making and bicycle manufacturing. The city has a rich history, dating back to the Bronze Age. There are plenty of places to visit in Nottingham, including the Nottingham Castle, the Sherwood Forest, and the National Ice Centre. The city also has a lively nightlife, with a variety of pubs and bars.

Nottingham Luxury Hotels

Cannes, France

Cannes is a city located in the south of France. Some of the places to visit in Cannes are the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, the Boulevard de la Croisette, and Le Suquet.

Cannes Luxury Hotels

Cannes Luxury Villas

Park City, UT, United States

Park City, Utah, offers visitors a wealth of places to visit and things to do. Main Street, with its charming shops and restaurants, is a must-see. The Park City Museum tells the town's fascinating history, and the Park City Utah Temple is a beautiful sight. For outdoor enthusiasts, there's plenty of skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. And don't forget to visit the Olympic Park, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held.

Park City Luxury Hotels

Park City Luxury Resorts

Port Angeles, WA, United States

If you're looking for a quaint, small town to visit in the US, Port Angeles is worth a stop. Located in the state of Washington, it's right on the Pacific coast with stunning views of the Olympic Mountains. There's plenty of things to do in the area, from hiking and fishing to whale watching and enjoying the local restaurants and breweries.

Port Angeles Luxury Hotels

Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

If you're looking for a fun-filled Florida getaway, look no further than Fort Lauderdale! With its miles of pristine beaches, world-famous shopping and vibrant nightlife, there's something for everyone in this seaside city. Here are some of the top places to visit in Fort Lauderdale:  Las Olas Boulevard: This popular shopping and dining district is home to some of Fort Lauderdale's most upscale boutiques and restaurants.  The Beach: With its wide, sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, Fort Lauderdale's beach is a major draw for visitors.  The Everglades: Just a short drive from Fort Lauderdale, the Everglades are home to an abundance of wildlife, including alligators, bald eagles and manatees.  The Broward Center for the Performing Arts: This world-class performing arts center is home to a variety of theater, dance and music performances. So what are you waiting for? Book your trip to Fort Lauderdale today!.

Fort Lauderdale Luxury Hotels

Fort Lauderdale Luxury Resorts

Myrtle Beach, SC, United States

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to visit in the area, including amusement parks, beaches, and golf courses. Myrtle Beach also has a lively nightlife, with plenty of bars and restaurants.

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Myrtle Beach Luxury Resorts

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg is one of the most visited places in Austria. It is a city rich in history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Mirabell Palace, and the Salzburg Cathedral. There are also many hiking trails and parks to enjoy.

Salzburg Luxury Hotels

Pattaya, Thailand

Pattaya is an amazing city with plenty of places to visit and things to do. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, Pattaya offers something for everyone. There are lovely beaches, interesting temples, great shopping, and exciting nightlife. With its moderate climate and affordable prices, it's no wonder Pattaya is a favorite destination for tourists from all over the world.

Pattaya Luxury Hotels

Pattaya Luxury Resorts

Pattaya Luxury Villas

Dallas, TX, United States

Dallas is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the ninth most populous city in the United States and the third most populous city in the state of Texas. Dallas is also the main city of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position as a major transportation hub for the South. Dallas is home to the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, and transportation. The city is home to the world's largest airline hub and the third largest cargo airport in the United States.

Dallas Luxury Hotels

Kolkata, India

Kolkata, also known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. The city is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River. It is the second most populous city in India, after Mumbai, and the third most populous metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai and Delhi. The city is notable for its colonial architecture, art and culture, and for its overwhelming poverty. Kolkata is home to the Indian Museum, the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the National Library of India, and the Indian Statistical Institute.

Kolkata Luxury Hotels

San Antonio, TX, United States

San Antonio is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Texas. There are plenty of places to visit in this city, from the well-known River Walk to the exquisite Spanish missions. If you're looking for a fun place to spend the day, you can't go wrong with San Antonio.

San Antonio Luxury Hotels

Seattle, WA, United States

There are many wonderful places to visit in Seattle, Washington. Some of the most popular attractions include Pike Place Market, the Seattle Space Needle, and the Museum of Pop Culture. There are also many parks and gardens, such as Volunteer Park and Seattle Chinese Garden, as well as plenty of restaurants and shops. Located on the other side of the world, Western Australia is a great place to visit for those looking for something different. Some of the most popular attractions include Rottnest Island, the Margaret River region, and Monkey Mia. There are also plenty of beautiful parks and gardens, such as Kings Park and Botanic Garden, as well as restaurants and shops.

Seattle Luxury Hotels

Liverpool, United Kingdom

Liverpool is a city located in North West England and is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom. The city is known for its football teams Liverpool and Everton, The Beatles, and its maritime history. Liverpool is a popular tourist destination and is home to various tourist attractions including Mersey Ferry, Liverpool Cathedral, and Albert Dock.

Liverpool Luxury Hotels

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo is Sweden's third largest city with a population of over 310,000. It is located in the province of Scania on the country's southern tip. Malmo is a vibrant city with a strong arts and cultural scene. There are plenty of places to visit in Malmo, including the Malmo Castle, the Botanical Gardens, and the Turning Torso skyscraper. Malmo is also home to a large shopping district and a lively nightlife.

Malmo Luxury Hotels

Gothenburg, Sweden

Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, is a major port on the country's west coast. It's a popular tourist destination, known for its lively nightlife, beautiful architecture and delicious seafood. Some of the city's highlights include the Liseberg amusement park, the Botanical Garden, and the charming old town district. Goteborg is also home to a large number of museums, including the Volvo Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Universeum science center.

Gothenburg Luxury Hotels

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia and is a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Ljubljana, such as the castle, the old town, and the cathedral. The city is also home to many museums, art galleries, and parks. Ljubljana is a great city to explore on foot, and there are many restaurants and cafes to enjoy.

Ljubljana Luxury Hotels

Sydney, NSW, Australia

Australia is a vast country with plenty of stunning places to visit, but Sydney is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist destinations on the continent. From the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the beautiful beaches and lush national parks, there's something for everyone in this lively city. There's also a thriving food and nightlife scene, so you'll never run out of things to do in Sydney.

Sydney Luxury Hotels

Sydney Luxury Villas

Melbourne, VIC, Australia

There's a lot to love about Melbourne  its lively arts and culture scene, its parks and gardens, its diverse range of restaurants and cafes, and its stunning architecture. Here are some of the best places to visit in Melbourne: - Federation Square: This iconic square is a great place to people-watch and take in the city's impressive architecture. It's also home to a number of museums and galleries, including the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Victoria. - Queen Victoria Market: This vibrant market is a must-visit for foodies and shoppers alike. It's the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere, and offers a vast array of fresh produce, meat, seafood, and souvenirs. - Melbourne Cricket Ground: If you're a sports fan, be sure to check out the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is the largest cricket stadium in the world. It's also home to the Australian Football League, and has hosted a number of major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Union World Cup. - Royal Botanic Gardens: These beautiful gardens are a great place to relax and take in some of Melbourne's natural beauty. They're home to a number of different gardens, including the Australian Garden, the Sculpture Garden, and the Japanese Garden.

Melbourne Luxury Hotels

Melbourne Luxury Villas

Vancouver, BC, Canada

The top places to visit in Vancouver are Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, and Chinatown. These are all must-see attractions that offer an array of activities, scenery, and history. Stanley Park is a world-famous urban park that features greenery, beaches, gardens, and a stunning view of the North Shore Mountains. Granville Island is a vibrant neighbourhood with unique shops, restaurants, and art galleries. Gastown is the city's oldest neighbourhood and is home to charming cobblestone streets and funky boutiques. Chinatown is one of the largest and most vibrant Chinatowns in North America and offers delicious food, interesting history, and vibrant culture.

Vancouver Luxury Hotels

Toronto, ON, Canada

From the CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame to the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Distillery District, there are plenty of amazing places to visit in Toronto, Canada. With something for everyone, Toronto is a great city to explore. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your trip today!.

Toronto Luxury Hotels

Montreal, QC, Canada

Montreal is a vibrant city with something for everyone. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Notre Dame Basilica, the Olympic Stadium, and Mount Royal. The city is also home to a lively arts and culture scene, with theatres, art galleries, and music venues. Montreal is a great place to visit year-round, with festivals and events happening throughout the year.

Montreal Luxury Hotels

Seville, Spain

Seville is one of the most visited places in Spain for a plethora of reasons: its stunning architecture, tapas bars, flamenco and great weather. The Giralda Tower is a must-see when in Seville as is the Plaza de Espana. Andalusian culture is heavily present in the city and is best experienced by wandering the narrow streets and alleyways, popping into a lively tapas bar for a drink and some snacks or enjoying a flamenco show.

Seville Luxury Hotels

Seville Luxury Villas

Ocean City, MD, United States

Ocean City is a seaside resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, on the Atlantic coast. It is well known for its long promenade, its fishing, and its crab cuisine. There are plenty of places to visit in Ocean City, including the boardwalk, amusement rides, shopping, and restaurants. You can also visit the Assateague Island National Seashore, which is home to wild horses, or head to the nearby town of Berlin for more shopping and dining options.

Ocean City Luxury Hotels

Cambridge, MA, United States

If you're looking for a quintessential New England town to visit, Cambridge, Massachusetts is the place for you. With its elaborate architecture and Colonial history, Cambridge is a lively town with plenty of things to see and do - perfect for a weekend getaway. Some of the places you won't want to miss include the Harvard University campus, the charming and lively shops and restaurants in Harvard Square, and the leafy paths of the Cambridge Common.

Cambridge Luxury Hotels

Laguna Beach, CA, United States

Laguna Beach, California is a place known for its stunningly beautiful coastline, excellent restaurants, and art galleries. But there's more to Laguna Beach than meets the eye. Here are some of the best places to visit in Laguna Beach: Crystal Cove State Park: This state park is known for its coves, tidepools, and bluffs. It's a great place to go hiking, swimming, and snorkeling. Heisler Park: This park is a great place for a walk or a picnic. It's also home to some of the best views of the Pacific Coast. Downtown Laguna Beach: This charming downtown area is home to art galleries, boutique shops, and excellent restaurants. Aliso Beach: This beach is known for its excellent surfing and swimming conditions. It's also a great place to take a walk or enjoy a picnic.

Laguna Beach Luxury Hotels

Hot Springs, AR, United States

In downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, you'll find historic buildings, antique shops, and art galleries. For nature lovers, there are also plenty of places to visit, including the Garland County Arboretum, Ouachita National Forest, and Hot Springs National Park. Spa enthusiasts can enjoy a relaxing day in one of the area's hot springs. And no trip to Hot Springs is complete without a visit to the world-famous Bathhouse Row.

Hot Springs Luxury Hotels

Sedona, AZ, United States

There are many places to visit in Sedona, Arizona. Among the most popular are the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, and Boynton Canyon. The town's unique red-rock formations and ancient ruins offer plenty of photo opportunities. Visitors can also enjoy hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Sedona is a great place to relax and take in the natural beauty of the Southwest.

Sedona Luxury Hotels

Sedona Luxury Resorts

Boulder, CO, United States

Boulder, Colorado is a breathtaking city nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The city is home to stunning views, ample outdoor recreation, and a lively arts scene. Outdoor enthusiasts will love exploring the city's many trails, parks, and open spaces. History buffs will enjoy checking out the city's museums and historic sites. Culture seekers will appreciate the city's many theaters, art galleries, and restaurants. No matter what your interests, you'll find something to love in Boulder.

Boulder Luxury Hotels

Key West, FL, United States

Key West is a small island off the coast of Florida that is filled with history, charm, and fun places to visit. Its lush tropical setting and the laid-back vibe of the island make it a popular destination for those looking for a relaxing getaway. There are plenty of places to explore in Key West, from the charming historic district to the crystal-clear waters of the Florida Keys. Here are some of the top places to visit in Key West: -The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum: This iconic museum is dedicated to the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West for over 20 years. -Duval Street: This lively street is the heart of Key West's nightlife and is home to many bars and restaurants. -The Southernmost Point: This landmark is located at the end of Duval Street and is the southernmost point in the continental United States. -The Key West Lighthouse: This picturesque lighthouse is a popular spot for tourists and offers stunning views of the island. -The African American Heritage House: This museum is dedicated to the history and culture of African Americans in Key West. -The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory: This attraction is home to over 2,000 butterflies and a variety of other tropical plants and animals.

Key West Luxury Hotels

Key West Luxury Resorts

Key West Luxury Cottages

Key West Luxury Villas

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden is a city with many places to visit. One place is the Vasa Museum, which is home to a ship that sunk in 1628 and was raised from the ocean floor 333 years later. The ship is preserved and on display in the museum. Another place to visit is the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Swedish monarch. The palace is open for tours, and visitors can see the royal apartments, the throne room, and the Hall of State.

Stockholm Luxury Hotels

Destin, FL, United States

Looking for a place to visit in Florida? Look no further than Destin! This city is home to beautiful beaches, wonderful restaurants, and plenty of places to shop. No matter what you're looking for, you can find it in Destin. Be sure to check out the Destin Harbor and the fishing pier for amazing views and plenty of things to do. If you're looking for a place to relax, head to the beach and enjoy the sun and sand. There's something for everyone in Destin, so be sure to visit this amazing city!.

Destin Luxury Hotels

Destin Luxury Resorts

Ashland, OR, United States

There are many places to visit in Ashland, Oregon. Some of the most popular places are the Shakespeare Festival, Lithia Park, and Mt. Ashland. The Shakespeare Festival is a great place to see some of the best plays in the world. Lithia Park is a beautiful park with a river running through it. Mt. Ashland is a great place to go skiing in the winter.

Ashland Luxury Hotels

Seaside, OR, United States

One of the most beautiful places on the Oregon Coast is Seaside. With its wide, sandy beach and majestic promenade, Seaside is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to eat and shop, and the Seaside Aquarium is a must-see. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, whale watching, or just taking a leisurely stroll along the beach.

Seaside Luxury Hotels

Newport, RI, United States

Newport is a picturesque town located in southern Rhode Island that is home to some of the most visited tourist destinations in the United States. The city is known for its miles of beaches and historic mansions that line the coast. Some popular places to visit in Newport include the Cliff Walk, the Breakers Mansion, the Museum of Yachting, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Newport Luxury Hotels

Siena, Italy

Siena, Italy is a popular tourist destination, thanks to its well-preserved medieval city center. The city is famous for its art, food, and wine. Siena is located in the heart of Tuscany, making it the perfect base for exploring this beautiful region of Italy. Don't miss the Duomo (cathedral), the Piazza del Campo, and the Torre del Mangia.

Siena Luxury Hotels

Reno, NV, United States

Home to the University of Nevada, Reno and a wide variety of cultural and natural attractions, Reno is a great place to visit. Some of the top places to see in Reno include the Nevada Museum of Art, the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center, and the Reno Events Center. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy hiking and skiing at Lake Tahoe and biking and kayaking on the Truckee River. In addition, Reno is home to a diverse array of restaurants and nightlife venues.

Reno Luxury Hotels

Atlantic City, NJ, United States

Atlantic City is a popular East Coast tourist destination, known for its boardwalks, beaches and casinos. There are plenty of places to visit in Atlantic City, from the Boardwalk Hall and the Absecon Lighthouse to the Atlantic City Aquarium and Lucy the Elephant. For a more thrilling experience, head to one of the city's casinos, where you can try your hand at blackjack, slots, roulette and more. Atlantic City also offers a wide variety of restaurants, from seafood spots to pizza places, so you're sure to find something to your taste. And if you're looking for some nightlife action, the city has you covered there too. Atlantic City is definitely a place worth visiting!.

Atlantic City Luxury Hotels

Atlantic City Luxury Resorts

Lake George, NY, United States

Looking for a place to visit in upstate New York? Look no further than the stunning Lake George. This picturesque locale is located in the heart of the Adirondacks and is known for its pristine beauty and terrific recreational opportunities. Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, boating, fishing, and skiing, among other activities. Don't miss the chance to take in the spectacular views from the summit of Prospect Mountain or from the water's edge.

Lake George Luxury Hotels

Buffalo, NY, United States

If you're looking for a city that has it all, Buffalo is the place to be. From its vibrant downtown district to its abundance of parks and nature preserves, there's something for everyone in Buffalo. Here are some of the top places to visit in Buffalo: 1. The Buffalo Zoo - One of the top zoos in the country, the Buffalo Zoo is a must-visit for animal lovers of all ages. 2. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery - Buffalo's answer to the Louvre, the Albright-Knox is home to some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. 3. The Buffalo-Niagara Heritage Village - This living history museum offers a glimpse into what life was like in Buffalo in the 1800s. 4. The Buffalo River - Take a walk or bike ride along the Buffalo River, one of the city's most picturesque areas. 5. Delaware Park - This large park is home to a variety of attractions, including a zoo, a golf course, and a nature preserve.

Buffalo Luxury Hotels

Rochester, MN, United States

Rochester, Minnesota is a city with plenty of places to visit. There's the Mayo Clinic, the Apache Mall, and several other shopping areas, as well as a variety of restaurants. There are also a few parks and golf courses. For those who love the outdoors, Rochester is also close to several state parks and the Mississippi River.

Rochester Luxury Hotels

Duluth, MN, United States

If you're looking for an amazing place to visit, Duluth, Minnesota should definitely be at the top of your list. This city is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States, and there are plenty of things to do here that will keep you entertained for days on end. Some of the most popular places to visit in Duluth include the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Glensheen Mansion, and Chester Creek Park. Additionally, there are a number of excellent restaurants and shopping areas in the city, so be sure to explore everything that Duluth has to offer.

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Maputo, Mozambique

Maputo is the capital of Mozambique and a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Maputo, such as the Jose Eduardo dos Santos Museum, the Maputo Cathedral, and the Rua da Independencia. Maputo is also home to the Maputo Bay, which offers beautiful beaches and great seafood.

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Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, located on the northeast coast of Spain, is a renowned tourist destination and one of the most popular cities in the world. There are plenty of places to visit in Barcelona, such as the Gothic Quarter, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and more. The city is also home to a lively nightlife and some of the best restaurants in the country.

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Split, Croatia

Split is a city on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is the second-largest city in Croatia and the largest city in Dalmatia. It has a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area, which includes the City of Split and the surrounding towns, has a population of over 330,000. Split is a popular tourist destination and is the home of the Diocletian's Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other popular tourist destinations include the Riva, the Peristyle, the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, and Sustipan.

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik is a city on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the administrative center of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "The Pearl of the Adriatic".

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Byron Bay, NSW, Australia

Byron Bay is a magical place. It's no wonder that it's one of the most popular destinations in Australia. The town is set in a beautiful location, surrounded by rolling green hills and the bright blue ocean. There's plenty to do in Byron Bay, whether you're looking for a relaxing beach holiday or an adventure-filled trip. Some of the top places to visit in Byron Bay include the iconic lighthouse, the stunning beaches, and the lush rainforest. There's also a great nightlife and plenty of restaurants and cafes to enjoy. If you're looking for an amazing Australian getaway, be sure to add Byron Bay to your list!.

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Wellington, New Zealand

If you're looking for a little slice of heaven on earth, look no further than Wellington, New Zealand. With its gorgeous landscape and plethora of activities, there's something for everyone here. Whether you're a nature lover or a city slicker, Wellington has something special to offer. Top Wellington attractions include the Zealandia eco-sanctuary, the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens, and the sprawling Te Papa museum. For those who love getting out into the great outdoors, there are plenty of hiking and biking trails, as well as lovely seaside towns and villages to explore. And of course, no trip to Wellington would be complete without trying some of the delicious local cuisine  be sure to sample a traditional Maori hangi feast! So what are you waiting for? Book your flight to Wellington today and start planning your perfect holiday!.

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Saint Louis, MO, United States

If you're looking for a fun place to visit with a rich history and plenty of things to see and do, look no further than Saint Louis, Missouri. This vibrant city is home to a variety of interesting attractions, including the Gateway Arch, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. There's also no shortage of restaurants and shopping options in Saint Louis. So, whether you're looking for a place to explore new cultures and cuisines or you're just looking for a place to have some fun, Saint Louis is a great option.

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Bloomington, IN, United States

The city of Bloomington, Indiana is home to a variety of attractions and places to visit. The Indiana University campus is a popular destination, as is the city's historic downtown district. Monroe County Courthouse
The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer has announced a ground-breaking partnership with East Tennessee Childrens Hospital in Knoxville, expanding the foundations commitment to provide essential neurocognitive testing services for children with cancer and their families.

This marks the first time the Austin Hatcher Foundation has partnered with a facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. The foundation, headquartered in Chattanooga, currently provides various psycho-oncologic services at 38 hospitals in 28 states. Dr. April Nesin, the foundations chief psychologist and director of Psycho-Oncology Services, heads up the foundations neurocognitive testing and will work directly with staff at East Tennessee Childrens Hospital beginning Aug. 17, 2016. Services through the Austin Hatcher Foundation are provided at no charge and are funded through generous donations of the Foundations supporters.



Im really excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the staff at East Tennessee, Dr. Nesin said. The hospital has psychologists on staff but has not specialized in neurocognitive testing. This will be a new service for hematology and oncology patients. Through our talks with them we determined there was a need that the foundation could fill in that regard. We want to support their efforts. We feel like this partnership can really fill that need  and create a niche for the hospital.



Neurocognitive testing is vital for pediatric cancer patients. Cancer treatments can seriously affect thinking and learning processes but that seriousness can also be subtle and be overlooked without neurocognitive evaluations, Dr. Nesin said.



We look for changes in the way a child is thinking and learning, Dr. Nesin said. Through our testing, we hope to help childrens families and schools understand whats going on with a particular child. Sometimes its not always evident. This can make a huge difference in their quality of life but also their academic achievements.



Austin Hatcher Foundation President Amy Jo Osborn said this partnership represents an expanded reach for the foundation that also will increase awareness of the organizations overall mission to eradicate the effects of pediatric cancer.



We are extremely proud of this partnership with East Tennessee Childrens Hospital and we likewise are proud to have April representing us, Osborn said Neurocognitive testing is important work we must strive to provide for children and families in need.



While the partnership is a new presence for the Austin Hatcher Foundation in Knoxville, it is a continuation of a link between the city and Austin Hatcher Osborn, the foundations namesake.



Austin Hatcher Hatch Osborn passed away in the arms of his parents, Amy Jo and Dr. Jim Osborn, on Oct. 19, 2006 to an extremely rare and aggressive form of pediatric cancer. Through the Osborns loss, the Austin Hatcher Foundation was started on Dec. 16, 2006.



Hatchs family history with Knoxville spans more than 100 years. His great-great-grandparents, Samuel B. and Jeanie B. Beaty opened Beaty Chevrolet on North Broadway in 1933. Detective John B. JB Hatcher, also Hatchs great-great-grandfather, was a 30-year veteran of the Knoxville Police Department and was known as the first Knoxville policeman to drive a cruiser in the late 1920s. Members of the Osborn, Beaty and Hatcher families continue to work and live within the greater Knoxville, Tennessee area.



My husbands family has a lot of history in Knoxville and because of that, increasing our presence there is very important to us on many levels, Ms. Osborn said. Our presence in Knoxville honors not only the memory of our son but also the Hatcher family that, along with the Beatys, have been so important to that community through the years.


Erlanger Health System officials will be joined by Cleveland and Bradley County officials for a LIFE FORCE ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 17, beginning at 11:30 a.m. at the Cleveland Regional Jetport. Earlier this year, Erlanger moved its previously hospital-based LIFE FORCE air ambulance to a new $600,000 hangar at the Cleveland airport.

According to Robbie Tester, administrator of Erlangers LIFE FORCE air ambulance service, the move to a new permanent base for LIFE FORCE 1, allows us to provide faster aeromedical services to Erlangers main hospital in downtown Chattanooga for the citizens in Hamilton and Bradley Counties, as well as Meigs, McMinn, Rhea, Sequatchie and Bledsoe Counties.

By stationing aircraft in the field to transport patients to Erlanger in Chattanooga, we can arrive on the scene much more quickly and begin administering critical care to the patient, Mr. Tester explained of the move from the Chattanooga hospital base to Cleveland.

Erlanger President & CEO Kevin M. Spiegel FACHE, who will be officiating at Wednesdays ceremonies, said, We are extremely excited to be operating our aircraft out of the Cleveland/Bradley County airport, noting that Erlanger now has five air ambulances operating throughout the region, both in Tennessee and Georgia. LIFE FORCE is truly and extension of the Erlanger Health System and being based in this community allows us to have quicker response time to our patients in their time of need, Mr. Spiegel noted.

LIFE FORCE began operations at Erlanger in December 1988. Last fiscal year, Erlangers five air ambulances transported more than 2.143 patients via helicopter to and from Erlanger hospitals. Today, Erlanger dispatches LIFE FORCE helicopters from five locations outside of Hamilton County  Calhoun and Blue Ridge in Georgia, and Sparta, Winchester andCleveland in Tennessee.
Americans dont have the greatest reputation as international travelers. Were boorish, think local customs are weird, assume our country is superior to others, and are baffled by non-U.S. currencies, among other unflattering stereotypes. Of course, not all Americans are idiots abroad. But even if you dont think you fit the portrait of the ugly American tourist, you may very well be making embarrassing, and sometimes dangerous, mistakes when youre visiting other countries. Before you hop on your next international flight, check out this list of stupid mistakes Americans make when traveling abroad.

1. Not speaking the language

No one expects you to become fluent in German, Thai, or Japanese overnight, and not knowing how to speak the local language shouldnt stop you from visiting another country. But even if you arent able to converse with ease, its still helpful to learn at least a few key phrases in the local tongue. Not only will it be easier for you to communicate and get around, but being able to say a few words in the local tongue has other benefits as well.

Even if you arent fluent in a language, it says a lot about you as a traveler if you take the time to learn new phrases in a foreign language, Matt Long said on his travel blog Landlopers. It says that you want to explore and learn, that you arent just there for the photos and to tick items off of a list.

2. Not checking visa and passport requirements

In many ways, an American passport is like a golden ticket  it will get you into many countries without an additional visa or paperwork if youre traveling as a tourist. But some countries like Russia and Egypt do require Americans have a visa to visit. And if your passport is nearing its expiration date, watch out. You can be turned away when trying to board your flight or at the border of many countries, including popular destinations in the European Union, if your passport is expiring in less than six months, warns the State Department.

3. Not familiarizing yourself with local customs

You dont have to be an expert on the local culture, but you should familiarize yourself with basic dos and donts before visiting a foreign country. Failing to do so is impolite. Depending on where you are, that might mean wearing more modest clothing in certain situations (like when youre visiting The Vatican), refraining from public displays of affection, or not blowing your nose in public.

4. Packing something you shouldnt

Every country has different rules about what they will and wont allow through customs. Before you pack your bag, make sure youre not inadvertently carrying contraband. Some of the banned items may surprise you. Poppy seeds are forbidden in the United Arab Emirates while pepper spray is illegal in many countries.

5. Complaining when things are different

Presumably, youre traveling to see new things and have new experiences, so its pretty silly (not to mention rude) to get upset when things arent exactly like they are at home. Yet whining when certain things dont measure up to American standards is sadly common, says travel expert Rick Steves. He urges travelers not to play the role of the ugly American, who throws a fit if the air-conditioning breaks down in a hotel  insists on orange juice and eggs (sunny-side up) for breakfast, long beds, English menus, punctuality in Italy, and cold beer in England  [and] measures Europe with an American yardstick.

6. Assuming laws dont apply to you

This should be obvious, but being an American doesnt give you immunity from the laws of the country youre visiting. Every year, as many as 6,000 Americans are arrested when traveling abroad, according to the American Bar Association, sometimes for doing things that are perfectly legal back home. Even though you may disagree with them, its important to follow local laws if you dont want your vacation to take an unpleasant turn. While the State Department will provide assistance to U.S. citizens who are arrested abroad, they cant automatically get you out of jail. Legal systems in other countries dont work the same way as they do in the U.S., either, so you may not have access to the same rights Americans take for granted, such as an attorney if you cant afford one.

Follow Megan on Twitter @MeganE_CS
It was less than a year ago that Making a Murderer captivated viewers with its chronicling of the verdicts of Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, in the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. But it looks like the story is still far from over. Last week, a federal judge in Wisconsin overturned the murder and sexual assault conviction of Dassey. The new ruling has not only renewed the heightened international attention on the case, but has also left many wondering whether this will have any bearing on Avery and his upcoming appeal.

As Making a Murderer showcases, Dassey was 16 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Halbach. In 2006, the then-teenager confessed to helping Avery carry out the crime, but questions over the validity of that confession have since surfaced  both in the Netflix series and in the courtroom. In their appeal, Dasseys attorneys argued that their clients constitutional rights were violated throughout the investigation and that the confession was forced using certain interrogation tactics, which the attorneys said may not be coercive when used on adults [but] are coercive when used on juveniles, particularly young people like Brendan with disabilities.

The court agreed with their argument, with U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin ruling that Dasseys confession was involuntary because investigators used deceptive interrogation tactics that overbore Dasseys free will. This overturned conviction has been a long time coming, as attorneys for Dassey have been arguing that his confession was involuntary since August 2006.

The news was met with widespread approval from Making a Murderer viewers, the vast majority of which felt that the learning impaired teenager was manipulated into confessing. Dassey will now be freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry him (which some say is likely).

[Update, 11/14/16: Per the BBC, a judge has ordered the immediate release of Brendan Dassey.]

Of course, the surprising turn of events has also brought up one inevitable question: Will Dasseys overturned conviction impact Avery and if so, how?

Although Avery was convicted of Halbachs murder alongside Dassey and is currently serving his own life sentence, its unlikely that the latters overturned conviction will have any immediate impact on the formers case. Prosecutors never called Dassey to testify at Averys trial and didnt use the teenagers confession as evidence against Avery in court, so its suppression probably wont have any huge effect on Averys shot at appeal.

Theres also the simple matter of the differing amount of evidence between cases. Dasseys confession was the only thing linking him to the murder, as prosecutors were unable to find any physical evidence of his presence at the crime scene. Conversely, Averys case is full of physical evidence  albeit, highly contested evidence.

Still, while the new ruling for Dassey probably wont have any urgent impact on Averys case, that doesnt mean that it will go completely unmentioned in the Averys appeal. Jerry Buting, one of Averys original lawyers from Making a Murderer, states that the overturned conviction could help the defense in arguing that Avery didnt get a fair trial. As he told TODAYs TMJ4:

The state will probably argue that they never used Brendans confession in Stevens case so it shouldnt matter at all. But they did use Brendans so-called confession in the press conference in which [prosecutor Ken Kratz] polluted the jury pool state-wide by telling them that this was a true confession when they knew there was no evidence that would support it  They used the confession of Brendan Dassey to pollute the jury so that in Stevens case, 129 of 130 jury questionnaires that came back  the people that we had to pick a jury from  all but one of them said Steven Avery was guilty before they had heard a shred of evidence in court. So it did have a direct effect on Steven Averys ability to get a fair trial.

Buting no longer represents Avery, so theres no way to know whether or not this argument will actually be used in Averys appeal. But it may not have to be. Over the last several months, Averys new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, has been open about the drastic measures she has taken to prove her clients innocence. She has alluded to potential alternative suspects, hinted at new evidence, and openly accused police of planting evidence on social media.

To her credit, Zellner has a strong track record. According to Rolling Stone, she has 17 exonerations on her resume and has made it very clear that she plans to make Avery her 18th  with no need for a retrial, no less. The lawyer reiterated her confidence in a statement addressing Dasseys overturned conviction, revealing that Avery is happy for his nephew and looking forward to his own appeal. We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well, she said. Zellner reiterated the feeling n a Twitter post below:

Brendans opinion shows cops made up crime story. Stevens will show cops made up crime evidence.@MakingAMurderer @Endinsight  Kathleen Zellner (@ZellnerLaw) August 12, 2016

Meanwhile, Making a Murderer filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos also addressed the recent ruling, saying, Today was a major development for the subjects in our story and this recent news shows the criminal justice system at work. As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead.

Unsurprisingly, Making a Murderer is expected to return to Netflix for more episodes, although a premiere date has not been revealed. Cameras have reportedly already started rolling and are expected to follow Averys appeal, the filing of which is due by August 29.

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Logan LaHive, founder and CEO of Belly, speaks earlier this year at the Pandoland conference at 1871. (Keri Wiginton / Blue Sky)

Chicago startup Belly, known for its iPad-based loyalty program at thousands of store cash registers, has rebuilt its engineering team and says it is preparing to launch a product aimed at bigger retailers.

The company has eliminated at least a few jobs and is shifting attention from the signature product that drew $25 million in its early years from high-profile investors including Silicon Valley's Andreessen Horowitz.

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"Enterprise is really moving away from the Belly iPad at point of sale," said founder and CEO Logan LaHive , who indicated the new product would be a technology platform allowing big retailers to customize their own loyalty programs.

Two chief technology officers have departed that role in the last seven months. They are Belly co-founder and former CTO Craig Ulliott and CTO Fred Lee, who joined the company two years ago from Chicago-based Enova.

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LaHive said Belly has a new CTO in place and needed to adjust staffing as it shifts its focus from small shops to big business.

"The company is very different than it was," he said. "We've continued to make changes to the team and the organizational structure to support that."

After ~2.5 years, I have moved on from @BellyCard @bellycardtech . Super proud of what we accomplished! Will miss everyone. #GYST  Fred (@fredlee) August 15, 2016

Belly launched with programs that reward customers for checking in at one of its thousands of participating stores. In return, Belly and its partners get data that leads to targeted promotions.

Small business is now a business line within Belly that has its own team and resources, LaHive said. The same goes for enterprise. That new structure "has impacted about 10 people" in the past week, he said.

Belly also hired five people in engineering recently, he said. LaHive declined to comment on the company's total headcount.

folks, ., after more than 2 years of fast times at @BellyCard I am moving on to what's next. Incredibly grateful for the opportunity.  Clark Kampfe (@clarkkampfe) August 5, 2016

Ulliott said he left daily operations at the company in February to start a new business with his wife, Katy Lynch , previously CEO of Techweek and founder of a social-media company.

The decision "was entirely driven by working together with Katy, and the passion for the new idea," Ulliott said in an email to Blue Sky. He and LaHive "are still very close, and he is an advisor in my new venture. I'm still involved with Belly in my role as a co-founder but I'm no longer involved day to day. Needless to say, I'm still extremely confident in the Belly team and direction."

Lee, who joined Belly in spring 2014 as vice president of engineering, announced Monday on Twitter that he had left the company. He declined to comment further.

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LaHive said Lee's departure was part of a monthslong transition. Harrison Strowd, formerly lead product manager for the company, assumed the role of CTO. Darby Frey, previously Belly's director of platform engineering, is now vice president of engineering.

Belly's foray into working with larger companies came in 2014, when it entered into a partnership with the 7-Eleven that put Belly's loyalty program into more than 2,000 of the retail giant's convenience stores. 7-Eleven's venture arm, 7-Ventures, had invested in the company in 2013. Belly declined to comment on the partnership, and 7-Eleven didn't return requests for comment.

LaHive founded Belly while an entrepreneur-in-residence at Chicago venture fund Lightbank. Belly closed its last round  a $12.1 million Series B  in August 2013, according to CrunchBase. Belly is not currently fundraising, LaHive said. He would not comment on revenue.

Five years after founding the company, LaHive says he's still all in.

"I don't really have any hobbies, any side projects, anything else," he said. "With Belly, we started out to build something, and while I think we've had tremendous growth and we've made a lot of traction, we haven't accomplished our vision yet. We haven't accomplished our goal.

"There's still a long way to go."

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Twitter @allymarotti
VENICE BEACH, Calif.  Like many in Silicon Valley, technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson sees a future in which intelligent machines can do things like drive cars on their own and anticipate our needs before we ask.

What's uncommon is how Johnson wants to respond: Find a way to supercharge the human brain so that we can keep up with the machines.

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From an unassuming office in Venice Beach, Calif., his science fiction-meets-science start-up, KerNEL, is building a tiny chip that can be implanted in the brain to help people suffering from neurological damage caused by strokes, Alzheimer's, or concussions. The team of top neuroscientists building the chip  they call it a neuroprosthetic  hope that in the longer term, it will be able to boost intelligence, memory, and other cognitive tasks.

The medical device is years in the making, Johnson acknowledges, but he can afford the time. He sold his payments company, Braintree, to PayPal for $800 million 2013. A former Mormon raised in Utah, the 38-year-old speaks about the project with missionary-like intensity and focus. "Human intelligence is landlocked in relationship to artificial intelligence  and the landlock is the degeneration of the body and the brain," he said, in an interview about the company, which had not discussed publicly before. "This is a question of keeping humans front and center as we progress."

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Johnson stands out among an elite set of entrepreneurs who believe Silicon Valley can play a role in funding large-scale scientific discoveries  the kind that can dramatically improve human life in ways that go beyond building software.

Though many of their ventures draw from software principles: In the last two years, venture capital firms like Y-Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund, Khosla Ventures and others have poured money into start-ups that focus on "bio-hacking"  the notion that you can engineer the body the way you would a software program. They've funded companies that aim to sequence the bacteria in the gut, reprogram the DNA you were born with, or conduct cancer biopsies from samples of blood. They've backed so-called cognitive enhancement businesses like Thync, which builds a headset that sends mood-altering electrical pulses to the brain, and Nootrobox, a start-up that makes chewable coffee supplements that combine doses of caffeine with active ingredients in green tea, leading to a precisely-engineered, zenlike high.

It's easy to dismiss these efforts as the hubristic, techno-utopian fantasies of a self-involved elite that believes it can defy death and human decline  and in doing so, confer even more advantages on the already-privileged.

And while there's no shortage of hubris in Silicon Valley, it's also undoubtable some of these projects will accelerate scientific breakthroughs and fill some of the gaps left in the wake of declining public funding for scientific research, said Laurie Zoloth, professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University. Moreover, techies are motivated by the fact that many biological and health challenges increasingly involve data-mining and computation; they're looking more like problems that they know how to solve. Large-scale genome sequencing, for example, has long been seen as key to unlocking targeted cancer therapies and detecting disease far earlier than current methods; it's becoming more of a reality as the cost of sequencing, storing, and analyzing the data has dropped dramatically, leading to a flood of investments in that area.

KerNEL is cognitive enhancement of the not-gimmicky variety. The concept is based on the work of Theodore Berger, a pioneering biomedical engineer who directs the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California, and is the startup's chief science officer.

For over two decades, Berger has been working on building a neuroprosthetic to help people with dementia, strokes, concussions, brain injuries, and Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts one in nine adults over 65.

The implanted devices try to replicate the way brain cells communicate with one another. Let's say, for example, that you are having a conversation with your boss. A healthy brain will convert that conversation from short term memory to long-term memory by firing off a set of electrical signals. The signals fire in a specific code that is unique to each person and is a bit like a software command.

Brain diseases throw these signaling codes off. Berger's software tries to assist the communication between brain cells by making an instantaneous prediction as to what the healthy code should be, and then firing off in that pattern. In separate studies funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency over the last several years, Berger's chips were shown to improve recall functions in both rats and monkeys.

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A year ago, Berger felt he had reached a ceiling in his research. He wanted to begin testing his devices with humans, and was thinking about commercial opportunities when he got a cold call from Johnson in October 2015. He hadn't heard of Johnson; the Google search said he was a tech entrepreneur who had founded a payments processing company and invested in out-there science start-ups. The two met in Berger's office later that month. They talked for four hours, skipping lunch, and by end the day, Johnson said he would put up the funds for the two to start something together. "I don't know who, but somebody was looking over us," Berger said of the meeting.

For Johnson, the meeting was a culmination of a longtime obsession with intelligence and the brain.

Shortly after he sold Braintree, he was already restless to start another company. He spent six months calling everyone he knew who was doing "something audacious"  about 200 people in all. "I wanted to understand, what mental models people maintained  how did they define what to work on and why?" he says.

He then set up a $100 million fund that invests in science and technology start-ups that could "radically improve quality of life." The fund, which comes exclusively from his personal fortune, was called OS Fund, because he wanted support companies that were making changes at the so-called operating system level, he said. Johnson's goal was to take projects from "crazy to viable"  including start-ups attempting to mine asteroids for precious metals and water, delivery drones for developing countries, and an artificial intelligence company building the world's largest human genetic database.

At the same time, he kept returning to intelligence, both artificial and real. As he saw it, artificial intelligence was booming  technology advances were moving at an accelerated pace; the pace of the human brain's evolution was sluggish by comparison. So he hired a team of neuroscientists, and tasked them with combing through all the relevant research, with the goal of forming a brain company. Eventually they settled on Berger.

Ten months later, the team is starting to sketch out prototypes of the device and is conducting tests with epilepsy patients in hospitals. They hope to start a clinical trial, but first they have to figure out how to make the device portable (Right now, patients who use it are hooked up to a computer).

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Zoloth says one of the big risks of technologists funding science is that they fund their own priorities, which can be disconnected from the greater public good. Many people don't have enough resources to fulfill the brain potential they currently have, let alone enhance it. "Saying that if tech billionaires fund what they want may inadvertently fund science for the larger public, as a sort of leftover effect, is a problematic argument," she said. "If brilliantly creative high school teachers in the inner city, for example, could fund science too, then perhaps the needs of the poor might be found more interesting."

Johnson says he is acutely aware of those concerns. He recognizes that the notion of people walking around with chips implanted in their heads to make them smarter seems far-fetched, to put it mildly. He says the goal is to build a product that is widely affordable, but acknowledges there are challenges. He points that many scientific discoveries  even the printing press itself  started out for a privileged group but ended up providing massive benefits to humanity. The primary benefits of KerNEL, he says, will be for the sick, for the millions of people who have lost their memories due to brain disorders. Even a small improvement in memory  a person with dementia might be able to remember the location of the bathroom in their home, for example  can help people maintain their dignity and enjoy a greater quality of life.

And in an age of AI, he insists that boosting the capacity of our brains is itself an urgent public concern. "Whatever endeavor we imagine  flying cars, go to Mars  it all fits downstream from our intelligence," he says. "It is the most powerful resource in existence. It is the master tool."
Aetna will stop selling individual health insurance policies on the Illinois Obamacare exchange at the end of this year, dealing yet another gut punch to a state insurance marketplace already bracing for the departures of insurers UnitedHealthcare and Land of Lincoln.

Aetna's individual plans sold on the Illinois exchange under the Coventry brand will also cease to be available after this year, Aetna said Tuesday. Aetna said it's leaving the Illinois exchange, as well as exchanges in 10 other states, following financial losses on its individual products. Aetna will continue to sell policies on Affordable Care Act exchanges in Delaware, Virginia, Iowa and Nebraska. It will also continue to sell individual insurance policies off the exchanges.

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Insurers like Aetna have been bailing on individual exchanges across the country because of financial losses, said Katherine Hempstead, a senior adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to improving health and health care for Americans. Insurers underpriced their products partly to compete on the exchanges and partly because they overestimated the health of those who would sign up for their products, Hempstead said.

"The market got priced for a population that was a little bit healthier than the (population) that actually showed up," Hempstead said.

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She said, however, she doesn't anticipate other big insurers to exit the exchanges any time soon. And she said the individual exchanges will persist without players like Aetna and UnitedHealthcare. Some insurers seem to be doing well on the exchanges, she said.

To survive on the exchanges moving forward, insurers will likely have to adjust their prices and find ways to offer products that appeal to healthy consumers, she said. They may also have to continue to narrow their networks of providers.

Aetna serves only a small percentage of the 388,179 Illinoisans who signed up for health care through the exchange earlier this year. Aetna has 13,856 policyholders in its HMO plans offered through the exchange in Cook, McHenry, Lake, Kane and DuPage counties, according to recent rate proposal filings. It wasn't immediately clear Tuesday how many policyholders were covered by Aetna's Coventry plans. An Aetna spokesman said the company doesn't give out membership numbers.

Aetna's departure could potentially curtail the range of options available to those shopping for policies on the Illinois exchange, including those who are losing coverage through Land of Lincoln. Consumer and health advocates, however, say the situation is not as dire as it may seem.

"In terms of the larger impact, I don't think it's going to be a significant change to competition or significantly affect access to coverage," said Kathy Waligora, director of EverThrive Illinois' health reform initiative.

Stephani Becker, a senior policy specialist at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, also pointed out that insurer Cigna plans to enter Illinois' individual exchange market next year.

"With Cigna coming in and Blue Cross staying, I think the market still is going to be competitive for most consumers," Becker said.

Others, however, are not as optimistic about consumers' choices following this and other recent developments related to the exchange.

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Aetna's decision to quit the Illinois exchange comes shortly after news of the mid-year collapse of exchange insurer Land of Lincoln, which insures 49,000 people. Land of Lincoln is shuttering its operations after September, leaving its policyholders scrambling to arrange health coverage not only for next year, but for the final three months of this calendar year. Aetna's current policyholders will be covered through the end of the calendar year.

Insurer UnitedHealthcare confirmed earlier this year that is plans to pull out of the exchange. Humana's involvement in the Illinois exchange also seems uncertain. Humana currently intends to offer plans on the exchange in Illinois next year but could decide to pull out depending on state regulators' decisions on its recent rate proposals, said Humana spokesman Mitch Lubitz.

Prices for individual insurance plans purchased through the Illinois exchange may also rise significantly next year. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois recently proposed increases ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent on premiums for its individual health care plans on the exchange. The Illinois Department of Insurance is now reviewing rate proposals from Blue Cross Blue Shield and other insurers.

Mark Gurda, president of Northbrook-based insurance agency Castle Group Health, agreed that Aetna is a relatively small player in the Illinois exchange. But he said much of the recent news related to the exchange raises questions about consumer choice in some areas of the state.

"Especially in the north and northwest suburbs, access is very limited in what I think is a fractional market anyway," Gurda said, noting that residents in those suburbs like to receive care at a number of different hospital systems that won't all likely be covered by one carrier.

For example, it appears that four of the six insurers that offered individual plans on the exchange in Lake County this year will not be on the exchange next year. In Cook County, it appears that four of the eight insurers that offered individual plans on the exchange this year won't be part of the exchange next year.

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Many can't help but feel discouraged about the exchanges following this latest announcement from Aetna.

Randi Schulman is one of the many Illinoisans who plan to buy new insurance coverage on the exchange for next year. The current Land of Lincoln member doesn't yet know which carrier she'll choose. But the dwindling choices worry her.

"As a person with multiple chronic illnesses, the whole idea of Obamacare and why I was so excited about it was to have care that was accessible and good," said the 37-year-old Evanston social worker.

"It's very concerning watching so many companies either fail or pull out of the exchange or dramatically change the way they offer services because it's really limiting anyone with a chronic illness in their ability to access the appropriate specialists they need," she said.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com
Comcast is launching an internet service Wednesday that will deliver gigabit speeds throughout the Chicago area over its existing network. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Comcast is launching an internet service Wednesday that will deliver gigabit speeds throughout the Chicago area over its existing network.

The new service uses a special modem but requires no additional wiring, opening the door to 1-gigabit-per-second internet speeds for nearly every home Comcast reaches, the company said Tuesday.

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"We are now able to deliver gigabit speeds over the existing lines that already reach millions of homes in the Chicago area," Comcast spokesman Jack Segal said. "This is a major step in the evolution of high-speed broadband."

Chicago is the third market to get the modem-enabled gigabit internet service, with Detroit and Miami next in line.

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The price for gigabit service in Chicago will be $139.95 per month, with promotional plans being tested during a trial period, Segal said.

In Atlanta, which rolled out the gigabit service in March, customers could sign up for a three-year promotional package at $70 per month, or pay $139.95 per month with no contract. Nashville customers were offered the same pricing when the service launched there in June.

Using existing lines to deliver gigabit speeds solves the "last mile" connection challenge facing broadband providers  getting their expanding fiber networks to reach directly into homes.

Last year, Comcast launched Gigabit Pro service to residential customers requiring direct fiber wiring to receive 2-gigabit speeds. The service is available broadly, but it costs $300 per month, plus installation and activation charges that can run up to $1,000.

AT&T offers its GigaPower direct-wired fiber service in Chicago and more than 25 suburbs. Launched last year, it delivers up to 1-gigabit-per-second speeds to 125,000 homes that are wired and "ready to go," according to Phil Hayes, an AT&T spokesman.

The AT&T gigabit service costs $90 per month with a two-year contract. There is no installation or activation charge, but customers have to wait until their homes are connected to the network, Hayes said.

Chicago-area residents can sign up for Comcast's gigabit service at www.xfinity.com/gig. In addition to a new modem, installation entails a visit from the cable guy and a $50 fee.

Comcast's newly installed data caps will apply to the gigabit service, with customers who exceed 1 terabyte of data usage per month paying fees of up to $200 per month. (A terabyte is about 1,000 gigabytes.) The promotional packages for Atlanta and Nashville included unlimited data.

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rchannick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @RobertChannick
Former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes walks with his wife Elizabeth Tilson as they leave the News Corp building, July 19, 2016 in New York City. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

It's one of the most intriguing stories of the summer, a tale of sex, money, politics and corporate skulduggery that would seem especially ripe for coverage and discussion by the firebrands at Fox News.

Except Fox News barely seems to have noticed.

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Ever since former Fox host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit July 6 against the network's co-founder and chairman, Roger Ailes, Fox has been tight-lipped about telling its viewers about the allegations, which have turned the network upside down.

Fox mentioned the lawsuit and Ailes's subsequent resignation July 21, but that's about all it has done since the news broke. It has not conducted a single on-camera interview with any person connected with the news, including Ailes, who built Fox into a clarion of the American conservative movement. According to Fox's news-clip archive, there have been no panel discussions, no diatribes from Fox's famously aggressive hosts, no follow-up investigations, no tributes to the Ailes era.

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In this Sept. 29, 2006 file photo, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes poses at Fox News studio in New York. At age 76, Ailes has been vanquished from Fox News Channel, which he masterminded almost 20 years ago and had lorded over ever since. Little more than two weeks ago, a lawsuit filed by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson charged him with sexual harassment. He denied her allegations, and those from other past and present female co-workers who spoke up after her. But with blistering speed his reign ended Thursday, July 21, 2016. (Jim Cooper / AP)

In all, Fox has devoted a total of about 11 minutes of airtime to the news about Ailes over the past five weeks, a review of the archive shows. That's less time than Bill O'Reilly spent criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement on "The O'Reilly Factor" over a couple of days this month.

Fox's last word on the subject was Sunday, when media reporter and analyst Howard Kurtz offered a minute-long synopsis of Fox boss Rupert Murdoch's appointment of Ailes's successors, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy. (Fox Business Network on Friday aired an even briefer version of this news, without mention of Ailes or sexual harassment.)

Before that, Fox had gone 2-1/2 weeks without saying a word about the news unfolding down the hall from its newsroom, including any mention of allegations that Ailes had harassed multiple women over five decades and used corporate funds to settle other sexual harassment claims and to employ consultants and detectives to spy on perceived enemies, including reporters from other news organizations.

Before Sunday, Kurtz, the host of a weekly media-review show on Fox called "Media Buzz," had devoted just one brief segment to Ailes on his program since the news broke. In that segment, on July 10, he summarized the basic elements of the news, aired Ailes's lengthy written denial and concluded: "Now, I understand why the media would jump on such allegations, but lawsuits by their very nature contain exactly that  allegations. With some outlets now quoting anonymous sources, we'll stick to the facts in covering this case."

Kurtz declined to comment on his or the network's coverage. He deferred questions to a Fox spokeswoman, who offered a prepared statement from Kurtz: "I've often had to report difficult stories on my employers. In this case, Fox executives handled the situation with the utmost professionalism. I was able to cover the controversy how and when I wanted with no editorial interference."

News organizations embroiled in controversy, particularly TV networks, tend to be no more transparent about themselves than the people and institutions they seek to hold to account, said Mark Feldstein, a former network reporter and now a University of Marylan broadcast journalism professor who's writing a book about media scandals.

Often, he said, news media companies in such circumstances engage in the same sort of damage control as any other company, including Enron, the energy firm that collapsed in scandal in 2001. "Typically, they start with silence or spin as (independent) reporters dig up new stuff," he said. "Then they hunker down into crisis mode until the worst blows over."

Feldstein cites a long list of recent examples that he will use in his book: NBC News' handling of allegations last year that anchor Brian Williams exaggerated some of his reporting exploits; Fox News's response in 2015 to similar allegations against O'Reilly; ABC News's reaction to revelations that anchor George Stephanopoulos had contributed to the Clinton Foundation in 2015, in contradiction of its internal policies; CBS News's response to a false "60 Minutes" report in 2013 about the attacks on an American facility in Benghazi, Libya.

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Although it's more the exception than the rule, news organizations sometimes offer self-reflection about their alleged errors. In the wake of a disputed report in 2004 by anchor Dan Rather about President George W. Bush's military service, CBS convened a panel to investigate flaws in its reporting and later made the panel's results public, as did Rolling Stone magazine last year after it published a debunked article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia in 2014.

But there was no such public accounting from NBC about Williams, from Fox about O'Reilly, from ABC about Stephanopoulos or from CBS about its Benghazi report. (Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, has engaged a law firm to investigate Ailes's conduct, but it has not said whether it intends to make its findings public.)

The most aggressive reporting about such scandals tends to come from reporters outside a news organization.

The biggest revelations about the long-running phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch's now-defunct British newspaper, the News of the World, came from the rival Guardian newspaper, for example. Similarly, New York magazine has been dogged on the Ailes news, as have The New York Times, The Washington Post and Vanity Fair.

In contrast to Fox, CNN has talked at length about the Ailes news. On Sunday, correspondent Brian Stelter, the host of a weekly media show called "Reliable Sources," interviewed Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison about Fox's new management  which meant that CNN has discussed the changes at Fox News for longer than Fox News has.

Stelter has tackled stories even closer to home on his show. CNN's controversial hiring of Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as a network commentator was the subject of a nine-minute discussion segment in June that included criticism of the decision from commentators.

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"Covering ourselves is difficult, but covering ourselves is important," Stelter said in an interview. He added: "I think transparency wins us readers and viewers. It doesn't lose us readers and viewers."

As for Fox, Carlson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith, said she has done more than 100 interviews with news organizations all over the world about the lawsuit and has turned down a similar number of requests. But, she said, she has never been contacted by Fox.
The National Labor Relations Board is expected any day now to issue a ruling on whether Columbia University graduate students are employees with a right to unionize, which would have implications for top-tier universities throughout the country. Matilda Stubbs is a doctoral student at Northwestern University and has been active in efforts to organize grad students there. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

During the eight years that Matilda Stubbs has been pursuing a doctorate at Northwestern University, graduate students who work as teaching and research assistants have been trying to form a union  "a very depressing experience," she said, that hasn't gone much of anywhere.

But a major ruling expected soon from the National Labor Relations Board could be a game changer if it deems graduate students to be university employees and therefore entitled to collective bargaining rights.

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The academic world is watching to see if the NLRB reverses a 2004 Brown University decision that found grad students have a primarily educational relationship with the school and are not statutory employees.

The decision at hand stems from two separate petitions filed by groups of graduate students at Columbia University and at the New School in New York who wish to join the United Auto Workers. A regional NLRB director rejected both petitions, citing the Brown case, and the NLRB is reviewing the findings.

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As students and as workers, we have a different relationship than someone who is just a student. This is our livelihood...  Matilda Stubbs, Northwestern University doctoral candidate

While it isn't clear when the ruling will come down, conventional wisdom holds that it will happen before NLRB member Kent Hirozawa, an appointee of President Barack Obama, reaches the end of his term Aug. 27.

If the panel decides in favor of the grad students  and, given its Democratic majority, many expect it will  it could clear hurdles to unionization efforts at private universities across the country.

To Stubbs, whose experience as a teaching assistant felt like work more than learning, a ruling in favor of the grad students would reinvigorate organizing efforts that already have seen a boost with the nationwide push to unionize adjuncts and other nontenured faculty.

"As students and as workers, we have a different relationship than someone who is just a student," said Stubbs, 32, who is six months away from completing her doctorate in anthropology. "This is our livelihood, these (faculty members) are our colleagues."

But Joseph Ambash, an attorney with Fisher Phillips who represented Brown University in the 2004 ruling that the NLRB could overturn, said deeming grad students employees "is fraught with confusion and tremendous difficulties."

"We could have a sea change in private sector graduate education if it is decided that research assistants are employees," Ambash said.

Graduate students at many top-tier private universities are expected to serve as teaching assistants or research assistants as part of the requirements to get their doctorates. They receive a package of financial support that includes an annual stipend, free tuition and free health insurance.

Calling students employees and allowing them to bargain disrupts the educational nature of the arrangement and raises concerns about what is up for negotiation, including academic decisions, Ambash said. Could they bargain about curriculum? About course length? About standards for graduating? The National Labor Relations Act doesn't set any limits, and it is unclear if the board will do so in its ruling, Ambash said.

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Even if the bargaining focused on wages and working conditions, to call work done as part of a dissertation requirement a job is, Ambash said, "ridiculous."

"Students spend all night long in the lab (as research assistants)," Ambash said. "Now they're going to bargain about how many hours they work?" He filed an amicus brief asking the NLRB to uphold the Brown University decision on behalf of nine elite schools, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Stubbs, a single mother who has served as a teaching assistant for four courses at Northwestern, doesn't think academic decisions would come into play.

Unionizing is important to her so that grad students can bargain for better health coverage, more assistance for students with dependents and to generally have a voice in decisions about their working lives. As it is now, there is no body representing grad students' interests, and people's experiences are inconsistent and largely dependent on their relationships with their departments, she said.

Without recognition as employees, grad students don't get basic protections, she said, like the right to unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. When she gave birth to her son, Cosmos, in 2012, she said it was lucky he happened to arrive during spring break, because she wasn't granted any time off.

"It's really surprising to me, in a place with so much privilege," Stubbs said, getting upset as she recalled the stress of the situation.

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Graduate students occupy a fuzzy middle ground between being students and workers. Stubbs was taxed on her teaching stipend, which was $17,303 last she received it in the 2014-2015 school year, suggesting "it's compensation, it's income," she said. The university has since raised the base stipend to more than $29,000, a move Stubbs believes was done to dissuade grad students from organizing.

Though graduate students are apprentices to faculty members in some ways, she said her teaching work came with no training in how to design a syllabus or grade a paper.

"I wasn't learning, I was a worker bee," she said. "This is labor performed outside of a learning context."

Graduate student unions are not a new concept, and the NLRB has gone back-and-forth on the issue over the years. The 2004 Brown decision reversed a 2000 decision in a New York University case in which the NLRB determined that just because grad students are "primarily students" doesn't mean they can't also be employees.

There are 34 collective bargaining units of graduate students in the U.S., the vast majority at public universities, which are governed by state labor laws and not the National Labor Relations Act, according to Bill Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, which is based at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York.

New York University, which voluntarily recognized its graduate student union in 2014, is a rare private university with a collective bargaining agreement for graduate students. Cornell University recently formed an agreement with its graduate students that paves the way for them to vote on unionization should the NLRB overrule the Brown decision, and there are ongoing efforts to organize at several other universities.

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At the University of Chicago, a group called Graduate Students United has roughly 600 members. Although they are not recognized as employees by the NLRB and don't have legal collective bargaining rights, the group says its advocacy has won substantial concessions from university administration, including pay increases, better health care, improved parental leave policies and stipends for child care.

If the NLRB rules in favor of the Columbia and New School grad students, it "will be a huge step forward, both in that we will be able to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions, and also in that we will be recognized as workers," said Eric Powell, 31, a doctoral candidate in English Language and Literature at the U. of C. and a member of Graduate Students United, which is jointly affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors.

Willemien Otten, a professor in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago and president of the AAUP advocacy chapter, which supports the right of grad students to unionize, said that the work grad students do is more work than education.

"What really enhances your study is your dissertation and not the experience of teaching the classes," said Otten, who uses several grad students as teaching assistants, or TAs. "Whether (teaching) is the key experience that lands them a tenure job is doubtful."

In addition, if the grad students didn't teach the classes, the university would have to hire additional faculty, she said.

Graduate students are part of a long trend in academia that has put most of the teaching in the hands of nontenured instructors, which has prompted a recent push to unionize adjuncts who lament low pay and instability, driven largely by the Service Employees International Union. About 75 percent of teaching faculty at U.S. schools are not on the tenure track, and a quarter of those are graduate students.

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While dealing with a graduate student union may be a hassle for the university at first, it also will provide more clarity around the relationship, Otten said.

"How much do you make a TA work? When are you asking too much of a TA?" she said. "I think that when you're around a table, that's a good thing."

aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @alexiaer

This story has been amended to clarify the agreement Cornell University formed with its graduate students.
Patients often forget to take their medications, but Walgreens is betting it can change that by turning the drudgery of drug-taking into a game.

Walgreens plans to announce Tuesday that it will work with Connecticut-based HealthPrize Technologies to offer a digital health program aimed at helping patients stick to their medications.

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Patients who take certain drugs will be able to go to the Walgreens website to sign up for the free program, which awards points for taking medications on time, refilling prescriptions and taking educational quizzes about their conditions and medications. Participants will be able to redeem points for discounts on health-related products at Walgreens and see how their point totals stack up to those of other anonymous "players."

Walgreens already has a number of ways patients can choose to be notified to take their medications and refill prescriptions. But this is the Deerfield-based company's first foray into using games, or gamification, to try to improve medication adherence, said Greg Orr, senior director of digital health for Walgreens.

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"It's a much more rich experience," Orr said.

Initially the program, which could start by the end of this year, likely will be limited to people with diabetes who take certain medications. HealthPrize is in "deep discussions" with a number of pharmaceutical companies, which must sign on as sponsors in order for their drugs to be a part of it, said Tom Kottler, CEO and co-founder of HealthPrize. Orr said Walgreens is confident pharmaceutical partners will sign on soon. Kottler said he could not discuss which drugmakers HealthPrize is in talks with.

The Walgreens program will be available on the Walgreens website and will be mobile-friendly, but will not be available through an app, Orr said.

Medication adherence has been a huge problem globally and in the U.S.

The World Health Organization estimated in 2003 that only half of people with chronic illnesses in developed countries took their medications as prescribed. Such nonadherence is responsible for an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending each year in the U.S., the New England Health Institute said in 2009.

Kottler said HealthPrize has had success with its program, which some pharmaceutical companies already offer to patients taking their drugs. On average, patients using the programs log in 4.6 times a week and spend more than 38 minutes a month on them, Kottler said.

HealthPrize also has found that age doesn't seem to play as big a role as some might suspect in how much patients use the programs. HealthPrize ran one program for acne patients where the average user age was 21 and another for cholesterol patients where the average age was over 70. Kottler said the older group actually engaged more often with HealthPrize than the younger one.

"We see almost no difference in the levels of engagement in our ability to educate patients, and patients' ability to use our tools, between teenagers and senior citizens," Kottler said. "That's because the ideas we use around gamification and behavior economics are universal to people."

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Amisha Wallia, an endocrinologist at Northwestern, said medication adherence is a significant issue when it comes to people with Type 2 diabetes. Patients who fail to control their blood sugar can face long-term problems such as eye disease, kidney disease and nerve issues in their lower extremities. Sometimes patients don't take their prescribed drugs because they can't afford them, because of the side effects or because they get too busy, and it slips their minds, she said.

Technology-based programs that aim to improve medication adherence can be effective but have to be studied individually to know for sure, said Wallia, who is on the community leadership board of the American Diabetes Association, which has a number of programs supported by Walgreens. Wallia is also a co-investigator on a study in which Walgreens is a member of the team, but Walgreens is not funding the study nor paying Wallia.

Wallia said she tries to help her patients stick to their meds by making sure the drugs are covered by patients' insurers, that patients can afford them and by educating patients about how they work and their side effects.

HealthPrize is not the only company that offers gamelike programs to improve medication adherence, but Orr said Walgreens chose HealthPrize because of its track record and existing relationships in the industry.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lschencker
Haymarket's award-winning Defender, pictured here, shares its name with a Brooklyn Brewery beer. Haymarket filed opposition last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Brooklyn Brewery's bid to trademark the name "Brooklyn Defender Ale." (Kristan Lieb / Chicago Tribune)

After successfully defending a gold medal earlier this year, The Defender stout is now trying to defend its name.

Chicago's Haymarket Brewing, which brews The Defender, filed opposition last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Brooklyn Brewery's bid to trademark the name "Brooklyn Defender Ale."

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Haymarket co-founder and brewmaster Peter Crowley said his brewery was in the process of filing for a trademark on "The Defender" when it realized Brooklyn had applied to do something similar in February.

Haymarket says in its opposition that it has used "The Defender" for the name of its award-winning hop-forward American-style stout since 2011. (The beer is arguably the single most-honored beer in Chicago brewing.) Brooklyn Brewery has released several versions of an India pale ale called Defender since 2012, according to the BeerAdvocate and RateBeer databases.

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Crowley said the breweries reached an agreement earlier this summer to share the name but haven't yet been able to get a document signed. The agreement would allow both breweries to use the name so long as their names were clear beside the word "Defender," Crowley said.

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"(Filing the opposition) is just a formality, I hope," Crowley said. "It's up to (Brooklyn Brewery) if they want to work together or not."

Haymarket has a similar agreement with Pennsylvania's Weyerbacher Brewing Co., which, like Haymarket, brews an India pale ale called Last Chance. Crowley said he has agreed not to distribute his Last Chance in Pennsylvania, and Weyerbacher has agreed not to sell its version in Illinois. Crowley said he is fine with co-existing if its an important enough brand to the brewery.

The opposition to the Brooklyn Brewery trademark was first reported on Twitter by Brendan Palfreyman, a Syracuse, N.Y., attorney who specializes in the craft beer industry.

"Hopefully us filing the opposition didn't piss them off, but we left a voicemail with their attorney to let them know," Crowley said.

A representative of Brooklyn Brewery was not available for comment.

Haymarket's The Defender has won two consecutive gold medals at the World Beer Cup, in 2014 and in April. (It's an every-other-year competition.) The rich, piney stout also won gold at the Great American Beer Festival in 2014. Back when it was known as Terminal Stout and made by Chicago's Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, it won four GABF medals and two World Beer Cup honors. Crowley created the recipe when he worked for Rock Bottom.

The beer has traditionally been available only on draft but will also be packaged in 12-ounce cans when Haymarket's production brewery in southwest Michigan begins operating this fall.

jbnoel@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joshbnoel






Food & Wine just put out its Best New Mixologists of 2016 list, and one Chicago name made the cut: Julia Momose, head bartender of GreenRiver in Streeterville.

Recognized for her work on not one but two cocktail menus (at GreenRiver and the attached Annex), Momose is making a name with cocktails that are well-considered and balanced  new classics in the making. We hopped on a call with the bartender to talk about her cocktail ethos and inspirations.

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Q: You've got a very zen, look-at-the-big-picture approach to mixology and hospitality. Where does that come from?

A: A big part of it is my upbringing. My parents in particular are cool, calm and collected people. My father is incredibly smart  he is thoughtful when making plans and executing them. My mother is incredible, she is so kindhearted and passionate. Being raised by them, I'm definitely a combination of their traits. Neither drink alcohol, so that I'm in this business is odd. I just want to make them proud. Also, my childhood in Japan, when I spent formative years in Kyoto. That upbringing has a big influence on my work.

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Q: You're probably getting ready for your fall menus at GreenRiver and the Annex soon. What's taking your focus?

A: The idea of eating and drinking together  pairing cocktails with food from start to finish, even nonalcoholic drinks  that's exciting. I really look forward to my parents visiting and ordering a nonalcoholic beverage that's thoughtful, balanced and considered. Fall is a really exciting time for me. The leaves changing, bright blue skies, brisk air, that moment you want summer but also know winter is close  fall spans between the two seasons. I want to bring nuanced cocktails but also introduce bold flavors here and there.

Q: Besides your upbringing, what inspires you when you're creating a drink or menu?

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A: Honestly? The people sitting in front of me. I've had some guests in the past come up to the bar with a photo and ask me to make a drink inspired by it. So I ask them, "What was the weather that day? Tell me about what you were doing? Why?" I always ask about their day, to figure out where they're coming from. Are you just having dinner, or are you here for snacks? Is this a nightcap? For me, it's about finding out where people are in their day that helps me create kind, considered, personal cocktails. People are truly inspiring, but so is nature. Sometimes it's a sunset. I'll stop work for a second and be inspired by the moment, the colors and flavors. They coincide sometimes, colors and flavors. Colors make me think of spirits or liqueurs or fruits that are associated. I'm most inspired by the moment.

Q: You've got the accolades and chops to create compelling drink lists and draw cocktail lovers, but what are people actually ordering in your bar?

A: Martinis  lots of dry, perfectly chilled martinis. It's a beautiful classic cocktail and perfect with food. We've also got a few people asking for the classic, spirit-forward cocktails  old-fashioneds, negronis. When it comes to the cocktail menu, we engage conversations about the style of drinks guests enjoy. Is it darker and brooding or brighter, fresher? That's always fun, having those conversations. Instead of being intimidated by the menu, guests are invited to try something new, and to speak with the bar staff.

Q: What's a spirit, technique or other ingredient that you're excited about?

A: Aquavit. People are starting to discover it more. It's one of those things where it wasn't really available for a while, but people are starting to make it. Caraway is to aquavit as juniper is gin, but you can have fun with the botanicals that go into the bottle. Star anise, coriander, fennel  it's a versatile spirit. It can be dark or light, complex or not. There's so much possibility for flavor, and it's a really fun, tasty spirit to get to know.

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GreenRiver and Annex, 259 E. Erie St., www.greenriverchi.com

jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joeybear85






So this is weird: Vocally, Jonah Hill and Miles Teller sound eerily alike, even though they're completely different physical types. If "War Dogs" were more interesting, funnier, wilder, something, anything, this wouldn't warrant a mention. But director and co-writer Todd Phillips' flat, enervated movie, based on a 2011 Rolling Stone story about a couple of Miami pals who stumbled into the wonderful world of international arms-dealing, gives you all too much time to focus on things like the actors' speaking voices.

The energy seeps out of scene after scene, no matter how aggressively the "Hangover" director tries to Scorsese his way through the material. What does it mean to "Scorsese"? The verb "Scorsese" (interchangeable with "Marty," as in "Martying a scene") means indiscriminate numbers of "GoodFellas"-type freeze-frames, while our narrator voice-overs another round of exposition. It means wallowing in seductive, lethal excess and morally challenged endeavors of moneymaking for the cinematic joy of it, and as an act of empathetic dramatic interpretation. It means Martying the bejeezus out of a story in order to keep the top spinning.

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"War Dogs" tries. A 2008 prologue reveals David Packouz, the Teller character, at the wrong end of a pistol somewhere in Albania. How did he get there? Zwoop back to 2005. At a schoolmate's funeral in Miami, David reunites with his troublemaking high school friend Efraim Diveroli (Hill). Efraim used to buy and sell firearms online. Now, though, he specializes: "I only sell to one gun nut: The U.S. military."

The movie follows a familiar blueprint of seduction, one wolf indoctrinating another wolf into the world of high-risk riches. First the boys scrounge for low-level U.S. government contracts, supplying America's fighting forces (and the Iraqi police) with pistols at a nice profit. Their makeshift company's low-ball bids prove successful. Then, the mother lode: They land a contract supplying the Afghan military with 100 million rounds of AK-47 ammo, a deal requiring a shady middleman (Bradley Cooper) but worth tens of millions. It's a long way from David's previous line of sales, involving "quality bedsheets wholesale."

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David lies up a storm to his pregnant girlfriend (Ana de Armas, all generic, comely patience and then a tiny bit of backbone) about his actual job and his actual whereabouts. The movie lies, too. It promises rollicking bromance with a chase of moral reckoning, but "War Dogs" doesn't have the nerve or the filmmaking acumen to challenge the audience.

One shot in particular points to the film that could've been. Retreating from gunfire coming from Iraqi insurgents, the lads are rescued by a U.S. military helicopter in the nick of time. Then a U.S. military vehicle passes them on a desert highway, its occupants giving our antiheroes the bird. David and Efraim are stoner savants in over their heads, "war dogs" profiting from one geopolitical crisis after another.

They're like Brecht's Mother Courage without actual personality. (Stephen Chin and Jason Smilovic co-wrote the script with Phillips.) The movie coasts on a blase, easygoing highway of cynicism regarding how America conducts its business of war. Despite all the Martifications and Scorsese-ing, we're left with virtually nothing, except the feeling that a pretty good anecdote has been inflated into a bubble-headed American Dream morality tale.

Michael Phillips is a Chicago Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

"War Dogs"  1.5 stars

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MPAA rating: R (for language throughout, drug use and some sexual references)

Running time: 1:54

Opens: Thursday evening

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'Sausage Party' review: Seth Rogen and pals feast on raunchy food humor, existentialism







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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)
A Cincinnati-based artist has turned tweets into a downloadable kit to accompany a social media campaign that raises awareness about unhealthy relationships. (MaybeHeDoesntHitYou campaign)

Maybe he doesn't hit you ...

Those five words launched a campaign that brought thousands of people to social media to share their stories of life inside a relationship plagued by emotional abuse and power imbalance.

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#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he tells you what friends you're allowed to have

#MaybeHeDoesntHitYou but he threatens to kill himself when you muster up the strength to leave; so you stay and he manipulates you even more

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#maybehedoesnthityou but he makes you feel unworthy of his love and attention

#maybehedoesnthityou but he says you should be grateful he doesn't

Now the tweets are collected into a downloadable kit for schools, youth centers and anyone else who feels the need to spread awareness about unhealthy relationship dynamics.

The hashtag was started in May by writer Zahira Kelly, and it quickly caught on. A few weeks ago, Cincinnati-based graphic artist Maya Drozdz was approached by a teen services librarian friend who wanted to turn the hashtag into something lasting and teachable for young people.

Drozdz, 42, created a print-ready kit that contains bookmarks, a poster and flier with tear-off slips containing different #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou tweets. The 11-by-17-inch poster lists statistics about domestic abuse and provides a website and phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

"This kind of abuse is a very subtle experience," Drozdz told me. "It's easy to feel alone and feel like you're just being too sensitive. Being confronted with other people's stories is an initial step toward realizing you're not alone."

The hashtag uses "he," but Drozdz (and several social media users) point out that abuse can come from women too. The campaign, ideally, will raise awareness across gender lines.

Three years ago, I interviewed psychotherapist Jill Murray, author of "But He Never Hit Me: The Devastating Cost of Non-Physical Abuse to Girls and Women" (iUniverse), about helping teenagers avoid dating abuse. I thought about her advice when I learned about this recent campaign.

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"The most important thing you can teach (adolescents) is that love is a behavior, rather than a feeling," Murray told me at the time.

"Love is the way somebody treats you all the time, not just when they feel like it," she said. "You can point out behaviors and ask if they think that's loving: This person calls you an idiot. Is that loving? This person puts you down. Is that loving? This person gets mad when you see your friends. Is that loving?

"When you're a teen, you just hear, 'I love you, I love you, I love you,' and your heart is making all the decisions instead of your head," Murray said. "When you start introducing logic, then you get them thinking, rather than just feeling."

I think this campaign does the same.

"The adolescent me could have really used something like this," Drozdz said. "When I think back through the early years of my trying to understand relationships, I didn't have positive role models. I spent a long time learning some really unhealthy behaviors and seeking out unhealthy partnerships.

"Here I am, years later, a bona fide grown-up finally learning how to be assertive and healthy and have a 50/50 partnership with someone," she continued. "I have a little sister, so I've always been the big sister. This is one of those moments when I'm trying to be a big sister for people I don't know."

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hstevens@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @heidistevens13

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Travelers check the Delta departures board at LaGuardia Airport on Aug. 8, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York City. Delta flights around the globe were grounded and delayed because of a system outage. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Catastrophic computer outages that paralyze an entire airline are few and far between. Except this summer.

Last month, Southwest Airlines canceled 2,300 flights after a router in one of its data centers failed, delaying hundreds of thousands of passengers. And last week, Delta Air Lines suffered a massive computer failure, which triggered the cancellation of 451 flights in a single morning.

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A rare look behind the curtain at Southwest's meltdown offers several important customer-service lessons for passengers who experience similar delays in the future. And in an industry that depends on finicky information systems, these incidents are bound to repeat themselves. They've left customers wondering how to avoid getting stuck in another IT collapse, and what, if anything, an airline can do to make up for such an event.

Jack Russell, who was scheduled to fly from St. Louis to Las Vegas last month, had a front-row seat for Southwest's IT issues, which an employee euphemistically blamed on a "software problem." The airline's proposed fix: Fly him to Vegas four days later.

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As the executive vice president of a software company in St. Louis, Russell knows a thing or two about computers that go on the blink. But he's less understanding about Southwest's IT implosion, which he says left him with little choice but to pay an extra $1,800 to reach his destination.

"I spent twice as much money as I thought I would to get to Las Vegas," Russell says. "If my customers had an outage created by my company and I said, 'Sorry, it was a freak occurrence,' they would be waiting at my doorstep with their lawyer."

The Southwest systems problem suggests how fragile even the best-run airlines can be. It started in the early afternoon of July 20, when one of its small Cisco routers, out of about 2,000 such pieces of hardware that direct the airline's network traffic, failed.

This router broke in an unusual way. Instead of registering the error, which would have allowed network administrators in Southwest's Dallas data center to take it offline immediately and replace it with a working router, it behaved as if it was still operating normally. Only, it wasn't directing any traffic.

Although network administrators spotted the error within half an hour, enough traffic had backed up that critical systems needed to be rebooted  a process that took a full 12 hours and affected critical functions, including the airline's website, its smartphone app and several internal systems used by Southwest employees to handle reservations. It was as if someone had turned off the lights for half a day.

When the systems flickered back to life, the problems continued. The airline still didn't have enough information to restart all flights. Because its systems had been down for so long, it couldn't be sure whether some of its crews had taken enough rest, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration. That forced Southwest to cancel more flights on June 21 and 22.

Brandwatch, a social-tracking service, charted a corresponding tsunami of anger on Southwest's social media channels. The airline drew 36,905 mentions in a single day on July 21, an almost 20-fold increase from normal levels.

"The spike in incoming volume that this received was incredible," says Joshua March, the chief executive of Conversocial, which offers customer-service software to travel companies. "But the really significant piece in this instance was the inability to effectively scale the response."

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Southwest had no script for handling an event of this magnitude.

"It was really rough," says Robert Jordan, the airline's executive vice president and chief commercial officer, who describes the IT catastrophe as a "thousand-year flood." The airline sent 50-percent-off vouchers to passengers affected by the outage, and in some cases paid for them to fly to their destinations on other airlines. All told, he says Southwest spent "tens of millions of dollars" trying to make amends.

"We know we messed up," he adds. "We know we have to work really hard to regain our passengers' trust."

Southwest is still cleaning up. Russell's delayed flight to Las Vegas is among the thousands of cases still being processed. Under most circumstances, a full refund for a replacement flight would be a tall order, but these are not normal circumstances.

IT disasters of this scale are unusual. Back in 2012, United Airlines experienced several days of delayed flights and sluggish customer service as it struggled to integrate the IT systems of United and Continental Airlines. Last July, United also suffered an outage that made it cancel hundreds of flights after a network router stopped working.

Asked if passengers could have done anything to get to their destinations faster during such a systems collapse, Jordan paused. So many things went wrong during the event that the normal tricks didn't work. You couldn't fall back on calling the airline because even the call-center employees didn't have access to their IT systems.

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"There just isn't a good answer," he says.

That's the consensus of the customer service experts, too.

Elaine Allison, a former flight attendant and on-board service manager who now offers training courses in customer service, says passengers are powerless to negotiate their way around a total systems failure. She happened to be in Las Vegas during the week of Southwest's outage, but was lucky enough to be flying on another airline.

"Pack at least one day of clothing and small amenities, plus all medications, in a carry-on, in the event luggage is checked and immediately not retrievable," she says. Russell handled the situation correctly by rebooking his flight on another airline, she says. Southwest must refund a ticket when it cancels a flight.

The trick, says customer service expert Teri Yanovitch, is to look forward and not back. Southwest needs to figure out how to say it's sorry without losing its shirt, and customers need a game plan should they get caught in a future systems failure.

"Southwest needs to explain the situation and how Southwest will prevent it from happening again," she says. "As a customer, the best you can do when all critical IT systems are down is to keep calm, don't take it out on the employee  it is not their fault  and consider your options for alternate transportation based on the situation."

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Research suggests that Southwest can make a full recovery, Yanovitch says. When a recovery is handled correctly, 96 percent of the customers will return. And when it's not? In 2012, when United Airlines suffered its first meltdown, it was the world's largest airline. Today, it's No. 3.

Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United. Email him at chris@elliott.org.

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Have a ball at 'Downton'

Missing "Downton Abbey," the British period drama that wrapped up its sixth and final season on PBS earlier this year? Pop over to London this holiday season and attend the Downton Abbey Christmas Ball at Highclere Castle, where much of the series was filmed. Friendly Planet Travel has put together a package that includes the ball and a stay in festive London. It's being offered for a limited time at a $400 discount, which puts the airfare-included price at $2,399 per person, double occupancy. The package calls for departing the U.S. on Dec. 14 and returning on Dec. 19. You'll have time to explore the city on your own, as well as with a half-day vintage London bus tour. The visit to Highclere Castle, about 45 miles outside the city, takes place on the third day. The festivities involve a dressy reception, a three-course dinner and caroling around Highclere Castle's Christmas tree. Gateways include Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. Though the booking deadline to get the discount is the end of August, readers of this column have until Sept. 13 if they use coupon code CTDOWNTON. 800-555-5765, tinyurl.com/gnxpt4z

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Learn while you travel

Road Scholar's name is pretty much a tipoff that its tours are going to be educational. The company began roughly 40 years ago as Elderhostel, with an emphasis on older adults and learning as a lifelong experience. Today, the nonprofit operation has a different name and has expanded to offering more than 5,000 learning adventures worldwide. Nineteen new trips in the U.S. and Canada run the gamut from exploring the very historic and very French Quebec City to learning about the natural and man-made wonders of Florida's Forgotten Coast, which boasts the amazing National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and a state park with one of the world's deepest freshwater springs. Another trip is titled Greek Retreat in the U.S.: Greek Philosophy, Culture and Legends. This California-based adventure is held at St. Nicholas Ranch, a retreat and conference center in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Among the activities are a Greek cooking class, Greek dancing, lectures on Alexander the Great and a visit to a Greek Orthodox convent. That six-day, five-night tour is priced from just $625 per person, double occupancy. Check out all 19 tours at tinyurl.com/jo9wl46.

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Oyster aphrodisiac

If you're looking to spice up your romantic life, Oyster.com is here to help with Nine Hotel Rooms that Encourage Naughtiness. Some of the offerings left us feeling as if the author of this list were scraping the bottom of the naughtiness barrel. Are you really pining for a place in the Poconos with a heart-shaped whirlpool? The Hotel Pelirocco in Brighton, England, isn't messing around with its Kraken's Lair Suite, featuring a stripper's pole and mirror above the bed. At SLS Las Vegas, minibars are stocked with "intimacy kits" for "sinners." Hmm. Do you really want that stuff chilled? Check out the lascivious list for yourself at tinyurl.com/hzu6vjq.

Phil Marty is a freelance writer.

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A Bio-One employee begins to work at the home where six people were found murdered on the 5700 block of South California Avenue in Chicago on Feb. 10 2016. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Bill Muir was burning out as an operations manager for a beverage company and started looking for another career. When his brother-in-law used a handgun to kill himself, Muir decided to clean up his sister's place.

Her gratitude for his gesture of grit and kindness gave him an idea. Five months later, Muir became a crime-scene cleaner.

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"I wanted to start helping people," he said one recent afternoon before fielding a call to clean up a homicide scene. "And seeing my sister's face after  I knew this is how I can help."

In starting Naperville-based Bio-One Chicago last year, Muir and his wife, Dawn, joined the ranks of a profession that blends the demeanors of a funeral home director and grief counselor with a construction contractor who has a strong stomach and intimate knowledge of biohazard disposal. It also is a largely unregulated profession experiencing steady growth, fueled by increasing fear of contamination and disease, and awareness that the services exist, experts say.

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"It's a hard thing to do," said DuPage County Coroner Dr. Richard A. Jorgensen, who uses Aurora-based Aftermath Services LLC to clean the county morgue. "It's something that's little-understood."

Bio-One, Aftermath and other local companies are called to homicides, suicides, unattended deaths and the homes of hoarders. Sometimes, they are asked to clean the interior of cars and trucks where a trauma has occurred. Sometimes they are called to clear a meth lab.

"When people ask me what I do, they say, 'wow,' and then they get really interested," said Dan Reynolds, a lieutenant in the New Lenox Fire Protection District who started Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup in 2007 with his wife, Kelly, to supplement his income. "But I don't think they understand what all goes into it. They don't understand the emotional side of it."

Potential clients are enduring the worst time of their lives, cleaners say.

"Nobody calls me on a good day," Reynolds said. "Trying to understand what they're going through is a big part of it."

Chemicals and cleaning products from Bio-One, a company that specializes in biohazard disinfection and decontamination, as a crew arrives to clean up an apartment in Chicago, Wednesday, July 27, 2016, following a natural, unattended death of an individual. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Nightmarish scenes

When a cleaner arrives on a site, bodies are gone but the dreadful signs of what happened remain, including body fluids and matter on floors, walls and ceilings. Insects, rodents, feces and overwhelming odor also can be present.

Reynolds recalled a job several years ago, when he was called to a murder scene in a third-floor apartment on Chicago's South Side. The victim had been dead for several days, during which time the sink overflowed, flooding the third-floor unit and apartments below it.

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"We were out there for a couple weeks," Reynolds said.

Muir handled a recent, notorious crime scene: the murders of six family members in a brick bungalow in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood on Feb. 2. Five employees worked for 12 hours to restore the home, Muir said.

At a church service for the victims, Diego Uribe, a relative, hugged Muir and praised him for cleaning the home, Muir recalled. About three months later, Uribe and his girlfriend were charged with the killings.

"I was dumbfounded," Muir said.

Both pleaded not guilty in June and are scheduled to return to court Sept. 14.

Graphic scenes can crowd the minds of cleaners, and the most jarring of those images involve child victims, Reynolds and Muir said.

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"You have to be really good at removing yourself from the situation," said Reynolds, 42. "Once you put it in terms that you're there to do a job and help the family, it becomes a little easier."

Muir, 48, said he copes with the most nightmarish scenes by visualizing how loved ones of the victim want the room to look after his work  as if the victim never occupied it.

"That basically takes me right out of it," he said. "You gotta go back to always helping first."

Nobody calls me on a good day. Trying to understand what they're going through is a big part of it.  Dan Reynolds, co-founder of Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup

Many companies, few regulations

Crime- and trauma-scene cleaning companies trace their roots to the early 1990s, said Andrew Yurchuck, president of the American Bio Recovery Association, an industry trade group. In the early days, a dozen or so companies existed, he said. Today "500 to 800 companies specialize in it" nationwide.

Contamination awareness is one reason, Yurchuck and others said. Perhaps just as powerful were the feature films "Cleaner" in 2007 and "Sunshine Cleaning" in 2009, which center on main characters who clean up after a trauma.

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The movies raised awareness, industry representatives said, as did social media. Companies flooded the market about seven years ago.

"There are very few barriers to entry," said Tina Bao, senior vice president of marketing for Aftermath, the Aurora company with 24 locations throughout the country. "Anyone with a bucket and a mop" can open a business, she added.

Other reasons for growth include property managers' increasing unease with cleaning contaminated units, and more municipalities pushing to clear dangerous residential hoarding.

The result, local crime scene cleaners said, is that business has nearly tripled in recent years.

To clean up after a homicide or suicide, workers venture into a home wearing biohazard suits, often with breathing apparatuses. Their feet are wrapped in durable coverings; their gloves taped at the wrist.

Eliminating biohazards is a multi-step process that uses proprietary chemicals. Muir described four stages that start with an enzyme to open cells, then another material that kills bacteria. That is followed by a "Formula 409 on steroids" for cleaning and a polish he called "kind of like a glass cleaner on steroids."

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Biohazards are disposed of in specially designed plastic bags that go inside containers and eventually are destroyed with pressurized steam sterilization.

Cleanup costs of most homicides and suicides confined to one room range from $1,500 to $3,000, Reynolds said. Doing the same for an unattended death  in which the body has been decomposing for days  is more complicated, he added. Those conditions often force cleaners to remove and rebuild floors, walls, ceilings, even ventilation ducts and fans to eliminate odors, fluids and other matter.

Companies must comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for their employees, and the Environmental Protection Agency dictates biohazard disposal.

But crime scene cleaning remains a largely unregulated industry, and disputes over estimates and final bills occur.

Sometimes those disagreements rise to litigation. Aftermath was sued in Texas in 2012 by families who claimed the company low-balled estimates for work that ended up costing much more. The case was settled in 2014.

Bao said Aftermath, purchased by a private equity group in late 2012, "essentially is a new company" that has established more thorough and transparent procedures for potential clients.

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Bill Muir of Bio-One, a company that specializes in biohazard disinfection and decontamination, unpacks cleaning supplies and specialized gear as he and technician Vince Petronzio, right, arrives to clean up an apartment in Chicago, Wednesday, July 27, 2016, following a natural, unattended death of an individual. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Rewards of tough job

Crime scene cleaners say the work has made them more aware of violence but also given them a greater respect for life.

They have been amazed at the viciousness people can display  and impressed at the emotional strength of those enduring loss. They say the work has instilled in them the importance of kindness and helped them avoid getting aggravated by life's smaller tribulations.

"There are days," Reynolds said, that "make you lose your faith in humanity" and he thinks about leaving the business.

"But then something happens with a positive outcome," he added. "You get somebody to smile for the first time in a week. There's something very rewarding about that."

Muir said he has shed stress-related maladies that plagued him in his previous job, and is healthier and happier since making the career change.

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"I feel better about everything I do now than I have for the last 46 years," he said. "I'll never leave."

tgregory@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @tgregoryreports
On Aug. 16, 1996, a crowd of visitors at Brookfield Zoo looked on in horror as they saw a toddler tumble more than 15 feet into a habitat, landing near seven gorillas. But as zoo patrons cried out for help, expecting the worst for the 3-year-old boy lying on the concrete below, an unlikely hero emerged.

Binti-Jua, a rare western lowland gorilla, lumbered over to the boy, cradled him in her arms, carried him to a doorway and laid him gingerly at the feet of waiting paramedics. The female gorilla appeared to act out of purely maternalistic compassion for the human child.

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Binti Jua, an 8-year-old female western lowlan gorilla, is shown in an image from television rescuing a toddler who fell into the primate exhibit on Aug. 16, 1996, at Brookfield Zoo (WLS-TV)

"She picked up the boy, kind of cradling him, and walked him around," Sondra Catzen, a zoo spokeswoman, told the Tribune at the time.

At first it appeared the boy had been knocked unconscious by the fall, witnesses told zoo officials, but he was alert and crying when paramedics reached him. The boy was treated at a hospital and recovered fully.

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Within a few days, camera crews and reporters from England, Germany and Australia clamored to film Binti lounging at home. Dozens of people offered money to "adopt" her. And a Chicago grocer offered 25 pounds of free bananas.

Binti Jua, on Aug. 21, 2000, at the age of 12 at Brookfield Zoo. (Stephanie Sinclair/Chicago Tribune)

Binti's action 20 years ago was recalled by some people when a similar incident was in the news recently. In May, a 4-year-old boy fell into a moat at the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo. That accident had a much sadder outcome: a gorilla dragged the child for 10 minutes before the animal was shot and killed by a response team that believed the boy's life was in danger.

A male gorilla with a child who fell into a moat at the Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016.

Binti-Jua means "daughter of sunlight" in Swahili, but as an infant she had little real mothering. Born in the Columbus Zoo in Ohio in March 1988, she was treated with indifference by her mother, officials said. Humans had to cradle and handfeed Binti with a bottle. As she grew, other female apes groomed and socialized her.

Binti-Jua, then age 17, holds her male newborn in May 2005. (Carl Wagner / Chicago Tribune)

Once mature, Binti learned the basics of nurturing  to the benefit of her own offspring and, in a touching moment that captured the world's attention, an injured little boy.

Text from Chicago Tribune archives, wire reports.
Sister Gwendolyn Durkin began work in the early 1950s at Mercy Hospital as a psychiatric social worker. (Religious Sisters of Mercy)

Sister Gwendolyn Durkin, a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy, was the CEO of Mercy Hospital in the 1960s, leading the institution through remarkable times of challenge and change.

"Her love was Mercy Hospital," said Sister Rosemary Connelly, executive director of Misericordia Heart of Mercy, where Durkin also spent some time. "She was a very successful administrator."

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Durkin's tenure as CEO from 1963 to 1969 included temporarily housing and feeding several hundred "refugees" from the city's infamous 1967 snowstorm. But her greatest challenge was the move to a new building in 1968, which made Mercy Hospital the city's newest hospital instead of its oldest.

"It was very much her vision as well as others to build a new facility," said her nephew Bryan Durkin. "She very much oversaw the development, funding and construction and had full responsibility for transferring all the patients in the old facility to the new hospital."

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Durkin, 91, died of cancer July 30 in Mercy Circle in Chicago, Bryan Durkin said. She had lived in Mercy Convent on the city's Far South Side since retiring in 1999.

She was born and grew up on the South Side, one of six children of Irish immigrant parents from County Mayo. After grammar school at St. Ethelreda, she went on to high school at the now-closed Academy of Our Lady, also known as Longwood.

She went on to earn an undergraduate degree from St. Xavier University in Chicago and later got a master's degree in sociology from Loyola University, according to her nephew.

She was working as a social worker for Catholic Charities when she made the decision to enter the Religious Sisters of Mercy order.

"We entered the order together in 1949," Connelly said, adding that most of those entering the novitiate then were younger than Durkin. "She was always the heart of the group. She had a wonderful sense of humor and could make fun out of any situation. She was really a gift to all of us younger ones."

After professing her vows as a nun of the order, Durkin began work in the early 1950s at Mercy as a psychiatric social worker. She was director of Mercy clinics from 1953 until becoming CEO in 1963.

"I was a young sister in 1963 at the old hospital," said Sister Susan Butters. "She took me under her wing."

Butters said Durkin had a knack for handling problems, from a small 1963 fire to that 1967 blizzard. "She knew how to deal through thick and thin," Butters said. "She never let anything set her back."

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Durkin left Mercy in 1969 for work that included stints with Illinois in children's services and as an assistant administrator, first with Misericordia and then for four years at Holy Cross Hospital in the Chicago Lawn community.

She returned to Mercy in 1976, working there for more than 20 years, including a long stint as vice president of human resources and general administration and later on special projects before retiring in 1999.

In 2002, she received the Woman of Mercy Award given by the Women's Board of Mercy Hospital and Medical Center during the hospital's sesquicentennial celebration.

"She was deeply dedicated to the call of the Sisters (of Mercy)," her nephew said.

Durkin said his aunt promoted the values of faith in her family and quietly helped many others as they faced and worked through challenges. "She dedicated her life to the poor, the sick and the forgotten," he said.

Durkin guided and encouraged young members of her own family in matters of education and careers, and set a strong example with her own accomplishments.

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"She was no shrinking violet," Durkin said. "You never wanted to disappoint Sister Gwendolyn."

Durkin is survived by a number of other nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews and great-grandnieces and nephews.

Services were held.

Megan is a freelance reporter.
Seven activists who have recently protested police brutality gathered in Chicago to decry the shooting death of Arshell Dennis, the son of a Chicago police officer. Aug. 15, 2016 (Marwa Eltagouri) (Chicago Tribune)

Seven activists who in recent months have protested police brutality gathered on the South Side on Monday afternoon to decry the killing of Arshell Dennis, the 19-year-old son of a Chicago police officer.

"This young man was taken supposedly by our own, and we're going to stand up for (Dennis)," activist Ja'Mal Green said. "We want this killer to be brought in so that we can have justice. Because (Dennis) didn't deserve this. Nineteen years old. Nineteen."

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Green was arrested last month during a protest of fatal shootings by police and charged with hitting one police officer and trying to disarm another.

He was among the activists who met at the corner of West 82nd Street and South Sacramento Avenue in the Wrightwood neighborhood, where Dennis was shot and killed Sunday morning. He died hours before he was due to return to college at St. John's University in New York, according to his family.

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 10 Chicago police Sgt. Arshell Dennis, right, listens to Detective Brendan Deenihan at police headquarters May 5, 2017, as he gives details of the charges against Anthony Moore, the teen accused of shooting and killing his son Arshell Dennis III the previous summer. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Dennis and a friend were hanging out on the front porch of a residence when a gunman approached, possibly from a vehicle, and opened fire, police officials said. The friend, 20, was shot in the arm and side.

The victim's father, Officer Arshell "Chico" Dennis, and Superintendent Eddie Johnson once worked together as patrol officers in the Gresham District, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Dennis' death is being investigated as a case of mistaken identity, based on what detectives know about Dennis' family, about that block and about the neighborhood, according to Guglielmi.

Activists Monday expressed their support for Dennis' family, and told reporters that they condemn violence against police officers and their families. They marched briefly around the block, chanting, "We must love" and "Guns down, peace up."

"We want to let people know that this is not the new normal. That our community is not taking this lying down," said Michael Davis, the local block club president and member of the Wrightwood Improvement Association. "In the wake of what's going on today in Minneapolis and other cities where we see police shootings and riots, we want people to know that we protest peacefully, for both situations that involve police and that involve criminals. It doesn't matter to us which."

meltagouri@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @marwaeltagouri
Police are asking for help in finding a man who tried to solicit a child in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side last week.

The man approached a child as he was walking home from Eugene Field Park, at 5100 N. Ridgeway Ave., around 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from the Chicago Police Department.

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The man started talking to the boy and made a lewd comment that scared the child, according to the release. The boy was able to walk away from the man.

The suspect is described as a man with a dark complexion who is between 30 and 35 years old. He is 5-foot-8 and weighs about 275 pounds. The man is bald and has a tribal tattoo on his upper left arm. He was last seen wearing a white tank top and tan short pants, according to the release.

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Anyone with information should contact detectives at 312-492-3810.
The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund overpaid retirees nearly $2.8 million in recent years because of a misinterpretation of state law, fund officials said.

More than a quarter of the money has been returned, and officials are continuing efforts to collect the rest, fund officials said.

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According to pension fund officials, 234 retirees were paid benefits that exceeded the amount they were owed after a 2012 policy change led the fund to send out benefits based on a date before those individuals actually left the school system. The overpayments were first reported by the Better Government Association.

Some of the overpayments were substantial. Information provided by the pension fund showed 20 retirees were paid between roughly $32,000 and $217,000 more than they were owed. The average overpayment was just less than $12,000.

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Fund officials said they determined the policy that led to the overpayments violated state law in 2014, and later moved to establish a procedure for retirees to repay the money.

"As fiduciaries of the Fund, the Board cannot ignore its larger responsibilities and we will work to recover all monies as quickly as possible," said pension fund board President Jay Rehak, who was the fund's interim executive director when the error was discovered.

"The Board of Trustees recognizes that some of our members have been inconvenienced and rightfully frustrated in this process," said Rehak, who helps represent the Chicago Teachers Union alongside retirees, school administrators and Chicago Board of Education members on the fund's board.

"We extend our apologies to them, and thank them for the patience and support they have shown."

jjperez@tribpub.com

Twitter @PerezJr
James Rhee has been charged with theft of more than $500,000 and controlling a financial crimes enterprise, officials said. (Cook County Sheriff's Office / Handout)

The longtime employee of a north suburban wig manufacturer is accused of stealing nearly $1 million from the company.

James Rhee, 56, of Carpentersville, pleaded not guilty in Cook County court Monday to charges that he diverted $962,000 from his former employer, Chade Fashions, into accounts he controlled.

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Prosecutors said Rhee made a series of unauthorized transfers into five accounts between 2001 and 2013 while working as controller at Niles-based Chade, which makes and imports hairpieces, extensions and other "hair apparel," according to its website.

Rhee was not charged until recently because it took time to gather the financial records needed to build a case against him, prosecutors said. He is charged with theft of more than $500,000 and controlling a financial crimes enterprise, officials said.

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Company officials at Chade Fashions could not be reached for a comment.

Prosecutors said Rhee was fired from Chade when the alleged thefts were discovered after another employee noticed accounting irregularities. Prosecutors also said Rhee wrote a letter in Korean to the company's owner apologizing for the alleged thefts.

Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin on Monday ordered Rhee to surrender his passport and any firearms in his possession, and she set his bond at $100,000. The judge said he must submit to electronic home monitoring if he is released from jail on bond.

Chade's website says the company uses products made from synthetic and human hair that is imported from several Asian countries and "all over the world."

Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed a $363 million property tax increase last year to pay pension funds for police and firefighters. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Chicago homeowners looking for a small measure of relief from higher property tax bills will have to wait until the holiday season.

City Hall on Tuesday asked for proposals from nonprofit groups to manage its property tax rebate program, which will allow more than a third of homeowners whose tax bills went up to get up to $200 back.

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But applications won't start being processed until Oct. 1, with a submission deadline of Nov. 30, said Molly Poppe, a city spokeswoman. That means checks won't be mailed until the end of December or early January, she added.

The city is asking nonprofit agencies that run other programs designed to ease the financial strain on lower-income people to submit proposals. Such groups run home energy and income tax assistance programs.

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They would be required to process applications at about 20 neighborhood locations, such as libraries or senior centers, Mondays through Saturdays. They also will have to promote the effort, with a goal of boosting participation. When Mayor Richard M. Daley offered rebates in 2010, more than 160,000 eligible homeowners didn't apply.

Aldermen approved this rebate plan last month after Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to increase the homeowner's property tax exemption went nowhere in Springfield.

The mayor had aimed to spare owners of homes worth $250,000 or less from paying more as a result of last year's approval of a record-high real estate tax hike to increase city contributions into pension systems for police officers and firefighters.

Under the rebate program, city homeowners must pay their property tax bills, then apply to get some of the money back  if they qualify.

The rebates will decline as incomes climb, with a limit of $75,000 in annual earnings per household to be eligible. Rebate amounts also would be lower for folks who had lesser tax increases. For example, a family earning $50,000 to $75,000 that saw its taxes rise $200 to $250 would get a rebate of $75.

Renters would not get a break, as some aldermen wanted, because a "rental rebate will be difficult and costly to administer and enforce," according to an outline handed out by the mayor's aides. But all senior citizens who are eligible for rebates, no matter what amount, would get an extra $100 back.

The city estimates that about 155,000 of the city's 425,000 or so homeowners would qualify for a rebate, with an average check of $150. It would cost the city $21 million if everyone took advantage.

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @ReporterHal
A wildfire broke out Tuesday and spread at a staggering pace in every direction through drought-parched canyons east of Los Angeles, burning at least a dozen buildings  including some homes  and prompting evacuation orders for entire communities.

The blaze that began as a small patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had scorched 15,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains. By nightfall, it had churned up and over ridges and was descending into the Mojave Desert.

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"The smoke is on the desert floor," said Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Snaking walls of flame rising 50 to 100 feet high turned nearly two dozen square miles of chaparral to ashes, along with outbuildings and homes in the ranchlands 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

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"I can confirm that we've lost structures, both residential and commercial," Sherwin said at the scene of a hard-hit cluster of ranches. "I'm looking up here and I'm seeing buses, I'm seeing outbuildings, I'm seeing houses."

At least a dozen buildings had burned, including the Summit Inn, an historic diner near Interstate 15, he said.

Mandatory evacuation calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, ranging for the ski resort of Wrightwood to the sprawling high desert town of Phelan, with more than 14,000 residents.

"This fire is burning in significantly different terrains at multiple elevation levels," making it difficult to fight, Sherwin said.

Hundreds of animals, including dogs and horses, also were evacuated.

The flames were fueled by thick stands of drought-stricken brush in the canyons and grass at lower elevations. The flames burned faster in the grassy areas, making them less likely to burn homes but also making them more vulnerable to wind shifts, Sherwin said.

The fire forced a shutdown of Interstate 15, leaving commuters stranded for hours.

Blue Mountain Farms, a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire  just as it was for another fire in the area a year ago.

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"Breathing smoke again, just like last year," Shannon Anderson, a partner in the ranch, said as she panted into the telephone. "It's raining ash."

Ranch hands used hoses to wet down fences and anything else that could burn.

Six firefighters were briefly trapped by flames at a home where the occupants had refused to leave, forcing the crew to protect the house, fire officials said.

"We were fully engulfed in smoke," county firefighter Cody Anderson told KCBS-TV. "It was really hard just to see your hand in front of your face."

"We just hunkered down and sat there and waited for the fire to blow over," he said.

Anderson and another firefighter were treated for minor injuries.

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Gov. Jerry Brown quickly declared a state of emergency in the fire area, freeing up special resources and funds for the firefight and recovery.

As that fire surged, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.

Their relief, however, was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend along with 16 smaller fires dating back to last summer.

Investigators in Northern California said Tuesday they had been building a case against the suspected arsonist, 40-year-old construction worker Damin Anthony Pashilk, for more than a year but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest until the weekend blaze ripped through Lower Lake.

Nearly a decade ago, Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters. He was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to fight wildfires for four months in 2007.

The fire destroyed 175 homes, Main Street businesses and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake.

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"What I'd do to him, you don't want to know," said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbor's home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. Cancilla still doesn't know the fate of his own home and spoke at a center for evacuees set up at a high school.

"A lot of people want to hang him high," his wife, Jennie, added.

An attorney listed as representing Pashilk did not return a call requesting comment. Pashilk is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Roughly 1,600 firefighters were making progress on the blaze as it burned through wilderness. It was 34 percent contained.

Associated Press
Firefighters work to contain embers on the remains of a house destroyed by the Clayton fire in Lower Lake, California. (Gabrielle Lurie / AFP/Getty Images)

MIDDLETOWN, Calif.  A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

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California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time," Pimlott said.

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The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

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In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge," he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire."

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

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For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

"It's a poor community," he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. "There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them."

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to more than 8 square miles. The fire destroyed 12 homes over the weekend and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake. It was only slightly contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.

Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced Monday.



The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.



The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organization. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.



The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six U.S. government agencies.





The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon. In July 2008, the seven-emirate nation also repatriated UAE citizen and Guantanamo prisoner Abdulah Alhamiri at the same time that Afghanistan and Qatar each accepted one prisoner a piece.



In the United Arab Emirates, the state-run WAM news agency had no reports on the Guantanamo transfers on Tuesday and UAE officials declined to immediately comment on the Pentagon announcement.



The United Arab Emirates is a major regional military ally for the U.S., as it hosts American military personnel targeting the Islamic State group with airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Dubai's Jebel Ali port is the most frequently visited by ships of the U.S. Navy outside of America.



Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the U.S. was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention center's closure.

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"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Wolosky said.



It's unclear what has happened to prisoners the UAE previously took in, though it's widely believed they undergo some sort of government-monitored rehabilitation. Of those already taken in, there have been no complaints of maltreatment, said Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the British-based advocacy group Reprieve, which represented one of the Yemenis released.



"From what we've learned, they've been treated pretty well," he told The Associated Press. "They've been banned from traveling and any meaningful communication. ... They've actually been OK. Arabic is the main language and its pretty close to home."



Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. for any reason. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.





Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced Monday are a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office."



U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as "hardened terrorists."



The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 percent are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected during the Bush administration.



According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in U.S. military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by U.S. special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target U.S. and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

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In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he hasn't expressed any anti-U.S. sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little "insight into his current mindset."



One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.



A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the U.S., which they identified as "an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad."



Returning Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen would be difficult amid a two-year civil war raging in the Arab world's most impoverished country. The conflict there pits an internationally recognized government, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies. The UAE is a part of that Saudi-led coalition.



There was also no immediate reaction in Afghanistan on the transfer of the three Afghans from Guantanamo to the UAE.



Associated Press
Travis Guedry and his dog Ziggy glide through floodwaters in Sorrento, Louisiana on Aug. 17, 2016. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

BATON ROUGE, La.  Authorities went door to door and car to car to check for bodies Tuesday, and homeowners began the heartbreaking task of gathering up soaked family photos and mucking out houses dank with bayou mud, as the floodwaters started to recede across parts of southern Louisiana.

Lester Duplessis walks down a flooded street to his house Aug. 16, 2016, in Gonzales, Louisiana. (Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images)

Even as the water fell in some areas, it was rising in other places downstream, where people furiously filled sandbags and fled to shelters.

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Officials painted a stark picture of the crisis so far: at least 40,000 homes damaged and 11 people killed in some of the worst flooding in Louisiana history, touched off by as much as 2 feet of rain in 48 hours. Over 30,000 people have been rescued since Friday, with more being brought to safety by the hour.

There were scattered reports of looting, and Gov. John Bel Edwards said parishes with widespread damage would be placed under curfew beginning Tuesday night.

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The smell of muddy water hung heavy in the air as people donned surgical masks and began the back-breaking job of ripping out soggy carpet, drywall and insulation. They cleaned out spiders and cockroaches that had bubbled up through the sewer grates.

Raymond Lieteau, 48, returned to his home in the Woodlands neighborhood of Baton Rouge to survey the damage Tuesday and begin cleaning up. The water line on a mirror showed that he had more than 5 feet of water inside his home.

Danny and Alys Messenger canoe away from their flooded home after reviewing the damage in Prairieville, La., on Aug. 16, 2016. (Max Becherer / AP)

"My furniture is all over the place," he said. "It's just amazing."

The bedroom floors were buckled and the walls bowed, and the swimming pool, once a crystal-clear blue, was filled with brown water.

His wife, Daniella Letelier, put on rubber gloves and began sorting through stacks of family photos, removing them from their sleeves and placing them on a table to dry out. Many of the photos were of her 15-year-old daughter, Olivia.

"I can't live without her pictures. It breaks my heart," she said.

Officials started going house to house to make sure everyone was accounted for and searched the countless cars that had been caught in the flooding.

"I don't know we have a good handle on the number of people who are missing," the governor said.

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More than 60,000 people had signed up for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and 16 parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total to 20.

And help was coming from quarters beyond the federal government.

Performer Taylor Swift told The Associated Press that she is donating $1 million to flood relief. She said the state's residents graciously welcomed her when she kicked off the U.S. dates of her "1989 World Tour" in Louisiana last year.

"The fact that so many people in Louisiana have been forced out of their own homes this week is heartbreaking," the 26-year-old said in a statement. "I encourage those who can to help out and send your love and prayers their way during this devastating time."

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a total loss.

In Tangipahoa Parish, Parish President Robby Miller said at least 7,500 homes had flood damage, meaning they took on anywhere from an inch of water to water up to the roof. That number could go as high as 10,000, he said, which would be about a quarter of the homes in the parish.

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Dramatic Rescue Caught On Camera In Louisiana (DailyPress.com)

Officials from Livingston Parish were in Baton Rouge on Tuesday to talk to federal officials about getting some sort of temporary housing for their first responders  a sign of the housing crunch that's likely soon too come with so many people out of their homes for weeks and perhaps months.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as the water made its way toward the Gulf of Mexico. In Ascension Parish, some small towns were already inundated. In St. James Parish, authorities called for volunteers to help fill sandbags.

Nearly 800 evacuees were gathered in a makeshift Red Cross shelter established in Gonzales at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, a multipurpose facility that has hosted rodeos, car and truck shows and concerts. Even more people escaping the flood were at an RV park on the site.

Tables were stacked with supplies, and a short line of people waited for medical assistance at the nursing station. Music played outside, while children with hula hoops and other games appeared oblivious to the nearby flooding that threatened their homes.

Evacuated cows and horses were housed on the property, along with pets rescued.

Jared Henry, 39, a chemical plant worker who raises rodeo bulls at his 35-acre home in Gonzales, had moved his 50 bulls to Lamar Dixon as his property flooded, swimming some of the bulls to safety. Henry said his trailer home was raised off the ground and not damaged, but he wasn't sure if it would remain that way. He lost everything before when a fire destroyed his home.

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"So when I saw this coming, I took the few things of sentimental value, got all the cows, the puppy dogs," Henry said after feeding the bulls a batch of hay. "Anything else can be replaced. I care about my animals more than anything in this world."

The governor said he is worried about "battle fatigue" setting in as rescuers and residents deal with day upon day of stress.

The trauma was evident among people who went back Tuesday.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of "muddy, nasty bayou water." There were fish and thousands of spiders, and mold had started to grow. The backyard was still under water, with only the safety net surrounding his children's trampoline visible.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably," he said. "But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family."

Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya  The soldier pointed his AK-47 at the female aid worker and gave her a choice.



"Either you have sex with me, or we make every man here rape you and then we shoot you in the head," she remembers him saying.



She didn't really have a choice. By the end of the evening, she had been raped by 15 South Sudanese soldiers.



On July 11, South Sudanese troops, fresh from winning a battle in the capital, Juba, over opposition forces, went on a nearly four-hour rampage through a residential compound popular with foreigners, in one of the worst targeted attacks on aid workers in South Sudan's three-year civil war. They shot dead a local journalist while forcing the foreigners to watch, raped several foreign women, singled out Americans, beat and robbed people and carried out mock executions, several witnesses told The Associated Press.



For hours throughout the assault, the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed less than a mile away refused to respond to desperate calls for help. Neither did embassies, including the U.S. Embassy.



The Associated Press interviewed by phone eight survivors, both male and female, including three who said they were raped. The other five said they were beaten; one was shot. Most insisted on anonymity for their safety or to protect their organizations still operating in South Sudan.



The accounts highlight, in raw detail, the failure of the U.N. peacekeeping force to uphold its core mandate of protecting civilians, notably those just a few minutes' drive away. The Associated Press previously reported that U.N. peacekeepers in Juba did not stop the rapes of local women by soldiers outside the U.N.'s main camp last month.

Some of the more than 30,000 civilians sheltering in a United Nations base in South Sudan's capital Juba for fear of targeted killings by government forces walk by an armored vehicle and a watchtower manned by Chinese U.N. peacekeepers on July 25, 2016. (Jason Patinkin / AP)





The attack on the Terrain hotel complex shows the hostility toward foreigners and aid workers by troops under the command of South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, who has been fighting supporters of rebel leader Riek Machar since civil war erupted in December 2013. Both sides have been accused of abuses. The U.N. recently passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution to send more peacekeeping troops to protect civilians.



Army spokesman Lul Ruai did not deny the attack at the Terrain but said it was premature to conclude the army was responsible. "Everyone is armed, and everyone has access to uniforms and we have people from other organized forces, but it was definitely done by people of South Sudan and by armed people of Juba," he said.



A report on the incident compiled by the Terrain's owner at Ruai's request, seen by the AP, alleges the rapes of at least five women, torture, mock executions, beatings and looting. An unknown number of South Sudanese women were also assaulted.



The attack came just as people in Juba were thinking the worst was over.



Three days earlier, gunfire had erupted outside the presidential compound between armed supporters of the two sides in South Sudan's civil war, at the time pushed together under an uneasy peace deal. The violence quickly spread across the city.



Throughout the weekend, bullets whizzed through the Terrain compound, a sprawling complex with a pool, squash court and a bar patronized by expats and South Sudanese elites. It is also in the shadow of the U.N.'s largest camp in Juba.

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A South Sudan soldier patrols the street in Juba, Souh Sudan, on July 11, 2016. According to reports from victims which came to light Aug. 15, 2016, South Sudanese troops, fresh from winning a battle against opposition forces in the capital, Juba, on July 11, 2016, went on a nearly four-hour rampage through a residential compound popular with foreigners. (AP)





By Monday, the government had nearly defeated the forces under Machar, who fled the city. As both sides prepared to call for a cease-fire, some residents of the Terrain started to relax.



"Monday was relatively chill," one survivor said.



What was thought to be celebratory gunfire was heard. And then the soldiers arrived. A Terrain staffer from Uganda said he saw between 80 and 100 men pour into the compound after breaking open the gate with gunshots and tire irons. The Terrain's security guards were armed only with shotguns and were vastly outnumbered. The soldiers then went to door to door, taking money, phones, laptops and car keys.



"They were very excited, very drunk, under the influence of something, almost a mad state, walking around shooting off rounds inside the rooms," one American said.



One man wore a blue police uniform, but the rest wore camouflage, the American said. Many had shoulder patches with the face of a tiger, the insignia worn by the president's personal guard.



For about an hour, soldiers beat the American with belts and the butts of their guns and accused him of hiding rebels. They fired bullets at his feet and close to his head. Eventually, one soldier who appeared to be in charge told him to leave the compound. Soldiers at the gate looked at his U.S. passport and handed it back, with instructions.



"You tell your embassy how we treated you," they said. He made his way to the nearby U.N. compound and appealed for help.



Meanwhile, soldiers were breaking into a two-story apartment block in the Terrain which had been deemed a safe house because of a heavy metal door guarding the apartments upstairs. Warned by a Kenyan staffer, more than 20 people inside, most of them foreigners, tried to hide. About 10 squeezed into a single bathroom.

Bullet holes are seen in a metal door that was shot open at the Terrain compound after it was looted the previous month in the capital Juba, South Sudan, on July 11 in this photo taken Aug. 3, 2016, and released by Adriane Ohanesian. (Adriane Ohanesian / AP)



The building shook as soldiers shot at the metal door and pried metal bars off windows for more than an hour, said residents. Once inside, the soldiers started ransacking the rooms and assaulting people they found.



Some of the soldiers were violent as they sexually assaulted women, said the woman who said she was raped by 15 men. Others, who looked to be just 15 or 16 years old, looked scared and were coerced into the act.



"One in particular, he was calling you, 'Sweetie, we should run away and get married.' It was like he was on a first date," the woman said. "He didn't see that what he was doing was a bad thing."



After about an hour and a half, the soldiers broke into the bathroom. They shot through the door, said Jesse Bunch, an American contractor who was hit in the leg.



"We kill you! We kill you!" the soldiers shouted, according to a Western woman in the bathroom. "They would shoot up at the ceiling and say, 'Do you want to die?' and we had to answer 'No!'"



The soldiers then pulled people out one by one. One woman said she was sexually assaulted by multiple men. Another Western woman said soldiers beat her with fists and threatened her with their guns when she tried to resist. She said five men raped her.



During the attack on the Terrain, several survivors told the AP that soldiers specifically asked if they were American. "One of them, as soon as he said he was American, he was hit with a rifle butt," said a woman.



When the soldiers came across John Gatluak, they knew he was local. The South Sudanese journalist worked for Internews, a media development organization funded by USAID. He had taken refuge at the Terrain after being briefly detained a few days earlier. The tribal scars on his forehead made it obvious he was Nuer, the same as opposition leader, Riek Machar.

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Upon seeing him, the soldiers pushed him to the floor and beat him, according to the same woman who saw the American beaten.



Later in the attack, and after Kiir's side declared a ceasefire at 6 p.m., the soldiers forced the foreigners to stand in a semi-circle, said Gian Libot, a Philippines citizen who spent much of the attack under a bed until he was discovered.

Debris lies in the Terrain compound after it was looted the previous month in the capital Juba, South Sudan, on July 11, in this picture taken Aug. 3, 2016 and released by Adriane Ohanesian. (Adriane Ohanesian / AP)





One soldier ranted against foreigners. "He definitely had pronounced hatred against America," Libot said, recalling the soldier's words: "You messed up this country. You're helping the rebels. The people in the U.N., they're helping the rebels."



During the tirade, a soldier hit a man suspected of being American with a rifle butt. At one point, the soldier threatened to kill all the foreigners assembled. "We're gonna show the world an example," Libot remembered him saying.



Then Gatluak was hauled in front of the group. One soldier shouted "Nuer," and another soldier shot him twice in the head. He shot the dying Gatluak four more times while he lay on the ground.



"All it took was a declaration that he was different, and they shot him mercilessly," Libot said.



The shooting seemed to be a turning point for those assembled outside, Libot said. Looting and threats continued, but beatings started to draw to a close. Other soldiers continued to assault men and women inside the apartment block.



From the start of the attack, those inside the Terrain compound sent messages pleading for help by text and Facebook messages and emails.



"All of us were contacting whoever we could contact. The U.N., the U.S. embassy, contacting the specific battalions in the U.N., contacting specific departments," said the woman raped by 15 men.



A member of the U.N.'s Joint Operations Center in Juba first received word of the attack at 3:37 p.m., minutes after the breach of the compound, according to an internal timeline compiled by a member of the operations center and seen by AP.



Eight minutes later another message was sent to a different member of the operations center from a person inside Terrain saying that people were hiding there. At 4:22 p.m., that member received another message urging help.



Five minutes after that, the U.N. mission's Department of Safety and Security and its military command wing were alerted. At 4:33 p.m., a Quick Reaction Force, meant to intervene in emergencies, was informed. One minute later, the timeline notes the last contact on Monday from someone trapped inside Terrain.



For the next hour and a half the timeline is blank. At 6:52, shortly before sunset, the timeline states that "DSS would not send a team."

A safe that was shot open is seen in an office at the Terrain compound after it was looted the previous month in the capital Juba, South Sudan, on July 11, in this photo taken Aug. 3, 2016 and released by Adriane Ohanesian. (Adriane Ohanesian / AP)





About 20 minutes later, a Quick Reaction Force of Ethiopians from the multinational U.N. mission was tasked to intervene, coordinating with South Sudan's army chief of staff, Paul Malong, who was also sending soldiers. But the Ethiopian battalion stood down, according to the timeline. Malong's troops eventually abandoned their intervention too because it took too long for the Quick Reaction Force to act.



The American who was released early in the assault and made it to the U.N. base said he also alerted U.N. staff. At around dusk, a U.N. worker he knew requested three different battalions to send a Quick Reaction Force.



"Everyone refused to go. Ethiopia, China, and Nepal. All refused to go," he said.



Eventually, South Sudanese security forces entered the Terrain and rescued all but three Western women and around 16 Terrain staff.



No one else was sent that night to find them. The U.N. timeline said a patrol would go in the morning, but this "was cancelled due to priority." A private security firm rescued the three Western women the staffers the next morning.



"The peacekeepers did not venture out of the bases to protect civilians under imminent threat," Human Rights Watch said Monday in a report on abuses throughout Juba.



Asked why U.N. peacekeepers didn't respond to repeated pleas for help, the U.N. said it is investigating.



"Obviously, we regret the loss of life and the violence that the people who were in Hotel Terrain endured, and we take this incident very seriously," the deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters Monday. "As you're aware, we have called on the national authorities to investigate this incident thoroughly and to bring the perpetrators to justice."



The U.S. Embassy, which also received requests for help during the attack, "was not in a position to intervene," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters Monday. She said the U.S. ambassador instead contacted local government officials, and she noted that the Terrain area was controlled by South Sudanese government forces at the time.



Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that "during the fighting throughout the city, the U.S. Embassy in South Sudan responded to distress calls from the compound and urgently contacted South Sudanese government officials, who sent a response force to the site to stop the attack."



"We are deeply concerned that United Nations peacekeepers were apparently either incapable of or unwilling to respond to calls for help. We have requested and are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the United Nations and demand swift corrective action in the event that these allegations are substantiated," she said in a statement.



The assault at the Terrain pierced a feeling of security among some foreigners who had assumed that they would be protected by their governments or the hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers almost next door.



One of the women gang-raped said security advisers from an aid organization living in the compound told residents repeatedly that they were safe because foreigners would not be targeted. She said: "This sentence, 'We are not targeted,' I heard half an hour before they assaulted us."

Associated Press
Aetna is pulling out of 11 of the 15 states it serves on the Obamacare exchanges. Longtime readers of this column will be unsurprised at the reason: It's losing substantial amounts of money on its exchange policies.

That's not necessarily the only reason, of course. Companies in heavily regulated industries  and health care is now probably our most heavily regulated sector outside of nuclear power plants  spend a lot of time engaging in n-dimensional chess games with the various government entities that have jurisdiction over their operations. Public statements and market moves may be exactly what they look like. Or they may be part of a complicated strategy involving some third, fourth or eighth factor that does not, at first glance, appear to be much related.

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In this case, it has been delicately suggested that the company may have in mind its proposed merger with Humana (and that related announcements by Anthem are designed to aid Anthem's Cigna merger). The government is currently suing to block both mergers; the companies would, obviously, like them to go through. The deals would consolidate an industry that currently has five major insurers down to three, giving them considerably more pricing power with both customers and providers. Because the individual market is a relatively small piece of their business, those mergers are probably worth a lot more to them than whatever goodwill the companies earn by losing money on the exchanges.

The losses are not to be ignored. Insurance regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission do not give the firms much room to claim that they're losing money if they're actually making it hand over fist. Even if that weren't the case, the failure of so many co-ops, which don't have other lines of business, suggests that these markets are not, on the whole, a good place for insurers to make money. But it's at least plausible that if the government weren't blocking their mergers, these companies might be willing to go along with those losses for a few years in order to generate some regulatory goodwill for their broader business.

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If that's the case, the question is: What matters to regulators more? Blocking the mergers, or keeping the exchanges healthy? That's not an easy question. As of this writing, it looks as if Aetna's withdrawal will leave at least one county  Pinal, in Arizona  with no insurers at all selling exchange policies. And it seems unlikely that Pinal County will be the last to lose all its insurers unless something pretty drastic changes in these markets.

The state regulator has made hopeful noises about persuading someone to pick up the business. (Remember the regulatory goodwill we mentioned above?) But regulators in relatively small states don't necessarily have that much clout with big insurers who can afford to keep taking these losses for years. California can plausibly say "Play ball with us or get ready to lose our nearly 40 million citizens as potential customers," but a big corporation probably does not tremble in fear of the mighty market-shaking powers of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. And more locally concentrated firms cannot simply keep eating large losses for an indefinite period. It is obviously a problem  for politicians, as well as customers  if a growing number of people have a theoretical right to buy health insurance but cannot actually buy any.

But allowing the mergers to go through could well mean price increases in other markets. Bigger insurers gain more pricing power against rapidly consolidating provider networks. They also gain more pricing power with customers. Industries dominated by a few major players are not, in general, known for their high quality and low costs. Allowing the mergers to go through could stave off the immediate problem with the Obamacare exchanges at the cost of raising insurance costs for everyone else  and giving Democrats big headaches in 2018 and 2020.

The calculation is further complicated by the fact that the exchanges and the mergers are regulated by different agencies. Health and Human Services ultimately oversees exchange operations, while the attorney general is the one trying to block the mergers. They both work for the same president, of course. But it would not be the first time that internecine battles between different parts of the same government further complicated an already complicated game.

Whatever the truth of the matter, and whatever the outcome, we can expect to see a lot of such quandaries going forward. The exchanges do not seem to be stabilizing; instead, they seem to be growing more unstable over time, particularly outside large urban areas where there are enough providers and slack capacity in the health-care system to provide some check on the problems that have plagued insurers elsewhere.

Insurers cannot simply go on eating those losses forever. They certainly won't do so for free. Unless the exchanges get a rapid infusion of healthier customers who pay substantial premiums without using much care, insurers are going to keep pulling out of the areas where they are losing money. Or at the very least, they will demand benefits from the government to make it worth their while to stay.

Bloomberg View columnist Megan McArdle writes on economics, business and public policy.
How would Donald Trump assess Donald Trump's candidacy? As he might put it: A lot of people are saying his campaign is an operation on behalf of the Democratic Party to destroy the Republicans.

"A lot of people are saying"? That's not a very high evidentiary standard. What else?

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Well, to start there is the photo. You know the one, where Trump and his new bride Melania are rubbing elbows with the Clintons. Bill Clinton spoke with Trump right before Trump announced his candidacy. Trump has of course contributed to Clinton campaigns in past as well. This doesn't even get into the fact that Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton are friends.

All of that adds up to a lot of conjecture and coincidence. It's more likely there is a less sinister explanation for Trump's obvious political errors in the general election: An isolated egomaniac rejects the advice of political professionals.

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And yet the "Trump is a plant" theory has more compelling evidence than Trump could amass for claims like "Obama founded ISIS." The Republican candidate's wild lunges and errors in recent weeks, particularly on national security, certainly do more harm to his own adopted party than to those he purports to target.

This is not just because Trump's comments about the Islamic State, the Iraq War and the Khan family (to name just three) are comically false. They also let President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton off the hook. It's easy to dismiss a crazed accusation about Obama being the founder of a jihadi organization; it's much harder for the administration to respond to serious and pointed criticism of its foreign policy.

Let's start with the Iran deal. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that $400 million in cash arrived in Iran just as the Iranians were releasing Americans they had detained. Republicans in Congress are now following up. On Aug. 12, Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz wrote a scathing letter to Obama asking him whether the payment to Iran violated U.S. prohibitions against financial interactions with Iran. This is the kind of fodder that a typical Republican presidential campaign would seize upon. Trump's campaign doesn't even seem to be trying.

Then there is a report released last week from House Republicans on the Intelligence, Armed Services and Appropriations Committee. It didn't get much airtime because the political conversation was dominated by Trump giving Clinton and Obama the ISIS MVP award and musing about the "Second Amendment people."

Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama of being the "founder" of the Islamic State militant group and Hillary Clinton as being its "co-founder." Aug. 10, 2016. (WGN-TV) (Chicago Tribune)

The report found that in 2014 and 2015, U.S. Central Command intelligence analysts' accurate and pessimistic assessments of Obama's new war against the Islamic State were often edited out of the finished product.

"I believe the reporting out of U.S. Central Command, which showed a rosier picture about U.S. efforts against ISIS, led the United States to inadequately provide resources to take on the threat that has now grown and metastasized against the U.S.," Rep. Mike Pompeo, an author of the report and a Republican member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told me.

This falls into a pattern. Obama, like most modern presidents, engages in selective disclosure of state secrets. Filmmakers are provided extraordinary access to research a movie about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At the same time, the White House slow-rolled House oversight committees in their investigation of the 2012 attack at Benghazi. So far, the few documents released to the public from the 2011 bin Laden raid paint a picture of an antagonistic relationship between bin Laden and Iran. Former officials who have studied them, like former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn, say there are still classified documents from the raid that show Iran and al-Qaida enjoyed a much cozier relationship.

This critique of Obama is not as bold as calling him the founder of the Islamic State. But it has the benefit of being true. Trump's current approach has the benefit of helping his political opponents. So again, it's worth asking who in the end really gains from Trump's paranoid, fact-free campaign style. After all, a lot of people are saying it's Hillary Clinton.

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Bloomberg View

Columnist Eli Lake writes about politics and foreign affairs.
Protesters gather at the University of Texas-Austin campus to oppose a new state law that expands the rights of concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons on public college campuses, on Oct. 1, 2015. (Ralph Barrera / AP)

Three University of Texas professors were informed last week that they will be "subject to discipline" if they try to ban concealed handguns from their classrooms. The warning was issued in a state legal brief connected to the professors' lawsuit seeking permission to prohibit guns in class.

It's hard to imagine a more vibrant canvas for culture war than the Texas campus-carry mandate, which went into effect at state colleges and universities earlier this month. Texas is gun country, and the state has joined a half-dozen others that guarantee campus-carry rights. But the University of Texas flagship campus in Austin is an elite institution and a liberal citadel in a state that caroms between business conservative and right-wing nutty.

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The pointy-headed professors may once have had their run of the expansive Austin campus. But Republicans in the state legislature showed them who's boss: "You want boys in the girls' bathroom? We can top that. We'll give you loaded guns in your classroom."

Naturally, the three professors cited legal arguments in their complaint. There is a First Amendment claim that fear of guns in the classroom will chill academic freedom and robust speech. There is a creative Second Amendment claim that the Texas law makes no allowance for campus gun-toting to be "well regulated" in any way that enhances the personal safety of the professors and others. There is a Fourteenth Amendment due-process claim that the professors' rights have been trampled.

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But the gist of the lawsuit, best gleaned between the lines, is basically: "Are you nuts?"

Professor Jennifer Lynn Glass "has specific concerns about her safety, and the safety of her students," the complaint states. "She has witnessed in her own classroom a verbally aggressive student, disappointed in a grade handed out during class, displaying a level of animosity and aggressiveness toward Professor Glass' teaching assistant that, had the current concealed carry rule been in place, would have left her hesitant to confront the student in defense of her teaching assistant and urge a reasoned discussion of the matter at hand."

Professor Lisa Moore said that an ideologically motivated student had once enrolled in her class to "monitor" Moore's "homosexual agenda." Another student made troubling statements and took steps that she deemed "personally threatening."

With campus carry, the line between aggression and violence is no more certain than before. It's just that the potential consequences are more catastrophic.

As Professor Mia Carter pointed out, some university students have "mental health issues." They are psychologically unstable and stressed out, and inviting them to carry a concealed weapon is probably not a great idea. "She has been threatened," the complaint states, "and so have other students."

The professors already lost this battle in the political arena, and they seem no more likely to prevail in the courts. The gun movement and its attendant politicians are in charge here, and if the pointy heads don't want to submit to gun culture in their workplace, they'll have to leave either their profession or the state. Meanwhile, state professors will probably want to ratchet down debate in class and institute a strict regime of political correctness, Texas-style. Gun culture has a low tolerance for hurt feelings.

Bloomberg View

Francis Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View.
President Barack Obama said: "In America, politicians should not pick their voters; voters should pick their politicians."

Illinois needs a change in its constitution to get this done. Existing elected officeholders should not determine the voting areas for their own elections. An independent authority should be assigned to do this important work, just as the Independent Map Amendment proposes.

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It will be up to the Illinois Supreme Court to enforce the constitution and let voters make this needed change through a citizen-initiated amendment. By reversing this lower-court ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court has the chance to restore the democratic rights of Illinois citizens. It has been 22 years since it has ruled on a citizen initiative. It's time for it to step up and allow voters to take back power from Springfield politicians.

The Illinois Supreme Court should uphold the rights of Illinois voters granted to them by the 1970 constitution.

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 Robert Kastigar, Chicago
In a recent Perspective piece, "The harrowing lives, and deaths, of Muslims victimized by Islamist extremism," writer Abdi Nor Iftin suggests that Muslim deaths are under-reported by Western media, and that citizens of Western countries aren't aware of Muslim lives lost. But the press does regularly report these Middle East and African killings, as well as the savagery of Islamic State.

This op-ed mimics others that suggest the West is heartless, and somehow we should save the world by taking on people's battles as they emigrate to the U.S. It is great to hear that Somalis are happy to be in the U.S. and appreciate the generosity they have encountered here. But the suggestion of bias against the plight of Muslim victims is uncalled for.

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 Dennis Petrille, Naperville
One of two men wanted by authorities investigating their alleged criminal involvement with Aurora's Latin Kings street gang was arrested Tuesday at Miami International Airport on his way back into the country from a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to Aurora police.

Alvaro Robledo is among 16 men accused of belonging to the Latin Kings gang and charged with multiple felonies after a long-term investigation into drug dealing and firearm sales in the Aurora area, authorities announced Friday, the same day Robledo turned 23.

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Robledo, who is associated with an address in the 500 block of Hoyles Street in Aurora, is charged with single counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a church in connection with the investigation dubbed "Operation Tri-Lambs," derived from the nickname of one of its targets.

Robledo was taken into custody at about 10 a.m. Tuesday by Customs and Border Protection agents working with both the FBI's Miami and Chicago offices and Aurora police, Aurora Police Department spokesman Dan Ferrelli said in an email. Robledo is currently being held in Miami-Dade County awaiting extradition back to Illinois, Ferrelli said.

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The investigation, which spanned almost three years, was conducted by the Aurora Police Department, the FBI and the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. It culminated Friday with the unsealing of Kane County grand jury indictments against the 16 men, according to officials.

The investigation involved undercover narcotics and weapons buys and the use of confidential informants, all Latin Kings members themselves. Charging documents indicate the buys were all recorded on audio or video.

A total of 96 felony charges have been filed against the 16 men.

All of the felony charges brought through the investigation are state charges and will be prosecuted by the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. Most of the men targeted by the investigation have documented criminal histories involving narcotics, weapons and other alleged violent offenses, according to the news release.

Robledo is one of them. In April 2011, he was found guilty of selling, manufacturing or buying an explosive bullet and sentenced to 180 days in county jail, Kane County records show. He was also charged with possessing marijuana and other drugs at the time, but those charges were dropped.

At least three times  in December 2011 and January 2012 in Kane County and in February 2012 in Kendall County  he has been found guilty of contact with a street gang member while on probation. He's also been found guilty of other misdemeanors and ordinance violations including disorderly contact and obstructing a police officer.

On Thursday, seven of the men wanted in the investigation were taken into custody after about 90 Aurora police officers and FBI special agents executed arrest warrants at suspects' homes or places they were known to frequent. Five of the men had already been arrested and charged in connection with the investigation, two were in prison on unrelated charges and two remained at large, according to authorities.

Now that Robledo has been apprehended, authorities said they are looking only for Leonel A. Martinez, a 29-year-old whose last known address is in the 2400 block of Devonshire Court in Aurora. Martinez is charged with eight counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

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Martinez is described by authorities as 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes and tattoos on his chest, left arm and right wrist.

Police ask anyone with information on his whereabouts to call special operations investigators at 630-256-5600 or their local law enforcement agency at 911. Callers who wish to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of as much as $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of either man can call Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000. Tips can also be submitted through the department's "My PD" app.

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
East Aurora High School Principal Anthony Crespo (right) may be heading over to the school's extension campus as principal. (East Aurora School District / Handout)

Just over one week before school starts in East Aurora School District 131, officials announced plans to bring in a new principal for East Aurora High School.

The district has also hired a new administrator and, according to school board President Annette Johnson, the board has moved toward extending the contracts of the district's two interim superintendents.

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At East Aurora High School, Principal Anthony Crespo is set to become principal of East Aurora's extension campus, which houses alternative programs. The high school's current assistant principal for student services, Marina Kosak, will likely become the interim principal at the high school, the district's interim superintendents, Mark McDonald and Marion Hoyda, said in a statement Tuesday.

The extension campus principal, Jessica Orstead, will likely become an assistant principal at East Aurora High School.

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The changes are set to go into effect for the coming school year, which starts Aug. 25. The interim superintendents plan to evaluate the positions and make recommendations later this year for the following school year, McDonald said in an email. Kosak's salary will likely be adjusted, but McDonald said the final amount has not yet been decided.

Interim East Aurora superintendent Mark McDonald (East Aurora School District 131 / Handout)

"Since joining District 131, our goal has been to evaluate the district structure and make changes where they make sense," McDonald and Hoyda said. "It is vitally important to us that all of our schools have the best teachers and administrators we can find. We think these changes will support the work of teachers and students in both schools."

Johnson said the school board has also asked the district's lawyers to draw up contract extensions for McDonald and Hoyda. Though the contracts have not yet been given final board approval, Johnson said they would likely last through June 2018, and would not include salary changes.

McDonald and Hoyda took over leadership of the district in July, replacing former superintendent Mike Popp, who reached a severance agreement with the school board months earlier. Their current contracts set their salaries at $1,000 per day for work days less than 10 hours, and $1,200 for days that run longer. They are also reimbursed for expenses and mileage.

Both are retired superintendents, so they can work no more than 100 days per year before they could face pension penalties. So far, they are typically in the district different days and focus on different areas, Johnson said.

McDonald said he and Hoyda attempted to establish a consistent schedule determining which days each of them would work, but, given the hiring in the district over the summer, they "altered our schedules to meet the district's needs." They should now be able to develop a more consistent schedule, he said.

"That said, we will still respond to the needs of the district when necessary," he said.

Johnson said they have brought stability and experience to the district, and the board wanted to give them an opportunity to mentor some of the administrators they have hired this summer.

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She said she was not concerned about the 100-day limit, and it has not posed a problem so far. The two have been effective so far, she said.

Marion Hoyda is an interim superintendent at East Aurora School District. (East Aurora School District 131 / The Beacon-News)

"The district's very peaceful right now," she said.

The district has also hired a chief information and chief technology officer. Sheldon Luo was approved by the school board to take over the position beginning Wednesday. His annual salary is set at $125,000, prorated for this year, according to a board personnel report.

Luo has worked for several companies and, most recently, as chief information officer for Palatine-based Township High School District 211, the state's largest high school district. He has a bachelor's degree in applied mechanics from Hunan University in China and three master's degrees  one in finance from Webster University, one in business administration from Webster University and one in computer science from the University of Chicago, according to East Aurora.

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

Twitter @srfreish
The Yorkville City Council is moving forward with plans for the sharing of some public works equipment and services with the village of Oswego.

At a recent meeting, Yorkville officials approved an intergovernmental agreement on the program in a unanimous vote.

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The measure is part of an initiative that will allow Yorkville, Oswego and Montgomery to share and consolidate some services between the three municipalities.

Yorkville City Administrator Bart Olson said approving the pact makes sense on a number of levels.

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"It's cheaper and better to purchase one piece of equipment and share it between the three of us," he said.

The idea behind forming the pact first started in 2015 when representatives for the three towns participated in a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning workshop.

Olson noted that the collaboration is designed to promote efficiency between the three municipalities, and said they "do expect it to be used on an as-needed basis."

Olson said the idea behind sharing equipment or services is nothing new. There are several municipalities in Illinois that join together to save costs, including joint purchasing programs, shared public transportation systems and dispatch systems, he said.

"The biggest component is trust and community proximity," Olson said. "It's about establishing the foundation of shared service. It's a lot easier to work with someone when you understand their need for shared services."

Yorkville, Montgomery and Oswego have discussed a number of possible collaborations in the last two to three years.

"The first trade of services and equipment has not been finalized," Olson said of the agreement. "Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, there will be some sort of trade for sharing of equipment."

He added that possible projects could include catch basin work and fall season cleanup.

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"At the end of the year, it has the potential to save thousands of dollars in direct services or staff time," Olson said.

Olson said as part of the pact, each municipality will complete either quarterly or yearly reports to monitor and keep track of spending.

The village of Montgomery will join the pact at a later date, Olson said.

Megann Horstead is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Downtown growth, new housing and open space are among the issues being discussed as part of an update of Yorkville's comprehensive plan.

The plan provides a road map for future development in the city. The Yorkville Planning and Zoning Commission recently held a public hearing about the update to the plan.

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The current plan was adopted in 2008.

The update of the plan has been worked on by the Chicago-based planning firm The Lakota Group. Nick Kalogeresis, vice president of the company, discussed changes and recommendations outlined in the plan.

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He said the community's vision for Yorkville has changed over the years.

"You're definitely not Yorkville pre-2008," Kalogeresis said.

The process of updating the city's comprehensive plan got underway in September 2014. Among some of the proposed changes to the comprehensive plan are an added emphases on the downtown area, the addition of residential housing near shopping strips and saving of more open space.

Kalogeresis said even small changes to the comprehensive plan can make a big difference if the overall vision is kept in mind.

"We heard from the community one of the reasons they moved here is they like the small town character of Yorkville," he said. "There's a way we can maintain that feel of the environment."

Kalogeresis said downtown Yorkville is highlighted in the plan.

"We took a little bit different tactic from the last downtown plan," he said. "Our focus in this plan is to actually reorient downtown east and west, rather than making major investments along Route 47."

He said downtown development should be the community's focus moving forward. Kalogeresis said reorienting Bicentennial Riverfront Park is another key component to the downtown area.

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"We feel there are opportunities both east and west - kind of expand it a little bit more and make that a major destination not only for the community, but for tourists and visitors," he said. "It really is a great asset to have this park here and to be able to expand a little bit more might make it more of an attractive amenity."

Planning and Zoning Commission member Richard Vinyard said he thinks the plan could be a great way to foster new development in Yorkville.

"If you look at downtown Wheaton and Winfield, I mean, that's kind of the look that you're giving here," he said to Kalogeresis. "I've seen you're work there."

The Yorkville City Council will eventually vote on the update on the comprehensive plan.

Megann Horstead is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News
Just keeping up with Pat Hill during an interview is exhausting . never mind the thought of trying to match this woman's pace when she's not talking to a journalist.

There's planning for the upcoming Elburn Days, followed in a few weeks by the Kaneland Homecoming parade, which will, for the first time, travel through Kaneville, where Hill has served as village president since 2013.

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Then there's a dozen or so charitable projects that take up her time  endeavors that range from the local VNA Christmas Angels and Walter Payton toy drive to collecting clothes and dental hygiene products for an orphanage in Haiti.

Somehow, this 52-year-old wife and mother of two manages to juggle her duties as village leader with myriad philanthropic roles, all the while also running Hill's Country Store in the center of town.

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And did I mention, Hill is battling terminal cancer?

"I can either be sick on my couch at home or feeling not too good but doing something productive," she told me when I asked how she finds the energy to keep going even while struggling through brutal chemotherapy treatments.

Her battle with stage four breast cancer  Hill was diagnosed after a routine mammogram in October of 2014  and the way rural Kane County has rallied around her is the stuff stories are made of. That includes a column I did when the community was planning a benefit at Fisherman's Inn that ultimately raised $50,000, and a front page article in the Chicago Tribune a few months later, in the spring of 2015..

"They told me I had a really nice bald head," she said of the Trib photo.

Hill's upbeat attitude as she battles an unbeatable disease, combined with her incessant desire to, as one friend described it, "take care of people all the time," has made her, if not legendary in this part of the county, then certainly inspiring.

That why, when former Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez recently learned Hill's cancer had spread to her brain and the family lost its insurance after her husband was laid off, he switched gears and named her as the beneficiary of what was formerly known as the Kane County Sheriff's Car and Motorcycle Show.

Perez, a self-described gear-head, came up with the idea for a charity auto show back in 2007 while he was the county's top cop. And in those eight years, the event continued to grow, with large crowds turning out to see up to 265 vehicles on display at the Martin Family Farm in Elburn

Over $80,000, he noted, has been raised for organizations that included Fox Valley United Way, The Jayne Shover Easter Seal Rehabilitation Center in Elgin and Kane County CASA, as well as for disabled veterans and pediatric brain research.

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Last year, however, with a new sheriff in town, the annual charity event was discontinued. But Perez says he fielded so many phone calls about it, including from the Martin family, he decided to turn the once-sheriff-sponsored event into a private endeavor.

Perez had originally earmarked this year's proceeds for the Northern Illinois Food Bank -- until he ran into Hill at a grocery store and realized this woman who has dedicated so much of her life to helping others needed additional help herself.

"The food bank is a wonderful organization," Perez told me, "but they were so understanding when I told them about Pat."

It's hard not to be. It doesn't matter whether I'm talking to residents of Sugar Grove, Elburn or Kaneville, those who know Hill praise her as the hardest working, most giving person they know. And she continues to meet that description even after her cruel cancer diagnosis and the radiation and chemo that followed.

"I'm tired, I can't eat. My taste buds are shot and I have headaches and dizzy spells," she said when I talked to her on Monday. And earlier this spring she spent five days in the hospital following an allergic reaction to chemotherapy that turned into the flesh-eating MRSA infection.

From most people, that litany would sound like justifiable complaining. But Hill ticks off her list of ailments as if reciting a few Dr. Seuss stanzas about the challenges of jumping over life's hurdles.

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Hill admits she's had a lot thrown at her. Still, she'd rather talk about the homeopathic approach she's going to try in addition to the chemo she must undergo every three weeks for the rest of her life.

"If you give up, then you're done, you're dead," she said. "But as long as you keep fighting, there's still plenty of life left  and I want to live."

That fight has meant giving up some of her passions - for example, she won't participate in Kaneville Fest this year. But she's hardly sitting idle.

Disappointed that her two most recent grant requests -- for tornado sirens and sidewalks in Kaneville  got turned down, she says she's not giving up on her quest to leave the village a better place come April when her term as president is up.

While it's unlikely she'll run again, Hill is already trying to recruit a replacement she believes will bring that same energy to the job.

Filling her shoes will be tough.

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And that commitment to others is the reason Perez decided to switch gears for what is now simply the Charity Car and Motorcycle Show from noon to 3 p.m. Sept. 3 at the Martin family farm, 2S111 Green Road in Elburn.

"It may seems as if the show is benefiting just one person," Perez said. "But with Pat, it's really giving back to an entire community."

Dcrosby@tribpub.com
At age 18, Mark Dvorak bought his first guitar  while working in a xylophone factory.

"I didn't even know what the place made," he said of taking the job. "It was owned by Ludwig Drums. It was called Musser. I needed a job, I was 18. The labor union we were in was the same union as a guitar company."

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Instruments with slight imperfections were made available to the union members at reasonable prices, Dvorak said, including the guitar he bought.

"I think it cost me $40," he said. "It's still up in the attic somewhere."

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He had taken violin lessons as a child, but didn't want to continue. While his brothers played guitar, they gravitated toward rock and blues.

"I always liked folkier things," Dvorak said. "James Taylor; Peter, Paul and Mary; and Bob Dylan. So the acoustic guitar is the one I wanted to learn to play. And then later came the banjo."

Dvorak, who this year celebrates his 30th year as a faculty member of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, will perform "The Power of Song," a tribute to the late folk music legend Pete Seeger, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at Steel Beam Theatre in St. Charles.

"I go out about every year to do a concert for them, and this year I thought we'd bring our chorus out and get everybody singing a long to some of the great songs that Pete Seeger left us."

Dvorak will be joined by the 10-member Old Town School of Folk Chorus, which has performed with him in the last two years about 30 concerts in honor of Seeger, who died in January 2014  a few months shy of his 95th birthday. Seeger, whose career spanned 70 years, is known for such classics as "Turn, Turn, Turn," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

Dvorak said Seeger was a visionary who understood the power of folk music to unite people.

"His music spread around the world, and generations of people are familiar with his music. In his own words, Pete said 'I'm more interested in putting a song on your lips and less interested in putting one in your ears,'" Dvorak said. "He was never a big fan of the celebrity stardom that a lot of artists enjoyed. In a strange way he sort of bridged both of those worlds. He was a celebrity and he was a big star but he always worked mainly on the local level, but in his music and other activities and environmental activism  He touched a lot of lives, and it resonates."

Seeger and Dvorak, who is part of Weavermania!  a tribute to Seeger's folk quartet The Weavers  performed together in 2002. Seeger was in Chicago at the time to receive a lifetime achievement award for his work as an environmental activist and performed with Weavermania!

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"We got a chance to really get to know one another, and we had talked on the phone several times and exchanged letters over the years. I wasn't really, really close to him, but Pete in an interesting way, he always made it his business to find out what other people were doing," Dvorak said. "I think we were kind of a tradition-bearer, bringing old songs to new audiences. He was extremely interested in that  He was also a little critical too. He said, 'Well, those are great old songs,' (then) he goes 'Where are the new ones?' Which is really cool in a way. We took it to heart and developed some new songs. That was a very meaningful period of time for me."

Dvorak, who lives in Riverside, has recorded with Weavermania! as well as on solo albums. He is currently writing songs, and plans to record a CD of banjo music, as well as a collection of pop songs from the 1930s and 40s.

At a recent concert, audience members asked Dvorak if young people are learning folk music at the Old Town School. Students, he said, are creating their own new music, but are also looking to the past.

"It's a different take from the thing we remember as folk music from the '60s and '70s. So it's always evolving," he said. "And what I'm encouraged is there are young people that are going back to the old song  I think that young people are looking to embrace their roots or find their cultural roots and their creative roots. And folk and blues is a way to do that. It's not necessarily Grammy music, but it's real music."

Folk music, he said, is intimate and rich, often offering a personalized experience.

"I think it speaks to our deeper sensibility as human beings and thinking human beings and feeling human beings," Dvorak said. "It speaks of pain, and it speaks of suffering and it speaks of celebration. I think in this election year, those are important topics."

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Music, he said, provides a place where everyone can agree.

"When we all sing together, we don't have to recognize immediately that some of us are conservatives and some of us might be progressives " Dvorak said. "But if we're all looking for harmony on a song like 'This Land was Made for You and Me,' we have a place to begin. We have a place to agree."

Once while having lunch together, Seeger told Dvorak something that has stayed with him through the years.

"He said in our conversation, the thing I don't ever want to forget: 'Never underestimate the power of bringing harmony into the world.' Harmony goes on. You carry it forward in your life. Just like when hatred gets carried forward too and we have to have tools to battle that and violence gets carried forward," Dvorak said. "So I never forgot that. And I think about that all the time. I think about that every day. We're musicians, and one of our jobs is to bring harmony into the world, to teach harmony. I think that's what Pete was all about in the end, a very simple premise. Let's make harmony. We don't have to agree on everything, we can make harmony together."

Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.

"The Power of Song" Tribute to Pete Seeger with Mark Dvorak and Old Town School of Folk Chorus

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When: Saturday, Aug. 20

Where: Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles

Tickets: $20

Information: 630-587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com/
Army Sgt. Frank Wolowic, who served during the Korean War, visited that conflict's memorial in Washington D.C. this weekend with 20 other veterans. (Lake County Honor Flight / Handout)

A lot of crowds have been clamoring to see Francis Wolowic in the past few days.

Last week, his five sons and five daughters, plus their own children, came back to Long Grove to help him and his wife, Lorraine, celebrate their 65th anniversary. And on Sunday, the man friends know as Frank took part in the welcome-home ceremony at the end of an Honor Flight for veterans of the Korean War, to and from the memorials in Washington, D.C.

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"That was one of the most wonderful things," Wolowic said of the brief tour. "They treated us like royalty. A lot of shaking hands."

Wolowic, now 87, said he joined the Army in 1949 at age 18, and fought in Korea for a little more than 11 months. He retired from the military in 1951, he said.

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On Saturday and Sunday, Wolowic and 20 other veterans of Korea flew from Milwaukee to the nation's capitol and back on a trip made possible by Lake County Honor Flight. After returning Sunday afternoon, the group held a celebration at Naval Station Great Lakes.

Honor Flight volunteer Maggie Powell served as Wolowic's guardian for the trip. She joined the group in 2010, and has since been part of trips by bus and plane.

"My family has a strong history of being in the military," Powell said, adding that volunteering for Honor Flight was a way for her to take part in that.

When Wolowic came back from the war, his first order of business was to marry Lorraine. They moved to Long Grove in 1953, and he built their ranch home in the Towner subdivision.

When they ended up with 10 children, Wolowic ended up making a few additions.

"It was a little crowded at times," he said with a chuckle.

He said he worked as the general foreman of machining at Frank G. Hough Co. in Libertyville, where his crews built front-end loaders. He was 47 when International Harvester Co. bought Hough.

Wolowic went to work for Vernon Township after that, and he retired at 60.

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rwachter@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer
Pie Five Pizza offers made-to-order personal pizzas. Customers can choose their crust and toppings. Tuesday, August 9th, 2016, in Oak Lawn. | Supplied Photo (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown)

Any restaurant serving pizza in the Chicago area has to differentiate itself.

Pie Five Pizza Co., which opened its only Southland location in January in Oak Lawn, offers personal pizzas that bake in 145 seconds. Diners can choose the cheese, crust, fresh finishes, meats, sauce and vegetables.

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"We're a fast casual restaurant that specializes in handcrafted pizzas," said Robert Thesing, district manager for Pie Five.

"Chicago is a pizza town. Obviously we want people to get pizza their own way whether that's deep dish pizza or whether it's crispy thin crust. If they want more sauce or they want more cheese, they can get that.

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"You can customize it. We build pizzas right in front of each guest. It's not a good pizza until they say so. We're one of the fastest pie places in the industry. There's no other pizza place that can do it as fast as we can."

Starting prices include $1.99 for sweets, $3.99 for breadsticks and $7.49 for salads, design-your-own pizzas or signature pizzas. Diners building pies can choose from five cheeses.

"Definitely our classic pan crust is a hit there. It's a deep dish-style pizza. It's nice, thick crust. It gets golden brown on the outside but is buttery and cheesy on the inside and can stand up to the toppings," said Thesing, who marked his one-year anniversary with Pie Five in late July.

"Windy City Works, which is our Chicago signature pie and a unique recipe that we don't have at our other locations across the country, has marinara sauce with Italian beef and giardiniera. It's really good."

After Hamilton Partners redeveloped the former Edgar Funeral Home into Stony Creek Promenade North, Pie Five was one of the first tenants to move into the complex.

"We saw this particular location on Cicero Avenue," said Thesing, who has worked in the restaurant industry for approximately 11 years. "There's a lot of new businesses opening there. From our viewpoint, it's an up-and-coming area."

Ian Kallman is the general manager and Shelly Dempsey, of Oak Lawn, is the assistant general manager at Pie Five, which offers seating for 52 people.

"It's true to the roots of pizzerias but more contemporary in its style," said Thesing, who is responsible for nine Pie Five locations including seven in the Chicagoland area and two in Minnesota.

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"We've got fun things on the walls. We've got a periodic table of ingredients so it brings a little more lighthearted feel. It's a very family-friendly atmosphere."

Pie Five is running a school supply drive in August. Online ordering and traditional Italian crust are coming at the end of August. Teacher appreciation nights on Mondays are slated for September.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"It's all fresh. We pay a lot of attention to quality and the details that go into each pizza ahead of time," said Thesing. "Everything is done fresh every day."

Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

Pie Five Pizza Co.

Location: 10916 S. Cicero Ave., Oak Lawn

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Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily

Menu: handcrafted personal pizzas

Contact: 708-346-6129 or www.piefivepizza.com
David Kasper, a Burbank School District 111 board member who came under fire from colleagues that he allegedly moved out of the district but refused to yield his seat on the board, resigned on Wednesday, Aug. 10, according to the district. (HANDOUT)

A Burbank School District 111 board member who for months had faced questions from colleagues and community members about his residency has resigned.

David Kasper, who was first elected in 2009, submitted a letter of resignation to Board President Danette Williams, according to fellow board members and a statement posted Monday on the district's website.

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The news brought joy and relief to board members who have been trying for nearly eight months to compel Kasper to provide documentation that showed he still lived in the district following a divorce from his wife last fall.

"I'm just thrilled," board member Kathy Smith said upon learning Kasper had stepped down. "I'm glad he did the right thing."

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For months, Smith and two other school board members have asserted that public documents, including deeds, police reports and a property tax bill, raised serious doubts about where Kasper was living, and have supported an investigation into his residency.

Kasper, who did not respond to a request for comment on his resignation, had declined to address colleagues' questions about where he lived and in June voted with the majority of the board against convening a hearing to pursue the matter, board members said.

Burbank residents Pam Duzakowitcs and Roberta Roman, both former school board members, said they believed the board's reluctance to investigate Kasper's residency was politically motivated and claimed certain board members declined to pursue the issue because they could not afford to lose his vote.

Burbank board members who voted not to pursue a hearing on Kasper's residency said that discussions with the board's attorney and a lack of "actual proof" informed their decisions not to investigate the matter.

The documentation that supporters of a residency hearing provided as evidence that Kasper had relinquished his stake in the district included an executor's deed that transferred him ownership of an Oak Lawn condo and a quitclaim deed that transferred ownership of his Burbank home to his ex-wife.

Kasper's ex-mother-in-law Shirley Prescott told the Southtown that he hadn't lived in the family's Burbank home since October and that she'd been to his new condo in Oak Lawn on multiple occasions to pick up and drop off her 14-year-old granddaughter for visitations. Kasper is registered to vote in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Clerk's website.

Duzakowitcs said Wednesday that she was ecstatic to learn of Kasper's resignation, which came three days after the Southtown published an article on the controversy.

"I'm happy that now we can start moving forward and making progress in the district instead of fighting this battle every month and having to tie the board up with questions," she said.

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Board Vice President Carleen Skowronski, who supported a hearing on Kasper's residency, said she also was looking forward to moving beyond the issue.

"I hope we can now put this behind us and get onto doing the business of the board," said Skowronski, who believes the matter intensified pre-existing divisions on the board and created an unpleasant atmosphere at board meetings that she hopes will now dissipate.

"I believe we may now have an opportunity to discuss things more freely  instead of yelling at each other," she said, adding that Kasper's presence at meetings often made it difficult to have reasonable discussions.

With Kasper's seat vacated, the board can begin the process of soliciting letters of interest from community members who wish to be appointed to replace him.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

By Illinois School Code, the board has 45 days to fill the vacancy. If the remaining six board members can't decide on a replacement for Kasper within 45 days, the regional superintendent will then have 30 days to name a replacement or let the vacancy stand until the next election in April.

"I hope that [finding a replacement] is not difficult," said Skowronski, who is looking for an open-minded approach and a familiarity with the district in any potential replacement candidate

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Former board member Duzakowitcs, who lost her seat in 2015, said she would consider applying for the board vacancy, but hadn't yet made a decision.

"I put in 12 years," she said. "If somebody else wants to step up, that's great. A fresh set of eyes, a fresh set of ears, a fresh set of ideas is what we need.

"I'm hoping there will be some decent candidates who put in for it."

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter: @ZakKoeske
Authorities are pursuing charges against the driver who survived a fiery two-car crash that killed a 31-year-old Chicago Heights man and his 12-year-old daughter over the weekend in Chicago Heights, police said.

Police took the 41-year-old Chicago man into custody Monday after he was released from St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights, where he was being treated following the Sunday morning crash at Chicago Road and Lincoln Highway, according to Chicago Heights Police Chief Tom Rogers.

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"The investigation is pending, but we will be seeking charges," Rogers said.

Jose Juan Romero and his oldest daughter, who was the front-seat passenger in the 1998 BMW he was driving, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

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Three back-seat passengers, also Romero's young children, were hospitalized following the crash, police said. His 6-year-old son remained in critical children Monday, while his 4-year-old son and 2-year-old girl were in stable condition. The children in the back seat were initially taken to St. James Hospital, but were later airlifted to Stroger Hospital in Chicago, police said.

Family members who were nearby when the crash occurred tried pulling the surviving children to safety as flames engulfed the BMW, police said. Officials could not definitively say Monday what happened immediately after the crash.

Romero was northbound on Chicago Road and was going through the intersection when the other driver, who was westbound in a black 2016 Nissan on Lincoln Highway, struck Romero's BMW, police said.

Autopsy results from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office were not available Monday afternoon.

The Chicago Heights Police Department Accident Investigation Unit and members of the South Suburban Major Accident Reconstruction Team are investigating the crash.

Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Mazen Kay (left) of Orland Park and his brother Nasser Kay of Mokena at their store, Mr. Kay's Fashions, in the River Oaks Center. (Phil Arvia / Daily Southtown)

Nasser Kay has every right to think he's jinxed.

After all, the 60-year-old Mokena resident owned Mr. Kay's Fashions in Evergreen Plaza and Lincoln Mall. Both malls went bust.

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Mr. Kay's, a shoe store, has been at Calumet City's River Oaks Center for the last 15 years, just opposite Macy's. Last week, Macy's corporate headquarters announced it would close 100 stores nationwide  15 percent of the total  by early 2017.

Macy's hasn't released a list of doomed stores yet, but it isn't much of a leap to suggest the River Oaks location might make it on that list. The south 'burbs are always on those kinds of lists.

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Chains looking to trim the fat routinely slice the Southland first. Remember when even the mighty Starbucks was forced to close some stores in 2008? Three of those were within nine miles of my Southland home.

Why? There's a tale, perhaps apocryphal, about New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch attempting to coax an ad buy from a major retailer, that I think captures the essence of how our region is viewed.

"But Rupert," he was told, "your readers are our shoplifters."

We are the shoplifters, the rabble, the great unwashed.

Or, as Macy's CFO Karen Hoguet told analysts last week  amid noting the lower profits and less desirable locations of the stores eyed for closure  those stores "often don't represent the customer shopping experience that reflects our aspirations for the Macy's brand."

It's not tough to read between those coded lines.

I suppose I get it. Brick and mortar stores are having a tough time competing with the internet. So keep the shiny stores in the neighborhoods where ladies who lunch don't have to look for clearance racks or free shipping.

On the other hand, aren't the people who need the sales racks less likely to have the things necessary  computers, wi-fi, credit cards  to shop online? Aren't they more likely to need the jobs that brick-and-mortar stores provide? If such stores are going away, one might argue those "less desirable locations" should be the last to see them leave.

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Of course, River Oaks Center was never supposed to be one of those locations.

The River Oaks Macy's began life in 1966 as a Marshall Field's, anchoring what was then an open-air mall with a Sears and an Edward C. Minas (Kids, ask your parents). Built by the developers of the Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie (which opened in 1956) and Oak Brook Center ('59), River Oaks also featured an eight-story professional building, and in 1969 a stunning 1,600-seat movie theater was added at the property's southwest corner.

The Minas was subtracted long before the mall was enclosed in 1994. The theater, and the 11 that followed it, were all gone by 2006. Sears closed in 2013, along with another anchor, Carson's. The office tower came down in 2014.

It wouldn't shock Mr. Kay to see Macy's go next. That would leave only Penney's as an anchor.

"Honestly, if you've been in this Macy's over here, you can see the business isn't what it should be," he said.

So, Nasser's jinxed, right?

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"No," he said. "I don't know if this is a direction you want to go with your story, but God has always blessed me.

"We're close to the end of our lease. If Macy's goes under, we could pack up and go somewhere else. It was the same in Evergreen Park  we were at the end of a 10-year lease when Montgomery Ward and Circuit City closed."

Which is not to say he's fine with the notion of Macy's possibly closing.

"That would be devastating to this mall," he said.

Next door, at Exquisite Cutz Barbershop & Salon, 58-year-old barber Condel White was even more succinct.

"If it goes, that's it for Calumet City," he said. "If you're not careful, it'll be the next Harvey."

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To clarify, that was not a compliment. White, who relocated to the United States from Jamaica 36 years ago, lives in Harvey.

Though Exquisite Cutz was busy last Friday, there was little buzz about Macy's specifically, White said.

"I hear people saying the mall might close," he said.

The rumors might not be right. In fact, at its Aug. 8 meeting, the Calumet City Council heard a proposal to redevelop the former Sears store at River Oaks' northeast end as a flea market.

"The reason it was brought before us is the developer is asking for property tax incentives for the site," Calumet City Economic Development Department Coordinator Pete Saunders said. "There's nothing set on that right now."

Certainly, the council is aware Macy's isn't the kind of store to share space with a flea market.

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Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"I am not going to put words in Macy's mouth  and the same with Penney's," Saunders said. "We want to look at what is most favorable for the anchor tenants. We want to make sure that whatever goes in is a good fit for the mall."

Saunders, 51, has been on the job in Cal City for two months. In that time, he reached out to management at both Penney's and Macy's.

"We got no sense they had any kind of thought they may not be here long-term," he said.

Perhaps. But, on Friday, after visiting the mall, I paused just outside Macy's southwest exit. I looked across the parking lot to the movie theaters, River Oaks 1 & 4, where I worked in high school and college.

There are boards on the windows, weeds sprouting from the roof, white paint peeling from bricks.

Here is my sense: If there is such a thing as death by 1,000 cuts, River Oaks Center is on about 999. Here's hoping Macy's considers that as much as its own bottom line when it decides where to cut next.

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Phil Arvia is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.
When lifelong Frankfort resident Dorothy Porter died June 18 at age 98, a valuable local resource was silenced.

By many accounts, Porter was a natural historian and a local treasure.

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"Her wealth of information is so important," said Judy Herder, president of the Frankfort Area Historical Society. "You know, you could always go to (Dorothy) for any information. She was wonderful that way  smart as a tack."

Herder said she joined in 1980 when Porter was already a member of the historical society and a volunteer at the Frankfort Area Historical Society Museum, 132 W. Kansas St.

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She said she found Porter to be a constant and reliable source of information about the village's history.

Porter was especially valuable, Herder said, in supplying information about homes and families in the village's historic district.

"We might take Ash Street or Maple Street and she . . . would go through each file and add whatever information (she) could about the residents," Herder said.

Herder said the information was invaluable not only to the historical society but to people who purchased the homes and were excited to learn about its history.

Because of Porter's excellent memory and her lifelong residency in Frankfort, Herder said "we could just go to the file and tell them everything we knew."

Porter also helped to catalog thousands of obituaries of Frankfort residents used for the Frankfort Area Obituary Index program in the historical society and the Frankfort Community Public Library conducted as a service to the public.

Herder said Porter continued to be an important resource well into her final year of life, even when she was unable to leave her home.

Those who knew her well said they are not surprised at Porter's ability to remember the history of Frankfort, well into her 90s.

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Family friends Becky, 59, and Richard Feigel, 60, of Frankfort, said Porter might have kept her mind sharp working on daily crossword puzzles up until just weeks before her death.

Becky Feigel, whose relationship with Porter goes back to her childhood when she attended many of the Elsner functions, said she always referred to Porter as "Aunt Dorothy" and said Porter introduced her to others as "my niece."

The Feigels, who live "just down the street" from Porters home, became caregivers for the Porter home and then for Porter as needed over the last 20 years, especially when her husband Bob Porter became ill in the 1990s and died in 2002.

Despite their help, they said Porter always remained "very, very independent," insisting on doing as much for herself as she could so that, in Porter's words, she wouldn't "get lazy."

The Feigels recalled that Porter volunteered well into her 90s at St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Frankfort as a bingo facilitator for retirement home residents, many who were younger than Porter, Becky Feigel said.

But Porter didn't seem to consider herself old and believed in remaining productive wherever possible.

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"She really pushed herself," Becky Feigel said. "She would not accept help."

Selma Blackmon, 76, Porter's cousin, said Porter, born Dorothy Elsner April 1, 1918, was raised on the Elsner family dairy farm.

The land dates back to a purchase by John Elsner in 1865, Blackmon said.

Blackmon, "family historian' of the Elsners, has been documenting Elsner family history for years.

Porter attended Joliet Township High School, graduating in 1936, and went on to earn a business degree in 1940 from the University of Illinois.

After her marriage to Bob Porter in 1943, she and her husband purchased a home in Frankfort where Porter remained until her recent death.

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Described as "feisty," "full of life," and "a classy lady," Porter made a lasting impression on those who knew her.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

People interviewed for this column agreed that Porter often deflected attention away from herself.

They said Porter's undeniable passion was for the history of the Elsner family and the Frankfort area.

"She wanted the heritage of Frankfort, of the Elsner family, to carry on so generations down the road could look back," Becky Fiegel said.

Blackmon agreed.

"I really want to emphasize her knowledge and love of the history of Frankfort and the Elsner family," Blackmon said. "She was always willing to share that information."

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Memorials to Dorothy Porter may be made to the Frankfort Area Historical Society, P.O. Box 546, Frankfort, IL., 60423.

Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Greetings fellow Oak Lawnians!

Have you noticed the gigantic colorfully decorated acorns scattered about town? They are part of Oak Lawn's Acorns on Parade, a community art project, which went on display in early July.

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Acorns on Parade is the brainchild of the Oak Lawn Arts Commission ("OLAC"), a non-profit organization that formed in December, 2014. Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury, who is an avid arts supporter, wanted to bring awareness to the newly formed Arts Commission, so she encouraged OLAC to think "Big, Bold and Large" to promote itself.

Linda Vorderer, chair for OLAC and an art teacher at Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, said the acorn program has "been in planning for more than a year. We brainstormed several ideas for the sculptures and we decided on acorns."

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The acorn sculpture exhibits are similar to those found in St. Joseph, Mich. Vorderer is very familiar with those sculptures which, she said, have been a big success.

"Art in the community makes an impression on people and gets people interested in the community," Vorderer said. "The sculptures are an important part of growth and adds to the economic impact.

"Sculpture exhibits are gaining popularity. The first sculpture exhibits were lions and then the Cows on Parade were second."

The lion sculptures were on display in Zurich, Switzerland in 1986 and the popular Cows on Parade, an international public art exhibit that also originated in Switzerland in 1998, featured life-sized cow exhibits. Over 79 cities worldwide, including Chicago which hosted "the cows" in 1999, have hosted Cows on Parades or various types of sculpture exhibits.

Tasso Papadopoulos, an Oak Lawn resident and artist, created the prototype sculpture that is being used for the acorn casting mold. Once the acorns are painted and decorated, a final step before being displayed, said Vorderer, is for them to be "sprayed with auto coat, like they use on cars, so they're waterproof and weatherproof." The oversized acorns measure 3.5 feet x 3.5 feet. x 4 feet, sit on a base and, even though they are hollow, it usually takes two people to move them

Acorn sponsorship is $1,000, which includes an "acorn and the artist and painting materials. If a sponsor wants to have an artist paint its acorn or, if the sponsor has their own artist, that's fine. If not, we connect them with an artist. We facilitate a conversation between the sponsor and the artist and the artist will consult with the sponsor on image development if they need it," Vorderer said.

The program has been well received by the Oak Lawn community, including schools, local businesses and organizations, such as the Oak Lawn Children's Museum, which has its acorn on display outside the museum.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"When the acorns went on display, more sponsors were interested, so we're pleased with the results," Vorderer said.

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Acorns are still available for sponsorship. Vorderer suggests that anyone interested in sponsoring an acorn should contact Carmie O'Leary at Village Hall at 708-499-7742 or via e-mail at COleary@oaklawn-il.gov as soon as possible.

"We'd like to have everyone on board by Sept. 15," Vorderer said. Proceeds go to the Oak Lawn Arts Commission projects and events. The Commission also will host a Community Acorn Painting at this year's Fall on the Green and the public is invited to help paint an acorn.

Here's this week's celebrity announcements: Happy birthday to Rocky Martin, who's turning 19, from his parents, Neo, Roxanne and family. Kevin Weathersby's mom wishes him a happy 24th birthday. Aggie Mark wishes her granddaughter, Jackie Ferrucci, and daughter, Susan Helen Fisher a happy birthday. Kelly Bubel's family wishes her a happy birthday. Birthday wishes go out to Kim Dearth from her parents and family. Special birthday wishes go out to Dottie Arnold, from her children, grandson, family and Peanut. Happy birthday to Sara Rybicki. Birthday wishes go out to Steve Grams, from his parents, David and Gisel Grams, and Koni. Happy birthday to Tom McAuliffe, from his children, Kyle, Kody and Patrick. Jeannine McFee wishes her husband, Dave, a happy birthday. Happy birthday to Tom McKay, who's turning 64, from Denise, Cody, Shannon, Chris, Cayden and Esther. Happy 68th birthday to Randy Devillez from his family. Steve Kamper's family wish him a happy birthday.

Wedding anniversary wishes go out to the following couples: Kevin and Deborah Michicich on their ninth anniversary; John and Kathy Karakas on their 29th anniversary; Mike and Rita Hoy's 32nd anniversary; and Bill and Margaret Petzel's 49th.

Keep your fellow Oak Lawnians informed about birthdays, special events or special "stuff"going on with your family or within the community. Call me at (708) 899-9544.

Until next time...
Vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence both tout their religious backgrounds. They do this for good reason. Surveys show that a serial killer would have a better chance getting elected to political office in this country than an atheist. That is unfortunate given that Founding Father and third president Thomas Jefferson not only authored the Declaration of Independence but was a staunch defender of separation of church and state.

Rick, Monee

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I wonder how Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's wife, Melania, felt about the speech that first lady Michelle Obama gave for the opening of the Democratic National Convention. I wonder if she has claimed credit for that interesting speech because Melania should take this one and say she did this one, too, because it was a beautiful speech.

Harvey

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How many times has the president come to the City of Chicago to give a tough talk to the people of the high-crime areas? Never, unless it was to lay blame on someone else. He instead used his leadership to tell people they are victims and wronged by others. If you are in a gang, if you drop out of free high school, if you do drugs, if you are out of wedlock or do not support the family structure, where does that get you? This president has not used his leadership to get this message out. He will look back and realize he wasted his opportunity.

Orland

OK, readers, if you want a totally free college education, free health insurance, free cellular phones, free housing, free transportation, free food and you have absolutely no intentions of doing your part by getting a job to help, vote for all the Democrat politicians. The hard-working middle class and so-called rich wealthy people will do your part and carry you and your family for the rest of your lives.

Monee

The state has not changed the teacher pension benefits yet. So the thousands of dedicated, new teachers starting their careers this week and next week will receive full pensions about 35 or 40 years from now when they retire. Can you believe the legislators complained about how pensions are bankrupting the state budget, yet they did absolutely nothing to change the teachers', or any other pension plan? Thousands of new, dedicated teachers entering the system, bankrupting the state even further. What are we paying our useless senators and representatives for? They cannot even solve a simple problem like revising a pension plan. Useless imbeciles. No wonder folks are leaving the state in droves.

I'm being confused by the liberal Left Democommies (yes the Communistic Party of the U.S.A. has endorsed HRC). They keep on saying that the other party is using fear tactics, but in the same breath they say if the Republicans win it'll be the end of the world. Who is using scare tactics? The Dems seem to know the future. Why don't they win the lottery more often?

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Just following Hillary Clinton's example, I decide to claim/donate 96 percent of my charity donations this year to a very personal fund called "Daddy Pours His Money Out to His Kids Fund." Not sure how the IRS will look at this, but it is worth a try.

Donald Trump woke up this morning. How dare he.

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J.K., South Holland

You might not be a fan of the Olympics, but what stood out for me was the incredible dedication the athletes invested in their sports. However, in addition, I saw pride, patriotism, family unity and plenty of humility. It has been a nice respite from the whining, posing, law violating antics of today's high-profile professional athletes.

Evergreen Park

What's Speak Out?

Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown.
Lake County's Drug Court received high praise Tuesday from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, after he met with its organizers, operators and two graduates who credited the program with transforming them from addiction-related offenders to sober, employed county residents.

"What I've heard today is nothing short of amazing," Durbin said after hosting a panel discussion in a Lake County courtroom with local judges, the county's state's attorney and public defender, sheriff's office officials and addiction-recovery leaders.

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The local Circuit Court's Drug Court, established 12 years ago, offers potential diversion from prison for qualified offenders willing to work on their addiction problems.

Durbin said that "thank goodness," a bipartisan discussion is taking root at the federal level to discuss the country's heroin crisis and explore treatment options rather than long-term incarceration for addicts.

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He is one of the sponsors of federal criminal justice reform legislation that would address some of those issues.

"We're in the middle of an opioid and heroin crisis in America," Durbin said, adding that a startling number of young and middle-aged people across all economic lines are dying as a result.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim, a co-founder of the Lake County Opioid Initiative, said that while it may be strange to hear a prosecutor talking about prison diversion programs, he backs efforts to address addiction as a treatable illness.

"With regard to Drug Court, I'm so proud of this program," Nerheim said. "People who are addicted to drugs don't belong in prison. People who sell drugs do."

Nerheim said the ability of so many different groups in Lake County to work together, from the courts and attorneys to law enforcement and treatment providers, has made the program successful.

Lake County Public Defender Joy Gossman said Drug Court is "a wonderful program that has given my clients opportunities," but she also told Durbin that she thinks more should be done to help people with multiple convictions who have straightened out their lives find jobs with wages that can support a family.

Undersheriff Ray Rose said alternative programs such as Drug Court and Mental Health Court are necessary to work toward rehabilitation and meaningful reduction of recidivism. He said there is often a connection between mental health issues and drug addiction, and neither problem can be best treated in prison.

"The traditional ways of doing business no longer work," Rose said. He credited the initiative of the state's attorney, the public defender, judges and law enforcement for "sitting down and talking about what's going on in jail."

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U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (left) meets with Lake County officials to discuss the county's Drug Court program. (Jim Newton / Lake County News-Sun)

Rose also told Durbin that a new crisis-intervention training program for police across Lake County teaches officers to make decisions and react to situations in a way that can help defuse someone with mental health or drug issues and possibly be a first step in prison diversion.

Steve Walczak, a Drug Court graduate who now runs his own building-maintenance business, provided a voice at the table from someone who has been through the diversionary program.

"I've been in and out of prison six or seven times. I was a blackout drunk. I would black out and commit crimes," he said.

Walczak said that while he knew he had a problem, he initially resisted suggestions of Drug Court, seeking instead the shortest prison time he could get because it was a pattern he had fallen into.

He said Gossman eventually convinced him to try Drug Court, after she asked if he felt he had a drug problem.

"I said 'I'm an alcoholic.' I realized I had never said that before," Walczak said.

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In the Drug Court program, he said, "these people weren't out to send me to prison. They were there to take care of me."

After intensive treatment, Walczak graduated from Drug Court three years ago, received help in getting his driver's license reinstated and found a job. He said he now makes a point of helping treatment programs with his skills and testimony whenever he can to pay something forward for his lifestyle changes.

"I still see my old friends, but I wave and move on," he said.

Durbin said he was impressed by both the local initiatives and the information provided by Walczak and another drug court graduate, a longtime former heroin user who said she came from a wealthy family, but due to trauma in her life, turned to heroin at a young age and was on track to die on it prior to specialty court intervention.

"I think I've learned a lot," said Durbin, whose office said that according to Department of Justice data, drug court programs save an average of $5,600 to $6,200 in costs per offender due to reduced recidivism rates.

jrnewton@tribpub.com

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Twitter @jimnewton5
Officials in Lake County have teamed up to form a mental health coalition to try and identify practices needed to fix gaps in mental health care.

The coalition, lead by Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor and former State Senator Susan Garrett, will include 17 representatives from local non-profits, hospitals, county officials, educational institutions, the 19th Circuit Court and the Lake County Health Department.

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Lawlor said the coalition will examine potential changes needed to better serve those with mental help problems, such as creating a crisis center for the county and addressing a shortage of psychiatrists in the area. Lake County currently has 59 psychiatric beds and less than 100 psychiatrists serving those with mental health needs, according to a county news release.

A 2014 study by the Behavioral Health Service Area examined five Lake County communities and found 17 percent of adults in those areas reported mental illness that year.

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Lawlor said one problem is the inability to share information between service providers. If someone attends a non-profit for social services and then goes to the Lake County Health Department, neither places has access to the others records.

"Right now, a lot of the different programs and providers operate in silos so we want to break down those silos and tackle this issue because I think it is one of the most pervasive issues that we need to address as elected officials," Lawlor said.

He said other states are far ahead of Illinois when it comes to sharing information, and the coalition will look at state laws and new ways of intergovernmental partnerships.

The public will have opportunities to be involved in the coalition through subcommittees, and public outreach initiatives will be formed over the next several months, Lawlor said.

"We want to make sure we are serving individuals that have mental health challenges because if we can keep them on a drug and counseling regime and provide those with severe mental health issues stable housing and other human service needs, it is going to dramatically improve their quality of life and provide stable employment and so forth," Lawlor said.

mejones@tribpub.com

Twitter @MeganAsh_Jones
The former Bombardier Recreational Products building at 200 E. Sea Horse Drive in Waukegan is scheduled for demolition under a $2 million contract approved this summer by the City Council. (Dan Moran / Lake County News-Sun)

A million-dollar invoice for a nine-year-old project sat on a Waukegan department head's desk for four months while the City Council debated whether the city could afford to demolish a former industrial site on the north lakefront.

The council approved a $2 million demolition of a vacant industrial building on Sea Horse Drive by a narrow 5-4 vote in early July, just weeks before Mayor Wayne Motley said he was told about the outstanding bill.

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The invoice from the Illinois Department of Transportation is the final bill for completely rebuilding Sheridan Road from Belvidere Street to Grand Avenue including new street lighting and water and sewer mains, which the council originally approved in September 2007. The bill was received by the city on April 6 of this year, said Frank Furlan, an engineering consultant for the city.

Public Works Director Tom Hagerty didn't inform Motley or Finance Director Tina Smigielski of the outstanding $1.06 million payment until about two weeks ago, the two said, at which time Motley said he told Smigielski to advise the aldermen of the coming payment.

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"This is very disturbing to me," said Ald. Lisa May, 7th, one of many aldermen who raised concerns at Monday's council meeting about why the invoice wasn't brought forward earlier.

Hagerty was not at the Monday evening meeting because he is on vacation, Motley said, adding that if he thought Hagerty had done something underhanded, he would have fired him.

Records related to unpaid invoices are typically handled by the city's engineer, Motley said. The city has been using an engineering consultant for the last year instead of hiring a full-time employee, something that Motley said will be changed as a result of this project "falling through the cracks."

Hagerty did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

If aldermen had known about the payment before the demolition vote, Ald. Greg Moisio, 3rd, and Ald. David Villalobos, 4th, said it might have affected their votes.

"I was again keen on the idea of doing this project, but had I known there was a million dollars sitting for us down the road, I wouldn't have been so gung-ho for it," said Villalobos, whose ward includes the industrial site at 200 E. Sea Horse Drive that housed Bombardier Recreational Products, or BRP, and before that, Outboard Marine Corp.

"I do want to see our lakefront move away from industry," Villalobos said. "The remnants of those industries are still sitting there, but it's a project that could have waited another year."

The city paid for the demolition using its rainy-day fund, a decision Motley said he made in order to prevent property taxes from going up.

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That rainy-day fund will now also be used to pay the Sheridan Road invoice because the fund normally used to pay for such work has a negative balance, Smigielski said, adding that the city plans on requesting an installment plan to minimize the amount it has to pay this year.

The rainy-day fund will be paid back using future motor fuel tax dollars, but in the meantime, the rainy-day fund will fall below the amount city ordinance requires to be maintained, she said.

The city is also set to take another unexpected financial hit, said May, who had been critical of dipping into the rainy-day fund to pay for the demolition. Improvements to the Grand Avenue Bridge will not be reimbursed by a grant as originally expected because that grant was only intended to pay part of the engineering costs, not construction.

The council approved the $7.3 million project last May, expecting to pay $1.8 million, or 20 percent, of the cost, according to news reports. The work included rebuilding the nearly half-century-old bridge, known locally as the Mathon Bridge, which spans the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and leads to Waukegan Harbor via Pershing Road.

"This is a rainy-day situation," May said. "This is a rainy situation right here, folks  a million dollars that we didn't know was due."

Much of the asbestos abatement work has been completed at the BRP site, and while the mayor said Monday evening that demolition would start the next day, city spokesman David Motley said demolition wouldn't occur until Thursday at the earliest as asbestos abatement work is continuing.

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Ald. Sam Cunningham, 1st, proposed immediately halting demolition, but Motley said such a move would open the city of to a breach-of-contract lawsuit.

emcoleman@tribpub.com

Twitter @mekcoleman
Hoping to share risk with other members and save on premiums, Lake Zurich officials will join a 102-municipality medical insurance pool.

The Lake Zurich Village Board voted unanimously earlier this month to end the village's own self-contained, self-insurance program and join the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative, effective Jan. 1, 2017.

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The IPBC, which spreads the costs of self-insurance among its members, will stabilize premiums and reduce the risk of unexpected large claims, Human Resources Manager Doug Gibson said in a report to the board.

"Entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the IPBC will allow the village to remain self-insured while sharing the risk of health claims among a large pool of like-minded municipalities and nonprofit organizations, thus reducing the problematic monetary spikes in unpredictable claims," Gibson said.

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The IPBC was established in 1976 to offer more financial stability than the commercial insurance market, he said. Members can create and change their own plans, Gibson said.

The cooperative insures about 30,000 people and maintains reserves of more than $97 million, he said. Lake Zurich will become a member of the IPBC sub-pool called the Northern Illinois Health Insurance Initiative, Gibson said.

In June 2014, Lake Zurich switched its employee health insurance program from full insurance under United Healthcare to its own self-insurance program to try and control costs while providing benefits that were competitive with other programs, he said.

"While this cost containment strategy was successful, further long-term cost containment strategies are required," Gibson said.

Over the last year, village staff researched various options, including meeting with brokers and health insurance providers, he said. After studying various options, staff recommended the village continue some form of self-insurance to maintain benefit levels, Gibson said.

"Being self-insured allows the village to avoid the profit margins paid to (health insurance companies) but does not open the village up to exposure for unexpected claims," he said.

The IBPC is able to get lower rates by purchasing services in bulk, Gibson said. In the past five years, its premiums have risen only 2.3 percent for Preferred Provider Organization coverage and 3.3 percent for HMO coverage, Gibson said.

"Costs that occur above the provided rates would be shared by all in the sub-group, reducing the village's total liability," he said.

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Gibson did not return calls for additional comment.

Village President Tom Poynton said the move will provide Lake Zurich with some financial stability.

"IPBC has over 100 municipalities with over 30,000 insured that offer the village significant economies of scale, shared risk and premium stability that we do not have with our current standalone program," Poynton said.

Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
While a potential change to the residential leaf pick-up service could save $41,000 for Lincolnshire, a separate service from Waste Management that village officials are thinking about adding would result in a new fee for residents.

The trustees are looking into Waste Management's "At Your Door" program that allows interested residents to properly dispose items, such as household chemicals, old computer equipment and electronics that typically are difficult for individuals to dispose correctly.

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For a $1.15 monthly fee, anyone wanting to safely get rid of those items could file a request with Waste Management, which would send someone out to collect the waste. The catch for Lincolnshire residents is the fee would be mandatory for all residents, even ones not interested in the service.

Mayor Liz Brandt said many would be dismayed by the new cost, even if the convenient service appeals to some residents.

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"The blowback we could get is that everyone gets this added to their bill," she said. "This is a mandate that we're forcing on people."

The Waste Management program includes paint, oil, batteries, pesticides, gasoline and more, according to the village.
Panera Bread announced it will replace the vacant Pizza Hut restaurant at Townline Road and Route 45 in Mundelein. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)

Mundelein's wait for a Panera Bread might soon be over, as company and village officials announced plans for a new restaurant at the developing intersection of Townline Road and Route 45.

The proposed 4,156-square-foot restaurant would open in spring 2017 and include a drive-thru and outdoor patio seating, according to the village's announcement.

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"There's been a demand for a Panera Bread in Mundelein since before I started working here and I was hired about 10 years ago," said Amanda Orenchuk, Mundelein's director of community development.

The existing structure at 1575 Lake St. was previously a Pizza Hut until it relocated into a smaller carryout storefront near Lake Street and Diamond Lake Road in 2012, Orenchuk said.

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Panera Bread plans to demolish the empty Pizza Hut building, Orenchuk said. Construction plans for the new restaurant comply with zoning regulations and won't need a lengthy special hearing.

"Panera Bread has identified Mundelein as a place to grow their market presence," Orenchuk said. "The demographics of the community, traffic counts, and the rejuvenation of the Townline Square Shopping Center make this Mundelein property an attractive place to open a new bakery and cafe."

This project comes just one year after Panera Bread took over the formerTilted Kilt restaurant near Milwaukee Avenue and Townline Road in Vernon Hills and built a similar restaurant with a drive-thru.

"They're running a very successful business, I can't see them making this kind of investment if they didn't think it was sustainable," Orenchuk said. "Plus, they've had a cafe about a mile north on Milwaukee Avenue near Condell in Libertyville and were still successful enough to expand the Vernon Hills location."

About 28,000 cars travel north on Route 45 into the Townline Road intersection per day, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation, while about 29,000 cars travel west on Townline Road into Route 45.

"It's definitely a high-visibility spot and it compliments the other activities and stores in that shopping center," Orenchuk said.

Jewel-Osco and Burlington Coat Factory are the two major stores in the Townline Square Shopping Center.

While announcing plans to open a store in place of the vacant Dominick's location across town, officials from Jewel-Osco also talked about their ongoing multimillion dollar renovation at the original store in the Townline Commons Shopping Center.

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Aside from that work, an indoor swimming school and a fitness center joined the plaza in 2015, and O'Reilly Auto Parts demolished a building along Route 45 and constructed a new freestanding store, which is adjacent to the empty Pizza Hut.

Orenchuk said the construction of O'Reilly Auto Parts was delayed after crews discovered parts of an underground tank from the original farm or prior business. The 7,400-square-foot auto store opened in April.

"Those types of fast casual restaurants cater to convenience, especially parents out running errands," Orenchuk said. "Everything in that shopping center is an activity based store, except Arby's. A good mix will have businesses feeding off each other."

Some development is occurring across the street, too.

La Vina, a Latino church currently located off Seymour Avenue, received permits in May to fill the 32,000-square-foot former Party Fantasy building.

Speedway signed a sales tax rebate agreement with Mundelein in March as part of its $4.2 million renovation project, which includes a "made-to-cook kitchen" known as Speedy Cafe and a larger retail sales floor.

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The project involve Speedway buying 1.3 acres of land from the neighboring Oak Creek Shopping Plaza, and Orenchuk said that transaction has gone much slower than expected.

One project not making progress at that intersection is the long talked about Wal-Mart, which would replace most of the Oak Creek Shopping Plaza. After more than a year in court, a judge in March made a foreclosure ruling against the owner, who then filed bankruptcy a day before the May 17 auction.

"Not everything happens at once, and not everything is within our control," Orenchuk said. "We're making a lot of progress, though."

rkambic@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @Rick_Kambic
Carrie Higgins of Valparaiso speaks during a public meeting Monday at the Valparaiso Police Department for the departments re-certification by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

Area residents offered nothing but praise for the Valparaiso Police Department during a public meeting Monday that's part of the department's national re-accreditation.

More than 30 people, including several members of the police force, attended the meeting, and about 10 took to the front of the room to share their experiences and interaction with the department with a team from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA.

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Valparaiso first received accreditation from the commission in 2010. The re-accreditation process, said Louis Dekmar, a Georgia police chief and CALEA team member, requires making sure the department is still meeting the 484 standards required for accreditation. The meeting was part of an on-site assessment for that process.

Carrie Higgins, of Valparaiso, and her husband, Tom, said they've lived in Valparaiso the last 20 years and become familiar with the police department, particularly its K9 unit, the last few years.

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"I really appreciate their professionalism at all times," Carrie Higgins said, adding officers were positive role models for her children and, as young adults, they still respect the police.

George Donati moved to Valparaiso two years ago from New Jersey and said he's been impressed with what he's seen as well.

"It's nice to see a police force that will take the time to talk to you, be involved in everything, and make you feel welcome to a new town," he said. "You have no idea how good you have it."

Dan McGuire, recreation superintendent for the Valparaiso Parks and Recreation Department, said he has a close relationship with the police department, which provides officers for Central Park Plaza, the Fourth of July celebration at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, and other parks department-sponsored events.

"This is one of the best police departments here in the state of Indiana," he said.

The comments are similar to ones Dekmar said he hears in many different communities.

"We're still doing the assessment so I won't speak to this agency, but what you captured in your remarks is reflective of communities across the country," he said.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

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Submit a comment

Anyone wishing to submit written comments about the Valparaiso Police Department's ability to comply with the standards for accreditation may send them directly to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 32, Gainesville, Va., 22030-2215, or www.calea.org.
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

In the Post-Tribune on a recent Tuesday there was an article in there about manufacturing being on the rise in Indiana so the next time you Democrats want to complain about Gov. Mike Pence's job, call the Post-Tribune and complain.

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It's time for the FBI to bring Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in for questioning. What are his ties to Russia? What are his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he's willing to destroy this country and Eastern Europe?

I read in the newspaper where University of Notre Dame alumni Kenn Ricci and his wife, Pamela, donated $5 million to create a Band of the Fighting Irish and RecSports facility. It amazes me. A tax write-off is probably the primary reason so they can protect their other investments and capital, but why don't they take that money and help students out here that have loans? Student loan debt is more than $1 trillion in the United States. Let's take the burden off these children instead of giving it to some facility. They've already got all the money in the world. Why would you want to give them more? Give it to kids that are struggling to make ends meet.

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All these presidents all the way from Ronald Reagan back this way have done nothing but try to destroy the average man's way of life, the middle class and under with treaty agreements like this new Trans-Pacific Partnership among Pacific Rim countries and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Former President Bill Clinton passed NAFTA. That's why my son drives a Chevy Silverado made in Mexico and a friend of mine had a Dodge Ram made in Mexico. That's why Canadians are selling beef to Mexico. It's because of NAFTA.

I don't want health newsletters that I get to try to sell me their brand of medicines. I feel like I'm paying for commercials. Also, I don't want to subscribe to a magazine and be told by it that I can get further information by going online. Hello? I'm a customer and a subscriber. For businesses I want to contact I want a street address, not a "www" website copout.

To all the people complaining about this new rail line that Great Lakes Basin Transportation wants to put in in Lake and Porter counties: We wouldn't have that problem if we didn't turn all the old rail lines into bike trails and walking paths.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Though medical science says a fetus is not a person, exactly when does a fetus become a person? Let's see. Maybe we should ask God.

On a recent Saturday and Sunday, gasoline was under $2 a gallon and crude oil's price was down to $41 and 90-some cents a barrel. I went by again a day or so later and gas was $2.12 a gallon. If the price of a barrel of oil is going down, how come gas prices go up?

After several days of being roasted for claiming that President Obama and Hillary Clinton founded ISIS, Donald Trump falls back on his standard excuse that we don't get his sarcasm. He blames everyone except himself for all of his blunders.

How much of his alleged "huge" fortune would Donald Trump have left if he actually paid people what he owed them?

People seem to forget that we are all one country. All of these wasted millions spent to divide people just to hold power, it is just insane. That money should be spent to strengthen our people and our country.

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Congressional Republicans are blocking funding for fighting the Zika virus by tying it to efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. And they try to convince us that they are not like Donald Trump.

Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly.
The building that houses administrators for Hawthorn Elementary School District 73 is being considered as a possible future site for new classrooms, as the district struggles with climbing enrollment. (Rick Kambic / Pioneer Press)

Vernon Hills trustees have approved permits for a doublewide trailer outside Elementary School South as officials from Hawthorn School District 73 look toward more permanent solutions for their ongoing enrollment crunch.

The District 73 Board of Education voted to lease two trailers to accommodate additional students at South instead of changing school boundaries following a contentious Aug. 1 special meeting.

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Superintendent Nick Brown told Vernon Hills officials on Aug. 9 that he was able to find a doublewide trailer that can fit behind the school instead of having one trailer on each side of the building.

"I don't know how many board members have been in these type of facilities, but I have been in several of them and they're quite nice, to be honest," said Village Trustee Barbara Williams, who noted that her daughter is a school principal.

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The mobile classroom plan was approved 4-0 and trustees set a two-year limit. Village Trustee Thom Koch abstained from the zoning vote because he's employed by District 73, while Mayor Roger Byrne and Trustee James Schultz were absent.

"They're very nicely put together; they're warm in the winter and air conditioned in the summer," Williams said. "I do not have an objection to these, especially with this being tucked away in the back. That's a good place for it."

Village Trustee Cindy Hebda asked when District 73 will have a permanent plan, and Brown said a contractor will give the board of education a set of options in about six weeks.

"I can understand your space shortage, but I hope you can come up with some good plans for what to do next," Williams said. "I know it's hard, I realize that."

In a later interview, Brown said the trailer is scheduled for delivery on Aug. 18 and he thinks it will be installed and ready by Aug. 24, which is the first day of school.

Meanwhile, a number of permanent solutions to deal with overcrowding are being discussed.

Those options included repurposing the district's administration center, using the Larry Laschen Community Center and investing in new construction at the Sullivan Community Center and additions at various schools.

"All of the campuses have the potential for some form of addition, it's just figuring out which ones work best and planning everything appropriately," Brown told Pioneer Press.

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Questions were raised as to how an addition could be built at Elementary School South if trailers were on the property. Brown said the incoming trailer will be parked on buildable land, but he said construction at other schools and revisions to school boundaries can be tiered to avoid conflict.

The district's 12,000-square-foot administrative center, which is located next to Elementary School North, is already in the mix, Brown said. He noted that bathroom locations are important when looking at existing buildings, due to costs associated utility work.

"We think this building was previously a daycare or early childhood center," Brown said. "I don't know if it was part of the school district or something independent that we bought, but I've been told it did have small children in it at one point."

Between six and eight classrooms and one or two conference rooms could fit in the building, Brown said.

However, Brown said converting the administrative center would likely be done to bring preschool and early childhood classes back to Vernon Hills, which doesn't impact the district's current dilemma of primary schools being at capacity.

Hawthorn 73 is currently sending those students to Lincoln School in Mundelein, with preschool and early childhood students from Mundelein School District 75 and Fremont School District 79. All three districts are splitting the expense.

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As for the Laschen Center, officials from the Vernon Hills Park District during a meeting last summer said they intend to leave the building and move into an addition being constructed onto the Sullivan Center.

The Laschen Center was originally built in the 1950s as part of the Tally Ho Country Club and was purchased by the Village of Vernon Hills in the late 1970s and used as village hall until the new village hall was built in 2001, according to news reports. The park district has rented the building for $1 per year since 2002.

Brown said he toured the Laschen Center, but any use would likely be for school district employees only. He said the rooms are not big enough for classes, and the school board doesn't want students changing buildings unless it is a permanent move.

"I don't know if we can fit a school on that property. It's not very big," Brown said. "Everything is on the table and we're looking at all possibilities, but my suspicion is if that building were available then our possible interest would be limited to an office use."

During the design phase and permit process, park officials mentioned the possibility that District 73 would lease some of the park district's land and build a new set of classrooms.

However, later in the process park officials said District 73 might need some of the neighboring land which is owned by the village and in between the Sullivan Center and Aspen Drive Library.

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Village Manager John Kalmar during that Aug. 9 meeting confirmed that he is still in talks with District 73, the park district and Cook Memorial Library District, which is also planning for an expansion.

"This is going to be an interesting opportunity to see three or four governmental agencies working together for the benefit of the kids and the young adults in the community, plus the library goers and alike," Kalmar said. "Stay tuned."

rkambic@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @Rick_Kambic
By Thibaut Minot

Associate, International Business Advisory, Dezan Shira & Associates

The Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) remains the most popular investment structure of foreign investors setting up a company in China. Early on in the process of incorporating a WFOE, investors are faced with the critical task of deciding how much Registered Capital to commit to their company. Because overcommitted funds may become idle and delay profit repatriation  and running out of working capital puts the WFOE at risk of insolvency  the careful planning of Registered Capital commitments is necessary. For investors looking for the right balance between under-commitment and over-commitment of Registered Capital, the ability to fall back on company loans offers welcome flexibility, and can help speed up the much anticipated process of profit repatriation.

In this article, we discuss some key points to consider when committing Registered Capital to a WFOE in China, and shed light on the role that company loans can play in facilitating this decision.

Injecting Registered Capital  A Statutory Requirement?

Historically, as part of the requirements when incorporating a WFOE, investors were expected to inject a minimum amount of capital into their company to fund its daily operations until self-sufficiency was attained. Under the new PRC Company Law, minimum Registered Capital requirements have been eliminated as of March 2014 and investors can now propose the amount of capital to inject. Further flexibility stems from the fact that investors may choose the period of contribution of Registered Capital. Accordingly, Registered Capital can be gradually injected over the life of the WFOE, which can be thirty years in most cases. Within the Articles of Association, the investor specifies a capital contribution plan, which lays out the different terms according to which Registered Capital will be injected.

Nevertheless, in practice the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will scrutinize investors proposed Registered Capital contribution, assessing whether the future WFOE will be of adequate financial strength in the initial period of establishment. As such, and depending on the district where the WFOE will be registered, investors may be required to submit a feasibility study explaining operations and cash flow, and justifying the amount of Registered Capital suggested. The amount of Registered Capital ultimately required would vary according to MOFCOMs particular understanding of the companys cash flow needs, with the benchmarks for Registered Capital differing based on MOFCOMs internal standards for the region and the industry.

RELATED: Corporate Establishment Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

Making the Decision



In effect, deciding how much Registered Capital to commit to is a crucial decision. On the one hand, investors may feel reluctant to over-commit, as excess capital may sit idle in a bank account that brings no returns. Additionally, when the time comes that the WFOE is cash-flow positive and the investor wants to repatriate profits, in most cases Registered Capital will have to have been fully injected into the WFOE before dividends can be issued. However, it is vital that the WFOE has sufficient Registered Capital to fund its growth during the first 3-5 years of its life, as Registered Capital becomes the companys working capital and running out of it can jeopardize the business. It is true that increasing Registered Capital is one option available to mitigate the risk of a cash crunch if and when working capital runs out. However, while the injection of additional Registered Capital is a tax-free transaction, the complication presented is that such a method would require that the WFOEs business license be amended and a number of formal governmental registrations be updated. The whole process can take between eight to twelve weeks, which is a long time to wait for a company that is running out of cash.

Using Company Loans for Optimal Capital Allocation

In this context, there is an interesting option for the investor concerned about over-committing Registered Capital yet conscious of the risks associated with injecting too few funds into the WFOE. The solution may be to resort to a company loan  an attractive option in a number of respects.

Different from the increase of Registered Capital, a company loan can be returned to the shareholder (or related party) in accordance with the terms indicated in the loan agreement. There is considerable flexibility in this regard, as the loan agreement can be amended pending the approval of the relevant authorities. As such, resorting to company loans can help shareholders inject monies into their WFOE at a relatively low level of risk. Moreover, the application procedures are comparatively simpler than that of the increase of Registered Capital. It is estimated to require four weeks to register the foreign loan agreement with the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and open a specific foreign loan account with the bank. This is two to three times less than the time it takes to increase Registered Capital.

There is significant leeway in terms of what qualifies as a foreign loan. Most commonly, WFOEs resort to a shareholder loan or to a loan granted by a related party, such as a company that is part of the same group as the parent. Yet the WFOE is also permitted to seek out a loan from a wider range of sources, such as loans from overseas governments, loans from overseas banks and financial institutions, loans from overseas enterprises, medium- or-long term bonds issued outside of China, nonresident foreign currency deposits, international financial leases, and other kinds of international commercial loans. The underlining consideration with these financing options is the willingness of the foreign creditor to lend funds to a Chinese company. Oftentimes, the parent company abroad will be asked to provide guarantees on the loan, and as such it may become more practical for the parent company to apply for the loan itself and then lend the money to the China-based entity.

RELATED: Converting from an RO to a WFOE

Determining What Portion of the Investment May Be a Loan

Together with Registered Capital, company loans constitute the Total Investment injected into the WFOE. Within the gap between Total Investment and Registered Capital, authorities allow for a capped loan amount to be arranged between the overseas creditor and the WFOE. The below table can be used as an example of utilizing company loans based on the statutory ratios between Registered Capital and Total Investment.

Readers can further explore the option of utilizing company loans using our online calculators.

Achieving Profitability and Repatriating Profits

Because of the difficulty to accurately foresee the amount of Registered Capital needed to fund and grow their business, investors may be faced with the need to resort to company loans at some point during the life of the WFOE. More important, however, is the role that company loans have to play in helping foreign investors work towards a common goal in China; making profit and repatriating those earnings abroad as soon as possible. Because company loans can effectively act as a substitute to some Registered Capital, they allow for a lower Registered Capital commitment and, as such, the earlier repatriation of profits. Indeed, as authorities will require that Registered Capital be injected before earnings are withdrawn, a lower Registered Capital commitment can mean the earlier completion of capital injection and thereby a timely repatriation of profits. This implication is often of particular significance, as the China WFOE is frequently just one component within a wider business organization, and earnings attained in China are commonly expected to flow elsewhere.

Discussing the issue of Registered Capital commitments with a financial advisor during the early stages of the WFOE incorporation process can allow investors to pinpoint the capital allocation strategy that works best towards the envisioned profit-making objectives. To arrange a free consultation with one of the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, please email china@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 china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2015

Doing Business in China 2015 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies that already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.

Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016

Establishing & Operating a Business in China 2016, produced in collaboration with the experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, explores the establishment procedures and related considerations of the Representative Office (RO), and two types of Limited Liability Companies: the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise (WFOE) and the Sino-foreign Joint Venture (JV). The guide also includes issues specific to Hong Kong and Singapore holding companies, and details how foreign investors can close a foreign-invested enterprise smoothly in China.

Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China 2016

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in China, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes that foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in China, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in China in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their China-based operations.
Before Beijing-based artist Liu Jin, 45, started a photography residency program in Denmark last summer, his impressions of the country came from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

Visitors at the ongoing art shows at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone. [Photo provided to China Daily]

So, he used this as inspiration during his residency program.

"I don't think that Andersen's works are exclusively for children. Rather, there are metaphors and satires which reveal reality and truth," he says.

His photographs of Copenhagen and Aarhus, where he spent most of his time during the program, accentuate the peaceful, fairy-tale landscapes that reflect Denmark.

In the photos. there is always a phantom-like figure, covered in different colors standing in empty streets or forests.

The figure was modeled by Liu's assistant. In one photo, he draped the Little Mermaid sculpture with a robe.

Echoing Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, Liu uses a surreal, whimsical perspective to tell people to question things that they see.

Liu's photos are now on show at an exhibition called New Clothes for the Fairy Tales at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone, along with an installation and a video he created during his stay in Denmark.

For Eric Messerschmidt, director of the DCC, Liu's works reveal a sense of fear that sometimes belies the ideal, clean and friendly appearance of people or the objects, something which can also be found in Andersen's works.

He also says that Liu's works are a sensitive statement on the tension and unrest that the Danes feel, thanks to the refugee issue in Europe.

Besides Liu's exhibition, which opened on Saturday, the center is also staging Danish Cool, an art show introducing the late Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen.

An official platform to promote Danish arts and culture, the DCC was officially opened last May in 798, which is typically dominated by galleries and artists' studios.

It was joined by German's Goethe-Institut Beijing, which also opened a space in 798 in October.

The DCC sits in the heart of 798, close to star neighbors such as the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, the Pace Gallery and the Faurschou Foundation.

Messerschmidt says that, as the 798 management transforms the area, he sees the DCC evolving into a unique entity.

"The area is open 24 hours, so it means the center can have live performances and film screenings also," he says.

He adds that the DCC does not want to focus just on pure art like galleries typically do, but address contemporary issues on a broader scale, whether they are about arts or about society.

"We want to deal with issues that interest both Danish and Chinese, and put them into a cultural narrative."

He says that though the current exhibitions may be artistic, the center has had exhibitions about the democratic changes in Denmark and sustainable development. It wants to communicate on a constant basis such issues as climate change, sexuality and such changes in gender as women getting stronger and men becoming more feminine.

He says that the DCC also hopes to produce at least two "truly Nordic" events a year.

In March, it held a two-month exhibition, The Weather Diaries, which explored the relationship between climate and fashion design in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

"We want to keep the center fresh and cool ... and to catch people who are used to quality and spectacular events."

If you go

10 am-6 pm, Tuesdays through Sundays, until Sept 18. Danish Cultural Center, 706 Bei Yi Jie, 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5762-6100.
Workers are busy at a manufacture base of Dongbei Special Steel Group Co., Ltd. in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Oct. 13, 2015. [Xinhua]

A branch of China's Ministry of Commerce made statements last week concerning South Africa's latest probe into China's cold rolled steel sheets, the 27th time this year the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau has responded to trade frictions in the steel industry. In addition to the United States and Europe, which often carry out trade remedy probes against China, such investigations are being increasingly brought up by India, Brazil, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Germany and South Africa.

Record high exports and frequent trade frictions

China exported a total of 112.4 million tons of steel in 2015, the first time it reached 100 million tons, but it came with an increasing number of trade frictions. Forty-six trade remedy investigations were targeted at China's steel industry last year, an increase of 19 from the year earlier and accounting for 46.9% of all the trade remedy probes in China in 2015. Worse still, China's steel industry has been accused by some of being responsible for the steel overcapacity that has gripped the world.

Chinese industry insiders, however, have cited rapidly rising exports and the surge of trade protectionism as the real cause of the simmering trade frictions.

In late May, the United States issued hefty anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on corrosion-resistant steel not only from China, but also from India, Italy and South Korea. Moreover, Japan is also the target of a number of anti-dumping cases, demonstrating worldwide surging frictions in the steel industry.

"The international steel market has become a buyer's market with the steel glut worldwide. International buyers choose to buy China's steel, thus contributing to the growth of China' steel exports," said Li Xinchuang, the head of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning Association, recently. The surge in China's steel export is a result of the increasing competitiveness of China's steel products, he added.

China's steel export: less than the global average

China did not become a net exporter of steel until 10 years ago: The country was a steel importer for half a century when it was a poor, agricultural country. Even today, China's steel exports account for less than 15% of its output, only half of the world's average level.

In a steel-related symposium in Brussels in April, Zhang Ji, the assistant minister of commerce, emphasized the fact that China did not subsidize any steel exports, but has on the contrary imposed tariffs on some export products. Moreover, the country still imports large amount of steel products, making it the world's fifth largest steel importer.

The way out

Experts have proposed several ways of tackling the steel overcapacity and trade frictions. Lu Feng, a professor with the National School of Development of Peking University, said that expanding China's steel exports can move forward with the cooperation with developing countries.

He took the example of China and Pakistan. China's steel exports to Pakistan increased from 370,000 tons in 2011 to 2.56 million tons last year, a nearly six-fold increase in 4 years.

"The steel trade between China and Pakistan in recent years is mainly carried out in new projects under the Belt and Road initiative, thus it will not jeopardize the existing interest of other countries, but will help Pakistan better develop its economy," he said.

As a matter of fact, China's steel exports in recent years have increased significantly in countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative and developing countries. Data shows that the value of China's steel exports to Belt and Road countries has jumped from US$10 billion in 2009 to more than US$30 billion last year.

Lu Feng also said that digging deeper into China's domestic market and encouraging mergers of steel companies will also help the country's steel industry.
Apple CEO Tim Cook chats with Chinese designer Guo Pei at her studio in Beijing, August 15, 2016. [Photo/Weibo]

Three months after his eighth visit to China, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc, was in Beijing again on Monday.

"Nihao, Beijing! It's great to be back. Started my trip today by visiting with the incomparable Guo Pei - such exquisite care and craftsmanship in her work. Thrilled to see how her team is using iPad Pro as Guo Pei designs her new collection," Cook posted his greeting on Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday night and revealed his visit to Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei.

Guo Pei is a rising Chinese designer star, famous for her wedding dress series and her success at the Met Gala in New York last May.

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China's armed police on Monday completed a five-day anti-terror exercise in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as part of efforts to combat violent terrorist attacks.

The exercise, attended by some 3,000 people, was based on the current security situation in southern Xinjiang, according to a military statement released Monday.

The drill examined the force's capabilities in force projection, intelligence reconnaissance, information communication, fire assault, comprehensive support as well as nighttime operations, it said.

The exercise also examined the force's ability to carry out missions in complicated circumstances such as in cold mountainous regions, desert and residential areas.

A total of 21 new pieces of high-tech equipment, including drones, assault rotorcraft and all-terrain assault vehicles were involved in the drill, according to the document.

The exercise strengthened the country's anti-terrorism system and examined the battle capability of anti-terror equipment, it added.
An Uber China driver reportedly shed his pants to harass a female passenger late last Sunday, according to the Chongqing Evening News.

A Ms. Su hailed a ride on the taxi-booking app Uber around 10 p.m. on August 14 and was soon picked up by a driver called "Jiyou." Once Su got in the car, the driver refused to drive but asked her to give him a five-star rating. Su refused, saying that she could not rate as the ride hadn't begun.

The driver felt infuriated and ordered Su to get out of the car. After Su got out of the car, the driver followed her while cursing at her. The man then dropped his pants to expose himself and did not leave until the intimidated Su said she would call the police.

Su later informed Uber China of the incident, which pledged to shut down the account of the driver and pay back the 8 yuan cancellation fee charged against Su.

Uber China said the driver is not an Uber employee but only a user of the taxi-riding platform, according to the local newspaper. But a local lawyer in Chongqing said that Uber China should be responsible for educating and managing its drivers.

Uber China merged with its Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing earlier this month but continues to operate its own app in China.
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Monday marks the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II, but more than seven decades on, Japan remains stuck in the quagmire of its wartime past, continues to ignore its wartime responsibilities and moves further and further to the right in its politics.

For the fourth year running at the annual memorial service for Japanese war dead, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe neither touched on Japan's responsibilities regarding the devastating war, nor offered condolences to other Asian nations.

Once again, this only serves to remind Japan's neighbors of the great disservice done to them, and of the absence of any sincere remorse from Abe's administration.

In his speech delivered on Aug. 14 last year, Abe noted that Japan must not let its future generations, who have nothing to do with the war, "be predestined to apologize."

A genuine and resolute apology could never be a disgrace to Japan or any of its generation, but instead would represent the right attitude from the Japanese government in order to regain the complete trust and respect of its neighbors.

If the Abe administration refuses to honestly reflect and repent on its war guilt, how can it prevent its future generations from apologizing?

In December 2015, Japan reached a "final and irreversible" agreement with South Korea over its wartime use of sex slaves or "comfort women," which involved the payment of just 1 billion yen (about 8.3 million U.S. dollars) and no official apology from Tokyo.

Monetary payment alone will not heal the damage caused by Japan's past militarism, nor does it address the dangerous current trend towards militarism.

The Japanese government has made a series of proactive moves, which include but are not limited to: an increased arms trade, weaker civilian control over the military, and controversial security legislation that attempts to rebuild the country as a military power.

In its 2016 defense paper issued on Aug. 2, Japan shamelessly accused China of jeopardizing regional peace and stability, playing up the "China Threat" to further justify its rightist and militarist moves.

As a matter of fact, Japan's resurgent militarism is rooted in its reluctance to admit to its history of aggression and its failure to hold its war criminals responsible after surrender.

The word surrender never even appeared in Japanese Emperor Hirohito's speech declaring the acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation, broadcast Aug. 15, 1945. The Japanese continue to downplay the significance of Aug. 15 as the memorial day for the end of the war.

In past decades, regardless of war victims' feelings, Japanese political figures have visited and paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals, which only raises suspicion from its Asian neighbors that Japan may one day repeat its militarist history.

As long as it turns a blind eye to its responsibilities and guilt, Japan will never shake off it wartime past and move on as a normal country.
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Uruguay's Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said Monday that he was opposed to the proposal that the presidency of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) should be held collectively, as a number of countries are opposed to Venezuela taking over the role.

The proposal has been touted by Paraguay and Brazil for several weeks, particularly Brazil's Foreign Minister Jose Serra.

"There is no plan to accept this (joint presidency) and Venezuela will also not accept it," Nin Novoa told the El Pais daily.

He added that Aug. 13 was the deadline for Venezuela to be sworn into its duties and for it to comply with a number of Mercosur's legal norms, including the bloc's human rights standards and tariff regulations.

While Caracas has not met these norms, Nin Novoa warned "there are no sanctions contemplated for those who do not meet these norms. Nobody had predicted this."

"The situation is complex. We want Mercosur to work, we do not want paralysis," he said.

On Aug. 23, a Mercosur summit will be held in Montevideo to debate the collective presidency idea as well as Venezuela's failure to abide by the norms.

Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay do not accept that Venezuela can assume the presidency until the end of 2016, while Uruguay does.

On July 30, Venezuela said that it had assumed the presidency of Mercosur, although Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil rejected it. Uruguay said it was in favor of maintaining the current order.
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A nighttime curfew was imposed for teenagers in the U.S. city of Milwaukee starting on Monday following two nights of violence over the fatal police shooting of a black man.

The mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, imposed the 10 p.m. curfew in the city located in the north-central U.S. state of Wisconsin in a bid to deter further escalation between protesters and police.

Gunshots were fired, businesses were set ablaze, people were detained and police vehicles damaged after a confrontation between police and protestors turned violent Saturday night and again on Sunday night.

"This is not the place where you go to gawk; it is not the place where you go to take pictures; it is not the place to drive your car around," Mayor Barrett told a news conference Monday.

The curfew will last one week.

Meanwhile, City Sheriff David Clarke ordered the closure of a park nearby the protest site from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., and the schedule will continue until further notice.

But protests are expected to continue in the northern suburbs of Milwaukee, where police shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith on Saturday afternoon.

The death in the police related shooting angered residents, as the incident was preceded by a series of deadly police killings involving mainly African American suspects.

Milwaukee has experienced two nights of unrest, when protesters fired gunshots and threw rocks, bricks, and bottles at police and bystanders. Eight officers were injured by rocks and bricks thrown by protesters.

The police arrested 17 protestors Saturday night and 14 people Sunday night.
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U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would soon submit to U.S. Congress interview notes from its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email setup and copies of classified emails handled via her private email account, local media reported.

The contents would also include summaries of FBI's interviews with several senior aides of Clinton, The Wall Street Journal cited sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Copies of the 110 emails in 52 email chains that had contained classified information at the time when they were sent or received were also expected to be handed over to U.S. lawmakers, said the Journal, adding that those documents were expected to be highly redacted.

However, all material would not be released publicly and would be presented to U.S. lawmakers as classified information.

In March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint in the Obama administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the State Department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, roughly 30,000 emails in total, to the State Department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information.

That finding triggered a FBI investigation into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information via the private email setup.

After a yearlong probe, FBI Director James Comey said in July his agency would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. However, he called Clinton and her team "extremely careless" in handling sensitive information.
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A complete ban on knives described by a police chief as horrific will come into force in England and Wales this week, Britain's Home Office announced Monday.

The ban on the sale, importation and manufacture of zombie knives will come into effect on Thursday.

The curved knives are inspired by horror films and often sold as collectors'items, but according to police they are now increasingly being carried by criminals.

A zombie knife with a 63-centimeter-long blade was used in an attack last year which led to the death of teenager Stefan Appleton in Islington, London. In April, a 17-year-old teen was sentenced to life in prison for the attack after being found guilty of manslaughter.

The new law will prohibit the sale, manufacture, rental or importation of knives often referred to as 'zombie knives,''zombie killer knives'and 'zombie slayer knives.'

Zombie knives have cutting blades of up to 63 centimeters in length, with a serrated edge and include images or words that glamorize violence.

Anyone caught making or selling zombie knives will face up to four years in prison.

MP Sarah Newton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism, said Monday: "This government will act wherever necessary to cut crime and keep our communities safe. Zombie killer knives glamorize violence and cause devastating damage -- they have no place whatsoever in our society."

Chief Constable Alf Hitchcock, who is spokesman on the National Police Chiefs' Council for Knife Enabled Crime, said,"Zombie knives are absolutely horrific weapons. Police forces are determined to reduce the harm caused by these and all other dangerous weapons. There is no place for knife crime within society and this ban is further commitment to keeping communities safe."

This year, 13 police forces in Britain undertook coordinated action against knife crime, with further weeks of action planned for later this year.

The coordinated response by police so far has resulted in 401 arrests and 2,111 weapons taken off the street. The campaign involved targeting habitual knife carriers, weapon sweeps, test purchases of knives from identified retailers and use of surrender bins where people could voluntarily deposit knives without fear of facing prosecution.

The Home Office says it will will communicate the ban in England and Wales to Frontline border officers, and the Border Force are to be told about the new ban to alert them to enforce the law around the importation into Britain of dangerous weapons, including zombie knives.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in the past year (2015-16) 214 people suspected homicides involved the use of knives or sharp-edged weapons.
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A shooting took place in Belgian city of Ghent Monday evening between police and an unidentified man, who is now being neutralized, according to local media reports.

The gunman is shot by police after opening fire in the city center of Ghent at around 18:00. Seriously injured, the gunman has been taken to the hospital, according to Belgian newspaper HLN.

It is still not clear of the gunman's motive. Investigation is still on the way, according to the prosecutor.

Belgium has been on high security alert since the country has been rocked by serial bombings in March which killed 32 people.
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A supporter hold up an anti-Trump sign before being removed from a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S., August 13, 2016. [Xinhua]

Despite U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's strategy of patching together a bipartisan coalition by appealing to the millions of young supporters of former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, a new poll found that his populist play had so far failed among millennials.

The latest USA Today/ Rock the Vote poll released on Sunday found that while 56 percent of voters under 35 say they would vote for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, one in five in this age group support Trump.

In addition, Clinton trounced Trump among Sanders' supporters, with 72 percent supporting the former secretary of state and 11 percent backing Trump.

The number of the Millennial generation, now 18-34, was estimated to be 75.4 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in April.

While young voters tended to vote for Democrats in recent election cycles, the latest poll by USA Today and Rock the Vote showed that young adults may reject the Republican nominee at an unprecedented rate during this election cycle.

According to the poll, Trump's support among young voters was even lower than the estimated 32 percent of support Richard Nixon received among 18-to-29-year old voters in 1972 amid widespread protest against the Vietnam War among young population.

Meanwhile, the poll offered the latest evidence for verifying the widely perceived allegation that a majority of supporters of both nominees may base their allegiance not on approval of their nominee but rejection of the other.

According to the poll, 54 percent of Trump supporters and 51 percent of Clinton supporters say one of the main reasons they back the nominee is to keep the other out of the White House.
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While his bombastic rhetoric helped him win the Republican primaries, analysts said time is running out for U.S. Republican nominee Donald Trump to start acting more "presidential" in order to win the presidential race.

There have been too many occasions in the past months in which when people just thought that Trump turned a corner and started toning down his bombast, the brash billionaire would quickly again begin making comments perceived as incendiary to many outside his base.

Recent weeks have seen many ups and downs for the candidate. His recent speech on the U.S. economy last week saw a more mature, statesman-like Trump, but days later he was back to his old self, calling rival Hillary Clinton "the devil" and dubbing U.S. President Barack Obama "the founder" of terror group Islamic State (IS).

While such statements play well with his base, the brash billionaire needs to start reaching out to others, many of whom don't like to hear such comments, analysts pointed out.

While the bombastic real estate tycoon was just a hair ahead in the polls a few weeks back, he is now dragging several points behind Clinton, and will have to start showing a more temperate side of himself to catch up.

But the clock is ticking toward the election in November, and while there's still time to turn things around, the window is slowly beginning to shut.

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that it's not too late for the polls to change.

"That said, the data is pretty devastating and the trajectory is moving the wrong way for him," Zelizer said.

Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that at this point Trump would have to stop being Trump and "demonstrate some level of statesmanship."

"The telepromptered speech in Detroit was supposed to be the beginning of that process - a reset," he said, referring to Trump's speech on the U.S. economy early last week, in which he refrained from making any rash comments and showed a more presidential side of himself.

But the comments that Trump made later in speeches at the subsequent campaign rallies completely negated that. Trump indirectly called on gun advocates to stop Clinton, and even dubbed President Obama and Clinton as co-founders of IS.

Indeed, Trump's original appeal was that he'd "tell it like it is" to the political elite, and that carried enough of a populist electorate through the Republican Party primaries.

"That core group of supporters will stay with him and continue to see him standing up to the status quo. However, for much of the electorate, Trump's 'telling it like it is' is seen as a dangerous, temperamental, thin-skinned, and combative personality that is unfit for the White House," Mahaffee said.

Every time it appears that Trump is going to try to get out of this course and change the aforementioned perception, he follows it up with statements that completely negate any potential momentum upward, Mahaffee noted.

There is still plenty of time left in the campaign, but one cannot help but wonder if Trump can really change his course to try to build a majority to win the presidency, he said.
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The United Nations remained deeply concerned over the plight of up to 2 million people in need of assistance across Aleppo city and for those in the surrounding countryside in Syria, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

The humanitarian situation in Aleppo was dire, including in the east of the city where between 250,000 to 275,000 people remain trapped following the July closure of the Castello Road, the last remaining access route in and out of the area, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

The situation was also bad in government controlled areas in the west, where between 1.2 million and 1.5 million people live, as well as in the surrounding suburbs and neighboring countryside which have continued to suffer from attacks, Haq said.

"Hostilities persisted over the weekend, including airstrikes and barrel bomb attacks on three medical facilities in Aleppo governorate," he said.

The airstrikes reportedly struck a paediatric hospital in Big Orem, and Al-Huda hospital in Hor on Aug. 13-14, he said.

"In eastern Aleppo city, several rockets reportedly struck the area in the vicinity of Al-Quds hospital in Al-Sukari neighbourhood on Aug. 14."

In the absence of a ceasefire, the UN continues to call for a weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting to provide assistance to those cut off from aid across the city to receive food, water, and other life-saving assistance, he added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was concerned about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation across Aleppo.

The UN and its partners had been providing assistance including regular food supplies from across the border in Turkey to some 144,000 people, as well as assistance to thousands of others, up until July 7, when the last available route into eastern Aleppo, the Castello Road, was cut by fighting.

Aleppo has seen intensified battles and violence recently with the Syrian government troops tightening the noose on the rebel-held areas in the eastern part, while the rebels unleashed several offensives to break government siege on rebel-held areas.
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Representatives from the Chinese Finance Ministry and the People's Bank of China have outlined their plans for the forthcoming G20 Summit in Hangzhou next month.

Noting the downward pressure which continues in the global economy, Chinese Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao says they anticipate issues related to global growth will dominate the discussions in Hangzhou.

He says this is something that has already been discussed among finance ministers and central bank governors from the various G20 countries during previous sessions in China.

"During the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting held this year in Shanghai, finance ministers and central bank governors unanimously agreed that monetary and fiscal policies and structural reform should be implemented in an integrated manner by individual G20 members and G20 as a whole. They will submit their propositions to the Summit. "

Zhu Guangyao also notes the most recent meeting among G20 finance and central bank chiefs last month in Chengdu also ratified a series of policy proposals covering structural reforms new guidelines.

He says that report will be delivered to the G20 Summit as well.

Chinese officials, briefing the media in Beijing on Monday, also say the concept of "Green Finance" will also be up for discussion in Hangzhou.

"Green Finance" refers to finding a balance among environmental protection, investment and financing.

Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, says report covering "Green Finance" is also due to be delivered to the G20 Summit.

"This year, China first put forward the concept of 'Green Finance' and listed it on the G20 agenda. It also established the Green Finance Study Group. During the Hangzhou Summit, the first report on Green Finance will be ratified, clarifying the definition, objective, scope and the upcoming challenges."

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 nations have also reached agreements on a variety of other issues connected to the global economy, the broader design of international finance, investment, infrastructure and financial sector reform.

This year's G20 sessions will take place in Hangzhou on September 4th and 5th.
China Aviation Daily | Aug. 16, 2016

A China Eastern Airlines jet from Singapore to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province landed safely in Nanjing on Tuesday morning after a bird strike during its first leg, according to a Weibo post.

The Airbus A320-200 aircraft, Registration B-1678 performing flight MU2828, was en route from Singapore to Shenyang with a stopover in Nanjing and encountered a bird strike before landing at Nanjing Lukou International Airport. No injuries were reported.

The aircraft subsequently received minor damage to radome.

The A320 plane continued to operate the next leg normally, after technicians repaired the damage.

The flight MU2828 took off at around 10:45 a.m. and reached Shenyang at 12:36 p.m., with a delay of over 2 hours, according to VariFlight, China's leading flight status service provider.
China Aviation Daily | Aug. 16, 2016

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has granted an extension of the anti-trust immunity to include Iberia in the joint business between Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair, allowing the four airlines to cooperate commercially on flights between Europe and Japan.

Iberia is expected to join the existing joint business between the other three airlines as from October 18, 2016.

Iberia will start its non-stop operations between Madrid and Tokyo on October 18. Its addition to the joint business will provide customers with a larger network, more flights, better connections and more frequent flyer benefits.

The revenue-sharing agreement will strengthen the oneworld alliance and enable it to compete more effectively around the world with other global alliances.

"We would like to thank the regulators for approving our ATI application for Iberia joining Japan Airlines, British Airways and Finnair in our current joint business between Japan and Europe," said Yoshiharu Ueki, President of JAL. "This move will allow us to further strengthen our partnership with oneworld partner airlines, and will provide our customers with further benefits for travels between Japan and Europe."

Alex Cruz, President and chief executive of British Airways said, "We are delighted our sister airline Iberia will be joining our oneworld partners in the joint business. The addition of more European flights to Japan, along with the benefits of co-ordinated schedules and frequent flyer rewards is fantastic news for consumers. Iberia's direct flights between Narita and Madrid will be a very popular addition."

Pekka Vauramo, CEO of Finnair, said, "The addition of Iberia to our existing joint business between Europe and Japan is a great asset and we look forward to working closely with all our partners in this alliance. We are especially pleased with the benefits and opportunities this will generate for our oneworld customers travelling between both continents."

Luis Gallego, President and CEO of Iberia, said, "We are very happy to launch our non-stop flights to Japan as part of this joint business. We want to offer our customers more and better travel options and this will help us do so. We are also glad to contribute to the strength of the joint business and the oneworld alliance."
The stand of China Mobile at an industry expo in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. AN XIN/FOR CHINA DAILY

China Mobile Communications Corp, the country's largest telecom operator, said it will scrap domestic roaming charges by the end of this year, a fee that is considered as a key source of revenue for telecom carriers, as the company focuses on more lucrative 4G services.

"Since July, China Mobile has stopped selling new service packages that include domestic roaming charges on cross-province phone calls," said Li Yue, president of China Mobile.

He predicted that the company will cancel all roaming long-distance packages by the end of the year, and boost integrated service packages in the future.

China Mobile's first-half net profit grew 5.6 percent due to fast growth in lucrative 4G services. Its 4G subscribers grew to 429 million, reaching 51 percent of the total.

It is noteworthy that the firm's revenue from its data transmission business exceeded traditional businesses such as voice services for the first time, becoming the company's largest source of income.

China Mobile is not the first telecom carrier to scrap domestic roaming charges. In July, China Telecommunications Corp announced it would cancel such fees and implement full-flow charges, which means that calls and short messages will be converted into data flow and then charged.

Passengers use their mobilephones in a subway in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province, May 6, 2015. [PHOTO FOR CHINA DAILY]

China United Network Communications Group Co has yet to announce whether it will abolish its roaming fees.

Chinese telecom carriers collect domestic roaming fees when the subscriber leaves the local service area, with amount ranging from 0.6 yuan to 0.8 yuan a minute depending on the packages subscribers have signed up.

However, the fees have been criticized by users as being too high.

The industry has been discussing the removal of roaming charges for years, but the telecom giants are reluctant to remove these fees.

In April, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology called on telecom carriers to gradually stop charging domestic roaming fees.

"For telecom carriers, they should focus on transforming 2G and 3G users into 4G subscribers and upgrading 4G service packages to stimulate data flow consumption," said Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and CEO of industry website cctime.com.

Xiang said that China Mobile's decision to scrap domestic roaming fees was due to pressure from China Telecom and telecom regulators. He added that it would not suffer any big losses due to this move.

Fu Liang, an independent industry expert, said: "The proportion of data flow business will become increasingly high for telecom carriers. Packages based on data services will be the trend in the future and voice charges will be simplified."
Investors follow stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, August 15, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Chinese stocks climbed to a seven-month high on Monday amid optimism about the upcoming Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and speculation about property merger and acquisition activity.

The Shanghai Composite Index surged by as much as 2.44 percent, closing at 3,125.2 points, led by financial companies and property developers. Nine real estate companies, including China Vanke Co, Langfang Development Co and Huafa Industrial Co, climbed by the daily limit as the top performers in the market.

The Shenzhen Component Index rose by 2.79 percent, while the ChiNext startup index climbed by 3.27 percent.

"The upcoming Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect might be the biggest news in the market, which explains today's strong performance," said Hong Hao, chief strategist at BOCOM International Holdings Co.

Hong said there are many technology companies listed in Shenzhen, and they will be attractive to investors in Hong Kong when the stock connect is launched.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday that securities regulators of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong are working closely with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd for the launch of the long-anticipated stock connect program.

The stock connect is a cross-border investment program modeled after the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, which was launched in November 2014 so mainland investors could buy Hong Kong stocks, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, Dong Dengxin, a finance professor at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said the stock market climbed on Monday as China Evergrande Group fueled optimism that the pace of merger and acquisition activities in the property industry will accelerate.

Evergrande, which boosted its stake in Langfang to 15 percent in the past four months, plans to further increase its holdings and hasn't excluded the possibility of obtaining control of the company, Langfang said on August 10.

Evergrande bought a 5 percent stake in Vanke, the nation's largest residential developer, earlier this month.

Hong said the valuation of real estate companies such as Vanke and Langfang is comparatively low, so more mergers and acquisitions might be undertaken.

China stocks rallied on Monday as investors bet that disappointing economic data for July would prod Beijing to unleash fresh stimulus measures, Reuters said.

But Hong said the central government is unlikely to carry out stimulative measures, since the market was not short of money and Chinese leaders have pledged to curb asset bubbles.

Dong said the Shanghai Composite Index of 3,125.2 points was sensitive, as many investors who suffered from the stock slump last year would sell their shares at that level.
Inner part of a durian ice mooncake. [Photo/VCG]

Thanks to imported beef, crayfish and durian, the mooncake industry in Shanghai is embracing a bumper year, despite industry insiders' previously gloomy forecasts.

Unusually hot weather and an early Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept 15 this year, should have made it more difficult to sell mooncakes, according to Chen Fengwei, secretary-general of the Shanghai Confectionery Industry Association.

But chefs in traditional restaurants and luxury hotels in Shanghai are bucking the trend by filling the traditionally dense pastries with novel ingredients.
A couple look at a property brochure recommended by a sales agent at a property fair in Shanghai. Provided to China Daily

Yao Lisha, 38, lives with her family at a villa in suburban Shanghai, and has invested in Australian properties. Now, she is desperate to ensure her investments do not lead to losses.

She runs a trading company with her husband in Shanghai. In 2014, she was persuaded by a friend to buy an 88-square-meter apartment in Brisbane, Queensland. Just 10 percent of the full amount of A$615,000 ($461,954) was down payment plus A$30,000 went towards stamp duty.

She took a home loan from a local lender and started repaying interest every month, hoping it would all come good eventually as possession of the flat was expected to be followed by steady rent.

She received possesion alright in late 2015, but by then, the local policy had changed, stipulating that overseas homebuyers needed to repay both principal and interest at the same time.

She spent more than a month trying to rent out the flat for A$480 per week (that is, A$1,920 per month) while the monthly loan repayment was about A$2,300. Worse, on top of that, the housing complex's montly maintenance fees was 3,000 yuan ($452).

"Buying this (Brisbane) apartment was a mistake. I didn't consider the risk of government policy change and the unexpected slump in the property rental market," said Yao.

That was not all. The property did not appreciate in value. Now, Yao is thinking of holding it for five to ten more years till resale prices recover.

Thankfully for her, another investment Down Under produced a better experience. The A$1.55-million, 160-square-meter penthouse in Sydney she bought in 2014, whose possession she is yet to receive, is faring better in the market already.

Now valued around A$1.7 million, it will be ready only in 2018. But Yao has already received a few offers from potential buyers after her real estate agent posted an online classifieds ad. Its value is expected to further increase in the next two years.

Yao is keen to sell after receiving possession because a tighter local policy prevents overseas property buyers from taking loans from local banks. She wants to cut her costs and, maybe, even make some profit. She had made the 10 percent down payment and paid A$70,000 towards earnest money deposit.

"Australian cities like Sydney are worthy of investment but local policies are restricting overseas buyers, especially Chinese," said Yao. She has decided not to invest anymore in overseas properties.

But not so Su Jianning, 55. In 2013, he bought a 300-square-meter house in Los Angeles County, California, for $750,000. He is confident of making a tidy profit.

Since he is not a US permanent resident, he had to make full down payment. Local banks' home loans were not for overseas buyers.

His annual property tax has been $8,500, home insurance premium $1,000 and maintenance expenses $5,000, but the monthly rent of $4,000 covers the expenses.

"The current value is about $800,000 but it is expected to remain there as the market isn't as good as it was estimated. The value was supposed to double well before by 2018," said Su.
Goal is to prevent fraud, increase transparency and guarantee funds

China's central bank is building a clearinghouse for online transactions to tame online finance risks and better regulate the expanding industry.

The People's Bank of China has approved preliminary plans for the establishment of the platform and the management plan submitted by the Payment and Clearing Association of China, the nation's regulatory body for the industry, the central bank said.

The platform is expected to be launched early next year, said Cheng Shigang, a senior official with the payment and settlement department of the central bank.

The clearinghouse for online payments would reduce settlement risks by disconnecting the direct clearing business made between third-party payment firms and banks, and by regulating a guarantee fund that can be used to cover losses, the central bank said.

All third-party online payment providers will be under regulation of the clearinghouse, according to the central bank, including Alipay, the largest mobile payments provider of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and foreign payment providers, if they intend to step into the Chinese online payment sector.

The move comes after the central bank issued a regulatory guideline in July for internet finance, including online payment services, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunded equity finance.

Officials and analysts said it is a timely and necessary step, taken at the time when the online payment industry, while expanding, is not mature and faces rising risks.

IRsearch Consulting Group, a Beijing-based research firm, estimated that the size of third-party online payments in 2015 reached 11.8 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion) in 2015, up by nearly 70 percent compared with the previous year.

In the meantime, about 326,000 new payment viruses emerged and more than 25 million users were affected in China, almost equivalent to the population of Australia, the group said.

Zhao Ying, a senior official with the central bank's Chengdu branch, said that the move would help improve information transparency and security.

"A unified platform would do a better job and will verify the identity of clients," she said, citing concerns about rising risks of fraud and money laundering made by online transactions.

Echoing her statement, Zhao Yao, a research fellow of Hengfeng Bank Co Ltd, a joint-equity commercial bank based in Shandong province, said that such a platform would help develop a standardized payment market and restore market order.

"Currently, the use of money deposited in the third-party payment institutions lacks standardization and transparency. How the money flows remains unknown to commercial banks and regulators, thus leading to risks of embezzlement and capital chain ruptures.

"Establishing a centralized depository system will fundamentally prevent payment institutions from misappropriating the money and using it for loans, investment or wealth management," said Zhao who has been doing research on this subject since 2012.
A girl holds a billboard to promote overseas homes at a realty expo in Beijing. A Qing / For China Daily

As property in the United States recovers steadily from recession, New York City's commercial real estate is likely to continue to interest Chinese buyers, according to observers.

But the same cannot be said of Vancouver city in the Canadian province of British Columbia, another favorite destination of Chinese realty buyers, where a new tax has been slapped on foreign purchases.

"The Chinese economic growth is slowing. But it's still healthy. Real estate prices have recovered in most US markets and this gives confidence to foreign buyers, including the Chinese, to invest in US real estate," said Danielle Hale, manager of housing research for the National Association of Realtors in Washington.

US real estate is attractive in part because there are large Chinese communities in the US that have expanded beyond San Francisco and New York, the usual landing areas for those from the mainland. Seattle, Texas and Florida are gaining preference among Chinese buyers, said Hale. "It's reassuring to buy a home in an area with an established Chinese community."

Many Chinese buyers are also acquiring properties for their school-, college- or university-bound children, Hale said.

On the commercial real estate front, Chinese interest seems to be heating up again after a brief lull, Joseph Sitt, CEO of the New York-based Thor Equities, told Bloomberg. "We saw a slowdown about six months ago when China went through that little bump in the road, but now I am starting to see it going in reverse."

Last week, Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd, one of the first Chinese developers to enter the US market, announced the acquisition of the RKO Keith's Theater, a landmark movie palace located in the Flushing neighborhood in Queens, New York. Xinyuan plans to tear down most of the building and construct a 269-unit condominium tower.

Property records also indicate that the US arm of Shanghai Municipal Investment, the largest State-owned enterprise in Shanghai, is reportedly in line to be involved in a planned $1 billion condominium project called the Central Park Tower in New York City.

But the story is different in Canada. On Aug 2, the provincial government of British Columbia instituted a 15 percent tax on foreign property buyers in metropolitan Vancouver as a surge in real estate purchases by rich foreigners, particularly the Chinese, has set prices soaring in the area.

Vancouver has become a haven for wealthy Chinese buyers as the average sales price of a home more than doubled between 2005 and 2015, to C$1.6 million ($1.22 million), according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Thomas Davidoff of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia said the effect of the tax is hard to gauge right now. "The answer depends in large part on the impact on affluent buyers from China who make up the majority of foreign buyers," he wrote in an email.

Davidoff said that if foreign demand disappears entirely, Vancouver prices could fall somewhere between 25 and 50 percent. "But I don't think all foreign buyers will disappear. Some will pay the tax, some will find ways around the tax, like friends, family, and businesses to which they are connected and are not subject to the tax. If I had to guess, relative to a world without this tax, a 10 percent drop in prices, but there is a lot of uncertainty around that number.

"Exchange rates, macro volatility in China, and capital control enforcement have also impacted Chinese demand for Vancouver real estate, and we aren't holding those conditions constant."
SHANGHAI - China aims to fund infrastructure and public projects worth 10.6 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion) through public private partnerships (PPPs) to leverage investment from the private sector, an official said on Monday.

Authorities aim to fund a total of 9,285 infrastructure and public service projects through PPPs, said Shi Yaobin, China's vice finance minister, at a forum in Shanghai.

China's finance ministry has set up a 180-billion-yuan fund supporting the financing of PPP projects and is considering revising related fiscal and tax policies to facilitate implementation of the projects.

Chinese authorities have explored funding infrastructure and public works through the PPP model since late 2013 amid growing concerns over risks around rising local government debts incurred through local financing vehicles.

Such vehicles had been borrowing short-term funds on the government's behalf to finance long-term projects, leading to a mismatch in maturity that has caused many to question the ability of local governments to service these debts.

To address the problem, authorities have sought to let local governments issue municipal bonds while attracting private sector investors to meet the funding shortfall.

Over the past two years, the PPP model has been expanded to fund projects including energy, transportation, environmental services and senior care.

The government has also rolled out demonstration projects with participation by private investors to promote the PPP model, but with limited success.

Investors from the private sector still have reservations about participating in PPPs due to concerns about a lack of policy clarification, uncertainty about profitability and feasible exits, said Sun Xiaoxia, director of the ministry's finance department at the forum on Monday.

The finance ministry will publish two lists of demonstration projects with total investment value of 800 billion yuan. It said 48.4 percent of these projects have been implemented, with domestic private investors, mixed-ownership companies and foreign-funded firms accounting for 45 percent.
A truck transfers containers at Qingdao port in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Aug 8, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - For a massive economy like China's, which is in the midst of transition, it is easy to dwell on fragmentary data while failing to see the forest for the trees.

While the latest official indicators of traditional growth engines have underperformed, those measuring the new drivers of the Chinese economy suggest a silver lining.

Old engines losing steam

Growth in retail sales, industrial output and investment all decelerated from June levels, official data showed Friday, adding to concerns that the Chinese economy might be faltering.

Customs data published earlier showed July exports contracted by 4.4 percent from a year ago while imports plunged 12.5 percent.

Economists said the slowdown is expected if not desirable, given the side effects of the government's efforts to cut overcapacity, destock, deleverage, reduce corporate costs and shore up weak spots, five major tasks high on the agenda.

Li Daokui, an economics professor at Tsinghua University and a former adviser to China's central bank, expects a painful adjustment period in the near term as the country shoulders the costs of restructuring.

The dragging effect of the restructuring program can be seen in the efforts to slash overcapacity.

In the first six months of 2016, China reduced steel production capacity by 13 million tonnes and coal capacity by over 72 million tonnes, official data showed.

Short-term strains have resulted as China speeds up reform, said Zhao Xijun, vice head of the school of finance at Beijing-based Renmin University.

New engines gain momentum

Monthly dips in growth should not justify panic over the world's second largest economy, Zhao said.

The economy is actually emerging stronger with solid improvement in structural reform and new growth industries, official data showed.

Against the backdrop of lackluster industrial production, output of the high-tech industry climbed 12.2 percent in July, accelerating from June's 10.6-percent increase and more than double that of the entire industrial sector.

New-energy car production surged 88.7 percent and revenues of strategic emerging service sectors gained 15.6 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Meanwhile, with an annual expansion of 40 percent, China's sharing economy market, including Internet-based ride-hailing businesses, will account for more than 10 percent of the country's GDP by 2020, according to an Internet Society of China report.

The service sector expanded 7.5 percent in the first half, accounting for 54.1 percent of the overall economy, up 1.8 percentage points from a year earlier, according to NBS data.

Investment in energy-intensive industries also continued to cool down, resulting in a year-on-year decline of 5.2 percent in energy consumption per unit of GDP in the first half.

Thanks to new growth engines, the Chinese economy generated 7.17 million new urban jobs in the first half of 2016, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Li of Tsinghua University pointed to stable administration and policies, increasing human capital and further opening of the economy as three major advantages for China to achieve sustained growth.

The country's growth in the next two decades will mainly be driven by urbanization, consumption and industry rearrangement, Li said.

Challenges still daunting

If China continues its current supply-side structural reform, and carries out pro-reform and stabilizing measures, its economy will continue to improve, said Zhao.

However, the challenges should not be underestimated, as it is not easy for a huge ship to change course overnight, experts said.

Take the overcapacity cuts in the steel sector as an example.

In the first six months, China completed only about 30 percent of the planned cuts for the whole year. Warming steel prices had watchdogs on alert for a rebound in production capacity as crude steel output surged.

A price rebound means local officials have balked, with some deciding to defer capacity cuts. Creating new jobs for hundreds of thousands of laid-off employees and the massive debts of steel enterprises pose tough challenges ahead for cutting overcapacity.

However, the economy has embarked on an irreversible path of restructuring, and the transition, which is crucial to the country's supply-side structural reform, is bound to forge ahead, experts said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday issued an affirmative forecast, expecting a positive outlook for the Chinese economy and predicting 6.6-percent GDP growth for this year.

China's economic transition will continue and will be positive overall for the global economy, the IMF said in a report after concluding its annual economic health check on the Chinese economy.

"Many countries could only dream of achieving growth rates that China has and is likely to achieve, which also reflects positively on the reforms that Chinese policymakers have undertaken," said James Daniel, the IMF mission chief for China.
ROME - The upcoming G20 summit to be held in China on Sept 4-5 would provide a good chance to improve global economic governance, an Italian analyst said.

"The G20 forum is a proper framework where to make decisions impacting on global economy," Alessia Amighini, senior associate researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), told Xinhua in an interview.

"It has a lightweight and flexible structure, and not too much bureaucracy," she said.

The analyst added the Chinese presidency of the G20 has proved the summit's crucial role in terms of global governance.

"The Chinese presidency is lucid and clear-headed, as showed by its active role in the preparatory meetings, and by its tight cooperation with the previous G20 Turkish presidency and with its successor, Germany," she explained.

Amighini, an adjoint professor of International Economics at Catholic University in Milan, and assistant professor of Economics at the University of Eastern Piedmont, joined world experts who gathered at the Think 20 (T20) preparatory meeting for the G20 summit held in Beijing on July 29-30.

In her view, two specific factors were fostering positive expectations among experts."The first one is the establishment of the Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI), which was finally initiated by China after years of debate."

The second was the emphasis being given by G20 members so far on promoting e-commerce among various tools needed to bring new development and growth.

"The WGTI is important because trade and international investments have been the main engine of global growth from the early 2000s until the global recession, and the recent trade slowdown is the main cause of the weak global economy growth rate," Amighini explained.

Indeed, after a two-day meeting in Shanghai in early July, G20 trade ministers stressed that "global trade growth has slowed significantly since 2008, from an annual average of over 7 percent between 1990 and 2008, to less than 3 percent between 2009 and 2015. The 2015 marked the fourth consecutive year with global trade growth below 3 percent."

"Now, the (G20) goal is to find a new path to exit this situation and recover growth, which, however, does not mean returning to the growth rates prior to the crisis," the expert pointed out.

The growth registered before the financial crisis was in fact "drugged" by a proliferation of financial instruments that allowed housing bubble, according to the economist.

"That was not a healthy pattern at which to look. The 'new normal' that China has in its sight is a more realistic model of growth."

This was why the G20 Working Group on Trade and Investment would be so important.

"There were interesting cues from this perspective at the T20 meeting: we discussed how to get close to implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), for example, which would bring about a decrease in global trade costs."

The TFA was concluded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Dec 2013, but it will not enter into force before two-thirds of WTO members ratify it. The deal is expected to bring down total trade costs by 13 percent to 14 percent, according to the WTO.

Meanwhile, a new G20 debate on developing digital infrastructure provided "new insights," according to Amighini.

"Experts are looking hopefully to the discussions launched over promoting e-commerce at global level. Digital infrastructures are a common public good essential to further development," she said.

"It seems we are witnessing a 'third wave of globalization' on this regard in recent months, and this would be a pressing topic for those countries with geographical obstacles limiting trade," she added.

Creating a first group of countries enjoying a sort of "e-commerce beyond frontiers" would be the most relevant step forward, and might work as a driver for developing a new perspective of growth, according to the professor.

The analyst added the need of soft (digital) infrastructure would of course go along with that of hard infrastructures.
JOHANNESBURG - African countries have high expectations for the upcoming G20 Summit, which is expected to address a series of burning issues affecting the world, particularly developing countries, South African experts have said.

African countries expect the G20 Summit, scheduled for Hangzhou, China on September 4-5, to be open and frank in addressing global challenges, Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu, a researcher on Developmental Studies at the University of South Africa, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Gatsheni-Ndlovu said: "Obviously G20 cannot ignore environmental challenges facing the world, terrorism and general development. The world is facing depressed growth and they have to come up with a solution on what needs to be done."

The researcher, who is also director of Archie Mafeje Research Institute in South Africa, called on the summit to genuinely address the climate challenges. He said the global North countries are the major contributors to ozone depletion and should take responsibility and frankly address it.

Gatsheni-Ndlovu said developed countries should not blame others for the climate change and instead take concrete action.

Speaking of terrorist threats, Gatsheni-Ndlovu stressed the importance of punishing those who are arming terrorists.

He accused certain Western countries of fueling disunity by sponsoring terrorist groups in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Syria, and some other African countries.

At the G20 Summit, South Africa is expected to raise issues affecting Africa and the global South in accordance with its foreign policy, according to Gatsheni-Ndlovu.

"South Africa is expected as per the custom to speak on behalf Africa in the G20. They have to raise issues bedeviling Africa and the global South, which include weak economic growth, terrorism and underdevelopment in general," he said.

The summit will be held under the theme: "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy".

The G20 Summit should come up with a long-term strategy to prevent further slowdown of the world economy, Gatsheni-Ndlovu said.

Kuben Naidoo, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), also said the sluggish economic growth should feature prominently at the G20 Summit.

The summit should take concrete steps to help the world going forward as the economies of most countries are not performing well, Naidoo told Xinhua.

There should be resilient plans from the summit to avoid a similar global economic crisis in future, Naidoo said.

"We expect G20 to address the broader issues around global growth, getting growth back on track to ensure sustainable growth and making sure that the financial sector reform process continue. We have to deal with too-big-to-fail issues," he noted.

Naidoo also stressed the importance of dealing with money laundering, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), and other tax avoidance schemes in a coordinated manner to prevent illicit outflows and corrupt practices.
A view of Exchange Square in Central, Hong Kong. [File photo/China Daily]

BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, has approved the program to connect the Shenzhen and Hong Kong bourses, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday.

Related story:

Kick-off date of Shenzhen-HK connect to be unveiled this week: Media

South China Morning Post reported on Monday that the launch date for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect program will be announced as soon as this week and it will be officially launched in December, citing the newspaper Hong Kong Economic Journal.

According to China Daily, securities regulators of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong are working closely with Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd for the launch of the long-anticipated program.

Deng Ge, a spokesman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said on August 12 that the commission has set up a special working group to lead and prepare for the stocks trading link.

"When relevant regulations and technical preparations are ready, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will be launched this year," said Deng, without giving an exact date.

The special working group, headed by CSRC Vice-Chairman Fang Xinghai, is responsible for coordinating efforts among various departments within the commission and relevant government bodies and between the mainland and Hong Kong regulators, according to financial magazine Caixin on August 11.

In the same day, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd Chief Executive Officer Charles Li told CNBC that the stocks link is "imminent".

Li said the link is vital to bringing more tradable products to a wider marketplace in the future.

Cai Xiao contributed to the story
Apple CEO Tim Cook chats with Chinese designer Guo Pei at her studio in Beijing, August 15, 2016. [Photo/Weibo]

Three months after his eighth visit to China, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc, was in Beijing again on Monday.

"Nihao, Beijing! It's great to be back. Started my trip today by visiting with the incomparable Guo Pei - such exquisite care and craftsmanship in her work. Thrilled to see how her team is using iPad Pro as Guo Pei designs her new collection," Cook posted his greeting on Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday night and revealed his visit to Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei.

Guo Pei is a rising Chinese designer star, famous for her wedding dress series and her success at the Met Gala in New York last May.

Guo Pei shows her design to Tim Cook in Beijing, August 15, 2016. [Photo/Weibo]

Before his ninth visit to China, in his latest interview with The Washington Post, Cook discussed his first five years in Apple, one of the world's most glaring spotlight companies, and talked about China.

"So as I look in the long term, I think China is an unbelievable market  not only from a demand point of view and the revenue potential there, but also as a great source of talent," Cook said, according to The Washington Post.

He said Apple has over a million and a half developers in China and the reach is unbelievable.

Answering to Apple's 33 percent down sales in China in the most recent quarter, Cook said, "There are, sort of, speed bumps now with the economy. In a year-ago quarter, we were up 112 percent. So I think you have to back up and put it in perspective. If you look at it over a two-year basis, we were up over 50 percent in the quarter."

In his eighth visit to China, Cook had met with Chinese developers and Liu Qing, president of Didi Chuxing, the largest ride-hailing service provider in China, after Apple announced its $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing.
Thanks to imported beef, crayfish and durian, the mooncake industry in Shanghai is embracing a bumper year, despite industry insiders' previously gloomy forecasts.

Unusually hot weather and an early Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept 15 this year, should have made it more difficult to sell mooncakes, according to Chen Fengwei, secretary-general of the Shanghai Confectionery Industry Association.

But chefs in traditional restaurants and luxury hotels in Shanghai are bucking the trend by filling the traditionally dense pastries with novel ingredients.

At Hotel Indigo Shanghai, for example, within one month the sales of its wagyu marbled beef mooncake had already exceeded the total sales of traditional mooncakes last year, according to Julie Wang, the hotel's marketing manager.

The meaty mooncakes sell for 18 yuan ($2.70) each.

"Shanghai has a tradition of enjoying pork-filled mooncakes. But with our famous steakhouse, we decided to use our Australian wagyu beef to whet people's appetite. Before it hit the market, we were still worried beef wouldn't sell," said Wang.

On Nanjing Road, a line forms outside the traditional Cantonese Xinya Restaurant as impatient customers hanker after its newly launched yanduxian mooncakes. Taking inspiration from Shanghai's beloved yanduxian soup, which is made from pork and bamboo shoots, the mooncakes were a hit as soon as they were launched.

The Peninsula Shanghai hotel is also joining the fray with a new handmade durian mooncake, an upgrade on its popular egg custard variety.

At Wang Bao He, a century-old restaurant known for its crab dishes, all 6,000 boxes of crayfish mooncakes had been preordered following a mid-July launch.

"I am taking calls every day, asking for more crayfish cakes. But my kitchen is already having a revolt to get the 6,000 boxes out," said Wang Hao, chef at the restaurant.

Each mooncake contains four freshly peeled crayfish, which are fried with garlic shoots and mushrooms before being stuffed into the pastry. Each box of 12 cakes sells for 180 yuan. Wang's kitchen can make a maximum of 200 boxes a day.

Outside the restaurant, scalpers have raised the price to 350 yuan a box, proclaiming that "the price is going up faster than Shanghai real estate".

"New houses will be built every month, but those 6,000 boxes of mooncakes are all Shanghai can have this year," said Qian Guomin, who claimed to have been a mooncake scalper for two decades.

Chen, the secretary-general of the confectionery association, estimated that the city will sell 21,000 metric tons of mooncakes this year, up 0.5 percent from last year.

"The situation is far better than we expected. With multiple adverse conditions, we thought there might be a drop from last year," said Chen.

Since 2013, when the central government's anti-corruption drive led to a dramatic decrease in government-paid junkets and officials accepting gifts, the mooncake industry has experienced a sharp plunge, down by 15 to 20 percent nationally.

But Chen said the campaign had brought new life to the mooncake industry, "bringing real consumers back", instead of only those buying gifts.

"A typical example is the rise of fresh-baked mooncakes, which are precisely targeted at consumers who are buying them to feed themselves," she said.

Chen estimated that half the mooncake makers in Shanghai now offer fresh-baked mooncakes, up from a single-digit percentage just three years ago.
Two Cabinet ministers, 70 lawmakers pay their respects; Chinese experts say PM unrepentant

China expressed strong opposition to Japanese Cabinet members' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, saying it again reflects the Japanese government's wrong attitude toward history.

Also Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dispatched an aide to make an offering at the controversial shrine on the anniversary of Japan's wartime surrender.

Two Cabinet members - Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda - visited the shrine, along with about 70 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition group, the Democratic Party.

"We seriously urge the Japanese side to earnestly face up to history and reflect on its past aggressive history, and properly handle related issues in a responsible manner," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on its website.

Tomomi Inada, Japan's new defense minister, who is a regular visitor to the shrine on the Aug 15 anniversary of Japan's wartime surrender, was unable to go because she was on a three-day trip to Djibouti for a review of Japanese military personnel stationed there.

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal, and is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed deep concern and regret on Monday, calling on Japanese politicians to show humble introspection and sincere repentance over the country's militaristic past.

Abe vowed on Monday at a ceremony honoring victims of the war that Japan would work for world peace, according to Reuters.

"Going forward, and sticking to this firm pledge while facing history with humility, we will make every effort to contribute to world peace and prosperity and the realization of a world where everyone can live without fear," he said.

In Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Japanese citizens attended a gathering on Monday to mourn the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were murdered by Japanese soldiers in 1937.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University, said Abe's offering at the shrine was a cunning choice to declare right-wing sentiments while also considering the concerns of the international community.

"However, if the Japanese government does not face up to its wartime aggression and admit the existence of the Nanjing Massacre, it will be a political trick no matter whether Abe chooses to visit or not," he said.

Da Zhigang, a Japanese studies researcher at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said Abe's offering shows his ambivalence.

"You can tell that he wants to visit the shrine in his heart, but as a politician, he is under pressure to maintain a good diplomatic environment," he said.
McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain said on Monday that meat suppliers for its restaurants in China must strictly follow China's law and regulations on the use of antibiotics in beef cattle and poultry.

ShareAction, a charity based in the United Kingdom, said last week that it had launched an online campaign asking people to email McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook telling him to stop the routine use of antibiotics in the company's global livestock supply chain.

The company said earlier that it would stop serving chicken raised with antibiotics related to human medicine in the United States.

But in China, the use of meat produced with antibiotics will continue.

Antibiotics are necessary for treating animal diseases, it said, adding that it will work with the government, suppliers and experts to promote progress in the industry.

The fast-food chain released a statement in February 2014 saying it would cease using human-related antibiotics in chicken production for McDonald's USA by March 2017. Last year, McDonald's USA also announced new menu sourcing initiatives, which included chicken raised free of human-related antibiotics.

Routine use of antibiotics in animals can contribute to the rise of drug-resistant pathogens - or "superbugs" - that are responsible for killing at least 23,000 people a year in the US and represent a significant threat to global public health, according to a report by the BBC.

Li Shuguang, a public health expert at Fudan University in Shanghai, said excessive use of antibiotics can cause bacteria to mutate more quickly and become resistant, and could, in turn, result in superbacteria that are resistant to virtually all drugs. This could pose a significant threat to humans, he said.

Like many other countries, China has rules restricting the use of antibiotics in livestock, both in type and quantity, he said, so the decision by McDonald's to continue using antibiotics in China is not against law, but its processes must comply with the regulations.

China has stricter standards than the United States in some areas, such as the use of clenbuterol, a drug used to increase the muscle mass of livestock.

Every year, 50 percent of the antibiotics used worldwide are used in China. And 52 percent of those are used to treat animals bred for food, according to a report on international antibiotic use led by Jim O'Neill, former chief economist at Goldman Sachs.

Wang Zhuoqiong contributed to this story.
Not everybody gets to fulfill their dreams, but 31-year-old Chen Jingxian, a lawyer from a small town in Sichuan province, is well on the way to living hers - to be the first Chinese woman to fly around the world.

To make the dream sweeter, Chen is aiming to win a prize of 1 million yuan ($150,000) for a circumnavigation by a female Chinese pilot.

Following in the footsteps of famous pilots like Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, Chen departed Cleveland, Ohio, in a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza on Aug 1. She stopped in New York, Boston, Canada, Greenland and Iceland, finally reaching Paris. There, she spoke to China Daily with her stuffed toy cat named Ebony, and her support crew, which is accompanying her on the plane.

After Paris, she plans to touch down in Spain, Italy, Greece and Egypt, traverse Saudi Arabia to Dubai, and hop from India through Thailand to China. She is still applying for permission to land in China. After a brief stop in her homeland, she plans to head for Japan and Russia before re-entering the US by way of Alaska.

The feat is a huge undertaking for a woman who had never been to a big city until she attended a university in Beijing at the age of 18. There, she read Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars, books about aviation by legendary French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince.

"His experience made me want to know how to fly and what it's like to fly around the world," Chen said.

Chen estimates it will take 45 to 60 days to complete her trip. To make ends meet, she has borrowed money from family and friends. Chen, who jokingly describes herself as a "weekend pilot", is a corporate lawyer who divides her time between Shanghai and New York.

She left Beijing in 2011 for New York to get a master's in law. There, she set about learning to fly on weekends. With 300 flying hours under her belt, she started approaching rental companies to get a plane. After many rejections, she met with Air Z Charter and T & G Flying Club, run by Richard Rohl.

"I was very skeptical about the letter Chen sent me at the beginning," Rohl recalls. Impressed by her determination, he asked student pilot Amanda Lincoln to meet Chen. The schoolteacher hit it off with the Chinese lawyer.

"From the first meeting, we connected because we share the same love for flying," Lincoln said. "Female pilots are rare commodities, not only in the US, but also internationally. She is legitimate, educated and determined.

"Chen is not only a role model to me, she is also setting a good standard for other women to reach out and achieving their highest dreams."

Lincoln, as well as Rohl and his father Larry - both pilots who will be Chen's emergency backups - became part of her support crew in the aircraft.

The prize money was put up by Chen Wei, from Changsha, Hunan province, who was the first Chinese pilot to circumnavigate the globe, in 2011. He flew a Socata single-engine turboprop 40,200 kilometers through 39 cities in 21 countries.

"Meeting a young woman like Chen, who is very personable and intelligent, and shares this same dream, was wonderful," Larry said. "She made me look back at myself when I was her age."

zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn

Firsts in around-the-world flight

1924 - First to fly around world: Four Douglas World Cruiser aircraft with eight US crewmen set out from Seattle, Washington. Three of the aircraft completed the circuit in 175 days.

1933 - First solo trip: Wiley Post from the United States takes 7 days, 18 hours to accomplish the feat.

1 949 - First nonstop: US Air Force team completes the circuit in 94 hours, 1 minute. Their plane was refueled in flight four times.

1964 - First woman solo: Geraldine Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her single-engine Cessna 180 was called the Spirit of Columbus.

1986 - First nonstop, non-refueling flight: Voyager, a lightweight aircraft with a front canard wing, was flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. They made the trip in 9 days, 3 minutes, 44 seconds.

2011 - First Chinese men's solo: Chen Wei from Changsha, Hunan province, became the first male Chinese pilot to circumnavigate the globe in a Socata TBM 700 single-engine turboprop.

Source: didyouknow.com
Passengers go through a security checkpoint upon entering Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Monday. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

Passengers advised to arrive a half-hour earlier at Pudong and Hongqiao terminals

Security checks have now begun at the entrances of Shanghai's two international airports as part of the implementation of a national anti-terrorism law.

As of Monday, all people and their belongings must clear checks at the entrances of Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport - as well as pre-departure checks, an airport official said.

They became the first airports in China to implement additional checks required by the new law.

Officials advised passengers to set aside an extra half-hour in their travel schedules.

The newly launched checks will be similar to existing security checks at airports, focusing on passengers' carry-on baggage, searching for such items as knives, flammable and explosive products and guns.

In addition to the previously existing security check area, another 27 checkpoints at Pudong airport's entrances and 14 at Hongqiao airport entrances have been added, with four staff members assigned to each checkpoint.

The tightened security measures comes on the heels of the nation's first anti-terrorism law, which took effect on Jan 1, according to Xia Gongwei, an official from Pudong airport.

Under the law, security checks should be made of people and objects in large, busy areas like airports, railway stations, ports, metro stations, long-distance bus stations and customs.

Shanghai's airports are the first and only ones in the country so far that have responded to the new law's requirement, said Su Weiwei, an official from the Shanghai Airport Authority.

No other airport has announced similar measures, causing some media outlets to call Shanghai the city with "the tightest security check airports" in China.

Xia said it is "the first time for Shanghai's airports to increase anti-terrorism security checks outside the security clearance area - which is to make sure of the safety of the public area of the airports".

On Monday morning, there was no sign of passenger complaints, as most people made it through the additional checks without a delay and only a few were required to open their suitcases for further inspection.

"I completely understand the increased checks at the airport, and I also heard that there was a blast that happened months ago," said a woman surnamed Guo. Guo and her daughter were on their way to Xiamen, Fujian province, after visiting Shanghai Disney Resort.

Mike Zeng had to give up his hair spray after the airport staff told him it was explosive.

"I see the point for the security check, and totally understand," he said.
Shanghai police are investigating the reported disappearance of a Ukrainian model who friends say has been out of contact for over a week, according to an official at the Hongkou sub-bureau of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

The 21-year-old model, known as Daria, had been working at a modeling agency in Shanghai for about three months, according to an online Weibo notice posted by a netizen named Senxuan on Friday.

The post said the model, who is 1.8 meters tall with long brown hair, was last seen near Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower between 5 and 6 am on Aug 6. She was wearing a pink, one-piece dress and carrying a black bag.

"No more details can be released yet since the case is still under investigation in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine in China," the police official, who asked not to be named, told China Daily on Monday.

Daria's roommate, Nancy, who is also a foreign model in China, posted information about the case via a WeChat public account that has been widely forwarded among models, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.

Some of Daria's friends checked her social networking pages to see if she had any plans arranged, but were unable to find any clues.

"She is a nice girl, although she is not very cheerful and doesn't have a very big social network. She has some close friends," one of her friends was quoted as saying.

In 2008, a Canadian model was found dead in Shanghai two weeks after arriving in the city to work. Chen Jun, a 18-year-old man from Anhui province, pleaded guilty to robbing her and stabbing her to death.
People hold a rally in Taipei on August 15, 2016, urging the Japanese government to apologize for the "comfort women".[Photo: Sina Weibo/jrhx]

TAIPEI - The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation led a rally on Monday urging the Japanese government to apologize for the Taiwanese women who were forced into sex slavery during World War II.



Monday marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII.



Seventy-one years have passed and they have not received any apology from the Japanese government, not to mention compensation, local lawmaker Wang Yu-min said when delivering a speech at the event.



Wang called on the island's current administration to listen to local people's appeals on the "comfort women" issue and take action to reveal the historical truth.



Around 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced into sex slavery during WWII, according to the foundation. It has identified 58 of them, but only three are still alive.



Kang Shu-hua, executive director of the foundation, said the three women were not present at the rally due to old age.



"However, righteousness should not be compromised and the truth about 'comfort women' must be sought to bring dignity to the victims," she said.



About 100 people participated in the gathering outside the Taipei Office of Japan's Interchange Association, according to organizers, who added the event was part of a global action on Monday to seek justice for the women.
Airline stewardesses-to-be present Qipao, or cheongsam , at the scenic spots in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, April 13, 2016.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

In recent years, air hostessing has come to be seen as one of the most competitive jobs in China. It has extremely strict requirements, and approximately 50 people apply for each available position.

In addition to fulfilling a height requirement, flight attendant candidates must also pass a physical examination encompassing internal, ophthalmological and otorhinolaryngological health. Artistic performance is another selection standard for flight attendants.

China's past developing economy contributed to the popularity of the occupation. Because airplanes used to be seen not merely a mode of transportation, but also as a symbol of high social status, it used to be a true honor to work on an airplane.

With the exception of airlines in Asian countries such as China and Japan, most countries do not have such strict requirements for their flight attendants. In European countries, it is not always seen as an appealing job.

Indeed, the average income of flight attendants is not as high as many people believe it to be. The monthly salary of flight attendants on domestic flights in China is generally between 2,000 (around $300) and 3,000 yuan. They can make 5,000 to 6,000 yuan per month including subsidies.

The income of attendants on international flights can reach 10,000 yuan or more, and sometimes up to 20,000. However, it is difficult to reach that level without fluency in a foreign language, in which case other industries may be just as appealing.
A passenger smokes before a high-speed train leaves the station in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Feb 25, 2014. [Photo/IC]

China Railway Corporation, the nation's railway operator, on Monday issued new rules to further tighten up the smoking ban on trains, saying that any passengers who are caught twice violating the ban will be forbidden to purchase any high-speed train tickets across China.

If a passenger smokes on a high-speed train, he or she will be fined and will have to promise not to violate the rules again, according to the new regulations.

If there is a second offence by the passenger, railway authorities can prohibit him or her from buying high-speed train tickets in the future.

The new rule aims to build a credit system in the railway system, said an insider.

Smoking can trigger smoke alarms on a high-speed train, forcing the train to slow down or even stop. So it was listed as one of the dangerous behaviors on a high-speed train in 2014. A violator of the no-smoking rule may be fined up to 2,000 yuan ($300).

Media reports about high-speed trains being forced to brake after passengers smoked on the vehicles have made headlines in recent years, showing a lack of safety awareness among passengers.

According to Beijing News, 20 such violations in which passengers smoked in the carriages or restrooms of a high-speed train were reported in less than a month in the railway section of Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, in January 2015.

The Beijing railway authority also issued its first ticket in 2014, when a passenger smoking on a high-speed train from Beijing to Tianjin was fined 1,000 yuan.
Rocket-carrying ships depart for Long March-5 mission

Xinhua | Updated: 2016-08-16 14:18

NANJING - Two rocket-carrying ships on Tuesday departed to pick up and transport the Long March-5 rocket, China's largest carrier rocket scheduled to be launched later this year.



Yuanwang-21 and Yuanwang-22 set out for north China's Tianjin Port to pick up containers holding the Long March-5 and will arrive at Qinglan Port in Wenchang in South China's Hainan Province after a seven-day journey.



Long March-5 will be launched from the Wenchang satellite launch center.



The Yuanwang ships are China's first ships made exclusively to carry rockets.



In early May this year, Yuanwang-21 transported Long March-7 to Wenchang. As Long March-5 is a heavy-lift rocket, it needs two carrying ships.
Two seniors show their elder transportation card on a bus in Qingzhou, East China's Shandong province on July 1, 2014.[Photo/IC]

Seniors aged 70 or above can take taxis for free for the first 3 kilometers of a ride since Aug 15 in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province, yunnan.cn reported.

The move aims to solve some difficulties in seniors' daily life, such as getting on buses during peak hour, transporting luggage and inability to use the internet to book taxis.

Some 300 taxis are now part of the pilot project, said Huang Yanjun, president of Kunming Taxi Association.

He said that all taxis in Kunming, which number over 7,000, are expected to be included in the project before Double Ninth Festival, which falls on Oct 9 this year.

China has taken many measures to provide elderly people with preferential treatment.

In 1996, China launched the Law on Protection of Rights and Interests of Seniors, the first of its kind to guarantee seniors privileges in medical, transportation and sightseeing tours among other aspects in daily life.

Almost all regions across China actively implement the law by issuing specific regulations. For transportation alone, many places offer free transportation for seniors.

For example, in Beijing, seniors aged 65 or older can take buses for free if they hold a transportation card for elderly or handicapped people.

The free rides attract many elderly people to buses and make buses unable to carry all the people who want to ride them, especially at peak hours. This difficulty roused a heated debate over whether the free policy is a good idea.

Earlier this year, Shanghai offered a new solution to the problem.

Since June 25, seniors in Shanghai have to pay a transportation fee, but they are provided with a transportation allowance by the Shanghai government.

Every Shanghai senior can get a monthly allowance since May 1, with 150 yuan ($22.6) for people aged between 70 and 79 and 180 yuan for people aged between 80 and 89.

The seniors who receive the allowance can use the money to purchase a "Baotong Card", a transportation card including transportation insurance. The card, which came into use since July 1, costs 150 yuan for people aged between 70 and 79 and 139 yuan for people aged between 80 and 89. The allowance can well cover the expense of the "Baotong Card".

Swiping the card, seniors can take buses and subways, excluding expressway line, airport express, tourism line, magnetic levitation train line, at off-peak times without paying extra money.

Shanghai's elderly passengers expressed different views on the new policy, according to Xinmin Evening News.

Some believed purchasing the "Baotong Card" is a good deal as it contains insurance, while some others thought the use of the card is too limited as it cannot be used on the expressway line, airport express, tourism line, or magnetic levitation train line.

Though controversial, the implementation of the new policy has eased the stress on public transport.

On the first day of stopping the free rides, Shanghai Morning Post reported that elderly passengers dropped sharply at 80 percent during peak times on bus No 48 and No 49 during an investigation.
Ten longtime foreign residents in Shanghai's Chengjiaqiao area, where expatriates account for 30 percent of the total residents, work with police as volunteers to spread awareness of Chinese laws and rules among foreigners, especially newcomers.

These expat volunteers, including businesspeople, artists and students from such countries as the Netherlands, Argentina, Italy and France, will assist police in informing other expats to register with local police stations within 24 hours of arrival.

They also will help watch for violators of traffic rules, patrol communities to spot safety threats and warn expats about falling prey to such criminal activity as telecommunication fraud, according to police from Changning district, where Chengjiaqiao is located.

More than 170,000 foreigners now in Shanghai have lived and worked there for more than half a year, according to the municipality's police.

Lin Yi, a police officer in Chengjiaqiao, the 8-square-km area adjacent to Hongqiao International Airport, said one of the major problems in their work is that many foreigners tend to view Chinese laws based on their own mindset.

For example, Lin said, some foreign residents in the villa neighborhood pitch tents on the public lawn, which is allowed only within the fences of their house.

"So we need the volunteers to work as the intermediary between the foreigners and us," Lin said.

During an internship before becoming a volunteer, Habib Jan, 26, of Pakistan helped traffic police direct nonmotorized vehicles at an intersection in July.

"Some riders of electric bikes don't know Shanghai requires all such vehicles to have a license plate, and some nonmotorized vehicle riders go in the wrong direction. So I stop them and work as translator for the police officer," said Jan, who has been in Shanghai for seven years and is fluent in English, Mandarin and the Shanghai dialect.

Jan also helps police with security management in Shanghai Hongqiao International Pearl City, where he owns a shop that sells handmade carpets.
Chinese swimmer Ning Zetao, one of the "national husbands" in China. [Photo/IC]

It seems that Chinese women have too many " national husbands"nowadays. Once there is an extremely popular actor or athlete, often single, he will be elevated to the altar as a "national husband".

Some of these "husbands" are very fit, with nice muscles, while the others are gentle, even effeminate.

But do they also look attractive in ancient China?

It is known that the definition of good-looking often varies with society and time. And in ancient China, the standard of handsome men also changes in different periods.

Males can be roughly classified into two categories: gentle and delicate men, and strong and robust ones. Both these two kinds enjoyed the same degree of popularity among ancient Chinese women before the Qin Dynasty (c.21st century-221 BC).

In a story recorded in Zuo Zhuan (), the earliest annals in China, a woman vacillated between a gentle man and strong one. She eventually chose the latter.

And in the Book of Songs (), or Shi Jing, which recorded the ancient odes and songs in China, "beautiful white jade" and "flowers" were used to describe nice looking men.

Apart from a beautiful face, men's height was also another important factor when judging their looks.

However, during Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties (220-581), those soft and effeminate men dwarfed their strong counterparts for more than 300 years.

An extremely beautiful man, Pan An, was born during this time. And he later became the standard of handsome men in China. In Chinese, when describing a man as "looks like Pan An", it could be the highest praise to his looks.

There was another man during this period, Wei Jie, who died at age 27, also very famous in Chinese history for his appearance. He was described as pretty, soft, and frail.

He died young, and was recorded in Jin Shu () as dying from "being looked at too much". Jin Shu noted that large crowds of people expected to take a look at Wei Jie's beautiful face.

Dying from "being looked at too much" might sound ridiculous. Yet his beauty was even mentioned in a famous chronological history book Zi Zhi Tong Jian (), complied by Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

It wasn't until the Tang Dynasty (618-907) that handsome men with strong and fit bodies regained their glory.

Tang people preferred magnificent, glorious and strong things, such as fat and strong horses, peonies with large petals. As to men, Tang women liked the fitter and stronger ones.

Men's physical ability was also paid a special attention during this time. Men who were good at horse riding, archery, swordsmanship and martial arts were highly praised.

Later in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), Prince Charming for women, turned out to be those were thin, gentle with delicate features and good manners again.

In the Chinese classic The Dream of Red Chamber, finished in the Qing Dynasty, protagonist Jia Baoyu was described as having a beautiful fairy face, with the glory of the moon and color of spring flowers on his cheek. His brows also have the shape of fine willow leaves.

As a real "rich second generation" with a nice outlook, Jia is a standard soft and well mannered man, sexually appealing to both men and women in the book.
Visitors at the ongoing art shows at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Before Beijing-based artist Liu Jin, 45, started a photography residency program in Denmark last summer, his impressions of the country came from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales.

So, he used this as inspiration during his residency program.

"I don't think that Andersen's works are exclusively for children. Rather, there are metaphors and satires which reveal reality and truth," he says.

His photographs of Copenhagen and Aarhus, where he spent most of his time during the program, accentuate the peaceful, fairy-tale landscapes that reflect Denmark.

In the photos. there is always a phantom-like figure, covered in different colors standing in empty streets or forests.

The figure was modeled by Liu's assistant. In one photo, he draped the Little Mermaid sculpture with a robe.

Echoing Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, Liu uses a surreal, whimsical perspective to tell people to question things that they see.

Liu's photos are now on show at an exhibition called New Clothes for the Fairy Tales at the Danish Cultural Center in Beijing's 798 art zone, along with an installation and a video he created during his stay in Denmark.

For Eric Messerschmidt, director of the DCC, Liu's works reveal a sense of fear that sometimes belies the ideal, clean and friendly appearance of people or the objects, something which can also be found in Andersen's works.

He also says that Liu's works are a sensitive statement on the tension and unrest that the Danes feel, thanks to the refugee issue in Europe.

Besides Liu's exhibition, which opened on Saturday, the center is also staging Danish Cool, an art show introducing the late Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen.

An official platform to promote Danish arts and culture, the DCC was officially opened last May in 798, which is typically dominated by galleries and artists' studios.

It was joined by German's Goethe-Institut Beijing, which also opened a space in 798 in October.

The DCC sits in the heart of 798, close to star neighbors such as the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, the Pace Gallery and the Faurschou Foundation.

Messerschmidt says that, as the 798 management transforms the area, he sees the DCC evolving into a unique entity.

"The area is open 24 hours, so it means the center can have live performances and film screenings also," he says.

He adds that the DCC does not want to focus just on pure art like galleries typically do, but address contemporary issues on a broader scale, whether they are about arts or about society.

"We want to deal with issues that interest both Danish and Chinese, and put them into a cultural narrative."

He says that though the current exhibitions may be artistic, the center has had exhibitions about the democratic changes in Denmark and sustainable development. It wants to communicate on a constant basis such issues as climate change, sexuality and such changes in gender as women getting stronger and men becoming more feminine.

He says that the DCC also hopes to produce at least two "truly Nordic" events a year.

In March, it held a two-month exhibition, The Weather Diaries, which explored the relationship between climate and fashion design in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

"We want to keep the center fresh and cool ... and to catch people who are used to quality and spectacular events."

If you go

10 am-6 pm, Tuesdays through Sundays, until Sept 18. Danish Cultural Center, 706 Bei Yi Jie, 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5762-6100.
[Photo provided to China Daily]

The Capital Museum is celebrating 35 years of its opening with the ongoing exhibition Eight Marvelous Handicrafts of Beijing.

The best of the city's traditional craftsmanship in enamel, lacquerware and more is being exhibited. Nearly 270 items are in the show that runs through Nov 9.

According to museum director Guo Xiaoling, the display, which began on Aug 9, aims to advocate the spirit of craftsmanship defined by delicacy and luxury.

"This is an attempt to help traditional craftsmanship survive and thrive in the modern world," Guo says. "The handworks are complicated, so inheriting such skills is imperative."

The eight Beijing-style handicrafts are: jade carving, ivory carving, cloisonne enamel, carved lacquer, painted and inlaid lacquer, filigree, embroidery and imperial carpets.
[Photo by Mike Peters / China Daily]

Marco De Martino was in Beijing last week to present a series of his family vineyard wines at a private dinner hosted by Chile's ambassador to China, Jorge Heine. The chosen wines included a pleasant chardonnay and two standout vintages of carmenerewhich has come to be considered Chile's national grape.

But the surprise hit of the night was the De Martino Viejas Tinajas Cinsault 2014. A light and refreshing wine, it was like nothing most of us had ever tasted. There is an earthiness to both the taste and the aroma, and my first thought when I smelled it was "Cherry Kool-Aid". That sounds like a put-down (the renowned wine critic Jancis Robinson was smoother, describing the nose as "sour cherry"). But in fact, the wine is as tasty as it is intriguing.

Its individuality comes from the grape (Cinsault) and the chosen fermentation vessel, earthenware jars known in Spanish as tinajas. Though they vary, they are about barrel-sizemuch smaller than the huge clay amphorae used by Georgian and Armenian winemakers for thousands of years. But the tinajas have plenty of their own traditions, employed by winemakers in southern Europe for several centuries and still used by some Spanish and Portuguese winemakers today.

Spanish colonists, you may have guessed by now, brought the technique to Chile in the 1500s. Modernization and commercialization of Chilean wineries pushed the tinaja tradition into obscurity, but the enterprising De Martino family made a project of reviving it, and the results have turned heads around the world.

"It's the sort of summer red that would be delighted to be served cool," Robinson wrote in a column about the 2012 vintage, "and has no tough tannin so could be drunk without food as well as with fish." We'd say the same of the 2014, though we were happy to enjoy it with a grilled beef filetintriguingly wrapped in almonds and seaweed and served alongside an asparagus risotto.

The Chilean Tinajas Cinsault wasn't the only wine with ancient roots that was taking a bow in China last week.

On the weekend, Feudi di San Gregorio's Privilego was served as the dessert wine at an Italian tasting dinner at La Dolce Vita in Beijing.

Made from 100 percent Fiano grapes, the wine is made in the Passito style, in which grapes are partially dried on straw mats or pallets in well-ventilated rooms or barns to concentrate the flavors and sweetness prior to vinification. After three to six months, the semi-dried grapes are gently pressed and the juice fermented until it reaches the desired level of sweetness and alcohol.

An ancient vine of the Roman era, Fiano was renamed "Latino" to distinguish it from Greek origins, says restaurant owner Fabio Falanga. "It is a vigorous vine that prospers well in soils of volcanic origin."

Touted as a good match with pastries, the wine also sparkles when served with well-aged cheeses. Falanga served it with his signature dessert: The Prince, a rum-soaked baba (cake) served with chocolate and hazelnut cream, minced pistachios and strawberries.
Wang alleges that his wife, Ma Rong, had an affair with his agent Song Zhe, hid and transferred property, and "hurt his family members."[Photo/IC]

CHINESE ACTOR Wang Baoqiang announced he was getting a divorce on China's micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo on Sunday, accusing his wife of having an affair with his agent. Beijing News commented on Monday:

Wang's announcement immediately divided opinions. Many sided with him, criticizing his wife for being unfaithful, while others questioned his decision to air his dirty laundry in public.

Those who hold dear "traditional marital values" sympathized with Wang, because in their eyes, an affair like this is immoral and the cheaters deserve to be exposed and judged and found guilty in the court of public opinion. That explains why a considerable number of netizens denounced and even cursed his wife in the comment section of Wang's post.

However, some criticized Wang for making his wife's affair public knowledge, especially as airing the family's dirty laundry in public may harm the couple's children. Such views, to some extent, highlight society's changing attitude toward marriage.

That said, some overzealous netizens on both sides went too far and overstepped the boundaries in their criticism of the parties concerned.

The real issue, however, is the way in which the actor broke the news of his impending divorce to the public. While seeking to stand on the moral high ground, the actor sought to win sympathy by making public what should have remained a private matter. And it should be borne in mind that his is only one side of the story.

For Wang and his wife, this is a personal matter, which should be kept between themselves. There are different ways they may choose to say goodbye to each other. If they can reach a deal in private about the division of family assets, they may end their relationship peacefully. They may otherwise go to the court. It is inappropriate for Wang to sling mud on his wife in such a manner.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks into his official residence in Tokyo, Japan, January 28, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Given that Japan caused untold suffering with its war of aggression in the 1930s and 1940s, it should feel deep remorse for its actions and do what it can do to gain the understanding of Asian countries, including China.

However, Japanese right-wing politicians have chosen not to do so. Instead, they seek to stir up the South China Sea disputes and fuel tensions in the region.

Shortly after the international tribunal made its ruling on the case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines on its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, Japan's Foreign Ministry declared that the award was "final" and should be binding, in total disregard of China's previously stated stance that the ruling is null and void and it would neither accept nor participate in the process. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even attempted to include the South China Sea as a topic for discussion at the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting in mid-July, but failed after meeting resistance from many participating countries.

Despite this failed attempt, Japan still tried to persuade members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to issue a joint statement on the arbitration ruling at their foreign ministers' meeting, but once again this was resisted. The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and Australia did, however, issue a statement on that occasion expressing "grave concerns over the maritime disputes in the South China Sea" and calling on the parties concerned to abide by the "binding arbitral verdict".

In a white paper issued by its defense ministry on August 2, Japan went even further attacking what it described as "China's attempt to change the status quo in the sea by force" and once again unreasonably demanding China accept the arbitration ruling.

With such activities, Japan has fully exposed its attempt to push for an "international circle of containment" against China and such unconcealed intentions should prompt vigilance from peace-loving people.
A woman talks with a salesman at a property market fair in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily]

Media reports quote the government as saying that levying property tax is now part of its agenda, sparking public concern. The problem is, if property tax is levied without full preparation, it will not achieve the expected goal of increasing revenue. Instead, it could undermine the government's credibility and seriously impede the modernization process of national governance.

Strictly speaking, property tax should be levied on all housing units based on evaluated prices. So the pilot property tax project in Shanghai and Chongqing is not property tax in this sense, because it exempts one or two houses of one household from the tax. And since every housing unit enjoys at least some sort of public service, not levying property tax on some of them would be unfair to the others.

Besides, the revenue from property tax will be limited without an extensive tax base, and thus cannot finance local public services, which is the basic purpose of levying direct tax. Besides, going by the existing situation, individual capacity of payment may influence the levying of property tax.

The housing units allotted at extremely low prices years ago to employees of public departments and institutions as part of civil service welfare can now fetch millions of yuan. But most of the owners of these houses cannot afford to pay property tax based on the evaluated real estate prices, because the growth in their salaries has been far outpaced by rising housing prices.

In addition, many people bought the houses at low prices before the real estate market boom started in earnesta house that cost 5,000 yuan ($753) per square meter a decade ago could now be worth 10 times more. So these homeowners may not be in a position to pay high property tax because of their relatively low incomes.

The mission of the government should be to help people live a better life, and good living conditions are part of a good life. If the property tax worsens the lives of a sizable number of people, perhaps the government should not levy it now.

The goal of tax reform is to gradually increase the ratio of direct taxation. But we have to strike the right balance between the rules of taxation and the actual situation. Changing the structure of the tax system may be a slow process, but all such changes have one thing in common: collecting and increasing revenue.

One of the advantages of indirect taxation is that the source of taxation is stable, which could guarantee stable tax revenue. Given that levying direct tax is more difficult than levying indirect tax, proper planning and implementation of direct tax is of great significance.

During an economic downturn, the growth of individual incomes and enterprises' revenues slows downthere can even be negative growthwhich means they become more sensitive to additional tax burdens. Hence, now may not be a good time to change the structure of the taxation system.

During economic and social transition, the challenges faced by the government in national governance are greater than during normal or stable periods. Direct taxation means the tax authorities have to directly contact individuals and families. And taxpayers will have more direct demands in terms of public services provided by the government. And if the government is unable to properly deal with such issues, it could increase social risks.

Property tax is related to national welfare and people's livelihood, and therefore requires serious consideration. A decision that would be correct and good in the future might not be so at present. Hence, the authorities should be more cautious about levying property tax now.

The author is a researcher at the National Academy of Economic Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Canoes are seen on a dock on Lake Louise at Banff National Park, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains outside the village of Lake Louise, Alberta, October 3, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

After fulfilling the obligations of my teaching for the current school year, I thought that I should seize the opportunity to pay a visit to Montreal, Quebec, my hometown. My main objective was to relax in order to rejuvenate in preparation for handling the challenges of my retirement that lie ahead.

I never thought or imagined that my trip would turn into a learning experience. Through my stay in Montreal, I had the opportunity to encounter numerous Chinese who are struggling to pave their routes to success and subsequently lead a better life in Canada.

My good fortune led me to stay at a hotel called Casa Bella that is run by Chinese. The hotel is located on the corner of Sherbrooke and Parc Avenue in the downtown area. It is a safe haven for Chinese tourists who ache for a friendly Chinese atmosphere. The members of the staff speak English, French and Chinese.

My journey paved my way to encounter a variety of Chinese individuals who came to Canada looking for a better life.

Some travelled thousands of miles while leaving behind family and friends for the sake of acquisition of knowledge. They wished to advance their studies both in English and French in Montreal universities

They transcended the barrier of languages to blend in with their Canadian counterparts.

Speaking with few of them about the obstacles they had to face upon their arrival to Canada, they said the difficulty to communicate in both the official languages of Canada as the major hurdle that they had to surpass.

For certain, I was impressed by their facility to express their ideas while switching from English to French and vice-versa.

Almost all of those with whom I talked said that often they felt homesick. They miss their families and friends. Despite the fact that Montreal has numerous Chinese dining establishments, they long for a home-cooked meal prepared by their beloved mothers.

I had the chance to meet tourists who were trying to fulfill their childhood dreams of experiencing the life in a developing country.

When I asked them if Montreal had fulfilled their expectations, they were hesitant to reply affirmatively. They indicated that reality never measures up to fantasies. However, they were glad to have the opportunity to visit Montreal. They had no regrets about taking the trip.

Not all Chinese whom I encountered were happy. I met a young lady who came to meet a gentleman with whom she made acquaintances with him through the internet to face horrible disappointment of never seeing him after he promised to marry her in Montreal.

I was served by another Chinese who could not handle the challenges of studying in an English environment to end up working in the restaurant service sector with minimum wage.

Exploring different parts of the world, without any doubt, is an enriching experience. However, one should be realistic when it comes to leaving ones hometown to establish a new life in a foreign country.

One should take the time to examine the merits and the shortcomings of the venture before deciding to alter the course of his or her life chasing after an elusive dream of achieving success or leading a better life.

The original blog is at: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1376588-36662.html
The photo shows that students studing English with their foreign teacher. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With its rapid economic development and opening up, China has opened its doors to English teachers from various nations. I heard that Chinese schools show a preference for British English, followed by American English. Here are some stories about Asians trying to become English teachers here in Beijing.

The first story is about a lady who bought a duplicate certificate (from a fake certificate provider company in Beijing) saying that she had learned English in Canada and started a teaching job. However, she gave up the job when she was investigated by the authorities. Lacking confidence, she left the school in a timely manner, closing the chapter on her teaching career.

The second story is about a young, energetic and handsome Asian guy who was trying to get a teaching job in Beijing, but ethnicity was standing in the way of his goal. Finally, he colored his hair gray and changed his get up, making himself appear like a Caucasian. His English accent was perfect. Now he is the owner of an English language institute. His institute hires some western teachers to fortify his goodwill.

Thirdly, many blacks, Asians and Africans also hold teaching jobs but there is a vast disparity in wages.

Is China serious about paving the way for English learners? Should English teaching be restricted only to those who look Caucasian in China? What should be the criteria for teaching English in China? I will respect all your suggestions and progressive ideas. Thanks.

The original blog is at: http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1354070-36689.html
Two local women stand outside their home. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

The achievement of the Chinese government in combating poverty over the past decades has been remarkable, nay ambitious. But its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) is even more ambitious because it aims to lift another 70 million people out of poverty by 2020.

From 1981 to 2011, China lifted about 753 million people out of poverty  439 million of them rose above the poverty line between 1990 and 2011.

But the government's goal of lifting about 70 million people out of poverty in four years is indeed ambitious. In the severely poverty-stricken provinces and regions, poverty alleviation has been prioritized over all other issues, and all government departments are providing essential support to fight poverty.

Apart from applying the feasible solutions to eradicate poverty such as introducing e-commerce measures, the poor areas are also promoting their geographical or demographic advantages in attracting tourists or boosting their agricultural production. Plans to relocate people are being implemented, and rural residents in less livable areas have been settled in relatively secure places. Documents have been filed and database established, and the relocated people are now registered residents of these areas.

Besides, poverty alleviation is now part of the criteria to determine the performance of local officials in less developed areas, and university students are being encouraged to serve in grassroots governments to improve public services, in order to help those areas develop faster.

But while the new plans are being implemented, rural governance has not shown any obvious difference till now. The less developed regions are still struggling to eradicate poverty, not because they lack financial or human resources but because their governance has not shown any qualitative change.

The major concern of the poverty alleviation program is that some local areas could fall into the poverty trap again. Since a sustainable method of reducing poverty remains elusive, how to use better and innovative ideas to alleviate poverty and keep poverty levels as low as possible has become more important than ever.

The author is a reporter with China Daily
[Photo/IC]

Warm sunshine, peaceful beaches, colorful reefs and a cup of iced drink are always essentials for a heaven-like vocation, and also compose the reason why Sharm el-Sheikh is famous around the world.

However, as Egypt's most famous tourism city, Sharm el-Sheikh is still suffering from the sluggish income growth in the tourism sector, with hope on the coming season and a new market, China.

"We have gone through a very tough period because of the terrorism," Egyptian Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently, adding that the declining dollar income in tourism is the main reason of the current economic woes in his country.

Egypt has been suffering from the weak economy, especially in tourism, the second largest US dollar income sector, over the past few years due to political turmoil.

The situation further deteriorated due to the Russian plane crash in Sinai that killed over 200 in October last year and a tragic fall of an EgyptAir flight in May that killed all 66 people on board.

"Egypt is where the history started, and tourism is a very cultural embedded industry. We have one-third of the antiquities of the world and the largest beaches on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which I believe is very attractive for the Chinese tourists," Rashed explained Egypt's interests in Chinese market.

"With the testimony of all people, including the Chinese living in Egypt, it is evident that Egypt is safe and a good choice for everyone for holidays," he added.

According to a report by the Egyptian statistics authority, the number of tourists coming to the country declined in May by 51.7 percent, comparing to the same month last year, with the main reason of the flight bans carried out by Russia, Britain and some other Western states after the plane accident last year.

At the same time, the number of Chinese visitors to Egypt increased from 65,000 to 135,000 in 2015, while the tourism ministry targets to multiply the number in 2016, given the growing bilateral relations the two countries.
It would be hard for people to understand the reaction or overreaction of African Americans if they haven't studied the history of slavery and racial discrimination in the United States. Likewise, it would be impossible to correctly interpret the action, reaction and overreaction of Chinese if they haven't studied the history known as the "century of humiliation".

Just in the past few years, African Americans have taken to the streets in droves across US cities following the fatal shootings or other brutality against black people by police officers.

The shooting to death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in late 2012, for example, gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement gained momentum across the nation following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, both in 2014, all by police officers.

Marches organized by the movement also were quite noticeable during the recent 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25-28.

Many African Americans lived as slaves in the 18th and much of the 19th century until slavery was abolished in the 1860s by President Abraham Lincoln. However, African Americans still suffered from serious discrimination and unequal rights until the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which legally bans racial discrimination and segregation.

The situation today is entirely different from the 18th century or even the 1960s. African Americans have taken important positions in the government, Congress, the Supreme Court and the US military. Barack Obama has become the first African American president in the US.

But it cannot mask the fact that African Americans still face discrimination, as evidenced by the low income and poor education in their communities and the much higher incarceration rate than the nation's average.

Clearly, to many African Americans, the struggle for equality and against racial discrimination is far from over. That explains why they tend to overreact if certain words and actions remind them of the bitter history of slavery and the continuing racial discrimination.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, set to open on Sept 24 in the National Mall in Washington, is likely to help people better understand that mentality.

For Chinese, the "century of humiliation" started in the First Opium War (1840-1842) and lasted until 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded.

After defeating China in the First Opium War, the British forced the Treaty of Nanking on China. Under the unequal treaty, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to Britain and opened treaty ports. A subsequent unequal treaty granted British extraterritoriality, meaning British were immune from the punishment of Chinese laws.

Such unequal treaties were later imposed on China by other Western powers such as France and Germany.

The Second Opium War (1856-1860) allowed the British to force more opium trade on China and opened more treaty ports. The looting and burning in 1860 of the Old Summer Palace, known to Chinese as Yuanming Yuan, by the British and French troops have left indelible marks on the Chinese collective memory.

Same with the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). China, which was defeated, was forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki in which China ceded Taiwan and part of the Liaoning peninsula to Japan. China was also forced to pay a huge war indemnity that was several times Japan's GDP at the time.

While China was among the victors of World War I, the German concessions on China's Shandong peninsula were transferred to Japan as a result of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, instead of returning to China.

There has been no doubt that when Chairman Mao Zedong declared in 1949 in the Tian'anmen Rostrum that the Chinese people have stood up, it resonated so strongly with every Chinese who remembered the bullying by Western powers, or the "century of humiliation".

Unlike the US, whose history in the last 150 years has been seizing land and expanding territory, for China, it has been a bitter memory of ceding territory and bullying by Western powers.

That explains why Chinese took to the streets in massive numbers to protest against the US following the EP-3 spy plane collision in April 2001 and the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, and that is also why Chinese took to the streets when the Japanese government in 2012 nationalized the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, territory the Chinese believe belongs to China.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Vice-President Joe Biden stopped to visit Biden's childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, August 15, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would soon submit to US Congress interview notes from its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email setup and copies of classified emails handled via her private email account, local media reported.

The contents would also include summaries of FBI's interviews with several senior aides of Clinton, The Wall Street Journal cited sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Copies of the 110 emails in 52 email chains that had contained classified information at the time when they were sent or received were also expected to be handed over to US lawmakers, said the Journal, adding that those documents were expected to be highly redacted.

However, all material would not be released publicly and would be presented to US lawmakers as classified information.

In March 2015, Clinton acknowledged that she had exchanged about 60,000 emails from her private email account during her stint in the Obama administration, among which about half were personal and thus deleted.

All emails were sent and received via a private email server based at Clinton's home.

In response to requests from the State Department, the Clinton camp turned over the other half, roughly 30,000 emails in total, to the State Department in December 2014.

The controversy surrounding Clinton's email practices burst into public view in August 2015 after the inspector general for the intelligence community revealed that two of the thousands of emails held by Clinton contained top-secret information.

That finding triggered a FBI investigation into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information via the private email setup.

After a yearlong probe, FBI Director James Comey said in July his agency would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. However, he called Clinton and her team "extremely careless" in handling sensitive information.
FREETOWN - China and Sierra Leone have signed an agreement on medical aid in maternal health care as well as eye surgery.

The agreement was signed over the weekend by Dr. Abu Bakar Fofanah, Sierra Leone's Minister of Health and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yanbo.

In the signing ceremony, the Chinese Ambassador said that during the Ebola outbreak, they realized that Sierra Leone did not have enough doctors working for the Chinese built Jui hospital on the outskirts of the capital city Freetown.

He said that now the Ebola was over, but the problem of shortage of doctors was still existing in the country.

For this reason, China has decided to provide medical aid in maternal health care and eye surgery to Sierra Leone, he said, adding that the medical equipment will be left for the Health Ministry after the Chinese doctors leave the country.

Since 1973, China has been sending medical personals and supplies to Sierra Leone.

"We are grateful for all the assistance the government and people of Sierra Leone received," Sierra Leone's minister of health said.

He said they were looking forward to working with Chinese doctors and contributing better health care to the country.
A dog shakes off after swimming in the Adriatic sea, on the beach dedicated to dogs in Crikvenica, Croatia, Aug 14, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Recently a small town on Croatia's Adriatic Coast has opened the country's first dog beach, where the four-legged guests and their owners can relax in the sun and have fun. Croatia is one of the favorite tourist destinations in Europe, but it previously had not allowed dogs to almost all of its beaches along the Adriatic coast.
Nepalese army personnel assist a victim of a bus accident after being airlifted from Birtadeurali in Kavre to Kathmandu, Nepal, August 15, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

KATHMANDU - Nepal's Home Ministry said that as many as 29 people were killed and 72 people were injured in two separate bus accidents that took place in Kavrepalanchowk district in central Nepal and Baitadi district in far-western Nepal on Monday.

As many as 26 people were killed and 42 injured in the passenger bus accident in Kavrepalanchowk as the bus veered off the road and plunged down at Birta Deurali area of the district, the ministry said in a press statement.

The bus had moved from capital Kathmandu and met an accident at around 1:30 p.m. local time as the bus plunged 300 meters down the road out of control, according to the ministry.

In another accident that took place at Siddheshwor village of Baitadi, three people were killed while other 30 were injured.

Police were mobilized and Nepal Army sent its helicopter for the rescue of the injured passengers at Birta Deurali, according to the government's statement. Out of injured people, 28 were brought to Kathmandu in helicopters and taken to different hospitals. Another 15 injured were treated in local Dhulekhel hospital. Likewise, those injured in accident in Baitadi were also taken to sub-regional hospital in nearby Dadeldhura district.

The ministry said that such accidents have been taking place for carrying more passengers than their capacity. "The local administration and police have been given stringent order to control such practices," said the ministry.
SEOUL -- One person was killed, two others injured and one missing in an explosion at a submarine repair dock in a South Korean naval base, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday citing Seoul's military.

A military official was quoted as saying that the explosion occurred at about 8:30 am local time at a submarine repair dock in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang province, which serves as home for the South Korean navy.

The accident happened while a midget submarine was being repaired, but the exact cause of the explosion was yet to be confirmed.

Among the two wounded, one is in critical condition.

The missing person was thrown into the water from the shock of the explosion.

All of those killed, wounded and missing were commissioned or uncommissioned officers, the military official was quoted as saying.
Anjem Choudary, the leader of the dissolved militant group al-Muhajiroun, arrives at Bow Street Magistrates Court in London July 4, 2006. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - Anjem Choudary, Britain's most high-profile Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous militant plots across the world, has been found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State.

Choudary, 49, was convicted at London's Old Bailey court of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the banned group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Notorious in Britain where the tabloids denounce him as a hate preacher, he is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims.

Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, had sought to validate the "caliphate" declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him.

In one hour-long speech, Choudary set out the requirements for a legitimate caliphate under Islam and why he believed the Islamic State met those criteria.

Both men, who had denied the terrorism charges and claimed the case was politically motivated, were found guilty last month but their convictions could not be reported until Tuesday for legal reasons. They are due to be sentenced in September and could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years each.

Choudary, the former head of the now banned organization al-Muhajiroun, became infamous for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Despite his often controversial comments and refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists such as the London 2005 bombings, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence.

Rahman served two years in jail for encouraging followers to kill British and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during a protest in 2006.

BREEDING GROUND FOR MILITANTS

Al-Muhajiroun has been regarded as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri, who was banished from Britain in 2005, and was banned under anti-terrorist laws in 2010.

Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests Choudary had organised.

Last year, the trial of a teenage Muslim convert found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier in London was told he had fallen in with al-Muhajiroun.

The group's influence is said to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot and killed a soldier in Canada's capital and then stormed parliament in 2014, followed Choudary on Twitter, although the preacher told Reuters at the time he had no links to him.

Both Choudary and Rahman say they abide by a "covenant of security" which forbids Muslims from carrying out attacks in non-Muslim lands where their lives and wellbeing are protected.

"We're living in a global community and no doubt Muslims around the world who have their eye on what's happening in Syria and Iraq or want to know about the sharia (law) will come across us at one point or another," Choudary told Reuters in 2014.

"That does not mean that we're encouraging people to carry out any acts of terrorism."
China and ASEAN made several breakthroughs on the South China Sea issue on Tuesday, including vowing to finish a framework by the middle of next year for a code of conduct for the sea.

Senior diplomats also approved a guideline for a China and ASEAN hotline for use during maritime emergencies and a joint declaration that the Conduct for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which was signed by more than 20 Pacific nations in 2014, applies to the South China Sea.

Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin co-chaired the 13th senior officials' meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

He told a joint news conference that documents about the hotline and the conduct for unplanned encounters will be presented to the meeting of leaders from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, scheduled for early September, for final approval.

"There is another achievement  we reached broad consensus on pushing forward the negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea," Liu said.

"All sides agreed to raise the frequency of the negotiations in a situation without interference, and seek to finish a draft framework of the COC by the middle of next year."

The senior officials' meeting has been held twice a year since 2011, but this is the third meeting held this year.

"We held the conference more frequently than in previous years," Liu told reporters after the meeting.

"It shows that as the situation in the South China Sea is getting more and more complicated, especially with the interference of external forces, ASEAN countries and China have realized that we have to grasp the key to the South China Sea issue in our own hand."

He said the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed in 2002, provides an effective platform for properly handling disputes through negotiation and cooperation.

Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Tuesday's achievements are "an important step" in China's relations with ASEAN.

"The frequent meetings between China and the ASEAN countries this year is a good thing  it shows that we both have the willingness to keep the key in our hand," Jia said.

Wang Xiaopeng, a researcher with CASS, said the ASEAN countries are willing to work with China, which has interests intertwined with those of its regional neighbors.

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

Zhang Yaozhong contributed to this story.
(Photo : Getty Images/ VCG/VCG) An investor observes the stock market on his phone at an exchange hall in Huaibei, Anhui Province of China.

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India's venture funding in the technology sector is slowing down. But Indian startup firms are now turning to Chinese investors. India is home to more than 12,000 startup firms, and Chinese investors are helping them to turn their dream projects into reality.



Chinese investors are currently flocking India's tech community in search for that next Chinese Unicorn (a firm that has the potential to grow and become a $1 billion company). The hunt started in January 2015 when Hillhouse Capital invested $50 million in automobile search engine CarDekho. Soon after, reports surfaced that Chinese tech giant Alibaba is planning to invent $500 million into Paytm. In August 2015, Indian E-commerce giant Snapdeal claimed that it was able to raise $500 million in funding from investors including major Chinese tech companies like Foxconn and Alibaba.



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Venture capitalist tracker Venture Intelligence reported that from January 2015 until April this year, notable investors including Alibaba and Tencent have committed more than $1.1 billion to various Indian startups. This massive amount of Chinese investments was made possible despite old issues regarding border disputes between China and India which had stymied several business opportunities in the past.



In a statement acquired by South China Morning Post, Incapital senior manager Eric Shu said, "We feel India's internet sector will be the next big market after China; it is a hot area for Chinese investors."



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Tagsventure capitalist, china, chinese venture capitalist, venture capitalist india, China Tech, China tech news, India tech startup
(Photo : Getty Images) A man talks on a cell phone in the new American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

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Chinese travelers would soon be allowed to use their mobile phones on-board planes, giving way to wider in-flight connectivity that is now available in developed markets, Bloomberg reported.



According to Zhu Tao, director of the air transportation division at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, a policy to amend the limit of use of electronic devices on planes is currently in the works and could be imposed by the end of this year or early next year. The proposed amendment will allow Chinese plane passengers to access the Internet, use applications, and shop online with their smartphones.



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For about 50 different Chinese airlines competing in the Chinese market, easing such rule will give e-commerce opportunities as they tap the China's newly rich's purchasing power, Macau Daily Times reported.



"From a business perspective, we definitely hope that there'll be a breakthrough in the policy review," Zhang Chi, China Eastern's deputy director, said. "While I let passengers browse the internet for free, I can at the same time profit from advertisement and on-board shopping. There will be a big positive return."



Currently, China's civil aviation rules require plane passengers to switch their mobile phones off for safety purposes. However, the use of other electronic devices like tablets are permitted as they do not disrupt the flights' radio signals.



Meanwhile, although several Chinese carriers are already providing in-flight Wi-Fi, the service is only made available to limited flyers on a first-come-first-served basis. For instance, China Eastern only accommodates the first 50 passengers who register to use the internet service for free, the rest of the flyers will be charged 258 yuan ($39) if they want to use the service.



In-flight e-commerce in the global market is set to reach $1.7 billion by 2020, up from $1.4 billion in 2015.



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TagsMobile Phones, civil aviation policy, Civil Aviation Adminitration, China Airlines
(Photo : DARPA) Defending against sUAS.

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Weaponized drones are a real threat and smaller drones called "small unmanned air systems" (sUAS) are such a potentially deadlier threat the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants the public to help them combat it.



In an effort to protect against the threats sUAS pose to military forces, DARPA has issued a Request for Information (RFI) asking for ideas and approaches to help improve protection. DARPA is looking for ways to defend against a variety of threats posed by sUAS'.



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"DARPA is interested in identifying novel, flexible, and mobile layered defense systems and component technologies to address this increasingly important issue as well as conventional threats," said Jean-Charles Lede, program manager.



"We're looking for scalable, modular, and affordable approaches that could be fielded within the next three to four years and could rapidly evolve with threat and tactical advancements."



DARPA is interested in identifying novel, flexible, mobile layered defense systems and component technologies that could be used to improve force protection against a variety of sUAS threats and tactics. These systems must be fielded within the next three to four years, and are structured to rapidly evolve with threat and tactic advancements.



DARPA is interested in exploring the potential for developing and demonstrating system solutions, including sensors and effectors to enable detection, identification, tracking, and neutralization of sUAS threats.



The solution should be scalable and modular such that it could be deployed in multiple defense applications on a variety of platforms (vehicles and vessels). It's intended for the defense of fixed and mobile ground and naval forces.



DARPA will review the ideas it receives to determine their relevance to current systems and the technology's maturity. If DARPA is interested in a proposed solution, it will invite those who submitted it to a Mobile Force Protection workshop in Virginia this September.



DARPA is inviting private or public companies, individuals, universities, university-affiliated research centers, not-for-profit research institutions, foreign entities, and U.S. Government-sponsored laboratories to share their ideas with it.



Those interested in participating may submit a response to the RFI that is five pages in length, or shorter. The guidelines can be found here.



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TagsDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, small unmanned air systems, sUAS
(Photo : Getty Images) A sign stands outside of a McDonald's restaurant in San Francisco, California.

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McDonald's has not committed to stop using antibiotics-treated poultry in China, after making a vow to ban the practice in the United States, raising concerns about double standards.



In a McDonald's statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday, the multinational store admitted that the use of antibiotics to treat animal diseases cannot be avoided. The company stated that it has instructed its Chinese suppliers to comply strictly with the rules and regulations of China when administering antibiotics to livestock.



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McDonald's posted a statement on its official US website on Aug. 1 that it is "completing a major commitment to only serve chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine nearly a year ahead of schedule."



The move was made in response to petitions filed by consumer groups calling for the fast food giant to stop using antibiotics on its chicken. The ban, which was only limited in the United States, has sparked anger among Chinese consumers, who have criticized McDonald's discriminatory policy.



While protesters are making a point, McDonald's, on the other hand, is legally doing nothing wrong as China has not imposed a law on the use of antibiotics in food ingredients, ECNS reported.



Zhu Yi, an associate professor of food safety at the China Agricultural University, said that for now, completely banning the use of antibiotics is impractical for China. He noted that 98 percent of China's current regulations for veterinary drug residues in meat are equal or even better than international standards, according to Global Times. If the safety laws on the use of antibiotics is strictly complied by producers, Zhu claimed that there will be no difference between the chicken served by McDonald's in China and the United States.



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(Photo : Getty Images) In this handout photo provided by the World Food Programme, a worker unloads approximately 34,700 metic tons of bulk wheat which was donated by the Russian Federation through the United Nations World food Programme at the west coast port of Nampo, North Korea.

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China will send half a million tons of food aid to North Korea this year, an insider in North Korea revealed on Sunday, according to The Dong-a Ilbo.



"Chinese officials confirmed that Beijing decided to aid 500,000 tons of food to North Korea within this year. We witnessed 20-ton trucks transporting corns to North Korea early this month on the border between North Korea and China," the source said.



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The large-scale food aid also includes higher crude oil supply and trade volumes, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported. According to The Dong-a Ilbo, it is believed that China is starting to ease its sanctions on North Korea following South Korea's decision to deploy the US' Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system and the pressure Beijing is facing from the international community over the South China Sea dispute.



In March, the UN Security Council barred the supply of jet fuels to North Korea, which recently launched nuclear missiles; however, China allegedly continued to supply the communist nation, albeit in smaller quantities. China has been criticized for such action, as it failed to carry out its duties as a permanent member of the international council.



North Korea's food aid from Beijing was reportedly decided on June 1 after the North's Workers' Party Vice Chairman Ri Su Yong and his delegation paid a visit to China's leader President Xi Jinping. The team reportedly delivered a letter wrote by Kim Jong Un, and Ri requested one million tons of food, but President Xi committed to provide 500,000 tons.



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(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) BMW to launch an autonomous vehicle in China by 2021.

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German luxury car maker BMW is planning to launch self-driving vehicles by 2021 in China, according to Maximilian Doemling, BMW's senior manager, during a summit on artificial intelligence and robotics in Shenzhen, China.



"If you're expecting autonomous function where you can be on the highway, press the button and the car does everything for you, like lane changing and driving, and you can play with smartphone, and you're always safe, we had the big announcement with Intel and Mobileye that we will have the iNext in 2021," Doemling said.



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BMW's i-Next series, which will feature its 'i' family of electric vehicles, is anticipated to release a fully electric powertrain that is rumored to be the same as the one that powered the second-generation i8, according to Car Scoops.



According to ReadWrite, choosing China as its Launchpad for its iNext series come to no surprise as the country is the biggest car market. Furthermore, Chinese consumers have also started shifting from General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen to premium brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.



The rush for electric vehicles has seen more than 200 Chinese firms establish 4,000 new models and introducing various prototypes at motor shows, thanks to the government's commitment to boost annual sales of green vehicles over the next decade.



That said, BMW is positioning itself to get a piece of China's booming car market. Aside from teaming up with Intel and Mobileye to realize its iNext series, BMW is also a part of a consortium of German makers that acquired Here Maps, giving the company another resource to build its driverless system.







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TagsBMW, Electric Vehicles, Self-driving cars, china, Intel, Mobileye, iNext, BMW iNext
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) A certain 4.6-inch Motorola smartphone has been spotted on the GFXBench website.

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A new family of Lenovo and Motorola devices called Moto M has been spotted on the GFXBench benchmarking site.



According to Ubergizmo, rumors suggest that a certain 4.6-inch Motorola smartphone is in works, and it is speculated to be the Moto M. In the GFXBench listing, the smartphone has the model number XT1663. It has a full high-definition display, which is not bad for a smartphone of this screen size.



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The Moto M is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 chipset clocked at a speed of 1.9 GHz. It runs on the pre-installed Android 6.0. It comes with a 3 GB of RAM in a 32 GB of internal storage. It features a 16-megapixel camera at the back with a 4K video recording capability and a 7-megapixel front-facing camera.



Unfortunately, the Moto M does not seem to come with NFC, so it will not be able to replace your wallet, Digital Trends reported.



There has been no announcement about when this particular Moto M (XT1663) will make its official debut.



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TagsLenovo, Motorola, Moto M, Moto XT1663, GFXbench, Moto G, Moto E, Moto X, Moto Z
(Photo : Getty Images.) Chinas Global Times has accused Indian press of raking up negative emotions about Beijing.

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China's state-run media has taken a swipe at India's press for raking up negative emotions about Beijing, Times of India reported, citing an article in The Global Times.



The Global Times, an English newspaper backed by the Chinese government, said the free press in India "has not yet learned to see the considerable potential of the bilateral relationships with a constructive mind-set."



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The article claims that the Indian media tend to use negative words like "invasion" or "transgression" when describing China. It also accused the press in India of overplaying the China threat from time to time.



The editorial took critical note of some of the eye-catching headlines that appeared in Indian media ahead of China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to the country last week. It referred to a particular headline: 'China blocked India's NSG bid, but now wants help on the South China Sea.' The headline claimed that Wang had requested India not to raise the South China Sea issue at the upcoming G20 Summit.



The Chinese newspaper responded to this headline stating: "Unlike the Indian media's tone, there is no need for Beijing to beg for New Delhi's favor." It pointed that Wang's was solely aimed at seeking New Delhi's cooperation ahead of the upcoming G20 and BRICS summits.



The editorial stopped short of criticizing the Indian government. Instead, it showered praises on the Indian government for not falling into the trap of the sensationalized Indian media and provocative public opinion. The editorial said that thanks to efforts by both governments, both countries are enhancing cooperation on a range of bilateral and regional issues.



The article called on media houses of both countries not to fall into the design of Western forces seeking to create differences between New Delhi and Beijing.



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(Photo : Weibo/TimCook) Tim Cook holds an iPad showing pictures of Guo Pei's designs in Beijing, August 15. 2016.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook is back in China three months after his last visit to the mainland.



Cook arrived in Beijing on Monday (Aug. 15) and the first thing on his agenda was to visit Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei, according to China Daily.



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"Nihao, Beijing! It's great to be back. Started my trip today by visiting with the incomparable Guo Pei - such exquisite care and craftsmanship in her work, Cook wrote on Weibo (China's Twitter-like micro-blogging platform). He also expressed his excitement over how Guo and her team used Apple's iPad Pro tablet to design her upcoming collection.



Guo is a rising fashion designer known for wedding dress collection and shot to fame after her success at the Met Gala in New York in May.



Days before his visit, Cook spoke about his first five years as CEO of the tech giant and also touched on the potential of China as a market for Apple products



"So as I look in the long term, I think China is an unbelievable market - not only from a demand point of view and the revenue potential there, but also as a great source of talent," Cook said.



In his interview, Cook also discussed Apple's 33 percent decline in revenues in China in the most recent quarter.



"There are, sort of, speed bumps now with the economy. In a year-ago quarter, we were up 112 percent. So I think you have to back up and put it in perspective. If you look at it over a two-year basis, we were up over 50 percent in the quarter."



During his last visit to China, Cook met with some Chinese developers as well as Liu Qing, president of Didi Chuxing, the largest ride-hailing company in China, shortly after Apple announced that it had invested $1 billion in the Beijing-headquartered transportation company.



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Tagschina, Tim Cook, apple, Guo Pei, Beijing
(Photo : Getty Images.) Indonesia is actively pursuing to resolve territorial disputes in the disputed South China Sea, President Joko Widodo said in a state address on Tuesday ahead of Indonesias Independence Day.

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Indonesia is constantly pursuing to resolve territorial disputes in the disputed South China Sea, President Joko Widodo said during a state address on Tuesday ahead of Indonesia's 71st Independence Day, Reuters reported.



"Indonesia continues to be actively involved in conflict resolution in the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations after," Widodo said. "We continue to push for peaceful resolutions to international conflicts."



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The mention of the South China Sea dispute in Widodo's national address underscores the importance that Indonesia attaches to the Natuna Islands, one of the many small islands in disputed South China Sea that is claimed by both China and Indonesia.



Tensions flared up earlier this year between both claimants after Indonesia's Coast Guard arrested eight Chinese trawlers near the Natuna Islands. China demanded the immediate release of all the trawlers, but the request was firmly rejected by Jakarta.



Later, in a strong message to China, Indonesian President paid a personal visit to the Natuna Islands on a naval warship. The move was seen as Jakarta's assertion of sovereignty over the contested islands.



Indonesia recently beefed up its security around the Natuna Islands following an international tribunal court's verdict on the South China Sea in June. The verdict dismissed China's expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.



China has been on a back foot since the ruling, with the international community urging Beijing to respect the verdict. However, the Chinese government has stated that it would not accept the verdict under any circumstance, regardless of international pressure.



The Chinese government described the verdict as a ploy by Western forces to weaken its control over the maritime territory.



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TagsIndonesia, South China Sea Dispute, China and Indonesia, Indonesia president, Joko Widodo
(Photo : Indonesian Navy) Indonesia destroys foreign fishing boats in 2015.

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In a dire warning to neighboring nations -- especially China -- the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia have promised to sink Chinese and other foreign fishing vessels intruding into the waters they claim as part of their exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.



The threat is directed mainly at China whose fishing vessels have continuously violated Indonesian waters sometimes escorted by China Coast Guard ships. The sudden resolve by both nations follows a July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that declared illegal China's "nine-dash line" it used as the basis for its ownership of the South China Sea. The Philippines successfully sued China before the court.



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Indonesia will conduct the most spectacular demonstration of its resolve to keep its waters inviolate with a mass sinking of 71 foreign vessels from China and other nations on August 17, Indonesia's Independence Day.



In 2015, also on its Independence Day, Indonesia sank 41 fishing vessels from China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other nations after President Joko Widodo promised to get tough on illegal fishing in Indonesian waters by foreign fishing vessels, especially those from China.



Widodo's spectacular solution is to blow up foreign fishing vessels and trawlers caught trespassing in Indonesian waters, and hype the dramatic destruction in the media.



Indonesia's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said it had caught 29 ships illegally fishing across Indonesia in July, including off the Natuna Islands archipelago owned by Indonesia but claimed by China that asserts the islands lie within its illegal "nine-dash line."



Widodo made a highly publicized visit to the Natunas last June in response to frequent incursions by Chinese vessels. China responded to Widodo's visit by issuing an official statement saying the waters off the Natuna's were China's traditional fishing ground.



The Indonesian Navy later captured one Chinese ship after firing warning shots at it despite calls by an escorting Chinese Coast Guard to release the ship. Indonesia seized two tonnes of fish they claim was illegally caught.



Other encounters with Chinese boats previously occurred in March and May and the Indonesians captured other Chinese boats in the same waters.



Malaysia for its part has followed Indonesia's lead and earlier this month said it will sink vessels caught fishing illegally in its waters. Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the sunken foreign ships will be used as artificial reefs.



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TagsIndonesia, Malaysia, china, foreign fishing vessels, Permanent Court of Arbitration, President Joko Widodo
(Photo : Getty Images ) China has voiced opposition after two Japanese ministers visited the "notorious war-linked" Yasukuni Shrine.

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China has expressed anger after two Japanese ministers' visited the "notorious war-linked" Yasukuni Shrine.



On Monday, Beijing expressed opposition over the visit of two Japanese ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine saying that the visit once again shows the Japanese government's wrong attitude to history.



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China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang, during a routine press briefing, said: "That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue."



Lu asked the Japanese government to "squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way," according to Xinhua.



Two members of Shinzo Abe's cabinet on Monday visited Japan's national war shrine on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the country's surrender in the World War II. The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war heroes, some of whom have been convicted of war crimes after World War II.



Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to have avoided a visit to the controversial shrine to keep China and South Korea happy. Both countries have repeatedly denounced visits of Japanese leaders to the Shrine in past.



China has been engaged in a bitter territorial dispute with Japan over some uninhabited Islands in the East China Sea including Senkaku Islands.





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Tagschina, Japan, World War II, Yasukuni Shrine, Visits to Yasukuni Shrine
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Xiaomi's portable smart washing machine will be available for only 1499 Yuan (approximately $226 / Rs. 15,074.19).

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Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has announced that its latest innovative product called the portable smart washing machine is now available in China. The machine will be available via the crowdfunding platform for only 1499 Yuan (approximately $226 / Rs. 15,074.19).



Xiaomi's latest smart washing machine was developed in collaboration with MINIJ Company - a mini refrigerator and washing machine manufacturer in China. The new product comes with several smart features and functionality. This machine is equipped with a level 2 energy efficiency technology.



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This portable washing machine comes with a drum type design along with a child's lock functionality. It can hold a capacity of just 2.8 kg and features an Amotec Kore DD inverter motor. The motor comes with a "Suspa" shock absorber made by a German company, which provides the shocks for the popular Mercedes0Benz E-Class.



Xiaomi's smart washing machine also supports "cooking wash" functionality. The machine can dry up clothes instantly since it is capable of producing heat temperature as high as 95 . According to Xiaomi, the range of temperature produced by the machine is capable of killing several bacterias such as Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. The company also claimed this latest device provide up to 99.99% sterilization.



The smart washing machine measures a body dimension of 500 mm wide, extends 630 mm from the ground, with a thickness of 415 mm, and weighs an appreciable 34 kg. In addition, the covering door of the machine measures is 380mm thick.



The Xiaomi portable smart washing machine supports 14 different kinds of laundry mode and can be controlled using the Mi app.



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TagsXiaomi, xiaomi portable smart washing machine, china, smart washing machine, mercedes benz
(Photo : US Army) Gen. Mark Milley and a THAAD battery launching an interceptor.

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Gen. Mark A. Milley, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, is currently in China even as tensions remain at dangerous levels over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile missile system in South Korea and China's refusal to heed an international tribunal's decision nullifying its claim to own the South China Sea.



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Described by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter as "a warrior and a statesman," Gen. Milley will meet with senior officers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Gen. Fang Fenghui, Chief of Joint Staff and a member of the Central Military Commission.



The four-star American general who once led the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Afghanistan will discuss issues of concern and "identify ways to deepen practical cooperation in areas of mutual interest while also constructively managing differences."



Gen. Milley, 58, will also visit the Academy of Military Science of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the highest-level research institute of the PLA headquartered in Beijing, to exchange views with faculty led by its president, Gen. Cai Yingting, and students.



Following his trip to China, Gen. Milley will travel to South Korea to meet with U.S. Army troops and hold discussions with Korean military leaders on the THAAD deployment and other issues. He will then travel on to another key U.S. ally and Japan.



High on the agenda of Gen. Milley's visit will be the deployment to South Korea in 2017 of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), an anti-ballistic missile system designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill warhead.



China has harshly objected to the decision to base THAAD at two sites in South Korea, claiming the system's X-Band radar is really intended to track China's missiles inside China. On the other hand, the U.S. says THAAD's purpose to destroy North Korean missiles.



Gen. Milley will likely reiterate Washington's position China abide by the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that ruled China has no legal basis to claim historic rights within the nine-dash line in the South China Sea.



The Chief of Staff of the Army (CSA) is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army. The CSA is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army.



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TagsGen. Mark A. Milley, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, Ash Carter, Gen. Fang Fenghui, People's Liberation Army Navy, THAAD, South China Sea
(Photo : Getty Images.) Britains Prime Minister Theresa May resorts to letter diplomacy to assuage the concerns of China's leadership after she postponed the Hinkley nuclear power project.

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Britain's newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May has written a special letter to China's leadership expressing her sincere desire to improve diplomatic and economic ties with Beijing, the South China Morning Post reported.



The letter was passed to China's leadership by UK's Minister for Asia, Alok Sharma, who is currently on his first diplomatic visit to China. This is the first big diplomatic move by Britain's new Prime Minister to assuage China after postponing the Hinkley Nuclear Power Point Project.



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The letter states that Britain unilaterally supports China to hold the G20 Summit and the platform is expected to foster cooperation on a host of trade and global issues, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.



Earlier in the day, Sharma met China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. He noted that the UK values its relationship with China and perceives the country as its "major global strategic partner."



The trade relationship between China and the UK has strengthened over the years, with big multinational companies from both countries investing billions of dollars in each other's economy. In the wake of the Brexit crisis, some Chinese companies including Huawei Inc announced that they would not defer from their plan to invest in Great Britain.



Postponement of Hinkley Point Project



Last month, the Chinese government was left miffed after Britain postponed the long-delayed Hinkley Point Project until the autumn season.



The ambitious project, which was sealed under the David Cameron government, was canceled at the orders of Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May. According to sources, May had security concerns over Chinese ownership of British nuclear power stations.



The $18 billion nuclear project was partly financed by a Chinese consortium, while two-third was financed by French energy firm EDF.



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(Photo : DARPA) DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) fighting vehicle (concept).

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The U.S. Army continues to transition away from fighting insurgencies and towards combating near-peer competitors such as China and Russia in a conventional mobile war. It's now decided it needs a new light tank to provide infantry support and reconnaissance.



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This new U.S. light tank will likely be lightly armored and will rely for the bulk of its protection on an active protection system (APS) and high speed. It probably won't be armed with a tank gun such as the 105 mm common to many tanks but will instead kill other tanks with either the FGM-148 Javelin fire-and-forget anti-tank missile or the BGM-71 TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank missile.



Secondary armament for this light tank could be a 30 millimeter chain gun such as the Mk44 Bushmaster II arming some U.S. Stryker eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles.



But probably the most intriguing feature for this new light tank will be its armor -- or lack of it. U.S. military planners have long acknowledged anti-armor weapons such as the man portable RPG series and anti-tank missiles such as Russia's deadly Kornet guided missile with a tandem warhead meant to destroy main battle tanks are winning the gun-armor race.



Future protection for upcoming armored vehicles will instead rely on "active protection systems" such as the Israeli Trophy and Russian Arena. The U.S. military doesn't have its own operational APS and will instead use foreign systems such as Trophy as an interim solution for advanced protection for its combat vehicles against RPGs, anti-tank guided missiles and other threats.



The Army is working with the science and technology community to develop the Modular Active Protection System (MAPS), the Army's S&T cornerstone APS effort. In the meantime, the Quick Kill APS is still being tested this year and could become operational over the next two years.



There is some indication the development of the new light tank could draw on developments made by the Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).



GXV-T is an effort to develop technologies and designs to create lighter future armored military vehicles. It seeks to develop ways to protect vehicles and their occupants using mobility rather than relying on armor for survival.



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TagsUS Army, Light Tank, Ground X-Vehicle Technology, GXV-T
(Photo : Getty Images.) A senior Chinese military official during his official visit to Syria has expressed Chinas intent to seek closer military cooperation with insurgent hit middle east countries.

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A senior Chinese military official has expressed China's intent to seek closer military cooperation with Syria.



Guan Youfei, director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission, recently held a meeting with Syrian Defence Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij in Damascus, Chinese state media Xinhua news agency reported.



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"China and Syria's militaries have a traditionally friendly relationship, and China's military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Syria's military," Guan was quoted saying by Chinese media.



Both military officials who discussed personnel training reportedly arrived at a consensus on Chinese military offering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Syria.



China has recently been taking keen a interest in Syria, which has been plagued by a civil war following violent protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2011. China has been sending several envoys to Syria in a bid to reach a resolution. Beijing has also been hosting officials from the Syrian government and opposition parties.



However, some experts have cautioned China of getting involved in Syria's problem since China is fighting insurgency among the Uighurs in the province of Xinjiang. Reports reveal that several Uighurs insurgents have fled to Syria to join the Islamic state.



Traditionally, China has left the Middle Eastern diplomacy to be sorted by Western forces led by the US. However, China's Middle Eastern diplomacy underwent a huge paradigm shift this year, with Chinese President going for an unprecedented tour of Middle Eastern countries including Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia earlier this year.



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(Photo : NASA) July 2016, the hottest month in recorded history.

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July is the hottest month ever in recorded history and the first six months of 2016 the hottest in history, too.



NASA said July was indeed the hottest month in recorded history despite the demise of El Nino and was 0.84C warmer than the global average temperature from 1950 to 1980. Records go back to 1880.



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July was also warmer than the previous record set in July 2011 and July 2015, which were tied for the hottest month on record, said Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a NASA climate scientist. It was also 0.84C warmer than global average from 1951-1980.



NASA's five hottest months on record are July 2016, July 2011, July 2015, July 2009 and August 2014. Only July 2015 was during an El Nino. It also reported that July the 10th record hot month in a row,.



NASA also reported the U.S., Siberia and the Middle East all experienced extreme heat waves. The U.S.' three largest metropolitan areas (New York, Los Angeles and Chicago) all experienced heat wave alerts in July.



Scientists blame mostly man-made climate change from the burning of fossil fuel for the record heat spike.



Dr. Schmidt said this new record and all the records that have been broken recently years told a cohesive story.



"The planet is getting warmer," he said. "It's important for what it tells us about the future."



Dr. Schmidt confirmed that July 2016 "was absolutely the hottest month since instrumental records began."



He said there was a 99 percent chance 2016 would now break annual global temperature records.



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TagsNASA, hottest month, Dr. Gavin Schmidt, El Nino
Actor Hugh Grant says Bible wrong on monogamous, lifelong marriage 16 August, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

NEW YORK (Christian Examiner)  The Bible has it wrong on marriage, British actor Hugh Grant said in a radio interview on shock jock Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio program late last week.

Grant, who was promoting his latest film Florence Foster Jenkins, which also stars Meryl Streep, described the idea of monogamous, lifelong marriage as boring and "unromantic."

In the film, Grant's character has a mistress, a role he said he was happy to play because it is near to what he believes reality is. That doesn't mean Grant believes people should not get married. Instead, he believes those married should be allowed to have other sexual partners.

"I always admire the French and the Italians who are very devoted to their marriages," the actor told Stern. "They take them extremely seriously, but it is understood that there might be other visitors at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. You just never boast about."

"They never say anything, but that's what keeps marriages together," he said. "I can see the lovely aspect if you marry exactly the right person  your best friend and it's cozy and it's lovely. But, people make so many mistakes. Do I think human beings are meant to be in 40-year-long monogamous, faithful, relationships? No, No, No. Whoever said they were? Only the Bible or something."

"You're closing yourself off," the actor opined.

Ironically, Grant praises his brother's "annoyingly good" long-term marriage.

Grant is famous for movies like Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill, but also well known for his 1995 arrest for engaging in a sexual act in public with a Los Angeles prostitute. He has never been married, but dated actress Elizabeth Hurley from 1987-2000. He has since had four children by two different women.
How does burning down a gas station advance your cause? Guest Columnist | 15 August, 2016 by Todd Starnes / Fox News

MILWAUKIE, Wis. (Christian Examiner)  It was a weekend of violent unrest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A rampaging mob burned businesses and battled with police.

The rioting started after a black police officer shot and killed a black suspect. The convicted felon had a gun - and when he refused to drop his weapon the officer opened fire.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN TODD'S AMERICAN DISPATCH: A MUST-READ FOR CONSERVATIVES!

The mob took to the streets - causing all sorts of mayhem. A number of buildings were set ablaze - including a gas station.

STORY CONTINUES AFTER VIDEO

Five police officers were hurt - one hit by a brick.

White people were also purportedly targeted. A number of websites, including Fox Nation, posted video - showing some protesters trying to hunt down white motorists.

READ THE FULL STORY AT TODDSTARNES.COM!

--------------

Todd Starnes serves as the host of Fox News & Commentary. He is also the author of "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values."
Shaunae Miller, the Olympic sprinter from the Bahamas, won gold in the womens 400-meter race last night, and she is giving God the glory.

Miller won by 0.07 seconds against the U.S.s decorated racing champion Allyson Felix, according to ChristianToday.com.

The race was so close, in fact, that Miller dove across the finish line in a dramatic effort to win.

In a post-race interview, Miller said, "I just give God the thanks and praise. He has bought [sic] me so far. It is such an emotional moment for me but I just give God the thanks and praise."

When asked about her dive to the finish line, Miller said, "The only thing I was thinking was the gold medal and the next thing I know I was on the ground. It was just a reaction."

Although some criticized Millers dive across the finish line, other runners came to her aid, stating that the move is completely legal.

Miller, who carried her countrys flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, said that after she won the 400-meter she just remembered all the hard workouts I have been doing. But like I said I just give God all the thanks and praise.



"I could not have done it without him. I am so happy and so grateful, she said.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: August 16, 2016
It can seem to us that each day brings news of yet another setback or some new ominous cultural development thats concerning to Christians, each one another straw on the back of an already overloaded camel.

But as recent events in California demonstrate, these trends can be resisted and, if not reversed, at least held at bay.

In late June, Eric Metaxas told us about Californias Senate Bill 1146. The bill, as its author, Senator Ricardo Lara, admitted, targeted Christian colleges and universities that adhered to traditional Christian teaching on human sexuality, including same-sex erotic relationships.

The bill would have required schools receiving religious exemptions from state or federal anti-discrimination laws to disclose this fact publicly. This alone would have created a state-mandated hit list that would have facilitated harassment and worse from LGBT activists.

But S.B. 1146 didnt stop there. It would have limited the above-mentioned exemptions to seminaries and religious vocational training schools. Thus, Christian colleges and universitiesschools such as Biola and Azusa Pacificwho offer programs in say business or education or the sciences, would have had to choose between eligibility for state grants-in-aid and fidelity to Christian morality. As the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities pointed out, this would have a potentially devastating effect on low-income students who depend on Cal Grants75 percent of whom are ethnic minorities.

But wait: there was more. The bill also would have created a private right for LGBT people to sue if they felt discriminated against. Even if the person didnt prevail in court, the potential for damage awards and the accompanying legal fees and bad publicity would have created a significant burden on schools that often struggle to keep the doors open in the first place.

Now if youve noticed that I have described Laras proposal in the past tense, its because Lara recently amended S.B. 1146 and removed the parts about limiting religious exemptions and creating a private right of action.

Now to be clear, he did not do this because he suddenly saw the light about the importance of religious freedom. On the contrary, he told the LA Times that he might revisit these provisions next year.

No, he dropped them this year because of the overwhelming opposition to the provisions. YouTube videos, joint letters by leading religious leaders, public statements came raining in from both inside and outside California. One such response, a statement promulgated by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, was entitled Protecting the Future of Religious Higher Education. It was signed by 140 leaders, including myself, some of whom had different religious views. Heres what it stated: Some of us disagree with the sexual ethics of orthodox Jews, Christians, and Muslims giving rise to this legislation . . . yet we are unified in our resistance to the government setting up its own system of orthodoxy, which is what S.B. 1146 would have done.

It was these kinds of efforts that beat back the most egregious threats to religious freedom posed by S.B. 1146. For now.

As Lara said, Ill be back. Actually, another California politician said that, but Laras stated intentions remain ominous. He assumes these colleges discriminate, and the bill still requires them to report all expulsions based on moral violations to the state. As far as religious freedom goes, his ideas are as destructive as the Terminator.

So this battle is far from over. Vigilance and commitment are still required. But so is hope. Our prayers and efforts still make a difference.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.

John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Publication date: August 16, 2016
Thinking of jumping in your car and driving to Louisiana to help those affected by the flood? Wondering how you could mail some food or hand-me-down clothes to help? If you answered yes  dont do it.

Yet, that is.

Hit the brakes for a moment before acting. Heres the deal: Volunteers and resources are going to be needed. In a recent Humanitarian Disaster Institute study, we found that social and spiritual support was vital to fostering resilience among flood survivors.

However, being a spontaneous unaffiliated volunteer (what we call an SUV) is likely to cause more harm than good. Sending supplies before communities are ready to receive them isnt the way to help either. You will likely only add to the chaos happening there.

Here are some suggestions that will help you help without causing unintentional harm.

Pray

As people of faith, we are called to pray for others, especially for those in need. We dont think that saying sending our prayers is a meaningless gesture; we think its a God-ordained means of calling out for divine help. In times of disasters we shouldnt see prayer as an afterthought, but rather as one of the most powerful things we can do to help.

Its encouraging to see that a LifeWay Research study, conducted in collaboration with Max Lucado, found Christians regularly pray for others impacted by natural disasters. We have example after example throughout the Scriptures of the power of prayer, and should pray with confidence that our prayers will be heard. Today is a good day to pray for suffering people in Louisiana.

Know why you want to help

You are more likely to run into or cause trouble if you get involved in disaster response for the wrong reasons. Make sure you are helping for the right reasons. Good reasons for wanting to help should be inwardly motivated: You want to help others for the sake of helping others. That is, you want to help because you believe its the right thing to do.

On the other hand, if your desire to help is being driven by external motivations, like the possibility of personal gain or benefit, you should hold off from going. Examples might include wanting to help to be in the action, to see what is going on, or because you want to be known for doing good. Well-meaning but poorly thought out help is the kind of help that no one needs.

Help through proper channels

Look for ways to help through established relief groups, ministries, community organizations and the like. After Hurricane Katrina, a local leader told our Wheaton College research team, Volunteers were one of the biggest blessings after Katrina, and volunteers were one of the biggest curses after Katrina. By curse he was referring to those SUVs again  spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers  who just showed up on their own accord and ended up adding to the havoc.

SUVs are more likely to get in the way of trained responders, divert resources from survivors and contribute to the already taxed local infrastructure. If you want to do something now, thats good, but realize that some people are better-prepared to act now because they prepared last year. So, partner with them.

Make sure your help matches actual needs

We should give the people of Louisiana time to voice their needs and then respond accordingly. Before you help, make sure you are keeping your focus on the survivors actual needs. A good rule of thumb: Aid happens where need meets resources.

Dont assume you know what survivors need. If your help is going to make a positive difference, it needs to match up with what the actual needs on the ground are right now, and with what those needs will be later. If its about you  what you have to give or what you can do  its probably not going to help them.

Give financially

Giving money now is one of the most effective ways you can help in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe. Yes, giving a monetary donation can feel a bit sterile. Yet, giving to those on the ground means your dollars will be utilized immediately and where they are most needed. To make sure your dollars go to work, give to established relief organizations and nonprofits.

Local community organizations such as churches may also start to manage donations, which can be another great place to give. Many of these groups already possess the skills, know-how and resources to respond effectively. They are also more prepared to handle the large influx of donations to follow.

Research has shown the vast majority of giving is done in the early phase of disaster response and often runs dry during later stages of recovery. Thus, consider giving now and again later.

When to send resources and deploy

There will be a time and place for you to deploy or to give resources. But for most people reading this article, now is not the right time. Likely in the next few days or weeks, specifics on what is needed and how others can help will start to emerge. Organized ways of connecting and getting involved will also start to become available. The time to act is after this sort of information and avenues for volunteering become apparent.

We can relate to wanting to pick up and go help as images from the flooding have begun to emerge. However, you need to resist the urge to self-deploy or to send resources, at least for the moment. A desire to help is good; doing things that actually help is better.

Jamie D. Aten is founder and co-director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute and Disaster Ministry Conference at Wheaton College in Illinois. His latest books include, as co-author, the Disaster Ministry Handbook and, as co-editor, Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma. Follow him on Twitter at @drjamieaten or jamieaten.com. Ed Stetzer holds the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission and Evangelism at Wheaton College and is executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism

Courtesy: Religion News Service

Photo: A resident transfers his belongings into a boat after being rescued in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, on August 15, 2016.

Photo courtesy: REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

Publication date: August 16, 2016
Seven Korean churches in Washington state, including Young Nak Church of Seattle, Seattle Covenant Church, Korean Kirkland Covenant Church, Seattle Woori Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, and Bellevue Sarang Church, formed one mission team to share the gospel to people in the town of Mattawa, WA, from July 28 to 31.

Over 100 members of the seven churches participated in the trip, and they passionately shared God's love in the midst of heat that went over 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

The mission team held a 'Mexico Day' during the trip, during which the team and the residents shared with each other about Korean and Mexican cultures. Free dental care and hair styling services were also offered during the trip.

Meyong Hun Bae, the senior pastor of Young Nak Church of Seattle, expressed gratitude for the fact that seven churches were able to come together for the one purpose of sharing the gospel, and that younger members of the Korean churches were also able to join.

Mattawa is a town with a population that is primarily Latino (90 percent). Young Nak Church of Seattle has been visiting the town for about 13 years for short-term mission trips, and over the years, other churches have joined, making the mission trip grow to become what it is today.

Others who did not personally participate in the mission trip contributed by giving financially and with other materials, which the mission team was able to give as an offering to a local Mattawa church.

"I hope that even more Korean churches in the Seattle area will become one and lead the way in the work of sharing the gospel," said Rev. Bae.

This article has been translated and edited. For the original in Korean, visit kr.christianitydaily.com.
Over 300 Asian American students living with foster care families are starting this school year with fresh school supplies and new backpacks thanks to the efforts of the Korean community.

The Korean American Family Services (KFAM) held its third annual backpack and school supplies drive during the month of July, and was able to gather enough donations to provide 327 new backpacks with school supplies for Asian American students under the care of the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, and 10 new backpacks with school supplies specifically for Korean students in foster families. The backpacks were delivered to the Asian Pacific Unit of the LA DCFS on August 10.

"The backpacks that the Korean community has provided for these foster children will prove to be a source of confidence and joy for them," said Frank Ramos, the regional administrator of the Covina and El Monte offices of the DCFS.

According to statement from KFAM in early July, more than 34,600 children are under the care of the LA DCFS. 680 of those children are Asian American, and 40 are Korean American.
Local churches and the American Red Cross have opened shelters for thousands escaping the massive flooding in Louisiana.

At least seven people have died and some 20,000 were rescued from about a dozen parishes in the state. The Louisiana government has declared a state of emergency while the federal government has agreed to consider the flooding as a major disaster.

The Red Cross is collaborating with many churches to volunteer for those affected by the torrential rains.

Thousands of people arrived at around 50 Red Cross shelters in Louisiana, many of which were based in churches.

First Baptist Church (Zachary), Rock Church, Zoar Baptist Church, St. John Baptist Catholic are working as shelters in East Baton Rough parish, while Fellowship Church and Mount Hope Baptist Church are volunteering in East Feliciana.

Several churches in Livingston parish, including Bethel Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church, Walker Baptist Church, Live Oak United Methodist and Riverside Baptist Church are also assisting those stranded in the floods.

The United Methodist Church became an official Red Cross shelter about two years ago, and swiftly responded to the disaster situation. Rev. Jacqueline King said that the congregants of the church are themselves reeling from the havoc cause by the floods, but have overcome their personal predicaments to help others.

"They've risen from those challenges to help. I couldn't be more proud. It is difficult and challenging but so incredibly rewarding to be the hands and feet of Christ," King told the Louisiana Conference.

The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has sent crisis-trained chaplains to flood-affected regions in Louisiana. They will work together with Samaritan's Purse to alleviate the physical, emotional and spiritual sufferings of the victims of flooding. The team focuses on offering prayer to those who are in need and are willing to listen.
I had the privilege or reading a pre-release version of "God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church." Here are 20 quotes from the book, which you should pick up.
Update (September 1):

Egypts parliament approved a new church-building law this week, relieving the nearly insurmountable requirementssome set by the Ottoman Caliphate in 1856that Christians had to meet before constructing a church.

Along with asking the president and local Muslims for permission, Christians couldnt build near mosques, schools, village canals, railways, government offices, government facilities, or between residential areas.

The bill, which gained the two-thirds majority it needed for approval, still places more restrictions on building churches than on building mosques. But several Coptic MPs said it was a step in the right direction, according to Ahram Online.

The 13-article law allows provincial governorsinstead of the presidentto approve church building or restoration permits, and requires a decision from them within four months of an application. The law also limits church size to the number of Christians in the ...

1
Survey Shows Bleak State of Pastors' Financial Health - 'Church Finance Today' Describes Ways Churches Can Help Contact: Sandra Hoekstra-Lower, 630-260-6200 ext. 4224 CAROL STREAM, Ill., Aug. 16, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- A survey by the National Association of Evangelicals reveals that the majority of pastors lack confidence when dealing with church finances, have no formal financial training, and many have little money set aside in personal savings.



The survey reveals that 30 percent of pastors have student loan debt averaging $36,000; 33 percent have less than $10,000 in retirement funds; and 29 percent have no retirement savings.



"Any church strategy to help deal with the challenges of pastors and personal finances should have three essential parts: increasing awareness; building a collaborative environment; and raising the financial education level for pastors, leaders, and laity," writes Lee Dean in the September issue of Church Finance Today.



The survey also found that the majority of pastors received no formal financial training in college or seminary.



Only a small percentage (14%) of pastors said that they received any financial training in seminary, and less than 4 in 10 (38%) reported that they received financial training in undergraduate studies.



Churches can help pastor deal with these financial challenges. The September issue of Church Finance Today describes ways this can be done.



to Church Finance Today. This monthly publication keeps church treasurers and bookkeepers informed with timely and practical information on issues all churches face when managing money: internal controls, compensation, reporting, and budgeting.



is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxy--strengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over four million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God.

Share Tweet The survey included responses from over 4,000 senior pastors, 55 percent of whom had congregations with fewer than 100 people.The survey reveals that 30 percent of pastors have student loan debt averaging $36,000; 33 percent have less than $10,000 in retirement funds; and 29 percent have no retirement savings."Any church strategy to help deal with the challenges of pastors and personal finances should have three essential parts: increasing awareness; building a collaborative environment; and raising the financial education level for pastors, leaders, and laity," writes Lee Dean in the September issue of Church Finance Today.The survey also found that the majority of pastors received no formal financial training in college or seminary.Only a small percentage (14%) of pastors said that they received any financial training in seminary, and less than 4 in 10 (38%) reported that they received financial training in undergraduate studies.Churches can help pastor deal with these financial challenges. The September issue of Church Finance Today describes ways this can be done. Subscribe today to Church Finance Today. This monthly publication keeps church treasurers and bookkeepers informed with timely and practical information on issues all churches face when managing money: internal controls, compensation, reporting, and budgeting. Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry centered on Beautiful Orthodoxy--strengthening the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. Reaching over four million people monthly with various digital and print resources, the ministry equips Christians to renew their minds, serve the church, and create culture to the glory of God.
Kendall Hunt Publishing K-12 Division Announces Acquisition of RCL Benziger

Contact: Harry Johns, Director of Marketing, 513-728-6793

CINCINNATI, Aug. 16, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Two leaders in the K-12 publishing industry are joining forces. Dubuque, Iowa-based Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, publisher of science, math, and gifted materials, acquired Cincinnati-based RCL Benziger, publisher of Catholic educational materials, on Tuesday, August 16.

RCL will continue to operate under the RCL Benziger name and maintain its corporate office in Cincinnati. This acquisition will allow Kendall Hunt to more effectively and efficiently serve the needs of educators in both the private and public arenas.

Family owned and operated, Kendall Hunt was previously part of William C. Brown that published religious education materials for the Catholic faith, starting with The Archdiocese of Chicago in the early 1970s, before expanding throughout the United States in the 1980s under the name Brown ROA.

RCL Benziger, founded in 1792, is one of the oldest publishers of Catholic educational materials and faith formation resources in the United States, and is a leading provider of religious education programs for Catholic Schools and parishes.

"Passion is key in K-12 education. At Kendall Hunt, our customers are passionate about their curriculum and looking for new, innovative ways to teach today's youth," said Kendall Hunt Publishing President and Chief Operating Officer Chad Chandlee. "This acquisition will allow both Kendall Hunt and RCL Benziger to explore intelligent ways to integrate new products and services into our curricula. Both companies have a rich, long-standing, positive reputation in the marketplace and the two coming together will better serve today's customers."

"There are many similarities between our two businesses," said Peter M. Esposito, President of RCL Benziger. "Our legacy brands deliver highly engaging, customer-centric content to their respected markets. With Kendall Hunt as our parent company, I see on the horizon our ability to create and offer more integrated digital learning tools and solutions, in addition to customizing content for Catholic schools and parishes throughout North America."

About Kendall Hunt Publishing

Kendall Hunt Publishing is the premiere publisher of innovative, hands-on, inquiry-based science, mathematics, and gifted curricula for grades PreK-12. Our award-winning research and standards-based programs are available in both print and digital components that fully engage students, teachers, and parents. Visit k12.kendallhunt.com to learn more.

About RCL Benziger Publishing

RCL Benziger is one of the oldest publishers of Catholic educational materials and faith formation resources in the United States. Known for its digital product offerings and bilingual resources, RCL Benziger is a major provider of religious education programs for Catholic schools and parishes. The RCL Benziger family of products supports catechists, educators, students, families, and individuals. Visit www.RCLBenziger.com to learn more.

East Wind acted as exclusive financial advisor to RCL Benziger in this transaction.
home Faith Catholic charity to support seminarians touted as 'soldiers of the faith' after Normandy church terror attack

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) responded to the killing of an 84-year-old Catholic priest by supporting the training of 1,000 seminarians across the world.

The Italian chapter of the Catholic charity announced its plans to fund the seminarian studies of priests in the 21 dioceses of countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, Bolivia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Romania, India, and Kenya.

"We chose the seminaries that had the greatest need for aid, to allow them to accommodate more students and form what we consider to be the new 'soldiers of the faith,'" ACN Italy said on its website.

ACN launched the campaign in honor of Fr. Jacques Hamel, the French Catholic priest who served the parish in Saint-Atienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy for more than a decade and even chose to forego retirement. Two 19-year-old local extremists slit the priest's throat on July 26 after they interrupted Fr. Hamel's morning mass and held the church hostage. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS or Daesh) terrorist group hailed the extremists, shot dead by the police as they rushed out of the church, as one of their soldiers.

The pontifical foundation believed that producing well-prepared priests would be the best weapon against the current threats of fundamentalism and perceived the necessity of the priests' presence among societies that come under direct attacks of extremism.

"Support for the formation of new priests is a concrete response to fundamentalism, because especially in countries where the extremist threat is the greatest, the ministers of God must possess the appropriate tools to promote dialogue and contribute to a peaceful coexistence between all the religious groups, putting an end to the conflicts," director of ACN Italy Alessandro Monteduro, told the Catholic News Agency on Aug. 10.
home Faith Church declares apparitions in Argentina authentic

A Catholic bishop declared the Argentine apparitions tracing back since 1983 as worthy of belief and thereby taking into consideration the messages of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

Bishop Hector Cardelli of San Nicolas in Buenos Aires declared during a mass on May 22, a day set for the annual pilgrim to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas, the apparitions of Gladys Quiroga de Motta to be "of supernational origin."

The visionary said she began seeing glowing rosaries throughout the homes in San Nicolas de los Arroyos and that the Virgin Mary started visiting her since Sept. 25, 1983. Motta claims the Virgin Mother visited her more than 1,800 times while Jesus visited her 68 times. The Virgin Mary's apparitions also led Motta to the rediscovery of a forgotten statue, the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus, that's been blessed by Pope Leo XIII and then tucked away in the belfry of the church.

Motta also reportedly received the stigmata on different parts of her body such as the wrists, feet, side and shoulder.

"The quality, richness of and exquisite content of the messages, and what they produced in terms of conversions, life changes, and healings cannot be the result of mere human action," Bishop Cardelli told Religion News Service.

The bishop claimed he came to the conclusion by following specific criteria.

"Positive and negative, and in both cases there were not, nor are there errors," he shared with the Catholic News Agency. "Were the events of natural origin? Could it be a work of the Enemy? Are they of supernatural origin?" he added.

"The answers to these questions gave me the certainty that the fruits are real and positive and go beyond mere human action," concluded Bishop Cardelli.

Michael O'Neil of MiracleHunter.com said that the recognition of the Argentine apparitions places it "on par" with the Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal and Guadalupe in Mexico. Moreover, this also indicated the recognition of the messages by the apparitions.

While most of the messages focused on the usual themes such as restoring faith in Christ, some also spoke of apocalyptic warnings.

"So that's the tricky part with all of this," said the miracle researcher. "It's not as simple as some of the other apparitions that just draw people closer to Christ ... there are some dire warnings as well."
home World Egypt's three Christian denominations approve bill on church construction, restoration

Egypt could soon liberate restraints on church buildings just after the predominantly Muslim country's three main Christian denominations approved a church construction and restoration bill.

According to Egypt Independent, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Magdi al-Agati told local media Aug. 1 that Egypt's Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical leaders signed the bill in front of Bishop Paula of Tanta.

"The law sets a four-month deadline for governors to respond to any request for a license to build a church," Agati said in a press statement.

He added that the bill would be discussed within the week during a cabinet meeting before it is submitted to the State Council and then to parliament for final approval.

Mada Masr reported back in May a leaked file of the bill proposal that revealed stipulations for the new rules for church construction. The draft bill reportedly allows heads of different churches to submit requests to governors, who should grant approval within 60 days or state the reason for rejection in which the church can file an appeal to the Administrative Court. It also aimed to legalize unlicensed churches that were built five years ago.

The country follows the Islamic Law of Classical Islam back from the era of the Ottoman Empire in 1856 that made it difficult for Egyptian Christians to build their own church buildings. Former Interior Minister Mohamed Ezaby Pasha also made the situation worse in 1934 by adding 10 more conditions in order to grant building permits for churches.

Activist Jolia Milad maintained that the existence of the draft bill only proved the discrimination against Christians although he considered this "a positive step" towards ending religious-based discrimination.

"Even if this law passes there will still be no equality in the building of places of worship, as building mosques does not require all of these measures such as the approval from a governor," Milad told The New Arab.

The signing of the law also came just after Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, the 63-year-old leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, met with members of the parliament last month.

"We will not accept the control of a particular party over the construction of churches in Egypt, and the current law had been in force since the era of the Ottoman Empire," the Coptic Pope told the lawmakers.
home US Eric Metaxas blasts Hillary Clinton as an 'enemy of religious liberty in America'

Christian author Eric Metaxas has lambasted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her claims on religious liberty and labeled her instead as an enemy of religious freedom in America.

The New York Times best-selling writer and speaker appeared Thursday on Fox News to cry foul on Clinton's op-ed for the Deseret News where she portrayed herself as a defender of religious freedom.

"I am stunned at the level of cynicism from Hillary Clinton to make a statement like that. It's ugly," said Metaxas. "To hear her talk about religious liberty. She is the enemy, if ever there was an enemy of religious liberty in America, it's Hillary Rodham Clinton and every American should be frightened to death on that issue."

The author of "If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty" said Clinton's policies, as with President Barack Obama, run counter to the ideals of religious liberty and accused her of making her "career goal really to work with progressives against those kind of people."

The former First Lady of the White House asserted in the article that she placed the liberty to worship as highly valuable and that she's been "fighting to defend religious freedom for years." The 68-year-old former Secretary of State also claimed that she championed the rights of religious minorities "from Coptic Christians in Egypt to Buddhists in Tibet" and even the "Chinese Christians facing persecution from their government."

Clinton's vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine, a Catholic Jesuit, pointed at her Methodist faith as the foundation of everything she does. He linked Clinton's choice of working for Marian Wright Edelman at the Children's Defense Fund as a law student to her desire for defending the young ones.

The senator from Virginia also traced Clintons' immigration policies to that Chicago meeting between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the young Clinton, who travelled with her youth pastor.

However, the pro-life presidential candidate came under fire when she previously said that religious beliefs need to be changed in order to accommodate abortion rights for women. A poll survey released last month also revealed that atheists, agnostics, and religious "nones" rally behind Clinton while evangelicals back her Republican rival Donald Trump.
home Sports Franklin Graham praises Rio Olympic swimmer Maya DiRado for faith-based 'winning attitude that goes beyond swimming'

Evangelical leader Franklin Graham has offered praise for Olympic swimming gold medalist Madeline Jane "Maya" DiRado, who cared more about God than winning races.

The 23-year-old competitive swimmer touched the wall first in Friday's 200-meter backstroke event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She beat the Hungarian swimmer Katinka HosszA, who snatched the first placed and set a world record for the 400-meter individual medley event, where DiRado came in second.

"This young woman's winning attitude goes far beyond swimming," wrote Graham on Facebook the day after DiRado's unexpected gold win.

He quoted DiRado as saying, "I don't think God really cares about my swimming very much. This is not my end purpose, to make the Olympic team. I think God cares about my soul and whether I'm bringing his love and mercy into the world."

The young swimmer apparently inspired the 64-year-old president of the Samaritan's Purse and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to remind people of what's even bigger than Olympics.

"God loves youaHe cares about your eternal soul. That's even bigger news than the Olympics," said Graham.

The Stanford graduate, who already announced to retire from swimming after this summer Olympics in order to pursue her consulting career, attends The River Church Community in the San Francisco Bay Area together with husband, Rob Andrews, and parents, Marit and Ruben.

DiRado credited her parents for instilling her Christian faith and claimed that "Jesus has been a constant" in her life.

She said that her quiet confidence stems from the thought that God loves her no matter she does and that this emboldens her to create her own path in life.

"Jesus' love for me and all humanity is something that always helps me better love people around me when things get difficult," DiRado told ChristianityToday.

She also shared that her faith revealed to her how there are many more important things in life than her swimming career, which she considered a "pretty selfish activity."

DiRado also won gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and bronze in the 200-meter individual medley event.
home World Jailed pastor of persecuted house church in China may stand trial soon, says lawyer

Lawyers of Pastor Yang Hua of Houshi Church believe their client might soon stand trial after China convicted four detainees, including two house church leaders, in unannounced trials.

The pastor's lawyers came to this conclusion after one of them, Zhao Yonglin, visited on Aug. 5 and discovered that the court already received a videotape submitted by the Nanming District Procuratorate as evidence in the case.

"Attorney Zhao visited Yang Hua yesterday," China Aid quoted the pastor's wife, Wang Hongwu, as saying. "He said he had reviewed all of the case files and the case is likely to be tried in August."

Authorities arrested Yang, whose real name is Li Guozhi, in December last year after refusing to surrender a church-owned hard drive that the state wanted to confiscate. The state charged Yang of subversion as well as "divulging state secrets." Authorities also arrested four other members of Yang's persecuted house church, the largest in Guiyang province.

"He said that Yang Hua was doing well and told us not to worry about him. [Yang] is concerned that we get too worried about his wellbeing. He would feel more at peace if we're not too worried for him," added Wang.

The jailed pastor previously wrote to her wife letters to reassure her that "God never makes a mistake" and that God gave him "a good place to rest" even while he faced false accusations and extorted to confess.

Zhao and his co-counsel Chen Jiangang filed a lawsuit against Yang's prosecutors after the pastor attested in a sworn testimony how the prosecutors breached the bounds of the law in handling his case and even manipulated a videotaped interrogation.

The Communist State drew criticisms from the U.S. and human rights advocates after it sentenced in highly suspect trials two house church leaders and two human rights activists rounded up from last year's political crackdown.

Mark Turner, the spokesman for the U.S. state department, blasted the charges against the convicted detainees as "vague and apparently politically motivated" while U.S. Representative Christopher Smith diminished the court proceedings as "charade of forced 'confessions' and show trials."

"China cannot continue to benefit from the international rules-based system, while making a mockery of the rule of law at home," said U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Smith's co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).
home World Muslim Fulani herdsmen kills 13 Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria

The Muslim Fulani herdsmen reportedly killed at least 13 Christian villagers in their latest attack and forced away three pastors of different churches in the Kaduna state of Nigeria.

Martha Yohanna, a displaced resident of Gada Biyu village and church member of Alheri Baptist Church, said that the Fulani herdsmen attacked the predominantly Christian villages of Ninte and her local village of Gada Biyu on the first three days of the current month.

Yohanna reported that the machete-wielding attackers raided the Ninte village in the Jema'a Local Government Area (LGA) on the noon of Aug. 1 where they killed two Christian women and injured a man who's been hospitalized thereafter.

The attackers raided Gada Biyu the next day where they killed eight Christians. Yohanna's 25-year-old brother-in-law, Joseph, remains missing from the attack and is already believed to be dead.

"It is over a week now that he has not been seen, and nothing has been heard about him," Yohanna told Morning Star News.

Yohanna also described how the Fulani herdsmen displaced the three congregations from her village a Alheri Baptist Church, Sabon Rai Baptist Church, and an Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) a by burning down the villagers' homes on the night of Aug. 3 after a temporary respite achieved by authorities.

This happened to be the same day when another Nigerian militant group, Boko Haram, issued new threats of "booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross."

Book Haram, considered the most destructive terrorist group last year, reportedly buoys the Muslim Fulani herdsmen, the fourth most destructive, in its attacks against Christian villagers.

"They carried out the destruction for three hours," said Yohanna on the Fulani attacks on Aug. 3. "They lit fire on some houses before policemen and soldiers were brought there to repel them."

Her church's pastor, Rev. Nathan Jaweson, evacuated his family to Godogodo during the Aug. 1 attack and returned only to escape again after almost being killed the following day on his way back to Gada Biyu. Yohanna said he's, reportedly, among the displaced in Kafanchan.

The ECWA's pastor also fled to Godogodo while the pastor of Sabon Rai remains missing.

"The three pastors escaped from the village during the attack, and since the attack have not returned to the village," said Yohanna.
home US New Hillary Clinton emails reveal possible links between State Dept. and Clinton Foundation

Judicial Watch recently released more emails from the State Department that revealed possible favors granted by the department for the benefit of the controversial Clinton Foundation.

The conservative watchdog organization added 296 pages of emails by the office of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, including 44 records that were not part of the 55,000 pages already submitted, despite Clinton taking an oath under law to turn over all of her government emails to the State Department.

The newly released emails involved Doug Band, a top official for the Clinton Foundation, including The William J. Clinton Foundation or the Clinton Global Initiative, and co-founder of Teneo Strategy with former President Bill Clinton.

Band emailed former aides at the Department Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin in April 2009 to secure a post for an associate.

Band also tells the former aides to connect Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire and top donor of the Clinton Foundation, with the "key guy" in Lebanon. Abedin responded by pointing to Jeff Feltman, the eU.S. ambassador to the western Asian country at the time.

"No wonder Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin hid emails from the American people, the courts and Congress," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a press release. "They show the Clinton Foundation, Clinton donors, and operatives worked with Hillary Clinton in potential violation of the law."

The Democratic presidential candidate's camp responded to the allegations resulting from the latest documents by undermining its relations with Clinton's role as secretary of state or that of the Clinton Foundation.

"Neither of these emails involve the secretary or relate to the Foundation's work," said Clinton's campaign spokesman Josh Schwerin in an email statement to CNN. "They are communications between her aides and the President's personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the Secretary's former staffers who was not employed by the Foundation."

Feltman also categorically denied meeting or even speaking with Chagoury.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's side quickly pounced on the new batch of emails as proof of the current administration's "refusal to allow even a cursory investigation into the Clinton Foundation's pay-for-play dealings smacks of political favoritism."
home Sports Olympic runner Almaz Ayana smashes 10km world record, testifies: 'My doping is Jesus Christ'

Ethiopian runner Almaz Ayana shot back at doubters and pointed to Jesus and her training after smashing a long-standing world record that was set 23 years ago.

The 24-year-old long-distance runner finished first with 29:17.45 on Friday morning's 10,000-meter race event at the 2016 Rio Olympics and thereby edged Chinese runner Junxia Wang's feat in 1993, which stood unsurpassed for more than two scores.

Ayana spoke during a post-race press conference to possibly crush doubters to silence on the possibility of her blitzing Wang's best. She named three factors behind her success and even admitted to the allegations of doping a but of a rather unusual kind.

"Three things: Number one, I did my training, Number two, I praise the Lord, he is giving me everything, everything, everything," said Ayana through a translator.

Then she added, "And my doping is my training, my doping is Jesus. Otherwise, nothing. I am crystal clear."

Ayana added that breaking the world record never even crossed her mind as she only planned on winning the race.

Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot came in second while Ayana's fellow Ethiopian and defending champion, Tirunesh Dibaba, came in third place.

Sweden's Sarah Lahti, who came in 12th in the race, cast doubts on the gold medalist.

"I do not really believe that she is 100 percent," Lahti reportedly told Swedish newspaper Expressen "It is too easy for her. I cannot say that she is not clean, but there is little doubt."

The 21-year-old Swedish runner added that she did not see any facial expressions from Ayana. Irish former runner Sonia O'Sullivan agreed with Lahti's doubts and raised skeptical questions on the likelihood of ever achieving such speed with relative ease.

"How can you do that?" asked O'Sullivan on Irish television network RTE, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "Is it 23 years of knowing more training, being better athletes? How do you have an athlete that can break the world record so easily like that?"

O'Sullivan added, "She didn't look very tired afterwards."

Jo Pavey, the 42-year-old leading British runner who finished 15th overall, could only wish that doping athletes would not mar the race.

"I hope we have come through those dark days and we have a brighter future for the sport," The Telegraph quoted Pavey as saying.
British extremists should be free to join ISIS in Syria, says Christian MP

British extremists should be allowed to join ISIS in Syria because if they are killed it would boost the security of the UK.

This is according to Labour MP Frank Field, a committed Christian, who said he was not worried "one iota" about the prospect of jihadis leaving to fight in Syria.

Field said: "I think we should have no worries about letting them go because the chances are some of them will get killed and that increases the security of this country.

"If people want to practise their evil, better go and practise it with the mates who've actually taught them about this evil than inflict it on my constituents or anybody else."

Field, a former government minister and chair of the work and pensions select committee, told BBC Radio he was not talking about the case of Kadiza Sultana, the 17-year-old who ran away to join ISIS last year. He said her case was "horrendous" and the government had a duty to protect children. But he said it was different with adults.

"If adults want to go over there and get killed, fine," he said, adding it would be crucial to know if any returned to the UK.

The Birkenhead MP later defended his remarks and said: "I am relaxed about letting them go but I am unbelievably tough about letting them back in again.

"The resources used to control their going should be used to prevent them coming back."

Field's comments were branded "irresponsible" by Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke.

"Not only is this irresponsible, it's ill-thought-out," he said.

"It's not looking at the long-term consequences  even if British jihadis in Syria don't come back here to carry out terrorism acts, they can act as a recruiter of more people from this country to go out there."
Catholic diocese forks out $1.2m after Spotlight lawyer accuses leaders of abuse cover up

A Catholic diocese in Maine has paid $1.2 million to victims of sex abuse after six men brought a lawsuit against the Church.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland settled the case after the men accused senior figures of concealing sex abuse allegations against former priest. Rev James Vallely, who died in 1997 aged 75, was abused the men when they were children decades ago, according the lawyer Mitchell Garabedian.

Some of the men were as young as eight years old when they were first abused, reported the Portland Press Herald.

Garabedian, who was played by Stanley Tucci in the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, said the diocese had known about the allegations but did not remove Vallely from his position. Instead he was transferred to another parish "where children were placed at risk of further sexual abuse by a serial pedophile priest."

"We have another instance of the diocese hiding the truth for the sake of its appearance and monetary concerns," he told the Press Herald.

A spokesman for the diocese refused to adderss the charges directly but said it hopes the settlement "brings a measure of peace to the people involved,"

Spokesman Dave Guthro said: "The diocese respects the privacy and confidentiality of the victims/survivors involved in cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics."
Christian persecution intensifies in DRC as 36 tied up and hacked to death

Another jihadist organisation is feared to be gaining strength after persecution of Christians intensified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At least 36 people were killed in the North Kivu region on Saturday, the deadliest attack since November 2014. The victims were tied up and hacked to death and some reports suggest the total casualties may be nearer 50, according to World Watch Monitor (WWM).

The Islamist Allied Democratic Forces-National Association for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) has targeted Christians in the north-east of the DRC for years after their attempt to overthrow the Ugandan government failed.

The weekend's killings are part of an ongoing resurgance in almost-weekly attacks, rapes, lootings and kidnaps in the DRC, according to WWM. But the increase in both the frequency and scale of the incidents suggest the jihadist organisation is gaining prominence in DRC.

One witness from Open Doors International (ODI), another Christian persecution charity, described the "misery" caused by the attacks.

"Signs of recent attacks are visible everywhere on buildings dotted along the road. Smaller villages have been obliterated and hardly any civilian life is visible," said an anonymous representative from ODI.

"Eighty per cent of the households here have farms, but they cannot access them because is it simply too dangerous. This means no food and no revenue. They have become vulnerable to starvation," one official told the charity.

"We do not understand why this is happening to us," said one pastor. "The rebels just take people into the bush to kill them or kidnap them. They attack one place for a while and cause people to run away. Then they strike the places people run to."
Why are Kenyan churches and mosques being painted yellow?

Churches and mosques in Nairobi are being painted a vibrant shade of yellow to demonstrate a "shared humanity" and highlight that there is more that unites people of different faiths than divides them.

The 'Colour in Faith' initiative was launched in 2015 by Colombian-American artist Yazmany Arboleda, who wanted to find a way to cross "language, religion, ethnicity and politics", which so often cause sectarian divides.

"The goal was to take houses of worship in Kenya and paint them yellow in the name of love," he told the Guardian. "The idea from the beginning was to turn buildings into sculptures that speak to our shared humanity."

So far more than 20 houses of worship have signed up, and three have already been painted  a mosque, a church and a Hindu temple.

Arboleda says the act of painting the buildings has brought different communities together. "To see people smile and talk to each other is beautiful".

Cultural curator of the Colour in Faith project, Nabila Alibhai, told Up Nairobi that "the idea of having a constellation of yellow mosques, churches, temples and synagogues across the city sending a message of pluralism to the world through YELLOW is magnificent".

"Public installations like Colour in Faith are powerful because they activate the imagination of many and they call on us to collectively and deliberately create an expression of a world order that is better than the existing one," Alibhai said.

"We hope that this initiative will spread across the country and the world to express love of plurality and expression of faith in its best possible sense...Colour in faith: ."
Church of England offers prayers for anxious A-Level students awaiting results

The Church of England has attempted to comfort thousands of anxious A-Level students with a prayer for those awaiting exam grades.

Ahead of Thursday's results day the Church released a prayer of support "through the anxious moments of waiting". Written by a gap-year student shortly after receiving her own results, the prayers ask God to "keep reminding me of the bigger picture over the next few weeks".

As an alternative to Romans 8.38-39, the prayer reads: "For I am convinced that neither entry requirements nor exam results, neither anticipation nor doubts, neither success nor failure, nor any expectations, neither last minute fears nor anxieties, nor anything else in life, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"Please, don't let me forget it!"

Headteachers have warned this year's results would be the "most unfair in a generation", according to The Telegraph.

A wholesale clampdown on appeals means it will be tougher for pupils to get a "second bite of the cherry". But leading headteachers said the changes were "rushed and flawed" and would mean students face "the most chaotic and unfair year in a generation".

The results will be available from early on Thursday morning.

The full prayer reads:

Jesus,

Keep reminding me of the bigger picture over the next few weeks,

Keep me in your hands when all other hands disappear,

For I am convinced that neither entry requirements nor exam results, neither anticipation nor doubts, neither success nor failure, nor any expectations, neither last minute fears nor anxieties, nor anything else in life, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Please, don't let me forget it!

Amen.
Cuba: Crackdown on Christians sees 1,600 churches targeted

More than 1,600 churches have been targeted by authorities in Cuba this year as a crackdown on religious freedom continues.

Between January and July 2016, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) recorded 1,606 violations of religious freedom.

These included the demolition and confiscation of church buildings, the destruction of church property and arbitrary detention.

In March, prominent pastor and religious freedom activist Rev Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso was arrested just hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the country for his official state visit.

Religious leaders have also had their personal belongings confiscated, and more than 1,000 churches are still considered 'illegal' and are under threat of future confiscation.

According to CSW, church leaders have raised concerns that the government's treatment of religious groups has significantly deteriorated in the last year.

CSW has accused the government of targeting church properties "to tighten its control over the activities and membership of religious groups and thus eliminate the potential for any social unrest."

In its annual report on international religious freedom, the US State Department last week said the Cuban government "monitored religious groups" and "continued to control most aspects of religious life".

"The government harassed, detained, and restricted travel for outspoken religious figures, especially those who discussed human rights or collaborated with independent human rights groups," the report said.

"Many religious leaders stated they exercised self-censorship in what they preached and discussed during services. Some said they feared direct or indirect criticism of the government could result in government reprisals, such as denials of permits... or other measures that could limit the growth of their religious groups."

The report also mentioned concern from some religious leaders that government tolerance for groups that relied on informal locations, such as house churches, was decreasing.

CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: "CSW is alarmed by the escalation of FoRB violations throughout Cuba, but humbled and inspired by the courage and perseverance of the many religious communities who continue to peacefully resist government pressure.

"We remain disappointed by the broken promises for reform on the part of the Cuban government and urge it to change course. We call on the international community and in particular the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States government to stand in solidarity with Cuban citizens by pressing the Cuban government to halt these repressive actions and ensuring that human rights, and in particular FoRB, remains a core component of any upcoming dialogues with the Cuban government."
France: Charlie Hebdo receives threat of 'imminent' attack after provocative cover depicting half-naked Muslims

The satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has reportedly received death threats warning of an "imminent" attack after it published a controversial cover depicting a Muslim man and woman running down a beach half naked.

The latest issue, published last Wednesday, shows on its front page a bearded man and a woman in a hijab with the caption: 'The reform of Islam: Muslims loosen up'.

The cover refers to the ban on 'burkini' swimsuits in Cannes on France's south coast following the lorry attack on Nice on 14 July. The town of Villeneuve-Loubet and a Corsican seaside resort have since also banned the Muslim beach dress.

Charlie Hebdo was targeted by Islamist gunmen on 7 January 2015, when 12 people were shot dead in its newsroom. Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it was in revenge for the paper's depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

Le Parisien reported that the magazine has now received a further death threat via its Facebook page.

The Paris prosecutor's office has reportedly begun an investigation into the threat. A spokeswoman for the office, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, said that the investigation for "written death threats" follows around a dozen postings in July and August on the paper's Facebook page.

A separate investigation was carried out in June for similar threats.

The Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni of Sisco, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, told BFM Television the burkini was not acceptable in his town, following the ban in Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet. "People here feel provoked by things like that," he said.

Vivoni said that he was not targeting Muslims generally but instead wanted to get rid of Islamist fundamentalists on the island. "These people have no business here," he said.

The latest ban follows a scuffle on the Sisco beach on Saturday night. Vivoni denied reports that the row had been sparked by a tourist taking pictures of Muslim women bathing in a burkini.

"The brawl was not due to a burkini," he said. "Young Corsicans were defending tourists who were peacefully taking pictures of the landscape."

He added: "The population of Sisco lives in permanent fear. There are many provocateurs here ...We are living on a powder keg."
German Catholic bishops praise 'teacher of the faith' Martin Luther ahead of Reformation 500th anniversary

Catholic bishops in Germany have praised Martin Luther as a "gospel witness and teacher of the faith" ahead of the 500-year anniversary of the Protestant reformation next year.

The bishops' conference published a 206-page report, "The Reformation in Ecumenical Perspective" last week, and called for close ties with Protestants as the country prepares to host the celebrations in 2017.

Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, chair of the German bishops' ecumenical commission, admitted the "wounds are still felt to the present day" but said it was "gratifying that Catholic theology has succeeded, in the meantime, in soberly reconsidering the events of the 16th century".

The report, published on Tuesday, said Luther's emphasis on the importance of the Bible should be recognised by Catholics.

The "Catholic Church may recognise today what was important in the Reformation  namely, that Sacred Scripture is the centre and standard for all Christian life," it read.

"Connected with this is Martin Luther's fundamental insight that God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ for the salvation of the people is proclaimed in the Gospel  that Jesus Christ is the centre of Scripture and the only mediator."

But a spokesman for the Magdeburg diocese told the Catholic News Service (CNS) that the Reformation continues to cause tensions in Germany especially "in religiously separated families".

In Luther's day he was excommunicated by the then Pope Leo X in 1521 and outlawed by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. But the German bishops said in their report that Luther was a "a religious pathfinder, Gospel witness and teacher of the faith," whose "concern for renewal in repentance and conversion" had not been given an "adequate hearing" by the Church.

They added the polarising reformer's work offered a "theological and spiritual challenge" and had "ecclesial and political implications for understanding the Church and the Magisterium."

The ecumenical commission's deputy chair, Bishop Heinz Algermissen of Fulda told the CNS that although Catholic-Lutheran relations had improved in Germany, churches must work for "visible unity, not just reconciled diversity" off the back of the 500th anniversary.

"This means not only praying together, but meeting the challenge of speaking with one voice as Christians when we are all challenged by aggressive atheism and secularism, as well as by [radicalised] Islam. Otherwise we will lose more and more ground," he said.

"In commemorating the Reformation, we cannot just see it as a jubilee, but should also admit our guilt for past errors and repent on both sides for the past 500 years."
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary faces jail after being convicted of supporting ISIS

Anjem Choudary, Britain's most high-profile hate preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous militant plots across the world while he has escaped justice, is facing jail after being found guilty of supporting Islamic State.

Choudary, 49, and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, were convicted at London's Old Bailey of using online lectures and messages to encourage backing for the group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and Rahman had sought to validate the self-proclaimed "caliphate" declared by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and that Muslims had an obligation to obey or provide support to him.

Both men were found guilty last month, but their convictions could not be reported until today for legal reasons. The men, who denied the charges, are due to be sentenced in September.

Following years in which he avoided arrest despite his apparent sympathy for extremism and links to some of Britain's most notorious terrorists, Choudary was convicted after jurors heard he had sworn an oath of allegiance to ISIS.

Choudry reportedly has links to one of the men who killed Lee Rigby in 2013, Michael Adebolajo, and the Islamist militant Omar Bakri Muhammad.

Choudary and Rahman face up to 10 years in jail for inviting support for a proscribed organisation.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said: "The prosecution case is that whichever name is used, the evidence is quite clear: when these defendants were inviting support for an Islamic state or caliphate they were referring to the one declared in Syria and its environs by Ibrahim [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi at the end of June 2014. Terrorist organisations thrive and grow because people support them and that is what this case is about. Do not confuse that with the right of people to follow the religion of their choice or to proclaim support for a caliphate."

In one audio clip lasting over an hour, uploaded to Choudary's YouTube channel on 9 September 2014 and titled How Muslims Assess the Legitimacy of the Caliphate, Choudary begins by explaining why he sees Islamic State as meeting the criteria for a legitimate Islamic caliphate. "The lesson from this narration is that obedience to the caliph is an obligation, if they rule by the sharia. And to obey them obviously means they must be established," Choudary said.

"I would just say...you know, for people who want to live under sharia law, obviously this is a great thing, and for those people who say we are promoting Isis, they are not even called Isis any more. Rather, you have an Islamic state where you have millions of people who are governed by the sharia law and I don't think it is against the law to go and live there and want to abide by sharia law."

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Humanist weddings outstrip Church of Scotland weddings for the first time

Humanist marriages in Scotland overtook Church of Scotland weddings last year for the first time.

According to figures from the National Records of Scotland, there were 4,290 Humanist wedding ceremonies conducted in 2015. Almost eight in 10 of these (3,378) were conducted by the Humanist Society Scotland (HSS), while the rest were conducted by independent groups and the Humanist Fellowship of Scotland.

The Church of Scotland held 4,052 wedding ceremonies last year, while the Catholic Church held just 1,438.

The number of Church of Scotland marriages has been steadily decreasing over the past decade. In 2005, the first year the Humanist weddings were made legal in the country, there were 8,686 Kirk weddings, and 82 Humanist ceremonies.

HSS head of ceremonies and chaplaincy, Lynsey Kidd, said the organisation was "delighted to see that Humanist weddings continue to grow in popularity.

"Our registered celebrants across Scotland are ambassadors for Humanism and work hard to ensure that life's big milestones are celebrated in a meaningful way," she said. "As the original, and most popular organisation for Humanist ceremonies in Scotland it's really encouraging to see the growth of these wonderful ceremonies."

The Church of Scotland, however, pointed out that it remained top of the list of ceremonies conducted by religious and beliefs-based celebrants, once the different Humanist groups are split into their denominations.

Rev Norman Smith, convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council, said churches remained a special place to get married.

"When couples stand in church where generations have stood before pledging their love to one another, it is a reminder that human love endures. Standing before God is a reminder that the Christian God is a God of love who delights in people," he said.

"The Church of Scotland has always stood with the people of Scotland and helped them take this step together. That is still the case and we would encourage anyone considering marriage to remember their local church when thinking about their very special day."

David Robertson, moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, told Christian Today the new figures came as no surprise.

"Given that less than 10 per cent of the population actually attend any church in Scotland, and that nominal Christianity is in freefall, then it should come as no surprise that many couples will choose humanist weddings. Why would a non-Christian want a Christian wedding?" he said.

Robertson also said the Humanist understanding of marriage appealed to "a shallow, superficial" culture.

"In the church we will continue to offer the full riches of Christian marriage, rather than the empty promises of Humanism!" he said.
Jamaica seeks partnership with church leaders to develop policy on faith-based tourism

The Ministry of Tourism in Jamaica is looking to partner with church groups to boost faith-based tourism.

According to a report by The Jamaica Observer, Minister Edmund Bartlett attended the 43rd Synod of Worldwide Moravian Church to meet with faith leaders and consult about the development of policies that will help promote faith-based tourism, which has been gaining ground in recent years.

In 2011, Jamaica experienced its first breakthrough in the faith-based tourism market when 4,000 passengers and crew members arrived on the island for the "Cruise with a Cause" stop in Montego Bay. This brought religious leaders and music ministers to the area to engage in community outreach projects.

The cruise, organised by PraiseFest Ministries, generated close to a billion Jamaican dollars worth of revenue aside from the supplies and technical support the visitors provided.

Bartlett said they wished to replicate the benefits derived by the United States when it started facilitating the departure and arrival of 14-16 million people, mostly Christians for faith-based activities. This generates some $300-$500 million revenues annually.

Bartlett said his target of 5 million arrivals in five years seeks to bring in $5 billion for the industry.

"We are excited about the prospects of working with the churches in building out this very important area of tourism and it is going to have more than just the value of bringing visitors here and providing greater earnings for the country," Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said.

The Minister explained that they are currently ironing out the policies that will facilitate a larger group of Christians and religious visitors to the country.

"Certainly our churches have over the years been at the base of faith-based activities, but the churches have not been structured and organised to encourage large visits and pilgrimages. They have not been structured to bring large conventions into Jamaica," he said.
Martin Luther King's Bible to be sold after family legal dispute ends

A long-running family dispute over the ownership of a Bible which Martin Luther King Jr travelled with was ended yesterday when a judge signed an order releasing it to his son.

There had been a disagreement about ownership of the Bible - along with King's Nobel Peace Prize - between his three surviving children: his two sons Martin and Dexter Scott who want to sell the Bible and their sister Bernice who does not.

The Bible became famous even before the days of social media, as it was carried everywhere by King in the 1960s as he led the civil rights movement.

The consent order signed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney says the items are to be released to Martin Luther King III as chairman of the board of his father's estate, according to ABC news.

King's three children are the sole shareholders and directors of the estate, with Dexter as its president and CEO.

During a board meeting in January 2014, the brothers voted 2-1 against their sister to sell the two artefacts to an unnamed private buyer after the items had long been in Bernice's possession. A week later, the estate filed a suit asking a judge to order her to surrender them.

The parties released a joint statement saying the details of the settlement are confidential.

ABC reported that Bernice King said in 2014 that the idea of selling two of their father's most cherished items was "unthinkable". King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. The Bible was used by President Barack Obama during his second inauguration in January 2013.

A lawyer representing the estate said in February 2014 that the brothers voted to sell the two items because the estate needed funds. That same month, McBurney, the judge, ordered the items to be placed in a safe deposit box with the keys controlled by the court.

Yesterday, McBurney ruled that the keys to the safe deposit box are to be turned over to Martin. The bank is reportedly now set to release the Bible, Nobel medal and its accompanying certificate and box to him.

Earlier this summer, McBurney ruled that the Bible belonged to the estate, but Bernice appealed that ruling.

In October, the former President Jimmy Carter confirmed that he was working as a mediator in the case.

Carter said yesterday that he was pleased to work with the King family "to resolve some difficult and long standing issues." He added: "While Bernice has always believed that the Peace Prize and Bible should not be sold, I am grateful that she has agreed not to stand in the way of the Estate's decisions about how to handle the items...As in any mediation, compromises were required, and I am glad that the parties resolved the issues in the interest of the greater good and their parents' legacy."

Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968. His widow, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006. Yolanda King, their eldest child, died in 2007.
Nigeria: Mother of kidnapped Chibok schoolgirl pleads for prisoner swap with Boko Haram militants

The mother of one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls being held by the Boko Haram terrorist group yesterday pleaded for Nigeria's president to free militants in exchange for the release of the 218 girls.

The appeal came after Boko Haram posted a video on Youtube showing dozens of the Christian schoolgirls, with a militant and one of the girls saying that "some" of them had been killed in military airstrikes while "about 40" had been married.

In the video, one of the kidnapped girls begged their parents to press Nigeria's government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, to free detained Boko Haram members so the schoolgirls can be released in a prisoner swap.

Weeping, the girl's mother, Esther Yakubu, told the Associated Press: ''The government should just release the militants...All the girls that have been rescued have rescued themselves. Not any government has rescued them, no army rescued them."

Nigeria's defence ministry disputed the claim that some of the girls had died as a result of airstrikes. ''It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during airstrikes because the operation is done through precision attacks on identified and registered targets and locations,'' a spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, said in a statement.

Boko Haram seized more than 270 girls from their school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria, in April 2014, as part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more than two million.

Dozens of the girls managed to flee to safety in the initial melee, but more than 200 are still missing.

In the video published on social media, which was seen by Reuters on Sunday, a masked man stands behind dozens of girls.

"We want to send this message first to the parents of these girls for them to know that these girls are still with us, some of them, and secondly they should tell the Federal Government of Nigeria, to with immediate effect, release our imprisoned brothers," the man said.

"Some of the girls, about 40 of them with God's permission have been married, some of them have died as a result of bombing by the infidels," he said.

A veiled girl could be seen holding a baby. Parents have accused Boko Haram of having married off some of the girls against their will.

At the end of the video unidentified bodies could be seen on the ground.

"Military jets have killed some of the girls," said one of the girls, who was identified by her father, Yakubu Kabu, as his daughter called Dorcas.

"When I heard her voice, I realise she is my daughter," he told reporters in Abuja. "we are pleading with the government to help...The children are suffering. Some of them could be very sick."

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said in a statement the government "was on top of the situation" to free the girls.

"Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be," he said.

Army spokesman Rabe Abubakar was quoted as saying by PR Nigeria, an official government agency, that the military disputed the claims that the air force had hit the girls.

"We are nevertheless studying the video clips to examine [whether] the victims died from other causes rather [than] from the allegation of airstrike," he said.

Authorities said in May that one of the missing girls had been found and President Buhari vowed to rescue the others.

Boko Haram, which last year pledged loyalty to the militant group Islamic State, has kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children.

Under Buhari's command and aided by Nigeria's neighbours, the army has recaptured most territory once lost to Boko Haram, but the group still regularly stages suicide bombings.

Boko Haram has apparently split with Islamic State naming Abu Musab al-Barnawi two weeks ago as the group's leader for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine.

But the previous figurehead Abubakar Shekau appears to have rejected the new role in another video published after Barnawi's appointment.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Pope Francis to receive French President following murder of Fr Jacques Hamel

The French President Francois Hollande will tomorrow meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican, with the two men expected to discuss the fallout from the murder of the Catholic priest Fr Jacques Hamel last month.

Hollande's visit to Rome to meet the Pope will be his second after he was received there in January 2014. Officials have not disclosed what the pair will discuss but the killing of Hamel on 26 July is expected to be raised.

Sources in Hollande's office told AFP that the meeting was organised "following the events in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray", the Normandy town where the 85-year-old priest had his throat slit at the alter of his church by two teens claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean burst into the church and held several nuns and fellow worshippers hostage before killing Hamel. Both were shot dead by police.

News of Hollande's visit to the Vatican came as the Archbishop of Rouen said that he is preparing to launch the Cause for the sainthood of Hamel, and waive the rule by which five years must pass before a Cause is opened, according to la-croix.com.

Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said that he is ready to initiate the canonisation process having "carefully preserved evidence about Father Jacques."

Hamel is considered by the Catholic Church to be a martyr, and there will therefore be no need for a miracle to be recorded to approve his canonisation.

Archbishop Lebrun said: "The death of Father Jacques Hamel is the ultimate testimony of his faith in Jesus, he affirmed to the end. The holiness of recognition procedure...can not begin until five years after the death of the person. Formally, it is the bishop of the person's place of death to initiate the procedure. There is a local phase with a careful survey of the life and death of the person. Then the case is sent to Rome where [it is] studied before the Pope's decision."
Swedish church planning to drop thousands of Bibles into ISIS-controlled Iraq says security threat is price worth paying

The church in Sweden that is preparing to use drones to drop thousands of Bibles into areas of Iraq controlled by Islamic State today acknowledged that there was a security threat to the church involved.

Earlier this month, the Livets Ord (Word of Life) church in Uppsala, Sweden said it will use drones flying at high altitude to release thousands of small, electronic Bibles into Iraq.

Today, a spokesman for the evangelical free church acknowledged a "security threat" but said this was a price worth paying for the sake of spreading the Gospel.

"We acknowledge that there is a security threat but being a Christian means you realise your faith may not be accepted," the spokesman told Christian Today. "That's the price you have to pay for the Gospel. We have thought it through and discussed it and we don't believe there is a substantial risk but it's difficult to know."

The spokesman confirmed that the project will go ahead in the autumn but would not be more specific about timings. He also said that the cost of each Bible is around $15 (around 12) and that this was already covered by funds raised but would not expand on exactly how many Bibles will be dropped. The church has previously said it would drop "thousands" of the pill-box sized Bibles.

The comments came after a senior pastor at the church, Joakim Lundqvist expanded on the thinking behind the plan in an online posting and denied that the move was an aggressive act or a "wild" idea.

"Ever since the invention of printing, Christians have been involved in sharing the good news of God's love, grace and salvation, by producing, translating and distributing Bibles," Lundqvist said. "The first priority has always been to share the message with people and areas that have not yet heard the message, or with those living under oppression, persecution and in areas where basic human rights are denied them."

Lundqvist denied reports that characterised the plan as an "attack" on Islamic State. "Some media has described the project as a 'Bible attack on ISIS'. This is completely untrue and an expression of the media's constant search of anything sensational and spectacular," he said. "This is not a political statement, nor an 'spiritual counter attack on terrorism'. What we want is to make the message of Gods love available to people who need it and long for it the most."

The church is declining to name its "partners" in the project. "Without naming names, we want to emphasize that our partners are very knowledgeable and well versed in the region's terms and conditions," Lundqvist said. "This is not a wild idea from a church far away from the reality of the Middle East, but a well thought out, efficient and carefully prepared project that we have had clearly described to us, and have chosen to support."

The pastor said that Christians in the region lacked Bibles. "In the Middle East, and especially in Iraq, a spiritual awakening of historical dimensions is taking place. In these past few years, millions have turned to the Christian faith in what can only be described as a wave of revival, far beyond anything previously seen," he wrote. "What our new brothers and sisters in Christ lack, however, are Bibles in their own language, that allows their new-found faith to take root, grow and become a source of strength, hope and perseverance in the midst of a situation that is characterized by so much oppression and suffering. This is the need we aim to meet with this project."

Lundqvist added that new technology presented Christians with a duty to spread the Gospel and not to do so would be "betraying our own Christian history". He wrote: "Today's technology has given us a unique chance to make God's Word available and accessible to areas we would not otherwise be able to reach. To not use this opportunity would be betraying our own Christian history, full of men and women who gave their entire lives to translate and make the Bible accessible to a new group of people, as well as turning our backs on millions of new brothers and sisters in Christ that cry out for Bibles more than anything else."

He went on: "In the long preparation process of finding technical solutions, financing, permits and other things required to implement the project, a series of genuine miracles have occurred. We see in this God's own desire to reveal to people who He is, and to provide comfort, hope and strength to those who suffer. Our most important partners are, of course, all the Christians from around the world who stand with us in prayer for the project and for the particular situation the Middle East is in right now, and with large and small donations that will enable us to provide some of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters with Bibles."

In response to the statement's own question: "Could a project of this nature create problems for the Christian population?" the pastor said: "All dimensions of the project and its effects are taken into account, and the aim has been to act with great care and responsibility. Our partners from the area are very aware of any challenge and are working hard to make sure the distribution of Bibles is done in the best possible way. Having said that, let me underline again: it is the Christians in the Middle East themselves, that cry out to us for Bibles. They know, more than anyone, all about the risks of standing up for their newly found Christian faith, but still desire, more than anything, the opportunity to read God's word and grow in their faith. From a secular Western World perspecitve, where a high quality of life is the highest goal, this may sound incomprehensible. But everyone who has studied church history know that the Christian faith has not been eradicated in times of trial and persecution. Quite the opposite.

He concluded: "The best expression of our love and care for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, is to keep them in our prayers and grant them what is the number one wish of so many: being able to read a Bible of their own."

Livets Ord is the leading charismatic church in Sweden, and seen as in line with the Pentecostal movement in the US. It was founded in the 1980s, and is often criticised in secular Swedish society for being like a "cult".

It runs a series of evangelical schools for children.

The current leader of the Christian Democrat party, Ebba Busch Thor, who is from Uppsala, attended one until she turned 16.

Another criticism levelled in the Swedish press has been that the church has made donations to Israel that have gone towards building illegal settlements in the West Bank.

The church's founders, Ulf and Birgitta Ekman, leftin 2014 to convert to Catholicism.
Trump promises to combat 'the hateful ideology of radical Islam' with extreme vetting policy

Donald Trump has called for "extreme vetting" of immigrants and pledged to make dramatic changes to US immigration policy if he wins the presidential race in November.

In a speech in the swing state of Ohio on Monday, Trump said he would develop a screening test to combat the threat of Islamic extremism.

Having previously called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants to the US  a move which has been widely criticised as Islamophobic  Trump said that applicants would be tested on whether they "share our values and respect our people".

"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is long overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today," the Republican candidate said. "I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting."

The Clinton campaign criticised Trump's suggestion, branding it "a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it."

"How can Trump put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and selected as his running mate the man who signed an anti-LGBT law in Indiana?" Hillary Clinton's senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Trump's speech roundly condemned "the hateful ideology of radical Islam" and said its "oppression of women, gays, children, and nonbelievers [must not] be allowed to reside or spread within our own countries.

"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism, just as we have defeated every threat we have faced in every age before. But we will not defeat it with closed eyes, or silenced voices," he said.

"In addition to screening out all members or sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles  or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.

"Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country.

"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country  and to embrace a tolerant American society  should be issued immigrant visas."

Trump repeated his pledge to "temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism" and said he would stop processing visas from countries where "adequate screening cannot take place... until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures."

He criticised Clinton's proposed immigration policy, saying the Democrat candidate "wants to increase the flow of Syrian refugees by 550 per cent".

"Hillary Clinton wants to be America's Angela Merkel, and you know what a disaster this massive immigration has been to Germany and the people of Germany  crime has risen to levels that no one thought would they would ever see. We have enough problems in our country, we don't need another one," Trump said.

"This is my pledge to the American people: as your President I will be your greatest champion. I will fight to ensure that every American is treated equally, protected equally, and honoured equally. We will reject bigotry and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.

"Only this way, will we make America Great Again and Safe Again  for everyone."
U.S. missionary out to rescue women trapped in Thailand's sex industry by sharing with them God's love

An American missionary has discovered the driving force behind the world's sex trafficking industrythe quest for love.

Christine Anasco, who has served for 12 years in international missions work, says the women who peddle their bodies and the men who use them are both trying to find love, but in the wrong place.

Talking to Bound4Life, Anasco says she began seeing firsthand the faces of human trafficking in 2014 when she and her husband David started their ministry in Thailand, a Southeast Asian nation that has gained notoriety for its sex industry.

The Anasco couple are now working to help women trapped in Thailand's sex industry by sharing with them God's unconditional love, CBN News reports.

Anasco says their ministry is still in its foundational stage. What they do is to visit Thailand's red light district weekly to build relationships with the women.

"Our aim is show them they are valued, their lives have meaning and God really values who they are," she says.

"When they experience love, they can begin to shift from a mindset of fear to faith," Anasco explains. "Though trapped in human trafficking today, these women were created in His image and He has designed them for something more than what they are living."

She says she and her husband tell the women they meet that "Jesus knows you; He formed you; He has a place and a plan for you."

Anasco says aside from the quest for love, poverty is also a major factor that keeps Thailand's sex industry going. "Many of the women we meet come from the nation's most impoverished areas, the rural farming areas. They have a financial need," she says.

Anasco says it's hard for them to see people "living in sin, doing things that you know aren't good for them, or continuing to make poor choices."

She says all that they can do is to show the women that "Christ really loves them and hungers for relationship with them."

"We spend a lot of time in prayer, just seeking God's heart because we want to do what He is doing. We don't want to do what we think is best or what we think will work. We want to do what our Father says, in this season, is going to bring heaven to earth," she says.

Anasco is full of hope that the victims of prostitution will eventually transform themselves after accepting Jesus. "In the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He will wipe away every tear. We can trust His greater plan," she says.
The auction of Fine and Rare Wines: Featuring Historic Vintages Direct from the Cellars of Bouchard Pere & Fils takes place on 3 September at Christies Hong Kong

More than a century old, Bouchard Pere & Fils is an icon within Burgundy and the wine world as a whole. The eminence of this fine negociant is exemplified by its impressive Domaine, with an amazing range of Premier and Grand Cru vineyards.

On 3 September, Christies Hong Kong Wine Department presents magnificent stock directly from the cellar Bouchard Pere & Fils. This historical, once-in-a-lifetime auction of unprecedented size and diversity includes vintages dating back to 1846, all of which have been stored in Bouchards cellar since production and re-conditioned exclusively for this sale.

Featured in this video teaser are seven highlight lots from the Cellars of Bouchard Pere & Fils, including Mixed Bouchard Le Corton 1928, 1934, 1938, Bouchard Chambertin 1865 and Bouchard Clos Vougeot 1865.

The sale also includes Part IV of the esteemed connoisseurs collection, with top Burgundy producers such as Roumier, Dugat-Py, Dujac and Rousseau. Also featured in the sale is a comprehensive collection of Domaine de la Romanee Conti and top Bordeaux from an important collector.
10 treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Collection of Chinese ceramics

This September more than 700 Chinese ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art will come to auction at Christies New York, in both live and online sales, to benefit the museums acquisitions fund

Originally from the collections of some of America's most prominent 19th and 20th-century financiers and philanthropists  including John D. Rockefeller Jr., Samuel Putnam Avery, Bernard Baruch, Mary Clark Thompson and Mary Stillman Harkness, The Metropolitan Museum of Arts collection of Chinese ceramics is part of one of the world's most comprehensive assemblages of Asian art. Collected In America: Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (online only, 13-22 September; live sale, 15 September) at Christie's New York will showcase centuries of technical development and aesthetic refinement, offering pieces from the Song to the Qing dynasties. Here we take a look at a selection of those treasures offered in both the live and online auctions.

1

One of The Met's earliest purchases of Chinese ceramics

This famille rose dish was part of The Mets first purchases of Chinese ceramics, acquired from the Samuel Putnam Avery collection in 1879. One of the founding trustees of the Metropolitan Museum, Avery, who was an engraver by trade and an avid collector and dealer, amassed a collection of 1,300 ceramics, most of which date to the Ming and Qing dynasty, like this dish.

2

A famille verte bottle vase

One of the mythical beasts depicted on this bottle vase is known as the qilin, often dubbed the Chinese unicorn for its supernatural and mystical qualities. These mythical animals are auspicious omens, whose appearance is said to signify the imminent arrival or departure of a sage. Legend has it that a magical qilin appeared on the evening before Confucius was born.

3

A Kangxi-period kendi drinking vessel made for foreign tastes

Water vessels like this were often made for export to the Southeast Asia region, and decorated for foreign tastes. Chinese kilns made porcelain destined to be sent as far afield as Europe and the Near East, where this blue-ground gilt-decorated kendi may have been a symbol of social status for its foreign owner.

4

A cup and saucer previously from the collection of John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960)

The son and heir of the founder of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller Jr. devoted himself to philanthropy rather than to the world of business. He was an avid collector of Chinese ceramics and favoured overglaze enamelled porcelains of the famille verte, famille noire and famille jaune groups. The blue-green hues decorating this cup and saucer are representative of the famille verte palette, which developed from simpler wucai or five colour decoration used from the Ming dynasty. By the height of the Kangxi period (1662-1722) coloured enamels had reached a new level of refinement, achieving a subtle variety of transparent and pastel blue-green tones.

5

A rare Ming-dynasty dragon jar

More than three centuries old, this dragon jar is decorated with the 'Eight Treasures', a sacred grouping of symbols from Buddhist tradition. Used as a decorative motif in China from as early as the Yuan dynasty (13th century), these symbols include a pair of golden fish, a conch shell, a parasol, a treasure vase, a lotus flower, a neverending knot, a victory banner and the wheel of life. Also emblazoned with a dragon chasing a flaming pearl, the jar epitomises auspicious decoration of the Wanli period, and has a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue on the base.

6

A present from an Emperor: A chrysanthemum vase

One of the Qing dynasty's most interesting technical developments was the 'peach-bloom' glaze  previously unseen soft pink and green hues that were achieved using a copper glaze and specific firing conditions. Only a small number of these peach-bloom vessels were made in the Kangxi reign, with some scholars suggesting that they were intended as gifts from the Kangxi Emperor himself to his courtiers. Typically made in sets of eight objects for the scholar's table.

7

A peach-bloom glazed 'beehive' water pot

The shape of this water pot, used on the scholars table, has inspired many different names. In Chinese they are known as taibai zun, Tai Bai being the style name of the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai, who is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of the same shape. They are also known as jizhao zun, or chicken coop water pots, because their shape resembles that of a traditional basket-style cage.

8

A famille rose ruby-enamelled cup and saucer and bowl

The famille rose palette was first introduced into China in the late Kangxi period (1622-1722) when Jesuit priests brought the rouge-red oxide-based enamels. This enabled ceramicists to create the soft pink colours and deep ruby seen in famille rose porcelains. By mixing with white enamel, it allowed a greater range of tones and shading than was previously possible. This enables the depiction of more complex images that suggest shape and depth. The famille rose palette reached its height and became dominant during the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735), and the most popular motif was the combination of peonies and a butterfly. The present cup and saucer is a classic example from Yongzheng period. The graduating shades of the pink on the peonies and the yellow on the gourds and finger citrons demonstrate the use of different shades suggest the natural colours of fruit and flowers.



9

A Qianlong-period famille rose dish

The early 18th century saw the transformation of overglaze enamels from a palette dominated by transparent blues and greens to one in which ruby-red and pink became the major colours. This change came with the introduction of three new colours  a translucent ruby, opaque white (achieved using lead arsenate) and opaque yellow (lead stannate). The elaborate decoration of this dish showcases the variety of hues in the famille rose palette during the Qianlong period (1736-1795), and beautifully brings this horse-riding scene to life.

10

Three small blue and white vases
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For six days, urban black frustration boiled over during the Watts Riots in 1965.

An entire community burned as several buildings were set on fire throughout Watts and neighboring areas of Los Angeles.

Thirty-four people were killed, looters emptied stores and the National Guard patrolled the streets.

It all began when the arrest of 21-year-old Marquette Frye, an African-American, drew a crowd in South Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 1965. Someone threw a rock as he was arrested, then another and the frustration was released on the community.

Before that rock was thrown, the aggravation had boiled for centuries with the enslavement of an entire people. It continued with Jim Crow laws and the systematic profiling of a community.

Even 51 years later, we are still faced with the tension of race and death. Last month's deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by the firing of officers' guns sparked protests, debate and even further violence in Dallas because of the racial tension. Their crimes? Well, it's hard to say what Sterling and Castile's crimes were, other than Sterling possibly having a pistol on his person and Castile simply following instructions to reach for his driver's license and registration when ordered to do so.

Both instances were caught on tape, quickly leading to nationwide awareness.

"Outrage is understandable, to be sure, but outrage won't solve the problem," Houston Chronicle's editorial staff wrote in July. "In addition to the reforms already in place, we would suggest federal intervention." This intervention has to come from Congress and over a month after both of these shootings occurred, all Congress has to show for responding is one single stand in by the Democrats.

"Meanwhile, young black men are dying at the hands of those charged with protecting us," the Chronicle editorial staff continued. "Black Americans across the country realize that their community faces a crisis; all Americans must stand with them."
With 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 60 each day, there's a big market for housing for the 55-and-up set.

In fact, the nation's top selling community, The Villages, in Ocala, Fla., is a retirement community, according to RCLCO, a housing consulting firm that ranked communities by 2015 home sales.
Houston Texans and NRG Stadium officials held an open house Tuesday to show off the most expansive renovations, updates and improvements in the stadium's history. Among the big ticket items: a new artificial turf field, a stadium-wide WiFi system and, of course, food glorious food -- and plenty of it. Everything will be on display, plated and rarin' to go Saturday night when the Texans host the New Orleans Saints in pre-season action.

NOW OPEN: Your guide to the new restaurants in town
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Recently, numerous Facebook pages for fake, non-existent Houston restaurants were revealed as frauds that used addresses for real establishments.

The Houston Press ran a feature on the scam, but the question remained: Who's doing this and why?

The Press may have found some answers. They have traced phone numbers on the Facebook pages back to University of Houston fraternity brothers who "claim online to work for a company that purports to excel at advertising on social media."

According to the alternative weekly, the phone numbers on some of those Facebook pages led back to Lambda Phi Epsilon brothers Le Huu "Bop" Huynh and Pichoudam "Oh" Peou.

Peou reportedly denied having any involvement but couldn't answer how his number had ended up on the pages. He and Huynh also "liked" some of the fake pages.

As for Huynh, his LinkedIn profile states that he's worked at WG Health Resources, where he "created over 60 facebook pages for WG Health Resources in less than one month. Each page has acquired over 5000 outreaches and over 400 engagements."

The Press reports that WG Health Resources' site was taken down after Press reporters attempted to reach the company. The page allegedly claimed that the company brought in millions.

The local paper has also reached out to fraternity chapter president Christopher Torres to no avail.

The Facebook ruse has angered some local business owners. It allegedly involved using photos, phone numbers and addresses from real businesses on the Facebook pages created for fake establishments.

A number of the phony pages have already been taken down.
Those who enjoy a good cocktail know that Houston is a hotbed of bartender talent. Food & Wine magazine thinks so, too: Today the magazine named Rob Crabtree, beverage director for Goode Company, as one of the Best New Mixologists of 2016.

Chosen for innovative techniques and uniquely crafted cocktails, the magazine tapped 11 rising stars from throughout the country who excel at exceptional drink-making.
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One of Houston's oldest bars is closing Labor Day weekend.

Kay's Lounge announced on its Facebook page that it will be shutting down in a few weeks: "A heartfelt 'thank you' all of Kay's customers for your years of loyal patronage. Kay's last day of business will be September 3, 2016."

Commenters have taken to expressing their disappointment at the news. One says, "Sad to lose a place where so many memories have been made!"

RELATED: The biggest bar & restaurant closings so far this year

Another writes, "First Blanco's, now Kay's. The relentless march of 'progress'. Houston just got a little less interesting."

A source of the Houston Business Journal says that the the longtime establishment is closing because of a lease termination. According to the Harris County Appraisal District's website, the parcel is owned by Kays Partners LLC.

SEE ALSO: New Houston restaurants to check out now

The popular watering hole at 2324 Bissonnet has served several generations of Houstonians, It traces back to 1939 according to several sources, although public records have it registered in 1962. The building that houses it was built in 1944.

Kay's Lounge's owners haven't responded to calls, but we'll update as more details become available.

Among all the questions we have: Who keeps the Texas-shaped table?
Teenage rebellion may be glamorized in everything from rock n' roll to movies but in the early 1960s, it was cause for major concern.

So much so that the federal government allotted funds to battle rebelling teens under the Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act of 1961.
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The glossy side of the Houston magazine terrain has been going through some changes lately  new faces, new players, new formats and content. Some of which will be evident in the all-important September issues.

Houston CityBook, editor Jeff Gremillion's new Houston lifestyle publication, is set to launch in September. PaperCity, which debuted in Houston in 1994, is switching from its familiar oversize broadsheet to a perfect-bound magazine in September. And the Chronicle is publishing a new luxury lifestyle magazine, Luxe Life (available only to subscribers), on Sept. 18.

Other changes are afoot at Local Houston, as well. And while it may not be physically obvious, it's a significant shift in structure for the magazine formerly known as 002houston.

Local Houston recently acquired new partners in the form of financial backers Trini Mendenhall, Oniel Mendenhall and Luis Martinez. Their investment will help the magazine, established in 1998 by publisher Alejandro Martinez, by adding staff and resources.

"I'm excited that business leaders like the Mendenhalls and Luis Martinez not only believe in our product, but also share in our vision to grow and enhance Local Houston," Martinez said.

The announcement of new investors comes at a time of other changes at Local. Editor-in-Chief Carla Valencia de Martinez is moving over to the business and publishing side of the magazine to focus on partnerships, promotions and sales. Tim Moloney, a former 002 columnist, is returning to the publication as editor-in-chief.

"I've worked with Local for a long time, including consulting on the recent re-vamp," Moloney said. "Now that they are in a position to expand, my role is a stewardship over a very popular product they've created. My immediate focus is greater editorial consistency and an emphasis on storytelling. I anticipate we'll hear much more from Houstonians in their own words."

The magazine estimates its monthly readership is 545,386.

Trinidad "Trini" Mendenhall is the president of Fulton Shopping center and former principal of Fiesta Mart, Inc., which was co-founded by her late husband, O.C. Mendenhall. Her son, Oniel Mendenhall, is the owner/president of Goose Cap Enterprises; he also is a partner at MenMar Properties, and vice-chairman of Trini & Co. Luis Martinez is vice president of finance at Mendenhall Entities and a partner at MenMar Properties.
Johnny Weir, former Olympic figure skater and flamboyant fashionista, does not have time for childishness, especially not from a stranger named Gary.

Aside from his incredible talent as a figure skater, Weir is known for his eclectic and unique style and personality, so when Gary D. Miller decided to get tough and insult Weir, saying he "gives gay people a bad name," you'd best believe Weir was having none of it.
When Yehuda Sharim came to Rice University three years ago, he realized that Houston was the home to the largest refugee community in the country. Being a thoughtful person, he asked himself what was the responsibility of an intellectual to these people who often live invisible and traumatic lives?

His answer was to give them a face and a voice so that others could see the struggles they've endured while resettling in a new city.

He did this by creating a film about their lives. Simply titled "We are in it," the documentary chronicles the lives of five refugees who came from Burma, Togo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, and Mexico.

"I wanted to humanize their experiences," said Sharim, who is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Rice and a fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

"I wanted to empower these communities by creating some kind of awareness about them," Sharim said, "and to address the most urgent issue of our generation, namely, the refugee crisis that is affecting countries all over the world."

Sharim spent two and half years filming and interviewing more than 50 people all over the greater Houston area. He interviewed people, often for hours, in their apartments, in parking lots, or wherever they felt comfortable.

Nancy Adossi, one of the five featured in the documentary, came from the tiny country of Togo in West Africa. She traveled with her mother and brother to join her father, who was already living in Houston.

Although undocumented, the 26-year-old is working on her doctorate at the University of Houston in health science.

"This film gave me the opportunity to be heard," Adossi said. "This is especially important when you are a refugee and you want someone to know that you are hurting, but you don't have an outlet to express that grief," he added.

"Before I met Yehuda, I had never told my story to anyone," he said, praising Sharim for his approach in getting people to open up. "I like his interviewing style. He tries to get to know you so that you are comfortable in telling your story."

Another person in the film is Carolina Ramirez, who is from Mexico, undocumented and a national coordinator for United We Dream, an immigrant youth organization that advocates for fair treatment of immigrants.

"This film is incredibly necessary because it dispels the preconceived notion that all refugees and immigrants are alike," Ramirez said. "This is not about politics; it's about humanity. People need to be aware that immigrants and refugees are part of Houston and the United States."

Sharim created the documentary, in part, because he too has experienced the refugee life. His parents emigrated from Iraq to Israel, where he grew up. Although his situation was not nearly as difficult as that of the refugees he has encountered in Houston, he said he sympathizes with their struggles.

In some ways, Sharim continues to be a migrant, traveling the world and earning degrees from various universities.

Last year, the United States admitted 68,000 refugees. Harris County receives more refugees than any other county in the U.S., though the exact number of refugees who remain living in the city is uncertain. In recent years, the largest groups of new arrivals have come from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba

Jose Aranda, department chairman of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American studies, said that Sharim has opened his eyes to the refugee problem in Houston.

"The dislocation of people because of war, economic upheaval or natural disasters is now a common occurrence," Aranda said.

"Yehuda has given faculty, staff, and students at Rice a unique opportunity to engage in one of the most vexing social issues of our times, something that is both global and local in character."

Produced by Yan Digilov, of The Firestarter Group, the documentary is participating in the MICgenero International Film Show in Mexico and will be presented in September at Rice University.

***

David D. Medina is director of Multicultural Community Relations at Rice University. A version of this story was published at Rice at Large Magazine.




As the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention, Texas City resident Clarissa Rodriguez, 17, found herself the center of attention when she was called onstage at the event in Philadelphia.

The spotlight fell on the Brazosport High School senior as she and the oldest convention delegate were honored during the opening Pledge of Allegiance.

Rodriguez, who turns 18 two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 8, represented Texas Senate District 11 and was a Sanders delegate. Here, she gives her take on a new generation of politically active youths in America and the Democrats' goal of turning Texas purple.

Tell me about the Democratic National Convention experience?

It was crazy, I did a lot of interviews. The whole thing was really fun and exciting although I think (Bernie Sanders protesters) were a bit demonized on TV.

How so?

The media wanted to paint this sense of unity, but you could feel the undertones of the core ideological differences between Clinton and Sanders supporters. The divide isn't like it is with Republicans, but you could still feel it.

At one point you were brought out on stage with the oldest delegate, Ruby Gilliam, 93, for the opening Pledge of Allegiance. Describe that moment for me.

It was incredible, but super scary! As soon as you turn to go on stage, you see the flashing lights and the huge crowd, I was so nervous.

You're a Sanders supporter. What do you think the legacy of this progressive movement he's helped spark will be?

There will be another progressive candidate; I see the revolution for progressive values continuing. I think Bernie will inspire a new wave of progressives among Democrats.

Who will you vote for in November?

I'll vote for Hillary (Clinton), although the enthusiasm isn't there.

How did you get involved in politics?

I remember begging to stay up and watch President Obama's acceptance speech in fourth grade. It was really cool and helped start my interest in politics. Hearing Bernie Sanders during this election took that interest to another level and I volunteered to campaign for him.

Michael Rogillio (a local organizer), who helped me get to Philly, suggested I try to be a state delegate. He also helped convince me to run to become a national delegate. I had to campaign and give speeches and call delegates and I was elected at the state convention in June. A generous woman helped pay for my flight to Philadelphia and I received donations, most from people in the area, to pay for some of the other expenses.

Do you plan to pursue a career in politics?

I do. Sometimes I'd joke with Rachel (Gonzalez, another young delegate, from Missouri) about running for president. In all seriousness though, I come from a lower middle-class family with a single mother; my stepfather passed away. I want to fight for people like me and my (stepfather) and my mom.

There seems to be this misconception about Millennial political involvement. What do you make of the perception that Millennials are disengaged?

There's this superiority complex with some older voters and it's belittling. Disregarding youth political engagement discourages people, although they should still want to be active on their own. I think Millennials are misunderstood and underestimated.

We're labeled as not caring, but we do. As soon as I got back (from the convention), everyone was asking me about next steps for how to get involved. Information is very accessible to us, I never went to meetings or anything, I learned researching online. People don't see there's a lot of young people like me out there.

Some see a political shift in Texas coming as a result of growing and diverse populations in the state's major cities. Do you imagine Texas will ever be a blue state?

It definitely could, at the least it could be purple. To quote our state chair, "Texas isn't a red state, it's a nonvoting state." In order to turn it purple, the party must help draw voters out.

People like me and the chairman and party veterans need to articulate to the community that it doesn't have to be politics as usual and they won't be left out.
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Northwest Houston residents can get an up-close view of the U.S. national parks with The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts' summer exhibit of photos and paintings.

Photographer Mark Burns, a resident of The Woodlands, drove more than 160,000 miles for more than four years photographing the nation's 59 national parks. He has chosen his favorite 28 images to display at The Pearl in the exhibit called "The National Parks-Select Images."

The exhibit, which is on display through Sept. 3, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

The Pearl has paired Burns' black-and-white images next to original paintings of the national parks by artists Thomas Moran, Thomas Hill and Joseph Henry Sharp.

More Information Want to go? What: "The National Parks-Select Images" by photographer Mark Burns, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service When: through Sept. 3 Where: The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, 6815 Cypresswood Drive in Spring Admission: Free Information: 281-376-6322; pearlmfa.org See More Collapse

"That makes it a special exhibition for me," Burns said. "The work of the early artists was very influential. That really led to a lot of the land becoming protected. Their art started a movement to protect the special places."

To capture the landscape images, Burns often took photos from the roof of his Toyota FJ Cruiser. And he visited many of the parks several times.

He took many road trips, strategically planning his stops to hit all of the parks along the way. One route included New Mexico, Arizona and then to California to visit parks including Kings Canyon and Yosemite. Then he would drive through northern California and up through the Pacific Northwest to the Olympic National Park and then east to Glacier and back down to Texas through Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

"I would plan quite thoroughly," Burns said. "I took two to four weeklong trips. Sometimes I would drive 9,000 to 10,000 miles in four weeks."

For 10 months, Burns rented a house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, because it was a good central location for him to shoot several national parks within a six-hour drive.

Burns' chose to shoot his photography in black and white both because of his love of the medium and because of the artistic element.

"I love black and white, and also it's a great bridge back to the past century," he said.

The Pearl's Curator Terry Capps said she was immediately moved by Burns' photography the first time she saw his work.

"The first photograph I saw was of White Sands in New Mexico and I was instantly captured," she said. "It brought back so many memories of my childhood; of my parents taking us every summer to a national park. The moment I walked up to that first photograph, all those memories came flooding back to me."

The exhibit has been very well-received, Capps said.

"The exhibition seems to be pulling at the heart-strings of all that see it," she said.

Burns' exhibit was first unveiled at the Forsyth Galleries at Texas A&M in College Station in November 2015. In addition to The Pearl, the entire collection of Burns' photographs is currently on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Sept. 28.

Prior to starting his project, Burns had visited about 20 national parks.

"I had been to quite a few," he said. "But when you're going to all 59, you see a lot of places. You spent a lot of time there. I went back to many multiple times to get the right weather and visit during different seasons. I wanted to be able to choose, especially some of the bigger parks I went to four or five times, or six times even."

Burns has now become an advocate about the need to protect the national parks.

"Let's look forward at the next 100 years," he said. "How do we continue to protect them and keep them wild and free, so more people can share the same experience?"
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UPDATE: Officer James Combs was released from a Fort Bend County jail on Wednesday. According to KTRK, Combs posted a $100,000 bond and is required to wear an ankle monitor.

PREVIOUS REPORT:

A Houston police officer has been accused in a fatal head-on crash earlier this month in Fort Bend County, authorities said.

Officer James Combs is charged with intoxication manslaughter in the two-vehicle wreck about 6:30 a.m. Friday on Beechnut near Westmoor, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Houston Police Department, Combs was relieved of duty Friday, meaning he would be on paid leave pending an internal investigation. Combs, a patrol officer with the Midwest division, has spent six years on the force.

Combs was off-duty and driving a Chevrolet Tahoe, deputies said, when he collided with a Chevrolet Corvette driven by Brian Manring, 36, of the Richmond area.

Deputies said that when they detected the presence of alcohol on the off-duty officer, they asked him to take field sobriety tests, but he refused. Then a warrant was obtained and the officer was taken to Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital for a blood draw as well as for treatment for his minor injuries.

Deputies said Combs was in custody Tuesday.

Emily Foxhall contributed to this report.
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The Fort Bend ISD school board on Monday unanimously approved a $240,000 agreement with Fort Bend County to continue a joint truancy prevention program, despite no evidence of improvement.

The program, called Saved by the Bell, places six juvenile probation officers in the district's high schools and some of its most at-risk middle schools to help students get to class.

Saved by the Bell has been in Fort Bend ISD schools since 2008, but during the 2015-16 school year the program took on a more preventative focus, which district trustees praised at Monday's meeting.

Before the 2015-16 school year, the juvenile probation officers primarily worked with students who had already been referred to the court system for truancy.

During that school year, the officers were renamed case managers and took on an expanded role, working with students who were at risk of a court referral as well as with those who had already been referred to court.

"We're trying to set up the system to be more relational and to be about intervention instead of just that automatic referral," Fort Bend ISD Deputy Superintendent Christie Whitbeck said.

In Texas, truancy is defined as missing 10 or more absences in a six-month period. Students who are truant can be referred to court, after the district has attempted multiple times to intervene.

The case managers conducted over 450 home visits and counseled nearly 1,800 students during the 2015-16 school year, according to Fort Bend ISD officials.

They will play a similar role in the 2016-17 school year.

Statewide effort

Saved by the Bell's new emphasis on preventing, not punishing, truancy is consistent with a statewide approach since the Legislature decriminalized truancy in June of 2015.

Truancy changed from a criminal to a civil charge; so instead of facing steep fines and potential criminal records upon a court referral, students who are truant typically receive a $50 court fee and mandatory community service or counseling.

With decriminalization, the Legislature also required districts to intervene more before referring a student to court, prompting Saved by the Bell's new focus on prevention.

The $240,000 allocated in Fort Bend ISD's budget for the program will pay for half of the salaries of the case managers. The county is expected in October to approve a budget that includes another $240,000 to cover the rest of the salary costs.

Limited success

Fort Bend ISD has struggled to effectively address truancy in the past.

It made headlines for referring thousands of truant students to a specialized truancy court, one of two such courts in the county.

Evidence that its enforcement disproportionately affected low-income and minority students prompted district administrators to temporarily stop enforcing truancy during the spring of 2015, and led state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, to call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Fort Bend County.

Despite the district's new approach, the number of students who reached 10 or more absences during the previous school year actually increased by 500, from 2,876 during the 2014-15 school year to 3,450 during the 2015-16 school year. The district's enrollment is more than 73,000.

"All that effort we did did not give us the results that we wanted," Whitbeck said.

Minority students are still overrepresented among Fort Bend ISD's truancy population.

Black students made up just 29 percent of the district's overall enrollment but 46 percent of its truant students during the 2015-16 school year.

Fort Bend ISD does not have records of how many of the students who received intervention from a case manager during the 2015-16 school year went on to have more unexcused absences.

But the district and trustees said it's worth continuing the program anyway.

Results might improve once students and staff are more used to the law change, trustee Dave Rosenthal said.

"Let's give it another year and see what happens," Rosenthal said. "Hopefully, we won't lose a lot of kids."
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Growing up, Nick Farco went to a private Catholic school that didn't have a theater department; so his mother, who taught science and history there, started a drama club.

This month, the recent Brooklyn transplant to Brookshire begins his first year as the theater director and teacher at Polly Ryon Middle School in Richmond.

Farco, 36, also stars in "True West" Sept. 8-30 at 4th Wall Theatre in Houston.

He plans to direct his Polly Ryon sixth-graders in a musical next spring, but first he wants to lead them through acting exercises.

More Information Want to go? What: "True West" Where: 4th Wall Theatre Company at Studio 101, 1824 Spring St., Houston When: Preview Thursday, Sept. 8; opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9; 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sundays; "Pay What You Can" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26; closes 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30 Cost: $15-$49 Information: Call 832-786-1849 or visit www.4thwalltheatreco.com See More Collapse

"Teaching theater is not really about imparting information," he explained. "I see myself more as a guide. I want to teach students how to learn and foster a group dynamic and create an environment conducive to learning."

As an actor, Farco relishes the chance in "True West" to appear for the first time in a play by Sam Shepard.

"It's a dream for every actor to work on Sam Shepard, especially a male actor, because his men are so visceral and psychologically complex," Farco said.

Farco and co-star, Houston actor Drake Simpson, 43, play brothers Austin and Lee.

Austin is a screenwriter and Lee is a burglar who thinks penning a movie script can't be that difficult.

"What Shepard is exploring is two sides of an artist," Farco said. "There is the disciplined academic who sometimes lacks a creative spark, while Lee is a force of nature who doesn't have the diligence to sit down and create."

Farco earned a bachelor of fine arts in acting at Ithaca College, followed by a master of fine arts in acting at Mason Gross School of the Arts, the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In 2015, after racking up New York theater credits, Farco and his wife, Daniela, followed his sister's family and their parents to the Houston area. Farco said his wife landed a transfer to Houston as a store director for Cole Haan, a global lifestyle brand that specializes in men's and women's footwear and accessories.

Last year, Farco worked as a substitute teacher throughout the Houston area, which gave him some opportunities to work with theater students who were preparing for University Interscholastic League one-act play competitions.

"I substituted all around," he said. "I even went to Pasadena. In Houston ISD, I taught at HSPVA (the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts). I taught in Katy and at Seven Lakes Junior High."

Farco's sister, Christine Hewitt, teaches history at James and Sharon Tays Junior High in Katy ISD. Her husband is Alistair Hewitt, the director for the Houston branch of Hydraulic Analysis Limited, a Leeds, England-based engineering consulting firm.

The parents of Nick Farco and his sister are Kenneth and Denise Farco of Brookshire.

"My grandparents just moved here to Brookshire, too," said the actor. "They are 92-year-old John and Prudenza Farco. Both my parents grew up in Brooklyn. The house my grandparents inhabited in Williamsburg Brooklyn was in the family since 1936."

Farco's first acting job in Houston was in Bess Wohl's "Small Mouth Sounds" at Stark Naked Theatre, which has since changed its name to 4th Wall.

"I thought 'Stark Naked' was a cool name - it referred to daring to be vulnerable - but some people were weirded out," said Farco.

The theater's co-artistic directors, Philip Lehl and his wife, Kim Tobin-Lehl, said they held "a deep attachment" to the former name, but feared that a literal interpretation of the phrase "has created a reluctance among potential new audience members as well as potential family foundations and corporate donors."

Tobin-Lehl added, "Webster's defines 4th wall as: 'an imaginary wall that keeps performers from recognizing or directly addressing their audience.' Because we regularly break the 4th wall, we feel the term is an excellent new name for this theater that we love. Although '4th Wall' will be an unfamiliar term to some people, explaining it is much more appealing to us than telling people, 'Yes, the actors will be wearing clothes!'"
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Rose Hill Manor, once a popular site for social events at Port Arthur's seawall, now has holes in its windows and a balcony unfit to stand on.

It's a shell of itself - a microcosm of the city's past, present and future. Symbolic of Port Arthur's greater predicament, the once-elegant home is now barely getting by, desperate for a facelift to preserve its history, though at a cost its owners could have difficulty bearing.

City leaders planned to ask architects to compile a list of repairs the 6,000-square-foot home needs after 110 years. The assessment was to cost $70,000; repairs could approach $1 million.

Then came a sobering moment for Rose Hill Manor supporters: City leaders realized they have no idea what to do with the historic building where Southeast Texans have regularly held weddings, baby showers and parties for more than half a century.

Port Arthur City Council members, already struggling with major budget challengers, are unsure how much money, if any, to put into Rose Hill Manor.

One councilman says to "remodel it, or tear it down."

Because Rose Hill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it can't be demolished. It would have to sit there and rot until it's beyond repair.

Some say that should be out of the question.

"I just don't understand why the city doesn't care about such a historical home," said Lezlie Armentor, a member of the volunteer group tasked with keeping up the building's interior. "They've totally dropped the ball and neglected Rose Hill Manor."

City leaders last week acknowledged they lack a vision for Rose Hill, which was built in 1906 for former mayor Rome Hatch Woodworth. The estate was donated to Port Arthur in 1947.

For decades, the home doubled as a museum and special venue, hosting hundreds of milestone events.

The property's front view shows ships on the Neches River and the bridge to Pleasure Island.

Carolyn Martinez held her wedding reception there in 1957, shortly after Rose Hill was refurbished.

"It was just such a beautiful place," said Martinez, who recently stepped down from the volunteer group. "The grounds were lovely and it was sort of a crown jewel of that area of Port Arthur."

Still, Martinez says the building has not been painted properly since the late 1990s.

It took several months to fix a problem that resulted in a leak from Rose Hill's roof, down the wall and into its basement.

Mushrooms grew on carpet in the foyer and dining room wall.

"It's a slap in the face," Armentor said. "It sends the message, 'Don't ever leave anything to the city of Port Arthur.'"

'Be honest'

Council members' reluctance to spend $70,000 on architectural drawings is both a cause and result of uncertainty about Rose Hill's future.

And without the drawings, no one can determine specifically what needs to be done, City Manager Brian McDougal said.

The Texas Historical Commission would have to review the sketches before Port Arthur could receive grant funding, which council members are relying on if Rose Hill is to survive.

"I really think we need to have a deep conversation about this and be honest with ourselves," Councilman Morris Albright III said. "There's no point in spending $70,000 we could spend somewhere else if our heart isn't really committed to spending $1.5 million on Rose Hill."

The Beaumont-based LaBiche Architectural Group did an $11,000 assessment two years ago, but it still left the city without floor plan drawings or details on the building.

Workers will have to hand-measure every dimension for the historical commission's evaluation, something architects normally bypass for non-historic buildings.

A paint assessment alone would be close to $9,000.

Repairing Port Arthur's streets is a greater priority for city leaders, Councilman Keith Richard said.

Also, the city would need a plan to market its historic buildings and figure how to make them self-sustaining.

The cost has become intimidating because the city has gone so many years without any long-term investment, taking a piecemeal approach instead, according to project manager Dohn LaBiche.

"That always costs you more money," LaBiche said. "It is very important for council to decide what the path is with that building so that you can either do it the right way, or spend the money elsewhere."

Beyond reason

April Crooks-Dean was married at Rose Hill earlier this month, nearly 60 years after Martinez.

Even Crooks-Dean, a Deweyville native who now lives in Silsbee, admires the history at Rose Hill.

She settled on the location for her wedding because of its view and "vintage" feel.

Despite all the work Rose Hill needs, Crooks-Dean describes her wedding as "perfect."

Supporters say Rose Hill could still help make more memories there if city leadership takes a stand.

The property's sentimental value to Martinez extends beyond the wedding in '57. Her niece celebrated a 25th wedding anniversary there in the mid-1990s, and her mother held a 100th birthday party at Rose Hill in 2010.

Martinez would be devastated if the building is torn down, but she understands the current situation.

"If you're going to maintain the history of an area, it means an investment of time and money," Martinez said. "The longer it's neglected, the more expensive it is to repair.

"There comes a point when it gets beyond reason to spend the money necessary to bring it back up to standards."

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/BrandonKScott
Texas is full of smarty pants, and it looks like the world knows it, too.

Four Texas universities were named in the Top 100 of the esteemed Shanghai Ranking, which was released Monday.



Check out the gallery above to see which schools earned a spot on the list, then keep clicking to see the top 25 universities in the world.
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A worker injured in an explosion at a crude oil terminal Friday night in Southeast Texas filed a lawsuit Monday against Sunoco and Carber, accusing the companies of causing the explosion.

Edward Galvan, a welder for L-Con Inc. who remains hospitalized with injuries he sustained during the explosion, was working at the crude oil terminal owned by Sunoco on Friday night in Nederland near Beaumont.

According to the lawsuit filed in Harris County court, Sunoco officials told L-Con workers to "conduct welding operations on two flanges on a closed line at the facility."

The lawsuit said that Sunoco represented that the "line was clean, clear, and ready for work." Galvan and the other workers were instructed to work on a scaffold more than 10 feet above the ground.

As Galvan and the others began to work, pressure began building inside the line. According to the suit, the 30-inch plug designed and installed by Carber failed and was ejected from the line, striking Galvan in the chest and shoulder.

The lawsuit states that crude oil within the line then ignited, causing a flash fire.

The explosion caused Galvan's welding mask to be knocked off, "setting his face ablaze," the suit said.

Liquid fire covered his face, neck, and upper chest. He managed to tear off several pieces of clothing and then jump off the scaffold. The lawsuit states that if Galvan had not jumped off, he likely would "have been burned alive."

He was flown by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann's burn unit, where he is receiving extensive treatment. Galvan is seeking a lawsuit to "recover for injuries sustained as a result of this incident."

Seven workers in total were also injured in the explosion.
A Philadelphia man pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to his role in a ring that trafficked in counterfeit Viagra and Cialis pills that were smuggled into the United States.

Victor Lamar Coates, 47, admitted conspiring with a California man, 41-year-old Martez Gurley, to introduce counterfeit and misbranded tablets into the U.S. market. Coates admitted to distributing more than 10,200 into U.S. markets, including those he imported directly from China, said officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.
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A onetime volunteer youth pastor from Willis won't be eligible for parole until 2046 after he was given a life sentence for his recent conviction on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Dell Ivan Godkin, 48, was convicted Aug. 11 by a Montgomery County jury, prosecutors said in a news release this week.

The victim  whom prosecutors say was a relative  told the jurors that the abuse began when she was 13 and continued until shortly before her 17th birthday, when they "made a deal" that he would stop abusing her if she would not tell anyone.

"He would say lots of things about God being OK with it," prosecutor Monica Cooper said. He would use Bible verses about men's and women's roles to justify the abuse.

The victim testified against the man in court, Cooper said, as did another alleged victim who is part of a pending case against Godkin in Liberty County.

"We don't know of any other victims at this time," Cooper said, adding that if anyone else were abused, they should contact the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

Cooper said the victim described herself as "one of those people that tries to hold it all in to save everyone else her pain" and instead writing unsent letters. In court, the victim read aloud a letter she had written at the time of the abuse.

"We are very proud of the victims in this case," said lead prosecutor Sheri Culberson. "It takes a lot of courage to face your abuser during a trial like this. But, ultimately, the community is a safer place because of their courage and bravery."

The Chronicle does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Cooper said members of Godkin's family and church testified that he was a good Christian whom they could not believe had assaulted a child.

"People were shocked when they heard that that's how he controlled both of his victims (by quoting Scripture)," Cooper said. "He's the scariest kind of child predator because he's the kind that is sitting next to you in church, and he seems like the nicest guy."

According to prosecutors, Godkin's ex-wife testified during the punishment phase of the trial that he beat her repeatedly during their 12-year marriage.

"One of the assaults occurred after she had gone to their pastor at church seeking help," according to a news release from the district attorney's office. "By the time she arrived home, Godkin knew she had spoken to the pastor and beat her because of it."

Godkin's lawyers, Douglas Atkinson and Jed Silverman, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

andrew.kragie@chron.com
A gunman opened fire on a police officer early Tuesday morning during a chase at an apartment complex in northwest Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.

The incident happened around 1 a.m. in the 1700 block of Seaspray Court near Tannehill, HPD Lt. Larry Crowson said.
Community activists and organizers on Tuesday called for reform of Houston's criminal justice system, including pre-trial release without bail for suspects in non-violent crimes and the widespread adaptation of "cite and release" for practically all misdemeanors, including marijuana possession, instead of jail.

Buoyed by the constant wellspring of concern over unarmed black men killed by police, more than a dozen activists called a press conference to demand independent prosecutors to investigate police shootings overseen by civilian review boards with subpoena power.

"I'm not ready to accept that my son won't receive the justice he so rightfully deserves," said Janet Baker, the mother of Jordan Baker, an unarmed 26-year-old who was fatally shot by Houston police last year. "We don't have to accept this, just because it's always been this way."

Harris County grand juries have cleared Houston police officers of criminal wrongdoing in all shootings since 2008. More than a quarter of the 121 civilians shot by the department's officials from 2008 to 2012 were  like Jordan Baker  unarmed, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.

Flanked by activists and supporters, Baker gave an emotional plea for reform at the midtown Houston headquarters of Texas Organizing Project.

The press conference was the launch of a coalition for criminal justice changes called "Right2Justice" which includes at least 18 groups including Mi Familia Vota, Service Employees International Union-Texas, the Texas Defender Service and representatives of Black Lives Matter.

The campaign will push for reforming Harris County's bail system, making greater use of tickets for minor infractions and implementing programs that offer poor people solutions to tickets and fines other than jail.

"The ultimate goal of Right2Justice is to push policies that will make justice accessible to all, not just the well off," said Tarsha Jackson, the Harris County Director of the Texas Organizing Project.

"Right now, our jails have too many people who are there simply because they are poor, and unable to pay fines or post bond."

She said reforms could mean a system that keeps the public safe while treating people humanely.

"Jailing people because they are poor does neither," she said.
A man died early Tuesday morning after he was stabbed during a dispute at an apartment in north Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.

The incident happened around 1 a.m. in the 1350 block of Greens Parkway near Ella.
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Click through the slideshow above to see which Texas school districts have the highest percentage of vaccination exemptions

This week the Houston Chronicle reported on the increasing number of children who attend public and private schools in Texas whose parents are opting for them to be exempt from taking basic vaccinations.

Many are opting out due to reasons of conscience but leading medical officials argue that this is doing more harm than good.

According to Sundays report some 45,000 Texas school children were not vaccinated due to a conscientious exemption due to personal beliefs.

RELATED: More Texas parents nixing children's vaccines before school

This number was just 3,000 in 2003. That was the first year the state of Texas began allowing parents to exempt their children from the vaccines.

When one considers that there are 5.5 million children enrolled in Texas schools, the number of exempted children may not seem so eye-popping but Texas' vaccination rate among preschool-aged children, 19-35 months, now ranks 48th in the nation.

The Austin Independent School District leads the state in the number of children who have vaccination exemptions with 1,582.

RELATED: Vaccinations are crucial for children

Frisco Independent School District, in Collin County has some 1,077 children who have also received an exemption. Other Collin County districts with many exemptions include Plano, McKinney and Allen.

In the Harris County area the districts with the most exemptions include Houston, Cypress-Fairbanks, Katy, Klein, and Humble.

Those who speak out against vaccine exemptions say the practice will lead to the increased incidence of childhood illnesses such as measles and whooping cough, which may seem like relics of decades past.

RELATED: Dose of reality needed for vaccine waivers

Meanwhile parents who are against vaccinations say they are simply doing what they think is best for their children. The common argument is that the shots  up to 11 of them just to attend school  can be harmful to a developing body. Some discredited theories say that autism and vaccines are linked.

Looking at the data from the Texas Department of State Health Services it appears that the schools with the highest percentages of vaccination exemptions are predominantly private, independent schools with a faith-based curriculum or those that offer non-mainstream teaching, like Waldorf schools.

According to the data just over 40 percent of students at the Austin Waldorf School received vaccination exemptions. Just over 37 percent of students at the Regents Academy in Nacogdoches  a classical Christian school  have not been vaccinated.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, told the Houston Chronicle that parents are playing with fire by not getting their children vaccinated.

Other children who come into contact with unvaccinated kids could also be at risk.

"The bottom line that is that children in the state of Texas are now at great risk for measles and other killer childhood infections," Hotez said. "This is happening because parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids and are doing so because of erroneous beliefs."
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WASHINGTON  Just about the only person on Donald Trump's presidential campaign who can overshadow the boss and keep her job is Katrina Pierson  the Texan and Trump spokeswoman who has made waves over a pair of embarrassing on-air flubs.



But the failed GOP congressional candidate-turned-Trump emissary, who hails from the Dallas suburbs, told The Texas Tribune that her batting average is just fine, and blamed technical snafus for statements that suggested she had little grasp of current events, let alone foreign policy.

You could take ten years of history and try to make anyone look crazy, she said.

In a CNN appearance over the weekend, Pierson wrongly stated that President Obama started the U.S. war in Afghanistan. President George W. Bush led the initial invasion into Afghanistan in 2001, just weeks after the September 11 attacks, in a bid to capture the plot's mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

I obviously meant to say Syria and not Afghanistan, Pierson told the Tribune, adding that while the U.S. never launched a full-scale war in Syria, she was referring to efforts to back Syrian rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.

She blamed the error on a technical glitch  she could hear her voice echoing in her earpiece throughout the segment  and said it was so distracting that she jumbled her thoughts.

She gave a similar explanation for another recent flub: Earlier this month, Pierson charged that Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were responsible for the death of Capt. Humayun Khan, whose parents have been outspoken critics of Trump. Khan died in 2004, long before Obama was in the White House.

That time, she said two of her thoughts ran together when she heard a producer in her earpiece telling her to wrap up ahead of a commercial.

Pierson contends that these mistakes were aberrations. She's done more than 600 interviews for Trump, she said, and misspoke "0.03" percent of the time. She said all public speakers screw up: Obama once referred to the 57 states and Vice President Joe Biden once said "jobs" is a three-letter word.

But the criticism of her has been brutal and swift.

Trump opponents have dismissed her audio explanations, starting the social media campaign #KatrinaPiersonHistory to sarcastically blame Obama for historic events like the Hindenburg explosion.

And they've resurfaced a Sept. 13, 2012 tweet where Pierson wondered if 9/11 was an inside job. Pierson told the Tribune she was referring to the Benghazi attacks, which took place two days before the tweet, on Sept. 11, 2012.



Those thinking Pierson's days on the trail are numbered better settle in.



Katrina is a valuable member of our team, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said on CNN Sunday. Were glad to have her onboard. Shes onboard pretty early with Mr. Trump. As you heard her say, there was some audio difficulties hearing that question.

And one former cable booker said no matter what Pierson says, networks have an obligation to put her on air to ensure equal coverage of the presidential candidates.

"They cant just put on Clinton people," said the former booker, who declined to be named in this article. "Thats who Trump is giving them and thats who they are putting on."

Though the nation is just getting acquainted with her, Pierson has been a fixture in Texas Tea Party politics for several years. She was an early backer of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and in 2014, ran for a U.S. House seat in Dallas. In the GOP primary, in which she raised a mere $230,000 in a costly media market, she was trounced by incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions.

Pierson said she's wholly focused on nothing but getting Trump elected, though she acknowledged there's talk about what she'll do after November. Might she run again?

I have learned over the years to never say never, she said.
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AUSTIN -- In a new showdown over Middle East refugees headed to Texas, state officials have refused to agree to a plan to allow the resettlement of refugees unless the federal government certifies that each does not pose a security threat, the Houston Chronicle learned Tuesday.

A two-page letter from Charles Smith, executive commissioner of the state Health and Human Services Commission, dated Monday advises the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement of the state's decision not to allow additional refugee resettlements "without assurances from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security and the Director of Nati0nal Intelligence that the refugees do not pose a security threat to our citizens."

DIVIDED: Voters split over how to secure US from illegal immigration

A copy of the letter was obtained by the Chronicle.

State officials have given no indication how they would block the arrival of new refugees if the federal government ignores their demands.

"We remain willing to place refugees in Texas with the strict contingency that you and other specified federal security officials provide certification that each refugee does not pose a security threat," Smith said in the letter to Robert Carey, director of the federal resettlement agency.

"Given your proclaimed confidence in your protocols, this appears to be a reasonable request. The State of Texas does not oppose the resettlement of all refugees, but we believe we are justified in our objection to the unmitigated placement of refugees from Syria and countries known to be supporters or propagators of terrorism."

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: Trump's immigration plan raises many unanswered questions

With the letter, officials confirmed that the state resubmitted a 31-page plan under which it would accept refugees -- including a requirement that federal Homeland Security officials would screen each refugee and "the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall take all actions necessary to ensure that each potential refugee receives a background investigation and ensure that the potential refugee is not a security threat before U.S. refugee admission."

The National Intelligence director also would have to sign off on the vetting, under the Texas plan.

That requirement in the state's plan has been a point of contention for months between state and federal officials, who at one point provided Texas officials with a detailed briefing on security screening protocols that would be used by Homeland Security, the State Department and the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

"Following that briefing, and in consultation with the Texas Department of Public Safety, we remain as concerned as ever for the safety of our citizens and the integrity of the overseas security and background vetting process of the federal resettlement program," the letter from Smith to Carey states.

SEE ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: In Harris County, more than a million residents - one in four - are foreign-born

Federal officials with the Office of Refugee Resettlement had no immediate response to the Texas letter.

Privately, other federal officials said it promises to rachet up an official disagreement that has been simmering for months over Middle East refugees coming to Texas -- a dispute that began last year when Gov. Greg Abbott called for a halt to new refugee placements in Texas without proper security vetting, and federal officials moved ahead with plans to place several thousand refugees under existing vetting rules.

FBI and other officials have said the vetting of many refugees, especially those from war-torn Syria and other Middle Eastern nations, is a dicey process because of a dearth of official documents that can validate criminal pasts or terrorist leanings.

At one point, Texas officials went to court to block additional resettlements until the security security vetting issue was resolved. They were unsuccessful.

Federal officials have argued that immigration decisions are a federal authority alone, and have said state officials have no power over who will be allowed into the United States. Abbott and other state officials have insisted they they have the right and responsibility protect the safety of Texans.

John Wittman, Abbott's press secretary, said the governor supports Smith's letter. "We're going to let the letter speak for itself, and not comment further," he said.
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.
The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech, by Kimberly Strassel (Twelve Press, 396 pp., $30)

I Find that Offensive!, by Claire Fox (Biteback Publishing, 179 pp., $14.95)

The intense polarization of American life was captured in 2008 by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, a product of Chicagos big-city pugilistic politics. Referring to the Republican opposition, he told a Philadelphia fundraiser that if they bring a knife to a fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. Ive seen Eagles fans. In The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Speech, Kimberly Strassel, a Wall Street Journal columnist, shows that Obamas rhetoric was more than just a metaphor. Strassel presents a richly reported account of the political weaponry Obama and his allies have used to silence their conservative foes.

Strassels chapters on the politicization of the IRS in Obamas hands make for a striking summary of Chicago skullduggery. In 2012, an election year, the IRS, led by liberal operative Lois Lerner, systematically sidelined conservative (often Tea Party) organizations. The broadest and deepest scandal in IRS history is more than three years old, but there is little chance that Obamas Chicago-ized Justice Department will hold anyone accountable. Strassel also discusses the attempts led by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dick Durbin of Illinois to criminalize criticism of the standard-issue UN position on climate change. The senators insist that manmade climate change is a matter of settled science. But climate is always changing, and science is never settled.

In late 2008, after Democrats took control of all three branches of government, the Left realized, writes Strassel, that it could use the federal bureaucracy to deploy campaign finance laws selectively against its opponents. The Left could also call upon the extraordinary new power of the Internet and social media to convince a credulous public that its assaults on opposition political activity were aimed at cleaner and more open elections. This dynamic constitutes what Strassel calls the modern intimidation game that now defines American politics.

In Wisconsin, Democrats enraged by Governor Scott Walkers successful effort to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees played the intimidation game even while out of power. The states Progressive-era laws, designed to ensure fair elections, and its unique Government Accountability Board were turned against conservative activists who supported Walker. Democratic Party county prosecutors pressed an array of lawsuits and used armed sheriffs deputies to stage early-morning raids, guns drawn, on the homes of conservative activists suspected of having marginally violated state campaign finance lawsin this case, the heinous crime of having outside committees coordinate campaign expenditures with Governor Walkers electoral efforts. Further, the accused were forbidden by state law of telling anyone, except their lawyers, about the raids. Most of this, as Strassel accurately notes, was simple harassment.

As for real wrongdoing, the Obama administration, as Strassel explains, has slow-walked documents required for the investigation into the IRS scandals and the Justice Departments Fast and Furious fiasco, in which the federal government inadvertently armed Mexican drug cartels. Moreover, the House committee examining the Benghazi debacle still doesnt have tens of thousands of Hillary Clinton emails. But the investigation did inadvertently expose the former secretary of states home-brewed email server.

Perhaps Strassels most powerful points concern campaign-finance disclosure laws, which were supposed to lead to cleaner, more accountable politics. Instead, she notes that the laws that were designed to keep the political class in check are being used to keep the American people in check, and that the entire concept of disclosure designed to shed light on special interests buying political favors had been flipped on its head. Indeed, instead of the electorate gaining greater insight into the workings of government through increased disclosure, disclosure is trained on the electorate, with the government gathering extensive information on citizens political activities. In practice, this means that donors to conservative organizations whose names are made public are subject to intimidation by social-justice warriors. Strassels Intimidation is a bleak but essential tour of contemporary liberals affinity for repressing free speech.

In I Find that Offensive!, Claire Fox of the British Institute of Ideas explains why the left-liberal disdain for free expression has taken hold in academia. In the United States, free-speech advocates such as F.I.R.E (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) point to the misuse of title IX of the 1972 Education Act, which banned discrimination based on sex, as the source of the problem. In recent years, the Obama Justice Department has unilaterally expanded Title IXs ambit to include speech that might cause offense.

Title IX has proved a useful mechanism for American academic censors, but the bigger problem, Fox makes clear, is that British and American academics have turned against the Enlightenment ideal of reasoned debate. One of the many virtues of Foxs book is that by drawing on developments in both England and America, she shows that speakers are being shunned and free speech repressed, on both sides of the Atlantic, without the need of a Title IX to justify the tomfoolery. Shorn of a commitment to reason, young campus snowflakes came to believe that a verbal lashing could do the same kind of damage as a whiplashing. Fox also found a curious conjuncture between precious young neo-Victorian women who demand safe spaces and Muslim students who insist on the right not to be offended by the secular strictures of science.

The downgrading of free speech, Fox explains, begins in the middle grades, where a therapeutic approach to learning puts anti-bullying at the center of the curriculum. Anti-bullyings contribution, she writes, to treating our over-offended young adults therapeutically has produced children unprepared for the rough-and-tumble of everyday life. At the same time, it has inculcated a heightened sense of harm caused by words. Todays conformist rebels, she believes, are strikingly unoriginal. They play the talking dummy to their tutors 1960s ventriloquist. Fragile, prone to mental illness, ill-educated, and entitled, todays college students feel the obligation to tell others, including their teachers, what they can say and how they should live.

Strassels Intimidation and Foxs I Find that Offensive are marvelously complementary. Together, they sound an alarm bell. They explain why, having been failed by their educational systems, self-governing peoples, who once relied on free and open debate, will have a hard time making a go of it down the road.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
This summer, the Illinois legislature stiffened the penalties that can be imposed on public bodies that refuse to comply with the states Freedom of Information Act. HB 4715, part of a two-bill package known as Mollys Law, allows courts to fine agencies up to $1,000 for every day that they delay in turning over documents after a court ruling. The penalty would be in addition to existing fines, which range from $2,500 to $5,000.

The law, passed in response to a familys fight for documents related to their daughters death, was touted by politicians as strengthening the states FOIA laws. Certainly stiffer penalties would seem to do that by sending the message to public bodies that not complying with FOIA could be costly. And the new law also establishes a presumption that a public body is wilfully violating the law if it ignores a binding opinion from the states attorney general to release documents.

But in conversations with a handful of journalists and advocates who follow FOIA law closely, I heard mostly skepticism that the new law, which goes into effect next January, will do much. The responses highlighted a general frustration with how easily public bodies in Illinois canand doignore requests for public documents, not just from journalists but also from citizens.

Perhaps the biggest question about the new law was summed up by Tom English, interim editor at the Southern Illinoisan, who asked: Will anyone end up having to pay? Under existing law, which already allows for civil penalties when public bodies willfully and intentionally violate the state FOIA, fines are rare. The state attorney generals office, which issues FOIA opinions, mediates disputes, and trains the states public FOIA officers, does not keep records on when state courts fine public agencies, said spokeswoman Annie Thompson. But it doesnt happen often. (In one such instance in 2012, an Illinois Appellate Court imposed a $2,500 penalty, the minimum, on the Rockford Public School District for violating the law when it denied a request from the Rock River Times newspaper for a letter related to a principals employment.)

The civil provision has been wholly ineffective at improving FOIA compliance, says Matt Topic, a Chicago lawyer who has represented journalists with their FOIA court battles, including the one that forced the Chicago police to release the Laquan McDonald shooting video last year. The new penalties are a step in the right direction, but I doubt things will improve substantially without significantly stronger penalties.

When the new legislation was first introduced, it called for a doubling of the baseline penalty for failure to produce documents, up to a maximum of $10,000, even before the $1,000-per-day fine. But the Illinois Senate struck that part of the proposal. A spokesman for Rep. Terri Bryant, the Southern Illinois lawmaker who introduced the bill, said legislators felt that such a penalty would be too harsh while the state is grappling with a budget crisisthough of course, making the fine hit harder would have been the point of raising it in the first place.

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Several of the reporters I talked to, however, were uncomfortable with the basic approach of fining government agencies for noncompliancebecause it is taxpayers footing the bill for an officials refusal to disclose documents that the taxpayers are supposed to have a right to see in the first place.

Fining them is stupid, said Jake Griffin, assistant managing editor for watchdog reporting at the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. He recalled a case in which the attorney general ordered a local police department to release squad-car footage sought by the paper. If the department had refused to do so and the Herald sought penalties under the law, taxpayers would have to pay for it, he said.

Beth Hundsdorfer, a reporter at the Belleville News-Democrat in Southern Illinois also recalled a wait for documentsnearly a year, after the attorney general ordered the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission to turn over nerve conduction velocity tests from guards at a correctional center.

The paper eventually went to court, at its expense, to fight for the records. The state hired a Chicago firm to defend their stance, Hundsdorfer said. So we, as in taxpayers, were paying for that, too. In the end, the paper won and got the records.

If this new law offers a disincentive to stall, I think its probably a good thing, she said. But there are a lot of small, poor municipalities, that simply ignore FOIA requests. I dont know how I would feel about socking a village that doesnt have money to fill potholes in the street with a fine for not answering a FOIA. And, as a journalist, what happens to the money? Its taxpayer money. I dont want it. So, its interesting and definitely an incentive for open records release, but, as with all things, the devil is in the details.

In the cases mentioned above, the Daily Herald and the News-Democrat received binding opinions from the attorney generals Public Access Bureau, meaning the public agencies were required to comply. That forum is designed to provide a less costly alternative than the court system to settling disputes. In 2015, the bureau received more than 4,700 requests for assistance with records requests from members of the public and the media; it released more than 1,200 binding and non-binding determinations. (The majority are non-binding).

One provision in the new law sets out guidelines for how public agencies can be penalized for failing to abide by an attorney generals binding opinion. If the agency does not comply with or appeal the decision within 35 days, there is now a rebuttable presumption of a willful violation, triggering a potential penalty.

But even in that case, a records requester has to file an action in courtand the amount of the fine ultimately depends in part on the discretion of a judge.

This is the point and the rub, said Maryam Judar, executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group focused on government accountability. There always has to be a lawsuit.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Jackie Spinner is CJRs correspondent for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. She is an associate journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and a former staff writer for The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter @jackiespinner.
Barbara Manuel saw a flicker of sun and that gave her hope that the worst of the horrific flooding to hit southern Louisiana was over. But then the skies ripped open, the lights in her house started to flicker and with three feet of water outside threatening to come in and two young kids to care for, she knew it was time to get out.

Ive never seen anything like this before, Manuel said, speaking on the side of the road as she was about to get in a National Guard vehicle. The 41-year-old is one of more than 20,000 people rescued from their homes as of Sunday as rain-swollen rivers flooded their banks and wreaked havoc across southern Louisiana.

She was worried about her mother who lives just up the road. High waters made the trip impassable and cellphone problems made it difficult to reach her. But Manuels two children  a 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son  were fine.

As long as my kids are safe, thats all that matters, she said.

Across southern Louisiana Sunday, residents scrambled to get to safety as rivers and creeks burst their banks, swollen from days of heavy rain that in some areas came close to two feet over a 48-hour period.

More than 10,000 people were in shelters Sunday, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.

In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of south Louisiana residents as the governor warned it was not over.

From the air, homes in southwest Louisiana looked more like little islands surrounded by flooded fields. Farmland was covered, streets descended into impassable pools of water, shopping centers were inundated with only roofs of cars peeking above the water.

From the ground it was just as catastrophic.

Drivers tried to navigate treacherous roads where the water lapped at the side or covered the asphalt in a running stream. Abandoned cars were pushed to the side of the road, lawn furniture and childrens toys floating through the waters.

The low pressure system that wreaked such havoc moved into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned that theres still danger of fresh floods, as swollen rivers drain toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Rivers in the Baton Rouge area have started to fall, but still remained above flood stage setting record levels over the weekend, the National Weather Service said Monday.

The rivers and streams north of Interstate 12 have crested and have started to drop, while those south of the interstate continue to rise, Meteoroloest Mike Efferson said.

The Comite River just east of Baton Rouge on Monday morning dropped nearly 2 feet from the 34.2-feet level over the weekend. Flood stage is 20 feet. The Amite River at Denham Springs was at 43.5 feet Monday after reaching 46.2 feet. Flood stage is 29 feet.

The area around Baton Rouge could see up to a half-inch of rain Monday, with a 40 to 50 percent chance in the forecast, Efferson said.

The federal government declared a major disaster in the state, specifically in the parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston. Gov. Edwards said President Barack Obama called him and said the people of southern Louisiana were in his thoughts and prayers and that the federal government would be a solid partner.

Edwards also called on people to refrain from going out to sightsee even as the weather gets better.

This is a serious event. It is ongoing. It is not over, the governor said Sunday.

Four people have been reported dead, said Devin George, the state registrar for vital records, earlier Sunday. Later Sunday, a womans body was recovered by divers from inside a flooded vehicle in East Baton Rouge Parish, appearing to raise the death toll to five.

Authorities worked throughout Sunday to rescue people from cars stranded on a miles-long stretch of Interstate 12 until the governor said on Twitter late in the day that everyone had been rescued.

One of those stranded motorists was Alex Cobb of Baton Rouge, who spent Saturday night on the interstate before being rescued by a National Guard truck.

She was on her way to a bridal shower she was supposed to host Saturday when flooding closed off the highway.

She said she had food intended for the bridal shower and a produce truck up the road shared its stock with drivers  giving out fruits and vegetables to people.

Hundreds of people were gathered at Celtic Media Centre in Baton Rouge, some coming in by bus and others by helicopter.

Matthew and Rachel Fitzpatrick, from Brandon, Mississippi, hopped off one of the choppers with her grandparents. The couple had been visiting family in Baton Rouge when the flooding started. They found temporary refuge at Hebron Baptist Church but became trapped by floodwaters Saturday night.

People at the church used boats and big trucks to rescue others and bring them to the church, where helicopters started picking them up and flying them to safety Sunday.

Matthew, 29, said between 250 and 300 people were still at the church as of late afternoon Sunday.

Everybody is just tired and nervous and wanting to see what kind of damage they have to their home, Rachel said.

The evacuees included Gov. Edwards and his family, who were forced to leave the Governors Mansion when chest-high water filled the basement and electricity was shut off.

In one dramatic rescue Saturday, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car almost completely underwater, according to video by WAFB. The woman, whos not initially visible on camera, yells from inside the car: Oh my god, Im drowning.

One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety. She pleads with Phung to get her dog, but he cant find it. After several seconds, Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces  with the small dog.

(Kunzelman reported from Baton Rouge and Santana reported from New Orleans. Janet McConnaughey and Bill Fuller in New Orleans contributed to this report.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
General Motors Co. failed to designate a flawed ignition switch linked to multiple deaths and injuries as a safety concern, Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told jurors at a Texas trial.

GM engineers in 2004 and 2005 misdiagnosed it as a customer satisfaction issue and not a safety issue, Barra said in a video deposition given last year and played at trial Monday by lawyers for the plaintiff.

A series of mistakes were made over a period of time that caused the ignition-switch defect, Barra testified. This had tragic consequences.

Barras video testimony, clipped from a previously unseen deposition taken for multiple lawsuits, is the CEOs first to jurors weighing the companys liability to accident victims allegedly harmed by faulty ignition switches GM knowingly put in cars for years. The deposition wasnt played in either of the first two trials over the switch, both won by GM.

GM recalled 2.6 million vehicles with the flawed switches which, if jostled, can unexpectedly shift into the off position. Once power is switched off, vehicle safety systems  such as power steering, power brakes, airbags and seatbelt pretensioners - no longer function as designed.

Houston Family

A Houston family claims one of these defective switches caused a fatal car crash in 2011, which resulted in then-19-year-old Zachary Stevens being charged with manslaughter for the death of the other driver. That charge was dismissed because the accident involved a recalled car, his lawyer told jurors last week.

Stevens seeks compensation for lingering brain injuries and the cost of defending his criminal prosecution. By classifying the flaw as a customer-satisfaction problem and not a safety defect, GM avoided having to notify regulators and the public of the defect and recall millions of cars for repairs, his lawyer said in trial last week.

GM claims the flawed ignition switch had nothing to do with Stevenss crash, which company lawyers told jurors on Aug. 9 was caused by the teenagers reckless speeding on a rain-slicked country road. GM has argued in trial that the reason for the dropped prosecution isnt known.

Barra took the top job at GM in January 2014, three weeks before the ignition-switch scandal made headlines around the globe. She testified four times before Congressional committees that year, drawing praise for her candor and commitment to changing what lawmakers criticized as GMs culture of secrecy.

Hundreds of Lawsuits

Hundreds of lawsuits remain, with more than a dozen set for trial in the next 12 months, according to court records. The next trial begins September 12 in federal court in New York, brought over a 2011 crash of a Cobalt in Virginia. The judge overseeing the Stevens case dismissed another trial also set for September, saying Monday that there wasnt enough evidence to link the ignition switch flaws to that accident.

Barra was asked in the deposition about the statement of facts, a legal document that spells out GMs admissions that accompanied the companys settlement of the federal criminal investigation. While jurors have been told of the settlement, theyve not been advised that it was a criminal case.

Barra read several passages of the statement of facts to the jury, that GM engineers knew of the defect but hid it from the public and kept installing the defective parts in new cars. From in or about the spring of 2012 through in or about February 2014, GM failed to disclose a deadly safety defect to its U.S. regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, she read.

When pressed on whether GM intentionally hid a deadly flaw from regulators and customers, she replied: I support and stand by the statement of facts. She said the ignition-switch defect could cause frontal airbag non-deployment, and certainly if the airbag doesnt work, it could cause a problem that could cause a fatality.

GM won the first two ignition cases to reach trial, one when a federal jury in New York blamed a New Orleans crash on a freak ice storm, rather than a faulty ignition switch. The companys other victory came before a jury could make a decision when the plaintiffs folded after being caught lying on the stand.

The defect has been linked to at least 124 deaths and an additional 275 injuries. General Motors has paid at least $870 million to settle about 1,800 death and injury claims and an additional $900 million to the Department of Justice to resolve a criminal investigation.

The case is Stevens v. General Motors, 2015-04442, District Court, Harris Co., Texas (Houston).

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
The Class Action has seen better days but none appear recent.

The modified Alaskan-style trawler epitomizes the definition of a vessel at risk of becoming derelict, its weather-beaten deck is scant inches above the lapping waves of the Ortega River and the wood of its cabin rots away like some maritime corpse in an atmosphere of decay.

The partially sunken wooden-hull vessel isnt the only one deteriorating on Jacksonville , Fla., waterways.

Anchored together in the Trout River, a pair of shrimp boats list to one side like drunks trying to hold each other upright.

An unknown number of vessels  either declared derelict or at risk of becoming derelict  litter Northeast Florida waters as well as those statewide.

However, a new state law promises to make it easier for city and county authorities as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to intervene more decisively before a vessel becomes derelict. Its intended to save taxpayers money, eliminate navigation hazards and reduce the potential for environmental damage caused by leaking fuel, oil or even sewage from the vessels waste tank.

This new law is a great big plus to being able to work with vessels before they actually become derelict. And thats a goal that weve had locally with the help of FWC officers as well as the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office ., said Capt. Jim Suber, the waterways coordinator and dockmaster for the city of Jacksonville. Suber previously served almost 32 years with the Sheriffs Office Marine Unit.

Just like every waterway in the state, we have derelict vessels that go down every once and a while. Between the Sheriffs Office, the FWC officers and our resources, were usually able to resolve the issue before it becomes an extreme issue, Suber said. The new law allows law enforcement agencies to take action regarding the owner of the vessel before it sinks, breaks apart scattering debris or the vessel becomes adrift posing a threat to other vessels, he said.

Enacted July 1, the measure allows law enforcement officers to issue non-criminal citations to owners who allow their boats to deteriorate to the point of being at-risk of becoming derelict. Applying to recreational as well as commercial vessels, the law provides for civil fines to be imposed on the owners of at-risk vessels.

This law allows officers to take action before a vessel crosses that line between at-risk and derelict, and hopefully prompts the owner to rectify any issues with the vessel before it reaches a state of disrepair, said Phil Horning, derelict vessel program administrator for the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Prior to this law being enacted, officers had to wait until a vessel met the legal criteria for a derelict vessel before beginning any sort of official interaction with the owner, Horning said.

The new law defines an at-risk vessel as one deemed on the brink of becoming derelict. It lists multiple factors, including a vessel that is taking on or has taken on water without an effective means to get the water out of it. Other factors include a vessel that is left or stored aground unattended in a condition preventing it from getting underway, is listing due to water intrusion, is sunk or partially sunk, according to the law.

Our goal is to keep Floridas waterways safe and protect their environmental stability, Horning said.

Fish and Wildlife Commission officials as well as Northeast Florida law enforcement officials expect the law to decrease the number of vessels becoming derelict  an ongoing problem that fluctuates statewide.

Were probably worse than some counties but not as bad as others, said Suber, noting Duval County hasnt experienced as bad of a derelict vessel problem as elsewhere in Florida.

He said several years ago, a portion of a Fish and Wildlife Commission grant from the state Legislature was used to clear out numerous derelict vessels in Duval County. Since then, local and state law enforcement authorities have done a good job dealing with derelict vessels after they are discovered in county waterways, Suber said.

Suber said the Class Action recently sank despite its owners efforts to repair it. The state is amidst the process of declaring it derelict, The two shrimp boats have been in the Trout River about five years as the result of a legal battle with the owner, he said.

Ranging from canoes, bass boats and sail boats up to shrimp boats and large commercial ships, Florida is home to a lot of vessels.

A total of 896,466 vessels statewide were registered as of Wednesday, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. By state law, all recreational and commercial vessels home ported in Florida must be registered with the agency.

A total of 66,34 vessels were registered as of Wednesday in just six Northeast Florida counties. They included 2,426 in Baker, 12,037 in Clay, 26,018 in Duval, 6,014 in Nassau, 7,387 in Putnam and 12,482 in St. Johns, the agencys data show.

Some vessels are abandoned, including many sunken or partially sunken in state waters. However, the exact number of derelict and at-risk vessels is unknown.

REPORTS VOLUNTARY

The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission maintains the statewide derelict vessel database. However, reporting derelict vessels is voluntary. Fifty-nine other agencies statewide voluntarily can enter derelict vessels to the database, but are not required to do it. So,`basically its a living system and the numbers are changing daily, said Carol Lyn Parrish, a FWC spokeswoman.

As of right now, we have in our database 377 active cases statewide of derelict vessels, Parrish said. Those cases range from recreational to commercials vessels from 2009 through 2016.

Parrish said that includes 31 total cases in Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties. Right now, the estimated removal cost for those Northeast Florida vessels totals $266,400, she said.

Removing derelict vessels can be costly.

It costs an average of $350 to $450 per foot of vessel length. The cost varies depending on factors, including whether the derelict vessel is sunken.

Local governments spent a total of about $325,000 to remove 92 known derelict vessels in 2013, according to the At-Risk Vessel statewide data base, which was the most recent information cited in the analysis. That works out to be an average of $3,533 per vessel.

However, a floating vessel can be towed to a boat ramp or hoist then pulled from the water at a lower cost. Relocating a floating vessel might cost nothing if a law enforcement officer is able to tow the derelict to a suitable location. If towing services are used, it typically can cost about $200 an hour with a one-hour minimum charge, beginning when the tow boat leaves the dock to the time it returns, according to the analysis.

Florida legislators appropriated $1.4 in the recent session for state grants to help counties and cities pay for removal of derelict vessels posing a navigation hazard. Its a non-recurring allocation. State, county and municipal government entities must apply for one of the derelict vessel removal grants, which will be distributed by the Fish and Wildlife Commission, Parrish said.

The commission as an agency doesnt directly remove the derelict vessels. It will try to locate the owner, or it turn the case over to the local city or county to get the vessel removed. It can take time to track down the vessel owner, if at all. Then money often becomes an issue of how fast it can be removed, Parrish said.

Parrish said officials anticipate starting the grant application process at the beginning of September. It will run anywhere from 30 days to six weeks. Depending on how many applications are received, there is a possibility that a city or county might not receive all the grant money it applied to get, she said.

In 2013, several derelict vessels were removed from the St. Johns River near Green Cove Springs in a major clean-up effort involving the Clay Sheriffs Office Marine Unit, FWC officers and state Department of Environmental Protection. Since then, theyve worked hard to stay on top of the problem, and maybe or one or two derelict vessels are occasionally found, Deputy Chris Castelli said.

Castelli said he probably investigates about three derelict vessel cases a year, but when we first started it was a massive undertaking.

The main point I want to get across to people is think about what youre buying before you buy it, Castelli said. Do you have adequate funds to take care of it? Or if you receive a vessel as a gift and you have dreams of fixing it up but then youre situation changes and then youve got real problems.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Alabama remains one of six states with no inspections of amusement parks after the death of a 10-year-old boy who was killed in a water slide accident in Kansas.

Safety advocates have questioned whether state and federal oversight were sufficient, Al.com reported. States with no inspection of amusement parks include Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming  which has no amusement parks.

Caleb Schwab was killed during a ride on the Verruckt raft ride at the Schlitterbahn WaterPark in Kansas City, Kansas. The boy was decapitated in the accident.

Verruckt is the worlds tallest waterslide.

There is nothing comparable to the Verruckt in Alabama. McVay calls the fatal accident in Kansas a very unique case, and doesnt expect change for Alabama to make inspections, said Dr. Jim McVay, director of the Alabama Department of Public Healths Bureau of Health Promotion and its Chronic Disease Bureau.

No federal agency has jurisdiction over fixed-site amusement parks, spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. Kansas requires parks to conduct their own testing subject to inspection by the Kansas Department of Labor.

The ADPH does have an injury prevention branch that monitors and addresses intentional and unintentional injuries through a wide range of causes, McVay said. And it reviews every death involving a child, to see what might have prevented it.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Prosecutors describe Roman Seleznev, the son of a Russian lawmaker, as a master hacker who orchestrated an international scheme that resulted in about $170 million in fraudulent credit card purchases.

In a federal jury trial that begins this week, they plan to lay out evidence that they say will prove Seleznev hacked into U.S. businesses, mostly pizza restaurants in Washington state, and stole credit card information. They claim he made millions by selling that data on underground internet forums.

Seleznevs lawyers plan to argue that prosecutors have failed to adequately connect Seleznev with the computer hacks that hit more than 200 businesses over several years. They have also said the U.S. Secret Service agents who arrested Seleznev mishandled his laptop, which may have compromised some evidence.

Seleznev faces a 40-count indictment that charges him with running a hacking scheme from 2008 until his arrest in the Maldives in July 2014.

Steve Bussing, owner of Red Pepper Pizza in Duvall, northeast of Seattle, told The Associated Press on Friday that he and his wife had to spend about $10,000 installing a new computer system after they learned theirs was compromised by a hacker.

It was a huge expense for a small business, he said, adding that the process disrupted their business as they shut down and reinstalled a new security system to protect their customers.

Bussing, along with owners and managers from Mad Pizza, ZPizza, Grand Central Bakery, Village Pizza, and Casa Mia were included on the prosecutors witness list and were expected to testify about the effect of the hacking on their companies.

Secret Service agents captured Seleznev as he and his girlfriend arrived at the airport on their way back to Russia. The agents flew him by private jet to Guam, where he made his first court appearance, and then to Seattle, where he is in federal custody.

Seleznev was indicted on 29 felony charges in 2011, but a month later, Seleznev suffered a brain injury in a terrorist bombing in a cafe in Morocco. He was in a coma for two weeks and underwent a series of operations, according to one of his previous lawyers.

He bears a sickle-shaped, horizontal scar on the side of his head that is visible when his hair is cut short. He speaks little English and participates in court hearings with the help of a Russian interpreter.

His father, Valery Seleznev, is a member of the Russian Parliament.

Federal prosecutors have called Roman Seleznev a leader in the marketplace for stolen credit card numbers, and they said he collected millions of dollars selling that data to his co-conspirators. They added 11 new counts to his indictment in October 2014, including wire and bank fraud, hacking and identity theft.

Although his lawyers have argued Seleznevs arrest was a kidnapping or an illegal rendition that violated international law, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones has barred that argument at trial.

Seleznev used various computer names over the course of his criminal career, prosecutors said in court documents.

Between 2002 and 2009, he operated under the nickname nCuX, which is the transliteration of the Russian word for psycho, prosecutors said. He switched to Track2 in 2009, and in 2013, he went by 2Pac and others, they said.

Secret Service agents began monitoring nCuXs activities in 2005 and found that in 2007, he started selling stolen credit card data online, prosecutors said. After the agents told Russian law enforcement officials that they believed nCuX was Seleznev, the person using that name posted that he was going out of business, prosecutors said.

Track2 soon began appearing on the same carding forums used by nCuX.

In 2010, Seattle police Detective David Dunn, a member of the Seattle Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, investigated an intrusion into the computer systems at Schlotzkys Deli in Coeur dAlene, Idaho. That led him to some of the nicknames that prosecutors say Seleznev used.

Further investigation took Dunn to businesses in western Washington. He found malicious software installed at one of the businesses that was similar to what he found in Idaho.

The investigation identified numerous forensic artifacts that linked to Seleznev, court records said. They traced Track2s Yahoo email accounts, which were also linked to nCuX, the documents said.

The account contained overwhelming evidence showing that Roman Seleznev was the user of the account, the court records said. The emails included messages from his wife, Svetlana Selezneva, and messages to Seleznev from the Russian social media site Vkontakte, the documents said.

Jury selection begins Monday. The trial is expected to run for more than two weeks.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AVON, Ohio - A recent marriage between two renowned violinists has become a major asset for music students in the Avon area.

Aubrey Murphy, former concertmaster from the Sydney, Australia Opera House, and Joan Kwuon, current head of the violin department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, have joined the faculty of the Avon School of Music, located at 37190 Colorado Avenue.

Murphy, originally from Ireland, and Kwuon, from Los Angeles, California, studied violin together at Indiana University then went their separate ways.

Joan Kwuon will be teaching violin at the Avon School of Music with her husband, Aubrey Murphy. Photo courtesy of Lisa-Marie Mazzucco.

Kwuon, who attended graduate school at the famed Juilliard School in New York City, was a solo performer and also toured. She played with leading international orchestras all around the world. Murphy was the first Irish student to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, England. Menuhin, who died in 1999, is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century.

Murphy arrived in the U.S. in October 2015. He and Kwuon had reconnected in the past couple of years and married this year in Cleveland when he moved to the U.S. for the couple to be together.

The timing was good. David Thrall, director of the Avon School of Music, studied with the pair at Indiana University. Thrall heard the two were in the area and invited them to join the faculty at the school.

In addition to teaching, the two will go on touring, primarily as a concert master for Murphy and a soloist for Kwuon, but both are looking forward to passing on their love of music in order to develop young musicians in the area.

"We are looking for talented, new students," said Murphy. "There is a lot of talent out there. I love working with new talent."

Aubrey Murphy joins the faculty at Avon School of Music with his wife, Joan Kwuon. Photo courtesy of Joan Kwuon.

Speaking on what their general teaching style will be, the couple noted they will concentrate on laying down a good technical basis for students to express themselves, something they quite often find missing, they said.

As for their future work at the school, Kwuon said, "We hope the beautiful traditions of the violin can continue on. But each school is different depending on faculty and each school is defined by faculty. One-on-one training is what we are all about."

"Everybody deserves an opportunity to have a go," said Murphy. "It is something you can fall in love with. It may start as a curiosity but can quickly become a passion. The passion fuels (a student's) love of music and the need to succeed."

Kwuon added, "A lot of dedication and hard work is needed, both for the student and the parents, but seeing the fire in their eyes is thrilling. It makes it all worthwhile."

The Avon School of Music has two other locations, in Strongsville and Fairview Park. All popular instruments are taught, as well as voice. Both Murphy and Kwuon will teach at all three locations and can be requested for an interview.
Screen Shot 2016-08-16 at 9.28.08 AM.png

AT&T to add GigaPower Internet service to the area.

(Courtesy of AT&T)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- AT&T today is unveiling its ultra high-speed GigaPower and AT&T Business Fiber Network in downtown and in certain other parts of Cleveland such as Bedford, Bedford Heights, Shaker Heights and nearby neighborhoods.

Barberton, Bay Village, Canton, Cleveland Heights, Mentor and surrounding areas will be added soon. To find out if your neighborhood is GigaPower ready, the company advises checking its website.

The all-fiber GigaPower network is capable of download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. That's 1 billion bits per second, or 1,000 megabits per second. Most cable networks can now offer higher speeds of 50 up to 100 megabits per second, though most homes and many businesses put up with much slower speeds.

How fast is GigaPower? (Hint: No more buffering, spinning wheels, streaming video that freezes or other infuriating delays.)

Here are a few examples from the company to show how fast ultra-fast GigaPower is:

AT&T chose Cleveland as its first Ohio market for GigaPower, said Adam Grzybicki, president of AT&T Ohio. He said the company has spent more than $300 million in the past three years upgrading its Cleveland fiber network in preparation for the ultra high-speed service, as well as for the Republican National Convention.

"This is our best foot forward that I think you will be seeing throughout the metro and suburban area. We are moving fiber closer and closer to the [home] doorstep," said Grzybicki, who described the new service as "leapfrogging" speeds currently offered by the company and its competitors.

The residential service will start at $90 per month. Lower speeds and prices will continue as well, the company said in a press release.

One detail that already has some consumer advocates upset -- an "Internet Preferences" agreement that allows AT&T to monitor a GigaPower user's Internet searches and sites selected. Opting out of the program will add $29 a month to the bill.

It's not that AT&T is snooping, said spokeswoman Holly Hollingsworth. The focus is tailoring advertising.

"AT&T Internet Preferences offers customers our best pricing on AT&T GigaPower because we can provide tailored ads and offers to a customer's interests. These are based on their commonly used individual web browsing information, like the search terms," she said in an email response. "We will not collect information from secure (https) or otherwise encrypted sites, such as when a customer enters a credit card to buy something online or do online banking on a secure site."

For details on this feature, click here.

Grzybicki said the ultra high-speed service will become necessary as more homes move into "the Internet of Things," allowing consumers to control their home appliances remotely.

AT&T's Business Fiber Network already offers the blazing speeds to some businesses here and in other Ohio metropolitan areas. Grzybicki said the company is committed to extending the service throughout the state.

AT&T will also introduce GigaPower in Sacramento, California, today. Sacramento will be the 29th metropolitan area where AT&T is featuring the network.

AT&T's roll-out comes at a time when Google is slowing down on the continued roll out of its ultra high-speed Internet service because of the cost and, according to wire reports, considering using wireless technologies in areas without a fiber optic network.

Grzybicki said AT&T would have a "mobility product" in rural areas where the company is not the primary incumbent provider and therefore does not have a wire network on which to build.

In an early version of this article, I confused bits and bytes. Bits describe downloading and uploading speeds. Bytes are a measurement of the size of a file or storage capacity.
c18school C19schoolD

A colorful bin of pencil erasers in the warehouse of the Kids in Need Resource Center offers donated items for Cleveland teachers o help negate their personal classroom costs. Staples, Inc. is giving away free samples and coupons to the first 100 teachers at each of its 1,300 stores nationwide -- including 13 locations in Greater Cleveland, plus an additional 10 percent off their in-store purchases with valid ID, during a national Teacher Appreciation Day event on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

(John Kuntz, Plain Dealer file)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Staples, Inc. is giving away free samples and coupons to the first 100 teachers at each of its 1,300 stores nationwide -- including 13 locations in Greater Cleveland, plus an additional 10 percent off their in-store purchases with valid ID, during a national Teacher Appreciation Day event on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

"We appreciate all that teachers do for students so Staples is hosting our own Teacher Appreciation Day to help teachers save on their classroom supplies for the new school year," said Christine Mallon, Staples' vice president of retail marketing, in a written announcement.

"Teachers will receive a special discount and coupons as well as season-long low prices on back-to-school essentials with the Less List for School." Staples' Less List includes popular school items like composition books, two-pocket folders, pens, scissors, crayons, calculators, USB drives, ear buds, and batteries.

Staples has stores in Akron, Alliance, Chardon, Cleveland's West Side, Copley, Cuyahoga Falls, Elyria, Mayfield Heights, Medina, Mentor, Streetsboro, Strongsville, and Wooster.

The one-day event is also designed to promote Staples' Teacher Rewards program, which gives teachers up to 5 percent in Staples Rewards for online and in-store purchases (excluding postage, phone and gift cards), including technology and services; up to 10 percent in Rewards on purchases of teaching and art supplies; and free shipping on staples.com orders of at least $14.99.

Staples has a loyalty program for college students and teachers with exclusive deals on back-to-school brands. It also has a 110-percent lowest price guarantee that it will match competitors' prices and give 10 percent off the difference between its price and another retailer's advertised price.

Other deals for teachers are listed at www.staples.com/backtoschool or in its weekly newspaper inserts and other advertisements.

Staples, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, on Tuesday announced it had donated $1 million to DonorsChoose.org, a charity that has funded classroom projects for teachers and which Staples says has helped more than 18 million students across the country. Its Staples for Students campaign and Katy Perry funded the balance of every project listed on DonorsChoose.org in Boston and the Metrowest community. The Donorschoose.org/teachers website lets teachers connect with donors and upload their classroom projects.

Staples is scheduled to release its second-quarter 2016 sales at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The company has said it plans to close at least 50 stores in North America this year. Its investor relations info can be accessed at http://investor.staples.com.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man faces felony child endangerment charges after he beat his 7-year-old stepson with a towel rack because the boy had trouble pronouncing a word correctly, according to court documents.

Juan Ordaz-Munoz, 25, was arrested July 27, five days after police say he beat the boy took place. It's the second time that he has been accused of using physical violence on the 7-year-old, according to court filings, but the first time he has been charged with a felony in Cuyahoga County.

Ordaz-Munoz got upset on July 22 when the boy couldn't pronounce the word "television" and started beating him with a towel holder, court records say.

The beating left bruises and open wounds on the boy's chest, legs and buttocks, police say.

Ordaz-Munoz pleaded not guilty during arraignment Tuesday and remains in county jail on $50,000 bond.

If you'd like to comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comment section.
Anthony Grant

Anthony Grant, 18, was sentenced to 21 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a fatal shooting outside a West Side bar last year.

(John Harper, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An 18-year-old Cleveland man was sentenced to over 21 years in prison for his role in a fatal May 2015 shooting outside a bar on Cleveland's West Side.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter J. Corrigan sentenced Anthony Grant Tuesday in connection with the death of Charles Knipp.

Grant was one of two men charged in the May 11, 2015 shooting outside Frenchie's Escape, a bar located in the 3800 block of Denison Avenue.

Robert Hicks pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Aug. 3. Grant pleaded guilty to two counts aggravated robbery and weapons charges. Both were originally charged with aggravated murder.

Both men will also serve five years of probation after they are released from state prison.

Investigators said that Hicks shot Knipp during an armed robbery attempt as Knipp sat on the hood of a car outside the bar. Police believe the two men planned to rob the bar when Knipp left.

Five members of Knipps' family gave statements to the judge and pleaded for a maximum prison sentence in the shooting.

"He was a downright good guy," Knipps' brother Ken Fitz the judge. "If you were hungry he would give you food. If you were cold he would go out and give you a jacket. He didn't deserve to die like that...in a pool of blood in that driveway."

Knipps' girlfriend, Amber Glass, turned to face Grant as she took the podium.

"I was the one, after you shot him, who ran across the street and tried to give him breath," she said. "You tool his breath, buy you still have yours. I hope you get the max."

Corrigan imposed consecutive, but not maximum sentences. The judge could have sentenced him to an additional three years.

Grant's mother, Francesca Santiago, apologized to the family in the courtroom before begging Corrigan for mercy on her son.

"I was a child raising a child, and it was hard," Santiago said. "Now I have to beg you for mercy on my son."

If you'd like to comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comment section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Allen Miles preyed on those with little money and a strong faith in God, according to prosecutors. Miles, a traveling minister from Arkansas, helped orchestrate a scheme to earn money by filing false tax returns through those he recruited from churches all over the country.

In the process, he and his co-defendants earned hundreds of thousands of dollars, while many of those whom he scammed are left paying back the Internal Revenue Service for money they should not have received in the first place.

By Eric Heisig, cleveland.com

mattjiggins, Creative Commons

Arkansas minister benefitted from stolen identities, false tax returns

To prosecutors and even the judge who sentenced him, the crimes that Allen Miles committed during a four-month period in 2011 were particularly egregious, since the traveling minister committed them against those with little money and a strong faith in God.

Miles, 58, did this through a network of congregations across the country, including in Ohio, where he previously lived. The Internal Revenue Service issued more than $3.9 million in refunds, and he made $240,000 because of the false tax returns involved in the scheme. His co-conspirators also benefited, working together for a scheme that, while seemingly complicated, was actually more about having relationships than knowing the United States tax code.

Miles, a Little Rock, Arkansas resident, was sentenced Monday to 13 years, three months in prison. A jury found him guilty in April of conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. His co-conspirators, Ve Savayong and Zinara Highsmith, were sentenced to 33 and 42 months, respectively.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent ordered Miles to immediately be taken into custody.

All of the information in the forthcoming slides are pulled from interviews, court records and proceedings attended by a cleveland.com reporter.

Slide through to find out more about the scheme

Don't Edit

Allen Miles' sentencing memo, U.S. District Court

It started with a Louisiana tax preparer

Miles involvement began in February 2011 when New Orleans-area tax preparer Craig Cudhea was looking for people to refer clients to his business. He and Miles met, and Miles started recruiting clients, collecting their personal identification information and turning it over to Cudhea. In exchange he would receive a $125 commission for each accepted tax return.

Cudhea was indicted in December 2013 in a federal court in New Hampshire for his own scheme, several months after he shot himself in the head.

Don't Edit

kenteegardin, Creative Commons

Working with Highsmith

About a month after Cudhea and Miles started working together, Cudhea told Miles that he was receiving so many referrals from ministers that he could not file all the tax returns alone. Cudhea recruited Highsmith and others to help prepare tax returns.

Highsmith, of Atlanta, formed WE XL LLC in Georgia to prepare tax returns. She and Miles started working together exclusively. Sayavong, one of her associates, also helped prepare returns.

Like Cudhea, Miles collected information and gave it to Highsmith. She paid Miles $125 for each accepted tax return.

Don't Edit

Miles' superseding indictment, U.S. District Court

How the pastor recruited people

Miles recruited people by getting ministers and church leaders to have members of their flock to apply for what he called an "Obama Stimulus Program."

The pastors and recruiters told congregants that to be eligible, they could not have filed an income tax return in 2010, could not be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return, could not owe back taxes or money to the government. They were told they would receive their "stimulus payment" either in their bank account or in a debit card.

Miles also told pastors to ask congregation members for a $50 "donation" from those who signed up.

People signed up in droves, and the group filed 2,750 false tax returns with people who signed up.

Don't Edit

Plain Dealer file photo

Why was the case charged in Ohio?

Miles and those involved recruited people from all over the country, including from in Canton. Wallace Luke, a pastor in Canton, as well as one of Lukes relatives, were among those who provided information to Miles.

Luke and his relative forwarded spreadsheets of information to Miles that contained names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdates and phone numbers.

Luke was not charged with a crime. He testified at Miles trial earlier this year.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

JeepersMedia, Creative Commons

How the preparers filled out the tax returns

Highsmith never talked to any of the claimants after Miles provided her their information. She would have her associates, including Sayavong, create false income tax returns using TurboTax.

In order to gain the most tax credits, every return listed the claimant as "single" with no dependents. Most returns said the claimant made between $6,450 and $7,700 in income. Almost all of them claimed an education credit of $1,000, a $400 "Making Work Pay" credit and an earned income credit of $475.

If a person was eligible for most or all of the credits, the claimants would receive between $1,000 and $1,457.

The returns requested that $125 be deposited into Miles' bank account and $275 for Highsmith and Sayavong to share.

Don't Edit

Plain Dealer file photo

The defendants win, the IRS, churchgoers lose

In the four-month period that these tax returns were files, Miles made $240,000. Highsmith and Sayavong split $500,000 that went into a bank account that Highsmith controlled.

At the beginning, those who gave their information received a windfall. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Collyer said Monday that many of those who received the refunds immediately spent the money.

However, Miles crimes also caused some financial heartache in the long run, and not just to the IRS. He also said many are now in payment plans with the Internal Revenue Service to give back some of the money they received.

Miles maintains his innocence and plans to appeal. He said he did not know the inner workings of the scheme, and was just a small cog in a large machine.

Nugent, the judge, didn't see it the same way, though, noting Monday that "the most venerable people among us are the victims."
16DARCY-TRUMPTRAFICANT1.jpg

Before giving his foreign-policy/terrorism speech in Youngstown, Ohio, Donald Trump attacked CNN and other news organizations.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's fitting that Donald Trump gave a major policy speech on foreign policy and fighting terrorism in Youngstown, Ohio. This city fits perfectly with Trump's rust-belt state strategy for winning the election. And the late Youngstown legend Jim Traficant would have been a perfect fit to be Trump's running mate, both sharing trademark hair, populism and a shoot from the tongue style.

The part of Trump's speech that has garnered the most attention is his call for "extreme vetting" of visa applicants, which would require them to pass an ideological litmus test.

Trump didn't say if the applicants would be asked if they know Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama co-founded ISIS. Or if they would be asked if they watch CNN, which he says is disgusting and crooked. Or if they read The New York Times, which is "going to hell" and out of business, according to Trump.

Making the case for his new vetting standards, Trump said, "In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. And these are problems like we've never seen before."

Trump said that "in addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must screen out any who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles -- or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law."

If this was the Cold War, when people were being vetted for ties to Communists, would Trump pass with his admiration for former KGB colonel Vladimir Putin? Would Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort pass after a ledger was found appearing to show he was paid $12 million in cash by Russia's puppet leader in Ukraine?

Trump is right that the visa vetting needs to be reviewed and tightened. Which became clear after the San Bernardino terror attack. But Trump gave no details on how his extreme vetting process would be accomplished and by who, let alone what the vetting would entail.

Under his plan, Trump would also "temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism."

Billionaire builder Trump came out against nation building. Without naming Bush or Cheney, he blasted the decision to go to war in Iraq. In a somber tone, he mourned that U.S Soldiers, and innocent civilians on both sides had lost their lives needlessly.

On a positive note, he somewhat reversed his opinion on NATO. Trump called for an international conference to work on preventing the radicalization of Islam. He talked about working with an alliance of NATO, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Russia to fight ISIS.

Trump said Hillary Clinton lacked the "mental and physical stamina" to fight ISIS" However Clinton is at least mentally fit enough to know she's actually younger than Trump, and that much of what he proposed to fight ISIS is already being done by the Obama administration. Trump may not be aware of that because he's been too busy launching twitter attacks on the media.

Trump twitter war on media.

How bad must Trump Steaks be if Trump has turned to biting the media hand that fed him the Republican nomination?

"If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%," Trump tweeted out this weekend.

While much of the country dealt with torrential rainfall this weekend, Trump rained down attacks on The New York Times and CNN over their coverage of him.

Comrade Trump threatened to pull the press credentials of the New York Times to his events. He's already done so with The Washington Post, Politico and the Daily Beast.

Trump's Republican primary opponents likely think Trump should be sending the media Trump steaks as a thank you for all the free air time he got during the primaries, which they complained about, and which he continues to get in the general election.

Trump has gotten so much free air time he hasn't had to spend money to run campaign ads. Instead he can use it make a new line of ball caps in Russian red reading "Make Killing the Messenger Great Again."
Donald Trump's plan to vet people coming to the United States is "nonsense," retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Monday.



The Republican presidential nominee expanded on his plans to curb immigration Monday, calling for a new ideological screening test. He cast himself as the one qualified to halt the spread of extremism, and claimed his opponent Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama unleashed ISIS.

"The notion that we can do very good vetting on refugees coming out of Afghanistan and Syria and Libya is nonsense. If you don't have a cooperative police force and intelligence service in the country, how can you really know who you are dealing with?" McCaffrey said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."

That wasn't the only part of Trump's speech the general took issue with. He said the billionaire's contention that the U.S. should have kept the oil in Iraq "like some bandit nation" was "completely nonsensical."

McCaffrey said also disagreed with Trump's assertion that any enemy of ISIS is a friend of the U.S., noting that Iran is one of the most intense anti-ISIS countries.



CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
Elderly people dance during an afternoon get-together in the community room of the Sewanstrasse senior care home in Lichtenberg district.

Germany's central bank is arguing that the country's retirement age should ultimately be lifted another two years to 69, a call that received a frosty response from the government.

The government decided a decade ago to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67. The increase is being introduced gradually and will apply to all retirees by 2029.

Since then, there have been periodic calls for people in Europe's biggest economy to work even longer. In its monthly report Monday, the Bundesbank said consideration should be given to raising the retirement age to around 69 by 2060 to make sure the pension system is viable as the population ages.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that the government "stands by retirement at 67."

The Bundesbank said that demographic trends are such that the average age in German society will continue to rise, which will put greater stress on the pension system, and that the government should be accounting for the anticipated change now.

"In order for pension plans to reflect long term trends, official projections should go past the year 2030," the bank wrote in its report.

Other countries in Europe are also trying to gradually increase the retirement age as they struggle with an aging population.

France recently lifted its threshold to 62 from 60 for people who have paid social security contributions throughout their working life. For those who haven't, the retirement age is 67. Italy, which is also struggling with high public debt, is gradually increasing its retirement thresholds, to 66 for both men and women by 2018.
Iron ore prices have surged 50 percent this year, prompting speculation that the market may be poised for a fall. Jason Schenker disagrees.

Schenker, president of Prestige Economics, reckons prices will be supported by a broad slowdown in investment at commodity companies and a pick-up in Chinese manufacturing activity.

"For almost a year and a half, Chinese manufacturing has been in recession. That's been huge for iron ore and I think we are going to see that begin to improve," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box".

China's privately-compiled Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index showed manufacturing activity expanding in July, having contracted for 16 straight months before that.

Meanwhile, companies ranging from miner Glencore to natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy have been slashing capital expenditure to cope with the slump in commodities.
Vinod Khosla, the venture capitalist who co-founded Sun Microsystems in the 1980s, is betting big that the Nutanix mafia will transform business computing.

Khosla led a $61 million investment in Rubrik, a provider of data backup and recovery technology, in a deal announced Tuesday.

Rubrik co-founder and CEO Bipul Sinha was among the first investors in Nutanix and remains on the board of the cloud-based storage and computing company. Khosla Ventures is the second-biggest Nutanix shareholder, behind Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sinha's former employer.

Khosla's firm also invested in ThoughtSpot, a business intelligence software vendor led by Nutanix co-founder Ajeet Singh.



Rubrik has now raised $112 million in the past 17 months, while Nutanix is on file to go public and ThoughtSpot announced a $50 million fundraising round in May.

"All three have exceptional teams," said Khosla, in an interview. In addition to the personnel overlap, Khosla said each company is in "a large market that hasn't had much innovation."

Rubrik, based in Palo Alto, California, is attacking a part of the technology industry that even its CEO has called boring.

Backup and recovery have been necessary evils for corporations. Businesses have to pay for the protection, because when documents are lost, hacked or destroyed, it's often critical that they get retrieved.
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

Peter Thiel is a billionaire who decided he didn't like Gawker Media after it outed him as gay. So he funded Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against the company, and they won. Now Gawker is selling itself in a bankruptcy auction.

On the same day that bids for Gawker are due, Thiel published an op-ed in the New York Times as a sort of victory lap, but also to muster votes for a bill wending its way through Congress known as the Intimate Privacy Protection Act. More commonly known as the revenge-porn bill, it would make it illegal to transmit private images and messages.

More from Recode:

Here's how the Gawker Media auction will work

Square is losing its first top exec since its IPO

Russia fines Google less than what the company makes in an hour



Thiel cleverly referred to it by a lesser-known nickname, the Gawker Bill.

But the most interesting part of Thiel's editorial is what he says about the need for a free press:

A free press is vital for public debate. Since sensitive information can sometimes be publicly relevant, exercising judgment is always part of the journalist's profession. It's not for me to draw the line, but journalists should condemn those who willfully cross it. The press is too important to let its role be undermined by those who would search for clicks at the cost of the profession's reputation.

The thing is, he has drawn a line.

By funding Hogan's lawsuit (as well as anyone else willing to take Gawker on), he crafted his own mechanism for deciding what is and isn't fair journalism.

He also says he's proud of his role in funding suits against Gawker and ominously states he'd happy to continue to do so:

For my part, I am proud to have contributed financial support to his case. I will support him until his final victory  Gawker said it intends to appeal  and I would gladly support someone else in the same position.

Thiel feels his privacy was invaded, and he's free to file a lawsuit  but, tellingly, he hasn't.

Instead, Thiel decided to determine what should and shouldn't qualify as journalism itself  it's the classic Silicon Valley pretension to attempt to own the definition, to write its own narrative, devoid of context or skepticism.

Smart publishers will react to Thiel's call to arms in a similar vein to the closing words of his editorial: He can't do it, if we don't let him.

Gawker should have new owners by tomorrow.
As summer marches on and student loan payments loom, millennials  especially those who have recently graduated from college  are getting serious about their job searches. Even though they may feel frustrated, these job seekers are not alone.

Some 60-70 percent of recent college grads don't know where their education and skills fit in the workforce and that's holding them back from several popular and lucrative career paths, GradStaff's candidate surveys of more than 5,000 entry-level job seekers show. They may have the skills to get these jobs, but they lack insight into the careers that fit both their personal passions and professional abilities.

At the same time, many companies are frustrated with the lack of qualified candidates responding to their job postings and they don't have a consistent pipeline for young talent because they aren't effectively recruiting millennials.

Job seekers and hiring companies often can't find each other, making the frustration mutual. Businesses are missing out on quality talent, and millennials are ignoring entire segments of the job market because they're unaware of those opportunities.

For millennials and recent grads actively searching for a career starting point, here are five great entry-level jobs.
The Bank of England found no shortage of sellers as it purchased long-dated gilts for its bond-buying stimulus program on Tuesday, avoiding a repeat of last week, when it fell short of its target.



Investors offered the BOE 3.124 billion pounds ($4.05 billion) of British government bonds with a duration of more than 15 years, 2.67 times the 1.17 billion pounds purchased by the bank.

Last week, the central bank failed to find enough willing sellers to meet its purchase target for the first time since it started buying government bonds to boost Britain's economy in 2009, pushing bond yields to record lows.

The central bank last bought significant volumes of gilts in 2012, and now aims to buy 60 billion pounds of government debt over the next six months.


On the heels of gangbusters earnings, Domino's Pizza Enterprises plans to continue marrying its pizzas with technology, CEO Don Meij told CNBC's "Street Signs."

"All of the growth is coming from the technology that we're rolling out," he said.

The tech investments can be seen in the earnings: Australia-listed Domino's Pizza Enterprises reported on Tuesday that net profit for the year ended June 30 jumped around 29 percent to A$82.4 million ($63.32 million).

Meij cited explosive growth in online ordering, which outstripped like-for-like store sales.

"Japan was 31 percent online order growth, all the way up to parts of Europe, where we had over 120 percent order growth," he said. "We continue to digitally expand."

In part to meet customer demand from the surge in online ordering, Domino's planned major store expansions in its markets.

Meij said he expected organic growth from around 2,000 stores currently to around 4,600 stores over the next nine years, not including acquisitions. He planned to double the number of outlets in the Australia-New Zealand business over the next five to six years, estimating the company will have 1,200 stores there by 2025, up from the just over 700 currently.

"We need more stores to be able to access all that pent-up demand," he said.
The next decade in the automotive industry will be defined by self-driving vehicles, and Ford is taking the necessary steps to ensure it's at the forefront of the movement, CEO Mark Fields said Tuesday.

The Michigan-based automaker announced plans to accelerate its development of self-driving cars, as it races to keep up with its traditional competitors and technology companies alike.



The company is doubling the size of its staff in Palo Alto, California, to more than 300 employees, expanding its offices and labs in that city, and signing new partnerships with companies that are developing technology for self-driving cars. The moves are the latest by Fields to reposition Ford into a full-fledged mobility company.



"It's a very exciting time in the industry," Fields told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "Our view is autonomous vehicles could have just as much [of an] impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago."

The chief executive meanwhile teased additional news to come from Ford later in the day.



Since he became CEO in 2014, Fields has moved quickly to expand Ford's operations in Silicon Valley. Within months of taking the helm, he opened the company's research and development center in Palo Alto, saying the automaker wanted to be "part of the conversation" in an area rich with tech talent and engineers working on autonomous-drive vehicles.

While many on Wall Street and in the auto industry have applauded Fields' push to transform Ford, the company finds itself trying to keep up with other automakers and tech firms.

Google 's Self-Driving Car Project and Tesla 's autopilot have garnered more headlines, creating the perception that they are far ahead of others in developing autonomous-drive vehicles.

At the same time, Ford's traditional rivals are moving quickly to pivot away from the auto industry's long-standing business model. General Motors , for example, has invested $500 million in ride-hailing company Lyft, while Volkswagen has taken a stake in Gett, a similar company that operates primarily in Europe.

Yet Fields is adamant Ford is not falling behind. As proof, the automaker and Chinese search engine Baidu are putting a total of $150 million into Velodyne LiDAR, a company that designs and builds sensors that are critical for the operation of autonomous-drive vehicles.

Fields doesn't expect fully autonomous vehicles to be widely available for several years, but said he wants his company to be ready. That's particularly true as customers are telling Ford "more and more" that they're interested in the technology.

"We feel really good about where we're at," Fields said.



Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com.


Everyone expects a lot of fireworks between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the debates. And whether or not ousted Fox News chief Roger Ailes officially consults Trump for the debates or not doesn't matter  If Trump (or Clinton for that matter) wants to win over voters in the debates, he would do well to take a page out of the Ailes playbook.

We are in the midst of a nasty, frightening, and generally depressing presidential election, with one side comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler and the other calling Clinton a corrupt criminal on a daily basis.

According to published reports, the Clinton campaign is expecting it to get even nastier, prepping the Democratic nominee to debate Trump by drilling her on the nastiest and most sensational accusations against her, including the death of former White House aide Vince Foster and, of course, President Bill Clinton's disastrous affair with then-intern Monica Lewinsky. He's probably the most unpredictable candidate we've ever seen on either side of the aisle, so some Democrats think he could also "spend 90 minutes berating Clinton for helping to found ISIS," according to an article on Politico.

Sure, there will be some voters who will be looking forward to that kind of train wreck of a debate spectacle. But if the debates get as rough as expected, a lot of people will likely get turned off in short order. The Clinton campaign will probably be OK with that as fewer people watching the debates would hurt Trump's chances to close the gap in the polls. But smaller debate audiences, or any sized audience seeing more of the depressing same, wouldn't do much to help what will become Clinton's much tougher job of creating some semblance of real support for her as opposed to just hate for Trump.

So, what is the killer play that Trump or Clinton could take from the Ailes playbook?

A joke. (Don't laugh.yet.)

In the 1984 presidential election, Ronald Reagan was leading Democratic challenger Walter Mondale comfortably in the polls until the first of their two debates on Oct. 7. Simply put, Reagan seemed confused and old during several moments of that debate and his lead in the polls started to shrink as a result. According to the pre-eminent Reagan biographer Lou Cannon, that's when the Reagan campaign called in Ailes for help as they prepped for the second debate two weeks later. And that's when Ailes presented President Reagan with genius-level advice: Tell a joke.

Remember that telling a good joke effectively requires quick wit and timing  not qualities you associate with being senile. Reagan had the opportunity to shed that impression with one well-placed punchline  and he took it.

Reagan, who had been a great joke teller all his life, scored one of the greatest moments in presidential debate history. He not only delivered a joke, but he told a self-deprecating joke about his age. The then-73 year old Reagan said: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

The quip touched on the elephant in the room and relieved the tension created by the debate moderator questioning Reagan about his age. It was so well delivered that even Mondale almost doubled over in laughter. It was that moment when the 1984 election went from an affair that might have been somewhat close, to the 500+ electoral vote landslide re-election triumph.

Fast forward to 2016: Trump's mental state has been in serious question by a number of pundits and critics for almost a year. Hillary Clinton's moral fitness for service after her email scandal and amidst growing "pay to play" questions about the Clinton Foundation is making even many traditional liberals more than just a little uncomfortable.

Given this atmosphere, the candidate who can relieve this tension with a joke  especially a self-deprecating joke  could really change the entire course of the election. What if, for example, if Trump started the debate with something like this:

I'd like to start by conceding to my opponent 

I concede that she, by a landslide, has better hair than I do. I mean, look at it! It's beautiful.

One well-placed, self-deprecating joke could give voters watching the debates something they desperately need right now: comic relief.



And, it would help the candidate who nails the punchline to connect with voters in a personal way that neither has been able to do so far.

It's hard to imagine either Trump or Clinton being willing to take a chance on comedy  especially self-deprecating humor  but if they did, that could go down as one of the best  and most unexpected  debate moments in history. And, it could turn the tide on this wild ride of an election, like it did for Reagan.

At some point, these candidates are going to have to realize that making babies cry and inspiring adults to Google "move to Canada" isn't working. And maybe  just maybe  your crazy Uncle Roger who makes corny jokes at Thanksgiving is on to something.
Aetna's pullback from the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Insurance Exchanges is another bad omen in a growing list.

Throughout the controversial history of Obamacare, Aetna has been a stalwart continuing to voice confidence in the future of the program.



That confidence took an abrupt and sudden turn this week when it cited unsustainable losses as the reason it was cutting back from 15 states to only four. Aetna reported Obamacare losses of $200 million in just the second quarter and more than $430 million since January of 2014. They expect full-year exchange losses of $320 million in 2016 alone.



Most disconcerting was Aetna's report that their losses have gotten worse recently.



The architects of the new health law built into it a three-year program to help cushion early insurance company losses as those previously unable to gain coverage were expected to flood into the program at the start. By year three, they assumed, the risk pool, and the prices the participating insurance companies charged, would begin to stabilize.



But that hasn't happened. With each successive annual open enrollment the tendency of the sickest to buy coverage while the healthiest hung back has only repeated itself.



2017 will be year four for Obamacare and the picture is not pretty and getting worse.

The fundamental problem with Obamacare is that the health insurance plans carriers are selling are so unattractivewith their still high premiums even after subsidies, ever larger deductibles and narrower provider networksthat only about 40 percent of the exchange eligible population has signed up. The longstanding insurance industry rule is that 75 percent of the eligible must sign-up to get the enough healthy people in the pool to pay for the sick.


OPEC crude oil production hit an eight-year peak in July, but may fall this month amid turmoil in major member countries, UBS said on Tuesday. OPEC output rose by 150,000 barrels per day (kb/d) to 33.39 million barrels per day (mb/d) last month, as Saudi Arabia pushed its production to a new high and Iraq pumped more, according to the International Energy Agency. However, UBS forecasts a drop in Iraqi oil production following militant attacks at the Bai Hassan field in northern Iraq on July 31.

AFP | Getty Images

The bank also expects a decline in output from Nigeria, since militant activity restarted there, and no increase in Libyan production, as tension in Zuwetina in north-eastern Libya has made it difficult to reopen the country's eastern ports. UBS sees front-month WTI crude oil averaging $43.81 per barrel in 2016 and $57.00 a barrel in 2017. That is narrowly above consensus forecasts for $43.30 this year and $54.25 next and further above BNP Paribas predictions for $40 and $50, respectively. OPEC has been in focus this month following speculation that some members were once again trying to engineer a production freeze between OPEC and non-OPEC members like Russia. The rumor was fueled by the announcement that an informal meeting of OPEC ministers will take place in September. The suggestion helped boost crude prices, with WTI futures for September 10 percent higher on the month, just below $46 per barrel on Tuesday.

Energy futures

Energy Futures


Former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes is advising Donald Trump ahead of the fall debates with Hillary Clinton, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the move.

Ailes stepped down from Fox News last month amid an investigation into sexual harassment allegations by several female employees. It is not clear when Ailes started aiding the campaign or if it is paying him, the Times said.

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks disputed the report to NBC News, saying it is "not accurate."

"He is not advising Mr. Trump or helping with debate prep. They are longtime friends, but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign," she said.

The debates, which start in late September, give Trump a crucial chance to prove his policy chops in a general election embodied more by his off-the-cuff comments than his solutions. Trump trails in most recent polls taken nationally and in battleground states ahead of November's election.

Ailes' involvement with the campaign could stretch beyond the debates, the Times reported. Ailes, who founded Fox News in 1996, previously was an adviser to Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign and helped Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush prepare for debates in the 1980s.

Trump had a mixed relationship with Fox News during the GOP primary. He at times received apparently favorable coverage but had a public spat with Fox anchor Megyn Kelly.

Read the full New York Times story here.
I found the referendum a rather ugly and shocking affair, but there must be a major silver lining for any U.K. citizen, no matter what box they ticked. There were wide divisions between Britons and disenfranchised towns highlighted in many parts of the country, but that surely cannot be swept under the carpet now? I have a feeling a vote to remain in the EU would have meant business as usual.



We now have a Conservative politician as prime minister that sounds like she is a member of the opposition Labour Party with her promises of a "country that works for everyone". In the words of The Economist last month, "the new divide in rich countries is not between left and right but between open and closed."



Jonathan Portes, director of the U.K.'s National Institute of Economic and Social Research, is quick to point out that what we have from Prime Minister Theresa May is "just words." But he is hopeful it might mean a change from the "gimmicky policies" of previous leaders.



"The U.K. has not done well in developing some parts of the country, specifically some coastal towns and northern towns," he told CNBC via telephone. "In the Autumn Statement we'll see that intent."



Summers may have been vague in his article; he may have talked of policies that any government in the EU is able to achieve in the current setup. But, if nationalism does fully reemergence in the coming years, I would like to think that it will be in its most "responsible" of forms.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.


watch now

Russia can expect 'indefinite' sanctions for its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to a Russia specialist who says the country is unlikely to ever hand the territory back to Ukraine. "It's absolutely our opinion that Crimea-related sanctions will stay indefinitely because clearly Crimea is not going to go back (to Ukraine) as far as the Russians are concerned," Chris Weafer, a senior partner at economic and political analysis firm Macro-Advisory, told CNBC on Tuesday. But, according to Weafer, the Kremlin only really cares about one damaging restriction  that of its financial sector. "With parliamentary elections coming up in September and although the economy has come someway, it is still on the floor, so showing strength in Crimea and showing that Russia is prepared to defend its interests there is good domestic politics too."



The sanctions Russia cares about

watch now

When Russia "illegally invaded" Crimea, a part of southern Ukraine, in early 2014 the international community reacted to what the EU said was a "deliberate destabilization of a neighboring sovereign country' by imposing restrictive measures against it that are still in place. Sanctions include asset freezes and travel restrictions against individuals, officials and businesses perceived to be involved in Crimea's annexation, as well as a ban on imported goods from Crimea and tourism services.

Russia was also quickly accused of supporting a subsequent pro-Russian uprising in east Ukraine. It denied the charge but the EU and U.S. decided in September 2014 to impose a further batch of economic sanctions targeting - and crucially, isolating - Russia's financial, energy, technology and defense sectors and restricting trade in these areas. It is these sanctions that have been far more extensive and damaging on the Russian economy than those solely related to Crimea, in no small part causing Russia's economy to nosedive into a recession in 2015 amid the ensuing capital flight. "You must differentiate the two blocs of sanctions," Weafer noted. "The Crimea sanctions are not going anywhere as far as anybody is concerned but we're looking at (these separate) sectoral sanctions that affect the technology sector, oil and financial sector and of those three, the financial sector ones are the most important," he added. "When those were applied, there was almost a blanket ban on trade with Russia by credit institutions. You only have to mention financial sector sanctions with U.S. involvement and everyone runs a mile and so they have been disproportionately more damaging and so these are the only sanctions the Kremlin is trying to target at least with the Europeans, come January, and then it hopes the U.S. will follow."

A serviceman walks in front of a destroyed house near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Genya Savilov | AFP | Getty Images

The EU linked its sanctions to the successful and complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and were extended by six months in July amid continued skirmishes involving pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine. These sanctions are due to end in January 2017, however, and there are hopes in Moscow that these most damaging sanctions won't be extended, Weafer said.

"There is now definitely a hope that Europe will start to make some concessions particularly in financial sector sanctions. These are the most damaging, they are holding back the economic recovery and this is a crucial step that needs to happen before we start to talk about Russia pulling back from this recession and going forwards," Weafer said.

Vested interests
Donald Trump's economic plan would help end America's "terrible job loss to foreign competition," billionaire Wilbur Ross, a senior policy advisor to the Trump campaign, told CNBC on Tuesday.

"Trump's plan ... calls for cutting corporate taxes from 35 percent to 15 [percent]. That's going to help solve one of our big problems, which is our trade deficit, because it means corporations are can cut their pretax margin by 20 percent," Ross said on "Squawk Box." "So they'd be more competitive with overseas, and yet have the same post-tax income."

The chairman and CEO of distressed asset specialist WL Ross & Co. also said the GOP presidential nominee has the right idea on trade, when calling for ripping up bad trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Ross has called TPP "the worst trade deal yet for American manufacturing."

That's in contrast to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to Ross. "Hillary Clinton can't tell a good trade deal from bad one. She was for NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], which has cost almost a million jobs," he said.

"The one that [Clinton] boasted in her economic speech that she went against was Central American Free Trade Agreement," Ross said, arguing that that free trade deal worked out well for the U.S. in the form of trade surpluses with CAFTA countries.

In CNBC commentary Monday, Ross and fellow Trump advisor Peter Navarro, a business professor at the University of California at Irvine, made a case for why Trump's economic plan is better than Clinton's plan.

"Clinton will raise taxes. Trump will cut taxes. Clinton will increase regulation. Trump will decrease regulation. Clinton has vowed to kill the coal industry. Trump will leverage America's energy resources to create new jobs and growth," they wrote.
Donald Trump will receive a classified intelligence briefing on Wednesday, NBC News reported.

The briefing will take place in New York at a secure FBI facility, a federal official told NBC. It will be Trump's first conducted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

General election presidential candidates have traditionally received briefings for decades. But unique concerns about the ability to handle sensitive information surround Trump and Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Trump, the billionaire developer, has proven loose-lipped on the campaign trail. Clinton, for her part, has been dogged by her handling of classified information on a private email server as secretary of state. She was not charged with any wrongdoing, but FBI Director James Comey deemed her handling of information "extremely careless."

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper previously said the general election briefings are "fairly general."

ABC News first reported that Trump would get classified information on Wednesday. It is unclear when Clinton will start receiving briefings.
The Hornsea Project Two offshore windfarm  set to be the largest in the world  received the green light from the U.K. government on Tuesday after it was granted development consent by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Greg Clark.



The wind farm will consist of "up to" 300 turbines and will be situated 89 kilometers off the coast of Yorkshire, northeast England. The government added that if built to full capacity, total investment will amount to roughly 6 billion ($7.79 billion).

The project, when finished, could potentially provide as much as 1,800 megawatts of electricity to more than a million homes in the U.K., and generate nearly 2,000 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance positions.

"The U.K.'s offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system," Clark said in a statement.

"Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we're determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country," he added.

The project is being developed by SMartWind, which is owned by DONG Energy. In a statement on Tuesday, Denmark headquartered DONG Energy said it welcomed the decision and would now review the details of the development consent order.

"Hornsea Project Two is a huge potential infrastructure project which could provide enough green energy to power 1.6 million U.K. homes," Brent Cheshire, U.K. country chairman for DONG Energy, said in a statement.

"A project of this size will help in our efforts to continue reducing the cost of electricity from offshore wind and shows our commitment to investing in the U.K.," he added.

The U.K. government said it expected that 10 gigawatts of offshore wind would be installed by the end of this decade.
UTICA, N.Y.  The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) has selected three companies to begin the appraisals of the downtown properties that the new hospital construction project will impact.

The firms are DeWittbased CNY Appraisal Associates; Buffalobased Emminger, Newton, Pigeon & Magyar Inc.; and Goodman-Marks Associates, Inc., which is headquartered in Mineola on Long Island.

MVHS has mailed a letter to downtown property owners informing them of the anticipated process and timeline, the organization said in a recent news release.

We want to begin the valuation of the downtown properties as we anticipate it will take three to six months to complete the appraisals, Scott Perra, president and CEO of MVHS, said in the release. We have been working with Mohawk Valley EDGE, which will be the entity who will retain the appraisal firms and assist MVHS in the valuation process. EDGE will manage the outreach and scheduling with property owners and assist us in the formulation of our acquisition strategy.

MVHS is an affiliation of Faxton St. Lukes Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center (SEMC), both of Utica. The two organizations teamed up in March 2014.

The firms will appraise property areas that include several city blocks south of the Utica Memorial Auditorium, bounded by Oriskany Street to the north, properties abutting Columbia Street to the south and Broadway to the east as well as State Route 12 to the west.

In the meantime, MVHS continues to work on the final funding plan for the project.

The organization is working with New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) on the application process for the $300 million, including a request for approval from the NYSDOH and state legislators to move forward.

Officials had anticipated theyd be further along in the process by the end of the summer. Theyre readjusting their timelines to late September or early October, MVHS said.

The offers that will follow the appraisal process are contingent on New York State (NYS) approval of a certificate of need (CON) for the new hospital, said Perra. We dont anticipate any property offers until sometime in 2017 after we have approval from the state to move forward.

MVHS noted that this is a complex project with multiple steps and approvals that need to happen in tandem with each other.

If the health-care organization can make offers in the first six months of 2017, then hospital construction could begin in 2018.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
This 2000-D Lincoln cent was counterstamped outside the Denver Mint with an outline of the state of South Dakota, within which appears the state's postal code, SD.

Readers Ask column from Aug. 29, 2016, issue of Coin World:

This coin has a stamp mark on it  looks like SD or possibly an O, inside a semi-regular area. Any ideas or info as to the possible origin of this mark?

Bruce English / Via Email

The 2000-D Lincoln cent the reader found is likely a genuine Lincoln cent struck at the Denver Mint.

The design that appears in the field to the right of Abraham Lincolns portrait, on the other hand, was not imprinted on the coin at the time of production. It is a counterstamp and was applied privately outside the Mint production facility. The counterstamp is incuse.

SD is the postal code abbreviating South Dakota. The semi-regular outline is of the Western state, but its oriented counterclockwise in the coins field to fit in the space.

Connect with Coin World:

The counterstamped cent, while considered a novelty by some, is actually an altered U.S. Mint product. To most coin collectors, the counterstamp adds no value above the coins face value.

Novelty companies have issued complete sets of Lincoln cents, counterstamped with the outlines of each of the 50 states, with the postal abbreviations appearing within.

Ive seen other novelty designs counterstamped into the obverse field of Lincoln cents and offered for sale above face value.

Principal among the designs seen are ones depicting a portrait left of President John F. Kennedy in the right field of the coins obverse, facing Lincoln. Besides honoring two great presidents on the cent, history notes that President Lincolns personal secretarys surname was Kennedy and that of President Kennedys was Lincoln.

Other counterstamped Lincoln cents include ones stamped with the Batman bat logo, Lincoln smoking a pipe, a Masonic Shriner scimatar emblem, and a number of designs depicting the lunar rover.

Is such defacement illegal? Typically no, though Treasury officials have in years past banned some forms of defacement. Currently, as long as no fraud is intended and the coin is not rendered unfit for circulation by the defacement, such alterations are permitted.
August 16, 2016

 The boarding ramp for Boeing's new commercial spacecraft is now in place  16 stories above the ground.



The crew access arm was lifted by a crane and bolted onto the gantry tower at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 (LC-41) in Florida on Monday morning (Aug. 15).



The 90,000-pound (40,800 kilogram) arm was mounted at the tower's 172-foot (52 m) level, where it will line up with the entry hatch to Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. As soon as 2018, astronauts launching to the International Space Station will walk the length of the 50-foot (15 m) crew access arm and enter the white room at its end to ingress the Starliner.



"The newest 'Last Place on Earth' for astronauts finds a new home at Atlas Launch Complex 41," Chris Ferguson, Boeing's CST-100 director of crew and mission operations and a former NASA astronaut, wrote on Twitter.





Five years ago on July 8, 2011, Ferguson used a similar arm to gain access to the space shuttle Atlantis, as he was on his way to commanding the final mission of the space shuttle program. After retiring the orbiters, NASA awarded $6.8 billion in contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to build and operate commercial spacecraft to bring astronauts to and from the space station.



"It's going to be so cool when our astronauts are walking out across this access arm to get on the spacecraft and go to the space station," Kathy Lueders, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, said.



United Launch Alliance (ULA) topped off the 200-foot-tall (61 m) LC-41 crew access tower in September 2015. Built in segments and stacked at the active Atlas V launch pad, the tower was designed specifically to cater to astronauts. It features wider walkways to accommodate crewmembers in bulky spacesuits, as well as easily-rounded corners and snag-free railings.



"You think about when we started building this 18 months ago," said Ferguson, "and now it is one of the most visible changes to the Cape's horizon since the 1960s."



The crew access arm and its "white room"  the latter, an enclosed area large enough for astronauts to adjust their suits before climbing aboard the capsule  were built at a construction yard and trucked to LC-41 on Thursday (Aug. 11). The two components were tested together before they were delivered to the pad for installation.







The LC-41 access arm will serve as the connection that astronauts will walk across prior to boarding Boeing's CST-100 Starliner when stacked atop a ULA Atlas V rocket. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)

"[Mercury astronaut] John Glenn was the first to fly on an Atlas [rocket]. Now, our next leap into the future will be to have astronauts launch from here on Atlas V," Barb Egan, the commercial crew program manager for ULA, said.



The crew access arms used during the Apollo and space shuttle programs at NASA's Launch Complex 39A and B are now retired and on public display in Florida and Texas.



SpaceX, which leased Pad 39A from NASA, is building a new crew access arm for the astronauts who will board its Dragon spacecraft on top of Falcon 9 rockets.



Similarly, a new arm and white room will be used with the mobile tower supporting NASA's Orion crew capsule atop the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket at Pad 39B.



NASA's first-ever white room, used for the Gemini program in the mid-1960s, is exhibited at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Origin Constructors will close sections of Fifth, Sixth and Elm streets, as well as nearby sidewalks, while it builds new apartments over the next year. Mayor Brian Treece is frustrated the company will escape closure fees the council is considering.
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
Quade: Abortion investigation suggests government being 'weaponized'

The timing of the investigation suggests that the state is using its power to retaliate against citizens, Quade said.
Columbus Arts Festival 2022 Patron Party

Arts backers and community leaders gathered June 10, 2022, for the Columbus Arts Festivals Patron Party, which raised more than $34,000.
Ikea Memphis, led by store manager Trisha Bevering, announced Tuesday the retailer is now recruiting to fill the 200 positions at the store. It's scheduled to open in late fall. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal

Ikea is now hiring to fill about 200 positions at its Memphis store, which is to open late this fall, the home-furnishings retailer announced Tuesday.

The retailer that pays relatively high wages is building the store southwest of the Interstate 40/Germantown Parkway junction.

Anyone interested in working at Ikea Memphis should apply online at IKEA-USA.com.

On Jan. 1, the business raised it minimum hourly wage in U.S. stores from an average of $10.76 to an average of $11.87, reflecting a 10.3 percent pay hike. That is $4.62 higher than the federal minimum wage.

Ikea bases minimum hourly wages on local living costs for employees. The company uses the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which considers housing, food, medical and transportation costs plus annual taxes.

The formula departs from basing wages on the local competitive situation and centers instead on the needs of employees, company officials have said.

The average annual income of Memphis Ikea employees will be $41,000, plus benefits, according to an analysis by the Memphis & Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) staff.

Ikea encourages applicants without computer access to visit the Workforce Investment Network's (WIN) Career Center on 480 Beale Street or either of WIN's satellite locations, at 3040 Walnut Grove Road or 4240 Hickory Hill Road.

We are thrilled to offer interested jobseekers diverse positions with limitless opportunity at a global company known for being a great place to work, Trisha Bevering, store manager, said in a press release. Ikea offers a variety of positions for different coworkers interests so they can enjoy their job and contribute successfully. We believe it is as fun to work at Ikea as it is to shop at Ikea.''

Prospective employees can apply for positions available in: home furnishings sales, interior design/visual merchandising, customer service, safety and security, cashiers, facility management, warehouse receiving, stock replenishment, and child play area supervision. Also, Ikea Memphis offers about 40 food-service opportunities in its restaurant, Swedish Foodmarket, Exit Bistro and coworker cafeteria.

Ikea officials said the company offers employees "family-friendly initiatives'' and benefits including full medical/dental insurance to coworkers working 20 hours or more per week with eligibility for domestic partners and children.

Other benefits include: vacation, paid maternity/paternity leave and paid time off for child adoption, tuition assistance, a bonus program, 401(k) matching, a pension plan, professional development, training and mentoring programs, free uniforms, anda discount for shopping at Ikea.

The 271,000-square-foot store with about 800 parking spaces will feature Tennessees largest rooftop solar array.

The store will offer nearly 10,000 products, 50 model room-settings, three model-home interiors, a supervised childrens play area, and a 250-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties such as meatballs with lingonberries and salmon plates, as well as American dishes.

Among the 42 Ikea stores in the United States, the closest to Memphis are in Atlanta, near Dallas, and St. Louis.
By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal

The Shelby County Commission referred back to committee on Monday a request from Standard Construction to expand its gravel mining operation in north Shelby County, giving commissioners time to visit the site.

Standard Construction is requesting a special use permit to grow in the area where it has been mining for 25 years.

Last week, Nancy Brannon was the only person to speak against the expansion during a committee meeting, but was joined on Monday by close to a dozen people, who brought with them a petition with 85 signatures.

Brannon told commissioners she'd also spoken with the principal of Barret's Chapel School on Godwin Road, who has concerns about the dangers of pollution and uncovered gravel trucks.

Attorney Nathan Bicks with Burch Porter & Johnson told commissioners the mining is there because that's where the sand and gravel are located.

He also told residents to report drivers who do not cover their trucks, and that company drivers will be fired and contracted drivers will no longer be used if they are reported.

Also on Monday, the commission:

 Approved the transfer of five properties from the Shelby County Land Bank to the city of Memphis, the first such transfers as part of the city's mow-to-own program.

The properties on Looney, Marjorie, New Raleigh Road, Speed and Warren will be purchased by adjacent property owners at a discount after they maintain those lots for a period of up to three years.

 Approved in the second of three readings an ordinance to amend the county charter, making commission approval a requirement in the dismissal of the county attorney.

That responsibility is now solely the county mayor's. If approved by the commission, the amendment would be put to voters at the next countywide election.

 Chose Melvin Burgess as the next chairman and Heidi Shafer as chairman pro tempore. No one else was nominated for either post.
SHARE Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets supporters as he arrives for a rally in Spokane, Wash., Saturday, May 7, 2016. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee told people in Spokane that he'd return to the Northwest during the campaign "because we are going to take the state of Washington." (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has named a West Tennessee cotton farmer to a committee that will advise him on agriculture issues.

Charlotte Kelley of Tipton County is one of more than five dozen people who will serve on the panel.

Kelley, a former Tipton County commissioner, and her husband, Richard, farm 14,000 acres of cotton and operate a cotton gin in Burlison that processes more than 30,000 bales.

Trump's campaign said Tuesday the committee will be responsible for providing ideas to strengthen the nation's agriculture industry and provide support to rural communities.

"The members of my agricultural advisory committee represent the best that America can offer to help serve agricultural communities," Trump said in a statement. "Many of these officials have been elected by their communities to solve the issues that impact our rural areas every day."
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By Maria Ines Zamudio of The Commercial Appeal

While hundreds of students started a new school year at Sheffield High School last week, one migrant student was kept out of the classroom.

Mariela Juarez, 17, enrolled to attend Sheffield High school but she never made it to class. Juarez said she was told she was too old to be in school. She migrated to Memphis from Guatemala earlier this year alone.

She said staff at the high school told her to go to Goodwill's Excel Center, a charter school for adult education.

"I felt sad because they told me I couldn't be in class," Juarez said in Spanish.

At least one other migrant student also was not allowed to attend high school classes last week at the same school, according to immigration lawyers and other local immigration advocates.

On Monday morning, Sally Joyner, immigration attorney at the Mid-South Immigration Advocates, and Casey Bryant, legal director of the Derechos Immigration Program at Latino Memphis, met with school administration at Sheffield to talk about enrollment problems involving migrant teens.

"I am satisfied that they (school administrators) are taking appropriate steps to ensure that immigrant children in their district are now being allowed to enroll," Joyner said. "I am troubled, however, that Shelby County Schools did not communicate with Sheffield prior to the beginning of the school year that SCS's new policy is to comply with state law requiring 17-year-old children to be enrolled in school."

Administrators at Shelby County Schools told The Commercial Appeal on Friday, they had no record of a student at Sheffield or any other school being denied access to enroll in school.

The latest allegations come as the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether SCS is biased against migrant students. The probe started after the Exchange Club Family Center filed a complaint in February. The agency received federal aid to help unaccompanied minors, migrants who came to Memphis without parents.

But unaccompanied minors who were 16 and older allegedly were being denied enrollment and were routed to Messick Adult Center.

That includes students like Karen Ortiz, who fled Honduras after she received a death threat from the men who killed her cousin and tried to rape her. She came to Memphis hoping to continue her studies. She tried to enroll in school last year but she said she was told to go to Messick Adult Center. She only made it to three classes before the school closed due to poor performance.

"I feel so alone," Ortiz said in Spanish. "I dropped out of school in Honduras because the men wanted to kill me. I came here hoping to go back to school. This is a country of opportunity but they (school officials) closed those doors for me."

It is unclear how many children may have been turned away from enrolling in SCS, but between 2014 and 2016, about 2,352 unaccompanied minors relocated to the Memphis region, according to the database maintained by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, which monitors immigration courts.
SHARE Mark White, state rep, R-Germantown.

By Grace Tatter, Chalkbeat Tennessee

Since Tennessee began taking over low-performing schools four years ago, one question has persisted: What is the end game?

More specifically, at what point does the special state-run district known as the Achievement School District, or ASD, release control of schools back to local districts? And when will the ASD cease to exist  or will it live forever?

The questions are among several to be explored Wednesday when state lawmakers convene for their annual summer study session on education

During this year's session, lawmakers filed a flurry of bills to limit the ASD. The proposals didn't go anywhere, but leaders of two House education committees pledged a closer look this summer during the off-season.

"What we're trying to do is sit down and really listen to both sides," said Rep. Mark White, a Memphis Republican and chairman of a key subcommittee. "This is not about who likes the ASD, who doesn't. It's about what are the issues, and how can we work together."

Questions about the ASD's future are particularly of interest in Memphis, home to all but two of the state-run district's 33 schools, most of which were formerly with Shelby County Schools.

Here are the main questions lawmakers will take up:

What progress has been made? Critics say the academic gains have not been significant enough to justify further expansion of the state-run district, as highlighted by its schools' continued poor academic performance. Schools taken over by the ASD in 2012 are still among the state's lowest-performing schools. And a Vanderbilt study released in 2015 suggested that, so far, the ASD hasn't made any statistically significant gains overall, meaning that students at ASD schools are performing mostly at the same low levels that they likely would have had they remained with their local district.

Proponents point to gains in science and math in 2015, and predict that the greatest academic gains are yet to come. They say that progress is not reflected in ASD schools' test scores, but in the test scores of all priority schools' scores statewide, which have improved overall since the ASD's inception. Even Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson has said that the Innovation Zone, his local district's heralded school turnaround initiative, wouldn't have made gains so quickly without the sense of urgency inspired by the ASD.

When and how will ASD schools return to their local districts? According to state law, schools must stay in the ASD for at least five years. If they've improved consistently and climb out of Tennessee's bottom 5 percent, plans can proceed to return those schools to their local district. But specifics of the return process are murky. The ASD's first six schools are getting closer to the five-year benchmark, and Shelby County Schools and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools  the only two districts impacted thus far  are hungry for answers about next steps.

Will ASD schools that consistently underperform be closed? State law includes provisions for intervening in low-performing schools in local districts, but not for schools in the ASD that continue to be low performers. Critics of the ASD want to know if the state eventually will step in again on those schools.

What oversight does the ASD have? Ultimately, the state has authority over the ASD. But since its inception, critics of the ASD have questioned how the state-run district can be held accountable to the public without regular meetings open to the public and without an obvious role for community members in decision making.

Are communities better off with schools under ASD control? ASD leaders maintain that community engagement is key to their organization, and many of their schools have health and counseling services meant to help both students and their entire families. Still, each year, the state's announcement of new school takeovers is met with protest from parents and teachers who say the state is undermining local control and using their students as guinea pigs in turnaround efforts.

Chalkbeat Tennessee is a nonprofit news organization covering educational change in public schools. Read more about Tennessee education news at tn.chalkbeat.org.
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By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal

An ambulance company's request to renegotiate its county contact for service left representatives of Arlington and Lakeland wondering Tuesday about the effect to the two suburbs and their citizens.

"It would be a financial impact right off the bat," Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman said. Arlington currently runs its own fire department, but participates in the county contract for ambulance services. The town does not charge residents an ambulance fee or fire fee.

Ambulance company American Medical Response currently has a $1.7 million per year contract with county government to answer calls in unincorporated Shelby County as well as in Arlington, Lakeland and Millington. The five-year contract has a provision that either side can terminate the agreement by giving 120 days notice, Harvey Kennedy, the county's chief administrative officer, said.

AMR sent a letter last month to Shelby County Fire Chief Alvin Benson saying it wasn't making enough money under the arrangement and that the county must either pay more or end the contract.

In one scenario, the cost to the county would increase to $4.5 million annually.

Wissman said the new financial terms could force Arlington into the ambulance business. "It's all going to come down to cost, whether it's for the county, whether it's for the individual municipality," the mayor said, adding he would prefer to continue under a county contract.

Wissman has more insight into ambulance services than most people: He is a part-time mayor, but works full time as a firefighter and emergency medical technician for Memphis.

He said the timing of AMR's demand for more money is poor. "It's unfortunate that this happened, and it's unfortunate that it's happened after everyone's approved their (fiscal year) budgets," he said, predicting "a whole lot of meetings" before the contract question is settled.

Millington Public Safety Director Gary Graves said the ambulance cost paid by the various municipalities and Shelby County is based on the proportion of calls in the previous calendar year. For instance, if Millington has 25 percent of the calls in 2015, it pays 25 percent of the $1.7 million cost to AMR in 2016.

Lakeland City Manager Jim Atkinson said it's too early to determine the impact.

Mayor Wyatt Bunker says Lakeland pays for ambulance costs from its general fund. A fire fee assessed to the residents goes to Shelby County and covers fire service, not ambulance service.

While Arlington has its own fire department, Lakeland depends on the county for fire service, including ambulance calls. Lakeland officials have studied getting into the fire business in recent years, but the matter remains in limbo.

And now, ambulance service is added to the equation.

Atkinson said there are more than a handful of options that could emerge from AMR's new terms. The city launching its own ambulance service seems unlikely.

AMR has asked the county to respond by August 31. Since the contract with the county requires a 120-day notice for termination, the partnership between the sides could end Jan. 1.

Leaders of the various government entities served by the contract met Monday and decided they would all continue to work together no matter what happened, said Graves. For instance, Millington wouldn't strike out on its own and sign a third-party ambulance contract, he said.

Staff reporter Linda A. Moore contributed to this story.
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Johnny Kinsey

Cordova

The Memphis Coalition of Concerned Citizens evidently doesnt realize that money from tourism funds many of the programs that are in place in this city. Any stoppage or slowdown of tourist activity is actually counterproductive to your cause.

Elvis Week brings in millions of dollars to the city every year. So if you are planning to try to slow down the money from tourists and visitors to Memphis, I guess we should see you demonstrating at the Southern Heritage Classic, too. Seems only logical.
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By Eli Lake

How would Donald Trump assess Donald Trump's candidacy? As he might put it: A lot of people are saying his campaign is an operation on behalf of the Democratic Party to destroy the Republicans.

"A lot of people are saying"? That's not a very high evidentiary standard. What else?

Well, to start there is the photo. You know the one, where Trump and his new bride Melania are rubbing elbows with the Clintons. Bill Clinton spoke with Trump right before Trump announced his candidacy. Trump has of course contributed to Clinton campaigns in past years as well. This doesn't even get into the fact that Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton are friends.

All of that adds up to a lot of conjecture and coincidence. It's more likely there is a less sinister explanation for Trump's obvious political errors in the general election: An isolated egomaniac rejects the advice of political professionals.

And yet the "Trump is a plant" theory has more compelling evidence than Trump could amass for claims like "Obama founded ISIS" or his allies could muster for "Democrats murdered a DNC official because he leaked e-mails" (which by the way most security experts say were pilfered by Russian intelligence).

The Republican candidate's wild lunges and errors in recent weeks, particularly on national security, certainly do more harm to his own adopted party than to those he purports to target.

This is not just because Trump's comments about the Islamic State, the Iraq War, and the Khan family (to name just three) are comically false. They also let President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton off the hook. It's easy to dismiss a crazed accusation about Obama being the founder of a jihadi organization; it's much harder for the administration to respond to serious and pointed criticism of its foreign policy.

Let's start with the Iran deal. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that $400 million in cash arrived in Iran just as the Iranians were releasing Americans they had detained. Republicans in Congress are now following up. On Aug. 12, Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz wrote a scathing letter to Obama asking him whether the payment to Iran violated U.S. prohibitions against financial interactions with Iran. This is the kind of fodder that a typical Republican presidential campaign would seize upon. Trump's campaign doesn't even seem to be trying.

Then there is a report released last week from House Republicans on the Intelligence, Armed Services and Appropriations Committee. It didn't get much airtime because the political conversation was dominated by Trump giving Clinton and Obama the ISIS MVP award and musing about the "Second Amendment people."

The report found that in 2014 and 2015, U.S. Central Command intelligence analysts' accurate and pessimistic assessments of Obama's new war against the Islamic State were often edited out of the finished product.

"I believe the reporting out of U.S. Central Command, which showed a rosier picture about U.S. efforts against ISIS, led the United States to inadequately provide resources to take on the threat that has now grown and metastasized against the U.S.," Rep. Mike Pompeo, an author of the report and a Republican member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told me.

This falls into a pattern. Obama, like most modern presidents, engages in selective disclosure of state secrets. Filmmakers are provided extraordinary access to research a movie about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At the same time, the White House slow-rolled House oversight committees in their investigation of the 2012 attack at Benghazi. So far, the few documents released from the 2011 bin Laden raid to the public paint a picture of an antagonistic relationship between bin Laden and Iran. Former officials who have studied them, like former Defense Intelligence Agency director Michael Flynn, say there are still classified documents from the raid that show Iran and al-Qaida enjoyed a much cozier relationship.

This critique of Obama is not as bold as calling him the founder of the Islamic State. But it has the benefit of being true. Trump's current approach has the benefit of helping his political opponents. So again, it's worth asking who in the end really gains from Trump's paranoid, fact-free campaign style. After all, a lot of people are saying it's Hillary Clinton.

Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake writes about politics and foreign affairs.
Apple allegedly plans to get rid of the headphone jack in the next iPhone. In order to listen to audio youll need to use Lightning or Bluetooth compatible earphones, or the iPhones internal speaker. Heres the good, bad and (potentially) ugly of Apples decision.

Bluetooth

I guess most of us will choose to use Bluetooth headphones. Apple will be pleased about this as its recently-acquired Beats headphone brand dominates the market for them.

Lightning

Apple in 2014 introduced a specification for Lightning connected headphones within its Made for iPhone scheme. Advantages include lossless digital audio and (potentially, depending on design) noise cancellation.

Not alone

Apple isnt the only company to dump the headphone jack. Lenovo, Motorola and LeEco are all moving in this direction. In general, I feel that about 30% of flagship brands are considering dropping 3.5mm, such as Motorola just did, V-Moda CEO Val Kolton said. I think they are also waiting to see what Apple will do with Lightning. Roland purchased a big share in V-Moda this week.

Its a transition

From SCSI to the floppy disk, from Flash support to the DVD drive, Apple has never been shy of dropping legacy technologies to make way for engineering improvements.

Thinnovation

The 3.5mm headphone port on your iPhone isnt huge, but the 50-year old technology takes up some internal space. Removing it from the 7.1-mm (0.27-inch) thin Phone 6s could shave an additional 1-mm (0.04-inch) off the size of the device.

Durable

Because it has one less port the iPhone will be more waterproof and more durable. Deutsch Bank believes the new smartphone will provide professional class waterproofing.

Better audio

The completely digital connection will not require digital-to-analog conversion. This should mean better quality audio, just like youre used to getting with USB and Lightning speaker and headphone systems.

Better amplification

Under Apples Lightning headphone specification, manufacturers can already build audio amplifiers inside their headphones that draw power from the Lightning port and iPhone. While this may impact battery life, it also means much better audio.

The biggest winner

The big winner will be display space and Apples move to make a device that has no ports and no moving parts. To get a sense of this just pop the male end of your headphone across the bottom of your iPhone, as if it were plugged into the port. Look closely and youll see the tip of the jack stops where the smartphones display begins. Getting rid of it means Apple will be able to create more usable display space, space its going to need if it intends replacing the physical Touch ID button with a haptic (display based) version.

The bad

While you get used to the idea that your super-expensive Shure headphones are becoming antique, Apple is expected to soften the pill with a dongle you can use to connect them up to your new iPhone. How many dongles will you lose in a month?

The sad

Ill really miss the many different things you could do to control iPhones, though I guess we can just ask Siri.

The (potentially) ugly

A move to make the devices completely digital may make it easier for music labels to demand more stringent DRM, warns activist, Cory Doctorow.

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.
Donald Trumps call for "extreme vetting" of visa applications, as well as the temporary suspension of immigration from certain countries, would raise fees and add delays for anyone seeking a visa, including H-1B visas, immigration experts said.

In particular, a plan by Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, to stop issuing visas -- at least temporarily -- "from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world" may make it difficult for a significant number of people to get visas.

Data assembled by Computerworld through a Freedom of Information Act request shows foreign workers come from all corners of the world, including "dangerous and volatile regions." Trump outlined his immigration enforcement plan in a speech Monday.

In 2014, the U.S. approved more than 370,000 H-1B applications. Some were new entries, and others were for previously approved workers who were either renewing or updating their status.

Of that number, 2,234 of the H-1B visa holders were from Pakistan, a country that might appear on a Trump list. Another 1,102 approved visa holders were from Iran. There were 658 H-1B visa holders from Egypt, and 256 were from Syria. (Article continues below chart.)

Country of Birth for H-1B Visa Holders Country Frequency INDIA 262,730 CHINA 29,936 CANADA 7,653 PHILIPPINES 6,055 KOREA, SOUTH 5,024 UNITED KINGDOM 3,822 MEXICO 3,216 TAIWAN 2,785 FRANCE 2,570 JAPAN 2,268 PAKISTAN 2,234 NEPAL 1,997 GERMANY 1,895 TURKEY 1,850 BRAZIL 1,831 ITALY 1,497 COLOMBIA 1,491 RUSSIA 1,461 VENEZUELA 1,432 SPAIN 1,329 IRAN 1,102 NIGERIA 1,015 ISRAEL 949 IRELAND 932 KOREA 813 UKRAINE 795 ARGENTINA 778 MALAYSIA 771 SINGAPORE 755 VIETNAM 695 EGYPT 658 ROMANIA 648 BANGLADESH 647 INDONESIA 637 SRI LANKA 608 PERU 583 POLAND 576 AUSTRALIA 564 GREECE 556 SOUTH AFRICA 547 HONG KONG 503 BULGARIA 477 THAILAND 476 LEBANON 462 JAMAICA 461 KENYA 437 NETHERLANDS 432 JORDAN 415 CHILE 395 SWEDEN 374 NEW ZEALAND 353 GHANA 341 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 333 ECUADOR 302 SYRIA 256 PORTUGAL 253 SWITZERLAND 249 BELGIUM 238 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 231 SAUDI ARABIA 205 ZIMBABWE 205 HUNGARY 203 Spain 189 AUSTRIA 179 UNKNOWN 179 DENMARK 174 HONDURAS 171 COSTA RICA 165 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 155 BOLIVIA 150 CZECH REPUBLIC 149 GUATEMALA 149 EL SALVADOR 147 SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 142 KUWAIT 141 MOROCCO 138 ETHIOPIA 133 CAMEROON 126 FINLAND 125 BAHAMAS 123 MOLDOVA 111 KAZAKHSTAN 108 SLOVAK REPUBLIC 103 CROATIA 102 NORWAY 102 ARMENIA 101 UZBEKISTAN 101 PANAMA 99 URUGUAY 94 ALBANIA 88 UGANDA 88 USSR 87 Serbia 86 LIBYA 84 MONGOLIA 83 TANZANIA 83 BURMA 76 NIGER 74 LITHUANIA 70 GEORGIA 66 GRENADA 58 SENEGAL 58 BARBADOS 57 MACEDONIA 56 LATVIA 54 AZERBAIJAN 52 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 51 CYPRUS 51 ST. LUCIA 51 IRAQ 50 SLOVENIA 50 BELIZE 48 ICELAND 47 ZAMBIA 47 GUYANA 45 NICARAGUA 45 PARAGUAY 45 BAHRAIN 43 TUNISIA 43 ALGERIA 42 MAURITIUS 42 DOMINICA 40 USA 39 ESTONIA 35 KYRGYZSTAN 34 HAITI 30 RWANDA 28 BURKINA FASO 26 MACAU 25 TURKMENISTAN 25 CAMBODIA 24 COTE D'IVOIRE 24 TAJIKISTAN 24 CONGO 22 ST. KITTS-NEVIS 22 SUDAN 22 MALAWI 21 OMAN 21 ST. VINCENT/GRENADINES 21 MALI 20 ANTIGUA-BARBUDA 19 BOTSWANA 18 IVORY COAST 18 BERMUDA 17 BENIN 16 AFGHANISTAN 15 Kosovo 15 QATAR 15 LUXEMBOURG 13 MADAGASCAR 13 Montenegro 13 YEMEN-SANAA 13 TOGO 12 SIERRA LEONE 11 YUGOSLAVIA 11 GABON 10 GAMBIA 10 NORTHERN IRELAND 10 MALTA 8 NAMIBIA 8 SURINAME 8 SWAZILAND 8 BHUTAN 7 FIJI 7 FRENCH POLYNESIA 7 MOZAMBIQUE 7 BURUNDI 6 CUBA 6 GUINEA 6 LIBERIA 6 BRUNEI 5 NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 5 ARUBA 4 ERITREA 4 KIRIBATI 4 LESOTHO 4 MALDIVES 4 MAURITANIA 4 ANGOLA 3 CAPE VERDE 3 CHAD 3 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO 3 SEYCHELLES 3 UNITED STATES 3 ANGUILLA 2 LAOS 2 SOMALIA 2 ARABIAN PENINSULA 1 CAYMAN ISLANDS 1 DJIBOUTI 1 GERMANY, WEST 1 GIBRALTAR 1 GUINEA-BISSAU 1 MARTINIQUE 1 MONACO 1 REUNION 1 Samoa 1 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 1 ST. VINCENT-GRENADINES 1 STATELESS 1 TONGA 1 TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS 1 VANUATU 1 Source: USCIS data for approved applications in fiscal year 2014

Trump's plan to admit only people "who share our values and respect our people" didn't indicate how it would be applied. It also didn't say whether all visa holders -- visitor, H-1B and green card -- would be subject to an ideological litmus test.

And what is the correct answer to such a question about American values?

"If you ask people born in this country what is an American ideology, I'm not quite sure that we would come out with one answer," said Jessica Lavariega-Monforti, a professor and chair of the political science department at Pace University in New York.

"The immigration system, as it currently stands, could not process additional vetting without creating backlogs and increasing wait times for applicants. At the same time, it is unclear how these policy changes would increase safety against a terrorist attack," said Lavariega-Monforti.

John Lawit, an immigration attorney in Irving, Texas, said the U.S. already has a vetting process that begins as soon as someone applies for a tourist visa. There are different levels of threat, such as being a citizen of Syria, that trigger a much higher level of vetting, he said.

"There is a huge financial commitment that must be made in terms of human resources in order to carry on such a vetting program, and a huge, huge increase in fees, Lawit said.

Requiring oaths of some kind is "a lot of posturing with very little substance," he added, and are ineffective in improving security.

Lawit said he once assisted H-1B workers who were employed in non-classified jobs at the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The processing time for security checks could run months. That's an example of extreme vetting, while "extraordinary detailed security investigations are conducted," he said.

This story, "Trump's 'extreme' anti-terrorism vetting may be H-1B nightmare" was originally published by Computerworld .
What is the Labour leadership race about? Read the papers, and youd conclude the following: Its Corbyn versus Smith. Its old versus new. Its the left versus the moderates. Or, in their own words for each other, its Trots versus Blairites.

Its easy, though, to exaggerate the differences between the candidates. Corbyn is certainly hard left  and various of his allies are even more extreme than him  but does that really make Smith a Labour moderate, as hes often described?

He may be more moderate than the man he is challenging, but thats not hard. By the Corbynite yardstick, anyone more centrist than Michael Foot bears the taint of shameful Toryism.

Look at what Smith says, and he doesnt seem very moderate at all. His avowedly socialist policy platform boasts higher income tax, higher inheritance tax, higher corporation tax, an additional wealth tax, 200 billion of extra public spending, the reintroduction of centralised wage controls for each industry and the abolition of turnout and timescale requirements for strike ballots. Like Corbyn, he describes himself as fundamentally anti-austerity. Indeed, his policies are so close to those of the current Labour leader that Corbyn has accused him of stealing his ideas. At best, hes a little less moderate than Ed Miliband, and Ed Miliband just lost an election in part because he was too left wing.

We got another taster of Smiths moderation yesterday, when he accused the Government of pursuing a secret plan to privatise the NHS. This is, of course, nuts. For a start, the secret plan he talks about was found hidden not inside Jeremy Hunts volcanic island lair, nor in the vault of a Swiss bank alongside loads of Nazi gold, and not even on the dark side of the moon along with the skeletons of Shergar and Lord Lucan. It was, boringly, hidden on a publicly accessible page on the NHSs own website. Which is presumably how Smith found it.

Not only is it not secret, but on closer inspection it isnt even a plan to privatise the NHS  its a document about how to get the best results for patients out of working more effectively with private sector providers who already work with the NHS. You know, the kind of thing the Labour Party used to pursue and boast about.

This is a well-worn Labour theme, of course. Its easier to pretend the Conservatives are mere days or even hours away from selling the whole NHS for about 25 round the back of a pub than to actually come up with serious and appealing proposals for governing the country. The fact that none of the Conservative governments which they alleged were about to flog the health service have actually got round to doing so might hint to a sensible person that these warnings were bunkum, but that fact doesnt seem to dull the attraction of a good bit of cheap alarmism.

It may be a standard act for the lazy left to issue such warnings, but it isnt what we might expect of a true moderate. Smiths hawking of this conspiracy theory further suggests that he is only a moderate in the context of the man he is running against.

Of course, its possible  even likely  that he doesnt really believe any of this rubbish. Maybe he really is a Labour moderate, who recognises the crucial role that competitive free enterprise plays in improving the lot of British workers and delivering public services.

If he is a moderate in lefty clothing, that would be even more depressing. It would mean that the challengers to Corbyn already know that they have completely and utterly lost the battle of ideas within their party  instead of taking on his outdated, failed and unappealing ideology, they have opted to accept it all and simply dispute his competence. It doesnt matter whether in their heart of hearts they are moderates or not if they believe that Labour has been irrevocably captured by the hard left and that their only chance of survival lies in playing along and parroting the same lines.

So what is the Labour leadership race about? Corbyn, the confirmed leftist who isnt very effective, or Smith, the one who promises to be just as left-wing but a bit better at it. If so, then the genuine Labour moderates lost this war before their fightback began.
Cllr Peter Golds is Leader of the Conservative Group on Tower Hamlets Council.

Two weeks ago I attended a depressing meeting hosted by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner for Professionalism, Helen King. This was a briefing regarding the actions taken by the Metropolitan Police Service and Crown Prosecution Service in relation to electoral fraud allegations and the management of elections in Tower Hamlets.

AC King was accompanied by DI Gail Glanville, Superintendent Peter Turner of Tower Hamlets Police, who earlier this year faced the councils overview and scrutiny and committee during which his only response to questions on electoral malpractice was before my time and finally Nick Vamos of the Crown Prosecution Service.

From the council were three of the DCLG appointed Commissioners, the Chief Executive, Mayor John Biggs and myself. The leader of the Independents had been invited but, unsurprisingly did not attend. Significantly, none of the petitioners who risked their reputations and savings in bringing the case to court were invited or even notified of this meeting.

As we know the Tower Hamlets election petition was a landmark judgement. However, the Metropolitan Police, as I have previously written, described it in a press release as a report and, it is as a report that they have treated this judgement and subsequent investigations.

After the Slough and Woking election petitions vote fraudsters were charged and prosecuted for Conspiracy to Defraud the Returning Officer. Evidence both in the petitions and the subsequent court cases showed that that the local police forces investigated the criminals registering false voters and these investigations led to prosecution and conviction. Significantly, statements and evidence was collected from those who had given evidence at the civil court, which reached the level required for a criminal case and was successfully used in evidence by the prosecution.

Yet in Tower Hamlets the police were unable to produce evidence to prosecute, despite the willingness of potential witnesses to provide statements and evidence.

To give an indication of this, let me quote, verbatim, three examples from the Tower Hamlets judgement:

Monirazzuman Syed

316 The first candidate was MonirUzzaman (aliter Monirazzuman) Syed who stood for THF in Bromley North. Also registered at this flat were four people, two people with Italian names, one with a Lithuanian name and one with an Asian name. In a witness statement Mr Syed claimed to have lived there at the time of the election but to have moved away immediately afterwards for personal reasons. He was not called to give evidence to support his witness statement and it is noticeable that the address he did furnish on one statement was in Ilford. Mr Syed had an interesting relationship with this property. In 2013 he applied to be a candidate for the Labour Party but I was told by Mr Chris Weavers, the Labour Party electoral agent, whose evidence I accept, that Mr Syed had been turned down (inter alia) on the ground that he could not satisfy the Party that he genuinely lived at that address. Mr Syed then tried his luck with THF whose selection processes (ie interview with Mr Rahman) seem to have satisfied that party that he was indeed resident at 16 Prioress House. It is remarked by the Petitioners that Mr Syed, being an estate agent, would have access to information.

Aktaruz Zaman, later Mohammed Aktaruzzaman

317 One of the more curious witnesses in the case was a man who stood as a THF candidate in the May election as Aktaruz Zaman in St Peters Ward. At that time he gave his address as 312 The Highway, to which we shall return. He was unsuccessful. He then decided to stand, again for THF, in the election for the ward of Blackwall and Cubitt Town in the election that had been postponed from May 2014 because of the death of a THF candidate. Mr Zaman told the court that he decided that being called Zaman was not a good idea because it meant he came last on the ballot paper (this being alphabetical) and he also decided that he needed a change of air. Consequently he changed his name to Mohammed Aktaruzzaman and suddenly decamped from The Highway to 16 Prioress House (within days of the May election). He must presumably have moved in just as Mr Syed was moving out. Sadly for this man, moving his name to the other end of the alphabet did him no good. He was not elected for Blackwall and Cubitt Town either.

318 When canvassing for the election Khales Uddin Ahmed (the successful Labour candidate for Bromley North Ward) visited a number of properties including 16 Prioress House. His evidence, which I accept on this point, is that, in May 2014 the only resident was a European male and that Mr Syed did not live there. When Mr Gilligan called, in June 2014, he found that no person whose name appeared on the register lived at that address.

319 I am completely satisfied that neither of these two THF candidates ever resided at 16 Prioress House. Their registration was false and it follows that, when they voted in the election (as it is not contested they did), they were guilty of an offence under s 61 of the 1983 Act. Now, clearly, when Mr Zaman voted in the postponed election he cannot have voted for Mr Rahman who had been elected back in May. Nevertheless Mr Zamans mendacity in respect of 16 Prioress House did not bode well for his attempt to convince me that he resided at 312 The Highway at the date of the May election, at which he had also voted.

Kabir Ahmed

322 Next we have Mr Kabir Ahmed. He is one of several brothers and is an active member of the Mayors team. Mr Ahmed was a Labour Councillor in the previous administration and was one of those who had defected to Mr Rahman and become an independent. He was selected as a THF candidate for Weavers Ward in 2014 and stood unsuccessfully.

323 For some time Mr Ahmed had given his address as 236a Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AA, a flat above a shop. This was said to be a property with four double en-suite bedrooms and a shared living room. The other occupants were said to be: Mr Ahmeds wife Sibly Rahman, his brother Mohammed Ansar Hussein, a Mohammed Mokit and Ala Uddin, who was said to work in the shop on the ground floor. According to Councillor Mohammed Abdul Mukit MBE, who knew Mr Ahmed well, he was not actually resident at that address, although he undoubtedly used it as an address for receiving mail. Both Mr Mukit and Mr Gilligan stated that the room allegedly occupied by Mr Ahmed and his wife was completely bare except for one bed, one chair and one desk.

324 Mr Ahmeds non-residence in the Borough was a matter of some notoriety. Councillor Peter Golds, an indefatigable letter-writer had written to various people to complain about this more than once and had raised it in open council. Councillor Mukit confirmed that Mr Ahmed actually lives at 52 Gants Hill Crescent, Ilford IG2 6TT43: he had attended his wedding, the invitation to which had given that property as Mr Ahmeds address. Mr Ahmed admitted in cross-examination that he paid no rent for 236a Bethnal Green Road and that he spent a lot of time in Gants Hill visiting his elderly parents.

325 Mr Gilligan told the court that Tracesmart and credit records he had checked also showed Mr Ahmed and his wife as resident in Gants Hill.

326 Applying the statutory test of residence set out above, I am quite satisfied that 326a Bethnal Green Road was not such a residence as would entitle Mr Ahmed to be registered to vote from that address and I am equally satisfied that this was a mere accommodation address, used for administrative purposes. I did not accept that Mr Ahmed had any genuine belief that this was his residence: he quite clearly knew that the falsity of the residence was well- known to his political opponents and he continued to use that address.

327 It follows that Mr Ahmeds registration was a false registration and that his votes were unlawful.

The police were informed in writing before, during and after the 2014 election that these three candidates were using false addresses. In the case of Kabir Ahmed, they were notified as far back as 2010, that he did not live at the address where he was registered. In fact letters were sent at subsequent elections all of which remained unanswered and no investigation was undertaken.

This goes to the hub of the long record of total indifference by the police. None of those who had worked to expose the three fraudsters named above and are highlighted have been asked to provide further evidence or witness statements. I, for example, could provide evidence that as far back as 2010 Monirazzuman Syed was living with his family in Ilford. I would also guess that more than a third of Tower Hamlets Councillors would also be able to give chapter and verse as to Kabir Ahmeds actual home in Gants Hill.

I undertook extensive work to investigate Aktaruz Zaman. This included his movements on and off the Tower Hamlets register, his actual home in Shoreham and indeed his business in Horsham. I have never been asked to provide any of this. A C King says that a dedicated team of officers were investigating. Staggeringly, they were unable to find anything strange in a man who in the space of six weeks fought elections in two wards in the same borough, using two different names and two different addresses. If they had met him they would have found a man wearing designer suits, driving an expensive Mercedes car, showing off a chunky gold watch whilst claiming to share a bedroom with a Lithuanian resident who had never met him on the Bow Bridge Estate .Midsomer Murders, it is not!

Instead the police and CPS at this meeting meandered around the criminal barrier and admissible evidence. As they had not sought evidence from potential witnesses it was unlikely that they would have evidence, admissible or otherwise. DI Grainger, giving a more than passable impression of a first round contestant in Pointless or The Chase, talked about allegations and calling at addresses and people being spoken to. As they had not spoken to those of us who had amassed evidence, did she expect people such as Kabir Ahmed to admit that for years he had been using a false address for electoral and voting purposes?

However, far worse was to come. It is now known that only a thin file was presented to the Crown Prosecution Service and this file did not include any investigation into findings of bribery and corruption found by Commissioner Mawrey.

AC King said, and I wrote this down and read it back the police decided not to refer any cases for a charging decision.

On this matter, one of the commissoners asked repeatedly had the police and indeed the CPS read the dismissal for Judicial review of the election petition by Lord Justice Lloyd Jones of the Supreme Court. In this rejection Lord Justice Lloyd Jones was scathing in the matter of bribery that had taken place in Tower Hamlets.

Mr Vamos then said, and I wrote this down and repeated it, as did a Commissioner, that he had read parts of the Mawrey Judgement.

Here we have a representative of the CPS, informing a meeting that he had read parts of a landmark legal judgement into electoral malpractice. Some in the room were left open mouthed.

This can only be equalled by an investigating officer in 2015 saying over the telephone to a lawyer that she had not read the Judgement at all.

The staggering misuse of the council for the purpose of bribery was simply ignored. No wonder the police had not sought further evidence.

Lawyers whom I and other colleagues have spoken to, are mystified as to why there have been no prosecutions, and dismiss the refrain of burden of proof.

They all agree that the proof is available, it is the police failing to assemble the proof wherein lies the problem. I have communicated with a leading barrister on a tangential investigation. I can only quote from the opening paragraph of a letter to me;

I think I must have led a sheltered life! Until I got involved in helping (name supplied)I had not realised how lazy, incompetent and corrupt the criminal justice system had become since I cut my teeth in the Crown Courts over 20 years ago. There exists constitutional defeatism among laughingly-called professionals and the number of individuals whose files I have placed in the cabinets Supine, Venal and Supine and Venal is truly shocking.

There is also the problem of the electoral commission, whose dance of inertia with the police is an ongoing problem. The electoral commission is simply not up to the job. As Sir Eric says the oversight of elections should be returned to a Government Department which itself is open to public scrutiny by a select committee. As the report points out, the silence of the commission on Tower Hamlets 2014 is quite extraordinary, although with the police inaction they are able to say there is no problem, as they continue to do.

Sir Eric has produced a very well written and extraordinarily balanced report. As can be seen from the witnesses he has spoken to many, from across the board, who are intimately involved in the electoral process.

It is a pity that the Metropolitan Police appear not to have spoken to a number of these witnesses in drawing up their conclusions.

Let me now turn to Sir Erics timely recommendations.

Of the 50 recommendations my nine personal highlights, which are concerns which I have repeatedly raised are:

Requiring identification to vote at polling stations, with initial pilot schemes of different options.

schemes of different options. Stronger police powers to tackle intimidation outside polling stations.

Banning political activists from handling postal votes to stop vote harvesting.

The abolition of permanent postal votes.

Tougher checks on electoral registration to prevent the electoral register being used for immigration and benefit fraud.

Learning the lessons of Tower Hamlets, with new corruption-busting powers for the press, public and councillors to scrutinise the decisions of elected mayors and cabinets, from whistleblowing protections to stronger rights to inspect council documents.

Rationalising the procedures for election petitions. It is simply not right that citizens should win in court and find that the crook leaves them with the bill.

The count process must be made universal and transparent.

A new role for the National Crime Agency to tackle complex election fraud cases.

The OECD has expressed concern at the frailties in our voting system. The production of a form of ID when voting is normal elsewhere. Interestingly in my experience, it is older voters, those who vote regularly, who often express the most concerns about simply giving a name and address to receive a ballot paper. The idea that it is Britain at its best that somebody is able to appear at a polling station, give a name and address and be handed a ballot paper is no longer acceptable to ever increasing numbers of voters.

I am writing this as the BBC are reporting on the response to the Pickles enquiry and their shots of Tower Hamlets polling stations are evidence that there is a growing problem with the mobbing of polling stations. If there is no problem in some areas, then there needs be no action. However, where there is a problem, and it is increasing, there needs to be powers to prevent it.

There have long been concerns regarding postal voting. Unfortunately, it may now be difficult to remove a process which has been in operation for more than a decade. What can and must be done is to ensure that there are stringent rules as to the handling of postal votes by anyone other than the voter and that applications are regularly renewed.

Returning to Tower Hamlets, in advance of the countermanded poll in Blackwall and Cubitt Town Ward in July 2014, a man was stopped in a car at Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf. There were 200 photocopies of postal vote applications in the boot of his car. For what legitimate reason would anyone have 200 photocopies of postal vote applications in a car boot?

These forms after all, contain the full names, addresses, dates of birth and the signature of an elector.

Inevitably, the driver was spoken to and, in line with the Metropolitan Polices commitment to taking electoral fraud seriously, no further action was taken.

I wonder what would be said if a car were stopped with photocopies of 200 credit card applications?

There remains the problem and it is a problem, of misplaced political correctness. The electoral commission itself commissioned and published an academic report in 2015 entitled Understanding electoral fraud vulnerability in Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin communities in England.

There have been other similar reports as well as well studied contributions from politicians ranging from Labours Dr Tony Wright to Paul Goodman.

Lutfur Rahman has made a career of responding to criticisms and questions by making accusations of racism. Yet he founded a political party including incredibly nasty racists, homophobes and anti-semites. He poured taxpayers money into so called community groups which were actually hard line Mosques. He gave out funds for mother tongue teaching which increased isolation within his core community. Council money was paid over to his community newspapers and TV stations which duly promoted him, often in slavish terms. Despite regular and indeed sustained criticism by Ofcom, each new grant was signed off by council officers. Meetings that he held were overwhelmingly attended by men and where women were present they were generally gender segregated. One of his favoured venues boasted on its website that it had facilities for gender segregation. His political group was entirely Bangladeshi and after the 2014 election included just one woman.

On the day the hearing commenced the pro-Rahman paper, London Bangla was published with the headline An attack on Lutfur Rahman is an attack on all British Bangladeshis. The author was a beneficiary of a council funded community group decided by Rahman and his son was employed by Rahman in his council office. Contempt of Court or not (and most say that it was) the police did not want to know.

Before the commencement of the election petition hearing, there was a preliminary hearing. One person present, I am told, who was laughing and joking with Rahman officials was one of the police officers who had been dealing with questions arising from the 2014 election. Rahman himself was provided with a bodyguard of policemen when he appeared in court.

The judiciary itself took the unprecedented step of having the case assigned to the Royal Court of Justice rather than be heard locally because of concerns regarding intimidation and the security of documents.

It is not racist to enforce the law. In London that the Metropolitan Police is currently not up to dealing with this problem The racism comes when the law is not enforced, or worse ignored thereby allowing lawbreakers within communities to break the law unheeded.

There must be a programme of community education as to what is legal and what is not within the electoral process. This can only succeed if the police do the job that they are expected to do.

The failure of the police to properly investigate the horrific cases of rape and abuse in Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford have caused terrible damage in public police relations. The Metropolitan Police spent millions of pounds on the failed Operation Midland and the public will soon learn the full extent of this disaster on the publication of the investigation by Sir Richard Henriques.

Electoral malpractice is likely to be the next disaster. It is not too late for that thin file to be properly looked at and a full investigation undertaken.

Since 2010 I have counted nine judges that have taken corrupt Lutfur Rahman to task. There should have been another one, with a jury, to finish his corruption once and for all.
There is a moral in the story of how Boris Johnson comes at last to be running the country. For time out of mind, his critics have argued that his priority is to become Prime Minister, rather than do anything much that would deserve him the office. He is, they have variously claimed, an adulterer, a liar, a conniver in abortion, an accomplice in violence, a seeker of gagging orders, a serial underachiever, and a man bereft of political principle: a cynic in a jesters cap who strikes comic poses while picking our pockets  who wants to have his cake and eat it (in the words of our recent summing-up of their view).

ConservativeHome has never been convinced by this charge-sheet. Johnson is not the only MP to want to be Prime Minister, let alone to be less than a counsel of perfection. Furthermore, he twice won election as Mayor in a Labour-leaning city, thus gaining the biggest electoral mandate of any British politician. He was a solid and popular Mayor who cut his council tax bill, delivered 100,000 new homes (not enough, but more than his Labour predecessor), created 25,000 new apprenticeships (ditto), pushed for Crossrail and tube extensions (which he got), and flew the flag for the capital with panache  not least, as we remember during these medal-winning days, during the 2012 Olympics.

None the less, that charge-sheet against him sapped his legitimacy, at least in the eyes of some Party members. But in the wake of the EU referendum, his position has been transformed, for two main reasons  one confined to supporters of Brexit; the other applicable more widely.

First, Britain might not be leaving the EU were it not for Johnson. There is a school of thought that holds that the British people would have voted for Brexit whatever the Remain and Leave campaigns did or didnt do. Admittedly, this cannot be disproved (one cant prove a negative). But the case is flimsy, and the same people who make it would have complained had there been no Leave campaign at all. There was one. Johnson was its main public face. And Britain voted to Leave. There is a sense in which he ended up sacrificing his main goal, his leadership ambitions, for a subsidiary one, Brexit. But wherever the truth may lie, the country is in his debt.

Second, Michael Goves decision to withdraw support for Johnsons leadership campaign, and run himself, put the latter in the unusual position of holding the moral advantage, or at least being seen to. This is not to say that the former Justice Secretary acted dishonourably or even wrongly. But that the two men had a deal and that Gove ended it has had the curious effect of casting Johnson as a wronged man. That he reacted to the formers decision wisely (by rapidly withdrawing from the contest) and calmly (in his speech at what would have been his launch) has buttressed this impression.

Indeed, what happened has left him a winner. Gove has gone out of Cabinet, while he himself has come in, and to one of the most senior posts available, to boot; to one insulated from public criticism  relatively speaking  and arguably the most imposing: as grand as the Locarno Suite itself.

Yes, it is as Foreign Secretary that Johnson, this morning, finds himself the most senior Minister in Britain, since both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are on holiday. Only by having had his ambition frustrated is he able today to get a glimpse of what it would be like to have it realised in practice. He can build on that thought. For only by working by diligently away in King Charles Street does he stand even a chance of managing the transition, in some dim and distant future, to Downing Street. And making a success of the Foreign Office is his most likely route to being remembered as a politician of real substance, since it is the most senior post he is likely to occupy.

There is so much to do. The Foreign Office has been in decline since at least the New Labour years, when Tony Blair over-rode its institutional disquiet over war with Iraq  and, later, second-guessed it by appointing his own special envoy to the Middle East, and running policy towards that region from Downing Street himself. David Miliband closed the foreign office language school. Embassies shut abroad. The departments language skills declined. Its library was dismembered. William Hagues arrival and reform programme returned to the Foreign Office prestige and purpose. But its effectiveness had been severely damaged.

Now on top of all that comes Brexit. The referendum vote has come as a body-blow to the department. Since the era of Con ONeill, John Robinson and Michael Palliser  at the time of the Macmillan Governments push to enter the Commons Market  belief in Britains place in the European enterprise has been a non-negotiable principle of departmental belief. But the Foreign Office is losing an empire without necessarily finding a role. It is Johnsons mission to find it one. Downing Streets view is clear. It wants the department to return to its traditional diplomatic function, and recover its expertise about developments abroad and what they mean for Britain.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the spat between Liam Fox and Johnson over trade, it certainly makes sense for the the latter to concentrate on continuing the work that Hague started. He could do a lot worse than call in his Ministerial colleague Rory Stewart, who pursued the departments languages decline as a backbencher.

In short, the bigges items in the new Foreign Secretarys in-tray are to ensure that we have diplomats in place who speak the languages of the countries in which theyre stationed; that the department has enough specialists in place to give it an understanding of what is going on in (say) the Far East and Latin America, and that it helps to carve out a new post-Brexit international role for Britain as a member of the UN Security Council, the G8, NATO, the Commonwealth; the possessor of the fourth-largest defence budget on the planet and of enough soft power to top international leagues  not to mention the English language, and the great global city of which he was once Mayor.

Above all, perhaps, Johnson has to get the countrys policy towards Russia and perhaps above all China into proper shape. In the wake of the row over Hinckley Point, Britains approach to the latter is confused. Do we see China as a strategic partner  a big investor in a country that badly needs investment  or as a threat to our security?

For all his history of clowning, faux pas and, er, lively quotes about foreign leaders (he once likened Hillary Clinton to a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital), the country could do a lot worse than have in charge of its foreign policy this one man melting pot, with his outward-looking interests, projection, and intuitive intelligence. Johnson doubtless still wants to run the country in some distant day. But he knows well that his best means of doing so now  and in future  is to get on with the day job.
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"Pastafarians declare holy war on 'gluten-free infidels.'"

This particularly seems to make a lot of sense in the case of suicide bombings. You're a lot more likely to blow yourself up if you think you're going to get an awesome deal out of it in the afterlife, right?

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In Reality:

Sure, religious extremism accounts for a lot of terrorist attacks, but it's certainly not the only motivator, or even the biggest one. The gold medalists of suicide bombings are the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka -- who, despite sounding like a middle school softball team, are a completely secular group of militant communists.

Marietta Amarcord/Wiki Commons

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No paradise bribes for these folks.

But sure, that's somewhere in the third world, where the rules all go out the window anyway. What about here in the West? Well, according to the Global Terrorism Index put out by the Institute For Economics and Peace in 2015, Islamic fundamentalism was responsible for a whopping ... 19 percent of terrorism-related deaths in the West between 2006 and 2014. The rest were motivated by much less mystical stuff, like political extremism, anti-government sentiment, or good old-fashioned racism.

In fact, of the three biggest attacks over that time, only one (the 2009 Fort Hood attack) was religiously motivated. The other two were the 2011 attack in Oslo, Norway by white nationalist Anders Breivik, and another white guy who drove his car into a crowd in The Netherlands in an apparent attempt to kill the Dutch Queen in the least efficient way possible.
Among other things, Eastern Lightning believes that the end of the world is super nigh. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, except that if you don't agree with them, they will beat the crap out of you until you do. While most religions send out missionaries with pamphlets, Eastern Lightning offers potential converts presents like smartphones. If the ability to play Pokemon Go AND make phone calls still isn't enough to convince them, the church will straight-up kidnap people and torture them, and in some cases kill them. They have also kidnapped leaders of rival churches -- up to 33 in 2002 alone.

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The Chinese government, which isn't big on religion in general, hates Eastern Lightning in particular. It included them on a list of 14 religions that were outright banned, and in 2012 arrested over 1,000 of the estimated 700,000 to 1,000,000 adherents for causing panic and riots with their end-of-the-world talk. To make sure everyone got the point, they also posted notices calling Eastern Lightning "a social cancer and a plague on humankind." Considering one follower beat a woman to death in a McDonald's for not giving him her phone number, and then said it was fine because God told him to, they probably have a point.
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Cloud News

Flux7, A Specialist In State-Of-The-Art Solutions, Unveils A Microservices Service

Joseph Tsidulko

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Flux7 is an IT solutions provider that thrives on the cutting edge, specializing in helping businesses adopt modern IT infrastructures employing cloud-based architectures that support agile software development and deployment.

Over the last fiscal quarter, the Austin, Texas-based firm, an Amazon Web Services Premier Consulting Partner, noticed a significant spike in potential customers looking to implement microservices, a software development methodology that reduces complex apps into simple and lightweight networked processes, said its CEO, Aater Suleman.

The sudden inbound interest in a software architecture style favored by DevOps practitioners was consistent from a range of customers, from startups to large enterprises, Suleman said, although "they were all approaching microservices for different reasons."

[Related: The 10 Coolest Cloud Development Startups Of 2016 (So Far)]

After building about dozen similar solutions, Flux7s executives were certain of the trend line, and decided to capitalize with a formal offering.

On Tuesday, Flux7 debuted Microservices SmartStart, a turnkey offering available through the AWS Service Catalog thats designed to help companies rapidly deploy and then customize cloud-native applications built from microservices.

"Were giving them something developers can start using instantly, then operations can start modifying and customizing, based on their specific needs," Suleman said.

Microservices achieves several benefits in productivity; they allow companies to pivot faster toward market demands, development teams to collaborate more efficiently, and developers to assume distinct roles that can operate independently of each other.

Young startups that have approached Flux7 generally believe microservices will yield for them the advantage of being able to react quickly to customer demand as they develop greenfield applications, Suleman said.

The more established companies, often late-stage startups, are typically more interested in breaking down their development teams into smaller units to make it easier to incorporate new engineers as they redevelop existing monolithic applications for the cloud, he said.

Meanwhile, the enterprise customers have been worried about startups encroaching on their turf, and want to be able to scale their development efforts by working in parallel, usually on greenfield projects, according to Suleman.

Another noteworthy -- and related -- trend that Flux7 has observed over the past year is that sanctioned IT projects once again appear to outpace Shadow IT projects.

In 2015, most of Flux7's engagements were driven by software developers, Suleman said, often out of the purview of the IT department. But that dynamic has flipped this year, and now IT leaders are more often than not involved in those projects.

Developers that engage Flux7 have "usually zeroed in that microservices is best done using Docker containers, and theyre looking for the IT team to provide a solid harness in which they can run Docker in a governable fashion," Suleman said.

The microservices templates that SmartStart offers employ AWS best practices, configured to auto-scale and absorb self-healing Docker container clusters, Suleman told CRN.

And while the majority of the SmartStart implementations will be launched on AWS, customers dont have to use Amazons cloud if they don't want to, he added.
Internet of things News

Partners Hope Internet Of Things Will Take Center Stage At Intel Developer Forum

Lindsey O'Donnell

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At the Intel Developer Forum, which is taking place in San Francisco this week, partners told CRN they want to hear more about Intel's increased investments in the Internet of Things and the role the channel will play.

I think the channel gets lots of focus from other manufacturers in the areas of [high-performance computing] and enthusiast, so the segment they need more guidance in is IoT, said Kent Tibbils, vice president of marketing at ASI, a Fremont, Calif.-based Intel system builder. This is not to say that Intel shouldnt or doesnt provide guidance for other categories, just that IoT is the one that is still more immature or open in terms of where the channel fits.

"Intel is a significant partner to thousands of resellers so it plays a major role in helping these organizations develop a strategy for growth [in IoT], said Tibbils.

[Related: Partners: Microsoft Extension Of Windows End-Of-Life Policies 'Great News']

Partners said they would like to see real-life use cases and new technology that will help them figure out how to tap into the many opportunities that IoT creates.

Jon Bach, president of Puget Systems, a Kent, Wash.-based Intel system builder partner, said he hopes to learn more about Intels strategy around 5G  the next phase of the mobile telecommunications standard that could feed all the device needs as part of IoT  in addition to any high-performance computing news.

On the IoT side, I'd expect Intel to talk more about their 5G plans, said Bach. The big one, across [high-performance computing] and enthusiast, is Optane [solid state drives]. There is a lot of anticipation for that, from everything from content creation to scientific computing.

Intel over the spring outlined a future with more investments in data center, cloud and Internet of Things as it aims to lessen its dependence on the PC market. As the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company makes this shift in strategy, partners will have a more important role than ever, Maurits Tichelman, Intel's general manager, worldwide reseller channel, told CRN in June.

The shift in strategy is in part because of a stagnant PC market: Intel in the beginning of the year lowered its PC market expectations, saying it expects the market to decline in the high single digits in 2016.

Meanwhile, the company's data center segment, which grew 5 percent year over year in the second quarter, as well as its Internet of Things segment, which grew 2 percent year over year, are becoming increasingly lucrative markets.

"Looking at IoT and data center, there are many more new business models being developed where Intel technology can be at the core and heart of solutions," Tichelman told CRN in June. "But we want to make sure that our channel stays close to us so we can learn from our channel and can keep developing great products, not only for today but for the future."
Headlines Lucas Black on NCIS Was at the Height of His Hollywood Career When He Gave it All Up for God Mel Johnson
Louisiana has suffered devasting floods over the past week. Christian ministry Samaritian's Purse is sending out support to those in need. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is also sending chaplains with its Rapid Response Team to minister to flood victims.

Samaritan's Purse has deployed advance members of their disaster relief team to Louisiana and Mississippi. They are on the ground canvassing hard-hit areas and preparing to provide relief to victims of the historic flooding, after more than 30 inches of rain have fallen during the past week. As soon as the water recedes, the organization will be positioned to immediately help families impacted by the disaster.

This record-breaking flood has killed at least six people, destroyed countless homes and displaced thousands, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritans Purse. These families need our help. We want to remind them that they are not alone and show them Gods love as we help them recover.

The North Carolina-based organization is seeing entire neighborhoods underwater and homes with only their rooftops visible. This devastating flood has already resulted in more than 20,000 rescues and left some 10,000 displaced families reeling from the devastation.

When the flooded areas are accessible, the organizations Disaster Relief Units will serve as command centers in the hard-hit communities. These units are tractor-trailers stocked with heavy-duty tarps, generators and other tools that will aid in the cleanup efforts.

Samaritans Purse and its volunteers will help families clean out their flood-damaged homes. Teams will tear out soaked drywall, remove flooring, clear debris and spray chemicals designed to stop mold growth.

A group of chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associations Rapid Response Team will also deploy to help flood victims in Gulf Coast states. They will be working alongside Samaritans Purse to provide emotional and spiritual encouragement.

For more information about how to help or volunteer with Samaritans Purse, go to spvolunteernetwork.org. Donations to help with the flood relief efforts can be made at samaritanspurse.org.

Samaritans Purse has helped more than 29,000 families in 35 U.S. states following floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and ice storms. In the past six months, the organization has helped people after floods in West Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, and recently provided aid to victims of the deadly tornadoes in Mississippi and wildfires in California.

Publication date: August 16, 2016
I got engaged earlier this month. I surprised Denise on vacation in Florida with a ring and the question and she said yes. Were months away from our wedding day, and were both overflowing with joy. The Proverb is true: A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19).

But it wasnt always this way.

For the first 26 years of my life, I was single.

No prospects.

No date nights.

Nothing.

Some might say, But youre getting married in your mid-to-late twenties. Relax. You didnt wait forever!

Youre right. But when desires go unfulfilled without answers, even a few years can seem like forever.

When I was single, I noticed how easy it was to believe lies. And after talking with dozens and dozens of other single Christians over the years, it seems that theres a few lies that singles are prone to believing.

What are they?

Before I get married and forget what its like to be single, and while these lessons and conversations and memories over the years are still fresh in my head, heres a few lies that I think single Christians tend to believe.

1. I deserve a spouse because I have a desire for marriage.

Desire is a tricky thing, isnt it?

In one sense, desire is good. You should desire to love God, you should desire to love people, you should desire to pursue holiness . These are good desires. But desires can change quickly. And when your desires become demands, idolatry is near.

Do you desire a spouse? Or do you demand that God give you one?

Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

For years, I thought this verse was simple. I thought it meant that if I rejoiced in the Lord, then hed give me the stuff I wanted. But what this verse really means is that when you delight yourself in the Lord, the Lord will shape your desires, and your desires will align with his will. His desires become your desires.

John Piper says :

I think delighting yourself in the Lord is what shapes the desires of your heart so that it will be good for you for God to grant them. In other words, there are a lot of desires in our hearts that are impure and unwise, and this is not a promise that, if you delight in God, then you get all those evil desires in your heart. And the best way to bring the desires of our hearts into conformity with God is to put all of our energy and all of our effort into enjoying God himself. When we enjoy God, not just his gifts, but God himself, then the desires of our heart are shaped, are defined and created, in accord with our delight in him.

He continues:

The reason those who delight themselves in the Lord receive the desires of their heart is not just because of one causes the other, but because one shapes the other. Delighting in God supremely determines, shapes the kinds of desires that we have in our heart.

That doesnt mean that your desire for marriage will go away if you rejoice in the Lord, or that your previous desire (or current one) is evil. God is sovereign over everything, and you must trust that as you rejoice in him, his plan will be fulfilled for your life, whether you marry or not.

Part of living in this fallen world is that reality of knowing that some desires and dreams and ambitions dont come true.

But also part of living in this fallen world, for those who belong to Christ, is the hopeful promise of heaven, a place where there will be no more sin or suffering or sickness and no longer will desires go unfulfilled.

2. I deserve a spouse because of my obedience.

This was my struggle. I knew a lot of guys who God granted wives and yet they were addicted to pornography. Because I didnt sin in the same way they did, or because I thought my sin issues were less significant, I became self-righteous and proud.

God, I dont do the horrible things they do. Why did you bless them and not me?

Slowly, God began to reveal my pharisaical tendencies. Waiting on God exposed the ugliness in my heart.

While painful at the time, Im glad God made me wait. It was his way of sanctifying me and showing me that while he does indeed command my obedience, that doesnt mean that I will always get what I want when I obey him.

Whenever we use the word deserving in the Christian life we usually arent far away from a contradiction.

What about you?

Maybe you notice some married women who are less godly than you. Or maybe youre a guy and you think that you can be a much better husband than that guy.

Whatever your situation, remember: Your aim for obedience should be to please and glorify God, not to get his stuff.

3. God will bring me a spouse when Im least expecting it.

Many married Christian folk in the church tell this to singles all the time. And I really wish they wouldnt.

I was content in Christ and wasnt expecting a spouse for many years . . . and nothing happened.

Its true: sometimes God withholds things to teach you lessons. He wants you to be content and satisfied in him. He wants you to put his Kingdom first and trust that hell protect and provide for your every need. But just because you arent looking doesnt automatically mean that God will send someone your way.

We dont need to speak and counsel people in such formulaic terms. If you do this, then that will happen. Thats sometimes true; but other times . . . its not.

When we promise spouses to Christians if they follow Jesus or if they do certain things, were implementing a form of prosperity gospel teaching without even knowing it.

4. God is holding out on me.

When I say holding out what I mean is deprivation.

In other words, you believe God is withholding something good from you. You desire to be married, you know a spouse is a good thing and, because you dont have it, you declare that God must be holding out on you.

If youre honest, you sometimes flat out believe that God is evil.

Psalm 84:11 says, No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Paul reminds us, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

When God makes you wait for things, its not his way of depriving you; its his way of changing you. Hes making you more like Jesus, the single, suffering servant. As C.S. Lewis once said, God would not have anyone waiting unless he saw it was good for them to wait.

I dont know why God does some of the things that he does. I dont know why youre still single. Im not sure whats next for you in this season of life. Theres a lot of things I dont know, but I know this: Our God is faithful and he takes care of his children.

God is not holding out on you. He may give you a spouse, but even if he doesnt, hes already given you something better  namely, himself.

5. God has forgotten about me.

Worse of all, you think that God has forgotten about you.

If someone asked you, Do you believe that God is all-knowing? Youd be quick to say yes.

But sometimes you question if thats true.

Im always amazed by a little verse in Genesis about the life of Joseph. After Joseph successfully interprets the cupbearers dream for him, he asks a favor: to mention his situation to Pharaoh in hopes of being released from prison.

But that didnt happen.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him (Genesis 40:23).

We tend to think that God will treat us like the cupbearer and leave us in prison longer than we want. But God is unlike sinful man in so many ways and never forgets to fulfill his promises for those who belong to him.

John Owen said, The greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.

You can trust that even when it feels like hes working all things out for bad, hes actually working out all things for good  and its impossible for omniscience to forget you.

You know, I really hope that God blesses you with a significant other. I really do. I hope the wedding day, honeymoon, and life you envision becomes a reality. But even if it doesnt, theres something better: Christ crucified.

And through the strength and joy that Jesus provides, you, single Christian, can live a joyful, meaningful, and satisfied life for the One who bled on your behalf. Dont wait for a spouse to love Jesus more because, as Tim Keller says, If single Christians dont develop a deeply fulfilling love relationship with Jesus, then they will put too much pressure on their dream of marriage.

This article was originally published at gospelrelevance.com. Used with permission.

David Kaywood (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary) is senior associate pastor of Eastside Community Church in Jacksonville, Florida. He blogs regularly at gospelrelevance.com. You can subscribe to his blog. David lives in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with his wife and two children.

Publication date: August 16, 2016
At least seven people have died in floods plaguing Louisiana. More rain is forecast later in the week. So far, more than 20,000 people have been evacuated from flooded areas, a number that is expected to rise as rain falls on saturated ground. More than 12,000 people remain in shelters this morning. Even Governor John Bel Edwards had to be evacuated as chest-high waters filled the basement of the Governor's Mansion and cut off electricity.

Terrorism, murder, and other crimes tend to dominate the news, but they contribute to a small percentage of deaths in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 2,596,993 people in the US died in 2013. That comes to 7,115 deaths per day, 296 per hour, five every minute. Of all these deaths, 92.5 percent were of natural causes, meaning that nearly 2.4 million people died in the US because we live in broken bodies in a broken world.

How is faith relevant to the disasters of life?

If God is truly all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, why doesn't he prevent such suffering? He protected the people of Israel from the plagues of Egypt and rescued Paul from a shipwreckwhy doesn't he rescue more people in Louisiana's floods?

Consider three facts.

One: God can and often does intervene in natural circumstances. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:4344), kept a storm from capsizing his disciples' boat (Matthew 8:2327), and healed multitudes of sick people (Mark 1:3234). We should pray boldly and consistently for God's protection and intervention, knowing that anything our Father has ever done, he can still do.

Two: If God prevented all natural disease and disaster, we would live forever in our fallen bodies. Abraham would be 4,000 years old; Paul would be 2,000 years old. We would not step from our diseased bodies into God's perfect paradise. In our fallen world (Romans 8:22), God uses natural death to bring about supernatural life.

Three: What God does not prevent, he redeems. Wonderful stories are emerging of people helping each other as they face rising waters in Louisiana. You can assist flood victims through Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and numerous other organizations. We will see future good from present suffering and eternal reward for those who are faithful in hard times. As Paul noted, "The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).

No matter what happens to us, here is what has happened in us: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Our Father assures us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). As a result, he promises, "I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish" (v. 25).

So God invites us to "seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!" (1 Chronicles 16:11). The harder it is to trust God, the more we need him.

Note: My latest booklet, Half-full or Hopeful? Five reasons for optimism in a pessimistic day, is available on our website. I hope you'll read it and be encouraged by the good news of God at work in our world today.

Publication date: August 16, 2016



For more from the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, please visit www.denisonforum.org.

Do you want to live a life in whole-hearted pursuit of loving God and others?

Read today's First15 at www.first15.org.
Carnival Corporation today signed an addendum to one of its passenger terminal agreements, extending the contract through 2030 with an additional five years of sailings to and from Fort Lauderdale-based Port Everglades, according to a statement.

The addendum builds on the 15-year agreement reached in 2010 with the Broward County Board of County Commissioners and furthers Carnival Corporations commitment to Port Everglades, which overall has more than 3.6 million multi-day cruise passengers a year.

As part of the addendum, Carnival Corporation will have preferential use of Cruise Terminal 4, which reopened last year after $24 million worth of renovations and upgrades designed for greater efficiency and guest convenience.

Additionally, the port is currently undertaking an estimated $13.6 million slip extension project on Terminal 4, expected to be complete by the middle of 2017, that will lengthen the slip to accommodate larger cruise ships.

As part of the long-term agreement, the company also has preferential use of three additional terminals, Cruise Terminals 2, 21 and 26, along with one additional terminal. This provides five terminals in total for Carnival Corporation to serve its guests who visit Fort Lauderdale as part of their cruise vacation.

Carnival Corporation is a critical Port Everglades partner, and its many unique cruise line brands offer guests sailing into and out of our port with a wide variety of cruise experiences and itineraries, said Steve Cernak, chief executive and port director of Port Everglades. Carnival Corporation has a strong, long-standing presence in the Broward County community, and the additional five years included in the agreement reinforces that commitment. We look forward to welcoming the newest member of Holland America Lines fleet, ms Koningsdam, to our sunny shores in November.

Florida is the largest cruise market in the world, and we are thrilled to extend our agreement with Port Everglades, which is an extremely convenient and popular location for our guests with close proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the Caribbean, the worlds most popular region for cruise vacations, said Giora Israel, senior vice president of global port and destination development for Carnival Corporation. We place great value on the long and successful relationship we have built with the port and Broward County, and we look forward to working together to meet our most important goal -- providing memorable vacation experiences for our guests for many years to come.

As part of the original agreement, the port undertook a $54 million cruise terminal renovation project to make significant improvements to four existing cruise terminals to accommodate ships from Carnival Corporations fleet of global cruise line brands. Enhancements made as part of the project included features to enable simultaneous embarkation and debarkation processes, including two passenger loading bridges, separate and larger baggage halls and improved ground transportation areas. As part of the extension, Carnival Corporation and Port Everglades will engage in discussions to examine the opportunity for possible further improvements to Cruise Terminal 21 to accommodate Carnival Corporations newest class of ships.
Brazil just can't catch a break. We've already seen flesh-eating bacteria in the water, athletes getting robbed on the streets, and police officers holding up a "welcome to hell" sign at the airport. Plus a wide variety of cybercrime, including phishing attacks and credit card skimming machines.

Now the criminals are getting even more sophisticated. In the past two weeks, IBM's X-Force security team has spotted the high-end banking trojans Zeus Sphinx and Zeus Panda, according to a new report.

"This is considered sophisticated malware, and this kind of sophistication is not typical for Brazil," said Limor Kessem, executive security advisor for IBM Security. "This is definitely a step up from what we usually see in Brazil."

Brazilian malware is typically scripts or browser extensions, not a complex modular software product like Zeus, she said.

The way that it works is that both strains of malware target Brazilian computer users, then wait for the users to access their online banking or payments accounts. They then intercept the communications, modify the websites, steal credentials, and redirect the payments.

It is likely that the attackers are based in Brazil or have local partners, she said.

The malware communicates back to central command-and-control servers to download customized configuration files, she explained. In these two cases, the files have been customized to attack three major Brazilian banks and a Brazilian payment system, as well as one bank in Colombia.

Adding a new banking target requires the the attackers create a social engineering injection that precisely mimics a bank's look and feel and requires an understanding of the bank's authentication methods.

"They are able to manipulate what the persons sees when they visit the page," Kessem said. "For example, in addition to a login and password, they might also ask for a Social Security number and their mother's maiden name."

This is where local knowledge comes in handy.

"In the past, a lot of times, cybercriminals going after countries where they don't speak the language would have a lot of spelling mistakes, and that would be a sign that something isn't right," she said. "Now that they collaborate with people who are local, they have more of an ability to say the right things in the right way, and have more knowledge of how that bank works and have a better chance of defrauding accounts."

As a result, adding a new target becomes fairly easy, she said. All the criminals have to do is modify the configuration file. "It's fairly easy to do and criminals can do that at any time."

The core source is the same for both Panda and Sphinx, and both are based on the Zeus source code that was leaked in 2011 and has become a popular base for commercial malware sold on underground boards, she said.

Zeus Panda is extremely localized, she said. In addition to local banks, it targets a supermarket that delivers food, a police agency, and a Bitcoin exchange.

The Bitcoin exchange is probably being used to help the criminals launder their ill-gotten gains, Kessem suggested.

Zeus Sphinx targets Brazilian banks as well, but also goes after the popular Boleto Bancario payment platform, which allows users to go online and send money orders.

Sphinx first emerged a year ago, first attacking banks in Australia and the U.K.

Kessem did not have any data about how much financial damage these attackers are causing Brazil. In 2014, however, RSA issued a report that a Boleto malware fraud ring had compromised nearly $4 billion worth of transactions over the previous two years.

IBM currently monitors 270 million endpoints worldwide, Kessem said. After spotting the malware, the company notified the targeted institutions and local law enforcement authorities.

She declined to name the specific institutions targeted by the malware.
STRATFORD  Maintenance of the Marine One helicopters will no longer be done in Connecticut, a move that will affect about 85 unionized Sikorsky Aircraft employees.

The decision to move the repair work to Florida  the Marine One fleet transports the president of the United States  was the result of failed negotiations between Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and the U.S. Navy.

The parties couldnt reach an agreement on a contract to renew the maintenance program for the VH-3D and VH-60N aircraft, Sikorsky spokesman Paul Jackson said in a statement.

Consequently, Sikorsky will work with the Navy to transition the program to the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, in Florida, and with Teamster Union Local 1150 to adjust the workforce, Jackson said.

He said some workers could be reassigned, while others may take a voluntary separation option offered by the company.

At this point, we do not yet know the number of job reassignments, how many employees will opt for the voluntary separation offer, and how many involuntary reductions ultimately will be required, Jackson said. ...We will work closely with the impacted employees to ease the transition, and with all our employees, customers and suppliers to ensure continued execution on all company commitments.

Rocco Calo, an officer with the Teamsters union, said no layoffs are anticipated yet.

There are some open jobs in the shop, Calo said, noting that more than 20 jobs are now open in other divisions at Sikorsky. He said the buyout option is available to those aged 55 and over. He also said that jobs may be available in the new Marine One contract.

Jackson said that contract, the VH-92A presidential helicopter design and production contract with the Navy, will not be impacted by the current situation.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who represents the 3rd District, said in a statement that her understanding is the Navy decided to do the maintenance work internally to save costs.

We believe this decision is short-sighted on the part of the Navy, she said. Sikorsky has proudly built and supported this aircraft fleet for more than 40-plus years, and I feel that Sikorsky is best equipped and prepared to perform this work.

DeLauro said she wrote a letter, dated July 6, to the Navy asking for an update on the status of the repair program. I am still awaiting a response, she said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the decision to transfer repair work to Florida misguided.

I am pressing Lockheed and the Department of Defense for more information and will fight to overturn this misguided decision if possible, Blumenthal said in a statement.

I remain very concerned about a decision to take this important and integral work away from its historical home in Connecticut. Presidential helicopter maintenance work should remain within Sikorsky's control and the care of the Connecticut workers who have supported this critical capability.

Sikorskys parent company, Lockheed Martin, laid off 350 workers last month, and announced at the time that it would be reviewing Sikorskys operations in Stratford as well.

Maryland-based Lockheed Martin said at the time that if layoffs were to come to Sikorsky, those affected would be off the payroll by the end of August.

The action announced last month has not occurred yet, Jackson said, when asked if the current situation was related to the possible layoffs announced then.

ktorres@hearstmediact.com; 203-330-6227
BRIDGEPORT - A dozen people, including three children, were taken to city hospitals Monday afternoon following a bus crash on the citys East Side.

None of the injuries were life threatening and most of those injured were expected to be treated and released.
BRIDGEPORTPolice confirm that a 28-year-old male was shot in the leg on Tuesday around 2 p.m. near the intersection of Beechwood Avenue and Iranistan Avenue.

Shortly after the shooting, the nearby McGovern Park was dead quiet, as heat baked the neighboring streets.

A woman waitning in her car on the street, who declined to give her name, was surprised to learn that shots had been firedshe had arrived minutes later to pick up her kids from a daycare just one block from the shooting.

The leg wound was not life-threatening, according to Bridgeport Police Captain Brian Fitzgerald. The victim has not been identified, and was sent to the hospital.

Officers combed the area around a church that sits at the intersection searching for shell casings, according to scanner reports.

Police did not immediately confirm if shots were fired closer to the McGovern Park at Norman and Beechwood, where the shooting was initially reported, or closer to the church on Iranistan, or how many shots had been fired.

Police are searching for a suspect in the shooting who reportedly drove a black two-door vehicle with tinted windows and away south on Iranistan.
Fall is right around the corner and school is almost in session, which means Connecticut's tax-free week is about to begin.

The exemption week begins August 21 and runs through the 27. All items that cost less than $100 will be exempt from sales tax during the tax-free week.
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By May, an influx of new residents had arrived downtown as Kennedy Flats ramps up efforts to lease its luxury apartment complex on Main Street.

About a year after construction started on the $80 million complex, nearly 100 units have been completed and about 75 percent of those are occupied, according to officials with Greystar, the national development company building the complex.

Kennedy Flats is the latest example of Danbury's effort to create a luxury rental environment in the city. Click through the slideshow to see what it costs to live in some of Danbury's higher-end apartment complexes.

Weve been seeing a lot of working professional from the Danbury area as well as a lot of Westchester residents looking to move into the state, said Justin Gaboury, the senior property manager for Kennedy Flats. We already have quite a few residents in the buildings.

Downtown merchants say they also begun to see new customers from the complex, long touted by city officials as one of the cornerstones to downtown revitalization efforts.

Weve been seeing some new faces, and if the complex continues to fill up, it will be a nice boost for everyone in the downtown, said Maurie Samaha, owner of the Danbury Liquor Store on White Street.

He said some of the new customers include several tenants of the complex who commute daily to New York City using the nearby Danbury railroad station.

One of the guys brought a bunch of friends up from New York City the other day who wanted to check out the area, Samaha said. Thats the kind of thing we like to see. Hopefully this is the start of even better things to come.

Plans call for the complex to have 345 units including both apartments and townhomes that should be completed by the end of the year. The amenities at the complex came online earlier this month including an in-ground pool, fitness center, a multilevel resident lounge and even a dog-washing station. Single-bedroom apartments at the complex rent for about $1,800 a month.

Gaboury noted that with more people shopping online these days, the complex also offers a concierge package service that will notify tenants by text or email when a package is received. They can then pick up the package at the complex 24 hours a day using a special code theyve been provided.

These days people are looking for high-end finishes and heavily amenitized communities, Gaboury said. And what we offer is a full-resort amenity package.

P.J. Prunty, the executive director of CityCenter, said hes already met several of the new residents and is thrilled with many of the new faces.

What I've seen is a lot of young professionals or married couples without children who have been interested in the complex, he said. I've come across people at the complex who work at Pitney Bowes, who are executives at Boehringer Ingelheim and other area corporations. Its a good demographic.

Prunty said hes also spent more time in recent months showing prospective businesses some of the retail vacancies available downtown.

There are some entrepreneurs who recognize the opportunity and are trying to take advantage of it, he said. There are also some existing shop owners who are changing around their businesses to better accommodate the new residents. Weve had some good progress so far and its exactly what we were hoping for.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
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.
Check it out: Fun things to do this weekend in Lake County
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.
So there is some justice in the world after all. The law firm that has hounded British troops with false allegations of war crimes is going out of business. And not before time.

Public Interest Lawyers, led by the odious Birmingham-based Phil Shyster, is to be wound up at the end of this month after being stripped of legal aid funding.

For more than a decade, PIL has made millions dragging soldiers and their families through years of unwarranted torment. Self-proclaimed socialist Shyster has mounted a politically motivated campaign designed deliberately to discredit our Armed Forces.

Public Interest Lawyers, led by the odious Birmingham-based Phil Shiner (pictured), is to be wound up at the end of this month after being stripped of legal aid funding

In the process, he and his shameless associates have pocketed over 4 million of taxpayers money.

PIL posed as crusading advocates seeking redress for vulnerable Iraqi and Afghan civilians who claimed to have been brutalised by British soldiers.

In truth, it was more like those spiv solicitors who advertise on daytime television, promising com-pen-say-shun for trip and fall accidents.

The difference was that while two-bob Blame Direct outfits work on a no win, no fee basis, PIL got paid regardless, thanks to the generosity and gullibility of the legal aid system.

This column has been on Shysters case ever since I crossed swords with him on television during the Iraq war, when it was revealed that he was sending agents into Baghdad and Basra to drum up business.

His cynical opportunism was stomach churning. Although he had one early success, involving a hotel receptionist who died in the custody of British troops in 2003, that didnt justify the gold rush of claims he submitted subsequently.

There are reported to be around 1,500 abuse cases either instigated or inspired by PIL. All will now be thrown out or withdrawn. Everything started to unravel for Shyster in December 2014 after a year-long inquiry into allegations that innocent Iraqi farmers had been murdered by British soldiers.

For more than a decade, Public Interest Lawyers has made millions dragging soldiers through years of torment

The judge leading the investigation concluded that the witnesses represented by PIL and another Left-wing law firm, Leigh Day, were not just exaggerating, they were telling outright lies.

During the course of the inquiry, it emerged that Shyster was employing a local agent to harvest claims for compensation. But in the words of the judge, the allegations were wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility.

That inquiry cost taxpayers 31 million. Outrageously, PIL trousered 3 million just for taking part.

At the time, I called for Shyster to be charged with treason and investigated for possible criminal offences. The then Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in, too, demanding that the solicitors governing body charge Shyster with misconduct.

The Guardian, house journal of the human rights racket, rallied to Shysters defence, claiming he was the victim of a vendetta by the Government and the Daily Mail. This reaction was typical of the way Shyster was lauded by the Left-wing legal establishment and the yuman rites brigade in particular.

He was named Solicitor of the Year and Human Rights Lawyer of the Year and given honorary doctorates by a string of universities.

All this went to Shysters head. He started styling himself Professor and behaving like a celebrity, listing comedy among his hobbies and always appearing in public in a series of trademark coloured spectacles.

To my mind, garish red glasses  like newsreader Jon Snows novelty socks  are a sure sign that the wearer has absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever.

There was nothing remotely funny about Shiners own vendetta against brave and blameless members of the Armed Forces (Pictured, British soldiers on patrol in Basra)

And there was nothing remotely funny about Shysters own vendetta against brave and blameless members of the Armed Forces. Yet broadcasters and politicians continued to indulge him. The BBC even produced a Panorama special based on PILs now discredited claims.

In 2010, Labour established the Iraq Historical Investigation Team to follow up Shysters bogus allegations, a move which has led to years of agony for servicemen falsely accused of abuse.

While Shyster is the arch villain of this piece, he is only a symptom of a much wider sickness which started when Tony Blair incorporated the European Human Rights Act into British law. As some of us warned at the time, it would prove to be a charter for criminals, chancers and illegal immigrants and a goldmine for rapacious lawyers.

Thats how we ended up with millions of pounds of British taxpayers money being funnelled to a provincial law firm to hire touts to encourage foreign nationals to make claims for compensation which were based on fabricated allegations of abuse against British soldiers.

The good news is that as a direct result of the collapse of the 2014 inquiry, PIL has been stripped of the right to claim legal aid  which appears to have been its only source of income.

The families of soldiers targeted by PIL have a right hear the charges against Shiner (pictured, a British soldier during service in Basra)

Shyster is also facing disciplinary charges brought by the SRA, the solicitors watchdog. But, disgracefully, he is fighting to have that tribunal held behind closed doors  a move being challenged by the Daily Mail. (No doubt further evidence of our vendetta against him.)

Apparently, he claims he is suffering from ill-health which could be exacerbated if his disciplinary proceedings were held in public.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

I doubt hell receive much sympathy from the hundreds of servicemen whose health has been adversely affected by the stress of false accusations levelled against them and the zeal with which they have been pursued by the Iraq investigators.

These soldiers, their families and taxpayers who have been forced to hand over millions to PIL have a right to hear the charges and evidence against Shyster. It will be an absolute travesty if he is able to hide behind a blanket of secrecy.

Maybe he wont. The National Crime Agency is investigating PIL, so with any luck Shyster could still find himself in the dock at the Old Bailey.

Lets hope, too, that those wrongly accused are able to sue him for defamation and that, finally, the Government gets round to reforming legal aid rules and forcing solicitors to repay in full the costs of their vexatious actions.

That would halt the ambulance-chasers dead in their tracks. So would the Tories keeping their promise to scrap the Yuman Rites Act.

Shyster is a nasty stain on our legal system but, as I said, hes not the only one to blame.

All those who cheered him on; garlanded him with awards; gave him a platform to peddle his poison and give succour to our enemies; and plied him with legal aid to pursue his clients false smears and allegations should hang their heads in shame.

Oh, dear, what can the matter be? Never mind three old ladies, last year more than 12,000 people in Britain got stuck in the lavatory.

Thats the number of times the emergency services were called out to bathroom and toilet related incidents.

Some called 999 (presumably on their mobiles) after locking themselves in. Other cases involved children, including one with their head stuck under the loo seat.

Firemen also had to free a woman who got her finger caught in the cistern, as you do, and a man who trapped his head in a bathroom window.

They also were called out to winch a 24st man who had got himself wedged in the bath.

Last year the emergency services were called out more than 12,000 times to people stuck in bathroom and toilet related incidents

In the most painful incident, another man had to be rescued after getting his testicles jammed under a toilet seat.

Ouch!

This kind of emergency is more common than you think. When I worked on Londons Evening Standard, a colleague managed to get stuck in trap three.

For reasons best known to himself, hed stood on the toilet seat, slipped and got his foot twisted and trapped solid in the pan. Firemen had to smash the porcelain with a sledgehammer to free him.

After that, he was known to all as The S***house Sherpa.

The not so gentle touch...

Mother Theresa is said to want a woman to replace Bernard Hyphen-Howe as Met Police Commissioner. But shes not exactly spoilt for choice.

Cressida Dick, currently at the Foreign Office, is still tainted by her handling of the bungled operation which ended with the fatal shooting of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes.

Maxine De Brunner, once tipped for the top, has been allowed to resign quietly from Scotland Yard while under investigation for misappropriating police resources for her sons school fete.

Prime Minister Theresa May is said to want a woman to replace Bernard Hogan-Howe as Met Police Commissioner

Hyphen-Howes favourite, Fat Pat Gallan, who was in overall charge of the deranged paedos in high places squad, is also subject to an internal investigation over bullying allegations.

Which leaves Lynne Owens, head of the National Crime Agency, in pole position. Unfortunately, it has just been revealed that when Owens was chief constable of Surrey she ordered her sex crimes officers to arrest first and investigate later.

Thats the last thing we need. The biggest black mark against Hyphen-Howes time at the Yard has been his policy of arrest first, investigate later when it comes to everything from historic sex abuse to nicking innocent journalists.

Mind how you go, Theresa.

Some mixed emotions in the Fergie household. After Princess Beatrice split from her long-term beau Dave Clark last week, now her younger sister Eugenie has denied she is to be married.

Incidentally, thanks to all those readers who have written pointing out that I may have been mistaken in thinking that Dave Clark was in pieces, bits and pieces. Reliable sources now claim that hes glad all over.

French judges have ruled that illegal shops which have sprung up at the Calais Jungle camp can remain open.
Eating ice cream for a job is not a tough way to make a living, I'll grant you. And eating ice cream surrounded by three strapping young farmers is even less likely to earn me any fans.

But I must have been VERY good in a former life, because this is what I ended up doing one chilly Friday in May in the name of research.

Officially, I was at Callestick Farm in Newquay to report on how a small family business has struck a deal with supermarket Lidl who is taking the brand nationwide as part of the Taste of South West event from 18th August.

Eating ice cream for a job is not a tough way to make a living, especially when surrounded by hunky farmers

Lidl is the only supermarket stocking Callestick ice-cream nationwide - helping this family business to grow as part of the supermarket's commitment to both their suppliers and provenience of their products. They aim to give their customers clearer insight into the provenance and traceability of their products, including their meat, poultry and fruit and veg.

Unofficially I was getting all excited about gallivanting around the Cornish countryside in green Dunlop wellies (the farmers boot of choice), learning how to make friends with cows (sit low in the grass to make them feel less intimidated) and unleashing my sweet tooth in the on-site ice cream factory.

And that's before I even realised that farmers don't all look like Giles. No sir. These farmers - Ben, 35, Sam, 34, and Josh, 29, - are hunky rugby players who look great in denim and, along with their parents Sebastian and Angela, run the family farm and dairy in beautiful Newquay.

Forget Farmer Giles, these Cornish dairy farming brothers are hunky rugby players who look great in denim

Nestled in the rolling Cornish hills, Callestick Farm makes delicious ice cream which is supplied to Lidl stores

Highlighting Lidls commitment to authenticity, provenance and quality, the ice cream, made to a family recipe for over 30 years, was discovered by Lidl's buying team on a gastronomic scouting tour of the region last year (their job is nearly as tough as mine) and first featured as part of the store's Taste of South West in summer 2015.

Unsurprisingly (now that I have thoroughly 'researched' all of the farm's 26 flavours) the ice cream was a sell out success, and so the retailer has doubled its order for the 2016 store event, which, as almost 10 per cent of Callestick's total output for the year, is a big deal for this little farm.

Journalist Toni Jones had the tough job of seeing how the ice cream - which is still made from the original 30-year-old recipe - is made on Callestick Farm (and got to test all 26 flavours they now produce!)

So how does a local ice cream brand find itself on the shelves of one of the world's biggest supermarkets?

This sweet story starts back in 1956 when Simon and Judith Parker took over and revamped a crumbling valley farm in Newquay. After studying (and meeting the woman of his dreams) at agricultural college their son Sebastian, now 62, returned with his wife Angela, now 61, to help run the farm, introducing ice cream making to the parlour in the late Eighties when strict new milk quotas meant tough times for the UK dairy market.

When the world handed them lemons, this savvy country couple made lemon-flavoured dessert, combining Sebastian's sweet-tooth with Angela's business and kitchen acumen to create the champion ice cream, (a product not affected by the quotas) that would go on to become the farm's best-selling product.

Callestick Farm, like many of Lidl's suppliers, is an advocate both of good animal welfare and a lower carbon footprint (more cows but less milking sessions means smaller quantities but better quality milk and a happier, healthier herd)

Lidl will be stocking 500ml tubs for 1.99 of 3 delicious flavours - Vanilla, Strawberry & Chocolate (L-R)

And what started as a business survival strategy soon turned into a serious passion for Angela, who still presides over product development and over the decades has created over 50 flavours, including Christmas Pudding, Rhubarb and Cream and the latest best-seller, Salted Caramel.

CALLESTICK FARM BY NUMBERS * Four brothers *300 milking cows *3,500 litres of milk produced per year *Five am starts for the farmers *26 flavours of ice cream *3 best-selling flavours (Clotted Cream & Strawberry, Double Chocolate Fudge, and Clotted Cream Vanilla) going on the shelves at Lidl

Along the way the couple also created four handsome, talented, and home-loving boys, with sons Ben, Sam and Josh all coming home to roost after university to start their own farming careers and families in Callestick and the youngest, Jacob, currently a professional rugby player for the local Pirates team.

It wasn't just the idea of eating ice cream every day that lured these boys home (although they do eat it ALL of the time - during our time with them on the farm I watched each of them put away at least four different ice cream cones)  the chaps saw an opportunity to take the farm to the next level as agriculture methods evolved and the UK's taste for local produce was on the rise.

The brothers all bring their own skills to the Callestick table/parlour, with Ben, who has three children, running the ice cream operation, Sam, also a father-of-three, future-proofing the business with the introduction of sustainable new farm systems, and Josh, soon to be married (sorry girls) bringing sales and marketing expertise he gleaned from five years working with big boys like Unilever.

And the deal with Lidl is just one part of their future plans for the farm, and the next generation of Callestick farmers. Deciding to focus on quality rather than quantity, Sam has already overhauled the dairy system to improve animal welfare and lower the business's carbon footprint (more cows but less milking sessions means smaller quantities but better quality milk and a happier, healthier herd).

Toni got to see for herself the technical expertise and the differnent types of ice cream they work with at Callestick Farm

Callestick Farm ice cream flavours include Clotted Cream & Strawberry and Double Chocolate Fudge. Lidl will be stocking 500ml tubs for 1.99 of 3 delicious flavours - Vanilla, Strawberry & Chocolate

And Ben and Josh are spearheading work on a bigger and better distribution network (sadly for those of us not living close to a Callestick stockist there are no plans to offer mail order ice cream any time soon) and new product development as well as building the brand via social media (they already have an Instagram account - @callestickfarm  and after meeting the pretty milking herd in the fields I'm lobbying for a cowcam feature on the website, too).

They might be a small business, but they have BIG plans.

Josh, says: 'We are a genuine family run business with grand aspirations and a huge programme of change to keep ahead of the food and farming game. We have the technical expertise and capability to work with all types of ice cream and sub-sectors of the market and are working to build our brand to the next level.'

Writer Toni Jones spent a day on the dairy farm in Cornwall, meeting the cows who help produce the amazing ice cream

I loved my day with the Parkers, and not just because they are a handsome bunch who fed me amazing ice cream. But because it was brilliant to observe a family working in such harmony on a business they are all so proud of.

And while Angela, Sebastian and their sons all have different ideas of what the secret to working together is ('compromise', 'patience', 'the odd barney' and 'always listen to dad' were some comments) I can't help thinking that a daily fix of that award-winning Cornish ice cream might help too.
A grieving mother has revealed she was left angry and upset to learn the 'thug' who killed her son went on to commit another assault after he was released from jail.

Therese Holland, 65, from Kent, said she was devastated when her son Robert, 36, was killed by a single punch thrown by Liam Rockley, then 21, on a night out in Nottingham in 2011.

She said she felt 'cheated' when Rockley was only given a three-and-a-half-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter - but has been left outraged that he committed Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) after regaining his freedom.

Therese Holland, from Kent, was devastated when her son Robert, 36, was killed by a single punch thrown by Liam Rockley

Therese was told that her son's killer was jailed again by presenter Aaron Roach Bridgeman after she agreed to appear on Channel 5 documentary One Punch Killers.

After speaking to Therese about her loss, Aaron had tried to contact Rockley to interview him about Robert's death.

But he discovered that after Rockley had served his time for the manslaughter of Robert, he was jailed again last December for another two years for committing GBH.

He pleaded guilty to the offence, which occurred on 6 September 2015, at Nottingham Crown Court.

The court heard he had unlawfully and maliciously inflicted grievous bodily harm upon Ryan Clayton.

Therese said she was sad but not surprised that Rockley had gone on to offend again.

She said: 'He's a joke, it is an absolute joke. I thought he would have learnt his lesson.

Robert, pictured with his niece, was 'dead before he hit the ground' due to the fatal blow he received on a night out in Nottingham in 2011

'All those people who said he was such a nice person and it was so out of character.

'He had warnings before he killed Robert and now he has hurt someone else.

'I am absolutely gobsmacked but it doesn't surprise me because he is a thug, an absolutely pure out and out thug.'

Robert, a married man with a brother and sister, was on a night out in Nottingham on Friday, October 28, 2011, when he encountered Rockley, a former bouncer, from Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

Rockley pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed in 2012 but re-offended on his release

A court heard the pair got into an altercation outside a cash point after they had been drinking with their friends in separate areas of the city.

Rockley threw a punch that proved to be fatal and Robert was 'dead before he hit the ground'.

Therese said: 'Normally with one punch it is the impact of them hitting the pavement that kills them but with Robert it was the actual punch that killed him.

'He was dead before he hit the ground.'

Presenter Aaron Roach Bridgeman, right, meets Therese to break the news her son's killer is back behind bars

Rockley later handed himself into the police and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, leading to him being jailed for three-and-a-half years in 2012.

Speaking of that sentence, Therese said: 'I felt cheated. I would rather he was charged with murder and run the risk of him getting off than him being able to plead guilty to manslaughter and getting the smack in the face of three-and-a-half-years.'

She said her family will have to live with what happened to Robert, who was a beloved uncle to his sister's children, now aged 14 and seven, for the rest of their lives.

She said: 'He was a special person and he didn't deserve what happened. It was awful. There is not a day - not a minute - that goes by I don't think about him.

The grieving mother told Aaron it was a 'joke' her son's killer was able to go on and hurt someone else. She holds a picture of her son, Robert with his niece

'My children were my life and my world and I have lost half of it and I can never get it back.'

She added that Robert's death 'destroyed' their family and four years on, she remains angry and bitter towards Rockley for what he did.

'I could never forgive him, that is how I feel,' she said.

'I still send him messages on Facebook to remind him of what he has done.

'I write "I hope you lose someone close to you by murder then you will know the heartache".'

One Punch Killers repeats tonight at 9pm on 5STAR, or catch up on My5 now




A mother-of-two has been crowned the winner of Miss Pinup Australia, a pageant celebrating fashion from the 1940s and 50s.

Melanie Louey, from Canberra, won the Miss Pinup Australia title on Saturday 6 August under her alter-ego Miss Jade Sepentine.

To win, entrants have to dress in completely vintage outfits and accessories for different categories like daywear, eveningwear and swimwear.

Va va voom! A mother-of-two from Canberra, Melanie Louey (above), has been named Miss Pinup Australia

Vintage charm: Ms Louey won the title on 6 August under her alter-ego Miss Jane Sepentine

And unlike many other pageants, there is no age limit on competing, and Miss Pinup even has a category called Miss Prestige, for women over the age of 40.

Ms Louey told The Canberra Times that her look and personality for the competition was inspired by Bond girls of decades past.

'She's got sass, she's got attitude, she won't take any crap from Bond,' Ms Louey said of Jade Sepentine. 'Will she fall into bed with Bond or will she try to kill him? Is she a good girl, is she a bad girl?'

Fun and games: Miss Pinup Australia is a pageant dedicated to 1940s and 50s fashion. Contestant Miss Cherrybomb (above) won the Miss Perfect Pinup title this year

'Platform for everyday women': Founder Miss Pixie said that she wanted women to build confidence by participating in the pageant

The mum of two said that one of the appeals of pinup was that women of all ages, shapes and sizes can participate, something founder Miss Pixie wanted to ensure when starting the pageant.

Miss Pixie had the idea for Miss Pinup after falling in love with pinup fashion, and wanted to create something to encourage women to build confidence and embrace vintage style.

'[Miss Pinup Australia is a] worldwide platform for the everyday women, for women of all shapes, sizes and ages to join together through a celebration of vintage glamour,' the pageant's website reads.

'For women of all shapes, sizes and ages': The pageant has categories for women over 40, and curvier women, making it accessible for all

'She's got sass, she's got attitude, she won't take any crap from Bond': Ms Louey said hee alter-ego was inspired by Bond girls

The pageant certainly seems to have avoided the cattiness others are known for, with Ms Louey referring to the other women as her 'pinup family'.

Even on the organisation's Facebook page, contestants encourage and support each other.
A war veteran has told how he plans to pass on what he learnt about men in Iraq and Afghanistan as dating advice to his daughter in a poignant open letter.

Benjamin Sledge, 35, admits he was not honorable as a young man and college student - when he said he 'ran with the pack' - but that under the influence of fellow soldiers and veterans his 'swagger disappeared in the wars'.

The writer, speaker and voluntary college pastor from Austin, Texas, urged his two-month-old daughter Adelaide to 'look for honor' in men when she is older in a blog post for Heart Support, where he is director of operations.

Advice: War veteran Benjamin Sledge, 35, from Austin, Texas, pictured wrote an open letter to his daughter Adelaide, two months, pictured, offering her dating advice for the future

Educational: Benjamin, pictured left and right when he was in the army, shared what he learnt about men and honor in Iraq and Afghanistan

Sobering: He said under the influence of soldiers and veterans his 'swagger disappeared in the wars'

Benjamin, who said religion also played a crucial role in his changed perspective, said he used to view women as sexual conquests - 'feeding on those he deemed weak or easy prey'.

But he said during war, where he admits he was afraid, he encountered men who 'displayed honor until the moment of their death'.

He told Daily Mail Online that he was prompted to write the letter by conversations he has with young women who say they struggle to find honor in men and to 'let her [Adelaide] know what are the traits in men she should look for.'

Benjamin, who left the US Army in 2010 where he was a staff sergeant, after 11 years, said: 'One of the things I love and respect in the military is this culture of honor they have in their lives.'

In the letter, he told how he witnessed an entire platoon 'refuse to shoot a little girl carrying ammunition to the enemy each day' - a decision that he said cost some of them their lives.

Former life: Benjamin, pictured with his wife Emily, 28, in hospital, left the US Army in 2010

Awakening: The writer, speaker and voluntary college pastor said religion also played a key role in his changed perspective

Benjamin said he saw men risk their lives for each other and man who comforted another soldier by holding his hand and telling him it 'would be OK' until he died.

Addressing his baby daughter, who he had with his wife Emily, 28, he wrote: 'I do not know what the future of dating will look like for you many years from now or how men will treat you.

'And I know now, as much as Id like to, I cannot protect you from all the landmines and jackals running rampant. You will have to learn to face them on your own.

'But I can tell you what to look for. Look for honor.'

He said she should also look for 'integrity, selflessness, sacrifice, and compassion' as well as men who 'emulate humility and meekness' which he said is a strength, not a weakness.

Future: He said Adelaide, pictured, should also look for 'integrity, selflessness, sacrifice, and compassion' in men

Direct: Benjamin, pictured speaking at an event, said an honorable man 'will break your heart face-to-face'

'Do not confuse velvet words and simply holding a door open as honor. Instead, observe how he treats others, your waiter, the homeless, and the marginalized,' he wrote.

'For if you see how he treats those at their highs and lows, youll understand how he will treat you during your high and low points.'

He said a dishonorable man will break up with her by text or Snapchat, compared to an honorable man who he said 'will break your heart face-to-face'.

Urging her not to lose heart, he said her search for an honorable man 'may take many years'.

He added: 'When you were born, my heart was yours, and I wanted nothing more than to protect you, kiss your face, and watch you smile.
Mia Freedman has written about being 'Facebook shamed' because of her son's birthday cake.

The founder of Australian website MamaMia posted a video of the 'smash' birthday cake to her social media pages, only to find some mums weren't fans.

The cake, made by Sydney Smash Cakes, is filled with lollies and needs to be broken open like a pinata.

Scroll down for video

Controversy: Mia Freedman (above) says she's been 'Facebook shamed' after posting a video of her son's birthday cake to Facebook

Hidden treasure: The cake is inspired by a pinata and has to be smashed open with a rolling pin to get to the lollies inside

In the video, her eight-year-old son uses a large rolling pin to break open the chocolate shell encompassing the cake.

Then the clip shows a hoard of boys hands grabbing at the sweets inside the cake, leaving nothing behind.

Some followers of hers on Facebook were not please with the cake, calling it 'violent' and claiming it made them stressed.

Smash! In the video, her eight-ear-old son can be seen breaking open the chocolate shell (left)

Mixed opinions: Some people said they thought the cake was violent and not appropriate

'I really disliked this': Facebook was divided over the video, saying it made them stressed

'Horrible..horrible...horrible!' Valerie D McCrae wrote. 'Violent attack on cake followed by greedy me me me grab for sweets! No wonder kids think manners are of no importance.'

Freedman took issue with those who disliked the cake, and wrote on her website Mamamia that she was 'Facebook shamed' over it.

She said commenters didn't like the 'smash' of the cake, the way the children grabbed at the lollies, and that it wasn't homemade.

Pricey: The cakes are made by a company called Sydney Smash Cakes and cost #120 each

Sticking by it: Freedman did not back down from the cake choice, writing a post on her website Mamamia about being 'shamed'

She also claimed that people didn't like that the cake cost $120, but admitted that she didn't pay for it and that it was gifted to her by the company.

However not everyone disliked the cake, with others comparing it to a pinata at a party and saying some mums were overreacting.

Freedman called the comments a 'heated debate' but didn't back down from her cake choice.
She has more than 13.2 million social media followers and her workout app is the highest-selling of its kind online.

But despite all the success that has led to her being widely regarded as the world's number one personal trainer, Kayla Itsines has to pinch herself sometimes.

The 25-year-old personal trainer from Adelaide, South Australia, says it's surreal to think about how far she has come from completing a personal training course to the worldwide success that has shown no signs of slowing down.

World's best: Kayla Itsines (pictured) said that she still can't believe she's the leading personal trainer in the world despite all her fitness success in recent years

Fitness queen: The Sweat with Kayla app is the top-selling fitness app on the internet

'I still pinch myself when I read it (being the world's leading personal trainer). I'm like, "really?"' Itsines told Yahoo7.

The fitness queen's empire began growing rapidly after the launch of her Bikini Body Guide in 2013, but that's a far cry from her humble beginnings in the industry.

Itsines said that when she looks back at where she began - training her sister's friends and posting their transformations to Instagram - success of this magnitude was the furthest thing from her mind.

'My sister's friends were the first ones that came to me and said, "Can you train us when were not doing netball?"' Itsines said.

'I said, "OK of course I'll train you. We'll take a before photo and we'll see your body getting stronger".'

That idea was a hit among social media users and her following grew instantly.

Workout empire: The 24-year-old began working with her sister's friends in Adelaide and after posting photos of their transformations on the internet, became an online sensation

Success: 'I still pinch myself,' Itsines said when talking about the rapid growth of her business in the fitness industry

Online star: Itsines has built her business using her online website and social media presence, and currently has more than 5.5 million Instagram followers

Women from across Australia began asking Itsines for assistance, wanting to find out more about her secrets to a successful transformation.

After initially saying she was unable to help, she took her business online and saw it grow into the colossal juggernaut it is today.

When asked about the recipe for success that has led her to become the world's number one PT, Itsines said it was all due to her ability to empower women to do the work themselves.

'Women don't need someone standing over them 24/7 saying, "Do this, do that",' she said.
Not all parents are prepared when their other half goes away and leaves them alone with the kids.

Meghan Oeser, a mother-of-six from Illinois, knew her husband Kevin, 33, would be in for a shock when she went on her girls' weekend away, so decided to write him a letter.

In the letter, which has since been shared over 26,000 times on Facebook, Ms Oeser, 36, details everything her husband should expect over the weekend - both the good and the bad.

I'm out: Meghan Oeser, a mother-of-six from Illinois, knew her husband Kevin, 33, would be in for a shock when she went on her girls' weekend away, so decided to write him a letter

Happy family: In the letter, which has since been shared on Facebook over 26,000 times, Ms Oeser, 36, details everything her husband should expect over the weekend

'A letter to my husband': Ms Oeser's full letter can be found here

'I was up the night before, and could not stop thinking about all of the things that I wanted to run by my husband,' Ms Oeser told Daily Mail.

'He works 12 hour days, and when he's not working here, he's working on our new lake house that he built from the ground up.

'He's never home on the weekends. It was honestly his first weekend with our youngest in three years. I really just started by explaining to him how to set up her diffuser, and then it just got out of hand.'

'This is how I found him': 'He's never home on the weekends. It was honestly his first weekend with our youngest in three years,' Ms Oeser said

'The house was destroyed': Ms Oeser started used the letter to talk her beau through his weekend with their kids - five girls aged three, five, seven, nine and 12 and one boy aged 15

Ms Oeser started used the letter to talk her beau through his weekend with their children - five girls aged three, five, seven, nine and 12 and one boy aged 15.

'Dearest Husband, I'm writing this to you out of love, not fear. I wanted to go over a few things with you before you embark on this weekend alone... with the others,' she wrote.

'Nighttime, daytime, breakfast time, and somewhere around lunchtime can easily be mistaken for pure HELL, with Satan coming off as a My Little Pony in comparison.'

Ms Oeser said upon arriving home after work, her husband would feel as though everything was okay because 'the others' would 'hug, jump, and for the most part, be pretty excited' to see him.

Honest: 'Nighttime, daytime, breakfast time, and somewhere around lunchtime can easily be mistaken for pure HELL, with Satan coming off as a My Little Pony in comparison,' she wrote

But Ms Oeser said this was also 'hell hour.'

'The others will fight about anything and everything, with Quinn and Penny being the biggest instigators,' Ms Oeser continued.

'It's most likely that Quinn will be pi***d off about Penny wearing her Elsa dress, and Penny equally pi***d off because Quinn will ONLY refer to her as Anna. Penny will also be fighting sleep, which I'll get to later.'

She went on to write that at dinner, each of the kids would ask for different things (including purple toast) before everything went 'real quiet.'

Improvising: 'Instead of getting the baby to bed when she got up on the middle of the night, he clearly set up some sort of pillow barricade,' she said

'This is when you'll realize that the threenager has fallen asleep somewhere. Do NOT let the threenager fall asleep,' she warned.

'You're basically f****d if this happens. She will be wide awake until at least 1:30am if you're not careful. Given your 9:30 bedtime and 5am wake up, this is less than ideal.'

She then explained the difficulties with the bedtime routine.

Simple things: 'This is when you'll realize that the threenager has fallen asleep somewhere. Do NOT let the threenager fall asleep,' she warned

hard work: Ms Oeser also covered the dramas at breakfast time and explained that he would likely get nothing done while she was gone

'You'll end up bringing Penny to bed with you, thinking that's a good idea. Ha ha ha ha ha! You may as well sleep next to Evander Holyfield on uppers,' Ms Oeser wrote.

'Just try getting her into her bed. Give her the iPad. This will save your life... promise. Make sure you turn the volume down, along with the screen brightness. Speaking of brightness, don't forget the diffuser.

'Fill that s**t up, and add 2 drops of Peace and calming, one lavender, and one stress away. Set the light to PURPLE. Sweet baby Jesus, please remember purple. If you set it to blue, she will act as if her retinas are on the god damned sun.'

Did his best: Ms Oeser told Daily Mail that when she returned from her weekend 'the house was destroyed' and that her husband had had a total of four hours sleep

Wouldn't change a thing: 'We honestly love it,' she concluded

Ms Oeser also covered the dramas at breakfast time and explained that he would likely get nothing done while she was gone.

Ms Oeser told Daily Mail that when she returned from her weekend 'the house was destroyed' and that her husband had had a total of four hours sleep.

'And instead of getting the baby to bed when she got up on the middle of the night, he clearly set up some sort of pillow barricade,' she said.
Just three days after Teya Rickett gives birth, her newborn son will undergo open heart surgery.

A scan at 20-weeks gestation showed Ms Ricketts unborn baby had a heart defect that caused the left side of their heart to be malformed.

The doctor said the options were we had a termination, and we would need to decide in a couple of days, or whether we would go ahead and he would be born in Melbourne with further heart surgeries, Ms Rickett told Daily Mail Australia.

Teya Rickett (pictured) and her fiance John Shortt are expecting a baby in December

The couple's unborn son has a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome which means he will need life saving surgery just three days after birth

Ms Rickett, 24, and her fiance John Shortt, 26, from Port Noarlunga in Adelaide went ahead with their pregnancy, and little Conor Terrence Patrick Shortt is due December 6.

The couple are now 23 weeks along and said before their 20-week scan there was no indication anything was wrong with their baby.

We went for a scan at 8-9 weeks and his heart beat was normal, Ms Rickett said.

The couple found out their unborn son, Conor, had a heart defect at their 20-week scan which showed the left side of his heart was poorly formed

WHAT IS HYPERPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME? The left side of the heart is poorly formed and cannot support the main circulation. The left ventricle and aorta are abnormally small. Babies with the condition need lifesaving surgery just days after birth. The open heart surgery will see stents placed in Conor's heart. Conor will need a second surgery between 5 and 6 months old and a third surgery at five years old. Visit The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne for more information. Advertisement

Conor has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome which means the left side of his heart is poorly formed and cannot support the main circulation.

His left ventricle and aorta are abnormally small, and he will need lifesaving surgery at just three days old.

As soon as he is born he will be put on medication to keep certain sections of his heart open and at three days old he will have heart surgery, Ms Rickett said.

At the moment because he is connected to my placenta he is getting oxygenated blood pumped through his body.

But straight after his birth, as soon as he takes his first breath, his body has to move oxygenated blood in to the heart chamber he doesnt have.

The couple will need to relocate to Melbourne to attend the Royal Melbourne Childrens Hospital at about 36 weeks gestation and Ms Rickett will be induced two weeks later

The first surgery at three days old will involve doctors putting stents in Conors heart to allow the oxygen to move to both sides.

His second surgery will happen when he is between five and six months old and will be a similar procedure.

The third surgery will come when Conor is five years old.

In order to get the best medical care possible the family will need to relocate from Adelaide to Melbourne to visit the Royal Melbourne Childrens Hospital.

The hospital is the only one that performs the lifesaving surgery Conor needs.

The couple are raising funds for medical bills, living expenses and flights home so Mr Shortt can visit his four-year-old daughter (centre)

The couple will move interstate at 36 weeks gestation, and Ms Rickett will be induced at 38 weeks.

HOW YOU CAN HELP Ms Rickett and Mr Shortt have started a Go Fund Me page. The family will need to fund Conor's medical and living expenses in Melbourne, as well as interstate flights back to Adelaide. You can support them here. Advertisement

The family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help fund their medical and living expenses, as well as inter-state flights back home.

Mr Shortt has a four-year-old daughter in Adelaide, and will need to return from Melbourne for Christmas, birthdays and her first day of school.

Once the family move back to Adelaide, Conor will be a permanent outpatient at the Womens and Childrens Hospital, Adelaide.

The best case scenario is the surgeries go well and his heart is functioning like a normal child, Ms Rickett said.
Do you pee in front of your kids? Email FemailAU@mailonline.com

Many of her followers chimed in, saying they do it a lot when juggling

It sparked debate: was she right to pee in her daughter's presence?

Recently, she shared a snap on Instagram where she peed with her child

Annie Nolan is a mummy blogger and AFL WAG - she has three kids

For some, it's a natural thing to do, and shouldn't cause people to bat an eyelid.

Whereas for others, going to the bathroom while your kids are in the room is controversial, and it should be kept a private affair.

When mummy blogger and AFL WAG, Annie Nolan, who writes the blog Uncanny Annie, shared a snap on Instagram of herself peeing in the presence of her three-year-old daughter, the Internet was divided.

Should you go to the toilet in private, or does it not really matter?

Natural or not: The Internet was divided when mummy blogger and AFL WAG, Annie Nolan (pictured), shared this snap of her peeing in the presence of her young daughter

Regular writer: Annie Nolan (pictured) is the blogger behind the Uncanny Annie blog on parenting

'When you need to wee but you just spent 15 mins [sic] securely strapping a child to your back,' the 27-year-old blogger captioned her photo that she uploaded to Instagram on Monday.

'Poor Delphi! Though she follows me to the toilet every time anyway. Thanks for invading my space and making me laugh @katmaycam,' the mum of three concluded.

The blogger's followers were quick to comment on the hilarity of the situation, while some took to the photo-sharing site to reveal their own tales of bathroom woes.

Funny times: The blogger's followers were quick to comment on the hilarity of the situation, while some took to the photo-sharing site to reveal their own tales of bathroom woes

Big blog: Annie Nolan is known for sharing candid tales of parenthood, both on her social media, and her motherhood blog, Uncanny Annie

'I'm 66 and still sit with door open while the grandkids sit and talk while I'm having my supposed private time wouldn't have it any other way....lol [sic],' one person wrote underneath Ms Nolan's post.

'Lol. True mum status right there,' someone else added.

Annie Nolan is known for sharing candid tales of parenthood, both on her social media, and her motherhood blog, Uncanny Annie.

Hard line: In April, she wrote a controversial post about the time she banned her kids from talking to strangers without a parent or teacher present

In April, she wrote a controversial post about the time she banned her kids from talking to strangers without a parent or teacher present.

'I am in no way an expert in this field,' Ms Nolan wrote.

'I am just another parent who is feeling my way as things like this arise.'
After he needed a reconstructive op he vowed to quit plastic surgery

But his body rejected his nose after his sixth rhinoplasty

A cosmetic surgery addict who has undergone 43 operations to look like a human 'Ken doll' enjoyed a night out with a mystery woman in Hollywood.

Brazilian Rodrigo Alves, 33, who lives between London and Spain, recently jetted off to LA and visited upscale restaurant The Nice Guy in West Hollywood on Monday night.

He was pictured wearing slim-fit tartan trousers and a matching waistcoat with a jacket over the top as he left the venue holding hands with a buxom brunette.

Scroll down for video

Rodrigo Alves, pictured here holding hands with a mystery woman, has had 43 plastic surgery operations and seven nose jobs since 2004

He is based between London and Marbella, but recently jetted off to LA to visit friends

Earlier this month, Rodrigo announced he's quitting plastic surgery after his face was nearly destroyed when his sixth nose job went drastically wrong.

His body rejected the nose and he suffered necrosis, where the flesh withers and dies, and recently underwent a seventh rhinoplasty surgery to fix the damage to his face.

Rodrigo said: 'I've decided to make most of the treatments that do not involve surgery, and I would only have another plastic surgery again if it was for emergency medical reasons which was the recent case of my nose.

'But Ive not stopped having aesthetic treatments, there are so many non-invasive treatments on the market that can replace surgery. Im not giving up on trying to stop the natural ageing process.'

Rodrigo, who is originally from Brazil, went to upscale West Hollywood joint The Nice Guy

London based- Rodrigo has spent more than 350,000 to look like Barbies boyfriend and he's recently insured his body for 1 million after a hole appeared in his nose.

He was forced to pay 40,000 for emergency treatment on holiday in Spain this year before undergoing his seventh nose job - a ten-hour reconstructive operation.

Speaking for the first time since the health scare, Rodrigo said that while he has quit plastic surgery he will still rely on non-invasive beauty treatments in a bid to look young.

Rodrigo was beaming as he left the restaurant in LA with the attractive woman

The jet setting former air steward often visits LA, where he has friends

Rodrigo said: 'Im not giving up on trying to stop the natural ageing process.'Lately I have been trying everything, Ive had radio frequency therapy and cavitation in my back and legs.'

'Im due to have more hair implants soon, and Ive had an injection of stem cells in my blood and the latest Lipoglaze fat-freezing technology on my thighs, hips and waist. I want to look nice in my swimming trucks.

'This really bothers me, even after having liposuction there is something that I need contouring and I dont want to have liposuction ever again.

Rodrigo Alves has had 43 plastic surgery operations says he won't be going under the knife in future

Changing faces: The Brazilian looks unrecognisable from his younger years

Money money money: The 33-year-old Brazilian has spent 350,000 on surgery

Body beautiful: Rodrigo, who has had SEVEN nose jobs says he will now only use non-invasive beauty treatments. Pictured having Lipoglaze fat-freezing treatments

'However, I dont exercise at all whatsoever so Ive got to have some clinical help to reduce the fat in these areas. I just dont want to put myself through aggressive treatments any more.'

In April this year, Rodrigo was on holiday in Spain this year when a hole began to appear in his nose.

He was rushed to hospital in Malaga where doctors discovered he had necrosis, where flesh begins to die because of a lack of blood supply as a side effect of his sixth nose job.

Obsessed: Rodrigo was left with a hole in his face after his sixth nose job went wrong

Doctors warned him the infection could eat through his nose and become gangrenous - meaning his nose would have had to be removed.

Last month he underwent a 10-hour reconstruction operation in which cartilage from his wrist was implanted into his nose - and due to the health scare vowed never to go under the knife again.

Earlier this month, Rodrigo appeared on Channel 5 show Shock Docs - Mascara Boys: Sex Me Up on Monday night undergoing a Lipoglaze fat-freezing treatment to contour his thighs, waist and hips at the Amabelle clinic in Harley Street, London.

Throwback: A young Rodrigo before he turned to surgery

As well as relying on treatments Rodrigo also takes collagen tablets, vitamin C, vitamin A and only drinks water with hyaluronic acid.

Rodrigo said: 'Ive not stopped having aesthetic treatments, there are so many non-invasive treatments on the market that can replace surgery.

'I have decided to make most of the treatments that do not involve surgery, and I would only have another plastic surgery again if it was for emergency medical reasons which was the recent case of my nose.

Insurance: Rodrigo has insured his body for a whopping 1million

'I simply cant risk it any more but I do want to continue improving myself but now I want to do it with the latest non-invasive techniques.

'New technology has brought forward some amazing new treatments that get great results without having to go under the knife.'
A mother-of-two has revealed how she is engaged to a death row inmate who murdered a gay reveller in a brutal attack.

Jane Quantrill, 55, from Sydney, is planning to marry convicted killer Robert 'Bobby' Van Hook, 56, next year despite the fact they've never met.

The pair have exchanged hundreds of letters and phone calls to one another and although Van Hook has shared the details of his grisly crime Jane is adamant she wants to wed him in July 2017, the same month he's due to be executed.

In love: Jane Quantrill has revealed how she is engaged to convicted killer Robert 'Bobby' Van Hook and plans to wed him next year despite the fact he's on death row

Mugshot: Bobby Hook was convicted of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery after killing a gay man in 1985

Speaking to Mirror Online Jane said: '[Bobby] told me all about his crime and is deeply remorseful. He's been there for 31 years.

'Our letters and calls brighten up our lives. We plan to marry next July.'

And although the pair live 9,300 miles apart and have never met Jane is looking forward to their future.

'I'm sad we don't have the physical contact, but one day we shall. We concentrate on that. We do have video visit,' she explained.

Despite Jane's hopes for their future, given Van Hook is set to be executed on the 26th of July next year, she may never meet her fiance while he's alive.

On February 18th 1985 Van Hook Van Hook had gone to the bar in Cincinnati intending to find someone to rob.

He met David Self in the gay bar in Ohio and went back to his house.

He went on to strangle the man before stabbing him to death. Court records also state Van Hough went on to mutilate his victim's body.

Van Hook fled to Florida but was eventually tracked down six weeks later and arrested.

Mixed reaction: Jane's two children have differing views on her engagement

After being convicted of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery he was sent to death row at Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Ohio.

Jane first contacted Van Hook through a prison pen pal service and now the pair exchange letters every two days.

The author, who has campaigned for the death penalty to be abolished, has two children who have mixed reactions to her engagement.

According to reports her daughter is 'supportive' while her son is 'uncertain'.

Van Hook was due to die by lethal injection in March last year but the date has been pushed back for various reasons three times to next July.
Fashion designers work tirelessly to keep their collections under wraps until the grand unveiling at fashion week - but Burberry has broken the rules again.

The innovative British fashion brand has given fans a sneak preview of the straight-to-consumer collection it will be showcasing at London Fashion Week in September.

The shoot, which stars model-of-the-moment and daughter of former Vogue fashion editor Isabella Cawdor, Lady Jean Campbell, was shot by royal favourite, Mario Testino.

Fashion's new darling Lady Jean Campbell - daughter of the 7th Earl Cawdor and a former Vogue editor - leads Burberry's new campaign. The brand has teased with images of the straight-to-consumer collection it will be showcasing at London Fashion Week in September

The shoot, which took place in Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, also features fledgling models Cavan McCarthy and Alex Dragulele and was inspired by Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Ruffled blouses, androgynous suits and the brands next It bag, The Bridle, are the order of the day and Jean showcases the collection with aplomb.

This campaign reflects a collection inspired by Virginia Woolf's Orlando and also sets out to honour the many skilled craftspeople who work on Burberry's iconic products, says Chief Creative and Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Bailey.

I am therefore very proud to be sharing Mario Testino's incredible portraits of Jean Campbell, Cavan McCarthy and Alex Dragulele, which we have set alongside portraits of our talented Burberry artisans.

In this spirit of honouring contemporary artisanal excellence, we are also proud to announce an exciting collaboration with The New Craftsmen as part of our September presentation during London Fashion Week.

'Just as Virginia Woolf's Orlando is both a love-letter to the past and a work of profound modernity, this week-long exhibition aims to nod both to the design heritage that is so integral to Burberry's identity, and to some of Britains most exciting creators, and the innovation and inspiration behind their work.

The shoot, which stars model-of-the-moment and daughter of former Vogue fashion editor Isabella Cawdor, Lady Jean Campbell, was shot by royal favourite, Mario Testino

With her starry roster of pals, model good looks and aristocratic pedigree, there's little surprise that Lady Jean Campbell is making a name for herself.

In fact, the fledgling model and superstar has just bagged herself a major Burberry campaign - and she she's only 19.

Lady Jean, who is Scottish, doesn't exactly come from humble beginnings. She is the daughter of the 7th Earl Cawdor and former Vogue editor Isabella Cawdor.

Lady Jean Campbell, who is the daughter of the 7th Earl Cawdor and former Vogue editor, is tipped to be the next Cara Delevingne and already has a Burberry campaign under her belt

Her father, Colin Robert Vaughan Campbell, is a Scottish peer and architect who grew up in the impressive Cawdor Castle.

His wife - Jean's mother - is from a similar background; her father is William Stanhope, 11th Earl of Harrington.

Lady Cawdor is a former Vogue fashion editor and stylist with impressive contacts. She now works in interior design.

Lady Jean is the eldest of the couple's four children - and seemingly the one to watch.

The 5ft 8in youngster shot to fashionable fame when she was cast in her first Burberry campaign in December 2013.

On her Instagram page she can be seen hanging out with fellow model, Kate Moss

Burberry championed a bunch of fresh-faced Brits in 2013, including Jean, far right, and Neelam Gill, third from right, who is rumoured to be dating Zayn Malik

The luxury British brand championed a bunch of fresh faced Brits and while you may not have recognised a lot of them at the time, they've risen through the ranks. Plus, it was where it all began for model-of-the-moment Cara Delevingne just a few short years ago.

The young British cast featured the likes of actor Jamie Campbell Bower, Malaika Firth - who has gone on to become one of fashion's most famous faces - and Neelam Gill, who is rumoured to be dating Zayn Malik.

Plus, Jean's first major campaign was lensed by famed royal photographer, Mario Testino, a pal of her mother's, and she has also been snapped by Bruce Weber for British Vogue, and has appeared in American Vogue, too.

The professional poser, who is signed with DNA Models in New York and Viva Models Management in Paris and London, shared a snap of her with Pharrell on her Instagram recently

The professional poser, who is signed with DNA Models in New York and Viva Models Management in Paris and London, has also served as a clothes horse for Zara and Louis Vuitton.

She opened Nicolas Ghesquieres second ready-to-wear show for Louis Vuitton - a major coup for someone as new on the scene as her.

If that wasn't enough, she's starred on the glossy pages of esteemed fashion magazines such as i-D and Dazed & Confused, and starred alongside fellow fledgling model, Brookly Beckham, in the New York Times Style Magazine.
The boys also posed with Bristol's new husband, Dakota Meyer

Trig, who has Down syndrome, is grinning from ear to ear in the photos, which see him posing with Tripp, his parents, and his big sister Bristol

first day in the second grade on Facebook

Bristol's mom Sarah Palin, 52, also shared some pictures of her son and

Bristol Palin is celebrating a major milestone for her son Tripp and her brother Trig as the proud mom joined the boys on their first day of second grade.

The 25-year-old took to Instagram on Monday to share a sweet photo of herself posed with seven-year-old Tripp and eight-year-old Trig, who has Down syndrome, in the parking lot of their elementary school in Wasilla, Alaska.

'First day of 2nd grade for my babes!! and first time I've seen Tripp in jeans all summer #hecould [sic],' she captioned the image, which sees her squatting down to pose with the boys.

Proud mom and big sister: Bristol Palin took to Instagram on Monday to share this photo celebrating her son Tripp (center) and brother Trig (right) on their first day of second grade

Built in pal: Tripp, seven, and Trig, eight, were born less than a year apart

In the image, Tripp has his arm flung around Trig's shoulder as they smile for the camera. Bristol's only child with her ex-fiance Levi Johnston is holding an extra pair of black sneakers in his hand, while Trig is carrying a mini satchel.

And, of course, both boys are proudly carrying backpacks as they gear up for their first day of school.

The average age for a second grader is between the ages of seven and eight, but Trigg may have waited to start school with his slightly younger nephew.

The youngest Palin child graduated from preschool in 2014, just a month after he turned six years old.

Meanwhile Bristol, who works as an esthetician, looks like she is ready to head to the office in a pair of black pants and a matching black blazer.

Family affair: Bristol's parents Sarah and Todd Palin also posed with Trig, who has Down syndrome, on his first day of school

Precious moment: Bristol's husband Dakota Meyer also helped send the boys off, and while Tripp smiled for the camera, Trig was busy looking at his new brother-in-law

The working mom has a plastic bag and her car keys in her hands during the celebratory drop-off.

Later that day, Bristol shared an adorable photo of her nearly eight-month-old daughter Sailor Grace decked out in a a pink ensemble while smiling for the camera, writing: '& my chunkalicious.'

Bristol's mom, former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, also took to social media on Monday to share photos from the day.

'First day of school! It's still quite the "event" even after all those other "First Day of School!" times with our big kids,' the 52-year-old captioned the series of images. 'God bless all America's students & teachers as we kick off the new school year! [sic]'

In addition to the photo of Bristol with her son and brother, Sarah posted a heartwarming snap of her and her husband Todd, 51, posing with Trig, who is grinning from ear to ear.

Baby love: After dropping her son off at school, 25-year-old Bristol snapped this adorable picture of her nearly eight-month-old daughter Sailor Grace

Major milestone: When she shared this photo last week, Bristol revealed that her little girl is learning how to crawl

The proud mom and grandmother also captured a photo of Tripp and Trig with their arms wrapped around each other and Bristol's new husband Dakota Meyer squatting down with the boys.

While Tripp is smiling for the camera, Trig is clearly enamored with his new brother-in-law - and he isn't the only one.

Bristol hasn't stopped gushing about her new husband on social media since they got married during a secret ceremony on May 27.

The mother-of-two took to Instagram on Friday to share yet another snap of Dakota with their baby daughter Sailor, gushing about how she 'hit the jackpot' with them.

The precious image shows Dakota wearing his army uniform standing in what appears to be an airfield, lifting little Sailor on top of his shoulders.

The tiny tot can be seen sporting an adorable pink hooded sweatshirt topped with a pair of ears and sweet brown slippers.

Doting dad: Bristol posted this image of Dakota and their daughter on Friday while gushing about how she 'hit the jackpot'

Happy family: Bristol shared this image last Tuesday to celebrate Dakota's first solo flight as a pilot

Loving husband: Over the weekend, Dakota snapped a picture of Bristol's personalized coffee mugs, noting that he is so happy that his wife is proud to have his last name

The little girl has her hands held in her dads and is grinning with absolute delight to be up on his shoulders.

Last week was a busy time for the family as Dakota recently took his first solo flight as a pilot - and his proud wife couldn't wait to share the milestone moment with the world.

Bristol celebrated her husband's achievement last Tuesday by posting an image of the happy couple posing with Sailor and Tripp in front of a plane.

'Cheesin cause Dakota just did his first solo flight!! [sic]' Bristol captioned the cute picture, which sees the happy foursome grinning away at the camera, while standing in front of a small red airplane.

And Dakota is just as happy with his wife. Over the weekend, the proud husband shared a photo of two personalized 'Mrs. Meyer' mugs that feature their wedding date.

'Nothing makes me happier than knowing my wife is proud to have my last name,' he captioned the image.
When 13-month-old Evelyn Moore, from Edmonton, Canada, was just four months, doctors noticed a lump protruding from her spine that was later diagnosed as a stage four neuroblastoma tumour.

The little girl went through eight rounds of chemotherapy to treat the tumour but after hearing that she was in remission, her parents Kim and Brad received heartbreaking news.

Evelyn's tumour had crushed her spine at T4, leaving her paralysed below her arms.

Nothing can stop her: 13-month-old Evelyn Moore has been zipping around in a DIY wheelchair after a tumour on her spine left her paralysed from her arms down

Proud parents: Mr and Mrs Moore wanted their daughter to have the freedom that any other toddler would have, so they decided to build her her very own wheelchair

Mr and Mrs Moore wanted their daughter to have the freedom that any other toddler would have, so they decided to build her her very own wheelchair.

'I was on Pinterest and I found a really cool wheelchair,' Mrs Moore told the Canadian Press.

'I showed it to my husband and asked him if he could build it and we went to Canadian Tire and just grabbed a whole bunch of pieces.'

Learning: The chair, which is made from a kitchen cutting board, a Bumbo chair and tiny wheels from a children's bike, cost around $100 to make

The chair, which is made from a kitchen cutting board, a Bumbo chair and tiny wheels from a children's bike, cost around $100 to make.

Mrs Moore said Evelyn absolutely loves it.

'She went backwards first, then she went forwards, then she figured out how to turn and we now have a speed bump in the middle of our living room because she just goes that fast,' Mrs Moore said, adding that they have been as positive as they can.

'You go home and you cry and you come back the next day and you be the strongest mum and dad you can ever be because you have no other option.'

Speedy: 'She went backwards first, then she went forwards, then she figured out how to turn and we now have a speed bump in the middle of our living room because she just goes that fast,' Mrs Moore said

Evelyn started using her wheelchair at seven months and has been zipping around in it ever since.

Mrs Moore said people are 'shocked and happy' to see Evelyn and that she treats her daughter like any other one-year-old.

Evelyn wheels behind Mrs Moore wherever they go - even if it means regular activities like shopping take a little longer.

Evelyn is now learning to use a ZipZac, a manufactured version of her own wheelchair.

Mr Moore is proud of his little girl and wants her to know that she can achieve anything she sets her mind to.
Our appetite for easy foodie hacks shows no sign of abating. One ingredient cookie and two ingredient crepe recipes abound - and the trend shows no sign of abating.

So it would follow that there would be a recipe for cheesecake, the ever-popular dessert. Dubbed the souffle cheesecake or Japanese cotton cheesecake, this recipe requires only store cupboard staples - eggs, cream cheese and white chocolate.

The recipe, from Japanese baking vlogger Ochikeron, has proved to be a viral hit. Here, Joanne Gould, 31, from north London, gives it a try.

The three-ingredient recipe, from Japanese baking vlogger Ochikeron, has proved to be a viral hit. Joanne Gould, 31, from north London, gives it a try - but isn't impressed

Cheesecake is one of those failsafe dishes that even hopeless cooks can muster. Simply mix cream, cream cheese, icing sugar and your flavouring of choice and then place on an easy biscuit base.

But not this recipe. While there are only three total ingredients, this is not a quick and easy recipe by any stretch of the imagination. After watching the YouTube clip, I feel daunted by the task ahead.

First, you need to melt 120g of white chocolate  do this either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of water. That's easy enough.

While there are only three total ingredients, this is not a quick and easy recipe by any stretch of the imagination

You melt the chocolate, whisk the eggs to the right consistency and then fold everything together

Next, separate three eggs and whisk up the whites to stiff peaks. Again, with the aid of an electric whisk, this is simple as long as you make sure to get them to the right stage  they need to hold their shape and you should be able to turn the bowl upside down with no movement.

Once the chocolate is melted and slightly cooled, add 120g of cream cheese and the separated egg yolks.

Stir it all in well and add half of the meringue mixture, gently folding it in so as not to knock the air out of the eggs  this is what will provide the light, souffle-like texture of the finished cake.

Add the rest of the meringue in stages until well blended.

Ochikeron is very specific about how the baking tin should be lined: using a loose bottomed round tin, cut a circle of greaseproof paper for the base and a strip for the sides

Once the chocolate is melted and slightly cooled, add 120g of cream cheese and the separated egg yolks

Unlike most cheesecakes, this is a baked version, so you'll need to preheat your oven now to 170C.

Ochikeron is very specific about how the baking tin should be lined: using a loose bottomed round tin, cut a circle of greaseproof paper for the base and a strip for the sides.

Both should be greased either side as she says this will help the cake to 'slide' down and prevent cracking the top when baking.

I do as I'm told and then pour in the mixture, impressed that it somehow doesn't leak through the loose bottom tray  I must have lined it well.

Joanne is worried that the runny cheesecake mixture will leak through the bottom of the tin, but the lining holds up well

She also instructs you to prepare a kind of bain marie, by filling an oven tray with an inch or two of water before placing the baking tin in the centre and popping in the oven to bake for fifteen minutes.

After fifteen minutes at this temperature, you need to turn it down to 160C for a further quarter of an hour.

After that, turn the oven off and leave the cake to cook for a final 15 minutes using the residual heat  try and resist opening the door too as this will affect the exact timings and temperatures.

Ochikeron instructs you to prepare a kind of bain marie, by filling an oven tray with an inch or two of water before placing the baking tin in the centre and popping in the oven to bake for fifteen minutes

When the cake comes out of the oven Joanne is impressed as it hasn't cracked across the top - but it quickly deflates

It's judgement time, and as the cake comes out of the oven I'm pretty impressed. It's well risen, golden and amazingly hasn't cracked across the top  something Ochikeron forbids!

I leave it to cool on a rack as required, but am sad to see it shrinking by the minute.

After ten minutes, my cheesecake is about half the depth it was, and far less impressive than the one pictured in the tutorial.

I sprinkle it with icing sugar to pep it up a bit and give it a try regardless.

After ten minutes, the cheesecake is about half the depth it was, and far less impressive than the one pictured in the tutorial. Joanne sprinkles it with icing sugar to pep it up a bit and gives it a try regardless

It tastes...OK. It's not brilliant and I've had far nicer cheesecakes, both baked and non-baked varieties.

I can't get away from the fact that the overriding flavour of this one is egg; it's very much a cheat's simple souffle, rather than a cake.

Perhaps if there was more chocolate or sweetness to it, it might taste a bit better. My husband tastes it and concurs, saying he can't even taste the chocolate in it.

While the cheesecake doesn't taste unpleasant, it's far from the taste explosion that Joanne was hoping for

She wouldn't make the recipe again, as it was too much faff for a not-very-impressive result

Even grating some white chocolate over the top would improve matters, but it's not bad as such. I wouldn't make it again as it was far too much faff for not an overly impressive result.
A teenager who suffered severe burns covering more than half of her body has revealed doctors patched her up by using skin from a deceased donor.

Alexandra Hollingsworth, 18, caught fire after taking part in a dangerous game which involved igniting alcohol.

Sustaining burns to 52 per cent of her body, the woman from Memphis, has had more than 20 operations to help her recover.

Alexandra Hollingsworth, 18, caught fire after taking part in a dangerous game which involved igniting alcohol - but doctors patched her up by using skin from a deceased donor

Sustaining burns to 52 per cent of her body, the woman from Memphis, Tennessee, has had more than 20 operations to help her recover

These included skin grafts on her elbows, legs, thighs, back, arms and stomach, using flesh from her legs.

While skin from a cadaver - decellularised dermis - was used on her chest.

She said: 'At first, it was weird because it was much darker than my skin tone but my body's not rejecting it and I don't think about it unless someone asks.

'I have no idea who the donor is, I woke up and it was on my chest.

'I'm really grateful I was able to get that because I needed it and I'm happy that my body accepted it.'

Miss Hollingsworth's life changed forever in July 2010.

She was playing with alcohol and matches with her brother David and cousin Benjamin at home while her mother was at work.

Some of their friends had shown them how to ignite a small flame, which previously they had managed to put out.

Doctors had cut her hair off (pictured) to make sure her scalp wasn't burnt and she was wrapped in bandages

She had skin grafts on her elbows, legs, thighs, back, arms and stomach, using flesh from her legs. While cadaver skin was used on her chest (pictured as a toddler)

But this time it got out of hand as there was a sudden explosion, shortly before she was engulfed by a 'hot, orange light'.

Frozen in shock, she heard a high-pitched ringing sound and realised she was on fire.

She ran into her mother's room to remove her trousers and tried to take her shirt off, but was scared of it burning her face.

Her cousin - who escaped with no injuries - and brother then smothered her in a blanket to extinguish the flames - as her brother also suffered burns.

Miss Hollingsworth said: 'The entire house was covered in soot and smoke and the floor of my mum's room had caved in. I felt like my skin and eyelids were melting.

'As we ran out of the house, I caught my reflection in the mirror. My arms were in shreds and skin was hanging off me.'

Miss Hollingsworth suffered nightmares for three years after the accident, which only stopped once her hair began to grow back and she slowly started feeling more like her old self (pictured when her hair started growing back)

Her brother David also suffered burns following the accident while her cousin Benjamin sustained no injuries

Miss Hollingworth said: 'As we ran out of the house, I caught my reflection in the mirror. My arms were in shreds and skin was hanging off me' (pictured in hospital)

The emergency services were called, and the pair were rushed to Methodist South Hospital in Tennessee.

They were later airlifted to Shriners Hospital for Children, Cincinnati.

There, medics confirmed Miss Hollingsworth had suffered the burns to her arms, stomach, back, thighs, hands and face, while her brother had 18 per cent burns to his chest and inner arms.

She then fell into a natural coma and woke up days later with a tube down her throat.

Miss Hollingsworth added: 'My mum explained what had happened to me as I didn't understand.

'I fell asleep again because I was on so much medication. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I was properly awake and aware.'

Doctors had cut her hair off to make sure her scalp wasn't burnt and she was wrapped in bandages.

She continued. 'I didn't recognise myself when I looked in the mirror.

At her lowest point, Miss Hollingsworth even had suicidal thoughts when she fell into a deep depression following the fire

Miss Hollingsworth stayed in hospital for two months while her brother was discharged after a few weeks and did not need surgery

'I was hideous and embarrassed that other people had to see me like that.'

While her brother was discharged after a few weeks and did not need surgery, Miss Hollingsworth stayed in hospital for two months.

Her home also took about four years to be repaired, during which time the family stayed with family and in rented accommodation, before moving back home.

SKIN FROM DEAD PEOPLE HEALS WOUNDS FASTER Skin taken from the dead could soon be used to treat wounds in the living. Researchers have found skin taken from cadavers stripped of its cells - decellulised dermis - is effective in healing acute wounds, such as burns, as well as painful ulcers. They believe the new treatment could be used to treat wounds that do not easily heal by themselves, which cost the US alone more than $25 billion (17 billion) a year. For decades, scientists have developed increasingly effective skin substitutes to help treat wounds. A team of researchers led by Ardeshir Bayat, a bioengineer at the University of Manchester, used human skin from cadavers, which they decontaminated with antibiotics. Advertisement

In the wake of the fire Miss Hollingsworth fell into a deep depression, feeling 'like a monster' whenever she looked in the mirror.

At her lowest point, she even had suicidal thoughts.

She said: 'Luckily I was home-schooled but when I left the house to go to the shop I could feel other kids pointing and laughing at me.

'I just wanted everyone to leave me alone.'

For three years, she suffered with terrifying nightmares, which only stopped once her hair began to grow back and she slowly started feeling more like her old self.

Though she still has days where she feels self conscious, she is now mostly in a good place and thinks of her scars as 'interesting' rather than 'hideous'.

Now, she is using her harrowing experience to help others, by working as a volunteer counsellor for burns survivors.

She said: 'I can really empathise with the kids and love working with them.

'Knowing what I went through definitely helps them to trust me.

'Fire is not something to be played with. It's not worth it.'
Radhika Vemula, mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, and JNU SU President Kanhaiya Kumar spoke at the event

number of Dalits in Una were recently beaten by cow

The 10-day event was a protest against atrocities and mistreatment

Thousands of Dalits have been marching from Ahmedabad to Una

Thousands of protesting Dalits have pledged not to remove cow carcasses and to launch a rail roko stir if their demands are not met in Gujarat.

They have been demanding protection from casteist atrocities during a 10-day 'Una Dalit Atachiyar Ladat Samiti' (UDALS) march.

At the end of the march, organiser Jignesh Mevani told the crowd: We have presented our demand before the state government. If they do not accept our demand of giving five acres land to each Dalit family in the next month, we will launch a rail roko agitation.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani (left), joins hands with Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar (second left) at the culmination of the Ahmedabad to Una march

The day saw further controversy after eight people lodged a police complaint claiming they were assaulted when the 70th Independence Day celebrations coincided with the end of the Dalit community's march in Gujarat.

Assault

Members of the Dalit community claim they were attacked in Samter village in Una, Gir Somnath district, on their way back from the 350-km UDALS march.

The Dalits say they were attacked by upper caste people.

Eight Dalits were injured and a complaint has been lodged at Una (rural) police station. Police confirmed that top officials have now been stationed in the area.

Rising tensions

The UDALS march began on August 6 from Ahmedabad. At the culmination of the event in Una, Muslim community members came out in large numbers to support the Dalit community.

Slogans such as Dalits-Muslims bhai bhai were raised and Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under verbal fire.

At the rally, Dalit leaders argued for freedom from atrocities and discrimination, amid chants of Jai Bhim (Victory to Bhim).

Thousands of Dalits have pledged not to remove cow carcasses and to launch a rail roko stir if their demands are not met

Radhika Vemula, the mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide in Hyderabad, and the father of Una dalit flogging victim Balu Sarvaiya, jointly unfurled the tricolour in the presence of JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

Jignesh Mevani, a lawyer-turned politician who established the UDALS and led the march, asked those in attendance to vow not to skin cows and to abandon the practice of cleaning the underground drains.

Members of the scheduled caste community protest in Gurgaon (file picture)

Targeting Modi, Mavani went on to say: The sheer scale of protests had forced him to speak out on the issue. Modi did not speak a word when three youths were killed in police firing in Thangadh town in 2012."

JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar added: The hype of Gujarat Model of development has been punctured by Dalits of the state. We want freedom from casteism.

"We will not tolerate any more atrocities on Dalits anywhere in the country. Everybody has to come together to fight against such atrocities.

Radhika Vemula said in her address: "I have not got justice for my son. He had to commit suicide just because he was a Dalit.

"But it is good to see that Dalit movement in Gujarat has forced Chief Minister Anandiben Patel to resign.
Cities and small towns along the Ganga River are set to become 'smart'.

Under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan initiative, the central government is planning to fund an upgrade to the area's sewerage and drainage infrastructure.

The Smart Ganga City Scheme will be launched by Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti in ten cities.

The list includes Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibgunj and Barrackpore.

Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti will spend Rs 20,000 crore on upgrading the sewerage and drainage infrastructure along the Ganga basin

An outlay of Rs 20,000 crore was approved for the Clean Ganga Mission by the Centre in 2014.

In five Ganga basin states - Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal - a total of 7,030 million litres of sewage is generated per day.

Currently about 4,200 litres of sewage is treated. The government is not yet able to take care of the remaining 3,100 litres, although efforts are on to reach that target.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has chosen these 10 cities to get better sewage treatment infrastructure, in the first phase of the programme.

Minister Uma Bharti said that learning from past experience, her ministry has gone for a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model.

She said that district-level mentoring committees will be constituted to monitor the speedy implementation of the Namami Gange programme.
A landlord has been arrested in Delhi, charged with raping his tenants' eight-year-old daughter and allegedly sexually abusing their six-year-old son.

The landlord lived with his wife, two children, and his parents.

The suspect's family has denied the allegations.

The father of the accused told Mail Today: My son has been falsely implicated in this matter. We had asked the tenant to vacate the house, which they had refused, and now my son has been slapped with such heinous allegations.

The victims mother approached the police in Rani Bagh police station over the allegations. (picture for representation only)

The eight-year-old girl had reportedly shared her ordeal with her mother on Sunday, after which her parents made a complaint at Rani Bagh police station. The accused was duly arrested.

The police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354 (outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police said that the suspect has been put in judicial custody after the medical report of the girl suggested she had been raped.

The suspect's family are denying he was involved in the alleged abuse. Police say a medical report has suggested that the girl was raped. (Picture for representation only)

The girl, along with her family, shifted to this house in Rani Bagh in February this year.

As both parents go out to work, the children used to stay alone in the house after coming back from school until their parents returned.

In the complaint, the girl told the police that after they came back from school, their landlord - who lives in the same premises with his wife and children - would often visit them and used to touch their private parts.

Through her lawyer, the girls mother told Mail Today: I knew about the physical violence, but when I got to know about the sexual assault on Sunday, I realised that I should not keep quite anymore and decided to fight back. We had shifted to this house thinking that our children would be safe here.

My husband is mostly travelling on official duties and is barely at home. As both of us are working, we were looking for a place where our children could stay alone and be safe. We were told that our children would be safe in this house as the landlord is well-reputed and lives with his entire family."
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has used her Independence Day speech to make an emotional plea to Kashmir's agitating youth, urging them not to be misled.

Mehbooba also maintained that dialogue is the only way to resolve the troubled region's issues.

The Chief Minister told a crowd at the Bakshi Stadium: In democracy, people have every right to come out to protest, but the protest should be peaceful. If in this protest violence takes places with petrol bombs and at times grenades being thrown, then it becomes a problem.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has used her Independence Day speech to make an emotional appeal to Kashmir's agitating youth, warning them not to be misled

However, she insisted that she was not denying that the security forces had made mistakes.

I assure you that whosoever has gone against the directions of the government will be held accountable, she said.

The chief minister also blamed the successive leaderships at the Centre, starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, for the problems in Kashmir.

Mehbooba added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the issues and take Atal Bihari Vajpayee's work to its conclusion.

The notion that creating disturbances and fueling violence will lead to resolution of the problem is completely misplaced. Kashmir underwent perilous phase of violence in early nineties, leaving behind a scary trail of death and destruction.

"Have we achieved anything from that gory era of bloodshed and devastation? she asked.

Mehbooba also maintained that dialogue is the only way to resolve the troubled region's issues. (Pictured: Indian policemen in downtown Srinagar)

Mufti insisted that unlike in 2008 and 2010, this time concrete steps would be taken to address the political, social and economic issues of the state.

Time has come for the leadership of the country and the State to fully retrieve the people of Jammu & Kashmir, with honour and dignity, from the political uncertainties they are engulfed in for the past seven decades, she said in her address at the Bakshi Stadium.

Mufti insisted that unlike in 2008 and 2010, concrete steps would be taken to address political, social and economic issues of the state. (Pictured: A young Kashmiri protester)

Mehbooba said violence only deprives and devastates people.

The dialogue and reconciliation is, and remains, the only way of settling any disputes - be it regional, territorial or indigenous conflict, she said.

Earlier, Mufti had to face an embarrassing moment when the tricolor fell off the post as she stepped-up to hoist it.

The flag fell to the ground as she pulled the string attached to the post to unfurl it.

Later two security personnel held the flag as Mehbooba gave the ceremonial salute.
VK Singh claimed that only the CBI can "find the real culprits" in the case

Union minister and local MP VK Singh has called for a CBI probe into the recent attack on BJP leader Brijpal Teotia by armed assailants.

The Uttar Pradesh government must hand over the investigation to the CBI to unearth the truth, he told reporters, after hoisting the tricolor at his residence.

Singh claimed that the state police were under pressure to probe the case.

Singh, who is Union Minister of State for External Affairs, said: Only the CBI can find out the real culprits behind the incident. Unidentified and armed assailants had opened fire at Teotias vehicle here on Thursday night.

The BJP leader suffered six bullet injuries in the incident, and is currently in hospital in a serious condition.

Teotias driver and five private security guards were also injured in the incident.

An officer said that Teotia was travelling with five others, including his bodyguards, all of whom sustained bullet wounds.

BJP leader Brij Pal Teotia sustained five gunshot wounds after his car was attacked, while his driver and five security guards were also shot

Police suspect the use of automatic weapons during the incident as nearly 30 rounds were allegedly fired.

The BJP said Teotia was rushed to a hospital in Ghaziabad, from where he was later shifted to Fortis, Noida.

Doctors said Teotias condition was critical.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav rushed additional director general of police (Law and Order), Daljit Singh Chawdhary, and inspector general, Special Task Force (STF), Ram Kumar, to Ghaziabad, to oversee the police operation to catch the attackers.

On Thursday, Director General of police Javeed Ahmad held a meeting with the senior officers to check on the situation.
How long should a phone last once its battery is charged fully?

Different people will give different answers. During the glory days of the Nokia 3210, a fully-charged phone would last for days.

But nowadays a smartphone does so many different things that it just cant go on that long, unless you really are only using it to make calls.

Luckily, there are easy tricks to make your battery last. Here are a few to consider...

As new apps put further strain on battery life, it's important to follow these tips to get the most out of your phone

1. Turn off the GPS

On both Android and iPhone handsets, the GPS, or Location as it is often identified , is one of the biggest juice-drinkers out there.

If you want to prolong the battery life of your phone, turning off the location services is a good idea.

If you are charging your phone more than twice in a day, it is safe to say that your smartphone has poor battery life

When you need it again, for example while using a phone-based taxi app, you can manually turn it back on.

Just turning off the GPS, especially on an Android phone, will grant you up to 2-3 hours of additional battery life.

2. Use Wi-Fi

Another big battery guzzler is the telecom network, particular in India where the network is always poor and the phone has to work extra hard to keep its signal.

The solution? Use Wi-Fi whenever you can. When you are at your home or office, this will ensure that your phone automatically switches to Wi-Fi from 3G or 4G.

3. Keep the screen on auto brightness

It is tempting to switch on your phone's auto brightness.

Even if you manually turn the brightness up, dont forget to put it back on the auto mode once you have finished reading that big article.

Use WiFi at your home or office to ensure your phone automatically switches from 3G or 4G.

The screen is the one component that uses the largest amount of battery.

If you keep it on the manual brightness mode, its battery use will shoot up exponentially.

4. Check for rogue apps running in the background

On Android and on Apple's IOS, you may end up with poor battery life due to a rogue app running unnecessary processes in the background.

This could be a poorly-coded app, or it could just be temporary glitch.

If you are seeing abnormal battery drain in your phone, go to Settings > Battery and then see the list of apps using battery.

On Android and on Apple's IOS, you may end up with poor battery life due to a rogue app running unnecessary processes in the background

If you see one particular app using more than 10 per cent battery life, there could be a problem.

One way to fix this is by restarting the phone. This will get rid of the temporary issues.

If it doesnt happen, you can opt to disable that particular app by going to Settings > Apps.

5. Calm down on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram

Several studies have shown that the Facebook app loves to drain battery life.

Considering it is also one of the most used apps, it can have a significant impact on the battery life of a phone.

Several studies have shown that the Facebook app loves to drain battery life

Ideally, you may not want to tinker with Facebook, but if you value the battery life more, you can try turning off notifications in the Facebook app.

You can also uninstall it and use Facebook Lite, which is less feature-rich but is frugal with data and battery use.

6. Use battery saver mode

Almost all phones nowadays come with the battery saver mode. When applied, some of these modes reduce the phones performance and switch off some non-critical functionality.

A few handsets can go beyond that and apply a monochrome - black and white user interface - limiting the phone to just calls.

With most phones, you can toggle battery saver mode by going to Settings > Battery.

New Launches

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung Galaxy Note 7



Samsungs latest Galaxy has arrived in India just two weeks after it was announced globally.

The Galaxy Note 7, which succeeds the Note 5, improves on its predecessor in every way imaginable.

It has a faster processor (Exynos 8890), more storage (64GB), and a curved screen. Not to mention the new camera and water-proof body.

It also comes with an improved stylus that has a thinner point and more versatile functionality, including the ability to create GIFs (moving images) from videos.

But just like other Galaxy Note devices, you pay the price for the quality at Rs 59,990.

The Micromax Alpha Laptop

Micromax Alpha Laptop

Micromax finally enters the traditional laptop market with an Alpha series laptop. Priced at Rs 26,990, this is a laptop with 15.6-inch screen and an Intel Core i3 processor (5005U).

From the hardware point of view, the laptop looks well-equipped. It has 6GB RAM and the 500GB internal storage.

It also uses a Windows 10 operating system.

But beyond the aggressive price point, does this laptop have enough to woo consumers?

The Sony Raid Hard Disk

Sony Raid Hard Disk

Sony is not exactly known for its storage devices but the Japanese giant's latest offering is an external RAID storage device with a capacity of either six or four terabytes.

This can be connected to a Windows or a Mac computer with a Thunderbolt USB 3.0 connection.

It even has an attractive and shock-proof design.
The chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), Khalil Baloch, has welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis stance on occupied Balochistan and the human rights abuses being committed by Pakistan.

However, Baloch admitted to being concerned about the international community's policy of indifference towards Pakistani war crimes in occupied Balochistan.

"The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far-reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively," the BNM chief said.

Khalil Baloch, the chairman of the Baloch National Movement, has welcomed Narendra Modis stance on Pakistan's human rights abuses in occupied Balochistan

He added that PM Modi's Independence Day statement on Balochistan is a "positive development".

The chairman said that the Baloch people have existed as an ethnic group for thousands of years, and as a nation state for centuries.

He added that it is through the revival of the Baloch state that regional peace can be guaranteed, as an independent Balochistan will help curtail the rogue Pakistani states transnational terrorism policy.

As part of its counter-insurgency policy, Pakistan is developing and strengthening religiously-driven terrorist groups, such as the Taliban, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Khurasan, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Baloch said.

He claims it is supporting terror in every way - from logistical, medical and military support to the provision of finances.

Prime Minister Modi mentioned Balochistan along with Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in his Independence Day statement

Baloch referred to the terrorist attack on the civil hospital in Quetta, and said it was yet another example of the deceptive tactics Pakistan uses to create a cause to accelerate its genocide against the Baloch Nation.

He said the Pakistani state is employing all means at its disposal to quell the Baloch independence movement, from bombing Baloch populations, to the use of chemical weapons.

Recently, during operations in Spilinji and in Saiji, Pakistani forces dumped toxic chemicals in the towns water sources, poisoning the drinking water and causing the death of livestock.

Khalil Baloch claims that Pakistan uses religious terrorism as a policy tool (Pictured: Pakistani paramilitary soldiers)

Most of Balochistan relies on streams and rainwater collected in small reservoirs for hydration purposes.
Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted criminal, is likely to attend the wedding of his sister's son in Mumbai via Skype on Wednesday.

Alishah is the son of Dawood's deceased sister Haseena Parkar, who died two years ago, and Ibrahim Parkar, who was killed by the Arun Gawli gang in the late 1990s.

Sources say that Dawood has directed his aides in Mumbai to oversee arrangements and monitor security measures.

Gangster Dawood Ibrahim will witness his nephew's marriage via a Skype video-link. His brother Iqbal Kaskar will also attend the ceremony.

The grand event is expected to take place in the presence of over a dozen Mumbai police personnel.

A gala reception has been planned at the Tulip Star hotel in Juhu, while the nikah is supposed to take place in Nagpada.

Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar will also attend the ceremony.

"Over a dozen Mumbai police personnel will keep a close watch on the proceedings to see if any underworld elements attend the function," a police official said.

Mumbai police and Crime Branch officials are prepared to keep a close watch on the guests and Dawood's aides, some of whom are wanted men.

"We will keep a watch as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace," an officer told Zee News.
A city trial court has asked Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to vacate her government accommodation in Delhi's Lutyens zone.

The trial court on Tuesday dismissed her appeal against the estate office of Jammu and Kashmirs eviction order.

Payal, 53, has been living in her 7, Akbar Road bungalow with her two sons since 1999.

Payal Abdullah, ex-wife of National Conference politician Omar Abdullah, has been living in her Lutyens' Delhi home for 17 years. She and her sons have advanced Z category security.

She moved the trial court on July 12 after getting an eviction notice, claiming that the estate officer of Jammu and Kashmir had issued it illegally as the property belongs to the Indian Government and only it can have the bungalow vacated.

She highlighted security issues which saw Omar Abdullah retain the bungalow from 2002 to 2008, when he was neither serving as the chief minister nor a Union minister.

Amit Khemka, the counsel for Payal, told Mail Today that they would move Delhi High Court against the trial court's order.

Payal's lawyer said she would challenge the ruling in the Delhi High Court

Sunil Fernandes, the standing counsel for Jammu and Kashmir, said: The trial court took consideration of a letter that was issued on September 9, 2015 according to which the government of India had allotted the bungalow to the government of Jammu and Kashmir. The court, however, observed that there is nothing on record to show that Omar Abdullah was allowed to retain the bungalow due to security threats.

When the eviction notice was sent to Omar Abdullah, he mentioned in his response that he is no longer in occupation of the premises and the estate office is free to take whatever steps are considered necessary for taking the property over.

Mail Today was first to report that the state of Jammu and Kashmir is facing a awkward situation as it does not have an appropriate residence for Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, given her position and her security imperatives.

While the trial court pronounced the judgment, the High Court which is also hearing the matter has listed it for August 19.
The bodies of two unidentified men who carried out a terror strike in downtown Srinagar on Independence Day are still lying unclaimed outside a mosque in Nowhatta.

The gunmen died after a fierce four-hour stand-off in a dilapidated multi-storey building.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) quick reaction team (QRT), and Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) special operations group (SOG), retrieved their bodies.

Almost a day after the terror strike, right out side the mosque in Nowhatta area of downtown Srinagar, no one has come forward to claim the bodies of the two unidentified terrorists

The terrorists opened fire at a CRPF patrol from inside the multi-storey building at around 8am on Independence day. Five CRPF personnel were injured in the first burst of gunfire, but they immediately retaliated and forced the terrorists to take cover.

A sources told Mail Today: As the five were evacuated, reinforcements came in. The terrorists had a vantage point. The terrorists split up and engaged the security forces from two different points.

Inspector General of the CRPF Atul Karwal rushed to the site with top JKP officials in a mine-protected vehicle that doubled up as a mobile command centre.

Commandant Pramod Kumar of the 49th battalion of the CRPF also dashed into combat with his QRT as reinforcements.

CRPF Commanding Officer Pramod Kumar died in the fierce gun-fight. He leaves behind a wife and young daughter.

The brave commandant forced the terrorists to retreat further into the building.

His final act for his country gave both the SOG and CRPF an opportunity to rush into adjoining buildings and take on the two remaining terrorists.

The SOG opened fire at the terrorists, killing them. Two bodies could be seen from an adjacent building. A special room intervention team of SoG and JKP was then sent in.
Pastures new: Newton Investment Management boss Helena Morrissey

Newton Investment Management chief executive Helena Morrissey is stepping down after 15 years, depriving the City of one of its more intriguing characters. A willowy, soigne figure, Morrissey, 50, lives in a five bedroom home in West London where she has reared nine children.

Despite managing some 50billion in assets, she travels to work on the Tube and insists on doing the ironing. She shares a four-poster with hubby Richard, a bearded Buddhist monk who teaches meditation.

Frisky Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio's recent alleged dalliance with horsey blonde Wendy Piatt will likely lead to some embarrassing questions from the bank's owlish chairman, Lord Blackwell.

Dry-as-a-biscuit Norman, 64, is an experienced hand in such delicate matters. He was Head of Policy to John Major, whose cabinet was a permanent cascade of falling trousers.

JP Morgan's brash, 18million-a-year boss Jamie Dimon's holiday reading list includes The Conservative Heart: How To Build A Fairer, Happier, And More Prosperous America, by Arthur C. Brooks and a new biography of Ronald Reagan.

Hardly breezy seaside material, but workaholic Dimon, 60  so-called 'King of Wall Street'  doesn't do frivolity and barely switches off. He refused to skip work even while undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer two years ago, of which he is now clear.

Don't expect to see ex-Bank of England governor Lord King on Twitter any time soon. He says: 'I have no wish to add to the various experiences available to read and view on social media.' Sage Merv, 68, is much too diplomatic to add 'which I find too moronic to go anywhere near'.

High brow Financial Times' upcoming Weekend Festival, held (where else?) on the socialist haven of Hampstead Heath next month, features a pow-wow with eccentric couturier Dame Vivienne Westwood.
When companies are taken over, most employees are fearful for their jobs. Not so the men  and the small handful of women  at the top. They have no need to fret over their future under a new owner.

Quite the reverse: any regrets they may have at losing their job are likely to be well-cushioned by a multi-million pound payment. Welcome to the Golden Sellouts.

In the past few weeks alone there have been some truly eye-opening windfalls for British executives who have succumbed to foreign predators.

Jim McCarthy, the former boss of Poundland, will receive nearly 23million when the budget shop chain is taken over by South African retailer Steinhoff  but his case, believe it or not, is actually much more justifiable than some.

Krafty move: Cadbury boss Todd Stitzer made millions when he sold out to the Americans

A major investor with a holding of 10million shares, or 3.77 per cent, McCarthy spent a decade building the company to a chain with sales of nearly 1billion a year before stepping down this summer.

McCarthy's 23million is a stupefyingly large sum to Poundland shoppers, but at least he spent ten years of his life successfully running the business.

Not so Helge Lund, the former chief executive of BG, who was paid 5.5million when he former FTSE 100 stalwart was taken over by Shell earlier this year, plus 9.7million of shares he received in February.

Not bad considering he only spent around 12 months at the oil exploration and production company.

The row over Lund's rewards began before the merger, when he was hired from Norway's Statoil with a 12million golden handshake.

It was subsequently cut to 10.6million to placate angry shareholders, but still  nice work if you can get it.

In another high profile bid, the bosses of British chip designer ARM, which is being taken over by Japanese technology giant SoftBank, are in line for tens of millions. Chief executive Simon Segars will be handed 11.36million, whilst chief technology officer Mike Muller will get 21million.

How is it that bosses manage to bag such large sums in a bid? For starters, most will be entitled to a year's pay, benefits, and annual bonus.

That will add up to six figures. But they will also be able to cash in on the thousands of shares they have in the company: often this will yield a large sum because most bidders pay a decent premium.

On top of that, the pay committee may have discretion to allow executives to cash their long term options in full in a takeover. Many will also have a well-stashed pension pot containing several millions.

Far from having any real motive to defend their company, Golden Sellout executives have every reason to put out the bunting when a bidder arrives.

They may show some token resistance aimed at squeezing out a higher price, but usually it's a matter of time before they are rolling over.

Those that genuinely put up a fight, such as drugs group AstraZeneca, which repulsed a bid from US giant Pfizer, are relatively rare.

Critics say the vast personal gains are encouraging the trend for British businesses to be gobbled up by foreign predators, to the detriment of the economy.

The issue first emerged when American Todd Stitzer, former chief executive of Cadbury, received a payout of around 20million from cashing in millions of performance shares as a result of the 11.4billion takeover by Kraft in 2010. He also had amassed a 17.4million pension pot.

Quids in: Jim McCarthy, the former boss of Poundland, will receive nearly 23m when the budget shop chain is taken over by South African retailer Steinhoff

Campaigners say the system is in need of reform. 'This is just another example of how executives can't lose,' says Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre.

'Everyone has their price. It raises the question of how objective can you be about the future independence of the business as an executive when you know the deal will reap such personal rewards.

'Theresa May ought to look at this,' he adds, referring to the Prime Minister's comments that she wants to see better boardroom behaviour.

'You really want the chief executive to look at a deal objectively, and not to think, 'Wahey! I can cash in'.'

Frustratingly for ordinary employees, customers and small shareholders, it is impossible to say exactly how much a chief executive will receive until a figure is published after the bid has gone through.

Bosses frequently react with fury when journalists and others try to make an educated guess ahead of that  even though it is highly relevant to investors and the public at large to know exactly how well incentivised executives are.

London Stock Exchange chief Xavier Rolet, for instance, insists a bid by Germany's Deutsche Boerse is in the best interests of investors and the market.

He has seen his personal holding of more than 500,000 shares rise significantly from the 12million they were worth before a bid was lodged.

There is no reason to doubt Rolet's sincerity, but however honourable an executive is, it is hard for the mind to remain unclouded by the prospect of such huge gains, even if only at a subconscious level.

Alan Clark, the boss of SABMiller, could receive as much as 70million when the drinks giant he leads merges with AB InBev.

In other countries, they do things differently. When mobile phone operator Vodafone paid bonuses to executives of German group Mannesmann after it took over that company in 2000, it ended up in court.

A group of Mannesmann supervisory board directors were tried on breach of trust charges for approving around 50million of bonuses to departing executives after the takeover. The case dragged on for years before directors agreed to pay a settlement without admitting guilt.

Here, however, takeover windfalls are just another top person's perk. One of the biggest winners was Neil Berkett, the former chief executive of Virgin Media, who received a 58million pay-off following a 2013 deal with US group Liberty Global.

Corporate governance expert David Pitt-Watson, who has co-written a book called What They Do With Your Money, says the prospect of payouts is likely to 'weaken the resolve to repel a bidder'.

'It illustrates how it is impossible to set out a contract that precisely encourages people to manage companies well.'

Takeovers come with downsides. Apart from the obvious one of job losses, if they denude the stock market of blue-chip companies then it becomes harder for ordinary savers to find decent investment opportunities.

Bids are not invariably a bad thing  in an efficient market, they are an essential Darwinian mechanism for weeding out complacent companies.
Students across Britain are being warned to stay safe online after a spate of phishing e-mails from fraudsters aimed at stealing their first loan payment.

Half-a-million students are set to start university in the coming weeks, while those in their second and final years will also return, and cunning scammers know thousands of pounds will soon hit most of their accounts.

The fraudulent emails usually claim that failure to respond with personal information updates will see students lose or delay their September finance payment, a nightmare scenario for most.

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Student target: Fraudsters know that students are set to have large sums enter their accounts in the coming weeks for the new academic year

The wave of phishing e-mails and text messages have been reported to the Student Loans Company, which is warning people not to fall victim.

The e-mail often purports to be from Student Finance England with branding images and comes with an embedded link in the text.

However, it is likely these contain vicious malware which can be used to access bank accounts online to swipe cash.

The SLC is warning students not to disclose any details, respond to the e-mails or click the link.

Fiona Innes, head of counter fraud services at the SLC, said: 'Online fraudsters are aware that freshers are starting university for the first time next month and are targeting them, continuing students and their sponsors with emails and texts requesting personal and banking details to access their finance.

'We have had reports of this phishing e-mail already. Phishing e-mails are sent in batches so there will be more in circulation.

'We want to remind customers that we will never request a customer's personal or banking details by e-mail or text message.

'We want to remind students to stay vigilant with the details they provide online and to be mindful of the personal information about themselves they post online and on social media too.'

The SLC is asking anyone who received a scam e-mail about student finance to send it to phishing@slc.co.uk as it helps them close phony websites down and stop other students being caught out.

Since 2012/13, the SLC claims its counter fraud services have prevented fraud losses totalling 65million.

Signs of phony contact is the fact many are unlikely to contain a student's first and last name, commonly starting: dear student.

Many also have misspelling, poor punctuation and grammar, while some contact says 'failure to respond in 24 hours will result in your account being closed.'

These types of messages, SLC says, are designed to convey a sense of urgency to prompt a quick response.

It adds that SLC and SFE will never ask students to confirm their bank details or log-in information by e-mail.

Scammers often target specific groups who they know are more likely to have big sums in their bank accounts.
Swigging pints of beer and grinning as a friend holds up a soft porn mag, this was hate preacher Anjem Choudary when he was known as 'Andy', the ladies man law student.

Before Choudary grew his trademark beard and embraced fundamentalism, he was a typical laddish student, who had a string of white girlfriends and could down a pint of cider in just a few seconds.

Choudary, now 49, the son of a market trader from Welling, South East London, had initially studied medicine at St Bartholomew's medical school in central London.

Swigging pints of beer and grinning as a friend holds up a soft porn mag, this was hate preacher Anjem Choudary when he was known as 'Andy', the ladies man law student

At the end of his first year, he switched to studying law at Southampton University, saying he was 'disillusioned' with medicine.

And he appeared to be very much one of the student crowd, calling himself 'Andy,' drinking, indulging in casual sex, smoking cannabis and even taking LSD.

One former acquaintance said: 'At parties, like the rest of us, he was rarely without a joint. The morning after one party, I can remember him getting all the roaches [butts] from the spliffs we had smoked the night before out of the ashtrays, cutting them up and making a new one out of the leftovers.

'He would say he was a Muslim and was proud of his Pakistani heritage, but he didn't seem to attend any of the mosques in Southampton, and I only knew of him having white girlfriends. He certainly shared a bed with them.'

The only sign of activism from Choudary came in his upset over Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses, which was said to be blasphemous and led to protests in Bradford and a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death from the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran in 1989.

'You didn't want to get him started on that. He would go on and on about the fatwa and he supported calls for the book to be banned. But he would have a glass of cider in his hand when he was carrying on about it,' the friend said.

After university, Choudary studied for the legal practice exams at Guildford School of Law in Surrey between 1990 and 1991.

Friends said he would talk about a fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie, while drinking a pint of cider

He got a job teaching English as a foreign language in one of the many colleges off Oxford Street before setting up on his own as a lawyer.

Pictures taken during his student days show the cleric drinking lager and cider, playing drinking games, and holding what looks like a cannabis joint between his lips.

He is also seen grinning, while a friend holds up a copy of the Mayfair pornographic magazine.

Speaking in 2010 when the photographs first emerged, another former friend had told The Daily Mail: 'I can't keep a straight face when I see "fundamentalist Muslim Anjem Choudary" in the papers attacking the British for drinking or having girlfriends.

It was after Choudary (pictured in July 2013) qualified as a solicitor, that he swiftly moved into ever more radical Islam

'When I knew him, he liked to be called Andy, would often smoke cannabis spliffs all day, and was proud of his ability to down a pint of cider in a couple of seconds.

'And he was ruthless with girls. When he briefly worked as an English teacher for foreign students in London, he'd pull one of them every few days, sleep with her, then move on to another.

'If Sharia law was introduced, he would have been whipped and stoned to death many times over.'

It was after Choudary qualified as a solicitor, that he swiftly moved into ever more radical Islam, with former acquaintances suggesting this was possibly because he was angered by his failure to land a well-paid job with a big City law firm.

He had met Omar Bakri Muhammad at a mosque in Woolwich, south east London, and quickly fell under his spell.

He also mixed with hook-handed demagogue Abu Hamza, who once called for bomb attacks on British civilian aircraft at a meeting chaired by Choudary.

'If British means adopting British values, then I don't think we can adopt British values. I'm a Muslim living in Britain. I have a British passport, but that's a travel document to me,' he said later.
A solider has been found guilty of first-degree murder for killing his then-14-year-old girlfriend's mother because she disapproved of their relationship.

It took a Pennsylvania jury panel about four hours to reach its verdict Friday in the trial of Army Spc Caleb Barnes. First degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence. Barnes will be sentenced on September 19.

During his testimony Friday, Barnes placed the blame squarely on 15-year-old Jamie Silvonek, telling jurors that she committed the murder and his only role was helping dispose of evidence because she claimed to be pregnant.

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Guilty verdict: Army Spc Caleb Barnes, 22 (left), pictured in a May 14, 2015, file photo, was found guilty of murdering his then-14-year-old girlfriend's mother Cheryl Silvonek (right)

Jamie Silvonek, now 15, is serving 35 years to life after entering a guilty plea in February

His testimony came after Ms Silvonek took the stand as a witness for the defense but told a wildly different story that implicated him in the slaying.

Barnes, who's from El Paso, Texas, was accused in the stabbing death of Cheryl Silvonek in March 2015 in Pennsylvania because she disapproved of his relationship with her daughter because of their age difference. Barnes, now 22, was 21 at the time of the killing, reported The Morning Call of Allentown.

Jamie Silvonek had agreed to testify against Barnes as part of a plea deal, but prosecutors rested their case Thursday without calling her.

In court, Silvonek (left) defended her boyfriend, telling the court she was 'inexorably, ineffably in love' with Barnes. She also admitted urging Barnes to kill her mother (right)

Barnes put all of the blame on his paramour, claiming she was the one who carried out the stabbing

Silvonek, who was tried as an adult, pleaded guilty in February to first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy and is serving 35 years to life.

On Friday, in a twist, the defense called her to the stand, where she told the court she was 'inexorably, ineffably in love' with Barnes, The Allentown Morning Call reported.

The teen admitted urging Barnes via text to carry out the slaying so they could continue their relationship.

'I believe what I did was just as bad or worse than the physical act,' she said. 'I realized that I had to do the right thing. That's taking accountability for my actions, something your client has yet to do.'

Silvonek described Barnes reaching for her mother's throat from the back seat of her SUV as the woman parked in the driveway of her home after driving the couple to a concert in Scranton.

Silvonek, wearing a beige jumpsuit and shackles, wiped away tears as she talked about her mother, her voice cracking with emotion. She stared at her lap, her long blond hair covering her face.

Barnes, in a suit and tie, glared at Silvonek while she testified, prompting a reprimand from the judge.

'You will not have that kind of eye contact with this witness. Are we clear?' Judge Maria L. Dantos told Barnes.

Bleak future: Barnes is facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the murder

Barnes later told the court that Silvonek stabbed her mother to death during a fight after she revealed she was pregnant. Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dimmig called Barnes' account 'nonsense' that slandered the girl.

Barnes said he had fallen asleep in his Camaro parked outside the Silvoneks' house before heading back to Fort Meade in Maryland, where he was based. He was off-duty at the time of the killing.

He said he was woken up by Jamie Silvonek, covered in blood, banging on the car window. She told him her mother was dead in the SUV, Barnes testified.

Dimmig showed Barnes the murder weapon. Barnes told the prosecutor it was a knife he had left at the Silvoneks' home the week before the killing and he had never gotten it back from his girlfriend, according to Lehigh Valley Live.

'You didn't pick this out special?' Dimmig asked.
Pennsylvania's attorney general was convicted of leaking grand jury secrets and lying about it under oath Monday night.

Kathleen Kane, 50, was found guilty of all nine counts against her, including perjury and criminal conspiracy, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.

In calling her a flight risk, the judge ordered Kathleen Kane, 50, to surrender her passport and threatened to jail her if she retaliated against the once-trusted aides who testified against her.

'The court is concerned, especially with respect to her potential to flee, particularly with her going to Haiti [in 2014] in the middle of her office's tumult, and leaving no one watching the store,' Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy told Kane's lawyers.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (left), 50, was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak

The judge ordered Kane (pictured) to surrender her passport and threatened to jail her if she retaliated against the once-trusted aides who testified against her

Kane's political consultant, testifying with a grant of immunity, changed his grand jury testimony last week to tell jurors that he had 'conspired' with Kane to leak the grand jury material and then frame her chief deputy for the crime.

Kane, a first-term Democrat who had never held elected office, enjoyed a brief honeymoon period in 2013 before her agency descended into chaos as she feuded with officials inside and outside of the department.

When she suspected a former office prosecutor had leaked a critical news article about her shutting down a statehouse probe, she decided to leak word that he had shut down an investigation into an NAACP official in 2009, the jury found.

The NAACP official, who was never charged, was smeared in the process, authorities said.

Kane had the material sent to a reporter through chief deputy Adrian King and political consultant Josh Morrow.

'Where is my story? I'm dying here,' she texted Morrow as the Philadelphia Daily News reporter worked on the story, according to texts shown to the jury.

Defense lawyer Seth Farber, in closing arguments Monday, said Morrow and King would 'say whatever they need to in order to protect themselves'.

Text messages and phone records show frequent interactions among the three of them on key days in the prosecution's timeline: when the documents changed hands, when the Daily News article appeared and when a grand jury started to investigate the leak.

A top deputy told the jury he was alarmed by the contents of the June 2014 article. He testified Kane told him it was no big deal.

'Who would say that other than the person that is responsible for it?' Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele asked.

First-term Democrat Kane (pictured Monday), who had never held elected office, enjoyed a brief honeymoon period in 2013 before her agency descended into chaos

Kane (pictured leaving the courtroom Monday in Norristown, Pennsylvania) did not testify during the trial or call any defense witnesses

Kane did not testify during the trial or call any defense witnesses.

'The conviction on all counts... was a crushing blow, but we have not lost our resolve,' said defense lawyer Gerald Shargel, who said he would appeal the judge's decision to exclude evidence about the offensive, mildly pornographic emails Kane found on state computers.

'We have been denied the opportunity to mount a full defense,' Shargel said.

Perjury, the only felony charged, can bring up to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor charges include conspiracy, official oppression and false swearing.

Governor Tom Kane, a fellow Democrat, renewed his previous calls for Kane to step down. She already has lost her law license over the charges.

However, officials in Pennsylvania do not have to resign over misconduct until they are sentenced.

'What she did while she was the attorney general, the fact she would commit criminal acts while the top prosecutor, is a disgrace,' assistant district attorney Michelle Henry said after the verdict.

Governor Tom Kane, a fellow Democrat, renewed his previous calls for Kane (pictured Monday) to step down. She already has lost her law license over the charges
The Hispanic man charged with the first-degree murder of an imam and his assistant 'was out of control' and cursing wildly after the murders, said a cyclist he is accused of hitting with his car 10 minutes after the double shooting.

Oscar Morel, 35, appeared in Queens Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday afternoon in handcuffs as he was formally charged with killing Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin in Queens on Saturday.

Police believe that Morel hit a cyclist in his SUV minutes after shooting dead the imam and his assistant in broad daylight.

Cyclist David Hunter told the New York Post that he was hit by Morel after he sped off from an altercation with another motorist: 'He had such craziness and anger. He looked like a madman.'

Mr Hunter, a 52-year-old fashion designer from Brooklyn, said Morel got involved in a dispute with another driver: 'He kept cursing at the guy, saying f*** you, f*** this.'

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Oscar Morel makes his first appearance in Queens Criminal Court, New York, charged with murdering an imam and his friend as they walked from a mosque on Saturday

Morel was wearing the same khaki porter's uniform he had on when he was arrested in connection with the killing on Sunday night

His first time in front of a judge came a short time after police released this picture of the .38 caliber Taurus revolver they believed was used to kill Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin. Investigators later confirmed they had identified the gun as the one used to kill the imam and his friend

Mr Hunter says Morel then swerved around the driver, crashed into him and knocked him off his bike, leaving him unconscious.

Morel was charged on Monday night with two counts of second-degree murder after police searched inside a wall and found a handgun and clothes matching those seen on the gunman in surveillance video of the execution-style slaying.

On Tuesday morning, the District Attorney's office said Morel would be charged with first-degree murder. He was arraigned shortly after the NYPD released a picture of the gun they believed he used to kill the pair in broad daylight as they walked back from their mosque on Saturday.

Investigators later confirmed they had identified the gun as the one used to kill the imam and his friend.

'This was a most horrendous and despicable act that can only be described as a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination,' Assistant District Attorney Peter McCormack told the court, while Morel's defense lawyer said his client was innocent.

Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, (left), and his assistant Thara Uddin, 64, (right), were executed in broad daylight as they left a mosque in Queens, New York, on Saturday

On Tuesday, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown upgraded the charges against against Morel from second to first-degree murder - suggesting the slaying was planned.

Brown added that the motive behind the shooting is still unclear - but they are looking into the possibility it was a hate crime.

Police are also investigating whether he was hired as a hitman to settle a dispute in his neighborhood.

Morel's brother Alvin has said the suspect had 'hatred' toward Muslims after 9/11, but insisted he was now just a 'good guy'.

Alvin told the New York Post his brother was furious after the attack on the Twin Towers - but insisted it was only 'temporary'.

He said: 'The only time we ever felt anything was 9/11,' Alvin Morel said. 'We felt that same anger. We all had a hatred.'

The alleged gunman worked as a porter at The New School, a private university in New York, since 2013 and was brought up in a Catholic family. He also had a girlfriend but lived alone in a basement apartment.

Morel (pictured in court Tuesday) was held without bail and will remain in custody until the beginning of the trial

District Attorney Brown said on Tuesday afternoon: 'The defendant is accused of the murder of a highly respected and beloved religious leader and his friend as they walked home from an afternoon prayer service.

'Their deaths are a devastating loss to their families and the community that they served as men of peace.

'I want to extend my deepest sympathy to the families of Imam Maulana Akonjee and Thara Uddin and assure them that the law enforcement community will work tirelessly to insure that justice is done in this case.'

Saif Akonjee, son of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, is surrounded by reporters as he arrives at Queens Criminal Court for Morel's arraignment

He carried placards reading 'we demand justice'. They were carried during protests in the neighborhood shortly after the killings

Morel (pictured) is walked by detectives from the 107th precinct in Queens on Monday night after being arrested and charged with killing the pair

He was wearing a khaki janitor uniform with New York's The New School logo on his chest as he was walked out of the 107th precinct

He added: 'While the motivation for this violent act is still unclear and continues to be investigated, one of the possible motives being explored is whether this was a hate crime.

'Crimes motivated by bias or hate are deplorable and can never be tolerated.

'Regardless, however, whether a hate crime was committed in this case, the crime will be vigorously prosecuted and we will seek the most serious penalties that our law allows.

'Indeed, the defendant is being charged with murder in the first degree, which is based upon the intentional killing of two individuals during the same transaction, and which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.'

After Morel's arrest, more information about him and the shooting were revealed:

Morel, 35, is Hispanic, went to Catholic school and worked as a private university porter

He has been charged with first-degree murder and was arraigned at Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday afternoon

A first-degree murder charge means prosecutors feel the killing was pre-meditated and intentional

Morel told police he was in the area at the time of the slaying and admitted he was the man in the surveillance video - but said he didn't shoot anyone

The NYPD have said: 'We strongly believe this is the individual'

They expressed confidence after detectives found a gun and clothes similar stuffed into the wall of Morel's home

His brother said he had animosity towards Muslims after 9/11, but it had subsided

Alvin Morel also said his brother was a 'good guy' and was in disbelief at what happened

Muslims in the community where the imam and his assistant were killed say they have been harassed

Residents in the Bangladeshi-Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

But Morel's brother said: 'We're Catholic-school kids  we don't do this.'

He also added on Facebook: 'I cant believe what has happened. I don't believe whats injustice. GOD help my brother mother father and my self.'

Morel's brother Alvin (pictured) said: 'The only time we ever felt anything was 9/11,' Alvin Morel said. 'We felt that same anger. We all had a hatred'

Alvin (pictured) expressed his shock after the charges were announced saying: 'I can't believe what has happened'

On Monday night, Alvin took to Facebook after his brother was charged with the double murder and expressed his disbelief

Morel was taken into custody late Sunday night, police said. Initially he was not arrested in connection with the execution-style killing.

But he was then charged after police continued to question him.

On surveillance video the killer can be seen fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer right after Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head.

Morel faces a count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

Morel, 35, of Brooklyn, faced upgraded charges on Monday after police said they recovered a revolver at his home (pictured left)

Morel's landlord Amado Baptista, 59, told the New York Daily News that he had moved in seven months ago.

'He had a girlfriend, but he lives alone, he was always very nice. He told me he works cleaning in a school.'

Alvin Morel also told the New York Daily News that their mother had cancer.

Alvin Morel (pictured left and right) said: 'We're Catholic-school kids  we don't do this' and insisted his brother was 'a good guy'

Oscar and Alvin's mother Ana Morel is pictured above. Alvin said in an interview that she currently has cancer

Police previously released this sketch of the gunman who they said was responsible for the shootings, picturing a man with a beard and glasses

Morel's arrest was announced just hours after about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, 'Justice!' periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told those gathered that the entire city was 'mourning with you.'

The arrested man can be seen on video surveillance fleeing the area of the shooting just after Akonjee and Uddin were shot. Pictured, sandals being worn by the imam and his assistant are seen at the scene on Saturday

Thousands gathered on Monday to pray in front of the caskets of Akonjee (draped in green) and Uddin (draped in beige) during an Islamic funeral service

A crowd of community members prayed on Monday next to the coffins as they gather for the funeral service of Akonjee and Uddin

Huge crowds gathered around and listened to speakers as they paid their respects to Akonjee and Uddin on Monday

Mourners knelt down on the street to pay their respects to the slain religious leader and his friend

A young family member of one of the victims joins hundreds of area Muslims while holding a mass prayer for Akonjee and his assistant Uddin
Six people have been arrested in Milwaukee after another night of protests following the police shooting of a black man.

Sylville Smith, 23, was shot dead by a cop on Saturday after he allegedly turned and raised his gun towards an officer as he fled following a traffic stop.

The city has been rocked by rioting since the shooting, with business burned down and police officers assaulted by furious demonstrators, but tensions appeared to have eased last night.

There were 'heated' clashes early in the evening, police said, but most teenagers respected a strict curfew that saw youths banned from the streets after 10pm.

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Six people have been arrested in Milwaukee after another night of protests following the police shooting of a black man. Pictured, a protester in Milwaukee

One of the six protesters arrested yesterday in Milwaukee is cuffed and put in the back of a police van

Sylville Smith, 23, was shot dead by a cop on Saturday after he allegedly turned and raised his gun towards an officer as he fled following a traffic stop

'We think we are in, comparatively speaking, a positive place,' Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said shortly after the curfew began.

Flynn said the calm seemed to be linked to the arrests that were made earlier in the night after officers flooded the streets.

Smith was shot dead on Saturday as he turned towards an officer and raised his gun, according to police.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said police bodycam footage showed 'without question' that Smith had a gun in his hand, however this video has not been released.

Barrett said Smith had 'more firepower than the officer' and his handgun - which he is said to have refused to drop - was loaded with 23 rounds.

Flynn said that his officers had pulled over Smith after they noticed the driver was 'behaving suspiciously'.

There were 'heated' clashes early in the evening, police said, but most teenagers respected a strict 10pm curfew. Pictured, a protester talks to police

There were fiercer protests earlier in the week as demonstrators marched through the neighborhood where Smith was shot

The Milwaukee mayor and police chief said body camera footage shows Smith (pictured) was armed at the time of his death

Police wore their body cameras as they approached the vehicle and within 20 to 25 seconds Smith, who had a lengthy rap sheet, was dead.

After watching the officer's body camera footage, Flynn said Smith had run 'a few dozen feet' and turned toward the officer while holding a gun.

'It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,' the chief said.

He said the officer had told Smith to drop the gun and he did not do so.

It was unclear how many rounds the officer fired. Smith was hit in the chest and arm, Flynn said.

Flynn said his 24-year-old officer, who is black, feared for his life before shooting Smith, who was also black. The police officer's identity has not been released.

Dozens of officers (pictured) in riot gear were prepared for another night of protests on Sunday after Saturday's violence marred the city's north side

Police arrived on the scene Sunday as some protesters threw bottles and rocks before shots were reportedly fired

The shooting led to a first night of violence in which gunshots were fired, six businesses were torched and 17 people were arrested.

Police reported four officers were injured and police cars were damaged before calm was restored.

On Sunday night, when police in riot gear faced off with protesters throwing bottles and bricks, four officers were hurt and one person suffered a gunshot wound, police said.

Three police squad cars were damaged and 14 people were arrested, authorities said.

Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, cordoned off Sherman Park, the center of the neighborhood where the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances took place.

Police Chief Flynn said the violence was 'quite frankly, unanticipated' and the curfew was a last resort.

Flynn said it was 'an error in narrative to assume' that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial 'so let's have a riot.'

The National Guard had to be brought in to try and quell the unrest on Sunday night as protesters rallied in the streets (pictured)

Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.

'There's so much anger in these kids,' Brewer said. The shooting 'was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesn't matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true'.

DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smith's death would have stopped the weekend's unrest.

'People are just so angry,' he said.

Flynn blamed a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party for coming to town and inciting Sunday's violence.
A cloud of pink fire retardant descended in northern California after a blaze broke out on Sunday causing $10million in damages.

James McCauley returned to his home in Lower Lake on Monday and wept as he stood over his prized marijuana plants, which had been destroyed by the pink coating.

On Monday evening, Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, was arrested on 17 counts of arson after the fire tore through more than 175 homes and businesses in the small town about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

A cloud of pink fire retardant descended in northern California after a blaze broke out on Sunday causing $10million in damages

James McCauley returned to his home in Lower Lake on Monday after traversing a creek by boat and foot for a half mile to reach the property

Pictured, a truck and several bushes of marijuana plants covered in fire retardant near the remains of McCauley's bruned out house

'Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law,' Ken Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

'My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time,' he added.

The blaze, exacerbated by high winds, spread to more than six square miles, causing what Pimlott estimated was more than $10 million in damages.

Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, was arrested on 17 counts of arson

Thousands of people fled the area and many families have been left homeless as a result.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of the historic Main Street and flames burned local businesses, an old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year.

The fire rages on, with just five percent of it contained although officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

The blaze, exacerbated by high winds, spread to more than six square miles, causing what Pimlott estimated was more than $10 million in damages

Thousands of people fled the area and many families have been left homeless as a result. Pictured, Tyrol Martin of the US Forest Service at work

A firefighter rescues a goat from a burning house as flames envelope a Lower Lake property on Sunday

A five-year drought has sapped the vegetation of moisture, and forecasts predicting temperatures in the high 90s may only exacerbate the fire.

Lower Lake had not seen a devastating fire for several generations, but last year, three major blazes from July through September blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

Between the four blazes, more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County have been destroyed.

Businesses were reduced to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday.

All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

But no injuries have been reported.

Lower Lake is largely a working class town with just 1,300 residents, most of whom are drawn by its rustic charm and low housing prices compared to the Bay Area.

Between the four blazes over the last year, more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County have been destroyed

A five-year drought has sapped the vegetation of moisture, and forecasts predicting temperatures in the high 90s may only exacerbate the fire

The fire rages on, with just five percent of it contained although officials said no other structures were under direct threat. Pictured, Reisha Spitler and her dog Boss amidst the ruins

A destroyed bicycle lays amid the rubble of a burned property

The fire tore through more than 175 homes and businesses in the small town about 100 miles north of San Francisco.
Williams reveals his struggles with the money that fame has brought him

On July 21, Battle landed at Newark airport from Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and was arrested with 18 pounds of heroin - estimated value $512,000 - carried in a bag with a false bottom

But the former radio host said no on the advice of his current manager

Battle, whom Williams says used to buy him crack cocaine as part of his 'rider', allegedly promised the star $10,000 for two days' work

artist says he turned down an offer from his former manager, Alfred Battle, to travel to Ethiopia for a job last month

Ted Williams, 'The Man With the Golden Voice' who shot to fame after being discovered begging at an intersection, has averted disaster once again.

The former homeless drug addict became an international superstar thanks to his mellifluous tones.

And now Williams believes he may have narrowly avoided being caught up in a drug smuggling scheme by turning down a 'job' offer from his former manager, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Last month Williams, 58, who is having money trouble once again, was approached by his ex-manager Alfred Battle with an attractive but vague gig in Ethiopia, Africa.

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Williams shot to fame in 2011 after a video of him begging in his sunny baritone voice went viral

Battle, 60, promised Williams that he'd be 'treated like a king' and rewarded at least $10,000.

Williams was tempted by the lucrative offer and almost agreed.

That was until his current manager Scott Anthony stepped in and put the kibosh on it, demanding Williams to stay in Ohio to concentrate on a different project.

Lucky for Williams he listened.

So dramatic was Williams' rise to fame that in a matter of weeks he found himself on the Jimmy Fallon show. Voice-over work flooded in, including for Pepsi and Kraft Mac and Cheese

Williams' former manager Alfred Battle, 60, was caught at Newark airport with $512,000 of heroin

On July 21 Battle was arrested at Newark airport carrying 18 pounds of heroin, with an estimated value of $512,000.

He was found with the contraband after disembarking from a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said Port Authority police.

According to a release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Officers noticed that the bag was heavier than normal and found that it had a false bottom.

Williams is now convinced that Battle was planning to ensnare him in an allegedly criminal scheme.

Williams told Daily Mail Online: Why else would he want me there?

'He could have planted some drugs on meor maybe he would have used me as the fall guy or something,' he said.

'Maybe I would have been some kind of decoy or distraction,' added Williams, who perpetually turns heads with his booming voice, large teeth and gangly 6'1" physique.

Williams has undergone a dramatic transformation since his begging days, even publishing a book about his story - although the star still has money problems

He believes that he avoided a lengthy jail term by turning down the offer of a 'job' in Ethiopia from his former manager

Hes in jail. Hell probably be there until he dies. I feel so thankful that isnt me.

'They would have thrown away the key, Id be done for.'

Battle is charged with possession of a controlled and dangerous substance and distribution of heroin, said Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo.

'Even if I had no idea what he was planning, even if I was just walking next to himthey would have locked me up for life, said Williams.

Whos going to believe that a former crackhead wasnt in on that deal? he asked.

Im angry and sad at the same time, Ill pray for him.

Former radio presenter Williams was catapulted to fame in 2011, when a video of him showing off his resounding baritone voice while begging at an intersection in Columbus, OH, went viral.

At the time he was wrung out from drugs, living in a tent and begging with a sign which read: I have a God given gift of voice, Im an ex-radio announcer who has fallen on hard times. Please, any help will be gratefully appreciated.

Lucrative voiceover work for Kraft and Pepsi flooded in, plus a $375,000 book deal and numerous TV appearances, but he struggled to get clean and sober and tens of thousands of dollars were squandered.

I signed a lot of things I probably shouldn't have signed back in 2011,' said Williams, who claims he is now about to celebrate five years of sobriety.

I was still getting high, making poor decisionsbeing irresponsible.

The Dr. Phil show paid for his rehab, but poor money management left him struggling to buy a car or furnish his new house.

Royalties trickle in from his book, A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation, but its not enough.

The father of nine lives with one of his daughters, Tangela Pullien, and his longtime girlfriend, Kathleen Chambers.

Chambers, 55, has also battled addiction, and also attended a rehab program paid for by Dr. Phil McGraw.

Shes my best friend, were both taking it one day at a time, thats what every former addict does, said Williams.

Life is still tough, so a carrot stick of $10,000 from his former manager was attractive.

Who wouldnt want to get that amount of money for two days work? asked Williams.

'He made it sound like Id be in Africa to greet fans and inspire people who need help in life.

Williams with his long-term girlfriend Kathleen Chambers. The star says he is clean now

'Al was my friend, my best friend for a long time, I wanted to believe it was a legitimate offer, added Williams.

Williams has new manager Scott Anthony to thank for avoiding possible jail time.

'Im going to be honest, personally, I dont like Al Battle,' said Anthony, 37.

I think hes a bad influence on Ted, hes trouble.'

Williams claims that Battle has led him astray in the past, but he hoped hed changed.

He used to buy crack cocaine for me when he was my manager,' he claimed.

'I was going through about $100 worth of it per day, it was part of my rider if you will.

He never did it with me, he just used to buy it for me, he alleged.

Williams is currently looking for more voiceover work and has set up the Ted Williams Project, a non-profit serving homeless shelters.

I have a checkered past but Im clean now. I want to do Gods will, give back and help people.

After a brief stint on a gospel music channel he hopes to launch a chat show with his local radio station WKVO-AM in the autumn.

I was lucky to get a second chance at life, I want to inspire other people to make the right choices and never give up.

Alfred Battle has pleaded not guilty and his bail has been set at $500,000.

He has not made bail, according to Katherine Carter, spokeswoman for the Essex County prosecutor's office.
Reiyn Keohane, pictured, is suing the Florida Department of Corrections to demand hormone treatmen

A transgender prisoner is suing the Florida Department of Corrections to demand hormone treatment just days after a different transgender Florida inmate was found dead in her cell.

In a suit filed in federal court in Tallahassee Reiyn Keohane, 22, claims she is receiving cruel and unusual punishment because she needs the hormone treatments to avoid depression.

The suit comes shortly after convicted murderer Justin Lee Naber was found dead in her cell at the Dade Correctional Institution on August 6.

The family of the transgender woman said she had taken her own life.

In a handwritten document written before she died Naber said it was 'cruel and unusual punishment' to be forced to use a male name. She wanted to change her legal name to Stacy Lorraine Naber.

'Inmate Naber was pronounced deceased on August 6, 2016. At the time of the inmate's death, he was in administrative housing at Dade Correctional Institution and was housed alone,' a Department of Corrections spokesman told the Miami Herald.

Naber fatally stabbed her roommate in a fight about rent money in 2011 and was found guilty of second-degree murder two years later.

Since being incarcerated in men's prisons, Keohane has also tried to take her own life and attempted to castrate herself.

'This treatment is absolutely necessary to my ability to mentally function,' Keohane wrote in one grievance to prison officials.

'Without it I consider self-harm and suicide every single day. It is the only thing that matters in my life in this moment.'

The suit comes just days after convicted murderer Justin Lee Naber, pictured, was found dead in her cell at the Dade Correctional Institution on August 6

Keohane was arrested in September 2013, one month after beginning hormone treatments.

Her decision to plead guilty to stabbing her roommate was motivated by a promise that hormone treatments would continue while she was in prison, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union.

She was sentenced to 15 years for the attack in Fort Myers.

Keohane has felt she was born with the wrong gender since she was 12 and began seeing therapists when she was 13.

By age 14, she began living as a female. She legally changed her name when she was 17 and began hormone therapy when she was 19.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections said: 'The Florida Department of Corrections has not yet received this lawsuit but will thoroughly review it upon receipt.

'Once we receive the lawsuit, we will thoroughly review it along with any associated claims.'

In a blog posted on the ACLU website she claimed: 'I have been forced to strip with men, and been slapped and hit for telling the officers in charge of the search that the rules say I must be searched separately.

'I have been handcuffed, thrown to the ground, and held down so officers could shave my head.

Naber was found dead at Dade Correctional Institution, pictured, earlier this month

'I have been called a punk, a sissy, and a f***** - I have been beaten while handcuffed for asking to see mental health professionals.'

The lawsuit also complains that female underwear was taken from her when she was transferred to a new prison and officials refused to return them.

The suit seeks to force the department to let her wear female clothing and to grow her hair so she can style it as a woman would. Her prison mug shot shows her with a crew cut.

'I am a transgender female and am not comfortable wearing male underwear  it is a discrimination on the basis of sex or gender to force a person to act in a certain way because of their sex,' Keohane wrote in another complaint to prison officials.

For confidential support in the US call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
Voters under 35 years old are just not that into Donald Trump, a new USA Today/Rock the Vote poll finds, with just 20 percent saying they planned to vote for the Republican nominee.

Of the 18 to 34-year-olds polled, 56 percent said they supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, though her candidacy hasn't been greeted as enthusiastically by the group as that of her Democratic primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

That being said, now 72 percent of former Sanders supporters are backing Clinton, with just 11 percent saying they'll choose Trump. Another 11 percent of former Sanders supporters indicated they would not be voting this fall at all.

While the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia may have helped move millennial voters toward Clinton, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland had the opposite effect with USA Today calling it a 'catastrophe' for the candidate with this voting bloc.

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Only 20 percent of voters under 35 currently support Republican nominee Donald Trump (left) says a new Rock the Vote poll, while 56 percent like Hillary Clinton (right)

Hillary Clinton could beat Donald Trump among millennials by unprecedented margins as the worst performing Republican was previously Richard Nixon with 32 percent support

Hillary Clinton has a 36 point advantage when she's up against just Donald Trump with voters under 35 years of age

After the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton got a modest uptick in millennials thinking she acted more presidential

Young voters reported that Donald Trump looked less presidential after seeing him at the Republican National Convention

More than three in four of respondents said they paid some attention to the conventions last month and at least 50 percent of those surveyed said the Cleveland confab made Trump look less presidential, less credible and less trustworthy.

Additionally, millennials reported more than 2-to-1 that the Republican seemed less human and less accessible after looking at the coverage of speeches and events from the RNC.

Clinton, however, saw modest improvements in her standings with millennials with 39 percent saying she seemed more presidential and 35 percent saying she seemed more human.

On the flip side 27 percent said she seemed less presidential and 23 percent said she looked less human.

And when it came to trustworthiness, her biggest liability, an equal number  31 percent  said she seemed more, and then less, trustworthy after viewing her at the Philadelphia convention.

The poll indicated that there's a bit of a Sanders hangover still present too, with a smaller percentage of millennial voters considered most likely to vote from 76 percent to 72 percent  now that the major parties have their nominees.

Strangely, a higher percentage of millennial men are supporting Hillary Clinton, which is surprising because of the historic nature of her candidacy

While Clinton is up 36 points against Trump in a two-person race, her numbers are pulled down more than Trump's when Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party hopeful Jill Stein are added in  but not enough to really dent her dominance.

She loses six points, getting 50 percent support, while Trump sinks two points and receives an 18 percent share. Johnson then gobbles up 11 percent of the millennial vote, while Stein receives 4 percent.

If Trump's numbers remain consistent through election day, the lack of support he'd receive from the country's youngest voters would be unprecedented.

Even President Richard Nixon, running for re-election in 1972, captured 32 percent of the vote from 18-to-29-year-old voters, who were actively protesting against the Vietnam War, USA Today pointed out.

And despite young voters being an important part of President Obama's coalition in both 2008 and 2012, young people didn't always skew so heavily Democratic, with about half the constituency choosing Republican George W. Bush when he first ran for office in 2000 against Democrat Al Gore.

In fact, Republicans, like President Ronald Reagan, captivated young voters, drawing them into the GOP column by double-digits through the 1980s.

Now, however, Trump is cementing a voting pattern that could hurt Republicans for years to come by getting young people into a habit of voting for the opposing party.

And millennial women, seeing a vote for Clinton as a chance to make history, aren't the ones who are boosting the Democrat's numbers with their generation.

Clinton is actually doing better with millennial men, the poll found.

Fifty-eight percent of young men say they support Clinton, versus the 22 percent who support Trump.
Television political commentator Andrew Bolt has turned off a 'damn rude' far-right extremist's microphone in a live television interview after he disrupted a church service by posing as a Muslim.

Nick Folkes, the leader of the Party for Freedom, appeared on The Bolt Report on Sky News after his group stormed Gosford Anglican Church on the NSW Central Coast and interrupted the Sunday morning sermon.

The group of about 10 patriots lay down rugs and pretended to pray on their knees while the Koran played on tape and one man shouted through a loudspeaker.

On his Monday night program, Bolt demanded an explanation from Mr Folkes for his 'damn rude' which 'the media has used to discredit Pauline Hanson'.

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Mr Folkes is leader of Party for Freedom. About 10 of its members, including Folkes, on Sunday posed as Muslims at Gosford Anglican Church on the NSW Central Coast (pictured)

Mr Folkes told Bolt he didn't think the group's stunt was rude.

'I think that the point needed to be made. It was disruptive for some people  there's always going to be people that do take offence,' the Party for Freedom leader said.

'Of course they do. You meant them to take offence,' Bolt replied.

Mr Folkes then went to criticise Father Rod Bower, the leader of the church which openly supports refugees and multiculturalism.

But Bolt interjected: 'No, no, no.'

'Nick, Nick, let me tell you how this works. For years I have complained that the left, the ABC, whenever you've got a left wing protester doing something antisocial, disrupting someone, scaring them, they would get someone on to spruik their cause. I'm not going to reward you like that. I'm just going to talk, only, about your choice of tactics,' Bolt said.

'Do you think it's appropriate to go into someone's church service while they're praying, while they're worshipping God, and stage a stunt like that?

Controversial commentator Andrew Bolt (left) turned off the microphone for Nick Folkes (right), a 'damn rude' anti-Islam protester, in a live television interview

'Have you noticed how the media has used you and this stunt to discredit Pauline Hanson? Calling you Pauline Hanson supporters? Do you realise the damage you do?' Bolt asked

'When you do something that I consider wrong, offensive, trampling on peoples' rights, you don't get to spruik your cause.

'I want you to defend what it is you've done, which I think is extremely rude. To older parishioners, that would in fact be intimidating, and you know it,' Bolt finished.

Mr Folkes said 'it was within our right' to interrupt the Sunday morning sermon, which Bolt described as 'obscene' and said it 'harassed' those in the church.

When Mr Folkes again tried to criticise Father Rod Bower, Bolt threatened to cut off his microphone.

'I've explained the rules, if you don't obey them  the mic goes off.

'You talk about your tactics not about your cause,' Bolt said.

'Have you noticed how the media has used you and this stunt to discredit Pauline Hanson? Calling you Pauline Hanson supporters? Do you realise the damage you do?' Bolt asked.

Mr Folkes reiterated Ms Hanson had nothing to do with the protest.

Party for Freedom openly supports One Nation and its leader, Ms Hanson, who on Monday distanced herself from the protest.

The pair talked over each other until the interview was abruptly cut short.

'You've discredited your cause, you've embarrassed yourself, you've scared people, and mate, the interview now is over,' Bolt told Mr Folkes as his microphone was turned off.

'Goodbye.'

Mr Folkes tried to criticise Father Rod Bower, the leader of the church which openly supports refugees and multiculturalism. Its sign (pictured with anti-Islam group) on Sunday read: 'Good luck to Aussie & refugee Olympic teams'

About 10 members of Party for Freedom wore mock Muslim clothing and interrupted a Sunday morning sermon at Gosford Anglican Church to protest against multiculturalism

About 10 members of anti-Islam Party for Freedom marched into the Gosford Anglican Church, which is renowned for supporting multiculturalism, at 9.30am on Sunday.

The group interrupted the sermon at the NSW Central Coast by pretending to pray on their knees while a tape of a man singing the Koran played.

One of the members from the far-right group used a loudspeaker to sarcastically say they were showing 'cultural diversity, the rich tapestry of Islam'.

Party for Freedom leader Nick Folkes on Monday told Daily Mail Australia he believes in freedom of speech.

The group were also photographed speaking with police near the church

'However I believe Islam is anti-democratic and anti-freedom and has no place in Australia,' he said.

'I believe Muslim and other third world immigration should be restricted.'

'We held the protest at Rod's church to challenge his promotion and support of Islam. Rod's promotion of Islam and Muslim immigration is anti-Christian, and anti-Australian.

'Criticising Islam or any religion is valid. The ethnic lobbies and multiculturalists are "totalitarian".

A spokesperson for One Nation told Daily Mail Australia the parties have no official affiliation, and said One Nation was not aware of Party for Freedom's plans.

Pauline Hanson has distanced herself from Party for Freedom following the stunt (Nick Folkes pictured with the One Nation Senator in 2010)

The spokesperson said they believed the church was targeted because it has 'taken part in political conversations through portraying their support for refugees and Muslims'.

'A church is a sacred place to many people so perhaps the Party for Freedom could have had a different approach to making their statement, but this does go to show that tensions are high in the community when it comes to the topic of Islam.'

'If concerns are not addressed, we believe that there may come a time where there is civil unrest on our streets.'

In a post to the Gosford Anglican Church Facebook page, Father Bower said Party for Freedom 'terrorised' the congregation and 'violated our sacred space'.

'Sadly these hate filled people would have certainly claimed to be Christian on last Tuesday's census, but they know not Christ or his peace,' Father Bower wrote on the church's Facebook page.

'If these people had been actual Muslims it would be called terrorism. This is "radicalised Christianity" and right-wing terrorism and should be named as such.'
We may not be as popular as we would like to think.

For research shows that we may have only half as many friends as we believe.

A US study has found that a mere 50 per cent of friendships are mutual. In other words, only half of our so-called pals like us.

A US study has found that a mere 50 per cent of friendships are mutual. In other words, only half of our so-called pals like us

Reasons for the misunderstanding range from it being human nature to expect those we like to like us back, to social media blurring the definition of friendship.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Alex Pentland asked students on a business management course rank how close they were to each of their classmates, one a scale of 0 to 5.

Zero meant I do not know this person, 1 was defined as I recognise this person but we never talked while an acquaintance merited a score of 2.

Only scores 3 and above denoted friendship. A 3 described a friend, 4 was reserved for close friends and to get a 5 someone had to be a best friend.

Importantly, the 84 men and women aged 23 to 38 were asked to predict how the other person would score them.

Analysis of the results showed that 94 per cent of the students expected their feelings of friendship to be reciprocated. But that happened in only 53 per cent of cases.

The study is not the first to show that our friends may be less keen on us than we are on them.

Previous research has found that as few as a third of friendships are mutual. Professor Pentland, a computer scientist and psychologist, said: These findings suggest a profound inability of people to perceive friendship reciprocity.

Reasons for the misunderstanding range from it being human nature to expect those we like to like us back, to social media blurring the definition of friendship

One explanation is that we simply assume our feelings are shared because the thought that the people we value dont feel the same about would be too hurtful.

Writing in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, the professor said: People dont like to hear that people they think of as friends dont name them as friends.

It is also possible that many unreciprocated friendships are aspirational, with people naming popular or powerful types as friends, even when they dont know them very well.

The popular person, in contrast, has lots of friends to choose from and so can afford to be more picky, experts say.

The rise of social media means the definition of friendship has become blurred. Ronald Sharp, professor of English at Vassar College, New York State, said: People are so eager to maximise the efficiency of relationships that they have lost touch with what it is to be a friend.
More than 100,000 operations were cancelled last year on the day patients were due to have them, a report suggests.

Experts warn that calling off a procedure at the 11th hour creates a major psychological burden.

Many patients are often not told of a cancellation until they have undergone pre-surgery checks and are waiting to be wheeled into theatre.

More than 100,000 operations were cancelled last year on the day patients were due to have them, a report suggests (file photo)

In a sign of mounting pressure on the NHS, each hospital axed an average of 753 ops on the day they were scheduled in 2015 for non-medical reasons.

The reasons were blamed on equipment shortages, a lack of beds and scheduling errors.

The Department of Health stresses that with 7million operations carried out each year, cancellations affect fewer than 1 per cent of patients.

But the Patients Association said it was increasingly concerned about the number of procedures scrubbed on the day.

Its report, entitled Feeling The Wait, said: There is a significant psychological burden on patients waiting to be given a date for surgery and for patients whose surgery has been cancelled.

The charity sent Freedom of Information requests to all 144 acute NHS trusts in England.

According to responses from 112 of them, an average of 753 operations were axed by each hospital at the last minute, suggesting a total of 108,432 cancellations across England last year.

Experts warn that calling off a procedure at the 11th hour creates a major psychological burden (file photo)

The report also warned that the number of patients forced to wait for more than 18 weeks for routine operations increased by 80 per cent last year.

This years report, based on 2015 data, shows that on the whole waiting times are getting worse, not better, the authors wrote. Their analysis suggests 92,739 patients waited for elective surgical procedures  such as hip or knee operations  for more than 18 weeks during 2015, compared to 51,388 in 2014.

Patients now have to wait for more than 100 days for each of five common procedures  hip replacement, knee replacement, and hernia, adenoid and tonsil removals. In 2010 the average wait for those five procedures was between 63 and 87 days.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: Overall, with the significant jump in waiting times, we are very concerned that relaxing the rules on waiting-time targets as recently reported will only exacerbate an already unacceptable situation for patients.

In July, NHS England announced that hospital trusts will no longer be fined for missing key targets on waiting times and cancer treatment as part of a bid to improve finances.

The Department of Health stresses that with 7million operations carried out each year, cancellations affect fewer than 1 per cent of patients (file photo)

The Government last night rejected the Patients Association report as unreliable and misleading and questioned the statistics on waiting times.

It said data based on FoI responses overestimated the number of cancelled operations. Instead, officials said, just 71,370 operations were cancelled on the day in 2015, up from 68,886 the year before.

Health Minister David Mowat said: The latest official figures show that nine in ten patients still wait less than 18 weeks for treatment, despite the fact that last year the NHS carried out 1.6million more operations than in 2010.

Childrens healthcare is starting to move backwards as a result of workforce shortages across paediatric units, leading doctors have warned.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said more than half are not meeting recommended staffing standards and are at breaking point.
New One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has been ridiculed online after telling an internationally-renowned scientist climate change is a conspiracy based on data 'corrupted' and 'manipulated' by NASA.

The controversial politician, a staunch climate change skeptic, found himself in a heated debate with Professor Brian Cox on ABC's Q&A program.

Mr Roberts has previously challenged 'anyone at the ABC' to provide 'empirical evidence' that human production of carbon dioxide is affecting the climate.

And on Monday night, fellow panelist Professor Cox, a celebrity physicist from England, attempted to do just that.

Celebrity physicist Brian Cox said there was an 'absolute consensus' that human-induced climate change existed and the average global temperature was increasing

'The data has been corrupted ... manipulated by NASA': One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts was unconvinced by the graph

Mr Roberts claim that climate change is a NASA conspiracy was met with ridicule online

Many viewers headed online to express their dismay at Mr Roberts being given a platform to talk about his climate change skepticism

'I could sit here and read out figures until I'm blue in the face,' Professor Cox said.

'In 2015 and 2016 in particular, we've seen a quite shocking acceleration in many of the measures (for global temperature rises),' he explained.

'This is now a clear global problem. The absolute, absolute consensus is that human action is leading to an increase in average temperature.

'I know you may try to argue with that ... but you can't.'

Professor Cox then brought out a global temperature graph in an effort to prove his point, but it was immediately disputed by Mr Roberts.

'The data has been corrupted, and we know that,' Mr Roberts interjected.

'What do you mean corrupted?' Professor Cox asked.

Mr Roberts responded: 'Manipulated'.

'By who?' Professor Cox asked.

'NASA,' Mr Roberts replied, before his voice was drowned out with roars of laughter from the audience.

'The Bureau of Meteorology is exactly the same, and Greg Hunt squashed an investigation by the BoM earlier this year,' Mr Roberts continued.

Professor Cox could hardly hold back his bemusement when Mr Roberts said NASA were responsible for manipulating climate change data

Many social media users blasted the controversial politician for his claims

Mr Roberts went on to claim that the Bureau of Meteorology manipulated data as well

The rest of the panel, including Labor MP Linda Burney and Science Minister Greg Hunt, agreed with Professor Cox and said discussion should be shifted from the legitimacy of climate change to how Australia can counter it

Social media was instantly flooded with harsh criticism of Mr Roberts' comments.

'This is the most dismal discussion of climate science ever seen on Australian TV,' wrote Ben.

'Tune in to Q&A next week with a special panel of anti vaxxers to learn how well jet fuel melts steel beams,' David sarcastically tweeted.

This is the most dismal discussion of climate science ever seen on Australian TV

'Pondering how many hours of my life have been spent staring at Queensland politicians with my mouth open. Around 5 years I reckon,' wrote Neil.

Mr Roberts, an engineer and former coalmine manager, is one of the One Nation party's four elected senators.

Last week he said was confident in Pauline Hanson's decisions and ability to lead the party.

'Looking at the woman's 20-year history of outstanding honesty, and integrity and courage and persistence, and having grilled her for about 12 hours one day, she is the best person I have ever worked for,' he said.

'Pauline is now going to manage the growth of the party and she is a very, very competent and highly intelligent person.'
A 14-year-old girl with Down syndrome died while in the care of a secretive cult after she choked on a piece of beef schnitzel when she was locked in an 'isolation room'.

Sharon Ready watched on as her daughter Prayer, 14, gasped for air from the confines of an isolation room in New Zealand's controversial Gloriavale Christian Community compound in June last year, according to a coroner's report.

Prayer had Down syndrome and doctors warned she was at risk of choking on her food, however she had been locked in a room with a disabled door handle at the time of her death as leaders of the community feared she could be spreading a 'infectious and dangerous disease', the New Zealand Herald reported.

Sharon Ready (right) watched on as her daughter Prayer (left) gasped for air from the confines of an isolation room in New Zealand's Gloriavale Christian Community compound

Her meal had not t been cut small enough and a piece became lodged in her throat but supervising adults had to clamber through a window because the door handle had been disabled, Stuff.co.nz reported.

'I realised she was choking and she was still standing and conscious. I wanted to do the Heimlich,' Ms Ready told police.

'I called out to Stephen who tried doing it but it didn't work. Stephen then went to go and get some help.'

Despite being given the Heimlich manoeuvre, Prayer could not be resuscitated and died as her family members - including father Clem and brother David - rushed to her side.

Prayer's meal had not been cut small enough and a piece became lodged in her throat but supervising adults had to clamber through a window to get help as the door was disabled

The community consists of more than 80 families however many have left in recent years

Fully-dressed children are pictured playing in the pool at Gloriavale

Coroner Marcus Elliott ruled the death a 'tragic accident' after finding that the restricted access to the isolation room had not contributed to the heartbreaking outcome as a chair had been put underneath a window so people could get in.

'I am satisfied that it was possible for people to exit and enter the room via the window quickly,' Elliott said after visiting the compound in October last year.

But circumstances surrounding the 14-year-old's death remained shrouded in secrecy until Monday as Gloriavale launched legal battle to keep the details suppressed, according to Stuff.co.nz.

Previously, women wore nun-like headdresses and white bibs instead of everyday clothes while children donned hooded hats and blue uniforms

Gloriavale is a Christian community of around 500 people who follow a literal interpretation of the New Testament

The compound is nestled on the banks of the picturesque Lake Haipuri on New Zealand's rugged West Coast

LIFE INSIDE THE GLORIAVALE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY Nestled on the banks of the picturesque Lake Haipuri on New Zealand's rugged West Coast, Gloriavale is a Christian community of around 500 people who follow a literal interpretation of the New Testament. The community, which isolates itself from the outside world, was founded by Neville Cooper, a Australian evangelist. Cooper moved across the Tasman in 1969 with his wife, Gloria, and their ten children to found a Christian community. The community was founded by Neville Cooper who changed his name to Christian Faithful (pictured) As its membership swelled, in 1991 they purchased land by the scenic lake to live off. Mr Cooper - a controversial figure who spent almost a year in prison on sex abuse charges in 1995 - would later change his name to 'Hopeful Christian'. Fleur Beale, the author of the Gloriavale book Sins of the Father, said the most striking thing about Gloriavale was the 'control those in power' - a group of elders - 'had over the ordinary people.'' 'The women, particularly - it would be miserable to be a woman in Gloriavale,' Ms Beale told Daily Mail Australia. Birth control is non-existent. 'God wants you to get married and have as many children as you can. That's why they have big families.'Residents are required to wear a uniform. Women generally frock up in long, blue dresses - 'every single day', a former resident named Miracle told Daily Mail Australia. Meanwhile, men wear neckties, dark blue pants and a light blue sleeved shirt. And while the personal use of technologies such as television and mobile phones is rare among 'ordinary people', Ms Beale said the community was 'very innovative', with extensive commercial operations. Residents do not take any wages, but work hard for the community's dairy and deer farms.The community consists of more than 80 families, according to Gloriavale's official website, and they live together in large, communal hostels. Advertisement

Gloriavale will not comment on Prayer's death but have stopped the 'common practice' of removing pins from the doors, which a former member of the community said was to stop children wandering into the quarantine spaces.

'[It's] to prevent children from coming that way, knocking on the doors and not realising anyone is there and coming in and having contact with the person who is sick,' Trusty Disciple told Stuff.co.nz.
Mass immigration has cut the pay of some skilled British workers by almost 450 a year, a report says today.

Electricians, plumbers and bricklayers are among those whose wages are on average 2.1 per cent lower  8.40 a week, or 436.80 a year, the Resolution Foundation think-tank claims.

Net immigration  the difference between those arriving in the UK and those leaving  is running at more than 300,000 a year.

Electricians, plumbers and bricklayers are among those whose wages are on average 2.1 per cent lower

Former prime minister David Cameron had promised to reduce it to the tens of thousands at the last election.

In a report, the Resolution Foundation revealed the impact that migration has had in some communities.

It said that the proportion of migrants living in some English towns had increased by almost 400 per cent in barely a decade.

Researchers said that, on average, the huge numbers of Eastern Europeans who arrived during that time were paid 3 an hour less than British workers.

However, it said that while wages might rise by 150 if net migration was cut to the tens of thousands following Brexit, the extra earnings could be cancelled out by some of the other effects of leaving the European Union.

The issue of whether British workers are being undercut by their foreign counterparts has been the subject of ferocious debate.

The Resolution Foundation  which is considered to be pro-immigration  analysed its effects, listing the areas which have seen the greatest change in their population profile.

It said that the proportion of migrants living in some English towns had increased by almost 400 per cent in barely a decade

In Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the proportion of migrants has rocketed by 391 per cent, while in North West Leicestershire it is 357 per cent.

The report found that in sectors such as food and clothing manufacturing, more than 30 per cent of workers are migrants.

Those from nations that joined the EU in 2004 earn some 8.30 an hour, compared with around 11.10 for Britons.

Of the 20 areas with the biggest increase in immigration, the report said: Some are particularly concerned about migration and voted to leave the European Union by large margins, including Boston which recorded the highest leave vote of 76 per cent. The report also reveals that 8.1million people living in the UK were not born in the country  up from 3.5million in 1993. They make up 16 per cent of the population.

Labour MP Frank Field said: This is a welcome recognition that open borders have pushed down the pay of workers.

We need to move to a points system to control entry and over time ensure we are providing an adequate labour force with the skills needed.

Labour MP Frank Field backed the claims made by the think tank

Stephen Clarke, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said that if net migration were reduced to 99,000 as a result of Brexit, the wages of UK workers would be 0.6 per cent higher, or 152 a year. But he said the Bank of England had downgraded wage growth by 2 per cent in the wake of the referendum result, cancelling out any rise in British workers wages.

Mr Clarke added: The impact that recent widespread migration has had on British-born workers is hotly disputed.

While there has been no effect on wages overall, increased migration has caused a slight drag on wages for some. However, those expecting a wage boost off the back of a post-Brexit fall in migration are likely to be disappointed.

He also said firms that rely on cheap migrant labour will have to rethink their strategy or face closure, because British workers earn more than immigrants.

Research published in December by the Bank of England found the influx from Eastern Europe and elsewhere into catering, hotels and social care jobs had led to an average 2 per cent pay cut for some low-skilled staff.

The governor of the Bank of England also warned last year that the huge influx of foreign workers was threatening the economy by holding down wages.

Mark Carney said high rates of immigration helped explain why pay rises had been subdued for years. He said sluggish earnings threatened the UKs recovery from the worst recession in a century.

A Government spokesman said: We will make a success of Brexit and build an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Since the recession, the UK employment rate has grown more than any other G7 country.
Thousands of families may have been overcharged for their gas after suppliers made a basic mistake reading their meters.

Some meters measuring gas usage in cubic metres were mixed up with those measuring in cubic feet, with customers charged the wrong amount.

The mistake  the latest in a string of scandals in the energy industry  appears to have been running for up to 15 years, with some customers overcharged by as much as 183 per cent.

Thousands of families may have been overcharged for their gas after suppliers made a basic mistake reading their meters (file photo)

Industry experts called the mix-up outrageous and one estimated customers may have been overcharged by a total of several million pounds. Energy giants are now under pressure to hand out refunds and compensation.

The mix-up meant some customers had metric meters that were read as if they were imperial  and they were then undercharged. Other customers who had imperial meters that were read as if they were metric ones have been charged too much.

So far German energy firm E.ON has admitted the problem  but it could be industry-wide.

Regulator Ofgem has told other energy giants, including British Gas, SSE, Npower, EDF and Scottish Power, to check if they have made the same mistake.

It indicated the total number of households affected is likely to be less than 10,000. Mark Todd, co-founder of comparison website Energy Helpline, said the mix-up was outrageous and estimated that across the industry the total customers were overcharged is likely to be in the millions.

He added: Refunds are imperative as a first step but customers must also be compensated. This is yet another head in hands moment for an industry beset by billing mistakes.

The mistake left some customers with hefty bills after being overcharged by as much as 183 per cent (file photo)

The industry has long faced allegations of rip-offs and poor service. A recent investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority found customers of the Big Six energy giants were paying 1.7billion a year more than they should because of the suppliers high tariffs.

E.ON apologised and confirmed 600 homes and businesses were affected. Some 350 were overcharged  including one affected for 15 years  and they will be refunded and compensated, while the 250 charged too little will not have to pay any money back.
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner may be hailed as a power couple today, but the pair broke up in 2008 because of their religious differences.

In a move Jane Austen would have appreciated, Wendi Deng Murdoch, the former wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, brought the two back together on a weekend yacht trip, the New Yorker reported.

Wendi has since divorced Murdoch, 85, who once advised Kushner after he purchased the New York Observer for $10million, with rumors swirling that she is in a 'serious' relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ivanka made her friendship with Wendi apparent, giving the 47-year-old a shout out on Instagram last week, before sharing a snap of them vacationing in Croatia yesterday.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner may be hailed as a power couple today, but the pair broke up in 2008 because of their religious differences

Kushner often turned to Rupert Murdoch for advice, and after his breakup with Ivanka, Murdoch's former wife Wendi (right) surreptitiously invited the couple on their yacht

Ivanka has been friends with Wendi for several years, and she posted this photo to her Instagram on Sunday from Croatia

Jared and Ivanka hit it off when they were introduced in 2005, but his family wanted him to marry a Jewish woman (pictured, Wendi and Ivanka at the Met Gala in May 2016)

Wendi (left) has since divorced Murdoch, with rumors swirling that she is in a 'serious' relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin (right)

Kushner's father Charles Kushner once served two years in prison after pleading guilty to felony counts of filing false tax returns, making illegal campaign donations and retaliating against a witness.

Jared attended Harvard, where he joined a final club, purchased properties to convert into condominiums, and visited his father in prison on the weekends.

Throughout college, however, Jared, who was brought up in a Modern Orthodox household, ate in the kosher dining hall and invited classmates to attend Shabbat dinners.

Jared went on to helm the family business, revamping Kushner Companies to hold a stake in New York's real estate market before he was part of a $2billion deal to buy up prime properties from Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn Heights before leasing out office space to companies like Etsy.

When Kushner was 25, he bought the New York Observer, a weekly newspaper, and frequently sought the advice of Rupert Murdoch.

He met Ivanka in 2005 after they were introduced by a real estate broker and the two hit it off instantly.

But in 2008, Jared crumbled under the pressures of his family, who wanted him to marry a Jewish woman, and the pair broke up.

Wendi, who had been with Rupert since 1999, invited Jared on their yacht for a weekend without disclosing that Ivanka would be there as well.

The pair reconciled and married the following year, with Ivanka converting to Judaism.

Both Ivanka and Jared have been active in Donald Trump's campaign, and both have stepped in and defended the Republican nominee

Jared and Ivanka married in 2009, and are the proud parents of Arabella, Joseph and Theodore

When Donald Trump came under fire for tweeting an image of Clinton with a Star of David, claiming she was the 'most corrupt candidate ever' (pictured), Jared defended his father-in-law

In a 2015 Vogue profile, Ivanka said: 'Its been such a great life decision for me. I am very modern, but Im also a very traditional person, and I think thats an interesting juxtaposition in how I was raised as well.

'I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.'

The couple now observe Sabbath with their three children, and when Donald Trump came under fire for tweeting an image of Clinton with a Star of David, claiming she was the 'most corrupt candidate ever', Jared defended his father-in-law.

Just yesterday, Ivanka, who has been on vacation in Croatia with her husband, posted a photograph of her and Wendi, writing in the caption that they were sightseeing together in Dubrovnik.

Ivanka also publicized her friend's profile in Vogue, writing on Instagram: '@WendiMurdoch is one of those friends that inspires you to work hard, be better and laugh louder. She is a remarkable woman whose story was beautifully told in this months @voguemagazine. Be sure to check it out!'

Their long-term friendship, in addition to Wendi's romantic link to Putin, has been scrutinized after Trump made several comments about the Russian president.

In an interview on ABC's This Week, he repeatedly said Putin was 'not going into Ukraine', even though the Crimean Peninsula had already been annexed by Russia in 2014.

Trump also urged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails in July when 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.'

He later dismissed the comments as sarcastic.
Since Gibson was fired from the show he has reportedly hired a lawyer

He said he had 'put his heart and soul' into show 'for the past 12 years'

Sources said Gibson could be personable and friendly but quick to anger

Within the last five years, Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson was involved in a few incidents that led to his firing from the hit show, it has been reported.

Multiple industry sources with knowledge of the situation told Variety.com that the actor had three strikes against him including the most recent incident when he kicked producer Virgil Williams.

Gibson, who has played the role of Special Agent Aaron Hotchner since 2005, was fired by Criminal Minds producers ABC Studios and CBS Television after the incident during the production of an episode that Gibson was directing.

But it was reportedly two prior incidents that led to the star's ultimate dismissal from the show.

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Within the last five years, Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson (pictured on show) was involved in a few incidents that led to his firing from the hit show, it has been reported

Multiple industry sources with knowledge of the situation said the actor (center) had three strikes against him following the most recent incident when he allegedly kicked writer-producer Virgil Williams

In December 2010, Gibson allegedly shoved the show's assistant director Ian Woolf during a late-night location shoot, according to Variety.

He was reportedly ordered to take eight hours of anger management classes by the production studios.

Sources told Variety that Gibson could be personable and friendly but other times quick to anger while on set

The alleged shoving incident came after Gibson had filmed a chase scene in which he had to drive quickly across the bridge.

After the take, he yelled and confronted Woolf about safety concerns and Woolf yelled back, sources told Variety.

Gibson then reportedly shoved the director with both hands.

And in January 2013, the star's 'second strike' came when he pleaded no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving after being arrested on suspicion of a DUI.

Sources told Variety that Gibson could be personable and friendly but other times quick to anger.

He and his co-star Shemar Moore, who left the show at the end of last season, had a tense relationship because sources said, Moore's late arrivals aggravated Gibson.

Following the DUI arrest, Gibson lost the use of his driver's license for a period, forcing Criminal Minds staffers to drive him to and from the set for work.

The past incidents reportedly weighed heavily on the studios' decision to terminate Gibson, even as it presents a significant creative challenge for the series.

Gibson will appear in the first two episodes of the upcoming season, which were already completed prior to his suspension, but he will not return to the set to film any final scenes.

In the most recent altercation with Williams, Gibson had been suspended for two weeks after the incident occurred.

But on Friday, ABC studios confirmed to DailyMail.com that the actor had been fired.

Criminal Minds co-executive producer Virgil Williams (left) was kicked by Gibson (right) on set. He was suspended and then fired. In response Gibson issued a statement saying he loves Criminal Minds and has 'put his heart and soul into the show'

Gibson was cast as Agent Hotchner (pictured) in 2005 and has been a permanent fixture on the hit show ever since

A source told Page Six that in this most recent incident Williams (left) - a trained boxer and martial arts fighter - was very aggressive, and that Gibson kicked him 'on instinct, like a reflex'

In response Gibson issued a statement saying he loves Criminal Minds and has 'put his heart and soul into the show'.

The decision to fire Gibson wasn't taken lightly by his fans.

Several furious fans took to social media to vent their frustration, with some saying that whoever took the decision to terminate Gibson's contract should themselves be fired.

Others called for a boycott of the show until the actor is reinstated.

ABC Studios, which co-produces the show with CBS, announced Gibson's termination saying: 'Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from Criminal Minds.

'Creative details for how the character's exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.'

Gibson's statement read: 'I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last 12 years.

'I had hoped to see it through to the end, but that won't be possible now.

'I would just like to say thank you to the writers, producers, actors, our amazing crew and, most importantly, the best fans that a show could ever hope to have.'

Writers on the long-running drama series are now working on a story-line that would set the stage for Agent Hotchner's exit.

Frenzied fans of the series and of Gibson, in particular, took to Twitter to express outrage.

Some questioned how the show could go on without 'Hotch', others said: 'it's nothing that cannot be fixed and he was on the show for 12 years!!!'

A source told Page Six that in this most recent incident Williams - a trained boxer and martial arts fighter - was very aggressive, and that Gibson kicked him 'on instinct, like a reflex'.

According to their unnamed source, Williams 'got every aggressive' and Gibson walked away, but then the actor got the feeling that the producer was 'coming after him,' so he instinctively turned around and kicked him.

The pair appear to have previously been on good terms, with selfies of them both posted on Williams' Twitter feed.

Gibson said he regretted his actions and insists he just got frustrated in the creative process.

Earlier this week, he told TMZ: 'There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement.

'I regret that it occurred. We all want to work together as a team to make the best show possible. We always have and always will.'

'Me and my man': Williams and Gibson seemed to have a good working relationship before the scuffle. The writer has posted a number of pictures of the pair on social media

Gibson said he regretted his actions and insists he just got frustrated in the creative process. He's pictured speaking to his crew during production of a previous episode

Gibson was cast as Agent Hotchner in 2005 and has been a permanent fixture on the hit show ever since.

His wife Christine and their three children - James Parker, Travis Carter and Agatha Marie - live in Texas.

Williams started out as a writer on the hit series 24. He then penned the scripts for Chicago Code and ER before moving onto Criminal Minds.

Criminal Minds returns for Season 12 on September 28.

The show is based on a group of FBI profilers who set about catching various criminals through behavioral profiling.

The plot focuses on the team working cases and on the personal lives of the characters, depicting the hardened life and statutory requirements of a profiler.

Some sources who have worked with Gibson for years told Variety that they've never seen the dark side described by others.

Since his firing Gibson hired a lawyer, according to ET.
A man accused of fatally shooting a Georgia police officer was caught hiding in the trunk of his sister's car in Florida, authorities said.

Royheem Delshawn Deeds, 24, was arrested on Monday and has been charged with the murder of Eastman Patrol Officer Timothy Smith.

Deeds shot dead father-of-three Smith at around 9.30pm on Saturday while responding to a call of a suspicious person with a gun, authorities said.

It has since emerged that the slain officer was not wearing body armor at the time.

Royheem Delshawn Deeds (right) who is accused of fatally shooting a Georgia police officer was caught hiding in the trunk of his sister's (left) car in Florida, authorities said. She and another man have been charged with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive

It has since emerged that slain officer Tim Smith (above) was not wearing his body armor

Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman Scott Dutton said that Smith had been issued an armored vest, but was not wearing it when he was shot in the chest on Saturday night.

Dutton confirmed Smith, 30, had been dispatched on a call about a suspicious person with a gun in a residential area of the rural city, around 60 miles southeast of Macon, Georgia.

He was also not wearing a body camera.

Deeds fled the scene and Smith was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He was arrested in Nassau County, Florida, which is almost a three-hour drive away from Telfair County, Georgia.

Deputies in Florida arrested Deeds during a traffic stop at around 1am on Monday.

Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said his department had received a tip from U.S marshals which said that Deeds may be heading to Gainesville, Florida, in a gold Nissan Altima, CBS News reports.

Deeds shot dead father-of-three Smith at around 9.30pm on Saturday, authorities said

One of his deputies spotted the vehicle traveling south on U.S. Route 1.

Deeds' sister Franshawn Deeds, 22, was driving with Jamil Marquis Mitchell, 32, in the passenger seat.

Deputies detained them both and found Deeds hiding in the trunk.

His sister and Mitchell were both charged with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, according to the station.

The sheriff's office statement did not provide any additional details on the arrest, and it wasn't immediately clear whether Deeds has an attorney.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation initially offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Deeds' arrest.

The suspect's aunt, Annie Lee Harris, said the charges against her nephew are 'a plum shock.'

'If he did that, I'm pretty sure he's sorry,' said Annie Lee Harris, who acknowledged her nephew has had legal problems in the past.

'Yes, he has been in trouble, but not to the extent of taking somebody's life.'

Harris said her family felt deeply sorry for the slain officer's loved ones.

Smith leaves behind three children, a stepson and a fiancee (Chelsea Clark, above). He had been with the Eastman Police Department since 2011

Meanwhile, Smith's father says his son was a 'country boy with a badge' who never mistreated anyone.

Lewis Smith, a Glenwood police officer, said his family's 'hearts are just broken.'

In an interview on Monday, which would have been his son's 31st birthday, Smith said he worked seven days a week to care for his two young boys and five-month-old daughter.

'More than likely, Timothy would always give people the benefit of the doubt and try to warn them, just tell them to move on, you're scaring the neighbors a little bit,' he said. 'This guy just executed Timothy.'

He added that he hopes prosecutors seek the death penalty for Deeds.

Smith's fiancee Chelsea Clark also had another son from a prior relationship who he was stepfather to.

'We were engaged. We were trying to get on our feet before getting married,' Clark told CNN.

Smith had been with the Eastman Police Department since 2011.
Sometimes children can feel resentful of a new arrival in the family, but chirpy chef Jamie Olivers daughter Petal is thrilled to have a baby brother.

Jamies wife, Jools, gave birth to the as-yet-unnamed boy last week and her mother-in-law, Sally, posted this enchanting picture online yesterday of the baby being cradled by six-year-old Petal as carefully as if she was carrying a Ming vase.

Sally posted this enchanting picture online yesterday of the baby being cradled by Petal

Jamies wife, Jools, gave birth to the as-yet-unnamed boy last week and her mother-in-law

Our little granddaughter, Petal, with our brand new grandson, Sally said proudly.

Jamies paternity leave is already coming to an end. Making the most of time with the family before I go back to work soon, he said, describing his son as a sweet little fella.

He added: I can never get over how small they are  his hands are as big as my thumb.

Andy Murray was awarded an OBE by the Queen, but not all her family are fans. During the Scots gold medal-winning match against Juan Martin del Potro, his Argentine opponent was cheered on by Zenouska Mowatt, whose grandmother, Princess Alexandra, is Her Majestys first cousin.

Come on del Potro rooting for you, she gushed. Its not clear what Zenouskas got against Murray. Perhaps she was just being rebellious? After all, her mother, Marina, provoked a scandal in 1990 when she walked up the aisle pregnant, causing a rift with her parents.

As Theresa May hikes in the Alps, Tony Blair continues his summer holidays in the distinctly grander style to which he became accustomed while in No 10 Downing Street.

After being entertained by industrialist Massimo Carello at his home on the paradise island of Lipari, north of Sicily, the former Labour prime minister has moved his luxurious post-Chilcot tour on to the Italian mainland.

First, Tony and Cherie are understood to have stayed at Castello di Procopio, the 30,000 sq ft Umbrian castle owned by Russian media magnate Evgeny Lebedev, son of a former KGB spy.

As Theresa May hikes in the Alps, Tony Blair continues his summer holidays in the distinctly grander style to which he became accustomed while in No 10 Downing Street

Now, the Blairs are reported to be enjoying yet another freebie at the Tuscan palazzo of wine-maker Prince Girolamo Guicciardini Strozzi.

While in No 10, they used to visit the prince when they werent staying with Silvio Berlusconi.

Still, at least this time British taxpayers wont need to foot the bill for the Blairs protection officers to stay in five-star hotels.

BBC newsreader Mishal Husain

BBC newsreader Mishal Husains mother is her toughest critic. Mishal, 43, says her mum, whos from Pakistan, keenly watches what she wears on TV.

Her pet hate is when I wear black on air, which she cant bear, so I tend to wait until shes out of the country and then wear black sneakily on BBC1.

Perhaps thats why Mishal switched to radio in 2013, when she joined the Today programme.

Friends of Princess Eugenie suggested at the weekend that the Queens granddaughter would soon be wearing a bridal gown, but it seems to be her boyfriend who is the keenest to slip into a dress.

Old classmates of Jack Brooksbank at Stowe, the 34,470-a-year Bucks boarding school, have posted photos online of Prince Andrews potential son-in-law wearing a red frock at a party in 2007.

Jack, 29, completed the get-up with a blond wig. Hes been courting Eugenie, 26, since they met five years ago in the Alpine ski resort of Verbier, where Andrew and Fergie own a 13 million chalet. His wig did give him the look of a Swiss milkmaid.
Fines for small businesses who fail to pay their taxes on time could be tripled under draconian plans from the taxman.

Small businesses currently face a fine worth 5 per cent of their outstanding tax bill if they pay too late.

But HMRC wants to bring in a sliding scale that would see the penalty charge increase to a maximum of 15 per cent.

This would be the equivalent of a 200 per cent rise in the fine.

Small businesses currently face a fine worth 5 per cent of their outstanding tax bill if they pay too late (HMRC headquarters pictured)

The move is part of plans to force businesses to file their tax returns every three months, rather than just once a year. The plan has angered many in the business community because the quarterly submissions will create more chances for people to miss deadlines and therefore face fines. Under the reforms, HMRC will also introduce a new penalty point system for those who miss the three-monthly deadlines.

The proposed rules will prove controversial at a time when global giants such as Google are accused of paying only derisory levels of tax in the UK.

Experts warned small businesses were being treated like a cash cow and said that in the wake of the Brexit vote, the Government should be trying to free them of regulation.

The changes emerged as part of a shake-up which will see most businesses having to update HMRC every three months on tax returns, not just once a year as at present.

But hidden in the consultation document on the plans, released yesterday, were proposals to dramatically increase the penalties for those who fail to pay their tax in time. Under current rules, businesses face a penalty worth 5 per cent of their outstanding bill, charged at 30 days, 6 months and then again at 12 months.

But ministers are considering a tougher regime, with a sliding scale whereby the penalty rises the longer a tax bill is left.

The proposed rules will prove controversial at a time when global giants such as Google are accused of paying only derisory levels of tax in the UK

This would mean a penalty of 4 per cent at 30 days, 10 per cent after six months and 15 per cent after 12 months.

The new fines would affect failure to pay income tax, national insurance, corporation tax and VAT. The document makes it clear that the 15 per cent figure is purely indicative and may not in the end be the level of the final fine.

Another part of the paper proposes a shake-up of the way people are fined for missing the deadline to file their tax returns. At present this is done annually, but under the new regime it would take place every three months.

The fine at the moment is a flat-rate 100 fine for missing the deadline, even a day late. The new proposal is for a penalty point scheme where only repeat offenders receive a fine.

One plan is for a fine to kick in only if four deadlines are missed. No figures have been put on the proposed level of the fine under the new system.

Under the plans, the points will be reset to zero only after two years in which all information has been submitted on time. Anita Monteith, a tax policy adviser at the Institute for Chartered Accountants, said the new system, which comes into force in 2019, would amount to treating small businesses as a cash cow.

She said: Not only are the record keeping obligations going to be much more onerous but making mistakes will become much more expensive. It is a draconian measure and you will end up with many more people being punished.
The paedophile who killed Bondi schoolgirl Samantha Knight thirty years ago could be free from jail by February  but his ex-cell mate says the thought of Michael Guider being let out 'scares the hell' out of him.

Frank Soonius, a convicted drug smuggler from Holland, shared a cell in Lithgow Jail with Guider in 1998 and describes the paedophile as a 'sick puppy' The Daily Telegraph reports.

'I hope they keep him under surveillance for 24 hours a day because he's a really sick puppy, he really is.'

The paedophile killed nine-year-old Bondi school girl Samantha Knight, pictured, in August 1986 could be back on the street in February

Michael Guider, pictured, admitted to drugging Samantha after snatching her from the street near her home in Sydney's eastern suburbs

The paedophile would tell Soonius about his crimes.

It was when they lived together that Guider came clean about snatching Samantha Knight from the street near her home in August 1986.

Guider drugged the nine-year-old so he could molest her  but she died of an accidental overdose.

'He said 'I gave her something in the cola and some sleeping tablets and during what I was doing to her she became a little bit awake so I gave her another cola with a tablet in it and I went shopping,' Soonius said.

'Most of the time they wake up (but) when I came home I went to the couch and she was cold. She was dead.'

The paedophile drugged the nine year old, pictured, as he had other victims but she never woke up - so he got rid of her body

Guider, pictured, was serving time in Lithgow Jail in 1998 when he told his cell mate he had killed the young girl

Soonius was a key witness in the Knight case against Guider and described how the paedophile admitted to digging up the young girl's body weeks after her death after he became spooked by police.

Guider always denied knowing where he buried the body but Soonius said the paedophile told him he burnt it when police started to search the area for another missing child.

The Knight case was one of the most high profile missing person's cases in Australia's history.

Guider was sentenced to 17 years with a non-parole of 12 years for the girl's death in 2002.

He was denied parole in May 2014. His next parole hearing is in February 2017.
But he lived just 60m away from a school and daycare centre

He was bailed pending sentencing submissions two weeks ago

Her father had pimped her out to members of an alleged ring

Ryan Trevor Clegg, 43, was detained by West Australian police on Tuesday after surety relating to his bail was removed

A self-confessed child sex offender living metres from a school while free on bail has been remanded in custody after community outrage.

Ryan Trevor Clegg, 43, was detained by West Australian police on Monday night after the surety related to his bail was revoked.

Clegg pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a girl who was pimped out by her own father when she was aged between 11 and 13.

A fortnight ago, his bail was renewed ahead of sentencing later this year.

He walked out to live metres away from a school and a daycare centre.

He was recognised by North Fremantle parents who raised the alarm.

Vision captured by Channel Seven shows a picture of him was even placed at the front gate of the childcare centre.

A daycare centre even placed a placed a picture of Clegg on their front gate as a warning

Perth Magistrates Court remanded him in custody until September 8 at a hearing on Monday.

According to Perth Now, his father had pulled his surety, meaning police had to take him into custody.

Clegg will reportedly apply to have his bail conditions altered at the next hearing.

Clegg was one of eight men charged following a landmark investigation into the father's alleged paedophile ring last year.

After outraged residents spoke out, Shadow-Attorney General John Quigley told reporters: 'It's beyond comprehension how this person who has admitted to raping a young girl is out on bail.

One resident, who did not want to be identified, said schools were not told Clegg would be living nearby.

'Neither the primary school nor the early learning centre were notified,' she said during a media conference.

Christian pastor David Volmer (pictured), was arre part of a pedophile ring has been jailed for more than 22 years

Mr Quigly said he understood one of the conditions of Clegg's bail is he not be within 100 metres of a school.

'I've just stepped out the distance between where he's residing and the nearest school, a child care centre, which is 60 metres,' he said.
A boy, 8, has been rejected from 40 schools and suspended 30 times for his violent outbursts and frequent meltdowns (stock)

An eight-year-old boy who has been rejected from 40 schools and suspended at least 30 times is 'not violent' but suffers from an 'anxiety disorder', according to his mother.

The boy, who had been expelled three times by the age of six, has repeatedly run away from school, spat at staff, kicked and hit teachers and destroyed classrooms.

But his mother insists he is not 'naughty' and is a bright student who simply needs to be supported rather than punished.

'We need to look at children with behavioural and mental health issues with a completely different lens,' the anonymous mother told the Herald Sun.

She says that her son's violent outbursts and meltdowns have nothing to do with her parenting, and questions why she has to 'beg' for a school to take him in.

'People often blame the parents but I don't drink, I don't smoke, we are a standard middle-class family and he is not being mistreated,' she told the Herald Sun.

'I can appreciate he's really difficult, I'm not putting my head in the sand.'

The child's mother says her son is 'not violent' but suffers from an 'anxiety disorder' (stock)

Over the years various primary schools have employed a number of different strategies to curb the child's wild behaviour, including hiring martial arts therapy workers and isolating him from other students.

The troubled boy was even sent to a farm school for a brief period of time.

His current school only took him on after they were legally compelled to do so by the Department of Education.

Under the watchful eye of a full-time teaching aide, trained to deal with extreme behaviour, he has reportedly shown significant behavioural improvements.
It was from NSW Commissioner Andrew Scipione about siege equipment

Ms Burn said it was a 'bit of a shock' when message was recovered

An explosive text message from the chief of NSW Police to his deputy about equipment issues in the critical final hours of the fatal Sydney Lindt Cafe siege has been revealed.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Cath Burn (pictured) said she didn't believe text messages that she deleted after the tragic Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney's city centre needed to be retained

Details of the text, sent by Commissioner Andrew Scipione to deputy Cath Burn, came to light on Tuesday in a shock development at an inquest into the December 2014 stand-off.

Ms Burn told the inquest the discovery of the message was 'a bit of a shock' after revealing she had deleted it, believing it was 'highly unlikely' it was relevant to negotiations with shooter Man Haron Monis.

The message was recovered on Tuesday.

'Catherine, I have had a quick chance to talk to the SSG [Specialist Services Group] team that were forward tonight and it has become apparent that we should be preparing a fresh bid for new equipment that is necessary,' the text, read aloud by Ms Burn to the inquest, said.

'Can you please make sure we get some advice from Mal as to new electronic images/audio/intelligence equipment that we may need for the future.

'I will need this soon in order to make sure we are appropriately prepared for the future. I'm happy to discuss in the morning. Thanks again for your hard work today, see you bright and early in the morning. Regards, Andrew.'

Details of the text, sent by Commissioner Andrew Scipione to deputy Cath Burn, came to light on Tuesday in a shock development at an inquest into the December 2014 stand-off

Ms Burn told the inquest the discovery of the message was 'a bit of a shock' after revealing she had deleted them as it was 'highly unlikely' they were relevant in negotiations with shooter Man Haron Monis

She had earlier clocked off at around 10pm at the direction of Mr Scipione, the inquest has heard. The text message was sent at 10.37pm.

The email was not included in a bundle of documents Ms Burn tendered to the inquest some weeks ago after she and police IT staff swept her records.

'I think last night someone has gone back and checked and identified that document,' she said.

The document was identified on Monday night and produced at the inquest on Tuesday morning.

'It was a bit of a shock,' Ms Burn said.

On Monday she was forced to explain why she deleted text messages sent during and soon after the siege.

Ms Burns said on receiving the message she converted it into an email, but it was not provided to the inquest with her other emails

A telecommunications provider has spent the past fortnight trying in vain to retrieve messages Ms Burn sent throughout the 17-hour December 2014 stand-off.

ANDREW SCIPIONE TEXT TO CATH BURNS Catherine, I have had a quick chance to talk to the SSG [Specialist Services Group] team that were forward tonight and it has become apparent that we should be preparing a fresh bid for new equipment that is necessary. Can you please make sure we get some advice from Mal as to new electronic images/audio/intelligence equipment that we may need for the future. I will need this soon in order to make sure we are appropriately prepared for the future. I'm happy to discuss in the morning. Thanks again for your hard work today, see you bright and early in the morning. Regards, Andrew. Advertisement

Ms Burn told the inquest she did not believe the text needed to be kept, and deleted them as a matter of course.

The deputy commissioner said many of the texts related to setting up briefings or meetings, while others were from members of the public offering police support.

She said other than texting another senior officer soon after the siege ended, she couldn't remember any that pertained to police storming the building.

The inquest was also told it was 'highly unlikely' any of the unrecovered texts related to progress in negotiations.

'To my knowledge and my recollection none of the texts I had were texts I thought I needed to keep, that I needed to retain,' Ms Burn told the inquest.

Ms Burn insisted on Tuesday that she was not made aware of equipment issues while she was on duty during the stand-off.

Ms Burn said she could only recall two texts during and after the siege, one which was made at 2.44am as she returned to the siege (scene at Martin Place December 16) and at 3.28am to Mr Jenkins both

'There was nothing brought to my attention about a concern about lack of equipment,' she said.

Nor was she informed about possible issues with resources available to the police negotiations team.

'Nobody brought that to my attention,' she said.

Along with Commissioner Andrew Scipione and Mr Loy, Ms Burn denies playing an operational role during the December 2014 siege.

NSW Coroner Michael Barnes is now seeking to determine whether any of the police chiefs inappropriately interfered - or failed to intrude when they ought to have - during the Martin Place stand-off.

The siege began when a single gunman, Man Haron Monis (pictured), entered the Lindt Cafe in central Sydney on the morning of December 15, 2014

Much of Ms Burn's evidence on Monday afternoon centred on a phone conversation with Commander Mark Jenkins shortly before 11pm during the siege.

Ms Burn said she was off-duty and had called the commander after receiving a call from a journalist regarding releasing the identity of gunman Man Haron Monis.

'I rang him and informed him about the media interest regarding the identity (of the gunman) and that they (the media) understood the name was being withheld,' Ms Burn said.

'As far as I understand, he confirmed that, it was part of the strategy to keep it out of the media.'

Monis took a total of 18 hostages (siege hostage Elly Chen running from the cafe) two of who were killed when police stormed the cafe on December 16

Ms Burn insisted that the pair did not discuss the state of negotiations, nor did Mr Jenkins identify any problems or issues.

The deputy commissioner flatly rejected making any recommendations around negotiation strategies.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, put to Ms Burn that making such suggestions would have been a sensible and reasonable course of action and well within her entitlement.

Mr Gormly said by that point in the siege, negotiators had failed to secure direct contact with Monis or make any strategic changes.

However, Ms Burn insisted she was not in a position to do so.

'I was not on duty at that time. Acting Deputy Commissioner Loy had taken over the role that I had. I would not think it reasonable for me to make that suggestion at that time,' Ms Burn said.

Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson (left) was fatally shot by Monis, who was killed when police stormed the building after a 17-hour stand-off. Katrina Dawson (right) was also killed

'I did not know what had occurred from the time I left (at around 10pm), I had not been briefed on anything.

'By that time other information may have come to their knowledge that I did not know.'

Earlier, Ms Burn said there was 'a very real need' for executive officers to leave such matters to police in operational posts, adding such an intervention may even prove dangerous.

The siege began when a single gunman, Man Haron Monis, entered the Lindt Cafe in central Sydney on the morning of December 15, 2014, and took 18 people hostage.

Lindt Cafe manager Tori Johnson was fatally shot by Monis, who was killed when police stormed the building after a 17-hour stand-off.

Katrina Dawson, a customer at the cafe, was killed when she was hit by shrapnel from police bullets.

The inquest continues in Sydney.
The mother of a 21-month-old boy found with horrific internal injuries including broken bones and ruptured organs has vowed to fight manslaughter charges.

Anne Maree Lee was charged with the manslaughter of her son Mason Jet Lee after the toddler died from ruptured intestine and was found in a home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, on June 11.

Her case was mentioned briefly the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday where her lawyer, Brendan Ryan, said the 21-year-old was grieving the loss of her son and should never have faced charges over his death.

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Anne Maree Lee (left) was charged with the manslaughter of her son Mason Jet Lee (right) after he died from ruptured intestine but her lawyer said she will be fighting the allegations

Mason Jet Lee (pictured) was found dead at his stepfather's home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, in the early hours of June 11, covered with horrific injuries

'She will be fighting the charge of manslaughter,' Mr Ryan said.

'The charge of manslaughter is the incorrect charge,' he added.

Mason's stepfather William Andrew O'Sullivan and 17-year-old family friend Ryan Robert Barry Hodson were also charged over the young boy's death.

Mason would have turned two-years-old on Monday.

The Queensland toddler was expected to celebrate his second birthday on Monday

Emotions ran high outside the court as scores of people gathered to call for action over his death, with some clashing over claims they were profiting from t-shirts worn by those who turned out in support.

They chanted 'accountability for Mason, we want justice'.

'We are all concerned - it's not just Mason this is all in consideration of every Australian baby out there ... We will fight to the end,' supporter Jennifer Hansell said.

This comes as court documents allege child safety officers were just one kilometre away from Mason Lee as he lay dying at his stepfather's house

Emotions ran high outside the court on Tuesday as scores of people gathered to call for action over young Mason's death

A young girl stood among protesters outside the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday

Stepfather William Andrew O'Sullivan (pictured) has been charged over Mason's death

A court has heard Ryan Dodson (pictured), 17, refused to get the Mason medical attention on multiple occasions

Ms Lee allegedly told the officers - who visited her three days before he died - that he was staying at the home of his stepfather and claimed they were going to visit O'Sullivan's home next.

Caboolture Magistrates' Court previously heard Hodson to get the child medical attention on multiple occasions, telling one person who said the toddler needed a doctor to 'f*** your mouth up, it's not our business, it's not our problem'.

He is also said to have told another person he wouldn't take Mason to see a doctor because he 'wasn't his child'.

He is also said to have been present when the toddler was taken to McDonalds at 3am, days before he died on June 7.

Officers are alleged to have visited the home of Queensland toddler's mother Anne Maree Lee, 21, (pictured) three days before he died

Hodson is heard directing the toddler on a neighbour's CCTV footage, after returning home with the fast food, saying 'Come on c***, you walk like a spastic.'

'Hurry up and grab your f***ing bottle. Mason, get here if you want your f***ing bottle,' he allegedly said.

While there were no allegations Hodson had physically abused Mason, he showed 'no care, compassion or consideration in any way'.

Of the three charged over Mason's death, O'Sullivan and Lee remain in custody, while Hodson was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week after his second application.

Hodson will live with his mother in Brisbane's north and be required to report to police three times a week.

O'Sullivan's case was also briefly mentioned in the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.
A man who tricked his blind mother into signing over the deeds to her home has been convicted of fraud  and so has his now ex-wife and partner in crime.

Rodney Matthew Klye and Jodie Diane Earley tricked Patricia Klye, Rodney's elderly mother into signing a property transfer document on her home in Tasmania's Lenah Valley.

The couple wanted to use the home as surety against an $80,000 loan of their own, The Mercury reports.

Rodney Matthew Klye, pictured, and Jodie Diane Earley tricked Patricia Klye, Rodney's elderly mother into signing a property transfer document on her home in Tasmania

During the trial the court heard the couple convinced Klye's father Rex to hand over power of attorney to Earley in 2011  even though he did not have the mental capacity to make that decision at the time.

The fraud continued when a year later Klye put property transfer document in front of his blind mother and asked her to sign them.

'He told me that it didn't matter and I just had to sign it,' Mrs Klye wrote in a report which was read to the court.

Weeks after she had signed the papers her son told her he had won the lottery, The Mercury reports.

The elderly woman first found out about the mortgage on her house in 2013. She spoke to her nephew and took the matter to police.

Mrs Klye, who is now deceased, paid the bank $74,000 after she sold the home.

They were found guilty by a jury at Hobart Supreme Court

She also had more tha $18,000 in legal fees to pay after taking action against the couple.

The prosecution is seeking $93,000 in compensation to be paid to the estate.
A 54-year-old man, who swam by riverboard down the Yukon River, ended his 75-day, 2,000-mile journey on August 9.

Denis Morin set out on his journey to tackle the Yukon by riverboard on May 25 in Whitehorse, in Canada's Yukon Territory, according to the Alaska Dispatch News.

Morin completed the trip alone on a bright blue board that resembles that of a boogie board with sides.

Courtesy of Denis Morin

On August 9, 54-year-old Denis Morin (pictured) man, who swam by riverboard (pictured) down the Yukon River, ended his 75-day, 2,000-mile journey

Morin completed the trip alone on a bright blue board that resembles that of a boogie board with sides

The French-Canadian man traveled to the mouth in Alaska and encountered rain, hail, headwinds and two grizzly bears along the way

The French-Canadian man traveled to the mouth in Alaska and encountered rain, hail, headwinds and two grizzly bears along the way.

He took 130 pounds of gear, including fuel, a stove, dehydrated meals, a tent, rainwear and a small computer, which he hauled in two waterproof bags, according to the Dispatch.

Morin told the newspaper that thousands of people around the world riverboard, noting that he's a part of the World Riverboarding Association.

On Tuesday, Morin's journey came to an end as her arrived at his destination at the Southwest Alaska fishing village of Emmonak, near the Bering Sea at one of the Yukon's mouths.

Locals couldn't believe that he was tackling the Yukon without a canoe or kayak.

Canoeists, rafters and other explorers have tackled the Yukon before, but many residents along the river said they don't know of anyone else who has traveled Alaska's longest river without a boat or paddle.

'We see canoers all the time but this is the very first time anybody even attempted to swim like that, swim that far anyways,' Paul Larson of Russian Mission told the Dispatch.

He took 130 pounds of gear (pictured behind him), including fuel, a stove, dehydrated meals, a tent, rainwear and a small computer, which he hauled in two waterproof bags

Morin, who retired earlier this year from a information technology career, said he sold everything and wanted to start anew, starting with swimming the Yukon River

Morin, who retired earlier this year from a information technology career, said he sold everything and wanted to start anew, starting with swimming the Yukon River.

'I said, "OK, I will swim the Yukon River."'

'I think it was more about changing my rhythm of life,' Morin said.

Morin is no stranger to traveling as he'd already accomplished major feats.

He riverboarded down the George River in Quebec, tackled a month-long solo journey on the Nahanni River in Canada and went on a group trip in Nepal.

But his Yukon trip could be the third larges adventure on record, just behind Swiss man, Mike Horn, who holds the record, for a 1977 journey down the Amazon River and French explorer, Remi Camus, who went about 2,700 miles down Southeast Asia's Mekong River in 2014, according to the Dispatch.

He crafted his own riverboard of dense foam covered in fiberglass with an angled front and cut and pieced together multiple topographic maps into strips, according to the newspaper.

Morin is no stranger to traveling as he'd already accomplished major feats. He riverboarded down the George River in northern Quebec, tackled a month-long journey on the Nahanni River in Canada and went on a group trip in Nepal

Canoeists, rafters and other explorers have tackled the Yukon before, but many residents (pictured) along the river said they don't know of anyone else who has traveled Alaska's longest river without a boat or paddle

'I am someone good in mathematics. You must calculate the angle and the speed. I know quite precisely where I am all the time, if I refer to my maps,' Morin said.

Morin wore fins and a helmet, a life vest and a wetsuit that fit snug at the start, but by the end, he had dropped 40 pounds.

Eventually the suit didn't fit and no longer kept him as warm because more more water could seep in.

His start was his hardest ever as he came up on frigid Lake Laberge, which is more than 30 miles long.

While traveling the lake, it stormed and hail beat down on him.

He filmed himself with his GoPro and carried a personal tracker so friends could follow his virtual course or in case he needed it to signal for help.

When Morin came across towns with state troopers, he let them know about his adventure so in case he disappeared, they would know where he had been.

During the 75-day journey, Morin never got sick and he was never injured.

When Morin crossed the US border in Eagle, he checked in with US Customs through a designated phone and stayed one night in a public use cabin, the Dispatch reported.

Throughout his entire trip, Morin only stayed two nights in a cabin.

Some natives told Morin not to attempt the rest of his journey as he got closer and closer to Alaska, where the Yukon widens, but he pushed on anyway

But before he knew it he stopped in Mountain Village during the first week of August, which was his last stop before the dayslong final push to the village Emmonak (left). And he arrived in the village on August 9

Some natives told Morin not to attempt the rest of his journey as he got closer and closer to Alaska, where the Yukon widens.

An elder in Circle told him: 'You go in there like that with your little fins, we will find your dead body on shore in some months,' Morin told the Dispatch.

But Morin pushed on.

He saw a couple of brown bears, who showed no interest in him, but it was the salmon that gave him trouble.

The salmon in the Yukon bumped his legs and one wedged itself between his body and his board.

'Finally I just dip my board a little bit and he go away,' Morin told the newspaper. 'It was my only catch and I didn't eat it.'

Village residents were surprised to see the Yukon swimmer.

Morin said that some people thought he was someone in trouble while others would mistaken him for a 'bear' or 'moose'.

Storms rolled in from the Bering Sea and created nine-to-10-foot swells.

Morin struggled through the storms with his bags of gear and even lost his GoPro.

But before he knew it he stopped in Mountain Village during the first week of August, which was his last stop before the dayslong final push to the village Emmonak.
A drunk driver who was high on meth and told his teenage girlfriend 'I'll put you in a grave' the night he killed her could spend less than five years behind bars.

Sasho Ristovski, 28, had been going out with 16-year-old Maddison Tilyard for just three weeks when he lost control of his father's car and crashed into a tree.

Maddison was killed in the crash in Lavrton North, west Melbourne, in July 2014.

Ristovski, who has prominent face tattoos, last month pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and reckless conduct endangering a person.

Sasho Ristovski (left), 28, lost control of his father's car and crashed into a tree in Laverton North in west Melbourne in July 2014, killing 16-year-old Maddison Tilyard (right)

He went through a roundabout, veered off course at 88km/h in an 80km/h zone, became airborne for five metres and hit a tree (scene pictured)

He was sentenced on Tuesday in the County Court of Victoria to a total of seven years in jail.

But Ristovski could be released in less than five years after Judge Frank Gucciardo set a non-parole period of four years and nine months.

Ristovski had picked up Maddison and her friend from a party in Craigieburn on the night of the crash.

He told Maddison 'I'll put you in a grave by the end of the night', before telling her friends 'I'll have you all in a grave', the court heard in his plea hearing.

Maddison had been going out with Ristovski for just three weeks at the time of the crash

Two weeks after the crash, Ristovksi tattooed his face with graphic symbols as a sign of remorse

Judge Gucciardo on Tuesday noted Ristovski's expression of self-loathing and his new-found abstinence

While driving the two teenagers Ristovski reached 210km/h and ignored Maddison's friend's plea to slow down.

After dropping the friend off, Ristovski continued driving with Maddison.

He went through a roundabout, veered off course at 88km/h in an 80km/h zone, became airborne for five metres and hit a tree.

Ristovski had a blood alcohol level of 0.064 and methamphetamines in his system.

Judge Gucciardo told him in court: 'Your actions and utterances on the night showed you were fully aware of the risks you were exposing your passengers to.'

Ristovski had a blood alcohol level of 0.064 and methamphetamines in his system

Two weeks after the crash, Ristovksi tattooed his face with graphic symbols as a sign of remorse.

Judge Gucciardo on Tuesday noted Ristovski's expression of self-loathing and his new-found abstinence.

Ristovski's abuse of alcohol and drugs started when he was 13, the court was told.

He was bullied as a teenager and possibly had a mild acquired brain injury from drug use and multiple head injuries.

Ristovski picked up Maddison from a party and told her: 'I'll put you in a grave by the end of the night'
A son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was among six men kidnapped by a suspected rival gang at an upscale resort in Puerto Vallarta, in a likely settling of scores.

Mexican officials have confirmed that Jesus Alfredo Guzman, 29, who is El Chapo's son from his first marriage, was one of the men kidnapped from the resort.

Previously, it was believed that El Chapo's son Ivan Guzman was among those taken in Puerto Vallarta.

But Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told a news conference that Alfredo was the son who was abducted.

'At this moment, we have identified four of the kidnapped,' Almaguer said, 'one of them being Jesus Alfredo Guzman'.

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Mexican officials have confirmed that Jesus Alfredo Guzman (right with his brother Ivan Guzman), 29, who is El Chapo's son from his first marriage, was one of the men kidnapped by a suspected rival gang at an upscale resort in Puerto Vallarta, in a likely settling of scores

It was previously believed that Ivan Guzman (pictured) was among the six men kidnapped by a suspected rival gang, but it was actually his younger brother instead

Authorities said the kidnappers appear to belong to the state's dominant Jalisco New Generation drug cartel and the victims are from the rival Sinaloa cartel

He said the identification was made through items found in the vehicles and forensic work at the scene.

Almaguer says the kidnappers appear to belong to the state's dominant Jalisco New Generation drug cartel and the victims are from the rival Sinaloa cartel.

Seven gunmen in pickup trucks descended on the upscale bar and restaurant around dawn and abducted the group, in what investigators have called a likely settling of scores between rival drug cartels.

The chief prosecutor said only fake identity documents had been found at the scene of Monday's kidnapping, in the restaurant.

Alfredo (pictured) almost led the FBI directly to their father when he tweeted a picture of them in a restaurant in Costa Rica

Jalisco New Generation emerged in Puerto Vallarta in 2010 after the death of the local boss of the Sinaloa cartel, Ignacio 'Nacho' Coronel.

It has become one of violence-plagued Mexico's most powerful drug gangs in recent months by defying the authorities with a series of brazen attacks and ambushes.

The Jalisco cartel has popped up quickly to rival Guzman's Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexico's drug gangs.

Previously, Mexican authorities said the eldest son, Ivan, of the drugs kingpin of Sinaloa cartel had likely been abducted while celebrating with fellow gang members.

But it was not immediately clear whether Ivan was among those kidnapped.

Ivan is believed to have taken over his father's multi-billion dollar narcotics business after El Chapo was recaptured by marines in January following six months as the world's most wanted man.

Witnesses at the upscale La Leche restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, said a squad of seven armed assailants burst in and abducted half a dozen men at gunpoint.

Both Ivan and Alfredo are El Chapo's sons from his first marriage. But Ivan is believed to have taken over a gang leader after his father was arrested in January (El Chapo is pictured on his arrest)

Two SUVs carrying seven gunmen arrived at the La Leche restaurant in Puerto Vallarta around 1am Monday and kidnapped the six men. Above, an armed officer stands guard outside the restaurant on Monday

The chief prosecutor said only fake identity documents had been found at the scene of Monday's kidnapping, in the restaurant (pictured)

It's believed that Alfredo is too young and inexperienced to take control of the multi-billion dollar drugs organisation  and that it will be left to Ivan (pictured) if and when his father is extradited

Regularly posting photos of his narco lifestyle of supercars, bikini clad girlfriends, pet tigers and even gold plated AK47s, it was Alfredo who almost led the FBI directly to their father when he tweeted a picture of them in a restaurant in Costa Rica  and forgot to turn off the locator.

It is believed that Alfredo is too young and inexperienced to take control of the multi-billion dollar drugs organization  and that it will be left to Ivan if and when his father is extradited.

But it is not just rival gangs that may want to take down Ivan.

Ivan appears to have inherited his father's ruthless streak but not his business savvy and has reportedly been running roughshod over allies in the Sinaloa cartel's drugs business.

Any of those angry business contacts could have wanted to kidnap Ivan, who may become the gang's new leader.

Authorities have been taking fingerprints from the scene, viewing surveillance footage and investigating the ownership of five luxury vehicles left behind by the victims at the restaurant.

Almaguer said 'several of them (the victims) had false identities,' which complicated efforts to determine who they were.

Two SUVs carrying seven gunmen had arrived around 1am at La Leche restaurant on Puerto Vallarta's main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone lying between the old beach city and the airport.

He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and the group that was targeted appeared to be celebrating, according to other people in the restaurant.

Ivan (left) son of the drugs kingpin (right) could have also been targeted by someone else as he appears to have inherited his father's ruthless streak but not his business savvy and has reportedly been running roughshod over allies in the Sinaloa cartel's drug business

Drug money: Heir to the throne Ivan, who often shows off his super cars and bikini clad girlfriends on Twitter, once tweeted a photo of his gold plated AK47 inside a Ferrari

When Ivan Guzman is not acting as a drugs lord, he is acting as one of Mexico's flashiest playboys, posting pictures of his sports cars and wealth

Witnesses reported that four women in the targeted group were not taken by the gunmen, Almaguer said at a news conference on Monday.

Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates but a false registration.

Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst, said that while Jalisco New Generation controls the area, it would be possible for another group to enter the city.

Hope also called it odd that a group of alleged cartel members would be taken without a shot being fired.

'It's a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didn't have any security,' Hope said.

The news is unlikely to bring much comfort to Ivan's father who has reportedly been going crazy inside the maximum security Mexican jail.

Once the most feared drug lord in Mexico, the kingpin of a multi-billion empire is losing his hair, his mind, and is suffering from anxiety inside Ciudad Juarez jail in Mexico, his lawyer has said.

Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of the lawyers representing El Chapo, said he found him in a vulnerable mental state after visiting him recently for the first time in months.

Rodriguez, who is currently trying to help Guzman fight deportation to the US.

Mexico has already cleared the way for Guzman's deportation, the appeals process could mean it takes months or even years before he is finally moved.

'El Chapo' (pictured) was recaptured by marines in January following six months as the world's most wanted man

Mexican authorities have given up on the idea of holding Guzman permanently on their side of the border - where the death penalty has been abolished - after he broke out of jail twice.

The head of the notorious Sinaloa cartel bribed his way out of jail once in 2001, and then used more bribes and an extensive tunnel dug by his henchmen to break out a second time.

After a lengthy manhunt he was recaptured in 2014 in a hotel in the beach town of Mazatlan and sent back to jail, this time at Altiplano.

He spent just a year in that jail however, breaking out for a second time in 2015 after members of his cartel dug a mile-long tunnel which came up under his cell shower block.

Following his father's arrest in January, Ivan Guzman launched a fuming tirade at the country's president Enrique Pena Nieto - threatening to 'take him out'.

When Ivan threatened to 'take out' Nieto, his Twitter followers retweeted the comment or liked it 13,000 times.

Security experts in Mexico have long speculated that El Chapo, believed to be 57, was grooming Ivan to be the next head of his cartel  which he boasts is the biggest importer of cocaine, heroin and crystal meth into the US.

And with the drugs boss recaptured and fighting extradition to the US, it is believed the moment has come when the reins will be handed over to Ivan.

Welcome back: World-renowned Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola claims this is the first picture of Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' in his cell at Altiplano prison in January

During his most recent incarceration, US Drug Enforcement Agency papers stated El Chapo was passing messages to Ivan 'via attorneys who visited him in prison and possibly through the use of a cell phone provided... by corrupt prison guards'.

The same documents showed how Ivan orchestrated one of the foiled plots to free his father by asking the Mexican army's counter intelligence officers to devise a jailbreak plan.

In the controversial Rolling Stone article by actor Sean Penn, who secretly met El Chapo in October without the authorities' knowledge, he said Ivan 'is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel'.

'At 32, he is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel,' Penn wrote, adding 'He's attentive with a calm maturity.'

In 2004, Ivan was a suspect in the murder of Canadian exchange student Kristen Deyell, who was gunned down outside a Guadalajara nightclub.

In 2005, he was charged with money laundering and organized crime offences after police found packages of cocaine and a weapon inside an SUV vehicle he crashed in the same Guadalajara neighborhood.

When the charges were dropped, Mexico authorities indicted him for buying cars with money gained by 'illicit activities' and sentenced him to five years jail.

A judge overturned the conviction and released Ivan in 2008.
David Laretta, 29, has been jailed for five-and-a-half years after losing control of his car while high on ice and killing his passenger, mother-of-three Christina Karageorge (pictured)

A driver who was high on crystal meth when he lost control of his car and hit a tree, killing his passenger, has been sentenced to just five-and-a-half years in jail.

David Xavier Laretta, 29, and passenger Christina Karageorge, 28, had been to a party before the driver lost control and hit the tree in Ascot Vale, Melbourne, in the early hours of January 16 last year.

Ms Karageorge, a young mother-of-three known to friends as 'Chrissy', was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a critical condition but died there several hours later.

She was remembered for her 'bright bubbly personality' and 'big smile that could light up a room' by friends and family in a number of touching tributes online.

On Tuesday, Laretta, of Rosanna, pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death in the County Court.

He will serve a minimum of three years and nine months behind bars.
Turkish police have raided 44 companies and arrested 120 executives after claiming they gave financial aid to a US-based Islamic cleric accused of orchestrating last month's coup.

The state run Anadolu agency reported that the raids were carried out as part of the investigation into the failed uprising.

They added the specific companies were targeted and claimed they had given money to Fethullah Gullen, who Turkish president Recep Erdogan says was behind the coup.

Turkish police have raided the business addresses of 44 companies they say gave money to Fethullah Gullen, pictured, who Turkish president Recep Erdogan says was behind the coup

Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the agency said.

Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended in a purge of Turkey's military, law-and-order, education and justice systems.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of harnessing an extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to infiltrate state institutions and build a 'parallel structure' that aimed to take over the country.

Turkish president Recep Erdogan says Gulen tried to infiltrate state institutions and build a 'parallel structure' that aimed to take over the country

He vowed this month to cut off the revenues of businesses linked to Gulen, describing them as 'nests of terrorism' and promising no mercy in rooting them out.

However, Gulen has strenously denied any involvement and even suggest Erdogan himself may have staged the attack himself in order to legitimise a fresh crackdown on the judiciary and military.

Before the failed coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, the authorities had already seized Islamic lender Bank Asya, taken over or closed several media companies and detained businessmen on allegations of funding the cleric's movement.

Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dance during an anti coup rally at Taksim square in Istanbul

Before the failed coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, the authorities had already seized Islamic lender Bank Asya. Pictured are supporters of the Turkish president

As part of the coup investigation, police also searched offices at the main courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul on Wednesday as they raided the complex with detention warrants for 83 judicial personnel, Anadolu reported.

A day earlier police detained at least 136 court staff in raids on three halls of justice, including Turkey's largest courthouse, on the European side of the city.
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A New York City woman killed while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home brought light to the lives of everyone she touched, mourners were told at her funeral Tuesday.

Family, neighbors and a bus full of Google co-workers were among the hundreds of people who paid tribute to Vanessa Marcotte, 27, at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church in Leominster.

'She was so perfect, it was otherworldly,' said her best friend Leah Abrahams.

'Something about Vanessa always reminded me of the ocean  so breathlessly beautiful, quiet and peaceful.'

She later said: 'You epitomize grace, light, humility, and absolute magic.'

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Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was laid to rest on Tuesday after a service at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church in Leominster, Massachusetts (above=

John and Rossana Marcotte, parents of Vanessa T. Marcotte, follow her casket after the church service

Mourners file out of the church after the tearful funeral

The Google executive, 27, who lived in New York was visiting her mom in when she was raped, murdered, and burned while out for a jog

Marcotte's body was found August 7 in the woods near her mother's home in the small town of Princeton.

Marcotte grew up in Leominster, graduated from Boston University and worked as an account manager at Google in New York City.

She went out for a run at about 1 p.m. on Aug. 7 and never came home. Her body was found by police about seven hours later in a wooded area about a half-mile from her mother's home.

The Rev. Dennis O'Brien urged mourners to remember Marcotte for the way she lived, not the way she died.

'Her death should not be the headline story,' he said.

'The headline story that the entire world needs to see and read is the love that she lived every single day of her life.'

Mourners comfort one another outside the church on Tuesday

The pallbearers load Marcotte's coffin into a hearse following the church service

John and Rossana Marcotte are driven away after the funeral service on Tuesday

Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced.

They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle.

She is survived by her parents, John Marcotte and Rossana Marcotte, one grandfather, several aunts and uncles and cousins.

'Vanessa embodied everything that is good in a human being,' read her obituary.

'She was kind, compassionate, bright, curious, charming, and vivacious. She was blessed with beauty, grace, a generous spirit, and a loving heart.'

Pallbearers carry the casket of . Marcotte into her funeral service on Tuesday

Moruners exit the church as the coffin is loaded into the hearse

Friends of Marcotte dry their eyes as they exit they exit the funeral service

Marcotte's father makes his exit from the church following the funeral service

At a press conference on Thursday Worcester district attorney Joseph D Early Jr said that the Boston University graduate, who was home visiting her mother at the weekend, struggled with her attacker probably leaving him scratched, scraped and bruised.

The DA appealed for anyone seeing a man with fresh injuries of that nature earlier this week to call the State Police tip line.

Law enforcement has now narrowed the scope of their inquiries to between 1pm and 3pm on Sunday afternoon. They were previously looking at the hours between 1pm and 4pm.

They have also appealed for anybody who may have seen a vehicle traveling along, or parked on, Brooks Station Road during that time to come forward.

Last Tuesday, her father issued a heartfelt plea asking people to pray for justice for his daughter and that that perpetrator of this horrendous crime be caught.

Speaking to Daily Mail Online from his home in Leominster, where Vanessa was raised, John Marcotte said: 'How can anything ever be all right again when your only child has been horribly murdered?'

He said: 'I'd ask people to pray that whoever did this is caught. She was the best kid in the world. Graduated top of her class.'

Barely 24 hours earlier her father saw her for what would be the last time.
An Italian restaurant in New Mexico, which made headlines last month, is drawing even more criticism on social media for making merchandise with a slogan mimicking the Black Lives Matter movement.

Paisano's in Albuquerque is selling 'black olives matter' shirts and hats after making national headlines for putting the phrase on a sign outside the restaurant in July, according to KOAT TV.

Owner Rick Camuglia says he emblazoned the phrase on the restaurant's main sign to sell a new recipe: a tuna dish with black olive tapenade.

An Italian restaurant in New Mexico, which made headlines last month, is drawing even more criticism on social media for making merchandise with a slogan (pictured) mimicking the Black Lives Matter movement

Paisano's in Albuquerque is selling 'black olives matter' shirts and hats after making national headlines for putting the phrase on a sign outside the restaurant in July

Owner Rick Camuglia (pictured) says he emblazoned the phrase on the restaurant's main sign to sell a new recipe: a tuna dish with black olive tapenade

Camuglia posted pictures of the dish and the sign on Facebook, drawing complaints he was being insensitive and trivializing a movement aimed at trying to stop police shootings of black residents.

He said he's not trying to stir racial tensions and was only trying to sell food.

Camuglia told the station people from 'Australia, Spain, France' and other places 'have contacted him giving support'.

He said that he made shirts and hats because people who showed support asked if they could buy a souvenir from the restaurant.

The original sign that Camuglia put on his marquee sign read: 'Black Olives Matter - Try Our Tapenade'.

At that time he told WRIC that he and his team 'thought it was a cute play on words'.

In July, Camuglia put the above sign up that read: 'Black Olives Matter - Try Our Tapenade'

Camuglia told KRQE: 'I think if that offends some people, a statement about black olives, that somebody needs to reevaluate their politically correct meter.'

He then took a photo of the sign and posted it to Facebook, where it immediately was criticized by people who thought the sign was in 'very poor taste'.

Some Facebook users wrote that the sign was 'insensitive', 'tacky and hideous' and 'offensive'.

Camuglia told the station that he received a lot of phone calls from people who were really upset about the sign.

'We didn't think anybody would be offended by that, it was not our intent to offend anybody,' he said in July.
Father Bower said invitation is 'open' for the senator to come for 'a chat'

But on Tuesday afternoon, the sign read: 'Pauline, how about lunch?'

Father Bower is known for erecting signs in support of asylum seekers

The group claim to be supporters of One Nation senator Pauline Hanson

Father Rod Bower has extended an 'ongoing invitation' for One Nation senator Pauline Hanson to join him for lunch after her anti-Islam supporters stormed his Anglican church.

Nick Folkes, the leader of the Party for Freedom, and about 10 of his members interrupted Father Bower's Sunday morning sermon at the Gosford Anglican Church on the NSW Central Coast.

The group lay down rugs and pretended to pray on their knees while the Koran played on tape and one man shouted through a loudspeaker.

Mr Bower is known for erecting signs in support of asylum seekers including labelling the Nauru detention centre 'hell' last week.

But on Tuesday, the church leader's sign was directed at Ms Hanson, saying: 'Pauline, how about lunch?'

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Father Rod Bower (left) has extended an 'ongoing invitation' for One Nation senator Pauline Hanson (right) to join him for lunch after her anti-Islam supporters stormed his Anglican church

On Tuesday, the church leader's sign was directed at Ms Hanson, saying: 'Pauline, how about lunch?'

'This is an open, public and ongoing invitation to Pauline Hanson to join us for lunch,' Father Bower wrote alongside the photo on the church's Facebook page.

'Pauline identifies with Christianity and I am a Christian leader who is interested in exploring with the Senator Elect what it might mean to be at least nominally Christian in a secular democracy and in particular as an elected representative.

'We appeal to leaders to come together to work towards a safe, harmonious and peaceful Australia.

'So, in a spirit of goodwill, we reach out to you Pauline  how about we sit down for lunch and a chat?

'How about we find a realistic and practical way to live as a healthy, functional multi cultural society.'

About 10 members of anti-Islam Party for Freedom marched into the Gosford Anglican Church, which is renowned for supporting multiculturalism, at 9.30am on Sunday.

The group interrupted the sermon at the NSW Central Coast by pretending to pray on their knees while a tape of a man singing the Koran played.

One of the members from the far-right group used a loudspeaker to sarcastically say they were showing 'cultural diversity, the rich tapestry of Islam'.

On Monday, television political commentator Andrew Bolt turned off Mr Folkes live television interview.

Bolt demanded an explanation from Mr Folkes for his 'damn rude' which 'the media has used to discredit Pauline Hanson'.

Mr Folkes is leader of Party for Freedom. About 10 of its members, including Folkes, on Sunday posed as Muslims at Gosford Anglican Church on the NSW Central Coast (pictured)

About 10 members of Party for Freedom wore mock Muslim clothing and interrupted a Sunday morning sermon at Gosford Anglican Church to protest against multiculturalism

Pauline Hanson has distanced herself from Party for Freedom following the stunt (Nick Folkes pictured with the One Nation Senator in 2010)

Mr Folkes told Bolt he didn't think the group's stunt was rude.

'I think that the point needed to be made. It was disruptive for some people  there's always going to be people that do take offence,' the Party for Freedom leader said.

'Of course they do. You meant them to take offence,' Bolt replied.

Mr Folkes then went to criticise Father Rod Bower, the leader of the church which openly supports refugees and multiculturalism.

But Bolt interjected: 'No, no, no.'

'Do you think it's appropriate to go into someone's church service while they're praying, while they're worshipping God, and stage a stunt like that?

'When you do something that I consider wrong, offensive, trampling on peoples' rights, you don't get to spruik your cause.

'I want you to defend what it is you've done, which I think is extremely rude. To older parishioners, that would in fact be intimidating, and you know it,' Bolt finished.

Mr Folkes tried to criticise Father Rod Bower, the leader of the church which openly supports refugees and multiculturalism. Its sign (pictured with anti-Islam group) on Sunday read: 'Good luck to Aussie & refugee Olympic teams'

Mr Folkes said 'it was within our right' to interrupt the Sunday morning sermon, which Bolt described as 'obscene' and said it 'harassed' those in the church.

When Mr Folkes again tried to criticise Father Rod Bower, Bolt threatened to cut off his microphone.

'I've explained the rules, if you don't obey them  the mic goes off.

'You talk about your tactics not about your cause,' Bolt said.

'Have you noticed how the media has used you and this stunt to discredit Pauline Hanson? Calling you Pauline Hanson supporters? Do you realise the damage you do?' Bolt asked.

Mr Folkes reiterated Ms Hanson had nothing to do with the protest.

Party for Freedom openly supports One Nation and its leader, Ms Hanson, who on Monday distanced herself from the protest.

Controversial commentator Andrew Bolt (left) turned off the microphone for Nick Folkes (right), a 'damn rude' anti-Islam protester, in a live television interview

The pair talked over each other until the interview was abruptly cut short.

'You've discredited your cause, you've embarrassed yourself, you've scared people, and mate, the interview now is over,' Bolt told Mr Folkes as his microphone was turned off.

'Goodbye.'

Mr Folkes on Monday told Daily Mail Australia he believes in freedom of speech.

'However I believe Islam is anti-democratic and anti-freedom and has no place in Australia,' he said.

'I believe Muslim and other third world immigration should be restricted.'

'We held the protest at Rod's church to challenge his promotion and support of Islam. Rod's promotion of Islam and Muslim immigration is anti-Christian, and anti-Australian.

'Criticising Islam or any religion is valid. The ethnic lobbies and multiculturalists are 'totalitarian'.

A spokesperson for One Nation told Daily Mail Australia the parties have no official affiliation, and said One Nation was not aware of Party for Freedom's plans.

The group were also photographed speaking with police near the church

The spokesperson said they believed the church was targeted because it has 'taken part in political conversations through portraying their support for refugees and Muslims'.

'A church is a sacred place to many people so perhaps the Party for Freedom could have had a different approach to making their statement, but this does go to show that tensions are high in the community when it comes to the topic of Islam.'

'If concerns are not addressed, we believe that there may come a time where there is civil unrest on our streets.'

In a post to the Gosford Anglican Church Facebook page, Father Bower said Party for Freedom 'terrorised' the congregation and 'violated our sacred space'.

'Sadly these hate filled people would have certainly claimed to be Christian on last Tuesday's census, but they know not Christ or his peace,' Father Bower wrote on the church's Facebook page.

'If these people had been actual Muslims it would be called terrorism. This is 'radicalised Christianity' and right-wing terrorism and should be named as such.'
This shocking footage shows the upturned tank which slipped off a bridge and plunged into a river killing three soldiers.

The CM11 armoured vehicle was returning to camp in Pingtung county following an annual firing drill in southern Taiwan when the accident occurred.

Five soldiers were in the tank travelling through heavy rain when it may have malfunctioned before falling off the bridge, the army said.

Five soldiers were in the tank when it slipped from the bridge and plunged into the river

At around 10:30am local time, the vehicle then plunged into the Wangsha river, where it landed upside down.

The driver managed to escape with minor injuries but four others were trapped inside the vehicle and showed no signs of life when they were rescued.

The army initially said they were all killed but later revised the death toll to three as one soldier was revived after emergency treatment.

The soldier was transferred to a military hospital in neighbouring Kaohsiung city.

The driver managed to escape the vehicle with injuries but four others were trapped inside

The military is investigating the accident and the possibility that the tank malfunctioned

'We are still investigating the cause of the accident,' said Alfonso Yang, a military spokesman.

According to the army, the driver was unable to make a left turn when the vehicle possibly malfunctioned and then fell into the river.

President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her condolences and demanded the military speedily investigate the cause of the incident, her spokesman said.

The accident happened days before Tsai is due to preside over an annual live-fire exercise codenamed 'Han Kuang 32', which will take place in Pingtung county.
A New Zealand railway network has released shocking footage of people narrowly escaping death while carelessly crossing tracks in front of oncoming trains.

The new campaign video, released by KiwiRail, is aimed at shocking rail users into action through showing a collection of near-fatal misses from last year.

The footage and pictures show a series of heart-in-the-mouth misses, caught on CCTV at the Epuni pedestrian crossing in Lower Hutt, near Wellington.

Footage shows people narrowly escaping death while carelessly walking in front of trains

In one of the clips a cyclist can be seen nonchalantly making his way across the railway, only putting his foot down on the pedals when he realises he is about to collide with a massive train hurtling towards him the station.

Other clips show pedestrians stepping across the tracks, some with headphones in, totally oblivious to their surroundings and the impending danger.

Tracksafe manager Megan Drayton said complacency and distractions like cellphones and headphones meant people often didn't consciously check for trains.

A pedestrian stepped across the tracks, some with headphones in, totally oblivious to their surroundings

The video is aimed at shocking rail users into action through showing near-fatal misses

KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy told Tracksafe the campaign was developed as a response to an alarming increase of incidents involving pedestrians.

'What we are seeing, from data from collisions and near collisions as well as reports from our train drivers and CCTV footage, is that people are failing to take due care when crossing at level crossings,' Mr Reidy explained.

'Sometimes people cross the tracks after a train has passed but while the alarms are still operating. What they don't seem to realise is that there is often a train coming from the other direction.

The campaign was developed as a response to an alarming increase of incidents involving pedestrians
The 10-foot long, 600 kilogram fish appeared unfazed by the attention it

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A giant sun fish has been photographed off the coast of Bali  getting up close and personal with divers.

The huge 10-foot long fish is pictured swimming alongside divers at Gilli Mimpang, seemingly unfazed by their presence.

The fish, which weighs about 600kg, dwarfs British photographer Stefan Follows as he lines up the perfect shot. The huge sea creature was popular among the human crowd with divers scrambling to see it up close.

Follows lives in Thailand so he can indulge in his love for underwater photography, and take advantage of the stunning seascapes.

The Brit who was raised in Brixton, South London, says he spent 'far too much time out of the water' as a child.

He became a photographer after falling in love with the art form when he was given an instant camera for his 10th birthday.

He has been making up for it since 2001 when he began working as a diving instructor, dive centre manager, and dive guide in the Gulf of Thailand.

During his time off he hits the water to photograph life under the sea.

Photographer Stefan Follows has captured an amazing moment between a giant sun fish and divers off the coast of Bali

The huge sun fish, also known as a mola mola, weighs over 600 kilograms but appears to glide effortlessly through the sea

A group of divers were captured swarming around the incredible sea creature, but it appeared unfazed

The huge, unique looking fish is not a danger to humans and is safe to approach for a photo

The fish has featured in a collection of underwater shots capturing its huge form at every angle

The huge fish makes the divers in the water look minuscule as it delicately floats through the deep tropical water

The contrast between the vivid blues of the ocean and the black and grays of the fish make the photographs exceptional
Mining and petroleum giant BHP Billiton has posted an $8.3 billion annual loss after a bad bet on shale, a dam disaster in Brazil which killed 19 and a commodities slump.

The huge loss for the Australia-based mining company, the biggest in the world, is its first in 15 years since BHP and Billiton merged.

It was larger than the loss it was expected to post, of $7.7b, the ABC reported.

In 2015, a dam in Brazil belonging to BHP company Samarco collapsed, destroying villages, killing 19 people, leaving hundreds homeless and poisoning a river.

The ABC reported in March that Samarco and BHP agreed to pay the Brazilian government $AUD3.2 billion for the disaster.

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BHP Billiton iron ore being stockpiled for export at Port Hedland in Western Australia

smoke billows out of a chimney stack of BHP steelwork factories at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, Australia

Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said it was too early to say the worst is over for the resources industry, and expected markets to remain volatile within recent ranges.

'But perhaps, more importantly, the fact is that there is some sense that prices have stopped falling as opposed to being in free fall,' Mackenzie told reporters on a conference call.

However, BHP Billiton said cost cuts and a reduction in net debt should see it double its free cash flow to more than $7 billion this year at current prices for its major commodities, iron ore, copper, coal, and oil and gas.

Excluding $7.7 billion in writedowns and charges, underlying profit still slumped 81 percent to $1.2 billion for the year to June 2016 from $6.4 billion a year ago, hit by weak commodity prices.

A protester displaying a sign outside the BHP Billiton annual general meeting in Perth in November 2015

BHP's coal arm also reported a loss, largely hit by weaker prices

The underlying profit was the weakest since the merger of BHP and Billiton in 2001, but better than analysts' expectations of around $1.1 billion, underpinned by iron ore and copper.

'While the headline loss is horrific, BHP is performing well on an underlying basis,' Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said in a note.

The petroleum business, which sets BHP apart from its main rivals, slid to a loss, as it cut production from its U.S. shale wells, as oil prices slid 42 percent and gas prices dropped by a third.

Despite the dismal showing, Mr Mackenzie said the company remains committed to holding on to the onshore U.S. petroleum business, alongside the company's mining assets.

BHP's coal arm also reported a loss, largely hit by weaker prices.

Shoring itself up against tough markets, in February BHP abandoned its long-held policy of never cutting dividends, and flagged instead it would pay out at least 50 percent of underlying profit from then on.

It announced a full-year dividend of 30 cents, which it said was more than the minimum under its new payout policy, but just below analysts' forecasts around 32 cents.

Mackenzie said the dividend payout reflected the company's confidence in its ability to generate strong cash flow as commodity prices stabilise.

Net debt rose slightly from December to $26.1 billion, which was higher than the $25 billion that analysts had expected, but BHP said it expected net debt to fall in the 2017 financial year.

The huge loss for the Australia-based mining company, the biggest in the world, is its first in 15 years since BHP and Billiton merged
Waving his arms in the air and spinning around on the floor, this Olympic weightlifter appears to have taken the gold medal for the best celebration dance.

And for David Katoatau from the tiny island nation of Kiribati, his victory dance has become his trademark move, even though he only finished sixth in the 105kg weightlifting contest.

But the 32-year-old, says he has a serious message behind his dancing, as he hopes to raise the awareness of the threat climate change poses to his remote Pacific home country.

David Kataotau from the tiny island nation of Kiribati breaks into dance after a successful lift

Kataotau's victory dance has become his trademark move, and he uses the celebration every time he completes a successful lift

The 32-year-old could be seen waving his arms in the air and spinning around on the ground, even though he only finished sixth

His home nation, which has just 21 inhabitants, is suffering from extreme coastal erosion, which scientists say could have a catastrophic effect.

He explained: 'Most people don't know where Kiribati is.

'I want people to know more about us so I use weightlifting, and my dancing, to show the world.

'I wrote an open letter to the world last year to tell people about all the homes lost to rising sea levels. I don't know how many years it will be before it sinks.

The 32-year-old, says he has a serious message behind his dancing, as he hopes to raise the awareness of the threat climate change poses to his remote Pacific home country

At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, Katoatau became the first person to win a gold medal in any global sporting event from Kirirbati and was the country's flag bearer at the Rio opening ceremony

'We don't have the resources to save ourselves.

'There was no gym when I started training as a boy, and there is no gym now.

'I trained on the beach in the open sun. The bar would become too hot to touch so I had to train at six in the morning.'

At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, Katoatau became the first person to win a gold medal in any global sporting event from Kirirbati and was the country's flag bearer at the Rio opening ceremony.

He used his state reward of 6,500 to build a house for his parents on Kirbati, but admits its a worry as the home will be so close to the sea.

Kataotau said: 'I want people to know more about us so I use weightlifting, and my dancing, to show the world'

Katoatau delighted the crowds in the Riocentre pavillion during the weightlifting contest with his dancing

However, Katoatau isn't the first weightlifter who has attracted attention for his dance moves.

Nijat Rahimov from Kazakhstan appeared to perform a 'funky chicken' dance as he won gold in the 77kg event.

It is believed he performed the Lezgi, the dance of the Caucasus people, who originate from an area between Asia and Europe consisting of nations including Armenia, Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey.

What a celebration: Kazakhstani's Nijat Rahimov celebrated winning a gold medal at the Olympics in Rio by performing a traditional dance

Toe-tapping: The Lezgi is a dance of the Caucasus people, who originate from an area between Asia and Europe

And although Nija's celebratory dance raised smiles, his win was somewhat controversial.

While Nija,23, lifted a whopping 214 kilograms knocking reigning champion Chinas Lu Xiaojun off the top spot in the 77 kilogram class - he only returned to the sport last year after a ban.
A former Welsh Guard and father has fallen into a coma after a serious accident in Thailand - and a crowdfunding campaign has been launched to bring him home.

Father-of-one Adam Hobbs had been travelling in the country but suffered the injuries on Monday evening after a motorbike accident in Koh Samui, one of the country's largest islands.

Adam, 28, from Roath, Cardiff, is now in a critical condition in hospital there, and friends and family are hoping to raise 10,000 to bring him home.

Father-of-one Adam Hobbs (pictured) has fallen into a coma after a serious accident in Thailand

Adam is pictured here with his girlfriend, Samantha Theobald. They met while travelling around Thailand

The accident happened after Adam, who is being accompanied in hospital by girlfriend Samantha Theobald, 31, from London, came off his motorbike.

Adam, who served in the Welsh Guards in Iraq, met Samantha when travelling around the Asian country after both left the UK alone.

Locals set them up, and they quickly grew fond of one another before falling in love.

Sonia Davis, a friend of Samantha who has spoken to her since the incident, said Adam was reportedly breathing and appeared to be doing well immediately after sustaining the injuries.

Friends and family have launched a Just Giving fundraising campaign to get Adam (left), whose travel insurance has run out, home safely

A friend of Adam's girlfriend said: 'The most important thing now is to get them both home. Samantha said it's awful out there with him in this state, and she doesn't feel safe. It's vital we get them back - it's life or death'

Adam's young son, Addison, is said to be desperate to see his father

He was conscious for 'at least 20 minutes', and was speaking. But he soon stopped breathing and fell unconscious, and so was taken to a local hospital. He has been in a coma ever since.

Now friends and family have launched a Just Giving fundraising campaign to get Adam, whose travel insurance has run out, home safely.

Sonia said: 'The most important thing now is to get them both home. Samantha said it's awful out there with him in this state, and she doesn't feel safe. It's vital we get them back - it's life or death.

Adam appeared to be doing well immediately after he came off his bike

Adam and his girlfriend, Samantha, were set up by locals in Thailand

'Adam is a loving father to a young son Addison who is desperate to have his dad back home. Please help us.'

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: 'We are providing consular assistance to a British national who has been hospitalised in Thailand.'
Asylum seeker: Sivarajah Suganthan, who avoided deportation with the help of a public campaign, is facing jail for a sexual assault

An asylum seeker who avoided deportation from Britain with the help of a public campaign is facing jail after sexual assaulting a 21-year-old woman.

Sri Lankan-born Sivarajah Suganthan spent 37 days in a detention centre before being allowed to remain in the UK. It followed a 2010 campaign led by then Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams, who lost his seat last year.

Mr Williams lobbied immigration minister Damian Green to grant Suganthan asylum and presented an 800-name petition to Parliament calling for the deportation threats to end.

Suganthan, 31, went to live with friends in Bristol in 2011 but three years later he sexually abused a 21-year-old woman while staying at a night shelter in St Paul's.

He was to face trial at Bristol Crown Court but pleaded guilty to sexual assault by penetration.

Anjali Gohil, defending, said the guilty plea was on a full facts basis.

Record Peter Towler ordered a pre-sentence report and adjourned the case for sentence on September 14.

He told Suganthan: 'I won't be the sentencing judge. I would have thought a custodial sentence is inevitable.'

The offence of sexual assault by penetration has a sentencing guideline ranging from a community order to 19 years in prison, depending on how it is categorised.

Suganthan, a father-of-two, was bailed on condition he has no contact with the complainant and cooperates with the making of the report.

Sri Lankan-born Suganthan spent 37 days in a detention centre before being allowed to remain in the UK. It followed a public campaign (pictured are protesters in Bristol in 2010)

When Suganthan was released from detention in 2011 Caroline Beatty, manager of the Refugee Welcome Centre, said: 'We wanted to thank Mr Williams for his help and are sure that it was his intervention that meant Siva was released.

'We are hoping that we can count on his support in the future when he makes his fresh claim.'

Mr Williams said at the time: 'It was wonderful to meet Siva in person and to see that he was happy and smiling and delighted to be back among friends in Bristol.

'I am pleased that I and my staff were able to be of help.'

Suganthan came to the UK in 1999 at the age of 14. His initial claim for asylum was refused in 2003, and dismissed a second time in 2004 following an appeal.

Former MP Mr Williams said today he could not have predicted Suganthan would go on to commit a crime.

'I would only have been able to intervene to make sure this case got a hearing,' he said.

Help: Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams (pictured meeting Suganthan), lobbied immigration minister Damian Green to grant asylum to the 31-year-old from Bristol

'The granting of asylum or leave to remain would have been taken by a judge.

'Obviously if there was any thought at all that this person was likely to commit sexual assault it would not have been granted.

'Neither I nor the judge in the case could possibly have foreseen what would happen three years down the line.'

Mr Williams said he had been targeted online since the case was reported, and added: 'The implication that asylum seekers are likely to commit sexual offences is ridiculous.

'The vast majority integrate successfully into British society and contribute.'
A Briton has been arrested in Iran accused of spying after Tehran said western governments are trying to infiltrate the country following a nuclear deal.

The Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi , told Iran's state-run news agency that the suspect had 'been active in the economic field, related to Iran.'

He added that the accused, who has dual British-Iranian citizenship, was then linked to the British espionage service.

Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, claims the prosecutor in the capital Tehran, pictured

However, he did not give the name or gender of the accused and would only confirm that the arrest took place last week.

But Mr Dolatabadi recalled warnings by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Western governments would seek to 'infiltrate' the country in the wake of last year's nuclear deal.

The British Embassy in the United Arab Emirates could not be reached for comment.

Since the nuclear deal with world powers last year, Iranian authorities have detained a number of dual nationals visiting the country, accusing them of a variety of security-related charges.

Iran does not recognise dual nationalities, meaning those detained cannot receive consular assistance.
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A total of 11 people have now been killed in the devastating Louisiana floods, the governor said on Tuesday, and at least 40,000 homes were damaged.

Giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster, Gov. John Bel Edwards spoke at a news conference alongside FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, saying 'well over' 20,000 people have been rescued since the flooding began on Friday.

His office later increased that figure to more than 30,000 - which included a 78-year-old woman who spent a night stranded in a tree.

Beginning on Friday, a torrent of about two feet of rain inundated the southern part of the state over a 48-hour period, and days later many homes and businesses were still underwater.

Singer Taylor Swift is donating $1 million to Louisiana flood relief. She said Tuesday that Louisiana residents graciously welcomed her when she kicked off the U.S. dates of her '1989 World Tour' in the state last year.

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11 people have now been killed in the devastating Louisiana floods, the governor said on Tuesday. Above, a man navigates a boat of rescued goats past a partially submerged car in Gonzales, Louisiana

A man pulls a boat through a flooded neighborhood in Gonzales, Louisiana, on Tuesday. As many as 30,000 people have been rescued following unprecedented floods in the southern US state of Louisiana

Johnette Folse wears a protective mask in her flood damaged kitchen in Denham Springs, Louisiana, on Tuesday

While some areas were entering recovery mode, the governor warned new places downstream could see flooding and that officials are still in search and rescue mode.

'I don't know we have a good handle on the number of people who are missing,' the governor said.

Some residents returned to their flood-damaged homes and businesses for the first time on Tuesday and found a soggy mess.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of 'muddy nasty bayou water.' There were fish and thousands of spiders. And mold has started to set in.

'I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably,' he said. 'But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family.'

The extent of damage was coming into clearer view. About 40,000 people had signed up for FEMA assistance and eight more parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total number to 12.

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 per cent of the homes were a 'total loss.'

Boats pass a home partially submerged by flood waters in Port Vincent, Louisiana. Starting on Friday, Louisiana was overwhelmed with flood water causing at least 11 deaths and thousands of homes damaged by the flood waters

A waste pickup vehicle is seen partially submerged by by flood waters in Port Vincent, Louisiana, on Tuesday

People are seen walking in almost waist-deep water through a flooded neighborhood in Gonzales to recover personal belongings after the flooding

But Lori Steele, spokeswoman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, was upbeat, saying the rescues taking place now are less of a 'life-saving nature' and more to help people who were running low on supplies in flooded areas.

As the main roads drain, emergency crews were going to be able get hot meals, water and medical supplies to the 25 shelters in the parish.

'We're tired but today's a good day,' she said.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as people filled sandbags there to protect their houses, bracing for the worst as the water worked its way south.

In Ascension Parish, officials said some small towns have already been inundated.

The governor said more than 8,000 people were in shelters, but the number was constantly fluctuating as people arrive and leave.

John Booth (left) sits with Angela Latiolais's (second from left) family while helping them save their belongings

A submerged car is seen after flooding in Gonzales, Louisiana. Residents awoke on Tuesday to find their homes and businesses still surrounded by muddy water, without clear answers about when the epic flooding is expected to recede

People ride on a tractor through the flood waters in Port Vincent, Louisiana, on Tuesday

A woman opens a gate at a family member's home after flooding in Gonzales, Louisiana, on Tuesday

Meanwhile, a curfew is being put in place in Baton Rouge as authorities respond to reports of looting.

Multiple arrests were made on Monday and authorities were fielding calls about businesses being looted on Tuesday.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office says the curfew will be in effect from 10pm to 6am.

The slow-moving, low-pressure system crawled into Texas, but the National Weather Service warned the danger of new flooding remained high due to the sheer volume of water flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The latest deaths were attributed to three accidental drownings. No other details were immediately released about how the men died.

One town, Zachary, received more than 2 feet of rain in a 48-hour period that ended Saturday morning. Another, Livingston, got nearly 22 inches over the same stretch.

David Key boats away from his flooded home after reviewing the damage in Prairieville, Louisiana, on Tuesday

Key, an insurance adjuster, fled his home as the flood water was rising with his wife and three children and returned on Tuesday to assess the damage

Rivers in the region reached historic highs  occasionally shattering old records dating to 1983 floods.

The four feet of water that wrecked James DuPont's used car dealership in Baton Rouge has finally receded, allowing him to take stock of the devastation Tuesday.

His cars were all coated with a thin layer of dirt. The wooden floor boards in his office are scattered like matchsticks, exposing the wet cement underneath. All of his paperwork is a water-logged mess.

Floodwaters reached the 'Open' sign on his rented office, and the 24-year-old fears his business, Louisiana Direct Buy, is now closed for good.

He had a dozen or so vehicles on the property, including his personal car, and they all appear to be total losses.

'I don't have flood insurance so everything is gone,' he said. 'I'll try to salvage what I can. I don't know if I'm going to be able to open back up or not.'

As waters begin to recede in parts of Louisiana, some residents struggled to return to flood-damaged homes on foot, in cars and by boat. Pictured, mailboxes are seen just above flood water in Prairieville, Louisville

David Key looks at water out of his master bedroom windows in his flooded home in Prairieville, Lousiana

David Key opens the windows in his flooded home in Prairieville, after returning on Tuesday to assess the damade

Motorists drive between flood barriers set up along Airline Highway in Prairieville, Louisiana, on Tuesday
The mogul reportedly told Band he had not yet received his invitation

Donald Trump tried to 'gatecrash' Chelsea Clinton's 2010 wedding despite not receiving an invite, according to a new book.

The controversial mogul had previously invited President Bill Clinton and Hillary to his third wedding in 2005 and had expected a reciprocal gesture when it came to their daughter's nuptials.

The story is contained within an forthcoming book by Joe Conason, Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton.

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Republican candidate Donald Trump, pictured yesterday at Youngstown State University in Ohio, reportedly tried to gate crash Chelsea Clinton's wedding according to a new book

Trump, it is claimed, called President Clinton's aide Doug Band to seek directions to the 2010 ceremony (pictured) after suggesting he should be at the wedding

According to an excerpt carried on Politico's Playbook, Trump attempted to call President Clinton's aide Doug Band in an effort to discover the location of the ceremony.

The book claims Trump wanted to attend the event because the guestlist supposedly included Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Ted Turner.

However, none of these four stars were at the event.

According to the excerpt, Trump personally called Band and asked: 'Im supposed to be at the wedding, Doug, but I didnt receive the invitation, and I need to know where to go.

He was then told to contact the bride for directions, and apparently gave up.

Chelsea Clinton married Marc Mezvinsky at the Astor Courts Estate on July 31, 2010 in Rhinebeck, New York.

Ivanka Trump has revealed that she and Chelsea Clinton are still 'good friends', despite their parents' escalated assaults against each other in the media.

The claims are made in a new book by Joe Conason on the former US president, pictured

In an interview with On the Record's Greta Van Susteren, Ivanka said that she and Chelsea still have great respect for each other 'and that hasn't changed.'

'She's a great girl and she's a great friend to me,' she said. 'And obviously the intensity and scrutiny at this moment in our lives is pretty extreme.

'We're not the candidates. We're the children of the candidates. We've stayed close to one another, maybe a little less publicly so, but she's a good friend. We support each other.'

But she admitted there were certain topics they avoided for the sake of friendship.
Soaring above the skies of Syria, these are the Russian bombers dropping deadly bombs against militants in the first missions to have taken off from Iran.

The Kremlin has deployed Tupolev-22 bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan after Moscow and Tehran signed a military agreement for closer ties.

And today the Russian defence ministry confirmed that its aircraft had flew out of the Iranian base to launch strikes against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria.

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A Russian TU-22M3 long-range strategic bomber dropping bombs, reportedly at targets in the districts of city of Dayr al-Zawr in Syria

The bombs were dropped after the aircraft took off from the Hamadan airbase in Iran

A statement said: 'On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib.'

The strikes resulted in the destruction of 'five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel' and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb in the Idlib region and Al-Bab, an IS-held town in Aleppo province, the statement added.

'The bombing also targeted three command centres near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing 'a large number of fighters', Moscow said.

Footage, believed to have been taken of the mission appeared to show several aircraft flying in the clouds, before one drops a large number of bombs over the ground below.

It is unclear how many bombers have been moved to the site in Iran but it is the first time Russia has ever used facilities outside Syria for its operations in the Arab country.

It is unclear how many bombers have been moved to the site in Iran but it is the first time Russia has ever used facilities outside Syria for its operations in the Arab country

Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted.

Earlier this month, the defence ministers of allies Iran, Russia and Syria on held talks in Tehran on pressing the fight against opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime and have opposed international calls for the Syrian leader to step down in a bid to resolve a civil war that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

The talks came as Damascus stepped up its military campaign against both ISIS and rebels in second city Aleppo whom it accuses of colluding with Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted. Pictured is the view from the cockpit as a pilot flies over Syria

The strikes resulted in the destruction of 'five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel' and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb

Iranian Defence Minister General Hossein Dehghan said he and his counterparts from Russia and Syria were determined to deliver a 'decisive' battle against 'all terrorist groups'.

Tehran has provided Damascus with military and financial support ever since the uprising against the Assad regime erupted more than five years ago.

Meanwhile Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed separately in comments that Russia and the United States are also close to joining forces around Syria's ravaged second city of Aleppo, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control.

Fighting for the city has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.
A college student made a thousands of pounds trading from his bedroom while working part-time shifts at McDonald's.

Robert Mfune was just 16 when he learned the basics of binary trading by running errands at a finance firm after classes.

He started trading from his home in Southampton aged 17 and had made enough money to buy a 130,000 Bentley by the time he passed his A-Levels.

Mr Mfune has now bought his mother a 130,000 house and a car - and is a millionaire before turning 20.

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Robert Mfune was just 16 when he learned the basics of binary trading while running errands at a finance firm after college. He has since made enough money to buy a Bentley, pictured

Mr Mfune has swapped shifts at McDonald's for the high life of a City trader. But he keeps his uniform from the fast food restaurant (left) framed in his house (right) as a reminder

The teenager, pictured in his office, started trading from his home in Southampton aged 17. At the time he was also studying for his A-Levels and working part-time at McDonald's

The businessman said: 'Going to college, working at McDonald's and as a tea boy and trading from home was the toughest time of my life.

'It's just like going to uni with the fees you pay and loans you take out, if you're going to make it big you've got to suffer for a few years.'

The success started with an after-college job at a finance firm, where Mr Mfune learned the ins and outs of the industry.

He said: 'When I was a tea boy I got to learn a few things as I was always with well informed people, from the things I learnt I went home and did my own research.'

At 17 he started trading from home, setting up an account under his mother's name to work around regulatory age restrictions - all while working at McDonald's and studying for his A-Levels, which he passed with AAB grades.

A mentor helped the entrepreneur set up his own account when he turned 18, which he now uses to continue to grow his fortune.

Mother Susan said she was 'very proud' of her son, pictured together, but doesn't like his 'flashy' gold Bentley

He said: 'I've bought my mum a car because I didn't want people seeing my mum getting a bus when I'm earning a good amount. Then the next step was to get her a nice place so I bought her a house.'

Mr Mfune has also invested his money in coffee shops and houses in England and property in his home country of South Africa.

He also owns a 250,000 fleet of cars, including a Range Rover and his gold-coloured Bentley continental GT, but insists he is not materialistic.

He said: 'It's fun, it's nice to have nice cars but I don't value them as much as people who see me driving a gold car, it's just a bonus, I'm more about family, friendship and love.

'My goal is to make is to make people happy. I'd like to make sure everyone has got what they need and that's me done.'

The teenager bought this home for his mother once he started making money

He added: 'When I was 18, I got a Bentley but when I was 19 I decided to get it wrapped in a gold body kit. I was going to get a different car every year but I thought why not just change my Bentley.

'I sent it to Kream Developments who gave it a custom body kit and wrapped it in gold. No-one has got this, its the only one in the country.'

His mother Susan said she was 'very proud' of her son but deemed his gold-wrapped Bentley 'too flashy'.

She said: 'Maybe I'm old fashioned but I just thought why would you paint it gold? The silver was already good. But if it was me, I wouldn't buy it.'

Mr Mfune added: 'I have friends from school who treat me differently because of something material and now want to be my friend.
Craig Wilson (pictured) was working as a neo-natal nurse when he failed to activate the machine to help the newborn breathe

A nurse has admitted causing or contributing to a premature babys death after forgetting to turn on a humidifier.

Craig Wilson was working as a neo-natal nurse when he failed to activate the machine to help the newborn breathe.

His mistake happened just before he took a break and it was a colleague who discovered the infant was cold.

When he returned from his break, Wilson swore and said: I forgot to turn it on.

The baby, born 13 weeks early, died later the same day from hypothermia.

A fellow nurse at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow told a disciplinary hearing in Edinburgh yesterday she had prepared the machine for use and Wilson had only to switch it on.

Wilson, who has been a nurse for 13 years, admits his fitness to practise is impaired and faces being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

The case presenter for the NMC, Alistair Kennedy, said that on August 14, 2013, Baby A, who was born at 27 weeks but had been making good progress in an incubator, was placed in the care of Wilson.

Another nurse at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital (pictured) told a disciplinary hearing she had prepared the machine for use and Wilson had only to switch it on

Wilson administered continuous positive airway pressure treatment to the infant before going for his morning break at 10.30am.

A nurse who was keeping an eye on the baby in his absence noticed that the child was cold to touch and that the humidifier had not been switched on.

The nurse took immediate action and the baby was re-incubated, but died at 6pm that evening from hypothermia and multiple organ failure.

Mr Kennedy told the hearing that when Wilson returned from his break at 11am, he said: F***, I forgot to switch it on.

Wilson admitted he initially recorded that the humidifier was turned on and said at the time the only explanation was that somebody else had turned it off.

Wilsons representative, Robbie Wilson, told the hearing his client now admitted he had not switched on the humidifier.

Wilson admitted he initially recorded that the humidifier was turned on and said at the time the only explanation was that somebody else had turned it off

Nurse Christine McInally told the hearing she helped set up the equipment, adding: I filled the humidifier with water myself, he just had to switch it on.

She said that when informed the humidifier had not been turned on, Wilson immediately admitted his mistake. She added: He said a swear word first, then said I forgot to switch it on.

She also said he later changed his story and claimed he remembered filling the humidifier with water, but that she knew that he was mistaken, as she had filled it herself.

The charges Wilson has admitted to state that his actions caused or contributed to Baby A developing hypothermia and that this contributed to a loss of opportunity for life for Baby A.

He also admits charge 1.4, which states that he incorrectly recorded in Baby As nursing records that the humidifier had been turned on, when that was not the case.

However, he denies his actions in charge 1.4 were dishonest in that he sought to conceal his failure to turn on the humidifier.

In a separate charge, Wilson admits that while working at the Southern General Maternity Unit, Glasgow, he said a baby had been given medication when they had not and asked a colleague to sign a sheet to say they had.

He denies the charge that he was dishonest and sought to conceal his failure to administer the drug. He also denies that he intended to give the dose of anti-ulcer drug ranitidine to Baby B... without seeking permission from a doctor.
A soldier's saucy letters to his lover back home have been discovered after being hidden away in a sideboard for more than 70 years.

June and Roger Morrall, 68 and 73, bought a second-hand sideboard nearly two decades ago and had no idea the love letters were hidden inside, until Mr Morrall started dismantling the tatty furniture to take to the tip.

June Morrall, above, and her husband Roger bought the sideboard second-hand nearly 20 years ago and had no idea the love letters were inside until they started dismantling it to take to the tip

They were stunned to discover a secret compartment, crammed with airmail letters from love-lorn soldier Les Button to Aly Barnett.

The intimate notes, scribbled in pencil at the end of the war in 1945, were sent from Austria to Aly's home address in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The letters to 'Dearest Al' are signed 'Lots of Love, Les' or 'All my love, Les'.

In one letter, the lothario writes: 'I think you would look lovely stretched out on the sands in a two-piece swim suit.

'The only drawback seems to be you would get a bad reputation if we went off and spent a week together, but still we could have a great time together.

'Don't forget to send on that photo, I am looking forward to seeing it.'

Love-lorn soldier Les Button wrote to Aly Barnett in 1945 from Austria, where he was stationed. In one letter, he suggests taking her to Blackpool for a week although he knows it could ruin her reputation

The letters were found crammed in a secret compartment, prompting Mrs Morrall, 68, to wonder if Aly's parents did not approve of the soldier's relationship with their daughter

Now Mr and Mrs Morrall, from Birmingham, West Mids, are desperate to track down the families of Les and Aly - and find out if the couple got a happy ending.

Mr Morrall said: 'Some of the contents are definitely a little bit racy, and we had a chuckle over that - he'd been in the army for goodness knows how long, and obviously wanted a bit of female company.

'I do think he was a bit of a Casanova - the bit about wanting to see her in a two-piece on Blackpool beach is fantastic, goodness knows what he'd think of the ladies on the beach today.

'Some of the lettering is quite worn, but otherwise they're in very good condition.

Roger and June Morrall, above, said they had a good chuckle over the racy bits of the letters and hope there was a happy ending between the lovestruck couple after the war

'When June read them she got a little bit emotional, because they're quite poignant.

'Everyone was quite shocked when we told them what we found, and what the letters contained - they think it's fantastic, and we all want to know what happened to Les and Aly.

'We couldn't throw them away - they're a piece of history.

'We'd love to reunite the letters with Les and Aly - we really hope they had a happy ending, and got together and got married.

'We'd love that to be how the story ends, but you never really know.

'But we'd like to get them back to the families if we can.'

In another letter, Les wrote: 'I'm longing to take you in my arms and put a great big kiss upon your lovely lips.'

Mrs Morrall, pictured above with the sideboard after the couple had taken it apart, said the soldier comes over as a 'ladies' man' in the letters

Mrs Morrall, who has three children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild with Mr Morrall, said: 'We don't think Aly's parents approved - that's why the letters were hidden in a secret compartment.

'Les certainly comes over as a bit of a ladies' man!'

The couple bought the sideboard from a second-hand shop nearly two decades ago, and paid 20 for it.

Mrs Morrall said she did find some leaflets dated 1967 inside, but never found the secret hidden compartment until she and her husband started dismantling the old furniture.

Les, a Royal Artillery gunner originally from Bath, Somerset, said in the letters that he arrived in Austria in time for Christmas dinner after being on the move for more than a month.

The love notes are addressed to 'My Dearest Al' and many are written in pencil. Although they are 70 years old, they remain in legible condition. Roger Morrall, who found the letters, described them as a 'piece of history' as he hopes to find the families

He said in one the notes: 'I'm longing to hear from you again and when we get together we will have our own Christmas.'

Mrs Morrall added: 'The letters are fascinating, and throw up so many questions.

'We'd like to give them to the couple or to their families - after all, it's their property and they are entitled to them.

'They might be able to tell us if the story had a happy ending.'

Do you know Les Button or Aly Barnett? Get in touch by emailing Rebecca.Taylor@MailOnline.co.uk.
A London memorial commemorating one million Canadians who travelled to Britain to fight in two World Wars is being desecrated by people using it as a water slide and paddling pool.

Military veterans are among those who have expressed outrage at the on-going abuse of the famous monument in Green Park, directly opposite Buckingham Palace.

Unveiled by the Queen in 1994, it is surrounded by signs reading As a mark of respect, please refrain from climbing this memorial.

A war memorial in Green Park, London, is being used as a water slide and paddling pool

There are signs around the memorial, which commemorates one million Canadians who fought alongside Britain, asking people to stay off

But instead visitors are walking up and down it and Army Veteran Richard Allen says it is outrageous

Despite this, visitors to the park now think nothing of walking up and down the sloping granite sculpture, which has water flowing across it, and using it to cool their feet, sunbathe, and play games on.

At the weekend, grown men in bare feet or trainers could be seen clambering on top of it, while encouraging children to use it as a slide during the hot summer weather.

Richard Allen, who served alongside the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada when he was an officer in the British Army, said it was an outrageous sight.

The Canadians made a huge contribution to victory during the World Wars, said Mr Allen, who is now based in San Francisco, from where he regularly travels to London on business.

Their soldiers were outstandingly brave, and thousands were killed or wounded.

'This very moving monument is designed to commemorate all of them, and it is very sad indeed to see it being desecrated like this.

More recently, Canadians have served alongside us in places like Afghanistan. The Metropolitan police should be dealing with this.

A family visiting from the Canadian province Ontario said they thought it would be a sacred place not a playground

Charlotte Lynn, who was visiting from the Canadian province Ontario with her family, commented: What is going on is beyond belief.

We were expecting a sacred place, where those who fought would be honoured and respected. Instead, the monument has been turned into a playground.

The Canadian Memorial was designed by the sculptor Pierre Granche, and is divided into two halves, representing Britain and Canada.

Bronze Canadian maple leaves have been inserted into the slopes, along with the countrys coat of arms, and the flowing water is meant to signify the passage of time.

The two halves represent Britain and Canada and the water is meant to signify the passage of time

An inscription reads: In two World Wars one million Canadians came to Britain and joined the fight for freedom. From danger shared, our friendship prospers.

Disorderly crowds are increasingly causing chaos in London's Royal parks

Thousands of Canadians were killed or wounded at Great War battles including Vimy Ridge, in France in 1917, and throughout the Second World War.

The Canadian Army had its own landing sector, Juno Beach, at D-Day, and also suffered terrible casualties during the Dieppe Raid of 1942.

Queen Elizabeth II remains the formal Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian military, and has frequently expressed great pride in its units.

A spokesman for the Royal Parks said it was against regulations to climb or interfere with any monument or statue. Enforcement of Royal Parks regulations is a matter for the police.

The scandal comes at a time when disorderly crowds are increasingly causing chaos in Londons Royal parks.
Hawaii health officials have shut down 11 sushi restaurants after citing them as a possible source of a severe Hepatitis A outbreak.

The Hawaii State Department of Health said late Monday that the disease outbreak 'is likely due to imported frozen scallops served raw at Genki Sushi Restaurants on Oahu and Kauai.'

The department says in a news release that it has ordered the restaurants on the two islands closed 'to prevent any further illness and protect the public.'

Shut down: This is one of 11 Genki Sushi locations on the islands of Oahu and Kauai that were closed down Monday in connection to Hawaii's Hepatitis A outbreak

The station Hawaii News Now initially reported that the frozen scallops at the center of the health crisis were imported by the distributor True World Foods, but state health officials later said the seafood did not come from the New Jersey-based company.

In an email to Daily Mail on Tuesday, a company representative confirmed that True World Foods played no part in the outbreak.

According to Genki Sushi's website, the chain has 10 locations on Oahu, one on Kauai, two on Maui, one on the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as two locations in Washington state and one in Santa Fe, California.

The eateries on the islands of Oahu and Maui closed early on Monday to limit further exposure.

Raw deal: The State Department of Health said late Monday that the disease outbreak is likely due to imported frozen scallops served raw (stock photo)

Nicole Takahashi was dining at Genki Sushi's Waikele location when restaurant staff announced they were closing the eatery and ordering the patrons to leave without even paying for their food.

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'Everything was going great until we got the news that we needed to finish and could just leave without paying for the food. We just got scared,' she told KHON2.

Genki Sushi's website states that the restaurant's vision can be summed up in three words 'Better Sushi Today.'

'We are committed to improving the quality in everything we do from the speed in which we deliver our food, the taste of our sushi and the freshness of the produce we use, to our level of service and the atmosphere in our restaurants.'

According to information posted on the Hawaii State Department of Health's site, so far 168 people have been infected, mostly on Oahu, in the state's worst outbreak in more than two decades. Forty six of the people sickened, all adults, required hospitalization.
City workers formed a human barricade to protect an injured cyclist after he was knocked off his bike at one of London's most dangerous junctions.

The cyclist, who is in his 40s, suffered severe head wounds when he was hit by a car outside the Bank of England in the City of London on Monday evening.

Witnesses described how commuters stood in the road and formed a line around the cyclist to shield him from rush hour traffic as they waited for paramedics.

Witnesses described how commuters stood in the road and formed a line around the cyclist to shield him from rush hour traffic as they waited for paramedics

One told the Evening Standard: 'I looked around and saw the cyclist flying off his bike out of the corner of my eye. There was this gasp from the crowd then silence.

'People were standing in the road to protect his body from other cars. We were too scared to move him.

'One lady held his hand the whole time and was asking him loads of questions to keep him conscious but he couldnt respond.'

The driver of the car stopped at the scene and is helping police with their investigation.

Last year cyclist Ying Tao, 26, was killed after she was crushed by a lorry at the same junction. Cyclists staged a number of protests at the site to highlight the dangers of the road

A spokesman for City of London Police said: 'We were called at 18:12hrs on Monday 15 August to reports of a cyclist in collision with a vehicle at Bank Junction.

'Officers and members of the LAS attended. A male cyclist in his 40s was found with head injuries and he was taken to a central London hospital.'

Last year cyclist Ying Tao, 26, was killed after she was crushed by a lorry at the same junction.
The excavation for the supposed gold began at 7am on Tuesday

A dig last year found no signs of a train but they did find 'anomalies'

In a historic dig that could mark the end of decades of speculation over the so-called gold train, treasure hunters have begun excavating a site in south-western Poland where they believe a buried Nazi train packs 250million worth of gold and gems.

While some experts say there is no evidence that the fabled train is buried at the site, veteran explorers Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter believe the treasure will be found nine metres below ground in a railway tunnel in Walbrzych.

Koper and Richter also said the site may have been used to hide the bodies of thousands of forced labourers.

Rumor has it that the retreating Nazis hid looted valuables from the approaching Red Army in a complex of tunnels - part of an unfinished secret military project - during the last days of WWII.

The dig began at 7 am on Tuesday, and could take up to 10 days.

Scroll down for video

A tunnel, constructed as part of the Nazi's 'Riese' construction project, pictured near where the infamous gold train is said to be bured

Professional treasure hunters Andrea Richter (far left) and Piotr Koper (middle) and their spokesman Andrzej Gaik (right) speak to journalists about the much-anticipated dig in Walbrzych, Poland

Richter and Koper fielded questions about their research, which found that anomalies in the soil indicate the existence of the train

A man walks across tracks above where Richter and Koper believe the infamous Nazi train is buried

250million in treasure could be buried below these train tracks

Two intrepid treasure hunters have begun digging for a mythical Nazi gold train

The pair have brought in heavy digging equipment to try and excavate the train

A train passes by as workers cut trees on the cutting between Wroclaw and Walbrzych during preparations before digging for the Nazi gold train

In December Professor Janusz Madej, a Krakow-based scientist who conducted a search at the site, said his team had found no proof of the train's existence.

'The tunnel may be there, but the train is not,' he said.

Undaunted, the pair hinted at 'anomalies' produced by a ground-penetrating radar and said they would resume the hunt.

On Friday project spokesman Andrzej Gaik said: 'The train isn't a needle in a haystack, if it's there, we'll find it.

Explorers Piotr Koper (left) and Andreas Richter (right) claim to have found a WWII Nazi gold train packed with 250million worth of jewels buried in a railway tunnel

Workers erect barriers at the site (left) and prepare to bring in mechanical diggers

Location: They believe the train was buried on a railway track between Wroclaw and Walbrzych, south west Poland as Soviet troops advanced from the east

'Even if we find a tunnel, that'll also be a success. The train could be hidden in it.'

Mr Koper, a Pole, and Mr Richter, who is German, say the Nazis made prisoners of war dig a network of tunnels in the area, and some locals have claimed the Germans tried to spirit the gold away as Russia's Red Army closed in.

The intrigue has been further fuelled by the site's proximity to a massive network of secret underground tunnels built by the Nazis, some of which are around the massive Ksiaz Castle where legend has it the Third Reich stashed looted valuables.

The pair insist the excavation is more than just a treasure hunt.

Historians claimed the missing vessel would look like an armoured locomotive similar to this one used by the Nazis during WWII

The treasures hunters said they had used a ground penetrating radar to locate the train and said these images proved the train was buried nine metres down in rail tunnel

Frenzy: Their extraordinary claims sparked gold fever as the world wanted to know if a train packed with gems and art had been buried by the retreating German army in the dying days of WWII

Digging: The Polish army (pictured) was sent to the site in September to begin digging to find the mysterious 'Nazi gold train', which was said to be buried in a tunnel nine metres down

Mystery: Professor Janusz Madej from AGH University of Science and Technology, searching at the site, told a press conference in December there is no evidence of a train

Legend had it the locomotive set off from the western city of Wroclaw (then known as Breslau) before mysteriously disappearing around Walbrzych (Waldenburg at the time) while fleeing the Red Army in 1945.

Fortune-hunters have looked for it for decades, and in the communist era the Polish army and security services even carried out apparently fruitless searches for it.

Last year Poland's Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said he was '99 per cent convinced' the train was buried beneath the ground in Walbrzych after seeing ground-penetrating radar images.

He added that the images seemed to show a train equipped with a gun and turrets.

Search: Fortune-hunters have looked for it for decades, and in the communist era the Polish army and security services even carried out apparently fruitless searches for it (file photo of Nazi tunnel)
A man with a knife has stabbed two people aboard a train in Austria today- the third such train attack in Europe within a month.

The incident happened at 6.30am on a regional Austrian Railways train heading towards Bregenz from Bludenz when the 60-year-old German, believed to be mentally ill, stabbed two passengers with a knife, causing them 'considerable injuries', according to police.

Fellow passengers and police on board the train subdued the man and held him until it stopped at Sulz-Rothis station.

Fellow passengers and police subdue a man and arrest him after he allegedly attacked two train passenger with a knife in Austria

The 60-year-old German stabbed two passengers with a knife, causing them 'considerable injuries', according to police

Police used pepper spray on the attacker and one 22-year-old who helped the officers sustained a light cut to his hand.

The victims, aged 19 and 17, reportedly did nothing to provoke their attacker.

Both are in hospital with serious injuries - the elder of the two with back and stomach wounds, the younger with a slash to the throat.

The arrested man is led into a police car. The victims, aged 19 and 17, reportedly did nothing to provoke their attacker

Passengers aboard the train had to leave at the station and continue their journey with a replacement one.

Last month in Germany, an Afghan refugee attacked a family of five from Hong Kong with an axe and a knife aboard a train heading to the city of Wurzburg.

The attacker was shot dead by police moments after fleeing the train.

One of the victims who was knifed is pushed away in a wheelchair towards a waiting ambulance at Sulz Rothis station in Austria

Two of his victims are still in hospital with serious head injuries.

While at the weekend in neighbouring Switzerland, near Salez, a woman was killed aboard a train by a man who set himself on fire and also died.
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The brutal reality of life on the frontline in the Pacific War has been brought to light in a stunning set of colorized pictures.

The eye-popping images show US Marines engaging in battle in Japan, wounded Marines waiting for help and war dog standing guard as a Marine takes quick respite from the battle that raged around him.

Another shot show two US Marines look over Iwo Jima from atop Mt. Suribachui, where, just two days before, the American flag was famously risen.

These are the amazing recolorized photographs of US Marines in a shell hole on the Japanese island of Saipan in June 1944

Here, Private First Class, Rez P Hester sleeps in a fox hole while Butch, his war dog stands guard on Iwo Jima

The photographs have been colored by Jared Enos, 19, from North Kingstown on Rhode Island

The spectacular set was brought back to life by emergency medical technician Jared Enos, 19, from North Kingstown in Rhode Island.

He said: 'There are two theaters in World War II that are known particularly for their carnage: The eastern front in Europe, and the Pacific theater.

'While quality photos of the eastern front are sparse, the United States Marine Corps has a respectable collection of images documenting some of the bloodiest battle the United States fought in World War II (namely, Okinawa and Iwo Jima).

'In that context, I find a lot of these images moving, considering what the men who've been photographed might have experienced.'

The technique used by Enos allows modern audiences to appreciate the sacrifices made by those fighting in 1945

Here the Marine M4A3R3 Sherman tank - nicknamed the 'Zippo' by troops goes into action in Iwo Jima in March 1945

Here, a marine advances towards a Japanese pillbox with a flamethrower - one of the most dangerous weapons of the war

The US entered World War II after a surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor naval base by Japan.

Jared said: 'This collection was a focused effort. These images really struck me like few others have since I started colorizing.

'Knowing that the men in these photos had to fight tooth and nail for these tiny Pacific islands, and considering the infamy of these bloody conflicts makes the connection all the stronger.

'These photos are the real deal, not staged photos to keep morale up on the home front.

'In this collection we see the US Marines in the thick of it. We see them in some of the direst circumstances imaginable.

'Ultimately, I want emphasize just how simultaneously terrible and inspiring the war was.'

A wounded marine was carried to safety in Tarawa in November 1943, almost two years before the beginning of the war

A marine observes the explosions as shells pound a Japanese position on the island of Iwo Jima in February-March 1945

This PBY-5 Catalina flying boat was flying in formation above an undisclosed location when it was photographed

In this image, Enos colored a flag on Mount Suribachui on Iwo Jima, which was taken several days after an iconic photo

More than 6,500 US servicemen died in the battle at Iwo Jima, a tiny island 660 miles south of Tokyo that was deemed vital to the US war effort because Japanese fighter planes based there were intercepting American bomber planes. The invasion began on February 19, 1945, with about 70,000 Marines battling 18,000 Japanese soldiers for 36 days.

Besides those killed, about 20,000 Americans were wounded. Only about 200 Japanese soldiers were captured, with the others killed in the fighting.

This was followed by the Battle of Saipan between June and July 1945, when almost 30,000 Japanese troops were killed, with some 22,000 civilians dying - many of whom took their own lives.

Of the 71,000 US troops who landed on the beaches, more than 3,400 died with a further 13,000 wounded.

The frenzied nature of the defense convinced US commanders that an invasion of the Japanese mainland would cost many lives, so the decision was made to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 and then a second weapon on Nagasaki, three days later.

The two atomic attacks, which shocked the world, prompted the Japanese to surrender.
Pet goldfish being discarded in wetlands are expanding to several times their typical size and spreading diseases to the native fish.

The unwanted fish are being dumped in wetlands south of Perth and are making their way to rivers housing freshwater fish, choking the native habitat as they feed and grow to become up to two kilograms, Murdoch University professors told 720 ABC Perth.

Dr Stephen Beatty with the university's school of Veterinary and Life Sciences said he and his coworkers often find goldfish weighing over one kilogram in the Vasse River near Busselton and are working to remove the pests.

Discarded pet goldfish (pictured) dumped in wetlands south of Perth are travelling to freshwater rivers where they are expanding to several times their size

'Perhaps they were kids' pets where the family have been moving house and their parents, not wanting to take the aquarium, have dumped them in the local wetlands,' he said.

'Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that wetlands connect up to river systems and introduced fish, once they get in there, can do a lot of damage to native freshwater fish and the aquatic habitat.'

The goldfish can disrupt the aquatic plants by stirring up algae, disturb their feeding strategy and possible eating other fish's eggs, Dr Beatty said.

The goldfish (pictured) can disrupt the aquatic plants by stirring up algae, disturb their feeding strategy and possible eating other fish's eggs

It is believed that they have also introduced at least one disease to native fish populations, he said.

'It causes lesions on the skin, it's pretty horrible to look at.'
Theresa May has written to China's president Xi Jinping to 'reassure' him after putting the controversial Hinkley Point nuclear plant on hold.

The Prime Minister's letter was handed over by Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma during an official visit to Beijing.

The move comes after China expressed dismay at a decision by Mrs May to pause the Hinkley Point C project, just hours after French energy giant EDF had given it the green light.

Theresa May has written to Chinese premier Xi Jinping to 'reassure' him about her commitment to relations between the countries

A computer generated image of how the 18billion Hinkley Point plant would look

The power station is being funded with Chinese investment, but there are concerns about giving it such a major role in key infrastructure.

There have also been complaints about the high 'strike price' the government is guaranteeing to pay for the energy produced.

The text of the letter, which was described as 'private correspondence', has not been released by Downing Street.

A No 10 source said: 'It is about reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations.'

Earlier this month, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming delivered a thinly-veiled threat of consequences if the 18 billion power plant in Somerset does not go ahead.

He insisted relations between the two countries were at a 'crucial historical juncture'.

The surprise decision by Mrs May came just three weeks after she took over from David Cameron in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Nick Timothy, had previously written about the possibility that China could covertly install software which would allow it to close down the power station at will.

There was speculation that Mrs May would take a markedly different approach to relations with Beijing from Mr Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne, who sought to encourage Chinese investment in the UK.

However, in her letter to Mr Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Mrs May - currently on holiday in Switzerland - said Britain 'looks forward to strengthening co-operation with China on trade and business and on global issues'.

On his Twitter feed, Mr Sharma said he had had a 'great first meeting' with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with a 'warm welcome and forward-looking approach'.
A former lover says he 'snapped' when he killed the mother of his child in a horrific attack.

Melbourne man Makeny 'Nelson' Banek pleaded guilty to beating and stabbing Sudanese woman Jackie Deng, 20, before laying her in her bed and placing a white rose next to her body in March this year.

'He also saw an imitation single rose that he had bought for the deceased on Valentine's Day. He picked up the rose and placed it on the bed beside the deceased,' police say.

The pair had moved from Sudan to Australia as refugees but had separated a month before the frenzied killing, remaining in contact so Banek, 24, could see their three-year-old son.

Melbourne man Makeny 'Nelson' Banek has pleaded guilty to beating and stabbing Jackie Deng, 20 (pictured), also known as Abuk Akek

The scorned lover Banek (pictured) says he 'snapped' when he killed the mother and law student in March this year

Banek bashed Ms Deng, also known as Abuk Akek, on several occasions and threatened to kill her and her child in the lead-up to her violent death, a police summary tendered to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court said

The mother had been hospitalised in September 2014 after she had been bitten on the face and back, choked and punched by Banek, the ABC reports.

She had taken out three intervention orders against the 24-year-old before her death, the court heard.

On the day of her murder, Banek had gone to Ms Deng's Melton home where they argued.

'I snapped, I used a knife and my fists,' he told detectives. 'I love her very much but she did not love me.'

Ms Deng had separated from Banek a month before the frenzied killing, remaining in contact so he could see their three-year-old son

Banek will now face a directions hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to murdering Ms Deng

Banek is accused of punching and kicking Ms Deng, also known as Abuk Akek, before choking her and stabbing her with a knife

Banek is accused of punching and kicking Ms Deng before choking her and stabbing her with a knife.

After the attacke Banek carried her body to her bedroom, laid her on the bed and covered her body with a blanket.

He returned later with the twisted flower tribute and took her phone, the Herald Sun reports.

The 20-year-old was found dead by her mother-in-law and brother-in-law later that evening, police later arrested Banek who was sleeping on a couch at a friends house.

Banek will now face a directions hearing in the Supreme Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to murdering Ms Deng.

Ms Deng had moved to Melbourne just one month before for the safety of her young family

The young mother was killed at her home, after fleeing from Sudan to escape the violence

The 20-year-old's body was found in a home in Melton in Melbourne's outer-west




Four people have been killed including a nine-year-old child after a speedboat crashed into a tourist vessel and sliced it in two off the Greek island of Aegina.

The dead are said to include the child's 55-year-old father and the tourist craft's captain.

Three of the victims are Greek but the fourth, a man, has not been identified.

Four people have been killed and another four injured when a speedboat collided with a tourist vessel and sliced it in two near Aegina, southwest of Athens

Pictures from Protothema.gr show coastguards removing wreckage of the tourist boat from the sea

Remains of the vessel is pulled onto a dock. One witness told Greece's Mega broadcaster: 'We saw over eight or nine people in the sea... some were swimming, others were unconscious, dead'

Officials said the motorboat's pilot was arrested after the crash, which happened around 1pm.

Pictures from Protothema.gr show wreckage of the tourist boat being removed from the sea. Coastguards rescued 21 survivors from the water.

Four people were also hurt in the crash off Egina, an island near the capital where many Athenians have summer homes.

The pleasure boat was carrying visitors to Moni, an uninhabited small island.

Among those injured is a 28-year-old woman who lost her lower leg in the accident.

One witness told Greece's Mega broadcaster: 'We saw over eight or nine people in the sea... some were swimming, others were unconscious, dead.

Another told Skai radio that the motorboat had sliced the pleasure boat in two.

He said: 'I saw a little girl... being given CPR but she was not responding.'

It was unclear how many people were on the speedboat, which some witnesses said sunk after the crash. Here, coastguards salvage parts of the tourist craft

Coastguard vessels and nearby private boats, including fishing craft, were involved in the search

Two patrol boats and a helicopter were conducting a search and rescue operation, while private boats were assisting in the efforts.

The search is ongoing as only the captain knew exactly how many people were on board the tourist launch, the coastguard said.

The weather in the area was reported as good.

Aegina's proximity to the Greek capital makes it a popular destination for Greeks and foreign tourists.

The island is currently full of visitors taking advantage of the long holiday weekend.

The islet of Moni, where the tourist boat was headed, is famous for its beach and many tourists sail over for a day excursion.

Aegina's proximity to the Greek capital makes it a popular destination for Greeks and foreign tourists
A man has cut off two of his own fingers with a hacksaw in protest at the Russian authorities failing to investigate claims his wife was raped by a police officer.

Street sweeper Igor Gubanov vowed to slice off one a week until the case is properly probed.

Gubanov and his wife, Salima Muhamedyanova, were detained by police in January in industrial Magnitogorsk after a neighbour complained they were 'drunk and disorderly'.

Street sweeper Igor Gubanov pictured just after he cut off his finger

Igor holds up a bag with his finger inside it. He has vowed to cut off one finger a week until allegations that police raped his wife are properly investigated

Igor and his wife have accused police of tampering with evidence and failing to take a DNA sample from the policeman accused of rape

Police let them go but returned several hours later.

Muhamedyanova later filed a complaint that she was beaten by one policeman, then raped by another, as the first one watched.

The couple were warned the policeman would plant drugs on them if they disclosed the rape.

The woman underwent an examination by a doctor who certified there was evidence of sexual intercourse and physical harm.

Lawyers for the couple say police conducted four 'forensic experiments' and concluded only Gubanov's 'biological material' was found.

They accuse police of tampering with evidence and failing to even take a DNA sample from the policeman accused of rape.

Police accused Muhamedyanova of refusing a lie detector test over claims she purposely submitted a false report.

Igor's wife, Salima Muhamedyanova (pictured), filed a complaint that she was beaten by one policeman, then raped by another, as the first one watched

Igor holds up his bandaged hand after cutting off his fingers. He has been threatened with being placed in a mental hospital

Alleging a police cover up, Gubanov sawed off his left-hand finger.

'I read the latest legal documents handed to me by the investigators, and realised that they were just humiliating and taunting my wife,' he told internet news portal Znak.

'I looked on the internet, and saw that there were hunger strikes, but no one paid attention to those, and I had to attract it one way or another,' he said.

He vowed to cut off another finger each Monday until police release to his lawyers CCTV footage which he believes incriminates the officer.

Next he sliced off his ring finger but then told journalists that he had been threatened with being forcibly placed in a mental hospital and branded a 'lunatic' if he continued.

I feel sorry for the finger, I got somewhat used to it in my 40 years Igor Gubanov

At first he agreed to halt his protest but he has now again accused the police of 'mocking my wife' .

He insisted there was 'no other way but to go ahead with what I promised earlier'.

He has also threatened to set himself on fire if police fail to meet his demands.

'I am doing it in full consciousness because I want to protect my wife,' he said.

'She is on a verge of nervous breakdown.

'She said that only if she knew what was to follow after her complaint, she would have never submitted it.

'But I still believe in justice. There might be a fair trial.'

He added: 'I don't say another way out apart from attracting attention to this situation in such a way.

'I feel sorry for the finger, I got somewhat used to it in my 40 years.'
This is the shocking moment a knife-wielding attacker fell to the ground after being Tasered by police for brutally stabbing another man in the chest.

Binh Nguyen, 39, was cornered and detained by police after he chased a 25-year-old man down a street and knifed him in the chest in Surbiton, south west London.

Dramatic CCTV footage, now released by police, shows Nguyen threateningly waving a long knife at approaching officers during the incident on March 17.

Binh Nguyen, 39, was cornered and detained by police (pictured in CCTV) after he chased a 25-year-old man down a street and knifed him in the chest in Surbiton, south west London

Dramatic CCTV footage, now released by police, shows Nguyen threateningly waving a long knife (seen in his right hand) at approaching police officers during the incident on March 17

CCTV footage shows an officer drawing his Taser and discharging it at Nguyen, who stumbles before falling onto his back - allowing police to swoop and handcuff him

As one officer deploys his taser, Nguyen stumbles before falling onto his back, allowing police to swoop and handcuff him.

Nguyen has now been jailed for 20 months after admitting causing grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article at Kingston Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard how police had been called to reports of a 'serious incident' and found Nguyen standing next to two people, unaware that a stabbing had occurred.

PC Paolo Resteghini praised the bravery of his colleagues and the victim, who provided the evidence needed to jail the attacker.

He said: 'I would like to praise the bravery of the victim, he defended himself from the attacker and, despite being injured, ran away, a decision that I believe saved him from further injury.

The court heard how police had been called to reports of a 'serious incident' on March 17 and found Nguyen standing next to two people, totally unaware that a stabbing had occurred

Nguyen (pictured with a knife in hand) has been jailed for 20 months after admitting causing grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article at Kingston Crown Court on Friday

'During the investigation he was able to provide me with outstanding evidence which I have no doubt led to Nguyen pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
A helicopter pilot who ruined a Red Arrows display by flying above the speeding jets has been stripped of his licence.

Andrew Kane, 62, risked causing an accident when he flew his Gazelle helicopter into restricted airspace at an air show in Old Warden, Bedfordshire, on May 8.

The RAF pilots were able to avoid a crash but were forced to abandon part of the display, disappointing thousands of spectators.

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Andrew Kane, 62, risked causing an accident when he flew his helicopter into restricted airspace at an air show in Old Warden, Bedfordshire. Pictured, Red Arrows at the show

The RAF pilots were able to avoid a crash with the helicopter (pictured above the air show) but were forced to abandon part of the display, disappointing thousands of spectators

Kane, of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, was later charged with flying in restricted airspace and inadequately preparing for a flight.

He pleaded guilty to both offences at Luton Magistrates' Court last Tuesday. He was fined 2,500 and ordered to pay 500 to the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Passing sentence, the chair of the bench said both offences were extremely serious.The CAA have also suspended his licence since the incident.

The court heard that Kane left Northepps Airfield near Cromer, in Norfolk, and flew into the restricted airspace, designed to protect the Red Arrows pilots.

In a YouTube video, the announcer tells spectators that an 'interloper' has been spotted just two minutes from the end of the 20-minute display

The helicopter is seen flying overhead and the announcer says: 'He's now ruined the display for the pilots in their first performance this year and all of you wonderful people here in the sunshine at Shuttleworth.'

They red arrows later performed a delayed finale.
Mining giant BHP Billiton has posted a massive annual loss of $AUD8.3 billion - its first in 15 years.

The huge net loss was caused by a combination of factors that harmed the Australia-based company, the largest of its kind in the world.

Its disastrous year included commodity price slumps, a dam disaster in Brazil and bad bet on shale gas.

The net loss is the first for the company in 15 years, since BHP and Billiton merged.

It was larger than a $7.7b loss that had earlier been predicted.

So what went wrong for the company once called the 'Big Australian' - and how will it affect you?

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BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie (pictured), who took over the role in 2013

A massive annual loss of $8.3 billion posted by mining giant BHP Billiton could have an impact on people's superannuation funds

Horses remain next to a car after a dam burst in the village of Bento Rodrigues in Brazil after a dam owned by a BHP Billiton company collapsed in late 2015

Brazilian firemen rescue a foal which remains next to its mother after the dam burst

Commodities price slump

Recently, prices of iron ore, oil and gas - commodities BHP Billiton produces - have fallen, hitting the company hard.

Bad bet on shale

As a result of the commodity price slumps, BHP Billiton had huge write-downs in its assets, including on its large, US-based shale gas operation, which a previous administration had paid too much for, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Brazil dam collapse

In late 2015, a dam in Brazil belonging to BHP company Samarco collapsed, destroying villages, killing 19 people, leaving hundreds homeless and poisoning a river.

The ABC reported in March that Samarco and BHP agreed to pay the Brazilian government $AUD3.2 billion for the disaster.

Iron ore being stockpiled by BHP Billiton for export at Port Hedland in Western Australia

BHP steelwork factories at Port Kembla, south of Sydney pictured in 2014

BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam copper and uranium operation at Roxby Downs in South Australia

How could it affect everyday Australians?

And it could affect everyday Australians because superannuation funds are made up of shares from the big four banks, Rio Tinto an BHP Billiton, journalist David Taylor told the ABC.

He said on Tuesday: 'I think it affects everyone, at least if you have a superannuation portfolio, because a lot of super funds are made up of the big four banks and Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

'BHP Billiton did actually rise today - the share price rose... I think that happened because the dividend has been slashed in this particular round - it's gone... down 77 per cent to 14 cents.

'You might say 'oh that's horrible for those dividend investors' but in actual fact shareholders are cheering the fact that money may be reinvested into the company to get it out of the funk that it's in, so perhaps short term pain for long term gain.'

What next?

Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said it was too early to say the worst was over for the resources industry, and expected markets to remain volatile within recent ranges.

'But perhaps, more importantly, the fact is that there is some sense that prices have stopped falling as opposed to being in free fall,' Mackenzie told reporters on a conference call.

BHP Billiton said cost cuts and a reduction in net debt should see it double its free cash flow to more than $7 billion this year at current prices for its major commodities, iron ore, copper, coal, and oil and gas.

The net loss is the first for the company in 15 years, since BHP and Billiton merged
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It is the end of an era in Las Vegas as one of the most famed hotels and casinos on the Strip was demolished in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

The final tower of the Riviera was reduced to little more than rubble a little over a year after the city's first high-end casino shut its doors in May of last year.

Long known as a classic mob joint featured in films such as Oceans 11 and Diamonds are Forever, the Riviera also hosted the residences of famed Vegas performances including Liberace and Dean Martin during its heyday.

End of an era: Las Vegas' famed Riviera hotel and casino was demolished in the early morning hours of Tuesday

Final farewell: The classic mob joint that was featured in films including Oceans 11 and Diamonds are Forever closed last May

Gone: During its heyday the venue hosted the Las Vegas residences of iconic performers including Dean Martin and Liberace

Sad clown: The Circus Circus Las Vegas marquee is seen behind smoke and a pile of rubble of the remaining structures of the shuttered Riviera Hotel & Casino

Better days: The Riviera on May 2015 just days before it closed its doors in Las Vegas (above)

The implosion happened around 2am and sent the Riviera's Monte Carlo tower crashing to the ground, the last of the 13 buildings to be leveled on the property.

In June, the Monaco tower was imploded on the property with far more fanfare and a viewing area for members of the public to watch the spectacle.

There was even a firework display moments before the demolition.

That was not the case on Tuesday however, with no viewing area set aside for members of the public.

When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos in a takeover that had started the decade before.

Gambling profits were skimmed to send back home to pay for their gangs' illegal enterprises involving illegal betting, drugs, prostitution and even murder.

The mobsters were known to have controlled the money-counting at the most famous casinos in their day, including the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust - all of which have already disappeared from the Strip.

The Riviera was first proposed by Detroit mobster William Bischoff as the Casa Blanca, and in 1952 received its gaming license.

Bischoff later withdrew from the project, which was taken over by Miami businessman Samuel Cohen and finally opened in 1955 after three years.

The casino struggled however and went bankrupt within just three months of its opening.

Just like fire: The controlled implosion can be seen at the base of the building on Tuesday

Crashing down: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority bought the 2,075-room property across 26 acres last year for $182.5 million

Project: The site will now be used to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center

So long: An exterior view shows the Riviera Hotel & Casino on its last day of operation on May 3, 2015 (above)

It was swiftly taken over by former managers of the Flamingo Hotel - the infamous mob-run business owned by Bugsy Siegel, who is regarded as one of the most historically significant mobsters from that era.

'Ironically, the Riviera is as famous for its imaginary self as much as its actual self,' said Geoff Schumacher of the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, also known as the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

Most of Riveria's contemporaries have been long gone, with only the Tropicana and Flamingo casinos still in business.

The Flamingo has been completely rebuilt at its original location, but the Tropicana still has pieces of its original building, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip, said Michael Green, Nevada historian and a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Still standing: The Riviera was first proposed by Detroit mobster William Bischoff as the Casa Blanca, and in 1952 received its gaming license

All falls down: Bischoff later withdrew from the project, which was taken over by Miami businessman Samuel Cohen and finally opened in 1955 after three years

Crash: It was swiftly taken over by former managers of the Flamingo Hotel - the infamous mob-run business owned by Bugsy Siegel

Rubble: There was little fanfare around the event and no viewing area for the public to watch

'The Riviera was and always was the Chicago outfit's crown jewel in the desert,' said Schumacher.

The casinos were cleaned up in the 1970s and 1980s, courtesy of state and federal crackdowns on organized crime.

Sadly, the hotel closed in May 2015 after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip.

The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, spent $42 million to level the 13-building campus.
George Osborne has been given the green light to join the US after-dinner speaking circuit - potentially raking in tens of thousands of pounds for every appearance.

The former Chancellor has signed up with the Washington Speakers Bureau, adding his name to a roster that includes Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

A letter from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) reveals that Mr Osborne is expecting to spend one or two days a month giving speeches about the 'political environment'.

George Osborne has promised he will personally approve each speaking engagement to avoid conflicts of interest

Tony Blair, left, and Gordon Brown have both gone on the international speaking circuit since leaving power

He has also promised to 'personally approve every engagement to ensure that there is no conflict of interest'.

The Treasury was consulted and raised 'no concerns' about Mr Osborne giving the lectures to businesses and other bodies - although he will have to wait until three months has passed since leaving government.

The MP saw his pay slashed by nearly half when he was brutally sacked by new Prime Minister Theresa May last month.

Alllies had hoped that Mr Osborne might be offered a move to the Foreign Office despite overseeing the failed bid to keep Britain in the EU.

However, Mrs May is said to have told him face to face that she did not want him in her government, before humiliatingly forcing him to leave 11 Downing Street by the back door.

He was not even granted the conventional mark of respect of an exchange of letters, which usually includes praise for the departing ministers' contribution.

As a backbencher Mr Osborne has a salary of just under 75,000, but he is allowed to take on outside work.

It is unclear what level of fee the former chancellor - who built up a network of high-powered contacts during six years in power - can expect to attract.

However, he is unlikely to hit the same heights as Mr Blair, who reputedly commands up to 200,000 a time.

Gordon Brown is said to have charged up to 70,000 for lectures in the past - although the ex-premier stresses that the money goes to his charitable foundation.

But Mr Osborne may feel he is worth more than former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who received 30,000 for delivering a speech in Geneva in April, according to his entry in the parliamentary register of interests.
A jet-setting wife of a Dubai restaurant chain entrepreneur punched a police officer after being hauled off a flight for abusing a stewardess and threatening to punch her.

Lauren Johnson, 23, will have to find another airline to jet her between her 470,000 Greenwich home and the United Arab Emirates after Virgin Atlantic banned her for life.

She had too much to drink during the seven-hour Dubai to Heathrow flight and told one stewardess: 'You smug b****, you wear too much make-up.

Mother-of-one Lauren Johnson, 23, will have to find another airline to jet her between her 470,000 Greenwich home and the United Arab Emirates

'Look at you, you old hag, old s**g covered in fake tan.'

The first-time offender pleaded guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting the officer on June 17.

Yesterday she was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months, and fined 4,500.

She was also ordered to pay 500 compensation to the officer, who suffered swelling to her cheek, and 425 costs.

'We travel at least once a month and I have never done anything like this before, it's completely out of character,' Johnson told Isleworth Crown Court.

'I've been banned from Virgin now and I've had social services involved as well,' added the young mother.

Virgin Atlantic (file picture) have banned Johnson for life. She also got a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months

'We have a house here and a house in Dubai.'

Prosecutor Neil Guest said the plane was nearing Heathrow when an attendant heard banging on the cockpit door.

'On the other side was this defendant holding a child and she said: 'My baby wants to wave to the captain.'

'This was not allowed and later the same attendant saw Mrs Johnson standing up with her child as the plane approached Heathrow.

'She was asked to sit down and replied: 'I won't f***ing sit down. I need to find my husband.'

In earshot of the stewardess Johnson told her husband: 'I'm going to punch her in the face.'

Mr. Guest added: 'Johnson was shouting and swearing and waving her arms around, refusing to sit down and put on her seatbelt.

'This continued for ten minutes and throughout the time there was abuse and swearing.'

It got so bad her husband put his hand over her mouth at one point and she was met by police when the plane landed.

'She was still shouting and being abusive and had to be handcuffed and lifted up by the officers because she refused to walk.

'She kept hitting the door of the police van on her way to the station, where she struck the policewoman on the chin with her hand.'

The officer said afterwards: 'I felt dazed and had a pain in my jaw and teeth.'

Johnson, speaking from the secure dock, added; 'I'd like to apologise. I'm not the kind of person who goes out and gets drunk every weekend.

'It was a big mistake that I made and I hold my hands up and will take whatever sentence of punishment comes.'

Judge Robin Johnson told the defendant, who has a one-year-old child: 'Those who get drunk on an aeroplane and abuse staff often go to prison.

'The only thing saving you is that when you were violent it was after you left the plane. If it was on the plane you would have gone to prison.

'Those who behave like this on an aeroplane are a menace and a safety risk and I am not surprised Virgin have banned you for life.
The body of sex worker Hande Kader (pictured) has been found mutilated and burnt in Istanbul

The body of a sex worker has been found mutilated and burnt alive just two weeks after a gay man was discovered beheaded in the same area of Istanbul.

Hande Kader, 22, was last seen getting into a client's car last week and her partner filed a missing persons' report when she did not return.

Her badly mutilated body was found in the neighbourhood of Zekeriyakoy and was identified using the victim's prosthetics.

Kader had been active in demonstrations for LGBT rights in Turkey and is believed to have been arrested at least once for her activism.

Friends of the victim took to social media after the news of her death broke. One said the perpetrators will 'pay the price'.

In the same part of town two weeks ago the decapitated body of Syrian refugee Muhammed Wisam Sankari was discovered, two days after he left his house. He was only identified by his house-mates by his clothing.

Sankari had reportedly been kidnapped and raped by a group of men in Istanbul in a previous attack and was trying to leave Turkey for another country believing his life was in danger.

While homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey unlike many other Muslim countries, homophobia remains widespread.

Her badly mutilated body was found in the neighborhood of Zekeriyakoy and was identified using the victim's prosthetics

Critics say President Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded have shown little interest in expanding rights for minorities, gays and women, and are intolerant of dissent.

Historically the gay pride parade in Istanbul - a city seen as a relative safe haven by members of the gay community from elsewhere in the Middle East, including refugees from Syria and Iraq - has been a peaceful event.

But in June, Turkish police detained 19 people and fired tear gas in central Istanbul on Sunday to disperse dozens of activists attempting to gather to mark the annual Gay Pride week after authorities banned their march.

A German lawmaker and a member of the European Parliament were also briefly detained while police chased activists into side streets and blocked them from gathering and reading out a statement, saying it was banned.
A Kentucky man dragged his dog behind his truck for 20 miles while he was high on pills and meth has been arrested.

Calvin Dennis, of Grayson County, is facing charges of animal torture, a DUI and drug offences over the horrific crime.

By the time police caught up with the driver, the dog was dead and the bones had ground down to such a point that the bone marrow was visible, WBKO reports.

'One of the most gruesome things I had ever seen in my life,' said Edmonson County Deputy Jordan Jones.

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Calvin Dennis (left, pictured on social media and right, in his arrest mugshot) of Grayson County,is facing charges of animal torture, a DUI and drug offences over the horrific crime

Courtesy WBKO

Edmonson County Sheriff's Office said that the German Shepherd/Boxer mix had been tied up to the back of Dennis' truck while he went to work on Saturday afternoon.

But the 19-year-old, who was high on painkillers and methamphetamine, forgot about the dog following and argument with his friend and drove off with the animal still tied to the back of the truck.

An off-duty cop spotted the upsetting scene and immediately called it in. Unfortunately, as he wasn't on duty he could not force Dennis to pull over and the truck sped out of sight.

Police were able to track down Dennis by following the trail of blood coming from the poor creature.

The teenage driver was finally pulled over at Chalybeate Fire Department after dragging his dog for 15 to 20 miles.

It was only then officers could inspect the 'sickening' sight.

'There was a collar that was attached to the leash, connected to the back of the truck. It was wound so tightly that the neck had broken,' said Sheriff's Deputy Jordan Jones.

Police were able to follow a trail of the dog's blood (pictured) to track down the truck

'One of the most gruesome things I had ever seen in my life,' said Edmonson County Deputy Jordan Jones (pictured)

At first Dennis claimed that he had tied his dog up on the truck and that she must have fell off and got her leash tangled around the axle.

But when police found the rope tied to the hitch of the 1999 Ford F250 pickup truck, he changed his story and said he had tied the dog to the back then forgotten she was there.

Dennis, of Leitchfield, also admitted that he had taken prescription pills and methamphetamine.

'This was a sickening case to work,' Deputy Jones of the K9 unit said. 'It was simply a horrible thing to see. This is just one awful thing that can happen when someone decides to drive under the influence. This defenseless animal had to suffer a great deal for absolutely no reason.'

Dennis is facing up to five years in prison on the animal torture charge alone, which is a Class D felony. DUI and drug charges, have also been added to the charge.
Customers were left shocked after they spotted a mouse scurrying across the floor at one of Gordon Ramsay's upmarket London restaurants.

Rob Popham, 37, took a female friend to the celebrity chef's London House eatery in Battersea, hoping to impress her on their first date.

But their night was ruined when the woman spotted a mouse dashing between tables.

Rob Popham, 37, had booked a table at the chef's London House eatery in Battersea for his first date with a female friend. But their meal was ruined when she spotted a mouse (above)

Customers were left shocked after they spotted a mouse scurrying across the floor (above)

Mr Popham told Neil Syson at the Sun: 'All of a sudden she exclaimed, "Oh gosh! Ive just seen a mouse". We tried to laugh it off with a few Tom and Jerry jokes but it just kept dashing back and forth.'

Staff apologised and offered the couple a bottle of champagne for the inconvenience, he said.

A spokeswoman for Gordon Ramsay Restaurants told MailOnline that Mr Popham was given a full refund for his meal and has been invited back to dine at one of the group's other restaurants.

She added that it is thought the mouse had come in through the restaurant's front or rear gardens.

She said: 'Independent hygiene auditors have investigated the premises and concluded that there was no evidence to support the presence of mice in our restaurant.

Rob Popham, 37, took a woman to the celebrity chef's London House eatery in Battersea (pictured) hoping to impress her on their first date but they were shocked by the rodent

London House is owned by Gordon Ramsay, pictured with wife Tana at an event last week

'London House has front and rear gardens and in the warm weather the gates are left open for a more comfortable dining experience which most likely allowed for a mouse to enter from the London streets, where they are unfortunately prevalent.'

It is not the first time the celebrity chef's restaurants have been hit by health concerns.

Last year health inspectors found cockroaches during a visit to Michelin-starred Maze, in upmarket Mayfair.

At least seven cockroaches were spotted in food preparation and dishwashing areas, according to a report.
Tim Kaine has been wailing on a harmonica at a brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, after a campaign stop in the swing-state city.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee stood in with a local bluegrass band at Catawba Brewery and sang harmony on a couple on tunes, including Bob Dylan's Wagon Wheel.

Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, stopped by the brewery after eating dinner next door at Buxton Hall Barbecue.

Tim Kaine, pictured center, played harmonica on a campaign stop in North Carolina

He played a number of tunes in the brewery, including Bob Dylan's classic Wagon Wheel

Footage captured from the scene showed Kaine playing a few tunes with a band - including the Dylan classic.

Earlier, Kaine headlined a rally at a community center, criticizing Republican nominee Donald Trump's decision not to release his personal tax returns.

He told several hundred supporters, 'Americans have a right to know what the financial situation is.'

Kaine made no mention of the speech Trump made on terrorism and immigration.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine toured North Carolina yesterday to boost his party's vote in the crucial swing state ahead of November's presidential election

Kaine told a group of 350 supporters that the American people need to know more about Donald Trump's personal finances suggesting he should release his tax details

The senator, who was previously governor of Virginia, is known for his love of playing the harmonica having taken up the instrument when he was just a teenager.

He is said to carry around several mouth organs with him at all times, and has often incorporated the traditional bluegrass music of the Appalachian region into his campaign appearances.

In addition, Kaine has appeared on stage with professional groups including the Grateful Dead and the Dave Matthews Band.
Nail biting footage has captured the moment a man was thrown into the ceiling after the elevator he was in malfunctioned.

The lift swiftly travelled from the second floor, up to the 30th floor, in just seconds before abruptly stopping, causing the man to be thrown up into the air and then smashed down hard on the floor.

The 59-year-old, identified by his surname He, suffered serious fractures during the incident, which took place in a tower block in Shenzhen, southern China, on August 12.

Elevator trouble: The man had originally intended to travel from the 10th floor to the second

Malfunctioning: The elevator slowed as it approached the second floor and the door even opened - but then the cabin started travelling up again with the door still open

Terror: The man was visibly scared as he stepped back against the wall and braced himself

According to NTDTV, Mr He intended to take the lift from the 10th floor to the second floor.

However when the elevator approached the second floor, the door only half opened and did not stop before it started moving again.

In the footage, which was shared on QQ, Mr He, visibly scared, stepped back against the wall and braced himself while the doors glided shut.

Just when he thought he was safe, the elevator reached the 30th floor and abruptly stopped, throwing Mr He into the air.

Shocking: In a matter of seconds he is thrown up in the air and falls down to the floor

He was injured by the crash but was able to reach for his mobile phone for help.

It took firefighters a full three hours to rescue the man.

He is now recovering in Shenzhen Nanshan People's Hospital having fractured his left femur.

According to NTDTV, the residential flat had a series of incidents in recent years, including a pregnant woman who was trapped.

However, because the association looking after the property was short of funds, according to the report, it has only been able to repair rather than replace the lifts.

Five lifts in the building have now been closed by the authorities.

Victim: Mr He was hospitalised following the accident in Shenzhen, southern China
Teacher Michael Gaffney was spared jail despite posting bullets and a death threat to a man who had an affair with his wife

An obsessed teacher has been spared jail despite posting bullets and a death threat to a man who had an affair with his wife.

Michael Gaffney tracked down Rudy Irion through social media and then launched a seven-month campaign of lies and intimidation against him.

History and modern studies teacher Gaffney, 52, falsely branded Mr Irion a drug dealer and a rapist.

Then he went to Mr Irion's house and sent letters to his neighbours in a bid to smear his name, a court heard.

But he walked free after Greenock Sheriff Court was told he had already been suspended from his job and faces almost certain dismissal.

Gaffneys death threat to Mr Irion - which included two imitation bullets - stated: 'One warning only. You will be shot. No more hiding behind doors and your woman: cowardly liar, crook and fraudster.

'Now a target. Remove from this address now. Last chance.'

In the letter to Rudy, Gaffney, who has previously been praised by the charity Show Racism The Red Card for his work with his school pupils, made racist remarks.

He signed the death threat - which had typewritten words cut out and glued to a sheet of A4 paper - with the message: 'Belfast Continuity. One warning only.'

Gaffney is from Gourock, Inverclyde, but worked at remote Ardnamurchan High School in Lochaber.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard that his career was in tatters after Highland Council suspended him.

The suspension came after he was found guilty last month of a prolonged campaign of harassment against Mr Irion and his partner Marie.

Campaign of lies: History teacher Gaffney, 52, also falsely branded Mr Irion (pictured outside court) a drug dealer and a rapist, Greenock Sheriff Court (right) was told

Meanwhile a General Teaching Council investigation is under way, with union bosses warning Gaffney that the inquiry is likely to lead to his dismissal.

Sheriff Tom Ward has now sentenced Gaffney to 240 hours unpaid work, the maximum that can be imposed.

The sheriff told him: 'I think this whole experience has been a lesson to you. I do not expect to see you back here again.'

Defence solicitor Aidan Gallagher said of Gaffney: 'He was understandably distressed by the news surrounding his spouse and the other party involved here but he accepts that he should have behaved in a completely different way.'

Gaffney sent the death threat last October when one of Mr Irion's children was preparing to celebrate her birthday.

Mr Irion, 56, told Gaffneys trial last month: 'There was a chance that she could have opened it and read that horrible racist slur.'

He added: 'I was scared to leave the house. I knew that he could afford to hire someone.'

There was a chance that she could have opened it and read that horrible racist slur Rudy Irion on Gaffney's death threat

The court heard that Gaffneys Ukranian-born wife Liliya, 37, had met Mr Irion at the Cafe Continental bar in Gourock in October 2003.

At that point she was just three months into her marriage with Gaffney.

She went back to Mr Irion's house with him and they began a fling.

She made up an imaginary friend called Olga as cover for each time she visited the community activist.

And she told Gaffney that Mr Irion was helping her with a job application.

Mr Irion's partner Marie Bradley told the court how she was 'sickened' by the bullets-in-the-post letter.

Ms Bradley, 36, who had to go on medication because she was so worried by the threats, said: 'I started to cry. I was scared and terrified.'

Gaffney even tracked Ms Bradley, a housekeeping worker, to the hotel where she worked.

He was found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct between March 1 and November 1 2015, including making enquiries via social network sites to trace Mr Irion and state repeatedly that he was a rapist under investigation by police, as well as sending postal messages to his neighbours falsely stating that he was a rapist and a drug dealer.
Haunting CCTV footage has emerged showing a mother trying to collect a $47 paycheck just hours after allegedly drowning her two children in the bath.

Sheborah Thomas, 30, was filmed walking into The Little Cajun Kitchen restaurant in Houston, Texas, on Saturday where manager Santiago Wesley said she was agitated and sweaty before arguing with staff.

Police say the previous day Thomas had drowned son Oraylyn 'RayRay' Thomas, seven, and five-year-old daughter Kayana at her home before wrapping their bodies in sheets and pushing them under a neighbor's house.

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Sheborah Thomas, 30, was filmed inside her former workplace The Little Cajun Kitchen, Texas, trying to collect her last paycheck hours after she allegedly drowned her children

Owner and manager Santiago Wesley said Thomas was sweating, agitated, and rowed with staff for two hours after he refused to give her the $47 check two days early

Wesley told ABC13 that he hired Thomas two months ago to work in his new restaurant, but was forced to let her go two weeks ago after an argument.

He said: 'She started complaining about working too much. She was complaining about not spending enough time with her kids and I'm like, "I understand that. If you need time off, whatever talk to me," but she just kind of blew up that day.'

Wesley said that Thomas returned to the workplace on Saturday to collect her final paycheck, but he refused to hand it over because it was two days before payday.

He added: 'She spent two or three hours here, screaming and hollering, trying to get her last check. Just sweating.

'It almost got to the point where I was going to call the police on her, but I didn't, you know, I don't want to call the police.'

Police say Thomas drowned son Oraylyn 'RayRay' Thomas, seven, and daughter Kayana, five, on Friday in her bathtub

Prosecutors said in court on Monday that just hours before walking into the restaurant Thomas killed her two children after they arrived home from daycare.

Lawyers said that Thomas fed the pair before drawing them a bath and calling her daughter to get in first.

Once the girl was in the tub, Thomas grabbed her hair and held her underwater until she stopped moving, court documents claim.

She then placed the girl's body on a bed in a nearby room before calling her son in and doing the same thing, it is alleged.

Police say Thomas told them that the boy struggled but she held him until he stopped moving, then placed him next to his sister.

Thomas then wrapped both of their bodies in sheets before placing them in trash cans at the back of her house, a probable cause affidavit read in court said.

On Sunday, after failing to collect her paycheck, Thomas removed the bodies and attempted to dig a grave between her house and her neighbor using her hands and a piece of wood, the Houston Chronicle reports.

When that proved too difficult she rolled their remains underneath her neighbor's house, it is claimed, before starting to move her stuff out.

Thomas allegedly fed the children (pictured) after they returned from daycare before calling them in for a bath one at a time and then holding them underwater

While officers have not discussed a motive, a friend said CPS officers were called to Thomas's home a day before the deaths after she received a threatening message

When a male friend found her throwing trash away in a field she convinced him to help her move, saying she needed to move quickly.

When the friend asked her about her children she stated 'matter of factly' that she had killed them, police say.

The friend thought she was joking at first and helped her load her belongings before asking again about her children.

When she repeated the answer the friend asked her to explain what had happened before contacting police, who took her into custody.

Later that day she was charged with capital murder and is now being held without bond while officers investigate.

Detectives have not yet discussed a motive for the killings, but a close acquaintance who did not want to be named told reporters that Thomas had received a threatening phone call on Thursday.

The friend said that in the message someone threatened Thomas's life and to harm her 12-year-old son, who was not at home at the time of the alleged killings, and so she had called Child Protective Services to her house.

CPS and police officers attended the home for around seven hours, but eventually left after reassuring Thomas, the man claimed.

CPS confirmed there is an open investigation into the family, though would not reveal details.

Officials added that Thomas's children were taken away from her once in 2012.

Thomas's friends suggested that she had been smoking formaldehyde, a chemical used to preserve dead bodies, and that may have contributed to her mental state

Authorities say there is no evidence of mental illness with Thomas, but said CPS did take her children away back in 2012 after she became homeless, before returning them

Thomas, who was homeless at the time, had the children taken away after her daughter, then aged two, was found wandering the streets with an intoxicated vagrant.

The youngsters were placed in the care of their maternal grandmother, but were returned to Thomas's care the following year.

Father Danny Ray is in jail, convicted of possessing PCP in 2015. The couple filed for divorce in 2012, though it was never finalized.

Thomas also has a history of drug use, with friend Akinthia Ivey telling KHOU that she was smoking formaldehyde, a chemical used to preserve dead bodies.

She added: 'I guess she tripped out in her mind. She said that she was tired, that she was going under stress, like the kids were really getting on her nerves.'

Officials at CPS added that a 'top to bottom' examination of the family and their history is now taking place, adding that the 12-year-old, who is from a different father to his siblings, has not been taken into protective custody.

He was with his father at the time his siblings were killed and is safe, cops added.

Thomas has a minor criminal history, including three misdemeanor charges of theft, and another of failing to identify herself to a peace officer, for which she spent three days in jail.

Police spokesman Kese Smith said detectives have not yet found any evidence that she was mentally ill.

He said that officers had been called to the property several times since Thomas moved there three months ago, but for 'nothing major'.

Kita Thomas, the children's aunt, said the youngsters 'adored' one-another and 'just loved being kids'.

Thomas is accused of wrapping the infants in sheets before attempting to bury their bodies, and then rolled them under a neighbor's house when that proved too difficult (pictured)

Houston Police spokesman Kese Smith said Thomas confessed the killings to a friend who at first thought she was joking but later handed her over to police

Writing on a GoFundMe page attempting to raise money for their funerals, she said: 'Unfortunately we are trying to raise money for the going home services of our niece and nephew Kayiana and Araylan Thomas - siblings who were murdered by the hands of their own Mother.

'Please find it in your hearts to help us lay their bodies to rest and help everyone find peace in this situation. Our hearts are broken beyond repair at this moment.'

Neighbors in the area said they were shocked by the news, adding that the mother was always friendly and seemed happy.

'I never would have thought she would do that. She didn't seem like the type. She was always with a smile and friendly,' neighbor Dee Davis told the Houston Chronicle.

'How in the h*** can she do something like this? You bring life into the world, it's not up to you to take it out. I can't get over this.'

Davis said she had seen the mother around the neighborhood and her children coming home from school on occasion.

On Saturday she said she saw the woman walking around the area.

Thomas, who is facing the death penalty, is next due in court on Wednesday. No attorney has been listed for her.

In 2001, Houston mother Andrea Yates drowned her five children ranging in age from seven years to six months in the bathtub of her family's home.
The survivor of a killer lightning strike which left one dead and two injured has spoken for the first time about her terrifying ordeal.

Karen Brooks was sitting in Mansion Square Park, in Poughkeepsie in New York State, when the powerful storm blew into the area around 4pm Friday.

'I said, "The storms are dangerous." I said, "It's time for me to go,'' Brooks told CBS.

'I got up and I was thrown all the way over there.'

Karen Brooks, who was struck by lightning, has spoken about her terrifying experience

She suffered burns and injures (right) while her purse burst into flames (charred remains, left)

Brooks was sitting in Mansion Square Park, in Poughkeepsie in New York State, when the powerful storm blew into the area around 4pm Friday (pictured are New York's lightning storms over the weekend)

Brooks and her friends were sitting on a bench under a tree - which can be a conductor in lightning storms - when she was struck and sent flying.

She said the pain was incredible.

'My head felt like it was going to blow up,' she said.

Her friend, whom she names only as Richie, 50, was not so lucky.

He had been with her on the bench when they were both struck by lightning, but he did not survive.

'He was completely purple in the face and he was not - he wasn't going to make it. I knew that,' Brooks said.

The tattered remnants of her purse and belongings (pictured) were returned to Brooks after she left hospital

The recent hot and humid weather culminated in spectacular lightning storms over the weekend

Police say Richie died in hospital at 1am the following day.

Emergency responders found three people unresponsive in the area after the lightning storms, two conscious but injured and one man severely hurt.

They also found some of the group's belongings on fire.

Brooks, who was released from hospital today, showed off the charred remains of her purse after she and it were struck by up to 1 billion volts.

She also had burns on her arms and legs from the bolt.

The recent hot and humid weather culminated in spectacular lightning storms over the weekend.

Another four people were injured on Saturday in a separate lightning strike in Lake George, north of Albany, New York.

Meanwhile, an unnamed man and a woman were also killed by an apparent lightning strike in a western New York cemetery on Wednesday.

Brooks and her friends were sitting on a bench under a tree (pictrued) - which can be a conductor in lightning storms - when she was struck and sent flying

The chances of being struck by lighting once in a give year are around one in 700,000.

Only around ten per cent of people who are struck by lightning die, usually because the bolt of electricity causes their heart and breathing to stop.

Those who survive tend to wake up from the shock within a few seconds but have little recollection of what happened before the injury. They could suffer minor burns and stroke-like symptoms. A doctor may later point to lightning strikes as the cause of injury.

On average, 49 people are killed by lightning in the U.S. every year.

Experts say that if you are ever caught out in a lightning storm, the safest thing to do - if you can't get to your home or car - is to lie down flat on the ground in an open area.

Never shelter under a tree as tall objects are more likely to be hit.
The family of two of the three girls injured in a fall from a malfunctioning Ferris wheel are speaking out for the first time about the near-death experience.

Kayla Reynolds, 10, her six-year-old sister Briley and another 16-year-old girl were riding the Ferris wheel at the Greene County Fair in Tennessee on August 8, when their basket turned sideways and got stuck - sending the three girls falling more than 35 feet to the ground.

In an interview with ABC News, little Kayla broke down in tears as she recalled the heart-stopping moment and she and her sister fell out of the Ferris wheel.

Scroll down for video

Kayla Reynolds (center), her younger sister and a 16-year-old girl were riding in a Ferris wheel last week when it suddenly overturned, spilling them out. The sister's parents Kimmee (left) and Jason Reynolds (right) pictured above with their eldest daughter

Briley Reynolds, six, remains in the hospital for a traumatic brain injury. She was last reported in a serious but stable condition

'Me and my sister were crying. We were just like trying to hold onto stuff and didn't know what to do,' Kayla said.

'We were probably sitting there with it tilted for maybe not even a minute... hoping it would turn back and then we just started falling.'

Their parents, Kimmee and Jason Reynolds, were watching the whole scene unfold from the ground, helpless.

Once they saw the basket overturn, the parents ran to the operator and yelled at him to 'stop, stop, stop now'.

Mr Reynolds says he didn't know what to do, other than try and break his daughters' falls.

Mrs Reynolds (left) watched helpless from the ground as her daughters fell more than 35 feet to the ground. Kayla (right) escaped with a broken arm and other minor injuries but her sister is still hospitalized

As the girls dropped one by one, Mrs Reynolds said it looked like her eldest daughter took the most hits coming down.

'She hit the gondola beneath them, then she hit a bar and then she hit the ground,' Mrs Reynolds said. 'She was alert, though. When she hit the ground, she was awake.'

That wasn't the case for the younger Reynolds girl.

'[Briley] smacked the top of the other gondola and she went straight to the ground,' the mother of two said.

'When she hit, she knocked out. Her eyes rolled back in her head.'

Kayla added: 'She wasn't breathing and she wasn't moving. But then I saw her move and it made me feel a lot better.'

The basket the three girls were riding in got caught and tiled, causing the girls to fall out

Safety inspectors have blamed a mechanical failure for the accident. No seat belts or lap restraints were in the baskets, but those aren't required by law.

Family Attractions Amusement Company, the organization which runs the fair, has issued their first statement to ABC News, saying they don't take the incident lightly

Kayla suffered a broken arm and other minor injuries in the fall, but has since been discharged from the hospital. Her younger sister remains hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, in serious but stable condition.

By no means do we take this lightly as our main concern is the safety of the families who visit our midway each week. We wish the children health and a speedy recovery as we continue to keep them in our prayers. Statement from Family Attractions Amusement

The third injured girl has not been identified.

The Greeneville Sun reported the 16-year-old was admitted to hospital in critical condition but has improved to stable condition.

Safety inspectors have blamed a mechanical failure for the accident. No seat belts or lap restraints were in the baskets, but those aren't required by law.

Family Attractions Amusement Company, the organization which runs the fair, has issued their first statement to ABC News.

'By no means do we take this lightly as our main concern is the safety of the families who visit our midway each week. We wish the children health and a speedy recovery as we continue to keep them in our prayers,' the statement reads.

The Reynolds family shared pictures of Briley as she continues to recover from her injuries in the hospital

'It can happen to anybody at any time. That's the scary part about it,' Mr Reynolds told ABC

But that's not enough for the Reynolds' family, who believe that someone should be held accountable for the accident that nearly killed their daughters.

'You're going to a fair thinking it is safe, expecting certain standards... thinking you are putting your child on something they are going to come off of fine,' Mrs Reynolds said.

Her husband added: 'It can happen to anybody at any time. That's the scary part about it.'

While authorities are calling this incident an accident, this isn't the first time that children have been hurt at a fair organized by the same company.

The ride was operated by a Georgia-based company called Family Attractions Amusement, owned by Dominic and Ruby Macaroni.

The Reynolds sisters are pictured above in happier times. The incident happened at the Greene County Fair

The other girl who was in the basket with them at the time has not been named. Above the Reynolds' sisters

In 2013, five people were injured at a North Carolina Fair run by the same company when an Italian-made ride unexpectedly restarted as people were trying to get off the ride.

They were flung abruptly through the air and onto the steel deck below after the ride, operated by Dominic and Ruby's son Joshua, malfunctioned.

Investigators concluded that a safety mechanism had been disabled by ride operators.

Dominic and Ruby Macaroni's attorneys tried to argue the company did not own the ride.

But North Carolina regulators determined that the ride was insured by Family Attractions Amusement, its workers were also employed by the company and the business was listed as the owner at other fairs across the country.

Joshua Macaroni and ride operator Timothy Tutterrow were each charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Tutterrow pleaded guilty and agreed to testify that Macaroni had tampered with the ride's circuit panel to bypass safety switches.

The ride was operated by a Georgia-based company called Family Attractions Amusement, owned by Dominic and Ruby Macaroni, whose son Joshua (pictured) was jailed following a similar accident in 2013

Macaroni entered an Alford plea - a concession that there is sufficient evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt - on a felony charge of obstruction of justice.

He was sentenced in February to five to 15 months in prison, though the judge suspended that to a month in jail. He was also ordered to pay a $22,500 fine.

The Greene County Fair Board officials decided to go through with a five-year contract with a Family Attractions despite the North Carolina incident, the Greeneville Sun has reported.

Board President Bobby Holt said they would permit the company to continue running rides at the fair until the end of 2017.

'They seem to be very honest in their dealings with the fair and the people who work with them here, locally,' Holt told the newspaper last year.

Their rides were not inspected when they arrived in Tennessee.

Family Attractions received its permit to operate the Ferris wheel in Tennessee for the next three months based on a June inspection in Indiana

Because of this accident, the operators will have to have a new third-party inspection conducted before the ride can qualify for a new annual permit in Tennessee.
To prepare for her first debate against Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton is taking an unpleasant walk down memory lane that includes stops at scandalous moments in her husband's presidency.

Trump has signaled that there will be no sacred cows in the presidential race, and the former first lady's campaign is bracing itself for the possibility that the billionaire will try to toss Clinton off her balance by bringing up Bill Clinton's affairs, Politico reports.

Monica Lewinsky and the infamous blue dress, actress Gennifer Flowers and Vince Foster, the longtime friend of Hillary who took his own life in 1993 while working at the White House, could come up during the Sept. 26 match at Hofstra University.

Then there's the drama of Hillary Clinton's own making - her decision to route her State Department emails through a private server she kept in her basement unbeknownst to other top officials in the Obama administration, including the president.

Donald Trump has signaled that there will be no sacred cows in the presidential race, and the former first lady's campaign is bracing itself for the possibility that the billionaire will try to toss Hillary Clinton off her balance by bringing up Bill Clinton's affairs

The Clintons have lived much of their lives in the public spotlight, generating a heap full of dirty laundry for Trump to re-air if he chooses. He's pictured above at a GOP debate in March

Monica Lewinsky and the infamous blue dress, left, and actress Gennifer Flowers, right, could come up during the Sept. 26 match at Hofstra University.

'You can't put it beyond Trump that Monica Lewinsky will play a role in this debate,' former White House counsel to Barack Obama Greg Craig told Politico.

Craig was tapped to play George W. Bush opposite John Kerry during the Democratic senator's 2004 bid. He also took on the role of John McCain for Obama in 2008.

He said of Clinton. 'She's got to be prepared to deal with the Foundation and Wall Street and super PACs and all of that. They need to be less focused on dealing with his policy proposals and more on dealing with the unexpected. Hes going to be in attack mode, probably the whole time.'

The Clintons have lived much of their lives in the public spotlight, generating a heap full of dirty laundry for Trump to re-air if he chooses.

He has already made reference to all three incidents at one point or another during the year and two months of his campaign.

Foster's death was ruled a suicide, but rumors persist he was murdered, most likely by the Clintons, as he was reportedly bullied by Hillary in the weeks preceding his suicide about the Whitewater land deal.

Trump in May said Foster's death was 'very fishy' and noted that he had an 'intimate' knowledge of the Whitewater investment.

'I dont know enough to really discuss it,' Trump said of Foster's death. 'I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I dont do that because I dont think its fair.'

President Bill Clinton faces off against Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole on October 16 at Shiley Theater at the University of San Diego in California. Hillary Clinton could be forced to answer for his behavior in office

A few weeks before that, as he girded himself for a wave of attacks from Clinton's campaign and her SuperPAC, Trump fired a warning flare and said that Hillary is 'an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler' of Bill's sexual affairs.

'She's been the total enabler. She would go after these women and destroy their lives,' Trump said at a rally. 'She was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful.'

Bill Clinton admitted to affairs with Lewinsky, while he was president, and Flowers, once, in 1977, though she says it went on for years.

Hillary Clinton said in 2003 that she contemplated a divorce. The couple stayed together, though, and in October of 2015 they celebrated their 40th anniversary.

Clinton has succeeded in previous debates by staying on message, regardless of what else is happening around her. When Republican Rick Lazio left his podium during their 2000 Senate debate to shove a campaign finance pledge in her face, strategists point out that she did not become rattled

Clinton has succeeded in previous debates by staying on message, regardless of what else is happening around her.

When Republican Rick Lazio left his podium during their 2000 Senate debate to shove a campaign finance pledge in her face, strategists point out that she did not become rattled.

'She ignored him and didnt take his bait,' retired Sen. Judd Gregg said. 'She got back on message.'

Gregg stood in for Al Gore on behalf of Bush's presidential campaign that year.

Neera Tanden, president of liberal think-tank Center for American Progressive, was part of Clinton's debate prep team in 2008, when Democratic contenders had 25 organized arguments.

'She gets nervous. But she gets mentally in the zone,'Tanden told Glamour last year as Clinton was getting ready to do battle in the 2016 primary. 'I never saw her right before a debate like super nervous.'

Tanden recalled the one time she believes Clinton gave a bad answer in those matches - when she was asked in October 2007 if she was in favor of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

Clinton said she did at the time, then said she didn't afterward. Now she does again.

'She doesn't get all freaked out, lose her crap, and everything. She doesn't sit there and go like, "Oh I'm never going to be able to do this again." '

Tanden said, 'She came back to the next debate and was good and on it.

'This is a woman who has kind of had to face stressful situations many times in her life, you know, this won't be the first stressful one she'll face and it won't be the last.'

Names that have been put forward as suggestions have ranged from former Saturday Night Live actors like Al Franken, now a U.S. senator representing Minnesota

Franken is seen here playing Henry Kissinger in a 1986 episode of SNL before he became a senator

Her campaign asked Howard Wolfson to play Obama in 2008.

According to Politico, Clinton's team is still searching for someone to imitate Trump.

Names that have been put forward as suggestions have ranged from former Saturday Night Live actors like Al Franken, now a U.S. senator representing Minnesota, to non-politicians such as billionaire investor Mark Cuban.

Cuban told the New York Daily News that he thinks 'it would be hard to truly play Trump because he is so removed from reality these days.' To Politico, he said he'd be 'happy' to do it if someone from the campaign asked him to, though.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who has put his foot in his mouth while talking about women on occasion, said to Politico, in jest, he's 'probably one of the only ones who says things bordering on the outrageous like Trump does.'

Another suggestion is that Clinton employ more than one Trump impersonator - one for each approach he could take. A politician of substance who's interested in talking about news of the day and the pressing national issues, or the attack dog he unleashes at his rallies whose goal would be to leave Clinton bleeding.

Mark Cuban says he'd be willing to imitate Trump is Clinton's debate prep. The billionaire investor is seen above at a rally where he endorsed her last month

Trump could ignore Clinton altogether and try to win sympathy from the audience by assailing the debate's not-yet-named moderator as part of the dishonest media trying to undercut his campaign.

'The Clinton challenge is to prepare for the crazy Trump who will probably show up, some kind of toned down Trump, and the somewhere-in-between Trump,' Democratic strategist Bob Shrum, a member of Gore's debate team, told Politico.

Assessing Trump, Rendell said, 'Hell say anything.'

'Its almost impossible to be totally prepared.'

Trump has not formally committed to any of the three general debates, the first of which is scheduled for Sept. 26 just outside New York City.

He said last week that he 'absolutely' wants to spar with Clinton, though, and is looking forward to doing all three, once he sees and approves the conditions that have been set by the bi-partisan committee that handles the televised quarrels.
A pregnant woman who brutally stabbed her boyfriend 26 times and let him bleed to death on the floor before slashing her own throat has been jailed for life today.

Gyuldzhan Hadzhieva, 38, repeatedly knifed her partner Shenol Erol Ali - including four times in the head - before letting him die without calling for an ambulance.

She then stabbed herself in the chest and back before slashing her throat - severing her windpipe - after claiming she was the victim of domestic abuse.

However, she survived the horror, and has now been jailed for life - to serve a minimum of 16 years - after being found guilty of murder by a jury.

Gyuldzhan Hadzhieva, 38 (left), repeatedly stabbed her partner Shenol Erol Ali (right) - including four times in the head - before letting him bleed to death and turning the knife on herself. She has now been jailed for life, to serve 16 years, after being convicted of murder

During her trial, Hadzhieva, of Tottenham, north London, claimed she and Ali, 32, were due to return to Bulgaria but that she did not want to leave Britain.

Mr Ali had told friends and family he intended to end the volatile relationship and wanted 'take her back where he found her', Wood Green Crown Court heard.

She claimed Ali caught her her looking through his pockets for her passport on the night of January 30 this year, lost his temper and stabbed her in the neck, chest and leg.

She was eventually found on the floor of the flat on February 3, in the foetal position with severe cuts to her throat and wounds to her chest and back, which she said had been caused by Mr Ali.

Sentencing her Judge Noel Lucas, QC, said: 'Underpinning each of your lines of defence was your claim of having no recollection of causing any injury to Mr Ali.

'Consistent with jury's verdict, I reject your version of events and I reject your claim of having no recollection of the relevant events.'

However, she was caught on CCTV walking to the toilet after Mr Ali had been killed, with 'movements inconsistent with the movements of someone who had suffered multiple injuries'.

Judge Lucas QC said: 'You deliberately failed to get any assistance in the immediate aftermath of him sustaining his injuries. I regard this as a significant aggravating factor.

'Whatever your intention was at the time you injured yourself, you deployed those injuries to your advantage by blaming Mr Ali for causing them.

Police tape outside the flat where Hadzhieva stabbed her partner and herself earlier this year. The flat is above the Bill Nicholson pub in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, London

He added: 'It is clear that Mr Ali was attempting to defend himself by grabbing the blade of the knife you were wielding..

'I regard the ferocity of the attack and the multiple injuries you inflicted on him, despite Mr Ali's attempts to defend himself, to be a further aggravating factor.

'In the absence of a truthful account from you as to how things started, I am not able to determine, with any confidence, how the assaults started or what your intention was from the outset.'

Hadzhieva was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Chalmers, said: 'Whilst the motive behind the murder remains unclear, one thing is certain, Hadzhieva inflicted multiple injuries on her partner in the room their shared.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, pointed his finger in the direction of Hillary Clinton suggesting she's 'inflaming' the situation in Milwaukee by making recent comments.

Yesterday at her Scranton, Pennsylvania rally, the Democratic nominee said there was 'urgent work to do to rebuild trust between police and communities,' pointing to the recent riots in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as an example.

On Saturday, police in Milwaukee killed 23-year-old Sylville Smith, a black man who had been stopped for acting suspiciously and then fled from police.

Comments Hillary Clinton (left) made yesterday about unrest in Milwaukee riled up Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (right) who said she was 'inflaming' the violence

Hillary Clinton called attention to the violent protests that erupted in Milwaukee over the weekend when speaking Monday, alongside Vice President Joe Biden, in Scranton

Authorities say that Smith was caught carrying an illegal handgun.

He was shot in the chest and arm during a foot pursuit after refusing orders to drop the gun.

Since then protests in the city took a bloody turn Saturday and Sunday nights, with shots being fired and protesters torching police cars and local businesses, according to Reuters.

Angry crowed threw bottles and bricks at police and overall eight officers were wounded. Dozens of people were arrested and one person even suffered a gunshot wound.

In Scranton, Clinton urged Americans to 'get back to the fundamental principle: everyone should have respect for the law and be respected by the law.'

Walker, appearing this morning on Fox & Friends, scoffed at what he heard.

Violent protests erupted in Milwaukee after police killed a 23-year-old black man who ran from them and was in possession of an illegal firearm

Dozens were arrested in Milwaukee Saturday and Sunday night, with Hillary Clinton saying there was 'urgent work to do to rebuild trust between police and communities'

'I think comments like that are just inflaming the situation,' he said. 'I think people understand in that neighborhood and Sherman Park and in Milwaukee, they want law enforcement to stop in and protect them.'

'The people who live in that neighborhood want police, they want the police in Milwaukee and the sheriff's department to step up and protect them,' he continued.

'They don't want the criminals who were doing those actions against those businesses to do that and I think statement like that and a lack of leadership we have had from the president on this issue only inflame the situation,' Walker added, stretching the blame to President Obama too.

Turning to the leaders of his own party, the governor and ex-presidential contender said he planned to appear at the Pabst Theater tonight in Milwaukee alongside GOP nominee Donald Trump and appear at a Washington County rally with the candidate as well.

Gov. Scott Walker, seen here Sunday at a 'Support the Blue Day Rally,' said Clinton was 'inflaming' violence by talking about building trust between black communities and cops

Walker revealed that he had recently imparted some advice to the Republican ticket, saying he's spoken with Trump and his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence 'just last week.'

'If Donald Trump is going to win here and win across the country, he needs to make it clear that the race is between him and Hillary Clinton,' Walker advised.

'Every day we talk about Hillary Clinton is a better day for him because people can see here and across the country, she's fundamentally unfit to be president,' Walker continued.

'She lied about her emails, put our national security at risk, she lied to the families of those fallen in Benghazi and told them it was a video when it wasn't and now we see even more evidence that there's a question as to where the state department ended and where the Clinton Foundation started,' the governor added.

The crossover, he suggested, was something the American public was curious about.
An angry bust-up over inconsiderate parking has resulted in a police investigation after a driver's car was assaulted - with a sausage.

Police in the German town of Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomorania, were called on Saturday at 7pm to deal with complaints of 'insults and threats' between two men.

The driver of a BMW, a 47-year-old, had apparently upset a 49-year-old man with an inconsiderate parking manoeuvre when he was with his young son.

An angry bust-up over inconsiderate parking has resulted in a police investigation after a driver's car was assaulted with a sausage (File photo)

The father started to shout at the motorist who responded with shouts of his own and the two as-yet-unnamed men came to blows.

The 49-year-old reached for his only weapon - a 30cm long sausage that inflicted a 1cm dent on the car.

Police think a metal clip on the end of the sausage caused the damage.

Police said they are pursuing charges against both men, according to The Local.

The police spokesman said: 'On 08.13.2016 around 19:00 police officials main were called to duty in the Neubrandenburg Oststadt.

'The officials heard complaints of insults and threats between a 47-year-old and 49-year-old man.

The driver of a BMW, a 47-year-old, had apparently upset a 49-year-old man with an inconsiderate parking manoeuvre when he was with his young son (File photo)

'The 49-year-old... threw a 30cm long sausage against the vehicle.

'A 1cm wide dent on the rear right door has arisen on the BMW.'

This is not the first time police have had to deal with a sausage-related feud.

In July this year a woman was jailed for stabbing a mother-of-four in a row sparked by a sausage roll.

Elisha Meaker plunged the blade into Danielle Davies' leg after being called in for back-up by friend Keyleigh Martin.

Martin had earlier thrown a sausage roll at Ms Davies outside Greggs in Bristol - a savage act that led to them brawling on the street.
A woman who was caught stealing $11 worth of candy from a gas station went on a 10-minute rampage inside the store after she was confronted.

The woman is seen on surveillance footage chucking food and drink on the floor after the owner of the Shell gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, locked her in while he waited for police to arrive.

The theft and shocking vandalism happened in March but police have only now released the CCTV as they try to track her down.

A woman who was caught stealing $11 worth of candy from a gas station went on a 10-minute rampage inside the store after she was confronted

The theft and shocking vandalism happened in March but police have released the CCTV as they try to track her down

The unidentified woman was seen shoving candy bars in her purse by staff at the store and she refused to give them back when challenged, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said.

When she tried to leave, a staff member locked her in, First Coast News reported.

The surveillance footage shows the woman's furious reaction as she responds by wreaking havoc inside the shop.

She wanders systematically down the aisles, emptying shelves by throwing their contents all over the floor.

Members of staff try in vain to stop the woman, but she just turns around and continues tipping pastries, chips and chocolate onto the ground.

At one point the woman even grabs a soda from a fridge, opens it and pours it over the mess she has made on the floor.

The surveillance footage shows the woman's furious reaction as she responds by wreaking havoc inside the shop

The store's owner eventually let the woman go - before cops arrived - to stop her causing any more damage

The woman is seen on surveillance footage chucking food and drink on the floor after the owner of the Shell gas station (pictured) in Jacksonville, Florida, locked her in

The store's owner eventually let the woman go - before police arrived - to stop her causing any more damage.

Police want help finding the woman, who appeared to be black and was wearing a black shirt, denim jacket and a green bandana.
A learner driver was stripped of his 100,000 wheels after police found he had no insurance for his gold-plated Maserati supercar.

Officers in Kingston, south west London, seized the vehicle this morning.

The soft-top Maserati GranCabrio, which can go from 0 to 60mph in just five seconds, is thought to be the same vehicle slapped with a fine in April after it was parked illegally in Westminster.

A learner driver was stripped of his 100,000 wheels after police found he had no insurance for his gold-plated Maserati supercar. Officers in south west London, seized the car today

A similar car with L-plates was spotted in Marylebone, central London, on May 30. It is believed to be the same car which was seized

A similar car with L-plates was spotted in Marylebone, central London, on May 30.

Police tweeted: 'Gold Maserati with L-Plates seized by Kingston Officers this morning! #NoInsuranceNoCar.'

Britain's supercar season is currently in full swing, with hundreds of flashy vehicles flown into London from the Middle East over the summer.

Just last week a chrome Mercedes-Benz McLaren and silver Lamborghini Aventador were among the supercars spotted in the capital.

Britain's supercar season is currently in full swing, with hundreds of flashy vehicles flown into London from the Middle East over the summer

Sharing the discovery: Police tweeted: 'Gold Maserati with L-Plates seized by Kingston Officers this morning! #NoInsuranceNoCar'

THE MASERATI GRANCABRIO Worth around 100,000 the Maserati GranCabrio has a 4.7litre V8 engine which pushes out 444 brake horse power. It means the supercar can hit a top speed in the region of 180mph, reaching 60mph in less than five seconds. Advertisement

The arrival has become a regular event, with rich Arabs trying to outdo each other with their modified cars.

The owners often ship their cars ahead of the summer so they are here when they arrive in July and August.

Other Arabs are happy to spend up to 40,000 to have their supercars packed up and put on a cargo plane.
Professor Brian Cox blasted a top Australian politician who accused NASA of 'corrupting' climate change data during a live TV debate.

The renowned physicist was debating newly elected Australian politician Malcolm Roberts who claimed climate change was a conspiracy theory.

Social media users ridiculed Mr Roberts following his appearance on the influential Q&A programme on the ABC network.

Professor Brian Cox appeared said there was an 'absolute consensus' that human-induced climate change existed and the average global temperature was increasing

Australian politician Malcolm Roberts accused NASA of corrupting climate change data

Professor Cox could hardly hold back his bemusement when Mr Roberts said NASA were responsible for manipulating climate change data

Mr Roberts had earlier issued a challenge to anyone on the TV network to provide him with evidence that human production of carbon dioxide was affecting the climate.

Professor Cox, who is an advanced fellow of the school of physics and astronomy at Manchester University, accepted the challenge.

'I could sit here and read out figures until I'm blue in the face,' Professor Cox said.

'In 2015 and 2016 in particular, we've seen a quite shocking acceleration in many of the measures (for global temperature rises),' he explained.

'This is now a clear global problem. The absolute, absolute consensus is that human action is leading to an increase in average temperature.

'I know you may try to argue with that ... but you can't.'

Mr Roberts claim that climate change is a NASA conspiracy was met with ridicule online

Many viewers headed online to express their dismay at Mr Roberts being given a platform to talk about his climate change skepticism

Professor Cox then brought out a global temperature graph in an effort to prove his point, but it was immediately disputed by Mr Roberts.

'The data has been corrupted, and we know that,' Mr Roberts interjected.

'What do you mean corrupted?' Professor Cox asked.

Mr Roberts responded: 'Manipulated'.

'By who?' Professor Cox asked.

'NASA,' Mr Roberts replied, before his voice was drowned out with roars of laughter from the audience.

'The Bureau of Meteorology is exactly the same, and Greg Hunt squashed an investigation by the BoM earlier this year,' Mr Roberts continued.

Many social media users blasted the controversial politician for his claims

Mr Roberts went on to claim that the Bureau of Meteorology manipulated data as well

The rest of the panel, including Labor MP Linda Burney and Science Minister Greg Hunt, agreed with Professor Cox and said discussion should be shifted from the legitimacy of climate change to how Australia can counter it

Social media was instantly flooded with harsh criticism of Mr Roberts' comments.

'This is the most dismal discussion of climate science ever seen on Australian TV,' wrote Ben.

'Tune in to Q&A next week with a special panel of anti vaxxers to learn how well jet fuel melts steel beams,' David sarcastically tweeted.

This is the most dismal discussion of climate science ever seen on Australian TV

'Pondering how many hours of my life have been spent staring at Queensland politicians with my mouth open. Around 5 years I reckon,' wrote Neil.

Mr Roberts, an engineer and former coalmine manager, is one of the One Nation party's four elected senators.

Last week he said was confident in Pauline Hanson's decisions and ability to lead the party.

'Looking at the woman's 20-year history of outstanding honesty, and integrity and courage and persistence, and having grilled her for about 12 hours one day, she is the best person I have ever worked for,' he said.

'Pauline is now going to manage the growth of the party and she is a very, very competent and highly intelligent person.'
The 'cage' is used as a discipline procedure for

An autistic boy was routinely left unsupervised in a structure he called 'the cage' by his private school teachers as a way to handle his 'meltdowns,' the child's mother claims.

Toby Jordan, now 13, became 'hysterical' when he was placed in the 'cage', which appears to be a wooden cubby house surrounded by a lockable metal fence, at ASPECT Macarthur School in west Sydney this year, his mum Lynda Jordan told ABC's 7.30 on Tuesday.

ASPECT, a private school which caters to autistic children between the ages of four and 12, is now being investigated by the NSW Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards after the incident was reported to the Minister of Education's office.

Toby Jordan, 13, who is autistic, became 'hysterical' when left unsupervised in a structure he called 'the cage' (pictured) by his west Sydney private school teachers, his mother claims

Ms Jordan said she unexpectedly visited her son's school one day and watched as Toby was carried off of the main playground by school staff and placed in what the school refers to as the 'top playground.'

'As they escorted him through the gate outside of the school, opened the gate to the lockable structure, pushed him in there, shut the lockable structure, turned around, and walked away,' she said.

'[Toby] was kicking, screaming, and fighting  he was hysterical.'

Ms Jordan searched through school records and found that her son had been sent to the 'top playground', which he called the 'cage', on several occasions.

The school failed Toby, Ms Jordan said, adding that she would never have approved such a discipline method.

Dr Trevor Clark, ASPECT's national director, disagrees and said Ms Jordan had agreed to the plan to detain Toby in the restricted area if he was being unmanageable.

'No teacher leaves a child with autism unsupervised no matter what situation within a school or within a community and the reason for that is we have got a duty of care to our children - it was exercised at the time, it is very unfortunate that there was a different view about where staff were,' Dr Clark told 7.30.

Mr Clark said an inquiry conducted by the school's principal showed that Toby was not left unsupervised.

David Roy, a professor at the University of Newcastle who trains teachers, told Daily Mail Australia he has heard multiple complaints from parents, specifically in NSW, who claim their children have endured similar behaviour from their teachers.

Teachers do not have adequate training in terms of how to handle children with disabilities because they are not encouraged to further their education by education officials, he said.

'I'm not surprised teachers are not being trained because the very people in charge of those teachers send the message to them that it's not important,' Mr Roy said.

'They're so pressed for time, they're not given the time to do the online training and there's not support offered and no real encouragement from the minister or the senior members of the Department of Education,' he said.

Mr Roy said he also finds it questionable that the standard procedure for any complaint made to the school about its staff is for the acting principle to conduct and inquiry and interview his own staff.
A Canadian province has banned spear-hunting after footage of an American hunter fatally spearing a bear there horrified web users.

Josh Bowmar, 26, from Columbus, Ohio, filmed himself killing a bear with a 7ft-long spear, complete with attached camera, while hunting in Alberta, Canada in June.

That video went viral Monday, leading to complaints towards the Bowmars - and now, it has been announced - a change in Canadian law, The Globe and Mail reported.

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Josh Bowmar caused outrage Monday after footage of himself spearing a black bear to death in Alberta, Canada, with a homemade weapon went viral. Now Alberta will ban spear-hunting

The footage shows him preparing to launch the spear. At present the practice is not banned, but this is expected to change in the fall

A camera on the spear shows the moment the 7ft-long weapon's 16-inch blade pierces the bear's body. The bear runs off but is said to have died a minute later

The 13-minute video shows Mr Bowmar waiting patiently for an opportune moment to kill the creature, which measured 7ft 1in and weighed over 392 pounds.

His weapon of choice is a homemade spear with a 16-inch-long blade, which he describes as an 'absolutely lethal killing machine.'

The spear has an attached camera that provides a blade's-eye view of the killing as it pierces the bear's side. The startled creature runs off, but succumbs to its injury.

Bowmar, meanwhile, has turned to the camera to cheer his success.

But others were less happy about the hunt - including Alberta Environment and Parks spokesman Tim Chamberlin, who told The Globe and Mail that spear-hunting is an 'archaic' practice.

'Work is well under way to update Albertas hunting regulations,' he said. 'We will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall as part of those updated regulations.

'In the meantime, we have asked Fish and Wildlife officers to investigate this incident to determine if charges are warranted under existing laws.'

'Archaic': Alberta parks spokesman Tim Chamberlin (left) said he would ban 'archaic' spear-hunting, but conservation expert Todd Zimmerling (right) said spears could be 'ethical'

Concerns: Zimmerman said he was, however, concerned about untrained people trying spear-hunting on a whim. Pictured: The view down the shaft of Bowmar's spear

And Todd Zimmerling, president of the Alberta Conservation Association, said that while he had not seen the video, he was not bothered about the use of a spear so long as the kill as 'quick' and 'clean.'

'If theyre able to make a good shot, then it can be an ethical kill,' he told the Globe and Mail.

But he admitted that Bowmar's video might lead to less experienced hunters attempting the same thing.

'I certainly dont want to see a whole pile of people run out there starting to throw spears at bears just to try it. That would be an issue.'

In a statement to Dailymail.com Monday, Bowmar defended his choice of weapon, saying critics 'should be ashamed of yourselves for trying to kill a heritage that has existed for over a million years.

'Literally, since the dawn of man, the spear has been a vital role in survival. The mere existence of our ancestors relied on the spear.'

Ethical: Todd Zimmerling, president of the Alberta Conservation Association, said that while so long as the kill was quick, spears could be 'ethical' - but was concerned about copycats

'Heritage': Bowmar says that spears are part of 'a heritage that has existed for over a million years' and that critics of his video should be 'ashamed'

This wasn't the first time Bowmar posted a video of a hunt; he and his wife Sarah have many videos to their name, including a bizarre clip in which they decapitate a turkey with an arrow.

In that footage - titled 'WIFE shoots TURKEY'S HEAD OFF WITH A BOW!!' and posted on May 3, 2015 - the couple film themselves waiting for a turkey to come.

'Were gonna put the hammer down,' Mr Bowman chuckles. 'And by put the hammer down I mean a bow and arrow to the face, because that's the goal.'

They use a remote-control fake turkey to lure in their oblivious target, which comes within four yards of the couple, then Sarah fires - severing its head at the neck.

The decpitated bird then flaps around uselessly as the pair laugh in surprise and delight. 'Oh my god!' splutters Mr Bowman. 'You just shot his head off!'

The video then shows the kill another three times - once in slow motion, once in slo-mo reverse and then again at regular speed.

Later the couple pose with the bird's body, Mr Bowman laughing as he shows off its severed head.

Josh Bowmar (left) and wife Sarah (right) prepare to hunt turkeys. The pair kicked up a storm of controversy Monday when they posted a video of Mr Bowman killing a bear with a spear

The video shows the moment that Mrs Bowman's arrow cleaves off the turkey's head - and then replays it in slo-mo and reverse before showing it a fourth time, again at regular speed

The couple break down into minutes of delighted laughter and chatter after the kill. The bird was around eight yards away from the blind in which they were hiding

The video ends with the couple posing with the headless turkey and laughing at the surprising kill

The bird's head was found a short distanvce from its body

Hunting is a theme throughout the couple's life.

A photo album on Sarah's Facebook page titled 'Engagement Session' shows the pair posing with bows on the day that he proposed marriage.

Another photo from her page shows her in camouflage, with hunting gear and large antlers strapped to her back.

And photos from their wedding day show their wedding cake topped with miniature versions of themselves, firing arrows.

The couple's love of hunting shows in this wedding cake, which depicts the couple firing arrows

This picture shows the day the couple got engaged - then posed with their bows

Sarah has many pictures of her posing with her hunting gear, such as this one - which also shows her sporting a pair of impressive antlers

In fact, bows - not spears - are a common fixture in the couple's videos.

In another video posted in July 2015, for example, the Bowmars travel to Canada - the same place Josh Bowmar would later kill a bear with a spear - and kill a black bear with a homemade longbow.

After filming themselves being stopped at immigration for announcing their intent to kill the animal - which was in-season - the pair are sent on their way.

The couple wait high in a tree for the bear to come, attracted to barrels of food, but Mr Bowmar decides he can't get a clear shot.

The following morning, however, he does - striking it in the side with a neon-feathered arrow. The bear flees, but collapses and dies.

'He came in for some lunch, evidently, and thats when I put the hurtin' on him' Mr Bowmar says, proudly posing by the bear's body.

'I dropped an arrow all the way in there and smoked him I cant be more happier.'

In another video, posted 2015, the couple travel to Canada to kill a black bear (pictured) with a homemade bow. This shows their first encounter - but Mr Bowman couldn't get a clear shot

The next day the couple find the bear again. It starts to move just as Mr Bowman's arrow (right, circled) pierces its side. They later found the body in the woods

Mr Bowman then poses with the bear, saying he 'couldn't be more happier' about 'putting a hurting' on the animal

But the Bowmars didn't become the target of animal rights campaigners until Mr Bowmar's spear-throwing video went viral.

At the start of the 13-minute video, he appears disappointed as the bear runs away - believing that he may have missed his chance.

But when the bear returns two hours later, he launches the spear from around 15 yards away, ultimately killing it.

Mr Bowmar, who has his own fitness company, says on the film: 'I can't believe that that just happened.

'I've just did something that I think no one in the world has ever done. And that was spear a bear on the ground, on film.'

Bowmar, who runs his own fitness company, can be seen preparing to launch the spear

The film then shows him finding the bear's mangled body, which he and his companion drag out from behind some trees.

On examining the wound, the animal's intestines can be seen hanging out from the body.

The video upset several customers of Under Armour, the sports clothing company that sponsors the couple.

On the company's Facebook Under Armour Hunt page one person wrote: 'I had no idea you sponsored big game hunting.

'I'm sure you won't miss my few hundred dollars a year we spend on UA clothing and sports equipment, but I did want you to know that support of this hunter and this complete disregard for the sanctity of life is why my family will no longer wear your logo.'

Another user wrote: 'Until you publicly drop your endorsement of Bowmar I will not be buying anything from you, and I buy a lot of gear. 511 Tactical has just gained a new customer. I'm not anti-hunting but this was disgusting.'

Under Armour have not yet replied to requests for comment.

The YouTube video was disabled on Monday, after garnering 208,000 views.

The bear, which measured 7ft 1in, would have been lured to the spot by the smell of food

Wendy Higgins, from Humane Society International, was also troubled by the video, which she said was a 'tragic example' of 'mindless machismo-fuelled blood-lust.'

She said: 'This poor bear didn't stand a chance, deliberately lured to the killing spot by food, and then mercilessly targeted and left to die in agony.'

'It is shocking to see the delight of this hunter in what he has done, his thrill utterly appalling to the majority of people, and even fellow hunters are distancing themselves from this incident,' she continued.

'Animals are not trophies, and bears and other awesome creatures around the world need us to channel our collective disgust at this and say no more to this selfish brutality.'

Mr Bowmar said in a statement to Dailymail.com: 'First and foremost, spear hunting gives the animal the greatest chance of escape, considering our ethical killing range is within 10 yards.'

He added: 'The spear blade I was using was five inches wide and 16 inches long, and razor sharp. Not to mention, I got 24 inches of penetration on that bear, causing more damage and trauma to the bear than any arrow/broadhead/bullet combination could ever cause.

'It is a well known fact from spear hunters across the world, including Tim Wells who has speared over 100 animals to date, a spear will kill an animal twice as fast as an arrow will.

'Just think about how much larger a blade on a spear is compared to a broadhead on an arrow.'

He launched the spear from around 15 yards away. He also attached a GoPro camera to the spear, capturing the moment

He continued: 'The bear I speared only ran 60 yards and died immediately, thats as humane and ethical as one could get in a hunting situation on big game animals.

'Trust me, no one cares more about these animals than us hunters, especially me.

'If I just wanted to kill, why not use a rifle and shoot the animal from 500 yards away with it having no chance to escape.'

Mr Bowmar added: 'Im not alone with caring about animals - in fact over 90 per cent of all donated money and time to animal conservation is from hunters. That's an interesting fact to ponder. The truth is we care more than anyone about these animals.'

On his YouTube channel, Mr Bowmar writes: 'We love travelling the world and hunting big game with bow and arrow only.

'We seek after the biggest most challenge (sic) game that walk this earth.'

But not the game that walks through Alberta, it would seem.
Mass graves of the soldiers were discovered by investigators last year

The soldiers were being held prisoner and were all lined up and shot dead

They are accused of slaughtering 1,700 soldiers in 2014 in city of Tikrit

Iraq has approved the death sentences of 36 ISIS fanatics who slaughtered 1,700 prisoners after tricking them into thinking they would be returning to their families.

President Fuad Masoum announced that the members of the terror group would be hanged for their part in the massacre in June 2014 near the central city of Tikrit.

It saw thousands of soldiers based at Camp Speicher being taken prisoner by the militants as they surged across northern Iraq as they tried to conquer the country in 2014.

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Iraq has approved the death sentences of 36 ISIS fanatics who slaughtered 1,700 soldier prisoners in Tikrit. Pictured are forensics teams discovering their mass graves

Thousands of soldiers based at Camp Speicher were taken prisoner by the militants as they surged across northern Iraq as they tried to conquer the country in 2014

They were then rounded up by ISIS and put on trucks being told that they would be going home to their families.

However, the fanatics instead took them to a riverbank where they were lined up and shot dead at close range before being buried in mass graves.

President Masum approved the executions after footage of the massacre of the showing the brutal murders.

However human rights activists have criticised the movve saying the defendants only confessed to their crimes as they were tortured and that they did not have access to the correct legal representation.

It comes after the UN also expressed concerns at Iraq's attempts to speed up the appeals process for people on death row.

The bodies of the of the 1,700 massarced soldiers were discovered last year as Iraqi forensic teams described how they wept when they began to excavate the graves.

Iraqi soldiers salute the graves where the soldiers were found. The fanatics had taken them to a riverbank where they were lined up and shot dead at close range

For almost 10 months, their devastated families have been left wondering what became of their sons and brothers who had been marched through Tikrit, once Saddam Hussein's stronghold of support.

The only clues they had were videos posted by the jihadists on social media sites, showing them being machine gunned down in their hundreds.
A plan to install gender-neutral bathrooms in Australian schools have been proposed by a group of academics, who think children as young as five should learn about gender transitioning.

The group from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, told The Australian that the addition of the bathrooms across the country will 'create inclusive whole school cultures.'

It follows the Safe Schools program designed to promote acceptance among schoolchildren.

Academics at Flinders University say the addition of gender-neutral bathrooms in Australia will 'create inclusive whole school cultures' (stock image)

The University is now calling for South Australia's Education Department to redesign bathrooms in schools to be more supportive of gender diversity.

Gender-neutral bathrooms are not common in Australian schools, but the issue has sparked controversy in the US, where a North Carolina law has directed people only use the bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is sympathetic of the move and voiced support to the expansion of the Safe Schools program.

However, he avoided questions on whether five was too young for children to understand gender transitioning.

'What I support is the right of children to go to school free of bullying,' The Australian reports.

'I support schools using their own professional judgment to utilise the materials that may be available to them to actually deal with that issue in the schools.'

The group of academics from Flinders University (pictured) is calling for South Australia's Education Department to redesign bathrooms to be more supportive of gender diversity.

Gender-neutral bathrooms are not common in Australian schools, but the issue has sparked controversy in the US (stock image)

A review of the Safe Schools program found some of its content was inappropriate for young students, as many of the resources confused the children involved in an Adelaide trial.
The twin sister of a British student who drowned just a day after arriving on the Thai island of Ko Chang paid tribute to her 'beautiful Bryony'.

Bryony Freestone, 19, was a student based at the Penryn campus of Exeter University in Cornwall and lived in Falmouth.

Yesterday her heartbroken twin sister Sophie said: 'There's nothing I wouldn't do to have you back - my beautiful Bryony xxxx.'

Bryony Freestone (left), 19, was a student based at the Penryn campus of Exeter University and lived in Falmouth. Her heartbroken twin sister Sophie (right) said: 'There's nothing I wouldn't do to have you back - my beautiful Bryony xxxx.'

The teenager was travelling with friends and had been swimming off the Thai island of Ko Chang when she got into trouble.

Attempts were made to revive her on the beach but she could not be saved.

Exeter University has not yet made a comment about the death.

Bryony was a first-year student and had described her time in Cornwall as the 'craziest, most fantastic year with so many beautiful people' adding 'bring on summer'.

The teenager was travelling with friends and had been swimming off the Thai island of Ko Chang when she got into trouble

The Foreign Office earlier confirmed it is supporting the girl's family.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are supporting the family of a British National who sadly died in Thailand on 14 August.'

Just a day before the tragic death a German tourist drowned off the coast of the same island after going out to sea to bring his two sons back to shore amid strong waves.

Christoph Ralf Sigloch, 55, entered into the water off Khlong Phrao beach.

Ko Chang, also known as Elephant Island because of its elephant shaped headland, is Thailand's second largest island after Phuket.

The island is approximately 429 square kilometres in size.

Ko Chang (pictured), also known as Elephant Island because of its elephant shaped headland, is Thailand's second largest island after Phuket
Motorists have been left shocked after a sinister display of nooses was put up next to a highway in Oklahoma to warn people not to hang around after work.

The disturbing find was made by drivers in Okmulgee County this weekend, with some so stunned by the nooses that they had to pull over.

The owner of the land, Merle Martindale, said he put up the nooses because he was recently assaulted and wants to warn thieves to stay away.

Motorists have been left shocked after a sinister display of nooses was put up next to a highway in Oklahoma to warn people not to hang around after work. Pictures from KTUL

But some motorists, such as Terrance Reed, think the display has racial connotations.

'If you think of a noose in America, it doesn't represent anything but what used to happen to African Americans,' he told KJRH.

'He got the right to do what he wants to do, he's got a right to feel what he wanna feel, but I got a right to be angry about it too, and I'm angry.

'If you put up a sign that says I advise you not to hang around here after dark, you're making a statement,' Mr Reed added.

The disturbing find was made by drivers in Okmulgee County this weekend, with some so stunned by the nooses that they had to pull over

Another driver, Dennis Varner, said the nooses were 'humiliating'.

'It's discrimination, and America shouldn't put up with it,' he said.

Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice visited Mr Martindale but said the nooses were not illegal.

Mr Martindale said the hanging ropes were not meant to be racist.
Left-wing billionaire financier George Soros recently accused Angela Merkel of bringing 'chaos' to Europe through her open-door immigration policy.

But its emerged through leaked documents that his think-tank Open Society Foundations (OSF) sees Europes refugee crisis as an opportunity - a chance to influence immigration policies worldwide and collaborate with other wealthy donors.

In a memo called Migration Governance and Enforcement Portfolio Review, OSF states that the immigration crisis in Europe is the new normal.

It's emerged through leaked documents that George Soros's think-tank Open Society Foundations sees Europe's refugee crisis as an opportunity to collaborate with other wealthy donors

It has created space to reconsider the governance of migration and the international refugee regime.

It presents, the Foundation argues, new opportunities for reforming migration governance at the global level, whether through the existing multi-lateral system, or by bringing together a range of actors to think more innovatively.

The Foundation says that its investment in global work means that it has the right partners and is in a position to help others navigate this space.

The memo adds that 'the refugee crisis is opening new opportunities... for coordination and collaboration' with other rich organisations.

It was only recently that Soros, who broke the Bank of England in 1992, said that the German Chancellors decision to 'open her country's doors wide to refugees' was 'not properly thought out'.

The OSF claims on its website that it works to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people

WHO IS GEORGE SOROS? Soros rose to fame and fortune two decades ago on a now-historic trade, in which he took on the Bank of England and shrewdly wagered on a devaluation of the British pound. This led to his moniker - The Man Who Broke the Bank of England. The move made him $1billion. He was born in Budapest, studied at the London School of Economics and holds dual Hungarian-American citizenship. After selling seaside souvenirs he managed to get a foot on the financial ladder with a job at Singer & Friedlander in London in 1954, before settling in the US. He went on to become one of the richest people in the world through fund management. He's worth around $24.9billion. Advertisement

Soros, 85, said a 'lack of adequate controls sparked panic across the continent' and that the European migration crisis and Brexit debate then 'fed on each other'.

He said: 'German Chancellor Angela Merkels decision to open her countrys doors wide to refugees was an inspiring gesture, but it was not properly thought out, because it ignored the pull factor.

'A sudden influx of asylum-seekers disrupted people in their everyday lives across the EU.

'The lack of adequate controls, moreover, created panic, affecting everyone: the local population, the authorities in charge of public safety, and the refugees themselves.'

He said the Leave campaign in Britain exploited the deteriorating refugee situation to stoke fears of 'uncontrolled immigration' from other EU member states.

Soros - one of the wealthiest men in the world - famously 'broke the Bank of England' after his bets against the pound were instrumental in ejecting it from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

The OSF claims on its website that it works to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.

It says: We seek to strengthen the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check.

We help to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights.

The OSF told MailOnline: 'We are committed to making sure that anyone who chooses to migrateregardless of motivationis able to do so safely and with dignity. The ongoing crises in the Mediterranean, Asia, and at the U.S./Mexico border have exposed the failure of institutions and societies to respond effectively to the plight of migrants.
Victim was given alcohol and drugs and attackers were drunk

Alleged attack happened in a spot with no security cameras

allegedly raped by three detainees in Villawood Detention Centre

A male detainee was allegedly gang-raped by three other men in a notorious Sydney detention centre, a source has claimed.

NSW police are investigating reports the man was sexually assaulted by three other men inside Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre on July 4.

A source, who chose not to be named for fear of reprisal, said the alleged violent attack happened in a spot with no security cameras, reports Sydney Morning Herald.

A male detainee was allegedly gang-raped by three other men in Villawood detention centre, a source has claimed

'It was in a blind spot  where the cameras don't pick anything up,' the source said.

The source said the attack raised concerns about the safety of detainees inside the infamous detention centre.

'These things shouldn't be bloody happening, it's just wrong. The people in there are still human beings, you don't do things like that and treat them the way they are being treated.'

The source claimed the victim was plied with alcohol and drugs prior to the attack, and that the alleged assailants had also been drinking alcohol.

A source has claimed the victim was plied with alcohol and drugs prior to the attack

'Most of the guys in there are on drugs. They've got nothing else to do, the boredom there kills people.'

If identified the source risks being jailed for two years for disclosing inside knowledge of incidents inside detention centres Under the Border Force Act
A firefighter brigade has been left outraged after their photographs were stolen and used on a dating app in an attempt to attract women.

The profile has been set up on the location-based matchmaking app Tinder and Facebook - as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade calls for the accounts to be shut down.

The fake accounts show a string of photos, including a raunchy shot taken from a shirtless calender of a firefighter with his uniform unbuttoned, baring his muscular torso.

One of the photos used in the Tinder profile was this raunchy shot (picture taken from a calendar) of a firefighter with his uniform unbuttoned, baring his muscular torso

A firefighter brigade has been left outraged after their photographs were stolen and used on dating app Tinder (stock image)

Other images appeared to show Victoria firefighters, with photos taken from the MFB's KidZone website - and another of an American firefighter speaking to his daughter's kindergarten class in Dallas, The Herald Sun reported.

While another image shows a group of schoolchildren lining up in front of a fire truck in Melbourne's north.

One image showed a firefighter speaking to a class of kindergarten children (stock image)

The fake profiles have been linked to a Melbourne man who has denied any involvement

Acting chief officer Paul Stacchino told the publication the brigade was 'considering what further action may be appropriate'.

'There is no record of a person by this name being currently employed by the MFB,' Mr Stacchino said.

'The MFB is extremely concerned that a member of the public may be seeking to pass themselves off as an MFB firefighter for personal gain.'
A monkey went bananas in the parking lot of an Ohio Walmart.

In video footage of the incident, the monkey appears to be scuffling with an employee collecting shopping carts when the animal's owner barrels toward him to pull them apart.

Footage of the bizarre moment was caught on camera by Richelle Stewart, who posted the clip to Facebook.

'I just video tapped a monkey attacking a guy at Walmart in Lancaster Ohio!' Stewart wrote on the video.

Going bananas: A monkey scuffling with an Ohio Walmart employee was caught on camera

The monkey can be heard squeaking and hooting as it holds on to the arm of the Walmart employee, before its owner runs over to push them apart

Since she posted it on Sunday it has received more than 280,000 views.

The clip begins with the monkey standing on top of a metal beam on the cart collection area.

The monkey can be heard squeaking and hooting as it holds on to the arm of the Walmart employee, who was trying to grab the animal's leash after it ran from its owner, according to KSN.com.

As the man and monkey scuffle, the owner barrels toward the two shouting: 'Let him go, let him go, let him go!'

She breaks them apart, holding the monkey by the hand as if it were a toddler and says to the employee: 'If he bites you, they'll put him down.'

As they walk away the unidentified woman says to the employee: 'No, I'm not mad at you.'

She then can be seen walking hand-in-hand with the monkey back to the trailer that it had previously escaped from.

As the man and monkey scuffle, the owner barrels toward the two shouting: 'Let him go, let him go, let him go!'

The woman says to the employee, 'If he bites you, they'll put him down', before walking away

'I saw the monkey and he was just standing on the carts,' Stewart told

'The monkey had escaped from a nearby camper. And we saw the cart guy from Walmart coming over to help her.

'All of sudden the monkey jumps on him and she pushed him out of the way,' Stewart told the New York Daily News.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is now trying to find the woman to figure out if the monkey is registered or not.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokeswoman said the Department of Agriculture hasn't identified the woman and said they are investigating.

'While I cannot speculate on what would happen if the owner is identified, I can say that most monkeys are considered "dangerous wild animals" under an Ohio law passed in 2012 and are prohibited without a valid permit from the state.

'Under Ohio law it is also illegal to allow a dangerous wild animal to escape from its enclosure or to allow one to come into contact with the public,' Communications Director Erica Hawkins said in an email.

After the incident, a call was placed to 911 and reported that a person had been bitten by the monkey, according to CBS 6.

The employee was uninjured and the woman walked back to her trailer hand-in-hand with the monkey

The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette reported that the caller said the monkey was bigger than her two-year-old child.

When Lancaster Police responded to the scene they determined the monkey only grabbed the man and he was not in need of medical attention.
The mega-rich founder of Bebo is pouring millions of pounds into a dying British village because of his childhood memories of holidays there.

California-based tycoon Michael Birch said had been 'shocked and saddened' at the decline of Woolsery in North Devon where his ancestors lived since 1700.

Bebo founder Michael Birch and his wife Xochi sold the social networking platform Bebo in 2008 for $850million to AOL. They have spent millions of pounds restoring key parts of village life in Woolsery, where Mr Birch can trace his family to the 1700s

In the past two years he has bought and restored the village pub, an old hotel and the fish and chip shop.

Grateful residents have welcomed his support and compared it to 'winning the lottery'.

Mr Birch said he felt the 'need' to restore the village, where he spent childhood summers. He was inspired to help when he returned on year and found it in the 'saddest state'

The Birches have also bought the old Manor House, pictured above. Residents of the village have welcomed his investments, with some saying it is like winning the lottery

Mr Birch, 46, said he had spent 'all his summers' in the area has a child and wanted to bring it back to life.

He said: 'I have a huge emotional connection to the village and I have fond memories of drinking in The Farmers Arms and was saddened to hear that it had closed.

'The pub had been closed for a number of years, the manor house had been closed a lot longer... it was knowing that I could do it [help] and knowing that I needed to do it.

WHO ARE WEB ENTREPRENEURS MICHAEL AND XOCHI BIRCH? Michael Birch, 46, is originally from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire while Xochi, 44, is from Los Angeles, California. The pair met in a pub in London when Mrs Birch was studying abroad in Britain and married in 1994. Together they founded Bebo in 2005, one of the first social networking sites. Three years on, they sold it for 550million ($850million), getting a joint share of 370million ($595million) between them. The pair bought it for 1million 'for fun' after it went into administration in 2013. Now based in California, the Birches have three children and currently run an exclusive members' club in San Francisco. Advertisement

'It was in the saddest state I'd seen the village in my memory.'

Mr Birch, who was born in Hertfordshire, and wife Xochi sold Bebo to AOL in March 2008 for $850million.

He now has a net worth of $390m (303m) and in a rare interview said he felt compelled to act when he saw how dilapidated the village had become.

He said: 'I love living in America and I love coming here... it's a great escape.

'I like bringing my children here and sharing that with them.

'I have six generations of my family buried in the village church and I still have family living in the village today.'

Mr Birch met all the villagers on a visit two years ago after buying the derelict Farmers Arms pub - and bought them all a pint.

The fish and chip shop has been open for several months now and the pub, which shut in 2012 is still undergoing renovation but is hoped to open next year.

Mr and Mrs Birch have also bought the nearby Manor House inn, which has been unoccupied for eight years, and are in the process of turning it into a hotel.

Repairing both will cost more than 1million.

Job Andrew, Mr Birch's great-great grandfather, built Woolsery village shop, which remained in the family until it was sold in 1961.

Michael Birch met with the villagers of Woolsery in 2014 after he and his wife bought the local pub, the Farmers' Arms, to restore it. He said he was saddened to hear it had closed, having spent his formative years there on family holidays

Since he bought the pub, Mr Birch has also bought the fish and chip shop and an old hotel and hopes to restore the village to its former glory. He feels an emotional attachment after childhood summers spent there

His grandmother, Millicent Andrew, was born in the village shop's premises in 1900, and his grandfather Joseph Burrow was born at Ashcroft Farm.

Residents have welcomed the investment.

Peter and Sonia Hamilton who founded the Woolsery Action Group in a bid to save The Farmers Arms were among those to toast the mogul's intervention.

Mr Hamilton said: 'When we heard the news that Michael had bought the pub it was like all our Christmases had come at once.

'The closure of the village pub has had a detrimental effect on the village.'

Mrs Hamilton added: 'The pub looked awful, the manor was boarded up... with Michael coming in and renovating both buildings, it's had a feel good factor in the village.

'We are all excited to get the pub back into the heart of the community.'

The Farmers Arms in Woolsery was Mr Birch's first purchase and in a state of disrepair when he bought it. Resident Sonia Hamilton said the pub 'looked awful' but there was a feel good factor as the villagers await renovations

Mr Birch met his wife Xochi in London and they moved to California after they married in 1994. Together they founded and sold Bebo and have used part of the money to restore the village of Woolsery

Robin Edmonds, from Woolsery parish council, said: 'It's as good as winning the lottery because there's no way that the parish council and local residents could have come together with enough money to make a go of the pub.

ORIGINAL SOCIAL NETWORK WHICH WAS CONQUERED BY FACEBOOK Bebo was launched in 2005. Users could upload blogs, photos, music and videos to their pages. Bebo, alongside MySpace, was one of the contenders to Facebook in the early 2000s. At its peak it had about 40million users. It was sold by Michael and Xochi Birch to AOL for $850million in 2008. Bebo was eclipsed by Facebook as well as other social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr. AOL's reluctance to invest in the site has been blamed for its decline. Bebo sought bankruptcy protection in 2013 and Mr Birch bought the company from its receivers for $1million. Advertisement

'His family have a long history in the village and it is great he has been able to pump so much money in.

'It will revitalise the centre of the village and provide much needed employment.

'It is great for everybody.'

Jay Oyarzabal, 38, the manager of Woolsery fish and chip shop said: 'It is amazing. We have had so much positive feedback from people since he took over.

'He has given it a complete overall with new equipment.

'It is great.'

Mr and Mrs Birch set up Bebo in 2005 with the social media website shorthand for 'Blog Early, Blog Often'.

It was a huge success and became one of the world's most popular websites with AOL buying it for $850 million three years later.

The couple made $600 million from the sale but then had to watch as the site crumbled due to poor management and the staggering growth of Facebook.
Fazeli's radicalization strikes a chord with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump 's plan for 'extreme vetting' of Muslim refugees

Fazeli fled to Turkey to eventually go to Lebanon as fighter

His family, non-devout Shias, did not know he joined ISIS until he left U.S.

An affidavit said Fazeli did not adjust well to life in the U.S. and was radicalized while he was living in Maine

released on Monday revealed new details about Fazeli, who died last year while fighting in Lebanon

dissident and fled to Syria and then Lebanon before being taken in by the U.S.

Fazeli was wanted in Iran for being a

An Iranian refugee who came to the United States in 2009 was fighting for the Islamic State group when he was killed in Lebanon last year, investigators said.

Details about Adnan Fazeli, 38, who also went by the names Abu Nawaf and Abu Abdullah Al-Ahwazi, were revealed in newly unsealed court documents filed in federal court in Portland, Maine, the Portland Press Herald reported.

Fazeli, a Muslim who was most recently a Freeport, resident, became radicalized while living in the United States, the newspaper reported.

Fazeli fled Iran around 2007 after being told he was to be arrested for being a dissident.

An Iranian refugee, who came to the United States in 2009 was fighting for the Islamic State group when he was killed in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon, (pictured) last year, investigators said in newly unsealed court documents

He went to Syria and then Lebanon, ultimately arriving in the United States in 2009, and he didn't adjust well, according to the affidavit.

Fazeli told an informant he felt Iran was anti-Sunni but the United States wasn't helping the situation.

While in America Fazeli converted to Wahhabism, a strict sect of Sunni Islam.

His family, belonging to the Shia sect of Islam and was never devout to the religion, the affidavit said.

Fazeli came under FBI investigation for his connection to Islamic State shortly after leaving his job at at Dubai Auto in Portland and flying to Turkey in August 2013.

He never came back.

Fazeli worked at Dubai Auto (pictured) while living in Maine and an affidavit, which was made public among other court documents on Monday, revealed Fazeli had a hard time adjusting to life in the U.S.

Fazeli died in battle in January 2015 as a member of an Islamic State force of about 150.

The group was turned away by the Lebanese army and Fazeli was killed in a battle near Ras Baalbek, Lebanon.

Fazeli's 25-year-old nephew Ebrahim Fazeli said his uncle was an 'educated, smart guy' who had become more religious, but relatives didn't realize he had become radicalized.

The family learned what Adnan Fazeli was up to when he contacted his wife from overseas, Ebrahim Fazeli said.

Ebrahim Fazeli said that's when he contacted the FBI, because he feared for his aunt and the couple's three children.

'I wanted to protect them from him,' Ebrahim Fazeli said. 'It was very clear to me that they weren't important to him.'

The Press Herald reported that the details of Fazeli's case were never revealed publicly before and were contained in an affidavit that was filed in U.S. District Court in Portland in October and unsealed on Monday.

Maine State Police Detective George Loder, who was acting as a member of an FBI task force investigating Fazeli, interviewed people to see if they were aware he had plans to join ISIS.

In the affidavit he wrote: 'Fazeli's change in behavior alienated him from many of his Shia and moderate Sunni friends in the area.

'However, there were a few local Sunnis who supported his fervor and treated him with a great deal of respect.

'Fazeli started holding occasional religious meetings at his home in Freeport.'

In the affidavit, written by a state police detective on an FBI task force, four FBI informants described Fazeli's changes about a year after he came to Maine through Catholic Charities Refugee and Immigration Services.

The informants said Fazeli would watch Islamic videos on the internet for hours and began voicing anti-American sentiments.

Fazeli's radicalization strikes a chord with the rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (pictured)

Fazeli's radicalization strikes a chord with the rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump has called for controversial 'extreme vetting' of Muslim immigrants and refugees as part of his platform should he be elected.

On Monday - the same day the court documents were unsealed - Trump called for 'extreme' ideological vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the United States.

He vowed to significantly overhaul the country's screening process and block those who sympathize with extremist groups or don't embrace American values.

Trump has called for controversial 'extreme vetting' of Muslim immigrants and refugees as part of his platform should he be elected

'Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country.

'Only those who we expect to flourish in our country  and to embrace a tolerant American society  should be issued visas,' Trump said in a foreign policy address in Youngstown, Ohio.

Trump's proposals were the latest version of a policy that began with his unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticized across party lines as un-American.
An Alaska judge has been disciplined after making a series of 'discourteous and undignified' comments about sex abuse and domestic violence in court.

On one occasion Timothy Dooley, 63, suggested 'slapping around' a domestic violence victim to get her to talk louder, and on another asked a sex offender: 'Has anything good ever come out of drinking, except for sex with a pretty girl?'

Dooley, a Superior Court judge in the city of Nome, was censured by the Alaska Supreme Court on Friday after admitting making five remarks that compromised the integrity of the court.

Judge Timothy Dooley, 63, has been reprimanded for five 'discourteous and undignified' comments, inclduing four during sex abuse and domestic violence trials

The first comment was made in 2013 just weeks after Dooley, a former private attorney, was appointed as Nome's sole Superior Court judge by then-governor Sean Parnell.

On May 29 of that year, the Alaska Dispatch News reports that Dooley was trying a sex offense case with several convicted offenders sitting in the gallery.

During proceedings, Dooley asked the defendant: 'Has anything good ever come out of drinking, except for sex with a pretty girl?'

Then in October he received another complaint after comparing a child abuse case to 'practices in Afghanistan.'

He said: 'What you've done with this young girl, it's a strange thing, routinely done in Afghanistan, where they marry 6-year-old girls.

'In our society, and in the society of the local tribal communities, supposed to be totally forbidden.'

The following month, in another child sex case this time involving a 14-year-old victim, Dooley said during sentencing: 'This was not someone who was, and I hate to use the phrase, "asking for it."

'There are girls out there that seem to be temptresses. And this does not seem to be anything like that.'

The following year, in August 2014, Dooley was hearing evidence in a domestic violence case when off-the-record remarks to the jury drew another complaint.

After the victim delivered her testimony in a quiet voice, Dooley told the jury: 'I'm sorry, folks, but I can't slap her around to make her talk louder.'

Dooley, the Superior Court Judge for Nome, Alaska (pictured) once suggested 'slapping' a domestic violence victim to get her to testify louder, and asked a sex abuse defendant: 'Has anything good ever come out of drinking, except for sex with a pretty girl?'

Finally, that same month, Dooley told a civil trial that he was 'planning to populate Hell' with oath-breakers because of his 'medieval Christianity'.

He said: 'I'm gonna enforce these oaths and they're enforceable with a 2-year sentence for perjury. And I'd be the sentencing judge.

'I also have a medieval Christianity that says if you violate an oath, you're going to Hell. You all may not share that, but I'm planning to populate Hell.'

Dooley, who is paid $155,000 a year according to Ballotpedia, had initially denied his comments amounted to misconduct, but later conceded wrongdoing.

Dooley said he 'regretted' his statement about drinking and sex, and called his statement about hell 'the worst I have done', but appeared to stand behind his other remarks, at least in part.

Speaking about the comment relating to underage brides in Afghanistan, he said he was 'baffled' by the complaint and still does not agree it was inherently wrong, but has learned that 'other people will take it a different way.'

Dooley said he also regretted suggesting that he would 'slap' a domestic violence victim, though added that she did not hear him make the remark.

In regard to his comment about temptresses, he emphasized that he was saying the victim in the case was not 'asking for it', and was indicating there were no mitigating factors to consider in sentencing.

Dooley blamed a lack of training by court authorities and having no other judges around him for the mistakes, saying he had no examples to follow.

He admitted being 'very ineffective' at the start of his tenure, saying he 'made mistakes right and left', conceding that he 'caused grief for some victim, perhaps.'

He also apologized to court staff for his errors, saying they 'don't deserve to have a judge who goes off the high dive and lands on the rocks.'

Dooley said that at the start of his judgeship he was speaking as a private attorney would to a client, and has since stopped going 'off script' during proceedings.

Additional training had been recommended for Dooley, particularly around domestic violence and sexual offences, but this was not enforced after he announced he will be retiring in February 2017, it is reported.
A 'vindictive and cruel' man who posted revenge porn of his ex-girlfriend online then tricked police into letting him use his one phone call from the cells to contact her.

Aaron Henderson, 39, of Yalding, Kent, used a compromising image of his ex as his WhatsApp profile picture before sending her a message which said: 'Hey, honey look at my picture' during the campaign of harassment.

The 39-year-old, who has a string of convictions for violence, beat up his ex at a friend's house where she was staying and was then bailed with a warning not to contact her.

Canterbury Crown Court (pictured) heard Aaron Henderson, 39, of Yalding, Kent, used a compromising image of his ex as his WhatsApp profile picture before sending her a message which said: 'Hey, honey look at my picture'

But he then proceeded to bombard her with hundreds of texts and phone calls, broke into her home and phones and messaged her friends and workplace.

Yet even when Henderson was arrested and taken into custody, he managed to torment his victim one more time by demanding his one phone call.

Bully Henderson claimed he was trying to get back together with his ex but admitted assault by beating, harassment as well as posting intimate pictures online and threatening to post more.

Prosecutor Claire Cooper told Canterbury Crown Court the victim has been staying at a friend's house in March when Henderson arrived.

He then started an argument, grabbed her hair and she suffered cuts to her knee and her clothes were ripped.

Ms Cooper said: 'After admitting the beating, Henderson was released by magistrates on bail and told not to contact her.

'That was the exact opposite of what happened when, instead, he began harassing her.

'There were repeated - about 280 telephone calls - from him to her.

'It didn't stop there, he would turn up uninvited and message and text her friends.

'He also used social media to bombard her with harassment.

'He turned up at her home at 5am after getting in through a window and called her workplace.'

It was revealed that Henderson had 35 previous convictions for 70 offences - 15 of which where for violence.

Judge Simon James asked the Crown Prosecution Service for details of Henderson's previous convictions in 2008 but was told there were none as his offences had been carried out in London.

The judge said: 'I find it astonishing. Is this really the Brave New World when a man commits an offence in London and Kent police can't find out the details because it's out of county?'

Jailing him for 20 months, the judge told Henderson he had not been trying to rekindle a dying relationship as he had claimed.

Judge Simon James: 'You set upon a deliberate course to humiliate and harass her.

'This was vindictive and cruel. This was done out of spite and revenge.'
Disgraced former 'All Saints' and 'Home and Away' star Martin Lynes has been dealt new sexual assault allegations, a court has heard.

Lynes, who played Dr Luke Forlano on 'All Saints', and Adam Sharpe on 'Home and Away', did not attend Wyong Local Court on the Central Coast of NSW when prosecutors raised the fresh charges.

The prosecutor did not reveal the new charges, but they come in the wake of the 48-year-old's lawyers confirming they received DNA evidence relating to another alleged attack in February, reports Daily Telegraph.

Disgraced television actor Martin Lynes has been dealt new sexual assault allegations, a court has heard

Lynes had nine offences laid against him in March after becoming involved in an alleged dispute with a woman at his home in Bateau Bay.

Outside court Lyne's lawyer Bobby Locker said he would be awaiting consultation from his client.

'It was confirmed that DNA evidence has now been served to me and the Crown has requested an additional adjournment for additional charges to be brought,' he said.

Police charge sheets presented in court allege he sexually and indecently assaulted her over a four-hour period.

Police were called to the house but Lyne had already left by the time they arrived.

The woman was taken to Gosford Hospital to be treated for injuries and was discharged the following day.

Lynes pictured left, who played Dr Luke Forlano on All Saints, and Adam Sharpe on Home And Away, had nine separate offences laid against him in March

His lawyers confirmed they received DNA evidence relating to another alleged attack in February

Lynes was arrested on March 1 at 4.15am and later charged with sexual assault, indecent assault, four counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and three counts of common assault.

He appeared on 'Home and Away' between 2012 and 2014 as Brax's mentor Adam Sharpe and for seven seasons of 'All Saints' as Luke Forlano.

He has also appeared on 'Packed to the Rafters', 'Blue Water High' and' Police Rescue'.
Mason Lee's alleged killer is being kept in a protective cell in prison, too afraid to leave for fear he will be attacked.

William Andrew O'Sullivan, Mason's stepfather, has been charged with the death of Mason, who was 21 months old when he died in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, in June.

He's being held in prison and didn't appear in the Caboolture Magistrates Court when his case was brought up on Tuesday, The Courier Mail reported.

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Mason Jet Lee (pictured) was found dead at his stepfather's home in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, in the early hours of June 11, covered with horrific injuries

Stepfather William Andrew O'Sullivan (pictured) has been charged over Mason's death

Anne Maree Lee (left) was charged with the manslaughter of her son Mason Jet Lee (right) after he died from ruptured intestine but her lawyer said she will be fighting the allegations

A court has heard Ryan Dodson (pictured), 17, refused to get the Mason medical attention on multiple occasions

His co-accused, family friend Ryan Dodson, 17, has also been charged over Mason's death but was granted bail.

Mason was found with horrific internal injuries including broken bones and ruptured organs.

His mother, Anne Maree Lee was charged with the manslaughter of Mason.

Her case was mentioned briefly in Court on Tuesday where her lawyer, Brendan Ryan, said the 21-year-old was grieving the loss of her son and should never have faced charges over his death.

'She will be fighting the charge of manslaughter,' Mr Ryan said.

'The charge of manslaughter is the incorrect charge,' he added.

The Queensland toddler was expected to celebrate his second birthday on Monday

Emotions ran high outside the court on Tuesday as scores of people gathered to call for action over his death, with some clashing over claims they were profiting from t-shirts worn by those who turned out in support.

They chanted 'accountability for Mason, we want justice'.

'We are all concerned - it's not just Mason this is all in consideration of every Australian baby out there ... We will fight to the end,' supporter Jennifer Hansell said.

This comes as court documents allege child safety officers were just one kilometre away from Mason Lee as he lay dying at his stepfather's house.

Mason would have turned two-years-old on Monday.

Emotions ran high outside the court on Tuesday as scores of people gathered to call for action over young Mason's death

A young girl stood among protesters outside the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday

Ms Lee allegedly told the officers - who visited her three days before he died - that he was staying at the home of his stepfather and claimed they were going to visit O'Sullivan's home next.

Caboolture Magistrates' Court previously heard Hodson to get the child medical attention on multiple occasions, telling one person who said the toddler needed a doctor to 'f*** your mouth up, it's not our business, it's not our problem'.

He is also said to have told another person he wouldn't take Mason to see a doctor because he 'wasn't his child'.

He is also said to have been present when the toddler was taken to McDonalds at 3am, days before he died on June 7.

Officers are alleged to have visited the home of Queensland toddler's mother Anne Maree Lee, 21, (pictured) three days before he died

Hodson is heard directing the toddler on a neighbour's CCTV footage, after returning home with the fast food, saying 'Come on c***, you walk like a spastic.'

'Hurry up and grab your f***ing bottle. Mason, get here if you want your f***ing bottle,' he allegedly said.

While there were no allegations Hodson had physically abused Mason, he showed 'no care, compassion or consideration in any way'.

Of the three charged over Mason's death, O'Sullivan and Lee remain in custody, while Hodson was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week after his second application.

Hodson will live with his mother in Brisbane's north and be required to report to police three times a week.

O'Sullivan's case was also briefly mentioned in the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.
A Labour MP is receiving so many threats that she has had a panic room installed in her office.

Jess Phillips also said levels of abuse are so high with Jeremy Corbyn as leader that she could quit the party if he wins the contest for the top job again.

The Birmingham Yardley MP said she would consider sitting as an independent instead unless the treatment of politicians 'dramatically' changed.

Ms Phillips accused Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell of 'inciting' their supporters to put pressure on MPs opposed to the leadership and dismissed their condemnation of the abuse as 'empty rhetoric'.

Jess Phillips has suggested she could sit in parliament as an independent MP if Jeremy Corbyn is not defeated in the leadership contest

'The Labour Party is in a very difficult position at the moment, with a lot of abuse being thrown around,' Ms Phillips told BBC Radio 4's World At One in an interview recorded at the end of last month.

'It would be very, very difficult for me that if Jeremy Corbyn wins and something doesn't dramatically change in the way people are being treated online, in the streets, our security, I can't imagine why I would want to stay somewhere where I am so obviously not welcome.'

The Birmingham Yardley MP said she was subjected to abuse - including threats of violence - on a daily basis, including from one person who 'thought it was funny to mock up a picture of a woman with a spear through her heart and put my face on it'.

While she acknowledged that Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell had condemned bullying and abuse within the party, she said they had failed to follow up their words with any effective action against the perpetrators.

'Words are all well and good. I'd like to see some action. I'd like to see them calling out some of the very worst ringleaders,' she said.

'I'd like to see them actually praising the work that Labour MPs do around all sort of issues and say 'Don't you dare have a go at these people, they are doing a perfectly good job'.

'But I don't hear that. I just hear the empty rhetoric about it being 'kinder, gentler politics'. Well, this never happened under Ed Miliband.'

Talking about security precautions she had taken since the death of Jo Cox, who was shot in June in her constituency near Leeds, Ms Phillips said: 'There is a panic room being fitted in my office.

'I now walk around with an alarm system that means that people can listen in to the conversations I am having in case I am put into any danger.

'There has been a huge change in how cavalier I am willing to be with my personal safety now.'
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The former secretary of Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels - the woman who got closer to the Nazi inner circle than anyone alive - tells all in a documentary that recalls her years working for Hitler's right-hand man.

From 1942 on, Brunhilde Pomsel worked closely with Hitler's agitator and seducer of the masses - the man who conditioned the Germans to hate the Jews and go along with their mass extermination.

Pomsel was inside the Fuhrer bunker in Berlin when Adolf Hitler shot himself while the Russian army advanced on his subterranean stronghold.

As Berlin fell outside the bunker, Pomsel was told to continually supply the Nazis with alcohol 'in order to retain the numbness.'

Now her recollections of working for the Nazi monster are featuring in a new documentary, which was recently released at the Munich film festival.

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Brunhilde Pomsel was inside the Fuhrer bunker in Berlin when Adolf Hitler shot himself while the Russian army advanced

Pomsel was Dr Joseph Goebbels' assistant between 1942 and his suicide, one day after Hitler's in April 1945

Pomsel's best friend growing up was a Jewish girl who was murdered in Auschwitz, she discovered following the war

After leaving school in 1926, Pomsel began an apprenticeship with a Jewish wholesale manufacturer.

Later in 1929, when she was unemployed, she began working as a shorthand secretary for Jewish insurance broker Dr Hugo Goldberg. By 1933, she was working part time for Dr Goldberg and Nazi author Wulf Bley.

When Dr Goldberg fled Germany, her new Nazi connections got her a job with the German Broadcasting Station and she joined Hitler's party.

While working for the radio station, she was noticed by Joseph Goebbels and was appointed his assistant. It was a role she retained until his suicide - 24 hours after Hitler's.

As Germany collapsed around them, those within the bunker were only worried about their dwindling alcohol supplies as the Russians approached.

Pomsel told The Guardian: 'We tried to make sure we didnt run out of alcohol. That was urgently needed in order to retain the numbness.'

As Russian troops advanced on Hitler's bunker, Pomsel said most of those inside were only concerned about alcohol

Pomsel spent five years in Soviet custody following her capture in 1945 as a result of the fall of Berlin

Pomsel insists that at the time she worked for Goebbels she was completely unaware of the existence of Nazi death camps

Those who remained inside the bunker cut up white flour sacks to use as flags so they could surrender to the advancing Soviet troops.

She was later arrested and spent five years in custody. But remarkably, following her release, she returned to a job at German Broadcasting Corporation ARD, becoming executive secretary of the first ARD co-ordinator Lothar Hartmann until her retirement in 1971.

Despite being at the centre of the Nazi regime and a trusted assistant of the propaganda chief, Goebbels, Pomsel claims she was unaware of the Holocaust - even though one of her closest school friends died in Auschwitz.

'Goebbels was a big pig,' she said. 'I've personally done nothing evil, but I blame myself for being, at that time too uninterested in politics.

'I was grown up enough to recognise how the guilty criminals lied. That was very, very stupid of me.'

From 1942 onwards she was working for 500 Reichsmarks a month for the man the masses called behind his back 'The Poison Dwarf.'

Pomsel has described Goebbels as a 'narcissist,' aloof, cold and 'as stiff as the walking stick he carried.'

Goebbels was also the one true intellectual among the misfits who made up Hitler's most intimate clique.

A brilliant orator and filmaker, it was his twisted genius which bound Europe's most civilised nation to Hitler's will and followed him to destruction.

The film, A German Life, chronicles Pomsel's history, from her birth in Germany before the First World War, to this period as she approaches her death.

POMSEL'S FIRST INTERVIEW: TEARING THE LID OF SILENCE OFF HITLER'S LAST DAYS In 2011, Brunhilde Pomsel broke a 66-year vow of silence about the Nazi regime when she gave an interview to popular German newspaper Bild. Her revelations about the Nazi power circle's last moments shocked the world. She revealed that even after a lifetime of service, Goebbels barely acknowledged her: 'You couldn't get close to him,' she said. 'He never once asked me a personal question. Right up until the end I don't think he knew my name'. Pomsel spent the last 10 days of the Third Reich in the cellars of the propaganda ministry as Russian artillery and American bombers flattened her surroundings. She continued to pump out orders from Goebbels until the very last minute - when Goebbels shot his wife then himself. Immediately before the murder-suicide, Goebbels and his wife killed their six young children by breaking cyanide vials into their mouth. Aides were ordered to pour petrol on the corpses of the dead generals - but the remains were only partially burned, and later found by the Red Army. On May 1 1945, shortly after 'The Boss' - Hitler - committed suicide, the Russians came into the bunker and 'dragged' Pomsel out. She spent the next five years as a prisoner of the Russians in special camps. She claims not to have known about the Holocaust: 'I was a stupid, politically uninterested little sausage of simple means. I only learned about the Jewish extermination programme after the war. Goebbels never mentioned it in his correspondence.' Advertisement

Yet, before working for the Nazis, she was employed by two different Jewish-owned companies

Pomsel said when looking at young people today, she believes additional strictness would keep them in line

The authoritarianism of her early upbringing is never far away.

She said: 'Thats what people living today cant comprehend. It was such a different, narrow-minded life. It started with the childrens upbringing, if you were naughty, you were thrashed.

'You didnt get far with love and understanding. It became part of family life, to follow the rules but, at the same time, to also cheat a bit, to lie or put the blame on someone else.

'I sometimes admire young people today, from what Ive seen on TV, and the way they are already grappling with such problems. I really give them recognition for that. I wish we had been brought up like that, but we had to be more obedient, and thats easier to achieve through strictness and occasional punishment. Everything works better, theres more order to it. Whether that is more desirable, is another question.'

Having lived through the Nazi terror, Pomsel believes most people would have done very little to help those murdered by the regime.

'The people who today say they would have done more for those poor, persecuted Jews I really believe that they sincerely mean it. But they wouldnt have done it either. By then the whole country was under some kind of a dome. We ourselves were all inside a huge concentration camp.'

Pomsel said following her imprisonment, she was able to restart her career with a major German broadcaster

Brunhilde, who now lives in an OAP home in a Munich suburb, was present at his infamous 'Total War' speech in Berlin 1943 following the catastrophic defeat of the German army at Stalingrad.

And she was often forced to sit next to him at dinners at his island home on a lake near Berlin - a place where the infamous philanderer seduced many of his mistresses.

Discussing her former boss she said: 'Goebbels was a good looking man. He wasnt tall, a bit short, he could have been taller to really be something. But he was really well-kept, had great suits, best cloth.

'Always had a light tan. Well-groomed hands, he probably had a manicure done every day. There was nothing to criticize, nothing you could find fault with. But no matter how elegant and well-fitting his suits were, he limped. You felt a bit sorry for him. He made up for it though by being slightly arrogant. Arrogant and self-confident. He was a man with, what did we say? Someone who had countenance, composure.'

'If I had been a movie star, he probably would have dazzled me with his charm,' Pomsel has said. 'But he never did.'

Looking back she said: 'Im not the kind of person to resist. I wouldnt dare to. Im one of the cowards. Thats what I always try to explain to the people of today. Id also be asking stupid and naive questions if I were their age. Id say Id have known how to exclude myself. Id have been able to decide things for myself. No, you couldnt.

Pomsel's remarkable life is being chronicled in a new movie 'A German Life', which will be shown at various festivals

'Whoever did, put their lives at risk. It was so silly of them to do things like that. If they had kept their mouths shut, they would still be alive today. All because of that bloody piece of paper, all because of a leaflet.'

Yet, at the end she said: 'I was in this bunker when Lieutenant Schwagermann, Goebbelsassistant, came along and said: Hitler has committed suicide.

'That was the first thing we got to know. Yes, everyone knew what that meant. The war was over and wed lost. That was clear to us all. I can recall, there was a longer time span in between, at least a day and a night.

'Schwagermann came and said: Goebbels has committed suicide. That hit us more than the other news had. And his wife as well? Yes. And the children too!

'We were dumbstruck.'

She added: 'I wouldnt see myself as being guilty. Unless you end up blaming the entire German population for ultimately enabling that government to take control. That was all of us. Including me.'

'The rise of national socialism was a really horrible time, very unsettled,' she said. 'Everything was disintegrating.

'A lot of people in Germany were just waiting for Hitler to finally rise to power. Hitler was a preacher and told the people that we had been betrayed by our own government and by the other nations.

'When the Propaganda Ministry recruited me to work for Goebbels I couldn't say no. It was an obligation, a mandatory duty. I really loved the job, loved working with other pleasant, carefully selected women. I was swimming in money. Only trouble was, there was nothing to buy.

Captured by the Russians, she endured several years imprisonment before being released in 1950. She worked for a radio station as a secretary until retiring in 1971.

She added: 'I was a stupid and politically disinterested nobody from a simple background. I never knew about the Holocaust.
Ousted Fox News chief Roger Ailes is helping Republican nominee Donald Trump prepare for the general election debates against Democrat Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported today.

Ailes resigned from Fox News on July 21 amid sexual harassment allegations from on-air talent including ex-anchor Gretchen Carlson, who filed a lawsuit on the matter.

Three sources close to the Trump campaign confirmed to the Times that Ailes would be helping the Republican nominee with debate prep, as the three meet-ups could vault Trump's bid for the White House back into contention.

Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks quickly denied the report telling NBC News it was 'not accurate.'

'He is not advising Mr. Trump or helping with debate prep. They are longtime friends, but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign,' Hicks said.

Donald Trump could be getting debate prep from a familiar source: Fox News' ex-boss Rogers Ailes

While Trump received a boost from the Republican National Convention, he's done almost nothing to improve his standings since.

As Clinton was receiving her Democratic National Convention bounce in the polls, Trump was attacking a Muslim-American Gold Star family that appeared onstage with the Democrats from Philadelphia.

Last week the news cycle was consumed by comments Trump made that suggested that the 'Second Amendment' somehow be used to prevent Clinton from appointing liberal judges, which many interpreted as call to arms.

After that mini-controversy subsided Trump ate up a news cycle that could have been dominated by Clinton's emails revealing a cozy relationship between the Clinton Foundation, which is funded by foreign donors, and Clinton's staff at the State Department.

Instead Trump claimed again and again that Obama and Clinton were the founders of the terror group ISIS.

Yesterday, however, a more dignified Trump gave a measured foreign policy speech.

It's unclear when Ailes linked up with the fledgling Trump campaign if the New York Times' reporting is accurate or whether he was going to be paid.

The former Fox News boss was offered $40 million from the network in his deal to walk away after Carlson flied her lawsuit.

After Carlson's claims were made public, fellow Fox News host Megyn Kelly told investigators that Ailes had made unwanted sexual advances toward the anchor a decade before.

Through all this Trump stood by Ailes' side.

'I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he's helped them, and even recently. And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him. And now, all of a sudden, they're saying these horrible things about him,' Trump said on 'Meet the Press' several days after Ailes resigned.

'It's very said because he's a very good person. I've always found him to be just a very, very good person,' Trump continued. 'And, by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he's done. So I feel very badly.'

At the time Trump added that 'a lot of people are thinking he's going to run my campaign.'

Despite Trump's campaign's quick push back about Ailes' role in the campaign, women's groups were seething about Trump bringing the media titan on board.

'It's totally offensive, but equally unsurprising, that Donald Trump would bring yet another person on to his team with a reputation for mistreating women,' said NARAL Pro-Choice America spokeswoman Kaylie Hanson Long in a statement to reporters.

'Whether it's Mike Pence and his determination to defund Planned Parenthood, Corey Lewandowski who forcibly grabbed a female reporter at a campaign event, or Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court who would work to overturn Roe v Wade, this is just business as usual for Trump.'

Trump will first face off against Clinton at the Long Island-based Hofstra University on September 26, according to the schedule put out by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

They'll face off two other times: In St. Louis on October 9 and then, finally, in Las Vegas on October 19, three weeks before voters head to the polls.

Vice presidential candidates Mike Pence, Indiana's governor and Trump's running mate, and Tim Kaine, senator from Virginia and Clinton's running mate, will debate at Longwood University in Kaine's home state of Virginia on October 4.

While an official association with Ailes could be public relations poison for Trump, the former Fox News boss is a seasoned political professional, having worked for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and then bringing similar-typed conservative messaging to the airwaves with Fox News.

He's responsible, writes the New York Times quoting Newt Gingrich's website, for one of the greatest debate moments in modern history.

Reagan, running for re-election at the age of 73 and coming off a lackluster first debate appearance where he appeared confused, neutralized the too-old-to-lead issue with one good line, all thanks to Ailes.

'I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience,' Reagan said.
An Afghan asylum seeker is in the dock accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old Iraqi refugee at a German asylum centre.

A court heard that the 22-year-old was discovered in the toilet cubicle by the child's father, after he spotted his son's shoes outside the door alongside an adult pair.

When he knocked on the door, his young son's pants were down, but the older man said he was just helping the boy go to the toilet - an account the relieved father initially believed, reported the Holsteinischer Courier.

A court heard that the 22-year-old (pictured) was discovered in the toilet cubicle by the child's father, after he spotted his son's shoes outside the door alongside an adult pair

It wasn't until later when the boy revealed to his suspicious mother that he had been forced to perform oral sex on the man, who is in court along side a 29-year-old alleged accomplice, who is accused of 'keeping watch'.

According to prosecutors, an analysis led by experts reportedly showed traces of the boys DNA had been found on the mans private parts after a penile swab.

The incident is said to have happened in the town of Boostedt in the northern-most German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The centre reportedly houses approximately 600 people

The incident is said to have happened in the town of Boostedt in the northern-most German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and is the latest in a series of reported sex attacks by asylum seekers that have shocked the country.

According to prosecutors, an analysis led by experts reportedly showed how traces of the boys DNA had been found on the mans private parts after a penile swab.

The Afghan asylum seeker has denied the charges, saying that the young boy only asked him to open the toilet door for him, after which he simply left the loos and went away.

The 29-year-old Afghan who reportedly helped the 22-year-old alleged sex attacker has also been charged by the German prosecutor.

He has been accused of threatening the little boys eight-year-old brother with a knife.
Police are investigating the suspicious death of a British tourist in Brazil who fell from a hotel window.

Zoe Louise Robinson died after falling from the ninth floor window of the Bahia do Sol Hotel in Salvador on Sunday.

The incident happened around 5am in the Corredor da Vitoria area of the eastern Brazilian city.

Zoe Louise Robinson died after falling from the ninth floor window of the Bahia do Sol Hotel (pictured) in Salvador on Sunday.

According to the police, the tourist was with two friends at the hotel. The three work as volunteers in Juazeiro, a city about 500 km from Salvador.

The friends are believed to have gone to Salvador to watch the Olympics game between Nigeria and Denmark at the Fonte Nova Arena last Saturday before heading to a nightclub.

According to witnesses, the group of youngsters had an argument in the hotel before Zoe Louise fell to her death.

Salvador police have launched an investigation into the cause of death.

The British embassy said Zoe Louise's family has been informed.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'We are providing support to the family of a British national who has sadly died in Bahia State, Brazil. We are in contact with the local authorities.'
A neighbor has described finding an Arkansas judge cradling his 18-month-old son and saying he had killed the boy.

Garland County Circuit Court Judge Wade Naramore is charged with negligent homicide after his son, Thomas, died in a hot car in July 2015.

The first day of testimony opened with a statement from Gerald Keith, Naramore's neighbor, who told the jury he'd found Naramore sitting in his front yard with his son in his arms.

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Garland County Circuit Court (pictured in court in March with his wife Ashley) Judge Wade Naramore is charged with negligent homicide after his son, Thomas, died in a hot car in July 2015

Tragedy: An arrest affidavit states Naramore told police he was preoccupied with a case and forgot to drop off his toddler son, Thomas (right), at a day care center, instead leaving him in the back seat for five hours

He told the court he'd heard him repeating: 'I killed my child. I killed my child,' Arkansas Online reports.

Keith said he then took Thomas from Naramore and tried to cool him off that day by holding him in a cold shower before emergency personnel arrived.

Sadly, the youngster was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police Sgt. Kenny Kizer testified that he found Naramore 'wailing, pacing ... and crying' when he arrived at the scene.

According to the warrant, the judge told police he called 911 after getting in his car to pick his son up from day care in the afternoon and realizing the toddler was still strapped in his car seat in the back of the car.

Special prosecutor Scott Ellington said Naramore surrendered and was later released on $5,000 bond.

An affidavit filed with the arrest warrant quoted Naramore as telling officers that on the morning of July 24, 2015, he was preoccupied with a pending case when he put his son in his car seat, said his morning prayers with the boy and headed to a McDonald's for breakfast, which was out of the ordinary because they usually ate at home.

Parent's worst nightmare: Naramore was driving to pick Thomas up from day care on the afternoon of July 24, 2015 when he heard a noise in the backseat, turned around and found the child still strapped in his car seat

Naramore was then supposed to drive Thomas to a day care center, but instead he headed straight to his office.

The judge got off work early that day to run some errands before returning to his home. In the afternoon, Naramore got in his car and went to pick up his son from day care, but as he was turning a corner, he heard a noise coming from the back that made him turn around, the affidavit cited by Arkansas Online states.

That is when the father discovered the toddler unresponsive, still secured in the backseat.

Just after 3pm, the judge made a frantic 911 call, telling an emergency dispatcher: 'Please send somebody immediately.

Later on the heart-rending call the distraught father is heard wailing 'No' and saying: 'It's too late, I think he's dead.'

A state forensic report said the child died of excessive heat. The affidavit filed Thursday said temperatures that day were in the upper 90s with a heat index as high as 106 degrees.

The child's 'core temperature,' according to the document, was found to be 107 degrees.

'I killed my baby!' Naramore repeatedly told first responders, the affidavit said.

Scorched: A state forensic report said the boy's 'core temperature' was found to be 107 degrees after he was removed from the overheated vehicle

Naramore voluntarily ceased hearing cases following his son's death but did not resign.

A complaint against Naramore is pending with the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, which has said it would take no action pending resolution of any criminal charges.

The jury was also played an audio recording, from Kizer's body camera, which recorded hysterically wailing as emergency services arrived.

'Oh my God, my baby', he is heard to say, while crying.

His wife Ashley Naramore, is heard pleading to be able to see her child.

Witnesses had described seeing the boy's body which was pale and purple in his extremities.

In a statement issued last fall, Naramore and his wife, Ashley, said their son's death 'has taken an unimaginable toll on our family, friends, and all those who knew the pure joy of our sweet baby boy.
Members of Congress received notes from Hillary Clinton's interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation this afternoon.

The notes were handed over to the House Oversight Committee.

Clinton spoke to the FBI on July 2, just three days before the bureau's director James Comey announced that he would recommend the former secretary of state not be charged with a crime in the private email server case.

Comey did, however, label Clinton's homebrew email setup 'extremely careless.'

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to the FBI for three hours in early July. Now Members of Congress will be privy to the notes from that conversation

On July 5, FBI Director James Comey said publicly that he wouldn't be recommending charges against Hillary Clinton over her private emails, but labeled her 'extremely careless'

His July 5 announcement  which led to the Department of Justice officially dropping the case  also resulted in Comey having to testify before Congress, which he did two days later.

There, he was asked about Clinton's interview with the FBI.

Comey divulged that the three-hour interview hadn't taken place under oath and thus no official transcript would be available.

Notes from the interview, however, existed and Republicans have been trying to get their hands on those for the past month.

On Sunday CNN reported that they would be released to lawmakers, noting how the Obama Administration had been debating how to release the documents since Clinton is now officially the Democratic nominee for the White House.

A Clinton campaign spokesman told reporters today in Philadelphia that he would have preferred the notes be released publicly instead of solely to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

'I have nothing to say,' Clinton told an NBC News reporter on the ropeline of the Philadelphia campaign rally when asked about the FBI releasing the documents to Congress.

Republicans have harped on the email scandal for over a year now and it's done some damage to her reputation as she pursues the presidency.

Two days later, FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress and shared that the FBI hadn't spoken to Hillary Clinton under oath

In a Bloomberg Politics poll that dropped last week, respondents found Clinton's email scandal to be the most worrisome part of her candidacy.

Fifty-eight percent said they were bothered by Clinton setting up a private email server as secretary of state, a bigger percentage than those who said they were troubled by her handling of the Benghazi terror attack in 2012, in which four Americans were killed.

For months Clinton claimed that she never sent or received classified information on the private server, but Comey's congressional testimony countered that.

'Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails, either sent or received. Was that true?' asked Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy at the Capitol Hill hearing.

'That's not true,' Comey had replied.

'Secretary Clinton said, "I did not email any classified maerial to anyone on my email. There is no classified material." Was that true?' Gowdy continued.

'There was classified material emailed,' Comey answered.

Twice now Clinton has gotten herself in political trouble for sticking to her original script.

In a Fox News interview with the network's Chris Wallace, Clinton told the 'Fox News Sunday' host that Comey 'said my answers were truthful' when she talked to the FBI.

'And what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people,' she added.

At another point she told reporters during a brief Q&A that she might have 'short-circuited' when answering questions about the emails.
Kasey Warren, 27, a former substitute teacher from Kentucky, is accused of raping two 16-year-old students in June

A female substitute teacher has been charged with rape after she had sex with two male teenage students, police say.

Kasey Warren, 27, a former instructor within the Carlisle County Schools District, Kentucky, allegedly had sexual contact with two pupils aged 16.

One boy was allegedly attacked on or around June 3, police told Dailymail.com, while the other was attacked around June 14.

Police say she met the pair while working in the district in the latter half of the 2015-2016 term.

Cops revealed that both of the boys attended the same school, but said they will not be disclosing the name of the institution at this time.

Officers say the alleged attacks took place in neighboring McCracken County, but did not give any further details.

Cops say they received a report of the attacks on June 28, and a grand jury indicted Warren on Friday last week.

Courtesy WPSD

She is charged with three counts of sodomy in the third degree, and three counts of rape in the third degree because of her position of power over the boys.

Warren turned herself over to officers yesterday and is now being held in custody pending further investigation.

Officers with the Kentucky State Police added that Warren is no longer employed in Carlisle County or anywhere else in the state.

Warren does not yet have an attorney listed for comment. Her first court appearance has been set for September 15.
A London-based North Korean diplomat has quit the country's semi-detached embassy to defect to Kim Jong Un's hated rivals South Korea with his family.

Thae Yong Ho, who worked as a minister at the west London embassy of the world's most oppressive regime, is said to have fled with his wife and children.

Thae, who ironically was in charge of keeping track of North Korean defectors who had settled down in the London area, is one of the highest-level officials to defect.

According to the South Korean media, he chose to defect because of increasing pressure from Pyongyang to counter bad publicity.

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Thae Yong Ho (right), who worked at the west London semi-detached embassy of the world's most oppressive regime, is now said to be missing having left his wife and children

The North Korean London-based diplomat has left his family and defected to a third country, according to a South Korean daily newspaper. Above, the suburban North Korean embassy

Based on an anonymous source, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said: 'A DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country.

'The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat's whereabouts, but has failed.'

He seemed so British. He seemed so at home. He seemed so middle-class, so conservative, so dapper. He fitted in nicely in suburbia Steve Evans, Korea correspondent

Defections are a source of bitter contention between the rival Koreas, and South Korea doesn't always make high-profile cases public. North Korea often accuses the South of kidnapping or enticing its citizens to defect.

During his time in London, Thae helped to find ways to counter the UK's criticism of North Korea's human rights violations and handled consular services.

He is said to have been quite settled in the capital and lived happily with his wife and children in the suburbs of west London.

Steve Evans, the BBC's Korea correspondent, said he had fond memories of the diplomat, who he saw regularly and more recently enjoyed a curry with in Acton.

He said: 'He seemed so British. He seemed so at home. He seemed so middle-class, so conservative, so dapper. He would have fitted in nicely in suburbia.

'In fact, he did fit in nicely in suburbia. He told me how he had been passing the local tennis club in Ealing and had seen a sign asking for new members. In he went and joined, and became a stalwart of the tennis club.'

He added: 'He took to tennis when his wife complained about his obsession with golf. There must be a million conversations like it in the shires - his wife told him it was either golf or her. If he didn't put down the putter, she was off to Pyongyang.'

Mr Evans said he had no idea that the diplomat had been planning on defecting, and expected him to return to London following a summer spent in Pyongyang.

He added that Thae's son, who has a degree in the economics of public health from a university in England, also seemed to be rather settled in British capital.

Tyrant Kim Jong-un's officials in London are said to be unable to find their unnamed colleague

The diplomat was in charge of keeping tabs of defected North Koreans in London and finding ways to counter the UK's criticism of North Korea's human rights violations

It is feasible that the diplomat was one of the diplomats incensed over a poster mocking Kim Jong-un's haircut in a local barber shop.

North Korea's Supreme Leader appeared in a barber's window advert, with the tagline, 'Bad hair day?'.

Embassy officials demanded the 'disrespectful' advert be taken down from the window of M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing.

Mo Nabbach, who runs M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing, told officers at the time that he feared for his livelihood after using the picture as a joke to promote a discount for men's haircuts.

While staff at the low-key embassy have made friends with the neighbours with some professing their appreciation for the X-Factor over drinks, the neighbourhood is also a notorious spot for a more risque social gathering.

Embassy officials demanded the 'disrespectful' advert be taken down from the window of M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing earlier this year

It was claimed in March this year that a family park behind the North Korea's modest suburban London embassy had become a hotspot for dogging - public al fresco sex hookups

It was claimed in March this year that a family park behind the North Korea's modest suburban London embassy had become a hotspot for dogging - public al fresco sex hookups.

The Foreign Office said they were not commenting on the reports and could not confirm if they were trying to verify them.

The Government's list of foreign diplomats in the UK shows there are five diplomats in addition to an ambassador based at the DPRK embassy in Ealing, west London.

Today's announcement comes after North Korea responded angrily to a U.S. plan to place an advanced missile defense system in South Korea.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has said the standard of training will not be lowered so it is easier for certain groups to get in

American forces officials are trying to recruit more women into all roles

She will now be given a new position in the US Marines

It was her second attempt at the

The only female officer enrolled on the Marine infantry training course has dropped out.

The woman, who has not been identified, failed two conditional training hikes last month during the grueling course - meaning she could not make the final cut and be selected for a front line combat role.

It was her second attempt at the program, after failing for the first time in August, and was the only female in the group.

She will now be given a new position in the US Marines.

The only female officer enrolled on the Marine infantry training course has dropped out after failing two of her tasks. It was her second attempt at the program, after failing for the first time in August, and was the only female in the group. (She is not pictured)

Joshua Pena, a spokesman for Training and Education Command, confirmed to the Marine Corps Times there were no women left on the infantry course.

So far, 33 officers have failed to meed the standards required to make it into the Marines.

The class of 97 officers started on July 6 and are scheduled to finish on September 20.

In May, US Marine Corps assigned two women to frontline infantry roles, a first for the armed service under new Pentagon rules opening all combat jobs to women.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in December all combat roles would be open to woman.

But no female has been able to make it into the Marines.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Marines in April he would not lower the standards to allow other groups in.

He told Marines in April: 'Let me repeat that: Standards will not be lowered for any group to get through.

'Standards may be changed as circumstances in the world change, but they'll be changed for everybody.'

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus (pictured in June) has insisted he will not lower training standards to make it easier for any groups to get into the Marines. Only about 7 per cent to 8 per cent of the Corps, which numbers 184,200, has been women

Around 300,000 women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in various combat roles.

In total, 161 have died for their country.

For years, only about 7 per cent to 8 per cent of the Corps, which numbers 184,200, has been women. It's the smallest percentage of women among all the military services.

But on the heels of the Pentagon decision to allow women who qualify to serve in combat jobs, thousands of new infantry, armor and other front-line posts are now open.
Hundreds of migrants have been left stranded on the Swiss-Italian border after Switzerland has been accused of shutting their borders to asylum seekers - and breaking the law.

While Swiss authorities reject accusations they are violating would-be refugees' rights to seek asylum, migrants on the border say it is closed to them.

Several hundred migrants have slept on towels and blankets in the park near Como's train station since the Swiss clampdown began in mid-July, separating people from relatives or friends who had crossed some months before.

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Barred: Migrants wait in a makeshift camp on the Swiss-Italian border waiting to cross

Closed: Migrants say requests to seek Swiss asylum fall on deaf ears

Non-governmental and human rights groups like Amnesty International and Associazone Firdaus have called for clarifications from Switzerland over migrants' claims that they were denied a chance to speak to border authorities and that requests to seek Swiss asylum went unheeded.

Nine months pregnant and desperate to cross from Italy into Switzerland after fleeing Ethiopia, a young woman along with her husband are among hundreds stranded by a Swiss border clampdown that is drawing international scrutiny.

'Wait here until we understand the situation,' volunteer Lisa Bosia Mirra told the Ethiopian couple, who did not give their names, after they sought her help with Swiss asylum applications. 'One week at least.'

Several hundred migrants have slept on towels and blankets in the park near Como's train station since the Swiss clampdown began in mid-July

Swiss left-wing politicians are checking for possible violations of Swiss asylum law.

With the migrant crisis now in its third year, more people are arriving and more are dying on often dangerous journeys to Europe from northern Africa and the Middle East.

For many migrants, Italy has become the gateway into Europe now that - in response to a public backlash over the more than one million who streamed to the continent in 2015 - borders have slammed shut along the Balkan corridor and an accord between Turkey and the EU has stemmed an influx into Greece.

More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, up sevenfold from 2013. Italy has increasingly struggled to cope as Austria, France and Switzerland have turned back migrants seeking onward travel.

Still, the pair, fearing the prospect of the mother giving birth in a Como park without shelter or sanitation, said they would try their luck anyway and enter Switzerland, a longtime haven for refugees, by train.

Italy has become the gateway into Europe now that - in response to a public backlash over the more than one million who streamed to the continent in 2015

Swiss National Councillor Carlo Sommaruga (right) talks to a migrant during his visit to a makeshift camp at a park near the San Giovanni railway station in Como

In Switzerland, asylum requests fell by more than a third year on year in July, even as those trying to enter rose. Last week alone, Swiss border guards swept up nearly 1,800 people trying to cross from Italy without permission.

More than two-thirds have been turned away since July, up from one in seven through June this year.

Swiss Customs said this upholds the law - under Europe's so-called Dublin System for handling refugees, migrants can be returned to their first country of registry - and reflects a rise in migrants aiming to transit elsewhere in Europe.

Under Swiss law, its Secretariat for Migration (SEM) must process anyone requesting asylum. That means border officers or police must put asylum seekers in SEM's care even if they are ultimately deemed ineligible to stay.

More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, up sevenfold from 2013

In Switzerland, asylum requests fell by more than a third year on year in July

But many of Como's migrants, including minors, told Reuters in interviews that they were rebuffed directly at the border despite presenting documents showing they sought to join family in Switzerland. It remains unclear if people were being rejected en masse under any formal policy, Bosia said.

Norman Gobbi, the local Swiss police director, has told local media of a more restrictive practice where only plausible asylum requests were being considered. Those requesting asylum only after being rebuffed for initially saying they wanted to travel onward were being returned to Italy, he said.

'This situation is an expression of the failure of the Dublin system,' Swiss parliamentarian Carlo Sommaruga said last week as he met young Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis, many of them children, who travelled across Egypt and Libya to Europe.

These young people told stories of persecution at home - a father jailed, an uncle murdered, women raped - which they said made fleeing necessary. Abdurre Dire showed scars on his hands, face and wrist he said came from police in his native Ethiopia.

'If I had not left, they would have killed me,' he said.




City Manager Chris Zappata said despite critiques people are excited

Others say they have no problem with the giant naked woman sculpture

Some locals have said they are unhappy the statue is being installed

The statue is a 55-foot naked woman with

A 55-foot-tall statue of a naked woman is causing controversy in San Leandro, California, after some people raised questions about if the sculpture was appropriate to display as public art.

The state, called 'Truth is Beauty', is in the process of being installed at the San Leandro tech campus.

So far only her legs have been installed,

This 55-foot-tall statue of a naked woman called 'Truth in Beauty' is being installed at the San Leandro tech campus in California (pictured at Burning Man)

The statue is in the process of being installed, and so far only her legs are in place. However, locals are worried the statue of a naked woman might be too provocative

But still, some locals are worried the statue might not be appropriate.

'You know how some people are. Some people don't want to see nobody naked. Not even a bird,' said San Leandro resident William Eckels told CBS San Francisco.

The statue shows a naked woman with her arms outstretched skyward.

She is leaning backwards, almost in a dance-like position.

'I didn't think of it as offensive in any way, because it's just a woman posing who happens to be naked.

'And it's pretty see through, so it's not like there's going to be any explicit details,' Breana Lankford said.

'You know how some people are. Some people don't want to see nobody naked,' said San Leandro resident William Eckels (campus during construction, pictured)

'I think it's better suited for a museum where people have the option about whether that's something they want their children to view,' resident Sally Wrye said (plans for the campus, pictured)

The statue previously debuted at Burning Man music and art festival.

'I really liked it. I think it's a beautiful sculpture. Obviously, the artist is extremely talented.

'But I'm not sure it's appropriate for public display.

'I think it's better suited for a museum where people have the option about whether that's something they want their children to view,' resident Sally Wrye said.

City Manager Chris Zappata said despite the critiques, there has been far more support for the statue than opposition

When the new tech campus was developed the city required that it include public art.

City Manager Chris Zappata said despite the critiques, there has been far more support for the statue than those vocally opposing it.

'There is a dearth of representation of women in the tech industry.

'And this hopefully will start to bring attention to that problem as well as bring public art to our community, 'Zappata said.
Hillary Clinton said today she's often confused when she listens to her Republican opponent give national security addresses like the one he delivered yesterday.

'It just absolutely bewilders me when I hear Donald Trump try to talk about national security,' she said today at a voter registration event in Philadelphia.

As vice president Joe Biden said Monday, Clinton said, 'It's not just that he doesn't know what he's talking about, that's bad enough.'

'But what he often says hurts us. It sends the wrong message to friend and foe alike in the world.'

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Hillary Clinton said today she's often confused when she listens to her Republican opponent talk about foreign policy. 'It just absolutely bewilders me'

Clinton was at a voter registration event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time. She's seen here working the crowd after

Clinton, a grandmother of two, holds a baby as she greets people in the audience at a Pennsylvania Democratic Party voter registration event

Clinton added, 'And we are living in a complex world. One where we need steadiness, where we've got to have a real sense of how we're going to get to where we want to go, to help as many people, to keep our country safe, but to do it with the kind of bigness, the kind of confidence that really marks America at our best. '

Twice during the event Clinton invoked the Olympics as a contrast to the 'fear' she said Trump is peddling.

'You know, sometimes when I hear Trump talking about how we should all be so afraid all the time, and then I find a few minutes to watch the Olympics, I go, "My goodness, when you go out and compete, not everybody can win, but youve got to do your best," ' she said.

Clinton asked the audience to imagine American swimmer Michael Phelps or gymnast Simone Biles or other members of Team USA in the locker room saying, ' "I dont know. Im too afraid to go out and compete." '

'No,' she said. 'They get out there, they compete, they do their best. They demonstrate the kind of spirit that we want from all Americans.'

Twice during the event Clinton invoked the Olympics as a contrast to the 'fear' she said Trump is peddling. The United States has collected 28 gold medals, 26 silver and 27 bronze medals so far

The United States has collected 28 gold medals, 26 silver and 27 bronze medals so far.

Biles took gold for the fourth time today. She has one bronze medal, as well. Phelps has five gold and one bronze medal from the 2016 Olympics.

'Team USA is showing the world what this country stands for,' Clinton declared in Philadelphia.

Clinton said that when Trump speaks, 'he speaks about fear. He speaks about such negativity and such pessimism. And then I watch the Olympics, and its exactly the opposite.'

'You have young people going out doing their best every day to get prepared to compete,' she said. 'And thats what were going to do in America.

'There is nothing that we cant do if we put our minds to it.'
A leaked confidential report from the German government has accused the Turkish government of supporting terrorist groups across the Middle East.

The document - produced by the Interior Ministry - says Turkish President Erdogan's government supports Palestinian Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and various Islamist groups fighting in Syria.

It emerged after the left party Die Linke made a confidential request in the German Parliament, the Bundestag, and the report was leaked to German public broadcaster ARD.

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A leaked confidential report from the German government has accused the Turkish government of supporting terrorist groups across the Middle East, including Hamas

The document - produced by the Interior Ministry - says Turkish President Erdogan's government supports Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and various Islamist groups in Syria

It emerged after the left party Die Linke made a confidential request in the German Parliament, the Bundestag, and the report was leaked to German broadcaster ARD

'The many expressions of solidarity and support actions by the ruling AKP and President Erdogan for the Egyptian MB (Muslim Brotherhood), Hamas and groups of armed Islamist opposition in Syria emphasise their ideological affinity with the (broader) Muslim Brotherhood,' ARD has reported the document as stating.

This is the first time the German government has made a direct link between the Turkish authorities and Hamas, an EU and US listed terrorist organisation.

An Islamic militant and political group, Hamas governs the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, after democratically winning elections in 2006, although rule is shared with the Palestinian Authority.

Germany's European affairs minister Michael Roth said Germany would continue to raise its concerns about Turkey's crackdown on suspected putschists

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is not deemed to be a terrorist organisation by either the EU or the US, and traditionally has close sympathies with Turkey's interpretation of political Islam.

Significantly, the report states that Ankara has deepened ties with the groups and have even become a 'platform for action' in the region.

'As a result of the step-by-step Islamization of its foreign and domestic policy since 2011, Turkey has become the central platform for action by Islamist groups in the Middle East,' the document states, according to ARD.

'The German government cannot publicly designate the godfather of terrorism Erdogan as a partner, while internally warning about Turkey as a hub for terrorism,' said Sevim Dagdalen, a lawmaker and member of the Linke party.

The German government released part of its response to the party, but declined comment on the secret portion

Tensions between Ankara and the West have been aggravated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch, in which 240 people were killed.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey could walk away from the deal (file photo)

Refugees wait after they were prevented from sailing to Greece from Turkey (file photo)

An Islamic militant and political group, Hamas governs the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, after democratically winning elections in 2006, although rule is shared with the Palestinian Authority

Germany's European affairs minister Michael Roth said Germany would continue to raise its concerns about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's detention of more than 35,000 people as part of a crackdown on suspected putschists.

Michael Roth told Reuters that it was clear from the start that a migrant deal struck between the EU and Turkey required completion of 72 criteria before Turks could be granted visa-free travel.

Turkey faces a long and arduous path to obtaining visa-free travel within the European Union, and immediate prospects are not bright,

'Turkey faces a very long and difficult path. The criteria must be fulfilled, and it doesn't look good at the moment,' Roth said. 'As long as the 72 criteria have not been fulfilled - and a few are still open - there cannot be visa liberalisation.'

'The German government cannot publicly designate the godfather of terrorism Erdogan as a partner, while internally warning about Turkey as a hub for terrorism,' said Sevim Dagdalen (pictured), a lawmaker and member of the Linke party.

Tensions between Ankara and the West have been aggravated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch, in which 240 people were killed

At the same time, Roth said it was important to keep open channels of communication with Turkey, which would remain an important partner given the refugee crisis, and because of the presence of over 3 million people in Germany of Turkish descent.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Monday that Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe if the EU failed to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is set to get his first classified security briefing Tuesday in New York.

The briefings are given to both party nominees under a system that goes back decades.

The high-level briefing will be delivered by the office of the director of national intelligence.

Trump is set to bring along two advisors: New Jersey governor Chris Christie and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, ABC News reported.

Republican Donald Trump is set to get his first classified security briefing in New York on Wednesday

Both were on Trump's short list to be his vice presidential running mate.

The tradition began after Vice President Harry Truman assumed office without having knowledge of the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear bomb.

Last month, President Obama took a shot at both Trump and Hillary Clinton when discussing the issue of the classified briefing.

"We are going to go by the law, which is that, in both tradition and the law, that if somebody is the nominee ... they need to get a security briefing so that if they were to win, they are not starting from scratch in terms of being prepared," the president said.

Asked whether he was concerned about Trump getting the briefing, following Trump's statements about having seen video of a 'ransom' payment being delivered to Iran for the release of Americans held there, Obama said: "What I will say is that they have been told these are classified briefings. And if they want to be president, they got to start acting like president, and that means being able to receive these briefings and not spread them around.'

Trump plans to bring New Jersey governor Chris Christie, an advisor and a former federal prosecutor, ABC reported.

FBI director James Comey admonished Clinton for her 'extremely careless' handling of classified information on her home email server.

It isn't clear that either nominee will get the keys to the kingdom, intelligence-wise.

'He's going to get some briefings between now and Election Day. Frankly, they'll be labeled secret, but they'll be secret-light, former NSA chief Gen. Michael Hayden told MSNBC. 'They'll be generalized discussions. Both candidates will get them,' he added.

Trump gets his briefing on the same week he laced into Obama and Clinton's foreign policy and called for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants trying to enter the U.S. from 'volatile' countries.

Trump took heat last month when discussing the hack of Democratic National Committee emails, believed been orchestrated by the Russian government, when he said Russia should 'find the 30,000 emails that are missing'  a reference to Hillary Clinton's emails.
A Romanian father and his son have been jailed for keeping a pregnant Polish woman as their domestic slave and giving her food 'not fit for human beings'.

Ioan Berlan, 47, and Reni Parczewski, 25, lured the woman to the house in Tottenham with the promise of work and accommodation.

But the vulnerable victim was held in deplorable conditions and made to work from 9am to 9pm each day.

She was threatened with 'grave consequences' if she failed to keep the home spotless.

A day after having a miscarriage she was forced back to work - and told she was 'no use' as they hoped to receive child benefits.

The Polish victim was held between December last year and February this year, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Ioan Berlan, 47, and Reni Parczewski, 25, have been jailed at Southwark Crown Court (pictured) for keeping a pregnant Polish woman as their domestic slave

Andrew Frymann, prosecuting, said: 'She was a vulnerable woman, she hadn't been very well.

'Knowing of the medical difficulties because they took her to the hospital, she was still told to wash the floor and clean and a day later had to go back to normal cleaning duties.

'She was told to clean the floor, wash the dishes. She was forced to work in the house as a servant.

'She was told if she didn't clean the house there would be consequences, grave consequences.'

Reading from the victim's statement Mr Frymann told the court she was treated as a 'toy' and called a 'whore'.

She said: 'I couldn't go out anywhere, I was their servant. I came to the conclusion I will run away or be a servant for the rest of my life.'

Describing the case Judge Peter Testar said: 'It sounds to me like Cinderella, though that's a rather simple summary.'

Berlan, from Tottenham, and Parczeksi, of Enfield, admitted holding a person in slavery and servitude.

The court heard how Parczewski and Berlan - known as 'Max' - made the teenager work for up to 12 hours a day.

Mr Frymann said: 'The 19-year-old victim came to this country seeking work and a better life than the life she had in Poland.

They promised her 40 a day and said she would be able to stay with Berlan and his wife without paying rent.

But none of this money ever materialised and Mr Frymann described the victim as 'penniless'.

She had been told 'life would be much better for her in London' but ended up scrubbing the one-bedroom flat for 12 hours a day.

Mr Frymann explained how the pair offered the victim work at Magic Hand Car Wash in Edmonton, where she received 35 for a day's work.

But she was forced to give up the job after a miscarriage.

The Polish victim was forced to clean Berlan's flat in West Green Road (pictured), in Tottenham, for 12 hours a day

In her police interview she said: 'A day earlier when I noticed that I am bleeding and Max knew that I am miscarrying, that I am in the process of miscarrying, he told me to wash the floor and clean.

'A day or two [after the miscarriage] I had to go back to normal cleaning duties.

'I was ordered to clean the house regardless of whether I was well or unwell.

'I was used to clean and play a role of a servant for everybody.'

The woman was subjected to cleaning from 9am through to 9pm.

Parczewski threatened to take the teenager to Birmingham to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

She also told police how Parczewski wanted to 'beat her up' and how he was disappointed following the miscarriage as he was hoping to receive the benefit payments.

She was told she was of 'no use' after her miscarriage.

Parczewiski and Berlan pleaded guilty to holding a person in slavery and servitude.

They were jailed for three years and 20 months respectively.

The younger man received a longer sentence because he had threatened to make the victim work in a brothel.

Sentencing them, Judge Testar said: 'For a 19-year-old woman one thousand miles away from her home, her native land, and unable to speak the language of the country where she found herself this must have been humiliating and terrifying.

'No case where this offence is committed is likely to be trivial or meaningless.

'This work was burdensome to the extent that what was required of her and the way that it was required of her are accepted to amount to servitude.

'An incident of this is that when at the beginning of the time that she spent under the defendants she miscarried.

'She was not allowed any significant time to recover but was expected simply to carry on.'

He added: 'The food that she, and her partner, was given to eat was described - according to the Polish meaning of the word - as food for animals and not for human beings.
Abu Dhabi offered to make its first ever donation to the Clinton Foundation while the oil-rich state was lobbying the State Department for a major airline deal, according to emails obtained by the Daily Mail  and foundation officials pressed a top Hillary Clinton aide for permission to take the money.

The Clinton Foundation, which says it has no record of actually accepting the donation from TAQA, Abu Dhabi's state-run oil company, asked Clinton's chief of staff Cheryl Mills for approval to take the $50,000 first-time donation in March 2012.

Under a 2008 agreement between the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation was required to get approval from State Department and White House ethics officials before accepting donations from foreign governments that had not previously donated.

Although Clinton Foundation officials ran the contribution past Mills in a series of emails spanning two months, it is unclear if they also sought approval from the State Department's ethics office.

Hillary Clinton campaigning on Tuesday. The emails raise questions as to whether her foundation used her chief of staff as a back-channel around the official ethics review process

Clinton Foundation officials asked Hillary's chief of staff to accept the $50,000 sum from Abu Dhabi - even as the state was lobbying for a major airline deal

The money would have come from Abu Dhabi's state-run oil firm TAQA. The Clinton Foundation says it has no record of ever accepting the offer

The emails were first obtained by the watchdog group Citizens United earlier this month as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

The State Department declined to comment on whether ethics officials ever reviewed the donation offer.

The emails raise questions about Millss close involvement in the State Department vetting process for Clinton Foundation donations and Bill Clintons outside financial arrangements, including whether the foundation used her as a back-channel around the official ethics review process.

Documents previously released in response to a Judicial Watch public records request showed that Mills was often copied on memos between State Department ethics officials and the Clinton Foundation regarding the vetting of Bill Clintons speaking requests and consulting contracts.

Mills maintained a close relationship with the Clinton Foundation officials during her time at the State Department. She was a member of the Clinton Foundation board from 2004 to 2009, the year she joined the State Department, and rejoined it in 2013 after her role as Hillary Clintons chief of staff ended.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Daily Mail Online: 'Over the course of Secretary Clinton's tenure, the State Department reviewed dozens of entities each year, primarily consisting of speeches and consultancies of former President Clinton.

'The Department does not comment on our internal decision making surrounding donations and speaking requests, but generally speaking, to the extent that any engagements raised concerns within the Department, the Department relayed those concerns. Some requests were withdrawn or not acted upon.'

The February 2012 contribution from TAQA would have been the foundation's first donation from Abu Dhabi, a Clinton Foundation official openly acknowledged in the emails.

Clinton Foundation staffer Amitabh Desai, left, said that the donation would be channeled through TAQA executive Leo Koot, pictured right

'TAQA has a connection with Abu Dhabi government,' wrote Clinton Foundation staffer Amitabh Desai in a March 28, 2012 message to Mills. 'CF [Clinton Foundation] hasn't received money from Abu Dhabi before. We're considering it now since this is an auction that would be difficult to backtrack on.'

Hillary Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Dennis Cheng were also copied on the emails.

According to Desai, the Abu Dhabi donation was channelled through Leo Koot, an executive at TAQA's UK office, who put up $100,000 from TAQA as a winning bid in a February 2012 charity auction to spend the day with Bill Clinton.

The Clinton Foundation had agreed to split the $100,000 with the Grameen Foundation, a microfinance charity founded by banker Muhammad Yunus.

The $50,000 sum was half of the money put up by TAQA in a February 2012 auction to spend the day with Bill Clinton. The other $50,000 was to be split with the the Grameen Foundation, a microfinance charity founded by Muhammad Yunus, pictured, who was turfed out of his job as managing director in 2011 after a legal dispute with Bangladeshi government

'Wanted to be sure you are aware and we'd welcome any feedback,' added Desai.

Mills replied later that evening.

'We should discuss  will call in am  what number?'

It is unclear if Mills called the next day, but Desai followed up again a month later.

'Dear Cheryl,' he wrote on April 18, 2012. 'We'd welcome your feedback on this.'

Several weeks later, the Clinton Foundation's development director Lidia Andich followed up with an email to Desai and Hillary Clinton's aide Dennis Cheng.

'Just reading about HRC's support of the Grameen Bank, which prompted me to check in for any updates from the State Dept. re: Donation from TAQA group,' wrote Andich in the May 7, 2012 email, which was first reported by the Daily Caller earlier this month.

Desai forwarded the email to Mills later that day, copying Hillary Clinton's scheduler.

'Following up on inquiry a couple months ago, we'd welcome your guidance on accepting funds from TAQA,' wrote Desai.

In the final message of the chain, Mills promised Desai again that she would call him to discuss.

The donation offer came as Abu Dhabi was seeking U.S. approval for a special airport clearance facility that would make it more convenient for passengers on the government-owned Etihad Airways to travel between Abu Dhabi and the United States. State Department officials were involved in negotiations about the facility, which ran throughout 2012. The deal was officially approved at the end of that year.

Mills, who was also Clinton's legal counsel, had previously served on the board of the Clinton Foundation and as an adviser the United Arab Emirates  two roles that overlapped for several months with her position at the State Department.

Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate of the UAE, which is often criticized for its troubling human rights record. The pro-democracy watchdog Freedom House rated the UAE 'Not Free' in its latest 2015 report, writing that the government 'continued to suppress dissentrestricting the use of social media and passing an expansive antiterrorism law that criminalizes criticism of the regime.'

Bill Clinton drew controversy in 2014, after he gave a commencement speech at NYU's Abu Dhabi campus, which has also faced charges of widespread labor abuses from human rights groups. Mills previously sat on the Abu Dhabi school's board.

'These emails should raise serious concerns about what Hillary Clinton's senior staff was focused on at the State Department,' said David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United. 'It appears that as Clinton Foundation fundraising flourished, U.S. foreign affairs deteriorated.'

The Clinton Foundation's foreign donors were a subject of controversy at the State Department, despite the 2008 agreement between Clinton and the Obama administration that was supposed to limit the foundation's financial relationships with foreign governments while Clinton was secretary of state.

The Clinton Foundation acknowledged to the Washington Post last year that it violated the ethics agreement by accepting a $500,000 donation from Algeria in 2010 without seeking approval from ethics officials.

Bill, Hillary and Clinton onstage together in 2014. 'It appears that as Clinton Foundation fundraising flourished, U.S. foreign affairs deteriorated,' says David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United

It also raked in millions from undisclosed foreign donors through its Canadian affiliate, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership. The group has since released the names of some of its corporate donors that gave 'permission' for their identities to be published, but others are still unknown.

The potential connections between Clinton's actions at the State Department and donations to the Clinton Foundation have been the subject of numerous articles and Peter Schweizer's 2015 book Clinton Cash.

Earlier this month, the Daily Caller reported on portions of the TAQA email discussions, detailing how Hillary Clinton's praise for the Grameen Foundation came at the same time that the group helped Bill Clinton obtain $500,000 in speaking fees  with assistance from State Department aide Mills.

After Clinton and Obama finalized their ethics review agreement in 2008, it was praised by then-Senator John Kerry, who now serves as secretary of state.

'All contributions by foreign governments will be subject to a review process by the State Department's ethics officials,' promised Kerry, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

A spokesperson for the Clinton Foundation said it 'never received a donation' from TAQA or Koot. He did not say whether it turned the money down or if the donation just never materialized.

The charity auction to spend the day with Bill Clinton was hosted by the Scottish Business Awards forum, run by young entrepreneur Josh Littlejohn. According to Littlejohn, the 2012 TAQA donation paved the way for him to get Clinton to come speak to the forum the next year, in 2013  in addition to a six-figure contribution to the foundation.

'I contacted Clinton's foundation charity [in 2012] via the website, and amazingly they agreed to offer a prize of spending a day with Clinton in New York  if I could achieve a bid of 60,000, to be split with the charity,' said Littlejohn in an interview with The Herald in 2013.

'It was nerve-wracking on the night trying to raise the money, but thanks to Leo Koot of the Taqa oil company in Aberdeen, who bid up on himself, we were successful.'
Donald Trump emphatically defended the Wisconsin police officer who shot and killed Sylville Smith at a traffic stop, prompting two days of riots.

Trump referenced early statements by law enforcement that Smith, who had a criminal record, pointed a gun at the officer, in comments to Fox News just hours before he headed to Milwaukee for an event with local law enforcement.

'If you believe a gun was pointed at his head, maybe ready to be fired, what is a person supposed to do?' Trump asked.

'We need strong, swift and very fair law and order," Trump told the network.

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Donald Trump defended a Wisconsin police officers use of force against motorist Sylville Smith, who allegedly pulled a gun

Donald Trump visited the Milwaukee County War Memorial, where he spoke with veterans and law enforcement, including Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke

Trump defended the officer who shot Smith. The officer hasn't yet been identified, but like Smith he is black.

'What is a person supposed to do?' Trump said. 'You're supposed to talk him out of it?'

'So I would think so, we'll find out because they have a tape, as I understand. But the gun was pointed at his head, supposedly ready to be fired, I think that, who can have a problem with that?'

Then he hedged saying, 'Now, that's what the narrative is. Maybe it's not true. If it is true, people shouldn't be rioting.'

Protesters rally ithrough the streets in Milwaukee Sunday a day after the fatal shooting

An O'Reilly auto parts store burned during the first night of rioting

A police officer stands watch outside a building burned during the first night of riots

There were two nights of rioting in Milwaukee, with some buildings burned to the ground, although authorities imposed a curfew imposed Monday night and the rioting subsided.

Trump continued on the subject of rioting: 'We have to obey the laws or we dont have a country. We have a case where good people are out there trying to get people to sort of calm down and theyre not calming down, and we have our police who do a phenomenal job.'

'In this case a gun was pointed at his head, I guess and I would assume the tapes are going to be revealed at some point.'

Trump also spoke about his plan for 'extreme vetting' of potential immigrants seeking to come here, saying both Syria and Iraq as countries that would get visa restrictions.

Trump repeated his call for 'law and order'

'Syria is certainly one, Iraq is another one - were gonna be naming a number of countries and those countries are subject to change but were gonna have extreme vetting,' Trump said.

'Were gonna be looking at Facebook as an example, they dont look at what they should be looking at,' he said, meaning screeners would check social media accounts.

The plan is the latest iteration of Trump's temporary Muslim ban.

'You have to get very good people, very smart people because obviously otherwise theyre gonna get you know ... will people go through the cracks? Perhaps, but it can be very, very, tough. Its gotta be very very tough to come into this countr,' he said.

Later on Tuesday, Trump met with veterans and members of law enforcement in Milwaukee, including Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who spoke at the Republican National Convention and slammed rioters in a recent op-ed in The Hill.

'What happened Saturday night and again Sunday night had little to do with police use of force  it was a collapse of the social order where tribal behavior leads to reacting to circumstances instead of waiting for facts to emerge,' Clarke wrote.
Angelika Schell, 54, has been jailed for spending 37,000 on her company card

A Thomas Cook employee has been jailed for spending 37,000 on her company credit card - while serving a suspended sentence for stealing 26,000 from her previous employers.

German-born Angelika Schell, 54, splashed out on taxis to and from work, extravagant shopping trips and regular flights to her homeland over a two-year period.

The Old Bailey heard how she was spared prison in October 2014 for stealing from green energy investment firm Brook Henderson Group, where she was PA to the chief executive.

But she did not disclose this to Thomas Cook and so moved onto her next scam, which saw her use the company card to pay off 1,300 court fines.

Recorder Bruce Houlder QC today jailed her for three years and three months for the Thomas Cook fraud and an extra 18 months for breaching her suspended sentence for the previous scam.

The 54-year-old sobbed in court as she was led to the cells.

The court heard how Schell landed the 60,000 job with Thomas Cook just six months after being convicted of fraud.

She had not revealed to bosses that she had been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for two years, with 300 hours community service.

Her abuse of the Thomas Cook company card was only discovered in April this year when she was dismissed for an 'internal breach of trust'.

She spent 30,957 on shopping sprees and trips to the hairdresser, 3,363 on taxis, more than 2,000 on a colleague's credit card, 1,300 on court costs and 833 on flights to Germany.

The court heard how Schell landed the 60,000 job with Thomas Cook just six months after being convicted of fraud

Prosecutor Claire Harden-Frost said: 'They found the card had been used for personal expenses - the vast majority had been for personal expenses.

'Most shockingly those expenses included payment of court fees from the previous case.

'She also used a taxi company, Addison Lee, almost daily to book taxis to and from work and charge it to the company.

'She booked flights to and from Germany where she had a second home.'

Schell was arrested on May 19 this year but made no comment in interview and was released on bail.

She then sent a threatening email to a colleague to try and get the criminal case dropped.

'She wanted this dealt with as a civil matter,' said Miss Harden-Frost.

The Old Bailey heard how she was spared prison in October 2014 for stealing from green energy investment firm Brook Henderson Group

Schell's barrister Neil Baki said his client committed the frauds after learning she had developed breast cancer.

Mr Baki said: 'That sent her life into a bit of a tailspin at that point. She accepts she abused the trust of her employers.

'She accepts that she used the company credit card to visit Germany but that was to see her mother rather than a luxurious holiday abroad.

'She wants to start a life back in Germany, she has nothing left in this country.'

Sentencing, Recorded Houlder said: 'These offences were committed almost seamlessly with those on your previous employers.

'You did not heed the court's warning, you were well aware of the consequences and you ignored it.

'You defrauded Thomas Cook of 37,000. Your fraud was persistent and was committed in deliberate breach of a suspended sentence for a similar offence of fraud.
Three extremists with links to Britain's most notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary are facing jail for a series of speeches in support of ISIS.

Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, Yousaf Bashir and Rajib Khan gave speeches which 'infected the minds of young people' in Luton during Ramadan last year, attended by up to 80 people.

Khan was also convicted by a majority of nine jurors to one at the Old Bailey of arranging one of the meetings at a local church.

He is the older brother of Junead Khan, 25, the delivery driver who was jailed in May for life for plotting to murder an American serviceman near a base in East Anglia, inspired by the horrifying killing of Fusilier Rigby.

He wanted to cause a car crash and coax soldiers from their vehicles before hacking them to death with a hunting knife.

The men were alleged to be supporters of the banned group al-Muhajiroun - headed by Choudary - and which has links to a staggering 15 terror plots, including the murder of Lee Rigby and the 7/7 attacks.

Rajib Khan (third right) and Mohammed Istiak Alamgir (second right) are facing jail for 'infecting the young minds of children' by encouraging support for ISIS

The trial and conviction of Choudary could not be reported until the conclusion of the trial of Alamgir, Bashir and Khan today.

Choudary was finally behind bars tonight after two decades spent laughing at the law.

His extremist Islamic sermons spawned atrocities, beheadings and bomb plots across the globe and are thought to have inspired at least 110 Britons into terrorist acts. Police believe he also influenced 850 jihadis fighting aborad in Syira and Iraq.

Alamgir, Bashir and Khan were part of the Luton branch of al-Muhajiroun, the Old Bailey heard.

Their invitation-only gatherings in June and July last year - the months of Ramadan - attracted up to 100 people, including very young children, and featured speeches calling for gays to be thrown off buildings.

One was held on the anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London.

The first speech took place at St Margaret's Church on June 29 last year, where Alamgir celebrated the first anniversary since ISIS declared the caliphate.

He said: 'My talk today is going to be about the victory of Islam - may it prevail over all the world even if the disbelievers hate it.

'That we say that this Deen (state) is supported and the kaffir are doing everything to try and stall it, trying to prevent it, trying to hurt it- but Allah is trying to uphold it.

'They used to say that the sun will never set on the British Empire, but the sun has set on the British Empire and the sun has started to rise on the Islamic state.'

Yousaf Bashir and Rajib Khan (right) gave speeches at a series of meetings in Luton during Ramadan last year in support of ISIS

Elsewhere, Khan repeatedly pay tribute to a 'brother' who died fighting for ISIS.

In a speech on June 29, he said: 'If you want to know the meaning of sacrifice, look to your own brother, our own Shaheem, and you will know the meaning of sacrifice.

'He was true to his word, the best among us.

'When you talk about sacrifice you are talking about the person with everything going for him - wealth, a family - he left everything behind because he wanted to go to Allah.'

A major joint investigation between Bedfordshire Police and the Metropolitan Police - dubbed Operation Weedproof - saw an undercover officer known only as 'Kamal' infiltrate the group for 20 months.

'Kamal' visited their homes and shared meals in restaurants as well as secretly recording their private meetings.

Alamgir, 37, was found guilty of three counts of addressing meetings to encourage support for a proscribed organisation, namely ISIS, or to further its activities. A fourth count which the jury could not decide on will lie on file.

Bashir, 36, was found guilty by a majority of addressing a similar meeting on June 29.

Khan, 38, was convicted of arranging, managing or assisting in arranging a meeting to support IS on July 11, and addressing a similar meeting on July 11.

The men are all from Luton.

The defendants made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered after eight days of deliberations.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command, said: 'The biggest concern we had was with children present of a very young age, as people start growing up, particularly in Luton, we need to avoid individuals either travelling to Syria or becoming involved in extremist acts or even terrorist acts.

'What this group of people were doing was infecting the young minds of children.'

Sue Hemming, CPS Head of Counter Terrorism, said: 'These men sought to divide our society with messages of hate and extremism and their desire for a role in conflict and conquest has only ended in a conviction.

'Knowingly encouraging people to join or support a proscribed organisation is a crime and will be prosecuted.'

The jury of 10 was unable to reach verdicts on two co-defendants - Mohammed Choudry and Zaiur Rahman - who will face a retrial at the Old Bailey on November 14.
A woman has narrowly missed plunging into a storm water drain after her car veered off the road in Sydney's north-west.

Her car was saved by only a wire fence before the culvert dropped off.

Police, paramedics and firefighters were called to the scene at Terminus Road in Seven Hills just after 6am on Wednesday.

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A woman has narrowly missed plunging into a storm water drain after her car veered off the road in Sydney's north-west

Her car was saved by only a wire fence before the culvert dropped off

A NSW Ambulance spokesman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a woman was taken to Blacktown Hospital for treatment.

The woman was trapped in the car for a short period before she was freed by firefighters.

Firefighters worked to safely remove the car from its precarious spot.

Police, paramedics and firefighters were called to the scene at Terminus Road in Seven Hills just after 6am on Wednesday
The wife of Anjem Choudary is being investigated by police after being caught on camera leading a secretive group of women supporting Islamic State.

Rubana Akhtar, 42, who is the leader of the female wing of Choudarys banned terror group, Al-Muhajiroun, is likely to be quizzed by Scotland Yard over the clandestine meetings.

She was filmed promoting IS and her abhorrent views about filthy Jews.

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Rubana Akhtar, 42, who is the leader of the female wing of Choudarys banned terror group, Al-Muhajiroun, is likely to be quizzed by Scotland Yard over the clandestine meetings

Detectives have searched a number of addresses in east London associated with Akhtar and her female followers after the mother of five was revealed to be holding secret study groups to recruit impressionable young Muslim mothers.

She was filmed by an undercover reporter for Channel 4s Dispatches who spent a year infiltrating her group.

Akhtar, who called herself Umm Luqman, was recorded praising the birth of IS as a true Islamic caliphate, saying the good days have already begun.

As children ran around the room, she accused filthy Jews of audacity and arrogance and of encouraging the killing of Muslim children and Muslim women.

At the time the programme was broadcast on November 23 last year, Akhtar was not named for fear of prejudicing her husbands trial. But it can now be revealed that weeks earlier, Choudary tried to use his wife to get out of jail.

He claimed she was so sick with cancer that he needed bail to care for her because she was too frail to manage simple domestic tasks. However she was filmed delivering two-hour lectures in east London.

Akhtar has played a key role in Choudarys circle, joining Al-Muhajiroun in 2003 straight out of university

At bail hearings in August and September last year, Choudary told Westminster Magistrates Court: I am a family man. I am 48. I have five children. I have a dear mother that I care for, I am her primary carer. My wife as well is quite sick. She has difficulty doing the housework.

He claimed she was suffering from cancer, struggling to recover from an operation to remove a kidney and unable to cope with the demands of family life.

But Alison Morgan, prosecuting Choudary, said: Far from being someone burdened by effects of cancer, she was pictured among a group of women who were espousing views in support of IS and Hidra  the concept of migration to the Islamic State.

Akhtar has played a key role in Choudarys circle, joining Al-Muhajiroun in 2003 straight out of university.

Choudary claimed housing benefit to pay the 1,300 monthly rent after his marriage to Akhtar

They married in 1996 and later moved into a house in east London owned by her father. Choudary claimed housing benefit to pay the 1,300 monthly rent.

She was first identified as an IS supporter through Twitter, and then at a demonstration outside Regents Park Mosque in central London and at an Islamic stall in Lewisham, south London.

During his trial it emerged that Akhtar was racking up 100 phone bills trying to convert others to the cause.

Akhtar encouraged Choudary to sign an oath of allegiance to ISs caliphate. When he told her he would, she sent a message with a smiley face that read: Allahu Akbar. Im so happy.

Counter-terrorism experts have described her as a dangerous extremist who may have played a key role in persuading the 100 women who have gone out to join Isis since June 2014.

Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said of her lectures: She does more than support them, shes saying that the so-called Islamic State is the caliphate and by supporting them, she is potentially committing a criminal offence.

Its extremely dangerous. On hearing her anti-Semitic rant he added: You cant use language like that in the street because youd be guilty of a religiously aggravated crime.

Anjem Choudary at a rally with Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo (left)

Hannah Stuart, a counter-extremism expert at the Henry Jackson Society think-tank, said of Akhtars group: I would certainly consider them extremist. I think it is very dangerous.
British Muslims condemned the BBC for giving Anjem Choudary a platform to spread his vile ideology.

Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the corporation had given him a 'loudspeaker' even when he was barred from mosques.

He questioned why in BBC news reports Choudary was still being called an Islamic preacher.

He sparked an outcry after refusing to condemn the May 2013 murder and describing Lee Rigby murderer Adebolajo as a 'man of impeccable character' in interviews with Newsnight

He told Channel 4 News: 'He was a person who was thrown out of mosques across the UK.

'In reality he didn't have that much support within Muslim communities but what happened was that in many places in the media were providing him with a loudspeaker that he wasn't getting in mosques across the UK.

'Our organisation condemned him over ten years ago. Why was the Today programme calling someone like this on to the stage to publicise his hatred and publicise his views?

'And today we've seen the BBC calling him an Islamic preacher, and this is someone who is outside the scope of any mainstream Muslim organisation or country.'

For 20 years Choudary has revelled in the media spotlight, bragging 'I have had hundreds of interviews on the BBC, CNN, you name it'. He told supporters the corporation provided a 'fantastic opportunity'.

After his followers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale slaughtered Fusilier Lee Rigby he was invited onto BBC2's Newsnight.

For 20 years Choudary has revelled in the media spotlight, bragging 'I have had hundreds of interviews on the BBC, CNN, you name it'

He sparked an outcry after refusing to condemn the May 2013 murder and describing Adebolajo as a 'man of impeccable character' in interviews with Newsnight and Channel 4.

The then home secretary Theresa May responded by announcing plans to ban hate preachers from television, saying: 'Anjem Choudary has disgusting views and I think it is right that we look at how those views are being presented.

'There were many people who did indeed say, 'What is the BBC doing interviewing Anjem Choudary?'.'

But Choudary was then invited to appear on Radio 4's Today programme and ranted for 12 minutes. He said he was very proud of Adebolajo as a practising Muslim.

Host John Humphrys referred to Choudary during the interview as being 'representative of part of your community', provoking fury from Muslim communities and a flood of complaints from listeners.

The fiancee of Fusilier Rigby, Aimee West, 23, said: 'I'm all for free speech, but the BBC is wrong to give such a big platform to hate preachers who are brainwashing young people and inciting such acts of horrific violence.'

The Muslim Council of Britain said: 'Mr Choudary is a self-serving publicity seeker and the BBC was unwise to give him so much airtime, unchallenged.'

The corporation remained defiant with a spokesman saying: 'We have given great consideration to our reporting of the Woolwich murder and the subsequent trial, and carried a wide range of views from across the political and religious spectrums.

'We believe it is important to reflect the fact that such opinions exist and feel that Choudary's comments may offer some insight into how this crime came about.'

British Muslims condemned the BBC for giving Anjem Choudary a platform to spread his vile ideology

The watchdog Ofcom later cleared the BBC, and a number of other channels of breaching the broadcasting code over their interviews with Choudary.

During his trial, exchanges between Choudary and his supporters revealed how the preacher relished live TV interviews where his views could not be edited.

He told one follower who had been invited by the BBC to speak the day after the Islamic State execution of American journalist James Foley by Jihadi John: 'Fantastic opportunity, I'd definitely do it.'

Maajid Nawaz, of Quilliam, a counter-extremism thinktank, said: 'We have been tolerating the most intolerable views in the name of multiculturalism and free speech. His conviction has come to symbolise the end of that era.

'There are many caliphate-supporting Muslims in our communities and a whole generation need to get up and start challenging those ideas.'
World's biggest offshore wind farm will be built off the Yorkshire coast

The worlds biggest offshore wind farm was yesterday given the go-ahead to be built 55 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, despite fears it could have a devastating impact on birds and drive up energy bills.

The multi-billion pound Hornsea Project Two will see 300 turbines each 623ft tall  bigger than Londons Gherkin building  across more than 185 square miles in the North Sea off Grimsby.

Energy bills are expected to soar by hundreds of millions in order to subsidise the green energy project, which was approved by Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark.

The UK's tallest turbines: the Hornsea Wind Farm tops the list at 623 feet

And the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said the turbines would result in the unnecessary death of hundreds of birds.

Government insiders said the investment of up to 6billion by Danish firm Dong Energy was a post-Brexit vote of confidence, and the site will power almost two million homes.

The announcement comes amid uncertainty over the 18billion Hinkley Point nuclear project after Theresa May delayed signing off on it amid security fears over Chinese involvement.

Dong Energy is in control of the Hornsea Zone, which consists of three separate phases.

Overall, it is more than twice the size of Greater London. The first phase, which consists of 174 wind turbines, is due to be fully operational in 2020.

The third phase is in development.

The wind farm was handed a subsidy contract by then energy secretary Ed Davey in 2014 that will see it paid four times the market price for every unit of electricity it generates for 15 years, at 140 per megawatt hour compared with 35/MWh.

It estimated the Hornsea One project would require 4.2billion in subsidies, an average of about 280million per year  with consumers on the hook to make up the difference.

Whitehall officials insisted that no deal has been struck with Dong over the level of subsidies that will be provided for phase two.

But energy analysts say that, based on current prices, it could add as much as 450million a year to bills.

The project will power almost two million homes - and create up to 2,540 jobs

The decision on phase two was due to be announced two months ago but was delayed amid fears that the noise from building the massive wind farm would disturb porpoises.

But despite objections from the RSPB the site has been approved by planning inspectors.

The charity said the decision was devastating, as the turbines would be directly in the flight path of gannets and kittiwakes that nest in protected wildlife areas  resulting in the unnecessary death of hundreds of birds.

It said that, along with other North Sea wind farms, it poses an unacceptable level of threat to these species as well as potential effects for guillemots, razorbills and puffins.

Whitehall says the project will deliver up to 1.8GW, enough to power almost two million homes, and create up to 1,960 construction and 580 operational and maintenance jobs.

Last night Mr Clark said: The UKs offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system.
Rory Murga (pictured), 17, was arrested in the stabbing death of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend

The ex-boyfriend of a 16-year-old girl who died in front of her mother last week was arrested Tuesday on a charge of stabbing her to death.

Rory Murga, 17, was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department without incident after deputies spotted him under a railroad underpass in Pico Rivera, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

They had been searching for him since Friday, when his ex-girlfriend was stabbed multiple times in the chest and back in her home just after 3am.

Elena Moore, 16, died in front of her mother after sheriff's Lt Eddie Hernandez said she repeatedly screamed Rory's name and collapsed.

'She was yelling and screaming his name. It's horrible,' Hernandez said. 'Can you imagine waking up to the screams of your daughter at 3.15 in the morning and this happens? It's unthinkable.'

Rory was being booked as a juvenile on a murder charge and held without bail, Hernandez said, adding that it will be up to the Los Angeles County Attorney's Office whether to charge him as an adult.

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Elena Moore (left and right), 16, died in front of her mother after sheriff's Lt Eddie Hernandez said she repeatedly screamed Rory's name and collapsed

It's unclear whether Rory has an attorney.

In addition to Elena screaming his name, Hernandez said evidence at the crime scene also tied Rory to the home.

A kitchen knife believed to be the weapon used in the attack was also recovered inside, he said.

He said detectives interviewed Rory after his arrest and that he made statements that will help them build their case.

Last week, following the stabbing, two photographs of Murga were released after investigators searched for him for twelve hours.

One showed him with short green hair, and the other one pictured him with longer black hair with a section of bangs dyed light brown.

It was unclear whether Elena let her killer into the home or whether the attacker broke in, he said, adding that damage found to the back door could have happened in the past.

The stabbing happened downstairs, and Elena was able to run upstairs to her mother before collapsing, Hernandez said.

Hernandez said the pair dated for a year before Elena broke up with Rory two weeks before she was killed.

Kara Wilson, a 15-year-old Palm Bay, Florida, girl who said she was online friends with Elena, said Elena never mentioned a boyfriend and that she's in shock over her death.

'At first I didn't believe it happened to her so I tried to call her,' Kara said. 'She didn't answer.'

The stabbing happened downstairs, and Elena (right) was able to run upstairs to her mother before collapsing, Hernandez said. He said the pair dated for a year before Elena broke up with Rory (left) two weeks before she was killed

The middle-class block of homes (pictured) is just down the street from a church and several schools. Several neighbors said that the couple always seen happy when they were spotted in the neighborhood

She said Elena stood out among all her friends because she never posted anything negative on Facebook and even defended those who were being subjected to bullying.

'She was always sticking up for people,' Kara said. 'She was the sweetest.'

The middle-class block of homes is just down the street from a church and several schools.

Twenty-year-old Jasmine Gonzalez, who lives nearby, often saw Elena and Rory walking together in the neighborhood.

'It was always just them two,' she said, adding that her grandfather woke to the girl's screams, as well. 'It's a shock to everybody.'

Another neighbor, 60-year-old David Arias, saw the couple hanging out in front of his house from time to time.

'They seemed happy and lovey dovey,' he said. 'Always hugging and kissing.'
A letter urging the Republican National Committee to stop funding Donald Trump's presidential run now has the signatures of at least 120 Republican politicians, CBS News is reporting.

The letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, which Politico reported the existence of last week, was expected to be delivered to the RNC's Capitol Hill headquarters today.

'Given the catastrophic impact that Donald Trump's losing presidential campaign will have on down-ballot Senate and House races, we urge you to immediately suspend all discretionary RNC support for Trump and focus the entirety of the RNC's available resources on preserving the GOP's congressional majorities,' said a copy of the letter, obtained by the news outlet.

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Donald Trump is being attacked by members of his own party, with 120 former and current elected officials and aides asking the RNC to cut the billionaire's funding off

The letter, signed by two current members of Congress, says that Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House are 'evaporating by the day'

The letter adds salt to the wound by noting that Trump's chances of winning the White House are 'evaporating by the day.'

The letter, which had the signatures of 70 former and current Republican politicos when it was first reported last week, was the brainchild of Andrew Weinstein, a former aide to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich supports Trump and was on the billionaire's shortlist for the vice presidential slot.

Among those Weinstein got to sign were Republicans who have served every Republican president since President Ronald Reagan, along with nine advisers from the previous nine GOP presidential campaign.

Two sitting members of congress have signed on, along with 27 former RNC staffers.

Capitol Hill aides are also represented, CBS said.

The two congressmen are retiring Reps. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin and Scott Rigell of Virginia.

They and their cohorts warn that Trump will do so much to damage the Republican brand that down-ballot races for the Senate and House will be affected.

Those races, the letter-writers urge, are the ones that the RNC should solely focus on.

'We believe that Donald Trump's divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck,' the letter spells out.
After suffered from depression for years, she was found dead after overdosing on sleeping pills

She testified that she'd attempted suicide twice after reporting rape

But the brother of his accuser said the trial changed her as a person

The woman who accused 'Birth of a Nation' star Nate Parker of raping her while they were at Penn State 17 years ago committed suicide at the age of 30 in 2012.

She killed herself after overdosing on sleeping pills and was found dead by staff at a mental health facility, her older brother Johnny, who didn't give his last name to protect his sister's identity, told Variety.

Parker - the writer, director, producer and star of The Birth of a Nation - and his college roommate Jean McGianni Celestin, who shares a story writing credit on the film, were both accused of raping the 18-year-old woman after she passed out in their room after a night of drinking.

They insisted the sex was consensual and that the woman, who has not been named, was not drunk at all. She said she was unconscious at the time.

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Nate Parker (pictured left, in the poster for the film, and right, with his Sundance Institute Vanguard Award on Thursday) spoke about a rape charge he faced 17 years ago last week. It has now emerged that the woman who accused him killed herself in 2012

Parker, who previously had a consensual encounter with the girl, was acquitted in 2001.

Celestin was initially found guilty of sexual assault, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. He was set for a retrial in 2005, but it never happened because the victim decided not to testify again.

Both men were suspended from the wrestling team after the charges and Parker transferred to a college in Oklahoma.

But after reporting the incident at Penn State, the woman said she had been stalked and harassed by Parker and Celestin.

'She was afraid for her life,' her brother said, who believes the outcome of the trial would've been different if it had happened in 2016.

He believes that Parker got off 'on a technicality.'

Last week, Parker addressed the rape charge he faced as a young man ahead of the release of the film, which is considered a contender for an Academy Award, saying he refuses to relive the past throughout his career.

And although there is no evidence to suggest the woman's suicide was directly linked to the trial, her brother says that period in her life changed her.

Parker (above in the film) is the writer, director, producer and star of The Birth of a Nation  a film that is considered a frontrunner for an Academy Award

'If I were to look back at her very short life and point to one moment where I think she changed as a person, it was obviously that point,' her brother told Variety.

Before college, he says his sister was outgoing and loved school - but after reporting the alleged rape and going through the trial, she became depressed.

She testified during the trial that she had attempted suicide twice.

Her death certificate, obtained by Variety, reveals that she had suffered from 'major depressive disorder with psychotic features, PTSD due to physical and sexual abuse and polysubstance abuse.'

Johnny said that his sister had left college without graduating and received a settlement from Penn State for $17,500.

But he doesn't think the college did enough to help her - adding that it has a 'horrendous' record and that Jerry Sandusky, the former football coach currently serving a 30 to 60-year prison sentence for molesting 10 boys, is just the 'tip of the iceberg.'

His sister had a boyfriend, a baby boy and tried to find happiness, he said, but the 'ghosts continued to haunt her.'

Parker (left, accepting the Breakthrough Director of the Year award during the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards in April) and Jean McGianni Celestin (right), who shares a writing credit with Parker, were accused of raping a girl after she passed out in their room

'She became detached from reality,' her brother added. 'The progression was very quick and she took her life.'

Last week, Parker and Fox Searchlight, who bought the 'Birth of a Nation' for $17.5million, with plans to release it in October, tried to get ahead of the controversy well before Oscar season.

Parker, a father to five daughters, said he was sure it would come up but insisted the case doesnt reflect his attitude towards women.

I stand here, a 36-year-old man, 17 years removed from one of the most painful moments in the life, he told Deadline in an interview last week. And I can imagine it was painful, for everyone.

He added: I was cleared of everything, of all charges. Ive done a lot of living, and raised a lot of children.

Ive got five daughters and a lovely wife. My mom lives here with me  I brought her here. Ive got four younger sisters, he said.

He acknowledged the current dialogue about sexual violence on college campuses, calling it a very serious issue.

But he added that he refuses to repeatedly rehash the case in interviews.

I will not relive that period of my life every time I go under the microscope.

And distributor Fox Searchlight, which guided Birdman, 12 Years a Slave and Slumdog Millionaire to Best Picture Oscars, is standing by Parker.

We stand behind Nate and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen, the company said in a statement, according to Deadline.

Parker also said he doesnt want the rape case to detract from his films mission, which he hopes will act as a catalyst for discussion on the racial tension in the United States this year.

He believes the tension is linked to the story portrayed in his film about Nat Turner, a slave and preacher who orchestrates an uprising in Virginia in 1831.
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Eloise Wellings led an Australian trio of runners into the women's 5,000m final then joined the growing chorus questioning the validity of Ethiopian Almaz Ayana's staggering speed.

Ayana was forced to deny doping accusations after slicing 14 seconds off a 23-year-old world record to claim gold in the women's 10,000m last Friday.

The 24-year-old is in the box seat to win another after obliterating the 5,000m field by more than 13 seconds, qualifying fastest for Friday night's (Saturday AEST) final in 15 minutes 4.35 seconds.

Australian runner Genevieve LaCaze plants a kiss on team mate Eloise Wellings cheek after both qualified fo the 5,000m final

It didn't go unnoticed by her rivals.

'She just broke a world record. I don't know if it's for real,' Wellings said.

'Running next to someone who's hardly breathing, because you're obviously listening to what people are doing around you and trying to feel if they're labouring.

'It's really hard at the moment because there's a lot of talk about doping.'

Wellings (left) picturesd with fellow Australian runner Genevieve LaCaze (right) has questioned how Ethiopian runner Almaz Ayana has been able to produce such stunning results

Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana has qualified fastest for the 5,000m final after breaking the 10,000m world record by more 14 seconds

Madeline Heiner Hills picutred embracing LaCaze has also qualified for the 5,000m final

Wellings (left) and Lacaze (right) looking toward the crowd after qualifying for the 5,000m final

Wellings was the quickest finisher of the Australians, coming sixth in her heat in 15:19.02 to qualify sixth overall.

It came four days after the 33-year-old placed 10th in the 10,000m final - the best performance by an Australian woman at an Olympics.

LaCaze (15:20.45) and Heiner-Hills (15:21.33) also put in impressive showings despite backing up 24 hours after finishing in the top 10 of the women's 3000m steeplechase final.

The pair qualified 12th and 13th respectively, meaning all three will contest a second Olympic final in Rio.

'I didn't know how I'd feel after yesterday (but) I felt pretty fresh,' said Heiner-Hills, who was in the slower of the two heats.

'I hoped it wouldn't go from the gun, but I also hoped the whole thing would be a bit faster than that.'

Hills finished sixth in her heat to qualify in 13th overall for Saturday's final

Wellings (right) finished sixth in the heat while fellow Australian LaCaze finished one spot behind in seventh
Live chickens have been strewn across the lawn outside a KFC restaurant after crates of the poultry flew off the back of a truck as it turned a corner.

The chickens, some of which had bald patches, were then crammed back into the crates by the driver and passersby, about 2pm on Tuesday.

Jess Carter, a vegan, filmed the aftermath after hearing the commotion when she happened to be passing by at Bacchus Marsh, north-west of Melbourne.

She said the surviving chickens had 'trauma', while others were injured or dead.

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Live chickens have been strewn across the lawn outside a KFC restaurant after crates of the poultry flew off the back of a truck on Tuesday, north-west of Melbourne

'There were dead chickens, there were injured chickens, I'm not saying this as a vegan, it was really quite distressing,' Ms Carter told The Age.

Ms Carter said other passersby were joking about the coincidence of the chickens coming off the truck at KFC.

'It truly was just one of those terrible coincidences.'

She said she was 'so upset' in a post to Facebook.

'I shouted at a few people afterwards who were laughing,' Ms Carter said, adding there was one other witness who was 'visibly upset'.

Another passerby said there were 'feathers everywhere', even once the truck and chickens were gone, the woman wrote on Facebook.

The chickens, most of which were covered in bald patches, were then crammed back into the crates by the driver and passersby

'There were dead chickens, there were injured chickens, I'm not saying this as a vegan, it was really quite distressing,' Jess Carter, who filmed the aftermath, said

Video filmed by Ms Carter shows a group of people flipped a cage filled with crates of chickens the right side up after it appeared to have come off the truck upside down.

A spokesperson for Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia police attended and assisted to rehabilitate the scene.

'It's believed a truck was travelling south on Gisborne Road at the intersection of Bennett Street about 2pm yesterday when four crates containing chickens dislodged from the back,' the spokesperson said.

A KFC Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the fast food giant was 'saddened to learn of the road accident involving chickens that occurred outside of our franchised restaurant'.

'These chickens were not destined for KFC and were not linked to our supply chain.

'KFC is supplied through the three largest suppliers of chicken in Australia and those suppliers have high standards of bird welfare to ensure their chickens are healthy and comfortable.'

Daily Mail Australia has approached Jess Carter and RSPCA Victoria.
Mother describes the moment her pet German Shepherd tried to kill her

A mother who would have been killed by her own German Shepherd has described the horrifying moment the dog switched to kill mode and how her 'reedy' nine-year-old son saved her life.

Dana Lyall's 'usually placid' dog Lexi snapped at the family's older dog in their Cockatoo home near Melbourne in 2012  and when Ms Lyall jumped in to intervene Lexi attacked her instead.

'Something inside her just snapped. I can only describe it as going into kill mode,' Ms Lyall told Daily Mail Australia.

Lexi, pictured, was two-years-old when she attacked her owner after snapping into 'kill mode'

Oscar Arrowsmith, pictured, saved his mother's life after their pet German Shepherd turned on her in their Melbourne home

The dog ripped at Dana Lyall's left leg, injuries pictured, and tried to bite at her head and neck

'She grabbed hold of my leg and started shaking it, she ripped out everything from behind my left knee and my calf.

'She kept trying to get higher and higher up my body towards my neck - I was cornered and she would have killed me.'

Ms Lyall says she is lucky her son Oscar Arrowsmith was at home the night the two-year-old dog attacked.

Ms Lyall, pictured, was in hospital for four days after the attack and missed her son's tenth birthday

Ms Lyall said she had three dogs at the time, they usually got along but then Lexi decided she wanted to be the boss and attacked Cleo, a Staffordshire Terrier, pictured right

'She lunged and lunged again and again - it happened six times until Oscar dragged her and locked her in the bathroom.

'He was that calm and he just knew he had to get the dog away. He rang triple-zero, got a towel and helped me out to the lounge room.'

It was the day before Oscars 10th birthday when Lexi snapped - putting his mother into hospital for four days.

To this day, Ms Lyall cannot understand why the dog didn't turn on her son.

'He's just a skinny little reedy thing. There's nothing of him. So for him to be able to do that is just amazing,' she said.

The injuries to Ms Lyall's leg were severe - the dog had latched on to her calf in the attack

The dog went at Ms Lyall five or six times after her son arrived to help after hearing screams

'Without a doubt, if Oscar wasn't there that dog would have killed me.'

The dog was put down by a vet as Ms Lyall lay in her hospital bed that night.

'You definitely can't afford to have a dog around the house that snaps like that,' she said.

Four years after the horrific attack Oscar is being recognised with an Australian Bravery Award from Governor-General Peter Cosgrove.

Lexi, pictured, was put down immediately so Ms Lyall wouldn't have to see her again after the attack

The young boy ran towards his mother's screams and ripped the dog away from her

'He just thinks of it like it's a matter of fact, like ''that's what I needed to do so I just did it'',' Ms Lyall said.

'Oscar is on the autistic spectrum which makes him think logically which helped when he saw what was happening.

'He knew his mum was in danger and he just had to get the dog out of the room and ring the ambulance to save me.'

Oscar is one of 76 people, as well as six groups, to receive an award for risking their lives to protect others.

He is also his mum's 'hero'.
One in four baby boomer children say they won't be able to retire securely without an inheritance from their parents

The children of baby boomers are heading towards a financial shock after it was revealed their parents aim to spend all their cash rather than pass it on.

Baby boomers  generally referred to as those born between 1947 and 1964  are often seen as the selfish generation because they have benefited from good wages and rising property values before retiring on gold-plated pensions.

But now a study has shown that their children are facing poverty in old age unless they make better pension provisions.

One in four say they are relying on inheriting the money built up by their parents so they can retire in financial security  despite two out of three baby boomers saying they would rather spend their inheritance than pass it on and they will not bankroll the future security of their children.

The study by law firm Stephensons reveals that 18 to 34-year-olds are more dependent on inheritance than any other age group as confidence in private and state pensions plummets.

The research showed millennials rank pension contributions even below savings when it comes to retiring, a stark contrast to the over-55s where 80 per cent list pensions as their primary source of income during retirement.

Andrew Leakey, of Stephensons, said: People often expect and rely upon a potential inheritance from parents or grandparents and in many cases are let down by the actual contents of the will.

Inheritance disputes can quickly deteriorate into lengthy court proceedings, dividing families for many generations.

The study showed that regardless of the high dependency on inheritance across the country, almost half (48 per cent) of adults admit they have not discussed the contents of a will with the people they expect to inherit from.

This rises to a shocking 79 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds.

The study also revealed a worrying regional divide, with a third of London-based respondents saying they would rely on inheritance to retire, the highest of any area in the UK.

By comparison, in Newcastle and Manchester, only one in ten said their retirement relied upon inheritance.

'The most selfish generation in history': two out of three baby boomers saying they would rather spend their inheritance than pass it on to their children

In April, Lord Willetts, a former Shadow Secretary of State for Education, accused baby boomers of causing blockages for young people in the labour market.

He said scrapping the automatic retirement age  allowing them to stay in their jobs into their 70s  had led to fewer opportunities for young people.

Lord Willetts, who chairs the Resolution Foundation think-tank, said: We have extended labour protections to people over 65, so now even if an employer did want to shed some staff aged 65 and recruit some younger workers, he has to show that they are not capable of doing the job any more.

He added: When you do things like get rid of the retirement age... in a recession and there are lots of older workers who stay on, what you see is that the boost to employment comes from the top end.

The baby boom followed mass demobilisation of servicemen after the war.

Writing in the Daily Mail in 2011, former Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman labelled the baby boomers the most selfish generation in history.
An Oklahoma man was fatally shot Friday evening by his neighbor who had a criminal history with the family and allegedly called them 'dirty Arabs', police say.

Khalid Jabara, 37, died Friday night at a hospital after being shot outside his home in Tulsa reportedly by his 61-year-old neighbor, Vernon Majors.

Police say Majors, who has a criminal history with the Jabara family, left the scene after pointing a gun at a witness.

He was found hiding behind a tree at Hardesty Regional Library and was transported to a hospital instead of the police station because he became ill, KJRH reported.

Majors was awaiting trial for aggravated assault involving Haifa Jabara, the mother of the shooting victim.

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Tragic: Khalid Jabara (above), 37, was fatally shot Friday evening in Oklahoma by his neighbor who allegedly called him and his family 'dirty Arabs', police say

Khalid Jabara died Friday night at a hospital after being shot outside of his home in Tulsa reportedly by Vernon Majors (above), 61. Police say Majors has a criminal history with the Jabara family

Last year, Haifa was jogging through the quiet neighborhood when she was almost killed in a horrific hit-and-run.

Authorities arrested Majors, who confessed to the crime and even offered police a motive, calling the family 'filthy Lebanese.'

He bonded out of jail on May 25 and returned back to his home, right next door to the Jabara family.

Khalid, who ran the family catering business with his mother, had learned on Friday that Majors was armed with a gun.

'Khalid called the police stating this man had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen,' his sister, Victoria Jabara Williams, wrote on Facebook.

'The police came and told him there was nothing to be done.'

Moments later, he stepped outside to retrieve the mail while he was on the phone with his family when he was shot and killed.

Once Majors is released from the hospital later this week, he will be formally charged with first-degree murder, police said.

Khalid Jabara was shot and killed while he was on the phone with his family when he stepped outside to retrieve the mail

His sister said in a Facebook post that the Lebanese Christian family lived in fear of Majors and 'his hatred for years.' Khalid Jabara (above) ran the family's catering business

'This certainly is a tragedy but this is not a whodunit,' Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker told The Washington Post.

In the heartbreaking post on Facebook, Victoria said that her family, who are Christians, lived in fear of Majors.

'My family lived in fear of this man and his hatred for years,' she wrote.

'Yet in May, not even one year after he ran over our mother and despite our repeated protests, he was released from jail with no conditions on his bond  no ankle monitor, no drug/alcohol testing, nothing.'

'This man was a known danger,' she continued. 'Our brother's death could have been prevented.'

According to the Post, prior to moving to Tulsa, Majors had a history of violence.

He was convicted in 2012 of making 'criminal threats' and assault with a deadly weapon in San Bernardino County in California.

Majors moved shortly after to Tulsa, where the problems started with his neighbors soon after.

Haifa filed a restraining order against Majors on August 6, 2013.

She claimed in the complaint that he 'harassed' and 'stalked' her by 'knocking at windows late at nite (sic), harassing me with ugly sex words over the phone, taking pictures and harassing my helper in garage.

'He is very racist towards foreigners and blacks.'

On March 18, 2015, police arrested Majors and charged him with violating the restraining order.

Khalid Jabara had learned on Friday that Majors was armed with a gun after being released on bond from jail while awaiting trial assault against his mother. Above is the shooting scene

Prior to moving to Tulsa, Majors had a history of violence. He was convicted in 2012 of making 'criminal threats' and assault with a deadly weapon in California. Above is the shooting scene

'F you and I want to kill you,' Majors told Haifa, according to a police report.

'Jabara also stated to officers that Majors said multiple racial slurs to her today in her driveway.'

Over the summer, the tensions between the family and Majors increased, as he continued to allegedly threaten the Jabaras.

'He repeatedly attacked our ethnicity and perceived religion, making racist comments,' Victoria wrote on Facebook.

'He often called us "dirty Arabs", "filthy Lebanese", "Aye-rabs", and "Mooslems".'

She ended the post, by paying tribute to her late brother.

'At the end of the day, my beautiful brother had a heart like no other,' she wrote. 'Sensitive to the core, he loved others so much and wanted to be loved back.

'I'll miss his jokes (I stole all my jokes from him!), his love for all things electronic, his love for my mom and dad, Rami, and his tenderness towards his nieces.

'This angel will be missed. Love you, Khalid.'
A girl in China has died and her cousin was left seriously injured after they were caught in an electric rolling shutter.

The children, both seven, were playing together when they were pulled up by the contraption, which caught their heads and hands, leaving them suspended in the air, reports the People's Daily Online.

One girl died from her injuries en route to the hospital while the second is in critical condition.

Tragic: The girls were reportedly dragged up by the electric shutters while playing

A dangerous place to play: According to villagers, children often play with the shutters

At around 7am on August 12, villagers in Dayi, Sichuan, heard cried for help according to the report.

They saw two pairs of legs dangling in the air from an electric rolling shutter.

One of the villagers, Wu Youfang instantly recognised that one of the children was her seven-year-old granddaughter Tada.

She grabbed a table and clung to her granddaughter's legs.

A neighbour rushed to the scene and borrowed a cutter from a furniture factory to try and break the shutter.

The factory also sent several employees to help.

They turned the power off and, after 20 minutes, managed to detach the shutter. But the whole rescue operation took around an hour.

The two children were sent to Xinjin County People's Hospital where one of the children died on the way.

Tada suffered a skull fracture and is under observation in intensive care.

Tragic: One of the children's backpacks sits on a table following the tragic incident last week

Wu Youfang told reporters: 'This morning she came to see her cousins and they wanted to play together.

'I saw them playing with a doll and so I went back to do the dishes. I did not expect something to go wrong. '

According to a neighbour, the children in the village love to climb on the electric shutter doors.

The doors are able to carry the weight of an adult once switched on.

According to the report, family members believe the children were playing around the shutter when they switched it on and got caught up in the mechanism.
It is one of the most enigmatic animals on the planet - a blind species of dolphin that is only rarely glimpsed breaking the murky waters of rivers in South Asia.

But scientists could soon unravel the origins of the endangered South Asian river dolphin after finding the fossilised remains of a 25 million-year-old relative.

The prehistoric species of dolphin, which was discovered amidst a collection of fossils in a museum, is thought to have swam in subarctic marine waters.

Pictured is an artistic reconstruction of a pod of Arktocara yakataga, swimming offshore of Alaska during the Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. The authors speculate that Arktocara may have socialised in pods, like today's oceanic dolphins

THE EXTINCT DOLPHIN Experts at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where the fossil is houses, said it represents a new genus and species, called Arktocara yakataga. The fossil, described in the journal PeerJ, comprises a partial skull about nine inches long, which was discovered in south eastern Alaska by Donald J. Miller, a geologist with the United States Geological Survey. It then spent decades in the Smithsonian's collection, along with some 40 million other specimens in the museum's Department of Palaeobiology. Advertisement

Hiding in plain sight since 1951 when the fossil was originally unearthed, , the remains are now helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of whales and dolphins.

They say it could be particularly useful in tracing the origins of the South Asian river dolphin.

Unlike other species of dolphin, these aquatic mammals are blind and swim on their side, but its presence is threatened by pollution and hunting.

Experts at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, where the fossil is houses, said it represents a new genus and species, called Arktocara yakataga.

The fossil, described in the journal PeerJ, comprises a partial skull about nine inches long, which was discovered in south eastern Alaska by Donald J. Miller, a geologist with the United States Geological Survey.

It then spent decades in the Smithsonian's collection, along with some 40 million other specimens in the museum's Department of Palaeobiology.

Hidden in plain sight since 1951 when the fossil was originally discovered, the remains are now helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of whales and dolphins, including the origins of the endangered South Asian river dolphin

The skull of Akrtocara yakataga rests on an 1875 ethnographic map of Alaska drawn by William Healey Dall, a broadly trained naturalist who worked for several US government agencies, including the Smithsonian

THE ENDANGERED SOUTH ASIAN RIVER DOLPHIN Hidden in plain sight since 1951 when the fossil was originally discovered, the remains are now helping scientists piece together the evolutionary history of whales and dolphins, including the origins of the endangered South Asian river dolphin. The South Asian river dolphin - a species that includes both the Ganges river dolphin and the Indus river dolphin - is of great interest to scientists. It is an unusual creature that swims on its side, cannot see and uses echolocation to navigate murky rivers in Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Unlike its known ancestors, it lives only in fresh water, but human activities, including the use of fishing nets, pollution and disruption of it's habitat, have decimated the species to only a few thousand remaining individuals. The group's endangered status makes the dolphins difficult to study. Advertisement

Nicholas D. Pyenson, the museum's curator of fossil marine mammals, and researcher Alexandra Boersma studied the skull, describing it as a 'beautiful little skull from Alaska.'

They compared it to those of other dolphins, both living and extinct and produced a 3D computer model of the fossil too.

Dr Boersma said A. yakataga is a relative of the South Asian river dolphin Platanista, which is the sole surviving species of a once large and diverse group of dolphins.

The skull, which is among the oldest fossils ever found from that group, called Platanistoidea, confirms that Platanista belongs to one of the oldest lineages of toothed whales still alive today.

The South Asian river dolphin - a species that includes both the Ganges river dolphin and the Indus river dolphin- is of great interest to scientists.

It is an unusual creature that swims on its side, cannot see and uses echolocation to navigate murky rivers in Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Unlike its known ancestors, it lives only in fresh water, but human activities, including the use of fishing nets, pollution and disruption of it's habitat, have decimated the species to only a few thousand remaining individuals.

The South Asian river dolphin - a species that includes both the Ganges river dolphin and the Indus river dolphin (pictured) - is of great interest to scientists. It is an unusual creature that swims on its side, cannot see and uses echolocation to navigate murky rivers

The group's endangered status makes the dolphins difficult to study.

'One of the most useful ways we can study Platanista is by studying its evolutionary history, by looking at fossils that are related to it to try to get a better sense of where it's coming from,' Dr Boersma said.

'Exactly how that once diverse and globally widespread group dwindled down to a single species in Southeast Asia is still somewhat a mystery, but every little piece that we can slot into the story helps.'

PREGNANT DOLPHINS SING TO THEIR BABIES Many expectant parents will chat away to their babies in the womb. But it appears that humans are not the only species who like to communicate with their young before they are born. Research out last week showed dolphin mothers sing to their unborn calves by singing their name. The mothers teach their babies their 'signature whistle' before birth and in the two weeks after, which the animals use to identify one another. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi, have suggested that the mothers teach their babies the whistle as part of the imprinting process. Signature whistles are sounds made by dolphins, used to identify different individuals. Dolphin calves will eventually make their own individual whistle, but in the first stages of life, they use their mother's. Previous studies have shown that mother dolphins whistle their signature tune more in the days before birth. However, this was the first study to look at how a mother dolphin whistles in the presence of other dolphins, before and after birth. Advertisement

Based on the age of nearby rocks, the scientists estimate that the Arktocara fossil comes from the late Oligocene epoch, around the time ancient whales diversified into two groups - baleen whales (mysticetes) and toothed whales (odontocetes).

'It's the beginning of the lineages that lead toward the whales that we see today,' Dr Boersma said.

'Knowing more about this fossil means that we know more about how that divergence happened.'

Fossils from Platanista's now extinct relatives have been found in marine deposits around the world, but the Arktocara fossil is the northernmost find to date.

The name of the new species highlights its northern habitat: Arktocara is derived from the Latin for 'the face of the north,' while yakataga is the indigenous Tlingit people's name for the region where the fossil was found.

'Considering the only living dolphin in this group is restricted to freshwater systems in Southeast Asia, to find a relative that was all the way up in Alaska 25 million years ago was kind of mind-boggling,' Dr Boersma said.

Dr Pyenson said some conservation biologists argue that the South Asian river dolphin should be prioritised for protection to preserve its evolutionary heritage.

'Some species are literally the last of a very long lineage,' he said.
For some it was a welcome spell of summer sunshine, but for others last month's heatwave was a worrying sign of global warming.

Now new figures have confirmed that the Earth has just experienced its hottest month in recorded history.

Despite the fading of a strong El Nino, which causes global temperatures to rise, July broke global temperature records, according to Nasa.

Nasa has found that the global temperatures were 1.51F (0.84C) warmer than its instrumental record in July 2016 (illustrated). It marks another record breaking month in a trend that has seen temperature records tumble in the past year

Its scientists have calculated the the month was 1.51F (0.84C) warmer than the global average between 1950 and 1980.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY CAUSING DEATHS A new study has revealed the dangers of climate change are already affecting humanity and led to the death of hundreds of people across Europe sixteen years ago. A heatwave in 2003 killed 506 people in Paris and 315 in London, experts have said in a new study. A fifth of those deaths can be blamed on man-made pollution. The study led by University of Oxford scientists said there were 315 heat-related deaths in London as Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, out of which 64 were caused by climate change. The study was the first to calculate the number of premature deaths and it's link to air pollution and warned heatwaves will become more common and more severe in the future. Advertisement

They say it was 0.18 degrees warmer than the previous records seen in July 2011 and July 2015.

It comes after Nasa declared the first half of 2016 to have been the warmest six months on record.

Dr Gavin Schmidt, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a climate scientist at Nasa, said: 'July 2016 was absolutely the hottest month since instrumental records began.'

He added that there was a 99 per cent chance that 2016 would now break annual global temperature records.

It comes after many parts of the world have experienced 'oppressive' levels of heat, according to Nasa's Earth Observatory.

In June and July people living in Siberia, the Middle East and large areas of North America faced extreme heatwaves.

The US's three largest metropolitan areas  New York, Los Angeles and Chicago  all experienced heatwave alerts last month.

California is also in the grips of its worst drought in decades.

Nasa says temperatures in July 2016 were far above the average temperatures expected during the summer. The graph above shows the abnormal temperatures recorded

Nasa said several 'oppressive' heatwaves were experienced in many parts of the world in 2016 including the US where three of the largest cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago issued alerts to their citizens (land surface temperature anomaly July 20-27 illustrated)

Siberia also experienced abnormally warm temperatures in July (anomaly between July 20-27 illustrated)

Parts of Siberia, where the weather is normally relatively cool, saw temperatures more typically found in the tropics.

WHAT IS EL NINO? El Nino is caused by a shift in the distribution of warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Usually the wind blows strongly from east to west, due to the rotation of the Earth, causing water to pile up in the western part of the Pacific. This pulls up colder water from the deep ocean in the eastern Pacific. However, in an El Nino, the winds pushing the water get weaker and cause the warmer water to shift back towards the east. This causes the eastern Pacific to get warmer. But as the ocean temperature is linked to the wind currents, this causes the winds to grow weaker still and so the ocean grows warmer, meaning the El Nino grows. This change in air and ocean currents around the equator can have a major impact on the weather patterns around the globe by creating pressure anomalies in the atmosphere. Advertisement

Hot weather melted the permafrost in the Yamal Peninsula to reveal an infected carcass of a reindeer, triggering a major outbreak of anthrax.

Kuwait recorded a temperature of 129.2F (54C) on July 21 in what may be the hottest temperature on record in the Eastern Hemisphere if it is confirmed.

Dr Schmidt, said: 'The planet is getting warmer. It's important for what it tells us about the future.'

The warm weather has alarmed climate scientists who say it shows the world is following predictions of global warming due to manmade climate change.

Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb said: 'Global temperatures continue to warm even as a record-breaking El Nino event has finally released its grip.'

A particularly strong El Nino, which can push up global temperatures, began towards the end of 2014 before dissipating in May 2016.

July 2016 is the tenth record breaking hot month in a row according to Nasa.

Figures from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, which calculates temperatures slightly differently, will be published on Wednesday.

Scientists at Nasa have warned that 2016 is on course to be the hottest year on record. The graph above illustrates their predicted temperature anomaly

The Middle East also sweltered in a heatwave that brought temperatures of up to 129.2F (54C) on July 21 in what may be a record for Asia

It has estimated that the past 14 months have broken temperature records.

'The scary thing is that we are moving into an era where it will be a surprise when each new month or year isn't one of the hottest on record,' said Chris Field, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University.
China has today launched the world's first quantum satellite - an innovative system that uses subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points.

The launch will push forward efforts to develop the ability to send communications that can not be penetrated by hackers.

The satellite will allow Chinese researchers to transmit test messages, which, if successful, will be a major step towards a new worldwide network.

China has today launched the world's first quantum satellite - an innovative system that uses subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points. Pictured is the Long March-2D rocket which launched the quantum satellite into orbit

HOW IT WORKS Quantum communications use subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points. This satellite, which is named after the Chinese scientist 'Micius', uses crystal that can encode data and encryption keys in quantum particles that beamed back to Earth. Only authorised people on the ground can read the encoded data. A hacker trying to crack the message changes its form in a way that would alert the sender and cause the message to be altered or deleted. Researchers around the world have successfully sent quantum messages by land. But a true satellite-based network would make it possible to send quickly encrypted messages in an instant around the world and open the door to other possible uses of the technology. Advertisement

The satellite launched into space on a Long March-2D rocket, from the Jiuquan launch base in northwestern China's Gobi desert early on Tuesday morning.

Alexander Ling, principal investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, said: 'It moves the challenge for an eavesdropper to a different domain.

'Lots of people around the world think having secure communications at a quantum level is important.

'The Europeans, the Americans had the lead, but now the Chinese are showing the way forward.'

Quantum communications use subatomic particles to securely communicate between two points.

This satellite, which is named after the Chinese scientist 'Micius', uses crystal that can encode data and encryption keys in quantum particles that beamed back to Earth.

Only authorised people on the ground can read the encoded data.

A hacker trying to crack the message changes its form in a way that would alert the sender and cause the message to be altered or deleted.

Researchers around the world have successfully sent quantum messages by land.

But a true satellite-based network would make it possible to send quickly encrypted messages in an instant around the world and open the door to other possible uses of the technology.

The rocket carrying the satellite launched in the early hours of this morning. The launch will push forward efforts to develop the ability to send communications that can't be penetrated by hackers

Quantum messaging could become a major defence against hackers and have applications ranging from military and government communications to online shopping.

The biggest challenge is being able to orient the satellite with pinpoint accuracy to a location on Earth where it can send and receive data without being affected by any disturbances in Earth's atmosphere.

Mr Ling said: 'It's very difficult to point the satellite accurately.

'You're trying to send a beam of light from a satellite that's 310 miles (500 kilometres) above you.'

A hacker trying to crack the message changes its form in a way that would alert the sender and cause the message to be altered or deleted

Hoi Fung Chau, a professor and quantum communications researcher at Hong Kong University, said that it was too soon to say if the tests will succeed, but added he expected quantum messages by satellite to become the global standard eventually.

'The theory is already there, the technology is almost there,' he said. 'It's just a matter of time.'
Anaesthetic has helped to transform modern medicine, allowing surgeons to perform major surgery without leaving their patients writhing in pain.

But it appears ancient doctors could have been using mind-altering drugs to help dull the pain of their patients up to 3,000 years ago.

Researchers claim that cannabis, magic mushrooms and even ecstatic dancing was used during early brain surgery in Bronze Age Russia.

Scientists have studied the skull of a man who appears to have undergone brain surgery (pictured). They say the only way he could have stood the pain was to have been sent into a mind-altered state with drugs like cannabis or magic mushrooms

WHAT IS TREPANATION? Trepanation is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull. This exposes the dura mater layer, which was thought to improve brain pulsations. In ancient times, holes were drilled into a person's skull who was behaving in what was considered an abnormal way to let out what they believed were evil spirits. Advertisement

In the hopes of understanding how these ancient doctors conducted their operations, a team of scientists has studied evidence of early brain surgery, seen in an ancient skull found in Russia.

The skull belonged to a man from an unknown culture, whose remains were found at the Nefteprovod II burial ground at Anzhevsky archaeological site, in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region.

The ancient skull had markings from a surgical intervention called trepanation, in which a hole is made in the skull in order to improve the brain pulsations.

Dr Sergey Slepchenko, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Novosibirsk, told The Siberian Times: 'The key to successful surgery was the patient's complete trust and confidence that the surgeon had the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out such an operation'.

The ancient skull had markings from a surgical intervention called trepanation, in which a hole is made in the skull in order to improve the brain pulsations

Researchers suggest ancient doctors dulled the pain of their patients during surgery using cannabis, magic mushrooms, and even bizarre practices like ecstatic dancing (pictured)

Dr Slepchenko suggests that the ancient medics ensured their patients entered an 'altered state of mind' to minimise the pain during the operation.

Different hallucinogens were used by different tribes - the Siberian shamans used juniper and thyme, while the Arctic indigenous people used agaric mushrooms.

Additionally, the researchers suggest that cannabis would have been widely used as a pain relief.

The researchers were also able to predict the position the surgery would have been performed in.

Bronze age surgery patients could have been sedated with cannabis (pictured) the researchers claim

Dr Slepchenko said: 'Based on the shape and type of inclination of the edges, we may infer that the patient lay in a supine (flat on the back) position with the head turned to the right.

'The surgeon probably stood face-to-face to the patient on the left side.

'Or the surgeon may have fixed the head with his left arm or between his knees and operated with his right hand.'

Once the head was in position, the ancient medics made a wide cut through the skin and underlying tissues, before the skin was peeled off to reveal the bone.

Dr Slepchenko said: 'Such a dissection of the scalp was described in Hippocrates' work - some 600 years after this Siberian trepanation.'

Different hallucinogens were used by different tribes - the Siberian shamans used juniper and thyme, while the Arctic indigenous people used agaric mushrooms (pictured)

With regards to the instruments used, Dr Slapchenko said: 'We cannot definitely state that this operation was carried out with a specialised instrument.

'Nevertheless, some sort of medical instruments existed in Siberia and were widely used for postmortem manipulations.'

The shape of the hole suggests the surgical tool was used more as a scraper than a knife, which could enlarge the width of the hole.

Dr Slapchenko said: 'The scraping lasted until dura mater was exposed after which the trepanation area could be enlarged in width but never below.'

The shape of the hole suggests the surgical tool was used more as a scraper than a knife, which could enlarge the width of the hole

Once the hole had been made, the wound was then covered with skin.

Despite going through the invasive procedure, the patient was thought to have survived for some period of time after the operation, and the skull showed clear signs of healing.

In 2015, a study recreated a trepanation from 2,500 years ago in a modern skull.

Copying the same techniques believed to have been used by the Altai surgeons, it took Professor Krivoshapkin, a prominent Siberian neurosurgeon, 28 minutes to perform the technique.

While he said it 'required considerable effort', the hole in the skull was found to mirror those found in the ancient patients.

Such techniques would have required the patient to lie still and calm for long periods of time and would have required them to be sedated in some way.
They take many of the stresses and strains out of modern life.

But smartphones, sat-navs and search engines could be messing with our minds.

Scientists say that research is urgently needed into the long-term consequences of relying on gadgets rather than our brains.

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Studies on sat-nav use have found that while they helped motorists on their journey, they affected memory

HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY AFFECT MEMORY? Studies on sat-nav use have found that while they helped motorists on their journey, they affected memory. The drivers remembered less about what they have seen along the way  and struggled to retrace the route when asked to drive it again without the aid of the sat-nav. Another study found that museum-goers given digital cameras remembered objects they had photographed less well than other exhibits. Other research suggests that the vast amounts of information available on Google may fool us into thinking we are smarter than we actually are. Advertisement

Evan Risko, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Waterloo, warned: If you are allowed to store some to-be-remembered information on a computer, chances are you wont devote cognitive real estate to remembering it.

As a result, your ability to remember that information without the computer will likely be reduced.

Theres little doubt that these new technologies are affecting what we remember.

In a paper co-authored by University College London neuroscientist Sam Gilbert, Dr Risko reviewed studies into cognitive offloading  or using the outside world to save on brainpower.

These include studies on sat-nav use, which have found that while they helped motorists on their journey, they affected memory.

The drivers remembered less about what they have seen along the way  and struggled to retrace the route when asked to drive it again without the aid of the sat-nav.

Another study found that museum-goers given digital cameras remembered objects they had photographed less well than other exhibits.

Professor Risko and Dr Gilbert said: It was argued that the act of taking a photograph led individuals to offload the memory for the object onto the camera.

Other research suggests that the vast amounts of information available on Google may fool us into thinking we are smarter than we actually are.

One study found that people who searched for information on the internet had an over-inflated sense of their own intelligence afterwards.

Asked questions on completely unrelated topics, they maintained they knew more than others.

Museum-goers given digital cameras remembered objects they had photographed less well than other exhibits

'DIGITAL DEMENTIA' Technology could be causing 'digital dementia' in children who are becoming less able to memorise basic maths. Dr Kristy Goodwin, a child learning researcher and Sydney mother-of-two, said our pervasive use of technology is causing children to have shorter attention spans and impaired language skills. 'Teachers throughout the country are lamenting the fact that kids today can't recall their times tables like they used to,' she said in a recent Facebook video. 'Children are simply offloading so many things to their devices that they're not developing their memory muscle.' Advertisement

For instance, volunteers who scoured the internet for information on how a zip works then maintained they were more knowledgeable on climate science than people who hadnt done a computerised search.

In another experiment, volunteers sitting general knowledge tests were more likely to doubt their instincts and pass on a question, if they were told they would be able to look up the answers online later on.

Writing in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, the academics said cognitive offloading is not new.

Something as simple as twisting the head to view an upside down picture or writing dates in a diary takes strain away from the brain.

In some cases, it is helpful, with technology allowing us to subvert our cognitive limits.

However, the long-term consequence of living in a modern, hi-tech environment in which we constantly offload our cognition are unknown.

Professor Risko said: Cognitive offloading undoubtedly brings huge benefits but also potential costs.

One study found that people who searched for information on the internet had an over-inflated sense of their own intelligence afterwards

We are just beginning to understand these effects.

For instance, how can technology allow us to remain independent as we grow older and what might the downsides be to relying on external devices?

Theres a lot of conversation about whether devices like smartphones are ruining us cognitively or not.

There is a clear need to better understand how offloading demands onto various technologies, such as computers, the internet, GPS, impact on our abilities both in the short and long-term.
Findings may alter how we believe the

It is popular with holidaymakers for its crystal blue water, fine sandy beaches and the white-washed walls of the villages that line its shores.

But hidden beneath the waters of the Mediterranean Sea is the oldest section of oceanic crust in the world, according to a new study by a geologist.

He believes a portion of rock that lies under the Mediterranean could be up to 340 million-years-old and may even be a remnant of an ocean that existed before the Atlantic formed.

A 23,000 square mile section of rock beneath the eastern Mediterranean (highlighted dark blue) could be the world's oldest region of oceanic crust, dating back up to 340 million years

The 23,000 square mile region of oceanic crust was discovered hiding beneath sea floor of the eastern Mediterranean.

THE MEDITERRANEAN FORMED WITH A FLOOD The Mediterranean Sea as it is today formed around 5.3 million years ago in a colossal flood. Water from the Atlantic Ocean breached a land bridge across the strait of Gibraltar, sending water flooding into the basin. The Mediterranean basin had previously been part of the wider network of oceans as the continents drifted into place. It was cut off from the world's oceans around 5.6 million years ago and almost completely evaporated over the next the hundreds of thousands of years. But it is thought that rising sea levels and movements of the Earth's crust caused the Gibraltar Strait to sink, allowing the Atlantic Ocean to flood back into the Mediterranean. Advertisement

It is around 100 million years older than any other oceanic crust yet discovered and appears to have formed as the prehistoric supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart.

Scientists had originally thought that Pangaea began splitting apart to form a new sea known as the Tethys Ocean around 300 million years ago.

But the new findings suggest this process may have occurred 40 million years earlier, at a time before Pangaea had even finished forming.

It means that the oceanic crust beneath the Mediterranean, in an area known as the Herodotus Ridge, could have formed the floor of an ocean when the first amphibians were beginning to emerge.

Dr Roi Granot, a geologist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel who conducted the research, said: 'If the Herodotus Ridge was part of the Neotethyan spreading system, this implies that in the area of the Mediterranean Sea, the Neotethys Ocean came into being at least 50 million years earlier than previously predicted.

'This, in turn, suggests that the Pangaea Supercontinent had already started to disperse before it completed its amalgamation at around 320 million years ago.'

Scientists believe the region of oceanic crust in the eastern Mediterranean formed part of the Tethys Ocean, which is thought to have begun forming around 340-320 million years ago (illustrated above)

The research found that a section of the oceanic crust beneath the eastern Mediterranean (highlighted on map above) may be the oldest on the planet

Speaking to MailOnline he added: 'If it is that old, it could be that the opening of the basin is related to the formation of Pangea, or alternatively, it could be related to the breakup of the continent.

'It is quite confusing and the reason is that we dont know how wide it was - whether it was a small basin or part of a big mid-ocean ridge.

Pangaea was a supercontinent that as it split apart formed the continents that we see today (illustrated)

'The reason for that lack of knowledge, is that all the other pieces of ocean have already been subducted into the deep Earth.'

The Earth's oceanic crust is considered to be relatively young compared to the continental crust that forms the land.

It formed by material from the mantle below erupting between the tectonic plates where they diverge at mid-ocean ridges.

The resulting crust then slowly spreads out from there until it collides with the continents and slides under the land, meaning most oceanic crust is less than 200 million-years-old.

The continental crust, by comparison can be billions of years old in places.

Studying the oceanic crust in the eastern Mediterranean has been difficult in the past as it is covered by up to nine miles of thick sediment.

Dr Granot, however, used the magnetic profile of the rock underneath to estimate its age.

The findings could alter how we believe the supercontinent Pangaea formed as it suggests the Tethys Ocean was created even as the continent was coming together. Scientists had originally believed it was formed by Pangaea tearing apart

The Mediterranean is better known for its crystal blue waters and popular holiday spots, but it nearly nine miles below the sea bed is some of the oldest oceanic crust in the world

Over time the Earth's geomagnetic field flips, creating distinct patterns in the orientation of minerals in rocks depending on when they formed.

Dr Granot towed magnetic sensors behind a boat on four cruises across the area of sea between Turkey and Egypt.

It revealed a previously unknown mid-ocean ridge that crosses the entire Mediterranean sea from north to south.

Dr Granot said: 'Changes in the magnetic field's orientation over time are recorded in the ocean floors, creating a unique barcode that provides a time stamp for crust formation.

'The results shed new light on the tectonic architecture and evolution of this region and have important implications on various geodynamic processes.
A Tesla electric car caught fire during a promotional tour in southwest France, and those aboard escaped unharmed.

Tesla said in a statement that it is 'working with the authorities to establish the facts' about Monday's fire in Bayonne.

The driver was quoted in local newspaper Sud Ouest as saying he answered a Facebook ad offering test drives of the Model S sedan.

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The fire was captured by a passing motoring journalist. The driver was quoted in local newspaper Sud Ouest as saying he answered a Facebook ad offering test drives of the Model S sedan.

PREVIOUS FIRES The U.S. government investigated Tesla in 2013 after two fires in Model S sedans, but closed the investigation after Tesla raised the cars' suspensions and added a titanium shield to protect their batteries. Advertisement

The driver said he saw smoke, and then three people aboard got out before seeing it catch fire.

Five minutes later it was completely destroyed, according to the driver's account, but no one was injured in the incident.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, but there are reports that the car displayed a 'problem with charging' message when the noise was heard, although it was not plugged into a charger at the time of the incident.

Regional administration spokesman Patrice Abbadie said Tuesday that nobody was hurt and no property was damaged.

The U.S. government investigated Tesla in 2013 after two fires in Model S sedans, but closed the investigation after Tesla raised the cars' suspensions and added a titanium shield to protect their batteries.

Incendie de la #Tesla lundi 15 aout 2016 a #Bayonne. Avant l'arrivee des pompiers. Voiture completement detruite. pic.twitter.com/qT8h6ccFoP  Cedric Faiche (@cedricfaiche) August 15, 2016

It comes days after a Tesla vehicle crashed in China after the driver mistook 'autopilot mode' for a 'self-driving' function.

The driver is now pointing fingers at Tesla sales staff for overplaying the car's actual capabilities, claiming they implied that the system should take control of steering and braking under certain conditions.

Tesla says Luo Zhen, the driver of the car, was responsible for maintaining control of the vehicle, but their investigation revealed his hands were not detected on the wheel.

A Tesla vehicle crashed in China Wednesday (pictured), after the driver mistook 'autopilot mode' for a 'self-driving' function. The driver is now pointing fingers at the car maker's sales staff for overplaying the car's actual capabilities, in that the system should take control of steering and braking under certain conditions

TESLA'S FIRST AUTOPILOT CRASH IN CHINA While driving to work, Lou Zhen set his Tesla Model S sedan in autopilot and took his hands off the wheel. He said his car hit a vehicle that was parked halfway off the highway, but no injuries have been reported. Zhen claims that Tesla sales staff overplays the car's actual capabilities by it has 'self-driving' functions. He describes this ability as, the system taking control of steering and braking under certain conditions. After the investigation, Tesla said it was the driver's responsible to maintain control of the vehicle and the firm did not detect his hands on the wheel. Advertisement

The crash, Tesla's first known such incident in China, comes five months after a fatal accident in Florida, which turned up pressure on auto industry executives and regulators to tighten rules on automated driving technology.

Zhen, 33-year-old programmer at a tech firm, was driving to work and engaged the autopilot function as he often does on Beijing's highways, he told Reuters in his first interview with international media.

He filmed the incident with a dashboard camera and said his car hit a vehicle parked half off the road.

The accident sheered off the parked vehicle's side mirror and scraped both cars, but caused no injuries.

'The driver of the Tesla, whose hands were not detected on the steering wheel, did not steer to avoid the parked car and instead scraped against its side,' a Tesla spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

'As clearly communicated to the driver in the vehicle, autosteer is an assist feature that requires the driver to keep his hands on the steering wheel at all times, to always maintain control and responsibility for the vehicle, and to be prepared to take over at any time.'

Zhen, however, blamed the crash on a fault in the autopilot system and said Tesla's sales staff strongly promoted the system as 'self-driving'.

Zhen, 33-year-old programmer at a tech firm, was driving to work and engaged the autopilot function as he often does on Beijing's highways. He filmed the incident with a dashboard camera and said his car hit a vehicle parked half off the road

'The impression they give everyone is that this is self-driving, this isn't assisted driving,' he said.

Interviews with four other unconnected Tesla drivers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou also indicated the message conveyed by front-line sales staff did not match up with Tesla's more clear cut statements that the system is not 'self-driving' but an advance driver assistance system (ADAS).

These Tesla owners all said salespeople described the cars' function in Chinese as 'self-driving', a term the company generally avoids using in English, and took their hands off the wheel while demonstrating it.

'They all described it as being able to drive itself,' said Shanghai resident Mao Mao, who bought a Tesla Model S last year.

The term 'zidong jiashi' appears several times on Tesla's Chinese portal, which is most literally translated to mean 'self-driving'.

TESLA AUTOPILOT'S FUNCTIONS Autosteer: This feature, which is currently in beta, keeps the car in the current lane and engages Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to maintain the car's speed. Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled and drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel. Auto Lane Change: When the driver flicks the indicator switch and turn signal, the Model S will move itself to the adjacent lane when safe to do so. Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning: Side Collision Warning alerts drivers to objects, such as cars, that are too close to the side of Model S. When the car detects an object close to its side, fluid lines will appear around an image of the Model S image in the instrument panel. Autopark: When driving at low speeds around cities, a 'P' will appear on the instrument panel when the Tesla detects a parking spot. The Autopark guide appears on the touchscreen along with the rear camera display, and, once activated, Autopark will begin to park itself by controlling steering and vehicle speed. Advertisement

It is also the term for airplane autopilot, leaving room for confusion among consumers.

'We have never described autopilot as an autonomous technology or a 'self-driving car,' and any third-party descriptions to this effect are not accurate,' the Tesla spokeswoman said.

'The driver of the Tesla, whose hands were not detected on the steering wheel, did not steer to avoid the parked car and instead scraped against its side,' a Tesla spokeswoman said. Pictured is the parked Volkswagen involved in today's crash

Tesla does not regularly announce its sales data for China, where it has faced tough local competition, and it is not clear how many cars in the country have autopilot, an add-on feature that costs more than 27,000 yuan ($4,000) extra.

The company struggled to sell its high-tech electric cars in China at first due to distribution issues and widespread concerns about charging vehicles.

There is no clear regulation on self-driving cars in China as the country is in the midst of drafting its policy toward the technology. Under current Chinese law, drivers must keep two hands on the wheel at all times.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not respond to faxed questions asking about the legality of self-driving cars, including Tesla's autopilot function.

Zhen, blamed the crash on a fault in the autopilot system and said Tesla's sales staff strongly promoted the system as 'self-driving'. The accident sheered off the parked vehicle's side mirror and scraped both cars, but caused no injuries

Interviews with four other unconnected Tesla drivers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou also indicated the message conveyed by front-line sales staff did not match up with Tesla's more clear cut statements that the system is not 'self-driving' but an advance driver assistance system

Unsatisfied with Tesla's initial response to his crash, Zhen posted pictures and a video of the crash on Chinese social media platform Weibo describing the incident and criticizing the company.

The pictures show damages to his blue Tesla Model S and a parked Volkswagen, while the dashboard camera video captures the lead up to the crash and the car subsequently stopping.

Zhen filmed the incident using a dashboard camera, which he has since published online. The video shows Zhen approaching the parked vehicle (top) and the Tesla drive towards it instead of steering away - which is what Zhen believed should have happened

Zhen, who said he had used autopilot for more than a month, said he was looking at his phone or the in-car navigation at the time of the accident, only looking up every several seconds - but blamed Tesla's hard sell.

'They use this immature technology as a sales and promotion tactic...but they don't take responsibility for the safety of the function,' he said.

Tesla does however provide safeguards.
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A solar-powered spy drone that can sit in the sky for 45 days at a time is to become the latest futuristic kit to be given to Britains special forces.

Described as a psuedo-satellite, the cutting-edge drone can fly at more than 70,000ft  twice the altitude of a commercial airliner  so high that it is not affected by the weather.

The 4.3 million ($5.6m) Star Trek-style Zephyr S will be used by the elite forces to track terror targets worldwide.

It flies by day on solar power which also recharges its lithium-sulphur batteries to power it by night.

With a wingspan of 22.5m (74 feet), it can be launched by four military personnel on their shoulders.

It can then be operated from anywhere in the world, using communication satellites to relay commands to the aircraft.

If satellites are not available, special forces soldiers will use a control station to fly it over a range of up to 400km (250 miles).

Elite units will then use the camera on the aircraft to monitor ground movement.

Its antennae provides a communications platform for the furthest reaches of the globe.

The British military is set to start using cutting-edge solar-powered Zephyr drones (pictured) which can fly at more than 70,000ft  twice the altitude of a commercial airliner

The aircraft's antennae provides a communications platform for the furthest reaches of the globe (pictured), with elite units monitoring the feed for ground movements

THE ZEPHYR S DRONE The Zephyr S has been built by Airbus Defence and Space engineers. It is powered by the sun during the day, which also recharges its lithium-sulphur batteries to power it by night. Its huge 22.5m wingspan means it can be launched by four military personnel on their shoulders. The 4.3m psuedo-satellite can fly at more than 70,000ft  twice the altitude of a commercial airliner. British military forces will use the high-tech aircraft to monitor targets on the ground from anywhere in the world. Advertisement

Sophisticated and lightweight, it has been said to resemble a Klingon Bird of Prey spaceship out of Star Trek.

British engineers at Airbus Group in Farnborough, came up with the radical design.

Full details of the unmanned aircraft cannot be revealed for security reasons.

Its name has been removed from Ministry of Defence documents  with a review describing it as an investment in advanced high-altitude surveillance aircraft.

But Defence Secretary Michael Fallon yesterday told the Daily Mail it was a record-breaking kit that would help special forces deal with increased threats to Britain.

Announcing the MoD would order a third Zephyr drone for the special forces, Mr Fallon said: Zephyr is a cutting edge, record-breaking piece of kit that will be capable of gathering constant, reliable information over vast geographical areas at a much greater level of detail than ever before.

They are part of our plan for stronger and better defence, backed by a budget that will rise each year of this decade. That means more ships, more aircraft, more troops available at readiness, better equipment for special forces, more being spent on cyber  to deal with the increased threats to our country.

The Zephyr is sophisticated and lightweight, and has been said to resemble a Klingon Bird of Prey spaceship out of Star Trek (pictured)

The Zephyr S drones fly by day on solar power, which also recharges its lithium-sulphur batteries to power it by night (pictured). The aircraft's huge 22.5m wingspan means it has to be launched by four military personnel on their shoulders

Full details of the unmanned aircraft cannot be revealed for security reasons, but it is thought that the drones will play vital roles in tracking targets in the ground using high tech antennae and a 'record-breaking kit' for high altitude surveillance

An MoD statement said: Referred to as a High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS), it performs more like a satellite than a conventional UAV.

The order of a third drone is part of a 13-million contract with Airbus Defence and Space (ADS). The first two were ordered by the MoD in February.

Defence Equipment and Support Chief Executive, Tony Douglas, said: Zephyr utilizes a wide range of innovative technologies with the aim of delivering a world leading disruptive capability.
Users are asked if the word on the screen is, or is not, an existing word

The English focused test has a list of 62,000 words the team gathered

Test was first designed as a nation-wide study in the

It has been argued that the number of word types in a language is limitless because people continue to coin new words.

However, a new study reveals that by the time they are 20 years-old, the average native English speaking American knows 42,000 dictionary words.

Researchers also found that as we grow older, one new word is added to our vocabulary every two days - which means the average person will know an additional 6,000 words by age 60.

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A new study reveals that by 20 years-old, a native English speaking American knows 42,000 of dictionary words. Researchers also found that as we grow older, one new word is added to our vocabulary every two days which means the average person will know an additional 6,000 words by age 60

'Our research got a huge push when a television station in the Netherlands asked us to organize a nation-wide study on vocabulary knowledge,' states Professor Marc Brysbaert of Ghent University in Belgium and leader of this study.

'The test we developed was featured on TV and, in the first weekend, over 300 thousand Dutch speakers had done it - it really went viral.'

Once Marc Brysbaert and his colleagues discovered how interested people are in about knowing their vocabulary size, they decided to make similar tests in English and Spanish  and revealed the English test has already been taken by almost one million people.

They note that the knowledge of the words can be as shallow as knowing that the word exists, researchers write in the study, published in Frontiers in Psychology.

HOW MANY WORDS DO YOU KNOW? TAKE THE TEST AND FIND OUT Ghent University has designed a four minute test that reveals how many words native English-speakers know. To begin, users will be asked a few personal question such as as age, gender, education level and native language. Following the questions, the screen will prompts users to place one finger on the 'F' key, for 'No', on their keyboard and another on the 'J' key, for 'Yes'. Users are then shown a word and asked if they do or do not know this English word. Each test displays 70 words and 30 letter sequences that look like words but are not actually existing words. Advertisement

'At the Centre of Reading Research we are investigating what determines the ease with which words are recognized;' explained Professor Brysbaert.

The test includes a list of 62,000 words that he and his team have compiled.

He added: 'As we made the list ourselves and have not used a commercially available dictionary list with copyright restrictions, it can be made available to everyone, and all researchers can access it.

To discover how many words you know, the test first asks users personal information such as age, gender, education level and native language.

Users are then shown a word and asked if they do or do not know this English word. Each test displays 70 words and 30 letter sequences that look like words but are not actually existing words

These questions are what led Brysbaert and his team to conclude that the average 20-year-old American knows and how their vocabulary increases with age.

'As a researcher, I am most interested in what this data can tell us about word prevalence, i.e. how well each word is known in a language;' added Professor Brysbaert.

'In Dutch, we have seen that this explains a lot about word processing times.

'People respond much faster to words known by all people than to words known by 95% of the population, even if the words used with the same frequency.'

'We are convinced that word prevalence will become an important variable in word recognition research.'

Following the questions, the screen will prompts users to place one finger on the 'F' key, for 'No', on their keyboard and another on the 'J' key, for 'Yes'.

HOW BAD IS THE SPELLING IN YOUR STATE? GOOGLE REVEALS MOST COMMONLY SPELLED WORDS IN EACH US STATE Last month, Google gathered data from its search trends to reveal the top words American's ask how to spell in each of the 50 US states - and most are commonly used words. Although the well-known Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of south-eastern California, residents have to check with the search giant on how to spell desert. Google gathered data from its search trends to reveal the top words American's ask how to spell in each of the 50 US states - and most are commonly used words. Words that were seen throughout the map of Americas Top Spelling Mistakes are pneumonia, vacuum, 'cancel' and gray Cancelled seems to stump the east coast, as those living in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Virginia were found to second guess the spelling. Alaska has trouble with Hawaii and interestingly enough the top how to spell in Massachusetts is Massachusetts. There were also some odd words that made the cut. Utah and Arkansas had the most spelling queries for leprechaun, New Jerseyans stumble with February' and both Arizonans and citizens of New Hampshire struggle with the word diarrhea. Other words that were seen throughout the map of Americas Top Spelling Mistakes are pneumonia, vacuum and gray. Advertisement

Users are then shown a word and asked if they do or do not know this English word.

Each test displays 70 words and 30 letter sequences that look like words but are not actually existing words.

Brysbaert notes that 42,000 words amounts to 68% correct.

In addition to learning how many words people know, researchers explored how many types people likely to encounter.

According to researchers, this number greatly depends on how fast a person can process language, as not everyone consumes language at the same rate.

'A 20-year-old exposed exclusively to social interaction will have encountered around 81,000 alphabetical types, while a 20-year-old exposed non-stop to text will have encountered around 292,000 different alphabetical types,' shares the researchers.

'For a 60-year-old, the corresponding estimates are 157,000 and 543,000 alphabetical types, respectively.'

'This work is part of the big data movement in research, where big datasets are collected to be mined;' Brysbaert concluded.

'It also gives us a snapshot of English word knowledge at the beginning of the 21st century.
It is the moment the Earth came under attack from the sun - and it was captured in stunning detail.

Nasa has revealed an amazing animation showing the Van Allen belts becoming 'supercharged' as a giant solar storm hits.

On March 17, 2015, an interplanetary shock  a shockwave created by the driving force of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, from the sun  struck Earth's magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, triggering the greatest geomagnetic storm of the preceding decade.

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What happens Artist concept of accelerated electrons circulating in Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. (Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Tom Bridgman, animator)

THE VAN ALLEN BELTS The Van Allen belts, named after their discoverer, are regions within the magnetosphere where high-energy protons and electrons are trapped by Earth's magnetic field. Known since 1958, these regions were historically classified into two inner and outer belts. However, in 2013, Nasa's Van Allen Probes reported an unexplained third Van Allen belt that had not previously been observed. This third Van Allen belt lasted only a few weeks before it vanished, and its cause remained inexplicable. Advertisement

Nasa's Van Allen Probes were there to watch the effects on the radiation belts.

One of the most common forms of space weather, a geomagnetic storm describes any event in which the magnetosphere is suddenly, temporarily disturbed.

Such an event can also lead to change in the radiation belts surrounding Earth, but researchers have seldom been able to observe what happens.

On the day of the March 2015 geomagnetic storm, one of the Van Allen Probes was orbiting right through the belts, providing unprecedented high-resolution data from a rarely witnessed phenomenon.

The March 2015 storm was initiated by an interplanetary shock hurtling toward Earth  a giant shockwave in space set off by a CME, much like a tsunami is triggered by an earthquake.

The spacecraft measured a sudden pulse of electrons energized to extreme speeds  nearly as fast as the speed of light  as the shock slammed the outer radiation belt.

This population of electrons was short-lived, and their energy dissipated within minutes.

But five days later, long after other processes from the storm had died down, the Van Allen Probes detected an increased number of even higher energy electrons.

Such an increase so much later is a testament to the unique energization processes following the storm.

'The shock injected  meaning it pushed  electrons from outer regions of the magnetosphere deep inside the belt, and in that process, the electrons gained energy,' said Shri Kanekal, the deputy mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at Goddard and the leading author of a paper on these results, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research on Aug. 15, 2016.

Researchers can now incorporate this example into what they already know about how electrons behave in the belts, in order to try to understand what happened in this case  and better map out the space weather processes there.

THE VAN ALLEN PROBES NASA launched the twin Van Allen Probes in 2012 to understand the fundamental physical processes that create this harsh environment so that scientists can develop better models of the radiation belts. These spacecraft were specifically designed to withstand the constant bombardment of radiation in this area and to continue to collect data even under the most intense conditions. A set of observations on how the radiation belts respond to a significant space weather storm, from this harsh space environment, is a goldmine. Advertisement

'We study radiation belts because they pose a hazard to spacecraft and astronauts,' said David Sibeck, the Van Allen Probes mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who was not involved with the paper.

'If you knew how bad the radiation could get, you would build a better spacecraft to accommodate that.'

One can liken the process of shock acceleration, as observed by the Van Allen Probe, to pushing a swing.

But five days later, long after other processes from the storm had died down, the Van Allen Probes detected an increased number of even higher energy electrons.

'Think of 'pushing' as the phenomenon that's increasing the energy,' Kanekal said.

'The more you push a swing, the higher it goes.'

Those extra pushes likely led to the second peak in high-energy electrons, the team say.

Following the March 2015 storm, resulting electromagnetic waves lasted several days.

The result was a peak in electron energy measured by the Van Allen Probe five days later.

THE BIGGEST SOLAR STORMS IN HISTORY This March 2015 geomagnetic storm was one of the strongest yet of the decade, but it pales in comparison to some earlier storms. A storm during March 1991 was so strong that it produced long-lived, energized electrons that remained within the radiation belts for multiple years. An artist's impression of the Van Allen belts: The Van Allen radiation belts are donut-shaped rings of so-called 'killer electrons' that encircle our planet, which often swell dramatically in response to space weather With luck, the Van Allen Probes may be in the right position in their orbit to observe the radiation belt response to more geomagnetic storms in the future. As scientists gather data from different events, they can compare and contrast them, ultimately helping to create robust models of the little-understood processes occurring in these giant belts. Advertisement

The Van Allen radiation belts are donut-shaped rings of so-called 'killer electrons' that encircle our planet.

They can often swell dramatically in response to solar storms and other space weather, posing serious dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space.

Only two of these belts were known until a third was discovered in 2013, and its origin had remained a mystery until now.

Now scientists have discovered the third Van Allen radiation belt is created by a 'space tsunami'.

The Van Allen radiation belts are donut-shaped rings of so-called 'killer electrons' that encircle our planet. They can often swell dramatically in response to solar storms and other space weather, posing serious dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space

Earth's magnetic field protects our planet from the harsh battering of the solar wind, and produces the beautiful displays of aurorae in the sky.

When the solar wind is most violent, extreme space weather storms can create intense radiation in the Van Allen belts, and drive electrical currents that can damage terrestrial electrical power grids.

It was previously believed there were two Van Allen belts, but particle detection instruments aboard twin probes in 2013 revealed the existence of a third, transient radiation belt.

The appearance of the third Van Allen belt, one of the first major discoveries of the Van Allen Probes era, had continued to puzzle scientists with ever increasingly complex explanation models being developed.

On August 31 a giant prominence on the Sun erupted, sending out particles and a shock wave that traveled near Earth. This event may have been one of the causes of the third radiation belt

Now a group of scientists at the University of Alberta, Canada, believes it has understood how the third belt is formed.

SATELLITE KILLERS Many of the services we rely on today, such as GPS and satellite-based telecommunications, are affected by radiation within the Van Allen belts. Radiation in the form of high-energy electrons, often called 'satellite killer' electrons because of their threat to satellites, is a high profile focus for the International Living with a Star (ILWS) Program and international cooperation between multiple international space agencies. Recent studies of the impact of a severe space weather storm have estimated that the cost of the overall damage and follow-on impacts on space-based and terrestrial infrastructure could be as large as high as $2 trillion. Advertisement

Low frequency waves of plasma transport the outer part of the radiation belt into the space between the planets, which creates the third wave, the researchers found.

'Remarkably, we observed huge plasma waves,' said Professor Ian Mann, physics professor at the University of Alberta and lead author on the study.

'Rather like a space tsunami, they slosh the radiation belts around and very rapidly wash away the outer part of the belt, explaining the structure of the enigmatic third radiation belt.'

'Intense so-called ultra-low frequency (ULF) plasma waves, which are excited on the scale of the whole magnetosphere, transport the outer part of the belt radiation harmlessly into interplanetary space and create the previously unexplained feature of the third belt.

'We have discovered a very elegant explanation for the dynamics of the third belt,' said Professor Mann. 'Our results show a remarkable simplicity in belt response once the dominant processes are accurately specified.'

Scientists were able to observe the formation of the third belt, which persisted for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it.

A cutaway model of the radiation belts with the Van Allen probes flying through them: The radiation belts are two donut-shaped regions encircling Earth, containing high-energy particles, mostly electrons and ions

Energetic electron data gathered by the probes: It shows three discrete energy channels. The third belt region and second slot are highlighted, and exist until a coronal mass ejection destroys them on October 1

SPACE RADIATION Politicians are also starting to give serious consideration to the risk from space weather. The White House recently announced the implementation of a Space Weather Action Plan highlighting the importance of space weather research like this recent discovery. The action plan seeks to mitigate the effects of extreme space weather by developing specific actions targeting mitigation and promoting international collaboration. Advertisement

'After decades of studying the radiation belts, this was a completely new phenomenon,' Harlan Spence of the University of New Hampshire, who was part of the team that operated the probes, said at the time.

Understanding the third belt will also help scientists understand space radiation, and reducing the space radiation threat to satellites during other space storms.

For the last 50 years, and since the accidental discovery of the Van Allen belts at the beginning of the space age, forecasting this space radiation has become essential to the operation of satellites and human exploration in space.

'Space radiation poses a threat to the operation of the satellite infrastructure upon which our twenty-first century technological society relies,' said Professor Mann.

'Understanding how such radiation is energized and lost is one of the biggest challenges for space research.'
Entire competition will be carried out in a virtual

A new astronaut will join the roster to help facilitate man's first trip to Mars.

Nasa is recruiting teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 (R5) robot with a series of tasks that could save astronauts' lives in space.

Called Space Robotics Challenge, the million dollar contest will create an AI robot to act as an astronaut's assistant.

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Nasa has launched a competition encouraging teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 robot (pictured) with a series of tasks in a virtual environment. Called Space Robotics Challenge, teams will create skills for aligning a communications array, repairing a broken solar array and identifying and repairing a habitat leak

WHAT WILL R5 DO? Each team's R5 will be will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm that has damaged a Martian habitat. This involves three objectives: aligning a communications dish, repairing a solar array, and fixing a habitat leak. A qualifying round will start in mid-September and finish mid-November. Finalists will then be announced in December and practices will open from January to early June 2017. And winners will be announced at the end of June at Space Center Houston. Advertisement

Nasa is competition challenges innovators to program a R5 with skills for aligning a communications array, repairing a broken solar array and identifying and repairing a habitat leak - all in a virtual environment.

Nasa has developed these cutting-edge capabilities in Earth-based robotic systems using hydraulics, but these technologies were not designed for the below-freezing temperatures and the harsh environment of planetary surfaces.

Robonaut 5 (R5) uses elastics technology instead of hydraulics, which is Nasa's innovated way of addressing the problems of operating in space.

Nasa began working on the Robonaut project back in 1996 and one is currently working aboard the International Space Station.

Experts also believe these space-age humanoids could one day be used on our planet in dangerous or extreme environments where humans and the Earth-based robotics cannot travel.

'Precise and dexterous robotics, able to work with a communications delay, could be used in spaceflight and ground missions to Mars and elsewhere for hazardous and complicated tasks, which will be crucial to support our astronauts,' said Monsi Roman, program manager of Nasa's Centennial Challenges.

'Nasa and our partners are confident the public will rise to this challenge, and are excited to see what innovative technologies will be produced.'

Each team's R5 will be will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm that has damaged a Martian habitat  and this is where the three tasks will be used.

Nasa's challenge will see the robot helping astronauts deal with a devastating dust storm - similar to the problem faced by Mark Watney in the hit film 'The Martian'

Today marks the beginning of registrations, with a qualifying round starting in mid-September and finishing mid-November.

Finalists will be announced in December and official practices will open from January to early June 2017  winners will be announced at the end of June at Space Center Houston.

MEET VALKYRIE: THE HUMANOID GETTING READY FOR SPACE Currently, Valkyrie (R5) can walk on two legs and perform basic movements, such as holding and manipulating objects. The program is a joint effort between Nasa and the University of Edinburgh. Nasa hopes to equip Valkyrie - named after the female spirits of Norse mythology - to go to the red planet many years before astronauts are able to make the journey, for pre-deployment tasks and to maintain assets on Mars. University scientists will seek to improve the robot's handling and walking capabilities, and use Valkyrie's sophisticated on-board sensors to help it make sense of its environment, and improve its manoeuvrability. Researchers will also aim to further develop the robot's ability to interact closely and safely with humans and other machines. Valkyrie's human-like shape is designed to enable it to work alongside people, or carry out high-risk tasks in place of people. They have Iron Man-style glowing chest emblems that contain linear actuators to help with waist movement. Their power source comes from a battery in a backpack that lasts for around an hour. Sensors include sonar and Lidar, and operators can see what the Valkyries are doing on cameras attached to their heads, arms, abdomens, and legs. R5 is an update to its existing Robonaut, which currently on the 260-mile-high ISS, performing mundane cleaning chores and fetching things for the human crew. Each leg - 4 feet, 8 inches long - has seven joints. Instead of feet, there are grippers, each with a light, camera and sensor for building 3-D maps. Nasa engineers based the design on the tether attachments used by spacewalking astronauts. Advertisement

Software developed through this challenge will be transferable across other robotics systems, allowing the technology produced to be used both with older robotics models, such as the Robonaut 2, and any future models developed.

Each team's R5 will be will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm that has damaged a Martian habitat like Mars (pictured). This involves three objectives: aligning a communications dish, repairing a solar array, and fixing a habitat leak
Photographer Dax Ward visited the unconventional site, frequently visited by tourists, to capture them

They were abandoned in Bangkok after a business venture to convert them into a bar and venue failed

air of MD-82 jetliners were formerly operated by Orient Thai Airlines and are now cut into sections

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These images capture the derelict shells of two abandoned aeroplanes, left by a cash-strapped investor in Thailand to rot.

The pair of MD-82 jetliners, formerly operated by Orient Thai Airlines, are now at the mercy of the elements in Bangkok after a business venture to use them as a bar failed.

In March this year, 36-year-old Bangkok-based photographer Dax Ward visited the unconventional site, frequently visited by tourists, to take a peek inside the stripped aeroplanes.

These images capture the corpses of two abandoned areoplanes, left by a cash-strapped investor in Thailand to rot away

The pair of MD-82 jetliners, formerly operated by Orient Thai Airlines, are now at the mercy of the elements in Bangkok after a business venture to use them as a tourist attraction failed

In March this year, 36-year-old Bangkok-based photographer Dax Ward visited the unconventional site to take a peek inside the stripped aeroplanes

Mr Ward, a technology teacher who refers to his photography as a hobby, explains: 'The planes were supposedly placed there few years ago by a foreign investor who wanted to create a special outdoor bar using the fuselage as a stage for the bands and service rooms for the bar crew.

'The project was a fiasco and the foreign investor left the site as it is.

'As far as I know, there are currently no plans to move them, although the land upon which they rest is quite expensive.'

As the registration numbers of the two planes have been painted over, it is hard to decipher when the planes were operated or retired.

The interiors of the plane have been mostly stripped away to reveal the bare bones of the giant crafts, but the carpeting, overhead bins and bathrooms remain intact.

Echoing the destruction of a plane crash, oxygen masks, safety manuals and other debris are also scattered about the hollowed out craft.

Echoing the destruction of a plane crash, oxygen masks, safety manuals and other debris are also scattered about the hollowed out craft

Mr Ward explains: 'The planes were supposedly placed there few years ago by a foreign investor who wanted to create a special outdoor bar using the fuselage as a stage for the bands and service rooms for the bar crew

'It is very eerie in the graveyard,' he says.

'There are children's toys and other personal objects scattered around, left by people who have stayed there for whatever reason, almost making it feel like a crash site.

There are children's toys and other personal objects scattered around, left by people who have stayed there for whatever reason, almost making it feel like a crash site

'In Thai culture places like this are often seen as haunted, even if no one has actually passed away at the location.'

Visiting tourists are charged 300 baht (6.60) per person and the site is looked after by a lady who lives on the site with her extended family in some converted fuselages.

Ward added: 'Thailand is a country that flourishes with culture, and such dynamic cultures tend to also include a deeply-rooted spiritual dimension.

'It's is filled with ghost stories and superstitions regarding spirits and locations which are haunted by them.'

Mr Ward said: 'The project was a fiasco and the foreign investor left the site as it is - as far as I know, there are currently no plans to move them, although the land upon which they rest is quite expensive'

The interiors of the plane have been mostly stripped away to reveal the bare bones of the giant crafts, but the carpeting, overhead bins and bathrooms remain intact

Visiting tourists are charged 300 baht per person and the site is looked after by a lady who lives on the site with her extended family in some converted fuselages

He added: 'These can arise from someone actually dying on the site, especially from a violent self-inflicted death, or because they believe there are ghosts residing there to protect the place.

'These beliefs of a haunting can also arise simply because a place looks scary, which is why I think the graveyard would have such an image.'

Exploring supposedly haunted places might be too much to handle alone for some explorers, but Dax says he finds the experience almost meditative.

'I'm pretty happy exploring alone. Sometimes my girlfriend comes along with me and either takes photos herself or models.

'I think, although I really enjoy her company, being completely alone in certain places can be meditative and peaceful.

'Also, there is usually someone hanging around the locations, be it human or animal, so I am rarely completely alone.'

Mr Ward said: 'In Thai culture places like this are often seen as haunted, even if no one has actually passed away here'

He describes Thailand as being 'filled with ghost stories and superstitions regarding spirits and locations which are haunted by them'

He adds: 'These beliefs of a haunting can also arise simply because a place looks scary, which is why I think the plane graveyard would have such an image'

Delving into the depths of the aeroplanes was a refreshing experience for the photographer, who reflected on the rarity of the opportunity to see inside one.

He said: 'I'm not familiar with aeronautical design so it is interesting for me to see the different levels in the plane and to get a sense of it's actual size.

'It is a truly impressive feat in engineering and physics that allows for such large, heavy objects to be propelled through the sky at high speeds.

'Those of us that travel regularly get so used to aeroplane transit that we sometimes forget all that is involved in a single flight.'

Mr Ward notes: 'It is a truly impressive feat in engineering and physics that allows for such large, heavy objects to be propelled through the sky at high speeds'

Delving into the depths of the aeroplanes was a refreshing experience for the photographer, who reflected on the rarity of the opportunity to see inside one
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When we think of holidays destinations such as Rio de Janeiro and the Maldives, it's usually picturesque scenes of sun, sand and sea that spring to mind.

But as these illustrations from a Belgian-based graphic artist show, there's a dark underbelly to every place in the world.

Monk HF, as he is known, is an extensive traveller who creates tourism-style posters designed to merge idyllic scenes with the harsh realities of war, pollution, migration and the sex trade.

Monk, who was inspired stylistically by a 1936 poster by Franz Kraus, tells MailOnline Travel: 'As a former publicist, I know advertising distorts the truth and reality is heavily managed. I wanted to illustrate the dark side.'

Asked whether he ever gets blasted for misrepresenting or stereotyping popular cities, he admits yes, 'all the time' in fact.

'But to me, cliches always have a base in truth,' Mr Monk states. 'We say in French 'il n'y a que la verite qui blesse' - only the truth can hurt.'

In Rio (left) a honed beachgoer poses amid a rubbish-strewn beach and a silhouette figure with a gun watches on, and (right) a beaming surfer paddles in Male, the Maldives, with an ocean full of plastic trash

On the Greek island of Lesbos (left) a sunbather is seemingly oblivious to the plight of migrants making their way to shore and (right) Brussels, teaming with traffic diversions

In the Indian city of Kolkata (left), a solemn figure prays and a yoga poser reaches for the sky in an overcrowded cityscape with the outline of a stray dog and (right) Borneo, where orangutans are fast losing their habitat thanks for deforestation

In this controversial pair of images Monk HF hones in on Phuket, Thailand's disturbing reputation (left) and illustrates Bangkok, known for its thriving sex trade (right)

Bagdad (left), capital of Iraq, has been war-torn for more than a decade but children still play in the streets, and (right) Denmark's Faroe islands, with an array of slaughtered whales on the beach
Barbara Walters is doing fine despite reports of a health scare last week.

A report on Monday claimed the TV host had been admitted to hospital suffering heart problems.

However, the 86-year-old star's rep has now responded and insists Barbara is absolutely fine and just had a routine doctors appointment.

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No health scare: Barbara Walters' rep has denied claims that the TV personality was rushed to hospital last week with heart problems

'It's not true, she wasn't rushed to hospital, she just saw her doctor. There is no heart problem, God forbid.' the rep told Page Six.

Radar Online had reported that the journalist was taken to New Yorks Columbia Presbyterian Hospital on August 9.

An insider told the website 'She was experiencing heart complications,'

Shortly after, Radar updated their report with a statement from Barbara's rep: 'Barbara had some routine doctors appointments and is fine and at home'

The star has experienced heart trouble in the past and underwent aortic valve replacement in 2010.

'Fine and at home': The 86-year-old TV star was just having a routine doctors appointment her rep has claimed

In 2013 she had another scare when she was hospitalized after taking a fall at an inauguration party at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

After and illustrious career spanning decades, Barbara is now semi-retired but continues to act as executive producer of The View.

She has a 48-year-old adopted daughter, Jacqueline, with late ex-husband Lee Guber.
She is becoming a bonafide Hollywood star thanks to her roles in Orange Is The New Black and upcoming action flicks, XXX: Return of Xander Cage and John Wick 2.

But Ruby Rose is not too posh to pump her own petrol.

The heavily tattooed star showed off her very slender frame as she filled up her own tank at an LA gas station on Monday.

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Tank Girl: Spotted filling up her tank in LA on Sunday, the heavily tattooed actress Ruby Rose, 30, cut a relaxed figure wearing graffiti denim shorts paired with gold slides and a black sleeveless T-shirt

The Resident Evil star cut a relaxed figure in a pair of graffiti denim shorts teamed with gold slides and a black sleeveless T-shirt.

As she filled up the tank she appeared to be timing the episode and looking at her watch.

She posted an image of herself at the petrol station to her Instagram, cheekily writing: 'When you got that Olympic bug so you're trying to beat your own personal record in filling up the tank.

'(People freaking out about me filling with diesel.. But what am I supposed to fill my diesel car up with?? @vindiesel sweat? Cos I can totally ask him for some.'

Hurry up! The former DJ and model appears to be timing the episode and looking at her watch

Pump it: The Resident Evil star later posted the pic to her Instagram and cheekily wrote: 'When you got that Olympic bug so you're trying to beat your own personal record in filling up the tank'

With her jet black hair freshly styled, the actress accessorised her look with a gold man-style watch and long pendant necklace.

She kept her makeup simple and low-key with just a hint on pink lip and a smokey eye.

Known for her taut and lithe physique, Ruby's outfit showcased her slender limbs to perfection.

But walking back from the petrol station, Ruby was seen clutching two packets of cigarettes.

New addiction? Walking back from the petrol station, Ruby clutched two packets of cigarettes, leaving onlookers wondering if she is developing a new habit

Days earlier Ruby posted a snap of herself sporting the same denim shorts and a white bra-let.

Her backbone and ribs visible left some fans a little worried about her weight, with one posting: 'I love Ruby and think she is just wonderful but do agree that she is quite thin. I worry about her even tho I don't know her at all lol. Be Well Ms RR.'
She's getting in as much quality time as possible in between shoots for Thor: Ragnarok.

And Australian actress Cate Blanchett spent a day out in St Kilda, Melbourne, with her husband Andrew Upton and their four children Dashiell, 14, Roman, 12, Ignatius, 8, and 17-month-old Edith on Saturday.

Looking just like any other working mother enjoying her day off, Cate, 47, was dressed down in a grey jacket teamed with a pleated black skirt, leggings and a pair of black platform lace-up shoes.

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Family time: Cate Blanchett dressed down for a day out with daughter Edith, her husband Andrew Upton and their three sons Dashiell, 14, Roman, 12 and Ignatius, 8 on Saturday

With her flaxen locks styled out and a pair of shades shielding her largely makeup-free face, the Cinderella star could easily have passed as any other tourist walking the famed Melbourne foreshore footpath.

She and her brood lapped up the picturesque views in her native state, with Dashiell, Roman and Ignatius appearing to be in high spirits.

The youngsters, who were also in casual wear, were seen sporting wide smiles as they joked around, at one point they pointed at each other while in a fit of giggles.

Their younger sister slept soundly with her teddy as their famous mother pushed her in a snug pram.

Good times: Cate's sons Dashiell, Roman and Ignatius appeared to be in high spirits as they joked around with each other

Meanwhile, the mother-of-four will join fellow Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in the third instalment of the Thor blockbuster.

According to the International Business Times, Cate will play super villainess, Hela, in the fantasy flick alongside her son Ignatius who will make his acting debut as an extra.

To add to the star studded mix, Jeff Goldblum will play Grandmaster while Tessa Thompson is set to star in the role of Valkyrie, and Tom Hiddleston will reprise his evil adopted brother character, Loki.

Nap time: Edith slept soundly as their famous mother pushed her in her snug pram

The whole cast are on location on the Gold Coast for filming, with a multi-storey complex set up at Warner Bros. Movie World.

According to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Marvel Studios executive David Maise, Thor will spend $100 million in Queensland and create hundreds of local jobs during production.

The film's director Taika Waititi said the employment of Indigenous Australians on-set was also made a 'priority'.

Taika, who is of Maori decent, told Buzzfeed: 'It's a responsibility you have to the Indigenous people.'

He added: 'You're coming to a country and you're bringing money into the economy and creating jobs but I think you have an even bigger responsibility to look after the people that have less opportunities'.
Sharon Stone calls Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro good pals.

But the 58-year-old Basic Instinct bombshell also has some young female friends too, and on Monday she shouted out to one of them.

While posting a flashback photo of the two of them from 2012, the blonde stunner wished Jennifer Lawrence a happy 26th birthday on Monday.

Side by side: Sharon Stone gave a shout out to pal Jennifer Lawrence as she turns 26 on Monday; here they are seen in Paris in 2012

She wrote in her caption: 'Happy Birthday to this one! #JenniferLawrence #TB to July 2012 at the @dior Haute-Couture Show, Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter collection for 2013.'

Stone was smiling as she stood next to the Hunger Games actress.

The pinup had on a black halter dress with hoop earrings and her hair back and looked decades younger than she really is.

Still dreamy: The 58-year-old Stone is still active in Hollywood and on social media; here she is seen on August 10 in LA

Beauty: Jennifer does not use social media so there was no sharing about what she was doing on her special day; here she is seen in London in May

Lawrence wore her hair down and had on a pretty red and white daisy print dress.

Both stars work with Christian Dior.

Jennifer does not use social media so there was no sharing about what she was doing on her special day.

But it's clear Jennifer has been working steadily with three movies set for release.

With the times: Stone has been very active on Instagram for the past year, often sharing interesting photos like the one of her in early August in a bikini

The actress' next film is Passengers with Chris Pratt. The story is about a spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people. The vessel has a malfunction in its sleep chambers and as a result, two passengers are awakened 60 years early.

The movie should be out in December.

Stone has been very active on Instagram for the past year, often sharing interesting photos like the one of her in early August in a bikini.

Party on: On Tuesday Stone looked like a teenager as she hit the Adele concert in LA with two female pals

A week ago the Sliver star shared a black and white photo with Scorsese and another top director.

Her caption read: '#FlashbackFriday to 1996 - Not bad company with #MartinScorsese, and #StevenSpielberg at the Artists Rights Foundation (now The Film Foundation) honoring Scorsese.'

And a week before that she posted an older photo with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She added: 'So proud of @hillaryclinton and our country for making history tonight. #ImWithHer.'

On Tuesday Stone looked like a teenager as she hit the Adele concert in LA with two female pals.
They confirmed their pregnancy news last month.

And NRL star Sam Burgess was pictured placing a protective hand on his expectant wife Phoebe on Monday, during a breakfast date in North Bondi.

Dressed in a slimming black dress and a denim jacket, Phoebe, 27, revealed a slight hint of a baby bump as she left a local cafe.

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Protecting his lady: NRL star Sam Burgess was pictured placing a protective hand on his expectant wife Phoebe on Monday, during a breakfast date in North Bondi

The blonde beauty, who is at least three months pregnant, donned comfortable footwear as Sam, 27, lovingly guided her out of the eatery.

South Sydney Rabbitohs star Sam was also casually dressed in khaki green pants and a white T-shirt.

He sported white sneakers and completed the look with dark shades.

Expecting: The couple are expecting their first child less than one year after tying the knot

Confirmed: Blogger Phoebe is said to be at least three months along

Earlier, the couple, who wed in December last year, enjoyed a few laughs at an inside table.

They both appeared to still be on cloud nine following news that they're expecting their first child together.

'It's exciting,' a beaming Phoebe said on the Today Show in July.

Happy: Earlier, the couple, who wed in December last year, enjoyed a few laughs over breakfast

Beaming: They both appeared to still be on cloud nine amid the pregnancy news

She added: 'Honestly, it's been amazing ride and we were able luckily to tell everyone that we wanted to tell and then it's come out and we can share it with everyone. I can't wait.'

The couple met two years ago through mutual friends before getting married in an intimate ceremony last year.

In May, Phoebe denied pregnancy speculation after she appeared to show a bump in an Instagram selfie.

Speaking out: 'It's exciting,' a beaming Phoebe said of her pregnancy the Today Show in July

Healthy: Phoebe was pictured clutching a healthy green smoothie in Bondi

Casual: South Sydney Rabbitohs star Sam was also casually dressed in khaki green pants and a white T-shirt

'Haha, it's actually my hip,' she explained.

The month prior, she remained coy about the couple's efforts to start a family.

'We are not-not trying and we are not trying, we are just enjoying married life,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

In February, the pair purchased a multi-million dollar mansion in Maroubra, just weeks after moving into their Bondi apartment.

Intimate wedding: The pair, both 27, wed in a private ceremony in December last year

Preparing for baby: In February, Sam and Phoebe purchased a multi-million dollar mansion in Maroubra, just weeks after moving into their Bondi apartment




She just returned from her birthday holiday in Turks and Caicos.

And it looks like Kylie Jenner is going to take a long look in the mirror after that trip.

The newly-turned 19-year-old reality star took to her Snapchat on Monday to share a few posts of her brand new glamour mirror.

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New toys: Kylie Jenner took to her Snapchat on Monday to share a few clips of her new glamour mirror

The full-body image-reflecting glass features intricate lights around the frame of it that will surely illuminate her outfits and selfies.

In one of the short videos Kylie could be heard saying: 'How cute is this mirror? My bedroom is coming together.'

Kylie is dressed casually for the social media post as she showed off her flat stomach in a white crop top.

Showing some skin: The 19-year-old wore a white crop top and could't resist showing off more skin by pulling down her baggy black sweatpants

'New piercings': Kylie later revealed that either she or Tyga was about to get another piercing

She also wore a pair of baggy black sweatpants but couldn't resist showing off a bit more skin as she pulled them down just a bit while recording the video.

The youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner sisters seems to be spending plenty of time at home recovering from her recent vacation.

Later on in the day she shared a few clips of boyfriend Tyga filling up several water balloons in the backyard for son King Cairo.

Ready to pop: Later on she shared a video of Tyga filling up water balloons

Making a splash: The water balloons dropped once they were finished

Fight: Kylie threw one of them at Tyga and he was quick to fight back

The 26-year-old rapper seemed to be having trouble with how the process worked as the balloons are supposed to drop after being filled.

Shortly after the balloons were done, Kylie showed her playful side as she threw a few at an unimpressed Tyga as they failed to burst.

Later on, Kylie teased that either she or Tyga was getting 'new piercings', and the pair then enjoyed dinner together.

Kylie recently returned home after spending her 19th birthday at Turks and Caicos with sister Kendall Jenner and friends including Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid and BFF Jordyn Woods.

Hanging out: Tyga was also active on the social network as he shared this video featuring three-year-old son King Cairo

Bonding time: Tyga looked happy to hang out with his little man

Her on/off boyfriend seemed to be firmly back at the centre of Kylie's close-knit gang, despite a brief split earlier this year.

A source told People magazine of the pair: 'They are in a really good place. Tyga and Kylie had a ton of fun together on vacation and didn't have any issues with their relationship.

'They all indulged in massages and ate food prepared by chefs at the house. It was a very relaxing trip.'

Dinner for two: Later on, Kylie and Tyga enjoyed a meal together
Deborra-Lee Furness and her teenage son Oscar, look to be settling into their new Sydney beachside lifestyle swimmingly.

But it appears that the 60-year-old actress is shrinking next to the towering Oscar, 16, who is fast-becoming a grown man, as they took a casual stroll on Bondi this Tuesday morning.

He decided to step out in a pair of charcoal grey Qantas pyjamas which are usually given to passengers during a first class fight. His height even more apparent as the pyjamas swung well above his ankles.

Life's a beach: Deborra-Lee Furness and her teenage son Oscar appear to be settling into their new Sydney beachside lifestyle swimmingly

Deborra dressed down in a pair of black leggings with zebra print panelling down either side and paired the casual ensemble with a zip-up black jacket.

With her blonde locks styled into a messy bun, she was pictured juggling a hot beverage in one hand while holding a bottle of water and a brown paper bag, presumably filled with food, in the other.

The Real Macaw star, who appeared make-up free, completed her off-duty look with a pair of bright red sneakers and rounded shades which she placed on top of her head to hold her flaxen tresses back from her face.

Off duty chic: The 60-year-old actress dressed down in a pair of black leggings with a zebra print panel down each leg and a zip-up black jacket

Breaking the fashion limits: Oscar dared to step out in a pair of charcoal grey Qantas pyjamas which are usually given to passengers during a first class fight

Juggling act: The teen completed his look with a pair of slip on shoes and looked to be in content spirits as he chowed down his breakfast while on the casual stroll

Easy dressing: The Real Macaw star completed her off-duty look with a pair of bright red sneakers and rounded shades

The teen completed his look with a pair of slip on shoes and looked to be in content spirits as he chowed down his breakfast while on the morning outing.

She and her husband Hugh Jackman splashed out $5.9 million on a spectacular three-bedroom ocean-front penthouse in Bondi earlier this March.

The decision to secure a plush base at Bondi is hardly surprising as Deborra and the Wolverine star are often spotted at the beach when Down Under.

Breakfast time: The 60-year-old was spotted juggling a hot beverage in one hand while holding a bottle of water and a brown paper bag, presumably filled with food, in the other

Their new apartment, dubbed 'Coast', boasts panoramic views from the ocean to Bondi Beach and oozes Hollywood-standard luxury.

The spacious penthouse also features a state-of-the-art kitchen and superior European oak floors.

Deborra-Lees move back her native Australia has made it easier for her to attend filming sessions for her new show Hyde & Seek.

The humanitarian joins an all-Australian cast in the new crime drama, which stars Underbelly actor Matt Nable and Love Child's Mandy McElhinney.

New home: Deborra and Hugh are believed to have bought their new three-bedroom Bondi penthouse in March this year

Top living: Their new apartment, dubbed 'Coast', boasts panoramic views from the ocean to Bondi Beach and oozes Hollywood-standard luxury

While the series is currently in production for the Nine Network, it's unknown when it will air or what role Deborra will play in the anticipated drama.

The show will follow Matt Nable's character, Detective Gary Hyde looking for justice following the murder of his best friend.

Meanwhile, her husband Hugh revealed a completely new look in a post to Instagram on Thursday.

In the image, the Australian actor looks decades older than his 47 years - but it is possible he's wearing make-up for the next Wolverine film.

Dramatic change: Hugh Jackman looked decades older than his 47 years as a result of make-up for the next Wolverine film

The picture shows Hugh proudly posing by a platter of cooked fish - perhaps the result of his recent fishing trip.

His face looked significantly aged, as his trimmed beard revealed deep wrinkles and dark grey circles around his years.

He wrote as the caption, 'Now that's what I'm talking about!' and offered no explanation as to his appearance.
Crew members who worked on Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales had numerous complaints about the film's lead actor Johnny Depp, according to a story told by Jackie 'O' Henderson.

The KIIS 106.5FM radio presenter recalled that she was told the 53-year-old actor would 'never turn up on-set' following heated arguments with his estranged wife Amber Heard.

'I remember talking to some crew members from Pirates Of The Caribbean and they just said, "Working on that was a nightmare",' Jackie told listeners on Tuesday.

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'They said, "Working on that was a nightmare"': Jackie 'O' Henderson recalled on-set complaints from Johnny Depp's crew members during filming on Pirates Of The Caribbean

Referring to the actor's constant fights with Amber, Jackie added: 'He would never turn up [for work] because they were always fighting.

'She would drive him up the wall, and he'd never turn up on-set.'

Jackie went on to say that the crew had to 'wait around for hours and hours' for their leading star to arrive.

'They were always fighting': The radio presenter said the crew told her that Johnny's constant fighting with his estranged wife Amber Heard made him impossible to work with

'Nightmare': The 53-year-old actor reportedly kept film crew waiting around on-set for 'hours'

The radio personality's comments followed a news segment during which her and co-host Kyle Sandilands were discussing the recent headlines surrounding the Hollywood couple's failed marriage.

On Tuesday, Amber submitted a horrifying piece of evidence in the domestic violence case against her estranged husband, scheduled to go to trial later this week.

The submission came in the form of a photo of Johnny's bloody finger tip after he allegedly cut it off in a fit of rage during a fight with the 30-year-old actress.

Divorce: Amber filed for divorce from Johnny on May 25 after 15 months of marriage and two days later, she filed for a domestic violence restraining order

TMZ obtained the gruesome images and reports according to court documents that Amber claims Johnny was 'drunk and high on ecstasy' during the incident that occurred in March last year.

The actress also claims in the court documents that her husband of 15 months then dipped his injured finger in some blue paint and wrote on a mirror accusing her of having an affair with actor Billy Bob Thornton.

Johnny was in Australia filming the latest installment of the Pirates franchise at the time.

Court case: The Danish Girl actress submitted gruesome images as part of evidence in the domestic violence case against her estranged husband on Tuesday

Johnny and Amber married in 2014 and the actress filed for divorce on May 25.

Two days later, she filed for a domestic violence restraining order.

The Danish Girl actress sat down in a seven-hour long deposition at the weekend, where she reportedly detailed the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex.

The couple began dating in 2010, shortly after he left his partner of 14 years and mother of his two children Vanessa Paradis.
A little over a year has passed since they started dating, and their love continues to strengthen by the day.

So strong that a source told E! News that Sandra Bullock, 51, is open to the possibility of marrying her boyfriend and photographer, Bryan Randall, 49.

The silver fox has reportedly moved into the star's Beverly Hills home already.



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Wedding bells? A source revealed to E! News that Sandra Bullock is open to marriage with boyfriend of one year, Bryan Randall; here they are pictured June 2015

'They are enjoying the last bit of the summer with the kids until school starts,' a source shared with E! News. 'They will be in Los Angeles more once the kids start going to school. Things are very serious with them.'

Adding that the two are 'tied to the hip' when they are not working on their professional projects.

The Gravity star, who is a mother to two adopted children: son Louis, six, and daughter Laila, four, couldn't be more joyful of the way Bryan treats her little ones.

An insider revealed in February saying: 'Bryan treats Sandra's children like his own. He really is a great father figure. Sandra is the happiest she has ever been.'

All smiles: The Oscar-winner laughed after a date night at Craig's restaurant in West Hollywood last week

The silver-haired stud - who has a 22-year-old daughter of his own - reportedly moved into Sandra's $23 million dollar Beverly Hills mansion in late September of last year.

The source also said of their relationship: 'Sandra and Bryan are life partners. Their close friends have never seen Sandra this happy before,' adding the possibility of marriage in the future.

However, 'they are the kind of people that would do a small wedding, if anything. Or without anyone knowing if they decide to get married.'

The model-turned-photographer has previously graced the cover of Vogue Paris and Hugo Boss, including posing with Cindy Crawford in 2011 Harper's Bazaar Singapore.

In August of last year, Jezebel reported the love birds met while Bryan photographed Sandra's son's birthday party.

Ever since, the couple have not left each other's sight.

Pure bliss: The Blind Side star and Bryan 'are in euphoria' in their relationship

'Sandra and Bryan are in euphoria,' an insider shared with E! News earlier this summer. 'She is where she finally wants to be with a partner.'

Our source added, 'Sandy has found her soul mate. Her friends and family love seeing Sandy so happy.'

Sandra - who was previously married to Jesse James - has also just signed on to appear in Ocean's Eight, an all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Eleven movies. The cast will include Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter and rapper Awkwafina.
Gabi Grecko recently denied claims she stole $65,000 from her estranged ex husband, Australian businessman Geoffrey Edelsten, 73.

Now the 27-year-old has opened up about the 'hard' few months she has had, after also being embroiled in a NYPD sex scandal, which was revealed in June.

The American personality took to Instagram to vent about the trying times she's had and how she's been 'shamed,' writing: 'There is only so much one human can bear.'

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Tough times: Gabi Grecko has opened up about the 'hard' few months she's had, having been embroiled in the NYPD sex scandal and recently denying she stole $65,000 from estranged husband Geoffrey Edelsten

This has been a hard two months, confronting and admitting to things in the past I've gotten much shame for,' Gabi began her post.

'And now being shamed by my (sic) and accused of false things by my soon to be (sic) ex husband.'

'There's only so much one human can bear in a big city all alone to themselves so please to those causing trouble please let me be. I cannot take it.'

Tough times; The 27-year-old American personality took to Instagram to vent about the trying times she's had and how she's been 'shamed'

Honest: The socialite posted a message on social media writing: 'There is only so much one human can bear' and added that she is being 'shamed' by her soon-to- be ex-husband

She then added the hashtags 'walk away,' 'stop,' and 'let me be.'

Busty Gabi then shared a Johnny Depp quote, which read: 'People cry, not because they're weak. It's because they've been strong for too long.'

Last week she told Daily Mail Australia she didn't take $65,000 worth of property from Geoffrey Edelsten after he made the accusations.

'He didn't even own anything that cost that much at the point we were at,' Gabi said.

She added: 'He would have said something sooner than now, if I had something of that value he would have noticed right away and been on it.'

Nasty split: Gabi firmly denied that she stole $65,000 worth of property from Geoffrey

Her side of the story: The American personality made the denial after she was contacted by another reporter who claimed Geoffrey made the accusations

The rumours come nine months after the pair split and Gabi explained that during their five-month marriage, Geoffrey, 73, never spent excessive amounts of money on jewellery.

She added: 'He was doing very poorly so there would have been no way for me to blackmail any money out of him because he didn't have any money.'

'And I do a lot of crazy things but blackmail is where I draw the line and I've been doing fine without him.'

Daring: Gabi is notorious for her revealing outfits and out there personality

Gabi added that since their split in September last year, she has not asked for any money from her estranged husband or received any either.

She said she didn't know why Geoffrey was saying she stole from him, but assumed it could be to stop her meeting another person and starting a relationship.

She only took her wedding band when she moved back to the US.

The pair tied the knot in June 2015, however they also then split in September of that year, after less than a year of marriage.

Wedded bliss: Gabi added that since they split she has not asked for any money from her estranged husband or received any either. Pictured at their wedding in June 2015

Happier times: The pair tied the knot in June 2015, however they also then split in September of that year after only five months of marriage

Controversial: In June, the wig-wearing socialite was outed as the high-class call girl at the centre of the NYPD in-flight orgy scandal, according to The New York Post

Gabi jetted off to New York that same year, claiming she was jealous he had fallen in love with his long-term secretary, reports Geoffrey strongly refutes, and she hasn't returned to Australia since.

In June, the wig-wearing socialite was outed as the high-class call girl at the centre of the NYPD in-flight orgy scandal, according to The New York Post.

Gabi allegedly had 'group sex' with disgraced NYPD Deputy Inspector James Grant, since-fired Detective Michael Millici and three other men in February 2013.

Odd pairing: Geoffrey's marriage to American socialite Gabi lasted five months

It was claimed in a federal corruption case filed this month that a pair of businessmen paid Gabi to entertain Grant during a flight to Las Vegas in exchange for official favours.

The reality TV star confirmed to the Post that she performed oral sex on the men in the cabin as they 'laughed' together.

Gabi, then working as an escort under the name 'Candi,' also claimed she had sex with multiple men simultaneously while 'role playing' as a flight attendant.
She appeared to be hinting at Justin Bieber when she shared a cryptic Instagram post on Sunday, and they have since unfollowed each other on the social network.

But Hailey Baldwin insists that she doesn't want to be 'a part of' the drama surrounding her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend Sofia Richie.

And the 19-year-old kept a low profile as she stepped out on Monday, opting to shield much of her face behind oversized mirrored aviator sunglasses.

Keeping a low profile: Hailey Baldwin went incognito as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Monday amid drama with her ex Justin Bieber

Hailey did however show her pop star ex what he's missing in a tight grey tank top and ripped skinny jeans, along with sky high dark green ankle boots.

The model wore her blonde locks down in waves and finished off her look with natural make-up.

Hailey, who shared a sexy swimsuit photo on Instagram ahead of the outing, was carrying all of the essentials in one hand, including her phone, keys, wallet and a bottle of water.

Earlier that day, the niece of Alec Baldwin had denied that she was 'weighing in' on Justin's Instagram row with one of his other exes, Selena Gomez.

Shady lady: The model kept most of her face covered with a pair of oversized aviator sunglasses

Showing Justin what he's missing: Hailey looked incredible in a tight grey tank top and ripped jeans

'The only thing I "weigh in on" is everyday life in general. Don't rope me into things I'm not a part of and please respect my privacy. x,' she tweeted.

The previous day, Hailey had seemed to be referring to Justin when she shared an Instagram message that has since been deleted.

Posted without comment, it read: 'We've all had our fair share of things we've done, both good and bad. What makes the present so powerful is when we take complete responsibility for our actions, we allow ourselves self-growth.

Drama: The 19-year-old is apparently 'super upset' after her pop star ex unfollowed her on Instagram

Natural beauty: Hailey wore little make-up and had her hair down, finishing off her look with dark green ankle boots

'Don't rope me into things I'm not a part of': The star tweeted that she had not been 'weighing in' on the drama when she posted a since-deleted message on Instagram

'Misplacing the blame onto someone else isn't going to get you to the next stage in life, so try not to manipulate a situation to make yourself look better.'

It comes as People reports that Hailey is 'super upset' because Justin unfollowed her on Instagram.

'Justin unfollowed Hailey on social media, and now all their friends are talking s*** on Sofia and him and how messed up it is,' the insider told the publication.

Wonder in white: Hailey shared a photo of herself in a bathing suit earlier in the day

'Try not to manipulate a situation to make yourself look better': Hailey had seemed to be hitting back at Justin as she shared a cryptic Instagram post on Sunday

The source added that although Justin and Hailey were 'never officially a couple,' their friends 'knew they were together,' and now they believe that Sofia made the Canadian crooner unfollow his ex.

Justin was allegedly upset with the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin back in May after she was briefly linked to Drake following his Memorial Day party.

As a result, he and Hailey apparently 'hadn't been in touch in a bit,' however the source noted: 'But out of nowhere, Sofia apparently made him unfollow Hailey and now she and her friends are all super upset.'

Case of the ex: The post came amid drama surrounding Justin's new flame Sofia Richie, who allegedly encouraged the hitmaker to unfollow Hailey on Instagram

'Super upset': The model is said to be devastated, with a source saying that 'all their friends are talking s*** on Sofia and him and how messed up it is'

Hailey shared her Instagram post amid a nasty feud between Justin and ex Selena Gomez - whom he dated from 2011 to 2014 - which began when Justin threatened to turn his Instagram private if his fans didn't stop attacking new flame Sofia.

'If you cant handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol - it should be special between you two only. Dont be mad at your fans. They love you,' Selena fired back, after Justin's shocking message.

Justin was clearly not taking the allegations lying down as he responded: 'It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still trying to point the finger this way. Sad. All love. I'm not one for anyone receiving hate.'

Causing a stir: It all started when Justin shared a series of photos alongside new flame Sofia, promising to make his Instagram private if his fans didn't stop hating on the 17-year-old

Not a smart move: Ex Selena Gomez (pictured in 2011) did not approve, commenting on the photo: 'If you cant handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol'

Selena was clearly upset by his response, firing back another comment: 'Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love.'

While her low-blow left a resounding shock among followers, Justin seemed in the mood to fight as he then responded: 'I cheated... Oh I forgot about You and Zayn [Malik]?'

Selena has yet to respond to Justin's cheating allegations, but shortly before that she had taken what appeared to be another swipe at Justin's attitude towards his fans as she posted a photo collage with her biggest supporters.

Back and forth: The comment started quite the feud between Justin and Selena, with the Sorry singer quipping: 'It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still try to point the finger this way'

Firing back: After Selena's cheating allegations, Justin fired back with his own, accusing his ex of cheating on him with former One Direction star Zayn Malik

'My whole life,' she captioned the fan collage: 'You matter most. Thank you letting me do what I love every day.'

Justin and Hailey were first romantically linked after she joined him on a family vacation to St. Barts in December, during which they shared a series of loved-up photographs.

However, they confessed that they didn't have an 'exclusive' relationship and by April she told Marie Claire: 'I don't want attention out of dating somebody. It's hard to date somebody in this industry. You have to have really thick skin and be very strong.'
She began her fun-filled birthday festivities in California last week.

And Ashley Hart wrapped up her week-long celebrations with a group of girlfriends in her hometown of Sydney over the weekend.

Dressed in shiny black leggings and a long-sleeved lace crop top, the 28-year-old sister of Jessica Hart looked ready for a big night on the town.

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Party: Ashley Hart wrapped up her week-long celebrations with a group of girlfriends in Sydney over the weekend

She was joined by half a dozen girlfriends as she let her hair down at Mexican restaurant Mejico.

At one point, the party appeared to be in full swing as Ashley playfully groped one of her guests as they posed for a snap.

The Just Jeans model later thanked her loves ones for making her day special.

Snap Happy: The 28-year-old model was joined by half a dozen girlfriends as she let her hair down at Mexican restaurant Mejico

Going wild: At one point, the party appeared to be in full swing as Ashley playfully groped one of her guests as they posed for a snap

'Thank you for the most Crazy Amazing weekend you Goddesses, love you all infinity, so grateful for this life and the divine richness deep friendship, connection and love Brings! 28th birthday bash,' she captioned a group shot.

Just days prior, the blonde beauty was presented with a three-tiered cake and she made sure to share a photo with her fans.

'All my wishes are True... So grateful for all of you! @mummamore and @justjeans Thank you for the delicious cake..I'm On a sugar, Happy, Life HIGH,' she wrote.

Gratitude: Ashley told loved one, 'All my wishes are True... So grateful for all of you'

During her teen years, Ashley was known as Jessica's younger sister however in recent years she has forged her own career and identity.

She signed to Chadwick Management at age 16 and went on to model for several department store catalogues.

She also landed modelling contracts in Europe and was previously the ambassador of Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Early start: Ashley kicked off her birthday festivities in Palm Springs, CA., last week

Life's a breeze: She was pictured poolside while ringing in her 28th birthday

Last year, the Aussie stunner admitted that working in an industry that glorifies skinny models was challenging although she has learned to embrace who she is.

'The contrast of being in an industry that is mostly about the physical has made me really search and go deeper,' she told Confidential.

She added: 'We all do it but if we do get obsessed with our physical image it is constantly changing and we are never going to reach the perfection that doesn't really exist.'
She revealed she had a shrine dedicated to fictional supervillain Harley Quinn.

And Ruby Roses addiction to the DC comic book character has reached very creepy new heights, with the xXx star requesting to cut a lock of Margot Robbie's hair to add to her ever-growing collection.

Margot, 25, played Harley in the new Suicide Squad movie, alongside fellow Aussie actor Jai Courtney, as well as Will Smith and Jared Leto.

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Odd collection: Ruby Rose revealed her creepy request to cut locks from Margot Robbie's hair for her Harley Quinn collection

Taking to Instagram to show off her comic book collection, Ruby told her 8.6 million fans about her bizarre desire: Added new Harley Quinn pieces to my shrine.. Now... To find a piece of Margot Robbie's hair.

But its probably not the weirdest request or package Margot has received from a fan.

Jared Leto apparently sent the Australian actress sex toys while playing the iconic role of The Joker.

Screen role: Margot plays Harley Quinn in the new Suicide Squad movie alongside fellow Aussie actor Jai Courtney, as well as Will Smith and Jared Leto

Crazed fans: Margot also had sex toys and a live rat sent to her by co-star Jared Leto on set

'I did a lot of things to create a dynamic to create an element of surprise, a spontaneity and to really break down any kind of walls that may be there,' Jared told E!.

She also received a live rat and a dead pig, which was also delivered to her on set.

'There were many instances where I didnt know what to expect from Jared,' she said.

New role: Ruby is set to appear opposite action star Jason Statham in an upcoming film, adding yet another star-studded ensemble to her credits

Weird packages: Jared Leto apparently posted Margot sex toys, as well as gave her a live rat while working on their movie Suicide Squad

Meanwhile, Ruby is set to appear opposite action star Jason Statham in an upcoming film, adding yet another star-studded ensemble to her credits.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Australian actor is in negotiations to star in sci-fi flick Meg, due for release in March 2018, about a deep-sea suicide mission.

Jason plays a former Naval captain and expert diver recruited to rescue Chinese scientists stranded at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and under attack by a prehistoric ancestor of the Great White shark.

The movie is based on 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten, and will be directed by Jon Turteltaub, best known for National Treasure.
Tyson Mullane and Pia Miller only confirmed their budding romance in February.

And this week, smitten Tyson, 28, took to Instagram to gush about his Home and Away star girlfriend.

Quoting a love poem, he can be seen in an accompanying sweet snap toasting his girl, 32, by calling her his 'best mate.'

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It's heating up: Smitten Tyson Mullane took to Instagram this week to gush about his Home and Away star girlfriend Pia Miller

'Love is friendship that has caught fire,' the beginning of the poem read.

'It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times.

'It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. - Ann Landers #twinflame #lovebirds #bestmate,' his post read.

Loved up: Pia meanwhile sweetly commented underneath: 'In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds...,' adding a love heart emoticon

Pia meanwhile sweetly commented underneath: 'In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds...,' adding a love heart emoticon.

In the snap, the pair held their drinks as they gazed at one another with their silhouettes showing.

It comes after the couple enjoyed a short trip to Bali four weeks ago, where they stayed in a luxury resort.

High on love: It comes after the couple enjoyed a short trip to Bali four weeks ago, where they stayed in a luxury resort

The smitten pair regularly flaunt their romance on social media.

Pia - who has two children - split with estranged husband Brad Miller in October last year after an eight year marriage.

They have one son, Lennox, together, while Pia also has another son from a previous relationship when she was 19.

Addressing the couple's decision to split, Pia and Brad released a statement that in part said: 'After several months of reflection we have decided to separate.'

'Even though we've lived in different states for over 12 months, we have shared ten wonderful years together.'
She frequently shows off her incredible figure in an array of bikinis on her Instagram page.

And Melbourne-based model Elyse Knowles has maintained the dedication to displaying her famous curves during her most recent work trip to a tropical location for Bras N Things.

The 23-year-old Evrryday founder took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of herself flaunting her washboard abs and sculptured legs in a black bikini while fanning herself with a palm tree leaf.

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Keeping cool: Elyse Knowles revealed her chiselled abs in black bikini as she fanned herself with palm leaf while working on beach photoshoot

Elyse styled her blonde tresses up into a messy top knot bun and added a material headband to give her look a touch of 1940s glamour.

She ditched accessories to keep the focus on the saucy swimwear, while opting for a natural pallet of make-up to highlight her striking features.

'No sun on the face please. Touch ups on the skin thanks to @ulta3 Body Glow, because my skin is definitely white thanks to lovely Melbourne winter #inheaven #savetheface otherwise,' she captioned the image.

'Home': Elyse took to Instagram to share a photo of herself revealing a generous glimpse of her assets, while kicking back on a sun lounge in a strappy white bikini

Off-duty: The model showed off her famous figure in a grey tank top paired with denim shorts

The post comes after the blonde unveiled pictures and videos from her time away in LA recently.

In one of the pictures, she revealed a generous glimpse of her perky assets, while kicking back on a sun lounge in a strappy white bikini.

She simply captioned the picture: 'Home.'

In another post, Elyse could be seen posing in front of the Hollywood sign with one arm flung in the air and her taut stomach in full view.

Glam: Elyse also shared a photo during what appears to be an LA photo shoot

The beauty was clad in a sporty, loose-fitting crop top by The Upside while completing her look with a pair of short shorts and white running shoes.

'Tourist 101,' the Australian model wrote in the caption, adding the hash-tags: 'hollywood sign' and 'as you do'.

Earlier this year she spoke to Daily Mail Australia about her fitness regimen.

She revealed that she owed her fantastic body to getting up at 4.30am every day to work out with her boyfriend, Josh Barker, 25.

'I make sure that I can train at least once a day, but things happen,' she revealed.

The blogger also explained how she keeps fit whilst travelling.

'I travel with a skipping rope and runners,' she said, adding: 'When you travel you can't take your whole fitness regimen with you, so I literally have my stop watch on my phone and I skip and I jump on things, or I do push-ups and burpees.'

Beach day: Elyse showed off her figure while leaning back against a beach ball in a bright pink bikini




She's the witty wife of Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly, who confessed during his acceptance speech that his better-half is the 'funnier' and 'smarter' one.

And Dr Susan Carland was at it again on Tuesday, sharing a photo of the contents of her handbag with fans on Instagram.

The 36-year-old said she was shocked to find not one, but 22 pens sitting in the bottom of her red-lined bag.

Shock find! Dr Susan Carland, wife of The Project's Waleed Aly, shared a photo with fans on Instagram on Tuesday, shocked to discover the main contents inside her handbag

'All a total surprise to me': The academic told fans about her shock at discovering not one but 22 pens sitting in the bottom of her red cloth lined tote

The academic wrote alongside the post: 'My subconscious clearly prepares for crisis by hoarding pens. Counted 22 in the bottom of my handbag this morning, all a total surprise to me.'

Earlier in the post she set up her comments by reminding readers that most people relate preparing for emergencies with torches, compasses and Swiss Army knives.

She then humorously added: 'Others may be in a cat-like state of readiness to apply an emergency tourniquet or locate true north; but when the zombies come, I'll be on to MAKE LISTS AND CHECK THINGS OFF'.

The Melbourne-based personality is known for offering up humorous insights into her life on social media.

The 'funnier' and 'smarter' one: During his Gold Logie acceptance speech earlier this year, Waleed confessed his better-half is 'funnier, smarter' than he is

Popular personality: The Melbourne-based personality is known for offering up humorous insights into her life on social media

The mother-of-two also shared a number of hilarious photos and anecdotes during Ramadan, earlier this month.

On Monday, her husband Waleed marked his 38th birthday, blowing out two candles on a cake at work with The Project team.

In a post on the show's Instagram account, his team wished their co-host a Happy Birthday, with well-wishes from fans following suit.
Hollywood stars are often competitive about the most ridiculous of things.

And Bradley Cooper could not help but compare his beard to Jonah Hill's facial hair after they met up at the premiere of War Dogs in Los Angeles on Monday.

The A-Team star took the chance to stroke his friend's fuzz as they shared some no doubt witty repartee at Hollywood's iconic TCL Chinese Theatre.

Caught by the fuzz: Bradley Cooper stroked Jonah Hill's beard at the War Dogs in LA Monday

Back to the ironing board: It is unlikely Bradley's creased suit look will become popular

Bradley was looking dressed down, wearing a badly creased suit to the showpiece event.

He completed his hobo chic look with a polo shirt and grey suede shoes as he sauntered down the red carpet before the screening of his latest comedy outing.

But at least the 41-year-old Hangover favourite had reason to boast over his co-star Jonah, who had also turned up with a pair of wild whiskers, despite the fact he was the star of the show.

For while they both sported agreeably bushy growths, the Wolf Of Wall Street favourite was let down by a relatively scanty moustache as they grinned for the cameras.

Bewitched: The pair lovingly stared into each other's eyes as they shared their moment

Can I cut in? Jonah's on-screen sidekick Miles Teller insisted on grabbing his pal for a snap

Four star photo: The titanic trio posed up with the film's producer and director Todd Phillips

Hobo chic: Bradley combined his creased suit with this unruly beard

But at least Jonah had turned up in a pressed suit for the occasion, and completed his smart ensemble with a shirt and tasteful patterned tie.

The 32-year-old rounded off his relatively smart look with a pair of shiny leather shoes, which he had no doubt been buffing with all his might before the gala occasion.

But even Jonah was left somewhat in the shade by his smart co-star Miles Teller, who looked as sharp as a tack in a trendy blue bespoke suit.

Showing admirable attention to detail, Miles was also wearing a matching colour co-ordinated tie, and he took a bold fashion step by wearing brown brogues.

Last minute adjustment: Perfectionist Miles removed some fluff from Jonah's jacket

Showing Bradley how it's done: The dynamic duo were wearing pristine bespoke suits

Trading up: He soon swapped Jonah for his glamorous lover Keleigh Sperry

Model girlfriend: In the past he has hailed her for allowing him to 'really focus on acting and do what I want to do'

Thankfully there were plenty of fine fillies also in attendance to balance out the testosterone brought to bear by roly-poly Jonah and his sidekicks.

Miles certainly looked like the cat who got the cream as he cuddled up to his busty 23-year-old girlfriend Keleigh Sperry on the red carpet.

The model and self-styled actress looked in fine figure indeed in an asset-boosting black dress, which boasted a visually appealing split skirt that showcased her toned legs.

And she's off: Keleigh then bid her beau farewell so she could indulge in some solo posing

Bust bar none: The model showcased her impressive assets on the red carpet

Lovely pair: She then teamed up with fellow fine filly Jessica Szohr

A look with bite: The Piranha 3D star looked in fine form in a white jacket and matching skirt

Piranha 3D star Jessica Szohr, 31, was also drawing stares at the event after turning up in a smart white jacket and matching skirt, which she coupled with towering stilettos.

Meanwhile Samira Wiley dabbled in the notoriously difficult double denim fashion mode, while Glee favourite Heather Morris wisely opted for a classic black dress.

The crime war comedy, which is based on a true story, follows two arms dealers, played by Miles and Jonah, who get a government contract to supply weapons to American troops in Afghanistan.

It opens at cinemas around the United States on Friday.

Turning heads for all the wrong reasons: Samira Wiley misfired in double denim while Heather Morris wisely wore a classic black dress

Her telescopic husband: She had brought along her towering other half Taylor Hubbell

The award for best actor goes to: Oscar winner JK Simmons was there with his wife Michelle

Call the fashion police: JK, who is playing Commissioner Gordon in Justice League, did not seem to like Miles' sunglasses
She's been the source of major Instagram drama over her new flame Justin Bieber.

But model Sofia Richie put the social media spat between Justin and his ex Selena Gomez behind her as she headed to dinner with friends in Los Angeles on Monday.

The 17-year-old wore a bright red jacket and cropped Tshirt as she stepped out of Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills.

Helen of Troy! Sofia Richie stepped out for first time since sparking an Instagram war between boyfriend Justin Bieber and his ex Selena Gomez

The model stood out in the red satin bomber over a beige crop top, denim skirt, and black boots.

She finished the look in a pair of circular shades, tying her long blonde hair in a bun beneath a black bandanna.

As the daughter of Lionel Richie she is used to the spotlight, but probably had no idea she was about to be thrust into the center of an epic social media spat involving her new boyfriend Justin Bieber.

It all kicked off when the Canadian popstar hit out at some of his 78million Instagram followers for 'hating' on his new squeeze.

Spotlight: The 17-year-old left Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills after having dinner with friends

Style: The model looked sultry in a red satin bomber jacket, nude top, denim skirt, and black boots

Hidden: She finished the look in a pair of circular shades, tying her long blonde hair in a bun beneath a black bandanna

He wrote: 'I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like.'

Out of the blue his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez took a swipe, exclaiming: 'If you cant handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol - it should be special between you two only. Dont be mad at your fans. They love you.'

Things quickly ignited as Justin hit back: 'It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still trying to point the finger this way. Sad. All love. I'm not one for anyone receiving hate.'

The blows continued to aim lower as the Texan fired back: 'Funny how the ones that cheated multiple times, are pointing the finger at the ones that were forgiving and supportive, no wonder fans are mad. Sad. All love.'

Exploded: As the daughter of Lionel Richie she is used to the spotlight, but probably had no idea she was about to be thrust into the center of an epic social media spat involving her new boyfriend Justine Bieber

Protective: It all kicked off when the Canadian popstar hit out at some of his 78million Instagram followers for 'hating' on his new squeeze

Cut off: Bieber wrote 'I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like.'

This elicited the most shocking response yet: 'I cheated... Oh I forgot about You and Zayn?'  apparently suggesting she had been unfaithful with the formerOne Directioner.

That same day, another player seemed to enter the brawl when another Justin ex, Hailey Baldwin, posted a cryptic message about 'taking responsibility for actions', 'misplacing blame' and tryng to 'manipulate a situation to make yourself look better'.

Soon after Hailey and Justin unfollowed each other on social media, even though she denied she was trying to get involved.

'The only thing I "weigh in on" is everyday life in general. Don't rope me into things I'm not a part of and please respect my privacy. x,' she tweeted.

Warning: Justin let his Beliebers know he didn't appreciate them hating on his rumoured girlfriend who has been with him as he tours Japan

Zing! Out of the blue his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez took a swipe, and the blows got lower and lower after that
Fans were pleased to see Darth Vader make the trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story released days ago.

But the international trailer for the same flick released on Monday has given a big clue to the father of Felicity Jones's protagonist character.

The 32-year-old star plays Jyn Erson as one of the few differences in the clip refers to her father.

Learning process: In the international trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story released on Monday a big clue to the father of Felicity Jones's protagonist character

Mysterious: The father character, named Galen Erso, will be played by Mads Mikkelson

Jyn has a bit of a checkered past and seems to be taken into custody, while notified that the rebellion had intercepted a transmission which said that a major weapons test is imminent.

Diego Luna's character Captain Cassian Andor then tells her: 'The message was sent by your father.'

She is asked to find out how to stop the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, and how to destroy it.

Interesting:Diego Luna's character Captain Cassian Andor then tells her: 'The message was sent by your father'

Caught by surprise? Felicity's character Jyn Erso has an interesting look on her face as she has been estranged from her father

Mission: She is asked to find out how to stop the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, and how to destroy it

Heroic:Jyn definitely seems up for the task as she says: 'This is our chance to make a real difference'

Jyn definitely seems up for the task as she says: 'This is our chance to make a real difference.'

Her father, named Galen Erso, will be played by Mads Mikkelson in the flick though not much is known about the character other than he is one of the galaxy's great scientific minds.

They have also been estranged since Jyn was 15, though not much is known about their separation.

The rest of the clip is very similar to what was seen in the trailer released last week but there are more scenes of interaction between Jyn and Captain Andor.

On the frontline: There are plenty of action scenes in the trailer as well

Vast land: There are also a few scenes very similar to the trailer released last week

First impressions: Forest Whitaker is featured in the trailer as he is character Saw Gerrera

Who needs eyes? The clip also features Chirrut Imwe, played by action man Donnie Yen

Toward the end there is a very similar scene as Jyn bands the motley crew together as she tells them: 'This is our chance to make a real difference. Are you with me?'

The group could be seen banding together as Captain Cassian Andor replies: 'All the way.'

It also concludes very similarly with the first appearance of Darth Vader but in a much more condensed fashion.

'Are you with me?': Despite the odds, Jyn says this is their chance to make a real difference and asks the Rebel Alliance if they have her back

Motley crew: It then flashes to the cast of characters

'All the way': Captain Cassian Andor replies that he and the motley crew are with Jyn

After the title of the highly-anticipated flick is shown on screen it cuts to the back of the famous supervillain's helmet.

His signature heavy-breathing could be heard as he stands in front of a bright red background featuring plans for the Death Star.
He plays a cocky gun runner in his new movie.

But actor Miles Teller showed his softer side as he got a sweet kiss on the cheek from girlfriend Keleigh Sperry on Monday at the War Dogs premiere in Los Angeles.

The 29-year-old actor and 23-year-old model also hugged each other as they packed on the PDA on the carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Cute couple: Miles Teller got a peck on the cheek from his model girlfriend Keleigh Sperry on Monday at the Hollywood premiere of War Dogs

Miles looked dapper in a tailored blue three-piece suit with white dress shirt and dark skinny tie.

The Fantastic Four star accessorised with a white pocket handkerchief and round watch.

Keleigh showed off her model looks in a long black Jovani dress with front cutout and high thigh split.

She had her ombre hair down in soft curls below her shoulders and accentuated her lean frame with open-toed black collar heels.

Miles and Keleigh have been in a relationship since 2013.

Fashion statement: The actor looked dapper in a three-piece bespoke suit while Keleigh rocked a black dress with front cutout and high slit

Going strong: Keleigh and Miles have been in a relationship since 2013

They both also attended the New York City premiere last week of War Dogs.

Miles and co-star Jonah Hill, 32, portray a pair of 20-something friends who receive a lucrative US government contract to supply weapons for troops in Afghanistan.

The film directed by The Hangover Trilogy's Todd Phillips, 45, also features Bradley Cooper, 41, and opens in the US on Friday.

Long dress: The model showed her lean leg and toned torso in the sexy Jovani fitted dress with beaded bust

War Dogs was based on a Rolling Stone article about arms dealers David Packouz, played by Miles, and Efraim Diveroli, portrayed by Jonah.

The Los Angeles premiere drew Packouz, 34, and and his former gunrunning associate Alex Podrizki.

Miles also can be seen later this year portraying boxer Vinny Paz in the biopic Bleed For This and also in the post-war drama Thank You For Your Service.

Arms dealers: Miles and Jonah are shown in a still as David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli in War Dogs
The Los Angeles Police Department have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly stalking Kendall Jenner outside her Beverly Hills home.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Sgt. Leonard Calderon confirmed that Shavaughn McKenzie has been charged with felony stalking after his arrest at 9:45 on Sunday evening.

According to records at the the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department McKenzie is being held on $180,000 bail.

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Arrest: Police in Los Angeles have arrested a 25-year-old man for stalking an approaching model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner at her Beverly Hills home.

It's understood that Kendall was approached by the alleged stalker outside her new West Hollywood home on Sunday night.

The 20-year-old supermodel had just pulled into her new abode and saw a man waiting by her gate in the driveway, according to TMZ.

As she pulled through her private gate, the man followed behind and attempted to approach the beauty.

She became terrified and immediately called 911.

Alarming: The 20-year-old supermodel had just pulled into her new abode and saw a man waiting by her gate in the driveway when she called police, according to TMZ

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star stayed in her car until police quickly arrived.

Law enforcement told the site that the man was arrested for stalking and that there was already a warrant out for his arrest.

Kendall bought the $6.5 million Hollywood Hills mansion - above the legendary Chateau Marmont - in June from John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.

The luxury abode is 4,800 square feet and boasts six bedrooms and five baths.

Protected: The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star stayed in her car until police quickly arrived

Scene of the crime: The alleged stalker waited outside Kendall's $6.5 million Hollywood Hills mansion

'I just feel so incredibly blessed,' Kendall gushed on her website of the estate in June which she had transitioned into after two years at her Wilshire Corridor condo, adding: 'It was just time.'

Despite the drama she looked untroubled in a mustard yellow crop top during an appearance in her native Los Angeles with a group of pals on Monday afternoon.

Sporting a highly visible black bra beneath, Kendall proved to be an eye-catching sight as the predominantly male group made their way into a local fast food restaurant for a bite to eat.

Fits like a glove: Curiously the model carried a black beanie hat embroidered with the name of rumoured boyfriend A.S.A.P Rocky  however the rapper was nowhere in sight

The model teamed her top with a pair of slim fitting jeans that drew further attention to her slender frame, while on-trend Vans trainers rounded things off.

In keeping with her low-key look Kendall styled her hair in a messy top-knot and kept her eyes shielded behind a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses.

Minimal make-up accentuated her naturally pretty features as she made her way outside following a brief lunch.

Curiously the model carried a black beanie hat embroidered with the name of rumoured boyfriend A.S.A.P Rocky  however the rapper was nowhere in sight.

She's got company: Kendall as joined by a predominantly male group of pals during her latest outing

Worrying: Despite her relaxed demeanour it was back to reality with a bump for Kendall following her idyllic vacation. Police were called to her home on Sunday after an alleged stalker was discovered in her driveway

Elsewhere the model has revealed she suffers from trypophobia, which is an irregular fear of small holes and irregular patterns, so looking at the popular breakfast snack or even a Crunchie chocolate bar gives her "the worst anxiety".

In a post on her blog, the model wrote: 'Anyone who knows me knows that I have really bad trypophobia.

'Trypophobics are afraid of tiny little holes that are in weird patterns. Things that could set me off are pancakes, honeycomb or lotus heads (the worst!). It sounds ridiculous but so many people actually have it!
Instagram celebrity Pixie Curtis celebrated her fifth birthday with a splash on Tuesday - quite literally.

The daughter of Sydney PR guru Roxy Jacenko was pushed into a hotel swimming pool by her younger brother Hunter.

In an Instagram photo, Pixie is shown toppling into the outdoor pool during a heavy rainstorm.

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Taking the plunge: Roxy Jacenko's daughter Pixie Curtis (L) celebrated her fifth birthday with a splash on Tuesday as she was pushed into a hotel pool by her younger brother Hunter (R)

Meanwhile, little Hunter is seen with his hands outstretched, having pushed his big sister into the water.

The family appeared to be making the most of a sudden downpour which had soaked the pool terrace.

It seems the perfectly-timed snap was taken at the five-star Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

Mummy's girl: Sydney PR guru Roxy Jacenko (L) has taken her two children on holiday to Hong Kong this week before she undergoes radiation therapy for breast cancer

Roxy has taken her kids abroad for a short break as she prepares to undergo radiation therapy for breast cancer.

The 36-year-old flew out of Australia days before a preview for a 60 Minutes documentary about her life was aired on Channel Nine.

In the promo, Roxy snapped at reporter Allison Langdon for suggesting 'normal' people might question the timing of her cancer diagnosis.

Smile for the camera: The 36-year-old has kept her Instagram followers up-to-date by sharing regular photos of the family sightseeing around Hong Kong

Her pride and joy! Roxy has also posted several adorable snaps of two-year-old Hunter during the family's stay at the luxury Four Seasons hotel

'Well they're not normal Alison, change your friends,' Roxy said.

'You've got too much time on your hands if you say that. I don't really give a f*** what they think on my timing.

'They can say that, the reality is, it's not something that I ever thought I would face.'

'I don't really give a f***': Roxy flew out of Australia before a promo for her 60 Minutes special aired, which showed a tense confrontation about the 'timing' of her breast cancer diagnosis

Last month, Roxy revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer - just three weeks after her husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for insider trading.

In June, Oliver was sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison, to be released after one year on a good behaviour bond.

Roxy stood by his side during the trial and sentencing at the NSW Supreme Court and frequently made headlines for her stylish outfits.
As summer temperatures continue to soar it was a justifiably jubilant Lisa Snowdon who topped up her tan in London on Monday afternoon.

The presenter was taking advantage of increasingly hot British weather following a well-received stand-in role as host of popular breakfast show Lorraine.

Taking to social media, the youthful 44-year old shared a busty snap in which she reclines in a striking black bikini, her toned upper-body on full display.

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Hello boys: Taking to social media, youthful Lisa Snowdon shared a busty snap in which she reclines in a striking black bikini, her toned upper-body on full display.

Opting for limited make-up, Lisa drew attention to her pretty features while posing for the self-taken shot, her eyes concealed behind a pair of large sunglasses.

With her brunette locks swept back, the presenter revealed gold stud and sleeper earrings in her right earlobe.

The presenter was taking it easy following a successful week fronting ITV1 show Lorraine in place of regular host Lorraine Kelly.

Good morning indeed: Fans were so impressed by Lisa Snowdon's debut stint at the helm of ITV1's Lorraine on Monday that they called for her to be made into a permanent fixture

Indeed, fans were so impressed by her debut stint that they called for her to be made into a permanent fixture.

Suggesting Lisa is 'far better' than last week's stand-in Fiona Phillips, viewers took to Twitter to compliment the brunette and bemoan the fact that she's not on television more.

Wearing a pretty embroidered lace pencil dress from Oasis, and simple black ankle-strap heels, Lisa won over viewers with her bright smile and natural style of presenting.

New and improved? Suggesting Lisa, 44, is 'far better' than last week's stand-in Fiona Phillips (L), viewers took to Twitter to compliment the brunette

Praise: Viewers rushed to compliment the former radio presenter, who is standing in this week while main host Lorraine Kelly enjoys a summer break

Not just a pretty face: Many fans bemoaned the fact that Lisa is not on television more

'She's a natural': Wearing a pretty embroidered lace pencil dress from Oasis, and simple black ankle-strap heels, Lisa won over viewers with her bright smile and natural style of presenting

With a naturally made up look, and vivid pink lipstick to match her dress, the former Strictly contestant wore her dark hair in a simple side parting.

Standing in while main host Lorraine Kelly enjoys a summer break, Lisa's stint follows a week of cover by presenter Fiona Phillips.

A legion of fans took to Twitter to compliment Lisa on a job well done, with one commenting: '@LisaSnowdon was absolutely brilliant on @ITVLorraine this morning, she looked really beautiful, Good job on presenting on #Lorraine'.

Little Miss Chatterbox: Lisa chatted to X Factor's Sam Bailey, enjoying a joke and talking about more serious issues as she discussed her recent health worries

While another went further, saying, 'Great first day. Such a natural. Shame it's not permanent ! X'

Another said: 'The L is definitely for Lisa this week!!! :D PS - couldn't stop looking at your hair - it's beautiful!!!' (sic).

During the show, Lisa chatted to celebrity dressmaker David Emanuel, who designed Princess Diana's iconic wedding dress in 1981.

She also chatted to X Factor's Sam Bailey, who has recently revealed that she has gone partially deaf in one ear after being diagnosed with Bell's Palsy.

Thanking fans for their support on day one of her stint, Lisa wrote on her Twitter and Instagram pages: 'Great first day hosting @itvLorraine show! Thank you for all your lovely comments and support,'

Not a fan? Some viewers commented that they preferred Lisa to last week's stand in, presenter Fiona Phillips

She's got the X Factor: Sam recently revealed that she has gone partially deaf in one ear after being diagnosed with Bell's palsy

Exciting times: On Tuesday's show, Lisa will be joined by joined by couple Adam and Dan who found love on Channel 4 reality show First Dates and are now tying the knot

Moving on: Fiona chatted to Made In Chelsea's Binky Felstead on last Monday's show
She welcomed her first child with her dancer husband Tristan McManus in April this year.

And Australian model Tahnya McManus (nee Tozzi ), 29, revealed her fabulous post-baby figure just four months after welcoming her daughter Echo Isolde on Tuesday.

Taking to Instagram with a snap of herself clad in a swimming costume with little Echo cooped up her arms, Tahnya revealed almost no sign of having recently given birth.

Oh baby! Australian model Tahnya McManus (nee Tozzi ), 29, revealed her fabulous post-baby figure just four months after welcoming her daughter Echo Isolde on Tuesday

In the photo, the former Blue Water High actress sported a bronzed complexion, with her hair swept up into a sleek bun.

The sister of supermodel Cheyenne Tozzi announced the news of Echo's arrival via a gushing message on Instagram.

'Our baby girl Echo Isolde Macmanus was born 05/04/2016 healthy and happy. Tristan & I are so thankful for everyone's support Xx,' she wrote alongside a snap of their baby's name, handwritten on a piece of paper.

Cute couple: Tahyna is understood to have given birth in Australia after being based in her husband Tristan's native Ireland

Tahyna is understood to have given birth in Australia after being based in her husband Tristan's native Ireland.

Cheyenne was the first to congratulate her sibling, posting a very intimate snap of Tristan and Tahyna in hospital.

'Welcome baby girl Echo Isolde MacManus @tahynavalentina,' she wrote in a caption alongside it.=

Bundle of joy! Cheyenne was the first to congratulate her sibling, posting a very intimate snap of Tristan and Tahyna in hospital

Sister by her side! Cheyenne (left) was the first to congratulate her sibling, posting a very intimate snap of Tristan and Tahyna in hospital

Meanwhile, Cheyenne has been busy filming the new season of Australia's Next Top Model.

The winner of the series will be launched into the spotlight and will likely aspire to follow a career path similar to that of Cheyenne.

The brunette beauty returns to the cast alongside host Jennifer Hawkins, Alex Perry, Megan Gale, and new-comers Zac and Jordan Stenmark.
Padma Lakshmi and her daughter Krishna were 'twinning' when they headed out to the movies together in New York City on Monday evening.

The 45-year-old ex wife of author Salman Rushdie and her six-year-old daughter both wore denim ensembles for their outing.

Padma looked incredible in a cropped denim jumpsuit which was sleeveless in design and tapered in at the ankle.

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So cute: Padma Lakshmi and her daughter Krishna were 'twinning' in denim outfits when they headed out to the movies together in New York City on Monday evening

She's got it going on: Padma looked incredible in a cropped denim jumpsuit which was sleeveless in design and tapered in at the ankle

She teamed her look with a very glamorous pair of green statement platform heels which had a delicate ankle strap.

Her lookalike little girl wore a similar outfit but hers was a playsuit, which she teamed with burgundy pumps and a bright pink novelty watch.

She wore her hair in a plait, while her mother let her own locks cascade down past her shoulders.

Show-stopping: She teamed her look with a very glamorous pair of green statement platform heels which had a delicate ankle strap

The brunette beauty admitted she didn't know who the father of her daughter was at first as she had been dating two men when she fell pregnant in 2009.

Following her divorce from Rushdie in 2007, Padma was romancing Adam Dell, the venture capitalist brother of Dell computer firm founder Michael Dell.

She was also seeing the late Teddy Forstmann, Chairman and CEO of IMG.

DNA tests later proved Adam, 46, was the father and he was forced to go to Manhattan's Supreme Court in 2012 to get Padma to put his name on Krishna's birth certificate.

She told The Today Show: 'I probably shouldn't have been with anybody and just taken the time I needed for myself, but I was presented with two very different, very interesting men, and you know, men do it all the time.

'I chose to do it. I was open with the men involved, and I'm gonna own my history. That's what I did.'
A hefty settlement paid by Tyga to an aggrieved former landlord has reportedly prompted a lawsuit from a Los Angeles based jeweller who claims the rapper owes him almost quarter of a million dollars.

TMZ claim bespoke jewellery designer Jason Arasheben has been granted a $200,000 judgement after failing to receive payment for a diamond studded Pantheon watch and solid gold neck chain.

The issue is understood to stem from a 2013 jewellery deal with the under-fire boyfriend of Kylie Jenner at the Beverly Hills branch of the high-end chain, which also boasts stores in Miami, Las Vegas and Tokyo.

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Partying away his troubles: Tyga cut a relaxed figure as he arrived at Argyle nightclub in Hollywood on Monday. The rapper is now facing alawsuit from a Los Angeles based jeweller who claims the rapper owes him almost quarter of a million dollars

Tyga's in the house: Kylie Jenner's lover took to the microphone to perform for the crowd

Fans: The audience had their phones at the ready to film him perform at the Argyle

Its understood that Arasheben has employed the services of legal team Danny Abir and Boris Treyzon after the lawyers successfully settled a pay-out on behalf of Tygas former landlord, Gholamreza Rezai.

The rapper had originally failed to pay a $480,000 judgement against him for back rent and damage at the mansion he rented in 2011.

A Los Angeles judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to show in court on Tuesday to discuss his finances, however Abir said a confidential settlement had been reached "to the mutual satisfaction of the parties."

Judgement: TMZ claim bespoke jewellery designer Jason Arasheben has been granted a $200,000 judgement against the rapper

Costly: It is eported that Arasheben failed to receive payment for a diamond studded Pantheon watch and solid gold neck chain

More problems: The issue is understood to stem from a 2013 jewellery deal with the jeweller's Beverly Hills store

Abir said his legal partner would appear in court on Friday to ask that the warrant be quashed in light of the settlement.

Rezai went to court in 2012 claiming that Tyga missed a $16,000 monthly rent payment, skipped out on his lease and left the home in need of major repairs.

It was previously claimed that Tyga could face a separate legal action by his angry landlord to claim the $200,000 Maybach car the rapper gave to girlfriend Kylie for her birthday, lawyer Treyzon told People.

The Rack City rapper was served with notice of the hearing over the judgement for unpaid rent and damages on July 20, and his ex-landlord was furious to read about his generous gift to Kylie weeks later.

Out and about: Tyga looked unfazed during an appearance at the Argyle on Monday

Out and about: The rapper was joined by a pal for an evening out as his legal woes reportedly intensify

'Of course, we have an irate client who is owed half a million dollars and then the client reads that Tyga is giving a Maybach as a gift  that's in violation of two things,' he said prior to a settlement being reached.

'There is a hold on him transferring any assets while there is a judgment outstanding  that's going to be a separate action to recover that car unless the judgment is satisfied  and he's to appear in court, be placed under oath and he needs to answer questions.'

Last Tuesday the 26-year-old's failure to attend court led to an arrest warrant being issued by a Los Angeles judge.

Fun in the sun: Kylie shared some happy selfies with Tyga on Snapchat as they partied in Turks and Caicos for her 19th birthday after the rapper skipped a court date

Generous: The rapper gave Kylie a $200,000 Mercedes for her 19th birthday, but his angry landlord - who Tyga owes $480,000 - may now try to recover the car

Bahamas: Tyga relaxed with Kylie and her model pal Hailey Baldwin as they spent time on a yacht Tuesday

But Tyga claimed poverty, refusing to pay the settlement ordered by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nancy Newman.

On Tuesday, he was scheduled to be questioned under oath about his finances.

But instead of appearing in court, Tyga was in the Bahamas celebrating girlfriend Kylie Jenner's 19th birthday, with the reality star sharing the fun on Instagram and Snapchat.

His landlord's lawyer also revealed the lengths they went to to serve Tyga with legal papers - surprising him on stage as he performed on stage during a concert at San Diego's Fluxx Night Club on July 20.

In love: The 26-year-old shared a sweet photo on Instagram as he wished Kylie a happy birthday Tuesday

'He was performing on stage, reaching out to the audience, and our processor decided to give him a gift back,' said Treyzon.

And the lawyer said Tyga had a pattern of skipping out on his financial obligations - but that it was time to pay up.

'His history in this case has been that he's ignoring this obligation and many others,' said Treyzon.

Rent dispute: Tyga's former landlord obtained a $480,000 judgement against him for unpaid rent and damage - including adding a stripper pole - to his Malibu mansion in 2012

'This is not the only judgment that is against him. I think we are the only ones who took it this far, because it's a large amount... We will go wherever we have to go to make sure our client is paid.'

Meanwhile, TMZ reported that the Kardashian-Jenner family are worried the rapper's legal and financial problems could damage their brand.

Tyga has a three-year-old son, King Cairo, with ex Blac Chyna, who is now pregnant and engaged to Kylie's brother Rob Kardashian.

MailOnline have contacted Tyga's representatives for further comment.
She's been enjoying a relaxing holiday in the States, after quitting reality show, The Only Way Is Essex earlier this year.

And Jessica Wright looked incredible as she put on a stylishly slender display in Los Angeles on Monday night.

The TV personality, 30, showcased her svelte legs in some white skinny jeans as she headed for dinner at upmarket Koi restaurant.

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Stunner: Jessica Wright, 30, showcased her svelte legs in some white skinny jeans as she headed for dinner at Koi restaurant in Los Angeles on Monday night

The Essex lady looked stunning in some white skinny jeans, showing off her enviable pins, and a matching white off-the-shoulder blouse.

The top, which hung loosely around her womanly curves, bared her decolletage and shoulders, showing off her new golden tan picked up from the trip.

The blouse was adorned with candy-coloured tassels hanging off a crochet lining at its top hem, adding a pop of colour to the bright white look.

Jess paired the outfit with one of her own creations - the Allegra nude t-bar heeled sandal from her own collection Jessica Wright Footwear, released last year.

Jessica White: The reality star turned heads in the jeans and matching top, which bared her decolletage and shoulders, showing off her golden Californian tan

The former TOWIE star kept the simple look trendy with a funky denim clutch bag, complete with a vibrant green lining and sophisticated chain strap.

Keeping things co-ordinated, Jess accessorised with some huge gold hoops, bracelets and rings, picking up on the metallic detailing of the shoes and bag.

Styling her hair into a sleek blow-dry and sporting some hot pink lipstick, the brunette beauty did not look out of place in the glamorous Hollywood location as she headed into the swanky Japanese eatery.

Jess appears to be having a ball over in the USA, documenting her luxurious getaway for fans on social media.

Colour pop: Jess kept the simple look trendy with a funky denim clutch bag, complete with a vibrant green lining and a flash of hot pink lippy

Having been spotted soaking up the sun in Las Vegas last week, Jess took to Instagram to reveal she had moved on to glitzy Los Angeles, by posting a snap of her spinning excitedly on the streets of Beverly Hills.

Beaming in a glamorous white mini dress, Jess announced to fans in the caption: 'Everything's better with palm trees & sunshine'.

It seems Jess is embracing the single life, too, as she enjoys her American adventure not with a lover but with a multitude of close pals instead.

Spilling all on her love life to MailOnline back in February, Jess teased: 'It's always exciting. There's always potential guys, but I'm really, really waiting for the right one.'

California dreamin! Jess appears to be having a ball in the USA, documenting her excited arrival in LA on Instagram for fans (pictured)

She explained: 'I don't want to rush into anything and settle down with someone for the sake of it or on a whim. I genuinely am happy living on my own and being independent.

'My career is the main thing at the moment and it would take someone quite special to make me settle down.'

Having recently quit ITVBe's The Only Way is Essex after six years to pursue other projects, Jess recently confirmed that she has no plans to return to reality TV.

Addressing recent rumours after a one-off appearance on TOWIE last month, Jess revealed to OK!: 'It's so annoying! I was filming a one-off with (my dog) Bella and Bobby [Norris] as his dog Beau passed away.

'I'm definitely not going back  if anything, appearing with Bobby cemented why I wanted to leave.

'It was a brilliant period of my life but it's done and dusted.'
Made In Chelsea fans may not have taken too kindly to news of her romance with personal trainer Ryan Libbey, but Louise Thompson doesn't appear bothered in the slightest.

The reality star posted yet another loved-up snap on Tuesday, showing the couple gazing into each other's eyes at Savoy Place on the Thames riverside.

Captioned 'little 'n' large, the picture shows the diminutive 26-year-old sporting a chic black and white striped dress with chunky white shoes alongside her more statuesque suited boyfriend.

Loved up: Louise Thompson posted an Instagram shot of herself with new beau Ryan Libbey as fans slammed her for moving on too quickly

However, viewers of the reality show were less than impressed at the latest episode which showed Louise introducing her beau to the gang on holiday in the South of France.

'Louise got over Alik quickly didn't she?' one fan tweeted, referring to her split with leather designer Alik Alfus back in May after a two year relationship.

'OMG, last week Louise was seeing Woody the Cowboy and this week she's seeing action man I can't keep up,' tweeted another.

New love: Louise introduced Ryan on last night's Made In Chelsea instalment but fans were unimpressed

Meeting the gang: Ryan faced scrutiny by fans of the reality show via social media

Unimpressed: Made In Chelsea fans wasted no time in voicing their opinions on Louise's new relationship

But it looks like there may be trouble in paradise for the pair - with Alik set to stir things up with an appearance on next week's episode.

Louise recently revealed she was dating personal trainer Ryan but faced claims by reality co-star Stephanie Pratt that she had begun seeing him months before separating from Alik.

Last month, Stephanie retweeted a report asking if she was to blame for Alik and Louise's split, adding: 'Uh no she was s***ging her trainer since March...'

In MIC episodes screened last month, Louise left Alik heartbroken when she ended their two-year long-distance romance.

Cute couple: Lousie has been busy posting loved up snaps of herself and Ryan

Eye candy: The pair have been documenting their time together on Instagram, with Louise sharing one snap of the musclebound hunk as she quipped: 'Woof [tongue emoji] the view'

The pair originally met in spring 2014 when they filmed the spin-off series in New York City, with Alik following Louise to London.

However, he had to return to the US last autumn due to his family business, which put a strain on their relationship.

Despite Alik flying to London in a last-ditch attempt to win Louise back, she said it was too late.
What happens in Las Vegas commonly stays in Las Vegas, but Melanie Sykes was evidently keen to share her exploits in the Nevada city with social media followers on Monday morning.

The British TV personality is currently in the United States to shoot her new charity calendar, and she wasted no time in displaying her famously slender physique while topping up her tan.

Posting a filtered selfie on Instagram, Mel looked typically toned in a very skimpy blue bikini while reclining on a beach towel, her eyes shielded behind a pair of tinted Aviators.

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Good morning USA: What happens in Las Vegas commonly stays in Las Vegas, but Melanie Sykes was evidently keen to share her exploits in the Nevada city with social media followers on Monday morning

But despite making the most of the glorious weather, the 46-yar old hinted that she was unimpressed by the hugely popular resort city.

Captioning the shot, she wrote: Hope all good with you all. Well Im here in Vegas and the jury is out.

The brunette had previously shared a snap of herself en route to the airport alongside celebrity photographer Alan Strutt ahead of their flight to Las Vegas and a stay at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

On their way: The brunette had previously shared a snap of herself en route to the airport alongside celebrity photographer Alan Strutt ahead of their flight to Las Vegas and a stay at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino

Uploading the snap on Sunday Mel also revealed her excitement at uniting with celebrity hair and make-up artist Gary Cockrill and his husband Phil Turner would during the Vegas shoot.

Turner later confirmed the news himself by sharing a snap of the citys famous welcome sign alongside the words: Next stop Vegas.

Despite her seemingly flawless appearance, Mel recently opened up about her insecurities in a blog post on her website.

Here we come: Mel also revealed her excitement at uniting with celebrity hair and make-up artist Gary Cockrill and his husband Phil Turner would during the Vegas shoot. Turner later confirmed the news himself by sharing a snap of the citys famous welcome sign

Melanie told her fans she has struggled to accept parts of her body like many other women, including her 'heavy and bulky' thighs and 'flat' derriere.

The fitness fan wrote: 'I think a lot of womens insecurities can mainly be body issues. I am often asked which bits of my body I dont like and the answer is, I know I am a healthy person, so I do think I am lucky. I do look alright and most importantly, everything works.

'My thighs have a tendency to be heavy and bulky, so I have to be careful whilst building my bottom, that I dont build my thighs in the process.

'Cellulite, again is another demon for women and of course I have some.'
After three failed marriages, he is hoping to have found lasting happiness with number four.

And Masterchef star Gregg Wallace is clearly revelling in newlywed bliss as he was seen soaking up the sun with his new wife Anne-Marie Sterpini on their honeymoon in Portofino, Italy on Saturday.

The 51-year-old foodie peeled off his shirt while soaking up the Mediterranean sun with his stunning wife, 30, before later raising a glass to their wedded bliss.

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Stripping off: Masterchef star Gregg Wallace is clearly revelling in newlywed bliss as he was seen soaking up the sun with his new wife Anne-Marie Sterpini on their honeymoon in Portofino, Italy on Saturday

Gregg looked in total relaxation mode as he peeled off his T-shirt on the balcony to show off his youthful physique complete with an inking on the left hand side of his chest.

Having formerly sported a V-neck white T-shirt and his round lens glasses, he then seemed prepared to strip off and was seen looking as though he was unbuttoning his trousers.

During their relaxing moments on the balcony, both of the newlyweds sported sunhats to protect themselves from the searing UV rays.

Gregg could not resist planting a huge kiss on his stunning wife's lips while they enjoyed the views in their Italian surroundings.

Happiness is... The 51-year-old foodie peeled off his shirt while soaking up the Mediterranean sun with his stunning wife, 30, before later raising a glass to their wedded bliss

Going shirtless: Following their wedding, Gregg insists that children are next on the list after tying the knot with Anne-Marie

Emotional displays: Gregg could not resist planting a huge kiss on his stunning wife's lips while they enjoyed the views in their Italian surroundings

Heading to the balcony once more, Anne-Marie showed off her sensational figure in a tight black vest top with high-waisted blue shorts.

Following their wedding, Gregg insisted that children are next on the list after tying the knot with Anne-Marie.

The duo at Hever Castle in Kent on August 6 in front of best man John Torode and guests including Lisa Faulkner and his MasterChef: The Professionals co-presenters Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti.

Talking to Hello! magazine, Wallace said he had finally found happiness with his fourth wife, who he met on Twitter in 2013.

'Meeting Anna has brought me what I think I've always been searching for - that big, warm family dynamic and there's real strength in that.

Stunner: Heading to the balcony once more, Anne-Marie showed off her sensational figure in a tight black vest top with high-waisted blue shorts

Joined at the LIPS! Gregg is clearly in the throes of passion with his beautiful wife

Mirrored poses: The couple stared into the distance as they soaked up the sun

Kiss for my sweet: The duo could not resist packing on the PDA in a stolen intimate moment

Business and pleasure: Clutching a notebook, it seemed Gregg was taking care of business during the trip

'I'm very conscious of people thinking I just do this willy-nilly. But we haven't rushed into this - we've been together for three years and I truly have never met anyone like Anna," he said.

The restaurateur has two grown-up children from his second marriage, but his young wife is hoping to add another mouth to feed to their family soon.

He said: 'Anna was clear from the start of our relationship that she wants children and it won't be long at all before that happens.'

Speaking about his decision to make his MasterChef co-host Torode best man, Wallace said he could not imagine anyone better suited.

Love is... The restaurateur has two grown-up children from his second marriage, but his young wife is hoping to add another mouth to feed to their family soon

Ring, ring: Gregg chatted away on the phone while Anne-Marie stole a moment of solitude

All over tan: Anne-Marie pulled down the straps on her vest to ensure an all over tan, free of tanlines

Dazzling additions: Anne-Marie flashed her dazzling engagement ring as she toyed with her hair

Yawn-o'clock! It all seemed to get too much for Anne-Marie as she let out a huge yawn

'There is no part of my life John isn't aware of. He's seen me through the good, the bad and the ugly and has always been there for me, so it was a very easy choice to make,' he said.

The ceremony at the castle was also attended by Gregg's mum Mary Pettman, 72, and his brother Paul, who turned up in an RAC van saying that his original ride had broken down.

Later in the day, the couple attended a bigger party, which welcomed as many as 120 guests.

Looking after her: The ceremony at the castle was also attended by Gregg's mum Mary Pettman, 72, and his brother Paul, who turned up in an RAC van saying that his original ride had broken down

All white on the night: In his many balcony ensembles the most casual was his sports shorts and white T-shirt

Straight-faced: Despite enjoying a romantic bite, the pair failed to crack a smile between courses

Stunner: Anne-Marie wore her sleek raven tresses in a straight style falling from a centre parting

Check with the expert! If the waiters had any clues of Gregg's career they no doubt pulled all the stops for serving an expert

Gregg met the brunette beauty on Twitter in March 2013 and they've been inseparable ever since.

Speaking about the moment he laid eyes on her after she tweeted him a question about rhubarb he said: 'I looked at her picture and thought, "Oh wow!" so I started flirting and sent her my number.

'At first she couldn't tell if it was me or a lookalike. But she soon realised once we got to a restaurant and people started saying, 'Hello, Gregg'.'

Way back when: Gregg met the brunette beauty on Twitter in March 2013 and they've been inseparable ever since

Hold my hand: As it was his fourth honeymoon, it is undoubted that Gregg has things covered

Never too far: The couple strutted their stuff while clutching hands, although Gregg had stains down his grey polo shirt

Stretching it out: Gregg was chatting away on the phone

Gregg and Anne-Marie got engaged in December 2014 and at the time, Gregg said 2015 was 'all about the wedding,' claiming that the venue and the pianist were all picked out for the event.

His first wife, Christine, left him after six weeks of marriage in 1991 and he married Denise eight years later after a whirlwind romance, within which they had two children.

He met third wife Heidi, on Twitter, but their marriage ended after just 18 months in spring 2012.

Happiness is: Gregg and Anne-Marie got engaged in December 2014 and at the time, Gregg said 2015 was 'all about the wedding,' claiming that the venue and the pianist were all picked out for the event

Changing Rooms! All his ensembles were low-key as he made sure he was super laid-back for the trip

Idyllic: The happy couple stared out at the sea and scenery as they revelled in life as newlyweds
She was spotted getting cosy with TOWIE's Joey Essex as they shot scenes for new show Celebs Go Dating last week.

But despite flying solo this time around, Stephanie Pratt ensured all eyes remained on her as she dazzled in a gorgeous boho-style maxi dress while filming on London's King's Road on Tuesday.

The Made In Chelsea star, 30, flashed a glimpse of leg in the semi-sheer gown, which was embroidered with pretty pink flowers, as she larked around with a friend.

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Boho beauty: Stephanie Pratt, 30, flashed her legs in an embroidered maxi dress as she filmed new show Celebs Go Dating on London's King's Road on Tuesday

The dress was held up by two black spaghetti straps, leaving the reality TV personality's bronzed and toned upper half on show as she enjoyed the sunny London weather.

Adding a more casual touch to feminine frock, Stephanie completed her outfit with some sporty black Converse pumps.

The former The Hills star injected a touch of a bling to her look with gold jewellery and beaded bracelets, while sheltering her eyes from the summer sunshine with dark shades.

Stephanie wore her long blonde locks loosely tousled around her shoulders and accentuated her pretty features with natural make-up.

Say cheese! The Made In Chelsea star looked relaxed as she filmed the new E4 reality show, cuddling up to a friend to document their day through a few cheeky selfies

Stephanie look chic and carefree in the outfit, having revealed this week that it is these flowing boho styles that she much prefers.

Talking to New! magazine about her fashion choices, she admitted: 'The one thing I never am is sexy. I'd say I'm fresh.'

'I can never do those sexy outfits because they're not for my body type and I would feel uncomfortable.'

The star, who rose to fame on MTV's LA-based series The Hills, looked relaxed as she filmed for the new E4 reality show, cuddling up to a friend to document their day through a few cheeky selfies.

BFFs reunited: The former The Hills star took to Instagram to post one of the selfies, suggesting her friend may feature on the upcoming celebrity dating series

Steph ensured the selfies did not go to waste either, uploading one to Instagram for fans.

Expressing her excitement at her gal pal joining her for filming, Stephanie wrote: 'Could not be happier after 2 years of annoying her, I finally got my best friend & @meme.london partner to film with me!! #celebsgodating #comingsoon'

The sighting comes just days after Stephanie was seen filming for the show with fellow reality star Joey Essex.

Speculation has been rife that the pair got close romantically during the new series, after they were seen leaving parties together following filming.

Fun fashion: Adding a more casual touch to feminine frock, Stephanie completed her outfit with some sporty black Converse pumps

However Joey confirmed that their relationship was strictly for work purposes, explaining: 'We're just friends... She's a sort and a good looking girl. She's just on the same show as me. All just friends.'

The new show Celebs Go Dating sees Stephanie, Joey, and other celebrities dating 'normal' members of the public on camera.

The show is also set to star Charlotte Crosby and Tyger Drew-Honey, who rose to fame on BBC comedy Outnumbered.

The star may have set her hopes high for the show's outcome, having been largely single since splitting from MIC co-star Josh Shepherd in August 2015.
A new promo clip for Roxy Jacenko's upcoming 60 Minutes documentary shows the moment surgeons remove her cancerous tumour.

The preview features exclusive scenes from the operating theatre as the 36-year-old publicist undergoes surgery for breast cancer.

The footage was filmed at a Sydney hospital this month, and will be included in a an hour-long special which airs on Sunday.

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Surgery: A new promo clip for Roxy Jacenko's 60 Minutes documentary features scenes from her recent breast cancer surgery - including footage of her tumour being removed

In the 30-second trailer, Roxy is shown calmly receiving medical treatment in a hospital gown.

She is supported by her mother Dooren, a breast cancer survivor who underwent a mastectomy a decade ago.

Later, the focus shifts to the operation itself - including the graphic moment the tumour is taken out.

A surgeon announces he 'can feel a very centrally placed cancer' before the scene cuts to a black and white shot of the tumour post-removal.

Exclusive access: The footage was filmed at a Sydney hospital earlier this month, and will be included in an hour-long special about Roxy which airs on Channel Nine on Sunday

Support: In the trailer, Roxy is shown calmly receiving medical treatment in a hospital gown as she is supported by her mother Dooren, who is a breast cancer survivor

Graphic: Later, the trailer shifts focus to the operation itself - including the graphic moment Sydney surgeons remove Roxy's cancerous tumour

Elsewhere, Roxy speaks candidly about her diagnosis, and reveals she did not expect to battle cancer in her 30s.

'I kept thinking, at 40 is when you start worrying about breast cancer and so on - even if it's in your family,' she confesses.

Roxy is also shown stroking her daughter Pixie's hair while the pair are being interviewed.

The Sweaty Betty PR boss even claims she asked Pixie to feel her lump because she 'didn't know what it was'.

The promo ends with a dramatic, slow-motion shot of Roxy staring out into the distance by the sea.

'At 40 is when you start worrying about breast cancer': Roxy speaks about her diagnosis in the promo clip, and reveals she did not expect to battle cancer in her 30s

'A very centrally placed cancer': In the operating theatre footage, the surgeons are heard discussing the location of Roxy's tumour

Challenging: Last month, Roxy revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer - just three weeks after her husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for insider trading

Close bond: Roxy is also shown stroking her five-year-old daughter Pixie's hair while the pair are being interviewed by 60 Minutes

Coming soon: The promo ends with a dramatic shot of Roxy staring out into the distance

A previous 60 Minutes trailer was released on Sunday, showing a confrontation between Roxy and reporter Allison Langdon.

Roxy was clearly angered by the suggestion that 'normal' people might question the timing of her cancer diagnosis.

'Well they're not normal Alison, change your friends,' Roxy said.

'You've got too much time on your hands if you say that. I don't really give a f*** what they think on my timing.

'They can say that, the reality is, it's not something that I ever thought I would face.'

'I don't give a f***': A trailer released on Sunday showed a tense conversation between Roxy and reporter Allison Langdon, after she asked a question about the 'timing' of her diagnosis

'It's not something I ever thought I would face': Roxy was clearly angered by the suggestion that 'normal' people might question the timing of her cancer diagnosis

Jailed: In June, Roxy's husband Oliver Curtis (left) was sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison, to be released after one year on a good behaviour bond

Last month, Roxy revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer - just three weeks after her husband Oliver Curtis was jailed for insider trading.

In June, Oliver was sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison, to be released after one year on a good behaviour bond.

Roxy stood by his side during the trial and sentencing at the NSW Supreme Court and frequently made headlines for her stylish outfits.

Roxy is currently enjoying a holiday in Hong Kong with her two children Pixie, five, and two-year-old son Hunter.

After her return to Australia, she is expected to undergo radiation therapy.

60 Minutes is broadcast Sunday at 8.30pm on Channel Nine

Taking a break: Roxy is currently enjoying a holiday in Hong Kong with her two children Pixie (centre) and two-year-old son Hunter (right)
It's one of the most highly anticipated series due to hit screens later this year.

And Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia teased the series will be full of drama during his appearance on The Project, on Tuesday night.

The 46-year-old actor hinted that there will be plenty of brutal blindsides after the show's guest co-host Fifi Box asked if viewers can expect classic Survivor tactics.

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Brutal blindsides: Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia teased the series will be full of drama during his appearance on The Project on Tuesday night

Jonathan explained: 'Absolutely! What's Survivor without a blindside? Right? We've got plenty of blindsides.

'In fact, we have one with an unforeseen consequence. It's kind of like a blindside within a blindside,' he revealed.

Waleed Aly, one of the main hosts of the show was very interested in the double blindside and asked him about it until they both got confused.

Drama: Waleed Aly, one of the main hosts of the show was very interested in the double blindside and asked him about it until they both got confused

The former Underbelly: Badness star added that he found hosting the show challenging, as he attempted to live up to the American host Jeff Probst.

He explained: 'Jeff makes it look so easy... Over the years, he started adding commentary, and now he talks nonstop.

'And you've got 24 contestants charging out in that field and trying to keep track of them, basically whatever you see, it has to come out your mouth. You have to disengage your brain and I had a tough time doing that,' Jonathan added.

Big shoes to fill: The former Underbelly: Badness star added that he found hosting the show challenging, as he attempted to live up to the American host Jeff Probst

A comeback and debut: Channel 10 has spent millions marooning 24 people on Samoa for 55 days as it resurrects the series Australian Survivor

Channel 10 has spent millions marooning 24 people on Samoa for 55 days as it resurrects the series Australian Survivor.

But despite the marketing blitz and high confidence from network executives, the show has been widely panned on social media by die hard fans of the U.S. version.

Theres a smell of fail in the air, one superfan wrote on a Survivor fan forum just a week before its premiere while other fans have savaged the show on social media.

Survivor Australia will air on Sunday August 21 at 7:30 on Network 10.
Phoebe Burgess has revealed her NRL star husband Sam is 'all over' her pregnancy, even downloading an app so he can tell her when she will start having cramps.

But the writer issued a warning, saying there would be 'trouble' if the South Sydney Rabbitohs player used his mobile while she was giving birth.

During a Today show segment on Tuesday, Phoebe was seen chatting to fellow expectant mothers Elle Halliwell and Nine reporter Aislin Kriukelis.

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Warning: Phoebe Burgess (left) said her NRL star husband Sam would be in 'trouble' if he used his mobile while she was giving birth, pictured with Elle Halliwell

She told the show that Sam had downloaded the What to Expect pregnancy app, adding: 'He's all over it, it's very cute.

'He says: ''Look I've downloaded the what to expect app so I know exactly what you're going through from your perspective''.

'And he comes up to me and says, ''darling you'll be feeling a little cramping this week, don't worry, you might be able to start feeling the baby soon.'

Mothers-to-be: During a Today show segment on Tuesday, Phoebe was seen chatting to fellow expectant mothers Elle Halliwell and Nine reporter Aislin Kriukelis (right)

But when technology expert Trevor long mentioned there was also an app that counts contractions, Phoebe was not convinced.

'If Sam's on his phone when I'm giving birth there will be trouble,' she said.

Elle also chimed in, saying she thinks the technical aspects should be left down to the professionals.

'That's one part I don't want too many aps about because I want to leave it in the hands of the professionals and not check my iPhone every five minutes at such a special time.'

Supportive: Phoebe revealed that Sam had downloaded the What to Expect pregnancy app

All three women then spoke about an app that lets them compare the size of their baby with a fruit or vegetable for each new week of pregnancy.

'I use at least three or four every day, just to check what kind of fruit my baby is, whether it's an apple or it's actually a turnip at the moment,' Elle said.

Aislin then revealed she had a grapefruit, before Phoebe added: 'A Jalapeno...I have a spicy baby.'

Phoebe and Sam met two years ago through mutual friends before getting married in an intimate ceremony last year.

In May, Phoebe denied pregnancy speculation after she appeared to show a bump in an Instagram selfie.
She is a successful model, while he possesses movie star good looks.

So it's no surprise that Brittny Ward and her boyfriend Jenson Button are often showing off their enviable physiques via social media.

The Californian-born beauty sported a plunging black swim suit for a bicycle ride through the stunning Napa Valley in Northern California, posting the image on her Instagram.

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Flashing the flesh: Brittny Ward showed off her stunning figure in a swimsuit during a bike ride on her California holiday on Monday

'Feeling like a kid,' she wrote beside the snap which showed her wearing the swimsuit, a pair of black and silver flip flops and sunglasses.

A pair of discarded denim shorts hung from the handlebars.

Meanwhile, her 36-year-old racing driver boyfriend was also flashing the flesh in another Instagram shot which featured him shirtless in a pair of swimming shorts.

Ready for a dip: Jenson showed off his back tattoo and big muscles before he went in for a swim in Northern California

'Mmm morning dip I think,' he wrote beside the shot where he stood with his back to the camera looking at an infinity swimming pool set against the countryside.

The shirtless shot also served to highlight Jenson's large back tattoo of a dragon and Japanese symbols.

The star previously said he got the inking from his 'love of Japan' and the dragons because they are 'courageous, strong, for wisdom and protection.'

Wine country: The model posted another snapshot showing herself posing in a backless dress in front of a vineyard

Bikini in paradise: Brittny posed in bikini top and denim shorts with some stunning friends

Happy: Jenson and Brittney together at a London event in June

Meanwhile, Brittny posted several two other shots of she and Jenson enjoying their break in wine country.

One photograph shows her posing in a near-backless dress in front of a vineyard alongside the caption 'not a bad view', while another features her with a couple of bikini-clad friends in front of the pool.

'The anti-fun group,' she wrote alongside the picture.

Brittny, 25, has been inseparable from the British driver since the pair began dating back in March.

Jenson announced the split from his wife Jessica Michibata, 31, back in December after just a year of marriage.

The pair, who tied the knot in a lavish Hawaiian ceremony at the end of 2014, remain on good terms despite calling time on their six year relationship.

Brittny, who was crowned Miss January 2015 by Playboy last year, was raised in Northern California and began modelling at the age of 12.
She has certainly endured a rough time when it comes to her love life.

But things seemed to be looking up for Charlotte Crosby as she enjoyed a date night with a handsome hunk at Coop restaurant in her native Newcastle on Monday.

Flaunting her never-ending legs in a skimpy playsuit, the former Geordie Shore star, 26, headed for dinner with a the dashing stranger as part of her new E4 reality show, Celebs Go Dating.

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Lucky lady! Things seemed to be looking up for Charlotte Crosby on the romance front as she enjoyed a date night with a handsome hunk at Coop restaurant in Newcastle on Monday

The pair headed to chicken restaurant Coop to film for the show, which which sees celebrities going on dates with 'normal' members of the public on camera.

Charlotte ensured she looked her usual glamorous self for the blind date, rocking a patterned off-the-shoulder playsuit, flashing her toned pins as she strutted her stuff.

The TV personality paired the one-piece with suede camel Chelsea boots, keeping things effortless and cool for the low-key date.

Styling her hair in sleek waves to complete the look, Charlotte's elegant appearance no doubt caught the eye of her lucky partner, Brad.

Blind date! The former Geordie Shore star, 26, headed for dinner with a the dashing stranger as part of her new E4 reality show, Celebs Go Dating

Charlotte brought her playful personality to the table straight away, bringing along a plastic container of her favourite gravy to enjoy with her beloved chicken.

The former Celebrity Big Brother winner and her hunky man appeared to get on like a house on fire, laughing and chatting together as they tucked in to their meal.

Spending two hours at dinner, the duo then hit Livello nightclub together afterwards to enjoy further drinks in Charlotte's true party girl style.

The date seems promising for unlucky-in-love Charlotte, who finally split from on/off boyfriend Gary 'Gaz' Beadle in recent months after branding him 'worse than a murderer'.

Witty: Charlotte brought her playful personality to the table straight away, bringing along a plastic container of her favourite gravy to enjoy with her beloved chicken

The pair's famously rocky relationship came to an abrupt end in June when Charlotte announced she would be quitting Geordie Shore, as she couldn't stand being around her on-off flame anymore.

The announcement came after she revealed she had suffered a tragic ectopic pregnancy whilst he appeared on Ex On The Beach in March and lost their unborn baby.

However it seems Gaz shares her desire to separate once and for all.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, he revealed: 'She said I was worse than a murderer, that to me was the final straw, I dont want to talk to her or about her.

Moving on: The date seemed promising for unlucky-in-love Charlotte, who finally split from on/off beau Gary 'Gaz' Beadle in recent months after branding him 'worse than a murderer'

'Its done, Id never get back with Charlotte. It's done and dusted after five years.'

'Shes left Geordie Shore and I think shes dating other people. She needs to move on to the next chapter of her life and I want to do the same.'

Attempting to do just that, Charlotte took to her Snapchat on a night out last week to share a saucy video of her cosying up to model Ash Harrison.

Partying at Neighbourhood Bar and Restaurant in Manchester, the long haired hunk leaned in to plant a slew of kisses on the reality star in the clip.

The new E4 dating show Celebs Go Dating is also set to feature Stephanie Pratt, Joey Essex and Tyger Drew-Honey of BBC comedy Outnumbered.
He's quashed rumours he and Made In Chelsea's Stephanie Pratt are more than just friends.

And Joey Essex, 26, couldn't hide his delight as he filmed new dating show Celebs Go Dating, on Monday, with a stunning blonde.

The reality star looked thrilled with who he had been partnered with in Channel 4's brand new match-making programme.

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Happy chappie: Joey Essex, 26, couldn't hide his delight as he filmed new Channel 4 show Celebs Go Dating with a stunning blonde

The lovable former TOWIE star walked with a spring in his step as he headed to meet his date at London's Gilgamesh restaurant.

Joey kept things casual in a white t-shirt, ankle-length black trousers and matching kicks.

He wore a wide smile on his face and his short brown hair neatly coiffed en route to meet his date.

Date night: The lovable former TOWIE star walked with a spring in his step as he headed to meet his date at London's Gilgamesh restaurant

In good company: The attractive pair greeted each other warmly with a kiss on the cheek in front of the cameras before entering the eatery

Star attraction: Passers-by pointed at Joey as he walked followed by cameramen

In a good mood: He wore a wide smile on his face and his short brown hair neatly coiffed en route to meet his date

The blonde beauty put on a leggy display as she sauntered to meet Joey alone.

She showed off her endless pins in a grey miniskirt which she complemented with a billowing black cover-up and a stylish black leather handbag.

The attractive pair greeted each other warmly with a kiss on the cheek in front of the cameras before entering the eatery.

All smiles: The blonde looked happy that shew was to be wined and dined by Joey

Golden girl: The blonde beauty put on a leggy display as she sauntered alone to meet Joey

Mutual attraction: The pair looked to hit it off instantly as they approached the indoor escalator

Celebs Go Dating will follow Joey, Charlotte Crosby, Stephanie Pratt, Tyger Drew-Honey, YouTube's Jack Jones and Tattoo Fixers' Paisley as they each date non-celebrities over a three-week period.

Addressing rumours he is romantically linked to Stephanie Pratt, Joey said: 'We're just friends... She's a sort and a good looking girl. She's just on the same show as me. All just friends.'

He added that he and The Hills and Made in Chelsea star just shared banter on the set. 'Stephanie's filming the same show as me so we have all been hanging around.

'It's mainly me, Charlotte Crosby and Stephanie all having jokes together.'

On the up: Joey previously admitted to not having had much luck so far on the show
Around this time of year, students from all over are bracing themselves for the start of term.

And on Monday night, Ashley Judd informed her Facebook Live audience that she'll be among them.

From a cafe in Franklin, Tennessee, the 48-year-old announced: 'I am now officially a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley.'

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Knowledge is power: On Monday, Ashley Judd announced to her Facebook Live audience that she will be pursuing a PhD at the University of California at Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy

Wearing a blue floral sleeveless blouse, a cross and a purple necklace that matched her lipstick, she said: 'Sometimes I'm really excited. Sometimes I'm like, "What have I gotten myself into?"'

After obtaining her bachelor's degree in French from the University of Kentucky, the Emmy nominee decided to go to Harvard University in 2009.

The following year, she graduated with a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration with an emphasis on gender equality, walking in the same ceremony at which Meryl Streep snagged her honorary degree.

For her academic encore at Berkeley, the Come Early Morning star will attend their Goldman School of Public Policy.

'It's the number one public policy school in the United States,' she said. 'They only accept two or three students a year, and at least 50per cent of their students come from their own masters programme.'

Globetrotter: Her previous policy engagement has included an appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund

Acknowledging the 'talented and virtuous, well-meaning, smart' applicants, she committed to 'make the very best of my time at Berkeley, and do some good thinking, some rigorous research and fill it with my typical heart and soul and see how I can continue to do my little part to make the world a better place.'

Politics has increasingly become a preoccupation for the actress. On top of endorsing various electoral campaigns at home, she's flung herself to such locations as India, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Global Ambassador for Population Services International.

In 2013, she'd reportedly been planning to run against US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 midterms. Her campaign, however, never materialised, and she confirmed her decision not to run on Twitter.

She claimed on Facebook Live that, as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund, she recently travelled to Jordan and Turkey to work with refugees, as well as to the war-ravaged eastern Ukraine to confront such problems as 'gender violence' and 'intimate partner violence.'

Lady of letters: In 2010, the DeLovely actress obtained a Mid-career Master in Public Administration from Harvard University

As she further formalises her grasp of policy details, though, Judd has lighter concerns to consider as well. She appended to her Berkeley news: 'And yes, I will be taking my Hello Kitty bicycle again, just like I did when I went to Harvard. And yes, my dad will be coming to classes with me again.

'And yes, I have a backpack. And yes, I have a locker. And no, I don't have my outfit for the first day of school picked out - but I probably will be wearing shoes, that we know of,' she quipped. Her registered 'psychological support' dog, Shug, 'will be coming!'

Provoking the envy of university students everywhere, she crowed: 'I got my parking! I got my parking permit!'

Next year, Judd will appear in the revival of David Lynch and Mark Frost's acclaimed TV programme Twin Peaks. Her next film, a biopic of Barack Obama called Barry, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
Kris Jenner's foray into the afterlife was eerily effective.

The Momager, appearing in a preview of Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry set to air Wednesday, connected with two of her ex Caitlyn Jenner's late relatives - her father William and brother Burt.

Upon sitting down with the 60-year-old mother-of-six, Henry was immediately inundated with strong signals from beyond. Kris's daughter, Khloe Kardashian, was nearby, witnessing the exchange.

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Astounded: Kris Jenner, appearing on Wednesday's edition of Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry, was told that her ex Caitlyn's late brother and father were seeking to connect with her

Focused: The medium informed Kris of the spirits emerging during their session

'Oh, there's a lot popping in, I have people who are like in-laws coming through, I'm thinking, but I don't know - I feel like he comes through as a grandfatherly figure,' Henry said. 'There's a reference to a William that I have to highlight.'

Kris told Henry that the connection made sense, as 'Caitlyn's dad, William, died years ago.'

Henry then said, 'What's interesting about this is that William is with a son that's deceased that would have passed away in a car accident - do you know this?'

Working overtime: The medium has also conducted sessions with stars such as Tori Spelling, Audrina Patridge and Kendra Wilkinson for his show's second season

Strong start: In his show's first season, Henry sat down with with Snooki, Amber Rose and Carmen Electra, among others

Keeping an ear on things: Khloe Kardashian was watching the exchange on a monitor from the kitchen

Kris confirmed the information was accurate, as it was in reference to the 1976 death of Caitlyn's older brother Burt in an auto wreck, just three months after Jenner's record-setting showing at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Burt, 18, was behind the wheel of a silver Porsche Caitlyn had lent him with his girlfriend Judith Hutchings, 16, when he careened into a utility pole on a freezing morning in Canton, Connecticut in November of 1976; both died as result of injuries they suffered in the wreck. Caitlyn would go on to name her first-born son after her beloved sibling.

Henry told Kris, 'The way that this comes across there's a feeling that comes through with this like, "I'm sorry about what the car represented."

'It's not the car, it's what it represented,' Henry said, before giving his interpretation of the cloudy communication.

Gone but not forgotten: Caitlyn and Burt's mother Esther Jenner fondly remembered her late son (above) as someone who had 'a heart of gold'

'I don't know what that means, but he's apologizing not only for the event, but for what it represented and how it would have affected [Caitlyn,] I'm thinking,' he told Kris.

In November 2014, DailyMail.com caught up with Caitlyn and Burt's mother Esther Jenner, who praised her late child as 'a good boy' who 'had a heart of gold.

'It happened three months to the day after' Caitlyn snagged her gold medal, Esther said, adding that the tragedy 'took everyone from high to the lowest [point] you can imagine.'

Tragic foreshadowing: In his high school yearbook that year, Burt eerily shared the phrase 'Ain't no next time this time'

Esther added that Burt had 'a different personality' than Caitlyn, though there was a strong physical resemblance: 'They were very different, but they looked alike.'

Sadly, it wasn't the only tragic car accident that has impacted Caitlyn's life, as she was involved in a February 2015 pileup on Malibu's Pacific Coast Highway that led to the death of a 69-year-old Calabasas woman named Kim Howe.
She is undoubtedly one of the feistiest stars to come out of Ex On The Beach.

And Kayleigh Morris was airing her controversial grievances once more as she spoke exclusively to MailOnline about her fellow reality stars and the shocking turn of events during the fifth season of the show, set to air on Tuesday night.

The 28-year-old Welsh beauty lashed out at her season two co-star Charlotte Crosby, who she branded 'the ugliest person in the world' before letting loose on 'toxic and vile' Jemma Lucy, who also stars in the forthcoming series.

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Don't mess with me! Kayleigh Morris was airing her controversial grievances once more as she spoke exclusively to MailOnline about her fellow reality stars and the shocking turn of events during the fifth season of the show, set to air on Tuesday night

Ahead of the launch of the new all-star series, Kayleigh unleashed a controversial rant towards Charlotte, who she locked horns with on her first appearance on the show after the Geordie Shore beauty hooked up with Kayleigh's ex.

Adam Gabriel entered the show and struck up a relationship with Charlotte - although Kayleigh is insistent their romance was for the cameras after he slammed the Newcastle-born beauty before his appearance.

She said: 'Adam slept with Charlotte after watching her on TV and saying: "She's vile, she's disgusting, she p****s everywhere, I bet she smells rank." He would say so many bad things about her and for him to go with her on the show when she p****s herself in public. I don't get it. It baffles me.'

Kayleigh also lashed out at Charlotte's appearance, claiming despite the surgery and cosmetic work she has undergone, including a nose job and lip fillers, as she claims the money has been wasted.

Hitting out: The 28-year-old Welsh beauty lashed out at her season two co-star Charlotte Crosby, who she branded 'the ugliest person in the world' before letting loose on 'toxic and vile' Jemma Lucy, who also stars in the forthcoming series

All star: Ahead of the launch of the new all-star series, Kayleigh unleashed a controversial rant towards Charlotte, who she locked horns with on her first appearance on the show after the Geordie Shore beauty hooked up with Kayleigh's ex

The brunette beauty stated: 'She still looks disgusting so it's not money well spent. She looks awful. she looks worse than she did 10 years ago. It's money not well spent. Her nose is too small. I agree in straightening it or getting rid of a bump.

'She looks great on Instagram but if you see her in real life she's the ugliest person in the world. I don't rate her, I don't rate her body. She's got enough to say about me but I haven't done anything to my body. I don't rate her at all I think she's a disgusting human being.'

Untouched: Kayleigh also lashed out at Charlotte's appearance, claiming despite the surgery and cosmetic work she has undergone, including a nose job and lip fillers, as she claims the money has been wasted

Harsh words: Kayleigh went on to say 'She looks great on Instagram but if you see her in real life she's the ugliest person in the world'

In the firing line: After her acerbic rant at Charlotte, Kayleigh turned her attention to her co-star Jemma - who she became embroiled in a physical fight with on their first night of series five

After her acerbic rant at Charlotte, Kayleigh turned her attention to her co-star Jemma - who she became embroiled in a physical fight with on their first night of series five.

Speaking of her on-screen romps and Jemma's behaviour, she said: 'I don't regret the person I had sex with on TV. If anything seeing someone like Jemma (behaving the way she did), I'd rather die than do that. Everything about that girl is disgusting from her face to her lips to her not-attractive body.

'I find her disgusting. I think I called her a used condom, it sums it up in one. Her voice, everything about her I hate. With Jemma she will say nothing when she's sober, then when she has a drink, she gets lairy and gets full of confidence. She's always getting on it when she's out.

Standing by: Speaking of her on-screen romps and Jemma's behaviour, she said: 'I don't regret the person I had sex with on TV. If anything seeing someone like Jemma (behaving the way she did), I'd rather die than do that. Everything about that girl is disgusting from her face to her lips to her not-attractive body

They're back! Tune into Ex on the Beach Tuesdays at 10PM

'I say to everyone: "What does she do? What is she there for?" I say to people: "Would anyone miss her if she wasn't there? If she died would anyone notice?" I don't think they would, she's not needed by anyone. She's everyone's last option. After this show I can't imagine anyone who would willingly go near her.

'Jemma went to Ibiza and called me a 'Discount c**t' because I post things on Instagram. I posted her programmes on Insta and said: "Who the f**k does this girl think she is?"

'The girl is disgusting anyway. Everything about her is very round and her face looks like a used condom. She tackled me to the floor and I didn't even fight back I thought someone's gonna break it up anyway.'

Enemies unite: Kayleigh has not only faced strife from Charlotte and Jemma but has also come to blows with Vicky Pattison (pictured with Jemma) - as she revealed she slept with the I'm A Celeb winner's ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear to exact revenge on the former Geordie Shore.

Strong words: Kayleigh certainly has a lot to say for herself

Kayleigh has not only faced strife from Charlotte and Jemma but has also come to blows with Vicky Pattison - as she revealed she slept with the I'm A Celeb winner's ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear to exact revenge on the former Geordie Shore.

After Vicky hooked up with Kayleigh's ex-beau Joss Mooney she plotted a way to get back with her - by sleeping with Bear, who has caused much controversy in CBB, just one week after they split.

She said: 'Being Bear's ex, I've been there with him. No one knows but I made sure there was a Snapchat that went round that could've got back to Vicky Pattison. I didn't even fancy him at the time, I was drunk at the same night as him. I got there and I thought: "Why not?" Vicky Pattison f**ked my ex-boyfriend Joss Mooney and she put it all over social media.

'I was with Joss when she f****d him. She said she didn't know we were together but she'd already spoken about me anyway. She clearly knew we were together. I thought: "Fine, two can play that game".

Betrayed: After Vicky hooked up with Kayleigh's ex-beau Joss Mooney (pictured) she plotted a way to get back with her - by sleeping with Bear, who has caused much controversy in CBB, just one week after they split

Way back when: She said: 'Being Bear's ex, I've been there with him. No one knows but I made sure there was a Snapchat that went round that could've got back to Vicky Pattison. I didn't even fancy him at the time, I was drunk at the same night as him. I got there and I thought: "Why not?" Vicky Pattison f**ked my ex-boyfriend Joss Mooney and she put it all over social media'

'Obviously, she was very attracted to Bear and I saw him a week after they broke up. I've not gone back there because he doesn't deserve round two. I've p****d her off already. She blocked me on all social media. I want her to see how great I look without plastic surgery.'

Since Ex On The Beach wrapped up filming, Bear headed into the Celebrity Big Brother house and has been causing shockwaves ever since. The most shocking element has been his romance with Chloe Khan - despite dating Kayleigh's best pal Lillie Lexie on the outside world.

Weighing in on the cheating, Kayleigh said: 'I warned Lillie off Bear... The day before we went into BB he said he wouldn't hurt and it was so conceivable then the first day his game plan was to be TV gold. I don't think its Chloe's fault.

'People can relate to her being the enemy because she knew he had a girlfriend. I would get with a guy with a girlfriend. She did it on national TV. She is a webcam girl who pretends to pleasure herself in front of old men - that's her job. That's why it sounded like Bear was pleasuring her.'

Tune into Ex on the Beach Tuesdays at 10PM
The last time Matt Damon risked a ponytail it won the actor his fair share of good natured ribbing  and the surprise hair extension its very own Twitter account.

But more than a year after debuting the divisive hairstyle during a press conference in Beijing, Matts long locks were back during another appearance in the Chinese city on Tuesday evening.

The usually close cropped actor sported a large man-bun while attending a Jason Bourne photo-call with his Swedish co-star Alicia Vikander ahead of the film's release in China.

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Long hair don't care: More than a year after debuting a ponytail during a press conference in Beijing, Matts long locks were back during another appearance in the Chinese city on Monday afternoon

New look: The usually close cropped actor sported a large man-bun while attending a Jason Bourne photo-call with his Swedish co-star Alicia Vikander ahead of the film's release in China

Matt, 45, was in high spirits as they accepted gifts while promoting the new film, which sees the Hollywood star reprise his role as the titular Bourne for the fourth time.

However his lengthier locks relate to an altogether different role in forthcoming fantasy adventure The Great Wall.

While principal photography took place on location in China throughout 2015, Matts latest hair extensions suggest additional scenes are being shot during his latest visit to the country prior to the films scheduled release next February.

Special appearance: Matt, 45, was in high spirits as they accepted gifts while promoting the new film, which sees the Hollywood star reprise his role as the titular Bourne for the fourth time

Quite a difference: Matt's large man bun was in stark contrast to his usual close cropped look

Low key: Matt cut a relaxed figure in a loose fitting shirt as he took to the stage in Beijing

Here he comes: The actor greeted fans at the event, which marks the launch of his latest film in the Far East

Previously: The last time Matt Damon risked a ponytail it won the actor his fair share of good natured ribbing

Over here: Matt and co-star Alicia waved to the crowd after taking to the stage in Beijing

Following the photo-call on Tuesday evening Matt changed his casual shirt and jeans for a smart suit ahead of the film's premiere - but the man bun remained firmly in place as he signed autographs for waiting fans.

The American star initially debuted his long hair while he and co-stars Andy Lau, Zhang Yimou, Jing Tian and Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal greeted the Chinese media at a press conference for The Great Wall last July.

He later admitted the extensions were a requirement for his starring role in the film.

Not permanant: He later admitted the extensions were a requirement for his starring role in the film

Mane man: Matt answered questions about his forthcoming film after taking a seat alongside Alicia

Here they come: Matt and Alicia's new film, Jason Bourne, was receiving its official launch in Beijing on Tuesday

'I did a movie in China and I was there for about five months with that thing, and then we did a press conference at the very end,' he told Graham Norton in September.

'There are 700 hair extensions, it was a full day to put them in... and then I had to manage it. I have a whole new appreciation for my wife and daughters  its very hard to do.'

The ponytail prompted surprise from fans and its own Twitter account, which currently has 53 followers.

The Great Wall is released in cinemas across the United States on February 17 2016 and the United Kingdom one week later on February 24.

Looking good: Following the photo-call on Tuesday evening Matt changed his casual shirt and jeans for a smart suit ahead of the film's premiere

There it is again: But the man bun remained firmly in place as he signed autographs for waiting fans
Kevin Hart and his new bride Eniko Parrish are living it up as honeymooners in paradise.

The actor, 37, puffed on a cigar during a romantic walk with Eniko on a beach in St. Bart's on Monday.

All eyes were on Eniko as she showed off her extraordinary figure in a skimpy black bathing suit with an exposed back as she enjoyed a cool drink.

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Life's a beach! Kevin Hart and his new bride Eniko Parrish were living it up as honeymooners in St. Barts on Monday

Clinging to her hourglass figure, Eniko looked absolutely breathtaking as she strolled barefoot beside her love.

The model had her tresses slicked up into a high bun and accessorized her look with a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Jaw dropping: All eyes were on Eniko as she showed off her extraordinary figure in a skimpy black bathing suit with an exposed back

Simply stunning: Clinging to her hourglass figure, Eniko looked absolutely breathtaking as she enjoyed a cool drink

Added extras: The model had her tresses slicked up into a high bun and accessorized her look with a pair of aviator sunglasses

The bathing suit style is clearly a favourite among celebrities, with Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez have been spotted in the exact same design.

Kevin hardly looked back either - the actor, who works hard at his figure, showed off his sculpted physique in bright blue trunks.

He topped the look off with his stylish fedora and shades.

Not bad! The actor, who works hard at his figure, showed off his sculpted physique in bright blue trunks

It's all good! The model affectionately tapped her husband's shoulder

Admiring the view! Kevin couldn't take his eyes off his new bride

The couple are vacationing at an ultra luxurious villa in St. Barts, and have been busy updating fans with all that their digs have to offer ever since arriving to their destination.

Kevin and Eniko married in the upscale community of Montecito, California on Sunday.

The comedian popped the question to Eniko two years earlier in August 2014.

The marriage means Eniko will officially be a stepmother to the comic's two children, Heaven, 11, and Hendrix, eight.

Family matters: The marriage means Eniko will officially be a stepmother to the comic's two children, Heaven, 11, and Hendrix, eight

Previously: Philadelphia native Kevin, who measures up at just 5ft2, was previously married to fellow comic Torrei Hart from 2003 until 2011

Making a splash: The actor posted a stunning snap of him with Eniko

Philadelphia native Kevin, who measures up at just 5ft2, was previously married to fellow comic Torrei Hart from 2003 until 2011.

During an interview on the Howard Stern Show in January, Kevin revealed his son Hendrix would be his best man.

'My son is my best friend, aged 8. My son will definitely be my best man,' he said.

The star said of nuptials: 'I cant disclose all that information [referring to the guest list]. I got a lot nice friends, [so it is] very top secret, very private. It's going to be a good time.'

Hand in hand: The couple strolled barefoot in a snap shared by Hart

A photo posted by Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real) on Aug 14, 2016 at 10:46am PDT

A photo posted by Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real) on Aug 14, 2016 at 8:53am PDT

Bottom's up! The star posted a Snapchat of his wife as she bent over on their boat

Boating adventures: The couple soaked up the sun on their boat

Looking good! Parrish donned a semi-sheer white bathing suit as she sipped on her beverage

Cheeky: The bathing suit clung to Eniko's derriere
Denise Richards can often be seen roaming around Malibu with her extended brood.

The busy mother-of-three ventured away from her seaside stomping ground for a change to hit up the Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles on Monday with her eldest daughter Sam.

The Wild Things star sported a loose-fitting black jumpsuit with thin straps that was becoming enough but it was her ripped biceps that drew the most attention.

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Breezy easy day: Denise Richards ventured out to LA's Brentwood Country Mart with 12-year-old daughter Sam on Monday for Starbucks treats and a bit of shopping

Denise emerged from the quaint upscale shopping center showing off her muscular arms while hanging onto a flowered tote and two shopping bags.

The 45-year-old actress - who does Pilates to maintain her slim yet strong physique - also managed to visit to Starbucks where she and her 12-year-old daughter bought some delicious treats.

Workout enthusiast that she is, that didn't stop Denise from nibbling on something good right from the bag.

Heavy lifter: The 45-year-old actress displayed ripped biceps while lugging a flowered tote and two shopping bags

Time for a splurge: Denise nibbled on a snack while Sam enjoyed a Starbucks beverage

Denise was moving at a leisurely pace, obviously enjoying the hot weather from behind her stylish tinted shades.

She wore her light brown hair braided loosely and hanging over one shoulder, and chic T-strap sandals completed the summery picture she made.

The pre-teen resembled her mom with her long, blondish-brown locks, and reached close to the star's 5 ft 6 in height too.

So that's how she does it: The Wild Things star showed off her moves while doing Pilates on the reformer in this Instagram snap posted last month

Mother-daughters day: The Starship Troopers star was seen ferrying her brood - Eloise, five, Lola, 11 and Sam, around Malibu on March 25

Just the day before, Denise was seen taking all three of daughters to the mall in Malibu for some retail fun.

Sam and 11-year-old sister Lola are Denise's children with ex-husband Charlie Sheen, while five-year-old Eloise was adopted as a newborn by Denise following her split from Sheen.

Denise and Charlie wed in June 2002, and Denise filed for divorce while pregnant with Lola.

Although the couple reconciled, they eventually broke up again and finalised their divorce in 2006.

Quiet: Denise's ex Charlie Sheen revealed in November that he is HIV positive, but she has yet to publicly comment despite reports that she knew about his diagnosis 'for a number of years'; the couple was pictured in 2005

Charlie revealed in November that he is HIV positive, something Denise has yet to publicly comment on despite reports claiming she was aware of his diagnosis 'for a number of years'.

Denise, whose previous credits include Starship Troopers and The World Is Not Enough, is looking forward to the release of American Satan co-starring Malcolm McDowell.
With her pretty green and pink floral dress and striking red heels, Alicia Vikander cut a chic figure at a Jason Bourne photocall on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old actress looked stunning in the Gabriela Hearst Resort '17 frock with featured a detailed sheer overlay and sleeves.

Her brown hair was pulled back into a low bun and she wore minimal makeup and few accessories for the event in Beijng, China.

So chic: Alicia Vikander cut a stunning figure in a Gabriela Hearst floral pink and green dress teamed with red strappy heels at a Jason Bourne photocall in Beijing on Tuesday

Appearing on stage with co-star Matt Damon, the Oscar-winning actress happily waved to the crowd before chuckling as she shared a joke with the Bourne actor.

Matt looked a lot less colourful than the actress, wearing a black shirt and trousers and sporting a ponytail.

The pair are busy promoting film sequel Jason Bourne, which is the fourth movie in the series starring Matt and the third directed by his frequent collaborator Paul Greengrass.

A laugh a minute: Alicia looked like she was enjoying herself on stage, sharing jokes with her co-star

Star power: Alicia took the stage with her Bourne co-star Matt Damon who sported a ponytail

The film sees Alicia play Heather Lee - the head of the CIA Cyber Ops Division ordered to hunt down Bourne.

'I hadnt met Matt, I was just the biggest fan,' she told The Wrap about starring alongside the actor.

'Hes very funny on set and then hes just extremely cool as Bourne, but we all know that.'

Unusual ornament: Alicia seemed fascinated by the porcelain figure she'd been given

Having a chat: The stars of the show happily spoke about the film to the assembled audience

Alicia, who is dating actor Michael Fassbender, has had something of a triumphant year - winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in the Danish Girl and receiving multiple nominations for her role in Ex Machina.

It's also been confirmed that she'll appear in another huge action franchise - taking on the role of Lara Croft in a new film adaptation of Tomb Raider.

The role was famously played by Angelina Jolie back in 2001.
Legendary actress Goldie Hawn had not starred in a film for 14 years.

And Amy Schumer revealed how was able to convince the star to make her return to Hollywood.

The 35-year-old actress sat down for an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Tuesday as she plugged her new book.

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Opening up: Amy Schumer sat down for an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Tuesday as she plugged her new book

'I just kept annoying her': The 35-year-old comedienne revealed how she convinced Goldie Hawn to come out of retirement after 14 years, as she shared this picture of the two of them on Instagram over the weekend

When the 55-year-old television presenter asked about Amy's upcoming project with Goldie, 70, the comedienne gushed about working with the Overboard actress.

The Trainwreck star even revealed how she was able to persuade Goldie to get in front of the camera again as she said: 'I just kept annoying her.

'About two years ago, I ran into her on a plane and at the end of the flight I went over and I said, "I love you and I'm a comedian, an actor and I really want to make this movie with you" and she's like, "Okay honey."

Chatting it up: She said she met the legendary 70-year-old actress on a plane two years ago and kept pestering her about working together

Big project: She talked about the process of working on her new book: Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo

Keeping it cool: Amy wore her signature blonde locks down and had natural, complimentary make-up on her face

'You know, she's so sweet. She'll talk to anyone for like two hours.'

The funnywoman said that she kept running into Goldie at various events and that she continued to press her on working together.

Amy explained: 'She's like, "I haven't done a movie in 14 years." and I'm like, "This is the movie to do" and we just had the best time. She's amazing.'

Good spirits: The Trainwreck star happy waved to her fans before entering the studio

Casual chic: The Inside Amy Schumer star wore a black top tucked into a white pencil skirt with matching stilettos

The Inside Amy Schumer star went casual chic in a black top tucked into a white pencil skirt with matching stilettos.

Her signature blonde locks were worn down flowing over her shoulders as she sported natural, complimentary make-up on her face.

She was on the morning news/chat programme to promote her upcoming book: The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo.

Quick change routine: Later on in the day, Amy switched up her look for an appearance on CBS This Morning

Back in black: She wore a black halter jumpsuit

Keeping it cool: She finished off the look with strappy stilettos

Chic: She kept her eyes protected with a pair of large, designer shades

Amy said she enjoyed the project as she explained: 'I've been keeping journals from age 13 to 23 and so it was really kind of crazy to go back and read them.

'It was a little painful because it's embarrassing to read your thoughts as a teenager, but it was a total labor of love. I've been working on it for almost five years and I'm really proud of it. I can't believe it's out.'

Amy has been dating Ben Hanisch since late 2015 but she doesn't seem ready to take their relationship to the next level just yet.

Big day: She and boyfriend Ben Hanisch (left) attended the wedding of friends Tara Alana and Rusty Fitton over the weekend

As she and the hunky furniture maker attended the wedding of friends Tara Alana and Rusty Fitton over the weekend, Amy was not too keen on catching the bouquet.

The Emmy nominee said: 'I totally sat that out. There was that moment "single ladies get to the dance floor" and I just went right to the bar. I was like no, no thanks.'

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is in bookstores now.
She's been cruising around Italy with her husband Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy.

And Beyonce, 34, decided to treat their little one to a girls day on Tuesday as she donned matching outfits with her four-year-old as they soaked up the sun on the back of the luxury liner.

Clad in an orange dress with pink panels, the Flawless hitmaker seemed in good spirits as she dipped her feet into the ocean.

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Like mother, like daughter! Beyonce, 34, decided to treat her little one to a girls day as she donned matching outfits with her four-year-old Blue Ivy in Italy on Tuesday

Layering up over a hot pink bikini, Beyonce looked effortlessly glamorous, accessorising with a pair of gold mirrored sunglasses.

Adding to the glamour she also donned a temporary gold tattoo across her leg that complemented her tanned complexion.

She finished off the look with her honey coloured locks swept back into a half up style, later layering up with a navy headscarf.

Helping hand: Clad in an orange dress with pink panels, the Flawless hitmaker seemed in good spirits as she dipped her feet into the ocean and helped Blue do the same

Blue Ivy looked adorable in an outfit that matched her glamorous mothers.

Every inch as chic as her superstar parents, the toddler wore an orange dress with a pink cover up.

Her sweet look was completed with a large pink bow worn over her french plaits.

Riding solo: Jay Z, 46, hit the waves as he rode around on a jetski

Queen B: Layering up over a hot pink bikini, Beyonce looked effortlessly glamorous, accessorising with a pair of gold mirrored sunglasses

Leggy lady! Adding to the glamour, Beyonce also donned a temporary gold tattoo across her leg that complemented her tanned complexion

Blonde beauty: She finished off the look with her honey coloured locks swept back into a half up style, later layering up with a navy headscarf

Meanwhile, Jay Z, 46, hit the waves as he rode around on a jetski.

Joined by a friend, the rapper tore off into the distance in a plain white T-shirt and grey shorts.

Ensuring safety came first, he finished off the look with a red helmet.

Double trouble! Blue Ivy looked adorable in an outfit that matched her glamorous mothers

She learnt from the best! Every inch as chic as her superstar parents, the toddler wore an orange dress with a pink cover up

Plait's cute! Her sweet look was completed with a large pink bow worn over her french plaits

Making a splash: Blue looked eager to join her dad in the water as she watched the action with her mum from the railings of the boat

Family fun: Beyonce and her brood have been enjoying some down time after wrapping up the European leg of her Formation World Tour

Taking it easy: Blue and Beyonce lay back and soaked up the sun on the boat

Watching on: Beyonce looked on as Jay Z prepared to jump on his jet ski

Taking it easy: Whilst Jay wanted to cruise around the ocean, Beyonce took things easy

All hands on deck: The crew set to work preparing the jet ski as Beyonce watched on

Nice to sea you! Beyonce seemed in good spirits as Jay jumped onto the jet ski in a plain white T-shirt and grey shorts

Beyonce and her family have been enjoying some down time after wrapping up the European leg of her Formation World Tour.

Last week, they were spotted exploring Lipari, Sicily and also enjoyed a family dinner in Nerano, near Naples.

The blonde beauty's tour heads back to the US next month, as she continues to promote her latest album Lemonade.

All aboard! Beyonce and her family were joined by a host of friends on the trip

Sight seeing: Beyonce handed over a pair of binoculars so they could watch the action

Glam: Beyonce looked effortlessly chic on the outing
They revealed they were ending their decade-long relationship last month.

But Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson looked to be breaking bread during a friendly post-break up outing on Monday.

The former couple were spotted grabbing what appeared to be bottle of wine together in Los Angeles.

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Breaking bread: Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson were spotted during a friendly post-break up outing on Monday

The outing certainly appeared to be amicable, as the former twosome caught up with one another during a brisk stroll outdoors.

Diane, 40, and Joshua, 38, walked closely together as the actor puffed on a cigarette while carrying their new purchase.

The actress looked up at her ex as he touched his bearded chin, appearing deep in thought.

Diane was dressed in a nautical playsuit, messenger hat, and gladiator sandals.

Good shape: The outing certainly appeared to be amicable, as the former twosome caught up with one another during a brisk stroll outdoors

On his mind: The actress looked up at her ex as he touched his bearded chin, appearing deep in thought

She wore her blonde hair back into a low bun and accessorized with a large pair of sunglasses.

Joshua, meanwhile, sported a light blue shirt, beige shorts, and dark blue sneakers.

Last month, reps from both the stars confirmed the news of their break-up to People.

Anchors aweigh! The actress was dressed in a nautical playsuit, messenger hat, and gladiator sandals

'Diane Kruger and Josh Jackson have decided to separate and remain friends,' a spokesperson told the website.

The pair had been plagued by rumours of relationship problems in the months leading up to their split.

Diane started dating Josh after she split from her husband of five years, French director Guillaume Canet.

Walk and talk: The actress grew animated as she caught up with her former beau

In March, Diane revealed she had moved to New York to be with Joshua while he was appearing in off-Broadway play Smart People, but admitted she was unsure about tying the knot again.

Asked if she would consider marrying again, she told Net-A-Porter: 'Welcome to my dilemma.

'I just moved to New York. I need to unpack and buy some house stuff, like candles and books.

Hitting their stride: Kruger donned a pair of stylish gladiator sandals

'[Moving here] was a major commitment. That's a big step into adulthood for me, to allow that time for someone else out of my time.'

Earlier this month, Diane spoke of how she's doing at the moment during an interview with People.

'It's all good ... all good,' she said.

The Disorder actress also revealed that she's single, but is open to the idea of dating.

'If you have a suggestion, let me know?' she said jokingly.
Quantico largely confines Priyanka Chopra to the subdued wardrobe of an intelligence operative.

So when she appeared in the September issue of Marie Claire, she seized at the chance to sample some more flamboyant costumes.

The 34-year-old sizzled in a set of faux-period ensembles, telling the magazine, 'I will die in Chanel!' and revisiting a yen she'd previously expressed to play 007.

Magazine mainstay: Priyanka Chopra starred in a photoshoot for the September 2016 issue of Marie Claire and, among other topics, shared her fashion tastes

If I can make it there: The Bollywood star also discussed her ABC programme Quantico, telling the magazine 'the real challenge was convincing America that I could play an American girl'

In one particularly striking black and white snapshot, she stared down the camera in a heavily frilled Victorian Gothic gown.

The sleeveless number would've shown off her cleavage, were it not for the snake winding up it.

One of the two colour photos caught the Bihari bombshell in a white broderie anglaise take on the pirate wench aesthetic.

'A very jeans, jacket, and boots kind of girl': The photoshoot saw the usually casual actress wearing a variety of outlandish outfits

Two strips were torn out of the middle section and netted with straps, emphasizing the svelte frame that helped win her Miss World in 2000.

In the other colour photo, one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2016 wore a Y-chain and tousled hair. Her necklace was almost undetectable on a frilly, sheer pink dress redolent of the 1930s.

Front: Sarah Jessica Parker graced the cover of the issue

Sarah Jessica Parker graced the cover of the issue.

Quantico's second series is set to kick off on ABC next month, yet its star is still hard at work filming it. Last Thursday, she was spotted on set in New York City, dressed for battle in black and grey protective gear that included a large face-obscuring helmet. She kept a large machine gun close.

She told Marie Claire of the programme, 'It's a lot of physical work. But the real challenge was convincing America that I could play an American girl.'

In 2017, she'll appear opposite Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson in the revamped Baywatch: The Movie. She described her character, the film's villainess, as 'a billionaire b**** on a beach wearing couture. I want to be her.'

Though her day-to-day look tends toward 'jeans, jacket, and boots,' she told Marie Claire she accessorises with an 'evil-eye bracelet with a mantra on it, and a necklace that belonged to my dad.'

Spinning the rumour-mill: When faced with the hypothetical of playing Bond, she noted, 'She'd definitely have to be called Jane'

Triumphal return: Quantico's second series will premiere 25th September at 10pm

As couture items go, she's particularly attached to a camouflage backpack by Valentino. 'I carry my whole life in it,' she said. 'If I get on a plane and lose my luggage, I can survive with just my backpack.'

To hear her tell it, that breezily come-what-may attitude informs her working life too. 'I never plan too far ahead. Man proposes, God disposes. Why waste my time?'

In an interview she gave to the June/July issue of Complex, she'd had a viral response to the oft-floated idea of her being a Bond girl: 'F*** that - I wanna be Bond.'

When Marie Claire tabled the possibility, the recipient of a Padma Shri - India's answer to the OBE - expanded: 'Depends on the part. She'd definitely have to be called Jane.'
Hola magazine is launching in the US and the Spanish publication has pulled out all the stops for its first cover.

A-list actress Eva Longoria and her best friend Victoria Beckham grace the cover of the inaugural edition, which hit newsstands across America on August 16.

The magazine offers an in-depth look at Eva's May nuptials to television network executive Jose 'Pepe' Baston and a joint interview with her BFF and wedding dress designer Victoria.

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New publication: Eva Longoria and her best friend Victoria Beckham grace the cover of the inaugural edition of Hola USA

Eva and Pepe married at a private residence in the lakeside town of Valle de Bravo, joined by a host of celebrity guests including Mario Lopez and Ricky Martin.

The publication promises a behind-the-scenes look at the 'fashion queens' on Eva's big day, as well as exclusive pictures.

Hola USA will focus on primarily on Latino celebrities and less on European royalty, and subscribers will be able to receive the magazine in either English or Spanish.

Cristy Marrero, Editorial Vice-President of Hola USA, commented: 'The Hola family has been around for 73 years, so its one of the oldest magazines in the industry.

Cover girls: The publication promises a behind-the-scenes look at the 'fashion queens' on Eva's big day, as well as exclusive pictures

'It launched in 1944 in Spain and then it expanded in the UK with Hello Magazine in 1988.

'Now its finally arriving to the U.S. Its great considering this is the 35th addition internationally.

'All we wanted to portray with this beautiful image is both of them, not just celebrating Evas beautiful day and special moment, but were also celebrating female solidarity in the way that female multi-cultural relationships can happen.'

Behind-the-scenes: Eva and Pepe married at a private residence in the lakeside town of Valle de Bravo in May, joined by a host of celebrity guests including Mario Lopez and Ricky Martin

The first issue is also packed with celebrity stories including a feature on First Lady Michelle Obama and model of the moment Kendall Jenner.

This isn't the first time Hola has tapped into America's Latino market; in 2013 aren't company Hola Media Inc. launched a cable television channel in Miami.

The move was a success, currently reaching 12 million households in Latin America and the United States.
She's just returned from a sun-soaked getaway in Antibes.

And Millie Mackintosh was still reaping the benefits of her getaway as she sported a buffed and bronzed glow at the Skinnydip London x Coca-Cola launch party in London on Tuesday.

Radiating with beauty, the 27-year-old reality starlet looked effortlessly elegant as she set about curing her holiday blues with a night out.

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Tan-tastic: Millie Mackintosh was still reaping the benefits of her holiday as she sported a bronzed glow at the Skinnydip London x Coca-Cola launch party in London on Tuesday

Clad in a little black dress, the former Made In Chelsea star showed off her tanned and toned pins, which were elongated by a pair of heeled black boots.

Floral in design, the garment nipped in at her small waist, clinging to the contours of her body as she walked.

Featuring a square neckline and short sleeves, the gown flashed some flesh whilst remaining demure, ensuring all eyes would be on her.

Leading the glamour: Radiating with beauty, the 27-year-old reality starlet looked effortlessly elegant as she set about curing her holiday blues with a night out

Leggy lady! Clad in a little black dress, the former Made In Chelsea star showed off her tanned and toned pins, which were elongated by a pair of heeled black boots

Chic and cheerful: Featuring a square neckline and short sleeves, the gown flashed some flesh whilst remaining demure, ensuring all eyes would be on her

Shady lady! Millie's own peepers, however, were under wraps as she donned a pair of large circular shades as she hit the party

Millie's own peepers, however, were under wraps as she donned a pair of large circular shades as she hit the party.

Keeping the rest of her accessories simple, Millie wore a myriad of delicate silver rings whilst she carried a small black cross body bag.

She finished off the look by styling her chestnut coloured locks in a centre parting that framed her pretty face.

Finishing touches: Keeping the rest of her accessories simple, Millie wore a myriad of delicate silver rings whilst she carried a small black cross body bag

Bruette beauty: She finished off the look by styling her chestnut coloured locks in a centre parting that framed her pretty face

Sleek: Millie styled her brunette locks in a smart, straight style

Millie was no doubt looking forward to letting loose on a night out after getting wild on holiday.

The Quality Street heiress kept fans updated by sharing snaps from her romantic holiday with Hugo - who she went public with in May - in Halkidiki, Greece, before moving on to join her friends in the South of France.

The star seemed to be having a great time on her trip, even locking lips with her best friend Caggie Dunlop in the ocean after enjoying a boozy lunch.

Two of a kind: Millie will have been able to keep the party going post-holiday at the fashion launch as she was joined by the likes of TOWIE's Amber Dowding and Courtney Green

Blue-tiful! Courtney, 20, turned heads in a baby blue playsuit with a flattering pussybow neckline

Legs eleven! The thigh-skimming garment also showed off her shapely pins

Dazzling: TOWIE newbie Amber, 22, looked equally as glamorous in a chic strapless romper with billowing sleeves

Going for gold! Amber added some extra height to her frame in a pair of metallic wedges

But Millie will have been able to keep the party going at the Skinnydip x Coca-Cola launch as she was joined by the likes of TOWIE's Courtney Green and Amber Dowding.

Courtney, 20, turned heads in a baby blue playsuit with a flattering pussybow neckline that showed off her shapely pins.

Meanwhile, newbie Amber, 22, looked equally as glamorous in a chic strapless romper with billowing sleeves.

Looking A-OK: AJ Odudu dared to go braless in a white printed playsuit that showed off her sideboob and toned legs at the event

Pretty in pink! Katie London dazzled in a figure-hugging dress that flaunted her cleavage

Here come the girls! Lucy Watson was in attendance alongside her lookalike sister Tiffany

Leggy lady: The feisty brunette made the most of her slim pins in a leather miniskirt
He said just hours earlier that everyone should be proud of surviving 19 days in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

And that was all the time left for Heavy D as he was evicted on Tuesday night after receiving the least public votes against Lewis Bloor, Stephen Bear and Renee Graziano.

Exiting to a chorus of both boos and 'booms' the Storage Wars UK presenter - real name Colin Newell - seemed in good spirits as he headed out in a garish printed jacket.

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BOOM! He said just hours earlier that everyone should be proud of surviving 19 days in the Celebrity Big Brother house. And that was the lot for Heavy D as he was evicted on Tuesday

His eviction came after viewers witnessed him antagonize Lewis in a very heated confrontation.

After the platinum blonde star laughed at the TOWIE bad boy when he tried to speak to Marnie Simpson, Lewis squared up to him.

Jumping up, Lewis shouted: 'Mate, shut the f**k up... two seconds.'

Squaring up: His eviction came after viewers witnessed him antagonize Lewis Bloor in a very heated confrontation that saw the TOWIE star given a formal and final warning

The gloves are off: After the platinum blonde star laughed at the TOWIE bad boy when he tried to speak to Marnie Simpson, Lewis squared up to him

Soaked: Lewis threw his drink in Heavy D's face before being called to the Diary Room

Keep it calm: As Lewis was called into the Diary Room by Big Brother, an irate Marnie turned to her beau and asked: 'Why'd you do that - you shouldn't have bit!'

Final straw: In the diary room, Big Brother told Lewis that his behaviour was unacceptable, and asks him to calm down before he proceeded to knock over the cameras

As he backed away, Heavy shouted: 'You're mugging yourself off'

But Lewis wouldn't listen to him, continuing to face off to the star as he warned: 'Give us a kiss, you're a big fat p***y,' before throwing a drink in his face.

As Lewis was called into the Diary Room by Big Brother, an irate Marnie turned to her beau and asked: 'Why'd you do that - you shouldn't have bit!'

Cheerful: Heavy D seemed in great spirits as his name was called at the eviction - despite being confident that he would win it

Reflective: Whilst the group seemed to have reconnected by the time of the eviction, Heavy D admitted that he may have gone too far with his wind ups

Where it all went wrong: Speaking to Emma Willis in his eviction interview he speculated: 'I was confident I would win it, but maybe the public thought I went too far with the wind ups'

In the diary room, Big Brother told Lewis that his behaviour was unacceptable, and asks him to calm down as Lewis explained: 'I was being wound up and intimidated by a big person.

'I stood my ground in front of my girlfriend.'

The star then knocked the cameras over and refused to talk to Big Brother before being issued a formal and final warning.

Final four: Heavy D was evicted on Tuesday night after receiving the least public votes to save whilst up against Stephen Bear, Lewis Bloor and Renee Graziano

As Heavy D told Bear: 'I think Lewis doesnt like me, thats why I can wind him up!' Marnie discussed Bear's involvement in the scenario.

'He was just laughing!' she moaned. 'Even when it was his friend.

'Lewis is up for nomination for someones he's standing by, but that person would trample on his dead body to get what he wants!'

Here come the boys: Bear managed to survive another week of his eternal nomination curse whilst Lewis received a positive crowd reaction when his name was called

Not ready: Heavy D seemed momentarily stunned when his name was called

Whilst the group seemed to have reconnected by the time of the eviction, Heavy D admitted that he may have gone too far with his wind ups.

Speaking to Emma Willis in his eviction interview he speculated: 'I was confident I would win it, but maybe the public thought I went too far with the wind ups.'

He wasn't fully remorseful, however, as he reasoned: 'There's a bit of Heavy D in everyone!'
They are both just 18 years old, but already Elle Fanning and Jaden Smith have solidified their status as some of the brightest, up-and-coming names in showbiz.

The teens continued to prove this by landing their own covers for Variety's Power Of Young Hollywood edition.

And, showing just how surreal life as a rising star can be, Elle revealed how she was forced to pick between attending prom or going to the Cannes Film Festival.

Big moment: Elle Fanning revealed how she was forced to pick between attending prom or going to the Cannes Film Festival as she spoke with Variety for it's Power Of Young Hollywood issue

The actress selected the latter, but luckily for her, her best friend - who also happened to be her prom date - decided to head over to France with her.

'My best friend who was going to go to prom with me ended up coming, and we had prom in Cannes,' the actress, whose older sister is Dakota Fanning, said.

No doubt Elle's group of friends, none of whom are in Hollywood, help serve as a grounding force for the actress, who admitted to still living at home.

'My best friends arent in the industry at all...I still live with my family,' she told the publication.

Name in lights: Audience members can next catch Elle on the big screen, starring as a heroin addict in the film Live By Night, which stars and is directed by Ben Affleck.

Audience members can next catch Elle on the big screen, portraying a heroin addict in the 2017 film Live By Night, which stars and is directed by Ben Affleck, who said she was inspirational to watch work.

Like Elle, Jaden Smith comes from a family with experience in Hollywood.

The son of actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden has made a name for himself with his fashion sense.

Family matters: Like Elle, Jaden Smith comes from a family with experience in Hollywood

The actor, who is next to star in the Netflix series The Get Down, said his parents were the one to give him a strong sense of who he is.

'My parents told me that the world was harsh and that we had to be strong within ourselves,' he told the magazine.

Other stars to nab a cover included The Fault In Our Stars actor Ansel Elgort.

Making a name for himself: The son of actors Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden is known for his fashion sense

Speaking of the 2014 romantic drama that helped put him on the map, Ansel said he 'got lucky' to obtain the role.

Without it, he says, he would be known as the 'brother in Divergent.'

All three stars will be living up to their new status with a slew of projects yet to be released.

Elle is having something of a busy year. She's had one film released already - psychological thriller The Neon Demon where she played a naive 16-year-old who moves to Los Angeles to launch her career as a model.

Taking the spotlight! Other stars to nab a cover included The Fault In Our Stars actor Ansel Elgort

And like Jaden, the actress is a big fashion fan - citing late actress Grace Kelly as her style muse in an interview with Vogue earlier last month.

'I've always enjoyed dressing up, whether it's for a photo shoot or premiere,' she told the magazine.

'It's like creating a character in a way. You're like, "How do I want to look tonight?"

It was in the stars! Speaking of the 2014 romantic drama, The Fault In Our Stars, that helped put him on the map, Ansel said he 'got lucky' to obtain the role

Aside from starring in the Baz Luhrmann directed series The Get Down, Jaden is also focusing on his work in fashion.

Jaden has the clothing line MSFTSrep under his belt, which he told Variety is 'pronounced "misfits."

'I took the i out of misfits because were a team and there is no I in team. Its a place for the lost kids and everyone to go.'

Ansel, meanwhile, will next star in a slew of films that include Billionaire Boys Club, Baby Driver, and November Criminals.

Other stars to be featured by Variety include Bethany Mota and Cameron Dallas.
He was spotted enjoying a lunch date with a mystery blonde earlier this week.

And all this entertaining has left Niall Horan in need of a caffeine fix as he headed out in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

He visited Alfred Coffee on Tuesday morning, but any tiredness was kept covered by a cool pair of shades.

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Out and about: Niall Horan was spotted grabbing a coffee in Los Angeles today

Niall kept his look casual, but showed off his buff physique in a black T-shirt and khaki shorts.

His low-key appearances comes after he enjoyed the company of a pretty mystery blonde.

The Irish charmer looked to be having a whale of a time as he intensely chatted to the lucky lady.

The One Direction star, 22, was seen dining at Nobu in Malibu, California, on Monday, where the pair enjoyed some alone time on Monday.

Cool dude: He visited Alfred Coffee on Tuesday morning, but any tiredness was kept covered by a cool pair of shades

Wandering around: Niall kept his look casual, but showed off his buff physique in a black T-shirt and khaki shorts

Box fresh: The pop hunk rounded off his look with a pair of pristine white trainers

Keeping it casual for the occasion, the X Factor alumnus was dressed down in his choice of seasonal attire.

Wearing a Breton striped T-shirt with khaki trousers, he capped off the look with some pristine white trainers.

Protecting himself from the sun's glare, he added a pair of designer sunglasses to the mix.

Mr Popular! His coffee run came after he was seen enjoying a lunch date with a mystery blonde in Malibu's Nobu earlier this week

Keeping it casual: Wearing a Breton striped T-shirt with khaki trousers, he capped the look with some pristine white trainers

His unidentified guest was equally weather-appropriate, sporting a white dress which she teamed with leopard-print flats.

There's nothing to suggest the lunch date was anything other than platonic, but the duo certainly seemed to be getting close.

As she enjoyed a glass of champagne, he tucked into Asian food with chopsticks

Tasty: As she enjoyed a glass of champagne, he tucked into Asian food with chopsticks

Rapport: There's nothing to suggest the lunch date was anything other than platonic, but the duo certainly seemed to be getting close

Shortly after he finished eating, Niall could be seen showing his female friend images on his smartphone.

Sitting back as he sipped on an ice-cold beer, they were evidently relaxed in each others' company.

The latest sighting comes after reports Niall has splashed out on a new 'haunted' Los Angeles home, where an actress was found dead in 1972.

The 3million property previously belonged to Hollywood star, Gia Scala, but her bruised and lifeless body was later found on the premises.
She's been filming the eighth season of Modern Family in and around Los Angeles for the past eight weeks.

And on Tuesday, Sofia Vergara was spotted onset in the city's chichi Brentwood neighbourhood.

The show's stylist dressed the 44-year-old Colombian actress in 7 For All Mankind bell-bottom jeans that showed off Sofia's long legs and generous derriere.

All work: Sofia Vergara wore a tight pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans on the set of her TV show Modern Family in LA on Tuesday

Leggy look: The dark blue jeans showcased the actress's long pins and shapely derriere

She teamed it with a skin-tight black blouse with a deep V-neck and ornate white decorations.

And Sofia, who stands at 5ft 7ins, boosted her height with a pair of perilously high platform shoes with spike heels.

Her wavy brunette tresses were parted in the middle and cascaded over her shoulders.

The four-time Golden Globe nominee, who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, was evidently filming with Ed O'Neill, 70, who plays her husband Jay Pritchett on the show.

In shape: Vergara, who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family, wore bell-bottom jeans for filming

Waiting on the sidelines: The 44-year-old Colombian actress was filming with Ed O'Neill, 70, who plays her husband Jay Pritchett on the show, in the Brentwood neighbourhood of LA

Sofia opted for a very different look when she wrapped for the day, ready to go home to her hunky actor husband Joe Manganiello.

The actress changed into ripped skinny jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

The star seems to have been having a whale of a time with her Modern Family and on Monday she posted three Instagrams of the cast.

Sheer jeanius: The ripped skinny jeans and white blouse that the actress put on to go home after filming wrapped was a very different look

She nails it: The stunner always looks pretty no matter what she has on

Photobomb friend: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell Pritchett, snuck his smiling face into Sofia's Instagram selfie

In one she's hugging her youngest TV son, Joe Pritchett, played by five-year-old Jeremy Maguire. She captioned it: 'Lindoooo,' which is Portuguese for 'handsome.'

Another shows Ed petting the TV family's pooch, Stella, a French bulldog who appears to be asleep on a leather couch. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell Pritchett, photobombed a third selfie.

Season eight of the ABC sitcom premieres on September 21.

Puppy love: In this shot, Ed petted the TV family's cute pet pooch Stella, a French bulldog
She is known for her strict exercise regimen.

And Tuesday was no different for Elle Fanning as she headed to the gym in Studio City.

The 18-year-old actress flashed a hint of her toned tummy and flawless physique in grey workout top with cropped leggings.

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Super slim: Elle Fanning flashed a hint of her toned torso as she headed to the gym in Los Angeles on Tuesday

The Maleficent star displayed her slender stems in the form-fitting black tights.

She gave a glimpse of a slim waistline in a spaghetti strap tank top and rounded out her gym ensemble in black Nike trainers.

Her blonde tresses were swept up in a high messy ponytail and she skipped the cosmetics for the sweat session.

Leggy blonde: The 18-year-old actress showed off her slender stems in black cropped workout tights

Slender: The Maleficent star gave a glimpse of a slim waistline in a spaghetti strap tank top

The award-winning actress kept her blue eyes shaded from the California sunshine in mirrored lens shades and ensured to keep hydrated as she carried a bottle of water.

Meanwhile, Elle posted a stunning Instagram snapshot on Sunday in a double denim outfit, complete with mini skirt and blouse.

'Jeanxjean,' she captioned the image while posing in a mirror.

Scorching: The award-winning actress kept her blue eyes shaded from the California sunshine in mirrored lens shades and ensured to keep hydrated as she carried a bottle of water

Natural beauty! The younger sister of A-lister Dakota Fanning swept her tresses back in a messy 'do and went makeup-free for her sweat session

The younger sister of A-lister Dakota Fanning also took to social media to boast about her new Tiffany & Co campaign last month.

'Proud to share my @tiffanyandco collaboration for the #legendarystyle campaign with creative partner @therealgracecoddington,' the teen star gushed.

And she has plenty to boast about, as Elle and fellow actress Lupita Nyong'o are the first celebrities to ever star in the luxury jewelry retailer's campaigns.

The brand enlisted Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington to help give their line a makeover and the results were stunning.

'Jeanxjean': Elle posted a stunning Instagram snapshot on Sunday in a double denim outfit, complete with mini skirt and blouse
A teaser was released last week which gave sci-fi enthusiasts just a taste of what to expect from the film.

And now it's revealed that the protagonist character played by Amy Adams could actually communicate with aliens.

The 41-year-old actress is featured prominently in the first full-length trailer for Arrival released on Monday.

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First contact: Amy Adams is featured prominently in the first full-length trailer for Arrival released on Monday

Wow factor: The 41-year-old actress placed her hand on the glass when what looks like an alien appendage touches the glass

In the middle of the clip, she and the crew head to a door which opens up between the otherworldly lifeform and earth.

It is there where, Amy's character Dr. Louise Banks makes the bold move of ditching her astronaut suit and placing her hand on a protective glass.

After what looks like an alien appendage touches the glass, Banks says: 'Now that's a proper introduction'

Daring: It was a tense moment after Amy shed her protective astronaut-like uniform

Tense: She placed her hand directly on the glass

'Now that's a proper introduction': Amy's linguist character Dr. Louise Banks seems to make progress on communicating with the otherworldly lifeforms

Glowing: Dr. Banks was happy that she seemed to be making progress in communication

The two-minute video begins much like the one released last week.

'There are days that define your story beyond your life, like the day they arrived,' Banks, narrates at the start of the clip.

In the story, a fleet of a dozen mystifying spaceships careen into the atmosphere and hover above the earth, leading military authorities to organize a team to deal with the unexpected arrival and answer the following questions: What do they want? And where are they from?

Uh oh: Alien lifeforms seem to have emerged in areas across the world

Warning: She tells the crew: 'We need to make sure that they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool'

Blurred lines: She added: 'Language is messy and it sometimes one could be both'

The team includes Banks, a master of all languages; physicist Ian Donnelly, played by Jeremy Renner; and Colonel Weber, played by Forest Whitaker.

Things begin to get sticky as lifeforms land all over the entire world but things seem to be looking up as Dr. Banks makes progress in communicating.

Though she seems happy with the breakthrough, she warns the rest of the crew: 'We need to make sure that they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool.

Action man: Physicist Ian Donnelly is shown in the clip as he is played by Jeremy Renner

United: Dr Banks says the alien interaction that it could be a way for the world to band together for one cause

Ouch: Agent Halpern (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) says: 'It's more complicated than that. Russia just executed one of their own to keep their secrets'

Worried: Colonel Weber, played by Forest Whitaker, queries: 'So how do we clarify their intentions?'

'Language is messy and it sometimes one could be both.'

Banks tells Agent Halpern (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) that it could be a way for the world to band together for one cause.

However the agent has bad news as he says: 'It's more complicated than that. Russia just executed one of their own to keep their secrets.'

'Why does this feel worse?': The colonel does not seem very receptive after a run in with a UFO

Dangerous: There were not many action scenes but there definitely were some tense moments

Intergalactic: Arrival is directed by Denis Villeneuve who helmed Prisoners and Sicario

One of the more tense parts of the clip comes when Colonel Weber queries: 'So how do we clarify their intentions?'

Dr. Banks confidently answers: 'I go back in.'

To infinity and beyond: The upcoming sci-fi film tells the story of a linguist recruited to communicate with aliens

All hands on deck: The movie tells the story of an elite team, which includes Adams' character Dr. Louise Banks, put together to deal with the visitors from outer space

After quick flashes of scenes including Dr. Banks hugging her daughter and a UFO flying over troops, Colonel Weber says the last thing in the trailer: 'Why does this feel worse?'

As the film progresses, the threat of a global war looms large, leading Banks and her colleagues to take risks that endanger not only their lives, but all of mankind.

Banks, speaking with USA Today Monday, said the thriller contains an element of reality that might hit uncomfortably close to home for viewers.

Star power: Adams, flanked by co-star Jeremy Renner, said her character is easy to relate to

The right stuff: In the film, a group of experts is dispatched to find out where the aliens came from and what they want

'This isnt a graphic-novel universe or creating a new universe,' the actress, 41, told the paper. 'This happens in our world today, as it exists. Not having to transport myself to a universe where superheroes exist, which is also fun, really helped me ground the character and the experience.'

Adams said that Banks, a brilliant linguist, is also dealing with personal issues that give the role an added element of being easy to relate to.

'Emotionally, the journey she takes in this was devastating to me,' she said, adding that the character 'felt real, like somebody I would know and somebody I would like to have a conversation with.'

Impressive resume: The red-headed beauty has also appeared in blockbusters such as Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and next year's Justice League

Danger, Will Robinson: Renner, 45, said that while the film has its thrilling moments, adding, 'Its going to lean much more into a thinking persons film'

And as for the aliens? Adams said director Denis Villeneuve and the film crew 'have done a great job with the visuals and getting to something that looks familiar and not completely abstract.'

Renner told the paper that the extraterrestrial visitors in the film appear 'different than what you would have thought,' and not 'goofy creatures with guns who are going to kill' human beings. The actor, 45, said the film blends elements of Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg films - as opposed to a 'big Michael Bay alien movie.

'Its big and there are thriller elements and tension, but its going to lean much more into a thinking persons film,' Renner said. The movie - based on Story of Your Life, a 1998 story by Ted Chiang - hits theaters November 11.
Miami residents fret over pesticide used to fight Zika

People at the epicenter of America's first homegrown outbreak of the Zika virus are worried that one of the weapons being used to fight it amounts to a cannon rather than a fly swatter.

To wit, a pesticide banned in Europe on health grounds is being used in occasional aerial fumigations to kill the mosquito that carries the virus.

In most people, Zika causes only mild symptoms but in pregnant women it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.

A plane sprays pesticide over the Wynwood neighborhood in the hope of controlling and reducing the number of mosquitos, some of which may be capable of spreading the Zika virus on August 6, 2016 in Miami, Florida Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)

Now, people are also fretting over the mist of a pesticide called naled that is drifting down over north Miami every now and then.

"We do not know what it is or what it does, and we do not trust the government," said Fermin Gonzalez, a 38-year-old graphic designer. "I doubt it is healthy."

Some merchants in Wynwood, the tourist-popular neighborhood where the virus was first detected two weeks ago, have organized into a coalition opposed to naled fumigation. Over the weekend, demonstrators staged a protest.

A total of 30 cases of infection with homegrown Zika have been reported in Miami.

Environmental activists and some scientists say naled damages the nervous system and respiratory tract, and might be linked to leukemia in children.

It was banned in the European Union in 2012 because of its potential risk for human health and the environment.

But Miami-Dade County is using it with the blessing of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. They say it is safe when used in small doses.

But "if it's not safe to use in Europe, why is it safe to use in Miami?" asks Michelle Harriott, science and regulatory director of a Washington-based NGO called Beyond Pesticides.

- Small doses OK -

CDC director Tom Frieden has said that naled, which has been used in the United States since 1959 to combat mosquitos, is not harmful at the low concentrations in which it is used in America.

The EPA website says "people aren't likely to breathe or touch anything that has enough insecticide on it to harm them. Direct exposure to naled during or immediately after application should not occur."

But it also cautions people sensitive to chemical products to stay inside with the windows closed during fumigation with naled.

Harriott said, "They use small doses at a time, but over several months that adds up. It depends on how long it will be sprayed. It could be for the rest of the year. If that is the case, we should be concerned about that."

In experiments with animals, exposure to naled at high concentrations has been shown to cause nausea, weakness, paralysis, convulsions and other problems including respiratory failure and even death, said Elvia Melendez Ackerman, a professor of environmental science at the University of Puerto Rico.

Naled breaks down into something called dichlorvos, which in 1991 the World Health Organization labeled as a possible carcinogen for humans.

Naled not only kills mosquitoes but is also toxic for bees, butterflies, fish and other aquatic species.

Melendez was active in the fight against using naled in Puerto Rico. Fumigations with it were halted in July on orders from Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

Now the US territory is being sprayed with an organic product that kills mosquito larvae.

Last week, the United States declared a health emergency in Puerto Rico after it reported 10,690 cases of Zika, 1,035 of them in pregnant women.

In the continental US, nearly 2,000 cases have been reported. Miami is so far the only place where people have been infected locally, as opposed to while traveling overseas or through contact with someone who did make such a trip.

The Zika mosquito Adrian LEUNG, John SAEKI (AFP)
Indonesian minister sacked for dual citizenship

Indonesian President Joko Widodo sacked his energy minister late Monday just weeks after filling the key cabinet post, following revelations his new appointee improperly held Indonesian and United States passports.

Arcandra Tahar, a former oil and gas executive who lived in the US for 20 years, was dismissed as a cabinet minister following days of controversy surrounding his dual citizenship.

Indonesian law does not allow for dual nationality. An Indonesian must renounce their citizenship should they take another passport.

Indonesian law does not allow for dual nationality Bay Ismoyo (AFP/File)

Questions about Arcandra's citizenship began swirling at the weekend when it emerged that he possessed US and Indonesian passports.

Tahar held US citizenship since being naturalised four years ago, but had not surrendered his Indonesian passport.

"To respond to public questions regarding the citizenship of energy and mining minister Arcandra Tahar, and after obtaining information from various sources, the president has decided to honourably remove Arcandra Tahar," State Secretary Pratikno said.

Pratikno, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said in a televised address that Tahar's dismissal would take effect Tuesday.

Luhut Pandjaitan, a key Widodo ally and senior cabinet minister, will take charge of the energy portfolio until a replacement is selected.
Nauru says refugee abuse claims fabricated

Nauru Tuesday dismissed as "fabricated" claims that asylum-seekers faced violence, abuse and humiliating treatment while living in Australian immigration facilities on the Pacific island, saying refugees had become political pawns.

The release of more than 2,000 leaked reports of incidents on Nauru detailing allegations of widespread abuse and self-harm, including children wanting to kill themselves, have sparked new calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

Hitting back at the claims contained in the leaked documents, which date from 2013 to 2015, the Nauruan government said asylum-seekers had made up most of them in hope of being relocated to Australia.

A demonstrator carries a placard against Australia's immigration policy under which asylum-seekers trying to reach the country by boat are sent to Papua New Guinea and Nauru, during a protest in Sydney in April 2016 Saeed Khan (AFP)

"Most refugee & advocate claims on Nauru fabricated to achieve goal to get to Aust. So called "reports" based solely on these claims," the government tweeted on Tuesday.

In a second tweet, the republic accused the Australian left-wing media, Greens MPs and refugee advocates of "using refugees as pawns for their political agendas. Very sad".

Australia, which since 2013 has denied asylum-seekers arriving by boat resettlement even if they are found to be refugees and sends them instead to Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, has also expressed scepticism about the reported incidents.

Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week said some of events reported in the leaked files involved "false allegations of sexual assault".

"Because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country," he said.

"Some people have even gone to the extent of self-harming and people have self-immolated in an effort to get to Australia and certainly some have made false allegations."

But the documents have sparked demands for greater scrutiny of operations in Nauru, where some asylum-seekers have lived for three years, with refugee advocates and journalists rarely granted access.

"Instead of smearing vulnerable refugees, the Nauru and Australian governments should be investigating human rights violations and putting an end to them," said Amnesty Internationals senior director for research, Anna Neistat.

"The evidence is incontrovertible and Australia is going to have to end this shameful chapter of its history and resettle these refugees," she said in a statement Tuesday.

A report based on interviews last month with those detained on Nauru conducted by researchers from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch found that asylum-seekers and refugees on the island suffered "severe abuse, inhumane treatment, and neglect".

The report accused Australia's government of failing to address serious abuses as it pursued what appeared to be a "deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat".

Offshore detention has bipartisan support in Australia, but doctors, lawyers and refugee advocates have strongly criticised the camps, arguing that some asylum-seekers suffer from mental health problems due to their prolonged and indefinite detention.

In April, a young Iranian refugee died after setting himself on fire on Nauru.

Canberra has long defended its policy of denying asylum-seekers resettlement in Australia, saying it has prevented deaths at sea and secured the nation's borders.

Map and factfile on Australia's immigration detention facilities -, - (AFP Graphic)
Flood-hit elephant that travelled 1700km dies in Bangladesh

An elephant thought to have travelled at least 1,700 kilometres from India into Bangladesh after becoming separated from its herd by floods died on Tuesday despite last-ditch efforts to save him.

The distressed animal was tranquillised three times in sometimes dramatic bids to try to transport him to a safari park in Bangladesh, after he washed across the border in late June.

He was eventually given huge amounts of saline and chained in a paddy field in a northern village to help him recover, but he was "too weak and tired" from his ordeal, officials said.

The tranquillised wild elephant lies on the ground after being pulled from a pond by Bangladesh forest officials and villagers, in the Jamalpur district, some 150km north of Dhaka, on August 11, 2016 - (AFP/File)

"It breathed its last at around 7am (0100 GMT)," the government's chief wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul told AFP.

"We have given our highest effort to save the animal. At least 10 forest rangers, vets and policemen have constantly followed it for the last 48 days. But our luck is bad," he said.

Paul said the animal likely travelled more than 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) from the northeastern Indian state of Assam after being separated from his herd in severe flooding.

The animal ran amok and charged into a pond after Bangladesh forest officials hit him with a tranquilliser dart last Thursday.

Local villagers jumped into the pond to save the four-tonne animal from drowning by stopping it from toppling into the water.

A mahout was also critically injured during another rescue effort on Monday after being kicked by the again tranquillised elephant.

Local media blamed excessive tranquillising for the animal's death, saying he became too weak to stand.

But Paul said the long journey was responsible, adding that rescue efforts had been hampered by the thousands of curious villagers following him.

"In the end it became too tired by travelling such a great length. It had been separated from its herd for some two months and did not get the nutrients that it needed," he said.

"Thousands of villagers followed it everyday as it entered into Bangladesh and then travelled to villages and river islands across the Brahmaputra river."
Philippines' Duterte jacks up budget to fight crime

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has announced a sharp increase in next year's national budget to fund his controversial war on crime, with security forces to get big pay rises.

The political outsider swept to a landslide election victory in May and immediately implemented an anti-drug crackdown that has seen police and vigilantes kill more than 1,000 people, according to media tallies.

In announcing a 3.35-trillion-peso ($72.3 billion) 2017 budget, up 11.6 percent from this year, Duterte said late on Monday a top priority for the increased government spending would be "more effective crime suppression".

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said a top priority for the increased government spending would be 'more effective crime suppression' Ted Aljibe (AFP/File)

The police budget will increase by 24.6 percent, to 110.4 billion pesos, with the money to be spent on hiring more officers, raising their salaries and buying them more guns, according to a government statement.

The judiciary's budget will rise by 21.5 percent to help them handle more cases, it said.

Duterte is also planning a 15-percent rise in the military budget, to 130.6 billion pesos.

No details were released on the military and police pay raises, but Duterte, the president for the next six years, has repeatedly vowed to double them.

To address what the government described as the country's "broken" infrastructure network, Duterte will spend 860.7 billion pesos, up 13.8 percent from 2016, for fixing or building roads, railways, seaports and airports.

The figure boosts infrastructure spending to 5.4 percent of the country's expected total economic output next year, with the target eventually rising to between six and seven percent of the gross domestic product, it added.

According to projections by Bloomberg, the 2017 budget could widen the government's deficit to 478.1 billion pesos or 3.0 percent of GDP, from a projected 2.7 percent this year.

The first Duterte budget continues the double-digit annual rises seen during the term of predecessor Benigno Aquino.

Congress has to approve the budget, but this is widely expected to be a formality due to a huge majority of Duterte allies in both chambers.
Rocket kills 7 civilians in Saudi as Yemen probe begins

Saudi Arabia suffered its worst civilian death toll Tuesday in cross-border shelling from Yemen as an anti-rebel coalition it leads launched an investigation into a deadly strike on a hospital.

A rocket fired by rebels in Yemen killed seven civilians in Najran city in the highest reported number of non-combattant casualties in the kingdom's south since the Arab coalition intervened in Yemen 17 months ago.

"It killed four citizens and three residents," the civil defence spokesman in Najran city said of the rocket strike, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Yemeni workers clean up at a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), on August 16, 2016 in Abs

The attack came after the coalition launched an investigation Tuesday following international condemnation of an air raid on Monday that Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said killed 14 people at a hospital it supports.

Another 24 people were wounded in the strike that hit the hospital on Monday in Abs in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said.

An MSF staffer was among the dead, it said.

The hospital strike was the latest in a series of coalition raids that allegedly hit civilian facilities -- including a school on Saturday where 10 children were killed.

The coalition began its bombing campaign in March last year after Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels seized large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

It stepped up air strikes this month after UN-mediated peace talks between the rebels and Yemen's internationally backed government were suspended.

The coalition's spokesman accused the Huthis of using the three months of negotiations to rearm.

- 'Deceiving people' -

"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri said.

He said the coalition would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.

MSF said Monday's attack was the fourth on one of its facilities in less than a year.

At the time of the strike, the hospital was "full of patients recovering from surgery, in maternity, newborns and children in paediatrics", it said.

MSF said the hospital's GPS coordinates "were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, and its location was well-known".

Teresa Sancristoval of MSF's emergency unit in Yemen said: "What we need to see is proof of intent and a commitment that there will be no more air strikes on medical facilities, staff, and patients."

A US State Department spokeswoman said: "Strikes on humanitarian facilities, including hospitals, are particularly concerning."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed" by the intensification of air raids in Yemen.

"Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," Ban said.

Amnesty International said the bombardment "appears to be the latest in a string of unlawful attacks targeting hospitals, highlighting an alarming pattern of disregard for civilian life".

- Mounting criticism -

A Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), composed of members of the coalition, said it "has urgently launched an independent investigation" into the strike and promised to announce its findings.

The JIAT was set up following mounting criticism of the civilian death toll from the bombing campaign.

Earlier this month, it acknowledged "shortcomings" in two of eight cases it investigated of strikes on civilian targets in Yemen.

In one case, the team held the coalition responsible for hitting an MSF-run hospital but accused the rebels of having used the facility as a hideout.

The team is also investigating Saturday's strikes in the rebels' northern stronghold of Saada, which MSF said hit a school but the coalition claimed targeted a rebel training camp with child soldiers.

A rebel council in Sanaa condemned the hospital strike and called on the UN to form an "independent committee to investigate" coalition "crimes".

Coalition strikes on Tuesday struck Abs, Saada and areas surrounding Sanaa, military sources and residents said.

The coalition resumed raids on Sanaa on August 9, almost three days after the talks were suspended, with one strike reportedly hitting a food factory, killing 14 people.

That forced the closure of Sanaa airport, but its director said three flights -- carrying World Food Programme (WFP) and Red Cross employees as well as humanitarian aid -- landed on Tuesday.

The Sanaa-based civil aviation authority Tuesday said passenger flights to the airport remained suspended.

The UN says more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since last March and more than 80 percent of the population needs humanitarian aid.

Yemenis stand on the roof of a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), on August 16, 2016 in Abs

Map of Yemen locating the northern city of Abs, where MSF says air strikes hit a hospital

Yemenis inspect the damage in a room at a hospital on August 16, 2016 in Abs
Amnesty India charged with sedition over Kashmir slogans

Amnesty denied Tuesday its staff made anti-nationalist comments at one of its events on disputed Indian Kashmir after the rights group was slapped with sedition charges.

Police in the southern Indian city of Bangalore filed the initial charges against Amnesty on Monday following complaints that event participants called for independence of the volatile Kashmir region.

Sedition charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, have been used previously against supporters of independence for Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both.

Indian soldiers gather on a street during a gunfight in Srinagar on August 15, 2016 Tauseef Mustafa (AFP)

The case comes at a particularly sensitive time, with large parts of Indian Kashmir under curfew following weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces.

Security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during fresh protests in the Himalayan region on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.

"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," Amnesty International India said in a statement on Saturday's event in Bangalore.

"The focus of the event was squarely on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir."

Rights campaigners have long accused New Delhi of using the British-era sedition law to clamp down on dissent, although convictions are rare.

The charges come as foreign charities are under intense pressure in India, with the government saying last year it has cancelled the overseas funding licences of around 9,000 non-governmental organisations in a major crackdown.

The complaints were lodged with police by a Hindu nationalist student organisation, some 200 of whose members staged protests outside Amnesty's offices in Bangalore.

"We want the organisers and those who raised anti-India slogans to be arrested and jailed," student organiser Prem, who uses one name, told reporters, as police dragged scores into buses and vans to break up the rally.

Bangalore police said they were probing the complaint and studying footage of the event at the city's United Theological College to identify those who shouted "anti-India" slogans.

"We have booked a case of sedition and rioting under various sections of the Indian penal code against Amnesty on a complaint that anti-India slogans were raised at an event it organised," deputy police commissioner T.R. Suresh told AFP.

In an earlier statement, Amnesty said police had been invited to monitor Saturday's event, at which Kashmiri families spoke of alleged abuses of relatives by security forces.

"The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India," Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel said.

Indian forces have since 1989 been fighting militant groups seeking either independence for Kashmir or a merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of mainly civilians have been killed in the fighting.

Mourners gather on August 16, 2016 at a funeral in Kashmir for four civilians killed during recent clashes Tauseef Mustafa (AFP)
Indonesia vows to defend 'every inch' of territory

President Joko Widodo pledged on Tuesday to defend "every inch" of Indonesia's land and maritime territory, following clashes with Chinese vessels around Indonesian islands in the South China Sea.

In a state of the nation address he also said Indonesia was "actively involved" in seeking a peaceful solution to the broader regional dispute about ownership of islands in the Sea.

Widodo's underscoring of Indonesia's sovereignty over the Natunas islands -- and the resource-rich waters surrounding them -- comes at a time of high maritime tensions between Beijing and Jakarta after repeated clashes there.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (L) delivers a speech at the parliament in Jakarta, on August 16, 2016 Adek Berry (AFP)

"We are developing regions like Entikong, Natuna, and Atambua so the world can see that Indonesia is a big country, and every inch of its land and water is truly taken care of," he said in a televised address which did not refer directly to China.

Entikong and Atambua are remote Indonesian territories bordering Malaysia and East Timor respectively.

His comments come as Jakarta prepares to mark independence day celebrations Wednesday by scuttling dozens of foreign boats seized for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

The government has previously said that Chinese ships would be among those scuttled. The sinking in May of a large Chinese vessel ship caught fishing illegally around the Natunas drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

Unlike several of its Southeast Asian neighbours, Indonesia has long maintained it has no maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea and does not contest ownership of any territory there.

But Beijing's claims overlap Indonesia's exclusive economic zone -- waters where a state has the right to exploit resources -- around the Natunas. There has been a rise in clashes there between Indonesian patrol and navy boats and Chinese fishing vessels and coastguards.

After one such encounter in June, Widodo visited the Natunas on a warship. His defence minister has since outlined plans to improve an airstrip and deploy surface-to-air missiles, drones and other military hardware to the remote islands.

In his wide-ranging address Widodo also warned that Indonesia must respect human rights or risk failing to become a "productive, developed, or winning" country.

The former furniture salesman promised upon election in late 2014 to address historic rights abuses. But he has since been criticised for authorising the execution of drug traffickers, remaining silent during an anti-gay backlash and appointing an alleged war criminal as his security minister.
Man arrested for starting raging wildfire in California

A man was arrested and charged with arson Monday for starting a massive wildfire in northern California that has destroyed 175 buildings and forced thousands to flee to safety.

Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, faces 17 counts of arson, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said during a community meeting at a casino that is serving as an evacuation center for some of the 4,000 people driven from their homes by the so-called Clayton Fire.

His announcement was greeted with cheers and applause.

Cars are burned to the ground in Lower Lake, California, on August 15, 2016, as a blaze destroys homes and forces thousands to flee Gabrielle Lurie (AFP)

State firefighting agency Cal Fire said Pashilk was suspected of setting "numerous fires" in Lake County over the past year.

"The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year," Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said in a statement. "Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law."

As of late Monday, the Clayton Fire was burning through 4,000 acres (1,620 hectares), with 1,664 personnel fighting the blaze, Cal Fire said.

Only five percent of the blaze, located more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of San Francisco, has been contained.

More than 175 homes and businesses have been destroyed since the fire broke out around 5:00 pm on Saturday (0000 GMT Sunday).

In the area where the fire had been contained, homes had been burned to the ground, with only their brick chimneys still standing. Cars were reduced to blackened hulls.

The fire was burning in an area of grassy woodland with heavy brush that was difficult for firefighters to access, Cal Fire said.

The community is still reeling from last year's devastating Valley Fire that killed four people, destroyed more than 1,300 homes and burned through more than 76,000 acres.
Iran arrests dual national over UK 'spy links'

Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, the Tehran prosecutor told Iranian media on Tuesday.

"The accused, who was arrested in Tehran last week, was active in the field of the Iranian economy, and was linked to the British espionage service," the Mizan news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying.

He did not give the name or gender of the accused.

Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, claims the prosecutor in the capital Tehran, pictured

Three other dual-nationals arrested over the past year -- American, British and Canadian -- are currently awaiting trial.

Dolatabadi recalled warnings by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Western governments would seek to "infiltrate" the country in the wake of last year's nuclear deal.
Five killed in new Kashmir violence

Security forces shot dead five people and wounded another 20 during protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, according to witnesses and security sources.

Four people were killed in Aripanthan village after residents took to the streets to protest what they said were aggressive tactics by members of the security forces during an overnight patrol designed to enforce a curfew.

One resident said one protester was killed immediately after members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened fire and another three died of their injuries.

Indian troops take position inside a building after a gunfight in Srinagar, on August 15, 2016 Tauseef Mustafa (AFP)

A further 12 protesters were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The identities of the four who died were not immediately known but all were young men.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official confirmed to AFP "a patrol party fired on the protesters. Four have died".

Another protester was shot dead in Larkipora village in south Kashmir after residents clashed with paramilitary troopers, according to witnesses.

A senior police officer in the region and witnesses told AFP that forces fired live rounds during the protests that also left eight people injured.

The deaths come a day after a total of nine people were killed in a series of clashes and gun battles across the region, including a commander of the CRPF which is an Indian paramilitary police unit.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in large parts of Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state, since July 9 during an upsurge in violence sparked by the killing of a top militant commander called Burhan Wani in a gunfight with security forces.

More than 60 civilians, mostly young men, have been killed in clashes between protesters and security forces, and thousands more injured in the region's worst violence since 2010.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 but both claim the territory in full.

It is the epicentre of a separatist insurgency, with several rebel groups fighting Indian troops and police as they seek either independence or a merger with Pakistan.
China launches world first quantum satellite

China launched the world's first quantum satellite on Tuesday, state media reported, in an effort to harness the power of particle physics to build an "unhackable" system of encrypted communications.

The launch took place at 1:40 am in the southwestern Gobi Desert, the official Xinhua news service said, and comes as the US, Japan and others also seek to develop applications for the burgeoning technology.

Beijing has poured enormous resources into the race, one of several cutting edge projects the world's second largest economy has pursued as part of its massive national investment in advanced scientific research, on everything from asteroid mining to gene manipulation.

China's quantum satellite, nicknamed Micius after a 5th century BC Chinese scientist, blasts off from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-west Gansu province on August 16, 2016 - (AFP)

The satellite -- nicknamed Micius after a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher and scientist -- will be used in experiments intended to prove the viability of quantum technology to communicate over long distances.

It will also further investigations into some of the more unusual properties of sub-atomic particles, including "quantum entanglement", Xinhua said.

The term describes what Albert Einstein described as the "spooky" phenomenon of particles exerting influence on each other at a distance, including the ability for paired particles to mirror each other at faster-than-light speeds.

Unlike traditional secure communication methods, China's proposed system uses photons to send the encryption keys necessary to decode information.

The data contained in the bursts of subatomic particles is impossible to intercept: any attempts at eavesdropping will cause them to self-destruct, Xinhua said, letting users know that their communications have been compromised.

Scientists have shown the trick can be used to transmit messages over relatively short distances: the current record is around 300 kilometres, according to an article in the journal Nature.

But technical hurdles have kept long-range communication out of reach.

- A coin from a plane -

The satellite will attempt to send secure messages between Beijing and Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang in the country's far west.

Success will require the satellite is precisely oriented to its earth-bound receiving stations, Xinhua said.

"It will be like tossing a coin from a plane at 100,000 metres above the sea level exactly into the slot of a rotating piggy bank," it quoted the project's chief commander, Wang Jianyu, as saying.

Developing the new technology is a major goal for Beijing, which included it in its most recent five-year plan, released in March.

"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role -- from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," Xinhua quoted Pan Jianwei, the satellite project's chief scientist.

China "can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030", he said.

Beijing had previously identified the development of quantum technology as a national priority.

But Edward Snowden's revelations of spying operations by the US National Security Agency heightened China's pursuit of spy-proof methods.
Russia launches first Syria raids from Iran base

Russia said Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb jihadist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo.

The United States said the Russian move made the Syrian crisis even more difficult, but it credited Moscow with having given it a brief advance warning.

The defence ministry in Moscow said long-range warplanes took off from Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib".

This image taken from footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry's official website reportedly shows a Russian bomber Tupolev Tu-22M3 conducting airstrikes

The strikes destroyed jihadist targets including weapons depots and command centres, "killing a large number of fighters," Moscow said.

Separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 civilians were killed in Russian and Syrian strikes on rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Syria's second city.

Nine civilians were also killed in government-held areas by rebel shelling, it said.

The deployment from Iran marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground while Russia provides airpower.

Both oppose calls for Assad to step down as a way of resolving the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

- Benefit of Iran deployment -

Moscow has so far used short-range craft stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard Syrian territory.

By using Iran to launch long-range bomber raids rather than a base in southern Russia, Moscow can boost its firepower, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told AFP.

"Bombers can transport more bombs if their flight time is short," he said.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA that Moscow and Tehran "exchange capacities and facilities" in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

An unnamed military source told Interfax news agency on Monday that Russia had also sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner described Russian warplane deployment from Iran as "unfortunate, but not surprising or unexpected."

"Frankly, that only makes more difficult what is already a very contentious and complex and difficult situation," he said.

"And it only pushes us further away from what we're all... trying to pursue, which is a credible nation-wide cessation of hostilities and a political process in Geneva that leads to a peaceful transition."

Earlier, Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said Russian authorities had notified the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria shortly before launching the bombing mission from Iran.

The coalition since last year has operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria.

- Aleppo violence -

Fighting for control of Aleppo, a former economic hub in northwestern Syria, has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day on Tuesday in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in the shattered city, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been split between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement it was "gravely concerned for the safety of civilians" in Aleppo and called for "immediate attention and response" to their plight.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian and Russian warplanes of having repeatedly used incendiary weapons against civilians in northern Syria, saying it had documented their use at least 18 times since June.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the situation in Aleppo with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo and "begin battling together so that there is peace on this territory."

But US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.

Russian air strikes in Syria

Russia is considering expanding its airbase in Syria into a permanent military facility, according to a Russian senator Sergei Venyavsky (AFP/File)

Iran is the main regional ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad
Software maverick McAfee warns China of hacking weakness

China leads the world in connecting everyday devices to the internet, but is creating huge hacking vulnerabilities for itself and others by doing so, renegade American software pioneer John McAfee warned Tuesday.

Hackers had already been able to gain control of devices such as safes and heating controls, and take over the computer systems of automobiles and aeroplanes, he said.

"China is taking the lead in putting intelligence into devices, from refrigerators to smart thermostats, and this is our weakest link in cybersecurity," he said in Beijing.

John McAfee, founder of the eponymous anti-virus company, addresses the China Internet Security Conference in Beijing on August 16, 2016 Fred Dufour (AFP)

"I am hoping that in the short time I am here I can raise a warning flag that we have to take security of these devices even more importantly than our large computers or our smart phones," he told a conference of internet security professionals.

"Because there are so many more of these devices, and the more that are connected, then the higher the risk of a potential hack becomes."

McAfee, 70, is the colourful founder of an antivirus software company who once fled Belize after police sought to question him in a murder case.

He has since returned to the United States, where he announced he was running for president.

He amassed an estimated $100 million fortune during the early days of the internet in the 1990s, but lost most of it to bad investments and the financial crisis.

He was living with a 17-year-old girl in Belize when police came looking for him to discuss the killing of his neighbour -- a crime of which he maintains his innocence. He was briefly incarcerated and fled the Central American country.

McAfee's at times dire and alarming speech in Beijing came as his new company MGT Capital prepares to launch cybersecurity products later this year.

- Hacking threat -

"Our species has never before faced a threat of this magnitude. And we have not noticed it by and large," he said.

"You may thinking I am exaggerating, that I am an alarmist. I am friends with many of the hackers who have the capability to do enormous damage if they so chose."

Chinese companies such as Xiaomi have been praised for innovation in adding internet connectivity to a variety of devices including air purifiers and rice cookers, allowing users to switch them on from work or on their way home.

Such connections create serious new weaknesses that could leave users' networks especially vulnerable to hacking, McAfee said.

But in a briefing with reporters he also commended Beijing's protection of its domestic internet, which is heavily censored and blocks many foreign websites, for its seeming security against the large-scale breaches seen recently in the US.

"You may notice that last year America suffered hundreds of major hacks from all around the world," he said, and added that he had "heard nothing" of similar hacks on China.

"Now perhaps that's the government's control of the press, I don't know," he said. "But I do know that within certain industries of China, the awareness of cybersecurity threats is far greater than our awareness in America."
Japan safari park worker killed in bear attack

A safari park employee in Japan died Tuesday after being attacked by a bear which had somehow climbed into her car, local officials and police said.

An Asian black bear was seen climbing into a small vehicle at the Gunma Safari Park, northwest of Tokyo, and attacking park employee Kiyomi Saito inside the car, a local police spokesman said.

Saito, 46, suffered injuries to the left side of her chest and stomach and was rushed to hospital where she was later confirmed dead, the spokesman said.

An employee of Japan's Gunma Safari Park was attacked and killed by an Asian black bear Raymond Roig (AFP/File)

"The details are not yet known, including how the bear got inside the car," he told AFP, adding the animal was a five-year-old male and weighing 160 kilogrammes (352 pounds).

The safari park was "under police investigation and no details can be confirmed at this point," said Yusuke Yamazaki, a park employee.

A series of wild bear attacks terrified Japan earlier this year, with four people being killed in the northern part of the country in separate incidents in the wild in May and June.

In 2012, an unknown number of bears escaped from snow-covered Hachimantai bear park in northern Akita prefecture, which had kept 38 animals, most of them brown bears.
Russia, Syria in 'disgraceful' use of incendiary arms: HRW

Syrian and Russian warplanes have repeatedly used incendiary weapons in "disgraceful" attacks on civilians in northern Syria, Human Rights Watch charged Tuesday.

The rights group said it had documented the use of incendiary weapons at least 18 times since June that had resulted in more than a dozen injuries.

There was "compelling evidence" that Russia was supporting Syrian government planes in those attacks, the New York-based watchdog said.

The Su-34 bombers have been heavily involved in Russia's bombing campaign in Syria Alexander Zemlianichenko (Pool/AFP)

"The Syrian government and Russia should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons," said HRW arms director Steve Goose.

"The disgraceful incendiary weapon attacks in Syria show an abject failure to adhere to international law restricting incendiary weapons," he said.

When dropped from aircraft, incendiary weapons leave distinctive trails of explosives in the sky and trigger small, intense fires upon contact.

They were used widely during the Vietnam war and are banned by the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

HRW documented attacks with such weapons since early June, including two cases on August 7 that hit opposition-controlled parts of the cities of Aleppo and Idlib.

"I could clearly see the flames bursting," said Idlib resident Mohammad Taj Al-Din Othman, who supplied HRW with photos of the attack.

"Within 10 minutes, there were more strikes. The fire was unbelievable, it turned night into day."

A civil defence volunteer told HRW: "The fire took over everything, houses, cars, oil tanks, and even grass."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said it too had documented the use of thermite -- a type of incendiary substance -- by Russian planes in Idlib, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor provinces, and Raqa.

And earlier this month, activists in Daraya, a besieged rebel-held town near Damascus, accused the regime of using banned chemical agent napalm against residents there.

All sides of Syria's complex war have exchanged accusations of attacks against civilians and use of unconventional weapons including chlorine and mustard gas.

HRW said the use of incendiary weapons in Syria had "increased significantly" since Russia began its air war in support of Damascus on September 30, 2015.

In a letter to HRW in November, Russia acknowledged that "improper use" of incendiary weapons had resulted in "significant humanitarian damage" in Syria.

Since 2012, HRW has documented the use of four different incendiary weapons in Syria, all manufactured by the former Soviet Union.

More than 290,000 people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.
Second arrest warrant issued over Thai tourist blasts

A military court in southern Thailand has issued a second arrest warrant for an unnamed suspect involved in last week's coordinated bomb and arson attacks against a string of tourist resort towns, police said Tuesday.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing spree, which hit tourist towns in the country's south, killing four and wounding dozens, including European visitors.

One man was detained last week on suspicion of carrying out one of the arson attacks.

Thai soldiers stand by the scene of an attack by suspected separatist militants in southern Thailand on August 15, 2016 Madaree Tohlala (AFP)

But Tuesday's warrant was the first to tie a suspect directly to planting one of the bombs.

"The military court in Nakhon Si Thammarat has issued an arrest warrant for attempted arson and bomb material possession," General Srivara Rangsipramkul told reporters, referring to a town in Thailand's south.

He did not name the suspect or provide further details about their alleged involvement.

The attacks -- which included bombs in the popular tourist destinations of Hua Hin, Phuket and Phang Nga -- were highly unusual in a country where foreign visitors are rarely caught up in political violence.

Authorities have remained tight-lipped on the motive of the attackers or the identities of anyone detained.

Thailand's junta, which seized power in 2014, and the police quickly ruled out international terrorism, saying the perpetrators were "local saboteurs".

A number of analysts say the most likely culprits are therefore Islamist militants who have fought a lengthy but local insurgency in Thailand's three southernmost provinces.

The attacks bore many hallmarks of the southern insurgents, who never claim their operations, including coordinated multiple strikes and the type of devices used.

But the junta leadership has been adamant that the deep south conflict has not spread north, fearful that such an admission might harm the crucial tourism industry.

Instead they have hinted at involvement of factions within the so-called "Red Shirt" movement loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The military toppled Thaksin in 2006 sparking years of debilitating protests culminating in a second coup against an elected administration run by his sister Yingluck in 2014.

The Red Shirts have denied any suggestion of involvement and accused the junta of using the bomb blasts to roll out a fresh crackdown against them.

The investigation has been made more murky by the involvement of the military and its courts, which are not as open to scrutiny.

A coalition of local rights groups on Tuesday said at least 10 people have been taken into custody as part of the investigation, including at least four detained by the military in Bangkok.

They called for the authorities to be more transparent and give those detained access to lawyers.

A man stands by the aftermath of the August 11 double bomb attack in the upscale resort town of Hua Hin, Thailand Lillian Suwanrumpha (AFP/File)
Gas group Linde confirms 'preliminary' merger talks with Praxair

German industrial gas supplier Linde confirmed Tuesday reports that it was "in preliminary discussions about a possible merger" with its US competitor Praxair.

"Discussions are taking place and have yet to lead to any concrete result or agreement," Linde said in a brief statement after reports that talks had started over a potential tie-up.

"At present it is unforeseeable whether there will be a transaction," Linde added.

A merger of industrial gas suppliers Linde and Praxair would create annual revenues of more than $30 billion Nicolas Armer (dpa/AFP/File)

Linde shares soared 11 percent in Frankfurt afternoon trading. In New York Praxair stock was up more than five percent in early deals.

A potential merger between the two companies would create a giant that would overtake French group Air Liquide as the world's number one supplier of industrial gas.

But it would also slash the number of large players on the world industrial gas market to three, with some risk of challenges from competition authorities in the United States or the European Union.

Air Liquide took the top spot from Linde by sealing a deal at the end of May for the acquisition of US firm Airgas, which should take its annual revenues to more than 20 billion euros ($22.4 billion).

Chief executive Benoit Potier said recently that he was glad to be "ahead by a length".

But Linde and Praxair combined would have estimated annual revenues of more than $30 billion -- robbing Air Liquide of the top spot once again.

"A merger of Praxair and Linde is more likely," since Air Liquide's takeover of Airgas, DZ Bank analyst Peter Spengler wrote on Tuesday, and would "create a clear number one in the gases sector".

The two groups could reap the rewards of "clear overlaps with high synergies," he added.

But while authorities in the US "may back the deal", he wrote -- noting the non-overlapping nature of Linde and Praxair's operations in America -- "it is uncertain whether European regulation authorities would give a green light for this combination".

The two firms have discussed selling off some assets to allay antitrust regulators' fears, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the talks.

Linde has suffered from weak orders for its turnkey industrial facilities, mostly sold to oil and natural gas companies, as oil prices have weathered punishing lows in recent years.

Gas, less vulnerable to demand cycles, remains the Munich-based firm's largest division and is seen as a more certain source of revenue.
Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces: ministry

A Palestinian teenager was shot dead on Tuesday during clashes with Israeli forces at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

"Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with (Israeli forces) in the Fawwar camp," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.

At least 25 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, Red Crescent medics said earlier.

Israeli soldiers control Palestinians at an entrance of the al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, on August 16, 2016 Hazem Bader (AFP)

The violence erupted when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered the camp, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, witnesses said.

The Israeli military did not confirm or deny casualties during the operation, which a spokeswoman said aimed to "uncover weaponry" in the camp.

The army closed off the Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver.

A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

Some 10,000 people live in the Fawwar camp, established by the United Nations in 1949 a year after the creation of the state of Israel and the flight or expulsion of nearly 800,000 Palestinians.

Like all refugee camps in the occupied territories, it is now a separate town with proper buildings and public services provided by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Fawwar is near the Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai and a military base, and the Israeli military has built a watchtower at the camp's entrance.
Anti-IS forces retake downtown area in Libya's Sirte

Libyan pro-government forces advanced Tuesday against last pockets of resistance by fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group in the coastal city of Sirte.

Backed by tanks and mortar fire, pro-government forces seized "District Two" of central Sirte, military officials said.

The advance came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.

Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord break up a wall as they fight Islamic State jihadists holed up in a residential district of Sirte on August 14, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP)

An AFP photographer said the assault on District Two was mounted in a west-to-east direction and led by tanks opening the way for infantry.

"District Two has been liberated," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the pro-government forces, told AFP.

A commander of the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) said loyalists had also taken up positions south of District Two to cut off escape routes.

General Mohamad al-Ghassri, a military spokesman for the pro-GNA forces, said Sunday that only a single residential area, named District One, located in the heart of Sirte, remained under IS control.

Clashes were also taking place in the other downtown area, District Three in eastern Sirte, he said.

Loyalist forces launched operations on May 12 to retake the Mediterranean city and home town of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, which IS seized in June last year.

On June 9, pro-government forces entered Sirte and have since forced the jihadists to retreat downtown, expelling them from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre, a sprawling compound near the city centre.

AFP correspondents who toured the city on Saturday said loyalist forces were pressing their advance, buoyed by US air strikes earlier this month that targeted IS holdouts in the city.
Zambia arrests 150 opposition activists over poll protest

Zambian police said Tuesday they had arrested 150 opposition activists over protests that erupted after President Edgar Lungu was declared the winner of a highly-contested vote.

Supporters of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took to the streets in Southern Province after the election results were released Monday, blockading roads with logs and burning tyres.

"The people of Southern Province were very sure that Hichilema was going to win... and this sparked riots... resulting in the arrest of 150 people," the province's police commissioner Godwin Phiri in a statement.

Edward Lungu (C) was narrowly reelected as Zambia's president with 50.35 percent of the vote Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)

Hichilema, who heads the United Party for National Development (UPND), has rejected Thursday's poll as rigged and the party said it would formally challenge the result.

The 54-year-old self-made businessman hails from the south and enjoys widespread support in the region.

Hichilema, who was making his fifth bid for the presidency, claimed there were clear signs of fraud and vote rigging over the four days it took to release the results.

The poll results put Lungu narrowly ahead with 50.35 percent of the vote against 47.63 percent for Hichilema, a difference of about 100,000 votes.

The outbreak of violence prompted Lungu to call for calm, telling supporters his swearing-in would be delayed due to the rejection of the results by the opposition.

"I am appealing to you to be peaceful," Lungu told supporters at a rally to thank them for delivering him victory.

- Swearing-in delayed -

"We have a bit of time before I am sworn in, because I hear some people have gone to court."

"This is not to say the election was fraud," he added.

"By going to court they cannot frustrate the will of the people. I'm sure Zambians are very magnanimous. They will wait for the judicial process to be exhausted until their president is sworn in."

Police said calm had been restored in the southern towns but that protesters had indicated they would continue demonstrating.

In the capital Lusaka, police decked in riot gear maintained a heavy presence in the streets but no violence was reported.

The run-up to the poll was tense, with clashes between Lungu's Patriotic Front and UPND supporters leaving at least three people dead. But election day was largely peaceful.

The UN has applauded Zambia for holding "peaceful and orderly" elections, urging all parties to reject violence.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded "all parties, especially political leaders and their supporters, of their responsibility to reject violence and to refrain from the use of inflammatory and incendiary language," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Zambia, which gained independence from Britain in 1964, has a long history of peaceful power transitions.

About 60 percent of the population of Africa's second biggest copper producing nation live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

Supporters of Zambia's opposition presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema gather for his last campaign rally on August 10, 2016 in Lusaka Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)

Police maintained a heavy presence in the streets of Zambia's capital Lusaka following post-election unrest Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)
South Korea releases North Korean restaurant defectors

South Korea said Tuesday that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.

A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.

They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South Johannes Eisele (AFP/File)

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Koreas National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Arguing that the high-profile nature of the restaurant workers' case made them unusually vulnerable, the NIS had announced in June that they would remain in protective custody rather than being sent to the centre.

Now that they have been released, the unification ministry said it would provide no further details of their situation "for safety reasons".

"They did not want to be interviewed or make public their whereabouts," the ministry official said.

The dispute over the defectors has fanned inter-Korean tensions that have been running high since the North's fourth nuclear test in January.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South.

But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in the North Korea-themed restaurants overseas and who are handpicked from families considered "loyal" to the regime.

The South's government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around $10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates -- with mostly North Korean staff -- in 12 countries including neighbouring China.

North Korea's campaign for the return of the defectors has included emotional video interviews with the women's relatives in the North, angrily denouncing South Korean authorities and demanding a meeting with the women.

A group of liberal South Korean human rights lawyers -- having gained power of attorney from the relatives -- forced a court hearing into the case in Seoul in June.

But the NIS claimed the women were unwilling to testify and refused to bring them to court, saying they were being held incommunicado for their own protection and that of their families still in North Korea.

One member of the lawyers' group, Chae Hee-Joon, said he had no idea where the workers were but added that "we will continue our efforts to contact them".
Rights group urges Jordan to get more Syrian children into school

Human Rights Watch urged Jordan on Tuesday to ease access to education for thousands of un-schooled Syrian refugee children ahead of the new academic year starting in September.

More than 80,000 school-aged Syrian children in the kingdom received no formal education in the last school year, it said.

In a 97-page report entitled: "Were Afraid For Their Future", the rights organisation said a series of obstacles are preventing Syrian children from going to school.

Some 226,000 school-aged Syrians are registered with the UN refugee agency in Jordan Khalil Mazraawi (AFP/File)

It said many were barred from public schools for lack of "service cards" issued to Syrians living outside formal refugee camps.

HRW estimated that "tens of thousands" of Syrians are ineligible for the cards due to lack of paperwork or failing to meet stringent criteria.

Jordanian regulations also bar children from entering school if they have been out of education for three or more years, the group said.

It said poverty was a "major driver" of drop-outs. Some families can barely afford transport costs, and many children are pressured to work in the informal sector.

Children are at lower risk than adults of being arrested for working without hard-to-obtain work permits, meaning many work long hours in hazardous conditions that violate Jordanian labour laws, it said.

Jordan says it is hosting nearly 1.4 million refugees, of whom 630,000 are registered with the United Nations.

HRW praised Jordan's "generous efforts" to enrol Syrians in its public schools, which were already struggling with capacity and quality issues before the influx of refugees.

Jordan opened schools in refugee camps and put in place a "double shift" system to give more school places to Syrians.

But over a third of the 226,000 school-aged Syrians registered with the UN refugee agency in Jordan received no formal education in the last school year, HRW said.

"Authorities should expand efforts to realise the fundamental right to education for all Syrian children," it said.

Jordan frequently says it is not receiving enough international support to help it cope with the hundreds of thousands of Syrians it is hosting.

King Abdullah II said on Monday that donations from the international community only covered 35 percent of the cost of hosting the refugees, leaving Jordan to make up the shortfall.

That took up more than a quarter of Jordan's budget, he said in an interview with the semi-governmental Addustour newspaper.

"Jordan is doing its utmost to help refugees," he said.

"However, we have reached our limits... This is an international crisis and an international responsibility, and the world has to do its part."

Young Syrian refugees attend a UNICEF-run school at the al-Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq Khalil Mazraawi (AFP/File)
Chibok girls: 'bargaining chip' of Boko Haram insurgency

Boko Haram's list of victims -- dead, displaced or abducted -- grows longer by the day.

The jihadist group has claimed more than 20,000 deaths, displaced 2.6 million people from their homes, and kidnapped thousands of children since it started fighting in 2009 for an independent Islamist state in Nigeria.

But the kidnapped Chibok girls continue to define the Boko Haram insurgency.

Boko Haram Islamists kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in northeast Nigeria in April 2014

More than two years after their capture in April 2014, the girls remain the symbol of the insurgency -- and a political embarrassment to the two Nigerian administrations that have failed to secure their return.

On Sunday, the Chibok girls were back in the spotlight after a Boko Haram video purportedly showing some of them was released, following months of silence and speculation about their fates.

Although it is unclear when the video was shot and if the girls are all from Chibok, experts say its release date is not a coincidence.

Boko Haram is going through a leadership crisis after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in March 2015, with IS appearing earlier this month to have appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi chief of the group.

Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram's leader since 2009, could be using the new video to show his control over the Chibok girls, arguably Boko Haram's biggest asset, said Kyle Shideler of the Washington-based Center for Security Policy.

"The video serves as a message to the Nigerian government that despite being replaced, Shekau still has bargaining chips and will have to be dealt with," Shideler told AFP.

"It is also a reminder that the group's largest propaganda success, the Chibok girls kidnapping, occurred under Shekau's leadership."

- 'Blessing and curse' -

Of the 276 girls kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeastern town of Chibok, 218 are still missing.

Dozens managed to escape in the early hours of the abduction, and one of them was found in May.

The audacity of the mass kidnapping -- and the failure of the Nigerian government to find the girls -- shocked the world.

Boko Haram catapulted from an obscure regional threat to a high-profile terror group, as politicians and celebrities around the globe posted the #bringbackourgirls hashtag on social media.

The response was "unique", said Yan St-Pierre, head of the Modern Security Consulting Group in Berlin.

"While other hostages held by terrorists have also caused some media interest -- the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Palestine or the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, for example -- it was rather localised," he said.

"But in the case of the Chibok girls, the media reaction was international."

The interest in the Chibok girls transformed them into a valuable asset for Boko Haram.

"It is both a blessing, because they were protected a little, and a curse, because they have become Boko Haram's bargaining chip," St-Pierre said.

In the new video, Boko Haram demands a prisoner swap of its fighters in exchange for the Chibok girls.

- 'Only part of the tragedy' -

However, the seizure of the Chibok girls is not unique in Nigeria.

On April 14 this year, the two-year anniversary of the kidnapping, UNICEF said that "up to 7000 women and girls might be living in abduction and sex slavery", often forcibly married or used as suicide bombers.

"These are only estimates, the number is probably much higher," Toby Fricker of UNICEF Nigeria told AFP.

"Chibok is only part of the tragedy."

Human Rights Watch revealed in early August that over the past three years 10,000 young boys had been kidnapped, with some of them being trained as soldiers.

The Chibok girls were not even the largest group of children who were kidnapped.

The largest abduction took place in November 2014, when 300 children were taken from the town of Damasak in Borno State, according to Human Rights Watch.

"The girls of Chibok are a symbol," said Munir Safieldin, a UN humanitarian coordinator.

He said they represent tens of thousands of victims and that in many ways their saga encapsulates the entire conflict.

While the Nigerian army has won many military victories, the northeast of the country is ravaged after years of fighting Boko Haram.

With tens of thousands of children at risk of dying from starvation, it will take more to end the war than just bringing the Chibok girls back home.

A masked gunman stands in front of a group of girls in a Boko Haram video released on August 14, 2016 purporting to show the Chibok hostages

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau recently appeared in a video vowing to fight on and shrugging off an apparent split in the jihadist group

Members of the "Bring Back Our Girls" movement press for the release of the missing Chibok schoolgirls in Lagos, in April 2016 Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File)
Gabon opposition barons back Ping to take on Bongo

Two opposition heavyweights in Gabon are set to back former African Union chief Jean Ping in his bid to oust President Ali Bongo at the ballot box this month

Following a night of negotiations, Guy Nzouba Ndama, 70, who served as parliamentary speaker for two decades, and former prime minister Casimir Oye Mba, 74, both withdrew from the August 27 presidential race.

Nzouba Ndama told AFP that both would throw their weight behind Ping, 73, in a decision which would be made public later on Tuesday at a public meeting with the former AU chief.

Former African Union chief Jean Ping (pictured) is one of more than a dozen candidates vying to unseat President Ali Bongo Samir Tounsi (AFP/File)

"In the public interest, I bow to the decision of parties and civil society," he said.

The three men have been seen as the main contenders to beat 57-year-old Bongo in the equatorial African country, a former French colony that exports oil and tropical hardwoods.

Members of Ping's entourage have presented him as the "single candidate" to beat Bongo, although more than a dozen people have entered the race.

The move was quickly denounced by government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze, who described it in a posting on Twitter as "horse trading whose only aim is to share out privilege and power".

"This unnatural alliance between candidates who have no shared vision is being done at the expense of the Gabonese people and constitutes a real risk for Gabon," he added.

Ping, who served as chair of the AU commission from 2008 to 2012, was previously foreign minister for almost a decade. He was considered close to Bongo's father, Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009.

- 'Ridiculous things' -

Ping married the eldest daughter of the late president, with whom he has two children. He later married an Ivorian and is now a father of eight.

If elected, Gabon would be "sheltered from need and fear", Ping said as he launched his campaign on Saturday in the central town of Lambarene.

The electoral commission has approved a total of 14 candidates to contest the election, but none of the others have the political weight of the incumbent or Ping.

Opposition activists had called for Bongo to be blocked from running, claiming that he was ineligible as a Nigerian who had been adopted by the former president, which would make his candidacy unconstitutional.

"I'm in the situation of being an outgoing president with a track record and they prefer to come and get me on ridiculous things," he said in an interview with AFP on Friday, referring to opposition claims he falsified his birth certificate to prove his eligibility for Gabon's top job.

On July 25, the constitutional court rejected an appeal against the eligibility of Bongo, who came to power in a disputed election following his father's death.

Ali Bongo has been President of Gabon since October 2009 Steve Jordan (AFP/File)
Iraqi response to displaced 'woefully insufficient': Amnesty

Iraq's assistance to civilians forced from their homes by conflict has been far from adequate, Amnesty International said Tuesday, warning that fresh displacement could spell catastrophe.

"The Iraqi authorities' response to displaced people has been woefully insufficient and much of the world has largely ignored their plight," the rights group said.

Both Iraqi and foreign aid efforts came under criticism in June for failing to provide basic assistance to the tens of thousands displaced from the Fallujah area during the military operation that defeated the Islamic State group there.

Some 3.4 million people have been displaced in Iraq since the start of 2014 Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File)

The northern city of Mosul, the jihadists' last major stronghold and the next Iraqi target of the war on IS, has a civilian population many times larger.

"Unless humanitarian aid is adequately funded, planned for and implemented, the potential influx of hundreds of thousands more displaced people fleeing the fighting and horrific abuses under IS control will push Iraq past breaking point with devastating consequences," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's senior crisis response adviser.

Military and humanitarian officials estimate that 600,000 people or more could have to flee their homes in the course of an operation to retake Mosul, the country's second city.

Iraqi federal, Kurdish and allied forces have been conducting operations in recent weeks to set the stage for an assault on Mosul.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced when IS took Mosul in June 2014 and vast surrounding areas two months later.

Most of them fled to the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan, which has struggled to cope with the sudden surge in population.

Rovera said the West had been far more eager to fund military operations against IS than the humanitarian effort.

"World leaders must urgently step up their funding for humanitarian assistance to those displaced civilians, some of whom were forced to flee due to the military operations supported by the international community," she said.

Some 3.4 million people have been displaced in Iraq since the start of 2014. They are among around 10 million people in the country deemed to be in need of humanitarian assistance.
New York settles more than $4mn in death of black man

The city of New York has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the family of an unarmed black father of one, who was shot dead by a police officer.

Akai Gurley, 28, was shot in a darkened stairwell of a public housing building in November 2014 after taking the stairs when the elevator took too long to arrive in the poorly maintained apartment block.

He was killed by a police bullet that ricocheted off the wall.

Akai Gurley's partner, Kimberly Ballinger, speaks at a news conference with her attorney Scott Rynecki (L) on February 11, 2015 in New York City Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

Gurley's death, as with those of other unarmed black men at the hands of police, sparked nationwide protests and debate about police tactics and allegations of institutional racism.

The total settlement comes to more than $4.5 million, with $4.1 million payable by the city, $400,000 by the housing authority and $25,000 by the officer who shot Gurley, a lawyer for the family told AFP.

Peter Liang, who had been on the force just months, was found guilty of manslaughter by jury in February and sacked from the police.

In April, a judge downgraded his conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced him to five years probation and 800 hours community service.

Gurley's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in May 2015.

The settlement was reached on Monday afternoon in the Brooklyn Supreme Court. Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's four-year-old daughter, is pleased with the results, her lawyer Scott Rynecki said.

"She wants to be able to move on with her life and she now hopes she can raise the child to be someone Akai would be proud of," he told AFP.
Madonna celebrates 58th birthday in Havana

Madonna celebrated her 58th birthday Tuesday in Havana, dancing to Cuban beats during a night on the town and drawing crowds as she toured the city.

The Material Girl's visit got a write-up in the Cuban Communist party's official newspaper, Granma, which reported that she "toured different city squares to start the first day of her visit, which will last until Wednesday."

It said the US pop superstar was in Cuba with her eldest daughter, Lourdes, a 19-year-old model whose father is Cuban dancer and fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

US pop diva Madonna, pictured on July 10, 2016, celebrated her 58th birthday in Cuba Eldson Chagara (AFP)

American photographer Steven Klein and stylists B. Akerlund and Andy Lecompte are traveling with them, it said.

Madonna posted a picture of herself to her Twitter account with the caption "Cuba Libre." It shows her wearing a revealing black dress with yellow flowers and smiling as she tips a black hat.

Videos posted online by fans show her dressed in the same outfit strolling through the streets of Old Havana and dancing to Cuban beats at a restaurant in the historic city center as onlookers cheer.

The news site Cubadebate said Madonna was planning a "big party" Tuesday with the "rhythms and flavors" of Cuba.

Madonna is the latest in a string of US celebrities to visit Cuba since its historic rapprochement with long-time enemy the United States was announced in December 2014.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Kanye West, Usher, Paris Hilton, and Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian have all toured the Caribbean island recently.

US citizens are still officially banned from traveling to Cuba as tourists under the embargo Washington has maintained on Havana since the 1960s.
American Christian Taylor retains Olympic triple jump title

Christian Taylor retained his Olympic triple jump title Tuesday, while fellow American Will Claye celebrated his silver by going down on one knee to propose to his fiancee.

Taylor comfortably saw off his rivals in the Rio sunshine, the 26-year-old setting a season's best 17.86 metres with his first leap, good enough to beat Claye in a repeat of their one-two finish in London four years ago.

"The job is done," said Taylor. "Back to back, it's very special."

Christian Taylor competes in the men's triple jump final in Rio on August 16, 2016 Adrian DENNIS (AFP)

Asked if was frustrated at missing out once more on Jonathan Edwards's world record of 18.29 set at 1995 world championships, the world champion sighed:

"Oh gosh, for sure. I've been at the 'almost' mark for such a long time. I have so much respect for Jonathan's distance but now the fire burns even stronger because I know it's in the tank."

The flame of romance was burning for Claye, who had plotted his dashing proposal to long-time girlfriend, hurdler Queen Harrison, over breakfast.

"I woke up this morning and said today is going to be the best day of my life," he said. "It was stressful, man, because I didn't know if she was going to say yes or not."

Claye pushed hard to overturn Taylor's advantage, fouling on a big third jump which nibbled the 18-metre line. Claye's top effort was a personal best of 17.76.

"We are equally talented," said Claye, who beat Taylor at his country's Olympic trials.

"It's just who executes on that day, whoever executes better on that day is going to win. We've been blessed with this talent.

"We're stil young -- Christian is 26 and I'm 25. Jonathan Edwards was jumping until his mid-30s so we have many more years ahead of us to hopefully take down the record."

But Taylor, prowling the track and muttering furiously to himself between jumps, proved too strong, also recording two jumps of 17.77 which would also have been enough for gold.

"I never thought on my first jump that would be the gold medal jump," said Taylor. "This is what I live for, this is what pushes me."

World indoor champion Dong Bin took bronze to give China a first Olympic triple jump medal, leaping to another PB of 17.58, like the two Americans also on his first attempt.

Dong's countryman Cao Shuo, the reigning Asian Games champion, finished fourth in 17.13 with Colombia's John Murillo fifth (17.09).

Portugal's Nelson Evora, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, finished sixth with a best of 17.03, the only other man to jump over 17 metres.

Dong Bin took bronze to give China a first Olympic triple jump medal Adrian Dennis (AFP)
Yemen rebels used talks to rearm, says coalition

The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen accused the militants on Tuesday of using peace negotiations to rearm, after an escalation of fighting following the talks' suspension.

"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to re-organise their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting. They don't have any political agenda," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri, the coalition's spokesman, told AFP.

He said the coalition, which launched strikes against the Shiite Huthi rebels in March last year, would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.

Yemeni security forces check an underground storage in the city of Aden which was reportedly used by rebels to store weapons and ammunition, on August 16, 2016 Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP)

Coalition warplanes resumed major strikes around the rebel-held capital Sanaa last week following the collapse of the talks in Kuwait after three fruitless months of negotiations.

Since then bombing has continued, with the coalition accused of deadly strikes on a school and a hospital over the last four days.

The coalition says the suspension of the talks followed increased ceasefire violations by the rebels, who are allied to forces loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Assiri said the rebels had violated the ceasefire -- which was in conjunction with the UN-brokered talks -- "since day one", Assiri said.

As a result, the coalition was forced to provide "reactive" air support to Yemeni troops while the talks continued, he said.

Now that heavier bombardments have resumed, the coalition aims to support Yemen's government to regain control of the country as well as to protect Saudi borders, Assiri said.

Days before the suspension of peace talks on August 6, 12 Saudi soldiers were killed in border clashes during the most serious fighting in months along the frontier.

Last week, the coalition said it intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia.

Intensified rebel shelling also killed two civilians on the Saudi side of the border, after months of relative calm.

Questioned over what has been accomplished by almost 18 months of fighting, Assiri said the rebels are weaker than they were in March last year when coalition operations began.

But the "smuggling (of) weapons to Yemen does not stop," he said, despite a coalition blockade of the territory.

Riyadh accuses its regional rival Tehran of supporting the Huthis.

Saudi military operations in Yemen come as the kingdom battles a projected $87-billion (80-billion-euro) deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed over the past two years.

Asked how long the coalition can sustain the operation, Assiri said that the operation was "for national security, for (the) stability of the region".

"It takes whatever it takes," he said.

The Huthis overran the capital in late 2014 before moving into other parts of Yemen.

People examine a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) after it was hit by an air strike on August 15, 2016 in Abs, Yemen
Aid workers struggle to help homeless in Sudan floods

Aid workers are struggling to get hundreds of tonnes of aid to people made homeless by widespread flooding in Sudan after torrential rains severed a highway and other roads.

Trucks and vehicles loaded with relief supplies and construction materials were stranded in the eastern state of Kasala as authorities battled to repair damaged roads, an AFP correspondent said.

Aid workers said it would be days before relief reached all of those affected by the worst flooding to hit the impoverished region in years.

Thousands of houses were destroyed and several villages submerged after heavy rainfall in Sudan killed at least 100 people nationwide Ebrahim Hamid (AFP)

"The main problem we now face in delivering aid is how to reach those affected," said Hussain Saleh, an aid worker with Kasala-based NGO Tlawaiet.

"The highway has been cut and other rural roads are also damaged, making it difficult to reach villagers stranded in remote areas."

"The only way to reach them is by helicopter, and that's very expensive for local NGOs like us."

Aid workers said relief was arriving in tonnes but that NGOs and government officials were unable to forward it.

Kasala, bordering Eritrea, was one of the worst areas hit after the river Gash burst its banks, flooding villages tens of kilometres (miles) away.

Thousands of houses were destroyed and several villages submerged after heavy rainfall killed at least 100 people nationwide, including 25 in Kasala.

Floodwaters severed the main highway connecting Kasala to the city of Port Sudan, and also inundated a railway line that crosses the region.

-- Fears of diseases --

"We are worried about the impact of the disaster on the health of those affected," said Saleh.

"We have already been to some areas where people have fallen sick."

An aid worker with an NGO working in the healthcare sector said there was a steady rise in cases of malaria in villages swept by water.

"We don't have enough medical staff and transporting medicines is a big problem because the highway is cut," he said on condition of anonymity.

"So far we have been unable to reach villages that are submerged in water."

Kasala governor Adam Jamaa told AFP that aid was already reaching those affected.

"Right from the beginning we had the situation under control," Jamaa said.

"We have provided food, shelter and medicines to the affected people. We are satisfied with what we did."

- No sign of aid -

However, there was no sign of humanitarian workers or relief supplies in several affected areas toured by AFP over the past two days.

Hundreds of families continue to live in makeshift grass tents or in the open alongside badly damaged roads as their home villages are still under water.

"It's been 10 days now. Nobody has brought drinking water or food for us," said Tahir Osheikh, whose village is 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the Gash river.

His family, like hundreds of others, has had to survive on muddy rainwater.

"Our entire stock of food is lost. We want to buy sorghum, but we would have to go to Kasala city and that's very expensive," Osheikh said of the staple food in Sudan.

Behind him his wife collected dirty water in a cooking pot, and some children drank from it.

The damage was widespread and severe in Kasala, where most of the houses destroyed were made of mud and bricks.

United Nations aid agencies had already warned of the danger of flooding in Sudan between July and November.

The most affected states are Kasala, Sennar, South Kordofan, West Kordofan and North Darfur, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.

It said heavy flooding since early June has affected more than 161,000 people and destroyed over 14,000 houses in many parts of Sudan.

"Tonight me, my children and my wife will sleep on the ground under the sky," said Mohamed Issa, another homeless villager from Kasala.

He said his children were afraid of sleeping outside in the dark.

"Our neighbour's child died after he was bitten by a snake in the night," Issa said.

"There are many snakes in the rainwater. It's not safe."

Kasala -- inhabited mostly by farmers -- has seen floods in the past, but residents said this year's had been the worst ever.

"The floods submerged our crops and killed our livestock," said Osman Ali.

"We're living under the sun, sleeping on the ground and wearing the only clothes we have."

Heavy flooding since early June has affected more than 161,000 people and destroyed over 14,000 houses in many parts of Sudan Ashraf Shazly (AFP)

A truck sits parked on the side of the road after a highway in Kasala was cut-off due to heavy flooding on August 15, 2016 Ashraf Shazly (AFP)
Anti-IS forces retake central area in Libya's Sirte

Libyan pro-government forces said they seized control Tuesday of another central district of Sirte as they tried to flush out the last Islamic State group fighters in the coastal city.

Dozens of US air strikes this month have helped to weaken IS's hold on Sirte, which the jihadists seized last year and established as their main base outside Syria and Iraq.

Backed by tanks and mortar fire, forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) on Tuesday retook an area of central Sirte known as District Two, military officials said.

A member of forces loyal to the Libyan government aims his weapon in Sirte as pro-government forces fight with the Islamic State group on August 14, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File)

The jihadists struck back with two suicide car bomb attacks, but failed to hit their targets, though one of the bombers detonated his explosives close to a group of soldiers and journalists.

The advance by pro-GNA troops came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.

An AFP photographer said the assault was led by tanks which opened the way for infantry.

"District Two has been liberated," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the pro-government forces, told AFP.

A commander of the pro-GNA forces said loyalists had also taken up positions south of the recaptured neighbourhood to cut off escape routes.

IS seized control of Sirte, the home town of ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi, in June 2015, taking advantage of the chaos that followed the longtime Libyan leader's ouster and killing in 2011.

Loyalist forces have been pushing to clear Sirte of the jihadists since expelling them from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre last week.

Officials said on Sunday that only a single residential area, named District One, remained under full IS control, while fighting was ongoing in Districts Two and Three.

Loyalist forces launched operations in mid-May to retake Sirte and entered the city on June 9, facing heavy resistance as they moved towards the centre.

The Pentagon said it carried out "precision" air strikes against IS positions in Sirte on Monday, in action coordinated with the GNA.

- Denying IS 'safe haven' -

An IS vehicle and "four enemy fighting positions" were hit, it said, adding that a total of 48 such US air strikes had been carried out since August 1.

"These actions, and those we have taken previously, will help deny Daesh (IS) a safe haven in Libya from which it could attack the United States and our allies," the Pentagon said in an update.

The jihadists' seizure of the city sparked fears it would be used as a springboard for attacks on Europe across the Mediterranean.

More than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the three-month-old battle for Sirte, according to an official casualty toll. The jihadists have not revealed their losses.

Loyalist forces have said they will declare Sirte "fully liberated" only once all jihadists have been cleared from the city.

Sirte's fall would be a huge setback to IS's efforts to expand its self-proclaimed "caliphate" beyond Syria and Iraq where the jihadists have also suffered losses.

The unity government emerged as the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing deal in December, but it has struggled to assert its authority across Libya.

A rival administration based in the country's far east has refused to cede power to the GNA.

Ten members of forces loyal to those authorities in the east were killed and 34 wounded during fighting with a militia alliance, the Revolutionary Shura Council, in the eastern city of Benghazi, military sources said Tuesday.

Libyan offensive against Islamic State group Sophie Ramis, Vincent Lefai (AFP)

Forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Sirte on August 14, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP)
Kurd political arrests in Syria spark internal dispute

Nearly a dozen arrests of Syrian-Kurdish political figures sparked an internal row and calls for protests on Tuesday in the northeast city of Qamishli, an AFP correspondent there said.

The Kurdish police force, known as the Asayish, arrested at least 11 officials from two Kurdish political parties on Monday and Tuesday, party members told AFP.

The officials were from the Yekiti party and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), two factions that oppose the powerful Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Members of the Kurdish internal security forces, known as the Asayish, check vehicles in Qamishli on December 16, 2015 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the Asayish had detained nine members of the Kurdish Democratic Party and at least two Yekiti officials, including its vice-president.

"They have been taken to an unknown location," the Observatory said.

Both the Yekiti party and the KDP are members of the Kurdish National Council (KNC), a key component of the mainstream Syrian opposition National Coalition.

The KNC fiercely opposed a decision in March by the PYD and other Kurdish parties to establish a federal region in northern Syria.

On Tuesday, the KNC called for protests across Kurdish-majority cities in Syria to condemn the arrests.

Abdelsamad Khalaf Berro, head of the Yekiti politburo, told AFP that the PYD and Asayish arrested his fellow party members in an attempt "to stop us from our political work".

He said they had arrested KNC head Ibrahim Berro at the weekend "and expelled him to the Kurdish region of Iraq".

The National Coalition condemned what it described as Berro's "kidnapping" from Qamishli, calling it a "violation of human rights".

But a representative of the autonomous Kurdish administration denied that internal rivalries were behind the arrests.

Kenaan Barakat told AFP that the party members had been detained after "holding political gatherings without respecting the law on demonstrations".

"They will be transferred to the courts and tried according to the law," he said.

Barakat denied any involvement in Berro's transfer to the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Syria's conflict, which erupted in March 2011, has seen rebels, jihadists, the regime and Kurdish groups carve out zones of control across the country.

In the northeast, Kurdish parties began laying the groundwork for an autonomous administration -- complete with schools and police forces -- after regime forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas in 2012.
Iraq PM surprised by judiciary's speed on graft case

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday expressed his surprise at the speed with which the judiciary closed a corruption case against the parliament speaker.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi accused Speaker Salim al-Juburi and several lawmakers of involvement in corruption.

Juburi appeared in front of a commission which announced only moments later that it was closing the case for lack of evidence, a lightning outcome that fuelled suspicion over the judiciary's independence.

Earlier this month, Iraq's Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi (L) accused Parliament Speaker Salim al-Juburi (R) and several lawmakers of involvement in corruption Sabah Arar, Safin Hamed (AFP/File)

"I cannot comment on the judiciary, but I can express my feeling as a citizen. I was surprised by the speedy decision," Abadi told reporters in Baghdad.

Since taking the helm of the government two years ago, Abadi has been consistently challenged over his attempts to implement reform, including by members of his own political bloc.

Obeidi made the accusations against Juburi while appearing in parliament to answer graft allegations against himself that he said were brought in retribution for rejecting corruption.

Corruption is widespread in Iraq's government, from senior officials to low-level functionaries, and while Iraqis have repeatedly demonstrated for change in the past year, little in the way of real reform has taken place.

Juburi reacted quickly to Abadi's jibe.

"Officials in the executive must look after their own duties and not interfere with the affairs... of the judiciary and the legislative," a statement from his office quoted him as saying.

The spat between Juburi and Obeidi, theoretically two of Abadi's most important Sunni partners, does not bode well ahead of operations to retake the jihadist stronghold of Mosul.

Abadi himself admitted on Tuesday that the timing was not ideal, and that he would have favoured postponing the investigation until after the Sunni-populated city has been retaken.
11 dead, 40,000 homes flooded in Louisiana

The death toll from historic flooding in Louisiana climbed to 11 as the expanding flood zone prompted authorities to declare disasters in 20 parishes of the southeastern US state.

While flooding receded in parts of southern Louisiana, other areas saw rising waters. The National Weather Service issued renewed flood warnings.

"We're seeing unprecedented flood levels as the waters move south," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said at a news conference.

A man navigates a boat of rescued goats past a partially submerged car after flooding on August 16, 2016 in Gonzales, Louisiana Brendan Smialowski (AFP)

Officials said 40,000 homes have been impacted by the floods and more than 8,000 people were in shelters.

More than 20,000 have been rescued or evacuated, they said.

Twenty parishes -- similar to counties in other states -- were declared emergency disaster areas, up from four on Monday and 12 earlier on Tuesday.

The designation frees up federal money to aid with rescue operations and emergency housing, among other things.

"We're just now moving into recovery phase. We're still rescuing in the southern part of the parish," said Layton Ricks, the president of Livingston Parish -- more than 75 percent of which was affected by flooding.

There were reports of looting in areas where homes and businesses were abandoned by fleeing residents.

Many municipalities implemented evening curfews to combat the problem, and to allow rescue crews to move freely at night.

"I felt this is the best way to protect our residents," said East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, adding that 10 people were arrested for looting since Monday afternoon.

 People suffering 

Edwards said there were still some 34,000 households and businesses without electricity in torrid summer heat and humidity -- raising concerns of mold in waterlogged buildings.

"There are still a lot of people who are suffering," he said.

The Louisiana governor's office confirmed to AFP late Tuesday that 11 people had died in the flooding.

Rescue crews were searching for more victims, with officials uncertain about how many people remain missing.

"We are going door to door," said Baton Rouge Fire Department Chief Ed Smith, describing a search and rescue process that he estimated could take another five to seven days.

Rescue workers are also searching cars that were inundated or carried away by flood waters.

"We are going to have to search and mark each of those automobiles," the governor said.

Ordinary citizens in small boats -- who in the last few days have earned the title, "Cajun navy" -- appeared to outnumber formal rescue crews.

Among them were John Booth and Austin Tupper of Baton Rouge. The two men in their 20s had traveled 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast to the hard-hit town of Gonzales, where they were using their private boat to help residents evacuate.

Gonzales flooded only in the last 24 hours, as waters drained south.

 70 percent flooded 

Vast swaths of southern Louisiana remained under water -- several feet deep in many places -- inundating homes, businesses, and cars.

Rick Ramsey, the mayor of Walker -- a town of 6,000 people east of Baton Rouge -- told CBS television affiliate WAFB that his town was heavily damaged.

"We are in as good a shape as you can expect with 70 percent of our population flooded," Ramsey said.

"What you're seeing now is tremendous community spirit," he added. "People are helping each other."

The station also broadcast video from inside the city hall building of Denham Springs, also east of Baton Rouge, that showed the flooding had reached chest high before receding.

The number of people staying in shelters is fluctuating, officials said, because some people were leaving while others were entering from newly flooded areas.

Churches were accepting evacuees and donations of food, water and daily living supplies -- as were many local governments and businesses.

The National Weather Service issued 36 new flood warnings by midday Tuesday for southern Louisiana, as the levels of certain waterways continued to climb and fresh rain fell in a few areas.

Many rivers had begun to recede though, after a weekend storm deluged the region with more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain in some areas, causing waterways to overflow their banks.

Lester Duplessis walks down a flooded street to his house on August 16, 2016 in Gonzales, Louisiana Brendan Smialowski (AFP)

A couple visit their dogs during one of two 20-minute daily visits at a temporary animal shelter near a flood victims' shelter on August 16, 2016 in Gonzales, Louisiana Brendan Smialowski (AFP)

Boat trailers and pickup trucks are seen after flooding August 16, 2016 in Gonzales, Louisiana Brendan Smialowski (AFP)
Liberia house speaker faces ouster over bribery charges

Liberian lawmakers calling for the resignation of the country's parliamentary speaker said Tuesday they were confident they could remove him from office while he faces bribery allegations, with parliament split in two over the affair.

Speaker of the lower house Alex Tyler has been on bail since his May arrest by police investigating a bribe worth $75,000 he allegedly took to facilitate the passage of legislation favourable to a British mining firm.

"We are still soliciting signatures and very soon we will have the number required to remove the speaker," Hans Barchue, presiding officer of the anti-Tyler group, said during the session.

Liberia's parliamentary speaker Alex Tyler (C) leaves the Justice Court on May 25, 2016 in Monrovia Zoom Dosso (AFP/File)

Since the allegations surfaced, at least half of the members of Liberia's House of Representatives have refused to recognise Tyler's authority.

The anti-Tyler grouping held their first parliamentary session without him or his supporters on Thursday, with 34 of the chamber's 73 representatives present.

Those agitating to remove him drew 36 deputies to Tuesday's session, held at a different time and away from the main chamber, with the first order of business getting him to step down.

According to campaign group Global Witness, Tyler was a key player in pushing through a 2010 law allowing the mining minister to declare some mining concessions "non-bidding" areas that could be handed out without a tender process.

Global Witness said the payment was made to Tyler by London-listed Sable Mining in return for his help, with the aim of securing potentially lucrative iron ore deposits.

"We cannot keep a speaker who is indicted for corruption. That is unacceptable," Barchue said during Thursday's meeting.

Tyler is a member of the ruling Unity Party of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and despite being investigated by a taskforce convened by Johnson herself the speaker has refused leave his post.
Australia's Burton wins Laser dinghy sailing gold

Australia's Tom Burton won the Laser one-person dinghy sailing gold medal at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday in a final postponed by high winds a day before.

Burton, with a total of 73 points, bagged the gold ahead of Croatia's Tonci Stipanovic with New Zealand's Sam Meech claiming Bronze.

Brazilian Robert Scheidt, vying to become the first sailor to win a medal at six different Olympics, finished off the podium in fourth.
Zimbabwe threatens social media activists after protests

Zimbabwe on Tuesday threatened to crack down on social media activists pressing to oust President Robert Mugabe's government, and warned of the turmoil that followed the Arab Spring.

Referring to activists working with "diaspora cyber-terrorists," information minister Christopher Mushohwe cautioned: "They must be warned that the long arm of the law is encircling them."

The comments at a press conference in the capital Harare come after a series of street protests in recent weeks, protesting at Zimbabwe's faltering economy and fuelled by Internet activism.

Zimbabwe's opposition party supporters shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Gweru, on August 13, 2016 Zinyange Auntony (AFP/File)

Mushohwe said the government would deal with social media activists and warned it was "closely watching the activities of these subversive elements".

Last week, Mugabe accused his opponents -- including popular pastor Evan Mawarire, the figurehead of recent demonstrations -- against trying to topple him through protest "like in the Arab countries", a refrain picked up by Mushohwe on Tuesday.

"Let Zimbabweans know, if it happened in Libya, if it happened in Iraq, if it is happening in Syria, it can happen anywhere, so let's not promote it," he said.

"That's why you see most of the Libyans and the Syrians are dying every day in the Mediterranean Sea trying to go to Europe to look for peace which they had destroyed in their country. They once upon a time had peace like Zimbabwe."

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 36 years.

But as his cash-strapped government struggles to pay civil servants and the military on time, the long-time leader has faced mounting opposition under the hashtag "ThisFlag" -- a reference to wearing the national flag in public.

"ThisFlag" founder Mawarire was detained last month for allegedly trying to overthrow the state, but a court dropped charges against him.

Last week, he traveled to the US to meet compatriots there and consider his next move, urging his compatriots to maintain the pressure on the government.

"There are people who are now in trouble because they thought Mawarire was their leader. Where is Mawarire now?" said Mushohwe.

The 92-year-old president, who is increasingly fragile, has vowed to stand for re-election in 2018, though party seniors have long been jockeying to step into the role when he dies.
Man killed as 500,000 protest Guinea government

A man was shot dead by police during a demonstration in Guinea that saw at least half a million people protest against alleged government corruption, officials said.

Several others were injured in the Conakry rally to denounce what they said was economic mismanagement by the government of President Alpha Conde, according to the same sources.

Opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said 700,000 people had joined a 15-kilometre (nine mile) procession from the suburbs to the 28 Septembre stadium in the west African nation's capital.

Guinean opposition supporters march with banners during an anti-government protest in Conakry on August 16, 2016 Cellou Binani (AFP)

Security forces said the number was closer to 500,000.

The fatality, named as Thierno Hamidou Diallo, 21, was shot in the chest by a police officer "as he was sitting on the balcony of his apartment" in the suburb of Bambeto, his brother Mamadou Dian Diallo said.

"I heard the shot myself but I never imagined it could have been aimed at my brother," said Diallo, who lost another of his brothers during a political protest in 2013.

An AFP reporter saw the body at the local Mere et Enfant (Mother and Child) hospital before it was transferred to a morgue.

Security minister Abdoul Kabele Camara said that violence had broken out in the late afternoon, leading to a police intervention in which "gunshots caused one serious injury and one fatality".

The police captain suspected of firing the shots had been identified and questioned, the minister said.

Aside from the fatality, twelve others were injured and six taken for questioning, the government said.

A doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a number of injured had been treated at the Dixinn polyclinic, one of whom was in a coma.

- 'Death to dictatorship' -

Supporters of several opposition parties had gathered for the event, shouting "Alpha resign, Alpha that's enough, students unemployed, we want jobs", brandishing placards reading "death to dictatorship".

Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea leader Diallo hailed the huge turnout and said it proved the "rejection of dictatorship and poor governance of Mr Alpha Conde".

Diallo blamed Conde's government specifically for mishandling the massive Simandou iron ore project in the south of the country managed by British-Australian firm Rio Tinto, which he said meant Guineans could miss out on "decent jobs".

The government said in July the challenges of getting the project off the ground during a global iron ore glut were considerable but it would "do everything" to ensure it went on-stream.

Guinea's constitutional court in November 2015 formally confirmed Conde's re-election, dismissing opposition claims of vote-rigging and fraud.

It was only the second democratic presidential poll since Guinea gained independence from France in 1958.

In addition to focusing on the economy, rights campaigners have urged Conde to use his second term to intensify the fight against impunity, strengthen the judiciary and promote equal respect for the rights of all Guineans.

Despite the country being rich in minerals, most of the population in Guinea live in poverty and survive on less than one euro ($1.08) per day, according to the UN.

Guinean riot police stand in the street during an anti-government protest in Conakry on August 16, 2016 Cellou Binani (AFP)
Suspect found biting off man's face at Florida murder scene

A teenager bit off pieces of the face of a slain man at the scene of a double homicide in Florida that may be linked to an addictive synthetic drug.

Police said they found Florida State University student Austin Harrouff, 19, grunting and growling as he removed the victim's flesh with his teeth late Monday in the driveway of a house in Tequesta, less than 100 miles (150 kilometers) north of Miami.

Harrouff allegedly had knifed the man and his wife to death and wounded their neighbor.

A teenager bit off pieces of the face of a slain man at the scene of a double homicide in Florida that may be linked to an addictive synthetic drug Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said the "perplexing, inexplicable" attack was random and the teenager was probably roaming the area under the effect of synthetic drugs known as bath salts, "flakka" or gravel.

The southern Florida region, a popular tourist spot, has been hit hard by the cheap, potent and deadly drug -- also known as alpha-PVP -- manufactured in China that is similar chemically to bath salts.

John Stevens, 59, and his wife Michelle Mishcon, 53, died at the scene. A neighbor who tried to intervene and rescue them was stabbed in the attack, but managed to call the emergency hotline and is now recovering in a hospital.

Harrouff, the student, had no history of violence. He belonged to the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity.

But several police officers, dogs and a stun gun were needed to get Harrouff off the victim and to stop biting him.

"The suspect in this case was abnormally strong," Snyder said, adding there was no known connection between the victims and the suspect.

"There were multiple weapons of opportunity inside the garage... sharp objects... It seems apparent that the male victim was fighting back," the sheriff added.

"There were so many injuries and (such) massive trauma that it will probably take the medical examiner some time to give us an exact description."

Blood tests have so far ruled out cocaine and heroin use.
A German man set nearly 50 fires in a California arson spree because he wanted revenge for his mother's deportation, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

Harry Burkhart inflicted 'unspeakable devastation and terror,' Los Angeles County prosecutor Sean Carney told jurors in his opening statement, City News Service reported.

Burkhart, 29, had threatened to 'roast America' after his mother, Dorothee Burkhart, was ordered extradited to Germany to face fraud charges, prosecutors said.

'Los Angeles burned because Harry Burkhart, in his own words, which you will learn, wanted to, 'Roast America,'' Prosecutor Sean Carney said.

Scroll down for video

Prosecutors alleged in court on Monday that Harry Burkhart (above) set nearly 50 fires in a California arson spree because he wanted revenge for his mother's deportation

Burkhart, 29, had threatened to 'roast America' after his mother, Dorothee Burkhart (above), was ordered extradited to Germany to face fraud charges, prosecutors said

Authorities say Burkhart placed incendiary devices to start fires (above) under cars in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood from December 30,2011 to January 2, 2012

Authorities say Burkhart placed incendiary devices under cars in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood on December 30 and December 31, 2011, and on January 2, 2012.

Some vehicles were in carports and in 19 cases the fires spread to homes and apartments.

The sheer number of fires 'brought the fire department in this city to its knees,' Carney said.

According to KABC, authorities said Burkhart sparked 47 fires during the four-day arson spree.

There were no serious injuries or deaths as a result of the fires, but damages were estimated to be more than $3 million.

'Los Angeles burned because Harry Burkhart, in his own words, which you will learn, wanted to, 'Roast America,'' Prosecutor Sean Carney said. Above damage from a fire allegedly started by Burkhart is pictured

Authorities said Burkhart sparked 47 fires during the four-day arson spree. Above damage from a fire allegedly started by Burkhart is pictured

Burkhart 'wanted America to burn' and 'was going to resolve his grievance through fire and fear,' Carney said. 'He was ready to set many more.'

In addition, investigators said that they had never seen the items used for arson in the case in the US. Though, it was learned that the items were more common in European crimes.

'All you have to do is light the paper and it starts a fire,' Carney said.

Investigators say Burkhart had 10 minutes to flee before any flames were visible in the blazes.

'By the time the fire looks like this on this video on Cahuenga,' Carney said while showing video from one of the devastating blazes. 'He has already set his next fire.'

A still image taken from a security camera and distributed by the Los Angeles Police Department on January 1, 2012, shows a male who police later identified as Burkhart

Security photos and videos captured show Burkhart purchasing the items with his Ralph's reward card repeatedly, KABC reported.

He was arrested in 2012. Burkhart's anti-American outburst during a detention hearing for his mother in 2011 cemented his likeness in the mind of a deputy U.S. marshal, who authorities say recognized him after police began circulating a video showing the man wanted in the arson spree.

Burkhart is charged with dozens of felonies and could face 80 years in state prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Idaho plant at center of legal battle listed as threatened

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A small, flowering plant found only in southwest Idaho will again be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday announced the listing of slickspot peppergrass to take effect Sept. 16.

The plant was originally listed in 2009, but Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter filed a lawsuit challenging the listing that could have ramifications for cattle grazing on public land.

In August 2012, a federal judge vacated the listing and ordered Fish and Wildlife to more clearly define what "foreseeable future" meant when discussing threats to the plant.

The agency in 2014 held comment periods on the definition of "foreseeable future" as well as the agency's determination that the species needed federal protection. It used those comments leading up to the most recent decision and defined foreseeable future as at least 50 years  a span in which current threats could push the plant toward becoming endangered.

Otter spokesman Jon Hanian said the governor's office was still looking into Fish and Wildlife's decision and wasn't prepared to comment.

The next step in the process for Fish and Wildlife is determining the critical habitat for the plant that produces white flowers and can grow to 16 inches, though on average is 2 to 8 inches high. Scientists say the plant is found in small micro-habitats.

"These are unique habitats that are likely no longer being formed due to climate conditions," said Kim Garner, Fish and Wildlife's chief for classification and recovery in Idaho.

The ramifications of the listing are not clear. Federal agencies managing land where slickspot peppergrass is found will have to consult with Fish and Wildlife about uses for those areas. Scientists say the plant is found in only eight southwest Idaho counties.

"Those are eight counties where grazing goes on, so it still becomes significant to that part of the world," said John Freemuth, a Boise State University professor and public lands expert. "Where exactly is it and what uses are going on in that habitat? Those will now have to be reassessed, or even whether those uses will be allowed to continue because of the existence of that particular plant."

Matt Germino, a Boise-based research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the slick spots the plant favors can be a foot to 10 feet in diameter. He said these micro-habitats are hard and crusty when dry but have a greasy, clay surface when wet.

"Hence the term 'slick spot,' " Germino said. "There really hasn't been much research on the ecology of the peppergrass or the slick spots themselves."

Slick spots have finely textured soil surfaces and appear to form as a result of local drainage, something noted during an unrelated study on soil erosion, he said. Their spacing is not uniform and can be somewhat clustered. Slick spots are generally found in flat areas, such as the Snake River Plain, but not in areas like the Boise foothills, he said.

Germino noted the plants use the slick spots, but it doesn't appear the plants do anything to help form them.

The plant is considered both an annual and biannual because under certain conditions it can go dormant and survive the winter. But the plant can be vulnerable, Germino noted, because its short lifespan means the population needs to be renewed each year with seeds.
Trump's immigration plan raises many unanswered questions

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP)  Donald Trump's speech on foreign policy Monday focused in large part on his proposal to suspend immigration from dangerous parts of the world and impose a new system of "extreme vetting" that would subject applicants to questions about their personal ideology.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," said Trump, proposing what he called an "ideological screening test."

"The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. Our country has enough problems," he said.

Trump didn't offer many specifics in his speech, raising a number of questions about how he would implement his proposals.

Here a look at some of the questions the Republican presidential nominee didn't answer on Monday:

___

WHAT DOES 'EXTREME VETTING' MEAN?

Trump defined it Monday this way: "In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles  or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our county."

U.S. immigration officials already vet potential immigrants, conducting background checks on those who seek to live or work in America. Visa applicants already must answer questions about whether they have ever engaged in, or intend to engage, in any form of terrorist activity, along with questions such as whether they've ever ordered, incited, called for, committed, assisted, helped with, or otherwise participated in activity that includes "limiting or denying any person's ability to exercise religious beliefs."

What would be different under Trump's plan? To start, aides said, he would consider adding a review of social media accounts and conducting interviews with an applicant's friends and family.

But it's unclear how Trump's system would determine a potential immigrant's position on what could be highly subjective issues. What some may consider to be "support (for) bigotry and hatred" may be, in another person's view, an expression of free speech protected by the First Amendment. That raises questions about where a Trump administration would draw the line.

___

WHO WOULD BE SUBJECT TO THE IMMIGRATION ON BAN?

Trump proposed temporarily suspending immigration "from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism."

Which countries exactly? That's TBD.

Trump says that as soon as he takes office, he would ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify "a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place."

Trump said, "There are many such regions" and vows to "stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures."

Also unclear is whether such a ban would only apply to people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. to live and to work, or would affect tourists, too. Trump used both "immigrants" and "visitors" during his Monday speech, raising the prospect he could scrap an existing waiver program that allows people from friendly countries to visit the U.S. as tourists without a visa.

___

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

Trump has not broached the topic of how much it would cost to set up and run his new vetting system.

The U.S. already screens everyone who enters the country, said Doris Meissner, who heads the Migration Policy Institute's U.S. immigration policy program.

"The fact of the matter is we have very sophisticated vetting programs in place," she said, noting that the country has invested billions in improving systems and information sharing since the 9/11 attacks.

The costs of an expansion of that system as Trump has proposed, she said, would likely be "extraordinary."

___

DOES HE STILL WANT TO BAR MUSLIMS FROM THE U.S.?

Trump's unprecedented call in December 2015 "for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" is still listed on his campaign website, and he has yet to personally denounce the controversial proposal.

Following the June shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump appeared to introduce a new standard, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."

Trump's aides described the new language as a replacement for the religious test, but Trump has described it differently. "I actually don't think it's a rollback. In fact, you could say it's an expansion. I'm looking now at territory," he said in a July interview with NBC News, suggesting the change was more about language. "People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. 'Oh, you can't use the word Muslim,' remember this? And I'm OK with that, because I'm talking territory instead of Muslim."
2 historians critical of 'Hamilton' win American Book Award

NEW YORK (AP)  Two historians who have faulted the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Hamilton" are among the recipients of an American Book Award for criticism.

The awards started in 1980 and are presented by the Before Columbus Foundation. They honor "outstanding literary achievement" that reflect the country's diversity.

Winners Lyra Monteiro and Nancy Isenberg have written that "Hamilton" romanticizes Alexander Hamilton and misrepresents history.

Other winners Monday include poet Ray Young Bear's "Manifestation Wolverine," Ned and Constance Sublette's history "The American Slave Coast" and activist Deepa Iyer's exploration of racism and immigrant communities, "We Too Sing America." Author and activist Louise Meriwether won a lifetime achievement prize.

Before Columbus advocates for multicultural literature. It was founded in 1976 by novelist, essayist and playwright Ishmael Reed.
Police commander involved in McDonald shooting case retires

CHICAGO (AP)  A Chicago police commander who signed off on officer reports that the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by police was justified has retired.

One day after Officer Jason Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times, Deputy Chief David McNaughton found the shooting complied with department policy. Video of the shooting released last year contradicted initial statements that McDonald lunged at police.

In a statement Monday, Superintendent Eddie Johnson lauded McNaughton for his 25-year career with the department.

Johnson's statement didn't make any reference to McNaughton's role in the McDonald shooting or if his retirement is linked to those events. McNaughton could not be reached for comment.
10 Things to Know for Tuesday - 16 August 2016

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:

1. HOW TRUMP WANTS TO SCREEN TERRORISTS

The Republican presidential nominee says he would impose "extreme vetting" on immigrants as a means of stopping Islamic State and other militants from entering the U.S.

The Louisiana National Guard transports people out of flood hit areas around Walker , La., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Although some flood waters have receded roads continue to be difficult to pass with private vehicles. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

2. WHY MASSIVE FLOODS CAUGHT LOUISIANA OFF GUARD

Forecasters say there was little warning of the sheer intensity of the storm, which dumped over 2 feet of rain in 48 hours in some places.

3. CHARGES FILED IN NYC IMAM SLAYING

Police arrest and charge Oscar Morel, 35, with murder in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque over the weekend.

4. MILWAUKEE UNREST FOLLOWS DECADES OF RACIAL TENSIONS

The city of 600,000, where violence has erupted after a police shooting, is the country's most segregated metropolitan area, a 2012 analysis of census data found.

5. BIDEN OFFERS HIMSELF AS CHARACTER WITNESS FOR CLINTON

Campaigning with the Democratic presidential candidate in Pennsylvania, the U.S. vice president singles out her foreign policy experience and passion for improving people's lives.

6. GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SENT TO UAE

The release of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans comes amid a renewed push to cut the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba.

7. WHAT MAY HAVE TRIGGERED REPORTS OF GUNSHOTS AT JFK

Travelers at New York's Kennedy Airport cheering and loudly celebrating Usain Bolt's Olympic 100-meter victory may have prompted the ultimately unfounded reports of gunfire there, police say.

8. VANDERBILT PAYS $1.2 MILLION TO REMOVE 'CONFEDERATE' FROM DORM NAME

The money will go to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who helped to build Confederate Memorial Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, over 80 years ago.

9. ICONIC VEGAS LANDMARK WILL GO OUT WITH A BANG

The remains of the 61-year-old Riviera Hotel and Casino, which hosted Liberace, Dean Martin and countless other acts, is scheduled to be demolished in an overnight implosion.

10. JULY LABELED HOTTEST IN RECORDED HISTORY

The month was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 1950-1980 global average, a NASA chief climate scientist says.

Stefany Marili, a 33-year-old dance instructor, does abdominal exercises at an outside gym in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Looking good helps your health, said Marili, a 33-year-old Brazilian dance instructor. If I dont exercise, I feel bad physically and emotionally. (AP Photo/Peter Prengaman)
Prosecutor: Russian man's computer linked to hacking scheme

SEATTLE (AP)  When federal agents arrested a Russian man in the Maldives in 2014, they found 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers on his laptop computer, a federal prosecutor told the jury Monday during opening statements.

That was "1.7 million people who had eaten at the wrong restaurant and their personal information was sitting on that man's computer," Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Wilkinson said of Roman Seleznev. He had collected the credit card numbers by hacking into restaurants in Washington and other states, Wilkinson said.

"The evidence will show that for seven years, the defendant was one of the largest traffickers of stolen credit card numbers in the world," Wilkinson said.

FILE - In this June 5, 2013, file photo, attorney John Henry Browne listens to questions from reporters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Browne will be representing accused Russian computer hacker Roman Seleznev as jury selection for a federal trial begins Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Seattle. Prosecutors accuse Seleznev of hacking into U.S. business computer systems, mostly pizza restaurants in Washington state, and selling credit card data on underground internet forums. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Seleznev's lawyer, John Henry Browne, said he will decide by Tuesday morning whether he will make an opening statement.

Browne plans to argue that prosecutors have failed to adequately connect Seleznev with the computer hacks that hit more than 200 businesses over several years. Browne also will likely argue that the agents who took possession of Seleznev's computer opened it without a warrant and may have tampered with or altered some of its data.

The judge had previously refused to grant a motion to suppress the information taken from the computer, but said Browne can make the argument to the jury.

Seleznev's trial in U.S. District Court is expected to run more than two weeks.

After the jury left for the day, Browne told U.S. District Judge Richard Jones that he objected to Wilkinson's mention of Seleznev's arrest in the Maldives. Browne and the Russian government had argued that the arrest was a kidnapping that violated international law. But Jones had ruled in earlier hearings that the kidnapping claim could not be brought up during trial.

Wilkinson's statements about the Maldives may be grounds for a mistrial motion, Browne said.

The prosecutor's opening statement laid out the history of the investigation into seven years of hacking.

Agents started on Seleznev's trail in 2010 after a deli in Idaho was hacked and credit card data was stolen, Wilkinson said. The U.S. Secret Service and local detectives traced the hack to a computer server in Russia, he said.

The agents found some of the stolen credit card numbers being sold on a website being run by a hacker who used the nickname Track2, he said.

Detective work eventually linked the point-of-sale hacking to stolen card sales and then to a computer server in Virginia, where some of the stolen data was stored.

A search of that server found 170,000 stolen credit card numbers, but a review of its internet activity also revealed personal email activity of Roman Seleznev, he said.

It showed that Seleznev had purchased a plane ticket in his own name, had bought flowers for his wife and had participated on an online poker club, Wilkinson said.

"The agent found Roman Seleznev's fingerprints all over the crime scene," Wilkinson said. "This trial will be about exposing the fingerprints, that the defendant is Track2."

Seleznev was indicted in 2011, but the agents couldn't arrest him in Russia. But in 2014 when they learned he was on vacation in the Maldives, they worked with local police to arrest him at the airport.
'Wire' actor Wendell Pierce loses Baton Rouge home

LOS ANGELES (AP)  "The Wire" and "Treme" actor Wendell Pierce's home was destroyed by flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 11 years after his childhood home was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The 52-year-old Louisiana native revealed the news Sunday on Twitter . He says the response to his loss reminded him of "the generosity given to my family during Katrina." Pierce's parents' home was damaged when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.

Pierce, whose credits also include "Confirmation" and "The Odd Couple," later tweeted phone numbers for the American Red Cross and Baton Rouge Food Bank.

FILE - In this March 31, 2016 file photo, Wendell Pierce, a cast member in "Confirmation," poses at the premiere of the HBO film in Los Angeles. Pierce's home was destroyed by flooding in Baton Rouge, La., 11 years after his childhood home was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The 52-year-old Louisiana native revealed the news Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, on Twitter. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

"I don't know what I'm going to do," the author of "The Wind in the Reeds" told TMZ in a video posted Monday. "I just lost everything."

A noticeably shaken Pierce called the destruction "a private pain" in the video .
Melting glaciers pose threat beyond water scarcity: floods

PASTORURI GLACIER, Peru (AP)  The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. But experts say that the slow process measured in inches of glacial retreat per year also can lead to a sudden, dramatic tragedy.

The melting of glaciers like Peru's Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a "glof"  glacial lake outburst flood.

A glof occurs when the weak walls of a mountain valley collapse under the weight of meltwater from a glacier. Recent examples include the rapid draining in 2013 of a lake at Chile's Ventisquero glacier in the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, six years after another, nearby lake essentially disappeared there.

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a glacier is seen from inside a bus in Huaraz, Peru. Peru has 70% of the world's tropical glaciers and facing imminent water resource issues while glaciers retreat. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Those sites are in remote, sparsely populated Patagonia. But if the glacial Palcacocha lake collapsed, it could cause a damaging flood, say experts in Peru, sort of like a smaller, modern cousin of the ancient glof that is thought to have carved the English Channel.

"As glaciers disappear around the world, there is less water available for use for hydroelectric power, as a renewable resource for agriculture, for human consumption," said Benjamin Orlove, a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University in New York. "The glacier retreat also brings many disasters. Entire slopes are destabilized, creating landslides that travel many miles and have destroyed entire towns."

Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Peru's National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the country's glaciers "are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacial catastrophes."

The problem is that glacial lakes are often fragile structures, created when rocks and rubble carried by a glacier form a moraine that dams up its water outflow. The dam can also be created by chunks of a glacier's own ice. These inherently unstable structures can collapse quickly, especially in a place like Peru that is prone to frequent, violent earthquakes.

At a conference last week on the glacier retreat in Peru, Morales Arnao said that Huaraz, a city of about 100,000 people, is particularly at risk from Palcacocha lake, just 12 miles (20 kilometers) up the mountain above the city, and called for resources to mitigate the risk. Dams, spillways and other waterworks have helped in other places.

Massive glofs have occurred regularly in sparsely populated parts of Iceland and other nations.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, a regional intergovernmental research center that serves the eight countries of the Himalayas, said that in Nepal  whose proximity to the highest and largest meltwater sources in the world makes it particularly vulnerable  "little attention was paid to the phenomenon until the sudden outburst of the Dig Tsho," a relatively small meltwater lake in the Mount Everest National Park.

On Aug. 4, 1985, the lake's moraine dam collapsed, and all its water drained into a downstream valley in four hours, causing losses as far as 30 to 35 miles (50 to 60 kilometers) downstream.

A large ice and rock avalanche had cascaded into the lake, creating a wave that spilled over the moraine and caused it to collapse, the center's report said. "It discharged an estimated 6 to 10 million cubic meters (as much as 2.6 billion gallons) of water into the valley below."

Digging stone- or cement-lined channels through glacial dams is one solution to the threat. Many moraine dams collapse because meltwater erodes them by seepage or over-topping them. Stopping global warming that is increasingly causing glaciers to melt is another.

Experts at the International Forum on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems held in Huaraz last week concluded that the world is going to have to plan on melting glaciers, at least for the time being.

"The processes of climate change and glacial melting are irreversible," the forum said in its conclusions. "We have to carry out actions to adapt, and mitigate the risks."

"The long-term solution is for the world to shift to different energy sources, sources that are renewable, sources that do not emit gases that cause climate change," Orlove said. "In the short term we have to find adaptations, like installing early warning systems for disasters in the most sensitive areas."

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists ride horses to the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk in front of the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. The melting of glaciers like the Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a glof, or glacial lake outburst flood. A glof occurs when the weak walls of a mountain valley collapse under the weight of meltwater from a glacier. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a block of ice of Pastoruri glacier is melt. Tourist visit this glacier in a tour called "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru. As glaciers disappear around the world, there is less water available for use for hydroelectric power, as a renewable resource for agriculture for human consumption, said Benjamin Orlove, a professor of international and public affairs at Colombia University in New York. The glacier retreat also brings many disasters. Entire slopes are destabilized, creating landslides that travel many miles and have destroyed entire towns. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk past a photo featuring an image of the Pastoruri glacier before its retreat, during a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Perus National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the countrys glaciers are a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacier glacial catastrophes. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk backdropped by the Tuco" glacier in the Huascaran National Park, in a tour called "Route of climate change" in Huaraz, Peru. The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, the Pastoruri glacier is reflected in a lagoon in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. Glacial lakes are often pretty fragile structures, created when rocks and rubble carried by a glacier form a moraine that dams up its water outflow. The dam can also be created by chunks of a glaciers own ice. These inherently unstable structures can collapse quickly, especially in places like Peru that are prone to frequent, violent earthquakes. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016, a glacier is seen in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. Peru has 70% of the world's tropical glaciers and is facing imminent water resource issues while the glaciers retreat. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016, a block of ice is seen in the lagoon next to Pastoruri glacier in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. The melting of glaciers like the Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a glof, or glacial lake outburst flood. A glof occurs when the weak walls of a mountain valley collapse under the weight of meltwater from a glacier. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists ride horses to the Pastoruri glacier in a tour called "The Route of Climate Change" in Huaraz, Peru. The tropical glaciers of South America are dying from soot and rising temperatures, threatening water supplies to communities that have depended on them for centuries. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

In this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, the retreating ice of the Pastoruri glacier is seen in the Huascaran National Park in Huaraz, Peru. The melting of glaciers like the Pastoruri has put cities like Huaraz, located downslope from the glacier about 35 miles (55 kilometers) away, at risk from what scientists call a glof, or glacial lake outburst flood. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
New York imam shooting suspect arrested on murder charges

NEW YORK (AP)  Police arrested and charged a man with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque.

Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Morel was taken into custody late Sunday night for hitting a bicyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after Saturday's shooting in Queens, said the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce, at a news conference Monday. Police said they "strongly believed" he was the same person who killed Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.

In this video image provided by WABC-TV, New York police officers walk with Oscar Morel, center, of Brooklyn, in New York on Monday, Aug. 16, 2016. Police arrested and charged Morel with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque. (WABC-TV via AP)

Boyce said Morel was seen on surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer right after the two were shot in the head. About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist nearby in Brooklyn. Morel was arrested outside a Brooklyn apartment after he intentionally rammed his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said.

Charges against Morel were upgraded Monday night after police said they recovered a revolver at his Brooklyn home and clothes similar to those being worn in the surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Earlier Monday, about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, "Justice!" periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you."

Authorities have not released a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is "certainly on the table."

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

___

This story has been corrected to show the spelling of the imam's title as Maulana, not Maulama, per new information from the mayor's office and a family member.

Children of slain Imam Maulama Akonjee stand prayerful in front of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as he speaks at funeral services for the Imam, Monday Aug. 15, 2016, in New York. Imam Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot in the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens as they left afternoon prayers Saturday. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Thousands gather to pray at caskets of Imam Maulama Akonjee, draped in green top, and Thara Uddin in a municipal parking lot, Monday Aug. 15, 2016, in New York. Both were shot in the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens as they left afternoon prayers Saturday. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

At the front entrance of the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens, a police sketch of a suspect believed to have shot the mosque's Imam is handed out by members of the mosque Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, a day after 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Thara Uddin, were shot in the back of the head after they left the mosque following afternoon prayers Saturday. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

This undated photo provided by Abdul Chowdhury, Imam Maulama Akonjee is shown. Akonjee and another man died in a fatal shooting Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Queens borough of New York after prayers. Police say that motive has yet to be determined. (Abdul Chowdhury via AP)

Sandals mark the crime scene, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, not far from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, New York, where the leader of a New York City mosque has been fatally shot and an associate has been wounded in a brazen daylight attack. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Sandals lay on a street corner at the crime scene, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, not far from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, New York, where the leader of a New York City mosque has been fatally shot and an associate has been wounded in a brazen daylight attack. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

People gather for a demonstration Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot as they left afternoon prayers. Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Tharam Uddin, were shot as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

People gather for a demonstration Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot as they left afternoon prayers. Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Tharam Uddin, were shot as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

A young woman looks over the area from the steps of an elevated train station Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, in the Queens borough of New York, near a crime scene after the leader of a New York City mosque and an associate were fatally shot as they left afternoon prayers. Police said 55-year-old Imam Maulama Akonjee and his 64-year-old associate, Tharam Uddin, were shot as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Indonesia airlines cleared to fly to US after safety upgrade

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  The U.S. aviation regulator has upgraded Indonesia's safety rating, clearing the way for its airlines to fly to North America nearly a decade after it was barred.

The Federal Aviation Administration said its assessment completed in March found that safety oversight by Indonesia's civil aviation authority complied with international standards.

It said in a statement on Monday that the decision means Indonesian airlines that get necessary approvals can fly to the U.S. and code share with U.S. airlines.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, file photo, ground crew prepare a Garuda Indonesia jetliner for departure on the first day of operation of the new terminal of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, on the outskirt of Jakarta, Indonesia. The U.S. aviation regulator upgraded Indonesias safety rating, clearing the way for its airlines to fly to North America after nearly a decade of being barred. The Federal Aviation Administration said its assessment in March found that safety oversight by Indonesias civil aviation authority complied with international standards. It said in a statement on Monday, Aug. 16, 2016, that the decision means Indonesian airlines that get necessary approvals can fly to the U.S. and code share with U.S. airlines. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

Indonesia, an archipelago of 250 million people that is one of the world's fastest growing air travel markets, has had a bumpy safety record with numerous crashes of civilian and military aircraft and many near misses.

The FAA downgraded Indonesia in April 2007. Indonesian airlines were also barred from flying to Europe from 2007 to 2009.
An adult Indian elephant that became trapped in a swamp in Bangladesh after being caught in raging floodwaters died on Tuesday after weeks of struggling for survival, a conservation official said.

Tapan Kumar Dey, a former forest conservator who was overseeing the rescue operation, said the elephant died despite the 'highest efforts' to save it.

'This is very sad. We tried our best to save it,' Dey said.

This picture shows Bangladeshi villagers and wildlife experts trying to move 'Bangabahadur' from a swamp

The cause of the death of the elephant named 'Bangabahadur', or Hero of Bengal, was not immediately clear.

The elephant, tired and weak from its struggle, had been tranquilized earlier in an attempt to steer it from the swamp and to bring it closer to a road so it could be transported to an elephant safari park.

The elephant appeared to be fine on Sunday, Dey said, but was likely to have become dehydrated after being stuck in the swamp for days.

Monsoon-triggered flooding had carried the male elephant from upstream India before he became trapped in a swamp in Bangladesh's Jamalpur district three weeks ago.

Bangabahadur's herd is in the hilly forests of the remote northeastern state of Assam (pictured)

Authorities had planned to rescue it and move it to the safari park near the capital Dhaka.

Earlier, Indian wildlife authorities had abandoned plans to take the elephant back because it was unlikely that it would have been welcomed back to his herd in the hilly forests of the remote northeastern state of Assam.
3 dead after explosion at South Korean naval base

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  An accidental explosion at a South Korean naval base on Tuesday left three soldiers dead and another injured, South Korea's Defense Ministry said.

Military authorities are investigating the blast that occurred during repair work of a submarine at the base in the southeastern port town of Jinhae, but the possibility of an attack was considered very low.

The explosion occurred when the soldiers opened the hatch of the docked submarine and was strong enough to blow one of the dead soldiers into the sea, said a ministry official, who didn't want to be named, citing official rules.
US Army chief visits China amid missile system tensions

BEIJING (AP)  The U.S. Army chief of staff was visiting China on Tuesday amid tensions over American ally South Korea's decision to deploy a powerful missile defense system and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Gen. Mark A. Milley was due to meet Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart and other senior People's Liberation Army leaders to discuss issues of concern and "identify ways to deepen practical cooperation in areas of mutual interest while also constructively managing differences," the Army said in a news release.

Milley will also visit the PLA's Academy of Military Science to exchange views with faculty and students.

China has stridently objected to a decision to base the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital Seoul, believing its X-Band radar is intended to track missiles inside China. The U.S. says the system is intended to destroy potential North Korean missiles.

Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the U.S. and South Korea, and China has canceled events involving South Korean entertainers. China also appears to be withholding support at the United Nations for condemnations of North Korea's missile programs.

Milley's visit also comes amid frictions following an international arbitration panel's ruling last month that invalidated China's claim to virtually the entire South China Sea. China angrily rejected the verdict and has vowed to continue developing man-made islands that the U.S. says have exacerbated tensions in the strategically crucial region.

Highlighting the issue, the interior minister of Taiwan, one of the six governments to claim territory in the South China Sea, planned to travel to Taiping Island where it maintains a garrison.

The visit is "aimed at understanding climate change issues as well as underscoring Taiwan's sovereignty," the official Central News Agency quoted Taiwanese officials as saying.

Tensions have also spiked in recent days between China and Japan over a chain of uninhabited islands controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. Japan last week called in the Chinese ambassador to protest over a large increase in the number of Chinese coast guard and fishing ships operating in waters surrounding the islands, called the Senkakus by Japan and Diaoyu by China.
Police: Suspect in imam's slaying had gun stashed in wall

NEW YORK (AP)  The suspect in the "assassination" of an imam and his friend after they left a mosque had the murder weapon stashed in the wall of his basement apartment, investigators said Tuesday.

New York Police Department investigators determined the .38-caliber revolver was the weapon used in the ambush slayings near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, a prosecutor told a judge at Oscar Morel's initial court appearance.

"This was a most horrendous and despicable act that can only be described as as a cold-blooded, premeditated assassination," Assistant District Attorney Peter McCormack said.

In this video image provided by WABC-TV, New York police officers walk with Oscar Morel, center, of Brooklyn, in New York on Monday, Aug. 16, 2016. Police arrested and charged Morel with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque. (WABC-TV via AP)

Though the motive remained unclear, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the attack was being viewed as a possible hate crime.

Morel, 35, "is accused of the murder of a highly respected and beloved religious leader and his friend as they walked home from an afternoon prayer service," said Brown, who met with family members of the victims on Tuesday. "Their deaths are a devastating loss to their families and the community that they served as men of peace."

Defense attorney Leonard Ressler said Morel adamantly denied any involvement in the shootings, telling the lawyer, "I didn't do anything."

Morel, who was employed as a porter at a Manhattan college, did not enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail.

Police believe Morel was waiting on the block near the mosque for at least eight minutes on Saturday before Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were each shot in the back of the head. Authorities believe Morel fled in a black GMC Trailblazer that struck a bicyclist nearby 10 minutes after the shooting.

After finding the vehicle parked on the street, police waited for Morel to return. He was captured after getting into the car and ramming a police car while trying to flee, investigators said.

Police officers searching the Brooklyn home where Morel was arrested late Sunday found the suspected murder weapon  as well as clothes they believe he was wearing at the time of the shooting  behind a section of the wall that had been cut out and reinstalled with screws, authorities said.

Aside from the gun, evidence includes security video of the shooting, prosecutors said Tuesday, adding that the defendant had identified himself in other videos from cameras located a few blocks away.

The killings have stoked fear and anger in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn, where residents have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

"It is a hate crime. I believe that," Uddin's brother, Mashuk, said outside court on Tuesday. "This is a terrible crime."

The imam's son, Saif Akonjee, said he was feeling "very, very sad."

"I want to know why he killed him," he said of Morel. "My father was a very good guy."

___

Associated Press writers Jake Pearson and Ezra Kaplan contributed to this report.

This photo, released by the New York City Police Department , Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. shows a .38 caliber Taurus revolver that has been recovered in connection with the shooting of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin, who were shot in the head Saturday afternoon as they walked home from a mosque. (New York City Police Department via AP)

Saif Akonjee, son of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, center, Mashuk Uddin, brother of Thara Uddin, right, and other members of the community are surrounded by reporters as they arrives to a Queens courthouse in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Oscar Morel suspected of gunning down the imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque was arrested and charged with murder late Monday night, said police, who have not yet released a motive for the shooting deaths. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Pennsylvania attorney general resigns a day after conviction

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Pennsylvania's first elected female attorney general announced her resignation Tuesday, a day after being convicted of abusing the powers of the state's top law enforcement office to smear a rival and lying under oath to cover it up.

Democrat Kathleen Kane's exit completes a spectacular fall for the former county prosecutor who soared to victory four years ago as an outsider promising to break up an "old-boys' network" in state government. She squandered her early popularity, feuded with rivals and aides and ultimately was undone by what prosecutors portrayed as a personal vendetta against her critics and perceived enemies.

Now, Kane faces prison time and can't even practice private law after the suspension of her law license. Her office said she would resign at the end of the workday Wednesday.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

"I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania, and I wish them health and safety in all their days," Kane said.

Her top deputy, Bruce L. Castor Jr., a Republican hired in March, will take the oath privately to become the acting attorney general. Castor, a former Montgomery County district attorney, has been a central figure in the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby.

On Monday, after hearing days of testimony about petty feuds, political intrigue and cloak-and-dagger machinations, a county jury convicted Kane of all nine counts against her, including perjury, obstruction and official oppression.

The judge ordered Kane to surrender her passport and threatened to jail her if she retaliated against the once-trusted aides who testified against her.

Kane's lawyers vowed to appeal.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf had urged Kane to resign since she was charged a year ago, and leaders of the state Senate's Republican majority threatened a vote to order her removal from office if she didn't step aside immediately. On Tuesday, Wolf called Kane's situation "unfortunate" and said her decision to resign "is the right one."

Wolf gave no details about any plan to appoint a replacement for the remainder of Kane's term, which was to end Jan. 17. The Senate would have to approve his pick. Voters will select a new attorney general in the November election.

The two years of turmoil in Kane's office left her isolated in Pennsylvania's political, legal and law enforcement communities. She saw an exodus of top aides and fumbled corruption cases, and she made a string of eyebrow-raising accusations that turned out to be unfounded. She clashed with top aides and was accused of retaliating against employees who later sued her.

After she was charged, the state Supreme Court suspended her law license, and she drained campaign funds to pay legal bills.

Kane, 50, ran as an outsider in 2012, financed by campaign cash from her then-husband's family trucking fortune. On the campaign trail, she promised to investigate why it took her Republican predecessors three years to charge former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky with child sex abuse and whether politics played a role.

She won in a landslide, becoming the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, and earned early praise from Democrats for refusing to defend a legal challenge to the state's law banning recognition of same-sex marriage. The law was struck down in 2014.

Kane's honeymoon as attorney general ended in March 2014, when The Philadelphia Inquirer reported she had shut down an undercover sting that had caught a Philadelphia judge and five state lawmakers taking cash payments or gifts.

Kane's criticism of the Sandusky case had triggered a bitter feud with the investigators who handled it, and county prosecutors say she suspected they had leaked the unflattering story to the Inquirer.

Seeking payback, she ordered aides to leak secret investigative information to the Philadelphia Daily News in an effort to show that her perceived enemies had bungled a 2009 probe into an NAACP official, prosecutors said.

"This is war," she wrote in a 2014 email to a political strategist.

A special appointee concluded the Sandusky case had not been dragged out for political reasons. But the inquiry unearthed a trove of interoffice emails containing sexually explicit images and crude jokes about women and minorities.

As authorities began building the leak case against Kane, she ordered the release of email chains, saying the misconduct allegations against her were concocted by a corrupt network inside law enforcement to stop her from exposing their raunchy exchanges. The email scandal precipitated the resignations of several high-profile state officials, including two state Supreme Court justices.

But the trial judge would not allow Kane's lawyers to raise the email scandal in court as the motive to prosecute her.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, second left, and members of her legal and security teams, prepare to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, escorted by a member of her security team, prepares to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, escorted by members of her security team, prepares to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks down a hallway to re-enter the courtroom after a lunch break at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., during closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane enters a courtroom at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks in a hallway at the Montgomery County Courthouse during a break in the trial, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane stands in a hallway at the Montgomery County Courthouse during a break in the trial, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, left, walks down a hall at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks down a hall at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks down a hall at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Bruce L. Castor Jr., the top deputy to convicted Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, speaks at a news conference in the agency's headquarters, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 in Harrisburg, Pa. Castor will take the oath to become acting attorney general following Kane's announcement that she will resign effective Wednesday. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
Troops kill 5 civilians at anti-India protests in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India (AP)  Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir fatally shot five civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes with anti-India protesters intensified in the troubled region, police said.

Four people were killed when troops fired live ammunition, shotgun pellets and tear gas to control hundreds of people throwing stones and chanting slogans in Aripanthan village, west of the main city of Srinagar, a police official said on condition of anonymity because of department policy. Three of the injured were in critical condition, police said.

News of the killings brought thousands of other Kashmiris from neighboring villages into the streets chanting "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom." Large crowds continued anti-India chants at a funeral for the four dead civilians Tuesday afternoon.

Kashmiris shout pro freedom slogans during a joint funeral of four civilains at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

More protests erupted across the region as thousands of people took to the streets in defiance of curfew orders.

A fifth civilian was killed as government forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the southern Anantnag area.

Residents of Kurhama village in eastern Kashmir said soldiers in trucks came into the village and entered dozens of homes, beating men and women. They said the soldiers also ransacked houses and broke into shuttered shops.

A local police officer said the action occurred after a group of youths pelted an army convoy with stones. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said at least 15 villagers were hospitalized with various injuries.

The disputed Himalayan region has been extremely tense since government troops killed a popular rebel leader nearly six weeks ago.

Tuesday's deaths raised the death toll from the largest protests in years to 64, including two policemen. Thousands more have been injured.

Shops, businesses and schools have remained closed because of the security lockdown and protest strikes called by separatists, who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir. Residents have struggled to cope with shortages of food, medicine and other necessities. Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the many injured.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both. Anti-India feelings run strong in the Muslim-majority region, where most people favor independence or merger with Pakistan.

More than 68,000 people have been killed since rebel groups began fighting Indian forces in 1989 and in the subsequent Indian military crackdown.

An unidentified family member of a killed civilain cries during a joint funeral of four civilians at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Kashmiris shout pro freedom slogans during a joint funeral of four civilains at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A masked Kashmiri youth shows empty bullet cartridges allegedly fired by government forces during a joint funeral of four civilians at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Unidentified family members of killed civilians wail during a joint funeral of four civilains at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An unidentified family member of a killed civilian cries during a joint funeral of four civilians at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Kashmiris shout pro freedom slogans during a joint funeral of four civilains at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

An unidentified family member of a killed civilain cries during a joint funeral of four civilians at Aripanthan village, west of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Aug.16, 2016. Government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir shot and killed four civilians and injured at least 15 others Tuesday as clashes intensified with anti-India protesters in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Man arrested for arson blaze that decimated California town

LOWER LAKE, Calif. (AP)  A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at a press briefing at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, Calif., was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in the Northern California town of Lower Lake, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time," Pimlott said.

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge," he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire."

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

"It's a poor community," he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. "There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them."

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to more than 8 square miles. The fire destroyed 12 homes over the weekend and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake. It was only slightly contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.

___

AP writers Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the post office in Lower Lake did not burn.

Michelle Waller, left, consoles her son, Thomas Salaz, center, as it is announced that an arsonist was arrested for allegedly sparking a wildfire in Lower Lake that exploded over the weekend, in Middletown, Calif., Monday, on Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

People look on as its announced that Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at Twin Pines Casino, is the arsonist allegedly responsible for a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Pashilk is being charged with 17 counts of arson and is in jail. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Andrea McMullen cries as it is announced that Damin Pashilk was arrested on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

James McCauley looks over the burned-out remains of his residence in the town of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

James McCauley wades through waist-high water near the burned-out remains of his residence in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. McCauley traversed a creek by boat and foot for a half mile to reach the property. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

An air tanker drops fire retardant at a containment line northeast of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

James McCauley wades through waist-high water near the burned-out remains of his residence in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. McCauley traversed a creek by boat and foot for a half mile to reach the property. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Firefighters position themselves atop a ridge near the town of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Reisha Spitler and her dog Boss view the remains of her child's father's house in the town of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Spitler traversed a creek by boat for a half mile to see get to the property. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

A destroyed bicycle lays amid the rubble of a burned property in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

A firefighter walks through marijuana plants as mop-up continued during the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

Alma Andrade looks at some of her burned plants and a shed that had tools, children's clothes and other items as multi-agency fire crews mop up the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Andrade said that her home was saved thanks to her neighbor Leo Negrete. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP) .

Dan Peters, with the Nevato Fire District, mops up a fire at a house during the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

A motorist drives through the burnt-out neighborhood on Winchester Street as multi-agency fire crews mop up the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)
Analysis: Trump blasts nation-building but wants Iraq oil

WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump says that as president he would end "our current strategy of nation-building and regime change" because they don't work. His dislike for nation-building is shared by many, including none other than the target of his criticism, President Barack Obama.

In fact it was Obama's predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, who committed the U.S. to large-scale nation-building projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama discarded that strategy while trying to keep enough U.S. influence there to prevent those two countries from crumbling. Obama's approach may not have worked, but it's not Bush-like "nation-building."

And while the Republican presidential nominee argued against nation-building in a foreign policy speech Monday, he advocated for something even more grandiose: seizing Iraq's oil wealth in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

"I have long said that we should have kept the oil in Iraq," he said in Youngstown, Ohio. "I said, 'Keep the oil. Keep the oil. Keep the oil. Don't let somebody else get it.'" It would have required U.S. troops to protect the oil, he said, but the benefit would have been clear today.

"If we had controlled the oil like I said we should, we could have prevented the rise of ISIS in Iraq, both by cutting off a major source of funding and through the presence of U.S. forces necessary to safeguard the oil and vital infrastructure products necessary for us to have the oil."

Rather than nation-building, this would have been nation-grabbing, making Iraq a de-facto American colony.

In the final months of his administration, Bush negotiated an agreement with the Iraqi government that called for all U.S. troops to leave the country by December 2011. Obama stuck to that schedule, believing that the Iraqis needed to stand on their own while the U.S. turned its attention to other pressing needs at home and abroad, what he called "nation building at home." Obama, supported by his first secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, saw Bush's nation-building effort as a proven failure.

Iraqi politics, however, never overcame sectarian divisions, undermining the Iraqi army and leaving an easy target for IS.

Trump is right that the Islamic State capitalized on the political and security vacuum in Iraq in 2014, but it's not clear that a long-term U.S. military occupation to hold and exploit Iraqi's oil resources would have led to a more stable outcome.

Trump says he would have used money from the sale of Iraqi oil to pay for the care of wounded soldiers and the families of those Americans killed in the war.

"This proposal by its very nature would have left soldiers in place of our assets," he said. "We would have had soldiers there guarding this valuable supply of oil. In the old days, when we won a war, to the victor belonged the spoils."

After major military victories, the 240-year-old United States has tended to pour money and aid back into countries it has fought to help re-establish governments and services. It was, in fact, a kind of nation-building approach. The U.S. still has troops in Germany and Japan, with the permission of those nations, but it never confiscated their natural resources.

In his speech, Trump said that as president he would discard "nation-building." In its place would be what he called a new approach, which he described simply as halting the spread of "radical Islam." He said that if elected he would convene an international conference on the topic and work closely with Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Russia, the NATO alliance and "all others who recognize this ideology of death that must be extinguished."

Trump also called Monday for "extreme" ideological vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the United States, vowing to significantly overhaul the country's screening process and block those who sympathize with extremist groups or don't embrace American values.

"Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country," Trump said. "Only those who we expect to flourish in our country  and to embrace a tolerant American society  should be issued visas."

Trump's proposals were the latest version of a policy that began with his unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticized across party lines as un-American.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Trump challenges Republican chances in NH Senate race

GILFORD, N.H. (AP)  Kelly Ayotte cannot escape the shadow of Donald Trump.

Even here, among the fried dough stands and pig pens of New Hampshire's summer fairs, the Republican senator faces difficult questions about her party's presidential nominee, a celebrity businessman who threatens to weigh down swing state Republicans at every level this fall.

There are no easy answers for vulnerable incumbents such as Ayotte, who are troubled by Trump but don't want to alienate his shrinking, yet devoted base of support.

In this photo taken Aug. 13, 2016 Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., speaks to Dan Plourde while visiting Old Home Days in Loudon, N.H. Ayotte is seeking a second term. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

"With any candidate, I always reserve the right to re-evaluate my position," Ayotte, sipping a root beer float, told The Associated Press on Saturday at Belknap County's 4-H Fair. "My position at this moment is I'm going to be voting for him."

But she's not eager to talk about Trump as she campaigns for a second Senate term.

The New York billionaire's standing is at a low mark of his campaign in preference polls, and national party leaders are openly considering whether to turn their backs on him. In New Hampshire, GOP officials have quietly identified thousands of anti-Trump Republicans and independents, hoping they could be convinced to vote for Ayotte instead of sitting out the election altogether.

Their success will help determine which party controls the Senate for the first two years of the next president's term. Democrats need to pick up just four new seats to seize control of the 100-member chamber if Democrat Hillary Clinton wins. In that case, her vice presidential running mate, Tim Kaine, would break tie votes as president of the Senate.

Outside groups are pouring money into the race, although neither side mentioned Trump in new ads launched this week.

The Senate Republican campaign arm began airing two new ads Tuesday attacking Ayotte's opponent, Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, for her handling of the state's heroin crisis. Another group allied with Democrats attacks Ayotte's votes on tax cuts and Medicare.

Ayotte and Republican candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois are fighting to focus their contests on local issues. The New Hampshire senator, a former state attorney general, spoke with dozens of voters as she toured three New Hampshire fairs over the weekend, making small talk with most, while wading into the state's opioid crisis a handful of times.

A few days earlier, protesters holding Trump masks ran behind her in a local road race. There were no protests over the weekend, but evidence of Trump's influence on the 2016 election season was easy to find.

Stan Lloyd, a self-described independent from Loudon, New Hampshire, confronted Ayotte as she was heading to the dunk tank at Loudon's Old Home Day festival.

"She's trying to play this game," said the retired teacher, who supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the GOP presidential primary. He said he would not vote for Ayotte or Trump this fall.

"She's going to vote for him and support him but not endorse him?" Lloyd asked. "I don't know what the difference is."

At roughly the same time, Hassan lashed out at what she called the "Trump-Ayotte agenda" at a rally. Hassan's campaign manager, Marc Goldberg, asserted that the Republican presidential nominee is making his job easier.

"Trump helps. He unequivocally helps," Goldberg told AP. Ayotte "has this weight around her leg in Trump that she's dragging around."

Ayotte has already been forced to distance herself from many of Trump's positions.

She rejected his proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigration, called his criticism of a Hispanic judge "offensive and wrong," and said she was "appalled" by his weeklong feud with the Muslim family of a fallen U.S. soldier.

On Saturday, she also broke with Trump's repeated suggestion that a loss in November would be evidence that the nation's election system is rigged. "I have confidence in our election system," Ayotte said.

The senator, a prominent voice on national security issues, would not say whether she trusted Trump with the codes to the nation's nuclear arsenal. Instead, she noted Congress' oversight role.

"We have a strong system of checks and balances," she said, promising to play an active role in national security whether Clinton or Trump wins the presidency. "I think he'll surround himself, I assume, with people who will help him understand."

The comments echo those of Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, who are vowing to hold Trump in check should he win, even as they struggle to block President Barack Obama's executive actions.

Whether Ayotte likes it or not, her fate is tied to Trump's.

The New Hampshire GOP has identified fewer than 10,000 likely Republican voters who are considering sitting out the November contest because they oppose Trump's candidacy. The state party has yet to determine how best to persuade the group to cast ballots for Ayotte. Outreach may include mail, phone calls and conversations with volunteers at their homes, according to a Republican official with direct knowledge of internal strategy. The official was not authorized to describe publicly those private discussions and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.

Republican officials note their candidates have survived unpopular presidential nominees in the past, but suggest there is a point at which their 2016 Senate candidates cannot win no matter how well they perform. In New Hampshire, that threshold is likely around 10 points. Clinton led Trump by 15 points in a poll of New Hampshire voters conducted by Boston's WBUR radio between July 29 and Aug. 1.

"People down ballot are concerned," said Norman Silber, a Republican candidate for state representative who campaigned alongside Ayotte at the Belknap County Fair. "I wish we had a different presidential candidate."

___

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

In this photo Aug. 13, 2016. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. is seen at Old Home Days in Loudon, N.H. Ayotte is seeking a second term. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2016 file photo, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. slips into the water at "dunking booth" to raise money for the Loudon Elementary School at the Old Home Days Loudon, N.H. Ayotte is seeking a second U.S. Senate term. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
Southern California fire burns at least a dozen buildings

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A wildfire broke out Tuesday and spread at a staggering pace in every direction through drought-parched canyons east of Los Angeles, burning at least a dozen buildings  including some homes  and prompting evacuation orders for entire communities.

The blaze that began as a small patch of flame next to Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass had scorched 15,000 acres of the San Bernardino Mountains. By nightfall, it had churned up and over ridges and was descending into the Mojave Desert.

"The smoke is on the desert floor," said Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday August 16, 2016. The blaze 60 miles east of Los Angeles has burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Snaking walls of flame rising 50 to 100 feet high turned nearly two dozen square miles of chaparral to ashes, along with outbuildings and homes in the ranchlands 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

"I can confirm that we've lost structures, both residential and commercial," Sherwin said at the scene of a hard-hit cluster of ranches. "I'm looking up here and I'm seeing buses, I'm seeing outbuildings, I'm seeing houses."

At least a dozen buildings had burned, including the Summit Inn, an historic diner near Interstate 15, he said.

Mandatory evacuation calls went out to 34,506 homes with more than 82,600 people, ranging for the ski resort of Wrightwood to the sprawling high desert town of Phelan, with more than 14,000 residents.

"This fire is burning in significantly different terrains at multiple elevation levels," making it difficult to fight, Sherwin said.

Hundreds of animals, including dogs and horses, also were evacuated.

The flames were fueled by thick stands of drought-stricken brush in the canyons and grass at lower elevations. The flames burned faster in the grassy areas, making them less likely to burn homes but also making them more vulnerable to wind shifts, Sherwin said.

The fire forced a shutdown of Interstate 15, leaving commuters stranded for hours.

Blue Mountain Farms, a horse ranch in Phelan, was in the path of the fire  just as it was for another fire in the area a year ago.

"Breathing smoke again, just like last year," Shannon Anderson, a partner in the ranch, said as she panted into the telephone. "It's raining ash."

Ranch hands used hoses to wet down fences and anything else that could burn.

Six firefighters were briefly trapped by flames at a home where the occupants had refused to leave, forcing the crew to protect the house, fire officials said.

"We were fully engulfed in smoke," county firefighter Cody Anderson told KCBS-TV. "It was really hard just to see your hand in front of your face."

"We just hunkered down and sat there and waited for the fire to blow over," he said.

Anderson and another firefighter were treated for minor injuries.

Gov. Jerry Brown quickly declared a state of emergency in the fire area, freeing up special resources and funds for the firefight and recovery.

As that fire surged, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.

Their relief, however, was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend along with 16 smaller fires dating back to last summer.

Investigators in Northern California said Tuesday they had been building a case against the suspected arsonist, 40-year-old construction worker Damin Anthony Pashilk, for more than a year but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest until the weekend blaze ripped through Lower Lake.

Nearly a decade ago, Pashilk was an inmate firefighter while serving time on drug possession and firearms charges, according to California corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters. He was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to fight wildfires for four months in 2007.

The fire destroyed 175 homes, Main Street businesses and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake.

"What I'd do to him, you don't want to know," said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbor's home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. Cancilla still doesn't know the fate of his own home and spoke at a center for evacuees set up at a high school.

"A lot of people want to hang him high," his wife, Jennie, added.

An attorney listed as representing Pashilk did not return a call requesting comment. Pashilk is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Roughly 1,600 firefighters were making progress on the blaze as it burned through wilderness. It was 34 percent contained.

___

Thanawala reported from Lakeport. Associated Press writers Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco, Don Thompson in Sacramento and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday Aug. 16, 2016. The blaze 60 miles east of Los Angeles has burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Firefighters battle a wildfire along Cajon Boulevard in the Cajon Pass north of Devore, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. The fire erupted before noon and authorities said it had swelled to over 2,000 acres by early afternoon. Evacuations have been ordered. (Will Lester/The Sun, Southern California News Group via AP)

Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at a press briefing at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, Calif., was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in the Northern California town of Lower Lake, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP)

Michelle Waller, left, consoles her son, Thomas Salaz, center, as it is announced that an arsonist was arrested for allegedly sparking a wildfire in Lower Lake that exploded over the weekend, in Middletown, Calif., Monday, on Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Andrea McMullen cries as it is announced that Damin Pashilk was arrested on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP)

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP)

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP)

Firefighters battle the Bluecut Fire along Swarthout Canyon Road in the Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box. (Will Lester/The Sun via AP)

A firefighter from Palo Alto, Calif., inspects damage caused by a wildfire near Main Street in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

A partially melted thermometer is seen on a house that survived after a fire tore through Lower Lake, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying homes, business and other structures in the Northern California town, authorities said. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

A Skycrane helicopter flies by a wildfire, as seen from Lytle Creek Road in Lytle Creek, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. (David Pardo/The Daily Press via AP)

Daniel Brown uses a chat app with his mother while surveying damage to his home after a fire tore through his neighborhood in Lower Lake, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. People forced to flee a massive wildfire in mountains north of San Francisco heaped anger Tuesday on a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Burned properties are seen after a fire tore through a residential area in Lower Lake, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. People forced to flee a massive wildfire in mountains north of San Francisco heaped anger Tuesday on a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)
Turkish prosecutors seek 2 life sentences for Gulen

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Prosecutors in western Turkey have demanded a life sentence for U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of masterminding the failed coup in the country, the state-run news agency reported Tuesday.

Concluding a yearlong investigation into his movement's financial dealings, prosecutors in the city of Usak demanded that Gulen be punished with two life sentences plus 1,900 years in prison, the Anadolu Agency reported.

In the more than 2,500-page indictment accepted by the court in Usak on Tuesday, Gulen and 111 other suspects are accused of transferring funds obtained through charities or donations to the United States via "front" companies, Anadolu said. It said the indictment also makes reference to Gulen's alleged role in the July 15 coup.

Police stand guard outside the office of Akfa Holding during an operation in Istanbul, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Police in Istanbul launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies suspected of providing financial support to Gulen's movement while authorities issued warrants to detain 120 company executives. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, is already on trial in absentia in Turkish courts, facing life terms over accusations of plotting to overthrow the government and leading an armed group. He has also been indicted on a charge of leading a terror organization and faces another trial in absentia in November.

On Tuesday, police in Istanbul launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies suspected of providing financial support to Gulen's movement while authorities issued warrants to detain 120 company executives, Anadolu reported. The private Dogan news agency said the companies searched included a supermarket chain.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to rule out bringing back the death penalty in order to punish the coup plotters  a move that would further jeopardize Turkey's faltering European Union membership bid. But on Tuesday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim appeared to move away from reinstating capital punishment.

"Anyone who spilled the blood of our martyrs will be held to account. But, my valuable citizens, we won't act in the spirit of vengeance," Yildirim said during his weekly address to his ruling party's legislators. "Death penalty is death for one time. But there are worse ways of dying. This is through an objective and fair trial."

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss an upcoming visit by Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Turkey's demand that Gulen be extradited, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. The two also discussed recent developments in Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkey made a formal request to Greece for the extradition of eight Turkish officers who fled to the neighboring country after last month's attempted coup, the state-run news agency reported.

A Justice Ministry file had been delivered to Greece requesting the officers' return over charges that include breaching the Constitution through the use of force, plotting to kill the president and crimes against the parliament and government, Anadolu reported.

The six pilots and two engineers fled to Greece aboard a military helicopter after the July 15 attempt. Turkey wants them returned to stand trial on charges of participating in the violent attempt by renegade officers within the Turkish military that resulted in at least 270 deaths. Parliament was bombed, while Erdogan escaped an attack on his hotel at a seaside resort.

The eight deny involvement in the coup and have applied for asylum, saying they fear for their safety amid widespread purges in the aftermath of the attempted overthrow of the government.

The government says the coup was the work of followers of Gulen's religious movement, who allegedly have infiltrated the military over the years. The government declared a state of emergency and launched a massive crackdown on Gulen's supporters in the aftermath of the coup, raising concerns among European nations and human rights organizations who have urged restraint.

Some 35,000 people have been detained for questioning and more than 17,000 of them have been formally arrested to face trial, including soldiers, police, judges and journalists. Tens of thousands more people with suspected links to Gulen have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in the judiciary, media, education, health care, military and local government.

Gulen has denied any prior knowledge or involvement in the coup.

Police stand guard outside the office of Akfa Holding during an operation in Istanbul, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Police in Istanbul launched simultaneous raids on 44 companies suspected of providing financial support to Gulen's movement while authorities issued warrants to detain 120 company executives. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

A woman passes a picture of the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim for the 15th anniversary of AKP party as the sign reads ''The people's voice, Turkey's party, it's now fifteen years old'' in Istanbul, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Turkey's state-run news agency says police teams are conducting operations at three Istanbul courthouses as part of an investigation into the July 15 abortive coup. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leads a cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Police teams on Monday apprehended 136 personnel in operations conducted at three Istanbul courthouses as part of an investigation into the July 15 abortive coup. (Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Press Service via AP)

Vehicles pass the Valens Aqueduct with a banner reading ''We are the nation, we won't let Turkey fall to coups and terrorism'' in Istanbul, on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Turkey's state-run news agency says police teams are conducting operations at three Istanbul courthouses as part of an investigation into the July 15 abortive coup. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday July, 2016, Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen speaks to members of the media at his compound, in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Gulen of orchestrating the failed military coup attempt in Turkey, by placing his followers into positions of power decades ago. Gulen denies any involvement. (AP Photo/Chris Post, FILE)
15 Guantanamo detainees sent to UAE in major transfer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organization. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2013 file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, dawn arrives at the now closed Camp X-Ray, which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks, at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The Pentagon announced Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, that fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were released to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest transfer of detainees during the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six U.S. government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon. In July 2008, the seven-emirate nation also repatriated UAE citizen and Guantanamo prisoner Abdulah Alhamiri at the same time that Afghanistan and Qatar each accepted one prisoner a piece.

In the United Arab Emirates, the state-run WAM news agency had no reports on the Guantanamo transfers on Tuesday and UAE officials declined to immediately comment on the Pentagon announcement.

The United Arab Emirates is a major regional military ally for the U.S., as it hosts American military personnel targeting the Islamic State group with airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Dubai's Jebel Ali port is the most frequently visited by ships of the U.S. Navy outside of America.

Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the U.S. was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention center's closure.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Wolosky said.

It's unclear what has happened to prisoners the UAE previously took in, though it's widely believed they undergo some sort of government-monitored rehabilitation. Of those already taken in, there have been no complaints of maltreatment, said Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the British-based advocacy group Reprieve, which represented one of the Yemenis released.

"From what we've learned, they've been treated pretty well," he told The Associated Press. "They've been banned from traveling and any meaningful communication. ... They've actually been OK. Arabic is the main language and its pretty close to home."

Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. for any reason. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced Monday are a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office."

U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as "hardened terrorists."

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 percent are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected during the Bush administration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in U.S. military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by U.S. special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target U.S. and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he hasn't expressed any anti-U.S. sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little "insight into his current mindset."

One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.

A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the U.S., which they identified as "an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad."

Returning Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen would be difficult amid a two-year civil war raging in the Arab world's most impoverished country. The conflict there pits an internationally recognized government, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies. The UAE is a part of that Saudi-led coalition.

There was also no immediate reaction in Afghanistan on the transfer of the three Afghans from Guantanamo to the UAE.

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Jurist panel says Central America director's house ransacked

BERLIN (AP)  The International Commission of Jurists says its Central America director's home in Guatemala has been ransacked by armed men.

The Geneva-based commission said that around a dozen men raided Ramon Cadena's home in Guatemala City on Monday as he attended a workshop elsewhere in the country. It condemned the incident, which the commission's secretary general, Wilder Tayler, said Tuesday "is most likely linked to his activities as a human-rights lawyer."

Tayler said in a statement that Guatemalan authorities must "combat the increasing threats and growing insecurity faced by human rights defenders in the country."
European agency proposes tougher medical checks for pilots

BERLIN (AP)  The European Aviation Safety Agency on Tuesday proposed tougher medical examinations for pilots, including better mental health assessments, in response to last year's Germanwings crash.

Pilot Andreas Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit and flew a plane into a French mountainside on March 24, 2015. All 150 people on board Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf were killed.

Lubitz had suffered from depression several years previously, but authorities and his airline later deemed him fit to fly. They have said they didn't know that his mental health troubles had returned in the months before the crash.

FILE - In this March 24, 2015 file picture a rescue helicopter flies over debris of a Germanwings passenger jet, near Seyne-les-Alpes,Frances. Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the jet into the French Alps , while en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, killing all 150 people on board. The European Aviation Safety Agency is proposing tougher medical examinations for pilots, including better mental health assessments, in response to last year's Germanwings crash. The aviation agency recommended Tuesday Aug. 16, 2016 strengthening pilots' initial and subsequent medical examinations . (AP Photo/Claude Paris,file)

The aviation agency recommended strengthening pilots' initial and subsequent medical examinations "by including drugs and alcohol screening, comprehensive mental health assessment, as well as improved follow-up in case of medical history of psychiatric conditions."

Annual checkups required of all pilots currently concentrate on their physical rather than mental conditions. The EASA acknowledged that "currently aero-medical assessments do not include systematic psychological assessment. Therefore, psychological deficiencies ... may remain undetected."

The agency also called for "improving the training, oversight and assessment of aero-medical examiners." It said that, in an effort to prevent any attempts at fraud, centers that conduct such checks should be required to report any "incomplete medical assessments" to authorities.

The plan now goes to the European Union's executive Commission, which is to draw up proposed rules later this year.

French air accident investigators called in March for new measures to keep pilots from hiding mental health issues. The country's BEA air accident agency recommended more frequent and deeper monitoring of pilots with histories of mental health issues.

Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, has said Lubitz informed its flight school when he returned from a months-long break in pilot training in 2009 that he had experienced an episode of "severe depression." The airline has said he subsequently passed all medical tests.

Lubitz' relapse appeared to begin around four months before the crash.

According to the French report, Lubitz consulted dozens of doctors about perceived vision troubles and sleeplessness. One doctor prescribed antidepressants, including a medication that includes suicidal tendencies as a possible side effect.

Another doctor referred Lubitz to a psychiatric clinic two weeks before the crash, suspecting a potential "psychotic episode."

Lubitz reported none of this to Germanwings or Lufthansa. Neither did the doctors. In Germany, doctors can face a fine or up to a year in prison for breaching patient confidentiality  though the rules allow them to do so "in order to safeguard a higher-ranking legally protected interest," which isn't defined more precisely.

Last week, after two attacks were committed in Germany in July by men who had received past psychiatric treatment, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the government would discuss with doctors ways to "minimize dangers to citizens as far as possible." He stressed that patient confidentiality rules would be upheld.
The Latest: UN body calls for action in Syria's Aleppo

BEIRUT (AP)  The Latest on the developments in Syria's civil war after Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from Iran to bomb Islamic State militants in Syria (all times local):

9 p.m.

A United Nations commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria is calling the situation in Aleppo's rebel-held east "critical" and demanding immediate action to protect civilians living there, including a reported 100,000 children.

In this frame grab from video provided by Russian Defence Ministry press service, Russian long range bomber Tu-22M3 flies during an air strike over Aleppo region of Syria on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday Russian warplanes have taken off from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters in Syria. (Russian Defence Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq says the Commission of Inquiry reported Tuesday that government forces are bombing opposition neighborhoods in Aleppo on a daily basis, causing massive civilian casualties.

The commission also reported that since January more than 25 hospitals and clinics have been destroyed in aerial attacks.

The commission, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011, said that if humanitarian corridors are established to deliver desperately needed aid they must comply with international law.

Haq says the warring parties also have a legal obligation not to attack civilians and civilian targets.

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7:30 p.m.

A U.S. official says the Russian bombers that used an Iranian air base to attack militants in Syria have returned to Russia and that no Russian forces are stationed in Iran.

The official was not authorized to speak to reporters about the matter so spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials say Washington was aware that Russia had talked about the possibility of flying planes out of Iran since late last year. But Moscow's decision to do so on Tuesday came as a surprise.

Russia has been carrying out airstrikes to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces for nearly a year, but until now they had flown all their missions from either Syria or Russia.

 Lolita C. Baldor in Washington

7 p.m.

U.S. officials say the setup at the Iranian air base used by Russian bombers to strike militants in Syria was established very quickly, perhaps overnight.

One military official says the Russians flew four Tu-22 Backfire bombers to the Iranian air base along with a Russian cargo plane loaded with the munitions for the bombers just hours before the missions.

U.S. officials say Washington was aware that Russia had talked about the possibility of flying planes out of Iran since late last year. But Moscow's decision to do so on Tuesday came as a surprise.

That raises questions about whether the move was a strategic necessity or a political message from the Kremlin to Washington.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss diplomacy in public.

 Robert Burns in Washington

6:45 p.m.

Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, tells reporters at the Pentagon that the Russians activated a communications link with coalition officials just ahead of the bomber mission.

"The Russians did notify the coalition," he said, adding that they "informed us they were coming through" airspace that could potentially put them in proximity of U.S. and coalition aircraft in Iraq or Syria. Asked how much advance notice the Russians gave the U.S., Garver said, "We did know in time" to maintain safety of flight. "It's not a lot of time, but it's enough" to maintain safety in the airspace over Iraq and Syria, he said.

Garver says the Russian bomber flights did not affect U.S. coalition air operations.

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6:30 p.m.

Syrian opposition monitoring groups say an airstrike on the eastern city of Deir el-Zour has killed 10 people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees say Tuesday's strike hit a bakery in a neighborhood held by the Islamic State group.

The LCC said the airstrike was carried out by Russian warplanes, while the Observatory did not say who was behind it.

Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier that Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from a base in Iran to target IS and other militants in Syria.

The ministry said that Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers targeted IS and the Nusra Front in Aleppo, Idlib and Deir el-Zour.

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2:40 p.m.

Syrian opposition monitoring groups are reporting that a wave of airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo have killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the airstrikes killed at least 19 civilians, including three children, in two neighborhoods.

The Local Coordination Committees says 15 civilians were killed.

The LCC says the warplanes that carried out the airstrikes Tuesday were Russian, while the Observatory says it was not immediately clear.

The Observatory says Russian airstrikes on the southern edge of Aleppo, targeting the route leading into eastern rebel-held parts of the city, killed 12 militants Tuesday.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been the center of fighting over the past months. The city has been contested since 2012.

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1:50 p.m.

Iran's Shahid Nojeh Air Base, from where Russian aircraft likely took off to bomb Syria in the latest airstrikes by Moscow, has seen Russian aircraft land there before.

A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggests the air base saw a Russian Su-34 "Fullback" strike fighter land there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 "Candid" transport plane also landed there around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.

The report described the air base as "quite large with a 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway, extensive taxiways and multiple hangars and bunkers  all seemingly in good repair."

The report says it's "ideal for providing covert ground support to Russian combat missions."

Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Russian warplanes have taken off from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters in Syria.

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1:45 p.m.

A senior Syrian opposition official says the latest Russian airstrikes in Syria, with warplanes taking off from Iran, aims to show Moscow internationally as "a power with teeth."

George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Russia is proving it's not qualified to play any role in attempts to end Syria's five-year war.

Sabra says Moscow took advantage of the vacuum left behind by the West in the Middle East and is using Syria to show that Moscow has goals "not only in Syria but in the region and internationally as well."

Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.

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1:25 p.m.

An international rights group says the joint Syrian government and Russian military operation has been using incendiary weapons in civilian areas in northern Syria in violation of international law.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that the munitions, which can cause excruciating and often fatal burns, have been used at least 18 times over the past six weeks.

Moscow has denied using such weapons in Syria.

Steve Goose, arms director at HRW, says the "Syrian government and Russia should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons."

HRW says a review of photographs and videos recorded at the time of attack and of the remnants afterward indicates there were at least 18 such attacks in Aleppo and Idlib between June 5 and August 10.

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1:10 p.m.

A top Russian lawmaker says Russia's decision to use a base in Iran for its operation against Islamic State fighters in Syria will help to cut costs.

Before, Moscow only used facilities in Russia and in the government-controlled areas in Syria for its missions in the Arab country.

The Interfax news agency on Tuesday quoted Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, former commander of the Black Sea fleet and a State Duma Deputy, as saying that using facilities in Iran is a good way for Russia to cut costs.

He is quoted as saying that "the issue of costs for combat actions is paramount right now, we should stick to the current defense ministry budget."

Komoyedov also says "Tu-22 flights from Iran means less fuel and a bigger bomb load" but the downside of taking off from a base in Syria is that warplanes have to fly over the combat zone.

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12:50 p.m.

In a first, Iran has allowed Russia to use one of its bases to stage and take off for attacks inside Syria  something unheard of in modern times in the Islamic Republic.

Iran's constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.

In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying on Tuesday that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged "capacity and possibilities" in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Shamkhahi says: "With constructive and extended cooperation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front (Hezbollah), the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them."

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11:50 a.m.

Russia's Defense Ministry says that Russian warplanes have taken off from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters in Syria.

Tuesday's announcement marks a major development in the efforts against the Sunni militant group. Russia has never used the territory of another country in the Middle East  except Syria  for its operations inside Syria before this.

The ministry's statement says Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target Islamic State and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.
UK's May reassures China after nuclear power plant delay

LONDON (AP)  Prime Minister Theresa May has attempted to allay disquiet about her surprise delay to a Chinese-backed nuclear power plant by reassuring China's leader that Britain wants strong relations with Beijing.

Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma delivered a letter from May to President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing.

May's office did not publish the full letter, but said Tuesday it was about "reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations."

FILE - In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 file photo, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing street to attend her first Prime Ministers Questions at the House of Parliament in London. Prime Minister Theresa May is attempting to allay disquiet about her surprise delay to a Chinese-backed nuclear power plant by reassuring China's leader that Britain wants strong relations with Beijing. Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma delivered a letter from May to President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing. May's office did not publish the letter, but said Tuesday, Aug. 16 it was about "reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations." (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, file)

In it, May said Britain "looks forward to strengthening co-operation with China on trade and business and on global issues."

China's ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, warned last week that relations were at a "crucial historical juncture" after the U.K. government's abruptly delayed a decision on the Hinkley Point power plant.

May surprised the business world last month by announcing a review of the power project in southwest England, financed by a Chinese nuclear power provider and French energy giant EDF. She said the government would announce its decision later in the year.

The delay threw into doubt the "golden era" of ties proclaimed by Xi during a visit to Britain last year.

Some British politicians and diplomats are wary of the enthusiasm the previous government of Prime Minister David Cameron showed for boosting ties with Beijing.

Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xi during a lavish state visit in October, complete with a stay at Buckingham Palace as the guest of Queen Elizabeth II.
China approves new mainland stock link to Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AP)  China's Cabinet approved a long-awaited initiative Tuesday that will give foreign investors more access to Chinese stocks by linking stock exchanges in Hong Kong and the mainland city of Shenzhen.

Preparations to link Hong Kong and Shenzhen are "basically completed," a Cabinet statement said.

The link is expected to be launched by Christmas, said Charles Li, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the city's stock market operator. He said over the next three to four months, the stock exchange would conduct technical preparations and testing, update regulations and raise investor awareness, and then await the announcement of a launch date from regulators.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited Chief Executive Charles Li speaks during a press conference on Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect at Stock Exchange in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. China's Cabinet approved a long-awaited initiative Tuesday that will give foreign investors more access to Chinese stocks by linking stock exchanges in Hong Kong and the mainland city of Shenzhen. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Hong Kong is Chinese territory but its financial system is open to foreign investors, while mainland markets are largely sealed off from global capital flows. Beijing has long used the former British colony as an offshore outpost for financial interaction with foreign companies and investors.

A similar measure linking Hong Kong with the mainland's main exchange in Shanghai was launched in 2014. It allows investors from both cities to buy a limited range of stocks from the other side.

"Based on the success of the Shanghai-Hong Kong link, the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong link marks a concrete step toward making Chinese capital markets more law-based, market-oriented and globalized," Premier Li Keqiang, the country's top economic official, said in the statement.

Li said the move will increase China's international economic links while shoring up Hong Kong's position as a financial center.

"Today the main point is that we have made the bridges meet and we will be able to expand to further products in the future," Li told reporters at a late-evening news conference. He said that now that Hong Kong's exchange has set up infrastructure for accessing secondary markets, it could expand into commodities, bonds or currencies. "These we would do step by step," he added.

Until the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong link, only a few foreign institutions were allowed to buy mainland-traded shares in a closely regulated system.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong link was hugely popular with foreign investors, who bought the maximum number of shares allowed in its first few days. The measure was less popular on the mainland, where investors have other vehicles for sending money abroad to invest.

Mainland stock prices soared beginning in late 2014 and then collapsed in mid-2015, triggering a panicked, multi-billion-dollar government share-buying effort to stabilize prices.

Li dismissed fears that Hong Kong's trading systems would be unable to handle the volatility if there's a repeat of the market meltdown across the border, saying it's no reason to delay the launch.

"Crises happen all the time," he said. Markets "have been selling off, they have been going up. I don't really see why that's going to be a determining factor at this point, but again, we're talking about the future. Anything could happen in the future."

The Shenzhen market is smaller than Shanghai's and many of its listed shares are in smaller technology and consumer-oriented companies. The city, which borders Hong Kong, led China's export boom that began in the 1980s.

Under the new link, Hong Kong investors will be able to trade 880 stocks on the Shenzhen market, although 200 of those shares on the Nasdaq-style tech-heavy Chinext board will only be open to institutional professional investors at first.

Mainland investors will be able to trade 417 Hong Kong small cap stocks through the Shenzhen exchange.

There will be a daily quota limiting the maximum value of cross-border trades, similar to one in place with the Shanghai-Hong Kong link aimed at limiting volatility. Another broader trading quota will be dropped for both trading links.

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McDonald reported from Beijing.

In this Monday, Aug. 15, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an investor stares at a stock price board at a stock trading hall in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. Chinas Cabinet approved a long-awaited initiative Tuesday, Aug. 16, that will give foreign investors more access to Chinese stocks by linking stock exchanges in Hong Kong and the mainland city of Shenzhen. (Long Wei/Xinhua via AP)
Palestinians: 1 dead, dozens injured in clash with Israelis

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP)  A Palestinian teen died Tuesday during clashes with Israeli troops near the West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ministry identified the deceased as refugee camp resident Mohammed Abu Hashhash, 17.

The Israeli military said its forces were searching for weapons overnight in Fawwar refugee camp when they came under a rain of rocks and explosives hurled by Palestinians. It said troops found two improvised handguns and other weapons and ammunition during the raid. The military said soldiers fired at the main instigators with live fire and rubber bullets.

Residents of Fawwar said the stone-throwing continued all day. But camp resident Amen al-Bayed says Abu Hashhash was not participating in the clashes when an Israeli soldier shot him with live fire in the chest.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says dozens of Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, including 31 who were hit by live fire. No Israeli troops were hurt, the military said.

Palestinian attacks have killed 34 Israelis and two visiting Americans since September. Over 206 Palestinians have been killed in the same period, most of them identified as attackers by Israel.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency announced earlier in the day it had arrested eight West Bank Palestinians who were allegedly recruited to Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group in Lebanon that is classified by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization. The Shin Bet said Hezbollah has also attempted to recruit Arab citizens of Israel via pro-Palestinian Facebook pages.
Governor: Justices 'scared' to go against General Assembly

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Monday he believes four conservative Virginia justices were "scared" to side against Republican leaders in the court's recent opinion on felon voting rights.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled last month that the governor overstepped his authority when he restored the voting rights of 13,000 felons who had been stripped from the voter rolls.

McAuliffe, a Democrat, blasted that ruling during an appearance on a WIQO-FM radio show, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/2aYNhZW).

McAuliffe called the opinion "almost unfathomable" and said that four conservative justices were "scared" to go against Republican politicians, since the General Assembly decides who serves on the court.

"They were sued by the speaker and the Senate leader, who appoint them to the bench, were scared and wrote an opinion that absolutely makes no sense," McAuliffe said on "Lynchburg's Morning Show With Mari and Brian."

McAuliffe noted that Virginia is one of two states in which the legislature has full power over the election of Supreme Court justices, a system he called "very unfortunate."

In a statement, House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell said the four justices who sided against McAuliffe are "widely respected" and elected with bipartisan support.

"The governor's remarks are an attack on the Supreme Court as an institution and all of its members, former and present," Howell said. "The governor is free to disagree with the court's ruling, but it is wholly inappropriate to question the judicial integrity of the justices."

McAuliffe had issued an executive order in April that restored the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons.

But the Virginia's Supreme Court struck down that order in a July 22 opinion, ruling that governors cannot restore rights en masse, but must handle them on a case-by-case basis.

Of the more than 200,000 felons whose rights had been restored, only roughly 13,000 had actually registered to vote.

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Pakistan deports blacklisted American after questioning

ISLAMABAD (AP)  Pakistan's Interior Minister says a blacklisted American citizen who entered Pakistan earlier this month has been deported again after being interrogated.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the National Assembly on Tuesday that Matthew Barrett, a 33-year-old Alabama native, was first deported in 2011 after being detained near a sensitive military installation. He did not say when Barrett was deported this time.

Pakistan is an ally of Washington in its war on terror, but they have had fraught relations over the years.

Washington has at times blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to combat terrorism, a charge that Pakistan denies.
Deputy fatally shoots man charging him with metal sign post

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP)  A sheriff's deputy fatally shot a hospital patient who was wielding a metal sign post and appeared to be mentally disturbed, police said Tuesday.

The 29-year-old Hispanic man had just been discharged from Inova Fairfax Hospital Monday night when he began wielding a sign post with a sharp metal end, Police Chief Edwin Roessler said at a news conference. A hospital security guard was struck by the post before a sheriff's deputy who was guarding another hospital patient responded, Roessler said.

The deputy tried to talk the man down, but he continued to charge at the deputy, prompting him to fire multiple shots, Roessler said.

FILE - In this March 31, 2015 file photo, Fairfax County, Va. Police stand guard at Inova Fairfax Hospital Center in Falls Church, Va. A sheriffs deputy fatally shot a man who threatened him with an unidentified object outside a northern Virginia hospital, authorities said Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Inova Fairfax Hospital security called county public safety communications to report a suspicious man with an edged weapon at a bus stop on the hospitals campus on Monday night, Fairfax County Police said in a statement. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

After shooting the man, the deputy began rendering first aid, as did police officers who responded shortly thereafter. Then, fire and rescue personnel arrived and transported him the short distance back to the hospital emergency room, Roessler said. Initially, police said the man's injuries were not life-threatening, but county police spokesman Don Gotthardt said the man died early Tuesday.

Roessler didn't identify either the patient or the deputy, who is now on administrative leave.

Sheriff Stacey Kincaid said the deputy is an 18-year veteran, but she declined to identify the deputy's name or race.

Roessler said the deputy had received crisis-intervention training, and tried to de-escalate the situation. As the man charged toward him, the deputy tried to tactically retreat and walk back before eventually firing the weapon.

"Unfortunately the adult male kept on coming at him with the sign post in a cocked position ready to strike," Roessler said.

Roessler said it was "absolutely appropriate" for the deputy to respond to the situation, given his ability to get there quickly because he was already at the hospital. Roessler and Kincaid said sheriff's deputies have full law-enforcement authority in Virginia, even though their primary duties in Fairfax County involve security at the county jail and courthouse.

The encounter between the deputy and the man was captured on hospital surveillance video, Roessler said, but will not be released until an investigation is finished.

Hospital spokeswoman Tracy Connell said she could not comment because it involved a patient protected by federal privacy rules.

It's not clear whether the man was hospitalized for mental-health treatment, but Roessler said the man's behavior made it clear that "in some way, shape or form he was suffering from some kind of mental episode."

The county police department's major-crimes division assumed responsibility for the criminal investigation and the sheriff's office will conduct an internal investigation, police said in a news release.

The hospital security guard who was struck by the sign post was treated at the hospital and released, Roessler said.

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Associated Press Writer Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report.
Mississippi teen missing for 43 years finally identified

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP)  A Mississippi resident missing for 43 years has been identified as the unnamed teenager killed in a traffic accident in Texas City, Texas, in 1973.

Harrison County Sheriff's Investigator Kristi Johnson tells The Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/2bk0TBg) that Mary Raskin, mother of missing teen Joseph Spears, ended up looking at pictures of her son's body to positively identify him. He died on Aug. 23, 1973.

Johnson said Monday officials with the Galveston, Texas, medical examiner's office were unable to get a proper DNA sample from Spears' body to confirm the identity. Instead, she says officials called on Harrison County cold case investigators to provide all the facts they had on the case for comparison to the evidence Texas officials had on hand.

Authorities say Spears had escaped from a youth detention center on July 31, 1973.

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Biden offers condolences for 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)  U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday offered condolences to the families of those who lost their lives during the Balkan wars, including the victims of the NATO air war against Serbia.

As a senator, Biden was a strong advocate of the NATO bombing of Serbia in the 1990s. He once said that his work to end the Yugoslav wars was one of the "proudest moments" of his long political career.

The U.S.-led bombardment in 1999 stopped Serbia's crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists, ending Belgrade's rule over its former province of Kosovo. The alliance's intervention, when thousands were killed, shifted many Serbs from their generally pro-Western views, toward their traditional Slavic ally Russia.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden smiles during a press conference after a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden, who played an important role in ending wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, has arrived for talks in Serbia amid simmering tensions in the still volatile European region. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

"The memories of the loss of the loved ones are still fresh," Biden told reporters after his talks with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

"I would like to add my condolences to the families of those whose lives were lost during the wars in the 1990s, including those whose lives were lost as the result of the NATO campaign," he said.

The bloody breakup of former Yugoslavia claimed tens of thousands of lives and left millions homeless in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. Ethnic tensions remain high in the Balkans, with neighbors bickering over who was the most responsible for the bloodshed.

Biden, on his last trip to the Balkans as a senior American official, traveled later Tuesday to Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Biden's visit underscores Washington's desire to maintain influence in the Balkans as Moscow works to keep Serbia  one of Russia's last remaining allies in the region  within its fold. The trip also highlights Washington's worry about the slow pace of regional reconciliation 17 years after the NATO air war and 21 years after a Bosnia peace deal was signed.

Some 300 ultranationalist supporters, some wearing T-shirts with pictures of Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, protested against Biden's visit in downtown Belgrade.

Biden said in Belgrade that Serbia, being the most populous nation in Western Balkans, is crucial for peace in the region.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist turned pro-EU reformer, pledged Serbia's commitment to peace in the region, warning the simmering tensions in the Balkans could lead to more clashes.

"Only a spark is needed for chaos," he said.

In Pristina, Biden is expected to urge Kosovo leaders to implement an EU-sponsored agreement that is meant to normalize relations between the breakaway state and Serbia.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden gestures during a press conference after a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden, who played an important role in ending wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, has arrived for talks in Serbia amid simmering tensions in the still volatile European region. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic attend a press conference after their meeting at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden, who played an important role in ending wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, has arrived for talks in Serbia amid simmering tensions in the still volatile European region. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic shake hands for the media upon their arrival at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A worker arranges Kosovo and U.S flags in Kosovo capital Pristina main square decorating it ahead of the visit of the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden is scheduled to be in Serbia and Kosovo, starting on Tuesday for his final visit as U.S. vice president to the Balkans, where he played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovar's walk in capital Pristina main square decorated with Kosovo and U.S flags ahead of the visit of the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden is scheduled to be in Serbia and Kosovo, starting on Tuesday for his final visit as U.S. vice president to the Balkans, where he played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Workers arrange Kosovo and U.S flags in Kosovo capital Pristina main square decorating it ahead of the visit of the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden is scheduled to be in Serbia and Kosovo, starting on Tuesday for his final visit as U.S. vice president to the Balkans, where he played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovar's walk in capital Pristina main square decorated with Kosovo and U.S flags ahead of the visit of the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden is scheduled to be in Serbia and Kosovo, starting on Tuesday for his final visit as U.S. vice president to the Balkans, where he played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

A worker arranges Kosovo and U.S flags in Kosovo capital Pristina main square decorating it ahead of the visit by the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Biden is scheduled to be in Serbia and Kosovo, starting on Tuesday for his final visit as U.S. vice president to the Balkans, where he played an important role in ending the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Film: Epic clash over Amazon is a gripping real-life drama

The bloody confrontation occurred at a remote, scrubby expanse called Devil's Curve, where the Andean foothills meet the Amazon jungle. A bitter turning-point in modern Peru, it became known as the Baguazo after the nearby town of Bagua.

Ahead of the June 5, 2009, clash, thousands of spear-toting natives, some with faces daubed in war paint, had massed to defend the rainforest against what they viewed as a rapacious land grab by soul-less multinationals.

When it was over, 33 men would be dead.

This image released by Yachaywasi Films shows Alberto Pizango, leader of Peru's indigenous Amazonian people, rowing up the river in a scene from, "When Two Worlds Collide." (Jack Weisman/Yachaywasi Films via AP)

One-third of the fatalities were protesters who had blocked a major highway at Devil's Curve for weeks. The rest were police officers, men who had far more in common with their killers than with the ministers from the coastal capital of Lima who had dispatched them.

The Peruvian documentary "When Two Worlds Collide," which opens in New York on Wednesday and in select U.S. cities and the United Kingdom in September, tells with gripping immediacy the real-life Shakespearean tragedy of the Baguazo, a story that isn't over yet.

The outsized protagonists are indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, who the filmmakers closely shadow, and Alan Garcia, the vainglorious Falstaff of a president whose open contempt for the natives makes it easy for the filmmakers to cast him in a villainous pall.

The film, which won the World Cinema Documentary Prize for Best Debut Feature at Sundance this year among other festival awards, was directed by Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel, both 35. It teems with graphic, dramatic footage that the filmmakers shot and collected on repeated trips to the jungle, along with producer Taira Akbar, 33.

The result is fast-paced drama: Indignant natives mobilize in the interior. Opposition lawmakers in Lima foreshadow disaster after the pro-Garcia majority blocks debate to reconsider legislative decrees the natives reject as usurping their communal lands for oil, gas and timber development.

Garcia callously spurns the protesters' demand that the decrees be repealed. He calls them third-rate citizens in one of several harangues with what many consider racist undertones. The haughty condescension of Lima's elite is typified by the radio journalist who explains to Pizango why he must end the road blockade. How dare you imperil the gas and electricity on which the capital depends, she scolds him on air.

A clash of implacable foes, though avoidable, becomes inevitable.

Garcia's brazen disregard for the will of the rainforest's inhabitants has stained his government's hands with blood, he is told. His prime minister resigns. The contentious decrees are repealed.

The filmmakers follow Pizango into exile in Nicaragua, and dip into their own funds to keep their project alive. A first grant and other support from Sundance help but not until 2010 do they secure significant financial backing from the Ford Foundation, they told The Associated Press in a Skype interview.

"We said we were going to be there as long as it took to tell the story," said Orzel. "I don't think we realized quite how long it was going to take."

The filmmakers had become interested in the fate of the rainforest in 2007, said Brandenburg, when they saw an eye-opening map of oil and mineral concessions overlaying Peru's Amazon.

Today, Peru's indigenous groups remain distrustful of the extractive industries and with good reason. Oil, gas, African palm and lumber projects move ahead  decree or no decree  and pipeline ruptures periodically spill crude in the Amazon.

A new pro-development president took office last month. It is too early to say how he will deal with the natives.

But the Baguazo saga is not over.

Pizango and 51 others have been on trial for two years, charged with crimes such as murder and rebellion for allegedly inciting the bloodletting. A verdict could come as early as this month. No government officials, meanwhile, have been charged with a crime for ordering police to clear the highway at Devil's Curve.

As the film closes, Pizango is seen defending himself in a provincial court. And we watch as Felipe Bazan finally learns the fate of his son, a police officer last seen being hauled away by protesters in the Baguazo's tumult.

Bazan provides an eloquent coda for this wrenching film.

___
Google is pulling another lever on its influential search engine in an effort to boost voter turnout in November's U.S. presidential election.

Beginning Tuesday, Google will provide a summary box detailing state voting laws at the top of the search results whenever a user appears to be looking for that information.

The breakdown will focus on the rules particular to the state where the search request originates unless a user asks for another location.

Google is introducing the how-to-vote instructions a month after it unveiled a similar feature that explains how to register to vote in states across the U.S.

Scroll down for video

How it will look: This is the box which will appear above search results from Tuesday

The search giant said its campaign is driven by rabid public interest in the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As of last week, it said, the volume of search requests tied to the election, the candidates and key campaign issues had more than quadrupled compared to a similar point in the 2012 presidential race.

It's difficult to predict whether Google's efforts will have a major impact on how many people cast ballots, says Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political scientist who closely studies election turnout.

That's because Google will narrowly target its voting instructions to people who are actively seeking that information.

Sample requests that will elicit a helping hand from Google include 'what do I need to vote,' ''when can I vote,' ''what is the absentee ballot deadline' and 'can I vote by mail.'

The summary boxes won't appear for broader requests pertaining to the election, such as 'Clinton' or 'Trump.'

That means Google may primarily end up helping out 'politically engaged' people who'd be likely to cast a November ballot even without prodding from the world's most popular search engine.

Not beneficiary? The Google move is less likely to bring in new Trump supporters than Clinton ones, a political scientist suggested

They're with her: Younger, more digitally engaged people are more likely to vote Clinton and more likely to be reached by the Google effort, expert say

'It's an open question on how large the positive effect will be,' McDonald said.

Other online services have previously tried to encourage more people to vote. In the November 2010 midterm election, for instance, Facebook posted a 'get out the vote' message in the news feeds of about 60 million people on its social network.

A University of California at San Diego study of that Facebook effort estimated it boosted voter turnout by about 340,000 people.

Google will also release its registration and voting guides to nonprofit groups and other organizations aiming to get more people to the polls this November.

The company said it considers its voting tools to be a nonpartisan public service, although swings in voter turnout have swayed past elections.

McDonald, though, says it is always difficult to predict which candidate in an election stands to gain the most from an increase in voter turnout.

As an example, he suggests, Google's effort could easily help increase the number of younger people more inclined to vote for Clinton  or put more ballots in the hands of less educated, disillusioned citizens backing Trump.

Billionaire Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, is a well-known Hillary supporter, signing a letter of endorsement for her alongside Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and other Silicon Valley luminaries in June.

Hillary and Google chief Eric Schmidt cosy up at a 'Talks at Google' in 2014. The Democrat nominee also spoke at the event in 2007

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said last year that 'Google was now Hillarys secret weapon', referring to the Clinton campaign's use of data start-up Timshel, which has links to Google

Schmidt is also an investor in a data start-up called Timshel - a Hebrew word meaning 'you may', and representing the choice a man has between doing good and evil.

The Clinton campaign, which has made data a key focus of its campaign, has poured as much as $500,000 into the business for use of Timshel's data analytics tool Groundwork since she announced her candidacy in April 2015, according to Bloomberg.

Timshel's Google links can also be seen in self-described 'Head of Mission' Michael Slaby - he previously worked for Schmidt as chief technology strategist at TomorrowVentures, the billionaire's personal investment fund.

Slaby describes his role on LinkedIn as 'Technology, politics, and saving the world in various combinations'.
Swiss attacker didn't know victims; 3 remain hospitalized

BERLIN (AP)  A Swiss man who attacked passengers aboard a train with a knife and a burning liquid, killing one and wounding five, didn't know any of his victims according to the investigation so far, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Investigators also haven't found any indication that the 27-year-old attacker was linked to any kind of political or religious extremism, St. Gallen canton (state) prosecutors' spokesman Roman Dobler said.

Seven people including the suspect were initially wounded in the Saturday afternoon attack. On Sunday, the assailant, identified only as Simon S., and a 34-year-old woman he had attacked died of their injuries.

The train station Salez - Sennwald photographed in Salez, Switzerland, on Sunday Aug. 14, 2016. The man who attacked passengers on a crowded Swiss train with a knife and burning liquid died of his wounds Sunday, as did one of his victims, a 34-year-old woman, Swiss police said. Three others remain hospitalized with serious wounds. Police are still searching for a motive but said there's no indication the suspect, identified only as a 27-year-old Swiss man from a neighboring region, had ties to extremist groups. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)

Three victims remain in hospital: a 17-year-old girl in life-threatening condition as well as a 6-year-old girl and a 43-year-old woman, both of whom are considered to be out of danger, police said.

The attacker died before he was able to be interrogated and authorities are still trying to determine what may have prompted the attack, which took place as the train neared the Swiss town of Salez, close to the border with Liechtenstein.

The suspect lived in a neighboring Swiss canton but also had a residence in Liechtenstein, which has been searched in conjunction with authorities there, Dobler said.

In that and other searches, authorities seized many electronic items, such as computers, storage devices and a mobile telephone. The information on them is now being evaluated, Dobler said.
Bosnian authorities arrest alleged IS recruiter

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP)  Bosnian authorities say they have arrested a man suspected of recruiting members for the Islamic State group.

The prosecution office said Nedzad Mujic is also believed to have fought for the group in Syria.

Mujic was arrested near the northeastern town of Zvornik and is under investigation for financing terrorist activities and organizing terrorist groups.

Intelligence agencies say the number of people leaving Bosnia to fight in Syria or Iraq has dropped significantly since it introduced jail terms two years ago for those who fight in foreign wars. Of the 130 Bosnian citizens who had previously left, nearly 50 reportedly died in battles.
The Latest: Figure in Cosby case to assume job of top cop

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  The Latest on Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (all times local):

5 p.m.

The top deputy to Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane will assume her duties now that she's resigning following her perjury conviction in a grand jury leak case.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, escorted by members of her security team, prepares to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Bruce L. Castor Jr. says he'll take the oath privately Wednesday. By law, the first deputy attorney general becomes acting attorney general should the office become vacant.

Kane, a Democrat, announced her resignation a day after jurors found her guilty of abusing her power and lying to cover it up.

Castor is a Republican former Montgomery County district attorney who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 2004.

Kane hired him in March.

Castor also has been a central figure in the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby.

Castor has said he had promised not to charge Cosby a decade ago when he investigated a former Temple University employee's claim the entertainer had molested her at his home.

But in February, a judge in the Cosby case rejected Castor's claim.

___

2:50 p.m.

Pennsylvania's governor says state Attorney General Kathleen Kane made the right decision to resign in the wake of her perjury conviction in a grand jury leak case.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that he has confidence in the employees of the state's top law enforcement office to perform its most important functions.

Kane's office said her resignation would go into effect at the end of business Wednesday. The Democrat resigned amid pressure from Wolf and lawmakers a day after jurors found her guilty of abusing her power and lying to cover it up.

Wolf can appoint a replacement for the remainder of Kane's term, with Senate approval, but he's giving no details about any plan to do so.

Kane faces jail time. Her lawyers say they'll appeal.

___

1:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania's attorney general is resigning amid pressure from the governor and lawmakers a day after jurors found her guilty of abusing her power and lying to cover it up.

Her office announced in a statement Tuesday that Kathleen Kane would resign at the end of the workday Wednesday.

Kane's exit completes a spectacular fall for the state's highest-ranking female politician. She's a former county prosecutor who soared to victory three years ago as an outsider.

But the first woman and first Democrat elected to attorney general in Pennsylvania squandered her early popularity.

Ultimately, the 50-year-old Kane was undone by what prosecutors portrayed as a personal vendetta for her critics. Now, she's facing jail time and has had her law license suspended.

Kane's lawyers have vowed to appeal.

___

9:25 a.m.

Pennsylvania's attorney general is facing growing pressure to resign after her conviction on charges she abused her office's power to smear a rival and tried to cover it up.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf says it's time for Democrat Kathleen Kane to do the right thing and step aside. Top state senators threatened a vote ordering her removal from office under a constitutional provision never used in modern history.

Kane's top deputy, Bruce L. Castor Jr., planned a news conference Tuesday afternoon to address questions.

Kane was convicted Monday night of perjury, obstruction and official oppression. Her lawyers say she'll appeal.

Kane doesn't have to resign immediately and could potentially stay in office through Jan. 17, when a new attorney general will be sworn in.

___

1:50 a.m.

Pennsylvania's attorney general is expected to address her job status within the next few days after she was convicted of leaking secret criminal files and then lying about it.

Fifty-year-old Kathleen Kane showed little emotion Monday night as the jury convicted her of all nine counts, including two felony perjury counts.

Kane was accused of leaking grand jury secrets to embarrass a rival prosecutor, who she blamed for a critical news article.

She lost her law license over the charges and is fighting pressure to step down. Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, again urged her to resign.

Kane did not testify during the trial, but has said she believes she was targeted for unearthing lewd emails on state computers by what she calls an "old-boys network."

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, second left, and members of her legal and security teams, prepare to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, escorted by a member of her security team, prepares to leave the Montgomery County Courthouse and await a verdict, in Norristown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Kane was convicted Monday of all nine charges against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak but insisted she's innocent and vowed to appeal. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict Monday. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves the courtroom after closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks down a hallway to re-enter the courtroom after a lunch break at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., during closing arguments in her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane enters a courtroom at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks in a hallway at the Montgomery County Courthouse during a break in the trial, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane stands in a hallway at the Montgomery County Courthouse during a break in the trial, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, left, walks down a hall at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane walks down a hall at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., where closing arguments are expected during her perjury and obstruction trial. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool)
US factory output jumps 0.5 percent for biggest gain in year

WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. factories cranked out more autos, machinery and chemicals in July, lifting production by the most in a year.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that factory output grew 0.5 percent in July, after a 0.3 percent gain in June.

The figures suggest that U.S. manufacturing may be turning a corner after struggling to overcome the impact of a stronger dollar, slower overseas growth and falling oil prices. Still, factory output is just 0.2 percent higher than it was a year ago. And even as output ticks up, manufacturers aren't adding many jobs.

In this April 6, 2016, photograph, a technician uses a lift to move a back seat section into a new 2016 Altima on the assembly line at the Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton, Miss. On Tuesday, Aug. 16, the Federal Reserve reports on industrial production for July. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Overall industrial production, which includes utilities and mining, expanded 0.7 percent. That is the biggest increase since November 2014.

Utilities output jumped 2.1 percent as hotter-than-usual weather boosted air conditioning use. Mining activity rose 0.7 percent, its third straight gain.

"The worst is behind us," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. "The outlook is significantly improved from the flat-to-down prevailing trend seen up until recently."

The production of autos and auto parts rose 1.9 percent in July, a solid gain but below the 5.3 percent jump in June. Machinery output rose 0.7 percent last month and production also rose in computers and wood products.

A rise in late 2014 in the dollar's value has made U.S. exports more expensive overseas and lowered the price of competing imports. That's cut into American manufacturers' export sales. Businesses have been cautious this year about investing in new machinery and equipment, which has also weighed on manufacturers.

Still, there have been other signs of a tentative rebound.

Manufacturing has been expanding, though sluggishly, for five months, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group. That followed five months of contraction.

Yet new orders received by factories fell 1.5 percent in June, the Commerce Department said, pushed down by a sharp fall in commercial aircraft demand, a volatile category. A separate category of orders that reflects business' investment plans ticked up in June after two straight declines.

Through the first six months of this year, factory orders are 2.6 percent behind last year's total.

Even as there are signs of improvement, hiring has been weak. Manufacturers are likely still reaping the benefits of automation and other productivity enhancements, allowing them to produce more without adding jobs.
Police in South Carolina say two teenagers repaid a Good Samaritan who stopped on the road to help pull their SUV out of a ditch by fatally shooting and robbing him.

North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor says 17-year-old Deon Antonio Frasier and 19-year-old Michael Odell Anthony Dupree-Tyler, both of North Charleston, have been charged with murder in the death of 45-year-old Chadwick Garrett.

Frasier is also facing an additional charge of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

No good deed... Garrett Chadwick, 45, was shot dead and robbed after helping two teens pulled their Dodge Durango out of a ditch in South Carolina

According to investigators, Garrett pulled over near Durant Avenue and North Jimtown Drive and got out of his vehicle to help Frasier and Dupree-Tyler get their Dodge Durango out of a ditch.

Once the SUV was safely back on the road, police say the teens robbed their helper and shot him to death.

Garrett was pronounced dead at the scene at around 11.35pm.

Police officers later tracked down the murder suspects to the Reserve at Ashley River Apartments on Dorchester Road, about 6 miles away from the crime scene, reported The Post and Courier.

Teen suspects: Michael Dupree-Tyler (left), 19, and Deon Frasier (right), 17, have been charged with murder in the attack on Garrett

Court records indicate that Dupree-Tyler pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge in 2015 and Frasier was out on $10,000 bond for possession of a stolen vehicle at the time of the deadly shooting Monday.
Insurers continue to abandon ACA exchanges, limiting choice

Aetna will abandon Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges next year in more than two-thirds of the counties where it now sells the coverage, the latest in a string of defections by big insurers that will limit customer choice in many markets.

Dwindling insurer participation is becoming a concern, especially for rural markets, in part because competition is supposed to help control insurance price hikes, and many carriers have already announced plans to seek increases of around 10 percent or more for 2017.

"This is really going to be felt in Southern states and rural areas," said Cynthia Cox, associate director of health reform and private insurance for the Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health care issues.

In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014, photo, a pedestrian walks past a sign for Aetna Inc., at the company headquarters in Hartford, Conn. Aetna will become the latest health insurer to chop its participation in the Affordable Care Acts public exchanges when it trims its presence to four states for 2017, from 15 this year. The nations third-largest insurer said late Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, that a second-quarter pre-tax loss of $200 million from its individual insurance coverage helped it decide to limit exposure to the exchanges, which also have generated losses for UnitedHealth Group and Anthem, among other carriers. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Experts say it is too soon to determine how shrinking insurer participation will affect rates beyond next year, but fewer choices generally contribute to higher prices over time.

Aetna, the nation's third-largest insurer, says it will limit its participation in the exchanges to four states in 2017, down from 15 this year. The announcement late Monday came several weeks after UnitedHealth and Humana also said they would cut their coverage plans for 2017 and after more than a dozen nonprofit insurance co-ops have shut down in the past couple of years.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated earlier this year that about one in five U.S. counties could be down to one health insurer on their public exchanges for next year, and about 70 percent of those markets will be rural. That was before Aetna announced its changes. Cox said the total may be closer to one in four now.

Rural markets can be less attractive to insurers because there are fewer customers for insurers to spread costs across, and hospitals and other health care providers can build dominating market positions, making them better able to negotiate rates. In contrast, urban markets, where most people live, are expected to still have plenty of health insurance choices on their exchanges for 2017.

Alabama, Alaska and Oklahoma are among the states that will have one health insurer selling individual coverage on their exchanges next year. South Carolina and most of North Carolina could join that list due to the Aetna decision, Cox noted.

Aetna's pullback leaves Pinal County outside Phoenix with no insurers selling individual coverage for next year on the exchange, although some will sell coverage off the exchange, according to Arizona's insurance department.

The exchanges have helped millions of people gain health coverage, most with help from income-based tax credits. But insurers say this relatively small slice of business has generated huge losses since they started paying claims in 2014. Insurers have struggled to enroll enough healthy people to balance the claims they pay from high-cost customers, and they have complained about steep shortfalls in support from government programs designed to help them.

The nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group, sold coverage in 34 states this year. But it only plans to offer policies in three states next year: Nevada, Virginia and New York.

Aetna covers about 838,000 people on the exchanges and has said it has been swamped with higher than expected costs, particularly from pricey specialty drugs. It will sell coverage on exchanges in 242 counties next year, down from 778. The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer will sell on exchanges in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia next year.

While insurers like Aetna and UnitedHealth are scaling back their exchange participation, competitors like Cigna and Molina Healthcare are expanding.

Sabrina Corlette, a research professor with the Georgetown Health Policy Institute, said It may still take a few more years for exchange participation to settle and the government may have to change some of the market rules. "But I don't think the marketplaces are crashing and burning by any means," she said.

Government officials say the exchanges are improving and healthier people are signing up, which helps insurers balance the claims they get from sicker customers.

"Aetna's decision to alter its marketplace participation does not change the fundamental fact that the Health Insurance Marketplace will continue to bring quality coverage to millions of Americans next year and every year after that," said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the federal exchange operator HealthCare.gov, in an emailed statement.

Even Aetna hasn't given up on this business. Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini said in a statement that the insurer could grow its exchange business in the future "should there be meaningful exchange-related policy improvements."
The Latest: California fire destroys dozen buildings

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on wildfires burning in California (all times local):

8:45 p.m.

Fire officials say a wildfire racing through canyons east of Los Angeles has burned at least a dozen buildings, including some homes and an historic diner called the Summit Inn.

Dan Peters, with the Nevato Fire District, mops up a fire at a house during the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department says the blaze that began in the Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass continues to race in several directions. It has topped ridges in the San Bernardino Mountains and is closing in on high desert communities on the other side.

The 15,000-acre blaze has prompted evacuation orders for about 34,500 homes and 82,000 people and includes the ski resort town of Wrightwood, scattered ranches and desert communities such as Phelan (FEE'-lan).

The fire is shooting flames 80 to 100 feet high. It has closed Interstate 15, the main route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, leaving people stranded for hours.

___

7:25 p.m.

Fire crews have gained even more ground against on a Northern California wildfire that has destroyed 175 homes, businesses and other structures and charred nearly 7 square miles.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the fire in Lower Lake, about a two-hour drive from San Francisco, was 35 percent contained Tuesday.

In another sign of progress, fire officials lifted many of the evacuation orders in the town, allowing about 4,000 residents to return home earlier in the day.

Authorities on Monday arrested 40-year-old Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake, California, on 17 counts of arson. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend. Officials say he is also suspected in several other fires over the past year in Lake County.

___

6:30 p.m.

A fire official says more than 82,000 people have been told to evacuate from mountain communities threatened by a powerful wildfire in Southern California.

San Bernardino County fire spokesman Eric Sherwin says the evacuation orders were given to about 34,500 homes.

Sherwin says some structures have already burned, but it hasn't yet been determined whether any of them were homes.

The 14-square-mile fire near Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass has seen massive growth in the eight hours since it broke out on Tuesday morning.

___

3:50 p.m.

A wildfire raging through drought-parched canyons near Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass in Southern California has forced the mandatory evacuation of thousands of people.

Authorities say the 8-square-mile fire is moving north toward the town of Wrightwood and shows no sign of slowing down.

About 4,500 people live in the mountain resort, which is now under evacuation orders.

The blaze 60 miles east of Los Angeles has shut down a section of Interstate 15, the main route between Southern California and Las Vegas.

It also burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek.

Meanwhile, evacuation orders in the Northern California town of Clearlake were lifted Tuesday, allowing 4,000 people to return home days after they were forced to flee by a blaze that destroyed 175 homes, businesses and other structures in neighboring Lower Lake, about 90 miles north of San Francisco

___

2:45 p.m.

Corrections officials say the man suspected of sparking a massive Northern California wildfire once worked as an inmate firefighter while he served time on drug possession and firearms charges.

Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said Tuesday that 40-year-old Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake was completing a five-year sentence when he was assigned to fight wildfires from April through July 2007.

Pashilk was arrested Monday on suspicion of starting the wildfire in Lower Lake, about a two hour drive from San Francisco. It has burned nearly 7 square miles while destroying 175 structures.

He was paroled in July 2007. He was imprisoned six more times for violating his parole, but did not work as a firefighter again before he finally left parole in 2011.

Waters says more than 1,700 inmates are currently fighting fires statewide, including 340 fighting the Lake County blaze.

___

2:30 p.m.

A wildfire raging through drought-parched canyons near the Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass has now burned 3 square miles of brush and fire officials say it shows no sign of slowing down.

The blaze 60 miles east of Los Angeles has burned what appear to be several ranch outbuildings and forced evacuations in and around Lytle Creek.

The area contains several dozen large homes and horse ranches.

Huge lines of flame are snaking along ridges above the communities.

Officials with the San Bernardino National Forest say five years of drought coupled with dry, hot weather have turned the entire area into a tinder box.

The fire forced a freight train to make an emergency stop and has closed portions of Highway 138 and Interstate 15  a major desert freeway and the main route to Las Vegas.

___

1:15 p.m.

A wildfire in the mountainous Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass area of Southern California is burning at least one building, closed down two major roads and forced evacuations.

The fire erupted Tuesday and quickly grew to 1,500 acres.

A news helicopter shows a building burning in the dry canyon area 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Authorities have ordered evacuations for several dozen homes and ranches and closed

The fire also stopped a freight train and the crew had to flee.

___

12:50 p.m.

A wildfire in the mountainous Cajon (kuh-HOHN') Pass area of Southern California has closed down two major roads and forced evacuations.

The fire erupted Tuesday and quickly grew to 1,500 acres. It's prompted evacuations for several dozen homes and ranches and closed portions of Highway 138 and Interstate 15  a major desert freeway and the main route to Las Vegas.

It's also stopped a freight train and the crew had to flee.

The fire is raging in dry hills about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

___

12:15 p.m.

A new, wind-driven wildfire is rapidly growing in the mountainous Cajon (kuh-HOHN) Pass area of Southern California near Interstate 15.

San Bernardino National Forest officials estimated Tuesday it has exploded to 1,000 acres in about 90 minutes.

The sparsely populated region is under red flag warnings for high fire danger due to gusty winds and low humidity levels.

Cajon Pass is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Interstate 15 is the main highway to Las Vegas.

___

10:15 a.m.

A 10-day-old wildfire in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles is finally fully surrounded.

The U.S. Forest Service says the 12.6-square-mile blaze was 100 percent contained Tuesday.

Firefighters will patrol for any remaining hotspots for a few more days.

The fire burned between mountain communities near Lake Arrowhead and the high desert city of Hesperia to the north.

At its height the fire posed a threat to as many as 5,300 residences but ultimately no homes were lost.

The cause remains under investigation.

___

7:50 a.m.

Highway 1 in central California has reopened after a daylong closure for removal of fire-weakened trees north of Big Sur.

The fire, which was started by an illegal campfire on July 22, has burned more than 118 square miles, destroyed 57 homes and led to the death of a man in a bulldozer accident. It is 60 percent contained, but continues to threaten more than 400 structures.

All California State Parks in the area  from Garrapata through Julia Pfeiffer Burns  are closed until further notice.

The Big Sur blaze is one of six large wildfires in the state.

___

6:55 a.m.

Fire crews gained some significant ground on a massive Northern California wildfire that has destroyed 175 homes, businesses and other structures and charred nearly 7 square miles.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says the fire in Lower Lake, about a two hour drive from San Francisco, was 20 percent Monday.

The progress came as authorities arrested 40-year-old Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake, California, on 17 counts of arson Monday. Pashilk is suspected of sparking the blaze that exploded over the weekend. Officials say he is also suspected in several other fires over the past year in Lake County.

Roughly 1,600 firefighters are battling the blaze Tuesday through warm temperatures and light winds.

Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at a press briefing at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, Calif., was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in the Northern California town of Lower Lake, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Alma Andrade looks at some of her burned plants and a shed that had tools, children's clothes and other items as multi-agency fire crews mop up the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Andrade said that her home was saved thanks to her neighbor Leo Negrete. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP) .

People look on as its announced that Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at Twin Pines Casino, is the arsonist allegedly responsible for a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif. on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Pashilk is being charged with 17 counts of arson and is in jail. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

A firefighter walks through marijuana plants as mop-up continued during the Clayton fire after structures were destroyed in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

Juan Tapia, left, and Alicia Palominos, right, huge their granddaughter Emily Avalos, center, 1, during a press conference where it is announced that a California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire in Lower Lake that exploded over the weekend, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

An air tanker drops fire retardant at a containment line northeast of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

People attend a press conference where its announced that Damin Pashilk was arrested on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

An air tanker and a helicopter drop fire retardant and water at a containment line northeast of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Michelle Waller, left, consoles her son, Thomas Salaz, center, as it is announced that an arsonist was arrested for allegedly sparking a wildfire in Lower Lake that exploded over the weekend, in Middletown, Calif., Monday, on Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

James McCauley wades through waist-high water near the burned-out remains of his residence in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. McCauley traversed a creek by boat and foot for a half mile to reach the property. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Andrea McMullen cries as it is announced that Damin Pashilk was arrested on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend in a Northern California town, in Middletown, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

A destroyed bicycle lays amid the rubble of a burned property in Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Tim O'Connell and girlfriend Jennifer Lara-Rivas embrace after receiving a call from a neighbor informing them that their home in Lower Lake, Calif., was destroyed by the Clayton Fire Department, as they were staying at an evacuation center in Kelseyville, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. (Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

Reisha Spitler and her dog Boss view the remains of her child's father's house in the town of Lower Lake, Calif., Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Spitler traversed a creek by boat for a half mile to see get to the property. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)
Image of Asia: Baby sea turtles being released into the sea

In this photo by Firdia Lisnawati, baby sea turtles wait to be released into the ocean on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia. Local people released about 1,000 baby turtles on the beach sand Tuesday at an event to celebrate the 71st anniversary of Indonesia's independence. Several sea turtle species live in Indonesian waters, and their meat has been eaten as a traditional delicacy. To save the turtles, Indonesia has banned their trade and consumption, and breeding centers on the islands work to protect the eggs until the hatchlings can be released into the sea.
Thousands of miners mark South Africa shooting anniversary

MARIKANA, South Africa (AP)  Thousands of mine workers gathered around a rocky hill on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the deadliest protest in South Africa in decades.

Four years ago, police shot dead 34 miners at Marikana who were striking over low pay and poor living conditions.

Miners say those conditions have not improved since the shooting shocked South Africa and again exposed the tensions between mining companies and black workers who are often migrants.

Mine workers sit on a hill during the commemoration near Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On August 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

"Comrades, this is hard labor that is poorly rewarded," Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, told the crowd Tuesday.

The ceremony of remembrance was peaceful. Miners sang, danced and carried sticks.

Squalid living conditions without sewer systems or other basic services are a problem for mine workers across South Africa, whose economy was built on the mining industry.

Leaders of the country's most prominent opposition parties used the commemoration to appeal for justice, and for political support.

"It is very painful when we remember that day, especially for us who were there when it happened," said mine worker Thabang Khoete. "Because some people take it as if it was a game or a fairy tale. Even some use it as a tool to advertise their agendas. For us who were there, it is very painful."

Mine workers sing as they wait for the commemoration to get under way near Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On August 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 Lonmin striking miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A mine worker takes part in a commemoration near Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On August 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers and supporters sit on a hill waiting for the commemoration to get under way in Marikana, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A mine worker walks across the field as colleagues wait for the commemoration to get under way in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers sing as they wait for the commemoration to get under way, in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers sing on a hill as they wait for the commemoration to get under way in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers sing as they wait for the commemoration to get under way, in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers sing as they wait for the commemoration to get under way, in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mine workers and supporters sit on a hill waiting for the commemoration to get under way in Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. On Aug. 16, 2012 police shot and killed 34 striking Lonmin miners, apparently while trying to disperse them and end their strike. Ten people, including two police officers and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Called a sex predator, powerful ex-prosecutor faces prison

DESTREHAN, La. (AP)  FBI agents were watching  and recording  when a powerful Louisiana prosecutor arrived at the apartment of a woman facing a drunken driving charge. Bringing two bottles of wine, Harry Morel sat on her couch, discussed her case, and then began to grope her, authorities say.

The video of that July 2012 encounter with Danelle Keim would finally help the FBI build a case against the man who served as St. Charles Parish's elected district attorney for more than three decades.

But as Morel faces sentencing on Wednesday, the evidence also suggests how difficult it can be to balance the scales of justice. Federal and state authorities said Morel solicited sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment. They even called him a sexual predator, but he wasn't charged with any sex crimes.

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo, Tammy Glover, whose daughter, Danelle Keim, was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, pauses while speaking at her home in Destrahan, La. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

"So, I'm an important guy?" Morel asked as Keim tried to resist his sexual advances, according to a transcript filed in court.

"Important? Um, yeah," she said.

"Well," Morel said, "then I need to order you to kiss me."

Important was an understatement for Morel, who had been re-elected five times.

According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor repeatedly used his power to prey on vulnerable women.

But as the patriarch of one of a handful of families with deep connections in politics and law enforcement, he was long considered untouchable in the swampy Louisiana parish, where roughly 50,000 live about 20 miles west of New Orleans.

That began to change when Keim dialed 911, and her plea for help reached the FBI.

"Justice finally came calling for former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite said at an April news conference announcing his guilty plea, to a narrowly tailored charge of obstructing the federal investigation.

Morel faces no more than three years in prison.

That angers Keim's mother, Tammy Glover, who hopes to address U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt before he issues the sentence. She says Morel should have been charged and convicted of more serious offenses.

"I'm not a physical person at all, but I just want him to hurt," she told The Associated Press in an interview at her home.

Still, her disappointment doesn't overshadow her pride in her daughter's courage.

"She's our hero. She's the hero of St. Charles Parish," Glover said. "She went after the most powerful man in St. Charles Parish, and she got his ass."

Keim's undercover work would have made her a key government witness. Glover recalls how proud her daughter was in 2013 when she showed her a report in the Times-Picayune newspaper, which revealed that the FBI was investigating whether Morel had been trading leniency for sex with defendants or their relatives.

"That was my justice," Glover said.

Less than 24 hours later, she was dead.

The 27-year-old mother of a young son suffered from drug addiction, like most of the women Morel was accused of preying upon. Her overdose was yet another blow to a case that was challenging from the start.

Keim had begun wearing a wire for the FBI after making the desperate 911 call to report Morel had sexually assaulted her at her home in April 2010, shortly after her drunken driving arrest.

"He grabbed me, he kissed me and he touched me in my private areas," she told a dispatcher, her voice trembling. "He wanted me to take off my clothes. He wanted me to take my pants off so he can please me."

Keim said Morel left after she pulled away from his kiss  and that she worried it would be "my word against his."

The sheriff's office summoned the FBI. It wasn't the first such allegation about Morel to reach the agency.

St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said he alerted the FBI after he was contacted in 2009 by a woman who claimed Morel told her that her husband's drunken driving charge could be "taken care of" if she would meet him at his camp in Mississippi to "play" while her husband was in jail.

Polite said investigators suspect Morel preyed on women for decades, and he conceded that the full extent of his conduct may never be known.

"By title, he was the embodiment of justice," Polite said in April. "However, in the darkness of his heart, he was something else entirely  a man who perverted his position of power to take sexual advantage of desperate women who needed help. And he did this over and over and over again."

Morel's attorney, Ralph Capitelli, has accused law enforcement officials of engaging in "character assassination" and a "smear campaign" for releasing the 911 call and accusing Morel of conduct for which he hasn't been charged.

Morel served as district attorney from 1979 to 2012, and retired after learning of the FBI and sheriff's investigations. At the time, he said he was stepping aside so that his daughter could run for judge free of conflicts of interest.

Polite's predecessor had balked at prosecuting Morel, who ultimately admitted to instructing Keim to destroy photographic evidence of their meetings. The plea deal effectively closed both the federal and state investigations, authorities said.

Investigators tried to reach all of the women involved, and ultimately determined that the evidence was problematic, Polite said. Many of the cases happened too long ago to be prosecuted under state law. "We had questions about whether the quid pro quo was explicit enough," he said. And many of the witnesses, he suggested, might not be seen as reliable by a jury, given their personal histories.

Keim's family said she was a good mother to her son, now 10, and battled through addiction to graduate from drug court and earn her GED. But the pressure of gathering evidence against Morel made her "spiral mentally," said her 27-year-old sister, Tessie Keim.

"He made her feel like dirt," her sister said. "He targeted these women specifically for who and what they were and where they were in their life."

Keim's mother and sister said they have heard from other victims who, despite Morel's guilty plea, remain afraid to tell their stories.

"If he would have gotten what he deserved, maybe they would have come forward," Glover said.

___

Associated Press Writer Juliet Linderman in Baltimore contributed to this story.

In this undated family photo provided by Tammy Glover, Danelle Keim, who was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, poses with her son Tyler. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment. (Courtesy of Tammy Glover via AP)

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo, Tessie Keim, whose sister, Danelle Keim, was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, pauses while speaking at her home in Destrahan, La. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo, Tammy Glover, whose daughter, Danelle Keim, was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, pauses while speaking at her home in Destrahan, La.. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo, Tammy Glover, whose daughter, Danelle Keim, was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, pauses while speaking at her home in Destrahan, La. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo, Tammy Glover, whose daughter, Danelle Keim, was a key witness in the case against former St. Charles Parish District Attorney Harry Morel before she died of a drug overdose in 2013, hugs her husband Tommy Gloverat her home in Destrahan, La. Former Louisiana prosecutor Harry Morel, 73, is accused of soliciting sex from at least 20 women in exchange for favorable treatment faces sentencing, Wednesday Aug. 17, 2016, on a single charge of obstruction of justice. Morel faces a maximum of three years in prison under his guilty plea. According to the FBI and the local sheriff, the 73-year-old prosecutor solicited sex from at least 20 women, including Danelle Keim, in exchange for favorable treatment.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
UK radical preacher Anjem Choudary convicted of IS support

LONDON (AP)  One of Britain's best-known radical Muslim preachers, Anjem Choudary, has been convicted of encouraging support for the Islamic State group.

Choudary faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 6.

Choudary and co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman were convicted last month, but the verdict could not be reported until Tuesday because of court-imposed restrictions.

FILE - This is a Friday, April 3, 2015 file photo of Anjem Choudary, a British Muslim social and political activist and spokesman for Islamist group, Islam4UK, speaks following prayers at the Central London Mosque in Regent's Park, London. One of Britain's best known radical Muslim preachers, Anjem Choudary, has been convicted of encouraging support for the Islamic State group. Choudary and co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman were convicted last month, but the verdict could not be reported until Tuesday Aug. 16, 2016, because of court-imposed restrictions. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File)

The 49-year-old firebrand has been one of the best-known faces of radical Islam in Britain for years, leading groups under names including al-Muhajiroun, Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades  banned one after another by the British government.

He gained attention for headline-grabbing statements and stunts that provoked outrage but stayed on within the law, such as protesting outside the U.S. Embassy on the anniversary of Sept. 11 and burning memorial poppies on Remembrance Day.

Choudary was arrested in 2014 after his name appeared on an oath recognizing the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State."

The London-born preacher denied encouraging his followers to back IS and said the oath had been made without his knowledge.

He said during the trial that he did not support the Islamic State group's call for attacks on the West.

"I was asked about it and said no, we live with people, our neighbors, so we differ with the people in IS," he said.

Several people who attended Choudary's meetings and rallies have been convicted of violent attacks, including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the al-Qaida-inspired killers of British soldier Lee Rigby.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police counterterrorism command, said Choudary and Rahman "stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counterterrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organizations."

"Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offenses who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men," he said.
The Latest: Police: Man wielding post fatally shot by deputy

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP)  The Latest on a fatal shooting by a sheriff's deputy near a hospital (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

Police say a northern Virginia sheriff's deputy fatally shot a hospital patient who they say was wielding a metal sign post and appeared to be mentally disturbed.

Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid released details about the Monday night shooting at a news conference Tuesday.

Roessler says a 29-year-old Hispanic man had just been discharged from Inova Fairfax Hospital when he began wielding a sign post with a sharp metal end. Roessler said a hospital security guard was injured before a sheriff's deputy responded.

Roessler says the deputy, an 18-year veteran, tried to talk the man down, but he continued to charge at the deputy until he fired multiple shots. Roessler didn't identify either the patient or the deputy, who is on administrative leave. He also did not release the deputy's race.

The deputy had been guarding another patient at the hospital when he responded. In Virginia, deputies hold the same authority as police in responding to incidents.

___

11:20 a.m.

An official at a northern Virginia hospital says a man fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy in a confrontation near the hospital was a patient.

Inova Fairfax Hospital spokeswoman Tracy Connell declined to comment in an email because the man involved was a patient, citing privacy laws. She referred questions to police.

Police said in a statement that that hospital security reported a man with an edged weapon at a campus bus stop Monday night. Police say a deputy on assignment at the hospital found the man, who threatened the deputy with an object. Police say the deputy fired, striking the man. He was taken to the nearby hospital, where police say he later died.

Police say the deputy will be on routine administrative leave.

___

8:20 a.m.

Authorities say a man has died after he was shot by sheriff's deputy he threatened with an unidentified object outside a northern Virginia hospital.

Fairfax County police spokesman Don Gotthardt said by telephone Tuesday that the man has died. Police initially said his injuries weren't life-threatening.

Police said in a statement that that Inova Fairfax Hospital security reported a man with an edged weapon at a campus bus stop Monday night. Police say a deputy on assignment at the hospital found the man, who threatened the deputy with an object. Police say the deputy fired, striking the man.
Dominican authorities seize large cocaine shipment

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)  Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they have seized more than 2,050 pounds (930 kilograms) of cocaine off the country's southern coast. It's the largest such seizure so far this year.

The spokesman of the Dominican anti-narcotics agency said Tuesday that authorities have arrested a Colombian and a Dominican. Dario Medrano said the two men were aboard a boat where the drugs were seized.
Police: Teacher had sex with students; faces rape charges

PADUCAH, Ky. (AP)  Police have arrested a female substitute teacher in Kentucky accused of having sex with two male students.

The Paducah Sun (http://bit.ly/2b1s5mj ) reports that a grand jury indicted 27-year-old Kasey Warren on Friday on charges of third-degree rape and third-degree sodomy.

The charges came after Kentucky State Police received a report on June 28 that Warren had sex with two 16-year-old students in McCracken County. Warren turned herself in to police on Monday.

Kentucky State Police spokesman Michael Robichaud says Warren was charged with rape because she abused her position of power. He says Warren was hired by the Carlisle County school system in January, but is no longer employed there.

Warren is being held at McCracken County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond. Jail records don't indicate whether she has an attorney.

___
Romania: Brancusi sculpture campaign struggles to find funds

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Romania's culture minister says less than one-tenth of the public funds needed to buy a nationally treasured work by sculptor Constantin Brancusi have been raised.

Corina Suteu said on her Facebook page Tuesday that 562,000 euros ($635,000) have been donated by the public since the campaign started in March. Some 6 million euros needs to be raised by Sept. 30 when the public campaign ends.

Romania's government will pay 5 million euros toward the 11-million-euro purchase price from private owners.

Dating to 1907 or 1908, "Wisdom of the Earth" is one of just a few Brancusi works remaining in his homeland.
Christie signs bill requiring anti-Israel firms divestment

TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  Gov. Chris Christie has signed legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses.

The Republican governor, pointing a finger at Democratic President Barack Obama for criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, signed the legislation on Tuesday during a statehouse ceremony.

"Israel is the beacon of democracy in a region that is constantly in turmoil," Christie said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering after signing legislation at the Statehouse that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

The legislation passed with overwhelming support in the Democrat-led state Legislature in June.

The measure is part of a broader effort to oppose a boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that targets Israel and Israeli businesses. The BDS movement, made up of unions, academic associations, churches and other grassroots efforts, describes itself as a Palestinian-led push "for freedom, justice and equality."

Christie said New Jersey does $1.3 billion in trade with Israel every year and called the Middle Eastern country the United States' "one, true and best friend."

The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them.

The prohibition does not apply to firms giving humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people through certain organizations unless the organizations also are engaging in prohibited boycotts.

Obama said in a statement accompanying a trade bill signed in February that his administration "strongly opposes" boycott campaigns directed at Israel. He also said, though, the law was contrary to longstanding policy with regard to Israeli settlements.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie takes a question at the Statehouse after signing legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reacts to a question at the Statehouse after signing legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laughs as he answers a question at the Statehouse after signing legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie emphasizes a point as he addresses a gathering at the Statehouse after signing legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation passed with overwhelming support in the Democrat-led Legislature in June. The measure is part of a broader effort to oppose the so-called boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that targets Israel and Israeli businesses. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie answers a question at the Statehouse after signing legislation that would bar the state's public pension fund from investing with companies that boycott Israel or Israeli businesses, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Trenton, N.J. The legislation requires the State Investment Council, which manages more than $80 billion in pension assets, to identify any potential investments in companies with Israeli boycotts and to divest from them. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Mexico: Drug lord's son among those abducted at resort

MEXICO CITY (AP)  One of the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is among the half-dozen men abducted by gunmen at a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Tuesday.

Jalisco state Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer said 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar had been determined to be among those taken, though authorities still had not received any missing person complaints.

"The person by the name of Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, age 29, is the son of Joaquin Guzman Loera," Almaguer said at a news conference. His abduction "has been confirmed by what was found in the vehicles and what security agencies found and the forensic examinations performed."

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is made to face the press as he is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican soldiers and marines at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Mexico. The son of the imprisoned drug lord may be among the half-dozen men abducted by gunmen at a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Tuesday, Aug 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Earlier in the day, Almaguer had said authorities were trying to confirm whether another Guzman son, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, was among those abducted.

He said later that authorities had identified four of the six men marched out of the upscale restaurant by seven armed assailants. He did not say whether Ivan could be one of the two still not identified.

Almaguer said officials have determined the kidnappers belonged to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, the dominant criminal group in the state. The victims are all believed to be the rival Sinaloa cartel headed by Guzman in the neighboring state of Sinaloa.

Experts have said Ivan Archivaldo assumed control of parts of the cartel's drug operations after his father was re-arrested in January.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated both brothers in 2012 under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act as assisting their father in drug trafficking. Jesus Alfredo, along with his father and other Sinaloa cartel leaders, were indicted in federal court in Chicago in 2009 on drug trafficking charges.

After reviewing security camera footage, Almaguer said that besides the restaurant's staff, there were nine women and seven men dining together when the gunmen burst in early Monday.

"The subjects enter, control the diners, separate the women to a side and violently take them (the men)," he said in an interview with The Associated Press prior to the news conference. "They resisted; however, these criminals who arrived did it with a certain violence with long guns."

Almaguer said one of the men managed to escape. He said authorities also had not located any of the women who were left behind.

Officials earlier estimated that 10 to 12 had been kidnapped, based on the confused nature of evidence at the crime scene. Investigators took fingerprints from the scene, viewed security video and checked identifications related to five vehicles  some luxury models  left behind by the victims at the restaurant.

"We have not received a single report from anyone to help locate these people who were (kidnapped)," Almaguer said at the news conference. He said authorities had also not heard of anyone demanding a ransom.

He would not repeat the name of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, but in response to a reporter's question, he said authorities had confirmed that group was responsible for the abductions.

The Jalisco cartel has grown quickly to rival Guzman's Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexico's drug gangs.

Experts said before the news conference that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman had reportedly been running roughshod over allies in his father's business. They said he had the reputation of a braggart, showing off expensive liquor, clothes, guns and cars on social media, something that could have angered more traditional traffickers who keep a lower profile.

"Ivan Archivaldo was, I believe, a bit crazy," said Raul Benitez, a security specialist who teaches political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "He spent all his time posting things on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. A serious narco doesn't do that."

Benitez added: "He was a 'junior'"  a term Mexicans use to describe privileged youths. "He didn't have the ability to run the cartel."

Experts said the kidnapping could be the latest in a string of attacks against Guzman's family, perhaps suggesting the drug lord has lost control of his cartel. He purportedly ran affairs from prison until his second escape in 2015, but since being recaptured had been kept under stricter security measures.

In June, local media reported that an armed gang broke into the home of Guzman's mother in Sinaloa and taken vehicles and other goods.

"There is a war right now for control of the Sinaloa cartel and a central theme in that war is the issue of attacks on his family," Benitez said. "People have information about the family's movements and they want to destroy the family."

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman contributed to this report.
Parents of girls who fell from Ferris wheel describe anguish

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  The parents of two girls who fell more than 30 feet from a Ferris wheel at an eastern Tennessee county fair say they tried to alert the operator that something was wrong, but the ride was moved ahead despite their shouts.

During a hospital news conference in Johnson City on Tuesday, parents Jason and Kimmee Reynolds described their anguish at seeing their daughters and a third girl topple out of their carriage and fall to the ground.

"When he was pushing go, we took off running and were yelling 'Stop, stop, stop!'" Kimmee Reynolds said. "And he just looked at us and he pushed the button anyway, and so we watched them tumble out, just one by one."

Inspectors have blamed the overturned carriage on worn-out rivet fasteners that allowed the facing to become loose and get lodged in the frame of the wheel.

Ten-year-old Kayla broke her arm in the fall at the Greene County Fair. Her 6-year-old sister Briley was knocked unconscious, and her parents feared she had died. Briley was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but was upgraded to stable condition on Tuesday.

An unidentified 16-year-old girl was also injured in the fall.

Jason Reynolds said he could tell before the fall that his daughters knew something was amiss.

"We could see their faces from the ground, and you could tell they were terrified, they knew something bad was going to happen," he said. "You could just see (Kayla) trying to grab for something to hold on to. It was horrible."

Kimmee Reynolds became tearful while recounting her emotions.

"They were trying their best to hold on, and then Kayla couldn't hold on anymore and started to drop. The whole crowd just gasped," she said. "That whole reaction, I can just hear that in my head, over and over."

The parents are calling for better safety standards and inspections for carnival rides.

"When you've got companies here that provide a service to the public, safety should be the priority," Jason Reynolds said.

Tennessee relies on out-of-state safety certifications and third-party inspectors hired by operators before issuing permits for rides.

It's not the first time people have been hurt on rides operated by the Ferris wheel's owner, Family Attractions Amusement of Valdosta, Georgia.

Five people were injured at the North Carolina State Fair in 2013 when a ride called the Vortex unexpectedly restarted as they were trying to get off the ride. Investigators determined that a safety mechanism had been disabled by ride operators, including the son of the company's owners.

Dominic and Ruby Macaroni's son Joshua was jailed earlier this year and North Carolina regulators fined him and Family Attractions Amusement more than $56,000 each.

Kimmee Reynolds said she wouldn't have let her children get on the rides in Greene County if she had been aware of that history.

"Knowing that the company had had problems before, that there had been other lawsuits and people injured and this kind of thing," she said. "Why did we continue to use them?
The Latest: Muslim woman's arrest in Chicago under review

CHICAGO (AP)  The Latest on changes within the Chicago Police Department since it came under scrutiny over excessive force allegations and its fraught relationship with the black community (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

The agency responsible for investigating complaints against Chicago police is looking into last year's arrest of a Muslim woman whom officers mistakenly identified as a potential terrorist as she walked from a subway station.

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2016 photo Itemid Al-Matar, right, stands by her lawyer Gregory Kulis, during a news conference, in Chicago. The body responsible for investigating complaints against Chicago police is investigating the arrest last year of the Muslim woman who officers mistakenly identified as a potential terrorist as she walked from a subway station. A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Review Authority told the Associated Press Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 that Itemid Al-Matar submitted a complaint shortly after the incident. (Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune via AP File)

A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Review Authority told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Itemid Al-Matar submitted a complaint shortly after the incident. Spokeswoman Mia Sissac declined to provide details.

Al-Matar filed a civil rights lawsuit last week alleging officers singled her out simply because she wore a religious headscarf and veil. The suit says officers pulled off the garb and later strip-searched her.

A police report says officers had been "on high alert of terrorist activity" on the Fourth of July when they spotted Al-Matar wearing a backpack and exhibiting what it described as "suspicious behavior."

___

11:40 a.m.

A senior member of the Chicago Police Department who served as interim superintendent during the upheaval over the fatal police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald is leaving to become police chief at Northeastern Illinois University.

In a news release Tuesday, the school said First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante will assume the post Sept. 7.

Escalante served as interim superintendent for four months after Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Escalante's predecessor, Garry McCarthy. That firing came shortly after the release of the video in November, which showed a white officer shooting the 17-year-old McDonald 16 times.

Escalante applied to be the permanent superintendent but the job went to another high-ranking member of the department, Eddie Johnson.

Northeastern Illinois University President Sharon Hahs said in a statement that Escalante "has a national reputation in the field of law enforcement for his experience, integrity and leadership."

___

10:30 a.m.

Chicago's inspector general has delivered a report on the fatal 2014 police shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald, a police spokesman confirmed Tuesday.

Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department was reviewing the report and will respond, but didn't know how long the process would take. A spokeswoman for Inspector General Joseph Ferguson refused to comment.

The department also announced the retirement of Deputy Chief David McNaughton, who determined the shooting by officer Jason Van Dyke complied with department policy. That finding was harshly criticized when police dashcam video of the shooting was released in November under a judge's order.

The video contradicted accounts by officers on the scene that the teenager lunged threateningly in their direction. McDonald, who was carrying a knife but walking away from officers, was shot 16 times.

Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder. His lawyer says Van Dyke acted properly and resorted to deadly force because he feared for his life.

The department's announcement about McNaughton's retirement makes no mention of the McDonald case.

FILE - In this March 8, 2016 file photo, John Escalante then Chicago's Interim police superintendent, speaks at a news conference in Chicago. Escalante who took over as superintendent for four months after a video of the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald was released last year has been hired as the police chief at Northeastern Illinois University. In a news release, the school says it has hired First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante who will assume the post on Sept. 7 2016. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford File)
The Latest: 2 minor injuries in Tahoe cruise boat fire

STATELINE, Nev. (AP)  The Latest on a tourist cruise boat that was ablaze on Lake Tahoe (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard has arrived at the scene of a fire at Lake Tahoe that ripped through a docked tourist cruise boat under repair, severely damaging the popular paddle wheeler and injuring two workers on board.

A fire rips through the second deck of a docked tourist cruise boat under repair at Lake Tahoe, in Reno, Nev., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. The fire severely damaged the popular paddle wheeler and injuring two workers on board before crews extinguished the flames that sent a plume of black smoke high above the Sierra waters. (Zach Hastie via AP)

The 144-foot-long Tahoe Queen can hold up to 300 passengers, but only the workers were on board when the fire broke out about 8 a.m. Tuesday at Zephyr Cove on the south end of the lake.

Authorities originally said one contractor suffered smoke inhalation before crews extinguished the flames about an hour later.

Fire marshal Eric Guevin says now a second contractor also sprained his back when he jumped from the boat's top deck to escape the smoke and flames. He says both men were treated at the scene and refused further care.

Zach Hatie, a trail guide at the nearby Zephyr Cove Stables, told The Associated Press flames were shooting out of every window of the boat's cabin. A plume of smoke was visible several miles away from the mountain lake that straddles the California-Nevada line atop the Sierra southwest of Reno.

Guevin said Coast Guard inspectors arrived from San Francisco Tuesday afternoon and will begin to investigate the cause of the fire.

___

10:05 a.m.

U.S. Coast Guard inspectors are headed to Lake Tahoe to investigate the cause of a fire that damaged a tourist cruise boat and injured a contractor on the largely unoccupied paddle wheeler on the south end of the lake.

Fire crews had the blaze on the Tahoe Queen contained shortly after the fire was reported about 8 a.m. Tuesday. A contractor working on the docked boat was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, but no other injuries were reported.

Fire marshal Eric Guevin told Lake Tahoe News flames were shooting from the inside of the boat when crews arrived and moved to the outside of the vessel before crews knocked them down.

The two-story boat operated by a motorized paddle wheel holds up to 300 people when it's running, but tours were halted earlier this summer due to the lake's low water level.

Nearly 300 people had to be rescued in August 2014 when it hit a sand bar and became stuck about 600 yards off the shore.

___

9:45 a.m.

A witness says she saw huge plumes of smoke coming from a tourist cruise boat that was ablaze on Lake Tahoe.

Karen Foster, whose Zephyr Cove, Nevada, home overlooks the lake, snapped photos of the Tahoe Queen paddle wheeler as smoke poured out and firefighters shot water at it from a dock.

The Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District says one contractor working on the Tahoe Queen paddle wheeler docked at Zephyr Cove suffered smoke inhalation Tuesday morning.

The popular two-story boat operated by a motorized paddle wheel had its season cut short due to Tahoe's low lake level so it hasn't been offering rides to tourists for weeks.

___

9:15 a.m.

Fire crews at Lake Tahoe are responding to a fire on a tourist cruise boat on the south end of the lake.

KTVN-TV in Reno reports one person has been injured in the fire on the Tahoe Queen paddle wheeler at Zephyr Cove, northeast of Stateline. It says authorities canceled a call for a hazardous material response team shortly after the fire was reported at about 8 a.m.
Navajo Nation sues feds over massive 2015 mine waste spill

Leaders of one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye stood on the bank of the San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico and explained his people's link to the water and the economic, cultural and psychological damage inflicted in the wake of the August 2015 spill in southwestern Colorado.

"EPA, we're holding your feet to the fire," Begaye said, promising that generations of Navajos are willing to fight. "We will not let you get away with this because you have caused great damage to our people, our river, our lifeblood."

FILE--In this Aug 11, 2015, file photo, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Davis Filfred walks along the San Juan River in Montezuma Creek, Utah, near where a spill containing lead and arsenic from the abandoned Gold King Mine in Silverton, Colo., leaked into the Animas River, which flows into the San Juan River on Aug. 5, 2016. The Navajo Nation is the latest to pursue legal action against the federal government over a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (AP Photo/Matt York, file)

A federal contractor triggered the spill during preliminary cleanup work at a mine near Silverton, Colorado. Three million gallons of wastewater carrying arsenic, lead and other heavy metals contaminated rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

Communities downstream were forced to temporarily halt drawing water from the Animas and San Juan rivers for drinking water and irrigation.

Officials have estimated some 880,000 pounds of metals poured into the rivers. Navajos and others are concerned the contamination that has settled in the riverbeds and banks is getting stirred up each time storm runoff courses downstream.

The EPA has taken responsibility for cleaning up the spill, but a spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency will not comment on pending litigation.

The Navajo Nation joins New Mexico in pursuing legal action over the spill. The state sued the EPA and Colorado earlier this year, citing environmental and economic damage.

Tribal officials at the news conference and in the lawsuit pointed to delays and resistance by the EPA, saying the agency has failed to compensate Navajos for their losses or provide any meaningful recovery efforts over the past year.

The EPA has dedicated more than $29 million to respond to the spill and for monitoring, but much of that is going toward stabilization and ongoing drainage at the mine. Reimbursement of state, local and tribal costs is underway, but the tribe has received only a fraction of the nearly $1.6 million doled out to all the parties.

Begaye said Navajo farmers have felt the brunt of the spill. Some crops went unplanted this year and cultural practices such as the gathering of corn pollen were skipped.

"We have seen the tears. We've heard the cries. We've heard the anger, the anguish, the loss of trust," Begaye said.

He called the actions of the agency, its contractor and the mining companies reckless and reiterated his disappointment that Navajos have yet to receive a phone call or letter of apology from President Barack Obama.

Navajo officials said the government has denied repeated requests for everything from compensation for farmers to resources for long-term monitoring and an onsite laboratory for real-time testing of the river.

"They have not done a thing," Begaye said during his impassioned address.

While the lawsuit doesn't include an exact dollar figure for damages the tribe is seeking, Begaye said Navajos are owed "millions" and that the scope of the contamination is still unknown.

A criminal investigation into the spill is being conducted by the EPA's Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Justice Department, but it's unclear how long that probe could take.

Several members of Congress had pressed for an investigation into the EPA's role in causing the disaster.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye speaks Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, at Nizhoni Park in Shiprock, N.M. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes, blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP)

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye speaks, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, at Nizhoni Park in Shiprock, N.M. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes, blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP)

Shiprock community members listen as Navajo Nation officials speak Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, at Nizhoni Park in Shiprock, N.M. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes, blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP)

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye speaks Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, at Nizhoni Park in Shiprock, N.M. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes, blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP)

Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch speaks Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, at Nizhoni Park in Shiprock, N.M. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes, blasted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as their attorneys sued Tuesday, claiming negligence in the cleanup of a massive mine waste spill that tainted rivers in three Western states. (Jon Austria/The Daily Times via AP)
Judge approves ship sale needed to release stranded sailors

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  A crew of 15 sailors should be heading home soon after being stuck for nearly four months aboard a cargo ship off the Georgia coast.

Federal marshals seized the Newlead Castellano while it was docked in Savannah in April after creditors sued the ship's owner, saying they were owed $7.1 million. The ship and crew remained anchored off Tybee Island during the legal battle, which ended with the ship being sold at auction for $7.4 million last week.

A U.S. District Court judge approved the sale in court Monday.
10 convicted and sentenced in Air France cocaine flight

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuelan authorities say three National Guard soldiers are among 10 people convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 22  years in prison for roles in smuggling 1.4 metric tons of cocaine to Paris in an Air France passenger jet.

The chief prosecutor's office said in a statement Tuesday that the wife of one of those convicted was sentenced to 10 years for money laundering. Still pending are charges against 17 more people arrested in the case, including a National Guard lieutenant colonel.

The National Guard handles drug-screening operations at Maiquetia international airport, where the cocaine was loaded onto the plane in 31 suitcases in 2013. Authorities say a France-based ring including Italian and British citizens was responsible.
The Latest: Authorities: Recovered gun used to kill NYC imam

NEW YORK (AP)  The latest on the arrest in the killing of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

Investigators say they've identified the handgun used to kill a New York City imam and his friend.

This photo, released by the New York City Police Department , Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. shows a .38 caliber Taurus revolver that has been recovered in connection with the shooting of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin, who were shot in the head Saturday afternoon as they walked home from a mosque. (New York City Police Department via AP)

Prosecutors say Tuesday tests show the .38-caliber revolver recovered in Oscar Morel's apartment was used to fatally shoot Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee's and Thara Uddin.

The 35-year-old Morel has been charged with murder. He's being held without bail. His attorney says Morel denies the charges.

Police say they found the suspected murder weapon behind a section of a wall in Morel's Brooklyn home that had been cut out and reinstalled with screws.

Authorities called the Saturday afternoon shooting an "assassination."

What prompted the killing remains unclear. Prosecutors say the attack is being viewed as a possible hate crime.

___

3:30 p.m.

The man accused of fatally shooting an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque is being held without bail.

Oscar Morel appeared in court at his arraignment Tuesday afternoon in Queens. He was handcuffed and wore leg shackles.

The 35-year-old's attorney says his client denies the allegations. Morel's family members declined to comment.

Prosecutors called the daytime shooting an "assassination." Investigators are still trying to determine a motive. They have not ruled out that it could have been a hate crime.

Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee's and Thara Uddin's were killed as they were leaving a prayer service at a mosque on Saturday.

More than a dozen members of the victims' mosque attended the court proceeding, including the imam's son and Uddin's brother.

___

2:10 p.m.

Relatives of an imam and his friend who were gunned down near a New York City mosque are meeting with prosecutors.

Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee's son and Thara Uddin's brother were meeting Tuesday afternoon at the Queens district attorney's office while the defendant, Oscar Morel of Brooklyn, awaited a court appearance.

Akonjee and Uddin were killed while leaving a prayer service Saturday.

Saif Akonjee says he wants to know why his father was killed. Mashuk Uddin says he believes it was a hate crime.

District Attorney Richard A. Brown says it's possible investigators will conclude that the shooting was a hate crime. But he says regardless, the killings will be "vigorously prosecuted."

It wasn't immediately clear if Morel had an attorney. A motive for the killing remains unclear.

__

1:15 p.m.

A prosecutor says the motive for a shooting that claimed the lives of a New York City imam and his friend is still being investigated.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Tuesday that it's possible investigators will conclude that the weekend shooting was a hate crime. But he says regardless of whether that's the case, the killings will be "vigorously prosecuted."

Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot in the head Saturday afternoon as they walked home from the mosque.

The suspect, Oscar Morel, was awaiting a court appearance Tuesday on first- and second-degree murder charges. There was no immediate information on an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

___

2 a.m.

A man suspected of gunning down an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque has been arrested and charged with murder, as police investigate a motive for the killings.

Police charged 35-year-old Oscar Morel with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon late Monday.

He's accused in the Saturday slayings of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin near a mosque in Queens.

Officers took Morel into custody late Sunday outside a Brooklyn apartment as he approached a vehicle that police had linked to an unrelated hit-and-run and that matched the description of the shooting suspect's getaway vehicle. That's when police say Morel intentionally rammed his vehicle into an unmarked police cruiser.

It's unclear if Morel has an attorney.

Saif Akonjee, son of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, center, Mashuk Uddin, brother of Thara Uddin, right, and other members of the community are surrounded by reporters as they arrives to a Queens courthouse in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Oscar Morel suspected of gunning down the imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque was arrested and charged with murder late Monday night, said police, who have not yet released a motive for the shooting deaths. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Saif Akonjee, son of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee, is surrounded by reporters as he arrives to a Queens courthouse in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Oscar Morel suspected of gunning down the imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque was arrested and charged with murder late Monday night, said police, who have not yet released a motive for the shooting deaths. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Illinois AG orders emails disclosed, refuels privacy debate

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  Chicago police officers' emails discussing the Laquan McDonald shooting can't be kept secret even though they were transmitted privately, a state official has decreed in what open-records advocates say is a solid step toward transparency on an issue that has roiled Illinois and reached as high as Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The binding opinion last week by Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan follows quickly on a May Cook County Circuit Court ruling that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's emails about separate issues aren't automatically exempt from disclosure even though sent on private devices.

The opinion has the force of law, requiring the police to search officers' private accounts and turn over relevant emails  although the police department can ask a judge to overturn it. The dictum also fuels an ongoing national debate about access to discussions of public business on privately held cellphones and computers under decades-old disclosure laws which didn't anticipate such an explosion of electronic communication.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2014 file photo, Illinois Attorney Gen. Lisa Madigan speaks at a news conference, in Chicago. Madigan's office has issued an opinion stating that privately transmitted emails about government business are subject to disclosure in a case involving Chicago police officers' discussion of the Laquan McDonald shooting. The binding opinion by Madigan follows quickly on a May Cook County Circuit Court ruling that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's emails aren't automatically exempt from disclosure even though sent on private devices. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

The ruling determined that the Chicago Police Department improperly failed to search 12 officers' personal email accounts for discussion of the October 2014 fatal shooting of McDonald, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer. Atlanta-based CNN appealed that omission to the public access counselor under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

"This binding opinion will hopefully make clear that public employees cannot evade FOIA by using private devices when conducting public business," said John Costello, a Chicago public-access lawyer.

Among the officers whose emails CNN is seeking are Officer Jason Van Dyke, who shot McDonald 16 times, and Deputy Chief David McNaughton, who approved the report that the shooting was justified and who abruptly retired Monday.

A CNN spokeswoman would not comment on the matter, but it's likely the television network is trying to determine what other news media organizations have sought  whether officers on the scene cooperated in covering up the true sequence of events leading to McDonald's shooting, a sequence that became clear a year later when a judge ordered police to release a dashboard-camera video of the shooting.

The examples of the tussle over access to public discussions on private devices are piling up. Just in the last year, the news media have challenged not only Emanuel and his police department, but Gov. Bruce Rauner's education adviser, who was conducting public business with a private email account. And The Associated Press filed a lawsuit last year over the State Department's failure to turn over Clinton's emails. Separately, the FBI declared in July that while she was secretary of state, Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, had improperly read and sent classified government information on private devices.

The issue cost former University of Illinois chancellor Phyllis Wise her job last fall in a case in which the university turned over the privately sent emails in question but declared that the law is "not settled." That's because an Illinois appellate court in 2013 addressed the issue of whether an electronic message sent by a city council member was under a public body's control if the council member was not acting as part of the public body while convened for business.

Following that reasoning, Chicago police argued that the officers' emails were not under the police department's control. The attorney general's opinion cited a federal court ruling released last month which maintained that such a claim was akin to a public official putting documents "in a file at his daughter's house and then claiming that they are under her control."

To the police department's complaint that it would violate officers' privacy by searching their email accounts, the attorney general noted privacy is not an exception when public records are at stake. The police had not even asked the officers if such emails existed and could avoid jeopardizing privacy by asking the officers to voluntarily surrender emails involving McDonald, the attorney general said.

Emanuel argued the privacy issue in May, asking a Cook County judge to dismiss the Chicago Tribune's lawsuit over his emails involving the city's problematic red-light camera program and his dealings with a Chicago hedge-fund manager and campaign contributor. The judge refused, saying public records are public, regardless of how they're stored. The watchdog Better Government Association has won similar court rulings against Emanuel and the state comptroller in recent months.

As for the attorney general's recent decree, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency is considering options. Binding opinions can be challenged in court.

Don Craven, Springfield-based lawyer for the Illinois Press Association, said if the police abide by the opinion, or if a judge upholds it upon legal challenge, "We are a long way toward good news" in ensuring government officials can't hide their work on private phones and computers.

___

Online

Public Access Counselor opinion: http://bit.ly/2btDFaq

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Both sides in marine monument fight invoke Hawaiian culture

HONOLULU (AP)  As a Native Hawaiian living in modern Hawaii, one of the times Shad Kane truly felt connected to his ancestors was when he traveled to a remote, 140,000-square-mile area of the Pacific where islands, atolls, islets and coral reefs make up a federally protected marine monument.

There, at Midway Atoll, he plucked feathers from dead birds to make kahili  feathers mounted on a long wooden pole that was used to announce the presence of ancient Hawaiian chiefs and became a royal symbol during the Hawaiian monarchy.

"Going to Midway and being a part of gathering traditional birds in the manner they did is extremely spiritual," the suburban Honolulu man said this month. "It becomes much more personal for me."

In this July 4, 2015, photo provided by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, G. Umi Kai uses a traditional Hawaiian hook to catch a fish at the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. Kai supports a plan to expand the monument. Supporters and opponents of proposed expansion of one of the world's largest marine conservation areas have something in common: They're invoking Hawaiian culture to further their agendas. (Keola Lindsey/Office of Hawaiian Affairs via AP)

He said seeing Midway strewn with remnants of fishing nets, buoys and hooks helped him realize the surrounding area needs protection, too.

This year, a group of Native Hawaiian leaders urged President Barack Obama to expand Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, while keeping the main Hawaiian islands outside the boundaries. The move would make the monument about 582,000 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas.

The White House isn't indicating when a decision will be made. Obama also has been asked to designate new national monuments in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Maine and elsewhere.

The effort to expand the Pacific monument has supporters and opponents invoking Hawaiian culture to further their agendas. Some believe expansion of one of the world's largest marine conservation areas will protect a sacred place, while others say making more waters off-limits will harm fishermen for a cause pushed by environmentalists with deep pockets.

A presidential proclamation established the monument in 2006. Only scientific research and cultural activities are allowed, with commercial fishing and recreational activities such as diving banned.

Getting there requires taking a flight to Midway Atoll or a sailboat. Under ideal ocean conditions, it takes about two days to sail from Kauai to Nihoa, the closest island to the main Hawaiian islands.

Some who say the area needs to be open for commercial fishing rely on an argument that's "completely contrary to the generation that preceded them that actually did go fish and understood the harmful effects" of overharvesting, said William Aila, deputy director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Peter Apo opposes adding the massive area to the monument and said doing so contradicts the way ancient Hawaiians managed natural resources.

Apo is a trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which supports expansion as long as the agency gets an official say in management of the area, including advocating for Native Hawaiian access.

It's difficult to be a Native Hawaiian and an expansion opponent, Apo said.

"We look like we're bad guys. We're opposing what seems to be addressing a global problem," he said of issues like climate change and overfishing that supporters point to.

He cited how Hawaiians utilized periods of kapu, or temporary restrictions in response to overharvesting.

"Food security was critical to Hawaiians," Apo said.

It's difficult to estimate the financial effect that expansion would have on the $100 million per year longline industry, which supplies a large portion of the fresh tuna and other fish consumed in Hawaii, said Sean Martin, president of the Hawaii Longline Association.

He estimated about 2 million pounds of fish annually come from the proposed expansion area, where vessels string lines ranging from a mile to 50 miles long in the ocean to catch fish.

G. Umi Kai, who uses his spare time to craft traditional implements such as wooden weapons and fish hooks made of bone, experienced the tranquility, isolation and fragility of the area when he visited last year.

He fished off rocky shores of two islands in the monument to see if his traditional bone hooks really worked. It was an ideal place for the test, he said, "because the environment was closer to the way Hawaii was 100 years ago."

Aila, of the home lands department, said he hopes the issue will draw Obama to an international environmental conservation gathering scheduled for next month in Honolulu.

By expanding the monument, Aila said the president could build a legacy as well as commit the U.S. to fighting environmental problems such as climate change and coral bleaching, which occurs when warm waters lead coral to expel the algae they rely on for food.

Opponents hope the president sees how divisive the issue is.

"I'm not sure that Obama, who was born, raised here, wants to leave a legacy of a divided Hawaii," Apo said.

In this July 4, 2015, photo provided by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, G. Umi Kai uses a traditional Hawaiian hook to catch a fish at the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. Kai supports a plan to expand the monument. Supporters and opponents of proposed expansion of one of the world's largest marine conservation areas have something in common: They're invoking Hawaiian culture to further their agendas. (Keola Lindsey/Office of Hawaiian Affairs via AP)

In this photo taken Aug. 5, 2016, Shad Kane poses with kahili, bird feathers mounted on a wooden pole, he made that are on display at Iolani Palace in Honolulu. Kane made kahili using feathers from Laysan albatross at Midway Atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Kane is among those who supports expanding the monument. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher)

In this photo taken Aug. 5, 2016, a kahili, bird feathers mounted on a wooden pole, is on display at Iolani Palace in Honolulu. Shad Kane made the kahili using feathers from Laysan albatross at Midway Atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Kane is among those who supports expanding the monument. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher).
Dominican leader assumes 2nd term, pledges tech revolution

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)  Dominican President Danilo Medina was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday as leader of a country boasting the best economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The inauguration comes three months after he won 62 percent of the vote, the highest percentage in the country's democratic history. He will be working with a bicameral legislature dominated by his Dominican Liberation Party.

Medina has pledged to implement a technological revolution over the next four years by offering more government services online and providing every student and teacher with a computer. He also said he wants to lift some 800,000 people out of poverty and further boost a thriving economy.

FILE - In this May 16, 2016 file photo, President Danilo Medina, center right, addresses the crowd accompanied by his wife Candida Montilla de Medina and daughters, at a presidential victory celebration in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Medina has been sworn in for a second term as leader of the country boasting the best economic grown in Latin America and the Caribbean. Medina was inaugurated Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, after winning the highest percentage of the vote in the country's democratic history earlier this year. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez, File)

"We still have a lot of challenges ahead of us," said Medina, who is an economist by training and a career technocrat.

He noted that the country's GDP grew 7 percent in 2015 for the second consecutive year, thanks to robust performances in construction, tourism and banking.

Medina addressed the legislature, where several seats belonging to opposition legislators were empty. Some protested that Medina's sister is president of the House of Deputies and that one of his close allies is president of the Senate.

"How can we guarantee that the House of Deputies will have any control over the actions of the executive branch?" asked opposition legislator Fidelio Despradel.

Those who attended the inauguration include Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Spanish King Juan Carlos and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
Liz Cheney wins primary for US House seat her father held

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, swept to victory Tuesday in a crowded race for the Republican nomination for Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House  a post once held by her father.

Liz Cheney's victory in the Republican primary likely signals that she will win the seat in the general election this fall. Party registration favors the GOP over Democrats better than three-to-one in Wyoming and no Democrat has held the seat since Dick Cheney's predecessor in the 1970s.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Liz Cheney said Tuesday that she couldn't be prouder of being Dick Cheney's daughter.

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2010 file photo, Liz Cheney addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Wyoming???s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is up for grabs as voters head to the polls in primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Cheney is the best funded candidate in the Republican field, bringing in more than $1.5 million through July. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

"Certainly we've been served well by many people in Washington, and it is very special to have been nominated to serve in the seat that my dad held," she said.

Her victory also marks a comeback from her first shot at Wyoming politics in 2014, when she brashly challenged Sen. Mike Enzi, the state's senior Republican.

Many prominent Wyoming Republicans accused Liz Cheney two years ago of being a "carpetbagger" and criticized her for challenging GOP incumbent Enzi when she had only recently moved to Wyoming from Virginia. She quickly dropped out of the race.

This time around, however, she and seven other Republicans were vying for an open House seat. Rep. Cynthia Lummis' is not seeking re-election.

A former Fox News commentator and State Department official, Liz Cheney drew on her national contacts in funding her primary victory. She brought in more than $1.5 million through July, banking almost 10 times more money than her next three opponents combined.

While her opponents tried to hammer on her relatively short residency in the state, Liz Cheney herself focused her campaign largely on attacking President Barack Obama and his administration's energy policies  which she considers federal overreach  and national security policies.

She has emphasized that it's critical to Wyoming, the nation's leading coal producing state, that the EPA roll back regulations sharply limiting emissions from coal-fired power plants. Major coal companies have declared bankruptcy in recent months and Wyoming has seen sharp layoffs among coal industry workers.

"We've got to be sure that we save the coal industry, it's a hugely important issue for Wyoming," Liz Cheney said. "Wyoming's representative has got to be somebody who's prepared to lead that fight on a national basis, and I will do so absolutely, no matter who's in the White House."

Dick Cheney was elected five times to the U.S. House seat for Wyoming that his daughter is now seeking. But his legacy cuts both ways. Many Democrats have criticized Cheney's orchestration as vice president of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, calling it a disastrous foreign policy decision.

Asked if her candidacy serves as a way to try to address criticism of her father's role in the Iraq invasion, Liz Cheney said her campaign has been doing what's necessary to keep the U.S. safe.

"We're facing a huge number of challenges now, both in terms of the threats we face from Washington, as well as the threats to our security from radical Islamic terrorism, and those are the things I'm going to be focused on," she said.

Ryan Greene won the Democratic nomination for Wyoming's U.S. House seat and will face Cheney in the general election. Greene is a manager in his family's oilfield services company in Rock Springs.

Greene said Tuesday night he is "very excited about the way the results came in."

"This just became Wyoming versus Washington. The Cheneys are Washington," Greene said. "We've got a lot of work to do, but we're going to continue to work hard, and we're going to show the nation that our state's not for sale."

This June 2, 2016 photo shows State Rep. Tim Stubson, one of eight Republican candidates for Wyoming's U.S. House seat, speaks at a Wyoming Retail Association forum in Cheyenne, Wyo. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has emerged as the best-funded candidate by far. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)

This Monday, Aug. 8, 2016 photo shows Cheyenne attorney Darin Smith, who is one of eight Republican candidates for Wyoming's U.S. House seat. His competitors include Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)
Morocco accused of cease-fire violation in Western Sahara

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The Polisario Front movement seeking independence for the disputed Western Sahara accused Morocco on Tuesday of violating a 1991 cease-fire agreement by sending troops and equipment into the territory.

Morocco's Interior Ministry said security forces and customs officials have been carrying out an operation near the Mauritania border aimed at dismantling "smuggling rings and illegal commercial trade" in the area.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, is contacting the Polisario Front and Morocco about the alleged violations in the territory's southwest near the border with Mauritania to determine the facts.

The mission "will deploy its capabilities if it is so required as per its mandate," Haq said.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975 and fought the Polisario Front. The U.N. brokered a cease-fire in 1991 and established MINURSO to monitor it and help prepare a referendum on the territory's future, which has never taken place.

Morocco considers Western Sahara its "southern provinces" and has proposed wide-ranging autonomy, but the Polisario Front insists on self-determination through a referendum for the local population, as called for in U.N. resolutions.

Morocco expelled more than 70 U.N. civilian staffers linked to the peacekeeping mission in March to protest Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's perceived gaffe in using the word "occupation" to describe Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara. Twenty-five staffers returned last month but MINURSO is still not fully operational  and the U.N. has not said when it will be.

Brahim Ghali, recently elected head of the Polisario, sent a letter to the U.N. chief on Tuesday saying Moroccan forces that penetrated the Karkarat area "supported with transport equipment, military engineering and accompanied with aerial reconnaissance, constitute a new and serious breach of military agreement No. 1 of the cease-fire agreement."

Polisario official Brahim Mohamed Mahmud called the alleged violation "blatant and unprecedented" and demanded that MINURSO "ensure compliance with all terms of the cease-fire agreement ... and urgently take steps to prevent similar provocative acts to happen," according to the Polisario's Sahara Press Service.

Morocco's Interior Ministry said in Tuesday's statement that the operation in Guerguerat in Ouad Dahab province began Sunday  which was the 37th anniversary of Morocco gaining control of the province which is considered part of Western Sahara  and is still continuing.
Teen faces probation in assault of mentally disabled woman

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  An 18-year-old Iowa high school student convicted of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled woman might avoid jail.

According to the criminal complaint, Nicholas Fifield was 17 when he met the 18-year-old woman online. The complaint says they arranged to go to the movies but instead went to his house and had sex, even though the woman said "no" several times.

The Des Moines Register reports (http://dmreg.co/2b1y1eU ) Fifield entered an Alford plea to the misdemeanor count. Under an Alford plea, a defendant maintains innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence for conviction.

Prosecutors say they won't fight a probation sentence, but that Fifield, a first-time offender, could get up to two years behind bars at his Oct. 12 sentencing.

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone says probation is "agreeable with the victim's family."

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17-year-old charged as adult in stabbing death of girl

PICO RIVERA, Calif. (AP)  The ex-boyfriend of a 16-year-old girl who died in front of her mother last week has been charged as an adult with murder in her stabbing death.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says Rory Murga was charged Wednesday in his ex-girlfriend's death.

Elena Moore was stabbed multiple times in her chest and back in her Pico Rivera home early Friday. She died in front of her mother after authorities say she repeatedly screamed Rory's name.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide detectives investigate the fatal stabbing of Elena Moore, a 16-year-old girl inside her two-story home, pictured on the right, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 in Los Angeles. The Sheriff's department is seeking her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend Rory Murga, in the killing. (AP Photo/Amanda Lee Myers)

The sheriff's department says the pair dated for a year before Elena broke up with Rory. Two weeks later she was killed.

Rory is set to be arraigned Thursday. Prosecutors are asking for a $2 million bail.

He faces life in prison if convicted. It's unclear if he has an attorney.

In this undated photo released on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide detectives shows Rory Murga. The Sheriff's department is seeking Murga, a 17-year-old ex-boyfriend in the death of 16-year-old Elena Moore. She was brutally stabbed in her home on Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, at 3:15 a.m. in the 9800 block of Shade Lane, Pico Rivera area of Los Angeles. (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department via AP )
Cuba releases new economic guidelines without major changes

HAVANA (AP)  Cuba's ruling Communist Party released a new set of economic guidelines Tuesday that emphasize the slow-moving and limited nature of the country's reforms amid a sharp national economic downturn.

The guidelines "recognize the objective existence of market relationships," but they also restate Cuba's commitment to a centrally planned economy.

The 274 rules say concentration of property and wealth will not be permitted and promise to advance internet service only "gradually, according to our economic possibilities," in one of the world's least-connected nations.

They update a document that laid out President Raul Castro's vision of economic reform at the Cuban Communist Party's twice-a-decade congress in 2011. Those reforms have allowed growth of tens of thousands of private businesses ranging from self-employed cobblers to high-end restaurants and small boutique hotels.

But the spread of private enterprise has failed to save the government from cash shortages and economic stagnation due to a cutback in subsidized oil from Venezuela.

Then-Economy Minister Marino Murillo said last month that Cuba saw 1 percent growth in the first half of 2016 despite an explosion in tourism set off by the declaration of detente with the United States in December 2014. Murillo said the country would have to reduce electricity consumption by 6 percent, with the majority of the reduction directed at the state sector.

The government and state-run enterprises see less activity during the summer, when many Cubans take long vacations. This summer has been particularly slow, with more employees than usual taking longer vacation and leaving the office by early afternoon. Air-conditioning has been cut back in state buildings, and gas stations are frequently closed because they have run out of fuel or are ostensibly undergoing repairs.

Cuba has so far not seen frequent or sustained power outages, shortages or other dramatic effects of the slowdown.

There is, however, widespread popular frustration with the government's failure to increase state salaries or allow the faster growth of private enterprise.

Another Communist Party document released in May laying out the party's vision for the country until 2030 mentions a new legal recognition of small- and medium-sized business. Private businesses are currently allowed only under a special category of self-employment, leading to problems for businesses that run afoul of a bureaucracy that doesn't officially recognize them.

The new guidelines contain no details about that reform, casting doubt on whether it will go into effect anytime in the foreseeable future.

Frustrated by the lack of opportunities and worried that the U.S. will end special privileges for Cuban immigrants, Cubans have been leaving the island of 11 million people in growing waves. The rate of emigration has more than doubled since the declaration of detente and more than 90,000 Cubans have entered the United States through border crossings. More than 10,000 more have left in rafts and thousands of others have gone to other countries.

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In flooded Louisiana, a cleanup and a search for bodies

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Authorities went door to door and car to car to check for bodies Tuesday, and homeowners began the heartbreaking task of gathering up soaked family photos and mucking out houses dank with bayou mud, as the floodwaters started to recede across parts of southern Louisiana.

Even as the water fell in some areas, it was rising in other places downstream, where people furiously filled sandbags and fled to shelters.

Officials painted a stark picture of the crisis so far: at least 40,000 homes damaged and 11 people killed in some of the worst flooding in Louisiana history, touched off by as much as 2 feet of rain in 48 hours. Over 30,000 people have been rescued since Friday, with more being brought to safety by the hour.

David Key boats away from his flooded home after reviewing the damage in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Key, an insurance adjuster, fled his home as the flood water was rising with his wife and three children and returned today to assess the damage. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

There were scattered reports of looting, and Gov. John Bel Edwards said parishes with widespread damage would be placed under curfew beginning Tuesday night.

The smell of muddy water hung heavy in the air as people donned surgical masks and began the back-breaking job of ripping out soggy carpet, drywall and insulation. They cleaned out spiders and cockroaches that had bubbled up through the sewer grates.

Raymond Lieteau, 48, returned to his home in the Woodlands neighborhood of Baton Rouge to survey the damage Tuesday and begin cleaning up. The water line on a mirror showed that he had more than 5 feet of water inside his home.

"My furniture is all over the place," he said. "It's just amazing."

The bedroom floors were buckled and the walls bowed, and the swimming pool, once a crystal-clear blue, was filled with brown water.

His wife, Daniella Letelier, put on rubber gloves and began sorting through stacks of family photos, removing them from their sleeves and placing them on a table to dry out. Many of the photos were of her 15-year-old daughter, Olivia.

"I can't live without her pictures. It breaks my heart," she said.

Officials started going house to house to make sure everyone was accounted for and searched the countless cars that had been caught in the flooding.

"I don't know we have a good handle on the number of people who are missing," the governor said.

More than 60,000 people had signed up for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and 16 parishes were added to the federal disaster declaration, bringing the total to 20.

And help was coming from quarters beyond the federal government.

Performer Taylor Swift told The Associated Press that she is donating $1 million to flood relief. She said the state's residents graciously welcomed her when she kicked off the U.S. dates of her "1989 World Tour" in Louisiana last year.

"The fact that so many people in Louisiana have been forced out of their own homes this week is heartbreaking," the 26-year-old said in a statement. "I encourage those who can to help out and send your love and prayers their way during this devastating time."

In Livingston Parish, one of the hardest-hit areas with about 138,000 people, an official estimated that 75 percent of the homes were a total loss.

In Tangipahoa Parish, Parish President Robby Miller said at least 7,500 homes had flood damage, meaning they took on anywhere from an inch of water to water up to the roof. That number could go as high as 10,000, he said, which would be about a quarter of the homes in the parish.

Officials from Livingston Parish were in Baton Rouge on Tuesday to talk to federal officials about getting some sort of temporary housing for their first responders  a sign of the housing crunch that's likely soon too come with so many people out of their homes for weeks and perhaps months.

Rivers and creeks were still dangerously bloated in areas south of Baton Rouge as the water made its way toward the Gulf of Mexico. In Ascension Parish, some small towns were already inundated. In St. James Parish, authorities called for volunteers to help fill sandbags.

Nearly 800 evacuees were gathered in a makeshift Red Cross shelter established in Gonzales at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center, a multipurpose facility that has hosted rodeos, car and truck shows and concerts. Even more people escaping the flood were at an RV park on the site.

Tables were stacked with supplies, and a short line of people waited for medical assistance at the nursing station. Music played outside, while children with hula hoops and other games appeared oblivious to the nearby flooding that threatened their homes.

Evacuated cows and horses were housed on the property, along with pets rescued.

Jared Henry, 39, a chemical plant worker who raises rodeo bulls at his 35-acre home in Gonzales, had moved his 50 bulls to Lamar Dixon as his property flooded, swimming some of the bulls to safety. Henry said his trailer home was raised off the ground and not damaged, but he wasn't sure if it would remain that way. He lost everything before when a fire destroyed his home.

"So when I saw this coming, I took the few things of sentimental value, got all the cows, the puppy dogs," Henry said after feeding the bulls a batch of hay. "Anything else can be replaced. I care about my animals more than anything in this world."

The governor said he is worried about "battle fatigue" setting in as rescuers and residents deal with day upon day of stress.

The trauma was evident among people who went back Tuesday.

David Key used a small boat to get to his house in Prairieville and said it had taken on 5 inches of "muddy, nasty bayou water." There were fish and thousands of spiders, and mold had started to grow. The backyard was still under water, with only the safety net surrounding his children's trampoline visible.

"I'm not going to lie, I cried uncontrollably," he said. "But you have to push forward and make it through. Like everybody says, you still have your family."

___

Santana reported from New Orleans. Kevin McGill and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

David Key looks at the back yard of his flooded home in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Key, an insurance adjuster, fled his home as the flood water was rising with his wife and three children and returned today to assess the damage. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

Mailboxes are seen just above flood water in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. As waters begin to recede in parts of Louisiana, some residents struggled to return to flood-damaged homes on foot, in cars and by boat. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

Mailboxes are seen just above flood water in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. As waters begin to recede in parts of Louisiana, some residents struggled to return to flood-damaged homes on foot, in cars and by boat. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)

David Key looks at water out of his master bedroom windows in his flooded home in Prairieville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Key, an insurance adjuster, fled his home as the flood water was rising with his wife and three children and returned today to assess the damage. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)
Slain runner from New York laid to rest in Massachusetts

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP)  A New York City woman killed while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home brought light to the lives of everyone she touched, mourners were told at her funeral on Tuesday.

Family, neighbors and a bus full of Google co-workers were among the hundreds of people who paid tribute to Vanessa Marcotte, 27, at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church in Leominster.

Marcotte's body was found Aug. 7 in the woods near her mother's home in the small town of Princeton.

Pall Bearers carry the casket of Vanessa Marcotte into Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church for a funeral service Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7 while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

"You epitomize grace, light, humility, and absolute magic," said eulogist Leah Abrahams, one of Marcotte's best friends.

The Rev. Dennis O'Brien urged mourners to remember Marcotte for the way she lived, not the way she died.

"Her death should not be the headline story," he said. "The headline story that the entire world needs to see and read is the love that she lived every single day of her life."

Marcotte grew up in Leominster, graduated from Boston University and worked as an account manager at Google in New York City.

She went out for a run at about 1 p.m. on Aug. 7 and never came home. Her body was found by police about seven hours later in a wooded area about a half-mile from her mother's home.

Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle.

She is survived by her parents, John Marcotte and Rossana Marcotte, one grandfather, several aunts and uncles and cousins.

"Vanessa embodied everything that is good in a human being," according to her obituary. "She was kind, compassionate, bright, curious, charming, and vivacious. She was blessed with beauty, grace, a generous spirit, and a loving heart."

Pall Bearers carry the casket of Vanessa Marcotte at Woodside Cemetery Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Westminster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7 while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Mourners console each other outside Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church after her funeral service for Vanessa Marcotte, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Mourners console each other outside Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church as they arrive for her funeral service for Vanessa Marcotte, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Mourners console each other outside Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church after her funeral service for Vanessa Marcotte, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Mourners console each other outside Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church after her funeral service for Vanessa Marcotte, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Pall Bearers carry the casket of Vanessa Marcotte ouf of Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church after a funeral service Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7 while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

Mourners watch during the graveside service for Vanessa Marcotte at Woodside Cemetery Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Westminster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7 while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

The funeral procession for Vanessa Marcotte makes its way ip Main Street , Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

The funeral procession for Vanessa Marcotte makes its way ip Main Street , Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7, while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (John Love/The Sentinel & Enterprise via AP)

FILE - This undated driver license photo released by the Worcester County District Attorney's Office shows Vanessa Marcotte, of New York, whose body was found Sunday night, Aug. 7, 2016, in the woods about a half-mile from her mother's home in the town of Princeton, Mass., about 40 miles west of Boston. A funeral Mass is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 16, for 27-year-old Marcotte, who was killed while out for a run in Massachusetts. (Worcester County District Attorney's Office via AP, File)

Pall Bearers the casket of Vanessa Marcotte after her funeral service at Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic church Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Leominster, Mass. Marcotte, 27, who worked for Google in New York City, was killed Aug. 7 while out running near her mother's Massachusetts home. Investigators have received more than 600 tips, but no arrests have been announced. They say her male assailant may have suffered cuts, scratches and bruises from a struggle. (Christine Peterson/Worcester Telegram & Gazette via AP)
Guatemala's Santiaguito volcano spouts ash plume

GUATEMALA CITY (AP)  The Santiaguito volcano spouted a plume of ash Tuesday that rose 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) above sea level and scattered ash into neighboring Mexico.

The National Seismological Institute said the eruption took place at about 7 a.m. at the volcano, which is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the Mexican border.

David De Leon, spokesman for Guatemala's disaster response agency, said ash fell as far away as the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, where authorities described the fall in cities such as Tapachula as light.

In this photo released by Guatemala's National Seismological Institute, the Santiaguito volcano blows outs a thick cloud of ash in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Disaster response agency spokesman David De Leon said the ash fell as far away as Mexico's southern state of Chiapas. De Leon said the volcano is one of the most explosive in Latin America, with about 76 eruptions this year. (Guatemala's National Seismological Institute via AP)

De Leon said the volcano is one of the most explosive in Latin America, with about 76 eruptions this year.
Boston police to assign bodycams since no one volunteered

BOSTON (AP)  Boston Police Commissioner William Evans says he plans to randomly assign body cameras to 100 officers by September since none of them volunteered for the pilot program.

The Boston Globe reports (http://bit.ly/2bl4aBm) Evans made the comments Tuesday during his monthly "Ask the Commissioner" interview on WGBH-FM's Boston Public Radio.

The move comes after Evans warned that he might have to force officers to wear them because no officers volunteered. The rollout date for the pilot program is Sept. 1.

Officials said last month that the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association had agreed to the six-month pilot program.

Evans has acknowledged it's been a "hard sell" to officers.

Activists in Boston have called for police body cameras for two years, since the shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri.

___
Milwaukee is latest city to use curfew to tamp down unrest

The neighborhood rocked by violent protests after a black officer fatally shot a black man was calmer after police pledged to strictly enforce a curfew for teenagers in Milwaukee, the latest place where authorities have invoked decades-old, often little-enforced laws to try to tamp down unrest.

But the measures are controversial, with some people saying curfews violate civil liberties. Researchers also argue there's little to no evidence that the laws work, particularly when it comes to curbing juvenile crime. And in some cases, they say, the laws only make problems worse in the long term.

"The most useful aspect of a curfew is it gives the public an impression that the police are doing something," said Kenneth Adams, a criminal justice professor at the University of Central Florida who has studied the laws. "It's sending the message that 'We the police are serious about restoring order, and we're going to take steps.'"

Police prepare to close a park in Milwaukee, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer. "This was, quite frankly, unanticipated," Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the city's economically depressed and largely black north side. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Authorities in Ferguson, Missouri, issued curfews for all residents in 2014 in response to violence that erupted after a white officer shot and killed a black 18-year-old, a move that angered many in the community who saw it as further mistreatment of blacks. After a man died in police custody in Baltimore in 2015, the city's mayor imposed a weeklong curfew, saying she did not want to see the city "destroyed by thugs."

Milwaukee's enforcement was aimed at teens and followed riots that started after the Saturday shooting of Sylville Smith. Police say the 23-year-old was fleeing a traffic stop and had a gun in his hand when he turned toward the officer, who opened fire. The state is investigating.

Peaceful protests turned violent that night and continued on Sunday evening. Some businesses were set on fire, one person was shot and multiple officers were injured.

Milwaukee has had a curfew law on its books since 1943. It prohibits people under age 17 from loitering in public places between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. during the summer months, and from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday during the school year.

The proclamation Mayor Tom Barrett issued Monday expanded the curfew to apply to anyone under 18. It also took effect an hour earlier, at 10 p.m.

"Your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets," he said at a news conference Monday. "This is not the place where you go to gawk. This is not the place where you go to take pictures. This is not the place where you go to drive your car around."

Police said Monday night was markedly more peaceful, with what the police chief called some "heated confrontations" and six arrests but no destruction of property.

"Last night was a much better night," said Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton. "I'm hoping we continue down that path."

Between Saturday night and Monday morning, police reported 31 people were arrested, including three juveniles. After Barrett announced the curfew Monday, 10 people were arrested. One was a juvenile.

Experts caution that while the youth curfew may have had an impact temporarily, they are not generally an effective crime-fighting tool.

Little juvenile crime occurs overnight, said Adams, adding that "you'd get a better bang for your buck" in most communities if a curfew were imposed from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.  when kids are out of school, parents are less likely to be around and young people are more likely to cause trouble.

Enforcing curfews also requires significant resources that could be better put toward other efforts, researchers have found. There are concerns that they are not uniformly or fairly enforced, with minorities and people in low-income neighborhoods tending to be disproportionately targeted.

Enforcement also tends to ebb and flow. After a notable crime or a spike in criminal activity, authorities or elected officials will make the often politically popular step of beefing up enforcement. But officers quickly grow tired of it, or priorities shift.

In Milwaukee, for example, the number of charges filed against minors and their parents has dropped significantly in the past few years. In 2011, 539 minors and 23 parents were charged with violating the curfew law. Last year, charges were filed against 148 minors and eight parents. The numbers are on pace to be even lower this year.

Mike Males, senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, said there's another problem: Curfews don't target the people who are committing crimes.

In Ferguson and Baltimore, he said, authorities blamed teenagers for much of the unrest. But arrest logs showed few people taken into custody were teens. Most were considerably older.

Targeting that younger population, he added, serves only to antagonize them. It also allows public officials to avoid addressing larger problems such as longstanding racial disparities and poverty.

"It's an easy population to blame," Males said.

Sharlen Moore, a mother of three who lives in the Milwaukee neighborhood where the shooting and subsequent unrest happened, said imposing a youth curfew was "just putting a Band-Aid over a gushing wound. It's a temporary solution to a bigger problem."

Moore said her children are younger and she personally transports them, so the curfew has not directly affected her family.

Because of that, she said, her children "are not put in unnecessary harm's way with police or other people. There are people in our community who don't have that privilege."

___

Associated Press writers Andale Gross and Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Police prepare to close a park in Milwaukee, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting Saturday of a black man by a black officer. "This was, quite frankly, unanticipated," Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the city's economically depressed and largely black north side. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

A man speaks with police in a park in Milwaukee, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man Saturday by a black officer. "This was, quite frankly, unanticipated," Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the city's economically depressed and largely black north side. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

William Bluford, of Milwaukee, walks past a BP gas station, at N. Sherman Blvd. and W. Burleigh St., one of several building destroyed by fire Saturday night, in Milwaukee, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016. Businesses in the Sherman Park neighborhood were torched, cars overturned and set ablaze, and gunfire erupted Saturday night following a fatal police shooting in Milwaukee. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
Plea bargain in case of removal of Native American artifacts

FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  A doctor pleaded guilty to two felonies involving removal of ancient Native American artifacts from public lands in California and Nevada.

Anesthesiologist Jonathan Bourne, 59, of Mammoth Lakes entered his plea Monday in U.S. District Court in Fresno.

Bourne agreed to pay $249,372 to cover the costs of curating and storing about 20,000 relics that federal agents found in his home, said U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.

Federal authorities opened a yearlong investigation after a hiking club website published photos of Bourne digging a wooden bow out of a melting glacier in the Sierra Nevada, the Los Angeles Times reported (http://lat.ms/2b1RPPl ) Tuesday.

Last year, a grand jury indicted Bourne on eight counts of unlawful transportation of archaeological resources removed from public lands; six counts of unauthorized excavation, removal, damage or defacement of archaeological resources removed from public lands; six counts of injury or depredation to government property; and one count of possession of stolen government property.

Those charges could have been punishable by up to 50 years in prison, with forfeiture of all vehicles and equipment that was used.

But under a plea agreement Bourne admitted to unlawfully removing glass trade beads from a site in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada in 2010 and a year later altering a site in Death Valley National Park by removing a tool made from a bighorn sheep horn and three etched stone tablets. The latter items are considered sacred to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.

Bourne's sentence will be imposed Nov. 7.

The maximum statutory penalty would be two years in prison and a $20,000 fine for each of the two felony counts, but U.S. attorney's spokeswoman Lauren Horwood said the government agreed not seek any time in custody.

The plea deal calls for Bourne to not be allowed on public lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agencies that investigated him. The term of the ban will be part of the sentence.
Rape case from the past casts pallor on 'Birth of a Nation'

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A 17-year-old rape accusation and recent reports that the female accuser who continued to be haunted by the case committed suicide in 2012 has cast a shadow over Nate Parker's upcoming "The Birth of a Nation," a film that was expected to be one of the year's most important.

"The Birth of a Nation," a drama about Nat Turner's 1831 slave rebellion, has been pegged as an Academy Awards candidate since its award-winning debut at last January's Sundance Film Festival, where it fetched a record $17.5 million acquisition price from Fox Searchlight.

"The Birth of a Nation," which Parker stars in, co-wrote, co-produced and directed, is a film some believe will help sweep in a more diverse field of Oscar nominees, along with providing a breakthrough for Parker.

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2016 file photo, Nate Parker arrives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Grants Banquet in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

But after a handful of trade interviews in which Parker discussed the rape charges he faced and was then acquitted of as a student at Penn State University in 1999, Parker's past is what's drawing headlines well before the October release of "The Birth of a Nation." Attention has only intensified with the news Tuesday from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety that the accuser, who was not named, killed herself in 2012 at the age of 30 after a few prior attempts that same year, according to court documents.

Late Tuesday, Parker posted an essay on his Facebook page in response to the latest developments.

"I myself just learned that the young woman ended her own life several years ago and I am filled with profound sorrow," Parker wrote. "I can't tell you how hard it is to hear this news. I can't help but think of all the implications this has for her family."

The woman's family issued a statement to the New York Times Tuesday as well noting that while appreciative that the men are "being held accountable for their actions" they are "dubious of the underlying motivations that bring this to present light after 17 years."

The family said they "will not take part in stoking its coals" and asked for privacy on behalf of the woman's son.

As a 19-year-old wrestler at Penn State, Parker and his roommate Jean Celestin (who has a story credit on "The Birth of a Nation") were charged with raping the 18-year-old student. The woman said she was unconscious at the time and didn't consent to the sex. Parker, who testified that he and the woman had previously had sex, and Celestin maintained that it was consensual. He reiterated this point in his post Tuesday night.

Parker was acquitted in 2001. Celestin was convicted of sexual assault, but that was later overturned when the woman opted not to testify again for a 2005 retrial. She sued Penn State and was awarded a settlement out of court.

Her suffering reportedly continued, however.

The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday spoke to S. Daniel Carter, a sexual assault victim advocate, who said the accuser was "tormented" by "the constant contact and fear of seeing her assailants on campus."

The accuser's brother, identified only as Johnny, also spoke about his sister.

"If I were to look back at her very short life and point to one moment where I think she changed as a person, it was obviously that point," Johnny told Variety. "The trial was pretty tough for her."

After the trial, Johnny said, his sister moved around frequently and became a mother to a son with her boyfriend.

"I think the ghosts continued to haunt her," he said.

The case largely escaped notice at Sundance, but in a pair of trade interviews published Friday, Parker confronted it straightforwardly.

"I was sure it would come up," Parker told Deadline. "I stand here, a 36-year-old man, 17 years removed from one of the painful moments in my life. And I can imagine it was painful for everyone. I was cleared of everything, of all charges. I've done a lot of living, and raised a lot of children. I've got five daughters and a lovely wife."

Parker's Facebook post took on a graver tone. He noted that it was not an attempt to "solve this with a statement" but merely a response to the moment.

"I cannot change what has happened. I cannot bring this young woman who was someone else's daughter, someone's sister and someone's mother back to life," he wrote. "I have tried to conduct myself in a way that honors my entire community  and will continue to do this to the best of my ability."

In the bright spotlight of Hollywood's awards season, far less has hurt a film's chances with Oscar voters. On the other hand, Parker wasn't found guilty, and he has faced the case more directly than some Hollywood stars have in the past.

"I have never run from this period in my life and I never ever will," he wrote.

A lot is on the line for Fox Searchlight, which paid more for "The Birth of a Nation" than any previous Sundance film. The movie's striking poster features Parker as Turner with a noose made out of an American flag. The film will play in September at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In an earlier statement, Fox Searchlight, which has not yet responded to the latest developments, said: "Fox Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State. We also know that he was found innocent and cleared of all charges. We stand behind Nate and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen."

___
Navy names ship after gay rights advocate Harvey Milk

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Navy is naming a ship in honor of the late gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy for four years before he began a career in San Francisco city government.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Tuesday that Milk displayed tremendous courage fighting for the rights of the LGBT community. The ship is one of a new fleet of replenishment oilers that will be built in San Diego.

Milk's career as a Navy officer, however, ended with an "other than honorable" discharge, due to allegations of fraternization with enlisted personnel.

FILE - In this April 1977 file photo, San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk sits in the mayor's office during the signing of the city's gay rights bill in San Francisco. The Navy is naming a ship in honor of the late gay rights leader, who served in the Navy for four years before he began a career in San Francisco city government. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the decision to name the ship, which is one of a new fleet of replenishment oilers that will be built in San Diego. (AP Photo/File)

Some argue that Milk was forced out of the military because he was gay. A defense official said Tuesday that Milk accepted the other than honorable discharge to avoid possible disciplinary action.

Fraternization with enlisted personnel by an officer is against military regulations  whether they are the same or different genders. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military was formally ended in September 2011.

Milk became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office. He was serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 when a former political colleague, Dan White, assassinated him and Mayor George Moscone at City Hall.

Mabus said Milk "offered hope for millions of Americans who were being ostracized and prosecuted just for who they loved."

Speaking in San Francisco during the announcement, Mabus said it was important to honor those like Milk who have fought in a different way, battling  and sometimes dying  for freedom and equality.

Chad Griffin, the president of the advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, lauded the Navy honor for Milk, calling it "further evidence of the profound progress on LGBTQ equality we continue to make as a nation."

"In his bold and unabashed advocacy, Milk inspired LGBTQ people for generations," Griffin said in a statement.
Cyprus police: 3 people sought in fatal stabbing of Briton

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Police in Cyprus say they have issued arrest warrants fort two Turkish Cypriot men and a Greek Cypriot woman in connection with the fatal stabbing of a British man and the wounding of another Briton in the popular coastal resort of Ayia Napa over the weekend.

A Cyprus policeman told The Associated Press on customary condition of anonymity Tuesday that the Greek Cypriot woman was placed under arrest after being questioned by investigators.

George Low, a 22-year-oldfrom Kent, England, died after he and his friend were attacked in the early hours Sunday by two knife-wielding men along a busy street in Ayia Napa shortly after getting into a shoving match with one of them.
'Significant psychological burden' for patients with cancelled operations

Thousands of patients are having their operations cancelled on the day of their scheduled surgery, a new report has found.

And tens of thousands are being forced to wait for longer than 18 weeks for routine operations, the authors said.

Equipment shortages, a lack of beds and scheduling errors were the main excuses given to patients for cancelling their elective surgeries on the day, the authors said.

The effects of having surgery cancelled on the day were highlighted in the report

The Patients Association warned that cancelling an operation places a "significant psychological burden" on patients.

A new report from the patient charity found that during 2015 hospital trusts across England cancelled an average of 753 operations on the day.

Its annual report Feeling The Wait found that the total number of surgeries cancelled by individual trusts ranged from eight to 3,269.

The report states: " We have grown increasingly concerned at the waits patients are facing for surgery and the amount of patients who have had their operation cancelled on the day."

It adds: " There is a significant psychological burden on patients waiting to be given a date for surgery and for patients whose surgery has been cancelled (often on the day the surgery was due to take place)."

Meanwhile the report also highlighted "substantial" increases in the number of patients who are waiting more than 18 weeks for routine operations.

"This year's report based on 2015 data shows that on the whole, waiting times are getting worse, not better," the authors wrote.

Their analysis show that the number of patients waiting for elective surgical procedures - such as hip or knee operations - over 18 weeks during 2015 was 92,739, compared to 51,388 in 2014 - a rise of around 80%.

The report is based on responses to 112 Freedom of Information requests sent to NHS Trusts across England.

And the average waiting times for five procedures - hip replacement, knee replacement, hernia, adenoid and tonsillectomies - are above 100 days, the Patients Association said.

"The Patients Association has noticed a clear, trend over recent years in the increasing time people are waiting for operations, as well as the number of people waiting longer for elective surgery," said Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy.

"Every day we hear from the people behind these statistics on our national helpline: individuals who are in pain, worried they will lose further mobility, or will take longer to recover when they finally get their surgery. Their family members and carers are also having to share the added uncertainty and pressure faced by patients whilst they are waiting for their operations.

"Overall, with the significant jump in waiting times, we are very concerned that relaxing the rules on waiting time targets as recently reported, will only exacerbate an already unacceptable situation for patients.

"From the patient's perspective, nothing positive can come from taking away NHS targets - it just means people could be waiting even longer as there will be little incentive for NHS providers to focus on efficiency."

In July NHS officials in England announced that hospital trusts will no longer be fined for missing key targets on waiting times and cancer as part of a bid to improve finances.

National fines for missing targets have been scrapped for at least 12 months and replaced with individual trust plans aimed at improving performance and finances.

Hospitals will no longer be fined for missing the four-hour A&E target, the 62-day target to get cancer treatment and the 18-week goal for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements.

Health officials contested the claims by the Patients Association on the number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for routine operations.

Health minister David Mowat said: "These claims are both unreliable and misleading. The latest official figures show that nine in 10 patients still wait less than 18 weeks for treatment, despite the fact that last year the NHS carried out 1.6 million more operations than in 2010."

He added: "Fewer than 1% of operations were cancelled on short notice - stable despite this rising activity - and the number of people waiting more than a year has dropped by nearly 18,000 under this Government."

An NHS England spokesman said: "We have significant concerns about this report which is both misleading and statistically flawed and is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the referral-to-treatment performance standard. Waits for an NHS operation remain close to an all-time low - down from a maximum wait of 18 months over a decade ago to 18 weeks now, with the average wait less than 10 weeks.
Sugar tax on soft drinks 'will put 4,000 jobs at risk'

A sugar tax on soft drinks could result in thousands of job losses, a new report suggests.

The study, by Oxford Economics on behalf of the British Soft Drinks Association, said the levy could lead to 4,000 job losses, with the hospitality industry and smaller retailers hit hardest.

The proposed sugar tax on drinks such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Red Bull will come into force from 2018.

A report warns the sugar tax on soft drinks could lead to 4,000 job losses in the industry

Drinks with 5g of sugar per 100ml will face a lower rate of tax while those with more than 8g per 100ml will face a higher rate, under plans unveiled by then chancellor George Osborne as part of the Budget in March.

But retail groups and a number of businesses have joined a campaign against the tax.

Gavin Partington, director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association, which is providing funding for the campaign, said: "We absolutely agree with the Government that obesity levels are too high and action is needed, but burdening businesses and consumers with an ineffective tax is not the answer.

"We know from the evidence around the world where they've tried a tax that it will not make a difference to obesity. What it will do, as this report shows, is damage thousands of businesses across the entire soft drinks supply chain, from farmers to manufacturers, to convenience stores and the pub and restaurant trade.

"At a time of economic uncertainty, the Government needs to be supporting these businesses and working with industry to support actions that are already making a difference, such as reformulation, smaller packs, and more marketing of the many no-sugar options now available."

A Treasury spokesman said: "The levy is about getting producers to use healthier ingredients to reduce the levels of added sugar in products our children consume. If they reformulate, they won't have to pay.

"Companies have two years before the levy comes into force to adapt, and it's designed to encourage them to reformulate their products so there is less added sugar in soft drinks. Already Britvic has said it will reduce calories in their drinks by 20% over the next four years in response to the levy.

"British children are currently consuming three times the recommended amount of sugar and health experts agree there is a specific problem with sugar-laden soft drinks."

In a joint statement the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition of over 30 charities, including Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, medical royal colleges and campaign groups, said: "The soft drinks industry levy will save money tomorrow by helping to tackle children's obesity today.

"Sugary soft drinks have no nutritional value and are the single biggest contributor to a child's sugar intake, and high consumption of sugar is one of the factors fuelling the obesity crisis.

"A third of children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, putting them at a greater risk of serious health conditions later in life such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease and associated mental health problems.
Burnley break transfer record to sign Anderlecht midfielder Steven Defour

Burnley have broken their transfer record to sign Belgian midfielder Steven Defour from Anderlecht.

The 28-year-old, who has won 46 caps for his country, has penned a three-year deal at Turf Moor for a fee understood to be in the region of 7.5million that eclipses the initial 6million the Clarets spent on striker Andre Gray last summer.

Defour has become Burnley's fourth signing of the transfer window and will give Sean Dyche the central midfielder he has been craving since Joey Barton left Turf Moor to join Rangers after their promotion.

Steven Defour has joined Premier League newcomers Burnley

The move will be seen as a statement of intent from Burnley, whose other acquisitions this summer were Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Nick Pope and Jon Flanagan.

Defour is a two-time Belgian league winner with Standard Liege and he also spent three years at Porto before moving to Anderlecht in 2014 in a move which enraged fans of rival club Standard.

Seven years ago he received a letter from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson when he was injured in which the Scot claimed he would "remain in contact with Standard" over his reported transfer target's progress.

However, it is only now that he has secured a move to the top flight, a division he hopes Burnley can remain in beyond the first year of his deal.

"I hope I can bring my experience to the team and the club to stay in the Premier League," Defour said.

"I'm looking forward to every game. The atmosphere around the league is fantastic and everyone across the world has seen the Premier League, so I am very proud to be a part of that. It is a new challenge for me, but I like that.

"It has been a long few weeks, but I am very happy to be here.

"When I knew that Burnley was interested, I took some time to look into the club and I saw some interesting stuff.

"I also called a friend of mine who plays at Brentford and he told me Burnley was the best team in the Championship and that it would be a really good choice for me."

It was thought Burnley may have missed out on Defour when interest from Asia emerged but Anderlecht announced that the two clubs had reached an agreement on Friday, with Defour arriving in England on Sunday and conducting his medical the following day.

"Steven was a target of ours and it's been a hard deal to do, but we got there in the end," added Dyche.

"He's a good player with a depth of experience at international level and also Champions League. Steven is new to the Premier League but has a real thirst and desire to be successful in this campaign."

Although Defour's move has now been sealed, Dyche may still be in the market for another central midfielder as David Jones appears to be on the verge of a switch to Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.
Inquest begins into death of man shot by police in his London home

An inquest will today begin hearing evidence in the death of a man who was killed by armed police officers when they stormed his home.

James Fox was shot by police after they entered the sixth floor flat of Picardy House, Cedar Road, Enfield, shortly before midnight on August 30 2015.

The 43-year-old, who had a history of mental illness, died at the scene in north London.

James Fox was killed by armed police officers when they stormed his home (Matthew Gold and Company/PA)

The jury of six women and five men were sworn in at North London Coroner's Court on Monday.
Theresa May 'reaffirms UK's commitment to strong relations with China'

Theresa May has written to China's president Xi Jinping to reassure him of Britain's continuing commitment to strong relations with Beijing.

The Prime Minister's letter was handed over by Foreign Office Minister Alok Sharma to his Chinese counterpart during an official visit to the Chinese capital.

The move comes after China expressed dismay at a decision by Mrs May to put the development of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station on hold amid reported concerns about the role of Beijing in the project.

The move comes after unrest over the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project

The text of the letter, which was described as "private correspondence", has not been released by Downing Street.

A No 10 source said: "It is about reassuring the Chinese of our commitment to Anglo-Chinese relations."

Earlier this month, China's ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, voiced concern at the delay to the 18 billion Hinkley Point project, warning that relations between the two countries were at a "crucial historical juncture".

The surprise decision by Mrs May, just three weeks after taking office, to review the project to build the Somerset power station was widely seen as reflecting concerns about allowing China to invest in Britain's critical national infrastructure.

The Prime Minister's chief of staff, Nick Timothy, had previously written about the possibility that China could covertly install software which would allow it to close down the power station at will.

There was speculation that Mrs May would take a markedly different approach to relations with Beijing from David Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne, who sought to encourage Chinese investment in the UK.

However, in her letter to Mr Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Mrs May said Britain "looks forward to strengthening co-operation with China on trade and business and on global issues".
Liverpool reject Crystal Palace's initial 23million bid for Christian Benteke

Liverpool have rejected an initial 23million offer from Crystal Palace for striker Christian Benteke as they hold out for a fee similar to the one they paid last summer.

Press Association Sport understands that Palace, whose own transfer kitty has been swelled by Yannick Bolasie's move to Everton on Monday, lodged a bid that, with add-ons, was thought could rise to 30million.

Benteke is seen as surplus to requirements among the six strikers at Anfield just one year on from his 32.5million switch from Aston Villa, yet the Reds want to recoup as much of that money as possible and have turned down Palace's offer.

Christian Benteke is seen as surplus to requirements at Anfield

There is still hope a deal could be struck for the 28-year-old between the two Premier League clubs and it is believed Palace will be undeterred by seeing their first attempt turned down.

The add-ons, believed to be team-incentivised, which were part of the package are thought to be one of the stumbling blocks for the Reds, who will know that West Brom are also keeping tabs on the Belgium international's status.

Both Benteke and Mario Balotelli could leave Liverpool prior to the window closing next month, though boss Jurgen Klopp last week warned their suitors their desire to offload them would not see them sold on the cheap.

"Having six strikers is a little bit too uncomfortable but it's still possible," Klopp said.

"If anybody thinks that because we have more than one striker, we make presents to other clubs, that's the biggest misunderstanding in world football. We will not do that 100 per cent."
West Ham complete loan deal for Jonathan Calleri

Argentine striker Jonathan Calleri has completed a season-long loan move to West Ham from Uruguyan club Deportivo Maldonado.

The 22-year-old linked up with his new team-mates at training on Tuesday and will go straight into the squad for Thursday's Europa League play-off first leg with Astra Giurgiu in Romania.

The forward topped the 2015 Copa Libertadores scoring charts with Sao Paulo, and has also enjoyed a fruitful stint at Boca Juniors.

West Ham have a new striker

"I am very happy to have signed for West Ham," Calleri told West Ham's official club website.

"This represents a fantastic new challenge for me and I am really looking forward to it.

"The Premier League is the best league in the world and so I am delighted to have this opportunity to play in such a prestigious league."

Calleri's arrival will offset the thigh injury suffered by club-record signing Andre Ayew in Monday night's 2-1 Premier League defeat at Chelsea.

The Hammers' 20.5million man Ayew trudged off after little more than half an hour, leaving manager Slaven Bilic admitting the striker will face scans to determine the extent of the injury.

While West Ham are likely to continue the search for another more established forward, Calleri's presence will certainly ease Bilic's striking options, with Sofiane Feghouli still battling a hamstring problem.

Argentina Under-23 cap Calleri moves to West Ham after representing his country at the Rio Olympics.

With 39 goals in 90 appearances in the last two seasons, Calleri is intent on warming to the challenges of English football as quickly as possible.

"It is a new chapter for me and so I am excited to get started here and to fit in as quickly as possible, so that I can be as useful as possible to my new team-mates and manager," said Calleri.

"These are exciting times for me personally and I am motivated to adapt my game to this new environment.
Vote Leave leader 'hypocritical' for now calling for rights for Europeans in UK

The Labour MP who co-chaired the successful Vote Leave campaign is facing accusations of hypocrisy after she called on ministers to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK.

Gisela Stuart said the Government had a duty to adopt a "humane" approach towards the estimated 3.5 million EU citizens currently resident in Britain and demonstrate that the UK remained a "welcoming country" in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Her comments drew a stinging retort from Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron who said that she had been happy enough to support a campaign which had "whipped up" anti-immigrant sentiment in order to secure a Leave vote.

Pro-Brexit MP Gisela Stuart is facing accusations of hypocrisy after calling for the rights of EU citizens in the UK to be protected.

"Gisela Stuart happily put her name to a campaign which repeatedly whipped up anti-immigrant feeling, which has contributed to an increase of hate crimes against Europeans, so it's pretty shameful that she's now claiming to be worried about EU citizens here in the UK," Mr Farron said.

"It is like the arsonist turning round and saying they are surprised that a fire took hold."

Ms Stuart, who is chairing an inquiry for the think-tank British Future on how the rights of EU nationals in the UK can be protected, said she would like the Government to announce all those who were in the country before the referendum on June 23 will be allowed to stay.

Ministers have indicated that while they would be prepared to let EU nationals already in the UK stay, they want to secure a reciprocal commitment from other member states concerning the 1.2 million UK citizens living in the EU.

Ms Stuart told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I think it would be good for the British Government to take the initiative, say that we will protect EU citizens' rights, and then expect the same for UK citizens in the rest of the EU to be similarly protected.
Dating site scam victim convicted of money laundering

A 65-year-old woman facing ruin after sending her life savings to a dating site conman has been convicted of money laundering after she unwittingly passed cash to the scammer from other victims.

Sherroll Foster, from Uxbridge, west London, was spared jail after admitting the offence at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, but was ordered to repay 3,500 to another victim.

She has already lost 65,000 and been plunged into debt after taking out an overdraft, personal loans and payday loans, and using credit cards to send money to a man in Ghana that she thought was her "soulmate".

Foster admitted money laundering at Isleworth Crown Court

In fact, the ruse was a scam by a gang targeting women over the age of 60 who use dating websites.

Detective Constable Mark Cresswell said: "This may not be a unique tale, but it most certainly should be treated as a cautionary one.

"These fraudsters target vulnerable people and exploit them not only financially, but emotionally, making their victims believe that true happiness is almost within reach and just a bank transfer away.

"Sherroll Foster was looking forward to a comfortable retirement prior to becoming involved with this scam. She now faces financial ruin and extensive, long term debt."

Foster met a man called Mark Hamilton on a dating website in 2012. He said he was a businessman who needed extra money to release 4 million in gold deposits in Ghana.

She began to send him money in February 2013, and over the next two years gave her life savings and any extra money she could borrow or scrape together.

The pensioner allowed other women, who she said she believed were Hamilton's friends also trying to help him, to pay money into her bank account, which she then passed on to the scammers in Ghana.

Conmen told two of the victims that Foster was their internet boyfriend's mother in order to get them to hand over money.

One sent 8,000 to Foster's bank account, while the other sent 19,000, before they realised that they were being fleeced and contacted fraud reporting service Action Fraud.

Later, a third victim paid another 3,500 into the account, and even though she was on bail for money laundering Foster paid the money to Ghana.

Mr Cresswell added: "If someone online that you have never met in person asks you for money it is highly likely that it is a scam.

"If you have already sent money, stop all contact immediately and report them to both the dating site and to Action Fraud. In most cases the money given under these circumstances cannot be recovered.

"Please don't give your bank details to people you don't know personally and never allow funds to be placed in your account for transferring on.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary faces jail over pro-IS messages

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary, who helped radicalise a string of terrorists including soldier Lee Rigby's killers, is facing years in jail for drumming up support for Islamic State.

The British-born 49-year-old encouraged backing for the terrorist group in a series of talks posted on YouTube, and recognised a caliphate - a symbolic Islamic state - had been created under an IS leader after it was announced on June 29 2014, the Old Bailey heard.

Despite being a leading figure in the banned group al-Muhajiroun (ALM), and a series of former supporters going on to be convicted of terrorism, Choudary stayed on the right side of the law for two decades before investigators were able to pin him down.

Anjem Choudary is facing jail after voicing his support for a Caphilate eastablished by Islamic State

Choudary and co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of inviting support for IS between June 29 2014 and March 6 2015. The verdicts were delivered on July 28, but for legal reasons can only be reported for the first time today.

As the pair were convicted, Mr Justice Holroyde said they had only shown "a grudging compliance" to the court, adding: "You have made your disregard for the court abundantly plain."

Choudary faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, although the judge admitted: "There is very little in the way of precedent in the way of sentencing. Although this has been an offence under an Act of Parliament for some time, it's very far from being one of the most common."

Police pounced after Choudary, along with three other influential radicals, lent their names to an oath of allegiance to IS which was posted on the internet.

The trial heard that the preacher, viewed by officers as a key force in radicalising young Muslims, had been the "mouthpiece" of Omar Bakri Mohammed - the founder of the banned extremist group ALM.

He courted publicity by voicing controversial views on Sharia law, while building up a following of thousands through social media, demonstrations and lectures around the world.

In one speech in March 2013, Choudary set out his ambitions for the Muslim faith to "dominate the whole world".

He said: "Next time when your child is at school and the teacher says 'What do you want when you grow up? What is your ambition?', they should say 'To dominate the whole world by Islam, including Britain - that is my ambition'."

Supporters included Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, the murderers of Lee Rigby, and suspected IS executioner Siddhartha Dhar.

Shortly after the announcement of the caliphate, Choudary held a meeting with his closest aides at a curry house on the Mile End Road in east London to discuss it.

Before accepting it was legitimate, he also consulted his "spiritual guide" Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in jail in Lebanon, and Mohammed Fachry, the head of ALM in Indonesia.

On July 7 2014, the trio's names appeared alongside Rahman's on the oath, which stated the Muhajiroun had "affirmed" the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State".

The defendants followed up by posting on YouTube a series of lectures on the caliphate, which Choudary promoted to more than 32,000 Twitter followers.

The father-of-five denied encouraging his followers to back the terror group and insisted the oath had been made without his knowledge. He said of the pledge: "It is completely unnecessary. For the rest of the Muslims it is obedience from the heart."

Despite protesting his innocence, he continued to express extreme views during his Old Bailey trial, refusing to denounce the execution of journalist James Foley by so-called Jihadi John, aka Mohammed Emwazi, in Syria in 2014.

He told the jury: "If you took an objective view there are circumstances where someone could be punished."

Choudary, of Hampton Road, Ilford, and Rahman, of Sidney Street in Whitechapel, east London, will be sentenced on September 6.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yard's counter terrorism command, said: "These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations.

"Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men.

"The oath of allegiance was a turning point for the police - at last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they supported Isis.

"This has been a significant prosecution in our fight against terrorism and we will now be working with communities to ensure that they are not replaced by others spreading hate.

Sue Hemming, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "These two men knowingly sought to legitimise a terrorist organisation and encouraged others to support it. They used the power of social media to attempt to influence those who are susceptible to these types of messages, which might include the young or vulnerable.

"Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group, the brutal activities they are carrying out and that what they were doing was illegal. Terrorism can have no place in our society and those that encourage others to join such organisations will be prosecuted."

Choudary's conviction was welcomed by leading British Muslims who condemned his "evil" and "hateful" views.

Imam Qari Asim, senior imam of Leeds Makkah Mosque, said: "We have to be very careful of those who look to spread a hateful ideology by preying on vulnerable individuals to lead them down a violent path."

Kashan Amar, network co-ordinator of Birmingham based group Upstanding Neighbourhoods, said the organisation was formed to counter Choudary's "evil messages".

He said: "His distorted world view and hateful vision have led to him facing time in prison.

"There is no place for individuals like him in our community and I am glad to see his pariah status confirmed. It is an important moment in our Say No To Anjem Choudary campaign which has always been clear that his rhetoric encouraged the support of terrorists."

Imam Irfan Chishti, imam of Manchester Central Mosque, said: "British Muslims across the UK welcome this verdict. The community has been unanimous in its rejection of these individuals and everything they stand for.
Golden couple Kenny and Trott underline Great Britain dominance on the track

Jason Kenny kept his cool to win a stunning sixth gold and his peerless fiancee Laura Trott won her fourth as Great Britain dominated the Olympic Velodrome for a third successive Games.

Kenny's third and Trott's second gold of the Rio Olympics saw Britain finish with six gold medals from nine events entered on the track.

And sprint silver for Becky James and bronze for Katy Marchant saw Britain finish with 11 medals in all, four of them silver.

Laura Trott and Jason Kenny have a combined 10 Olympic gold medals

Sir Bradley Wiggins last Friday won his fifth Olympic gold in the team pursuit, but even his exploits were surpassed by Kenny on Tuesday's sixth and final day in the velodrome.

Kenny was thrilled to share the moment with Trott, who congratulated him on the track apron following his win. The couple are scheduled to marry in September.

"The thing about being together for me that's special is that we get to share these moments," Kenny said.

"I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She was bawling her eyes out.

"(But) that was special and it's nice to share it with the people you love."

The 28-year-old, who also won team and individual sprint gold, serenely negotiated the first and second round, effectively a semi-final, before the final, which was aborted after the first start by the officials.

The gun fire indicated an infringement and it appeared Kenny was in danger of being disqualified for illegally passing the motorised Derny bike which ramps up the pace before leaving the track with two-and-a-half laps to go.

A lengthy delay, during which Kenny rolled round the track, contemplating what he would say if he was disqualified, was followed by a second start which was also halted by the 'trigger happy' officials.

Third time lucky and Kenny, so often calm and relaxed, hit the front early, out-pacing the field to emulate Sir Chris Hoy's achievement of six Olympic golds and three at one Games.

And Kenny suggested the result was never in doubt.

"When they shoot the gun it usually does mean someone gets disqualified, but it was so tight," Kenny said.

"I was thinking about my interview if I'd got disqualified, I'd just be saying 'rules are rules'.

"I think it was the right decision to put everyone back in. I was happy to be back in and to be able to compete.

"To me there didn't seem to be any advantage gained. The race played out as it would've played out in any of the three attempts we had at it."

Sir Chris Hoy in Beijing became the first Briton in 100 years - since swimmer Henry Taylor - to win three gold medals at one Games and all week tipped Kenny to repeat the feat.

Kenny, whose only defeat in Olympic competition came in 2008 to Hoy in the sprint, when he picked up silver, was born 12 years to the day after Hoy.

Now he has the same number of Olympic medals - Hoy has seven, including a silver from Sydney 2000 - and could go on to surpass the Scot's tally at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

"I don't really listen to Chris, but he is right worryingly often," Kenny said.

"I'm really happy to get three - I'm not so happy to let Chris be right again."

Hoy was knighted after his success in Beijing.

Kenny added: "That would be amazing."

Trott could also get a letter from Buckingham Palace.

She said: "Things like that come with winning gold medals but I just feel like that eight-year-old that started cycling because she absolutely loved it.

"That blows my mind. I can't even think about it. I want to enjoy this moment first."

And while Kenny is eight years younger than Hoy was when he won his sixth gold, the Lancastrian knows he cannot rest on his laurels.

"If by the time I get back from my honeymoon my place has gone on the squad, it might be time to do something else," he said.

Rather than revel in the achievement, Kenny is looking forward to getting back to the quiet life at home in Cheshire with Trott and their dogs Sprolo and Pringle.

He said: "I love being at the Olympics, but when you're finished all of a sudden the (athletes') village seems quite confined. It's almost like being in prison, so it's rubbish.

"I'm going home as soon as possible to get back, walk the dogs and try to relax a bit."

Asked if the achievement was life-changing, Kenny said: "I hope not. I like my life."

Kenny does not have the biggest profile, but he is pleased to get the recognition from those within the sport.

"I've always felt appreciated, particularly inside British Cycling," he added.

Trott appreciates Kenny, too.

"Jason puts up with so much rubbish on a daily basis from me," she said. "He knows me inside out, what to say and when to say it."

Trott was dominant in the omnium, track cycling's equivalent of the heptathlon and has never been beaten in Olympic competition.

A fourth gold saw Trott move above Charlotte Dujardin in the reckoning after the equestrian rider won her third gold on Monday.
Sergio Aguero bags hat-trick as Manchester City ease past Steaua Bucharest

Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick - and missed two penalties - as Manchester City all but secured a place in the Champions League group stage with an emphatic 5-0 win over Steaua Bucharest.

David Silva and Nolito were also on target as City, with Joe Hart again on the bench, eased to victory in the first leg of their play-off in Romania and maintained Pep Guardiola's winning start.

City's success would have been even more convincing had Aguero not missed twice from the spot in the opening 20 minutes at the Arena Nationala - continuing a poor European record - but ultimately that will probably not matter.

Sergio Aguero, pictured, bagged a hat-trick alongside goals from David Silva and Nolito

The tie looks beyond well Steaua heading into next week's second leg in Manchester.

Whether or not the Romanians will face a City side containing Hart remains to be seen. Guardiola again left the England number one on the bench and rumours that his future may lie away from the Etihad Stadium are growing.

Yaya Toure was also left watching at home in Manchester after being omitted for a second successive game and some pertinent questions over City's future make-up still need to be clarified.

None of this was evident on the pitch, however, as City flew out of the blocks in impressive fashion.

And, just as against Sunderland at the weekend, the revitalised Raheem Sterling won a penalty in the opening minutes.

Muniru Sulley was the guilty party but Aguero could not take advantage from the spot as Florin Nita saved and Nolito fired the rebound against the crossbar.

Aguero went close to making amends with a shot that flew over but Silva made no mistake as he rifled home a shot on 13 minutes after Sterling robbed Alin Tosca.

Aguero should have increased the lead after 20 minutes but again failed from 12 yards, this time after Aleksandar Kolarov was impeded, by blasting over. Remarkably it was his fourth penalty miss from his last five in European competition.

But despite this shortcoming, City looked irresistible at times with Sterling, Silva and Kevin De Bruyne buzzing menacingly.

Kolarov twice went close as he had a shot deflected narrowly over and then volleyed against the bar from a corner. Sterling might have done better when he got behind the defence but Nita did well to tip over.

Aguero finally got on the scoresheet four minutes before the interval, clinically firing home from 18 yards after racing onto a Sterling cross.

City did have a few moments of alarm with Steaua captain Nicolae Stanciu teeing up Jugurtha Hamroun and having an effort himself, but Willy Caballero - under obvious pressure to perform as Hart's replacement - dealt with both.

City made the result safe four minutes into the second half after another prolonged spell of possession which began when Fernandinho brought the ball from deep.

It ended with De Bruyne picking out Nolito with a clever pass into the six-yard box and the Spaniard rounding the keeper for his first City goal as Steaua appealed for offside.

With the job done, City went quiet for a spell but hit their stride again in the latter stages with Sterling testing Nita and Silva firing over.
Islamic State says killed 50 Syrian rebels in Turkey border bus blast

BEIRUT, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Islamic State said on Monday they were responsible for a suicide bombing on a bus on Sunday which killed fighters from western-backed Syrian rebel groups near the Atmeh border crossing with Turkey.

In a statement on one of its Telegram channels, the hard-line militant group said it killed 50 rebels travelling on the bus, from the Failaq al-sham and the al-Zinki groups.
Olympics-Water polo-Unbeaten U.S. women face Hungary next

By Joshua Schneyer

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The world champion U.S. women's water polo team won a spot in the Olympic semi-finals by overwhelming home team Brazil on Monday, prevailing 13-3 and moving a step closer to defending their London Games title.

In the semi-finals on Wednesday, the U.S. women will face Hungary, who edged out Australia by winning a penalty shoot-out following an 8-8 draw.

Russia's women advanced with a 12-10 win over Spain and will next face Italy, who reached the last four with a 12-7 victory over China.

The United States and Italy are the only women's teams yet to lose in the tournament but it was the U.S. lineup that produced the most dominant display on Monday as they lived up to their status as gold medal favourites.

After three U.S. wins in the group round, where the team beat Spain, China and Hungary, they faced their easiest game yet against Brazil.

Californian Makenzie Fischer, 19, helped to lead the charge with two goals, and was one of eight U.S. players to score in the first half without reply.

"Everyone is ready to step up and take a shot," Fischer said of the team.

The U.S. may face a tougher opponent in their next game.

Hungary came back from a 5-3 first half deficit against Australia, to even the score in the last quarter and go on to win a tense shoot-out.

Hungarian centre-back Orsolya Takacs, 31, said her team have ample experience playing against the United States and will be studying videotape to devise a winning strategy for the match-up.

"Everybody's beatable," Takacs told reporters. "We will do everything to win."

Team USA won gold at the 2012 London Games and have clinched a spot on the podium at every Games since women's water polo was added to the Olympics in 2000. The women's gold medal match is set for Friday.

The men's water polo tournament resumes on Tuesday, when world champions Serbia face Spain in the quarter-finals, after a series of mostly disappointing performances in the group phase.

Brazil's men's team, who won three out of five group stage matches and upset the Serbian team earlier, face a strong Croatian side.

The U.S. men's team failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Olympic water polo teams have faced some unexpected challenges in Rio. Controversy erupted over the outdoor water polo pool conditions last week after some players complained about over-chlorination that stung their eyes.
Pentagon announces single largest transfer of Guantanamo inmates

By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. officials said on Monday 15 inmates from the Guantanamo prison were transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the single largest transfer of Guantanamo detainees during President Barack Obama's administration.

The transfer of the 12 Yemeni and three Afghan citizens brings the total number of detainees down to 61 at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most have been held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.

Obama, who had hoped to close the prison during his first year in office, rolled out his plan in February aimed at shutting the facility. But he faces opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.

"In its race to close Gitmo, the Obama administration is doubling down on policies that put American lives at risk," Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

"Once again, hardened terrorists are being released to foreign countries where they will be a threat," he said.

While Obama's plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States, U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland. Obama, though, has not ruled out doing so by executive action.

"I think we are at an extremely dangerous point where there is a significant possibility this is going to remain open as a permanent offshore prison to hold people, practically until they die," said Naureen Shah, Amnesty International's U.S. director for security and human rights.

Shah said keeping Guantanamo open gave cover to foreign governments to ignore human rights.

"It weakens the U.S. government's hand in arguing against torture and indefinite detention," she said.

One of the detainees who was transferred is an Afghan national, identified as Obaidullah, who has spent more than 13 years at Guantanamo. He had been accused of storing mines to be used against American forces in Afghanistan.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention center, said.

"The support of our friends and allies - like the UAE - is critical to our achieving this shared goal," Wolosky said.
Firms in ageing Thailand bet on demand surge for robots and diapers

By Khettiya Jittapong and Pairat Temphairojana

BANGKOK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Thai elderly care robot Dinsow can not only keep track of your medication and video-phone your relatives, but can also exercise with you and even entertain you with its karaoke skills.

Its manufacturer, CT Asia Robotics, is one of many Thai firms investing heavily in healthcare for the aged in a country where the working-age population will decline this year - a first among the emerging economies of Southeast Asia.

By the end of 2016, almost 15 percent of Thailand's roughly 68 million people will be over the retirement age of 60. The government expects the proportion to reach 20 percent by 2020, adding strain to an already stretched healthcare sector.

"Doctors and nurses have responded positively to Dinsow because it helps them monitor patients," said Chief Executive Chalermpon Punnotok. CT Asia Robotics has got 1,000 orders from Thailand and Japan for the 85,000 baht ($2,445) droid, he said.

Thailand's population swing toward the elderly comes as living and education costs rise along with economic development that has outpaced neighbours, according to the World Bank.

The government estimates households spend almost of third of their income on caring for elderly relatives, and KGI Securities estimates healthcare spending will be as high as 7.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2026 from 4.5 percent in 2015.

Thailand's $4 billion medicine and healthcare industry is therefore gearing up for a surge in demand for elderly care products, as well as for doctors, nurses and care givers, plus hospital beds, nursing homes and customised private housing.

Housing developers such as Sena Development PCL and Nusasiri PCL have been adding features to cater to elderly tenants, such as ramps for wheelchair users, sliding doors, touch-screen light switches and emergency alarm systems.

"Elderly clients make up about 10 percent of our customer base," said Sena's Deputy Chief Executive Kesara Tanyalakpark. "That could easily rise to 15 percent or more in coming years."

In personal products, diaper maker DSG International Thailand PCL has seen adult diaper sales grow 30 percent this year, and expects double-digit growth over the next five years, said its chief operating officer.

"We see Thailand moving in the direction of Japan whereby the adult diaper market will become larger than the baby diaper market, perhaps in 10 years' time," Justine Wang told Reuters.

Another company seeing opportunity in the demographic change is medical equipment supplier Samaphan Health, which with Taiwan's Apex Medical Corp sells mattresses to prevent bed sores as well as respiratory products to aid sleep.

"Demand from wealthy clients is very strong," said Managing Director Chinnakarn Samalapa. Sales of its elderly care products have grown 10 percent annually since 2011 and will continue growing, he said. "They don't mind spending to improve the quality of life for elderly relatives."

With so much money being spent on care, the government is considering allowing reverse mortgages which would allow elderly homeowners to convert some of their home value into cash - an initiative that would further boost the market for goods and services targeting the elderly, economists said.

But as the market booms, some seemingly essential products and services could take a little longer than others to benefit.

Thai Riei & Elderly Care Recruitment Co opened in January but attracting customers is a challenge, said Facility Manager Pornchanok Jeanmpudsa. The reason, she said, was a cultural perception that nursing homes are places to abandon the elderly.

($1 = 34.7600 baht)
North Carolina asks U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate voter ID law

WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - North Carolina on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state law requiring voters to show identification to remain in effect for the Nov. 8 U.S. election despite an appeals court decision that the measure discriminates against minority voters.

Lawyers for Republican Governor Pat McCrory said the status quo should be maintained so close to the election, citing court precedent in their favor. The law, which also limited early voting, was enacted in 2013.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 29 that the law intentionally discriminated against minority voters. The same court refused to put its decision on hold for the November election.

Critics say such laws, passed in Republican-governed states, make voting harder for minorities such as African-Americans and Hispanics, who tend to support Democrats. Backers say the laws are necessary to prevent voter fraud.
Australia's Fortescue mines data for exploration permit advantage

By Jonathan Barrett

SYDNEY, Aug 16 (Reuters) - There's a reason Fortescue Metals Group has beaten rivals on at least 30 occasions in the last year in securing valuable mining exploration rights in Australia's iron ore-rich Pilbara region.

It's because the company is able to snap up newly available leases before information on them is released to the public, a Reuters examination of state mining department data has found.

Fortescue secured new exploration ground by paying Western Australia's Department of Mines and Petroleum for numerous electronic information requests on specific land parcels ahead of the free, public release of data detailing which leases had become available that day.

By identifying land that had become available ahead of the public release, Fortescue was able to successfully apply for 31 exploration leases before rivals such as BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto even knew about them, the Reuters study of the data showed.

The approach used by Fortescue is not illegal under Western Australia's "first come, first served" laws governing the transfer of mining permits. That means the company that first lodges its application for newly available leases - known as mineral tenements - on a government register wins the right to explore, and then possibly mine.

A Fortescue spokeswoman declined to answer questions about how it had secured the 31 leases identified by Reuters and sent to the company.

"In acquiring tenements, Fortescue operates in compliance with the Mining Act, and in terms of government material accesses the same information at the same time as is available to its competitors and the general public," she said in an emailed response.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Some industry participants and lawmakers criticised Fortescue's approach, saying it goes against the spirit of rules governing the control of permits needed to hunt for new mineral deposits.

These critics say the rules are designed to ensure a competitive contest, where no single company can consistently secure the state's most promising ground ahead of rivals.

"They aren't supposed to be able to do that," said Les Lowe, president of the Amalgamated Prospectors and Leaseholders Association of Western Australia, which represents prospectors and smaller miners. "It's supposed to be a level-playing field."

Still, one mining software expert who has worked with Fortescue applauded the company for finding legal means to be first to the market.

"You wouldn't begrudge someone with a helicopter for beating the morning traffic," said the person, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Fortescue is just using a helicopter."

State lawmaker Robin Chapple, a Greens politician whose electorate covers the Pilbara, said the Mining Department needed to change its systems to prevent abuse.

"It's certainly an unfair process to small and mid-tier miners that don't have the resources or know-how to game the system," Chapple told Reuters.

INFORMATION REQUESTS

The Reuters findings, using publicly available data, come almost 18 months after the department warned several companies to stop using software to trawl its databases to get early notice that mineral exploration leases were available.

The companies were threatened with being denied access to the systems, and a new process releasing the information for free at 4.30 p.m. every workday was introduced aimed at ensuring equity.

Two sources with knowledge of the situation said Fortescue and Rio Tinto were among the companies that had previously used the software to quickly identify when promising leases had become available, but had stopped after the Mining Department warning. Fortescue and Rio declined to comment on their use of the software.

The new system, however, failed to close a loophole where paying for information requests on specific land parcels every day ahead of the 4.30 p.m. release enabled companies to get access to the same information ahead of others.

"It was just a quick fix," said an expert in tracking surrendered mineral tenements. "It took us about 3 minutes to work out how to beat the system."

Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) acting Executive Director Mineral Titles Kathlene Oliver said the department was aware Fortescue was lodging numerous paid requests ahead of the 4.30 p.m. release.

Oliver did not comment whether the practice of numerous paid requests defeated attempts to create a fairer market by banning trawling software, or whether the government was seeking to reform its systems.

Since 2002, customers have had the option to pay for live data, which show newly available leases, she said.

"Prior to being able to access digital systems, any customer (company or individual) could come to DMP and obtain official title searches for as many tenements as they required," Oliver said.

The Reuters examination, which covered June 2015 to July 2016, found Fortescue secured rights to the leases in most cases at least an hour before the information was released publicly.

Requests to find surrendered land cost just under A$1 each and are for a specific numbered tenement.

Mining sector sources said larger miners such as Fortescue would likely have a priority list of several hundred tenements it would like to explore and possibly mine.

The applications where Fortescue secured leases before the 4.30 p.m. release of information made up about one-quarter of Fortescue's 130 known tenements secured during this period, according to the analysis.

The examination found no examples of the tactic being used by other major companies.

BHP said it relied on the 4:30 p.m. release to identify available mineral tenements, without commenting on why it did not use the tactic employed by Fortescue.

"BHP Billiton does not subscribe to any regular payment for tenement register extracts in order to identify surrendered and withdrawn tenements prior to daily release of the RSS feed," BHP said in an emailed response to questions about its practices.

Rio told Reuters it did not engage in the practice, without elaborating.

Fortescue's aggressive approach to securing tenements has helped it build a much bigger Pilbara landbank than larger rivals BHP and Rio, despite them having been in the area for several decades longer.

Fortescue, which began mining in 2008 and is now a A$14 billion company, holds mineral tenements covering close to 70,000 sq km, an area almost as big as Ireland. That compares to BHP's holding of less than 11,000 sq km and Rio's 14,000 sq km.

"(Fortescue's) argument is that if you don't have the ground you can't find anything," StockAnalaysis mining analyst Peter Strachan said. "It has also been a source of pride for Fortescue and a pitch to investors - that they have more ground than Rio and BHP combined."

($1 = 1.3135 Australian dollars)
Pennsylvania attorney general convicted of all charges over leak -media

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug 15 (Reuters) - A jury found Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane guilty on Monday of perjury and all other charges in her trial on allegations that she leaked grand jury information to a reporter, local media reported.
Indonesia actively involved in resolving South China Sea disputes - President

JAKARTA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Indonesia is actively involved in resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea, President Joko Widodo said in a prepared state address on Tuesday.

An arbitration court in the Hague last month ruled that China had no historic title over the busy waterway and had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights there. The decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court's authority.

"Indonesia continues to be actively involved in conflict resolution in the South China Sea through peaceful negotiations after," Widodo said, referring directly to the ruling.

"We continue to push for peaceful resolutions to international conflicts," he said in a speech marking Indonesia's independence day, which falls on Wednesday.
Amid nuclear spat, Britain's May tells China: We want stronger ties

By Ben Blanchard and William James

BEIJING/LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May has told China's leader that Britain wants to strengthen trade and business ties, an attempt to reassure the world's second largest economy after London delayed a $24 billion nuclear project.

May's surprise decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades upset China, which questioned whether Chinese money was still welcome in Britain just weeks after the June 23 Brexit vote to leave the European Union.

After Beijing's expression of frustration, May wrote to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang saying Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Britain "looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues", China's foreign ministry said, citing the letter.

A source in May's office confirmed the contents of the letter, which was hand-delivered by Alok Sharma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

"This is part of what you'd expect the Prime Minister to do in terms of our relations with the wider world. It's all part of Britain remaining an outward-looking country as we head toward Brexit," the source said.

China's $11.3 trillion economy is currently more than four times as big as Britain's at $2.4 trillion.

Cast as the jewel illustrating a "Golden Era" of relations between the two powers, the financing deal for the Hinkley Point nuclear project in southwestern England was signed in Downing Street during a state visit to Britain by Xi last year.

May's predecessor, David Cameron, said the Hinkley Point project was a sign of Britain's openness to foreign investment, but May is concerned about the security implications of the planned Chinese investment, according to a former colleague.

May's most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the turmoil which followed the Brexit vote indicates a more cautious view of Chinese investment and a willingness to take a tough line with EU allies such as France.

GOLDEN ERA?

Under plans drawn up by Cameron, French utility EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp would fund the cost of building two Areva European Pressurised Water Reactors at the Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset.

Britain has committed to pay a minimum price for the power generated by the plant for 35 years, though critics said London had agreed to pay far too much.

Hinkley is seen as blazing the trail for closer ties with China on nuclear issues and paving the way for tens of billions of dollars of investment and another two nuclear power plants with Chinese involvement.

China's foreign ministry cited Britain's envoy, Sharma, as telling Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Britain attached great importance to Sino-British cooperation.

Wang told Sharma that China believes Britain will continue to have an open policy towards China, the ministry added.

Sharma tweeted that he had a "great" first meeting with Wang. "A warm welcome and forward looking approach."
How U.S. sanctions targeted a Belize banana farmer, and hurt an economy

By Yeganeh Torbati

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - When the United States blacklisted John Angel Zabaneh, a banana farmer and exporter in Belize, for alleged ties to a top drug lord, it did more than just sideline one local businessman from the global financial system.

The action, designed to target only Zabaneh, his alleged associates and their businesses, also dented Belize's banana exports for months from last October, throwing hundreds of people out of work and undercutting a main source of hard currency for the tiny Central American country.

Zabaneh's blacklisting shows the ripple effects that U.S. sanctions aimed at stopping illicit activity such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and human rights abuses can have on the people and industries of economically fragile countries.

Broad U.S. sanctions against entire countries have drawn criticism for impoverishing millions while doing little to hurt those at the top. But Zabaneh's case shows that even laser-targeted actions against individuals and firms -- a strategy the United States is increasingly using -- can cause collateral damage.

Belize's banana crop, which makes up a fifth of the country's exports, faces other obstacles beyond sanctions. Droughts and floods have damaged crops and a further hit is likely after Hurricane Earl swept through the tiny nation this month.

But government officials and industry executives in Belize said Zabaneh's blacklisting -- part of counter-narcotics sanctions aimed at choking off the drug trade in Latin America -- had a marked impact on the country's overall banana exports in late 2015 and early 2016 and contributed to a sharp economic contraction. [Graphic showing banana export trend: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8WA97 ]

A 42 percent drop in banana shipments in the first three months of 2016, stemming from the closure of Zabaneh's farms and the floods, helped drive a two percent drop in economic output in the first quarter, according to the Belize Statistical Institute.

"We're a smaller banana supplier, therefore the economics are very touch and go," said Sam Mathias, general manager of the Belize Banana Growers' Association (BGA). "You reduce our annual volume by a little bit, it does make a big difference."

Zabaneh, the U.S. Treasury said, was a key associate of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, head of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Zabaneh denied any connection to Guzman, and said he has sent Treasury information on decades of his finances in an effort to get his name off the blacklist.

A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on the designation's impact on Belize's banana industry.

TARGETED SANCTIONS

The banana crop, exported year-round, is vital to Belize, a country the size of New Jersey with a 40 percent poverty rate. It provides thousands of jobs to migrants and Belizeans in the country's southeastern agricultural region.

The United States has increased its use of targeted economic sanctions in recent years, with officials seeing them as an alternative to more deadly options like air strikes or military raids. They also view them as preferable to the kind of broad boycotts of Cuba, Iraq, and Iran that stunted those countries' economies, experts and former officials said.

"Increasingly the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on individuals, entities, and companies that are wrongdoers as opposed to entire jurisdictions because the more surgical approach is viewed as more effective and more fair," said Adam Smith, a former senior advisor at Treasury.

Wary of hurting a major economy with broad sanctions, the United States imposed highly tailored measures on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, targeting particular transactions in the energy, defense and finance sectors.

But even those specific measures had an "outsized impact" on levels of foreign investment in the Russian economy, said Eric Lorber, a senior associate at the Financial Integrity Network, which advises banks on sanctions.

Many sanctions can lead to unintended damage, but it is relatively common in counter-narcotics designations because major players in drug trafficking often have ties to legitimate business, Smith said.

"People who rise to the level of interest with respect to the U.S. government almost by definition are substantial players," said Smith, now an attorney at Gibson Dunn in Washington. "They may be important components of a country's economy."

"RENDERED USELESS"

The blacklisting of Zabaneh in 2012 had little impact for the first three years because Zabaneh, now 61, quickly stepped away from his business, once one of the largest banana farms in Belize.

Soon after the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Zabaneh, his company Mayan King, and a handful of other people and companies, Treasury and Belize officials explored the idea of transferring the farms to another firm, said Jose Alpuche, chief executive of Belize's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The officials' aim was to figure out how to "keep the banana industry up and running," Alpuche said. Treasury officials made clear in a 2012 phone call with Belize officials that it was up to private firms, not the U.S. government, to determine whether the solution was acceptable, he said.

Another company, Meridian Enterprise, took over management of the farms from Mayan King, Zabaneh said.

For years, the sole buyer of Belize's bananas has been Ireland-based Fyffes. The company said in a statement that the BGA had confirmed in 2012 that Zabaneh and Mayan King had resigned from the trade group, and that the farms were under new ownership not connected to Zabaneh. It continued to buy bananas from the farms for three more years.

But the blacklisting finally bit late last year when Zabaneh was quoted in local media speaking about the farms' operations. He said he was representing his mother, who, he told Reuters, owned the farms throughout the change in management.

The report publicly linking him to the farms prompted Fyffes to cut off purchases of the bananas, the company said in October 2015. It has continued to buy bananas from other farms in Belize.

"Those would have been bananas that were already ready for harvest and for shipment, so the minute he was stopped, then we lost his portion of exports," Alpuche said.

Fyffes' decision caused an instant 13.5 percent plunge in Belize's banana exports, said Mathias.

The value of banana exports dropped by $1 million in October 2015, or 20 percent compared to the prior year, according to the Belize Statistical Institute, which linked the drop that month to the closure of the farms.

Fyffes declined to comment beyond an October 2015 statement confirming it had stopped purchasing bananas from the farms, and that it had immediately cut ties with Zabaneh and his businesses following the Treasury sanctions in 2012.

Zabaneh's farms now lie dormant and overgrown with weeds, with the bananas sick with black sigatoka disease, said Alpuche, who recently visited the area. The farms used to employ about 900 workers, Alpuche said.

"It's been rendered useless," he said. "It's not in a condition where it can export any time soon."
Iran says detains a dual national linked to British intelligence

DUBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested a dual national last week in Tehran linked to Britain's intelligence service, the latest in a string of arrests of dual nationals over the past year.

"The accused was working in an economic sector related to Iran," Tehran prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

Dolatabadi did not identify the accused person nor the second nationality.

The prosecutor said the arrest was part of a crackdown against what officials have portrayed as "Western infiltration".

Iran's potential opening up to the West after last year's nuclear deal has alarmed Iranian hardliners.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested at least six other dual-nationality citizens, or expatriates, upon their return to visit Iran in the last year, the highest number of Iranians with dual-nationality detained in recent years to have been acknowledged.

The government has confirmed most of the detentions, without giving details of any charges.

The government does not recognise dual nationality, which prevents relevant Western embassies from seeing individuals who have been detained.
U.S. seeks Latin American help amid rise in Asian, African migrants

By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Washington is seeking closer coordination with several Latin American countries to tackle a jump in migrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who it believes are trying to reach the United States from the south on an arduous route by plane, boat and through jungle on foot.

U.S. agents deployed to an immigration facility on Mexico's southern border have vetted the more than 640 migrants from countries outside the Americas who have been detained at the center since October 2015, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reviewed by Reuters.

The migrants often fly to Brazil, obtain fake passports there, and are smuggled to Panama before heading through Central America to Mexico's porous southern border, according to transcripts of 14 interviews conducted at the center and other internal briefing documents seen by Reuters.

(Graphic: From Brazil to the north: http://tmsnrt.rs/2b8JIDI)

The U.S. agents' findings come as Mexican immigration data show 6,342 Asian, African and Middle Eastern migrants were apprehended trying to enter Mexico in the first six months of this year. That was up from 4,261 in all of 2015, and 1,831 in 2014.

U.S. border apprehensions point to the same trend. Between October 2015 and May 2016, U.S. agents apprehended 5,350 African and Asian migrants at the U.S. Southwest border. That's up from 6,126 in all of fiscal year 2015 and 4,172 in all of fiscal year 2014.

U.S. concerns about potential security risks from migrants using the unusual and circuitous southern route have been growing in recent years, following a string of Islamic State-inspired attacks in the West and the surge in Syrian refugees fleeing that country's civil war.

Five Syrian nationals detained in Honduras last November were part of a wider group of seven Syrians who acquired forged passports in Brazil and then went by land to Argentina on their way north, a U.S. government source familiar with that case said. There was no evidence to suggest the men were militants.

"The reality is that the vast majority of the people that Mexico encounters that are extra-continental will eventually end up on our border," a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official said.

At the detention camp in Tapachula, near Mexico's border with Guatemala, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been training their Mexican counterparts on interview techniques, and using U.S. criminal databases to investigate detainees, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.

Two to three U.S. agents have been stationed there since at least October, according to the documents and U.S. officials. Mexican officials have previously acknowledged the presence of U.S. agents at Mexico's southern border, but few details of the cooperation have been reported.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection began a pilot program for a similar operation in Panama earlier this fiscal year, according to an internal memo sent in May that has not previously been reported. Homeland Security officials told Reuters that Panama requested U.S. training. A spokesman for Panama's National Migration Service said Panama accepted an offer from the U.S. embassy for training on subjects like "defense techniques" and "management of persons."

U.S. proponents of the program have pushed for a greater U.S. footprint to build a "comprehensive intelligence picture" of migration patterns across the Colombia-Panama border, according to the memo sent in May.

Panama is leading the effort in Central America to detain illegal migrants, DHS assistant secretary for international affairs Alan Bersin told a House committee in March, but it stymied by lack of detention space and the difficulty of deporting migrants to countries with whom they have no diplomatic ties. As a result, most are released after 30 days.

Bersin acknowledged the rise in migrants from outside the Americas and the potential security threat they pose.

"While many citizens of these countries migrate for economic reasons or because they are fleeing persecution in their home countries, this group may include migrants who are affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, intelligence agencies, and organized criminal syndicates," Bersin told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

DHS has deployed additional "mentor" teams throughout South and Central America to professionalize immigration authorities and gain intelligence about potentially threatening migrants, said DHS officials, who declined to specify which countries host U.S. agents.

Another DHS official said the agency is asking Brazil through diplomatic channels to put a stop to fake passport manufacturing. Brazilian officials did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a unit of DHS, is "actively working to enhance regional collaboration with border and customs authorities from Mexico all the way down to Argentina," a DHS official said.

ON FOOT IN THE JUNGLE

The apprehension documents from the Tapachula center show how migrants are willing and able to pay thousands of dollars to obtain flights and fake passports and then make grueling journeys on buses, boats and on foot.

It was not clear how many of those apprehended at the center were deported, claimed asylum or simply released.

Several of the 14 migrants -- in testimony given from May 18-23 this year -- said they paid more than $10,000 to smugglers, walked for days through jungles, and were temporarily detained by various countries before being stopped in Tapachula.

Six of the men -- who included Pakistanis, Syrians and Afghans-- had obtained fake passports, claiming to be from Israel, Morocco, Belgium or Britain.

In Panama, several of the men said they were kept in a migration detention camp for about a month. From Panama, the migrants described traveling in larger groups, sometimes as many as 50 men.

One Pakistani national -- whose identity U.S. officials asked not to be revealed because he is still under investigation -- told U.S. and Mexican officials that he paid a smuggler in Pakistan $9,000 to be smuggled to Brazil where he received a fake Belgian passport.

In Brazil, he paid $4,000 to a woman to be taken on bus, boat and on foot through across Colombia and into Panama.

He said he was detained in Panama but then released. From there, a smuggler from Lebanon took the man and 35 other migrants of different nationalities to Honduras, where he said he was robbed of all of his belongings.

His family wired him more money from Pakistan and the man was able to pay $40 to be smuggled into Guatemala. He paid $5 to be taken by raft into Mexico. There he got a taxi, which was halted by authorities who took him to the Tapachula center.

SENSITIVE TOPIC FOR MEXICO

Accepting U.S. help on immigration issues is politically sensitive for Mexico, said Adam Isacson, a security and border policy analyst at The Washington Office on Latin America, a non-profit human rights advocacy group.

"But the Mexicans have quietly been open to the equipment and training they have received," he said.

A CBP spokesman said the agency deployed to Tapachula at the Mexican government's request. Mexico's immigration agency is the Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INM).

"CBP personnel train INM officers in the collection of biometric information, and review and share biometric information on people of interest," the spokesman said.

INM declined Reuters' request for comment and access to the Tapachula facility.

In testimony before the Mexican Senate on Aug. 3, Mexico's chief immigration officer Ardelio Vargas Fosado said his agency was aware of the influx of migrants from outside the Americas. But the lack of diplomatic relationships between Mexico and many African countries has made it difficult to deport those apprehended, he said.

Under law, U.S. agents cannot arrest or deport migrants from other countries, but as foreign-based trainers, they can gather intelligence on who may be headed for the U.S. border.

Isacson said most of the migrants taking the Latin American path northward are seeking economic opportunity in the United States. But DHS is focused on security risks.

"The Tapachula area is along a permeable border. DHS views it as one of the areas where a terrorist group that wants to do harm on U.S. soil would be most likely to come in," he said.
Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Aug 16

PRAGUE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Tuesday. 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================================== ART: A Russian performance artist on Monday gave his Vaclav Havel Prize to a businessman who promised to fund a Russian group whose members have been convicted of killing policemen. Story: Related stories: BONDS: The Czech Finance Ministry will offer up to 12 billion crowns ($496.40 million) worth of domestic government bonds in two primary auctions taking place in September, the ministry said on Monday. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: The forint led a mild firming of Central European currencies on Monday, hitting a 4-month high against the euro after Economy Minister Mihaly Varga said Hungary was preparing a package of economic stimulus measures. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2016 vs Euro 27.011 27.018 0.03 -0.05 vs Dollar 24.088 24.176 0.36 3.11 Czech Equities 861.3 861.3 -0.3 -9.94 U.S. Equities 18,636.05 18,576.47 0.32 6.95 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 (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
Thailand issues arrest warrant for second suspect in deadly blasts

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A Thai military court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for a second suspect in connection with a wave of deadly bomb attacks last week that killed four people and injured dozens, police said.

Explosions rocked seven provinces in Thailand's south on Thursday and Friday, just days after Thais voted to accept a military-backed constitution.

No group has claimed responsibility but police and senior officials have publicly ruled out any link to foreign militants.

"The court has approved the arrest warrant for one suspect for the explosions. We can't say who that individual is," said Chaiyapol Chatchaidet, commander of the Counter Crime Planning Division.

It was the second arrest warrant issued in connection with the wave of attacks. Police on Sunday said they had arrested one suspect for arson.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday said the attacks might have involved southern insurgents hired to carry out the bombings but said the bombings were not an extension of a bloody separatist war in the country's three southern-most Muslim-dominated provinces.

Security experts told Reuters official denial of involvement by Malay-Muslim insurgents was unsurprising as admitting that southern insurgents could be involved would have serious economic and security implications for Thailand.

Thailand is a mainly Buddhist country, but the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are majority-Muslim and resistance to central government rule has existed there for decades, resurfacing violently in 2004.
Oil at 5-week high as OPEC sources, Russia, talk of cooperation

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Oil settled up nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, hitting five-week highs for a second straight day as sources at OPEC spoke of Saudi Arabia's desire for higher crude prices while Russia met the producer group to discuss the market.

The dollar's tumble to an eight-week low also supported crude prices, as did the loss of more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Nigerian output to militant attacks and pipeline problems.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably revive talks on freezing oil output levels when it meets non-OPEC nations next month, OPEC sources told Reuters, citing Saudi Arabia's wish for higher prices.

Russian and OPEC energy officials discussed oil markets at a meeting in Vienna, Russia's Energy Ministry said. Another "energy dialogue" between Russia and OPEC has been scheduled there for October.

"While it is tempting to dismiss the OPEC chatter as a non-factor intended to talk up prices, we are also resigning to a momentum shift in which our technical indicators are flashing green lights in favor of further crude price rallies of at least a couple of dollars a barrel," said Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil markets consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates.

Brent crude settled up 88 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $49.23 a barrel. It rose more after settlement, reaching $49.36, its highest since July 7.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 84 cents, or 1.8 percent, to settle at $46.58. It reached $46.73 after settlement, its highest since July 12.

Prices pared some gains in after market trade after data from the American Petroleum Institute showing an unexpected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles was overshadowed by surprise hefty builds in gasoline and distillates, indicating the glut in refined oil products was growing.

Official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT).

Technical analysts said oil could set 2016 highs in four to six weeks if Brent crosses $50 and U.S. crude $48.

But volatility also looks certain, with speculators ramping up on both bullish and bearish wagers.

"If we've learned anything about the oil market, it is that sentiment is extremely fragile," said Michael Tran, director of energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

Brent and WTI have both gained about 11 percent since Thursday after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the kingdom would work with other producers to stabilise the market. .

Many analysts were skeptical producers would cut a deal. An OPEC production freeze plan in April was scuttled by a Saudi Arabia that was keen then to protect market share.

"Optimism on my part is quite sparse," Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the oil minister for Nigeria, an OPEC member, wrote on his Twitter account.
In a shift, Bangladesh Bank says no plans to sue Fed, SWIFT

By Serajul Quadir and Jonathan Spicer

DHAKA/NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's central bank said it has reversed its plans to sue the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the SWIFT money transfer network, and instead intends to seek their help recovering $81 million stolen by cyber thieves in February.

"At the moment we have no plan to go for any legal action against the Fed bank or SWIFT; rather we will seek their assistance," said Subhankar Saha, the spokesman for Bangladesh Bank. He declined to provide reasons for the turnabout.

A source close to the Asian central bank last month said it was preparing litigation to seek compensation, claiming errors by the New York Fed and SWIFT had made Bangladesh Bank vulnerable. In the February heist, hackers issued false transfer orders on the SWIFT network to move funds out of Bangladesh Bank's account at the Fed.

Bangaldesh's finance minister had also said in March he was weighing legal action.

"We only assessed different options, including the legal (option)," Saha said on Tuesday. "We look forward to cooperation both from the Fed and SWIFT."

Officials from the Fed and Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith were not immediately available for comment.

The shift came as meetings were to begin in New York on Tuesday between officials from Bangladesh Bank, the New York Fed and SWIFT. It also comes after the New York Fed last week published its standard contract with correspondent banks, which spells out that the burden of preventing and reporting breaches lies largely with the correspondent bank, in this case Bangladesh Bank.

Saha said there was no link between the decision not to pursue a lawsuit and the contract. "We were assessing options, and we prefer cooperation," he said.

Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan, who is heading the Bangladesh Bank team in the New York meetings, said the bank operates under the standard Fed contract. He did not comment on any possible lawsuit.

The standard contract includes a requirement for the correspondent bank to "immediately" notify the U.S. central bank when it learned it was hacked, and to give the Fed "a reasonable opportunity to act" on cancellation requests. The Fed was bound to then "make reasonable efforts" to halt any fraudulent payments it had made.

The New York Fed is liable for acting on unauthorized payments only if it does not comply with agreed authentication messages, or fails to exercise good faith when filling a payment request, according to the contract.

The published contract notes litigation must be heard in a U.S. court.

In the Feb. 4 heist, the hackers peppered the Fed with payment requests, four of which were filled. Much of the money disappeared into casinos in the Philippines.

Reuters reported last month that Bangladesh Bank did not realize it had been hacked and d id not attempt to alert the New York Fed until two days after the money had been sent. By that time, a weekend in New York, the Fed took two more days to respond.
Zambian president's inauguration delayed until court rules on vote

By Stella Mapenzauswa and Chris Mfula

LUSAKA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Zambian President Edgar Lungu said on Tuesday his inauguration would be delayed until a court rules on a challenge from his main election rival who said the vote was rigged.

Results on Monday showed Lungu narrowly won re-election in Africa's second-largest copper producer which is suffering an economic slump due to depressed commodity prices.

But his rival, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, said he would challenge the result, alleging fraud during the vote counting process after Thursday's election.

Police said they arrested about 150 protesters in opposition strongholds in the southern African country, while one ruling party supporter was detained on Monday after torching a police vehicle during celebrations.

A rule introduced in January says the winner of a presidential election cannot be sworn in if the vote is contested in a court, which has two weeks to decide on such a petition.

Wearing a white T-shirt with the victory symbol and the words 'I love peace' on it, the president told his supporters at a victory rally in the capital Lusaka: "We will have to wait before I am sworn in because I am told some people have gone to court. The courts of law are our creature and so the courts should be given latitude to make decisions."

Lungu won 50.35 percent of the vote against 47.63 percent for Hichilema.

Hichilema's United Party for National Development (UPND) said on Monday it will appeal the result at the Constitutional Court.

Zambia has been one of Africa's most stable democracies although there were skirmishes during campaigning. The kwacha strengthened 2.5 percent on Tuesday, in a sign investors welcomed an outright winner in the election.

Lungu said there would be work in the next five years of his term in office to revive the flagging economy. "There is no time for a honeymoon," he said.

'COUP ON DEMOCRACY'

Hichilema, popularly known as HH, was not available to comment. His UPND party accused Lungu's party of carrying out "a coup on Zambia's democratic process" in a statement released late on Monday.

"We submitted evidence before the declaration of the results regarding the gross irregularities that have taken place. That is why we will not accept the result," the party said.

The UPND said on Saturday data from its own parallel count showed Hichilema beating Lungu "with a clear margin" with about 80 percent of votes counted. Monday's result means Hichilema has now lost five presidential elections.

The ruling party and the electoral commission have rejected the UPND's charge.

The election was fought around the issues of rising unemployment, mine closures, power shortages and soaring food prices which Hichilema, an economist and businessman, blamed on Lungu's mismanagement.

But Lungu, whose government has been talking to the International Monetary Fund about financial aid to help plug its budget deficit, said he was doing his best to wean the economy off its over-reliance on copper.

Robert Besseling, head of the EXX Africa business risk intelligence group said: "Lungu will struggle to secure concessions from the IMF... and may be forced to turn to Chinese investors to bankroll a recovery of the copper-driven economy."
New York man expected in court over slaying of Muslim imam, assistant

Aug 16 (Reuters) - A New York man is expected to appear in court on Tuesday after being charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of a New York Muslim imam and his assistant, who were gunned down over the weekend, police said.

The charges against Oscar Morel, 35, of Brooklyn, came on Monday just hours after hundreds of mourners gathered for the outdoor funeral of the two men. The killings in the borough of Queens shocked the neighborhood's Bangladeshi community.

Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, a spokesman for the New York Police Department said.

He also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The spokesman did not disclose any possible motive for the shooting.

Police said Morel was being held early on Tuesday morning and was expected to be arraigned later in the day.

Morel had been questioned by police following his arrest on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday, the day of the shootings.

Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head at close range after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Queens' Ozone Park section.

Police said there was no known connection between the man being questioned and the murder victims.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.
Russia uses Iran as base to bomb Syrian militants for first time

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia used Iran on Tuesday for the first time as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants, widening its air campaign in Syria and deepening its involvement in the Middle East.

In a move underscoring Moscow's increasingly close ties with Tehran, long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Iran's Hamadan air base to strike a range of targets in Syria.

It was the first time Russia has used the territory of another nation, apart from Syria itself, to launch such strikes since the Kremlin launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September last year.

The Iranian deployment will boost Russia's image as a central player in the Middle East and allow the Russian air force to cut flight times and increase bombing payloads.

The head of Iran's National Security Council was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying Tehran and Moscow were now sharing facilities.

Both countries back Assad. Russia, after a delay, has supplied Iran with its S-300 missile air defence system, evidence of a growing partnership that has helped turn the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing U.S. influence in the Middle East.

Relations between Tehran and Moscow have grown warmer since Iran reached agreement last year with global powers to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of U.N., EU and U.S. financial sanctions.

President Vladimir Putin visited in November and the two countries regularly discuss military planning for Syria. Iran has provided ground forces that work with local allies while Russia provides air power.

The United States said it was still assessing the extent of Russian-Iranian cooperation but described the new development as "unfortunate".

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was looking into whether the move violated UN Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.

"It's unfortunate but not surprising," Toner told reporters. "It speaks to a continuation of a pattern we've seen of Russia continuing to carry out air strikes, now with Iran's direct assistance, ... that predominantly target moderate Syrian opposition forces."

He said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone on Tuesday to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, who raised the issue.

Kerry is trying to reach agreement with Russia on military cooperation in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Toner said those talks continued despite stepped up Russian-Iranian cooperation.

TARGET: ALEPPO

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday Iraq, which lies between Iran and Syria, had granted Russia permission to use its air space, on the condition the planes use corridors along Iraq's borders and refrain from flying over Iraqi cities.

Abadi told a press conference the same permission has been given to air forces of a separate U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State flying to Syria from Kuwait.

Russia also gave advance notice to the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, complying with the terms of a safety agreement meant to avoid an accidental clash in the skies, said U.S. Army Colonel Christopher Garver, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S-led coalition.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Russian bombers were believed to have returned to Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its bombers had taken off on Tuesday from the Hamadan air base in north-west Iran. It said the strikes targeted Islamic State as well as militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.

It said its Iranian-based bombers had been escorted by fighter jets based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province.

"As a result of the strikes five large arms depots were destroyed ... a militant training camp ... three command and control points ... and a significant number of militants," the ministry said in a statement.

The destroyed facilities had been used to support militants in the Aleppo area, it said, where battle has intensified in recent weeks for control of the divided city, which had some 2 million people before the war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said heavy air strikes on Tuesday hit many targets in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, killing dozens.

The Russian Defence Ministry says it strives to avoid civilian casualties.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, is divided into rebel and government-held zones. The government aims to capture full control, which would be its biggest victory of the five-year conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in rebel areas, facing potential siege if the government closes the corridor linking it with the outside.

Russian media reported that Russia had also requested and received permission to use Iran and Iraq as a route to fire cruise missiles from its Caspian Sea fleet into Syria, as it has done in the past. Russia has built up its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and the Caspian as part of what it says are planned military exercises.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and a Russian military transport plane inside Iran. It said the Iranian deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent.
Ethiopian court charges 23 South Sudanese refugees with "gruesome" murder

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - An Ethiopian court has charged 23 South Sudanese refugees with carrying out the "gruesome" murder of 10 Ethiopian civilians using sticks and shovels at a refugee camp in the western part of the country last April.

The defendants were accused of planning the attacks in retaliation for a car accident in which two refugee children were killed inside Jewi Refugee Camp in Ethiopia's Gambella region.

The killings, which took place at the same camp, sparked unrest in the town, where some South Sudanese Nuer have been the victims of attacks by Ethiopian "highlanders" - a term used in the region for those who trace their origins to the central parts of the country.

"The perpetrators planned to attack in advance, in retaliation for the tragic car accident," said the charge sheet read out by prosecutors in Ethiopia's high court late on Monday.

"On April 21, they used sticks and shovels to carry out gruesome killings. The 10 victims were all innocent Ethiopian civilians who were only employed as construction workers at the site," it said, adding that some suspects were on the run.

The dead included two women. The trial will resume on Oct. 13.

Gambella, also home to an indigenous Nuer majority, hosts over 270,000 South Sudanese refugees who have fled the recurring cycle of violence in the world's youngest country since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013.

The killings came days after ethnic Murle gunmen from South Sudan carried out cross-border raids into Gambella, killing over 200 people and kidnapping nearly 110 children.

Violence has continued in South Sudan despite the signing of a peace deal that ended a civil war which largely pitted President Salva Kiir's Dinka ethnic group against rebel leader and former vice president Riek Machar's Nuer in August 2015.
Antofagasta lowers spending, raises H1 earnings

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Chilean miner Antofagasta cheered investors with a slim rise in mid-year profit on Tuesday achieved mostly through cost cuts aimed at weathering a weak copper market it does not expect to rebound before 2018.

Majority-owned by Chile's wealthy Luksic family, Antofagasta cut capital expenditure by 42 percent to $385 million in the first half from $662 million a year earlier.

"We continue to rebase our cost structure as a response to the low price environment," Chief Executive Ivan Arriagada told Reuters.

He said the miner had also lowered its annual spending target to "slightly below" $1 billion from $1.1 billion.

It is saving money through lower engineering and construction costs and by shelving projects that fail to meet capital targets.

Antofagasta's London-listed shares rose to their highest in nearly five months, up 4.7 percent to 538 pence by 0820 GMT.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 2.3 percent to $571.6 million for the six months to June 30.

The company also resumed dividend payments for the first time in a year, declaring an interim dividend of 3.1 cents in line with its earlier policy of paying 35 percent of full-year earnings.

Arriagada, who has been at the helm since April, said the company had no plans to change its shareholder payouts, unlike rivals such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto whose dividend policies have buckled under metal price pressure.

Copper prices hit a 6-1/2-year low in January but have risen since, bringing some relief to miners.

But Antofagasta, like other miners and analysts, maintains a cautious outlook due to modest demand growth from top consumer China.

Arriagada said the company did not expect to see significant change in metal prices this year or next as the market was largely balanced with little prospect of a deficit before 2018.

Its copper production was 323,300 tonnes in the first half, up 6.6 percent, while the company maintained its annual output target at the lower end of a 710,000-740,000 tonne range.

Revenue fell 18.5 percent to $1.4 billion on lower copper prices, sales volumes and the closure of its Michilla mine at the end of last year.

"EBITDA surprised to the upside, though much of this came through lower exploration and corporate expenditure, as well as slightly higher than expected EBITDA from the railway segment," Bernstein analysts said in a note.

Larger rival BHP on Tuesday posted a record $6.4 billion annual loss on a bad bet on shale, a dam disaster and the slump in commodity prices.
Iran says sharing its facilities with Russia in fight against terrorism

DUBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The head of Iran's National Security Council said on Tuesday that Tehran and Moscow are sharing facilities to fight against terrorism, after Russia confirmed that its long-range bombers based in Iran had struck targets inside Syria.

"Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one and we share our potential and facilities in this field," Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Russia has deployed Tupolev-22 bombers at an air base near the Iranian city of Hamadan to carry out air strikes against militants in Syria.
Bangladesh arrests four women in cafe attack probe

DHAKA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi security forces said on Tuesday they had arrested four women suspected of being members of a home-grown militant group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe last month in which 22 people were killed.

Five young men attacked the upmarket cafe on July 1, an assault claimed by Islamic State. Three of the attackers were from affluent Dhaka homes who had broken off contact with their families months earlier.

Police believe that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the group.

The four women were arrested in an overnight raid in the capital, based on information from a regional militant leader who was detained last month, said Rapid Action Battalion spokesman Mizanur Rahman Bhuiya.

"Three of them are students of a private university and the other one is working as an intern in the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital," he told Reuters, adding that jihadi books, audio and video clips of jihadi lectures were seized.

More than a dozen suspected JMB militants, including seven women, have been arrested since the cafe attack.

On July 26, police killed nine militants believed to be plotting a similar assault.

Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims for a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the country over the past year.
China calls on Nepal's factions to unite for stability

BEIJING, Aug 16 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday he hoped all political factions in Nepal would unite and promote stability, after Nepal sent an envoy to Beijing to clear up questions over the future of bilateral agreements.

Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda, 61, who led a decade-long insurgency that ended a feudal monarchy, replaced communist K.P. Oli this month amid uncertainty about a slew of deals made by Oli during a visit to Beijing in March.

Those deals included permission for Nepal to use Chinese railways, roads and ports to trade with third countries, and signalled a shift by the landlocked Himalayan nation away from its traditional reliance on overland trade with its southern neighbour, India.

Wang told the envoy, one of Prachanda's trusted lieutenants from the insurgency period, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, that China's friendship toward Nepal would not change even with the political shift.

"China expects that all political forces in Nepal will strengthen unity and jointly advance Nepal's peace, stability and development," Wang said.

He said China hoped "to carry out the consensus already reached by the two countries' leaders" and deepen cross-border transport, trade and energy cooperation, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Mahara told Wang the foundation of bilateral ties was firm and would not change because of the new government, according to the Chinese statement.

Prachanda led a Nepali uprising in the name of the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, but it did not enjoy the overt backing of Beijing. The conflict ended in 2006 when the rebels laid down their arms under a peace deal.

Instability in the young republic - Prachanda is the eighth prime minister in as many years - has also raised doubts over a planned visit by President Xi Jinping in October, which would be the first by a Chinese president in two decades.

Mahara had said he was carrying an invitation from President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to the Chinese leader to come as planned.

Nepali officials have said Prachanda would send another deputy, Bimelandra Nidhi, as an emissary to India this week to give reassurances that closer ties with China would not come at a cost to India. China and India compete for influence in Nepal.
China approves Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock link, scraps limits

By Michelle Price

HONG KONG, Aug 16 (Reuters) - In the biggest capital market reforms since last year's stock market crash, China approved the launch of a long-awaited scheme to allow stock trading between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the world's second-busiest, and tech-heavy, exchange.

It also scrapped overall quota limits for an earlier scheme linking Hong Kong to the Shanghai stock exchange, and said there were no overall limits for the new scheme - a restriction that has been a sticking point for big institutional investors on market access issues.

By giving the green light to the final links of an ambitious plan to connect Hong Kong to China's mainland markets - giving foreign investors more exposure to Chinese stocks - Beijing appears to strengthen its case for the inclusion of Chinese shares in global index providers such as MSCI.

"Shenzhen Connect should move China further along the road to MSCI inclusion. We see this announcement as a significant catalyst for Chinese markets," said Douglas Morton, head of Asia research at Northern Trust Capital Markets.

The Shenzhen Connect scheme had been expected to go live more than a year ago, but was put on hold by last year's market crash, which saw stocks slump around 40 percent and a raft of interventionist measures unleashed to prop up markets.

Though the actual launch is unlikely to trigger an avalanche of funds into China's stock markets - given relatively expensive valuations and a slowing economy - mainland Chinese investors will likely cheer another option to diversify away from weak onshore stock markets.

"Foreign investors are still taking a wait-and-see approach to (mainland Chinese-listed) A-share investment as they are yet to regain confidence in the mainland stock market," said Liao Qun, China chief economist at Citic Bank International in Hong Kong.

Mainland Chinese investors have sought out Hong Kong shares via the Shanghai-Hong Kong connect scheme, launched in late 2014, in a bid to buy non-yuan denominated assets amid fears over a weakening currency.

As of Tuesday, southbound quota usage was more than 80 percent, while take-up from Hong Kong of the northbound quota was around 50 percent.

"In terms of changes, the most important and significant is the abolishment of the aggregate quota," Charles Li, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing said at a news conference.

Li said the new link would be launched by Christmas if not sooner, and the Hong Kong bourse expected Shenzhen trading to be subject to the same tax treatment in China as under the Shanghai connect scheme.

TECHNOLOGY PLAY

Shenzhen had 1,790 listed stocks as of end-July, several hundred more than Shanghai. Shenzhen is Asia's busiest exchange, with monthly turnover topping $1 trillion. Its average daily turnover ranks behind only the New York Stock Exchange, according to the World Federation of Exchanges data.

While Shanghai is heavily skewed to financial stocks, Shenzhen is a centre for China's fast-growing technology sector, with IT stocks making up almost a quarter of the total.

Both Shenzhen and Shanghai stocks have fallen around 12 percent so far this year, while an index measuring the performance of Asian shares is up nearly 10 percent. Hong Kong is flat for the year.

Despite the underperformance, stocks in Shenzhen trade at higher multiples, with the broader market trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 36 times versus Hong Kong's P/E of less than 12.

"In the short term, I very much doubt this will drive significant flows into Shenzhen shares as a lot of stocks are expensive," said Caroline Yu Maurer, head of Greater China equities at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
France defends burkini ban on tense post-attack beaches

By Geert De Clercq

PARIS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The French government has defended municipal bans on body-covering Muslim burkini swimwear but called on mayors to try and cool tensions between communities.

Three Mediterranean towns - Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica - have banned the burkini, and Le Touquet on the Atlantic coast is planning to do the same.

The mainly conservative mayors who have imposed the ban say the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism.

The burkini debate is particularly sensitive in France given deadly attacks by Islamist militants, including bombings and shootings in Paris which killed 130 people last November, which have raised tensions between communities and made people wary of public places.

The socialist government's minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, said municipal bans on the burkini should not be seen in the context of terrorism but she supported the bans.

"The burkini is not some new line of swimwear, it is the beach version of the burqa and it has the same logic: hide women's bodies in order to better control them," Rossignol told French daily Le Parisien in an interview.

France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public.

Rossignol said the burkini had sparked tensions on French beaches because of its political dimension.

"It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and women's emancipation," she said.

On Saturday, a brawl broke out between Muslim families and a group of young Corsicans in Sisco after a tourist took pictures of women bathing in burkini. The mayor banned burkinis on Monday.

Apart from the Paris attacks, a Tunisian deliberately drove a truck into crowds in Nice on July 14, killing 85 people, and a Roman Catholic priest priest had his throat cut in church by two French Muslims.

The string of attacks have made many people jumpy. On Sunday, 41 people were injured in a stampede in the Riviera town of Juan-les-Pins when holiday makers mistook the sound of firecrackers for gunfire.

Villeneuve-Loubet mayor Lionnel Luca, member of the hardline Droite Populaire faction of the conservative Les Republicains party, said the burkini was an ideological provocation.

"Since the Nice attack, the population is particularly sensitive," he told Le Parisien.

He said the burkini raised hygiene issues and could make rescue at sea more difficult.

The Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) on Tuesday filed a complaint against the bans with the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, which is expected to hand down a ruling in the coming days.

CCIF spokesman Marwan Muhammad said the bans restricted fundamental liberties and discriminated against Muslim women.
Six Cuban volleyball players charged with rape in Finland

HELSINKI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Six volleyball players from the Cuban national team have been charged with aggravated rape in Finland, regional prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspected rape occurred in July in the city of Tampere, at the hotel where the team was staying. The Cuba team were in Finland playing in a World League tournament prior to the Rio Olympics.

Finnish police initially detained eight players, but released two of them who are no longer suspects. A court ordered six suspects to remain in custody while the investigation continued. All six men have denied the charge.
Sweden's Handelsbanken fires CEO, wants overseas growth

By Anna Ringstrom and Mia Shanley

STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Handelsbanken, one of Europe's most profitable banks, fired its chief executive Frank Vang-Jensen after less than 18 months in the job, calling on his successor to push ahead with overseas expansion.

Anders Bouvin, head of its operations in Britain where the bank has been growing rapidly, will take over from Vang-Jensen who was himself rushed into the top job last year following a shake-up at the bank's main owner Industrivarden.

"The last job became a little too tough for him. He could not live up to the expectations," Handelsbanken chairman Par Boman said of Vang-Jensen, who was promoted from the role of head of the company's Swedish business.

"This recruitment was a mistake," Boman told a news conference.

Boman cited failings when it came to leading a large number of managers in a bank which has a very decentralised model.

Vang-Jensen's moves to slim down operations may also have ruffled feathers at the bank which has long prized a focus on its branch network and giving local managers great autonomy, such as decisions on whether to approve mortgages.

During his short time as CEO, Vang-Jensen closed around 60 bank branches mainly in Sweden's biggest cities but also in the countryside, prompting protests from some customers.

OVERSEAS GROWTH

Boman said an important role for the CEO was to establish branches abroad.

"It's a clear mission for our CEO to grow abroad and now we have a CEO who has the possibilities to do that," he said.

The new CEO, Bouvin, told reporters the bank sees great growth prospects in specific European markets.

"We see great growth potential in both the UK and the Netherlands," he said. "Right now it is mainly in those two markets."

Handelsbanken refers to having six home markets on its website -- including Britain and the Netherlands, as well as Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

The move by one of the best capitalised lenders in Europe took investors by surprise and pushed the bank's share price down by 1.6 percent at 1015 GMT, more than a 0.7 percent drop in the wider Stockholm bourse.

Handelsbanken shares have dropped 23 percent since Vang-Jensen became CEO although the bank is still the second-best performer among Sweden's major banks during that time.

Its average return on equity is in the teens, higher than the single figure average for European banks.

"Handelsbanken is a stable bank with a long-term perspective and a CEO change is an incredible surprise", said BNP Paribas analyst Andreas Hakansson.

Vang-Jensen became CEO in March 2015 when then-CEO Boman was appointed chairman following a corporate spending scandal at a company also owned by Handelsbanken's main investor which led to several management and board changes.

Danske Bank analyst Matti Ahokas said the decision to replace Vang-Jensen signalled a return to basics for the bank.

"Vang-Jensen probably took a step towards a kind of more modern way as other banks have done, like reducing branches, focusing on technology," he said. "Now, it is probably a step back to the more traditional."
China says seeks closer military ties with Syria

BEIJING, Aug 16 (Reuters) - China wants to have closer military ties with Syria, state media on Tuesday cited a senior Chinese officer as saying during a rare visit to the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

While relying on the region for oil supplies, China tends to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France and Russia.

But China has been trying to get more involved, including sending envoys to help push for a diplomatic resolution to the violence there and hosting Syrian government and opposition figures.

Guan Youfei, director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission, met Syrian Defence Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij in Damascus, China's Xinhua state news agency said.

Guan said China had consistently played a positive role in pushing for a political resolution in Syria.

"China and Syria's militaries have a traditionally friendly relationship, and China's military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Syria's military," the news agency paraphrased Guan as saying.

Both also talked about personnel training and "reached a consensus" on the Chinese military providing humanitarian aid, Xinhua added, without elaborating.

Guan also met a Russian general in Damascus, the news agency said, without giving details.

While China has shown no interest in getting involved militarily in Syria, China's special envoy for the crisis there in April praised Russia's military role in the war.

China has its own security concerns about violence in the region.
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign on Tuesday named a leadership line-up for her transition team, which will prepare the way should she win the November election.

Ken Salazar, previously both a secretary of the interior and a Colorado senator, will chair the team, known formally as the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, for Clinton and her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.

The announcement comes as Clinton has gained momentum in the polls against Republican rival Donald Trump, whose campaign has struggled after a string of controversial remarks.

Hillary Clinton tapped former advisors and former Obama officials to oversee her transition planning effort in case she wins the White House

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is heading Donald Trump's transition effort

The team will include four co-chairs, according to a statement: former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, president of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden, and Maggie Williams, director of Harvard's Institute of Politics.

Two policy advisers on the campaign, Ed Meier and Ann O'Leary, will also move full time to the transition team.

Heather Boushey, the executive director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will be the chief economist.

The team includes strong ties to the Clinton campaign. Tanden, for example, is a longtime Clinton confidante, and Boushey has advised the campaign on economic policy.

Former Interior secretary Ken Salazar is heading Clinton's transition effort

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm gives a thumbs-up after delivering her remarks on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. She is on Clinton's transition team

Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, has joined Clinton's transition effort

Maggie Williams served as Clinton's chief of staff when she was first lady

Tom Donilon is a former national security advisor to President Obama

Clinton led Trump by more than 5 percentage points in the Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Friday.

Trump, a New York businessman who has never held elected office, has been mired in repeated controversies recently. He drew heavy criticism last week after he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her.

Many establishment Republicans, alarmed by the steady flow of controversial remarks, have distanced themselves from Trump in recent weeks.
Pressures mounts on Portugal rating, says DBRS

By Marc Jones

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Pressures are building on Portugal's creditworthiness as its low-growth economy battles to contain high levels of government and corporate debt and amid banking sector strains, the head of sovereign ratings at credit agency DBRS said.

DBRS's BBB (low) rating has been a vital prop for Portugal, allowing its bonds to remain part of the European Central Bank's 1.7 trillion euro buying programme and as eligible collateral for the Bank's unlimited and now free bank funding.

The rating, next due for review on October 21, carries a 'stable' outlook, giving Lisbon some breathing space, but Fergus McCormick told Reuters that the picture was deteriorating.

"Friday's Q2 GDP release (which showed growth at just 0.2 percent) raised our concerns about growth prospects, which appear to be slowing into the third quarter," he told Reuters in an interview.

"Therefore, the outlook remains stable, but pressures appear to be mounting from these various fronts," he added, also citing European Commission demands that an unwilling Lisbon implement more spending cuts.

DBRS's October review will come just a week after Portugal is scheduled to provide the Commission with a list of those new cuts to get its budget deficit back under 3 percent of GDP.

Uncertainties over the make-up of those measures and their impact on the delicate political balance were a concern McCormick said, as was the possibility that more taxpayer money may be needed to prop up banks including Caixa Geral de Depositos and BCP.

"Will the far-left parties support these two initiatives? This is unclear."

DBRS's view is closely watched because it is the only one of the four ratings agencies recognised by the ECB to have an investment grade rank for Portugal.

It needs a rating of that category to qualify for the central bank's quantitative easing programme and for the ECB to accept Portugal's bonds as loan collateral.

A downgrade could therefore cause havoc for Portugal's borrowing costs and its banks which rely heavily on the ECB's funding, and analysts warn it would almost inevitably trigger a significant market selloff.

NEXT BIG TEST

For Europe as a whole the next crucial test after the Brexit vote will be an upcoming constitutional referendum in Italy, McCormick said.

DBRS put Italy's A (low) rating on downgrade warning earlier this month, and if the agency pulls the trigger that would also have major ramifications.

Italian government bonds would be hit with as much as an 8 percent bigger 'haircut' in ECB lending operations, meaning they would have to find other ways to get the money that some need to stay afloat.

While Italy faces similar problems to Portugal in terms of meagre growth, high debt and problem banks, McCormick said Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's decision to call a public referendum on political reform plans was a key trigger for the review.

With the vote set to determine Renzi's political future, it represents "the next big test for the euro zone".

"It is also the next test, following the UK referendum, of popular support for the EU," McCormick said, referring to Britain's vote to leave the European Union in June.

It was likely to result in either greater political stability and better governance, or more uncertainty and lower growth, he added.

And like in Portugal, low growth is already making it harder for Italy's banks to deal with bad loans on their books.

S&P's head of sovereign ratings told Reuters last week its BBB- rating on Italy could handle the potential costs of a government bailout but for DBRS's A (low) grade it may not be so digestible.

"If in the future an injection of public money is necessary to support bank balance sheets, this would translate into an increase in government debt. This contingent liability risk is a cause for concern," McCormick said.
German minister urges Britain: get on with Brexit talks

By Andreas Rinke and Paul Carrel

BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Germany's European Affairs Minister held out the possibility of Britain achieving "special status" in its relationship with the European Union but pressed London to get on with starting talks on leaving the bloc early next year.

British media reported at the weekend that London could delay triggering the procedure for exiting the EU until later next year. Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday she would not begin the proceedings before the end of the year.

Michael Roth, Germany's European Affairs minister, said Britain should be ready to negotiate at the start of 2017.

"Until the end of the year should really be sufficient time to get organised and adjust to the new situation," he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. "We should not let too much time go by."

European leaders do not want Britain to hold the bloc hostage by horse trading on the terms of an EU exit before it commits to leave.

Roth, a member of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, said only when Britain triggers "Article 50", which sets the clock ticking on a two-year deadline to leave the EU, could serious discussions begin.

It should be possible to complete the negotiations within two years, in time for the next elections for the European Parliament in 2019, he said.

"We can't quibble about it. Even if we didn't want or hope for it, Brexit won and as it won there can't be any British members in the next European Parliament," Roth said.

Asked whether Britain could adopt a model similar to that of Switzerland or Norway, which are not members of the EU but have close ties to it, Roth said the deal agreed with London would probably be unlike those struck with other countries.

"Given Britain's size, significance and its long membership of the European Union, there will probably be a special status which only bears limited comparison to that of countries that have never belonged to the European Union," he said.

"I want relations between the European Union and Britain to be as close as possible," he said, but added: "There cannot be any cherry picking."

Much of the negotiating on Britain's EU exit is likely to focus on a trade-off between access to the bloc's internal market and the free movement of people. Roth showed little sign of a readiness to compromise here.

Asked if Britain could retain the market access while putting limits on the free movement of people, he replied: "I can't imagine that."

"The free movement of workers is a highly prized right in the European Union and we don't want to wobble on that."
Four killed as tourist boat, speedboat collide off Greek island

ATHENS, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Four people, including a nine-year-old girl, died and at least five were injured after a boat with about 20 people on board collided with a speedboat off the Greek holiday island of Aegina on Tuesday, officials said.

The child, the captain of the tourist boat - which sank - and two male passengers were found dead, a coast guard official said. Twenty-one people had been rescued, most of them Greek nationals.

The circumstances of the collision were unclear. The Athens News Agency reported that the speedboat rammed into the tour boat and its captain had been arrested.

The five injured were transferred to Athens, two of them with serious injuries, an official at the local health centre told Reuters.

Other people were missing, Aegina mayor Dimitris Mourtzis told Skai TV.

"It's such a small channel, just a few minutes' distance," he said, referring to the waters between the port of Perdika in Aegina and the nearby uninhabited islet of Moni.

Excursions are run daily in the area. Private boats, coast guard vessels and a helicopter were searching for survivors.
Britain backs expansion of world's largest wind farm

By Susanna Twidale

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain on Tuesday approved plans to expand an offshore wind farm project that could ultimately have more than 600 turbines spread across an area of the North Sea more than twice the size of London.

The Hornsea Two windfarm project, to be built by DONG Energy , is part of Britain's push to invest in new electricity generation capacity needed to overcome a squeeze on power supplies in the next decade.

All but one of Britain's existing nuclear plants, which produce around a fifth of the country's electricity, are set to close by 2030 as they come to the end of their operational lifespans. And the government plans to close coal-fired plants by 2025 as a part of its efforts to meet climate targets.

Plans for a new 18 billion pound nuclear power plant, Hinkley C, are currently under review amid spiralling costs and concerns over Chinese investment in the project.

If built, Hornsea Two, some 89 kilometres off the coast of Yorkshire, will have 300 turbines and is expected to generate around 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, enough to power up to 1.6 million homes, DONG Energy said in a statement.

The Danish company has already secured planning permission for the adjacent 1.2 GW Hornsea One development. Earlier this year, DONG Energy made a final decision to go ahead with this project, which it said could begin generating electricity in 2020 and would be the world's largest offshore wind farm.

"We have already invested 6 billion pounds ($7.79 billion) in the UK, and Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind," Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy's UK Chairman said.

The two sites together, at 3 GW, would also have a similar capacity to the Hinkley C nuclear project, which, if it goes ahead would be built by French company EDF with financial backing from a Chinese state-owned company.

The government said its next round of renewable funding will focus on offshore wind and has said around 10 GW of capacity could be installed by the end of the decade.

"The UK's offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system," Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said.

Wind power (onshore and offshore) made up around 11 percent of Britain's electricity production in 2015, up from 9.5 percent the year before.
Houthi shelling kills seven in Saudi Arabia, nine Yemenis die in air strike

RIYADH, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Shells fired by Yemen's Houthi group killed seven civilians in southern Saudi Arabia, Saudi state television reported, while an air strike by an Arab coalition destroyed a house east of the Yemeni capital killing nine family members, residents said.

Saudi Ekhbariyah television said projectiles fired by the Iran-allied Houthis landed at an industrial area in the southern city of Najran, close to the Yemeni border, in one of the deadliest attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's foes during more than a year of war, the Houthis are Yemen's dominant political force and are fighting against Saudi-backed loyalists of the country's exiled government in the Nehm district, where the strike occurred.

A spokesman for the coalition did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

It said four Saudi citizens and three expatriate workers died. A resident said the projectile landed some 500 metres (yards) from a local power station, causing panic in the city.

"Najran is sad this evening," the resident, who asked not to be identified told Reuters.

Earlier in the day, residents in Nehm area, east of Sanaa, said a plane from the Saudi-led alliance struck the home of a local leader of Yemen's armed Houthi group while he was out, killing his father and eight members of the family.

Saudi Arabia and its mostly Gulf Arab allies intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015 to restore President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi to power and fight off the Iran-allied Houthis.

The conflict has killed at over 6,500 people and unleashed a humanitarian crisis in one of the world's poorest countries.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said an air strike on Monday hit one of its hospitals northwestern Hajja province and killed 11 people and wounded several others. The charity said in a statement on Tuesday that three of those who were wounded had died, raising the death toll to 14.

UNICEF said a school was bombed on Saturday in neighbouring Saada province, killing ten children mostly between the ages of six and eight. Coalition spokesman General Ahmed al-Asseri said the bombing had targeted a centre used by the Houthi militias as a training camp.
Libyan forces claim capture of district in Sirte from Islamic State

SIRTE, Libya, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes said on Tuesday that they had taken control of one of the last districts in central Sirte occupied by Islamic State fighters.

Forces aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli are three months into a campaign to oust Islamic State from their former North African stronghold and have captured most of the coastal city.

Since Aug. 1 their progress has been aided by U.S. air strikes that have targeted Islamic State vehicles, weapons and fighting positions. U.S. Africa Command said it had carried out a total of 48 strikes as of Wednesday.

The Libyan forces are mainly composed of brigades from the western city of Misrata. After they secured key sites south of central Sirte last week, fighting moved into neighbourhood Number 2, which the brigades said they had now captured.

"On Tuesday morning clashes erupted ... that led successfully to the recapture of neighbourhood Number 2 with the cooperation of a tank unit to confront Islamic State snipers," said Rida Issa, a spokesman.

"The neighbourhood is now completely under control of our forces."

Some casualties from the fighting were arriving at Misrata's central hospital, but it was not yet clear how many had been killed and wounded said, Akram Gliwan a hospital spokesman.

Islamic State took control of Sirte last year, turning it into a base for Libyan and foreign fighters and extending their control over about 250 km (155 miles) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline.

But it has struggled to win broad support or retain territory in Libya, and losing Sirte will be a major setback for the jihadist group, already under pressure from U.S.-backed campaigns in Iraq and Syria.
Treasure hunters dig for mysterious Nazi-era train in Poland

WARSAW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Polish and German treasure hunters have started digging at a site in southwest Poland where they believe a Nazi-era train rumoured to have gone missing is hidden - despite the scepticism of experts.

Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper said last year they had located the train buried underground. According to local legend, it was carrying looted jewels and guns and disappeared into a tunnel ahead of advancing Soviet Red Army forces in 1945, towards the end of World War Two.

They secured the permissions needed to begin digging despite a study by AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow concluding that a train is unlikely to be buried in the location the two amateur explorers have specified.

On Tuesday, the pair led a team of explorers in excavations at three separate sites inside a fenced-off area in the district of Walbrzych.

"We have to find a railway track, probably the entrance to a railway tunnel and, if the tunnel exists, there should be a train there," Andrzej Gaik, a spokesman for the treasure hunters, told Polish media.

"What do we expect? To unveil a sort of time capsule, something from that era, from the period of World War Two ... We are hoping to be successful."
Swiss-Italian frontier becomes flashpoint in Europe's migrant crisis

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

SWISS-ITALIAN BORDER, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Nine months pregnant and desperate to cross from Italy into Switzerland after fleeing Ethiopia, a young woman along with her husband are among hundreds stranded by a Swiss border clampdown that is drawing international scrutiny.

Swiss authorities reject accusations they are violating would-be refugees' rights to seek asylum. But a growing throng of migrants waiting near Como in northern Italy and aid workers tell a different story: The Swiss border is effectively closed.

"Wait here until we understand the situation," volunteer Lisa Bosia Mirra told the Ethiopian couple, who did not give their names, after they sought her help with Swiss asylum applications. "One week at least."

Mirra, a member of the regional parliament in Switzerland's Italian-speaking Ticino region that borders Italy, told them not to try to cross until then, since to be registered and deported could dash any hope of winning Swiss asylum.

Still, the pair, fearing the prospect of the mother giving birth in a Como park without shelter or sanitation, said they would try their luck anyway and enter Switzerland, a longtime haven for refugees, by train.

Several hundred migrants have slept on towels and blankets in the park near Como's train station since the Swiss clampdown began in mid-July, separating people from relatives or friends who had crossed some months before.

Non-governmental and human rights groups like Amnesty International and Bosia's Associazone Firdaus have called for clarifications from Switzerland over migrants' claims that they were denied a chance to speak to border authorities and that requests to seek Swiss asylum went unheeded.

Swiss left-wing politicians are checking for possible violations of Swiss asylum law.

With the migrant crisis now in its third year, more people are arriving and more are dying on often dangerous journeys to Europe from northern Africa and the Middle East.

For many migrants, Italy has become the gateway into Europe now that - in response to a public backlash over the more than one million who streamed to the continent in 2015 - borders have slammed shut along the Balkan corridor and an accord between Turkey and the EU has stemmed an influx into Greece.

More than 140,000 asylum seekers are now housed in Italian shelters, up sevenfold from 2013. Italy has increasingly struggled to cope as Austria, France and Switzerland have turned back migrants seeking onward travel.

"FAILURE OF DUBLIN SYSTEM"

In Switzerland, asylum requests fell by more than a third year on year in July, even as those trying to enter rose. Last week alone, Swiss border guards swept up nearly 1,800 people trying to cross from Italy without permission.

More than two-thirds have been turned away since July, up from one in seven through June this year.

Swiss Customs said this upholds the law - under Europe's so-called Dublin System for handling refugees, migrants can be returned to their first country of registry - and reflects a rise in migrants aiming to transit elsewhere in Europe.

Under Swiss law, its Secretariat for Migration (SEM) must process anyone requesting asylum. That means border officers or police must put asylum seekers in SEM's care even if they are ultimately deemed ineligible to stay.

But many of Como's migrants, including minors, told Reuters in interviews that they were rebuffed directly at the border despite presenting documents showing they sought to join family in Switzerland. It remains unclear if people were being rejected en masse under any formal policy, Bosia said.

Norman Gobbi, the local Swiss police director, has told local media of a more restrictive practice where only plausible asylum requests were being considered. Those requesting asylum only after being rebuffed for initially saying they wanted to travel onward were being returned to Italy, he said.

"This situation is an expression of the failure of the Dublin system," Swiss parliamentarian Carlo Sommaruga said last week as he met young Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis, many of them children, who travelled across Egypt and Libya to Europe.

These young people told stories of persecution at home - a father jailed, an uncle murdered, women raped - which they said made fleeing necessary. Abdurre Dire showed scars on his hands, face and wrist he said came from police in his native Ethiopia.
Son of drug lord "El Chapo" could be among Mexico kidnapped - state official

MEXICO CITY, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman could be among a group of people kidnapped from a restaurant in the Pacific Mexican tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.

A group of six or seven people suspected to be members of Guzman's feared Sinaloa Cartel were abducted by eight armed men from an upscale eatery in the heart of the resort early on Monday.

Puerto Vallarta, in the state of Jalisco, is one of Mexico's top vacation destinations, attracting all-inclusive tourists and high-end sun seekers to its beaches.

"There is a possibility that Ivan Guzman is among the kidnapped," Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told local radio. However he cautioned that it was hard to tell, as false ID cards were found at the scene.

Jalisco, which lies south along the Pacific coast from Sinaloa, is home to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which has become one of the country's most powerful drug gangs in recent years.

Guzman was one of the world's most wanted drug kingpins until he was captured in January. Six months earlier, he had broken out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a mile-long tunnel.
MIDEAST STOCKS-FTSE expectations boost Qatar, most markets retreat

By Andrew Torchia

DUBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Qatari stocks rose on Tuesday amid expectations money will flow into the market when the index compiler FTSE promotes it to emerging-market status from frontier market. Most other Gulf markets gave up early gains to close lower and Dubai pulled back from technical resistance.

FTSE, which will promote Qatar on Sept. 19, announced on Monday some of the criteria which it will use to choose individual Qatari stocks for its index, including liquidity requirements.

Investment bank EFG Hermes said that as a result, it had raised its prediction for FTSE-related fund inflows next month to $550 million from $289 million. Three stocks that had looked unlikely to be chosen - Qatar National Bank (QNB), Qatar Insurance and Qatar Navigation - were now likely to enter the index, it said.

Qatar's main stock index jumped 2.2 percent to a nine-month closing higher of 11,371 points in the heaviest trade since mid-March as QNB and Qatar Navigation both surged 6.7 percent and Qatar Insurance gained 3.5 percent.

Other major Gulf markets failed to hold onto early gains, however, despite a further rise of Brent crude oil futures to $48.74 per barrel, their highest since July 7.

Dubai's index fell 0.4 percent to 3,587 points, retreating from technical resistance at its April peak of 3,605 points. Emaar Properties, which had led the market up in recent days, pulled back 1.3 percent.

Abu Dhabi also lost 0.4 percent as banks fell, although Aldar Properties, the most heavily traded stock, climbed 2.1 percent.

Saudi Arabia's index fell 0.5 percent in a broad-based decline, with losers outnumbering gainers 119 to 30. Zain Saudi Arabia outperformed, closing flat, after saying it would save 175 million riyals ($46.7 million) by using a Chinese bank to refinance a 2.25 billion riyal loan that it had secured just two months ago.

In Oman, two cement companies outperformed after they said they planned to set up a new plant in a joint venture with the government authority developing the country's Duqm special economic zone. Oman Cement Co rose 2.6 percent and Raysut Cement Co added 2.1 percent.

In Egypt, the index dropped 0.8 percent on profit-taking. It had risen for most of the past three weeks in response to Egypt's talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan. Nine of the 10 most heavily trade stocks retreated.

Commercial International Bank, a favourite of foreign investors, slipped 0.6 percent to 51.50 Egyptian pounds after climbing 23 percent since the end of June. The median price target for the stock of 14 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters is 51 pounds.

TUESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index sank 0.5 percent to 6,329 points.

DUBAI

* The index fell 0.4 percent to 3,587 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index dropped 0.4 percent to 4,543 points.

EGYPT

* The index fell 0.8 percent to 8,387 points.

QATAR

* The index jumped 2.2 percent to 11,371 points.

KUWAIT

* The index rose 0.3 percent to 5,507 points.

OMAN

* The index fell 0.3 percent to 5,887 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index dropped 0.6 percent to 1,152 points.
Congo, Angola begin mass vaccination drive against yellow fever

By Benoit Nyemba

KINSHASA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola began one of the biggest ever emergency vaccination campaigns in Africa this week, working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to curb a yellow fever epidemic that has killed hundreds this year.

Health officials expect to vaccinate 14 million people over the next 10 days including some 8.5 million in the densely populated Congolese capital, Kinshasa, where the disease's presence has sparked fears of a far wider spread.

Vaccinations started in Angola on Monday and about 41,000 health workers have been deployed across more than 8,000 sites with 17.3 million syringes available regionally, WHO said on Tuesday. There are about 6,000 suspected cases in the region.

A small but significant fraction of cases die from jaundice, bleeding and multiple organ failure. More than 400 people have died of the virus since December.

The campaign is being accelerated to try to stop it spreading before the rainy season starts in September and makes more remote parts of the region inaccessible. Other challenges include a lack of reliable power to keep vaccines cold.

"By the end of this vaccination campaign ... we are going to put an end to the progression of yellow fever," Congo's Minister of Health, Felix Kabange Numbi Kabange, told reporters on Tuesday at a ceremony to mark the start of the campaign.

China and Japan, the World Bank, WHO and the U.N. Children's Fund as well as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization are financing the campaign, WHO spokesman in Congo, Eugene Kabambi, said.

About 2 million people were vaccinated in Kinshasa during campaigns in May and July. Overall, some 13 million people in Angola and 3 million in Congo have been vaccinated this year.

The outbreak has spread as far as China, carried by workers returning from Angola, but WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said on Tuesday he was optimistic it could be contained.

"The WHO Emergency Committee will reconvene in coming weeks (and) will re-evaluate the situation but we think that the outbreak is manageable if we can protect enough people with the vaccine," he told reporters in Geneva.

The campaign also marks the first time that fractional doses of the vaccine will be given in order to stretch limited supplies amid a global shortage.
By Ginger Gibson

LA CROSSE, WIS., Aug 16 (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump, who has stressed law and order in his presidential campaign, will hold an event with veterans and law enforcement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, visiting days after the city was hit by unrest over a police-involved shooting.

He will also appear in a town hall sponsored by Fox News, and then hold a rally in the Milwaukee suburb of West Bend on Tuesday night. The rally and townhall had been planned before unrest broke out in the city on Saturday night.

Trump's schedule was in flux in the days leading up to his trip to Milwaukee - unusual for a campaign that frequently plans events days in advance.

The city was hit by violence after the death of Sylville Smith, 23, on Saturday afternoon. Authorities said Smith was stopped for acting suspiciously and then fled, and was shot by police because he was carrying an illegal handgun and refused orders to drop it.

Demonstrations on Saturday night turned violent, when cars and businesses were set ablaze and gunfire ripped through the area of protests. The city was calmer on Monday night after a curfew was put in place for teenagers, and community leaders called for peace.

Trump's presence in Milwaukee, where he will tape a special for Fox News at 7 p.m. E.T. at the downtown Pabst Theater, could prompt more demonstrations. Opponents of the New York real estate mogul frequently demonstrate inside and outside his campaign events. A rally in Chicago earlier this year was canceled after demonstrations grew violent.

Trump frequently talks about the need to restore safety and order in the wake of unrest in American cities.
Wave of car burning crimes in Sweden moves to poor Stockholm suburb

STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A wave of car burnings across Sweden that has seen more than 2,000 vehicles damaged or destroyed this year, moved on Monday night to the Stockholm suburb of Husby, where mass riots began three years ago and spread across the capital's poorer suburbs.

Police have arrested only one suspect - a 21-year-old man in the southern city of Malmo whose car contained cans of gasoline - and they are appealing for help nationwide in a country that prides itself on its low levels of crime.

"This crime is very hard to investigate," Malmo police's Lars Forstell said. "We don't see any patterns and we don't have any suspects."

"We need all the help we can get," he said.

On Tuesday, the centre-right opposition called on the government to act and the Justice Department told Reuters that an action plan would be presented in the "next couple of days".

The fires have centred on Stockholm and Malmo - Sweden's third biggest city, and 2,027 vehicles have been set on fire in total between January and July, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

In August alone, 48 vehicles were set on fire in Malmo and 60 more in June and July. On Monday, 13 cars were set alight in several different parts of the city.

Late on Monday, two cars were set on fire in Stockholm's Husby and seven cars were set on fire in the southern suburb of Haninge. No arrests have been made.

"We can't say if it is youngsters or criminals or whatever. We assume little things but we don't know," Stockholm police spokesperson Kjell Lindgren said.

The 2013 riots started a debate about social inequality, poverty and immigration in Sweden and Malmo University criminology researcher, Manne Gerell, said it was typically disadvantaged young men who were responsible for the fires.
Finnish health minister resigns as coalition struggles with key reform

By Jussi Rosendahl and Tuomas Forsell

HELSINKI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Finnish Health Minister Hanna Mantyla said on Tuesday she was stepping down for personal reasons just as the three-party ruling coalition seeks to finalise a complicated healthcare reform that nearly led to the government's collapse last year.

The planned reform aims to tackle the rising cost of caring for Finland's ageing population by cutting spending by 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), part of a wider, long-term 10 billion euro national savings plan.

But the three coalition partners have struggled to agree on some aspects of the reform, including whether the health care sector, which currently runs on a mix of public and private providers, should be opened up further to private players.

In November, Sipila threatened to break up the coalition when the partners clashed over the allocation of resources between districts.

Mantyla has been the Finns party's lead negotiator on the health care reform, though the party has not adopted a clear stance. A Finns party member, parliamentarian Pirkko Mattila, will be her replacement and starts next week, the party said.

Finns Party leader Timo Soini, who is also the foreign minister, told a news conference the health care reform was on track but challenging.

"There are no major disagreements, but coalition parties have different priorities ... and nothing is ready until the whole package is ready. It is a difficult reform, as we saw last year," he said.

Mantyla has been tipped as Soini's possible successor after speculation in local media that he would step down before the 2019 parliament election.

PM Sipila is trying to balance Finland's public finances as the euro zone member struggles to return to growth after years of stagnation caused by problems including the decline of Nokia's former phone business and recession in neighbouring Russia.

Recent polls have shown a decline in support for the Finns Party, which analysts say is driven by disappointment over compromises made by the government. This has led some members to call on the party to adopt a stronger stance in the coalition, which could complicate its work going forward.
Kenya clears out electoral officials after deadly protests

By Humphrey Malalo

NAIROBI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Kenya will replace its top electoral officials, a cross-party parliamentary committee said on Tuesday, granting victory to the opposition which had branded them biased and led protests for them to be sacked.

Nine new commissioners will take over the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission well before next August's general election, a key demand of Raila Odinga's opposition CORD coalition which said it had feared a rigged vote.

At least four people died in protests that CORD had been staging weekly, raising concerns of a return to ethnic violence that killed 1,200 people after a disputed election in 2007.

The protests began in April but CORD suspended them after President Uhuru Kenyatta's ruling Jubilee coalition agreed to form a joint parliamentary committee to resolve the dispute.

That committee issued its report on Tuesday, recommending "a dignified and negotiated vacation from office" of the electoral commissioners, and setting out how their replacements will be picked to start preparations for next year's vote.

Parliament must still vote to approve the report and it will also have to be signed off by Odinga and Kenyatta - all steps seen as formalities as the committee had wide support.
Gabon opposition chooses Ping as candidate for Aug. 27 election

LIBREVILLE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Gabon's main opposition parties chose former foreign minister Jean Ping as its candidate in an election on Aug. 27 against President Ali Bongo, who is standing for a second term in one of Africa's leading oil-producing nations.

Ping, aged 74, is considered one of Africa's foremost diplomats. His career has included a spell as chairman of the African Union commission and as president of the U.N. General Assembly.

He was an ally and protege of the president's father, Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon for 42 years until his death in 2009. Ping fell out with Ali Bongo, who won a disputed election in 2009, and resigned from the ruling party in 2014.

"We think that this event will constitute the real departure point for change in this country and the start of a new Gabon," said Zacharie Myboto, who presided over the signing ceremony at which Ping was chosen over several other possible candidates.
"Vote for Trump!" Serbian ultra-nationalists chant as Biden visits

BELGRADE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Serbian ultra-nationalists protested on Tuesday against U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Belgrade by chanting their support for the man he says is making the United States less safe - Donald Trump.

"Vote for Trump! Vote for Trump!" the protesters, wearing T-shirts displaying an image of the U.S. Republican candidate, shouted as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building.

Biden was on a one-day visit to Belgrade before travelling to Kosovo, with officials saying he will encourage both countries to do more to normalise their relations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

The United States is highly popular among Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians, who regard Washington as their saviour for the U.S.-led NATO air strikes in 1999 that halted killings by Serbian forces waging a counter-insurgency war. But resentment still runs high in Serbia over NATO's intervention.

"Trump is the alternative to globalisation. He will destroy old centres of power in the United States and he is a supporter of Russia," Vojislav Seselj, head of Serbia's ultra-nationalist Radical Party, told Reuters when asked why he was backing Trump.

Biden, a Democrat, said on Monday that Trump's remark that President Barack Obama had founded Islamic State had increased threats to the physical safety of U.S. troops in Iraq.

At the time of the ultra-nationalist rally, Biden was in a government building in another part of Belgrade barred to protesters during his visit.

Trump's volatile campaign, which has included calls for a border wall with Mexico to keep out immigrants and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has pricked the interest of some right-wing and nationalist leaders abroad.

Seselj, who was acquitted in March of war crimes by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, urged Serbian-Americans to vote for Trump in the November U.S. presidential election.

Victims of atrocities in Bosnia's 1992-95 war reacted with dismay in March to the acquittal of Seselj, who was accused of stoking murderous ethnic hatred with fiery rhetoric in the conflicts that accompanied federal Yugoslavia's break-up into seven successor states and killed 130,000 people.
Russia orders surprise delay in Bashneft oil firm sale

By Darya Korsunskaya, Katya Golubkova and Olesya Astakhova

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has postponed the privatisation of mid-sized oil producer Bashneft, his spokeswoman said on Tuesday, a decision she said was approved by President Vladimir Putin.

The privatisation of Bashneft was meant to help plug gaps in Russia's budget caused by an oil price slump and Western sanctions imposed over the country's actions in Ukraine.

The sale was considered one of the crown jewels of the country's privatisation programme and was set to pit some of Russia's most powerful businessmen and officials against each other.

Three sources close to the arrangers of the sale, close to Bashneft and close to Russia's economy ministry said the postponement was a surprise.

Natalia Timakova, Medvedev's spokeswoman, said that the stake sale was postponed for unspecified period of time. The sale was earlier planned for autumn this year, with the government valuing a 50.08 percent stake at around 306 billion roubles ($4.8 billion).

In recent weeks, tensions had risen over the Bashneft sale, with Igor Sechin, head of state oil company Rosneft, appealing to the Russian government to allow his company to participate in the privatisation.

The prospect of Rosneft taking part prompted criticism from some government officials who had said this would essentially involve the state transferring assets from one firm to another.

Rosneft has said its involvement would boost competition and the price the government could get for Bashneft.

According to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday, Russia's Economy Ministry advised Medvedev he would have to issue a special decree if he wanted to bar oil major Rosneft from the privatisation of Bashneft.

Two sources familiar with the deal suggested the government has decided to pause the Bashneft sale as "there was too much noise" around the deal.

Gazeta.ru reported on Tuesday that one of the bidders, a little-known firm Tatneftegaz, had asked the state to sell a 75 percent stake in Bashneft, including a 25 percent owned by the republic of Bashkortostan which was originally not included.

An industry source close to the deal and a government source said that the state would instead now first try to sell a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft, Russia' top oil producer, to finance the budget deficit.

Rosneft declined to comment.

Russia's RBC news organisation reported earlier on Tuesday that among the reasons for Medvedev's decision was a letter by Rustem Khamitov, the head of the internal Russian republic of Bashkortostan, who proposed a postponement.

Khamitov's spokesman was not immediately available to comment. VTB Capital, which is arranging the deal, declined to comment. Bashneft also declined to comment. The Russian economy ministry, which is arranging the privatisation, was not immediately available for a comment.
Putin hints at war in Ukraine but may be seeking diplomatic edge

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine says it thinks Vladimir Putin is planning a new invasion, and it's not hard to see why: the Russian leader has built up troops on its border and resumed the hostile rhetoric that preceded his annexation of Crimea two years ago.

But despite appearances, some experts say Putin is more likely seeking advantage through diplomacy than on the battlefield, at least this time around.

"It's about sanctions," Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think tank close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Reuters.

"It looks like a way of increasing pressure on Western participants of the Minsk peace process," he said of a peace deal set up for eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have battled against government forces.

For two years, Russia has been under U.S. and EU sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. European leaders say the sanctions cannot be lifted unless the Minsk peace deal is implemented, but for now it looks moribund, with fighting occasionally flaring and both sides blaming each other for failing to implement truce terms.

This week, tension escalated dramatically after Putin threatened to take unspecified counter-measures against Ukraine to retaliate for what his spies say was a plot to bomb targets across contested Crimea. Putin said two Russian servicemen were killed in a clash with Ukrainian saboteurs sent to Crimea.

Kiev says the incident never happened, and was concocted to create a phoney pretext for a new invasion. The United States and European Union also say there is no evidence it took place.

Whether the plot is real or imagined, Moscow has cranked up its military activity in Crimea at the same time as holding a series of what it says are pre-planned war games and missile deployments in the area.

Putin, who is expected to visit Crimea later this week in a show of support, convened his Security Council and cancelled the next round of international talks meant to turn the shaky ceasefire in eastern Ukraine into a lasting peace.

But his response - deliberately refocusing international attention back on eastern Ukraine and the lack of progress in implementing a peace deal there - suggests Putin is trying to milk the latest Crimean crisis as part of a diplomatic power play he hopes will eventually kill Western sanctions.

TALKS RUN INTO SAND

European talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meant to ensure the peace deal's implementation have so far run into the sand. And talks between Victoria Nuland, U.S. assistant secretary of state, and Vladislav Surkov, a Russian presidential aide, have not generated a breakthrough either.

In the meantime, pro-Kremlin separatists continue to control two self-declared republics in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, where low-level fighting with Ukrainian government forces continues, sometimes flaring up in a big way, despite the ceasefire.

Under the deal, Kiev committed to grant Donbass special status, to pardon separatist fighters, and to organise elections. But in a country ripped apart by more than two years of war that has lost control of giant chunks of territory, following through on such pledges is politically toxic.

Kiev justifies its slowness to act by accusing Russia of failing to meet its own obligations: continuing to stir conflict in the east, and failing to give back control of Ukraine's eastern border.

Kortunov said the aim of Putin's latest sabre rattling is to persuade Ukraine's Western allies "to exert influence on Kiev to get it to fulfil its side of the bargain".

Ultimately, Putin wants the world to forgive and forget Russia's Crimean annexation and for the conflict in the east to freeze, leaving a pro-Russian stronghold inside Ukraine, outside of Kiev's control.

It is a long-term settlement that Kiev would never officially accept. Meanwhile, as long as the peace deal is stalled, the sanctions remain in place, with the EU's preconditions to lift them growing no closer.

"Russia is intensely frustrated by the lack of movement on the February 2015 Minsk agreement, and has sought to put the onus for the lack of progress on Ukraine," Paul Quinn-Judge, a senior adviser at International Crisis Group, wrote in a commentary.

"The agreement...is highly disadvantageous for Ukraine. Some key clauses, such as according the entities special status, would be politically explosive, perhaps politically fatal, for President Petro Poroshenko. He has accordingly chosen to delay as much as possible. Moscow is turning up the heat."

With Russia's reserve fund set to run out next year and Moscow's access to Western credit markets still closed because of the sanctions, for Russia the clock is ticking.

By flexing his military muscles, Putin is sending a signal to the West that his patience is wearing thin and that he may resort to other options if Kiev can't be made to play ball.

One of those, the daily Vedomosti newspaper reported earlier this week citing a source close to the separatist leadership, might be to stop restraining separatist forces, effectively allowing a full-scale conflict in eastern Ukraine to resume.

"For now, Russia's leadership is using the story about Crimean saboteurs as an ultimatum to its Western partners in the (Ukrainian) negotiations," wrote Alexander Baunov, a senior associate at the Moscow Carnegie Center.
Fiorentina sign Croatia defender Milic from Hajduk

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Fiorentina have signed Croatia defender Hrvoje Milic from Hajduk Split on a permanent deal subject to a medical, the Serie A club said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old, who has been capped by his country six times, made 28 league appearances last season for Hajduk who finished third in the Croatian top flight.
Police in Germany have paraded an arsenal of weapons seized from a man they arrested on suspicion of supplying a pistol to the teenage gunman who shot dead nine people at a Munich shopping mall.

The Frankfurt state prosecutor confirmed that the 31-year-old, who was not named, was arrested in Marburg yesterday after boasting online that he sold Ali David Sonboly the firearm.

It came after undercover officers posing as buyers for a Glock 17 pistol and another automatic weapon contacted him on the dark web offering him 8,000 euros (6,920).

Weapons seized by the police in connection with the detention of a dealer involved in the July rampage in a Munich shopping centre

Among the guns stashed by the man arrested were automatic weapons as well as pistols

Also found was a Glock 17, the same type of weapon used by the teenage killer who shot dead nine people at a shopping mall in Munich before turning the gun on himself

Ali David Sonboly, aged 18, who lured young people to a McDonald's restaurant in Munich and killed nine of them before taking his own life

It was then that he made the claims that he sold a 9mm glock pistol to 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly, who lured young people to a McDonald's restaurant in Munich and killed nine of them before taking his own life.

A statement from the prosecutor's office added that the man's claims were supported by evidence gathered by the Munich prosecutor's office and Bavarian state police.

The Bavarian police said in a statement: 'There is the strong suspicion that the 31-year-old man sold the Glock 17 used in the Munich shooting to the 18-year-old German-Iranian shortly before the attacks.'

The Frankfurt prosecutor's office said the suspect was identified during unrelated investigations into illegal weapons purchases by a 62-year-old accountant from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a 17-year-old student from the state of Hesse.

During the course of a subsequent sting operation, the suspect said he had sold Sonboly the Glock 17 pistol during a meeting in Marburg on May 20, followed by 350 rounds of ammunition during a second meeting on July 18, according to the statement

As well as the weapons, police also found bags of ammunition when they raided the man's house

During the course of a subsequent sting operation, the suspect said he had sold Sonboly the Glock 17 pistol during a meeting in Marburg on May 20, followed by 350 rounds of ammunition during a second meeting on July 18

Police said evidence gathered from the gunman's home and various social media messages indicated that he had taken a bus to Marburg from his home in Munich in May to buy the weapon, and again in July to buy the ammunition.

It said a 65-person task force investigating the Munich shooting was continuing to review 3,100 tips and pieces of evidence, and had already interviewed 250 witnesses.

To date, there was no new evidence indicating that any other parties were involved in planning or executing the shooting, the Bavarian police said.

'The successful investigation proves once again that there is no complete anonymity on the Internet and no comprehensive protection against prosecution. This is also true for the so-called 'dark net,' the Frankfurt prosecutor's office said.

A video purporting to show the shooter, dressed in black, firing 20 shots has been posted on Twitter. The video shows him outside a McDonald's opposite the shopping centre

Alexander Badle, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the 17-year-old student was a German citizen and there was no evidence that he was planning a Munich-style shooting attack, despite the "quite concerning" amount of weapons he had amassed.

Nor was there any evidence thus far of any specific political, religious or ideological motivation for his actions, Badle said. He said the youth was facing charges for violating Germany's strict weapons laws, but had been released for now.
McIlroy Irish Open win raises almost one million euros for charity

DUBLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's Irish Open win earlier this year raised almost one million euros ($1.13 million) for three children's charities thanks to a donation by the Northern Irishman's Foundation.

"While winning the Irish Open meant a lot to me, being able to give my prize money to three local children's charities made it all feel much more special," the world number five said in a news release on Tuesday.

"I can think of no charities as worthy or deserving of support than Barretstown, the Jack and Jill Foundation and LauraLynn Children's Hospice."

Four-times major winner McIlroy shot a closing 69 to finish three shots clear of Scotland's Russell Knox and Welshman Bradley Dredge at the K Club on the outskirts of Dublin in May.

"This 317,000 euros donation (for each charity) from the Rory Foundation is literally a gift of time to the families under our wing," said Jack and Jill Foundation chief executive Jonathan Irwin.
"Star Trek Beyond" cast greeted in South Korea by fans

SEOUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The cast of "Star Trek Beyond" hit the red carpet in Seoul on Tuesday to meet and greet fans days before the film's release in South Korea.

Scores of screaming fans took pictures of and with the movie stars, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg, as they entered the venue and signed autographs.

Pine, who plays the starship Enterprise's Captain James T. Kirk, said he was grateful for the warm welcome.

"I don't think we've ever been received quite the same way anywhere in the world," Pine said at a news conference.

"Thank you very much for having us, for your support, your passion for our really wonderful (film) franchise 'Star Trek,' and we look forward to showing it to you."

In the movie, the beloved cast of characters explores the farthest realms of charted space, where they encounter a new, mysterious enemy who puts them - and everything that the United Federation of Planets stands for - to the test.

"I have the good fortune to play a character who is iconic throughout the world, who has had an incredibly positive influence on millions of people over a number of generations," said American actor Zachary Quinto, who plays Vulcan first officer Spock.

British actor Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the screenplay for "Star Trek Beyond," also stars in the film as Scotty, the ship's engineer.

"I love the little moments of character, I love the little exchanges between 'Bones' and Spock," said Pegg, referring to the ship's curmudgeonly surgeon, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

"But then it's impossible not to love the extraordinary action as well. There are various sequences in the film which just always leave me completely breathless, even though I've seen them before," Pegg said.

"Star Trek," created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966, was the first mainstream U.S. television series with a racially diverse cast, and spawned several TV series and movies. The franchise is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Director Justin Lin said he hopes "Star Trek" will continue to thrive.

"I hope that this allows the franchise to be able to go on for the next, hopefully, 50 years," said Lin.

Production companies Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media and Bad Robot Productions have announced a fourth film in the rebooted "Star Trek" series.

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in 2009's "Star Trek," will return to the space saga in the role of Captain Kirk's father, George Kirk.

The remaining cast members are also expected to return.
Trump, in law and order speech, calls for African-American support

By Ginger Gibson

WEST BEND, WIS., Aug 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday delivered his most aggressive call yet to woo African-American voters, vowing to restore law and order, only days after a fatal police shooting of a black man sparked more street violence.

Speaking a few miles from Milwaukee, which was rocked by weekend riots, Trump accused his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of "bigotry" and vowed to protect the jobs of minorities from immigrants. Trump has been repeatedly called a "bigot" by his Democratic opponents.

"I'm asking for the vote for every African-American citizen struggling in our society today who wants a different and much better future," Trump said.

"Jobs, safety, opportunity, fair and equal representation: We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton which panders to, and talks down to, communities of color and sees them only as votes - that's all they care about - not as individual human beings worthy of a better future."

Earlier, Trump held three events in Milwaukee, a city still reeling from violent protests after the death of Sylville Smith, 23. Authorities said Smith was stopped for acting suspiciously and was shot by police because he was carrying an illegal handgun and refused orders to drop it.

Trump encountered only a handful of peaceful protesters while in the city, including some at a closed fundraiser.

He held a brief meeting with veterans and law enforcement, including Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and Inspector Edward Bailey. But news media representatives were escorted out and not permitted to hear the discussions.

Clarke, who is black and spoke at last month's Republican National Convention, has criticised the protests, writing in an opinion piece for The Hill that they were "a collapse of the social order, where tribal behavior leads to reacting to circumstances instead of waiting for facts to emerge."

Trump also taped a town hall meeting with Fox News, in which he blamed President Barack Obama for what he sees as hostility toward police. "He has not been good to the police, simply, and the police are not big fans of his," Trump said.

Trump traveled 45 minutes outside of Milwaukee, which is 40 percent black, to deliver his appeal to African-American voters in the suburb of West Bend, Wisconsin, a community that is 95 percent white. He spoke before an almost entirely white audience.

"A vote for her (Clinton) is a vote for another generation of poverty, high crime and lost opportunities," Trump said. "Crime and violence is an attack on the poor and it will never be accepted in a Trump administration."

Clinton won the Democratic nomination in part thanks to her large victory margins among minorities in nearly every state, including overwhelming support from African-Americans in the South.

"With each passing Trump attack, it becomes clearer that his strategy is just to say about Hillary Clinton what's true of himself," Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.

"When people started saying he was temperamentally unfit, he called Hillary the same. When his ties to the Kremlin came under scrutiny, he absurdly claimed that Hillary was the one who was too close to Putin.

"Now he's accusing her of bigoted remarks - we think the American people will know which candidate is guilty of the charge."

Trump also took aim at Clinton's past acceptance of large speaking fees, saying he would force top administration officials to sign a pledge not to accept speaking fees from corporations with registered lobbyists or foreign countries for five years after leaving office.

Police violence against African-Americans has set off intermittent, sometimes violent protests in the past two years, igniting a national debate over race and policing in the United States and giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trump said critics of the police "share in the responsibility for the unrest in Milwaukee and other places in our country."

"The war on our police must end and it must end now," Trump said. "The war on police is a war against all peaceful citizens."

The shooting of Smith was likely justified, Trump argued in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning.

"But the gun was pointed at his (a police officer's) head, supposedly ready to be fired. Who can have a problem with that? That's what the narrative is," Trump said. "Maybe it's not true. If it is true, people shouldn't be rioting."

SECURITY BRIEFING

Officials from the Office of Director of National Intelligence are expected to give Trump a briefing on national security issues this week, an adviser to Trump and a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Presidential candidates are entitled to a briefing of classified information after formally securing the nomination, which Trump did last month. Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic rival for the Nov. 8 election, is also entitled to receive a briefing if she requests one.

Democrats have criticized Trump's positions on foreign policy and national security, besides some freewheeling remarks. Democratic President Barack Obama has called Trump "unfit" for the presidency and this month warned the Republican candidate that briefing information must be kept secret.
Brazil's Rousseff calls for early elections to pacify country

BRASILIA, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday her impeachment would be a coup and called for early elections to unite a country mired in recession.
Body set up by Saudi-led forces probes hits on Yemen school, hospital

By Sami Aboudi

RIYADH, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Air strikes by Saudi-led forces in Yemen that hit a school and a hospital are being investigated by a body set up by the coalition to look into civilian casualties, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Ten children, mostly between the age of six and eight, were killed when their school in northern Yemen's Saada province was bombed on Saturday, and 14 people were killed by a strike on a hospital run by Doctors without Borders in neighbouring Hajjah province on Monday.

"Immediately, and as soon as the announcement from Doctors without Borders and from his excellency the U.N. secretary-general reached us, the team began its investigation as part of its responsibility and without waiting for instructions from anyone," Mansour Ahmed al-Mansour told Reuters.

Mansour is a Bahraini judge who serves as a legal advisor to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) which was set up in May by Saudi Arabia's King Salman following an international outcry about the rising number of civilian casualties.

"We are collecting initial information and are in communication with the concerned parties to provide us with information available to them," Mansour said.

A further nine civilians were killed by a coalition air strike on Tuesday on the home of a local leader of the armed Houthi group which Saudi Arabia and its allies have been fighting since March 2015 to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.

The coalition says it does not target civilians and accuses the Houthis, who seized much of northern Yemen in a series of military advances since 2014, of placing military targets in civilian areas.

Mansour said the JIAT, comprising military and legal experts, including experts in international law from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar among other states, had powers to conduct thorough and transparent checks and issue its results without any outside intervention.

Earlier this month, the JIAT issued recommendations on eight previous incidents, including suggesting compensation be paid in one case and for the coalition to make sure it communicate warnings to international organisations operating in an area that was being targeted.

"The aim is to reach conclusions for the public opinion, and recommendations that the coalition may follow," Mansour said in an interview.

"If there are shortfalls, we help reach lessons to be learned and avoid repetition of this shortfall."

Investigators check aerial and satellite photographs, video footage and other evidence provided by non-governmental bodies and the United Nations, Mansour said.
Urban Outfitters reports surprise rise in comparable sales

By Subrat Patnaik

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters Inc reported a surprise rise in quarterly comparable sales, driven by higher demand for its namesake brand.

Shares of the company, which also posted better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit, rose nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Urban Outfitters' comparable sales rose 1 percent in the second quarter ended July 31. Analysts on average had expected comparable sales to fall 1.2 percent, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.

The Philadelphia-based retailer said comparable sales at the Urban Outfitters line, the company's second-biggest brand by sales, rose 5 percent, handily beating the 1.10 percent analysts on average had expected.

Urban Outfitters is attempting to draw back shoppers - who have shifted to online shopping and fast-fashion brands such as H&M, Inditex's Zara and Forever 21 - by adding bars, restaurants and hair salons to its stores.

"A focus on growth categories like the sporting and athleisure aesthetic, which UO has tapped into with its own active line and with brands like Adidas, have also afforded it some traction with consumers," Carter Harrison, analyst at research firm Conlumino, said.

The company's gross profit rate increased in the quarter, primarily driven by fewer promotions at the Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie brands.

The company's net income rose to $76.9 million, or 66 cents per share, from $66.8 million, or 52 cents per share, a year earlier.

Net sales at the company rose 2.7 percent to $890.6 million.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 56 cents per share and revenue of $886.4 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Brazil summons Uruguay ambassador as Mercosur tensions rise

By Alonso Soto and Matias Larramendi

BRASILIA/MONTEVIDEO, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Brazil summoned Uruguay's ambassador on Tuesday after the neighboring country's foreign minister accused Brazil of trying to "buy" its vote to block Venezuela from taking the rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc.

In comments to lawmakers last week that were made public on Tuesday, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said his government was "angry" with Brazil's attempt to prevent Caracas from leading the regional group that also includes Argentina and Paraguay.

Brazil Foreign Minister Jose Serra "came with the intention of blocking the handover (of the presidency) and if that happened they would take us along in trade negotiations, as if they wanted to buy Uruguay's vote," Nin Novoa said.

The Brazilian foreign ministry summoned Uruguay's ambassador in Brasilia, Carlos Amorin Tenconi, to explain Nin Novoa's comments.

"The Brazilian government received with a profound discontent and surprise the statement from Chancellor Nin Novoa," Brazil's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The leadership spat in the group has raised tensions and opened ideological fault lines in a region struggling with a drop in commodity prices and political turmoil.

Since Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May, her replacement Michel Temer has moved the country away from leftist allies such as Venezuela and toward traditional allies the United States and Europe.

Argentina and Paraguay, once close allies to Caracas, have also moved to undermine Venezuela as the OPEC nation's socialist government struggles with economic and political crises.

Venezuela was supposed to assume the rotating presidency of the bloc for six months, but Brazil claims the country has failed to fulfill the requirements to become a full member.
Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Food advertisements may work on children's brains

Children make quicker decisions to eat "tasty" food and reward centers in their brains light up after watching food commercials on television compared to nonfood commercials, a small study finds. "Our past work has shown that reward centers of the brain 'light up' in response to familiar food and nonfood logos," said lead author Amanda Bruce of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. "What this study adds is that we now have evidence that children's decisions are based more on taste (less on healthiness) after watching a food commercial."

More evidence trampoline parks are dangerous places for kids

Trampoline parks may be a lot of fun for kids, but a new study of injuries from one hospital in Australia adds to growing evidence suggesting these facilities can also be dangerous for children. The hospital is located just about three and a half miles from an indoor trampoline park that opened in July 2014.

Congo, Angola begin mass vaccination drive against yellow fever

Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola began one of the biggest ever emergency vaccination campaigns in Africa this week, working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to curb a yellow fever epidemic that has killed hundreds this year. Health officials expect to vaccinate 14 million people over the next 10 days including some 8.5 million in the densely populated Congolese capital, Kinshasa, where the disease's presence has sparked fears of a far wider spread.

Fewer dementia patients in nursing homes get feeding tubes

Fewer U.S. nursing home patients with dementia are getting feeding tubes as mounting evidence suggests it may not help them live longer or make them more comfortable, new research suggests. Researchers focused on the sickest dementia patients who tend to have difficulty chewing and swallowing as they near the end of life, a point when they may also struggle to speak, recognize loved ones, get out of bed or go to the bathroom independently.

OncoGenex seeks strategic alternatives after drug study fails

OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc said it was exploring strategic alternatives after its experimental drug failed to show survival benefit in a late-stage study in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The Bothell, Washington-based company's stock tumbled about 35 percent to 58 cents in premarket trading.

Lack of stores with fresh foods linked to signs of early heart disease

Living in poor neighborhoods has been linked to increased heart risk, and a new U.S. study suggests the lack of access to fresh, healthy foods may be to blame. "Previous studies have found relationships between neighborhood characteristics and cardiovascular disease," said lead author Jeffrey Wing of Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "Finding that the density of healthy food stores was the only factor among those tested that consistently was related to slowing the progression of coronary calcium build-up was interesting in that we didn't see the same relation with other neighborhood features," like recreation centers, Wing told Reuters Health by email.

Can season and place of birth influence celiac disease risk?

Winter babies and people born in places with shorter days and less sunlight might have a lower risk of developing celiac disease than peers born in warmer regions or seasons, a Swedish study suggests. About one in 100 people have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. People with celiac disease can't tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye and barley. Left untreated, the condition can lead to complications such as malnutrition, low bone density, lactose intolerance and infertility.

Heart groups suggests people get up every now and then

People should get about 30 minutes of exercise each day to counteract the potentially harmful effects of being inactive for too long, according to a new statement from a leading U.S. heart group. Research suggests inactivity may be linked to increased risk for diabetes, other blood sugar problems, heart disease, stroke and an earlier death, according to the statement from the American Heart Association.

Prescription drug abuse tied to increased risk of teen suicide

Suicide is a leading cause of death for teens worldwide, and the odds of suicide attempts may be higher when adolescents abuse prescription drugs, a Chinese study suggests. To explore the connection between suicide risk and misuse of prescription opiates and sedatives, researchers surveyed about 3,300 Chinese teens once when they were about 14 years old and again a year later.

U.S. prosecutors dealt setback in medical marijuana cases
Bar rises for Milwaukee police review after latest shooting

By David Ingram

NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Milwaukee, shaken by two nights of violence after a shooting by police, is one of a few U.S. cities to have volunteered for federal government review of its police force and may now be held to higher standards for how it responds.

Beginning in December, the review included a public "listening session" that, according to Milwaukee media, drew 700 people to a library auditorium to air their frustrations to U.S. Department of Justice officials.

Some community leaders said the weekend violence should result in a tougher review and real change.

"I would hope that the cries of the unheard ... are now being heard around the country out of Milwaukee," said Rev. Steve Jerbi, the lead pastor at All Peoples Church in the Wisconsin city of about 595,000 people.

The Obama administration has promoted a $10 million nationwide voluntary review program as a way to improve policing amid nationwide complaints of racial profiling and targeting. Milwaukee has become the latest U.S. city to experience discord after high-profile police killings of black men over the past two years.

The review in Milwaukee will look at issues such as use of force, the disciplinary system and diversity in hiring. The city was 45 percent white in the 2010 Census, while the police department is 68 percent white.

"Expectations of the report itself and of departmental compliance with the report are going to be raised," said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who studies police behavior.

There is skepticism of how Milwaukee authorities will respond to federal recommendations, after past responses fell short of demands.

Fred Royal, president of the NAACP's Milwaukee branch, noted that the recommendations would not be legally binding, unlike those for cities such as Cleveland, Ohio, where police use of deadly force and other practices were being scrutinized under so-called consent decrees - settlements without a final ruling by a judge.

"They don't have the teeth that a consent decree has," Royal said.

Businesses were torched and gunfire erupted in Milwaukee after the shooting on Saturday of a black man, Sylville K. Smith, 23. Police said he refused to drop a handgun when he was killed, and on Monday, the city imposed a curfew.

"My experience with the Milwaukee Police Department has been that it is a department in desperate need of fundamental change," said Flint Taylor, a Chicago civil rights lawyer who has sued Milwaukee over police tactics.

A spokesman for the Milwaukee Police Department said officials were not available for an interview. Police Chief Edward Flynn has said previously that his department has made progress and can withstand scrutiny. A Justice Department spokeswoman said officials there declined an interview request.

The Justice Department is expected to release its findings within about two months. Milwaukee could then receive outside assistance and monitoring for up to two years.

Making the challenge tougher are deep problems of poverty and segregation in Milwaukee, the 31st largest city in the United States. Milwaukee was ranked as the most segregated city in America by the Brookings Institution last year, and in the neighborhood where the rioting took place more than 30 percent of people live in poverty.

Residents have protested past police shootings, such as a 2014 killing in which an unarmed, mentally ill black man, Dontre Hamilton, was shot 14 times. An officer was dismissed but no one was charged.

In 2011, another black man, Derek Williams, died in the back of a Milwaukee police car after he told officers he could not breathe and needed help, according to a lawsuit his family filed. The city has not responded to the lawsuit.

And in January this year, Milwaukee officials approved a $5 million settlement with 74 black men who said they had been subjected to illegal strip and cavity searches.
Haiti finds case of microcephaly linked to Zika virus

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Haiti has identified its first case of the birth defect microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, a senior health ministry official said on Tuesday.

Gabriel Thimothe, director general at the ministry of public health and population, said the case was confirmed on Saturday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In total, Haiti has confirmed 14 cases of the birth defect since March, another senior health ministry official said.

U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis.
"I went to Bhutan, Nepal; all the dignitaries from SAARC countries took part in oath-taking ceremony; this marked a good beginning. This will definitely yield good results, it is my belief and this thinking of India, in the country and the world, that we want to do well to the countrymen and be useful for the welfare of the world, India wants such a hand to be extended (sic).

We are trying to move forward with these dreams to achieve them." This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said about his foreign policy priorities while delivering his first Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014. The words clearly told of a foreign policy vision that was taking shape and the thought of taking along your immediate neighbourhood seemed the immediate concern.

And when we talk about India's foreign policy in its immediate neighbourhood, the first thought obviously goes to Pakistan with whom we have had a relation of more lows and very few highs since our independence in 1947.

So when Modi invited Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, along with other SAARC leaders to his oath taking ceremony on May 26, 2014 and Sharif warmly responded to it, bypassing any chance meeting with Kashmir's separatist leaders, Modi received almost universal praise for his bold initiative to write a new script in India-Pakistan ties.

Modi certainly thought to give dialogue with Pakistan another chance under his charge in spite of the track record of Pakistan's backstabbing.

Modi with Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The initiative seemed to work and a personal rapport developed between Modi and Sharif. There were exchanges of mangoes, sarees and talks between officials. It seemed some breakthrough development was in the offing.

Though there were many letdowns like ceasefire violations, cross-border firings, Pakistan's high commissioner Abdul Basit's insistence on meeting with the Kashmir separatists, and the rants on Kashmir by different Pakistani leaders, it seemed Modi was still hopeful. He never sounded overtly critical of Pakistan and used his words carefully even if his silence on Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India became a national talking point.

That was the case till the Pathankot terror attack in January, 2016. He did not mention his SAARC initiative and his policy on India's immediate neighbourhood and Pakistan in his second Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 2015.

He committed a foreign policy coup with an unscheduled visit to Lahore to meet and greet Sharif on his birthday on December 25, 2016.

It was appreciated by the policymakers the world over as an innovative approach to take on the lingering coldness and hostility in India-Pakistan ties. And even after the Pathankot attack, this warm gesture continued as reflected in the easy access given to the probe team from Pakistan that had come to India to verify the "Indian allegations" that Maulana Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammed were behind the attack.

But things started deteriorating after it. There were conflicting reports that Pakistan had dismissed the evidence given by India. Though it has never officially been confirmed, we can say it is going to be yet another sham like the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks probe in Pakistan.

Pakistan has not responded to India's requests to allow its probe team to visit Pakistan. The neighbouring country, in fact, has never sounded serious about probing the incident. On the issue of India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Pakistan, along with China, brought together a group of countries that scuttled India's chances.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has again ratcheted up its Kashmir-rant, especially after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing in an encounter. Much to India's (and Modi's disappointment), Sharif and Pakistan have declared Burhan a martyr and funeral processions are being held there.

And like never before, wanted terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin are dictating terms, threatening India openly of dire consequences. It all, it seems, has made Modi uncomfortable enough to finally abandon his Pakistan policy that he had initiated two years back. It seems he has finally run out of patience. After two years of that initiative, we can now say that Modi's efforts have proved futile.

Its first indications were seen when Modi justified his Pakistan policy by saying that owing to his efforts to reach out, the world was now clearly seeing through Pakistan's sham and Pakistan was finding it hard to justify its stand on global platforms.

And on Monday (August 15), it became clearly visible when Modi took on Pakistan left, right and centre in his third Independence Day speech. During his over-90 minute speech on Monday, Modi connected threads to his first Independence Day speech by saying that he had proposed a common vision for India and its neighbours to unite and fight together the common enemy of poverty.

He clearly named Pakistan on Monday and detailed on how it promotes terrorism and how the world is now seeing through its tactics. He drew effective parallels with India's sensitive response on the terror strike on the Army school in Peshawar in December 2014 and on Pakistan's backstabbing, and doublespeak on promoting terror and fuelling unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

How detached Modi has become from his Pakistan policy that he had envisioned in May 2014 becomes clear from the fact that he is now trying to put the ball in Pakistan's court by talking openly on Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan as he did on Sunday (August 14) and Monday.

On Sunday, during an all party meet on Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "Now the time has come that Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against the people in Balochistan and PoK."
In the first week of August, textiles minister Smriti Irani was spotted at a Starbucks coffee shop in New Delhi's Connaught Place. Like any ordinary person, the minister was standing in a queue and waiting her turn to order.

Though Irani is entitled to Y-category security that is an 11-man cover at all times, no security detail was in evidence. The photo, shared by one Nimish Dubey on his Facebook profile, has not only got her fans raving about her but even her detractors have been pleasantly surprised. Though she has been one of the most trolled ministers of the Modi government, she was lauded this time around.

Earlier, on August 1, Irani launched a social media campaign #ILoveHandloom. She wore a handloom sari, got a picture taken, tweeted it, tagging five people/organisations. People lauded it too.

According to Irani's office, the campaign made over 51 lakh impressions with over 58,000 interactions on Facebook in less than 24 hours. On Twitter, it started trending and made around 2.17 crore impressions in just days.

So there have been two instances of a likeable Irani... first how as a minister she is moving around like a common citizen and second, how an initiative by her as a minister got an overwhelming response.

But this Irani, as India's textile minister, is quite unlike the fiery, feisty human resources minister of only a month ago. So has the fire burnt out or is she going in for an image makeover? If that is the case, the question is, will she succeed?

Textiles minister Smriti Irani shared this image on Twitter for her #ILoveHandloom campaign.

The day after Irani was removed from the human resources development ministry and given the charge of the textile ministry, eminent historian Ramchandra Guha said she was "a deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance". Guha offered instances of how Irani was high-handed with senior professors. He said, "At one meeting, an IIT director asked her a question to which she said, 'Do you think you are a TV anchor to ask me such questions?'"

Irani's two-year tenure as HRD minister was replete with controversies, hostile exchanges with opponents, large anti-government movements on campuses, and allegations that she was being used by the RSS to saffronise the syllabus.

Her tenure as HRD minister started with controversy over her degrees and hardly a week passed when she was not in one controversy or other. The heat of her confrontational, arrogant and dictatorial style was felt by everyone who worked in her proximity.

Bureaucrats of the HRD ministry either left the department or were eager to leave. Hardly anyone from outside were keen to come in. Academicians, vice-chancellors, directors of IITs and IIMs were said to be reluctant to deal with her.

In her interviews to journalists she was contemptuous and egoistical. The way she spoke to senior politicians in Parliament raised many an eyebrow. Irani not only picked fights on social media on frivolous and silly issues but on many occasions the fights became personal.

Talking about the ordeal Aaj Tak's senior journalist Ashok Singhal went through during a television show with her, The Washington Post wrote, "When a television journalist asked Smriti Irani what qualities Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw in her to give her the education portfolio, she chose not to answer. Instead, she turned to the studio audience and repeated his question. It was enough to enrage them... shouting "shame, shame", audience members jumped over chairs to reach the platform and nearly assaulted the journalist. Irani then got up and rescued him from the mob's fury." The Washington Post called her "the queen of controversies".

As a TV soap star, in her role as Tulsi Virani in Ekta Kapoor's Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Irani won a lot of fans and appreciation. She became a household name across the country. Her image helped her in politics.

In just 11 years after joining politics she was given the important human resources ministry. After becoming a Cabinet minister, Indian television's favourite bahu failed to retain this image. Though there were some admirers of her new image, many came to hate her arrogance.

On July 5, 2016, around 10pm, the news of Irani's departure from the HRD ministry to the textile ministry was announced by TV channels. People didn't waste any time on social media and started celebrating. This became a worldwide trend on Twitter.

Social media platforms which jeered her on July 5, 2016 cheered her on August 1, making her #ILoveHandloom trend. There are news reports that the minister's aides are on the lookout for a good public relations person. While Irani's Twitter timeline as HRD minister was full of quarrels and silly fights, no such tweet can be attributed to her after she became the textile minister. Her tone and manner of speaking with journalists too has mellowed down.

So there is no doubt that Irani is trying to reinvent herself. While it is true that she used to be a versatile actress, playing different roles to perfection in reel life, real life of hard-nosed politics may be a different ball game altogether.
On the night of July 15, Turkey went through the most catastrophic tragedy in its recent history as a result of the attempted military coup.

The events of that night could be called a serious terror coup.

Turkish people from all walks of life who thought the era of military coups was over showed solidarity against the coup and on the side of democracy. While the coup attempt was in progress, I condemned it in the strongest terms.

Twenty minutes after the coup attempt, before the real actors were known, President Erdogan hastily blamed me.

It is troubling that an accusation was issued without waiting for the event's details and the perpetrators' motives to emerge.

As someone who has suffered through four coups in the last 50 years, it is especially insulting to be associated with a coup attempt. I categorically reject such accusations.

I have been living a reclusive life in self-exile in a small town in the US for the last 17 years.

The assertion that I convinced the eighth largest army in the world - from 6,000 miles away - to act against its own government is not only baseless, it is false, and has not resonated throughout the world.

If there are any officers among the coup plotters who consider themselves as sympathisers of the Hizmet movement, in my opinion these people committed treason against the unity of their country by taking part in an event where their own citizens lost their lives.

They also violated the values that I have cherished throughout my life, and caused hundreds of thousands of innocent people to suffer under the government's oppressive treatment.

If there are those who acted under the influence of an interventionist culture that persists among some of the military officers, and put these interventionist reflexes before Hizmet values, which I believe is unlikely, then an entire movement cannot be blamed for the wrongdoings of these individuals. I leave them to God's judgment.

No one is above the rule of law, including myself. I would like for those who are responsible for this coup attempt, regardless of their identities, to receive the punishment they deserve if found guilty in a fair trial.

The Turkish judiciary has been politicised and controlled by the government since 2014 and, consequently, the possibility of a fair trial is very little.

Erdogan and Gulen (right) used to be allies.

For this reason, I have advocated several times for the establishment of an international commission to investigate the coup attempt and I have expressed my commitment to abide by the findings of such a commission.

Hizmet movement participants have not been involved in one single violent incident throughout its 50-year history.

They haven't even taken to the streets to confront Turkish security forces while they have been suffering under the government's "witch hunt", to use Mr Erdogan's own words, for the last three years.

Despite being subjected to a smear campaign and suffering under state oppression for the last three years in the hands of a politically-controlled law enforcement and the judiciary, Hizmet movement participants have complied with the law, opposed injustices through legitimate means and only defended their rights within the legal framework.

Turkey's legal and law enforcement agencies have been mobilised for the last three years to investigate and reveal an alleged "parallel state" that they claim that I run.

The administration called the 2013 public corruption probe an organised attempt by Hizmet sympathisers within the bureaucracy to bring down the government.

Despite detaining 4,000 people, purging tens of thousands of government employees and unlawfully seizing hundreds of NGOs and private businesses, the authorities were unable to find a single piece of credible evidence to prove their claims.

Turkey's prime minister called an opportunity to meet with me "heaven-sent" in May 2013; however, after the public corruption probe emerged in December 2013, he began using hate language such as "assassins" and "blood-sucking vampires" when referring to Hizmet movement participants.

After the treasonous coup attempt of July 15, the attacks have become unbearable.

Turkish government officials also began referring to me and people sympathetic to my views as a "virus" and "cancer cells that need to be wiped out".

Hundreds of thousands of people that have supported institutions and organisations affiliated with the Hizmet movement have been dehumanised in one way or another.

Their private properties have been confiscated, bank accounts taken over and their passports cancelled, restricting their freedom of travel.

Hundreds of thousands of families are living through a humanitarian tragedy due to this ongoing witch-hunt.

News reports show that nearly 90,000 individuals have been purged from their jobs and 21,000 teachers' teaching licenses have been revoked.

Is the Turkish government forcing these families to starve to death by preventing them from working and prohibiting them from leaving the country?

What is the difference between this treatment and the pre-genocide practises throughout European history?

I've witnessed every single military coup in Turkey and, like many other Turkish citizens, have suffered during and after each one.

I was imprisoned by the order of the junta administration after the March 12, 1971, coup. After the coup of September 12, 1980, a detention warrant was issued against me and I lived as a fugitive for six years.

Right after the February 28, 1997, post-modern military coup, a lawsuit asking for capital punishment was filed against me with the charge of "an unarmed terrorist organisation consisting of one person."

During all of these oppressive, military-dominated administrations, three cases accusing me of "leading a terror organisation" were opened and, in each case, I was cleared of the charges.

I was targeted by the authoritarian military administrations back then, and now, I face the very same accusations projected in an even more unlawful manner by a civilian autocratic regime.

I had friendly relations with leaders from various political parties, such as Mr Turgut Ozal, Mr Suleyman Demirel and Mr Bulent Ecevit, and genuinely supported their policies that I found to be beneficial to the larger community.

The July 15 coup attempt was thwarted by the people.

They treated me with respect, especially when recognizing Hizmet activities that contribute to social peace and education.

Even though I distanced myself from the idea of political Islam, I praised the democratic reforms undertaken by Mr Erdogan and AKP leaders during their first term in power.

But throughout my life, I have stood against military coups and intervention in domestic politics.

Twenty years ago, when I declared that "there is no turning back from democracy and secularism of the state", I was accused and insulted by the same political Islamists who are close to the current administration.

I still stand behind my words. More than 70 books based on my articles and sermons spanning 40 years are publicly available.

Not only is there not a single expression that legitimises the idea of a coup in these works but, on the contrary, they discuss universal human values that are the foundation of democracy.

Emancipating Turkey from the vicious cycle of authoritarianism is possible only through the adoption of a democratic culture and a merit-based administration. Neither a military coup nor a civilian autocracy is a solution.

Unfortunately, in a country where independent media outlets are shut down or taken under government custody, a significant portion of Turkish citizens were made to believe - through relentless pro-government propaganda - that I am the actor behind the July 15 coup.

However, world opinion, which is shaped by objective information, clearly sees that what is going on is a power grab by the administration under the guise of a witch-hunt.

Of course, what matters is not majority opinion but the truths that will emerge through the process of a fair trial.

Tens of thousands of people, including myself, who have been the target of such gross accusations, would like to clear our names through a fair judicial process.

We do not want to live with this suspicion that was cast on us. Unfortunately, the government has exerted political control over the judiciary since 2014, thereby destroying the opportunity for Hizmet sympathisers to clear their names of these accusations.

I openly call on the Turkish government to allow for an international commission to investigate the coup attempt, and promise my full cooperation in this matter.

If the commission finds one-tenth of the accusations against me to be justified, I am ready to return to Turkey and receive the harshest punishment.

Participants in the Hizmet movement have been overseen by hundreds of governments, intelligence agencies, researchers or independent civil society organisations for 25 years and have never been found to be involved in illegal activity.

For this reason, many countries do not take seriously the accusations of the Turkish government.

The most important characteristic of the Hizmet movement is not to seek political power, but instead to seek long-term solutions for the problems threatening the future of their societies.

At a time when Muslim-majority societies are featured in the news for terror, bloodshed and underdevelopment, Hizmet participants have been focusing on raising educated generations who are open to dialogue and actively contributing to their societies.

Since I have always believed that the biggest problems facing these societies are ignorance, intolerance-driven conflicts and poverty, I have always encouraged those who would listen to build schools instead of mosques or Quran-tutoring centres.

Hizmet participants are active in education, healthcare and humanitarian aid not only in Turkey, but in more than 160 countries around the world.

The most significant characteristic of these activities is that they serve people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds - not just Muslims.

Hizmet movement participants opened schools for girls in the most difficult areas of Pakistan and continued to provide education in the Central African Republic during the country's civil war.

While Boko Haram took young girls hostage in Nigeria, Hizmet participants opened schools that educated girls and women.

In France and the French-speaking world, I have encouraged people who share my ideas and values to fight against groups that embrace radical Islamic ideologies and to support the authorities in this struggle.

In these countries, I strived for Muslims to be recognised as free and contributing members of society, and have urged them to become part of the solution rather than be associated with the problems.

Despite receiving threats, I categorically condemned numerous times terrorist groups such as the Al Qaida and ISIS who taint the bright face of Islam.

However, the Turkish government is trying to convince governments around the world to act against schools that have been opened by individuals who did not take part in the July 15 coup attempt, and who have always categorically rejected violence.

My appeal to governments around the world is that they ignore the Turkish government's claims and reject its irrational demands.

Indeed, the Turkish government's political decision to designate the Hizmet movement as a terrorist organisation resulted in the closure of institutions such as schools, hospitals and relief organisations.

Those who have been jailed are teachers, entrepreneurs, doctors, academics and journalists.

The government did not produce any evidence to show that the hundreds of thousands targeted in the government's witch-hunt supported the coup or that they were associated with any violence.

It is impossible to justify actions such as burning down a cultural centre in Paris, detaining or holding hostage family members of wanted individuals, denying detained journalists access to medical care, shutting down 35 hospitals and the humanitarian relief organisation Kimse Yok Mu, or forcing 1,500 university deans to resign as part of a post-coup investigation.

It appears that, by presenting the recent purges as efforts that target only Hizmet participants, the Turkish government is in fact removing anyone from the bureaucracy who is not loyal to the ruling party, while also intimidating civil society organisations.

It is dreadful to see human rights violations occurring in Turkey, including the torture detailed in recent reports by Amnesty International. This is truly a human tragedy.

The fact that the July 15 coup attempt - which was an anti-democratic intervention against an elected government - was foiled with Turkish citizens' support is historically significant.

However, the coup's failure does not mean a victory for democracy. Neither the domination by a minority nor the domination of a majority that results in the oppression of a minority nor the rule of an elected autocrat is a true democracy.

One cannot speak of democracy in the absence of the rule of law, separation of powers and essential human rights and freedoms - especially the freedom of expression.

True victory for democracy in Turkey is only possible by reviving these core values.
 Albemarle County Professional Fire Fighters Association and Charlottesville Fire Department will conduct the annual Fill the Boot fundraising campaign Friday through Sept. 5. Members will be located outside local shopping centers and intersections, accepting donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. (804) 285-2961.

 American Red Cross seeks blood donors to respond to a critical shortage of blood and platelets. Blood drives are held from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Red Cross office at 1105 Rose Hill Drive and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at S&P Global Market Intelligence at 1 SNL Plaza. (434) 979-7143.

 The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization has updated its Public Participation Plan and accepts public comment. The document is available at campo.tjpdc.org. (434) 979-7310.

 Chris Breiner Viticulture & Enology Scholarship accepts applications through Sept. 6 for scholarships designed to cover the cost of the enology and viticulture certificate programs offered at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Details: pvcc.edu/chris-breiner-scholarship. (434) 961-5354.

 Fifth District Representative Robert Hurts office holds local office hours from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at the Fluvanna County Library at 214 Commons Boulevard in Palmyra to meet with constituents who need help with federal agencies. (434) 973-9631.

 Hospice of the Piedmont accepts applications for its fall Journeys Bereavement Day Camp from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Oct. 1 at Camp Holiday Trails. The camp is offered to children and teens ages 5 through 18 who have been affected by the recent or impending death of a loved one. Details are available at hopva.org. (434) 817-6900.

 International Rescue Committee holds an citizenship information session for immigrants interested in applying for U.S. citizenship at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Northside Library at 685 W. Rio Road. (434) 979-7772.

 Piedmont Virginia Community College offers Getting Started information sessions, providing an introduction to PVCCs degree and certificate programs, as well as information about placement tests, student services and other resources to help students get started at PVCC. A Getting Started session is held from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Fluvanna County Library and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Fluvanna County Fair at Pleasant Grove Park in Palmyra. Additional sessions will be held at various locations through August. pvcc.edu/outreach. (434) 961-5275.

 Scottsville Senior Center accepts applications for free membership. It meets from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Wednesday at the Scottsville Community Center. (434) 286-6890.

 Smith Aquatic & Fitness Center is closed through Aug. 31 for maintenance and renovations. The Smith Access Pass will be honored at Carver Recreation Center at 233 Fourth St. NW and Crow Pool at 1700 Rose Hill Drive. (434) 970-3083.

 Solarize Charlottesville offers an information session on solar energy, including local rebates and tax incentives, from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Central Library at 201 E. Market St. (434) 282-2390.

 Veterans Benefits Legal Clinic, offered by the UVa Maxine Platzer Lynn Womens Center and the Veterans Benefit Group of Goodman Allen Donnelly, is held from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at UVa Open Grounds at 1400 University Ave. (434) 817-2180.
Defense attorneys for the Charlottesville man accused of killing a mother and daughter was in court Tuesday to ask for access to information about the grand jury that indicted him.

Gene Everett Washington, 31, is charged with capital murder in the killings of Robin and Mani Aldridge, who were found beaten to death in their Rugby Avenue home, which was subsequently set on fire, in December 2014. Washington also faces two first-degree murder charges and a robbery charge for allegedly stealing Robin Aldridges vehicle and other items.

In Charlottesville Circuit Court on Tuesday, Washingtons capital defense team asked a judge to grant them access to information about grand juries from the past four years  specifically, information about the racial makeup of those juries. Though the judge denied access to the grand juries before Washingtons case, he did allow them to seek information about the grand jury that indicted Washington in June 2015.

Jennifer Stanton, a deputy defender at the Office of the Capital Defender out of Norfolk and part of Washingtons defense team, said examining the identities of the jury members will allow them to look for patterns of discrimination, such as racial disparities within the selection process.

There have been other jurisdictions where the grand jury process has been hugely defective  I certainly cant say that thats the case in Charlottesville  but because we have constitutional requirements in defending our clients, we need to make sure every rock is overturned, Stanton said, following the hearing. Anything that could affect his constitutional rights is going to be important, and thats why we have to have this motion.

Though the defense team will be able to look more closely at the identities of the grand jury members, the judge did stipulate that their findings must be kept confidential and only be seen by counsel. The defense also will not be allowed to contact any members of the grand jury.

Both the defense and prosecution agreed about the importance of maintaining the confidentiality agreement.

In addition, the defense will be able to file subsequent motions if they find anything substantial in this initial investigation, Stanton said. For example, if the defense wanted to ask an expert witness to look at the information about the grand jury, they would need to file another motion to ask a judge to allow it.

Washington is scheduled for a jury trial on May 30, 2017. It is expected to last about three weeks.
Students standardized test scores in Virginia made small improvements in the last academic year, with pass rates increasing slightly in most subjects statewide and remaining the same in others. Some of the same results were seen in Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools.

According to the information published by the Virginia Board of Education on Tuesday, statewide Standards of Learning test scores for all students increased by 1 percentage point in reading, mathematics and science. Pass rates in both reading and mathematics increased from 79 percent in the 2014-15 school year to 80 percent in the 2015-16 school year and from 82 to 83 percent in science during the same time period.

Statewide pass rates in writing and history remained unchanged, staying at 77 and 86 percent, respectively.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe released a statement on the SOL scores later that day, praising the improvements.

I am thrilled by the continued improvement we are experiencing in Virginia Standards of Learning tests in the critical areas of reading, math and science, which is a testament to the tireless work of Virginia students, educators, parents and community members, he said in the statement.

Charlottesville City Schools and Albemarle County Public Schools both saw some increases in SOL pass rates among all students, along with some subjects staying the same or even decreasing slightly between the previous school year and the one prior.

In the city schools, SOL scores went up by 1 percent in writing, to 73 percent, and history to 81 percent; math scores stayed the same at 77 percent and reading scores went down by 1 percent to 76 and science fell by 2 percent to 72.

The City Schools' pass rates for this year are extremely comparable to last years, said Kendra King, director of Student Services and Achievement for Charlottesville schools. We're pleased with our students' accomplishments, but we are always striving for growth on the individual, school and division levels.

Albemarle County schools saw an uptick in math and science SOLs each by 1 percent to 78 and 82 percent, respectively; no change in reading and writing scores, which remained at 80 and 82 percent, respectively, and saw a drop in history by 2 percent to 84.

The county schools responded to the test scores with a statement that noted their successes, but also said SOLs are only one measure of academic progress and that the school division supports reform efforts that would broaden the diversity of assessment methods that school divisions can use.

We continue to believe a broader diversity of assessment tools provides the most accurate assessment of student learning, according to the statement.

The state DOEs news release touched on the achievement gap, which refers to the differences in academic performances among black and Hispanic students compared to white students. In nearly every subject statewide  as well as in Charlottesville and Albemarle County  there is a noticeable disparity in those tests scores.

In the news release, Billy Cannaday Jr, president of the state Board of Education, said narrowing and ultimately closing these gaps will continue to be a priority for the board.

Under our current accreditation system, relatively high overall achievement in fully accredited schools can mask underperformance by certain groups of students, he said in the release. The board is committed to implementing reforms that will shine a light on achievement gaps and hold all schools accountable for raising the achievement of students who historically have struggled to meet Virginias high expectations.

In Albemarle Countys statement, there was an acknowledgment that there are programs already in place, such as the M-Cubed program, to address the achievement gap but that theres still room to do more work.

These results also point to areas in which we need to improve, most particularly among those families of our at-risk student population, according to the statement.

In the surrounding counties for reading and math scores, the results were a mix of increases and decreases in pass rates, as well as a few that did not change.

Public schools in Fluvanna, Madison and Nelson counties all saw increases in both reading and math scores at all grade levels.

Fluvanna County schools saw a 1 percent increase in both reading and math scores at 81 and 83 percent, respectively. Pass rates in Madison County schools increased 1 percent in reading to 73 and by 2 percent in math to 78.

A 2-percent increase was seen in both reading and math in Nelson County schools  77 and 80 percent, respectively.

Greene, Louisa and Orange counties reported a mix of changes in test scores in the previous school year.

Pass rates in reading increased by 4 percent to 75 in Greene County schools among all students, but math dropped 3 percent to 75.

Louisa County public schools showed a 1 percent increase in reading scores, bringing it up to 79 percent, but math stayed the same at 81 percent. Reading scores in Orange County schools stayed at 80 percent, while pass rates for math increased 2 percent to 80 percent.

And Buckingham County schools were the only in the surrounding area to report a decrease in both reading  70 to 67 percent  and math  78 to 76 percent  SOL pass rates in the 2015-16 school year.

More test scores by subject, grade level, school division and by school can be found at doe.virginia.gov.

The state DOE will announce the 2016-17 state accreditation ratings in September, according to the news release.

Check scores for any school in Virginia in our database:
A Charlottesville family that became part of the narrative for the 2016 presidential election received an emotional standing ovation Monday when they walked into City Council chambers.

After speaking at the Democratic National Convention last month, strongly repudiating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Khizr and Ghazala Khan received a special council proclamation and gifts from city officials and community members.

The council proclamation honors the family for the sacrifice of their son, Humayun S.M. Khan, an Army captain who was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq.

Capt. Khan posthumously received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for ordering soldiers away from an approaching suicide car bomb that ultimately killed him.

Additionally, the proclamation recognizes the family for speaking out against anti-Muslim rhetoric that some believe has become a hallmark of Trump in the tumultuous presidential race.

After a reading of the proclamation, Khizr Khan thanked the community for its support and reflected on why his family decided to make their home in the United States.

Im so honored and emotional, he said.

Recalling their earliest days after emigrating from Pakistan, Khan said he was inspired by the words inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Our love affair with Thomas Jefferson didnt start today or this year. It began when we first moved to this country, he said. The inscriptions, his writings  called to our attention. Those writings were one of the deciding factors in deciding why we wanted to make this country our home, he said.

Imploring members of the community to revisit the Declaration of Independence, Khan said its words should remind all how precious this liberty and freedom is for everybody.

Its a fateful day for us, he said. That love that started so many years ago today comes full circle.

In an interview afterward, the Khans said they have received a tremendous show of support in the weeks since the convention, Ghazala Khan said theyve received similar, albeit more intimate, acts of kindness and generosity since immigrating.

After settling into their first American home, which Khizr Khan said was a bare apartment with no refrigerator or pots and pans, their neighbors visited and helped them settle into their new community.

Our neighbor brought us an icebox full of ice, drinks, sandwiches and milk because we had two small children, Ghazala Khan said. She was born American. She wasnt an immigrant, but she said, I know how people feel when they come for the first time. Another neighbor also came to help us, and they became my best friends  Im very grateful for all these people.

Its these gestures that have convinced us that this is place to make a home, Khizr Khan said. Hopefully, weve contributed to some measure the goodness that weve received from people here all these years.

As they have done in numerous media interviews since the convention, the Khans continued to allude to Trump and his rhetoric, which has at times focused on radical Islamic terrorism and immigration from Muslim-majority countries that are engulfed by civil strife and open warfare.

The councils proclamation drew criticism from one member of the community, Stefanie Marshall, of Albemarle County.

Noting that the community previously has recognized and honored fallen soldiers from the Charlottesville community, Marshall said the council has failed to recognize other Gold Star families in the area in a similar manner.

It seems to me that in order for a Gold Star family to be honored and recognized by the current City Council, they must speak at the Democratic National Convention. This is not appropriate, nor is it acceptable, Marshall said.

It reeks of choosing to honor specific families or individuals because they fit your narrative, she said.
RICHMOND  Even Gov. Terry McAuliffe couldnt be too cheery after meeting with Virginia business and legislative leaders on Monday about the states economic and revenue outlook.

McAuliffe emerged from the two-hour meeting with the Governors Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates with renewed warnings about potential cuts in federal spending under budget sequestration next year and the dire need to prepare for a major turnover of working Virginians in the next decade.

I dont think anybody would say optimistic, he said of the outlook.

However, McAuliffe remained determined to protect new state investments in education, as he prepares to submit revised revenue forecasts to support budgeted spending to the General Assemblys money committees Aug. 26.

My priority obviously is to preserve the educational funding, he said of the nearly $1 billion in new and updated spending for K-12 public education in the two-year budget that took effect July 1.

A $266.3 million shortfall in the last fiscal year already has postponed raises that had been scheduled Dec. 1 for state employees, college faculty, teachers and state-supported local employees. Those increases, ranging from 2 percent to 3 percent, were lost when the shortfall was confirmed at 1.8 percent of major state revenues  income, sales and corporate tax collections.

The shortfall triggered a mandatory revenue reforecast when it exceeded 1 percent of those revenues. The governors advisory council, including business leaders from around the state, gave its collective view of the economic outlook for the new forecast produced by the state with the Joint Advisory Board of Economists.
RICHMOND  Another poll shows Hillary Clinton pulling out to a double-digit lead in swing-state Virginia.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that among registered voters, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, received 52 percent of the tally to 38 percent for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a head-to-head match-up.

Among likely voters, Clinton led Trump by 51 percent to 43 percent head-to-head.

In a four way contest, among registered voters, Clinton received 45 percent of the vote, to 34 percent for Trump, 11 percent for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and 4 percent for Jill Stein of the Green Party.

The Post surveyed 888 registered voters in Virginia from Aug. 11 to 14. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Many of the results in the Post poll were similar to those in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist survey of Virginia that was released on Monday.

In the Post poll, as in the NBC News survey, Clinton dominated in regions throughout the state, except for Southwest Virginia, where Trump has the advantage.

Both Clinton and Trump were viewed more unfavorably than favorably in the Post's survey, as in the NBC poll.

Both Clinton's running mate, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., and Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, had net favorable impressions in Virginia.

In the Post survey Kaine, the former Richmond mayor, lieutenant governor and governor, was viewed favorably by 52 percent and unfavorably by 35 percent.

Pence was viewed favorably by 35 percent and unfavorably by 33 percent.

While 26 percent of registered voters in Virginia said Clinton's choice of Kaine made them more likely to vote for Clinton in November, 7 percent said it made them less likely to vote for Clinton and 66 percent said it made no difference.
RICHMOND  After a summer vacation last week at Smith Mountain Lake, Gov. Terry McAuliffe is heading to Colombia for the 20th trade mission of his term.

In his first trip to South America as governor, McAuliffe will spend two days talking up Virginia agriculture and pursue new economic development opportunities. The trade mission begins Tuesday and will wrap up Friday, according an announcement from the governors office.

McAuliffe is taking the trip at the invitation of Juan Carlos Pinzon, the Colombian ambassador to the United States.

I am grateful for Ambassador Pinzons invitation and I am excited to make my first visit to South America as governor and establish new export deals for agriculture, Virginias largest private industry, McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe will be accompanied by Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore and representatives of several Virginia businesses, including Glaize Orchards, Pilgrims Pride, Smithfield Foods, Turkey Knob Growers and The Scoular Company.

The delegation will meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, according to a statement by the Colombian Embassy.

Colombian officials called Virginia a key export market for Colombian agricultural goods, including coffee flowers and tobacco. The governors office said Virginias exports to Columbia include pork, grains and soybean meal.
This cannot be good news for Democrats desiring to expand Medicaid.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that the cost of expansion under the new federal health-care law is rising far more than expected.

That cost was $6,366 per person for 2015  nearly 50 percent higher than projected.

The new information seems to justify Virginia Republicans steadfast refusal to expand Medicaid, which helps provide health care for the poorest among us. Republican lawmakers said they feared that the cost would be far too expensive for the commonwealth to handle.

At the same time, the report might indicate that those who are enrolling are sicker than anticipated  in which case, they desperately need the care offered under Medicaid. From the perspective of need, rather than availability of resources, it might be argued that rising costs demonstrate a greater need than we knew  and that a compassionate society would meet that need.

In fact, researchers dont know exactly what is driving the increase.

One variable could be that federal health officials guessed wrongly about when people would sign up for Medicaid. Officials thought most eligible beneficiaries would sign up in 2014, so that the highest expenses would come in the beginning of the program, after which costs would decline. That did not happen.

Another variable could be that states administering the program under the new health-care law are not holding the line on payments to providers and are spending more than they must.

Virginia is one of 19 states that opted not to participate in Medicaid expansion, which would extend the program to people making 168 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal government would have paid the costs of expansion from 2014 through the end of this year.

However, Virginias Republican-dominated legislature worried about the repercussions of picking up those costs after 2016.

The Obama administration more recently proposed paying three years worth of expansion costs for late-coming states no matter when they join.

But now that states take-over costs would be nearly 50 percent higher than predicted, Medicaid advocates may have even more difficulty persuading state legislatures to sign on.

Such decisions strike close to home  not just because Medicaid can help keep our friends and neighbors healthy, but because it helps support the University of Virginia Medical Center.

As a public hospital, the Medical Center provides care for the indigent  and were not going to stop that, UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan told the Board of Visitors recently. The issue is: What will we pay for it?

Medicaid payments from the state would help cover UVas costs.

Virginia could pay to expand Medicaid. But voters and lawmakers would have to agree on what programs to cut in order to shift revenue to health care  or else on what taxes to raise.

Unfortunately, the commonwealth has a poor record on achieving that kind of agreement.
The recent assassinations of police officers and killings of black men by police have one common denominator. Both are directly related to lax gun laws perpetuated by the National Rifle Association. Many such killings would not be committed without the easy access to guns that our citizens have.

In the past few weeks, two African-Americans carrying guns were killed by police officers. One was selling CDs and supposedly was being hassled by a man who asked for money. According to reports, the CD salesman pulled out his gun to get him to leave, and the other man called the police. Policemen wrestled the seller to the ground. Then, in a bystander video, one policeman yelled that he had a gun. The officer on the ground shot him in the chest.

Carrying a gun didn't protect him. It caused his death.

Another was stopped for allegedly having a broken taillight. He told the policeman he had a gun and reached for his car registration. The policemen shot his arm, and he bled to death. Again, the man would not have been shot if he had been unarmed.

Allowing citizens to carry guns in public puts added pressure on police and increases their chances of being shot in the line of duty. We ask too much of police officers when we put them in situations where ordinary citizens with guns, even assault weapons, far outnumber them.

I once heard a policeman say, "We're playing a zone defense against a man-to-man." The numbers are stacked against them.

What can we voters in the upcoming election do? We need to stop blaming the police and the Black Lives Matter movement for the latest atrocities, and oppose candidates who accept campaign contributions from the NRA. The real culprits are politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, who put their re-election ahead of the lives of the people they represent. Donald Trump and Tom Garrett are prime examples.

In the upcoming election, vote for candidates like Jane Dittmar and Hillary Clinton, who will stand up to the NRA and their money-powered opposition to all attempts at tighter gun control.

Police whose lives are on the line cannot be expected to make the best split-second decisions 100 percent of the time.

How many more fathers will die too young, leaving their families to grieve? All lives matter.

Gerry Kruger

Albemarle County
A Fauquier County man was killed early Monday when he lost control of a motorcycle he was operating as he traveled into Washington, D.C. via the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge over the Potomac River, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

James Greene, 50, of Catlett suffered head injuries and was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital in the District shortly thereafter.

The accident happened about 4:46 a.m. when Greene, driving a 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan, skidded and collided with a bridge railing. He flew off the motorcycle and struck his head on the pavement. No other vehicles were involved.

The accident closed several lanes on the bridge during the morning rush hour, causing significant delays coming in from Arlington. It remains under investigation.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe suggested Monday that four conservative justices were "scared" to side against Republican leaders in the court's recent opinion on felon voting rights because the General Assembly decides who serves on the high court.

In a radio appearance, McAuliffe made his most direct accusation to date that politics drove the Supreme Court's decision to strike down his executive order restoring civil rights to more than 200,000 felons who had completed their sentences and supervised release.

McAuliffe called the 4-3 court opinion "almost unfathomable."

"They were sued by the speaker and the Senate leader, who appoint them to the bench, were scared and wrote an opinion that absolutely makes no sense," McAuliffe said in a morning appearance on Lynchburg's Morning Show with Mari and Brian. "They don't even talk about my authority. They say 'Well we do things incrementally here in Virginia.'"

Though McAuliffe has routinely blasted Republicans for filing a lawsuit that could have the effect of preventing thousands of Virginians from voting, his comments about the Supreme Court were an unusually strong rebuke by a sitting governor.

In a statement, House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said the four justices who sided against McAuliffe are "widely respected jurists" elected with bipartisan support.

"The governor's remarks are an attack on the Supreme Court as an institution and all of its members, former and present," Howell said. "The governor is free to disagree with the court's ruling, but it is wholly inappropriate to question the judicial integrity of the justices."

McAuliffe's criticism comes after Republicans took the unusual step of ousting a sitting Supreme Court justice - former Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush - amid a political fight with the governor.

McAuliffe noted Monday that Virginia is one of just two states in which the legislature has full power over the election of Supreme Court justices, a system he called "very unfortunate." In other states, justices are chosen through gubernatorial appointments with legislative approval, decided by the public through elections or recommended by nonpartisan judicial commissions.

The governor's office did not respond directly to follow-up questions about whether McAuliffe feels Virginia's system has led to a politicized Supreme Court and whether the governor believes the Roush battle affected the felon rights opinion.

"Governor McAuliffe is very disappointed by the courts ruling, and he has made it clear that the decision was simply erroneous," McAuliffe spokeswoman Christina Nuckols said in an email.

McAuliffe had called the blanket rights restoration one of his top achievements in office. After the state canceled roughly 13,000 felons' voter registrations to comply with the court order, the McAuliffe administration says it's now crafting a process to restore rights for those 13,000 individually.

In the July 22 opinion, the court majority threw out McAuliffe's blanket rights restoration action, saying it amounted to an unlawful workaround of Virginia's constitutional policy of disenfranchising felons for life. Ex-offenders can apply to have their rights restored, a process already made easier by both McAuliffe and former Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican.

Backed by Attorney General Mark R. Herring and constitutional scholar A.E. Dick Howard, McAuliffe claimed he had broad authority to restore rights to an entire class of felons with one order. In a legal challenge filed against the governor and state officials who implemented his order, Republicans argued McAuliffe is restricted to restoring rights on a case-by-case basis. House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City County - two of the plaintiffs in the case - hailed the court opinion as a validation of the rule of law and a check on McAuliffe's claims to broad executive power.

Virginia's process became a flashpoint last year as the Republican-controlled General Assembly moved to oust Roush, who had received an interim appointment from McAuliffe. Virginia governors have the power to fill court vacancies while the legislature is not in session, but all justices must be formally elected by the General Assembly.

Roush became the first sitting justice to be removed from the court in 115 years when her temporary post expired and Republicans elected conservative appeals court judge Stephen R. McCullough to fill the seat. McCullough was among the four justices who ruled against McAuliffe in the felon voting case.

(804) 649-6839
CAMBRIDGESHIRE - England - Men who usually salivate over the gratuitous shots of young 18-year-old ladies celebrating in fields clutching their A-level result papers were said to be wholly disappointed at the media coverage this year.

Every year we get shots of young women, fresh for the picking jumping up in fields with their little skirts riding high and their ecstatic bodies quivering with joy. This year has been positively morose with only one or two young ladies, and they were munters too, an unhappy man said grumbling whilst reading the Telegraph.

According to exam boards, this year the A-level results cannot be altered as easily as previous years and the exams have not been dumbed-down as much. This erroneous change means there will be less photos of lithe young ladies celebrating in the fields of their educational establishments.

Exam board spokesman for Fofqual, Matthew Chunder, said: If we remove the blatant dumbing-down of previous exams where everyone got A grades, this year we made the A-level exams as they should be and were in previous eras, although not as hard. This is why you are now seeing fewer ladies dancing in fields and only the really clever girls celebrating.

Let us hope next year all this piffling nonsense will be over and things will get back to normal.
This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, taking the total investment to over $250 Million.

New Delhi: Kavin Bharti Mittal led Hike Messenger has became Indias newest internet unicorn after securing a round of funding at a valuation of almost $1.4 billion from investors including Tencent and Foxconn.

Hike, a messaging platform, announced on Tuesday that it has raised a series D financing of over $175 million in a new funding round led by Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology.

Existing investors Tiger, Bharti and the SoftBank Group also participated in this round. This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, taking the total investment to over $250 Million.

Tencent and Foxconn both have pedigrees that speak for themselves and such an investment especially in todays market just goes to show the strong foundation on which Hike is being built.

The new fund raise is going to allow us to push Hike to greater heights and invest in areas that will be key to our long term vision and success, said Mr Mittal who is Founder and CEO of Hike Messenger.

In January 2016, Hike which seeks to compete with WhatsApp had announced that it has a user base of a 100 million users. Around 95 per cent of Hike users are based in India and 90 per cent of them are young and below the age of 30.

Hike users, on an average, exchange 40 billion messages per month and spend 120 minute per user per week on the platform.

We will be investing this amount in services, people, office space and some long term bets in areas of machine learning, computer vision, Mr Mittal said.
Hyderabad: Rado, the famous Swiss watch brand, has launched its lightness-inspired collection in the city.

Commenting on the launch, Rados brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan said, Rado is known for being visionary and has yet again created something so simple and beautiful that it instantly catches your eye. For someone like me who believes that less is more, I am really excited to launch these stunning watches today and Im sure they will be loved by the people of Hyderabad.

To bring alive the theme of lightness, Rado also unveiled a delicate art piece created by popular Indian artist Janhavi Seksaria. The piece, entitled Time Spaces, gives the illusion of lightness in terms of both weight and emotion. The circular structure of the installation represents the dial and shows the time with the moving hands of the watch. Despite the weight of the material, the structure emanates a feeling of weightless.

By far the lightest in the collection, the Swiss watch maker said the HyperChrome Ultra Light is crafted from a trio of featherweight materials: silicon nitride ceramic, hardened titanium inserts, and a movement with anodized aluminum bridges.
Nitin Gadkari had earlier said the project would result in greening of the highways.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Finance has rejected the ambitious 'green fund' proposal from the Road Transport and Highways Ministry that seeks to set aside 1 per cent of project cost to provide green canopy along highways. The ministry previously estimated that setting up such a green fund will entail an expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore.

"Social forestry stands allocated to the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and not to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Also, that a Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) is in place at present which has accumulated funds of Rs 38,000 crore already," the Finance Ministry said while saying no to the proposal.

CAMPA falls under the domain of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change, the ministry said, adding that the government has already introduced a Bill in Parliament to create a fund in the Public Account and transfer the accumulated funds.

"As the activities of CAMPA are very closely related to what is being proposed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, establishment of a separate fund may result in overlap of responsibilities, besides unnecessary parking of funds when a large corpus is already available with CAMPA," the Finance Ministry said in a communication to the Highways Ministry while explaining its decision.

Asking the Highways Ministry to obtain approval of the Cabinet or Cabinet Committee if it still feels the need for a separate fund or SPV, the ministry said the decision involved other ministries too.

The rejection of proposal has come as a blow to the Highways Ministry which has already signed several pacts in this regard after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari last year unveiled the Green Highways Policy, 2015.

At the launch, Gadkari had said this would not only result in greening of the highways, but result in substantial job creation for rural youth.
New Delhi: Messaging platform Hike Messenger today said it has raised USD 175 million in a new round of funding led by Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology Group, valuing the company at about USD 1.4 billion. Existing investors - Tiger Global, Bharti and Softbank Group - also participated in this round.

This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, a company founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal.

The company said it is looking at acquisitions in technology and people, but ruled out an IPO in near future.The latest round of funding takes the total investment to over USD 250 million so far.

"We will be investing this amount in services, people, office space and some long term bets in areas of machine learning, computer vision," Kavin Mittal said at a conference.

When asked if the company plans to go for an IPO, he said "it's too soon in our journey. We are only three-and-a- half years into the business. It typically takes 6-8 years for business to reach maturity".

In January 2016, Hike had announced it has a base of 100 million users. As much as 95 per cent of Hike users are based in India and 90 per cent of them are young and below the age of 30 year. Hike users on an average exchange 40 billion messages per month, he added.
Back in November 2003, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had ordered the company to refund little over Rs 20 crore raised by way of unregistered collective investment schemes in the name of purchase and maintenance of land.

New Delhi: In a nearly 13-year-old illegal money pooling case, Sebi has ordered Ion Exchange Enviro Farms to deposit Rs 3 crore within a week's time and then Rs 5 crore every month till the dues of investors are settled.

Back in November 2003, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had ordered the company to refund little over Rs 20 crore raised by way of unregistered collective investment schemes in the name of purchase and maintenance of land.

After the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) upheld Sebi's order in May 2006, the firm approached the Supreme Court against the SAT order but the plea was rejected in February 2013.

In a seven-page order dated August 12, Sebi's Recovery Officer D V Sekhar has directed the company to Rs 3 crore, as committed by it, within a week. Further, the company has to deposit Rs 5 crore per month from September 20 till the completion of entire balance dues along with assured returns, interests, costs and charges, the regulator said.

The latest move is part of Sebi's recovery process as the the firm failed to refund the investors within the mandated timeframe. In this regard, various bank and demat accounts were attached in December 2015.

Apart from directing Ion Exchange to deposit the money in instalments, the regulator has ordered it to submit all original title deeds owned or held by the company in the name of its nominees within two weeks' time.

Although Ion Exchange claimed to have repaid the money in the form of transfer of lands to most of the investors, Sebi said the firm "has not furnished any details of the claimed repayments in the form of transfer of title of lands or payments towards development expenses."
Mumbai: Ever since Amitabh Bachchan confirmed that he will play the baddie in 2002 hit heist drama Aankhen's squeal, speculations about the film's star cast have been rife.

Though Bollywood's Big B is on board, the project is struggling with its star cast as every other actor who has been approached for the film, has backed out.

Earlier it was believed that the sequel was to star Akshay Kumar, who was also part of the original film's star cast. However, the actor rubbished the reports of doing 'Aankhen 2'.

I am not aware about it (the sequel). I am not doing it, Akshay said yesterday in the event. The first film, directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, also starred Amitabh Bachchan, Paresh Rawal, Arjun Rampal and Sushmita Sen.

Now recent reports reveal that Ajay Devgn, who was to do the film, has backed out of the project as the actor has no dates to spare. Same goes for Arshad Warsi. Even Emraan Hashmi was approached for the role but it didn't work out.

According to latest buzz, the film, which will be directed by Aneez Basmee, will be officially announced tomorrow in Mumbai.

So if the film is miserably struggling with its star cast, what are they going to announce tomorrow? Will Amitabh Bachchan arrive at the event alone to make his film official? Well, guess we'll find out soon.
Mumbai: Internationally acclaimed film and television Chinese actress Zhu Zhu has officially been declared as the leading lady opposite Salman Khan in his Eid 2017 release 'Tubelight'.

Kabir Khan, whos very excited about the casting, said, "We did an extensive casting call across various cities including Beijing, Los Angeles and HK for the actress opposite Salman. Zhu Zhu was somebody I liked immediately, she has strong screen presence and is a fantastic actress...Salman and she will make an interesting on screen couple."

Amar Butala, CEO Salman Khan Films added, Salman Khan Films is delighted that Zhu Zhu has joined the cast of our next production. She brings with her a large fan base both in China and the U.S., and we hope to reach out to them as well with a mainstream Bollywood film. Maybe Eid 2017 will be a holiday in Beijing as well!"

Zhu Zhu, wholl be making her Bollywood debut with Tubelight, said, "I received the script of Tubelight and I was deeply touched by the spirit of the film and I am sure this going to be another amazing experience in my career and in my life. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Salman Khan. I have seen his films and I'm very much charmed by his talent. Kabir Khan is not only a brilliant filmmaker but also in his films he always talks about humanity and love and ordinary people's lives which everyone in the world can relate to, I am honoured to be a part of Tubelight.
A huge crowd gathers at the out-patient wing of Fever hospital in the city. At least 900 patients are arriving at the hospital for care every day (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Cases of fever are on the rise in the state with an estimated one lakh people suffering. The Fever Hospital is seeing more than 900 patients daily, and on Monday it had more than 1,200 patients.

Such was the situation that there was no place to sit at the out-patient block and most patients were seen waiting in sheds. Even private hospitals and small clinics are seeing 50 to 100 fever patients every day.

Patients coming with symptoms of high fever, rashes, cold and cough are being put in the mild category. Those with severe symptoms like chills, high grade fever and sore throats are placed in the severe category requiring proper treatment for three to four days.

Fever Hospital superintendent Dr K. Shanker said: It is very important for patients to know that everyone does not need blood tests for all three diseases  dengue, malaria and swine flu. If high grade fever continues despite treatment for more than four days with chills then malaria must be tested first.

The fluctuating weather conditions and strong winds are aiding the movement of the viruses, leading to an increase in cases. Adding to this crisis, is the problem of sanitation across small pockets of the city, leading to breeding of mosquitoes.

Senior general physician Dr G. Srinivas said, The rise in number of dengue cases are because the concept of dry days  whereby all water storage containers are emptied and dried on a particular day  is not being followed at all. This concept has helped in the past to deal with the problem of dengue mosquito during the day. But now the GHMC is not being able to implement it though it is an effective prevention method.

Dengue cases have seen a sharp rise with more than 175 cases being recorded in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad district till August 14, 2016. Four deaths were recorded in July in the state.

A senior officer of GHMCs mosquito control wing said, Insect control is being done through spraying but it also needs cooperation from people  they must not allow water puddles outside homes. This is still not being controlled and awareness needs to be created constantly. There have been 2,184 malaria cases, 1,185 dengue cases and 14 chikungunya cases till July 2016.
Hyderabad: Two tigers, a male and a female, which inhabit the Kawal Tiger Reserve, are under severe threat from poachers. In the past five months three poaching incidents have occurred in the core area of the tiger reserve, raising concerns over the safety of the two tigers that have taken up residence here since last year.

The worst of the three incidents occurred in June in Khanapur range when two poachers were booked for killing a chowsingha and a nilgai. Chowsingha is a threatened species protected under Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Act. The other two incidents occurred in April and May under Kaddam and Pembi ranges.

Another incident, which also took place in June, is more worrisome though as it occurred in the buffer area of the tiger reserve. Mamda forest officials had arrested a total of five persons from Chandrayangutta and Golconda in Hyderabad while they were hunting for game.

The five were chargesheeted but they managed to secure bail and officials are awaiting the date for the next hearing. Also, activists say that this is just the tip of the iceberg and more such cases either go unnoticed or unreported.

Kawal measures around 2,000 sq. km in area but has just around 30-40 base camps with four-five unarmed guards. The Centre had last year sanctioned the Armed Special Tiger Protection Force of 100 guards each for both Kawal and Amrabad Tiger Reserves in Telangana. The state government, however, has not done anything yet to realise this force.
For Sugandhi Gadadhar, a Bengaluru-based software professional, it was always about going the eco-friendly way. But off late, the enterprising individual with an inclination towards conservation is out with an intent  to egg young women in the city to swap regular sanitary pads to menstrual cups. She tells us more, just as shes all set to facilitate and offer extensive sessions and talks at city-based schools and colleges by joining hands with a blooming initiative named cupsperts.

I heard about menstrual cups from friends a long while ago, but took my time to research about it. Personally, the idea arose from a realisation on visiting forests and villages, where even the basic disposal system is absent, unlike in a city, I didnt want to contribute to the garbage there. And thats when I thought I should give this a try. The feeling of how liberating it is is what made me want to propagate the usage of it, enthuses the 35-year-old, who will be joining hands with Cupsperts, a city-based forum where a group of youngsters discuss ideas related to menstruation at large, to spread the message.

Ive been conducting sessions for over a year, but mostly in private meetings. I do discuss garbage segregation actively, whenever I get an opportunity. The model three-way segregation being followed in Bengaluru that has been a movement very close to my heart.

While juggling between a full-time career and conducting sessions may seem trying; for Sugandhi, moonlighting as a volunteer for eco-friendly initiatives has only opened up bigger prospects.

I think the biggest takeway about interacting with women from different walks of life and between varying age groups is the fact that it broadens your perspective! Its made me more aware and has fueled my interests towards film making, she shares, speaking about her recent foray into short film making.

Asserting how she possesses no super womanly powers, and its pure passion and a genuine concern that gets her moving, she adds, Well, I do certain things because I believe its important to spread awareness. But I ensure I also make time for other interests and passions.

My interests and hobbies range from photography, acting, volunteering for nature and wildlife conservation. etc. My passion is nature, wildlife and conservation. I am inspired by the natural world, and by the scores of citizen volunteers who are spending their time and efforts to make our cities cleaner, to preserve our forests and wildlife.

Speaking about whats next on the cards, Sugandhi signs off saying, Personally, the biggest takeaway for me is to hope that the talks result in something concrete. I hope we dont have to go and give talks in private anymore, because in future, menstruation should not be something discussed hush-hush. More gynecologists should advocate sustainable options, so that we stop using cancer causing pads and tampons. I hope to see this being viewed as a regular occurrence and not just a breakthrough idea that its mostly being perceived as.
The doctor, Santosh Pol, admitted to killing five women and one man. Police have found the bodies of five women from the doctor's farmhouse. (Representational Image)

Satara: A doctor from Maharashtras Wai town, arrested on Friday on charges of abduction and murder of a woman, confessed to killing at least six persons between 2003 and 2016 by administering them lethal overdose of medicines, police said on Monday.

Senior inspector of Wai police station said the doctor, identified as Santosh Pol, admitted to murdering four more women and one man. He is in police custody till August 19.

The Wai police on Monday night recovered the bodies of five people from Pols farmhouse, about 13 kms from Wai, and are interrogating him for the whereabouts of the sixth body. Pol, who is being called "Dr. Death," has told the police that he threw the sixth body in a dam in 2008.

At least five women were reported missing from Wai town since 2003.

Pol revealed about the details of his crimes during an interrogation into the murder of Mangal Jedhe, a 49-year old anganwadi worker.

Pol with the assistance of a nurse had allegedly abducted Jedhe, president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS), and murdered her with the overdose of some medicines on June 16. They buried Jedhe's body near Pol's farmhouse.

Jedhe went missing after she threatened Pol that she would expose his shady activities. Our information is that she was abducted from the Wai bus station by Pol and his nurse Jyoti Mandre and taken to his farm house where she was killed after administering overdose of some medicines, MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan said.

The five other victims have been identified as Salma Shaikh, Jagabai Pol, Surekha Chikane, Vanita Gaikwad and Nathmal Bhandari.

Police suspect Pols lust for women could be one of the reasons behind the serial murders, however they are yet to determine the real motive. Satara Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killer's medical degree too.
Mumbai: In a horrific incident, a doctor from Satara district of Maharashtra, who was arrested last week for murdering an anganwadi worker, on Tuesday confessed to killing five more people and burying most of their bodies at his farmhouse, according to police.

He also confessed that he killed them all by injecting a lethal overdose of medicine. Police suspect that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted him to murder the five women and a man.

Dr Santosh Pol (42) confessed to multiple murders as he was being interrogated for the death of Mangala Jedhe (47), president of Maha-rashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh.

While the police exhumed five bodies from his farmhouse, one body which was thrown away in Krishna river remains untraceable. Arrested on August 11, Pol will remain in police custody till August 19.

Wai Police Inspector Vinayak Vetal, said, On June 15, Mangala Jedhe, a resident of Wai, left Satara to visit her daughter Vidya Mhaskar in Pune. But she went missing in between. Following this, her husband Bhiku Jedhe registered a missing complaint with us. During investigation, their relatives informed us that before her disappearance, Mangala was in constant touch with Dr Santosh Pol, said Vinayak Vetal, Police inspector, Wai.
Srinagar: Amid continued turbulence that has rocked Kashmir valley for the last 38 days, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday made an emotional appeal to agitating youth not to be misled by vested interests who want to keep the valley burning and maintained that dialogue is the only way to resolve issues.

In her maiden Independence Day address as Chief Minister, Mehbooba cautioned that Kashmir should not be allowed to become another Syria or Afghanistan where there is instability and absence of safety of life.

She urged the people to give her time so that she could work on the plans and programmes she had charted for peace and progress of the state and that they should not be misled by false propaganda about attempts to erode the special status of

Jammu and Kashmir.

She blamed the successive central leaderships, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru, for the problems of Kashmir and hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the issues, completing the process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Speaking in the backdrop of over month-long unrest in the valley triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, she underlined that any remedy could be found only through dialogue in the "great" Indian democracy.

With regard to protests over Wani's killing in a gunbattle on July 8, Mehbooba said, "it is not that an encounter has happened in Kashmir for the first time...

Children should not be indulging in agitation. They should be going to schools and colleges. It is not for children to solve big issues. Parents should also ensure that their children do not go out where their lives could be in danger."

She said "vested interests" were misleading the youth and making them a "shield" to pursue their nefarious designs, while their own kids are tucked away in safety.

"I will not talk about the separatists but about the middlemen for whom it (stone pelting) is a business. Find out where their children are while innocent kids are being used for protests," she said.

Noting that the current unrest had taken a toll on education in the valley, she asked, "What will I do with the IITs, IIMs, Law College and five medical colleges when those who had to study there have been blinded. Who is responsible for it?"

Mehbooba said while she felt pained over the injuries and casualties among civilians, she felt equally bad for security personnel who also have been wounded in equal number just because they exercised maximum restraint.

They security forces have come to the valley from far off places like Bihar and Karnataka leaving their children and families behind just to perform their duties, she said.

At the same time, she said, "Wherever I feel anyone from forces has violated the directions for maximum restrain, action will be taken. This is not a mere statement. It will be done and you will be told about it."
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to skip the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, which will be held in Islamabad next week.

According to a NDTV report, government sources on Tuesday indicated that Jaitley will not be attending the SAARC meet, despite reports from Pakistan that he would be accorded a "warm welcome" if he participates in the ministerial conference. However, a final call on the matter will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Until Monday, sources in New Delhi said it was far from certain whether Jaitley would travel to Islamabad for the meeting to be hosted on August 25 and 26.

Earlier, Pakistan's Finance Ministry said that Islamabad will play a "good host" and avoid a repetition of the tense atmosphere that prevailed during Home Minister Rajnath Singh's recent visit.

Read: Going to Pakistan is like going to hell, says Manohar Parrikar

The ministry officials said there are chances of "gracious handshakes" between Pakistan finance minister Ishaq Dar and his Indian counterpart if Jaitley decides to attend the ministerial conference.

The government has finalised arrangements for the upcoming SAARC meet, a Pakistan finance ministry statement said, adding that Dar chaired a meeting to review arrangements for the conference.

Pakistan would play the role of a "good host" and try to keep the overall ambience positive, the statement added.

The ministerial conference comes in the shadow of Singh's visit to Islamabad earlier this month where barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who only had a tense and uneasy handshake during the SAARC meeting.

The duo also traded repartees over issues of terrorism and violence in Kashmir.

"The hostilities were at peak during the Home Ministers' Conference and Dar does not wish a repetition," finance ministry officials were quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

They further said that all regional countries except Bangladesh have confirmed participation of their finance ministers.

"Bangladesh has so far only confirmed the participation of its deputy finance minister. Dar will personally call his Bangladeshi counterpart and urge him to attend the conference," they added.
ABVP workers protest in front of Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru, Karnataka, demanding that those who shouted slogans against India and the Army should be arrested. (Photo: ANI)

Bengaluru: A day after Amnesty International India was booked on the charge of sedition, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists in Karnataka staged a huge protest on Tuesday, demanding arrest of those who allegedly shouted slogans against India and the Army at an event on Kashmir, organised by the group.

Amnesty International India issued a statement on Tuesday, stating that the allegations made by the ABVP in its complaint were without substance.

No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point, it said, replying to the charge that "slogans were shouted that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."

The Karnataka government said police were examining video and CCTV clippings to identify the culprits.

As ABVP activists held a protest in front of Raj Bhavan and nearby places, police struggled to control the agitated students and tried to baton chase them away.

The protesting students demanded action against Amnesty International and speedy arrest of those who had allegedly shouted "pro-freedom" and anti-Army slogans at the event on Saturday.

"The police have been slow in bringing to book the pro-freedom Kashmiris who shouted slogans. We demand that the police expedite the investigation and arrest the culprits as soon as possible," BJP MP Pratap Simha said.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said police were examining video and CCTV clippings to identify the "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who shouted "independence" slogans.

"Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. Police are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who shouted independence slogans at the event," he told reporters.

Amnesty International had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir, however, it took an ugly turn with heated exchanges and alleged shouting of anti-India and anti-Army slogans.

ABVP activists had submitted a CD containing video recording of the event after filing a complaint with police, who yesterday registered an FIR against Amnesty International.

IPC sections  142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) have been invoked against Amnesty.

Asked whether Amnesty International India Executive Director Aakar Patel is likely to be arrested, Parameshwara said, "Not to my knowledge. Not at the moment."

Asked about reports that "anti-India" slogans were also shouted by some students at the Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology in Tumkuru, 70 km from Bengaluru, with which the Home Minister is associated, Parameshwara said an FIR had been registered in that case also and police were investigating it.

"One security fellow says I don't understand what they (students) said. We don't know at this stage  it is not very clear. There (Tumkuru) also an FIR has been registered and they are looking into it," he said.

Asked if any action has been suggested against the culprits, he said action would be taken as per the law.

"No, no, no. I will go according to law. Action will be taken according to results obtained from police investigation. Beyond that I don't think I can do anything," he said.

Asked whether the government had swung into action due to the central government's pressure, Parameshwara denied such reports, saying the government has its own duty to fulfil.

"It is not like that. Why should the Centre force us to register a simple FIR? I don't think so. We have our own duty to fulfil. If there is any such case, naturally the law will take its own course and police definitely work under those laws," he said.

Simha said there has been no FIR filed against Kashmiris who shouted the slogans, but only against Amnesty International.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "Police are enquiring. An FIR has been registered."

Noting that an FIR had already been registered on sedition charge, he said after an enquiry, police would take action as per the law.

Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa said patriotic and nationalist people could not tolerate "anti-India" slogans.

"What happened in JNU is being repeated here", he said, adding, "This must be stopped."

Yeddyurappa said BJP would fight to ensure that the culprits were brought to book and added that he had written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue.

Amnesty India today said none of its employees were involved in any form of assault against anyone at the event.

It said that towards the end of the event, some of those who attended shouted slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'Azaadi' (freedom).

But, it said, Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.

However, it considers that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate political solutions.

Amnesty International India had invited Bengaluru police to be present at the event, in the interest of the security of the invited families and other attendees.

"We have shared our footage of the event with the police," it said.
BJP veteran and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh held a Congress flag in his hand during an event organised in Bhopal by a local Congress MLA organised on the occasion of 70th Independence Day. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Bhopal: Veteran BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur created flutter in the political circles when he held the Congress flag during a programme organised on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.

Local Congress MLA Arif Aqueel, who has been organising 'Paigam-e- Mohabbat' programme on Independence Day since many years, on Monday invited religious heads, freedom fighters and prominent party leaders for the event.

Gaur took part in the event in his capacity as a freedom fighter. Congress MLA and former leader of opposition Ajay Singh was also present.

A rally was taken out from Bhopal Talkies, which was flagged-off by those present there. At this point, to everyone's surprise, Gaur took in his hands the Congress flag, causing murmurs in political circles.

"Gaur Sahab is no doubt angry with the BJP, but he is a very senior leader of the party and deeply rooted with it. Somebody handed over to him a Congress flag that he had held in his hands in true spirit of the programme. Nothing more should be read into it," Aqueel said on Tuesday.

However, he added, "If he (Gaur) leaves BJP and joins Congress, the party would welcome him with open heart."

When contacted, Gaur said, "I have been attending this programme every year in my capacity as freedom fighter. Aqueel used to honour those who fought for the country, including MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) detainees among others."

"During the flagging-off ceremony somebody handed me a flag and the moment I noticed it was not of my party I gave it back. Nothing more should be read into it," he said and asserted that he will not leave BJP.

"The question of leaving BJP does not arise as it had made me the chief minister from a mere labourer. It made my daughter-in-law mayor of Bhopal and has given me a lot. Why should I go to a party whose existence is in danger," Gaur asked.

Gaur, who was also the state home minister, was reportedly not happy the way he was asked to resign from the state Cabinet in the last reshuffle apparently on ground of old age.

He had also created unpleasant situation for the ruling party a few times during the monsoon session of the Assembly by asking unpalatable questions.
Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Tuesday called for a 12-hour state-wide shutdown in Odisha to protest the unilateral construction of barrages by the Chhattisgarh government in the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi river. The party accused the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh responsible for the dispute over the sharing of waters of the river.

Describing the Mahanadi River as the life line of Odisha, Congress leader Srikant Jena said there is a BJP-BJD conspiracy to dry up the Mahanadi.

"The entire water is going to industrial houses. Therefore, the Congress has given a call for a shutdown which has been a great success. Today, this is the beginning of this protest. We will be doing more non-violent protests in the coming days. So, I must thank the people of Odisha for responding positively to the call of the Congress party," said Jena.

Party state general secretary Sulochna Das said the party is trying to create pressure on the state government so that they do not have to give waters of the Mahanadi to Chhattisgarh.

"We have got support for the shutdown. Police is arresting people who are participating in the silent protest. They have arrested our workers. We have got support from the common people. We hope that we will get support in the future also so that the shutdown is successful. Schools, colleges, trains and buses are all closed," Das said.

According to a report, the Mahanadi river basin's total catchment area is close to 141,600 square kilometers, of which 53.9 per cent falls in Chhattisgarh, 45.73 per cent in Odisha and 0.35 per cent in Madhya Pradesh. During the monsoon, the Mahanadi has a discharge rate of 57,000 cusecs, almost the same as the Ganges, but in the dry seasons, it turns into a narrow channel.

Before the construction of the Hirakud Dam in 1953, heavy rains used to cause the river to be in spate and this would lead to massive and devastating floods striking Odisha which located downstream. An average inflow of the Mahanadi at the Hirakud Dam in Odisha is 40,773 MCM, out of which 35,308 MCM comes from Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh claims it is presently using only 9,000 MCM of the river's waters, and therefore, it is well within its right to exploit more of the basin's capacity for its economic needs. Chhattisgarh further argues that its projects are primarily aimed at providing water for non-consumptive industrial use.

Odisha claims that Chhattisgarh has already constructed three barrages unilaterally, which have affected the water flow to Hirakud Dam during dry spells. Odisha demands that all the seven barrages within the master plan of Chhattisgarh must be treated as integrated and not as standalone projects. Meanwhile, normal life has come to a standstill across the state.
New Delhi: The Congress has come out in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir during his Independence Day speech at Red Fort on Monday.

The party also distanced itself from the remarks of its senior leader Salman Khurshid on Modi's speech.

Read: Narendra Modis Baloch missile rattles Pakistan on Independence Day

Khurshid had said on Monday evening that "PoK is our right. Our entitlement. We will support it. But by bringing in Balochistan, you are ruining our case". The Congress has distanced itself from this remark and termed Khurshid's comment as "his personal view".

The main opposition party asked the government to raise the issue of atrocities in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in bilateral meetings with Pakistan, as well as at international forums.

Read: Need to eradicate 'cancer' called Pakistan, says Baloch activist

"Congress does not subscribe to the statement made by Salman Khurshid who is a senior leader. He can have his own opinion. Our view is very, very clear. Congress party believes there are serious human rights violations in Balochistan and the voice of democratic dissent is being suppressed by Pakistani forces and agencies. Similar human rights violations are being committed by the armed forces of Pakistan in PoK which is an integral part of India."

"All such issues need to be raised and need to be sorted out. We support the government. However, what is Prime Minister Modi going to do for taking up these issues on a bilateral forum with Pakistan so that suppression of democratic dissent in Balochistan and PoK come to an end? What is the government going to do about raising these issues on international forums?" the head of Congress' communication department Randeep Surjewala said.

He said the nomenclature PoK means that the territory is an integral part of India and Kashmir's accession to India is an issue which was settled decades ago.

Surjewala said Pakistan had attacked and occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir which was integral to India. "This issue needs to be sorted out and it can only be sorted out in favour of India," he said.
New Delhi: Reiterating his demand for full statehood, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that the Centre was taking away the powers of the elected government through a system which was akin to the national capital being governed by the colonial Government of India Act, 1935.

During his Independence Day speech at Chhatrasal Stadium, Mr Kejriwal questioned whether the people of Delhi were less patriotic and half-citizens, and said he cannot fathom why their democratic rights were being taken away.

The chief minister claimed the citizens of Delhi were being made to feel that the value of their votes was less as compared to other states where electors have the right to choose governments with power.

Under the Government of India Act 1935, people had right to choose their representatives, but Britis-hers had powers to run the government. At present, the Centre has established the system of the Raj-era law in Delhi. In Delhi, people can select the chief minister, MLAs and form government, but they dont have the power to govern with full rights. Are we half-citizens? Despite Delh-iites giving taxes, I cant understand as to why the democratic rights are being taken away from the people of Delhi, Mr Kejriwal said.

The AAP chief said people of Delhi have been choosing their governments, which had been given some rights, for the last 24 years, but in the last one-and-a-half years powers are being taken away by one by one.
Hyderabad: In a heartless act that has put humanity to shame, a city resident shot dead three stray dogs in Tappachabutra locality on Tuesday morning. Police have registered a case against an unidentified person under Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Reacting to the incident, Director of Human Society International N.G. Jayasimha said legal as well as social strengthening is important to check such acts.

"The responsibility of this incident heads on two things. Firstly, the social ignorance of cruelty on animals, while the other being, the administration that has been incapable of bringing in Animal Welfare Act. Repeated incidents of brutality on animals are happening, and the police are completely disappointed, because the penalty is so little. People are throwing acid on animals, burning them alive to death and shooting them. People are spared from such matters after paying a small fine of Rs.50. Such offences are bailable and non-cognisable and people committing such crimes are not even arrested sometimes," Jayasimha told ANI.

"Last time when the shooting took place, there was a video. Police identified the accused, but no action was taken as the law is so weak. We are shocked. The Indian Government should categorise such offences into cognisable crimes and bring in the Bill suggested by the Animal Welfare Board. The conditions of animals will be the same until the Bill is brought in," he added.

Jayasimha said legalisation of such matters not only brings fear among people, but also sends a message about what the government accepts and what it rejects.

"We got to know that an FIR has already been lodged and a case has been registered against unidentified people. We are in constant touch with police. Usually, we announce reward if police are not able to identify the accused, but in this case we have received a call from a farmhouse and police are investigating. But, if we don't get a lead in this case, we will, conjointly with the police, put in effort to get the accused arrested," he said.

Earlier in July, five minors had allegedly burnt alive three puppies in Hyderabad. The boys played with the pups for sometime in the afternoon, and then they dragged the three pups by their tails and hurled them into the fire. The blood-curling cries of the puppies could be heard in the video, which someone had uploaded on social media.

In a similar incident in Chennai, two MBBS students allegedly threw a dog from the terrace of a three-storey building.
The valley has witnessed violent protests and the death of 62 civilians so far

Srinagar : With Kashmir in turmoil, the National Conference has called a meeting of opposition parties here on Wednesday to discuss the unabated violence and killing of civilians in action by the security forces.

NC Working President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has convened the meeting which will hold wider consultations on the "failure" of the PDP-BJP government in bringing an end to the violence and restoring peace, a senior

party leader said.

The National Conference is also planning to call on President Pranab Mukherjee later this week to seek his intervention to ensure there is no further loss of life in the state where violent protests and retaliatory action by the law enforcement machinery following the encounter killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8 has claimed 62 lives so far.

Tommorrow's meeting will be attended by state leaders who were not invited to the all-party meeting on Kashmir chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Only parties having representation in Parliament were invited to the meeting.

The National Conference will also be demanding a ban on the use of pellet guns, with has left scores blinded and badly wounded, by the security forces. The Union Home Ministry has constituted a committee to suggest an alternative to pellet guns for crowd control, the leader said, adding the party would seek a total ban on its use pending submission of the final report by the panel.

National Conference had boycotted the All Party meeting called by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on July 22, a fortnight after the unrest erupted in the Valley following Wani's death.

"The opposition parties will meet tomorrow to discuss the current unrest in the valley," Omar said about tomorrow's meeting.

A Congress spokesman said the party will attend the meeting convened by National Conference. CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Independent MLAs Hakim Mohammad Yasin and Sheikh Abdul Rashid are also expected to attend the meeting.
New Delhi: Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on pending appointment of judges in his Independence Day speech, the Congress on Tuesday accused him of delaying the matter and that he wants a "captive and not an independent judiciary".

Shortly after Chief Justice of India T S Thakur expressed his disappointment that the prime minister did not make any mention about delayed judicial appointments in his address, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said PM Modi in his 90-minute speech should have spared at least one minute to talk about the crisis situation on account of a number of judicial vacancies.

Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala accused PM Modi of stalling judicial appointments to foist a captive judiciary on the country. He said PM Modi should heed the CJI's advice and not do petty politics on the issue.

Mr Surjewala told reporters that Memorandum of Appointment of Judges is deliberately not being cleared by PM Modi because the Prime Minister wants a "captive judiciary and not an independent judiciary" and this indeed is alarming on the 70th Independence Day of the country.

He also tweeted, "CJI questions PM Modi for deafening silence on judicial logjam in his I-Day speech. Unprecedented yet starkly true."

"1.25 Billion Indians demand a solemn commitment to a fair justice system on I-Day Modi Ji! Please heed CJI's advice. No petty politics.

"75 names of HC judges cleared by SC stalled; Memorandum of Appointing Judges thwarted. Deliberate obstruction of justice by an obstinate PM," he said in a series of tweets.

Mr Surjewala said it's time the PM "introspected and ensured that the judiciary, the first refuge of the common man, remains independent and does not become captive to the whims of the Prime Minister."

Mr Sibal called for immediate clearance of pending judicial appointment files, asking who were the persons delaying the decision.

"In 90 minutes today, the PM could have spared one minute for the judiciary as we are all running at 50 per cent of the strength. And in the light of the fact that the Supreme Court has asked the Government to respond in four weeks as to why the appointment of judges have been kept pending for eight months and who are the persons who are blocking the files... It is a crisis...and at least the PM could have spared a minute and talked about it and committed that they would do this very quickly," the former Law Minister Mr Sibal said.

Accusing the Government of using their absolute majority in Lok Sabha, Mr Sibal said, "The Government thinks it has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and is flexing its muscles."

The former minister underlined the need for early judicial appointments saying lakhs of litigants come from far off places, spend money, reach high courts but their cases are not taken up because there are not enough judges and they pay their lawyers month after month year after year.

Mr Surjewala also made the same demand describing an independent justice system as the first edifice of democracy.

"A courageous CJI in an unprecedented move has lodged a serious protest on account of the continuing logjam on appointment of judges between the Modi government and the judiciary," he said.
"People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," he said. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for speaking about atrocities being committed by the Pakistani military on the Baloch people, Mazadak Dilshad Baloch, a prominent Baloch activist, called upon the world leaders to stand for the cause of its people to help eradicate a 'cancer' called Pakistan.

"We are grateful to the Prime Minister of India. The whole Baloch 'nation' is grateful to him and this is a leading step towards the support to the freedom of Balochistan. I think all the civilised world leaders should stand up for the cause of Balochistan and its people, help them move forward, help them get independence and help them finish this 'cancer' called Pakistan," he said.

Dilshad Baloch further said the Pakistani army, with the help of the government, is conducting genocide against the Baloch people.

"Genocide is going on in Balochistan. Any kind of atrocity you name, it's there in Balochistan. More than 20,000 people have disappeared. They are depriving people of their identity; they are depriving them of their nationality; and they are depriving them of freedom," he said.

Prime Minister Modi, during his address on the occasion of nation's 70th Independence Day, highlighted Islamabad's atrocities on Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them," he said.

"This is the example of our humanitarian approach, but there are some countries who glorify terrorists. To the youth, who have taken up guns, I urge them to return to their parents and shun violence," he added.
Students of Gujarati High School, Jeera, Secunderabad, carry a 500-metre National Flag to celebrate the 70th Independence Day on Monday. (Photo: P. Surendra)

Hyderabad: The English and Foreign Languages University unfurled the National Flag on the tallest flagpole among all central universities in the country to mark Independence Day on Monday.

The flagpole measuring 108 feet was sourced from Hyderabad and the cotton flag, weighing 18 kg and measuring 27 feet by 18 feet, was from Bengaluru.

EFLU vice-chancellor Prof. Sunaina Singh said the 108-feet tall flagpole was a symbol of collective responsibility.

The city now has the biggest Tricolour on the second tallest mast at Sanjeevaiah Park, and the tallest flag among all Central universities.

The IICT plans to hoist a large flag on a 100-feet flagpole, making it the tallest among CSIR institutions nationwide.
New Delhi: In the wake of Pakistan inviting India 's Foreign Secretary for a dialogue on Kashmir , the Congress Party on Tuesday said there is no scope of resuming talks with the neighbour until it stops patronising terrorists and takes stringent action against them.

Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said Pakistan brews terrorism and that India should not resume talks with it until "it mends its ways".

"At this time, there is no point of resuming talks with Pakistan , because India has always taken a stand that it will not talk to Pakistan until it mends its ways. Till the time Pakistan does not stop encouraging terrorist organisation to attack India , we cannot think of working on our relationship," said Nirupam.

"It is useless to talk with Pakistan until it stops patronising terrorists. And until the Pakistan army and ISI forfeit their support from the terrorist group and put a halt on this whole nexus and take an action against them," he added.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Monday invited his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to visit Islamabad for a dialogue on Kashmir even as New Delhi had last week rejected Foreign Affairs Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz's statement that his country has planned to invite the Indian Foreign Secretary for peace talks on Kashmir .

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj last week said fighting the global scourge of terrorism is a central part of India 's diplomatic engagements with Pakistan .

"Among the issues that dominate global concerns today is the threat of terrorism," Swaraj said while releasing a book, 'The Modi Doctrine: New Paradigms in India 's Foreign Policy' here.
New Delhi : The government is considering imposing penalties on those spreading dirt in urban areas as part of measures to make Swachh Bharat Mission a success,Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said today.

He said the government is considering a three-point strategy for success of the cleanliness drive. "There is a three-point strategy for this mission. First, to create infrastructure; second, change the mindset; and third, at end of the day we need to consider imposing penalties in urban areas once the entire infrastructure is

created," he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on 'Scaling up Citizens' Participation to a Jan Andolan in Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)', Naidu said, "The mission is now becoming a Jan Andolan (people's movement) but not fully. The

change of mindset is fast taking place in the country. People are supporting the Prime Minister's initiative."

He said the government is working to find new ways and means to reach out to the people. Representatives of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and several foreign countries participated in the workshop, Naidu said.

Swachh Bharat Mission is being implemented by the Urban Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The mission aims at elimination of open defecation, eradication of manual scavenging, modern and scientific municipal solid waste management, effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices, generate awareness

about sanitation and its linkage with public health. Besides, this it also focuses on capacity augmentation for urban local bodies. The special attention is being given on constructing public and household toilets.
New Delhi: Union minister and local MP V.K. Singh on Monday pitched for a CBI probe into the recent attack on BJP leader Brijpal Teotia by armed assailants.

The Uttar Pradesh government must hand over the investigation to the CBI to unearth the truth, he told reporters after hoisting the tricolor at his residence here.

Singh claimed that the state police was under pressure to probe the case.

Alleging that the law-and-order situation was deteriorating day-by-day in the state, the Union minister of state for external affairs said, Only the CBI can find out the real culprits behind the incident.

Unidentified armed assailants had opened fire at Teotias vehicle here on Thursday night. The BJP leader had received six bullet injuries in the incident and is currently admitted to a hospital.

Teotias driver and five private security guards had also sustained bullet injuries in the incident.
Bengaluru: Kashmiri Pundits were "not invited" to the Amnesty International (AI) India event - 'Broken Families' - on human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir, said former journalist and spokesperson of the Kashmiri Pundits in Bengaluru, R.K. Mattoo.

"They are lying. There was no mention of Kashmiri Pundits in their invitation. When I came to know about the event I posted about it on Facebook asking the Kashmiri Pundits in the City to attend the meeting at the United Theological College last Saturday," said Mattoo, while countering the AI press statement, which was issued on Tuesday in which the International human rights non-governmental organization stated that they had invited Mattoo to "speak about the human rights violations faced by the members of the community."

Mattoo told Deccan Chronicle that after his FB post, he received a call from the AI office at around 3pm on August 13. "I asked them why the AI was silent on the plight of Kashmiri Pundits and why they had omitted us from the event in the City. Lakhs of Pundits were thrown out from the Valley in 1990 and Amnesty was not interested to talk about it on public fora?" Mattoo observed.

An hour later, at 4pm he said he received a call from AI again and they told him that they would allow him to speak and he should reach the venue by 5.30pm. "We reached the UTC at 5.30 pm and I was told that Seema Mustafa would compere the programme. The programme started at 7pm," he said.

"Tara Rao (programme director, AI India) spoke about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and mentioned that few thousands of Pundits were asked to leave the Valley. At that a Kashmiri Pundit in the audience corrected her and asked her to present facts. Five and a half lakhs Pundits had fled the Valley in January 1990," said Mattoo.

"There were narratives of the families, who were invited by AI followed by a skit on the Army excesses in the Valley. I was also asked to speak and I spoke in favour of the army. Later, I asked our community members to leave the venue because it was becoming evident that the focus was on army excesses and one sided stories. When we went outside we heard some commotion inside the hall. A rapper was singing and there were slogans on azadi. The police sensed trouble and intervened with caution," he narrated.

"What was the purpose of the programme? Was it just to malign the army? How was AI planning to get justice for Kashmiri victims in Bengaluru?" asked Mattoo.
New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to visit Pakistan next week to attend the two-day conference of Saarc finance ministers which indicated the extent of strain in the relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Finance secretary Ashok Lavasa or some other senior bureaucrat from finance ministry may represent India at the meet. The conference is scheduled on August 25-26 in Islamabad.

It is due to political reasons that the finance minister may not visit Pakistan. You all know what happened last time (during Home Minister Rajnath Singhs visit to Islamabad earlier this month) and what is happening, said sources.

The development comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his I-Day address at Red Fort brought up the issue of Pakistani atrocities on people of Baluchistan and PoK, saying that they have thanked him for doing so.

n Page 7: Pak accused of glorifying terror

Pakistan accused of glorifying terror

Pakistani authorities did not allow entry of Indian mediapersons, including those from PTI and Doordarshan, inside the venue of 7th SAARC Home Ministers Meeting in Islamabad.

Keeping in mind the countrys prestige, I did what I should have done. I have no complaints. I had not gone there for lunch, Rajnath had said.

That apart, in his Independence Day address to the nation on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India will not bow before terrorism, and also brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Baluchistan and PoK, saying that they have thanked him for doing so.

Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir Valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India.

Pakistans Finance Ministry in a recent statement had said the country would play the role of a good host and try to keep the overall ambiance positive.
Sourcs said the home minister directed the security agencies to freeze the flow of funds aimed at fueling protests (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: With no let up in violence in the Kashmir Valley, the Centre has asked the Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency to set up a special team to probe the funding for the ongoing agitation.

The instructions are issued after a meeting chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh, along with national security adviser Ajit Doval, to review the security situation. The officials discussed inputs suggesting a large amount of funds are being pumped into the Valley to fuel the protests.

Sources said the home minister directed the security agencies to freeze the flow of funds aimed at fueling protests, as most of it is coming through the illegal hawala channel.

The NIA is already investigating the role of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba in the ongoing turbulence in the Valley, and Intelligence inputs suggest subversive elements in Pakistan are sending funds to sustain the momentum of the protests.

The home ministers directives are clear that if illegal money is being pumped into the Valley to incite protesters, it should be stopped. We now need to ascertain the network from which the money is coming, and freeze it. The illegal money flow is one of the reasons why the protests are on for over a month, said a senior official.

In the past two days, a Central Reserve Police Force commanding officer, Pramod Kumar, was killed while nine other jawans were injured in a militant attack in Nowhatta, Srinagar. Five civilians are also killed and several others injured in the Army crackdown on stone-pelting mobs in Budgam and Anantnag districts.

Mr Rajnath has asked securitymen to ensure that casualties of both security forces and civilians are avoided. He reviewed security situation in Assam following a recent attack by militant group NDFB (S) in Kokrajhar in which 14 people were killed. ULFA militants had triggered a series of five bombs in Charaido and Tinsukia districts on the I-Day.

5 more die in fresh clashes in Kashmir

Five persons were killed and several others injured in security forces action against stone-pelting protestors in Budgam and Anantnag districts of Kashmir on Tuesday where normal life remained paralysed for the 39th consecutive day due to curfew, restrictions and separatist-sponsored strike.

With the fresh deaths, the toll in the ongoing unrest in the Valley has now gone up to 63. Four persons were killed in CRPF firing on stone-pelting protestors in Aripathan area of Magam in Budgam district while five others were injured, a police official said. The incident took place when a group of protestors hurled stones at a passing CRPF vehicle this morning.
Mumbai: A recent advertisement released by yoga guru Baba Ramdevs Patanjali brand of products on national television depicting the holy Cross while urging Indians to boycott foreign products, has left the Catholic community in Mumbai fuming.

Stating that it may incite hatred against Christians and lead to attacks on churches and Christian institutions, the Indian Christian Voice (ICV) has written to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other departments seeking a ban on the commercial.

Stating that Baba Ramdev is resorting to divisive politics in the name of religion, ICV president Dr Abraham Mathai, said, In the commercial, Baba Ramdev has depicted the Cross, the very symbol of the Christian faith, and called upon Indians to boycott all foreign products. The commercial has the potential to destroy the very moral and secular fabric of India, eventually disrupting communal harmony. We have petitioned the president, prime minister, finance minister, minister for information and broadcasting, minister for corporate affairs and Advertising Standard Council of India demanding that this commercial advertisement be withdrawn forthwith and banned immediately from being screened on any public domain.

The Christian community has no objections to the boycott he seeks, but we strongly object to the misuse of the Cross in the ad. The commercial has smartly depicted the Cross to show the British rule in India, in a bid to enable Baba Ramdev to arguably propagate his agenda of targeting a particular minority community. Such demagoguery will definitely result in increased attacks on churches, he added.

Dr Mathai said, the Christians understands that Baba Ramdev may not understand free and fair trade regulations when he asks Indians to boycott foreign goods, but the community expects him to understand how to respect the faith persuasions of fellow Indians.

Despite repeated attempts, Acharya Balkrishna, one of the partners of Patanjali Ayurved, was unavailable for comment. There was also no response to a message seeking his comment on the objection raised by the Christians.

At the same time, an executive from the Patanjali helpline, refused to share contact of the authorities and asked this correspondent to print this article without Patanjalis version.
MUMBAI: Controversial preacher-cum-televangelist Dr Zakir Naik, who is under scanner in India, is not likely to visit India this year. His lawyer, advocate Mubin Solkar told this newspaper that as per Dr Naiks schedule that was fixed long back, he will be visiting different countries and lecturing, but is expected to return to India only next year.

Mr Solkar also said that his client has no reason to avoid coming to India as there is no case registered against him. The Maharashtra government, however, claimed that there was actionable evidence against Dr Naik, and he could be arrested the moment he puts his foot in India.

Advocate Solkar said, It is not true that Dr Naik used to visit India frequently or every two months in the past and he has stopped coming only after the recent investigation against him. He is an NRI and to maintain that status, he is required to stay out of India for a fixed period of time. Hence, even in the past, he used to come to India occasionally.

Adv. Solkar added that till date, no case had been registered against Dr Naik and neither had any court or investigating agency issued summons to him and hence, there was no need for him to change his schedule and return to India.
Bengaluru: A day after an FIR was registered against it, the Amnesty International India has issued a clarification, rubbishing the charges leveled by the ABVP.

In a release issued on Tuesday, the NGO said, The allegations mentioned in the complaint are without substance. They are preventing the families of victims of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir from having their stories heard. And preventing civil society organisations from enabling these families to exercise their constitutional right to justice. The NGO has also issued a point-by-point rebuttal on the allegations raised in the complaint by an ABVP representative:

Allegation: Sindhujaa Iyengar, a political science lecturer at a private university in Bengaluru, Seema Mustafa and Roushan Illahi sang anti-national songs and raised anti-national slogans.

Amnesty International India (AII): Sindhujaa Iyengar is an employee of Amnesty International India. She was not present on stage at any point during the event. Seema Mustafa is a senior journalist. She moderated a discussion with affected families at the event. Neither of them sang any songs or raised any slogans at any point. The only musical performance was a song by Roushan Illahi (also known as MC Kash) at the end of the event, about growing up amid violence in Kashmir. Video footage of the event which was recorded by Amnesty International India has been shared with the police.

Allegation: Sindhujaa Iyengar, Seema Mustafa and Roushan Illahi...delivered anti-national speeches against soldiers.

AII: The only speech delivered at the event was by AIIs Programmes Director, Tara Rao, which referred to allegations of human rights violations by security force personnel. These allegations are laid out in detail in AIIs 2015 report, and have been widely reported and discussed. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is part of the current ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, had welcomed the recommendations of the report when it was published.

The families who attended the event spoke of their own personal stories of loss, as per the programme of the event. One of the families who attended the event was that of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, one of the men killed in the Machil extra-judicial execution, for which five security force personnel were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

AII also invited R.K. Mattoo, a representative of the Kashmiri Pandit community in Bengaluru, to speak about the human rights violations faced by members of the community.

Allegation: Slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan.

AII: No AII employee shouted any slogans at any point.

Allegation: The event indirectly supported terrorists.

AII: The only discussion at the event was about allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice to families in Kashmir. These are issues that have regularly been discussed in the media. They have been written about at length by members of Parliament, politicians, judges and civil society. In July 2016, the Supreme Court, in a ruling relevant to the issues discussed at the event, stated that the armed forces do not enjoy impunity for human rights violations.

Allegation: The event...indirectly supported Pakistan and the ISI.

AII: The focus of the event was squarely on allegations of human rights violations and the denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir. AII has worked extensively on human rights violations in Pakistan, including the enforced disappearances and unlawful killings of political activists in Balochistan, violations by security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and violence against journalists by groups including the ISI.

Allegation: When ABVP activists tried stopping the attack, people tried to assault them.

AII: No AII employee was involved in any form of assault against anyone.

How events unfolded

Saturday - Amnesty International India organises an event, 'Broken Families' to facilitate Kashmiri families to share their experiences and the alleged human rights violation in Jammu & Kashmir. Towards the end of the event, some participants allegedly shout anti-India and anti-Indian Army slogans, and seek separation of Kashmir from India. Members of a few right wing groups raise objection and stage a flash protest. A complaint is filed by an ABVP activist the same day seeking action against the organisers, participants and United Theological College.

Sunday - ABVP activists stage protest in front of the United Theological College on Miller's Road, demanding the immediate arrest of the organisers and participants. Police do not register an FIR and consult legal experts

Monday - An FIR is registered by the JC Nagar police. Representatives of Amnesty International India are made accused number one, while others (not known) are made accused number two. The accused are booked for sedition and other offences

Tuesday - ABVP activists intensify protest and demand immediate arrest of the organisers and participants. Police question representatives of the NGO.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday offered India a bilateral ban on nuclear testing. A foreign ministry statement said, Pakistan had (in the past) proposed to India simultaneous adherence to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The proposal did not elicit a favourable response from India.

It added, Once again, in the larger interest of peace and stability in the region, as also in the global context, Pakistan has indicated the possibility that the two countries may consider a bilateral arrangement, which is reflective of its policy of promoting restraint and responsibility in South Asia and its consistent support for the objectives of the CTBT.

Pakistan is like hell, says Manohar Parrikar

Amid strain in ties with Pakistan, defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday compared the neigbouring country to hell and asserted that it should stop human rights violations in Balochistan.

Referring to an infiltration bid which was foiled on Monday by the Indian Army, he said, Kal humare jawano ne paanch logon (terrorists) ko wapas bhej dia, Pakistan mein jaana aur nark (hell) mein jaana ek hi hai (Our soldiers sent back five terrorists on Monday. Going to Pakistan is same as going to hell).

Pakistan has always been promoting terrorism and the nation is now bearing its consequences, he said assuring that Indian soldiers will give a befitting reply to attack.
New Delhi: The Home Ministry has turned down a proposal mooted by the civil aviation ministry to raise a special aviation force for providing security cover to the airports across the country. The proposed aviation force was to work under the administrative control of the Bureau of Civil Aviation.

The home ministry is of the view that the CISF, currently providing security at all major airports, is competent enough and gradually its deployment on all airports should be enhanced further replacing the local police or any other security agency.

The home ministry will soon conduct a detailed security audit of all airports to ascertain what steps were needed to make the arrangements more foolproof.

As of now there is no need for a separate special aviation force as the CISF is competent enough to do the job. Instead we will do a detailed audit for all major airports to see if there are any security lapses and how these can be plugged, a ministry official said.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting attended by minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials.

The view within the home ministry is that the CISF in fact is already a specialised force as it has been raised with the purpose of guarding vital installations like industrial units, metros and airports.

The CISF, officials added, has been performing well in guarding the airports. The CISF is also working in close co-ordination with the local police, which normally provides the outer security cordon while the central police force looks after the inner cordon and security within the airport premises.

The CISF has good co-ordination with the local police and Intelligence agencies and there is no need to disturb this arrangement right now, the official added.

Sources said the security audit for the airports could start in another week and is expected to be completed in about a months time following which the home ministry will once again convene a meeting to discuss the report and take corrective measures.

The ministry is also examining the possibility of funding all airport security related expenditure and may reimburse the amount to the respective state governments. It has also planned random checking of incoming air travellers at the entrance of airports.

Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for random checking of incoming vehicles of air travellers in city side approach, thorough checking of cargo and detection of flying objects and drones are also being drawn.
Hyderabad: The controversy that stalled the recruitment of Group I posts in 2011 over six allegedly wrong answers in the key by the AP Public Service Commission for the preliminary examination has surfaced yet again before the Hyderabad High Court.

Though the PSCs of TS and AP have issued notifications to hold the Group I Main exam in September as per the old syllabus, and with relaxed age norms  for candidates who had appeared for the test in 2011 as per a Supreme Court order  some candidates who had passed the examination and even attended the interviews took up the matter with the High Court.

Their contention is that the earlier petitions are pending before the High Court for final disposal and that the Apex Court order is based on an interim order of the High Court; and that, without deciding on the issue, a fresh exam is unacceptable.

Its 3 vs the rest

The dispute arose a couple of days before the date of commencement of the Group I Main exam. Three aspirants moved the AP administrative tribunal contending that the final answer key given by the APPSC for six questions for the preliminary exam was not correct and that conducting the main examination without rectifying the mistakes was illegal.

The tribunal too felt that answers for six questions were wrong. It then directed the APPSC to constitute an expert committee. It said that, after finalisation of the key by the expert committee, and if necessary, the selection process could be revised in accordance with the answer key arrived at by the expert committee.

As the tribunal refused to order a fresh examination as was sought by the petitioners, they moved the High Court. The High Court, while admitting the petitions, passed an interim order directing the secretary, UPSC, to constitute a committee to suggest the correct answers and submit a report within four weeks.

Aggrieved by the interim order, the APPSC moved the SC and it held that: We are of the view that these questions cannot be retained. That being so, the marks secured have to be recounted from the answer books written by all the candidates on the basis of 144 questions after deleting these six questions and their answers.

The SC then said those who pass the test after revaluation will be eligible for the Main examination and the APPSC will hold the main examination de novo. Later, the Supreme Court modified its earlier order when the APPSC sought a clarification with regard to participation of the candidates and their age relaxation.

The Supreme Court said: We modify our order dated October 7, 2013 to this extent that it will be permissible for APPSC to restrict the participation in the May examination to be held now to approximately 10,000 candidates who have passed the fresh exam after excluding the above-referred 7,711 candidates. There will be age relaxation in favour of candidates who have crossed the age bar because of litigation.

And when the petitioners before the High Court moved a case against the commission for delay and also in view of constituting a separate Public Service Commission for the state of Telangana, the SC passed an order on June 2 telling Telangana Public Service Commission to conduct the exam which should be based on syllabus as notified earlier while permitting both the states to conduct a fresh test within three months.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday made it clear that the Telangana state government was entitled to go ahead with the purchase and registration of lands under GO 123 for the proposed National Investment and Manufacturing Zone at Medak.

The court, however, asked the state government to ensure that it did not dispossess either land owners or the affected persons till it filed a compliance report of having fulfilled all the conditions as per the assurance given by the advocate general of Telangana on August 9 before the High Court.

A division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U. Durga Prasad Rao was dealing with an appeal by the state government challenging a stay on GO Ms No 123.

The Bench permitted the government to go ahead with purchasing land and registrations after perusing GO Ms No 191 issued on Monday amending the GO Ms No 190 issued on Sept 10, 2016.

The GO No 190 was issued for providing compensation to agriculture labourers, artisans and more particularly, landless people from SCs, STs and BCs working as labourers.

State Industrial Policy ensures 80 per cent jobs to locals, HC told

The Bench on August 11 had pointed out that there was no clarity in GO 190 regarding the basis for fixing Rs 2,500 per month as annuity and also there was no proper definition of a joint family and no clarity on providing employment to the affected families.

TS Advocate general K. Ramakrishna Reddy told the court that the government had issued GO 191 amending GO 190 and according to the amendments, the annuity would be fixed with appropriate indexation to the consumer price index and joint family had been replaced with family with all members living together.

Mr Ramakrishna Reddy said that a provision had been added for employment as per the guidelines of the State Industrial Policy 2014. He said as per the Policy, industries have to provide 80 per cent jobs to the people of TS.

The Bench said: We are concerning about employment to the affected people of the area. If you extend 80 per cent to people statewide there is a possibility of local people being deprived of the benefit.

The A-G said as and when the industries come up, employment will be created for the local youth of the area, which may take one year to six years. The Bench posted the case after four weeks.
With BBMP and the revenue department resuming demolition of structures built on encroached rajakaluves after a four-day break, the inevitable question arises: why are the big fish-builders and luxury house owners- being let off the hook? Even though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given clear instructions that no one should be spared, the affluent class is yet to be targeted for some unknown reason. Experts feel that if the government makes data about its land meant for facilities like drains, available to the public and ensures that owners get insurance for the stamp duty they pay during property registration, the encroachment mess can be avoided.

The ongoing drive by the BBMP to demolish encroachments on Storm Water Drains (SWD) may be necessary to prevent the flooding the city has become accustomed to every monsoon , but it has also seen a large number of people lose their homes either entirely or partially. With many paying the price for the greed of a realtor or builder, is a title insurance scheme to protect homes against the risk of illegalities the answer? Urban expert Ashwin Mahesh believes it is .

There was tension as the marking for demolition around the Lt. Colonel late E.K. Niranjans house was widened from one ft to five feet. But Yelahanka joint commissioner, Sarfaraz Khan, who arrived at the spot, cleared the confusion and clarified that only one foot would be cleared. The encroaching pillar was finally removed by the late officers family and a new pillar built to support his room.

People should get insurance for the stamp duty they pay during registration. As BBMP officers are accused of allowing encroachments by builders and home buyers on public land, we need to find a way out of this. If property owners buy title insurance against the risk of illegalities (the stamp duty fee is more than enough to cover the cost), they could at least recover some of their investment. The absence of a guaranteed title is at the heart of a lot of avoidable financial ruin, he contended.

Pointing out that the government has failed to put data about its land in public domain and ensure it is not encroached upon, he argues it doesn't really care about them as these failures cost it nothing at present.

On the other hand, if it is made to pay for its complicity, the government will be more careful about the constructions that it permits. And it would do a better job of policing the builders as well as its own officials, who collude with them. Follow the money to fix the problem, he suggested.

After a four- day lull over the extended weekend, the BBMP resumed its demolition drive in Doddabommasandra, Sarjapur and Kasavanahalli on Tuesday. Not many new buildings were demolished in Doddabommasandra, and only those partially razed were brought down. But more buildings were marked for demolition in Avani Sringerinagar and Kyalasanahalli, KR Puram.

A major demolition drive is expected on Wednesday at Kyalasanahalli in KR Puram, at Doddabommasandra, Srinivasapura and Jakkur in Yelahanka zone and at Alage Vaderahalli in Rajarajeshwarinagar. People on Siddaiah Road in South Bengaluru have been given a couple of days, at their request, to clear the encroachments themselves.

Mayor on the prowl

Mayor Manjunath Reddy monitored the demolition of a temporary compound wall built with fibre sheet around a Puravankara housing project near Haralur lake in Begur , Bommanahalli zone. He also directed the lodging of a criminal case against the builders for encroaching on the drain and violating the buffer zone. But a spokesperson for Puravankara, denied it had encroached on any land.

The mayor also ordered removal of an alleged encroachment on a storm water drain by Sunny Brooks near Wipro in Sarjapur, which led to flooding of the surrounding areas in rain and accused officials of conniving with the builders to allow the illegal construction and violate the buffer zone.

If property owners buy title insurance against the risk of illegalities (the stamp duty fee is more than enough to cover the cost), they could at least recover some of their investment.

When a farmer complained that he was waging a legal battle since 2011 to save his 7.5 guntas of land from being taken over for construction, Mr Reddy ordered officials not to connive with the developers.

Affluent still untouched

Although Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered eviction of all those guilty of encroaching on storm water drains and lake beds in the city, however prominent or influential they may be, the BBMP has still not targeted many of the big land sharks involved while ordinary people continue to face the heat.

For instance, builders of apartment complexes like Astha Valmark on Bannerghatta Road, and BREN and Sriram Properties in Bellandur, seem to have got off the hook, although the village maps and land records allegedly show they are encroaching on storm water drains and buffer zones.

Residents, fighting against the alleged violations by these builders, claim that even high court orders and Lokayukta notices have not been able to get the local BBMP officials to take action.

A local resident living near the Astha Valmark on Bannerghatta Road, alleged that Amalgamated Property Developer (APD) had constructed Aastha Valmark on survey numbers 86/3 and 178/1, although the approval was taken for survey numbers 86/2 and 178/1.

The builder, Nakoda Constructions submitted a fraudulent survey sketch of land in survey number 86 and got the building approval plan for survey number 86/2 and 178/1. The village map shows that the upcoming building is being constructed by altering the drain network. Although the BBMP Joint Director (Town Planning) has issued a notice to the Bommanahalli zonal officials to take action, nothing has been done so far, he claimed.

Others alleged that in Bellandur, land records showed that BREN and Sriram properties were coming up in the valley zone of the Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes, encroaching upon the wetlands, in clear violation of the recent National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.

When asked when the BBMP intended to act against these constructions, BBMP commissioner, Manjunath Prasad said it was only a week since it had begun the demolitions and it needed more time to clear encroachments across the city.

It is true that BBMP officials did not act against some encroachments although they were aware of them. However, this is a thing of past and no official will be allowed to go scot free now if he doesnt take action. We need more time to clear encroachments over the city. We will take action irrespective of the builder. The Puravankara demolition was an example, he asserted.
ABVP activists being arrested by police during a protest near Rajbhavan in Bengaluru on demanding action against those who shouted anti-India slogans on Tuesday (Photo: DC)

Bengaluru: Just three days after Bengaluru became the new JNU with a controversy surrounding anti-India sloganeering, the Tumakuru police booked a 22-year-old engineering student for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans during a birthday party on the intervening night of August 14 and 15 at the Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology hostel.

The third year student of Mechanical Engineering, Praveen Kumar Singh, who hails from Bihar, has been detained for questioning. It is said that three students  Praveen, Danish Ahmed and Amit Singh  were celebrating a birthday of one of their friends at the hostel on Sunday night and wanted to step out of the hostel. But the watchman did not allow them.

Heated arguments ensued and Praveen hurled abuses at the watchman and then allegedly started shouting pro-Pakistan slogans. Praveen also threatened the watchman saying that he was a Rajput, and his grandfather worked in the Army and had a gun at home which he would bring and shoot the watchman dead.

Meanwhile in Bengaluru, ABVP activists held a massive protest demanding the immediate arrest of representatives of the Amnesty International India (AII) who organised Broken Families event, the participants who shouted anti-India slogans, and action against the authorities of United Theological College, where the event was held on Saturday.

Around 1,000 agitators moved towards the Police Commissioners office and were stopped at Raj Bhavan, leading to a heated argument between the police and protesters. The police allegedly manhandled the agitators and detained 15 of them, who were released later.

The J.C. Nagar police investigating Saturday's incident questioned several representatives of the NGO on Tuesday. Also, AII issued a clarification, rubbishing the charges leveled by the ABVP, a day after an FIR was registered against its representatives.

Tumakuru student booked for raising pro-Pak slogans

The complaint was lodged by the college hostel warden Muralidhar at the Sadashivanagara police outpost on Tuesday early morning, B.T. Chidananda Swamy, DySP, told this newspaper.

According to police sources, three students Praveen Kumar Singh, Danish Ahmed and Amit Singh was celebrating a birthday party of one of their friends at the hostel on the night of August 14.

They wanted to step out of the hostel, but the hostel watchman did not permit them. Heated arguments ensued between the students and the watchman and in the meantime Praveen Kumar Singh hurled abuses at the watchman and then allegedly started shouting pro-Pakistan slogans. Singh also threatened the watchman stating that he was a Rajput by clan, and his grandfather worked in the Indian Army and had a gun at home, sources stated.

The watchman complained about the incident to the hostel warden, who later registered a police case, after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Bhagat Kranti Sene, a local self-styled patriotic group staged a protest before the college and demanded action against the north Indian students, sources added.

Although we have registered a case under IPC section 153-B, there are no material evidences such as CCTV footage, audio or video recording of the incident, said a senior police officer adding the police was informed only after 24 hours of the incident and the complaint was lodged on Tuesday early morning, the senior police officer added.

ABVP protesters clash with police

A protest by members of the Akhil Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), demanding the immediate arrest of those who shouted anti-national slogans and the organisers of Broken Families event on Saturday, turned ugly when the activists tried to enter the Police Commissioners office and were allegedly stopped and manhandled by policemen.

Demanding the arrest of Amnesty International Indias representatives, who organised Saturdays event, and banning of the NGO, over 1,000 activists took out a rally from Basaveshwara Circle around 11 am on Tuesday.

When the rally reached near Raj Bhavan, the police stopped the protesters, which led to a heated argument between the agitators and the policemen. Though the police requested them to stop the rally, the agitators refused and tried to march towards the police commissioners officer.

The policemen, including DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil, allegedly manhandled some of the activists and also resorted to a mild lathi-charge. The police detained 15 activists, while the other agitators protested near the Raj Bhavan demanding their immediate release.

Later, some of the activists were allowed to go to the police commissioners office, where Commissioner N.S. Megharikh came out of his chambers and received a petition.
Mumbai: Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim  according to sources  is likely to make an appearance via video conferencing at his nephews wedding, which will be solemnised at Rasool mosque near J.J. Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Sources have said that after the nuptials take place at the mosque, there will be a lavish reception in the evening at the Tulip Star hotel in Juhu  and the Mumbai Police will closely monitor both venues.

The groom, Alishah Parkar, is the youngest son of Dawoods sister Hasina Parkar. Alishah, who runs a construction company, will be tying the knot with Ayesha Nagani, from the Memon community.

Unit one and the anti-extortion cell of the Crime Branch will be keeping a watch on the proceedings to prevent rival gangs from disrupting the ceremony.

More than 600 people will be attending the wedding, and officers will be posted at both venues, said a crime branch source. Dawoods sisters Zaitoon and Farzana and his brother Iqbal Kaskar are expected to attend the wedding.

When asked whether the gangster, who has been living in Pakistan, would also be in attendance, a source said, Dawood will address the guests via Skype during the ceremony in the mosque, and not during the reception.

Furthermore, crime branch sources said that all police personnel have been put on alert and their informers are keeping them in the loop until both the events are over.
Thiruvananthapuram: A man allegedly attempted suicide in the toilet of the Mumbai-bound Nethravathi Express at Kayamkulam on Tuesday, triggering panic among travellers.

The incident came to light when the train, which originated from here, was held up at Kayamkulam station for some time this afternoon.

We suspect that Navas (24), a resident of Vellore in Tamil Nadu, attempted suicide. He received burn injuries and was rushed to Alappuzha Medical College Hospital. He is undergoing treatment in police custody, Kayamkulam SHO D Rajeeshkumar said.

Police suspect the man is mentally unstable. The man, travelling in a general compartment, suddenly rushed to the toilet and set himself on fire. When smoke and smell started emanating from the toilet, other passengers opened the door and dragged him out, eyewitnesses said.

The general compartment, which was next to the engine, and an air conditioned bogey were detached from it after the incident.

Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan, travelling in the train, said it had reached Kayamkulam station when the incident occurred. All passengers in the adjacent compartments were asked to come out, he said. The train resumed the journey around 2.00 pm.
Jogendra Behera faced criticism for making his personal security officer tie his shoelace. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Bhubaneswar: Odisha cabinet minister Jogendra Behera faced criticism from different quarters after his personal security officer (PSO) was seen tying his shoelaces during Independence Day celebration in Keonjhar on Monday.

Behera was the chief guest in the Independence Day celebration at the district headquarter town of Keonjhar and hoisted the tricolour. After unfurling the national flag his PSO was seen tying his shoelaces.

After local news channels aired the video, the state Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises minister said, "I am a VIP. I have hoisted the flag, he (PSO) has not done it."

#WATCH: Odisha Minister Yogendra Behera makes PSO tie his sandal straps in public in Kendujhar, says 'I am a VIP'https://t.co/yB0ZUslWxt  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

The incident and subsequent statement of the minister faced criticism from many quarters including the civil society members.

"A government employee tying shoelaces of the minister shows existence of British rulers' mindset in Odisha," said Prahallad Singh, an advocate.

There was no comment by the government on the incident.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel paying tribute to Commandant Pramod Kumar, who was killed in a gunbattle with militants in J&K's Nowhatta area. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar/Jamtara: CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar had led the Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar on Monday and unfurled the national flag, but unfortunately an hour later he died fighting militants in J&Ks Nowhatta area. Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter.

It is a very important day, these were the last words of Pramod Kumar after he unfurled the tricolour at the forces' base in Srinagar.

Kumar hoisted the flag between 8:30-8:40 am and made a speech saying with India clocking 70 years of its freedom, the responsibility on security forces has "increased" and they have to effectively tackle militants and incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Just before he ended his speech, Kumar, in a video of the event, is seen looking at his watch as he said "it is an important day", unaware of the fate that awaited him.

The officer who joined the paramilitary in 1998 also read out the names of those personnel of the force who were awarded gallantry medals on the eve of the Independence Day and congratulated them.

WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Soon after, officials said, the wireless set in the CRPF control room crackled informing it about militants hurling grenades and firing on security forces at four places in downtown Srinagar like Nowhatta Chowk, Gojwara Chowk, Bata Gali and Khaniyar Chowk, as they sought reinforcements.

Kumar, along with a small team of his personal security team, dashed out in a bullet proof vehicle and soon after landed at the incident spot.

44-year-old Kumar, a Commanding Officer of the 49 battalion, died after sustaining a bullet injury on his head.

A senior CRPF officer who had served with Kumar in the counter-insurgency grid in the north-east earlier said the officer was very "cool but daring." "We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time yesterday," he said.

While Kumar and his men eliminated the two militants, nine other personnel including a state police official were injured in the attack.

Kumar was posted to Srinagar in April 2014 and was recently promoted as a Commandant.

The last rites of Pramod Kumar was organised in his hometown in Jharkhand's Jamtara.

Kumar, who is survived by his wife Neha and 7-year-old daughter Aarna, was also given a gun salute.

Kumar had spoken to his wife Neha on Sunday night, which turned out to be his last call to her. "Whenever he spoke about the country, he told me he wants to make a difference. Our six-year-old daughter Aarna is learning dance. He told me he will watch her dance videos. Now, how will he watch them? I don't know what I will do without him," Neha was quoted as saying.

Kumar had been thrice decorated with the CRPF Director General's commendation in 2015, 2014 and 2011. He has earlier served in the Special Protection Group for 3 years.

On Monday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had expressed concern over Kumars death saying, "CRPF commanding officer Pramod Kumar fought valiantly when attacked by terrorists in Srinagar today. I am deeply pained at his death," he said in a statement.

Saluting the CRPF officer for his valour and supreme sacrifice, Singh said Kumar served the nation till his last breath. "I offer my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," he said.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the government to explain what problem it has in changing the names of two transgenders from male to female in the official records.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva raised the query while hearing the pleas of two city-based transgenders seeking change of their names and gender from male to female in the government records.

"Have you not published any name change in your Gazette (public journal)? Change of gender is something different. What is the problem in a name change," the court asked the counsel for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Controller of Publications, which publishes the Gazette.

Government lawyers said they will seek instructions regarding the queries raised by the court.

Central government standing counsel Monika Arora said a bill has been introduced in the Parliament on August 2, which takes care of all the prayers raised by the two in their plea.

The court has fixed the matter for hearing on October 4. The petitioners have alleged discrimination by the authorities and sought "disciplinary enquiry" against them.

In support of their claims, they referred to a Supreme Court order holding that a person's self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and a person cannot be forced to undergo medical procedures, including SRS or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity.

The two have claimed that they were MtF (male to female) trans-sexuals who, due to duality between their appearance, voice, mannerism, dressing style and their male IDs, faced discrimination in the society.

The petitioners have contended that the department officials had refused to consider their applications for change of name without a certificate stating that they had undergone Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

They have sought quashing of any guideline of the publications department which mandates an SRS before changing the gender, as well as directions to the Centre "to constitute a board or committee for certifying the petitioner as a MtF transgender".

They have also contended that "the action of respondents in refusing to allow the name change infringes the petitioner's fundamental right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution".
Kochi: The Kerala high court has reiterated that panchayats are duty bound to take measures to prevent the danger of stray dogs biting citizens from within its territory.

The court asked Porathissery Grama Panchayat of Thrissur district to pay an amount of Rs 30,000 to one Antony of Mapranam who suffered a dog bite. The court asked the panchayat to pay Rs 15,000 towards treatment expenses and Rs 15,000 towards compensation for mental agony, pain and suffering.

Justice A. Hariprasad upheld the order of Principal munsif's court, Irinjalakkuda. The principal munsif court refused to accept the contentions and asked the panchayat to compensate the victim. The panchayat challenged the same before Kerala high court.

Antony, who was a porter in the Food Corporation of India, Angamaly had suffered a dog bite on June 18, 2003. He was admitted to the Mulankunnathukavu Medical College, Thrissur.

Antony contended that it was the mandatory duty of the grama panchayat to render help to the inhabitants of the panchayat as per the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act.

He further argued that the panchayat did not do anything to fulfill the mandatory duties cast on it. Panchayat took a stand and decided to pay Rs 500 as assistance for the medical aid.

The panchayat also requested the government for financial assistance but the government failed to give any assistance to the panchayat. Considering the contentions the court observed, I find no reason to interfere with the finding of the lower court.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not the first to raise concern over the situation in Balochistan, Congress said on Tuesday, insisting that the party-led UPA government had consistently spoken about the "spiralling violence" and "heavy Pakistani military action".

"Congress and UPA government have condemned the human rights violations in Balochistan as also in PoK by Pakistani forces and establishment on multiple occasions in the past," party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, noting that the first time the UPA did so was on December 27, 2005.

Besides, he said, none less than the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in reply to a parliamentary question on March, 2, 2006, categorically condemned the spiralling violence in Balochistan and heavy military action, including use of helicopter gunships and fighter jets by the government of Pakistan to suppress the people of Balochistan.

Earlier, in the wake of reported killing of 50 Baloch people in the Pakistani army action, a spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry had expressed hope that the government of Pakistan would exercise restraint and take recourse to peaceful discussions to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan, Surjewala said.

His statement came a day after the Congress appeared to be speaking in different voices on the issue and the AICC even distancing itself from the remarks of senior leader Salman Khurshid on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reference to Balochistan in his Independence Day address. Congress had termed Khurshid's remarks as "his personal view".

In his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort yesterday, Modi had talked about the situation in PoK, Gilgit and Balochistan and said people from there have thanked him for raising their issues.

Noting that Modi must realise the "folly" of BJP and its leadership in opposing Congress and UPA earlier, Surjewala said the Prime Minister instead of indulging in self-praise and self-promotion as he did in the Independence Day address, needs to have a sense of history and must thank his predecessor Singh.

"Rhetoric from Red Fort and headline management by PM Modi is fine but he needs to tell the nation about the BJP government's actual 'Pak Policy' that leaves even the most vocal supporters of Modi completely confused and bewildered," he said.

Surjewala said that in August, 2006, the UPA had spoken about the unfortunate killing of the veteran Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, describing it as a "tragic loss" to the people of Balochistan and Pakistan. It had underlined the need for a peaceful dialogue to address the grievances and aspirations of people of Balochistan, noting that "military force can never solve political problems", he said.

Besides, he said, a reference to Balochistan also appeared in the joint statement dated July 16, 2009 at Sharm-el-Sheikh when Pakistan "conceded for the first time" its role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack as also recognised the overwhelming evidence handed over by India.

"It is a different matter that BJP, which was then in opposition, had bitterly attacked Manmohan Singh, the then PM, and UPA for compromising India's position," he said, adding even at that time, Balochistan leaders had thanked Singh and the UPA government for raising the issue.

Raising a number of questions about the Prime Minister's remarks, Surjewala wondered how does he propose to take the issue of human rights violations in PoK and Balochistan further. What is his government's policy as also 'way forward' on the issue?

"Has the Prime Minister raised the issue of these human rights violations even once in bilateral talks with Pakistan over last 24 months?" he asked.

He asked whether the government would take it up now either in bilateral dialogue or at another international forum.

Claiming that Modi's "flip-flops" on Pakistan have become legendary, he said suddenly the Prime Minister and his government have started speaking in a different language without following up on the issue of punishing the perpetrators of terror attacks in Pathankot, Udhampur and Pampore.

Surjewala said the Prime Minister should immediately take stock of the alarming situation in Kashmir and provide the much required healing touch. "The Prime Minister, who even indulges in the symbolism of observing Diwali in Kashmir, has not found time to visit J&K even once, although 65 people have died and nearly 3,000 injured since the latest episode of unprecedented violence in Kashmir Valley," he said.
Lucknow: Barely two months after it called off the merger, Samajwadi Party on Tuesday appeared all set to embrace gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED) ahead of 2017 UP Assembly polls amid widening fault lines in the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh. "Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) has agreed to QED's merger with SP. A formal announcement regarding this can be expected soon," said a senior party leader privy to the development.

Talk of QED's merger with SP in the near future gained momentum since yesterday after the SP supremo backed his brother and cabinet minister Shivpal Yadav at a flag hoisting function on the occasion of Independence Day.

A bitter feud within the Yadav family on the issue of the controversial merger came to light for the first time when Shivpal announced the merger in June 21. However, a meeting of SP parliamentary board abruptly called off the merger on June 25 with Mulayam giving in to pressure from his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who wanted the SP to keep its distance from Mukhtar, who is in jail facing serious criminal cases.

Shivpal had announced the merger when Akhilesh, who is the state party chief, was away from the state capital reflecting that top functionaries in the party were not on the same page.

QED, which has its area of influence in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, has two MLAs -- mafia don Mukhtar and his brother Sigbatullaha Ansari. Their brother Afzal is the party president.

Shivpal has in the recent times threatened to resign and has made veiled criticism of the Uttar Pradesh government. Mulayam, while coming out in support of Shivpal, yesterday said if he left the Samajwadi Party, it will get divided into factions.

According to party insiders, Mulayam has given permission to Shivpal to facilitate the merger. Mulayam said, "A conspiracy was being hatched against Shivpal ... He is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he (Shivpal) quits, then the situation in the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him."

Shivpal later said in a statement that SP would not allow people to be harassed even if it required him to resign. They said Shivpal was miffed after the recent cancellation of merger with QED, which claimed to have a hold over Muslim vote bank in at least 18 seats of eastern UP where JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were trying to test the political waters.

QED was founded in 2010 by Mukhtar Ansari, along with his brothers Afzal Ansari, who is now its president, and Sigbatullaha Ansari.

After the merger, SP had witnessed a high-voltage drama with senior party leader and Secondary Education Minister Balram Yadav being sacked by Akhilesh for helping in the merger.

But, the SP parliamentary board -- the party's highest policy making body -- while calling off the merger also decided to reinduct Balram. "Mukhtar Ansari will not be welcome in the party. We don't want such people in the party," the chief minister had said against QED hours after the controversial amalgamation was announced.

Akhilesh had expressed strong displeasure over the merger ahead of next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls saying, "If party workers perform their responsibilities, then there will be no need of another party."

Ansari was lodged in Agra jail in connection with killing of BJP legislator Krishnanand Rai in 2005.

The chief minister had taken a similar tough stand on the inclusion of mafia-turned-politician DP Yadav before the 2012 Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, Shivpal said in Mainpuri, the native place of the Yadav family, that he has apprised Mulayam of everything. "I have apprised Netaji of everything," he told reporters when asked whether he was angry with nephew Akhilesh or any minister.

To another query, he said land grabbing was going on from Agra to Mainpuri and a model revenue code has been implemented to stop it.

Shivpal said it was the duty of SP workers to check wrongdoings, prevent incidents of injustice and harassment and apprise the government of such misdeeds.

He said action should be taken against those involved in such incidents, but it should be kept in mind in that innocent people were not harassed. "There should be no corruption, whether it's at police station or tehsil," he said.

The minister said schemes launched by the government should reach directly to the people.

Recently, even Mulayam had given a tongue lashing to SP lawmakers asking them to refrain from land grabbing and making easy money and instead concentrate on development work if they wanted to retain power in the state.

The ruling party has been witnessing differences every now and then and the rift came to the fore at the birthday party of Mulayam's brother Ram Gopal Yadav, with another brother Shivpal displaying disinterest apparently because of his unhappiness over the fiasco involving merger of QED with SP.

Shivpal arrived late at the venue of the party, so much that the birthday cake had already been cut in the presence of Mulayam, Akhilesh and other key leaders.

Shivpal had arrived with Amar Singh and instead of going to the dais, he sat among the invitees at the birthday party. Later, on prodding by leaders, he went to the dais but chose to occupy a chair in the back row and even avoided going up to Ramgopal to wish him on his birthday.

So much so, Shivpal was conspicuous by his absence at the swearing-in ceremony of ministers at Raj Bhawan when Balram was reinducted.
New Delhi: BJP on Tuesday targeted Congress alleging that some of its leaders are "seen offering support to Pakistan" after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech and said it's a sad commentary that it is divided on issues of national interests.

It said while the main opposition party offered support to Modi on his reference to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan in an all-party meeting on August 12, its leaders were outside seen offering support to Pakistan. "As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking in one voice. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala," party leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said.

The saffron party was aggressive in its attack on Congress at its briefing in which its National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh targeted it. "It's a sad commentary as to how Congress is divided on issues of national interest. This division of the party and its leaders had reflected in the joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh," he said, referring to the Indo-Pak statement which spoke about threats in Balochistan and invited strong criticism from BJP, then in opposition.

"Its leaders are seen to be supporting Pakistan...It is obvious that the country is supporting Modi on his comments on Balochistan and PoK," Singh said.

Khurshid had yesterday accused Modi of "ruining" India's case on PoK by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. But later, Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of "atrocities in Balochistan and PoK" in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.

"They (Pakistan) are trying to give us lectures about Kashmir, that's why we have told them about what is happening in Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit. Let them focus on human rights violations, massacre and atrocities there," Naidu said on the sidelines of an event.

Singh also attacked former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his dig at the government on its handling of the situation in the Valley and said he and his father (Farooq Abdullah) state one thing in Parliament and another outside.

He said Pakistan had lost a golden opportunity given by Modi by rejecting his hand of peace, inviting questions from the media as to whether the Prime Minister's reference to PoK and Balochistan was driven by the failure of his peace exercise.

"The government has evaluated and come up with a policy which is in the best interest of the country," Singh replied.

To a poser about Chief Justice of India T S Thakur expressing his disappointment yesterday on Modi making no mention about appointment of judges in his Independence Day address, the BJP leader said patience was needed on the matter as the "bouquet is being prepared to be offered" to the judiciary.

He also appeared to be supporting the Karnataka Police decision to register an FIR under IPC sections, including sedition, after anti-India slogans were raised at an Amnesty International India event. "The law has to take its course," he said.
Ever since an international tribunal in The Hague delivered an adverse verdict on Chinas preposterous territorial claims in the South China Sea, Beijing has responded by firing on all cylinders. While a belligerent and militaristic counter-reaction by China was expected, a different tactic has also come to the fore. Beijing is applying greater coercive economic leverage to beat back the chorus of nations gathering against it. Australia  economically one of the most dependent countries on the Chinese market and Chinese investors  has been at the receiving end of dire warnings from Beijing not to side with the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and the US. The Chinese Communist Partys official mouthpiece, Global Times, has derided Australia as a paper tiger with an inglorious history and a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing condescendingly chided Canberra to talk carefully and behave cautiously.

According to the Australian news media, China has delivered a harsher message in private to the government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that if Canberra joins the US so-called freedom of navigation military exercises within 12 nautical miles of reefs and atolls occupied by China, then Beijing would impose practical economic costs. With the Australian economy facing sluggish GDP growth and already dulled by Chinas economic slowdown, any economic punishment meted out to it by Beijing can be disastrous for Mr Turnbull. Call it blackmail or smart diplomacy, China realises how indispensable it is to the prosperity of all its neighbours and is extracting strategic concessions from them on its cherished political objectives.

Even India, which has been diplomatically proactive under Prime Minister Narendra Modi by bolstering cooperation with the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan, and issuing joint statements with the US to restrain Chinas aggrandisement in the South China Sea, has not been spared. Global Times has ticked off India for poking its nose in the South China Sea and admonished New Delhi not to risk unnecessary side effects to Sino-Indian ties and potentially set obstacles for Indian exporters hoping to increase their presence in China, now the worlds second largest importer.

Pointing out that Indian exports to China have fallen by 16.7 per cent this year owing to simmering tensions and a series of political incidents, Global Times is preaching that Mr Modis ambitious Make in India manufacturing plan will only succeed if he avoids unnecessary entanglement with China over the South China Sea debate. On his recent visit to India, the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi commented obliquely that it is up to India what position it has to take on the South China Sea row, without explicitly mentioning the repercussions of not toeing Chinas line.

Chinas brandishing of the economic stick is not confined to its peevishness about the South China Sea. In July this year, the jingoistic Global Times fulminated at Indias deployment of battle tanks near the disputed Himalayan border with China and threatened to withdraw its foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Connecting geostrategic and economic costs and benefits, it cautioned that military moves by New Delhi may hit a nerve within the Chinese business community, causing investors to weigh the threat of political instability when they make investment decisions.

Notwithstanding Indias improved international image under Mr Modi as a top destination for inward FDI, Chinas FDI in India has been purposely kept below par. Pakistan, which is a lot riskier due to terrorism and insecurity, has been promised more than double the FDI that China has committed to relatively stable and fast-growing India to drive home the point that one must conform to Chinas geopolitical ambitions of dominating Asia in order to receive Chinese largesse. As a superpower, China is getting bolder and more global in pushing financial buttons to pressurise nations. When the new British administration of Prime Minister Theresa May put a hold on approving the partly Beijing-funded $24 billion Hinkley Point nuclear power project for national security reasons, Beijing expressed dark forebodings about the future of investing in Britain.

With the US too, China has sought to offset military containment through economic factors. The Pentagon might wish to be unshackled to encircle China through military means, but the state department and the White House under Barack Obama often balk from provocation and confrontation out of concern for the overall bilateral relationship, which includes the fate of American investments in China and the value of the American dollar that rests on trillions of Chinese currency reserves held in the US Treasury bonds.

In an earlier era, China practised economic threats and inducements to enforce international acceptance of its One China policy vis-a-vis Taiwan, isolate the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and divide and rule over member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Today, we are witnessing a more confident and brash China that aims to maximise political gains from its economic clout on a much broader global scale. The vast trading and investment-related assets and relationships China has accumulated over two decades are of such proportion that they are bargaining tools for linkage and advantage in non-economic issues. These weapons will not disappear soon, despite the ongoing slowdown and transition in the Chinese economy.

The American scholar William Norris argues that a countrys success in economic statecraft is determined by how effectively it controls its corporates and financial institutions to toe its line overseas. Rarely in history has there been a superior exponent of state-guided capitalism like China, where the Communist Party-run government ensures such command over its multinational companies and sovereign wealth funds that they are equivalent to armies positioned abroad or foreign military bases. How can countries facing escalating Chinese economic blackmail manage the problem? The key lies in diversifying ones trade and investment relations and avoiding placing all ones eggs in the Chinese basket.

When China knows a country has other pillars of economic support, it will be left with fewer cards to scare and intimidate. Nations must also strive for equitable flow of trade and investment with China so that there is healthy interdependence rather than lopsided dependence. Economists often say having a trade deficit with another country is not necessarily a bad situation. But only a long-term strategy of balanced trade and FDI with China can ward off the dragons politicised exactions.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching a massive counter-offensive against Pakistans intensified propaganda war on Kashmir, by throwing into stark relief the human rights violations in the Shiamajority Gilgit and Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Great Game has taken a spanking new hue. By highlighting how Pakistan is an occupier of Indian territories, Mr Modi has given the whole Kashmir calculus a new spin. India is no longer the desperate prey, cornered and submissive in this equation. As the uncoiling of history takes place, it is pertinent to understand that the state of Jammu and Kashmir originally had five parts to it: Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Aksai Chin and Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan). Over time, India has lost Aksai Chin to China and, of course, the part captured by the tribal raiders in October 1947, which Pakistan chooses to refer to as Azad Kashmir, which incidentally includes the Gilgit-Baltistan area garnered courtesy a quietly executed British coup.

In The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of Indias Partition, Narendra Singh Sarila highlights how in 1935, the administrative and defence responsibilities of this northern frontier had been transferred by the Maharaja of Kashmir to the British government of India under a 60-year lease. As the result of the civil war in China became uncertain, the Viceroy prevailed upon Maharaja Hari Singh to do so in the interests of the security of the empire. Gilgit was administered by the political department from Delhi in the same way as Malakand or Khyber in the NWFP, with political officers reporting to the Viceroy through Peshawar. A carefully chosen force capable of rapid movement in mountainous territory controlled by British officers, the Gilgit Scouts, provided the muscle to the administration.

On August 1, 1947 the Gilgit lease was receded by Delhi to the maharaja of J&K and Lt. Col. Roger Bacon, the British political agent, handed over the area to Brig. Ghansara Singh, the states new governor. According to V.P. Menon, secretary of state and Sardar Patels pointsman in the integration of states, Kashmir did not have the resources, including financial, to hold Gilgit which was cut off from Srinagar during winters. In view of the lapse of paramountcy, the retrocession was probably inevitable, but the fact remains that no sooner was Gilgit handed over to the maharaja than it came under the mercy of Pakistan. The British officers of Gilgit Scouts: Major William Alexander Brown and Capt. A.S. Mathieson, still served Hari Singh as contract officers, though they continued to receive instructions from the political agent for Khyber based in Peshawar which was now Pakistan.

Brown and Mathieson had to swear an oath of allegiance to the maharaja on the holy book. According to Alistair Lamb: In fact, they knew as the story has it that the book which they held in their hand, while swearing was actually the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, suitably wrapped in an opaque cloth. As the new governor occupied his official residence in the grandeur of impotence, it was Brown and Mathieson who held the keys to power in Gilgit. Lt. Col. Bacon, on transfer from Gilgit, was given the Khyber post. This ensured perfect coordination between the Gilgit Scouts and Peshawar. According to the bulletin of Military Historical Society of Great Britain, the broad post-Partition plan had been discussed by Brown and Bacon in June 1947. And after Mathieson arrived in Gilgit, as second in command, the two British officers refined contingency measures, should the maharaja take his state over to India.

In such a situation, writes Sarila, whatever the fate of the rest of J&K, delivering Gilgit to Pakistan was fairly straightforward. This was accomplished on the night of October 31, 1947. As soon as Maharaja Hari Singh acceded to India, Brown got the Gilgit Scouts to surround the residency and, after a short gun battle, he imprisoned governor Ghansara Singh. Brown then informed Peshawar about the accession of Gilgit to Pakistan. On November 2, the major raised the Pakistani flag at his headquarters and informed the force that they now served the government in Karachi. Brown and Mathieson had surreptitiously opted for service in Pakistan when the maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession in favour of India. Since Gilgit by this act had become a part of India, properly, they should have made an immediate request for release from their appointments. But they didnt.

The actions of Brown and Mathieson were suspect politically and, while Brown describes it as a coup detat, Lamb writes that Brown was certainly not acting as a party to a British conspiracy. However, there existed a small number of British soldiers and officials who, in a private capacity as friends of Pakistan, encouraged Brown and Mathieson to be in Gilgit on the eve of the transfer of power. Moreover, subsequent events came as no surprise to Col. Bacon, who certainly acted as a liaison between Major Brown and the government of Pakistan. In this respect, he may have contributed significantly to the success of Gilgit coup detat. Col. Bacon, however, in no way represented the policy of the British government in London.

The geopolitically sensitive Gilgit had been swallowed whole by two Brits acting in concert with Pakistan. India was aghast. Sir George Cunningham, the new governor of NWFP (whose role has been disputed in the sending of the tribal raiders), on hearing of Browns coup in Gilgit instructed him and his colleague Mathieson to restore order, ignoring the fact that Gilgit was part of J&K, which had acceded to India. Even the King of England didnt frown upon the coup. An entry in the 1948 London Gazette reads: The King has been graciously pleased on the occasion of his birthday to give orders for the following appointments to the Most Exalted Order of the British Empire to Brown, Major (acting) William Alexander, Special List (ex-Indian Army).

It was unparalleled. Maj. Brown had been officially rewarded by the King for the Gilgit coup, once again proving how the British continued to play their sinister games of chicanery and subterfuge in the subcontinent. Soon Major Aslam Khan, once deputy to Major Khurshid Anwar (one of the key Pakistan Army strategists who organised the tribal lashkar raid on Kashmir from the Muzzafarabad road), arrived to take control over Gilgit. Throughout the Kashmir War (October 22, 1947 to January 1, 1949), Britain successfully ensured that Pakistans occupation of this region was not disturbed. After Mountbattens mediatory role and the collapse of the direct talks between Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan, the Indian Cabinet planned a full-scale war. But Mountbatten made a monumental blunder of suggesting to Nehru that the UN would promptly direct Pakistan to withdraw the raiders, which would make war unnecessary. And Nehru believed him, internationalising Kashmir in the process. Thus, Gilgit was lost forever.
In a continent where literacy still remains a significant concern, the Indian government hopes that providing Desi email IDs would encourage more people to get online, in a way that suits citizens, by removing the language barrier. The Indian census of 1961 recognised over a thousand languages spoken in India, of which only 22 languages have been given the status of official languages in the country. Leaving aside literacy, India is still lacking the required Internet exposure. Based on an earlier survey, by data journalism initiative IndiaSpend, only a mere 29 per cent of Indians were able to access Internet services in 2015, which has risen at a snails pace to just 34.8 per cent in 2016.

In July 2016, Rajiv Bansal, joint secretary in the ministry of electronics and IT, said an email ID is a necessity for everyone to access the most basic Internet services available. However, he did highlight the fact that a significant number of people in India do not know English, leave alone reading and writing in English.

Following this, the government has asked some well-known email service providers in India, such as Google, Microsoft and Rediff, to enable users to sign up for an email address in their local languages, starting with the Hindi language initially.

Rediff.com, one of Indias initial online search and email service providers, welcomed the move. The idea is great, I believe, said Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO of Rediff, in a statement to the The Asian Age. He also said the consumption of content with local language is on the rise and is a good sign for the industry. However, the cost of accessing the internet is still high and if the government helps reducing the costs to an affordable low, the implementation could be a success.

In another statement, a spokesperson from Microsoft said, Microsofts mission is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more, and as part of this mission, we are committed to develop solutions that help create economic opportunities and build IT skills by facilitating the use of local languages.

He further mentioned, We continue to enhance capabilities and make it easy for users to use and adopt local languages using our technology and this includes domain names in local languages. The current versions of Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge and MS Outlook 2016, all support the Indian language, including Hindi. For example, domain names such as . and internationalised email addresses such as  @  .  are presently available.

According to Gmail, their popular email service has already started recognising non-Latin characters, such as Chinese and Hindi, since 2014. Gmail users can send emails to, and receive emails from, people who have these characters in their email addresses, posted Google Software Engineer, Pedro Chaparro Monferrer, on the blog.

Though, Devanagri-based email addresses exist in India, majority of Indians either lacks the skill to use the Internet, or the online services are pretty expensive in the first place. However, the country can derive the benefit of such services by expanding affordable Internet access across the continent.

The reason behind low uptake for the Indian language-based web is high internet access prices, hence, unaffordable for frequent users in the country, Ajit Balakrishnan added.

India definitely needs to address the issue with literacy. However, the only way to take this step closer is by making sure the Internet is easily accessible and most of all, by offering affordable Internet services

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The new technology is known as V-to-I or Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and will be made available in select 2017 Q7 and A4 models that were built after June, 2016.

German carmaker, Audi, is set to roll our technology that can communicate with traffic lights.This technology is known as V-to-I or Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and will be made available in select 2017 Q7 and A4 models that were built after June, 2016.

Heres how it will work:

Through the use of WiFi connectivity, a link will be established between the vehicle and the respective infrastructure. The traffic light information will then be delivered to the system installed in the vehicle. The driver will be displayed with the countdown before a red light turns to green and when it is too late to get through an approaching system.

The display would disappear in a few seconds before the light turns green so that the driver could pay attention to the road ahead.

"If you just think about the number of intersections that you pass through, and you think about the accumulated anxiety, accumulated stress that happens because of these, it's information like this," says Pom Malhotra, general manager of connected vehicles for Audi, "that allows your mind to relax and basically, say, 'All right. I have some time here. I can be doing other things instead of readying myself to jump on the accelerator.

This is our foray into V-to-I. This is designed not as a safety feature but a comfort and convenience feature, he added.

They have planned to roll out this technology in approximately 7 US cities by the end of 2016. However, the company hasnt disclosed the city names. What remains to be of major concern is the fact that, in order to make this successful, it is essential that Audi receives cooperation from secure communications infrastructure as well as municipalities and transportation agencies. Whether they will receive it or not, is a matter that will be resolved with time.

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napchat has about 54.5 million downloads on Android and iOS combined.

Popular social media application, Snapchat is reportedly planning to acquire the Vurb search application for $100 million dollars. However, it is unclear how Snapchat will integrate Vurb with its platform. Snapchat is yet to make any comments on the speculations.

Vurb is a search that also enables users to make reservations, find places, book cabs within a single app and arranging them in a card-like format. Vurb could build upon Snapchats existing feature that automatically turns addresses into map links. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android platforms.

According to a recent survey by SurveyMonkey, Snapchat is the second-most downloaded app in the US after Facebook Messenger. Snapchat has about 54.5 million downloads on Android and iOS combined.

Snapchat recently launched Geostickers for its application, but are only available for few cities, including San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, Sao Paula and Riyadh, New York City, Lost Angeles, Washington DC, London, Honolulu.

Snapchat also acquired Bitstrips  the developer of the Bitmoji- for $100 million in March this year. Bitstrips has also released a keyboard app, allowing users to send Bitmoji to other chat apps.

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Any leak related to iPhone 7 is considered to be the kind that further entices our excitement. With hardly weeks to go until the launch, we have ourselves, yet another revelation relating to Apples next iPhone.

Netherlands-based website, Techtastic, recently posted a series of pictures that suggests that Apples next iPhone might be available in the color, Space Black. The darkest color offered by Apple till date, is Space Gray.

Mind you, these are just rumors and nothing is confirmed, yet. We will find out more as and when it is made official by the developers. Nonetheless, this certainly does sound like an exciting introduction.

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The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Chicago: A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spit at and called 'ISIS' by a woman here in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric.

The two Muslim women -- both wearing hijabs  reported being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood in Chicago.

The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.

Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them 'ISIS'.

A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...you Isis! ...you ISIS!"

Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from others who witnessed the incident, which possibly upset her even more.

"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.

In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe.

"That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?"

Damra's mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments. "People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.

Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault.

However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry.

"It's very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi.

"To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said.
Clinton campaign has spent USD 104 million in total television ads in key battleground States, whereas, the Trump Campaign on the other hand, hasn't spent a single cent on a general-election ad. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton is leading her Republican rival Donald Trump by nine points, a latest national poll said on Tuesday.

According to NBC News Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll, Clinton, 68, has support of 50 per cent of registered voters while Trump, 70, is supported by 41 percent.

The numbers were virtually unchanged since last week's poll. In the RealClearPolitics poll of average, Clinton is leading Trump by 6.7 per cent.

According to NBC News in the last two months, Clinton campaign has spent USD 104 million in total television ads in key battleground States.

The Trump Campaign on the other hand, hasn't spent a single cent on a general-election ad, it said. Two pro-Trump outside groups have spent USD 12.4 million over the airwaves, it said.
Funeral prayers for Imam Maulama Akonjee outside Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in New York. (Photo: AFP)

New York: New York police charged a suspect on Monday with the double murder of a New York imam and his friend, in a brutal slaying that sent shock waves through US Muslim communities.

Oscar Morel, a 35-year-old Brooklyn man, was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, NYPD detective Hubert Reyes said.

Fearful Muslim New Yorkers have demanded stepped-up security and justice as hundreds of mourners attended the two men's funeral service in the borough of Queens.

Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to the United States from Bangladesh, and his friend, 64-year-old Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon in the Ozone Park neighbourhood.

Morel was taken into custody on Sunday, the NYPD said.

Following his detention, he was charged with a hit-and-run that took place three miles (about five kilometres) away from the double murder and the assault of a police officer, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told a news conference.

The murder charges were added later Monday after police recovered a gun and clothing from his house that were similar to those believed used by the shooter, US media reported.

Morel was known to have been in the area of the double murder eight minutes before the homicide and took off directly afterward, Boyce said.

Police said Morel was from East New York, a troubled area of Brooklyn, and was believed to have a job in a warehouse.

Authorities had earlier said hate crime was being investigated as a possible motive -- as demanded by Muslim elders -- but did not provide any information on the suspect's motives Monday evening.

The New York Daily News quoted police sources as saying the killer may have been settling a score in a feud between Muslims and Hispanics, suggestions that have been dismissed by members of the Muslim community.

"We want justice, we want justice, we want justice," chanted Muslim elders at a chaotic news conference before Monday's funeral.

Xenophobic statements

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest or conviction.

Community leaders, clearly rattled by rising Islamophobia, slammed "xenophobic statements" made against Muslims in speeches by "politicians and candidates seeking the highest office in the land" -- a clear reference to Donald Trump.

Trump, the New York billionaire and Republican nominee, used a keynote address Monday to demand ideological screening tests for immigrants, saying immigrants and their children had been responsible for a string of extremist attacks in America.

One speaker at the pre-funeral conference demanded security cameras be erected outside mosques and for the street where the two men were shot to be renamed in their honour.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who paid his respects with other elected officials, promised extra police would protect mosques and Muslim communities, saying the entire city stood shoulder-to-shoulder with those in mourning.

"We know there are voices all over this country who are spewing hate, trying to create division, trying to turn one American against another," de Blasio said.

"We're not going to let them continue to encourage acts of hatred."

The working class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.

Akonjee had been carrying more than $1,000, but the attacker did not take the money, police said.
Washington: Vowing to halt the spread of radical Islam, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his strategy to defeat global terrorism and called for a new Cold War-like "ideological screening test" as part of "extreme vetting" of would-be immigrants.

Trump also stated that the era of nation building should come to an end as he unveiled a blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with NATO and Middle East allies.

The 70-year-old real estate tycoon said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.

"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach -- which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East -- must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating 'radical Islam' in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he asserted. Trump also proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said yesterday.

"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition, to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said. Trump stressed that those who did not believe in the Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into the country if he is elected as President.

"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause. To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

He also proposed calling an international conference focused on stopping the spread of radical Islam.

"We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said. A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.
Haiti: Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced. The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to cut down the number of detainees held at the US prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close. The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or al-Qaida.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon. Lee Wolosky, the State Departments special envoy for Guantanamos closure, said the US was grateful to the UAE for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention centres closure. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 per cent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities.
Mullah Emdadullah Mansoor, center, the new leader of the breakaway Taliban faction known as Mahaaz-e-Dadullah, and others attend a gathering, in the southern Zabul province, Afghanistan. (Photo: AP)

Kandahar: A breakaway Taliban faction in Afghanistan has appointed a new leader for the group, the nephew of the faction's longtime leader who was killed in fighting with rivals last year.

The development reflects the complex layers of the insurgency in Afghanistan, where though dominant, the Taliban are not the only militant group waging war. The video, obtained by The Associated Press, says that Mullah Emdadullah Mansoor was named leader of the faction known as Mahaaz-e-Dadullah.

The appointment came at a gathering Monday in southern Zabul province. The meeting was attended by tribal and religious leaders, as well as the group's local commanders.

The video shows Mansoor accepting the leadership position among a crowd of gunmen, mostly young guards. He is the nephew of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah who was killed in Khak-e-Afghan district of Zabul last year, fighting with rival Taliban.

Mansoor promised to "fight foreign forces" and exact revenge for the group's slain leader.

Before Mansoor Dadullah was killed in Zabul, the founder of the group, Mullah Dadullah, was himself killed in an ambush, possibly by one of his bodyguards in Helmand province.

The video also shows several armed men in white-colored clothing with black balaclavas who call themselves suicide bombers and say they are ready to carry out attacks against the rival Taliban as well as foreign forces in the country.

"I announce that I will take ... revenge from Mullah Haibatullah's group," said Mansoor, the newly appointed leader. He adds, speaking of his rivals, that "it is time for them to pay the price."

Mansoor was referring to the current head of the rival Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a religious extremist who replaced Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in May.

The Mahaaz-e-Dadullah group is famous for their fighting skills and tactics in the battle fields as well as carrying out suicide attacks.

In the video, another would-be suicide bomber, Qari Misbah, says he has been "waiting for my turn for a long time ago and now it's the time for me, I can give my body and soul."
The men were accused of violating the Sharia law, prominent in Banda Aceh. (Photo: YouTube Screengrab)

Banda Aceh: In yet another shocking incident, an elderly man was among the four people who had been publicly flogged in Indonesia's Banda Aceh province for violating the Sharia law.

The public flogging was carried out in front of a mosque where the accused were brought one by one on a stage and whipped with cane sticks.

As the men were produced in front of the baying crowd, they were ordered to stand with their hands crossed. Holding a cane in his hand, a masked man stepped forward from the crowd.

Each of the men received whips on their naked backs as people were seen laughing as well as mocking the accused.

The men were accused of violating the Sharia law, prominent in Banda Aceh. The province began to introduce Sharia punishments in 2001, but now a host of actions, including drinking, premarital sex, homosexuality and gambling are punishable.

Banda Aceh lies on the western tip of Sumatra and is home to nearly five million Indonesians.
The President asked the women willing to carry out bombings in Kyrgyzstan to leave the country and said the country could pay for their travel expenses, even to Syria. (Photo: Pixabay/Representational)

Bishkek: Suggesting that peoples thoughts are sometimes affected by what they wear, Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev said Muslim women can be radicalised to become terrorists if they wear Islamic dresses like hijab and burqa.

According to reports, Atambayev made the statement a week before, while speaking in a debate on cultural identity. He said women in Kyrgyzstan have been wearing miniskirts since 1950s, and they never thought about wearing an explosive belt.

"You can wear even tarpaulin boots on your head, but do not organise bombings. This is not religion. Let them wear even miniskirts but there must not be any blasts, said Atambayev, who has always dissuaded women in Kyrgyzstan  where 80 percent of the population is Muslim  from wearing Muslim traditional clothes.

"Clothes also can change one's thoughts sometimes. When we were searching for prisoners who had escaped a detention centre, Melis Turganbayev (the former interior minister) came to me and said that they had been eavesdropping on telephone conversations of wives and mistresses of criminals. Their wives and mistresses wore sacks on their heads and they wanted to organise bombings, he said.

The President asked the women willing to carry out bombings in Kyrgyzstan to leave the country. We can pay your travel expenses, even to Syria, he said.

Atambayevs government had recently faced backlash for putting up banners and hoardings in capital Bishkek in an attempt to dissuade Muslim women from wearing veiled dresses like burqa, hijab or niqab.

The banners and hoardings had pictures of women wearing traditional dress of Kyrgyzstan on one side and women in burqa and hijab on the other, with a tagline  "Poor people! Where are we heading to?" printed on them.

The Muslim community of the Central Asian nation was outraged by the government's move.
Iranian officials say ISIS terrorists have been targeting the country in recent months, while Tehran has ramped up its military presence in both Iraq and Syria. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Dubai: Iranian security forces killed three terrorists linked to ISIS in a city close to the Iraqi border on Tuesday, confiscating a weapons cache and belts armed with explosives, a senior official said.

The trio were shot dead in the house they were staying in Kermanshah city, the governor of Kermanshah province, Asadollah Razani, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. The city is around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Iraqi border.

A senior member of ISIS was killed on Monday night in an operation in another city in the province, during which other supporters of the group were arrested, Razani said.

A mountainous area bordering Iraq, Kermanshah has a largely Sunni Kurdish population and a history of insurgency against the Shi'ite Muslim republic of Iran.

Sunni Islamic State, whose members view Shi'ites as heretics, controls large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Iranian officials say ISIS terrorists have been targeting the country in recent months, while Tehran has ramped up its military presence in both Iraq and Syria following Russia's entry into the conflict in Syria.

In June, Iranian intelligence authorities said they arrested 10 ISIS terrorists and seized about 100 kilograms of explosives intended to be used in car and suicide bombs and other attacks in busy public places.
A DPRK diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country, claims a report in the South Korean daily newspaper. (Photo: Representational Image)

London: A North Korean diplomat posted at the country's London embassy has defected to another nation, according to a media report here on Tuesday.

The diplomat, whose name has not been disclosed, left the embassy in west London earlier this month for a "third country", BBC quoted reports in the South Korean media as saying.

The UK Foreign Office has not commented on the alleged defection but has indicated it is trying to verify the reports.

The diplomat from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has reportedly lived in the UK for 10 years with his wife and family.

"A DPRK diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country," claims a report in the South Korean daily newspaper 'JoongAng Ilbo'.

"The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat's whereabouts, but has failed," the paper's report added, citing an anonymous source.

The paper said that in this context "a third country" means one which is not either North or South Korea.

"The intelligence benefits to the UK and its allies from such a deflection are likely to prove valuable," John Nilsson-Wright, an expert on Asian affairs at the London-based Chatham House think tank, told BBC.

The North Korean embassy is located in the residential area of Ealing in west London and is headed by Ambassador Hyon Hak Bong.
Seoul: South Korea on Tuesday said that its intelligence service had finished investigating 13 North Korean restaurant workers whose joint defection triggered accusations from Pyongyang that they were kidnapped.

A Unification Ministry official said the dozen waitresses and their manager had been "released into society" last week.

They had all been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China. Their arrival in the South in April made headlines as the largest group defection for years.

While Seoul said they fled voluntarily, Pyongyang claimed they were kidnapped by South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) and waged a vocal campaign through its state media for their immediate return.

For all North Korean defectors, life in the South begins with intensive NIS interrogation that can last for months and is aimed at weeding out possible spies.

They are then sent to a resettlement centre for three months' training, after which they are free to start new lives in South Korean society.

Arguing that the high-profile nature of the restaurant workers' case made them unusually vulnerable, the NIS had announced in June that they would remain in protective custody rather than being sent to the centre.

Now that they have been released, the unification ministry said it would provide no further details of their situation "for safety reasons".

"They did not want to be interviewed or make public their whereabouts," the ministry official said.

The dispute over the defectors has fanned inter-Korean tensions that have been running high since the North's fourth nuclear test in January.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South.

But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in the North Korea-themed restaurants overseas and who are handpicked from families considered "loyal" to the regime.

The South's government estimates that Pyongyang rakes in around $10 million every year from about 130 restaurants it operates -- with mostly North Korean staff -- in 12 countries including neighbouring China.

North Korea's campaign for the return of the defectors has included emotional video interviews with the women's relatives in the North, angrily denouncing South Korean authorities and demanding a meeting with the women.

A group of liberal South Korean human rights lawyers -- having gained power of attorney from the relatives -- forced a court hearing into the case in Seoul in June.

But the NIS claimed the women were unwilling to testify and refused to bring them to court, saying they were being held incommunicado for their own protection and that of their families still in North Korea.

One member of the lawyers' group, Chae Hee-Joon, said he had no idea where the workers were but added that "we will continue our efforts to contact them".

Chae said his association was also pushing for legislation that would make it illegal for new defectors to be interrogated by the NIS without legal representation.
This time he posed as a policeman to approach four girls in a park. (Representational Image)

London: In a shocking incident, a convicted child rapist posed as a policeman to sexually assault three young girls in an hour -- barely six months after being released from jail.

Identified as Apeldelrazek Badran, the accused served a nine-year jail term for raping a minor girl after taking her to a secluded place.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Badran recently assaulted a 12-year-old and even clicked her semi-nude photographs.

In spite of being registered on the sex offenders list, he breached the law by going close to a minor.

This time he posed as a policeman to approach minor girls in a park. While two managed to escape from his clutches, he got hold of a 12-year-old girl and told her that he was a cop looking for a shoplifting suspect.

He threatened her with a knife and said that he would 'cut her', before sexually assaulting and clicking naked photographs of her.

The victim managed to escape from Badran after she received phone calls from her mother. While escaping from the spot, she accidentally dropped her mother's bank card.

As she managed to get back home, she narrated the entire incident to her mother, who then contacted the police.

Cops managed to arrest Bardan from his house, about two miles away from the place where he assaulted the minor.

Bardan has been remanded in custody until the next hearing which is scheduled in September.
Russia has never used the territory of another country in the Middle East - except Syria - for its operations inside Syria before this. (Representational Image, Photo: AFP)

Moscow: Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew out from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria, the defence ministry in Moscow said.

The raids are the first Russia has reported carrying out from a base in Iran since the Kremlin launched its Syrian bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad last September.

"On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib," the ministry said in a statement.

The strikes resulted in the destruction of "five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel" and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb in the Idlib region and Al-Bab, an IS-held town in Aleppo province, the statement said.

The bombing also targeted three command centres near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing "a large number of fighters", Moscow said.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime and have opposed international calls for the Syrian leader to step down in a bid to resolve a civil war that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Iran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided steady military, financial, and political support to the regime.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed separately in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States are also close to joining forces around Syria's ravaged second city of Aleppo, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control.

Fighting for the city has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.
he Grande-Synthe camp was built by the Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) charity and the local authorities in accordance with international humanitarian norms and currently holds nearly 800 people. (Photo: Representational Image/AP)

Lille: Two migrants were wounded in a shooting after a row in a migrant camp in the northern French port of Dunkirk, several sources said on Tuesday.

A 30-year-old Iraqi migrant received a gunshot wound in the groin area and a 25-year-old man whose nationality was unknown was wounded in the side in the incident in the Grande-Synthe camp on Monday, a police source said.

Both men required hospital treatment but neither had life-threatening injuries.

"A police investigation is under way to establish the precise circumstances of this row and who fired the gun," a spokesman for the local authorities said.

The shooting followed an incident in which two migrants suffered minor knife wounds in the camp on Sunday.

The Grande-Synthe camp was built by the Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) charity and the local authorities in accordance with international humanitarian norms and currently holds nearly 800 people.

Charities and migrants' associations say pressure is building at the nearby "Jungle" camp in Calais, after what they say is an influx into the camp in the summer months.

Some groups believe 9,000 people are now crammed into the Jungle, which is a largely makeshift camp although 1,750 residents are housed in more permanent accommodation created from shipping containers.

Local authorities are due to carry out a new head count this month but for now are sticking to the figure of around 4,500 from a survey in mid-June.

French authorities have made repeated efforts to shut down the Jungle.

Thousands of migrants and refugees gather in Calais and other ports on France's northern coast, hoping to smuggle themselves aboard lorries that are crossing the Channel to Britain either through the Eurotunnel or on board ferries.
The best-seller is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. Photo: AFP

London: Defence barrister Cathy McCulloch faced an unusual court room situation when she exposed a daughter, who used Fifty Shades of Grey to inspire false rape allegations against her father.

In a tearful confession, the daughter admitted using best selling series as an inspiration for framing her father. The allegations were eight incestuous rapes over six-year period.

McCulloch in her blog had stated that she was clueless about the book until she heard some of the phrases and terms used by the girl, which seemed to be "beyond her years." His daughter had given a compelling interview to the police and my client had absolutely no real defence other than I did not do it, she wrote.

The barrister's first meeting with the father saw him mentioning about a certain book his daughter took a liking to. It was about a millionaire who takes a young woman under his wing and teaches her about art.

Neither the father nor the barrister had any idea about this erotic fest of a book, until she bought the copy herself and speed read through it. The former police officer, Ms McCulloch who is now a barrister at Church Court Chambers, persuaded the judge to adjourn the case as she wanted to scrutinise the book.

Seven minutes into cross-examination, she saw the daughter confessing to have made up the claims to just teach her 'strict' father a lesson. The barrister raised the eerie similarities between the girl's claims and the book and had her admitting it was all true.

The judge acquitted the jury calling it a "unique" case in his career at the Bar and Judiciary.
Anjem Choudary has been one of the best-known faces of radical Islam in Britain for years, leading groups under names including al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK - both banned by the British government. (Photo: AFP)

London: A UK-based Islamist preacher, known for his radical views, has been found guilty of supporting the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group and faces up to 10 years in jail, it emerged on Tuesday.

Anjem Choudary was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London on July 28 but the judge had imposed a reporting ban while a linked trial of Choudary's associate was ongoing.

"You have been convicted by the jury of offences which you must expect to result in sentences of imprisonment," Justice Holroyd told the 49-year-old preacher.

"It is true that you have complied with the conditions of your bail. I am afraid however, it has been an evidently grudging compliance and you have made your disregard for the court and its processes abundantly plain throughout these proceedings," the judge said.

Choudary and his co-defendant, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of telling their supporters to obey ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and travel to Syria to support Islamic State or the so-called "caliphate".

The duo face up to 10 years in jail for inviting support for a proscribed outfit and will be sentenced on September 6.

"Terrorist organisations thrive and grow because people support them and that is what this case is about. Do not confuse that with the right of people to follow the religion of their choice or to proclaim support for a caliphate," Prosecutor Richard Whittam told the trial.

London-born Choudary, who has a long history with groups involved in radical Islamist demonstrations in the UK, such as the now-banned Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK, denied he was inviting support for ISIS and claimed to be a "lecturer in Sharia law" giving "the Islamic perspective".

Just before his conviction, he told Sky News, "If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship.

"If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that. If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you don't really have freedom to express yourself in this country."

Choudary's conviction comes after a two-year, multi-million-pound investigation by Scotland Yard designed to bring to an end his two decades of extremist preaching.

He had been arrested last year and been in and out of prison after breaching his bail conditions.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yards counter terrorism command said, "We have a key individual here in the UK posting vast amounts of information on social media that is radicalising individuals in the UK. Part of that information encourages them to travel to Syria. His mistake was pledging an oath of allegiance. That was the key piece of evidence that tipped him over the line for a terrorist offence."

Among Choudary's many UK followers is Indian-origin ISIS fighter Siddhartha Dhar dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media and now believed to be among the senior ISIS commanders.

One of the Bangladeshi attackers, who killed 22 people during an assault on a Dhaka cafe on July 1, was also a follower of Choudary on social media.
The advance came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes. (Photo: AP)

Sirte: Libyan pro-government forces advanced Tuesday against last pockets of resistance by fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group in the coastal city of Sirte.

Backed by tanks and mortar fire, pro-government forces seized "District Two" of central Sirte, military officials said.

The advance came a day after the loyalists cleared and demined areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.

An AFP photographer said the assault on District Two was mounted in a west-to-east direction and led by tanks opening the way for infantry.

"District Two has been liberated," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the pro-government forces, told AFP.

A commander of the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) said loyalists had also taken up positions south of District Two to cut off escape routes.

General Mohamad al-Ghassri, a military spokesman for the pro-GNA forces, said Sunday that only a single residential area, named District One, located in the heart of Sirte, remained under IS control.

Clashes were also taking place in the other downtown area, District Three in eastern Sirte, he said.

Loyalist forces launched operations on May 12 to retake the Mediterranean city and home town of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, which IS seized in June last year.

On June 9, pro-government forces entered Sirte and have since forced the jihadists to retreat downtown, expelling them from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre, a sprawling compound near the city centre.

AFP correspondents who toured the city on Saturday said loyalist forces were pressing their advance, buoyed by US air strikes earlier this month that targeted IS holdouts in the city.

More than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the three-month-old battle for Sirte, according to an official casualty toll. The jihadists have not revealed their losses.
Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service. (Representational Image)

Tehran: Iran has arrested a British-Iranian on suspicion of links to the UK intelligence service, the Tehran prosecutor told Iranian media on Tuesday.

"The accused, who was arrested in Tehran last week, was active in the field of the Iranian economy, and was linked to the British espionage service," the Mizan news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying.

He did not give the name or gender of the accused.

Three other dual-nationals arrested over the past year  American, British and Canadian  are currently awaiting trial.

Dolatabadi recalled warnings by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Western governments would seek to "infiltrate" the country in the wake of last year's nuclear deal.

Iran does not recognise dual nationality and treats those arrested as Iranian citizens only.
Huge tanks filled with boiling tar were placed at an ISIS command centre in Iraq al-Shorta. (Photo: Twitter/ Representational Image)

Al-Shorta, Iraq: Islamic State only recently revealed one of their new forms of execution - by crushing them to death by boulders. And now the terror group has unveiled another method of killing their captives - boiling them in tar.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, ISIS militants have put six prisoners to death by immersing them in boiling vats of tar.

Huge tanks filled with boiling tar were placed at an ISIS command centre in Iraq al-Shorta. The prisoners were then put to death by throwing them in those tanks. The execution was carried out in public to incite fear among the citizens.

ISIS accused the prisoners of spying for the Iraqi government, following which they were awarded with death sentence by a Sharia court.

This is not the first time Islamic State has awarded its prisoners with inhumane punishments. In March, ISIS militants crushed its prisoners to death by boulders.

A week before crushing spies to death, ISIS militants executed 25 Iraqi prisoners in Northern Iraq's Mosul by lowering them in a vat filled with nitric acid.

Witness accounts revealed that 25 prisoners were tied together with a rope and then thrown into a large basin containing nitric acid until all their organs and bones dissolved completely.
Hezbollah was also reaching out to Arab Israelis through Facebook in an attempt to recruit them to carry out terror attacks. (Photo: Representational Image)

Jerusalem: Israel's Shin Bet security service announced Tuesday it has arrested a network of Palestinians allegedly recruited via Facebook by Lebanon's militant Hezbollah movement to attack Israelis.

"Along with the orders to carry out shooting attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli targets, the agents were ordered to help recruit more (Palestinians) for the organisation's activities," a Shin Bet statement read.

In one case, a Hezbollah agent had used Facebook to recruit a resident of Qalqilya who in turn recruited four others from his city in the north of the occupied West Bank, it said.

The five allegedly began gathering intelligence on Israeli army activities in the area and to conduct weapons training, before being arrested in June.

Shin Bet also said a Gazan recruited by Hezbollah through Facebook recruited three Palestinians from the West Bank who had started to train and plan attacks. The four were also arrested before carrying out any action.

The nine Palestinians have been charged in a military court in the West Bank, the agency said, without giving a date.

The Shin Bet said Hezbollah was also reaching out to Arab Israelis through Facebook in an attempt "to recruit them to carry out terror attacks".

"Hezbollah is determined to continue encouraging the recent terror events from a distance and in an attempt to not let its involvement be seen," the Shin Bet said.

A wave of deadly unrest has rocked Israel and the Palestinian territories since last October.

The violence has killed 219 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.

In January, Israel announced the arrest of a five-member cell based in Tulkarem in the West Bank, recruited online by Jawad Nasrallah, son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel fought a devastating month-long war in 2006 against Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

The powerful Shiite Muslim group has targeted Israeli army patrols along the border in southern Lebanon in response to strikes against its members, most recently on January 4.

In July, Israel announced it had outlawed a Palestinian group it said acted as a front for Iran-funded militant actions against Israelis and the Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas.
The deployment marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP)

Moscow: Russia said on Tuesday its warplanes flew out of an Iranian airbase for the first time to bomb terrorist groups in Syria, as fighting raged for control of the ravaged city of Aleppo.

The deployment marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russia.

Russia's defence ministry said long-range bombers and fighter jets took off from the Hamedan base in western Iran and "conducted a group air strike against targets of the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib".

The strikes destroyed terrorist targets including weapons depots and command centres, "killing a large number of fighters," Moscow said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air raids on Tuesday against two rebel-held districts in Syria's second city of Aleppo killed 19 civilians.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the strikes on Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur, which left three children among the dead, were carried out by either Russian or regime aircraft and had also wounded dozens of people.

Fighting for control of the shattered city, a former economic hub in northwestern Syria, has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

An AFP correspondent in eastern districts of Aleppo said there were heavy air strikes throughout Monday night and into the day today in Tariq al-Bab and Al-Sakhur.

Men were seen pulling debris and rubble from the ground floor of a building, while others zipped corpses into black body bags.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.

Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been divided between opposition control in the east and government forces in the west, with both sides exchanging accusations of indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement it was "gravely concerned for the safety of civilians" in Aleppo and called for "immediate attention and response" to their plight.

Human Rights Watch accused Syrian and Russian warplanes of having repeatedly used incendiary weapons against civilians in northern Syria, saying it had documented their use at least 18 times since June.

Carry more bombs

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime, with Tehran commanding thousands of troops fighting for him on the ground as Russia provides airpower.

Both oppose calls for Assad to step down in a bid to resolve the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Moscow has so far used warplanes stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as ships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean, to bombard Syrian territory.

But Hmeimim -- which a senior Russian official said recently Moscow is looking to expand into a permanent facility -- is home to only short-range planes and fighter jets, meaning long-range bombers had to be deployed from southern Russia.

The use of the Iran base could help boost Moscow's firepower by cutting the time it takes for its jets to reach their targets, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told news agency AFP.

"Bombers can transport more bombs if their flight time is short," he said.

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state news agency IRNA that Moscow and Tehran "exchange capacities and facilities" in the fight against terrorism in Syria.

An unnamed military source told Interfax news agency on Monday that Russia had also sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

US Cooperation

Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov was in Tehran on Monday, where he discussed the "high mutual interest" of deeper cooperation between Russia and Iran in the Middle East, his ministry said.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has held several meetings over the past year with Iranian counterpart General Hossein Dehghan, most recently in June in Tehran, where they pledged to deliver a "decisive" battle against "all terrorist groups".

Shoigu also said in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States were close to joining forces in some form around Aleppo.

But US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.

A senior Russian diplomat in Geneva, Alexei Borodavkin, told Interfax on Monday that the Russian and American militaries were in the process of "agreeing some concrete practical issues" regarding humanitarian aid deliveries to the city.
ing Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud (L) speaks with his son Prince Mohammed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: AP)

Riyadh: Saudi soldiers on the front lines of the war in Yemen are getting a month's extra salary from King Salman, official media said as combat claimed another trooper's life.

The handout comes after an escalation of the 17-month-old war following the suspension of peace talks between Yemeni rebels and the internationally recognised government.

King Salman "has ordered paying a month's salary to active participants at the front lines" of the Yemen operation, which began in March last year, the Saudi Press Agency reported late Sunday.

"The order covers employees of the ministries of interior, defence, and the National Guard," it said, without giving the total cost of the bonus.

It comes as the kingdom battles a projected $87-billion (80-billion-euros) deficit in 2016 after oil revenues collapsed by more than half over the past two years.

In April, Saudi Arabia announced its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan to diversify the oil-dependent economy.

Dozens of Saudi troops have died along the border or on the Yemeni battlefield since the kingdom launched coalition operations there.

Border Guards Corporal Mishari al-Shahrani on Monday morning became the latest Saudi casualty, the Interior Ministry said.

On the front line in Saudi Arabia's Asir border zone, he was killed during an exchange of fire with Huthis shooting from Yemen, the ministry said.

The Saudi-led coalition acted in support of Yemen's government against Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies who overran much of the country.

Coalition jets struck targets around Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa for the first time in three months last week.

The raids came after increased ceasefire violations by the rebels and suspension of the United Nations-brokered talks in Kuwait, the coalition said.

In late July, 12 Saudi soldiers were killed in border clashes during the most serious fighting in months along the frontier.
Istanbul: Turkish prosecutors have demanded two life sentences and an additional 1,900 years in prison for US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for masterminding last month's failed coup, state media reported on Tuesday.

In a 2,527-page indictment approved by prosecutors in the Usak region of western Turkey, Gulen is charged with "attempting to destroy the constitutional order by force" and "forming and running an armed terrorist group" among other accusations, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Thirteen out of 111 suspects in the case are remanded in custody, it said. All face prison terms ranging from two years to life in jail.

The so-called Fethullah Terror Organisation (FETO) -- the name Ankara gives for the group led by Gulen -- had infiltrated state archives through its members in the state institutions and intelligence units, according to the indictment.

The group has used foundations, private schools, companies, student dormitories, media outlets and insurance companies to serve its purpose of taking control of all state institutions, it added.

It has also collected funds from businessmen in the name of "donations" and transferred the money to the United States by means of front companies, and by using banks in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Germany, Anadolu reported.

The case dates back to September 2015, even before the failed coup, and had been launched by the Usak prosecutor's office into the financial assets of FETO.

Gulen, the reclusive cleric in who has lived in the United States since 1999, has been repeatedly accused of running a "parallel state" since a corruption scandal embroiling President, then premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several of his ministers erupted in 2013.

Since July 15, Turkey's crackdown on his supporters has intensified with tens of thousands of people from the military, judiciary, civil service and education sector dismissed from their jobs or detained.

Turkey has pressed the United States to extradite Gulen to face trial at home and expressed frustration that Washington seems in no hurry to consider the matter. From his secluded Pennsylvania base, Gulen has vehemently denied playing any part in the coup.
Bangladeshi policemen cordon off the area near Holey Artisan Bakery, that was the target of the weekend militant attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo: AP)

Dhaka: Bangladeshi authorities named a third prime suspect on Monday in their investigation into the July 1 attack at a Dhaka cafe in which 20 hostages were killed, most of them foreigners.

Mohammed Saiful Islam from Dhaka's counterterrorism police said Nurul Islam Marjan, a commander from the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group, had been identified on information from several different sources.

"We got this details and now we are verifying these information," Saiful, a senior officer, said.

Police have accused JMB of several attacks over the past 18 months that have ratcheted up fears about militancy. JMB says it is affiliated to Islamic State but the government insists Islamic State has no presence in Bangladesh.

On Thursday, police arrested five members of an Islamist militant group who, they said, were planning suicide attacks in the capital and counterterrorism chief, Monirul Islam, said the third prime suspect had been identified.

Police officers had swooped on a cell on Thursday in the outskirts of Dhaka and said the suspects, including four would-be bombers and a bomb-maker, had been sent to the capital to bolster the JMB's attack capability.

They were all from the northern part of Bangladesh.

Marjan had disappeared from his family's village in the northern Pabna district, 160 km (100 miles) from Dhaka, eight months ago and was studying Arabic at Chittagong University, police said. His father has been detained, they said.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the cafe attack and, while the government has dismissed the claim, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the assault suggest links to trans-national networks.

Police say Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian citizen and the prime suspect, is still at large in Dhaka. Analysts say ISIS identified him in April as its national commander.

Police are also still hunting for a sacked army major-turned militant, Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, as part of the investigation.
Islamabad: Taking a dig at India over Kashmir unrest and clashes between protesters and security forces, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has asked Pakistan military to send its troops to Kashmir to teach India a lesson.

Kashmir has witnessed 60 deaths, including two cops and several thousands injured in the clashes that began on July 9 following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Read: Narendra Modis Baloch missile rattles Pakistan on Independence Day

According to Pakistan media, the 26/11 mastermind Saeed has asked Army chief General Raheel Sharif to send his troops to India.

Last month Saeed had said that the ongoing protests on the Indian side of Kashmir would be intensified and warned that the deaths in the region would not be in vain.

Addressing a meet in Lahore on Tuesday, Saeed said, This time the people in Kashmir are on streets. This protest has become a mass movement. All groups in Kashmir have united. All the wings of the Hurriyat have become one. The Muttahida Jihad Council and all other groups have come on to the same platform. Those who have died in Kashmir , their deaths will not be in vain.

Read: Need to eradicate 'cancer' called Pakistan, says Baloch activist

At least 60 people were killed and several others injured, with both people and security forces turning hostile in protest-related violence in the Kashmir Valley , after Kashmiris took to the streets to condemn the killing of Wani.

Saeed had also organised an event to express solidarity with Wani. Recounting his association with Wani, he said the Hizbul Mujahideen commander was prepared to die after talking to him.

Saeed had also revealed that he had received a phone call from Asiya Andrabi, the founder of separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Millat, seeking his help to resolve what she called the crisis on the Indian side of Kashmir .

Warning India , he said that it could either accept separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelanis four-point formula on Kashmir and withdraw security forces from the Valley, or face the decision in battlefield.

He also organised a Kashmir Caravan from Lahore to Islamabad . The caravan, comprising of trucks and buses, stretched for several kilometers, and passed through many cities, including Gujaranwala, Jhelum and Gujarat .

His rallies were attended by federal ministers and religious leaders of various organisations.
Witnesses alleged that Bangabahadur was provided less than what it deserved to eat as officials feared with regained strength, it could break the shackles and pose threat to the neighbourhood. (Photo: AP)

Dhaka: A wild Indian elephant, which had been trapped in swamps after being swept away more than 1,700 km into Bangladesh by raging flood waters, died on Tuesday despite valiant efforts by villagers and forest officials to save him.

'Bangabahadur', meaning Hero of Bengal, died around 7 am at Koyra village in northern Jamalpur district, about 200 km from capital Dhaka.

"We had mobilised huge manpower, provided it decent food and treatment but could not save it," a forest department official familiar with the efforts to rescue him told PTI.

Bangabahadur weighed four tonnes. A postmortem has been ordered, the BBC reported.

The elephant had a heart attack - with stress, dehydration and electrolyte imbalance being factors, a local newspaper quoted a veterinary doctor as saying.

It was separated from its herd on June 27 in Assam  where monsoon floods have made life difficult - and got washed away in the streams of mighty Brahmaputra to downstream Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, after it was thought to have travelled for nearly 1,700 kilometres, Bangabahadur was rescued on August 11 by a forest team following six weeks of frantic efforts.

On its way from India, it was forced to stay in marshes as the highlands were occupied by flood-hit people who were unwilling to let the frightened animal share their shelters.

The elephant entered Bangladesh through Roumari frontiers of northwestern Kurigram and then travelled miles to Jamalpur.

It appeared agitated after being tranquilised more than once and moved indiscriminately for nearly an hour before it fell into a ditch unconscious during rescue efforts. Forest officials and villagers dragged him off the ditch.

It died as a process was underway to shift it to the Bangabandhu Safari Park from the remote village. Officials had planned to bring in two trained elephants to support the transportation.

Witnesses and people in the neighbourhood suspected that excessive tranquillising might have partly led to its death.

They alleged Bangabahadur was provided less than what it deserved to eat as officials feared with regained strength, it could break the shackles and pose threat to the neighbourhood. Without proper food it gradually lost its strength.

Earlier, an expert team from India led by a retired chief forest conservator on July 4 joined the Bangladeshi team in rescuing the elephant but left the scene three days later.
The woman caught public attention when she tried to sneak into a house to steal. (Representational Image)

Bogiwal, Lahore: In a case of mistaken identity, a woman in Pakistan, who was with her minor son, was thrashed by an angry mob after they mistook her as a child abductor.

According to a report in the Dawn, the woman identified as Sadia, was seriously injured after being beaten up by people, because her 'complexion did not match with her son'.

The woman caught public attention when she tried to sneak into a house to steal. People saw her with a minor boy and thought that she might have abducted him from somewhere. As the boy did not resemble the woman, the mob started thrashing her and was later handed over to the police.

After investigation, cops found that the minor boy was indeed her son and set her free. The woman, however, refused to register a complaint against the mob.

This is not the first time a woman was beaten up by mob in Pakistan. Many women have previously been thrashed by mobs on suspicion of child kidnapping or trafficking, who later turned out to be innocent.
Islamabad: Pakistan's Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Tuesday confirmed the death sentences of 11 "hardcore terrorists" who were convicted by special military courts for their involvement in killings of senior police and military officials and sectarian violence in the country.

They were awarded death sentence by the special military courts which were set up following the Peshawar school attack of Dec 16, 2014 to expedite punishments against people convicted under terror charges.

A military spokesperson said that those found guilty by the courts were involved in "heinous offences".

"Today Chief of Army Staff confirmed death sentences awarded to another 11 hardcore terrorists, who were involved in committing heinous offences related to terrorism," it said.

Those convicted included militants who had killed a senior police officer in Balochistan, DIG Fayyaz Sumbal, and army's Major Majeed.

Other convicts were involved in sectarian killings, kidnapping and killing of civilians and personnel of Frontier Constabulary and army.

They were also charged with the crimes of destroying schools and communication infrastructure.

It is not clear when and where their trials were held and completed, as army courts operate in secrecy due to fear of retaliation by militants.
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their "indigenous freedom struggle".

Sharif's remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The Prime Minister reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

"The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom," he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting states affairs during his term in office.

The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the "democratic system" in PoK, said the Prime Minister. Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last month's parliamentary elections in Kashmir.

Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK.

While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including Foreign Office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.

The legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as the region is known in Pakistan, met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president.

Khan, who was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), got 42 votes and was declared as elected. His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) got just six votes.

The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday strongly contested CSO estimate of a sharp decline of about 5.88% points in growth rate of Bihar, asserting that the state was marching ahead on the path of development.





The CM dismissed the estimation of the CSO of Bihars Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at 7.14% in 2015-16 as against 13.02% in 2014-15, a decline of 5.88% point, while delivering his speech at historic Gandhi Maidan on the occasion of 70th Independence Day.



Citing the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) figures, the opposition BJP and NDA partners have attacked the Grand Secular Alliance government in Bihar headed by Kumar.

Kumar said: In 2005-6, when the people of Bihar for the first time gave me the opportunity to serve them, the size of annual budget was Rs 22,600 crore which increased to Rs 1.44 lakh crore in current budget for 2016-17.



If somebody fails to see the economic development I can not help them. But, figures prove how fast the development has taken place in the state.



Likewise, he said, the plan expenditure was Rs 4,300 crore in 2005-6 which increased to Rs 53,400 crore in 2015-16 fiscal. Revenue collection which was Rs 3,500 crore in 2005-6 rose to Rs 2,54,00 crore in 2015-16, he added.



Kumar stated that average growth rate of the state has been above 10% at

constant price in the last 10 years.



The Bihar Chief Minister said his government has pursued inclusive growth strategy which cared for development of everybody unlike the approach pursued at the national level which has created island of development but left many others lagging behind.



Kumar said his government coming up with policy of governance for the next five year from 2015-20 with focus on agriculture, human skill development, education, health and strengthening infrastructure.



He pointed to seven resolves adopted by his government as policy of governance for next five year which reserves 35 % of seats in state jobs for women among others.

The CM said it includes providing drinking water to all households at an estimated cost of Rs 8,500 crore, toilet in every home at Rs 10,800 crore and electricity to every household at an expenditure of Rs 1,900 crore.



Under attack from opposition on some stringent provisions added in the new Liquor law, Kumar invoked Mahatma Gandhi who he said wrote in Young India in 1928 that alcohol consumption is a bad disease which should be cured at all cost.






With the arrests of some drug addicts and peddlers recently in Delhi and Punjab, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has come across a new trend of indigenous heroin finding its way to the youths of the capital.





The heroin which comes at one fourth of the price of its Afghan counterpart is enticing a pool of youngsters who would have otherwise found the price of the traditional heroin a deterrent to buy them, said NCB officials.



Price of one kilogram of Afghan heroin comes at a price of approximately one crore rupees, whereas that much of Indian heroin can be bought at only Rs 20-30 lakh, said Madhav Singh, Zonal Director, Delhi Zonal Unit.



The heroin which comes mainly from Uttar Pradeshs Bareilly district is basically derived from the opium poppy plants grown in the North Eastern states of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.



This heroin is grown in the form of opium in Manipur and then processed in some cities of Uttar Pradesh like Bareilly, Banaras, and Lucknow, said Singh.



India is one of the few countries in the world where opium is grown legally under the supervision of government agencies for medicinal purposes.



Opium is legally grown in UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. However, illegally opium is produced in Manipur and some eastern parts of Arunachal Pradesh bordering Myanmar, Singh said.



In Manipur, opium producers extract morphine from opium and then send it to cities of Uttar Pradesh like Bareilly, Banaras and Lucknow.



In these cities, some opium-growers, who traditionally grow opium poppy plants legally, due to various reasons, have started to process morphine brought from Manipur into heroin.



Due to bad weather sometimes their crops dont yield much produce. The poppy farmers of Uttar Pradesh in collusion with some middlemen start processing morphine, which comes from Manipur, into heroin at their homes or labs, Singh added.



Since Bareilly is only 250 kilometre from Delhi, it is very convenient for the suppliers to send their product to the capital through drug pedlars.



In Delhi, apart from the locals, drug addicts also come from other parts of the country like Punjab to buy the heroin.



Last month two individuals Rimpu, 35, and Balwinder, 35, who had come from Muktsar in Punjab were caught by the NCB sleuths when the duo were stealthily buying Indian heroin from a Nigerian national at the Uttam Nagar bus terminal.



While Rimpu works in a laptop-repairing shop, Balwinder is a labourer. During their interrogations they confessed that they were drug addicts for many years and were not getting high quality drugs at affordable rates in Punjab.They came to Delhi as they knew that they would get good quality drugs at cheaper rates in the capital.



In another case in June this year, Punjab Police had arrested two Nigerian drug peddlers from Jalandhar with 4 kg of Indian heroin. One of the arrested, a woman, is a resident of Delhi and had gone to Punjab with the heroin, said NCB officials.


When Modi fans, as they claimed to be, reached the Red Fort at 6.30 am to watch the Prime Minister speak on Independence Day, they realised that it was not easy to get in.





Not only were the restrictions more than usual, also people had to leave their mobile phones behind to get inside. So in spite of free public entry, some still preferred standing or sitting with their families on the bare ground before the barricades to watch Narendra Modi speak on a TV screen set up there.



Some still felt it was unfortunate. It is always different to see a concert live and on television. I am sad I missed the thrill. I am a big fan of Modi and it is unfortunate that we have to stand outside and watch his speech, said Akanksha, who came with her husband and some cousins.



But when she was told that she can leave her phone with her husband or a cousin and go inside, she refused to.



The TV was loud enough and wide enough for a large audience. There was hooting now and then as the speech wasnt clear enough to everyone outside.



For about half an hour, people just listened after which some of them started their small picnics.



Some left in the middle when the heat was overpowering Modis speech.

Some Modi fans could not decide if the speech was nearly over or far from over, so they started leaving the venue. When they came outside, they realised that they could move about more freely, comment on the speech and also feed themselves.



This gave many papadwalas and popcorn walas their share of fun on Independence Day, where they earned Rs 5 to 10 for each piece.



Also, some people who were illiterate and unemployed till August 14, volunteered to paint peoples faces with the tricolour for Rs 10 on each cheek.



Noor, came with her four of her children to visit Jama Masjid to buy them clothes. But finding the road blocked, she decided to sit on the divider across Red Fort and listen to Modi speak and eat home-made paranthas.



A group of men from Andhra Pradesh left the venue to come outside to debate over the speech. They were unable to express their dissatisfaction with PMs speech inside, as they were asked to maintain silence.



When BJP was in opposition they said that they will give special status to AP, but there is no talk to it in his speech, said Ajay, a software engineer working in Delhi.



People who came in late also joined the fun. When they saw so many people outside, they decided watching Modi on the screen outside was good enough.


At 6 am, all lanes in Old Delhi led to Red Fort as a sea of people made its way towards it to witness the unfurling of the tricolour and listen to the Prime Minister.





The diversity and patriotism among the crowd at the celebration of 69 years of Independence was stark and visible. People from across the country had poured in to be a part of the celebration.



Witnessing the celebration live at the Red Fort was a first for many of them.

Hanif Ghansar, an insurance officer from Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, and his

two friends had travelled all night to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi.



We watch the ceremony every year on our television sets and always wanted to be at Red Fort. We thought this is a good occasion because we will also get to hear Narendra Modi live, he said.



Asked about his expectations from the speech, Hanif said, I want him to speak on terrorism and on concerns of minority communities. Even though I am from a minority community, I don't feel insecure. But there are others who might have faced certain incidents. The politicians are good but there are some fringe elements which create nuisance.



When the two LED screens showed Modi, sporting a turban, taking the stage, the crowd broke into cheers.



Modi began by recounting the struggle for freedom and a part of the audience burst into 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' chants. For Yamine, Arasanathi and Srinivasan, students from Chennai, it was difficult to comprehend what the Prime Minister was saying as they dont understand Hindi.



Travel plans

The three had booked their trains tickets for a trip to North India later but advanced their travel plans so that they could be a part of the ceremony.



Even though they knew they would not be able to understand most of the speech, they wanted to witness the proceedings live.



Not everyone gets a chance to see the flag-hoisting on Independence Day. We are lucky to be part of this. We wish there was a translator for the speech, but we are not regretting coming here, says Yamine.



At one point, when one of the LED screens showed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sitting in the VIP area, the audience started hooting and some sneered.



The loudest cheer and whistles from the crowd came when Modi mentioned that people in Balochistan, Gilgit, and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) have thanked him in the past few days.



He has sent a strong message to Pakistan, said 28-year-old Sikandar. As the weather got humid, people started getting restless and many of them left even as the Prime Minister was in the middle of his speech.



However, there were others who felt that Modi did not address some important issues like attack on minorities and Dalits, and unemployment, which they were expecting. While Salman, a motor mechanic, wanted the Prime Minister to talk about price rise, Bandari Sri Sainath wanted him to say something on the contentious issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh.



The happiest were the school children, who formed the numeral 70 with their yellow and blue uniforms. Besides the excitement of getting various refreshments, many of them got to shake hands with the Prime Minister after his speech.
Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement here have sought support from the US and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.





"The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively," Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said here in a statement.



"Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom," Baloch said.



While welcoming Modi's stance on Balochistan, he said the "policy of indifference towards Pakistan's war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying".



"The Indian Prime Minister's statement on Balochistan is a positive development," Baloch said.



Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.



Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti -- a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistan's destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.



"In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government," Bugti said.



"The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s," he said.



Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.



The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech yesterday.


Vowing to halt the spread of radical Islam, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has laid out his strategy to defeat global terrorism and called for a new Cold War-like "ideological screening test" as part of "extreme vetting" of would-be immigrants.





Trump also stated that the era of nation building should come to an end as he unveiled a blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with NATO and Middle East allies.

The 70-year-old real estate tycoon said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS.



"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach -- which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East -- must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating 'radical Islam' in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he asserted.



Trump also proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalised ones into the US.



"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said yesterday.



"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition, to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.



Trump stressed that those who did not believe in the Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into the country if he is elected as President.



"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.



To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.



He also proposed calling an international conference focused on stopping the spread of radical Islam.



"We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.



A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission.



"I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," Trump said.



"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against ISIS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with ISIS," he said.



Trump asserted that the US cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by its enemy.



"We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said.



Trump alleged that the rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of State.



"Let's look back at the Middle East at the very beginning of 2009 before the Obama-Clinton administration took over. Libya was stable. Syria was under control. Egypt was ruled by a secular president and an ally of the US," Trump said.



"Iraq was experiencing a reduction in violence. The group that would become what we now call ISIS was close to being extinguished. Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions. Fast forward to today. What we have -- and think of this -- and the decisions made by the Obama/Clinton group have been absolutely disastrous," he said.



Trump said as soon as he becomes President, he will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where adequate screening cannot take place.



"There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those area until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," Trump said.



"The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening. We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the middle east every year. Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions," he said.



Trump said one of his first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will work with his administration.



"We want to build bridges and erase divisions. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalisation, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalisation," he said.



"This commission will be used to develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners. And while I'm at it, we should give a hand to our great police officers and law enforcement officials," he said.



Trump said his administration will keep open Guantanamo Bay, and place a renewed emphasis on human intelligence.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to visit Pakistan to attend the two-day conference of SAARC Finance Ministers later this month mainly due to "political reasons".



The conference is scheduled on August 25-26 in Islamabad.



"It is due to political reasons that the Finance Minister may not visit Pakistan. You all know what happened last time and what is happening," highly placed sources said, referring to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Islamabad earlier this month, which was also for a SAARC Ministerial meeting.



Barbs were exchanged between Singh and Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who only had a tense and uneasy handshake during the SAARC meeting.



Pakistani authorities did not allow entry of Indian mediapersons, including those from PTI and Doordarshan, inside the venue of 7th SAARC Home Ministers Meeting in Islamabad.



Singh had informed Rajya Sabha that after the meeting was over, Pakistan's Home Minister, who was the host, invited the participants for lunch but left in a car soon thereafter.



"Keeping in mind the country's prestige, I did what I should have done. I have no complaints. I had not gone there for lunch," he had said.



That apart, in his Independence Day address to the nation yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India will not bow before terrorism, and also brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Baluchistan and PoK, saying that they have thanked him for doing so.



Though Modi did not make any reference to Kashmir valley which is witnessing violence after the killing of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani, he accused Pakistan of glorifying terrorists and celebrating killings in India.



Pakistan's Finance Ministry in a recent statement had said the country would play the role of a "good host" and try to keep the overall ambiance positive.



The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Video footage of an Amnesty event on Kashmir in Bengaluru to identify those who allegedly raised anti-India slogans were being examined by police today even as ABVP activists staged protests in Bengaluru, a day after the NGO was booked on sedition charge.





The India chapter of Amnesty International, on its part, rejected as "without substance" the allegations raised by the ABVP, the student outfit of the RSS, and claimed that none of its employees shouted any anti-India slogans at any point.



The ABVP activists, who clashed with police, protested against the rights organisation and demanded arrest of those who allegedly raised slogans against India and the Army at a panel discussion on Saturday. They also demanded action against Amnesty International.



The event was organised by Amnesty India as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir.



"Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. Police are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised independence slogans at the event," Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.



Asked whether Amnesty India Executive Director Aakar Patel is likely to be arrested, Parameshwara said, "Not to my knowledge. Not at the moment."



ABVP activists had submitted a CD containing video recording of the event after filing a complaint with police, who yesterday registered an FIR against Amnesty International.



In a statement, Amnesty India said that allegations mentioned in the complaint by the ABVP representative against it were without "substance" and that only discussion at the event was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in Jammu and Kashmir.



"No Amnesty International India employee shouted any slogans at any point," the human rights organisation said in a statement referring to allegations that "slogans were raised that Indian Kashmir should be part of Pakistan."



IPC sections-- 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony have been invoked against Amnesty.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said "Police are enquiring. An FIR has been registered."

Noting that an FIR had already been registered on sedition charge, he said after an enquiry, police would take action according to law.



Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said patriotic and nationalist people could not tolerate anti-India slogans.



"What happened in JNU is being repeated here", he said, adding, "this must be stopped."
Dawood Ibrahim's nephew Alishah Parkar will tie the knot in the megapolis tomorrow even as the Mumbai Police and other security agencies are going to keep a close watch on the event, which is likely to be attended by the mob boss via Skype.





Alishah, son of Dawood's late sister Hasina Parkar, will marry Aisha Nagani, daughter of a city-based businessman at a hotel here.



Police sources said Dawood is likely to attend the function via 'Skype'. Mumbai Police's Crime Branch has asked the anti-extortion cell to keep a hawk-eye vigil on the events.



"Police will keep a close watch on the proceedings as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace," a senior police official said.



Alishah's elder brother Danish had died in a road accident in 2006, while his sister Umaira got married in May last year.
Amity University today asked two of its faculty members to proceed on leave as it set up a six- member committee to probe the death of a law student whose family has accused college authorities of abetting suicide.





"We have formed a six-member committee to investigate the issue and submit a report. To ensure a fair enquiry, two faculty members have been asked to proceed on leave till the probe is over," said Amity spokesperson Savita Mehta.



Sushant Rohilla, a 4th year student of BA-LLB course in the college, had last week allegedly committed suicide at his residence in south Delhi's Sarojini Nagar area.



Family members and friends of the 20-year-old Amity Law School student, today staged a protest outside the college here, alleging foul play on the part of its authorities.



The deceased, who was son of a joint secretary-level official in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, was debarred from appearing in the sixth semester exams in May due to "shortage of attendance".



According to his family, Sushant and 19 other students, who were not permitted to take the exams, were promised that they will be allowed to take the exams and promoted to the next semester.



"The college authorities did a volte-face and sent him an email, one month after the exam, stating that he had been detained due to short attendance and he should apply for readmission in the same semester. He was under lot of pressure since," Mehak Rohilla, the deceased's sister said.



Rohilla's kin and friends today gathered outside the law school premises and staged a protest, demanding a probe into the incident.



Amity authorities, however, denied having any role in Rohilla's death and expressed grief over the incident.



"Amity Law School, Delhi, is affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh IP University. The students were detained as per the decision of that varsity and Amity Law School, itself, had absolutely no role," Mehta said.



"Rohilla had 43 per cent attendance, while the IP University mandates that a student should have at least 75 per cent attendance. This was conveyed to his parents many a times through e-mails.



"The attendance, as per the rules of IP University, was sent to IPU, which issues admit cards to the students for examinations," she added.
In a fresh rhetoric, Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed has asked army chief General Raheel Sharif to send troops to Kashmir to "obey" the pending order of Pakistan's founder M A Jinnah.





Addressing a rally held under the banner of 'Defence Council of Pakistan' in Karachi on Sunday, Saeed claimed, "Kashmiris had announced before the partition that it wanted to remain with Pakistan. But after partition India forcibly sent army to Jammu and Kashmir.



"On this Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered commander-in-chief to respond by sending troops but he refused (to obey his orders). Now I ask Gen Raheel Sharif to send troops in (Jammu and) Kashmir as Quaid-e-Azam's order is pending," Saeed said.



He said that he is not asking for a war with India but they (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Raheel) must form a strategy with regard to Kashmir issue.



Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who carries a USD 10-million bounty on his head, asked Prime Minister Sharif to break his silence and respond to Modi's strong statements on Kashmir and Balochistan.



"Pakistan has become a war zone and innocent Kashmiris are being killed while Modi is talking of separating Balochistan. Why our prime minister is silent and reluctant to respond to Modi in the same manner," he asked.



He said Sharif should take relief goods to Chakothi then Kashmiris would believe that the Pakistani Prime Minister is with them.



A JuD caravan led by Talha Saeed, the son of Hafiz Saeed, had staged a sit-in at the Line of Control near Chakothi in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), demanding that India accept relief materials brought by them for Kashmiris.
Russia is the power broker in Syria, for the time being. Early this month, the Syrian army with Russian air cover contained an offensive by a jihadi coalition which had broken through the besieged eastern districts of Aleppo held by insurgents. The jihadis from Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), based in the northwestern Idlib province, were repul-sed and the siege was reinstated.



Consequently, the four year standoff over Aleppo continues, trapping 2,50,000 civilians with little food and medicine in the insurgent-held east while the government has opened a new route into the west and has delivered food, fuel and medical supplies to the 1.2 million who dwell there.



Before the jihadi offensive, Russia had opened humanitarian corridors from east Aleppo to allow civilians to leave but only 300 availed themselves of the opportunity. After the siege was re-imposed, Russia offered three-hour ceasefires on a daily basis to allow supplies to be delivered to the eastern quarters.



When the UN demanded a 48-hour ceasefire, Russia said it was prepared to consider the proposal. The UN argues that this would enable humanitarian agencies to evacuate the wounded and distribute aid to Aleppo. The UN has called for such ceasefires for all besieged cities and towns in Syria.



The US and France pressed Russia to accept the UN demand as a condition for resumption of peace talks between the Syrian government and Saudi-sponsored opposition, suspended since April, but UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said the talks should be unconditional.



Damascus, which has said it would attend talks, is certain to go along with whatever Moscow decides on the ceasefire issue. Russia has intervened directly and decisively in the Syrian conflict since last October. At that time, the overstretched and undermanned Syrian army was suffering strategic losses.



These reverses followed the supply of advanced weaponry by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to jihadi forces, including IS and al-Qaedas Jabhat al-Nusra, recently rebranded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Front for the Liberation of Greater Syria). The Jabhat, which formally cut ties to al-Qaeda central, is the dominant faction in Jaish al-Fatah.



Syria is Russias sole West Asian politico-military asset. West Asia is also Russias backyard, a region where Moscow cannot tolerate the rise of extremist Muslim groups affiliated with radical separatists in the North Caucasus.



This being the case, it is hardly surprising that Russia has announced its intention to transform its temporary air base at Hmeimin near the port of Latakia into a permanent military facility. This will be Russias second in Syria. The first is a naval service base at the coastal city of Tartous.



Clearly, Moscow plans to keep its forces in Syria indefinitely and remains committed to its alliance with the government of president Bashar al-Assad. Russia rightly recognises the dangers to Syria, the region, and the world posed by a jihadi power struggle that would follow the collapse of the secular Syrian regime.



With the aim of trying to convince Ankara to change its anti-Assad stance, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a summit in St Pete-rsburg. Angered over Western criticisms of his authoritarian policies, Erdogan sought to me-nd the rift caused by the shooting down last November by Tur-key of a Russian war plane flying missions over northern Syria.



With this out of the way, Moscow and Ankara could proceed with a project to build a pipeline across Turkey to carry Russian natural gas to Europe while Russian tourists would be encouraged to return to Turkish resorts they shunned after the aircraft was downed.



Battle against IS

Putin wants Turkey to take part in the battle against Islamic State, support the resumption by the end of August of UN-brokered talks between the government and opposition, and close its border with Syria. Turkey could oblige on the first two demands but not the third and most important.



Russia is determined to interdict the flow of reinforcements and supplies through Turkey to insurgents. Without fresh fighters, arms and money, Jaish al-Fatah could not maintain its occupation of Syrias northwestern Idlib province and could not have mounted its Aleppo offensive. Furthermore, without a corridor to transport supplies and men from the Turkish border to its capital at Raqqa, Islamic State will not survive in Syria.



Even under Russian pressure, Turkey will find it difficult, if not impossible, to close its border to insurgents and jihadis. Ankara was the initial sponsor of the 2011 rebellion against Assad which Erdogan hoped would propel the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood into power in Damascus. Once in charge, the Brotherhood would align with Erdogan who advocates the transformation of secular Turkey and Syria into conservative, religion-based states.



Since the Assad government has, with the Russian help, fought its enemies to a standstill, Turkey has cooperated with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to provide men, money and arms to radical jihadi factions which have sidelined the diverse collection of Syrian rebel groups and raised across Syria and Iraq black banners proclaiming jihad, their warped version of holy war against the world.


Manipal University has bagged the prestigious Capacity Building project in Higher Education offered by the European Union under the Erasmus Plus programme.





The three-year project carries a grant of EUR 564178 (about Rs 4 crore) to develop a Centre for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), a teaching-learning methodology in schools to address the issues related to multilingualism.



The CLIL model involves six languages  Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Hindi and English  to begin with.



Reacting to the achievement, Dr H Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor, Manipal University said, It is a matter of pride to bag the grant as we are the only one in India to receive this funding as a lead applicant. This is the largest grant for Humanities and Social Sciences in Manipal University.



Manipal University had found a place in the final list of 147 projects from among 736 applications from all over the world. Incidentally, it was the only university from India in the final list.



Head of the Department of European Studies, Dr Neeta Inamdar, who developed the application, said the project was about establishing a Resource Centre for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), a teaching-learning methodology in schools that tries to address the issues related to multilingualism.

This is a model that makes bilingual learning easier and better to equip young learners to grasp the content through language thus enhancing both their knowledge base and language skills simultaneously. This model, encouraged and adopted by the European Union, is suitable to multilingual setup of India and can address the medium of instruction issues that exist across states, she stated.



The project involves training young teachers in this bilingual teaching method, which has its own techniques. If given the right impetus by the policy makers, this can change the language learning methods in the country and create a balance between learning English and native languages, according to Dr Inamdar.



This project is planned in partnership with European and Indian universities such as University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), University of Milano (Italy), University of Latvia (Latvia) and Symbiosis International University, Pune, Pondicherry University and Chitkara University. The project also has associate partners like Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (Germany), Italian University Line, Rosie Tanner Education Consultant.



Academically, the Department of European Studies is the only one in the country to offer an MA programme in European Studies. The Centre for Foreign Languages, a part of the Department offers Certificate Courses in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin.



With all these programmes and projects, the Department has emerged as a hub of European Studies activities in the country, said Dr Vinod Bhat.
How about taking a stroll on a stretch of road from Srinivas Mallya statue junction to Kadri Park without traffic? Sounds nice and could be a reality, if the authorities will, as it has been proposed to make the particular stretch of road off Mangaluru-Udupi Road, zero traffic zone.





Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo on Tuesday said: It has been planned to create a traffic-free atmosphere for walkers on the model of China Street, but officials are unwilling thus dragging their feet on the same.



Saying that the park is the only lung space available in abundance in the city, Lobo said, It has been planned to develop a dedicated corner for the benefit of specially abled visitors, irrespective of visually challenged, physically challenged and hearing impaired persons, at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.



A musical fountain at a cost of Rs five crore will be coming up at the other part of the park (formerly Deer Park), while the toy train that has gone defunct will resume in a new look. The Department of Women and Child Development is giving Rs 70 lakh for the purpose. The office of ZP CEO has already invited tenders for the work.



He said the Horticulture Department is the current custodian of the park and it is facing procedural hurdles for timely development of the park. Lobo laid emphasis on forming a dedicated society under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner to monitor the administration of the park. Besides, resources can be mobilised by launching entry tickets system, he noted.



He also reminded the authorities that an amount of Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for laying inter-locking tiles for walking path in the park under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut).



Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P I Sreevidya said, We are toying with the idea of re-introducing toy train service for Childrens Day. But it depends on the completion of the work. The work on designing the train has been entrusted to South Western Railway (SWR), having a dedicated workshop in Mysuru. The track inside the park will also be re-designed and a separate tender will be invited.
Students of the Jamia Millia Islamia continued their protest on Tuesday, demanding an explanation from the vice-chancellor as to why the Delhi Police raided the boys hostels.





They sought the university to declare its autonomy and ensure that action is taken against the police, including the Central intelligence officials, if they had conducted the raids on August 13 without prior permission from the university administration. A section of Jamia teachers also extended support to the students agitation.



Our first demand is that the vice-chancellor should hold a press briefing and tell everyone why the police raided the hostels and who facilitated their entry, if they did not have permission from the university administration.



We also want action to be taken against the police officers concerned for creating an atmosphere of terror here, Amber, one of the student protesters, said.



On Monday, vice-chancellor Talat Ahmad asked the students not to become a pawn in the hands of people with vested interests. He asked them to maintain peace and not make Jamia a political battleground.



He, however, maintained that the presence of the police on campus on August 13 was part of a routine check ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, and categorically said the officers never entered the hostel premises. But students were not willing to accept the vice-chancellors explanation.
After Satara-based Dr Santosh Pol confessed to six murders in the last 13 years, the police have the task of solving a jigsaw puzzle and establish motives behind the killings.





Besides, they are also ascertaining if Dr Pol had committed more murders and whether the killings are linked to each other.



The historic temple town of Wai, located below the hill stations of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani, has been rattled by the serial killings and several people who went to the Wai police station on Tuesday demanded capital punishment for Dr Pol, who claims to be an expert in electrohomeopathy.



Special Inspector General of Police (Kolhapur Range) Vishwasrao Nangre Patil and Satara SP Sandeep Patil camped at Wai throughout the day to supervise the investigations.



He is clever and a crook, said Vishwasrao Patil, the first officer who was the first to enter the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, when the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack took place.



Forensic teams from Pune also reached Wai to collect samples to prepare a watertight case.



Dr Pols antecedents and his claims of being a doctor are being checked. He has an ancestral home in Dhom and a 1-acre farm which has a small room and some sheds.



Dr Pol (42) and his associate and nurse, Jyoti Pandurang Mandre (25), have been arrested. Asked whether there were more suspects, the police said the probe was in progress.



The case came to light following the disappearance of Mangala Jedge, the president of the Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh. On Mangalas phone, the last call was from Pol and this was the starting point of the investigations, Vishwasrao Patil said, adding that Dr Pol also used to threaten police officers saying he would go to the Anti-Corruption Bureau. We first got hold of Jyoti in Satara and she then led us to Dr Pol, whom we trapped in Dadar, he said.



Inspector Padmakar Ghanvat of Wai Crime Branch, who is heading the investigations, said that soon after Jedhes disappearance, Pol had lodged a complaint on June 24 accusing her of fleeing with 200 grams of gold on the promise of doubling them through a ponzi scheme.
In a major setback to the search operations of the missing Indian Air Forces AN-32 flight, the defence authorities have suspended the services of Sagar Nidhi vessel to locate the aircraft.





Though the Minister of State for Defence Subhash Ramrao Bhamre recently said it is unlikely that there are any survivors on board the AN-32 aircraft that went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 22, search operations to locate the aircraft continued with Sagar Nidhi, of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), aiding the defence personnel for deep sea search.



However, in a sudden development, the NIOT ship will now return, with the search and rescue team saying that the vessel will travel back for fueling and loading food and provisions for the defence squad.



It (Sagar Nidhi) has spent more than eight months in the sea off the Mauritius coast for research activities. From there, the ship was directly sent for search operations and therefore, brief maintenance work, including fueling, is required, a senior Coast Guard official on Tuesday told DH seeking anonymity. It will be here for a few days before resuming its search work, he added. According to the official, the surface search for the missing aircraft will continue.



The AN-32, belonging to the IAF, had taken off on a routine courier flight to Port Blair from Tambaram air base near Chennai on July 22 at 8.30 am with six crew and 23 personnel, but never reached its destination. It was last seen on the radars at 9 am on the same day.
The state government will wait for the decision of the Union Cabinet on providing aid to growers of copra, coconut and arecanut, before deciding on its next step of action.



Copra, coconut and arecanut growers are in distress following a crash in prices. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had convened a meeting of the floor leaders, union ministers from the state on Tuesday to discuss the issue.



Briefing reporters, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar told the meeting that the Union Cabinet, which is scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, would take a decision on launching a Market Intervention Scheme to purchase the commodities .



We will wait for the decision of the Union Cabinet and decide on our next move, Jayachandra said. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and the Green Brigade have sought a minimum support price of Rs 45,000 per quintal for arecanut and Rs 15,000 per quintal for copra.



The vehicles of BJP leaders B S Yeddyurappa and Jagadish Shettar, who attended the meeting at chief ministers home office Krishna were besieged by waiting farmers, who charged that the BJP had failed to raise their problem in parliament and legislature. The farmers said the NDA government had turned a blind eye to the hardships faced by the farmers. The BJP was only interested in protecting the interest of business tycoons, they charged.



Prices too high

The Union Ministry of Agriculture is expected to take a call soon on what price the government agencies should procure arecanut under the market intervention scheme in Karnataka, reports DHNS from New Delhi.



A senior official from the ministry, who had visited Bengaluru recently to study the Karnataka governments proposal for procurement of 40,000 tonnes, is of the view that the price of Rs 300 to Rs 400/kg proposed by the state government is too high.



In June, senior BJP leaders from Karnataka, including Union Minister Ananth Kumar, had demanded that the Centre take steps to check the sliding prices. Separately, the Karnataka government also submitted a proposal requesting the Centre to procure 28,000 tonnes of white supari at Rs 300 per kg and 12,000 tonnes of the red variety at Rs 400 per kg.



However, Kerala-based directorate of arecanut and spices development board recommended purchasing the produce at Rs 172 per kg.
Energy Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday promised to provide adequate power supply to the new industries in the state.



Shivakumar was speaking at a convention organised by the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation to highlight its achievements in the last three years. He said the government was ready to offer good infrastructure so that more investors choose the state to set up business.



Claiming that the state was self-sufficient in producing power, he said around 5,000 MW was being produced through solar units. The government was encouraging solar power and a mega solar park was coming up at Pavagad in Tumakuru. The new industrial policy for 2014-2019 had been brought out to provide favourable environment for industries. It had also decided to host Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and new industrial estates at 15 places in the state had been planned, he added.


The Congress appeared stumped at the Karnataka police hastily booking Amnesty International India for sedition over an event on Kashmir organised in Bengaluru. A section of Congress leaders said the state police could have adopted a cautious approach, instead of filing a First Information Report (FIR) on the charge of sedition against the advocay group.



An FIR has been registered by the police. Obviously this has been brought to the full support and information of the state government, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh told reporters here on Tuesday. He said that investigation was under way to ascertain whether incidents that took place in Bengaluru constituted any violation of law.



Police had registered an FIR against Amnesty under IPC sections 142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony).



It is very premature to say what happened, what did not happen. But the fact is that an FIR has been filed and investigations are under way and whatever has to be done will be done according to the laws of the land, Ramesh said.



Will Rahul come?

He cannot rush to Amnesty International, Ramesh shot back, to questions whether Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi would be going to Bengaluru to express solidarity with the organisers as he had done when the Delhi police had filed sedition charges against students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said an institution cannot be accused of sedition.



We have to look at the facts of the case. I can understand an FIR against an individual who has tried to fan anti-India sentiment. But I doubt if any institution can be accused of sedition charges in these circumstances, said the Congress leader.


BJP state Core-Committee on Tuesday decided to launch a campaign against Amnesty International by involving intellectuals.





The core-committee decided that the campaign will take on organisations like Amnesty International for instigating students with anti-national sentiments.



In a press release, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa condemned the police lathi-charge on ABVP functionaries who were protesting in Bengaluru.



He stated that it was an irony that police resorted to lathi-charge on ABVP functionaries who were shouting nationalistic slogans but let off youths who shouted anti-national slogans at the United Theological College. The police should immediately tender an unconditional apology, he demanded.




Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said the Opposition parties should not politicise the issue of some students shouting anti-India slogans recently in Bengaluru. Speaking to reporters, he took exception to BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa writing to Union Home Rajnath Singh on the issue.



The police in Karnataka are capable of investigating the case. Using the issue for political gains is not proper. The government has already initiated action against those who shouted anti-India slogans, he added. The minister denied charges by the BJP that the police caned members of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for staging a protest in front of Raj Bhavan, condemning those who shouted anti-India slogans. Every citizen has a right to protest. But one has to take permission from the authorities concerned. Otherwise, it leads to a law and order problem. The ABVP members had not obtained permission. Hence, the police only stopped them from staging the protest, he said.



On reports that some students of Sri Siddartha Institute of Technology in Tumakuru shouted anti-India slogans, he said the police are looking into it. Statements given witnesses and students on the issue are contradictory, Parameshwara, who runs the Institute, added.




A day after a sedition case was booked against Amnesty International India (AII) over the ruckus in an event on Kashmir, the police on Tuesday summoned a few people who attended the event for recording their statements.



A senior police officer said,  A few people from the AII and also some participants were summoned and their statements recorded. It is learnt that towards the end of the programme, a few of them raised slogans against the Indian Army and the nation.The video footage of the event from various sources is being obtained and some of them have already been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for examination.



He added that the case was sensitive and the probe would not be concluded fast. It needs to be investigated thoroughly and cases would be booked against people found responsible. Also, there are similar such cases registered across the country and there are Supreme Court guidelines which need to be followed, the officer said.



In response to the FIR, Amnesty International has issued a statement, rebutting point-by-point, the charges made by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The ABVP had claimed that Sindhujaa Iyengar, a political science lecturer at a private university in Bengaluru, Seema Mustafa and Roushan Illahi delivered anti-national speeches against soldiers.



The AII clarified that Iyengar was never present on stage at the event. The only person from the NGO who delivered a speech was Tara Rao, the Programme Director, who spoke about the allegations of human rights violations by security force personnel which have been detailed in their report. The statement from the AII adds that the ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir -- Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) -- had welcomed the suggestions AII made in its report titled Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.



Did not raise slogans

It also says Mustafa is a senior journalist who only moderated a discussion and did not raise slogans or sang songs. The organisation has clarified that no employees of AII raised slogans at the event or assaulted anyone.



On the allegation that the event indirectly supported ISI and Pakistan, they said, Amnesty International has worked extensively on human rights violations in Pakistan, including the enforced disappearances and unlawful killings of political activists in Balochistan, violations by security forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) , and violence against journalists by groups including the ISI. The organisation has shared video footage from the event with the police.




The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ordered a security audit of the countrys airports to plug any loopholes, even as it ruled out raising a separate force for securing these facilities.





Keeping faith in the paramilitary force Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is currently guarding 59 of the 98 facilities, the MHA has also decided to put the security of all the airports under this force. Hence, the Srinagar and Imphal airports, which are presently guarded by the CRPF, could also be put under the CISF cover.



The decisions were taken at a meeting, attended by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on August 5. The meeting was convened against the backdrop of terrorists targeting Zaventem airport in Brussels.



The report of the security audit being conducted by a team of experts from the MHA, Intelligence Bureau, CISF and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) will be submitted within 20 days.



According to the plan, there could be random checking of incoming fliers at the entrance of the airports. Standard operating procedures for random checking of incoming vehicles, cargo and detection of flying objects and drones are also being prepared. Behaviour monitoring mechanism will also be put in place.



We are completely overhauling the security apparatus of all the airports. A dedicated plan is being worked out. Security at the airports will be upgraded based on the audit, Rijiju told reporters.



The MHA has also turned down a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to raise a dedicated Aviation Security Force on lines of the Railway Protection Force.



The Ministry of Civil Aviation has been lobbying for a separate force under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security of India but sources said Doval was against the idea as he felt that it was not competent enough to do the job.



The attendees of the meeting were of the view that there was a need for both short-term and long-term steps to reduce vulnerability of airports of high value. They also discussed the threat emanating from high rise buildings located on the periphery of airports.
The police in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat detained 26 people in connection with clashes on late Monday night, post a Dalit rally in Una town.





Last night there were some disturbances near Samter village, when a group of persons returning from Una Dalit rally were attacked by miscreants. We were forced to fire six rounds and burst 46 teargas shells to quell the disturbances. We have arrested 26 people, of whom six are in hospital. The situation is under control and peaceful, district SP H R Chaudhary told mediapersons.



Thousands of Dalits had gathered at Una to celebrate the Independence day and seek justice for victims of Una Dalit atrocity.



Four Dalit youths were beaten up in public on July 11 for skinning a dead cow, by self-styled cow vigilantes. Mondays Dalit gathering marked the end of a 10-day, 350-km Dalit Asmita rally that began from Ahmedabad. Rohith Vemulas mother Radhika Vemula and Balubhai Sarvaiya, father of youths beaten up at Una, unfurled the national flag.



Post rally, several Dalits were attacked on their way back home. One incident took place in Samter village, about 11 km from Una, from where a majority of the accused in the Una atrocity case come from. The other incident occurred in Rameshwar Patiya nearby.



At least eight people, besides four policemen, were injured in the clashes between two groups. Six of the injured were referred to Ahmedabad civil hospital on Tuesday.
Attempting to delink former prime minister Manmohan Singhs stand at Sharm-el-Sheikh with Prime Minister Narendra Modis latest articulation on PoK, Balochistan and Gilgit, the BJP attacked the Congress for speaking in different voices on Pakistan-supported terrorism.





The BJPs criticism of the Congress was in reaction to a statement made by former UPA minister Salman Khurshid who had criticised Modi for his PoK barb. The divisions in the Congress and among its leaders were even visible over the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement. They are divided over the issues concerning national security, BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said at a press conference.



Singh, who also stated that the Kashmir problem cannot be compared with Balochistan, said Modi through his address to the nation on Independence Day wanted to expose human rights violations in these regions of Pakistan.



Manmohan Singh had accepted Pakistans accusation of India interfering in Balochistan on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt. In 2009, Singh had met the then Pakistan prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and had come up with a joint statement that also had a mention of Balochistan, which was severly criticised by the BJP which was in the Opposition.



Singh had said,  The Kashmir problem cannot be compared with Balochistan unrest. In Kashmir, the problem is due to cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan. On the contrary, unrest in Balochistan is due to atrocities committed by Pakistan to stem locals unfulfilled demands.
Expressing concern over Amnesty International being charged with sedition, a rights defenders forum on Tuesday sought intervention by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the issue.





In a statement, Human Rights Defenders Alert (HRDA) said the action against Amnesty is the latest in a series of incidents where state agencies have clamped down on civil society organisations and rights groups critical of official policies.



HRDA expresses deep concern regarding the case against Amnesty International India, a globally reputed human rights organisation, against whom the Karnataka Police have filed an FIR under sedition law, done with an aim to harass and persecute the organisation, it said.



It also sought the NHRCs intervention on the ground that Section 12(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act (1993) empowers it to review the safeguards provided by the Constitution or any law for the protection of human rights, and recommend measures for their effective implementation.



The case was registered following complaints that anti-national and pro-Pakistan slogans in favour of freedom for Kashmir were raised at a function organised by Amnesty in Bengaluru on August 13. Amnesty clarified that as a matter of policy, it does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination.



At the same time, it also considers that the right to freedom of expression under international human rights laws protects the right to peacefully advocate political solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley will skip the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) conference of finance ministers in Islamabad next week.





The decision was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of Home Minister Rajnath Singhs not-so-pleasant experience at the Saarc interior/home ministers conference in Islamabad on August 4 and 5.



Secretary for Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das will now lead a team of officials for the conference scheduled for August 25 and 26.



Modis decision is set to send the relations between India and Pakistan plummeting further. At his Independence Day address on Monday, the prime minister had signalled an aggressive line on Indias policy against Pakistans proxy war in Kashmir.



Though the decision came to light after his Red Fort address, Modi had apparently made up his mind soon after Singh recounted his experience in Islamabad, sources said.



In fact, Singh went straight to the prime ministers office after landing in New Delhi to give him a first-hand account of what transpired during the 24 hours he spent in the Pakistani capital.



Sources said Modi decided not to allow a repeat of what Singh had experienced. The prime minister felt the visit had left a sense of distaste among the diplomats and officials.



As the issue of disrespect to Singh was raised by the Opposition in Parliament recently, Singh did not mince words in conveying that he was not treated well in Pakistan.



It is true that Pakistan Interior Minister (Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan) invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch, Singh told the Rajya Sabha.



He also stated the Indian media was not allowed to cover the conference. The Pakistani media was even fed with unfounded stories that Singh used the toilet six to eight times to use his mobile to take instructions from New Delhi.



Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted as saying on Tuesday that going to Pakistan is like going to hell. Parrikar was speaking at a rally in Rewari, Haryana.
At least five civilians were killed and nearly 100 injured when security forces opened fire at protesters across Kashmir, even as strike and curfew continued unabated for the 39th consecutive day on Tuesday.





Reports said four protesters were killed and 15 injured when paramilitary CRPF troopers opened fire on protesters at Beerwah area of Jammu and Kashmirs Budgam district. Witnesses said some angry youth, who were part of a huge protest rally, hurled stones at paramilitary troopers, who in retaliation opened fire.



Hospital sources said the condition of some of the injured, who were shifted to Srinagar, is critical.



Immediately after that incident, massive clashes broke out across Budgam district, which were going on till late Tuesday evening. Reports said dozens of protesters and security personnel have been injured in the clashes.



One more youth was killed in South Kashmirs Anantnag district in a similar clash, reports said. At least 10 received pellet or bullet injuries in the clash.



With this, the death toll in ongoing Kashmir unrest, which erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, reached 65. Nearly, 6,600 civilians have been injured in action by the security forces during the period.



Reports of protests and violence were received from other districts of Valley in which 50 persons have been injured.



In Srinagar, despite curfew imposed by authorities, protesters at dozens of places clashed with security forces in which several people were injured,Separatist leaders, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, who are spearheading the agitation, have asked all the Kashmiris to come on roads for 72 hours to protest the killings.



Broadband, internet and postpaid services remained suspended for the fourth consecutive day across Kashmir, except in some areas housing government offices.



Mobile internet and prepaid services had been suspended in the Valley on July 9. The suspension of these services has affected the work of journalists, especially those working in national and international organisations.



Meanwhile, a video of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Naikoo has surfaced in which he has asked the people of Kashmir to continue the protest.



In the video, shot at some undisclosed location, Naikoo has urged Kashmiris to remain steadfast and continue the strike till the mission of Azadi is achieved.



Naikoo, an engineering college dropout who joined Burhan Wanis group in 2012, was appointed as one of the three commanders by Hizbul immediately after Wanis death.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) submitted before the High Court on Tuesday that the BBMP officials were fully aware of the fact that certain builders had encroached upon stormwater drains and constructed buildings. But the engineers failed to take action.





The BMTF, in its statement of objections on the petitions filed by the engineers, seeking quashing of the FIR filed against them, said the engineers have shown laxity in approving the plan sanction without physically inspecting the property.



The High Court had dismissed the petitions filed by four BBMP engineers, M L Munikrishna, retired chief engineer; P Gangappa, assistant director of Town Planning, Mahadevapura Zone; Sunitha H, assistant engineer at the office of the assistant director of Town Planning, Mahadevapura and M Leyakath, assistant director of Town Planning, Dasarahalli, challenging the FIR filed on August 6.



The petitioners had sought quashing of the FIR and a stay on their suspension order dated August 9. Subsequently, the BMTF filed another FIR on August 11 against 20 engineers, including the petitioners.



The four engineers filed fresh petitions on Tuesday, in the wake of the FIR by name against them. The fresh petition will be heard by Justice Anand Byrareddy on Wednesday.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palikes (BBMP) encroachment clearance drive has finally targeted a major builder. The civic agency on Tuesday razed a tin sheet boundary erected by Puravankara around its upcoming apartment complex in front of Haralur lake, southeast Bengaluru.





The Palikes crackdown came on the direction of Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy. Purva Skydale, a 17-storey residential complex of 288 flats, is almost ready with final touches being given to it. There were complaints that the builder violated the lakes buffer zone, encroached on a stormwater drain by building an apartment complex on it, diverted the flow of the drain and narrowed it.



Puravankara is also accused of encroaching on 7.5 guntas of land belonging to one Venkataswamy Reddy. Taking note of the complaints, the mayor reached the spot with Palike and revenue officials in tow. Finding truth in the complaints, Manjunatha Reddy directed the BBMP to seize the entire property and evict workers from the place.



On his instruction, Palike officials measured the lakes buffer zone and found the boundary of the housing complex at least 36 feet inside the buffer zone. The tin sheets and the workers makeshift quarters were immediately razed to the ground.



Speaking to reporters later, the mayor referred to complaints against the project  encroachment of stormwater drain, encroachment of Haralur lakes buffer zone and encroachment of Venkataswamy Reddys 7.5 guntas of land in survey number 100/3 of Kudlu village in Sarjapur hobli, Anekal taluk. He took the officials to task for not responding to repeated complaints by Venkataswamy Reddy.



Puravankara has encroached upon Venkataswamy Reddys land. He fought a long legal battle in the lower court and the High Court ruled in his favour, but he has not yet got his land, the mayor said. Manjunatha Reddy directed the BBMP to survey the SWD and submit a detailed report.



Reacting to the BBMP action, a spokesperson for Puravankara said, Puravankara clarifies that the project is being developed on 186 guntas, and has a clear marketable title. The property has been purchased through a valid sale deed and we have the BBMP khata for the entire extent of land in our name, with all taxes paid till date.



We are the rightful owner of the property and have adhered to all bye-laws and obtained all necessary NOCs and plan sanctions. Referring to the 7.5 guntas of land, the matter is sub judice. We reiterate that we have not encroached on any private or public property (SWD).



The mayor also inspected Sunny Brooks, a gated community at Dodda Kannahalli on Sarjapur Road near Wipro office. He said the SWD had been encroached upon, causing flooding in a residential layout in the upstream of Saul Kere.
Jody Sleppy, 53, of Bethel, AK, passed away suddenly on November 10, 2016, with his family by his side, in Anchorage, AK.

Jody Greg Sleppy was born on August 12, 1963, in Denver Colorado to John and JoAnn Sleppy. His parents were missionaries and moved the family to Alaska in 1969. He attended and graduated from Bethel Regional High School in 1981. Jody majored in Music at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, California. He graduated from PCBBC in 1985. It was at bible college that Jody met the love of his life, Sheri Johnston. They were married on August 15, 1987, in Oregon.

Jody held many titles, including pastor, son, brother, husband, father, and friend. The things that interested him most were reading, traveling, spending time with his family, singing, and helping those in need.

Jody is preceded in death by his dad, John Sleppy and grandparents, Jerome and Ruby Sleppy, and John and Anna Strausz.

Jody is survived by his wife, Sheri; children, Karissa, Lauren, Michael, and Caleb; sisters, Joni Tingue, Jonda Sleppy and Joyce Sleppy; and mother, JoAnn.

Memorial service for Jody was on Saturday November 26, 2016 at Gladys Jung Elementary School. The family of Jody wishes to extend their sincere thanks to all of those who have given of their heartfelt time, words, and gifts.

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by House District 38 Staff

March 2, 2018

Regular Session Reaches Halfway Mark

Dear Friends,

At day 45, we are halfway through the regular legislative session and the House Finance committee has taken up HB 286, the appropriation bill encompassing the operating budget for the state. The committee began hearing public testimony on the bill yesterday and will continue to hear public testimony through tomorrows committee meeting. These meetings are teleconferenced and you can watch the meetings by clicking on the meeting link for each day. Following public testimony the committee will begin consideration of amendments to the operating budget made by committee members.

We are thrilled to report March 9th is the date set for Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky to be sworn into office in Juneau, making this the last weekly transitional e-newsletter! Keep an eye out for regular e-newsletters to resume soon as well as additional information about how to contact Rep. Zulkosky directly.

Selected Legislative Updates

HB 176, Ground Emergency Medical Transport

This bill, sponsored by Rep. Wool, would allow emergency medical transport service providers to be reimbursed up to the full amount allowed by the federal government. Yesterday House Finance moved the bill out of committee. The next step for this bill is a vote on the House Floor.

HB 286, Approp: Operating Budget/Loans/Funds

This appropriations bill encompasses the operating budget for the State of Alaska. This bill is currently being considered by the House Finance committee and public testimony is being accepted by the committee through March 3rd.

Selected Regional Updates

Ice Road Plowed Bethel to Chuathbaluk

The ice road is plowed and ready for travel this week. The tribal transportation departments of Akiachak, Akiak, Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Aniak, Chuathbaluk, and Napaimute worked together to ensure the road got plowed. Bethel Search and Rescue has also said trails between Bethel/Napakiak and Bethel/Napaskiak are safe to travel provided drivers keep to the middle of the river.

Congratulations

Elizabeth David of Bethel on her new position as First Alaskans Institute Finance Manager

Newly sworn in CVRF Board members: Carlie Beebe of Eek, Sandra Tall-Lake of Hooper Bay, George Chuckwuk of Kipnuk, Jerry Ivon of Kongiganak, Nicholai Steven of Oscarville, Clarence Dull of Toksook Bay, Albert Williams of Mekoryuk, Clement George of Nightmute.

Y-K Mushers qualified to participate in the Iditarod which starts this weekend: Mike Williams of Aniak, Richie Diehl of Aniak, Pete Kaiser of Bethel.

Please reach out to the District 38 office by email or phone and let us know about any legislative questions, comments, or concerns you may have. We will continue to serve the people of District 38 during this time of transition and are looking forward to having Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky in the office on March 9th to serve the people of District 38. Quyana.

-District 38 Legislative Staff: Michelle Sparck, Mary Aparezuk, Jill Yordy

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Thank you for finding our loved ones

To the Search & Rescue Volunteers of Alakanuk, Emmonak, Kotlik, and Mountain Village

Thank you so much for volunteering your time and resources to help search for our daughters, Patience and Haley, last month. Your willingness to help on short notice is much appreciated and helped contribute to their safe return and a positive outcome. We could not have found them without you. Special thanks goes to Jason Fancyboy and Jeff Unok of Kotlik who found them, fed them, made sure they were warm, and delivered them home safely. God bless all of you that helped with their safe return! Thank you so much, the Alstrom and Moses families.

Audrey Alstrom

Anchorage, AK

A GREAT BIG Bethel THANK YOU!

The 2017 Bras n Bros fundraiser event sponsored by the VFW Auxiliary Post 10041 at the end of January was a success due to the involvement of several state, city and local agencies and businesses PLUS the selfless contributions of time from many individuals.

THANK YOU to the Robert V. Lindsey VFW Post 10041, YKHC and YKHC Injury Prevention, Lynden Air Frieght, Bethel Police Department, Bethel Fire Department, Immaculate Conception Church, the Magic Man, Mike Calvetti, Gold Rush Liquor and Swansons Store.

With everyones support, the VFW Auxiliary raised over $8,000.00 for scholarships, funeral and medical assistance, Americanism, Veterans recognition and Veterans family support.

LaTesia M. Guinn

VFW Auxiliary Bras n Bros Chairperson

Post 10041, Bethel AK

Lets stand as one, not as divided tribes

It has been a while since I last wrote. To my displeasure of some leaders of this region, I dont need to name names as you know who you are. There are a select few of us without getting compensated are trying our best to help this region.

I personally have spent countless hours of phone conversations with some respected and tireless elders and real leaders that affect our economically depressed region. I applaud those that had the courage to attend last weeks first YK Delta Intertribal Conference. Alcohol was the main topic first day and many of the attendees were affected by this very hard topic.

From my perspective it was a good turnout.

Many spoke out mostly because there already have been many preventable and premature deaths. Young and old have died from alcohol since the liquor store opened. I would like for the City of Bethel to reconsider their position with the two that are open now. The AC and BNCs licenses to operate. Needless to say the BNCs store has not been operating after the leaders of that corporation advocated publically that it is time. Time for the younger generation to learn how to drink moderation and what not.

One old man from Bethel testified when the Wild Goose was open back in the late 70s which was heartbreaking. As for the AC liquor store, what has it brought to our delta? Are they going to send food, attention, comfort, and especially LOVE to those children that are being neglected? The money that AC liquor store earns is only benefitting a Canadian company. I can only imagine if they earned 2.7 million last quarter to date this delta contributed over 5 million dollars by now.

It is time that we stand as one not as divided tribes. These organizations that you tribes erected have their own agendas. We tried and cried wolf but never got heard but turned the other way. With that being said I hope you tribes can come together. We can all agree to disagree as united tribes and great people of this Yupik, Cupik, Cupig, and Athabaskans of this great region.

Steven M Alexie

Napaskiak, AK

You, Womens History, and the Power of Social Security

March is Womens History Month  a time to focus not just on the past, but also on the challenges women continue to face. Nearly 60 percent of the people receiving Social Security benefits are women, and in the 21st century, more women work, pay Social Security taxes, and earn credit toward monthly retirement income than at any other time in our nations history. Knowing this, you can be the author of your own rich and independent history, with a little preparation.

Social Security has served a vital role in the lives of women for over 80 years. With longer life expectancies than men, women tend to live more years in retirement and have a greater chance of exhausting other sources of income. With the national average life expectancy for women in the United States rising, many women will have decades to enjoy retirement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a female born today can expect to live more than 80 years. As a result, experts generally agree that if women want to ensure that their retirement years are comfortable, they need to plan early and wisely.

You can start with a visit to Social Securitys Retirement Estimator. It gives you a personalized estimate of your retirement benefits. Plug in different retirement ages and projected earnings to get an idea of how such things might change your future benefit amounts. You can use this valuable tool at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.

You should also visit Social Securitys financial planning website at www.socialsecurity.gov/planners. It provides detailed information about how marriage, widowhood, divorce, self-employment, government service, and other life or career events can affect your Social Security.

Your benefit is determined based on your earnings. You can create your personal my Social Security account to verify that your earnings are correct. Your account also can provide estimates of future retirement, disability, and survivors benefits.

If you want more information about how Social Security supports women through lifes journey, Social Security has a booklet that you may find useful. It is Social Security: What Every Woman Should Know. You can find it online at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10127.html.

Robin Schmidt

Social Security Administration

Alaska Public Affairs Specialist

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The Federal Subsistence Board (Board) closed the Federal public waters of the Kuskokwim River to the harvest of Chinook Salmon by non-Federally qualified subsistence users, and limited the pool of Federally qualified subsistence users eligible to harvest Chinook Salmon, via Temporary Special Action FSA19-03 issued during the Board meeting on April 15  18, 2019.

In consultation with the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the Federal In-season Manager has closed Federal public waters of the Kuskokwim River main-stem within Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) boundaries to the harvest of Chinook Salmon with gillnets by Federally qualified subsistence users effective at 12:01 am, June 1, 2019.

Other means and methods (rod and reel, dipnets, beach seines, and fish wheels) remain open in the mainstem to the harvest of Chinook Salmon by Federally qualified subsistence users.

Salmon-bearing tributaries within the Refuge boundaries are closed to the harvest of Chinook Salmon with all means and methods by Federally qualified subsistence users beginning 12:01 a.m., June 1, 2019. Salmon-bearing tributaries are the Eek, Kwethluk, Kasigluk, Kisaralik, Tuluksak, and Aniak within the boundaries of the Refuge. This closure is based on the need to conserve a lower than average Chinook salmon run.

The Federal In-season Manager will announce any mainstem gillnet opportunities for Chinook Salmon by Federally qualified users in future news releases. This closure has been implemented by Federal Emergency Special Action (3-KS-03-19) under the delegated authority of the Federal Subsistence Board.

Access up-to-date information on fishing opportunities by calling 907-543-1008 or visit the Refuge Facebook page or www.fws.gov/refuge/yukon_delta/. Questions? Call the Refuge at (907) 543-3151 or at (800) 621-5804. Additional information on the Federal Subsistence Management Program may be found on the web at www.doi.gov/subsistence or by visiting www.facebook.com/subsistencealaska.

Missing out on the latest Federal subsistence issues? If youd like to receive emails and notifications on the Federal Subsistence Management Program you may subscribe for regular updates by emailing [email protected]

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New research shows that chronic kidney disease shares a link to the development of type 2 diabetes.

The findings were made by scientists at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, who believe that, should their findings be confirmed in further studies, patients with chronic kidney disease might require antioxidants to protect against type 2 diabetes.

Chronic kidney disease occurs when patients suffer a loss of kidney function, and can no longer eliminate toxins from the blood. Patients have to either undergo kidney transplantation or dialysis to get rid of these toxins.

In new observations of mice and human samples of chronic kidney disease, Montreal researchers found that around half had elevated blood glucose levels.

When they investigated further, they also noted that the samples had impaired insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells, which occurs in type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a known cause of chronic kidney disease, and lead researcher Dr Vincent Poitout insists that the opposite is also true.

We identified molecular mechanisms that may be responsible for increased blood glucose levels in patients with non-diabetic chronic kidney disease. Our observations in mice and in human samples show that the disease can cause secondary diabetes, he said.

Poitouts team believe that when the kidneys fail, a waste product called urea builds up in the blood. This is normally filtered by the kidneys and excreted in urine, but not in patients with chronic kidney disease.

In patients with chronic renal failure, the kidneys are no longer able to eliminate toxins. Urea is part of this cocktail of waste that accumulates in the blood.

This study demonstrates that urea is directly responsible for impaired insulin secretion in chronic kidney disease, said Laetitia Koppe Koppe, who worked on the study.

The study team now plan to conduct further studies to validate these findings in humans, which could lead to new treatment approaches to protect beta cells in people with kidney disease.

The findings appear in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, has also predicted that in 2018, the company may launch an iPad with a flexible AMOLED display

Apple might be preparing to release three new iPad Pros next year along with a revolutionary change in the lineup in 2018. According to a report by MacRumours, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that the company will launch a 10.5-inch iPad Pro, alongside a 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2 and a low cost 9.7-inch iPad Pro in 2017. Further, he also believes that the two larger models might employ the A10X processor, while the 9.7-inch model might use the A9X chipset, which will be exclusively supplied by TSMC.

For 2018 though, Kuo has predicted a revolutionary change for the iPad lineup. He has predicted that not only will Apple change the design of the iPad, but the company may also use a flexible AMOLED display for the device. Apple has previously been tipped to be working on OLED displays as well as micro-LED technology at its facility in Taiwan. The company must be hoping that this technology will give it an edge over the numerous Android as well as Windows powered devices that are being launched.

A few months back, Kuo had also predicted that the upcoming iPhone 7 will not have many new features to excite buyer, which would lead to a decline in sales. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook, is more optimistic about the new iPhones and has said that the new device will have features that you just dont even know you need. We might not have to wait long though as rumours suggest that Apple might unveil its new iPhone next month.
EasyHotel announced on Tuesday that it has a further 96 rooms under development by its Benelux franchisee.

The EasyHotel Amsterdam-Zaandam will be located on the ninth to eleventh floors of the Saentower in the heart of Zaandam, with construction expected to begin shortly and the hotel set to open early next year.

This will be the groups third hotel in the Dutch capital, with the second franchise hotel having been announced in February.

Chief executive officer Guy Parsons said: We are pleased to be further extending our presence in Amsterdam which is an extremely attractive market for us, with considerable demand for affordable tourist accommodation.

"This development together with the agreements we have recently signed for Istanbul, Lisbon and Bernkastel -Kues (Germany) will further increase our presence and awareness of the brand without direct capital investment across Europe."

At 1235 BST, shares were up 4.3% to 82.92p.
International infrastructure group Balfour Beatty announced on Tuesday that it has been awarded a $697m contract to undertake electrification of the 52-mile Caltrain rail corridor between San Francisco and San Jose, in preparation for the future operation of high speed trains.

The FTSE 250 firm said it is the largest contract secured by Balfour Beatty in the United States.

It said the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board awarded the contract to Balfour Beatty as part of the Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project.

The electrification of the line is being undertaken to bring cleaner, high performance electric vehicles to Caltrain's fleet, Balfour Beatty said, allowing for a more frequent service.

Its board added that reliability and capacity of the rail service, which operates through 17 US cities across San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, will also be enhanced.

Our extensive experience in managing complex rail projects leaves us well qualified to deliver this significant scheme, said group chief executive Leo Quinn.

Caltrain builds on the back of the recent successful delivery of our part in the multi-billion dollar Eagle P3 Commuter Rail network in Denver, Colorado.

We are pleased our unique capability has been recognised with this award which contributes to our strategy to increase our design-build rail market share across the US, Quinn added.

Balfour Beatty Infrastructure will design and build a 25kv AC overhead catenary system to serve as the power source for the new high speed trains and construct two traction power substations, one switching substation and seven paralleling substations.

With a promise of minimal disruption to the 92 daily Caltrain trains serving over 65,000 commuters daily, the company will also replace signal systems and earth existing facilities as part of the process to electrify the 52 miles of existing corridor.

The project is due to start in the coming autumn, with completion expected in spring 2020.

A workforce of more than 300 will be employed at project peak which will include 50 apprentice opportunities.
Plastic piping and ventilation systems manufacturer Polypipe Group announced its half year unaudited results for the six months to 30 June on Tuesday, with revenue 31% higher at 223.3m.

The FTSE 250 firm said its UK revenue for the period was 8.1% ahead, excluding acquisitions, while its underlying operating profit was 47% higher at 37.7m.

It made a 180 basis point improvement in underlying operating margin to a record 16.9%, while underlying earnings per share were 48% higher at 13.6p.

Polypipes reported cash generated from operations during the first half was 71% higher at 30.5m, and its net debt was down to 2.3x pro-forma LTM EBITDA.

Its board declared an interim dividend increased by 35% to 3.1p.

On the operational front, Polypipe said demand from all segments of its core UK market has remained strong, with continued progress in growth initiatives of substitution, carbon efficiency and water management.

The Nuaire acquisition was performing well, and the board said there had been some early success in specification of Nuaire systems with Polypipe duct.

Polypipe also made its first delivery from the manufacturing plant in Dubai during July.

We have delivered another record performance in the first half continuing the strong momentum from last year, said chief executive David Hall.

Our strategic focus on the structural growth opportunities, together with the acquisition of our Nuaire ventilation business has accelerated our growth.

Hall said despite an uncertain economic backdrop given Brexit, the long-term structural drivers of the business remained strong, with Polypipes balanced business model meaning it is not overly exposed to any particular sector.

The nature of the group's production processes enables us to adapt and flex quickly to changes in demand, he explained.

The board is confident that the cash generative characteristics of the business and a commitment to remain agile will enable the group to continue to develop and outperform, whatever the market conditions.
The US government granted a patent to PureTech subsidiary Vedanta BioScience for its Clostridium live bacterial strains, triggering a $2m milestone payment from Janssen Biotech.

Patent No. 9,415.079 ran until at least 2031 and broadly covered pharmaceutical compositions of Clostridium live bacterial strains, which were exclusively licensed to Vedanta BioScience under an agreement with the University of Tokyo.

Puretech had a 75% stake in Vedanta.

Tuesday's decision marked a milestone in Vedanta's on-going collaboration with Janssen Biotech to develop a product candidate for inflammatory bowel disease, trigerring the $2m payment.

Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at PureTech, said: "We believe that the issuance of this patent puts us in an intellectual property leadership position in the microbiome space. We're pleased to receive this patent with broad, fundamental claims on key compositions."

In a research note issued on 16 August, Numis analysts Stefan Hamill, Paul Cuddon and Sally Taylor described Vedanta as a "hidden gem" in Puretech's portfolio, given its pioneer status in the microbiome therapy space.

Both VE202, targeting inflammatory bowel disease, and VE303, targeting infectious disease, were expected in the clinic in the first half of 2017, Numis said.

The broker reiterated its 'buy' stance and 206p target price.

As of 14:24 BST stock in PureTech was up by 3.33% to 155.25p, just below its 52-week high of 170.50p.
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The county finds it hard to fund basic services because it has very little tax base: About 80 percent of the land in Skamania County is publicly owned.



By DAMEON PESANTI

The Columbian

VANCOUVER  Almost as soon as they purchased about 350 acres of timberland in Skamania County in 2012, Ted and Mary Salka made moves to sell most of it off.

The couple found a buyer in the U.S. Forest Service, but the sale became symbolic of the fiscally struggling Skamania County's frustrations with the federal agency's overwhelming presence in the county. Soon, county officials and Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler worked hard to stop it, reported The Columbian.





. . .
Russia opens its dairy products market to India, but low prices make exports unviable

Russia has loosened its stance on the minimum size of cattle population for dairies to export milk products from India, though a near halving of product prices in the international market has made export of dairy products from the country unviable.

Russia has revised its import protocol allowing exports by dairy co-operatives like Amul, but on condition that the dairies collect milk directly from producers and not from collection centres.

Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (FSVPS), which in April last year was insisting that dairies should have their captive cattle farms with at least 1,000 cattle to qualify for exports, has now relented, but insists that milk should be directly procured from producers and not from collection centres.

Under the earlier rule only Parag Milk Foods and Shreiber Dynamix Diaries were the only plants approved by the FSVPS to export dairy products to Russia.

''The Russian agency for ensuring food quality and safety, FSVPS, has now signed the protocol and will upload on its website the names of the dairies that meet the strict conditions laid down by it to qualify for exports,'' a Hindu BusinessLine report quoted a government official as saying.

While Russia is a huge market for dairy products, which is currently being served by Western countries, including the European Union, the easing of rules is unlikely to benefit India at a time when prices of dairy products have nearly halved, especially in the aftermath of the sanctions imposed on Russia.

Russia's annual cheese consumption is estimated at 230,000 tonnes and India has been eyeing a $40-billion market for food and agricultural items, including dairy products.

In fact, Amul has trebled its cheese production capacity to 120,000 tonnes a day from the earlier 40,000 tonnes per day, at an investment of Rs600 crore, with an eye on the Russian market.

Russia dropped the captive farm condition earlier this year, but retained the clause that exporters must be collecting milk directly from farms and not from collection centres, but this too may not help Amul much.

The Russian agency dropped the requirement based on a detailed briefing on veterinary inspection processes followed by dairies to ensure that cows are disease-free and a inspection carried out by FSVPS.

However, with current price of skimmed milk powder (SMP) of around Rs350 per kg against international prices of around Rs180 a kg, hard cheese being quoted in Indian markets at around Rs400 a kg and Rs200 a kg abroad and butter sold at $5,000 a tonne here against less than $3,000 elsewhere, export prospects for milk products are dim.


PM announces 20% hike in freedom fighters' pensions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a 20-per cent hike in the pension of freedom fighters across various categories.

"Pension for our freedom fighters will be increased by 20 per cent. So those who are receiving Rs25,000 will now get Rs30,000," Modi said in his address to the nation from the Red Fort on the 70th Independence Day.

He also announced that museums would be established in different states to glorify the role of lesser-known tribal freedom fighters.

''When we speak of freedom fighters, a few are mentioned far more than others. Our Adivasi brothers fought valiantly largely unsung, many have heard of Birsa Munda but few others. In the next few days, it is our intention to record the history of such Adivasi freedom fighters in the areas of their origin on a museum,'' Modi said.

"Tribals played an important role in our freedom struggle. Our government is planning to open museums all over the country to glorify their role so that future generations can know about their sacrifices," he added.

The government, last August, on the 73rd anniversary of the Quit India Day also increased the pension for freedom fighters by hiking dearness relief by 218 per cent.

The present rate of pension is Rs23,309 per month for political prisoners jailed in the Andamans, Rs20,1291 for freedom fighters/spouses, Rs4,770 for unmarried/unemployed daughters and Rs10,064 for two spouses.

The total number central freedom fighters pensioners as of 1 January 2015 stood at 35,900.

Besides, he said, the government will bear the health-care expenditure of up to Rs1,00,000 per annum for the BPL families.


Offshore wind could replace nuclear power at Hinkley Point: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

The UK government could scrap the 18-billion nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point and generate the same amount of electricity from offshore wind turbines for roughly the same investment, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

The assessment came after prime minster Theresa May's decision to review whether to proceed with the first new atomic plant in more than three decades.

At the same capital costs, the UK could install about 830 new turbines at sea, capable of generating 25 terawatt hours a year, the same amount of power the Hinkley reactors would produce, according to the London-based researcher.

The findings added to the debate over whether Electricite de France SA's proposal made economic sense. With the cost of offshore wind turbines falling, developers led by Dong Energy A/S of Denmark were promoting renewables as a better way to produce energy without the emissions that cause global warming.

''If we had 18 billion to spend today, we could build 5.7 gigawatts of offshore wind -- just under double the capacity and generating the same level of power as Hinkley Point,'' said Keegan Kruger, analyst for BNEF.

The BNEF assessment took into account only the capital cost of erecting various forms of generation, not operating expenses or the price of fuel. It also did not address the investment required to create storage at a giant scale evening out the power delivered from renewables when the sun was not shining and the wind was not blowing.

Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson, said in a newspaper article that Theresa May and her new ministers were in danger of taking what might be the right decision for the wrong reason and damaging the UK's relations with China in the process.

''They allowed the impression to be created that it was the China element they objected to most, and that it was Britain's links with this burgeoning communist power that they most wanted to review.''


The Fondazione Prada is holding two exhibitions curated by Elvira Dyangani in its Milan headquarters: Theaster Gates True Value and Nastio Mosquitos T.T.T.  Template Temples of Tenacity. Theaster Gates and Nastio Mosquito were born in Chicago in 1973 and Luanda, Angola, in 1981, respectively.

In apertura: Theaster Gates, True Value, Fondazione Prada, Milano. Qui sopra: Nastio Mosquito, T.T.T.- Template Temples of Tenacity, Fondazione Prada, Milano.

Both have appeared on the international scene in recent years with forceful works fusing performance, installation and music. They have been prominent presences in exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, Documenta and the Istanbul Biennial. Both combine a speculative approach and the search for a spiritual dimension with a focus on everyday life.

Theaster Gates, True Value, Fondazione Prada, Milano.

Theaster Gates extremely clear vision is driven by pressing social issues and community life as well as the need to re-amalgamate what todays economic system neglects and divides. This drive fuels a poetic but also activity bordering on activism, comprising teaching  which he does at the Department of Visual Arts of the University of Chicago where he coordinates the Arts and Public Life programme , managing a non-profit organisation he founded, the Rebuild Foundation, and a number of long-term urban-regeneration projects. Since 2008, the year of the major recession, Gates has pursued a large design to take over rundown or abandoned businesses, inject new life with waste materials found in loco or nearby and turn them into community rendezvous. The area involved is the South Side of Chicago.

Theaster Gates, True Value, Fondazione Prada, Milano

The first building was the Archive House in Dorchester Avenue: a clapboard bungalow housing 14,000 books from a closed bookshop, a collection of slides and a soul food kitchen. Other buildings, including bank premises closed after being seriously damaged by flooding, followed; his actions have converged in the ongoing community Dorchester Project. In recent years, the artist has also been asked to drive similar interventions in other cities, outside the Dorchester Project.

Theaster Gates, True Value, Fondazione Prada, Milano

The core work presented by Theaster Gates at the Fondazione Prada is a meticulous reconstruction of the interior of an abandoned hardware store. Above a long counter neatly filled with materials until recently sold in the shop is a Hardware sign. Although decontextualized, this fragment of reality conjures up local history and the situation of the neighbourhood where the store was situated, its everyday life and the relationships formed there. It also prompts social and economic reflections. Theaster Gates believes that the most mundane objects can channel deep-rooted knowledge, linked not only to their phenomenology but also to user experiences. This is their true value and the title of this exhibition. Gates also sees the hardware shop as a metaphor: the presence of tools, pliers, screws, wires and adhesive materials conveys the idea of holding the world together, a role the artist tries to play, contributing via his work to the responsible transformation of the context he lives in. This stance drives Gates work as a whole and the title of the exhibition.

Theaster Gates, True Value, Fondazione Prada, Milano

Other works by the artist exhibited at the Fondazione Prada are sculptures made of clay, ceramic, elephant dung and other materials, objects tied to an African matrix, with which the artist identifies, and a ritual associable to the theme of faith. The relationship with forces that transcend material everyday life is, to Gates eyes, a source of strength available to humans. There is also a sloping floor, recycled from the many high schools closed by neoliberal policies. The floor can be walked on and so retains its use value; at the same time, however, it has a destabilising effect, again a criticism of the neoliberal agenda and a metaphor on the importance of waste materials, which are a form of collective memory.

Nastio Mosquito, T.T.T.- Template Temples of Tenacity, Fondazione Prada, Milano

The other exhibition on at the Fondazione Prada is Nastio Mosquitos T.T.T.  Template Temples of Tenacity, comprising three new projects presented by Mosquito on the ground floor of the Podium, in the Cinema and in the external spaces of the Fondazione. Mosquito, like Gates, fuses installation and performance in a collective and participatory dimension where the music often acts as a tool that can draw out a critical approach linked to personal feelings.

Nastio Mosquito, T.T.T.- Template Temples of Tenacity, Fondazione Prada, Milano

WEorNOT (Nastivicious Temple #01) is a site-specific installation by Nastivicious, a duo founded in 2008 by Mosquito and Spanish artist Vic Pereiro in collaboration with the illustrator Ada Diez. The project transforms the Podium space, its glazed surfaces covered with caricature-like figures. These are illustrations of popular proverbs summarising collective thought and wisdom. In the centre of the room is a book containing a number of proverbs and mottos, the product of the humorous distortion of aphorisms and popular sayings.

Nastio Mosquito, T.T.T.- Template Temples of Tenacity, Fondazione Prada, Milano

For the opening, the courtyard of the Fondazione hosted I Make Love To You. You Make Love To Me. Let Love Have Sex With The Both Of Us (Part 1  The Gregorian Gospel Vomit), an energetic performance based on the combination of gospel and irreverence, and consisting in the re-elaboration of a sung Christian hymn. During the action, the performers hand spectators small stickers bearing mottos such as Dont be cool be relevant And if you can be relevantly cool then good for you.

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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.
When election time comes around, theres always something crazy that is bound to come up or perhaps its just a crazy person. I often tell the story of how a man who died just a few days before an election was voted into office because voters were so against his opponent that they still punched his name more times than his opponent, and since the towns bylaws stated that should such an act occur, his or her spouse would fill the seat.

I ask you, how disliked do you have to be to be out-voted by a dead man?

Then there was the case where someone who had moved in from several states away felt as if it was his position to educate the locals by running for school board. I knew the guy well, and he would not have gotten my vote if it had been between him and a dirt clod. It was as obvious as the day is long that my Labrador at the time had a better chance of winning an election, but what was shocking was that the guy only received two votes. He was 40-ish, lived with his girlfriend, who was 40-ish, and her mother, who was 65-ish. Someone in the house didnt vote for him, which Im sure made for most uncomfortable dinners at night.

I once worked for the granddaughters of Arkansas version of George Wallace Orval Faubus. He too stood against desegregation (Little Rock School District) in 1957, only to be overruled later by the Supreme Court. Faubus had once been the editor of a small-town paper, but worked his way up from postmaster, county judge and eventually governor of his state. It is said that he once received 109 percent of the registered vote in his county, which, after living there for eight years, is hardly surprising to me.

Why? Because an elderly woman once asked a friend of mine in the sheriffs department to help her get some things out of the attic after he husband died. The deceased man had been a member of the Election Commission representing Democrats in his county, and among the items that had been stored in the attic was a box stuffed with blank voting ballots.

Hmmm.

Everyone has probably heard their own crazy versions, and few places have been immune to those moments where you just shake your head and think, What were they thinking?

Lord knows Im no expert on public office matters and, hey, I air enough of my dirty laundry right here in this space twice a week, so no thanks to whatever else is out there for the public to find. I probably rode my motorcycle without a helmet as a teenager, may have driven more than 65 miles-per-hour in a 55 zone while traversing America back in the day, and Im quite certain I left the toilet seat up on more than one occasion. I say we just keep those matters between you and me. Im not running for office.


Just add bigger wheels, oversized wings and a turbocharged engine: The car before you is Honda's new Civic hatch, a machine that will serve as the platform for its new Civic Type R performance car.

Australia missed out on the current-generation machine, which won plenty of fans in Europe as it tackled the likes of Renault's Megane RS en route to becoming the fastest front-wheel-drive car around the Nurburgring.

Honda Australia boss Stephen Collins has already confirmed to Drive that it will offer the next generation Type R to act as a halo model for the rest of the Civic range.

But before then, the new Civic hatch will be the sportiest compact car in the Japanese giant's line-up. Featuring styling cues lifted from the new Honda NSX supercar, the hatchback spices up the four-door's lines with larger vents, a sporty bodykit and more aggressive lines. It's more of a liftback than a conventional hatch, thanks to a sloping glass roofline that separates the Civic from boxier rivals such as Toyota's Corolla.

Collins admits the Civic hatch will be a crucial car for the Japanese brand as it tries to recover lost ground in the sales charts.

"Like the Civic sedan, the Honda Civic Hatch, will be a very important car in the Honda line-up in Australia," he said.

"In the small car segment in Australia, hatches reign so we expect the Honda Civic Hatch to be a relevant option for Honda customers looking for the versatility of a hatch but with the proven quality, style and performance of a Honda."

The Civic sedan's current engine lineup will carry over to the hatch, which will be available with a new 1.5-litre turbocharged engine and CVT automatic transmission that debuted in this year's four-door model.

Likewise, Honda's increasingly competent range of driver assistance systems will feature in the new car.

Honda says the new Civic hatch will arrive locally in the first half of 2017, paving the way for its new Type R in the latter part of the year.

Pricing will be announced closer to launch but Honda has confirmed the car will continued to be sourced from the company's UK plant.
This Brexit business is getting serious.

Independent News and Media (INM) have appointed its own 'dedicated Brexit Correspondent to strengthen its coverage of Britain's exit from the European Union'.

And on the front page of the Irish Independent last week, this new correspondent, Colm Kelple, who incidentally is also the paper's highly regarded business and economics correspondent, tells us that financial experts here have the gloomiest view of all international financial experts, on how Brexit will affect Ireland.

One expert says it will take ten years before we know what will happen.

Then in the Irish Examiner Kyran Fitzgerald writes that 'a town like Dundalk is where the pressure will be felt most sharply.

There are reports of bulk purchases north of the border as people move to take advantage of a weakening currency.

He talks to our own Paddy Malone from Dundalk Chamber of Commerce who has been fielding calls from media across the world, including ABC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Finland, practically every developed country, says Paddy.

But Paddy Malone goes on to paint a bright and optimistic picture of life here in Dundalk and county Louth.

We had our best Christmas in eight years, said Paddy. The recent drop in the currency is from a high point. It has a long way to fall before it damages us.

He also reminds people that Dundalk Chamber is working with its counterpart in Newry 'to develop a strategy to cope with the effects of the likely British EU exit'.

Remember that we here in the South import 3.5 billion of Northern products every year.

And farmers in the North will no longer get EU farm payments and considering that most of the North is rural, that is going to have a huge impact.

Brexit is going to have a bigger impact on the North's economy than ours.

Of course our financial experts are worried.

It's a pity they weren't worried during the Celtic Tiger years when they ran amok.

And as Paddy Malone points out, border towns like Dundalk did not gain much from the economic boom.

But he is right in saying that sterling has a long way to fall before we should start listening to our jittery financial experts.

And he also pointed out when talking to the Irish Examiner that in Dundalk we have eBay and Pay Pal, Glen Dimplex in Dunleer, AIBP, and also Fyffes and Horseware.

And our new high speed broadband has attracted new attention from the IDA.

The Irish Examiner story by Kyran Fitzgerald paints a bright picture of Dundalk and it's one we should all pay attention to.

Mr Fitzgerald finishes by saying:

Dundalk FC, with which the Malone family has been involved for generations, has shown the way. The areas hardened businesspeople, too, seem to be up for the fight.

Of course we are up for a fight.

We are in Europe, thanks to Stephen Kenny - not Enda Kenny - and all the squad at Dundalk FC and we'll be there for some time yet and the financiers can worry all they like.

We're in the money. Dundalk FC has restored a lot of pride.

We will never return to the bad old days. We'll have Brexit for breakfast.

C'mon the Town!
Wednesday the 17th of August is a hugely important day in the lives of the tens of thousands of students who sat their Leaving Cert last June. Who can ever forget getting their Leaving Certificate results and the joy as you realised that you could pursue your dream career or the despair of not reaching the required CAO points?

With so much emphasis placed on the CAO and getting a place in college, the pressure on students is enormous. But students in Louth wishing to pursue a lucrative career as a professional accountant dont have to depend on four years in college or CAO points to qualify in their dream job.

Committed and ambitious students can now start training immediately towards the first stage of their professional accountancy studies with the CPA Accounts Executive Traineeship, a one year school leaver programme which is also open to mature students. Central to the programme is a three month work placement from June  August in an accountancy practice or a business related organisation giving students the opportunity to gain applied practical experience in the world of accounting and business.

This new course in professional accounting education was developed by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA Ireland) one of the leading professional bodies for accountants in Ireland, in partnership with Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) and Cenit College.

The course will run in LMETBs Training Centre in Dundalk with lectures delivered by experienced lecturers from Cenit College, a CPA gold star approved educator. The academic element of this programme incorporates CPA approved professional tuition for the first level of the CPA qualification leading to a Certificate in Business and Accounting on completion.

This one year course is fully funded to support students who cannot afford the cost of fulltime education at college or university.

There is no requirement to have studied accountancy for the Leaving Certificate. Students will be eligible for this programme on attainment of specific Leaving Certificate requirements (applicable if under the age of 23), an interview and aptitude test to ensure that they possess the aptitude and suitability for the CPA Accounts Executive Traineeship.

Peter Egan, Area Training Manager, Louth and Meath Education and Training Board said, Many students are now acutely aware of the financial burden which attending a college course can place on both themselves and their families. We are seeking to address that need by providing committed and ambitious students with a fully funded course. This is not just another bookkeeping or business course, but a programme which provides suitable candidates with the first step towards becoming a fully qualified professional accountant. The CPA qualification is internationally renowned and is a passport to a job anywhere in the world.

Gail McEvoy, Managing Director, McEvoy Craig accountants Drogheda and a former CPA President explains how CPA Ireland is expanding the options open to those who opt for the world of work over college by offering a more experiential model of training with this programme. Historically training in accountancy was conducted through a combination of study and work placement, and we are moving back towards that model. On completion of the one year programme, and three month work placement, students can progress to further accounting studies with CPA Ireland on a part-time basis in order to complete their professional accountancy qualification. One of the great benefits of studying to become a qualified CPA accountant is that you can do so while continuing to work fulltime and earn an income.

Vaeni MacDonnell, Managing Director of Cenit College, which will deliver the programme said, There is a great demand for professionally qualified accountants and it is a very rewarding career. As one of the largest training providers nationwide to various ETBs we consider that the CPA offering is a compelling qualification with strong career prospects both nationally and internationally. Through our engagements with LMETB and CPA Ireland we are delighted to offer this opportunity to students.

Information sessions will be held on 23rd August in Dundalk
The landmark Imperial Hotel in Dundalk has been bought by local accountancy firm Frank Lynch and Company.

The 50 bedroom hotel is being sold by receivers Deloitte. The last of Dundalk's town centre hotels, the Imperial houses both the popular Parkes Bar and Silence niteclub.

Frank Lynch & Co have a pedigree when it comes to hotel management having been involved in the refurbishment of The Four Seasons Hotel in Carlingford recently.

According to Frank Lynch the hotel will run as normal for a period of time with significant refurbishment planned for the near future.

There's no hotel within Dundalk itself and for a population of 40,000 people that's quite unique. Anybody looking to stay in a hotel in the area has to go out to Ballymac, stated Mr Lynch when he spoke to the Democrat on Monday.

It's a 50 bedroom hotel which we believe is a viable business and we feel there is a need for it.

The possibility of hosting conferences and other events at the hotel in the future is something the company are keen to explore.

The Imperial Hotel, Park Street, Dundalk, stands on the site of three old premises at 96, 97 and 98 Park Street, the original hotel on the corner of Rampart Lane, was at No. 96.

According to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas (No. 16 Dundalk), written and edited by Harold OSullivan; the premises was first used as an hotel in 1856 but may have existed as an inn before that date.

Mentioned in Bassett's Guide to Louth (1886) but no name given. Tempest's Annual of 1897 says that the proprietor then as a Patrick O'Toole.

According to Victor Whitmarsh in his 'Old Dundalk' pictorial book, (1988) the Imperial was owned 'at the turn of the century' by a Mr. Connolly whose family came from Clanbrassil Street and owned the Lorne Hotel (No. 15).

He purchased the Imperial from Felix P. Campbell who became the fist Honourary Secretary of the Emmet Band when it was established in 1863 by Peter and Tom McEvoy. A Hugh O'Hare had owned a furniture and cabinet making shop at 97 and, when he died in 1917, his premises was purchased. By 1918, the hotel had doubled in size and was advertising as 'the largest hotel between Dublin and Belfast.'

No. 98 was owned by a Bernard Hamill who ran an extensive grocery business and was an early member of the Dundalk Urban District Council. After Hamill's death in the 1960s, his premises was sold to the Quinn family and all three old premises were demolished and the present structure completed in about 1970.

The Imperial (including O'Hare's) had been bought in about 1940 by Mrs. Irene Quinn who owned the Ballymascanlon Hotel and for many years was managed by her son Peter Quinn. The hotel was one of the Quinn Group hotels which included the Ballymascanlon, The Fairways, Haggardstown and another hotel near Dungannon in county Tyrone.
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.
I really dont know how to respond to this. Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City on the day of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, literally claimed that  well, here are his words from a pro-Trump rally this morning featuring Trumps running mate Mike Pence:

Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didnt have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office.

Lets roll tape in case you think Im just making this up:

Giuliani was in Ohio when he gave this speech. Introducing Mike Pence, he told the crowd, You know better than I do what a great governor he is of your state! Pence, by the way, is the governor of INDIANA.

Rudy Giuliani has always been a sketchy character but I think we may seriously need to confront the fact that the man is in desperate need of some sort of intervention.

Wow.
The Internet of Medical Things, Part 1: A New Concept in Healthcare

The Internet of Medical Things, Part 2: Devices and Apps

Though quick to capitalize on connected health devices and the coming Internet of Medical Things, hardware manufacturers may be moving too slowly when it comes to building the necessary protections into the back end.

The National Security Agency last month told participants in a defense technology summit in Washington that it was looking into hacking connected medical devices.

The agencys interest is confined to researching the possibility of hacking IoMT devices, for now, and the fruit of its labor may be just another tool in the toolbox, according to NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett.

However, if the NSA is looking into hacking such devices, consumers can be sure that the black hats are on it too.

Where Theres a Web, Theres a Way

The cost of connected health programs will challenge the cultivation of the IoMT, as well the user experience and user interfaces, observed Scott Sellers, CEO of Azul Systems. Underneath it all lies a threat to the security of consumers most intimate data.

IoMT challenges include slow or uneven regulatory responses to changes in approach, mostly focusing around data security and, in some markets, reliability of communications, Sellers told TechNewsWorld, especially when traveling, or if patients are in rural areas with less robust network infrastructures.

In theory, any Internet-connected device can be hacked, said Brian Wassom, leader of Honigmans social, mobile and emerging media industry group.

Cybersecurity attacks thus far have focused on large networks  systems that have plenty of access points, are rich with high-value data, and are built on computer languages common enough to invite exploitation, he pointed out.

None of these conditions were met when connected medical devices were in the experimental stage, Wassom told TechNewsWorld.

Carriage and Horse

The Federal Trade Commission last year kicked off the conversation about getting out in front of possible security and privacy issues sure to proliferate as the number of IoT and connected medical devices pile up in coming years.

The Food and Drug Association for the past three years has been issuing guidance on improving the safety and security standards of connected medical devices, noted Stu Bradley, vice president of cybersecurity at SAS.

The proliferation of IoMT technology, and the healthcare industrys enthusiasm to adopt it, has put the veritable cart before the horse in terms of security, he told TechNewsWorld.

Manufacturers will need to embed more robust security solution into IoMT devices, meaning they must proactively address security concerns instead of retroactively responding, Bradley said.

This poses a real challenge for manufacturers whose core competency has historically been device, not software, development, he added.

Manufacturers of connected devices generally have focused on building systems to deliver the needed functionality of a device as cheaply and precisely as possible, noted Matt Gross, director of the SAS health care and life sciences global practice.

Manufacturers, in turn, use the cheapest underlying platforms  usually open source  to keep costs down and accelerate time to market, he told TechNewsWorld. That leaves these devices quite vulnerable to compromise.

Day Zero

Roughly 70 percent of IoT devices were vulnerable to cyberattacks as of two years ago, Honigmans Wassom noted, citing an HP study.

Weaknesses in admin tools, paltry means for updating firmware, and a lack of transport encryption were among the 250 vulnerabilities researchers found.

Bad habits die hard  and the practice of using basic passcodes carried over to IoT devices, the study revealed. About 80 percent of passwords securing IoT devices were 1234 and the like.

Medical devices are not immune to this minimalistic approach to data security, Wassom said.

Two researchers detailed how they remotely accessed a hospitals neonatal monitors in a presentation Wassom attended at last years DEFCON.

In many cases, hospital employees may not even realize that certain devices even have Internet connectivity, much less how to secure them, he said.

Another hacker found an easy way to take charge of an infusion pump, a device that delivers fluids to patients and is common in hospital rooms.

In theory, he could have emptied an entire vial of medication into a patient, said Wassom, and a hospital staff person monitoring the device from a central location would never have known.

While hackers could leverage exploits to modify systems and cause physical harm to other humans, its more likely theyll be motivated to use stolen data for financial gain, said SAS Gross.

They likely will use ill-gotten information to gain access to other systems, or encrypt it for use in ransomware attacks, he suggested. Until the first major breach occurs, however, focus will stay on more immediate threats.
As news about North Carolinas governor and his administration downplaying the risks of drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium unfolds, two leading environmental health advocates are pushing the Obama administration to finally set a nationwide standard for the highly toxic chemical.

Erin Brockovich, a noted environmental health advocate and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) President Ken Cook called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop dragging its feet and move quickly to set a tough national standard, known as a Maximum Contaminant Level or MCL, for the ubiquitous carcinogen found in millions of Americans tap water.

In a joint letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Brockovich and Cook wrote:

We write with deep concern about this continued delay. It is clear that the delay is sowing confusion among state and local regulators, utilities and the public about how much hexavalent chromium is safe in drinking water. This confusion is resulting in many Americans exposure to unregulated levels of hexavalent chromium that federal, state and independent scientists agree pose health hazards.

The request comes as a top state health official in North Carolina resigned in protest over meddling by Gov. Pat McCrory and his staff. McCrory sought to retract do-not-drink warnings directed at some residents whose tap water comes from wells likely tainted by hexavalent chromium from nearby Duke Energy coal-burning facilities.

The situation in North Carolina is, in part, a result of the absence of a stringent nationwide health-protective EPA standard, argued Brockovich and Cook:

States like North Carolina, where industrial byproducts like coal ash increase the risk of hexavalent chromium contamination, need a federal mandate to set strong, health-protective standards for levels of the contaminant in drinking water. Without it, states will continue to use inconsistent and potentially unsafe guidelines and leave citizens confused about whether their drinking water is safe.

A report issued by EWG back in December 2010 found hexavalent chromium in tap water from 31 of 35 American cities.

Its high time EPA put in place a stringent national standard to protect Americans from drinking water contaminated with hexavalent chromium, Cook said in a separate statement.

A lack of a federal standard and the ongoing delay in setting one, are confusing utilities, states and citizens about what level of hexavalent chromium in drinking water is safe. Until EPA acts, we will likely continue to see the situation happening in North Carolina unfold in other states.
The 16-year drought on the Colorado River has drained Lake Mead and Lake Powell to their combined lowest level in history. But thats nothing compared to what could happen, according to a new study from the State of Colorado.

The study indicates that a drought like the one that happened in 2000  2006 would empty Lake Powell, according to the Aspen Daily News. Another potential conclusion from the risk study is that any new trans-mountain diversion would only make it more likely that Powell would go below target levels, the publication noted.

And, whether you want to believe it or not, water agencies in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are proposing to do just that. In fact, Denver Water, Northern Water (in Colorado), and the states of Wyoming and Utah are all proposing even more dams and diversions of water out of the river and its tributaries that would accelerate the draining of Lake Powell and cause serious legal consequences for the entire Southwest U.S.

Further, climate change scientists have painted a bullseye on the Southwest U.S., indicating that it will get hotter and drier, with even less flow into the Colorado River. The lead investigator in the in-progress Colorado report has even said, I havent shown the climate change hydrology because it just scares everybody.

Save the Colorado has formally opposed all new proposed dams and diversions out of the river or its tributaries. We believe climate change is real and will have a serious impact on the Colorado River. The solution proposed by the State of Colorado is to buy massive amounts of water from farmers in Colorado, and then let that water run downstream to Lake Powell to keep the water level high enough to produce electricity at Glen Canyon Dam.

This plan is very unlikely to be successful. Theres just not enough farmers who would want to sell massive amounts of water in order to keep the hydroelectric turbines spinning. Further, it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars every year to buy out those farmers even if they would sell.

What makes more sense is a responsible, planned effort by the government to drain Lake Powell, rather than letting drought and climate change do it in a haphazard way.

Lake Powells days are numbered. The lake was a mistake, its time to forsake.

Gary Wockner, PhD, is the executive director of the Save the Colorado river campaign. Contact Wockner at Gary@SaveTheColorado.org.
When we talk about climate change all too often we focus on carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. But there is a much more potent greenhouse gas, methane, which is much more efficient at trapping radiation than CO2. Some estimates put it at 87 times more potent over a 20 year lifetime than carbon dioxide.

Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold. Flaring disposes of the gas while releasing methane emissions into the atmosphere. Photo credit: North Dakota Department of Health

And who is the biggest culprit for releasing methane in the U.S.? It is the oil and gas industry, which is the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the country, releasing 33 percent of all methane emissions in 2014.

There are a staggering amount of old and new wells with the potential to release methane. At least 3.5 million wells have been drilled in the U.S., with a quarter of those still active. Many old and new ones are leaking the potent greenhouse gas. Adding to the problem, there will be thousands of old wells leaking methane which the authorities do not even know the whereabouts of.

First lets look at existing wells.

A new report, published by the Center for American Progress on Monday, reveals that the onshore oil and gas industrys methane emissions totaled more than 48 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e, in 2014.

To put this into perspective, this is the equivalent of 14 coal-fired power plants powered for one year.

The worst culprits were ranked in order and came out as: ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Chesapeake Energy, EOG Resources and BP.

Concern has been growing about the oil industrys methane emissions for a while. Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized limits on methane emissions from new sources in the oil and gas sector. Indeed, the Obama administration has set a goal of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 percent from 2012 emissions levels by 2025.

The biggest emitters were not necessarily the biggest natural gas producers. For example, ConocoPhillips was the sixth largest natural gas producer in 2014.

The parts of the country experiencing the worse methane pollution are of course the main oil and gas producing areas including the following: the Anadarko Basin of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas; the Gulf Coast Basin of Louisiana and Texas; the San Juan Basin of Colorado and New Mexico; the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas; and the Appalachian Basin in the eastern part of the U.S.

But now lets look at old wells.

There are other areas too which are suffering from chronic methane leakage from old wells. Yesterday, Bloomberg ran an article on the problems of methane leakage affecting Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the U.S. oil industry, where century-old abandoned oil wells have long been part of the landscape.

Bloomberg reports that these abandoned wells as now the focus of growing alarm, especially ones close to the new fracking fields, due to them leaking methane.

We had so much methane in our water, the inspector told us not to smoke a cigar or light a candle in the bath, Joe Thomas, a machinist, whose 40-acre farm has at least 60 abandoned wells, tells Bloomberg.

Pennsylvanias Attorney General is now reviewing the rules requiring drillers to document wells within 1,000 feet of any new potential fracking site. The obvious worry is that abandoned wells might interact with new fracking wells, creating an easy methane escape route from the frack well. And in Pennsylvania only ten percent of abandoned wells are documented.

One person searching for these abandoned wells is Laurie Barr, who co-founded Save Our Streams Pennsylvania. Over the last five years she has located almost 1,000 wells, most of which were not recorded.

Bloomberg quotes Mary Kang, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California who co-authored a widely cited paper on methane leakage from Pennsylvanias wells. These old wells are emitting methane into the atmosphere and they are worth considering in greenhouse-gas emissions inventories, she said.

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By Andy Rowell

As the renewable revolution gathers a pace, the oil industry has launched yet another PR offensive trying to rebrand fossil fuels as sustainable.

So first the good news. The percentage of electricity generated by renewables in the worlds largest economies has soared by 70 percent over the last five years, according to new research.

Data compiled by the Bloomberg New Energy Finance research group for the Financial Times reveals that a real shift away from fossil fuels is starting to take hold in some regions.

The data reveals that G20 countries collectively produced 8 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources in 2015, up from 4.6 percent in 2010.

Germany now tops the list of seven G20 members who generate more than 10 percent of their electricity from renewables, with the country producing more than a third of its electricity from renewables.

Despite Obamas efforts to cut fossil fuels from the countrys generation mix, the U.S. still lags behind, generating only about 8 percent of power from renewables.

The data is released as Bill Mckibben, from 350.org, has penned a powerful polemic of the need to fight much harder to combat climate change in the New Republic. Likening the battle against climate change to World War III, he writes:

Were used to war as metaphor: the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on cancer  But this is no metaphor. By most of the ways we measure wars, climate change is the real deal: Carbon and methane are seizing physical territory, sowing havoc and panic, racking up casualties, and even destabilizing governments  Its not that global warming is like a world war. It is a world war.

He adds:

And as in all conflicts, millions of refugees are fleeing the horrors of war, their numbers swelling daily as theyre forced to abandon their homes to escape famine and desolation and disease. World War III is well and truly underway. And we are losing.

Mckibben points out how America could be leading the renewable power race. Research by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University reveals that America could generate 80 to 85 percent of its power from sun, wind and water by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. And its not just in the US. The Stanford team has drawn up similar detailed plans for 139 other nations.

So why is it not happening? Why are we losing? One reason is that There are powerful forces, of course, that stand in the way of a full-scale mobilization.

And those powerful forces of course are Big Oil and its allies, which despite climate change continue to resist and undermine the renewable revolution and promote fossil fuels. As in any war, propaganda is key and the oil industry keeps on pumping out its message.

Anyone who has been following the climate debate will know of the way that Exxon and the Koch brothers have long distorted it by pouring tens of millions into groups that deny climate change.

The Koch brothers are now funding a new campaign aimed at rebranding fossil fuels called Fueling U.S. Forward. The website is packed full of carefully crafted oil industry messaging and statistics.

The Koch brothers are now funding a new campaign aimed at rebranding fossil fuels called Fueling U.S. Forward. The website is packed full of carefully crafted oil industry messaging and statistics.

But be careful what you read. Big Oil has tried this before, with BP rebranding itself Beyond Petroleum just after the Millennium and Shell, Chevron and others publishing greenwashing adverts trying to portray oil as green.

And now they are trying it again.

It was back in February that it was first reported that the Kochs were looking at funding a $10 million a year PR campaign to boost petroleum-based transportation fuels and attack government subsidies for electric vehicles.

As DeSmogBlog reports, the new PR campaign was launched last weekend at the Red State Gathering 2016, after the new website had been launched earlier this month.

Rather than promote truly sustainable energy sources which are renewables the intention of the campaign is to try and persuade people that fossil fuels are supposedly sustainable.

It is classic disinformation straight out of Big Tobaccos playbook.

We need a sustainable energy to ensure the future of the country, Charles Drevna, who is leading the PR campaign, told the audience. Folks, thats of course the fossil fuels, he added.

Drevna, an ex-fossil fuel lobbyist, went on: Weve got to take this to the emotional and personal level. Oil and natural gas, theyre not the fuels of the past and maybe the present or a necessary evil. They are the future.

Drevna also told the crowd what we have long known, that the oil industry had been engaged in asymmetric warfare.

So the oil industry sees the fight against climate change as a war too.

To help clear the fog of war, DeSmogBlog has now launched a microsite called Koch Vs. Clean, which takes a closer look at the Koch networks efforts to promote the continued burning of fossil fuels and undermine clean energy.
(Photo: REUTERS / Michael Dalder)A Cossack in traditional attire walks in downtown Rosa Khutor during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, February 13, 2014. For centuries they were the free men of the Russian steppe - conquerors of Siberia, defenders of the empire's frontiers and guardians of a warrior culture that to this day is celebrated in legend and song. At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Cossacks are restricted to more prosaic duties: 500 have been deployed to work with police, mainly patrolling streets and stations on the lookout for troublemakers and drunks.

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Reuters) - For centuries they were the free men of the Russian steppe - conquerors of Siberia, defenders of the empire's frontiers and guardians of a warrior culture that to this day is celebrated in legend and song.

At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Cossacks are restricted to more prosaic duties: 500 have been deployed to work with police, mainly patrolling streets and stations on the lookout for troublemakers and drunks.

For the beefy figures in grey uniforms and shaggy black wool hats, the cameo role marks one more stage in a vigorous Cossack resurgence since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"This is an event on a planetary scale: the Winter Olympics are taking place in Russia for the first time," declared Valery Yefremov, deputy ataman (leader) of the 44,000 Cossacks of the Kuban region of southern Russia, which includes Sochi.

"The fact that the Kuban Cossacks are entrusted, together with the police, with serving here and protecting the security of Olympic guests is for us the very highest peak of our service to the Russian state," he told Reuters in an interview in Rosa Khutor, gateway to the snow-sports venues.

BROTHERS-IN-ARMS

For the 22 Cossacks assigned up here, each day begins with a 9 a.m. police briefing next to a multi-storey car park. Lined up in three rows, they listen intently, occasionally turning to clear their throats and spit, as buses roll by up the mountain.

Each wears a grey top with leather straps, black trousers with a red stripe, and the distinctive woolly hat called a papakha, topped with a cross denoting their Orthodox Christian faith.

"You have to be born a Cossack... You can't just wake up and think 'I'll go and join the Cossacks.' It's really a spiritual state." explains Yury Sokalsky, 49, a stocky figure with a salt-and-pepper handlebar moustache.

"A person must deeply believe in God, God must be in his soul. Second, he must love his motherland very strongly, love it to such a degree that he will lay down his life for it without a thought.

"The most fundamental thing is comradely relations with your brothers in arms, so that you're willing, too, to give up your life without thinking for any of those who are standing alongside you."

'DARK YEARS'

The Cossack's heroic traditions and their sometimes tragic history are engrained in the culture of every Russian - a fact recognised near the start of the Olympic opening ceremony where a song commemorating Stenka Razin, leader of a doomed 17th century revolt, was performed.

Swelling their ranks with outlaws and runaway serfs, they formed a powerful military force in tsarist times, receiving privileges and autonomy in return for defending the state.

In the civil war that followed the 1917 revolution, most fought against the Communists by joining the side of the whites. Once defeated, they were brutally repressed, in what Sokalsky calls the 'dark years'.

"There was a real genocide against the Cossacks, they were killed without mercy, killed just for wearing a Cossack uniform, just for considering themselves Cossacks," he said.

Fortunes began to rise under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's 'glasnost' reforms of the 1980s, and Cossacks once again became a familiar sight, recreating their traditional costumes with the help of historical records and photographs.

Laws passed since 2005 have given them official status, enabling them to register as Cossacks in the census and, after police-style training, to serve full-time and draw a salary of about 25,000 roubles ($710) a month from the state budget.

"I prefer to live in modern Russia. I'm grateful to our president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. He is the man who was able to stop the collapse of the country. He kept the country together and as a man and an officer I'm grateful to him," Yefremov said.

PHOTO CALL

For those on patrol in Rosa Khutor, the day is spent pacing the streets, posing for photographs and watching the crowds that mill around a giant TV screen showing the Olympic action.

"I am a patriot of my country and I like it when our sportsmen are standing on the podium, ideally on the top step," said Sokalsky, a former Soviet army officer who served in Afghanistan.

While the Cossacks are friendly, most have little verbal interaction with non-Russian-speakers in the crowds. In Sokalsky's case, this is because the little English he knows is reserved for very specific situations.

"I graduated from a military academy, so I can only interrogate someone in English," he said. "I can ask where he was captured, and what his rank and unit are. As far as I know we don't have any wunderkinds who can speak English fluently."

When the day is done, the crowds disperse and the Cossacks can get on with one of the other traditions for which they are known around the world: relaxing and making merry.

"On big holidays the lads get together and we sing our Cossack songs. That's part of our culture," Sokalsky said.

"In war, a Cossack must fight; after the war he has to enjoy himself." (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Ossian Shine)
An Indian MPhil student and playwright has been chosen to write a play exploring the country s approach to childbirth, for an international festival of theatre and debate focusing on global health inequalities.

A student of comparative politics and political theory at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Swati Simha is focusing on the presence of sterilisation camps in her play, Ouroboros, to be performed as part of the B!RTH project in Manchester on October 19 and 22. She is among seven female playwrights from countries, including Brazil, China, Kenya, Syria, the UK and the US, that the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and a charitable trust have commissioned for the work. The play is to be directed by Emma Callander, creative director, B!RTH and produced at the Royal Exchange Theatre in its 700-seat theatre-in-the-round. All the seven plays are to be filmed and later shared with charities, nonprofits and educational organisations around the globe as tools to debate and encourage positive action in local communities.

Ouroboros is set in a small village near the Noamundi mines in Jharkhand. The title -- a symbol of a serpent eating its tail  indicates the cycles of birth and death, the eternalism of time and the vicious cycle of oppression. says Swati.

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about issues that seldom receive attention and began doing some research about sterilisation camps in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, says Swati, who realised she liked to write while working on a class assignment on playwriting. After that assignment, she started expanding her oeuvre.

I know how tricky this sounds  I, from a privileged urban background, going into the villages of Jharkhand and writing about Adivasis for a play to be performed before a predominantly white audience in Manchester. 'Who are we to tell their stories is definitely a good question to have in your pocket at all times. The bigger challenge for me now is to make the play accessible to those it is about so that they can contest it if not appreciate it.

A theatre graduate from a Pune institute, she received a scholarship from the Shanghai Municipal Corporation to study for a Master's in Intercultural Communication Studies in Chinas financial capital. She was, however, not always aiming for this field. Although I come from a family of theatre-makers, dancers and musicians, I was always suspicious of theatre and theatre-makers until I became one. I certainly did not plan to become a playwright, says Swati, a Bangalore resident (where she grew up) now shifting to Delhi to attend university.

She decided to study for an MPhil to be able to convey her work in a theoretical framework as well. I am hoping that engaging with theory and theatre, at the same time, will ground my theoretical and philosophical understanding of larger concepts like liberty and freedom in a real and immediate context.
A review of the Independent Public Schools (IPS) initiative for Western Australias schools warns that the policy is worsening inequality and reinforcing a two-tiered system.The report  by the Education and Health Standing Committee  made 21 recommendations and outlined 43 findings regarding the initiative, which has been introduced in 34 WA schools.However, a review of the policy was launched by the Education and Health Standing Committee after teachers and parents raised concerns that it may be having a negative impact on students  particularly those with special needs.The IPS initiative has exacerbated existing inequalities in the public education system, both perceived and actual, reinforcing a twotiered system, the report stated, adding that it was also yet to find any academic benefit of the IPS initiative.It's also too early to tell whether the IPS initiative has created the conditions which will lead to improved student outcomes in the future.The Federal Government says its $70m IPS initiative is in response to the growing demand for greater school autonomy and flexibility, which builds on current developments across the states to help schools become more autonomous and independent if they so choose.While the IPS initiative has come under fire from public school advocates in several states, some principals are seeing benefits as a result of bringing their schools into the IPS initiative. Trinity Beach State School , located in northern Queensland, is offering a new range of innovative teaching and learning opportunities.The schools principal, Mark Allen , told The Educator the IPS models significant benefits for principals seeking greater innovation inspired him to make his school a part of the program.The IPS model will benefit our children in that we will now have greater autonomy to source programs and strengthen partnerships. Its an auspicious time, Allen told The Educator.Last year, research conducted by professor Brian Caldwell from the University of Melbourne suggested that school autonomy was improving opportunities and learning outcomes for students.The Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA) welcomed the research, saying it was evidence that the IPS initiative was empowering local communities to have a positive impact on student achievement.Worth noting is that principals of these schools report that autonomy does not preclude collaboration and collegiality to support improvement. This is also the experience of members of AHISA, AHISAs then-national chair, Phillip Heath, told The Educator.AHISA welcomes the priority the Australian Government places on school autonomy as a driver of educational reform. However, given the importance of the role of the principal in ensuring autonomy leads to student gains, it is vital that policy is informed by a broad and deep understanding of autonomous school leadership.




Alltech invites applicants for its 5th Corporate Career Development Program

Alltech is inviting 12 applicants, who are recent bachelor's and master's degree graduates, for its 5th annual Corporate Career Development Program.

Applicants who wish to develop skills in science, veterinary science, biotechnology, information technology, marketing and finance, are invited to apply during the window of Aug 15 to Sep 30 via the Alltech Corporate Career Development Program website. The program will commence in February 2017.

Alltech aims to develop future leaders within the agriculture industry and values long-term talent development through the Alltech Corporate Career Development Program, which started in 2012. This programme was designed specifically by Dr. Aoife Lyons, director of educational engagement at Alltech.

"This is a life-changing opportunity for recent graduates to interact with colleagues from other countries, develop both their technical and interpersonal skills, and share innovative ideas," said Dr. Lyons.

"Previous Career Development Program members have worked in a variety of areas, including internal auditing for Latin America and marketing and event promotion for ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, an annual symposium with more than 3,000 global attendees," she continued. "We strive to match successful applicants' interests with Alltech's global needs."

The 12-month, salaried, full-time mentorship programme will begin with an intensive three-month training period at Alltech's global headquarters in Nicholasville, Kentucky, US, where graduates will study topics including sustainable energy, communications, marketing and international business. Afterwards, they will continue training and development while simultaneously managing key company projects in one of the company's global offices, guided and mentored by senior management.

Tanja Marincich of Santiago, Chile, was accepted to the programme this year and is now finishing her training and development with the European finance team at Alltech's European Bioscience Centre in Ireland.

"The program has not only given me immediate insight into the inner workings of a multinational business, but it has given me the opportunity to embrace the work and values of the Alltech family," said Marincich. "Five months ago, I was welcomed into a culturally diverse, open-minded group that has allowed me to develop both hard and soft skills. It is more than a teamwork environment; Alltech is a place where everyone's ideas are heard, and the programme gave me a chance to be a part of it."

Kate Taylor of Northamptonshire, England, was also accepted to the programme this year and is completing her training and development with the global solutions deployment team, with which she is currently developing business plans for two key Alltech solutions.

"I've found the experience very exciting, fast-paced and challenging, but also very rewarding, especially when it came to working at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference," said Taylor. "I constantly find myself working on innovative projects that I never could have imagined. It's rewarding to know that my ideas are shaping the future of the company."


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.

14:55, 28 OCT 2022
Witness appeal after woman sustains serious injury in Crosby

Investigations are continuing after a woman was seriously injured at a house in Crosby at the weekend.

CID and uniformed officers are carrying out house to house enquiries in the area of Reayrt Ny Chrink.

Police were called to the property just after 11.10pm on Saturday after reports the 20-year-old had been injured - she was taken to Noble's Hospital and has since been discharged.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and has been remanded at the Isle of Man Prison whilst investigations continue.

Inspector Andy Kneen says despite this police still want to hear from witnesses:

Media

Andy Kneen
Suspended jail sentence for Chief Minister's partner

The Chief Ministers partner has been handed a suspended prison sentence after being caught drink driving.

45-year-old Stephen Rego appeared at Douglas Courthouse this morning  hed previously pleaded guilty to the offence.

The Bride man was stopped by police in Shoprite car park on Bowring Road in Ramsey on July 1st  he was almost three times the legal limit.

Sentencing him Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes suspended the eight week prison term for two years, disqualified him from driving for five years and imposed a 1,000 fine as well as prosecution costs of 125.
During the women's 400-meter final on Monday, American athlete Allyson Felix thought that she would be able to win yet another gold medal, as she quickly gained momentum to overtake her rival, Bahamas athlete Shaunae Miller. The crowd was roaring, with everyone expecting the American star to snatch the victory.

On the final meter of the race, however, Felix's hopes were dashed, as her opponent, quite literally, dived for the finish line. Miller's official time on the race was 49.44 seconds. Felix's time was 49.51.

As the official results of the race were announced, Felix was poker-faced. After all, had the race been at least a meter longer, she would have cleanly won the event. She eventually walked to over to Miller, who was still lying on the field, and tried to help her up.

As for Miller, she was too overcome with emotion to even have the energy to get up. She pulled off both her running shoes and just stared at the sky. Eventually, Felix sat down on the track as well, pondering on the results of the race that she just lost.

"I gave it everything I had. It's deeply disappointing. I'm a competitor," Felix later said.

Felix is arguably the most decorated female track athlete in the United States right now. Previously a star sprinter, she began to compete in longer-distance events in recent years. This is one of the reasons why her loss on Monday was so bitter, as the final few seconds of the race featured Felix in her classic sprinter mode, accelerating towards the finish line.

With the race's rather controversial end, it was no surprise that netizens were quickly divided about the results of the event. In Twitter alone, many users poked fun at the fact that it was not running, but diving, that ultimately made Miller into a gold medalist.

Shaunae Miller was a little short of vertical, had good height off the board & had little splash, Gold medal diving performance #Rio2016  JaiRich (@JaiRich) August 16, 2016

Despite the fallout from social media, however, other professional athletes have rallied behind the Miller, stating that diving for the finish line was not a form of cheating at all. Most prominent among her defenders was fellow Olympian Michael Johnson, who stated that Miller's dive was strategic.

Shaunae Miller unbelievable effort diving for the finish line to take the 400,one of the best moments of the Games so far! Amazing race!  Michael Johnson (@MJGold) August 16, 2016

At the end of the event, one thing is clear. Felix will be haunted by that last-meter dive for many years to come.
For many years, Juanita Broaddrick simply wanted to be left alone. Her story was something that she would rather keep to herself. However, recent political machinations in the United States have forced her to take a stand.

Back in 1978, Broaddrick was reportedly sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton. The former U.S. president was just Arkansas' attorney general then. The assault happened in a hotel room in Little Rock, and she never really went forward with her story.

Clinton's assault on Broaddrick only caught the public's attention during the years when the former president was facing impeachment. She eventually agreed to do an interview with NBC's Lisa Myers on Dateline in 1999. By the time the segment aired, however, Clinton's impeachment was already over.

With all the mudslinging in the current 2016 presidential election, however, it was no surprise that Broaddrick's testimony in Dateline was utilized by Donald Trump's campaign in an anti-Hillary Clinton ad. According to Broaddrick, the Trump campaign never asked for her permission when they used her in the ad.

"I was really hurt. You take the most awful part of my Dateline interview, where I'm crying, trying to relate what had happened to me, and put that in a campaign ad? I thought it was very tasteless," she said in an interview with BuzzFeed.

Despite this rather tasteless treatment from the GOP candidate's camp, Broaddrick asserted that she would still be voting for Donald Trump this coming elections, simply because she could not really bring herself support the return of the Clintons to the White House.

After all, she says Bill sexually assaulted her, and as for Hillary, Broaddrick feels like she enabled her husband's behavior.

What is rather ironic is the fact that Trump himself faced a number of prominent allegations from women who state that the Republican nominee sexually assaulted them. One of them was his former wife, Ivana, and the most recent was a 13-year-old girl who claimed that the GOP candidate assaulted her.

Regardless of this, however, Broaddrick is still set on voting for Trump.
Tokyo Ghoul might be getting a live-action movie soon, but fans of the critically-acclaimed manga are still eagerly anticipating the release of the third season of the franchise's anime adaptation.

Fans of Tokyo Ghoul were a little bit let down by the series' anime adaptations so far. While the first season was fairly well-received by casual and avid fans alike, the departure from the manga's plot exhibited by the anime's follow-up season, Tokyo Ghoul Root A, was unappreciated by most.

Tokyo Ghoul Season 3

Supporters of Tokyo Ghoul have been appealing to Studio Pierrot, the production company behind the anime, to make sure that the upcoming third season would stay faithful to the manga. After all, the story of Tokyo Ghoul in the manga is considered by many to be among the best stories ever told in Japanese comics.

Tokyo Ghoul Season 3 Release Date

Many rumors have emerged about the impending release of Tokyo Ghoul Season 3, with speculations stating that the anime would air Winter of 2016. As it is, however, and with the live-action movie in production, it is quite safe to say that such rumors are untrue.

In fact, it would be pretty much of a long shot if the anime gets released early next year, too.

With this said, a more realistic estimate for Tokyo Ghoul Season 3's release date would be sometime during the second half of 2017, or the first half of 2018. Either one of these dates would actually work well with the anime, as it would give Studio Pierrot enough time to make sure the next season would be of good quality.

The Manga Dilemma and Number of Season 3 Episodes

What is particularly interesting, however, is how the plot of Tokyo Ghoul Season 3 would play out. Considering the rather lackluster reception to Tokyo Ghoul Root A, it is safe to assume that Studio Pierrot would probably stay close to the manga on the upcoming third season.

If the anime's third season does stay close to the manga, it would probably mean that Tokyo Ghoul Season 3 would feature either a 12 or 24-episode run. The anime's third season would most likely focus on the events of Tokyo Ghoul:re, the current iteration of the manga, and needless to say, the story has taken significant steps forward over the years.

As it is, Tokyo Ghoul already has more than enough material to cover an entire 12-episode run. Though there is always a possibility that Studio Pierrot might pull off a Naruto Shippuden and simply release a season of fillers, fans of Tokyo Ghoul are nonetheless hoping that the anime's next season would once more do the manga justice.
The United Kingdoms (UK) decision to exit the European Union (EU)dubbed Brexithas dealt another hard blow to the global economy. The effects on trade and investment flows as a result of this decision cannot be foreseen with any precision. How will short-term and long-term growth in Britain be affected if the decision to withdraw from the EU is institutionalised and operationalised? What effects will the depreciating pound and the flight to safe assets have for future monetary policy decisions of the United States (US), and by extension the world economy?

While fervent forecasts are being made about the future, just as much debate has been directed towards the causes motivating voters decisions to leave the EU. Around 52% of voters in the UK chose to exit the EU. Many pollsters and writers have pointed out the fact that a majority of older voters preferred to leave. While the young were largely in favour of staying in the EU, the relatively smaller turnout amongst younger voters saw to it that the leave vote carried the day. Two of the major factors influencing the voteas reported by many online publicationswere education and incomes; regions with higher incomes and a higher percentage of voters with advanced degrees voted remain (McGill 2016).
"Every commercial film is actually only the preview of that which it promises and will never deliver."  Theodor W Adorno

The success of Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali was expected. There was considerable hype and corresponding expectations prior to the release of the movie. Apart from the usual excitement that a Rajini movie generates in the Tamil public, Kabali was anticipated by intellectual circles as well because of its critically acclaimed director, P Ranjith, of Madras (2014) fame.

This anticipation was based on an understanding that Kabali would be a pro-Dalit movie. But contrary to such readings, Ranjiths product has a universalist focus to it, that of an alternate Tamil nationalism.

The Directors Cut

Ranjiths first movie Attakathi (2012) was a light hearted romantic comedy located in a Chennai suburb. Madras (2014), which won the director much fame, was based in the predominantly urban working class area of North Chennai. In contrast to his first movie, Madras had strong political overtones and dealt with the social and political ambitions of subaltern classes. In interviews, Ranjith claimed that the movie is about Dalits in an urban scenario.

However, as far as Kabali is concerned, he has denied that it is a Dalit-oriented movie. It is about the struggles of Malaysian Tamils against repression by the Malaysian state, the racism they face from the relatively well-off Chinese, and also about internal divisions of caste. The stress throughout the film is on Tamil unity. The Tamil nationalist subtext is too obvious to miss.

But then, the obvious is always ever elusive.

Kabalis Story

Kabali is the story of a Malaysian Tamil gangster who fights for the rights of the Tamils in that country. Originally part of an anti-establishment labour movement led by a charismatic Tamil leader, Tamilnesan, Kabali takes over the leadership of the movement after the leader is assassinated by other Tamils working for a Chinese mobster.

Later, in the course of a gang war, Tamilnesans son betrays Kabali and gets killed by him. A series of violent events separate Kabali from his family, and a series of violent events reunites them later in the movie.

Though little is revealed about the criminal activities of Kabalis gangs, they are shown to be running several social and welfare services for Malaysian Tamils.

Kabali also attacks other gangs who are involved in drug smuggling and the flesh trade. The Manichean division between the moral gangster and the immoral gangster is evident. Supporting the immoral gangster, a Chinese don, are Tamil collaborators who abuse Kabali for his low origins. In the end, Kabali triumphs over them all, only to get assassinated by a Tamil from his own side who has gone over to the Malaysian state.

Significance of the Absent Image

Images of significant leaders cross the screen space at various junctures to establish Kabalis anti-establishment tenorAmbedkar, Che Guevara, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela. However, one crucial leader who is curiously absent is Periyar (E V Ramaswamy). Incidentally, Periyar had toured Malaysia and had conducted anti-caste meetings there and his 1929 visit is said to have been instrumental in the formation of the Adi Dravidar Sangam and the Tamil Self-respect Association.

Perhaps his inclusion may have ruffled Rajinikanth, who is reputed to be a devout Hindu and has also expressed sympathy for the Hindu right in the past. However, the omission also needs to be seen in the wake of contemporary Tamil nationalist discourse in Tamil Nadu.

A debate which is being played out in a most unfortunate manner among activist circles in Tamil Nadu is the question of Tamil Nationalism versus Periyarism, as if there is an inherent irreconcilable antagonism between the two. The theoretical godfather of a dominant trend of Tamil nationalism is Arignar Guna, incidentally an intellectual from the DalitParaiyar caste. The followers of his theory believe in a pure Tamil ethnic entity, that is that certain castes are Tamil, and others non-Tamil.

This variant of Tamil nationalism is fuelled by ethno-chauvinism, xenophobia, hyper-masculinity, ressentiment towards those identified as impure Tamils, and implicit casteism (or explicit, in cases of parties like the Vanniyar dominated Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

The accusation of these Tamil nationalists is that Periyarism is politically bankrupt, and in this criticism, they share a common stage with parliamentary leftists, a few Dalit groups and Brahminical Hindu nationalists. It is of concern that many of these Tamil nationalist groups are trying to appropriate the political symbols of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) while being totally ignorant of the radical emancipatory politics of the Tigers. While they are indeed opposed to the Sri Lankan state, their position on caste, gender, class, and imperialism leaves much to be desired.

The social composition of the Tamil nationalist groups by and large consists of lower-middle-class and intermediate castes, and includes some representation from Dalit castes. These are aggregates of individuals who feel left out by mainstream Dravidian parties, who have a naive consciousness of Tamil pride as a resistance to oppression, but are not theoretically acute enough to form a radical alternative to mainstream political parties.

Given that all left parties in the state have consistently failed to address the class and caste question in a manner that takes into account the specificity of Tamil Nadu, those who seek an alternative to the mainstream political parties find it in the rhetoric of the Tamil nationalist speakers.

While contemporary Tamil nationalist leaders have attracted big crowds at events, the recent Tamil Nadu state elections show that they have failed to win in a single constituency. Among these Tamil nationalists are casteist parties like the PMK, which caters only to the Most Backward Class (MBC) community of the Vanniyars, and to Dalit groups like the Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi. These groups once showed promise but have now turned sectarian and are considerably watered down, having no significance beyond their limited constituencies.

Such outfits capture considerable attention through flashy events and demonstrations. There is little or no discussion on ideology or on geo-politics: a crucial question, considering the strategic location of the Tamil population. What instead is often articulated is Tamil pride and offences against it, glory of Tamil pasts, and vague promises of a utopian Tamil society.

This Tamil nationalism appears as an alternative to the mainstream, but in effect, does little to dent it. Often, it ends up degenerating into a particularist caste politics.

A real radical politics, Slavoj Zizek argues, is determined not by what it is fighting against but by what it is fighting for. What is needed, he says, is the absent third, a strong radical-emancipatory opposition (Zizek 2014: 121). But the function of an effective ruling ideology lies precisely in the suppression of that radical core that has the potential to generate such an opposition.

The conscious or unconscious omission of Periyar in a cultural product that seeks to address the problems of all Tamils prevents the product from achieving its full potential. Kabalis Tamil nationalism does appear a step in the right direction. But its radicalism could have been strengthened by the inclusion of the informed insights of Periyar.

This criticism apart, it is of much political interest to consider how the Tamil nationalist subtext has been handled by Ranjith in his movie.

Reading Kabali

Films that have an exclusive focus on Tamils living outside India are a rare find in Kollywood. While there have been Tamil nationalistic films, rarely have they addressed the political concerns of Tamils outside India, or even outside Tamil Nadu for that matter. As Velayutham rightly observes, The population of the state of Tamil Nadu remains the single largest market for Tamil films.

For these audiences, films depicting diasporic Tamils appear to be less attractive. For them, Tamil cinema is about Tamils for Tamils in India (Velayutham 2008: 178).

In this, Ranjith has to be lauded for making a film where the plot is centred in Malaysia and where Tamil Nadu figures only momentarily (albeit significantly, for it is in Chennai that the reunification of Kabalis family occurs). The Malaysian Tamil community, however, is not shown as a unified lot.

Kabali makes frequent references to how the divisions among the Tamils are their weaknesses. Kabali emerges as the supreme leader who tries to bring about unity among all Tamils, irrespective of their particularist caste differences, despite the hurdles posed by the other.

Kabalis self-definition here is important. He says he is a Tamil, from a subaltern background, and laments that Tamils carry the baggage of caste wherever they go. Only the otherbe it the rival Chinese don or his supposedly upper-caste Tamil stoogesabuse him for being of a lower social rank.

It is only in the gaze of the other that Kabali is shown to be inferior. He identifies his own self primarily as a Tamil, fighting for the rights of all Tamils, a believer in strength through unity. The other sees a lower caste in Kabali; Kabali sees a Tamil in his self.

Here you have the classic Fanonist position: the racist other (in this case, the casteist) seeks to lock the oppressed in a particularist, inferiorised identity, but the oppressed seeks his emancipation through a genuine universalism that unsettles all identities. Partha Chatterjee writes that caste politics has not found a ground on which it can be superseded by a new universal form of community (1994: 208).

Kabali is precisely a struggle to find that community in a Tamil nationalism that would sublate particularist caste identities in a universal Tamil body-politic.

Eelam Tamil nationalists could draw their own parallels from the movie: this was much like the low caste LTTE leadership that claimed to represent all the Tamils who were being rejected by liberal high caste Tamils. The latter preferred to collaborate with the Sri Lankan state rather than accept a vanguard of, by and for the subaltern masses.

Universalism is most offensive and indeed most radical when it is proposed by subalterns who wish to break particularist identities of their own selves and also of their erstwhile superiors. A Dalit speaking the language of complete Tamil liberation can unsettle the mechanism of caste far more than when his concern with the specific welfare of his own caste.

An Eelam Tamil diaspora activist in Canada told this author, This is our story. Of how we were ill-treated by racist states here, our fights with established criminal gangs, our struggle for dignity. Kabali is our guy. For several such consumers, Ranjiths Kabali delivers a universalist Tamil nationalism instead of a particularist caste politics that some of his overenthusiastic supporters and critics believed was promised.

References

Chatterjee, Partha (1994): Caste and Subaltern Consciousness, Subaltern Studies VI: Writings on South Asian History and Society, Ranajit Guha (ed), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp 169209.

Velayutham, Selvaraj (ed) (2008): The Diaspora and the Global Circulation of Tamil Cinema, in Tamil Cinema: The Cultural Politics of Indias Other Film Industry, Oxon: Routledge, pp 172188

Zizek, Slavoj (2014): Trouble in Paradise: From the End of History to the End of Capitalism, London: Allen Lane.
Brain State Technologies announces the presentation of a study that describes how use of a wearable neurotechnology device by military personnel could improve sleep and thereby lower the risk of developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The ideas and analysis are being presented today at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), being held August 15-18, in Kissimmee, Florida.

Studies have long shown that sleep disturbance is a core feature of PTSD and one of the most difficult symptoms to manage. Neither counseling nor medication treatments tend to be highly effective for helping people overcome PTSD-related sleep problems. Moreover, recent studies show that sleep disturbance is not only a negative outcome from PTSD, it may also contribute to its onset.

Collaborating with researchers from the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, the Brain State team produced an analysis showing that sleep improvement may be a strategic approach to reducing the number of new-onset cases of PTSD in service members who will be deployed to combat zones. The researchers began by reviewing data from a study of military service members who were deployed to Iraq after 9/11. In that study, published in 2013 in the journal Sleep, a group from the University of Pennsylvania, the Veteran's Administration, and others, had found that "the risk [for PTSD] conferred by insomnia symptoms was almost as strong as... combat exposure." NLM publication at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3669076.

By combining estimates of the risk for PTSD conferred by insomnia, with estimates for how much insomnia might be reduced through use of a wearable device for sleep quality enhancement, the Brain State-Wake Forest team produced quantitative estimates for reductions in new cases of PTSD, for a scenario where a large group of service members is sent into a combat zone.

The idea that a wearable device could be designed to optimize sleep quality and circadian regulation emerged from the collaborative investigations of Brain State Technologies' Founder & CEO, Lee Gerdes and Director of Research, Dr. Sung Lee. In 2015, the company developed wearable technology intended for exactly this purpose, partially supported by an award from the US Army Research Office.

Gerdes states that "we are very excited about presenting this analysis to military health researchers, because prevention efforts tend to get too little attention. We think that focus on sleep quality could reduce PTSD not only in the military, but also in police, medical first-responders, and others who have high exposure to trauma."

It is estimated that up to 50% of the US adult population suffers from some level of insomnia symptoms in a given month.

According to Dr. Lee, "the relationship between sleep problems and post-traumatic stress is highly intimate, probably even at the level of individual neurons. Sleep disturbance may be a key reason why traumatized individuals have difficulty engaging neural circuits that do not relate to the stress response."

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Brain State Technologies is a neurotechnology company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company has developed advanced devices for sleep quality enhancement and precision-guided stress management, including Brainwave Optimization and the BRAINtellect 2 wearable device.

For more information, contact Brain State Technologies at (480) 588-6840.
ITHACA, N.Y. - People who have narcissistic tendencies are more likely to support hierarchies, according to research by Emily M. Zitek, assistant professor at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.



Two hundred to 400 people answered questions in five separate studies, which collected information through online surveys.



People with narcissistic traits tended to support hierarchical businesses and organizations when they were either at the top of the hierarchy or when they expected they could rise to the top, according to study outcomes.



But when told about a hierarchical company where there were no top positions open, they were less likely than non-narcissistic personalities to support this hierarchy, the research found.



Narcissistic people favor hierarchies because of a perceived potential to rise to the top, rather than other reasons, such as a desire for order, findings suggest.



"Our research underscores the need for leaders to thoughtfully consider the effects that company structure can have - not only on employees' performance and satisfaction, but also on the very types of people those employees will be," the authors wrote.



The research also found evidence narcissistic people tended to overestimate their performance and so might overestimate their ability to rise to the top in hierarchical groups when those groups used performance as a basis for promotion.



The research has implications for business because whether a business is perceived as hierarchical or not might influence whether narcissistic-tending people apply for jobs there, according to Zitek. If a business advertises itself as a place where people can rise in rank, it might attract a disproportionate number of people with narcissistic tendencies, she said.



###

Zitek's coauthor is Alexander H. Jordan, an assistant research professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and adjunct assistant professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Their findings were published online in May and in print this week by Social Psychological and Personality Science.



Cornell University has television, ISDN and dedicated Skype/Google+ Hangout studios available for media interviews. For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.
(NEW YORK, NY, August 16, 2016) - Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) comprise more than half the population living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. despite accounting for just 2 percent of the population. A research team led by Rebecca Schnall, PhD, assistant professor at Columbia University School of Nursing, was awarded a $7.9 million grant from The National Institutes of Health to address this disparity by testing an HIV prevention mobile app specifically developed for high risk young men.

The project, a five-year, multisite clinical trial, will adapt and test MyPEEPS, an evidence driven intervention using mobile phone technology to deliver HIV prevention information to diverse, high risk, adolescent MSM. The randomized controlled trial will be conducted across four geographically diverse sites: Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; New York City; and Seattle using 700 racially and ethnically diverse 13-18 year old men with HIV negative or unknown status. MyPEEPS is an existing in-person intervention aimed at this population. The intervention employs a curriculum consisting of six modules that cover topics including correct condom use, dealing with stigma and shame, and tips on communicating effectively about safer sex. To increase its accessibility, the research team will develop MyPEEPS Mobile, a web-based version of the intervention accessible by mobile and desktop devices. The mobile version will feature games, videos, and interactive scenarios.

Schnall jointly leads this project with co-principal investigator Robert Garofalo, MD, Division Head, Adolescent Medicine at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago; Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Garafalo's team developed and pilot tested the original MyPEEPS intervention.

"Our aim is to provide this population with information to make better health decisions," said Schnall. "Young, diverse MSM are the most at-risk for HIV infection, and there is a dearth of evidence-based interventions targeting this community. There is much evidence that mobile tech is a great way to connect with this generation and by meeting them where they are, we are hopeful about the intervention's potential to decrease infections."

The research team hopes that this investigation will lead to increased insights on how to reduce HIV infection among diverse, young MSM in the U.S.

The grant "A Pragmatic Clinical Trial of MyPEEPS Mobile to Improve HIV Prevention Behaviors in Diverse Adolescent MSM" is funded by the National Institute on Minority and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (U01MD011279).

###

Columbia University School of Nursing is part of Columbia University Medical Center, which also includes the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, and the College of Dental Medicine. With close to 100 full-time faculty and 800 students, Columbia University School of Nursing is dedicated to educating the next generation of nurse leaders in education, research, and clinical care. The school is pioneering advanced practice nursing with its Master's entry curricula and continues to define the role of nursing and nursing research through its PhD program which prepares nurse scientists, and its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), the first clinical practice doctorate in the nation. Among the clinical practice areas shaped by the school's research are the reduction of infectious disease and the use of healthcare informatics to improve healthcare. The school is transforming advanced practice nursing through its primary care faculty practices in Midtown Manhattan and Washington Heights.
How many words do we know? It turns out that even language experts and researchers have a tough time estimating this.

Armed with a new list of words and using the power of social media, a new study published in Frontiers in Psychology, has found that by the age of twenty, a native English speaking American knows 42 thousand dictionary words.

"Our research got a huge push when a television station in the Netherlands asked us to organize a nation-wide study on vocabulary knowledge," states Professor Marc Brysbaert of Ghent University in Belgium and leader of this study. "The test we developed was featured on TV and, in the first weekend, over 300 thousand Dutch speakers had done it - it really went viral."

Realising how interested people are in finding out their vocabulary size, the team then made similar tests in English and Spanish. The English test has now been taken by almost one million people. It takes up to four minutes to complete and has been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, giving the team access to an unprecedented amount of data.

"At the Centre of Reading Research we are investigating what determines the ease with which words are recognized;" explained Professor Brysbaert. The test includes a list of 62,000 words that he and his team have compiled.

He added: "As we made the list ourselves and have not used a commercially available dictionary list with copyright restrictions, it can be made available to everyone, and all researchers can access it."

The test is simple. You are asked if the word on the screen is, or is not, an existing word in English. In each test, there are 70 words, and 30 letter sequences that look like words but are not actually existing words.

The test will also ask you for some personal information such as your age, gender, education level and native language. This has enabled the team to discover that the average twenty-year-old native English speaking American knows 42 thousand dictionary words. As we get older, we learn one new word every two days, which means that by the age of 60, we know an additional 6000 words.

"As a researcher, I am most interested in what this data can tell us about word prevalence, i.e. how well each word is known in a language;" added Professor Brysbaert.

"In Dutch, we have seen that this explains a lot about word processing times. People respond much faster to words known by all people than to words known by 95% of the population, even if the words used with the same frequency. We are convinced that word prevalence will become an important variable in word recognition research."

With data from about 200 thousand people who speak English as a second language, the team can also start to look at how well these people know certain words, which could have implications for language education.

This is the largest study of its kind ever attempted. Professor Brysbaert has plans to improve the accuracy of the test and extend the list to include over 75,000 words.

"This work is part of the big data movement in research, where big datasets are collected to be mined;" he concluded.

"It also gives us a snapshot of English word knowledge at the beginning of the 21st century. I can imagine future language researchers will be interested in this database to see how English has evolved over 100 years, 1000 years and maybe even longer".

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Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with Estonian Competence Centre on Health Technologies have developed a new gene expression analysis method to widen the usage of blood in biomarker discovery and analysis. Their paper is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Blood carries cells that provide biomarkers for a number of applications. Blood as a type of liquid biopsy is widely used in clinical research due to its ease of sampling and its rapid dynamics: the majority of the cells are erythrocytes that carry oxygen, causing 50 - 80 per cent enrichment of globin RNA molecules among all blood RNA. This high prevalence of globin complicates blood related gene expression biomarker studies, causing technical bias and leaving biologically relevant molecules undetectable.

According to the researchers the study reveals for the first time the detailed methodology - GlobinLockTM - how to overcome a limitation in blood sample analysis caused by erythrocytes, which complicates any downstream biomarker identification or tracking from blood. The published and patent pending assay minimizes the needs of reagents and sample material, which makes it an effective and robust tool.

"The globin reduction rate of GlobinLock is sufficient for any applications. It reduces the globin prevalence from 63 per cent before to five per cent which makes it an effective tool for biotechnology companies as an additive to their kits, said Dr Kaarel Krjutskov, the leading author of the study from both Karolinska Institutet and Estonian Competence Centre on Health Technologies.

The new method consists of a pair of short synthetic DNA strands that silence majority of globin RNA molecules by highly specific binding. The strands are introduced to purified RNA sample, and according to the researchers, being effective immediately after RNA denaturation and add only ten minutes of incubation time to the whole complementary DNA synthesis procedure. The locking DNA molecules bind specifically at globin RNA poly-A site that is needed for further analysis. Therefore the globin RNAs are "locked" prior downstream manipulations and are unavailable to cause technical biases in blood RNA biomarker applications.

"We show that globin locking is fully effective not only for human samples but also for widely used animal models, like mouse and rat, cow, dog and even zebrafish", said professor Juha Kere in who's laboratory the invention was created at Karolinska Institutet.

###

The research and development from idea to patent pending method was financed by Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, Strategic Research Program funding on Diabetes to Karolinska Institutet, Swedish Research Council, Orion Research Foundation, EU, Enterprise Estonia, and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. The GlobinLock technology is already applied in different ongoing research projects.
Scientists at MIT and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil have identified the structure of an enzyme that could be a good target for drugs combatting three diseases common in the developing world.

The enzyme, fumarate hydratase (FH) is essential for metabolic processes of parasites that are responsible for the spread of three diseases: Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness. As such, understanding the enzyme's structure could help researchers figure out how to inhibit FH enzymes, thereby providing new medical therapies.

"This enzyme is really critical for the metabolism of organisms like Leishmania major," says Catherine Drennan, an MIT professor whose lab hosted the research. "If you knock it out, the organism should be dead."

Leishmaniases are a group of diseases varying from severe skin ulcers to debilitation of internal organs, and are present in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Southern Europe. Chagas disease, located mostly in Latin America, causes cardiac and intestinal complications, and can lead to heart failure. Sleeping sickness affects humans and other animals and is an often-deadly disease concentrated in Africa.

The study of FH began at the University of Sao Paulo, where researchers Patricia R. Feliciano and M. Cristina Nonato made important progress on studying Leishmania major FH. Feliciano then moved to MIT to complete the analysis of the enzyme structure with Drennan, a professor of chemistry and biology, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

"The exciting thing about this is thinking that my work could help people who have those diseases," says Feliciano.

The paper, "Crystal structure of an Fe-S cluster-containing fumarate hydratase enzyme from Leishmania major reveals a unique protein fold," is being published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors are Feliciano, Drennan, and Nonato.

First in class

Fumarate hydratase enzymes fall into two types, class I and class II. The current study represents the first time that a class I fumarate hydratase enzyme has been mapped.

Significantly, the Leishmania major FH enzyme has a protein architecture -- it vaguely resembles a human heart in appearance -- that is distinctive from the structure of human fumurate hydratase.

"When we looked at the structure for the first time, it was like, 'Whoa, it is completely different from the human FH enzyme,'" says Feliciano.

"The fact that it is a novel fold does add to the idea that this is a good drug target," Drennan adds. "It has a lot of potential."

Here's why: The distinctive structure of class I FH makes it possible that drugs could target the parasite variant of the enzyme alone, while leaving intact the functionally equivalent enzymes that humans use.

"It's an enzyme that does the exact same thing, but it's a completely different enzyme," Drennan explains. "That's what makes this such an exciting target."

Brazil connection

The finding stems from work Feliciano started doing nine years ago in Brazil in Nonato's lab, but was not able to complete at the time, in part because of difficulties accessing the right equipment.

In 2012 Feliciano arrived at MIT, where the Drennan Lab has tools that let researchers form crystals of proteins under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions. Having formed a crystal of the Leishmania major FH enzyme, it still took Feliciano several months to completely map out the enzyme's structure, partly because of its complexity, she notes.

Drennan emphasizes the complementary aspects of the research arrangement, with the research problem identified and important groundwork accomplished in Brazil, while MIT provided the right tools to solve the enzyme structure, and with the results hopefully having long-term application in Latin America and Africa.

"It's a really lovely collaboration between the two groups and two countries," Drennan says.

For that matter, Drennan says, the nature of globalization means diseases can spread worldwide in relatively short timespans these days. That means the need to find remedies for Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness is potentially global, too.

"I think it's important to reflect on these health issues, and more people in the U.S. need to be aware of these diseases," Drennan says. "The world is getting to be a smaller place."

###

Support for the research was provided by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation and uses equipment funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A new discovery at Michigan State University has revealed how special genes stay open for business, helping diagram a mechanism that plays a key role in fighting inflammation and infections.

In the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, MSU scientists show that when immune cells encounter a bacteria, a number of genes become active. During this process, nucleosomes, which coat DNA and essentially block genes, are gone, leaving the genes open and ready to enlist in the fight against bacteria.

These particular genes are related to inflammation, and since inflammation plays a big role in atherosclerosis, this research could lead to advances in the development of cardiac medications. While past research has identified the genes involved in inflammation, the MSU team is trying to better understand the mechanism that makes them accessible, said Monique Floer, MSU biochemist and the study's lead author.

"What causes some cells to express these genes while other cells do not?" she asked. "Does the packaging of DNA play a role in deciding which genes are expressed? We believe that it's more about the regulation and the mechanics of how the transcriptional machinery is recruited than the genes themselves."

Floer likens the process to Michigan winters. In the Midwest, it's always snowing. Finding an open parking space that's not covered with snow becomes a statewide pastime. Complicating matters, imagine that you have an electric car, and you need a special spot. There are only a few of them, and they have to be cleared of snow.

For this study, the snow blocking your space is the nucleosomes; they cover all cellular DNA evenly, more or less. The car is the transcription factor that wants to bind to the DNA, but your space, in this scenario, is only a small subset of sites that bear a specific sequence.

"The snow plow that clears the spots and increases your chances of finding a binding site is the nucleosome remodeler," Floer said. "It clears out the nucleosomes, or the snow, and allows you to find an open parking space."

This approach is different than past studies. Floer's lab is focusing on understanding how access to the genome is controlled, rather than the notion that some genes are simply more open than others. Deciphering the secrets of the cellular snowplow, the nucleosome remodeler, allows scientists to take a different approach to tackling inflammation and identifying drug targets.

Specifically, the team extracted stem cells involved in inflammation and fighting infections from the bone marrow of mice. They grew them in petri dishes to become mature macrophages, white blood cells that devour any diseased protein in their path. In their experiments, they showed that cell-type specific transcription factors bind to macrophage-specific genes and recruit the nucleosome remodeler - the cellular snowplows. Once bonded, nucleosome remodelers keep the gene regulatory sites open by clearing away the blizzard of nucleosomes.

In addition, Floer's team discovered that the remodelers function at these sites long before the genes are expressed and doing their jobs. This means that they are recruited at some point during differentiation of stem cells into their specific, adult cells.

"We find that as a cell differentiates into a specific cell type, it acquires all of the necessary information early on that dictates its behavior as an adult cell," Floer said.

The next phase of this research will be expanded genome wide. Floer's team focused only on a handful of genes. Along with tackling an entire genome, the team will experiment with environmental changes during differentiation to see what factors enhance the prevalence of cellular snowplows and how their absence at a critical time in development may lead to cancer.

The team includes Michael McAndrew, a genetics graduate student who spearheaded the study together with Alison Gjidoda, a former research technician in the lab.

"The whole team came together to contribute to these studies," said Floer. "Without the dedication and enthusiasm of everybody in the lab and the support of my colleagues in the Gene Expression Focus Group here at MSU these studies would not have been possible."

###

This research was funded in part by the American Heart Association.

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.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - If you want to predict which political party someone will support, take note of the person's height.

The taller a person is, the more likely he or she is to support conservative political positions, support a conservative party and actually vote for conservative politicians, according to a new study using data from Britain.

"If you take two people with nearly identical characteristics - except one is taller than the other - on average the taller person will be more politically conservative," said Sara Watson, co-author of the study and assistant professor of political science at The Ohio State University.

The researchers found that a one-inch increase in height increased support for the Conservative Party by 0.6 percent and the likelihood of voting for the party by 0.5 percent.

The results aren't as strange as they might appear, Watson said. Many studies have found that taller people generally earn more income than do shorter people and researchers have thought income could be linked to voting.

Watson said they conducted this study because, while political scientists have long theorized about an income-voting relationship, studies using real-world data have shown mixed results. Some researchers find a link, while others see little or no effect.

"We were thinking about why there were so many seemingly contradictory findings. One reason might be that income fluctuates from year to year, so that a relationship between your overall economic well-being and your political beliefs can be hard to uncover," she said.

"That's why we decided to see if height might be a good way to assess the link between income and voting."

Researchers in anthropology and economics have long used height as a measure of economic well-being, especially among historical populations for which we have little or no income data.

Watson added that a number of recent studies have extended this work and have found that across modern labor markets, taller people get paid more.

"I've always been struck by this research because I am 5 feet tall and I'm typically the shortest person in the room," she said with a laugh. "It seemed unfair that shorter people seem to pay a penalty in the labor market."

Watson conducted the study with Raj Arunachalam, senior economist at Bates White, LLC. Their article is published online in the British Journal of Political Science.

The researchers used data from the 2006 British Household Panel Study, a survey which includes self-reported height, detailed income data and a number of questions about political beliefs for just over 9,700 adults.

They found that taller people were not only more likely to support the Conservative Party and vote for Conservative candidates, but also were more likely to support conservative positions. For example, taller people are less likely to support the statement that major public services and industries ought to be in state ownership, or that the government ought to place an upper limit on earnings.

The findings stood up even after the researchers performed more detailed analyses to investigate whether the effect of height on political beliefs could be explained through other channels, including race, years of schooling, marital status and religion.

"It was important to us to figure out if the effect of height on voting could be explained by factors that have nothing to do with income," Watson said.

The researchers also took into account potential explanations such as such as cognition and utilization of public health care. But no matter what they controlled for, the link between height and voting remained.

"It was a robust finding," Watson said.

The authors discovered that the link between height and political views occurred in both men and women, but was roughly twice as strong for men. For men, each additional inch of height generates a 0.8 percent increase in the likelihood of Conservative support, whereas for women the effect is 0.4 percent. However, Watson cautioned that results on gender differences were not statistically significant.

Because the data used by the researchers follows households over time, they were able to examine whether the effect of a person's height varied depending on the year in question.

"There was some year-to-year variation, but the effect never disappeared," said Watson.

In a second part of the study, the researchers used height in what is called an "instrumental variable" strategy, to assess the relationship between income and voting.

"Height is useful in this context because it predicts income well," Watson explained. "Because we only expect height to affect political behavior through income, we can use it to investigate the effect of income on voting."

The authors found that each additional inch in height was associated with about 350 pounds of income (approximately $665 at the time of the survey), and that a ten percent increase in income increased the likelihood of voting Conservative by about 5.5 percent.

Watson said it was beyond the scope of this study to examine why height is related to income. Some researchers have pointed to discrimination in favor of tall people, while others emphasize self-confidence or cognitive advantages.

Watson emphasized that a lot of factors affect a person's political views and not just income - or height.

"Income and height play a role, but they are not political destiny," she said.

###

Contact: Sara Watson: Watson.584@osu.edu

Written by Jeff Grabmeier, 614-292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
Both genetic factors and family environment contribute to risk for chronic pain, and contributions of many genes contribute to risk of both chronic pain and major depressive disorder (MDD), according to a new study published in PLOS Medicine. The research was conducted by Andrew McIntosh of the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues and utilized data from 23,960 individuals in the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study, as well as 112,151 individuals with genotyping and phenotypic data from the United Kingdom Biobank. They found that heritability accounted for 38.4% of the variation in chronic pain risk, and that shared environment with spouses accounted for 18.7% of the variation in susceptibility to chronic pain. They also found that chronic pain was correlated with depression. Finally, McIntosh and colleagues found evidence that polygenic risk contributes to chronic pain and MDD. Data from two independent genome wide association studies, Pfizer-23andMe and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Major Depressive Disorder Working Group, suggested that chronic pain risk arises through the combined effect of many different genetic risk factors and that the cumulative effects of genetic risk factors for depression increased an individual's chance of having chronic pain.

The researchers note that assortative mating (choosing a spouse who is similar to oneself) may be responsible for some of the spousal effects, and that these associations do not identify mechanisms through which the genes might be contribute chronic pain. Nevertheless, the study suggests strong genetic and environmental links in risk for MDD and chronic pain and that identifying the shared causal mechanisms may be relevant to finding new treatments.

The researchers say: "The answer to these key questions are likely to signpost new directions for therapeutic interventions and highlight the symptoms that are most amenable to treatment, as well as to prevention."

###

Research Article

Funding:

This study was funded by Wellcome Trust Strategic Grant 104036/Z/14/Z. Generation Scotland is funded by the Chief Scientist Office [CZD/16/6] and the Scottish Funding Council [HR03006]. UK Biobank is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, The Scottish Government and other funders. These funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The analysis of pain data collected by 23andMe in collaboration with Pfizer and was funded by Pfizer. Employees of Pfizer and 23andMe are represented in the authorship.

Competing Interests:

AMM has received research funding from Pfizer, Janssen and Lilly in connection with other research. This funding had no role in the research presented in the current manuscript. DAH has received research funding from Pfizer for the current study. DAH is an employee of and owns stock options in 23andMe, Inc. WM has received research funding from Pfizer. BHS has received research funding from Pfizer and Napp Pharmaceuticals. LJH has received research funding from Pfizer. CHay has received research funding from Pfizer.

Citation:

McIntosh AM, Hall LS, Zeng Y, Adams MJ, Gibson J, Wigmore E, et al. (2016) Genetic and Environmental Risk for Chronic Pain and the Contribution of Risk Variants for Major Depressive Disorder: A Family-Based Mixed-Model Analysis. PLoS Med 13(8): e1002090. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002090

Author Affiliations:

Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

23andMe Inc., Mountain View, California, United States of America

Pfizer WRD, Human Genetics and Computational Biomedicine, Granta Park, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Division of Population Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, United Kingdom

The Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER:

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002090

Contact:

Andrew M. McIntosh

University of Edinburgh,

Edinburgh,

United Kingdom

andrew.mcintosh@ed.ac.uk
Scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have revealed the network infrastructure used by Netflix for its content delivery, by mimicking the film request process from all over the world and analysing the responses.

The study is believed to be the first to map Netflix's physical server distribution all over the world.

Researchers from the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science found servers deployed at 233 locations across six continents. Their results show that the USA accounts for a vast majority of the traffic, unexpectedly followed by Mexico, UK, Canada, and Brazil. Their findings confirm the importance of various regions as major Netflix markets, judging by the sheer server deployment in them.

As one of the world's largest video on demand platforms, Netflix delivers a large amount of Internet traffic. But it has so far remained a mystery how the platform delivers its traffic, in order to avoid video stalling during playback.

Over April and May 2016, the five researchers from QMUL requested videos from university computers, localising the requests using a browser extension. They studied the traffic delivered by the servers in each region, highlighting the relative reliance on Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) and Internet Service Providers' (ISPs) servers.

The findings expose significant differences between countries and continents. While in North America, Netflix is present in many locations simultaneously, the deployment situation in Europe is different. For most countries in Europe, Netflix servers are deployed at only a few, probably carefully chosen locations per country. The notable exception to this scheme is the United Kingdom, where the researchers observed widespread deployment across the whole country, particularly within ISPs. On a per country level, the study pinpointed different strategies used by Netflix to choose the locations to place servers in.

Timm Boettger, first-author of the paper from the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, said: "The study is important as it provides an insight into how today's Internet works. The different deployment strategies observed are caused by inherent regional differences, forcing Netflix to adapt its strategy to ensure low movie start-up times and to avoid video stalling during playback. These differences are not only caused by how well an ISP connects its end-users, but also by how well different intermediary networks and ISPs interconnect and exchange traffic."

Professor Steve Uhlig, the senior supervisor of the team and Principal Investigator of the Horizon 2020 ENDEAVOUR project that supported this work, said: "This study highlights the importance of the still vastly underappreciated IXP ecosystem. Indeed, IXPs are vital to supporting high-speed connectivity in the Internet, especially for large content delivery players such as Netflix. This study supports the need to carry out more research relevant for IXPs, as done within the ENDEAVOUR project."

The paper, titled "Open Connect Everywhere: A Glimpse at the Internet Ecosystem through the Lens of the Netflix CDN", has been published on the Arxiv website and was presented at the Future Internet Dialogue 2016 conference held July 16-17 in Berlin, Germany.

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HOUSTON - (Aug. 15, 2016) - Traditional subsidized energy prices may be unnecessary for large numbers of residents of the Persian Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia, according to a new article from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Although the Persian Gulf population has long been accustomed to some of the lowest energy prices in the world, subsidized energy prices have exacerbated domestic consumption and threaten to undermine oil and gas exports. Many people living in the six Persian Gulf monarchies are willing, under some circumstances, to pay more for energy when they are told that higher prices are in the national interest, relinquishing a benefit portrayed as a "right" by some observers, Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute, found.

Krane is author of "The Political Economy of Subsidy Reform in the Persian Gulf Monarchies," an article that appears in the new book "The Economics and Political Economy of Energy Subsidies," which was edited by Jon Strand and published by the MIT Press.

In the six Persian Gulf monarchies -- Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain -- where subsidy-fueled energy consumption threatens the region's oil exports, this finding has important implications, Krane said. A public survey of 730 Gulf nationals Krane conducted in 2011 reveals that only a minority of citizens expresses "entitlement" to subsidized electricity. Academic theory suggests that most citizens consider subsidized energy a "right of citizenship."

When told that it was in the national interest that they pay more - so that energy could be preserved for export rather than consumed at home - nearly half (49 percent) of citizen respondents did not oppose higher prices, a significantly higher level than the third (32 percent) who did signal opposition to higher prices.

"The data reveal a disparity which suggests that commonly held assumptions -- and academic theory -- are wide of the mark," Krane wrote. "A substantial portion of the public appears more amenable to increases in subsidized electricity prices, especially when changes are portrayed as being in the national interest."

Many Gulf residents were also amenable to paying the full cost of their electricity when offered an alternate benefit, Krane found. Fifty-one percent of respondents did not oppose this hypothetical exchange of benefits. This finding suggests that a subsidy reform that exchanges energy benefits for cash payments might succeed in the Gulf monarchies. A similar reform in Iran has been lauded by the International Monetary Fund for reducing wasteful use of energy.

A separate survey Krane conducted with 76 Gulf energy experts in 2011 produced results more consistent with theory, in which citizens were expected to exhibit more "entitled" views of energy and more opposition to subsidy reform. Ninety-two percent of the expert respondents portrayed citizens as opposed to higher electricity prices, with just 5 percent portraying them as not opposed.

"This disjuncture between views of citizens and those of scholars and elites is consistent with the 'dictator's dilemma' problem, in which policymaking in autocracies is insufficiently informed by public opinion," Krane wrote. "Elites, policymakers among them, develop understandings and make policy under certain assumptions and conditions. Given their imperfect information on public opinion, those assumptions may be misguided."

Overall, Krane's findings suggest that large segments of the Gulf public may be more amenable to necessary reforms of damaging subsidies than the caution in regional policymaking implies.

###

For more information, to schedule an interview with Krane or to receive a copy of the article, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

Related materials:

"The Economics and Political Economy of Energy Subsidies": https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/economics-and-political-economy-energy-subsidies

Krane bio: http://bakerinstitute.org/experts/jim-krane

Krane on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jimkrane @jimkrane

Follow the Baker Institute via Twitter @BakerInstitute.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Founded in 1993, Rice University's Baker Institute ranks among the top five university-affiliated think tanks in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute's strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes -- including a public policy course -- and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at http://www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute's blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.
In December 2006, the USA regulated sodium permanganate, a chemical essential to the manufacture of cocaine. In March 2007, Mexico, the USA's primary source for methamphetamine, closed a chemical company accused of illicitly importing more than 60 tons of pseudoephedrine, a methamphetamine precursor chemical. A study published today by the scientific journal Addiction found that those two events were associated with large, extended reductions in cocaine users and methamphetamine users in the USA -- impacts that have lasted approximately eight years so far.

After changing little during the early 2000s, cocaine use in the USA began a downward shift at the time of the sodium permanganate regulation. In association with that regulation, there was an estimated decrease of approximately 1.9 million past-year cocaine users (a drop of 32%) and 0.7 million past-month cocaine users (-29%). During the period examined following the sodium permanganate regulation (December 2006 to December 2014), there was little or no recovery in the number of cocaine users.

Methamphetamine use in the USA also began a downward shift at the time of the chemical company closure. In association with Mexico's 03/2007 chemical company closure, there was an estimated decrease of approximately half a million past-year methamphetamine users (-35%), and a decrease of a little more than a quarter million past-month methamphetamine users (-45%). During the period examined following closure of the chemical company (March 2007 to December 2014), methamphetamine user numbers generally remained below pre-closure levels, though a partial recovery in the numbers may have occurred in 2013.

Lead author James Cunningham, PhD, says, "Cocaine and methamphetamine production for international markets requires access to massive amounts of legally manufactured chemicals. Disrupting that access should disrupt the drugs' availability and use." He also says, "Strategies directed towards individual users, for example, information campaigns and direct medical care, have not yet fully addressed the public health problem of cocaine and methamphetamine abuse, indicating the need for additional approaches. To this end, and given our study's findings, control of essential and precursor chemicals warrants a closer look."

Dr Cunningham is a social epidemiologist with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson.

###

For editors:

Cunningham JK, Lui L-M, Callaghan RC (2016) Essential/precursor chemicals and drug consumption: Impacts of US sodium permanganate and Mexico pseudoephedrine controls on the numbers of US cocaine and methamphetamine users. Addiction 111: doi: 10.1111/add.13480

This paper is free to download for one month after publication from the Wiley Online Library or by contacting Jean O'Reilly, Editorial Manager, Addiction, jean@addictionjournal.org, tel +44 (0)20 7848 0853.

Media seeking interviews with lead author Dr James Cunningham can contact him via Jane Erikson, tel +1-520-334-9464, email jerikson@email.arizona.edu, or Jean Spinelli, tel +1-520-626-2531, email jspinell@email.arizona.edu.

Addiction is a monthly international scientific journal publishing peer-reviewed research reports on alcohol, illicit drugs, tobacco, and gambling as well as editorials and other debate pieces. Owned by the Society for the Study of Addiction, it has been in continuous publication since 1884. Addiction is the number one journal in the 2016 ISI Journal Citation Reports ranking in the substance abuse category for both science and social science editions.
The National Science Foundation and the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom have awarded $597,000 to a project led by Professor John Burdick (Anthropology) to observe differently-organized social housing projects in downtown Rio de Janeiro, to see how each impacts, and is impacted by, the people who live in them. Burdick's six-person research team (four of whom are Brazilian) includes three anthropologists, a geographer, an architect, and a grassroots housing advocate.

Over three years, the team will observe a state-planned housing project that aims to provide housing titles to its residents; two buildings managed by a partnership between a housing rights organization and the state; a building physically occupied by squatters who are negotiating rights to turn the building into a self-managed cooperative; and a building of state-subsidized rentals.

One of the most urgent challenges facing large cities in the global South is how to provide affordable, dignified housing to low-income populations. Though for many years, governments in the global South have pushed these populations into urban peripheries, a growing number of social movements have pushed back, sometimes joining with allies within municipal, state and federal governments, to create affordable housing in centrally-located urban neighborhoods. While this new approach is promising, little is known about its impact on the people it seeks to benefit.

In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the goal of providing dignified, non-peripheralized housing to the quarter million residents of the city who cannot afford it, has generated an array of models, each backed by its own assortment of social movements, urban planners, government ministries, NGOs, and ordinary citizens. Not surprisingly, the backers of each model proclaim its potential to integrate the poor into the life of the city, improve their economic and social lives, and create conditions in which they can pursue their citizenship to the fullest. Yet it is only by carefully tracking these models over time, and in close comparison with each other, that the research team believes one can understand the ways and extent to which each housing model actually comes close (or not) to realizing its potential.

Over the course of three years, the team will undertake close ethnographic analysis of each of these projects, and ask to what extent and in what ways each affects its residents' lives. How do different projects influence, in different ways, the income and material lives of their residents? Their relations with each other and with the people in the immediate neighborhood? Their lives as citizens? Their lives through the lenses of gender, sexuality and family? To address these questions, the research team will participate in the everyday functioning of the different housing projects, and conduct in-depth interviews with their residents.

"Having a three-year grant that can support a six-person team is essential to our task of generating new insights about the interface between sustainable housing, the state, and social movements," Burdick says. "Much work on these matters tends to have a shorter-term time horizon and to focus on one or two housing projects at a time. The generous funding of the NSF and ESRC will make possible the discovery of processes and factors that become clearer only over time and through close comparative study of multiple cases."

By bringing together anthropologists, a geographer, an architect/urban planner, and a housing advocate, the project serves as an example of collaboration between disciplines, and seeks to contribute to international policy discussions about affordable housing throughout the global South. The grant is expected to run through July 2019.

###
15 July 2016, London & Palo Alto: Kx Systems (Kx), US, has been chosen by Earlham Institute (EI), UK, as their technology partner for a new project which will revolutionise research into bioinformatics and promote a sustainable bioeconomy.

Ji Zhou, Project Leader, and his colleagues at EI are planning to develop and embed the latest machine-learning algorithms, including deep learning techniques in Kx's platform, to create predictive models for studying crop growth patterns and agricultural tactics. The models will incorporate factors such as environmental stress and crop response, i.e. crop development and adaptation.

For more than 20 years, Kx has been the powerhouse in high-speed, big data analytics in the world's major financial centres. This expertise will now be used by EI in a completely new approach to the analytical processing of living systems. In an environment where the need to process increasing volumes of data at ever-greater speeds has been failed by the traditional query-response model, Kx will provide real-time active queries for the enormous datasets generated in life sciences.

Tim Stitt, Head of Scientific Computing at EI, commented: "For EI to remain at the forefront of bioscience research it is imperative that we continue to partner with the world's leading technology providers. I'm therefore delighted to collaborate with Kx, as we continue to explore new technologies for addressing the challenges of ever-increasing data volumes. Leveraging the high-performance data processing capabilities of Kx's technology, perfected in the financial sector over more than 20 years, makes for a truly exciting and innovative relationship.

To address the challenges presented by the emergence of Big Data in omics (phenomics and genomics), as well as in genetics, stream data processing, and in-memory computing are essential tools for life scientists.

Independent tests have confirmed that Kx provides the fastest streaming data architecture, combined with the greatest volume capacity needed to support advanced data management and analyses of multi-dimensional life science datasets.

Brian Conlon, Kx Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are excited to be working with the Earlham Institute on such an innovative project. As organisations are facing the immense challenges of big omics data, we believe that utilising the latest stream-processing and in-memory computing technology from Kx will allow future commercial advantage to be generated from consuming and analysing real-time datasets."

The UK government has recently reinforced its strategy in agriculture with IoT (Internet of Things) technologies to help maximise yields, improve food traceability, and tackle environmental challenges through networked remote sensors, particularly for crop development and genetic research. This policy change, combined with EI's long-term strategy of agri-tech and high-performance computing (HPC), demonstrates a valuable opportunity to apply the real-time analytical technology to research genotype-phenotype-environment interactions based on EI's world-leading HPC infrastructure.

###

Notes to Editors

For press enquiries at Earlham Institute, please contact:

Hayley London

Marcomms Officer, Earlham Institute (EI)

+44 (0)1603 450107

Hayley.London@earlham.ac.uk

For press enquiries at Kx Systems, please contact:

Anne-Charlotte Duhaut / Alla Lapidus

Moonlight Media

Email: kx@moonlightmedia.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 4770

About Kx

Kx is the world leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence. For more than 20 years the world's largest banks, brokers and regulators have been relying on Kx technology to address the challenges posed by exploding volumes of data, regulatory requirements and the need for ever-faster processing.

With more than 100 major global corporations as clients, Kx works closely with its user group to drive and prioritize its research and development so that it delivers the most innovative software, tools, solutions and services to solve its customers' business needs. As the Internet of Things creates never before seen volumes of structured machine data, new industries are embracing Kx technology's proven ability to store and analyze data in real-time.

In the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, Kx is helping organizations realize the value that can be derived from their datasets in all areas of their business from research and development to production, sales, and increasingly regulatory reporting.

Kx is a division of First Derivatives plc. (FD). FD is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (FDP:LN) and is a global supplier of software and consulting services. FD has had double-digit revenue growth every year since it was incorporated in 1996.

For more information about Kx please visit http://www.kx.com. For general inquiries, write to info@kx.com.

About Earlham Institute

The Earlham Institute (EI) is a world-leading research institute focusing on the development of genomics and computational biology. EI is based within the Norwich Research Park in the UK and is one of eight institutes that receive strategic funding from Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) - 6.45M in 2015/2016 - as well as support from other research funders. EI operates a National Capability to promote the application of genomics and bioinformatics to advance bioscience research and innovation.

EI offers a state of the art DNA sequencing facility, unique by its operation of multiple complementary technologies for data generation. The Institute is a UK hub for innovative bioinformatics through research, analysis and interpretation of multiple, complex data sets. It hosts one of the largest computing hardware facilities dedicated to life science research in Europe. It is also actively involved in developing novel platforms to provide access to computational tools and processing capacity for multiple academic and industrial users and promoting applications of computational Bioscience. Additionally, the Institute offers a training programme through courses and workshops, and an outreach programme targeting key stakeholders, and wider public audiences through dialogue and science communication activities.

http://www.earlham.ac.uk / @EarlhamInst
Among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at risk of fracture, daily injection of the drug abaloparatide for 18 months significantly reduced the risk of new vertebral and nonvertebral fractures compared with placebo, according to a study appearing in the August 16 issue of JAMA.

Osteoporosis is associated with substantial social, economic, and public health burdens. Based on 2010 U.S. Census data, a study estimated the prevalence of osteoporosis among women 50 to 69 years of age at 3.4 million. It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of osteoporotic fracture for a 60-year-old woman is 44 percent. Additional therapies are needed for prevention of osteoporotic fractures. As a result of its mechanism of action, it has been hypothesized that the drug abaloparatide, a synthetic peptide, would have a more pronounced anabolic (i.e., bone growing) action on bone compared with the osteoporosis drug teriparatide.

Paul D. Miller, M.D., of the Colorado Center for Bone Research, Lakewood, Colo., and colleagues randomly assigned postmenopausal women with osteoporosis to receive daily injections for 18 months of placebo (n = 821); abaloparatide (n = 824); or teriparatide (n = 818). The trial was conducted at 28 sites in 10 countries.

Among 2,463 women (average age, 69 years), 1,901 completed the study. New vertebral fractures occurred less frequently in the active treatment groups vs placebo: in 0.58 percent (n = 4) of participants in the abaloparatide group; in 0.84 percent (n = 6) of participants in the teriparatide group; and in 4.22 percent (n = 30) of those in the placebo group. The estimated event rate for nonvertebral fracture was lower with abaloparatide vs placebo: 2.7 percent in the abaloparatide group; 3.3 percent in the teriparatide group; and 4.7 percent in the placebo group.

Bone mineral density (BMD) increases were greater with abaloparatide than placebo. Incidence of hypercalcemia (the presence of abnormally high levels of calcium in the blood) was lower with abaloparatide (3.4 percent) vs teriparatide (6.4 percent). Overall, there were no differences in serious adverse events between the treatment groups.

"Further research is needed to understand the clinical importance of risk difference, the risks and benefits of abaloparatide treatment, and the efficacy of abaloparatide vs other osteoporosis treatments," the authors write.

(doi:10.1001/jama.2016.11136; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: This study was funded by Radius Health. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc.

Editorial: Osteoporosis Therapy in Postmenopausal Women With High Risk of Fracture

"Ultimately, which therapy is selected for osteoporosis treatment may be less important than identifying and initiating an approved treatment," write Anne R. Cappola, M.D., Sc.M., of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Associate Editor, JAMA, and Dolores M. Shoback, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, in an accompanying editorial.

"The bar is high for any preventive treatment--in the efforts to prevent a fracture that may or may not ever occur, prescribers do not want to prescribe a therapy that causes a new problem. The way forward for fracture prevention involves not only the development of better therapies to prevent fracture and easier delivery systems but also improved adoption of existing osteoporosis therapies for patients with prior fractures and minimization of adverse effects, particularly those associated with long-term use."

(doi:10.1001/jama.2016.11032; the editorial is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: Both authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.

###

Media Advisory: To contact Paul D. Miller, M.D., call 303-925-4514 or email millerccbr@aol.com. To contact editorial co-author Anne R. Cappola, M.D., Sc.M., email Abbey Anderson at Abbey.Anderson@uphs.upenn.edu.

To place an electronic embedded link to this study and editorial in your story These links will be live at the embargo time: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.11136 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.11032
Although the recently FDA approved cholesterol-lowering drugs, PCSK9 inhibitors, could substantially reduce heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths, they would not be cost-effective for use in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with annual drug prices needing to be reduced by more than two-thirds to meet a generally acceptable threshold for cost-effectiveness, according to a study appearing in the August 16 issue of JAMA.

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH; a disorder caused primarily by mutations in the low-density lipoprotein [LDL] receptor gene that causes severe elevations in levels of LDL-cholesterol [C], resulting in early atherosclerotic lesions) or pre-existing atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who require additional lowering of LDL-C despite maximally tolerated doses of statins. If clinical benefits seen in short-term trials are sustained in the longer term, PCSK9 inhibitors could become an important option for patients at high risk of ASCVD, potentially lowering health care costs through preventing ASCVD events. However, with an average U.S. price in 2015 of more than $14,000 per patient per year, their cost-effectiveness and effect on national health care spending are uncertain.

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D., M.A.S., of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues used the Cardiovascular Disease Policy Model, an established simulation model of ASCVD in the U.S. population, to evaluate cost-effectiveness of PCSK9 inhibitors or the cholesterol drug ezetimibe in heterozygous FH or ASCVD. The model incorporated 2015 annual PCSK9 inhibitor costs of $14,350 (based on average wholesale acquisition costs of evolocumab and alirocumab).

Adding PCSK9 inhibitors to statins in heterozygous FH was estimated to prevent 316,300 major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; cardiovascular death, nonfatal heart attack, or stroke) at a cost of $503,000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained compared with adding ezetimibe to statins. In ASCVD, adding PCSK9 inhibitors to statins was estimated to prevent 4.3 million MACE compared with adding ezetimibe at $414,000 per QALY. Reducing annual drug costs to $4,536 per patient or less would be needed for PCSK9 inhibitors to be cost-effective at less than $100,000 per QALY.

At 2015 prices, PCSK9 inhibitor use in all eligible patients was estimated to reduce cardiovascular care costs by $29 billion over 5 years, but drug costs increased by an estimated $592 billion (a 38 percent increase over 2015 prescription drug expenditures), and was estimated to increase annual U.S. health care expenditures by about $120 billion (a 4 percent increase from the $2.8 trillion dollars in total U.S. health care spending in 2015).

The authors write that the high cost of PCSK9 inhibitors is uniquely challenging. "This is because PCSK9 inhibitors are meant to be lifelong therapy not only for the relatively small number of patients with FH but also for a large and growing population with ASCVD. As a result, the potential increase in health care expenditures at current or even moderately discounted prices could be staggering, despite cost savings from averted ASCVD events."

"In the face of limited health care resources, payers must consider the potential trade-off between paying for new drug treatments like PCSK9 inhibitors and investing in interventions known to improve access, physician prescription rates, and patient adherence to statin therapy among those at high ASCVD risk."

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2016.11004; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Media Advisory: To contact Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Ph.D., M.D., M.A.S., email Scott Maier at Scott.Maier@ucsf.edu.

To place an electronic embedded link to this study in your story This link will be live at the embargo time: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.11004
In a study appearing in the August 16 issue of JAMA, Susan L. Mitchell, M.D., M.P.H., of Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues examined feeding tube insertion rates from 2000-2014 among U.S. nursing home residents with advanced dementia.

Over the last 2 decades, research has failed to demonstrate benefits of tube feeding in patients with advanced dementia. Expert opinion and position statements by national organizations increasingly advocate against this practice. For this study, data were derived from federally mandated Minimum Data Set assessments completed quarterly, as required, on all residents in U.S. nursing homes between January 1, 2000, and October 31, 2015. Residents who met certain study criteria were included in the analysis.

Between 2000 and 2014, 71,251 residents with advanced dementia and recent dependence for eating were identified with the following characteristics: average age, 84 years; women, 76 percent; white, 86 percent; black, 9.5 percent; and prior stroke, 14 percent. These characteristics were similar across years. The proportion of residents receiving feeding tubes over the next 12 months declined from 12 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2014. Insertion rates declined between 2000 and 2014 among white residents (8.6 percent to 3.1 percent) and black residents (38 percent to 18 percent). However, black residents were more likely to get tube fed in 2000 and 2014 than white residents.

"The proportion of U.S. nursing home residents with advanced dementia and eating dependency receiving feeding tubes decreased by approximately 50 percent between 2000 and 2014," the authors write. "Feeding tube use decreased across racial groups, but remained relatively higher among black residents, consistent with prior research."

"To ensure the message from existing evidence and expert recommendations is disseminated and disparities are reduced, fiscal and regulatory policies are needed that discourage tube feeding and promote a palliative approach to feeding problems in patients with advanced dementia."

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2016.9374; the study is available pre-embargo to the media at the For the Media website)

Editor's Note: This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported.

Media Advisory: To contact Susan L. Mitchell, M.D., M.P.H., call Courtney Howe at 617-363-8267 or email CourtneyHowe@hsl.harvard.edu.

To place an electronic embedded link to this study in your story This link will be live at the embargo time: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.9374
The National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) has awarded JongCheol Pyo (School of Urban and Environmental Engineering), a graduate student in the combined master-doctoral program at UNIST, with a 2016 Global PhD Fellowship (GPF).

Jointly sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Education and the Korean National Research Foundation (NRF), the fellowship is the biggest and most competitive nationwide education program for graduate students in South Korea.

The selection committee selected his research proposal, highlighting his work about preventing water system from severe algal bloom. As one of the awardees, JongCheol will receive two years of fellowship support, including tuition, research expenses, and a stipend for living expenses until completion of his PhD.

JongCheol's research on "Hyperspectral Image Sensing and Water Quality Modeling for Harmhul Algal Bloom" (Advisor: Prof. Kyung Hwa Cho, UNIST) is expected to gain momentum for development, as he has been awarded this year's GPF scholarship to further support his work. He is currently working on the development of technology aims to better detect, monitor, and predict harmful algal blooms on rivers, using high-resolution hyperspectral image data that are captured from a light aircraft.

"In comparision with existing technologies, this new method can analyze the overall dispersion rate of harmful algal bloom in an entire river," JongCheol says. He expects that this technology will not only maximize the efficiency of existing algae removal technologies, but also can potentially be used as the basis for government's future water quality management policies.

JongCheol has already been given the credit for his dedication to research on harmful algal bloom prediction by winning the Grand prize at 2014 Academy Water Prize. Currently he is engaged at the National Institute of Environmental Research to estimate the distribution of algae around the whole region of the Geum River.

JongCheol says, "It really is an honor to be one of the awardees, as GPF is the biggest and most competitive fellowship for graduate students in Korea." He adds, "I will devote my full-time, energy, and attention to research".

Launched in 2011, the Global Ph.D. Fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science. Each year, around 200 students are selected from more than 1,000 applicants.

The program is designed to support talented students with two-year intensive support through an annual grant of 40 million KRW, thereby allowing them to focus on their study and research without financial concerns. In this year, the NRF selected 218 students from 1,561 nationwide applicants, and UNIST produced 17 awardees in total.

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AURORA, Colo. (Aug. 16, 2016) - Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine have published a new study showing that sleep apnea worsens non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese adolescents.

Shikha Sundaram, MD, MSC, associate professor of pediatrics, and her fellow researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus studied 36 adolescents with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), along with 14 lean patients, to assess whether sleep apnea and low nighttime oxygen promoted the progression of the disease. The children eligible for the study were at the Children's Hospital Colorado Pediatric Liver Center between June 2009 and January 2014.

"There is emerging evidence that obesity-related obstructive sleep apnea and intermittent nocturnal hypoxia are associated with progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," said Sundaram, whose study was published online in the Journal of Hepatology this month and appears in the September 2016 issue of the journal.

NAFLD is the accumulation of extra fat in liver cells in people who are overweight and who drink little or no alcohol. It is a disease of epidemic proportions that is increasing worldwide in both adults and children. It is estimated to affect up to 30 percent of the general population in western countries and up to 9.6 percent of all children.

In this study, investigators found that patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypoxia, which is when the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply, had more severe scar tissue in their livers than those without sleep apnea and hypoxia, driven by an imbalance of oxidative stress.

By recognizing that sleep-disordered breathing is an important trigger of the stress on the liver, follow-up investigations can focus on whether therapy, such as nighttime continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), may reduce the harm caused by sleep apnea and hypoxia.

###

Sundaram's fellow authors of the article are Ann Halbower, MD; Zhaoxing Pan, PhD; Kristen Robbins; Kelley E. Capocelli, MD; Jelena Klawitter, PhD; Colin T. Shearn, PhD; and Ronald J. Sokol, MD, all from University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The research was conducted in the Clinical Translational Research Center at Children's Hospital Colorado and supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

About the University of Colorado School of Medicine

Faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine work to advance science and improve care. These faculty members include physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Health, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The school is located on the Anschutz Medical Campus, one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. To learn more about the medical school's care, education, research and community engagement, visit its web site.
Plants, bacteria and fungi react to light with light-sensitive proteins. Scientists from the University of Gothenburg and their Finnish colleagues from University of Jyvaskyla have now determined the inner workings of one of these proteins. The results have been published in the most recent issue of Science Advances.

The investigated proteins are called "phytochromes". They consist of thousands of atoms and can be thought of as tiny, microscopic machines. These proteins are found in all plant leaves, many bacteria and fungi. The proteins inform the cell whether it is day or night or whether it is cloudy or sunny.

"Phytochrome proteins are the eyes of plants and in many bacteria. We have now discovered how bacterial phytochromes work at the molecular level," explains Sebastian Westenhoff at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg.

Phytochromes change in the light

Efficient photosynthesis requires that leaves are exposed to the sun. For this, the plants have to grow towards sunlight and phytochrome proteins control this process. Similarly, bacteria use phytochromes to move to spots where they can survive better. The proteins detect the light and signal to the plant cell how much light is available.

"Each time a phytochrome protein absorbs light, it deforms in a well-orchestrated series of structural changes. We already discovered an early structural change two years ago. Back then we used a shortened phytochrome. In the meantime we have advanced our experimental methods and could now study a full-length protein with a biological activator unit, called histidine kinase. This revealed the change in the final stage of the process." says Sebastian Westenhoff.

New ways of controlling cells

The discovery increases our understanding of how phytochromes work. This enables modification of the proteins, for example to increase crop yield. However, the new knowledge is also crucial for another technology, where scientists engineer light sensitive proteins to control organism by light. Potentially such artificial proteins can be used to release drugs at specific spots in out body, for example in cancer cells.

"Proteins are molecular nanomachines, which control most of what we see in Nature. Deciphering the structure of proteins is key to understanding how the machines work. This knowledge can also be used to modify or construct new proteins, with custom-built functions," says Sebastian Westenhoff.

Collaborative effort

The project was carried out as a collaboration between two groups at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. However, more collaboration was needed and the data for the study was recorded at experimental facilities in France, Switzerland, Finland, and the US.

"Numerous data sets had to be recoded and evaluated until a reliable and complete result was obtained." says Sebastian Westenhoff, "but I think that all the hard work was worth it, because we now understand better how plants and bacteria see light."

###

Contact: Sebastian Westenhoff, Department for Chemistry and Molecular Biology, Phone: +46 766 18 39 36, E-mail: sebastian.westenhoff@chem.gu.se
A team from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) has discovered a novel link between chronic kidney disease and diabetes. When kidneys fail, urea that builds up in the blood can cause diabetes, concludes a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

"We identified molecular mechanisms that may be responsible for increased blood glucose levels in patients with non-diabetic chronic kidney disease. Our observations in mice and in human samples show that the disease can cause secondary diabetes," said Dr. Vincent Poitout, researcher, CRCHUM Director, and principal investigator of the study.

Chronic kidney disease is characterized by the progressive and irreversible loss of kidney function in filtering and eliminating toxins from the blood. Eventually, those affected must undergo dialysis or kidney transplantation to eliminate toxins from their bloodstream.

It is well known that type 2 diabetes is one of the causes of chronic kidney disease. The nephrologist Laetitia Koppe, who has just completed a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Poitout's laboratory, has proven that the opposite is also true. "About half of those affected by chronic kidney disease have abnormal blood sugar levels. I wondered why. We conducted experiments in mice and found impaired insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells, as observed in diabetes. We observed the same abnormalities in samples of pancreatic cells from patients with chronic kidney disease," explained Dr. Koppe.

The researchers highlighted the surprisingly toxic role of urea, a nitrogenous waste product normally filtered by the kidneys and excreted in urine. "In patients with chronic renal failure, the kidneys are no longer able to eliminate toxins. Urea is part of this cocktail of waste that accumulates in the blood. In nephrology textbooks, urea is presented as a harmless product. This study demonstrates the opposite, that urea is directly responsible for impaired insulin secretion in chronic kidney disease," argued Koppe.

At the heart of pancreatic beta cells, Drs. Koppe and Poitout identified a particular protein, called phosphofruktokinase 1. "The function of this protein is altered by an increase in blood urea, which occurs in chronic kidney disease. Increased urea causes impaired insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells. This creates oxidative stress and excessive glycosylation of phosphofructokinase 1, which causes an imbalance of blood glucose and may progress to diabetes," said Dr. Poitout, who is also professor at the University of Montreal and the Canada Research Chair in Diabetes and Pancreatic Beta-Cell Function.

The study is important because it reveals a link and rather novel mechanism between chronic kidney disease and diabetes. "Further studies are required to validate these findings in humans. But if our observations are confirmed, it will mean that patients with non-diabetic chronic kidney disease are at risk of developing diabetes. One might then suggest therapeutic approaches, such as taking antioxidants, which may protect pancreatic beta cells and reduce the risk of developing diabetes," said Dr. Poitout.

###

About the study

The study "Urea impairs beta cell glycolysis and insulin secretion in chronic kidney disease," will be published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on August 15, 2016. Drs. Vincent Poitout and Laetitia Koppe are principal investigator and lead author of the study, respectively. The study is funded primarily by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01DK58096), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (MOP 77686), and the Reseau de recherche en sante cardiometabolique, diabete et obesite of the Fonds de recherche du Quebec - Sante (FRQS). For more information, see the study: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/86181?key=5ba4a9a178b1c5d2f459

About the CRCHUM

The University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) is one of the largest hospital-based research centres in North America. Our mission is to improve the health of adults through a continuum of research from basic science, to population health, to clinical research. More than 1,950 people work at the CRCHUM, including 439 researchers and 700 students and research trainees: http://crchum.chumontreal.qc.ca/en

About the University of Montreal

Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, the University of Montreal is one of the top universities in the French-speaking world. Founded in 1878, the University of Montreal today has 16 faculties and schools, and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montreal and Polytechnique Montreal, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Quebec and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,500 professors and researchers and welcomes more than 60,000 students. http://www.umontreal.ca/english/

Source: University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM)

Information:

Joelle Lachapelle

Communications Advisor, CHUM

514-890-8000 #15380

Joelle.lachapelle.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

Isabelle Girard

Information Advisor, CRCHUM

514-890-8000 #12725

Isabelle.girard.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca | @CRCHUM
Friday night we marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of Discovery Institutes Center for Science & Culture. It was a convivial event on a lovely warm Seattle evening before an eager standing-room-only crowd, sprinkled with old friends and new acquaintances, ID scientists and our generous supporters. Thank you to all who joined us and of course to CSC staff and fellows. You all made this possible!

The whole affair was characterized by a true sense of celebration, of how far weve come and where were going. The highlight was the world premiere of a new hour-long documentary, Revolutionary: Michael Behe & The Mystery of Molecular Machines, written and directed by CSC associate director John West. Revolutionary does an outstanding and insightful job of telling the story of Dr. Behe, the Lehigh University biochemist who launched ID as a serious scientific insurgency with extraordinary public awareness.

In the film Behe describes how, though a shy person, hes also stubborn. And we would add, fearless. The documentary shows how Behes arguments have been vindicated, despite much controversy and invective, setting the stage for the next twenty years. The DVD and Blu-ray will be released in October, but you can see the trailer here:

Congratulations equally to Dr. Behe and Dr. West!

The evening was both a look back and a look forward. In his comments, John West recalled how he and Stephen Meyer launched the CSC two decades ago in the precise venue where Fridays celebration took place  Seattle Pacific Universitys E.E. Bach Mainstage Theatre.

After the screening, Dr. Meyer led a fascinating conversation with Behe and fellow ID scientists Douglas Axe and Richard Sternberg about the current state of the evolution debate and whats to come. Though not present in person, CSC Fellows including Michael Denton and Paul Nelson sent birthday wishes by video.

Steve Meyer recalled a fateful interaction with Dean Kenyon, and a 1993 gathering at Pajaro Dunes, California, organized by Phillip Johnson. Rick Sternberg shared intimate, Darwin-confounding details of whale evolution. And Dr. Behe was asked, given the rocky ride that followed the release of his book Darwins Black Box, if he had any regrets.

Given the option, would he do it all over again? Yes, said Behe, in a heartbeat.
Hi everyone. So, I'm a natural-born American citizen, but I've been living abroad in Australia for the past four years. I'm currently a permanent resident here in Australia (though, obviously have still retained my US citizenship). My husband of two years (been together 5 years in total) is Australian, and we're thinking about move to the US now. Not sure if this matters, but we actually got married in the US.



I've looked a bit at what I need to do (I believe I need to start with the I-130 form to sponsor him) for him to immigrate, but I was curious if anyone has done the same thing or similar and has an advice? And I have a few general questions:



How long might the process take? Do I need to be in the US first for us to start applying? If not, how can I prove that I'm a sponsor for him, or can I show intent to get employment/housing upon returning to the US? Is the process itself expensive- like what's the general price range for the forms, fees, etc? Is it a hard process? I've already done the reverse so I know how time consuming and expensive these things are (it took me nearly 3 years and about $5000 AUD to get permanent residency here...only to now be moving back, lol...c'est la vie).



Any help is much appreciated. We both working full time and aren't planning to move tomorrow, per se...but we'd like to know how much time we'll need to get the ball rolling.
Hi guys



I am current a third-year PhD student in Finance at the UT (University of Tasmania). I've obtained my bachelor degree in Economics from Uni. Tokyo. I would like to apply for the PR from economist (224311) immigration under the Visa 190 scheme.



According to the skilled occupation of economist (VETASSESS), I need to have at least one year HIGHLY-RELEVANT post-qualification working experience. I am wandering whether the PhD studies in Finance (40 hrs per week, 1008 dollars per fortnight) can be considered for skill assessment for Economist? In addition, I have worked as a research assistant in Finance after I received my bachelor degree for one year at the Uni. Tokyo (25 hrs per week, 500 dollars per fortnight). Does this working experience counts? Anyone has similar situation (experience) with me?



I am appreciate any helpful comments in advance!
Hello Friends,

I am seeking your guidance on my situation, as I am keen to live in Australia.



Situation:

I am in Perth since 23 June 2013. Came here on 457 given by my company under ICT Project Manager.

After spending 3 years I have now decided to stay back in this beautiful country.



I have completed my Bachelor in Arts, Geography Honor's in May 2000. However, my experience has always been in IT sector, beginning from Oct 2000 onwards.



Have got my skilled accessed by ACS under ICT Business Analyst, as this was available in SOL and CSOL last year.

As per letter from ACS: The employment after October 2010 is considered to equate to work at an appropriately skilled level and relevant to 261111 (ICT Business Analyst) of the ANZSCO Code.



Here is my PTE Score:

Listening - 72

Reading - 60

Speaking - 78

Writing - 70



In my situation, can I apply for 189 or 190 under ICT Business Analyst, even though my 457is issues as ICT Project Manager?



I cannot get my Partner skills assessed as she has B.Com, M.A, B.Ed. and cannot get band of 8 for teachers skill assessment.
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Rhea2015 said: I am planning in November 2016, provided I get to crack a job from here. Click to expand...

not to discourage you but as far as I've read in this forum and have known from my friends in Australia It's extremely tough to get an offer sitting here in India. Though I got one even cleared the telephonic interview, but was asked to join within 2 weeks in perth. That was not possible so I resigned to serve my notice period here. Since few last days I've applied for almost 20 positions but no response. But again you should keep trying, you might get lucky.
Monday, August 15, 2016

Attract the Right Job or Clientele: Giving from the heart empowers many

A number of advertisers this past month put out the marketing message, Christmas in July. This was to indicate that items or seats to events were available for discounted prices. But was their mark missed?

Its true people make most purchases during the Christmas holiday month. But isnt the bigger picture of the Christmas holiday supposed to stand for giving? The next question is should giving be one month of the year or on-going? The messages may have been better conveyed if bonus tickets or items were donated to those who could not afford the fee.

Many forms of giving exist in addition to monetary. It may be in the form of community service, mentoring, teaching, and collaborating for the greater good. Giving from the heart is a continuing endeavor.

T ogether we may positively impact society

My Story

Establishing oneself early on requires focus in the pursuit of career and developing income for independence. But somewhere along the way, donating expertise to help communities brings the greatest satisfaction in knowing help was provided where needed.

My own story is that of the need, in my sales career to find a new job, year after year. While the experience was aggravating, I quickly learned how to interview well. From that vantage point, I shared insights with many groups of job seekers. The grateful thank you notes received afterward was all that I needed to know it was the right thing to do.

Today, I am associated with PWIConnections.com a humanitarian organization. Sample projects include building schools, bringing clean water to poor countries, reducing recidivism, helping burn victims return to normalcy and working to stop human trafficking. See in which countries our women world leaders are working and learn of their projects:

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Your Story

Perhaps you feel inspired to make a bigger difference, but havent had the opportunity to do so. It may be time to examine exactly what has been stopping you up until now. You arent alone.

Typical road blocks include:

Not enough time

In need of more experience behind you with a roadmap to pursue

Desire to brainstorm ideas to get the best possible program in motion

Should you be interested in meeting our world leaders and of the mindset to learn, gain clarity, and possibly contribute, then please consider attending our Global Impact Conference August 18-19 at the Fairmont Hotel.

Most of all, consider what the experience of networking and conferring with our global leaders might do for your project and your lifelong career. We welcome questions and the possibility of you joining our family!

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Frustration and being stalemated is your fork in the road Choices are many, come to terms with what you truly wish to do Learn from examples and teachings of others Weigh all opportunities to find the one that matches your values and priorities Examine what needs to be learned to put your best foot forward Starting out, find a team to join in order to learn more quickly Observe what works best and what you wish to avoid in the future Put your own plan of action into place Establish your project to attain your vision Bring partners on board to create a more robust program

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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Im giving an ethics seminar for a group of government lawyers this morning. I think Ill tell them about Bill Fallon.

Bill Fallon (1886-1927) was a very successful New York criminal defense attorney, and a contemporary of Clarence Darrow. He was called The Great Mouthpiece, because he represented some of New Yorks leading pimps, narcotics dealers, embezzlers, swindlers and gamblers. One famous client was Arnold Roth, who was the architect of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, bribing eight Chicago White Sox stars to throw the World Series. Another was Nicky Arnstein, the gambler husband of Fanny Brice. That was Omar Shariff playing Nicky in Funny Girl.

Fallon often bribed his juries, and got away with it: the one time he was caught and indicted, a jury found him non guilty. He probably bribed that jury, too. Clarence Darrow was proud of the fact that he represented over a hundred men and women facing the death penalty and none were ever executed. Fallon could top that: he represented over 120 homicide defendants, all of them guilty as hell, and not one was convicted.

Dashiell Hammett referred to Fallon in his novel, Red Harvest,, when he wrote,

Hes the guy that the joke was wrote about: Is he a criminal lawyer? Yes, very.'

It wasnt just the bribery that made Bil Fallon successful. He was an amazing, formidable trial lawyer. Unlike Darrow, Fallon was handsome. He was also charismatic, immaculately groomed, had an actors voice and manner and slicker than slick. And he was brilliant. His biographer claimed Fallon could read and virtually memorize a book within two hours. In one case, he analyzed more than 100 medical texts in preparation for trial, and during the trial itself, mastered four medical textbooks on gynecology when he found that the prosecution was putting an expert witness on the subject on the stand the next day. Fallon could so confound medical experts with exact quotes from authorities that juries viewed him as more knowledgeable than the experts in their own specialties.

One expert witness, exasperated, blurted out, Mr. Fallon, I did not know you were an M.D. When did you get your degree? Fallon replied, I received my degree last night. I began practice this morning.

His ability to come up with audacious verbal comebacks like that was legendary. Fallon was a high functioning alcoholic (like many lawyers to this day), and eventually the disease killed him at the age of 41. In one trial, he was so besotted that everyone in the courtroom could smell the fumes. Is it possible, the judge said, that the court smells liquor on counsel? Fallon smiled, and bowed deeply. If Your Honors sense of justice is as keen as your sense of smell, he said, then my client need have no fear in this court!

The onlookers and jury applauded.

The most amazing story, however, shows how dedicated Fallon was to his clients, and how personally courageous he could be in pursuit of zealous representation. Illegal and unethical zealous representation, but impressive nonetheless.

He was defending a client accused of murder, and the State presented as evidence a vial containing the same quick-acting poison that had been found in the victims body. The vial, in turn, had been found in Fallons defendants apartment. At the end of his short closing statement proclaiming the flaws in the prosecutions seemingly solid case, right before the jury was sent out to deliberate, Fallon suddenly, seemingly on a whim, exclaimed, I dont believe this stuff is poison! and walked over to the evidence table, took the vial, and swallowed its contents.

Pretty good! he said, as he smiled at the jury. And I feel fine!

The shocked jury then retired, as Fallon waited in the courtroom, chatting, smoking, relaxed. The jury was back in about ten minutes with a not guilty verdict. Fallon accepted congratulations all around, and finally, seemingly in no hurry, strolled out of the courtroom. Then, once out the door, he dashed down the hall to a conference room, where a doctor was waiting to pump his stomach. Fallon had, right before his closing, swallowed a substance to coat his stomach. The doctor said it would protect him from the effects of the poison for about 30 minutes.

This provides a perfect example of how loyalty, dedication and courage are not necessarily ethical values, since they can be employed for very unethical objectives. Nonetheless, a lawyer who will go to those lengths for a client has to be admired to some extent despite his obvious corruption.

You just cant represent a client more zealously than that.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016

We have been fortunate to be able to vacation outside the USA over the last several years. We have taken advantage of business trips and trips to Carols homeland of Iceland. Our most recent New Zealand and Australia cruise was wonderful. Interesting places, beautiful scenery and delightful people made for a wonderful experience.

As we headed to Tasmania, the ship we were on was bouncing around on 20 foot waves as they sped on an alternate route to avoid the waves that were twice as high. Our discussion that day led to the conclusion that we had not really seen the USA  our own country. We decided it was time to start traveling to the National Parks and other places that are easiest to see by car. So, in June and July of this year we drove from Minneapolis to Los Angles and back.

We are very proud of our youngest daughter, Kate, who has just become a registered nurse. She lives in LA and we drove out to join her pinning ceremony. Yes, it is faster to fly. We have done that several times.

However, Carol has driven VW Beetles for many of our daughters growing-up years and they both loved the cars. As a special gift for Kates graduation  we put the Beetle on a trailer and towed it to LA. Understand this is precious cargo that could not be turned over to a trucking company. So off we headed from Minneapolis.

Traveling through the farmlands of the plains has its own beauty. We traveled to through Wyoming to Salt Lake City. In Utah we visited the main sights, including Park City and Sundance. We went on to Bryce Cannon National Park which was beautiful. A week later, we were in LA delivering the precious cargo and celebrating Kates major accomplishments; including being president of her class, the class speaker, and graduating cum laude. Did I mention we are proud of her?

After spending several days in LA, we headed to the Grand Canyon for a few days. We took a 4-wheel drive only road down to the Colorado River in the canyon  it is where we found the word awesome. Its also where the river rafts launch for white water experiences. We took an hour-long helicopter ride into the Grand Canyon for unique views and many pictures. It was the first time seeing the Grand Canyon for me. It was so amazing that I wondered what took me so long to put this wonder of the world on my schedule.

Continuing across Arizona and into Colorado we stopped at Black Canyon National Park. We stayed in Telluride which is filled with gondolas for the ski season. They have worked hard to maintain the 100 year-old buildings and shops. We also put our SUV to the test on a rugged road leading to the base of Bridle Veil Falls. The entire area is gorgeous, and well worth the trip.

We spent Independence Day in Aspen Colorado where they had the classic hometown parade of fire engines, celebrity floats, and decorated bicycles. Our hotel had a great view of the fireworks. A few days later, we headed to Breckenridge which is one of our second home towns. From there, we stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska to visit my niece for dinner.

As always, it was good to be home. It also confirmed our choice to spend more time seeing the sights in the USA.
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All 16 traditional school districts in Bexar County received passing grades from the state in accountability results released Monday, but San Antonio and Southside independent school districts fell short in the category of overall student achievement.

Twenty schools in SAISD failed to meet the state standards, including Highlands High School. Thats one more school than last year.

It really shows you the state of our district and not being ready for the changes in the assessments and standards, said Pedro Martinez, who just completed his first school year as SAISD superintendent. There was a lack of structures. There was a lack of getting us prepared.

On a positive note, North East ISD saw its schools outpace the state average on 20 out of 22 exams in grades three through eight. Last year, four North East schools failed in the accountability ratings, but this year all schools passed.

The state gives academic ratings to districts and schools based on four indexes: student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps and postsecondary readiness. The first three indexes are calculated from results on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR tests. The fourth index evaluates graduation rates and student diploma plans as well as STAAR scores.

STAAR math exams in grades three through eight counted this year toward accountability ratings for the first time in two years. Last years ratings did not figure them in because students were given new, more challenging math tests. Two versions of the STAAR for special-needs students also did not count last year, when they were introduced, but were reflected in the ratings this year.

Passing standards on the STAAR exams also increased slightly this year, after remaining flat for years. Students had to answer up to three more questions correctly this year to pass, depending on the exam.

Data measuring progress on the STAAR end-of-course exams for high schoolers has been limited by a new law that allows students to graduate without passing all five exams, said DeEtta Culbertson, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency. That, added to the new special-needs tests, caused the state to give districts and campuses a passing grade this year if they failed only the first or second index, Culbertson said.

The reprieve saved the San Antonio and Southside independent school districts, which both failed the first index.

I wasnt happy with the results, but I wasnt surprised, Martinez said. As a district, SAISD fell one point short of meeting the first index. Within the district, 20 schools were given failing grades, including Highlands High School.

Martinez came in with a five-year turnaround plan based on the A-F accountability ratings that the state is scheduled to begin in two years. Martinezs plan calls for 70 percent of SAISDs schools to achieve A or B ratings by 2020 under that system. For the most part, implementation of the five-year plan has not yet begun.

This is our baseline here, and what I saw was, in some situations, we didnt have the right leadership, Martinez said. In some situations, the schools didnt have the structures they needed.

SAISD has closed Connell Middle School, which failed for the fifth year in a row, Martinez said. Ball Elementary School, on the same campus, will become an academy for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade to absorb those students.

Some of the schools that failed this year have been given new principals, while others have crafted solid improvement plans, Martinez said. SAISDs results also highlight the need for increased revenue, Martinez said, hours before the board of trustees approved a tax ratification election that would fund technological improvements, after-school programs and other academic initiatives.

Southside ISD failed the states first index by five points. Now under state investigation, the district has gone through six superintendents or interim superintendents in the past three years. The new superintendent, Mark Eads, came from San Marcos Consolidated ISD with a good reputation, and the district has hired new principals for its two failing schools and the high school, spokeswoman Sylvia Rincon said.

Teachers this week are being trained in national models for classroom management and student leadership, Rincon said.

This is not where Southside wants to be, Rincon said of the accountability results. Now, with steady leadership, we are wanting to exceed not just state standards  but our own personal goals to get our kids where they deserve to be.

Charter schools

Two charter school districts  the new, single-campus Carpe Diem district and the four-campus Shekinah Radiance Academy  received failing or improvement required ratings.

Shekinah lost its charter June 30 under the states three strikes law after failing to meet state academic or financial accountability requirements three years in a row. The Radiance Academy of Learning, another charter district run by the same company, met academic standards this year.

South San

Despite a troubled school year that placed South San Antonio ISD under state conservatorship, none of its schools received failing ratings.

Chief Academic Officer Delinda Castro credited instructional coaches, teachers and principals for focusing on whats best for students. She said the accountability report showed the district is going above and beyond to ensure that students get high-quality instruction every day.

Something I think that is really amazing about South San is were 90 percent poverty, Castro said, And the fact that this is the second year in a row that we have met standards on all campuses, thats comparable to some of the ones that dont have as high poverty as we do.

Edgewood

Edgewood ISD had an even worse year in terms of governance  the state replaced its entire school board and appointed a superintendent  but it brought three schools out of improvement required status. One new campus, Gardendale Elementary, failed, falling one point short in the third index. Edgewood plans to appeal that rating, said Keyhla Calderon-Lugo, district spokeswoman.

In a statement, Edgewoods state-appointed superintendent, Sylvester Perez, said, Were not satisfied, as we still have room for improvement.

North East

North East ISD Superintendent Brian G. Gottardy said a lot of hard work, planning and organization from the district went into the school year to help achieve the good ratings.

Im very happy for our teachers, administrators, students and the community that makes up each one of our schools, Gottardy said. We feel that it was well worth it, and (were) very proud and happy with our test results.

Northside

Northside ISD also did well in the ratings, but Superintendent Brian T. Woods said he didnt think the report was the best way to measure a schools value. He said that since the state chose this method, the district pays attention, to a degree, and its good to have all campuses meet the standards that the state set.

Our folks in curriculum instruction have done a good job of putting systems in place, but what it comes down to is hard work by campus administrators and campus teachers, Woods said. Its about hiring the very best people you can find and then giving them as much support as you can. In this business, no matter what anybody says, it is all about the quality of the interaction between the adult and the kids.

Woods, superintendent of the countys largest school district, said Northside ISD is a great place to live, work and go to school and that its reflected in the growth of the system.

We dont worry about size, we worry about quality, he said. And so, this is a measure of quality, and were proud of it.
Hours before disappearing from his combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl asked a fellow soldier how he planned to become a hitman, according to a sworn statement filed by Army prosecutors.

The soldier, then-Pfc. Shane Cross, stated in the affidavit that Bergdahl told him he had dreamed of joining the Russian mob as a hitman or assassin, and had a plan to do it.

He mentioned his plan would be to go through Pakistan and into India and join the Russian mob, Cross told Army investigators. Prior to the deployment he had claimed to speak Russian, that he had learned while working on a fishing boat that traveled to Europe. He also mentioned that he wouldnt want any tattoos, because they would be identifiable marks on his body.

The next morning, Bergdahl was nowhere to be found on Combat Outpost Mest, having left around midnight June 30, 2009 to embark on a 19-mile cross-country trek. His goal was to alert commanders to problems he saw in his unit, he later told investigators, but the Taliban captured him within hours.

Before the day was over, the Army would launch a massive, and fruitless search for Bergdahl, who would remain the sole American prisoner of war in Afghanistan for nearly five years. He is facing a possible life sentence, awaiting trial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

The statement from Cross, who counted himself among Bergdahls friends, was released Tuesday by Army prosecutors who are battling a defense motion to suppress statements some have made in the case. Defense lawyers were expected to file a response by the end of the day.

Prosecutors said in their motion that Bergdahl sought out adventure both at home and abroad. Those adventures included taking a flight from the United States to Paris, where he hoped to join the French Foreign Legion, before he enlisted in the U.S. Army. The governments motion also said he sailed with a crew from New York to Seattle through the Panama Canal, worked on a small fishing boat in Alaska, and worked with special operations personnel on a firing range in the American South.

Bergdahl discussed his desire to continue his adventure-seeking lifestyle, saying, If the deployment is lame, I am going to walk into the mountains of Pakistan and work for whomever is out there. I have survived in the mountains at home, the Army motion said.

After a month in Afghanistan, he continued to talk of wanting to see the world, telling fellow soldiers, I want to walk across the mountains to Pakistan and then to India, and also, I am going to join the Russian mob as a hitman or an assassin. I will hike through Pakistan into India to join the Russian mob. I speak Russian, I learned it while working on a fishing boat that traveled through Europe.

Visit ExpressNews.com or read Wednesdays Express-News for more on this developing story.

sigc@express-news.net
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The last of three men charged with capital murder in the gang-related shootings last year at an East Side carwash on Martin Luther King Jr. Day has pleaded guilty to two counts of murder.

Adrian Perkins, 26, waived his presentencing investigation hearing Friday before state District Judge Kevin OConnell and was sentenced to 35 years in prison, according to court documents.

Perkins, Jacquay Howard, 32, and Edwin Joseph, 26, had been charged with capital murder after their arrests in the wake of the shootings, which killed Royal Wylie Willrich, 30, and Vontay Jamar Price, 22. Five other people were wounded.

The three were known gang members who saw rival gang members and shot at them in a crowd around 10 p.m. Jan. 19, 2015, at North New Braunfels Avenue and Gibbs, police said. The incident occurred just hours after the citys annual MLK Day march and celebration, which was held nearby.

Video surveillance footage of the shooting helped police identify the men, who used an AK-47-style assault rifle, a .40-caliber handgun and a .380-caliber handgun.

According to court documents, Joseph told investigators that he only shot once into the air after Howard pointed out their targets, told him to park, waited a few minutes and led the trio around a fence to begin shooting.

Court records indicate Howard told a detective he fired four or five shots at Price and Willrich because they were the first two people he saw and that he fired in self-defense.

After entering a plea, Howard was sentenced last week to 45 years. Joseph, who reached a plea agreement in July, was sentenced Friday to 25 years, according to court records.

All three men pleaded to two counts of murder. They will have to serve at least half of their sentences before they are eligible for parole.

ezavala@express-news.net

Twitter: @elizabeth2863
(Scroll down for photos from the fire. Check back for additional updates on this story.)

ALLIANCE, Ohio  Schott Feed and Supply, Inc. was destroyed in an early morning fire Aug. 16.

At 2 a.m., Aug. 16, the Alliance Fire Department, with mutual aid from the Sebring and Washington Township fire departments, responded to a fire call at the mill, an older, mostly wooden facility.

Fortunately, no one was in the mill and no crew or family members were injured, but the mill is considered a total loss.

By 4:30 a.m. the fire was mostly contained, says Assistant Fire Chief Kemp, but there is still some smouldering. Crews will stay on scene until the fire is completely out and it is deemed safe.

At this time, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.





Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) < > < > 1 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 2 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 3 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 4 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 5 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 6 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of the Stark Fire Department rehab unit) 7 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of Kitty Foster) 8 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of Kitty Foster) 9 View Schott fire (Photo courtesy of Kitty Foster)
Midwest spinach production explained in detail

Learn how spinach performs in the Midwest and seasonal considerations in a new publication from ISU.
The farming unions of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland say it is essential that all devolved governments guarantee Treasury funds are spent on agriculture as announced.

Following the announcement by Chancellor Phillip Hammond that government would commit to agricultural funding until 2020, the four union presidents pledged to continue their joint lobbying to promote the importance of UK food and farming against a backdrop of intense competition for public spending post Brexit.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said the guarantee of domestic agricultural budget through to the end of 2020 provides "vital assurance" to farm businesses during the uncertainty of political negotiation and market volatility.

Hammond to commit to billions of pounds of investment, including science grants and agricultural subsidies

"We are also pleased that we have been given some clarity on how agri-environmental funding sits within this and will work with government on how this is developed long-term," Mr Raymond said.

NFU Scotland President Allan Bowie added that each devolved administration is facing "significant spending pressure."

"The Chancellor has been clear, he expects each of the devolved governments to use the money for agriculture," Mr Bowie said.

"This is the clear intention for which the money has been guaranteed."

NFU Cymru President Stephen James highlighted the importance of securing time for farm business to plan ahead.

"The announcement also buys time to build a clear path for agricultural policy beyond the point the UK leaves the EU," Mr James said.

"Further, commitment to honour EU agreements, even where these go beyond projected ?Brexit, is very important as this protects significant public benefits, and the farm businesses supplying these benefits, built up over decades."

Ulster Farmers Union President Barclay Bell said the UK government's guarantee means that farmers are able to continue to "fulfil their role of providing high quality food, produced to exacting welfare and environmental standards."
Welsh farming union NFU Cymru has called on the Government to take decisive action to eradicate Bovine TB.

As farmers gather at the Pembrokeshire County Show for the three-day showpiece, the continued impact of Bovine TB on the dairy and beef sector remains a major talking point for many.

The latest official government statistics, released last week, revealed that the number of new herd incidents in Wales has decreased by 17%.

The number of herds under restriction at the end of the 12 months up to the end of May 2016 was down by 11% when comparing year-on-year.

NFU Cymru President Stephen James warns some parts of Wales are struggling to combat the disease

However, the figures also reveal a 37% year-on-year increase in the total number of animals slaughtered in Wales due to Bovine TB.

The local situation in Pembrokeshire is even more alarming, with 2,652 cattle slaughtered in the county in the 12 months up to the end of May 2016.

This is a staggering 61% increase compared to the same 12 month period last year.

Badgers are a major carrier of Bovine TB in UK wildlife

Hugeley damaging scale of loss

Speaking at the show, NFU Cymru President Stephen James said he "fully appreciates" when looking at a disease as complex as Bovine TB that one should "consider short term statistical changes in the context of long term trends".

He said the statistics show a "hugely damaging scale of loss", emphasising the "totally unsustainable" way of life for the industry in Pembrokeshire.

"Far too many farming families in this area continue to struggle under the enormous emotional and financial strain caused by Bovine TB," Mr James said.

"Cattle farmers here in Pembrokeshire and throughout the rest of Wales are continuing to play their part to help control and eradicate the disease by adhering to stringent cattle movement and testing controls.

"However, these latest figures are a clear illustration that the measures currently in place to eradicate this disease are not working in parts of the country like Pembrokeshire where the disease is also endemic in the wildlife population.

'Disease reservoir in wildlife'

"Cattle measures and biosecurity have a vital role to play in a TB eradication plan.

"However, experience from across the globe and indeed from our neighbours across the border in England and across the Irish Sea, have shown that a TB eradication plan must also include a strategy for dealing with the disease reservoir in wildlife, in areas where it is endemic."

Mr James added that farmers in Wales are "playing their part" in bearing down on the disease, buy the "reservoir of infection" that exists in wildlife still hasnt been confronted.

"We now look to this new Welsh Government to look again at the current TB strategy.

"If we are to eradicate Bovine TB in Wales then this Government has to support the implementation of a policy that will actively remove the disease from the wildlife population in areas of Wales where both cattle and badgers are suffering," Mr James concluded.
The 29th annual World Cheese Awards will open for entry from Wednesday 17 August, with organisers, the Guild of Fine Food, expecting more cheese-makers than ever to enter.

Tthe competition heads to San Sebastian, Spain this year, during the citys tenure as European Capital of Culture.

Dedicated only to cheese, it will be the showpiece event at the inaugural International Cheese Festival.

Being held between 16-18 November 2016, this global celebration of cheese will be open to consumers and tourists, as well as food professionals, buyers, and retailers.

Cheeses from over 30 different countries are expected to line up in front of 250 judges from every corner of the globe, including international buyers, retailers, writers and cheesemakers, providing a golden opportunity for small artisan producers to spotlight their cheese on a world stage.

With all tasting, nosing and conferring taking place within a single day, thousands of entries will be judged in order to identify any cheeses worthy of a Bronze, Silver or Gold award, before the World Champion Cheese is crowned later in the afternoon.

2,727 individual cheeses in 2015

John Farrand, Managing Director of the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the World Cheese Awards, explains: "Our experts were presented with the mammoth task of judging 2,727 individual cheeses in 2015, but with so much excitement about the awards heading to Europes unofficial culinary capital this year, were expecting record numbers.

"I cant think of a better time to be taking the worlds largest cheese-only awards scheme to San Sebastian, as it enjoys its moment as European Capital of Culture.

"Were all delighted to be giving cheese such a prominent place in the celebrations, alongside San Sebastians world class cuisine, which is only fitting given the exceptional artisan cheese-making of the Basque Country that brought us here in the first place."

The World Cheese Awards judging will commence on Wednesday 16 November. All entries will be judged and whittled down to the top 60 in just one day.

Then the best 16 cheeses will be voted for by a final judging panel later in the afternoon, when the 2016 World Champion Cheese will be crowned.
The farming and rural community in Wales have expressed concern at the forthcoming government consultation on potential Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) in Wales.

NFU Cymru will use Pembrokeshire Show to highlight the impact that potential Nitrate Vulnerable Zones proposals will have on farm businesses and the wider rural community.

The onsultation on NVZs in Wales is now expected in September, which will cause major concern to a number of farmers in the proposed designation areas.

In line with the EU Nitrates Directive, Member States are required to undertake a review to assess and designate areas as NVZs every four years.

The Welsh Government consultation is expected to put forward proposals for a number of new designations, including a significant designation in Pembrokeshire.

'Affect significant number of farmers'

NFU Cymru Pembrokeshire County Chairman, Walter Simon, said in the context of the EU Referendum result, Welsh Governments plans to go ahead with the consultation on new NVZ designations "will come as a surprise to many farmers."

"We expect proposals to affect a significant number of farmers within the county, including an estimated 25% of the Welsh dairy herd and 50% of total potato production in Wales," Mr Simon said.

"The EU Nitrates Directive is an overly prescriptive and inflexible piece of legislation.

"The Action Programme requirements reduce farmers scope to make decisions based on their own knowledge of their land and prevailing weather conditions.

'High costs to agriculture'

"The EU Directive also imposes high costs to agriculture and we will be using the opportunity to emphasise to policymakers the important contribution that farming makes to the vitality of rural areas.

"The number of rural businesses supported by farmers exhibiting here at Pembrokeshire Show this week bears testament to this."

Mr Simon said that given the "major impact and changes" to farming practices that are required through the NVZ Action Programme, farmers in Pembrokeshire will be "rightly concerned" and staff will be on hand at the show to discuss the issue with farmers.

"NFU Cymru is very much opposed to the proposed designations and, in the context of the EU Referendum, we believe there is an opportunity for the industry to work with government on the development of a voluntary approach that will deliver better outcomes for farming and the environment," Mr Simon concluded.
Scotland's Rural Affairs Secretary, Fergus Ewing, has called for the EU funding guarantee to be extended to cover the outstanding 360 million that is vital to the Rural Economy.

Following confirmation from the UK Government that they will guarantee certain expenditure, Mr Ewing is pressing for this to be extended to cover at least 300 million of CAP Pillar 2 funding and at least 60 million of EMFF funding that is unlikely to be able to be agreed by the Autumn Statement for commitments running to 2020.

Mr Ewing said: "While the guarantees offered by the UK Government helped to remove some uncertainty for our farmers and fishermen, its clear that it simply does not go far enough.

"EU funds provide significant benefits to the rural economy, creating and sustaining jobs often in areas where circumstances are challenging.

"They are a critical support mechanism for the agricultural and fishing industries.

"Thats why I am calling for the UK Government to go further and extend that guarantee to cover in excess of 300 million for CAP pillar 2 and 60 million EMFF funding that remains at stake.

"This would provide the clarity and certainty rural Scotland needs.

Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity has written to Andrea Leadsom, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs seeking clarity on arrangements for the outstanding additional funding streams.
Firefighters from across the West Midlands were sent to tackle a huge blaze which broke out at around 9.15pm yesterday.

Ten calves were burned alive in the blaze in a suspected case of arson at White House Farm, Halesowen.

However, the firefighters did save over 100 cattle and 12 horses.

Large plumes of black smoke could be seen from miles away as the fire ripped through the barn.

More than 30 firefighters had to combat the fire, eventually reducing to 15 as it started to die down.

West Midlands Fire Service said they are treating the blaze as suspected arson.

They have urged people to contact police with any information.

A spokesman said: "The aggressive way firefighters went after the fire stopped it from travelling fairly quickly.

"Wed urge anyone with information that may help West Midlands Police with their investigation to contact them on 101."
The National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (NFYFC) have launched a new post-Brexit online survey to ensure young peoples views are considered as part of a future British Agricultural Policy.

The survey is open to all Young Farmers Clubs (YFC) members and those interested in supporting young people in agriculture.

The feedback will be essential in helping NFYFC to push forward the views of the industrys next generation when it meets with Defra in October ahead of a new British Agricultural Policy.

The survey is also being supported by a 'Know Your Future Market Forum', in October, which will involve young farmers and industry leaders discussing future opportunities in agriculture following the Brexit result.

The event includes presentations and discussion groups to highlight where young farmers can get support to grow businesses

Speakers include Clarke Willis, the CEO of Anglia Farmers Group, Adam Quinney from AHDB and Anthony Davison from BigBarn CIC.

Upcoming young farmers Jock Muirhead, Russell Carrington and Sam Dilcock will highlight their business journeys and aspirations.

'Uncertainty in agriculture'

Sam Dilcock, NFYFCs Agriculture and Rural Issues (AGRI) group chairman, said Brexit has created "a lot of uncertainty" in agriculture.

"YFC members represent the future of the industry, and NFYFC believes it is imperative to actively seek the views from those who will be affected," Mr Dilcock said.

"We are encouraging all young farmers and anyone supporting young people in the industry to go online and share their views in the survey.

"Collaboration is a theme that runs through our work and we want to reflect this in the way we stimulate members and like-minded people to put their ideas forward.

"We will continue that process to ensure our voices are heard to help shape a vibrant and collaborative future British agricultural policy."
Third series of Clarkson's Farm in production, Amazon confirms
"To move it on to the balance sheet on the farm, there is a trade-off - you'll lose ownership control and tax exemptions so you need to strike a balance between where you want to be and what it'll cost you to get there."
"At the end of the day, there is no clearer market signal than a refusal to buy our product, we might not like it but we have to do things differently,'' he said.
As hurricanes worsen, can Lumbee Tribe learn to live with water?

The Native American tribe was saved by the swamp. Now, like so many people in the South, flooding threatens to drive them away.
Amber Heard wants Johnny Depp to issue a statement confirming he was violent towards her.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

The former couple are said to be close to agreeing an $8 million settlement ahead of their upcoming divorce and domestic violence case, but the sticking point is said to be the 'Magic Mike XXL' star's request for them to issue a joint statement about their explosive row on May 21.

However, according to TMZ, lawyers representing the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor - who has denied throwing his iPhone at is estranged wife's face - told Amber's team the 53-year-old star will "never" sign a document in which he admits to domestic violence because he never committed it.

The 30-year-old actress is said to have demanded a "phenomenal" amount of money in her divorce settlement, but eventually agreed on around $8 million, including lawyers fees.

If the couple don't agree a settlement, legally Amber would only be entitled to half the earnings left after tax and living expenses, and the former couple are said to have spent a lot of money during their 15-month marriage.

Meanwhile, it has been claimed Johnny cut off his fingertip in a fit of rage in March 2015 after the couple had a huge argument at a villa in Australia.

TMZ obtained a picture of the gruesome injury, which has been submitted as an exhibit in her case against him.

It has been claimed that during the row, Johnny "smashed several bottles and windows and also slammed a plastic phone against the wall unit". Amber alleges that one of the items cut his finger.

She also reportedly claimed that Johnny then dipped his injured finger in a pot of paint and used it to write words including "Billy Bob" and "Easy Amber" on the wall after accusing her of sleeping with Billy Bob Thornton, which she denied.

She also claimed that he waited for almost 24 hours to get treatment.

It was previously reported that Johnny needed surgery on his hand after punching a wall during an argument with Amber.

The actor flew back to the US from Australia in March 2015 after sustaining the injury while in the country to film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'.
Sandra Bullock is "more open" to the possibility of getting married again.

Sandra Bullock

The 'Blind Side' actress - who was wed to Jesse James for five years from 2005 to 2010 - is having a great time with photographer Bryan Randall and is thought to be considering the possibility of tying the knot for a second time.

A source said: "Sandra and Bryan are life partners. Their close friends have never seen Sandra this happy before.

"Sandra as of lately has been more open to the possibility of getting married again."

The 51-year-old star - who has two children Louis, six, and Laila, four - is said to be in a "very serious" relationship with the 50-year-old snapper and the pair recently went to Universal Studios in Hollywood for a family fun day.

The source added to E!: "They are enjoying the last bit of the summer with the kids until school starts.

"They will be in Los Angeles more once the kids start going to school. Things are very serious with them."

However, Sandra's former teacher recently warned her not to marry Bryan, insisting her late mother would not approve.

Geraldine Filpi, 81, said: "I don't think she should marry Bryan. If her mother was still alive, there's no way Sandra should marry him.

"Sandra just has poor judgement in men and seems to keep making really bad choices. You know, she's a great actress, but she's already so successful and has a wonderful family now. So why bother taking risks? I pray for her. I pray she steers away from the bad men."

Bryan reportedly went to rehab for drug issues in the early 1990s.
Princess Diana's "secret mascot" was a sex toy, according to the former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe.

Princess Diana

The late royal - who died in 1997 after being involved in a car crash in Paris, France, - reportedly carried around the vibrator, which she called Le Gaget, with her everywhere she went because she believed it brought her good luck.

Speaking about Diana's unusual must-have handbag item in his book 'Diana: A Closely Guarded Secret', he said: "[Diana] She attached almost superstitious importance to it and, when we arrived in Nepal the following March, she turned to me and said: 'I hope we've got Le Gaget, Ken. You know everything will go wrong without it.'

"We all referred to it as 'Le Gaget', or the gadget -- in fact, it was a sex toy."

And the phallic object used to be the brunt of many jokes during formal meetings.

Ken explained: "Diana loved pranks and practical jokes, and one of the most uproarious involved an item purchased on a wild staff night out in Paris, during her official visit to France in November 1992.

"I had persuaded Lady Sarah McCorquodale, her sister and acting lady-in-waiting during the trip, to secrete it in Diana's handbag the next morning.

"The Princess discovered it while going through her bag, between meetings with the French president Jacques Chirac and Paul McCartney."

Diana was obsessed with her lucky charm so much she had to have it shipped to India when she realised she had left it at her home in London.

Ken said: "Much to her consternation, I had to admit it had been left in a drawer at Kensington Palace.

"A telephone call was made and a secretary instructed to dispatch the vibrator by diplomatic bag to the British Embassy in Nepal."
Poirot has joined 'Doctor Who'.

David Suchet in Doctor Who

David Suchet - who portrayed the popular detective in 'Agatha Christie's Poirot' from 1989 to 2013 - is set to play The Landlord in the 10th series of the BBC sci-fi show.

It's not yet known whether The Landlord will be a friend or enemy of the Time Lord but it's believed he'll shake things up for the time-travelling scientist and his team.

The 70-year-old star's signing comes just a few days after the show's director Andy Pryor revealed they are going to cast a disabled actor in next year's series.

He said at the time: "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.

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."

Meanwhile, Michelle Gomez - who plays Missy, also known as The Doctor's nemesis The Master - recently admitted she's not sure if she will reprise her role.

She previously 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."
ITV today (August 16) revealed that acclaimed actress Helen McCrory would be leading the cast of new visceral political thriller, Fearless.

Helen McCrory in Penny Dreadful / Credit: Showtime

Taking on the role of Emma Blunt, McCrory steps into the shoes of a solicitor 'known for defending lost causes'.

She's tasked with investigating the killing of a schoolgirl in East Anglia, trying to free the man she thinks was wrongly convicted of her murder. Digging deeper into the case however she senses powerful forces at work in the police and intelligence services, as well as those abroad, who do their best to stop her uncovering the truth.

The show is written by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson, with production coming from Mammoth Screen.

McCrory said of her role: "When I was at drama school I was inspired by Prime Suspect, watching as Britain led the way in creating strong female characters to lead their dramas. I'm thrilled to be leading ITV's new drama - it's a thriller that starts deceptively small, then begins crossing borders to different cultures and continents.

"I knew and admired Patrick Harbinson's writing for Homeland, and Pete Travis and I have worked together before - that shorthand is so important on such a big project with ambitions running high. I can't wait to start filming."

Harbinson added: "When, three years ago, Damien Timmer asked me if I was interested in writing a legal series inspired by the work of lawyers like Gareth Peirce and Helena Kennedy, I immediately said yes. Much of the work I've done in American in the last 10 years has been about life in the post 9/11 (and post 7/7) world. The so-called War on Terror has put serious stress on the ordinary workings of the law. National security justifies all sorts of police and state over-reach - and the great majority of us are prepared to accept this. So I wanted to create a character who challenges these assumptions, who fights for those outside the normal run of society, and who is uncompromising, difficult, and completely indifferent to unpopularity and danger. The result was Emma Blunt and Fearless..."

Of the casting, he continued: "I'm delighted that Helen McCrory has agreed to play Emma. She is a complex and contradictory character, and I am incredibly lucky to have someone of Helen's wit, warmth and intelligence bringing her to life."

Controller of Drama, Victoria Fea who commissioned the series said: "Emma Blunt is the kind of character who hates to back down. Against all the odds she's driven by the unfolding mystery of that 2003 murder and whether the killer was unjustly convicted. Fearless is a complex, taut thriller and we're delighted to be commissioning the series from Mammoth Screen."

Filming for the six-part series begins in London and East Anglia this September.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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The National Agricultural Exports Development Board in Rwanda and South Korean company Heworks Rwanda Silk Ltd, have signed an agreement to boost silk production in the country According to Rwandan media reports, the agreement focuses on purchasing of fresh cocoons as well as production of raw silk, silk yarn and other silk products by the Korean company.

The National Agricultural Exports Development Board in Rwanda and South Korean company Heworks Rwanda Silk Ltd, have signed an agreement to boost silk production in the country. According to Rwandan media reports, the agreement focuses on purchasing of fresh cocoons as well as production of raw silk, silk yarn and other silk products by the Korean company.#

Heworks Rwanda will purchase all the silk cocoons produced by cooperatives and farmers and will initially invest $5.2 million.Additionally, the Korean company will also set up a training facility for local farmers and also for the production of silkworm eggs used for cocoon production.A factory building will be constructed in the Kigali Special Economic Zone by the government, while the company will install reeling machines for processing cocoons into silk yarn. (AR)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
Here's a bad news for all Ranveer Singh fans! Reportedly, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is very upset with Ranveer and is planning to sign Hrithik Roshan with Deepika Padukone for Padmavati.

A source told DNA, "Ranveer made the grave mistake of asking Bhansali for a narration. The director feels that the actor owes him his success, and is not in the position to question his judgement. Like Shahrukh Khan doesn't ask for a narration from Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra, and Salman with Sooraj Barjatya, SLB felt that the actor should have come on board without hearing the script."



Want to see how Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan will look together? Then click on the slider below.

Deepika Padukone In Padmavati Earlier, it was reported that Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are playing the lead role in Padmavati but now Hrithik might play the lead character in the movie. (In Pic-Hrithik Roshan with Deepika Padukone) Second Lead Reportedly, for the second lead, Sanjay Leela Bhansali had approached TV actor Vicky Kaushal. But Deepika rejected him as she wanted a big star opposite her. (In Pic-Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan) Shahrukh And Hrithik Later, it was said that Sanjay Leela Bhansali wanted to sign Shahrukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan to play the role of Deepika Padukone's husband in the movie. (In Pic-Nargis, Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan) Shahrukh Khan Rejected Padmavati Rumour has it that Shahrukh Khan rejected the movie because he is too busy with his other projects. (In Pic-Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan posing together at a Bollywood event) Intimate Scenes According to the reports, there would be many intimate scenes between Deepika Padukone and her on-screen husband in the movie Padmavati. (In Pic-Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor posing for the picture) Casting Details Of Padmavati Details of the project have been kept tightly under wraps. Even Deepika's casting was inadvertently revealed by Shreyas Puranik, the music composer Bhansali has signed on for the project, on Twitter. (In Pic-Hrithik, Karan and Deepika) Padmavati's Script It has also been reported that Prakash Kapadia, who earlier scripted Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani, will write the script for Padmavati. (In Pic-Deepika Padukone hugging Hrithik Roshan's kids-Hrehaan and Hridhaan) Padmavati's Shoot The shoot of Padmavati is expected to begin in September. So readers, do you think Hrithik Roshan is the perfect choice to play the lead role in the movie Padmavati along with Deepika Padukone? (In Pic-Hrithik and Deepika partying with Nargis, Abhishek, Uday and Arjun)

The source added, ''When Ranveer asked him for the script, Bhansali declined and began approaching other actors for the role. He went to SRK, (who can't give him the 200 days he wants for the shoot) and then he went and gave a narration to Hrithik in the hope of getting him on board to teach Ranveer a lesson.''

Also Read: Simply Adorable! Latest Picture Of Shahrukh Khan's Kids Aryan, Suhana & AbRam Colouring Together

"Sanjay's ego is hurt and he is just sulking. I am sure he will come around and make the film with Ranveer eventually. Meanwhile, SLB is hoping that Ranveer gets wind of the fact that he is looking around to replace him, and come running back. However, that isn't about to happen. Ranveer is at the top of his game, and has no dearth of filmmakers wanting to work with him,'' the source revealed.

''He knows that he is far ahead of all his contemporaries and he has Aditya Chopra, Rohit Shetty and even Karan Johar in his corner. He is not about to go running back to SLB. Ranveer has instead, taken off for a holiday with his friends to Switzerland.''

''It will be interesting to see if Deepika remains in the film, while she is professional and doesn't interfere in the casting of the film, Ranveer was 'ousted' for making a reasonable request, and as a girlfriend she will support that," said the source.
Kunchacko Boban, whose most recent release was Shajahanum Pareekuttiyum, has not had a good outing this year so far, with most of his films not doing well at the box-office.

But, the actor has some exciting projects in his kitty and the most prominent one among them is editor Mahesh Narayanan's debut directorial venture.

Kunchacko Boban would be seen in the role of a male nurse in the yet-to-be-titled film. The actor would be seen in the role of a nurse named Shaheed, who works in Iraq and gets trapped in a war zone.

It is for the first time that the actor is donning the role of a nurse in a film. Actress Parvathy would also be seen in the role of a nurse in this film. Contrary to earlier reports, the film won't be set in the backdrop of 2003 Iraq war.

Apart from them, actor Fahadh Faasil also plays an important role in the film. The shooting of the film is currently progressing in Hyderabad. The next schedule of the film would be shot in Kochi whereas the third schedule would be shot in UAE. Earlier, there were reports that the film would be shot in real locations in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Kunchacko Boban is gearing up for the release of his next film Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho, which marks the comeback of his home banner Udaya Pictures.
Story Through Fashion

"This is a film that tells a story through fashion. If you do a film in the British era, you have references in archives. Here, there are no archives. We used newspaper cuttings and magazines from different eras to understand the fashion culture," she said.

Travelling Back In Time

"This film takes you back to a certain period, to a certain strata of community and it's going to be very interesting working on it," she added.

Fashion Evolves With Time

"Fashion in Southern film industry has become more accessible with brands like Max and Reliance bringing you the same things that are offered by other well-known brands. The fact that we have moved on from single brand to multiple brands is a good sign," she said.

Brand Matters

"One of Rajinikanth sir's suits in 'Kabali' was from Brooks Brothers. His look from the film has definitely set a trend and it has also popularized the brand," she said, adding that a brand is more than just its widely recognized name.

Limited Scope To Experiment

"Sometimes my directors tell me that the look in the film shouldn't cut away from the youth of Chennai. You can't have fashion sense that audience can't relate to. Hence, the limited scope to experiment and it also depends on a character," she said.

Going Places

Amritha, who likes to call herself a director's designer, is the personal stylist of Indian cricketer R Ashwin, and she also works with composer-singer Devi Sri Prasad and actor Dulquer Salmaan.

Stylist For Many Celebrities

It was with Mysskin-directed 2012 Tamil film Mugamoodi, Amritha's career in fashion took off. Since then she has worked in many films across South India and is now the stylist for many celebrities.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai actors Rohan Mehra and Kanchi Singh, who play the roles of Naksh and Gayatri, celebrated 70th Independence Day at Wagah Border, Amritsar!

The couple uploaded video clippings in which they were seen waving the Indian flag. Posting a video clip, Kanchi wrote, "Happy Independence Day  #vandemataram #proudtobeanindian." Rohan too, shared a video and wrote, "#happyindependenceday #70yearsofindependence #wagahborder #proudtobeanindian ."



Rohan, also shared a picture snapped with a jawan and Kanchi. He wrote, "A big salute to them #proudtobeanindian #wagahborder."

Kanchi also posted another picture snapped with Rohan and her friends. Going by the pictures, it looks like the actors had a gala time, celebrating the Independence Day!

Rohan and Kanchi play siblings on-screen. A few reports had also suggested that the couple are dating, but the actors have denied the reports.

Recently, there were reports that their love has become a problem to the makers of the show. Because of which, the makers have sidelined Naksh and Gayu's track.

Watch: Rohan Mehra, Kanchi Singh, Jigyasa Singh TV Stars Celebrate Independence Day

It is even said that the makers have warned the couple to tone down their PDA, since the show's viewers are a little conservative, and reel life siblings romancing in real life may not be accepted by the audiences.
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/15/16 -- (All reported figures are in US dollars unless otherwise noted)

Logan International Inc. (TSX: LII) ("Logan" or the "Company") today reported the results for its second quarter and year-to-date period ended June 30, 2016.

Recent highlights include:

-- Due to the disappointing year-to-date 2016 operating results, the continuing severely depressed industry conditions and expectations that such conditions will persist longer than we anticipated, Logan recorded a noncash impairment loss of $96.7 million. -- Despite this overhang of industry conditions, Logan's downhole tool segment experienced a modest increase in customer orders and backlog subsequent to the end of the quarter providing some signal that the worst may be behind us.

Logan recorded revenue from continuing operations of $8.1 million in this year's second quarter and $19.7 million in the prior year's second quarter. For the three month period ended June 30, 2016, Logan reported a loss from continuing operations of $90.6 million, $(2.69) per diluted share, as compared to a loss of $0.9 million, $(0.03) per diluted share in the prior year quarter. The Company recorded an impairment loss of $96.7 million in the current year quarter, as further described below. Excluding the impairment loss, the Company would have reported a net loss from continuing operations of $5.1 million, $(0.15) per diluted share for the three month period ended June 30, 2016. Modified EBITDA from continuing operations declined in this year's second quarter to a loss of $3.5 million from earnings of $2.7 million in last year's second quarter. Management utilizes Modified EBITDA to evaluate its operating results because this measurement eliminates the revenue and cost effects of significant noncash and nonrecurring items.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2016, the downhole tool segment, which includes Logan Oil Tools, Kline Oilfield Equipment, Logan SuperAbrasives and Scope Production Developments, recorded revenue of $7.5 million as compared to $18.6 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. For the current year quarter, this segment generated an EBITDA loss of $(1.6) million as compared to EBITDA of $4.3 million for last year's second quarter. For the second quarter of 2016, the rental tool segment, which includes Xtend Energy Services and Logan Jar, recorded revenue of $0.6 million and an EBITDA loss of approximately $0.2 million as compared to revenue of $1.1 million and an EBITDA loss of $0.1 million in the prior year's second quarter.

Logan recorded revenue from continuing operations of $18.8 million in the six month period ended June 30, 2016 and $45.0 million in the six month period ended June 30, 2015. For the current year-to-date period, Logan reported a loss from continuing operations of $94.5 million, $(2.81) per diluted share, as compared to a loss from continuing operations of $1.0 million, $(0.03) per diluted share, in the prior year period. The Company recorded an impairment loss of $96.7 million in the current year quarter, as further described below. Excluding the impairment loss, the Company would have reported a net loss from continuing operations of $9.1 million, $(0.27) per diluted share, for the six month period ended June 30, 2016. Modified EBITDA from continuing operations for the current year-to-date period decreased to a loss of $5.8 million from earnings of $6.5 million in the prior year-to-date period.

The downhole tool segment recorded revenue of $17.2 million and an EBITDA loss of $(2.6) million in the six month period ended June 30, 2016. This segment recorded revenue of $41.7 million and EBITDA of $9.6 million in the corresponding period in 2015. The rental tool segment recorded revenue of $1.6 million and an EBITDA loss of $(0.2) million in the current year-to-date period as compared to revenue of $3.3 million and EBITDA of $0.6 million in the prior year-to-date period.

David MacNeill, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our second quarter operating results were consistent with the weak industry conditions. Quarterly revenues declined by 60% in each of our operating segments to levels that only slightly exceeded the cost of goods sold, despite dramatic reductions in plant hours in our manufacturing facilities and in administrative expenses. As a result, we reported an operating loss, before the impairment loss, of $5.1 million. During the quarter, we recorded an impairment loss of $96.7 million, of which $67.1 million was recorded in the downhole tool segment and $29.6 million was recorded in the rental tool segment. We concluded that the combination of our recent operating results, future expectations for our industry in general and for our operating results in particular and the near-term maturity of our bank credit agreement constituted an indication of impairment. The impairment loss is a noncash cost and is not considered in the calculation of Modified EBITDA."

Mr. MacNeill added, "Over the past several quarters, we have been pursuing various alternatives to renew or replace our credit agreement which matures this year in December. While pursuing a more permanent fix, we have negotiated previous temporary remedies of breaches of certain financial covenants. Recently, we have intensified these efforts and have conducted advanced discussions with several parties who could provide long-term solutions. We believe we will successfully complete these negotiations in our third quarter. In parallel, we are also negotiating an interim agreement with our lenders, which we expect will include forbearance provisions and a strong commitment by the Company to actively pursue alternatives to substantially reduce or repay the outstanding borrowings."

About Logan

Logan provides specialized downhole tools and services to oilfield service providers, drilling contractors and exploration and production operators. It is organized into three classifications:

-- Manufacturing and sales of fishing and intervention tools, including retrieving, stroking and remedial tools and power swivels used in well workover, intervention, drilling and completion activities (Logan Oil Tools, Inc.); and high-performance poly-crystalline diamond compact cutters and bearings (Logan SuperAbrasives, Inc.) -- Manufacturing and sales of completion products and services including packers and bridge plugs, (Kline Oilfield Equipment, Inc.); and patented products and services used to optimize production in sand-laden, heavy- oil wells (Scope Production Development); -- Rental of specialty drilling and workover tools including drilling, fishing and coiled tubing stroking tools and the Xciter vibration tools (Xtend Energy Services, Inc. and Logan Jar LLC. Selected Consolidated Financial Information (in thousands of US dollars, except per share data) Three month periods Six month periods ended June 30, ended June 30, ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- 2016 2015 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------- Revenue $ 8,126 $ 19,657 $ 18,787 $ 45,020 Net loss from continuing operations for the period (90,626) (866) (94,536) (954) Loss per share from continuing operations: Basic $ (2.69) $ (0.03) $ (2.81) $ (0.03) Diluted $ (2.69) $ (0.03) $ (2.81) $ (0.03) EBITDA (1) $ (3,773) $ 2,303 $ (6,330) $ 5,800 Modified EBITDA (1) $ (3,500) $ 2,693 $ (5,811) $ 6,528 ------------------------ June 30, December 31, 2016 2015 ------------------------ Working Capital $ 24,989 $ 43,037 Total Assets $ 114,395 $ 221,265 Loans and Borrowings (2) $ 53,712 $ 51,195 Shareholders' Equity $ 52,041 $ 150,644 (1) This press release presents: (a) EBITDA as loss from continuing operations before net finance cost, income taxes, impairment losses and depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"), and (b) Modified EBITDA as EBITDA before acquisition accounting adjustments, transaction fees, share-based compensation and severance costs ("Modified EBITDA"). Neither of these measurements should be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, "net loss from continuing operations for the period" or "cash flow from operating activities from continuing operations" as determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Company's financial performance. EBITDA and Modified EBITDA do not have standardized definitions as prescribed by IFRS; therefore, the Company's presentation of these measurements may not conform to similar presentations by other companies. Management calculates EBITDA and Modified EBITDA each period and evaluates the Company's operating performance based on these measurements. Management believes that Modified EBITDA, which eliminates significant non-cash or non- recurring items of revenue or cost, more accurately presents the results of the Company's ongoing operations and its ability to generate the cash required to fund future operations. A reconciliation of EBITDA and Modified EBITDA with net earnings for each period follows. Three month periods Six month periods ended June 30, ended June 30, -------------------------------------------- 2016 2015 2016 2015 -------------------------------------------- Net loss from continuing operations for the period $ (90,626) $ (866) $ (94,536) $ (954) Addbacks: Depreciation and amortization 2,487 2,595 4,992 5,133 Impairment loss 96,748 - 96,748 - Finance cost, net 940 557 1,516 1,560 Income tax expense (benefit) (13,322) 17 (15,050) 61 -------------------------------------------- EBITDA (3,773) 2,303 (6,330) 5,800 Adjustments: Transaction fees 6 124 6 129 Severance Costs - 4 17 182 Share-based compensation payments 267 262 496 417 -------------------------------------------- Modified EBITDA $ (3,500) $ 2,693 $ (5,811) $ 6,528 -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- EBITDA and Modified EBITDA are provided as measures of the Company's operating performance without regard to financing decisions, share- based compensation payments, age and cost of equipment used and income tax impacts, all of which are factors not controlled at the operating management level. The acquisition accounting adjustments reverse the effect of the increase or step-up in cost basis of inventories and subsequently sold fixed assets acquired in business combinations. Transaction fees include professional and other fees incurred in connection with the Company's business acquisitions. Share-based compensation expense relates to amounts recognized from the granting of stock appreciation rights, stock options and restricted share units. (2) Includes bank and other borrowed debt and capital leases.

Reconciliation of EBITDA by Segment

Three months ended June 30, Three months ended June 30, 2016 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ Downhole Rental Downhole Rental Tool Tool Corporate Tool Tool Corporate ------------------------------------------------------------ Revenue $ 7,499 $ 627 $ - $ 18,569 $ 1,088 $ - Operating earnings (loss) $(70,033) $(30,924) $ (2,051) $ 3,083 $ (1,390) $ (1,985) Impairment loss 67,132 29,591 25 - - - Depreciation and amortization 1,291 1,183 13 1,256 1,282 57 ------------------------------------------------------------ EBITDA $ (1,610) $ (150) $ (2,013) $ 4,339 $ (108) $ (1,928) ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ Six months ended June 30, Six months ended June 30, 2016 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ Downhole Rental Downhole Rental Tool Tool Corporate Tool Tool Corporate ------------------------------------------------------------ Revenue $ 17,210 $ 1,577 $ - $ 41,738 $ 3,282 $ - Operating earnings (loss) $(72,381) $(32,091) $ (3,598) $ 7,053 $ (1,937) $ (4,449) Impairment loss 67,132 29,591 25 - - - Depreciation and amortization 2,618 2,348 26 2,564 2,502 67 ------------------------------------------------------------ EBITDA $ (2,631) $ (152) $ (3,547) $ 9,617 $ 565 $ (4,382) ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------

Common shares of Logan are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the ticker symbol "LII".

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance of Logan. When used in this press release, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "propose", "expect", "potential", "continue", and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect Logan's current views with respect to certain events, including management's expectations that negotiations to provide long-term solutions for a replacement to Logan's credit agreement will be successfully completed in the third quarter of 2016 and management's expectations that negotiations for an interim agreement with Logan's lenders will include forbearance provisions and an obligation for the Company to actively pursue alternatives to substantially reduce or repay its outstanding borrowings. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Such statements are based on management's current assumptions and expectations, including but not limited to Logan's ability to continue as a going concern and the ability of the Company to complete negotiations with its lenders on a timely basis and on terms acceptable to Logan. Although Logan believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because we can give no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Many factors could cause Logan's actual results, performance, or achievements to materially differ from those described in this press release. Readers are referred to Logan's Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com, which identifies significant risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Should one or more risks or uncertainties materialize or should assumptions underlying forward- looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Logan does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in any jurisdiction.

For more information about Logan International Inc., please visit our website at www.loganinternationalinc.com.

Contacts:

Logan International Inc.

David MacNeill

Chief Executive Officer

281-617-5300 (Houston)



Logan International Inc.

Larry Keister

Chief Financial Officer

832-386-2534 (Houston)

www.loganinternationalinc.com




HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/15/16 -- Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks increased 43 percent to more than 34,000 attacks in the second quarter of the year, according to Nexusguard's "Q2 2016 Threat Report - Asia-Pacific." Nexusguard, the worldwide leader in DDoS security solutions, analyzes a network of vulnerable devices for new cyberthreats across country and organizational boundaries. The company scans attack data for trends in vectors, duration, sources and other characteristics to inform organizations across industries of the latest methods. Nexusguard's quarterly reports arm security professionals with information to help them properly protect their networks.

The newest report shows that NTP attacks dominated 90 percent of the attack types in the Asia-Pacific region -- a remarkable difference from the global distribution, which experienced only 46 percent of NTP attacks worldwide. The research team also noted longer attack durations in APAC compared to global incidents, likely due to many scripted attack tools with set duration values. As a result, Nexusguard analysts advise businesses to safeguard their infrastructures and check service provider security to ensure continuity for their web presence.

"We expect the upward trend in the frequency of attacks to continue this year, especially with more attention on the Summer Olympics and political dispute in the APAC region," said Terrence Gareau, chief scientist at Nexusguard. "And as Pokemon Go gradually launches across the Asian market, Nexusguard analysts expect attack groups will launch more public attacks. This activity increases visibility and positioning as DDoS-for-hire services, the popularity of which we noted from the consistent time durations this quarter."

China continues to hold its spot among the top three target countries in APAC. A Chinese target was hit 41 times over the course of about a month of constant attacks. Nexusguard researchers attributed these attacks to the malware the target had hosted over the last two years. The largest increase was observed in Hong Kong, accounting for a 57 percent rise in attacks. Hackers are experimenting with new attack methodologies, and with the upcoming Olympics in Brazil and political tensions in the APAC region, Nexusguard researchers predict these factors will contribute to a DDoS spike in Q3.

Read the full "Q2 2016 Threat Report - Asia-Pacific" for more details.

Company Logo

http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/5305

About Nexusguard

Founded in 2008, Nexusguard is the global leader in fighting malicious internet attacks. Nexusguard protects clients against a multitude of threats, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, to ensure uninterrupted internet service. Nexusguard provides comprehensive, highly customized solutions for customers of all sizes, across a range of industries, and also enables turnkey anti-DDoS solutions for service providers. Nexusguard delivers on its promise to maximize peace of mind by minimizing threats and improving uptime. Headquartered in San Francisco, Nexusguard's network of security experts extends globally. Visit www.nexusguard.com for more information.

For more information, please contact:

Benjamin Yip

Nexusguard

+852 3526 0626

Email Contact



Crystal Ngan

Nexusguard

+852 3910 0565

Email Contact




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint alleging that United Airlines Inc. violated the employment rights of U.S. Air Force Reservist Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Fandrei under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act or USERRA. According to the complaint, United violated USERRA by denying Fandrei employment benefits during his military leave that it grants to other employees for similar types of leave. Specifically, the complaint alleges that United failed to credit Fandrei with sick leave for his active duty deployment in 2012 and 2013. During that time, Fandrei was mobilized as a KC-10 pilot in Southwest Asia. Fandrei served his country as part of the Air Force from 1990 until 2016. The lawsuit filed by the United States seeks damages equal to the amount of Fandrei's lost benefits caused by United's failure to comply with USERRA. It also seeks an order requiring United to comply with all provisions of USERRA. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PUNE, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

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Another newly published market research report titled on Acute Lung Injury - Pipeline Review, H1 2016 provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Acute Lung Injury, complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The report also covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases. Additionally, the report provides an overview of key players involved in therapeutic development for Acute Lung Injury and features dormant and discontinued projects. Companies discussed in this research report are Altor BioScience Corporation, Apeptico Forschung und Entwicklung GmbH, Commence Bio, Inc., CompleGen, Inc., FirstString Research, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Histocell S.L., Navigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Noxxon Pharma AG, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., S-Evans Biosciences, Inc., Silence Therapeutics Plc, Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. and Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. Acute Lung Injury Pipeline market research report of 114 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/628289-acute-lung-injury-pipeline-review-h1-2016.html .

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WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - U.S. prosecutors and Volkswagen AG (VKW.L, VLKAF.PK, VOW.BE) are negotiating a settlement that could result in significant financial penalties after Justice Department officials found evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the car company's diesel-emissions cheating, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department hasn't broached a specific criminal charge with Volkswagen. Prosecutors have previously charged other car makers with wire fraud and concealing information from government officials for safety transgressions. Volkswagen last year admitted to misleading environmental regulators and consumers by installing illegal emissions-cheating software on nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. In June, it agreed to a separate civil settlement to pay regulators and consumers up to $15 billion. The German auto maker is expected to face a large financial penalty as part of the criminal case, though the exact amount remains under discussion. The discussions so far have focused on a figure that would combine criminal and civil penalties, the report said. 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.
EQS-News / 16/08/2016 / 10:20 UTC+8 15 August 2016 Yestar International Holdings Company Limited (Stock code: 2393.HK) Announces 2016 Interim Results Revenue Increased by 43.7% to 1.44 Billion Profit for the Period Surged by 109.1% yoy to 140.1 Million (Hong Kong - 15 August 2016) Yestar International Holdings Company Limited ("Yestar" or the "Company" together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", stock code: 2393.HK) is pleased to announce the annual results for the six months ended 30 June 2016 (the "Period"). The Group is the sole distributor and manufacturer of Fujifilm photographic paper in the PRC, and starting from 2014, has gradually transformed into a high-margin medical consumable manufacturer and distributor in the PRC. The Group mainly targets the booming medical industry in the PRC, with a focus in high-margin, high-consumption medical consumables, namely the IVD products and medical imaging products. With the professional management system and experienced senior management team, the Group has successfully built an extensive sales network in the PRC. Leveraging on the success track record, the Group has established a trustful partnership with global leaders, namely Roche Diagnostics ("Roche"), Becton Dickinson ("BD") and Thermo Fisher Scientific ("Thermo Fisher"). IVD business contribute to the substantial profit growth Yestar has continued to achieve exceptional results for the six months ended 30 June 2016 (the "Period"). With the favourable performance of medical imaging products and the rewarding contributions from Jiangsu Uno Technology Development Company Limited (????????????) ("Jiangsu UNO") and Shanghai Emphasis Investment (???????) ("Shanghai Anbaida") which were acquired in November 2014 and August 2015 respectively, the Group's total revenue has significantly increased by 43.7% year-on-year ("yoy") to RMB1,436.8 million (1H2015: RMB 999.5 million). Gross profit amounted to RMB356.2 million, showing an increment of 98.4%. Since medical consumable products generated a higher gross profit margin of 26.9%, the Group's overall gross profit margin has been driven up to 24.8% (1H2015: 18.0%), with an increase of 6.8 percentage points. Further, as the contribution from the medical consumable segment has been increasing, the Group's profit for the period substantially surged by 109.1% to RMB140.9 million (1H2015: RMB67.4 million). Profit attributable to the owners of the parents rose by 91.2% to RMB106.3 million comparing to RMB55.6 million in 2015. Net profit margin was also enhanced by 1.8 percentage points to 7.4% (1H2015: 5.6%). Earnings per share was RMB5.0 cents (1H2015: RMB3.0 cents). The Board of Directors declared no interim dividend for the Period (1H2015: Nil). Medical Consumable Business - Accounting for 77.3% of overall revenue The Group distributes IVD products for Roche in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, manufactures medical films (use in X-Ray, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computer Tomography (CT-scan) etc.) for Fujifilm in the PRC. The Company also produces and sells dental film products under the house brand "Yes!Star". Under favourable government policies and the rapid development of the medical consumable industry, the Group's medical consumable business remains the biggest revenue contributor and profit generator for the Period, in which accounted for 77.3% of the Group's total revenue. During the Period, the segment has generated revenue of approximately RMB1,110.2 million, indicating a 76.5% yoy increment (1H2015: RMB629.1 million). The gross profit margin of the segment rose by 7.6 percentage points yoy to 26.9% (1H2015: 19.3%). The Group has also further extended its distribution network to the most affluent regions in the PRC, including 260, 70 and 258 hospitals and clinics in Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai respectively. Imaging printing products - Accounting for 22.7% of overall revenue The Group also engaged in manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sale of Fujifilm color photographic paper (professional and minilab) as well as the industrial imaging products (NDT x-ray films and PWB films) in the PRC. Apart from Fujifilm, the Company also produces and sells NDT x-ray films under the house brand "Yes!Star". During the Period, revenue of the segment accounted for 22.7% of the overall revenue, decreasing by 11.9% from approximately RMB370.4 million to RMB326.6 million in the first half of 2015. However, the segment's gross profit margin has improved by 1.8 percentage points to 17.6%. Prospects The Group is optimistic towards its future development as the demand for medical consumables is prompted by the termination of the one-child policy and the ageing population subsequently creates plentiful opportunities for Yestar to explore in the PRC. There will be an extra 2.1 million newborns expected under the termination of the one-child policy which is a business opportunity for the IVD industry. Meanwhile, the ageing population will consequently increase the demand for body checkups and disease-related diagnosis, which requires more medical consumables products. Facing the enormous opportunities, Mr. James Hartono, the Chairman of Yestar International, stated, "Over the past three years, Yestar has completed business transformation and now we are a fast-moving, high-margin medical consumable company that delivered exceptional financial results. Leveraging on our extensive sales network in the most prosperous regions in the PRC, we are ready to propel forward to capture more market shares." Mr. Hartono continued, "In order to accelerate our sales network expansion, we will increase the number of sales representative, deepen our sales network and at the same time seeking for potential merger and acquisition opportunities. In terms of product line, apart from continuing to produce and market dental film products under house brand "Yes!Star", we will further explore and broaden our product offering. Looking forward, we will further enhance the cooperation with Roche in the medical consumable industry in the PRC. In pursuance of a strong marketing and distribution alliance, we will enhance our relationship with Fujifilm and other global industry giants. Through collaboration with these strategic partners, we believe Yestar can achieve fruitful results for shareholders in the coming years. - End - About Yestar International Holdings Company Limited The Group is sole distributor and manufacturer of Fujifilm photographic paper in the PRC, and starting from 2014, has gradually transformed into a high-margin medical consumable manufacturer and distributor in the PRC. The Group mainly targets the booming medical industry in the PRC, with a focus in high-margin, high-consumption medical consumables, such as the IVD products and medical imaging products. With professional management system and experienced senior management team, the Group has successfully built a systematic sales network in the PRC. Leveraging on the good track record, the Group has established a trustful partnership with global leaders, such as Fujifilm, Roche, Becton Dickinson and Thermo Fisher. The Group currently manufactures medical films for Fujifilm and distributes Roche and BD branded IVD products in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, the PRC. The Group is also a sole processor and exclusive distributor of Fujifilm color photographic papers and industrial imaging products (including NDT x-ray films and PWB films) in the PRC. In addition, the Group also manufactures and sells dental films under the house brand "Yes!Star". Document: http://n.eqs.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=QPIQUCQAJG [1] Document title: [Yestar International 2393.HK] Announces 2016 Interim Results Revenue Increased by 43.7% to 1.44 Billion Profit for the Period Surged by 109.1% yoy to 140.1 Million Key word(s): Half Year Results 16/08/2016 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Media archive at www.todayir.com 492915 16/08/2016 1: http://public-cockpit.eqs.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=redirect&url=d52226f9f809df488dc1958844d12e8e&application_id=492915&site_id=vwd&application_name=news

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 15, 2016 22:20 ET (02:20 GMT)
PUNE, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Market-Research-Reports.com adds 2016 Cobalt Industry Report - Global and Chinese Market Scenario of 150 pages, published in Jul 2016, to the Chemicals collection of its store. This report estimate 2016-2021 Cobalt Industry Cost and Profit with Market Competition of Cobalt Industry By Country: (Including Europe, U.S., Japan, China etc.), By Company and Application.



This Global and Chinese Report 2016 is a result of industry experts' diligent work on researching the world market of Cobalt. The report helps to build up a clear view of the market (scenario and survey), identify major players in the industry, and analyzes the upstream raw materials, downstream clients, and current market dynamics of Cobalt Industry.



The report reviews the basic information of Cobalt including its classification, application and manufacturing technology. This report explores global and China's top manufacturers of Cobalt listing their product specification, capacity, Production value, and market share etc. The report further analyzes quantitatively 2011-2016 global and China's total market of Cobalt by calculation of main economic parameters of each company. The breakdown data of Cobalt market are presented by company, by country, and by application. Place a direct purchase order of this report (2016 Cobalt Industry Report - Global and Chinese Market Scenario) at http://www.market-research-reports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=434012.



In the end, the report makes a proposal for a new project of Cobalt Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2011-2016 global and China Cobalt industry covering all important parameters.



The first chapter introduces the Cobalt Industry by Brief Introduction, Development & Status of Cobalt Industry. The second chapter focuses on Manufacturing Technology of Cobalt, the third one gives Analysis of Global Key Manufacturers (Including Company Profile, Product Specification, 2011-2016 Production Information etc.) The forth chapter deals with 2011-2016 Global and China Market of Cobalt. The chapter 5 summarizes Market Status of Cobalt Industry.



Partial List of Tables and Figures for Global & China Cobalt Industry

Figure Cobalt Product

Table Cobalt Classification

Table Cobalt Applications

Figure Cobalt Manufacturing Technology

Table Major Manufacturers Production Technology List

Table Cobalt Industries Policy List

Figure 2016 Global Cobalt Market Share By Country

Figure 2016 Global Cobalt Major Manufacturers Market Share

Figure 2016 Global Cobalt Market Share By Application

Figure 2016 China Cobalt Market Share By Regions

Figure 2016 China Cobalt Major Manufacturers Market Share

Figure 2016 China Cobalt Market Share By Application

Table 2011-2016 Global Major Manufacturers Cobalt Capacity List

Table 2011-2016 Global Major Manufacturers Cobalt Capacity Market Share List

Table 2011-2016 Global Major Manufacturers Cobalt Production List

Table 2011-2016 Global Major Manufacturers Cobalt Production Market Share List

Figure 2011-2016 Global Cobalt Capacity Production and Growth Rate

Table 2011-2016 Global Cobalt Rate of Capacity Utilization List

Table 2011-2016 Global Cobalt Demand and Growth Rate

Table 2011-2016 Global Cobalt Supply Demand and Consumption List

Table 2011-2016 China Cobalt Production Import Export List

Another Report titled ' Global and Chinese Cobalt carbonate Industry, 2011-2021 Market Research Report' provides key statistics on the market status of the Cobalt carbonate manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. The report estimates 2016-2021 market development trends of Cobalt carbonate industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Cobalt carbonate Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Order a copy of this report (Global and Chinese Cobalt carbonate Industry, 2011-2021 Market Research Report) at http://www.market-research-reports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=468959.



Browse more reports onChemicals at http://www.market-research-reports.com/cat/chemicals-market-research.



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NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLICATION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO U.S. PERSONS, OR IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN



This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to subscribe for, or to buy shares in any jurisdiction. This announcement is neither an advertisement, a prospectus nor a financial promotion.



Foresight Solar Fund Limited: Statement Regarding Potential Sale of Treasury Shares



As highlighted in the Interim Results for the period to 30 June 2016, on 22 September 2015 the Company announced it had purchased 28,152,143 new Ordinary Shares which are held in Treasury.



These Ordinary Shares are available to be sold to meet investor demand and provide the Company with additional capital to take advantage of its attractive pipeline.



Before any such Ordinary Shares are sold, the Company will make an announcement including details of the sale price. Any sale price would be determined at the time and would be at a premium to the relevant Net Asset Value.



ENDS



For further information, please contact:



Foresight Group



Elena Palasmith epalasmith@foresightgroup.eu +44 (0)203 667 8100



Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited +44 (0)20 7710 7600



Mark Bloomfield Neil Winward Tunga Chigovanyika



J.P. Morgan Cazenove +44 (0)20 7742 4000 William Simmonds



This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States of America (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States of America and the District of Columbia) (the 'United States'), Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa. This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 'Securities Act') or the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended and may not be offered or sold directly or indirectly in or into the United States or to or for the account or benefit of any US Person (within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act). The securities referred to herein have not been registered under the applicable securities laws of Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa and, subject to certain exceptions, may not be offered or sold within Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa or to any national, resident or citizen of Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa.



This announcement has been issued by and is the sole responsibility of the Company. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by, Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, or J.P. Morgan Cazenove or by any of their respective affiliates or agents as to or in relation to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or their advisers and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed.



Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting as sponsor to the Company and is acting for no-one else in connection with the contents of this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited nor for providing advice in connection with the contents of this announcement or any other matter referred to herein.



J.P. Morgan Cazenove which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority and Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (together, the 'Joint Bookrunners'), are each acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the matters referred to in this announcement, will not regard any other person as their respective client and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to any transaction or arrangement referred to in this announcement.



This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.



Source: Foresight Solar Fund Limited via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2035371]



BD3QJR5R23



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Regulatory News:

Precise Biometrics (STO:PREC):

PRECISE BIOMETRICS AB (PUBL), CORPORATE IDENTITY NO. 556545-6596, INTERIM REPORT FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY-JUNE 2016

Interim report

SECOND QUARTER

Consolidated net sales increased to SEK 21.9 (10.0) million.

EBITDA increased to SEK 6.2 (-5.2) million.

Profit after tax increased to SEK 4.4 (-7.9) million.

Earnings per share for the period increased to SEK 0.01 (-0.02).

Cash flow from operations increased to SEK 10.0 (-5.6) million.

FIRST HALF-YEAR

Consolidated net sales increased to SEK 46.1 (14.6) million.

EBITDA increased to SEK 14.4 (-11.6) million.

Profit after tax increased to SEK 10.7 (-16.7) million.

Earnings per share for the period increased to SEK 0.03 (-0.05).

Cash flow from operations increased to SEK 17.5 (-11.9) million.

Cash and cash equivalents were SEK 67.4 (47.0) million at the end of the interim period.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE SECOND QUARTER

Precise BioMatch Mobile was included in over 40 different smartphones, tablets and laptops that was launched during the quarter.

Licensing agreements were signed with sensor manufacturers IDEX and EOSMEN as well as the digital security company, Oberthur Technologies.

Precise Biometrics, won a framework agreement for Tactivo from the Defense Logistics Agency within the US Department of Defense.

Precise BioMatch Embedded was integrated in Fingerprint Cards (FPC) embedded biometric module solution FPC-BM.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER THE SECOND QUARTER

Precise BioMatch Mobile has so far been included into seven different smartphones and tablets that was launched after the end of the second quarter.

Licensing agreements after the end of the quarter were signed with the sensor manufacturers Betterlife and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

CONFERENCE CALL

On the occasion of today's interim report, we are pleased to invite investors and journalists to a conference call today at 10.00. More information can be found at the last page of the report.

CEO'S COMMENTS

The second quarter was another good quarter for Precise Biometrics. The company has had a fantastic development during the past year. During the last 12-month period net sales increased with 176% to SEK 87.9 million (SEK 31.8). Corresponding EDITDA was SEK 26.5 million (- 27.3), an increase with SEK 53.8 million on an annual basis. I am of course not satisfied with the discontinued net sales growth compared to the first quarter, but I am convinced that we will have continued growth ahead. 

However, I am pleased that the positive trend of new customer agreements continued during the second quarter, and that we signed an agreement with Qualcomm at the beginning of the third quarter. This is a partnership that we feel holds great potential. Qualcomm is one of the leaders in the mobile industry and has an exciting sensor technology based on ultrasound. During the quarter we also signed licensing agreements with the sensor manufacturers IDEX and EOSMEM, and with the security company Oberthur. We now have a total of 18 licensing agreements, giving us great opportunities to win a significant share of the market growth. We are continuously assessing new partners to further enhance our market position and competitive edge, in line with our strategy.

The market for fingerprint technology continues to grow, and more and more manufacturers are also choosing to integrate the technology in mobile phones in the low- and medium-price segments, as well as in tablets and laptops. Leading market analysts project a compound annual growth rate of 35% in the fingerprint market until 2020. I expect that already next year our addressable market will reach almost 800 million mobile phones, tablets and laptops with fingerprint technology. This is an amazing market trend, which provides us with opportunities for growth in both the short term and the long term.

We have further enhanced our position as the leading supplier of fingerprint software. Our software is now included in more than 130 mobile devices from over 35 different manufacturers. Precise BioMatch Mobile was included in a total of 40 different mobile phones, tablets and laptops that was launched during the quarter, 15 more than in the first quarter, five of which were for customers other than Fingerprint Cards AB. We expect sales and volumes to increase from several of our other sensor customers, which will drive growth and compensate for the effects of Fingerprint Cards having implemented their own algorithm solution with some key customers.

In recent months many of our customers have undergone comprehensive qualification processes with leading mobile phone manufacturers. The customers are now involved in final evaluations and integration projects that may generate volume shipments towards the end of the year. During the quarter sensors from Synaptics and Elan Microelectronics were delivered with our software in several mobile devices, an indication of increasing competition in the market. We are increasingly collaborating with our customer on site at the premises of mobile phone manufacturers. This way, we can achieve faster, more efficient evaluation and integration processes and thus create the conditions for earlier and increased royalty revenues.

We have continued our investments in research and development to secure our competitiveness by having the market's best performance in terms of user experience and security. We are furthermore developing our offer with software and reference implementations for different platforms as well as integration services to be able to offer broader solutions that enable quicker integration of our fingerprint software in mobile devices. In order to get closer to and better support our customers in critical integration projects in our key markets, China and Taiwan, we have also established a local organization for support and integration in Taiwan that also covers the Chinese market.

Sales in the Mobile Smart Card Solutions business area was weaker than expected, primarily because of lower sales to the US government agency market and the Defense Logistics Agency.

However, we expect continued growth over time in this business area. Beyond the US, several interesting projects are showing progress, primarily in Sweden, Germany and the UK. The City of Gothenburg is planning to introduce a mobile solution featuring Tactivo to 10,000 employees over the next year. This is a wide-ranging project that is progressing according to schedule, and we expect initial orders for Tactivo as early as this fall. Many stakeholders in the Swedish healthcare sector are monitoring the development of this project, which may have a positive impact on other organizations' decisions to introduce mobile solutions using Tactivo. Pilot projects with German authorities are also progressing in the right direction, which may generate revenues in 2017.

The first half of 2016 has been eventful, and I am satisfied with our overall development. We have strengthened our position as the leading supplier of fingerprint software. As more and more of our customers becomes qualified as suppliers, we are also reducing our reliance on individual partnerships. Through our broad customer base of 16 sensor manufacturers and two security companies, we are well positioned for profitable growth and I am confident that Precise Biometrics' positive development will continue.

Hakan Persson, CEO

ABOUT PRECISE BIOMETRICS

Precise Biometrics is a market leading supplier of solutions for convenient and secure authentication of people's identity. We develop and sell fingerprint software and mobile smart card readers that provide the market's best user experience and security. Our solutions are used hundreds of millions of times every day by people all over the world and are marketed together with strong business partners. For more information, please visit www.precisebiometrics.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/20160815006268/en/

Contacts:

Precise Biometrics AB

Hakan Persson, CEO

Tel. 46 46 31 11 05 or 46 734 35 11 05

E-mail hakan.persson@precisebiometrics.com


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Wood Group (John) plc. (WG.L) reported that its Profit attributable to Owners of the parent for the six months ended 30 June 2016 dropped to $40.3 million or 10.5 cents per share from $116.8 million or 30.9 cents per share in the prior year.



Adjusted earnings per share for the six months to 30 June 2016 was 28.7 cents per share, down from 40.1 cents in the previous year.



Profit before tax from continuing operations declined to $59.3 million from $160.6 million in the prior year.



Revenue from continuing operations on an equity accounting basis dropped to $2.16 billion from $2.66 billion in the prior year.



An interim dividend of 10.8 cents per share (2015: 9.8 cents) has been declared which will be paid on 22 September 2016, representing an increase of 10%. The dividend is covered 2.7 times (June 2015: 4.1 times) by adjusted earnings per share.



'Performance in the first half of 2016 reflects the balance of a challenging oil and gas market, our continued focus on utilisation and cost management and the benefits of our flexible, asset light model. Our overall outlook for 2016 remains unchanged; with full year EBITA anticipated to be around 20% lower than 2015, in line with previous guidance.



Looking further ahead, we see early indications of modest recovery in some areas and believe our customer relationships, geographic footprint, strong financial footing and relentless focus on delivering value through our asset life cycle services and specialist technical solutions, position us well' - Robin Watson, Chief Executive.



Wood Group is providing main automation contractor (MAC) services to Tengizchevroil (TCO) for the Future Growth Project-Wellhead Pressure Management Project at the Tengiz Field in Kazakhstan. Wood Group's vendor- independent Automation & Control business will provide optimal integrated process and safety solutions to TCO under a multi-year contract valued at approximately $700 million. Wood Group has been supporting the project since 2013.



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The recently completed 2015 Dry Docking Performance Benchmarking Study provides eye-opening metrics on dry docking practices, and cost and schedule outcomes

AMSTERDAM, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Asset Performance Networks, LLC (AP-Networks) has announced the results of the 2015 Dry Docking Performance Benchmarking Study. The study involved ship management organizations based out of Southeast Asia and Europe. Participants provided detailed data on dry docking planning and preparation, execution, and performance outcomes. By reviewing this data, along with insights gained from in-depth face-to-face interviews, AP-Networks drew on its knowledge as Industry's premier benchmarking and assessment firm to provide a comprehensive "state of the industry" report on dry docking practices and outcomes.

The final report, covered in an article by industry website Splash, looks at how individual participants compare to the Industry average across a diverse array of performance benchmarks. Additionally, the study examines where the dry docking practice area as a whole stands compared to other asset-intensive practice areas worldwide, such as offshore shutdowns and petrochemical turnarounds. AP-Networks found that, overall, dry docking is an immature practice area with a great degree of potential to refine and optimize planning and execution practices in pursuit of much more competitive cost and schedule outcomes.

In addition to discussing Industry performance on cost, schedule, and safety, the final report highlights a number of opportunities for the maritime industry as a whole to capitalize on. To receive a copy of the report, visit www.DryDocking-Network.com. To inquire about involvement in the next AP-Networks Dry Docking Performance Benchmarking Study, and to learn more about AP-Networks' benchmarking services, contact Leon van Hout, Dry Docking Benchmarking and Assessment Project Manager for AP-Networks:

Email: LvanHout@AP-Networks.com

Telephone: +31-20-486-1185

About Asset Performance Networks

AP-Networks is Industry's premier turnaround benchmarking and assessment firm. We aim to advance the state of Industry knowledge, and to drive continuous improvement. Our unique combination of on-the-ground experience, evaluative tools, and comprehensive data generates measurable results by bringing predictability and competitiveness to high-risk events.

For more than a decade, our company has worked to understand and improve turnaround and shutdown performance in the energy and petrochemical industries. By combining our detailed turnaround event knowledge with the insight gained from our Industry-sponsored studies (i.e., Upstream Turnaround Performance Benchmarking Study, Oil Sands Turnaround Cost Performance Benchmarking Study), we offer our clients access to the largest database of turnaround metrics in the world.

We engage with dry docking and turnaround teams from offshore and shipping clients such as BP, Chevron, Neste, Masterbulk, Shell, Statoil, Suncor, and Transocean to help them achieve their goals in executing turnarounds and turnaround-like events.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Scientific Metals Corp. ("STM" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: STM)(FRANKFURT: 26X)(OTCQB: SCTFF) is pleased to announce it has completed the arm's length acquisition of a 100% interest in the Paradox Basin Lithium Brine property (the "Paradox Property") located in Utah in the western United States.

The Company acquired an aggregate of 111 mineral claims covering approximately 2,200 acres that contain six historic oil and gas drill holes. In consideration for the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Paradox Property, STM made a cash payment of US$40,000.00 and issued 2,750,000 common shares to the vendor. The Company also issued 333,333 common shares as a finder's fee in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued under the transaction are subject to a four month hold period.

The Paradox Property lies within an area with historic fluid analysis ranging from 81 to 1,700 ppm lithium in saturated minerals brines, which was previously disclosed by Voltaic Minerals Corp.'s press release of February 18, 2016. Well No.1 Long Canyon returned 500 ppm lithium. This well is located within 400 feet of the Paradox Property ("Concentrated Subsurface Brines in the Moab Region, Utah", Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, June 1965).

The Paradox Basin area is a semi-desert region with an average of over 300 days of sunshine per year, existing infrastructure, and year-round access to road and rail. The Paradox Property is located approximately 4 kilometres northwest of Intrepid Potash's Cane Creek Operation and is contiguous to the north of Voltaic Minerals Corp.'s "Green Energy" lithium property. As disclosed in Intrepid Potash's 2015 Annual Report, the Cane Creek Operation produced 93,000 tonnes of potash in 2015 through solution mining and solar evaporation ponds. The Paradox Property is approximately 530 miles east of Tesla's Gigafactory in Nevada.

STM president, Brian Kirwin stated, "We're pleased to have closed the acquisition under more favourable terms and will now direct our attention to planning the first phase of exploratory work which will focus on analysis of the brines encountered in historical drill holes and structural analysis."

Approximately six wells have been drilled on the Paradox Property with approximately 25 historic wells in the area. Of these 25 historic wells, five near the Paradox Property have analytical data for lithium and are concurrent with a zone determined by the USGS to contain greater than 40% total dissolved solids in oil field brines. Lithium occurs in the basin in oversaturated mineral brine (40 per cent minerals, 60 per cent water) and was discovered during oil exploration when drill wells intercepted the main brine zone (clastic break 31) of the Paradox formation. ("Concentrated Subsurface Brines in the Moab Region, Utah", Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, June 1965).

The Company has not undertaken any independent investigation of the drill results, fluid analysis or other information contained in this press release nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the accuracy of the information. The Company believes that the historical drill results, fluid analysis and other information contained in this press release are relevant to continuing exploration on the Paradox Property. The Company intends to conduct a review of recent and historic well logs, along with chemical analysis in the area and reprocessing of seismic data focusing on mineral brine. Evaluation of reservoir potential will be done in preparation for the re-entry of shut-in wells.

Mr. Garry Clark, P. Geo., of Clark Exploration Consulting, is the "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content in this press release.

About The Company

STM is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade lithium deposits in North America. STM has acquired the Deep Valley lithium property, located in west-central Alberta, consisting of a 6,648 ha (16,427 acres) permit that encompasses an area of reported enrichment of lithium brines. This property is located in the active Fox Creek - Sturgeon Lake area of Alberta, where formation waters within Leduc aquifers are known to be highly enriched in lithium, potassium, boron, bromine and other commodities. Within the central part of the property, historic samples of formation waters (brines) have returned 140 mg/L (ppm) from the Leduc Formation, which are amongst the highest values recorded for Alberta.

Reader Advisory

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Company's proposed operations and activities on the Paradox Property. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; liabilities inherent in water disposal facility operations; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Scientific Metals Corp.

Brian Kirwin, President

(775) 772-0165

bongold@intercomm.com

info@scientificmetalscorp.com

www.scientificmetalscorp.com




HONG KONG, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Hung Kai Financial ("SHKF") acted as Joint Lead Manager and Joint Book Runner ("JBR") for the issue of US$250 million 5-year Guaranteed Notes ("the Notes") by CSI Properties Limited ("CSI Properties"). The Notes were priced on 1 August 2016 with a coupon of 4.875%. The issue was well received by the market with a total demand of over US$1.8 billion, which resulted in a tightening of pricing from the initial guidance of 5.125%.

In 2016 YTD, SHKF has acted as JBR for four bond issuances, raising over US$1.6 billion. This demonstrates SHKF's strong distribution network. Previously, SHKF acted as JBR in China Minsheng Investment Corporation Limited's 3-year US$500 million Medium Term Note programme, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited's US$361 million 5-year Guaranteed Medium Term Note programme and AMTD Group's 3-year US$500 million Medium Term Note programme.

Mr William Leung, Chief Executive Officer, SHKF, said, "We see solid demand from our institutional and wealth management clients for fixed income products from quality issuers. Our key role in such offerings, which were multiple times subscribed and upsized, is a testament to SHKF's strong distribution capability in the market, which will position us to continue to build our business in the debt capital markets segment."

About Sun Hung Kai Financial Limited

Sun Hung Kai Financial Limited ("SHKFL"), with its foundation dating back to 1969, is a 70%-owned subsidiary of Everbright Securities Company Limited ("Everbright Securities", SSE: 601788).

Operating under the Sun Hung Kai Financial brand as well as the SHK Direct and SHK Private sub-brands, SHKFL has two core business segments, Wealth Management and Brokerage, and Capital Markets. It offers customised wealth management and investment solutions for retail, corporate and institutional clients. Backed by Everbright Securities, SHKFL provides greater access for Hong Kong and Mainland investors to a broad range of products and services.

SHKFL has an extensive branch and office network in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, and offers a diversified financial trading platform to its customers. SHKFL, through its subsidiaries, currently has about HK$85.4 billion* in assets under management, custody and/or advice. For more information, please visit www.shkf.com.

*As of 30 June 2016

For enquiries:







Juliana Chan (852) 3920 2511 juliana.chan@shkf.com Maggie Chan (852) 3920 2513 maggie.chan@shkf.com Hinson Ngai (852) 3920 2509 hinson.ngai@shkf.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shkf-acts-as-joint-book-runner-for-us250m-5-year-guaranteed-notes-by-csi-properties-300313948.html
CAMBRIDGE, England, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Cambridge Pixel to supply software modules for radar scan conversion , target tracking and radar fusion for integration into Lockheed Martin ' s new navigation radar system

Naval Vigilance Radar system to be fitted on more than 60 Royal Navy Platforms over next five years

Cambridge Pixel selected due to radar tracking expertise, availability of discreet and evolving software modules, and experience with Kelvin Hughes SharpEye' radar

Cambridge Pixel (http://www.cambridgepixel.com ) has been selected by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems UK to supply software modules for radar scan conversion, target tracking and radar fusion for integration into the company's new state-of-the-art Naval Vigilance Radar system.

This navigation radar system - along with Kelvin Hughes solid-state SharpEye' radar transceivers - will be fitted to more than 60 Royal Navy Platforms over the next five years. The new equipment is part of the Navigation Radar Programme (NRP), a 44m Royal Navy Upgrade awarded to Lockheed Martin by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) in January 2016.

David Johnson, CEO of Cambridge Pixel, said, "We are delighted to be working alongside Lockheed Martin's engineers on this major upgrade of the navigation radars on the UK Royal Navy's fleet of ships. Our technology software modules fit well with Lockheed Martin's vision of developing a navigation radar system that meets the Royal Navy's needs now but that also has a clear route to adding extra functionality in the future."

Commenting for Lockheed Martin, a spokesperson said: "We selected Cambridge Pixel because of their unparalleled background and experience in all aspects of radar processing and display - in particular target tracking. Their engineers were already familiar with the Kelvin Hughes SharpEye radar transceiver - which was a major benefit for this contract - and have always demonstrated a real desire to work with our team, engineer to engineer, to assist us with the integration process."

Cambridge Pixel's software 'modules of expertise' will be integrated into Lockheed Martin's Naval Vigilance Radar system. The radar scan conversion module receives radar data from the Kelvin Hughes SharpEye radar and creates a radar image for display with underlay and overlay graphics.

The radar tracking module processes the radar data to automatically acquire and track targets, and the radar fusion software combine tracks from multiple radars on the ships with AIS (automatic identification system) transponder data and other sensor data into a single, integrated data source.

To assist Lockheed Martin during the development and test phase of the new navigation radar system, Cambridge Pixel is also supplying radar simulation and recording capabilities from its established SPx product family. The RDR Radar Data Recorder captures raw video from the sensor as ASTERIX CAT-240, along with AIS data and navigation data.

For system testing, prior to connection to the SharpEye radars, the SPx Radar Simulator generates realistic ASTERIX-based data sets comprising primary radar video, tracks, NMEA-0183 navigation data and AIS data sets from programmed scenarios.

Cambridge Pixel's technology is used in naval, air traffic control, vessel traffic, commercial shipping, security, surveillance and airborne radar applications. Its systems have been implemented in mission critical applications with companies such as BAE Systems, Frontier Electronic Systems, Barco Defense, Blighter Surveillance Systems, DRS, Exelis, Kelvin Hughes, Lockheed Martin, Navantia, Navtech Radar, Raytheon, Royal Thai Air Force, Samsung Thales, Sofresud and Tellumat.

For more information about Cambridge Pixel's range of software modules, please visit http://www.cambridgepixel.com or call: +44 (0) 1763 852749 or email: enquiries@cambridgepixel.com.

Media photos:

http://cambridgepixel.com/images/News/pr-lm_1.jpg

http://cambridgepixel.com/images/News/pr-lm_2.jpg

About Cambridge Pixel (http://www.cambridgepixel.com)

Founded in 2007, Cambridge Pixel is an award winning developer of sensor processing and display solutions including primary and secondary radar interfacing, processing and display components for military and commercial radar applications. It is a world-leading supplier of software-based radar tracking and scan conversion solutions through its modular SPx software, and HPx hardware product range. Based near Cambridge in the UK, the company operates worldwide through a network of agents and distributors. In 2015, Cambridge Pixel received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade for 'outstanding overseas sales growth over the last three years'.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: David Kempton (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. n/a (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Anglo African Agriculture plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: n/a (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 15 August 2016 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" NO

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security: Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 1,500,000 1.37 (2) Cash-settled derivatives: (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:

TOTAL:

1,500,000

1.37

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: None Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages: None

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale Number of securities Price per unit

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit

(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO

Date of disclosure: 16 August 2016 Contact name: David Kempton Telephone number: 07836 609 200

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
SAN FRANCISCO, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The globalpatient engagement solutions marketis expected to reach USD 39.3 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The supportive government initiatives and the rising usage and awareness of mobile healthcare services are expected to impel the market growth.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )



The rising prevalence of chronic conditions is the preliminary factor that is expected to advance the market growth. The mortality rate of diabetic patients was over 1.0 million in 2012, as stated by the WHO. This hike in the death rate of diabetic patients reflects the lack of knowledge about the causes, symptoms, and the preventive measures of the disease. The present patient engagement systems aid in furnishing patients with educative information; thus, empowering them to make better healthcare decisions.

The patient engagement solutions cater to the hospitals in providing financial solutions for effective utilization of the allocated healthcare budget. Furthermore, the market players are actively volunteering in obtaining patient feedback regarding the existent solutions to develop better patient engagement plat forms with enhanced quality.

Moreover, the favorable government initiatives and the funding efforts undertaken to promote the incorporation of patient engagement solutions in the healthcare sector help in boosting the market growth. For instance, in the U.S., under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, the government spends around USD 20 billion annually on hospitals for the installation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), which is expected to help in improving the workflow and the quality of treatment delivery.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Patient Engagement Solutions Market Analysis, By Type of Delivery (Web-based, Cloud-Based, On-premise), By Component (Software, Services, Hardware), By End-use (Payers, Providers, Individual Users), By Application (Social Management, Health Management, Home Healthcare Management, Financial Health Management), By Therapeutic Area (Chronic Diseases, Women's Health, Mental Health, Fitness) And Segment Forecasts To 2024" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/patient-engagement-solutions-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:

The web-based delivery segment is expected to be the largest delivery mode growing at a lucrative CAGR over the forecast period.

North America is expected to dominate over the forecast period with a revenue share of over 40.0% in 2024. Favourable government initiatives, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) initiated by President Obama and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, are anticipated to drive the market growth.

is expected to dominate over the forecast period with a revenue share of over 40.0% in 2024. Favourable government initiatives, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) initiated by President Obama and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, are anticipated to drive the market growth. Asia Pacific is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR of over 20.0% over the forecast period. The increasing investments in the healthcare sector, rising awareness with regard to the varying types of patient engagement portals, and the escalating geriatric population base are estimated to catapult the demand.

is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR of over 20.0% over the forecast period. The increasing investments in the healthcare sector, rising awareness with regard to the varying types of patient engagement portals, and the escalating geriatric population base are estimated to catapult the demand. Some key players of the market include Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Cerner Corporation, Phytel, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., McKesson Corporation, and MEDecision, Inc.

In order to curtail the competition, the key industry players are actively involved in the development of new solutions that facilitate the workflow of the existing platforms. For instance, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. provides revenue cycle management solutions, which help in maintaining the financial health of the medical systems.

Grand View Research has segmented the patient engagement solutions market on the basis of the type of delivery, component, end-use, application, therapeutic area, and region.

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Type of Delivery Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) On-premise Cloud-based Web-based

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Software Standalone Integrated Hardware Services Consulting Services Implementation Services Education Services Other Services

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Payers Providers Individual Users

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Health Management Financial Health Management Social Management Home Healthcare Management

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Therapeutic Area Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Chronic Diseases Obesity Diabetes Cardiovascular Diseases Women's Health Mental Health Fitness Others

Patient Engagement Solutions Market Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany Asia Pacific Japan China Latin America Brazil Mexico MEA South Africa Saudi Arabia



Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Hospital Microbiology Testing Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/hospital-microbiology-testing-market



Enteric Disease Testing Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/enteric-disease-testing-market



Silicone Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/silicone-market



Thermoformed Plastics Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/thermoformed-plastics-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. Thecompany provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

Read Our Blogs - ni2014.org, grandviewresearch.com/blogs/healthcare

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com


The MyOptique Group, a major European online optical retailer with annual revenues of GBP 57 million, announces today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Essilor International, the world leader in ophthalmic optics.

Subsequent to the transaction the management of MyOptique will remain in place, and will leverage Essilor International's capabilities to continue growing its leading position in Europe. As part of Essilor, MyOptique will leverage Essilor's global supply chain and collaborate with its other operating businesses to improve the reach and effectiveness of its business across Europe.

Kevin Cornils, CEO of MyOptique, commented:

"This transaction represents a major milestone for the MyOptique Group. Our new ownership provides a tremendous platform from which to continue to build a very successful business on our proven multi-category, multi-brand model. My management team and I are delighted by the opportunity afforded from becoming part of the Essilor family."

Maurice Helfgott, Chairman of MyOptique commented:

"The strong success of MyOptique in the European marketplace owes so much to its entrepreneurial founders, its smart and supportive investors and its visionary and talented management team led by Kevin Cornils. The business has achieved pan European scale, is growing fast and had a number of strategic options for its next stage. Joining Essilor, the world leader in ophthalmic optics, was by far the most compelling one."

MyOptique is a privately held, Venture Capital backed business. Shareholders who supported the successful development of the company and will sell their shares in this transaction include Acton Capital Partners, Beringea, Cipio Partners, Index Ventures, Korys and Highland Capital Europe.

_____

Note to editors:

About MyOptique

MyOptique is a major online player across all eyewear categories - prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses in Europe. It has enjoyed double-digit growth over each of the last eight years.

The Group operates six online retail brands Glasses Direct, SunglassesShop, LensOn, Lensbest, Eyewearbrands and Netzoptiker. Together they have served three million customers and have shipped over 280 million contact lenses and 7 million glasses and sunglasses.

MyOptique's brands share a record of driving innovation to provide the best possible customer experience. Glasses Direct (founded by Jamie Murray Wells), was the first to take prescription eyewear online, to offer customers a home trial, and to have a virtual mirror. Lensbest was the first to sell contact lenses by mail order in Germany, and to sell own brand contacts as a fully certified medical producer. LensOn was the first in the Nordics to introduce one click reordering for contact lenses.

The innovation continues in 2015 Glasses Direct was recognised as delivering the best ecommerce experience in the Retail Week Customer Experience Awards, winning Outstanding Digital Experience for Ditto, its new cutting-edge 3D virtual try on service. It is also a Future Fifty company recognised by the British Government for its growth and innovation in the optical market.

ENDS

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005563/en/

Contacts:

MyOptique

Jo Jeffery

Head of brand communications

+44 (0)7930 393363

jo.jeffery@myoptiquegroup.com

Website: http://www.myoptiquegroup.com
PUNE, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Global Recycled Rubber Industry 2016 Market Research Report is the latest addition to resourceful studies available in AsklinkerReports.com database that provides a complete and informed review of the recycled rubber market. This exceptional report provides a calculable and qualitative analysis of the development and status of the market and concentrating on the market size and trends, supply and future prospects. The report will streamline the operational and calculated decision making processes.

Complete report on Recycled Rubber market analysing major companies and supported with table and figures is available at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/4634-recycled-rubber-market.

The key segments covered in this report are Recycled Rubber Industry Overview which includes topics such as Classification Analysis, Main Classification Analysis, Main Classification Share Analysis, Industry Chain Structure Analysis, Global Market Comparison Analysis, and Global Import Market Analysis. In addition, Recycled Rubber Global Export Market Analysis, Global Main Region Market Analysis, Global Market Comparison Analysis, and Recycled Rubber Global Market Development Trend Analysis have also been included. Along with it an encompassing study of the Recycled Rubber Industry in North America, Asia, and Europe has been made.

What makes the Global Recycled Rubber Industry 2016 Market Research Report more trustworthy for the new investors is the info on the Global Recycled Rubber apart from analyses on productions, supply, demand, forecast, market share, key trends etc. This report studies all the features of the present and forthcoming industry growth information which is crucial for all new players as well as the leading market players. For a deep insight of the Recycled Rubber market the report presents a deep study of the Capacity Production Trend, Production and Market Share Forecast, and Import and Export Consumption Trend. The report further highlights the Demand Analysis, Supply Demand Analysis, along with Recycled Rubber Production Cost Price Profit Trend. Order a Copy of Report at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/contacts/purchase/4634.

With numerous company profiles supporting the Recycled Rubber market analysis, this research report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a treasured foundation of assistance and direction for companies interested in the market. The Global Recycled Rubber Industry 2016 Market Research Report as available on asklinkerreports.com aids clients with investment viability analysis, project SWOT analysis, and investment return analysis. Wholly, the report provides a detailed understanding of the global automatic Recycled Rubber industry covering all vital factors.

Another related report is Global Rubber solution Industry 2016 Market Research Report: the report firstly introduced Rubber solution basic information including Rubber solution definition classification application and industry chain overview; Rubber solution industry policy and plan, Rubber solution product specification, manufacturing process, cost structure etc.. Then we deeply analyzed the world's main region market conditions that including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc.

In the end, the report introduced Rubber solution new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis and Rubber solution industry. Complete table of content is available at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/toc/global-rubber-solution-industry-2016-market-research-report-3977.

Browse other reports on Chemical market at http://www.asklinkerreports.com/category/chemical-market-research .

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HAMILTON, BERMUDA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Teekay Corporation (the "Company") (NYSE: TK) announced today that it has commenced a registered exchange offer (the "Exchange Offer") to exchange up to $200 million outstanding unregistered 8.5% Senior Notes due 2020 (CUSIP Nos. 87900YAB9 and Y8564WAC7) (the "Original Notes") for a like principal amount of newly issued, registered 8.5% Senior Notes due 2020 (CUSIP No. 87900YAA1) (the "Exchange Notes").

The sole purpose of the Exchange Offer is to fulfill the obligations of the Company with respect to the registration of the Original Notes. Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into in connection with the sale of the Original Notes, the Company agreed to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement relating to the Exchange Offer pursuant to which the Exchange Notes, containing substantially identical terms to the Original Notes, would be offered in exchange for Original Notes that are tendered by the holders thereof.

Any Original Notes not tendered for exchange in the exchange offer will remain outstanding and continue to accrue interest, but will not retain further exchange or registration rights and will continue to be subject to restrictions on transfer.

The Exchange Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, September 14, 2016, unless extended. Original Notes tendered pursuant to the Exchange Offer may be withdrawn at any time prior to the expiration date by following the procedures set forth in the Exchange Offer prospectus dated August 16, 2016.

The terms of the Exchange Offer are contained in the Exchange Offer prospectus. Requests for assistance or for copies of the Exchange Offer prospectus should be directed to The Bank of New York Mellon, 111 Sanders Creek Parkway, East Syracuse, New York, 13067, Attention: Corporate Trust Reorganization Unit.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or exchange any securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy or exchange any securities. The Exchange Offer will be made only by means of the written Exchange Offer prospectus.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements related to the Exchange Offer, which are based on the Company's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements are set forth in the Company's filings from time to time with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Contacts:

Investor Relations enquiries:

Ryan Hamilton

+1 (604) 844-6654

www.teekay.com






BENGALURU (dpa-AFX) - Shares of IT firm Infosys (INFY) were declining in Indian trading after the company said it will be hit by Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel its plan to separate and list a new standalone bank, Williams & Glyn or W&G, and instead to pursue other divestment options. The move would affect 3,000 employees, as Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services.



As per reports, the cancellation of the deal would impact Infosys' revenues for the year by about $40 million to $50 million, resulting in a reduction in earnings per share of 1-2 percent.



In a statement, Infosys said it will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months. The company added that RBS is a key relationship and that it looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programs.



It was in 2013 that Infosys won the contract to develop applications for W&G. The bank had awarded a five-year 300 million euro IT contract to Infosys and IBM.



While announcing first-half results on August 5, RBS stated that due to the complexities of W&G's separation, the Board concluded that the risks and costs inherent in the programme are such that it would not be prudent to continue with this programme. RBS added that it will instead prioritise exploring alternative means to achieve divestment. In April, the bank had announced that there was a significant risk that the separation and divestment of Williams & Glyn will not be achieved by December 31, 2017.



In India, Infosys shares were trading at 1,045.25 rupees, down 1.63 percent.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - French shares recovered from an early slide Tuesday after the release of encouraging German economic sentiment and Eurozone trade data. While the ZEW institute's economic sentiment indicator for Germany partly recovered from the Brexit shock in August, Eurozone trade surplus with the rest of the world grew by more than expected in June. The CAC 40 was down about 3 points or 0.08 percent at 4,494 in late opening deals after hitting as low as 4,457 in early trade on worries that a recent market rally was overdone. The benchmark index closed 0.1 percent lower in the previous session. A stronger euro weighed on automakers, with Peugeot and Renault losing 1-2 percent. Air Liquide shares rallied 2 percent on a report that U.S. industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc. has held merger talks with its German peer Linde AG to create the world's largest supplier of industrial gases. Technip shares climbed 2.5 percent. The French oil services firm and DOF Subsea announced that their 50/50 owned affiliate TechDof Brasil AS has chartered out a pipe-lay support vessel to Petrobras. 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.
RAMALLAH, Palestine, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Tarek Aggad, Chairman and CEO of Arab Palestinian Investment Company - APIC, said that the group achieved net profits after tax of USD6.28 million. Net profit attributed to APIC's shareholders amounted to USD4.34 million in the first half of 2016, a growth of 18% compared to the first half of 2015.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160519/370006LOGO )



Aggad added that APIC achieved good results despite the surrounding economic and political challenges in Palestine and abroad, with the group's revenues growing by 16% compared to the first half of 2015, amounting to USD286 million by the end of the first half of 2016.

Aggad went on to add that APIC increased its paid-up capital to reach USD66 million by distributing six million bonus shares to its shareholders (10% at par), and distributed USD3 million as cash dividends to its shareholders. Accordingly, total dividend distribution amounted to USD9 million (15% at par)

APIC increased its ownership percentage in its subsidiary Unipal General Trading Company (Unipal), buying half a million shares from Al Huda Holding, to increase its total share to 93.4%.

Aggad said, "Many of APIC's subsidiaries reported significant developments in the first half of 2016. A consortium led by Siniora Food Industries Company and private equity fund Emerging Investment Partners (EIP) acquired Diamond Meat Processing L.L.C (DMP) in the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth USD17 million. This acquisition comes in line with APIC's expansion and development strategy to target new markets while simultaneously upgrading the products and services of its subsidiaries. Siniora also launched its new line of frozen meat products in Jordan, which includes more than 35 products." He added, "Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (Bravo) strengthened its lead in the Palestinian market by launching its new shopping center in Nablus, which is the largest in Palestine, with a total retail area of 2300 square meters built over a 10,000-square-meter plot, employing over 100 staff members."

Aggad reacted positively to APIC's share performance as it was ranked among the top performing on Palestine Exchange (PEX) year to-date. As at August 15, 2016, APIC's share price closed at USD1.77, and grew by 58% compared to 2015 closing. APIC's stock turnover ratio was 55%, while its market capitalization amounted to USD116,820,000 and constituted 3.6% of total PEX market capitalization as at August 15, 2016.

In line with its corporate social responsibility strategy, APIC continued to invest in education, culture, entrepreneurship, youth development, as well as charitable institutions. APIC's latest investment involved signing a memorandum of understanding with Al-Quds University- the Dual Studies Program where APIC will host sixteen students at its subsidiaries offering them to simultaneously study and acquire practical experience throughout their undergraduate studies.

For more information, please find review APIC's Investor Brief for the first half of 2016 or visit http://www.apic.ps

Fida' Musleh/Azar, Investor Relations & Corporate Communication Manager, Tel: +970-2-297-7040, email: fida@apic.com.jo
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- ArrowStream, Inc., ("ArrowStream"), a supply chain innovator that combines expertise in data science and analytics to improve the way supply chains perform, announced today the successful conclusion of its 2016 Executive Summit, hosted for ArrowStream customers and other supply chain and foodservice professionals.

A select group of 35 executives from major food industry companies such as US Foods, Popeyes, and Einstein Noah Restaurant Group came together for a conference focused on technology innovation, supply-chain collaboration and sharing of best practices. Panelists and discussion groups, including restaurant chains, distributors, suppliers, and technology experts addressed top industry challenges such as food safety and traceability, supplier sourcing, and the evolving role of supply chain intelligence.

The conclusion shared among attendees was that technology innovations in data science and guided analytics are poised to change the way the foodservice industry operates.

"The industry is quickly moving beyond data visibility as its top goal," said Frank Morgiewicz, Chief Executive Officer at ArrowStream. "Users want to be told where to go to take action. The technology platforms that will drive the industry will be those that can combine data science with deep industry intelligence in order to draw attention to the right issues and opportunities and make concrete recommendations for action."

Deb Lukacsko, Chief Executive Officer at Original Review, presented at the conference and described the growing impact that "Big Data" analytics is having on the restaurant business.

"Data is driving every significant supply chain decision for restaurant chains today," said Lukacsko. "By applying data science into price elasticity modeling and promotions forecasting, restaurants are able to uncover more efficiencies and achieve greater savings."

Food safety and traceability were also top-of-mind for many attendees, as regulatory changes and product tracking standards gain momentum to protect the consumer.

"Every foodservice supply chain executive has whole chain visibility and product traceability at the top of their priority list today," said Telly Smith, VP of Purchasing and Distribution at Golden Corral. "The impact of less-than-stellar supply chain safety practices can have a significant effect on the brand. Technologies that provide robust product traceability have become increasingly valuable and integral to foodservice supply chain operations."

Other highlights of the Executive Summit included an engaged discussion of supplier sourcing strategies, a roundtable conversation on distribution trends, and a session on best practices for managing limited time offers. Attendees such as Jeffrey Amoscato, Vice President of Supply Chain and Menu Innovation for Shake Shack, one of the fastest growing chains in America, found the conference as a whole to be especially impactful.

"It was fantastic to partake in discussions with other executives from top restaurant chains around the country," said Amoscato. "We covered so many pertinent topics, and I can't wait to apply some of these insights to Shake Shack."

John Dunion, Chief Supply Chain Officer at CKE, also joined in on touting the Summit, "ArrowStream is focused on delivering efficiencies to those managing foodservice supply chains. This conference provided yet another example of their thought leadership and innovation, and we're looking forward to their continued support."

About ArrowStream

Headquartered in Chicago, IL, ArrowStream is the first company to develop innovative supply chain solutions that address both inbound logistics and supply chain management, optimizing powerful data to provide unprecedented levels of transparency, control, and actionable insight. ArrowStream has been serving the food industry for over 16 years, combining proven supply chain expertise with data science and analytics to help clients rethink and optimize their supply chains. Industry leaders nationwide trust ArrowStream to proactively manage their supply chains, dealing with issues well in advance of impact. For more information on ArrowStream, please visit https://www.arrowstream.com/.

Media Contact:

Jon Aderson

Senior Marketing Manager

ArrowStream, Inc.

Email Contact

(312) 676-0036




SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Talent Board, a non-profit organization focused on the promotion and data benchmark research of a quality candidate experience, today announced that WilsonHCG, a global talent solutions leader, will support the 2016 Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards programs in North America and the EMEA regions as a Gold sponsor.

"The Candidate Experience Awards has grown considerably in recent years, reaching new audiences and helping more organizations learn the best practices to transform their recruiting practices," said Ed Newman, Talent Board co-founder and vice president at Phenom People. "As WilsonHCG develops solutions to help employers optimize their candidate experiences and attract the best talent, it is clear that they share our passion. Having supported our efforts for the past three years, WilsonHCG has been crucial to our rapid growth, and I am pleased to welcome their support for the fourth consecutive year."

Since its inception in 2010, the CandE Awards have helped countless companies improve their candidate experience and provide job seekers with a more transparent, rewarding and insightful recruiting process. The CandE Awards now span North America, EMEA and APAC, with more than 300 participating companies and over 150,000 candidates sharing their experiences for the 2016 awards programs. With its continued support, WilsonHCG is instrumental in ensuring the success of the CandE Awards and helping to recognize companies setting a standard of excellence in candidate experience.

Through its recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), talent consulting, contingent workforce solutions and executive search offerings, WilsonHCG works with clients to elevate their candidate experience and transform how they hire and retain the best talent. As a repeat supporter of the CandE Awards, the company shows its commitment to helping not only participating companies but all employers improve their overall recruitment processes. As a member of the 2016 CandE Council, WilsonHCG brings new ideas, trends and innovation to the candidate experience discussion and is then able to share best practices with clients and partners alike.

"Job seekers spend a great deal of time and effort applying to new opportunities, and we believe it is imperative that employers continuously innovate the candidate experience," said Kim Pope, WilsonHCG's executive vice president of Client Solutions. "We understand how critical a positive candidate experience is to both job seekers and an organization's bottom line; because of that we are proud to support the Candidate Experience Awards once again and look forward to assisting more companies uncover the secrets to delivering an exemplary candidate experience."

Additional information about the 2016 Candidate Experience Awards can be accessed at http://www.thetalentboard.org/cande-awards/.

About WilsonHCG

WilsonHCG is a global talent solutions leader that operates on the principle of providing true partnership to its clients. Delivering business-impacting talent solutions -- including recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), talent consulting, contingent workforce solutions and executive search -- WilsonHCG is transforming its clients' businesses through their talent. Founded in 2002, the company's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida. While optimizing clients' talent strategies is essential, WilsonHCG recognizes the relationships it develops lead to the results its clients realize.

Better People, Better Business. | www.WilsonHCG.com

About Talent Board

Talent Board is a non-profit organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. The organization, Candidate Experience Awards program and its sponsors are dedicated to recognizing the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle and to forever changing the manner in which job candidates are treated. More information can be accessed at http://www.thetalentboard.org.
AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap") (NYSE: AER) today announced the delivery of a second new Airbus A350-900 to Ethiopian Airlines. The first aircraft was delivered in June, marking the first A350 XWB aircraft to be delivered to an African carrier.

AerCap has one of the largest Airbus A350 XWB portfolios with a total of six owned and another 23 on order aircraft delivering through 2019. AerCap has now leased two A350 XWB aircraft to Vietnam Airlines, two to Cathay Pacific Airways and now with the latest delivery a further two to Ethiopian Airlines.

AerCap President and Chief Commercial Officer Philip Scruggs said, "We are pleased to deliver the second A350 XWB to Ethiopian Airlines, a longstanding customer of AerCap. The A350 aircraft is one of the most in-demand aircraft in the world and we are proud to be one of the largest owners of this aircraft type. We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with our friends and partners at Ethiopian Airlines as the airline continues to enhance its fleet."

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its seven decades of operations, Ethiopian has become one of the continent's leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success. Ethiopian commands the lion's share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to 92 international destinations across five continents. Ethiopian fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as the Boeing 787, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200 Freighter, Bombardier Q-400 double cabin with an average fleet age of five years. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft. Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with seven business centers: Ethiopian Domestic and Regional Airline; Ethiopian International Passenger Airline; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Services; and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the past seven years.

About AerCap

AerCap is the global leader in aircraft leasing with, as of June 30, 2016, approximately 1,637 owned, managed or on order aircraft in its portfolio. AerCap has one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 200 customers in approximately 80 countries with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and has its headquarters in Dublin with offices in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Shannon, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Singapore, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Seattle and Toulouse.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. We do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For more information regarding AerCap and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.aercap.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005589/en/

Contacts:

AerCap Holdings N.V.

For Investors:

John Wikoff, +31 20 655 9661

Head of Investor Relations

jwikoff@aercap.com

or

For Media:

Gillian Culhane, +353 1 636 0945

Vice President Corporate Communications

gculhane@aercap.com
KINGSTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness will hold a brief media availability at Collins Bay Institution before hosting a town hall meeting to consult Canadians on the feasibility of re-establishing agribusiness operations in Kingston correctional institutions.

August 16, 2016 Please arrive by 4:15 p.m. EDT Collins Bay Institution 1455 Bath Rd., Kingston, Ontario Interested media are asked to contact CSC Media Relations to register by 10:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Parking available at the northeast side of the institution. Media will be met in the parking lot and directed to the location where the Minister will take questions. Media availability to begin at 4:45 p.m.

Contacts:

Scott Bardsley

Office of the Minister of Public Safety and

Emergency Preparedness

Scott.Bardsley@parl.gc.ca



Media Relations

Correctional Service Canada

613-992-7711

media@csc-scc.gc.ca




Company to develop design options in three U.K. regions

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE:JEC) announced today its appointment by Highways England to develop preferred options for multiple highways schemes planned in the east, southeast and northwest regions of England, United Kingdom.

Jacobs is providing engineering design services for civil engineering works and traffic technology, surveys, stakeholder engagement, environmental services, traffic modeling, building information modeling (BIM) and principal designer services under the Construction (Design and Management) 2015 regulations. The stage two options development work includes the following schemes:

East region: A428 (Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet), A12 Chelmsford to A120 (Junction 19 to 25) and M11 Junction 7 Upgrade;

Southeast region: A31 Ringwood Road Widening and A34 Technology Enhancements;

Northwest region: M6 Junction 19 Improvements.

In making the announcement, Jacobs Senior Vice President Buildings and Infrastructure Bob Duff stated, "These important schemes are central to improving route capacity and future capability. This award builds on our long established relationship with Highways England and underlines Jacobs' position as a leading highways designer. I am delighted we are able to continue to contribute meaningfully to the roads investment program and help Highways England take the next step towards making these schemes a reality."

Highways England is the new government company charged with operating England's motorways and major A roads. This includes modernizing and maintaining the highways, a network of around 4,300 miles.

Jacobs is one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of full-spectrum technical, professional and construction services for industrial, commercial and government organizations globally. The company employs 50,000 people and operates in more than 30 countries around the world. Jacobs delivers major transportation projects around the world and has completed more than 350 highways projects in the last five years. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com.

Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements. For a description of some of the factors which may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements please refer to our 2015 Form 10-K, and in particular the discussions contained under Items 1 Business, 1A Risk Factors, 3 Legal Proceedings, and 7 Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made herein.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005084/en/

Contacts:

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

Robin Shermer, 817-735-6284
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Goldstrike Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: GSR)(OTC PINK: APRAF)(FRANKFURT: KCG1) is pleased to report that the first hole drilled at Goldstack in 2016 intersected 29.45 metres of shallow, broad zones of stockwork and hydrothermal breccia. The core contains abundant coarse visible gold and the zone remains open, confirming the consistent, robust nature of this gold zone. The previously reported discovery hole PSGS15-01 intersected 17.5 meters (true width) grading 13.5 grams per tonne gold (including 5.7 meters grading 1.03 ounces per ton) (News Release September 9, 2015). Goldstack is located on the company's 100% controlled Plateau property in Yukon, which covers more than approximately 350 square kilometres. The Plateau property contains multiple new gold showings along a newly discovered, underexplored, district-scale gold system. The current drill program is designed to delineate the length, width and thickness of the gold zone. Two holes have been completed to date.

Hole PSGS16-01 was drilled 15 metres north-northeast of Hole PSGS15-01 to further delineate the dimensions and orientation of the Goldstack zone. This hole was a 15 metre step-out north-northwest from the collar of Hole PSVG15-01 and was drilled in a south-southwest direction. It intersected two mineralized zones with a combined down-hole width of 29.45 metres. The upper zone consists of 6.82 metres of mineralized stockwork from 13.13 to 19.95 metres and 17.05 metres of mineralized hydrothermal breccia from 19.95 to 37 metres. The lower zone consists of 5.58 metres of mineralized hydrothermal breccia from 50.12 to 55.70 metres. This hole contains the most abundant coarse visible gold seen in drill core to date at Plateau, with multiple gold grains ranging from disseminated specks to 4 millimetre grains. Included below are two photos of the core from Hole PSGS16-01.

To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/gsr0816photos.pdf.

Hole PSGS16-02 stepped out 20 metres southeast from the collar of Hole PSGS16-01, and was drilled to the southwest. It intersected mineralized zones of both stockwork and hydrothermal breccia that have a combined down-hole width of 20.83 meters. The upper zone in this hole consists of 4.62 metres of mineralized stockwork from 23.38 to 28.0 metres and 5.82 metres of mineralized hydrothermal breccia from 42.23 to 48.05 metres. The lower zone consists of 9.34 metres of mineralized hydrothermal breccia from 54.72 to 64.06 metres and 1.05 metres of mineralized hydrothermal breccia from 69.25 to 70.3 metres. These mineralized zones are recognizable in core, demonstrate good continuity and remain open.

The initial 2016 drilling confirms zones of strong mineralization at Goldstack which remain open. The true width of the zone intersected in Hole PSGS15-01 was reported in 2015, and although the true width of zone in the two holes drilled to date in 2016 is not yet known, it is estimated to be between 59 and 84 per cent of the down hole width. Drilling to date indicates that the zone is broadening at depth. It appears from a visual inspection that the mineralization in core from the first two holes drilled in 2016 is consistent with the mineralization seen in core reported in 2015. All gold seen in the core appears to be free milling.

This year's program has just been initiated and there will be many more results from drilling to come. Further conclusions can be made once this phase of drilling is complete, and all data including drill and other sample assays have been received, compiled, and interpreted. The current drill plan is designed to expand on the known extent of the gold zones both to depth and along strike.

Drilling remains ongoing at Goldstack. Once this phase of drilling is completed, exploration drilling is planned to commence at the new Bonanza zone located 4 kilometres on trend to the northwest, where channel grabs returned up to 436.4 grams per tonne gold (14.96 ounces per ton /12.73 troy ounces per short ton gold) (news release August 10, 2016). Exploration drilling is also planned for other zones that were reported in the August 10, 2016 News Release, once the company has identified additional drill targets. Goldstrike looks forward to reporting the drill assay results from the Phase 2 program after the data has been received, compiled and interpreted.

METALLICS ASSAYS FOR SAMPLES BONANZA AND GOLDBAR/GOLDBANK TREND

An additional sample (1770234) from the main Bonanza Zone showing returned a metallics assay of 31.5 grams per tonne gold. The rock grab sample was automatically submitted for metallics analysis after the normal fire assay returned a value over the 10 gram detection limit.

Metallics assays for other previously reported over-the-limit samples from the Bonanza North and Goldbar zones remain pending. Goldbar is a zone of pervasive gold mineralized veining in outcrop that extends the 11 kilometre Goldbank trend by 4 kilometres to the west, where it remains open.

Additional photos of the new Goldstack drill core are available under the header "What's New" on the home page of Goldstrike's web site (www.goldstrikeresources.com).

All 2016 holes are being drilled with an NTW diameter. Sample analysis and assaying for all of Goldstrike's projects are being conducted by Bureau Veritas in Vancouver, BC, which is ISO 9001 accredited. Soil samples are dried at 60C, and 100 grams are sieved to -80 mesh. A 15 gram sample split is then leached in aqua regia at 95 degrees C, and analyzed by a 36-element ICP package that includes semi-quantitative gold. Rock and drill core samples are crushed to 80% -10 mesh, and a 500 gram sample split is pulverized to 85% -200 mesh. 50 gram charges are then assayed for gold using fire assay fusion and ICP-ES finish with a lower detection limit of 2 ppb, and an upper detection limit of 10 ppm Au. In addition, 0.5 mg charges are digested by modified 1:1:1 aqua regia (HCl-HNO3-H20) and analyzed by 36-element ICP-MS that also includes semi-quantitative gold with a lower detection limit of 0.5 ppb Au and an upper detection limit of 100 ppm Au. Selected samples are subjected to 500 gram metallic fire assays, for which the plus fraction is finished gravimetrically and the minus fraction is finished with AA. Rigorous procedures are in place regarding sample collection, chain of custody and data entry. Certified assay standards, duplicate samples and blanks are routinely inserted into the sample stream to ensure integrity of the assay process.

Note: All assay values from drill intersections included in this release have been reported in previous Goldstrike news releases. Grab samples are selective by nature, and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property. Due to the coarse nature of the gold, the Company is using metallics fire assays to capture the gold in the coarse fraction, providing the most accurate representation of the gold mineralization. Historically, regular fire assays have underestimated the grade of gold in coarse gold systems, and metallic fire assays and bulk samples can more accurately represent the true grade because they capture all gold including the coarse fraction, which otherwise could have been discarded.

Goldstrike director Trevor J. Bremner, P. Geo. is a qualified person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, for Goldstrike's Yukon exploration projects. He has supervised the preparation of, and has reviewed and approved, the technical information in this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Terrence E. King, President and Chief Executive Officer

For new information from this program, please visit Goldstrike's website at www.GoldstrikeResources.com. For further information follow the Company's tweets at www.twitter.com/GoldstrikeRes.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

King James Capital Corporation

Jeff Stuart

Investor Relations

(604) 210-2150

jstuart@kingjamescapital.com




RALEIGH, NC -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 --Percona, the company that delivers enterprise-class MySQL and MongoDB solutions and services, today announced that Colin Charles has joined Percona as the company's first chief evangelist. A well-known and respected speaker and veteran of MySQL AB and MariaDB, Charles will be a valuable resource in further evangelizing Percona as an unbiased champion of open source database solutions.

Charles has had a long and distinguished career in the MySQL open source community, participating in hundreds of conferences, including Percona Live conferences. Prior to joining Percona, Charles was one of the founding team members for MariaDB Server in 2009 and became a partner and chief evangelist for MariaDB Corporation, consulting on engineering and other technical topics and speaking extensively. Prior to MariaDB, he worked on MySQL at MySQL AB and Sun Microsystems. Before that, he was a major participant in the Fedora and OpenOffice.org projects. Charles also held positions at UNDP/IOSN, Canonical Ltd, Exoweb, and PIKOM - PC Gemilang, where he undertook a variety of roles including chief technology architect, software developer, migration consultant, technical editor and more. He was also the conference chair of the O'Reilly MySQL Conference & Expo from 2008 to 2011.

Quotes

Peter Zaitsev, Co-founder and CEO of Percona

"We are thrilled to welcome Colin to Percona. He's highly respected within the open source community and has been a speaker and key committee member for our Percona Live conferences since their inception. His knowledge, experience, and passion for MySQL, MongoDB and other technologies will be a welcome addition to Percona."

Colin Charles, Chief Evangelist

"I've always had tremendous respect for Percona's unbiased contribution to the open source community, including a pragmatic approach to engineering, highly experienced technical consulting on the most complex topics, and the significant influence of the Percona Database Performance Blog and the Percona Live Conferences. Percona truly believes in the spirit of open source database software development, and this was a significant draw for me, as it is for many users."

About Percona

With more than 3,000 customers worldwide, Percona is the only company that delivers enterprise-class solutions for both MySQL and MongoDB across traditional and cloud-based platforms. The company provides Software, Support, Consulting, and Managed Services to some of the largest and most well-known brands on the Internet such as Cisco Systems, Time Warner Cable, Alcatel-Lucent, Groupon, and the BBC, as well as to many smaller companies looking to maximize application performance while streamlining database efficiencies. Well established as thought leaders, Percona experts author content for the Percona Database Performance Blog. The popular Percona Live conferences draw attendees and acclaimed speakers from around the world. For more information, visit www.percona.com.

Percona, XtraBackup, TokuDB and Fractal Tree are registered trademarks of Percona LLC or its subsidiaries. All other registered and unregistered trademarks in this document are the sole property of their respective owners.

Company Information



Press Contacts

Brigit Valencia

For Percona

(360) 597-4516

Email Contact




HAUPPAUGE, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 --



Highlights:

New cloud-based platform Enterprise Media Platform

E911 and Performance Support capabilities

Contract extension through December 2020

Globecomm, a leading global communications solutions provider, announced today that it is renewing a contract with Rollins, Inc. (NYSE: ROL) for its Corporate Communications and Organizational Learning application, and will be migrating Rollins from the on-premise Enterprise Media Platform to Globecomm's Cloud Platform. As part of Globecomm's continuing evolution to cloud-based services it is taking advantage of newer technologies to offer its customers, including Rollins, a better solution for their enterprise communications.

Paul Scardino, SVP Sales Operations/Engineering and Marketing, stated, "The long-term relationship with Rollins is the epitome of Globecomm's core values. We work closely with our customers to know and understand their needs, which allows us to fully grasp their goals and expectations and provide the solutions that exceed those expectations."

The platform will encompass a roadmap of new features common to Globecomm's Internet of Things (IoT) Platform including E911 and Performance Support along with upgrades to its analytics capabilities to provide greater efficiency, increased safety, cost savings and improved performance for Rollins. These improvements will ultimately help Rollins improve its profit margin. The contract renewal is through December 2020 and the migration onto the new platform will be completed during the first quarter of 2017.

John Torres, Managing Director, Rollins Learning and Development, said, "Globecomm's new cloud-based platform will allow us to deliver high-quality interactive video content -- live or recorded -- for employee training, internal communications and digital display on computers, televisions and mobile devices across the enterprise. The migration to cloud expands our capabilities while allowing us to reduce operating expenses. We value the long-term partnership we have established with Globecomm and look forward to the future."

About Globecomm

Globecomm is a leading global communications provider serving media, commercial and government markets in over 80 countries. The company employs engineering expertise in consulting services, system design and integration, maritime and mobile communications, media services, and mission critical networks, to provide its customers the optimal solution. Globecomm is dedicated to improving communications and leverages its world class, global network to offer end-to-end, managed service communication's solutions worldwide.

Based in Hauppauge, New York, Globecomm also maintains offices in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, The Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and Indonesia. For more information, please visit http://www.globecomm.com

About Rollins, Inc.

Rollins, Inc. is a premier global consumer and commercial services company. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Orkin LLC., HomeTeam Pest Defense, Orkin Canada, Western Pest Services, Critter Control, Inc., The Industrial Fumigant Company, Trutech LLC., Rollins Australia, Waltham Services LLC., PermaTreat, Rollins UK, and Crane Pest Control, the Company provides essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects to more than two million customers in the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, Mexico, and Australia from more than 700 locations. You can learn more about Rollins and its subsidiaries by visiting our web sites at www.orkin.com, www.pestdefense.com, www.orkincanada.ca, www.westernpest.com, www.crittercontrol.com, www.indfumco.com, www.trutechinc.com, www.allpest.com.au, www.walthamservices.com, www.permatreat.com, www.cranepestcontrol.com, www.murraypestcontrol.com.au, www.statewidepestcontrol.com.au, www.safeguardpestcontrol.co.uk, and www.rollins.com. You can also find this and other news releases at www.rollins.com by accessing the news releases button.

Contact Information:

Michael Keeley

+1 631-231-9800

michael.keeley@globecomm.com




MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Knight Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: GUD) ("Knight"), a leading Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has committed to invest $1 million in the Genesys Ventures III LP ("Genesys Fund"), a Canadian-based life sciences venture capital fund managed by Genesys Capital Management, Inc.

The investment in Genesys Fund is the eighth life sciences equity fund investment Knight has made to date, having committed over $125 million of the $130 million earmarked for this innovative strategy.

"We are pleased to support Genesys in their efforts to create innovative life sciences companies that will touch the lives of patients," said Jonathan Ross Goodman, President and CEO of Knight.

About Genesys Capital Management Inc.

Genesys is one of the largest Canadian-based venture capital firms exclusively focused on the life sciences industry. Genesys Capital is focused on building companies in the high-growth sectors of healthcare and biotechnology. Through its expertise and network, Genesys accelerates the development of commercially viable emerging companies that represent promising life sciences investment opportunities.

About Knight Therapeutics Inc.

Knight Therapeutics Inc., headquartered in Montreal, Canada, is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring or in-licensing innovative pharmaceutical products for the Canadian and select international markets. Knight Therapeutics Inc.'s shares trade on TSX under the symbol GUD. For more information about Knight Therapeutics Inc., please visit the company's web site at www.gud-knight.com or www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This document contains forward-looking statements for Knight Therapeutics Inc. and its subsidiaries. These forward looking statements, by their nature, necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Knight Therapeutics Inc. considers the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable at the time they were prepared, but cautions the reader that these assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond the control of Knight Therapeutics Inc. and its subsidiaries, may ultimately prove to be incorrect. Factors and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations are discussed in Knight Therapeutics Inc.'s Annual Report and in Knight Therapeutics Inc.'s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015. Knight Therapeutics Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Knight Therapeutics Inc.

Jeffrey Kadanoff, P.Eng., MBA

Chief Financial Officer

514-484-GUD1 (4831)

514-481-4116 (FAX)

info@gud-knight.com

www.gud-knight.com




CORAL SPRINGS, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Nutra Pharma Corporation (OTCQB: NPHC), a biotechnology company marketing Nyloxin and Pet Pain-Away in the over-the-counter (OTC) pain management market, and which is also developing treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) and Pain, announced today the appointment of Dan Oran as their newest member of their Board of Directors. They are also announcing the appointment of Dale Vanderputten, PhD as their Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

"We have been working diligently at Nutra Pharma to put the right pieces in place to ensure growth and fulfill our business plan. This includes incremental revenue growth through the sales of our OTC pain therapies as well as pursuing clinical trials and eventual licensing of our drug products," commented Rik J Deitsch, CEO of Nutra Pharma. "Dan Oran is a visionary entrepreneur that will serve as an active Board member. Primarily, he will aid with the marketing and distribution of our therapy for pain and inflammation, Nyloxin; with early plans for retail distribution globally," he continued. "Dr. Vanderputten comes to us with over 30 years of management and clinical experience with governmental agencies as well as private sector biotech. As his first act as our CSO, he will spearhead our efforts to move our Multiple Sclerosis drug, RPI-78M, through the FDA approval process," he concluded.

Dan Oran was raised and educated in Israel, moving to the United States in 1990. He has more than 27 years of experience as a successful business owner in the US and Israel with extensive knowledge of finances, sales and cost management skills. Mr. Oran is also a seasoned Real Estate investor who owns and manages both commercial and residential properties in South Florida and abroad. Since 2014 he has been the brand builder and consultant for the Cybertec Group, a communications technology company. From 2008 through 2014 he owned and managed Aboulafia Since 1879, a manufacturer and distributor of electronics equipment. From 1999 through 2008, Mr. Oran owned and managed Lav Distributors, a distributor of electronics equipment. He will serve as an active Board member for Nutra Pharma with a focus on increasing the sales and distribution of Nyloxin and Pet Pain-Away

"Nutra Pharma is truly a diamond in the rough," stated Dan Oran -- the newest Board member of Nutra Pharma. "The Company has great OTC products that work and simply need a proven distribution model to get those products into the hands of consumers that desperately need them," he continued. "I will be working closely with the management and Board of Nutra Pharma to expand distribution, grow sales and increase the Company's visibility. This is an exciting time for Nutra Pharma and the perfect opportunity for products like Nyloxin and Pet Pain-Away," he concluded.

Dale Vanderputten, PhD has been CEO and CSO of the biotechnology company Omnia Biologics, Inc., headquartered in Rockville, MD since 2003. From 1999 through 2003 he was COO and CSO of cancer gene therapy company DirectGene, Inc., headquartered in Annapolis, MD. Dr VanderPutten has held scientific and technology development positions in government, academia and industry from 1980 through 1999 including at the National Institutes of Health, University of Maryland, and Proteome Sciences, plc. Dr. VanderPutten received a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology and Chemistry from the American University in Washington, DC in 1982, a PhD in Genetics from the George Washington University in 1993 and an MBA from the University of Maryland in 1996. He did his doctoral and post-doctoral training in molecular neuro-biology at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Vanderputten will begin his tenure as CSO by taking over Nutra Pharma's clinical product development. RPI-78M, the Company's therapy for Multiple Sclerosis, received Orphan Designation from the FDA for the treatment of Juvenile Multiple Sclerosis in September 2015. Dr. Vanderputten will work with our researchers and regulators to move RPI-78M through the clinical process for an eventual approval or licensing.

"The promise of medicines developed from venoms cannot be overstated," commented Dale Vanderputten, PhD - CSO of Nutra Pharma. "While science has just scratched the surface in understanding the biology of the 40,000 or so venomous creatures on earth, venom's contribution to human health has been tremendous," he continued. "Nutra Pharma is on the forefront of tapping the potential of this resource to address serious unmet medical needs and I am overjoyed to help with this important work," he concluded.

Nutra Pharma will announce further strategic business segment actions over the coming months.

About Nutra Pharma Corp.

Nutra Pharma Corporation operates as a biotechnology company specializing in the acquisition, licensing, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and technologies for the management of neurological disorders, cancer, autoimmune, and infectious diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) and Pain. Additionally, the Company markets drug products for sale for the treatment of pain under the brand Nyloxin and Pet Pain-Away. For additional information about Nutra Pharma, visit:

http://www.NutraPharma.com or

http://www.nyloxin.com

http://www.petpainaway.com

SEC Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements." Actual results could differ materially from those projected in Nutra Pharma's ("the Company") business plan. The additions of Dan Oran to the Board and Dale Vanderputten, PhD as the CSO should not be construed as an indication in any way whatsoever of the future value of the Company's common stock or its financial value. The Company's filings may be accessed at the SEC's Edgar system at www.sec.gov. Statements made herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. The Company cautions readers not to place reliance on such statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, we do not undertake, and we specifically disclaim any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statement.

Contact:

Nutra Pharma Corp.

Nina Goldstein

877-895-5647

IR@nutrapharma.com




DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Ubiquitech Software Corp. (OTC PINK: UBQU), through its operating subsidiary HempLifeToday.com, has added three exciting new CBD products to its CannzALL line from May 1st through August 1st of this year. As CBD grows in popularity the company will add additional products where there is demand.

The new products are based on expanding the CannazALL brand and expanding its customer base by reaching more people who can benefit from the different CBD products offered. HempLife Today added a brand new proprietary Topical CBD Skin Salve, a new and improved CBD GelCap, and an extremely unique CBD Wax Crumble that is used for more effective vaping.

These products were added to the existing line of; Peppermint flavored Tincture (250mg and 500mg potency), Concentrated Oils in oral syringe (300mg and 800mg potency), Water Soluble CBD, and the most potent CBD Vape oil available "Island Punch" With CBD gum and Lozenges also in the works.

"By adding these popular products we continue to go deeper into the demographic of potential CBD customers," said Tim Zorn, CEO of HempLife Today, "and because there is so much buzz about our company and our new products we are seeing an increase in new customers without the huge expense of advertising."

The company is seeing an increase in new customers at a rate that cost over $100,000 per month in advertising at this time last year, and this growth is due to the large footprint that CannazALL has in the marketplace.

"Last year we were spending over six figures per month just on advertising to get new customers. But today we are getting a larger number of new customers every day, without the high advertising costs per acquisition, and this is a significant savings to our bottom line," said James Ballas, CEO of parent company UBQU.

HempLife Today is known for developing the purest and most potent CBD Hemp derived products available under the proprietary CBD brand CannazALL and the company wants shareholders to know it will be making some additional major announcements in the weeks ahead.

About Ubiquitech

Ubiquitech Software Corp., through its subsidiaries is a dynamic multi-media, multi-faceted corporation utilizing state-of-the-art global internet marketing, Direct Response (DRTV) Television, Radio, and traditional marketing, to drive traffic to the new and emerging multi-billion dollar industries like its subsidiary HempLifeToday.com

HempLifeToday focuses on the exciting and dynamic new thinking in the world today that recognizes the important health and life enriching enhancement that CBD Oil from the Hemp plant can bring. Through its network of quality USA growers HempLifeToday.com has developed four CannazALL CBD oil products that include; It's popular CBD Tinctures, Oils, Capsules and e-liquid.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "intends," "believes," and similar expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, the ability to secure additional sources of finance, the ability to reduce operating expenses, and other factors described in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets Group. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

Contact:

Investor Relations

E-mail: Info@UbiquitechSoftwareCorp.com




WESTON, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 --Monaker Group (OTCQB: MKGI), a technology-driven travel company focused on the alternative lodging rental (ALR) market, announced an agreement with Trisept Solutions (a division of Mark Travel) to both power Monaker Group's flagship brand NextTrip.com with its travel products and to distribute Monaker's ALR inventory. Trisept Solutions is a travel technology company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin serving the world's leading airlines, hotels and resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, tourist bureaus, theme parks and other suppliers through the company's advanced and trusted VAX VacationAccess, Xcelerator and Synapse platforms.

Below is the official release from Trisept Solutions;

Trisept Solutions to Power Monaker Group's Flagship Brand, NextTrip

MILWAUKEE (August 15, 2016) -- Trisept Solutions, a travel technology firm propelling the biggest names in travel, announces a new agreement to power NextTrip, Monaker Group's flagship brand. NextTrip represents over 1.4 million properties including vacation home rentals, resort residences, rooms and unused timeshares. Trisept's agreement with Monaker Group (OTCQB: MKGI) will fuel NextTrip's growth through expanded product offerings and distribution.

Both travel agents and consumers will benefit from NextTrip's new capabilities. Powered by Trisept's travel merchandising platform Synapse, NextTrip.com is greatly expanding and enhancing its offerings with the ability to book comprehensive vacation packages by complimenting its vacation rental inventory with a wide array of flights, hotels, rental cars, tours and activities. Furthermore, NextTrip's alternative lodging product will be available on Trisept's premier travel agent portal, VAX VacationAccess. This addition will give VAX's network of over 70,000 travel agents access to book millions of unique vacation rentals.

"Integrating NextTrip's product offerings into our VAX platform will give agents for the first time instant confirmation and an easy, commissionable way to sell vacation rentals," said John Ische, president and CEO of Trisept.

NextTrip product offerings will also be fully integrated with Xcelerator, the travel technology solution that allows agents to service their clients and effectively run their business on one secure platform.

"Trisept has the most advanced technology available for leisure vacation packaging today," said Bill Kerby, chairman and CEO of Monaker Group. "Expanding NextTrip's capabilities and access to agents and consumers will accelerate our growth and differentiate us from our competition."

NextTrip will be integrated to Synapse and VAX over the several months with a target completion by the end of 2016.

For more information about Trisept, visit www.TriseptSolutions.com. For more information about Monaker, visit www.MonakerGroup.com.

About Trisept Solutions

Trisept Solutions has been innovating award-winning technology for travel merchandising and distribution solutions since its founding in 2000. Today, Trisept serves the world's leading airlines, hotels and resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, tourist bureaus, theme parks and other suppliers through the company's highly advanced and trusted VAX VacationAccess, Xcelerator and Synapse platforms. Headquartered in Milwaukee and with an office in Dallas, the company propels global travel that powers over $2.5 billion in annual bookings. www.TriseptSolutions.com

About Monaker Group

Monaker Group is a technology driven Travel Company with multiple divisions and brands, leveraging more than 65 years of operation in leisure travel. The Company has structured its travel assets to focus on the burgeoning $100 billion Alternative Lodging Travel space through its state-of-the-art flagship platform NextTrip.com. The NextTrip platform is powered by Monaker's proprietary booking engine which features real-time booking on the entire alternative lodging spectrum (vacation home rentals, resort residences, rooms and unused timeshares) as well as supporting vacationers' travel needs with a vast array of airlines, hotels, rental cars, tours, activities and restaurants through advanced proprietary and licensed technology. This unique combination results in a "one stop" vacation center, empowering consumers to search and create comprehensive vacation packages from one site -- Travel made easy.

Safe Harbor Statement:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the plans and expectations of Monaker Group. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are out of our control. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, or the expectations of future growth may not be realized. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Monaker Group, undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the "Risk Factors" and other cautionary statements included in Monaker Group's annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including, but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended February 29, 2016 which has been filed with the SEC and is available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

CONTACT:

Monaker Group

Attention: Richard Marshall

Director of Corporate Development

Email: rmarshall@monakergroup.com

Tel: (954) 888-9779



Chesapeake Group

Investor Relations

(Monaker)

Tel: (410) 825-3930



Trisept Solutions

Maximilian Hess

Email: max.hess@bvk.com

Tel: 414-247-2138




VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - August 16, 2016) - Western Copper and Gold Corporation ("Western" or the "Company") (TSX: WRN) (NYSE MKT: WRN) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Casino Mining Corp. ("CMC"), is pleased to announce that an Independent Engineering Review Panel (the "IERP") has confirmed the general design concept of the Casino Project tailings management facility ("TMF").

CMC initiated the independent engineering review process at the conceptual design stage to provide oversight and guidance throughout the life-cycle of this important facility and as a means to provide effective environmental risk management.

The IERP reviewed the current TMF design, assessed potential alternative storage technologies, and the alternate locations study for the Casino Project's TMF. The team of global experts confirmed that the design concept currently forming the basis of CMC's YESAB submission represents the best available technology for storing solid waste from the Casino Project. It also provided guidance and made recommendations to enhance the design of the TMF and to meet internationally accepted standards and good practices.

The IERP endorsed certain optimization concepts under consideration by CMC, and made specific recommendations with regards to placement of potentially acid generating material and minimizing stored water in the TMF. CMC is evaluating the recommendations from the IERP and will revise the TMF design in due course.

The IERP review is part of CMC's quality assurance program to ensure that both best available technology (BAT) and "international good practice" are incorporated into the site investigation and selection, design, construction, operation, and closure of the Casino TMF. An independent engineering review will be conducted at distinct phases of the project development, including: basic engineering, advanced engineering, capital construction, pre-operations, and at regular intervals during operations. Review and input to closure planning will also be provided. The IERP will have unimpeded access to all technical data necessary to enable them to assess the TMF on an ongoing basis for compliance of the design, construction and operation of this facility with internationally accepted standards and practices.

"Our Company views safety and protection of the environment as cornerstones of the Casino Project. Independent review of our TMF is an industry-leading undertaking on our part to ensure that Casino's TMF is constructed, operated and decommissioned in keeping with environmentally responsible development and industry accepted international practice. The team we have assembled includes some of the leading experts globally in their field and we are honoured that they have agreed to serve in this important role for the Casino Project," said Paul West-Sells, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Independent Engineering Review Panel is currently comprised of three principal members and one advisor, with additional expertise to be called upon as needed. These world class experts are as follows:

Peter Lighthall, P.Eng. (Panel Member)

Peter Lighthall is an independent geotechnical consultant with over 40 years' of experience specializing in tailings dams, tailings impoundments, and mine waste and mine water management. Mr. Lighthall has worked throughout the world, including South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Russia and former Soviet Union states, China, the Middle East, Africa and Australia, as well as extensively within Canada and the United States. He has worked on development and implementation of leading edge technologies for tailings management, including thickened and paste tailings and filtered dry stack tailings. He is well experienced in tailings dam design in areas with high earthquake risk. Mr. Lighthall was educated at the University of British Columbia (BASc, Civil Engineering, 1971) and the University of London, Imperial College of Science and Technology (MSc., Civil Engineering Soil Mechanics, 1979). In recent years, he has focused on tailings dam and tailings management review and/or technical advisory roles on major mine developments and mine operations.

Jim Obermeyer, P.E. (Panel Member)

Jim Obermeyer has 42 years' experience in Civil and Geotechnical Engineering, managing and coordinating multidisciplinary projects. His technical focus has been on engineering, design, construction, operation, and closure of tailing dams, and on design and construction of water supply dams. He has worked in the United States and internationally on over 500 dam projects. He holds a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Columbia University with a specialty in Geotechnical Engineering (1974). He is a Principal and Senior Vice President with global engineering firm MWH, now part of Stantec. Mr. Obermeyer also serves as MWH Energy and Industry's Global Practice Leader for Tailing Dams and Water Storage Dams. In this role, he provides technical review and quality assurance/quality control for tailing dam planning, design and construction projects for MWH's global mining sector. Mr. Obermeyer also serves on review boards for dams and other geotechnical projects for mining companies, other engineering companies and governmental entities responsible for dam design.

Luis Valenzuela, IICH (Panel Member)

Luis Valenzuela has more than 40 years of experience having been involved in large industrial, mining and infrastructure projects, mainly in Chile and Brazil. This experience includes feasibility studies, engineering design, and construction supervision. He has acted as the leading consultant and project reviewer in several major tailings dams in Chile including: Las Tortolas (Los Bronces mine, AngloAmerican); Pampa Pabellon (Collahuasi mine, AngloAmerican & Teck); Quillayes (Los Pelambres mine, Antofagasta Minerals); Candelaria (formerly Freeport McMoRan property); Ovejeria (Andina mine, CODELCO). He has participated in several independent review boards and steering committees for infrastructure and mining projects in Brazil, Colombia, Chile and the United States. Mr. Valenzuela obtained his B.Sc. in civil engineering at Universidad de Chile (1973) and his M.Sc. at the University of London, Imperial College of Science and Technology (1975).

Stephen Day, M.Sc., PGeo (Advisor)

Stephen Day is a Corporate Consultant in Geochemistry and SRK North America Practice Leader. He has 25 years of experience in development of conceptual waste management plans to address acid rock drainage and leaching of mine wastes. He has particular expertise in the selection of appropriate prediction methods for mine planning and modeling of leachate chemistry.

His project experience includes numerous new mine developments, operating mines and mine closures in western, northern and central Canada, arctic and temperate regions of the USA, southeast Asia and South America. For these projects, he has been involved in waste characterization, selection of control and prevention technologies, and predictions of drainage chemistry for input into water quality impact assessments and selection of water treatment approaches. His clients have included mining companies, utilities, professional associations, Canadian provincial and federal government departments, and US state departments.

ABOUT WESTERN COPPER AND GOLD CORPORATION

Western Copper and Gold Corporation is developing the Casino Project, Canada's premier Copper-Gold mine in the Yukon Territory. For more information, visit www.westerncopperandgold.com.

On behalf of the board,

"Paul West-Sells"

Dr. Paul West-Sells

President & CEO

Cautionary Disclaimer Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information

Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements generally express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, or assumptions of future events or performance and do not constitute historical fact. Forward-looking statements tend to include words such as "will", "may", "could", "expects", "plans", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "targets", "forecasts", "schedules", "goals", "budgets", or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements herein include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Panel and its potential activities, and the Casino Project being Canada's premier copper-gold mine. Information concerning mineral reserves and mineral resources also may be deemed to be forward-looking statements in that it reflects a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered if a mineral deposit were developed and mined.

All forward-looking statements are based on Western's or its consultants' current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by and information currently available to them. These assumptions include, without limitation, the economic models for Casino; estimated capital costs of the project; costs of production; success of mining operations; projected future metal prices; engineering, procurement and construction timing and costs; the timing, costs, and obtaining of permits and approvals; the geological, metallurgical, engineering, financial and economic advice that Western has received is reliable, and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards; that the Company's other corporate activities will proceed as expected, and any additional financing needed will be available on reasonable terms. Although management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to significant business, economic, and competitive uncertainties and contingencies and are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that are beyond Western's ability to control or predict. These risks are set forth in Western's most recently filed Form 20-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its most recently filed Annual Information Form with the Canadian Securities Administrators as of the date of this news release. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Western expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

For more information, please contact:



Chris Donaldson

Manager, Corporate Development and Investor Relations

604.638.2520

cdonaldson@westerncopperandgold.com
Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE:MCRN), a leading industrial technology company serving the plastics processing industry announce their upcoming presence at K 2016, the world's largest Plastics trade fair. K 2016 will take place October 19-26th in Dusseldorf, Germany. Milacron will be displaying its Advanced Plastics Processing Technologies (APPT) featuring Milacron, Ferromatik and Uniloy product branded injection, PET, blow and extrusion offerings in Hall 15 Booth C06. Milacron's Melt Delivery and Control Systems will be in Hall 01 booth A39 featuring Milacron's product brands Mold-Masters, DME, TIRAD and CIMCOOL. Customers will be offered shuttle service between the booths in order to get a full glimpse of the Milacron portfolio working together in the two booths.

The industry's only integrated plastics processing provider, Milacron has combined the individual strengths of industry leading product brands Ferromatik, Mold-Masters, Uniloy, DME, TIRAD, Kortec and CIMCOOL. Technologies such as injection, PET, co-injection, extrusion, hot runner systems, control systems, blow molding and mold technologies have been unified to create the industry's most comprehensive integrated plastics solutions provider.

At K 2016, Milacron will illustrate how its new integrated approach, as well as its rich portfolio of products, provides customers with engineered solutions. Visitors to Milacron's booths will be able to take a closer look at the future of plastics processing technology.

"K 2016 provides us with the opportunity to show the world what's new at Milacron. There are so many exciting developments happening at Milacron, our focus remains on ensuring our customers succeed. It's been over a year and a half since we combined the industry's leading plastics processing brands under one roof," said Tom Goeke, CEO of Milacron. "K is a truly international trade show and it's the ideal platform for us to showcase our innovative technologies and products, and demonstrate to customers how Milacron can help them succeed through our innovative, end-to-end service solutions."

Here's just a sample of what visitors can expect from Milacron at K 2016:

Injection Molding Machines

Milacron's Innovative PET Preform System with Co-injection Barrier Technology Hall 15-C06

Milacron re-entered the PET machine market at NPE 2015 and will mark its European debut at K 2016. The M-PET 300, a servo-hydraulic PET system, which combines key components across Milacron's product portfolio machines, clamps, injection unit, end-of-arm tooling, hot runner, mold and robots into a single solution. The M-PET series offers leading edge performance and low energy consumption plus new options for post mold handling at an attractive price-to-performance ratio. The system operates with Milacron's Preform Tooling, as well as existing industry tooling solutions.

Cell Specifics: M-PET 300, 72 cavity, 37 gram preform, 14 second cycle time, inspection system from IMD

Milacron's Game Changing Klear Can with In-mold Labeling Hall 15-C06

Fresh off the first commercial sale of Milacron's Klear Can product, Milacron will be showcasing all of the benefits of the disruptive innovation.

Milacron's Klear Can is a recyclable multilayer plastic can that is poised to dethrone metal food cans for the packaging of long shelf-life items such as fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, and more. Milacron recently confirmed the sale of the first Klear Can production system, with Klear Cans expected to hit grocery store shelves in Q1 2017. This Klear Can offers the clear advantage of allowing the consumer to see the quality of the food at the point of sale, the package is BPA free and can run in existing filling, seaming and retorting lines at canneries. The cans will be in-mold labeled using Verstaete IML technologies. The Klear Can will run on Milacron's Ferromatik-Series machine. The Ferromatik Series machines are designed to meet the needs and demands of the packaging industry with fast cycle times and high injection speeds. Ferromatik Series are in available in nine sizes: from 120 to 650 metric tons of clamping force and are pre-configured for easy multi-component, mono-sandwich, cube, and co-injection capability. Customers can also choose from electric, hydraulic, and hybrid drive options to meet their energy and performance requirements.

Cell Specifics: Ferromatik Series 280, integrated Mold-Masters iM2 48-zone controller, in-mold labeling from CBW, inspection system from IMD

Milacron's K-TEC Machine Platform to Mold Two Component PET Preforms with Cosmetic Finish Partnering with MuCell and Foboha Cube Mold Technologies Hall 15-C06

Milacron's K-TEC machine platform ensures high speed, high accuracy and high uptime. The K-TEC's exceptional precision and repeatability, fast cycle times, high injection rates and pressure, parallel functions, and easy maintenance are the hallmarks of the K-TEC, one of the most productive injection molding machines available on the market today. The K-TEC is available in full hydraulic or servo hydraulic configurations. It is especially suited for customized solutions for large production outputs. The K-TEC comes in eleven sizes from 60 to 450 metric tons clamping force, and is also available as a multi-component, monosandwich, or cube machine. The cell utilizes Foboha's cube mold expertise and Trexel's innovative MuCell system to produce a visually appealing cosmetic finish inside the PET preform.

Cell Specifics: 4 cavity, 30.5 gram preform, Mold-Masters 16 zone TempMaster hot runner controller, MuCell technology, Foboha cube mold

Milacron's NEW Elektron Evolution Equipped with the NEW Linear Robot and E-Multi Auxiliary Injection Unit to Mold Fan Favorite "Crinkle Box" - Hall 01-A39

The NEW Elektron Evolution has been a product of Milacron's years of innovation in all-electric injection molding technology. The Elektron uses the advanced Ferromatik-Series control system Mosaic. Designed for a full range of applications and in a wide variety of sizes from 30 to 650 metric tons, it offers customers outstanding value. The Elektron Evolution uses 60 percent less energy and 90 percent less water than hydraulic injection molding machines, reducing operating costs substantially. Setting the standard for movement repeatability, Elektron Evolution's stroke precision of servo-driven axis is significantly greater than top hydraulic systems, making it the best injection molding machine for the reliable production of high-precision parts. Elektron Evolution is the perfect machine for customers molding sophisticated technical parts in the Automotive and Electronics industry. The cell features the NEW Standard Milacron Linear Robotic With the NEW Milacron Linear Robotic System in Standard and Performance versions, Milacron now offers standardized and cost efficient pick and place solutions. The cell is rounded out with the industry leading E-Multi Auxiliary Injection Unit. The E-Multi is a fully electric unit designed to allow for a cost effective upgrade to mulicomponent injection molding and can be mold or platen mounted. At K, the Elektron Evolution (EO 200) with Standard Linear Robot will be producing a two-component "Crinkle Box" using a Mold-Masters E-Multi (EM2) auxiliary injection unit to inject the secondary color.

Cell Specifics: 1 cavity, Linear Robot and Mold-Masters E-Multi (EM2) auxiliary injection unit and Mold-Masters 12 zone controller Mold courtesy of Haidlmair

Uniloy Blow Molding

Uniloy All-Electric Shuttle Blow Molding Machine M20.75 ED Producing 32 oz. Bottle Hall 15-C06

Manufactured in Milacron's brand new, state of the art facility in Policka, Czech Republic, the NEW Uniloy All-Electric Shuttle machine specializes in the production of bottles, containers and technical parts from 100 ml up to 20 liters. This machine represents the first model of the NEW M-Series, 3rd generation of Uniloy's successful All-Electric Shuttle blow molding machines. The new M-Series provides the benefits of all-electric, modular design, simplified and reliable components, reduced operating costs, and is clean room friendly while not sacrificing performance. The new Uniloy M-Series Shuttle can process virtually all commercial resins enabling you to produce everything from tiny cosmetic containers to large industrial packaging and offers guaranteed production time, minimized downtime, lower maintenance costs, easy operation and consistent product quality.

Cell Specifics: 5+5 cavity, 47 gram, 13 second cycle time

Extrusion Technologies

Milacron both designs and builds full extrusion systems in house. Milacron's breadth of extrusion offerings is all encompassing, from extruders, to new and rebuilt extrusion barrels and screws, to pipe heads, dies and downstream equipment, providing powerful, reliable solutions that meet customers' unique needs. Milacron's extrusion solutions are highly customizable and increase productivity, output and accuracy, while reducing costs.

New Milacron SV250 Single Screw Extrusion Machine Hall 15-C06

The SV250 is a robust and flexible, its practical design is able to address the needs of tube and profile processors to sheet, fiber, wire and cable. The SV250 is a stock machine and therefore available for quick delivery. It will be available in sizes ranging from 2.0 4.5 inches in 24:1 L/D ratio. The SV250 on display at K will feature a die head mounted to it from the newly acquired Milacron product brand, Genca.

Aftermarket

Milacron eSTORE

In addition to showcasing Milacron's latest technologies and products at K, Milacron will be demonstrating the NEW Milacron eSTORE. Milacron launched the eSTORE in July and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback while processing thousands of customer orders in North America and Europe. The Milacron eSTORE is offered in 15 languages. The mobile friendly, e-commerce site is seamlessly integrated with the newly re-designed Milacron.com, offering a one-stop-shop for all Milacron products, including individual parts and assemblies. Customers will also have access to DME's vast catalog, connecting them to an unrivaled selection of mold components and MRO supplies 24/7/365. Customers will benefit from simple, cost-efficient ordering deliveries within 24 hours.

Link to Milacron eSTORE estore.milacron.com

Hot Runners

Mold-Masters Summit-Series Hot Runner for Premium Applications

The Summit-Series is Mold-Masters' new, premium hot runner line. The new hot runner nozzle has four times less thermal variation from set point, compared to the typical thermal variation seen in a nozzle with a heater band. The Summit-Series hot runner is built completely from stainless steel, which makes it ideal for molding shear and temperature-sensitive resins like PC, POM and PBT. The nozzle profile positively affects balance and is especially effective for medical market molding where precision is paramount. The Summit-Series can also be ordered with new servo-controlled valve-gate actuators, which allow for individual speed, time and position control of each valve pin in the mold. The Summit-Series is clean room-ready and is the perfect hot runner solution for any molder looking to reduce risk and optimize molding process parameters with minimized variance and strong, repeatable results.

Mold-Masters Fusion G2 Series Hot Runner

Milacron's Mold-Masters product brand has developed new enhanced features in the Fusion G2 series for automotive and large-part molding at NPE. An extended nozzle length range provides more flexibility while the compound nozzle can be used to avoid interferences with cavity cooling lines, and position nozzles in very tight pockets. Fusion G2 is now available with valve pin open speed control and position monitoring that enables improved surface finishes at the gate of the part. Options for extra-extended gate seals are now also available on the entire Fusion G2 product line. Brand new additions to the Fusion G2 product line that will be on display will include high performance water-cooled gate inserts plus some additional new gating methods designed specifically for certain resins.

NEW Mold-Masters DURA+ Automotive Lens and Lighting Hot Runner

Mold-Masters NEW DURA+ hot runner for lighting applications have utilized features in the Master-Series and Dura product range. The developments focus on part quality and flexibility for customers. The new smarter angled manifold designs make installations easier and reduce the cost on mold machining. New gating styles and new valve pins with superior flow profile allow for perfect gate quality and the new heater path at main manifolds offer less zones to control without jeopardizing the thermal balancing. The new valve pin position sensors fine tune the injection process, dual thermocouples on nozzles to avoid the production fails and proven Fusion G2 actuators that bring repeatability on gate closing, cooling water jackets.

Mold-Masters TempMaster Control Solutions

The Mold-Masters TempMaster control system lineup features the industry's leading Adaptive Process System (APS) software and algorithms. This APS is at the core of each and every TempMaster controller. Today's demanding molding applications require a hot runner controller that you can rely on for precision control, ease of use and day-to-day reliability. Equipment size is also an important issue when trying to maximize shop floor utilization. With this in mind, Mold-Masters has designed the M-Series range of controllers including the fully integrated iM2, the powerhouse M2, and the economical MT series. TempMaster controllers are available in 2 to 560 zone configurations. All controllers are user-friendly plug-and-play units allowing for quick start-ups.

Mold-Masters Velocity LS Hot Runner Line Up

Velocity LS (Light Speed) is Mold-Masters NEW configurable 1-8 drop hot runner system featuring Master-Series nozzles. Velocity LS features proven high performance, faster lead times and greater value. Customers now have the convenience of building, pricing and receiving 3D drawings and quotations immediately online using the hot runner configuration system on the NEW Milacron eSTORE.

Mold Components

DME Mold Technologies and MRO

Milacron has long been an essential resource to the plastics industry worldwide. Its DME product brand has been a market-leading mold technologies provider for 70 years and represents the industry's broadest range of products for mold makers, processors and mold designers. Among its offer of unlimited mold base configurations are two new products engineered to save time and money.

NEW MUD Aluminum Insert Molds from DME

The Master Unit Die Quick-Change (MUD) System is designed to overcome the challenges of increasing productivity and decreasing costs. MUD Quick-Change Systems are proven to deliver increased uptime and reduced costs. Most changeovers take less than five minutes, require no special equipment and can be made by one person. The MUD quick-change approach to tooling reduces downtime by as much as 75%, and lowers the initial cost of new tooling by as much as 66%.

TIRAD High Precision Large Mold Bases

Tirad product lines will feature Large Mold Bases with plate lengths up to 1.5 X 2.3 m, increasing the company's capacity to handle larger, more diverse product molds. The mold bases are manufactured on the fastest, most powerful machines within their class, and use machining centers that process data faster and more accurately. The premier equipment used to make Large Mold Bases significantly reduces manual polishing and additional rework due to increased consistency in high quality finishes. TIRAD offers high precision climate room production capabilities of plates for plastics injection molds, especially for multi-cavity systems in accuracy +/- 0.005 mm 1000 mm. TIRAD's high precision mold bases for medical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage packaging and PET preform solutions.

Milacron continues to push the boundaries of possibilities in plastics with breakthrough products from leading brands including Milacron, Mold-Masters, DME, Ferromatik, Uniloy, TIRAD and CIMCOOL.

LINK TO HI RES IMAGES: https://app.box.com/s/j207mgxoo3k7yic3xz8nemgm0y5mtozo

About Milacron

Milacron is a global leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of highly engineered and customized systems within the plastic technology and processing industry. Milacron is the only global company with a full-line product portfolio that includes hot runner systems, injection molding, blow molding and extrusion equipment plus a wide market range of advanced fluid technologies. Visit Milacron at www.milacron.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005662/en/

Contacts:

Milacron

Media:

Michael Ellis, 905-877-0185 ext. 354

Director of Marketing and Communications

Michael_Ellis@milacron.com

or

Investor Relations:

Mac Jones, 513-487-5057

Director of Investor Relations

Michael_Jones@milacron.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: ABN)(OTCBB: ABNAF)(FRANKFURT: E2L2) ("Aben" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Cornell McDowell, P.Geo. as the Company's Vice President of Exploration.

Cornell McDowell is a professional geologist registered in both Alberta and British Columbia. He has been self-employed as a geological consultant throughout the past decade with both publicly listed and privately held mineral exploration corporations. Most recently he helped take Gold Reach's Ootsa project from the initial exploration stage through to resource development which ended with the delivery of a positive PEA. He is currently President & CEO of North Sur Resources and serves on the board and audit committee for Manson Creek Resources.

Cornell will oversee the exploration of Aben's recently announced 23,000 hectare Forrest Kerr Gold Project located in the middle of B.C.'s Golden Triangle region (see news release July 18th). He will join the Company's recently established Forrest Kerr Technical Advisor Board consisting of Directors Ron Netolitzky, M.Sc. Geology and Timothy Termuende, P.Geo. and Technical Advisors Henry Awmack, P.Geo., David Caulfield, P.Geo. and Mike Roberts, Ph.D, P.Geo.

The Golden Triangle is host to significant mineral deposits including Galore Creek, Copper Canyon, Schaft Creek, Valley of the Kings, Snowfield, KSM, Snip, Granduc, Red-Chris and numerous others.

B.C.'s Golden Triangle map: http://www.abenresources.com/i/maps/ABN_Golden_Triangle_map.jpg

Aben's Forrest Kerr land package is located along the Forrest Kerr Fault, immediately north of the Iskut River and southward of More Creek, with recent hydro-electric power and road access afforded to the northern and southern areas of the property. The claims consist of a 40km-long, north-south belt overlying rocks of the Hazelton and Stuhini Groups, a complex assemblage of volcanic accumulations with intervening sedimentary sequences which are host to numerous significant gold deposits in B.C.'s Golden Triangle area.

Forrest Kerr project, B.C., Golden Triangle claims map: http://www.abenresources.com/i/maps/ABN_Forrest_Kerr_Project_map_small.jpg

The Forrest Kerr Gold Project is located in the heart of the Golden Triangle of British Columbia and is considered to hold significant potential for precious metal mineralization. Numerous mineralized occurrences are documented throughout the project area and sound, systematic fieldwork conducted from the late 1980's to the mid 2000's provide a solid framework for ongoing fieldwork. With little activity in the area during the past decade, the area is ripe for modern exploration techniques. The area has recently seen major infrastructure improvements, including roads and hydro-electric facilities. In addition, rapid melting rates of glaciers in parts of the property area are expected to provide new exposures in areas that were inaccessible during previous exploration campaigns.

2016 Exploration Activity:

Aben has initiated a comprehensive data compilation, bringing all historical work into a single GIS database. In conjunction with this, fieldwork is being planned for a fall field program aimed at mapping, sampling, and developing drill targets. Permitting for drilling activity is currently underway.

About Aben Resources:

Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing projects in British Columbia, the Yukon and North West Territories.

For further information on Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: ABN), visit our Company's web site at www.abenresources.com.

Aben Resources has approx. 19.9 million shares issued and outstanding.

ABEN RESOURCES LTD.

Jim Pettit, President

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.

Contacts:

Aben Resources Ltd.

Don Myers

Corporate Communications

604-687-3376

604-687-3119 (FAX)

Toll Free: 800-567-8181

info@abenresources.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- AltaGas Ltd. ("AltaGas") (TSX: ALA) announced today that through its wholly owned subsidiary, AltaGas Pomona Energy Storage Inc., it has signed a 10 year Energy Storage Resource Adequacy Purchase Agreement ("Energy Storage Agreement" or "ESA") with Southern California Edison ("SCE") for 20 megawatts ("MW") of energy storage at its Pomona Facility in the east Los Angeles Basin of Southern California. AltaGas will build, own and operate the AltaGas Pomona Energy Storage Project (the "Project"). The Project is expected to cost between US$40 - $45 million and will be among the largest battery storage projects in North America when it comes on line by the end of December, 2016.

AltaGas was a successful participant in SCE's Request For Offers ("RFO") for resource adequacy from energy storage units. Under the terms of the Energy Storage Agreement, AltaGas will provide SCE with 20 MW of resource adequacy capacity for a continuous four hour period, the equivalent of 80 MWh of energy discharging capacity. AltaGas will receive fixed monthly resource adequacy payments under the ESA and will retain the rights to earn additional revenue from the energy from the lithium-ion batteries.

"Winning this RFO represents an important next step as we continue to advance our California power strategy," said David Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer of AltaGas. "Adding battery storage to our California power portfolio proves the versatility of our asset base and greatly enhances the value of what we can offer the California and Desert Southwest markets through integrated energy centers providing clean reliable electricity."

In conjunction with the Energy Storage Agreement, AltaGas has selected Greensmith Energy Management Systems, Inc. ("Greensmith"), a leading provider of energy storage software and integration services, to provide its software control platform (GEMS) in addition to lithium-ion batteries and power conversion technology ("PCS"). The battery and PCS hardware will be integrated by Greensmith. AltaGas will retain overall project management, execution and operations of the Project.

AltaGas also continues to work on repowering the existing Pomona Facility. In the first quarter of 2016 AltaGas submitted an application with the California Energy Commission to repower the Pomona Facility to a flexible, fast ramping peaking facility under the small power plant exemption process. It is anticipated that the application review process will be approximately 12 months and include a review of the emissions profile by the local air district. The existing Pomona Facility is a 44.5 MW gas-fired peaking plant strategically located in the Los Angeles load pocket. The repowered facility could be comprised of more efficient gas-fired technology with capacity up to 100 MW. Following approval, AltaGas will be ready to bid the repowered Pomona facility into upcoming RFOs or enter into other bilateral contract arrangements.

AltaGas owns six natural gas-fired power generating facilities in California that safely produce power. AltaGas has a long-standing history of building trust and treating stakeholders with respect in the communities where it develops and operates projects.

AltaGas is an energy infrastructure company with a focus on natural gas, power and regulated utilities. AltaGas creates value by acquiring, growing and optimizing its energy infrastructure, including a focus on clean energy sources. For more information visit: www.altagas.ca

This news release contains forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words "may", "would", "could", "can", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "target', "believe", "seek", "propose", "continue", "estimate", "expect", and similar expressions, as they relate to AltaGas or an affiliate of AltaGas, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, expectations with respect to the AltaGas Pomona Energy Storage Project including AltaGas' ability to build, own and operate the project, expected energy storage capacity and available resource adequacy, the facility being among the largest in North America, battery run time, estimated cost and in-service date, expectations regarding resource adequacy payments and AltaGas' ability to earn additional revenue from energy from batteries, AltaGas' continuing to advance its California power strategy and enhancing offerings into the California and Desert Southwest markets, AltaGas' expectations with respect to Greensmith's ability to integrate battery and PCS hardware, and AltaGas' expectation to retain overall project management and execution, expectations with respect to the existing Pomona facility including ability to repower, increase capacity, reconfigure, application review process and timeline, ability to bid into future RFOs and pursue other bilateral arrangements or opportunities, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

Such statements reflect AltaGas' current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in AltaGas' public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause AltaGas' actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, sought, proposed, estimated or expected, and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. AltaGas does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Contacts:

Investment Community

1-877-691-7199

investor.relations@altagas.ca



Media

(403) 691-7197

media.relations@altagas.ca




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) released earnings for its second quarter that rose compared to the same period last year. The company said its bottom line totaled $562.17 million, or $0.84 per share. This was up from $549.34 million, or $0.80 per share, in last year's second quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.81 per share, according figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company said revenue for the quarter rose 7.1% to $7.88 billion. This was up from $7.36 billion last year. The TJX Companies, Inc. earnings at a glance: -Earnings (Q2): $562.17 Mln. vs. $549.34 Mln. last year. -Earnings Growth (Y-o-Y): 2.3% -EPS (Q2): $0.84 vs. $0.80 last year. -EPS Growth (Y-o-Y): 5.0% -Analysts Estimate: $0.81 -Revenue (Q2): $7.88 Bln vs. $7.36 Bln last year. -Revenue Change (Y-o-Y): 7.1% -Guidance : Next quarter EPS guidance: $0.83 - $0.85 Full year EPS guidance: $3.39 - $3.43 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.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Dedication, courage, teamwork and innovative law enforcement techniques earned two individuals and two groups of police officers the Canadian Banks' Law Enforcement Award (CBLEA). Through the officers' tireless efforts and collaboration, two bank robbers and members of a large organized crime group have been arrested.

The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) will recognize fifteen police officers and honour their efforts during this evening's awards ceremony at the 111th annual Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Ottawa.

"Security is a top priority for Canadian financial institutions, which is why they work closely with police services across the country to help protect their employees and customers," said Malcolm Chivers, Director of Corporate Security at the Canadian Bankers Association. "The CBLEA is our way of recognizing outstanding police work and honouring these officers for their efforts to combat crime against Canada's banks, their employees and their customers."

Constable Robert Mitchelson and Constable Brennan Lowrie - Vancouver Police Department

Constables Robert Mitchelson and Brennan Lowrie of the Vancouver Police Department were unarmed and off-duty when they caught a bank robber in the act at a branch in Vancouver. Without hesitation or regard for their own safety, Mitchelson and Lowrie blocked the bank's exits as the suspect tried to escape. A violent struggle ensued in which Mitchelson and Lowrie worked collaboratively to contain the suspect until on-duty officers arrived.

Thanks to the courage, bravery and quick thinking of these officers, a high risk offender was captured.

Vaulter Bandit case - York Regional Police, Peel Regional Police, Toronto Police Service (Group Award)

Between 2010 and 2015, the Vaulter Bandit committed 21 bank robberies in multiple cities across the country and remained unidentified, becoming one of the most notorious bank robbers in Canadian history.

In May 2015, investigators from York, Peel and Toronto Police Services pooled their resources and, through forensic evidence and joint efforts with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, were able to identify Jeffrey Shuman. A resident of France, police worked with authorities in Europe to track his movements, leading to his arrest in Switzerland on September 15, 2015. Through a high level of cooperation and the demonstration of exemplary investigative skills, the Canadian police and their European counterparts were able to arrest one of Canada's most violent and prolific bank robbers.

Winners of the group award are: Detective Douglas Cole (York Regional Police), Detective Dave Noseworthy (York Regional Police), Detective Stephen Smith (Toronto Police Service), Detective Constable Sean Whittaker (York Regional Police), Constable Steven Daly (Peel Regional Police) and Constable Adam Demers (Peel Regional Police).

Project Springston - Halton Regional Police, Hamilton Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Group Award)

Joint fraud investigations by the Halton Regional Police, the Hamilton Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and several Canadian bank security experts with support from the Canadian Bankers Association led to the seizure of a large-scale, highly organized identity theft ring operating across Canada. Using malicious software and email phishing, the criminal organization was stealing personal information and using it to drain its victims' bank accounts.

Following raids in Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton, the police task force seized the organization's main identity theft laboratory, believed to be one of the most sophisticated in operation in Canada at the time. The multijurisdictional task force untangled a complex web of criminals, laying over 200 charges against 37 individual suspects. Thanks to their teamwork and diligence in this national investigation, the law enforcement members of Project Springston were able to identify the criminal masterminds of this multi-million dollar fraud ring.

Winners of the group award are: Detective Staff Sergeant Darren Webster (Ontario Provincial Police), retired Ontario Provincial Police Detective Sergeant Robert Krzyzaniak now of CIBC Corporate Security, Detective Sergeant Robin McKay (Ontario Provincial Police), Sergeant Mark Clausen (Hamilton Police Service), Detective Constable Randy Smith (Ontario Provincial Police), Constable Derek DiFelice (Halton Regional Police), and Constable Francois Picard-Blais (Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

About the Canadian Banks' Law Enforcement Award

Since its creation in 1972, 248 officers from across Canada have been honoured with the Canadian Banks' Law Enforcement Award for their outstanding bravery, dedication and other noteworthy achievements in combating crimes against Canada's banks. For additional information about the CBLEA, please visit www.cba.ca/award.

About the Canadian Bankers Association

The Canadian Bankers Association works on behalf of 59 domestic banks, foreign bank subsidiaries and foreign bank branches operating in Canada and their 280,000 employees. The CBA advocates for effective public policies that contribute to a sound, successful banking system that benefits Canadians and Canada's economy. The Association also promotes financial literacy to help Canadians make informed financial decisions and works with banks and law enforcement to help protect customers against financial crime and promote fraud awareness. www.cba.ca

Follow the CBA on Twitter: @CdnBankers

Watch videos: Youtube.com/CdnBankers

Follow the CBA on LinkedIn

Contacts:

Maura Drew-Lytle

Director, Media Relations and Communications

Canadian Bankers Association

416-362-6093, ext. 338

Cell: 416-918-2777

MDrew-Lytle@cba.ca




New MRI suite designed for imaging and fast workflow, while enhancing the patient experience

Alexandria VA Medical Center (VAMC) and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) announced today that the VAMC's Pineville, LA facility will be the first VA site to adopt the Philips Ingenia 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with in-bore Ambient Experience technology. The state-of-the-art clinical suite offers a soothing patient experience with imagery, sound and light, helping to put patients at ease.

The Alexandria VAMC offers comprehensive acute and extended healthcare in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, oncology, dentistry, geriatrics and extended care. The VAMC serves a potential veteran population of over 100,000 veterans, including community-based services at Fort Polk, Jennings, Lafayette, Lake Charles and Natchitoches, as well as an active patient roster of over 32,000 patients.

Unlike traditional X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging does not use ionizing radiation to provide high quality images of the body, and includes contrast detail of soft tissue and anatomic structures like gray and white matter in the brain. While this has allowed applications of MRI technology to expand in the areas of neurology, oncology and cardiology, thus increasing demand for this modality, patient anxiety and motion still remain challenges. An MRI scan takes about 30 minutes, and nearly 35% of patients have claustrophobia or some considerable level of anxiety about the machine itself1, with about 20% requiring repeat scans due to motion during the scan2

The Philips Ingenia 1.5T in-bore Ambient Experience MRI installation includes innovative elements to improve the patient experience:

Positive distraction Minimal clutter, visual imagery and programmable lighting provide a soothing atmosphere with positive distractions for anxious patients.

Personalization Patients personalize their experience by selecting a video theme and viewable from inside the MRI from an easy-to-position mirror. Combined with sound (through comfortable headphones), the experience becomes truly immersive and soothing.

Information AutoVoice gently guides patients through the procedure, announcing scan times and table movements, providing information that helps put patients at ease.

Reduced acoustic noise Noise is one of the most uncomfortable parts of an MRI exam for many patients. ComforTone automatically provides up to 80% noise reduction3

In addition to giving the patients the perception of being in a bigger space and putting them at ease, the Philips Ingenia 1.5T offers enhanced workflow, high quality images and a fast, comfortable patient set-up. The Philips Ingenia 1.5T offers the iPatient platform, which is designed for routine and challenging patients, including large patients, elderly and kyphotic. It offers as much as a 30% improvement in throughput, hinged upon the unique FlexCoverage Posterior coil that provides neck-to-toe coverage without the need for any manual removal or repositioning. FlexStream enables imaging with fewer coils and reduces coil positioning and patient setup time. Now clinicians can perform routine exams for brain, spine, knee, ankle and liver within less than eight minutes with excellent image quality. In addition, iPatient eliminates up to 50% of repetitive manual tasks4. Moreover, high quality images and remarkable speed are possible with dStream digital broadband MR architecture, offering up to 40% more SNR5 and enhanced throughput with channel-independent RF technology that makes upgrades easy.

"At Philips, we want to build a healthy society and achieve our goal of improving the lives of three billion people by 2025, and in order to do this we need to work with key organizations like the VA on improving the patient experience, giving our veterans the care they deserve and access to key diagnostic technologies like the Philips Ingenia 1.5T MRI," said Joe Robinson, head of enterprise and government solutions at Philips. "Through our long-standing relationship with the VA we are looking at ways we can help them to address veteran's health issues, helping to take care of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country."

Also key for organizations such as the VA is the fact that the Philips Ingenia 1.5T offers upgrades such as ScanWise Implant6, the industry's first MRI guided user interface to simplify the scanning of patients with MR Conditional implants like knee and hip replacements, spine implants and pacemakers. The software helps users streamline exams in this expanding healthcare area and complements Philips' suite of diagnostic imaging solutions, helping to improve hospital workflow and enhance the patient experience.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumerhealth and home care. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of EUR 16.8 billion and employs approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

1 Melendez, J. Carlos, and Ernest McCrank. "Anxiety-related reactions associated with magnetic resonance imaging examinations." Jama 270.6 (1993): 745-747.

2 Andre, Jalal B., et al. "Towards Quantifying the Prevalence, Severity, and Cost Associated With Patient Motion During Clinical MR Examinations" JACR (2015).

3 Compared to doing the same scan without ComforTone

4 *Compared to Achieva

5 *Up to 40% more SNR compared to Achieva as non-digital/dStream system

6 Initial availability on 1.5T systems.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005341/en/

Contacts:

Philips North America

Silvie Casanova, 1-978-659-7467

silvie.casanova@philips.com

or

Philips Diagnostic Imaging

Adrienne Smith, 1-781-277-1170

Adrienne.Smith@philips.com
WILMINGTON, DE--(Marketwired - August 16, 2016) - Zip Code Wilmington, Wilmington University and HackerRank today became one of fewer than 10 groups nationwide selected to participate in the Educational Quality through Innovative Partnerships (EQUIP) program, a U.S. Department of Education (DOE) initiative designed to provide low-income students with access to new models of education and training.

Zip Code Wilmington is a non-profit, 90-day intensive software development boot camp developed in close partnership with local and national employers. It teaches students the skills needed to land software developer jobs upon graduation. Within three months of graduation, Zip Code places more than 93% of its graduates in jobs paying, on average, over $60,000 annually, which is more than double students' average entering salaries.

Zip Code and Wilmington University are both nonprofit education providers. Through this unique relationship, eligible Zip Code students will be able to receive Pell Grants and a full semester of college credits through Wilmington University's Applied Technology Degree program. HackerRank will serve as the partnership's third-party quality assurance entity (QAE).

This will mark the first time a non-accredited teaching entity will pair with an accredited institution to make Federal financial aid available to students. This education model exemplifies a high-value, STEM education program that leverages an employer-driven curriculum and employer funding resulting in little to no student debt.

Through Wilmington University's College of Technology, Zip Code graduates can leverage their earned credits into associate and bachelor degrees. With a reputation for innovation in higher education and high academic standards, Wilmington University paves the way for students who opt to continue their education further through its new Applied Technology degree programs with continued access to student financial aid.

"The EQUIP program enables Zip Code Wilmington to offer students an outstanding education and a semester's worth of college credits at Wilmington University in only 12 weeks, potentially at no cost to the student," said Zip Code President Jim Stewart.

Melanie Augustin, Head of School at Zip Code, added, "Zip Code Wilmington is honored to be selected for the EQUIP program. This furthers our mission to create a one-of-a-kind learning opportunity that leads to job placements at top companies and helps our graduates change their income potential for life."

"The Wilmington University College of Technology has championed flexible, tech-based programs because we recognize that high impact, quality education can occur outside our doors," said Dr. Mary Ann Westerfield, Dean of the College of Technology. "Zip Code Wilmington is doing an amazing job and this partnership is aligned with our mission's commitment to excellence in teaching, relevancy of the curriculum and individual attention to students. Together, we saw this unique opportunity to open up higher education to low-income students with no financial aid barriers."

With a track record of powering over 1,000 companies' coding assessments since 2012, HackerRank is the de facto standard bearer for quality in outcomes assessments. Its innovative code checker software, and its mission to help programmers find the right job based on skills, makes HackerRank the ideal QAE for this nonprofit model. The company is providing its services for the EQUIP pilot on a pro bono basis.

"Unfortunately, traditional education is not always accessible to everyone who needs it," said HackerRank CEO & Co-Founder Vivek Ravisankar. "HackerRank is excited to help change that through this partnership, which empowers low-income students with a new education model to improve their lives. This program helps to create opportunities for developers regardless of their backgrounds."

Additional Comments

Dr. Jim D. Wilson, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Wilmington University:

"We are excited to see more students experience the benefits of higher education through the EQUIP pilot. By making financial aid accessible to students in the program through Pell grants, and undergraduate direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans, the future technology talent pool will grow to meet the needs of Wilmington, the State of Delaware and the nation. Many individuals, families and communities will benefit as a result of this most important partnership."

Dr. LaVerne Harmon, Executive Vice President, Wilmington University:

"Wilmington University is pleased to be a partner in this innovative, nonprofit pilot program. The EQUIP pilot supports new models of education that do not put up the traditional access barriers of sufficient funding thanks to allowing access to financial aid. It specifically provides educational access to low-income students who can benefit from non-traditional programs as a means of improving their job prospects and earning potential, all of which are in direct alignment with Wilmington University's mission."

Ben duPont, Co-Founder and Board Member, Zip Code Wilmington:

"As a state, Delaware has the opportunity to become one of the world's technology leaders. What we need is the talent to meet the opportunity. Zip Code Wilmington is here to provide that talent."

About Wilmington University

Wilmington University is a private, nonprofit institution committed to providing flexible, career-oriented, traditional and online associate, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs. Affordable tuition, academic excellence and individualized attention are University hallmarks that enable greater student success in their chosen careers. For enrollment information, call 302-356-INFO (4636) or send email to infocenter@wilmu.edu. Visit our website for additional information at www.wilmu.edu.

About Zip Code Wilmington

Zip Code Wilmington, one of the first nonprofit coding schools in the country, is Delaware's first coding school. We give our students an experience that fast-tracks them into a great career, at a great salary, and we do it in under a year. Our teachers have years of experience as professional software developers, ensuring our graduates are ready to succeed as a member of any software development team. Through alliances with area companies, some of which are household names, we've created a world-class curriculum that mirrors the real world. For more information, go to www.zipcodewilmington.com.

About HackerRank

The HackerRank team is on a mission to flatten the world by restructuring the DNA of every company on the planet. We rank programmers based on their coding skills, helping companies source great programmers and reduce the time to hire. As a result, we are revolutionizing the way companies discover and evaluate talented engineers. The HackerRank platform is the destination for the best engineers to hone their skills and companies to find top engineers. For more information, go to www.hackerrank.com.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/14/11G110469/Images/Pic-40f62743ea5eb231a5fb86ecefd7681d.jpg

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Contacts:



Laurie Bick

Director, Public Relations

Wilmington University

(302) 650-0900



Melanie Augustin

Head of School

Zip Code Wilmington

(302) 256-5203 ext. 210



Ritika Trikha

PR and Communications

HackerRank

(949) 400-9164
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. (OTC PINK: PNOW), parent Company of the Central American-Caribbean Online Travel Agency (OTA) Oveedia, announced today, that the Company has filed its 2nd QT Disclosures; demonstrating management's diligence in eliminating debt, preparing for private placement financing and positioning the Company for continued growth.

"Every quarter, we alert shareholders when we file our disclosures, and every quarter, we demonstrate our intention to further the Company's transparency and position," stated Melvin Pereira, President and CEO of Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. "We understand that the 'microcap game' may not play by the same rules as the 'Big Boards' or the private sector for that matter, but we don't care... we're going to do this our way. When the dust settles, not only will Oveedia have proven itself to be on par with South America's Hotel Urbano and Decolar, but PURE will have upgraded to the OTCQB, significant capital will have been raised and the Company's long-term shareholders will have benefited from the Company's new capital position. Just look at our track record of 'doing.' We can't speak to the way the market behaves, but what we can speak to, is how we behave; and we've accomplished a lot through committed action!"

The Company's most significant achievement in this quarter was eliminating roughly $3.3M in toxic convertible debt through the Debt Equity Swap program. Management anticipates being able to persuade other individuals, even non-toxic obligations, to enter the Debt Equity Swap program, as Oveedia's valuation grows -- that being the second most significant achievement this quarter; increasing Oveedia's market value with the 'on boarding' of featured properties.

It should also be noted that the accrued interest was dramatically reduced from $859,000 down to $65,558, and the Net Income (loss) numbers have improved by 80% over the first quarter. Furthermore, the Company closed this quarter with more cash in the bank than in the first quarter. This in fact being its own accomplishment, as management has maintained a positive cash position every quarter since the close of 2015.

Mr. Pereira concluded, "Now that we are nearly free of legacy debt, and operating tighter, more prudently, we can begin to push much harder towards securing the type of capital required to generate strong revenues and achieve substantial growth. It may be difficult to see now, but we assure you, PURE and Oveedia are on the right track. Remember, slow and steady wins the race; and when opportunity presents itself, we will surely be ready and able to explode. These disclosures speak directly to the essence of that."

To view part II of the shareholder update, please visit: http://www.purenow.solutions/letter-shareholders/

To View part I of the shareholder update, please visit: http://www.purenow.solutions/letter-shareholders/

To view the second iteration of Oveedia, please visit: http://blog.oveedia.com/oveedia-new-website/

To interact and discuss PNOW with other shareholders, please visit: http://investorshangout.com/Pure-Hospitality-Solutions-Inc-PNOW-65267/

About Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc.

PURE provides proprietary technology, marketing solutions and branding services to hotel operators and condominium owners. The Company's vision is to build competitive operations in the areas of (i) online marketing and hotel internet booking engine services, (ii) hotel branding and, (iii) own, operate and in some instances develop, boutique hotels under the new, "by PURE" brand. PURE is the creator of Oveedia, the Central American-Caribbean online travel hub.

Related Links:

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Pinterest

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Facebook

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Twitter

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Google +

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. LinkedIn

Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. Investors Hangout

Oveedia Google +

Safe Harbor Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements about plans and expectations regarding products and opportunities, demand and acceptance of new or existing products, capital resources and future financial results are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from those expressed. These uncertainties and risks include changing consumer preferences, lack of success of new products, loss of the Company's customers, competition and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:

Team PURE

IR Div.

(800) 889-9509




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Prospero Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE: PSL) ("Prospero") is pleased to provide an update on its exploration programs in central Mexico. Prospero recently announced a $1.8M financing to fund its generative exploration program and to advance its existing project portfolio. Prospero's exploration programs have 3 key objectives:

-- Discover blind/close-to-surface mineral deposits in -or close to- historic Au-Ag and base metal mining camps, for example the Pachuca Southeast and Matorral projects. -- Advance Prospero's existing project portfolio to drill-ready status and then drill or joint venture the projects. -- Use the team's unparalleled knowledge of Mexican metallogeny to generate new projects and expand Prospero's project portfolio, for example the Bermudez low-sulphidation epithermal Au-Ag project.

Commenting on the recently initiated financing, Tawn Albinson, the President of Prospero said: "This month's capital raise is intended to give fresh impetus to our Mexican exploration programs. Our main priority would be to advance Bermudez with a detailed sampling program to delineate potential drill targets. We are also pushing ahead with showing the Petate project to potential joint venture partners and hope to have news on this front in the near future. We have identified a series of additional targets and projects which we plan to advance to full project status and are also looking at potentially drill testing one of our projects ourselves."

Prospero has a strong portfolio of 8 projects, at least 4 of which are drill ready. A brief summary is given below.

El Petate

The 6,868 hectare Petate property is located 30km northwest of the historic Pachuca-Real del Monte mining district on the western side of the Sierra Madre Oriental fold belt, within a northwest trend of historic deposits which include Zimapan (Hidalgo) and La Negra (Queretaro). The project is close to the historic Pachuca-Real del Monte mining district and accessible by road. Prospero has shown the project to a number of mid-tier mining companies who are interested in potentially joint-venturing the project. Discussions are ongoing.

High-level epithermal alteration is exposed over a 5x4 km area with highly anomalous gold and silver hosted in extensive outcrops and float of steep to strata-bound jasperoid. Extensive mapping and sampling have defined five key drill-ready targets in the Petate West and Petate East areas. Two targets have 0.1 to 6 ppm gold grades at surface and are potentially large enough for open pit mining. A drill permit -good for 2 years- was granted on September 7, 2015 covering 27 drill sites. Surface access for these targets has been granted by the land owners.

The significant size of the silicified zones indicates that Petate is a robust mineralized system with excellent potential to host a replacement type deposit at depth. In addition to drilling, future work should test the potential for blind carbonate-replacement bodies of manto and/or chimney type, containing Ag, Pb, Zn and +/- Au similar to the Zimapan or Santa Eulalia polymetallic systems.

Santa Maria del Oro (Matorral)

The 9,066 hectare Santa Maria del Oro claim blocks are located in Durango State and almost completely surround the historic Magistral del Oro mines. Historic mining records obtained by Prospero suggest that more than 1-million ounces of gold were recovered at the Magistral Mine from oxide ores with an average grade exceeding 15 g/t. Two drill ready target zones have been defined by Prospero: the Matorral Zone, and the Western Lineament Zone. Only Matorral will be described in this release.

At Matorral, a number of large structurally-controlled jasperoid bodies are exposed northeast of the Magistral Mine. The total length of individual prospective structures adds up to over 7 km. Semi-systematic sampling and multi-elemental geochemistry in jasperoids and multi-banded veins exhibit Ag and Au, from trace up 178 g/t Ag and 0.42 g/t Au in the northern Matorral Pit Zone. Base metals are also enriched up to 0.46% Zn, 0.12% Pb, 0.11% Mo, 41.0% Fe. Prospero has also identified anomalous Hg, Sb, As which are epithermal pathfinder elements. Alteration consists mainly of low temperature jasperoid development, either as massive brecciated bodies or in veins and stockworks. Fluid inclusion petrography on the crystalline quartz indicates low temperatures of formation, around 200 degrees C, indicative of a high-level epithermal environment.

The elevated geochemical anomalies in precious metals, base metals and pathfinder elements suggest the system could represent the upper portions of a large mineralized zone at depth. The elevated geochemical signatures on this target are significantly higher than the geochemical responses documented in other high-level epithermal environments which are known to overlie productive, high grade epithermal ore bodies in major epithermal districts, such as Fresnillo and Guanajuato. This project is drill ready.

Pachuca Southeast

The 7,256 hectare Pachuca SE claim is 24km SE of the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo. Infrastructure is excellent, with power available and easy road access from the Pachuca-Tulancingo freeway which crosses the middle of the property. The Pachuca mine was in production for hundreds of years and is the second largest epithermal deposit in Mexico with total reported production estimated at 80 million tons with an average grade of 500 g/t Ag, and 2.5 g/t Au (Albinson et. al., 2001: SEG Special Publication Series No. 8, p. 1-32).

Prospero has identified high-level epithermal-style alteration exposed in clay pits adjacent and on-strike to the historic mining district. Epithermal-style argillic alteration is associated with anomalous Au, Ag and Zn geochemistry, exposed in an erosional window into a felsic volcanic pile. Detailed alteration mapping and sampling shows close similarities between alteration at Pachuca SE and alteration exposed above the Pachuca mine: the anomalous geochemistry and clay alteration are very similar to that seen in the Vizcaina structure above the Pachuca Mine. Furthermore, anomalous Au, Ag and Zn geochemistry (Au from 0.1 to 0.61 ppm, Ag from 1.0 to 4.9 ppm, and Zn from 100 to 5,290 ppm) indicates potential for blind epithermal mineralization, at relatively shallow depths below the present surface.

The Pachuca SE target has size potential, strong hydrothermal alteration and a number of geochemical anomalies associated with structures and could host a preserved Pachuca-type epithermal deposit at depth. The project is drill ready.

Bermudez

The 430 hectare Bermudez project is in Chihuahua, about 150km west of the City of Chihuahua. Classic banded low-sulphidation veins are exposed in felsic volcanics over a strike length of 2.5 km in zones up to 100m wide accompanied by stockworking. Fluid inclusion petrography implies that the veins are high-level with potential for deeper mineralization. Reconnaissance chip sampling has identified anomalous gold up to roughly 0.5ppm, accompanied by anomalous Ag, Ba, Mn and Zn. Prospero plans to return to Bermudez shortly and complete a follow up program of chip sampling.

San Luis Del Cordero

In March, Prospero announced that Golden Minerals had kicked off a 3,000m drill program on the Santa Rosa vein at its San Luis del Cordero Project in Durango State, pursuant to an exploration and exploitation agreement signed with Golden and Prospero's wholly-owned Mexican subsidiary. Golden's stated objectives for the 2016 drill program were to define a larger and upgraded Santa Rosa vein resource including measured resources as well as indicated and inferred resources intended for inclusion in an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate and preliminary economic analysis.

About Prospero Silver Corp.

Prospero Silver is a Mexico-focused project generator listed on the TSX.V under the symbol PSL.V. Prospero's aim is to discover world-class precious metal projects in the major mineral belts of Mexico. The Company applies a unique blend of practical exploration experience, cutting-edge mineral deposit science, and has extensive knowledge of Mexico's geology to find new gold and silver systems. Our exploration programs are run by a small but highly-focused geological team based in Mexico.

For further information please visit our website: www.propserosilver.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

William Murray, Chairman

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, the Company's plan to undertake the Offering and the proposed use of proceeds. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include, the risk that the Company will not be able to secure sufficient subscriptions from investors to complete the proposed Offering, possible, accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Prospero Silver Corp.

William Murray

Chairman

604-288-7813

www.propserosilver.com




DJ DGAP-HV: exceet Group SE: Bekanntmachung der Einberufung zur Hauptversammlung am 15.09.2016 in Luxemburg mit dem Ziel der europaweiten Verbreitung gema 121 AktG

DGAP-HV: exceet Group SE / Bekanntmachung der Einberufung zur Hauptversammlung exceet Group SE: Bekanntmachung der Einberufung zur Hauptversammlung am 15.09.2016 in Luxemburg mit dem Ziel der europaweiten Verbreitung gema 121 AktG 2016-08-16 / 15:05 Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent verantwortlich. exceet Group SE Societe europeenne Registered Office: 115, avenue Gaston Diderich, L-1420 Luxembourg R.C.S. Luxembourg B 148.525 Convening Notice Notice is hereby given to the holders of shares of *exceet Group SE* (the '*Company*') that the EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING of shareholders will be held on 15 September 2016 at 12:00 (noon) CEST. The extraordinary general meeting will be held at Sofitel Luxembourg Europe 4, rue du Fort Niedergrunewald, Quartier Europeen Nord, L-2015 Luxembourg. At the aforementioned extraordinary general meeting, the shareholders shall deliberate and vote on the following agenda items: AGENDA 1. Decrease of the Company's share capital by an amount of two hundred sixteen thousand euros (EUR 216,000.00) from five hundred twenty-seven thousand nine hundred sixty euro and sixteen cents (EUR 527,960.16) to three hundred eleven thousand nine hundred sixty euro and sixteen cents (EUR 311,960.16) through the cancellation of all (i) two million one hundred and five thousand two hundred and sixty-three (2,105,263) redeemable class B2 shares, (ii) two million one hundred and five thousand two hundred and sixty-three (2,105,263) redeemable class B3 shares, (iii) one million (1,000,000) redeemable class B4 shares, (iv) three million (3,000,000) redeemable class C1 shares, (v) three million (3,000,000) redeemable class C2 shares and (vi) three million (3,000,000) redeemable class C3 shares. 2. Subsequent amendment and full restatement of the articles of association. _Quorum and Majorities_ Pursuant to the Company's articles of association and the law, the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will deliberate validly only if a quorum of at least fifty percent (50%) of the share capital is present or represented. Decisions related in the agenda of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be passed by a majority of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the votes validly cast at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. _Right to Amend the Content of the Agenda_ Pursuant to the Company's articles of association, and the Luxembourg law of 24 May 2011 on certain rights of shareholders in listed companies (the '*Luxembourg Shareholders' Rights Law*'), which implemented the European Union Directive on Shareholders' Rights (2007/36/EC) (the '*Shareholders' Rights Directive*') and involved certain changes to the procedures for calling and conducting general shareholders' meetings, one or several shareholders representing at least five percent (5%) of the Company's share capital may request the adjunction of one or several items to the agenda of the general meeting, provided that the request is accompanied by a justification or draft resolution(s). Pursuant to Article 4 of the Luxembourg Shareholders' Rights Law and the Company's articles of association, such request and draft resolution(s) must be received at the Company's registered office by registered letter or by e-mail (to the attention of the board of directors, 115 avenue Gaston Diderich, L-1420 Luxembourg) or electronic means (to: i.himbert@exceet.lu) at least twenty-two (22) days prior to the date of the relevant general meeting of shareholders, _i.e._ on 24 August 2016 accompanied by a proof of the shareholding of such shareholder(s) and the address or e-mail address which the Company may use in order to deliver the acknowledgment of receipt of such request. The Company must acknowledge reception of such request within forty-eight (48) hours of receipt of such request. In case such request entails a modification of the agenda of the relevant general meeting of shareholders, the Company will make an amended agenda available at the latest fifteen (15) days prior to the relevant general meeting, _i.e._ on 31 August 2016. _Documents_ Copies of the proposals of the resolutions of the extraordinary general meeting, the proposed consolidated articles of association as well as the documents related to the aforementioned items on the agenda and the revised agenda, if any, further to a requested addition of items in the agenda in accordance with the above (see above section '_Right to Amend the Content of the Agenda_') will be on display for inspection by the shareholders on the Company's website (www.exceet.ch/investor-relations) and at the registered office of the Company as from 16 August 2016. Upon request to i.himbert@exceet.lu, copies of the above-mentioned documents will be mailed to the shareholders. _Share Capital of the Company_ The Company's issued share capital is set at five hundred twenty-seven thousand nine hundred sixty euro and sixteen cents (EUR 527,960.16) represented by (i) twenty million five hundred twenty-three thousand six hundred ninety-five (20,523,695) Class A Shares, (ii) two million one hundred and five thousand two hundred and sixty-three (2,105,263) redeemable Class B2 Shares, (iii) two million one hundred and five thousand two hundred and sixty-three (2,105,263) redeemable Class B3 Shares, (iv) one million (1,000,000) redeemable Class B4 Shares, (v) three million (3,000,000) redeemable Class C1 Shares, (vi) three million (3,000,000) redeemable Class C2 Shares and (vii) three million (3,000,000) redeemable Class C3 Shares. Each share entitles the holder thereof to one vote. _Right to Participate in the Extraordinary General Meeting_ According to Article 5 of the Luxembourg Shareholders' Rights Law, the record date for general meetings of shareholders of listed companies incorporated under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has been set to fourteen (14) days prior to the date of the corresponding general shareholders' meeting. Therefore, any shareholder who holds one or more shares of the Company on 1 September 2016 at 24:00 (midnight) CEST (the '*Record Date*') and registers for the meeting (please see below section '_Registration for the Extraordinary General Meeting_') and, if applicable, provides the certificate specified below in case of holders of Class A Shares, shall be admitted to participate and vote in the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. All shareholders wishing to participate (in person, or by voting through proxy or voting form) in the extraordinary general shareholders' meeting of the Company shall notify the Company thereof at the latest on the Record Date in writing by mail, fax or by e-mail. Class A Shareholders (whose Class A Shares are held in book-entry form through the operator of a securities settlement system or with a professional depositary or sub-depositary designated by such depositary) should receive from such operator or depositary or sub-depositary a certificate certifying the number of shares recorded in their account on the Record Date. In addition to the aforementioned registration, to participate and vote in the extraordinary general meeting, such Class A Shareholders (whose Class A Shares are held in book-entry form through the operator of a securities settlement system or with a professional depositary or sub-depositary designated by such depositary) shall submit a copy of the certificate via their custodian bank by mail, by fax or by e-mail to the Centralizing Agent in the period from 1 September 2016 at 24:00 (midnight) CEST until 12 September 2016, at 12:00 (noon) CEST being: _Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft_ _Attn.: GSS/Issuer Services Post-IPO Services_ _Taunusanlage 12_ _D-60325 Frankfurt am Main_ _Germany_ _Fax: +49/69 910-38794_ _Email: dct.tender-offers@db.com_ Any shareholder and/or proxyholder participating in extraordinary general meeting in person shall carry proof of identity at the extraordinary general meeting. _Registration for the Extraordinary General Meeting_ Shareholders wishing to participate in the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders need to register for the extraordinary general meeting by submitting their registration by mail, fax or by e-mail until 1 September 2016 at 24:00 (midnight) CEST to the Centralizing Agent of the Company at the address referred to above. Registration forms which should be used are provided on the website of the Company (www.exceet.ch/investor-relations). Shareholders having registered for the extraordinary general meeting may provide proxy or voting forms in case they do not wish to participate in person in the extraordinary general meeting until 12 September 2016 at 12:00 (noon) CEST (see below section '_Representation_'). _Representation_ In the event that any shareholder appoints another person, shareholder or not, as his proxy to vote on his behalf, the completed and executed proxy should be submitted by mail, fax or by e-mail to the Centralizing Agent of the Company no later than on 12 September 2016 at 12:00 (noon) CEST and should be accompanied by the shareholding proof. Proxy forms provided on the website of the Company (www.exceet.ch/investor-relations) may be used and only signed proxy forms will be taken into account. One person may represent more than one shareholder. Shareholders having submitted a proxy form and registered in due time but who wish to revoke such proxy form may do so by timely providing a later dated proxy form or by cancelling the proxy form in writing to the Centralizing Agent of the Company at the address referred to above. _Voting Forms_ Shareholders having registered for the extraordinary general meeting but who do not wish to participate in person may also vote through a voting form in the extraordinary general meeting. The voting form may be

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2016 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

submitted by mail, by fax or by e-mail to the Centralizing Agent of the Company no later than on 12 September 2016 at 12:00 (noon) CEST and should be accompanied by the shareholding proof (see above section '_Right to Participate in the Extraordinary General Meeting_'). Only voting forms provided by the Company on its website (www.exceet.ch/investor-relations) may be used and only signed voting forms will be taken into account. Shareholders having submitted a voting form and registered in due time but who wish to revoke such voting form may do so by timely providing a later dated proxy or voting or cancelling the voting form in writing to the Centralizing Agent of the Company at the address referred to above. _Language_ The meeting will be held in the English language. Luxembourg, in August 2016 _For the board of directors of the Company_ 2016-08-16 Die DGAP Distributionsservices umfassen gesetzliche Meldepflichten, Corporate News/Finanznachrichten und Pressemitteilungen. Medienarchiv unter http://www.dgap.de Sprache: Deutsch Unternehmen: exceet Group SE 115, avenue Gaston Diderich 1420 Luxembourg Groherzogtum Luxemburg E-Mail: i.himbert@exceet.lu Internet: http://www.exceet.ch Ende der Mitteilung DGAP News-Service 493191 2016-08-16

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2016 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said if he comes to power, he will call for an international conference to halt the spread of Radical Islam.



In a major policy speech in Ohio on defeating radical Islam, the businessman-turned politician vowed that his administration will 'work side-by-side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally, Israel... will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan, and President Sisi of Egypt, and all others who recognize this ideology of death that must be extinguished.'



Any country which shares this goal will be Washington's ally, according to Trump.



Trump said he will also work closely with NATO on this new mission. He claimed that since his comments criticizing NATO for its failure to deal adequately with terrorism, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats.



He vowed that if he becomes President, the era of nation-building will be ended.



Trump said his Administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS, international cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting.



In an apparent dig at his Presidential rival Hillary Clinton, Trump said his Administration will not telegraph exact military plans to the enemy.



Trump said that if the United States had controlled the oil in Iraq, it could have prevented the rise of ISIS in Iraq - both by cutting off a major source of funding, and through the presence of U.S. forces necessary to safeguard the oil and other vital infrastructure.



Trump warned that the fight against terrorism will not be limited to ISIS. 'We will decimate Al Qaeda, and we will seek to starve funding for Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah.'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Editors Note: There are four images associated with this release.

Corel has announced the release of Corel PaintShop Pro X9, the latest version of its complete photo editor for home or business. Corel PaintShop Pro X9 introduces new features and enhancements that will help anyone working with images start (and finish) their personal and professional projects faster than ever.

Get your best photos yet with new Interactive Gradients for smoother transitions, an enhanced photo workflow, and support for new camera RAW profiles. Achieve the end-result you want sooner with new Project Templates that enable you to trade a blank canvas for a pre-designed starting point. Combine the new Screenshot tools with vector shapes and lines to help your business illustrate its point and communicate with audiences.

As an all-in-one imaging workshop, PaintShop Pro delivers a feature set comparable to popular and costly professional programs. Unlike competitors, it maintains a strong commitment to making photo editing more accessible, while staying affordable and subscription-free.

"The influence of imaging in our work and personal lives is undeniable. The smartphone means our cameras are always with us, and the visual richness of the web means images are experienced and used in every aspect of our lives. It's our mission to help everyone harness the power of the image - whether at home or on the job," said Greg Wood, Senior Product Director, Corel Photo. "With X9, new time-saving features and enhanced tools give anyone working with images a single product that can handle virtually all your imaging needs - for less than $80. Whether you want to quickly build a photo project with a free trial or license 100s of seats for your business, PaintShop Pro X9 is an obvious choice for anyone working with photography."

PaintShop Pro X9 offers photographers, home users and businesses powerful new creative features:

-- NEW! Project Templates: Don't dread a blank canvas. Jump in and start creating professional-looking designs with new project templates. Quickly make personalized greeting cards, photo collages, brochures and more; plus, save your own layouts as a template to help get the next job done faster. -- NEW! Screenshot: Now it's easier for businesses of any size to easily create screenshots to enhance their communications. Capture, edit and annotate screenshots for tutorials and documentation without the need for multiple applications. -- NEW! Interactive Gradient Fill: Save time creating gradients with new interactive color nodes. Drag colors from the main palette and drop them on nodes, then move them around to fine-tune the result using new live preview. -- NEW! Support for Windows Real Time Stylus: Now integrated with support for Windows Real Time Stylus, which brings pressure sensitivity and more to specific touch-enabled 2-in-1 devices like Microsoft's Surface series. -- NEW! Guided Tour: Get to know PaintShop Pro X9 with the all-new Guided Tour. This step-by-step virtual walkthrough will help you confidently navigate the interface and master new features in no time. -- NEW! Export Edit History: Quickly document and share your edits by exporting a record of your edits for a single session or a complete history. Great for building step-by-step tutorials, showing a colleague how to achieve a certain effect, or for legal documentation. -- NEW! Intel RealSense XDM Support: A new generation of photography and editing is here with the introduction of depth aware cameras, including Intel's RealSense lineup. Photos captured in the XDM format can be brought into the Adjust workspace, where selections can be made based on depth and a range of Instant Effects can be applied. -- ENHANCED! Workflow and Camera Support: Work faster than ever with a simplified user experience that streamlines many common tasks. Take advantage of an updated Text Toolbar with downloadable text presets, Silent Script for faster one-click editing actions, real-time performance for commonly used editing tools, and Smart Photo Fix one- click fixes can now be applied as part of a batch process. Extending its camera support, PaintShop Pro X9 now works with 15 new camera RAW profiles. -- ENHANCED! Licensing & Virtualization: Corel is ready for your enterprise or SMB with commercial licensing options that will help you save even more. In addition to new creative features, PaintShop Pro X9 now supports Windows Server 2016, making it an ideal choice for enterprise customers looking for easy deployment in a virtualized environment.

PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate: Comprehensive Editing Kit for Photographers

New PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate includes PaintShop Pro X9, plus a collection of add-ons worth more than $200.

-- New! AfterShot 3: Get a one-two punch that rivals Adobe's Creative Cloud photography bundle, only without the monthly fee. Quickly convert & adjust RAW. Take advantage of non-destructive editing, preserving your original, whether you edit one version of your photo or 100. -- New! Corel Live Screen Capture: An excellent companion to our new Screenshot tools, Live Screen Capture enables you show off exactly what's happening on your screen, including system audio and microphone sound. -- Perfectly Clear 2 SE: Athentech Perfectly Clear 2 SE offers 10 patented corrections to help restore more lost detail in less time, delivering beautiful photos faster.

PaintShop Pro X9 and VideoStudio X9 Photo Video Bundle Delivers a Complete Editing Package

Also introduced today, the PaintShop Pro X9 and VideoStudio Pro X9 Photo Video Bundle brings together a complete photo, design and video editing package to help tell your story with still images and in motion. For more information on the Corel Photo Video Bundle, visit us at www.paintshoppro.com/photo-video-bundle.

Pricing and Availability

PaintShop Pro X9 & PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate are available now in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Traditional Chinese and Japanese. Suggested retail pricing (SRP) for PaintShop Pro X9 is $79.99 (USD/CAN) / EUR 69.99 / GBP 59.99 / $99 AUD. SRP for PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate is $99.99 (USD/CAN) / EUR 89.99 / GBP 79.99/ $129 AUD. SRP for PaintShop Pro X9 and Video Studio X9 bundle is $129.99 (USD/CAN) / EUR 99.99 / GBP 89.99/ $179 AUD. Upgrade pricing for PaintShop Pro X9 and PaintShop Pro X9 Ultimate is available to registered users of all previous versions of PaintShop Pro. For more information, or to download a free 30-day trial, please visit www.paintshoppro.com.

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PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Adaptive Insights, the only pure-play cloud vendor to be named a leader in strategic cloud corporate performance management (CPM), today announced it is continuing to scale its business with the addition of new customers and an expanded management team, while at the same time maintaining top ratings in customer satisfaction and ease-of-use -- qualities critical to the adoption and deployment of CPM software.

Adaptive Insights has secured customers with recognized names across industries including software as a service (SaaS), manufacturing, nonprofit, and retail. Customers include large, global enterprise organizations, indicating that cloud-based CPM solutions have gone mainstream as financial planning and analysis (FP&A) becomes the critical function to enabling maximum corporate performance. Some of the new customers include First West Credit Union, Fletcher Jones Auto Group, MaxLinear, and New York Mets.

To support its ongoing growth and scale, Adaptive Insights also announced it has expanded its executive management team with the addition of strategic visionary Michael Schmitt in the role of chief marketing officer (CMO). Schmitt joins recent executive appointments Jim Johnson, chief financial officer, and Bhaskar Himatsingka, chief product officer, as part of the company's leadership expansion plan announced in January.

Schmitt has held executive-level positions at a range of software and financial services companies, including JD Edwards and Ariba. While at JD Edwards, he helped the company grow to over $1 billion annually. He also helped Ariba execute a dramatic turnaround, repositioning the company to become a market leader in spend management.

Most recently Schmitt was CMO of E2open, a provider of cloud-based supply chain management solutions to the enterprise market. During his tenure, E2open nearly doubled its revenue and established its position as the market leader in collaborative planning and execution.

"CPM is being embraced by companies of all sizes as the way forward in strategic finance and business agility, putting Adaptive Insights on a fast growth trajectory," said Tom Bogan, CEO, Adaptive Insights. "Michael's track record in executing strategic marketing programs in fast-growing companies will be an invaluable asset to our expanding executive leadership team as we enter this next phase of growth."

Analyst Firms, Industry Accolades Recognize Adaptive Insights as Cloud CPM Leader

In addition to experiencing rapid and sustained growth, Adaptive Insights continues to be recognized by market analyst firms as a leader in its space.

The company emerged for the first time in the Leaders Quadrant of the Gartner 2016 Magic Quadrant for Strategic CPM Solutions report. This is the first year that a cloud-only vendor has been placed in the Leaders Quadrant of the Gartner Strategic CPM report.*

Other firms to recognize Adaptive Insights include 451 Research, BPM Partners, Dresner Advisory Services, and Nucleus Research. Nucleus Research rated the Adaptive Insights offering #1 in usability, and Dresner Advisory services gave the solution top marks for scalability, ease-of-customization and technical support. BPM Partners placed Adaptive Insights in its Established vendor category -- the only pure-play cloud vendor to be placed in the category. Adaptive Insights also received the highest customer satisfaction in that category. Analyst 451 Research has recognized Adaptive Insights for data visualization advances, data integration capabilities, and continued expansion into the enterprise.

"Technology and product momentum have continued for Adaptive Insights, as the company innovates its cloud CPM platform and gains traction with enterprises far and wide," said Krishna Roy, senior analyst, data platforms and analytics, 451 Research. "The new capabilities delivered by Adaptive Insights' solutions directly target productivity and visibility for finance teams, enabling those teams to take on a much more strategic role within their organizations."

Adaptive Insights' leadership has also been acknowledged for its pioneering achievement in cloud CPM. Founder and Chairman Robert S. Hull was named a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 Award in the Northern California Region. He also received a 2016 Stratus Award for Cloud Innovator of the Year by Business Intelligence Group.

To learn more, read the Adaptive Insights blog: To the Cloud and Beyond: CPM's Coming-of-Age

About Adaptive Insights

Adaptive Insights is the recognized leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM). Via its software as a service (SaaS) platform, the company offers capabilities for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, consolidation, dashboards, and analytics that empower finance, sales, and other business leaders with insight to drive true competitive advantage. The Adaptive Suite is sold direct or is available through Adaptive Insights' robust cloud CPM channel ecosystem of 200+ partners, including Accenture, Armanino, BDO, CohnReznick, Intacct, KPMG, McGladrey, Plex Systems, and Workday. NetSuite also offers Adaptive Planning as its NetSuite Financial Planning Module.

More than 3,000 companies in 85 countries use Adaptive Insights. These range from midsized companies and nonprofits to large corporations, including AAA, Boston Scientific, CORT, Epcor, NetSuite, Philips, P.F. Chang's, and Siemens. Adaptive Insights is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, visit www.AdaptiveInsights.com, the Adaptive Insights Blog, and follow Adaptive Insights on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

*Gartner, "Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Strategic Corporate Performance Management Solutions," by Christopher Iervolino and John E. Van Decker, May 31, 2016.

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Consumers Show Increased Expectations for Speech Recognition Systems

BOSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer satisfaction with in-car speech recognition systems has fallen sharply, particularly among middle age groups in the US, according to a recent report by Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

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A recent survey from the In-Vehicle UX (IVX) group at Strategy Analytics assessed consumer usage of, and satisfaction with, in-car speech recognition systems and touchscreens. Satisfaction with in-car touchscreens and voice control systems remains strong among frequent users, but has declined across all demographics. And while daily usage of in-car voice control has held steady in Europe, it has declined in the US and China, especially among certain age groups.

Click here for the report: http://bit.ly/2bthkto

Derek Viita, Senior Analyst and report author commented that with the expansion of mobile and home-based systems which feature speech recognition, "consumers now have increased expectations for the functionality of such systems. Even though the automotive industry is hamstrung by a lengthy development and production cycle, consumers are becoming less patient with the gap in performance between automotive electronics and other consumer electronics."

Chris Schreiner, Director of IVX, added, "One critical reason behind the faster improvement of other voice control systems is the software's ability to be updated over the air. To keep up with this trend, in-car systems must have the same capability."

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success.

For more information about Strategy Analytics

In-Vehicle User Experience Service: Click here
DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Heat Transfer Fluids Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The global heat transfer fluids market to grow at a CAGR of 5.81% during the period 2016-2020.

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global heat transfer fluids market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the analyst considers the revenue generated through sales of heat transfer fluids for end-user industries such as oil and gas, chemical industry, CSP, food and beverages, and plastic. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.

One of the key trends for market growth will be increasing investments in CSP. In the growing market for sustainable energy, CSP technologies are on the threshold of large-scale global positioning. These technologies promote concentrated sunlight to generate electricity. In the next 3-4 years, the CSP market is estimated to be worth over $1.2 billion. The Indian government also has recognized solar power as a vital renewable energy resource. Under the National Action Plan for Climate Change, the National Solar Mission is one of the eight missions to fight climate change.

According to the report, development of chemical industry in China and India will be a key driver for market growth. The chemical industry is one of the major end-user segments for the global heat transfer fluid market. So, development of this segment will boost the market for heat transfer fluids. The chemical industry contributes considerably toward the industrial and economic growth of key developing economies like China and India. This industry is important to the manufacturing and agricultural sectors of these countries and provides building blocks for many downstream industries, such as paper, textiles, leather, and paints.

Further, the report states that the emergence of substitutes for heat transfer fluids will be a major challenge for the market. Bio-based glycol is increasingly being used as the key constituent in heat transfer fluids. It has identical chemical formula as propylene glycol, but its structure is a little different owing to the fermentation process used to manufacture it. This minor structural alteration gives it improved thermal stability and a longer life for high-heat applications such as geothermal and solar process heating. Also, bio-based glycol exhibits more advantageous properties such as lower viscosity at low temperatures compared with propylene glycol. This can enhance pumping and energy proficiencies in uses related to cooling, and minimize maintenance costs.

Key vendors

- Dow Chemical

- ExxonMobil

- Eastman

- Shell

- British Petroleum

Key Topics Covered:

Part 01: Executive summary

Part 02: Scope of the report

Part 03: Market research methodology

Part 04: Introduction

Part 05: Market landscape

Part 06: Market segmentation by end-user

Part 07: Market segmentation by products

Part 08: Market segmentation by geography

Part 09: Market drivers

Part 10: Impact of drivers

Part 11: Market challenges

Part 12: Impact of drivers and challenges

Part 13: Market trends

Part 14: Vendor landscape

Part 15: Key vendor analysis

Part 16: Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tm9rxm/global_heat

Related Topics: Engineering

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Unique rollover side curtain airbags deploy and protect those travelling in the cab if the truck rolls over

Scania's solution targets one of the most serious consequences of rollover accidents, where drivers or passengers are injured in a collision or fatally crushed by their own vehicle

Potential for a significant reduction in deaths from rollover accidents

Scania's new truck generation can be equipped with rollover side curtain airbags integrated into the headliner moulding above the doors a unique solution which has never previously been offered in trucks. Scania's rollover side curtain airbags provide significantly-enhanced protection for those travelling in the vehicle in the event of a rollover, one of the most serious types of truck accidents.

"The use of a seat belt is essential to allow the safety systems to do their job and to ensure that the driver is not thrown out of the cab," says Christofer Karlsson, who is responsible for the development of Scania's crash safety system. "Our rollover side curtain airbag particularly when combined with the steering wheel airbag and our seat belt pretensioners ensures that the driver and any passengers on board will have a much better chance of surviving a rollover accident in one of the new generation of Scania trucks, with far less severe consequences than would be the case in any other truck."

Scania has developed both the active and passive safety features in the new truck generation, with a series of measures that protect those travelling in the cab. By offering rollover side curtain airbags, Scania believes there could be a significant reduction in the proportion of drivers who are killed in rollover accidents.

A common reason for trucks rolling over is that the driver is forced to carry out evasive action to avoid an oncoming vehicle or an obstruction. If the truck then ends up off the road, there is rarely sufficient load-bearing capacity, so the vehicle may topple onto its side or even roll right over at higher speeds. Advanced systems with sensors determine when and if the rollover side curtain airbags and any other airbags should be deployed; when deployed, the airbags inflate instantaneously.

Scania's new and already widely-discussed truck generation will be unveiled online on the evening of 23 August. The launch can be followed online at nextgenscania.com.

Scania is a part of Volkswagen Truck Bus GmbH and one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications. Scania is also leading provider of industrial and marine engines. Service-related products account for a growing proportion of the company's operations, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Scania also offers financial services. Employing some 44,000 people, the company operates in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production takes place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. In 2015, net sales totalled SEK 95 billion and net income amounted to SEK 6.8 billion. Scania press releases are available on www.scania.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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Contacts:

Scania Trucks

Orjan Aslund, Head of Product Affairs

Tel: +46 70 289 83 78

E-mail: orjan.aslund@scania.com
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Reversing direction, the Australian dollar declined against the euro, U.S. and Canadian dollars in New York trading on Tuesday. Retreating from an early 5-day high of 0.7749 against the greenback, the aussie fell back to 0.7675. The aussie declined to a 2-week low of 0.9882 against the loonie and near a 2-week low of 1.4657 against the euro, from its early highs of 0.9954 and 1.4552, respectively. The aussie is likely to find support around 0.75 against the greenback, 0.95 against the loonie and 1.50 against the euro. 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.
NEW YORK, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Increasing water quality issues, aging water infrastructure and growing public awareness regarding ill-effects of drinking contaminated water to drive United States mobile water treatment services market

According to TechSci Research report, "US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market By End User, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2021", the US mobile water treatment services market is projected to cross $ 550 million by 2021. A wide array of factors anticipated to augment market growth during forecast period include deteriorating water quality, aging water infrastructure and favorable government policies. Moreover, increasing water shortage and rising industrialization are few other major factors anticipated to positively influence mobile water treatment services market in the US over the next five years.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Browse 23 market data Tables and 38 Figures spread through111 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/us-mobile-water-treatment-services-market-by-end-user-energy-and-power-oil-and-gas-pharmaceutical-pulp-and-paper-chemical-processing-mining-and-mineral-processing-and-others-competition-forecast-opportunities-2011-2021/755.html

United States desalination industry is projected to increase from US$ 99.7 million in 2012 to US$ 1727.4 million by 2018. Anticipated growth in water desalination is expected to propel demand for mobile water treatment services in the country over the next five years. Mobile desalination units are immensely useful in water stressed areas or in adverse conditions such as hurricane affected areas. In addition, increasing water footprint coupled with rising repair requirements of water infrastructure is expected to further boost demand for mobile water treatment services in the country during forecast period.

Download Sample Report

@ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=755

Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.

South-East region dominates the country's mobile water treatment services market on account of increasing oil refining and power production activities. Major mobile water treatment service companies operating in the US include GE Water & Process Technologies, Evoqua Water Technologies LLC and Veolia North America. "Energy & power; oil & gas; pharmaceutical; pulp & paper; chemical processing; and mining & mineral processing are the major demand generators for mobile water treatment services in the US. In 2015, energy & power accounted for the lion's share in the country's mobile water treatment services market, and the sector is anticipated to continue its dominance over the next five years." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market By End User, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of United States mobile water treatment services market and provides statistics and information on market size, consumer behavior and trends. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in United States mobile water treatment services market.

Browse Related Reports

US Mobile Sewage Treatment Systems Market By End User (Residential, Industrial and Commercial), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/mobile-sewage-treatment-systems-market-in-united-states-by-end-user-residential-industrial-and-commercial-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/604.html

India Wastewater Treatment Plants Market By Type (Municipal and Industrial), By Plant Category (Less Than 50 MLD, 50 to 200 MLD and Over 200MLD), By Operating Mode (EPC and BOOT), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011-2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-wastewater-treatment-plants-market-by-type-municipal-and-industrial-by-plant-category-less-than-50-mld-50-to-200-mld-and-over-200mld-by-operating-mode-epc-and-boot-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/650.html

Global Residential Water Purifiers Market By Technology (UV, Media and Membrane), By Function (Point-of-Entry and Point-of-Use), By Sales Channel (Retail, Direct, Online, etc.), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/water-purifier-market-by-technology-uv-media-and-membrane-by-function-point-of-entry-and-point-of-use-by-sales-channel-retail-direct-online-etc-by-region-competition-global-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/704.html

Global Commercial Water Purifiers Market By Technology (UV, Media and Membrane), By Region (North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, Europe & Russia, Middle East & Africa), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-commercial-water-purifiers-market-by-technology-uv-media-and-membrane-by-region-north-america-south-america-asia-pacific-europe-russia-middle-east-africa-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/665.html

About TechSci Research

TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.

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Merchant Research Consulting, Ltd. informs that cutting-edge topical research reports, covering different chemicals markets, have been recently uploaded at its website.

Markets Covered in New Reports Include:

Industrial Diamonds Market:

The development of artificial industrial diamonds is inseparably linked with the world of science, technical innovations, experimentation and technological advances. Starting from James Ballantyne Hannay, Henri Moissan and Percy Williams Bridgman, this link has become evident, meaning that each scientific breakthrough has lead to further commercialization of synthetic diamonds and appearance of their large-scale market, while each ungrounded claim and unsuccessful experimentation have been detrimental for the origination and proliferation of the market for synthetic diamonds. Taking into consideration the fact that only two percent of industrial diamonds are of natural origin (and this share is doomed to decrease), while origination and application of synthetic diamonds hinge of scientific achievements, it is possible to ascertain that science plays a decisive role in the market for synthetic diamonds. For instance, the use of synthetic diamonds in loudspeaker tweeters occurred after many years of ground-breaking research and trial-and-error experimentation of such firms as Bower Wilkins. In pursuit of the perfect loudspeaker, Bower Wilkins has put its best efforts to create the best possible driving unit with the help of industrial diamonds and a technology known as Chemical Vapour Deposition or CVD, which allows "growing" pure diamonds in complex shapes. Such technologies unravel new market niches for industrial diamonds. Further information on the industrial diamonds market is available in the insightful report "Industrial Diamonds: 2016 World Market Review and Forecast

Lime Market:

Many countries have sufficient and abundant resources of limestone, thus diminishing the economic viability of international trade with lime. Moreover, lime is considered a low-value commodity, which is not particularly appropriate for transportation. It is therefore a product more suitable for regional trade and domestic consumption. The product character and ensuing market peculiarities, i.e. above-mentioned low profitability margins, bulkiness in transportation, severe market fragmentation and availability of multiple suppliers, dictate the policy applicable for many lime manufacturers. In North America, Europe, and Asia, local producers, operating on the lime market, resort to consolidating their efforts and M&A activities in an effort to serve regional markets. Apart from consolidation and M&A, another viable strategy is trying to expand existing production capacities, which is more characteristic of Asian players. China continues to lead production and consumption of lime, accounting for about 66% of the global lime market. This trend will persevere. Asia is predicted to be the leading regional lime producer through 2019, with the highest growth rates registered in China. However, sometimes high growth rates observed in the production of various commodities in China are determined by reasons that lack economic or environmental substantiation. More details on the lime market can be found in the topical study "Lime: 2016 World Market Review and Forecast

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Market:

Recent geopolitical complications like the Brexit referendum in the UK or the unsuccessful military coup in Turkey may render a significant and long-lasting influence on the global PVC market and many regional PVC markets. The impact of the UK referendum has been already direct and indirect. Some European PVC producers have already raised prices for the PVC shipped to the UK in the wake of pound losing its value. There were some allegations that some UK producers might benefit from this situation, but the export-related advantage will not be particularly prominent. In case of PVC, Great Britain accounts for less than 1% of the global PVC production capacity. Apart from small production in Lancashire by Westlake, UK's major and practically single PVC producer is INOVYN, now fully owned by INEOS, which has a PVC production capacity of around 400,000 tonnes per year. Despite potential export rise, this producer might be also affected by the fall of the domestic construction and housing market in the UK, which is a major PVC outlet. The same uncertainty, which is generally detrimental for the PVC market, is looming large in other places of the world. One can mention post-coup Turkey, Russia hit by sanctions and embroiled in dubious political affairs, China impacted by economic slowdown or the USA on the verge of possible political perturbations, as well as other countries. In all these regions, geopolitical instability, indirectly and directly, affects the PVC market by influencing general economic situation, PVC-consuming industries and specifically PVC market. Trustworthy data on the PVC market is provided in the topical report "Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020

Sulfuric Acid Market:

Sulphuric acid is extremely important to the chemical and other industries, acting as one of the most fundamental chemical building blocks. Production of agricultural fertilizers, like phosphates and ammonium sulphate, is a main outlet for sulphuric acid. Overall, fertilisers account for nearly 60% of the worldwide production of sulphuric acid. This year seems generally good for major agricultural markets, which might positively affect fertilizer demand, but such forecast would be very optimistic. The market is full of ambiguity and uncertainty with one positive trend being offset by another negative. On the one hand, the demand for fertilizers is on the rise, but the margins of many companies are hit by fluctuating prices and oversupply. In many regions, multiple factors, like the currently available fertilizer stocks or the size of fertilizer subsidies, intervene and intermingle, and it is difficult to predict which one turn out to be decisive. This situation affects the market for sulphuric acid. It is expected that the sulphuric acid market will slow its growth rates in order to balance demand and supply across the globe, especially in the light of new capacity introductions planned in Jordan, USA, China, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and other countries. An in-depth analysis of the sulphuric acid market is offered in the in-demand report "Sulfuric Acid: 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020

Zirconium Hafnium Market:

Zirconium and hafnium (the latter is retrieved as a by-product from zirconium ore minerals) find use in various industries, as well as in high-tech, specialized and innovative applications. Zirconium is employed in ceramics, foundry, refractory, electronics, nuclear industry, etc, while hafnium acts as a component of super alloys, plasma welding torches, electrical insulators in integrated circuits or catalysts in certain polymerization reactions. Hafnium is considered irreplaceable in many of these applications. However, despite this importance and fairly high demand, hafnium is used quite rarely, which may be explained by following two reasons: a) hafnium is only produced as a by-product of refining zirconium; b) it is extremely difficult to separate the metal from zirconium. In addition, the nuclear industry, which is their important consuming sector, lies in doldrums. The feedstock market for both is also heavily monopolized. More than 80% of the world zirconium reserves are located in two countries: Australia (65.4%) and South Africa (17.9%). Zirconium production is concentrated in the hands of a few companies, including Iluka, Tronox and Richards Bay Mining. Quantitative estimates of hafnium resources are not available. Two main hafnium producers are Cezus (the French nuclear group Areva) and Wah Chang (ATI). A comprehensive overview of the world zirconium and hafnium market is given in the insightful report "Zirconium and Hafnium: 2016 World Market Review and Forecast

Many other trustworthy insightful research studies exploring various chemical markets are available at Merchant Research Consulting website

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Contacts:

Merchant Research Consulting, Ltd.

Alena Amberly, +44 (20) 7558-8740

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ABI Research Forecasts More Than 143 Million Cockpit OSes Will Ship in 2021

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With autonomous driving inching closer, cars are incorporating digital user interfaces, in-car LTE, and data utilization through cloud services. ABI Research forecasts more than 143 million operating system (OS) solutions will ship in 2021 to support the software-defined car cockpits, or automotive head units that support cluster displays and in-vehicle infotainment. As the competitive landscape widens, both proprietary and open source solutions providers, including Google's Android, Intel's Wind River, and Blackberry's QNX, continue to battle for design wins.

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"Increasingly, OEMs and software companies are collaborating directly to create automotive software solutions," says Susan Beardslee, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. "Alibaba and SAIC's recent car demo using the Alipay system shows just how involved OEMs now are in the sourcing and development of OS and software solutions. Some are even developing expertise in-house to drive ownership of the software stack and provide greater leverage, brand value, user experience, and ultimately, value-added services."

Google's Open Automotive Alliance won over nearly 50 automotive OEMs, all of which joined a partnership promoting Android integration. The GENIVI Alliance open source software architecture for infotainment includes a number of compliant solutions from automotive Tier 1s like Aisin, Continental, Delphi, Harman, Magneti Marelli, and Visteon. Qualcomm recently partnered with Google and unveiled plansfor an Android Nougat-based car platform. Though still in the developer preview stage, the open source solution is working its way deeper into the car, with potential body and information system support creating a new dynamic for software-defined models.

It will be Android's first "turn-key platform", capable of common vehicle operations. Yet, though car OEMs like Audi, BMW, Kia, and Toyota Motor, currently use Google's Android Auto technology for search, map, and other functions, ABI Research predicts Android N will likely not appear in cars before 2020.

"The connected car solutions form a fragmented competitive landscape, with established players like QNX Green Hills and Mentor Graphics already well-positioned in this space," concludes Beardslee. "There are security concerns with any open source solution, such as potential threats from hackers compromising mission-critical operations, like a car's brake or acceleration function. As proprietary and open source solutions continue to duke it out for design wins, there will be a continual need for collaboration and business models conducive to the diversity of customer needs and evolving use cases."

These findings are from ABI Research's Automotive OS and Software Trends (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/1024879-automotive-operating-systems-and-software-/). This report is part of the company's Automotive, Smart Mobility, & Transportation sector (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/practice/autonomous-driving-location-tech/), which includes research, data, and analyst insights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research stands at the forefront of technology market research, providing business leaders with comprehensive research and consulting services to help them implement informed, transformative technology decisions. Founded more than 25 years ago, the company's global team of senior and long-tenured analysts delivers deep market data forecasts, analyses, and teardown services. ABI Research is an industry pioneer, proactively uncovering ground-breaking business cycles and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.








TOKYO, JAPAN--(Marketwired - August 16, 2016) - The two-day OneLife Convention -- hosted by members of the OneLife Network, which is a growing global network that was born out of the OneCoin cryptocurrency brand -- contained award ceremonies, a presentation from a noted academic and chatter from OneLife members about new cryptocurrency regulations.

With over 2,000 people packing the Chinzanso Hotel in Tokyo, OneLife and OneCoin Founder Dr. Ruja Ignatova spoke to the cheering crowd about her vision for the OneLife Network to continue growing and for OneCoin to become the dominant mass-market cryptocurrency.

"In just two years we have become the fastest growing network-marketing company in the world and are thrilled to have been the first cryptocurrency to hit the two million-user mark," said Dr. Ruja Ignatova. "With such monumental growth, we'll continue to improve our methodologies and products to ensure members of the OneLife family have plenty of opportunities here in Japan, in Asia and around the globe."

The OneLife Convention included a presentation on "Cryptocurrency and Its Future Potential" by Dr. Yukio Noguchi, who is currently a visiting professor in Stanford University with a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Tokyo, an M.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

Additionally, early in July, just prior to the OneLife Convention, new European Commission (EC) regulations were unveiled that intend to halt the use of cryptocurrency to fund terrorist activities and OneLife members were chattering about this new development. Dr. Ignatova noted that "OneCoin already complies with all new regulations" since there is a OneCoin know-your-customer (KYC) policy to prevent money laundering, identity theft and financial fraud.

The Tokyo event followed a London event held in June, where more than 4,000 attendees heard the latest about OneCoin, OneLife, the OneWorld Foundation and OneAcademy.

Learn More

OneLife.eu is the online hub for the network of over two million OneCoin users.

OneCoin.eu houses the latest news and information about the OneCoin cryptocurrency itself.

OneAcademy.eu is the website for the OneLife Network's most successful product -- a suite of innovative cryptocurrency educational materials.

OneWorldFoundation.eu is the home for the nonprofit organization helping provide underprivileged communities with access to education and access to information.

The OneLife Network (OLN) is a growing global network that was born out of the OneCoin cryptocurrency brand. The Network has a digital platform with a unique ecosystem of sophisticated products and tools that help members achieve financial independence. Members enjoy access to an array of OneAcademy e-learning courses that help them apply financial theory to practice. This allows them to understand, mine and trade cryptocurrency, and make secure, low-cost, cross-border transactions.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/8/15/11G110499/Images/OneLife_Press_Release-96e3cb289c16b3209c35952ee979e874.jpg

Contact Email:

OneLife

Press@OneLife.eu
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 16, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the former head trader in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) at Goldman Sachs has agreed to be barred from the securities industry and pay $400,000 to settle charges that he repeatedly misled customers and caused them to pay higher prices.

An SEC investigation found that Edwin Chin generated extra revenue for Goldman by concealing the prices at which the firm had bought various RMBS, then re-selling them at higher prices to the buying customer with Goldman keeping the difference. On other occasions, Chin misled purchasers by suggesting he was actively negotiating a transaction between customers when he was merely selling RMBS out of Goldman's inventory.

"With no public exchange showing the price for each RMBS trade as it occurs, investors purchasing these securities rely on dealers to be honest about the purchase price they paid," said Michael J. Osnato, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Complex Financial Instruments Unit. "Chin repeatedly abused his fundamental duty to serve as an honest transmitter of market information so he could increase Goldman's trading profits and, indirectly, his own compensation."

The SEC's order finds that Chin's misconduct began in 2010 and continued until he left Goldman in 2012. Without admitting or denying the findings, Chin agreed to the entry of the order finding that he violated Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. He agreed to pay $200,000 in disgorgement, $50,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $150,000 penalty.

The SEC's continuing investigation has been conducted by Andrew Feller, David London, and Heidi Mitza, and the case has been supervised by Celia Moore and Michael Osnato. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).
NEW YORK, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Continuing increase in global electricity demand in industrial and commercial sectors to boost diesel gensets market through 2021

According to a recently published TechSci Research report "Global Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", the global diesel gensets market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% by the end of 2021. Diesel gensets are being increasingly used for meeting power requirements from various end users across industrial, commercial and residential sectors. Broadly, diesel genset finds application as standby power system when prime source of power is unable to meet electricity requirements. Diesel gensets are also used as prime power source as well as for peak shaving purpose. Growing demand for continuous and reliable power supply from various end user sectors such as healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing facilities, transportation & communication systems, datacenters, fueling stations, water & sewage facilities, etc., is boosting use of diesel gensets across the world, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Global Electricity Demand, 2015, 2020F & 2025F (Quadrillion Btu)

Electricity Demand Year (Quadrillion Btu) 2015 550 2020 590 2025 640

Source: TechSci Research

Demand for electricity is anticipated to grow over the next five years due to rising industrial production, expansion of commercial sector and increasing power consumption in households, globally. Mounting electricity demand among diverse end users is augmenting demand for diesel gensets, especially in major developing countries such as China and India.



"Government's initiatives to expand industrial sector in major developing economies such as China, India, etc., is expected to continue propelling demand for diesel gensets over the next five years. Middle East & Africa region also offers huge scope for diesel gensets applications due to inadequate power infrastructure in the region. Widening demand-supply gap in the African nations such as Tanzania, Nigeria, etc., has resulted in increased use of diesel gensets as a prime source of power. During 2016 - 2021, developing countries with inadequate power infrastructure are expected to be the major demand generators for diesel gensets." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global energy management consulting firm.

"Global Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of diesel gensets market across the globe and provides statistics and information on market structure, industry behavior and trends. The report includes market projections and demand forecasting. The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities available in the global diesel gensets market.

Browse Related Reports

Global Gas Gensets Market By Rating ((Low Rating (1kVA-75kVA), Medium Rating (75kVA-350kVA), High Rating (350kVA-750kVA), etc.)), By End User (Industrial, Commercial and Residential), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-gas-gensets-market-by-rating-low-rating-1kva-75kva-medium-rating-75kva-350kva-high-rating-350kva-750kva-etc-by-end-user-industrial-commercial-and-residential-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/683.html

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http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-natural-gas-compressors-market-by-technology-positive-displacement-compressor-vs-dynamic-compressor-by-application-upstream-midstream-and-downstream-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/658.html

GCC Switchgear Market By Type (Low; Medium and High Voltage), By End User (Utilities, Residential, Industrial and Others), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/gcc-switchgear-market-by-type-low-medium-and-high-voltage-by-end-user-utilities-residential-industrial-and-others-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/645.html

India LNG Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2025

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-lng-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2025/592.html

About TechSci Research

TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.

Contact

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HYDERABAD, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Mordor Intelligence announces the publication of their research report on the non-destructive testing market. The report titled, "Global Non Destructive Testing Market - By Equipment and Services - Market Shares, Forecasts and Trends (2015-2020)" discusses the current landscape and outlook of the NDT market.

The global NDT market was valued at USD 6.51 billion in 2015, and is estimated to reach USD 9.68 billion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.26% during the forecast period. The global NDT market can be segmented in terms of equipment, service and software sectors.

North America held the highest market share of over 35% in 2015, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. Stringent government regulations regarding safety, new power generation projects (exclusively in the United States), and significantly growing automotive and aerospace industries are driving the market for NDT in North America region.

Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region over the forecast period (2015-2020), and is estimated to grow with a CAGR of over 10%, followed by Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The presence of a large number of domestic and international power generation companies in emerging economies of APAC is projected to drive NDT market in this region. The market for new vehicles in Asia-Pacific, which includes passenger vehicles, buses and trucks, crossed 37 million units in 2015, driven strongly by countries such as China and India. Furthermore, the rapidly expanding installed capacity of wind energy in Asia-Pacific is expected to drive the demand for NDT equipment and services. The NDT service market is expected to record robust growth in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions buoyed by increased emphasis on infrastructural development. The emergence of big data and IoT devices have enabled the NDT equipment vendors to integrate improved reporting mechanisms as a value add, to gain competitive advantage in the market.

The report is segmented by type, technique, technology, industry and geography. The market size and forecast values are provided by technology used in industry and by technology and application for each of these regions in the report. By type, the market is segmented as equipment and service.

The global non-destructive testing (NDT) market poses relatively high barriers to new entrants into the market for the equipment sector while the service sector offers relatively moderate barriers. Some of the major players in the market are Mistras Group,Inc., GE Measurement & Control, Olympus Corporation, Magnaflux, Flir Systems Inc., and FujiFilm Holdings.

About Mordor Intelligence:

Mordor Intelligenceis a global market research and consulting firm. Our singular focus is to provide research insights for business success. Our research team has expertise in diverse fields like Agriculture, Healthcare, ICT, Chemicals, Manufacturing, Logistics, Electronics and Automotive. However diverse the expertise maybe, everyone in our team shares one common trait - 'we love data and we love providing solutions to clients using that data'. Seeing your business flourish based on our solutions and strategy is what we love the most.

For information regarding permissions and sales, please contact:info@mordorintelligence.com

Media Contact:

Madan Gopal

AVP - Marketing & Strategy

Email:madan@mordorintelligence.com

Direct Line:+1 617-765-2493



.
Please note that this announcement replaces the version released on Wednesday

10 August 2016. Corrections have been made to errors in sterling denominated

performance figures for both the net asset value and share price for the

periods since March 2016 due to an incorrect dividend reinvestment factor being

applied (reinvestment factor based on 6 pence rather than the sterling

equivalent of 6 cents). Periods affected are 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and since

31.03.06. All other information remains the same.



BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

All information is at 31 July 2016 and unaudited.



Performance at month end with net income reinvested



One

month

% Three

months

% One

year

% Three

years

% Five

years

% ^^Since

31.03.06

% Sterling: Net asset value^ 6.2 16.4 23.8 -5.5 -23.1 59.2 Share price 5.9 14.0 23.7 -5.7 -24.4 46.1 MSCI EM Latin America 6.3 15.8 25.5 -5.2 -19.7 72.2

US Dollars: Net asset value^ 5.4 5.5 5.4 -17.1 -37.7 22.1 Share price 5.2 3.3 5.4 -17.3 -38.8 12.0 MSCI EM Latin America 5.5 5.0 6.8 -17.0 -35.1 31.8

^cum income

^^Date which BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company.

Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor's Micropal

At month end Net asset value - capital only: 435.31p Net asset value - cum income: 443.57p Share price: 380.75p Total Assets#: 174.7m Discount (share price to cum income NAV): 14.2% Average discount* over the month - cum income: 13.9% Net cash at month end**: 0.9% Gearing range (as a % of net assets): 0-25% Net yield##: 3.6% Ordinary shares in issue***: 39,369,620 Ongoing charges****: 1.1%



Total assets include current year revenue.

## calculated using total dividends declared in the last 12 months as at the date of this announcement as a percentage of month end share price.

*The discount is calculated using the cum income NAV (expressed in sterling terms).

**Net cash/net gearing is calculated using debt at par, less cash and cash equivalents and fixed interest investments as a percentage of net assets.

***Excluding 2,071,662 shares held in treasury.

**** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding performance fees and interest costs for the year ended 31 December 2015.



Geographic Exposure



% of Total Assets % of Equity Portfolio * MSCI EM Latin American Index Brazil 58.9 59.5 56.0 Mexico 28.0 28.3 28.8 Peru 6.1 6.1 3.0 Chile 2.5 2.5 9.0 Argentina 2.3 2.3 0.0 Colombia 1.3 1.3 3.2 Net current assets (inc.Fixed interest) 0.9 0.0 0.0 ----- ----- ----- Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 ----- ----- -----

Sector % of Equity Portfolio * % of Benchmark Financials 30.7 30.9 Consumer Staples 23.8 20.3 Energy 11.6 8.1 Materials 9.5 12.7 Industrials 8.0 6.5 Consumer Discretionary 6.3 6.6 Information Technology 4.2 2.4 Telecommunication Services 3.4 5.4 Utilities 2.5 6.6 Health Care 0.0 0.5 ----- ----- Total 100.0 100.0 ----- -----

* excluding net current assets & fixed interest



Ten Largest Equity Investments (in percentage order)





Company

Country of Risk % of

Equity Portfolio % of

Benchmark Itau Unibanco Brazil 9.0 5.7 Petrobas Brazil 8.1 5.1 Banco Bradesco Brazil 8.0 6.0 AmBev Brazil 7.0 5.2 Femsa Mexico 4.5 3.1 Cielo Brazil 4.2 2.2 Grupo Financiero Banorte Mexico 3.6 2.6 Telefonica Brasil Brazil 3.4 1.3 Credicorp Peru 3.0 2.0 Cemex SAB Mexico 3.0 2.0

Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the Investment Manager noted;

Performance

For the month of July 2016, the Company's NAV increased by 6.2% and the share price increased by 5.9%, while the Company's benchmark, the MSCI EM Latin America Free Index, rose by 6.3% (all in sterling terms).

Positive contributions to performance stemmed from our low exposure to Colombia. Colombia was the largest underperformer in the region driven primarily by a weaker currency amid a large decline in oil prices in July. The largest contributor to performance was Petrobras. The stock benefited from favourable domestic developments on the political front which helped support the equity rally in Brazil. An underweight to America Movil also contributed positively.



Stock selection in Brazil weighed on returns. The lack of exposure to Vale weighed on returns as iron ore prices were up by almost 11% during the month. We remain out of Vale as we expect an unfavourable supply/demand equation in the second half of 2016. A lack of exposure to Banco do Brasil also detracted from returns.

Transactions/Gearing

During the month we increased exposure to Brazil while reducing exposure to Mexico. In Brazil, we increased exposure to Petrobras as the stock stands to benefit from a stronger currency and positive political developments. In Mexico, we exited America Movil given negative pricing news in the sector and weak results. In addition, we reduced exposure to Cemex.

Net cash was approximately 0.9% at the end of July.

Positioning

Overall, we are positive about the prospects for Latin America going forward given the structural changes in the region, the potential for reform and the positive implications of those reforms. We continue to prefer Brazil over Mexico. We expect the reform agenda in Brazil to begin moving through Congress once the impeachment process is finalized thus clearing a path to growth. Our more cautious view on Mexico is predicated on the potential for slower growth in the US and the impact of the US election cycle. Elsewhere in the region, we continue to prefer Peru over Chile and Colombia.

16 August 2016

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brla on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Mundoro Capital Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MUN)(www.mundoro.com) ("Mundoro" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on exploration results at the Zeleznik Property ("Zeleznik") which is one of the four subject properties currently being sole funded by JOGMEC as part of the JOGMEC-Mundoro joint venture (see press release August 2, 2016). Zeleznik is located at the northern end of the Timok Magmatic Complex in northeastern Serbia; the license is north of the state-owned Majdanpek copper-gold mine.

Teo Dechev, CEO & President of Mundoro commented, "Mundoro has delineated several gold and copper targets in Zeleznik. This license now hosts two newly discovered prospective gold zones at the northern portion of the license as well as the advanced, drill defined, West Zone copper porphyry, and East Zone massive sulphides, in the southern portion. Shareholders can expect news flow over the coming months from both the drilling program currently underway which is designed to further test and delineate the coppery porphyry in the West Zone and the massive sulphides in the East Zone; and from the trenching to follow up these prospective gold zones discovered from the spring sampling program."

Zeleznik Central Target (See Figure 1: Zeleznik Property Target Areas)

Mundoro completed further detailed mapping of the entire license area along with rock chip sampling. Several new areas demonstrating hydrothermal alteration assemblages were also discovered in the central portion of the Zelezknik property through this mapping program. The gold mineralisation appears to be hosted within EW fault zones which crosscuts the regional main NS structural trend of the orogenic gold bearing belt that runs parallel to the Timok belt and is associated with very high As, Sb and elevated Ag, Zn and Cu. The Central target area (Figure 1) returned significant gold results including:

-- a channel chip sample grading 9.44 g/t Au; 10.63 g/t Ag over 3 m including 1m @ 15.75 g/t Au; 20.80 g/t Ag -- a channel chip sample grading 11.75 g/t Au; 10.20 g/t Ag over 1.5 m; -- a grab sample with 1.88 g/t Au; 1.60 g/t Ag taken from the NS structure

This area will also be tested during the upcoming trenching program in the Q4-2016. These encouraging gold rock geochemical results appear to be related to quartz veins hosted within fault zones and indicate possibility for economic vein type gold mineralisation. Further exploration is necessary to reveal whether the gold mineralisation is confined to veins or also appears disseminated within the fault zone and in the host rocks.

Zeleznik North Target (See Figure 1: Zeleznik Property Target Areas)

At the northern portion of Zeleznik, Mundoro has completed a follow-up soil sampling program where previous results highlighted a gold-molybdenum-copper soil anomalous area approximately 800m x 600m in size. This follow-up soil sampling program infilled sample spacing to a 100m x 50m grid from a previous regional scale soil sampling program.

Gold Soils (see Figure 2: Zeleznik North Target - Gold Soil Results)

The soil geochemical results have delineated anomalous gold and molybdenum linear features. The highest gold soil anomaly is up to 0.92 ppm (compared to a background of 0.01 ppm) gold which occurs within a north-south elongated gold-molybdenum anomaly 600m x 300m in size. There are satellite gold-molybdenum soil anomalies around this main centre resulting in an anomalous area of 2km x 1.5km. The gold-molybdenum soil anomalies correlate well with the associated Pb-Zn soil anomalies which are from 100 ppm to 439 ppm (compared to a background of 70 ppm). These encouraging gold soil geochemical results indicate possibility to discover gold mineralisation similar to Blagoev Kamen orogenic vein type gold as it is along strike of it and hosted in the same metallogenic belt, Nereshnica Bejlanica, which borders the Timok belt to west.

Copper Soils (see Figure 3: Zeleznik North Target - Copper Soil Results

The centres of copper soil geochemical anomalies are elevated up to 111 ppm (compared to a background of 25 ppm) and follow a similar trend and distribution as to the Au-Mo-As and Pb-Zn soil anomalies. A significant arsenic ("As") anomaly up to 605 ppm (compared to a background of 16 ppm) with a NNE trend is delineated in the central part with values up to 500-600 ppm. There are two additional As soil anomalies to the east trending NW and NE. The As anomaly coincides very well with the trend of the elevated copper and gold values (see Figures 2 and 3). These very high arsenic and elevated copper soil geochemical results indicate abundance of arsenopyrite typical for the orogenic style gold bearing veins. Elevated copper and lead-zinc anomalies also support poly-metallic character of mesothermal vein mineralisation hosted in metamorphic rocks.

Next steps

Due to limited outcrop in the northern portion of the Zeleznik property, the soil geochemical results will be followed up with trenching. Mundoro has applied for a trenching permit which is expected to be granted in Q3-2016.

Zeleznik West Zone and East Zone Targets Drilling Update

Mundoro recently announced a drilling program at the southern end of the Zeleznik property at the West Zone and East Zone targets (See Figure 1: Zeleznik Property Target Areas). The drilling program will test (i) a porphyry discovery along strike at the West Zone, and (ii) massive sulphide mineralization at the diorite porphyry-limestone contact at depth and along strike at the East Zone (see press release June 5, 2016).

On behalf of the Company,

Teo Dechev, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

About Mundoro

Mundoro is a Canadian mineral exploration and development public company focused on building value for its shareholders through directly investing in mineral projects that have the ability to generate future returns for shareholders. The Company currently holds a diverse portfolio of projects in two European countries as well as an investment in a producing gold mine in Bulgaria and a feasibility stage gold project in China. The Company holds eight 100% owned projects in Serbia, the four Timok North Projects are in option to JOGMEC, and the four Timok South Projects are being advanced by Mundoro. Mundoro's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "MUN".

About JOGMEC

JOGMEC was established in February, 2004, following the integration of the former Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC) and Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ). It is a corporation under the Japanese Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI), with a mandate of investing in developing minerals projects worldwide to help secure a stable supply of natural resources for Japanese industry.

Sampling and Analysis

All rock samples are assayed using 50-gram fire assay with atomic absorption finish and ME-MS61 by ALS Romania prepared by ALS Bor, Serbia. Quality Assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of standards and duplicates into the sample streams. Field duplicate samples are taken every 25 samples and standards and blanks are inserted after every 20th sample. All data collected in the field and assay results from the laboratories are routinely verified and entered in an Access database.

Soil samples were collected from "B" horizon of the soil media by hand digging a hole from 0.1 to 0.5m. Material of approx. 500 grams was collected, sealed and send directly to the ALS laboratory in Bor. Samples were dried at less than 60 degrees C/140F, sieve sample to -180 micron (80 mesh) and assayed using 30gram fire assay with atomic absorption finish and ME-MS41L - 51 elements by aqua regia acid digestion and a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES.

Qualified Persons

The technical information contained in this Press Release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. G. Magaranov, P. Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe" or "continue" or similar words or the negative thereof, and include the following: completion of the earn-in expenditures and options by JOGMEC; and completion of a definitive joint venture agreement by the parties. The material assumptions that were applied in making the forward looking statements in this News Release include expectations as to the mineral potential of the Timok North Properties, the Company's future strategy and business plan and execution of the Company's existing plans. We caution readers of this News Release not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements contained in this News Release, as there can be no assurance that they will occur and they are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include general economic and market conditions, exploration results, commodity prices, changes in law, regulatory processes, the status of Mundoro's assets and financial condition, actions of competitors and the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are made as of the date of this News Release and the Board undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and for a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Teo Dechev

CEO, President and Director of Mundoro Capital Inc.

+1-604-669-8055




DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Saudi Arabia Industrial Gases Market By Type (Oxygen, Argon, Nitrogen), By End User (Petrochemicals, Refinery, Metallurgy, etc.), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" report to their offering.

The industrial gases market size in Saudi Arabia is anticipated to cross US$ 1.6 billion by 2021.

Industrial gases are often used as process enhancers due to their physical and chemical properties. Crude oil production and exports are the largest contributors to the GDP of Saudi Arabia.

The government has formulated plans to become second largest exporter of refined oil products in the world by 2017, and has opened the sector for private investments. With growing developments in petrochemical and refinery infrastructure, the demand for industrial gases is anticipated to increase at a robust pace during 2016 - 2021.

Growing demand from various end user industries such as refinery, metallurgy, food & beverage, paper & pulp, etc., coupled with implementation of favourable government policies are projected to increase demand for industrial gases in Saudi Arabia during 2016 - 2021.

The leading players operating in the market includes National Industrial Gases Company, Air Liquide, Linde, Praxair and many more. Furthermore, huge investments in Saudi Arabia for capacity additions at existing end user facilities coupled with launch of new projects is anticipated to further boost the Saudi Arabia industrial gases market through 2021.

Market Trends & Developments

Expansion Activities by Companies Operating in Oil & Gas Midstream Sector

Acquisition of Domestic Players by Global Players

Economical Reactant for Production of Basic Chemicals

Safe Inerting and Efficient Cooling

Gas Supply Systems

Key Topics Covered:

1. Research Methodology

2. Product Overview

3. Analyst View

4. Global Industrial Gases Market Overview

5. Saudi Arabia Industrial Gases Market Outlook

6. Saudi Arabia Oxygen Industrial Gas Market Outlook

7. Saudi Arabia Nitrogen Industrial Gas Market Outlook

8. Saudi Arabia Argon Industrial Gas Market Outlook

9. Import-Export Analysis

10. Market Dynamics

11. Market Trends & Developments

12. Voice of Customers

13. Channel Partner Analysis

14. Policy & Regulatory Landscape

15. Saudi Arabia Economic Profile

16. Competitive Landscape

17. Strategic Recommendations

Companies Mentioned

- ACWA Air Products Arabia

- Air Liquide

- Aldakheel Industrial Gases (DIGAS)

- Gulf Cryo Saudi

- Jubail Gas Co. Ltd

- Linde SIGAS

- National Industrial Gases Company

- Praxair Gulf Industrial Gases

- Riyadh Oxygen Plant

- Southern Gas Factory

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nt98xb/saudi_arabia

Related Topics: Chemical Engineering , Refrigerants

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Note to Editors: There is a photo associated with this press release.

A bold reinterpretation of luxury has arrived at Fairmont Pacific Rim -'The Owner's Suite Collection.' Designed for the elite, in-the-know traveller, the new collection of 10 suites are more than a place to stay, they're a place to be inspired by the city's DNA with elements of fashion, art and music.

With the prestigious unveiling, comes the ultimate suite music experience package which includes accommodation in an Owner's Suite, a music-inspired welcome amenity, cocktails in The Lobby Lounge featuring nightly live music, VIP Live Nation concert experience, and return car transfers to the show. Package rates start from $3,200.00 CDN and further information can be found online.

Each Owner's Suite offers 800 square feet of opulence with an Ico Parisi-inspired sofa and dining room table in the living room, a plush king-sized canopy bed, large walk-in closet and marble spa bathroom with deep soaker tub. Colourful gallery-worthy art installations by prominent Canadian artists that include Susan Point and Greg Murdock, dress the walls of the space.

Every suite houses its own custom vinyl collection and Rega RP1 turntable. Guests are welcomed with a curated compilation of records based on their musical preferences, or can select their playlist upon arrival. Guests also enjoy Fairmont Gold services during their stay with private check-in, concierge, and an exclusive lounge that overlooks the harbour.

Under the direction of owner/developer, Westbank Projects Corp. and the Peterson Group, the Owner's Suite concept was shaped by award-winning Vancouver-based architect James K Cheng. A pioneer in west coast architecture, Cheng's green glass towers helped coin the term Vancouverism, and designed the Fairmont Pacific Rim as an urban oasis. For the Owner's Suites he incorporated contemporary and European modern design influences for a tranquil space that is intentionally stunning in its simplicity and allows panoramic views to remain the primary focal point.

"We are continually developing our product to suit the evolving needs and desires of our guests," comments Philip Barnes, Regional Vice President, Pacific Northwest and General Manager, Fairmont Pacific Rim. "We believe these 10 new suites will be embraced by our guests as another example of our continuing commitment to meet, and hopefully exceed, their expectations."

About Fairmont Pacific Rim:

Fairmont Pacific Rim - Vancouver's definitive luxury hotel - was rated the World's Best Business Hotel by Conde Nast Traveler readers and the #1 City hotel in Canada by Travel + Leisure. This ultramodern downtown hotel offers unobstructed mountain and harbour views, combining best of the Pacific Rim in its architecture and decor. The hotel features three eclectic dining destinations, resort-style Willow Stream Spa, rooftop pool deck, and guestrooms with lavish appointments, including a variety of the city's most luxurious suites.

About Fairmont

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts connects guests to the very best of its destinations worldwide, providing travelers with memorable travel experiences, thoughtful and attentive service and luxury hotels that are truly unforgettable. Each Fairmont property reflects the locale's energy, culture and history through locally inspired cuisine, spirited bars and lounges and distinctive design and decor. With more than 70 hotels globally, and many more in development, the Fairmont collection boasts some of the most iconic and distinctive hotels in the world. This extraordinary collection includes The Plaza in New York, The Savoy in London, Fairmont Grand Del Mar, Dubai's Fairmont The Palm, Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, Fairmont San Francisco and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Fairmont is part of AccorHotels, a world-leading travel & lifestyle group and digital innovator offering unique experiences in more than 4,000 hotels, resorts and residences, as well as in over 2,600 of the finest private homes around the globe. For more information or reservations, please visit fairmont.com.

To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160816-1066191_800.jpg

Contacts:

Kaylyn Storey

Public Relations Manager

Fairmont Pacific Rim

604 671 5384

kaylyn.storey@fairmont.com




Essentware S.A. has announced the launch of an education initiative for students in one of its offices located in Kiev, Ukraine. The Student Camp's aim is to find talented software developers with a product-oriented way of thinking. It's the first school ever that will focus on software and product management at the same time. The company was searching among the most talented around the country and more than 500 people were interviewed. At last, 38 students were invited to participate.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005595/en/

Essentware's PCKeeper Launches First Ever Technology and Product Management School That Lets University Students Think Outside the Box (Phot: Business Wire)

One of the most important requirements was basic knowledge of coding. During the education process which will take 5 months, students will have an exclusive opportunity to learn from the best Essentware has to offer-it's PCKeeper professional mentors. They will perfect their code writing skills and learn more about the product management part.

Over the first 2 months students will visit lectures and have practical assignments. ?lasses will be held from 9am till 6pm in Essentware S.A.'s office. During the last 3 months they will work on development and implementation of their own ideas into a real products under the supervision of PCKeeper advisors. The best students will be offered a position in the team of PCKeeper professionals.

For more information about Essentware S.A. please visit us at essentware.com

About Essentware S.A.

"Essentware" is a combination of words "essential" and "software". The company aspires to create products and services which transform the way people use data to satisfy their needs. Essentware is focused on developing unique program solutions for Windows users only.

Its line of products consists of PCKeeper Live and PCKeeper Antivirus.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005595/en/

Contacts:

Essentware S.A.:

Ilias Melikov

PCKeeper Public Relations and Communication

+14156898767

ilias@essentware.com
DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Contrast Media Injectors Market: Global Industry Assessment and Forecast, 2015-2025" report to their offering.

Global contrast media injectors market is expected to be valued at US$ 1,773.4 Mn by the end of 2025, owing to increasing application in drug discovery segment for drug-cell interaction analysis.

Contrast media injectors are devices used for insertion of contrast media prior to diagnostics imaging procedure. Adoption rate of contrast media injectors is increasing significantly owing to increasing incidence of trauma cases and growing application in minimally invasive surgery. Contrast media injectors assist physicians in proper insertion of contrast media through pre-loaded insertion protocols to minimize human errors and increase efficiency of the procedure.



The contrast media injectors market is mainly driven by increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and rising geriatric population across the globe. Factors such as inadequate funding in developing countries, high pricing of products and non-availability of devices in developing countries are expected to hamper overall market revenue growth. Contrast media injectors market is expected to grow significantly in terms of revenue over the forecast period as number of CT and MRI scans being performed annually are increasing substantially. The contrast media injectors market is segmented on the basis of product, application and region.



Key market players covered in this report are Mallinckrodt, Guerbet SA, Bayer AG, Bracco Imaging S.p.A., Ulrich GmbH & Co. KG., Medtron AG and Nemoto Kyorindo Co. Ltd. Major players in contrast media injectors market focus on enhancing their global and regional presence through introduction of novel products and strategic operational expansion. Medrad Inc. (Bayer AG) was the market leader in the global contrast media injectors market in 2014, owing to a broad product portfolio.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Assumptions & Acronyms Used



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Overview



5. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Forecast, 2015-2025



6. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By Product Type



7. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By End User



8. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By Region



9. North America Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



10. Latin America Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



11. Western Europe Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



12. Eastern Europe Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



13. APEJ Contrast Media Injectors Market



14. Japan Contrast Media Injectors Market



15. MEA Contrast Media Injectors Market



16. Competitive Landscape



Companies Mentioned



- Bayer AG

- Bracco Imaging S.p.A.

- Guerbet SA

- Mallinckrodt

- Medtron

- Nemoto Kyorindo Co. Ltd

- Ulrich GmbH & Co. KG



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zw8lwl/contrast_media



Related Topics: Infusions and Injectables , Needles and Syringes , Contrast Media

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Software Defined Storage Market 2016-2020" report to their offering.

The report forecasts the global software defined storage (SDS) market to grow at a CAGR of 31.62% during the period 2016-2020.

Rise of OpenStack will be a key trend for market growth. OpenStack open source cloud computing platforms, deployed in the form of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), help organizations manage their data storage workloads in data centers. These are designed to control a large pool of storage, compute, and networking resources in data centers through OpenStack APIs. Networking resources are managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.

According to the report, one of the key drivers for market growth will be cost reduction and efficiency. Software-defined technology is poised to disrupt the traditional enterprise IT infrastructure model. Companies are under immense pressure to replace legacy IT infrastructure with innovative models that can cut costs significantly. Software-defined storage provides a lean business model and minimizes costs by automating process controls and replacing traditional hardware with software.

Further, the report states that risk of one of the major challenges for the market will be data privacy and security breach. Most companies are facing difficulties in protecting the data stored in software-defined storage systems. Cyber intrusions also disrupt businesses through the loss of confidential data. One such type of online malfeasance is denial-of-service attacks that cause servers and websites to malfunction. Such intrusions directly take control over servers and websites and can manipulate entire databases which might contain sensitive information.

Key vendors:

EMC

HP

IBM

VMware

Key Topics Covered:

PART 01: Executive summary

PART 02: Scope of the report

PART 03: Market research methodology

PART 04: Introduction

PART 05: Market landscape

PART 06: Market segmentation by end-user

PART 07: Geographical segmentation

PART 08: Market drivers

PART 09: Impact of drivers

PART 10: Market challenges

PART 11: Impact of drivers and challenges

PART 12: Market trends

PART 13: Vendor landscape

PART 14: Key vendor analysis

PART 15: Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s4rx9b/global_software

Related Topics: Software

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- A British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel has sanctioned Alfredo Miguel "Michael" Yong, Inverlake Property Investment Group Inc., and Wheatland Business Park Ltd. for illegally distributing securities.

Inverlake and Wheatland are Alberta corporations that were incorporated in March 2008 and June 2008, respectively. Inverlake and Wheatland were incorporated to raise money for the purposes of acquiring and holding land in Alberta. Yong founded both companies.

Yong was a B.C. resident until late in 2008, at which point he moved to Alberta. For the relevant period, Yong was the sole director of both Inverlake and Wheatland, neither of which has ever filed a prospectus is B.C.

In September 2015, the panel found that Yong, Inverlake and Wheatland distributed securities without a prospectus. In its decision, the panel made various findings of illegal distribution against the respondents:

-- Yong and Inverlake, with respect to distributions to 23 investors for a total of $910,650; and -- Yong and Wheatland, with respect to distributions to 15 investors for a total of $1,090,479.

In its decision, the panel stated, "There is no doubt that the investors in Inverlake have suffered harm. The real estate acquired by Inverlake with the investors' funds has been lost due to foreclosure and there is no evidence that these investors will recover any of their investments."

In regards to the Wheatland investors, the panel noted that their outcome is still undetermined, but said that "the evidence suggests at least the possibility of significant loss for these investors."

For his misconduct, the panel ordered that Yong pay to the Commission an administrative penalty of $60,000. The panel also prohibited Yong from trading in or purchasing any securities or exchange contracts (with limited exceptions), becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market, and engaging in investor relations activities.

The panel also ordered that Yong resign any positions he holds as, and is prohibited from becoming or acting as, a director or officer of any issuer or registrant (with limited exceptions). Yong's market bans are to remain in effect until the later of the date that he pays his administrative penalty and August 3, 2021.

The panel also permanently prohibited Inverlake and Wheatland from trading in or purchasing any securities or exchange contracts, becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with activities in the securities market, and engaging in investor relations activities. The panel also permanently cease traded securities of Inverlake and Wheatland.

You may view the sanctions decision on our website www.bcsc.bc.ca by typing Inverlake Property Investment Group Inc., Wheatland Business Park Ltd., Alfredo Miguel Yong or 2016 BCSECCOM 258 in the search box. Information regarding disciplinary proceedings can be found in the Enforcement section of the BCSC website.

Please visit the Canadian Securities Administrators' Disciplined List for information relating to persons and companies disciplined by provincial securities regulators, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association (MFDA).

About the British Columbia Securities Commission (www.bcsc.bc.ca)

The British Columbia Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating capital markets in British Columbia through the administration of the Securities Act. Our mission is to protect and promote the public interest by fostering:

-- A securities market that is fair and warrants public confidence -- A dynamic and competitive securities industry that provides investment opportunities and access to capital

Learn how to protect yourself and become a more informed investor at www.investright.org.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Alison Walker

604-899-6713



Public inquiries:

604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free)

inquiries@bcsc.bc.ca




According to the latest market study released by Technavio,global cloudcomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) marketis expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 11% during the forecast period.

This research report titled 'Global Cloud CFD Market 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes an up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions.

"CFD is a tool that analyzes the flow, turbulence, pressure distribution, and interaction of liquids and gases with various structures. It is the science of predicting fluid flow, mass transfer, chemical reactions, and related phenomena. The CFD technology uses computers, computational methods, data of fluid viscosity, and fluid flow rates to simulate the flow of fluids," says Amrita Choudhury, a lead analyst at Technavio for enterprise application research.

The global cloud CFD market will have a positive growth in the forecast period because of the increasing demand for CFD from the automotive and aerospace and defense industries and the advances in cloud computing.

Request sample report: http://goo.gl/9jmBxy

The report categorizes the global cloud CFD market into three major end-user segments. They are:

Automotive industry

Aerospace and defense industry

Electrical and electronics industry

CFD in automotive industry

The demand for more sophisticated technologies from customers has increased, resulting in a growing demand for CFD. It plays a major role in the design and development of interior and exterior features such as enhanced night vision with pedestrian detection and automatic high beam control.

Moreover, the increasing vehicle standards across several countries are a major factor driving the minimum requirement in vehicles. For instance, the US CAFE standards, which came into effect in 2016, emphasized increased fuel efficiency. This led to the need for enhanced fuel injection technology and fuel-efficient engine design, which require the use of CFD.

Advances in computing and complex code-solving programs have helped the CFD market in the automotive industry to obtain more accurate prediction and analysis. CFD is used for all components that interact with fluids such as lubricants, fuel, water, coolants, and exhaust gases. CFD is used for optimizing interior climate control systems, which include windshield defogging and defrosting. CFD is also used while spray painting automobiles. The effect of spray guns and paint particles on the automobile body can be calculated using CFD. Even vehicle headlights require CFD for thermal management while configuring the position of headlights and to estimate the heat emitted through conduction from the light source.

CFD in aerospace and defense industry

In 2015, the high adoption of CFD by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies, General Dynamics, Bombardier Aerospace, GE Aviation, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Honeywell Aerospace L-3 Communications, and Textron for R&D activities contributed to the growth of the market.

Before the evolution of CFD,aircraft manufacturing companies used wind tunnel testing and flight testing to check the performance of designed products. With the development of fast and highly efficient computers in recent years, the old tools and methods of testing were replaced by numerical simulation methods based on the Navier-Stokes equation. The Navier-Stokes equation is used to describe the motion of fluid substances using Newton's second law of motion. Thus, this equation and the numerical simulations collectively help in building CFD solutions.

CFD is widely used in various design stages of aircraft manufacturing and R&D. In the aerospace and defense industry, CFD is also used to design external aerodynamics, fuel systems, cockpit and cabin ventilation, engine core compartments, missiles, and submarines.

CFD in electrical and electronics industry

The electrical and electronics industry is growing at a fast rate in APAC because of the increasing demand for semiconductor components, consumer durables, electronics goods, and high-technology products, especially in China, South Korea, India, and Japan. The major countries in APAC that played a significant role in the cloud CFD market in the electrical and electronics industry include China, Japan, and Taiwan. Smartphones were the major areas of R&D in the electrical and electronics industry.

CFD is mainly used for conducting mechanical stress analysis; heat transfer and losses; and structural analysis in electrical machines such as generators and electrical engines. "Since the inception of CFD in the 1980s, it has been used mainly for conducting thermal design of electronics systems," says Amrita.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's ICT research analysts in this report are:

ANSYS

CD-Adapco

Mentor Graphics

Browse Related Reports:

Global CFD Market in the Automotive Industry 2015-2019

Global CFD Market in Aerospace and Defense Industry 2015-2019

Global Cloud-based Value-added Services Market 2016-2020

Do you need a report on a market in a specific geographical cluster or country but can't find what you're looking for? Don't worry, Technavio also takes client requests. Please contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and our analysts will be happy to create a customized report just for you.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816005525/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT) (the "Company"), announces that it has been selected by the Fisheries Commission (West Africa Regional Fisheries Programme), an agency of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) of the Government of Ghana, for the provision of Satellite AIS data services as well as a small vessel tracking solution. The contract value is in a range of CDN$1.0-$2.0 million for a 12 month period and will enable Ghana to acquire the technology necessary to monitor its expansive coastlines and deter illegal fishing in its national waters.

Along with a comprehensive Satellite AIS data feed, exactEarth will provide MOFAD with 450 Class B AIS transceivers to be installed on inshore fishing vessels which will be tracked via satellite utilising exactEarth's exactTraxTM small vessel tracking technology. In order to address the rampant Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing around Ghana's Exclusive Economic Zone, MOFAD have provisioned this small vessel tracking solution to gain access to detailed fishing vessel positions and movement analysis services through the exactEarth ShipView' platform. exactEarth ShipView will be upgraded to include a SOS alerting facility in an effort to support Ghana's government in their "safety of life at sea" initiative, which is intended to help its fishermen. exactEarth will be working with a local partner and academic institutions in Ghana to provide vessel movement analysis and reporting to help inform policy decision making and also to engage the next generation maritime professionals in coastal surveillance to protect and preserve Ghana's fish stock for the future.

"This is an important strategic win and a major step forward for our small vessel tracking initiative," said Peter Mabson, exactEarth CEO. "MOFAD needs a high performance, reliable and compliant maritime monitoring solution to protect their critical fishing industry and our small vessel tracking capabilities will be an integral part of helping them achieve that objective. This reflects the growing opportunity for both our large and small vessel tracking solutions and our reputation for having the leading Satellite AIS solution on the market."

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS ("S-AIS") and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world's oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced "big data" processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.

Contact: Media: Nicole Schill, Marketing Communications Manager, Tel: +1-519-622-4445, Nicole.Schill@exactearth.com; Investors: Dave Mason, Investor Relations, Tel: +1-416-985-3647, investors@exactearth.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 --

-- 15 development drill holes and one geophysics hole completed -- Gold and silver assays from first 11 holes include: -- 15 m @ 5.98 g/t Au and 15.89 g/t Ag in DHIP001 -- 9.2 m @ 1.53 g/t Au and 10.73 g/t Ag in SLV049 -- 12.25 m @ 0.52 g/t Au and 15.81 g/t Ag in SLV050 -- 26.4 m @ 2.76 g/t Au and 17.93 g/t Ag in SLV051 -- 34.95 m @ 1.07 g/t Au and 11.34 g/t Ag in SLV052 -- 37.85 m @ 1.52 g/t Au and 18.07 g/t Ag in SLV054 -- 18.7 m @ 2.51 g/t Au and 12.38 g/t Ag in SLV055 -- 45 m @ 2.47 g/t Au and 13.45 g/t Ag in SLV056 -- Gossan Extension Zone gold mineralization increased to 65 meters strike length; continues open to the east and down dip. -- Results from a vertical geophysics hole corroborate surface geochemical anomalism and find new gold mineralization in the proper host rocks below thrust fault control -- Further results from 5 more holes expected

Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AVU)(FRANKFURT: 8AM) is pleased to announce new drilling results from the Slivovo Gold project in Kosovo. As part of the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS"), Peshter Mining, the joint venture company, drilled 15 holes, mostly for infill and potential increase in the size of the indicated resource of the Gossan Extension Zone. Peshter Mining also drilled one vertical hole in the Gossan Extension for the purpose of running a downhole geophysical survey, seven hydrological test holes to test water flow in the potential mine area, and seven geotechnical holes to test for rock mechanics and stability information around the edges of the planned mine. Drilling of all types for the PFS is now complete.

Assay and geochemical results from the geophysical hole and ten of the infill/development holes are now back from the laboratory. Samples from the remaining five infill/development holes are in process with results expected by the end of the month. Core from the geotechnical holes is in preparation for shipping to a rock mechanics laboratory. When all geotechnical work is complete, the core will be shipped back to the Peshter Mining storage facilities. Depending on location of the geotech holes with respect to already known gold mineralization and visible mineral parameters, subsequent geochemical work may be performed.

Following is a drillhole location map summarizing the total drilling for 2016.

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/avru0816.pdf

Figure 1. Map of the Gossan Extension development drilling in large black collar locations, located southeast of the high angle fault. The Main Peshter Gossan zone is located northwest of the high angle fault with small black collar locations. Holes in red are geotechnical holes, holes in blue are hydrological test holes, and the green collar location denotes the IP drillhole.

Following is a table with gold and silver results from the development and downhole IP drilling:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan Extension drilling 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drillhole ID From (m) To (m) Total (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- drilled specifically for downhole IP geo-physics test which supported surface geochemical anomalism; main gold intercept is located below low angle fault, differing from the Main Gossan DHIP001 84.5 99.5 15 5.98 15.89 Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Poor host rock for SLV047 no significant intercepts mineralization ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- drilled outside of Gossan Extension SLV048 no significant intercepts corridor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV049 16 25.2 9.2 1.53 10.73 Extension Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV050 0 6 6 1.01 8.44 Extension Zone and 14.85 27.1 12.25 0.52 15.81 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV051 68 94.4 26.4 2.76 17.93 Extension Zone incl 79 94.4 15.4 4.40 25.47 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV052 75.75 110.7 34.95 1.07 11.34 Extension Zone incl 86.45 110.7 24.25 1.31 10.86 and incl 86.45 99 12.55 1.90 9.04 and incl 106 109.25 3.25 2.31 25.27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- not drilled deep enough to reach Gossan Extension SLV053 no significant intercepts corridor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- drilled to north into Gossan Extension SLV054 71 108.85 37.85 1.52 18.07 corridor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV055 28.5 47.2 18.7 2.51 12.38 extension Zone incl 33.5 47.2 13.7 3.32 15.21 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gossan SLV056 112 157 45 2.47 13.45 Extension Zone incl 124 157 33 3.01 15.63 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table 1. Gold and silver results for 2016 PFS drilling, to date. Infill/development drilling was designed to confirm continuity of precious metals mineralization in the Gossan Extension Zone, as well as potentially add to the initially-defined indicated resource.

The following figure defines all gold anomalism in drill holes brought to surface view. While gold is present only in amenable host rocks above the low angle reverse fault in the Main Gossan Zone, it does appear that gold mineralization may have additional possibilities in permeable host rocks below the fault in the Gossan Extension Zone, as displayed in the geophysical drill hole DHIP001. Pending drill results from SLV057 through SLV061 may shed light on this potential, as well as the opportunity for extending the Gossan Extension zone further to the east from present 65 meters strike length. The new assay results will be used to update the indicated Slivovo gold resource.

To view the figure associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/avru08162.pdf

Figure 2. Location of downhole gold mineralization brought to surface view.

Further technical information, including assay results, geochemistry, cross sections, and geological maps will be placed on the Avrupa website once the data is fully available to the Company.

The drilling program is part of the Slivovo Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") being performed by joint venture company Peshter Mining JSC. Peshter Mining is 75% held by Byrnecut International Limited ("BIL") and 25% by Avrupa Minerals ("Avrupa" or the "Company") through its 100%-owned subsidiary in Kosovo. BIL is funding the PFS to earn-in to 85% of Peshter Mining and has spent in excess of EUR 1.1 million this year towards completion of the PFS. The PFS must be completed by April 10, 2017 according to the earn-in agreement. Concurrently, Peshter Mining is also completing requirements for a mining license application. Presently, timing for submission of the application is Q2/Q3 of 2017.

Other PFS work, on the Slivovo Project continues to move ahead at a rapid pace. We will be meeting with our partners later this month to participate in a full review of the progress at Slivovo and a detailed discussion on plans for the remainder of the earn-in program.

Paul W. Kuhn, President and CEO of Avrupa Minerals, commented, "The first results from the 2016 drilling campaign nicely upgrade and expand the Gossan Extension Zone. We are looking forward to seeing the remainder of the drill results and will update the resource estimate in due course. These new drill results, coupled with a far better understanding of the geology and mineralization parameters, no doubt increase the possibility of finding gold in more areas at Slivovo. We continue to look forward to the rapid and positive progress made by Peshter Mining through the PFS."

Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is a growth-oriented junior exploration and development company focused on discovery, using a prospect generator model, of valuable mineral deposits in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe, including Portugal, Kosovo, and Germany.

The Company currently holds nine exploration licenses in three European countries, including six in Portugal covering 3,821 km2, two in Kosovo covering 47 km2, and one in Germany covering 307 km2. Avrupa has three joint ventures, two in Portugal and one in Kosovo, including:

-- The Alvalade JV, with Colt Resources, covering one license in the Iberian Pyrite Belt of southern Portugal, for Zn/Cu-rich massive sulfide deposits; -- The Covas JV, with Blackheath Resources, covering one license in northern Portugal, for intrusion-related W deposits; and -- Avrupa's partner at the Slivovo Gold Project in Kosovo is presently advancing the Project by funding and operating a pre-feasibility study.

Avrupa is currently upgrading precious and base metal targets to JV-ready status in a variety of districts on their other licenses, with the idea of attracting potential partners to project-specific and/or regional exploration programs.

On behalf of the Board,

Paul W. Kuhn, President & Director

This news release was prepared by Company management, who take full responsibility for its content. Paul W. Kuhn, President and CEO of Avrupa Minerals, a Licensed Professional Geologist and a Registered Member of the Society of Mining Engineers, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He has reviewed the technical disclosure in this release. Mr. Kuhn, the QP, has not only reviewed, but prepared and supervised the preparation or approval of the scientific and technical content in the news release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Avrupa Minerals Ltd.

1-604-687-3520

www.avrupaminerals.com




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Everton Resources Inc. ("Everton" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: EVR) is pleased to announce the re-appointments of Mr. Keith Stein, Mr. Steven Mintz, and Mr. Salvador Brouwer as Directors of Everton and Mr. Andre Audet as Chairman. The Company also welcomes a new director to its Board, Mr. Michel Fontaine. Mr. Fontaine's broad experience in the financial and mining industries provides the background for directing business development and managing the mining division as a Vice-President at DIAGNOS. He will be a great asset to Everton. The Board of Directors would also like to thank Mr. Michael Farrant for his contribution through the years as a Director and wishes him well in all his future endeavors.

The firm of McGovern Hurley Cunningham LLP was re-appointed as Auditors of the Company.

The shareholders have also approved an amendment to its Stock Option Plan. Under the "rolling" 10% Stock Option Plan, subject to the required approvals from regulatory authorities, the number of common shares which may be reserved under the Plan is limited to 10% of the aggregate number of common shares of the Corporation issued and outstanding, as the case may be. Consequently, the number of common shares that could be reserved under the Plan could automatically increase or decrease as the number of issued and outstanding common shares of the Corporation increases or decreases. The "rolling" Stock Option Plan must receive shareholder approval yearly, at the annual and special meeting of shareholders.

Granting of Options

Everton has granted options to purchase up to 2,960,000 common shares of the Company to its Officers, Directors, Consultant, and an employee at a price of $0.13 per share for a period of five years ending August 15, 2021.

About Everton Resources Inc.

Everton is an exploration company with concessions in the Dominican Republic adjacent to the Pueblo Viejo Mine, owned by the world's two largest gold mining companies, Barrick Gold Corporation (60%) in partnership with Goldcorp Inc. (40%) ("Goldcorp"). Everton also holds an interest in the Opinaca region of James Bay, Quebec where the Company has partnered with Hecla Mining Company which is advancing Everton's interest in the Opinaca B project by funding 100% of all exploration work on one of the largest land packages adjacent to Goldcorp's Eleonore gold deposit. Everton recently announced the acquisition of two properties: the Blue Sky Jackpot lithium property in Ontario and the Detour Lake gold property in Quebec.

For further information on Everton Resources Inc., please visit www.evertonresources.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Everton's plans, objectives, strategies, expectations and intentions. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to Everton, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause Everton's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Everton's views as of the date of the release. While Everton anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its views to change, it specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Everton or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Everton Resources Inc.

Andre Audet

Chairman and CEO

613-241-2332

613-421-8406 (FAX)

andre@evertonresources.com

www.evertonresources.com




GRAND FORKS, ND -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- North Dakota's role in NASA research aimed at the safe integration of small and large unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace will be discussed during the 10th Annual UAS Summit & Expo Aug. 22-24 at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D.

On Tuesday, attendees will hear from John Cavolowsky, director of NASA's Airspace Operations and Safety Program, and a panel of experts who have partnered with NASA's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) program. Cavolowsky will speak from 8:50-9:20 a.m. in Ballroom 5 on NASA's UAS goals. The panel discussion will include large and small business leaders who have participated in NASA's UTM program.

The panel will be led by Shawn Bullard, president of the Duetto Group LLC in Washington, D.C. He serves as the federal advisor to the Northern Plains UAS Test Site in North Dakota, one of six Federal Aviation Administration-approved sites in the nation.

Panelist include Jaclyn Louis, director of government relations and senior counsel for Intel Corp., San Francisco; Craig Marcinkowski, director of strategy and business development for Gryphon Sensors, Syracuse, N.Y.; Chris Theisen, director of research, development, test and evaluation with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site; Joseph Burns, CEO of Sensurion Aerospace, Minneapolis, Minn.; and Terri Zimmerman, CEO of Packet Digital and Botlink, Fargo, N.D.

Developing the UTM System With Industry's Help

Cavolowsky noted that NASA's UTM program covers the airspace below 500 feet where small UAS will be used for a myriad of applications, such as search and rescue, precision agriculture, surveying and mapping, infrastructure inspection, photography and videography.

"On the small UAS side, the community is still coming together," he said. "Standards for technology are evolving so fast that we're working a different part of the problem, which is the concept and systems work necessary to figure out how to allow small UAS to be integrated safely. These will eventually be developed into proper procedures and standards."

Above 500 feet, large, long-range UAS such as the General Atomics Predator and Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk will operate with manned civil and commercial aircraft. NASA recently concluded the first phase of a research project. Test flights at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in California were conducted with the FAA, General Atomics, Honeywell International and a special committee of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA).

"We have to make sure that whether you're talking about flights a few hundred feet off the ground or at 50,000 feet, there's access across that entire integrated airspace for safe operations," Cavolowsky said.

Marcinkowski said that Gryphon Sensors -- an early participant in NASA's UTM project and now one of its more than 250 collaborators -- has benefitted in a number of ways from the partnership. The company develops ground-based radars to detect low- and slow-flying UAS and is working with the FAA on airport security technology.

"We've learned about where the market is going and where some of our solutions can fit in," he said. "We've also met other businesses out there that led to relationships for us outside of UTM. That's a side benefit of how NASA has brought the UAS community together."

The Future For Beyond Visual Line of Sight Flights

Nick Flom, director of safety for the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, said that for a variety of reasons, North Dakota is uniquely positioned to assist NASA with research, both for small UAS at lower altitudes and larger, more advanced UAS at higher altitudes. Working with Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and other members North Dakota's congressional delegation, the test site has requested that the FAA issue a certificate of authorization (COA) for beyond visual line of sight UAS operation.

The request is for unmanned flights from the Grand Sky UAS Aviation and Business Park adjacent to the Grand Forks Air Force Base where Northrop Grumman and General Atomics are constructing facilities. Flom said the plan is to conduct operations within a 60-mile radius to the west of Grand Sky all the way up to a flight level of 29,000 feet without using a chase aircraft.

"That's where NASA comes into play with the type of flight testing they're doing to support the detect-and-avoid work that is being conducted on behalf of the FAA through the RTCA," Flom explained. "They're about to go into phase II of that testing. We're hoping that we can provide the airspace for them to do that type of testing."

At last year's UAS Summit and Expo, the question of when the FAA would allow UAS to fly beyond visual line of sight was a hot topic. The summit also provided the opportunity for state officials to begin discussions on the subject with the FAA. Nearly a year later, North Dakota is on the verge of becoming the first state where beyond-line-of-sight operation will occur. Hoeven has said he expects a decision from the FAA before year's end.

Theisen recently attended two events at the NASA Ames Research Center. One was on using and integrating weather information into the UTM system. The other included meetings with NASA, the FAA and industry on protocols needed to properly share data among all UAS flights. In addition, the Northern Plains UAS Test Site was among those participating in the testing of the first build of NASA's UTM system earlier this year.

"The concept of UTM is evolving and industry's role is becoming more important as this is pushed forward," Theisen said. "It will be truly exciting to see how UTM evolves in the next few years."

Cavolowsky said the UAS Summit and Expo brings together all aspects of the UAS community, from well-established, mature aviation companies to the burgeoning small UAS community he encountered during a visit to North Dakota in the spring.

"This conference is just a great place to bring that community together and have these kind of open discussions on the challenges and how we can move forward quickly, but safely and effectively as well," he said.

The agenda can be viewed here: UAS Summit & Expo

About UAS Magazine

For commercial manufacturers and operators, UAS Magazine is the only quarterly publication, exclusively highlighting the most critical developments and cutting-edge technologies for unmanned aerial systems in the civil, agriculture, defense and commercial markets worldwide. UAS Magazine's readership includes executives, directors, managers and operators from companies and organizations focused on expanding their knowledge of unmanned aerial systems. UAS Magazine is an industry hub connecting decision-makers, who are looking for new technologies, with the most innovative companies.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3046011



Contact Information

John Nelson

701-738-4960

Email Contact

866-746-8385




CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - August 16, 2016) - Continental Materials Corporation (NYSE MKT: CUO) today reported net income of $1,801,000, or $1.08 per share for the second quarter ended July 2, 2016 compared to net income of $346,000 or 21 cents per share for the second quarter ended July 4, 2015.

Consolidated sales in the second quarter of 2016 were $42,721,000 or $7,856,000 (22.5%) higher than the second quarter of 2015. Sales increased in all segments. The Concrete, Aggregates and Construction Supplies (CACS) segment reported a 48.4% increase in sales. The increase is attributable to strengthening in both the Colorado Springs and Pueblo markets and the servicing of a windmill job during the second quarter of 2016 which provided $2,837,000 in sales. There was no such project in 2015. The Heating and Cooling segment reported a sales increase of $761,000 compared to the 2015 quarter as both furnace and fan-coil sales exceeded prior year amounts. The Door and Evaporative Cooler segments reported sales increases of $209,000 and $63,000, respectively, in the second quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.

The operating income in the second quarter of 2016 was $2,830,000 compared to $631,000 in the second quarter of 2015. The majority of the improvement was seen in the CACS segment which reported a current quarter operating income of $2,065.000 compared to an operating loss of $128,000 in the second quarter of 2015.

Consolidated sales in the first half of 2016 were $76,949,000, an increase of $11,399,000 or 17.4% compared to the first six months of 2015. Sales in the CACS segment increased by $8,456,000 (34.3%) for the same reasons noted in the above discussion of the quarter's sales. Sales in the Heating and Cooling segment increased $2,756,000 (11.2%) primarily due to fan-coil sales which exceeded prior year levels. Sales in the Evaporative Cooling segment increased $301,000 (1.8%) while sales in the Door segments decreased by $124,000 (1.4%).

The operating income for the first six months of 2016 was $3,862,000 compared to $412,000 in the first half of 2015. The improved operating results are attributable primarily to the CACS and Heating and Cooling segments. The CACS improvement, $2,727,000, was the result of increased concrete sales volume, operational efficiencies and higher sales prices. The Heating and Cooling segment increase was mainly due to greater sales volume and improved margins in the furnace and heater lines largely attributable to increased parts sales and lower steel costs.

Income taxes are recorded based upon the effective rate for the year estimated at the end of each quarter. The effective rate estimated as of July 2, 2016 was 34.0% compared to 38.0% for the first half of 2015.

For further information, see the Company's Form 10-Q report for the quarterly period ended July 2, 2016.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT-- Statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. It is important to note that the company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested in the forward-looking statements is contained in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 2, 2016 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the same may be amended from time to time. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The future results and shareholder values of the company may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Many of the factors that will determine these results and values are beyond the company's ability to control or predict. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. In addition, the company does not have any intention or obligation to update forward-looking statements after the date hereof, even if new information, future events, or other circumstances have made them incorrect or misleading. For those statements, the company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

CONTINENTAL MATERIALS CORPORATION SUMMARY OF SALES AND EARNINGS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended July 2, July 4, July 2, July 4, 2016 2015 2016 2015 ------------------------ ------------------------ Sales $42,721,000 $34,865,000 $76,949,000 $65,550,000 Operating income 2,830,000 631,000 3,682,000 412,000 Interest expense, net (113,000) (108,000) (208,000) (197,000) Other income, net 12,000 16,000 25,000 27,000 ------------------------ ------------------------ Income before income taxes 2,729,000 539,000 3,499,000 242,000 Provision for income taxes 928,000 193,000 1,190,000 92,000 ------------------------ ------------------------ Net income $ 1,801,000 $ 346,000 $ 2,309,000 $ 150,000 ======================== ======================== Net income per basic and diluted share: $ 1.08 $ .21 $ 1.39 $ .09 ======================== ======================== Average shares outstanding 1,673,000 1,662,000 1,667,000 1,661,000 ======================== ========================

Contact:

Mark S. Nichter

(312) 541-7207
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 08/16/16 -- Yorbeau Resources Inc. (TSX: YRB.A) (the "Company" or "Yorbeau") announces that David Crevier has resigned from the Company's board of directors effective today.

Gerald Riverin, President of Yorbeau, stated: "On behalf of the board and management, we thank Mr. Crevier for his many contributions to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavours."

About Yorbeau Resources Inc.

The Company's 100% controlled Rouyn Property contains four known gold deposits in the 6-km-long Augmitto-Astoria corridor situated on the western half of the property. Two of the four deposits, Astoria and Augmitto, have substantial underground infrastructure and have been the focus of NI 43-101 technical reports that include resource estimates. Yorbeau and Kinross Gold Corporation ("Kinross") have recently signed a letter of intent providing for the grant to Kinross of an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Company's Rouyn Property (see press release dated June 22, 2016).

The Company has recently expanded its exploration property portfolio by acquiring strategic base metal properties in prospective areas of the Abitibi Belt of Quebec and Ontario that also feature infrastructure favourable for mining development. The newly acquired base metal properties include Scott Lake which hosts important mineral resources, and Beschefer where, regionally, exploration interest has been increasing.

More information on the Company may be found on the Company's website at www.yorbeauresources.com.

Forward-looking statements: Except for statement of historical fact, all statements in this news release, without limitation, regarding new projects, acquisitions, future plans and objectives are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Contacts:

Yorbeau Resources Inc.

Gerald Riverin, Ph D., P. Geo

President

819-279-1336

griverin@yorbeauresources.com



Yorbeau Resources Inc.

G. Bodnar Jr.

Vice President

514-384-2202

Toll free in North America: 1-855-384-2202

gbodnar@yorbeauresources.com




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Struggling book retailer Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS), Tuesday fired its Chief Executive Officer Ronald Boire, just after one year on the top position. The company said that 'Boire was not a good fit for the organization and that it was in the best interests of all parties for him to leave the company.' Meanwhile, Executive Chairman Leonard Riggio, who was scheduled to retire at the close of the company's Annual Meeting on September 14, will postpone his retirement until a later date. The company said it will immediately begin an executive search for a new CEO. Riggio, along with other members of the executive management team, will assume Boire's duties. The company said it will continue to execute its strategic initiatives, which include cost cutting measures, winding down its Nook e-reader business and closing stores as sales continue to slow-down reflecting peoples preference to shop books online. 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.
Los Angeles-based multi-platform network, ScaleLab, has surpassed 2 billion monthly views and 90,000 online video influencers, as of July, 2016. The company credits its rapid growth to international expansion, specifically the opening of an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

ScaleLab opened its Brazil office in August, 2015, in order to capitalize on the fast-growing Spanish and Portuguese-speaking brand markets. Since that time, ScaleLab Mundo, as it is now known, has grown to 500 million monthly views and more than 25,000 influencers.

Similarly, ScaleLab Russia, the company's Russian-speaking arm, was launched less than six months ago and already accounts for 300 million monthly views and 8,000 influencers.

Continuing its international expansion momentum, last month the company launched ScaleLab Germany, ScaleLab Benelux and ScaleLab Baltics, and has plans to debut divisions in Asia, India and the Middle East later this year.

"Non-U.S.-based brands and influencers are underserved by social media firms that don't speak their language and don't understand the culture," according to David Brenner, CEO of ScaleLab. "It takes effort to build a meaningful presence in Brazil, Russia, Germany, for instance, but the upside is unlimited."

90,000 online video influencers make ScaleLab the third largest MPN in the world based on total members. Brenner, however, points out that the MPN's sizable stats are merely complementary to the company's ultimate goal.

"ScaleLab is more than a content aggregator," according to Brenner. "We are a digital media studio, with content production, brand integration, talent management, and even a publicity division under one roof."

About ScaleLab LLC:

Based in Los Angeles, New York City and Sao Paulo, Brazil, ScaleLab is a digital media studio and multi-platform network (MPN), which encompasses 92,000+ online video influencers, 158 million subscribers, and over 2 billion YouTube views per month. Founded in 2013, the company's services include brand integration, talent management, content production, publicity, and software licensing. Subsidiaries include brand marketing firm Disruptiv Agency, Spanish/Portuguese arm ScaleLab Mundo, and regional divisions in Russia, Germany, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. For more information, please visit: www.scalelab.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160816006323/en/

Contacts:

Disruptiv Agency, a division of ScaleLab LLC

Sophie Goodale, +1 310-303-9479

Co-Head, Talent Publicity

sophie@disruptivtalent.com
Degreed, a Salt Lake City-based education technology company, completed its Series B funding with a $3.5M investment from Deborah Quazzo-led GSV Acceleration.

Combined with previous funding from Jump Capital, Signal Peak Ventures and Rethink Education, Degreed closes out its Series B round with a total of $25 million.

The company intends to use the funds for growth and enhancement of its platform.

Founded in 2012 by David Blake, CEO, Degreed provides a learning and skills verification platform that enables everyone to discover, track, and quantify all forms of learning from any source.

The company, which has additional offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, added more than one million new licensed users at a variety of Fortune 1,000 and mid-market organizations, including Archer Daniels Midland, Caterpillar and EMC, in the second quarter of 2016 alone.

It recently introduced its first native mobile app, enabling users to discover, track, utilize and share learning from any source, while showcasing their lifelong and professional learning, and acquired European-based learning company Gibbon.

In addition, Degreed made several key executive appointments, including new Chief Learning Officer Kelly Palmer, who joined from LinkedIn, and Chief Sales Officer Tim Ellinger, who joined from Pluralsight.

FinSMEs

16/08/2016
Skypoint Ventures, LLC, a Flint-based venture capital firm, has hired serial entrepreneur David Ollila as Vice President of Innovation.

David Ollila  the founding director of [email protected], a program at Northern Michigan University dedicated to supporting inventors in launching their products from idea to market  will collaborate with portfolio and investment companies to maximize their capacity for innovation and identify opportunities for growth. He will also play an important role in the revitalization of the Ferris Building, working to build an innovation hub that will attract talent and investment from across Michigan and beyond.

Founded in 2014 by Jocelyn Hagerman, CEO, Skypoint supports new businesses through funding, providing resources and creating connections within the industry and community.

The firm has created opportunities through their Dryden and Ferris buildings in Flint, and other properties across Michigan.

FinSMEs

16/08/2016
San Francisco, CA-based early-stage technology firm Susa Ventures publicly launched a $50M fund.

According to a post, Susa Ventures II will focus on backing category-defining companies that are building defensibility using data, network effects and/or economies of scale.

Led by Chad Byers, Leo Polovets, and Seth Berman, Susa aims to invest in 12 companies per year, with an average check size of $500k, and a focus on the US (but they are open to investing globally) maintaining a hands-on approach to partnering with founders, even via events which aim to strengthen its community by spending more time face to face and and a new 3k square foot office space in the Mission District of San Francisco.

The firm also plans to scale its team at all levels, including the investment team, .

The firms $25M first fund, Susa Ventures I, launched in 2014, was closed in May 2016 with 41 companies including Andela, Flexport, LendUp, Periscope Data, Robinhood, Qadium etc.

FinSMEs

16/08/2016
Baba Ramdev's latest advertisement blitzkrieg coinciding with India's Independence Day is an attempt to deal a below-the-belt blow on its bigger global rivals and goes against the spirit of the free market economy that India strives to become.

In the ads, Patanjali has compared its global rivals to the East India Company of yore, the British company that started trade with India and later colonised the country. The company has since become a symbol of colonisation and oppression and that is what Baba Ramdev's reference calls attention to.

"Though we got political freedom 70 years back, economic freedom is still a dream," screams the print ad. "The way East India Company enslaved and looted us, multinational companies are still doing the same by selling soap, shampoo, toothpaste, cream, powder and similar daily items at exorbitant price," it says.

In advertising, any claims are par for the course. The end is to sell the product. But these from Patanjali have pulled out one fact to make it seem it is a better brand only because it is desi. Actually, Ramdev has pushed the battle for the market to a new low with its claim that a home-grown company has the interest of the people than MNCs.

Advertising guru Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather India and vice-chairman of O&M Asia-Pacific, terms these advertisements as 'negative'. Especially at a time when prime minister Narendra Modi is inviting the world to India to do business, it is wrong for Ramdev to use words like thieves and loot for MNCs.

Calling MNCs thieves and using words like lootna is not a nice thing to do. I have a problem with the usage of these words. Some of the MNCs are more Indian than many Indian companies for they have been in India for over 70 years, says Pandey.

According to him, in advertising, you can say X is better than Y because of some features. "It is indecent to use words like loot, for instance, to differentiate yourself from others. Baba Ramdev should sell his products on its own features instead of blaming others and throwing mud on everyone.

Another issue Pandey flags off is usage of the Independence Day celebrations to promote a product.

One should stand under the flag and salute it on I-Day and not open a dukaan under the flag in the garb of patriotism. To use the Swadeshi movement, which fought for the countrys independence, to sell products is wrong.

There are others like Harish Bijoor of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc who feel the ads are a clever strategy. In the marketing arena, everyone is aggressive and Baba Ramdev will choose every tool in his armoury to sell his products, says Bijoor. The desi proposition is his astra in his armory. He will use it to make a differentiation. To pass a value judgment on what Baba Ramdev and Patanjali is doing is wrong, he says.

Similarly, Alpana Parida, Managing Director, DY Works, a Mumbai-based brand strategy and brand design firm, feels the ads will change the perception of Ramdev and his products.

His popularity and easy acceptance until now was that he made no claims of a godman. Earlier, no one talked of Ayurveda or managing illness in a holistic way the way he has and that is where his strength lies. Ramdevs products and the brand was accepted by the public because he made no claims to differentiate the product from others and that was its strength, says Parida.

That is how Baba Ramdev positioned himself as if from another planet unlike the others who were fighting the advertising wars. However, by making claims now to distinguish itself from other brand, he has descended into the advertising arena, says Parida.

Ramdev's strategy clearly goes against the spirit of free market that fosters healthy competition between companies on terms of quality of products and services. Seen in this context, Ramdev's pop patriotism in the ads are a meaningless political rhetoric that goes against everything India wants to be.
Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday visited Sarangpur to pay homage to Pramukh Swami, the spiritual head of the Swaminarayan sect, who passed

away last week in Botad district.

"I believe there are some souls who take birth once in ages for the greater good of humanity. Pramukh Swami was one of them. He dedicated his entire life in the service of humanity and promotion of Hindu culture," Kejriwal told the media.

Swamiji's "selfless dedication of the service of humanity" through numerous temples and hospitals he built across the world "will stay with humanity for times to come",

the Delhi Chief Minister said.

"His passing away has shocked not just Gujarat or India, but the entire world. He may have left his body, but his soul, his consciousness, and his message will stay with the humanity

for times to come," Kejriwal said.

The AAP national convener said it is "hard" for him to believe the news of Pramukh Swami's demise, and had to "confirm this several times" with others.

Kejriwal said that while he never met Pramukh Swami, he learnt about him and his works through several persons and was "strongly drawn" to pay his last respect.

The head of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan Sanstha, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, died last Saturday.

His mortal remains, which have been kept at a temple in Sarangpur, near here, to enable devotees and citizens pay their last respect, will be cremated tomorrow in the temple premises.

BJP chief Amit Shah will attend the cremation ceremony.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday had visited the place to pay his tributes to the departed soul.
Hundreds of people gathered for an Amnesty International India event called 'Broken Families of Kashmir' at the United Theological College on Monday. The organisation was later booked for sedition after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists complained that the event was "anti-national".

The idea of the event, as Hari Adivarekar points out in his Facebook post, was to bring the rest of India face to face with some of the bereaved families to seek justice for victims of human rights violations in the volatile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Adivarekar also tweeted some of the pictures of the event.

1.

On the evening of August 13, 2016, hundreds of people gathered for an @amnesty_india ev https://t.co/dEJWgtmMoV pic.twitter.com/9yfX7vfB1R  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

Families who lost their loved ones also attended the event. His next picture captures the pain of Ali Mohammed Shah, who lost his son Altaf to alleged torture by the army in 2002.

2.

Ali Mohammed Shah lost his son Altaf to alleged torture by the army in 2002. His paine https://t.co/qOxcDev2k6 pic.twitter.com/0SwRbtsiNv  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

A troupe of young Kashmiri men performed semi improvised street theatre during the event. Their mentor was deeply invested in the performance and was mouthing along.

3.

A troupe of young Kashmiri men with haunted eyes performed semi improvised street thea https://t.co/N6dELsf0CC pic.twitter.com/mGuPij0kZu  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

4.

A troupe of young Kashmiri men with haunted eyes performed semi improvised street theat https://t.co/Qor8af3YP6 pic.twitter.com/zlIoprYsuO  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

5.

A troupe of young Kashmiri men with haunted eyes performed semi improvised street theat https://t.co/mZIMYtGtPD pic.twitter.com/4kEW8OcgvE  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

RK Mattoo (President of the Bangalore Kashmiri Pandits Association) tried his best to remain unbiased and inclusive while speaking about how all Kashmiris, #Hindu and #Muslim have suffered in paradise, says Adivarekar in his post.

6.

On the left is RK Mattoo (President of the Bangalore Kashmiri Pandits Association) tri https://t.co/JLhK492O2W pic.twitter.com/lBhZG3qlvK  Hari Adivarekar (@photohari) August 15, 2016

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Amnesty under various IPC sections, including sedition, in connection with the alleged raising of "independence" slogans by "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who had entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army at the event.

ABVP has on Monday had filed a complaint with the police along with a CD containing video recording of the event, as a Firstpost article mentioned before.

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections  142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).

Amnesty International India, in a statement had said, "The event involved discussions with families from Kashmir, who were featured in a 2015 report, who had travelled to Bengaluru to narrate their personal stories of grief and loss."

"The police were invited and present at the event. The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India," Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty India International said.
With every urban washout the cry goes up for desilting the drainage system and to implement water harvesting. Desilting does take place but is that really the solution? A closer look is warranted to understand the phenomenon dogging Indian cities and even cities abroad with increasing frequency and intensity.

The list of affected cities is getting longer with Hyderabad in 2000, Ahmedabad in 2001, Chennai in 2004, Mumbai in 2005, Surat in 2006, Kolkata in 2007, Jamshedpur in 2008, Guwahati and Delhi in 2010, Srinagar in 2014 and Chennai in 2015. In 2016, Bengaluru and, to a lesser extent, Gurugram have already been victims. Waterlogging is the order of the day, setting up mind boggling traffic snarls even in modest rains.

The loss of life and property apart, urban areas contain vital infrastructure that can affect regional economic activity, result in epidemics and weaken building foundations as a result of prolonged waterlogging.

Storm water drainage systems in the past were designed for rainfall intensity of 1220 mm. But the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, which analysed heavy rainfall events during the period 1970-2006, says that there is an increasing trend of heavy rainfall (125mm) in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

The flooding does not affect all parts of the city equally. Cities urbanise existing watersheds and hence it is imperative that town planners respect the topography. Does one ever hear of old core towns such as Shahjahanabad or any cantonment or Civil Lines getting flooded  this is due to their prudent siting on easily drained high ground. Look at the old parts of Srinagar or of Chennai  they were not the ones to suffer. When city planners compromise on basic principles and fail to respect the topography and end up serving real estate interests, the flooding problem becomes inbuilt into the city structure.

It is reported that the marshlands of Chennai, spread over more than 5,000 hectares, have been reduced to a 10th of their original size, leading to significant loss of flood moderation capacity. A similar situation affects Srinagar where posh colonies have been built in the flooding zone of Dal and Wular lakes, or Mumbais wetlands near Sewri that have been filled as solid waste disposal sites.

The structural problem becomes aggravated with every inch of space being paved over leaving no space for water percolation into the ground. Thus, the surface runoff from hard surfaces increases As a result, flooding occurs quickly due to faster concentration and greater flow.

The National Disaster Management Authority noted in its guidelines for urban flooding laid down in 2010 that the average rainfall in Indian cities far exceeds the capacity of drainage system. The designed system capacities do not work due to poor maintenance. Encroachments are another big problem in many cities and towns. Consequently, the capacity of the natural drains has decreased, resulting in flooding. Improper disposal of solid waste, including domestic, commercial and industrial waste and dumping of construction debris into the drains also contributes significantly to reducing their capacities.

The NDMA went on to lay 25 guidelines of which point 15 states that low-lying areas in cities have to be reserved for parks and other low-impact human activities. However, these sensible guidelines have found no resonance with the authorities despite repeated events.

The case of Gurugram

The case of Gurugram is instructive. The converse of waterlogging is groundwater recharge. Gurugram is a bowl with the floodwaters having only a single route of exit, which is via Badshahpur Drain and general surface runoff to the Najafgarh Jheel and through Najafgarh Drain to Yamuna. The Najafgarh Drain is an artificial construct of 1865 vintage with a negligible gradient of less than 1 m in a kilometre and thus, if the Yamuna waters are high, as they often are in the monsoons, then the waters of Najafgarh Drain do not flow, and in extreme cases can back flow. Here, the Najafgarh Jheel comes into play and acts as a holding reservoir for flood water of Gurugram.

Unfortunately, Jheels and depressions have been targeted for their real estate value by both the real estate lobby as well as by the cooperative town planning department, which has neglected the basic canons of urban planning. Thus, in Gurugram, the town planning department has earmarked several sectors within the 100-year high flood level (HFL) zone of the Najafgarh Jheel. And these sectors will be subjected to inundation in due course.

The State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority of Haryana [SEIAA] is also to blame in allowing building activity in this area with the injunction that "plinth level be kept out of 100 year HFL of the Najafgarh Jheel". The SEIAA does not bother to state the 100-year HFL while the builders conveniently respond that they would observe the undefined 100-year HFL. The SEIAA may be asked whether by keeping the plinth level out of the 100-year HFL of the Najafgarh Jheel would it be acceptable if buildings and people were marooned, lives endangered, foundations weakened as a result of prolonged waterlogging, expensive equipment and investments and automobiles ruined?

The Central Ground Water Board has noted the Najafgarh Jheel as an excellent groundwater recharge zone. The National Capital Region Planning Board has in a major study earmarked the Jheel as a groundwater recharge zone and in fact the Haryana government has a policy whereby waterlogged farmlands are to be compensated with Rs 20,000 per acre. This would be more than compensated by the 15 MGD water availability for a water-starved so-called smart city. The original Jheel spread was vast during floods, extending 145 to sq km during the 1958 floods, visited by Siberian Cranes  even as this is written the remnant Jheel is being visited by the Greater Flamingos. Can we look beyond land values and towards eco-system services for our own sustenance at retaining a spread of just 4 sq km.

What does Gurugram need to do now? Depressions not only moderate local flooding but also nourish aquifers. To compensate for the loss of depressions, the 'smart' city needs to abandon colonisation of low-lying lands of Sector 36 B and 101 and create large Jheels instead to which the surface runoff can be directed by gravity or pumping. The newly-created Jheels can remain topped up with tertiary level treated effluent for enabling round the year recharge. Najafgarh Jheel needs to be declared a natural conservation zone up to the 100-year HFL. That would mean no construction within the HFL.

All stormwater drains need to have their beds de-concretised so as to enable percolation of surface runoff and quicker clearance of rain waters. Unfortunately, engineering agencies find greater benefits in sealing and lining drains just as Badshahpur Drain is being illogically concretised right up to Najafgarh Jheel. The city also needs to unseal its paved surfaces, both along public streets as well as within private compounds (certainly institutional ones) and replace the same with porous paving to absorb rainwater and reduce waterlogging.

With these measures and three large Jheels (Najafgarh, Sector 36 B and Sector 101), Gurugram would be better prepared for the monsoon as well as for summers and be well on its way to be a truly smart city.

The author is Principal Director, Natural Heritage Division, Intach
Two more civilians, on Tuesday, were killed in central Kashmir's Budgam district when CRPF personnel opened fire on a group of protesters in Aripanthan area of Beerwah. Witnesses said a CRPF party was on way near Aripanthan when it faced a group of people who were protesting against excesses. A police officer said that protesters resorted to heavy stone pelting and CRPF opened fire killing two civilians. Five more have been injured.

On the evening of 15 August, young boys were digging a grave at Dandirkah graveyard for the son of a carpenter, Abdul Salam Sheikh. Everyone stood silently watching a group of boys struggling to dig the grave in haste, as the slogans blared out from the loudspeakers from a mosque nearby. They were friends, neighbors, and acquaintances of Yasir Salam, who was shot dead, earlier in the day, allegedly by police.

When friends carried his dead body on a stretcher in pitch dark, they shone light on his face with their mobile phone torches  there was rage even in their footsteps. Salam, a tenth class student, was shot dead near the Batamalo yard in Srinagar; his family said that government forces killed him.

He was too young to be lowered in this grave, Waseem, a boy at the graveyard shouted. Who will take care of carpenter, Sheikh, he continued, as if talking to himself. They murdered him in the broad day light.

The recent killings in Kashmir, more than sixty like thousands of them before, have a familiar pattern and a script. They leave home for a stroll and within hours the bullet-ridden bodies reach home on the shoulders of people. No questions are asked, why, when, and how they died. It is just a number.

However, there is no cry for justice; justice, it seems, is a far cry. And no one seems to be even asking for it. They count the number of dead, injured, blinded and most of us are later lost in arithmetics.

Earlier in the day, there was another killing too, of a CRPF commanding officer, Promod Kumar, who died fighting militants in old town of Srinagar. They had attacked a CRPF post and injured nine soldiers and a policeman, before getting killed in Nowhatta area of downtown Srinagar. He too, unfortunately, become a number on a day, when the rest of the country was celebrating its 70th Independence Day.

And then their was Ashfaq Ahamd Bhat, an 18-year-old boy, from Tangmarg area, he also died after battling injuries inside an ICU for two days. Bhat had received pellet injuries in his head on Friday 13 August. The son of a daily wager, Bhat he was grievously injured after being hit on head by pellets, which had perforated into his skull, causing severe damage to his brain.

Clashes, encounters, and slogans continued on 38th and now will continue on 39th day as Kashmir continues to reel under a strict curfew. Over 80 people were injured yesterday, some with pellets, in forces action on pro-freedom protesters. Family members of Yasir said that he was killed in target fire by police, as there were no protests in the area. They said that he was killed on the spot and two other youth sustained injuries in police firing. There were protests, hundreds of people gathered out and inside his house, and on the streets they chanted slogans, protest demonstration were held against the killing, but no one was asking why was really killed? They all seemed to have an answer.

Was he part of protests?

There were no one in our area. Had there been he would have never left his home, Salams friend, Saqib told Firstpost.

We are investigating the incident to look into the causes of the situation that resulted in the death of the boy, a police officer, meanwhile said about the killing.

With Yasirs death the number of people killed in the ongoing unrest stands at 63, killed in police, para-military CRPF and Army firing since 9 July. More than 7000 civilians have also been injured in action by government forces hundreds of them have lost eyesight and others maimed for life due to firearm injuries.
In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik focused on the Mahanadi river water dispute between the state and neighbour Chhattisgarh.

Stating that no single state should try to enjoy exclusive rights on the water of rivers passing through several provinces, Patnaik said such attempts were against the federal spirit."The government is making sincere effort to resolve Mahanadi river water sharing issue and we believe it will be successful," he said.

The Mahanadi, which has been a serious bone of contention between the two states, snowballed into a major political issue with the BJD deputing a 12-member team to Chhattisgarh last week to inspect the construction of certain projects upstream. The BJD team comprises of three former engineers-in-chief of Odisha government for technical advice. The team submitted its report to Patnaik.

The team alleged that the Chhattisgarh government has been supplying water from the controversial Kelo project to industries, instead of using it for drinking and irrigation purposes. Further, BJP spokesperson and team member PK Deb stated that the Chhattisgarh government constructed the Kelo project without consulting the Odisha government.

Odisha, according to a report by The Hindu BusinessLine, is reportedly alarmed by Chhattisgarh's plans to build 13 barrages across the Mahanadi, in a plan to extract more water. Chhattisgarh has also been constructing seven pick up weirs (small dams) across the river, a move that sees vehement opposition from Patnaik, who has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the matter, reported The Times of India. Patnaik is against the building of dams and barrages on Mahanadi citing that such constructions would adversely affect interests of their farmers.

Patnaik's letter to Modi details the Odisha people's cultural and emotional relationship with the Mahanadi: It was across the river that Hirakud dam was built, a multipurpose river valley project built immediately after India's Independence. The TOI report added that the seven pick-up weirs and other projects will have an adverse impact on the flow of water in the Hirakud reservoir.

The dispute has also furthered all non-BJD political parties in Odisha on 10 August to urge the President to direct the Chhattishgarh government to stop the construction and to save the lives of millions of people living downstream.

The Congress has also called for a bandh on Tuesday to demand the Centre's intervention for halting construction of barrages and dams on the Mahanadi.

On 9 August, the Orissa High Court asked the standing counsel of the state and the Centre to get instructions from their respective governments within 10 days on a case filed along with a PIL over the recent Mahanadi river dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The Mahanadi Bachao Manch, which filed the PIL, in a separate miscellaneous case had alleged that there were claims and counter-claims by the two state governments over keeping the people in the loop about the projects of the Chhattsigarh government which are coming up in the upper basin of the river. The Orissa High Court on Tuesday asked the standing counsels of the state and Centre to get instructions from their respective governments within 10 days on a miscellaneous case filed along with a PIL by an outfit in the name of Mahanadi Bachao Manch over the recent river dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra demanded the immediate formation of a river board to resolve the Mahanadi water row between Odisha and Chhattisgarh and that the Odisha government should send a formal proposal to the Centre on the same, "as per the provision of the River Boards Act, 1956 for resolving the inter-state river row".

Mahanadi, one of the most-active silt-depositing streams in India, rises in Madhya Pradesh and follows a course of 900 km, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Pune: In a shocking case, a 42-year-old doctor from Satara district of Maharashtra, who was arrested last week in connection with the murder of an anganwadi worker, has "confessed" to killing five more people, including four women between 2003 and 2016, and burying them in his farmhouse, police claimed on Tuesday.

Dr Santosh Pol from Wai spilled the beans on the multiple murders during interrogation in the case of 47-year-old anganwadi worker Mangala Jedhe's death, following which police exhumed four bodies, apart from Jedhe's, from his farmhouse last night, Sandip Patil, superintendent of police, Satara told PTI.

Pol, dubbed as 'Dr Death', is in police custody till 19 August, after his arrest on 11 August for allegedly kidnapping and murdering Jedhe, president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh, on 16 June.

On the motive behind the murder of five women and a man, Patil said that illicit relations and greed for gold and money might have prompted Pol to execute these killings.

According to police, Pol and his aide Jyoti Mandre, a nurse who allegedly has an illicit relation with the accused, had kidnapped Jedhe and killed her by administering a lethal overdose of a medicine and buried her near Pol's farm house.

During investigations in the missing complaint about Jedhe, police found that before her disappearance she was in touch with Pol and had threatened to expose his criminal activities.

Subsequently, as the investigation progressed, Mandre confessed to killing Jedhe and burying her near Pol's farmhouse.

"We then laid a trap and arrested Pol [on 11 August 11], who was absconding after the murder," Patil said. "Later, Pol showed us the place, where he had buried Jedhe," he added.

"Pol then confessed to have killed five more people  four women and a man  besides Jedhe between 2003 and 2016," Patil said.

Apart from Jedhe, the other missing people, who were allegedly murdered by Pol, were Salma Shaikh, Jagabai Pol, Surekha Chikane, Vanita Gaikwad and Nathmal Bhandari, the SP said.

"We have managed to exhume four bodies except of Gaikwad who was killed and thrown into water reservoir in the vicinity in 2008," said Patil.

Widening its net in the case, Satara police is now probing the authenticity of the alleged serial killer's medical degree too.
Srinagar: Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday lashed out at the Centre for raising the issue of Balochistan at a time when Kashmir has been hit by violence.

"6 protestors dead in Kashmir in 24 hours but WTH let's go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in J&K at the moment!" Omar wrote on twitter.

6 protestors dead in Kashmir in 24 hours but WTH let's go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in J&K at the moment!!!  Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) August 16, 2016

Following the all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 12 August, the Centre decided to raise the issue of human rights violations in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The prime minister also referred to Balochistan in his Independence Day speech on Monday.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday held a high-level review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir and instructed security officials to restore peace and normalcy in the state at the earliest.

He cautioned that the casualties of both the civilians and security personnel in the violence-hit state should be minimum.

The minister was, in turn, briefed by top officials on the prevailing situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector in Kashmir.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies and other top civil and security officials attended the meeting, sources said here.

The meeting was held even as reports from Srinagar said five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces in fresh violence in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the deaths to 65 since the 8 July killing of a popular rebel commander.

Pramod Kumar, commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was killed on Monday after four militants hurled a grenade and opened fire at a security patrol in an old city area of Srinagar.

There have been reports of violence and stone-pelting in Budgam and Anantnag districts as well, sources said.

At the meeting, Rajnath Singh also reviewed the overall security scenario in Assam, which also saw militant attacks.

Suspected militants exploded five bombs in Charaido and Tinsukia districts as the state was celebrating the 70th Independence Day on Monday.

On 5 August, 14 persons were killed and at least 20 injured by National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) militants in Kokrajhar district of Assam.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against Amnesty International India under various IPC sections, including sedition, in connection with the alleged raising of "independence" slogans by "pro-freedom" Kashmiris who had entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing Indian Army at an Amnesty India International event in Bengaluru on Monday.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said the "intention and background" of those involved would be investigated, as reported by NDTV.

We've to look into it more seriously, probe underway: G. Parameshwara, K'taka HM on case against Amnesty Int'l India pic.twitter.com/dX92wwev7W  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Clashes between protesting ABVP workers and the Bengaluru police outside the Governer's house on Tuesday were reported by CNN News18. ABVP activists, had called the Amnesty event "anti-national", and on Monday had filed a complaint with the police along with a CD containing video recording of the event.

A police official involved in the investigation said that an FIR has been registered and investigations will proceed.

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections  142 (being member of an unlawful assembly), 143 (whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), he said.

A panel discussion on Saturday had turned chaotic as some "pro-freedom" Kashmiris, most of whom were youngsters and students, entered into heated arguments with a Kashmiri Pandit leader for hailing the Indian Army. The event was organised by Amnesty International India at United Theological College.

The incident has already triggered a major political backlash by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the Congress government in the state denied any anti-India sloganeering at the event itself, reports Livemint.

Holding that it had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir, Amnesty International India in a statement had said towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azadi' (freedom).

Noting that as a matter of policy it does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination, Amnesty had said it, however, considers that the right to freedom of expression under international human rights law protects the right to peacefully advocate political solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

Amnesty International India, in a statement said "The event involved discussions with families from Kashmir, who were featured in a 2015 report, who had travelled to Bengaluru to narrate their personal stories of grief and loss."

Aakar Patel, executive director of Amnesty India International has said that all the required permissions were taken before the event was held. He has also claimed that the charges made in the FIR were unclear, as reported by CNN News 18.

"Merely organising an event to defend constitutional values is now being branded 'anti-India' and criminalised," said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India.

"The police were invited and present at the event. The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India.

"Among those who spoke at the event were the family of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, one of the men killed in the Macchil extrajudicial execution, where five Army personnel were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment," it said in the statement.

The Bengaluru Police was informed about the event well in advance. Amnesty International India also invited representation from the Kashmiri Pandit community in Bengaluru at the event to speak about the "human rights violations" faced by members of the community, it said.

"Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for 'azadi' (freedom)," the NGO said.
Pakistan has been needling India ever since violence broke out in Kashmir Valley after the encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif not only urged the people of his country to observe a 'Black Day' to express "solidarity with the Kashmiris", but also said that Pakistan was obliged to become the voice of the "oppressed" of Kashmir Valley.

In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on Pakistan's human rights violations in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Pok) was seen as a retaliatory statement to Sharif's comment that "Kashmir is not India's internal matter."

"Look at those who glorify terrorists. What kind of people glorify terrorists? The world is watching. People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have thanked me a lot in the past few days. I am grateful to them," Modi said during his Independence Day speech.

This statement follows after what he said at the all-party meet on Kashmir when he had brought up Balochistan for the first time, "Pakistan forgets that it bombs its own citizens using fighter planes. The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Balochistan and PoK."

Modi's remarks on Balochistan not only indicated a change in policy shift, but also a change in tact to counter Pakistan's constant provocation on Kashmir.

Sameer Patil, fellow for National Security, Ethnic Conflict and Terrorism Studies at Mumbai think-tank Gateway House, tells Firstpost, "Modi's speech must be viewed in the context of Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit's comments on Kashmir on 14 August. The reference to Balochistan was a counter to what Basit had said."

Modi's aggressive stand on Balochistan can be seen as signalling a shift in the dynamics of India-Pakistan relations, with India projecting itself as a responsible regional power or a serious stakeholder in the peacekeeping process of the region. Getting the support of the international community in this intervention policy could help India lead the negotiation on the politics of the region.

Abhijnan Rej writes: The contours of this strategy will be drawn using diplomatic as well as intelligence assets. It will range from being vocal about Pakistan's excesses in that region, to creating sub-conventional space in order to deter Pakistan's nefarious Kashmir policy.

Meanwhile, Patil explains that although Pakistan has always alleged India's involvement in Balochistan, to manage "perceptions of the region internationally, India will have to keep talking about Balochistan and the struggle of the people there. This is a game India will have to keep playing, in order to puncture Pakistani propaganda on Jammu and Kashmir."

However, India's stand on Balochistan needs to analysed in conjunction with the country's contentious history with the conflict in the region. In fact, Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz's response to Modi's speech should not come as a surprise. He said that Modi's Balochistan reference has proved Pakistan's claims that "India has been allegedly fomenting terrorism in the province through its main intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)."

Patil adds that with the calculated move of clubbing PoK, Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan together, Modi has sought to shed light on all the separatist movements in Pakistan and ensured that Pakistan can't point to the speech as "proof" of India's alleged involvement in Balochistan.

For years, Pakistan has been blaming India for insurgency in Balochistan. It became a point of contention between the two countries after Pakistan arrested Naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav for planning "subversive activities" in the country. Pakistan also turned down India's request for consular access to alleged RAW agent.

Pakistan's Senate also recently unanimously adopted a resolution asking the government to prepare a dossier on "Indian interference" in the country and send it to other nations and international institutions. The resolution called for the Pakistan government to prepare "a full dossier about the Indian interference in Pakistan's internal affairs fomenting unrest, instability and terrorism". India answered by granting a visa to exiled Baloch leader Naela Qadri.

Nirupama Subramanian of The Indian Express writes that in the past India has refrained from bringing up Balochistan along with Kashmir, however after Modi's speech, "Pakistan will throw back terrorism in Balochistan every time India brings up Mumbai 2008, or Pathankot 2016, or cross-border terrorism in general."

Modi's statement has already triggered a war of words. India, on Monday, turned down Pakistan's invitation for talks on Kashmir and government sources on Tuesday told ANI that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not attend South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Finance Ministers' summit in Islamabad on 25 and 26 August. India will be represented by Finance Secretary Shashikant Das at the regional summit, reports suggested.

It remains to be seen whether Modi's mention of Balochistan will change the dialogue between India and Pakistan, but the stage has already been set.

With inputs from agencies
Lets get this right first. Asaduddin Owaisi is fed up. The 47-year-old Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is simply tired of confining his politics to the vicinity of the banks of the Musi.

The political fatigue has afflicted the man for some five years or so, and its beginning to tell on him. And encouraged by the mild success of his past forays into Maharashtra (where his party has two assembly members) and other states, he now has his tired eyes firmly set on elections next year in Uttar Pradesh.

But his path to national stardom via UP is riddled with two big potholes. One is that the Akhilesh Yadav government is not letting him address rallies in Uttar Pradesh. The other is that his talk of cobbling up an alliance between Muslims, Dalits and Other Backward Classes under the umbrella of a Muslim party is confusing the hell out of a lot of people, which again include Muslims, Dalits, and Other Backward Classes.

As for the rallies, he was once again banned from addressing a meeting in Kanpur on Sunday. In the past one year, the UP government denied him permission to hold public meetings more than a dozen times on the grounds that he would deliver incendiary speeches of the kind he had made in the past.

In recent past, Asaduddin and his party colleagues have made their anti-Hindutva rants somewhat less offensive, but even the toned-down oratory has enough potential to raise communal hackles.

But is Owaisi really losing much by not sharing his wisdom at public meetings? Probably not.

Each time he is stopped from holding a meeting, he is on the front pages of the local media asking: Why is Akhilesh Yadav scared of me? This time, he was also quick to seize the chance to challenge political parties to debate the status of Muslims in India.

All this only helps Owaisis 'Muslims-are-always-the-victims' campaign. The message travels to those very sections of Muslims whose support he is seeking, perhaps more effectively than any rally would have conveyed it. And with 1.36 lakh Twitter followers, he knows how to fire up social media. Each time he is denied his fundamental right of free speech, he gets gigabytes of sympathy from supporters.

Then he carries the message forward to his partymen and others at indoor meetings in Uttar Pradesh, which need no government sanction.

And Owaisi knows how to turn adversity into advantage. Often, his enemies fall into his traps like flies into spiders net. In June, he offered legal assistance to those arrested in Hyderabad for suspected links with Islamic State. There was nothing illegal about it. Having studied law in London, Owaisi knows that pretty well. Never mind that, in India, the state provides legal help to those who need it.

But the BJP fell for his bait, hook, line and sinker. Some in the party even wanted him arrested for trying to help terrorists. Owaisi must have smiled to himself. All that hoo-ha must have helped him gain the support of a certain section of Muslims who may never have even thought of backing him before.

But for now, the first item on Owaisis political to-do list is to turn AIMIM into a national party.

Owaisis grandfather Abdul Wahed Owaisi added AI (All-India) to MIM when he took control of the party in 1958. Wahed was plain lucky to grab the partys leadership, as Ajaj Ashraf explains in this Firstpost article .

But Wahed did nothing to make it really 'All-India'. After his death in 1976, his son Salahuddin Owaisi led the party for 32 years. He too did little to expand the partys horizons. After Salahuddins death in 2008, his son Asaduddin took over. And if all this makes that party sound like a family enterprise, much like the Congress with which it had links in the past; push that thought aside for now.

What Asaduddin wants right now is to do what his father and grandfather hadnt. He has no desire to let AI remain in the partys name as mere embellishments, or just to differentiate it from other outfits like in the case of Jayalalithaas AIADMK.

Owaisi has been trying hard at it. But his expeditions to other states so far have fallen short of his expectations.

In 2012, AIMIM netted 11 seats in the Nanded civic body election. In 2014, it won two seats in the Maharashtra assembly. Considering that AIMIM has only seven members in the Telangana Assembly and one member (Asaduddin Owaisi) in Lok Sabha, two MLAs in Maharashtra doesnt look too bad.

But last year, the party lost all the six seats where it fielded candidates in the Bihar Assembly elections and all the 28 it contested in Bengaluru Corporation polls. But it won an impressive 26 seats in the Aurangabad Corporation last year, coming second to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. And earlier this year, the AIMIM lost both the seats it fought for in Tamil Nadu Assembly polls and the Bikapur Assembly by-election in UP.

Owaisi hopes to do better in the UP assembly elections next year.

To do that, he knows he must re-brand his party. But he doesnt seem to have figured how to go about it.

For a party, which had opposed Hyderabads entry into India at the time of Independence and whose razakars massacred Hindus and were in turn massacred by them, whose leaders actively fomented communal trouble till 1970s, re-branding itself as a nationalist party isnt proving to be easy. During the 32 years that Asaduddins father Salahuddin headed AIMIM, the party didnt cover itself with any secular glory.

Salahuddin was trouble. But his son now tries to keep clear of it  clear of physical trouble, that is though he relishes verbal guerrilla war and revels in the adjective-crazy medias description of him as a firebrand.

Despite Asaduddins repeated declarations that his party works within the framework of the Indian constitution and is opposed to jihadists and terrorists, he is unable to shrug off his communal cloak. He is seen no more than a Muslim politician, out to polarise Muslims and cocoon them permanently into a bloc, separate from the rest of Indians.

What makes matters worse for Owaisi is that Muslims are not a homogenous vote bank. Some Muslims choose a party which they believe will save them from the threat they perceive from Hindutva forces. Some choose a party only if it has a winning, government-forming potential. What confounds the confusion is the varying extent of radicalisation among Muslims that influences them to vote differently.

To broad-base his party, Owaisi throws Dalits into his narrow sweep of Muslim politics. This combination, in fact, backfired badly in the Bikapur by-election in UP where he fielded a Dalit.

And to anyone who points out that AIMIM only splits the Muslim vote in a way that helps the BJP, his stock answer has been that he is not a coolie of secularism and that Muslim politicians of all parties have failed the community.

The AIMIM has been the Bajrang Dal of Muslims. Now Owaisi wants to turn his outfit into the BJP of Muslims. What Owaisi cannot understand is that, in Indias electoral politics, one and one dont add up to two. He needs an Amit Shah to teach him that.

The author tweets @sprasadindia
Washington: US Vice-President Joe Biden has said that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's ideas are very dangerous and un-American as he criticised the business tycoon for playing into the hands of Islamic State by using anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"Trump's ideas are not only profoundly wrong, they're very dangerous and they're very un-American. You know, they reveal a profound ignorance of our constitution," Biden said.

"It's a recipe for playing into the hands of terrorists and their propaganda," Biden said at an election really in Pennsylvania where he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Last year, Islamic State's top leader, who we had been tracking since we got Bin Laden, his name is Al-Baghdadi and he revealed the goal of IS, he just said it straight out. You can go on their website," Biden said.

He said their goal is to, quote, "compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zones themselves," meaning anywhere where Christians and Muslims live, he calls a gray zone. He said the objective is to actively destroy that gray zone," he said.

"Muslims in the west, he says, will have to quickly find themselves between two choices. Either apostatise or emigrate to the Islamic state and thereby escape prosecution. How does he make the case? By pointing out that no Muslim is welcome in the west," Biden said.

"IS wants to manufacture a clash of civilisations between us versus them. Trump is trying to give them exactly what they want," Biden said.

"Last week he stood in front of a crowd in Florida and said President Obama founded a terrorist organisation, IS," he said as he described this as an outrageous statement.

"But let me tell you why it's a dangerous statement. Why  as he might say, the bad guys are listening. Yesterday, the head of Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation, Iran's top terrorist surrogate, and a direct threat to our ally Israel, repeated Trump's claim in the entire Muslim world and  I mean, around the world, that President Obama founded IS," he said.

Trump, he alleged, is already making the country less safe.

"He has said, "Hillary hasn't forgotten more about American foreign policies than Trump and his entire team will ever understand."

"Ladies and gentlemen Hillary has been there, she has been tested. I have been in the room with her as we jointly have with the president's leadership, sent some of these killers to the gates of hell," Biden said.

In her remarks Clinton reiterated that Trump is not fit to lead the country.

"I said in Philadelphia that a man you can bait with a Tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. It's also not a man you can trust to run our economy, help heal our cities, or be a role model for our children," Clinton said.

"There is no doubt Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States and Commander-In-Chief," she said.
Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that the era of nation building should come to an end, as he laid out a foreign policy approach to deal with the Islamic State militant group and radical Islam.

"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach - which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East - must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating radical Islam in Ohio.

"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he said.

"As president, I will call for an international conference focused on this goal. We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," Trump said.

A Trump Administration, he said, will also work very closely with Nato on this new mission.

"I had previously said that Nato was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," he

said.

"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against IS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with IS," he said.

Trump said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy IS.

International cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyber warfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting. Their recruiting is taking place right now, and they're setting records. It's got to be stopped, he said.

"We cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by our enemy. We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said.

Trump alleged that the rise of IS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of State in his first term.
New York: Donald Trump on Monday laid out a US blueprint for defeating global terrorism in partnership with Nato and Middle East allies, demanding extreme restrictions on immigration and likening the fight to the Cold War.

The Republican nominee, who is tanking in the polls, following weeks of self-inflicted disasters, made his pitch to be a security strongman as the Democratic vice-president accused him of imperiling the lives of Americans.

"We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we faced at every age," said Trump in Ohio, a battleground state considered essential to winning the US presidential election.

His foreign policy address marked the latest attempt by the Trump campaign to get their maverick candidate back on message as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton surges ahead in the polls.

Watering down his highly contested assertion that Barack Obama and Clinton created the so-called Islamic State extremist group, Trump said IS was "the direct result of policy decisions" made by the president and former secretary of state, referencing chaos in Iraq and Libya.

He claimed the extremist group, which is the target of US-led air strikes and Special Forces operations in Iraq and Syria, was "fully operational" in 18 countries and had "aspiring branches in six more."

The real-estate tycoon and former reality TV star promised to end the US policy of "nation building" and called for a "new approach" in partnership with foreign allies to "halt the spread of radical Islam."

Trump vowed to work "very closely" with Nato, sidestepping previous criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after saying that a Trump presidency would not automatically leap to members' defense.

Temporary suspension

"I have previously said Nato was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats, very good," he said.

Trump said he believed the United States could find "common ground with Russia" in the fight against the IS group  a claim bound to do little to silence critics who accuse him of being soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said his administration would "aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS," another name for IS, and be a "friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East."

At home he demanded new immigration screening, saying that the perpetrators of a series of attacks in the United States  including the 11 September, 2001, hijackings, the 2013 Boston bombings and the recent mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub  involved "immigrants or the children of immigrants."

"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people," he ventured, promising to temporarily suspend immigration from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world" that export terrorism.

"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting."

On the home front he also proposed setting up a "commission on radical Islam" which would include "reformist voices in the Muslim community" to root out jihadist networks and stop radicalisation of young Americans.

The Clinton campaign responded by stating that any policy submitting immigrants to ideological tests was a "ploy."

"This so-called 'policy' cannot be taken seriously." Clinton senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement.

"How can Trump put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and selected as his running mate the man who signed an anti-LGBT law in Indiana? It's a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it," he said.

Manafort allegations

But Vice-President Joe Biden, who on Monday hit the 2016 campaign trail with Clinton for the first time, trashed Trump as unqualified for the White House and accused him of endangering the lives of US troops.

Biden's folksy demeanor and ability to connect with working-class voters is considered an asset for Clinton particularly among blue-collar white male voters who lean toward her Republican rival.

"No major party nominee in the history of the United States of America has known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump," Biden said.

Trump's accusation that Obama and Clinton created the Islamic State group had imperiled the lives of US troops, Biden said.

"If my son were still in Iraq and I say to all those who are there, the threat to their life has gone up a couple of clicks," he said.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that corruption investigators in Ukraine say an illegal, off-the-books payment network earmarked $12.7 million in cash payments in 2007-2012 for Paul Manafort, now Trump's campaign chairman.

Manafort denied any wrongdoing, saying he had "never received a single 'off-the books cash payment,'" or worked for the governments of Ukraine or Russia.
Washington: The US has said that it is for India and Pakistan to determine the pace, scope and character of any discussions on Kashmir.

"Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions in Kashmir is for the two sides to determine. We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations," State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said.

"We're aware of the clashes. We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage to all sides to make efforts for finding a peaceful resolution," Trudeau said at her daily news

conference on Monday.

The State Department spokesperson, however, did not respond to questions on the remarks by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on Monday.

"I wouldn't speak to Mr Modi's comments, that would be for him to speak to," Trudeau said.
In his path-breaking speech in the Red Fort on the occasion of 70th Independence Day, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi brought out the baffling issues of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), Gilgit and Balochistan in recognition of the people of these areas who have thanked him for raising their concerns. Modi said that terrorism is glorified in the other side Pakistan. When children were killed in terror attack on a school in Peshawar (about two years back), there were tears in our Parliament. Indian children were traumatised. This is the example of our humanity. But look at the other side., said the Indian Prime Minister. He also asked the international community to judge the behaviour of India and Pakistan in the context of terror atrocities in each others country.

In his 93-minute address to the nation, Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister who raised the issues about the areas in the control of Pakistan. Notably, he delivered this address in the backdrop of his recent remarks during an all-party meet on Kashmir in which he sought to expose the atrocities committed by the neighbouring nation in Balochistan and the areas of Jammu and Kashmir under it.

While Modi maintained silence over what he felt about the people of Jammu and Kashmir, an Indian state suffering the worst situation today, he expressed deep gratitude to the people of Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit for their warm regards and high expectations from him, based on the messages he received on Twitter. One can recall that Modi broke his silence on the Kashmir unrest on 9 August in his saying that Kashmir wants peace and whatever Kashmiris want for betterment of their livelihood, the Centre will provide." But one wonders if this will remain a sheer rhetoric. Merely making a statement against the Pakistani terrorists and saying: "Some people are causing Kashmir a lot of harm will not suffice. The government will have to dialogue with the people of Kashmir whose majority is still anchored in the Indianness.

However, the straightforward questions that Modi as the Indian Prime Minister has raised from the ramparts of the Red Fort hitting out at Pakistan for glorifying terrorism are worth deliberating. He put up these questions in the backdrop of Pakistan declaring Wani a "martyr":

What kind of terrorism-inspired life is it? What kind of government is which is inspired by terrorism? The world will need to understand the double standards".

The most deplorable evidence of these double standards is that Pakistan was formed in the name of Islam and on the basis of Nizam-e-Mustafa (the Prophetic system of governance). But its constitution, many of its civil laws and the unabated brazen violation of human rights are antithetical to the true essence of Nizam-e-Mustafa. The shocking state of affairs of religious minorities in the country is an open secret. Not even Muslims are safe. Basic human rights as enshrined in the Prophets constitution (Nizam-e-Mustafa) are brazenly violated day in and day out in Pakistan.

In fact, the self-styled Nizam-e-Mustafa of Pakistan is far removed from the constitution that was peacefully and justly enacted by Prophet Muhammad in his state of Medina. His written constitution (called Mithaq-e-Medina or the constitution of Medina) is a historical document of how people of different faiths peacefully coexisted and ushered in one nation (ummah), united and integrated. The actual Nizam-e-Mustafa in Medina  the Prophets state  was a written agreement fostering the clauses of universal brotherhood, pluralism and peaceful coexistence of all religious communities. Among the hallmarks of the Prophetic system of governance were unity in multiplicity, social justice, equality, reconciliation, compassion and mercy for all mankind. But in Pakistan, there has been a blatant strike on all these universal and egalitarian clauses of the Prophetic governance since the partition of India, resulting in the creation of this utterly un-Islamic state.

On 15 August, 1947, India achieved the independence from the British imperialists and we began to breathe the air of freedom. This independence, of course, brought us decent life and basic human rights which are now accorded to us in India. However, the unfortunate aspect was that just a day earlier, on 14 August, a large part of India's west and east were divided into the Western and Eastern Pakistan. Further divided in 1971, the western part remained Pakistan and the eastern part became Bangladesh. Today, a large population of Pakistan and Bangladesh which comprises Muslims is being misguided into a self-styled understanding of Nizam-e-Mustafa. This indoctrination has caught the imagination of the young and gullible Muslims with impressionable minds. Captivated in this ferocious psyche, the religious zealots among the young people in Kashmir indulged in an ethnic cleansing of the valley. Throughout history, scores of the Kashmiri Pandits had to face a turbulent time hearing the separatists exclusivist slogan: "Yahan kya chalega, nizam-e-mustafa" (Sharia rule will prevail in Kashmir). This pan-Islamist slogan is still being heard in various parts of the valley, as a consequence of the ongoing radical indoctrination backed by the Pakistani extremist outfits. Even on the eve of the Independence Day, the Srinagar airport witnessed a sloganeering bout chanting aloud with great gusto: "Yahan kya chalega, nizam-e-mustafa ", as a report in The Times of India dated 15 August, 2016 tells us.

This situation in Kashmir, given the historical background of Pakistans creation in the name of Islam, gives rise to the question in many minds: Is the Kashmir issue a political affair or a Pan-Islamic mission?

Fortunately enough for Muslims in India, they have been imbued in the broader notion of democracy and secularism which they dont view as incompatible with their faith. Unlike the jihadist ideologues in Pakistan, an overwhelming number of Muslim thinkers and ulema, who were among the founders of Indian democracy, evolved a pluralistic Islamic narrative in the independent India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad  the first education minister of India and an avid activist of the freedom struggle  was also a pioneer of the Indian democracy.

Today, India is looked upto as the world's largest democracy. Every citizen and every faith tradition has equal rights. Going by the articles 25 and 26-27, every person has equal right to the profession and practice of his/her religion and conscience. In India, one can practice and propagate ones religion without any discrimination. But the anti-pluralism Islamist theology which the state of Pakistan is based on, does not allow certain faith traditions to flourish in the country. The ground reality is that the religious minorities like Christians and Hindus and even the Muslim minorities like the Shia Hazaras are targeted on the basis of their faith and creed, and are killed at the hands of the Pakistani religious terrorists roaming freely in the country. In lieu of the implementation of Nizam-e-Mustafa, they are seeking to establish an anti-pluralism theocracy throughout the region.

Given this, the PM Modis assertion that India will not yield to terrorism and violence is welcome. In his address on the Independence Day, he gave a timely and mandatory message to youth of Kashmir; to return to the mainstream by shunning the path of violence.

It is now left to the ideological discretion of the Kashmiri people  whether they choose the Indian democracy or the self-styled Nizam-e-Mustafa of Pakistan.

The author is a scholar of Comparative Religion, Classical Arabic and Islamic sciences, cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies. Views are personal. Write to him at grdehlavi@gmail.com
Berlin: The German government says the "Islamisation" of Turkey's domestic and foreign policy has made the country a hub for Islamist groups, according to a confidential document seen by public broadcaster ARD.

"As a result of the increasing Islamization of Ankara's domestic and foreign policy since 2011, Turkey has become a central platform for action for Islamist groupings in the ... Middle East region," according to an official response to an enquiry from the opposition Left Party.

The document was written by the Interior Ministry in response to an enquiry from Left Party lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen, and is based on information provided by Germany's foreign intelligence agency BND, ARD reported on Tuesday.

"The many expressions of solidarity and acts of support for the Egyptian (Muslim Brotherhood), Hamas and armed Islamist opposition groups in Syria by the governing (Justice and Development Party) and President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan underline their ideological affinity," the government's response said.

It is the first time that the German government has linked Erdogan's government to an Islamist militant group. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, Israel and the United States.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, have remained largely neutral on Turkey's foreign policy and have failed to condemn a sweeping purge of suspected supporters of the July 15-16 military coup attempt.

In a separate part of the confidential document, the Interior Ministry said it could not be made public because that might risk "the wellbeing of the (German) state," ARD reported.
Of course, Pakistan media would slam Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving Balochistan a speaking role on his stage. And what a role. If our neighbour is gnashing its teeth in anguish, so be it. For sure, Modi is not one of their most popular folks at present. After 70 years of pussyfooting around and being on the backfoot over Kashmir, this man has taken the genii out of the bottle and it is not going back.

Suddenly, the equations have changed. When a Prime Minister publicly accuses his neighbour of air bombing its own people, the gloves are surely off. An undiplomatic uppercut out of the blue.

He is using exactly the same cards that Pakistan has used against India all these years and it is, in Islamabads mind, reminiscent of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh. The Baloch connection has come out so strong and with so little warning that it has to be causing great concern in the Islamabad corridors of power. That Modi chose the twin Independence Days as the occasion to send out the message that India would be an eloquent supporter of the Baloch freedom movement not only gives that PoK region a huge ally but neutralises the often soaked-in-righteousness rhetoric with which successive Pakistani regimes attack India at home and in global forums.

They may have won the PR war but this is a game-changer.

Of more concern is the fact that with terror strikes, a regular phenomenon in Pakistan, the opening of another aggressive front would send panic signals and spread its security resources very thin.

While in Islamabad, the Sharif regime, the army and the ISI may well label Modi a warmonger, it is pretty much certain that footage of atrocities and excesses committed in Balochistan will now awaken the world to another troubled spot that has largely been overlooked. It will embolden the muted freedom movement and we will see more Balochis living in other countries voicing their opinion. Vociferously.

The Baloch problem has come to stay and the Modi regime will fuel it.

Does this bring these two inimical neighbours closer to open conflict? Yes, it does. Whether they go for it or not in this customary post-monsoon season when armour can move, the weather cools off and the terrain in the west is not hostile to infantry cannot be totally eliminated as an option, especially with Pakistans despair now tangible.

If there is a brake, it is that neither side has any battle experience nor any officers or men who have been through actual war. Weaponry has been untried in conflict conditions and the cost in terms of life, property and economic losses would be immense.

But they have gone to war on three occasions and can do it again. Much will depend on how swiftly the PoK issue flares up.

So, why now when since 1971, no Indian government thought of calling this possibility as a gambit?

At some point, Modis generous overtures to Islamabad in the past year have been misunderstood as weakness. On a personal level, he has felt slurred, especially after that stopover he made to Sharifs decorated home. Like with Vajpayees bus ride, it looked like India was again the nervous Nellie holding the olive branch. Modi got the message...it was all an illusion and he was being taken to the cleaners.

This sudden muscle flex by the Indian leader was not a factor in Pakistans scheme of things. Modis flinging of the gauntlet has that dangerous texture of acceptance to it, the sort of feel one gets when one acknowledges that peace talks and rapprochement will not happen. That there is no point trying, more so when intelligence has convinced Modi that terror strikes in India are fine tuned across the border and will not stop.

Ergo, lets put the ball deep into the other side of the court.

It is a calculated risk because you cannot discount a Pakistan response. The firing in Poonch within 24 hours of the Baloch issue becoming a cause in that sense cannot be ignored as one of those customary infringements of the LoC.

On the contrary, New Delhi would do well to be on a very high alert.

For now, the Modi manoeuvre has reworked the bottom line on Kashmir. He has changed the dynamics overnight. That one-sided PR exercise better done by Pakistan than by India is truly over.

If there is a price to pay, India and Modi might think it worthwhile.
New York: Police charged a man late on Monday night with murder in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque over the weekend.

Oscar Morel, 35, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Charges against the Brooklyn man were upgraded after police said they recovered a revolver at his home and clothes similar to those being worn in a surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Morel was taken into custody on Sunday after police said he hit a bicyclist 10 minutes after Saturday's shooting in Queens. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Morel can be seen on the surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer just after Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot, said the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist about three miles away in Brooklyn, he said.

Morel was arrested late Sunday night outside a Brooklyn apartment after intentionally ramming his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said.

The arrest was announced just hours after about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, "Justice!" periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you."

Authorities did not release a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is "certainly on the table."

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed is at it again.

Saeed  also the founder of US-declared terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is suspected too have carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack  has now asked the Pakistani military to send its troops into Jammu and Kashmir to "teach" India "a lesson".

According to The Tribune, Pakistani media reported Saeed's statement on the Kashmir unrest, in which over 60 people have now been killed since clashes broke out after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Saeed reportedly made this statement as he was addressing Pakistani military chief General Raheel Sharif.

This time the people in Kashmir are on streets. This protest has become a mass movement. All groups in Kashmir have united. All the wings of the Hurriyat have become one. The Muttahida Jihad Council and all other groups have come on to the same platform. Those who have died in Kashmir, their deaths will not be in vain, ANI quoted Saeed as saying last month.

This is obviously not the first time that the 26/11 attack mastermind has spoken against India over the Kashmir issue.

Before Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Pakistan, Saeed had asked the Pakistani government not to allow him to visit the country and had warned of a nationwide protest if Singh did visit. "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 had said 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," he had also said.

In July, Saeed had warned that violence in Kashmir will escalate. He had also said that he will lead nationwide demonstrations in Pakistan to force its government to cut ties with the US if it cannot convince Washington to intervene in the decades old Kashmir dispute.

Even though Saeed has been designated a terrorist by the US with a $10 million bounty on his head, he travels freely in Pakistan and gives speeches inciting people to attack Western and Indian interests. Indian government has long demanded that Islamabad arrest Saeed.

With inputs from PTI
On 13 August, Tufail Ahmad delivered a lecture in Hyderabad at a launch for his latest book Jihadist Threat to India: The Case for Islamic Reformation by an Indian Muslim, organised in Hyderabad by the Social Cause. Touching on various aspects of Islam, its various interpretations and permutations, Ahmad's lecture is being reproduced in three parts. The first part follows:

How to combat global Islamism in present times

I am thankful to the Social Cause for hosting this event. It is a pleasure to know that for over a decade, the Social Cause has been making rich contributions to the life of Hyderabad  a city that has been intellectually connected to the global idea of Khilafat since the Ottoman era to the present times dominated by the Islamic State, or IS. I am grateful to Dr K Ramachandra Murthy (senior editor), Janab Mastan Wali (filmmaker), Syed Jeelani and Sudhakar Rao for your precious time and kind words. It is a privilege to share this platform with Sultan Shahin sahab. His writings on Islamic reform go back to the 1970s. Sultan sahab, thank you for your enlightening speech.

I must say that I am not a scholar of Islam. However, coming from a media background, the ideas associated with Islam in contemporary times have occupied my mind. Ideas, whether positive or negative, have consequences for the future  whether or not you want it. Like a journalist, I examine the phenomenological world of ideas in which you and I live.

Islam as a language of separatism

A key problem of understanding in modern times has been the inability of non-Muslims to grasp the point that religion and politics cannot be separated in Islam. The West has the experience of fighting ideological battles, most recently, Soviet-backed armed communism. However, even in the West, writers and professors insist on treating Islam only as a religion limited to the spiritual domain of a mosque or the personal life a person. This distinction between religion and politics is not clear to the Muslim mind.

In India, the situation is worse.

Despite 800 years of Muslim rule, most Hindus know nothing about Islam. But, a new generation of Indian youths enrolled in various institutes of technology such as NITs and IITs are alert and intellectually better equipped than professors and journalists in understanding early Islam, as well as the phenomenology of the idea known to us as Pakistan. Islam can be defined as a set of ideas, as an ideology, as a system of ideas, as a religion, as a type of politics, as a movement of ideas. As a monotheistic religion, Islam is a language of separatism from mainstream of non-Muslim societies.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao could easily pass a law giving members of the BPL (below poverty level) families reservations in jobs and educational institutions irrespective of cast and religion but he wouldn't do so. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi has said that all human beings are born as Muslims. So, this means all human beings should get reservation in jobs and educational institutions. But this is not the case.

Viewed from the minds of Hindus, it appears Islam demands quotas in jobs and educational institutions for Muslims, and not for all the poor Indians. In Maharashtra and elsewhere, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind campaigns for Muslim prisoners, not for all innocent prisoners. Islam, through parties like the AIMIM or the Welfare Party, seeks the support of Dalits to grab power. Islam requires shopping malls in Kerala to have prayer rooms separately for Muslim males and Muslim females, not for Christians or Hindus.

As a movement of ideas, Islam began in the 7th Century from Mecca as a consequence of which there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia today and there are no synagogues or churches. Later, this movement of ideas travelled to Iran, as a result of which there are no Zoroastrians left in Iran. This movement of ideas arrived on the Indian Subcontinent in the 8th Century, as a result of which there are no Hindus in Balochistan, there are no Hindus in Afghanistan, there are no Hindus in Pakistan and there are no Sikhs in Lahore  originally a Sikh metropolis.

At times, Islam demands territory for itself. In 1947, it influenced the minds of our ancestors to hand over a piece of our territory, thereby creating Pakistan.Now, it is fighting a long war in Srinagar to snatch another piece of our territory, Kashmir. As a movement of ideas and in our lifetime, Islam succeeded in expelling Pandits from Kashmir. This movement of ideas can also be observed in areas with significant Muslim populations like Assam, Kairana, Malda, or Malappuram.

Islamism as a methodology

Islam achieves its goals through Islamism.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines Islamism as: "An Islamic revivalist movement, often characterised by moral conservatism, literalism, and the attempt to implement Islamic values in all spheres of life". Therefore, Islamism is a cultural and political movement which removes secular, democratic and multicultural ethos of a society in an attempt to pave the way for Islamic ascendancy.

Islamism introduces exhibitionist religiosity in people's lives. There is no issue if a woman wears a burqa, but the problem is the body of ideas that makes her choose such a dress. Subsequently, these ideas strike at the roots of women's freedom, rights of non-Muslims, individual liberty and the free press. So, Islamism is the methodology by which Islam achieves its goals. And, jihadism is the weaponised version of Islamism. Once, Osama bin Laden had compared the US with an octopus, saying it has grabbed the world in its tentacles. So, let me first apologise to the inhabitants of the animal world and say that Islamism is an amoeba that reproduces itself by replicating itself.

The objective of both Islamism and jihadism is to introduce Shari'a-based tenets into our societies, to convert non-Muslims, to prescribe a dress code for women, to close Hindu-owned restaurants during Ramzan  notably in Malappuram, to impair our decision-making capabilities by giving birth to political correctness, or to use elections to grab power. The Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, the Justice and Development Party of Turkey and the Hamas in Gaza have all grasped the idea that they can use elections to capture power and once in power, change the system. During peace talks with the US, even the Afghan Taliban flirted with the idea of elections to grab power.

Stay tuned for the next segments of Ahmad's speech:

Part Two: Is terrorism Islamic? And five arguments answered by jihadis

Part Three: The jihadi threat to India

The author is Director of South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington DC. He tweets @tufailelif
Istanbul: Turkish police on Tuesday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects wanted after last month's botched coup attempt, state media reported. Police carried out simultaneous raids on 44 businesses including a holding firm in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The suspects are accused of financing the activities of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is blamed by authorities for orchestrating the 15 July putsch.

Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants against 120 people, including company managers, the agency added. The companies targeted have not been named so far. It is not clear how many suspects have been detained in the raids.

Turkish authorities have undertaken a relentless crackdown on alleged Gulen supporters in the wake of the coup, detaining over 35,000 people. Almost 11,600 have since been released. Gulen, in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, has denied the government's accusations.

Turkish police on Monday raided four major courts in Istanbul, detaining 136 of the wanted prosecutors and other judicial staff working at the courts.
London: A UK-based radical preacher, known for his radical views, has been found guilty of supporting the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and faces up to 10 years in jail, it emerged on Tuesday.

Anjem Choudary was convicted at the Old Bailey court in London on 28 July but the judge had imposed a reporting ban while a linked trial of Choudary's associate was ongoing.

"You have been convicted by the jury of offences which you must expect to result in sentences of imprisonment," Justice Holroyd told the 49-year-old preacher.

"It is true that you have complied with the conditions of your bail. I am afraid however, it has been an evidently grudging compliance and you have made your disregard for the court and its processes abundantly plain throughout these proceedings," the judge said.

Choudary and his co-defendant, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were found guilty of telling their supporters to obey IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and travel to Syria to support Islamic State or the so-called "caliphate".

The duo face up to 10 years in jail for inviting support for a proscribed outfit and will be sentenced on September 6.

"Terrorist organisations thrive and grow because people support them and that is what this case is about. Do not confuse that with the right of people to follow the religion of their choice or to proclaim support for a caliphate," Prosecutor Richard Whittam told the trial.

London-born Choudary, who has a long history with groups involved in radical Islamist demonstrations in the UK, such as the now-banned Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK, denied he was inviting support for IS and claimed to be a "lecturer in Sharia law" giving "the Islamic perspective".

Just before his conviction, he told Sky News: "If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship.

"If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that. If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you don't really have freedom to express yourself in this country."

Choudary's conviction comes after a two-year, multi-million-pound investigation by Scotland Yard designed to bring to an end his two decades of extremist preaching. He had been arrested last year and been in and out of prison after breaching his bail conditions.

Commander Dean Haydon, head of Scotland Yards counter terrorism command said: "We have a key individual here in the UK posting vast amounts of information on social media that is radicalising individuals in the UK. Part of that information encourages them to travel to Syria. His mistake was pledging an oath of allegiance. That was the key piece of evidence that tipped him over the line for a terrorist offence."

Among Choudary's many UK followers is Indian-origin IS fighter Siddhartha Dhar dubbed as 'Jihadi Sid' by the UK media and now believed to be among the senior IS commanders.

One of the Bangladeshi attackers, who killed 22 people during an assualt on a Dhaka cafe on 1 July, was also a follower of Choudary on social media.
Seoul: Chief of the US Army is slated to visit South Korea this week, Seoul's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

General Mark Milley will make a three-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday, meeting his South Korean counterpart on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported citing a senior official as saying.

Milley will receive an update on plans to deploy one Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery on South Korean soil, his office said. It would mark his second visit to South Korea since he took office in August 2015.

High-level US army official's visit to South Korea would come amid heightened tensions surrounding Seoul and Washington's abrupt decision last month to house one THAAD battery by the end of next year.

Objections from civic group activists and opposition lawmakers to the US missile shield are getting louder at home, while China and Russia have strongly opposed the THAAD deployment as its X-band radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories.

If deployed, it would escalate the already heightened tensions in Northeast Asia as arms race is expected.
According to the second quarter (Q2, 2016) smartphone shipment data by International Data Corporation (IDC) for China, the top three smartphone vendors Huawei, OPPO and Vivo together account for 47% of the China smartphone market in total.

Huaweis shipment volumes have increased by 2.5% for the second quarter of 2016 than the Q2 2015. Now the company ranks first in terms of total shipment in China with 19.1% and also has the market share of 17.2%.

As per IDC quarterly mobile phone tracker in 2015 and 2016Q1, the top three smartphone vendors for that period had a market share of 43% and 45% respectively. But now largely beacause of the jump in OPPO and Vivo shipment volumes, it has increased to 47% and that is due these two companies increased strength in offline channels mostly occupying the Tier 3 to Tier 5 cities in China.

Oppo shipped 18% while the Vivo shipped 14.7% in Q2 2016, which is a big jump from 8% and 8.4% from Q2 2015 respectively. On the other side, Xiaomi and Apple slipped to fourth and fifth position, and shipped only 10.5% and 8.6% respectively, which is quite less in comparison to 17.1% and 12.6% for the same period last year.

The success of Huawei, OPPO, and vivo in the market can be attributed to their concerted effort to build their brand and aggressive marketing to attract the consumers, along with the focus on product differentiation,

said Xiaohan Tay, Senior Market Analyst, Client Devices Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Source
Dividend stocks can be one of the best ways for individual investors to supplement income or even build wealth over the long term, and finding high quality companies with stocks that yield higher than average rates can accelerate that wealth building portfolio. The trick is finding quality stocks that can keep those payments going over time. Today, shares of Chevron (CVX 1.17%), Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP 0.97%), and Verizon Communications (VZ 4.12%) all have dividend yields greater than 4%. Here's why you should consider these three high yielding stocks for your portfolio.

Preserving its payout

There's no arguing that Chevron and other big oil companies are in what is probably one of the most brutal oil and gas markets it has faced in decades. To make matters worse, this large downturn came right after a period of massive investment as Chevron was spending big bucks on new projects such as its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities in Australia and other multi-billion dollar mega projects. As oil prices have fallen, so too have the cash flows the company was using to fund those developments as well as its dividend.

To meet its financing needs as of late, the company has been forced to rely on its balance sheet that was quite strong before the oil crash. Also, as Chevron has brought these development projects online, it has foregone making too many large capital investments to conserve capital and maintain its 30 year streak of increasing dividends. On repeated occasions, management said it will do everything it can to maintain its dividend, and projects it will get back to paying for its capital spending and dividends with operational cash in 2017 even if oil remains in the $50-$55 range at that time.

On the surface, Chevron's earnings don't reflect the prettiest picture, but its financial health has kept its payout afloat for a while and should be able to get back to better times relatively soon.

Stability in diversity

One of the things that makes Brookfield Infrastructure Partners so compelling as a dividend investment is the company's diverse portfolio of assets that lend themselves well to steady streams of cash. Between its toll roads, electrical transmission lines, pipelines, and rail lines. The kinds of capital intense assets that have immense geographic and regulatory competitive advantages give Brookfield few worries about pricing competition. In fact, more than 90% of its revenue stream comes from either regulated utilities or long term contractual agreements that ensure cash coming in the door quarter in, quarter out.

Another reason that you can be reasonably sure that Brookfield will be able to make its payments to shareholders rather reliably is that management has maintained a rather conservative payout policy. Today, the company only pays out 65% of its funds from operations, which gives its plenty of wiggle room in the event that the company were to run into troubles in one of its business segments. Not that it has been much of an issue, as the company has grown funds from operations at a compounded annual rate of 23% over the past 8 years.

Shares of Brookfield have rallied a bit this year, but the stock still has an attractive distribution yield of 4.7%. If management can continue to grow as it has for close to a decade, today's slightly higher price may still seem modest.

Throwing its weight around

One of the benefits of being the largest telecom provider in the country, Verizon has some pretty big advantages when it comes to pricing power. That can work both ways, it can outlast its competitors in a price war, or it has the ability to raise its prices on customers without too much fear of losing them to competitors. This is something that was on display as recently as this past quarter as the company saw net new subscribers increase despite intense pricing pressure and promotions from its rivals.

Knowing that its position in the market is relatively safe and its generating gobs of free cash flow, there is a lot of security in Verizon's current dividend yield of 4.2%. Not only is the company's current payout ratio a very manageable 61% over the past 12 months, but it's free cash flow generation is more than enough to cover its current dividend and any dividend raises it musters in the coming quarters.

It will take a lot to knock Verizon off the throne, and the company's current subscriber rates suggest that no company is going to catch them any time soon. Unless something very drastic happens, you can rest assured that Verizon's high yielding dividend will continue to rise.
Aetna, Inc. (AET) announced earlier today that it will significantly retrench from the Obamacare exchanges in 2017. The decision comes amid mounting losses associated with serving Obamacare patients, and the exit could cause Obamacare's costs to soar, jeopardizing the program's sustainability.

Heading for the exits

Aetna's decision to shrink its Obamacare footprint from 778 counties to 242 counties next year comes on the heels of a decision by the nation's biggest insurer, UnitedHealth Group (UNH 1.74%), to significantly ratchet back its Obamacare business earlier this year.

In April, UnitedHealth Group announced it will stop participating in most of the Obamacare exchanges in states it previously served. UnitedHealth plans were available in two dozen states last year, but they'll only be available in a handful of states in 2017.

UnitedHealth reports it lost $475 million on Obamacare plans in 2015, and previously, it said that its losses on the program could eclipse $500 million in 2016.

Aetna's struggle to turn a profit on the exchanges is behind its decision to abandon them, too.

Aetna offered Obamacare plans to 15 states this year, and it plans to only offer plans in four states (Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia) in 2017. In the second quarter, Aetna reports it lost $230 million on Obamacare because of rising utilization of high-cost care by Obamacare patients.

Aetna's decision comes only weeks after the Department of Justice sued to block Aetna's proposed merger with Humana, Inc. (HUM 1.90%), another insurer that has indicated it will reduce its participation on the exchanges next year.

Fewer choices and higher costs

The elimination of competition in many markets fuels what is already shaping up to be a big year for plan premium increases.

In July, the Kaiser Family Foundation evaluated 2017 proposed plan prices in 17 states for commonly purchased Silver plans. Their analysis found that the second-lowest-cost Silver plan (the benchmark plan used for calculating Obamacare premium subsidies) will see premiums increase by a population-weighted 9%. For comparison, plan premiums in these states increased by only 2% in 2016. States that will be hardest hit by increases are Tennessee, Oregon, and New York.

Kaiser also discovered the number of insurers participating in these markets will be lower than last year and about in line with the number of insurers offering plans in 2014.

Looking ahead

Obamacare premiums in the 17 states that Kaiser evaluated have increased an average 7% per year since Obamacare's launch, and now that Aetna's decided to exit Obamacare, the number of plan choices available to Obamacare patients is about to get much more limited.

Higher prices and fewer choices is not what policy makers had in mind for this program, but the Department of Health and Human Services isn't panicking yet. The agency continues to believe that most Americans will have multiple options next year, and since subsidies increase alongside premiums, most low-income Americans won't feel the sting of rate increases. That's true for most Americans; however, it may be less true in some states. Kaiser reports an average 5.8 insurers will offer coverage in the 17 states it reviewed, but residents of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont will only have two insurers offering plans next year.
Virtual reality (VR) has dominated the buzz over the last couple of years but, at the same time, augmented reality (AR) technology has taken incredible leaps in what's possible when superimposing computer-generated imagery and sensory data onto the real world. Be it headset-based AR such as Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap, or the explosion in smartphone-based AR at the hands of apps like Pokemon Go, AR is now at the forefront of public consciousness, morphing the way we interact with the world around us. Thanks to one AR startup, AR is beginning to have the same transformative effect on how we do business, too.

Augment is an enterprise AR platform, with solutions across sales and marketing, architecture and design, and e-commerce. There's no headset, and Augment has free AR apps for Android and iOS (a la Pokemon Go). In tandem with the smartphone and tablet apps, the startup also offers an Augment Desktop app to preview and configure 3D models, and an Augment Manager app for businesses to manage of catalog of AR content and 3D product models.

The idea is to be able to take any 3D object (be it a custom-branded vending machine, a new pair of shoes, or a jet engine comprised of hundreds of modular components), take it apart, flip it over in your hands or see how it looks in the space in which you're standing, and then share that experience with your co-workers. More so even than the conventional definition of AR, Augment is more of an augmented virtuality platform; the objects can be customized, manipulated, and dynamically scaled for any environment.

Why It Works for BusinessesAugment CEO and cofounder Jean-Francois Chianetta said he envisions Augment as an AR platform that enterprises can use through an entire product lifecyclefrom design and prototyping, all the way through to e-commerce and sales. Augment also integrates with Salesforce; the customer relationship management (CRM) giant had enough faith in the startup to invest $3 million in Augment's Series A funding round (through Salesforce Ventures back in March).

"Augmented reality is really exciting right now. We're at a turning point with the new [Google Project] Tango coming out in September, the Microsoft HoloLens, all these new devices and hardware [getting us closer to] true augmented reality. It's incredible the experience you can have with pure augmented reality," said Chianetta.

"When I started Augment in 2011, there was no augmented reality market," he added. "Now we have customers like Coca Cola, L'Oreal, Siemens. We have salespeople using augmented reality on tablets to show products in a natural way. We have retailers adding 'Augment' commerce buttons to their sites. We have architecture firms showing 3D-scale models of new buildings. We have a programmatic solution for a company to brainstorm and design a product, upload it to Augment, prototype and get feedback on that design, and hand off to salespeople for an AR demo to customers."

Company Dossier Name: Augment Founded: 2011 Founders: Jean-Francois Chianetta, Mickael Jordan, Cyril Champier HQ: Paris, FranceUS Offices: New York, NY; Orlando, FL What They Do: Enterprise augmented reality (AR) platform What That Means: AR modeling for use cases spanning e-commerce, marketing and sales, architecture and design, and more Business Model: Free apps for Android and iOS; Premium business apps and services Current Status: Live worldwide Current Funding: $4.8 million, including $3 million Series A round in 2016 from Salesforce Ventures Next Steps: Platform development, customer growth, e-commerce partnerships

Inside the Platform Chianetta, a lifelong programmer with a background in mechanical and software engineering, spent his career working on MEMS systems, 3D modeling, and user interface (UI) design and simulation. He said the smartphone is the best thing to ever happen to augmented reality.

"When I got my first smartphone, I said we finally have a device everyone can use, with systems like the gyroscope and accelerometer that are crucial for AR. That's how I created the first version of Augment," he explained. "The first version was very simple but Augment has been open from the start, so everyone has been able to add their own 3D models and we've been able to get a lot of feedback on what's useful. Coca Cola has their own app built on top of Salesforce so, from the Coke app they click on a 3D model, it launches Augment and it pulls up an AR simulation."

Chianetta officially incorporated Augment as a company in 2011 and, in 2012, the startup was accepted into France's LeCamping incubator (now NUMA). There, the idea for Augment evolved from simply an e-commerce tool for retailers into a larger platform encompassing design and prototyping, marketing, sales, analytics, and 3D content management and collaboration within an organization.

The first version of Augment was officially released in 2013, including a proprietary 3D modeling engine using cross-platform graphics framework OpenGL, which allows the AR objects to responsively scale based on whatever mobile device is using the Augment app. The platform's back-end cloud infrastructure runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

"We developed Augment's 3D engine from scratch, with the goal of making it the first mobile-only 3D engine. There's a lot of specificity on mobile across a wide variety of devices," said Chianetta. "We don't want a 3D object to break from iOS to Android so our engine recombines itself for every device, adding or removing graphical complexity and features to keep the right frame rate."

The Augment platform itself is broken down into three components: the Augment smartphone and tablet app for Android and iOS, Augment Manager, and Augment Desktop. The Augment app is where all of the 3D modeling happens, with AR object superimposed into whatever environment at which you point a smartphone or tablet's camera. If businesses buy the Enterprise Sales or Interactive Print premium plans, this also unlocks features such as custom branding, offline access, tracker scanning (a custom Augment barcode to scan physical items into fixed AR objects), and CRM integration with platforms including Oracle, Salesforce, and StayInFront.

Augment Manager is where product management and sales pipelines come in. The app includes a content management system (CMS) to upload and manage a catalog of 3D models and share those models with clients and coworkers. For marketing campaigns, Augment Manager also has an analytics dashboard to see when and where users are projecting specific models, and to track ROI metrics. It also allows you to see with which models sales reps are successfully converting customers.

Augment Desktop is for configuring and customizing more complex models with different materials, textures, and 3D animation triggers before uploading them to Augment Manager and the Augment app. The platform also has plugins to import models from other 3D modeling and design software. Chianetta used the example of architecture, construction, and real estate to illustrate how the platform works together.

"A third of our customers are in construction, architecture, and real estate," said Chianetta. "So an architect can go into Augment Desktop, load a 3D-scale model of the building and configure it. Or a construction company would use the Augment app to show the inside of a building schematic in the field. For a real estate company, instead of just showing a prospective customer a blueprint or a floorplan, they pull up the virtual building and we can go inside."

Business Plan BreakdownAugment's market strategy is rooted in specific enterprise use cases. The company doesn't currently support any AR/VR headsets and doesn't produce white-label apps for resellers. On Augment's website, the company lists four primary solutions: Omni-Commerce (in-store and online retail), B2B Sales, Marketing, and Design. Focusing on those real-world applications, Augment has built a customer base around those use cases across architecture and design firms, manufacturing, and a few major brands.

For a five-year-old startup with 45 employees, $4.5 million in VC funding is a comparatively small amount, particularly when $3 million of that came only this year. Yet, unlike many startups nowadays, Augment has been generating revenue from the start. According to the company, Augment currently has more than 6,000 daily active Android and iOS users, and has passed two million total app downloads. As far as competition, Chianetta doesn't see platforms such as Magic Leap or Windows Holographic as direct competitors. In fact, he doesn't think Augment has any direct competitors in the space.

"One of the things I wanted from the start is to make AR as accessible as possible, available for anyone to download and play with, to experiment and help advance the technology. That's one of our biggest differentiators," said Chianetta. "The biggest competition we have is all the agencies that built their own augmented reality apps off of existing engines like Unity and Euphoria. We differentiate when you want to collaborate across a business or when you need a more dynamic environment combining AR with sales, marketing, etc. On that front, we don't really have any competition."

On the open accessibility front, Augment also runs a program called Augment EDU to give universities around the world access to free AR modeling tools. According to the company, the program has reached more than 30,000 students and teachers in 86 countries, who have collectively produced more than 9,000 3D models uploaded to Augment's database. The startup also counts several colleges and universities as paying customers.

"We opened the academic program to give schools, universities, students, classrooms, and teachers access to real 3D models to help evolve the technology. And that openness has given us the most valuable feedback in building out the platform," said Chianetta. "That's why people tend to think about Augment as a consumer company, even though we're completely B2B."

Ask the Experts: Startup Advice Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners is a big fan of Augment's technology but stressed that, with something as "cool" as AR, for businesses it's crucial to focus on real-world use cases and quantifiable value."Augment has found a way to take the 'window on the world'-style AR we find in popular consumer apps like Pokemon Go and bring it to an enterprise use case," said Taussig. "Clearly, there is some value to displaying a digital 3D object in the context of the real world when it comes to merchandising products or visualizing the impact of that object on a physical space. The company may be challenged, however, to translate that user experience into a real business case for its customers. Pricing may be adversely affected. I would advise them to hone in on the quantifiable value they are selling, beyond the obvious coolness of the technology."Roseanne Wincek, Vice President at IVP, said that while Augment's technology is very cool and apps like Pokemon GO have shown us how AR can create an extremely compelling and engaging interface, she echoed Taussig's sentiment that the startup needs to provide more concrete value for enterprises."I think that Augment will face pressure as it's AR middleware rather than a platform," said Wincek. "The image rendering will commoditize over time or be integrated into other parts of the stack. Augment should use their head start and maturity to create applications and value for the end consumer of the AR, the user, through direct enterprise or consumer applications."Andrew Schoen, Associate at NEA, focuses on enterprise and consumer technology investments for the VC firm. Schoen said Augment solves an acute problem for specific sets of customerslike a brand salesperson showing retail store managers what a display unit might look like in their actual store layout. Schoen sees this as a major strength of the platform, but cautions Augment not to let individual use cases obscure the bigger picture."Augment is a rare breed within the AR space [as] they have an actual product in market, it's being used by actual enterprise customers, and it's generating actual revenue," said Schoen. "While their current TAM [target addressable market] is limited to a specific set of use cases, the trick is that the technology they're building is a trap door into a bigger market: Augment is in pole position to become the de facto platform for housing and deploying 3D assets in AR. That's a big vision, and it's important that they not lose sight of the bigger vision while satisfying the demands of their early paying customers. Losing a customer is bad but losing sight of the big vision is worse."

Know a cool startup we should spotlight next? Are you a VC firm interested in weighing in on featured startups? Email your suggestions to robert_marvin@pcmag.com.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Your first step in saving for a wedding involves coming up with a realistic budget. Start by looking at venues, meeting with vendors, and collecting pricing info. Next, break down your costs by category (such as venue, photographer, band, florist, and so forth), and prioritize the categories that are most important to you. If, for example, you care more about your band than your photographer, you can leave yourself room to spend extra money on music as opposed to pictures.

Once you have all of your numbers, add up your anticipated costs to come up with a grand total. Don't forget to include smaller expenses that might add up, like tips for your wait staff and transportation to and from your wedding. If that figure is one you can afford based on parent contributions and your current and anticipated savings, you're all set. If not, you'll need to work backwards toward an amount you can swing. Otherwise, you risk taking on wedding debt

2. Establish a savings timeline

The average U.S. engagement lasts 14 months, which gives you a fair amount of time to save money for the big day. That said, it's important to map out a savings timeline to ensure you stay on track. If, for example, you have a year to save for your wedding, your estimated costs total $30,000, and you only have $15,000 coming from savings or parental gifts, you'll need to save $1,250 a month, on average, until your wedding date arrives.

Furthermore, you should create a schedule of when you need to pay your vendors so you're not caught off guard down the line. You might, for example, need to give your band a deposit three months before the wedding and pay the balance shortly after the fact. In other words, even if your wedding is a year away, you may not have a full 12 months to save up all the money you'll need to pay for it.

3. Look for extra sources of income

If saving a chunk of your salary will only get you so far in financing your wedding, your next move should be to seek out additional sources of income. You could try selling some unwanted furniture, electronics, or collectibles to bring in extra cash. Another option is to take on a side job to generate more income. While the extra work might be a lot to juggle, it's something you'd conceivably only need to do for a limited time.

4. Take advantage of discounts and lower-cost alternatives

If you're willing to compromise on certain aspects of your wedding, you could wind up slashing your costs significantly. Some venues, for example, charge less for weeknight weddings than they do for weekend events, while others charge less during what's considered the off-season. If you have 150 guests and can knock your cost per head down from $100 to $90 by postponing your wedding for a month, or getting married on a Thursday evening, you'll save $1,500.

You also have the option to bypass certain vendors to cut costs. Have a friend take a video rather than pay a videographer, or skip the fancy limo and ask your bridesmaids and groomsmen for a ride. Finally, sending out electronic invites versus paper ones could easily save you close to $1,000, and you might have an easier time tracking responses to boot.

No matter what steps you take to save for your wedding, the key is to avoid overspending and starting your marriage off in the red. An estimated one-third of couples go into debt to pay for their weddings, and at a time when you're supposed to be enjoying the newlywed phase, you don't need that burden weighing you down.

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There's something inspiring about finding a hidden gem, in this case a relatively unknown stock, that everyone else has overlooked. It's why gold detectors have existed for decades -- because there will always be someone willing to look for something nobody else has uncovered -- or why archaeologists can dig their entire lives with only the hope of making one major game-changing discovery.

With that in mind, I wanted to try and dig up some overlooked dividend stocks that have potential to grow their dividend yield, as well as top and bottom lines.

Covanta's Dublin facility. Image source: Covanta's media gallery.

Turning trash into treasure

Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE: CVA) is likely a name few investors recognize, due to its operations being in arguably the least sexy industry: waste disposal. However, that's partly why this is an intriguing business -- because people will actually pay the company to take trash, which it processes into energy and then sells the energy back to the world. How many companies can you name that get paid to take the fuel they create a product or service with?

Let's take a look at the company's business and the upside it offers; it also offers a dividend yield of 6.6% while investors wait for the upside to play out.

With a strong business model -- which generates about 67% of revenue from taking waste and 26% from selling energy -- the stock has merely treaded water over the past five years because of a couple of factors. One factor is that right here in the U.S., which would be a huge potential market, landfills remain a cheap and readily available option. That's different than the situation in Europe, where space is more limited and incineration is much more common.

But the future for this stock could change thanks to a recent decision by New York City to award Covanta with the city's contract. Not only is that a big contract win, but it could set the new standard for an accelerated adoption of incineration for other major cities in the U.S. market.

That's one major catalyst, but it could take years to play out. Another one, that's in the near term, is the completion of Covanta's Dublin project, which will come on line in late 2017. The project is 70% completed and it was done cost effectively, with a total capital investment of 500 million euros, at less than nine times adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

Lastly, upside exists for the company if commodity prices recover. That's because the company also generates some revenue from selling metal by-products from its solid-waste combustion, though with weak prices currently, the category hasn't been able to move the company's top line.

If the Dublin project completes without a hitch, commodity prices recover, and New York helps speed the adoption of waste incineration in the U.S., Covanta's stock price won't be treading water for much longer -- and a yield topping 6% sure looks tempting for investors willing to wait for the company's growth story to gain traction.

Image source: Getty Images.

China goes nuclear!

China and its growing middle class have been a core investment thesis for many companies; stories have run the gamut from boosting sales of smartphones, to major automakers looking to crack a huge market. China is also a major cornerstone for potential investors of Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ). Currently, Cameco offers investors a dividend yield of 3.1% and a lucrative long-term growth story, if you believe in the potential of nuclear reactors.

Cameco, likely a company you've never heard of, produced 27.2 million pounds of uranium last year alone, solidifying it as one of the world's largest uranium producers. That production is likely to increase by 25% to 30% by the end of 2019 as management plans to substantially increase its output.

That extra output will come in handy once the market works through the supply glut of uranium that exists currently due to the Fukushima-related reactor shutdowns. While power from nuclear reactors doesn't generate much attention in the U.S., China's nuclear reactor fleet is set to surge in numbers.

Currently, China has 34 nuclear reactors in operation, with another 20 under construction and many more about to begin construction. China plans to build some of the world's most advanced reactors in the future with a doubling of nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts electrical (GWe) by 2020-2021, and then a jump to 150 GWe by 2030. Also, new reactors in India, South Korea, and Russia, and even reactor restarts in Japan, should increase demand of uranium in the years ahead.

As any mining stock, it's part of a cyclical industry that has been a pretty brutal area for investors in recent years. That's likely to change, and when uranium prices rebound, Cameco stands well-positioned to benefit as it ranks among the lower-cost producers and has an enviable asset base led by its high-grade McArthur River mine in Saskatchewan.

There's also a long-term catalyst for nuclear energy, and thus for Cameco. As the world continues to deal with growing emissions of carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming -- nuclear reactors offer a realistic option to generate energy and reduce greenhouse emissions. There are many hurdles and challenges to making nuclear reactors a mainstream option, including operational safety and waste disposal, to name a few, but if those challenges can be solved, Cameco could be a huge long-term winner.

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.

Daniel Miller 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.
While it's rare enough that a company thanks its customers for their business,Citigroup(NYSE: C) wants to barAT&T(NYSE: T) from using the word in its ads.

The bank has had a program called "ThankYou from Citi" since 2004, for which it has multiple trademarks, according to Consumerist. Citi claims that AT&T's new AT&T Thanks program violates its trademark.

Citigroup wants AT&T to stop using the words "thanks" or "thank you" and asked for a preliminary injunction that would prohibit the use of those terms until the case comes to trial. Katherine Forrest, a federal judge in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, issued a ruling denying the financial institution's request on Aug. 11.

That does not mean Citigroup will lose the case, but it does allow AT&T to keep promoting its loyalty program, which rewards customers who bundle wireless and pay-television service, until the issue is settled.

"At this stage it is Citigroup's burden to prove its entitlement to the substantial remedy of preliminary injunctive relief. On the record as it currently stands, Citigroup has not carried its burden," wrote the judge.

AT&T's promotion uses the word "Thanks." Image source: AT&T.

Why was Citi's motion denied?

In her decision, Forrest noted that Citigroup has offered its customer loyalty program in connection with a number of its credit cards since 2004 using the trademarks and brands "Thank You," "Citi Thank You," "Citi Business Thank You," "Thank You From Citi, and "Thank You Your Way." She explained that these trademarks are all registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and "Citigroup has implemented an enforcement program aimed at protecting its rights in the marks."

Citi is not alone in having trademarks involving the words thank you and when it initially applied for the marks, it had to show that its use of them "avoids any likelihood of confusion," with what was then known as UBS PaineWebber and New South, two companies that at the time offered banking services.

In that case,Citigroup won its trademark by arguing thatwhile all three companies "share certain commercial and personal banking services," neither earlier-registered mark "recite[d] credit card services."

It may be that argument -- that customers won't be confused because the companies are in different businesses -- that ultimately lets AT&T win rights to use the word "thanks." It's hard to argue that a financial services/bank/credit card company is in the same business as a wireless, pay-television, and broadband provider and that consumers confuse the two offers.

It's worth noting, however, that Citi and AT&T have had co-branded credit cards since 1998, carrying both of their logos. The judge acknowledged that approximately 1.7 million consumers who hold these cards receive monthly bills carrying both companies logos and the "Thank You," and "Thank You from Citi" trademark.

Enrollment has been frozen in the credit card programs and no new members are being accepted.

What happens next?

AT&T and Citigroup have both put forward different timelines as to when the telecommunications company told its sometimes partner that it intended to use the phrase thank you. Forrest seemed, in her ruling, to agree with AT&T's timeline, but ultimately the judge noted it's not a case of when the financial company knew but whether it can show "evidence of actual confusion by consumers."

To make its case,Citigroup shared a number of online complaints about the AT&T program, saying that it could reflect negatively on the financial company.

"In the Court's view, these examples tend to disprove, rather than bolster, Citigroup's theory of irreparable harm," wrote the judge. "All of the complaints Citigroup has compiled are attached to announcements of the 'AT&T thanks' loyalty program, but most relate to aspects of AT&T's core telecommunications services, such as phone purchase options and data plan prices, rather than the loyalty program itself. Where these online comments do discuss the loyalty program, they compare it to loyalty programs offered by other telecommunications companies."

To win the case in the end, Citigroup will have to show that AT&T's use of the terms thanks or thank you will cause it irreparable harm, which legally requires that "the injury alleged to be irreparable must beactual and imminent, not merely possible."

That seems like a long shot, at least given Judge Forrest's opinion.

"The evidence of irreparable loss of reputational control Citigroup has advanced in support of the instant motion is much less convincing," she wrote. "As discussed below, to date there is no evidence of actual confusion by consumers."

That's the meat of the judge's argument, but she was clearly unimpressed with Citigroup's claims and went on for pages explaining why. That does not mean Citi will ultimately lose, but it's clear that the financial company has not yet made a compelling case as to why AT&T should not use the words thanks or thank you.

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.

Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. He thinksAlanis Morissettehas prior claim to the words "Thank you."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.
Image source: Getty Images.

American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK)reported its second-quarter 2016 results on Aug. 3. The largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility in the U.S. posted revenue growth of 5.8%, while earnings per share rose 13.2%.

Earnings releases usually don't provide much color about a company's performance or future prospects. A wealth of information is shared in the analyst conference calls following these releases. Here are three key things that you should know from American Water's Q2 call.(Transcript via Thomson Reuters.)

Things are looking up for Keystone Clearwater

CEO Susan Story commented on the performance of KeystoneClearwater Solutions, which American Water Works acquired in July 2015:

Keystone supplies water and related service to natural gas exploration and production companies working in the Appalachian Basin. Aqua America(NYSE: WTR) was the first publicly traded water company to enter -- or at least substantially so -- the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, water supply space. It was quite a lucrative business before the huge downturn in the energy markets started about two years ago.

As Story noted, natural gas companies are picking up their drilling activities, which is due largely to the rebounding price of natural gas. Management is optimistic about Keystone's prospects once the recovery in the natural gas market makes further progress.

While American Water expects Keystone to have a neutral effect on earnings this year, it expects it to be cash flow positive. Moreover, Keystone continues to gain more customers, with its market share of the water supplied to the natural gas companies working in the Appalachian Basin increasing from about 30% last quarter to 35% in Q2. So, when the market does make further progress in its recovery, Keystone should capture more of the profit pie.

Minimal hot-weather impact on financials expected

CFO Linda Sullivan spoke about the anticipated effects of this year's summer weather:

It's naturally a positive that the higher-than-average temperatures in many parts of the country in July aren't expected to have a notable negative impact on American Water's financials thanks to the smiling of the rain gods.

This topic illustrates one of the company's main competitive advantages: its geographic diversity. American Water is by far the most geographically diverse water utility. It operates in 47 U.S. states and one Canadian province, and operates as a regulated utility in 16 of these states. Its two largest competitors by market cap, Aqua America and American States Water (NYSE: AWR), operate in eight and seven states, respectively, though the vast majority of American States' business is in California, where it operates its sole regulated business.

One important benefit of this geographic diversity is that it makes American Water less vulnerable to drier-than-usual weather or droughts, which can pose challenges to water utilities because these conditions dry up water supplies. California's devastating drought, now in its fifth year, has had a sizable notable negative effect on American States Water's financial results.

A competitive advantage reflected in a soon-to-be acquisition

Story addressed future acquisitions for the company:

The above snippet illustrates a larger point: American Water Works' geographic diversity provides it with a competitive advantage in the acquisition process.The company's Iowa subsidiary has a water supply line about 2 1/2 miles from Blue Grass that it will extend into the town, the QC Times said, quoting a company spokesperson.

Neither Aqua America nor American States Water could ever provide a competitive bid to acquire the assets of this water system because of how far away their nearest operations are located. Even if there are smaller water companies operating nearby, they're likely not going to have the resources needed to make the necessary upgrades -- a key reason for the sale.

Summarizing in a drop

In short, while American Water Works has other things going for it, its industry-leading size and related geographic diversity are its primary competitive advantages.

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.

Beth McKenna 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.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, set to visit Milwaukee days after the city was hit by unrest over the fatal police shooting of a black man, said on Tuesday that initial evidence pointed to the shooting being justified.

Trump, who has been vocal in support of law enforcement during a spate of protests around the country over high-profile police shootings, told Fox News that he plans to address the unrest during a town hall meeting on Tuesday in the Wisconsin city.

"It's law and order. We have to obey the laws or we don't have a country," said Trump. "We have a case where good people are out there trying to get people to sort of calm down and they're not calming down and we have our police who are doing a phenomenal job."

Unrest broke out in the city on Saturday night after the death earlier in the day of Sylville Smith, 23. Authorities said Smith was stopped for acting suspiciously and then fled, and was shot by police because he was carrying an illegal handgun and refused orders to drop it.

"But the gun was pointed at his (a police officer's) head supposedly ready to be fired. Who can have a problem with that? Thats what the narrative is," Trump told Fox News. "Maybe its not true. If it is true, people shouldnt be rioting.

Trump convened a roundtable discussion with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and Inspector Edward Bailey.

Clarke, who is black and who spoke last month at the Republican National Convention, has been blunt in his assessment of the unrest, writing in an opinion piece for The Hill, "it was a collapse of the social order where tribal behavior leads to reacting to circumstances instead of waiting for facts to emerge."

Demonstrations on Saturday night turned violent, when cars and businesses were set ablaze and gunfire ripped through the area of protests. The city was calmer on Monday night after a curfew was put in place for teenagers, and community leaders called for peace.

Police violence against African-Americans has set off intermittent, sometimes violent protests in the past two years, igniting a national debate over race and policing in the United States and giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trump frequently talks about the need to restore safety and order in the wake of such unrest. He will hold an event with veterans and law enforcement, appear at the town hall meeting sponsored by Fox News, and then hold a rally in the Milwaukee suburb of West Bend on Tuesday night.

His presence in Milwaukee could prompt more demonstrations. Opponents of the New York real estate mogul frequently demonstrate inside and outside his campaign events. A rally in Chicago earlier this year was canceled after demonstrations grew violent.

Meanwhile, officials from the Office of Director of National Intelligence are expected to give Trump a wide-ranging briefing on national security issues this week, an adviser to Trump and a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Presidential candidates are entitled to receive a briefing of classified information after they formally secure the nomination, which Trump did last month. Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, is also entitled to receive a briefing if she requests one.

Democrats have been strongly critical of Trump's positions on foreign policy and national security, as well as of some of his freewheeling remarks. President Barack Obama has called Trump "unfit" for the presidency and earlier this month warned the Republican candidate that briefing information must be kept secret.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis)
A 57-year-old man who went to the emergency room for swelling of his extremities learned that his symptoms had an unusual cause: a massively enlarged chamber of his heart, according to a brief report his case.

Imaging tests revealed that the man had what his doctors described as a "giant right atrium," according to the report, published Aug. 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The right atrium is one of the four chambers of the heart.

Because of the enlarged chamber, the man had a "cardiothoracic ratio" of 0.82, according to the report.

The cardiothoracic ratio is a ration of the width of the heart is compared to the width of the chest, said Dr. David Majdalany, a cardiologist and director of the adult congenital heart disease center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who was not involved with the man's case. In other words, this man's heart was occupying 82 percent of the width in his chest cavity. A normal cardiothoracic ratio is less than 0.5, meaning that the heart takes less than 50 percent of the width in the chest, Majdalany added.

Indeed, an isolated enlarged right atrium is a very rare condition, Majdalany said.

The right atrium of the heart is responsible for receiving the blood that has returned from its trip around the body. From the right atrium, the blood is pumped down, into the lower chamber of the heart called the right ventricle, and it is then pumped out of the heart and sent to the lungs to receive oxygen, Majdalany said.

In the man's case, the doctors suspected that he was born with the condition. However, certain heart problems can also lead to an enlarged right atrium, Majdalany told Live Science. For example, conditions that cause too much blood to flow into the right atrium may lead to enlargement, he said. This is because the chamber needs to make more space to accommodate that extra volume of blood, he said. High pressure in the right chambers of the heart can also lead to right atrial enlargement, he said.

Problems with the valves in the heart(such as a leaky or narrow tricuspid or pulmonary valve), a hole between chambers of the heart, or abnormal vessels draining into the right atrium can cause too much blood to flow into the right atrium and increase the pressure within it, or the chamber size, Majdalany said.

But when the right atrium is enlarged with high pressure, blood doesn't return efficiently to the heart, which can cause pooling and swelling in the lower extremities, as the man in the case experienced. This slowdown in blood flow is what can cause swelling in other parts of the body, as the man in the case experienced. Because the right atrium receives the blood from the rest of the body, a problem with it can decrease blood flow in the vessels that lead to the atrium, including the veins in a person's legs, Majdalany said. Poor blood flow in the legs can result in swelling, he said.

Another problem that arises from slowed blood flow is the risk of clots, Majdalany said. When blood is not moving along, it's more likely to clot, he said. These clots can form in the legs or the right atrium and travel to the lungs, or if there is a hole between the two atria, to the brain and cause a stroke, he added.

There are different approaches to treating a person with an enlarged right atrium, Majdalany said. The treatment depends in part on whether the patient has symptoms, and in part on what caused the condition in the first place. For example, if the condition is caused by a problem with a valve or excess blood flow into the right atrium, surgeons may repair the valve or re-route the blood flow, Majdalany said. If the condition is caused by a problem with the heart's rhythm, a procedure called "ablation" may be used to correct the rhythm, he said. And in some cases, surgeons can operate to reduce the size of the atrium, he said.

In the man's case, the doctors who treated him did not perform any surgeries, they wrote in their report. The man was given anticoagulants to prevent blood clots and his condition has not gotten any worse in the past year, according to the report.

Originally published on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
About 190 million Americans affiliate with a rich and diverse variety of religious groups in our great country. The genius of our Founding Fathers guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Because of their determination and foresight, Americans are able, by law and in practice, to find meaning and blessing in religion, unmolested by anyone who holds different beliefs or no religious belief at all.

Globally, approximately 5.8 billion people identify with some religious belief or practice. Too many of them do not enjoy the freedoms of expression and practice that Americans do. The Pew Research Center reports that 75 percent of the worlds population lives in areas with severe religious restrictions. Governments often suppress religious expression, or turn a blind eye when religious minorities are targets of discrimination or violence.

The list of religious minorities at risk is long. It includes the Bahai in Iran, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Hindus in Bangladesh, and numerous religious groups in China. Anti-Semitism is spiking in Europe and Islamophobia rises with every Islamist terror attack.

Far and away, however, the most endangered religious minorities are Christian. From Boko Haram in Nigeria, to the Copts in Egypt, to attacks in Iraq, to Pakistan and its blasphemy laws, 100 million Christians are imperiled like no other group today. While we take our freedoms for granted, millions of Christians approach each day uncertain if they, their property or their houses of worship will survive.

The threats are growing and all too real: On July 25, two ISIS-inspired terrorists invaded a church in Normandy. One slit the throat of the 84-year-old Catholic priest, while the other delivered an oration from the altar in Arabic to the hostages. What was new about this outrage was not the barbarism, but the fact that the church was on an ISIS hit list. We know that ISIS had publicized other lists, including the directories of houses of worship, specifying targets to its vast numbers of sympathizers without having to coordinate the attacks. The Normandy episode represents an ominous escalation: the targeting of the faithful from lists of suggested targets. Can such an incident on American soil be far behind?

Millions of Americans are understandably concerned about their co-religionists in other lands. Many more of us -- including those who profess no faith at all -- believe that religious affiliation is a fundamental part of identity, and therefore a basic human right. They want to see the U.S. do more to protect religious minorities worldwide, as well as in our own country.

The 45th President of the United States needs to answer some questions, so Americans know their views:

Will you make the protection of religious minorities a core part of your foreign policy?

Will you link such protection as a precondition to bilateral aid -- or trade?

Will you support the Three Day Initiative  the idea that every government must ensure that all its citizens who leave their homes to worship on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday can go to and from worship unmolested?

Will you instruct our diplomatic corps to monitor and report on attacks on religious minorities?

Should endangered Syrian and Iraqi Christians and Yazidis receive preferential consideration over other Syrians seeking to migrate to the U.S.?

Should anyone seeking to emigrate to the U.S. be vetted for hatred of religious groups in their native countries?

Your response to our questions will help Americans make an informed choice this November.

Respectfully submitted,

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein

Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez

Mahomed Khan
The column originally appeared in The Boston Globe.

It is a real tragedy that Black Lives Matter  which has done so much good in raising awareness of police abuses  has now moved away from its central mission and has declared war against the nation state of the Jewish people. In a recently issued platform, more than 60 groups that form the core of the Black Lives Matter movement went out of their way to single out one foreign nation to accuse of genocide and apartheid.

No, it wasnt the Syrian government, which has killed tens of thousands of innocent people with barrel bombs, chemicals, and gas. Nor was it Saudi Arabia, which openly practices gender and religious apartheid. It wasnt Iran, which hangs gays and murders dissidents. It wasnt China, which has occupied Tibet for more than half a century. And it wasnt Turkey, which has imprisoned journalists, judges, and academics. Finally, it wasnt any of the many countries, such as Venezuela or Mexico, where police abuses against innocent people run rampant and largely unchecked. Nor was it the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the police are a law unto themselves who act as judge, jury and executioner of those whose politics or religious practices they disapprove.

It was only Israel, the nation state of the Jewish people and the only democracy in the Middle East. The platform accuses the US of being complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people by providing aid to an apartheid state.

To be sure, Black Lives Matter is not a monolithic organization. It is a movement comprising numerous groups. Many of its supporters have no idea what the platform says. They cannot be faulted for supporting the movement or its basic mission. But the platform is the closest thing to a formal declaration of principles by Black Lives Matter. The genocide paragraph may well have been injected by radicals who are not representative of the mainstream. But now that it has officially been published, all decent supporters of Black Lives Matter  and there are many  must demand its removal.

Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic. Like other democracies, including our own, it has faults. Criticizing Israels settlement and occupation policies is fair game. But singling Israel out and falsely accusing it of genocide can be explained in no other way than blatant hatred of Jews and their state.

In defending its citizens against terrorism since before its establishment as a state in 1948, Israel has killed fewer Palestinians than did Jordan and Syria in two much shorter wars. The relatively low number of civilian deaths caused by Israeli self-defense measures over the past 68 years compares favorably to the number of civilian deaths in other conflicts. This is because, as Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, put it: There has been no time in the history of warfare when an Army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties...than [the Israel Defense Forces]. Though Kemp was specifically referring to the wars in the Gaza Strip  which are also the apparent focus of the Black Lives Matter Platform  his conclusion is applicable to all wars Israel has fought.

Genocide means the deliberate extermination of a race, such as done by Nazi Germany to Jews and Sinti and Roma or by the Hutu against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It has no application to deaths caused by self-defense measures taken to protect citizens against terrorism. To falsely accuse Israel of genocide  the worst crime of all, and the crime whose very name was coined to describe the systematic murder of 6 million Jews  is anti-Semitic.

Until and unless Black Lives Matter removes this blood libel from its platform and renounces it, no decent person  black, white, or of any other racial or ethnic background  should have anything to do with it. We should continue to fight against police abuses by supporting other organizations or forming new ones. But we must not become complicit in the promotion of anti-Semitism just because we agree with the rest of the Black Lives Matter program.

To support an organization or movement that promotes anti-Semitism because it also supports good causes is the beginning of the road to accepting racism. Many racist groups have also promoted causes that deserve support. The Black Panthers had breakfast programs for inner-city children, while advocating violence against whites. And the Ku Klux Klan organized summer camps for working-class families, while advocating violence against blacks.

There must be zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, regardless of the race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation of the bigots who promote, practice or are complicit with it. Being on the right side of one racial issue does not give one a license to be on the wrong side of the oldest bigotry.

To give Black Lives Matter a pass on its anti-Jewish bigotry would be to engage in racism. Black anti-Semitism is as inexcusable as white anti-Semitism or white racism. There can be no double standard when it comes to bigotry.

I write this column both in sorrow and in anger. In sorrow because I support the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement  I have long been involved in efforts to expose and prevent police abuses  and worry that this obnoxious and divisionary platform plank may destroy its credibility with regard to police abuse in America by promoting deliberate lies about Israel. It is also alienating Jewish and other supporters who could help them achieve their goals here at home  as many such individuals have historically done in actively supporting all aspects of the civil rights movement.

I write it in anger because there is never an excuse for bigotry and for promoting blood libels against the Jewish people and their state. It must stop. And those who engage in it must be called out for condemnation.

Black Lives Matter should rescind the portions of the platform that falsely accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid. If it does not, it risks ending in the dustbin of history, along with other discredited bigoted groups.

It would be sad if the good work done by Black Lives Matter were now to be sidetracked by the mendacious and irrelevant accusation of genocide and apartheid against one foreign democracy  Israel.
Donald Trump keeps saying that Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. But the media fact checkers are having none of it. Last week, CNN called his accusation persistent and false. At the same time, a Washington Post editorial also called the claim absurd.

In his analysis for CNN, Eric Bradner acknowledges Clintons support for many different types of gun control -- a 25 percent tax on handguns, an assault weapons ban, repeal of laws allowing permitted concealed handguns, and background checks on the private transfer of guns. Clinton also has supported increased fees and a variety of regulations that her husband imposed. Thanks to Bill Clintons regulations, the number of licensed firearms dealers from 248,155 in 1992 to 67,479 in 2000 -- a 73 percent reduction.

The media picks and chooses when to take Clinton at her word. CNN pointed to a recent Fox News Sunday appearance where Hillary Clinton claimed: "I'm not looking to repeal the Second Amendment. I'm not looking to take people's guns away." The Washington Post noted a statement from her campaign website about how gun ownership is part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities.

But in June, ABCs George Stephanopoulos pushed Clinton twice on whether people have a right to own guns. But that's not what I asked. I said do you believe that their conclusion that an individual's right to bear arms is a constitutional right? Clinton could only say: If it is a constitutional right . . . .

Similarly, in New York City in the fall, she told donors: The Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment, and I am going to make that case every chance that I get. In Maryland in April, Chelsea Clinton promised that her mom would appoint to the Supreme Court justices who would overturn past decisions that struck down gun-control measures. But the only laws that the Supreme Court evaluated were complete gun bans and a law that made it a crime to use a gun.

Washington, D.C., had a complete handgun ban in place until 2008. It was also a felony, punishable by five years in prison, to put a bullet in the chamber of a gun. This amounted to a complete gun ban on using guns for self-defense. The U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down that ban.

Clinton told Stephanopoulos her opinion of this ruling: I think that for most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment until the decision by the late Justice Scalia. She continued, There was no argument until then that localities and states and the federal government had a right, as we do with every amendment, to impose reasonable regulation.

Clinton went on to talk about her push for expanded background checks, an issue that was irrelevant to Scalias decision in Heller. Instead, the question is why was D.C.s local gun ban a reasonable regulation. Why should people be imprisoned for five years for defending their families?

In McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in his dissent: "I can find nothing in the Second Amendments text, history, or underlying rationale that could warrant characterizing it as fundamental insofar as it seeks to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purposes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor signed on to Breyers opinion.

Breyer and Ginsburg were both appointed by President Bill Clinton. Sotomayor was Obamas first nominee to the Supreme Court. Obamas second nominee, Elana Kagan, would clearly have voted the same way had she been on the court at the time of McDonald. Indeed, Kagan served in Bill Clintons administration and helped lead the Presidents gun control initiatives.

The Washington Post dismisses all this talk about the Supreme Court by saying that appointing Justices to the court would not be anything like abolishing an amendment, which no court can do. And it is true that the court cant simply remove the amendment from the Constitution. But the media is appearing to be deliberately obtuse. If the court reverses Heller and McDonald and changes its interpretation of the Second Amendment as Hillary promises, what will really be left of the Second Amendment?

The media might not like to admit it, but The War on Guns is real. If Hillary wins in November, she will appoint Scalias successor and the Supreme Court will overturn the Heller and McDonald decisions. Make no mistake about it, the government will again be able to ban guns. Her claim that she isn't looking to take people's guns away is not consistent with her promise to overturn existing Supreme Court decisions.
Aetna Inc. will withdraw from 11 of the 15 states where it currently offers plans through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, becoming the latest of the major national health insurers to pull back sharply from the laws signature marketplaces after steep financial losses.

Aetnas move will sharpen concerns about competitive options in the exchangesand it puts at least one county, Pinal in Arizona, at risk of having no insurers offering exchange plans in 2017, a circumstance that would present a major challenge to the basic mechanics of the ACA.

The law mandates that most people acquire health coverage, and offers subsidies to lower-income consumers who dont qualify for Medicaid. To obtain the subsidies, though, people are supposed to purchase their plans through ACA exchanges.

Stephen Briggs, a spokesman for Arizonas state insurance regulator, said the state currently has no insurers that have filed to offer exchange plans in Pinal, a county in the Phoenix area. Its a concern for us, he said, but the regulator doesnt have any legal leverage to compel anyone to offer a plan. However, the regulator is speaking to other insurers about offering exchange plans in Pinal, he said, and circumstances could change.

A spokesman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services said, we are working collaboratively with the Arizona Department of Insurance and remain confident that all Arizona residents will have access to coverage next year.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona said in June that it would withdraw from Pinal County and Maricopa County, in the wake of steep losses, but maintain its exchange presence in the remainder of the state. The nonprofit had said in June that it stayed in more-rural counties partly because it couldnt overlook that several counties would have no options or very limited access if we didnt find a way to stay in the market. A spokeswoman had no immediate comment late Monday.

Aetna will reduce the number of counties where it sells exchange plans next year to 242 from 778, a dramatic turn that came a few weeks after the insurer said it expected steep losses for the year and would reconsider its participation in the market, which it had previously called an important opportunity.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
House Republicans have detailed perjury allegations against Hillary Clinton, citing the apparent conflict between her 2015 congressional testimony about her email practices and the FBI's conclusions announced in July, according to a letter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

"The four pieces of sworn testimony by Secretary Clinton described herein are incompatible with the FBI's findings," House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., wrote to U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips. "We hope this information is helpful to your office's consideration of our referral."

The Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, Peter Kadzik, confirmed in an Aug. 2 letter to both committees they had the perjury investigation request and the department would "take appropriate action as necessary."

The one-page response offered no timeline nor specific commitment to act on the allegations.

According to the Justice Department website, Kadzik, "led the successful effort to confirm Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates." Both women were central players handling the Clinton email matter.

Chaffetz and Goodlatte, who have direct oversight for the FBI, wrote to the U.S. attorney that Clinton testified under oath on Oct. 22, 2015, before the Benghazi Select Committee, where she also took questions about her email practices from Republican congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio.

"Secretary Clinton stated 'there was nothing marked classified on my emails, either sent or received," the letter states. However, FBI Director James Comey said July 5 that a "very small number of the emails containing classified information bore the markings indicating the presence of classified information." At least three emails had a (C) for Confidential which is the lowest level of classification. Fox News first reported in June that classified markings existed, despite Clinton's public claims.

The letter continued, "Contrary to her sworn testimony, Secretary Clinton's lawyers did not read each email in her personal account to identify all the work related messages."

Clinton told Jordan that her team "went through every single email." The FBI Director said his investigators found that Clinton's lawyers did not read all the emails, and relied on a narrow set of search terms to identify which emails were work-related.

"The lawyers doing the sorting for Secretary Clinton in 2014 did not individually read the content of all her e-emails," Comey said July 5. Instead, they "relied on header information and used search terms."

Clinton also testified to Congress there was only one server.

But the FBI Director said investigators found "Clinton used several different servers and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department and used numerous mobile devices to review and send e-mail on that personal domain."

The congressmen emphasized that while Clinton told Congress, and the public, she turned over all her work-related emails, the FBI found otherwise.

"I provided you, with all my work related emails, all that I had. Approximately 55,000 pages. And they are being publicly released," Clinton testified. But FBI investigators found "several thousand work related emails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014."

In the course of its investigation, the FBI recovered most but not all of the deleted records. The search included the laborious review of the millions of email fragments dumped into the slack space of the server decomissioned in 2013."

A retired assistant FBI director, and 28-year-veteran of the bureau, said a perjury review is generally straightforward for agents.

"They look at the transcript of the testimony they provided in light of what they know to be, suspect to be the truth. They investigate both sides and take the aggregate and turn it over to the prosecuting authority for a decision," Steven Pomerantz said.

"Since the Director (Comey) already established what she (Clinton) said and the investigation is complete, it would be a relatively simple matter to make a decision about perjury... given the history of this, it's hard to say - it would seem to me a matter of weeks not months in this case."

A violation of 18 USC 1621 can lead to a fine, imprisonment up to five years, or both though legal experts said the crux of the case will rely on showing intent.

When Comey testified July 7, Clinton's campaign said some of his statements vindicated the candidate's public statements.

In his testimony today, Comey has reconciled most every apparent contradiction between his remarks Tuesday and Clinton's public statements, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said on Twitter.
Newly leaked emails and other files from billionaire George Soros' web of organizations are shedding light on the liberal powerbroker's extensive influence in political and diplomatic affairs.

One email chain shows the Wall Street titan in 2011 personally wrote then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging intervention in Albanias political unrest. Within days, an envoy he recommended was dispatched to the region.

Other emails seem to show Soros using his billions to push an anti-Israel agenda, while other documents reportedly detail funding for various grassroots organizations that were loosely linked to the 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

The revelations mostly stem from a recent hack by a group called DC Leaks  which describes itself as American hacktivists who respect and appreciate freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people.

The files  all 2,576 of them from 2008 to 2016  were released Saturday and provide an eye-opening look into Soros political operations.

In a Jan. 23, 2011 email, Soros adviser Jonas Rolett sent Richard Verma, then-assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, a letter to "Hillary" about the situation in Albania. At the time, the country was seeing an escalation of political instability and violence fueled by accusations of corruption involving the prime minister.

Soros email provided instructions on what the American response should be and gave Clinton the names of three possible mediators who could provide analysis of the crisis.

I believe two things need to be done urgently: 1. Bring the full weight of the international community to bear on Prime Minister Berisha and opposition leader Edi Rama to forestall further public demonstrations and to tone down public pronouncements. 2. Appoint a senior European official as a mediator, the letter said.

He suggested three mediators, including Miroslav Lajcak, saying all three ... have strong connections to the Balkans. He added, My foundation in Tirana is monitoring the situation closely and can provide independent analysis of the crisis.

Lajcak was ultimately dispatched by the European Union to meet with Albanian leaders in Tirana and worked toward ending the unrest there. It's unclear from the emails whether the State Department had forwarded Soros' recommendation to the E.U.

Separately, the billionaire's Soros Open Society Foundation reportedly sought to challenge what were described in documents as Israels racist and anti-democratic policies in part by questioning Israels reputation as a democracy.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the group gave $10 million since 2001 to organizations promoting Arab-Israeli rights, focusing on countering Israel's "restrictive measures."

The Washington Times, meanwhile, reported that Soros' financial help supported groups that fueled the 2014 protests in Ferguson.

According to tax filings, Soros spent $33 million to support already-established groups that emboldened the grass-roots, on-the-ground activists in Ferguson, the newspaper wrote.

Records also show the founder of Soros Fund Management, which boasts $29 billion in assets, has a vested interest in how the presidential elections play out this year.

So far, hes donated more than $25 million to Clinton and other Democratic Party members this cycle -- though that number is expected to go higher as the general election in November nears.

Soros also has shelled out money for Media Matters and has been a major financial contributor to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman.

Soros also had a relationship with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In 2004, the Wall Street titan lent Trump $160 million to help with the construction of Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.

In 2008, both were named in a lawsuit brought by Leslie Dick Worldwide Ltd., a real estate developer. The suit, which was later dismissed, involved the sale of the General Motors Building in New York City.

A year later, the billionaire buddies hobnobbed at a Christmas Eve party hosted by Nouriel Roubini, according to The Daily Beast.
EXCLUSIVE: Shortly after Hillary Clinton left the Obama administration, the State Department quietly took steps to purchase real estate in Nigeria from a firm whose parent company is owned by a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, records obtained by Fox News show.

On March 20, 2013, William P. Franklin, an international realty specialist at the State Department, emailed Mary E. Davis, an American diplomat stationed in Africa, instructing her to put on Post letterhead an expression of interest by the department in purchasing property at Eko Atlantic, a massive real estate development off the coast of Lagos. Franklin further instructed that the signed letter was to be delivered to Ronald Chagoury.

The draft letter, also obtained by Fox News, was undated and addressed to Chagoury care of his firm South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the larger Chagoury Group that is spearheading the Eko Atlantic real estate venture. The State Department letter sought, among other things, to confirm that the department could proceed with acquisition of the real property[at] the asking price of $1,250 per square meter.

Overtures to real estate developers from State Department officials scouting locations for embassies, consulates and other diplomatic facilities would ordinarily not arouse interest. But in this case, the budding transaction  never completed, the department now says  raised eyebrows because Ronald Chagoury is the brother and business partner, in the Chagoury Group, of Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-born businessman whom federal records show has donated between $1 and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Indeed, Gilbert Chagourys friendship with the Clintons can be traced back to the Clinton presidency. In the mid-1990s, Chagoury donated nearly $500,000 to a voter-registration drive designed to help Democratic candidates, attended a White House dinner for premium donors, and met with high-ranking officials in the Clinton White House  including Susan Rice, now President Obamas national security adviser  who were shaping U.S. policy toward Nigeria.

More recently, the Chagourys close ties to the Clintons generated headlines when a separate series of emails from 2009  between Doug Band, an aide to former President Clinton and Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary Clinton  revealed the eagerness of the State Department to oblige a request for Chagoury to be granted access to senior officials working on Lebanon.

The State Departments outreach to the Chagoury family, looking to buy property from the brothers, came less than a month after former President Clinton himself toured the Eko Atlantic project  for the second time. The first occasion was the ground breaking, in 2009, in which the former president participated. By all accounts, Eko Atlantic represents a staggeringly ambitious undertaking: the dredging of millions of tons of sand from the sea floor off Victoria Island and the creation of an estimated 3.5 square miles of new land, on which the Chagourys aim to establish what they call a 21st century city  for residential, commercial, financial and tourist development.

Mr. Clinton toured the Eko Atlantic site for the second time on February 21, 2013  twenty days after his wife left the State Department  to celebrate the Chagourys reclamation of 5 million square meters of land, a critical juncture in the project.

Smiling and animated, Mr. Clinton was photographed conferring with Gilbert Chagoury and Jeffrey J. Hawkins, the consul general for the State Department in Nigeria. Twenty-seven days later, when William P. Franklin would order aides to begin exploring the acquisition of land from South Energyx, the Chagoury-owned company, Hawkins would be one of four State Department officials copied on Franklins email.

A month after Bill Clinton visits a Gilbert and Ronald Chagoury-run land project in Nigeria, the U.S. State Department wants to buy the same land, said David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United, the conservative advocacy group whose litigation against the State Department pried loose the Franklin email and accompanying letter. Who could be so lucky? A major donor to the Clinton Foundation, thats who.

Queried by Fox News about the matter, the State Department said its officials had prioritized the search for a new consulate location in Lagos back in 2011  when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state  and that an independent international real estate firm had identified Eko Atlantic as a potential site the following year.

Our site search process  is managed by career real estate professionals in the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, with input from independent real estate firms and other department stakeholders, said Elizabeth Trudeau, a State Department spokeswoman, at a briefing for reporters on Monday. The department has had conversations with multiple property owners and their representatives about the possibility of acquiring property for a new consulate in Lagos.

Trudeau could not explain why a prioritized mission had dragged on for five years without success, noting only that acquiring property thats appropriate for a diplomatic facility can be a long process. Asked if Secretary Clinton had been aware of her departments identification of the Chagoury-owned land as a potential site for a consulate, Trudeau replied: Im not aware she was.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Mark Corallo, a Washington-based spokesman for Gilbert Chagoury, said in a statement that given the projects state-of-the-art urban design, including advanced telecommunications and security features, it should come as no surprise that the United States government and other governments from around the world are considering Eko Atlantic as a new opportunity for locating their offices that operate in Lagos.

John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Fox News contributor, said the entire series of events involving the Clintons and the Chagourys appeared, at a minimum, poorly handled to insulate Secretary Clinton from conflict of interest charges.

The impression left is that theres favoritism involved, Bolton said. And its just very unusual in State Department real estate and housing transactions overseas to have this kind of focus on someone with such clear financial connections to even the departed secretary of state. Normally, theres much more competitive activity involved, [of] which we havent seen any evidence from the State Department.

Experts agreed the March 2013 email from William P. Franklin to Mary E. Davis, triggering the State Departments letter to Ronald Chagoury for a possible real estate transaction, would likely have formed only one set of documents in a longer trail that would have dated back to 2012  the year the State Department said Eko Atlantic had been identified as a potential site for a new consulate.

Such a trail would presumably include internal correspondence addressing the suitability of the Eko Atlantic site and, perhaps, flagging the potential conflict of interest that could be cited, given the longstanding ties between the Clintons and the Chagourys.

But Citizens United said no other documents on the consulate-scouting effort were turned over by the State Department. The group filed its initial Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department for records relating to Gilbert Chagoury back in 2014, and, receiving no reply, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in April 2015.
As many as 100,000 Iranian-backed Shiite militia are now fighting on the ground in Iraq, according to U.S. military officials -- raising concerns that should the Islamic State be defeated, it may only be replaced by another anti-American force that fuels further sectarian violence in the region.

The ranks have swelled inside a network of Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Since the rise of Sunni-dominated ISIS fighters inside Iraq more than two years ago, the Shiite forces have grown to 100,000 fighters, Col. Chris Garver, a Baghdad-based U.S. military spokesman, confirmed in an email to Fox News. The fighters are mostly Iraqis.

Garver said not all the Shia militias in Iraq are backed by Iran, adding: The [Iranian-backed] Shia militia are usually identified at around 80,000.

According to some experts, this still is an alarmingly high number.

The effect of the Obama administrations policy has been to replace American boots on the ground with the Iranians. As Iran advances, one anti-American actor is being replaced with another, Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a recent phone interview.

Garver said other Popular Mobilization fighters also consist of Sunni tribal fighters from Anbar and Nineveh provinces in Iraq.

Whether the force size is 80,000 or 100,000, the figures are the first-known estimates of the Iranian-backed fighters. The figure first surfaced in a recent Tampa Bay Times article and marks the latest evidence of Tehrans deepening involvement in the war against ISIS, with the U.S. military also confirming that Russian bombers are now flying into Syria from a base in Iran. The growth also could create greater risk for Americans operating in the country, as at least one Iran-backed group vowed earlier this year to attack U.S. forces supporting the Iraqis.

Even more troubling to the U.S. military are reports that Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian general who commands the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, is now on the ground outside Mosul ahead of an expected operation to retake Iraqs second-largest city which has been under ISIS control for the past two years.

According to the Long War Journal, a spokesman for the Iranian-backed forces said earlier this month that Soleimani is expected to play a major role in the battle for Mosul.

When asked about Shia militias participating in the liberation of Sunni-dominated Mosul, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said last week, The government of Iraq is in charge of this war. We're here to support them. So, who they [want in] the campaign is really their decision.

A U.S. military official could not confirm Soleimanis presence in Mosul, but said Soleimani had been seen throughout Iraq and Syria in the past two years coordinating activities.

Garver stressed Tuesday there is no coordination between the U.S. and Iranians. We are not coordinating with the Iranians in any way, we are not working with them in any way, he said during a press conference, adding: However the government of Iraq comes up with the plan, we are supporting [their] plan for the seizure of Mosul.

Last August, Fox News first reported Soleimanis visit to Moscow 10 days after the landmark nuclear agreement in July to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and top Russian officials to plan Russias upcoming deployment to Syria in late September.

Soleimani is banned from international travel through United Nations Security Council resolutions. He was first designated a terrorist and sanctioned by the U.S. in 2005. In October 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department tied Soleimani to the failed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States at a popular restaurant in Washington, D.C. Soleimanis Quds Force is the special forces external wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, responsible for supporting terrorist proxies across the Middle East.

At his confirmation hearing last year, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford was asked how many Americans were killed by Iranian-backed forces under the command of Soleimani.

"The number has been recently quoted as about 500. We weren't always able to attribute the casualties we had to Iranian activity, although many times we suspected it was Iranian activity even though we didn't necessarily have the forensics to support that," Dunford said.

The threat to American troops remains. Last month, firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- responsible for attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq a decade ago  once again called for his supporters to kill American troops.

[U.S. forces] are a target for us, he said on his website.

In March, one Iranian-backed group said it would attack U.S. forces after the Pentagon announced that hundreds of U.S. Marines were supporting Iraqi forces with artillery fire.

"If the U.S. administration doesn't withdraw its forces immediately, we will deal with them as forces of occupation," Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) said on its TV channel.

The Iranian-backed group has claimed responsibility for over 6,000 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq since 2006 and operates under the supervision of Soleimani, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War.

Meanwhile, there are more indications that Russia and Iran are expanding their military ties. The U.S. military has confirmed that Russian bombers flying from a base in Iran have bombed three areas in Syria.

In addition to the up to 100,000 Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, there are thousands of Iranian-backed forces in Syria as well in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Some of these Iranian-backed forces come from as far as Afghanistan and hundreds have recently died fighting Syrian rebels in the city of Aleppo, according to recent reports.
The Hyperloop high-speed transportation system may make its commercial debut in Dubai.

Rob Lloyd, the CEO of Hyperloop One, recently told TechCrunch that the startup is in talks with with DP World, the third-largest supply chain and terminal operator in the world, to deploy the system online in Dubai's Jebel Ali Port.

Hyperloop One is looking to develop the electric-propulsion-based high-speed system, which is the brainchild of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Lloyd's company recently tested its technology in the desert near Las Vegas.

TechCrunch reports that DP World and Hyperloop One are currently conducting an economic feasibility study at the Jebel Ali Port, where DP World has recently completed its 4th and 5th terminals. DP World envisions a possible submerged, floating Hyperloop system to move cargo that would free up space on land.

The Hyperloop concept was introduced by Musk in 2013. The high-speed tube transportation system aims to reach speeds of over 700 miles per hour. In addition to Hyperloop One, a company named Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is working to develop its own Hyperloop technology.

Hyperloop One is also conducting feasibility studies in Russia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, according to Tech Crunch.
Wildlife photographer Krzysztof Chomicz often captures eagles on camera, but now the photographer has completed his second rescue of a trapped eagle.

In July, the photographer discovered a white-tailed eagle trapped in a muddy swamp near Swinoujscie, Poland, and pulled it to shore, enduring thick mud and some pecks from the distraught bird in the process. He turned the bird over to an animal sanctuary to recover from the ordeal. Although the incident occurred last month, the video is just beginning to go viral.

The eagle, now named Icarus after the character in Greek mythology that flew too close to the sun, is expected to recover. The animal sanctuary estimates the eagle is about six months old and that the incident could have been his first flight. A later video shows the young bird inside the animal sanctuary:

The rescue was captured with a drone camera, showing the photographer dragging the bird out of the mud from what appears to be a pretty good distance from the shore. A second rescuer stood on land, pulling a rope attached to the photographer's waist as Chomicz kicked his way back to shore. Local firefighters also assisted in the rescue, local media reported.

The rescue, however, wasn't Chomicz's first -- he rescued a young eagle stuck in a similar situation last year near the mouth of the Oder River in Poland. He told local news outlets that the mother had been circling it. That bird was also delivered to an aviary, where it was expected to recover before being released back into the wild.

According to National Geographic, the white-tailed eagle was once nearly extinct as a result of pollution and habitat loss. The eagle population grew in the 80's after the chemicals DDT and PCBs were banned, and now there are an estimated 25,000 in Europe. The birds have an eight-foot wingspan and are considered the largest bird of prey in northern Europe. Chomicz had an image of an eagle featured in a 2012 issue of a magazine.
A woman who tumbled off a cruise ship without a life jacket kept herself alive for 38 hours, dodging large ships that could pull her under in their wake and dozing off while treading water, before she was rescued by fishermen in the South China Sea.

The 32-year-old Chinese tourist, identified only by her surname, Fan, was traveling with her parents last week aboard a five-day Royal Caribbean cruise from Shanghai to South Korea to China, the South China Morning Post reported.

Chinese woman left to drift after falling off cruise ship: https://t.co/WDq1GxHd3r #9News pic.twitter.com/uwDg3IFIf0  Nine News Adelaide (@9NewsAdel) August 16, 2016

She said she was out alone when she leaned too far over a fourth-deck railing and fell the equivalent of seven stories into the sea. The local coast guard said she was lucky even to have survived the fall.

Fan said no one saw her go overboard or heard her cries for help because it was late at night.

The following morning, after her parents reported her missing, the staff and more than 100 volunteers conducted a search for her aboard the ship, The Telegraph reported. Surveillance cameras showed her walking alone on the deck, but they did not capture her fall, her father told police.

Fan said after her rescue that she swam away from large ships during her ordeal to avoid being sucked under by their wake. She said she became exhausted and, still treading water, dozed off the next night.

When she woke up, after more than a day and a half in the water, she saw a fishing vessel and swam toward it. The fishermen pulled her onto their ship late in the morning, police said.

Only after I heard my daughters voice did I believe she was still alive. Its a miracle, the father said.

Fan was taken to the hospital with nothing more than some blisters on her arm, the result of jellyfish stings.

FoxNews.com has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment.
Japan seems intent on cornering the market of robot hotels.

Regardless of how awesome it would be to have a hotel for robots, we are referring to hotels for humans run by robots.

The Asahi Shimbun (h/t CNET) reports Henn-na Hotel, which TravelPulse has gleefully covered in the past, is set to open yet another location  this time near Tokyos Disney Resort. According to the report, locals and tourists can expect to enjoy its confines when it opens in March.

The report continues that Huis Ten Bosch Inc., the company that runs the hotels, isnt content to merely have a couple of robot hotels in the area.

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No, it wants to continue pumping these bad boys out as if they were T-1000s on a line to world domination.

The report states that tourists can expect a third installation to open at some point in the summer of next year in Aichi while a fourth is planned in Osaka in 2017. At that point, we will be searching for John Connor to save us from our robot overlords...but things should be fun in the interim.

Huis Ten Bosch President Hideo Sawada explains there is more value at work than technology, via Asahi: Both Tokyo and Osaka continue to experience a lack of hotel accommodations. The hotels are sure to be a big success, as they will be installed near outstanding theme parks.

We recently illustrated how robots and artificial intelligence have spread beyond technologys previous expanse to cover a wide swath of the industry. In fact, we can now say that much of the innovation has meandered past the realm of curio and into tech that is becoming a crucial part of the travel experience.

The report continues, stating that the now famed dinosaur robot will feature prominently at the second location that is less than a 20-minute walk from the JR Maihama Station.

As for human workers, the need for about 20 actual people on staff has been whittled down to just six.

For the moment, tourists occupying the room will remain human. This, we presume, is subject to change at a moments notice.
A Virgin Atlantic passenger has been issued a lifetime ban from the company after engaging in a drunken fight with a flight attendant and assaulting a police officer.

Lauren Johnson, a British national and the wife of a Dubai-based restaurateur, was flying from Dubai to Heathrow on June 17. According to the Evening Standard, Johnson began drinking during the flight and allegedly told a stewardess, You wear too much make-up. Look at you, you old hag, old slag covered in fake tan.

As the plane was nearing Heathrow, a flight attendant reportedly heard banging on the cockpit door.

Addressing the U.K.-based court on Monday, prosecutor Neil Guest said that Johnson was on the other side trying to get in.

On the other side was this defendant holding a child and she said, My baby wants to wave to the captain. This was not allowed. Later, the same attendant saw Mrs Johnson standing up with her child as the plane approached Heathrow. She was asked to sit down and replied, I wont f***ing sit down. I need to find my husband.  Johnson then allegedly told her husband: Im going to punch her in the face.

Upon landing Johnson continued to swear and wave her arms around. Her husband reportedly covered his wifes mouth with his hands in an effort to keep her subdued. But police were called to the gate and escorted Johnson off the flight.

Woman banned from Virgin for LIFE after shocking drunken tirade at air hostess https://t.co/FfPIbkSXPK pic.twitter.com/IcL5lkCisH  Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) August 16, 2016

"She was still shouting and being abusive and had to be handcuffed and lifted up by the officers because she refused to walk, Guest told the court. After arriving at the police station, Johnson hit a policewoman on the chin.

Johnson, a first-time offender plead guilty to being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting the officer. In court she called the behavior completely out of character.

We travel at least once a month and I have never done anything like this before, said Johnson. According to the Mirror, she also told the court she had been issued a lifetime ban from Virgin over the incident.

At sentencing, Judge Robin Johnson told the defendant, Those who get drunk on an airplane and abuse staff often go to prison. The only thing saving you is that when you were violent it was after you left the plane. If it was on the plane you would have gone to prison.

He also warned her to stay clear of alcohol on her next trip.

Johnson received a jail sentence of four months, and was fined over $5,870 and ordered to pay additional compensation to the injured officer and other parties.
Shipping is the final (and arguably most important) frontier when it comes to satisfying customers. Big box retailers have made shipping a priority by routinely examining and revamping their fulfillment methods, resulting in solutions like Amazon Prime, Walmarts two-day shipping subscription and eBays Fast N Free initiative.

Keeping an eye on trends and adopting new, relevant shipping methods will not only help improve customer satisfaction, but it will also help small business owners meet their bottom lines and compete with the big dogs.

Here are five logistics trends and strategies that all retail business owners should evaluate.

1. Free shipping is expected.

According to a Deloitte survey, free shipping is the top priority for shoppers when it comes to retail policies, and nine in 10 shoppers prioritize free shipping over fast shipping when shopping online.

For small businesses to remain competitive, and avoid shopping cart abandonment, theyll need to strongly consider incorporating free shipping as an option. As all businesses know, shipping is never really free.

On a basic level, there are a few strategies to help businesses cover the cost of free shipping. First, increase product prices to cover shipping costs. In this case, the customer pays. Second, the business pays the full price of shipping. Third, the company slightly increases prices of products to cover some shipping costs, so that both pay a portion.

Businesses can also get creative, offering free shipping when a customer hits a minimum order value. This strategy can help by increasing an average order size; therefore, increasing profits to help offset shipping costs.

2. Deliver packages at a specific time.

Some of consumers biggest pet peeves are receiving those sorry we missed you postage slips on their front door, or even worse, having a package stolen off their doorstep.

According to a Temando survey, 76 percent of consumers want a specified time slot for delivery, and 37 percent are willing to pay a premium for it. The good news is that the major carriers tracking information have significantly improved, helping recipients know where their package is on its route and the estimated delivery date. In addition, most consumers know roughly when their mail carrier arrives each day and can oftentimes plan accordingly.

For even greater control over delivery times, businesses can consider offering local customers on-demand delivery services, such as UberRUSH or Deliv. With these services, shoppers can specify the exact time of day they would like to have their order arrive.

To ship smaller items to out-of-town customers with unusual or difficult schedules, USPS also offers a Hold for Pickup option, allowing the customer to pick up the parcel at a specified post office location. It also offers Package Intercept, which allows customers to reroute their domestic packages if they go on a vacation or business trip.

3. Drones will deliver.

Drones will soon be able to deliver small items to local areas quickly and efficiently. Amazon and Google are investing in drone delivery, among countless other tech companies.

However, there are still operational limitations standing in the way of drone delivery. The Part 107 drone regulations announced recently that it does not cover a variety of operations crucial to delivering packages, such as flying beyond a pilots visual line of sight, at higher altitudes and over laypeople.

Related: 3 Ways to Grow a Multi-Million Dollar Drop Shipping Business

So while theyre not buzzing overhead quite yet, business owners should keep drone delivery on their radar to make sure their business is ready to adapt quickly once regulations allowing drone deliveries are in place.

4. More options drive customer satisfaction.

Traditionally, shoppers are given a few shipping options at checkout: standard, expedited and overnight. However, consumers are looking for more flexibility when it comes to how and when they receive their orders.

According to an Accenture study, 66 percent of consumers have chosen a retailer based on the number of available delivery options.

Related: 5 Keys to Building Your Ecommerce Site

To avoid shopping cart abandonment and upset customers, retailers should think about adding additional delivery choices such as local pickup, carrier-specific options, same-day shipping and more.

USPS is generally the most affordable option for smaller, lightweight packages while UPS and FedEx are better suited for larger items. Allowing customers to select specified carriers - UPS, FedEx or USPS -- may create satisfied, repeat customers as it gives them some control over the process.

5. Big data transforms shipping.

Business data has been around for a long time, mostly sitting in filing cabinets as an untapped resource. Thanks to new technologies, small businesses can now leverage their data to better serve their customers.

With the right tools, businesses can automatically analyze information, such as pricing histories, mobile device usage, website traffic, locations, parcels time in transit and shipping destinations to make informed business decisions. This eliminates inefficiencies and bias; therefore, reducing overall business costs and improving practices.

Related: The 6 Best Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses

There are countless ways small businesses can gather, analyze and make sense of all the data at their fingertips. For example, Endicia uses package data and predictive analysis to guide ecommerce business owners decisions, ranging from where to plant warehouses to how to improve delivery for the end-consumer through forecasted shipping costs and time in transit.

By taking a look at where most products are shipped and how long they take to get there, business owners can determine the optimal location for a warehouse that will save the most time and money.

Shipping is a challenging aspect of any ecommerce business and every small business will have different tactics and challenges to create the most efficient shipping strategy possible. Keeping an eye on shipping trends and strategies while implementing and tweaking it as needed, will help businesses determine what works best in order to be successful and competitive with the ecommerce retail giants.
A wind-whipped wildfire decimated a hardscrabble California town, destroying more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures, including a Habitat for Humanity office, in an area that was spared last year by another major blaze, officials said Monday.

The fast-moving wildfire had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area a some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks a a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge," he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire."

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

"It's a poor community," he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. "There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them."

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to nearly 7 square miles and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake Sunday. It was partially contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.
A man suspected of gunning down an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque was denied bail Tuesday afternoon during his first court appearance since being charged with murder.

Police have yet to release a motive behind the killings.

Oscar Morel, 35, is charged with first and second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the Saturday afternoon executions of Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin near the Al-Fuquan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.

Prosecutors on Tuesday said the bullets used to kill Akonjee and Uddin came from a gun police recovered at Morel's Brooklyn home on Monday night.

Morel was taken into custody late Sunday night outside a Brooklyn apartment as he approached a vehicle that police had linked to an unrelated hit-and-run that matched the description of the shooting suspects getaway vehicle.

"Detectives from the Fugitive Task Force Unit approached the car, and then he rammed the detectives' car several times in an effort to get away," said Robert Boyce, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives. "He was placed under arrest without any further incident and brought back to the precinct for more debriefing."

Boyce said Morel was seen on surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer. About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist in Brooklyn.

Morel initially was charged in connection with the hit-and-run, but those charges were upgraded Monday night after police said they recovered the revolver and clothes similar to those worn by the gunman in the surveillance video.

According to The New York Post, Morel admitted to police that he was at the scene during the time of the murders and that hes the person caught on video sneaking up behind the two men. But he said he didnt shoot anyone.

I did not shoot the guy, Morel told police, The Post reported.

Earlier Monday, about 1,000 people gathered at an Islamic funeral service for Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, "Justice!" periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you."

A motive in the murders was still unclear. However, Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is certainly on the table.

Alvin Morel, Oscars brother, insisted to The Post that the killings were not a hate crime. He said that his brother felt hatred toward Muslims on 9/11, but it was only temporary and that he now has no hate for the Muslims.

Were Catholic-school kids  we dont do this, Alvin added. Hes a good guy.

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

Boyce said Morel may have worked in a warehouse in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, but he wouldn't comment any further on his background or mental state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
At least 30 percent of all products ordered online are returned. While this number may sound alarming to online retailers today, a high return rate is not always a direct threat to a companys bottom line. Its important to remember that returns are simply the cost of selling online and retailers can minimize the effect of returns by effectively managing the reverse logistics process.

In the past, business owners believed that making returns as difficult as possible would ultimately reduce them. However, hindering the return process does nothing more than leave customers unhappy and unwilling to purchase from your brand again. This is especially true for ecommerce industries like apparel.

Related: 6 Steps to a Return Policy That Will Score You More Sales

Instead, online businesses must plan for returns as a pillar of their brands larger customer experience. Heres why:

1. Youll foster loyalty.

An easy and transparent returns policy creates a high level of trust and comfort with shoppers. Due to unavoidable eCommerce barriers like not being able to try clothes on before purchase, consumers must have confidence in your returns policy or they will not convert.

To develop a trusted returns policy, focus on convenience and communication.

Convenience can come in many fashions. For example, a preprinted return label can facilitate the reverse logistics of making a return, making it easy for customers to return an item from their own mailbox or neighborhood UPS or FedEx. Sixty-two percent of shoppers want the option to buy items online and then make returns in-store, but when the convenience factor of returning via mail is as easy, if not easier than going in-store, consumers will trust your returns policy and order with fewer reservations.

One way to improve communication is by sending your customers notifications throughout the entire returns process -- from when a return has arrived, to when it has been processed, and ultimately to when the credit has been issued. Customers will inevitably have questions about their returns, and it is more expensive and time-consuming to access and distribute information after a request than it is to proactively communicate returns statuses with shoppers in real time.

As it can cost five times as much to acquire new customers than to maintain business with existing customers, loyalty is critical to your brands bottom line and long-term growth. Consistent communication and convenience during the returns process directly contributes to these metrics.

Related: 5 Keys to Building Your Ecommerce Site

2. Youll gain actionable marketing insights.

In addition to providing a seamless and valuable customer experience, a strategic returns policy can help businesses uncover actionable customer insights. This crucial information can be used to execute the following marketing strategies and ultimately drive more sales long term.

Inventory and product development . Returns are a great opportunity to become smarter about what you sell. For instance, if an unusual amount of customers are returning clothing items because they are too large, you can identify a possible sizing issue with your manufacturer. Likewise, if shoppers return a high volume of turquoise purses, perhaps you have a coloring issue with your online display. Gathering information on the return side can help your identify trends and issues with your products and make the necessary improvements for future sales seasons.

. Returns are a great opportunity to become smarter about what you sell. For instance, if an unusual amount of customers are returning clothing items because they are too large, you can identify a possible sizing issue with your manufacturer. Likewise, if shoppers return a high volume of turquoise purses, perhaps you have a coloring issue with your online display. Gathering information on the return side can help your identify trends and issues with your products and make the necessary improvements for future sales seasons. Upselling . At the point of return, you can work with shoppers to transform potential returns into future business opportunities. For example, a customer may be open to exchanging his or her product for another size or color when given the chance. You can also upsell shoppers by communicating promotional codes or ongoing sales at the point of return.

. At the point of return, you can work with shoppers to transform potential returns into future business opportunities. For example, a customer may be open to exchanging his or her product for another size or color when given the chance. You can also upsell shoppers by communicating promotional codes or ongoing sales at the point of return. Personalization . Data generated from returns can offer unique insights about your customers that can inform personalization efforts. For instance, brands should work hard to retain customers who have returned a small portion of their orders through special offers and loyalty programs. Alternatively, a shopper who has placed many orders and returned almost all may not warrant the same outreach. Here, big data insights can help brands effectively personalize marketing content. .

. Data generated from returns can offer unique insights about your customers that can inform personalization efforts. For instance, brands should work hard to retain customers who have returned a small portion of their orders through special offers and loyalty programs. Alternatively, a shopper who has placed many orders and returned almost all may not warrant the same outreach. Here, big data insights can help brands effectively personalize marketing content. . Social Media. A seamless returns policy can positively influence your brand on social, while a bad customer experience can seriously damage your brand reputation. Shoppers are willing to share great returns experience with their friends and family, and as 92 percent of consumers say they trust this kind of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM), a single positive returns mention on popular social channels like Facebook and Twitter can lead to many more sales opportunities with new customers in the future.

Related: A Smart Retail Return Policy Is Much More Than Free Shipping

As ecommerce continues to grow (U.S. ecommerce sales alone are forecasted to reach $535 billion in by 2019), returns policies will only become more critical to maintain long-term customer relationships. By effectively managing the reverse logistics process, retailers can drive customer loyalty and gain actionable insights that power marketing campaigns. With the many hidden benefits of a robust returns policy, returns are an aspect of ecommerce that brands simply cannot afford to ignore.
Typically when quitting or resigning from a position, you hand in your letter of resignation and bow out gracefully. But that's not always the case.

A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology that looked at more than 500 recent grads and online participants who recently quit their jobs provided insight into their method of resignation.

Almost a third of participants took the professional route -- writing out letters of resignation and discussing the departure with their employer. Other respondents admitted to quitting without full transparency, quitting on impulse or having someone else quit for them. A full 10 percent admitted to a bridge burning or screw it style of goodbye.

So who are these gutsy 10 percenters? We did some digging and found some individuals who fit the bill. Here are 10 outrageous ways people have quit their jobs.

More From Entrepreneur.com 15 Tips for Quitting Your Job in 3 Months

With a marching band

Joey DeFrancesco | Youtube

Now this is going out with a bang.

Joey DeFranceso, a disgruntled employee of the Renaissance Hotel in Providence, R.I., quit his job with the assistance of a marching band.

Handing over his resignation later, the brass band broke out into boisterous song behind him -- sending a powerful message to people around the world unhappy with their jobs.

The video went viral -- with more than 5 millions YouTube views as of today.

Sliding down an emergency evacuation chute

Steven Slater | Facebook

Jetblue flight attendant Steve Slater took a little joy ride on his way out the door.

The fed-up flight attendant yelled over the intercom and swore at a rude passenger, cracked open a beer and slid down the emergency evacuation shoot after the plane landed at JFK airport in New York.

Quitting his job in a blaze of glory made Slater a hot topic around the world, but his reckless behavior almost landed him in jail.

On a live broadcast

Charlo Greene | Facebook

Alaskan news anchor Charlo Greene left her job during a live broadcast. While reporting on marijuana legalization, the anchor announced, f*ck it, I quit.

But -- plot twist -- theres more to the story. Before her abrupt departure, the presenter announced her support for legalizing marijuana. As the owner of Alaska Cannabis Club, she says shell be dedicating her time for fighting to legalize the controversial herb.

With a musical performance

Doug Walker | Facebook

One afternoon, Doug Walker walked into his workplace with a performance art piece to Also Sparch Zarathustra.

Walker stood up on a chair and on queue ripped open his shirt to reveal his bare chest with the words "I quit" across his body.

As he continued his brave performance, the iconic tone poem abruptly switched to Queens Bohemian Rhapsody and Walker is chased out of the office by security.

With a cake

Mr Cake UK | Youtube

Many frustrated employees burn bridges on their way out. Not Chris Holmes, AKA "Mr. Cake."

The aspiring baker quit his job at the U.K. Border Agency at Stansted Airport with a homemade cake. To pursue his dreams of running his own cake business, it was only natural for the civil servant to resign in such a manner.

Hopefully [it] left a nice taste in their mouths, Holmes said.

With a window sign

Bloomberg | Getty Images

Mistreated employees at a Chipotle franchise in State College, Penn., collectively quit their jobs with a simple letter hanging in the stores window.

Angered by the conditions of their workplace, the employees were blunt and straight to the point, with the sign reading: Ask our corporate offices why their employees are forced to work in borderline sweatshop conditions.

With an error message

Epoxydude | Getty Images

In the most clever way possible, this pissed off employee demanded change.

A unnamed website designer created an error message giving his boss the options to click Ignore, Renegotiate or HR to find out more.

With a public farewell sign

Blend Images/Ariel Skelley | Getty Images

Working 22 days straight, a Taco Bell employee named Adam was tired of chalupas.

Posting a public farewell sign exclaiming his departure from the fast food franchise, this shift manager also put a little attitude with a nice f*ck you in his message, when the company denied him off for the Fourth of July.

In a banana suit with a mariachi band

RyanJLane | Getty Images

Although you may question this guy's sanity, this insurance agent quit his job in a banana suit with a mariachi band.

Parading around the office with the Mexican musical ensemble in tow, the man hands in his letter of resignation and dances for joy outside the office building to La Bamba.

Apparently working at the insurance agency really sucked, the man writes in the video.

Through an online game

Sebastien Berda | Getty Images

With the help of Mario, game developer Jarrad Farbs resigned in the manner he knows best -- through an online game.

Resigning from his position at 2K Australia, the creative techie concocted a Flash game featuring Mario, who delivered the news of his leave at the end of each round.
The fate of a Mississippi teen missing for more than four decades has finally been revealed, thanks to the efforts of a tenacious cemetery worker who sought closure for strangers.

Joseph Joey Norman Spears, originally of Harrison County, was identified by his mother from faded photos of his body, taken after he was hit by a car in Texas City, Texas, in 1973, according to the SunHerald.com. The sad confirmation brought to an end a process begun when a worker Hayes Grace Memorial Park in the nearby town of Hitchcock took an interest in the John Doe grave.

Chelsea Davidson began researching old clippings that told of the Texas City community banding together to pay for the youths funeral, then spent countless hours searching missing persons databases before identifying Spears as a possible match in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

The body was eventually exhumed last February, but investigators were unable to get a good DNA sample. Officials with the Galveston medical examiners office requested that cold case investigators from Harrison County compile what they knew about Spears to compare notes with their counterparts in Texas.

That eventually led to the tearful moment when Spears mother, Mary Raskin, identified him from police photos.

I have mixed emotions, Harrison County Sheriffs Investigator Kristi Johnson told the site. I am relieved the case is solved but I know its not the outcome Mrs. Raskin was hoping for. Im sad for her but Im glad she is getting the answers she was searching for 43 years. The family has shared their appreciation for us [for] working on this.

Spears was just 17 when he escaped from the Harrison County Youth Detention Center in July 1973 and was never seen or heard from by his family again. A month later, authorities now know, he was struck and killed by a vehicle as he crossed a highway in Texas City. He was wearing only a pair of jeans with a white nylon rope as a belt and had no identification on him.

Johnson gave credit to Davidson for bringing the mystery to an end.

I just think its amazing that she had the courage to look into the unidentified remains to possibly find out who it was, Johnson told the Sun Herald. Still, there are a lot of unidentified remains all over the country. If every cemetery had an employee like Chelsea, we would be able to solve a lot more cases.

Click for more from the Sun Herald
A 19-year-old Florida State University student accused of killing two people and trying to bite the face off one victim had no criminal record before the shocking incident, investigators said Tuesday.

Tequesta slayings suspect ID'd as Austin Kelly Harrouff, 19, a FSU student with good grades. https://t.co/b8K3XLolXV pic.twitter.com/guqFxh9bGo  The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) August 16, 2016

Michelle Mishcon, 53, and John Stevens, 59, were stabbed to death at their Tequesta home, where investigators found Stevens' body in the driveway and Mischcon's corpse in the garage. Both suffered an "unusual amount of trauma," Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said. But its when investigators saw the alleged attacker, Austin Harrouff, that the gory details of the crime became apparent, The Palm Beach Post reported.

He was biting the victim on the face and actually removing pieces of his face with his teeth, Snyder told reporters, including those from The Orlando Sentinel.

Harrouff had been eating dinner with his family at a restaurant a short distance away when he stormed off, apparently agitated about slow service, Snyder said Tuesday. Harrouff's parents were so worried by his behavior that they called police and some of his fraternity brothers in a futile attempt to find him before the attack.

About 45 minutes later, he apparently targeted the couple at random, the sheriff said.

"It's inexplicable," Snyder said. "One of the first things we try to do at a crime scene is try to understand the motive of the offender, because it is the motive of the offender that gets us going in the right direction. In this case, we can't establish a motive. It's 'I don't know.'"

Snyder said Harrouff stormed out of the restaurant at about 8:30 p.m. He said the would-be rescuer called 911 at 9:20 p.m. to report the attack, which apparently began in the garage where the couple liked to sit at night.

Harrouff is muscular -- he wrestled and played football at Suncoast Community High School in nearby Riviera Beach.

A neighbor who stumbled upon Harrouff and tried to intervene was also stabbed and had to be flown to Palm Beach County Hospital, authorities said. That person sustained substantial trauma," but is expected to survive.

A stun gun had little effect on Harrouff, officials said, and it took a K-9 and several officers to subdue and restrain him.

Harrouff initially gave investigators a false name. He is currently enrolled at Florida State University and was "apparently getting good grades."

"The suspect in this case was abnormally strong," Snyder said, making him think Harrouff was on drugs. He said hospital blood tests showed no signs of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin or other common drugs; it will take longer to test for less common hallucinogenic drugs such as flakka or bath salts.

It absolutely could be a flakka case. We dont know, Snyder told WPTV. It will be some time before we get any kind of toxicology report. I would not be surprised though if we end up finding that is the case.

Harrouff was also taken to a hospital for undisclosed treatment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
When tragedy strikes, faith and charity always prevail.

After severe flooding devastated the Baton Rouge area over the weekend, at least six people died and over 20,000 needed to be rescued from the rising waters. as numerous rivers reached historic levels of flooding.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards called the flooding a "truly historic event" and last Friday announced a state of emergency.

On Sunday, the governor declared a federal state of disaster in the Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes.

Among the victims was an elderly grandmother in Rapides Parish, Louisiana -- who saved the life of her four-year-old grandchild in a powerful act of heroism, as reported by KALB-TV. When their car was swept away by the flash flood, the woman held the child up out of the water for safety. The four-year-old was ultimately rescued while the grandmother, sadly, succumbed to the flood waters.

Relief organizations such as the Red Cross and the National Guard rushed to the scenes of the flooding as local organizations put together relief efforts.

Other volunteer organizations responded to the calls for disaster relief, including the Louisiana Baptists and the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

Charles Ellzey, 40, the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Livingston, Louisiana, responded to a call from David Brown, director of missions for the Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association, to open the church to over 300 flood victims.

"On both sides of us, the water was really severe," Ellzey told LifeZette. "We got about 300 [people] in the gymnasium, church and Sunday school."

Ellzey also obtained permission to open up Doyle High School across the street to provide shelter to 200 more victims of the flood.

On its website, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge wrote, "We'll be around for the long haul, assisting families to rebuild their lives to become whole again."

The relief effort continues -- and local station WAFB shared footage over the weekend of a woman and dog being rescued from a vehicle by three Good Samaritans passing by in a boat

The men struggled to break the passenger side window of the red convertible to save the woman as she yelled, "Get my dog, get my dog!" The rescuers were able to save the dog from the sinking vehicle as well. (See the dramatic rescue below.)

Volunteers are cooking around the clock, according to Ellzey, with provisions donated by local businesses for the flood victims at Bethel Baptist Church.

Ellzey's own faith helped him generously aid his fellow Louisiana residents.

"It has everything to do with my faith. This is an opportunity to be the church and not a spectator," Ellzey said. "It's a time to be a minister, to meet the needs of people -- an opportunity to demonstrate the Gospel."

Reunions between grandparents and grandchildren, and between a mother and her sons, have taken place in the past few days at Bethel Baptist Church after families were separated for days by the flooding.

When asked what those who are far removed from the situation could do to help, Ellzey relied on his faith for the answer.

"Pray that God would be glorified in the midst of this and that people would turn to Christ. The physical difficulty is one thing, but there are people who need to know that Christ died for their sins," Ellzey told LifeZette. "Their greatest need is for their soul."
Family Research Council's Travis Weber is advising parents, teachers and school administrators not to fall into the trap that The Satanic Temple group is setting by launching its "After School Satan Club."

Taking advantage of a United States Supreme Court ruling from 2001 holding that schools that have a "limited public forum" open to after school Christian clubs can not discriminate against other groups looking to use that forum to advance their worldview, The Satanic Temple has helped launch After School Satan Clubs (ASSC) in a number of elementary schools around the nation.

With the help of volunteers, the ASSC is being launched at public schools that already have Good News Clubs or any other after school Christian clubs in existence.

While the title of the club includes the name of "Satan" and could cause many parents and administrators to have serious concerns about the club's intentions, Weber, the director of FRC's Center for Religious Liberty, advises parents and school officials not to "take the bait" and let the clubs operate.

Weber states that the main goal behind the ASSC is not to worship Lucifer but rather to cause outrage and shut down the limited public forum at schools entirely, which would effectively shut down after school Christian clubs.

"These atheist and humanist activists simply don't like the fact that children could be exposed to the message of Christianity, and appear to want to pick a fight with Christians," Weber wrote in a blog posted on FRC's website. "They say they want religion totally eliminated from schools, and the group's homepage prominently displays: 'DONATE TO HELP US COUNTER EVANGELISM IN SCHOOLS.' Their main purpose appears to be to try to shut down Christian clubs in schools."

"They are aiming to do that by provoking school administrators into shutting down the limited public forum entirely," Weber continued. "As the group's website states: 'Our goal, ultimately, is to place an ASSC in every school where the Good News Clubs, or other proselytizing religious groups, have established a presence.'"

In the past, The Satanic Temple group successfully shut down a forum that allowed a Christian group in Florida to hand out Bibles at Orange County schools by threatening to hand out Satanic coloring books to students. In response, the Orange County school board voted to ban the distribution of outside religious materials at schools.

Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com


Human remains have been found in the area where police and volunteers have been searching for a missing 3-year-old girl, according to the Gaston County, N.C. police chief.

McCullen even talked to some reporters off-camera yesterday, seemed dedicated to searching for Dumont @WBTV_News pic.twitter.com/8Kwa7RRHXS  Alex Giles WBTV (@AlexGilesNews) August 16, 2016

Police have not said whether or not the remains are 3-year-old Jordan Ann Dumont, but they did say that the remains were a toddler.

According to Gaston County records, the mother's boyfriend, identified as William Joseph McCullen, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was booked at 2:38 p.m. Tuesday.

Dumont was reportedly last seen at approximately 1:00 p.m. Monday, August 15 at her house in Bessemer City.

According to police, Gaston County 911 was notified of the missing 3-year-old girl at approximately 3:39 p.m. Monday.

Dumont was described as approximately 32 tall with curly dirty blonde, shoulder length hair and blue/green eyes. She was last wearing a white shirt with Mickey or Minnie Mouse on the front and blue jean shorts.

Police suspended their search at 9:30 p.m. Monday due to lack of light, and continued their search early Tuesday morning.

Click for more from Fox 46.
A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures in a small town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

"Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time," Pimlott said.

The inferno has spread more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco. As of late Monday, the fire was only 5 percent contained. But fire officials insisted that no other structures were under direct threat from the out-of-control flames.

Firefighters arent getting any help in trying to tame the blaze. The weather forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in the days to come, with no rain in sight. A heave wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Lower Lake barely missed wildfires that plagued towns east and south last year. However, the residents were forced to face a new reality when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said. Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn to its rustic charm and housing prices that are significantly lower than the San Francisco Bay Area. Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The blaze decimated that town, reducing businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported in the wildfires.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge," he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire."

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

"It's a poor community," he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. "There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them."

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to nearly 7 square miles and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake Sunday. It was partially contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Elon Musk is doing his damndest to save the human race. Sergey Brin envisions making Google the  third half of your brain. And Arianna Huffington is on a mission to get people to take care of themselves while taking care of business.

Visionary business leaders such as these inspire us to be better and do better. They give us hope for a brighter future. Their successes show us that if we dream big and work hard, we can make a difference and leave our marks along the way.

Needless to say, these radical influencers know something about dreaming, doing and making it to the top. To help inspire you, and to fuel your own unique entrepreneurial dreams, here are 10 quotes from business leaders who changed everything:

Related:

50 Motivational Quotes From Disruptive, Trailblazing, Inspiring Women Leaders

SpaceX founder, Tesla co-founder

Getty Images | Bloomberg

"If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."

Rocketing humans to Mars and away from our swirling mess of a planet is a daunting feat, to say the least. But Elon Musk isnt letting go of his dream of making it happen in his lifetime, despite the many challenging tasks before him. The lesson is simple: Whatever you endeavor to accomplish, out of this world or not, do not allow yourself to be deterred by the odds. Bravely forge ahead.

Related:

Elon Musk's Hamster Units, and 11 Other Times His Responses Surprised Us

Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Productions founder

Randy Holmes | Getty Images

"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance -- and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning."

Oprah Winfreys remarkable rags-to-riches ascent was nothing less than hard-earned, from her humble beginnings working on her grandmothers farm in Mississippi, to her glass ceiling-shattering triumph as a billionaire media mogul. Step by step, her achievements added up along her path to success and paid dividends in ways she never imagined.

Related: 3 Inspiring Business Lessons From Billionaire Media Mogul Oprah Winfrey

Richard Branson, The Virgin Group founder

Handout | Getty Images

The main thing is, if you have an idea for business, as I say, screw it, just do it. Give it a go. You may fall flat on your face, but you pick yourself up and keep trying until you succeed.

Richard Branson is no stranger to wild adventures many of us can only imagine, but hes no stranger to epic failure either. Not all of the businesses hes launched skyrocketed to success. Take, for example, Virgin Cola and Virgin Brides. Even he admits they  fell flat on their face. Still, for all of his failed businesses, the bawdy billionaire mogul has launched some 200 more that struck entrepreneurial gold. If he didnt  screw it, just do it in the face of failure, where might he be today?

Related: 10 Inspirational Quotes From Top Entrepreneurial Leaders

Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post founder

David Livingston | Getty Images

Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's about getting up one more time than we fall down.

Arianna Huffington got up after falling down and waking up to a pool of blood gushing from her head. When she came to, everything changed for her. She faced her fear that she couldnt do it all and soon became a champion for caring for yourself while caring for your business. The Greek-American media mogul began espousing the virtues many of us abandon as we battle to succeed in business and in life -- sleep and self-preservation. Clocking at least eight restful hours of sleep a night, she says, leads to a more productive, more inspired, more joyful life, thus making it easier to rebound from stumbling and falling on your quest for success.

Related:

10 Quotes from the Fearless Arianna Huffington

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."

The late legendary tech entrepreneur Steve Jobs was known to be a passionate, yet persnickety leader. Many say he knew he was a genius and didnt shy away from letting others know, too. Long before he helmed what is now perhaps the most famous technology corporation in the world, he was like so many other dreamers -- aimless, searching for his lifes purpose.

After dropping out of Reed College, the Palo Alto, Calif., native trekked across India, looking for the meaning of life. Instead of wasting his life living someone elses, he eventually listened to his  inner voice. He followed his heart and dove into the budding personal computer business with his good friend Steve Wozniak. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Related: As Steve Jobs Once Said, 'People With Passion Can Change The World'

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO

Jennifer Pottheiser | Getty Images

" Just because you are CEO, don't think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization. I've never forgotten that."

Indra Nooyi appreciates the value of staying humble, even after youve made it to the top. She puts on no pretenses about  having it all, despite her ascent to the lead position at one of the worlds top-grossing food and beverage companies.

Related: Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi: 'I Don't Think Women Can Have It All'

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

There are times in all of our lives when a reliance on gut or intuition just seems more appropriate -- when a particular course of action just feels right. And, interestingly, I've discovered it's in facing life's most important decisions that intuition seems the most indispensable to getting it right.

Echoing his late manager and mentor Steve Jobs, Tim Cook also extols the virtues of listening to your intuition in business and in life. The veteran engineer blended both worlds when he publicly came out as gay two years ago. He also said heeding his intuition led him to leave Compaq for Apple in 1998, at a time when the latter company was struggling. He listened to his gut and went for it, despite close friends who advised him not to take the job. Wed say going against the naysayers worked out pretty well for him, wouldnt you?

Related: Who the CEO of Apple Turns to When He Needs Advice

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO

Allison Shelley | Getty images

Leadership is not bullying and leadership is not aggression. Leadership is the expectation that you can use your voice for good. That you can make the world a better place.

From her days championing leaning in to ultimately being forced to rethink leaning in, Sheryl Sandberg bravely embodies resilience, a trait all entrepreneurs should strive to exhibit. In the wake of the sudden death of her husband, and in doing her part to make the world a better place, the former Googler has repeatedly stressed the importance of leaning on positive psychology in the face of adversity, self-doubt and criticism.

When it comes to leading others, Sandberg is known to embrace the concept of radical candor. The idea is to boldly speak up and tell your colleagues and employees what you really think about their performance. The key is to be firm and clear, but never condescending. The ultimate goal is to help them do a better job, and to do better by the company. Think of that the next time your boss shares some strong feedback with you, instead of interpreting it as a personal attack. He or she is likely just trying to give you a leg up so you can be your best.

Related: Here's How You Can Embody the Strength and Leadership of Sheryl Sandberg

Sergey Brin, Google co-founder

Bloomberg | Getty Images

"We have tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good -- always do the right, ethical thing. Ultimately,  Dont be evil seems the easiest way to summarize it."

Brin wasn't kidding when he said that. At the time, Googles corporate "code of conduct" mantra really was Dont be evil. (With the onset of Alphabet, which took over Google's holding company as of October, it has now morphed into:  Employees of Alphabet and its subsidiaries and controlled affiliates should do the right thing -- follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect.

From his and Larry Pages brainchilds humble beginnings as BackRub, to the cant-live-without tool and verb that its mushroomed into today, Brin has continually extolled the virtues of running a company with social good as a guiding principle.

While his company tries to render humans immortal -- and remove them from the drivers seat -- the billionaire hasnt lost sight of being a force for good. His philanthropic donations number in the millions, benefitting a wide variety of causes. Among them are education, healthcare, the environment, human rights and womens issues.

Related:

11 Things You Might Not Know About Google

Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia founder

Mark Sagliocco | Getty Images

Getting over those unexpected hurdles may not be exactly enjoyable, but ultimately I believe that such challenges and the solutions we find give us more confidence. They teach us with common sense and determination we can turn what looks like a disaster into a triumph.

Life wasnt all perfectly arranged  Dainty Bess roses and meticulous place settings for Martha Stewart. You may recall that the multi-millionaire design diva went from domestic bliss to federal prisoner in 2004 after being convicted on charges stemming from lying about a stock sale. She served five months in federal prison and five months on house arrest. Talk about unexpected hurdles.

Upon her conviction, she invoked the defiance of The Terminator, vowing,  Ill be back. And back she steadily has been ever since she walked free. She came back stronger, more confident and determined to succeed harder than before. Next up, you can catch the  Queen of All Internet as the other half of an unlikely duo: Shes teaming up with Snoop Dogg to bake munchies on a new VH1 cooking show.

Related:

Martha Stewart: America Needs More Entrepreneurs
You know the saying, All publicity is good publicity." While this may be the words that some celebrities live by, its not the case when it comes to the business world.

Bad press can destroy even the most long-standing and reputable company -- causing boycotts, loss of customers and a dip in profits. Worst-case scenario; it can even drive a company out of business.

In todays day-and-age, bad news seems to spread like wildfire. News companies thrive on sensationalist headlines and social media makes it easy to spread rumors and negative happenings like wildfire. For companies today, being extra diligent to uphold your reputation is vital.

We all know that prevention is always the best strategy and when it comes to public relations, this is certainly the case. While there isnt a foolproof strategy that will prevent problems from arising 100 percent of the time, this doesnt mean that you have to sit back and let the chips fall. You can take steps to reduce the number of problems that arise and, for those times when an issue does occur, you can act early on to mitigate its damaging effects.

Related: How to Maintain Clients' Trust While Managing a Crisis

Regardless of your business or organization, its important to have a plan for crisis management. No matter how big -- or small, the issue is, taking prompt action is key to preserving your reputation.

Lets take a look at how you can prepare for unwanted crises -- and see the best way to respond when an issue arises.

Exercise care with social media.

Trying to save some money by doing your social media efforts yourself is fine -- if you know what youre doing. If youre not careful, though, it could quickly land you in hot water.

For this reason, its important to hire an experienced social media manager -- someone who has more than just a basic knowledge of how it works. Look for someone whos knowledgeable with proper etiquette, and familiar with online brand promotion. The last thing youd want is for a careless -- and potentially offensive or otherwise reputation -- damaging post to go live, like AT&Ts careless post that showed a smartphone taking photos of 9/11. Or Under Armours offensive Band of Ballers t-shirt, making light of a World War II event. Not cool. #Majorfail.

Develop a framework for crisis management.

The secret to mitigating PR disasters is having a solid plan in place.

No matter if you have a large corporation, or a one-person business, having a crisis management plan is important for a speedy and correct response. A fast and proper response can help to improve your ability to respond to a crisis, which can help you to salvage your public image, and in some cases, may even help you to avoid government penalties or fines, as well as potential litigation.

Related: 5 Crisis Management Tips Olivia Pope Would Endorse

Its difficult to think about, but its worth being prepared for the worst. This means identifying a response team who can be ready to respond at the first sign of trouble. This should include individuals from several departments -- including management, sales, marketing, human resources, as well as your legal team.

Youll also want to carefully select your company spokesperson ahead of time and ensure that theyre prepared to speak on behalf of the company at a moments notice. The spokesperson should be able to deliver a personable, proactive, and professional message -- and should be well-schooled in speaking to the press. Ideally, they should be litigation-savvy as well.

Having a good PR agency can also help tremendously to mitigate bad press. Being able to enlist their help to counteract negative issues that go viral -- or other reputation-damaging situations that arise can be invaluable.

Act promptly.

Its important to react quickly -- at the first sign of trouble.

Research has shown that the success of online customer service is often determined by speed of reaction more than anything else, and staving off small issues can help to prevent customers from going to the press, quickly escalating the problem.

Ideally, this response timeframe should be no longer than 24 hours -- but sooner is always better. A fast response speaks volumes about your company, showing that youre switched-on and that you care about your customers.

Many companies keep on top of potential issues by having someone monitoring the social media scene for them around the clock. For smaller organizations, setting up Google Alerts for your company can help you to stay up-to-date on online conversations regarding your company, allowing you to respond at the first sign of trouble.

Recognize your mistakes.

Everyone makes mistakes -- and being able to admit your errors and issue an apology is important. There are few things worse than stubbornly standing by your mistake, defending it until youre blue in the face. This only allows the problem to gather speed -- eventually catching the medias attention.

Instead of defending your mistake, respond properly and appropriately to the situation. If an offending post is an issue, remove it immediately, and issue a brief but sincere apology. If the problem makes it to the press, the issue will be more complicated, but not unsalvageable. In these situations, a good PR team can be a lifesaver. Theyll be able to work with you and the press, helping you to come out the other side with your reputation intact.

Related: 5 Crisis Management Tips for Your Digital Brand

In these cases, transparency and honesty are always key, and silence is deadly. If you dont have a solution, say so -- just explain what youre doing to resolve the problem.

Follow through.

Ensure that you follow through with the issue. Work closely with everyone involved with the crisis, and ensure that its resolved in a satisfactory way. Dont allow any case to drag on for any longer than necessary.

Aim to do better in the future.

Finally, everyone can learn from their mistakes. Your best option after a crisis is to salvage what you can from the situation and use it to do better in the future. AT&T, Under Armour and countless others who have faced PR disasters managed to make it through their crises and are doing just fine today. The secret lies in a fast -- and appropriate response.

When it comes to crisis management, its less about how cool you are, and more about your resilience. The right response can help to prevent issues from becoming bigger and can make the difference between salvaging your reputation and coming through the other side or going out of business. Its worth investing some time and effort into a solid plan, and ensuring that your team is prepared and ready to be mobilized in a moment should something go wrong.

While crisis management isnt fun to think about, its vitally important. In the end, having an airtight crisis response plan in place and a great team by your side can help you to mitigate even the worst disaster.
Every business realizes the importance of reaching out to customers on social media. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to stand out, especially when youre competing with messages from a persons friends. As social media users scroll through their newsfeeds, it can be almost impossible for any one text-based post to stand out.

In recent years, marketers have realized the power of using visuals to draw attention to their social media updates. Every business can find images that convey a message or help give customers a glimpse of their team members personality. Here are a few creative ways you can use images to improve your social media marketing efforts.

Feature products.

One of the easiest things you can do as a business owner is share photos of your products. Of course, you dont want to constantly post a stream of ads for the items you sell, but when you debut a new item, be sure to dress it up and snap a picture to show all of your online followers.

Related: How to Make Snapchat Work for Your Personal Brand

You can also feature a product of the month, and invite customers in for a discount on that product if they mention your social media post. Youll be able to quickly track whether or not your posts are effective, and your followers will enjoy saving money.

Share event photos.

When Dr. John Nosti had his recent seminar in Boston, he found that sharing photos from the event on Facebook helped show appreciation to all of the doctors who attended. Whether you choose Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or another social media platform, youll likely find that by sharing photos of a group gathering, you can easily widen your reach. Theyll probably share the photo with their own followers, who may click to learn more about the other people in the photo.

Its also a great way to increase awareness of a particular event and increase attendance for future get-togethers.

Encourage check-ins.

Its important to remember that customers often show loyalty using their mobile devices. When someone checks in on Facebook, all of that persons followers see a map with your location pinpointed. Theyll also see a small glimpse of your own Facebook page, including your profile photo. Make this photo compelling and ensure your own Facebook page has all of the information a customer would need to buy from your business.

Related: 3 Ways Pokemon Go Can Be Useful For Marketing

Customers will naturally check into interesting places, such as tourist destinations and popular clubs, but you can also encourage check-ins by having a monthly drawing that includes everyone who has checked in. You may also see results by simply posting signage in your store reminding people to like you or find your page on Facebook.

Create selfie opportunities.

When a customer shares a selfie and tags the location, that business gets immediate free publicity. Some venues have found it beneficial to give customers a fun reason to snap a picture. A standee in the lobby of a popular restaurant, for instance, will create a perfect photo opportunity.

Product-based businesses can invite customers to share a selfie of themselves with one of their items to be entered to win a prize. If your business shares some of these photos with your own followers, youll likely find some customers freely snap selfies just for the attention your share brings them.

Related: 5 Impacts a Social Media Campaign Can Have on Your Brand

Show off your staff.

Your employees work hard to make sure your customers are happy. When you include them in your social media posts, you show your followers how valuable they are to your business. It can also make the employees feel appreciated, provided theyre comfortable with their image being used on a public page. Once you have their authorization, regularly show behind-the-scenes photos of them hard at work, at the annual Christmas party or hanging out with their family at the company picnic. Your customers will begin to get to know your employees and your employees may even share the photos with their own followers.

Visuals are a great way to stand out in users social media feeds. Its important to find ways to creatively showcase your brand, though, without actively marketing to customers. With a little creativity, you can create a social media presence that engages customers and has them looking forward to what your next post will be.
Anyone supporting Donald Trump is morally tainted, ABC and NPR commentator Cokie Roberts declared Tuesday, while making no mention of possible ethical dilemmas facing backers of Hillary Clinton.

Roberts, who has been unabashed in going after the Republican presidential nominee, told MSNBCs Morning Joe that her Southern upbringing gives her the insight and authority to know Trumps candidacy was a stain, taking the country back in that direction.

Theyre morally tainted, Roberts said of the 40 percent or so of American voters who polls say support Trump. I mean, theres just no question about that.

Nobodys ever seen anything like this, the 72-year-old continued. Not only did I grow up in politics, I grew up in the Jim Crow South. And we spent the last 50 years trying to bring people together instead of push people apart. And so that becomes a terrible stain on the country.

No mention was made of Trumps rival, Hillary Clinton, who was the subject of a yearlong federal inquiry that led FBI Director James Comey to call her extremely careless and reckless in her handling of sensitive emails, and to say she was not truthful in public claims about her actions. In addition, Clinton is now reportedly the subject of an investigation by multiple U.S. Attorneys looking at ties between her work as Secretary of State and her familys foundation.

Roberts, whose parents were Democratic members of Congress, has made her feelings about Trump clear before. In February, the syndicated newspaper column she writes with her husband, Steve Roberts, called for the rational wing of the Republican Party to stop Trump.

"[Trump] is one of the least qualified candidates ever to make a serious run for the presidency," the couple wrote. "If he is nominated by a major party -- let alone elected -- the reputation of the United States would suffer a devastating blow around the world."

The column put her in a tough spot with NPR, whose policy forbids journalists from being subjective on political candidates. Roberts followed the column up with a harsh grilling of Trump on MSNBC on March 9, asking him about his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border and charging that the position stoked racism.

"Are you proud of that? Roberts pressed. Is that something you've done in American political and social discourse that you're proud of?"

Roberts bias was so clear that NPR Editorial Director Michael Oreskes wrote in a memo to staffers that news executives would have to redefine her job.

"Our journalists have clear instructions," Oreskes wrote in his memo, sent to staffers Monday morning. "We do not support or oppose candidates. We don't advise political parties. We gather the news and seek as many points of view as we can. Cokie's role has evolved into being one of those points of view."

Roberts has weighed in on Hillary Clinton, telling ABC News George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton staffer, that anti-Hillary sentiment was due to sexism. Citing an unnamed poll in the April, 2015 interview, Roberts referenced "research that shows that a woman who is strong and powerful is seen as not friendly and empathetic."

"Here we are in 2015...and we still have to deal with that," Roberts lamented. "[Clinton] is running against herself. She's trying to figure out how to show people how she's a warm and friendly person."
A man who allegedly was threatening a Virginia sheriff's deputy with a metal post at a hospital Monday night was shot and killed by the deputy, officials said during a Tuesday news conference.

Neither the deputy, who has been on the force for 18 years and was trained in crisis intervention, nor the dead man, who was 29 years old, was identified. The man's next-of-kin had not yet been notified of his death, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said.

The incident occurred at Inova Fairfax Hospital after the man had been discharged earlier Monday for an undisclosed medical issue. Security assisted him to a hospital parking garage, which is where he was later allegedly spotted with a weapon, described as a metal signpost, Roessler said. Hospital Security received two calls about the man, and when security guards investigated, the man allegedly injured one by striking him with the post.

Sharing an image of the actual weapon held by the suspect who threatened the deputy at Inova Fairfax Hospital pic.twitter.com/jvPkCEEZ8R  Fairfax Co. Police (@fairfaxpolice) August 16, 2016

The man was "acting in what appears to be a mental episode," Roessler said.

The deputy, who had been on guard duty at the hospital and was monitoring radio traffic, arrived and tried to de-escalate the situation, Roessler said. But the man "raised" the post and "began charging" at the law enforcement officer. The deputy tried to "tactically retreat" but the man kept charging with the signpost in a "cocked position, ready to strike," Roessler said.

That's when the deputy fired, striking the man.

Several other officers arrived soon after and first responders attempted to render aid to the man until he could be taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Police initially said the unidentified man's injuries weren't life threatening.



No police officers were hurt during the incident, NBC reported.

The sheriff's office announced it would conduct an internal investigation and the deputy would be on routine administrative leave.

Roessler said hospital security cameras did capture the incident, though he had not viewed the tape himself.

Click for more from Fox 5.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Before Islamic State fighters gave up control of a northern Syrian stronghold less than a week ago, they left behind explosive dangers including booby traps in hospitals, an American combat medic told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

Manbij, which lies on a supply route between the Turkish border and the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqa, fell to the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces on Friday after more than two months of heavy fighting and U.S.-led airstrikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting killed more than 1,700 people, including more than 400 civilians.

The Daily Beast reported that explosions continued to rock the city in the days after ISIS escaped -- and Kurdish fighters had to watch every move they made, because even black ISIS flags may have been booby-trapped.

"There are so many mines at this point that its almost on a ludicrous scale," Patrick Kasprik, a Floridian who volunteered as an SDF medic, told the website. "[The SDF] have set up small field hospitals for civilians, but with 100,000 residents returning to the city of Manbij, we need much more."

The capture of Manbij marked the biggest defeat for the extremist fighrers in Syria since July 2015, when they lost the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey, analysts said, adding that hundreds of civilians ISIS used as human shields were freed.

Also over the weekend, the SDF announced a new campaign against al-Bab, a nearby town held by the extremists. The U.S. has provided the SDF with air cover and American special forces are advising them on the ground.

ISIS still controls large areas of Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. It has also claimed major terrorist attacks in recent months, including the Orlando massacre, the Nice truck attack, and a Baghdad bombing that killed some 300 people.

But Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top U.S. commander for the fight against ISIS, said this week that some 45,000 militants have been removed from the battlefield, reducing the group's total numbers to as few as 15,000.

The SDF launched its offensive in late May to capture Manbij under the cover of U.S.-led airstrikes.

Amateur videos posted online showed that shortly after SDF fighters captured the town late Friday, scores of residents went down to celebrate in the streets. Some men were seen clipping their beards with scissors while women were able to uncover their faces. ISIS imposes a harsh and extreme version of Islam on the territory under its control, including a mandatory dress code.

"May God destroy them. They slaughtered us," a young man shouted in a Manbij square. "May they not live for a minute."

In a photo posted online by Kurdish activists, a young woman defiantly uncovered her face while smoking a cigarette and flashing a victory sign. Under the extremists' reign, women had to wear long black cloaks that covered all but their eyes, while all adult men were forced to grow beards. Smoking was banned.

Kasprik reportedly traveled overseas in January while under threat of arrest for allegedly assaulting an officer in North Fort Myers, Florida.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A prominent Islamist preacher in Britain faces up to 10 years in prison after he was convicted in July of inviting support for ISIS  a verdict that was only made public Tuesday after a judicially-imposed reporting ban.

Anjem Choudary, a 49-year-old preacher notable for frequent sparring sessions on Fox News Hannity, was convicted at Old Bailey after he swore an oath of allegiance to ISIS and encouraged others to support the group, Sky News reported. Hes set to be sentenced in September.

Choudary praised Usama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2005 London transport system bombings. Hes also been closely linked to one of the two Islamic extremists who killed British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.

If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that, Choudary told Sky News the night before he was found guilty. If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you dont really have freedom to express yourself in this county.

It took a jury fewer than three days of deliberation to convict Choudary and co-defendant Mizanur Rahman, 32. But the verdict was kept under wraps due to another trial to which Choudary was connected.

Prosecutors drew a distinction between Choudary simply expressing a preference for ISIS and his actively encouraging others to join and support it.

Terrorist organizations thrive and grow because people support them and that is what this case is about, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said, The Guardian reported. Do not confuse that with the right of people to follow the religion of their choice or to proclaim support for a caliphate.

Choudary swore allegiance to ISIS just three days after leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi established the so-called caliphate in portions of Syria and Iraq in June 2014. Choudary later posted messages of support for the terror group on social media and in YouTube videos.
Even 71 years after she last typed a letter for one of the most infamous monsters of the Adolf Hitler regime, a former secretary for Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels refers to the murder of six million people as the matter of the Jews and says telling her life story has nothing to do with clearing my conscience.

Brunhilde Pomsel, 105, spoke to The Guardian shortly after a film about her time as a Nazi aide, "A German Life," was released at the Munich Film Festival. Pomsel was one of Goebbels six secretaries, hired by the ministry of propaganda in 1942 when she was 31 years old.

She described Goebbels  who rallied Germany to Hitlers cause and covered up the German rulers crimes  in glowing terms, commenting on his gentlemanly countenance and remarking about his well-kept nails.

He had well-groomed hands  he probably had a manicure every day, Pomsel told The Guardian, laughing. There was really nothing to criticize about him.

She said her work for the Nazi regime was just another job and scoffed at those who questioned how so many people  including someone such as Pomsel  could have gone along with Hitler's genocidal agenda.

Those people nowadays who say they would have stood up against the Nazis  I believe they are sincere in meaning that, but believe me, most of them wouldnt have, Pomsel said.

Historians said Goebbels killed himself the day after Hitler did the same, as Allied forces closed in on Berlin in the spring of 1945.

Click for more from The Guardian.
Austrian authorities have arrested nine Iraqi men on suspicion of rape for an attack on a German tourist in Vienna on New Year's Day, police said Monday.

The men range in age from 21 to 47 and are all either asylum-seekers or recently were granted asylum, Vienna police spokesman Paul Eidenberger told The Associated Press. They were arrested at several locations in raids Saturday and Sunday, he said.

They are alleged to have taken the woman from Vienna's downtown Schwedenplatz and then assaulted her in an apartment where two of the suspects lived. The woman was in town visiting a friend but had become separated from her during the New Year's celebrations, Eidenberger said.

Police say the men have denied the accusations.

The 28-year-old victim from northern Germany went to the police later on Jan. 1, saying she couldn't remember where the attack took place but that she knew something had happened, Eidenberger said. The woman, who had been drinking and suspects she was drugged, has no recollection of being taken to the apartment, but police were able to use video surveillance and other evidence to determine the location, he said.

They also used DNA evidence to link at least four of the men to the crime, but "all were involved," Eidenberger said.

Prosecutors are now applying to a court to have the men held as they continue their investigation. Monday was a holiday in Austria and prosecutors' office phones went unanswered.

Austria was one of the main routes through which hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers traveled into Europe last year. The influx eventually prompted the government to set limits on asylum applications that sparked a series of border closures, shutting down the Balkan route used by many migrants.
Budget Blinds Assists Designing Spaces Military Makeover for a Third Time

Providing Window Coverings in Deserving Veterans Home

ORANGE, CA (PRWEB) August 16, 2016 - Budget Blinds, the largest window coverings franchise in North America with over 1,000 territories, recently participated in its third episode of Designing Spaces Military Makeover. This time, the shows producers and sponsors surprised Marine Lance Corporal Michael Adams, whose vehicle ran over a double stack anti-tank mine while on tour in Afghanistan resulting in numerous surgeries on his left ankle and wrist, Traumatic Brain Injury, and PTSD, with a home that will support him and his family for the rest of their lives.

Military Makeover works hard to find deserving military veterans in need of home renovations as a way of saying thank you to our nations heroes like LCpl Adams who left the military with an honorable discharge on August 3, 2007. Michael went on to attend Motorcycle Mechanics Institute where he became a certified mechanic. In 2009, he met his wife Britiany and they now have two beautiful children. Their eight-year-old daughter, Nevaeh (which is Heaven spelled backwards) is an extremely outgoing and happy girl. Cecelia is three years old and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, acute Autism, and a white matter deficiency and has an underdeveloped corpus callosum. Although she is unable to speak, walk or crawl, she is a very happy child.

The newest addition to the Adams family, a service dog from K9 for Warriors named JW, came in June 2015, after a year-long wait. JW wakes Michael from nightmares and helps keep him calm in crowded places. In September of 2015, JW saved LCpl Adams life by alerting Britiany after he suffered a stroke, solidifying JWs position in the family.

The home that Military Makeovers team of experts, including Budget Blinds and their valued manufacturing partners, Custom Brands Group and Rowley, renovated for the Adams family originally belonged to Britianys grandparents who offered the home they were living in as a rent-to-own. With a little TLC, including the new child-safe window coverings, the home will certainly make life easier for Michael and his family.

To see the final results, watch the three-part series of Designing Spaces Military Makeover on Thursdays, beginning on August 18 at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime Television.

We were thrilled to participate in Military Makeover for our second time, said Tracy Christman, Vice President of Vendor Alliance at Budget Blinds, who also appears in an episode. Not only does Budget Blinds have a long-standing history and commitment to supporting our veterans, but also because one of Budget Blinds goals is to help educate consumers on products, options, and features to keep homes with children safe, while still enjoying beautiful window coverings.

Chief Executive Officer of Budget Blinds and its parent company, Home Franchise Concepts, Shirin Behzadi, also added, At Budget Blinds, we share a strong commitment to supporting veterans who have served our country. Many of our franchisees across the country are veterans or have personal connections to the U.S. Armed Forces, so we feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to give back to these true American heroes when and where we can.

Budget Blinds offers Veteran programs that heavily discount franchise fees, and recently received the Best for Vets: Franchise 2016 ranking by the Military Times. They have also received accolades or recognition for their Veteran programs from VetFran and Franchise Business Review, as well as other prestigious franchise networks including Entrepreneur, Franchise 500, Inc. 5000, Canadian Franchise Association and Franchise Times. To learn more about their Veteran business ownership opportunities, visit budget-blinds-franchise.com.

Budget Blinds will be featured in the three-part series airing on Thursdays, August 18, September 1, and September 15 on Lifetime Television at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT). Check your local listings.

About Military Makeover

From the producers of the award-winning home decorating and remodeling show, Designing Spaces, comes a very special mini-series dedicated to giving back to members of our Military and their loved ones. Enlisting the help of decorators, designers, landscapers and other home renovation experts, the host, retired United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant R. Lee Ermey, The Gunny, helps transform the homes  and the lives  of military families across the country. The series airs at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime.http://www.militarymakeover.tv/

About Budget Blinds

Budget Blinds was founded in 1992 and is part of a family of brands under the umbrella of Home Franchise Concepts, franchisor of home improvement service companies including Tailored Living and Concrete Craft. Budget Blinds currently boasts more than 1,050 franchise territories throughout the United States, Canada and in Monterrey, Mexico. The company offers a full line of quality window coverings including shutters, shades, blinds, draperies and window film. It also provides free in-home consultations as well as complete measuring and installation services. Budget Blinds has been recognized as a leader in the franchise industry by organizations such as Entrepreneur, AllBusiness, Inc. and Franchise Business Review. For more information on Budget Blinds, visit http://www.budgetblinds.com or connect with us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/budgetblinds. For franchise opportunities, please visit http://www.budget-blinds-franchise.com.

SOURCE Budget Blinds

Contacts:

Eddie Cervantes

Home Franchise Concepts

+1 (714) 279-2415

Renee Coloman

Home Franchise Concepts

(714) 637-2100

###

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Cruise Planners Adds Competitive Edge with Completely Packaged Vacations

Agents now offering an expanded range of river cruise and luxury vacation packages at discounted rates.

CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (PRWEB) August 16, 2016 - Cruise Planners travel advisors can overtake competition with an enhanced Completely Packaged Vacations, a custom solution that bundles vacations to provide the best rates and commission levels available. This is in response to a demand from Cruise Planners travel advisors for even more competitive packaging to rival other network package giants.

We have created something better than just a standard reservation; through CPV we bring increased value and customization surrounded by strong customer service, said Vicky Garcia, COO and co-owner of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. We want our agents to win every sale through customizable programs with the most competitive rates for unique customer experiences, so they can continue to grow their franchises.

There are three distinct elements of CPV, which are available for Cruise Planners travel agents:

Completely Packaged Vacations  Started in 2012 as bundling the best rates for popular cruise ports and itineraries with a focus on contemporary market cruises, these packages have been top sellers within the Cruise Planners network and helped increased commissions for CP agents. Destinations includes Hawaii, Alaska and the Caribbean and the packages may bundle car rental, hotel accommodations and excursions or tours with the cruise. Agents are able to book any number of these highly discounted packages with no minimum number of bookings.

Completely Packaged Vacations Elite  This new program introduces a focus on river cruises and luxury vacation packages, combining land and cruise travel, excursions, transportation and more. With an increasing number of Cruise Planners agents focusing on higher-end travel, CPV Elite allows agents to offer customers great value without sacrificing their commission.

* One example is bundling Celebrity Cruises Signature packages throughout the world. Some standouts include trips to destinations at the time when world-famous events are happening such as the Americas Cup in Bermuda, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and the British Open in the United Kingdom.

* Another CPV Elite is in partnership with AMA Waterways and includes the pre- and post-hotel with all transfers, cruise and discounted air on four special sailings, including a Sail with The Godmother cruise aboard AmaSerena with Cruise Planners CEO, Michelle Fee, in December 2017.

In-house CPV Concierge: Cruise Planners agents have access to an in-house concierge team responsible for creating competitive, completely packaged vacations. If agents want to add custom upgrades, excursions or VIP elements to an already established package or if agents are looking to create a new package, the CPV Team can negotiate with vendors on the agents behalf.

Both CPV and CPV Elite packages allow agents to offer clients a richer value while benefiting from fully commissionable package elements.

CP Vacations and CP Vacations Elite are outstanding options that truly set me apart from other travel agencies, said Kelley Austin, Cruise Planners franchise owner and Millionaire Club Member. The value proposition cannot be beat, and the support of our CP Vacations team is unparalleled. Thanks to the value of our CP Vacations package, what started as an individual booking request for Hawaii next year has turned in to a customized CP Vacations Group trip!

Cruise Planners Home Office will be creating marketing tools such as flyers, web-based visual aids and interactive email campaigns to bring the Completely Packaged Vacations to life. CPV packages will save agents time as finding hotels, researching locations, checking availability with blackout dates, confirming logistics, and more are taken care of by the CPV Team.

The same tasks that would normally take an hour for each agent to do takes the CPV Team 10 minutes because of the volume we are creating, Garcia said. Clients looking to shop around and comparison shop will find that they cant match CPVs bundled prices with exclusive amenities.

Like all special rates, Completely Packaged Vacations are based on availability, inventory control, and include time-sensitive terms  so agents must be proactive in closing the sale.

Agents who are struggling with navigating group benefits can now go to market with pre-packaged, fully-commissionable exclusive offers without having to re-invent the wheel, Garcia said. We expect savvy agents to leverage these pre-made packages to build their business as we recognize that earning commission on the complete sale, offering excellent customer service and providing clients with the best value is the smart way to grow their business year over year.

About Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative

Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, is the nations largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the travel industry. Cruise Planners operates a network of more than 1,400 franchise owners who independently book amazing vacation and travel experiences for their clients. The Florida-based Home Office Team positions a nation-wide network of franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing, booking and technology tools, as well as professional development and hands-on training with the industrys top executives. The company continues to be lauded and has been named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 13 consecutive years. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, has been ranked as the #1 travel franchise by Franchise Business Review for 5 years in a row, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel since it started ranking companies.

Headquartered in Coral Springs, Fla. with more than 22 years of experience, Cruise Planners has achieved top producer status with every major cruise line. Accolades include numerous Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly for the past seven years, American Express Travel Representative Excellence Award for 11 consecutive years (2004-2014), American Express Agency of the Year (2010), Royal Caribbean International Chairmans Award (2015), Royal Caribbean International Presidents Award for Overall Achievement (2012 and 2014), Royal Caribbean International Home-Based Partner of the Year (2007-2013), Norwegian Cruise Line Franchise Agency of the Year (2011-2015), Celebrity Cruises Field Sales Account of the Year (2015), Celebrity Cruises Home-Based Account of the Year (2013-2014) and Celebrity Cruises Southeast Region Travel Agent Partner of the Year (2010), American Express Vacations Best of the Best Globe Award (2008-2015), Globus Family of Brands Premier Agency Partner (2009-2014), Platinum Member of the 500 Club for Sales Excellence (2014), Platinum Circle Member with Viking River Cruises (2009-2012), Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection Top Producer (2008-2014) and Regent Seven Seas Cruises Top Producer. Cruise Planners is one of the Top 50 franchises for Veterans according to GI magazine, the Top Franchise Brand for Veterans according to Franchise Business Review, has been named one of the Top 25 franchises for African-Americans by Black Enterprise magazine and is a member of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association. For more information, visit http://www.cruiseplanners.com.

Stay in Touch: Media can stay up-to-date with Cruise Planners by visiting our media room, following us on Twitter @Cruisitude or on Facebook. For additional information or to make reservations, vacationers should locate a travel advisor near them. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit the Cruise Planners franchise website.

SOURCE Cruise Planners

Contact:

Caitlin Murphy Gardner

Cruise Planners

+1 (954) 344-8060 Ext: 117

###

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The Cleaning Authority Closes Out Q2 with Successful Launch of The Cleaning Authority CARES

Residential Cleaning Franchise Recognizes Systems Top Performers at Annual Convention

COLUMBIA, MD (PRWEB) August 16, 2016 - For more than 20 years, The Cleaning Authority has continually made a positive impact on the quality of life of the homeowners it serves, the people it employs and the growing number of franchisees it supports. That consistent success is mostly due to the brands unwavering dedication to providing service thats above and beyond customers expectations. Now, as the brand closes out the second quarter of 2016, the leadership team and franchisees have a lot to be proud ofincluding adding seven new franchisees to the system and achieving a system-wide sales increase of over 11% between second quarter 2015 and 2016.

In April 2016, franchisees gathered at The Cleaning Authoritys 2016 Convention in Baltimore, Maryland to celebrate the brands recent accomplishments and brainstorm new ideas to fuel future growth. This year, there was a sharp focus on the brands growing network of employees and how franchisees can enhance hiring, retention and leadership to help make unit-level economics stronger than ever before.

The convention is such a great time, because we really are a franchise family. It gives us the opportunity to catch up, connect with each other and reflect on how far weve come during the last year, said Heather McLeod, director of marketing for The Cleaning Authority. Its also a great chance to inspire our entire system to further exceed expectations in the years to come. Were always looking to grow and build from that momentum because ultimately we want to continue to make the next month or the next year better than the last.

To honor the franchisees and employees that have helped propel the brand forward year after year, several of The Cleaning Authoritys top performers were recognized at the 2016 Convention.

Employee of the Year: Michelle Bonner of Heath, Ohio; Cristina Villegas of Austin, Texas; Valerie Chapman from Etobicoke Mississiauga, Ontario, Canada; Nemesis Silva from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Maria Raigoza from Arlington, Texas.

Other award highlights include:

Quality Inspector of the Year: Dericka Francis of Columbia, Maryland

Manager of the Year: Patricia Martinez of Sacramento, California

Hall of Fame Inductee: Pete and Pam DeLorme of Knoxville, Tennessee

Rising Star: David Villa of Tyler, Texas

Resale of the Year: Susan and Allen Thrift and Chris Perez of Plano-Frisco, Texas

Rookie of the Year: Ariel and Paulina Gerberhoff of San Diego, California

Franchisee of the Year: Randy Thomas of Indianapolis, Indiana

During the annual event, the brand also proudly announced a new initiativeThe Cleaning Authority CARES, which was developed to help the millions of food insecure households throughout North America. Designed to engage every franchisee, the program encourages The Cleaning Authority locations to give back to their local communities by collecting and donating food to those in need.

This summer, the brand hosted its first system-wide The Cleaning Authority CARES collection and had buy-in from more than 150 offices, nearly 75% of the franchise system. The Cleaning Authority CARES committee, which was comprised of five franchisees, volunteered their time to decide on the focus of the program, put together the campaign structure and share the initiative with franchisees. While organizing a food drive independently might have been a daunting task to take on, franchisees found it to be an easy program to execute thanks to the support and materials provided by the committee and corporate staff.

The brand collected 13,883 grocery bags of food, totaling 120,622 pounds to donate to various organizations across the country including Second Harvest (9,655 lbs.), Gleaners Food Bank (6,689 lbs.), Feeding America (4,469 lbs.), Catholic Charities (2,175 lbs.) and Salvation Army (1,232 lbs.).

We started The Cleaning Authority CARES as a way to help our franchisees better facilitate what theyre already doing. We have many franchisees that were already doing charitable work at their locations. As a franchise system, our biggest strength is learning what our individual franchise operators are doing and applying those best practices to the entire company, McLeod said. We listened to our franchisees and realized we could help them be even more efficient and effective in their community outreach. Realizing the strength in numbers, we decided to focus on a food drive together. The first campaign was tremendously successful and we look forward to seeing how it grows.

The Cleaning Authority CARES will conduct a second campaign beginning in November. It will then continue to run two food drives a year, one during the summer and one around the holidays, as these are the times food banks need the most help.

About The Cleaning Authority

Founded in 1989, The Cleaning Authority has been franchising for almost 20 years and has more than 200 locations in the United States and Canada. Completing more than 1.7 million cleans last year, the company is responsible for the proprietary Detail-Clean Rotation System designed to guarantee a thorough clean. The Cleaning Authority is an environmentally responsible residential cleaning franchise. For more information, please visit http://www.thecleaningauthority.com or follow us on Twitter @LiveLifeWeClean.

SOURCE The Cleaning Authority

Contact:

Lauren Boukas

No Limit Agency

+1 (312) 526-3996

###

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But it was also a weekend of individuals. Cyclists orange jerseys were festooned with white I ride for  stickers, filled in by each rider: I ride for Mom. I ride for Irwin. I ride for James. I ride for Allistaire.

Many of these names were repeated on the dedication wall, a large, four-sided chalkboard with I ride for  in big white letters on the top. The walls blank lines were completely full of names written in different colors of chalk by the second hour of Fridays kickoff party at Seattles Gas Works Park, with more names squeezed into spaces between the lines and written around all the margins.

Those hundreds of names  names of loved ones lost to cancer, like Allistaire Anderson and Abby Calvo, and names of survivors, like Nancy Evans and Brian Tracy  faced Obliteride cyclists as they celebrated Friday night and greeted them again as they crossed the finish line into the park on Sunday.

Too many, too soon

Abby Calvos name was also written on a jersey hanging over Obliterides starting line on the Fred Hutch campus. The starting line jerseys  six in total  belonged to past Obliteride riders or volunteers who have died of cancer since the rides inception in 2013. Calvo, an avid cyclist, died of Ewing sarcoma in April. Her husband, Justin Calvo, spoke to the crowd of riders at Sundays starting line.

Abby had been hoping to ride in this years Obliteride, her husband said. This past winter, shed challenged her army of friends and family to ride with her. This weekend, many of those supporters showed up at Fred Hutch as part of the Abbys Army team to ride in her memory.

Today, 50 of Abbys Army, her friends, her supporters, and all three of her bicycles will cross the starting line. Abby wont. Cancer takes and takes and takes, Justin Calvo said, going on to list other loved ones lost to cancer in recent years. So many more beautiful names. Too many, too soon, he said.

But for Justin Calvo and many others at the Obliteride starting line, new treatments on the market and those still under development in research labs are offering new hope. Fred Hutch immunotherapy researcher Dr. Phil Greenberg also spoke at the starting line, giving the audience a glimpse at the path immunotherapy has traveled in the decades of his career. For some people in early-stage clinical trials, immunotherapies like those Greenberg has developed have showed progress against cancers that no other treatment has touched.

Its a dramatic outcome and one we want to see expanded. The only way we can expand this now is with resources  The only way we can do that is with philanthropic support such as the kind of event youre supporting today, Greenberg said. I just want to tell you that we share your passion. Were out there, were trying to make this happen, and we can only do it because of the efforts of people like you.

Justin Calvo echoed those sentiments when he spoke. Im reminded that were all in this together, Calvo said, acknowledging those touched by cancer and those developing new advances. Its our turn to create the change that this world so desperately needs, to create our new vocabulary: from chaos to cure, from fear to love  and from someday to today.
Delta Pro Scooters Released their first Freestyle Scooter Model, The Recon

Delta Pro Scooters is looking to shake up the pro scooter industry with the release of their first complete pro scooter, the Recon.

--

Delta Pro Scooters is looking to shake up the pro scooter industry with the release of their first complete pro scooter, the Recon. The Delta Recon is going to stand out at the scooter parks and on the streets, and that's exactly what Delta wanted when they launched their brand.

Many pro scooters in the industry are made from similar materials and components, leaving very little to distinguish one brand's offerings from another. Delta is trying to disrupt this "business as usual" approach by rethinking trick scooters at the design level.

The Delta design team went to work on their first product offering, the Recon Complete, with an intent to make this scooter different than everything else on the market. Everything from the color palette to its lines were meant to fit a more sophisticated, discerning rider. The result? A pro scooter that is built to last, leading the industry in both form and function.

"The Recon will stand out in a sea of garish, neon scooters that were designed for a younger clientele. This scooter is going to appeal to a more experienced rider. It's not your first scooter. When you're ready to step up your game, then you're ready for the Delta," says Kevin Mooney, Delta Operating Director.

The Recon's have just arrived at Delta's headquarters in Bend, Oregon and are ready to ship to amateaur and pro riders across the country. To kick off the arrival of the Recon, Delta held a sweepstakes on their Instagram page, giving away four (4) Recons to their already established fanbase.

The Recon Complete was manufactured in limited amounts, and prospective retailers are being carefully vetted by Delta. Which means, that while the Recon is in stock and ready to be sold, its high demand and selective supply chain almost certainly guarantees they won't last long.

Fans of the Recon who hope to receive one before the holidays may not want to wait. The Delta is here -- and riders are hungry for it.

For more information, please visit http://www.deltaproscooters.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Kevin

Email: kevin@deltaproscooters.com

Organization: Delta Pro Scooters



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/delta-pro-scooters-released-their-first-freestyle-scooter-model-the-recon/128000

Release ID: 128000

For more information visit r



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Zero Loss Formula Software Released as Peter Morgan Latest System for Options Trading Industry

Zero Loss Formula Software was recently released as Peter Morgan came up with the launch of his new trading system. Zero Loss Formula System aims at predicting the Options move in Profitable Way.

--

Zero Loss Formula Review released with the launch of Zero Loss Formula software. The brainchild of Peter Morgan, this new binary trading software targets the highest market condition to place trades for maximum success. The Zero Loss Formula software is being told as capable of yielding some unbelievable numbers, and may be it really can, but that would depend on the magnitude of initial financial input made.

The ZLF company representatives said, "The particular algorithm for Zero Loss Formula software determines in advance which assets and markets are going to rise and thus places trades in them accordingly" Further explaining about the way in which this software does the predictions, they said, "This binary prediction is made by reading the underlying market principles and constantly looking out for any change which could end up with a ripple effect"

The Zero Loss Formula APP release has added one more auto trading software in the heap of them which are already present in the market. The company spokesperson explained as he said, "The accuracy level and the quality of people who are behind Our Zero Loss Formula software is something which cannot be matched. With thorough beta testing, we came up with the accuracy percentile, which is not out of the world, but the consistency it follows makes it best."

Their remarks are well supported by the constant accuracy rates hovering between seventy and anything above that in percentages, which were recorded during the beta testing. It is worth noting that beta testing is generally done under real time based market scenarios and trends. And the Zero Loss Formula System testing goes on for a longer duration of time to make sure that a small sample size is not chosen to judge the efficiency of any software.

While the makers are promoting it best as they could and beta testers giving it a thumb up, the real test would be when this Zero Loss Formula gets out and starts getting used directly by mass users. With a huge number of non performing binary options trading softwares out there, the question on performance of every such software is obvious. But the encouraging results in beta testing and the quality of the team behind the new software makes its case stronger than others. Rest, only time can tell.

For more information, please visit http://thedailyharrison.com/reviews/zero-loss-formula-software-zero-loss-formula-scam-system

Contact Info:

Name: Peter Morgan

Organization: Zero Loss Formula



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/zero-loss-formula-software-released-as-peter-morgan-latest-system-for-options-trading-industry/128011

Release ID: 128011

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Drug Rehab Baltimore Comments on $3 Million Awarded By Maryland to Fight Heroin but Not In Baltimore

( August 16, 2016 ) Baltimore, Maryland -- The current Governor of Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan, has announced that, to fight the heroin epidemic in the state, Maryland will be distributing $3 million in grants. Despite the large amounts of deaths caused by heroin overdoses in the city, Baltimore will not be receiving any grant. According to the governor's office, this city did not apply to receive a portion of the $3 million. According to their police spokesman T.J. Smith, the grants do not meet the requirements of the department. Along with this, Smith said that the funding would not last for longer than a year and would ultimately lead to people being laid off once funding ran dry. Drug Rehab asserts that, though the reasons behind Baltimore not applying for the grants was reasonable, something must be done to improve the heroin problem in the city. By finding an alternate solution to solving the heroin epidemic, the city of Baltimore will be able to effectively diminish and end the drug use in their community.

An associate from the facility comments:

"The reasons the Baltimore Police Department chose not to apply for the grant showed that the department was thinking of the future in how it would affect the community. Though the issue of heroin use and the large amounts of heroin death resulting from it remains unresolved, community leaders seem to be working to fight the issue. The continued attention to the growing heroin epidemic in Maryland shows that state officials have recognized that there is an issue and that they are working toward a resolution."

About Drug Rehab Baltimore 28117:

Drug Rehab Baltimore provides recovery treatment such as drug counseling, group and family therapy, and heroin rehab in Baltimore to aid clients in achieving and maintaining sobriety. This drug treatment facility in Baltimore allows a client to address the physical and emotional ties linked to their addiction. By living in a sober living community, clients will be able to achieve a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.

For more information visit http://www.drugrehabbaltimore.net/ or call (410)709-3816.

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Dynamic Gift Australia Launches a Media Walls Campaign to Raise Awareness

Media walls help to increase brand awareness and exposure, reports DynamicGift.com.au

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According to Statista.com, Woolworths remains the most valuable brand in Australia. The organization states Woolworths possessed an estimated brand value of approximately $8.96 billion United States dollars in 2015. Companies need to recognize the importance of brand value when creating their marketing strategy, even if they don't wish to reach this level of success. The small business, as well as the large one, benefits greatly when a consumer recognizes a brand and what is stands for.

As Chron points out, brand awareness becomes of great importance when establishing advertising objectives. Customers tend to buy from brands they know and trust, thus they must be aware of a brand and what it stands for. When they need to purchase a product or service, they prefer to go to this brand first, and Media Walls are one way to accomplish this goal.

"Media walls serve as a backdrop at major events and tend to repeat the brand name and/or logo. With this repetition, the company name and/or logo is further cemented in the consumer's mind. Marketing Journal Blog states there is no set number of times a consumer needs to see a brand before it actually produces the desired result, as some experts claim the magic number is three, others state it is seven and others believe it is even higher. Regardless, the more exposure the brand has, the more effective the advertising will be," Richard Perry, spokesperson for Dynamic Gift Australia, explains.

The company needs to carefully choose the media wall, however, to ensure it presents the right image for their organization. Some companies opt for a straight wall, yet others feel a curved wall best meets their needs. The material of the wall also needs to be taken into consideration, as well as the size. It's a matter of finding what best works for each organization.

"The staff at Dynamic Gift Australia works with each client to determine what they need to achieve their advertising goals. With the right wall, a company finds they garner attention at an event, even when it is packed with competitors. Brand awareness and exposure increase as a result, and the business obtains a good return on their investment," Perry declares.

About Dynamic Gift Australia:

Dynamic Gift Australia loves what they do and it shows in their work. With the help of marketing experts well versed in promoting companies, staff members make recommendations on the best products for clients, the best uses of these products and campaign ideas to maximize the investment. All work is completed in house at a company owned facility to ensure the best results.

For more information, please visit http://www.dynamicgift.com.au

Contact Info:

Name: Richard Perry

Organization: Dynamic Gift Australia

Phone: 0265554001

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/dynamic-gift-australia-launches-a-media-walls-campaign-to-raise-awareness/128072

Release ID: 128072

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Yoursite Singapore Expands Services Offered To Include a Powerful Social Media Analytics Tool

Yoursite Singapore is a digital marketing consultancy that offers the very best results for businesses looking to maximize ROI in their online campaigns, and now offers a new social media analytics tool known as SocialOne.

--

Digital marketing is essential to the success of any modern business, but there is a huge difference between adequate and great digital marketing. Unfortunately for businesses, adequate digital marketing is the most common in the market, and means many businesses are missing out on potential ROI. Yoursite Singapore is a digital marketing consultancy that specializes in maximizing online campaign performance. After six years on the cutting edge, they have just expanded their services to include SocialOne, a powerful social media marketing analytics tool. By consolidating data across all social media platforms and making intelligent recommendations, it increases campaign optimization by up to two to three fold. This has shown to bring about greatly improved conversions for just about any scenario.

Social media is now an essential cog in the digital machine - Facebook is now the number one traffic source for news sites - and businesses need to be prepared to immerse their brand in the social world. Fortunately, Your Site Singapore's experienced consultants are on hand to help them transition to a social media model, and the potential advantages are huge.

Yoursite Singapore offers full spectrum online marketing consultancy, and their social media services help businesses to generate and curate online content that will win fans and engage huge audiences, increasing brand awareness and outreach. Their social media marketing uses audiences' existing passions and interests to sell the client's brand more directly than ever.

A spokesperson for Yoursite Singapore explained, "We are excited to be able to roll out SocialOne, it is sure to take our social media offerings to the next level. Our clients, both existing and new, will love the greatly increased results from their campaigns. Without a doubt, social media is a mercurial beast - everyone acknowledges its power but few have successfully been able to wield it. That is why we have taken our time to perfect our approach before rolling out SocialOne. We want to make sure the leap in results as a result of this social media tool matches the high standards our clients can expect from us in every other facet of digital marketing. We are pleased to report that this is now the case, and we can help virtually any business harness social media to generate even greater ROI."

About Yoursite Singapore: Yoursite Singapore was established in 2010, and offers an expert team of experienced designers, developers and marketers. They consistently deliver impactful digital marketing campaigns through the application of sound strategy, beautiful design and cutting edge technology. Using proven methods, coupled with stringent quality control processes, they ensure clients the best possible return on investment.

For more information, please visit http://www.yoursite.sg/

Contact Info:

Name: Yoursite Singapore

Email: info@yoursite.sg

Organization: PRWhirlWind

Address: 120 Lower Delta Road, #09-06 Cendex Centre, Singapore 169208

Phone: +65 62888641

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/yoursite-singapore-expands-services-offered-to-include-a-powerful-social-media-analytics-tool/128078

Release ID: 128078

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Philadelphia Pet Grooming Careers Avery's Dog & Cat Jobs Expansion Announced

An award-winning Philadelphia grooming and styling company has announced a company wide expansion. Interested parties can send an email to admin@averyspetstyle.com.

--

Avery's Pet Styling & Boutique, the Philadelphia based award-winning cat and dog grooming service that uses mobile pet grooming technology to visit people at home and take care of their pets, has announced a company wide expansion. The company site explains how it serves as a testament to the success of the service, which has won numerous awards, including the Angie's list Super Service Award and the Best of Philly Award in Philadelphia Magazine.

More information can be found on the Avery's website at: http://averyspetstyle.com.

The site explains how Avery's Pet Styling & Grooming first began, when Taria Avery fell in love with her chocolate Labrador. However, after taking the dog, Avery, to numerous groom shops, she realized that a higher level of professionalism could be achieved in the pet grooming industry.

Her mission then became to establish a company that provided peace of mind for pet owners by offering advanced, personalized care for dogs and cats in the Philadelphia area. The company site explains that one of the keys behind the success for Avery's is that mobile dog and cat grooming can afford its staff to spend longer with each pet, ensuring a safe, personal experience, unlike typical groom shop scenarios.

The success of Avery's Pet Styling & Boutique in Philadelphia has led to the full expansion through acquisitions, buyouts, franchising and licensing, and the company is now actively seeking those opportunities. This means that interested parties in the local area can get in touch with the award-winning Philadelphia pet grooming service to take advantage of the career opportunities available.

Because of the service expansion, career opportunities are listed for experienced dog and cat groomers, grooming school graduates, cosmetology school graduates, career changers, and vet techs, along with vet students looking to expand their skill set.

Among the opportunities available is a paid training program, helping interested parties to start a career as a pet groomer, with health benefits, paid time off, and room for advancement in the industry.

The site explains that there are three different ways for prospective parties to apply for the roles. People can visit the Avery's website, send an email to admin@averyspetstyle.com, or call 877-528.3797 to schedule an interview.

For more information, please visit http://www.averyspetstyle.com

Contact Info:

Name: Taria Avery

Organization: Avery's Mobile Pet Salon

Address: PO Box 28652, Philadelphia, PA 19151

Phone: 877-528-3797

Release ID: 127916

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SearchBlox Software, Inc. Releases Cloud Search Software

The new solution includes search as a service with no contracts or commitments, reports http://www.searchblox.com/.

--

SearchBlox Software, Inc., a leading enterprise search solutions company, has recently announced the release of their new cloud search software. SearchBlox Cloud Search Service is presented as a "software as a service" solution, and those who take advantage of it can do so without contracts or commitments. More details on packages and pricing for the new SearchBlox Cloud Search are available via the SearchBlox website.

"Since 2003 we have taken pride in our ability to bring commercial-grade search products to the market that makes people's lives easier," said SearchBlox Software Inc.'s Timo Selvaraj. "Now, the new cloud solution we've just launched is not only making site search easier, it's making it more affordable as well. SearchBlox Cloud Search is presented as a 'software as a service' solution, which keeps overhead costs low and means that site owners will never pay for more than they truly need. Because there are no contracts involved, business owners are free to switch packages as their needs change."

Because the SearchBlox Cloud Software is presented as a monthly service with no contracts, business owners can simply sign-up and get started within minutes. The included features are comparable to Google Site Search and other hosted search providers. There is no software to install, as everything is hosted on SearchBlox's secure servers. Business owners and developers will enjoy API access as well as built-in crawlers for more than 60 data sources. The software is suitable for site search, e-commerce search, social listening, custom search, and big data search applications and features the benefits of 24x7 monitoring and SLAs.

As Selvaraj goes on to say, "When it comes to Google Site Search vs. SearchBlox Cloud, we honestly don't think there's any debate. Our new cloud solution provides unmatched features at an affordable price with no long-term commitments. It's one of the most robust site search solutions on the market today, and we couldn't be more proud to launch this service for business owners who have been looking for something that truly suits their needs."

Business and website owners can learn more about the new SearchBlox Cloud Software and locate a package that's right for them at http://www.searchblox.com/solutions/aws-cloud-search-solution/.

About SearchBlox Software, Inc.:

SearchBlox Software, Inc. is a privately held Richmond, Virginia-based leading provider of enterprise search solutions based on Apache Lucene. Over 300 customers in 30 countries use SearchBlox to power their website, intranet and custom search. SearchBlox Software, Inc. was founded in 2003 with the aim to develop commercial search products based on Apache Lucene. SearchBlox provides web based administration of your search server and comes with integrated crawlers to index your enterprise and web content.

For more information, please visit http://www.searchblox.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Timo Selvaraj

Organization: SearchBlox Software, Inc.

Phone: (866) 933-3626

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/searchblox-software-inc-releases-cloud-search-software/128087

Release ID: 128087

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Scope Leads Todd Spears 2016 Software Released

New software Scope Leads from Todd Spears is cutting the cost of business leads in 2016 by providing users with accurate contact details for businesses in a range of targeted niches. The new software also includes an integrated CRM platform.

--

Todd Spears has just released the new Scope Leads 2016 software for finding and contacting highly targeted business leads at minimal cost.

More information is available at http://letsgolook.at/ScopeLeads.

Having a steady flow of high quality targeted leads is a vital key to the success of many different businesses but acquiring quality leads that convert into paying customers at a price that allows the business to be profitable is a huge challenge for most businesses.

Many lead services provide leads on a one contact only basis contacting the leads on behalf of the business and not giving them access to contact the business themselves. This is costly for most businesses because successful client generation often requires multiple contacts.

Other lead compilation services do provide contact details for each lead but the quality of the services vary and the contact details are often inaccurate or out of date resulting in very low conversion rates.

The new Scope Leads software from Todd Spears allows users to compile their own lists from the most up to date data available online. The Scope Leads software delivers users the website and email address of leads in any specific niche and area. Other details like physical mailing addresses are also available.

The software also makes contacting leads generated with inbuilt client relationship management features streamlining the process. The software's client relationship management system that allows users to customize messages to send to prospects and do automated follow up based on whether prospects reply or don't reply to any messages that have been sent.

The messages are highly personalized with fields to maximize their chances of being opened. Marketing by physical mail is also possible using the new software with fields like name and physical address that can be exported in csv format. More information on Scope Leads and it's price for new users is available at http://muncheye.com/todd-spears-scope-leads.

For more information, please visit http://letsgolook.at/ScopeLeads

Contact Info:

Name: James Peterson

Organization: Muncheye.com



Release ID: 127865

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Conductive Inks Market Rising at 3.5% CAGR to Hit $3.91 Billion by 2021

The market size of conductive inks is projected to reach USD3.91 billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 3.5% between 2016 and 2021 dominated by silver flakes while demand from the growing electronics and automotive industries are expected to drive the growth of the market.

--

The growth of the conductive inks market is driven by demand from the growing electronics and automotive industries. The liberal trade policies in emerging economies such as India, China, and South Korea are attracting many foreign investments for different sectors in Asia-Pacific. This will catalyze the demand for conductive inks across various industrial verticals in the region.

Silver flakes conductive inks are expected to dominate the conductive inks market during the forecast period. This is attributed to their availability in different particle size and surface area, which make them highly flexible for use in various electronic applications. The demand is expected to grow owing to increasing use in the industries such as PV, biosensors, membrane switches, PCB, and EMI shielding.

Complete report on global conductive inks market spread across 173 pages, profiling 10 companies and supported with 137 tables and 45 figures is now available http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/conductive-inks-market-by-application-photovoltaic-membrane-switches-displays-and-automotive-type-silver-flake-dielectric-silver-nanoparticle-copper-flake-carbon-nanoparticle-and-carbon-graphene-global-ts-to-2021-market-report.html .

Asia-Pacific is projected to remain as the largest conductive inks market during the forecast period owing to high economic growth rate, followed by heavy investment in the end-use industries such as automotive, electronics, and others. The European and North American markets are technology-driven and provide less scope for high growth. Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the demand owing to its rapidly growing PV and consumer electronics markets. Foreign companies are investing and bringing the latest technology to Asia-Pacific because of large scope for growth and presence of various untapped markets in this region.

Breakdown of profile of primary interviews for the report:

By Company Type - Tier 1- 33%, Tier 2-47%, and Tier 3-20%

By Designation - C Level- 27%, Director Level,-40%, and Others-33%

By Region - North America-33%, Europe-20%, Asia-Pacific-40%, and Others -7%

Some of the key companies profiled in this report are DuPont (U.S.), Methode Electronics (U.S.), Heraeus (Germany), Henkel (Germany), Sun Chemical Corporation (U.S.), Applied Nanotech Holdings (U.S.), Taiyo Ink (Japan), and NovaCentrix (U.S.). Get a discount on Conductive Inks Market by Application (Photovoltaic, Membrane Switches, Displays and Automotive), Type (Silver Flake, Dielectric, Silver Nanoparticle, Copper Flake, Carbon Nanoparticle, and Carbon/Graphene) - Global Trends and Forecasts to 2021 research report at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/discount?rname=663698 .

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.

On a related note, another research on Rotogravure Printing Inks Market Global Forecast to 2021 says, high demand for printing inks from the packaging industry, growth in flexible packaging, and easy-to-use are major the drivers of the rotogravure printing inks market. Packaging is the fastest-growing application for rotogravure printing inks. Rising demand in Asia-Pacific is the major driver of the rotogravure printing inks market. Companies like Flint Group, DIC Corporation, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd., Sakata Inx Corporation, T&K Toka Co., Ltd., Tokyo Printing Ink Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, , Hubergroup Deutschland GmbH and Wikoff Color Corporation have been profiled in this 168 pages research report available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/rotogravure-printing-inks-market-by-type-nitrocellulose-polyamide-polyurethane-acrylic-others-technology-solvent-based-water-based-others-application-packaging-publication-product-promotion-st-to-2021-market-report.html .

About Us:

RnRMarketResearch.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 100+ leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets.

For more information, please visit http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com

Contact Info:

Name: Ritesh Tiwari

Organization: RnR Market Research

Address: UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar

Phone: +1-888-391-5441

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/conductive-inks-market-rising-at-3-5-cagr-to-hit-3-91-billion-by-2021/128154

Release ID: 128154

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Grab Lorry Hire In Nottingham Is Now Available From Dean O'Neill's New Firm

Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd is celebrating the launch of their new Grab Lorry Hire service in the Nottingham area by giving customers10% off in August 2016. Further information can be found at http://doneill.trade.

--

In a slightly different approach to launching its new Grab Lorry Hire service, Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd, a plant Hire company in Nottingham has decided it will giving customers10% off for new customers, and this is expected to take place August 2016.

Where most businesses tend to just post some flyers in local shops, Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd has decided to be a little more giving and make sure customer satisfaction client satisfaction is paramount with the start of its new Grab Lorry Hire service in Nottingham.

Dean O'Neill, Owner at Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd, says: "We wanted to to make sure giving customer satisfaction is on top of the agenda with the launch of our new Grab Lorry Hire service because I want to put the company name on the map and to let people know about the new service provided.

It should be really worthwhile and we're hoping it makes our customers realise that this service is quick, safe and environmentally friendly and that we operate within local authority guidelines. Hopefully this will be one of our most popular services.. It should go great unless the construction and home renovation run out of supplies.!"

Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd has always made a point of standing out when compared to other machine and plant rental companies in the Nottingham area. This launch celebration is just one of the many ways it does so.

This is a great chance for Nottingham residents to to become familiar with the company and get a good deal on the service. and support a very hard working and reliable local business.

Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd has been serving the Nottingham area since May 2016. To date it has served dozens of satisfied customers and has become recognized as guaranteed 7 day service. It can be found on The Wells Road near St Ann's Well, a spring once thought to have magical healing powers, at the junction of The Wells Road and Kildare Road.

Dean O'Neill also said: "While Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd may not be the only business with this kind of offering, local residents are choosing Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd because we put customer satisfaction above everything else.."

When asked about the new Grab Lorry Hire service, Dean O'Neill said: "We think it's going to be a hit because it is practical useful to have 7 day service and we know our customers have been waiting for it.".

Further information about Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd and the new Grab Lorry Hire service can be discovered at https://www.facebook.com/hirejcb/ and http://doneill.trade.

For more information, please visit http://doneill.trade

Contact Info:

Name: Dean O'Neill

Organization: Dean O'Neill Grab and JCB Hire Ltd

Address: 59 The Wells Road, St Anns, Nottingham NG3 3AP

Phone: 01158 241116

Release ID: 128002

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Fund managers have been increasing their bets on the failure of several big company names, as a report revealed short-sellers have been more active in the FTSE 350 over recent weeks than in the past two years.

The impact of the EU referendum has pushed the UK economy into a state of flux, as the Bank of England cut the base rate and introduced other measures to stave off recession.

But data from Markit, published today (16 August), revealed some short-sellers have been betting against UK household names - including Sainsburys, Tesco and the AA - which now have 2.8 per cent of their shares shorted on average.

Other big names investors think will see a hit to their share prices include Ocado, Mitie, Morrison, JD Wetherspoon and Thomas Cook.

Since the 23 June vote, overvalued domestically exposed UK companies with poor share price momentum have seen a 29 per cent jump on average shorting activity, the report revealed.

The findings also showed the current demand to sell the index short is still over 15 per cent higher than on the eve of the referendum, which Markit analyst Simon Colvin said indicated short sellers are not going anywhere.

He stated: The underperformance of domestically exposed firms has not gone unnoticed from short-sellers. If things get bad in the UK, it could rapidly unwind Jamie Carter

Jamie Carter, partner of SW Mitchell Capital and manager of its $86m (66m) Small Cap European fund, said one of the obvious things he has done recently is short Debenhams.

Debenhams has got a huge store base, and the wrong base, he said, pointing to the demise of high street shopping.

They have got a really expensive rent bill, a lot of debt, and we think if sales fall 5 per cent then they will struggle to pay their debt and might have to raise equity, stated Mr Carter, adding: If things get bad in the UK, it could rapidly unwind.

He suggested the retail sector is likely to suffer the most, but said he was also wary of how property was coping in this tough economic environment.

Last week he said he visited a number residential companies, including Foxtons, LSL Property and Savills, pointing to what he described as a terrible stalemate over transaction volumes due to a vacuum between the buyer and seller price.

What I have noticed all year, even in the run-up to the Brexit vote, is companies warning of slowing business, and it was very difficult for them to tell if it was related to the referendum, Mr Carter said, noting it was spurious of companies to cite a Brexit slowdown in February.

Everyone has got over the initial shock of the Brexit, but I think the pain is to come.

katherine.denham@ft.com
Despite uncertainty around the property market post-Brexit, investor confidence in the lending environment remains unchanged, according to Shawbrook Bank.

A survey among 128 of its clients at the beginning of the third quarter found 57 per cent of property investors are feeling confident or fairly confident about the lending environment over the next six months, compared to 58 per cent of a similar survey of 174 clients during the first quarter.

This confidence was reflected in the proportion of investors looking to buy an additional buy-to-let property over the next year - 58 per cent compared with 56 per cent - suggesting Brexit has not had an immediate impact on peoples attitudes towards property investment.

While the EU referendum result may not have de-railed investor plans, it is still cited as the biggest challenge this group will face over the next year - with just under a third of respondents.

While the majority (44 per cent) were unsure of what impact Brexit will have and how the subsequent changes to property prices and market competition will impact them, 42 per cent thought the result will negatively impact property investors. Only 14 per cent said the vote would have positive implications.

Similarly, property investors are feeling a lot less confident about the prospect for the UK economy, with 48 per cent fairly concerned or very concerned about the economic outlook, an increase of 19 per cent from six months ago.

Investors that are more negative in their outlook believe that falling house prices would be the main negative consequence of the result (54 per cent), followed by decreased competition (23 per cent).

In contrast, for those that predict positive outcomes, most see decreased competition in the market due to uncertainty as the main positive consequence (37 per cent), followed by less regulation and red tape (24 per cent) and falling house prices (20 per cent).

Property prices are one area which property investors expect to see significant changes over the next six to 12 months.

In January, 67 per cent of property investors predicted a small increase in property values and 6 per cent predicted a small decrease. The latest figures reveal that 42 per cent are now anticipating a small decrease in prices, while only 21 per cent are predicting a small increase over the next 12 months.

Stephen Johnson, deputy chief executive and managing director of property finance at Shawbrook Bank, said he has not yet seen any real change in customer behaviour.

While the aftermath of Brexit provides uncertainty for landlords, with many waiting to see the impact on house prices, tenant demand and housing supply - there is also opportunity, with investors potentially benefiting from this pricing drop to secure property more cheaply, he commented.

peter.walker@ft.com
Im happy to admit I fit neatly into the age demographic of todays average financial adviser, which is about the same as that of most Radio Two presenters.

Most of us started out as tied agents, telling our clients that the one-size-fits-all Managed Fund, which was all we had to offer, was a better home for their savings than the boring building society.

When we all became proper IFAs, like the proverbial kids in the sweetie shop, we combed Trustnet (other more expensive services are available) and put together fab portfolios for our clients.

We could recommend any fund in the known universe, could pick the best performers and make our clients fortunes. And all those fund launches we were invited to!

In one month in 2007, I remember at least four new novelty property funds of different varieties being plugged in the same ghastly hotel - none of which exist today. Like a new dad finally realising that his own dad might have known what he was talking about, Ive concluded that boring is, more often than not, best

Picking and recommending lots of funds was, of course, the easy bit. The going got rather tougher when we had to go back to see those same clients in a year or two, when many of those best performers had bombed.

It meant both hours of extra prep and research and, often, a dose of humble pie. Then, in another year or two, the inevitable five or 10 yearly stock market and/or property crash would compound the problem.

But heres the thing. Those clients from the old days whom we hadnt got around to seeing, still stuck in those boring Managed Funds, had actually done just as well as the ones wed put in our shiny new IFA selections.

Theyd stayed invested in a mixed, multi-asset portfolio; no one had tried to be clever and switch them into or out of any flavours of the month (probably because no one had got around to it) and they were better of as result. Sounding familiar? Sounding like a full circle?

Like a new dad finally realising that his own dad might have known what he was talking about, Ive concluded that boring is, more often than not, best.

Im happy to tell clients that at least half of those paid a fortune to manage money in the City wont, at any given time, have a clue whats going on, so I dont pretend to either. Look at how many hedge funds made big bets on remain. Shame.

The last couple of weeks have confirmed most of my revelatory wisdom. If youd pulled your clients money out of the market in case of Brexit, theyd be worse off.

If youd stuck your clients money in one of those top-performing property funds last year, theyd be worse off, If youd left them in the Zurich/Aviva/Standard Life/Others-Are-Available Managed Fund, theyd have done OK and been quite happy to pay you your half-to-one-percent.
Financial markets are enduring one of their periodic growth scares, albeit not yet as severe as that of early January.

Investors and commentators are still struggling to come to terms with much lower levels of trend growth, and a global economy that is neither materially expanding, nor yet recessionary.

Let me take you through just three of the concerns du jour, if not unexplained phenomena: productivity, end demand, and business investment.

Many economists would like to see end demand stimulated, and are disappointed by the lack of capital expenditure from corporates. In terms of productivity, the weak data is either taken as evidence that something needs to be done, or that it is too difficult to accurately assess this metric in a digital world (this is probably at least partially true).

The reality is that all three of these problems are connected. Id argue that the world is not so much suffering from a lack of demand, as it is swamped by an oversupply.

The aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis did not involve the creative destruction that accompanies recessionary periods, at least not to a commensurate level, and which is a prerequisite for an effective rebound in the global economy. When the chickens do come home to roost, as they will, creative destruction will be that much more virulent than had it been embraced at the time

On the contrary, exceptionally loose monetary policy has kept zombie companies afloat, allowed a maintenance and indeed growth of excess capacity  the very opposite of the supposed cleaning effect of a recession  and consequently a massive misallocation of capital, on an unparalleled scale.

Im not about to argue that creative destruction is in anyway enjoyable at the time, but I will say that it cannot and should not be wished away. The end result of delaying dealing with this issue, and in fact stoking the original problem, is that when the chickens do come home to roost, as they will, it will be that much more virulent than had it been embraced at the time.

This global over-capacity, and yes, China is naturally a large part of this, is also a reason why corporates are unwilling to invest into further expansion. They would not be fulfilling a need, and the return on capital is liable to be lousy.

To me, this is surely building up problems for the future, but it is hardly the fault of corporates, which are arguably acting entirely rationally.

The highly indebted world weighs heavily on all these three issues of demand, investment and productivity, while the benefits of globalisation have stacked up in a lop-sided manner on the consumer side of the ledger (e.g. Skype someone on the other side of the world, for free), as opposed to appearing in statistics for traditional productivity.
Papers released by the Financial Conduct Authority show how the regulator reacted to Junes Brexit vote.

Minutes showed the FCAs board met the day after the EU referendum to discuss the result and its impact .

It was told that since the result was known trading volume had been high, the price of the FTSE and UK bank stocks were down, but trading through the day had been orderly and no interventions had been required.

Meanwhile, contact centre call volumes had been very low, so the executive had decided not to continue extended opening hours over the weekend.

A board meeting the day of the vote itself included a report from the then-acting chief executive Tracey McDermott into the regulators planning for the referendum.

This touched on the supervision of firms and funds, the potential impact on transactions and the communications with staff, consumers and firms.

The week after the referendum, after the executive drew up contingency plans over the weekend, the board held another meeting.

Minutes of that meeting said: The board received an update from Tracey McDermott and Andrew Bailey (the latter in respect of the PRA) on developments following the outcome of the EU referendum.

The update focused on continuing market reaction, issues relating to property fund suspensions, performance of firms and next steps for long term planning, including engagement with staff, industry and other stakeholders.

A week later the board held another meeting to discuss the issues arising from the vote, with a particular emphasis on the property fund suspensions.

The minutes of that meeting said: The board noted that the FCAs role at this time was to ensure that customers were treated fairly and was working to ensure that companies were providing clear communication to their customers and investors.

The board noted that consideration was being given to next steps including central coordination of the FCAs planning work following the referendum outcome and continued engagement with staff.
In a peaceful country cemetery in the hills of Snowdonia lies the grave of Gruffydd Roberts, the dates on his gravestone a poignant reminder that his life was cut short at just 24.

The much-loved son of livestock farmers Peredur and Glenda Roberts, it was Gruffydds premature death in 2013 that encouraged his father to put in motion a career ambition he had nurtured for decades.

Ever since I was 16 I had wanted to be an undertaker, Mr Roberts reveals.

Sadly, the first funeral he arranged was that of his son I wasnt working as an undertaker at that time but I had looked after Gruff all his life, it was the last thing I could do for him. No-one was going to do that for him but me.

See also: So you want to open a green burial ground

Family farm

Peredur grew up at Derw Goed, the family farm at Llandderfel where he now runs a herd of 100 Limousin suckler cows and 400 ewes.

He loves farming but recalls telling his uncle before he left school that he wanted to go into the funeral business.

He discouraged me because he was keen for me to farm so that was that, Peredur recalls.

But the calling never left him and, as he was about to enter his fifth decade, he knew that if he didnt follow it through then, he never would.

Tough industry

Funeral directors dont need to be licensed but it is an industry surprisingly difficult to break into because many are family businesses that pass from one generation to the next.

For Peredur, that opportunity came when he trained with a Welshpool undertaker, Geraint Peate, who also happened to be a sheep farmer.

The days I spent with Geraint passed very quickly because he was interested in farming and I was interested in the funeral business.

After 18 months of learning the trade, Peredur felt the time was right to set up his own business.

He was still farming but with his son, Dafydd, now at home, he was confident he could run both businesses with the support of his family.

He found a suitable building to rent in the village of Pentrefoelas, a 20-minute drive from the farm, and converted it into a chapel of rest.

A local undertaker had retired and there was little provision for local people.

Investment

Peredur invested about 30,000 establishing the business  creating the chapel of rest, refrigerated storage for up to 12 bodies and buying a hearse.

As his reputation has grown so have the number of funerals he is asked to conduct. Last year he arranged 30  eight of them in one week  but in the first seven months of this year he has already conducted 25.

One question he is frequently asked is what drives someone to become an undertaker.

I dont know the answer to that one, its just something thats there inside you. I like to be with people and to help them, says Peredur.

It is very rewarding, nothing compares to the feeling of someone taking you by the arm and thanking you.

It gives me a real sense of purpose to be serving the community. I can understand what other families are going through as I have been there.

Tradition

It was once a tradition for every village to have its own undertaker but, due to health and safety requirements and fewer younger people favouring the occupation, that is no longer the case.

The big firms have got bigger and perhaps they have lost that personal service, Peredur suggests.

He admits people are often surprised to learn it is an unlicensed profession but there is an industry body  the Society of Funeral Directors  of which he is a member. Its a bit like being farm assured, it gives people reassurance.

His occupation brings him into contact with many professionals  police, doctors, vicars, crematoria, florists and printers  but it is the family of the deceased that take priority.

I spend time listening to the familys wishes and I aim to do my utmost to deliver.

Peredur is no longer surprised by the different requests he gets from families  their choice of music, items they want placed in the coffin or the clothes they want their loved one dressed in.

You have got to be guided by their wishes, to be 100% behind them. I try to accommodate whatever they ask of me.

I have come to accept that there is no such thing as an odd request, funerals are very personalised.

Disputes

At times, he has found himself caught in the midst of an acrimonious family dispute, where relatives disagree about the arrangements, but he has learned to take a step back when this happens.

You have to let them find their own way. They mostly work it out.

Arranging each ceremony takes many hours of administration; cremations in particular involve a lot of legal paperwork.

As cemetery space diminishes, cremations have become more commonplace.

Some months it will be all burials and the next, cremations. I arranged seven funerals in January and they were all cremations.

Some deaths are inevitably more tragic than others with age and circumstance adding to the sadness of an already emotionally charged situation but Peredur has that rare quality of being empathetic while detaching himself emotionally.

You have got to otherwise you would be crying every day, you cant take on everyones grief, he insists.

I deal with tragedy every week but I am able to go home and sleep like a log. If I didnt I couldnt do the job.

One sacrifice he has had to make is to forego the odd glass of whiskey.

I dont touch a drop any more because I never know when I will get a call out.

I might get a call from the police late at night asking me to come to the scene of a road traffic accident.

I might not necessarily conduct the funeral but they need someone to take care of the deceased.

Once they are out of the vehicle it is my responsibility to look after them.

Like many funeral directors he has a wicked sense of humour.

It could be said that someone who wants to work with the dead is a sad individual but undertakers are generally quite happy people.

We understand that life is fragile and youve got to make the most of every day.

Funeral cost

But one topic of conversation is guaranteed to make him cross.

It winds me up when I hear reports on the news about the cost of funerals, the most recent figure I saw quoted was 7,600.

The most expensive funeral I have ever conducted was 4,000 and that included 1,200 for the tea after the service.

Peredur has enlisted the help of another sheep farmer, Wyn Williams, to construct the coffins.

He has been a carpenter since he was 15 so he puts the coffins together at the chapel of rest.

He also sings in some of the services, he has got the right voice for the job.

Peredurs 22-year-old son, Dafydd, has also joined him in the business, engraving headstones.

It was a bad experience when the family commissioned a stone mason to make Gruffydds memorial stone that encouraged him in this direction.

The engraving on the headstone was in Welsh, the familys first language, but the stone mason misspelt some of the wording.

These were fifth-generation stone masons, says Peredur.

It was a very upsetting time for us because we had just lost Gruff but they were just very businesslike, demanding full payment even though the mistake was theirs.

I told them I had been farming all my life and that it didnt work like that in farming.

Dafydd decided he wanted to make his brothers gravestone and embarked on a training programme with a firm of stone masons in Ellesmere Port.

They were impressed at how quickly he picked it up, in a short space of time he learned what it took others two years to achieve, says Peredur.

The family bought an engraving machine and Dafydd now takes care of running the farm, engraving the headstones and digging the graves by machine, a work combination his friends find intriguing.

There is a lot of banter but you get used to it, laughs Dafydd.
'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: Next Installment Is a Prequel?

After all the controversies, whispers, and speculations that "Jeepers Creepers 3" has gotten for the past few months, it has been confirmed that "Jeepers Creepers 3" is definitely happening. The good news didn't end there as the "Jeepers Creepers 3" director himself shared some new updates regarding the highly anticipated film.

READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: 'Cathedral' Sequel Faces Another Delay?

According to the "Jeepers Creepers 3" director Victor Salva, the curiosity regarding The Creeper will finally be answered in "Jeepers Creepers 3," Movie Pilot reports. "What will go before cameras as Jeepers Creepers 3 is a new and terrifying chapter from the Jeepers universe. We are bringing back the Creeper's truck, and will be addressing the big questions about The Creeper: what it is, where it came from and why it does what it does," the "Jeepers Creepers 3" director said.

READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' Release Date, Plot, News & Update: Will Cathedral Sequel Finally Reveal Everything About The Creeper?

"More exciting though, this will easily be the most frightening rollercoaster -ride -of- a-Jeepers film that has been made to date," he continued. The "Jeepers Creepers 3" director is assuring the fans that the next installment is definitely worth the wait.

Since the "Jeepers Creepers" director mentioned that we may finally learn the background of The Creeper in "Jeepers Creepers 3," does this mean that the film will bring us back to the early days of The Creeper? If so, then there's a possibility that "Jeepers Creepers" 3 will be more likely a prequel than a sequel.

READ: 'Jeepers Creepers 3' News & Update: Release in Jeopardy Due to Director's Conviction?

It hasn't been easy for the cast and crew of "Jeepers Creepers 3" as the movie has been plagued with controversies. After all the trials that "Jeepers Creepers 3" has encountered, an official "Jeepers Creepers 3" poster has finally gave face to the much-hyped film confirming its existence. "Jeepers Creepers 3" release date has yet to be announced.
'Criminal Minds' Season 12 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: 'CSI Miami Alumna Adam Rodriguez Joins Cast, Thomas Gibson Retained?

Looks like there's really no stopping "Criminal Minds" as it comes back to the TV screens with a bang. There are some new additions to the already splendid cast that will definitely make "Criminal Minds" Season 12 the newest talk of the town. One of the new additions to the cast is Adam Rodriguez who will surely grab the attention of the viewers with his macho supercop style.

Those who are planning to activate their fangirl mode on upon checking out the "Criminal Minds" Season 12 newest addition might change their minds and have a heavy dose of reality because Adam Rodriguez already has a ring on his finger. CBS recently released a photo teaser for "Criminal Minds" Season 12 with 41-year old actor Adam Rodriguez in a winning shot showcasing a muscly FBI agent surveying the crime scene. Adam will be bringing action and drama filling the shoes of Luke Alvez in "Criminal Minds" Season 12.

Some characters who were seen in previous episodes are expected to grace the screen again for "Criminal Minds" Season 12. In every hello, there is a goodbye and this holds true for the cast of "Criminal Minds" Season 12. Although there are new characters added, one major character also bids goodbye to the series as Thomas Gibson's character will be written off from the script of "Criminal Minds" Season 12. Of course, this comes with the controversy of Gibson's altercation with one of the show's writers.

In a serious sense of anticipation, since Gibson was reportedly kicked out from "Criminal Minds" Season 12, the character that he is playing in the series will most probably be killed off to justify the actor's absence. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more "Criminal Minds" Season 12 news and updates.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio on Monday called on ATI Specialty Alloys and Components (also known as Wah Chang) to start cooperating with the U.S. Department of Labor to help workers and their families apply for a government benefits program.

In a meeting with the Gazette-Times editorial board, DeFazio slammed Wah Chang for refusing to verify employment or provide contact information for ex-employees who might qualify for benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

"I don't know how they can stonewall us on that," he said.

The program provides cash compensation and medical benefits for people who developed certain cancers after workplace exposure to radiation as part of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. More than 200 former Wah Chang workers or their survivors have received benefits so far, but others are having trouble applying because they cant get the information they need.

DeFazio said several people have contacted his office seeking help in resolving the situation, and hed like to see greater cooperation from the company, which operates a metals refinery in Millersburg.

Obviously this company is trying to protect itself against potential liability, but I dont know how they can totally stiff us on providing information, he said.

Its not right, he added. Weve got to do better than that.

DeFazio stopped by the newspaper's office on his way to a 5 p.m. town hall meeting at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, one of three such meetings with mid-valley constituents he held on Monday.

At an earlier town hall in Lebanon, he called the current session of Congress "the least productive I have ever seen, a point he repeated in a similar event at Albany City Hall.

The 69-year-old Springfield Democrat has represented the 4th Congressional District since 1987 and will be on the November ballot. He is running again against Republican challenger Art Robinson.

Before turning the session over for questions and answers from his constituents in Lebanon, DeFazio said Congress did make some progress on a surface transportation bill, which he called good policy but said adequate funding remains the stalling point.

DeFazio said he is the leading Democrat on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and helped draft the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation Act of 2016.

He said the federal gas tax has been stagnant as 18.3 cents per gallon since 1993, yet the countrys bridges are in abysmal condition. Increasing the federal tax by nickel would free up billions for badly needed work on the nation's infrastructure, he said, adding that an estimated 150,000 bridges in the U.S. have deficiencies and another 120,000 are rated as obsolete.

I heard this morning that the Oregon Department of Transportation estimates 60 percent of the states roads are in fair or worse shape, DeFazio said.

On other issues, DeFazio:

 Continued to express his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement among 13 Pacific Rim countries that is awaiting ratification.

DeFazio said he opposes the TPP on several levels and believes it will lead to more domestic job losses.

Supporters pretend it will create jobs here, but it wont, he said.

DeFazio said President Barack Obama has supported the TPP, in part, because he has little or no knowledge of economics.

DeFazio said some Oregon agricultural producers such as wineries may benefit from the TPP, but he believes far more will be hurt by it.

 Said Oregon will likely gain a sixth representative in Congress after the 2020 census. He said the states population was only 14,000 under the benchmark after the last census. In the conversation with the Gazette-Times editorial board, however, DeFazio lamented how what gerrymandering had reduced the number of truly competitive Houses races to about 45-70, a fraction of the 435 seats that are up for election every two years.

 Noted that the United States is the only major industrialized nation that does not negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. He called recent prescription price increases of hundreds and thousands of percent obscene.

 Advocated for a different way of determining cost of living adjustments for senior citizens. He said COLAs on Social Security are based on the consumer price index, but argued that the index does not accurately reflect the types of products seniors purchase. He proposes a market basket survey for seniors  that would include items such as prescription medicine  called Cost of Living Adjustment Elderly, which would reflect those cost differences.

 Renewed his criticism of the Bureau of Land Management's recently enacted plan to manage lands under its control in Oregon. The BLM's plan, he said, ignores science and should have called for sustainable timber harvests at higher levels.
Circle Church of Christ, 2020 N.W. Circle Blvd., will be hosting its 32nd annual clothing giveaway from Friday through Monday.

People interested in the event are asked to call the church office at 541-758-4456 for the hours each day when the church will be open to "shoppers." The giveaway is free and open to anyone.

Throughout the year, church members and others have donated gently used men's, women's, and children's clothing, shoes and bedding. The church will continue to accept donations (especially school-age clothing) up to and during the event.

Any clothing left over is donated to a congregation in Springfield for a similar giveaway.
The federal government took a tiny step forward on marijuana last week, but once again has missed the mark on the larger issue.

On Thursday, the Obama administration announced that marijuana would continue to be listed as a Schedule I drug, meaning that the federal government continues to believe that marijuana belongs on the list of the nation's most dangerous drugs  and that pot has no medical benefit. By comparison, heroin also is listed as a Schedule I drug.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said the decision "just files in the face of the will of Oregon voters," who have voted to approve not just medical marijuana but recreational use as well. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio was blunter on Monday: He called the decision idiotic.

The federal government did announce plans to make it easier for researchers to study pot's possible medical benefits by expanding the number of entities that can legally grow marijuana for research purposes. Currently, only researchers at the University of Mississippi are allowed to grow marijuana, as part of a contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

That sort of research is sorely needed, especially now, as states continue to follow the lead of Oregon, Washington and Colorado, which have legalized recreational pot. But legitimate research institutions such as universities have been loathe to tackle that research, because of the Schedule I listing. University researchers don't like the idea of having to explain to their bosses how their innocent bit of research into marijuana ended up costing the school millions in federal grants  and, for that matter, why federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents are crawling all over the lab.

Chuck Rosenberg, the DEA's acting administrator, held open the possibility that the research could clear the way for federal reconsideration of marijuana's status.

"If the scientific understanding about marijuana changes  and it could change  then the decision could change," Rosenberg wrote in a letter to the governors of Rhode Island and Washington, who sought the review of marijuana's classification in 2011. "But we will remain tethered to science, as we must, and as the statute demands."

Of course, Rosenberg famously ridiculed the notion that marijuana had any medicinal use in comments he made last year, so it's not as if the federal decision comes as a major surprise.

The Schedule I listing for marijuana has had other side effects: It has created barriers for marijuana entrepreneurs who want to access banking services instead of running on a cash-only basis. Although the Treasury Department in 2014 gave banks permission to do business with legal marijuana operations with conditions, some financial institutions are unwilling to work with pot businesses because, well, the federal government says pot is illegal.

In 2013, the Justice Department notified Colorado and Washington, the first two states to legalize pot for recreational use and sales, that it would not interfere with state laws so long as the drug was kept out of the hands of children, off the black market and away from federal property. So far, the administration has more or less stayed true to that promise. But there's no guarantee that will continue to be the case after November's presidential election.

Ultimately, though, the administration's action this week amounts to little more than delaying the inevitable. Other states will consider measures to legalize recreational marijuana this November. Federal officials may be waiting for scientific evidence about marijuana's efficacy, but by the time those studies cross their desks, they could well find that Americans have long since made up their own minds.
Environment : Horse chestnut trees dying in Rheinaue

Bonn A disease from the Netherlands is threatening 4000 trees in Bonn.

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The four thousand horse chestnut trees in the Bonn city area are facing a new threat. After horse chestnut scale and leaf miner, the trees are now under severe threat from horse chestnut bleeding canker. Rolf Dung, who is responsible for tree care at the urban parks department, said it had already felled three severely affected trees in the Rheinaue, which died in the middle of July. Other damage was highly likely, as several other trees were showing the first symptoms of the disease.

The German Association for the Protection of Forests, which is based in Bonn, is also concerned. It says scientists have been monitoring the disease, which first occurred in the Netherlands, since 2007. The disease is caused by the Pseudomonas syringae bacterium, which kills the trees. The bacterium destroys parts of the tree meaning it can no longer transport water and nutrients. Half of all horse chestnut trees across Germany, both young and old, are affected.

Horse chestnut scale and leaf miner only inhibit the growth of the trees. No tree has died from them, says Dung. Its a different story with bacterial infections. The tree always dies and there is as yet no antidote. However, each tree survives the bacterial attack for a different length of time. Some trees bleed for years from parts of the trunk to the crown, show dark brown to black discolouration in the growth layer under the bark as well as forming cracks in the trunk and branches. Other trees, such as those affected in the Rheinaue, initially have hardly any visible damage yet die within a few months.

The bacteria are apparently transmitted through root contact between the trees. How the isolated group of trees in the Rheinaue became infected is still a puzzle to Dung. Even though there is initially no danger to other trees in the city, one must exercise caution. Instead of immediately replanting the empty spaces, the parks department wants to wait and see how the other trees in the group develop. As long as theyre green, well leave them standing, says Dung. Later, the soil in the entire area may need to be replaced to prevent a new infection.
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.
LeEco Super3 TVs create a new milestone in Indian TV Industry News oi -GizBot Bureau

Global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco has created a new industry record by selling more than 1200 units of Super TVs within three days, leading the 55'' TV segment in its first online pre-sale in India. The sale was organised from August 10-12, 2016 on LeEco's own ecommerce marketplace, LeMall.com and Flipkart.

LeEco has taken the Indian TV market by storm by notching impressive records soon after launching its Super3 Series TVs. On the very first day of online pre-sale period, LeEco took the number one spot in the 55-inch and above TV category.

SEE ALSO: LeEco 55-inch SuperTV leads its category on 1st presale day

Not just this, LeEco's ecosystem-enabled TVs have also emerged as the top brand in the 4K TV category in India. Even in the Smart TV segment, LeEco's Super TVs have zoomed to the leading position in the online market on the first pre-sale day.

LeEco has endeared itself to consumers not only with its disruptive pricing and lifestyle enhancing technologies, but also through its well defined benefit propositions. Just months after its entry into India, LeEco broke into the league of top five online smartphone brands.

In the TV market, the company is charting a similar path.

SEE ALSO: LeEco's LeMall to introduce shopping carnival day in India

The LeEco Super3 TV series come with 2 years of LeEco Membership worth Rs 9,800, which enables users to enjoy the content that they want at the time of their choice. Through this membership, users get access to one of the largest content libraries in India that offers over 2000 Full HD/HD films from Hollywood and Bollywood, more than 100 satellite TV channels, 3.5 million songs (coming soon by software upgrade), and more than 50 live concerts.

"With the launch of the Super3 TVs we have ushered in the new era of Eco TVs in India.

We are thrilled with the response that the Super3 TV series has got from Indian consumers during this pre-sale and we are confident that consumers will continue to support us in the upcoming first Flash sale," said Atul Jain, COO - Smart Electronics Business, LeEco India.

The Super3 Series Ecosystem TV range by LeEco consists of Super3 Max65 that supports 3D display, Super3 X65 and Super3 X55, which were officially launched in India on August 4. During the pre-sale, both LeMall and Flipkart offered amazing deals that enabled consumers to get the Super TV of their choice at disruptive prices.

The highlight of these Super TVs is that they have a strong all-metal body that exudes elegance and sophistication. The Super3 X55, Super3 X65 and Super3 Max65 all come with a 4K Ultra HD display that ensure a crystal-clear viewing experience. All the Super3 televisions run on LeTV EUI 5.5 Android 5.0 Lollipop based operating system.

The interface features a beautiful design with an intuitive menu which brings with it the option of customization that shows different apps depending on the frequency of use. The TVs are equipped with LeEco's self-developed and renowned content-viewing apps such as Levidi, LIVE, LeView along with other tailor-made apps like Panosearch.

The LeEco Super TVs are available at a disruptive price, Super3 X55 - 139.7 cm (55) is retailing for Rs 59,790, LeEco Super3 X65 - 163.9 cm (65) is priced at Rs 99,790 and Super3 Max65- 163.9 cm (65) comes at a price of Rs 149,790.

After the successful pre-sale, the excitement now grows to another level with LeEco now offering its Super TVs to consumers via "flash sale" mode. This is another industry first from LeEco as it now becomes the first company in India to retail TV sets via the online flash sale model.

So if you had missed out on getting the LeEco Super3 TV in the pre-sale, you can register for the first Flash Sale from 11 AM onwards, tomorrow i.e. August 17, 2016 at both LeMall and Flipkart. So hurry up and don't forget to mark your calendar.

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LeEco Le 2s: What we Know So Far [Rumor Roundup] Features oi -Abhinaya Prabhu

A few China-based manufacturers are pushing their boundaries into the Indian market aggressively to become successful over here. LeEco is one such company that has not moved to the TV segment from mobiles.

LeEco has been creating ripples in the Indian market with the launch of its superphones since earlier this year. The superphones from the company are packed with highly powerful specs and carry a disruptive price tag.

Also Read: LeEco Superphones witness great response on Day 1 of Freedom Day Sale on Flipkart

Lately, the company also entered the Smart TV market segment and it is developing the Cool1 phone in partnership with the manufacturer Coolpad. This partnership does not put an end to the making of the superphones as LeEco is surfacing in rumors related to the Le 2s.

The earlier rumors point that LeEco is in plans to release a new smartphone sometime in the next month around the IFA 2016 event in Berlin. However, there are contradictory speculations that it will announce the upgraded Le 2s smartphone on September 9. It makes sense as the Le 1s was launched in October last year.

Also Read: LeEco Le 2 to debut in My Grey Color Variant

Recently, a slew of rumors is emerging online related to the upcoming LeEco Le 2s. The recent ones and the first image of the smartphone have been spotted Weibo. Take a look at what is known about the LeEco Le 2s from the slider below.

Le 2s to feature super thin bezels The Weibo post has revealed both the front and the back of the smartphone. The device seems to feature super thin bezels around the screen. Borderless ID design will be a great upgrade The company teased that it will be bringing a new borderless 3.0 technology in April. The showed one of its smartphones compared side-by-side with the iPhone 6 Plus. The teaser showed that the bigger Apple device has a thicker bezel around the screen, whereas the LeEco phone has no bezel at all. With thin top and side bezels, the LeEco phone of the same screen size will look smaller in size. Source Le 2s might feature the loop antenna design Even XDA revealed one of the images of the LeEco's upcoming Le 2s phone. As per the image, the Le 2s might use the loop antenna design as in the Meizu Pro 6. It appears like this design is finally catching on the smartphones as many are working on the same. A gold color variant is also likely Going by the recent reports, the Le 2s might arrive with a metallic build as many other phones in the mid-range market. Also, we can expect to see a Gold color variant of the upcoming LeEco smartphone. Le 2s might make 8 GB RAM a reality While LeEco was rumored to launch an 8 GB RAM equipped phone in July and failed to do so, it doesn't mean that the company will not bring one to the market. There are rumors that the Le 2s could feature 8 GB of RAM. It is also likely to include the latest Snapdragon 821 processor, a 5.5-inch QHD 1440p display with 2.5D glass, and 64 GB of default storage capacity. Source

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UK accuses two Chinese servicemen of espionage: Report

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 10:0AM

Two Chinese servicemen participating in a training program by the UK's Royal Air Force were "high-level intelligence officers" tasked with espionage duties, a confidential report has confirmed.

Lieutenant G Huang and Captain S Tong were the first Chinese military airmen to ever be trained at the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, Lincolnshire, and raised the alarms when they appeared over-curious about specific systems used by the British military, the Daily Express reported Sunday.

Apparently, the two Chinese engineers had spent nearly 60 percent of their free time at the RAF Fylingdales, a ballistic missile early warning station on the North York Moors, according to an "Eye Only" report.

The report was published a few months ago and turned a number of heads within the UK ministry of defense but it has now been re-sent to Prime Minister Theresa May at the request of US intelligence services.

According to the newspaper, the document combined with warnings by MI5 against commercial espionage by China prompted May to scrap plans to build Britain's first nuclear power plant in decades.

The plant was slated to be built by the French company EDF that was supposed to complete the 18 billion project with the help of two Chinese partners.

Both China National Nuclear Corporation, which is owned by the Chinese army and produces nuclear weapons, and China General Nuclear Power are accused of attempting to steal US secrets to develop their own technologies.

Huang and Tong graduated in October after successfully passing an 18-month course, at the end of which they gained access to the British military's sensitive and low-level classified material.

"It was decided early in their stay that their out-of-college activities would be closely monitored," a source was quoted by the Express as saying.

Fylingdales was originally developed during the Cold War to warn against nuclear missile attacks. According to Wing Commander Dave Keighly, who heads the base, the station is trying to "focus on foreign intelligence satellites, manned space flights and that kind of thing."

The Chinese nationals spent most of their free time at the base, taking a special interest in the base's active electronically scanned radar array.

According to the report, Huang and Tong are currently serving in a ballistic missile installation in northern China.

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USS Stethem visits Sydney to Promote Green Energy Initiatives

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-01

Release Date: 8/15/2016 8:03:00 AM

By Lt. j.g. Kyle Wagner, USS Stethem (DDG 63) Public Affairs

SYDNEY (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) is conducting a port visit in Sydney, Australia, during her scheduled deployment in the 7th Fleet Area of Operations.

The port visit supports the Great Green Fleet, an initiative created to promote energy efficient systems and alternative resources. The program is designed to increase the flexibility and endurance of warships. While in port, Stethem will host distinguished visitors including Tom Hicks, deputy undersecretary of the Navy (Management) and Rear Adm. Stuart Mayer, commander Australian Fleet, to demonstrate energy conservation methods employed on a guided missile destroyer.

Destroyers employ a variety of fuel conservation methods, ranging from installing solid state LED light bulbs to operating the ship with one shaft trailing to minimize fuel consumption.

"Maximizing fuel economy increases our range and enables our Navy to be mission ready at a moment's notice," said Commander Doug Pegher, Stethem's commanding officer.

Sailors will also have the opportunity to contribute to the local community by volunteering some of their time at a community service event. On this port visit, Stethem Sailors will meet with high school students at the Power House Museum to teach them about various energy conservation measures.

"Community relations are a fantastic way we can continue to foster a positive relationship going forward with our host nation," said Lt. Carlos Rosende, the ship's anti-submarine warfare officer.

In addition to supporting Great Green Fleet activities, the Sydney port visit offers the crew some well-deserved time off and the opportunity to explore the city, sightsee and enjoy recreational activities in Australia.

"I am really excited about Sydney, I've heard so many fantastic things about the city and all she has to offer," said Ship's Serviceman Seaman Timothy Covert.

Stethem is forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, and operates in the U.S. 7th Fleet to support a wide range of theater contingencies, ranging from ballistic missile defense to carrier strike group operations.

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Pacific Partnership 2016 Completes Malaysia Mission

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-14

Release Date: 8/15/2016 10:38:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Lindsey E. Skelton, Pacific Partnership 2016 Public Affairs

KUANTAN, Malaysia (NNS) -- Pacific Partnership 2016 departed Kuantan, Malaysia, Aug. 14, marking the completion of Pacific Partnership 2016's fourth mission stop.

This year marks the first year Pacific Partnership has visited the country, although Malaysia has supported Pacific Partnership in various capacities since the mission first began in 2006.

During the visit, Malaysian civilian leaders and military worked side-by-side with Pacific Partnership personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Republic of Korea and the United States to strengthen ties between among partner nations in order to establish an efficient force for humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Together, mission personnel and their Malaysian counterparts conducted subject matter expert exchanges in veterinary medicine, nursing, surgeries and engineering.

"We're here to build partnerships to work with each other as equals," said Vice Adm. C. Forrest Faison, III, Navy Surgeon General and Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery during a visit to hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). "To learn from each other and our partner nations -- both those on the mission with us and those that invite us to come and visit them -- that we can prepare, train and work together so when something really does happen we can save lives."

A small team of Pacific Partnership medical personnel spent three days near Tasik Chini, and connected with the local community there through cooperative health outreach programs and participation in a community health fair.

The Malaysian armed forces (MAF) and Pacific Partnership personnel also came together to discuss humanitarian aid and disaster relief response during a two-day lecture and subject matter expert exchange. Participants discussed case studies, response plans and gender roles during disaster. The event concluded with a live search and rescue exercise (SAREX) off the coast of Kuantan. Participants responded to a simulated distressed vessel resulting from a devastating typhoon in the region.

Pacific Partnership also held a one-day "Women, Peace and Security" (WPS) seminar with local nurses to highlight the importance of women's roles during a natural disaster or crisis. WPS emphasized the significance of women taking part in the decision-making process during an emergency, and the rights and vulnerability of women and children in the aftermath of a disaster.

U.S. Navy Seabees and Malaysian Royal engineering regiment soldiers worked together to complete renovations of two schools near Kuantan. The engineering projects included interior and exterior renovation to one school, while the other received a 130-by-115 concrete slab in order to better support the movement of foot traffic and to serve as a helicopter landing zone in case of a disaster.

"We have repaired and replaced five drop ceilings, painted about 1,000 square feet, placed two doors, installed five electrical lights and five fans," said Steelworker 3rd Class Joshua Kolpit, a Seabee assigned to the Tabika Kemas Felda Bukit engineering project.

Kolpit also shared his technique for applying putty to wood pieces with his MAF counterparts.

"Even though there's a language barrier, we all laugh, we all joke, and we all get frustrated if we can't hit a nail the first time," said Kolpit. "It's a good time."

Pacific Partnership 2016 previously completed missions in Timor Leste, the Philippines, and Vietnam before stopping in Malaysia. Simultaneously, a Pacific Partnership 2016 team is in Palau until Aug. 15, led by Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel aboard JS Shimokita (LST 4002). Upon departure from Malaysia and Palau, Pacific Partnership 2016 will make its final stop in Indonesia.

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New Orleans Anchors in Bali

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-13

Release Date: 8/15/2016 10:23:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brandon Cyr, USS New Orleans (LPD 18) Public Affairs

BALI, Indonesia (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines from amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18) and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) anchored off the coast of Bali, Indonesia, Aug. 7-12.

"Bali was a fantastic port visit," said Capt. Glenn Jamison, New Orleans commanding officer. "The crew had been looking forward to this particular visit for quite some time, and the culture, hospitality, and liberty opportunities far exceeded expectations. I know many, including myself, hope to return in the future. This also marked New Orleans' final overseas port call for deployment, and we are eager to get back on mission, finish strong, and return home safely to our families and friends."

Many of the Sailors and Marines took this opportunity to surf, snorkel, and enjoy some of Bali's world-renowned waterfalls.

"One of our days of liberty, [I] and a few friends traveled to Tegenungan, a waterfall in the heart of Bali," said Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Gregory Quagliano. "It was an amazing experience to see a huge waterfall and swim underneath it."

Other Sailors and Marines traveled around the island to shop for hand-crafted souvenirs and enjoy the local Balinese cuisine.

"I enjoyed trying the local cuisine of Bali," said Ensign Jaqueline White. "I also was excited to find some local art and paintings that I bought to bring home to San Diego."

The crew seemed recharged and ready to continue on with their Western Pacific deployment after a relaxing time in Bali.

New Orleans, part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, with amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and the embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the Western Pacific in support of security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

While in 7th Fleet, the Boxer ARG and 13th MEU are assigned to Commander, Amphibious Force U.S. 7th Fleet, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa.



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US Service Members, Lebanese Armed Forces Participate in Exercise Resolute Response 16

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-10

Release Date: 8/15/2016 9:52:00 AM

By Chief (select) Mass Communication Specialist Kori Melvin, Fleet Combat Camera Pacific

JOUNIEH, Lebanon (NNS) -- U.S. service members are participating in Exercise Resolute Response (RR) 16 with Lebanese armed forces (LAF) at Jounieh Naval Base, Lebanon, Aug. 8-17.

The U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army and LAF are sharing strategic insights throughout RR 16 involving explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), diving and visit, board, search and seizure procedures.

RR 16 allows the U.S. to build diplomatic relations with partner nations for both sides to better appreciate one another's efforts in having a common goal to counter adversaries, said Lt. Andrew Heckel, adaptive force commander for Exercise RR 16, assigned to Commander, Task Group 56.1.

"My unit is here to support the Lebanese armed forces with maintaining stability within the region through sharing our knowledge and experiences," said Heckel. "My hope is that our efforts here will continue to demonstrate the United States' commitment to the Lebanese and will further aid them in countering the militant threat within Lebanon."

The exercise also helps improve U.S. military readiness with partner nations in the 5th Fleet area of operation, said Lt. Stephen Honan, EOD mobility platoon commander for RR 16, assigned to Commander, Task Group 56.1.

"We are only halfway through the exercise and we have already learned a lot from each other," Honon said.

The U.S. military participates in more than 60 exercises with partner nations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility each year. RR 16 is just one of many exercises that demonstrates U.S. commitment to strengthening maritime capabilities, supporting freedom of navigation throughout the region and promoting long-term regional security and stability.

This annual bilateral exercise is part of a routine theater security cooperation engagement plan with the primary focus of reassuring regional nations of the U.S. commitment to security and stability.

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Boxer Bids Farewell to Kota Kinabalu

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-09

Release Date: 8/15/2016 9:49:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Eric Burgett, USS Boxer (LHD 4) Public Affairs

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (NNS) -- Amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), along with Amphibious Squadron 1 and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) departed Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, following a four-day port visit, Aug. 13.

"We met with the admiral and the region two commanders for a courtesy call and got outstanding support from them," said Capt. Michael Ruth, commanding officer of Boxer. "Their hospitality was great -- great friendship, and more importantly, the professionalism was outstanding."

During the port visit, Royal Malaysian navy and Boxer Sailors participated in several scheduled events including military-to-military discussions, shipboard tours, and sporting events to strengthen ties.

"We had a chance to meet the Royal Malaysian navy leadership on base and they were great hosts; we are very appreciative of their support that enabled our port visit to Sepanggar," said Capt. Patrick Foege, commander, Amphibious Squadron 1. "This port visit is an incredible opportunity for our Sailors and Marines to learn the culture and make new friends. Our interoperability training with the Malaysian forces will continue and we're always looking to build upon previous operations and exercises."

The crew also participated in 17 Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) tours which allowed them to experience both new activities and participate in a greater cultural exchange with the host nation.

"MWR tours affect the crew in a lot of positive ways," said Boxer's Afloat Recreation Specialist Brian Rockenbach. "We introduced them to new activities they haven't done before. For example, in this port call we had over 100 people partake in the discover scuba [tour] which introduced them to scuba diving. It's important for Sailors and Marines because they might not have a chance to come to these countries again and they want the best of the best in four days."

Discovering Malaysia also exposed Boxer Sailors and Marines to a different way of life, filled with cultural traditions they learned about.

"We took a tour of the headhunter's village, which was a reenactment of the old days," said Aviation Support Equipment Technician 2nd Class Tiffany Kunihiro. "On the tour we learned about the old culture of Malaysia, which is very similar to my home, Palau. It was definitely an enriching experience as you learn a lot about their way of life; it' a very slow and laid-back lifestyle compared to ours."

Boxer, flagship of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, with amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18), amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and the embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the Western Pacific in support of security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

While in 7th Fleet, the Boxer ARG and 13th MEU are assigned to Commander, Amphibious Force U.S. 7th Fleet, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa.

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USS America Returns Home Following RIMPAC 2016

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160815-08

Release Date: 8/15/2016 9:39:00 AM

From USS America (LHA 6) Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) returned to homeport following the successful completion of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016, Aug. 12.

During this year's multinational maritime exercise, America served as the command and control platform for the amphibious task force, Combined Task Force 176. As the CTF 176 flagship, America hosted Commodore James L. Gilmour of the Royal New Zealand navy and members of his staff; as well as Rear Adm. Daniel H. Fillion, commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 3; and CTF 176's Fleet Marine Officer Brig. Gen. David G. Bellon.

"RIMPAC 2016 encompassed rich training opportunities for all aspects of warfare on, in, above and from the sea," said Gilmour. "For the amphibious task force, we conducted these activities both in the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. Together, these training objectives helped us better understand how to build a stronger force within a multinational environment [in order] to respond to real-world, peace and security efforts in the complex and dynamic world we live in."

The ship and its crew participated in several distinguished visitor embarks during the exercise, including with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Johnathan Richardson and Undersecretary of the Navy Dr. Janine Davidson.

Several amphibious interoperability exercises-at-sea took place with Australia's HMAS Canberra (LHD 02) and amphibious transport dock USS San Diego (LPD 22), showcasing CTF 176's flexibility with well deck and aviation operations. America's enhanced aviation capabilities allowed for continuous personnel transfer from ship to shore through the use of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft, including the MV-22 Osprey and CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters. Landing forces from the U.S. Marine Corps, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia were transported expeditiously from the flight deck of America to the island of Hawaii in order to simulate beach assault and air assault mission sets.

"I think [RIMPAC brought] us closer together," said Royal New Zealand navy Lt. Cmdr. Dave Barr, CTF 176 staff planning officer. "We interacted so much with all the Marines and Navy personnel. The future leaders of our two navies, and potentially even our countries, [were involved with] this exercise. In two years time on the next RIMPAC, or 10 years time when these people have become senior officers or senior enlisted, they know each other. They can work better together, and they can keep developing the bonds further to make us great partners against any kind of disaster or humanitarian aid event."

Capt. Michael W. Baze, America's commanding officer, said the training opportunities RIMPAC provided are important for the future of the Navy and Marine Corps team, and also stressed the importance for sustaining strong international relationships in wartime and peacetime environments.

"The strategic impact of something like RIMPAC is immeasurable," said Baze. "There's a lot of complexity in the world, a lot of politics, [and] a lot of international diplomacy, but at the end of the day -- in my mind -- if my Sailors are talking to sailors from other countries and they're hanging out on liberty together and getting to know each other, they are building friendships and a rapport. These relationships and cultural understandings will serve dividends down the road."

Sailors and Marines serving aboard America throughout RIMPAC learned more about the benefits of operating and growing with foreign partners.

"Everyone we had the pleasure to meet and work with were outstanding," said Aviation Electronics Technician 2nd Class Lyndsi R. Hawkins, an America Sailor. "It was a great opportunity to learn about the different cultures of our partners. It was an eye-opening experience because I have really only thought about our Navy and how we do things, but this exercise allowed Sailors on America to gain a new perspective. I will never forget this experience."

Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated in RIMPAC from June 30 to Aug. 4, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. As the world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provided a unique training opportunity that helped participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea-lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 was the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971.

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51 killed with machete in DR Congo over weekend: Civil society groups

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 3:36PM

Civil society groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo say more than four dozen people were hacked to death in the country's restive east over the weekend.

The fatalities occurred during clashes between police and militia groups in and around the troubled town of Beni, located in North Kivu province.

"Our team on the ground has counted 51 bodies slain with machetes," said Teddy Kataliko, a member of a local alliance of NGOs and unions working in Beni, adding that the death toll could rise as the search was still going on.

Local authorities said 42 people had lost their lives in Saturday night's mass killing.

The DR Congo army has blamed Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels for the deadly attacks.

Mak Hazukay, the army spokesman, said that the rebels had "bypassed" army positions "to come and massacre the population in revenge" for military operations in the area.

Three days of national mourning has been declared in the Central African country.

The killings took place three days after DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila visited the volatile region, promising to do everything in his power to restore peace and security.

The ADF rebel group has been in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo for two decades.

It has been accused of committing serious human rights violations, including recruiting child soldiers and rape, against local population.

The Congolese army, joined by UN troops, is on the offensive against the ADF and other rebel groups.

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Indian police commander, seven fighters killed in Kashmir gun battles

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 3:35PM

A paramilitary police commander and seven suspected pro-independence fighters have been killed in a series of gun battles across Indian-administered Kashmir.

This came after gunmen shot and wounded at least 10 police paramilitaries in two separate attacks in the main city of Srinagar on Monday.

Atul Karwal, an officer of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) confirmed that one of those critically injured later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

Karwal added that two militants were killed in a shootout which followed the attack in Srinagar's Nowhatta locality. "We have lost a commanding officer. Two militants were also killed in the ensuing gunfight."

The violence took place when the paramilitaries were trying to impose a curfew across the Muslim-majority region during Indian Independence Day.

In a separate gunfight on Monday, five militants were killed in the northern Uri sector near the Line of Control (LoC) - which divides the parts of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir administered by India and neighboring Pakistan.

Imtiyaz Hussain, the area's police chief said two Indian army officers, including a commanding officer, were also wounded and evacuated to an army hospital in Srinagar.

Fresh series of clashes erupted in Kashmir on July 8, when people protested against the killing of Burhan Wani, a popular pro-independence fighter at the hand of Indian forces.

As many as 55 people have so far been killed and several thousands of others injured during clashes between protesters and Indian security personnel.

There are an estimated 500,000 Indian troops currently deployed in the restive territory. The country has imposed a curfew across large parts of the territory since July.

Since India and Pakistan won independence from British rule in 1947, the arch-rivals have been claiming Kashmir in full but have had only partial control over it.

Thousands of people have been killed in the unrest in Kashmir since early 1990s.

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25 civilians killed, 20 others injured in Saudi attack on Yemeni hospital

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 2:31PM

At least 25 civilians have been killed and 20 others injured in a Saudi airstrike on a hospital north of Yemen as Saudi Arabia continues to carry out deadly airstrikes against the impoverished Arab country in defiance of a ceasefire.

Yemen's al-Masirah TV said the casualties occurred on Monday as Saudi fighter jets carried out airstrikes on the health facility in the town of Abs in Hajjah province.

The report said ambulances rushed to the scene of the attack to help the injured.

Masirah said that medical staff, including doctors and nurses, as well as children were among those killed.

The Houthi Ansarullah movement, which rules the capital, Sana'a, condemned the attack, saying it was carried out in clear violation of a ceasefire agreement which has been holding across Yemen over the past four months.

Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed on Twitter that "Abs hospital was targeted by air strikes today at 15:45 Yemen time (1245 GMT)," but said that the number of deaths and casualties still remain unknown.

MSF spokeswoman Malak Shaher told AFP the agency has had a team at the public hospital in the coastal town since 2015.

The Paris-based relief agency noted that medical teams were still attending the wounded.

The attack comes less than 48 hours after MSF said that Saudi airstrikes on a school in the northern province of Sa'ada killed 10 children.

Meanwhile, Yemeni forces launched a retaliatory attack against Saudi forces in Asir, located southwest of Saudi Arabia.

The Yemeni army also targeted the Saudi base of Me'zab in Jizan province.

In April, the United Nations brokered a series of talks between Ansarullah and the resigned government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The talks collapsed recently after the Houthis said they would not accept a UN-backed road map for peace which stipulates that Ansarullah and allies should withdraw from Sana'a and other places without any guarantee on setting up a transitional government.

Saudi fighter jets launched other attacks across Yemen on Monday, with reports saying that several areas were targeted in provinces of Sana'a and Sa'ada in north and Shabwah and Ta'izz in south.

Reports said some public and private property, including houses, farms, gas stations, communication networks and government offices, were destroyed in the attacks.

Saudi Arabia started its airstrikes against Yemen in late March 2015 in a bid to undermine the Houthis and restore power to Hadi.

The air campaign, carried out without any international mandate, has killed nearly 10,000 people, most of them civilians, according to pro-Houthi sources.

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Nearly one million refugees from South Sudan face dire conditions: UNHCR

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 1:35PM

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned that nearly one million refugees from South Sudan are living under dire condition in displacement camps in the conflict-ridden region.

"With refugees fleeing South Sudan in their thousands, surrounding countries are straining under the weight of large numbers of displaced people and critically underfunded operations," the UNHCR said in a statement on Monday.

"Already there are some 930,000 refugees in the region, and more are arriving daily," the statement added.

The UN body noted that arrivals of South Sudanese fleeing their country after an outbreak of fresh fighting in the capital, Juba, had peaked at "more than 8,000 in one day" last month.

Ninety percent of new arrivals were women and children, the agency added.

The UNHCR said despite setting up a new 100,000-capacity camp at Yumbe, in northern Uganda, it urgently needs more money to accommodate nearly one million South Sudanese refugees in six countries in the region, as well as some 1.6 million people internally displaced in the wake of fresh conflicts.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than three million forced to flee their homes in the war that started in December 2013, when South Sudan's President Salva Kiir sacked then Vice President Riek Machar only two years after the country seceded from Sudan.

The two sides eventually signed an agreement in August 2015 to bring the conflict to an end. As part of the deal, Machar returned to Juba in April to take up the post of vice president in a national unity government.

The northeastern African country has witnessed a new wave of conflict since July 8, when gunfire erupted near the state house in Juba, where Kiir and Machar were meeting for talks. More than 300 people have been killed in the clashes.

The South Sudanese refugees who fled to Uganda have been subjected to robberies and sexual assaults, the UN refugee agency says.

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Houthis, allied army units kill 32 Saudi-backed militants

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 4:30AM

Yemeni Ansarullah fighters and allied army forces have killed 32 Saudi-backed militants loyal to Yemen's former regime in fierce clashes across the country.

The fatalities were caused during fighting in the provinces of Ma'rib, Jawf and Bayda on Sunday, Yemen's al-Masirah television reported.

Another 91 militants were injured in the clashes.

There was no information about potential casualties among the Yemeni forces.

Meanwhile, Yemeni forces managed to take control of a number of hills in Rabi'a area in Ma'rib, killing 19 militants in the process.

Also on Sunday, the Yemeni forces fired a ballistic Zelzal-3 missile at a Saudi military camp in Najran, inside Saudi Arabia, in retaliation for its military aggression.

Saudi Arabia claimed that the missile was intercepted before impact.

The Yemeni forces also killed two soldiers in the Saudi region of Asir while another soldier was killed in the Faridah military camp in the southwestern province of Jizan, also in Saudi Arabia.

Ansarullah fighters and their allies in Yemen's army have been fighting off a Saudi war since March 26, 2015. Riyadh launched the war in an attempt to reinstate Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resigned as Yemen's president and who seeks to grab power again by force.

About 10,000 people have been killed since the onset of the aggression, according to local Yemeni sources.

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Report: China May Cross Obama's 'Red Line,' Reclaim Scarborough Shoal Next Month

Sputnik News

04:33 15.08.2016(updated 10:02 15.08.2016)

Tensions continue to mount in the South China Sea and with Beijing increasingly desperate to fundamentally alter the balance of power in the wake of The Hague ruling the possibility for a conflict in one of Asia's most dangerous flash points has never been greater.

The People's Republic of China may soon look to fundamentally alter the status-quo in the South China Sea by seizing the disputed Scarborough Shoal within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines  a move that Washington considers a "red line" with President Obama warning of "serious consequences" in March if China attempted to reclaim the land.

An article in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post raises the specter of the potential incursion quoting "a source familiar with the matter" detailing that Beijing would not look to reclaim the territory before hosting the G-20 next month, but could begin construction efforts on the land mass sometime between September and when Americans go to the polls in November.

The source suggests that Beijing may look to take advantage of the domestic distractions put on President Obama during the political season. "Obama will focus on domestic issues ahead of the election as he needs to pass down legacies before leaving office," said the source. "That might make him busy and he might not have the time to take care of regional security issues."

The potential move is seen by security analysts as a way for China to counteract the recent ruling by The Hague arbitration court and effectively nullify any possible claims to the important body of water. The ruling came after the Philippines submitted for unilateral arbitration, at the behest of the Obama administration, with the court ruling against China's historic claim to the area citing in large part the Scarborough Shoal.

The South China Sea is home to over 40% of the world's shipborne trade and also possesses one of the world's largest oil and natural gas deposits meaning that the economic consequence of fettering away the territory based on the ruling, which China vehemently denounces, would have a substantial negative economic impact on Beijing for years to come.

In April, China announced plans to begin reclamation around the Scarborough Shoal, which is north of the Philippines, despite contesting claims to the territory by Philippines and Taiwan.

"Since the G20 will be held in Hangzhou next month, and regional peace will be the main topic among leaders of the great powers, China will refrain from [acting on the] reclamation plan," the source said as quoted by South China Morning Post newspaper.

The source does believe that the possibility exists that China will avoid reclaiming the Scarborough Shoal in light of the fact that the Philippines have expressed an openness to find ways to resolve the dispute peacefully.

The source also added, that Beijing could start reclaiming land in the disputed Spratly Islands before the US presidential elections in November.

Scarborough Shoal is located 143 miles (230km) from the Philippines coast with overlapping claims over the territory by Manila, Beijing, and Taipei. In 2012, Chinese coastguard ships took control of the area after a tense stand-off with Philippine vessels.

 Sputnik

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Yemen: UN chief condemns attack on school that killed at least 10 children

15 August 2016  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack, reportedly an airstrike, on a school in northern Yemen that killed at least 10 children and injured many more over the weekend.

According to a statement issued by his spokesperson, the Secretary-General expressed "dismay" that civilians, including children, continue to bear the brunt of increased fighting and military operations in Yemen.

Mr. Ban called for a swift investigation of this tragic event in the Sa'ada governorate and urges the parties to the ongoing conflict to take all necessary measures to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and human rights and do everything in their power to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, the statement said.

"The Secretary-General reiterates that there is no military solution to the crisis in Yemen," the statement said.

The UN chief also called upon the parties to renew -- without delay and in good faith -- their engagement with his Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in pursuit of a negotiated solution, the statement said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) also issued a statement on the killing of children in a religious school that also injured 21 others.

"The children killed, aged between six and 14 years, were studying in a school in the Juma'a Bin Fadil village in Haydan," the statement said, adding that the surviving children were being treated in a hospital in Sa'ada.

With violence across the country intensifying over the past week, the number of children killed and injured by airstrikes, street fighting and landmines has grown sharply, the statement noted.

"UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to respect and abide by their obligations under international law," including the obligation to only target combatants and limit harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, the statement said.

Following nearly 16 months of conflict in Yemen, the cessation of hostilities was declared on 10 April. While peace talks between a Yemeni Government delegation and a delegation of the General People's Congress and Ansar Allah have since continued, serious violations have occurred in Marib, al Jawf, Taiz and in the border areas with Saudi Arabia.

On 6 August, the UN special envoy announced a one-month break for the talks, during which "the focus will be on working with each side separately to crystalize precise technical details."

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Cameroon: Boko Haram Trying to Turn Self-Defense Militia

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka August 15, 2016

Cameroon has been arresting or dismissing members of local self-defense militia in the country's north amid fears that Boko Haram may be trying to turn some of them against their communities.

Local authorities told VOA the crackdown follows an investigation by security agencies.

Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of the Far North region, expressed concern that Boko Haram militants may be trying to infiltrate Cameroon via the local self-defense groups.

Authorities are screening the groups, Bakari said.

He added that authorities are organizing self-defense groups so, going forward, they'll coordinate with security forces and denounce suspects.

Crackdown in border villages

Bakari did not say how many of the vigilante group members had been arrested. But local newspapers report that at least 70 have been picked up by the police in a dozen border villages and that the crackdown is still on going.

Authorities did not offer any examples of this alleged cooperation between self-defense group members and Boko Haram and whether it has contributed to any specific attacks.

Last month, Amnesty International accused Cameroon of arbitrary arrests and human rights abuses against suspected Boko Haram supporters. Amnesty said more than 100 people have been sentenced to death since July 2015 in trials it described as "deeply unfair."

The government slammed the Amnesty report as biased.

Abdoul Garba, who leads a self-defense group in Kolofata on Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria, says the insurgents promise better conditions and deceive some vigilantes to work as spies.

Call for better working conditions

Garba said the government should give the self-defense groups food and material to boost their morale. That would improve working conditions and spur volunteers to work as the government expected, he added.

Self-defense groups say they've helped the military by patrolling villages and hard-to-reach border areas, but say they need more training for the hard, dangerous work.

Inoussa Hama, a member of a Kolofata self-defense group, said some of his men had been kidnapped and killed. He said they need special instruction to handle overnight shifts from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Cameroon authorities said they've reduced the terrorists' ability to organize large-scale attacks but that the terrorists are trying to replenish their ranks by recruiting vulnerable youths in Cameroon.

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Zambia President Re-Elected in Close Vote

By VOA News August 15, 2016

Zambia's president has been re-elected in a closely contested vote that the opposition claims was rigged.

The electoral commission said incumbent Edgar Lungu, of the ruling Patriotic Front won more than 50 percent of the vote defeating his main rival, Hakainde Hichilema, of the United Party for National Development, who took just under 48 percent.

Members of Hichilema's party allege vote tampering in the August 11 election and say they will appeal the results to Zambia's Constitutional Court.

The Zambia election campaign was marked by weeks of clashes between supporters of the rival parties, which saw at least three people killed.

Lungu has served since January 2015, following the death of President Michael Sata. He defeated Hichilema in a snap election called last year, winning by just 28,000 votes.

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Kiir Weighs Response as UN Security Council Votes to Send Troops to S. Sudan

By Tito Justin August 15, 2016

South Sudan President Salva Kiir is leaving it to parliament to decide whether to accept or reject a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of 4,000 foreign troops to the country. The United Nations Security Council on authorized the additional troops Friday.

The U.S.-drafted resolution also threatens an arms embargo if South Sudan does not accept the deployment.

The troops would be sent to the capital, Juba, and authorized to use all necessary means, including undertaking "robust action where necessary," to enforce their mandate.

Kiir says his government will negotiate with the international community to ensure the country's sovereignty is not comprised.

In a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Kiir Sunday, South Sudan's cabinet failed to agree on a response to the United Nations resolution.

Kiir told lawmakers Monday that the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) will vote on the matter but did not say when.

President Kiir said if the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, and the U.N. send troops to South Sudan to secure peace in the capital, it should be done in consultation with his government.

"Assistance requires dialogue. It should not turn into an imposition that becomes to an intervention in which our sovereignty is compromised and our ability to govern effectively diminishes rather than increases," Kiir said.

He also said certain government officials who have commented on the matter are not necessarily expressing the views of his government.

The president said he worries about the dire humanitarian conditions facing citizens across the country.

"I always have a sleepless night and spend every moment of day thinking about South Sudan child in the village," he said. "I think it is the duty of this house because all the members, it is now your turn to talk to these people to come out from the POCs and go back to their villages. There is nothing they are doing there."

A South Sudanese legal expert says the U.N. resolution to send an intervention force to South Sudan will help the country solve the political instability in the country.

Remember Miamingi, a professor in the law department at the University of Pretoria, said the U.N. has a good track record of restoring law and order in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and it would behoove South Sudanese officials to cooperate with the U.N. to avoid a backlash from the international community.

"The government is reacting to a situation that is absolutely not what is being described. Let's look at Sierra Leone in 1999," he said. "It was a mandate in terms of peacekeeping, but also a mandate of peace building."

Miamingi said Sierra Leone had 17,500 peacekeeping troops which supported the national elections as well as security sector reforms.

The new force, to be made up of troops from African countries, will bring the total U.N. peacekeeping force in South Sudan to about 17,000, which will be the largest in the world.

John Tanza contributed to this report from Washington.

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Coalition Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Aug. 16, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, bomber, fighter and ground attack aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Raqqah, a strike destroyed 10 ISIL oil tankers.

-- Near Manbij, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Mara, 10 strikes struck seven separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun, an ISIL rocket-propelled grenade system and an ISIL weapons cache.

Strikes in Iraq

Fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted seven strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Hit, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Mosul, a strike produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, destroyed an ISIL mortar system and degraded an ISIL tunnel.

-- Near Ramadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL mortar system and damaged an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed four ISIL assembly areas, two ISIL heavy machine guns, five ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL mortar systems and an ISIL vehicle; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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"NATO and Russia: Why Transparency is Essential" - Op-ed article by NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

16 Aug. 2016

This op-ed was originally published by Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung on 16 August 2016.

In close to forty years working on relations between Russia and the West  including as U.S. Ambassador to Moscow and as Deputy Secretary General of NATO  I've witnessed some tense times. But it's hard to think of a period, at least since the end of the Cold War, when relations have been as strained as they are today.

The fact is that Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea and its ongoing support of separatists in eastern Ukraine have rocked the European security order we have all taken for granted for so long. For the first time since 1945, a European power has sought to change international borders by force.

In recent months, we have also seen new permanent deployments all along Russia's western border with NATO Allies, from the Barents to the Baltic Sea, and from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. There are currently an estimated 300,000 Russian troops based in its Western Military District, and in May, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu announced the deployment of three further divisions, meaning an additional 30,000 troops. These forces are backed by new air bases, naval forces and nuclear-capable short-range missiles.

We have also seen a series of massive military exercises. These have included unannounced, "snap" exercises, in some cases exceeding 100,000 troops - more than double the size of even the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War. Russia has also irresponsibly buzzed NATO ships and aircraft with its combat planes.

Meanwhile, Russia's decision to suspend implementation of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and its dismal record of implementing the other long-standing international security agreements  which Russia has signed up to  such as the Vienna Document, the Open Skies Treaty, and the Helsinki Final Act, have helped raise tensions to a level not seen since the 1980s.

NATO's response has been robust and transparent. At the recent NATO Summit in Warsaw, the Alliance announced the deployment, by rotation, of four multinational battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, totalling several thousand troops. This is a clear demonstration of Allied solidarity and determination to defend NATO territory against any possible aggression.

Despite claims by the Kremlin, these steps are a proportionate, sober and measured response to Russia's actions.

A number of longstanding agreements exist to regulate the military actions of all the states in the region  Russia and NATO's 28 member states among them  including the conduct of large-scale exercises. Chief among these are the Vienna Document, agreed by all 57 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member states, and the NATO-Russia Founding Act  signed in 1997 in a spirit of mutual cooperation.

For years, NATO Allies have called on Russia to engage constructively to modernise the Vienna Document. We need to set a lower limit on exercises that require advance notification and observation, and close the loophole for no-notice "snap" exercises.

We also need to increase military transparency, and so help prevent incidents or accidents spiralling out of control. Unfortunately, aside from a welcome but narrow proposal on air safety in the Baltic Sea it made last month, Russia has refused to engage on these issues, instead accusing NATO itself of being the aggressor.

In fact, Moscow has gone so far as to accuse NATO of violating an important part of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act related to new permanent stationing of forces. It's called the "Substantial Combat Forces" pledge, and while it may sound like an obscure point, it represents yet another attempt by Russia to falsely raise doubts over the legitimacy of NATO's actions.

Back in the 1990s, I was part of the US delegation that helped negotiate the NATO-Russia Founding Act  and the Substantial Combat Forces pledge in particular. That pledge stated that in the then "current and foreseeable security environment" NATO would "carry out its collective defence and other missions by ensuring the necessary interoperability, integration, and capability for reinforcement rather than by additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces."

NATO has taken great care to uphold both the letter and the spirit of this pledge. NATO never agreed to a specific definition of "substantial combat forces", but official statements by Russia at the time proposed a limit of one brigade per country. The four battalions spread across four eastern Allies agreed by Alliance leaders at our recent Warsaw Summit, plus the additional bilateral deployments by the US under the European Reassurance Initiative, are well below even those proposed definitions.

Any accusation that NATO is violating the Founding Act, or breaking its promises, is therefore untrue. In 1997, the number of Allied forces stationed in other NATO countries was around 100,000  already far fewer than at the end of the Cold War. Even accounting for new deployments agreed in Warsaw, next year that number will be fewer than 75,000. In the same two decades, Russian forces along NATO's borders have increased substantially.

NATO exists to keep the almost one billion citizens of the Alliance safe. It has done this for almost seventy years by acting in a defensive, proportionate and wholly responsible way. This is, and always will be, how NATO conducts itself.

At the same time, Russia is NATO's biggest neighbour and, historically, a country with which we have cooperated widely. The NATO-Russia Founding Act, agreed in more optimistic times, spoke of a "shared commitment to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe, whole and free, to the benefit of all its peoples". That is still NATO's goal.

But, for that to be possible, Russia's behaviour must change  in Ukraine and beyond. As part of that, Moscow urgently needs to participate in the OSCE's talks to update the Vienna Document.

Europe  and the world  need a Russia committed to transparency, cooperation and dialogue. Vienna would be a good place to start.

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Amid Corruption Scandal, Malaysia's PM Faces Challenge From Predecessor

By Ron Corben August 16, 2016

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing a challenge from one of the country's former leaders, as his administration tries to fend off allegations of corruption over misusing a multi-billion dollar development fund.

Former leader Mahathir Mohammad, who served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003, has left the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) party and created a new political party aimed at uniting opposition to Najib Razak's leadership.

The party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, or Bersatu (United), is led by a former UMNO deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who himself was sacked by Prime Minister Najib after Muhyiddin challenged him over his role in the state owned 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund.

Investigations in Singapore and the United States, through the U.S. Department of Justice, have focused on charges that over $3.5 billion had been diverted from the 1MDB fund that Najib set up in 2009. The revelation has caused a political firestorm in Malaysia, but the prime minister has so far been able to outmaneuver challengers looking to unseat him for his role in the controversy.

The prime minister claims he is innocent saying the funds were properly used and were a "genuine donation" from Saudi Arabia.

Malaysia has been ruled by the United Malaya National Organization (UMNO) led coalition  Barisan National -- since elections after independence in 1959. Mahathir dominated Malaysia's political landscape until he stepped down in 2003.

But in the past year as the IMDB controversy unfolded, Mahathir publicly called for the prime minister to step aside. When Mahathir was unable to convince the UMNO party to oppose Najib, Mahathir then quit the UMNO, leading him to back an opposition party.

William Case, a political scientist at City University in Hong Kong, says Mahathir's move increases pressure against Najib.

"It is interesting at least that the former Prime Minister (Mahathir) has taken this next step. He began with something called 'Citizens' Declaration', and then morphed into the 'Save Malaysia Movement' and yet he's gone on and he is instrumental in the founding of a new opposition party  indeed if it is finally registered," Case said.

The Bersatu (United) party has been endorsed by Anwar Ibrahim, the imprisoned de facto leader of Malaysia's opposition, currently facing a five year jail term for sodomy -- charges supporters say were politically motivated. The party has also drawn support from the pro-Malaya Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) -- which Mahathir has sharply criticized in the past as being anti-Islam and anti-Malay.

Andrew Aeria, associate professor at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, says Bersatu in hopes to appeal to UMNO's traditional Malaya or 'Bumiputera' base may alienate Chinese Malays, key supporters of the DAP.

"Many of these people in [Bersatu] are all UMNO members  they have jumped ship but they come with a certain mindset  and that mindset is a very ethnic mindset. So they are trying to reframe or recreate the Barisan National [coalition]," Aeria said. The professor said whether the party can overcome those differences remains to be seen.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Najib is facing several international challenges over the alleged misuse of the development funds. In the United States civil lawsuits hope to seize $1 billion of assets from the 1MDB fund that were transferred into the U.S. through shell companies.

But analysts say Najib still remains confident of weathering any international investigations with the help of key supporters, including the governor of the central bank.

James Chin, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia, says the international investigations pose bigger problems for Najib than his political opponents at home.

"My take is it's not going to be a threat to [Mr] Najib for the simple reason, if you look at recent political history there has been similar attempts when a senior UMNO person has come up and established a similar party to try to challenge UMNO. Both of them were not successful and I suspect Mahathir's Party will along the same path  that he will not be successful," Chin said.

Malaysia is slated for new elections by 2018. But analysts say Prime Minister Najib may look to call snap polls sooner, and as the best-funded candidate who retains the backing of the powerful ruling party, he is likely positioned to keep his leadership post, despite the ongoing controversy.

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Yasukuni Shrine [Yasukuni Jinja]

In what has become an annual ritual in more ways than one, Japan's prime minister sent a symbolic offering to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine on 15 August 2014, the anniversary of the end of World War II. The act that brought immediate condemnation from South Korea and China. Although Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine himself, two of his cabinet ministers did. In Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said some Japanese politicians were acting in a way that hurts both countries. A commentary from China's Xinhua news agency said Japan is sowing the seeds of another war.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine December 26, 2013, sparking outrage in China and South Korea and further damaging Japan's already frosty relations with the region. Yasukuni shrine honors the spirits [kami] country's nearly 2.5 million war dead, including convicted Class A war criminals from the Pacific War [aka World War II]. Abe said his visit was a personal one to honor the spirits of the dead and was not meant to hurt Chinese or Korean sentiments. He said his presence was meant to show Japan was against war. Nonetheless, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang responded sharply to Abe's action.

Abe did not personally visit the Yasukuni Shrine on October 17, 2013, the first day of an annual autumn festival, but did send a ritual offering. About 160 Japanese lawmakers from a nonpartisan group worshipped at the Yasukuni Shrine on the morning of October 17, 2013 to mark the autumn festival. Xinhua commentator Shi Xiaomeng wrote that "The recent ritual offering by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and the ensuing noisy visit to the notorious facility are but a blatant provocation to the victimized nations and a threat to post-World War II order.... Such brazenly provocative moves are meant to undermine relations and overturn the post-World War II order. For the nations victimized by Japan's war-time aggression, the Yasukuni Shrine has proven to be a symbol and spiritual tool of Japanese militarism."

On 15 August 2013, over 100 Japanese politicians paid a group visit to Yasukuni Shrine to mark the 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper suggested that the politicians paid the visit with the aim to "call back the 'departed soul of Yamato" and that the shrine honored "militarist maniacs steeped in extreme Yamato nationalism to their bones." Visits to the shrine regularly provoked responses from North and South Korea, and China due to the controversial nature of the internees.

Two Japanese Cabinet ministers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine that honors the country's war dead, prompting an angry reaction from South Korea and China. The visit came on the anniversary of Japan's 1945 surrender in World War II, which in South Korea is celebrated as Liberation Day. Public visits by Japanese officials to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine regularly draw ire from Seoul and Beijing, which were two of the main victims of Japanese aggression in the first half of the 20th century. China summoned Japan's ambassador to protest the visit. Beijing's foreign ministry said the move "seriously harms the feelings" of the Chinese people.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye called on Tokyo to face up to history and take "sincere measures" to alleviate the pain of those who are scarred by history. President Park made it clear that it would be difficult to build trust between the two countries, if Japan doesn't have the courage to face its past wrongdoings and the heart to care for the pain of others. "I expect responsible and sincere measures from the Japanese government in order to heal the pain that many Koreans have suffered with until now, due to the agony and wounds left behind by the history of the two countries."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided against a visit on the anniversary, out of concerns it could further worsen ties with Japan's neighbors. But he did send an aide to deliver an offering at the shrine. About 6,000 took part in a government-sponsored memorial ceremony in Tokyo to mourn the souls of about 3.1 million war dead. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said present-day peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifice of the war dead. He promised to keep lessons from the war in mind and strive to build a future full of hope. At noon, participants held a minute of silent prayers. Emperor Akihito said he hopes the horrors of war will never be repeated. He said he will mourn for those who died during the war and pray for world peace and Japan's continued prosperity.

Prime Minister Abe pledged to face the past humbly at a ceremony marking Japan's anniversary of the end of World War Two on Thursday, but he made no mention of the country's war-time aggression in Asia. That's a break from the tradition for many years. Prime ministers have all touched on the issue in their speeches at the government-sponsored ceremony, saying Japan inflicted considerable damage and pain against the people of Asian nations during the war. Abe himself had mentioned this in 2007 when he served his first term as prime minister.

A group of Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial war shrine seen by some as a symbol of Tokyo's pre-war colonial aggression. A total of 168 members of parliament visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on April 23, 2013. The annual visit comes days after three Japanese cabinet members prayed at the shrine, prompting condemnations from South Korea and China. South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson Cho Tai-young denounced the visit during a regular press briefing. "Yasukuni Shrine is the place where war criminals are enshrined and it beautifies a war. They should have time to reflect on themselves and should think about what impression it gives to people in the related country and what people are thinking about it."

From ancient times the people of Japan believed that the mitama (soul) of the deceased remained upon the land to be celebrated by their descendants. It was believed that the mitama of the deceased would watch over the good fortune of their descendants together with the ancestral Kami. The ancestral Kami were celebrated upon this land for celebra-tion by their descendants would bring the greatest joy to the mitama of these Kami who protected the livelihood and prosperity of their descendants. Yasukuni Jinja was founded upon this belief from ancient times.

To convey to posterity the noble sacrifice of those who worked for the Imperial Restoration, the Emperor Meiji decreed in June 1869 that a shrine be built in Kudanshita of Tokyo called Tokyo Shokonsha. When the Emperor Meiji visited Tokyo Shokonsha for the first time on January 27 in 1874, he composed a poem; "I assure those of you who fought and died for your country that your names will live forever at this shrine in Musashino". As can be seen in this poem, Yasukuni Shrine was established to commemorate and honor the achievement of those who dedicated their precious life for their country. In 1879, Tokyo Shokonsha was renamed Yasukuni Jinja. The name "Yasukuni" was designated by the Emperor Meiji. In this name is His Majesty's sincere hope for the eternal peace and tranquility of the nation. (The character for "Yasu" has the same meaning as "peaceful".)

Currently, more than 2,466,000 "divinities" are enshrined [not buried] at Yasukuni Shrine. These are souls of men who made ultimate sacrifice for their nation since 1853 during national crises such as the Boshin War, the Seinan War, the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, World War I, the Manchurian Incident, the China Incident and the Greater East Asian War (World War II). These people, regardless of their rank or social standing, are considered to be completely equal and worshipped as venerable divinities of Yasukuni.

Japanese people believe that their respect to and awe of the deceased is best expressed by treating the dead in the same manner as they were alive. Hence, at Yasukuni Shrine, rituals to offer meals and to dedicate words of appreciation to the dead are repeated every day. And, twice every year-in the spring and autumn-major rituals are conducted, on which occasion offerings from His Majesty the Emperor are dedicated to them, and also attended by members of the imperial family.

In 1948, 28 Japanese war criminals were brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) in Tokyo. Of the 25 who were convicted, 14 were officially enshrined at Yasukuni. The Yasakuni Shrine [Yasukuni Jinja] is controverial because it contains the souls [kami, not buried but enshrined] of 1,068 "Martyrs of Showa" who were "cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal" of the Allied forces (United States, England, the Netherlands, China and others).

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (known as the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal) began in May 1946. There were 28 Class A defendants from a cross-section of senior Japanese officials, including generals, admirals, career diplomats, and bureaucrats. Most prominent among them were Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan through most of the war, and wartime foreign ministers Koki Hirota (a former premier), Mamoru Shigemitsu, and Shigenori Togo. Class A defendants were charged with three categories of offenses: conspiracy to commit aggression, aggression, and conventional war crimes. The prosecution produced more than 400 witnesses, almost 800 witness affidavits, and more than 4,000 other documents.14 Additional tribunals that sat outside of Tokyo judged over 5,500 individuals in more than 2,200 trials. These Class B and C war criminals were charged with committing atrocities during battle, during occupation, or against prisoners of war. Some of these trials were held in Yokohama and others were convened throughout the former theater of war.

General MacArthur's hastily organized trials in Manila, the first war crimes trials in the Far East, found Japanese generals Tomoyuki Yamashita and Masaharu Homma guilty, and both were executed. In Shanghai, American tribunals were also held for Japanese soldiers who participated in the trial and execution of American pilots under the "Enemy Airmen's Act," promulgated by the Japanese after the Doolittle raid on Japan in April 1942, as well as for personnel at POW camps in China who abused prisoners. The U.S. Navy held trials for war crimes committed in the Pacific. Many of these proceedings involved close cooperation with British, Australian, and Dutch authorities.

The Yasakuni website stated that " ... to defend the independence of the nation as well as the peace of Asia, the sad development of wars with other countries arose. In the Meiji Period there was the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. In the Taisho Period there was the First World War. Then in the Showa Period occurred the Manchurian Incident, the China Incident and the Greater East Asian War ... the judgment professed by the Military Tribunal for the Far East that Japan fought a war of aggression. Can we say that this view is correct? We must pass judgment on this matter in the same manner of a tribunal that passes judgment after gathering credible proof. We cannot help but feel that the possibility of ulterior motives have not been discounted. Isn't it a fact that the West with its military power invaded and ruled over much of Asia and Africa and that this was the start of East-West relations? There is no uncertainty in history. Japan's dream of building a Great East Asia was necessitated by history and it was sought after by the countries of Asia. We cannot overlook the intent of those who wish to tarnish the good name of the noble souls of Yasukuni."

Asian countries regard the Yasukuni Shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism and felt indignant at the Japanese Government's disregard for other people. Japanese public opinion criticized the official visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on the 40th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, describing it as "an adverse current. Several major newspapers in their editorials strongly protested the visit by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and other cabinet ministers in their official capacities. Nakasone was the first post-war prime minister to visit Yasukuni in his officialcapacity as head of the government. China bitterly opposed the August 12, 2001 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine by Prime Minister Koizumi.

On August 15, 2012, two Japanese Cabinet ministers paid a visit to the Yasakuni Shrine. The visit by National Public Safety Commission Chairman Jin Matsubara and Land Minister Yuichiro Hatahomage was the first visit by a cabinet minister since the Democratic Party came to power in 2009. It coincided with the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II and took place amid worsening tensions between Japan and neighboring China over competing sovereignty claims on uninhabited islands (known Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China) and a similar dispute with South Korea over other uninhabited islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

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Trump Calls for 'Foreign Policy Realism' Aimed at Destroying IS

By Ken Bredemeier August 15, 2016

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is outlining a plan Monday calling for "foreign policy realism," focused on destruction of Islamic State militants and other extremist groups, rather than reshaping nations to an American ideal.

Aides say that Trump, in a speech in the Midwestern battleground election state of Ohio, will argue that the United States needs to align itself with any country, regardless of past disputes, that wants to defeat "radical Islamic terrorism."

"Mr. Trump's speech will explain that while we can't choose our friends, we must always recognize our enemies," Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said.

Trump's foreign policy address centering on the defeat of Islamic State jihadists in the Middle East is coming days after he falsely claimed that President Barack Obama and Trump's Democratic presidential opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, founded Islamic State. Trump ignited a new round of criticism of his candidacy with the remark, and then, after repeating it, later said he meant the remark as sarcasm.

Trump, a real estate tycoon seeking his first elected office, is also outlining other foreign policies he would adopt if he wins the November 8 election to replace Obama when he leaves office next January. Miller said Trump would spell out plans to revamp U.S. immigration policy to stop issuing visas to people seeking to enter the country if they cannot be adequately screened ahead of time.

The visa plan is a revision of Trump's original call to keep Muslims from entering the country until they could be vetted to insure they were not intent on launching a terrorist attack in the U.S. Now, Miller says the Republican contender "will describe the need to temporarily suspend visa issuances to geographic regions with a history of exporting terrorism and where adequate checks and background vetting cannot occur."

Entrance exam

Trump is also calling for a new ideological test for admission into the United States, asking migrants looking to settle in the country for their views on religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights, to see whether they support American views on tolerance and ethnic pluralism.

Trump's call for a declaration that the United States is in ideological conflict with radical Islam is at odds with Obama's reluctance to single out the Islam faith itself as the root of worldwide terrorism. Clinton has long vowed to fight jihadists and says she is not opposed to saying "radical" Islam.

"From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say," Clinton said earlier this year. "Whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I'm happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing."

Clinton campaigned Monday in Scranton, Pennsylvania, appearing alongside Vice President Joe Biden in the working class city where he was born.

She mocked Trump's national security and military credentials.

"I know he said he knows more than the generals," Clinton said. "No Donald, you don't. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president of the United States and totally unqualified."

Biden argued that Clinton, seeking to become the first U.S. female president, understands the economic challenges middle-class families are facing, finding good jobs in the face of the country's declining manufacturing base of employment.

"She gets it," Biden said, "...and there's only one person in this election who will possibly help and that's Hillary Clinton."

The vice president also contended that "no major party nominee in the history of the United States has known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump. And what bothers me, he doesn't seem to want to learn."

'Disgusting' media

Clinton has moved to roughly a seven-percentage-point advantage over Trump in national political surveys and also holds leads in several battleground election states where the outcome of the national contest is likely to be decided. One new poll Monday also showed Clinton trouncing Trump in New York, the long-time Democratic stronghold where both candidates live, by a 57 percent to 27 percent margin.

In a series of comments Sunday on his Twitter account, Trump blamed the news media for his standing in the race against Clinton.

"If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and did not put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20 percent," Trump said.

In another, he said, "My rallies are not covered properly by the media. They never discuss the real message and never show crowd size or enthusiasm."

Numerous former Republican officials, most of whom served in some capacity during the administrations of former President George H.W. Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, the last two Republican presidents, have said in recent days they could not support Trump's candidacy. They have often said that he is ill-prepared to lead the country or does not have the appropriate temperament.

But in yet another tweet Monday, Trump said, "I have always been the same person  remain true to self. The media wants me to change but it would be very dishonest to supporters to do so!"

With Trump's weak showing in political polling, Republican officials in Washington are contemplating whether to drop their financial support for him and instead focus their efforts on Republican candidates running for Senate and House seats in Congress. Trump says he will stop raising money for the national party if it withdraws support from him.

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Identify of Thai Bombing Suspects a Source of Intense Speculation

By Ron Corben August 15, 2016

Thai police investigators say up to 20 people were involved in last Friday's bomb attacks, but the identity of the culprits is a topic of intense speculation.

Police sources tell VOA at least seven people have been detained for questioning about the attacks on tourist hot spots that left more than 30 dead or injured.

The Thai military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) says politicians opposed to the military-led government were behind the attacks that came as the country marked the Thai queen's birthday, a national holiday.

But political parties, including the Pheu Thai Party, deposed in the May 2014 coup, and its supporters, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have denied links to the bombings.

The attacks came less than a week after Thais voted to support a military-backed constitution that is expected to lead to new elections next year.

The new charter will curb the roles of the leading political parties, including the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties, as well as extend the military's powers for at least for five years.

Out of place

The attacks hit southern provincial regions that have been largely free from the past dozen years of insurgent violence that has affected and remained largely within the borders of the three largely Muslim border provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narithiwat.

The insurgency, seeking autonomy from the Thai state, has left more than 6,000 dead and thousands injured since it reignited in 2004.

The attacks Thursday and Friday hit the southern provinces of Trang, Krabi, Phuket, Phangnga, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Prachuap Khiri Khan, where the Thai royal family has a residence in the seaside town of Hua Hin, the site of several bombings.

Thai authorities have sought the assistance of neighboring Malaysia, the source of the mobile phones used to detonate the bombs. The Barisan National Revolutionary insurgent movement, and other groups in the Southern border provinces, also travel and receive support from groups in Malaysia, security analysts said.

The investigations comes as Thai prime minister and junta leader, Prayut Chan-o-cha, is due to visit Malaysia this week for discussions with Prime Minister Najib Razak, including talks on the bombing investigations.

Senior Thai Police Chief Pongspat Pongcharoen told local media he did not believe the attacks were linked to the southern border provinces' insurgency.

But Assistant National Police Chief Suchart Theerasawaat said the bombs used in at least three of the attacks were similar to those found previously in the southern border provinces.

A senior member of Islamic Yala Council, Nimu Makache, told VOA the bombings gave an appearance the insurgency was spreading outside the three southern border provinces, but instead he said it was groups "opposing or disliking the military government, so it is more likely political." He denied the Barisan National Revolutionary movement was directly involved in the attacks.

But a Thai analyst with close links to government authorities told VOA on the condition of anonymity the investigations have shown the incendiary bombs were linked to BRN.

"It is quite clear that these are BRN made bombs. But the thing is, what we cannot crack is, whether this [was] for the institutional objectives of BRN (to expand the insurgency) or BRN is collaborating with other elements in Thai domestic politics," the analyst said.

Timing the message

The analyst said it appeared by bombing on the Thai queen's birthday holiday the BRN was looking to achieve its traditional objective of pressing the government in its campaign for the border provinces' autonomy, "plus feed into the domestic politics as well."

He said the timing of the bombings an hour after religious ceremonies led to fewer injuries.

"It was a message. They could have made it deadlier,' when crowds of well-wishers had gathered. "But they waited until after the national anthem ... most attendees had already left".

Analysts say there are parallels with a 2006 bombing campaign during the New Year's Holiday, when nine bombs shattered celebrations and left two people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The attacks were linked to supporters of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a September 2006 coup, and were aimed at discrediting the then military-led government.

Angkhana Neelapaichit, a member of the National Human Rights Commission, called on the Thai military to step-up protection and investigations to prevent further violence.

"The intelligence agencies should work harder than this because they should receive some information that some place will be the focus of violence, so they can give some warning to the people," Angkhana said.

She called on Thai authorities to carry out transparent investigations and respect the legal and human rights of those detained by authorities.

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Trump Cites Cold War Precedent for Immigrant Test

By Katherine Gypson August 15, 2016

Donald Trump's call for "extreme" changes in the U.S. immigration system explicitly linked a strategy for combating radical Islam with America's defeat of Communism during the Cold War - and would establish tougher ideological tests for immigrants than ever before.

"In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today," the Republican presidential nominee said in a foreign policy speech in Youngstown, Ohio Monday. "We should only admit into this country, those who share our values and respect our people."

Trump said his proposal would screen out sympathizers of terrorist groups, anyone with hostile attitudes towards the United States and its principles, as well as any supporters of sharia law. He also said he would work with immigration services and the Department of Homeland Security to cease processing visas from countries and regions deemed unsafe because the flow of immigrants from those countries was too large to support adequate screening.

The proposal builds on Trump's earlier calls for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the United States and a suspension of visa issuances to countries with a history of terrorism following the Orlando, Florida nightclub shooting.

Trump did not elaborate on the specific questions that would have to be developed for an ideological test but did say that his administration "would speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different beliefs."

"It probably won't weed out very many people because most people who believe in that stuff are going to be sophisticated enough to know to lie," said Mark Krikorian, executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies.

He added that it was difficult to comment on only the bare outlines of Trump's proposals, but they could be unconstitutional, politically impossible to implement, and only partially successful at identifying potential terrorist threats.

"It will weed out a few people and more importantly, it will send a message that hopefully will deter a few people from moving here," he conceded.

Various ideological restrictions on naturalization have existed in U.S. immigration law in one way or another since the beginning of the country when applicants were required to adhere to the principles in the Constitution.

Since the early 20th century, interpretations of that requirement have resulted in bars against specific ideologies such as Communism and anarchism, usually interpreted as membership in organizations supporting those ideas for up to 10 years prior to application. The provisions were dropped in 1990.

Current procedures identify individuals who have joined terrorist groups or sent money to them, while Trump's proposal appears to seek out individuals who hold beliefs separate from any formal organization.

Krikorian said, "This is the kind of provision where you don't grapple with the grey areas  you just leave them out. You just deal with the extreme cases."

Current Law

"There's never been a proposal like this," said Angela Kelley, who looks at immigration issues as the Executive Director, Center for American Progress Action Fund.

"That you would basically have to attest to sharing certain social views and having certain values that reach the kind of level of what he's talking about it. It feels like it would be intensely un-workable, unenforceable  and would certainly curb people's appetite in terms of coming to this country," she added.

Ultimately, Trump's proposal struck Kelley as impossible on a basic level: "How are you testing for a person's acceptance for LGBT issues, gender roles?"

Additionally, the outlines of Trump's proposal appear to be similar to already existing immigration law.

Doris Meissner, a senior fellow who runs the U.S. Immigration program at the Migration Policy Institute, noted immigrants seeking naturalization are already asked questions about their intent to commit terrorist activities and that even asking questions about intent on immigration forms can prove difficult.

Trump's proposal would differ in that it would apply to visa applicants in addition to immigrants seeking naturalization.

"These things can be very difficult to administer in the real world and in real world terms," Meissner said, noting intelligence sharing efforts and linking of state, local and federal databases after 9/11 had proved far more effective in weeding terrorists out of the immigration system.

But even if the proposal did work in practice, it could be extremely difficult to push through politically.

"It's not feasible and almost overtly, blatantly unconstitutional," said Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

"Unless you can imagine a set of courts ignoring laws and precedents and Constitutional provisions, this is just not going to happen. This is much more a sort of gut level policy initiative designed to play into a nativist sentiment in the country, then it is a serious proposal to change American policy," he said, noting Congress would also be likely to block any proposed changes.

On Capitol Hill, the reaction from opposing Democrats was already strong. In a statement released shortly before Trump's speech, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said, "Since Donald Trump wants to impose new tests on immigrants, he should take the one test every immigrant has to pass to become a United States citizen."

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Trump: Supporters of Bigotry, Hatred Won't be Allowed to Enter US

By Ken Schwartz August 16, 2016

Donald Trump on Monday called for "extreme vetting," including ideological screening, to make sure only people who share American values and respect the American people can emigrate to the United States.

The Republican presidential candidate spelled out his immigration and foreign policies Monday to an appreciative crowd in Youngstown, Ohio who interrupted him several times with chants of "Trump, Trump, Trump."

Trump said if he is elected, he will institute a new immigration policy that will be tough. Would be immigrants will go through "extreme vetting" to make sure the U.S. keeps out supporters of bigotry and hatred, and those who do not believe in the U.S. constitution.

Trump says he would temporarily suspend immigration from what he calls the world's most volatile and dangerous regions with a history of supporting terrorism.

He said the immigration flow to the U.S. is currently too large to allow for "adequate screening."

If he becomes president, Trump said U.S. foreign policy would focus on wiping out the spread of radical Islam and said anyone who shares this goal would be a U.S. ally.

Trump went down lengthy list of terror attacks carried out by Islamic extremists in the U.S. and Europe. He promised to hold an international conference on how to fight what he describes as "the ideology of death that must be extinguished."

He attacked both President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, for showing what he says was bad judgement in Iraq, Syria, and Libya.

He eased away from his controversial statement calling Obama "the founder of Islamic State," to instead say that Obama's "naive words and naive actions" unleashed ISIS and "without question," allowed it to flourish.

Clinton lacks the "mental and physical stamina" to take on Islamic State, Trump asserted, without saying exactly what he means.

Clinton, Biden campaign in Pennsylvania

Shortly before Trump spoke, Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania where they both questioned Trump's temperament, intellect, and qualifications for entering the White House.

"No major party nominee in the history of the United States of America has known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security than Donald Trump," Biden said.

Clinton mocked Trump's insistence that the Republican candidate knows more about Islamic State and conditions on the ground in Iraq than American generals.

"Whenever you hear Trump talk about foreign policy, picture him in the [White House] Situation Room making decisions for all of us." Clinton later tweeted.

Meanwhile the conservative Wall Street Journal, a traditional backer of Republican ideals, said Trump is "on the path to losing a winnable race."

The newspaper strongly criticized Trump in a Monday editorial, saying he would rather watch TV news talk shows instead of reading policy papers, prefers large crowds at rallies over an organized campaign, and says his "shoot-from-the-hip" style is alienating many Republicans and independents.

The Journal said if Republican leaders cannot get Trump to change his act soon, they will "have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless." It says Trump needs to "stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president."

Trump campaign chief investigated

Also Monday, The New York Times reported that Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators are probing whether Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort got an illegal multi-million dollar payoff from the pro-Russian party of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort was a Yanukovych consultant before the deposed president fled the country in a 2014 popular uprising.

The Times reports Manafort's name appeared in a hand-written ledger showing $12.7 million in cash was earmarked for him. The anti-corruption bureau is looking into whether the off-the record payment came from stolen Ukrainian government assets.

There is no evidence however that Marafort ever received the money and he calls the allegation "unfounded, silly and nonsensical."

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Military anti-graft drive widens with fee ban

People's Daily Online

(Global Times) 08:31, August 16, 2016

A ban on the collection of fees for recruiting soldiers is part of China's wider campaign against corruption in the military, media reported.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the Central Military Commission's political work and discipline departments have recently released a document to further stamp out corruption in the recruitment of soldiers this year.

The document states that those in charge of recruiting must not use their power to influence the recruitment of their relatives. It also bans any fees in the process or bribes, whether in cash or in kind.

It also says those who are assigned to recruiting soldiers must not be deployed in their hometown or that of their spouse.

According to a previous People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily report, China's defense ministry, together with relevant departments, would form special working teams to inspect military recruitment work across the country.

The PLA Daily report further said that the recruitment process would be made as transparent as possible, with applications to be validated by local military, public security, education and health departments, and that local discipline watchdogs would oversee the entire procedure.

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Spokesman for DPRK Foreign Ministry Hits out at Germany's Projected Sale of Missiles to S. Korea

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, August 14 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK gave the following answer to the question raised by KCNA Sunday as regards Germany's projected delivery of attack missiles to south Korea:

There are reports that Germany will deliver Taurus air-to-surface missiles capable of accurately hitting the strategic bases of the DPRK within this year.

If it is true, Germany's projected delivery disregarding even its domestic law banning arms export to dispute-torn areas will disturb peace and escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula, the biggest hot spot in the world.

In the past Germany sold Patriot interceptor missiles and diesel engine submarines to south Korea under the pretext of "defense". Its unhesitating delivery of even attack missiles to south Korea will only result in inciting the south Korean authorities getting desperate in confrontation with the compatriots in the north to a new war.

Germany has talked more than any others that it hopes for "stability" and "peace" on the Korean peninsula as it made apologies repeatedly for inflicting untold disasters upon humankind by igniting two world wars and experienced the pain resulting from national division.

However, it is now making no scruple of doing an act of inciting a war.

It is, indeed, preposterous for Germany to term the DPRK's self-defensive steps for defending its sovereignty, vital rights of the nation and regional peace "violations of resolutions" of the UN Security Council, while selling even attack missiles to south Korea in defiance of its domestic law.

Germany will have to have courage to answer the question as to whether the UNSC's resolution terming weapon test "threat to world peace and security" is fair or not.

If Germany wants to shoulder "heavier responsibility" in the international arena, it will have to discreetly behave with a right viewpoint on the situation of the Korean peninsula.

Its projected sale of missiles to south Korea should be retracted at once as it will wreck peace on the Korean peninsula and in other parts of the region. -0-

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President says his government undermined sanctions through JCPOA

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Yasuj, Kohkiloyeh-Boyerahmad prov, Aug 15, IRNA -- President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that his government managed to undermine the foundations of sanctions by signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Addressing a provincial administrative meeting on Monday, he said his government was after removing the foundations of the sanctions not the sanctions themselves.

He said it managed to get to its objective through signing the JCPOA.

He said Iran could have accelerated the pace of the negotiations and got results in a more rapid manner but was seeking another goal.

The president went on to elaborate on the "basics of the sanctions" which also included the United Nations Security Council's anti-Iran resolutions and the possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran's civil nuclear program.

This, he said, meant the world believed Iran was engaged in activities to build atomic bombs.

Whereas, now, the International Atomic Energy Agency has officially announced that it has nothing to discuss Iran's past activities and is going to examine only its future activities.

Unlike other countries whose dossiers were referred to the UNSC and ended up in total destruction like Iraq or were caught in devastating wars, Iran managed to survive UN resolutions, meaning that now it has no problems with the body.

He said that now in the post-JCPOA time Iranian people are suffering less from health issues which were due to purchase of non-standard agricultural products or medications.

President Rouhani further noted that the military sanctions against Iran have now been removed and Iran is capable of purchasing any kind of arms.

He said today Iran is keeping with its nuclear activities in places like Natanz, Arak, Isfahan and Fordow and simultaneously has got the world to recognize its nuclear activities and even cooperate with Iran.

1424**1771

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Peshmerga Forces Start Clearance Operations to Prepare for Mosul Liberation

Sputnik News

19:58 16.08.2016

jKurdish Peshmerga troops have started clearance operations to prepare for the liberation of the Iraqi city of Mosul from Daesh.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Several thousand Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have begun clearance operations near three villages southeast of Iraqi Mosul to prepare for the city's liberation from Daesh, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson Col. Christopher Garver said in a briefing on Tuesday.

"These operations seek to secure additional ground lines of communication, which will provide multiple routes for forces and logistics supporting eventual Mosul liberation operations and to limit freedom of mobility by Daesh," Garver told reporters.

Daesh has controlled Iraq's second largest city of Mosul for the past two years. Last month, the United Nations warned that the military operation to retake the city could displace 3.4 million people and cause a humanitarian crisis.

Daesh is outlawed in Russia and numerous other countries.

 Sputnik

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Tokyo threat to block Miyako unacceptable

People's Daily Online

(Global Times) 08:30, August 15, 2016

Japan will develop a new land-to-sea missile that has a range of 300 kilometers, according to Yomiuri Shimbun. The new weapon is expected to be deployed on islands such as Miyako in 2023. By improving their long-range strike capability, Japan aims to acquire bigger control over the disputed waters around the Diaoyu Islands, which are only 170 kilometers away from Miyako Island.

Miyako sits at the mouth of the Miyako Strait, an international waterway which is also a major route for the Chinese navy to enter the Pacific Ocean. If the new missile is deployed at Miyako, it could threaten all Chinese ships in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands.

Japan's aggressive plan has barely met any opposition. In stark contrast, China's deployment of some land-to-air missiles in Yongxing Island in the Xisha Islands for self-defense has been radically protested by the US and Japan, which claim China is militarizing the South China Sea and threatening the freedom of navigation. Japan keeps increasing the range of its missile weaponry on Miyako Island, from the type 88 land-to-sea missiles with a range of 150-200 kilometers, to the new missile of 300-kilometer range. Where is Japan's respect for freedom of navigation in international waters?

Japan has a strong awareness of crisis, one of the reasons that continues to drive the country in its past militarist expansions. Japan demands a big say in the smooth transportation in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits. Meanwhile, it wants to be a dominator in the Miyako Strait and decide whether the Chinese navy and civilian ships can enter or not.

Japan's logic excludes China's concerns about national security. Japan thinks its national interests should prevail and the US-Japan alliance should be the centerpiece of the Asia-Pacific region.

If Japan wants to make trouble with China on the latter's path to the Pacific, then it shouldn't make fuss about the fact that China will limit Japan's waterways in the South China Sea. Japan shouldn't use double standards between the militarization of the Miyako Island and the militarization of the Nansha Islands.

China has no intention to engage in a physical confrontation with its neighbors or the US, because it is not in line with China's national interests. But China's mustn't accept Japan's unilateral move to block the Miyako Strait in particular situations. A militarized Miyako Island should be a target of Chinese military forces, which could consider annihilating its military base if in war with Japan. However, it is best for both that the scenario won't happen.

Today is the 71st anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII. The Japanese should use the day for introspection and remorse, instead of raising nationalism and flexing muscles.

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S. Korean President Calls on Pyongyang to Stop Nuclear Provocation 'Immediately'

Sputnik News

08:39 15.08.2016(updated 08:45 15.08.2016)

South Korean President said that North Korea must urgently stop the development of its nuclear program and the saber-rattling moves on the international arena.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  North Korea must urgently stop the development of its nuclear program and the saber-rattling moves on the international arena, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Monday.

"I urge [North Korea] to immediately stop developing nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, and halt its threats of provocations against South Korea," the president said in Seoul at the ceremony to mark South Korean liberation from Japanese colonial rule as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

She defended the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the country in light of the alleged threat from the North.

"We want North Korea to become a normal member of the international community that respects the universal rights of mankind, and international obligations and norms," she pointed out.

On August 3, North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its eastern shore. It traveled hundreds of miles before plunging into the Sea of Japan not far from the northern Japanese coast. The UN Security Council Resolution 2270 dated March 2 urges North Korea to stop all activities on its ballistic missile program.

In July, South Korea and the United States announced that they had agreed to deploy the THAAD missile system in the South Korean Seongju County amid increased tensions on the peninsula.

 Sputnik

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Pyongyang Calls on Germany to Scrap Taurus Missile Deliveries to South Korea

Sputnik News

16:00 16.08.2016(updated 16:12 16.08.2016)

North Korea calls on Germany to scrap the planned deliveries of Taurus air-to-ground cruise missiles to South Korea, the North Korean Embassy in Russia said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Reports emerged last week, citing military officials, indicating that Seoul was planning to deploy dozens of the German-made Taurus cruise missiles by the end of the year.

"If true, Germany's decision is an act that violates the peace and that ignores even its national legislation banning the export of weapons to regions of conflict, and that will strain the situation on the Korean peninsula more," the embassy said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti.

The statement noted that the sale of German missiles to South Korea, "fraught with breaching peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region, should be discontinued immediately."

 Sputnik

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US to Provide Aegis Systems for Three More Sejong-Class S. Korean Warships

Sputnik News

01:15 16.08.2016

The United States will provide Aegis missile defense systems for three additional KDX, or Sejong-class destroyers in the South Korean Navy, and two more Japanese Atako-class destroyers, defense contractor Lockheed Martin said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Already, four of Japan's Kongo-class destroyers and two Atago-class destroyers carry the Aegis system, the company said.

"Aegis will join the next three KDX-III Sejong the Great-class destroyers, a multi-purpose destroyer with air and land defense and anti-submarine capabilities," the release stated on Monday.

Also, two more Aegis-equipped warships will join Japan's fleet in addition to the current six carrying the Aegis system, Lockheed Martin noted.

All five systems will be provided to the two countries under a $490 million contract under which it will also cover equipping additional US Navy warships with Aegis systems, the release added.

 Sputnik

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Heavy Metal Meets the Rails: Russian Armored Trains Begin Exercises in Volgograd

Sputnik News

15:12 15.08.2016(updated 15:38 15.08.2016)

On Monday, the Russian army kicked off military exercises in the Volgograd region, using its 'Baikal' and 'Amur' armored trains for the first time in nearly fifteen years.

Speaking to the Russian media last week, a source from the headquarters of the Southern Military District explained that the trains and the troops onboard would be practicing logistical support, their tasks including the defense of bridges and sections of rail against enemy reconnaissance and sabotage groups, as well as the restoration of damaged infrastructure and sections of track.

The source noted that Russia presently has two armored trains, one based in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai, and the other in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, the famous site of one of the Second World War's deadliest battles. In wartime, Russian army doctrine calls for the trains to be used to defend important railroad assets.

Each train is equipped with two ZU-23-2 23 mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon, and carries a standard-armed rifle platoon equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers. Other equipment can be added as necessary.

The 'Baikal' and 'Amur' are not to be confused with the Barguzin nuke train, a rail-based strategic missile complex meant to transport and launch strategic nuclear weapons. Those secretive trains, equipped with six RS-24 Yars ICBMs apiece, are under development, and expected to enter into service sometime in the next few years.

The Baikal and Amur are from a different school of military thought. The armored trains were used in the conflicts in Chechnya, where four such trains were operated as troop trains, simultaneously providing cover for sappers engaged in track demining operations, and to protect important infrastructure.

Armored trains have a long and proud history in Russia, and have been used since the days of the First World War and the Russian Civil War, as well as the Second World War, when they essentially served as mobile fortresses.

Commenting on the roles this unusual and seldom spoken-of piece of military equipment can be assigned to in modern warfare, PolitRussia contributor Boris Stepnov emphasized that it's necessary to understand, first and foremost, that "no one is going to send an armored train up against modern tanks; their role is that of mobile fire support, logistics, sapper work, etc."

"In this kind of work, armored trains are highly functional, especially when it comes to low intensity conflicts, i.e. counter-terrorism operationsThe presence of terrorists in an area makes it impossible to ensure the security of the rail transport network through its entire length; therefore, a mobile fortification equipped with heavy weapons solves this task very well."

Stepnov recalled that in circumstances where areas may be controlled by terrorists or other militants, armored trains are an excellent alternative to aircraft and road transport for moving of resources and personnel. "The mass use of air transport quickly becomes very expensive, and is vulnerable to ground fire from areas controlled by the enemy; using civil transport and passenger aviation is too risky. At the same time, road transport, even when accompanied by armor, means the use of ordinary Kamaz and Ural trucks, which are not armored," making them vulnerable even to small arms fire, "while roads can be blocked by rubble and other obstructions."

In this sense, the journalist suggested, "rail transport, when accompanied by protection in the form of armored trains, allows for regular and effective patrolling of areas which, unlike roads, remain a restricted zone even in peacetime." After all, "not just anyone can use the rail systemPutting armor on the train, meanwhile, is much easier to do than in the case of road transport, while its great weight capacity allows it to carry significant armament."

According to publically available information, the Russian armored trains are equipped to withstand everything from small arms fire to artillery fire using 30mm shells. Their basic weapons include automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, but if necessary, they can also be equipped with installations including modular multiple launch rocket systems.

Stepnov recalled that the question of the train's armament was decided in a simple but effective way a long time ago; "the center of the train can be fitted with a tank resting on a platform; the tank is capable of fire from all angles from its main gun." Naturally, "apart from the tank, the platform can be equipped with any armored vehicle, equipped with a wide range of weapons, which can be changed out depending on the objectives in the given situation."

"Moreover, the modern armored train has a car equipped with electronic warfare equipment," allowing it to jam enemy radar and communications. Finally, in high risk situations, "it's also logical to assume helicopter support, which will greatly enhance the group's combat capabilities."

All in all, while armored trains may have seen their first use nearly 150 years ago, the Russian military command apparently believes that they are far from having outlived their usefulness, especially when fitted with modern equipment.

 Sputnik

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Russia Offered NATO Specific Proposals on Renewed Military Cooperation - Lavrov

Sputnik News

09:48 15.08.2016(updated 10:14 15.08.2016)

Russian Foreign Minister said that Russia presented NATO with specific proposals on restoring military cooperation at the latest NATO-Russia Council meeting.

YEKATERINBURG (Sputnik)  Russia presented NATO with specific proposals on restoring military cooperation at the latest NATO-Russia Council meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

"We handed over specific proposals on restoring military cooperation at our latest session last month, first and foremost regarding increasing confidence in this area," Lavrov said at the Ural Federal University in Russia's Yekaterinburg.

The European public and politicians are increasingly aware of the lack of alternatives to resuming good relations and cooperation with Russia, Sergei Lavrov said.

"We see that Europe's awareness of the lack of alternatives to normalizing relations and resuming existing cooperation formats is growing. We are receiving the corresponding signals not only from representatives of the public, from academic and business circles and regular citizens, but also from many politicians," Lavrov said at the Ural Federal University in Russia's Yekaterinburg.

The realization that suspending the work of the NATO-Russia Council and freezing cooperation mechanisms between Russia and the European Union was a mistake is increasingly dawning on Europe, he added, speaking at an event also attended by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The two ministers are set to hold a meeting later in the day to discuss the situations in Ukraine and Syria, as well as other international issues.

Lavrov also expressed hope for Russian-German relations to return to their previous level, adding that the issue must be approached in a comprehensive manner.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions over Crimea's secession from Ukraine and reunification with Russia and accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia has repeatedly refuted the accusations, and warned that the sanctions are counterproductive and undermine regional and global stability.

Moscow hopes that Russia and the European Union will be able to restore all cooperation mechanisms and move away from the "ideologization" of relations, Russian Foreign Minister added.

According to Lavrov, Western governments are starting to realize that politics should not affect commercial cooperation on mutually beneficial projects, such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"This gives me hope that we will move away from the ideologization and gradually restore all cooperation mechanisms," Lavrov said at the Ural Federal University in Russia's Yekaterinburg.

 Sputnik

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NATO's Eastward Expansion Deepens Divisions in Europe - Lavrov

Sputnik News

09:13 15.08.2016(updated 11:42 15.08.2016)

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe will deepen the region's divisions.

YEKATERINBURG (Sputnik)  NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe deepens the region's divisions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

"NATO policy of moving further east at any cost are deepening the fault lines in Europe," Lavrov said at the Ural Federal University in Russia's Yekaterinburg.

NATO's latest summit in Poland's capital was held on July 8-9 and focused on relations with Russia. During the summit, the Alliance decided to strengthen its military presence in Eastern Europe on a rotational basis with four battalions in Poland and in the Baltic nations.

Since 2014, NATO has been building up its military presence in Europe, especially in Eastern European countries neighboring Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in the Ukrainian conflict as a pretext. The Russian authorities have said such moves are provocative and undermine stability.

 Sputnik

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Russia, US edging nearer to agreement to up anti-militant fight in Aleppo: Moscow

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 5:35PM

Russian military officials say Moscow is close to reaching an agreement with Washington on how to coordinate fight against militants in Syria's war-ravaged city of Aleppo.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that Moscow and Washington were edging closer to a deal to defuse the situation in Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, which has seen an unprecedented surge in fighting over the past months.

Shoigu said in remarks carried by Rossiya 24 television that "... step by step, we are nearing an arrangement," adding that the agreement will be exclusively limited to Aleppo.

The top Russian defense official said the agreement would allow Moscow and Washington "to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, that long-suffering land so that people could return to their homes."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed earlier in the day that his country could lengthen a three-hour daily humanitarian ceasefire around Aleppo if assurances are made that terrorists will not use it to move into the city.

Russia has been assisting Syria in its fight against militants since late September 2015 upon a request by the Damascus government. Moscow says the sorties have inflicted huge losses on militants in east and northeast of Syria.

Sources in the Syrian army said Monday that government forces and allies managed to retake control of several areas from militants southwest of Aleppo after repelling their new assault.

They said that the terrorists were forced to flee from all positions they had seized a day earlier close to a cement factory near Aleppo following a massive government offensive.

Syrian officials said dozens of terrorists were killed in airstrikes targeting their positions in the area.

According to an estimate by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war since it broke out in March 2011.

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Russia needs assurances to lengthen Aleppo truce: Lavrov

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:53PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country could lengthen a three-hour daily humanitarian ceasefire around the Syrian city of Aleppo if assurances are made that terrorists will not use it to move into the city.

Lavrov said Monday that earlier short-term truces helped militants replenish weapons and added that Russia fears militants are using any ceasefire to send in more of their comrades into Aleppo. He said that in order for the Aleppo ceasefire to be lengthened "it was necessary to solve issues on the fight with terrorists."

The Russian top diplomat, who was speaking to the media following a meeting with visiting German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also admitted that the short-term three-hour daily halt in the fighting is not sufficient to let more humanitarian aid into Aleppo.

"The main issue is not that there's anyone unwilling to alleviate the humanitarian situation, but it is of utmost importance that terrorists would not be getting reinforced with militants, guns and munition supplies under the humanitarian aid disguise," Lavrov said.

Russia has been assisting Syria in its fight against militants since late September 2015 upon a request by the Damascus government. Moscow says the sorties have inflicted huge losses on militants in east and northeast of Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that six Russian bombers conducted "concentrated" air raids against Daesh targets near the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr, inflicting heavy damage on the Takfiri terrorist group.

Last month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hailed the Russian air campaign in support of the Syrian army, saying it has helped Syrian soldiers advance against the Takfiri elements operating in the Arab country.

According to an estimate by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war since it broke out in March 2011.

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Tass: Iran, Russia agree to fight ISIL, Al-Nusra

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 16 August 2016 / 16:27

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that Iran and Russia stressed keeping ceasefire in Syria and fight terrorist groups including the ISIL and Al-Nusra in the country, Russian Tass News Agency reported.

The statement came after meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov and Iranian officials here in Tehran.

The statement said that the two sides had been stressed that there is no effective solution to Syrian crisis which could settle the conflict in the country politically based on the Geneva Declaration published on July 30, 2012.

The two sides said that United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura should boost efforts to hold Syrian talks in Geneva without any pre-condition.

End Item

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Shoigu Says U.S., Russia Near Agreement On Defusing Aleppo Crisis

August 16, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russia's defense minister said Moscow and Washington are getting closer to an agreement that would help defuse the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Syrian city Aleppo.

"Step by step, we are nearing an arrangement -- I'm talking exclusively about Aleppo -- that would allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory, that long-suffering land so that people could return to their homes," Sergei Shoigu told Rossiya 24 television on August 15.

Shoigu added that Russian representatives are "in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues."

Fighting for Aleppo, once Syria's commercial capital and its largest city, has become the focal point of the nation's civil war, now in its sixth year.

U.S. officials said, however, that agreement is not close.

"We have nothing to announce at this time," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. "We remain in close contact [with Russian officials]."

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it contends is U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

Shoigu said in the TV interview that extremists in Syria are often positioned near groups that the United States considers moderate.

Nusra has rebranded itself and now goes under the name of Fath al-Sham, an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led air strikes targeting militants. Many have dismissed the name change as window-dressing.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, on August 15 described the battle for Aleppo as "one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times."

"No one and nowhere is safe. Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools, and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense," Maurer said.

The Red Cross repeated its call on all warring parties to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver supplies to civilians in desperate need of food and clean water across Aleppo.

Shoigu said Russia has delivered aid to Aleppo and is helping to rebuild damaged water pumping stations. About 700,000 people are still living in Aleppo and residents in the eastern part of the city were "hostages of armed groups," he said.

Earlier on August 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Syrian militants had used a temporary ceasefire around Aleppo to regroup.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/shoigu- says-us-russia-near-agreement-defusing- aleppo-crisis-syria-/27925112.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia Launches Syrian Air Strikes From Iranian Base

August 16, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russian state media say warplanes have flown air strikes in Syria from an Iranian air base, soon after officials in Moscow and Tehran announced the unprecedented cooperation as an effort to battle the militant group Islamic State (IS).

Russia's Defense Ministry said the August 16 air strikes were carried out by Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters that took off from the Hamadan air field in northwestern Iran.

There was no word on how many bombers were deployed.

The Russian military had previously launched such strikes only from its own soil or Syrian territory, where Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad has been waging a five-year war to hold onto power in the face of an Islamist militant threat and Western backing for Assad's political and armed opponents.

If confirmed, the Russian attacks appear to mark the first time Tehran's staunchly anti-Western leadership has permitted a foreign country to use Iran to stage military operations since the 1979 revolution.

Russian state channel RT reported that the development allows the Russian air force to drastically reduce flying times to targets in Syria, where Moscow has been waging a bombardment campaign since September with the publicly stated aims of propping up Assad and fighting Islamist militants.

Widening Russia's Footprint

Russia has long leased a naval facility in the eastern Mediterranean port city of Tartus and last year built up forces at the Khmeimim air base near Latakia, in northwestern Syria.

In addition to widening Russia's footprint in the region, Putin's maneuvering over Syria is also widely perceived as an attempt to accrue influence on the international stage that might help eclipse Moscow's isolation over its invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow has been working loosely for months with Tehran, which has provided Assad with ground troops and appears increasingly invested in the fate of the Syrian regime.

The United States, Turkey, and their allies have repeatedly called for Assad's exit, and international talks to bring about a political solution in Syria remain stalled.

Moscow has insisted that talks with Washington are nearing an agreement to boost cooperation in Aleppo, a prewar industrial hub that has seen some of the worst fighting.

More than a quarter-million Syrians have been killed since the conflict began in 2011, and many millions more have been displaced internally or fled to Turkey or farther west.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed the August 16 air strikes successfully hit IS facilities in three northern Syrian provinces, including arms depots and training camps.

The Reuters news agency reported that Russian state TV aired images of at least three Russian Tu-22M3 bombers and a military transport plane inside Iran.

Vladimir Komoyedov, chairman of the Russian Duma's Defense Committee, said the use of the Iranian base would "save fuel and enlarge bomb loads."

Closer Consultation

The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council appeared to confirm the reports, saying that Tehran and Moscow are sharing facilities to fight against "terrorism."

"Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one, and we share our potential and facilities in this field," Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying in an interview with the Iranian government news agency IRNA.

On August 15, Putin's top Middle East envoy, Mikhail Bogdanov, held talks in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran's English-language Press TV reported that the two sides stressed "the importance of closer consultation between Iran and Russia on ways to solve the crisis in Syria."

In January, Moscow and Tehran signed a military cooperation deal focused on wider cooperation on training and fighting terrorism.

Also on August 16, the New York-based rights monitor Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the joint Russian-Syria military operation in Syria of using incendiary weapons in civilian areas.

HRW said air-dropped incendiary weapons had been used at least 18 times in the past six weeks. It urged the countries of the Convention on Chemical Weapons to condemn the action when they meet in Geneva on August 29.

"These weapons inflict horrible injuries and excruciating pain, so all countries should condemn their use in civilian areas," HRW arms director Steve Goose was quoted as saying.

IS controls swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq, where it has employed ruthless tactics like summary executions and mass killings of captives in an effort to establish what it claims is a worldwide Islamic caliphate.

Putin announced the start of a withdrawal of the "main part" of Russian forces in March, suggesting the country had "achieved its aims."

Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and IRNA

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-syria- air-strikes-iran-base/27925540.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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US Coalition Clears Russian Warplanes' Path Through Iraq

By Carla Babb August 16, 2016

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cleared the way for Russian bombers to pass through Iraq on their way to Syria via an airbase in Iran.

Col. Chris Garver, the coalition spokesman, told reporters via teleconference from Baghdad that the Russians notified the coalition about their planned movement through Iraqi airspace as per the Memorandum of Understanding for safety of flight made between Russia and the U.S. months ago.

"They informed us they were coming through, and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out (of Syria) again," Garver said.

Russia announced earlier Tuesday that a group of its warplanes took off from an airbase in Iran for the first time to carry out airstrikes against militants in Syria.

Use of Iranian air base

Russia's defense ministry says Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers were launched from the Hamedan air base, located around 280 kilometers southwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

It said the strikes hit "five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel" and the training camps of "Islamic State and the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group" in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib.

Garver confirmed that there are several Islamic State targets in Deir ez-Zor, but he said the coalition did not see concentrations of Islamic State fighters in Aleppo and Idlib. An official with Central Command, which overseas operations in the Middle East, said he could not confirm to VOA where Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the group formally known as Jabhat al-Nusra, was operating in Syria.

Russian forces have been conducting airstrikes supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government since late September of last year.

Tuesday is not the first time Russia has launched airstrikes from outside of Syria. Last October and November, Russia launched long-range rockets into Syria from the Caspian Sea. During Russia's first long-range missile strikes on October 7, the U.S. said four of the missiles went awry and crashed in Iran, although Moscow denied the claim.

Russia has insisted its air campaign is focused on terrorists and not the rebels who oppose Assad, but has faced criticism from Western governments and rights groups who say that has not been the case.

Back in Iran Tuesday, state media quoted the head of the country's National Security Council Ali Shamkhani as saying Iran and Russia have strategic cooperation in fighting terrorism in Syria and are sharing their facilities in that mission.

The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against Assad and quickly spiraled into a civil war that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 400,000 people. Nearly 5 million people have fled the country and another 6.6 million are internally displaced, according to U.N. data.

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Step toward Orchid Island autonomy to be taken in September

ROC Central News Agency

2016/08/15 23:03:28

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The process of implementing autonomy on the offshore Orchid Island has been accelerated following a visit there by President Tsai Ing-wen () on Monday.

Following a talk between Tsai and people on the island, Council of Indigenous Peoples head Icyang Parod said the government will issue a decree in September giving the island the legal status of a "public entity" to effectively kick off a process toward the island's autonomy.

Orchid Island, also known as Lanyu, is inhabited by indigenous Tao people who have sought greater autonomy over their own affairs. The island is currently under the jurisdiction of Taitung County.

The indigenous Tao people's self-rule was one of the two major issues discussed between local elders and the president, officials accompanying Tsai on the visit said.

Locals urged Tsai to lead efforts to legislate the island's self-rule because they wanted to make sure a future change of governments in Taipei will not affect their legal status as autonomous citizens, they said.

They also urged the government to post staff members on the island to better understand their actual needs.

Some Tao members demanded complete self-rule, including territorial and financial independence and a police force controlled by people on the island, the officials said.

In response, the president said six villages on the island can implement their autonomy as a legal "public entity" -- or more formally a "juristic person" -- and gradually expand and deepen the autonomy, according to the officials.

(By Tyson Lu and S.C. Chang)

Enditem/ls

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Six people killed in Turkey's car bomb attack blamed on PKK

Iran Press TV

Mon Aug 15, 2016 5:14PM

A car bomb attack targeting a police station in volatile southeast Turkey has claimed the lives of four police officers and two civilians, including a young child.

According to local officials, the incident occurred at 1:10 p.m. local time (1010 GMT) on Monday after the car bomb was detonated at a police control post on the highway that links Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir and the town of Batman.

Reports said the blast also injured 25 people, including five police officers.

The explosion tore a large crater on the highway and completely destroyed the inside of the three-story police building.

The Turkish government blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in the country's southeast since 1984.

The recent bombing came days after a total of 44 soldiers, police officers and civilians were left dead and injured on Wednesday in three separate attacks blamed on the militant group.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale anti-PKK campaign in its southern border region over the past few months. The Turkish military has also been pounding the group's positions in northern Iraq as well in breach of the Arab country's sovereignty.

Turkey's operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in Suruc, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting Turkey's military operations.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group.

According to the latest toll provided by the state-run Anadolu news agency in July, more than 600 Turkish security forces and over 7,000 PKK militants have been killed since the collapse of the truce.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984.

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Beheading The Eagle: Is This The End Of The Turkish Army As We Know It?

August 15, 2016

by Abbas Djavadi

In 2011, Bilgin Balanli, a decorated four-star general in the Turkish Air Force, was expected to become Turkey's chief of the general staff. Instead, he was arrested, together with hundreds of other generals, admirals, and high-ranking officers. His supposed crime? Plotting to overthrow the government of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Soon, the number of arrested officers from Turkey's Armed Forces reached 700.

Three years later, in 2014, Balanli was released, together with hundreds of other officers. No credible evidence was ever presented that they were involved in any "plot." In April of this year, Turkey's highest court of appeal found that the entire indictment against the officers was based on fabricated claims and that there was no "plot" against the government.

Whether or not the plot was real, the result was that the cream of the Turkish Armed Forces, NATO's second-largest, was purged and many high-ranking officers replaced by supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a hugely influential cleric now living in self-exile in the United States.

After becoming prime minister in 2003, Erdogan tolerated, if not supported Gulen and his secretive movement, largely because he saw the strictly secular armed forces and judiciary, which would regularly clean up their ranks of what they saw as Islamists and ethnic separatists, as a threat. Indeed, the army was uncomfortable with Erdogan's government and in 2008 the Constitutional Court mulled banning the AKP's leading figures from politics.

A few years into Erdogan's rule, it became difficult to get an important government position or get a good business deal against the blessing of the "community" -- a reference to supporters of Gulen, who established themselves in the military, the security services, the judiciary, the education system, and the media. This was a new and unspoken dichotomy: a traditionally secular army and court system that was infiltrated by the Gulenists. There were also many Gulenists within Erdogan's government.

It was under these conditions that in 2011, Gulenist prosecutors and judges orchestrated an attack against senior members of the army and judiciary, claiming they were planning a "coup" against Erdogan's government. In reality, this was just an attempt to destroy Turkey's traditional secular and pro-Western structures.

Standing trial after his arrest in 2011, General Balanli said in court that "the goal of this dirty plot [the accusations that he was taking part in a coup] was to behead the eagle," a reference to the Turkish Armed Forces. Last week, almost a month after the July 15 coup attempt, Balanli spoke out again in an interview with the daily Hurriyet: "With the coup attempt, the eagle has now lost its wings and tail. To achieve its pre-2011 strength, [the armed forces] need at least eight to 10 years."

If losing some 700 officers, including generals and admirals, in 2011 was the "beheading" of the Turkish Armed Forces, the July 15 coup attempt and its aftermath has inflicted an even deeper wound on an institution whose primary goal was to safeguard the "secular and democratic republic" of its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Five years ago, when the Gulenist movement first moved against the armed forces, Erdogan and his government sat back and watched. They were afraid of the military and feared the secularists had plans to remove them from power. Thus, they were happy to let the Gulenists do their dirty work. When asked about the crackdown, Erdogan and his ministers would just say that justice in Turkey was "impartial" and nobody should intervene in the proceedings.

But by 2013, those same Gulenist prosecutors and judges were campaigning against Erdogan, his family members, and close aides. They allegedly publicized audio recordings of Erdogan and his children, implicating them in corruption and misappropriation, although none of the allegations was substantiated in court.

This time, Erdogan hit back.

Shortly afterwards, he began to purge government agencies, the police, the judiciary, the armed forces, the media, and educational institutions of Gulenists. If it is true that the coup plotters were Gulen supporters acting on the cleric's orders, then it is plausible that they decided to attack because they feared being eliminated by Erdogan and his AKP.

The failed coup has given Erdogan the perfect excuse to do just that -- remove all traces of Gulenist influence. Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Alan has said that some 76,000 government employees have been suspended following the failed coup attempt. They have all been accused of having connections to the Gulen movement.

"Some 3,083 of the arrested were police officers, 7,248 were soldiers, 2,288 were judges and prosecutors, 199 were local officials, and 4,161 were civilians," the minister added. This includes around 150 generals and admirals and half of the country's fighter pilots.

The long-term consequences for Turkey's military could be huge. Becoming a general or an admiral can take around 20 years; fighter pilots must commit to eight to 10 years of active duty. Add to that the new changes the Erdogan government has made regarding the decentralization of the Turkish Armed Forces. Using the extraordinary power of the president during the state of emergency, all commanders of the land, air, and naval forces will report directly to their respective ministers in the civil government and no longer to the chief of the general staff, as was previously the case. The chief of the general staff will now directly report to Erdogan himself.

To some observers, this could help democratize society. There are concerns, however, that these new lines of authority will mean an end to the Turkish Armed Forces's meritocracy, especially when those lines lead directly to the president, his prime minister, and a few loyal ministers.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-beheading- the-eagle-armed-forces-coup/27923108.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Turkish Army Detains Top Provincial Prosecutor on Syria Border Wanted Over Coup

Sputnik News

16:02 15.08.2016(updated 16:07 15.08.2016)

Turkish servicemen detained chief prosecutor in Erzurum province, who was put on the wanted list after the coup attempt in Turkey, on the border between Turkey and Syria, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Turkish military detained Ekrem Beyaztas, chief prosecutor in Erzurum province, who was put on the wanted list after the thwarted July coup, as he tried to cross the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Kilis, local media reported.

Turkish servicemen detained Beyaztas late on Sunday after he ignored warnings to stop at a border checkpoint, according to Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper.

The Turkish authorities have started judicial and administrative proceeding against the prosecutor, the media outlet added, citing a statement by Kilis Governor's Office.

On July 15, an attempted coup took place in Turkey that was suppressed the following day. According to the Turkish authorities, over 81,000 employees and officials were suspended from their duties or dismissed while there is an ongoing investigation into the coup attempt, with more than 13,000 people detained in connection to the plot.

 Sputnik

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Arrests of Journalists in Turkey Not Related to Profession - Foreign Minister

Sputnik News

05:00 15.08.2016

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that journalists in Turkey are arrested because of their links with the movement of opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Journalists in Turkey are arrested because of their links with the movement of opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of playing a key role in the recent coup attempt, and not because of their profession, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday.

On July 15, a coup attempt took place in Turkey, which was suppressed the following day. Following the coup attempt, the Turkish authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of more than 100 journalists, starting a media purge in the country. On August 10, Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of another 47 journalists. Germany and other EU countries have repeatedly accused Turkey of violating the freedom of the press.

"Should you be untouchable, because you are a journalist? Some journalists have followed the instructions of the Gulen's terrorist organization, they have ruined lives of many people and have supported the coup. If a journalist is a member of a terrorist organization, what does that have to do with freedom of the press? There are many journalists and media that criticize the government every day. They are able to report freely. But when it comes to the coup, they have made a clear stance. But the media coverage in Germany is controlled in a way that has nothing to do with the reality in Turkey," Cavusoglu told the German Bild newspaper.

Numerous news websites in Turkey have been shut down at the request of the Turkish prime minister's office, on the pretext of endangering national security and public order. The Turkish government reportedly has revoked the licenses of 25 media outlets.

 Sputnik

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An early morning crash involving three vehicles  including a preschool bus  sent one person to the hospital Monday.

A Honda Civic struck a Pittsylvania County Community Action Head Start pre-school bus and crashed head-on into a Chevrolet pickup truck at 8:30 a.m. Monday on Callands Road about two miles east of Chatham, according to the Virginia State Police.

The Civic, driven by Cody Steven Fry, 23, of Danville, was headed east at a high rate of speed when it collided into the side of the bus, which was making a left turn. The Civic then crashed head on into the pickup driven by Aaron Cole Truman, 23, of Martinsville, state police said. The bus was driven by Shirley Royal Bradner, 71, of Gretna.

Bus aide Ella Whittle, 66, of Chatham, was flown from the scene to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for injuries received in the crash.

Pittsylvania County Community Action Executive Director Evelina Ross said she was notified of the accident around 8:45 a.m. and drove to the scene. She said the six students on the bus were treated at Centra Gretna Medical Center as a precaution and all six were released.

Virginia State Police charged Fry with both reckless driving and driving suspended.

Neither of the other two drivers was injured. All three drivers were wearing seatbelts.

We were extremely blessed that our driver followed procedure, Ross said. No children were hurt. We took all the precautionary measures that we could for the health and safety of the children.

Ross said all students parents were notified about the accident.

A Virginia State Police Crash Reconstruction Team is assisting with the investigation. The accident is being investigated by Trooper E.W. Dillard.
U.S. electricity consumers could end up paying more than $2.5 billion for nuclear plants that never get built.

Utilities including Richmond-based Dominion Resources Inc., Duke Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy Inc. are being allowed by regulators to charge $1.7 billion for reactors that exist only on paper, according to company disclosures and regulatory filings.

Dominion and Duke could seek approval to have ratepayers pony up at least an additional $839 million, the filings show.

The practice comes as power-plant operators are increasingly turning to cheaper natural gas and carbon-free renewables as their fuels of choice.

The growth of these alternatives is sparking a backlash from consumers and environmentalists who are challenging the need for more nuclear power in arguments that have spilled into courtrooms, regulatory proceedings and legislative agendas.

Anything that hasnt gotten off the ground yet isnt getting built, said Greg Gordon, a utility analyst at Evercore ISI, a New York-based investment advisory firm. There is no economic rationale for it.

Only two of 18 nuclear projects proposed since 2007 are under construction. Those units, being built by Southern Co. in Georgia and Scana Corp. in South Carolina, are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

In the meantime, the price of natural gas has dropped 38 percent since 2010. Its now used to generate more than a third of the nations power, up from 24 percent six years ago.

Utilities that are moving forward with their nuclear plans say they want to preserve the option to build if market or regulatory conditions change. Nuclear power offers around-the-clock, carbon-free electricity that becomes more valuable if federal rules limiting greenhouse gases take hold, the utilities say.

One way to mitigate these risks is to spend money now, so that you have a license to build a nuclear plant if and when you need to, said Richard Myers, vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group.

Critics of policies that allow utilities to bill for planned reactors say theyre likely unneeded, and the practice shifts upfront financial risks from shareholders to customers.

The rich get richer and the ratepayers get poorer, said Mark Cooper, a research fellow at Vermont Law School who submitted testimony in July opposing Dominions planned reactor in Virginia on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.

***

Money collected from ratepayers so far has gone for items including federal licensing, permitting, land purchases, financing and equipment. Nuclear developers have sunk at least $1.2 billion of their own cash into proposals where they arent allowed or wont ask to recover expenses from consumers, the disclosures and filings show.

At least seven states, including Florida, allow utilities to collect nuclear licensing and planning costs from customers before construction begins.

In Virginia and Florida, utilities are seeing increased scrutiny of their plans. The Virginia attorney general has raised concerns about the rising expense of Dominions proposed new reactor at its North Anna facility, estimating the total cost at $19 billion.

If Dominion proceeds on this ruinous path, it will extract $6 billion to $12 billion in needlessly higher energy bills, said Irene Leech, president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.

***

In May, Dominion faced a shareholder resolution that would have required the company to analyze the financial risks of not getting regulatory approval for the new reactor. The proposal didnt pass.

Dominion intends to spend $647 million to get a federal nuclear license next year and $302 million of that has already been collected from ratepayers.

Weve done a lot of work for licensing North Anna 3, which is prudent and valuable to our customers to maintain a diverse, carbon-free baseload source of electricity, said Richard Zuercher, a Dominion spokesman.

In Florida, multiple efforts in the state legislature to repeal a law that allows advanced collection of nuclear costs have failed.

I just never thought nuclear power plants made sense, said Florida State Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Democrat, who has proposed bills to overturn the advance fee collection law.

In February, a federal suit was filed on behalf of consumers seeking to overturn the Florida statute and recover fees charged by Duke and NextEra for nuclear plants that might not be completed.
Even Gov. Terry McAuliffe couldnt be too cheery after meeting with Virginia business and legislative leaders on Monday about the states economic and revenue outlook.

McAuliffe emerged from the two-hour meeting with the Governors Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates with renewed warnings about potential cuts in federal spending under budget sequestration next year and the dire need to prepare for a major turnover of working Virginians in the next decade.

I dont think anybody would say optimistic, he said of the outlook.

However, McAuliffe remained determined to protect new state investments in education, as he prepares to submit revised revenue forecasts to support budgeted spending to the General Assemblys money committees on Aug. 26.

My priority obviously is to preserve the educational funding, he said of the nearly $1 billion in new and updated spending for K-12 public education in the two-year budget that took effect July 1.

A $266.3 million shortfall in the last fiscal year already has postponed raises that had been scheduled Dec. 1 for state employees, college faculty, teachers and state-supported local employees. Those increases, ranging from 2 to 3 percent, were lost when the shortfall was confirmed at 1.8 percent of major state revenues  income, sales, and corporate tax collections.

The shortfall triggered a mandatory revenue reforecast when it exceeded 1 percent of those revenues. The governors advisory council, including business leaders from across the state, gave its collective view of the economic outlook for the new forecast produced by the state with the Joint Advisory Board of Economists.

Depressing meeting, said Nancy Howell Agee, president and chief executive officer of Carilion Clinic in Roanoke.

Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, also was not comforted by what he heard in the closed-door meeting between the governor and advisory council.

I heard the phrase cautiously pessimistic,  Landes said.

Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Augusta, was more optimistic about the states prospects.

What I heard was as much positive as negative, Hanger said, adding that he fell more on the positive side.

However, he was realistic about the uncertainty of federal defense spending in military-rich Virginia, or the effect of depressed wages on state income tax withholding collections, which ended the year 1.7 percentage points short of the 4.1 percent projected growth rate.

The new norm is more like a 2 percent growth than a 5 percent growth, Hanger said.

The states biggest challenge has been bridging the disconnection between sluggish payroll tax collections and the states unemployment rate, which has dropped to 3.7 percent. The answer is unsettling to lawmakers and the governor.

Were replacing high-paying jobs with lower-paying jobs, and more people are working part time, House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, said after the meeting.

Jones said he remains cautiously optimistic, but he said state officials need to be conservative in reforecasting the revenue for the budget.

We should take (the growth projections) down a little more than one might expect, just to hedge what is an uncertain economy in the minds of many, he said.
Vancouver, BC (FSCwire) - 92 Resources Corp. (the Company) (TSX.V: NTY) (FSE: R9G2) is pleased to announce that a Phase II follow-up exploration program has commenced on its wholly owned Hidden Lake Lithium Property. The Property is located just north of NWT Highway 4, approximately 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Yellowknife, NWT.

As announced on June 7, 2016, the Phase I reconnaissance sampling confirmed the presence of high grade lithium on LU dyke D12. The five samples returned values of 1.64%, 2.45%, 2.69%, 2.89% and 3.06% Li2O, with an average grade of 2.54% Li2O. The dominant lithium-bearing mineral appears to be very coarse grained, light gray to light-greenish gray spodumene. The pegmatite continues both to the northeast and southwest of the sampled area.

The current Phase II program will consist of detailed mapping and systematic channel sampling of the LU dyke D12 and other pegmatites on the property. The field crews have mobilized to the property and work is expected to continue into early September. The company has contracted Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta to conduct the work program.

According to Adrian Lamoureux, President and CEO of 92 Resources: We are very encouraged by the first phase of work on the LU dyke 12 pegmatite, and look forward to building value through rapid advancement of the project. The Yellowknife Pegmatite belt may one day prove to be an important source of lithium, which will help fuel Canadas transition to a green energy economy.

About the Property

The Property is located within the central parts of the Yellowknife Pegmatite Belt, which extends from the Blaisdell Lake pegmatite series in the north about 45 km to the south near Harding Lake. The belt parallels the Prosperous Lake Granite Suite; pegmatites, related to this intrusive complex are usually discordant and predominantly north south to northeast-southwest elongate bodies. Within these zoned pegmatite fields, lithium-rich pegmatites tend to occur a similar distance from the source granite and are typically located farthest from the source granitoids. The largest pegmatite deposits often have structural controls that increase their tonnage or grade potential.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

William Miller P. Geo., of Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

For further information, please contact Adrian Lamoureux, President & CEO at Tel: 778-945-2950, E-mail: adrian@92resources.com or visit www.92resources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,



ADRIAN LAMOUREUX

Adrian Lamoureux, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward Looking Statements:

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements may be identified by words including anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, expects and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Companys future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements.

To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/NinetyTwo08152016.pdfSource: 92 Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:NTY)

To follow 92 Resources Corp. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below.

Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com

Copyright  2016 Filing Services Canada Inc.
/NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES/

Issued Capital: 268,149,007

LONDON, ON, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Ltd. (TSX: FT) (OTCQX: FTMDF) ("Fortune" or the "Company") (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to announce that it has completed a fully subscribed $1,250,000 non-brokered private placement of units ("Units"). A total of 12,500,000 Units were issued at a subscription price of $0.10 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company and one-half warrant with each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase one common share of Fortune at a price of $0.15 for a period of one year. Proceeds of this financing will be used for general working capital purposes.

Fortune owns the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper development project that is projected to become a Canadian vertically integrated producer of battery-grade cobalt chemicals for the lithium-ion battery industry, with gold and bismuth co-products, and minor by-product copper. More than $115 million has been spent by Fortune advancing this project from an in-house discovery in the mid 1990's to a development asset with a positive Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment approvals for both the mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and refinery in Saskatchewan. NICO has also been test mined and pilot plant processed to mitigate development risks, and Front-End Engineering and Design ("FEED") studies have been completed with sufficient detailed engineering for procurement. Fortune has an Execution Plan for project delivery and the Company is working to secure off-take agreements and project financing to commence construction.

NICO has Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves totaling more than 33 million tonnes that will support a 21-year mine life at a planned mill throughput rate of 4,650 metric tonnes of ore per day. An attractive economic attribute to the project is a high concentration ratio that reduces this ore to approximately 180 wet tonnes of bulk concentrate per day containing the recoverable metals. The concentrate is planned to be shipped south to the refinery in Saskatchewan for downstream processing to value-added metals and chemicals. Life of mine average annual production is projected to be approximately 41,300 ounces of gold, 1,615 tonnes of cobalt contained in a battery grade cobalt sulphate heptahydrate, 1,750 tonnes of bismuth contained in metal ingots and oxide powder, and 265 tonnes of copper.

The cobalt market has grown at a compounded annual rate ("CAGR") of approximately 6% over the last two decades and is now approximately 110,000 tonnes. Most of the growth in demand is due to the need for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries used to store energy in portable electronic devices, electric vehicles and stationary storage cells attached to renewable energy such as wind turbines and solar generators and off-peak charging from the electrical grid. Cobalt demand in batteries has grown from about 1% of a smaller cobalt market in the mid-1990's to approximately 50% of the market in 2015. Demand growth is expected to increase with proliferation of automotive electrification and stationary storage cells enabled for base load due to improvements in battery technology and lower production costs. At least 12 battery megafactories have been either announced or are under construction to meet the expected increase in demand including the Tesla Gigafactory currently under construction in Nevada. About 65% of cobalt mine production is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a politically unstable country, and 52% of refined cobalt production is from China. NICO is planned to be an important new Canadian supplier of cobalt with supply chain transparency and custody from ore through to the production of battery chemicals, and tax advantages under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The more than 1.11 million ounces of gold in the NICO deposit is also a highly liquid countercyclical hedge. NICO also contains 12% of global bismuth reserves that also has supply chain concerns due to the concentration of mine and refinery bismuth production in China.

The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and CEO of Fortune, who is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101. The technical report on the feasibility study referred to above, entitled "Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories, Canada", dated April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon International Limited, has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

About Fortune Minerals

Fortune is a Canadian development stage mining company focused on advancing the vertically integrated NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories and a related refinery the Company plans to construct in Saskatchewan. Fortune also owns the Sue-Dianne copper-silver-gold deposit located 25 km north of NICO and a potential future source of incremental mill feed to extend the life of the NICO mill. The Company also maintains the right to repurchase the Arctos anthracite coal deposits in northwest British Columbia that were recently purchased by a provincial Crown corporation.

Follow Fortune Minerals:

Click here to subscribe to Fortune's email list.

Click here to follow Fortune on LinkedIn.

This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. This forward-looking information includes statements with respect to, among other things, the Company's plans to develop NICO (including the Company's plans to secure off-take agreements and project financing to start construction), the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates and the timing and amount of estimated future production. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management as well as certain assumptions at the date the information is given (including, in respect of the forward-looking information contained in this press release, assumptions regarding the Company's ability to arrange the necessary financing to continue operations and develop the NICO project, present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of gold, cobalt and other by-product metals, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals). However, such forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. These factors include the risks that the Company may not be able to finance and develop NICO on favourable terms or at all, the market for rechargeable batteries and the use of stationary storage cells may not grow to the extent anticipated and discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mining operational and development risks, market risks and regulatory risks. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information because it is possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forms of forward-looking information will not be achieved by the Company. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise it to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE Fortune Minerals Ltd.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / TheNewswire / August 16, 2016 - Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc. (TSXV: NVM; Frankfurt-M1V; OTC Pink Sheets: MLYFF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of Patrick Murphy to the Financial Advisory Committee and Frank Halliday to the Technical Advisory Committee.

Patrick Murphy is currently President and CEO of Capital Resources Financial Ltd. located in New York State, assisting in the management of a closed end investment group with current assets in excess of $4 billion. He was also elected President Emeritus, of the AFL/ClO lUJH International Labor Union of the United States and Canada, which for a period of time was President of the AFL/ClO, Local 8, for the state of New York. Mr. Murphy is and was a White House Guest, invited by President George P. Bush and President Bill Clinton and an Honored guest at the historic Israeli/PLO Peace signing in 1993.

His other activities include: School to Work Program, a federal grant committee representing Labour AFL/CIO; the American Cancer Society's Tobacco Control Team responsible for tobacco control legislation; Partner of Private Investment Group Inc., a commercial real estate development group.

Frank Halliday is currently a private consultant located in Surrey, British Columbia with over 18 years of experience specializing in stakeholder/regulatory relations and project permitting at all levels of development for resource projects. Recently employed by Teck Coal Ltd., he had the title of "Social, Environmental and Regulatory Approvals Manager" where he managed environmental baseline data acquisitions, environmental impact assessments, drafting of regulatory applications, and receipt of permits for major mining projects. He also managed expenditures for multi-million dollar yearly environmental and permitting budgets, which included the implementation of consultant scopes of work for project activities with critical regard for cost-saving opportunities, and interacted with regulators for exploration permits, pre-application activities, and legislated regulatory approval processes for major applications such as Environmental Assessments and Mines Act Permits.

One of Mr. Halliday career successes include the permitting of a major molybdenum mine located in British Columbia which the project received both provincial and federal environmental certificates and the BC Mining Permit to construct and operate. Prior to moving to the mining industry, Mr. Halliday was a "Surface Land Manager" for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. managing up to 300 projects annually.

Ed Lee, CEO said, "I consider both gentlemen to be high assets for the company who have the high standards and skills needed in taking a project of this magnitude forward from its financing through to operations."

About Nevada Clean Magnesium, Inc.

Nevada Clean Magnesium is focused on becoming a major U.S. producer and distributor of primary, high grade, low cost magnesium metal extracted from its 100% owned Tami-Mosi property located in North Central Nevada. Based on the Company's NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Report published in September 2011 and amended in July 2014, the Tami-Mosi Project has an inferred resource of 412 million tonnes with an average grade of 12.3% Mg for a contained metal content of 111 billion pounds of magnesium using a 12% cut-off grade contained within a high purity dolomite block. For more information, please visit www.nevadacmi.com.

This press release was prepared under the supervision and review of James Sever, P. Eng., president and COO for Nevada Clean Magnesium. Mr. Sever is a non-independent qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 standards.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect projected results is included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by the Company.

To Reach Nevada Clean Magnesium Please Contact:

Edward Lee, CEO at (604) 210-9862

For additional information please visit our website at http://www.nevadacmi.com or view our profile at http://www.sedar.com.

You may also follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
HENDERSON, Nev., Aug. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AIM Exploration Inc. (OTCQB:AEXE) is excited to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Prina Energy to set up a joint venture company in Dubai, UAE. The joint venture is intended to be set up in the DMCC Free Trade Zone in Dubai, which is recognized as the largest Free Trade Zone in the United Arab Emirates, a marketplace known for thriving commodities. The new joint venture corporation will have the exclusive worldwide marketing rights for all anthracite coal produced through AIM.

The agreement calls for AIM Exploration Inc./AIM S.A. and Prina to each own and control 50%. Mr. Karan Dhaliwhal, President of Prina Energy, will be the CEO of the joint venture company, expected to be known as AIM Exploration, Dubai.

This is a very positive and strategic move for AIM as this will provide strong ties to the world market for anthracite with access to instrumental finance requirements.

Prina Energy is a privately held international trading company and is among Asia's leading international Mineral and Natural resources trading companies. With deep credit facilities, Prina is active over a wide spectrum of global markets and has access to a comprehensive portfolio of world-class commodities. Prina Energy has strong ties with the marketplace in India which is positioned to be the number one emerging market for anthracite coal.

Anthracite is a unique and rare metallurgical coal ideally used for steel manufacturing and metal processing.

Metallurgical coal together with iron ore are the principal raw materials used to make steel and India is concentrating towards major steel production.

The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) of India has stated plans to invest upwards of $6 billion in the next eight years to achieve an iron ore mining capacity of 75 million tonnes per annum. Current capacity is at 48 million tonnes per annum. SAIL (Steel Authority of India) plans to invest US$23.8 billion to increase the steel production to 50 MTPA by 2025 and is currently expanding its capacity from 13 MTPA to 23 MTPA, at an investment of US$ 9.6 billion.

ArcelorMittal, one of the worlds leading steel makers, has agreed to a joint venture with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to set up an automotive steel manufacturing facility in India. In addition, public sector mining giant, NMDC Ltd will set up a Greenfield 3-million tonnes per annum steel mill in Karnataka jointly with the state government at an estimated investment of US$ 2.8 billion.

A Project Monitoring Group (PMG) has been constituted under the Cabinet Secretariat to fast track various clearances/resolution of issues related to investments of US$ 152 million. The unavailability of Anthracite Coal in India creates a huge potential for coal as a fuel for the Indian Steel industry, which is growing at a progressive and steady pace. Huge scope for growth is offered by Indias comparatively low per capita steel consumption and the expected rise in consumption due to increased infrastructure construction and the thriving automobile and railways sectors.

Aim CEO Bob Todhunter states, This the most positive and strategic move to be made by AIM, positioning AIM to move forward to become one of the strongest suppliers of anthracite coal worldwide.

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclosures Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws. Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements, which include management's assessment of future plans and operations and are based on current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "projects," "plans," "targets," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause AIM's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

The Company is not basing its production on a feasibility study of mineral reserves that has been prepared as defined under NI 43-101 that has demonstrated economic and technical viability which increases uncertainty and the specific economic and technical risks of failure associated with the companies production decisions.



Contact:

AIM Exploration Inc.

J.R. (Bob) Todhunter

Director, President & CEO

www.aimexploration.com

info@aimexploration.com

https://twitter.com/aimexploration


David Thompson jokes that the opening of his Long Chim restaurant in coming weeks marks the return of "Sydney's prodigal son".

"The truth is airlines are more like home to me these days," says Thompson amid the buzz and hustle of a departure lounge in Asia, en-route to Australia.

Aom, Chef Annita Potter and Napapak of the soon to be opened restaurant, Long Chim, in Sydney. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

The Sydney chef has spent the past decade-and-a-half opening restaurants from London to Bangkok, where Nahm routinely makes world's best restaurant lists. He has certainly picked prized turf for Long Chim, nestled in Angel Place, in a precinct of restaurants that includes Mercado and China Lane.

Thompson tried to deny he was interested in the site when Good Food broke news of the deal last year, but he says the rise and rise of "Sydney's alleyways" since his move offshore proved irresistible.

Despite his reputation at the upper end of dining at Sydney's Darley Street Thai in the 1990s, Long Chim champions Thai street food.

A sample of the menu at Long Chim, Sydney Photo: Supplied

"I don't have an inner accountant in me, but we've learnt a lot doing it [Long Chim] in Perth after Singapore.

"That understanding of how hard it is with staff and wages. But at the end of the day it's about the food. And while a lot of the menu is international, we have a few tricks up our sleeve for Sydney," he says.

Long Chim Sydney opens August 29. Open evenings only to start with, from 5.30pm to midnight.



Book at longchimsydney.com; walk-ins welcomed too.

10 Martin Place (entry via Angel Place), city.
This 2006 file photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of acquiring a blood meal from a human host. (Photo: James Gathany, AP)

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By The Associated Press

AUSTIN  Texas is no longer requiring pregnant women on Medicaid to get a prescription before receiving free mosquito repellent amid worries over Zika.

State health officials announced Monday they're dropping the need for expecting mothers and women between the ages of 10 and 45 to first call or visit a doctor before receiving up to two cans of repellent a month through October.

More than 90 people in Texas are reported to have been infected with Zika. The virus has been linked to fetal deaths and severe birth defects in the children of women infected during pregnancy.

Health and Human Services Commissioner Charles Smith said Texas is the first state to issue a standing order for mosquito repellent prescriptions. Eligible women on Medicaid can pick up the repellent at their pharmacist.

Officials at all levels have spent months urging residents to wear insect repellent regularly, particularly those who travel to countries where Zika is widespread.

"Insect repellent has a greater potential as a tool, a weapon, against Zika than practically anything else we can do," said Dr. John Hellerstedt, director of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The federal agency overseeing Medicaid issued a bulletin two months ago advising states that they could provide insect repellent through the program, which is funded jointly by the federal government and states. Of the other Gulf Coast states, Florida and Mississippi provide mosquito repellent through Medicaid and Louisiana plans to distribute repellent only if there are local transmissions of Zika in the state.

The state health department expanded its capacity to test for Zika both in people with symptoms and in those who believe they may have been infected previously. The department estimates it can run up to 32 serology tests a week, intended for people who no longer have symptoms.
SHARE Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson discusses another weekend of gun violence iat Chicago Police Department Headquarters on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016 in Chicago, Ill. Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

By Chicago Tribune (Tns)

CHICAGO  More than 50 people were shot over another violent weekend in Chicago, a level of violence that has marked many of the summer weekends this year and has pushed the total number of people shot in the city to more than 2,600.

The number of people shot during all of last year was 2,988.

Between Friday evening and early Monday morning, at least 52 were shot and nine of them were killed, according to police. The weekend before, 49 people were shot, nine of them fatally. And the weekend before that, 52 people were shot, seven of them fatally.

The month of July saw 65 fatal shootings, the most for a July in the city since 2006. Last Monday nine people were shot to death, the deadliest day in Chicago since 2003.

The deadliest period over this past weekend was between Saturday afternoon and early Sunday when five people were killed and at least 19 others were wounded.

Among the deaths was the son of a Chicago police officer. Arshell Dennis III, 19. He was with a 20-year-old man who was wounded outside a house in the 2900 block of West 82nd Street when someone approached and fired shots around 12:05 a.m. Sunday, police said.

Dennis, who was to return to college in New York later Sunday, was shot in the chest. He was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at Little Company of Mary Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Three people were shot to death and at least seven others were wounded on the first night of the weekend, between Friday afternoon and early Saturday.

At least 16 people were shot Sunday into early Monday. One of the victims was a 6-year-old girl who was shot in the arm around 9:10 p.m. outside her home in the 12300 block of South Perry Avenue. She was taken to Roseland Community Hospital in good condition, police said.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters Monday morning that he spent a "good portion" of his weekend grieving with the elder Dennis, who is his friend.

In his nearly 30 years with the Police Department, Johnson said he's seen far too many parents like Dennis whose children won't be coming home.

"Quite frankly, I'm just sick of it," Johnson said at a news conference at police headquarters. "There's no other way to describe it. I'm just sick of it."

Johnson told reporters he and Officer Dennis were patrolmen together in the 1990s in the Gresham District on the South Side, and that the officer is "a good man who was raising a good kid."

"Any shooting victim in Chicago is unacceptable," said Johnson. "But this one hits home."

As he has many times, Johnson called for stricter prison sentences for repeat illegal gun offenders. Efforts over the years in Springfield to impose mandatory minimum sentences for people caught with an illegal gun have been stalled by lawmakers who felt such guidelines would disproportionately affect African-Americans and other minorities.

Without revealing specifics, Johnson said a new bill in the works in Springfield would enable judges to impose more sentences on the higher end of the range for felons convicted more than once of carrying a gun illegally.

It's unclear, however, if plea agreements would be covered.

"Any leader of the city of Chicago that thinks what we're seeing out on the streets is OK, shouldn't be a leader," Johnson said, flanked by other command staff. "Go in those neighborhoods and live there and tell me how you feel after a week.

"People are afraid of casting a large net over minority communities with holding people accountable. That's not what we're trying to do," he said. "These guys are doing this two, three, four, five times. They're clearly telling us they don't want to play by our rules."

Johnson noted that one of the nine homicide victims this past weekend had recently gotten six years' probation for carrying an illegal gun.

"They absolutely don't care about the rules of society," Johnson said. "We need our judicial partners and our legislators to help us hold them accountable.

"They couldn't care less if it's an 80-year-old grandmother, a 5-year-old child out there," Johnson said. "If they're looking for someone to shoot, they couldn't care less who's out there. And that's our fault because we have constantly shown them we are not going to hold them accountable.

"Little kids getting shot out there is just stupid," he told reporters.
SHARE Manuel Galindo

By Staff Report

The Texas Department of Public Safety is seeking the public's help in solving the 1992 homicide of Manuel Galindo, 19, in Midland.

On Jan. 19, 1992, Galindo was at home with friends when he received a call from his brother asking for a ride, according to a DPS news release. Galindo and his friends went to the Dog House Lounge (now closed) to pick up the brother. While Galindo was at the bar, a fight broke out between a group of men and spilled over into the parking lot of a nearby Al's Grocery Store. Galindo was stabbed in the chest several times and later died at a Midland hospital. The assailant is still unknown.

Anyone with information about this unsolved case can submit a tip through the Texas Rangers' Unsolved Homicides website or call the Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-3243.

As part of a DPS public awareness program, one unsolved case is featured each month by the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigation Team in an effort to generate new investigative leads and bring added attention to unresolved or "cold cases" across the state.

The DPS created the Texas Rangers' Unsolved Homicides website aimed at renewing public interest in unsolved cases. The site has more than 75 cases.

For more information, visit the Texas Rangers' Cold Case website at dps.texas.gov/TexasRangers/UnsolvedHomicides/index.htm.
SHARE Associated Press Mourners hold signs protesting the killings of Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, during funeral services for both men, Monday Aug. 15, 2016, in New York. Both were shot in the head as they left the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens as they left afternoon prayers Saturday. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

By Jake Pearson And Ezra Kaplan, Associated Press

NEW YORK  Police looking for the gunman who shot an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque zeroed in on a man who hit a bicyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after the brazen daytime double slaying, a top police official said Monday.

"We strongly believe this is the individual," the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce, said of the 36-year-old man arrested in the hit-and-run accident Saturday afternoon.

The man, who police have not identified, can be seen on video surveillance fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer just after Imam Maulama Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot, Boyce said.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a bicyclist about three miles away in Brooklyn, he said.

The man was arrested late Sunday night outside a Brooklyn apartment after intentionally ramming his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Boyce said. He hasn't been charged in the shootings. Detectives were searching his home and the car for evidence or a weapon, Boyce said.

The arrest was announced just hours after about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, in an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted, "Justice!" periodically throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot a few blocks away where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you."

Authorities did not release a motive for the killings, though Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is "certainly on the table." He identified the person in custody as being Hispanic.

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

The gunman is a dark-haired, bearded man wearing glasses, according to a police sketch artist's depiction. Boyce said he may have worked in a Brooklyn warehouse but wouldn't comment any further on his background, mental state or whether he had invoked his right to counsel.
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The headlines the morning of July 26 were grim, as they are too often these days.

The Rev. Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old Roman Catholic priest, was murdered at the altar while saying Mass in a church in Rouen, France.

His assailants, two teenage males armed with knives, reportedly declared their allegiance to the Islamic State before slaughtering him beneath the crucifix.

As he lay dying, he is said to have whispered, "Go away, Satan," to the teens, whose actions were motivated by hatred.

News of Hamel's martyrdom quickly reached more than a million pilgrims gathered in Krakow, Poland, to commemorate World Youth Day, a massive celebration of Catholic youths for the prayer, worship and observance of the faith.

The attack in France  a blatant assault on the faith the pilgrims had come to share and proclaim  left many of them scared and feeling vulnerable.

"Personally, I was terrified something would happen," said Maggie Jensen, a high school senior who attended the weeklong pilgrimage in Poland. "Lots of people shared these fears." And Hamel's death at the hands of terrorists confirmed the worst.

At the opening Mass for World Youth Day that evening, the celebrants were not reluctant to discuss the terrible event. "(The priests) talked about what we would have done" if confronted with a similar test, Jensen said.

Was their faith in God and their church strong enough not to crumble in the face of a terrible and certain death? Would they be willing to die for what they believe?

"A lot of people realized they were willing to," said Jensen, who counts herself among those who would follow Hamel's example.

"It was one of those sufferings where we were sharing the suffering and struggle with others. It helped everyone unite and realize we can't fear the terrorists; we just have to have faith."

It was fitting that the theme for World Youth Day was "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

The patron saints of this year's event were Pope John Paul II and Sister Faustina, who received God's revelations of divine mercy in the last four years of her life.

And it was this profound belief in forgiveness and love, so desperately needed during times of darkness and trial, that motivated those gathered in Krakow  particularly those who had overcome great obstacles to attend.

Jensen recalled her encounters with pilgrims from Iraq and Lebanon, where being Catholic presents unique challenges, including the constant fear of martyrdom.

She encountered a woman from Lebanon on an elevator. "She didn't speak a lot of English but asked me to pray for her and her country  that was the only request she could make."

Another young woman who offered her testimony was born in a refugee camp where she lived for years before becoming a U.S. citizen.

"It was beautiful to communicate and share the importance of prayer," Jensen said. "You see everyone's struggles and realize you're all in this together."

Indeed. many Christians the world over, even if they do not face open persecution as most do in communist or Islamic countries, are confronted with the insidious lure of secular humanism.

Pope Francis addressed such "worldly opposition" in his homily on Thursday.

"People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity," he said, "one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centered or small-minded."

At Hamel's funeral Mass, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun interpreted the priest's dying words as an expression of his "faith in man, created good, but grasped by the devil."

In our modern world, your faith may be tested by those who doubt you, and it may be tested by those who hate you.

For Jensen, the message of World Youth Day is that for Catholics, the response should be the same. "We are much stronger when we're merciful," she said.

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Contact her at cmallen@star-telegram.com.
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The following editorial appeared in Friday's Chicago Tribune:

Libertarianism has long been treated as a fringe ideology obsessed with the gold standard, legalization of hard drugs and "Atlas Shrugged." Ron Paul, who ran for president in the 2012 GOP primaries, was the archetype, calling for an end to Social Security and the Federal Reserve. But when Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson extols fiscal responsibility and social tolerance, he brings to mind a different political tradition: that of moderate Republicans.

There was a time, not so long ago, when they dominated the GOP. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush sprang from this wing of the party. So, arguably, did George W. Bush, along with nominees such as Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

But the party has moved steadily to the right recently. Rank-and-file GOP voters grew significantly more conservative in the first decade of this century. It's a measure of how conservative House Republicans have become that Speaker Paul Ryan, once a tea party hero, is now viewed with distrust by many in his caucus.

That growing tilt leaves an electoral opening for a candidate who thinks the government shouldn't meddle too much in either markets or morals. Hillary Clinton isn't interested in occupying it. So Johnson, who is receiving 9 percent support in the RealClearPolitics average of four-way polls that include him and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, has that niche to himself.

In Kansas, long solidly Republican, moderates are rebounding, thanks to the unpopularity of conservative Gov. Sam Brownback. In the Aug. 2 legislative primary, moderates defeated incumbent Brownback allies in more than a dozen races. U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a tea party stalwart, also got evicted.

Since 2012, the share of Republicans who say they are economically and socially conservative has shrunk from 57 percent to 42 percent. But the national party's message hasn't caught up with that trend.

If Trump loses  and particularly if he loses big  moderates may find themselves taken more seriously in Congress and the party. Many Republicans are probably already wondering how much brighter their electoral prospects would be with, say, John Kasich of Ohio atop the ballot in November.

Victories by senators who have clashed with Trump  such as Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Rob Portman of Ohio, as well as Kirk and McCain  would give them more influence on the GOP's direction. A strong showing by Libertarian Johnson would encourage Republicans to adopt at least some of his ideas. And voter frustration with gridlock may aid lawmakers who don't treat compromise as a crime.

Pragmatic, centrist Republicans have largely vanished from the American political scene. But their absence leaves a vacuum that begs to be filled.
It wasn't that long ago that the idea that a governmental jurisdiction or agency should be seen as a "brand," like Coca-Cola or Southwest Airlines, was an unnerving concept to many people in the public sector. In the past few years, however, most have come to embrace the idea, or at least to give it grudging acceptance. But while there are still some holdouts, you won't find many of them among government human-resources managers who face the formidable task of rebuilding public workforces in a post-recession era when vast numbers of baby boomers are heading for the retirement exits.What's particularly daunting about today's public-workforce challenge is that it's not just a matter of filling empty seats. It's about enticing and retaining the talented, dedicated workers governments need now more than ever. That's where branding serves a crucial role. Every organization, public or private or nonprofit, has what's known as an "employer value proposition." The EVP is a unique set of values and attributes that communicates the organization's image -- for better or worse -- to its target audiences.A crucial ingredient of the EVP is the spoken or unspoken exchanges between employers and employees that define the relationship. In its simplest form, the exchange represents the money paid for performing a job. In its highest, most strategic incarnation, it's the promise employers make to provide pay, benefits, career opportunities and a supportive work environment in exchange for an employee's commitment to bringing the organization's mission, vision and values to life.As a result of changes in the workforce and thus the workplace, the EVP has experienced a dramatic change, particularly among the knowledge-based workers who constitute the bulk of government employment, away from the idea of a lifetime with one employer. Employees today often consider themselves free agents who choose to stay with an employer only so long as they are engaged in challenging and productive work.Organizations that have invested time, effort and energy toward building a strong, positive EVP -- essentially their human-resources brand -- are finding that the benefits are greater than they may have thought, providing them with "a first-pick advantage" over other employers. Among local governments, Gilbert, Ariz. , and San Mateo County, Calif. , are two that exemplify the effective use of a social-marketing approach to communicating their EVPs and attracting a stronger pool of candidates. Both also provide a range of employee learning and development activities to retain their top talent.By continually attracting the most promising people and developing them, organizations like these not only become higher-performing but also enhance their ability to attract and retain the best -- a self-renewal cycle for expanding the capacity to tackle tougher and more demanding challenges.So how do you strengthen your jurisdiction's or agency's employer brand, your EVP? Here are some critical steps, or touchstones:It's important to think like a marketer, understanding that hiring is not simply about generating a large number of applicants but should be a targeted approach aimed at attracting high-caliber candidates.These days, it's hard to overestimate the value of social media in the hiring process. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have emerged as more important than agency hiring websites and seem poised to overtake them as the primary focus for prospective job-seekers. Nevertheless, your hiring website, like Gilbert's and San Mateo County's, still should offer job-seekers a comprehensive, enticing view of your organization and culture.The same goes for job announcements. The world is crawling with smart, skilled, zealous people who won't be remotely interested in your organization if what you provide is the kind of utterly dull description that's still far too common for government. Use more of a social-marketing approach that offers a powerful message: Join our organization and be a part of something truly outstanding.As in other aspects of life, first impressions are critical. Job candidates from all walks of life want ease and convenience when applying for positions. Public-sector employers typically require a series of written exams and performance tests as part of their hiring process, but keeping the interest of talented candidates means streamlining and simplifying this too-cumbersome process.Progressive organizations, public and private, realize that in today's workplace job candidates are seeking an employer who will invest in learning, training and skills development to elevate employee performance and improve organizational effectiveness. More than anything, they are looking for a healthy and nurturing workplace/organizational culture. That is the essence of the kind of employer brand that can go a long way toward helping governments develop the workforces that will prepare them for the challenges ahead.
Revenues

Teacher Salaries

Employee Benefits

Cost of Living

Demographics

Class Sizes

Administrative Costs

State and Local Policy

Education Spending by State

Public school spending varies dramatically from one part of the country to another. New York is the biggest spender, doling out more than $20,000 per student each year, counting teacher salaries, support services and all the other costs associated with public schools. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Idaho and Utah spend only about one-third as much. Financial figures published by the U.S. Census Bureau depict wide variation in spending across states, regions and individual districts. Several factors help to explain the vast differences in spending. Here are a few key drivers:The amount school districts spend is more a function of the money available than the actual costs of educating students, says Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics lab at Georgetown University. School districts will always spend just about all the money theyre allocated. Schools in areas more reliant on state funding than on local property taxes generally have fewer total dollars available to them, but theres more equity across their districts. The largest spending spikes are found in districts serving regions with high-property values, Roza said.Wage and salary expenses are one area where theres a particularly large variation across states. New York spends the most -- $8,712 per student -- followed by Connecticut and New Jersey. By comparison, states with fewer teachers and lower wages report spending as little as $3,000 per student in some cases. The influence of teachers unions may push wages higher in some states, as do favorable labor market conditions. Districts employing more experienced teachers or those with advanced degrees spend significantly more on salaries.Teacher pensions, health insurance, tuition reimbursement and other employee benefits add up to a sizable portion of school spending. Employee benefits for teachers account for about $1,700 in spending per pupil nationally and are as high as $4,127 per student in Alaska and $4,660 in New York. Of course, states with more generous retirement benefits tend to spend more. Pension expenditures, however, dont fully register in states that underfund their retirement systems.As one would expect, the top overall spenders tend to be states with a higher cost of living. The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculates regional price parities, which measure prices of goods and services across states. This data suggests that costs are highest in the District of Columbia, Hawaii and New York. But not all states spending more on schools have higher overall living costs. Rhode Island and Wyoming have regional price parities below the national average, but still rank among the top 10 highest-spending states.Some states just have a lot more young residents. Consider Utah, where more than 1 in 5 residents is a public school student. With so many students, the state simply cant afford to let average costs rise to the same level as in other states, says Mark Peterson of the state Board of Education. Areas with more rural districts tend to incur greater school transportation costs.Class size is another important factor in school district spending. The most recent federal data pegged average class size in Utahs primary schools at nearly 28 students per nondepartmentalized class. By comparison, Maine, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming reported averages of fewer than 18 students per class. Comparable dissimilarities are found among high schools. Nevadas departmentalized high school classes have an average of 31 students -- the largest size nationally and nearly twice as many as in some other states.While spending on school and executive administration accounts for a small slice of total spending (about 7 percent nationally), considerable variation exists across states. The District of Columbia and 13 states spend more than $1,000 per student on administrative costs. On the opposite end, Utah spends $463 and Arizona spends $450 per student. Part of this has to do with the fact that school districts are much more fragmented in the high-spending states, notably Illinois and New Jersey. As a percentage of total current spending, Massachusetts and New York spend the least on administration, while New Mexico spends the highest portion of its expenditures on administrative costs.A litany of policies that affect funding of school systems further drive up costs. States employ varying funding formulas and maintain mandates around special education or other requirements that end up affecting how much districts spend. States such as Arizona have seen extensive criticism of lawmakers for cuts to state school aid.
After years of having the highest teen pregnancy rate in Kansas, Wyandotte County -- home of Kansas City -- got some relief. In 2010, the Obama administration started offering grants to help schools back away from abstinence-only and integrate evidence-based lessons into their sex education.That year, many schools in Kansas stopped teaching abstinence-only, and the state's teen pregnancy rate declined 9 percentage points . That's because the federal Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) is proven to delay sexual activity, increase use of birth control and reduce teen pregnancy. It was created as an alternative to Title V, which funds strictly abstinence-only teaching.But more and more states are refusing PREP grants, while continuing to accept Title V funding. It's a trend that worries health officials.If a 16-year-old gets pregnant, she is more likely to not finish school, and that sets off a bad domino effect for the rest of her life," said Greg Stephenson, personal health services manager at the Wyandotte County Public Health Department. "The impact of these programs goes way beyond sexual health."Less than 50 percent of the nation's high schools meet the CDCs standards for comprehensive sex education, and this recent trend may worsen the problem. In 2015, Florida, Indiana, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia all opted out of PREP grants. They're joined this year by Kansas and South Dakota.With the exception of South Dakota, the other states that declined PREP funds also accepted Title V funds this year and last year. Most states are awarded a mix of both, with 35 receiving Title V funds and 44, plus the District of Columbia, receiving PREP grants.Not all of these PREP-funded programs were even comprehensive, sometimes they just covered the bare basics -- but that is still essential, said Chitra Panjabi, president of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.States accept the money and then award it to the local health departments and school districts of their choosing. When Stephenson got an email that the state wouldn't be taking the grants this year, he was shocked because PREP seemed to satisfy everyone.The local government was pushing it, the school board wanted it, parents liked it, we got a green light from everyone. It was amazing."The reason Kansas, and many of the other states, don't want the funds anymore isn't totally clear.Cassie Sparks, public information officer at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the state decided to forgo the funds so localities can apply for them on their own. But the state didn't apply that some logic when they accepted $600,000 in abstinence-only Title V grants this year. In addition, Stephenson is unsure whether local agencies and districts can even apply for the funds.The state's Republican governor, Sam Brownback, falls at the extreme end of conservativism when it comes to reproductive issues. He signed a bill in 2012 that allows pharmacists to refuse filling a prescription if they think it will be used to induce an abortion. He followed that up in 2013 with a set a bills that include blocking tax breaks for abortion providers and defining life as beginning "at fertilization."When states don't take PREP funding, Panjabi said its not uncommon for private groups to fund a sex ed program that pushes their own political agenda. She points to an example in Teton County, Wyo., which wasn't granted any PREP funding this year.An anti-abortion group foot the bill to get abstinence-only speaker Shelly Donahue to talk to students at a public school. Donahue is known for her unorthodox speeches on sex, like referring to people who have sex outside of marriage as chewed pieces of gum. If Teton County had been awarded PREP grants, there's no way hiring Donahue would have been an option, said Panjabi. (Donahue, by the way, never spoke because of pushback from parents.)As for whats next for Stephenson and Wyandotte Countys sex education curriculum, its all up in the air. Once the PREP funding dries up at the end of this coming school year, there's no money -- or seemingly enthusiasm -- to keep evidence-based sex ed going there."We are going to try to energize teachers to take it up on their own," said Stephenson, "but they dont seem to want to."
Democrats and voting rights advocates cried foul Monday over Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's last-minute veto of a bill that would make voter registration automatic in time for the 2018 election, vowing to push for an override when lawmakers return to the Capitol in late November.Rauner, who has long said he supports expanding access to the polls, cited concerns about potential voting fraud and conflicts with federal law. He vetoed the bill on the final day to act and made his announcement Friday afternoon, a time politicians typically dump controversial news as the public's attention is focused on the weekend.On Monday morning, Democratic state lawmakers and Cook County Clerk David Orr attempted to keep the story alive, casting the veto as a step backward for voting rights in Illinois and suggesting that Rauner was acting to protect his own political agenda."No offense to the governor, but I don't buy it," Orr said of Rauner's assertion that a bill that passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support was flawed and in need of changes to comply with federal law. "Experts, everybody talked about this ... this had all been a big discussion. The top people in both parties discussed these things."I can find no reasonable understanding of why this would be done unless you want to get into politics," Orr said.The bill would have allowed state agencies to begin automatically registering new voters as early as January 2018, with people having the opportunity to opt out. Additionally, it would have allowed for an immediate update of the registration info of an estimated 700,000 existing voters ahead of the presidential election this fall, Orr said.Both provisions could help expand voting access to college students, said state Rep. Carol Ammons, a Democrat who complained that students in her Urbana district have experienced two- and three-hour waits to complete the registration process.Advocates who were negotiating with the Rauner administration on potential changes to the bill said talks broke down last week when Rauner's team insisted on pushing the start date to January 2019 and giving people a more immediate way to opt out. Rauner, who has said he'll seek a second term, would be on the ballot in November 2018.Advocates also noted that the bill was negotiated during the spring session and had sat on Rauner's desk for two months."At any time, the governor could have raised his concerns with (the bill)," said Kathleen Yang-Clayton, deputy director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, one of the groups that worked on the bill. "But instead, he waited until the eleventh hour and vetoed a good bill."Ammons said the veto was "in line with" a "concerted effort to roll back the clock," on expanding voting rights. Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, accused the governor of hitting "the pause button to progress.""Democracy can't wait," Collins said. "That's why we call on the governor today to work with us to move our state forward and not backward."The legislation was approved on the final day of the spring session in May and had overwhelming support in both chambers -- enough to override Rauner if the vote totals were to hold in November. The governor, however, has had some success thwarting override attempts in the House, where Democrats have 71 members, the minimum needed for a successful override.Rauner, meanwhile, has insisted that his reasons for vetoing the bill were rooted in concerns that it could allow for voting fraud and run afoul of federal election law. During an appearance Sunday at the Illinois State Fair, Rauner said he wants to work with lawmakers to "clean up the bill.""I support the intention of the bill," Rauner said. "Unfortunately, the language, we believe, I believe when I read it, violates federal election law and does inadvertently, I think, create an opportunity for potential voter fraud and illegal voting. And obviously none of us want that."
After two nights of violent unrest in which 11 law enforcement officers were injured and a man suffered a life-threatening gunshot injury, Milwaukee braced Monday for a 10 p.m. curfew for teens.As darkness fell, politicians, preachers, police officers and citizens awaited to see if the peace would hold in the Sherman Park neighborhood, the scene of fires and skirmishes after Saturday's shooting death of an armed suspect by a Milwaukee police officer."I'm very conflicted in my emotions from anger to hurt to empathy to sadness," said Jamila Riley, who participated with scores of others in a march organized by pastors from the nearby Parklawn Assembly Church of God."While I don't necessarily agree with what's taking place, I understand it," Riley said.Meanwhile, District 7 Police Station closed Monday afternoon because of unspecified threats, according to a police spokesman who would not say how many hours the station was closed. At 8 p.m. Monday, the parking lot adjacent to the station was taped off but the station was back open for business.Milwaukee officials announced that Sherman Park would be closed at night and that teens throughout the city were subject to a 10 p.m. curfew."We've got a lot of young people involved," said Mayor Tom Barrett. "I want every parent, every guardian to know that there is a curfew that will be more strictly enforced tonight for teenagers. So parents, your teenagers better be home or a place off the streets."Sherman Park was closed from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. The nighttime closure, ordered by Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., will continue until further notice."I'm calling on every resident of this great city," Barrett said. "Do not do further damage to this great neighborhood."Alderman Khalif J. Rainey, who represents the Sherman Park neighborhood, issued a statement, saying: "I need to be perfectly clear about these two things. While the residents of Sherman Park and Milwaukee's impoverished neighborhoods have just cause for anger and frustration, absolutely nothing justifies the display of violence and incivility we've witnessed in our neighborhood these past two evenings."He called it "foolish" to destroy businesses in a neighborhood where employment opportunities are so few."You can't fix the roof of a burning house," he said."We need to put down the bricks and put away the guns. We need to pick up some brooms and paint brushes and get to work."Gov. Scott Walker traveled to Milwaukee on Monday to meet with 123 Wisconsin National Guard members who were sent to the city at the request of local officials, but have not been deployed to city streets. He also greeted Milwaukee officers at Police District 3 not far from Sherman Park.Walker said the vast majority of Sherman Park residents are law-abiding people who want the best for their neighborhood."If you want to address poverty, if you want to address living conditions, if you want to address housing _ all those things are legitimate issues people have frustrations about. But if you've got neighborhoods where businesses are burned down, where people are afraid to live and work, it's only going to make those problems more difficult," Walker said.Walker also said 26 more Wisconsin State Patrol troopers were shifted to Milwaukee County to allow sheriff's deputies who normally patrol highways to be on call in the Sherman Park area.On Sunday night, seven police officers and four sheriff's deputies were injured as demonstrators, spurred by a police shooting of an armed suspect Saturday night, threw rocks, bricks and bottles. An 18-year-old man was hit by what police believe to have been random gunfire.Fourteen arrests were made, all for disorderly conduct, police said. Three squad cars were damaged, the windows of a store were broken, a car and numerous dumpsters were set on fire.Police Chief Edward Flynn commended officers for not firing a shot on Sunday night, despite more than 30 ShotSpotter activations."They successfully protected the community last night," Flynn said at a news conference, during which he reiterated his belief, based on body camera video evidence, that 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith was armed when he was shot to death by a 24-year-old police officer in a confrontation Saturday afternoon.It will be the Wisconsin Department of Justice that decides when and how that video evidence is released to the public.The agency's Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent review of the shooting, which is required under state law whenever someone is killed by police or dies in official custody.The department, headed by Attorney General Brad Schimel, doesn't release the videos of a shooting or death until the investigation is complete and the district attorney decides whether to issue charges in a death. Copies of the video are then given to the media along with all the other evidence collected, such as witness interviews, 911 tapes and photographs from the scene.Schimel and his agency have been under pressure to move up the release of the video in this case. But spokesman Johnny Koremonos said that wouldn't be possible Monday."In recognition of the violence that has affected Milwaukee residents for the last 48 hours, DOJ is working expeditiously, and within the parameters of the law, to provide the community a transparent view of the events that took place on Aug. 13 in a timely manner. However, we are not prepared to release any of the video evidence at this time," Koremonos said.Barrett urged the state to release the body camera footage."This is a flashpoint," he said.
On Monday, in the morning, at Bulimba State School, Bulimba, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC attended assembly, addressed guests and unveiled a plaque for the Schools World War I Honour Board.

Following, at Government House, the Governor received Mr Dermot Tiernan, Assistant Electoral Commissioner for the return of the Writ for a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for the Electoral District of Toowoomba South.
Description

GIS - 16 August, 2016: The Government of India has reiterated its determination to provide developmental assistance in priority areas to Mauritius. The Government of India has reiterated its determination to provide developmental assistancein priority areas to Mauritius.

This issue was at the fore of discussions on 12 August 2016 during a courtesy call by the High Commissioner Designate of the Republic of India to Mauritius, Mr Abhay Thakur, on the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.

Other matters raised pertained to strengthening of the existing bilateral and friendly ties between the two countries while at the same reinforcing further the trade and economic relations through improved structures and other facilitation.

In a statement the High Commissioner Designate of India, Mr Abhay Thakur, announced the visit of a team from the Indian Trade Ministry to Mauritius in the coming days to discuss trade and investment possibilities between Mauritius and India.

particularly the provision of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card to The issue of providing the best possible travel and visa facilities to people of Indian origin in Mauritius was also raised,particularly the provision of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card to people of Indian origin.
Two of the newest streetcar lines in the U.S. are doing pretty well, according to the numbers.Washington, D.C., which launched a long-time-coming streetcar line in February, and Kansas City, Mo., which launched its own line in May, have both seen higher-than-expected ridership. The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) filed an average weekday ridership of 2,645 in June, some 200 better than in the previous three months. According to WAMU 88.5 , a local National Public Radio station in the district, DDOT Director Leif Dormsjo was expecting something more in the range of 1,500 people per day.Thats not all  the streetcar line recorded an average headway of 14 minutes, basically meaning that each stop gets a streetcar every 14 minutes. Thats about a minute better than Dormsjo was expecting too.Meanwhile, the Kansas City Streetcar Authority (KCSA) is reporting that as of Aug. 6, the new streetcar line has an average daily ridership of 6,822. Thats way ahead of what the authority expected  according to Donna Mandelbaum, communications manager for KCSA, the organization was counting on 2,700 riders per day.In its first three months, the line has carried more than 630,000 riders.Streetcars are undergoing something of a revival in U.S. cities , with metro areas ranging from Atlanta to Tucson, Ariz. , setting up new projects in recent years, many of them for the first time in decades. Fashioned somewhat like light rail trains, streetcars run more slowly and make more stops. Functionally, they help people get around smaller areas, and planning conversations surrounding them tend to emphasize economic development.Both projects are in a stage of development. In D.C., WAMU reported that DDOT will decide in the coming months whether to start charging passengers a fare, whether to start running more cars and whether to start running every day instead of taking Sundays off. Eventually the department wants to set up a system 37 miles long serving all eight of the districts wards.The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is in the midst of developing a regional transit plan that will involve an expansion of the streetcar system to the greater area of the city, according to its website.
(TNS)  RAWLINS, Wyo.  Not long after it became clear that the robust winds that blow down from the Rocky Mountains and across the sea of sagebrush here could produce plenty of profit in a world that wants more renewable energy, some of the more expansive minds in the Wyoming Legislature began entertaining a lofty question:Who owns all of that wind?They concluded, quickly and conveniently, that Wyoming did.Then, with great efficiency for a conservative state not traditionally tilted toward burdening the energy industry, they did something no other state has done, before or since: They taxed it.In the four years since Wyoming began taxing power generated by wind turbines, it has collected a little less than $15 million in revenue.No, that is not much money in a resource state rocked by the simultaneous decline in the prices of coal, oil and natural gas, a state trying to close a budget gap that could reach $500 million.But now, as one of the worlds largest wind farms is about to begin construction here on a project aimed at providing clean electricity to nearly a million homes in California and the Southwest  potentially transforming this fossil fuel state into a major player in renewables  some powerful state lawmakers are looking to raise those taxes.And some in the wind industry, which has long benefited from incentives and subsidies, say they are worried. The company that has spent nine years trying to build the wind project says higher taxes could further delay or even halt the plan.Just about every legislator weve met with asks us, You tell us how much we can tax you before we put you out of business, said Bill Miller, chief executive of the Power Co. of Wyoming, which is planning the wind farm. I just shake my head and say, Zero.He said the state was at risk of taxing this project out of existence.Miller and others note that other states are offering incentives, and that new technology is helping states with even less wind glean more electricity from it. Wyoming, they say, is in no position to impose new taxes that could make it less competitive.In their view, the tax increase is more about politics  Wyoming lashing out at clean energy as payback for federal policy aimed at scaling back the coal industry on which the state has always relied.Supporters of the tax increase say that the company is posturing  that Wyomings abundant winds are the renewable equivalent of its high-quality Powder River Basin coal. They point to studies showing that Wyoming eventually could provide half of the wind power in the nation, but they also emphasize that it likely will not provide anywhere near the jobs and other benefits fossil fuels have. Fully built out, the project called the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre would create fewer than 150 jobs.They also say Wyoming doesnt necessarily need clean energy, much less the turbines that harness it. Giant towers would line the horizon for decades to come, altering the states wide-open spaces more fundamentally than drilling rigs or even vast surface coal mines.The benefits of wind are disproportionately on the West Coast, and the costs of wind are disproportionately in Wyoming  and I mean the social costs, said Cale Case, a state senator and economist who serves on the Legislatures revenue committee. This tiny reflection of the impacts back here, I think its just kind of a fair trade.California is indeed the primary market for the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project, Miller said. California, which does not provide state tax incentives for wind but also does not tax wind generation, has committed to producing half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with the bulk of that expected to come from wind and solar power. Last year, turbines on large wind facilities provided 6 percent of the states gross system power, according to the California Energy Commission.The Wyoming project includes a major transmission line that would be built specifically to transport its energy to California and the Southwest. Yet Miller said his company does not have a power purchase agreement in place with California or other locations, in part because of the uncertainty created by the potential tax increase.What a new tax might look like is unclear. The current code requires wind farms to pay $1 per megawatt-hour produced. That has brought in about $4 million in annual revenue in the last few years. If the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project is built to its 3,000-megawatt capacity, revenue could triple even under the existing tax.In May, the joint interim revenue committee asked legislative staff to draft two bills for them to consider at their meeting next month. One would raise the production tax to an unspecified level. The other would try to get wind companies to pass on the savings they receive from federal subsidies.The latter idea is especially frustrating to supporters of the project, but Miller may have helped inspire it earlier this year when he said publicly that Chokecherry and Sierra Madre did not need the federal tax credit to be competitive. In an interview this week, Miller said he made that claim based on the presumption that the tax scheme in Wyoming would not change.We thought we had a fixed set of rules, he said.In addition to his work as CEO of the Power Co. of Wyoming, Miller also heads Transwest, which would build the new transmission line. Both are subsidiaries of the Anschutz Corp., which long has been involved in fossil fuels and owns Staples Center in Los Angeles. It is led by Philip Anschutz, a major donor to Republican candidates and conservative causes.Miller and his colleagues have begun an assertive effort to sway local governments and the states business community against a higher tax. They have drafted reports showing how much tax revenue their project will generate  nearly $1 billion over 20 years under current law. Several groups have lined up behind them.Ray Peterson, a contractor who hopes his rig company will get work with the new wind project, wrote to the revenue committee this month to oppose any move to raise taxes further.We expected the Obama Administration to wage war on coal and oil as they promised, he wrote. What is most alarming, and completely unexpected, is realizing Wyoming state officials are willing to threaten killing the creation of new business, much needed jobs, a generous amount of tax revenue and diversification of our states energy dependent economy to wage war on renewable energy sources.Miller has met with lawmakers and Gov. Matt Mead, who has not taken a position on the proposal.I asked the governor if he would veto this; he would not answer me, Miller said.In an interview, the Republican governor said state law prevents him from threatening vetoes, but he suggested he was wary of raising taxes on wind.Im not where the revenue committee is now, but I do respect that the revenue committee is trying to find revenue and looking at things, Mead said.He noted more than once that Anschutz expected to invest as much as $8 billion in the project, including the wind farm and transmission line, though not all of it would be spent in Wyoming.Thats going to put a lot of contractors to work, and its certainly going to help the local communities and the state, Mead said. We certainly agree that every industry should pay its fair taxes, but Wyoming, now and historically, has prided itself on being very business-friendly, including fewer regulations and low taxes.He added, speaking of Anschutz, For them to get their power purchasing agreements with states like California, for example, there has to be predictability and certainty of what taxes have to be paid. So I think we as a state need to be very thoughtful and cautious on this approach on new taxes.No major wind projects have been constructed since the tax took effect in 2012.Robert Godby, the director for the Center for Energy, Economics and Public Policy at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, outlined several possible explanations for the stall, including a lack of transmission capacity to get the power to market, but he said it was hard not to conclude that the uncertainty created by the tax has played a role.Godby said the real issue Wyoming faces is much broader than how much to tax the wind. For too long, he said, the state has relied too heavily on revenue from fossil fuels. It needs to diversify and, even more daunting, to reconsider its tax code. The state has no income tax and still allows some industries to avoid sales tax.Here in Rawlins, the seat of Carbon County, a name that now seems plenty ironic, local leaders support the wind project, but not the idea of taxing it further.Wyoming is a boom-and-bust state, but its not really because of energy prices, said Sid Fox, the county planning director. Its because of our tax policy. If the state can figure that out, that might be the shining light out of this.
101 races. It took that long for Ducati to uncork the bubbly that was in danger of turning to vinegar. Iannone did the job, the perfect maniac for once, alert and relentless as he should be. Dovizioso completed the double, with a certain level of regret for not having been the man to get it done.



A great team result, in which everyone played a part, from his eminence DallIgna right down to the last of the employees. They showed exactly how it's done.



Marquez meanwhile closed in fifth, which in a different situation would have led to talk of a crisis, dark tunnels and an imminent apocalypse but, seeing how the weekend went for him, was actually a gold nugget. Only fool's gold for the Lorenzo-Rossi pairing, though the Spaniard's shone a little brighter.



THE GOOD  The Stoner curse has been lifted, Iannone and Dovizioso on their Ducatis have reached ground that had been unexplored for quite some time, race-winning ground. The first place trophy might not be as precious as the Holy Grail but it comes close for the Borgo Panigale guys. DallIgna planned the expedition, the two Andreas followed the map's indications, with the Maniac doing so most effectively. Is this true glory? We'll see at Brno, just around the corner.

THE UGLY  Genius and wildness, but the latter often seems to win out over the former. Romano Fenati is a good rider, but is also a young man who needs to grow. The red card on Saturday evening was the final straw after a series of upsets. Now the Italian has to take time out to think and build himself back up as a rider and as a person. He can do it.



THE BAD  The word 'safety' is in fashion, but risks becoming an empty term, useful only for clearing one's conscience. The alteration to the last corner was a good thing, but they knew long ago that there would be a race at the Red Bull Ring and yet only attempted to patch up the track at the last minute. There are other sections that still need to be sorted out, which begs the question: who homologated the track? A rhetorical question, unfortunately.



THE DISAPPOINTMENT  Showing all over Dovizioso's face, as he struggled to fully enjoy the team's triumph. It's normal after the difficult times, so much work and an equal amount of sweat. Andrea took the blame for having chosen the wrong tyre, but forgot to acknowledge the part he played in this result. There will be other occasions, patience is the virtue of the strong but this does nothing to change his frustration.



THE CONFIRMATION  Like superheroes in a comic book, Marc Marquez is bullet-proof. A crash, a dislocated shoulder and a tough track for the Honda were not enough for the Spaniard to lose his way (and relative points). Lorenzo made up just 5 points, Valentino 2, Marc managed the situation and was rewarded. They need to come up with something else to thwart the superman from Cervera.



THE MISTAKE  More haste, less speed as the saying goes, and several riders would have done better to consider this as the lights went out. A false start is bad enough, but some went even further. Barbera didn't stop at all (dashboard problem" he said) and received a black flag. And it was almost worse in Aprilia, with crazy, comical displays in pitlane. President Colaninno was far from pleased.



THE SURPRISE  Ducatis played as a cat with a mouse, but we didn't expect the Yamahas to be so close in the race. Lorenzo has found his way again and, when he does, it's no joking matter. Rossi didn't perform when it mattered and was kept off the podium by Jorge.



THE PASS  In Moto2 this time, with that of Morbidelli on Luthi during the last lap, with Franco earning the silver medal, his best result until now. Let's not forget Bastianini though, taking the bronze in Moto3.



THE INTERESTING FACT  The Red Bull Ring is the circuit that has the most names (most of which are unpronounceable) in addition to its current name: Zeltweg, Osterreichring, Spielberg and A1 (that sounds like a motorway). Choose your favourite.



I TOLD YOU SO  The Red Bull Ring reminds me of Austin said Marquez just prior to the GP. Not so much perhaps, considering the results.
Pirelli has hit back at claims it is to blame for the dearth of wet-weather racing in formula one today.

Whilst safety standards in the sport have steadily improved, the other trend of the last decade is that F1 race director Charlie Whiting is increasingly prone to halting track action in the event of rain.

F1 veteran Felipe Massa said that is because of Pirelli's rain tyres.

"The problem we have is the aquaplaning on these tyres," he is quoted by Brazil's UOL.

But Pirelli chief Mario Isola hit back at that sort of claim.

"The rain tyres are designed to run on a wet track," he insisted.

"We have already shown in situations like practice in the US GP, with heavy rain, the tyres work in this type of condition. What we have seen is many races stopped because of visibility," Isola argued.

The other theory is that Whiting and the FIA are simply increasingly reluctant to let drivers take too many risks in wet weather.

"I think we are considering a safety margin that is greater than normal," said Sauber driver Felipe Nasr.

"The best example is the British grand prix, where we, the drivers, felt that we could have gone at least two laps earlier. It's the FIA who decides, but we already expressed our opinion to them about that," he added.

One proposed solution by the FIA is that, in the event of a safety car start, the cars will in future be returned to the grid when the track is safe for a normal standing start.

"Everyone seems to agree with that," admitted Whiting.

Interestingly, Whiting also seemed to side with Massa over the issue of Pirelli's wet tyres.

"We know that the drivers don't like driving on the wet weather tyres," he said. "They don't have such a tread depth and then they start aquaplaning -- these are all the things we have to take into account.

"We know that driving in the wet is not easy, but it never has been and there is no suggestion that we're doing it for any other reason than to try and make sure that the drivers don't aquaplane," Whiting added.

(GMM)
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Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ...

Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ...

Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ...

Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ...

Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ...

Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ...

Joel Osteen  Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ...

Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ...

Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ...

Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ...

Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ...

Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ...

Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ...

Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ...

Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ...

Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ...

Demystifying Pokimane  Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ...

A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ...

Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ...

Alex Aiono Biography  Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ...

Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ...

Princess Love Bio  Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ...

Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ...

Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ...

Safiya Nygaard  Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ...

The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ...

Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ...

Inside Fred Armisens Life  Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ...

Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ...

Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ...

Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ...

Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ...

xChocobars  Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ...

Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ...

Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ...

Matpat (Matthew Patrick)  Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ...

Facts About Ricegum  His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ...

Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti  Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ...

What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ...

David Letterman  Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ...

Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ...

Lester Holt  Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ...

What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ...

The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ...

Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ...

The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ...

Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ...

The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ...

Jeff Dunham  Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ...

Ellen DeGeneres  Net Worth, Wife  Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ...

Revisiting Joan Rivers Death  The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ...

The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ...

Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ...

Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ...

How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ...

Madison Gesiotto Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ...

Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ...

What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ...

Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ...

Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother  Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ...

Carli Bybel Bio  Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ...

Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ...

Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch  a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ...

Norm MacDonald  Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ...

Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ...

Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ...

Samantha Bee  Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ...

What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap  and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ...

Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ...

A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ...

Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ...

Desi Perkins  Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ...

The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ...

Connor Franta  Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ...

Rhett and Link  Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ...

A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ...

What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ...

David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month  Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ...

Merrell Twins Bio  Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ...

Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ...

Ninja  Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ...

What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ...

Emma Chamberlain Biography  Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ...

Anna Akana  Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ...

Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ...

Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ...

Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ...

Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ...

Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ...

The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ...

Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography  Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ...

PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ...

Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman  What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ...

Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ...

LaurDIY  Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ...

Lachlan Ross Power  Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ...

Alfie Deyes  Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ...

Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ...

Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ...

Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ...

Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ...

How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman)  The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ...

Grace Helbig  Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ...

Mark Wiens Bio  Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ...

Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ...

CaptainSparklez Bio  Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ...

Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ...

5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ...

Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ...

Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ...

Jacksepticeye  Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ...

Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ...

Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ...

Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ...

Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ...

Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ...

Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ...

Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ...

Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ...

Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ...

Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ...

Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ...

Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ...

Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ...

5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel  h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ...

Lilypichu Bio  Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ...

KSI  What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother  Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ...

The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ...

The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ...

What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ...

What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ...

Matt Carriker Biography  Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ...

Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ...

Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents  George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ...

Gloria Govan Bio  Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA  after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ...

Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ...

Who Is October Gonzalez  Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ...

Who Is Tony Berlin  Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ...

The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ...

Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ...

Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ...

Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel  Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ...

Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ...

Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband  Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ...

Nadeska Alexis Bio  Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ...

Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ...

A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ...

Kay Adams Biography  Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ...

Ben Shapiros Family  Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ...

QVC Shawn Killinger Bio  Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ...

Liv Lo  Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ...

Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ...

Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ...

Who Is Jessica Gadsden  Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ...

Who Is Collins Tuohy  Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ...

Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ...

Marty Lagina Bio  Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ...

Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ...

Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ...

Natasha Bertrand Biography  Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ...

What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ...

Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner  Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ...

Nikki Mudarris  Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ...

5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ...

Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ...

Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ...

Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ...

Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ...

Tati Westbrook Bio  Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ...

Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ...

Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ...

Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ...

The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ...

Lisa Joyners Biography  Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ...

Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ...

Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ...

Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ...

What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ...

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Neil deGrasse Tyson  Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ...

Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ...

Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ...

Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ...

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Jaclyn Glenn Biography  Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ...

Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ...

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Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri  an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ...

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The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ...

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Whenever historic homes get flooded, building contractors often feel compelled by government regulations to rip out the water-logged wood flooring, tear down the old plaster walls and install new, flood-resistant materials. Its a hurried approach likely to occur across southwest Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian. But Virginia restorers Paige Pollard and Kerry Shackelford say they can prove that historic building materials can withstand repeated flooding. The two are part of an emerging movement that aims to prove the resilience of older homes as more fall under the threat of rising seas and intensifying storms. They say their research could eventually help convince officials and contractors that historic building materials often need cleaning  not replacing  after a flood.
REIDSVILLE  With a small crowd on Aug. 6, the Reidsville NAACP Youth and College Division hosted a prayer vigil at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

The Stop the Violence Movement and Prayer Vigil served to give room for the community and local police to acknowledge and discuss the black victims of police shootings and the officers killed in civilian shootings.

Tonight were here to work on solutions, to have these discussions so we can try to come up with solutions so we can leave this place unified, so that the killing of innocent people will stop and so that the killing of innocent police officers will stop, said Sam Thorn, member of the division.

Member Joshua Davis sang a portion of Marvin Gayes Whats Going On? and issued a call for unity, and Jaylin Smith offered the evenings scripture.

Speaker Sam Withers called the community to begin working for change within the churches.

We have to look at ourselves in the mirror before we can start pointing the figure out at other people, Withers said. It doesnt matter that black lives matter or all lives matter or blue lives matter. Every life matters. We are children of the most high God. We are supposed to be loving one another.

Addressing misconceptions about police shootings, Thorn presented his research into the shootings of black victims.

Drawing from Washington Post data, Thorn explained that in 2015, 990 people were fatally shot by police. Of those 990, 50 percent were white, 26 percent were black and 15 percent were Hispanic.

That seems a little bit weird considering all of the riots that have been going on and how much news that minorities tend to get, but when we adjust for the census data , we find that black people are 2.5 times more likely to be killed than white people, he said.

To compare those numbers, Thorn cited U.S. Census data, which stated that, as of July 2015, white people made up 64 percent of the population, black people made up 12 percent and Hispanic people made up 16 percent.

According to the Washington Post, 93 of those 990 people shot and killed were confirmed unarmed, meaning they did not have a deadly weapon, were not in a car and did not have a toy gun.

Of those 93 people, 34 were white, 41 were black and 19 were Hispanic.

Thorn went on to explain this issue is part of what prompted the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Ive heard a lot of people say that saying Black Lives Matter is excluding all lives, but this is not what theyre saying, he said. Theyre recognizing the data and the discrepancies that I just told you about. Theyre saying that black people are more likely to be killed than white people and they feel like they havent been represented equally. Theyre seeking equal treatment and they do not condone violence against police at all.

Following the presentation, the Youth and College division provided time for a question and answer session with Reidsville Police Chief Robert Hassell, president of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police.

You see (events) like this going on across our state, across our country, and I think the central focus or goal for each one is to bring the community and the police together to talk about solutions, Hassell said.  If more cities will do the same, I think we will see a turn in whats happening in our country.

Hassell went on to say that creating change begins in the home, but will also require changes to law enforcement.

I do think there are some things in law enforcement that we can do, he said.  If you look at President Obamas 21st Century Policing report, it talks about additional training for law enforcement like de-escalation training and fair and impartial policing. It talks about procedural justice. Those are things that we are bringing to Reidsville, but do you see it all the law enforcement agencies across the state? No, you dont. Why? For so many of them, because they cant afford it.

Closing out the evening, Jeremy Davis, president of the Reidsville Branch Youth and College Division, announced that he intends for the group to host similar events and provide further opportunities for discussion in the future.
Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images for Dior

Pre-trial activity is under way in the criminal case against Harry Brant, 20, who was arrested and charged with drug possession and resisting arrest in central Greenwich in late July.

Brant did not attend his court hearing in Stamford Tuesday morning.
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GREENWICH  New Head of Stanwich Lower School Trudy Davis is bringing an international flair to the private Greenwich schools curriculum and leadership.

You can go to the best university 50 miles away, but you also might want to go to the best university 2,000 miles away, and how do we prepare them for that? she asked.

Born in a small country village in Kent, England, Davis has worked in education on three continents.

Davis started her career working in public schools in England, but after a backpacking trip in her 20s caused her to fall in love with Asia, she quickly accepted a teaching job at an international school in Singapore.

I never intended to stay, she said. I thought it would be three years and then I would go back to England and pursue a more traditional path in education. But it evolved. You have a plan but that doesnt mean thats exactly what is going to happen.

After three years in Singapore, Davis jetted to America where she helped open the British School of Boston in Dedham, Mass. Two years later, she was on the move again, this time settling at the United Nations International School in Manhattan.

Davis worked as a grade one-to-three teacher at the United Nations School, and in 2012 she became assistant principal of the Junior School.

As assistant principal, Davis oversaw more than 500 children in her division; more than 1,570 children attend the United Nations School at two campuses. The schools huge size meant that Davis couldnt have the personal relationships with students that she wanted, she said.

Sometimes a child would come up and hold my hand, and I knew who they were but I could not get hold of their name, she said. I hated that, so I wanted a smaller school.

Feeling it was time to move on, Davis started looking for other positions in fall 2015.

I was very lucky that in the first year that I was looking, Stanwich came up and it fit everything I was looking for, she said. The schools small size, academic rigor, strong school identity and service learning approach particularly appealed to her, she said.

She started at the school Aug. 1.

Davis has spent the past three weeks at Stanwich studying the schools curriculum and meeting with teachers and other administrators. There is a lot she doesnt know, she said, but she feels confident about the job nevertheless.

Ive been preparing for it for years, she said. I come in now and Im in meetings or I am going through the faculty handbook or I am looking at our drop off procedures and you think, Oh, Ive done this before. I know this.

As Head of the Lower School, Davis will supervise the curriculum and operations there and support and evaluate Lower School teachers. She plans on being involved in all aspects of school life, she said.

I will be the first one down the hill, she said, pointing to a popular sledding slope outside the Lower School. If you want the children to do it, you gotta be willing to do it yourself. Im a jump-in-and-get-my-hands-dirty kind of administrator.

Davis, a Westchester County resident, has three children. Her daughter, who is 10 years old, will attend Stanwich in the fall and her two sons, 7 and 5, may join the school the year after.

Davis said she cannot wait for her daughter and the rest of the students to come to Stanwich in September.

Its weird. Weve been in school three weeks and no children, and schools without children are just not right.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; @emiliemunson
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GREENWICH  Ed Koller said he knew Matthew Ilchert could be trouble he had what he called a malicious sense of humor  but he had no idea what was in store when Ilcher allegedly came to his house Monday morning.

Shots were allegedly fired at Kollers residence on Stonehenge Drive South off King Street, where he is staying with his elderly mother, and he was then dragged by a white BMW that Ilchert was driving, according to authorities.

It was the worst experience of my life, Koller recounted in an interview Tuesday. And I always helped him. It was such a bad movie. And I would never in a million years think this would happen to me.

Ilchert, 35, of Rowayton Avenue in Norwalk, is currently being held at the Westchester County Jail after being apprehended by officers from the Westchester County Department of Public Safety. Bail was set at $100,000 on charges of illegal possession of a weapon and driving under the influence of drugs. He was assigned a court appearance at the North Castle Town Court Tuesday evening.

Koller, 36, said hes been an acquaintance of Ilchert through the years. They have a mutual friend. Ilchert recently broke up with his girlfriend, a Stamford resident, and Ilchert was enlisting Kollers support in getting back together, he said. But over the weekend, they had a dispute and a falling out.

Koller said Ilchert has a strong background in mechanics and engineering  as well as a history of arrests involving drugs.

Koller, who has a previous leg injury, said he was watching television around 11 a.m. Monday when he heard gunshots. When he emerged from the residence, he found a large canister of oxygen on the property, and it appeared to him that Ilchert was trying to detonate the oxygen tank with gun shots. Ilchert drove off without hitting the oxygen tank.

He was definitely trying to cause harm, Koller said.

It was a description echoed by Greenwich Police.

Investigators are currently operating under (the) theory that (the) suspects intent was to have the oxygen bottle explode. However, the round did not penetrate the tank nor did the tank explode. At the time of the discharge of the weapon, there were two non-involved persons near the altercation but not injured by the ricocheting round, police said in a press release Tuesday.

Koller said he was still standing in the yard when Ilchert returned shortly afterward  and gunned his car and raced toward Koller, stopping just feet away. Then he accelerated again.

He floors it again, he hits my hip, my ribs. The window was open, so I tried to grab him. I reached in and grabbed the seat belt stop the fing car! He dragged me about 60 feet. We were picking up speed, and I pushed myself off the car. After that I rolled off, five or six times.

Koller said Ilchert was pointing the gun at him while he was driving.

Thank God, it didnt go off. Im still here, said Koller.

Some town DPW workers who were on the block ran to his assistance, and police and an ambulance were immediately called.

Tuesday, Koller was suffering a bad road rash, serious back pain and ringing in his ears. He has an appointment at an MRI clinic. He was still shaken by the experience, and angry. He never wants to see his old friend again, he said.

He went off the deep end, he said. The kid needs professional help.

After driving away onto King Street, Ilchert crossed into Westchester County. Westchester County cops said he lost control of the vehicle and hit a guardrail near the airport, located on the border of Armonk and the town of Rye. Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene.

Greenwich police are looking to extradite Ilchert from New York state in the coming days to book him on charges related to the Stonehenge shooting incident.

Koller said he was sharing his experiences because he did not want the severity of the situation minimized by authorities.

According to Greenwich Police, After consultation with the CT States Attorneys Office at GA-1 Stamford, an arrest warrant application (was) completed and subsequently approved by the Honorable Judge Blawie with a court-set bond of $150,000. Our investigators continue to coordinate with the New York courts regarding the extradition of Ilchert to face our charges.

The charges include criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a gun without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm, third-degree assault, three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree breach of peace and reckless driving.

Robert.Marchant@scni.com
Ulf Andersen / Getty Images

GREENWICH  A book club for people with international tastes will journey with two youths across Nazi-threatened Europe on Tuesday.The regulars of the International Book Club of Byram Shubert Library will gather at 5 p.m. to discuss All the Light We Cannot See by American-born author Anthony Doerr.

To read more, click here or below.
Hangouts on Air was introduced to the internet in 2012 when it introduced a new suite of features for Hangouts. Remember, at this time, where was less than a handful of platforms or apps that offered a live streaming video platform.

There are now more popular streaming services like Periscope and Facebook Live that left Hangouts on Air with declining participation because Hangouts on Air was missing a mobile app to accompany its web-based interface.

Google has outlined exactly how the service will continue to exist by becoming absorbed into YouTube Live. The Q&A feature will unfortunately be discontinued and replaced by Google Slides feature of the same name. Alternatively, Google says you can use various social media platforms to gather questions ahead of the event.

With that tone, it sounds like Google has completely given up on Hangouts on Air without so much as a mobile app . But at the same time, perhaps Google is now focusing its energy on re-branding its messaging platform with its new incoming Allo and Duo messaging platforms which were both announced at Google I/O this year and said to come later this year.

Hangouts was great in the beginning, but the experience over time became stale and inconsistent. Also, strangely, Hangouts brought some new features like video-messaging to the iOS version of the app much earlier than the Android counterpart.

Are you excited about Googles new Allo and Duo messaging platforms? Let us know in the comments!

Source | Via
LG is opening up a Preview program for LG G5 owners who want to experience Android 7.0 Nougat before everyone else. The company making the program available for 2000 beta testers from today, August 16, who'll provide valuable feedback for the update.

Sadly, you have to be on the LG U+ network to be able to participate, which limits the reach of the beta test. In any case, LG says that this will help it speed up the Nougat update for its flagship.

LG joins Sony in the race to ship Android 7.0 Nougat faster using a beta tesr program for the Xperia X. Comparably, Sony is enabling users from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, or the Netherlands to join in.

Source | Via
A Samsung phone packing in a mammoth 5,000mAh battery is set to be launched in India sometime next month, according to a new report. The phone in question is likely to be an A series pro device," the report notes.

A Samsung A series Pro device with 5,000mAh battery - does that ring a bell? Yes, the handset could very well be the Galaxy A9 Pro (2016), which has already made its international debut - it was first launched in China back in March this year.
Samsung hasn't yet officially started accepting Galaxy Note7 pre-orders in the UK, but you can now pre-order a unit through third-party retailers in the country. Specifically, Carphone Warehouse currently has the device up for pre-order on its website.

Those pre-ordering the Samsung Galaxy Note7 before August 30 will also get the new Gear VR headset (2016) for free. In addition, the retailer is reportedly also guaranteeing a September 2 delivery, which is also the device's official launch day in Europe.

For more information, including the various available plans for the device, head to the Source 2 link below.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Via




Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





Jovenel and Jude shake hands

Monday at Mass on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption in Cap Haitien, Jovenel Moise (PHTK) and Jude Celestin (LAPEH), the two main presidential candidates have shaken hands.



The Minister of Justice guarantee tranquility to candidates

Camille Junior Edouard, Minister of Justice and Public Security provide the guarantee hat all measures have been taken by his Ministry to enable women, engaged in the electoral race, to campaign peacefully, throughout the national territory. And sexist graffiti or slogans that violate the honor of women will not be tolerated and offenders will be prosecuted, the Minister argued "[...] I issue a formal warning to anyone who thinks commit abuses or intimidation against candidates women in the upcoming elections. The state will crack with the utmost rigor against you !"



Jean Tholbert Alexis made public relations

Jean Tholbert Alexis, the Minister Counsellor of the Consulate General of Haiti in Higuey (Dominican Republic) paid a courtesy visit to the Mayor of Higuey Karina Aristy. He took advantage of this visit to promote Haitian local products and offer Rhum Barbancourt to the Mayor and a painting of a Haitian artist.



The CEP call center work

Richardson Dumel, the Communication Director of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) said the call center that mus toffer voters the opportunity to call or send an SMS for details on their polling stations, is in operation since August 10, 2016.



Diaspora Atlanta, meeting with the HAPAG

The Consul a.i. of the Diplomatic Mission of Atlanta, Faustin Lebon, recently met with members of "Haitian American Pastors of Georgia" (HAPAG) to define new strategies of collaboration and community building. Further meetings are planned with similar other groups of the Haitian community in Atlanta



NOTICE : Recall of the provisions in case of withdrawal of candidature

The Executive Directorate of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) reminds Parties, Political Groupings and Candidates in particular the obligation to any candidate willing to renounce his candidacy, to scrupulously respect prescribed under Article 99 of the Electoral Decree March 2, 2015, which states that "any Candidate or Cartel may withdraw his candidacy by a notarial acta addressed to the CEP, the BED or competent BEC in a period not exceeding 72 hours from the publication of the final list of approved applicants. After this time, no renunciation can be considered by the CEP, the BED or competent BEC.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/08/16 | Source

Tiffany Young of manufactured combo Girls' Generation is under fire for posting a message featuring a Japanese imperial flag on Korea's Liberation Day.

Advertisement

The rising-sun flag is symbolic for many of Japanese atrocities in the first half of the 20th century and banned even in Japan, though Japan's Self-Defense Forces began using a modified form in 1954 featuring eight red sunbeams instead of 16.

Posting it on a day when Korea celebrated its liberation from Japanese rule seems exceptionally daft even for an unlettered pop starlet from America.

Engulfed by a predictable Twitterstorm, Tiffany Young deleted the message and posted a handwritten apology saying she was "ashamed and embarrassed" and promised to "reflect on her action", a stock phrase.

Outraged netizens demanded a deeper bow and more sincerity, which was not forthcoming.

The Korean dance troupe, which makes a lot of money from Japanese fans, also came under fire in 2009 over an album jacket featuring an airplane that resembled the Japanese Zero fighter plane of World War II.

Read this article in Korean

Note : Tiffany Young posted an apology message on Instagram
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
The city of Auburn is getting support from the state for major water infrastructure upgrades.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that the city will receive a $2,040,000 grant for pump station and water treatment plant improvements.

The project, which will cost an estimated $3.4 million, will include upgrading the existing treatment plant and lowering the pump station to improve operations.

The upgrades, Cuomo's office said, will help the city meet existing drinking water standards.

Auburn also received a $627,000 grant and a $418,000 loan for a distribution system improvement project. The project will replace aging water mains on North and York streets.

City officials sought the funding to improve that area's water infrastructure after Nucor Steel reported $300,000 in lost production due to a water main break earlier this year.

Auburn Mayor Michael Quill said it's "wonderful news" that the city has been awarded the state funding.

"Our drinking water is probably one of the most important resources that we have here locally," he said. "Anything we can do to augment our system, keep our system up to par is greatly appreciated."

The loans and grants are among 12 awards given to central New York municipalities to make water infrastructure improvements. Auburn was the lone Cayuga County municipality to receive a chunk of the $14.6 million awarded to central New York.

The funding was initially included in the 2016-17 state budget. State officials set aside $100 million in grants for water infrastructure projects.

"Continuing to invest in and strengthen our infrastructure is critical to the future economic prosperity of New York," Cuomo said in a statement. "These grants will modernize aging infrastructure, ease burdens on local property taxpayers and help build a stronger central New York."
Rail Ridership Wildly Over Estimated



Dear Editor, August 27, 2016

The accuracy of the citys projections for rail ridership drive projections about traffic congestion and operating losses. Those who have concerns about the accuracy of these projections should take note of the following:

There have been only two elevated rail lines built in modern times, Miami Metrorail and Puerto Ricos Tren Urbano .

Miami elevated rail achieved only 15 percent of its projected ridership according to the FTA at: LINK page vii.

Puerto Ricos elevated rail did a little better; they achieved 24 percent of what they projected according to the FTA at: LINK--Table 7.

The City cannot even forecast TheBus ridership correctly. In the various Environmental Impact Statements they keep forecasting 25 percent increases while actual results show a slight decrease. We currently have fewer riders than we had in 1984 despite the increase in population. Check it at: DBEDT Data Book Table 18,25.

Cliff Slater,

Honolulu, Oahu

* * * * *

Two election problems that need to be fixed

Dear Editor, August 15, 2016

Now that the primary election is over, I would like to draw attention to two significant problems with our election procedures that need to be addressed.

First, the voter rolls need to be purged and purged regularly. When my wife and I first registered to vote in Hawaii almost 40 years ago, we were informed that it was important that we voted, because if we did not vote in two consecutive election cycles, our names would be removed from the voter rolls and we would have to reregister if we wished to vote again. If that were state policy 40 years ago, it certainly hasnt been for a long time. I am aware of a couple of individuals who last voted in Hawaii almost 20 years ago, then moved away. They havent voted here since, but their names are still on the rolls.

Consistent with my experience are the statistics regarding the percentage of registered voters who actually vote. Back in the late 70s, Hawaii had one of the highest rates of voter turnout of any state, 75-80% as I remember. Now we have among the lowest, 61% in the 2012 general election. Part of the explanation could be that most of the voters who died or moved away, no longer vote. There are almost 110,000 registered voters in Hawaii County out of an estimated 196,000 residents. If one considers all those who cant legitimately vote here, including those under 18 (22% according to the state-wide estimate), non-citizens and felons in prison (total estimated at about 9%), and part-time residents who may have been counted in the census, as well as the supposedly significant number of residents who have never registered (estimated at 30% nationally), 110,000 could be a bit high.

So why should we care if the rolls arent periodically cleaned up? Having a large number of persons on the rolls who shouldnt be there creates a significant potential for voter fraud. It would be relatively easy to sign these absent folks up for permanent absentee ballots (also a bad idea) and vote for them indefinitely. Has it happened in Hawaii? Who knows. We do know that nationally voting by dead people and voting by people in multiple jurisdictions have been documented. We also know that not infrequently contests are decided by a very narrow margin, where a few fraudulent votes could make a difference. Finally, while there may be no clear evidence of voter fraud occurring here, there is absolutely no good reason not to regularly clean up the voter rolls. In fact, there is federal legislation requiring it (which also hasnt been enforced nationally).

The second issue is the policy of treating the primary election as the final election in non-partisan race if a candidate wins over 50% of the vote. This is a bad policy for at least a couple of reasons. First, substantially more people vote in the general election than in the primary. In 2012, for example, the Hawaii County voter turnout for the primary was a little over 43,000, while nearly 50% more (almost 64,000) voted in the general election. Often the primary contests arent of as much interest, for example, races where the opponent is a total unknown with zero chance of defeating the incumbent.

The primary was intended to be a winnowing process. In most jurisdictions, in non-partisan races, the top two contenders move up to the general election  even if there were only two running. According to the Hawaii County Final Summary Report, of the ten contested races (mayor, prosecutor, and eight council seats), six were won with over 50% of the vote (mayor, prosecutor and four council seats). Some were won by a fairly wide margin; some were fairly close. If another 20,000 voters were allowed to vote in these contests in November, would the results be the same? Perhaps, but well never know.

Secondly, we tend to become more engaged in the political debate as we get closer to November. Most of us pay more attention and become better informed about the candidates during the last couple of months before the general election. Where there is a broad field of candidates, such as our recent mayoral race, narrowing the field to two finalists creates an opportunity to focus our attention, perhaps via debates, on the finalists.

Why do we have a system where, in a two-person race or even in a multi-candidate race, the winner is determined in the primary? It certainly benefits the winner. The sooner the campaign is over the better -- no need for more fundraisers, debates or sign-waving. As the incumbents generally have an advantage at the outset, its understandable that they prefer the outcome to be determined as early as possible. And they get to make the rules. However, it seems clearly bad policy to have officials elected by a smaller number of voters with less information.

So I call upon our government officials to clean up the voter rolls regularly to reduce the risk of voter fraud, and I ask our county council to fix the election rules so that all contests will be decided in the general election by a larger number of voters with more information on which to base their decisions.

Bill Hastings

Kamuela, Hawaii
Shirlene Dela Cruz Ostrov files as a candidate for the special election

News Release from ShirleneOstrov.com August 15, 2016

Shirlene Dela Cruz Ostrov filed as a Republican candidate for Hawaiis Congressional District 1 in the upcoming special election, which will be held on Nov. 8 along with the general election.

Hawaii needs a representative thats 100 percent committed to giving our state a powerful voice in the U.S. House, Ostrov said. And Hawaii deserves an alternative to the entrenched status quo. After many years of serving my nation, I know I can be that alternative and that voice for the people of Hawaii.

Ostrov is a retired Air Force colonel, with more than 23 years of active service. She spent time informing legislators about the consequences of their proposals as the interagency and legislative liaison for the United States Transportation Command, one of the nine unified commands of the Department of Defense. She was also part of the State Departments Special Envoy to Sudan. She is now a small business owner, working as president and CEO of Ares Mobility Solutions, a logistics consulting company.

I have the experience and skill to make a positive difference and represent the people of Hawaii with aloha, something lacking in Washington, D.C. Ostrov said.

Pat Saiki, the only Republican woman from Hawaii to serve in the U.S. House, endorsed Ostrov, describing her as dynamic and refreshingly new to our political scene. She also noted the benefit to Hawaii if the state has a balanced delegation.

With currently 59 more Republicans than Democrats in the U.S. House, Saiki said that Ostrov would have a seat at the table as part of the majority caucus.

The special election is being held to fill the seat that was held by U.S. Rep. Mark Takai, who recently passed away. In a Facebook post, Ostrov expressed her appreciation for the fellow military veterans life of service and leadership for everyone in our state.

Ostrovs dad is an immigrant from the Philippines and her mom was born in Hawaii. She met her husband Mark while going through the ROTC program together. They live in Mililani with their twin daughters.

###

Related: www.TheRealHanabusa.com
In The Bluest Of Blue States, 9th Circuit Rebuffs (For Now) Attempt To Bar Republican Voters From The Only Election That Matters

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation, August 16, 2016

You may call us anti-Holmesian, but we're wary of any judicial opinion that has "clear and present danger" as its standard of review. Like "shouting fire in a crowded theater," this legal meme gives more heat than light in our estimation, and doesn't really tell you much.

But the phrase was at the heart of the Ninth Circuit's opinion in Democratic Party of Hawaii v. Nago, No. 13-17545 (Aug. 15, 2016), issued today in the case in which the DPH challenged Hawaii's "open primary" election.

We've been following the case since its inception, and won't go into the background and details again except to say that Hawaii is really, really blue, and the goal of the lawsuit was to exclude those who have not sworn allegiance to The Party from the only election that truly matters in our one-party state, the Democratic Party Primary. As last Saturday's primary revealed yet again, choosing the Democratic Party standard-bearer -- with an isolated exception here and there -- pretty much decides who wins the general election. But that wasn't good enough, even though elected Democratic officials were not exactly enthusiastic about the lawsuit, at least on the surface, because The Party, apparently, desires a completely closed shop.

The Ninth Circuit rejected the challenge -- which was, importantly, a facial attack on the requirements of Haw. Const. art II,  4 and Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 12 -- concluding that the plaintiff had not introduced evidence (as in actual evidence, not merely its conclusions) to support its claim that an open primary severely burdens its associational rights by allowing outsiders to choose The Party's candidates. In order to succeed, the plaintiff would need to show that there are no circumstances in which Hawaii's open primary does not infringe on their associational right of Democrats to decide solely amongst themselves their anointed one. This is where the "clear and present danger" language came in:

Thus, unlike in Jones, the Democratic Party has provided no evidence showing a clear and present danger that adherents of opposing parties determine the Democratic Partys nominees. See 530 U.S. at 579. As explained above, the lone statistic the Party cites is ambiguous at best. Likewise, the Party has not shown that Hawaiis open primary system causes Democratic candidates to moderate their policy stances. See id. at 57980. Absent evidence that Hawaiis system affects the Partys ability to select its nominees, the Partys facial challenge fails.

Slip op. at 12.

To be fair, it wasn't the Ninth Circuit that imported Holmes' free speech phrase into election law, it was the U.S. Supreme Court inCalifornia Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000). The Ninth Circuit read that case as requiring actual evidence of associational harm, not merely an assertion of associational harm:

To reach this ruling, the Court relied on data showing that in California, 20% of registered Democrats and 37% of registered Republicans planned to vote in the other partys primary in 1998. Id. at 578. An expert testified that it was inevitable under Californias system that parties will be forced in some circumstances to give their official designation to a candidate whos not preferred by a majority or even plurality of party members. Id. at 579. According to the Court, the evidence showed a clear and present danger that adherents of an opposing party would determine their rivals nominee. Id. at 578.

Slip op. at 8.

Lawprof and election law guru Rick Hasen views it a bit differently. On his Election Law Blog (a must-follow for you election law junkies), he writes:

I had always read Supreme Court cases like Tashjian and CA Democratic Party v. Jones as standing for the principle that if the party objects to the open or closed nature of a primary, it is unconstitutional for the state to use that form of the primary for that party. But todays opinion says it is up to the party to provide actual evidence that the law severely burdens the party, namely with evidence showing a clear and present danger that adherents of opposing parties determine the Democratic Partys nominees. This may not stand. First, Im not sure the Supreme Court would agree such evidence is necessary. Second, the standard seems wrong. Suppose the evidence shows that open primaries lead to more moderate candidates (thats a contested point, I know) and the party does not want to nominate more moderate candidates. Isnt that a big burden too? So keep an eye on this case.

So which is it: the actual evidence standard that the Ninth Circuit discerned from Jones, or Professor Hasen's read of Tasjian and Jones? As someone with only an academic stake in the case, we're of two minds (or at least we can see both arguments). As we wrote back in 2007 when the challenge to the open primary was first floated, "[t]he question posed by the lawsuit being considered is whether the U.S. Constitution mandates a particular form of primary election, one that allows the parties to determine who votes in their primaries, rather than having the state dictate the process. The Court has held that California's blanket primary system unconstitutionally restricted political parties' First Amendment freedoms of association. California Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000). However, the Court has also held that a closed primary system was unconstitutional, since it infringed upon the associational rights of a party that wished to open its primary to non-party voters. Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208 (1986)."

On one hand, it makes sense to require some kind of proof and not invalidate a state constitution and statute upon mere allegations, even in the context of a facial challenge. This is a publicly-funded election, after all, and the public should be able to set the standards of who gets to vote, especially where the primary for all intents and purposes selects the eventual winner. On the other, shouldn't a private political association be free to select its own standard-bearers?

As we wrote earlier, we think this turns on the mandatory nature of the open primary. If there's no other way than the open primary for the Democratic Party to choose its candidate for the general election, there may be a problem: "The philosophical heart of the case is whether a primary election is about a voter's choice or a party's choice, but nothing we've read in the briefing so far has changed our initial prediction that the case is going to turn on the mandatory nature of the open primary. Our read of Hawaii law is that there's no other way for a political party to choose its general election standard-bearer. Thus, however odd it may seem in an overwhelmingly Democratic state where the primary in many cases serves as the de facto general election, the Party's right to pick whom it wants as its candidate to stand before the public in a meaningless election has a good shot at winning out over the State's argument for a voter's choice of whom he wants to serve as his representative."

Finally, this was only a rejection of a facial challenge. Can the Democratic Party come up with the necessary evidence and try again? Will it take the case up to the Supreme Court, as Professor Hasen suggested might be fruitful?

Stay tuned folks, this one isn't likely over.

PDF: Democratic Party of Hawaii v. Nago, No. 13-17545 (9th Cir. Aug. 15, 2016)
Owners' Counsel of America and NFIB File Amici Brief in Eminent Domain Case Seeking Review by the Hawaii Supreme Court

The Owners' Counsel of America along with the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center recently filed an amici curiae brief in an eminent domain case seeking review by the Hawaii Supreme Court.

News Release from Owners Counsel of America

Jacksonville, Florida - August 16, 2016 - The Owners Counsel of America (OCA) has joined with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center to file an amici curiae brief in an eminent domain case under review by the Hawaii Supreme Court. The brief asks the Supreme Court to correct a critical error that could impact future eminent domain cases. The brief contends that the court of appeals erred in its analysis of County of Kauai v. Hanalei River Holdings, Ltd., No. CAAP-14-0000828, and urges the Supreme Court to overturn the decision, or depublish the flawed portion of the lower courts opinion.

This is an eminent domain case involving three privately owned parcels on Kauai which the County seized for the expansion of a beachfront public park. The court of appeals concluded that Hawaii law requires two parcels to touch in order for a jury to consider them part of a larger parcel. The Petitioners property was separated from the other parcel he claimed to use and not physically connected. Petitioner argued that he used the two lots together as a boat yard and that the taking of one parcel damaged his use of the other.

Two parcels do not need to touch in order for an eminent domain jury to consider whether they are components of a larger parent tract, said Robert H. Thomas, Esq., a Director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu and author of the brief. The court of appeals decision that parcels must touch is simply wrong. As a published opinion, it is precedential and will have grave consequences for Hawaii property owners in future eminent domain and property rights matters.

OCA and NFIB urge the Hawaii Supreme Court to review the erroneous decision of the court of appeals decision and overturn it as faulty and contrary to Hawaii law. The brief argues there is no need for parcels to touch to establish a unified use for property to be considered part of a larger parcel. Alternatively, should the Hawaii Supreme Court decline review, amici urge the court to order the flawed opinion depublished so that it will have no precedential effect and cannot be applied in future eminent domain actions.

Speaking on behalf of amicus party Owners Counsel of America, Thomas, OCAs Hawaii Member, stated, we filed this brief to help the court understand that the rule adopted by the court of appeals is both wrong under Hawaii law and contrary to the majority of case law nationwide. The determination of just compensation and damages in an eminent domain case is not one-size-fits-all rule, but rather requires the application of legal rules that accommodate the facts specific to each case. The court of appeals decision in this case establishes a hardline rule that would force courts to ignore the unique facts of a case.

We are in the midst of the Honolulu rail, the largest transportation project in Hawaiis history, and the condemnation of private property will be necessary, explained Thomas. The Hawaii Supreme Court must ensure that the law correctly guides lower courts and protects the rights of property owners who are entitled to just compensationthe full and perfect equivalent of the property taken.

PDF: FILED - Motion of OCA and NFIB for Leave to File Amicus Brief

Related: Hawaii Supreme Court: Hanalei Boatyard Connected to Area 51?

About Owners Counsel of America

The Owners Counsel of America (OCA) is a nationwide network of experienced eminent domain lawyers dedicated to protecting the rights of private property owners large and small, locally and nationally, and to advancing the cause of property rights. The condemnation attorneys affiliated with OCA are in private practice in nearly every state and represent private owners against federal, state, and local governments, utilities, transportation and redevelopment authorities and other agencies that may be armed with eminent domain power. For more information or to locate a property rights lawyer in your state, please visit www.ownerscounsel.com.
Hawaiis health care waiver could serve as blueprint

by Zack Hale, State of Reform, August 15, 2016

With a number of states in the process of submitting waivers provided for under Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Hawaii is poised to be the first to gain exemption from certain parts of the federal law and could serve as an example for others seeking greater flexibility in how to extend health care coverage.

Hawaii represents a unique case study because the state has already adopted rules for employer-sponsored health insurance that go even farther than the provisions outlined in the ACA, rendering the federal SHOP (Small Business Health Option Program) system redundant.

For perspective, Hawaii was the first state in the nation to pass a law requiring employer-sponsored health care coverage in 1974.

So far, only 1 percent of Hawaiian businesses have enrolled employees on the federal exchange. The remaining 99 percent engage in direct enrollment through carriers. While the states waiver application is narrow in scope, it could serve as an example for other states contemplating their own proposals.

With 1332 waivers eligible to take effect in 2017, State of Reform caught up with Beth Giesting, health care transformation coordinator in the Office of the Governor, who explained why Hawaii is seeking exemption from the SHOP exchange:

Were going to be the first state in the country that has a waiver under consideration, and we are pretty optimistic that it will get through the process. In practical terms, it is basically saying that we are [eliminating] the SHOP exchange; we are doing just fine with prepaid. I understand that none of the SHOP exchanges [nationally] worked very well. It might be time for Plan B. Nobody used the homegrown SHOP, but the problem with using the federal SHOP is that our rules (because of prepaid) are so different from the federal rules. So if an employer in Hawaii went to the federal SHOP, they might be told that they dont need to provide anything and can make up their own rules in terms of what they and their employee have to provide. Its just so completely different that we cant participate in the federal SHOP, and we dont want our employers to even look there. Thats mostly why we want to get out of the whole thing.

Some of the key differences between Hawaiis Prepaid Health Care Law and the ACA include:

Full-time is defined as working 20 or more hours per week, while the ACA has a 30-hour definition.

Employees cannot be charged more than 1.5 percent of wages for premiums, compared to a sliding scale from 2 percent to 9.5 percent under the ACA.

Employers must provide the equivalent of platinum or gold coverage.

Other cost-sharing rules, such as out-of-pocket maximums, are also more favorable to the employee than the rules in the ACA.

While Hawaiis proposal isnt a major change in terms of policy, its worth keeping an eye on for innovation followers as states continue to adjust their coverage system goals in the post-ACA era.

---30---

2010: Health Insurance? No need: Abercrombie promises to dump Prepaid Health Care Act
Huffington Post will soon be without its editor-in-chief after Arianna Huffington announced she would be leaving the media giant to launch a new HR start-up instead."I thought HuffPost would be my last act," Huffington said in a tweet. "But I've decided to step down as HuffPost's editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global."Billed as a corporate and consumer well-being and productivity platform, the new program says it will provide extensive training and education  all of which is routed in science  in an attempt to combat stress and burnout.Change is desperately needed if another generation is to avoid the burnout that all too often comes with success today, stressed Huffington, who aims to transform the way we work and live.Greek-born Huffington admitted she had considered running both companies at the same time but said doing so would have involved working around the clock and would have been a betrayal of her principles.To truly thrive means knowing when the time has come to close one chapter and start the next, and for me that time has arrived, she said.Expected to officially launch some time in November, the start-up has already begun piloting training and workshops with Accenture, which has a workforce of approximately 375,000.Ellyn Shook, the companys CHRO, said humans should be at the heart of the digital age.Its why we believe that creating an environment where our people can be successful, both professionally and personally, is so important to our company, she said.By working with an important partner like Thrive Global, we can ensure that Accenture continues to provide our people with the tools and development opportunities to help them achieve their goals, she added.
What will your biggest HR challenges be for the coming year?

I think any challenge brings opportunity. One of the opportunities within the HR team is were going through a global HR transformation. With any type of transformation, I think the challenge and the opportunity is being able to bring the people along and to help them experience the benefits of the new ways of working.

What has been the most memorable HR scenario youve ever experienced?

One of the most exciting experiences Ive had in HR was within a month of starting with Aecom. We held our 2016 Graduate Induction Program and took over 100 graduates from across Australia and New Zealand for a two-day graduate induction. It was very exciting. We had leaders from all regions across Aecom come in to meet the graduates and to share their knowledge and experience. This coming year, there will be at least 140 coming on board in our FY17 intake. Fifty per cent of those are women. Theyll all be taken on as permanent employees.

If theres one piece of HR-related advice you could give, what would it be?

You own your own development. With the nature of the changing workplace at the moment, we know that so many jobs that exist today wont exist in five to ten years. Its taking responsibility and ownership for your career development; not just your role development but also your future career and what thats going to look like. Acknowledge and accept that it is changing. You need to keep up-to-date with whats happening in the workplace and in industry and not just in your own central little pocket.

What hobbies and interests do you have outside of HR?

Everyone knows about my rescued greyhound, Coco. We got her back in November. Shes just the light of our lives. Shes the perfect apartment dog and sleeps 20 hours a day. Fortunately she never actually raced but she was trained and raised in kennels. Its so sad whats happening in the industry so its been lovely for us to be able to adopt her and welcome her into our home.

Wheres the best place to go for dinner/drinks in Melbourne? Why?

Theres a fabulous restaurant called Ichi Ni Nana. Its really funky. Its fresh and delicious and its a very buzzing place to go. I was there last week  Im going again next.
September 3rd

ZAP Fitness Running Center is offering 3 weeks of free training runs / clinics in preparation for the Stick Boy Mayview Madness 5k  set to take place. This year the clinics will also offer a training session for children who are planning on participating in the Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 1 Mile Kids Fun Run. The adult training runs are open to all ages and abilities and will range in distance from 2-7 miles.

Runners will meet each week at 5:45 p.m. at the dirt parking lot on rt. 221 adjacent to the entrance to Moses Cone Park.

August 17th  Proper Running Technique

August 24th  Using Speed to Your Benefit

August 31st  Race Strategy

Sept 3rd  Mayview Madness 5k (8:00 a.m.)

Join us on September 3rd at 8 am in beautiful Blowing Rock, NC for the 17th annual StickBoy Bread Co. Mayview Madness 5k. The race benefits the Blue Ridge Conservancy and will take place on Saturday September 3rd starting adjacent to the American Legion Hall in downtown Blowing Rock. The race will finish in the Bistro Roca parking lot where there will post race snacks, raffle giveaways, music, and awards.

Sign up for the race online at: https://register.chronotra ck.com/r/22542. Or pick up a paper registration at Stick Boy Bakery or Stick Boy Kitchen.
High Country Crime Stoppers and Boone Police seek the publics assistance in solving the following crime:

On Aug. 7, 2016, at approximately 1:30 p.m., a white female stole three t-shirts from Rock N Roll Emporium  641 W King Street. Attached are video and still images of the suspect.

Anyone with information on this crime or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 828-268-6959 / 828-737-0125 or the Boone Police Department at 828-268-6900. You may also submit a Crime Stoppers Tip via our website at https://www.tipsubmit.com/webtips.aspx?AgencyID=1251 or Text NCTIP plus your tip to 274637 (CRIMES). All information will be kept confidential.

High Country Crime Stoppers pays rewards for information, which leads to arrests; recovery of stolen property; seizure of drugs and the location of wanted persons.

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High Country Crime Stoppers and Boone Police seek the publics assistance in solving the following crime:

On Saturday morning, Aug. 13, 2016, at approximately 1:20 a.m., an unknown white male took a patio umbrella from Lost Province Brewing  130 North Depot Street. Attached are video and still images of the suspect and another male that was accompanying him.

Anyone with information on this crime or any other crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 828-268-6959 / 828-737-0125 or the Boone Police Department at 828-268-6900. You may also submit a Crime Stoppers Tip via our website at https://www.tipsubmit.com/webtips.aspx?AgencyID=1251 or Text NCTIP plus your tip to 274637 (CRIMES). All information will be kept confidential.

High Country Crime Stoppers pays rewards for information, which leads to arrests; recovery of stolen property; seizure of drugs and the location of wanted persons.

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A measure named for a Syracuse woman who was killed in a boating accident in 2006 has been signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo announced Tuesday that he has signed Tiffany Heitkamp's Law, which will require judges to consider prior driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired convictions when issuing sentences for individuals convicted of drunken boating offenses.

Existing state law doesn't link previous boating and driving while intoxicated offenses. An individual with a past DWI conviction  or multiple convictions  would be treated as a first-time offender if they were convicted of a boating while intoxicated charge.

Under Tiffany Heitkamp's Law signed by Cuomo, courts will be required to consider previous DWI or DWAI convictions within a five-year period for defendants convicted of boating while intoxicated. For boating while ability impaired charges carrying 180-day sentences, courts will consider previous DWI or DWAI convictions within a 10-year period.

"Whether behind the wheel of a car or a boat, drunk drivers are a danger to themselves and a menace to others," Cuomo said in a statement. "This new law closes this loophole and will help keep these dangerous individuals off our roads and waterways, avoiding more senseless tragedies."

The bill was sponsored by two central New York legislators  Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, a Democrat, and Republican state Sen. John DeFrancisco.

DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, and Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, named the bill in honor of Heitkamp.

The bill was sponsored by two central New York legislators  Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli, a Democrat, and Republican state Sen. John DeFrancisco.

DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, and Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, named the bill in honor of Heitkamp.

Heitkamp was a passenger in a boat operated by Keir Weimer, who was 24 at the time. According to The Citizen's archives, the boat was on Fourth Lake when it crashed into Alger Island State Campground in the Adirondacks.

The crash killed Heitkamp and injured four others.

Weimer, who was drunk at the time of the wreck, had two previous drunken driving offenses on his record. But because state law didn't allow the courts to link the crimes, he was treated as a first-time BWI offender.

Weimer pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular manslaughter in 2007 and was sentenced to two to six years in state prison. He was released in 2011.

DeFrancisco, who long advocated for passage of the bill named for Heitkamp, said he's pleased Cuomo has given final approval to the measure.

"When someone has a history of operating a vehicle or vessel while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, that record should be taken into account when the individual is sentenced," he said. "Repeat offenders should be held accountable for their history of dangerous actions to help deter further tragedies."
On Monday, Aug. 15, at 8:10 p.m., Boone Police responded to 167 Zeb Street for an assault. As a result of an investigation Sami Anne Grassman, 31, of Boone, has been charged with felonious assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

Grassman was taken before a Watauga County Magistrate where an Oct. 20, 2016, court date was set.

No bond amount was set pending a first appearance.

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A group representing police unions and other organizations throughout the state has endorsed Canandaigua Supervisor Pam Helming in the 54th Senate District race.

Helming, a Republican, announced late last week that she's received the support of the Police Conference of New York. The group has more than 25,000 members in the state and endorsed Helming because she's "most strongly dedicated to the protection of police via legislation and the providing of aid and assistance to officers and officer associations."

"I am truly honored to have my Senate candidacy endorsed by the Police Conference of New York," Helming said in a statement.

"The brave men and women who make up our police put their lives on the line every day and night to keep our families safe. Police officers in our district, and statewide, deserve legislators ready to work to protect them and ensure they have the resources they need to continue admirably serving our communities. I will be that kind of legislator."

According to its website, the Police Conference of New York is comprised of 229 police benevolent associations, eight regional conferences and a retired police association.

The conference endorsed Helming with roughly one month to go until the Sept. 13 primary.

Helming is locked in a five-way battle for the Republican nomination. Her opponents are former Assemblyman Sean Hanna, Lyons Supervisor Brian Manktelow, Canandaigua businessman Floyd Rayburn and former Greece police officer Jon Ritter.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic candidate Kenan Baldridge in the general election.

Helming, though, may not need the GOP nomination to continue her Senate bid. She already has the endorsements of three minor party lines: Conservative, Independence and Reform.

"As the next senator for the 54th District, our police officers will have a tireless advocate on their behalf and I once again thank the Police Conference of New York for their endorsement," Helming said.
Helsingin Sanomat reported yesterday that the university climbed 11 places to 56th in this year's edition of what is perhaps the most widely-recognised university ranking in the world, the Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU) .

The University of Helsinki has edged closer to meeting its objective of being regarded as one of the 50 best higher education institutions in the world.

The University of Helsinki has consistently ranked among the world's hundred best universities ever since the ranking was first published in 2003. The ranking, also known as Shanghai Ranking after its current publisher Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, consists of a total of 500 universities from across the world.

The University of Eastern Finland was upgraded from the 401500 bracket to the 301400 bracket for this year's edition of the ranking, while both the University of Oulu and the University of Turku joined Aalto University in the bottom one hundred of the ranking. The University of Jyvaskyla, in turn, fell out of the top 500 entirely.

The University of Copenhagen was the highest-ranked university in the Nordics, coming in at 30th.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Mikko Stig  Lehtikuva
U.S. Rep. John Katko's re-election campaign released a television ad last month highlighting his bipartisan efforts and legislative record in Congress.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has a differing view of Katko's job performance, specifically on issues affecting the city and failed attempts to secure funding for various programs.

Miner, a Democrat, first shared her criticisms of Katko, R-Camillus, during an interview with syracuse.com. She said the freshman congressman and his staff didn't contact the city when it sought federal funding to help remove lead paint from homes.

Syracuse has applied for other grants, including one that would help the city purchase body cameras for police officers.

Miner cited examples of how she worked with previous central New York representatives  Democratic Congressman Dan Maffei and Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle  on issues. That same type of relationship doesn't exist with Katko.

"My experience has been that congressional members tend to have issues that they're very interested in, but when a federal issue becomes important to the city of Syracuse that they will reach out and say 'We want to help and how can we be helpful?'" she said.

"Now (Katko's office) has supplied letters in support of federal funding opportunities that we have sought, but those letters have always been requested by us. To my knowledge, he's never made a phone call."

But Miner's critique of Katko extends beyond the city's grant applications. She also doesn't believe he's done enough to address Syracuse's infrastructure woes.

On Monday, there were three water main breaks in Syracuse that cut off water to 70 percent of the city for at least a couple of hours. It's the latest example of the need for water infrastructure improvements in a city that's been impacted by hundreds of water main breaks in recent years.

Miner has been outspoken about the need for more infrastructure funding. She believes Katko "should be talking about it as well."

"There's water main breaks and bridges that need to be repaired and roads that need to be repaired," she said. "This is the bread and butter that makes our economy function."

Miner says she's not speaking out about these issues because it's an election year. She has endorsed Katko's opponent, Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon.

Before Deacon the race, Miner announced she wouldn't run for Congress.

"There's no Democratic water and Republican water," Miner said. "There's no Democratic road or Republican road. There are no Democratic children and Republican children. This is what we get into public service for. Our lead issues, our infrastructure issues, these have been issues that I have been talking about for years. This is not something that I simply brought up near election time.

She added, "But it happens to be that election time seems to be when elected officials like to talk about all that they have done and herald their hard work and their progress. And I'm simply saying that when it comes to issues of federal impact, as the mayor of this city, that I have not seen any zealous advocacy done on the issues of infrastructure, on the issues of lead remediation, on the issues of body cameras for police officers and our violence intervention programs."

In an interview with syracuse.com, Erin O'Connor, a spokesperson for Katko, defended the congressman's record and took a swipe at both the mayor and Deacon, who previously worked as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director.

"Under Mayor Miner's leadership and Colleen Deacon's assistance as Sen. Gillibrand's point person in the region, the infrastructure in our city is crumbling, there is decreased police presence on our streets, the poverty rate is skyrocketing and the high school graduation rate hovers around 50 percent," she said. "The mayor should focus on the city's needs, instead of a congressional race that she declined to participate in."
Gerry OMeara is charged with serious assaulting a nurse

A hospital patient is alleged to have seriously assaulted a nurse with a chair after she told him to shower and shave.

Gerry O'Meara (45) allegedly picked up a chair and threw it at the nurse, who was sitting at her desk.

He is accused of hitting the nurse in the head with the chair, leaving her requiring treatment for a five-inch cut to her head.

The alleged assault took place on June 8 last year.

Outlining the allegation for jurisdiction purposes, Sergeant Mary Doherty alleged that Mr O'Meara was a patient in the Ashe Ward of James Connolly hospital at the time of the assault.

Sgt Doherty claimed Mr O'Meara asked the nurse, who was sitting at her desk, if she had a light for a cigarette.

The sergeant said the nurse gave Mr O'Meara a light, and also told him to go and have a shave and a shower.

Sgt Doherty alleged that Mr O'Meara left the nurse's office but he then came back in, picked up a chair and threw it at her, hitting her on the head.

Glue

The sergeant handed a medical report of the alleged victim's injuries into court.

She alleged that the nurse suffered a five-inch cut to her head, and she received glue treatment to the wound.

Sgt Doherty said Mr O'Meara was in a psychiatric unit at the time of the alleged assault.

Judge McHugh said the allegation was serious but he accepted jurisdiction, owing to the location of the alleged incident.

Judge David McHugh accepted jurisdiction to deal with the case at district court level.

The judge ordered the disclosure of any statements in relation to the allegation and he adjourned the matter to a date in September.

The accused, with addresses at North Circular Road, Dublin 7 and Woodhazel estate in Ballymun, appeared before Blanchardstown District Court charged with seriously assaulting a woman.

The court heard that the DPP has directed summary disposal of the charge in the district court, where the penalties upon conviction are less severe than in the circuit court.
Children watched in horror as a hammer-wielding man went on a rampage in Naas General Hospital, smashing up a crowded Emergency Department.

The children were waiting with their parents when the attacker became "irritated" after having to wait to be treated.

A witness told the Herald that the man, believed to be aged in his 30s, left the crowded Emergency Department (ED) after complaining about the wait.

He then returned a few moments later carrying two hammers.

He began to threaten staff and smashed a number of windows and a glass door in the hospital before fleeing.

The incident occurred on Saturday at around 11.15pm.

"There were children present and they were cowering under chairs and very afraid," the witness said.

It is understood that some 20 people were waiting in the ED when the attack took place.

"People were hiding wherever they could once the man started smashing things up.

"There were children and adults hiding under chairs, locking themselves in the bathroom and even trying to get behind the vending machines.

"No one knew where to look because they didn't want to catch the man's eye."

The frenzied attack ended after about two minutes, the witness added.

Extensive damage was done to the department.

Several windows were smashed, as well as a glass door, and a number counters suffered damage.

The ED, however, remained open after the man fled the scene.

Criminal

Following the incident, gardai confirmed that they were investigating a possible "incident of criminal damage that occurred at the hospital over the weekend".

"No arrests have been made but we are aware of the individual," a spokesperson said.

A local said the man involved in the attack was currently being held in a psychiatric ward.

Luckily, nobody was injured in the shocking incident.

In a statement, Naas General Hospital said it "regretted" any distress the incident might have caused patients.

"This matter is being investigated by the gardai," said a spokeswoman.

"The hospital regrets any distress which was caused to patients.

"We have no further comment to make regarding it."

Meanwhile the ED at Naas is among several that could be facing closure in the next 12 months.

While the Department of Health has stated that it has no plans yet to close emergency departments, a leaked report by the Trauma Steering Group has advised that emergency medicine in Ireland would benefit from increased centralisation.

The report lists nine hospitals where ED wards could be closed, and Naas General is among them.
Oberstown and Trinity House Campus, Lusk, Co. Dublin, from which five inmates escaped this week.

Last weekend's escape from Ireland's only young offenders' institution is not the only serious incident there recently, the Herald can reveal.

Other escape attempts have been made by detainees at the Oberstown centre in Lusk, north Dublin, in the past 12 months, one of which resulted in a member of staff being reprimanded for detaining an escapee.

Restraining

During the incident, which is understood to have happened in June, a teenager being held at the campus tried to escape while on a visit to the dentist in Balbriggan.

A member of staff accompanying the boy managed to prevent him from fleeing.

However, sources said the worker was reprimanded as a result of physically restraining the teenager.

"One of the reasons these incidents are happening more often and are getting out of hand is because staff are instructed to maintain a hands-off approach when these incidents occur and not to restrain any of the inmates, just observe," a source said.

"Staff are dealing with some very high-risk teenagers who have committed very serious offences but they're not expected to intervene directly when something kicks off or when one tries to flee."

Five youths escaped from the north Dublin facility last Saturday after climbing over a wall.

Three were caught almost immediately, while two others - one of whom had previously escaped - were detained after a garda manhunt involving the Air Support Unit.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said that "these are matters within the scope of the director and the board of management of Oberstown as they are responsible for the day- to-day operations of the campus".

He added: "It would not be appropriate for the minister to comment on detailed operational issues."

The Herald previously revealed how one of the teenagers who fled the Oberstown campus on Saturday was the subject of a garda manhunt after an earlier escape.

He was one of four detainees who absconded last August using ladders belonging to builders carrying out work at the facility.

Brawl

The boy was also involved in a brawl at the facility that resulted in another inmate being stabbed and two members of staff being injured.

It is understood that the juvenile used a broken cup to stab a fellow inmate in the chest and arm.

Oberstown director Pat Bergin said staff were examining security measures and a review of the incident is under way.
One of Ireland's best-known TV personalities has revealed that serial paedophile Eamon Cooke had a 14-year-old girlfriend during his time with Radio Dublin.

TV3 weatherman Martin King (53) briefly worked with the prolific child abuser during the late 1970s.

Expand Close Paedophile Eamon Cooke (p) is a suspect in the disappearance of Philip Cairns / Facebook

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Whatsapp Paedophile Eamon Cooke (p) is a suspect in the disappearance of Philip Cairns

Cooke, who was nicknamed The Cookie Monster by his victims, died in a Dublin hospice in June.

He was serving several prison terms for the sexual abuse of children and has been linked to the disappearance of schoolboy Philip Cairns in 1986.

For the first time, Martin has revealed what he learned about Cooke during his stint working alongside him.

Mood

"I remember sitting there one morning and he was coming down the stairs," he said.

"He looked like he'd slept in his clothes. He opened a box of cigarettes and lit one up.

"I said 'Good morning' to him and he just looked at me and grunted.

"I looked at a girl working there and asked if I'd done something wrong," he said.

"I was told, 'He's in a bad mood, he's not allowed to see his girlfriend'. I asked why he wasn't allowed to see her and she replied: 'She's studying for her Group Cert'.

Expand Close Philip Cairns, who was 13 when he went missing on his way to school in Rathfarnham. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Philip Cairns, who was 13 when he went missing on his way to school in Rathfarnham.

"That was an exam you did back then in second year of secondary school, so she was 14, at a push 15."

It was the first time Martin realised there was a sinister side to Cooke that he hadn't witnessed before.

Expand Close Martin King met his wife Jenny when they worked for 98FM / Facebook

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Whatsapp Martin King met his wife Jenny when they worked for 98FM

King had been brought in to work at the pirate radio station when he was only a teenager himself.

"I knew a couple of guys working in Radio Dublin and they said, 'Listen, I'm sure the Captain will give you a gig up here'. It was 1979, and I gave my word that I'd make the move," he said.

"I remember doing my last programme on The Big D, and before I went the owner James Dillon came in, in the middle of the night, and asked me not to go.

"I didn't know what had been going on with Cooke at the time. I was a naive 16-year-old and I don't know whether he had a fear of me going there.

"The first time I saw Cooke he was courteous and kind, and welcomed me to the station. He said: 'I hope you haven't come as a spy', and I said: 'No, I'm here to work'."

When asked if Cooke's comment about him "not being a spy" suggested the personality of somebody extremely paranoid and suspicious, Martin agreed it was, "completely".

"The voice he had, it had a sense of evil, that's what I always thought about him.

"I just knew that wasn't right," he said.

"It was the late 1970s and early 1980s and something like that could nearly go over your head, but I knew that was wrong. What I thought was, did this girl's parents know?"

Cooke's crimes have recently been in the spotlight again after it emerged that gardai are investigating if he had any role in the disappearance of Philip Cairns, who was 13 when he went missing on his way to school in Rathfarnham.

Philip's schoolbag was recently tested for DNA, but there was no forensic evidence linking Cooke to it.

However, detectives have still not ruled out Cooke's involvement in the schoolboy's disappearance.

Land owned by Cooke in south Dublin is due to be examined by gardai.

Father-of-11 Cooke had previously been found guilty of 42 charges of indecent assault on two complainants between January 1974 and May 1978.

Arson

In a separate case, he was given a four-year suspended sentence for an arson attack on a complainant's home during a sexual assault trial in 2003.

In a wide-ranging interview on Independent.ie, Martin also reflects on his personal and professional life.

He recalled being told to find new friends in a bid to change his Dublin accent to improve his chances of becoming a broadcaster.

"I was working in Sunshine and the head guy there, I'm sure in his heart of hearts he thought he was imparting great advice," he said.

"This guy suggested that to help with my grammar, my diction, the whole lot, I should drop all the friends I have, leave the area I grew up in, move to another part of the city and then continue my career from there with a different circle of friends."

He opted not to, and instead spent time in Britain before moving back to Ireland where he eventually landed a job in 98FM before settling in to TV3 in 1998.

It was at 98FM that he met his wife Jenny, who in 2010 found out she had a brain tumour.

"That really stopped us in our tracks. Jenny, I think, just kicked into survival mode and she started thinking about all of the people around her," said Martin.

"She was the hero, I just had this feeling of helplessness."

Jenny was given the all-clear on Valentine's Day in 2011, which was the "perfect day" to hear the news.

Listen to the Paul Williams podcast on Independent.ie
Back-to-school season is here. Its time for parents to gather school supplies and backpacks. Its also the perfect time to make sure your children are up to date on their vaccines. Vaccines give parents the safe, proven power to protect their children from serious diseases. Parents can provide the best protection by following the recommended immunization schedule, giving their child the vaccines they need, when they need them.

New this school year:

 As of Sept. 1, 2016, all public and private school students entering seventh and 12th grades in New York state must be fully vaccinated against meningococcal disease types A, C, W and Y in order to attend school.

One dose of meningococcal vaccine is required before seventh grade. If your child had the first dose as a sixth-grader, then another dose is not required until 12th grade.

Two doses will be required before 12th grade. Most students entering 12th grade got their first dose when they were younger and are now due for their second dose, or booster. This booster is needed because protection from the vaccine decreases over time. One dose of meningococcal vaccine for students entering 12th grade who have already received a dose is required at 16 years of age or older.

 The meningococcal vaccine protects against serious and sometimes deadly diseases such as meningitis (an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) and sepsis (blood infections). That's why the vaccine is sometimes called the meningitis vaccine.

To view the 2016-2017 New York State Immunization Requirements for School Entrance and Attendance, please visit health.ny.gov/publications/2370.pdf. This link will help you better understand what immunizations children need for school and when.

Recommendations:

 Human papillomavirus vaccine is a series of three shots given over 6 months. It is recommended for preteen and teen boys and girls to protect them from HPV and the serious health problems that the virus can cause, including certain cancers and genital warts.

Child care facilities, preschool programs, schools and colleges are prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. This is why we have state requirements to protect and keep our children healthy. Children in these settings can easily spread illnesses to one another due to poor hand-washing, not covering their coughs and other factors, such as interacting in crowded environments. Also, diseases can quickly spread among groups of children who arent vaccinated. Whether its a baby starting at a new child care facility, a toddler heading to preschool, a student going back to elementary, middle or high school, or even a college freshman, parents should check their childs vaccination records.

Every dose of every vaccine is important to protect your child and others in the community from infectious diseases. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional to make sure your child is up to date on all the vaccines he or she needs.

Todays childhood vaccines protect against serious and potentially life-threatening diseases, including polio, measles, whooping cough and chickenpox. There are many important reasons to make sure your child is vaccinated:

 Immunizations can protect your child from 14 serious diseases before they turn 2 years old.

 Vaccination is very safe and effective.

 Immunizations can protect others you care about.

 Immunization can save your family time and money.

 Immunization protects future generations by reducing the prevalence of serious diseases.

The Cayuga County Health Department hosts weekly immunization clinics. Please give us a call should your child need an immunization before school. Appointments can be made by calling (315) 253-1560.
AUBURN  Twice Colin Reilley thought about taking his own life. The first time, he was a sixth-grader at Herman Avenue Elementary School. He'd been bullied day in and day out in fifth grade and, by the next year, he'd turned into a bully himself.

The second time was in eighth grade. Acne took over Colin's body, and he "was called every name in the book." Along with that, Colin was facing something he'd suspected about himself, but tried to ignore: He was gay.

After calling The Trevor Project, a national suicide hotline for youth who are gay or questioning their sexuality, Colin's mentor on the phone told him he was going to be OK.

"I ended up not taking my life that night because of my mentor," Colin said.

Recently graduated and sitting in Auburn High School's television studio, Colin, wearing a bright green polo shirt and a huge smile, looked around at the classroom he spent many hours in, learning and growing and sharing his experiences with classmates for the first time. Sitting nearby in quiet support was his brother Brandon, who set up a camera to record Colin's interview with The Citizen.

Brandon, too, will be taking journalism  the class that was partly responsible for his brother's blogging about the challenges he's faced. Some Colin is still facing  stress and anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sadness missing his grandfather who passed away.

"My life has done many 360s, but I always seem to recover from them," Colin said, reading a blog post he wrote and had read aloud to his journalism class. "How I kill the negatives with the positives. How I kill the losers with kindness. Live life like that, and you will find yourself happier."

Colin will be the first to say he is a happy teenager now, and because of that, success has followed. It started when his journalism teacher, Andrea Fusco, told him to start standing up for himself. So in October 2013, Colin started the Bullying Prevention Program, a social media outreach network to help children who were being picked on.

The program took off, and Colin, who shared his stories of being bullied with the world, began hosting talks and appearing for interviews with several area media outlets.

"We have a cable station that's accessible, and he would just go on and tell the stories of his bullying and how he overcame it, and get others involved," Fusco said, sitting next to Colin in the studio. "He got so much respect from our class."

During his presentations, too, Colin would give advice.

"Just drop all of those horrible people, and move to the good people," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "That's what it is, really. You just surround yourself with people who make you happy and give you that happiness, and once you're happy, dreams and goals become everything, and they just become reality."

Beyond his stories of being bullied, Colin reached an even wider audience after publishing a blog post describing how he'd finally come out to his family. The post resounded with many of its readers.

"My initial thing was the reactions are going to be horrible, and I'm going to get negative reactions, and nobody cares," Colin said. "Nobody wants to hear it. The reactions were absolutely, utterly heartwarming. I stayed up many nights reading the comments with tears of joy because of some of the reactions from it."

Afterward, people began sharing their own coming out stories with Colin. He's been overwhelmed with emails from strangers confiding in him, seeking help and reassurance, thanking him for speaking up, venting to him about their own struggles.

That's when Colin decided to rebrand his Bully Prevention Program to EMBL3M, with the slogan, "Everyone matters, everyone cares, everyone learns." The new name, he said, resembles the significance of the three "E's" in his slogan. While the program still focuses on bullying prevention, there's more outreach to teenagers struggling with racism, sexism, sexual orientation, suicidal thoughts and grief.

The program has grown into an almost full-time job, too. Colin has four employees  a web developer, a booking agent, someone who updates the company's social media accounts and someone to respond to emails. He's developed more than 20 partnerships now, and at least six sponsorships.

Colin still makes sure that within 24 to 48 hours, he personally writes back to those who reach out to him, in order to keep the intimacy he's fostered.

"A lot of times I sit there and cry," he said of the stories people share with him. "I relate to it. 'I knew exactly what you were feeling,' but to be able to sit there and read someone else's story, and to have someone else open up like that to a complete stranger, someone they don't even know, it's just very heartwarming, and very helpful to me," he said, shifting in his chair with his hands pointing to his heart.

"It just makes me want to keep going. It makes me want to do more. It makes me want to help them in the best humanly way possible."

Fusco thinks Colin's ability to express himself now, and his willingness to share what he's gone through, is what resonates with people most.

"I just feel like Colin really found himself, especially in his junior and senior year," she said. "I just saw what I think had been inside of him totally emerge and make everyone proud, and make everyone friends."

Colin is keeping busy this summer. He will host his fourth talk at the Great New York State Fair at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 5, in the Empire Theater. He's also preparing for college. He'll be going to Onondaga Community College for two years, then transferring to SUNY Oswego to major in broadcasting and communications, with a minor in journalism and in business.

"It's incredible how much has happened," he said, "and there's still so much more left."
Montezuma Veterans of Foreign War Post 8137 will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a celebration at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the post hall, 513 Erie St., Montezuma.

Led by Warren Gardner, of Montezuma, the post began in March 1966 with a mission of local veterans supporting one another. Of the 37 original chartering members, only three are still living: Senior Vice "Butch" Glimpse, Charlie Decker and Ray Roe.

The post was named after three local servicemen: Pfc. Hiram E. Thurston, who died in eastern France in 1945 at the age of 22; Sgt. Donald J. Schram, who was killed in the Battle of Brenner Pass in Italy in 1943; and John Arthur Reynolds Jr., who was killed in Korea in 1951.

Because the post's anniversary coincides with that of the Vietnam War, the post and the Montezuma Historical Society have joined under the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act to give commemorative lapel pins to living U.S. veterans who served in the active-duty armed forces between Nov. 1, 1955, and May 15, 1975, regardless of location. All in attendance at the Aug. 20 celebration will receive them.

For more information, call (315) 776-4656.
More women, juveniles help drive need for more space at the jail
There was a time, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when everything about the baby boomers  their cultural identity, their sex lives, their voting patterns  was chewed over in the public prints and on television. It became so dreary an exercise that Bob McGilvray, the I've-seen-everything news editor in the Washington bureau of The Wall Street Journal, grew impatient with this genre of reporting. "The only story on the baby boomers that I want to read," he said, "is the one that says they are retiring."

Well, the baby boomers now are retiring  McGilvray himself is long retired  but today the millennials have taken their place, with about as much generational chauvinism as the baby boomers. So if you've had your fill of the millennials, or if you think that a 60-something baby-boomer columnist who is a hopeless political moderate cannot have anything productive to say about them, now is the time to turn the page or click away. Cheerio.

But in the middle of an epic presidential campaign, a group as important as the millennials cannot be ignored, especially since they played such an important role in the Democratic nomination fight, siding in great numbers with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who, by the way, was born five years before the baby boom. Score this one for the millennials: Unlike the baby boomers, many of whom lived by the maxim that no one over the age of 30 should be trusted, they're open to listening to 74-year-olds.

And as we approach the election, two important studies give us insight into the mind and mettle of these millennials, though it is important to acknowledge that no group that big (75 million people, generally those between 18 and 34) is monolithic. They may share experiences, but they do not necessarily share perspectives.

The first is the most recent study by Harvard's Institute of Politics of young voters (18 to 29), who, according to the data, side decisively with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Manhattan businessman Donald Trump, by a 61-25 margin.

But what may be far more significant in the long run for American politics is that a majority of these voters reject the labels "socialist" and capitalist." Look deeper into the data, however, and you will see that a third of these young people, none of whom had come of age during the Cold War, support socialism  a figure that goes to 41 percent among those born a half-dozen years after the fall of the Communist bloc.

The second important study is a new book by David and Jack Cahn, whose "When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America" has just been published. These twins claim to have conducted 10,000 conversations with millennials and are, of course, millennials themselves. They tell us some things we already know  the key to communicating with this group is through social media  and some things we didn't know, such as the notion that, as they put it, "the millennial generation is sick and tired of politics." Maybe they're not all that different after all.

The Cahns do have an important message for those seeking to understand the future of American politics. They say that the allegiance of this group is up for grabs  it belongs neither to Republicans nor Democrats, even though many theorists, using the 2008 election as a touchstone, had forecasted the advent of an entire generation of Democrats. Not so. Millennials don't see a conflict between red and blue, but instead between the Washington elite and outsiders.

"Our thesis is that these pragmatic, resilient and optimistic young people will use their votes to wage a silent war against the Washington elite," the Cahns argue. "By ousting ideologues and voting for politicians who share our values  namely, authenticity, optimism and tolerance  millennials will usher in a new era of reform. Using compromise to implement change, millennials will translate their political consensus into actual political policy and break the gridlock in Washington."

That's a very intriguing paragraph, worthy of serious examination. The word "pragmatic" is important; much of the New Left strain of the baby boom lacked pragmatism  even as it shared millennials' contempt for "the Washington elite." Now look at perhaps the most striking word in that passage: "compromise." This was not a leading attribute of the baby boom. In fact the willingness to compromise is an attribute more generally assigned to Henry Clay (no millennial), Daniel Webster (also no millennial) and George H.W. Bush (ditto).

Many fogies of my persuasion yearn for a return to the era when compromise was valued more than absolutism, but then again the man who compromised on raising taxes, Bush, is 92 years old, and the greatest dealmaker in recent congressional history, former Sen. Robert J. Dole of Kansas, turned 93 last month.

I suspect both Bush and Dole would welcome that aspect of the millennial creed, but would recoil from some of the advice the Cahns provide for members of the much-reviled political class. It is explained in a section under the sub-headline, "Conclusion: Entertain Us, Please."

This is the Cahns' view: "In an age of connectivity, politicians need to realize they are competing with celebrities for attention. It doesn't cut it to just be a boring public servant. The coolest politicians can build cult followings online  and the lame ones, well, we don't even know their names."

Pity. Some of those names were Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Then again, the 32nd, 35th and 40th presidents did connect with their respective publics through the social media of the time  radio, television and the movies.

The Harvard study tells us that Sanders is the only one of the leading presidential candidates with a net-positive rating. (Trump checks in at minus 57 percentage points; Clinton at minus 16.) But it also tells us something quite astonishing, a finding that a similar study of the baby boom would never conclude: The only institution in American life that has the trust of a majority of millennials is the military. Hooray for them. Great impulse.

I'm not so sure about the rest of their views. Which institution do you suppose wins the least level of trust? Yes, the media, with the support of only 9 percent. It isn't only conventional politicians who have a lot to worry about. The millennials have met the enemy, and it is us.
MANDANA  The simple Americana atmosphere of the Mandana Barn took on an international flavor last week when the Carroll family hosted nine women entrepreneurs from South America.

Through the WEAmericas Program for Women Entrepreneurs, the women  along with their interpreters and representatives from the International Center of Syracuse  are taking a three-week tour of the United States under the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program.

There are approximately 5,000 such visitors a year, Spanish interpreter Inga Kirkland said.

The event also included four librarians from Belarus, who were on a different trip and happened to have their evening plans canceled. Carroll, who is all about being inclusive, was more than happy to accommodate them.

The Carrolls hosted their guests with lively conversation and an all-American dinner centered around succulent barbecue chicken from Auburn Poultry and a pot of the Syracuses iconic salt potatoes. Local guests brought sides and salads to share as well.

This was an informal event to gather and talk about each others lives around the dinner table. There was never a dull moment, as the visiting women were interested to share what they were doing and curious to understand about the American way of life on so many levels.

Mary Beth Bronk said she decided to come to the event not really knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the upbeat nature of the women who were visiting, which put her completely at ease almost immediately.

When she was asked about the American political system, she found she was able to look at it differently, as explaining the political candidates to the women was enlightening.

I've been to several events at the barn welcoming men and women from all around the world, Julia Wamp said.

The mingling was also part of the World Learning program that was instituted after World War I. A former Syracuse University personnel director thought to integrate university students with their foreign peers in order to build mutual respect and understanding of each others culture.

It wasnt all good news, as Karla Hernandez, from Venezuela, reported that her country is in a state of uproar, making it difficult to even get food each day. She works to promote entrepreneurship for men and women in her country, which is really struggling under a dictatorship.

I want other countries to know what is happening, Hernandez said. Its really, really tough. But we are not defeated. We know if we work hard and we hope, we will eventually get out of this crisis.

Pastabilities owner Karen Korteling, who graduated from Skaneateles High School and Syracuse University, hosted the women for lunch and told her story of starting the business with her husband, Patrick Heagerty, who died from a brain tumor when their children were still very young.

Korteling was able to come back from this tragedy and establish her business even stronger as a market leader in Syracuse. Her daughters, now grown, are also involved in the business.

Im impressed with how your government supports entrepreneurship and your freedom of expression and freedom of speech," said Monica Chuquimia, from Bolivia.

Angie Hernendez, a Costa Rican psychologist on the trip, said she was impressed with how the United States communities work together and the emphasis on the empowerment of women. The South American contingent had toured the WISE Women Business center in Syracuse earlier.

She also said this trip was such a great opportunity for the women to get a break from their lives and see how other people approach life.

Its important to reinvent our lives, she said. Behind women, you find many struggles.
MANDANA  Like many children her age, 12-year-old Bridget Carroll is spending her summer vacation hanging out with friends and taking part in a variety of activities.

But, unlike many children her age, the Mandana resident got to experience life in Norway before she heads back to school in the fall.

Through a program called Children's International Summer Village, a group that fosters world peace by connecting youngsters from different countries and cultures, Bridget spent a month in the Scandinavian country with 65 children from 15 countries.

She took the trip through the Springfield, Massachusetts chapter of CISV because it is the closest one, and now with her mother  Skaneateles Education Foundation Executive Director Heather Carroll  is interested in starting a central New York chapter for the organization.

"We were building global friendships," Bridget said, noting the group did a lot of activities based around that. "We did a lot of trust exercises, and we learned about sustainability and conflict resolution and a lot of things like how to treat others and stuff like that."

Bridget said her friend, Libby Raymond, traveled to Brazil last year with CISV, and she learned about the program from her friend.

"It's a peace group all over the world," Bridget said. "She told me all about it, and that got me interested."

Along with meeting children from 14 other countries, Bridget said she spent the month learning "everything about them" and touring around the country  visiting Oslo, the Norwegian capital, a couple of other places and the ocean.

The group also got to see the houses and experience the daily routine.

"For camp, we were at a school, so we got to go around and see the town that the school was in," she said.

With her new friends, Bridget said she learned to be more understanding and respectful of others' differences  particularly in how they live, "because we don't do things exactly the same," she said.

She noted it was her first time traveling abroad, and she hopes to visit Europe again someday.

"It was really fun," she said. "I really want to travel back again."

Bridget noted she could have that opportunity with CISV again soon. Children can join the program when they are 11 years old, and there is a step-up camp that they can attend at 13.

She said the difference between the step-up camp and the regular camp she went to is that the teenagers make up the activities for their camp isntead of the leaders who run the activities for the regular camp.

There are more camps up the ladder, and then children can become junior counselors at 16 or 1 7 and become a leader on the staff at 21.

"I definitely want to do the step-up camp and be a JC," Bridget said, adding that she hopes to spread the word and urge more young people to take part. "It's really fun."

She noted there are chapters all over the world  Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Netherlands were a few that she listed off along with the United States.

Children stay with two host families as they settle into the camp in their respective country, and Bridget said the son of one of her host families was in Texas for his CISV program at the same that she was with them in Norway.

Among the activities in which she took part during the camp was a national night in which the children dress up in their national costume and perform a national dance while telling the other children about their home country.

There was also flag time each day in which the group sang the CISV song and said "good morning" and "good night" in each child's native language, as well as a gala night in which the children had fun and danced.

"For our national night, we made s'mores and we handed out Oreos and M&Ms and Skittles and popcorn," Bridget said.
A Coconino County Superior Court judge has dismissed the final remaining claim in a lawsuit filed by the Hopi Tribe against the city of Flagstaff regarding snowmaking with reclaimed wastewater on the San Francisco Peaks.

The ruling marks the end of the latest chapter in a costly and years-long legal process involving the city, the Hopi Tribe and Arizona Snowbowl. The city of Flagstaff has spent nearly a million dollars litigating the Hopi lawsuit.

Judge Mark Moran issued the ruling on Friday, on the grounds that the Hopi failed to show that they suffered a special injury required to claim that the snowmaking caused a public nuisance.

"Given all of the circumstances, the Court concludes that the use of reclaimed water by Snowbowl is not unreasonable or illegal under the circumstances, nor is there a likelihood that it will result in irreparable harm to the Plaintiff," Moran wrote in the ruling. The tribe failed to show evidence that their ability to conduct ceremonies on the Peaks has been substantially impacted, he wrote.

Moran also noted that the environmental harm that the Hopi argued may occur by the use of reclaimed water on the peaks is "prospective in nature," and that the "complaint contains only speculation as to its effect on the environment."

The Hopi Tribe originally filed the lawsuit against the city of Flagstaff in 2011, aiming to halt the city's delivery of reclaimed wastewater to Arizona Snowbowl for use in snowmaking.

In 2012 all three of the tribe's claims were dismissed. Judge Joe Lodge denied the tribes right to sue on the nuisance claim by saying, first, that the claim had already been raised in previous failed court challenges against Snowbowl by the Navajo and other tribes, and secondly that they filed suit after a statute of limitations had passed.

But the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed the lower court dismissal of the nuisance claim. The Court of Appeals didnt make a ruling on whether the citys contract to sell the water actually constitutes a public nuisance; it just gave the green light for the tribe to take its claim back to Coconino County Superior Court.

In 2014, the city named Arizona Snowbowl as a non-party at fault in the lawsuit, because it is the end user of the water on a portion of the peaks that Native American tribes, including the Navajo and the Hopi, consider sacred. In February, Snowbowl filed a motion to dismiss the claim.

The case had been postponed extensively while the city and the Hopi Tribe worked toward a settlement. A proposal, in the works since 2014, was released in early March and would have required the city to build a $1.6 million earthen filtration system to further treat the reclaimed wastewater headed to Snowbowl.

Those settlement talks hit a wall in May when a majority of the Flagstaff City Council voted to indefinitely postpone a decision on a possible settlement agreement with the tribe.

Since 2011, the city has spent $850,000 on legal fees in the case, according to city spokesperson Meg Roederer.

In a statement, Snowbowl General Manager J.R. Murray wrote that the ski area is happy with the superior court ruling, announced on Friday, and is looking forward to the upcoming winter season.

Requests for comment from the attorneys who represent the Hopi Tribe were not returned late Monday.
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The Startup India call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has charted out a new paradigm for the industrial ecosystem. It has the potential to redefine the way industries are built and sustained in India.

Leaders from diverse fields have come together over the last one year to give momentum to #Startup India by laying the foundations for #StartInCollege, a revolutionary initiative of SV.CO, the worlds first digital incubator for students, to foster student entrepreneurship. These leaders range from college principals and university vice-chancellors to bureaucrats, chief ministers and leading companies in the Indian startup ecosystem.

There are certain positives that need to be leveraged. More than one million young persons are turning 18 every month. We need to build companies to provide employment to our youth. Our education system produces almost one million engineers every year, but the sad fact is that even after four years of engineering a large majority of them are not equipped with the practical knowledge to engineer anything.

Read | Govt wants startups policy wishlist

Efforts are now underway to change this with some landmark startup initiatives launched by Gujarat Technical University (GTU) and Kerala Technical University (KTU), which together account for around one-seventh of the engineering colleges in India.

Various states have also announced startup policies. Funds are being committed in state budgets for job creation. The Kerala government has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 300 crore for startups, and the sum is higher than the Startup budget of the Central governments department of science and technology.

Read | Time to step up speed and scale

NITI Aayogs initiative of setting up 500 tinkering labs in schools received more than 13,000 applications. More than 3,000 applications were received for college incubators, and around 100 applications for developing 10 world-class startups. This is indicative of the widespread impact the call for Startup India has had at the school, college, university and state levels. To support this student startup revolution, leaders of the Indian ecosystem have come forward. Companies like Freshdesk, Tally, FreeCharge and Ola are now hiring students with startup skills. Till recently, these top startups were hiring only from select colleges. Now as students build real technology and showcase their skills, hiring them, even if not from elite colleges, has become possible. Leading founders like Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm and Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal have even committed time to mentor student startups.

Facebook has offered access to meritorious students to its developer teams in Menlo Park, California. The worlds top social networking site will provide guidance and mentorship to Indian engineering students aspiring to become entrepreneurs through SV.CO.

Homegrown campus startups like Paytm are offering full scholarships for students for #StartInCollege. The US embassy has stepped up its support for processing the visas of these students for visiting Silicon Valley.

Read | Obama takes the Silicon Valley spirit global

The support from the Indian startup ecosystem is creating local success stories. All this has spurred the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to come up with a student startup policy. Specialisation in Startup engineering is well on course to becoming a reality. Like MBAs in finance or marketing, students will be able to learn computer science or electronics with specialisation in entrepreneurship.

As the right elements for a world-class campus startup ecosystem begin to take shape in India, we can look forward to building a billion-dollar campus startup by 2022, the 75th year of our independence.

Sanjay Vijayakumar is chairman of Startup Village (SV.CO).

The views expressed are personal.
The BJP has growing concerns in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state that votes early next year. In 2014, the party rode a Modi wave to win 71 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

But the BJP is fumbling  tackling with a leadership crisis, struggling to keep intact its Lok Sabha gains and dealing with a cadre that isnt as charged as it was in 2014.

Also at stake is party president Amit Shahs reputation as a master strategist, which was dented in the Bihar and Delhi assembly polls last year.

His strategy is to keep Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) out of the race, campaign against the Akhilesh Yadav government and create a vibrant network of BJP workers at booth level.

Read | A victory roadmap, not CM face, focus of BJP in Uttar Pradesh

There is logic behind undermining the BSP. The Jatav community forms 12% of the electorate and remains wedded to the BSP. But any shift of the Muslims, who form 18% of the voters, towards Mayawati will strengthen her. If she is seen winning, the 12%-13% Brahmin voters too may go with her, BJP leaders fear. That can reduce the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BJP to double-digit tallies in the assembly.

For us, the best case scenario is that Muslims vote for SP and the Brahmins for us. That will leave Mayawati with less than 20% votes, a BJP general secretary told Hindustan Times.

BJP vice-president Om Mathur, also coordinating in Uttar Pradesh, claims more people will desert Mayawati as elections draw closer. On August 1, former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, an OBC, joined the BJP. Its 17 Dalit MPs will campaign in 85 SC reserved seats. Other MPs too will campaign for 10 days outside their constituencies.

Read | The caste maze: One who negotiates it wins Uttar Pradesh

The controversy over atrocities against Dalits, however, could spoil the BJPs plans and strengthen Mayawati.

Playing up the SP as main rival helps BJP polarise the elections. At a rally in Allahabad on June 13, Shah asked people not to take lightly the controversy over Kairana, which saw exodus of Hindu families allegedly threatened by Muslim go ons.

Of 1.40 lakh polling stations in the state, the BJP claims to have its units in 85% of them  much higher than 35% booths during the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Our campaign has lifted and cadre is getting a sense that we can win UP. That is important to us, BJP secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said.

Phulpur MP Keshav Prasad Maurya  an OBC  is the new state party chief. On July 9, Shah attended a meeting of Bharatiya Samaj Dal (BSD), a party of Om Prakash Rajbhar who broke away from the BSP in 2001. A BJP-BSD alliance is possible.

Read | Undecided BJP may feel the heat to name its leader in Uttar Pradesh

The BJP is also attempting to get a foothold in eastern Uttar Pradesh, an SP stronghold. Two new faces from east UP  Anupriya Patel and Mahendra Nath Pandey  were inducted into Modis council of ministers recently.

The BJPs target group for 2014 comprised 80% of the electorate, barring Muslims. This time it has excluded Muslims, Yadavs and Jatavs, which make it nearly 60% of UPs electorate. But winning a 30% vote share wont be easy.

The absence of a credible face compounds its problem. Its best bet, home minister Rajnath Singh, is not unwilling to become the partys face in the state.

Read | Does BJP have an acceptable CM face in UP?

Until the party BJP gets clarity on its chief minister, the troika of Shah-Modi-Rajnath will hold the fort. Modi will travel to UP every month. He has already visited Bareilly, Saharanpur, Allahabad and Ballia. Shah is spending more time in the state. Rajnath too has been requested to visit the state frequently. Whether these are the faces UP will vote for, the BJP will have its answer early 2017.

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The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, Aug. 8:

Dont drink the tap water. Traditionally advice for Americans traveling to the Third World, that is now a sentiment that resonates domestically, too.

More Americans are opting for bottled water over what comes out of the tap because of concerns that aging pipes are leeching lead that sooner or later ends up at the faucet. Scandals in Flint, Mich., and Newark, N.J., are partly responsible for heightened consumer concern. But crumbling infrastructure is a national problem.

Years of negative publicity about sugary drinks and industry marketing also help to explain why bottled water may overtake soda in popularity this year. Still, the faltering public trust in public water systems is a sad commentary on the nations priorities. The worlds lone superpower cannot provide safe drinking water for its own citizens? This is the price we pay for allowing our water systems, roads and bridges to deteriorate even as we have wasted money on wars and other entanglements overseas, while allowing contractors to milk the insufficient number of projects that are let for domestic infrastructure improvements.

The national, state and local governments must infuse money into water systems and work to win back Americans trust. Regulators also must keep a close eye on bottled water manufacturers to make sure consumers get the level of purity theyre promised.

End the delay on Garland

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, Aug. 9:

It has been almost six months since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly, and almost five months since President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the widely respected and centrist chief judge of the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to succeed him.

Because of obstructionism by Senate Republicans, however, the Senate is no closer to holding a hearing on Garlands nomination, much less voting on it. Meanwhile, the court has divided 4 to 4 in some cases, preventing a definitive resolution of important issues including the legality of Obamas executive action temporarily granting deportation relief and work permits to 4 million immigrants.

Within hours of Scalias death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he wouldnt act on a new nomination by invoking  or, rather, inventing  the principle that a Supreme Court vacancy that occurs in a presidential election year cant be filled until we have a new president. At the Republican National Convention, McConnell put it more bluntly: I made (a) pledge that Obama would not fill this seat. If he follows through on that promise, it would leave the court hamstrung by its 4-4 split, possibly through its entire 2016-17 term.

This is shameless partisanship, and it could also be self-defeating. As Obama has warned, continued obstructionism on the Garland nomination could lead to an endless cycle of more tit for tat (that would) make it increasingly impossible for any president, Democrat or Republican, to carry out their constitutional function. Thats a message the president and Senate Democrats need to revive when the Senate returns to work after Labor Day.

Given the Republicans recalcitrance so far, such pressure might seem pointless. But where principle might not move Senate Republicans to do the right thing, politics might. With Donald Trump lagging in the polls, McConnell and his colleagues may be asking themselves whether confirming Garland in this Congress wouldnt be preferable to waiting to see who might be nominated next year by a President Hillary Clinton.

That course would be especially attractive if Clinton won and Garlands nomination was considered during a postelection lame-duck session. Although Clinton hasnt said she would renominate Garland if she was elected, she has said the president is on the right side of both the Constitution and history in pressing the Senate to act on the nomination. Over the weekend, Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine replied absolutely when he was asked whether the Garland nomination should be taken up in the lame-duck session.

If the Senate takes its responsibility to the Constitution seriously, it will act even sooner than that.

Genetic study is leading to depression advances

The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, Aug. 8:

When he was director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Tom Insel lamented the lack of known biomarkers for psychiatric diseases and the need for better science on mental illness. He marveled that science had unlocked so many secrets of the heart yet still knew so little about the brain. A new study shows that progress is being made.

The study of about 460,000 people, some diagnosed with the disease and others unaffected by it, found variations associated with depression on 15 areas of the human genome. Time magazine described the findings as the bad lines of genetic code that may lead to the disease. The study, published by Nature Genetics, was conducted by researchers at the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, Massachusetts General Hospital and 23andMe, a genetic testing company that contributed patient data.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group, about 16 million Americans experienced depression last year, with women more likely to be affected than men. Despite suspicions of a genetic link, telltale signs have been elusive. NAMI says on its website that identical twins will both experience depression only 30 percent of the time, and researchers in the new study noted that previous efforts to find genetic links came up short.

The new findings may lead to new strategies for preventing and treating depression. But there are other depression-related mysteries to unravel, such as why people with depression have an elevated risk of Parkinsons disease and how medications that treat depression by manipulating neurotransmitters in the brain can be made to work more quickly or effectively.

In the future, more of such questions may be tackled by innovative research partnerships involving hospitals and the private sector, with the help of big data sets of the kind amassed by 23andMe.

Cybersecurity should not be a partisan issue

The following editorial was written by Bloomberg View editors:

Of all the ugly incidents occasioned by the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, some of the most unsettling have unfolded invisibly  specifically, online. In June, for example, it became clear that the Democratic National Committee had been hacked. Hillary Clintons campaign was likely attacked, too, along with a key Democratic political outfit.

The attacks are being investigated, and the motivations behind them remain murky. Nonetheless, they illuminate something important about politics in the digital age: Campaigns are by definition partisan, but the issue of protecting them shouldnt be.

Campaign organizations, by their nature, are inviting targets for hackers. They rely heavily on volunteers, who are often untrained in cybersecurity. Theyre convenient repositories of damaging information, both about their opponents (whose liabilities are cataloged in oppo files) and about their own candidates (whose every flaw must be aired to anticipate attacks). Theyre rich veins of financial data, and the power dynamics they reveal. And they cant help but expose all the gossip, drama, ego trips and penny-ante enmities that haunt every political operation. That kind of information is immensely useful for an opponent  or for a foreign agent.

Parties and campaigns should recognize that the data they collect is a powerful asset, and dangerous in the wrong hands. They need to be far more vigilant about protecting it. That means that even far-flung campaign staff should understand the basics about avoiding phishing attacks, malicious links and malware, for instance. Sensitive financial information should be isolated from workaday email chains. And sometimes, its worth picking up the phone.

But the digital threats to politics are also evolving, making such basic precautions of limited use, and they could go beyond campaigns. Search engines and social media can have extraordinary influence on political behavior, quite legally and with no one the wiser. More alarming possibilities are also emerging. One is the prospect of an unfriendly nation mining these new data deposits and probing polling systems with the aim of not just stealing information but influencing an election.

Meanwhile, most Americans are probably unaware of just how vulnerable voting machines are to hacking. The worries are such that the Homeland Security Department is considering whether to designate electoral apparatus as critical infrastructure, and thus eligible for federal security funding.

Thats an idea worth considering, but probably insufficient. The fact is, these threats are only starting to dawn on the political world, and confronting them will require a wholesale rethinking of both campaigns and elections. It will take years  and its only a slight exaggeration to say that democracy itself is at stake.

Pot policies mired in the 70s

The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, Aug. 12:

The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act  on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless glaucoma sufferers, nauseated cancer patients and a raft of other ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering.

Last week, the DEA again rejected requests that it relist marijuana as a Schedule II drug (or lower), a major disappointment for those seeking looser controls. As long as marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug, researchers face stiff controls that limit legal access, even for study purposes. But the DEA also announced that it would expand the number of facilities authorized to grow cannabis for distribution to government-approved researchers.

Though the latter move is heartening, it is too little and too long in coming. Last year, just eight researchers received samples from the sole government-approved cannabis farm at the University of Mississippi. Increasing the supply and variety of research-ready marijuana could allow for more and broader studies. But the government should also commit to easing the approval process for scientists seeking to do the research needed to properly evaluate marijuana.

As it is, the federal government lags far behind the American people and many state governments when it comes to marijuana. A Gallup poll last year found 58 percent of respondents support some level of legalization. Support was higher among younger survey-takers than among seniors, suggesting that the political winds behind legalization will increase. Meanwhile, half of the states now allow medical marijuana despite the federal ban, and after November, as many as 10 states could allow some level of recreational use. That sets up a legal conflict between state and federal laws, which means that people growing and selling with the blessing of their state could face federal prosecution under a less marijuana-friendly administration than that of President Barack Obama.

This is a different kind of reefer madness. The DEA could have reclassified marijuana so that it could be treated like a prescription drug  subject to FDA oversight  for patients for whom it provides benefits. Instead, the DEA opted to keep its policies mired in the 1970s.
Twenty-two years ago, an Indian newsweekly fired a shot across the bow of the US State Department. Casting aspersions on the Instrument of Accession is tantamount  to questioning the foundation of Indias secular nationhood, and at the ground level, could be interpreted as a signal to Kashmiri separatists to increase terrorist violence against the Indian state. The provocation was, of course, Robin Raphels infamous remark during the Hazratbal standoff of the previous year, in which the US assistant secretary of state had declared that her country did not see Kashmir as for ever more an integral part of India, emphasised the strong indigenous element to the insurgency, and urged India to clean up their act.

Read: CRPF officer unfurled tricolour in Srinagar, killed in encounter hour later

A front-page story in this very newspaper damned Raphel as the goddess of Indian terrorists, secessionists and other outlaws. Considering the animosity she arouses in every patriotic heart, politicians are expected to treat her as an untouchable, said the Hindustan Times, warning that Raphel would use this countrys soil to reaffirm the Clinton administrations commitment to destabilise India.

How times change. Kashmir faces its third and most serious bout of unrest since the insurgency petered out in the early 2000s. Following spikes of protest and violence in 2008 and 2010, the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani last month has catalysed a broad and sustained challenge to Indian rule across the valley. And yet the State Department, bete noire of the Ministry of External Affairs for so much of the 1990s, was content to pronounce Kashmir is an internal matter of India -- a line that might have been crafted in South Block. The Americans were, of course, gravely concerned, and urged the proverbial restraint on all sides. But when their spokesman was asked whether the US considered Kashmir to be disputed, or whether it still supported UN resolutions on the state, he dodged with all the agility of an Olympic gymnast.

What explains this shift? Samir Saran and Ashok Malik, both of the Observer Research Foundation, last week put forward two arguments in this newspaper. One, the international community is tired of experiments with self-determination, after violent challenges to established regimes in Iraq, Libya and Syria. Two, Kashmiri nationalism has been discredited by religion. In a post-9/11, post-Islamic State world, they write, the proposition that Islamists are fighting for freedom is neither sellable nor credible. Saran and Malik surely have a point. That Wani was eulogised in death both by thousands of Kashmiris and by Al Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) will not have gone unrecognised by those countries assessing the uprising from afar. The irony, of course, is that the number of militants active in Kashmir has steadily fallen, while unarmed protesters have come to the forefront.

Read: Kashmir crippled by lazy politics, needs greater outreach

But the diplomatic quietism on Kashmir has deeper roots than this. Labour-led Britain, in the 1990s, played up what then foreign secretary Robin Cook called its responsibility as the former imperial power. UN resolutions are UN resolutions until altered by the UN, said a minister in 1997, and India could not pick as you do from a menu card. But as Britain courts a growing Indian economy, and with the Conservative Party  less reliant on Pakistani-origin constituencies  firmly in charge, that narrative is confined to the margins of British politics. More broadly, Kashmir no longer looks like the humanitarian priority or global flashpoint it once did. Aleppo or Crimea has far greater claims to Europes attention, and both the press and national governments have limited foreign policy bandwidth.

What matters most, of course, is the American position. Washingtons posture has evolved in response to Pakistans catastrophic decision to invade Kargil in 1999, Indias successful linkage between Kashmir and international terrorism after 2001, the relative calm that developed in Kashmir in the decade after the 2003 ceasefire and, above all, the remarkable growth of US-India relations in the past 10 years. It is an enduring diplomatic truth that US criticism of allies domestic crackdowns is muted. Recent examples include Saudi Arabia in the Eastern Province, Bahrain in its Shia villages, Israel in the occupied territories, and Pakistan in Balochistan.

Read: Pakistans terror bill: $118 billion spent in last 15 years

The US had spent the 1980s working with the ISI to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan. Today, it has spent 15 years losing US troops at the hands of Pakistan-sponsored insurgents in the same country. Washington has little reason to support Pakistans diplomacy on Kashmir, and no shortage of reasons to avoid drawing Indias ire. The sea change in the shape of the India-US-Pakistan triangle is ultimately responsible for Indias diplomatic freedom of manoeuvre on Kashmir  the freedom to pursue the policy of no compromise that Ram Madhav signalled on Sunday, and the diplomatic counter-attack on Balochistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir evident in PM Narendra Modis Independence Day speech on Monday.

Shashank Joshi is Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute in London.

The views expressed are personal.
For victims of sexual violence, coming to terms with the incident is always a traumatic emotional and physical challenge. But that effort is made infinitely more difficult by the State, society and publicity-hungry politicians.

Take for example, the recent case of the Bulandshahr gang rape victims: The family said that it is becoming impossible for them to stay in their house thanks to visits by politicians, the media, their relatives and the local people.

The victims, reports added, are even finding it difficult to take time out to meet the two female counsellors assigned to them by the Uttar Pradesh government, in accordance with rules that mandate counselling for rape victims, especially minors.

Read: Bulandshahr rape: Wish we never came back, please leave us alone, pleads family

The first thing a rape victim needs is counselling. The counsellors barely manage to talk to her for an hour a day. They havent talked about the incident at all. They have built a friendship with the girl, though, and this is the only way to help her come out of the trauma, one of the counsellors told HT.

Advocate Shilpi Jain told HT this invasion of privacy also makes a mockery of the law protecting the identity of a rape victim. The law was made to protect the victim from mental agony and the torture of recalling the episode repeatedly. But the moment the media and politicians land up, everyone knows who has been raped and the locals start talking.

And then there are leaders like Samajwadi Partys Azam Khan.

When a group of BJP leaders went to meet the family (also not entirely an apolitical visit, considering the assembly elections are next year), Khan suggested the incident to be an opposition conspiracy.

We need to investigate whether this is a conspiracy by opponents who want to defame the government, said the formidable SP leader.

Read: Bulandshahr gangrape victims dont get counselling amid political circus

After initial political and media frenzy, however, everyone loses interest in such cases, leaving the victims to the mercy of the police and a byzantine legal system.

Remember the Simbhaoli rape case?

A 28-year-old Muslim woman was gang raped by two local residents of Simbhaoli of Hapur district in December 2015.

The case got a lot of traction when the village elders ordered the victim to drop the case after getting a compensation of Rs 50,000 from the culprits.

Read: Dropped off headlines: 40 km from Bulandshahr, a gang-rape victim under siege

The media got to know about the case and the police were eventually forced to lodge an FIR and arrest the duo.

But today, the woman has no one to turn to: The case is in the court and she has been ostracised by the local community. She has not even managed a ration card because influential elders in the village dont cooperate. And to top it all, she has no job and a family of four to look after.

Even at the risk of sounding pessimistic, the same fate could befall the Bulandshahr victims.

This is because other than pious (but follow) words, there is no concerted effort to remove the stigma of rape and a State-mandated support structure that can provide rape victims with legal, financial and psychological support.

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The surge in Dalit protests and the Dalit Asmita Yatra in Gujarat (which concluded in Una on August 15) may have taken many by surprise but the reservoir of resentment that fuelled the 10-day march has been filling up for years.

What happened in Una [the flogging of Dalit men by cow vigilantes on July 11] wasnt a one-off incident. Such atrocities have been happening for a long time. But finally the community has realised that they have been treated as slaves by caste-Hindus and some sensitisation has happened, YS Alone, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a strong Dalit voice, told HT. The public beating of Dalit men in Una was a reminder to the community that they are second-class citizens of the Republic.

Read: Massive Dalit gathering in Una marks end of 10-day protest rally

Former bureaucrat and now a social activist Harsh Mander concurs with Alone. In Looking Away, he writes: The benefits of social development and economic growth  employment, education, nutrition, health care, clean water, sanitation, housing and social protection  have reached far fewer numbers of historically disadvantaged groups like women, tribal people, Dalits and Muslims than the rest of the population.

It is not surprising then that the young leader of the Dalit Asmita Yatra, Jignesh Mevani, has been speaking of forging an alliance of the marginalised groups such as Dalits, Muslims, women and tribals.

The 2011 India Human Development Report shows, for instance, that despite the overall decline in Indias poverty rate, the incidence of poverty among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is higher than the national average by 8.5 percentage points.

It is not just lack of economic well-being that has dogged the marginalised communities: Gujarats record of atrocities against Dalits is shameful.

According to a 2010 study by Navsarjan, a non-profit, around 5% of such cases result in acquittal against the national average of 28%. The study covered more than 1,500 villages of Gujarat and recorded various forms of discrimination practised against Dalits.

A demand for land reforms

The Dalit Asmita Yatra was not just a movement for human rights but also a demand for their share of natural resources that can help the community to leave, as Mevani said, the cows tail and improve their economic fortunes.

The Gujarat Land Ceilings Act and the Governments agricultural policy have provisions to apportion 5 acres each of land to Dalit families. This must be done. Immediately... This is a social revolution for Dalits economic upliftment [sic], Mewani told reporters recently.

Agrees Alone: There has been only cosmetic land reforms in Gujarat. This has pushed the Dalits to menial jobs such as scavenging. Gandhi, Modi have written against scavenging but no one has provided alternate means of employment to them. The idea of all-round transformation of society has just remained an idea; it has always been a political power game.

Of Indias 200 million Dalits, 2.3% live in Gujarat and make around 7% of the states population. More than 80% of the Dalits in Gujarat are daily labourers, the majority of whom work in the agricultural sector. Half of the Scheduled Caste population is landless or owns less than one acre of land.

Read: Gujarat Dalit protests injustice by giving up his profession: Skinning cattle

One good thing about the movement is that it has forged an alliance between Dalits and tribals, said activist Ashok Chaudhury. The governments plan to link Narmada and Ganga will submerge at least 50,000 tribal villages the tribals are concerned and angry about this... unsurprisingly they have joined the Dalit movement. Then there is the issue of Forests Rights Act; its dilution is also upsetting the tribal communities across India.

WATCH: Being a Dalit in independent India - Sanghapali Aruna Lohitakshi

Last but not the least, what does the movement say about the Gujarat development model?

It had a very limited agenda from the beginning... now the yatra has exposed Gujarats best kept secret, added Chaudhury.

Read: Word for word: When Dalits use jokes, puns to protest in Gujarat

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Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar on Monday said that he doesnt know if he is suitable to play late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray in his biopic, something he feels that the makers need to decide.

At a media interaction for the success of his recent film Rustom, Akshay was asked if he would like to play the character of Balasaheb and he said, I dont know whether I suit the character first of all, whoever makes it will have to first think if I suit the character or not.

Read: Big box office clash - Rustom wins big against Mohenjo Daro on first day

When asked which actor he feels will be suitable, he said, I dont know about it. Rather people should think about it, because it is not a small personality, its a big personality that youre talking about. So I cannot answer it like this.

Akshays name is one of the names that has cropped up for the biopic. Thackerays grandson Rahul and his daughter-in-law Smita are currently in the process of making a biopic on the late leader.

Watch Rustom trailer:

Akshays Rustom was a sort of a biopic, as it was based on real events -- a 1959 case where a naval officer had killed his wifes lover.

About the trend of biopics, Akshay said, I think biopics have been picked up by audience in a good way and its great that biopic is about a great persons story which comes in front of the audience and they would love to see how they became great, so its good to make biopics. Biopics work for India, so its good that India is making it.

Read: Rustom review - Akshay Kumar delivers an intriguing courtroom drama

Rustom has earned more than Rs 50 crore in the first three days.

About the success of the film, Akshay said, I felt very good when the audience response was good. As far as the collections are concerned, I am not an antaryami, I cant say till where the collections will go. I can definitely say that it felt very good that the opening of the film was good.

Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar during the screening of film Rustom in Mumbai. (IANS)

It was not confidence, I was nervous. when a film releases, no one knows about what is going to happen. And definitely, I had liked its screenplay and the script and thats why I had done the film. That was the only confidence, but there was nervousness.

Akshay will next be seen in the film Jolly LLB 2 and the sequel of Rajinikanths Robot.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
A few days ago, it was reported that Salman Khan has a new leading lady in his next film, Tubelight. Her name is Zhu Zhu, and she is an internationally acclaimed Chinese film and television actor. Formerly a VJ, Zhu Zhu has also worked with Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Hanks in Cloud Atlas (2012), and with Russell Crowe in The Man With The Iron Fists (2012).

As director Kabir Khans film goes on the floors, Zhu Zhu is confident that it is going to be another amazing experience for her. I am thrilled to have this chance to work with Salman. I have seen his films, and Im very charmed by his talent, says the actor, adding that when she read the films script, she was deeply touched by its spirit.

Read: Salman Khans Tubelight wraps shoot in Ladakh, gives him time to sightsee

I am sure this is going to be another amazing experience in my career and in my life, she says. Zhu Zhu, who also lent her voice to the character of Viper in the Chinese dubbed version of the hit film Kung Fu Panda 3, says she is honoured to be part of the Hindi film. Kabir is not only a brilliant filmmaker, but he also always showcases humanity, love and the lives of ordinary people in his movies, which everyone in the world can relate to, she says.

Read: Even God doesnt know when Salman will get married, says Salim Khan

Kabir, who held auditions in Hong Kong and also in cities such as Beijing (China) and Los Angeles (USA), says he liked Zhu Zhu immediately. He adds, She has a strong screen presence, and is a fantastic actor. Salman and she will make an interesting onscreen couple.

Chinese actor Zhu Zhu is set for a grand Bollywood debut with Tubelight starring Salman Khan.

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MUMBAI

Shares of Indias second-largest IT firm, Infosys, fell 3.25% on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, an eight-month low, after Royal Bank of Scotland said last week it will no longer pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G).

Infosys was W&Gs programme technology partner for consulting, application delivery and testing services.

The domestic IT major also said it would carry out ramp-down of at least 3,000 people, mainly in India, over the next few months, following the cancellation of the contract.

Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for consulting, application delivery and testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months, Infosys said in a statement.

An Infosys spokesperson clarified that these jobs are not being cut and that the employees will be reallocated to other projects.

While Infosys has not specified the impact of the cancellation, market analysts peg it at around $40 million.

The loss of the five-year 300-million pound RBS deal could force Infosys to further downgrade revenue guidance for 2016-17. The company had in July slashed its annual sales outlook, citing weak demand to 10.5% to 12% in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.5% to 13.5%.
Oil prices remained near five-week highs on Tuesday, fuelled by talk of producers taking action to prop up the market, although some investors cashed in during Asian hours on the 16 percent rally since early August.

Brent crude futures were trading at $48.35 per barrel at 0737 GMT, flat from their last close, but over 15 percent higher than the $41.51 low for the month on Aug. 2.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at $45.76 a barrel, up 2 cents from its previous close, and still over 16 percent above its $39.19 monthly low from Aug. 3.

Traders said earlier price declines were the result of cashing in following the two-week long rally.

The gains were driven by expectations from investors that oil producers may take action, possibly freezing output, to rein in ballooning oversupply.

Crude oil rose to a four-week high as speculation continued to mount that OPEC would discuss a potential cap on production at an upcoming meeting between the members of the group. Russia joined in, saying it was open to such talks as well, ANZ bank said.

Led by top exporter Saudi Arabia, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has re-launched a debate about oil producers potentially capping soaring output in an effort to reduce a global overhang in production and inventories of crude oil and refined fuel products.

Many traders, however, voiced their doubts over OPECs ability to agree amongst its divided members, and expect talks will fail just as they did in April.

Analysts also said that concerns over oil production in Venezuela were backing higher markets.

News of an imminent collapse in oil output from Venezuela also supported prices, ANZ said.

Venezuela, which holds the worlds largest crude oil reserves, is on track to suffer its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it struggles with an economic and political crisis and years of underinvestment and mismanagement.

In the 12 months to June, Venezuelas crude output fell 9 percent to 2.36 million barrels per day (bpd), and trade data seen by Reuters show that state-controlled oil firm PDVSAs crude exports, which account for 94 percent of the countrys hard currency income, fell to 1.19 million bpd in July, excluding independent sales made by its joint ventures.
American cab-hailing app company Uber may soon invest another $1 billion (around 6,688 crore) in India to outpace Bangalore-based rival Ola, as the company looks to expand operations in new cities, increase fleet size, subsidise rides and incentivise drivers. This is in addition to the $1 billion that Uber founder Travis Kalanick had promised to invest during his India visit in January.

Sources in the government told HT that Ubers executives have already held talks with officials regarding the fresh investment. An Uber official also confirmed the companys plans.

Uber recently announced a deal to sell its China business to local rival Didi Chuxing for an ownership stake of 18% in the combined China entity, valued at $35 billion, with Didi also buying a $1 billion stake in Uber.

After it exited China, India has become Ubers second-largest market by the number of trips it clocks.

India is an under-penetrated market when it comes to cars  30 vehicles for every 1,000 people.

It is difficult for me to comment, Ubers India head Amit Jain said when asked about the companys new plans.

He, however, said Ubers focus on India is absolute. We will continue to do whatever it takes to grow the business, invest in the market, and move towards the business that we talked about.

During his visit to India in January, Kalanick had said Uber will double the investment in the country if the growth is fast and there is substantial return-on-investment. Uber recently added over a 1,00,000 vehicles, taking its total fleet size in India to 4,00,000 cabs. It has also added bike taxis and autos. According to reports, it has also hired three top executives to its Indian management team to strengthen its business development, engineering and communication arms.

However, the company is facing some regulatory overhangs. The Delhi government has proposed that all cabs, including Uber and Ola, should have meters installed. Uber tracks distance using GPS.

We are using a more accurate way of measuring distance It is money saving for our driver partners, said Jain.

Uber currently has a balance sheet of $11 billion, and is also the worlds most valuable startup, with a valuation of $68 billion. With China, which required around a $1-billion investment every year, now out of the picture, a lot for Ubers money is likely to head towards India.

We can continue to invest in developing markets, including India, South East Asia and Latin America for quite some time, Jain said.

Ola and Uber have been competing neck-to-neck for the last three years. While Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd) is still the leader in India, Uber is catching up. Indias cab business, according to SoftBank Group, is likely to be worth $7 billion by 2020.

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NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India TS Thakur was disappointed on Monday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi failed to mention stalled judicial appointments in his Independence Day speech, a crisis the nations top judge believes is crippling the courts.

Thakur urged the government at the Supreme Court Bar Associations August 15 event to pay attention to the judiciary, especially appointment of judges.

I was hoping he will speak about issues plaguing the justice delivery system. However, he did not, said the CJI, who has threatened to pass orders if the Centre didnt clear the logjam.

Later in the evening, the chief justice met the PM at the Presidents Independence Day at home function. They chatted for 20 minutes at Rashtrapati Bhavan, sharing their thoughts with hearty laughter.

Thakurs remarks after Modis Red Fort address followed law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad s assurance that the government was committed to judicial independence.

Our government is led by senior ministers who fought against the Emergency. Our government feels that effective judicial delivery is integral to good governance and appointment is part of it, Prasad said.

He promised to quicken the process and hoped the top courts collegium will work as a team.

But Thakur appeared unimpressed, saying if the government remained stubborn, so would the judiciary.

During the British era, a verdict in a case used to come out in 10 years. However, today, even 100 years are not enough due to a lack of judges, the CJI said.

Peoples aspirations are increasing and a large number of cases are being filed. But, there are no judges.

Thakur lashed out at the government on Friday for allegedly stalling the appointment of high court judges.

If this logjam goes on, well be forced to judicially interfere with the government. We will ask for every file sent to you by the collegiums. You have log-jammed the entire process, he told attorney general Mukul Rohatgi.

The chief justice recited lines from Urdu poet Allama Iqbal to stress his point: Gul fenke auron par, samar bhi, E abr-e-karam, e-behr-e-sakha, kuch to idhar bhi (You gave fruits and flowers to others but O cloud of beneficence, wave of friendship, do bestow something on us too).

I have reached the peak of my career and from here I have nowhere to go. So I will not hesitate to say anything, he said.

Indias 24 high courts have nearly four million cases pending before them while another 30 million cases clog trial courts. But clearing this backlog is considered virtually impossible with the current strength of judges  in the high courts, 478 posts out a sanctioned strength of 1,056 remain vacant.

Even in the top court that was originally set up in 1951 to oversee 1,215 cases by eight judges, now 31 judges have to decide on a staggering 60,000 cases annually. The CJI has said in the past that the country needed to double the number of judges from its current strength of 21,000.

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SRINAGAR: As the nation soaked in patriotic fervour celebrated its 70th Independence Day on Monday, J&K was rattled by fresh militant violence, which claimed three lives, including that of a CRPF officer, and explosions shattered the brittle calm in Assam and Manipur.

The Valley, in the grip of violence for nearly 40 days now, saw militants mount a morning assault on security forces in Srinagar, resulting in the death of the commanding officer of CRPFs 49th Battalion Pramod Kumar and two militants. Kumar, thrice decorated with CRPFs director generals commendation, had also served in the Special Protection Group for three years.

Two blasts rocked Manipur capital Imphal an hour before the official Independence Day celebrations were to start, but no casualties were reported.

Several militant organisations have called for a boycott of Independence Day celebrations in the state often rocked by insurgent violence.

Five bomb explosions by suspected ULFA-Independent militants rocked upper Assams Charaido and Tinsukia districts on Monday morning but there were no casualties.
NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Monday a nearly 50% increase in minimum wages for the Capitals workforce, underscoring his governments push for economic parity to counter a growing rich-poor divide.

He urged his counterparts and the Prime Minister to revise wages across India, saying policies that take care of only the super-rich wont work and governments should take care of the poor.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments proposal is to raise the minimum monthly wage of an unskilled person from Rs 9,568 to Rs 14,052. Besides, wages for semi-skilled and skilled people will increase from Rs 10,582 to Rs 15,471 and from Rs 11,622 to Rs 17,033.

In an industrial unit, a mechanic and welder would be classified skilled, his helper would be semi-skilled, while an ordinary labourer would be called unskilled, a government official said.

The chief minister made the announcement at an Independence-Day event in north Delhis Chhatrasal Stadium, saying his cabinet will clear the proposal this week.

Those who have less in life should have more in law. The A AP government works for all  rich, poor, middle-class. But it focuses more on the middle-class and poor, and works the most for the poor, Kejriwal said.

All commercial establishments and industry under the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954, will have to implement the revised rates. But the benefit is unlikely to reach domestic helps and workers in unorganised home units, which are not within the law s ambit.

Kejriwals announcement was expected as an empowered committee constituted by his government in April recommended last week a hike in minimum wages across board.

Traders and industrialists are unhappy with the wage revision, arguing that they might lose business to satellite cities such as Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon because of costlier labour in New Delhi.

Kejriw al allayed their fears after labour minister Gopal Rai informed him on Friday about the possible impacts of a wage revision.

The chief minister said more money in the pockets of poor will strengthen the economy.

In the existing economic model, the super-rich have become richer and the poor has become poorer. Now, the governments will have to take the responsibility of making targeted policies for people living on the margins.
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has decided to hire young engineers to help them in implementing its ambitious plan to make the Capital open defecation free.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), the agency that implements development programmes at slums, plans to construct two lakh public toilets across Delhi in the next five years. As many as 1.5 lakh of these toilets will be in the slum clusters.

Sources said over 250 engineers from IIT, Delhi Technological University and other prestigious engineering colleges have applied for 50 posts that the Delhi government seeks to fill. Many others working with some multi-national companies have also applied for the post which offers a pay of Rs Rs 25,000 per month.

The government has also hired post graduates to conduct a survey for its slum-free city plan. They will work with Delhi government for six months. Later, their contract may get extended.

We have a shortage of engineers and recruiting them is a long process. The government decided to hire engineers on contract basis to expedite the development work. They will help us in building toilets and also in maintaining them, said a DUSIB official.

According to the government, over five lakh residents in the national Capital defecate in the open. Lack of public toilets is not the only reason behind people going to relieve themselves in the open. Improper maintenance of the public loos and restrictive timings also forces those without a permanent toilet at their premises to defecate in the open.

There are around 100 slum clusters in Delhi that lack toilet facilities. Women residents have to walk long distances to relieve themselves.

In June, the Hindustan Times reported how children were going missing from a slum in outer Delhis Shahbad Dairy where residents use a nearby forest for relieving themselves. Women and children who defecate in the open are prone to fall prey to sex offenders.

A survey found out that there are 259 open defecation spots in Delhi. It also said that there is a need for 24,036 toilet seats across 70 assembly constituencies. The DUSIB has proposed to construct 17,846 toilet seats before March 2017.

We recently submitted a representation to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal proposing to construct toilets in the next 7-8 months. We asked MLAs to identify areas where toilets are required. A constituency-wise plan has been prepared, said a DUSIB official.

The government has decided to repair the existing toilets and penalise agencies for their poor upkeep. There are three types of toilets in the city  individual, constructed by different agencies; community, which are in the slums and maintained by the DUSIB; and public toilets, which are managed by the civic bodies.

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NEW DELHI: Very few 13-year-olds get to talk to a prime minister. Karishma Kashyap and Naina, Class 8 students from Sarvodaya School, had that special moment on Monday.

He came to us and said hi. We greeted the Prime Minister. How cool is that? I will always remember this day, said Karishma, dressed in a yellow shirt, pants and cap.

They were among the students in yellow-and-blue, who Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopped out of his car, to meet.

Even the ones who didnt get to meet him cant stop talking about him. PM Modi said that children should not take the wrong path and go towards terrorism and violence. Instead, they should focus on fulfilling the dreams of their parents. It made me want to work hard and become a doctor or an engineer like my mother says, said Sambhav Jain, a Class 7 student from Jain Senior Secondary School in Daryaganj.

But children are not the only ones excited. People flocked from different parts of the country to hear Modi address the nation from the Red Fort.

Mahantesh Bajantri, 30, a UPSC aspirant, got his parents to Delhi from Belgaum in Karnataka, to see the event they had only seen on television. I came to Delhi to prepare for UPSC and I decided to get my parents here for the event. They have never seen a political address before, so they were very excited, he said.

Ankita Tiwari, 25, a fashion designer from Dehradun, Uttarakhand had been planning to attend the event for the past six years. I did my graduation from Delhi and since then have wanted to be back for Independence Day. I decided to finally come and see it this year, she said.

The hot sun and the long speech, however, drained some peoples enthusiasm. Halfway through the PMs speech, seats started emptying out.

Sanaa, 23, who travelled to Delhi from Kanpur to see the Independence Day event up close, left before it ended. I watch the Independence Day and the Republic Day events on TV every year and came to Delhi his year to see the actual event, she said.

When Modis speech did not end by 8.30am, she and her friend bowed out. I really wanted to sing the national anthem at the end, but it became really hot and the speech just didnt end, said Sanaa, who goes by one name.

Prateek Gupta and Rohit Kapoor, who work with a telecom company in Gurgaon, were turned away as they were carrying cell phones, which were banned at the venue due to security reasons.

They sat under a tree near the first barricade to watch the event on a big screen but left 30 minutes into the speech when the heat became unbearable.

A government official, who did not want to be named, left the venue 20 minutes after the start of the 94-minutes speech. A circular was issued making it mandatory for us to attend and though we all are proud of the celebration, it is better to watch it on TV, he said.

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked Pakistan over alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir, signalling an aggressive shift in Indias foreign policy during a fiery Independence Day speech targeting the neighbouring country.

The broadside at Pakistan was the high point of his 94-minute speech and part of the governments attempts to counter Islamabads ploy of raising in international forums alleged human rights abuses by Indian security forces in Kashmir.

At least 60 people have died and 2,000 injured in the Valley in a month-long spell of violence sparked by the killing of a militant leader in July.

I want to specially thank some special people from the Red Fort. In the last few days, people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir had conveyed good wishes and gratitude to me, Modi said in his address from the ramparts of the 17th century Red Fort, a tradition started by Jawaharlal Nehrus historic tryst with destiny speech in 1947.

India and Pakistan, both born out of independence from Britain, celebrated their 70th Independence Day a day apart.

I have never seen these lands or met them. But when they congratulate (the) Indian Prime Minister, they congratulate our 1.25 crore people. And this is why I am grateful from the bottom of my heart to the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied Kashmir.

In a sharp retort, Pakistans foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz said Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian-occupied Kashmir over the past five weeks.

The Congress also said that by raking up Balochistan, Modi was ruining Indias case on PoK.

PoK is our...entitlement. We will support it. But by bringing in Balochistanwe are going to ruin our own case on PoK, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said.

Modi did not mention Kashmir where many areas are still under curfew. India has accused the western neighbour of stoking unrest in the Valley.

During an all-party meeting on Kashmir last week Modi said the time has come to expose Islamabads brutalities on its own people in the three restive areas where Pakistans security forces are accused of carrying out extra-judicial killings in crackdowns on dissidents.

What kind of life is this, inspired by terrorism? What kind of government set-up is it that is inspired by terrorism? asked Modi.

The world will know about it and thats sufficient for me, said Modi, the first Indian PM to raise in an Independence Day speech rights abuses by Pakistani security forces in these areas.

He mentioned how India was devastated to hear about the killing of students in an army school in Peshawar.

It brought tears in Parliament and every corner of India. This is our culture of humanity. On the other side, killing of innocents by terrorists are celebrated by a government inspired by terrorism, said Modi who sported a red, pink and yellow turban.

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NEW DELHI: They are everywhere. Outside temples, at traffic signals, on pavements, dividers and under yellow halogen street lights. Nameless and homeless in this city of 20 million, they remain unidentified when they die. On Sunday, police found the body of a man in his 30s. Without a name, he became a serial number in police records: UND16CL0047 (serial no. given to his body).

In Delhi, where no census or government body can put a number on the homeless population, HTs reporters visited the homeless on roads, below flyovers, in parks, atop parked cycle rickshaws and in night shelters.

Delhis homeless are of many types. Some live alone, some work and return to shelters only to spend the night. Many are jobless and depend on Samaritans who visit shelters every day to distribute food.

Many men lie to their families about having their own home in Delhi. Some families have lived in shelters for more than 10 years. Not all homeless are beggars, drug addicts or criminals. Not all beggars are homeless either. Every homeless had a story to share.

Last month, a 35-year-old woman living on the street for over two decades was allegedly molested and robbed by a cop in the heart of Delhi.

A 45-year-old who has lost all his friends to AIDS and drug addiction knows his end is near but he wont stop injecting himself.

A woman, begging outside a city temple, said shes a farmers wife who comes to Delhi to beg twice a week hoping to pay off a debt she has owed a villager for 20 years.

In the five-part series, HT will highlight the problems of the homeless and give a sense of how they live.

SPACE FOR 16,174 HOMELESS

The governments 197 night shelters have a capacity of only 16,174 people. Only 86 shelters are permanent structures (buildings). The rest are portable cabins. Since 2000, nine surveysincluding one by the Commissioner soft he Supreme Court put the number of homeless between 52,000 and 2,46,000. Around 22,000 check into shelters each night and the rest sleep on road sides and in parks.

This summer, the number of unidentified homeless who died in old and north Delhiwhere most homeless resideis over 400. Police say most are addicts, who died of drug overdose or dehydration.

The problem of homeless can be solved only when the government is serious , says Sunil Aledia, from the Centre for Holistic Development, an NGO working for the homeless.

Sun il says the government and the press talk about homeless only during the winters when they die of cold. Do you know the government has no summer action plan for the homeless? We filed an RTI seeking details about their summer action plan and were surprised when they replied that no plan exists. Even the press remembers the homeless only in winter and come to night shelters for a photo shoot. The rest of the time, they are forgotten.

SHELTER PROBLEM

In 10 years, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, under the state governments social welfare department, spent Rs 10.90 crore on NGOs running the 197 shelters. Every month, at least Rs 45,000 is released per shelter. But in 2016, no audit or inspection has been carried by the government, says a RTI reply from DUSIB to a city NGO.

DUSIB CEO VK Jain said the RTI reply pertained to one division while the shelters are divided into 12. Recently we had cancelled the contract of NGOs at 70 night shelters, who were not working properly. Regular inspection is carried by senior officers and a report is submitted, Jain.

In most shelters, residents say they are at the mercy of NGOs and have no grievance mechanism.

The government should inspect and see how we are living, a woman at the Bangla Saheb shelter compound said. As she pointed at two large holes on the doors of the two womens shelters near her. A week later, when HT visited the shelter, men stood outside while inside women slept and a few women changed clothes. The cardboards that had covered the holes was torn off giving the men a view of the women. Outside the shelter, the mobile toilets had no latch. Two cases of rape were reported here three months ago. Among the homeless, women are the most vulnerable as HT found out.
NEW DELHI: Shruti*, a Class 7 student of a government school, came back home bleeding after the plaster and building material fell on her head from the ceiling of her classroom.

Students of Government Boys Senior Secondary School no. 2 in north-west Delhis Mubarakpur Dabas shifted to the newly-constructed two-floor building six months ago. The school runs in double shift  girls in the morning and boys in the evening.

However, just a few months after construction was completed, plaster from the walls and ceiling of the building has started falling and the building looks like it was constructed several decades ago.

When HT visited the school, there were stones lying on the floor, which the school management committee members said, had fallen from the ceiling and wall. In some classrooms, the desks, chairs and the floor were covered in sand and dust.

This has happened because poor quality construction material was used. The safety of thousands of students is at stake, said Surender Hooda, school management committee (SMC) member.

There are around 1,800 students in the morning shift and 1,500 in the evening. The school has 40 classrooms.

The principal of the evening shift said that a complaint has been sent to the government and repair has started.

It concerns the safety of our children so we have asked the government for necessary action. This building was built by the public works department, said Lal Singh, principal of the school.

Education director Saumya Gupta said that the PWD should answer why the building is in such a bad state. The head of the school has been given the power to start the repair work and told that the children should be kept away, said Gupta.

However a senior PWD official said he will not be able to comment on the matter due to lack of details.

It took three years to build the school. Even earlier, when it was being built, four rooms had collapsed and the work was restarted after a lot of problems, said Hooda.

The new school building was built at an estimated cost of Rs 4.5 crore.

The school is located close to the main road so when heavy vehicles pass by, the building shakes, said Javed Akhlaqi, the vice-chairman of the school SMC.

(*Name of the student has been changed to protect identity)

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NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old woman was injured after she chased two robbers who snatched her bag that contained life-saving medicines for her mother.

The incident was reported from Mandawli, just days after a 28-year-old woman died chasing snatchers in outer Delhi.

The woman, Ankita Singh, reportedly fell on the railway culvert while chasing the robbers and injured herself. The robbers managed to flee.

Based on the womans complaint, the police have registered a case.

Singh told the police that she was returning home in Mandawali, with her ailing mother, around 6 pm when the robbers snatched the bag. She said the bag had Rs 20,000 cash. She had saved the money for her mothers treatment. The disease that Ankitas mother is suffering from was not immediately known.

Singh said she was at the railway bridge near Mandawali when two youths sitting on the bridges railings snatched her handbag and fled towards a bushy patch, a senior police officer said.

Instead of raising an alarm, Singh chased the men for over a kilometre, the officer said.

She said that the men were challenging her to catch them. They went down a slope and Singh followed. She even managed to catch up with them and held her bag, but they pushed her back. The snatchers then managed to flee and Singh was injured. She fell on the thorny bushes and injured her foot and arms, he said.

Singhs mother raised alarm and the passersby rushed to help Singh. They found her lying on the thorny bushes. They took her to the hospital. In her statement, Singh told the police that she requested the men to take the cash but leave the medicines but they smiled at her.

A case was registered at the Mandawali police station.
Independence Day and a few days before and after it are a busy time for doctors at Jain Bird Hospital. They have admitted 510 birds injured due to manja threads  nylon and one fortified using crushed glass  during the time.

It is a yearly occurrence but this year the numbers are higher.

We got around 350 birds for the same duration last year. This year, I think we will have around 1,100 cases till Rakhi, said Sunil Jain, the manager.

For the first time, a peacock was entangled in manja was brought to the hospital. I had not seen that before, Jain said.

Less than four kilometres away, two brothers treat raptors  bird of prey  and house them on their rooftop as they recuperate.

We got 28 black kites and one pigeon on Monday and will get around 20 kites by Tuesday night. In all cases, it is the Chinese manja that the birds have got entangled in, said Mohammad Saud, who runs Wildlife Rescue, with his brother Nadeem Shahzad.

Wildlife Rescue caters to kites, owls, eagles and hawks. The Jain Bird Hospital does not house them since they are birds of prey. Most are sent to the brothers.

The danger posed by manja is not new. It has fluttered feathers of animal rights activists for years now.

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, has rallied to have governments ban the deadly string and stick to saddi  a plain cotton thread.

The good thing about the Delhi governments ban is that it includes the Bareilly ka manja. Other governments such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra have banned only the Chinese nylon strings, said Nikunj Sharma, spokesperson, PETA.
It is hard to imagine that the cramped Chirag Dilli was once a glorious fort with a large ground, green pastures and water bodies. The present-day urban village, near Greater Kailash, is enclosed in the shape of a square within the ramparts of the fort wall and four gateways. While one of the gateways on the western end has been lost in urbanisation, the other three are falling apart.

The maze-like alleys of the village are difficult to navigate without the help of an insider. The lanes are dirty with poor sewerage system. Rampant unauthorised construction over the years has eaten up the large open spaces, leaving it struggling to retain its glorious past.

The village that came to be known after a great Sufi mystic Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag Dehlavi, still looks up to the patron saint. His mausoleum still has the huge old tree in the middle, under which people would relax during the summers. Old-timers recall that post Partition, a large number of people took refuge in the dargah.

The village has a sizeable Jat and Gujjar population. Khemchand Ahlawat, 92, who was born and raised in the area, said, Even today when our children fall sick, we take them to the dargah. People are actually healed after visiting the shrine. The dargah still has a khirni tree, which is as old as the shrine. Its fruit is also believed to have healing properties.

Read: Calm reigns at Chirag Dehlavis mausoleum

Ahlawat remembers that till 1942, a mix of Hindu and Muslim population in the village lived in harmony and participated in social events together. At that time there was great warmth among people. Whenever there was an attack by an outside force, the two communities would give shelter to each other and make sure the other is safe. Those were different times, he said.

He said, at that time, there were no other residential areas except Nizamuddin and Dilli Gate. All these colonies including Sunder Nagar, Kaka Nagar and Greater Kailash came up later. There used to be kachha (dirt) roads and forest areas, Ahlawat added.

The ancient dargah is also crumbling now. Plaster is falling off the domes and the structure needs immediate repair. Residents claimed that the authorities have never restored this structure or the three archways that lead to the colony.

Legend has it that Chirag Dilli nullah used to be a stream of fresh water and was used for bathing royal animals. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

According to the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) report, improving the area requires infusion of new socio-cultural amenities, upgradation of infrastructure and streetscape. Only a few old houses are now left in the village and merely 20% of the original residents now stay here while the rest are tenants. Besides, there is a small set of old communities such as potters and weavers. The population of the colony, which had only a few hundred houses back in 1900s, is more than a lakh today.

DP Bharadwaj, whose family has been living here since 1920s, said the village land was equal to seven revenue estates (72 bigha and 14 biswa). There were 13 wells here, all of which are covered now. Besides, an unauthorised auto stand has come up on the land of a large johad, which dried up a decade ago. Residents said that since parking was an issue here, they requested the municipal corporation to build a parking lot in this space. However, since the surface had water beneath, it could not be approved for any construction. Now unauthorized construction by the builder mafia is eating up the space and leading to vertical growth. There is no place to park vehicles, as no open spaces have been left. They have turned it into a concrete jungle, said Bharadwaj.

He added, that it was the only village at that time which had a middle school where students from at least 22 neighbouring villages would come to study. After that people would go to Mehrauli high school for further studies.

Boys and girls from surrounding villages such as Khanpur, Madangir, Khirki, Hauz Rani, Begampur, Said-ul-Ajaib, Tughlaqabad and Shahpur Jat, among others would come to the first District Board Anglo Vernacular (DBAV) middle school. The school was here till 1957, said Bharadwaj.

When their children fall sick, residents bring them to the shrine of their patron saint Chirag Dehlavi for blessings. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

The Legend of Chirag Dehlavi

The title Roshan Chirag-e-Dilli was conferred on the Sufi mystic Nasiruddin Mahmud Chirag Dehlavi by Feroze Shah Tughlaq, the sultan of Delhi (1351-1388) after he was humbled by the greatness of the saint. The village grew around the tomb in 1800s and still goes by his name.

As the legend goes, the saint was approached by masons who were then working on building the Tughlaqbad fort. They would work at the fort in the day and in the night they would dig the baoli (stepwell) at Hazrat Nizamuddins dargah. When the emperor came to know about it, he got angry and stopped the supply of oil to them. The masons went to Hazrat Nizamuddin for a solution, who directed them to approach his disciple Nasiruddin Mahmud for a solution.

The workers then went to him and Mahmud asked them to use the baoli water to light the lamps in order to continue the work. The water actually lit the lamps and when Tughlaq saw it, he bowed down to the saint and gave him the title.

A gateway in Chirag Dilli. (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

The Gateways

According to INTACH, Chirag Dilli was enclosed by an outer wall and four gates: Northern gateway, popular among locals as Dilli darwaza; the southern gateway or Kasai darwaza as a large group of butchers lived here more than two decades ago; the Eastern gateway or the Takht darwaza, is double-storeyed and has two piers which would have held a wooden door. The Western gateway has disappeared

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The Delhi government on Tuesday banned metal or glass-coated kite-flying threads after stray strings killed within two days at least three people including two toddlers, all of whom were left with slit throats by the razor-sharp artificial fibre.

The government, which faced flak for delaying the ban despite rising incidents involving kite threads, sought action against the environment secretary for allegedly sitting on a notification for about a week after it was cleared by lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

An official notification said violators will face a jail term up to five years and fine up to Rs 1 lakh.

The house of three-year old girl Saachi, who died after her throat was slit by a kite string while peeking out of the sunroof of a car, at Ranibagh in New Delhi. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT Photo)

The ban includes sale, production and storage of the thread popularly known as Chinese manjha, named after the country which produces and exports the cheap and durable strings popular among kite-flying enthusiasts in India.

The sharper the thread, the better the chances of cutting a competitors kite thread in the amateur dog fights.

After the ban, kite flying will be allowed only with cotton threads or any natural fibre that is free from metallic or glass components.

Read | Killer manjha: Three-year-old girl killed, cop injured by kite string in Delhi

Police said the latest deaths were reported on Independence Day when thousands of Delhiites indulge in the popular amateur sport, which is said to have been introduced in India by Chinese travellers centuries ago.

In the first incident, a thread slit three-year-old Sanchi Goyals neck when she insisted on looking out through the cars sunroof while returning with her parents from a movie. The incident took place at Britannia Chowk.

The manja had cut through her neck, including the windpipe. The cut was so deep that she died instantly, a senior police officer said.

In the other case too, Harry (4) had put his head out through the sunroof window when a stray thread slit his throat in the Tilak Nagar area.

The same day, a 22-year-old motorcycle rider died after a kite string cut his throat in west Delhis Minawali Nagar.

Earlier, the Delhi high court had also asked the AAP government and civic bodies to issue an advisory ahead of Independence Day making the public aware of their fatal effect.

Animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India too filed a petition urging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to clamp a nationwide ban all forms of sharp kite-flying strings to prevent death and injury of humans as well as animals.

An injured pigeon that was entangled in a kite string being treated at Charity Birds Hospital in New Delhi. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT Photo)

Read | 510 birds injured, rescuers say number may cross 1,000

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Two kids who had gone out for a drive with their parents on Independence Day, were killed after a kite string (manja) slit their throats as they stuck their heads out the sunroof windows of their cars.

One incident was reported from northwest Delhis Rani Bagh and the other from west Delhis Tilak Nagar.

In the first incident, Sanchi Goyal was returning to her Deepali Enclave home from Naraina after watching a movie when the incident happened at Britannia Chowk.

According to the police, Sanchi was sitting on her mothers lap on the passenger seat when she wanted to look out of the window of their Honda City car.

Her father Alok opened the window and her mother held her out of the sunroof. As she stood up, a kite string came in her way and her throat was slit. She collapsed on her mothers lap.

Police said the string cut the girls vocal chords and windpipe, causing instant death.

The parents rushed her to Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, half-a-kilometre from the spot, where she was declared dead on arrival.

The manja had cut through her neck, including the windpipe. The cut was so deep she died instantly. The hospital authorities made a PCR call and a police team reached the spot. Her body has been sent for postmortem, a senior police officer said.

In the other case, Harry (4), had put his head out of the sunroof window of his Swift Dzire car when the thread cut his throat.

He could not even shout. He just collapsed on his fathers lap, bleeding from his neck. The father rushed him to the hospital and he was told that the kite string slit his windpipe, a senior police officer said. The boy had gone for a long drive to celebrate Independence Day with his parents, he added.

Read more: 510 birds injured, rescuers say number may cross 1,000

A case of negligence has been registered in both incidents and investigation has begun, police said. A piece of the manja was stuck to the girls shirt. We have preserved it and sent it for examination. It appears to be one of those Chinese manja available in the market at a cheap price. It is difficult to trace the neighbourhood from where the kite was being flown but we will raid shops selling the manja, a senior police officer said.

The parents did not speak to the media. Sanchi was their only daughter. They had gone for a vacation to Singapore last month. We were shocked to see the car seat soaked in blood. People selling manja should be given harsh punishment. Nothing, however, can bring back their daughter, a neighbour told HT.

8-year-old boy injured

An eight-year-old boy was injured after the string of a kite slit his throat in Ghaziabad on Monday evening. Aryan was out with his father when the manja was stuck in his throat.

The boy, who was rushed to a nearby hospital, received nearly 20-24 stitches on his throat.

The boys father Raja Kumar said he had taken his children for an outing on Monday evening on the main road near NH-24 when the incident happened.

It was a plastic manja that was stuck in his throat. He was sitting in front of the bike. Suddenly, he started shouting for help and there was a lot of blood on the petrol tank of the bike. I went helpless and immediately rushed him to a nearby doctor. He landed up with nearly 20-24 stitches and is presently at home, Kumar said.

Sub-inspector among 2 hurt by manja

Two people, including a police sub-inspector, sustained severe injuries after their throats were cut by kite strings (manja).

One incident was reported from Anand Vihar and the other from Ghazipur over the last two days.

In the first incident, sub-inspector Manoj Kumar, posted at Anand Vihar, was injured while he was patrolling the area. A kite string came in his way and his throat was cut. He sustained a deep wound.

He was crossing River Cross mall when the kite string grazed his neck, injuring him. He stopped his bike, and tied his handkerchief around his neck to stop the blood flow. He was rushed to a hospital and has been admitted for treatment, a senior police officer said.

In another case, a 21-year-old biker was injured while he was on his way to Jafrabad. Sajid was rushed to the hospital by the pillion rider and has been admitted for treatment.

The kite string was so sharp that it cut one of his nerves in the neck and he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and is undergoing a surgery. His condition is said to be critical, a senior police officer said.

Police have registered cases of negligence in both matters.
A three-year-old girl died and a police sub-inspector was injured after their necks got entangled in metal-coated kite string (manjha) in separate incidents in Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

The first incident took place around 6:30 pm on Monday, when the girl, Saanchi Goyal, was returning home with her parents after watching a movie in Naraina.

The girl was looking out of the open sunroof of the car when her neck got slit by a manjha in Rani Bagh area, a police officer said.

She was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead, he said, adding that they were trying to ascertain whether the girl was entangled by Chinese manjha, which has a sharper lead coating.

A case of negligence was registered at the Rani Bagh police station.

A case has been registered under section 304(A) (causing death by negligence) and we have to determine whether it was Chinese manjha that took the girls life, said Vijay Singh, deputy commissioner of police (northwest).

In another incident, sub-inspector Manoj Kumar was injured as a kite string grazed his neck when he was returning to the Anand Vihar police station after Independence Day duty in the evening.

He was riding a motorcycle at the time of the incident, which took place near Cross River Mall. Kumar escaped any serious injury and no case was registered in connection with the incident, said DCP (east) Rishi Pal.

In West Delhis Vikaspuri area, a 22-year-old man, Zafar Khan, lost his life after his neck was slashed by manjha while riding a bike on a flyover on Monday.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday told the Allahabad High Court that it wanted to retain senior IAS officer Rama Raman as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Noida Authority.

The governments stand before the high court came on a day the state removed Pravir Kumar as the chairman of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities. Principal secretary, energy, infrastructure and industrial development Sanjay Agarwal has been given additional charge of the posts held by Kumar.

Kumar has been posted as chairman, UP State Roadways Transport Corporation, and additional resident commissioner of UP and New Delhi.

Though the reason behind Kumars removal was immediately not known, sources said the IAS officer may have been shunted for not performing up to expectations of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The high court had seized CEO Ramans powers on July 1 in response to a petition by Noida resident Jitendra Kumar Goyal who had questioned how Raman could be given the charge of both the CEO of Noida authority and chairman of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities.

After the high court orders, the UP government on July 19 appointed Pravir Kumar as chairman of the three authorities. Raman, however, continued as Noida authoritys CEO.

The court had later asked the state government if it could shunt Raman out as the Noida authoritys CEO.

Read more: CEOs powers on hold, Noida policy decisions in limbo

UPs chief standing counsel Ramesh Upadhyay informed the bench of Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma on Tuesday that the government had decided to retain Raman as he was necessary in supervising the construction of Noidas next phase of Metro lines (scheduled to start operation from March 2017) and other projects worth `5,000 crores.

The judges after hearing the arguments deferred the hearing of the case till August 19 and asked the state to place on record the transfer policy of IAS officers and rules, if any, that surround it.
The ever delicate sensibilities of the ABVP have been offended yet again by alleged anti-India slogans at an Amnesty International meeting. Based on its complaint, a sedition charge was filed by the Bengaluru police against the organisation on Monday. This is a clear example of misusing the law, which can attract a penalty of life imprisonment and raises once again the need to debate the law and its impact on the fundamental rights of Indian citizens.

What was once a colonial law used to silence Indians is not to be used at the drop of a hat to suppress even legitimate voices of dissent. Today, criticism of a political leader or government policy could well attract the sedition law. A case in point is the Kanhaiya Kumar case. The student leader was slapped with sedition charges after he was accused of raising anti-national slogans on campus in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Arrest over Facebook post: State must stop abusing its power

The definition of sedition is rather open-ended, -- anyone who attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government by words spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise is guilty of the offence of sedition. This literally leaves the law open to all sorts of interpretation.

If a person were to utter an anti-India slogan, it in no ways amounts to a threat to the nation. The sedition law then clearly is a political one and it has often been misused by the political class. The Supreme Court has been clear that mere speech does not qualify as sedition. While it may be too early to argue that the sedition law be done away with, its ambit should not be so wide or left open to interpretation by political organisations or their affiliates.

Sedition, violence and promise of change: Inside the world of Hardik Patel

Nehru himself referred to the sedition law as an obnoxious one yet his government and all governments since then have not examined the misuse of this law. Instead, it has been used to silence any opinion considered uncomfortable to the ruling dispensation of the day.

In the past, activists Binayak Sen, Arundhati Roy and Uday Kumar (Kudankulam) have been charged with sedition. Another problem is the police which files the charge is not really aware of the implications of the charge and freely entertain complaints by organisations like the ABVP.

A person inciting violence against the State or threatening national security is very different from someone raising anti-India slogans. The frivolous filing of sedition charges must be firmly discouraged both by the police and the judiciary and it should not be used as a tool to settle political scores.
Any natural disaster leaves a trail of consequences and flood is no exception. The overflowing of the Brahmaputra, which has more than 100 tributaries, in Assam is an annual feature and the river is responsible for 40% of the states land being flood-prone. This year about 40 people have died and more than a million have become homeless in at least 20 of the 32 districts of the state. And this tragedy has been overlaid by another one, and it is that of human trafficking, something Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has referred to from time to time.

Read: Assam flood situation critical; 12 dead, over 20 lakh affected

There are several stages in this phenomenon. The first stage has very little human intervention. Almost from the time people are forced to leave their homes because of the river waters gushing in, children are often separated from their parents. Then they land up in the custody of people who send them off on false promises to distant places, where they either secure small jobs at shops, etc or end up becoming domestic helps. The second stage of human trafficking is the relief camps, where organised gangs of touts from cities as distant as Delhi or Mumbai operate. And it is here that the worst forms of exploitation and extortion are seen. Parents are paid to give their children over to touts, and girls are virtually coerced, again with the consent of parents, into prostitution. If one were to trace the course of child labour, one would find it in relief camps. Parents end up being beggars because there is nowhere they could go as their homes no long exist. According to experts, approximately 7% of Assams area has been lost to flood over the past 60 years. Then chief minister Tarun Gogoi had asked the Centre for Rs 5,000 crore after the flood of 2014, but what happened this year has proved that there has been no amelioration in the situation.

Read: High risk of modern slavery in nearly 60% of countries: Global index

The Assam government has tried to combat this menace of human trafficking but without success because the police are often complicit in the matter and in league with the touts. But the principal problem lies in the regular floods. Chief minister Sarbanda Sonowal has recently discussed the states water situation and flood-control measures with the Asian Development Bank and IIT Guwahati. But unless it can be assessed how much the volume of water in the river is during the monsoon due to precipitation, flood control can be at best be partially successful.

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The National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) will not be enough for one to become a doctor or pursue higher medical education.

The government in the National Medical Commission Bill  a statutory body to replace the Medical Council of India that regulates medical education and professional practice  has proposed that students will have to clear the National Licentiate Examination (NLE) after completing graduation to practice and it will also serve as NEET for admission in post graduate courses.

Read | NEET results on Aug 17 to end long wait for medical aspirants

Through the bill the government aims to clean up the medical educational institutions under the MCI which are riddled with corruption and nepotism. The MCI itself is now being monitored by a Supreme Court appointed a three-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha.

But, the draft bill prepared by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog plans to revamp the medical education system by proposing new tests for students and having uniform academic and examination standards for around 450 medical colleges in the country.

While the bill agrees with the Supreme Court s views on NEET being only test for entry into medical colleges across India, it has for the first time proposed to introduce NLE to evaluate graduates from medical colleges on the lines of skill tests for hiring teachers.

The quality of education in medical college is an area of concern, said a senior functionary of NITI Aayog, who was part of the committee that drafted the bill. We felt that the test will force the institutions to introduce quality as questions would be raised if a large number of students fail to clear the test. Only those who clear the test will get license to practise, he added.

To ensure quality, the bill proposes to set up separate under-graduate and post graduate medical education boards  overarching bodies to oversee all aspects of medical education at the undergraduate level.

Read | NEET a must for private medical colleges, says Bombay HC

The boards would prescribe the standards for conducting courses and examinations while leaving room for creativity at local levels including the design of some courses by individual institutions, the draft bill says. It will also prepare dynamic curriculum catering to societal needs and will ensure regular assessment of students and norms for setting up medical colleges in the country.

In addition to all this, the government plans to rate medical colleges based on their infrastructure and performance on regular basis.

New medical college will be allowed only after approval of the accreditation body, an official said, adding that there will also be an Aadhaar-based national register of all doctors and medical students in the country.

The work on a new law for medical institutions started after a Parliamentary committee earlier this year described MCI as an ossified and opaque body unable to cope with the humongous task of medical education. The committee report came after an unsuccessful bid of the UPA government to revamp the council which in the past had been investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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The government is likely to introduce a standard question paper pattern for all state boards at the Class 10 and 12 levels with uniform distribution of difficult, moderate and easy questions.

The HRD ministry is keen on implementing this recommendation made by a committee with representatives from various state boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education and the National Council of Educational Research and Training, officials said. Most states have also accepted it, they added.

The move  an attempt to make exam results comparable during admissions to universities and colleges  comes at a time Delhi Universitys Shri Ram College of Commerce is in the news for admitting a large number of students from Tamil Nadu who scored higher than their counterparts from other state boards. The HRD ministry has informed Rajya Sabha that 129 of the 188 BCom (Hons) candidates accepted by the college on the first day were from the southern state, including 33 from a single school  Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan in Erode.

The committee  headed by the chairman of the Meghalaya board and comprising seven members from various boards  was set up by the HRD ministry last year and has submitted its report, recommending a standard question paper design, the ministry officials said.

Read | CBSE to scale down difficulty level of Class 12 mathematics paper

The recommended distribution of questions is 30% difficult, 40% moderate and 30% easy. We will sort out the nitty-gritties at a meeting of all state boards shortly, a senior official told HT.

State boards follow different syllabi and the examinations conducted by them do not have a common pattern. A uniform pattern, sources said, will solve the problem of students from certain boards doing better than others.

This is the need of the hour. We need to have challenging questions so we are able to gauge the seriousness of students. All state boards have to come together to achieve this as it is a complex exercise, said Deepak Pental, former vice-chancellor of Delhi University. The IIT entrance exams are already based on this principle where they divide the paper into easy, moderate and difficult. The results will become more comparable if a standard paper design is followed.

Read | Tough maths paper affected overall percentage, say teachers

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Paris, New York and London: three of the four fashion capitals of the world are holding exhibitions this fall which display legendary pieces by exceptional designers.

Some of these shows finish in a few weeks, so theres not much time for fashionistas to get their heels on and head to the museums.

Anatomy of a Collection at the Palais Galliera, Paris

Cotton muslin dress embroidered with flowers, the Palais Galliera Collection.

The history of clothing is being told in an unusual way at the City of Paris Fashion Museum (Palais Galliera) until October 23.

Read: Want some fashion inspo? Look no further than 2016 Rio Olympics

Around a hundred garments and accessories take us through the history of fashion. Highlights include a pajama suit worn by the British actress and model Tilda Swinton, a dress that belonged to Empress Josephine, and Marie-Antoinettes corset.

Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear at the V&A Museum, London

Silk, satin and lace whalebone corset, 1890-1895.

This exhibition on the history of womens and mens underwear from the 18th century to the present day runs until March 12, 2017, at Londons Victoria and Albert Museum.

Through some 200 pieces and archive documents, the exhibition explores the role of underwear and how the notion of the ideal body has changed.

Tenue correcte exigee, quand le vetement fait scandale (Appropriate dress required: when clothing causes a scandal) at the Musee des Arts decoratifs, Paris

From December 1, 2016 to April 23, 2017 this exhibition will display many items of clothing which have been the subject of criticism or even banned before becoming everyday apparel.

Read: The story of Basque beret

All the garments on display, including the shirt-dress, the female tuxedo and the miniskirt, were condemned at one time or another in history. In addition to the scandalous clothing, visitors will be able to peruse portraits, caricatures and advertisements.

Culture Chanel exhibition: The woman who reads at the CaPesaro, Venice

Chanel exhibition The woman who reads to be held in Venice from September 17, 2016 to January 8, 2017.

The CaPesaro International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice, a city loved by Gabrielle Chanel, will hold the seventh instalment in the ongoing Culture Chanel international exhibition series from September 17, 2016 to January 8, 2017.

This new instalment will be devoted to the books which played a significant role in the fashion trailblazers creative life. A total of 350 works by authors such as Homer, Plato, Virgil, Sophocles, Lucretia, Montaigne, Cervantes, Madame de Sevigne and Jean Cocteau will be displayed in the manner of a library.

Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Viktor & Rolf ball gown, spring-summer 2010; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2011.

From November 8, 2016 to February 5, 2017 the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will dissect the way in which its collecting strategy has changed from an encyclopedic approach to creating a body of masterworks. Concentrating on the last ten years of purchases, the exhibition will highlight around 60 of these masterworks.

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Harry Potter fame Afshan Azad will be visiting India to be part of the Hyderabad Comic Con 2016 here in September. The English actress is excited ahead of her first trip to the country.

Afshan, who is of Bangladeshi descent, will be here to take part in special sessions, sign posters and will speak to fans at the event. The two-day convention will take place at Hitex Exhibition Centre here on September 24-25.

I am so excited to visit India and to see all my loyal fans at the Alto Hyderabad Comic-Con. Its going to be a great event and I hope to see you all there soon, Afshan said in a statement issued by the organisers.

Read: Harry Potter cast then and now: Padma, Draco are all babes now

Afshan is known for her performances as Padma Patil in five of the Harry Potter films, starting with 2005 in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She lives in Manchester, England, and will be traveling to India for the first time for the Comic Con.

I've heard many tea-riffic things about @flattummytea and taking the obligatory mug shot.Can't wait to start! #ad pic.twitter.com/sx5ddtsfSU  Afshan Azad (@afshan_azad) August 8, 2016

Thank you to @Mumtaz Manchester for inviting me and my whole family down to eat. Incredible place, amazing food!  pic.twitter.com/BSDpmDtQmS  Afshan Azad (@afshan_azad) August 14, 2016

Since the pink filter has now gone  Please don't ever get rid of this filter @Snapchat pic.twitter.com/znyhsLJTAS  Afshan Azad (@afshan_azad) August 15, 2016

She is even likely to spill some inside information about the hit film franchise.

At the session, she will talk about her work and will answer questions from fans.

Read: Think youre a Harry Potter fan? Prove yourself with this quiz

Jatin Varma, Founder, Comic Con India, said: I am extremely excited to welcome Afshan. It will be her first visit to India to meet fans and we cant wait to host her at the show next month.

Obligatory toilet selfie  pic.twitter.com/ZVSqrcf3Hl  Afshan Azad (@afshan_azad) July 30, 2016

Other international guests who will be attending the event are Dan Parent, Artist and Writer, Archie Comics; David Lloyd, Illustrator, V for Vendetta; and Nicole Marie Jean, International Pro-Cosplayer.

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Guess who is back in black.

Taking his lessons from Spiderman maybe, Superman will also don a black costume in the upcoming movie, Justice League (2017).

Man of Steel star Henry Cavill posted a close-up image of a black Superman uniform on Monday on Instagram.

#Superman A photo posted by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill) on Aug 15, 2016 at 11:58am PDT

Cavills high-flying superhero  spoiler alert  met his demise at the conclusion of the Zack Snyder directed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earlier this year.

Director Zack Snyder, from left, and actors Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Henry Cavill attend the Justice League panel on day 3 of Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 23, 2016, in San Diego. (AP)

The last son of Krypton was originally resurrected with a black suit after he was killed off in the comics in 1993.

Read: What Justice League? Wonder Woman trailer is the bomb!

Cavill wouldnt be the first Superman actor to sport a black uniform. Superman Returns actor Brandon Routh and Lois & Clark co-star Dean Cain also donned dark versions of the traditionally blue, red and yellow ensemble.

Dean Cain in the black Superman suit.

Read: Justice League - Ben Affleck treats fans to a surprise trailer

Justice League will unite Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg.

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Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar recently finished shooting for the sequel to his 2008 hit film, Rock On!!, in Shillong. The 42-year-old says the film is a tribute to the people of the North-East.

I wanted to do a film in the North-East. There are North-Eastern students in various parts of India being beaten up and called outsiders. This film is a small attempt to bring the region into popular culture. Im glad we shot in Shillong. Every person felt a sense of loss when we finished shooting. Wed all love to go back, says Farhan.

Excerpts:

Read: Farhan Akhtars proud of his protege, Baar Baar Dekhos Nitya Mehra

Farhan Akhtar plays a father in Rock On 2. (Photo: Victor Fraile/Getty Images)

Rock On 2 went through a copyright battle in the court with Abhishek Kapoor (the writer-director of the first film)...

I dont want to say too much on this. But (pauses) there are too many feelings about him which would never go away.

Has he made an effort to make those feelings go away?

I cant comment on why he did what he did.

But you dont take friends to court?

Well, I didnt. So you should ask him that question.

So where is Rock On 2 going to take us?

The characters already have a history. But in Rock 2, weve a completely new story. Seven years have passed. The characters have evolved . I play a father in the film.

First time?

No I played a father in Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014) and in Wazir (2016).

Read: Check out Farhans adorable selfie with daughter Akira

Do you wish your pairing with Vidya Balan in Shaadi Ke Side Effects had worked better?

Ill always be grateful to Vidya. She taught me how to take compliments graciously. Earlier, Id change the topic when someone complimented me. She noticed that, and taught me how to take compliments.

The actor in you seems to have taken over from the director.

For now, yes. Im not sure how long that would be. Itd take just a moment of inspiration for me to again get passionate about a directing a film. We should not have hard rules about what we should do and shouldnt do.
Amnesty Internationals India chapter said on Tuesday that none of its employee had shouted any anti-India slogan at an event on Kashmir in Bengaluru, allegations based on which sedition charges were slapped against the human rights body.

The home ministry, meanwhile, has launched a probe into the funding, expenses and possible violation of FCRA by the NGO.

Amensty India said allegations mentioned in a complaint by an ABVP representative against it were without substance and that only discussion at the event on Saturday was about allegations of human rights violations and denial of justice in J&K. Bengaluru Police slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India on Monday.

The event was held as part of a campaign based on the report, Denied: Failures in accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, published in July 2015, it said.

Amnesty said the report was based on in-depth research in J&K, including interviews with family members of victims, RTI applications, examination of police and court records, and interviews with civil society groups, lawyers, and government officials.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru Police have begun examining the video footage of the event even as ABVP activists staged protests in the city.

Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for Azaadi.

Amnesty International India as a matter of policy does not take any position in favour of or against demands for self-determination, Amnesty said.

Read | Amnesty to Kanhaiya: How sedition law is used to settle political scores

About allegations that Sindhujaa Iyengar, an Amnesty employee, and two others raising anti-national slogans, it said Iyengar was not present on stage at any point during the event. Amnesty said footage of the event has been shared with the police.

Police have filed an FIR against Amnesty International India. They are examining the video and CCTV clippings to identify the pro-freedom Kashmiris who raised slogans, Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara said.

Reacting to the development, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said, Police are enquiring. An FIR has been registered. Former CM B S Yeddyurappa said patriotic and nationalist people could not tolerate anti-India slogans. What happened in JNU is being repeated here. This must be stopped, the Lingayat leader said.
The Narendra Modi governments widely-publicised farm insurance programme has hit a wall in Bihar, where chief minister Nitish Kumar has raised several red flags  right from the name of the scheme to its actual beneficiaries.

To begin with, Kumar is against the very name: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) or Prime Ministers farm insurance programme.

Bihar is the only state that has decided to roll out the scheme, albeit reluctantly, as a limited test-run. The administration alleges that the programme is designed to the advantage of insurance companies than farmers.

A series of exchanges between of Bihar cooperative minister Alok Kumar Mehta and Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, a fellow Bihari, shows polite but firm exchanges on the issue.

The PMFBY, which seeks to provide farmers with uniformly low premium that would help them sustain agriculture even if the yield is damaged, was launched by Modi on January 13.

The technicalities of the scheme have been a matter of spar between Bihar and the Modi government, apart from deep political differences.

We have objections to the programmes name, Mehta told HT. The farm insurance scheme is equally funded by both the Centre and the state. Then why is it called PMs programme?

The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar governments stand is that the scheme should be named PM-CM programme to reflect the joint funding pattern. Kumar had strongly raised the issue during a meeting of the National Development Council last month.

If the Centre did not want to change the name, then Modi government should increase its funding share, Kumar argued at the meet. Under the scheme, while farmers pay only 2% premium, the Centre and states share the rest equally.

On Monday, the prime minister said in his Red Fort speech that his government was working to double farm income and providing crop insurance cover on minimum premium.

Mehta said it was only on an experimental basis that Bihar decided to roll out the PMFBY. We wanted to respect cooperative federalism, he added.

The minister demanded rationalisation of the premium, saying his state stood to lose money due to the design of the scheme. Buxar in Bihar and Balia in UP are bordering states with the same agro-climatic conditions, he said. The premium rate quoted in Balia is 2%, it is 25% in Buxar. Why?

The minister said Bihar wants to draw attention to it not as a joke, but as a serious matter.

The Union agriculture minister, in his letter to Mehta on August 9, said the Centre did not have any role in deciding these premiums. It would be unfortunate for Bihar farmers if the government did not implement the PMFBY, he added.

When Bihar eventually decided to roll out the scheme on a trial, Singh gave a back-handed compliment. Bihar is going to implement it. I do not know whether to thank the Bihar government or God for making good sense prevail on it, he said.

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The body of CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar, who was killed in a gun battle with militants in Srinagars old city area of Nowhatta on Independence Day on Monday, reached Mihijam in Jharkhands Jamtara district on Tuesday morning.

State agriculture minister Randhir Singh, local Congress legislator Irfan Ansari, district administrative officers and locals flocked to the Central Reserve Police Force officers residence at Mihijam to pay their last tributes after his body reached around 10am.

Read | CRPF officer unfurled tricolour in Srinagar, killed in encounter hour later

Chief minister Raghubar Das condoled the commandants death. I am deeply saddened. His martyrdom will not go waste, Das said.

The cremation is slated on the banks of River Ajay in Chittaranjan, a town three kilometres close to Mihijam in West Bengal. The CRPF director general is scheduled to land at Burnpur airport to reach Mihijam and after his tribute, the body would be taken for cremation, Jamtara superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Singh said.

Kumar is survived by his wife Neha Tripathy, seven-year daughter Aarna and 63-year old father. He was the only son among five siblings.

The SP said Kumars father, a retired employee of Chittaranjan Locomotive Works of the Indian Railways, is paralysed and cannot speak.

Kumar unfurled the national flag at the office of the CRPFs deputy inspector general in Srinagars Karan Nagar area. The officer can be seen saluting the tricolour in pictures accessed by Hindustan Times. The ceremony lasted around half an hour.

In his speech, the commandant asked his men to do their best to uphold the integrity of the country.

CRPF sources said the news of the encounter about three kilometres away in Nowhatta reached the officer around the same time. Kumar rushed with his team to the spot and was shot at an hour later.

Read | I-Day attack: Securityman, two militants killed in Srinagar gunfight

He sustained a fatal gunshot wounds in the neck and was rushed to the base hospital in Srinagar in a state of coma. By noon, he was declared dead.

He was leading from the front, when he was shot, CRPF spokesperson Bhavesh Choudhary told Hindustan Times.

Choudhary said bullets from Kumars weapon might have killed one of the two militants, who were neutralised in the encounter that lasted around four hours.

Kumar joined the force as an officer on January 1, 1998, and married Tripathy in 2008. He served in various capacities in Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu before being posted at Srinagar two years ago.

Promoted as commanding officer of the 49th battalion on July 12, a day before his daughters seventh birthday, Kumar was awarded DGs commendation disc in 2015 and commendation certificate in 2014 for highest operational acumen and service.

His death came when he was poised for a new posting after last months promotion.
A class IX student of a government school allegedly committed suicide at his home in Coimbatore for getting scolded by his teachers over a false complaint by some of his classmates.

Babu (14) consumed poisonous substance Tuesday night and was found lying unconscious by his parents this morning. He was declared brought dead at a government hospital.

According to police, Babu recently reported to the class teacher about three of his classmates who had created trouble in his (teachers) absence.

In order to take revenge, the trio cooked up a story and told their teacher that Babu was spreading rumours and linking his name with a woman colleague of the teacher.

The teacher along with two of his colleagues allegedly used harsh words while reprimanding the boy. Babu was upset over this and took the extreme step of ending his life, police said.

The boys relatives staged a protest at the hospital demanding stringent against the teachers.

They claimed that they had lodged a complaint with the headmaster of the school, but no action was taken against the teachers, police said.
CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled and saluted the national flag at 8.29am on Independence Day and reminded his colleagues in the paramilitary force posted in restive Kashmir to uphold honestly the call of duty.

The brave officer went beyond the call of duty minutes after an inspiring speech at the ceremony, leading his men in a fierce gun battle with militants holed up in Srinagars old city. Around 9.30am, the 44-year-old Kumar lay motionless with fatal bullet wounds in the neck.

Commander down, commander down, crackled the wireless set.

The commandant of the 49 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was rushed to the army base hospital in Srinagar. He was in coma. By noon, he was declared dead.

He is survived by wife Neha, seven-year-old daughter Aarna, and his 63-year-old father.

Born in Patnas Bakhtiyarpur village, Kumar was from Jamtara in Jharkhand where his family had shifted. The body was airlifted to his native place for the last rites.

WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Eight CRPF men were wounded in the Nowhatta shooting, while a Jammu and Kashmir police officer, who was shot in the head, is battling for life.

The attack on security forces in the old city is a first after more than a decade; the last major instance probably goes back to the 1990s when the bloodiest phase of militancy had engulfed Kashmir Valley.

Kashmir has been on the edge since security forces gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, triggering a wave of protests in which more than 50 people have died and thousands wounded.

Militants have taken advantage of the unrest and growing public loathing against the security forces, making it all the more difficult for people like Kumar to restore peace and keep the morale of troops high.

His August 15 speech at the CRPF deputy inspector generals office in the citys Karan Nagar area reflected his thoughts.

We are not only faced with terrorism, but also stone pelting in Kashmir. I urge you to undertake the duties assigned to you honestly to uphold the countrys integrity, solidarity and freedom that we achieved after an immense struggle, he said.

Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled the national flag at the office of the CRPFs Deputy Inspector General in the citys Karan Nagar area. (Photo courtesy: CRPF)

Kumar has just finished reading out a message from his boss when news of a militant attack barely 3km away in Nowhatta reached him. He dashed out with a small team in a bullet-proof vehicle.

He was leading from the front when he was shot, CRPF spokesperson Bhavesh Choudhary said.

The CRPF believe Kumar shot dead one of the two militants killed in the battle.

Kumar was appointed directly an officer in January 1998 and promoted to the rank of commandant on July 12 this year. He was serving in Srinagar since April 2014, and was awaiting a new posting after the promotion.

He served in the Special Protection Group, which guards the Prime Minister and a select group of VVIPs, between 2011 and 2013.

In a video of the Independence Day event, Kumar is seen looking at his watch just before he ended his speech and saying it is an important day, unaware of the fate that awaited him.

A senior CRPF officer who served with Kumar in the Northeast said the officer was very cool but daring, reports PTI. We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time, he said.

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Fifty days after it was washed away by a raging Brahmaputra and left stranded in Bangladesh, an Indian wild elephant died on Tuesday amid questions whether wildlife officials mishandled the case.

The adult elephant that was named Bangabahadur died even as wildlife officials in Jamalpur district in northern Bangladesh were trying to move it to a safari park outside Dhaka for rehabilitation, said Tapan Kumar Dey, a former forest conservator, who was overseeing the rescue effort.

Yes, it has died. We have failed to save it. We tried our best, he told Hindustan Times on phone.

The cause of its death is not clear and Dey refused to provide details why exactly it died.

An autopsy could be conducted to know the reason of its death.

Local media reports said the elephant had slumped on Monday because of weakness brought on by its ordeal that began on June 27 when it swept away downstream from Assams Dhubri district by a flooded Brahamaputra.

Many villagers cried at the scene after the news of its death spread, local media reports said.

An Indian team which had gone to Bangladesh in the first week of this month to retrieve the stranded elephant had to abandon the mission.

The team failed to tranquilise it because it was in a riverine area and did not come out of the water because a lot of people had crowded the place.

The solitary elephant was under severe distress and had damaged property and crops in Bangladesh.

The animal was eventually tranquillized on August 11 by Bangladesh forest officials but became distressed and charged into a pond, where it then fell unconscious.

Villagers jumped into the water and helped to pull it out with ropes and chains to prevent it from drowning.

The elephant appeared to be fine on Sunday, Dey said, but was likely to have become dehydrated after being stuck in the swamp for days

Officials had said it was doing great after authorities intervened and gave it food.

Another forest official, Asim Mallick, rejected allegations that the elephant died because of mishandling of the rescue efforts.

I dont agree. Temperature is very high now. Elephants cannot bear too much heat. It was very feeble after of weeks of struggle for survival. We gave it normal food. It was eating those. We tried our best, he said.
Fire broke out in the neo-natal intensive care unit of Kanpurs biggest children and maternity hospital, GSVM Medical College, on Tuesday night. No casualties or injuries were reported till reports last came in.

Some 60 children were admitted in the ward and four were on ventilator when blinding flashes emerged from an electrical panel accompanied by a loud bang.

Officials examine the electrical panel to determine the cause of the fire. (HT Photo)

Panicked, people rushed out with their children, creating a stampede-like situation in a narrow corridor. Eyewitnesses said the entire area was filled with thick smoke, and those inside had difficulty breathing and complained of a burning sensation in their eyes.

Three fire tenders reached the hospital and cut off electricity supply to the entire campus, which houses five hospitals, including the 400-bed LLR Hospital and its emergency ward. Electricity hadnt been restored till late night.

Parents wait outside the hospital as fire fighter douse the flames. (HT Photo)

Doctors said all the babies in the intensive care unit and the ward were safe. The children will now be treated at another facility as a security check by the medical colleges administration could take 24 hours.

The medical college has deployed several doctors to attend to the children.

Circle officer (Swaroop Nagar) Rajesh Singh said fire fighters were still inside the building, examining the electrical wiring in the intensive care unit to determine the cause of the fire.
Five civilians were killed and at least 31 were injured in Kashmir on Tuesday when security forces opened fire to quell stone-pelting protesters, raising the death toll to 65 in the latest wave of violence in the troubled Valley.

The condition of two among the injured, shot in the head, is critical, officials said in Srinagar.

The casualties came a day after militants gunned down a CRPF officer and injured nine other security personnel in downtown Srinagar, which is under lockdown since violent street protests erupted after the killing of a militant commander last month.

The worst violence since 2010  when the Valley was rocked by similar protests leaving scores dead and injured  has sparked a verbal spat between India and Pakistan, both blaming each other for the flare-up.

In Delhi, home minister Rajnath Singh chaired a review meeting attended by top officials, including national security adviser Ajit Doval, Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies, official sources said.

Police said four people were killed in Budgam district where 15 others were also injured in firing by central forces. One more civilian was killed in Anantnag district in south Kashmir, the epicentre of the protests.

Fazil Kochak, the chief medical officer of Anantnag, said 16 more people were injured in when forces fired on protesters.

The CRPF rejected allegations of firing on unarmed civilians in Aripanthar in Budgam district.It was a situation where the CRPF men had to save their own lives or get killed at the hands of a mob. There was a threat of being lynched and the mob tried to snatch weapons, Atul Karwal, CRPF inspector general in Kashmir, told HT.

The forces spokesperson Rajesh Yadav said hundreds of people pelted stones at a CRPF vehicle after blocking the road with logs. The company commander is badly injured. Twenty two jawans were also injured, five are critical.

Eyewitnesses, however, said the people were protesting aggressive behaviour of CRPF personnel during overnight raids.

Tension ran high during the last rites of the four, with hundreds of people shouting anti-India slogans.

Analysts said protests in Budgam and Mondays death of a 16-year-old boy in Srinagar show the civil unrest is no longer limited to south Kashmir. Former CM Omar Abdullah reacted sharply to the civilian deaths. 6 protestors dead in Kashmir in 24 hours but WTH lets go sort out Balochistan since we are doing such a good job in J&K at the moment!!! he tweeted.

Read | I-Day attack: Securityman, two militants killed in Srinagar gunfight

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New Delhi

The Narendra Modi government is keen to implement the Supreme Courts constitution bench order to ensure transparency, objectivity and accountability in judicial appointments, law ministry sources said on Tuesday.

The assurance comes a day after Chief Justice of India TS Thakur expressed disappointment over the Prime Minister not mentioning judicial appointments in his Independence Day speech.

A senior law ministry source said: The government is alive to the deepening concern in the country as espoused by the judges in the constitution bench itself that the system needs improvement to inspire confidence.

There are many issues on which there is convergence of opinion with the Supreme Court collegium and the government is doing its best to expedite judges appointments.

Judicial appointments have been in limbo after the Supreme Court struck down last October a new system giving the government a say in picking top judges. The power to appoint senior judges rests on a group of Indias top judges in the collegium system.

According to official figures, Indias 24 high courts have nearly four million cases pending before them as 478 of 1,056 sanctioned posts of judges are vacant. Around 30 million cases await disposal in trial courts where 4,432 of 20,502 sanctioned posts are yet to be filled. The top court too has only 28 judges against the sanctioned strength of 31 judges to tackle around 60,000 cases.

Read | Real issue is judicial overreach, not judges appointment

But the law ministry source said 52 new judges have been appointed and 110 additional judges confirmed in high courts after the Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act.

Nine high court chief justices and three Supreme Court judges have been appointed. Besides, 28 high court judges have been transferred and the process for clearing the appointment of 250 more judges is on.

Maintaining that usually the process for appointment of a judge takes months to complete, the source pointed out 73 of the recommendations for appointment were sent to the government only on July 30, August 2 and 5. The vetting process is on.

The sources said 4,432 vacant posts of judges in subordinate courts across the country can be filled only by the high court concerned and the government had no role to play.

Much of the vacancies in high courts are primarily because the then CJI chose not to initiate appointments during the pendency of petitions challenging the NJAC Act, they said.

In its order last December 16, the constitution bench asked the government to finalise the memorandum of procedure (MoP) that details the process of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges.

Read | PM didnt speak on judges appointment on I-Day, CJI Thakur disappointed

The MoP is supposed to include provisions on eligibility criteria, transparency in appointment process; establishment of a secretariat in each high court and the top court; and a mechanism for redressal of complaints against those being considered for judgeship.

Government sources said since finalisation of the MoP was taking time, the then law minister DV Sadananda Gowda wrote to the CJI on January 6, saying the government was not averse to the process of appointment being resumed, if it otherwise meets the approval of the Supreme Court collegium.

Senior advocate and former additional solicitor general Vikas Singh said: A peculiar situation has arisen where without awaiting the finalization of MoP ensuring transparency as mandated by the SC constitution bench, appointments have to be made.

In this situation it would be appropriate for the CJI to constitute either a five-judge or seven-judge bench to look into the aspect of MoP and decide it judicially so as to obviate the impasse that has been created due the December 16 constitution bench verdict, Singh added.

The SC had appointed a panel which received around 4,000 suggestions for improving the functioning of the collegium and 1,400 of these suggestions were forwarded to the constitution bench.

Sources said Justice Kurian Joseph of the top court indicted the collegium system in the October 2015 verdict for lack of transparency, accountability and objectivity. Justice Joseph had also questioned the active silence of the executive in not preventing such unworthy appointments

The sources also talked about a situation wherein to accommodate a schedule caste, schedule tribe, woman, minority or an outstanding talent or to give representation to a geographical region, normal rule of seniority can be ignored.

Read | Speed up judiciary: Holding up judges appointments is a denial of justice
China will not give up building the economic corridor with Pakistan through a disputed area in Kashmir simply because India has problems with it, state media said on Tuesday, indicating that New Delhi has no option but to keep an open mind towards the project.

In fact, the economic corridor project will help build infrastructure in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and by building the same in Kashmir (which China calls India-Controlled-Kashmir) help economic integration of the region.

The state media opinion piece indicated China because of its economic prowess and presence in the region could play a role in resolving the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through PoK and India has repeatedly raised objections about the $46 billion project with Beijing because of the route.

The ambitious project, which is part of President Xi Jinpings grand Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connects the restive Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) with the Gwadar port in southwestern Pakistan.

One of Chinas objectives behind the project is to get access to the sea route off Gwadar port, which it also build for Pakistan.

Last week, external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj repeated the objections with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during their meeting in New Delhi.

But for sections of the state-controlled media in China, like the nationalistic tabloid, Global Times, Indias objections clearly mean nothing  and possibly it echoes views within the decision-making sections of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

It is regrettable to see that CPEC has become another unharmonious factor in Sino-India ties, the newspaper said in an opinion piece on Tuesday.

But unharmonious factor or no, China will continue with the project, the Global Time said, adding: but China is unlikely to give up on the idea of CPEC because of India's protest.

Given that China has developed close economic ties with both India and Pakistan in recent years, Beijing is unlikely to be interested in taking a side between the two countries.

The opinion piece did not mention that China and Pakistan are all-weather allies Beijing and Islamabad enjoy more-than cosy ties.

Last month, the two countries began joint patrolling of the PoK border, which China considers its border with Pakistan.

The article advised India to stop protesting against the CPEC and fall in line.

The dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan makes the two countries habitually vigilant against any possibility of large-scale foreign investment flowing into the region, but it is the Kashmir conflict itself, rather than any alleged political intent behind the foreign investment, that creates tension in the region, the GT piece said.

It added that rather than preventing foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute.

It is precisely because of the region's worsening investment environment that PoK's economy is still heavily reliant on agriculture. Also, the northern part of India bordering Pakistan and India-controlled Kashmir both lack basic infrastructure.

Surprisingly, instead of Pakistan-Administered Kashmir, the way Chinese state media usually describes the region, the Global Times commentary used Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir at least twice while mentioning the area. It wasnt clear whether the usage was an oversight on the part of the newspaper or was done deliberately.

New Delhi may need to adopt an open attitude toward CPEC so the project can speed up development in the region and benefit the local population.

Economic cooperation between India, Pakistan and China would create an open atmosphere for launching talks to solve the Kashmir dispute. In this regard, New Delhi may need to take the long view for its national interests, the GT article said.
India-Pakistan tensions are set to once again cast a shadow over a crucial meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, raising questions about the regional groupings effectiveness in driving socio-economic development.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is expected to skip a meeting of Saarc finance ministers in Pakistan next week. This comes close on the heels of bilateral tensions affecting a meeting of Saarc interior ministers in Islamabad on July 4.

According to Saarc convention, a summit is called off if the head of even one state doesnt attend. However, a ministerial meeting can go ahead if a country is represented by a minister of state or a senior official.

The six other members of the grouping  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka  have often looked on helplessly as relations between India and Pakistan have overshadowed deliberations at Saarc gatherings over the years.

Nepals former foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey told Hindustan Times on Tuesday that the countries of South Asia will not be able to develop separately if the region doesnt develop collectively.

As long as India and Pakistan do not have better ties, regional cooperation will not happen. And if regional cooperation does not happen, smaller states in South Asia will lose out, he said.

Pandey suggested that smaller states in the region should, in their own interest, play a role in bringing India and Pakistan together. As the capital of Saarc - the Saarc headquarters is in Kathmandu - and as the current chair of Saarc, Nepal should take the initiative in trying to build bridges between India and Pakistan.

Former Indian foreign secretary Lalitman Singh said a lot hinged on the Saarc charters provision that the grouping couldnt discuss bilateral issues.

The Saarc charter says bilateral issues will not be discussed. But India-Pakistan relations have always affected Saarc. It could be collateral damage. As it is, nothing much has progressed on Saarc, so one wouldnt even know the extent of this damage, he said.

Shambhu Ram Simkhada, a former Nepali envoy, too said India-Pakistan rivalry is the key bottleneck to the healthy growth of Saarc. The current standoff between the two countries could even hit the Saarc summit to be held in Pakistan later this year, he said.

Saarc should have a broader mandate and Saarc should talk about or take up political matters so that India-Pakistan issues can be resolved in the regional forum, he suggested.

Observers noted that bickering between India and Pakistan had held up progress at Saarc on issues ranging from greater economic integration, including transit and preferential treatment among member states, to a united front against terrorism. Bilateral tensions have also affected proposed energy cooperation within Saarc, they said.

The strained ties between India and Pakistan have also led to the emergence of initiatives such as BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) but even these have failed to take off.
Ties between India and Pakistan look bleak after the two countries indulged in a war of words on their Independence Day celebrations on August 14 and 15, a Pakistani daily said on Tuesday.

At the moment, things do indeed look bleak between Pakistan and India and it would require extraordinary diplomatic manoeuvring to reshape relations from here, the Daily Times said in an editorial.

Read: Arun Jaitley likely to skip Saarc meeting, Parrikar compares Pak to hell

It said things are spiralling from bad to worse as Pakistan and India have engaged in a war of unsavoury words.

Pakistan dedicated its Independence Day on August 14 to the cause of independence in Jammu and Kashmir where militants are fighting against Indian troops.

New Delhi in turn accused Islamabad of exporting international terrorism, cross-border infiltrators, weapons, narcotic and fake currency.

And on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his annual Independence Day address, openly came out in support of independence in Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-held Kashmir.

The Times said there was sadly ... nothing new about any of this as Pakistan and India have long held intransigent positions, and indulged in political point scoring that has effectively precluded the possibility of any meaningful progress (in negotiations).

Read: Modi targets Pak abuses in I-Day speech: Walking Baloch talk will be tough

While urging New Delhi to talk Kashmir, the daily said Pakistan must address Indias security concerns and apprehend all those linked to cross-border terrorism.

However, it said that Modis confrontational stand vis-a-vis Pakistan on Indias Independence Day was in appallingly bad taste.

Modis remarks would worsen Pakistan-India relations and give teeth to Pakistans allegations, it said.

The News International too said that neither India nor Pakistan was in any mood for diplomacy now.

What is more troubling is the possibility that the diplomatic war of words could translate into another extended period of firing across the LoC (Line of Control), it said in an editorial.

It is time for empty posturing and empty shelling to be rooted out of our regional politics, it added.
India should broaden its ties beyond the ruling party and speak up against rights violations in Bangladesh, the neighbouring countrys main opposition party, the BNP, has said.

The Modi government seemed to be following the UPAs Bangladesh policy of focusing on the ruling party which amounted to ignoring other outfits, said Amir Khosru Chowdhury, adviser to Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to the BNP leader and it was a very welcome step. But since then, not much has happened that would give us the feeling that present government in Delhi looks beyond the ruling Awami League, he said.

Chowdhury is visiting India with BNPs international affairs secretary Humaiun Kobir to reach out to political parties and think tanks.

The outreach is an effort by Zia to improve ties with India as suspicion between the two sides grew when she was in power.

New Delhi felt that the BNP government was not sensitive to its security concerns such as insurgents in the Northeast getting help from across the border.

In contrast, India and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League share warm ties. The two countries have built a strong relationship in the years the League has been in power.

The 2014 elections that returned Hasina to power were not fair as most seats went uncontested, the BNP leader said. The press was being muzzled and opposition leaders threatened into submission.

India, the worlds largest democracy, which has built strong democratic institutions, is not even taking a moral position on these human rights violations, Chowdhury, a former commerce minister, said.

The government was in denial about the presence of Islamic State to show opposition parties in bad light, he said.

Islamic State doesnt mean some Arab fighters on the street. We believe there is enough evidence to suggest their presence, he said.

A spate of hacking incidents targeting bloggers and activists has been claimed by Islamic State only to be denied by the Hasina government.

Concern is also growing over the rise of radical elements in Bangladesh and Julys attack on a Dhaka cafe that left 22 people dead have only added to the worries.

Chowdhury defended as tactical his partys ties with the controversial Jamaat-e-Islami. When the house is on the fire, anybody who rushes in with a bucket of water is welcome, he said but insisted they were two different parties with different ideologies.

Jamaat-e-Islami had campaigned against Bangladeshs independence in 1971 and formed a militia to help the Pakistani army crush the uprising.

Last week, a former Jamaat lawmaker was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may refer to a constitution bench a plea challenging the validity of the Jammu and Kashmir Resettlement Act if it finds that some issues need interpretation of the Constitution.

The Act envisages grant of permit for resettlement of Pakistani nationals who had migrated from Jammu and Kashmir between 1947 and 1954 after Indias partition.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it will hear the matter and if during the course of proceedings it finds that no constitutional issue is involved then it will pass an order.

The bench, which also comprised justices Prafulla C Pant and AM Khanwilkar, made the observation after it was informed that the earlier bench hearing the matter had referred it to a five-judge constitution bench.

Jammu and Kashmir National Panther Party (JKNPP) president and senior advocate Bhim Singh said the matter should be heard finally by the court.

He informed the court that a division bench in 2008 had issued direction to list the case before a constitution bench but the chief justice in the same year had overruled the decision and ordered the matter to be listed before a three-judge bench.

Singh said people of Jammu and Kashmir who migrated to Pakistan from 1947 could be considered for their return but their descendants could not.

He said the law passed by the assembly was draconian, unconstitutional and improper, and threatened the security of the state.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

The JKNPP, through then MLA Harsh Dev Singh, had challenged the Act passed by the Jammu and Kashmir assembly in 1981.

In 1982, the Act was first challenged by Singh before the apex court and then governor BK Nehru refused to sign the Bill and sent it back to the assembly.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then PM of the newly constituted BJP, had also filed a petition before the apex court seeking intervention.

The matter was considered by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court in 2001 on a presidential reference. The apex court returned the reference back to the President with a three-word pronouncement: Returned, respectfully, unanswered.

MLA Harsh Dev Singh in 2001 then filed a writ petition in the apex court seeking quashing of the Resettlement Act.

The Supreme Court while admitting the plea had ordered for stay of operation of the Act and in 2008 the matter was referred to the constitution bench on the plea that the subject relates to the interpretation of the Constitution of India.
Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley is unlikely to attend a key Saarc meeting in Pakistan next week, marking an escalation in the diplomatic row between the two countries.

Jaitley is not expected to join the meeting of finance ministers of the regional grouping in Islamabad during August 25-26, official sources told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.

Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, included in the delegation that was to accompany Jaitley, is likely to represent India at the meet, the sources said. The government is also evaluating the option of sending a minister of state as the official representative, the sources added.

A formal announcement is yet to be made by the government.

Soon after news broke on Tuesday that Jaitley would skip the meet in Islamabad, defence minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted as saying that going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell.

Addressing a BJP meeting at Rewari in Haryana, Parrikar said Indian troops had sent back five terrorists on Monday. He added: Pakistan mein jaana aur nark mein jaana eik hi hai. He also said Pakistan was facing the consequences of its policy of encouraging terrorism.

Earlier this month, home minister Rajnath Singhs experiences while attending a meeting of Saarc interior ministers in Islamabad on August 4 had added to bilateral tensions.

Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan traded barbs over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir while addressing the meet. The two ministers barely shook hands and stayed away from a lunch hosted for the Saarc ministers. While addressing the Saarc meet, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif angered India by referring to the freedom movement in Jammu and Kashmir.

The finance ministers absence at the Saarc meet is expected to add to concerns about the regional grouping being hit by periodic tensions between India and Pakistan.

The past few days have witnessed a sharp rise in tensions between the two neighbours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Pakistan would have to answer for alleged rights abuses in Balochisan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Modi also became the first Indian premier to raixse Balochistan in an Independence Day speech on Monday.

Pakistans foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz responded by saying Modi was trying to divert the worlds attention from the situation in Kashmir. He also said Modis remarks proved Pakistans allegation that India was fomenting terrorism in Balochistan.

The bilateral tensions have coincided with unrest in Jammu and Kashmir that erupted after security forces killed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, whom Pakistan has described as a Kashmiri leader.

Pakistans offer of talks on the Kashmir issue has been rejected by India, which said any dialogue should focus on terrorism.

Read| Why PM Modis Balochistan barb changes the India-Pakistan game
At least five police officers were injured in a grenade attack by militants on a police post in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Tuesday night.

Militants hurled a hand grenade at the Kakapora police post at around 8.50 pm, a senior police officer said.

He said the grenade exploded inside the compound, causing minor injuries to five personnel.
A 45-year-old medical practitioner arrested for the murder of an anganwadi worker in Maharashtras Satara district has confessed to killing five more people, police said on Monday.

Police, who have recovered the body of the anganwadi worker and four more human remains from Santosh Pols farm in Wai tehsil, were not clear about the motive behind the killings. Pol, they said, threw away the body of one of his victims in a nearby dam.

Pol killed five women and a man by administering lethal doses of medicines to them, Wai police inspector Padmakar Ghanvat was quoted as saying by IANS.

All of them were missing since 2003 from villages close to Wai, a small picturesque town at the base of the Mahableshwar-Panchgani twin hill stations, where many Hindi films have been shot.

Police stumbled upon the murders while investigating the disappearance of 49-year-old Mangala Jedhe, who went missing on June 16. An anganwadi worker, Jedhe was also the president of the Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS).

She had left Wai for Pune for her daughters delivery but never reached there, MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan said.

The crowd after the police station at Wai Tehsil in Satara on Tuesday (HT)

Before leaving for Pune, Jedhe had spoken to Pol. The two fought bitterly when Jedhe threatened to make public the doctors criminal activities, police said.

Pol and his associates, including nurse Jyoti Mandre, allegedly abducted Jedhe from the Wai bus depot and took her to his farmhouse 13km away, where they gave her the lethal injection. Police found that the last call made from Jedhes phone was to Pol, who was arrested on August 13 after Mandres interrogation. Mandre , too, has been arrested.

Pol said he was in a relationship with both Jedhe and Mandre. Jedhe was unhappy about his affair with Mandre and had threatened to go public, so they decided to kill her, police said.

Pol admitted burying the body at his farmhouse. Police found a skeleton as they were digging for the body. They questioned Pol who on Monday night allegedly confessed to five more murders.

Police are exploring possibility of a kidney racket as the reason for the serial killings. Land dispute, illicit relations and robbery  the women who were murdered all used to wear heavy gold jewellery -- are the other angles being probed.

Police are also investigating Pols education credentials. The medical course he took was derecognised a few years back.

(With agency inputs)

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A major overhaul of the security infrastructure at airports across India is on the cards over an increased threat of terrorist attack.

A joint team of officials from the ministry of home affairs, the Intelligence Bureau and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is conducting a security audit of airports across the country. Each airport will then be categorised according to its perceived vulnerability.

We are going to upgrade security infrastructure at all civilian airports, said ministers of state (home) Kiren Rijiju, who jointly chaired a meeting with minister of state (civil aviation security) Jayant Sinha in this regard on August 5.

Read | Security alert: Vehicle scanners on approach road to Delhi airport

The meeting was attended by national security advisor Ajit Doval, Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma, secretary (civil aviation) Rajiv Nayan Choubey, BCAS head Kumar Rajesh Chandra and CISF chief Surender Singh.

(It was) concluded that securing airports was basically the responsibility of the government and it cannot be left in the hands of the airport operator. A view emerged that the government should look at the possibility of funding airport security, said a senior government official who participated in the meeting. He spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The meeting was focused on the most vulnerable areas, such as traffic entering the airport area, cargo areas frequented by private contractors, and drones. High-rise structures around the airports were also underlined as a potential threat source, and ways to secure them were discussed.

The civil aviation ministry proposed that the BCAS be allowed to set up a specialised force to beef up security at all airports, but Doval reportedly shot down the idea.

Since the CISF has expertise in providing security and the job of BCAS is to set standards of security for civil aviation... they decided to stick with the paramilitary force, said the official.

The government has decided to hasten the process of bringing all 98 civilian airports in the country under the umbrella of the CISF, and is considering expanding its scope to cover the perimeter of airports. At the moment only 59 airports are under the CISF cover and the rest are being managed by the different forces.

For further vigilance, the construction of additional lanes is being planned to facilitate random checking of vehicles before they drive up to the airport terminal without holding up traffic.

The CISF chief suggested deploying armoured vehicles for airport security, as he apprehended a bold attack emanating from the traffic approaching the airport, said the official.

In addition to installing hi-tech scanners, random baggage checks inside the terminal might also be used to detect contraband.

It was decided that local police will be asked to keep a check on drones in areas surrounding airports across the country. The home ministry will circulate advisories to all states in this regard and might also call a meeting of state police officials, if required.

Read | Govt to ensure safety of all airports: Aviation min Raju after Istanbul attack

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not the first to raise concern over the situation in Balochistan, Congress said on Tuesday, insisting that the UPA government had consistently spoken about the spiralling violence and heavy Pakistani military action.

(The) Congress and UPA government have condemned the human rights violations in Balochistan as also in PoK by Pakistani forces and establishment on multiple occasions in the past, partys chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, noting that the first time the UPA did so was on December 27, 2005.

Besides, he said, none less than the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in reply to a parliamentary question on March 2, 2006, categorically condemned the spiralling violence in Balochistan and heavy military action, including use of helicopter gunships and fighter jets by the Pakistan government to suppress the people of province.

Earlier, in the wake of the reported killing of 50 Baloch people in Pakistani army action, a spokesperson for the external affairs ministry had expressed hope that the government of Pakistan would exercise restraint and take peaceful recourse to address the grievances of the people of Balochistan, Surjewala said.

His statement came a day after the Congress appeared to be speaking in different voices on the issue and the AICC even distancing itself from the remarks of senior leader Salman Khurshid on Prime Minister Narendra Modis reference to Balochistan in his Independence Day address.

Congress termed Khurshids remarks as his personal view.

Read | Modis remarks will give Pakistan reason to make arrests, crackdown on Baloch

In his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Monday, Modi spoke about the situation in PoK, Gilgit and Balochistan, and said the people from there have thanked him for raising their issues.

Noting that Modi must realise the folly of the BJP and its leadership in opposing the Congress and the UPA earlier, Surjewala said the Prime Minister needs to have a sense of history and must thank his predecessor Singh, instead of indulging in self-praise and self-promotion as he did in the Independence Day address.

Rhetoric from the Red Fort and headline management by PM Modi is fine but he needs to tell the nation about the BJP governments actual Pak policy that leaves even the most vocal supporters of Modi completely confused and bewildered, he said.

Surjewala said that in August 2006 the UPA had spoken about the unfortunate killing of veteran Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, describing it as a tragic loss to the people of Balochistan and Pakistan. It had underlined the need for a peaceful dialogue to address the grievances and aspirations of people of Balochistan, noting that military force can never solve political problems, he said.

Besides, he said, a reference to Balochistan also appeared in the joint statement dated July 16, 2009, at Sharm-el-Sheikh when Pakistan conceded for the first time its role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack as also recognised the overwhelming evidence handed over by India.

Read | Modi targets Pak abuses in I-Day speech: Walking Baloch talk will be tough

It is a different matter that the BJP, which was then in Opposition, had bitterly attacked Manmohan Singh, the then PM, and the UPA for compromising Indias position, he said, adding even at that time, Balochistan leaders had thanked them for raising the issue.

Raising a number of questions about the Prime Ministers remarks, Surjewala wondered how he proposed to take the issue of human rights violations in PoK and Balochistan further.

Has the Prime Minister raised the issue of these human rights violations even once in bilateral talks with Pakistan over the last 24 months? he asked.

He questioned if the government would take it up now either in bilateral dialogue or at another international forum.

Claiming that Modis flip-flops on Pakistan have become legendary, he said suddenly the Prime Minister and his government have started speaking in a different language without following up on the issue of punishing the perpetrators of terror attacks in Pathankot, Udhampur and Pampore.

Surjewala said the Prime Minister should immediately take stock of the alarming situation in Kashmir and provide the much-required healing touch.

The Prime Minister, who even indulges in the symbolism of observing Diwali in Kashmir, has not found time to visit J-K even once, although 65 people have died and nearly 3,000 injured since the latest episode of unprecedented violence in Kashmir Valley, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis stand on Jammu and Kashmir will be disastrous for the people both in Kashmir and India, the CPI-M has warned.

And by raking up Indias support for a free Balochistan, Modi has signalled the ratcheting up of tensions with Pakistan, the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

An editorial in the CPI-M journal Peoples Democracy said Modi had gone back on his own August 9 pledge to pursue a policy of insaniyat, Kashmiriyat and jamooriyat of his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The stand adopted by the Modi government in dealing with Kashmir will be disastrous for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and for the Indian Union, the editorial said.

The democratic and secular forces must demand an immediate end to the regime of repression in Kashmir and the dismantling of the oppressive security apparatus, it said.

This must be accompanied by immediate steps to initiate talks with all shades of political spectrum in the state. The Kashmiri people cannot be held hostage to an India-Pakistan confrontation, the editorial said.

It advised the government that instead of adopting a national chauvinist posture, it must take up the thread of resuming talks with Pakistan as it was decided by the two countries last year.

The CPI-M said the Kashmir Valley was in turmoil since the July 8 killing of a militant leader sparked off widespread protests, leaving over 60 people dead and thousands injured.

It pointed out how the Prime Minister, at an all-party meeting here on August 12, applauded the security forces for showing restraint in dealing with the current situation in the Kashmir Valley.

This after the inhuman blinding, maiming and killing of scores of young men and women, the editorial said.

It said a proposal by Left leaders for an all-party delegation to visit Kashmir for talks with all shades of opinion was rejected.

The government has also adopted a belligerent posture with regard to dialogue with Pakistan, it said.

While remaining silent on the situation in the Kashmir Valley, Modi in his Independence Day speech on Monday spoke about human rights abuses in Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistani Kashmir.

The Modi government has thus signalled that it will treat the popular unrest in Kashmir as a law and order problem, the editorial said.

It makes no distinction between the mass of the people and the Pakistan supported militants.

It is going back on the terms of the India-Pakistan dialogue decided years ago in which Kashmir was one of the issues to be discussed.

By raking up the problem in Balochistan which is an integral part of Pakistan, Modi has signalled the ratcheting up of tensions with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis call to expose atrocities in Balochistan and PoK not only ratchets up rhetoric but is also an attempt to make his governments Pakistan policy look more assertive.

It is not that the previous governments didnt take this path. But, they were cautious and mostly kept their plans away from public statements.

This is a very strong statement to be made in public. That shows the government is taking a tougher line on Pakistan. But implementing it on the ground remains an uphill task, said MK Bhadrakumar, a former career diplomat who headed the Pakistan division in the external affairs ministry.

In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Modi targeted Pakistan, without naming the neighbour, saying people from Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan occupied Kashmir had thanked him for giving voice to their problems.

The marked shift in Indias policy came three days after Modi called for exposing Pakistans excesses in Balochistan and PoK during an all-party meeting to discuss the unrest in Kashmir, openly being backed by the neighbouring country.

The big question, however, is how will India talk to the residents of these areas to sensitise the international community about their troubles.

Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney feels the Modi governments Pakistan policy is inconsistent. Modis call to spotlight atrocities in Balochistan and PoK will carry weight if his government pursues a consistent Pakistan policy and takes the lead to draw international attention to the severe repression in these two regions, he said. Otherwise, his call will become yet another rhetorical statement.

Resource-rich Balochistan in Pakistans southwest is in the grip of a low-level insurgency, with Baloch nationalist seeking a separate homeland.

In recent weeks, protests have erupted in PoK after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs party won the elections amid charges of large-scale rigging.

Modis statement was a clear departure from his earlier approach to ties with the neighbouring country, Society for Policy Studies director Uday Bhaskar said. No other prime minister in the past made such a bold statement on PoK and Baluchistan the way Modi has done now, he said, adding the real test would be the resources and efforts the government would put in to walk the talk.

A retired diplomat, who is an old Pakistan hand, had doubts about India getting things done on the ground.

How will officials go about meeting people from these areas is a challenge. It runs the risk of people being talked to proving to be not genuine voices, he said on condition that he not be named.

Both the countries are trying to build international support to pile pressure on each other. Pakistan has on several occasions raised Kashmir in UN and even asked friendly regimes to step in.

No one will give much credence to Pakistan crying wolf against India. Pakistan has been using terror as an instrument of state policy against India and the whole world knows it, Indian official said.

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Defence minister Manohar Parrikar is a man known for his off-the-cuff and often controversial remarks.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modis attack on Pakistan for committing atrocities in Balochistan province, Parrikar upped the ante on Tuesday by comparing the neighbouring country to hell.

Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell, he said at a Bharatiya Janata Party meet in Rewari, shortly after news broke that finance minister Arun Jaitley would skip the Saarc meet of ministers in Islamabad next week.

The defence minister said this in the context of a failed infiltration attempt on Monday in which Indian troops sent back five terrorists.

This is not the first time the defence minister has been overtly candid with his comments, many of which have attracted criticism from various quarters.

On May 21, 2015 at an event in New Delhi, he said, We have to neutralise terrorists through terrorists only. Why cant we do it? We should do it. Why does my soldier have to do it?... kaante se kaanta nikalta hai (you remove a thorn with the help of a thorn).

He claimed that terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir were being paid monthly salaries ranging from Rs 10,000 to 15,000.

When questioned about Pakistans reaction to his terrorist against terrorists comment a few days later, he responded: Pakistan ko mirchi lagi, woh bhi Andhra ki (A chilli, that too from Andhra Pradesh has hit them).

Bollywood stars have been unable to evade Parrikars attacks as well.

One actor had said that his wife wants to leave 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, Parrikar said in a veiled attack on actor Aamir Khan at a book launch event in Pune on July 30.

In another faux pas, Parrikar seemingly crossed the line to distasteful while addressing a seminar on Design and Make in India-Electronics at Vivekananda International Foundation, on June 4, 2015.

Ive found that nowadays the eyes (of Ganesha idols) are becoming smaller and smaller. One day I turned it back and found Made in China, he said, referring to how Lord Ganesha idols too were being manufactured in China.

While refusing to disclose the source of his information on an Indian Coast Guard operation involving a boat from Pakistan last year, Parrikar said, You have to build deep assets. Deep assets are created over 20-30 years. Sadly, there were some prime ministers who compromised deep assets.

I am not going to disclose names. Many people know.

And inquisitive reporters often end up of the receiving end of his sharp retorts.

I will not speak to the media for six months, he shot back when a journalist in Goa last year sought his comments on defence-related issues. He flatly refused to take any questions related to his portfolio.

What is a reporters salary... How much does a news reader earn? Maybe 25,000 (rupees). They are mostly graduates. They are not great thinkers...intellectuals. They write news how they understand it, he said in February 2014 at a public function.

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Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who turned 48 on Tuesday, paid homage to Pramukh Swami  former head of Bochasanwasi Aksharpurshotam Swaminarayan Sansthan (BAPS) Swaminarayan sect  at Sarangpur near Ahmedabad and described him as a divine soul.

Pramukh Swami dedicated his entire life to work for the welfare of mankind. He spread the message of humanity across the globe and built temples in different parts of the world. He was a divine soul, the Aam Aadmi Party leader told reporters.

Kejriwals visit came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the sects headquarters near Ahmedabad where he broke down saying he has lost a father.

Kejriwal said that though he had never met Pramukh Swami but his works inspired him a lot.

Ninety-five-year-old Pramukh Swami, who has been credited with the expansion of the sect across the globe, died on August 13. His body is lying in state since Sunday. Final rites will be performed on Wednesday.

It was Kejriwals second visit to Gujarat within a month. On July 22, he had gone to meet the Dalit victims of the Una flogging incident.

The AAP plans to contest all 182 assembly seats when the state goes to polls in December 2017.

Kejriwal had a long list of dignitaries wishing him on his birthday including Prime Minister Modi with whom he shares a frosty relationship.

Birthday greetings to Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal. I pray for his long life and good health, Modi tweeted. But, Modis tweet was not retweeted either by Kejriwal or his party leaders.

The Delhi CM took to Twitter to thank the Prime Minister along with the others who wished him.

Before leaving for Gujarat, Kejriwal celebrated his birthday with family members by cutting a cake.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their indigenous freedom struggle.

Sharifs remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing President of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Sharif reiterated his governments firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom, he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing President for amicably conducting states affairs during his term in office. The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the democratic system in PoK, said the Prime Minister.

Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won last months parliamentary elections in the region.

Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as Prime Minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as President. Both are from PoK.

While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including foreign office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.

Khan was elected as the new President of Pakistani Kashmir. The legislative assembly of PoK met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president.

Khan, who was nominated by the PML-N, got 42 votes and was declared as elected.

His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got just six votes.

The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.
For the tribals in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the wait for Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi just got longer.

Gandhi has cancelled his August 17 padyatra in Andhra Pradesh that was planned to support the local tribals anti-bauxite mining campaign. This was scheduled to be Gandhis second such show against mining after his 2010 rally in Lanjigarh to oppose Vedantas bauxite extraction in Niayamgiri hills, considered sacred by the local Dongaria Kondh tribe.

The state Congress unit told us to defer the padyatra as there are reports of possible inclement weather, said K Raju, head of the partys Schedule Caste cell and Gandhis aide. Locals reports, however, suggest a good weather in Vizag and nearby places.

In his day-long padyatra, Gandhi was scheduled to meet tribals from Narsipatnam, Jerrela and Chitapally areas. The Congress leader was also scheduled to visit 32 villages allegedly affected by mining.

The Congress has been trying to emerge as a champion for tribal rights to woo the large vote bank. Gandhi had planned to visit many more places where tribals are affected due to mining. In the latest Parliament session, the Congress had expressed reservations to pass the compensatory afforestation fund bill on the ground that it didnt take into account the Forest Rights Act, which empowers tribals.

In Niyamgiri, Gandhi had famously announced that he will be a sipahi (soldier) for the tribals.

(With inputs from Srinivasa Rao Apparasu)

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Three dogs were shot dead by an unidentified man in Hyderabad late on Monday, making it the fourth incident of cruelty towards animals within a month in the city, police said on Tuesday.

According to Tappa Chabutra Police, they received a call late in the evening from residents of Sri Alluri Sitarama Raju Colony in Gudimalkapur area that they saw a person fleeing after shooting the dogs.

We rushed to the spot and found the stray dogs lying in a pool of blood. The locals, however, could not identify who the person was, inspector B Ravinder said.

Neighbourhood people told police that the stray dogs were creating a lot of nuisance by continuously barking at passers-by. Somebody might have got frustrated with them and decided to kill them, they said.

Police booked a case under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sent the bodies to a veterinary hospital for an autopsy to determine the kind of weapon that was used to kill them. A person can be sent to jail for five years or punished with a fine, or with both, under the section.

We suspect that somebody from a local farmhouse belonging to a real estate dealer might have killed the dogs. We are investigating into the matter, Ravinder said.

On July 16, a group of boys burnt three puppies alive in Musheerabad area of the city, filmed their act and posted it on Facebook. In another incident that surfaced a couple of days later, a man shot dead a stray dog with his airgun and the video of his act also went viral on social media.

In the third incident, some unknown people killed a pregnant dog by throwing acid on its face and two other canines by poisoning their food on July 28 in Secunderabad.

Convenor of Hyderabad chapter of the Humane Society International, Navamita Mukherjee, expressed concern over the growing number of incidents of cruelty towards dogs in the city.

Unless there is a stringent punishment for such heinous acts, people continue to resort to killing of dogs since they can get away with a penalty of just Rs 50, she told HT.

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The police arrested 26 people for rioting, attempt to murder and conspiracy in Gujarats Una town on Tuesday, a day after locals attacked a group of Dalits and clashed with police, leaving many injured.

There was no fresh violence, but the town that has become the epicentre of the nationwide fight against atrocities on Dalits remained tense. Community members said they were living in fear and security troops were deployed in 15 villages to keep the peace.

Two FIRs have been filed, one for the attack on the Dalits in which four were injured and the other for the attack on the police, said Inspector General (Junagadh range) Brijeeshkumar Jha. The situation is under control now.

Read: Freedom eludes us, say Dalits at Gujarat rally

But Jayanti Makadia, president of the Gujarat Dalit Sena, said seven community members were beaten up by a mob on the Una-Bhavnagar highway. They were heading home to Bhavnagar after participating in an Asmita Yatra that started in Ahmedabad on August 5 and ended in Una on Monday.

The villagers, who had blocked the highway, also clashed with the police when they got there. The mob pelted the police with stones and dispersed only after the troops used teargas and fired in the air, said a source. A villager and five police personnel, including a deputy superintendent and an inspector, were injured in the clash.

Read: At Una rally attended by Kanhaiya, Dalits warn of fresh protests

Dalit groups plan to follow up the Asmita Yatra  that was held to protest the July 11 assault on seven Dalits by cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow  with a 500-km bike rally from Una to Gandhinagar. Makadia said the rally would kick off on August 29 and pass through Samter village, the scene of Mondays violence.

At Samter, locals blocked the roads for Dalits. We could use it only after police intervention. But the police cannot come to our rescue every day. So we will pass through this village to set an example, he said.

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Dawood Ibrahims nephew Alishah Parkar will tie the knot in Mumbai on Wednesday as police and other security agencies are going to keep a close watch on the event, which is likely to be attended by the mob boss via Skype.

Alishah, son of Dawoods late sister Hasina Parkar, will marry Aisha Nagani, daughter of a city-based businessman at a hotel here.

Police sources said Dawood is likely to attend the function via Skype.

Mumbai Polices Crime Branch has asked the anti-extortion cell to keep hawk-eye vigil on the event.

Police will keep a close watch on the proceedings as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace, a senior police official said.

Alishahs elder brother Danish had died in a road accident in 2006, while his sister Umaira got married in May last year.


A Delhi court on Tuesday ordered Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of Omar Abdullah, to vacate the government accommodation allotted to the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister in the national capital.

District Judge Amarnath dismissed her plea to quash the eviction notice issued on June 30 by the Estate Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government for vacating bungalow No 7 on the Akbar Road in New Delhi.

Earlier, the Delhi high court had protected Payal and her children from being evicted till July 28.

Justice Indermeet Kaur had asked the Centre on July 26 to see whether they were entitled to an alternate government accommodation.

In their plea, the wife and sons of Omar Abdullah, had claimed that even now the website of the Department of Hospitality and Protocol of Government of Jammu and Kashmir shows that the residence of chief minister of the state was at 5, Prithviraj Road.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain, during the hearing, had told the court that the petitioners were not entitled to stay on at the premises as Omar Abdullah was no longer the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Uttar Pradesh police issued a 12-point advisory for people travelling through the states highways, barely a few weeks after robbers waylaid a Noida-based family and gang-raped a 35-year-old woman and her minor daughter.

The incident had outraged the country and put a question mark over the law and order scene in the poll-bound state, sparking a political slugfest between the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and opposition parties.

We have prepared and rolled out the highway patrolling plan If, at any place, we had one highway patrol, we have deployed an additional one...thorough checking is put in place at sensitive areas, Daljit Singh, state additional director general (law & order), said on Tuesday.

On Sunday, UP police sent out the advisory through a tweet which said, Important~ Please read & retweet the following precautions for a #safe journey (sic). The set of dos and donts was in Hindi.

Police warned travellers against stopping vehicles in case they are hit by any object, a modus operandi adopted by the highway robbers to stop the Noida-based family on NH-91 on the night of July 29.

Drivers have also been advised to remain alert to unexpected roadblocks like stones or fallen trees.

It asked travellers not to disclose their destinations at roadside dhabas (eateries) or shops and said stoppages should be only at the nearest police post or toll plaza if unidentified people warn about fuel leaks.

Uttar Pradesh has the longest network of highways among all states, according to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) data. National Crime Records Bureaus data for 2014 show the state also accounts for the highest number of highway crimes  80% of the 84,000 cases of dacoity and thefts on highways across the country were recorded in Uttar Pradesh.

The roads and highways have become a happy hunting ground for criminals. The stretch where we got help up had no street lights. There must be many such incidents which families may not have reported due to social and other pressures. Patrolling must be intensified, said a family member of the Bulandshahr rape victims.

Police also asked travellers to download the UP Police CUG Caller app to access mobile numbers of any state police official. However, the victims in two major incidents, the Bulandshahr gang rape and the attack on BJP leader Brijpal Teotia in Ghaziabad, claim their calls to the police emergency number did not go through.

The main issue is lack of professionalism, also priorities of the police have changed and are not public centric. There are manpower and resource constraints. Transfers, postings are strictly not based on merit. It is also seen that to open cases under pressure, the cops would book somebody and also make them confess, said Prakash Singh, former IPS officer and ex-DGP.

In our times, there were instances of road holdups, but criminals did not indulge in insulting women. If police is determined, keeping public interest in mind, they can surely secure highways and roads. Why cant they go on highways as decoy? I am sure several gangs would be neutralised in some time, he added.

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Six months ahead of the crucial UP elections, the intensified tussle in the first family of the state is nothing short of a political hara-kiri.

This is not the first time when the partys founder president Mulayam Singh Yadav has publicly pulled up his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav. What perhaps he did for the first time was that he himself substantiated the growing rift in the family that he has been so secretive about so far.

His outburst has only established what till then was dismissed by the party as mere conjecture  differences between his son Akhilesh and his cabinet minister brother Shivpal Singh Yadav. His admission that his brother had twice offered to quit confirms what the opposition has been predicting  split in the party, if not now, later.

However, those who know Mulayam well, insist that he will never allow it to happen. While many believe Mulayam could have sorted out the issues in his drawing room, others describe it as his strategic drama.

The political equation in the Yadav family has been far from smooth from day one. A group in the family wanted Mulayam to take over the reins while the patriarch.

Though there were no upheavals on the surface, discontent continued to simmer as Mulayam, torn between son and brother, struggled with a balancing act. Shivpal, who had been a co-pilot of Mulayams poll chariots since the partys formation, nevertheless felt betrayed. He also harboured the desire to be the CM. The real tussle is, however, over ticket distribution. On the surface, four major issues are in discussion.

First, the appointment of chief secretary Deepak Singhal. Akhilesh had reservations and while signing on the dotted lines, he had appointed Alok Ranjan, the outgoing chief secretary, as his advisor and assigned him completion of his pet projects.

Second, the merger of Quami Ekta Dal, founded by by Afzal Ansari, brother of incarcerated mafia don Mukhtar Ansari. Shivpal had announced the merger, which was opposed by Akhilesh and revoked. According to speculations Mulayam may soon announce the merger.

Third, the alliance move with the RLD of Choudhury Ajit Singh. While Shivpal visited Ajit Singhs home, Ram Gopal Yadav had publicly opposed it. The talks had to be shelved. Then it was Rajya Sabha ticket to Amar Singh, which was opposed by Ram Gopal Yadav and Azam Khan. Akhilesh was also not in favour but decided to go along with the decision.

Allahabad-based socialist leader Vinod C Dubey, who knows Mulayam since his young days, says, Mulayam is right now working on a strategy of regional polarisation of votes by having an electoral understanding with satraps of that region, irrespective of their background.

KS Rana, describes the whole thing as a drama enacted strategically to offset anti-incumbency. Mulayam always has his fingers on the public pulse, he is not running down his son but trying to arrest the declining image of the party. Why are they talking only about land grabbing and not law and order?
NEW DELHI: The Army has recommended replacing pellet guns used by paramilitary forces and state police for crowd control in Kashmir with less lethal weapons such as sound cannons, pepper shotguns and chilli grenades. Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda said on Monday the recommendation was made to a Centre-appointed committee reviewing the use of pellet guns during month-long protests across Kashmir after the killing of a militant leader there. NEW DELHI: The army has recommended replacing pellet guns used by paramilitary forces and state police for crowd control in Kashmir with less lethal weapons such as sound cannons, pepper shotguns and chilli grenades.

Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda said on Monday the recommendation was made to a Centre-appointed committee reviewing the use of pellet guns during month-long protests across Kashmir after the killing of a militant leader there.

Pellets have wounded thousands of protesters, especially children, and many of them were blinded for life, triggering outrage over the use of the weapon touted as non-lethal.

Alternative non-lethal weapons are available to disperse crowds during demonstrations. The panel sought our inputs and we have suggested sonic weapons, pepper ammo and chilli grenades could be less harmful. The government is looking at these options, said Hooda, the senior-most military commander in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sonic cannons, used by law enforcement agencies worldwide, emit ultra-high frequency blasts that trigger ear-splitting sound to disperse mobs. Pepper guns fire plastic shells packed with pepper that explode on contact causing severe eye, nose and throat irritation.

Chilli grenades, developed by Indias military scientists, can cause more intense physical discomfort than pepper guns. A concentrate from one of the worlds hottest chillis, bhut jolokia or Naga chilli endemic to the Northeast, is used in these grenades.

Large parts of Kashmir have been under curfew since militant leader Burhan Wanis killing on July 8. Hooda has ordered the deployment of more than 4,000 additional soldiers to hotspots in southern Kashmir to control the situation.

He said the unrest was being kept alive deliberately by internal and external elements, meaning separatists and Pakistan. Theres anger among the youth, we cant deny that. But the elements dont want to see the state return to peace. Hooda blamed Pakistan for pushing militants into Kashmir to fuel the unrest.

Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba have openly supported the protests. They will support it with terrorist activities, he said. The common man is suffering.
They were an ordinary family with small-time joys and disappointments till masked intruders woke them up one night two years ago. The harrowing events that followed left deep scars and the family hasnt recovered since.

It was the worst few hours of my life, laments the matriarch of the house. The family watched in horror as robbers who broke into their house on July 19, 2014, first stripped them off valuables and then physically carried one of the daughters-in-law to an adjacent field to rape. The crime done, some of them came back to help themselves to cold drinks from the refrigerator.

Mujhe us raat ka sab kuch yaad hai (I remember everything from that night), the woman says. She and her husband, along with two sons and their wives, had retired for the night in their house at the edge of the Dhaulana village of Uttar Pradeshs Hapur district, not far away from Bulandshahr that made national headlines last month for the brutal gang rape of a mother-daughter duo.

The robbers spoke in a local dialect and seemed to know that her younger son had been married just a few months ago. Wo bol rahe thye bahut maal mila hoga shaadi me (They were saying we would have got lot of items in his marriage), the woman says.

But the robbers did not rest by taking away just their valuables. They set their eyes on the eldest daughter-in-law, ignoring the desperate pleas of her in-laws and husband.

But the familys pleas for speedy justice are yet to be heard two years later.

The family has yet to replace the locks broken during the that terrible night in July, 2014. The robbers who broke in seemed to be aware of the familys going ons, and that the younger son had been recently married. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The crime was followed by an outcry and protests outside the Dhaulana police station led to the arrest of two suspects who are in jail. But a verdict is still some distance away. Although being heard in a fast-track court, proceedings have been held up by delaying tactics of the accused, points out Jaivinder Singh, the victims lawyer.

Uttar Pradesh registers more than 3,000 rapes every year and the states western region  where Hapur is located  accounts for about a third. Officials say efforts are underway to quicken the pace of convictions that languished at 46% last year.

Our aim is to get rape culprits get quick and strict punishment by the court, insists Surya Kumar, the director-general of prosecution.

But thats little consolation for the Dhaulana family that has fragmented since the ill-fated night. The daughter-in-law and her husband went away to live in another village for safety and to avoid shame.

No one stays at the ancestral home any more. The matriarch borrowed money to build another home at the middle of the village. She visits the old house only during the day to feed cattle.

The sudden down turn in their lives has left the woman bitter.

Samman bhi gaya, izzat bhi gai... is se accha tha ki mar jate... (We lost belongings as well as our respect... it was better if we would have died), she says. She has preserved the lock that the robbers broke open to enter the house.

Her victim daughter-in-law is, however, in a hurry to forget the ordeal. At least people here dont know about the incident. I dont want to recall the incident anymore, she says. It has been a nightmare that she does not want to remember.

This is second of a three-part series.

The alleged gangrape of a mother and her daughter at Bulandshahr in UP has put the focus back on crimes against women in the countrys most populous state. HT revisits some cases that are yet to see closure.

Read more: Dropped off headlines: 40 km from Bulandshahr, a gang-rape victim under siege

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The Samajwadi Party (SP) has a unique way of dealing with things when the going is not so good. The party patriarch and undisputed leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will chastise, usually publicly, his son and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. While this gives an impression that the SP supremo means business, invariably nothing much gets resolved until the next crisis. From day one, there has been an internal tussle between the old guard and the young chief minister with the latter having to concede ground to the former on more than one occasion at the instance of his father.

In the latest father-son slugfest, Mulayam Singh has weighed in on the side of his brother Shivpal Yadav, a senior minister who is apparently unhappy with the continuance of corrupt leaders and officers in the administration.

Read: As brother Shivpal threatens to quit, SP chief Mulayam ticks off son Akhilesh

It is passing strange that Mulayam Singh has not been able to deal with crisis, ie seek through the proper channels the removal of the corrupt officials and leaders if he wants to. In the past, he has refused to act against people like Azam Kham who have repeatedly brought disgrace to the party with their ugly comments and actions.

While there was a severe cold wave in UP last year, several UP ministers and MLAs went on a junket around Europe and Dubai. When questioned, Azam Khan sought to communalise the issue saying that people could not bear to see a Muslim representing India abroad.

Read: No politics on cows please, urges Akhilesh Yadav

This was all the more incredulous considering all the photographs of the trip showed the political worthies sailing around rivers in Europe on luxury boats and staggering out of shops weighed down by packages.

With elections coming up, the SP will have to do much more than engage in these worn gimmicks. The crime rate in UP is going up, the Bulandshar rape has hit national headlines. The death of a baby because his parents could not pay a bribe at a government hospital also made headlines. Instead of dealing with these problems, the rape was sought to be politicised by the SP and other parties.

Read: BJP fumbles in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh as crises abound

As long as the CM is in the saddle, it is counterproductive for him to be publicly upbraided by his own party chief and father. This can only create a further crisis of confidence in the SP and among the people.

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Two youths in their early 20s were found dead under mysterious circumstances inside the room of Golden Hotel, located near the local bus stand on Sunday afternoon.

The deceased have been identified as Milan (20) and Shanty (21), residents of Dhuri in Sangrur.

The police said when the hotel staff went to their room, they witnessed the bodies were lying on the bed. The room was unlocked when a staff member walked into the room as none of them came at the reception even after the checkout time.

Both of them reached the hotel about 7 in the evening on Saturday and after getting the room they did not come out of the room, not even for their dinner.

Milan, who just returned from his native country, Nepal, on August 11, was studying at a private college on the periphery of Dhuri, as his family members were working there.

After investigation, police, at about 5 in the evening, moved the bodies to the mortuary of local Rajindra Hospital for postmortem.

AUTOPSY WILL GIVE A CLEAR PICTURE: SSP

Police sources informed that it might be the overdose of drug which resulted in their death. Although, nothing suspicious has been found from the hotel room but the condition of bodies indicated towards the use of drugs.

Superintendent of police (SP city) Daljeet Singh Rana said that with the results of the preliminary investigations, it seems that the victims consumed some intoxicant material which resulted in their death.

He added that they were working on different theories and postmortem reports would clarify the substance consumed by them.

VICTIM HAD ASKED FOR RS 12,000 FROM PARENTS

Ram Prasad, father of Milan, said that a day before the incident his son had asked for Rs 12,000 for submission of college fee. He added that on Saturday he gave him the money and left him at Dhuri railway station as he had to go to Chandigarh.

The hotel room was booked on the basis of fake Aadhaar ID card and it was the conspiracy to murder our son as I saw some injury marks on his body, said Prasad.
He has witnessed all shades of Independent India and has been updating himself in life as well as profession to match the times. Vasudev Kalra runs a photo studio for a living and is also a veteran journalist. He has seen it allthe technological advancement and the erosion of tradition and values. His family migrated from Pakistans Bahawalpur in 1946. India has always been a great nation. It has grown from an impoverished country to a formidable force. I correlate Indias development with the changes I have to make in my photo-studio business. Now, there are no dark room and negatives in my studio and Indias dark patches, too, have vanished with time, says Kalra.

He, however, believes countrymen need to give preference to character-building ahead of anything else.

Vasudev Kalra

Picture of progress

Vasudev Kalra (HT Photo)

W hen I was young, people were more honest. Word of mouth was all powerful. We have progressed leaps and bounds in terms of technology and infrastructure, but, at the same time, have forgotten the traditions and values we should have been identified with. There is distrust all around. People have become selfish and more materialistic, which is not good.

ROHTAK: He is as old as independent India is and thus has the name Azad Singh. He was one of the three boys born at Rohtaks Sundana village on August 15, 1947, and they too have the same name. Since childhood, Azad was infused with patriotism by his father, a farmer, who wanted him to serve the nation by doning the Olive Greens. Fulfilling his fathers dream, he joined the Indian Army in 1968 as a sepoy and fought the 1971 war. He had to retire in 1972 when he got his leg injured in a security operation, and became unfit to continue in the services. He later joined the Food Corporation of India as their godown in-charge in Rohtak, and served there for over 30 years before retiring in 2004. He now lives with his wife in Sundana village, and gets monthly pension from the FCI. Azad has two daughters, who are now married, and a son, who is a pilot with the Jet Airways.

Azad Singh

Embodiment of freedom

Azad Singh (HT Photo)

Our nation has come a long way. If I say there has been no development, then Id be wrong. The standard of living in villages, including that of farmers, has improved substantially in the last 70 years. Since Im a retired army man, I would like to thank our country for making the army one of the best in the world.

JALANDHAR: The things that industrialist Bal Krishna Shoor regrets about India is lack of will to follow rules and the hollowness of government policies. Shoor, who is into hand-tool business, was born in Sialkot, now in Pakistan, and after the Partition, his family moved to Jalandhar. Shoor says he joined his fathers business in 1970. On where the country stands today, he says, Sab kuchh kagazon mein hota hai, practical mein kuchh bhi nahain (everything happens on papers, not in real).

There are a lot of things which we as a nation need to change, he says, without going into details.

He says days of terrorism in Punjab were the most difficult. I really wish our country to be free of insecurity and violence. Something needs to be done on priority, else freedom is meaningless.

Bal Krishna Shoor

Patriotic heart

Bal Krishna Shoor (HT Photo)

People get amazed when I tell them that I was born on August 15, 1947. I am hurt seeing people confining themselves to their houses as there is apprehension that something may go wrong at crowded places. And they are not wrong as they see so much violence around. I am optimistic that we will evolve and make a better nation
The distraught family of Gurdip Singh, facing death sentence in Indonesia, is losing all hope to see him come out of jail.

Gurdips wife Kulwinder Kaur, 41, has not been finding any help to bring her husband back home alive. She has still been waiting for an appointment with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj since July 29 when Gurdip was not executed by Indonesian authorities.

Kaur and his nephew Gurpal Singh, 19, had called Swarajs personal assistant (PA) several times, requesting him to fix a meeting with the minister, but to no avail.

Also read | Be strong: When Indian man on death row made last call to kin from Indonesia

We had information that a clemency petition to the Indonesian authorities had been filed through the Indian embassy, but do not know further developments in the case, Kaur said.

On Sunday morning, I and all my family members visited many gurdwaras in Sultanpur Lodhi and prayed for the safety of my husband, Kaur said.

Kaur said Gurdip called her last Thursday from the jail and asked her to meet Swaraj and take up the matter with her.

Kaur appealed to leaders of political parties to take up the issue with the Union government so that the life of her husband is saved.

Gurdip was among the 14 people, who were taken out of their cells to face the firing squad on July 29. Four had been shot dead before a storm forced executioners to take others back to their cells.

Singh was awarded capital punishment by a court in Banten province in February 2005. His mercy appeals were turned down by the Banten high court and the Indonesian Supreme Court.

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In a major twist, a 30-year-old shopkeeper succumbed to his burn injuries at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on late Saturday night after recording his statement before the magistrate. Earlier, the man was suspected to have set himself and his former employee, a mother of three children, ablaze after she reportedly declined his marriage proposal. But in his statement before the magistrate, the shopkeeper, Vinay Sharma, said that the woman Jahanvi (33) had set him ablaze.

The police have registered a case under Section 302 (murder) against the woman identified as Jahanvi (33) of Subhash Nagar. The woman, meanwhile, is absconding. The woman had also suffered mild burn injuries in the incident. She was discharged from the hospital after administrating treatment.

Inspector Ashok Kumar, SHO at the Basti Jodhewal police station said the police had earlier been suspecting Vinay Sharma to be the accused. The woman had alleged that Vinay Sharma had tried to burn her after she turned down his proposal after pouring petrol on her on Saturday. She claimed that after the failed bid, he sprinkled the leftover petrol on him and set himself ablaze. In his statement Vinay Sharma stated that Jahanvi (33) was an employee at his shop of water purifiers but she left the job around seven months ago. He said that on Saturday Jahanvi telephoned him and asked him to come home. She also asked him to bring some petrol for her scooter. When he reached, Jahanvi made him sit in the room. She poured petrol on him and set him ablaze. In the attempt, she also suffered mild burn injuries. The man said that he was in a relationship with the woman, but it relations turned sour.

STATEMENT BEFORE MAGISTRATE

In his statement Vinay Sharma stated that Jahanvi (33) was an employee at his shop of water purifiers but she left the job around seven months ago. He said that on Saturday Jahanvi telephoned him and asked him to come home.

She also asked him to bring some |petrol for her scooter. When he reached, Jahanvi made him sit in the room. She poured petrol on him and set him ablaze. In the attempt, she also suffered mild burn injuries. The man said that he was in a relationship with the woman, but it relations turned sour.
On August 15, 1947, I was in Ferozepur, visiting my cousin, a clerk in the irrigation department. The canal colony was peaceful and we were discussing with our Muslim neighbours whether the city will remain in India or go to Pakistan. The Boundary Commission report was awaited.

As soon as the Radcliffe Award was announced, neighbours turned enemies and a wave of rape, killing, looting, and abduction started. Within days, caravans of refugees were crossing the head works to and from Pakistan. As an immature 13-year-old oblivious of danger, I wandered watching these ghastly scenes. Worried for me, my cousin sent a message through the canal communication system to my village, 100 kilometres away.

In mid-September, when my brother arrived to fetch me, he was armed with a country-made pistol. We travelled from Ferozepur to Moga on the roof of a goods train, and from there, came on foot to Malla, where I had studied from April 1943 to March 1947. Of my local friends, the best was Gulaam Ghumaar, a potter lad who didnt go to school but played with me. His was a poor family of Muslim menials. I often shared mykowdis, reethas, bantas, akhrots, and kites with him. They owned many donkeys but one of those was special  bred for racing. Gulaams father never allowed anyone to mount it but when he was away, my friend and I used it take it out for joyride.

My aunt told me that Gulaam and his father, when migrating to Pakistan, had left me their favourite race donkey as a parting gift. Seeing it in the manger of my aunts cattle yard, tears trickled down my eyes. I used to share only valueless marbles and cowries with him but he gifted me his familys costliest possession in return. It was an invaluable token of childs love.

A few days after I came back to my village, Kartara and Thaman, dressed in khaki and rifles hanging across their shoulders, came to our home with a young woman, who appeared to be newly married. Kartara, a neighbour of my aunt at Malla, was awarded life imprisonment for murder but during World War-2, the British rulers had remitted the jail terms of those who volunteered to join the army. After the war, these soldiers were demobilised.

Curious to know who the woman was, I accompanied them to Malla, and got to know she was an abducted Mulism bride. They bought mutton on the way and we reached Malla at dusk. Kartara lived with his mother, a widow, Amma Daya Kaur, an Amritdhari Sikh. He left the captive woman in the outer room and put the meat to cook on a make-shift chulha, instructing me to stir the kettle and tend the fire while they looked for some home-brewed liquor. Taking advantage of their absence, I told Kartaras mother about the unfortunate woman.

She took the woman inside her room and promised to protect her honour. When Kartara and Thaman returned, Amma unsheathed her kirpan, threw the kettle of boiling meat at the feet of her son, and thundered: Rascals! Get out of my sight or Ill make mincemeat of you. Stunned, the men took to their heels. A few days later, Pakistani soldiers came over to recover abducted women.

Amma Daya Kaur handed her over to them, saying, She is as pure as Sita. Kindly, send her to her husband. The girl embraced Amma and wept like a bride leaving her parents home.

[The writer (ajhehar@gmail.com) is a Ludhiana-based retired professor of English]

Also read | Partition: An interactive project exploring stories from 1947
Aarushi and Japnoor Kaur, both medical aspirants from Chandigarh, have bagged 5th and 7th rank, respectively, to top in the region in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), the results of which were declared on Tuesday.

Japnoor who got 7th rank. (HT Photo)

This year, students had to toil hard as the test, conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for admission to medical and dental courses, was held in two phases, following a Supreme Courts ruling in April. The results announced carried the combined merit of both tests.

Other students from the region on the top-100 list are Gurasis Singh (15), Khushman Singh (29) and Bhavneet Kaur (90) of Patiala, Tanish Modi (16) and Mantavya Gupta (43) of Chandigarh, Lovish Gupta (29) of Faridkot, Ankur Garg (39) of Bathinda, Tanishq Kansal (65) of Amritsar, and Sukirat Singh Bhatia (96) of Ludhiana.

Admissions delayed in Punjab

The admission process will soon begin in all the states in the region, except Punjab where its Pre Medical Entrance Test (PMET) is under the judicial scanner.

While private, government and deemed medical colleges in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir will fill their bachelor of medicine and surgery (MBBS) and bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) seats through the NEET score, the arrangement in Punjab is different.

As the state conducted its own entrance test, the NEET score will be used to fill the all-India 15% quota seats in government medical colleges besides 50% management quota seats in private colleges.

Punjabs 85% state quota seats in government institutes besides quota seats in private ones will be filled through the merit in the PMET, the results of which have already been declared. After a bunch of petitions from parents alleging lack of transparency, however, the results are sub-judice as of now.

The total number of MBBS and BDS seats to be filled through the NEET in Punjab is close to 450 and 600 respectively. In Himachal Pradesh, there are 450 and 340 seats of MBBS and BDS respectively. In Haryana, there are as many as 600 MBBS seats, while Chandigarhs only medical college is offering 100 seats to be filled through the NEET.
People travelling on the national highway-15, the only link between the city and Malwa region, are a harried lot due to a dilapidated stretch on the way to Tarn Taran.

Rains have made the stretch from Gillwali PSPCL station to Chowki Kot Mit Singh even more difficult to travel on, and it also poses danger to the commuters.

The commuters have to make way through a narrow road, which has big potholes, two to three feet deep. As the stretch has not been carpeted, it throws up a lot of dust. Even a light shower leads to waterlogging, owing to poor drainage.

Meanwhile the roadside remains inundated with muddy water, a public nuisance and source of injuries in accidents.

COMPLAINT AGAINST AUTHORITIES

A local advocate has submitted a formal complaint to the police commissioner against the authorities for their apathy towards the condition of the road. The city mayor, municipal commissioner, minister and chairman of the public works department, executive engineer, local bodies minister and health minister have been made accountable in this regard.

In her complaint, on behalf of the general public, advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba said the authorities be booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for non-performance. All the officials responsible for constructing and maintaining this stretch have failed to perform the legal duties entrusted upon them by the constitution. They are liable to be punished, she said.
Dal Khalsa and other Sikh radical groups on Independence Day staged a protest in Ludhiana against the atrocities, political subjugation and denial of rights to Sikhs in the last seven decades.

Hundreds of activists of Dal Khalsa and representatives of various religio-political Sikh bodies held a two hour demonstration at Ludhiana bridge.

Observing Aug 15 as black day, they carried black flags, banners and placards. The demonstrators chanted the slogans Sikhs want Azaadi from India and denounced Indian state for crushing the rights of Sikhs, Kashmiris and other oppressed people.

Addressing the gathering, party head Harpal Singh Cheema said, It has been 70 long years since India got freedom, but nothing has changed. The litany of grouses, grievances and grudges of India against the Sikh people grow with every passing year, in fact with every passing day. The original promises and commitments are long forgotten by the Indian leadership.

Another leader H S Dhami said the flagrant manner in which desecration and vandalism of Guru Granth Sahib is taking place unabatedly makes them angry.

Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said Sikhs and Kashmiris were not alone in this crisis of identity in India. All the minorities, including the Dalits, are also suffering.

He said the international community has been responding only in situations of armed struggle but maintaining a deafening silence about state violence. International forums unabashedly ignore the democratic and peaceful struggle of the Sikhs and Kashmiris turn a blind eye to the misery, pain and violation of their human rights, he said.

Referring to the speech of the President on the eve of Independence Day asking the government to strictly stop the atrocities on minorities and Dalits, AISSF head Karnail Singh Peermohammad said such sermons were nothing but annual lip service of Indian leadership. Ironically, nothing changes on ground, he said.

The groups that participated in the demonstration includes Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Sikh Students Federation and Sikh Youth of Punjab.
Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday called upon the people to take a pledge to thwart the nefarious designs of anti-social elements in the state.

Addressing a gathering in SAS Nagar after unfurling the national flag on Independence Day, he said a few inimical forces were always envious of the peaceful and development-oriented congenial atmosphere in the state.

Let us rededicate ourselves to work collectively to build a strong and prosperous Punjab, besides cementing the bonds of love, peace and communal harmony.

Highlighting the immense contribution of Punjabis in the national freedom struggle, the chief minister said it was a matter of pride and honour that despite the fact that we were just 2.5 per cent of countrys entire population, we have made more than 80 per cent sacrifices in getting our motherland free from British imperialism.

Our government has laid special emphasis on education and health. Due to our consistent efforts, we added 13 new universities and 30 more colleges to impart quality higher education to our youth.

Similarly, he said, new initiatives had been undertaken in the health sector, like providing free treatment to cancer patients, and recently it has been decided to provide free treatment to persons suffering from Hepatitis-C in government hospitals.

He said Punjab was the only state in the country which was power surplus and supplying uninterrupted power to the industry, agriculture and domestic sectors.

Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who presided over the Independence Day function in Amritsar, said the people of Punjab, especially the Sikhs, were always in the forefront of the freedom movement.

He said the state is spending Rs 20,000 crore to modernise road infrastructure by making all the major roads four and six laned, besides providing sewerage, clean drinking water and LED street lights in 160 cities and towns.

He said 300 skill-training centres would be opened to impart professional skills to the youth.

He said Rs 2,500 crore have been spent for the all-round development of the holy city of Amritsar.
When business took a hit and Kapurthalas Jaspal Singh was forced to pick up a small job, it affected his son, Parvinder Shelly (18), the most. The teenager was used to better lifestyle.

His family properties sold off, Class12 results due, and his future looking bleak, Parvinder thought he had only one hope left  Rs 30 lakh to go abroad. He planned a kidnapping that ended up in the murder of his first cousin, Jaskirat Jassi (14), his younger uncles son.

Jaskirats father, Narinder Singh, has a flourishing manufacturing business in Kapurthala, and paying Rs 30 lakh to save his sons life would be nothing for him, thought Parvinder. He shared the plan with his friends Rajwinder and Arshdeep  both barely out of school  and they became partners in crime.

Fed on a daily dose of Crime Patrol  a crime-based television programme  Parvinder planned it for a month. Jaskirat went for Class-10 tuition and he would kidnap him on the way. Picking up Jaskirat was easy. On April 11, he got him on his scooter on the pretext of taking him to his girlfriend. Easier was to get the boy into a car where the three friends strangulated him. Police found the body on April 13. To make the ransom call, the kidnappers snatched a labourers mobile phone.

RELATIVES GAMBLE

On April 20, a few days after the murder of Jaskirat, Class-6 boy Aryan Kansal (11) was kidnapped from Jaitu town. He came home five days later after the family paid a huge ransom, reportedly. Later, police arrested his mothers cousin, Shiv Kumar Goyal, as alleged mastermind.

Shiv, also the victims neighbour and, had picked up a gambling debt of Rs 70 lakh, to repay which he kidnapped the child. The victims mother, Usha, is in the excise department, while her husband, Sandeep Kansal, is a jeweller. Minutes after the kidnapping, the family received a ransom demand for Rs 1 crore.

FIRST COUSIN, LAST SUSPECT

On April 28, Ranjit Singh, sarpanch of Jagraons Dhaipai village in Ludhiana district was kidnapped and let off the next day after his family paid Rs 30 lakh ransom. Police traced the crime to his first cousin, Mandeep. Ranjit Singhs NRI brother, Hardeep Singh was asked to pay Rs 1.5 crore but the final cost of freedom was Rs 30 lakh.

After his arrest, Mandeep told police that he used to till Hardeeps 17 acres on lease and knew that the NRI had made big money in the deal for that land in February. Mandeep had Rs 40-lakh loan to repay.

INSIDE INFORMATION

All relatives, friends, or neighbours involved in kidnapping had the advantage of inside information. In kidnapping cases, family and friends are the first people police have begun to suspect. Its a starting trend, they say.

On May 4 Shanvi Gupta (7) kidnapped on her way to school with her twin sister and mates. A motorcycle-borne man pulled her off the rickshaw after failing to lure her with a chocolate. He put her into a waiting car and the gang got away.

It released the girl six hours later, after the family paid a huge ransom reportedly, though police and the parents deny it. A few days later engineering graduate Deepak Kumar Deepa and an alleged accomplice were arrested in the case.

Plumbing contractor Deepak used to buy material from the shop of Sanvis father, Amit Gupta.

On June 15, property dealer Mohinder Kumar Kala (50) was kidnapped in Jalandhar after leaving house on a motorcycle in the morning. While four of the kidnappers were arrested 12 hours later, two fled. One of them was Vikas Jolly, Mohinders friend, who knew all about his deals and how much money he had made.

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The well-known Malayalam film scriptwriter TA Razzaq, who died on Monday, was laid to rest with full state honours on Tuesday. The 58-year-old writer passed away at a private hospital in Kochi while undergoing treatment for some ailment, hospital sources said.

Razaaqs body was buried at a mosque here with hundreds paying tributes when the mortal remains were brought.

The body was first taken to Kozhikode, where actors Mammootty, Mohanlal, Manoj K Jayan and film directors Kamal and Sibi Malayil, among others, paid their last respects and then brought to his home town Kondotty in Malappuram district.

Read: National Award-winning Tamil lyricist Na Muthukumar passes away at 41

Razzaq, who started his career with Vishnulokam in 1991 in which Mohanlal and Uravashi had essayed memorable roles, went on to work for around 30 films, in the area of scripts, story and dialogue.

A recipient of the Kerala state film award for best story for the much acclaimed Kamal movie Perumazhakkalam in 2004, he had won the state award for best story for Aayirathil Oruvan, directed by Sibi Malayil in 2002.

Read: Veteran Tamil producer Panchu Arunachalam dies at 76

He also received the state award for the best story and screenplay for Kanakinnavu in 1996.

Vishnulokam, Naadodo, Bhoomigeetham and Gazal were among the films for which he wrote the screenplays, which struck a chord among the movie buffs.

Sukamayeeirukattae, released this year, was the last film for which he penned the script.

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Investigators probing the July 1 terror attack on a cafe in Bangladeshs capital are focusing on an offshoot of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and a student for his alleged commanding role in the assault.

At least five attackers armed with guns, grenades and sharp weapons killed 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, at the Holey Artisan Bakery in the Gulshan diplomatic area. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas government has said the group has no presence in the country.

The government said the JMBs new front, New JMB which is led by Tamim Chowdhury, is responsible for such attacks. Police said they had identified three masterminds - Chowdhury, Nurul Islam Marzan and Ziaul Haq, a sacked army major.

Hasnat Karim, a Bangladeshi-origin British citizen who was inside the cafe during the attack, has also been arrested. The former teacher of the elite North South University is in police remand.

While the initial focus was on Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Canadian, investigators are now zooming in on Marzan, a student of Arabic at Chittagong University who hails from northern Pabna district.

Marzan allegedly led the attack as an operation commander from outside and coordinated with Chowdhury, who had been praised in ISs propaganda materials.

Monirul Islam, a top official of a counter-terrorism and transnational crimes agency, said on Tuesday authorities were focusing on Marzan and some others as part of their probe into the attack.

Islam said authorities had established that, apart from the three alleged masterminds, another seven to eight people were involved in the attack. But we have not been able to identify them yet, he said.

Detectives have also detained Marzans father Nazimuddin Nizam from Afuria village in Pabna for questioning.

Before his detention, Nizam told reporters late on Monday night that his son had been missing for eight months and had not contacted the family since he left with his wife.

He went to Chittagong eight months ago with his wife. But since then we have no idea about him. He did not come home during the last Eid festival, he said.

Some reports said Marzan, aged about 25, was involved in student politics as a member of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Police published his photo on Friday and described him as a top level militant organiser. Villagers from his Pabna home quickly confirmed Marzans identity. His father, a yarn trader, said Marzan was second among 10 brothers and sisters.

Neighbours said Marzan was a quiet boy with no criminal record in the village. He completed high school with a good score from a local madrassa before he got admitted to university.

Police said the IS got the photographs of bloodied bodies of the hostages through Marzan, who sent the images to Chowdhury after the attackers used special apps for communication. The ISs Amaq news agency released these photographs while the siege of the cafe was underway.

Four female JMB suspects arrested

Bangladeshs elite Rapid Action Battalion has arrested four young women for alleged involvement with the JMB. They were produced before journalists during a news briefing on Tuesday.

Lutful Kabir, a commanding officer of RAB, told the briefing the women were arrested in separate raids in Dhaka and neighbouring Gazipur early on Tuesday.

He said one of the women, Aklima Rahman, was the adviser of the group. Rahman, a student of Manarat International University, was being watched by intelligence operatives and acted as a top recruiter for the JMB, Kabir said.

Officials seized laptops, books on jihad and other materials from the women. One of the suspects smashed her mobile phones memory card during the raid by the RAB.
The son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman may be among the half-dozen men abducted by gunmen at a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities said Tuesday.

Jalisco state Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told Radio Formula that it is presumed, though not yet certain, that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was among the six men kidnapped from the upscale restaurant by a squad of seven armed assailants.

Experts say Ivan Archivaldo assumed control of parts of his fathers business after he was re-arrested in January.

Officials earlier estimated that 10 to 12 had been kidnapped, based on the confused nature of evidence at the crime scene. Investigators have been taking fingerprints from the scene, viewing video images and checking identifications related to five vehicles  some luxury models  left behind by the victims at the restaurant.

Almaguer said several of them (the victims) had false identities, which complicated efforts to determine who they were.

He said the abduction was the work of a criminal group that operates in the area, and while he would not identify the gang by name, the largest group operating in the state is the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

The Jalisco cartel has grown quickly to rival Guzmans Sinaloa cartel as the most powerful of Mexicos drug gangs.

Experts say there could be other reasons why someone would want to kidnap the younger Guzman. Ivan Archivaldo had reportedly been running roughshod over allies in his fathers business, and had the reputation of a braggart, showing off expensive liquor, clothes, guns and cars on social media, something that could have angered more traditional traffickers who keep a lower profile.

Ivan Archivaldo was, I believe, a bit crazy, said Raul Benitez, a security specialist who teaches political science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He spent all his time posting things on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. A serious narco doesnt do that.

A Facebook account under his name, which could not be corroborated as authentic, shows photos of assault rifles pistols cocaine and expensive cognac.

He was a junior  a term Mexicans use to describe privileged youths  Benitez said. He didnt have the ability to run the cartel.

Authorities scrambled to try to confirm the identities of the kidnappers and the victims while reassuring tourists that the kidnapping was an isolated incident and that activities for visitors continued without interruption.

Almaguer told a news conference Monday that the victims were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities ... they were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume.

Almaguer said two SUVs carrying the gunmen arrived around 1 am at La Leche restaurant on Puerto Vallartas main boulevard, which runs through the hotel zone between the old beach city and the airport.

He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and the group that was targeted appeared to be celebrating, according to other people in the restaurant. Authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates but a false registration.

Experts said that it could be the latest in a string of attacks against Guzmans family, perhaps suggesting that the drug lord had lost control of his Sinaloa cartel. He purportedly ran affairs from prison until his second escape in 2015, and when recaptured was placed under stricter security measures.

In June, local media reported that an armed gang had broken into the home of Guzmans mother in the northern state of Sinaloa and taken vehicles and other goods.

There is a war right now for control of the Sinaloa cartel and a central theme in that war is the issue of attacks on his family, Benitez said. People have information about the familys movements and they want to destroy the family.

Alejandro Hope, a Mexico City-based security analyst, said that while Jalisco New Generation controls the area, it would be possible for another group to enter the city.

Hope also called it odd that a group of alleged cartel members would be taken without a shot being fired.

Its a bit surprising that in effect they were drug traffickers but didnt have any security, Hope said.

Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said on his official Twitter account that such violence would not be tolerated.

To the residents and tourists of Puerto Vallarta, I inform you that we have reinforced security so that you can go on as usual, Sandoval wrote.
Indian American Neera Tanden was among senior members of a transition team named by the Clinton campaign on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for the nominees presidency, should she win.

Tanden was named a co-chair, with former national security adviser Tom Donilon, former governor Jennifer Granholm and Clintons 2008 campaign manager Maggie Williams.

Ken Salazar, a former interior secretary, was named the chairman. The team will report to Clinton Campaign chairman John Podesta, who is a former chief of staff of Bill Clinton.

The transition team prepares the newly elected president to have his or her administration in place the day he or she is sworn in, and not waste weeks and days putting it together.

The team, which will be physically based in Washington DC, typically has to fill around 4,000 positions in different departments of the federal government.

Under a 2010 law, the transition teams of the two major candidates are provided federal office space in DC and receive briefings from the incumbent administration.

Republican nominee Donald Trump named his transition chair  New Jersey governor Chris Christie  many weeks ago but has not announced other members of the team yet.

Tanden, who was among the only two Indian Americans to speak at Clintons presidential convention in Philadelphia  the other was Ami Bera  is a long-time associate of the Clinton's.

She started working with Clinton during her 2000 campaign for the senate as deputy campaign manager, and joined her on election as the senators legislative director.

When Clinton ran for president in 2008, Tanden was her campaigns policy director. She joined the Obama team after Clinton dropped out as domestic policy director.

Tanden joined the Obama administration as a senior adviser and played a key role in formulating the presidents landmark health care reform law, a significant legacy project.

She left the administration and joined the Center for American Progress, a DC think-tank founded by Podesta, who now heads the Clinton campaign. She heads it now, as president.

Asked recently about Indian Americans who could be named to senior positions in a Clinton administration, Podesta said he could think of one for sure, and that was Tanden.
A 53-year-old Lincoln man accused of trying to sell stolen cattle has been given two years in prison.

Cork Tyan pleaded guilty in April to theft and attempted theft and was sentenced Friday. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors lowered one of the theft charges.

Authorities said Tyan went to a Gage County sale barn in February and tried to sell some calves that later proved to have been stolen from a rancher in Hayes County. They said he also admitted stealing barbed wire from a Beatrice store.

Court documents indicate he took 14 calves from a former employer.

Tyan has been living in Lincoln and was described as being from Hickman when he was arrested in February.

He said then that he bought the calves but was unable to say where or from whom.

The calves were taken to Hayes Center, and all paired up immediately with their mother cows.
Libyan forces backed by US air strikes said on Tuesday that they have taken control of one of the last districts in central Sirte occupied by Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Forces aligned with Libyas UN-backed government in Tripoli are three months into a campaign to oust the IS from their former North African stronghold and have captured most of the coastal city.

Libyan forces fire a shell at IS positions in Sirte, August 15, 2016. (REUTERS)

Since August 1 their progress has been aided by US air strikes that have targeted IS vehicles, weapons and fighting positions. US Africa Command said it had carried out a total of 48 strikes as of Wednesday.

A photo taken on August 15, 2016 shows Libyan forces fire an artillery cannon at IS positions in Sirte. (REUTERS)

The Libyan forces are mainly composed of brigades from the western city of Misrata. After they secured key sites south of central Sirte last week, fighting moved into neighbourhood Number 2, which the brigades said they had now captured.

A fighter of Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government fires a shell with Soviet made T-55 tank at Islamic State fighters in Sirte. (REUTERS)

On Tuesday morning clashes erupted ... that led successfully to the recapture of neighbourhood Number 2 with the cooperation of a tank unit to confront the IS, said Rida Issa, a spokesperson.

The neighbourhood is now completely under control of our forces.

A fighter of Libyan forces while carrying a wounded colleague during a battle with IS fighters in Sirte on July 31. (REUTERS)

Some casualties from the fighting were arriving at Misratas central hospital, but it was not yet clear how many had been killed and wounded said, Akram Gliwan a hospital spokesperson.

Fighters of Libyan forces rest during a battle with the Islamic State in Sirte (REUTERS)

Islamic State took control of Sirte last year, turning it into a base for Libyan and foreign fighters and extending their control over about 250 km (155 miles) of Libyas Mediterranean coastline. But it has struggled to win broad support or retain territory in Libya, and losing Sirte will be a major setback for the jihadist group, already under pressure from US-backed campaigns in Iraq and Syria.

A fighter of Libyan forces wears a mask as he waits with his colleagues for a rocket to be fired at Islamic State positions. (REUTERS)

US-backed forces celebrate re-taking Sirte, Libya from the Islamic State on August 11, 2016. (AP)

A white pigeon flies as fighters of Libyan forces allied with the UN-backed government rest in Sirte. (REUTERS)

Members of Libyan pro-government forces hold a position as they fight to clear the Islamic State (IS) from its main Libyan stronghold of Sirte on August 13, 2016. (AFP)
A California man was arrested on Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time, Pimlott said.

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldnt protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of Californias most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lakes modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock cant remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty theyve always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

Everybody is just on edge, he said. The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire.

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

Its a poor community, he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them.

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to more than 8 square miles. The fire destroyed 12 homes over the weekend and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake. It was only slightly contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.


A mentally ill man from Germany seriously wounded two passengers in a knife attack on a regional train in western Austria on Tuesday, police said, ruling out a terrorist act.

The 60-year-old was travelling to the city of Bregenz, in Vorarlberg state, early on Tuesday when he suddenly jumped up and stabbed a 19-year-old man in the stomach and back.

The attacker then turned on a 17-year-old youth and slashed his neck, police said.

The incident ended when the train pulled into a station and two officers apprehended the man after a brief struggle.

Both victims were taken to hospital, police said.

The man did not have a migration background. He is by all accounts mentally ill and we are largely excluding a terrorist act, police spokesman Horst Spitzhofer told AFP.

The attack came days after a 27-year-old Swiss national went on a knife rampage on a train in Switzerland, killing one passenger and injuring five.
Amid a war of words over Kashmir, the Pakistan government has apparently relaxed the media regulatory authoritys ban on alleged Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, allowing him to appear on private TV channels to advocate the cause of Kashmiris.

Since violence erupted in the Kashmir Valley, Saeed is back on private TV channels, bashing the Narendra Modi government for its role in the killing of innocent Kashmiris. He has appeared on a couple of news talk shows, mostly Neo TV, over the last one week or so.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) in November last year had restrained all Pakistani television channels from all kinds of coverage of the JuD (Jamaat-ud-Dawa), its front Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and about 60 other proscribed organisations and their leaders.

The FIF is also getting electronic media coverage for its activities.

The Pemra has taken no notice of violation of its order by private TV channels with regard to Saeed, suggesting that the Nawaz Sharif government may have silently lifted the ban.

A source in Pemra told PTI that it had received complaints about Saeeds appearance on TV talk shows despite the ban.

The matter was brought to the knowledge of Pemra chief Absar Alam but he did not order issuance of show-cause notice to the private channels violating its order, suggesting there seems to be a direction from the information ministry in this regard, the source said.

The Pemra earlier had warned the electronic media that in case of non-compliance, it would take legal action  such as imposition of fine or suspension or cancellation of licence. The watchdog notification banned all TV channels and FM radio from coverage of banned groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, JuD and FIF under UN restrictions.

The UN declared JuD a terror organisation and also individually designated Saeed a terrorist in December 2008. The US has put a $10-million reward on his head.

The JuD has challenged the Pemra ban on him and his organisations in the Lahore high court, where the case is pending.
Anxiety is rising among Portuguese citizens of Goan-origin and other EU citizens over their future after Britains vote to leave the European Union, with a leading Brexit MP leading a project on protecting their rights after the exit process is completed.

Prime Minister Theresa May has refused to guarantee indefinite stay for 3 million EU citizens currently in Britain, linking their fate to that of 1.2 million British citizens living in European countries. Critics allege May is using people as bargaining chips in Brexit negotiations.

Leading Brexit campaigner and Labour MP Gisela Stuart believes EU citizens have been left in a limbo, not knowing what the future holds for them. As head of a research project for the think-tank British Future, she will examine what legal status could be granted to EU citizens.

Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz has expressed concern over the fate of more than 20,000 Goans with Portuguese passports in Britain, most of them settled in recent years in Swindon, Leicester and London. The date of first entry into Britain is likely to be crucial in future arrangements.

The government has clarified that EU nationals who have lived continuously and lawfully in the UK for at least 5 years automatically have a permanent right to reside, and those completing six years can apply for a British passport.

But uncertainty has gripped the Goans and others who have been in Britain for less than five years. A cut-off date is expected to be announced to decide the future of EU citizens, and those entering before that date can stay permanently.

Stuart, who was co-chair of the Vote Leave campaign, said the government should make its position clear soon, and told the BBC she did not want to pre-empt her inquiry by specifying a cut-off date.

But she added June 23 - the day of the referendum - was a "very significant date", after which "people knew what was coming".

Stuart said: "There is wide agreement, among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here and that the government should make clear they can stay. This is the right thing to do and what the Leave campaign promised all along."

The inquiry committee, which includes British Futures Sunder Katwala, will publish its report in the autumn.

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Anjem Choudary, Britains most high-profile Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous plots across the world, has been found guilty of inviting support for Islamic State (IS).

Choudary, 49, was convicted at Londons Old Bailey court of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the banned group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

Notorious in Britain where the tabloids denounce him as a hate preacher, he is also well-known abroad, making regular TV appearances in the wake of attacks by Islamist militants to blame Western foreign policy for targeting Muslims.

These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations, said Dean Haydon, head of London polices Counter Terrorism Command.

Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, had pledged allegiance to the caliphate declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him.

Both men, who had denied the terrorism charges and claimed the case was politically motivated, were found guilty last month but their convictions could not be reported until Tuesday for legal reasons. They are due to be sentenced in September and could face a jail sentence of up to 10 years each.

Choudary, the former head of the now banned organisation al-Muhajiroun, became infamous for praising the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the United States and saying he wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.

Despite his often controversial comments and refusal to condemn attacks by Islamists such as the London 2005 bombings, Choudary has always denied any involvement in militant activity and had never been previously charged with any terrorism offence.

Rahman served two years in jail for encouraging followers to kill British and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during a protest in 2006.

Breeding ground for militants

Al-Muhajiroun has been regarded as a breeding ground for militants since it was founded in the late 1990s by Syrian-born Islamist cleric Omar Bakri, who was banished from Britain in 2005, and was banned under anti-terrorist laws in 2010.

Police said it was suspected of being the driving force behind the London bombings while Michael Adebolajo, one of the men who hacked to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street in 2013, had attended protests Choudary had organised.

Last year, the trial of a teenage Muslim convert found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier in London was told he had fallen in with al-Muhajiroun.

The groups influence is said to extend far beyond Britain. Those connected to it include Abu Hamza al-Masri, jailed for life in the United States last year for terrorism-related offences.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the gunman who shot and killed a soldier in Canadas capital and then stormed parliament in 2014, followed Choudary on Twitter, although the preacher told Reuters at the time he had no links to him.

Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men, Haydon said in a statement.

Both Choudary and Rahman say they abide by a covenant of security which forbids Muslims from carrying out attacks in non-Muslim lands where their lives and wellbeing are protected.

Were living in a global community and no doubt Muslims around the world who have their eye on whats happening in Syria and Iraq or want to know about the sharia (law) will come across us at one point or another, Choudary told Reuters in 2014.

That does not mean that were encouraging people to carry out any acts of terrorism.
Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew a bombing run from an Iranian airstrip against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria, the defence ministry said -- the first time Moscow has reported using an Iranian air base.

The raids mark the first time that Russia has publicly stated that it has used a base in a Middle East country other than Syria since the Kremlin launched its bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad last September.

On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib, the ministry said in a statement.

The strikes resulted in the destruction of five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb in the Idlib region and Al-Bab, an IS-held town in Aleppo province, the statement said.

The bombing also targeted three command centres near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing a large number of fighters, Moscow added.

Conducting its bombing raids from Iran will dramatically cut the time it takes Moscows long-range bombers to reach Syria. They had recently been flying from a base in southern Russia.

US cooperation?

Moscow has used warplanes stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as warships stationed in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean Sea to launch cruise missile attacks on Syrian territory.

A Russian senator last week said the country was mulling plans to expand its airbase in Syria into a permanent military facility.

An unnamed military source also told Interfax news agency Monday that the Russian army had sent requests to Iran and Iraq to fire cruise missiles across their airspace.

Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime and have opposed international calls for the Syrian leader to step down in a bid to resolve a civil war that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Iran is Assads main regional ally and has provided steady military, financial, and political support to the regime.

Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov was in Tehran on Monday, where he discussed the high mutual interest of deeper cooperation between Russia and Iran in the Middle East, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed separately in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States are also close to joining forces around Syrias ravaged second city of Aleppo, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control.

But in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau refused to confirm any collaboration.

A senior Russian diplomat in Geneva, Alexei Borodavkin, told Interfax Monday that the Russian and American militaries were in the process of agreeing some concrete practical issues regarding humanitarian aid deliveries to the city.

Fighting for Aleppo has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.

The increased fighting has raised concerns for the estimated 1.5 million civilians still in Aleppo, including some 250,000 in rebel-held areas.
A mayor on the French island of Corsica on Monday became the third nation to announce a ban on burqinis, following weekend clashes allegedly sparked by a row over the full-body Islamic swimsuit.

The announcement by the mayor of the village of Sisco follows similar prohibitions in the Riviera towns of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet, which have also controversially banned the garment from their beaches in recent weeks.

Siscos Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni said he aimed to protect the population after clashes on Saturday in a cove outside his village in the north of the Mediterranean island that left five people injured.

Around 100 police were deployed to break up the fight between locals and families of North African origin that reportedly began over tourists taking pictures of women swimming in burqinis.

Three cars were set alight after the rivals, some of whom were armed with hatchets, hurled stones and bottles. Five people were hospitalised.

Vivoni said his decision to ban the burqini was not against the Muslim religion but to avoid the spread of fundamentalism.

I am absolutely not racist. I want to protect the population, notably my areas Muslim population, because I think that they are the main victims of these extremist provocations.

The move comes at a highly sensitive time for relations with Frances Muslim community following a series of jihadist attacks, mostly by young French acolytes of the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors in nearby Bastia said an inquiry had been opened to determine the cause of the weekend violence.

Vivoni said tensions over religion had been building in northern Corsica for a while.

There were tense scenes Sunday as around 500 nationalists gathered in the northeastern town of Bastia, seeking to enter the Lupino district which is home to a large North African community.

The police blocked them from entering.

Last month, a splinter group of the nationalist Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) warned Islamists that any attack on the island would trigger a determined response, without any qualms.

Profoundly archaic

The question of Islamic dress has long been a hot-button issue in France, which was the first European country to ban the full-face veil in public places in 2010.

Opponents of the burqini argue it tramples secular values.

Anti-racism campaigners saying banning it amounts to discrimination against Muslims.

Womens Rights Minister Laurence Rossignol said the burqini, which has also been a talking point at the Rio Olympics where it has been sported by several athletes, was profoundly archaic.

The burqini has a goal. The goal is to hide womens bodies to hide women...there is something profoundly archaic about it, she told Europe 1 radio.

But she also warned against the ulterior motives of some in the conservative opposition whom she accused of stoking debates about burqinis and halal meat to try win votes from the far-right National Front.

Rossignol did not say where she stood on banning the garment.

France is on high alert after two grisly attacks in the last month claimed by, or carried out in the name of Islamic State, which was also behind Novembers coordinated assaults in Paris.

On July 14, a Tunisian father of three ploughed a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 85 people.

Two weeks later, two teens claiming allegiance to IS killed a priest by slitting his throat.

The burqini ban in Cannes won court backing on Saturday, with a judge ruling the garment could be seen as a provocation after the Nice attack.

In the nearby resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, mayor Lionnel Luca has defended the ban by saying it is unhygienic to swim fully dressed.
US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trumps ideas are very dangerous and un-American, and attacked the billionaire of playing into the hands of Islamic State by his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Trumps ideas are not only profoundly wrong, theyre very dangerous and theyre very un-American. You know, they reveal a profound ignorance of our constitution, Biden said.

Its a recipe for playing into the hands of terrorists and their propaganda, Biden said at an election really in Pennsylvania where he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Last year, ISISs top leader who we had been tracking since we got Bin Laden, his name is Al-Baghdadi and he revealed the goal of ISIS, he just said it straight out. You can go on their website, Biden said.

He said their goal is to, quote, compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zones themselves, meaning anywhere where Christians and Muslims live, he calls a gray zone. He said the objective is to actively destroy that gray zone, he said.

Muslims in the west, he says, will have to quickly find themselves between two choices. Either apostatize or emigrate to the Islamic state and thereby escape prosecution. How does he make the case? By pointing out that no Muslim is welcome in the west, Biden said.

ISIS wants to manufacture a clash of civilizations between us versus them. Trump is trying to give them exactly what they want, Biden said.

Last week he stood in front of a crowd in Florida and said President Obama founded a terrorist organisation, ISIS, he said as he described this as an outrageous statement.

But let me tell you why its a dangerous statement. Why, as he might say, the bad guys are listening. Yesterday, the head of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, Irans top terrorist surrogate, and a direct threat to our ally Israel, repeated Trumps claim in the entire Muslim world and - I mean, around the world, that President Obama founded ISIS, he said.

Trump, he alleged, is already making the country less safe.

He has said, Hillary hasnt forgotten more about American foreign policies than Trump and his entire team will ever understand.
Donald Trump on Monday proposed Cold War-scale efforts to battle radical Islamic terror that would include subjecting immigrants and visitors to the US to extreme vetting.

They will be administered an ideological screening test, the Republican nominee said on Monday in a speech in Ohio, a battleground state, outlining his strategy against radical Islam.

Trump vowed to set up a presidential commission to investigate radical Islam, identify signs of radicalisation and expose networks supporting it in the US.

Till these steps are in place, he repeated his call to suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.

Just as we won the Cold War, Trump said, in part, by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam.

In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. The effort is to keep out members and sympathisers of terrorist groups, people hostile to the US, and who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law, he said.

Response from the Clinton campaign was swift . Its a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it, said Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser.

Though Trump did not name countries likely to be impacted by temporary suspension on Monday, he had earlier cited Pakistan.

Michael Kugelman, South Asia expert with the think tank Wilson Center, said hisyoure-with-us-or-against-us approach could put US-Pakistan ties to the test in a big way.

Trump would have no patience for Pakistans good militant/bad militant policy, which could inject new levels of tensions into (the) relationship, Kugelman argued.

He also said Trumps plan was firmly in line with Indias views on terrorismit favoured a robust, all-out assault on all forms of Islamist terror and the ideologies that drive it.

But though India and a Trump-led US could agree on counter-terrorism, he cautioned, we can assume that other Trump policies toward India would not be at all well received in Delhi.

For one, Trumps ambiguous views on immigration, specially H-1B visas, which are critical to the bottomline for many Indian tech giants. He has both opposed and supported them.

But thats a different discussion from his Monday speech.
Authorities are investigating a Friday altercation in the death-row unit at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution that sent convicted killer Roy Ellis to a local hospital.

Sources familiar with the incident identified Ellis, 62, as the injured inmate, and said he was attacked by three others on death row.

He was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Johnson County Hospital and returned to the prison later that night, said Dawn-Renee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, without confirming Ellis was the inmate involved.

Ellis was convicted in the 2005 abduction and murder of Omaha 12-year-old Amber Harris.

He was the first person sentenced to death after the Nebraska Supreme Court banned the electric chair as the state's method of execution.

An investigation of Friday's assault is ongoing. Smith said the Corrections Department will also complete an internal critical incident review.

Nebraska's 10 death-row inmates are all housed at Tecumseh. While their unit is segregated from others at the prison, they are not generally kept in solitary confinement and are allowed to interact with others in the unit, including at mealtimes.

While reports of violence on death row are rare, the Tecumseh prison was the scene of a deadly riot on Mother's Day 2015, which triggered an extensive review of the prison system's staffing and procedures.
Police said a helicopter has crashed in western Czech Republic, killing two people on board.

Spokesperson Hana Stefflova said the crash occurred on Tuesday in a field near the village of Kaznejov, some 100 kilometers west of the capital Prague.

Stefan Livinka, spokesperson for the regional firefighters said the two killed were the only ones on board the helicopter.

Another police spokesperson, Martina Korandova, said the victims were both male but have not yet been identified. Officials said they had no further details about the crash at this stage.
NEW YORK: A Muslim advocacy group on Monday plans to announce a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the gunman who killed a New York mosque leader and his associate as the families of the slain men make funeral arrangements and continue their quest for answers in the shooting.

Imam Maulama Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both shot in the head near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighbourhood of Queens as they left afternoon prayers on Saturday in their traditional religious attire.

He always wants peace, Akonjees son, Naim Akonjee, 21, said of his father through tears. Why did they kill my father?

Another son, Foyez Uddin, who isnt related to the other victim, said in Bangladesh that his father and mother had booked flights for August 31 to visit Akonjees mother. The son said the family is discussing funeral plans. He said they cannot believe he is no more, call the loss irreparable.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, planned to announce on Monday a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

Police said they have not yet determined a motive for the killings, but some in the Bangladeshi Muslim community served by the mosque worry it could be a hate crime.
NARATHIWAT (THAILAND): Fresh explosions rocked Thailands deep south seriously wounding one soldier on Monday, days after a spate of bomb and arson attacks struck multiple tourist resort towns.

Last weeks attacks have heightened concerns Thailands long-running but local southern Islamist insurgency may have spread after years of stalled peace talks - a suggestion the kingdoms junta has been keen to deny.

A string of overnight attacks have highlighted how the insurgency continues to rage in the three Muslim majority provinces bordering Malaysia.

One soldier was seriously injured from a bomb buried under the road on Monday morning, Police Captain Wiroge Boonkae, from Bacho police station in southern Narathiwat province, told AFP.

Police said a further three blasts struck neighbouring Yala province, though no injuries were reported.

The area, which was annexed a century ago by Thailand, has been battered by 12 years of violence between the Buddhist- majority state and shadowy Muslim rebels seeking greater autonomy.

Near-daily shootings and roadside bombs have left more than 6,500 dead since 2004, most of them civilians.

But the violence has largely remained local with militants loathe to spark international outrage by targeting Western tourists.
BEIJING: The Indian media is stirring up negative sentiments about China at a time when both countries are focused on expanding collaboration, Chinese state media said on Monday, adding that damaging reports were impacting the Communist countrys image across the border.

Referring to a news report published in an English newspaper in India last week, state-controlled tabloid, Global Times said the eye-catching headline gave the wrong impression about foreign minister Wang Yis visit to India.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a visit to India on Friday. As a number of media outlets reported, the tour was focused on cooperation over the upcoming G20 and BRICS summits. However, quite a few Indian media started to cover the tour a week ago with the eyecatching headline China blocked Indias NSG bid, but now wants help on South China Sea , the editorial said.

It said there was no need for Beijing to beg a favour from India on any issue.

Over the years, bilateral joint works are unfolding in a variety of fields such as international trade, environmental protection, infrastructure projects, and anti-terrorism, as well as energy security. Such cooperation will benefit both, the commentary said.

An official statement issued in New Delhi had specifically mentioned that the South China Sea dispute wasnt discussed during meetings Wang had with Indian officials. China is embroiled in claims and counter-claims over the ownership of islands in the South China Sea with several countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan. India, though not a direct party to the disputes, has maintained that freedom of navigation should be maintained throughout the South China Sea maritime region.

Clearly, the Indian media has not yet learned to see the considerable potential of the bilateral ties with a constructive mindset, the editorial added, It is important for the Indian media to remember that development and prosperity are needed by both sides and they need a stable environment for that.

The Global Times editorial further said: Given the recent frictions between the two countries, including the NSG issue and New Delhis rejection of visa extension requests for Chinese reporters, there are indeed certain puzzles left unresolved in the bilateral relationship. But they can hardly represent the big picture of Sino-Indian ties.

It added that Indias media was trying to mislead public opinion.
PARIS: The jihadi employment form asked the new recruits to rate their knowledge of Islam on a scale of one to three. And the Islamic State group applicants, herded into a hang ar somewhere at the Syria-Turkey border, turned out tobe overwhelming ly deemed ignorant. The extremist group could hardly have hoped for better.

At the height of the IS groups drive for foot soldiers in 2013 and 2014, typical followers included the group of Frenchmen who went bar-hopping with their recruiter back home, the recent European convert who now hesitantly describes himself as gay, and two Britons who ordered The Quran for Dummies from Amazon to prepare for jihad in Syria. They were grouped in safe houses as a stream of IS imams filled in the gaps, according to court testimony and interviews.

I realised that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these forms like when you die, who should we call? said the 32-year-old European convert, speaking to The AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

He went to Syria in 2014 and said new recruits were shown IS propaganda videos on Islam, and that the visiting imams repeatedly praised martyrdom. Far from home and unschooled in religion, most of the recruits were in little position to judge.

An Associated Press analysis of thousands of leaked IS documents reveals most of its recruits from its earliest days knew little about Islam.

According to the documents, which were acquired by the Syrian opposition site Zaman al-Was land shared with AP, 70% of recruits were listed as having just basic knowledge of Shariah the lowest possible choice.

Around 24% were categorised as having an intermediate knowledge, and just 5% were considered advanced students of Islam.

The group preys on this ignorance, because it allows extremists to impose an interpretation of Islam constructed to suit its goal of maximum territorial expansion and carnage as soon as recruits come under its sway .
LONDON: The British may have introduced railways in India, where the rapidly improving network is one of the worlds largest, but things are not exactly the same in UK: strikes, steep prices and congestion have irked many commuters, who are now calling for its nationalisation.

So much so that when Indian-origin stand-up Nish Kumar used humour in a Monday article to cut through the complex issues and claimed that British trains were worse than Indian ones, many agreed, but some were thrown off-track.

When I was growing up, and periodically going to India to visit my grandmother, my classmates would often ask me about the trains. There was an exotic fascination with people sitting on top of the carriages.

Well, just to clear this up, British trains are now worse than Indian trains. Even if you sat on the roof, at least you get a seat, he wrote in The Guardian, provoking nearly 1,000 comments from readers comparing their experience of travelling in India, Britain and elsewhere.

The introduction of railways in India in 1853 is often cited as part of the good that British rule purportedly did in India, but critics have insisted that it was introduced to facilitate revenue extraction rather than to transport natives across the subcontinent.

Today, Britain is reputed to have the highest train fares in Europe. If you want to travel from London to Manchester, and have not booked a ticket, be prepared to sell a kidney or stay at home. Frequent travellers have to plan ahead, booking months in advance to avoid massive fares, Kumar wrote.

One of the private companies running trains, Southern Rail, went on a five-day strike earlier this month, prompting renewed calls for nationalisation of the rail network. It is a cause espoused by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, winning him increasing supporters.

Kumar, who is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, added: Nationalisation might seem like the preserve of old-fashioned, duffel-coat-wearing, Red-Flag-singing socialists, but it also appears to be economically efficient.

British rail was privatised by the John Major government, when the infrastructure, maintenance and ownership of trains were each sold off to private firms in a process that lasted three years from 1994. It led to investment, but also higher fares over the years.

Comments on Kumars article included good, bad and ugly experiences of Britons travelling on Indian trains, but many agreed that commuting by rail in Britain is anything but a pleasure any more.

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JERSEY CITY: Donald Trump was set to declare an end to nation building if elected president, replacing it with what aides described as foreign policy realism focused on destroying the Islamic State and other extremist organisations.

In a speech the Republican presidential nominee was to deliver on Monday in Ohio, Trump was expected to argue that the US needs to work with anyone that shares that mission, regardless of other ideological and strategic disagreements.

Any country that wants to work with the country to defeat radical Islamic terrorism will be a US ally, he was expected to say. Mr Trumps speech will explain that while we cant choose our friends, we must always recognise our enemies, Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said on Sunday.

Trump on Monday is also expected to outline a new immigration policy proposal under which the US would stop issuing visas in any case where it cannot perform adequate screenings.

It will be the latest version of a policy that began with Trumps unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticised across party lines as un-American. Following a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June, Trump introduced a new standard.

Trump is also expected to propose creating a new, ideological test for admission to the country that would assess a candidates stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. Through questionnaires, searching social media, interviewing friends and family or other means, applicants would be vetted to see whether they support American values like tolerance and pluralism.

The candidate is also expected to call in the speech for declaring in explicit terms that, like during the Cold War, the nation is in an ideological conflict with radical Islam. On the eve of the speech, clearly angered by news reports that he has grown depressed and sullen over his fading presidential prospects, Trump issued some of his sharpest attacks on the media.

I am not running against Crooked Hillary Clinton, the Republican presidential candidate said in a speech late Saturday in Fairfield, Connecticut. I m running against the crooked media.

Trump seemed particularly upset with a New York Times article that quotes unnamed associates of his as saying that in private his mood is often sullen and erratic.
Far from being ashamed of their wartime actions, Quantrills raiders held gala reunions to relive their deeds.

Not all the Confederate guerrillas who rode with William Clarke Quantrill during the Civil War followed their infamous leaders example by dying young. Some, in fact, lived to an improbable ripe old age. And like old soldiers everywhere, they liked to meet and talk over old times, even when those times included the cold-blooded murder of 150 men and boys at Lawrence, Kansas, in the summer of 1863.

The first informal gathering of former Quantrill guerrillas was held at the City Hotel in Blue Springs, Mo., on May 11, 1888. The guest of honor for the spur-of-the-moment ice cream social was Caroline Clarke Quantrill, the raiders aged mother, who was then in the midst of a nostalgic tour of the sites of her sons various wartime depredations.

The gathering was a great success. Tables laden with food and drink were set up on the lawn outside the hotel, and 14 former guerrillas attended the festivities. A correspondent for the Kansas City Journal assured his readers that the old guerrillas were an intelligent and well behaved lot of men, and did not seem possessed of any of the bloodthirsty characteristics ascribed to them. If they ever had, the refining influence of twenty-three years of peace and civilization have evidently transformed them into good law abiding citizens.

One by one, the former night riders stopped by Mrs. Quantrills table to talk with her about her son, and [tell] her of the parts in the great internecine strife that they had enacted with him. After the event, Mrs. Quantrill was given a grand send-off at the Blue Springs train station, where practically the entire town gathered to see her off. The last they saw of her, wrote the Kansas City reporter, was the flutter of a handkerchief at the window as the train swept around the bend.

After Mrs. Quantrills first and only visit to the state, the old guerrillas went back to their farms and businesses for another decade. Not until September 10, 1898, was the first official reunion of the Quantrill Band Survivors held at Blue Springs. The fact that the gathering did not occur until some 33 years after the war was over would seem to indicate that the survivors did not entirely trust the healing power of time.

Some 500 persons showed up for the reunion, including 35 former guerrillas. Frank Gregg, one of Quantrills lieutenants, had the men line up for roll call. The proceedings were considerably disrupted when someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, Bluecoats! Bluecoats! and the old men scrambled for cover, only to find that it was one of their own number, Hi George, playing a practical joke.

Frank James, the famous bank robber who had gotten his start riding with Quantrill during the war, was the natural center of attention. Dressed in neat checked trousers, black coat and vest, red necktie and patent leather shoes, the reformed bandit declined an invitation to make a speech, allowing that he had done many foolish things in his life, but never anything that foolish. Instead, he traded wartime reminiscences with his old comrades, helped them eat a lavish picnic lunch, and went back to his job as a burlesque house doorkeeper and weekend horse racer.

For the next several years, the Quantrill Band Survivors met at various places on various dates, usually in conjunction with the county fair, where they were greater attractions than all the livestock shows and blue-ribbon exhibits. Eventually, the group began meeting each August at the Jackson County home of Miss Lizzie Wallace, whose father had been rescued from hanging by Quantrill and his men. The reunions became gala two-day affairs, with long tables set up in a grove of trees behind the Wallace farm to accommodate the old raiders and their families. Once-feared guerrillas, surrounded by tow-headed grandchildren, nibbled on fried chicken, pimento cheese sandwiches, potato salad and pecan pies while listening to tunes provided by black musicians hired especially for the occasion. A particularly popular guest was John Nowland, a black man who had ridden with Quantrill during the war and was considered by his former comrades to be a man among men.

Residents of Lawrence, Kan., and other border towns visited by the raiders in their salad days did not find the annual gatherings so amusing, particularly given the old guerrillas lamentable penchant for granting newspaper interviews and recounting their gruesome deeds in loving detail. Lawrence Judge Samuel Riggs, a survivor of the 1863 massacre, even attempted to dust off the 43 murder indictments handed down after the raid, but repeated requests that the governor of Kansas demand extradition of the old bushwhackers quietly died a political death.

Inevitably, time had the final reckoning on Quantrills men, and the last reunionthe 32ndwas held in 1929. By then, only five ex-guerrillas were in attendance, and they voted to limit all subsequent gatherings to one day. As it turned out, they need not have botheredno more reunions were ever held. On March 3, 1932, the last known survivor, Frank Smith, died on his 86th birthday, his body parts worn out by age and steady work. That was more than could be said for the countless wartime victims of Quantrill and his men.

Roy Morris, Jr., Editor, Americas Civil War
Union Admiral David Farragut, preparing to brave the frowning bluffs

of Port Hudson, kept his young son by his side. They would trust in

Providence, he decreed. So would their shipmates.

By John F. Wukovits

The chief justice of the United States, Edward White, walked toward Admiral George Dewey, recently returned from his heroic exploits in Manila Bay, where his flotilla had soundly defeated a Spanish fleet in the early stages of the Spanish-American War. Their paths had crossed years before, although they had not met at the time, for the two illustrious men had fought on opposite sides in the Civil War battle at Port Hudson, Louisiana. White, a Confederate lieutenant, had watched from commanding bluffs while Rebel batteries tore into Deweys Federal ship and left it a burning hulk. White reminded Dewey of that incident and teased, We got the better of you that night, George. Dewey smiled and replied, I must say that I have to agree with you.

Dewey was not the only important naval figure involved at Port Hudson. Admiral David Farragut, commander of the Union Navy on the lower Mississippi and Deweys hero, planned and led the action on the winding river. Farraguts reason for advancing on Port Hudson was simple. Union forces controlled the Mississippi River north of Memphis and south of Baton Rouge, but in the middle, Confederate ships held sway. This enabled them to bring vital Texas wheat, rice and cattle, as well as supplies from Europe (which avoided the Union blockade by docking in Mexico) down the Red River to the beleaguered forces at Vicksburg, the final Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. A movement upriver would cut off Vicksburg from these precious supplies, but to do so required charging past strong Confederate batteries at Port Hudson.

Resting 25 miles north of Baton Rouge, Port Hudson was a tiny community of 50 homes that man and nature had shaped into a hardened knot of resistance to anyone attempting to skirt its bluffs. Earthworks and seven miles of trenches, interspersed with patches of woods, swamps and ravines, sheltered 16,000 Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner and guarded the land side, while 21 large guns protected by eager sharpshooters bristled menacingly along three miles of bluffs bordering the river. Whether approaching from land or sea, a hostile force faced running a ghastly gauntlet of fire to challenge what one Confederate private boasted was a place hard to get at.

Magnifying an attackers difficulties were problems posed by nature itself. As the Mississippi neared Port Hudson, it swerved in a sharp westerly bend for over a mile. At the bends entrance along the right, or eastern side, began a line of bluffs soaring 80 to 100 feet highideal positions for Confederate heavy guns. The opposite shore gently rose to a low peninsula from shallow waters plagued by numerous eddies that channeled ships toward the eastern side of the riverthe side directly under Port Hudsons guns. A stout 5-knot current at that spot slowed enemy ships to a tortuously slow pace making them inviting targets for Confederate guns.

Farragut commanded a small but potent squadron for his run past Port Hudson. His flagship, Hartford, wielded 28 guns, while Richmond sported 25, Monongahela 11, and Deweys ship, the side-wheeler Mississippi, carried 17 more. The small, river ironclad Essex added another seven. Farragut lashed gunboats to the sides of Hartford, Richmond and Monongahela to give the ships twin-screw capability, thereby increasing their maneuverability in the tricky Mississippi waters. A two-ship combination could rapidly turn by backing with one screw while going forward with the other. Mississippis side paddle wheels made that step impractical for Deweys ship, so it headed upstream under its own power.

An impatient Farragut had hoped to obtain help from his Army counterparts and thus implored commanders in New Orleans to move on land against Port Hudson while he advanced on water. This would at least occupy some of the awesome Confederate guns and draw them away from his squadron as it steamed by in the open. On March 13, 1863, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, Union commander at New Orleans, finally agreed to make such a move, and Farragut finished preparing his ships.

Sailors hurriedly stored brass rails and fittings below deck. Since Farragut intended to steam past Port Hudson at night, all interior decks were whitewashed to reflect whatever faint light existed to make movement easier for his men. Farragut also installed a voice trumpet that extended from the top of the mizzenmast to the wheel so that his pilot, Thomas R. Carrell, could be positioned above the fog and smoke of battle and easily call directions to the steersman.

Although Farragut did intend to stand and fight at Port Hudson, the passage could nevertheless prove bloody. He had earlier told his flag officer, Captain Thornton Jenkins, If we can get a few vessels above Port Hudson the thing will not be an entire failure, but he knew the operation still faced risks. A chaplain, unfamiliar with prebattle procedure in the Navy, watched gun crews place within easy reach of their stations wooden boxes filled with sawdust. Perplexed as to the sawdusts value, the chaplain was stunned to find out its purposesailors spread sawdust on the decks to absorb blood and prevent slipping during battle.

In his final order to all crews on March 13, Farragut asked each man to do his best. I expect all to go by who are able, and I think the best protection against the enemys fire is a well-directed fire from our own guns. After a 10 a.m. meeting with his commanders on March 14, while the squadron anchored off Profits Island seven miles below Port Hudson, Farragut decided to lead his ships past the Confederate stronghold that same night. Word came later in the day that Banks force was too far away to help, enraging the eager admiral; nevertheless, Farragut decreed the operation would continue as planned.

The ships cautiously inched forward around 9:30 p.m., after two red lights flashed under Hartfords sternFarraguts signal to advance. On board the flagship, officers roamed about barking final orders, Marines prepared to repel possible boarders, and bare-armed sailors took up positions. Loyall, Farraguts only son, stood next to the admiral.

The ships surgeon suggested that Farragut send his son below, but Farragut refused. His son must stay where he was and trust in Providence, and la fortune de la guerre. Farragut did, however, carefully show Loyall how to use a tourniquet by taking out a yard-long piece of rope attached to a crosspiece of wood. This rude medical device had gone into every battle with the admiral since his first service in the War of 1812, when a youthful Farragut had helplessly watched another sailor bleed to death.

For two hours the four main ships crept quietly closer to Port Hudson, while their accompanying mortar boats remained below to give support. Even Farragut seemed surprised that the Confederates refrained from firing until almost 11:30 p.m.

Hartford first braved the enemys guns, steaming as close as possible to the bluffs to get below the line of fire. She had already maneuvered past the first guns before a warning rocket alerted the defenders. Quickly, huge bonfires flared on the opposite shore to outline the Union ships for Confederate guns. Reflectors, placed behind the fires for further illumination, blinded Hartfords pilot. Southern shells rained down while Northern missiles soared to the bluffs, creating an incredible amount of noise. One Confederate soldier exclaimed, It seemed as though all the powers of Hell and destruction had been let loose, howling and shrieking for our annihilation.

In the midst of the confusion and smoke, Hartfords pilot could barely make out the shoreline. With a sudden jolt, the flagship ran aground where the river bent westward. Farragut immediately howled, Back! Back on the Albatross! an order to the gunboat lashed to Hartfords side to free his ship before enemy gunners zeroed in on the helpless target. With Albatross added power, Hartford soon wriggled free and continued onward.

Loyall Farragut could barely keep up with his father, who seemed to be everywhere during the action. When an erroneous report came to him that a Confederate ram was approaching, Farragut grabbed a cutlass to repel boarders and yelled, I am going to have a hand in this myself! Farragut stumbled over a tarpaulin in the dark but avoided injury when Loyall clutched his arm to steady him.

Enemy shells ripped into Hartford. One shot cut a box of socks in half, another shell was found lying harmlessly on a sailors bunk. Assistant engineer Edward Latch stared in horror as a shell hurled a wooden splinter, 5 feet long and 4 inches thick, directly across the ship. The effect of this missile whirling through a deck crowded with men can better be imagined than described, he later wrote.

By 12:15 a.m., Hartford had safely navigated the bend and stood beyond Confederate range. Fortunately for her, enemy gunners had misjudged the distance and failed to depress their weapons sufficiently, a mistake they would not repeat with the following three ships. Farragut, his arm resting on Loyalls shoulder, stared into the darkness downriver to see which vessels followed, but could discern no forms looming toward him. My God, he cried, What has stopped them?

The tricky Mississippi River, heavy smoke and lethal Confederate firepower were his answer. Smoke thrown up by Farraguts ships joined that created by enemy shelling to obscure movement on the rivergood if you were a target for heavy guns but hazardous when you needed to navigate a testy river. Pilots strained to see through the heavy mist but saw little more than occasional shore lights or gun flashes. In the confusion, true navigation proved impossible.

Richmond was next to test the enemy guns. An awesome array of mortars, large guns and sharpshooters opened up on her. One Confederate soldier, astounded by the noise erupting from Port Hudson, later gushed in wonder, My home was about 20 miles from Port Hudson, and my people said the reverberation was so great it seemed that the glass would be shaken out of the windows. Richmond sustained numerous hits, one in the engine room that blew out the safety-valve lever and knocked out the steam pressure. The rivers 5-knot current speedily turned the ship about without the crew realizing it. When gunners saw gun flashes on the left, they fired at what they thought were enemy positions. Instead, they had fired on Mississippi.

Splinters of wood and bits of sail and rope plummeted to Richmonds decks as Confederate projectiles smashed home in grueling succession. One huge shell plowed into the bridge, a second demolished an entire Marine gun crew. Marine Private John Thompson was decapitated by a missile that also killed three shipmates, while another missile bounced off the deck before exploding and killing boatswains mate John Howard. Commander James Alden rarely had seen such horror, and later recalled: The groans of the wounded and the shrieks of the dying were awful. The decks were covered with blood. In the midst of the carnage, executive officer Lt. Cmdr. A. Boyd Cummings maintained his composure and repeated to his crews: You will fire the whole starboard battery, one gun at a time, from the bow gun aft. Dont fire too fast. Aim carefully at the flashes of the enemys guns.

Richmond was saved by the heroics of four firemen. Immediately after the safety valve blew, firemen Joseph E. Valentine, Matthew McClelland, John Rush and John Hickman rushed onto deck, removed their thick, woolen shirts and soaked them in water. Covering their faces with the shirts, the four rushed back to the boilers where, braving scalding steam and the threat of explosion, they put out the fires in the damaged starboard boiler. Each man later received the Medal of Honor for this action.

Richmond headed back downstream with a loss of 18 killed and wounded, including Cummings, whose left leg was torn off by a cannon shot. He quietly told crewmen: Quick, boys, pick me up. Put a tourniquet on my leg. Send my letters to my wife. Tell her I fell in doing my duty. Cummings was then carried below to the surgeons. A doctor started to treat the mortally wounded officer, but he calmly turned him away. Pointing to a gravely wounded sailor, he muttered, No, he was here before me and must be attended to first. Cummings died four days later.

Monongahela followed Richmond, but an enemy shot smashed into the gunboat lashed to her side, knocking out the gunboats rudder and causing both ships to run aground on the bank opposite Port Hudson. For 25 minutes, shells rained down on the helpless Monongahela as her captain desperately tried to free her. A Confederate officer noticed that heavy shells were falling fast and thick and it seemed as if the whole heavens were ablaze with thunder and lightning. When Monongahela was finally wrenched away from shore, an overheated crankpin stalled her engines, and she, like Richmond, floated downstream, with six killed and 21 wounded.

Deweys ship, Mississippi, steamed after Monongahela. Dense smoke forced Dewey and Captain Melanchton Smith to rely wholly on the civilian pilot provided by Farragut. As Mississippi skirted the grounded Monongahela, her gunners tried to reply to Confederate shells but found the task difficult. Dewey recalled, There was nothing to do but to fire back at the flashes on the bluffs and trust to his [the pilots] expert knowledge.

Deweys spirits lifted when he glanced at Captain Smith during the battle and watched him calmly lighting his cigar. He did not feel as confident about the pilot, who had never before directed a ship while under fire.

About 12:15 a.m., Mississippi approached the final battery at the entrance to the sharp westward turn. The hapless pilot then miscalculated. Thinking the ship was beyond some shoals, he ordered: Starboard the helm. Full speed ahead. Turning left, Mississippi churned into a muddy bank and slowly began tilting to port. Her crew pulled all portside guns toward the middle for balance, while their starboard guns returned Confederate fire.

Enemy missiles smashed down on the hapless ship. Shells tore into the wheelhouse, lifeboats and decks, hurling a deadly spray of wood and metal fragments. A cannonball being heated as an incendiary bounced loose from its handlers below deck and careened into a forward storeroom, igniting sails and ropes. For 35 minutes, part of the crew battled the ensuing blaze while the ships engines tried to free Mississippi from the mudbank. As Confederate gunners zeroed in, Captain Smith reluctantly said to Dewey, Well, it doesnt look as if we can get her off.

About 1 a.m., Smith gave the Abandon Ship order. All starboard lifeboats had been demolished by enemy fire, so Smith had to remove almost 300 men using only three lifeboats. The most seriously wounded were put in the first and sent downstream to other ships, while the lightly injured and unhurt used the remaining two boats to get to shore in shifts.

Dewey now illustrated some of the leadership qualities later to make him famous at Manila Bay. When he noticed a frightened orderly rushing ahead of the rest of the men to get to safety, Dewey flattened him with an uppercut. A few minutes later the same orderly, now calmer, jumped into the river to save a wounded sailor who fell overboard. Dewey later walked up to the man he had just punched and loudly praised him.

When the boats taking the first group of sailors to shore were slow in returning, Dewey decided to go along for the second trip. He knew some men hesitated at coming back to a ship under bombardment and figured his presence would ensure that the boats returned. After receiving heavy fire all the way to shore, the boats safely landed and the men scrambled for the protection of nearby levees. Dewey ordered four men to return with him to Mississippi, but only one, a cook, obeyed. Dewey, who later termed those moments the most anxious of his career, finally cajoled and threatened enough men to man one boat, then told the men in charge of the second boat to use his gun to get the men back, if need be. At length, both boats returned to continue the evacuation.

Smith, who had been looking all over for his executive officer, hailed Dewey to his side when he returned to help search Mississippi for live crewmen. The two scoured the ship, examining bodies and constantly shouting in case a wounded man might remain among the wreckage. They located and removed one cabin boy, practically dead and covered by a heap of bodies near a gun station. Finally, Dewey and Ensign O.A. Batcheller set fire to Mississippi in two places by soaking mattresses with kerosene and lighting them.

As Dewey and Batcheller departed, Batcheller grabbed a uniform frock coat he thought was his and said, Ill save that, anyway. Then the two joined the other officers to await their removal according to proper proceduremen first, followed by officers in inverse order of rank, then Dewey and Smith. Through the evacuation the starboard batteries continued to fire, and those men became the last to leave before the officers. The final boat from Mississippi contained Smith, Dewey, Batcheller, one engineer and four men.

As the boat swirled forlornly downstream, Smith tossed overboard his sword and pistols, thinking he would soon be a prisoner. Victorious shouts from shore, as Confederates viewed the burning Mississippi, deepened that feeling. It was not pleasant to the ear, Dewey later wrote. The boat managed to safely reach Richmond, however, where a pleased Batcheller proudly held up the coat he had saved. Quickly, Ensign E.M. Shepard reached for it saying, Thanks, very much, Batcheller, but thats my coat.

Mississippi burned throughout the night until, near dawn, she had lightened sufficiently to free herself and began floating downstream. As the burning hulk passed by, a sailor on board Richmond stated: It was a most magnificent spectacle. From the midships to the stern the noble vessel was enveloped in a sheet of flame, while firewreathes ran up the shrouds, played around the mainmast, twisted and writhed like fiery serpents. When she grounded on Profits Island, Mississippis overheated port guns blew in a final frenzy of blazing glory. She goes out magnificently, anyway, sir, Dewey said to Smith, but the saddened captain could only shake his head in anguish.

With Mississippis demise, the first battle at Port Hudson ended. Farragut lost 35 dead and 77 wounded, compared to Confederate casualties of one killed and eight wounded. Only one ship had succeeded in getting past Port Hudson.

Outwardly, the Union had suffered a loss, but one that Farragut was willing to absorb. For in spite of the damage, he had placed a powerful ship, Hartford, as well as the accompanying gunboat lashed to her side, above the Confederate stronghold. He now stood in position to cut off western supplies to the east and challenge the Rebels for supremacy on the river.

Dividends quickly followed. Within days, a steamer bearing 300,000 pounds of precious bacon was cut off from Port Hudson. Other Southern supply ships encountered similar difficulties. Soon shortages would gravely sour conditions at both Vicksburg and Port Hudson, a pattern that would be repeated in other riverine locations as the war wound its way inexorably through the Confederacy.

John F. Wukovits writes from Michigan. Further reading: The Guns of Port Hudson, by David C. Edmonds, David Glasgow Farragut, by Charles Lee Lewis and Where Bugles Called and Rifles Gleamed, by William Spedale.

[ Top | Cover Page ]
General George Washington knew he had badly miscalculated. On August 27, 1776, British forces under a far more experienced military professional, General Sir William Howe, had soundly drubbed the American army in the Battle of Long Island and were now poised to finish it off. Outnumbered and out- generaled, with their backs to the East River and the British in front of them, the Americans appeared doomed. If Washington lost his army, it could mean the end of the Revolution.

Washington was well aware that his experience in the French and Indian War, 20 years earlier, hardly qualified him for his current position as commander in chief of the American armies. As a young colonial officer serving the British, Washington had lost a battle to the French at his hastily erected Fort Necessity in 1754. Serving as a militia colonel under British General Edward Braddock in 1755, the Virginian had fought gallantly at Fort Duquesne, but the British lost anyway. His one success had been a surprise attack against a small French party early in the war. I heard the bullets whistle, Washington wrote to his brother Lawrence afterward; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound. (After a London newspaper printed Washingtons letter, King George II wryly remarked, He would not say so had he heard many.) The Americans were finding the sound somewhat less charming after the battles at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Whether they were prepared for it or not, the colonies were now at war  a war requiring an army and a commander in chief to lead it.

Patriot leader John Adams and his cousin Samuel knew that finding a commander acceptable to all the colonies would be difficult. Charles Lee, Benjamin Church, Israel Putnam, and even John Hancock wanted the position. But the two Adams men decided Washington would lend dignity to the cause. Furthermore, placing a Virginian in the post would help deflect criticism that Massachusetts was dominating the Revolution. Although he did not lobby for the post, Washington signaled his willingness to accept it by wearing his scarlet and blue uniform of the Virginia militia to the meetings of the Second Continental Congress.

On June 15, 1775, the Congress approved the choice of Washington. The new commander in chief then read a letter of acceptance. Mr. President, tho I am truly sensible of the high honour done me in this appointment, yet I feel distress from the consciousness that my abilities and Military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important Trust, he said. However, as the Congress desires, I will enter upon the momentous duty and, exert every power I Possess in their service for the Support of the Glorious Cause . . . . He also said he would keep an exact account of his expenses and that he would accept no more than that for his service.

Washington achieved a quick victory in Boston when he placed cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga atop Dorchester Heights and forced the British out of the city. Washington and his most experienced and trusted commander at that time, General Charles Lee, believed that the British would probably focus their efforts on the New York area. It was a logical assumption. If General Howe controlled New York City, he could send armies north or south while his brother, Admiral Richard Black Dick Howe, could easily lend naval support wherever General Howe might need it.

Washington and Lee knew it would be difficult to defend New York, but it was a political necessity. At the very least the Americans had to make the British pay severely for the city, as they had made them pay at Bunker Hill. So with Lee back in the Boston area, Washington marched to New York to try to accomplish the nearly impossible. He planned to defend New York City by digging in and making earthworks for gun positions in Manhattan, in Brooklyn, and on the Battery. In addition, he intended to build Fort Washington up on Manhattan Islands northern tip. The fortifications themselves were well engineered and executed, but the plan was too ambitious and spread the Patriot forces too thin.

General Washington placed his largest contingent of troops, numbering 4,000 and commanded by Nathanael Greene, on Long Islands Brooklyn Heights, overlooking Brooklyn and New York City. He considered these soldiers to be his best units. On paper Washington probably had about 20,000 men in his army. But half of them were in various state militias, poorly trained, poorly equipped, and lacking discipline. Many in the regular army suffered from camp diseases and were too ill to fight. Facing them were General Howe and approximately 32,000 soldiers, including some 8,000 Hessians. Admiral Howe supported his brother with the largest expeditionary force Britain had ever dispatched  10,000 sailors on 30 warships, with 1,200 guns and hundreds of supporting vessels. Every thing breathes the Appearance of War, wrote the commander of one British frigate. The Number of Transports are incredible. I believe there are more than 500 of different kinds, besides the Kings ships  a Force so formidable would make the first Power in Europe tremble . . . .

On August 22 the British made their opening moves. In six hours Admiral Howe efficiently ferried his brothers troops from Staten Island to Long Island and landed them below Greenes position on Brooklyn Heights. Unfortunately for the Americans, Greene had become seriously ill, and Washington replaced him with John Sullivan of New Hampshire. Dissatisfied with Sullivans performance, Washington put another New Englander, Israel Putnam of Connecticut, in his place. As a result, he had a commander in the field who had no knowledge of the local terrain.

Washington worried about how his largely untested army would stand up under fire. In an attempt to motivate his men, he wrote out general orders and had them read to his troops. The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their homes and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the conduct and courage of this army . . . . We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die  General Putnam set up his line of defense on a wooded rise called the Heights of Guan. The ridge ran roughly parallel to the East River behind it. Four passes cut through the heights. The Americans were defending three of them, but in a colossal strategic blunder Putnam left the one on his left flank, Jamaica Pass, unprotected. It was all the advantage Howe needed. On the night of August 26 the British general personally took charge of a force of 10,000 troops under Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Charles Cornwallis, and Sir Hugh Percy and, guided by local Tories, moved through Jamaica Pass so he could fall upon the Americans from the rear. Early the next morning cannons signaled the British to begin their attack all along the American front. General Philip von Heisters Hessians kept the American center busy, while General James Grants 5,000 troops hit the American right. Then Howes 10,000 soldiers emerged from Jamaica Pass and wrapped up the unprotected left flank and the American rear. Howes surprise was complete. [W]e were ordered to attempt a retreat by fighting our way through the enemy, who had . . . nearly filled every field and road between us and our lines [at Brooklyn], wrote an American soldier. We had not retreated a quarter of a mile before we were fired upon by an advanced part of the enemy, and those upon our rear were playing upon us with their artillery. Our men fought with more than Roman virtue . . . . The Hessians moving in from the center attacked especially fiercely  sometimes bayoneting Americans trying to surrender. We took care to tell the Hessians that the Rebels had resolved to give no quarters to them in particular, which made them fight desperately and put all to death that fell into their hands, a British soldier wrote.

The day proved to be a disaster for the Americans, but it would have been even worse if not for the action of William Smallwoods regiment of 400 to 500 men from Maryland, temporarily commanded by a young and capable major named Mordecai Gist. Although inexperienced, they were among the best and bravest troops that day. While under fierce attack they made an orderly retreat to the Cortelyou house, a stone structure that commanded the Mill Dam Road and bridge, the only escape route across the Gowanus Salt Marsh.

American General William Alexander (who claimed a Scottish title and called himself Lord Stirling) ordered Gist and 250 men to hold off the enemy while the other Americans withdrew across the Mill Dam Road. Not only did Gists men hold off the British, they made six counterattacks before being forced to scatter and make their individual ways back to the American lines. Watching from afar, General Washington turned to Israel Putnam. Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose, he said. Those few surviving Marylanders who could swim and who were lucky made it back. There was in this action a regiment of Maryland troops (volunteers), all young gentlemen, recalled Joseph Plumb Martin, then 17 years old and a member of the nearby Connecticut Fifth. When they came out of the water and mud to us, looking like water rats, it was a truly pitiful sight. Many of them were killed in the pond and many were drowned. The British had soon backed the Americans into a defensive position two miles across and about one mile deep on the shore of the East River. Fortunately for Washington, the winds had prevented Admiral Howe from sailing his fleet up the river and using his great firepower to wreak havoc with the patriots. The general knew only too well what would happen if the wind changed.

Despite the urging of subordinates who wanted to complete their victory, General Howe stopped his attack. Perhaps he feared a repeat of the costly and bloody victory he had won at Bunker Hill. In a report to the British Parliament, Howe later said that the American army could be had at a cheap price, meaning through a siege. Whatever Howe thought, his delay helped save Washington and the American cause.

Washington now called on Colonel John Glover of Massachusetts, who commanded one of the armys crack regiments. Glovers Marvelous Men from Marblehead were well trained and wore smart blue-and-white uniforms. They were seamen and fishermen, so they were accustomed to shipboard discipline and were quick to carry out orders. As one Pennsylvania officer wrote, [T]he only exception I recollect to have seen to the miserably constituted bands [Massachusetts regiments] was the regiment of Glover. There was an appearance of discipline in this corps. Washington had used Glover and his men before. The Hannah, the first ship to sail in the service of the new United States, was Colonel Glovers own schooner, for which he found cannons and trained a crew and then successfully harassed British shipping and captured supplies for the Continental Army. In the wake of Hannahs success, Washington asked Glover for two more ships to create what became known as Washingtons Navy.

John Glover is truly one of the forgotten men of American history. Born in 1732 a few houses away from the building where the accused Salem witches were imprisoned four decades earlier, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and later moved to Marblehead, where he saved his money and bought a schooner. As a mariner he earned enough to purchase more ships. He joined the Marblehead militia in 1759 and soon worked his way up to the rank of captain of a Military company of foot in the town of Marblehead. By 1776 he had become the regiments colonel. Washington knew that Glover was just the man to get his army out of its desperate situation. He also knew that there were spies in the ranks  one soldier had already been tried and hanged for his treachery and several others had been found guilty and put in prison  so he sent a misleading message to General William Heath on Manhattan: We have many battalions from New Jersey which are coming over this evening to relieve those here. Order every flat-bottomed boat and other craft fit for transportation of troops down to New York as soon as possible. Then he ordered his quartermaster to impress every kind of craft on either side of New York that had oars or sails, and to have them in the East River by dark. Anyone intercepting the messages would think that Washington was planning to bring reinforcements to Long Island; in reality he hoped to evacuate his entire army before the British realized what he was doing.

The weather was still on Washingtons side. A drenching storm kept Black Dicks fleet out of the river and provided cover for the boat gathering. Late in the afternoon Washington met with his staff to tell them his real plans. As Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge wrote in a letter, to move so large a body of troops with all their necessary appendages across a river a full mile wide, with a rapid current, in the face of a victorious, well-disciplined army nearly three times as numerous seemed . . . to present most formidable obstacles. The colonel was guilty of understatement.

The August nights were short, and Washington knew that if Glover had miscalculated the time required for the Herculean job, he would lose any troops unlucky enough to remain on the island at dawn. He had faith in the tough little terrier of a man, and to help him he assigned a regiment of men from the Massachusetts towns of Salem, Lynn, and Danvers, sailors all.

The seamen began their work as soon as it was dark, about ten oclock. The drenched Continentals left their entrenchments unit by unit and moved to the boats in darkness and in absolute silence. Each unit was told only that they were being relieved and were going back to Manhattan. They did not know that the entire army was doing the same thing. By the time any disloyal soldier discovered the truth, it would be too late for treachery. The quartermasters men had found only a few sailing craft, so there was much rowing to be done that night. At first the winds were favorable and the boats swiftly made the round trip to Manhattan, despite darkness and unfamiliar waters. Seamen in the rowboats plied them back and forth without a stop, oars muffled, across the fast East River current.

Washington stayed in the saddle, weary though he must have been. For several hours the situation looked favorable, but then the wind changed, blowing in combination with the unusually strong ebb tide. The sails could not overcome the two combined forces. Washingtons despair was partially alleviated when the men rigged the sailboats with temporary tholes, found oars, and rowed. But the tired general realized that many rearguard troops would still be on the island when dawn broke. Their loss would be a serious blow. Yet the seamen continued their race against time. It was one of the most anxious, busy nights that I ever recollect, Benjamin Tallmadge recalled, and being the third in which hardly any of us had closed our eyes in sleep, we were all greatly fatigued. At one point a rearguard unit under Colonel Edward Hand mistakenly received orders to move down to the water. Its movement left a gap in the lines that the British, had they been aware of it, could have used to smash through the American defenses. But the British didnt know, and Washington, when he saw what had happened, hurriedly ordered the unit back into place.

In a few more hours luck rejoined the patriots. The wind changed direction and Glovers men could again use their sails to speedily make the crossings and return. The tempo of the evacuation picked up, but the fickle wind had done its damage. As the dim first-light appeared in the cloudy, gray eastern sky, part of the rear guard was still on the wrong side of the river. As the sky lightened, however, a dense fog rolled in, obscuring the operations final movements. Colonel Tallmadge was in one of the last units to leave, and with regret he left his horse tied on the Long Island shore. Safe in New York, the fog as thick as ever, Tallmadge said, I began to think of my favorite horse, and requested leave to return and bring him off. Having obtained permission, I called for a crew of volunteers to go with me, and guiding the boat myself, I obtained my horse and got some distance before the enemy appeared in Brooklyn. When the morning fog began to lift and the British patrols warily came to check on the American breastworks, they found them empty. Washington and the last of the rear guard were aboard the boats and sailing to safety. George Washingtons faith in John Glover and the seagoing soldiers had been vindicated. In about nine hours they had whisked 9,000 men and their supplies and cannon out from under the noses of the British. The Revolutionary cause lived on. Later that day, August 30, 10 British frigates and 20 gunboats and sloops finally sailed up the river. They were too late.

This article was written by J. Jay Myers and originally published in the June 2001 issue of American History Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to American History magazine today!
Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez wrote a controversial memoir disclosing her activities as a double agent and brave soldier during the Civil War.

BY SYLVIA D. HOFFERT

In 1876 the American public was introduced to an astonishing and controversial figure by the name of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez. Like so many others, she wrote a Civil War memoir, The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and Travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army. Needless to say this was no ordinary war story, for Madame Velazquez claimed to have so fervently supported the Southern cause that she donned the Confederate uniform as Lieutenant Harry Buford and fought at the battles of First Bull Run, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh.

When she wrote her book, Madame Velazquez realized that her disclosures would shock her contemporaries, so she made every attempt to legitimatize her behavior by establishing a notable past and a claim to respectability. She claimed to have descended from an ancient Castilian background and to have as her ancestors both Don Diego Velazquez, the governor of Cuba, and Don Diego Rodriguez Velazquez, the Spanish artist. At the same time, despite her unladylike behavior, she laid claim to genteel sensibilities by maintaining that she was thoroughly shocked by the behavior and language of the soldiers with whom she came in contact. She further protested that although she had posed as a man, she had carefully maintained her womanly reputation unblemished by even a suspicion of impropriety. Having thus refuted the possible charge of being a camp follower rather than a brave soldier, at least in her own mind, she proceeded with her tale.

Madame Velazquez maintained that she had always wished for the privileges and status granted to men and denied to women. Comparing herself to Deborah of the Hebrews and Joan of Arc, she explained her desire for martial adventures by asserting the her girlhood was spent haunted with the idea of being a man. She demonstrated unusual independence for an antebellum adolescent when, at the age of 14, she ran away from her school in New Orleans to marry an American soldier named William. Four years later in 1860 they were in St. Louis mourning the death of their three children. Madame Velazquez was only 18.

When Williams state seceded from the Union, he resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Army. At that point Madame Velazquez again fell victim to her old desire to be a man. Unable to persuade her husband to let her fight for the Confederacy, she simply waited for him to leave, adopted the name Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, was measured for two uniforms by a tailor in Memphis, and proceeded to Arkansas to raise a battalion for the Southern cause. She claimed that she enrolled 236 men in four days and shipped them to Pensacola, Florida, where she presented them to her astonished husband as his to command. Unfortunately he was killed a few days later demonstrating a weapon to his troops. The bereaved widow turned the men over to a friend and proceeded to search for military adventure at the front.

Claiming that she was serving the Confederate Army as an independent, she crossed the South from Virginia to Tennessee searching for a suitable opportunity to display her military talents. After the First Battle of Bull Run she grew weary of camp life and borrowed female attire from a farmers wife so that she could go to Washington, D.C., to gather intelligence for the Southern cause. While in the Capital the soldier-turned-spy claimed to have arranged meetings with Secretary of War Simon Cameron and President Abraham Lincoln.

She finally returned to the South, where she was rewarded for her services by being assigned to the detective corps. But again she grew weary of her assignment and left her duties to go fight in Tennessee. She arrived at Fort Donelson just in time to see it surrendered. After Fort Donelson she was forced to face the possibility that someone would discover her disguise when she was wounded in the foot and examined by an army doctor. Apparently she escaped detection but decided to flee to New Orleans, where ironically she was arrested on suspicion of being a woman in disguise. Once she was released, she said, she enlisted in order to escape from the city. However, Madame Velazquez had no love for the life of a common soldier, so after showing her commission to her commanding officer, she was granted a transfer to the army in east Tennessee.

Surprisingly enough her social life did not suffer from her dual identity. Proudly she said:

All these months that, in a guise of a man, I had been breaking young ladies hearts by my fascinating figure and manner, my own womans heart had an object upon which its affections were bestowed, and I was engaged to be married to a truly noble officer of the Confederate army, who knew me, both as a man and as a woman, but who little suspected that Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, and his intended wife, were one and the same person.

And so the charade continued until April 1862 and the Battle of Shiloh, the scene of her greatest military triumph. Here she found the battalion she had raised in Arkansas and joined them for the fight:

We had not been long engaged before the second lieutenant of the company fell. I immediately stepped into his place, and assumed the command of his men. This action was greeted by a hearty cheer from the entire company, all the veterans of which, knew me, and I took the greeting as an evidence that they were glad to see their original commander with them once more. This cheer from the men was an immense inspiration to me; and the knowledge that not my lover only, but the company which I had myself recruited and thousands of others of the brave boys of our Southern army were watching my actions approvingly, encouraged me to dare everything, and to shrink from nothing to render myself deserving of their praises.

Having fought gallantly the first day, she decided that night to again gather intelligence. Hidden away in the brush she claimed to have spotted General Ulysses S. Grant and to have been close enough to have shot him. But she decided against it. It was too much like murder, she said.

She was wounded by a shell while burying the dead after the battle, and an army doctor discovered her identity. She fled again to New Orleans and was there when Major General Benjamin F. Butler took command of the city in May 1862. Believing that her military career was at an end because too many people now knew her true identity, she gave up her uniform. She bought a British passport from an acquaintance and began her second war career as a drug smuggler, blockade runner, and double agent.

She claimed to have been hired by the authorities in Richmond to serve in the secret service corps and began to travel freely throughout the North as well as the war torn South, pausing only long enough to marry her beloved, Captain Thomas DeCaulp. Widowed shortly after the wedding when her new husband died in a Chattanooga hospital, she traveled north, gained the confidence of Northern officials and was hired by them to search for herself.

During her search she continued to serve the Southern cause by trying to organize a rebellion of Confederate prisoners held in Ohio and Indiana. She also claimed to have stolen electrotype impressions of Northern bond and note plates so that the Confederates could make forgeries. During the last months of the war she claimed to have traveled to Ohio, Canada, London, and Paris. She arrived back in New York City the day after Lees surrender.

She spent a number of months after the war traveling through Europe and the South. She also married for the third time. She and her new husband, a Major Wasson, left the United States as immigrants to Venezuela. But when her husband died in Caracas, she returned to America to convince her friends that immigration was a mistake.

Again she began to travel, this time through the West, stopping long enough in Salt Lake City to have a baby and meet Brigham Young. In Nevada she claimed to have married again for the fourth time to an unnamed gentleman. Then she was off again. With my little baby boy in my arms, I started on a long journey through Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, hoping, perhaps, but scarcely expecting, to find the opportunities which I had failed to find in Utah, Nevada and California.

Her story ends at this point. Her final plea was that the public would buy her book so that she could support her child. She was not ashamed of her behavior and hoped that her conduct would be judged with impartiality and candor and that credit would be given her for integrity of purpose. She offered no apologies for her conduct. I did what I thought to be right, she said, and, while anxious for the good opinion of all honorable and right thinking people, a consciousness of the purity of my motives will be an ample protection against the censure of those who may be disposed to be censorious.

The historical validity of the Velazquez claims remains to be determined. Historians themselves are divided on the issue. Mary Massey in the Bonnet Brigades takes note of the incredible Velazquez claims but maintains that while they are not provable, she could have done some of the things she claimed. Ella Lonn in her book on foreigners in the Confederacy describes Velazquez as strange and romantic and appears to accept her story as true while at the same time admitting that the only evidence which exists in the matter is The Woman in Battle. Katherine Jones includes an except from the Velazquez book in her two-volume Heroines of Dixie along with unquestionably legitimate memoirs and in that sense leaves the impression that the Velazquez story is as much a historical record as that of Kate Cumming or Mary Boykin Chestnut.

At least one of Madame Velazquez contemporaries challenged her story. In the winter of 1877-78 Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, who was then in New Orleans happened upon The Woman in Battle. After a cursory examination he satisfied himself that the writer of that book, whether man or woman, had never had the adventures therein narrated. Some time later at his hotel he met a man from Richmond who told him that he had met Madame Velazquez on a train and was so intrigued by her story that he had bought her book. Recognizing the book that the man showed to him, Early protested that she could not be what she pretended to be. He then pointed out several inconsistencies, absurdities, and impossibilities in her narrative in order to prove his point. Subsequently Early had a brief interview with Velazquez after which he was even more convinced that her story was untrue.

In May of 1878 General Early received a letter signed by Madame Velazquez protesting his alleged attempt to injure her book by publicly questioning the truthfulness of her story. She maintained that her view of the war could never be the same as his because they were never in the same position to observe, nor did they ever have access to the same information. I do not pretend, she said in her letter, to know even one truth that transpired upon any one battlefield I served upon. I only endeaver [sic] to give the most important facts that came under my immediate observation.

One of Earlys objections to her story was that she had failed to identify many of the people she talked about, thus making it impossible to check her story. In her letter she explained that she had left out the names in order to condense her manuscript and also had wanted to protect the families of men she claimed were defrauding the government. She then gave as personal references the names of Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, ex-Governor John C. Brown of Tennessee, and Congressman John M. Glover of Missouri, and sent the letter through Congressman William H. Slemons of Tennessee.

Apparently Early did not quite know how to react to her letter. On one hand he was tempted to ignore her and the book as not worthy of comment. But on the other hand he felt that her book was so full of inaccuracies that he had a duty to expose it. So on May 22 he sat down to answer her letter. Directing his comments to Congressmen Slemons, he proceeded to point out inconsistencies in her story page by page. He was incredulous at her recruiting expedition. This battalion has been raised without the instrumentality of the Governor of Arkansas, or of the President of the Confederacy, or without her saying to either as much as, by your leave, and carried just where she thought proper, all the expenses being paid out of her own pocket; though where the money came from is an unsolved mystery. . . .

Later in the letter he says, Her statements about her flitting from one army in the Confederacy to anotherof her being employed as a secret agent, and going on missions for the government to Washington, New York, Havanna [sic], Canada, and always having abundant means provided for her, and of her being in the secret service of the United States at the same time she was in that of the Confederacy are simply incredible.

After exposing a number of other improbabilities, he concluded that the book was untrue and that it could not even be considered good fiction since it libeled Confederate officers as drunken, gasconading brutes and pictured the flower of Southern womanhood as ready to throw themselves into the arms of the dashing Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, and surrender without waiting to be asked, all that is dear to women of virtue.

He apologized for any injury his opinion of the book may have done to Madame Velazquez or her child but added, I cherish most devotedly the character and fame of the Confederate armies, and of the people of the South, especially of the women of the South, and when a book affecting all these is sought to be palmed on the public as true, and bears on its face the evidence of its want of authenticity, then I have the right to speak my opinion and will speak it, whether the author be a man or woman.

Early finished the letter but did not immediately send it to Slemons. He still had not convinced himself that he should answer Velazquez but feared that if he failed to respond, she could say that she had silenced his criticism. After considerable thought Early sought the advice of a friend and sent a copy of the Velazquez letter along with his answer to John R. Tucker, a congressman from Virginia. He asked Tucker to consider his problem and advise him whether or not he should mail his letter to Slemons. Earlys response to Madame Velazquez was never sent and all three letters reside in the Tucker family papers in the Southern Historical Collection at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Two other of her contemporaries believed her story. Her editor, C. J. Worthington, understandably wrote that he had complete confidence in her veracity.

There are thousands of officers and soldiers who fought in the Confederate armies who can bear testimony, not only to the valor she displayed in battlebut to her integrity, her energy, her ability, and her unblemished reputation. . . that it is a true story in every particular, there are abundant witnesses whose testimony will not be disputed.

Unfortunately for the researcher trying to determine the truth, the value of his testimony as well as his judgment becomes questionable when a few sentences later he described Madame Velazquez as a typical Southern woman of the war period. Anyone who reads her book can clearly see that there was nothing typical about Loreta Velazquez.

A third contemporary source whose testimony is available was a reporter for the New Orleans daily Picayune. His story about her appeared in January of 1867. At that time she had just arrived in New Orleans to serve as an agent for the Venezuelan Emigration Company and was using the name Mary DeCaulp. The article described her adventurous life in some detail, must of it inaccurate if one accepts the story she published nine years later as true. For example, the article asserted that she was a first lieutenant in a Texas cavalry company and mentions nothing about her espionage activities. The reporter also mentioned that he remembered having seen her in New Orleans during the war dressed in a rough gray jacket and pants, the suit rather the worse for wear, with her hair cut short, and supporting a bandaged foot with a crutch of the most primitive pattern. A few sentences later, however, his identification of her became less conclusive when he admitted that Madame Velazquez looked considerably different from the soldier who came to New Orleans during the war.

Contemporaries as well as historians disagree about the truthfulness of the Velazquez story. If they are to base their judgment on the information that can be confirmed we still do not come up with an entirely verifiable story. First of all, her book contains very little factual information. True, she put the right generals at the right place in the right battles, but this kind of information was easily accessible. Even the charges that she made concerning corruption and profiteering are not specific. She included no complete names and spoke only in vague generalities. Most of the individuals in her book have only a first or a last name. Even though she married four times, she provided us with the full name of only one of her husbands!

One of the few times she gave enough information to allow the researcher to check her story is when she claimed to have enlisted in Captain B. Moses company of the 21st Louisiana Regiment in order to escape from New Orleans after her arrest. This is the only time in her military career that she mentioned serving as something other than an independent who served on her/his own authority and paid most of her own expenses. The National Archives shows no record of such an enlistment. And Dr. Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., of the Archives and Records Service in Baton Rouge has indicated that although Captain B. Moses did command the McClellan Guards of the 21st Louisiana units of the Civil War, Dr. Bergeron also analyzed various references which Madame Velazquez made concerning troops from that state. He found some of her information to be inaccurate. For example, she maintained that the 5th and 8th Louisiana regiments fought at Bull Run. Bergeron points out that the 6th and 8th fought together there. Her assertion about the 5th, which was at the time stationed near Yorktown and Williamsburg, is an obvious error, but the mistake could be attributed to bad memory since she claimed to have written the book without her papers, which had been lost.

Yet her book in some cases contains just enough information to justify Masseys contention that she could have done some of the things she claimed. Velazquez revealed, for example, that one of the names she used in her espionage activities was Mrs. Williams. Massey found evidence that a Mrs. Alice Williams was arrested in Richmond but released after her identity was established and that papers in Richmond lauded her work as a soldier and nurse. Massey also found evidence that a reporter from the New York Herald knew Mrs. Williams as a prisoner in Richmond and wrote about her in an article which appeared in October 1863. We may conclude from this evidence that someone who called herself Alice Williams existed. The War of the Rebellion contains another reference to a Miss Alice Williams who was commissioned in the rebel army as a lieutenant under the name of Buford. Such evidence appears to confirm this claim at least, even this documentation is suspect, however. The letter in The War of the Rebellion was written by Sanford Conover, later revealed as a perjurer and forger.

The war memoir written by Madame Velazquez was certainly more bizarre than most, and at times she tended to stretch her credibility by claiming too much. For example, although officials during the Civil War were far more accessible to the general public than is the case today, she maintained that within the span of four years and in the middle of a bloody war she had personal access to such Southern and Northern officials as Leroy P. Walker and Secretary of War Simon Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, a host of generals such as Stonewall Jackson, Leonidas Polk, William Hardee, Benjamin Butler, John Winder, James Longstreet, and William Rosecrans, as well as the governors of Ohio and Indiana and financier James Fisk. This, combined with her claimed astonishing ability to travel throughout the North as well as the South with little or no difficulty, using charm and guile as her most effective passport, is incredible.

One final factor that should be considered is her personal motivation for writing her book. One cannot read it without concluding that she was at the very least an opportunist. She admitted that her reasons for writing the book were pecuniary rather than patriotic, educational, or literary. Certainly the character she revealed in her book was capable of taking advantage of a reading public inclined to buy romantic literature. She made no attempt to hide her ability to tell a convincing lie and even defended it by saying that lying was as necessary as fighting in warfare. As a double agent her very life depended on her ability to tell a believable lie. Thus she was quite capable of using her wits and the gullibility of her readers in order to support herself and her child.

In the end we will probably never know conclusively if Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez was a brave soldier and spy or merely a literary opportunistor both. If we assume that all of her claims must be confirmed by other evidence in order to be judged true, then we must conclude that much of her story is untrue simply because there is not enough evidence available to substantiate it. And since in every lie there is usually a seed of truth, we may definitely assume that Madame Velazquez has expanded on that seed.
TRAIN BIDDING

Thank you for another fine issue, but I must comment on Milton Bagbys article Casey Jones Rides Again (December 1999). Im certain that Mr. Bagby doesnt want to continue the mistaken idea that has been perpetuated concerning why John Luther Joneswho went by the name of Casey Joneswas awarded the opportunity to run Illinois Central train number 1. Jones was not assigned the run by railroad management, as indicated in the article. As a member in good standing of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (of which I am also a member), Brother John Luther Jones received the run by the process of bidding. Brother Jones used his accumulated seniority to select the run he desired, as specified in a long-standing agreement with the nations railroads that continues to this day.

Robert A. Daniels

Hammonton, New Jersey

NIGHTTIME READING

One recent evening when the damage done to our heating system from Hurricane Floyd was almost repaired, the family sat around a propane stove wrapped in blankets while I read out loud the December 1999 issue of American History. As the temperature dipped, we forgot about the inconvenience caused by the hurricane, and warped back to the early days of the century and the true story of John Luther Jones and his famous train wreck in Casey Jones Rides Again. Everyone wanted to see the photograph of the real Casey Jones, who had always seemed like a fictional character to us until now.

Then we read about George Washington in The Final Days. A question arose regarding the 12,000 gallons of moonshine produced annually at Mount Vernon. We wondered how much, if any, was sold and how much was consumed at Mount Vernon.

We all agreed that the story of former slave Robert Smalls daring hijacking of the Confederate steamship Planter (A Bold Break for Freedom) would make a great movie. We especially liked the follow-through stories of his postwar days and his final stand at the South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1895.

Jean Merson

Crisfield, Maryland

HE DIDNT HOLD A GRUDGE

I would like to offer an addendum to the Robert Smalls article A Bold Break for Freedom that is perhaps the most insightful evidence of his character.

On his return to Beaufort, South Carolina, Smalls bought his masters old house at 511 Prince Street. According to Clint Johnsons book, Touring the Carolinas Civil War Sites, some time later, the elderly and confused Mrs. McKee arrived on Smalls doorstep, still thinking that she owned the house. Smalls allowed her to move into her old room, where she lived the remainder of her life with the Smalls family.

Randall Lee Jackson

Raleigh, North Carolina

THE REAL STORY

In the Mailbox section of your February 2000 issue, Vernon C. Hales commented on Mark Dunkelmans article A Bold Break for Freedom. If Mr. Hales is interested, he can read an excellent book on how slavery conditions varied through time and by location. Many Thousand Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America by Ira Berlin is currently in print and readily available.

The book was an eye-opener and was more proof of my contention that history is a lot more complex and interesting than school or Hollywood would have us believe.

Jacqueline B. Davis

Fort Sam Houston, Texas
By Stuart W. Sanders

When Confederate fortunes plummeted in Missouri, fearsome guerrilla leader William Clarke Quantrill and his band of hardened killers headed east to terrorize Union soldiers and civilians in Kentucky. It would be Quantrills last hurrah.

In July 1857, William Clarke Quantrill wrote to his mother back home in Ohio. I have but one wish, and that is that you were here, he told her, for I cannot be happy here all alone; & it seems that I am the only person or thing that is not happy along this beautiful stream. Eight years later this apparently tender, lonely young man would die in a Louisville, Kentucky, prison, notorious for being one of the most vicious butchers in the Civil War.

Quantrill was born at Canal Dover, Ohio, on July 31, 1837, the oldest of 12 children. Even as a child, he evinced a twisted, cruel nature. He nailed snakes to trees, shot pigs through the ears to hear them squeal, and tied cats together by their tails and watched them claw each other to death. Walking through fields, he would stab horses and slice open cows.

Following in his fathers footsteps, Quantrill began teaching school at age 16. Not content to tutor others, in 1857 the restless young man moved to Kansas in search of his fortune.

Standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, young Quantrill had a slight frame, reddish hair and cold, steel-blue eyes. One historian described him as bold and physically courageous [but] a sham and almost completely amoral. Quantrill honed his violent nature while living with thieves, murderers and brigands in Kansas. When the Civil War erupted, Quantrillwho had already committed several brutal murderseagerly fought with the Confederate army at Wilsons Creek and Lexington, Mo. By Christmas 1861, however, the 24-year-old Quantrill had organized a small band of pro-Confederate guerrillas to fight and kill Union soldiers and pro-Northern civilians whenever and wherever the opportunity arose.

As the guerrilla band gained notoriety, the group expanded in number. Quantrill, who was rapidly becoming infamous for murder, robbery and the mutilation of the dead, masterminded the August 21, 1863, massacre at Lawrence, Kan., in which 150 men and boys were brutally slain. Two weeks later, the band perpetrated another slaughter at Baxter Springs, Kan., where the bushwhackers attacked a Union headquarters train. The merciless guerrillas killed 98 Federals and lost only six of their own men. It was later reported that the guerrillas had mutilated the dead bluecoats.

Despite his often demonstrated adeptness at killing, Quantrills band grew annoyed with their leaders frequent absences and attempts to secure a high Confederate rank, and soon dissolved into rival factions. Although his personal popularity waned, Quantrill still kept many well-known guerrillas in his service, including Jim Younger and his cousin, Frank James.

In October 1864, Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price was defeated at Westport, Mo., and Mine Creek, Kan. As Southern hopes for a Confederate-controlled Missouri plummeted, Quantrills guerrilla band faced imminent destruction. Fearing capture and execution by Union authorities in Missouri, Quantrill gathered approximately 40 bushwhackers in mid-December and headed east, forever turning his back on Missouri.

Crossing the Mississippi River above Memphis on New Years Day, the guerrillas, wearing captured Federal uniforms, assumed the identity of the nonexistent U.S. 4th Missouri Cavalry. Posing as Captain Clarke, Quantrill informed his men that they would enter Kentucky and ride to Washington, D.C., where the guerrilla chieftain planned to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. Quantrill may have made the statement in jest, for many in his command later scoffed at this claim. Others vowed that their commander did plan to kill the Union commander in chief. Conversely, Quantrill, knowing that the war would soon end, may have planned to go to Virginia to surrender his band with Robert E. Lees army, believing his men would get a reprieve in Virginia. In Missouri they faced certain execution.

It is equally likely that Quantrill entered Kentucky simply because it had become an Eden for bushwhackers. Killers claiming Southern or Union ties roamed freely in the Bluegrass State, robbing and murdering at will. Dire deeds went unpunished. As Union military control tightened in Missouri, Quantrill sought a land where he could terrorize with impunity. In his search, he found Kentucky. There he would also find his death.

According to a postwar memoir written by Quantrill scout John McCorkle, the blue uniforms and the Captain Clarke alias easily hoodwinked Federal troops. While riding through Tennessee, the guerrillas were joined by a local Union soldier. As the Federal rode with the men, he pointed out the homes of various Southern sympathizers and jauntily detailed those who should be killed for their disloyalty. Upon reaching one stately home, the soldier pointed and said: That Rebel that lives there ought not be permitted to live another day. He is rich and the worst Rebel in this country and has done more to aid the damned Rebels than any man in the country. Hearing the tale, Quantrill turned to guerrilla John Barker and told him to go with the Federal to dispose of the Rebel. McCorkle relates: John left with our informant and in an hour returned alone, and the rebel who lived on the hill was not molested;the [Federal] who talked about him never talked about his neighbors anymore.

The Missourians entered Kentucky in mid-January 1865 near Canton and moved east. On their ride they frequently encountered Northern soldiers. Passing themselves off as Missouri Federals, the guerrillas talked and joked with their enemies. At one point, however, the jovial encounters ended. The bushwhackers met a Union captain who was forming a company of black troops. The captain, who boasted openly about what his men would do to the Rebels, was summarily killed by Quantrills cohorts.

In one exaggerated tale spun by McCorkle, the guerrillas supposedly stopped at a private residence for breakfast. After the group dined with the family, McCorkle claimed that the hosts two daughters sensed the guerrillas Southern sympathies despite their blue uniforms. Upon leaving the house, he said, the two girls approached the guerrillas and said, Gentlemen, from your manners we take you to be Southern men, and while I do not know who you are, if you are Southern soldiers I wish you all the happiness and success that could possibly come to anyone, but if you are Federals, my heartfelt wish is that you all will be in hell before night. McCorkle said the men let out a cheer, but were sternly silenced by their commander for losing their 4th Missouri Cavalry persona. It is probable that the years added hyperbole to McCorkles memory, for it is unlikely that a Kentucky belle living in the war-torn state would make such a rash statement to blue-clad troopers. A handful of Kentucky women had already been jailed for revealing their Southern leanings.

As Quantrills raiders maneuvered into central Kentucky, their guise continued to deceive Federal troops. A Union dispatch related that on January 22 the bushwhackers had arrived in Hartford. Telling Union authorities that they were the 4th Missouri Cavalry detached to hunt guerrillas, Quantrill requested a guide to conduct him toward the Ohio River, where the guerrillas most abound. A Federal lieutenant named Barnett, who was in the neighborhood as a recruiting officer of the One hundred and twenty-fifth Colored Infantry, an Indiana trooper named W.B. Lawton, and W. Lownsley of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry all volunteered to show Captain Clarke the way. The dispatch continued: About three miles from Hartford, near the Hawesville road, they hung Lownsley, it is supposed. He was found in the woods near a week afterward. They shot Lawton after traveling with him about twelve miles, and shot Barnett about sixteen miles from here. Their bodies were all found.

Following the murders, the guerrillas made their way to Hustonville. Eyeing some fresh horses, the band prepared to make off with several of them. As guerrilla Allen Parmer pulled himself onto one of the animals, the Federal lieutenant who owned the horse rushed out. Pointing at Parmer, the lieutenant said the horses would be taken over his dead body. Parmer growled, That is a damned easy job, pulled his pistol and shot the lieutenant in the face. The bullet traveled through the lieutenants head and broke his neck, killing him instantly. Hurrying from town, the bushwhackers turned their horses toward Danville, the geographic center of Kentucky.

In Danville, the veil protecting Captain Clarke was violently lifted. On January 29, U.S. Captain William L. Gross, assistant quartermaster and assistant superintendent of the U.S. military telegraph in Danville, sent a disheartened message to his superiors. Gross informed them that thirty-five guerrillas, under Captain Clarke, all dressed in Federal uniform, entered Danville this morning. They robbed some of the citizens and one boot store and left on the Perryville pike at 11:15 a.m. They claimed, at first, to be Federal troops, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, but there is no doubt they are guerrillas in disguise. They gutted my office pretty effectually.

Purifying the story of the Danville raid, John McCorkle said that Quantrill merely told the soldiers and men to all go home and let him alone, that he intended to hurt no one. After the war, McCorkle became a respected citizen of Glasgow, Mo., and became known as a Christian gentleman of strong character and a tender heart. He probably failed to mention the plundering to sanitize his role in the incident.

Following the sack of Danville, the guerrillas rode westward toward Perryville, the scene of an October 1862 battle. Union commanders, however, were not dwelling on past fightsthey were searching for a new way to catch Captain Clarke. That afternoon, Union brigadier general and Danville native Speed F. Fry sent Federal forces in Lebanon an order to send one detachment through Perryville and one directly to Perryville. Order your men not to take any prisoners if they find them. Tell your men to be very careful, as guerrillas are arrayed in Federal uniform. Tired of statewide bushwhacker attacks, angered that the guerrillas were so bold as to wear Federal uniforms and sickened by the plundering of his hometown, Fry ordered Union troops to hoist the black flag. As Quantrills men had offered no mercy, Fry called for no quarter.

Riding a number of miles toward Perryville, the guerrillas swung north toward Harrodsburg, with Federal patrols on their tail. As night approached, the band split up into several groups to dine and sleep in private homes. Five miles from Harrodsburg, Quantrill slept in the residence of Mrs. Sallie Van Arsdell while other guerrillas found refuge with her neighbor John Adams. Later in the evening, a group of Federal troops under Captain J.H. Bridgewater surrounded the Adams house. As the bushwhackers tried to escape, Bridgewaters men killed four guerrillas and captured nine others, including Jim Younger.

Quantrill somehow managed to gather his remaining men and escape town. Those killed outside the Adams house were buried in the Oakland Church cemetery, but were re-interred 40 years later in Harrodsburgs Spring Hill Cemetery, where they could rest with other Southern dead. The prisoners, who stated they were going to Virginia (which could lend credence to Quantrills plot to assassinate Lincoln or surrender with Lee), were jailed in Lexington, but eventually moved to Louisville. One guerrilla, accused of killing the Union lieutenant in Hustonville, was held in Lexington but was released after the war. According to McCorkle, the prisoners were constantly threatened with execution, but they bravely defied their captors.

With a portion of the band killed and captured, Quantrill gathered his men and rode to Nelson County. The guerrillas were harassed by Union militia but managed to drive them off. At this time Quantrill may have consolidated forces with Sue Mundy, one of Kentuckys most notorious guerrillas. Mundy, whose real name was Marcellus Jerome Clarke, was called Sue because his youth, flowing locks and cleanshaven face gave him a feminine appearance. Mundy had served in John Hunt Morgans command and entered the commonwealth with Morgans raiders. After Morgans death in September 1864, he re-entered Kentucky to wage a one-man guerrilla war against Federal troops. On January 29, the same day as Quantrills Danville raid, Mundy skirmished with the 54th (Union) Kentucky near Bardstown.

By January 30, the chase was on. Union commanders had mobilized all nearby troops to catch or kill the elusive Clarke. Three miles from Chaplintown, Federal soldiers had a running fight with Clarkes guerrillas and wounded one of them while others with better horses escaped. Two days later, Union Colonel H.M. Buckley, commander of the 54th Kentucky, wrote to his superiors I chased Quantrill all day yesterday from Spencer through Shelby toward the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad; am still after him; will catch him if I can. Buckley, who previously had repulsed Sue Mundys forces, now hunted both guerrillas. Union forces at last were learning that the mysterious Captain Clarke was the notorious Missouri bushwhacker.

Entering the town of Midway on the night of February 2, the combined force of Quantrill and Mundy robbed citizens, burned the railroad depot and stole 15 thoroughbreds from a nearby farm. The previous night the guerrillas had put a railroad depot and freight cars to the torch at Lair Station. In a panic-ridden dispatch, Buckley reiterated that the dreaded Missourian was in the commonwealth. He wrote: We have chased Sue Mundays [sic] gang into Henry. Our horses are worn out; cant do anything without fresh horses. Please send some, if only fifty. Quantrill is with the gang.

Passing by New Market at 11 a.m. on February 8, the band attacked a Federal wagon train. The guerrillas killed three soldiers, captured four others, burned a number of wagons and shot all the mules. Following the raid, Major Thomas Mahoney of the Lebanon-based 30th Kentucky Mounted Infantry feared that the remainder of his wagon train would be reduced to cinders by Quantrills men. Organizing all available troops, the Federals pursued the guerrillas, skirmishing with them all the way to Bradfordsville. Most of the Union soldiers facing the bushwhackers were from the invalid corpsMahoney wrote that many could not master horses and load their guns.

Chased to Bradfordsville, the guerrillas wheeled their mounts and prepared to make a stand. The Federals dismounted, andemploying a tactic used numerous times in Missourithe guerrillas drew their revolvers and charged. According to Mahoney, the guerrillas numbered 45, while 35 ill or disabled men filled the Union ranks. Mahoney remembered that during the excitement of the charge, some of his men let their horses get away, which ran to the guerrillas. A portion of Mahoneys already understrength command then withdrew without orders, causing the frustrated major to halt his pursuit. Following the charge, the guerrillas killed the four Federals they had captured at New Market.

The following day, word spread about the Bradfordsville fight. Union troops stationed at Crab Orchard, Campbellsville, Columbia, Danville, Stanford, Lebanon and Lawrenceburg all moved after the guerrillas. They left the local citizenry to guard each unprotected town. At 2 a.m., the Federal detachment from Stanford, under Captain J.H. Bridgewater (who had attacked the guerrillas at Harrodsburg), again encountered the band on Little South Fork, west of Huston-ville. It is probable the guerrillas were surprised in camp, for Bridgewaters men killed 4, captured 35 horses

and equipments; ran 30 or 35 of their men into the woods, most of whom were barefooted; only 7 got away mounted. Captain Clarke escaped barefooted, but our men in three detachments are hunting for them and with good prospect of finding them as the snow is fresh on the ground.

The prospect of catching the routed guerrillas was indeed good; on February 10, a Union captain in Danville reported that troops just brought in three of Clarkes men, captured in the woods after Bridgewaters fight. The following day Federal scouts reported that they had captured another of Clarkes men but in bringing him in this morning he attempted to escape, and was shot dead on the spot. This unnamed guerrilla was probably executed by the Federal scouts. Many remembered General Frys order to allow no quarter.

Although Bridgewater had dispersed Quantrills men, the bushwhackers soon reorganized and resumed terrorizing citizens and Federal troops. On February 27, the bushwhackers raided the town of Hickman. Entering the town at 10 a.m., the guerrillas plundered stores and homes and abused and beat citizenswomen and children includedshooting at them, compelling them to give up their money and setting fire to the buildings. According to a Union lieutenant in Hickman, who possibly exaggerated the guerrillas depredations to ensure a stronger Union presence there, Quantrills men left after the appearance of

the [U.S. steamer] Hastings coming up the river. They carried with them a large amount of money, supplies, and whisky.I have been informed that whenever the gun-boat is absent there are always from five to thirty-five rebels in the town. The nervous lieutenant was practically begging his commander to keep gunboats there permanently.

Two days later, Quantrill relaxed at the home of Jim Dawson, near Taylorsville. As the guerrilla chieftain was visiting, his hosts young daughter asked Quantrill to write in her autograph book. For a moment, the schoolteacher in Quantrill emerged once again. He scribbled four stanzas of a poem, one verse of which read:

Though the cannons roar around me

Yet it shall still bear me on

Though dark clouds are above me width=468 height=60 visibility=hide onLoad=moveToAbsolute(layer1.pageX,layer1.pageY);clip.height=60;clip.width=468; visibility=show;>
Southern Invincibility: A History of the Confederate Heart, by Wiley Sword, St. Martins Press, New York, 1999, $27.95.

On the eve of the Civil War, how did Southerners perceive themselves and the cause on which they were about to embark? How did soldiers and civilians respond to the events on the battlefield? How did the experience of war shape Southerners thoughts, attitudes and opinions of their cause, their leaders and themselves? What led Southerners to boldly strike for independence, and what sustained them in enduring defeat? Wiley Sword builds upon these themes in his new book Southern Invincibility: A History of the Confederate Heart.

In spite of the books provocative title, Sword insists, This is a book more concerned with why than analyzing a culture. Sword asserts that the powerful emotions unleashed by the experience of war played a crucial role in cementing fixed attitudes in the minds of Southerners. He believes that Southerners united under the banner of the Confederacy because they were motivated by a strong belief in the superiority and invincibility of their culture and cause.

The authors main objective is to demonstrate the various ways that Southerners expressed their commitment to their nation. Through the wartime diaries and letters of a host of individuals, Sword attempts to capture the essence of Confederate nationalism. He argues that repeated failure in the Western theater depleted morale among soldiers and civilians.

The frustrated soldiers of the Army of Tennessee eventually lost faith in their inept commanders and came to rely on Providence and their comrades as their chief sources of motivation. Conversely, the Army of Northern Virginias soldiers came to idolize Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and held them up as the very quintessence of Southern manhood.

Sword contrasts Southerners emotions in the wake of defeat at Gettysburg and Vicksburg and argues that the hard-fought defeat at Gettysburg did not snuff out the spirit of invincibility in the Army of Northern Virginia. In occupied New Orleans, however, the story was different. Upon hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, the defeat at Gettysburg and the deaths of two of her brothers, Sarah Morgan and those close to her fell into deep despair. Sword stresses that the experience of war slowly changed soldiers and civilians alike as the magnitude of their struggle became ever clearer. In spite of the wars high cost in lives and property, however, Southerners remained true to their cause.

By basing his book entirely on the assumption that emotions were the sole factor that compelled Southerners to fight, Sword does not recognize or discuss the connection between the ideological principles on which the Confederacy was established and Southerners patriotic attachment to the legacy of 1776. He never considers that Southerners fought for reasons of ideology and principle as much as they fought to protect hearth and home. Furthermore, he focuses on the lives of women on the home front without ever discussing the monumental changes occurring in their world.

In the end, Swords conclusion about the nature of the Confederate heart hardly seems like a conclusion at all. The reader must decide for himself if Swords theory that Southern invincibility was tied to Southern emotionalism explains the motives that compelled Southerners to fight.

Rodney J. Steward
A recent study by researchers at the University of Cambridge has suggested that viruses are ten times dangerous if they can attack the cells of the hosts in the morning, according to reports published by the BBC. A report in the BBC stated, "The findings, published in PNAS, showed viruses were 10 times more successful if the infection started in the morning. And the animal studies found that a disrupted body clock - caused by shift-work or jet lag - was always vulnerable to infection. The researchers say the findings could lead to new ways of stopping pandemics. Viruses - unlike bacteria or parasites - are completely dependent on hijacking the machinery inside cells in order to replicate."

It went on to add, "In the study, mice were infected with either influenza, which causes flu, or herpes virus, which can cause a range of diseases including cold sores. The mice infected in the morning had 10 times the viral levels of those infected in the evening.The late viruses were failing after essentially trying to hijack a factory after all the workers had gone home."

The BBC also spoke to one of the researchers, named Professor Akhilesh Reddy, who said, "It's a big difference. The virus needs all the apparatus available at the right time, otherwise it might not ever get off the ground, but a tiny infection in the morning might perpetuate faster and take over the body." Professor Reddy think that the findings could help in controlling outbreaks, "In a pandemic, staying in during the daytime could be quite important and save people's lives, it could have a big impact if trials bear it out."

One of the authors of the study, Dr. Rachel Edgar spoke on who could be more susceptible to such attack, "This indicates that shift workers, who work some nights and rest some nights and so have a disrupted body clock, will be more susceptible to viral diseases. If so, then they could be prime candidates for receiving the annual flu vaccines."









@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
DENVER  Answering the call to those who have served our country, the National hotel company RLHC (Red Lion Hotels Corporation) (NYSE:RLH) has joined forces with the Lifetime TV mini-series,Military Makeover, in their mission to give back to members of the military and their loved ones. The show enlists the help of design and home renovation experts to transform the homes of military families across the country.

RLHC was honored to host Lance Cpl. Michael Adams and his family at the Red Lion Hotel Orlando-Kissimmee property throughout the renovation process. Lance Cpl. Adams joined the military in 2003 where he served as a heavy equipment operator as well as a member of the military police. Adams suffered from multiple injuries and was diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD after his vehicle ran over a double stack anti-tank mine.

"We are proud to work with Military Makeover and raise awareness for the importance of making sure our troops receive the treatment they deserve when they return home," said Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Linehan. "RLHC is committed to giving back to those who have served our country and understands the importance of having a solid foundation to come home to. We recognize the many sacrifices Michael and his family have made to serve and protect our country and feel privileged to be able to help in this process."

Michael currently lives with his wife, service dog and two daughters, one of which suffers from severe medical ailments. While Military Makeover's expert team transformed the Adams' home, RLHC and the staff at Red Lion Hotel Orlando-Kissimmee welcomed the family to experience the newly renovated property along with tickets to Walt Disney World theme park. The reveal will be featured on an upcoming three-part episode airing at 7:30 a.m. ET/PT on August 18,September 1 and 15.

For more information, please visit: http://www.redlion.com/military-makeover.

About RLH Corporation

RLH Corporation is an innovative hotel company focused on the franchising of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. The company maximizes return on invested capital for hotel owners across North America through relevant brands, industry-leading technology and forward-thinking services. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlhco.com.

Evelyn Infurna

Investor Relations

203-682-8265

RLH
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Only 4 weeks left to enter EyeforTravels Startup & Innovation in Travel Awards 2016

Twelve start-ups will have the opportunity to pitch to top industry investors at EyeforTravels Start-Up & Innovation in Travel Awards (October 6-7). Taking place as part of EyeforTravel North America 2016 at the Palms Las Vegas, successful applications stand the chance to receive much needed advice, funding and exposure against a backdrop of a new wave of innovation in mobile, data and technology.

Attracting capital and generating a buzz around a product are among the major challenges facing start-ups today and all successful firms will have the opportunity to pitch in front of the panel of judges and investors, which includes Nancy Hayes, Angel Investor, Golden Seeds, Saad Siddiqui, Investor, Edgewood Management LLC and George R. Arabian, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Steelhead Ventures, LLC.

The lucky top two selected by the judging panel will also have the opportunity to impress over 450+ senior executives from leading travel brands, including Priceline, American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Southwest Airlines, during the keynote session on Day 2 of the event. Live voting by the conference attendees will then decide the company to be crowned winner.

Not only have previous entries received funding as a result of the Awards, they have also had the opportunity to meet and do business with travel industry peers.

To enter costs $1295 and includes access to both days of the TDS N. America conference, as well as the networking opportunities. More information and details on how to enter can be found here - http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/awards.php

All entries must be received by September 8th 2016.

For all event enquiries contact:

Julia Heighton

Global Conference Director

EyeforTravel

US toll free: 800 814 3459 ext. 7229

Julia@eyefortravel.com
The passenger side a pickup truck's engine compartment was collapsed all the way to the wheel well after the truck collided with another vehicle and crashed into a light pole in Beatrice Tuesday afternoon.

The gold Ford pickup with Texas plates was traveling west on Bell Street just before 5 p.m. when it collided with a northbound silver Ford sedan at the intersection with South Seventh Street.

The driver of the pickup was examined at the scene for minor injuries. Beatrice Fire and Rescue Chief Brian Daake said at the scene that he probably would not need to be transported to a hospital.

The driver of the sedan was not injured. The names of the drivers were not available at the scene.

The pickup impacted the sedan at the passenger-side corner of the sedan's engine compartment. An officer at the scene speculated that the subsequent spin caused the truck's rear tire to hit the sedan, leaving a black streak and denting the sedan's side. The truck then collided with the light pole at the northwest corner of the intersection.

Police reported minor damage to the light pole, but nothing that would require immediate examination.
Brexit and Travel: The Risks of a Tourism Downturn in Asia

On June 24, 2016, votes were tallied and UK was in favor of withdrawing from the European Union. How will the exit affect tourism in Asia? Join us as HVS takes a closer look at the current situation.

For several years, the term Brexit has become a household name in not only countries in Europe but also countries around the world, being the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. In 2012, UK Prime Minister David Cameron rejected calls for a referendum on membership in the European Union. However, he did not rule out a referendum happening in the near future. Fast forward to 24 June 2016, the people in the UK gathered and voted after a heavily publicised and contested pre-referendum period by both the Leave and Stay camps. In the end, 48.1% of those who voted preferred to stay and 51.9% preferred to leave. The vote was largely split by the greater London area and Scotland being in favour of Stay, whereas most other parts of the UK voted in favor of Leave.

Nowadays, currencies often reflect the health and prospective outlook of countries economies. Favorable forecasts yield currency value increments and adverse ones lead to value declines. With voters supporting a Brexit, the UK is on course for major changes and a significant amount of uncertainty surrounding future economic prowess. No matter the duration of the actual Brexit negotiations, there will be a decrease in political and economic stability. As shown in Figure 1, the British Pound (GBP) dropped in value against key global currencies since the vote on June 24 and its value will likely remain low until the UK will be able to shed a light on a (bright) future path.

Foreign travellers will likely capture this opportunity to visit London and other popular destinations in the UK. Conversely outbound travel will be impacted, certainly among more value oriented travellers that constitute a large share of the European travel market. How about Asia Pacific?

Click here ( Adobe Acrobat PDF file) to download the complete article.
Kodak Black was arrested back in May, stemming from outstanding warrants from the previous year, the charges of which were reportedly false imprisonment, robbery without a weapon, operating a vehicle without a viable license and possession of marijuana. We havent received much of an update on the Florida rappers situation since, but today theres some good news. Hes headed home.

Kodak appeared in court in Fort Lauderdale today, where he reportedly pleaded no contest to all charges. The VIP of Legal at Kodaks label, Atlantic Records, reportedly spoke on the rappers behalf, telling the judge, Hes only at the very beginning of a very promising career [] It is our hope that the court will agree that he be given the opportunity to turn his life around.

Judge Lisa Porter granted Kodaks plea, reportedly telling the young artist, I will give you an opportunity, Mr Octave, to prove yourself here, and be a productive member of society [] What happens from here on out is up to you.

Kodak must remain under house arrest for one year, five years of probation, according to SunSentinel reporter. Hell also be required to do community service and take anger management classes. Even with house arrest, Kodak will be allowed to tour internationally, as the judge deferred adjudication.

Welcome home Kodak!

[via XXL]
It's coming up to midnight in Nimes at the end of a Bastille Day that's been robustly celebrated by the 146,000 inhabitants of the southern French city. Following the morning's formal commemoration of the 1789 revolution, the old town switched into St. Patrick's Day-style party mode with the myth that it's only the English and Irish who fall down drunk in the street well and truly shattered.

Come 9pm, 5,000 of the Bastille Day celebrants had packed in to Arenes De Nimes, a Roman amphitheatre-turned-bullring, for a headlining show by Jean Michel Jarre who demonstrated why he's a veritable synth pop God round these parts. The show, which we'll come back to later, is an absolute cracker with the disgustingly well-preserved 67-year-old - seriously, he makes Springsteen look like Iggy Pop in comparison - mixing such classics as 'Oxygene 4', 'Equinoxe 5' and 'Rendezvous 4', with bangers from the brand new Electronica 2, which includes The Pet Shop Boys, Julia Holter, Peaches, Hans Zimmer, Gary Numan, Jeff Mills, Sebastien Teller, Primal Scream and Edward Snowden among its guest turns.

The mood coming out of the gig is celebratory until mobile phones start ringing. A few seconds after answering hers, a teenage girl screams and collapses onto the pavement, crying. It sets off a chain reaction around the Place des Arenes, the likes of which I've never encountered before and certainly hope I never encounter again. I know something awful has happened, but only find out what when I get back to my hotel where staff and guests are staring ashen-faced at a TV live broadcasting the shocking events in Nice.
Is there one? Brendan J. Byrnes excellent new documentary Bobby Sands: 66 Days venerates the republican legend. But questions still hang over the legacy of the IRA, who carried out the most successful terrorist campaign the modern world has seen  at least before ISIS, that is.

In Brendan J. Byrnes new documentary Bobby Sands: 66 Days, the unmistakable voice of Margaret Thatcher rings out, issuing the declaration that sounded the death knell for ten republican prisoners.

There is no such thing as political murder, political bombing or political violence, Thatcher insisted. There is only criminal murder, criminal bombing, criminal violence. There will be no political status!

Thatchers unyielding proclamation was part of a speech, given in Stormont, Belfast on March 5, 1981.

It was the then British Prime Ministers response to the Irish republican prisoners who had gone on hunger strike, first in 1980 and again in 1981. They were protesting about the withdrawal of the Special Category Status, which  pre-dating Thatcher  had been afforded to paramilitary prisoners.

Bobby Sands, the 27 year old leader of the hunger strikers in Long Kesh prison, was elected as an MP during the strike. He died just four days after Thatchers speech, having refused food for 66 days  hence the title of the film.

Combining archive footage and expert commentary with extracts from Bobby Sands journals, Byrne tells the story of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, offering a unique insight into how Thatchers stance hugely increased support for Sinn Fein across Ireland. But Bobby Sands: 66 Days does more than that. Byrnes film also raises thought-provoking questions about martyrdom  and, by implication at least, how these same concepts are deployed, arguably in very different ways, by modern terrorists.

DOOMED PURSUIT

Bobby Sands was just 18 when he joined the Provisional IRA in 1972. Apparently a passionate, if somewhat ineffective, participant in violent attacks, raids and bombings, by the age of 19, he had been arrested and convicted, for the possession of four hand-guns, and received a five year sentence. Released in April 1976, he planned the bombing of a furniture company in Dunmurry; there was a shoot-out with the RUC, and Sands and his four accomplices were captured. He was found guilty and given a 14 year sentence.

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In prison, he and fellow IRA members were initially accorded political prisoner status, affording them certain privileges, including access to books on history and political theory. Personally, Sands was developing intellectually and politically. He read voraciously and spent his time discussing politics and tactics with his fellow inmates. As he read, he became aware of different forms of protest  including the use of the hunger strike as a political weapon.

There were Biblical examples. And British suffragettes had also utilised the technique in the early 20th Century. But there was also a long tradition of hunger strikes in the IRA, including by 1916 leader Thomas Ashe, who died during a hunger strike in September 1917, demanding Prisoner of War status; by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, who died in 1920, while imprisoned in Brixton; and latterly, by Frank Stagg, who died in Englands Wakefield prion in 1976, after a 62 day fast.

However you view either the ethics or indeed the politics of actions of this kind, Sands eventual decision to go on hunger strike was a considered one. Brendan Byrnes documentary is clear that Sands did not have a death wish, and that his actions were in the best sense politically motivated. Byrnes thesis is, rather, that, in a position of powerlessness, Sands was willing to use the only tool completely under his control  his life  in what turned out to be a doomed pursuit of his personal political goals.

THE IRA AND ISIS

The depiction of Bobby Sands in the documentary is ultimately a flattering one. He was an idealist. He believed that the cause he was fighting for was worth the risk that he took with his own life. When he died, a singular figure was lost in circumstances that were desperately tragic and moving. But there is another question that arises from a documentary on this theme, being released in 2016. And it has nothing to do with the centenary of the 1916 rising.

There are those who feel that, as the most successful exponents of guerilla warfare, the IRA laid the foundations for the latter-day activities of Islamist extremists. So, given that they embarked on the ultimate political act of self-sacrifice in the name of the cause they espoused, how different were the actions of the ten hunger strikers who died in the early 1980s from those of modern Islamist suicide bombers?

Inescapably, there is in common the idea of martyrdom: of the individual or the self being sacrificed in the pursuit of a political and military objective. But, looking at the picture painted by Byrne, there are key differences too.

The documentary shows that Sands repeatedly refuted the idea of martyrdom; though he was aware of the growing media attention and his potential place in history, Byrne argues that he had no interest in either narcissism or vanity. Instead, he was driven by an old fashioned, almost Victorian sense of duty.

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There are other differences too. Suicide bombing and self-immolation are immediate and explosive political actions. In contrast, a hunger strike offers time for contemplation, in theory on both sides, providing audiences  meaning the public  with a lengthy, visceral and emotional spectacle of suffering, around which their views can be shaped or refined. The only immediate suffering being imposed is on the hunger strikers themselves (and, of course, those who know and love or support them). The time it takes  in Bobby Sands case 66 days  allows at least the possibility of transformation or negotiation, whether in time to save the hunger striker or not.

This is very different from the actions of modern suicide bombers, including members of al-Qaeda and ISIS, who specifically set out not only to harm and kill innocent people, but who offer no option of an alternative ending and no space for negotiation.

Byrnes documentary highlights other distinctions. The IRA campaign had specific demands and a focused goal. In contrast, the self-destructive acts of modern suicide bombers are accompanied by vague, all-consuming demands for the destruction of any way of life other than that of the Islamist caliphate ISIS has declared.

There are, however, times when the lineage between the IRA and ISIS seems uncomfortably close. The Provisionals did carry out a very significant number of atrocities in which civilians were killed. Their bombing campaign began in 1972, and generally  unlike ISIS  warnings were issued in advance. But not always adequately. And sometimes not at all.

On Bloody Friday, 21 July 1972, 22 bombs were detonated in Belfast by the Provisional IRA, killing nine people and injuring 130. And it went on from there. Six Protestant civilians were killed in Coleraine, on June 12, 1973. 12 civilians were killed and 30 injured in the La Mon restaurant bombing, in the townland of Gransha, near Belfast, on 17 February, 1978. Three policemen and three civilians were killed and 90 were injured by a car bomb placed outside Harrods department store in London, on 17 December, 1983. And in Eniskillen, in Co. Fermanagh, 11 civilians were killed and 63 injured by an IRA bomb, on Remembrance Day, 8 November, 1987.

Those five incidents are just a few among the many grisly events in a campaign that killed thousands in the North of Ireland. And yet you can still see a thread of difference which might just immunise the IRA from accusations that they  more than the Bader-Meinhoff group in Germany or the ETA in the Basque region or any other group  created the template for modern Islamist terrorism.

EVIL GENIE

With their random acts of violence and terror, ISIS-inspired terrorists aim is to be as destructive as possible  and to hell with the consequences. This, on the face of it at least, is very different to the philosophy of hunger strikers like Bobby Sands and Terence MacSwiney. The latter famously declared It is not those who can inflict the most but who can suffer the most who will win. It is a different mind-set.

Unlike Bobby Sands, modern suicide bombers crave to be considered martyrs  both for the cultural infamy it brings and the belief in a divine reward.

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In August 2015, a Pakistani man, who had been arrested for an attempted suicide bombing, spoke to India TV. Only those are innocent, who are taking part in the Jihad in Miranshah, he said. We have no repentance, no sorrow for killing. If our leader orders us to kill two people and hundreds are killed in this process, even then we will do. And there was more. 72 virgins are waiting for me in heaven, he boasted, a self-serving interpretation of Islamic scripture which is also invoked by militant groups like ISIS.

It is said that one of the great tragedies of history is that it is destined to repeat itself. But when it comes to terrorism and suicidal protest, the tragedy is instead that, over the past thirty years, it has taken on a meaning more appalling and destructive than we  or the IRA  could ever have imagined.

The question that lingers, even after Brendan J. Byrnes fine and nuanced exculpation, is this: do members of the IRA, and of Sinn Fein, ever wake up in a cold sweat realising that they were the ones who allowed the genie out of the bottle; and that ISIS are merely following in their wake, encouraging an evil genie to do his worst?
Given the climate of racial division in the US, it's unsurprising that two of the best shows on TV right now deal with the OJ Simpson case. Paul Nolan reports.

At first glance, it perhaps seems odd that arguably the two best shows currently on television, American Crime Story and OJ: Made In America, both concern OJ Simpson. However, when you consider that race is one of the ongoing major issues in US society, as well as the more lurid aspects of the mid-'90s Simpson trial - a mix of sex, violence, celebrity and tabloid hysteria that effectively birthed reality television - the increased interest in the astonishing Simpson saga becomes more understandable.

Created by American Horror Story duo Brad Falchuck and Ryan Murphy, and based on the book The Run Of His Life: The People Vs OJ Simpson by New Yorker journalist Jeffrey Toobin, American Crime Story focuses exclusively on the year-long trial Simpson - an ex-NFL star turned actor and businessman - faced for the alleged murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown-Simpson, and restaurant waiter Ron Goldman. For those of us too young to remember the full details of the Simpson trial, the twists and turns the show takes are staggering.

The story commences in June 1994, with LAPD detectives arriving at Nicole Brown-Simpson's Brentwood home, where both she and Goldman are found murdered. A warrant is issued for OJ Simpson's arrest, though he cannot be found. At a press conference attended by OJ Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, one of OJ's closest friends, Robert Kardashian - father of Kim - reads a letter from OJ that many interpret as a suicide note. Later that same day, Simpson is located in the back of a Ford Bronco being driven on an Orange County freeway by his close friend, Al "AC" Cowlings. Police cars close in on the vehicle, but Cowlings informs them that Simpson has a gun to his own head and is threatening to kill himself.

This is the cue for one of the most bizarre media spectacles of the late 20th century; the big three US networks and news outlets across the country cut to live coverage of the police chasing the Ford Bronco through Los Angeles. Eventually, Simpson returns to his home and turns himself in. Remarkably, this only takes us up to the end of episode two of American Crime Story, with the rest of the series given over to a trial that is virtually unparalleled in the GUBU stakes.

"To me, it doesn't feel like a period piece, it feels modern," Ryan Murphy told Variety earlier this year. "Toobin's theory was the verdict is all about race. That's happening all over the country still." Race was the subject that would turn out to be key to Simpson's acquittal, following the addition to his legal "dream team" of Johnnie Cochran (brilliantly played in the show by Courtney B. Vance), who successfully turned the trial into a referendum on police brutality. In particular, a recording of racist comments by one of the investigating detectives, Mark Fuhrman, would be central to the defence's case.

As well as Vance's memorable turn, there are a number of other powerhouse performances in American Crime Story, including Sarah Paulson as prosecution lawyer Marcia Clark, Sterling K. Brown as her colleague Christopher Darden, and John Travolta, whose funny and sharp portrayal of Robert Shapiro ranks among his finest ever work (ironically, the show's one weak link is Cuba Gooding Jr, whose hammy take on Simpson is a bit one note). The series reaches a peak with the outstanding 'A Jury In Jail', one of the greatest episodes of television in recent years. A tour de force of black comedy, the storyline sees the respective legal teams resort to increasingly Machiavellian manoeuvres to try and get their preferred jurors installed, to the increasing exasperation of Judge Lance Ito. The preferences unsurprisingly break down along race lines, with Simpson's legal team even referring to one possible alternate juror - a middle-aged white woman - as "The Demon".

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Eventually, Judge Ito is forced to warn both sides that the sheer volume of objections has almost exhausted the supply of possible jurors. Meanwhile, the epic nature of the trial has led to a revolt among the jury, who have started to succumb to cabin fever in their hotel. Although American Crime Story has many deft flourishes of black comedy, it never loses sight of the tragedy at the heart of the case. One of the most powerful scenes occurs when Ron Goldman's grieving father, Fred (a terrific Joseph Siravo), lambasts Clark for the prosecution's ineptitude. It is a stark reminder of the pain felt by the victims' families.

Equally as essential as American Crime Story is the five-part OJ: Made In America, made by EPSN as part of its celebrated 30 For 30 strand, which expands out from Simpson's life to offer a panoramic view of race relations in the US in the late 20th century. As you might expect, Simpson makes for a fascinating character study. The series opens with footage of him answering questions at a parole hearing in the Nevada desert, where he is currently serving a prison sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping. From there, Made In America rewinds back to Simpson's early life in San Francisco, where he was raised by his mother Eunice.

In one of those biographical details that reminds us that truth truly is stranger than fiction, Simpson's father, Jimmy, was a gay man who became a well-known drag queen in San Francisco, before passing away from AIDS in 1985. From his time as a budding star at the in-house college of the Los Angeles establishment, USC, and onto his record-breaking stint in the NFL and later fame as an actor and businessman, the through-line of Simpson's life is race -and specifically his attempts to outrun it.

Reluctant to speak out on the civil rights movement and address issues such as police brutality, Simpson traded off the fact that he was viewed as non-threatening by white America, and longed for acceptance by the country's corporate, sporting and entertainment elites.

On the surface, his and Nicole Brown-Simpson's marriage was the perfect all-American success story, but as Ezra Edelman's superlative series highlights, Simpson's smooth exterior masked a dark internal life. As his abusive treatment of his wife spiralled, Simpson was becoming a psychological car-wreck. The American dream had turned into a nightmare - and the fallout is still being picked over to this day.

American Crime Story is on RT?2 Thursdays at 10.15pm. OJ: Made In America is available to view on espn.com
It's back to television for Mr.Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr and True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto - who could think of a better team? Downey Jr is the king of Hollywood and Pizzolatto is one of the best writers in the business, so their combined powers should serve up something exciting.

Word on the streeet is that the project is going to be a Perry Mason reboot. The original Perry Mason series popular from 1957-66, told the story of a talented attorney.

It's not the first time Downey was in a tv series. If you grew up in the '90s then you would have caught enough his brilliant performance in tv hit Ally McBeal.

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Known for his quirky and intense roles, it will be interesting to see what the talented star brings to the role.
Iran, holder of the world's biggest natural gas reserves, says it will start exports to Iraq in the next month, more than a year later than it originally planned.

Shipments will start at 7 million cubic meters a day to supply a power plant in Baghdad, Hamid Reza Araghi, director of the National Iranian Gas Co., said in an interview with the Iranian Students' News Agency. A second route to Basra will open in 2017, with shipments eventually reaching 70 million cubic meters a day.

Iran is boosting crude oil and natural gas exports after international sanctions were eased in January. While its crude output has rebounded faster than expected, the natural gas exports to Iraq have taken more time. The National Iranian Gas Export Co. said in 2014 it would start exports to Iraq the following year.

Berkshire raises its Apple stake by 55 percent

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased an investment in Apple during the second quarter, taking advantage of a dip in the iPhone maker's stock to build the holding.

Berkshire boosted its stake in Apple by 55 percent to 15.2 million shares, according to a regulatory filing Monday from the billionaire's Omaha, Nebraska-based firm. The investment was valued at $1.46 billion as of June 30.

"Apple's stock came down substantially in the second quarter," David Kass, a professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business who has taken students to meet Buffett, said in a phone interview. "Value investors always like the price to go down because it gives them an opportunity to buy more."

Nasdaq makes move to prepare for challenger

Nasdaq is responding to a competitor preparing to enter the exchange arena.

Nasdaq plans to offer a new order type aimed at long-term investors, the company announced Monday.

The exchange operator expects to have the new order available for use by the end of year, said Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld, pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The order will allow an investor to get priority in the trading queue by committing to not change or cancel their trade for a period of one second.

"This is a revolutionary new market structure wrapped up in an order type," Greifeld said in an interview. "I think the great innovation of this approach is the simplicity of it."

The new offering comes as IEX Group prepares to begin trading on Friday after winning approval to operate as a full-fledged stock exchange.

Lonestar Lobster buys building in Stafford

Lonestar Lobster has purchased a building in Stafford to house live lobsters before shipping them out to wholesale customers.

The 13,800-square-foot building at 4747 Techniplex was bought from Sysco Louisiana Seafood.

Preston Yaggi of Lee & Associates represented the buyer, which sells live Maine and Canadian lobster. Gray Gilbert with CBRE represented the seller.

From staff and wire reports
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Police are searching for a suspect who attacked an elderly man Monday and stole his car at a public library in Richmond.

The incident happened about 3:20 p.m. at the George Memorial Library, according to the Richmond Police Department.

Police said the suspect first approached the victim inside the library. When the victim left the building, the suspect followed him, yanked him out of his car and threw him to the ground. Then the suspect sped away in the man's 2008 white Toyota Prius.

The victim was taken to Oak Bend Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries and then released.

The suspect was described only as having an orange Mohawk haircut. He wore a black jacket and a white T-shirt. It is believed he had a wristband from a hospital or jail.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Richmond Police Department at 281-342-2849 or Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281-342-TIPS.

Crime Stoppers tip can be submitted online at www.fortbend-tx-crimestoppers.org. Tips can be submitted by text message. Text FBCCS and tips to CRIMES.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect or charges being fled against him.

All tipsters remain anonymous.
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As more red tape flows from the executive branch, I remain committed to standing up for Nebraskans against an overgrown bureaucracy.

Throughout 2016, I have written often about my legislative efforts to fight government overreach. This includes my bill to increase consumer choice at the fuel pump by allowing E15 to be sold year-round, my amendment to keep meat on the menu for our troops, my bill to block interpretive federal rulemaking which threatens farmers access to anhydrous ammonia, and my legislation included in this years Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization to help small airports.

Hearing directly from Nebraskans about how regulations impact their lives and livelihoods was the inspiration for my Regulation Rewind initiative, which I started in 2014 to identify unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations which hurt economic growth, limit opportunities for rural Americans, are inconsistent with the law, or are unfair.

In addition to introducing my own bills, an important part of Regulation Rewind is lending my support to legislative efforts by my colleagues. Working together, we can stand against more abuses of power and burdensome rules.

Regulations can directly violate Americans constitutional rights. In January, the FBI announced it had stopped processing appeals for individuals who were erroneously denied the right to own a firearm by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

I am a cosponsor of H.R. 4980, the Firearm Due Process Protection Act, which mandates action on NICS appeals within 60 days and requires the FBI to report to Congress annually on NICS appeals statistics.

Too often, regulations are harmful to our economy. A Department of Labor (DOL) rule scheduled to take effect Dec. 1 raises the salary threshold for workers to receive overtime pay from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. Many employers are concerned an increase this large will force them to reduce employees hours, move some employees from salaried to hourly status, or cut wages in order to comply.

With 190 of my colleagues, I cosponsored H.R. 4773, the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, which requires DOL to nullify its current rule, conduct an economic analysis on how the change would affect employers, and minimize the impact on employers in any subsequent rulemaking.

Other regulations are simply unnecessary, such as the red tape currently preventing some hospice patients from keeping their own doctors. Medicares hospice benefit provides in-home, palliative end-of-life care for beneficiaries diagnosed as having six months or fewer to live. As part of the benefit, the patient may also choose to continue seeing his or her own physician.

However, because federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics are subject to a separate payment structure, physicians they employ are not eligible to serve hospice patients. I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 5799, the Rural Access to Hospice Act, to address this issue.

At its worst, an overgrown bureaucracy can have dire consequences for peoples lives. In 2014, numerous reports stated at least 40 veterans had died while awaiting care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The severe mismanagement of the VA was due in part to difficulties involved with making necessary staffing and organizational changes. Because these personnel issues are ongoing, I cosponsored H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act, which makes it easier to remove VA employees based on poor performance or misconduct and reforms the process of handling whistleblower cases at the VA.

These are just a few examples from this years Regulation Rewind. If you would like to review a more complete list of my efforts to fight executive overreach, please visit AdrianSmith.house.gov/RegulationRewind. Together, we can continue to block and reverse the regulatory burdens impacting Nebraskans and people across the country.
A worker injured in an explosion at a crude oil terminal Friday night in Southeast Texas filed a lawsuit Monday against Sunoco and Carber, accusing the companies of causing the explosion.

Edward Galvan, a welder for L-Con Inc. who remains hospitalized with injuries he sustained during the explosion, was working at the crude oil terminal owned by Sunoco on Friday night in Nederland near Beaumont.

According to the lawsuit filed in Harris County court, Sunoco officials told L-Con workers to "conduct welding operations on two flanges on a closed line at the facility."

The lawsuit said that Sunoco represented that the "line was clean, clear, and ready for work." Galvan and the other workers were instructed to work on a scaffold more than 10 feet above the ground.

As Galvan and the others began to work, pressure began building inside the line. According to the suit, the 30-inch plug designed and installed by Carber failed and was ejected from the line, striking Galvan in the chest and shoulder.

The lawsuit states that crude oil within the line then ignited, causing a flash fire.

The explosion caused Galvan's welding mask to be knocked off, "setting his face ablaze," the suit said.

Liquid fire covered his face, neck, and upper chest. He managed to tear off several pieces of clothing and then jump off the scaffold. The lawsuit states that if Galvan had not jumped off, he likely would "have been burned alive."

He was flown by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann's burn unit, where he is receiving extensive treatment. Galvan is seeking a lawsuit to "recover for injuries sustained as a result of this incident."

Seven workers in total were also injured in the explosion.
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NAIROBI, Kenya - The soldier pointed his AK-47 at the female aid worker and gave her a choice.

"Either you have sex with me, or we make every man here rape you and then we shoot you in the head," she remembers him saying.

She didn't really have a choice: By the end of the evening, she had been raped by 15 South Sudanese soldiers.

On July 11, South Sudanese troops, fresh from winning a battle in the capital, Juba, over opposition forces, went on a nearly four-hour rampage through a residential compound popular with foreigners, in one of the worst targeted attacks on aid workers in South Sudan's three-year civil war.

They shot dead a local journalist while forcing the foreigners to watch, raped several foreign women, singled out Americans, beat and robbed people and carried out mock executions, several witnesses said.

For hours throughout the assault, the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed less than a mile away refused to respond to desperate calls for help. Neither did embassies, including the U.S. Embassy.

The Associated Press interviewed by phone eight survivors, both male and female, including three who said they were raped. The other five said they were beaten; one was shot. Most insisted on anonymity for their safety.

The accounts highlight, in raw detail, the failure of the U.N. peacekeeping force to uphold its core mandate of protecting civilians, notably those just a few minutes' drive away.

The attack on the Terrain hotel complex shows the hostility toward foreigners and aid workers by troops under the command of South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, who has been fighting supporters of rebel leader Riek Machar since civil war erupted in December 2013.

Army spokesman Lul Ruai did not deny the attack at the Terrain but said it was premature to conclude the army was responsible. "Everyone is armed, and everyone has access to uniforms," he said.

A report on the incident compiled by the Terrain's owner at Ruai's request, seen by the AP, alleges the rapes of at least five women, torture, mock executions, beatings and looting.

The attack came just as people in Juba were thinking the worst was over. As both sides prepared to call for a cease-fire, some at the Terrain started to relax.

And then the soldiers arrived. A Terrain staffer from Uganda said he saw between 80 and 100 men invade the compound after breaking open the gate.

"They were very excited, very drunk, under the influence of something, almost a mad state, walking around shooting off rounds inside the rooms," one American said.

For about an hour, soldiers beat the American and fired bullets at his feet and close to his head. Eventually, he was told to leave. He made his way to the nearby U.N. compound and appealed for help.

Meanwhile, soldiers were breaking into a two-story apartment block in the Terrain which had been deemed a safe house because of a heavy metal door guarding the apartments upstairs.

The soldiers then sexually assaulted women and shot through the door of a bathroom where several people were hiding, said Jesse Bunch, an American contractor who was hit in the leg.

"We kill you! We kill you!" the soldiers shouted, according to a Western woman in the bathroom. "They would shoot up at the ceiling and say, 'Do you want to die?' and we had to answer 'No!'"

The American who was released requested help from three different U.N. battalions.

"Everyone refused to go. Ethiopia, China, and Nepal. All refused to go," he said.

Eventually, South Sudanese security forces entered the Terrain and rescued all but three Western women and around 16 Terrain staff. A private security firm rescued the rest the next morning.

Asked why U.N. peacekeepers didn't respond to repeated pleas for help, the U.N. said it is investigating.

"Obviously, we regret the loss of life and the violence that the people who were in Hotel Terrain endured, and we take this incident very seriously," the deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters Monday.
AUSTIN  Members of a state Senate committee called Monday for changes in Texas law to prevent cities from thwarting or blocking citizen petition drives, a key issue for conservative and tea party groups in Houston and other cities in recent years.

At a meeting of the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee, members made it clear they support changes to ensure that ballot language is not deceptive or misleading and to keep cities from using outside law firms already doing city business to drag out legal proceedings against citizen petitioners.

Representatives of Texas' approximately 300 home-rule cities cautioned against making changes to the current process or tipping the laws too far in favor of citizen groups, saying that could dilute local control in favor of state mandates.

Tension between citizen activists and local officials who often are the targets of their ire has been bubbling across Texas in recent years, thanks to a boost of tea party activism. Much of the testimony at Monday's hearing centered on contentious petition drives and ballot fights in Houston, including the city's controversial drainage fee levied more than decade ago and the repeal of Houston's equal rights ordinance, known as HERO, in 2015.

While lawmakers seemed sympathetic to the activists' complaints on Monday, the Texas Legislature historically has been hesitant to giving the same access to initiative and referendum at the state level.

Sens. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, said current rules governing cities should not be allowed to thwart citizen petition requests from coming up for local vote.

"We need honest elections, we need honest language ... we owe it to the people we work for to make it clear," Campbell said.

Austin lawyer Andy Taylor, who fought the City of Houston before the Texas Supreme Court on ballot issues such HERO and the city's drainage fee, told the committee how citizens who have had to go to court on their petition drives have had to pay hefty legal fees even though they won the legal battles.

Taylor testified that the cost of one case alone totalled $650,000. Bruce Hotze, a Houston businessman who has fought the City of Houston in another case, said he has spent well over $350,000 and the case is not over yet, because the city will not implement a charter change approved by voters.

Witnesses testified that other issues include petition signatures being invalidated in questionable ways, and cities using outside attorneys to increase the costs to citizen petitioners, a move that could discourage them from pursuing an action the city leadership opposes.

Witnesses also complained that cities and taxing entities often use complicated wording on the ballot to obscure the true effect of a measure or to manipulate voters for or against an issue.

"We've all heard you can't beat City Hall, but I wish the legislature would do something to change that," Taylor said.

Bettencourt said the use of outside attorneys who already perform work for cities presents an unfair disadvantage to citizens who may not be able to afford expert legal help.

"I submit very strongly that this needs to be outlawed across the state," he said.

Under current law, so-called "home rule cities" generally are allowed to develop their own rules concerning citizen petitions and referendum votes.

Bill Longley, legislative counsel for the Texas Municipal League, which lobbies on behalf of Texas cities, told the committee that the current structure gives citizens the ability to change their city charters in local elections to best fit their needs.

Even so, Campbell said ballot wording and the process for gathering and submitting petitions should be as clear as possible in each locality to be fair to citizens.

Despite the testimony about citizen petitions, Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, appeared unconvinced that major changes are needed. At one point, she said Monday's hearing appeared to be "just rehashing what we already looked at" in a December 2015 hearing.

Committee Chairman Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said the goal of any changes that may be proposed in state law will be to better protect citizens in petitioning local government and to ensure that ballot language is clear and understandable.

"One thing is for certain  all of us want fairness and cordial treatment," Lucio said. "In the end we are going to come together and make sure we do the right thing."
New York Times

AUSTIN -- Texas plans to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a lower court decision that found the state's voter ID law discriminates against minorities.

Attorney General Ken Paxton's office said Tuesday it will appeal the ruling to the high court "to protect the integrity of voting in the State of Texas."
RIO DE JANEIRO - For beating Allyson Felix, Shaunae Miller gets a gold medal. Maybe they should give her a cape, too.

It took a head-first dive, Superwoman-style, for Miller to spring an Olympic upset Monday over America's top female sprinter in the 400 meters and deny her a record fifth gold medal.

Miller, a 22-year-old from the Bahamas who finished second to Felix at the world championships last year, took an early lead, then held off her charge along the straightaway. Neck-and-neck with two steps to go, Miller sprawled, dove and tumbled across the line to win by .07 seconds.

Now, instead of a coronation for Felix, it's a celebration for Miller, whose dive will go down as one of the most dramatic images we've seen at these, or any, Olympics.

"This is the moment I have been waiting for," Miller said. "I just gave it my all."

And she didn't even get the evening's biggest roars. Those went to pole vaulter Thiago Braz da Silva, who gave Brazil its first medal in track and field by setting an Olympic record (6.03 meters/19 feet, 91/2 inches) to upset world-record holder and defending champion Renaud Lavillenie of France.

But outside of Brazil, they'll be talking about The Dive.

Starting from Lane 7, Miller expanded the lag, instead of getting gobbled up the way most women do when Felix is on the track.

Stride for stride they ran down the last 100 meters, until the last few steps. Felix, classically trained by Bobby Kersee, made a textbook lean into the finish line. Miller tried something else. The dive is something no coach would ever teach. Then again, amazing things happen with a gold medal on the line.

"I was just focused on myself," Felix said when asked about the dive. "I didn't really have too many thoughts on it."

As Miller lay on her back, gasping for breath and maybe even stunned herself at what she'd done, Felix sat on the ground stone-faced. Ten seconds passed. Then 20.

While Miller jumped with her arms flailing forward, the rules say the win is determined by which athlete has any part of her torso cross the line first. The photo finish showed the negative image of Miller's sprawled-out body. Her shoulder barely beat Felix to the line.

The result popped up on the scoreboard: Miller won in 49.44 seconds. The bronze went to Jamaica's Shericka Jackson.

It marked quite a disappointment for Felix, whose season just didn't turn out the way she planned. She failed to qualify for the U.S. team in the 200 meters, leaving only the 400 to break a six-way tie among the women with four track and field gold medals.

"I don't think I ever quite had a year this tough," Felix said, as her eyes welled with tears.

Of some consolation, she became the most decorated U.S. female track and field athlete, with her seven medals surpassing Jackie Joyner Kersee.

In the pole vault, Lavillenie first set the Olympic record at 5.98 meters. Boosted by the boisterous home fans, da Silva cleared 6.03 to improve on that mark. Sam Kendricks of the United States took bronze.

In the men's 800 meters, Kenya's David Rudisha won gold but didn't get a world record this time.

Rudisah won his second Olympic title in a row by taking the lead just after the halfway point and finishing in 1 minute, 42.15 seconds, over a second off the record time he set at the Olympics four years ago.

Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi, the 1,500 gold medalist at the London Games four years ago, was second, and Clayton Murphy of the United States set a personal best of 1:42.93 for bronze.
Negative message

Regarding "Supply shortage" (Page A15, Saturday), we pay taxes to fund the operation of our public schools, and if the school supplies referenced in Saturday's editorial are required for all students, then they should be provided to those students on the first day of school and paid for by the taxes collected.

This will prevent the humiliation to students who cannot afford the supplies, the double "taxation" of parents who have paid taxes and the begging by teachers through crowd funding and other methods.

What kind of message does it send about the importance we place on education when teachers have to beg for money to assist their students or spend their own money to assist those in need?

Doug Smith, Houston

Belting it out

Regarding Kyrie O'Connor's article, "O Say Can You Sing?" (Page D1, Monday), she mentions "The Star Spangled Banner" as being the only anthem that ends with a question. It made me recall that England, which actually has no official anthem, often sings "Jerusalem" as a national anthem. It was dedicated to the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and became the property and anthem of the Women's Institute until it passed into public domain.

Not only is the first verse a question, it begins with a conjunction: "And did those feet in ancient time..."

James Conlan, Houston

Just products

Regarding "Thumbs Up, down" (Page A15, Saturday) and state Sen. Bob Hall's proposed handgun law, you say "No word, of course, on whether he'll hold gun makers responsible for their part in any collateral damage."

So, I guess Boeing should be held responsible because their product was driven into the World Trade Center, killing thousands, or Mercedes should be held responsible because their product was used to mow down hundreds in Nice, France. I could go on.

Robert West, Houston

Misplaced blame

Regarding "Bad deal for U.S." (Page A35, Sunday), the letter writer wrote: "It is true that President Obama did not cause the 2008 recession, but the facts are that his nearly eight years in office has accomplished little to help to help the impoverished."

Obama faced a Republican, obstructionist Congress, which thwarted many of his goals. To blame the president for a lack of progress is myopic.

Sondra Tucker, Houston

Voting rights

Regarding "Voter ID in Texas" (letters), I remember when the voting age was changed from 21 to 18. Many people do not drive and use public transportation. Some people do not have checking accounts. You can take a university exam with a picture ID but not vote with it.

You cannot buy a beer nor rent a car at age 18, but you can fight for your country and get killed or injured while doing it.

Considering that the voter fraud felonies in Texas over many years can be counted on one hand, it is ridiculous to demand a picture ID to vote. Thank goodness that our federal government believes that all Americans have this right!

Kati Woodward, Cypress
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Chasing June bugs, examining abandoned mud dauber nests and collecting tree droppings highlighted the first few hours of a weeklong East Carolina University summer institute for elementary school science teachers.It's the kind of excitement and activity that the teachers want to create for their students when they return to school in late August.said Brittany Daniels '16, who will be teaching fourth grade at South Greenville Elementary School for the first time this fall.Daniels was among 15 recent ECU graduates attending the free workshop designed to give new teachers confidence and support and improve elementary science education. Some will begin their teaching careers this year while others have been in the classroom less than a year or two.said workshop organizer Dr. Tammy Lee, assistant professor for science education in the ECU College of Education.ECU is the only university in the state that offers a concentration in K-6 science education in its education degree program. Started in 2012, enrollment in the concentration has grown from seven students to more than 100.Lee said. Faculty members in the college's six academic departments work regionally and statewide providing workshops, seminars and support to school districts and teachers, many of whom are Pirate alumni.Daniels, whose first day at South Greenville Elementary will be Aug. 18, said she completed the additional 18 credit hours needed for the elementary science concentration becauseas others, she said.Now she's looking forward to her first day, and incorporating music into lesson plans on the ecosystem, rocks and other topics.Daniels said.Research shows that if children are exposed to science concepts early, they stay interested in the subject, Lee said.Lee said.Partnering in the workshop was the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences' Melissa Dowland and Megan Chesser. They guided the teachers around the Eastern Elementary School campus on Aug. 1, listening to cicadas and bird calls, to get them thinking about how to adapt their own school grounds for teaching science outdoors.said Chesser, teacher education specialist at the museum. The school day might be their only opportunity to get outside, she said.Using loupes, bug boxes and sweeper nets, teachers practiced their observation and identification skills. By the end of the week, they wrote three lesson plans to implement in their classrooms before Christmas break.Lee said.Amanda Mongillo '15, a sixth grade teacher at W.A. Pattillo Middle School in Tarboro, has been teaching since her December graduation. Since Mongillo hasn't had a full year in the classroom, she's looking forward to creatingwhich includes designing a lesson plan on ecosystems.She said her students love going outdoors, where they have held relay races mimicking sound waves and scavenger hunts to identify leaves and trees. She got interested in science as a kid, with the influence of her dad, as they bonded over school projects like a homemade telescope or the classic potato light bulb.Lee said the workshop shows teachers how to institute methods and strategies that are research-based, how to overcome barriers like a lack of resources or equipment, and inspire their work with elementary students.Lee said.The teachers spent one day at Eastern and the rest of the week at River Park North, where ECU microbiologist and assistant professor of biology Dr. Ariane Peralta led some of the sessions.The workshop is funded by a research start-up grant funded by ECU titled PIRATES (Preparing and Inspiring Achieving Teaching Excellence in Science) and led by Lee, who spearheaded the development of the elementary science concentration to improve STEM education in the early grades. Each participant received a stipend to attend.
href="/nz/people/jo-copeland/148875">Jo Copeland is an HR force to be reckoned with  campaigning tirelessly for workplace equality, her organisation became the first in New Zealand to earn the Rainbow Tick and continues to lead the way for other law firms.Here, the former lawyer opens up about industry gripes and reveals why HR is her preferred career.I'd work for a great global company where there are experts from all the major HR disciplines that you can learn from. This is far better in the long-run than leaping into your first sole HR management job with no experience. The opportunities in large organisations are endless and unmatched. I see so many young people being lured away by the first opportunity that comes along these days. Yet it's not always the smartest move.We are doing some fantastic work on mental health at the moment and it's really paying off. We are also doing some great stuff building cultural intelligence across the organisation. Like most businesses we were looking at performance management but that isn't too exciting.The bit that really excites me is the potential to change the way businesses operate in the disruption around new technology. We are working on this at the moment and want to incorporate some design thinking principles into how we take advantage of that. It's this stuff that gets me out of bed every morning.The biggest obstacle is always resistance to change. I like working on the edge and I love trying out new things - nothing ventured, nothing gained, if you will. In a conservative industry, it can be a bit of a challenge to implement change, but I've found that persistence and using data and facts to answer every objection someone throws our way usually works.We used this tactic to introduce flexible leave purchasing, which is low-cost (actually it saves costs) but has really high perceived value. This initiative is loved by staff for whom it is a nightmare to juggle the 12 weeks school holidays with the standard four annual weeks. What's more, fostering a supportive environment provides an incentive for employees to return to work. It is something different that no one else in our industry is currently doing. Ultimately, my approach is to never take no for an answer the first time round.I don't have any concerns or worries regarding function in the industry. I think we are an inquisitive and interesting bunch of people who are keen to continue growing. The biggest issue for us is now how to leverage the new technologies coming out, and adapting the workforce of the past to the new ways of working. All of this must be done within a tight fiscal environment.I'd stop the nonsense talk about HR needing to change. I'm sick of watching HR people beating themselves up or being slated by outsiders. It's like the idiots in organisations who still use the same old joke about HR being the police. The us versus them mentality is totally counter-productive. It feels like it's become a sport and a cheap easy story for the media to write. There are incredibly dynamic and amazing HR people out there who are leading change within their organisations. That's the stuff that needs to be talked about and celebrated not all that other nonsense. I don't want to read another article about it.The most satisfying achievement in my career is definitely becoming the first organisation in New Zealand to get the rainbow tick. After hearing stories of young people feeling suicidal after their families and friends told them it would be career suicide to come out in the legal industry, I decided something needed to change at an industry-wide level.Getting the rainbow tick was about changing perception. And it really has worked. Some of the other major law firms have now come on board (as have so many corporates) and there is so much talk about it now that I don't think young people will come through anymore with the slightest worry about their sexual orientation. That's a big thing in an industry where its practitioners were originally required to uphold the laws of the land that included laws stating it was illegal to engage in a homosexual act. Imagine what that would've been like 30 years ago for someone who was gay. Upholding the law by day and breaking it by night.I used to be an employment lawyer and spent a huge amount of time working on negative things such as restructuring, redundancies, disciplinary actions and dismissals. In HR you have the opportunity to work so much more on the positive side of things building capability, developing awesome recruitment campaigns, empowering people, finding and promoting the rock stars of the future. I just find it so much more positive than being a lawyer. I much prefer to look for the good in people rather than criticising everything they do. It's a healthier way to live.I think data and analytics, technology and flexible working will really start to take hold in the next five years. There will be so many more disruptive players in the market along the lines of Uber and Airbnb. And I think social enterprise will continue to grow, or at least, I hope it will. With people like Richard Branson and Bill Gates turning their minds and endeavours into philanthropic social causes, I think we will start to see some of this make a difference.The one thing that would make me truly happy in my working career is to see 50 per cent of leadership roles held by women, no more commentary on gender in the media, and true equality in the workforce no matter who you are.
The Duchess of Cambridge is a huge advocate of childrens mental health, and now shes launching a podcast to bring even more awareness to the issue.

On Sunday, Kensington Palace announced Kate Middletons support for the launch of the Child in Mind series, which will feature 20-minute episodes designed to help parents understand children's mental health.

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A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Aug 14, 2016 at 1:43am PDT





In a statement, the Duchess of Cambridge, who is also a patron of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, cited the statistic that one in three adults still say they would be embarrassed to seek help for their child's mental health.

The 34-year-old mom-of-two puts mental illness on the same level of importance as physical illness and stated that parents should not be scared to ask for help.

To further back this, the Duchess openly stated that she and her husband, Prince William, feel very strongly that we wouldnt hesitate to get expert support for George and Charlotte if they need it.

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Throughout my work with family and child support organizations, one thing that has stood out to me time and again is that getting early support for a child who is struggling to cope is the best possible thing we can do to help our children as they grow up, she said.

A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jun 11, 2016 at 5:57am PDT





The overall goal of the podcast is to combat the stigma surrounding mental health and make resources available to children and parents alike.

I hope that this excellent series of podcasts by the Anna Freud Centre will go some way to help families overcome that fear of what happens next if they look for professional support, the Duchess said.

This isnt the first time Kate has spoken out about childrens mental health. In February, she supported Children's Mental Health Week by launching a video about the importance of understanding childrens emotional well-being and building their confidence.

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That same month, she also acted as a guest editor for The Huffington Post UK series Young Minds Matter.

The mental health of our children must be seen as every bit as important as their physical health, the Duchess wrote in her blog. We know there is no shame in a young child struggling with their emotions or suffering from a mental illness.

Like most parents today, William and I would not hesitate to seek help for our children if they needed it, she continued. We hope to encourage George and Charlotte to speak about their feelings, and to give them the tools and sensitivity to be supportive peers to their friends as they get older.

Also on HuffPost
Calgary grandparents accused of killing their five-year-old grandson are now facing an additional charge of fraud.

Allan Edgardo Perdomo Lopez, 56, and Carolina Del Carmen Perdomo, 49, had their lawyers appear in court on their behalf on Monday.

They are accused of defrauding the government for social assistance money, CBC News reported.

The pair's grandson Emilio Perdomo was admitted to the Alberta Children's Hospital on July 10, 2015.

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He was suffering from multiple blunt force traumas and died a week later.

The boy had been living in Calgary for about a year, having been sent to the city from Mexico by his mother, who had hoped he would have a better life in Canada.

It took investigators a year to lay charges in his death.

The pair are currently out on bail, but are not permitted to contact each other.

Court appearances for both the manslaughter and fraud charges have been pushed back to Aug. 30, according to the Calgary Sun.
An overwhelming majority of Torontos residents  including millennials  want to own a single-family home, according to a new study from Ryerson University.

For many those dreams will be dashed on the rocky shores of rising house prices, which the Ryerson study and a new CIBC report blame partly on provincial densification policies that have reduced single-family home construction to a fraction of its former self.

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And not only should Torontonians stop dreaming of single-family home ownership (that is, other than those who already own a home), some should even stop dreaming of owning anything at all, the CIBC report says.

As Toronto becomes a larger, denser and more expensive city, a larger share of the population will have to rent their housing. The CIBC report suggests that increasingly unrealistic expectations of homeownership are part of whats driving up house prices in Toronto.

The GTA is in a twilight zone of home prices characterized by a homeownership mentality that is slow to change to the required higher propensity to rent, economists Benjamin Tal and Katherine Judge wrote.

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Its not just Toronto. Many globalized cities around the world have seen substantial jumps in housing prices in recent years, and there, too, experts say more people will have to get used to renting.

A recent study looking at London predicted the U.K. capitals home ownership rate will drop to 40 per cent by 2025, from 60 per cent in 2000. (Torontos home ownership rate came in at 68 per cent in the 2011 National Household Survey.)

But the Ryerson study, which collected data from a number of earlier surveys, found that Greater Toronto Area residents continue to be as ambitious as ever in their homeownership goals. Only 18 per cent in the GTA prefer apartment housing to ground-level housing.

Millennials  who are doing most of the first-home buying  are more likely to prefer apartments, but only slightly, with three-quarters saying they want ground-level housing.

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Meanwhile, two-thirds of the housing starts in Greater Toronto these days are apartments or condos.

The view that many households in the GTA would willingly give up single-detached houses to move into higher density housing in location-efficient communities is wrong, the Ryerson study concluded.

A 'huge windfall' for those who already own land

The report warns that Ontario's densification policies will reduce the quality of life and, in effect, cause a transfer of wealth to existing landowners, from non-landowners.

Urban policies which try to force [densification] by constraining the supply of new ground-related housing will lead to even higher house prices, sub-optimal location choices, and huge capital gain windfalls for the lucky owners of existing houses and vacant lands....

Like the Ryerson study, the CIBC analysis also points the finger at restrictive land use policies as being part of whats driving up house prices.

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Policies such as the Places to Grow Act have limited the availability of serviced land for ground-oriented houses through setting aggressive intensification and density targets, the CIBC report wrote.

The study says Ontario should reassess its plan, unveiled earlier this year, to set even higher densification requirements for the southern Ontario area.

Fighting urban sprawl

But environmental advocates are defending densification targets, as well as the Greenbelt the province put around the GTA to limit urban sprawl.

Some in the development industry want to keep building sprawling low-density housing. Its this cookie cutter approach to land use that has caused Ontario's mess of traffic congestion, hefty residential taxes, and degraded natural environment, Erin Shapero, the Greenbelt and smart growth program manager for Environmental Defence, told HuffPost Canada in an email.

Its time the sprawl developers stop trying to turn back the clock to a 1950s model of growth, where low-density sprawl destroys farms, makes residents car-dependent and creates debts for municipalities struggling to provide services like water and transit to these far-flung subdivisions.

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Shapero pointed to a recent study from the Neptis Foundation, which found that enough developable land exists in the GTA to last to 2031 and likely beyond.

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Liberals won't confirm if a House of Commons debate and vote will be held before they commit Canadian troops to Africa for what's expected to be a lengthy mission.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced Monday that the federal government will soon unveil Canada's expanded contribution to United Nations peace efforts, but did not reveal precisely where.

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Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks in the House of Commons on May 3, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

Sajjan told reporters during a teleconference from the Democratic Republic of Congo that the mission would go beyond traditional peacekeeping, involve more than the military, and last for a "long duration."

But iPolitics reports that Sajjan, who was wrapping up a five-day fact-finding mission in Africa, did not answer when he was asked if a vote would be held in Parliament on future peace operation deployments.

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Sajjan's spokeswoman Jordan Owens told The Huffington Post Canada that Liberals were clear about their priorities on the campaign trail last fall. She highlighted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate letters to Sajjan, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion, and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau.

'A clear mandate from Canadians'

"The Government of Canada has a clear mandate from Canadians to increase our contribution to peace support operations," Owens said via email. "It was defined and discussed throughout the campaign, and we are committed to implementing the real change that Canadians voted for in the last election."

Owens rejected criticism from Tory defence critic James Bezan that the federal government hasn't been transparent on the issue. Sajjan's trip allowed the minister to get the "ground truth," she said, so that the right decisions can be made in an "extremely complex situation."

Debate, vote held on revamped ISIS mission

Conservatives are already pushing for Liberals to hold a debate and vote on the mission, as government did last March on the revamped military efforts against the so-called Islamic State.

While deploying troops is an executive decision and there is no constitutional requirement that Trudeau and his cabinet first ask the House to weigh in, former prime minister Stephen Harper sought the support of MPs in such situations, even after capturing a majority government.

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Conservative finance critic Lisa Raitt, who is mulling a run to replace Harper as Tory leader, took to Twitter Monday to say she looks forward to a future debate on the proposed mission.

Looking forward to discussing and debating this governments proposed mission in the House of Commons. https://t.co/QARVgsBp45  Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) August 16, 2016

And in a Facebook post Monday, later shared on the official Conservative Party page, Bezan warned Canadians should be "concerned about the lack of details and transparency" around the looming mission in Africa.

"How can Liberals be committing to deploying troops on a long-term mission that hasn't even been debated in Parliament?" he asked.

The Tory critic said Sajjan needs to provide more details, and accused Liberals of shifting the pledge of 'peacekeeping' to 'peace operations' without explaining to Canadians what this means."

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Liberals promised in their platform, however, to "recommit to supporting international peace operations with the United Nations" and to provide "well-trained personnel that can be quickly deployed" amid escalating conflicts.

'War zone'

Late last month, Bezan and associate Tory defence critic Pierre Paul-Hus released a statement highlighting a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Somalia by members of the terror group Al-Shabab.

"Before the Liberals send our troops into a war zone against jihadi terrorists, we call on the government to bring this to Parliament for a debate and vote," the MPs said.

"Canadians are demanding to know where and when will our troops be deployed? How many will be deployed? Will they be given the necessary tools to defend themselves? What are the rules of engagement?"

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When the prime minister sat down with HuffPost last March for a global town hall, he acknowledged the modern peacekeeping "landscape" includes insurgents and terrorist groups.

"Obviously, peacekeeping these days looks different than decades ago when a line of Canadian soldiers could stand between two different countries and prevent them from shooting at each other," Trudeau said at the time.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Poll Facts

Every August, Civitas polls NC unaffiliated voters to find out what this crucial voting bloc thinks. This year, our unaffiliated poll will be unveiled at Poll Lunch on Aug. 18 in Raleigh. We invite all interested citizens to attend. There are seats still available. To find out more or sign up online, click here It might be interesting to look back and see what unaffiliated voters were thinking at the same point before the last presidential nomination. The key questions and responses in our 2012 live-caller poll of NC unaffiliated voters are as follows:As you may know, the General Election for President, Governor and Congress is going to be held in November this year. How much attention have you been paying to the various campaigns so far? Would you say you have been paying...42% A great deal of attention46% A moderate amount of attention11% Only a little bit of attentionDo you feel things in North Carolina are generally headed in the right direction or have gotten off on the wrong track?29% 25% 31% Right Direction53% 61% 56% Wrong Track17% 14% 13% Don't Know/Unsure (DO NOT READ)1% - - Refused (DO NOT READ)And if the election for State Legislature were held today, would you be voting for the... (ROTATE)39% 32% 37% Republican Candidate27% 29% 32% Democratic Candidate15% 14% 6% Neither (DO NOT READ)18% 24% 23% Don't Know (DO NOT READ)1% 1% 2% Refused (DO NOT READ)When you think about voting for North Carolina offices like the state legislature, what issue or problem should be their highest priority? (RANDOMIZE)41% 45% 45% Economy and jobs15% 16% 19% Improving public education4% 4% 3% Holding down taxes7% 5% 5% Reducing healthcare costs5% 4% 4% Government Corruption2% 2% 3% Moral Issues17% 14% 14% Budget/Spending7% 2% 4% Illegal Immigration1% 5% 2% Other (DO NOT READ)2% 3% 1% Not sure (DO NOT READ)- - - Refused (DO NOT READ)Now I am going to read you a list of people active in politics. After I read each name, please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that person. If you have never heard of them just tell me and we'll go on to the next one...the (first/next) one is...(RANDOMIZE)HEARD OF - NO OPIN (DNR) NEVER HEARD OF (DNR)Barack Obama6% 1%6% 1%8% -Mitt Romney10% 1%Bev Perdue9% 2%14% 3%15% 2%Pat McCrory22% 9%Walter Dalton29% 27%Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing as President?20% 17% 27% Strongly Approve24% 27% 23% Somewhat Approve10% 17% 9% Somewhat Disapprove43% 35% 38% Strongly Disapprove4% 5% 2% Undecided/Don't Know (DO NOT READ)- - 1% Refused (DO NOT READSome people decide early in a campaign how they will vote. Others make their decisions just before the election. When would you say you will make your FINAL decision on which candidate you are going to vote for?7% On Election Day14% The Last Few Days Before The Election3% During One Stop Voting The Last 3 Weeks Of October6% During The Last Two Weeks In October4% Before One Stop Voting Starts October 163% In September60% Already Have3% Don't Know/ Refused (DO NOT READ)If the election for President of the United States were being held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: (ROTATE) Mitt Romney, the Republican, and Barack Obama, the Democrat?39% Definitely Romney5% Probably Romney1% Lean Romney7% Undecided (DO NOT READ)2% Lean Obama4% Probably Obama38% Definitely Obama3% Refused (DO NOT READ)To the best of your ability, please complete the following sentence: "If I have one hesitation in voting for Mitt Romney, it is..." (OPEN END)18% Unfavorable/ Disagree with this views/ Negative (general)17% Dishonest/ Untrustworthy/ Fake14% Out of touch with lower and middle class/ Not for the people14% Dislike his religious beliefs/ Dislike that he is Mormon13% Dislike stance on moral issues/ Women's rights/ Dislike abortion policy3% Voting record/ Past record9% None/ Nothing12% Don't know/ Don't know what to believeTo the best of your ability, please complete the following sentence: "If I have one hesitation in voting for Barack Obama, it is..." (OPEN END)22% Ineffective/ Got nothing done/ Not doing a good job/ Too much opposition16% Unfavorable/ Disagree with this views/ Negative (general)16% Dislike his moral values/ Disagree with stance on gay marriage8% Dislike healthcare reform/ Obamacare6% Poor economy/ To blame for economy6% No job growth/ High unemployment rate3% Fiscally irresponsible/ Too much spending3% Other5% None/Nothing15% Don't knowIf the election for Governor were held today and you had to make a choice, for whom would you vote if the candidates were: (RANDOMIZE)33% DEFINITELY MCCRORY 3% DEFINITELY HOWE12% PROBABLY MCCRORY 5% PROBABLY HOWE1% LEAN MCCRORY 1% LEAN HOWE18% DEFINITELY DALTON 13% HARD UNDECIDED (DNR)8% PROBABLY DALTON 1% OTHER (DNR)2% LEAN DALTON 2% REFUSED (DNR)In your own words can you please tell me why you are registered as an Independent or Unaffiliated? (OPEN END)30% Do not want to be told to vote for a certain party/ To vote for whoever I want/ To keep my options open/ To vote in either primary/ Don't want to be committed to one party/ Don't like voting a straight ticket27% Vote for the person not the party/ Vote on the person's views on issues/ Vote for who I think will do the best job representing me22% Do not agree with either party/ Do not want to be associated with either party/ Don't think any one party is right/ Parties need to work together/ I'm in the middle/ I can see both sides5% Have always been unaffiliated/ Independent4% Not happy with politicians/ Can't trust them3% Don't like political parties/ Don't like the two party system (non-specific)2% I lean Republican2% I lean Democrat2% Was a Democrat/ Do not agree with my previous party anymore2% Personal choice/ Personal reasons2% Was a Republican/ Do not agree with my previous party anymore2% Do not want to be bothered with mail/ E-mail/ Door-step visits/ Phone calls- Other10% None/ Nothing/ Not registered unaffiliated/ Am a Republican/ Democrat1% Don't know2% RefusedOn fiscal issues, like taxes and government spending, do you generally consider yourself to be a liberal, moderate or a conservative?11% 11% 14% Liberal28% 40% 38% Moderate58% 43% 42% Conservative3% 6% 6% Don' Know/Refused (DO NOT READ)On social issues, like abortion and marriage, do you generally consider yourself to be a liberal, moderate or a conservative?30% 35% 32% Liberal24% 23% 28% Moderate42% 35% 35% Conservative4% 6% 5% Don' Know/Refused (DO NOT READ)And, in partisan elections, which of the following would best describe the way you vote? (ROTATE TOP-TO-BOTTOM/BOTTOM TO TOP)8% 10% Always vote Democrat31% 31% Vote Democrat more often than Republican30% 31% Vote Republican more often than Democrat5% 5% Always vote Republican16% 16% Both equally - Split ticket (DO NOT READ)9% 7% Not Sure/ Don't Know (DO NOT READ)2% - Refused (DO NOT READ)Which of the following most reflects your beliefs regarding the impact of taxes: (ROTATE)55% 43% 49% Tax increases harm economic growth and cause jobs to be lost28% 17% 15% Tax increases have no real effect on the economy and job creation* 27% 25% Tax increases will improve the economy by adding revenue to government14% 12% 9% Don't Know/ No Opinion (DO NOT READ)2% 1% 1% Refused (DO NOT READ)Please tell me which of the following opinions about government spending comes closer to your own. (ROTATE)39% (Some/Other) people say now is not the time to ask taxpayers to fund more government spending. They say that in an ideal world, more funding would be available for important programs, but during these difficult economic times, sacrifices need to made, including capping, reducing or even de-funding some state government services.51% (Other/Some) people say that funding state programs such as education and medical services is such a vital and important role that taxes should be increased to fully fund them. They say that funding these programs now will save us money in the long term, for example, by investing in education to train a competitive workforce, and by funding medical services now so that the needs of seniors and the poor don't multiply due to lack of medical care.10 % Don't Know (DO NOT READ)1 % Refused (DO NOT READ)Do you support or oppose exploring for oil and natural gas on land and off the coast of North Carolina?*24% 32% 34% Strongly Support27% 29% 29% Somewhat Support11% 13% 12% Somewhat Oppose27% 19% 14% Strongly Oppose10% 8% 11% Don't Know/ No Opinion (DO NOT READ)* Previous wording "... drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast of North Carolina?"North Carolina has passed legislation authorizing Tax Credits for parents of special needs children to allow them to attend schools that charge tuition. Some people argue that giving parents choice will improve educational outcomes for all students while others argue that taking students away from traditional public schools weaken those schools. Which of the following statements comes closer to your opinion on the issue of school choice and public schools? (ROTATE)61% 67% Giving parents more choice in K-12 education will improve education for students. North Carolina should move towards allowing more choice in K-12 education for parents and children.28% 26% The state should be the primary educator of all K-12 children. Any legislation that allows parents the ability to move children out of the traditional K-12 public school system will weaken public education.9% 6% Don't Know (DO NOT READ)2% 1% Refused (DO NOT READ)In May 2012, North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman and as the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State. Do you agree or disagree with that vote?39% Strongly Agree9% Somewhat Agree10% Somewhat Disagree38% Strongly Disagree4% Undecided/Don't Know (DO NOT READ)- Refused (DO NOT READ)Do you support or oppose the death penalty for First-degree murder?40% 36% 41% Strongly Support24% 26% 20% Somewhat Support12% 14% 14% Somewhat Oppose15% 17% 15% Strongly Oppose8% 7% 10% Don't Know/ No Opinion (DO NOT READ)1% 1% - Refused (DO NOT READ)Do you support or oppose President Obama's Health Care law?*23% 16% 26% Strongly Support16% 26% 18% Somewhat Support9% 12% 8% Somewhat Oppose42% 36% 40% Strongly Oppose9% 9% 7% Don't Know/ No Opinion (DO NOT READ)- 1% - Refused (DO NOT READ)* Previous wording "...President Obama's Health Care reform law?"Who did you vote for or support in the 2008 Presidential Election? (ROTATE)44% 50% 50% Barack Obama47% 37% 36% John McCain3% 4% 3% Someone Else (DO NOT READ)2% 5% 9% Don't Remember/ Didn't Vote/Support a candidate (DNR)4% 4% 3% Refused (DO NOT READ)The poll surveyed 400 Independent/Unaffiliated Voters; the margin of error was +/- 4.9%. Field Dates: August 20-21, 2012
While Canada's women's swim team brought home Olympic bronze, silver and gold from the 2016 Games, Ryan Cochrane was unable to match their performance. And on Monday, he owned up to it.

Disappointed in his performance, the Victoria native wrote in an Instagram post on Monday: "I feel as if I've let our entire country down by not performing the one time it matters."

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Cochrane went into Rio already a two-time Olympic medalist and had been made co-captain of the team.

"Selfishly, I'm absolutely gutted by my results," he continued. "I take my role as a leader on the Canadian team seriously, and because of that I know I should have done better."

According to the Globe and Mail, ahead of the Olympics Cochrane told himself if he put on a mediocre performance, he would likely retire.

Having earned a silver medal from London's Olympics in 2012 and a bronze from Beijing in 2008, the 27-year-old swimmer's performance this time around scored him sixth place in the 1,500-metre freestyle  his highest ranking of his events.

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Cochrane held his failures up for scrutiny and at the same time praised the women for their outstanding Olympic achievements these Games.

"I've never been so proud to call myself Canadian."

"I'll always regret that I couldn't contribute to our team's success here in Rio, but either way it's been a privilege to be able to witness our women's team's accomplishments. I've never been so proud to call myself Canadian.

Canadians rushed to comfort Cochrane with a groundswell of support, saying he didn't let them down. Fans praised the contributions he's made to the Canadian team over his career.

"You've always handled yourself with grace and class. Canada is lucky to call you one of its own. Be proud of yourself. Canada is proud of you! wrote one user.

"There is no scenario in which you have let anyone down, said another.

Victoria's Island Swimming, where Cochrane started swimming competitively, had some cheerful words to share with their alumnus: "You have inspired a generation of swimmers. You definitely didn't let us down!"

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A B.C. artist said she experienced "the proudest moment of her life" last week when Sophie Gregoire Trudeau noticed  and bought  a portrait the painter created of her.

On Aug. 8, Tofino's Deanna Lankin heard that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife were visiting the beach town. Gregoire Trudeau had been looking at jewelry Lankin's business partner was selling, and had promised to come back the next day.

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Lankin, who said she "loves" the prime minister's wife and regards her as a "personal hero," decided to whip up a painting to show her appreciation.

The finished portrait shows Gregoire Trudeau  a yoga instructor  practicing on Chesterman Beach.

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and daughter Ella-Grace attend the 38th Annual Vancouver Pride Parade on July 31, 2016 in Vancouver. (Photo: Andrew Chin/Getty Images)

"I stayed up until 4 a.m... slept for 3 hours & finished [the artwork] just in time to bring into the shop," Lankin wrote in a Facebook post.

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The next day, Gregoire Trudeau came by the gallery, and only saw the painting for a moment before she had to leave. But on Friday, she came back with her husband.

They ended up buying the painting as a souvenir.

"It was really great," Lankin told HuffPost Canada on Monday. "It's always cool as an artist to put yourself out there and have it pay off."

The prime minister has close ties with the province having lived and worked in B.C. prior to entering politics. His mother, Margaret, was born and raised in Vancouver.

Trudeau was vacationing on Vancouver Island last week with his family. He photobombed a wedding without a shirt on  making headlines around the world  and was spotted surfing on Chesterman Beach.

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skynesher via Getty Images Side view of a relaxed young adult woman receiving head massage.

Photo credit: Echo Valley Ranch

Canada is a country known for its outdoor adventures, but some of the best Canadian escapes are experienced indoors. The country known for its cool temperatures keeps visitors steaming hot with some of the world's best spa retreats.

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Summer coming to a close brings on an onslaught of stress, whether it's work, school or the impending cold weather. The only way to truly beat the fall blues is with a relaxing fall getaway to one of these mind-blowing spas across the Great White North.

Spa Ofuro -- Morin-Heights, Quebec

One of the biggest perks of living in Canada is that we're always surrounded by the outdoors -- even when we're at the spa. Spa Ofuro, in picturesque Morin-Heights, Quebec, offers visitors the opportunity to submerge themselves into the wilderness while submerging themselves into hold and cold baths and a wide range of other body treatments. The spa's sauna, steam bath, whirlpool bath and river bath all present their own physical and mental health benefits.

Visitors can soak (or receive treatments) in the daytime or evening hours. But the most tranquil way to experience Spa Ofuro is to spend a night or two in one of the spa's several suites. Experience complete serenity and restoration while listening to cascading mountain streams, breathing the fresh air of the Laurentians and enjoying the unique, pagoda-style architecture of your cozy room.

Four Seasons Toronto Spa -- Toronto, Ontario

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Photo credit: Tara Angkor Hotel

You don't even have to leave the city to find that much-needed feeling of, "getting away from it all," this fall. Simply spend a day, or several, at the 2,787-square-metre Four Seasons Toronto Spa in downtown Toronto's esteemed Four Seasons Hotel. One of the largest retreats in the city, "The Spa" features 17 treatment rooms, a full salon, two steam rooms, a sunny relaxation pool, a whirlpool and access to the hotel's terrace overlooking the city's skyline. When you're looking for the feeling of being far away, but don't have the time to get away, "The Spa" at the Four Seasons Hotel is the next best thing.

The Spa at Nita Lake Lodge -- Whistler, British Columbia

The fall "shoulder season" means the bustling ski town of Whistler is operating at a much slower pace. It's one of the best times of year to plan a visit to this iconic town nestled in among some of the most picturesque peaks of the Coast Mountains. The Spa at Nita Lake Lodge combines relaxing and rejuvenating treatments with postcard-worthy views Whistler Mountain.

Visitors can enjoy everything from facial treatments and hot stone massages to a eucalyptus steam room, tranquil relaxation lounge and rooftop hot tubs. The Spa uses only the highest-quality organic and sustainably-sourced products and is staffed with some of the country's top therapists, yoga instructors and relaxation experts. There's simply no better way to take in the snowy mountain peaks of Whistler than while sipping a steaming cup of herbal tea in the comfort of an outdoor hot tub.

Willow Stream Spa -- Banff, Alberta

Photo credit: Torrey Wiley

Lingering summer temperatures coupled with the changing leaves of the golden larch trees and uncrowded hiking and biking trails make planning a fall vacation to Banff an easy decision. There's no better way to sooth your aching muscles after an adventure than at the Fairmont Banff Springs' Willow Stream Spa.

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Rated the Top Hotel Spa in Canada by Travel and Leisure Magazine in 2015, the spa's early 1900s-style mineral pool and waterfalls create an atmosphere that has inspired spas around the country and around the globe. This unique retreat harnesses the power of the area's sacred waters and alpine air to create unique healing experiences that are unlike anywhere else in the world.
Photo credit: Wilson Hui

Summer is camping season and Canada, and it's time to take advantage of the postcard-worthy campsites that often aren't far from home. The Great White North is home to some of the world's most dramatic mountain peaks, tranquil lakes, soothing waterfalls and iconic national parks. The following five destinations will send you into some of our country's most picture-perfect scenery while you enjoy one of Canada's favourite pastimes -- camping.

Waterton Lakes National Park -- Alberta

Alberta is more commonly known as the home of the iconic Banff and Jasper national parks, but Waterton Lakes National Park offers fewer crowds and scenery that's just as mind-blowing. Located at the intersection of the Rockies and Canadian Prairies, the views from your campsite can include calming prairies, jagged mountain peaks or crystal-clear lakes. This southwest Alberta park is the only one in the world that has been named a Biosphere Reserve, an International Peace Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Pacific Rim National Park Reserve -- British Columbia

Photo credit: David Stanley

Few campgrounds offer surroundings as diverse as those at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. This Vancouver Island park sits directly on the ocean, allowing campers to surf or shell hunt in the morning, then venture into the rainforest, whale watch or snap photos from towering cliffs in the afternoon. Visitors can enjoy a more user-friendly camping experience, with plenty of amenities, at the drive- and walk-in sites of the Green Point campground, while those seeking the ultimate adventure can boat to the Broken Group Islands for a backcountry camping experience surrounded by water.

Grand Manan Island -- New Brunswick

Not all island adventures take place on Canada's west coast. Grand Manan Island is the largest island in the Bay of Fundy, and it's one of few campgrounds where the splashing tails of whales could wake you in your tent at night. The island is loaded with golden beaches, hiking trails, museums, lighthouses, eateries and charming shops, making it easy to combine a camping escape with family-friendly fun. Campers can call the Hole-in-the-Wall Park and Campground or the Anchorage Provincial Park home for an unforgettable summer stay.

Gros Morne National Park -- Newfoundland

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Photo credit: VisitGrosMorne

Venture into the Long Range Mountains of Newfoundland, and you'll find yourself sleeping under the stars steps from more than 100 kilometres of hiking trails and the lapping waves of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Finding a campsite in this 1,805-square-kilometre park, among its famous fjords, beaches, cliffs and forests, is easy. The park is home to 227 drive-in parks and several walk-in sites spread throughout its five campgrounds. Gros Morne National Park also offers a number of oTENTiks camping cabins, so you can sleep among some of the country's most stunning natural scenery without having to give up the comfort of a bed.

Algonquin Provincial Park -- Ontario

A visit to one of Canada's many provincial parks can be just as fulfilling as a visit to one our country's most famous national parks. Algonquin Provincial Park will blow you away with its 1,000 lakes, more than 250 species of birds, eight campgrounds and long list of trails. This park is a favorite among kayakers and canoers for its winding waterways and unbeatable trout fishing. It's also known for being home to an abundance of wildlife, including moose, beavers, black bears, wolves and thousands of birds. Located just 3 hours northeast of Toronto and roughly the same distance west of Ottawa, this provincial park offers all of the adventures of a major escape without the cost.
StockRocket via Getty Images Young man working on laptop

Written by Diego Menegon and Mathieu Bedard, respectively Fellow at the Istituto Bruno Leoni, Italy, and economist at the Montreal Economic Institute

There has been some debate in Canada recently over the issue of sales taxes when making purchases on the Internet from abroad. Right now, when Canadians buy products and services, such as clothes or movie streaming subscriptions, from online vendors located abroad, it is the consumers who are responsible for declaring sales taxes. Very few do so, however, or are even aware that they are supposed to. To remedy this fiscal gap, the Canadian Border Services Agency filters packages, applying taxes and an extra handling fee, but many packages get through untaxed.

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Beyond this fiscal gap, Canadian sales taxes, both federal and provincial, give foreign vendors an advantage over Canadian retailers. However, the search for an alternative to current policies should not neglect consumers' interests.

One such alternative policy has been in place since January 1st, 2015 in Europe. Foreign businesses selling goods and services on the Internet are required to charge the sales taxes that are applicable in the country where the buyer is located. This "destination principle" was an important departure from the standard that was applied previously, the so-called "origin principle," where the sales taxes applied were those of the country where the seller was located. The goal of this change was to level the playing field for online retailers in high sales tax countries, who had difficulty competing with retailers in low sales tax countries. But consumers are the ones who bear the cost of this policy through higher prices.

Certain voices in Canada are calling for an application of the destination principle, requiring foreign businesses to collect sales taxes directly. In its 2015-2016 budget, for example, the Quebec government asked Ottawa to increase its efforts in this regard. But Canadian policy shouldn't repeat Europe's mistakes.

First, there's no reason to believe that foreign governments would be particularly cooperative in forcing their retailers to collect and remit Canadian sales taxes, even though the OECD is applying pressure for the signature of international agreements on the matter. The American Internal Revenue Service, for example, has not yet prosecuted any American businesses for failing to comply with European sales tax rules. And indeed, it is not in the interests of the tax authorities in one country to police millions of transactions and devote substantial resources to proceedings for the benefit of tax collectors in another country. We should therefore not expect that foreign governments will play along with our rules.

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Studies have consistently found that foreign electronic retailers sell more where local sales taxes are high.

Even if foreign governments don't play along and these policies aren't being enforced, uncertainty regarding its enforcement can still marginalize foreign small businesses from the European market. Micro-enterprises consisting of a single person need to keep up with the VAT rates of 28 different European countries (with some countries having as many as four different rates), collect the right VAT rate for every order, and file the taxes with the European Union. Despite implementation of a new set of rules to simplify procedures, the European approach proved to be unsatisfactory; the regulatory and compliance burden are still widely recognized as being disproportionate.

If these rules were thoroughly enforced, though, they would amount to a bureaucratic barrier to trade for small businesses through excessive bureaucracy. Such policies threaten the incredible benefits of the Internet revolution to both consumers and businesses by making it so complicated to sell online that eventually, only large firms will be able to afford the red tape.

But it is consumers who would lose the most. Avoiding the payment of sales taxes is obviously attractive to them. Studies have consistently found that foreign electronic retailers sell more where local sales taxes are high.

One of those studies reports that when the prices of online purchases abroad go up due to taxes, the resulting foregone purchases are not all replaced by local purchases. For transactions of more than US$250, only 10 per cent to 56 per cent of the lost sales are replaced by sales at brick-and-mortar stores. This gap is explained by the fact that sales taxes reduce the real incomes of consumers.

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We must, therefore, keep in mind that if by some miracle, American retailers accepted to collect the GST and Canadian provincial taxes from their Canadian customers, it is not all of the foregone sales that would be recuperated by Canadian retailers. In up to half of all cases, consumers would simply abandon their planned purchases.

At a time when the fundamentals of the Canadian economy are weak, it is a very bad idea to reduce the real incomes of consumers. Canada should not go the way of Europe with regard to the taxation of online purchases. It should instead remain open for business.

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While watching last week's RCMP press conference in the aftermath of Aaron Driver's death, many questions invaded my mind but were left unanswered.

The RCMP's narrative of the events that transpired was repeated over and over in the media with very little questioning.

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Mike Cabana -- the deputy commissioner of the RCMP who stood alongside his colleagues in the conference room at the RCMP headquarters, apparently nervous and uncomfortable answering some questions -- is the same Mike Cabana that was involved in the case of Maher Arar.

In 2005, he was cross examined during the commission of inquiry related to the Arar case. During this inquiry it was revealed that Canada had shared information about Maher Arar with the U.S., ultimately leading to his deportation and torture in Syria.

Mike Cabana was never found guilty of any wrongdoing. Instead, he was promoted to become the current deputy commissioner of the RCMP.

This minor observation may appear irrelevant to Aaron Driver's case, but in my humble opinion, it is crucial for understanding how Canadian security institutions perpetuate a lack of accountability.

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American agencies -- the FBI, for example -- have a long history of entrapment when dealing with terrorism cases. Why should we trust them?

During the press conference, I was shocked to learn that Aaron Driver was not monitored by the RCMP. How was it possible that someone who had been subject to a peace bond and considered to be one of the most well-known ISIS sympathizers in Canada was left without monitoring?

By contrast, Ottawa resident Mohamed Harkat has been the object of a security certificate due to suspicions that he is an Al-Qaeda sleeper agent for more than a decade. Today, he continues to face the threat of being deported to torture by the Canadian government, and has worn a GPS electronic bracelet for more than six years while living under what amounts to house arrest. All his visitors must report to Canada Borders Services Agency (CBSA) and he must obtain the authorization of the CBSA to leave his house. For years, he couldn't use the Internet or even get near a computer.

The point here is not to justify these restrictions and intrusive monitoring practices, but to posit the question: Why did we use these practices in one case and not the other? Is it because one was a refugee and the other a Canadian citizen? I am not so sure.

Indeed, let's not forget about Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen and university professor who was the object of an extradition demand by the French authorities for a bombing case in Paris. For years, Hassan Diab had to pay exorbitant amounts for a GPS bracelet as one of his bail conditions. Unfortunately for him and his family, Hassan Diab was extradited and flown to France, where he is sitting in prison waiting for his trial.

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What is even more disturbing in the case of Aaron Driver is that the information about his suspicious actions were not discovered by the RCMP, but rather it was the FBI who contacted their Canadian counterparts with Driver's now well-known video.

Video footage showing Aaron Driver is seen behind RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana (left) and Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Strachan during a press conference. (Photo: Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

This is not good news. Not because we are not aware of any cooperation between Canada and their Americans counterparts, but because American agencies -- the FBI, for example -- have a long history of entrapment when dealing with terrorism cases. Why should we trust them?

Many years, ago, a young Canadian man from St. Catharines in Ontario named Mohammed Jabarah was "transferred" by CSIS agents to the United States and later convicted and charged with terrorism.

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The late Alan Borovoy, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, described Jabarah's "transfer" in these terms:

"It would hardly be in his interests to have gone to the United States -- we know that that it was a hazardous thing for him to do. So the question we have to ask is, why did he decide voluntarily to go to the United States? What produced that? The suspicion this provokes is that somebody may have mishandled him somehow."

Jabarah was suspected by the Americans of being a member of al-Qaida. He was never charged in a Canadian court. Instead, the Americans "brought" him to U.S. soil in order to charge him. He is now serving a life sentence at the infamous supermax prison in Colorado.

So far, there has been no evidence to declare that Jabarah was entrapped by the FBI agents with the complicity of Canadians officials, but it is a hypothesis worthy of investigation.

In a similar case in 2013, Ahmed Abassi, a Tunisian student at Laval University in Quebec City, was on vacation in his home country. He was convinced to travel to the U.S. and reapply for his student visa by an undercover FBI agent, El Noury, who introduced himself as a wealthy real estate businessman from the Middle East. (Abassi's student visa was first issued to him by the Canadian authorities and then suddenly canceled.)

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Once in the United States, he was put in a luxurious Manhattan apartment along with Chiheb Esseghaier, another Tunisian student who was later arrested and convicted in the Via rail terror case. The men were talking and talking for days, and among the topics they talked about were U.S. policies in the Middle East and jihad.

Unbeknownst to them, their political conversations were recorded by FBI agents. Ahmed Abassi was later arrested in the U.S. for immigration charges and Chiheb Esseghaier was arrested and sentenced in Canada for life in the Via trail case.

The two men had more ties with Canada than the U.S., and yet it was still American FBI agents who were instrumental in their arrests.

Faced with a history of such behaviour, Leonard Tailleur, the lawyer who represented Aaron Driver for his peace bond, recently raised similar suspicions with the CBC:

"It sounds to me that in a period of five months, or where he's under this peace bond -- for which I was assuming the police were actually surveilling him quite extensively -- that he appears to have been radicalized to a much higher degree."

Aaron Driver died in obscure and tragic circumstances, and we may never know what really happened to him. Nevertheless, asking questions and demanding answers can help us to learn from the past and move forward.

Linking the case of Aaron Driver to the question of radicalization is a simplistic and misleading narrative. Demanding answers about the FBI's role in his death, however, is more crucial than ever.

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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."
Rodolfo Buhrer / Reuters Chicken are pictured at a poultry factory in Lapa city, Parana state, Brazil, May 31, 2016. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer

Canada's food and agriculture industries have launched a public relations blitz designed to build public trust and confidence in Canadian food and farming. But even a cursory look at how this campaign is being conducted and who's behind it suggests consumers should cast a skeptical eye on its claims.

Farm & Food Care Canada is a charity with a self-proclaimed mandate to "help Canadians make informed decisions about their food by providing credible information." Launched in 2011, the group works to counter the efforts of animal advocates who criticize the livestock industry and its practices.

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In 2014, its Ontario branch created a hotline for farmers to call an "emergency squad" to confront protesters at farms or meetings. A spokesperson for the group at the time said it works "behind the scenes" to see what activists are planning and prepare a response.

Now Farm & Food Canada has moved on to a much bigger PR effort, including training farmers as speakers, launching websites, blogs, social media and YouTube channels, and most recently, distributing thousands of booklets via national newspapers. Consumers wondering whether the campaign really does provide credible information might be interested to know who's funding it.

Donors to Farm & Food Care Canada include a long list of agri-business trade associations and companies, including Maple Leaf Foods and Burnbrae Farms (Canada's largest egg company).

In 2014, Maple Leaf Foods faced animal cruelty allegations when an undercover video showed chicks being abused at one of its hatcheries. Burnbrae has been criticized for selling eggs from farms in which hidden-camera footage revealed animal mistreatment.

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Clearly, Farm & Food Care Canada is unlikely to be an unbiased source of consumer information on food and agriculture when it is funded by the food and agriculture industry. Its board of directors is stacked with industry executives, farmers and public relations advisers.

Of even greater concern is the charity's creation of a new division, the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI). The CCFI is affiliated with the Center for Food Integrity (CFI) in the U.S., whose membership includes industry giants such as Monsanto, McDonald's and ConAgra Foods.

A recent undercover investigation of an Ontario egg farm illustrates how the role of these groups can be ethically questionable. The investigation, by animal advocacy group Mercy for Animals, produced graphic video evidence of cruel conditions for hens at a farm owned by Gray Ridge Egg Farms. The CCFI convened a panel of experts to review the video.

Although the panel acknowledged some welfare issues, it generally downplayed the seriousness of the problems, suggested they were unreflective of the industry and questioned the validity of the video. Its conclusions appeared in local media.

The issue here is not whether the CCFI panel's assessment of the video is correct. The problem is that the CCFI, a body created by the industry-funded Farm & Food Care Canada, is hardly in a credible position to appoint panels to assess allegations against the same industry.

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And, given that Farm & Food Care Canada has one of Gray Ridge Egg Farms' executives on its board and its Ontario branch lists the company as a "Gold Member" on its website, it's even more difficult to see why the public should trust the panel's findings.

Equally questionable is the content of some of Farm & Food Care Canada's communications. In an attack on the popular and rather benign Meatless Monday movement, one of the charity's booklets claims the initiative is "the brainchild of two New York socialites who support a number of animal rights and anti-meat programs." In fact, Meatless Monday was founded by Sid Lerner, an accomplished advertising executive and award-winning public health advocate, working with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

He has stated: "No we are not trying to get meat off the menu. We make it very clear to every institution or school or restaurant that we go to we do not want to get meat off the menu, we just want to get alternatives on the menu." So much for Farm & Food Care Canada's mandate to provide credible information.
Thomas J Peterson via Getty Images Organic kitchen waste in compost pile close up including grapefruit and lemon rinds, peanut shells, tea bags, carrot tops, banana skins, egg shells, lettuce, tomatoes, apple cores and corn cobs

Take Action Now Join thousands of Canadians calling on our governments and grocers to help reduce food waste. Sign a petition at Change.org

John VanderZwaag has experienced the devastation of good food going to waste. As the Operations Manager for produce supplier Groenewegen & Sons Ltd, John understands firsthand the amount of energy, water, land, labour and transport that goes into ensuring his produce makes it to people's tables. The fact that $31 billion worth of food in Canada is wasted each year, according to consulting firm Value Chain Management, is deeply unsettling to both John and his team.

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After a large shipment of Groenewegen & Sons potatoes was rejected by a retailer for failing to meet their specifications, John decided it was time to act. He turned to Ian Gibbons, Programs and Partnerships Manager at Second Harvest, a Toronto-based charity that has been rescuing good food and delivering it to people in need for 31 years.

Together, Ian and John examined the potatoes - almost all of which were still perfectly edible. Thousands of fresh potatoes ready to be diced and cooked into hearty stews, mashed and mixed with garlic, and baked to perfection with a dollop of sour cream. Thousands of spuds able to nourish hungry Torontonians struggling to find their next meal.

In that moment, a partnership was born between Groenewegen & Sons and Second Harvest. Since accepting that first donation in March 2015, Second Harvest has received over 800,000 pounds of surplus potatoes directly from the 70 PEI farmers who work with Groenewegen & Sons.

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"The farmers we work with spend their entire year growing these crops of food and the last thing they want to see is that good food going to waste," explains John. "If there are people who can benefit from these potatoes, why wouldn't we help?"

In last few years, the government has been echoing John's concern about useful produce going to waste. Since the Ontario Tax Credit for farmers was launched in 2014, the agricultural community now has an opportunity to start building relationships with charities. With this incentive, food organizations like Second Harvest have started to receive more large-scale donations of fresh, nutrient-dense foods.

What can't be used by Second Harvest's own agency network is shared with a growing network of like-minded food organizations from Halton, Durham, Peel, and Waterloo, all the way to Hamilton and Montreal.

Dispersing these surplus potatoes to organizations and people in need has created stronger reciprocal and peripheral partnerships. Second Harvest has received an influx of other food donations, as a result. Moisson Montreal, Second Harvest's Quebec brokerage partner exchanges a surplus of meat and healthy protein for a portion of donated Groenewegen potatoes.

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"Our goal is to have our producer and grower partners supply organizations like Second Harvest with food when it's needed, rather than when it's rejected by a retail store," John comments. "Right now there is an overabundance of potatoes in North America and good produce is going to waste. That's a tragic thought when there are hungry people out there. We all have to play our part in finding a solution."
On Sunday, August 14, 2016, the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) held an extraordinary general meeting (the first since 1991) to vote on the Tentative Physician Services Agreement (tPSA) negotiated in secret by the OMA Executive, and presented to shocked physicians on July 11th.

The General Meeting was the result of extremely tenacious activism on the part of the Concerned Ontario Doctors (COD) group, co-led by Dr. Nadia Alam and Dr. Kulvinder Gill. Nicknamed "The Mighty Mites" by other members of the group, in recognition of their small physical stature, but fierce determination to protect health care for patients, the Mites delivered spirited, vocal, passionate opposition to the tPSA, while smartly creating alliances with a number of other medical subspecialties.

The OMA executive had countered by using high profile PR firm Navigator, at a rumoured cost of $3 million of its own members' money to push the tPSA onto physicians. However, the Goliath that is the OMA corporation, couldn't hold off the relatively sparsely funded Mighty Mites, and in an epic piece of medical history, could barely garner 37 per cent of the vote of the membership in favour of their proposed agreement. Even with that, many of those voting in favour of the agreement did so begrudgingly, recognizing its imperfections.

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But how did it come to this? More importantly, what does it mean for the future of Health Care in Ontario? What will the Minister of Health Eric Hoskins do now? Let's take a look.

The OMA Executive embarked on what I feel is an extraordinarily one-sided campaign to promote this agreement.

First, despite a promise by OMA president Virginia Walley that there would be no return to the negotiation process unless there would be binding arbitration agreed to by the government, the OMA executive backtracked and cut a deal with the Ministry of Health without arbitration in place. What's worse, it's been alleged by more than one person that the OMA executive failed to follow its own due process for negotiations and did not appropriately notify the Negotiations Advisory Committee about the tPSA prior to agreeing to it.

Second, the deal itself had many controversial components. A hard cap on physicians' services (what happens if patient need is more than what the government is willing to pay for?). A "bonus payment" that seemingly rewarded doctors for turning away patients (regardless of need). A Physicians Human Resource Committee to look at needed number of physicians, when it's alleged that there is an "oversupply" of physicians (what happens to the nearly one million residents without a family doctor?). Promises of modernization of the Physicians Schedule of Benefits (but reading deeper revealed it was really cutting more fees).

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The OMA Executive embarked on what I feel is an extraordinarily one-sided campaign to promote this agreement. Senior Management teams criss-crossed the province, met with groups of physicians and OMA sections. They implored the membership to vote yes, because, well, they're the executive, and they said the deal was best for the membership.

However, in their hubris, they completely minimized not only the COD but by extension, the Mighty Mites as well. While the Facebook page for COD has almost 11,000 members, the reality is that only a few dozen frequently post (but MANY read). Taking that to mean that most of the members were NOT following the lead of the Mites, the OMA simply ignored attempts to balance their presentation on the tPSA.

The mainstream media, taking the OMA's lead, also minimized the group. Variously referred to in the media as dissident, protecting high-paying specialties (Dr. Alam's a family doctor, and Dr. Gill's a pediatric allergist -- one of the lowest paid specialties), the media generally took a dismissive tone toward them, and portrayed them as only wanting people to resign. Missteps made by the Mites (there were a couple) were magnified to indicate these were radical doctors.

The most ridiculous comment was from Bob Hepburn in the Toronto Star, who likened the Mites to Donald Trump supporters. Because, of course, the first thing you think when you see two young, brown, ( and in one case Muslim) women is -- "Gee, they must support Donald Trump!"

In response, the Mighty Mites joined forces with many OMA sections and launched a series of court challenges. And they won. First, they forced the OMA to release its membership list to them so that they could disseminate an opposing viewpoint to the tPSA (the OMA felt it was already disseminating a balanced view -- something the Superior Court Judge clearly didn't agree to). Then, the forced the OMA to re-write the question on the ballots. On this occasion, the Judge went so far as to call the OMA's wording of the ballots sneaky, and potentially leading to a governance breakdown. Finally, I understand the OMA was NOT prepared to allow the Mites to present an opposing viewpoint to the tPSA at the general meeting but was again forced to do so by a judge.

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As a result, the OMA Executive was seen to be at best incompetent, and at worst manipulative by the membership. While some suggested that the Mites would simply do anything, including legal means to get "their way," the fact that a Superior Court judge sided with them, proved to the membership that there was some basis for concern. The result was a historic repudiation of the OMA executive, the likes of which I have never seen in my 24 years of practice.

So what happens now?

The OMA is on record as saying that they want to return to negotiations. Eric Hoskins, appeared to be so stunned by this that he decided to lie to the public and state that this was the first time physicians would have had a "seat at the table." Where has he been the past 20 years?!? Will he return to the bargaining table? My sense is that he may very well try to simply impose more cuts on physicians like he has been doing these past two years.

The problem with that however, is that there are three by-elections coming up, and in the last one, you guessed it, the Mites were involved in organizing a protest in front of the Liberal candidate's offices, which contributed to their overwhelming defeat.

Does Eric Hoskins risk further antagonizing the Mighty Mites? He perhaps should have a quiet conversation about underestimating them with the OMA Executive. The consequences of not taking them seriously for his party will be severe.
Mid-August marks independent days of Pakistan and India, two big countries of South Asia.

Over a million Canadians of South Asians origin reside in Greater Toronto Areas.

On one hand, they share so much with each other but on the other hand they are caught up in sensitive differences as well.

The fellows from my birth place country, Pakistan, are more caught up in identity crises issues based on two nation theory set by Mr. Jinnah in 1947.

That lethal divisive theory was more political than based on ground realities at the time of creation of Pakistan.

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This Two Nation Theory claimed to distinct and separate Muslims and Hindus of Sub-continent, resulting a new carved out country known as Pakistan.

But this two nation theory proved wrong in 1947 when almost same number of Muslims preferred staying in India rather than moving to Pakistan. Also major Muslim leaders at the time opposed two nation theory and the creation of Pakistan as well.

Two nation theory again proved wrong in 1971 when Bengali Muslims decided to separate their country Bangladesh from Pakistan due to mass murders of Bengalis in the hand of Pakistan army.

Similarly, Baloch separatists are fighting with Pakistan state for a long to seek their independence since they claim that Pakistan annexed Balochistan by violating international laws.

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Such are not hidden facts. Thousands articles and books by progressive Pakistanis have been written in Pakistan and abroad revealing those historic facts but Pakistan's state machinery, their self-claimed patriotic media and writers-journalists trained in that particular mindset deny all those facts. Eventually, ordinary men and women of Pakistani origin deny those facts too.

Based on that denial, we find that tension here in Canada too. In the past, Pakistan's former acting Consul General called Indians terrorists.

Another dispute, Kashmir issue is top sensitive issue between two countries.

Kashmir is the most top agenda of Pakistan army and Pakistan's diplomat offices including Canada.

Sadly, Kashmir issue is being used here in Canada by Pakistani establishment too.

Kashmir issue used by Pakistani establishment in Toronto would create quite a rift between people of Pakistani and India origin in Canada as well, which should not be appreciable.

Eventually, progressive Canadians of Pakistani origin would disagree with Pakistani establishment' act here and they would be called traitors again.

Another issue in Pakistan is about human rights abuses with minorities, particularly Christians in Pakistan.

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Pakistani Christian Community in Canada, under the banner of their organization, International Christian Voice, holds an annual remembrance on August 11th, which is marked as a Minority Day in Pakistan.

The head of this organization, Peter Bhatti, held Pakistan minority remembrance day in Brampton this August too.

MP Raj Grewal and Pakistan's new Consul General in Toronto, Imran Siddiqui, were amongst the speakers in that event.

Both said routine formal stuff about minorities' rights.
I want to thank the hundreds of people who sent messages, direct and on social media, after I published a tribute to my brother in the Sunday Times News Review. And though I often slag off the Murdoch media machine, I want to thank the Sunday Times for giving me so much space, and for treating the subject so seriously and so sensitively.

Of course, I could have just posted the piece on here and I am sure it would have attracted a fair bit of attention. But the kind of space the Sunday Times offered me was too good to miss, speaking with my Time To Change Ambassador hat on. And they agreed that provided I could give them a day's exclusivity, then it could go anywhere.

So this is an open invitation to anyone who wants it to use it as they wish. If you want pictures of him, email me via my website and I will try to help. The more people read about mental illness, and talk about mental illness, the better will be our campaign for more funding, improved research and services. The more people realize that mental illness is not incompatible with doing good jobs and having a life full of potential and opportunity, the better we will all be too.

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Donald was not 'a schizophrenic'. He was a man who had schizophrenia. Big difference. He refused to let his life be defined by his illness. And he was a man who lived an amazing life despite it. I will be doing the eulogy for Donald at his funeral, for which we don't yet have a date, and I will publish it here after the event.

Here is the piece. I don't expect you to love him as much as I did. But I do hope it makes you think both about the horror of this 'shitty illness,' but also the possibilities of overcoming it. I hope it might make people and employers sign up to Time to Change, and add charities like MIND and RETHINK to those you think about supporting.

My big brother died on Tuesday. It was a massive, horrible shock, even though we have always known that people with his condition live on average twenty years less than the rest of us. My Dad lived to 82, my Mum to 88. Donald was 62. His condition was schizophrenia.

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His illness, not mine, is the real reason I campaign for better understanding and treatment of mental illness, not least because people who have schizophrenia do have such shortened life expectancy.

I talk about my own issues of depression and addiction partly because I am asked to and also because I think openness is better all round if we are going to break down the stigma and taboo and so win the fight for the services and treatments we need.

Till now, I never talked publicly about Donald's illness in public mainly because our Mum didn't want me to. Not out of the shame and stigma that many people sadly still feel about mental Illness. She was incredibly proud of him, because of what he managed to achieve despite having what he called 'this shitty illness.' It was more that, not enjoying having one son in the media spotlight, she worried that if Donald's head was in any way above the parapet, it could have made him even more vulnerable.

Donald on the other hand was totally up for it. Like a lot of mentally ill people, when he was well he thought he ought to be famous. And when he was ill he thought he already was. In his prime, he saw Sean Connery as a suitable actor to play him in the movie of his life. More recently he wondered if George Clooney could do a Scottish accent.

He was competitive about his illness. 'Saw you on the telly again talking about your psychotic breakdown, Ali. You heard voices once and you're like Mister Mental Bloody Health. Why don't they come and talk to a real expert?' He was certainly an expert on living a good life with severe mental illness.

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Our Mum having died two years ago, we were planning to make a film together - centred on him - on living with schizophrenia. He got the telly bug a bit when we appeared together in a film about bagpipes, one of our shared loves, of which much more later.

My daughter Grace, a film student, had begun to record interviews with Donald about the ups and downs in his life since he was first diagnosed - and later discharged - while serving in the Scots Guards in his early 20s. So he would sit and tell her about the time he was in a waiting room, and the wall-plugs were talking to the lights about him while he was surrounded by people who were all discussing terrible things they were about to do to him. Then he would laugh and say 'absolutely mad innit Grace? And look at me sitting here now. Normal or what?'

The problem was that in recent months he has been on 24/7 oxygen to assist his breathing so the noisy buzz of his portable oxygen machine is a constant on the soundtrack. We were hoping - alas in vain - that he would get his breathing sorted and we would make the film free of the buzz and the nasal tube.

Here is the real bastard about his shitty illness. The drugs. Don't get me wrong. Treatment - in Donald's case, medication - can often help restore someone to the person they are supposed to be, unclouded by the illness. Medication helped give him long periods free of the voices in his head and the hallucinations before his eyes that could otherwise reduce him to a sometimes terrified and other times aggressive human being.

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He had a marriage, though it didn't last. He had better luck in work, holding down a job he loved at Glasgow University for 27 years and at his farewell last year - alas because of physical ill health - the warmth and the turnout were evidence of the huge contribution he made.

Donald had two main roles at the university - he was the Principal's official piper who played at dinners, ceremonies and graduations; and he was part of the university security team, mainly working at the control point in the university library. It meant he got to know hundreds of students, loved the banter, taught some of them the pipes, and regularly went round to order anyone with feet on tables to 'kindly use the carpets.'

Glasgow University was a model employer for someone with severe mental illness, while his role as piper gave him a real sense of purpose and status which he loved. He piped out thousands and thousands of students from their graduations. One of the greatest sadnesses in his life was that latterly because of his poor breathing he was unable to play other than on electronic pipes - 'second best Ali, but I'm still better than you.'

The very last time he played the 'real' pipes, we played together at a memorial service for Charles Kennedy, a former Rector of the University. 'Good lad that Charlie Kennedy - always stopped for a chat.' He had to give up half way through to get his breath and I finished alone.

It didn't stop him adding this to his brotherly boasts: 'Did you see Nicola Sturgeon nodding along to my playing? Alex Salmond isn't the only one who knows I'm a better player than you.' (Salmond had once said in an interview that Donald was the better player of the two of us - on this, at least, he was right). Our sibling rivalry went back to the one competition when I beat him aged ten - I got gold, he got bronze -and to his dying day he swore the judges confused us. He was probably right.

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So the drugs worked. Kind of. But decades of powerful anti psychotic medication take a toll. When it came to fighting 'normal' illnesses like colds and flu and chest infections the gaps between them got shorter and the quantity of 'normal' drugs required to treat them got larger. Added to which a recent change of his main medication for the schizophrenia - necessary to deal with the physical illness and weight increase - seemed to have sent him haywire mentally.

In the end something had to give. His life. It is a source of real sadness that our last conversations were with the psychotic Donald, not the loving, giving, funny Donald who brought so much to our lives by making so much of his own.

Donald Lachlan Cameron Campbell. You'd never guess our parents were Scots would you, giving their first born those names on May 3, 1954? Donald our Dad's name. Lachlan his Dad. Cameron his mother's maiden name. I got off lightly with Alastair John.

Like me and our brother Graeme and sister Liz, Donald was born and raised in England but an adult life that started in the Scots Guards as a teenager and once discharged on medical grounds was lived almost entirely in and around Glasgow, a lot of it in the piping world, meant that he had a 100percent Scottish accent (200percent when psychotic!). When we were interviewed together for the piping film, the interviewer doubted we were brothers because though I have tinges of a Scots accent when with Scots I have lived most of my life in England. We were brothers alright though. Living very different lives. But very close. No death have I ever dreaded more than this one.

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He had little interest in politics, even less in sport. His passion was the bagpipes. He joined the Army largely so he could be in one of the Guards' bands and hopefully spend more time piping than soldiering. He was serving in Northern Ireland however when his colleagues and superiors started to notice that he was behaving strangely. The next thing we knew he was in a now defunct military psychiatric hospital in Netley, Hampshire.

When we got the call, I travelled down with my Dad. Donald was in his own room, bewildered and scared, and had been drawing all sorts of weird things on the walls. In so far as he spoke, he talked absolute nonsense. Both my Dad and I just stood there, shocked to the core. Those eyes were not the eyes we knew.

It was a tough place. That is no criticism of the doctors and nurses. They were operating at a time when servicemen and women who wanted to leave service early had to 'buy their way out' and so amid the really serious cases evident to all, the medics were on the lookout for people feigning mental illness as a way of doing so. It was also a time when ECT was a favoured form of psychiatric treatment and Donald had his fair share of that.

My Dad was a self-employed vet and had to get back to work. I was in my late teens, on a long college holiday and decided I wanted to stay down there. I didn't have a driving licence at the time but went north to collect Donald's car and spent my days in the hospital with him and my nights either finding someone to put me up or sleeping in the car.

Donald reciprocated after my own 'not as psychotic as mine, Ali' breakdown in the 80s when we went on a road trip visiting friends and relatives around Britain. He was great company; a real glue in both close and extended family, and a very loving and supportive brother. 'I want to kick that Michael Howard's teeth down his throat,' he said after a particularly unpleasant attack on me by the former Tory leader. When I say 'after', yes, I mean immediately after but also one week after, a month, a year, five years after, last month. He really didn't like people who said bad things about his family. And he loved saying the same things again and again! He had a book full of mantras.

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Donald was very clever but not very well educated (the reverse of a lot of people I know). I have no idea when his mind first started to go wrong, but I do know of all of us he was the one who found schoolwork hardest. I've often wondered too whether those times when he just couldn't seem to get himself out of bed, which my parents saw as signs of teenage rebellion, were the first indications of an illness about which we knew absolutely nothing when that call from the military came, a call after which, our mother said many times, her life was never the same again.

He had many doctors, nurses and psychiatrists down the years, and to the end had fantastic NHS care in several parts of the country and several moments of crisis. One of them once said to me 'Donald is my greatest success story. Keeps his job. Owns his own flat. Drives himself. Stays active. Has a passion for his music. Has more friends than any of us. Has a positive attitude almost all the time.'

That last bit was certainly true. I wrote a book about my depression and called it The Happy Depressive. If we had ever made the film about Donald we were going to call it The Happy Schizophrenic. 'It is what is it, Ali. I got given a bit of a crap deal, but you've got to make the best of it, know what I mean?" It helped that, unlike me, he did do God and his faith was certainly a comfort.

He loved people and he loved life. If there were an extended family vote - we have around sixty cousins - to elect its most popular member, he would have walked it. He worked almost all his life. He didn't like hospital for all the obvious reasons but also because he didn't like to be a burden on the NHS which he felt had already given him more than most. He adored his nieces and nephews and was obsessed with the idea that he should have something to leave to them even though several of them already earn more than he ever did. He was a total giver.

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The piping was a gift from our father who taught us when we were very young growing up in Yorkshire. Indeed if ever I do Desert Island Discs the first song will be 'Donald Campbell by Donald Campbell,' a tune written in honour of my Dad and played by my brother on one of the CDs he recorded for the University.

For Donald piping became a life-defining passion. He competed at a high level. The judges were aware he could sometimes be 'out of form up top,' as once when my sons Rory and Calum and I went to see him compete in a Piobaireachd competition - top end stuff - Donald's mind was wandering and the judges smiled as he stopped prematurely, said 'bugger it, I was away with the fairies there,' saluted and left the stage.

But he was competing, composing, recording and teaching almost to the end. One of his proudest contributions was his role as a piping teacher - both by Skype and with regular visits - on the island of Tiree where our father was born and raised. Donald was teaching the next generation of young pipers on an island whose population has been in steady decline since the time my Dad, Donald and I turned out for the Tiree Pipe Band on summer holidays.

When I played - admittedly only because a Sky Arts programme wanted me to - in front of 2,000 plus people at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, I played well (including the Donald Campbell tune) largely because he had been keeping me on my toes. 'Proud of you son,' he said afterwards. 'But I'm still a better player.' Playing with him and top piper Finlay Macdonald in the bar afterwards, with our Mum, my sons, our sister and her daughter Kate, and our last remaining Aunt from Tiree in the family gathering listening to us, was one of the musical highlights of my life.

My sister Liz was the last person to visit him, shortly before the respiratory collapse which led to his death. In recent days he had become unusually violent as the voices became more and more unmanageable. After being admitted, he was initially refusing to take medication or even oxygen and was having to be restrained regularly. When he had been stabilised somewhat Liz took in some old family albums and also some of his own CDs. And though he had forgotten a lot about himself and some of the people in the albums, and in any event was back talking the same kind of nonsense we heard more than forty years ago in Netley, when she turned on the CD, Donald's eyes lit up and his fingers started to play along with the tunes on the bed rail.

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He lost his mind from time to time. Now, all too young, he has lost his life. But right to the end of it, he never lost the music in his soul. And though the Donald who died was the sick Donald, the workings of his mind divorced from people and events around him - which is what schizophrenia is, not the awful 'split personality' cliche which compounds the stigma - in there somewhere was the real Donald.

The real Donald leaves behind so much grief precisely because he inspired so much love, and gave so much love to so many, not least his little brother.
The Metropolitan Police Service's recent announcement to create a new online hate crime hub to improve their response to online hate crime is an important step in tackling one of the most prevalent forms of hate crime.

The move signals that we are finally beginning to adapt to the new avenues of crime presented through the onset of social media.

Last year I wrote a document titled #ReportHate: Combating Online Hatred. My research found that 4 out of 5 victims of online hate crime don't report it to the police.

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Because of failings in the system I proposed the creation of a new specialist hate crime unit to help simplify and improve the police's response to reported online hate crime.

I am delighted that following a London Assembly meeting in June, where I convinced Mayor Sadiq Khan to read our report on the matter, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime have decided to adopt our principle recommendation from the report.

In addition, I am particularly pleased to note that the unit will adopt the structure we recommended in our report.

It is our view that while our police officers are well trained to deal with most offences, when it comes to online hate crime, specialist knowledge is needed.

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Currently, it is left to the borough police officers, who already have very large caseloads to deal with, to investigate online hate crimes.

Given the complexity involved in identifying the location of the perpetrator and determining which specific piece of legislation had or had not been violated, laying all of this work at the feet of borough police officers was bound to lead to a disjointed and inconsistent response to a growingly significant crime.

I firmly believe that through the creation of this unit, we will dramatically improve the capacity of local police forces across London to be able to successfully investigate reports of online hate crime.

However, protocols regarding how the unit should operate need to be clearly communicated to avoid any potential pitfalls.

For example, the new unit must not adopt an approach where officers end up proactively trawling the internet to look for hate crime offences.

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Given that a large proportion of all hate crime offences occur online, the unit would quickly become inundated with reports. This will lead to an inefficient response to a crime that has the capacity to alienate entire communities.

If we want the unit to be a success, its primary role must be to act as a first-responder to online hate crime offences. This means that they should receive reports from the public, investigate them and develop intelligence packages to be sent to the relevant local police force to action.

With the ever-changing dynamics of social media and the increasing role it plays in our lives, online hate crime is an issue that is only going to become more prevalent. Through the creation of this unit, the Metropolitan Police Service has proven that they are serious about leading the way in addressing it properly.
Exactly one hundred years ago, one of the most successful ever British films was released.

It would take a pub quiz genius to come up with this particular piece of trivia, however. Forget Titanic or Avatar or even Gone with the Wind.

Half the population of Britain - some 20 million people - saw The Battle of the Somme in the weeks following its first screening at the Scala Theatre on 10th August 1916. The film combined real footage and some reconstructed scenes, and had a dramatic impact on a population unused to viewing the realities of war. Designed as a public information and propaganda film by the War Office, the piece came in for criticism for its brutal display of death, mild by the standards of today. It brought a new audience to cinemas, the middle classes, who were attracted by the documentary nature of the film but then appalled at having the reality of violence laid out unforgettably before them.

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When the soil on the edge of Pas-de-Calais region in France began to receive the blood of soldiers, no-one knew the battle would become one of the worst in human history. More than one million people were killed or wounded in the Battle of the Somme, which was to continue until November 18th 1916. The land was devastated; buildings, trees, landmarks all decimated. James McConnell, an American pilot, described the land from the air as "a strip of murdered Nature... like chalk wiped from a blackboard".

This colourless, lifeless landscape did not remain so for long. Nature and humans are quick to re-establish themselves. Farmers needed to use the land. Symbolic of all the spilt blood, it was noted how fast poppies began to grow on the battlefields, and this red flower quickly became established as our ubiquitous symbol of remembrance.

Remembrance? Really?

The allies were fighting for freedom from the oppression of a fascist state that believed in the supremacy of certain races over others. For a return to the greater stability of peacetime, with better living conditions and enough resources for all.

Yet in the Pas-de-Calais today, there exists a large area of land churned up by rubber bullets, tear gas and earth movers, deep with filthy mud in winter and swept with stinging dust in summer. The land is occupied by 9,000 people fleeing terrible regimes who are now living in abject squalor, short of food, shelter and medical care. They are subject to regular attack from fascists and from a police force that appears to be firmly in the pocket of these neo-Nazis; the land once more receives their blood.

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This is no reconstruction, no battlefield simulation. The Calais 'Jungle' refugee camp endures, with no hope in sight of a solution. With constant threats of eviction, but with no viable alternatives offered, residents exist in a no-man's land, with no possibility of going either back or forward.

coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind

When Wilfred Owen penned 'Dulce et Decorum Est' he could not have known just how pertinent this every word would be to a humanitarian disaster 20 miles from Britain in 2016. The mud, the pervasive 'Jungle Lungs' cough, the nightly exhausted march of many hours, the barefoot refugees who have their shoes taken by the police. Yes, we have all had to "watch the white eyes writhing in his face" as another refugee collapses from the constant tear gas attacks.

The violent destruction of half the camp by police authorities in February and March was, as expected, a pointless move. The refugees who lost their homes mostly had no choice but to move into the other half of camp. Conditions have therefore become even more cramped and difficult, but considering this sudden upheaval, these communities - from utterly different parts of the world, who have never previously lived side by side - are coping. The problems the camp faces, including fire, hygiene and disease, have naturally been exacerbated by the loss of space.

Meanwhile, the bleak sandy no-man's land left behind after the eviction has remained empty. The church, perhaps the most well-known Jungle symbol of all, has been left standing along with Jungle Books and a school in the wasteland, looking like buildings which miraculously emerge from devastating hurricanes or tsunamis unscathed.

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The debris left behind on the cleared area was astounding. Empty tear gas canisters mixed with broken French chateau tiles from some long-forgotten residence. Rubber bullet casings, charred Qur'an pages, a teddy bear, a piece of farm machinery and stiletto shoes. The detritus of collided worlds and mingled cultures.

Such a vast area of stark emptiness was a painful reminder of waste - wasted land, wasted effort, wasted lives. And so, as I went about my daily business in camp and across the no-man's land, I started dropping poppy seeds everywhere I went. I filled my pockets and sprinkled them gradually, one million seeds in total, zigzagging across the open space and throughout the narrow alleyways between tents and shelters.

I did not expect them to grow. Not only were the seeds lying on hard, unforgiving land - either sand or heavy impenetrable clay filled with rubbish - but the ground in the Jungle is toxic, lest we forget. The site is listed as an area that contains dangerous substances and could pose a serious health hazard. The chemicals used at the huge plants next to the Jungle are toxic to humans and to the environment. Yet this condemned land is apparently good enough for 9,000 souls to exist upon.

Recently, while I was in the UK, someone suddenly put up pictures online of poppies growing in the Calais Jungle, especially across no-man's land. Nature had found its way through, as it always does.

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Harry Leslie Smith is a man who knows. When I took the famous 93-year-old veteran, writer and campaigner round the Calais camp last autumn, he described the conditions as worse than post World War II refugee camps. Mr Smith famously renounced the wearing of a November poppy a couple of years ago, unhappy with the politicisation of the symbol and its use to justify current conflicts.

Poppies are our flower of remembrance. They should remind us that not far from the Calais Jungle, one million people shed blood for a world free from oppression and racial supremacy. But crucially, poppies should also direct our current and future actions. Here we are, one hundred years later, condemning men to live in fear and despair. We are now receiving the casualties of war with yet more violence and deprivation. What is the point in remembering but repeating the actions that created the horror last time?

Remembrance without the application of lessons learnt is insulting. 'For their tomorrow, we gave our today', far from being a nostalgic epitaph that prompts our thanks and relief, should shame us into considering what we have failed to do with that legacy. It is tokenistic, self-gratifying and hollow, to participate in remembrance without working against that same evil that still exists.
Forget the polarised Brexit arguments for a moment and consider the fact that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was designed by an Italian, nicknamed 'Doctor Subtle', by his countrymen, and who is on record as saying that it was never supposed to used. The problem is Giuliano Amato never bargained on the most unsubtle of democratic instruments colliding with a 'perfect political storm' to bring the UK economy to the brink financial disaster.

David Cameron gambled that the 'inevitable' coalition would save him from having to deliver on his promise of a referendum; Boris decided to campaign to Leave the EU, perhaps reasoning that as an heroic loser of the right he could only enhance his chances of becoming PM, and the Ed-Jez batten pass, outdid even the UK men's 4x100m relay squad of recent years for incompetence! Should any one of these events not have come to pass we almost certainly would not be in such an unconscionable mess.

It is my belief that common sense will eventually carry the day and that the great British public will, when faced with the stark reality of what they have voted for, disown Michael Gove's disingenuous views on expert opinion, and change its mind.

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I do however think that getting out of this mess will be no easy task, and that the House of Lords may turn out to be the unexpected champion for democracy, in this uncertain constitutional battle.

The problem is that any difficult and sensitive escape manoeuvre has to happen before the UK triggers Article 50, because, as I've already said, Doc Subtle cunningly fashioned an economic suicide pact to look like an escape capsule. To placate the right of the UK political landscape he put in an (Article 50) exit clause to the Lisbon Treaty, but then designed the leaving process to resemble the final scene of Thelma and Louise. Once article 50 is triggered, in all its unknowable, complexity there is no turning back - you must keep driving in that direction!

So any return to sanity has to happen before Article 50 is triggered, irrespective of the outcome of the constitutional challenge to the government's assertion that the PM can set the UK's departure from the EU in motion, whenever she wishes. I am backing this challenge by my lawyers, Mishcon de Reya, because I think that such a momentous decision should be endorsed by the UK parliament, as the highest power in the land.

The challenge will also buy some crucial time - and by Theresa May's own estimation - there will be no triggering of Article 50 in 2016.

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Writing in The Guardian, Patience Wheatcroft (Baroness Wheatcroft of Blackheath), says that the implications of a Brexit go far beyond economics and will impact hugely on future generations, and for this reason the PM exercising the royal prerogative is too big a step for one individual to take.

Somewhat paradoxically using the royal prerogative also conflicts with one of the key arguments put forward by the Brexiteers, that of sovereignty. And as Baroness Wheatcroft says: "The sovereignty of parliament must prevail. And it is indeed 'central to our democracy' and needs to be nurtured.

Personally I believe that Theresa May has no intention of triggering Article 50 herself, and as a 'Remainer', albeit a low key one, every credible excuse to delay, to give sanity a chance to return, is probably welcome.

The PM has become very keen on the mantra 'Brexit means Brexit', which is about as enlightening as chanting 'bread means bread', which comes in a myriad of forms, and is shunned by many for health reasons, even though at first it looks and smells great! And so, it is my hope that as some of the much maligned expert opinion is proved credible and people start to feel pain in their pockets, the will of the people, as Tony Blair said the other day, may well change.

And if it is decided that invoking Article 50 must be done by statute, as I believe it inevitably will, the battle will next year move to parliament, where MPs must decide the country's fate. This will put a huge amount of pressure on the elected members to gauge the will on the people, and how it may have changed in light of actual facts, and the passing of some 10-12 months since the 'hot bread' smell of Boris and Gove's rhetoric wafted away.

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And this is where we should be thankful for our inability to 'reform' the unelected reviewing chamber that is the House of Lords. I think that Patience Wheatcroft is 100% correct when she says that while it is not the Lords' place to 'thwart' the will of the people it is its job to ask the government to reconsider if it believes a grave mistake is about to be made.

And if as the Baroness suggests is possible, the Commons is 'cowed' by the referendum's narrow majority it would be a huge service to the nation if the Lords were to fight, tooth and nail, to stall the bill. To force the government to invoke the Parliament Act for a manifesto pledge is a huge break with parliamentary convention, but with the stakes so high, to not fight to the last would be a crime.
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The news that Sisco - a village on the French island of Corsica - had decided to ban full-body swimsuits - commonly known in the media as the 'burkini' - came as little surprise following similar rulings in Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet in recent weeks.

In Cannes, the decision to ban the burkini was taken on the basis that Muslim women wearing them had the potential to pose a threat to public order. As a result, the wearing of one would attract a caution and a fine of 38 (around 33). As Thierry Migoule, the head of municipal services in Cannes explained:

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"Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order (crowds, scuffles etc), which it is necessary to prevent"

It would be interesting to see whether Nigella Lawson would be cautioned and fined if she was to wear a burkini in Cannes as she did in Australia back in 2011. It is unlikely that she would because when Nigella Lawson - a white, privileged, Western woman - chooses to wear the burkini, it is seen to be her choice to do so, an act of empowerment. Indeed as Madeleine Bunting put it, Lawson's wearing of the burkini was a "subversive political statement". When a Muslim woman - stereotypically understood to be brown, other and non-Western - chooses to wear the burkini however, the opposite is quite true. Rather than empowerment, the burkini instead is seen to be a symbol of oppression and thereby something that goes against 'our' values, culture, way of life and so on. In reality there is little difference except that we fail to take into account 'our' hypocrisy .

In Sisco, the ban was imposed following a special meeting of the local council that was convened following a brawl on a nearby beach between what BBC News described as local youths and "families of North African descent": in other words, 'Muslims'.

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The Guardian reports the 'brawl' somewhat differently. Rather than a 'brawl', the incident involved a violent attack on three Muslim families which was perpetrated by local villagers. As report goes on, riot police were subsequently drafted in to stop around 200 locals marching into a nearby housing estate where a number of Muslim families live. It was alleged that the crowd were chanting "this is our home".

As such, the mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni announced that the burkini was banned. Stressing the ban had "nothing to do with racism..." he added that it was instead "...about protecting people's security". It is bizarre however that while acknowledging that it is Muslims who need protecting, the ban also blames and indeed criminalises Muslims in the process. The suggestion being that it is the burkini - and the decision by Muslims to wear it - that is the real problem rather than the violence being perpetrated against them by those described as 'local'.

What is even more interesting is that while French police investigations into the cause of the violence are ongoing, reports in the French media suggest that there was no evidence that any of the Muslim families on the beach at the weekend were in fact wearing the burkini. Instead, Le Monde reports that the incident began when one of the Muslim men complained about people trying to take photos of his wife. After an initial altercation, the newspaper reports that bottles and stones were thrown, three cars were set alight, and four people including a pregnant woman were taken to hospital. It added that around 100 police were duly deployed to set up a cordon to protect Muslim families living nearby.

It's extremely difficult therefore to see any sense in the burkini ban. At worst, the ban is another example of French institutional Islamophobia. At best, it would seem to be a smokescreen behind which the real reason Corsica is "sitting on a powder-keg" of tensions and violence. And that powder keg would seem to be rather more about Corsican nationalists than Muslims or those of North African origin.

This is because for decades the Corsican National Liberation Front has been behind a series of bombings and robberies targeting the French state. While it declared a ceasefire in 2014, the Front failed to disarm. Consequently last month, in the wake of the brutal killing of Father Jacques Hamel in Normandy, the Front publicly warned that it would undertake a "determined response, without any qualms" were there to be anything similar in Corsica. As the Front went on:

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"Your medieval philosophy doesn't scare us...You should know that any attack against our people would trigger a determined response, without any qualms...the Salafists clearly want to establish the Daesh (Islamic State) policy among us, and we're prepared for that."

Just a few hours after that announcement, Corsican officials demanded the French government close a number of mosques on the island that they believed fostered radical Islam. A few months previous, French media reported that a large crowd had gathered in the Corsican town of Ajaccio that had gone on to vandalise a nearby Muslim prayer room before trashing copies of the Qur'an. The incident in Sisco at the weekend was not without precedent therefore.

While there is no evidence to suggest that Corsican nationalists were responsible for the violence in Sisco, research shows that over the past decade and a half activists from within the far-right and neo-Nazi milieu have been increasingly targeting Muslim communities and the religion of Islam and have regularly been behind acts of organised violence. Routinely seeking to exploit tensions and flashpoints that occur between Muslims and non-Muslims, the violence in Corsica should come as little surprise. While so, what is needed is strong and robust political leadership that not only sends out a message of unity and togetherness but so too seeks to afford and reinforce necessary protections for those who need it.

This has not happened in Corsica and so the announcement to close mosques immediately after the Corsican National Liberation Front's announcement about a violent response to any future terror attack could be misconstrued as coming from the same mindset or ideological premise. There is little doubt that in doing so, Corsican officials could be seen to have reinforced the view that the real problem is in fact Muslims and the way they dress. In doing so, the actions of the violent aggressors have gone unchecked and unnoticed.
This is the second post in an Edinburgh cafe series highlighting top cafes in Edinburgh's various boroughs. It's a collaboration between Yankee Doodles and Edinburgh photographer Martin Vrzal of @Pascalpics. All photos in this post are taken by Martin and you can check out his amazing views of the city on his Instagram.

In our first post of best cafes in Edinburgh, we headed to the Meadows. This time we're passing Edinburgh's Meadows to the southeast where you'll find a bougie borough called Bruntsfield. With great schools, cafes, independent shops and its close proximity to two universities and one of Edinburgh's elite boroughs, Morningside, it's a popular neighbourhood for many. It makes for a great afternoon meandering around the indy shops and popping into one or more of the cafes throughout the day. Here are our favourite cafes in Bruntsfield.

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Best hot chocolate and churros

123 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh, EH10 4EQ

This warm and inviting cafe serves gelato, handcrafted chocolates from their factory just outside of the city, chocolate and salted caramel spreads, hot chocolate, teas, coffees, churros and cakes (including limited vegan options). Their chocolate constantly wins awards and even their Haggis Spice chocolate (made with dark chocolate, traditional haggis spices and oats) is delicious to those, like me, who aren't a fan of haggis. I've also bought plenty of their beautifully decorated chocolates as locally sourced gifts for family and friends.

While you're considering which chocolates to purchase, I recommend sipping on one of their hot chocolates and enjoying some churros. I had the rose and vanilla hot chocolate and while I'm not a fan of rose, I really enjoyed the vanilla drink with delicate notes of rose. Their hot chocolate selection comes in hazelnut, madagasca 72%, milk chocolate, rose & vanilla, traditional 64% and winter spice (cinnamon, aniseed and orange).

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Best German breakfast (and bakery)

185 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh

As soon as you step into Falko, the smells of warm bread and apples greet you and when you walk by the large windows in the winter, you can find them partially steamed up, providing visitors with a refuge from the cold. No matter what you order on this menu, it is sure to be good. The bakery offers a choice of German bread (ohhh the rye!), various tarts and cakes and during the winter on select days, Baumkuchen ("tree cake") will be on offer. Baumkuchen is a well known symbol of the German pastry chef and is made by pouring cake batter layer by layer on a rotating spit over open flames and then covered in apricot preserve and a thing sugar glaze. If you want to try Baumkuchen, you're best to phone Falko the morning of your visit to see if it's on offer. It is only available on select days during the winter months.

Falko also has delicious breakfasts! Head to the cafe before noon (the earlier the better to ensure seating as it's always a popular breakfast spot) to enjoy a menu that includes granola, fruit and yoghurt; croissants, brioche, meat/cheese platters, swiss toast and poached egg and hollandaise sauce with your choice of Scottish salmon or Barvarian ham. I had the poached egg and hollandaise sauce with Barvarian ham and Martin had Swiss toast (Barvarian ham with Highland Gouda bechamel on toasted sourdough bread). They were both delicious and I'll definitely be back for that Swiss toast! I currently have dreams of it.

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The shop is dog friendly and open Wednesday through Saturday, 9am - 6 pm and from 9:30 am - 6 pm on Sundays. It's closed on Monday and Tuesday. If you'd like to practice your German language skills while enjoying a coffee and cake, pop in Wednesday mornings from 9-10 am for conversational German classes. The informal group accepts all skill levels except for beginners.

Best traditional coffee shop (no wifi)

138 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh EH10 4ER

If you're looking for a quiet place to hide away from the Internet while enjoying a great cup of coffee, head over to Artisan Roast. The staff are very knowledgeable about their caffeine and happy to recommend coffee that suits your palate.

However, if you're looking for wifi best save this coffee shop for another day as this is a cafe without Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram - just plain old fashioned conversation. If you are in need of a place with wifi, head to The Chocolate Tree (listed above) or check out one of the cafes in the Meadows.

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Press Release:

Contact: Attila Nemecz

Attila Nemecz (252)940-6387

WASHINGTON, NC Just a year ago, Jackson Lancaster was in the spotlight at Beaufort County Community College. The star student was the recipient of countless honors at the college. Now Coldwell Banker has named Lancaster one of its "30 Under 30" real estate brokers. He will be attending a ceremony in Miami to accept the award. Lancaster returned to the college to visit with staff who worked closely with him along the way.The rising star graduated from the Early College High School at BCCC in 2015. The program allows students to finish after five years with both an associate degree and a high school diploma. At the end of his fifth year he started taking real estate courses to get licensed. The business student moved immediately into working on a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration at ECU while working as a broker at Coldwell Banker.he says of his ECU studies. The prestigious "30 Under 30" list draws from 85,000 Coldwell Banker professionals working in 47 countries around the world. He has managed this success while attending ECU full-time.said Gerri McKinley, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Coastal Rivers Realty.While at BCCC, Lancaster served as president of the Student Government Association and was an ambassador for the BCCC Foundation. As the SGA president, he was also an ex-officio member of the BCCC Board of Trustees. Ambassadors for the BCCC Foundation have their tuition fully paid for during the year that they serve in return for helping with community functions and outreach throughout the year. Lancaster also received the McLawhorn President's Fund Scholarship. Other groups he participated in at BCCC include the Appeals Committee, Gull Fest 2015 Committee, Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society and Gulls on the Run.It was the initial contacts from BCCC that helped get Lancaster started, along with skills he acquired at the college. His involvement in clubs made him more social. Theresa Edwards, student activities coordinator, helped him to learn how to balance classes with clubs. Though Lancaster has wanted to be a real estate brokers since he was eight years old, BCCC faculty like Lisa Hill, now dean of arts and sciences and Lancaster's academic advisor since the ninth grade, helped him to focus on his career path when he had doubts.When Lancaster stepped outside of the college into the professional world, it was not an easy transition.he said. His first listing was from BCCC staff member Sandra Pinkham. After his initial success, the recommendations started coming in and other former teachers started using his services. Recently, he helped instructor Matthew Lincoln sell his house. His excitement, optimism and use of social media has kept the clients coming in. They see how he is willing to go out of his way to help make a sale.said Lisa Hill.
There's under two weeks to go until ballots close for the Green Party's leadership election on the 25th.

There are seven candidates running for the deputy spot/s, making it an interesting race - and a heated one, too: if Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley's joint ticket wins, there will only be one deputy leader (as opposed to the usual two).

You might have heard a bit about the leadership candidates - but most members, let alone supporters, are fairly in the dark about the deputy race.

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Yet deputies have a crucial role in building the grassroots, representing the party and offering an organisational (and ideological) steer on the party's Executive, so it's worth taking a look.

Drawing on Q&As I did with all the candidates, here they are:

The re-standers

Ali is one of the two current Deputy Leaders of the party, joined in re-standing by Amelia Womack in what could be seen as a 'Deputy v Deputy' race.

The first black leadership figure in a major British party, Ali is an academic and Doctor of philosophy, and previously worked as a researcher in the European Parliament. It's hard to pitch him as on the 'left' or 'right' of the party, but he is instead pushing his speaking skills - arguing 'you need a deputy who can pack a punch at a rally'.

Ali was also number three on the London-wide list for the London Assembly at the recent election, just missing out to Sian Berry and Caroline Russell for the two elected AM spots.

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With a much larger membership now than last time (around 45,000 to 2014's ~15,000), Ali has focused on accountability and representing grassroots members.

Womack was elected with the highest vote among the candidates in 2014, and is the youngest leadership figure among any mainstream party at 31. She is seen as someone on the pragmatic left of the Greens, and was in the media recently for speaking out against the rather controversial employment practices of Byron Burger.

Originally from Newport, Womack was the lead candidate for the South Wales Central region of Wales in this year's Welsh Assembly election. She's also the party's spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport, and is a popular and increasingly well-known figure across the England & Wales party, particularly among the younger 'Green surge' joiners. I declare an interest (she's a friend) but her two years as deputy has undoubtedly boosted her profile and backing in the party.

She says her priority is to build on her work over the past two years and make the Greens a leading progressive voice in the aftermath of Brexit - which could be a vote winner in these turbulent political times.

The challengers

Midlands-based Kat Boettge is a psychotherapist and former Green councillor. Originally from Germany, Kat has made unifying the party and country after Brexit a key issue.

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Boettge is a town councillor in Kimberley, and was the chair of the East Midlands Green Party for three years. She has been a councillor for the Greens, and is a single mum - perhaps a more diverse background than some of the councillor/politician candidates.

She says 'As someone living in the Midlands, and as someone from a migrant community, I believe that I am well placed to support the leader(s)...and to play a role in working [a]cross-parties for a strong Green voice.

Boettge believes her migrant background would send a powerful message in the post-Brexit atmosphere.

Borgars, 25, is running as the 'watermelon' candidate - green on the outside, red on the inside (not necessarily a pejorative in green circles). Borgars says what separates him from other candidates is 'The fact I am not only young and autistic but also passionate, honest, not afraid to speak my mind, and the fact I can conjure speeches just from the heart without having to rehearse.'

In a Q&A he told me 'I have achieved a lot and been through a lot of struggles that many people have had to go through, especially those with disabilities and mental health problems. I can also connect well with the public.'

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A dividing line may be that Borgars seems cool to the idea of a 'progressive alliance' - a vogue idea in Green circles at present - 'I believe we Greens should instead strike out on our own and maintain a distinct message'.

Cooper is a long-standing Green councillor based in Yorkshire. He is, in some ways like Radice, running as the 'non-London, experienced candidate' in a race that has often touched on the party's perceived London-centrism.

Cooper says he is standing 'because I believe someone from the North, who is an experienced elected Green politician and who has actually successfully initiated many Green policies at the local level would be a strong addition to our Leadership Team.

First elected to Kirklees Council in 1999, Cooper has a background in the renewable energy sector and is seen as more traditionally 'green' than other candidates.

Alongside Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali, he is viewed as being a 'top three' frontrunner, meaning the election could well come down to second and third preferences.

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Poorun has undoubtedly one of the most varied backgrounds of the candidates. Having grown up in Ireland, Mauritius and then a South London, he left school and home at 13 years old. He says his work 'has included being a childminder, a carer for 20 years, working in nature conservation (including teaching), and establishing a...cafe, a woodland farm project, and national network of housing co-operatives'.

Perhaps understandably, he wants the Greens to reach out beyond its comfort zones and to diversify. 'My broad life experiences have given me a harder view, more cynical, which I think makes it easier for me to chime with and appeal to poorer and less educated people, and the often hardened views of the general population.'

Mixed-race and gay, Poorun could go down well with members keen to shift away from 'preaching to the choir'

For the last three years Radice has been a councillor on Bristol City Council, and was previously an environmental advisor, working in the waste and rail industries.

She's certainly a candidate with experience - she's been Assistant Mayor in Bristol under the previous independent administration, and has been involved in the party on a national level.

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Her views on progressive alliances distinguish her from more alliance-friendly candidates: "I am fairly wary of alliances with other groups that do not share our key insights. I think there is a case for a progressive alliances, but not without guarantees of the Labour party converting to the support of proportional representation."

Radice says she is distinct from other candidates because she's 'held executive office as a Green in a core city of the UK'.

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With many hard-hitters put off running for leader by the Bartley/Lucas ticket, the Deputy race is arguably much more interesting to watch - with seven fairly high-calibre candidates all vying for the job - or jobs - in what is an unpredictable contest.
When you travel 200 miles to see a stage version of one of your favourite films, the cost of transport, theatre tickets and hotel soon adds up. Thankfully 21 (restricted view) was a bargain for any birthday treat. And the fact Groundhog Day not only recrafts Bill Murray's best film for the stage but enhances the source material was a present I never expected.

Danny Rubin's book, based on his own screenplay, gives us more depth about peripheral characters, such as Debbie, the beautiful blonde bedded by self centred weatherman Phil Connors as he repeatedly reports on the February 2 celebrations in Punxatawney PA.

Ned Ryerson, the insurance salesman, is also given more of a touching backstory, while Phil is turned into a more rounded character than the Murray classic allowed in 1993.

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Half the fun with the stage show is seeing how moments such as Phil's weather van becoming stuck in a storm and having to turn back to Punxatawney would be executed, or the chase in which Connors and his fellow drunks attempt to outrun the cops. Some simple but effective stage moments - a model truck having snow shovelled onto it by a groundhog was laugh out loud funny.

Groundhog Day at The Old Vic, London. Photo: Roger Crow

Tim Minchin has been my favourite composer for the past five years and the union of his music and lyrics was too good to resist. There's no real stand out track, though I'd need to listen to the soundtrack a few more times to give a proper opinion, but while his sidebar polemic about faith healers does little to add to the show, it's a fun diversion.

The star of course is the man chosen to fill the mighty shoes of Bill Murray, an actor who had to sing, dance, act, make the audience laugh and cry was a tall order, but Andy Karl managed it beautifully.

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Less Murray and more Nathan Fillion channelling Steve Martin, he nailed the self centred protagonist who despised his quaint B and B in a small American town and was only interested in self gain once caught in the time loop.

The beauty of the movie was said plot device was never dissected and was a stronger film for it, especially in a Hollywood production where such things are usually explained away in the third act.

I'm not surprised the film has resonated with many faiths the world over. It's a simple tale that touches universal chords: part Twilight Zone, part Saturday Night Live sketch, it's as relevant in the selfish selfie generation as it was in 1993.

I want all films and stage shows to have a sucker punch moments when I'm reduced to tears or humbled by simple acts, and GD took the best moments of the movie and gave it as much of an emotional punch at The Old Vic.

Yes it was too hot on that summer's evening, the legroom was too little and the elevated punters behind me felt it was okay to talk through the production and put their feet on my chair, but thanks to a Paddington hard stare they refrained and normality was soon restored.

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Think tanks are pushing agendas important to corporate donors, at times blurring the line between researchers and lobbyists. And they are doing so while reaping the benefits of their tax-exempt status, sometimes without disclosing their connections to corporate interests.

This was the central allegation made against the Brookings Institution, founded in 1916 and therefore one of the oldest think tanks in Washington D.C., on 7th August. Eric Lipton and Brooke Williams at the New York Times focussed on a $400,000 donation made to Brookings by various parts of the Lennar Corporation, which was ploughed into a Metropolitan Policy Program focussed on city-driven growth.

Lennar joined Brookings's Metropolitan Leadership Council alongside other top donors in July 2010. That month, the company won approval to take forward San Francisco's largest redevelopment project since it was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake. With $1.1bn private finance and $1.55 public funds, the project is turning the former Hunters Point naval shipyard into a 700-acre housing, education and commercial development. Awkwardly, Lennar's Kofi Bonner became a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings program in 2014.

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The Brookings response almost immediate, and on Medium. The top lines are that Brookings has its own agenda: relevant corporate partners are chosen for research areas chosen independently. Second, you can't call publicly-available research which advises a variety of public and private stakeholders "fee-for-service" work. A line-by-line rebuttal followed on 11th August on the Brookings website. What's to learn from this?

The public interest, the corporate stakeholder. A key claim from Brookings chief Strobe Talbot in rebutting the New York Times article is that "all stakeholders have interests". The key delineation to make, in his view, is between the "business interest" and the "social interest" of the corporations that fund research, and to only provide intellectual support to the latter. Brookings criticises the reporters' choice of the Metropolitan Policy Program on the basis that they chose documents that fit their argument. It could be argued that a narrative of elite manipulation of the political process is loudly expressed and heard everywhere, but housing seems especially explosive.

Why? The rush to globalised cities means the release of public land is essential to meet housing needs. But communities are ever more dependent on private financing and construction. A 2013 report from the City Administrator found that the San Francisco Housing Authority "cannot adequately deliver housing services to its residents" and called for it to be 're-envisioned'. In the UK, the Department for Communities and Local Government has been selling off land to accommodate 160,000 homes by 2020: progress is tortuously slow. Developers' stock took a hit after the referendum, and the largest - Barratt's - announced it may slow down its building programme. A recent report from the Royal Town Planning Institute concurs that private sector builders are paralysed by Brexit, but argues that public planners have lost strategic leadership over new development. When it comes to one of the most pressing policy issues in this country - and one of the most difficult to solve - a conflict already exists between "business interest" and "social interest". It must be negotiated rather than wished away.

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Disinterested research and pushing the product. Across the internal documents uncovered by reporters Lipton and Williams, Brookings Institution staff refer to "research and content products" and how donor branding will be integrated into them. Talbot argues that "our interest is to gather the facts, listen to knowledgeable parties, analyze the situation, and try to come up with solutions that benefit the community as a whole." The commercial production of research for a marketplace of policy ideas and the task of realising solutions within actually existing communities would seem to drag Brookings in opposite directions. Sound a bit theoretical? JPMorgan Chase, another donor to the Brookings programme, also fund a Slate podcast called Placemakers, so they are clearly interested in "stories about the spaces we inhabit and the people who shape them".

Think tanks have competitive pressure in the marketplace of ideas, but they also have donor pressure over the solutions they can offer. Talbot, alongside Brooking's Managing Director Kimberly Churches, argued earlier this year that donors "want to see evidence of results from their contributions". In response, they simply insist that Brookings will end relationships and return money when donors ask for particular research outcomes. More broadly, they offer no broad principle for how think tanks can gain "the funding we need while shoring up the independence that we cherish."
Note: Our accounts contain the personal recollections and opinions of the individual interviewed. The views expressed should not be considered official statements of the U.S. government or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ADST conducts oral history interviews with retired U.S. diplomats, and uses their accounts to form narratives around specific events or concepts, in order to further the study of American diplomatic history and provide the historical perspective of those directly involved.

Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom on August 16, 1960, but the agreements that led to sovereignty failed to resolve serious differences between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. The first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III, introduced amendments to the constitution in 1963 to eliminate some of the provisions favoring the participation of Turkish Cypriots in the government. The 1960s and early 1970s saw violence and foreign intervention by Greece and Turkey. Since 1974, Cyprus has been divided, and United Nations peacekeeping forces have maintained a buffer zone between the two sides.



The Moment was compiled from interviews by ADST with the first Cyprus desk officer, Archer K. Blood (interviewed beginning in June 1989) and Charles W. McCaskill (July 1993), the first Economic-Commercial Officer to Cyprus. You can read the entire Moment on ADST.org

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BLOOD: I became the first Cyprus desk officer. This would have been 1958. Cyprus, of course, didn't achieve independence until 1960. It was still a British colony. There was an insurrection going on in Cyprus of the EOKA, the [a paramilitary organization of] Greek Cypriots trying to achieve union of Cyprus and Greece. [There were] many negotiations with Greece, with Turkey, and the British. It was coming up in the U.N., brought by the Greeks every year....

[The U.S. was] trying to, of course, bring about a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus problem that would secure our military concerns in the area and not upset Turkey too much. We were trying to block -- the time I was there -- the Greek efforts to use United Nations General Assembly to try to force some action with respect to Cyprus.

Eventually we [favored an independent Cyprus], but we didn't start off that way. I remember drawing up a plan myself that called for "enosis" [union] of Cyprus with Greece with Turkish bases on the island.

That didn't get very far either. I've always thought that the Greeks misplayed the Cyprus -- Makarios particularly, the Greek Cypriot leader. If they had -- and this is my own theory -- accepted the early British offers for limited self-government...that eventually and gradually, and without Turkish resistance, Cyprus would have become part of Greece....

The Greek Cypriot resistance worried and antagonized the Turkish Cypriots and then the Turkish government. When the Turkish government became intimately involved, the problem became much more intractable.

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The chance for enosis, that is, union of Cyprus with Greece, which I always had favored myself, disappeared. The key event in the move toward independence was the defeat of the Greek effort at the United Nations in November of 1959. The Greeks had made the mistake of allowing Krishna Menon of India to stage manage their effort.

[The U.S.] was against the Greek initiative. We were getting many telegrams from Greek-Americans throughout the country urging us to support Greece in the United Nations. The Queen of Greece, Queen Frederica, had a very long-standing letter writing relationship with George Marshall, who was, of course, retired by then. But she was pressing him to intervene on behalf of Greece.

Our feeling was that if the Greeks realized that they couldn't get anywhere in the U.N., then they would be forced into negotiations with the Turks and the British. And we wanted to stop, once and for all, the U.N. effort which had been conducted on a yearly basis. We wanted to make it clear to the Greeks that they better give up this U.N. route and resign themselves to negotiations. ..



I think we independently arrived at [this decision]. Our primary contacts were with the Greeks. They were in [the State Department] constantly, berating us. The Turks came to see us much less frequently. And the contacts with the British were not as frequent as with the Greeks and the Turks...

The Turks were playing to their strength. They had won our gratitude in Korea. They were, in terms of military significance to NATO, more important than Greece, and they knew it. And they sensed that we were probably not going to accede to Greek wishes.

McCASKILL: The London-Zurich Agreements establishing the new Republic of Cyprus had been signed in February 1960, and there was some relief (obviously premature) among all parties concerned (except the Greek Cypriots) that "The Cyprus Problem" was settled.

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Athens was truly anxious to put the Cyprus Problem to rest, to get on with solving some of Greece's problems. It should be kept in mind that Greece was at war longer than any other single European country -- from October 28, 1940 to the end of the Bandit War in 1949 -- and the Greek Government wanted to get on with rebuilding the country.

When I arrived in Cyprus I was surprised to find a general feeling among the Greek-Cypriot community -- which was 80% of the population -- that the London-Zurich Agreements would not work, that the safeguards written into the agreements for the Turkish Cypriots were extreme, that the agreements were "not fair," and on and on.

In truth, the agreements were an extremely complicated set of agreements which did, in my opinion, give the Turkish Cypriots too many safeguards. Former Under Secretary of State George Ball described the Agreements as an "impressive diplomatic tour de force" which were "too complex to be workable."

Most objectionable to the Greek Cypriots, Turkey could, under the Treaty of Guarantee, intervene in Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriot community's vetoes, legislative and executive, could bring the government to a standstill. The Turkish Cypriots, 20% of the population, were given 30% of the civil service and the legislature.

The Greek Cypriots vigorously opposed the concept that the two communities on the island were equal partners, that there was no majority community and no minority community, that they were both equal participants in the government.

The Greek Cypriots, including Makarios, felt that the agreements had been imposed on Cyprus by circumstances, that Makarios had been "forced" to sign; no Greek Cypriot was present when the Greeks and the Turks reached agreement.



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Makarios stated later that he signed because the British threatened to partition the island if he did not agree to the agreements and he feared that inter-communal fighting like that of 1958 would begin again. Moreover, Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis rebuked Makarios rather strenuously at the first meeting in London and threatened to withdraw Greek support if Makarios refused to sign the agreements.

Makarios had indicated in 1958 that he could accept a solution of an independent Cyprus rather than insisting on union with Greece. Great Britain by 1958 had reviewed its security position and had decided that bases on the island would satisfy its security requirements and that it did not need to hold the entire island. All of this led to the conference in Zurich and later in London....

I might add that I have thought about the London-Zurich Agreements over the years, and I have concluded that it was probably impossible for a small group of Greek and Turkish diplomats to work out, even in outline, such complicated agreements, and I have wondered if the agreements were drafted in London and slipped to the Turks who then put them on the table in Zurich.

You may recall that they met in Zurich for less than a week and drew up an outline of the agreement. They then met in London a few days later to sign them. Many of the provisions had been contained in previous British proposals -- most recently the MacMillan Plan -- but one still has to wonder if the Greeks and Turks had the diplomatic expertise for such an undertaking.

Speaking of the pressures on Makarios, Ambassador Nikos Kranidiotis, the Cyprus Ambassador in Athens for many years, in his book entitled Difficult Years says that Makarios anguished all night over whether or not to sign. He received calls from Queen Frederica in Athens, from former Governor of Cyprus Hugh Foot, and from the leader of the British Labor Party, all urging him to sign...

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Cyprus was dubbed by some over the years as "The Reluctant Republic" since it was felt that the solution really desired by the majority Greek Cypriots was union with Greece rather than independence, and that independence was "forced" on Makarios.

Those very early days were very interesting and exciting and even humorous as we approached independence. There was a story on the island that Makarios, by then the President-elect, and Turkish Cypriot Vice President-elect Fazil Kucuk realized rather late that they had not even thought of a flag.

After all, every country had to have a flag on independence day. They agreed on a temporary flag which was a sort of yellowish-clayish outline of the island on a white background with olive branches underneath.

That was to be temporary, and they were to design a more appropriate flag later with their help of time. Nobody has yet designed another flag of Cyprus and that one is still used as the official flag...

There was actually widespread interest in Cyprus when it became independent. It was one of the first newly-independent small republics. With a population of 600,000 it was considered a very small country in those days, and there was considerable interest in seeing that it worked. Because of the long fight against the British and the fact that the problem was debated at such length in the UN, everybody knew where and what Cyprus was.

Our own interests were several: (1) to deny the Soviets access to the Mediterranean through Cyprus. There was a well-organized Communist Party of 10,000 members on Cyprus and in 1960, this was of considerable concern to us; (2) to insure the continued function of US facilities -- our Federal Broadcasting Information Service (FBIS) facility, our relay facility -- on the island; (3) to insure the continued functioning of the British Sovereign Bases on the island; (4) to work to prevent Cyprus from disrupting the southeastern flank of NATO by becoming an issue between our NATO allies Greece and Turkey.

These are given in no particular order, though there was some preoccupation with the "Communist threat" in Cyprus, and even President Kennedy (seen here with President Markarios in June 1962) was said to be taken with the island and the problem in the early days.



[FBIS] is an overt monitoring service, and that particular location was highly effective for monitoring internal domestic broadcasts in the Soviet Union. It was said to be one of our most effective FBIS stations. Secondly, we had a tremendous radio relay station, only a relay point.

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Communication facilities were not as sophisticated as they are today. The relay station had direct lines to Washington. Messages would go, for example, from Beirut to Cyprus, off of one wire onto another for direct transmission to Washington. And then there was another facility referred to just as "a station." I suppose it was an NSA [National Security Agency] facility.

It was staffed when I was there by US Navy personnel because, during the Greek Cypriot terrorist campaign against the British, life became so tense that the Department had problems getting civilians to go there. We had a rather large complex of facilities and a very real interest in the island. We wanted to protect our interests and keep Cyprus from falling under Soviet influence. Remember that the Soviet fleet was active in the Mediterranean at the time, and our interests in Cyprus were real.

To show our interest we wanted to get off to a quick start. One possibility we had was a PL 480 program [legally justifying providing foreign aid] which we were able to justify on the basis of a drought of several years. It took some doing -- we did not even have a copy of PL 480 in the Embassy when we started talking about it with the Cypriots.

A couple of AID [Agency for International Development] types came over from Amman to help us out, and we drew up a program for 50,000 tons of wheat and barley. We gave it to Cyprus under Title II of PL 480. It was worth several million dollars and the Cypriots appreciated the gesture. The British had given Cyprus a golden handshake, really in return for the sovereign bases, and ours was the first assistance of any kind outside the British.

We also began an Exchange Program and other USIS [United States Information Service] activities. And significantly, Makarios paid an official visit to Washington, and Vice President Johnson (seen here) paid a return visit to Cyprus. Two visits in the first couple of years of Cyprus's independence were proof of our interest in the island.

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The Soviets had a tremendous diplomatic establishment in Nicosia, and we concluded that it was a regional Soviet base. They had an excellent Turkish language officer in their Embassy, and one or more Greek speakers.

Our Embassy was relatively small. [It consisted of] the Ambassador, the DCM, a Political Officer, an Economic/Commercial Officer, and a rather large administrative section because we gave administrative support to FBIS, the relay base, etc. The station was composed of three officers and two clerical staff. But, as I said, the Embassy proper was very small.

[Fraser Wilkens was ambassador for] all but about six months. Ambassador Wilkins arrived in Nicosia in September, 1960. I do not know for sure, but looking back I believe his only instructions were to encourage the Cypriots to make London-Zurich work.



I have recently read some declassified materials that would seem to indicate that Wilkins did not believe the [Central Intelligence] Agency's reporting and did not seem convinced that trouble was on the horizon. I had heard this from some of the Agency people some time ago, but only recently have seen a few things indicating that it was indeed the case.

As I mentioned previously, it was suggested that we might use PL 480 as one of our instruments, but I am relatively sure nobody was looking at the possibility that London-Zurich would not work. Nobody was doing any contingency thinking, let alone contingency planning. I think those were the Ambassador's instructions and I think he hewed to that line.
The payments industry is in panic mode. Payments companies realize they're under threat from the rise of fintech startups. Financial technology companies are doing what big payments companies are doing better than they are. They are giving customers what they want, and that's never a good thing if you're on the receiving end of it.

2016 is certainly going to be the year where the payments industry is going to suffer a huge amount of disruption. In fact, only 4% of payments companies have failed to address fintech. That's how scared the industry is.

So why is the payments industry ready for disruption in 2016?

Customer Churn is a Huge Problem

The sheer amount of competition in the payments industry is what is driving much of this change. Most companies are having problems keeping their customers with them. There's next to no loyalty in this industry because most organizations have similar offerings. It's all about how much it's going to cost to manage your money. And people are willing to switch.

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Customer churn is forcing innovating because fintechs are looking to address this problem in a big way. They're looking to score the decisive breakthrough that will reduce churn and overcome their competitors.

Security is a Major Customer Fear

The level of financial fraud is going up every year, and it's starting to hit a breaking point. Customers are scared and they want more from their payments companies. Unfortunately for them, fintech companies are coming up with innovative ways to get around this.

For example, they are working on fingerprint verification, eye verification, and even finger vein verification. Finger vein verification goes far beyond what any big corporation currently has on offer. It's the tracking of the finger vein pattern unique to every human.

Customers are hearing about this and they want more of it, and they're not getting it from their current providers.

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Going Mobile

The Bank of England announced that it would be forcing banks to begin mobile app adoption at a faster rate. A lot of banks in the UK already have phone apps, but they're only able to be used for small amounts. And many banks don't have this capability at all. The higher powers controlling the banks are now demanding that banking goes mobile.

The march towards this has been on for some time. We can see this through the closure of various bank branches. More and more applications are also being handled exclusively online and over the phone. These signs coming out of the UK are sure to be seen throughout the rest of the world soon enough.

In short, financial institutions need to start thinking digital because if they don't they're never going to be able to keep up. Fintech startups are surging ahead and it appears that there's no stopping them.



Electronic Payments Become More Popular

Cash is going down and people are no longer interested in withdrawing cash in the conventional way. They want to be able to use things like virtual terminals and apps to pay. Frictionless payments have come out of this desire, but the payments industry hasn't responded. They have only managed to respond at a slow pace.

Electronic payments are becoming more popular, and there are a lot of fintech startups to watch as they continue to fill in the ground that the payments industry has failed to take.

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So Will Fintech Lose its Influence Soon?

This is entirely up for debate. Fintech is on top now purely because the payments industry has been so slow to react. Of those companies that have reacted many of them have even established subsidiary fintech companies. That's an interesting thing to see because it essentially means that fintech isn't going to lose its influence.

The chances are when the payments industry does begin to catch up many of the fintech companies seen today will fade away. But for the foreseeable future they're certain to continue to push forward and dominate this space.

Conclusion

Fintech companies have done much to change the payments industry. 2016 is certainly going to be the year they disrupt much of the industry. The payments industry is set to lose a lot of they don't react, but that's a good thing for customers who're worried about fraud and convenience.

Where this industry goes next is anyone's guess, though. New innovations are coming out all the time and there's no telling where it's going to go.
By Hong Soon-do, Beijing correspondent, AsiaToday - The G20 summit, which will focus on economic cooperation among member countries, will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from September 4 to 5. Chinese President Xi Jinping will host U.S. President Barack Obama, Korean President Park Geun-hye, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and other leaders of the member countries for the summit.

[View of Hangzhou, where the G20 summit will be held on Sept. 4-5./ Source: Xinhua News Agency]

The theme of the 11th G20 summit will be "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang on Monday. Leaders from some G20 countries, guest countries and international organizations will attend the forum, Lu added.

Li Baodong, China's Vice Foreign Minister, said, "The upcoming G20 will discuss the member countries' economic structural reform, international financial organization reform, and cooperation in the energy and anti-corruption fields." However, since the current international situation looks unpromising, the participants seem to have no choice but to discuss other issues as well.

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For example, the South China Sea issue is likely to be discussed. If this is the case, there could be quite a heated discussion between Chinese President Xi and U.S. President Obama. Considering the current atmosphere, it seems hard for the two countries to find out a meeting point.

The deployment issue of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea is also considered to provoke heated discussion among the countries directly involved. This is why there would be some under-the-table summits, however the schedule is not yet confirmed.
Burmese Buddhists attack Muslims and Christians. Indian Hindu zealots kills Muslims and Christians and trash their places of worship. In the Central African Republic, Muslims are driven from the country by Christians. The Middle East and parts of North Africa are aflame with sectarian violence, and religious minorities are the most vulnerable to persecution, even genocide. Atheists who reject all formal religions do not escape targeting in numerous places.

In May, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom singled out in its annual report more than two dozen nations as "countries of particular concern" and others nearing that level of documented abuse and discrimination. The bipartisan commission advises the president, the State Department and the Congress on issues of international religious freedom.

In a briefing for members of the Council on Foreign Relations on Aug. 9, Thomas Reese, the newly named chairman of the commission, a nine-member body of experts -- three nominated by the president, three by the House of Representatives and three by the Senate -- noted two disturbing trends from the 2016 report, based on information gathered in 2015. He pointed to the increasing abuses by independent groups, not governments, and vigilantes' reckless charges of blasphemy to inflame violence.

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Antony J. Blinken, US deputy secretary of state, introducing the department's own International Religious Freedom Report, took up that theme in a briefing on Aug. 10. "Now, it used to be that our annual reports focused almost exclusively on the actions of states," he said.

"But we've also seen certain nonstate actors -- including terrorist organizations like Daesh, al-Qaida, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram -- posing a major threat to religious freedom. There is, after all, no more egregious form of discrimination than separating out the followers of one religion from another -- whether in a village, on a bus, in a classroom -- with the intent of murdering or enslaving the members of a particular group."

Reese, a Jesuit who is also the senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, said in his briefing that intolerance and persecution can happen in political systems of all kinds, from dictatorships to democracies. He mentioned Burmese Buddhists attacking Rohingya Muslims, "stateless, homeless people" and the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi passing discriminatory laws on race and religion.

In Iran, he said, religious minorities, especially members of the Baha'i faith, Christian converts and Sunni and Sufi Muslims, are targeted by the majority Shia population and government. Despite promises of reform, President Hassan Rouhani, considered a reformer, "has presided over an increase in imprisonment of members of these minorities."

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In the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Reese said, "not a single non-Muslim house of worship is allowed."

Among nations that the State Department has yet to designate as a country of particular concern, Reese said, the Central African Republic should be on the list. The country descended into anarchy in 2013 after a Muslim militia coup and an extremely violent Christian backlash.

"While those Muslim and Christian militias since then have committed multiple atrocities, Christians far outnumber Muslims across the country, and Muslims were disproportionately victimized. Almost all of the Muslim population has been driven from the country."

The current religious freedom report divides countries of most concern into two tiers. In Tier 1, "countries of particular concern" are Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The commission recommended that eight other countries meet that standard and should also be included in Tier 1: the Central African Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan and Vietnam.

In both Iraq and Syria, Reese said, "governments and nonstate actors alike have badly treated religious minorities." In Egypt, he added that longstanding discriminatory laws are still in place and both Coptic Christians and atheists have been among those prosecuted and jailed. In Pakistan, the report says, "More people are on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy . . . than in any other country in the world."

Tier 2 countries listed in the 2016 commission report are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Russia and Turkey.

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In the case of democratic India, Reese said, "Christians, Muslims and Sikhs experience harassment, intimidation and violence largely at the hands of members of Hindu nationalist groups. Members of the ruling BJP party tacitly support these nonstate actors, and use religiously divisive language to get their base out to vote, and this kind of language inflames these groups against minorities. National and state governments also implement laws that restrict religious conversion from Hinduism and ban cow slaughter."

When looking at all of these countries, one thing is obvious, Reese said. "In none of these countries are members of religious minorities safe and secure in the practice of their faith. Clearly, religious minorities are facing tremendous pressures across much of the world, from both governments and non-state actors. Why should we care? Well, we should care because the universal human right of religious freedom is being violated here -- the right of all human beings to think as they please, believe or not believe in accordance with their conscience, and live out those beliefs in a nonviolent way, without fear or intimidation.
Although piano was his 1st instrument at the age of 7, Kevin Lucas became a nationally renowned percussionist and marimba virtuoso as a young man. The spine of this story however, is that Kevin Lucas, a marimba and World Drum Specialist, was Born to Drum.

Rhythm often means, movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposites that can apply to time, and a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena.

In the performing Arts however, rhythm is the timing of events on a human scale, like listening to a top notch orchestra when they're at the height of their musical game. This common language of pattern that unites rhythm with geometry is never more apparent than when you're watching Kevin Lucas play marimba,doing what he does best as a 'marimba and World Drum Specialist.' Music is mathematics and Lucas happily transposes equation, calculus and dimension straight to your ears.

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A marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators suspended underneath the bars amplify their sound. Lucas generally plays the marimba using the complex 4 mallet method thus enabling him to play more notes per beat.

The first thing you notice when you talk to Kevin Lucas, is his passion for music. It oozes out of every pore of his body. He lives and breathes music and his passion is even more prevalent when you experience the intensity of his live performances. He reminds this reporter of the cartoon character "The Road Runner,"as he circles his instruments like an Indian circling a wagon train then finally pouncing on the unsuspecting marimba and with his deft touch, reducing the listener to tears by playing his instrument with such intensity and emotion.

Watch Kevin Lucas as he performs "Oceans Rising,"

Kevin Lucas was born in Palos Hills, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago with approximately 17,000 residents. He started playing marimba and vibes in Lockport High School. His love for percussion began in elementary school where he started playing in the 5th grade. After he left high school he went on to Illinois State University where he earned a bachelor's degree in "percussion performance," and then was awarded a 2nd bachelor's degree in education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Kevin Lucas then earned a prestigious master's degree in "percussion performance" from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

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From 1992-1994 he was a member of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. He won the Drum Corps Midwest solo individuals competition in 1994.

As a concert hall performer, Lucas won both the Illinois State University and Southern Illinois University classical concerto competitions and performed as a soloist with both orchestras. He defeated world class pianists, cellists, violinists, and wind players for these wins in 1994 at Illinois State University and again at Southern Illinois University in 1998. In 1997, he played 2nd in the USA at the College level in the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Competition,defeating some contestants he'd competed against who were national champions from China and Russia.

The Kevin Lucas Orchestra was one of the winners of the 18th annual Billboard Magazine Songwriters Contest in 2011 and also won 'College Radio Breakthrough Artist of the Year' at the New Music Awards in Hollywood in 2008. They were also named 'Best Pop Act' at the People's Music Awards in London and 'Adult Contemporary Group of the Year' by New Music Weekly Magazine in 2009

In 2015 Kevin Lucas was a Finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, winning 3 Silver Medals in the Global Music Awards and having 3 songs become semi Finalists in the International Songwriting Competition as well as 2 songs as finalists in 'Unsigned Only." In 2016 he won a Silver Medal in the Global Music Awards, was a Global Peace Song Awards Finalist, won the American Songwriting Awards (Adult Alternative) and had 5 songs placed as finalists in the American Songwriting Awards.

In the following video of Greensleeves Kevin Lucas takes you on an intense emotional journey through orchestral, tribal, and jazz styles. It features Rocio Morron on violin, Mel Goot on piano, Paul Speer on guitar, and of course Kevin Lucas on,marimba, and percussion! It was mixed and mastered by Vanil Veigas at Raveolution Studios.

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Kevin Lucas, an accomplished composer and music producer, is also an award-winning percussionist who specializes in marimba and vibraphone. While he has many accolades to his credit, including a 2003 performance with 1980's legend, Christopher Cross (SAILING) on a Mississippi River Barge in Cape Girardeau, MO, what is most important to him is that he uses the power of music to inspire and communicate. Kevin has many years of experience with percussion and music in general, however "Echoes in the Sand" marked a turning point for him. It was his collaboration on this recording with Grammy Winning producer and composer and owner of Raveolution Studios in Bangalore, India, Ricky Kej, that helped take Kevin's music to a whole new level.



I found myself being transported through the gamut of my emotions as I listened to Echoes in the Sand . The feelings I had were emotional, complex, and deeply profound.

A Middle Eastern influence is heard on a track called "Babylon," which features the beautiful flute playing of South African musician Wouter Kellerman. Echoes in the Sand has a lot of world music influences too, such as the exotic flavor of both Indian and African rhythms . But in addition to the brilliant playing of Kevin Lucas and multitude of musicians involved, the recording is top notch. "The collaboration of percussion maestro Kevin Lucas with Raveolution Studios has conjured a uniquely exotic sonic blend that will reward listeners with an original and evocative musical experience."

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Paul Speer plays "impressive guitar" on "Little Man" with powerful vocals from Alexis D'Souza that succeeded in wrenching the heart from my chest. Congratulations to Ricky Kej, for composing such beautiful music and lyrics. "Oceans Rising" begins with the haunting flute of Manoj George and is overtaken by his equally expressive and emotional violin. But always...and happily there is Kevin Lucas, confident and poised, on vibraphone, marimbas and percussion driving a frenetic yet seamless rhythm, like waves crashing on a beach.

Influenced throughout his career Lucas leans comfortably on musical phrasing from his musical mentors, Pink Floyd, U2, and marimba player Keiko Abe. Lucas combines these influences seamlessly with Eastern and Indian rhythms, and with his "in tune with nature" philosophy, and has stretched his musical boundaries farther than the farthest horizon."

Kevin Lucas, composer, music producer and percussionist is working on a music video called 'Africa' that will be released in the fall of 2016. On August 22 he begins his beloved annual Southern Illinois nursing home tour 'Operation Give Hope' as he graciously brings his music to the elderly.

Kevin Lucas has achieved amazing things during his career. This should come as no surprise given that he broke his arm in 7th grade two days before he was supposed to play a xylophone contest. When he got out of the hospital and came to school he played his solo with one arm, and received a perfect score from the judges. One would expect no less from him. Kevin Lucas was truly........ Born to Drum

Written by The Battersby Duo ( batduo.com ) Graphics by Tim Battersby ( aka The Unique Butler )
If you want to understand the climate crisis today, you need to journey roughly along the 95th meridian, from Louisiana in the south to the the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in the Dakotas.

In the Bayou State, there's great courage, as local people work to rescue their neighbors from rising waters. So far, 20,000 people have been snatched to safety from homes, offices, hospitals, schools in the wake of a three-day siege of endless rain that broke flood records on river after river. The images are astonishing, like something from Mad Max: a thousand cars trapped on an interstate as helicopters dropped food to keep people alive.

Parts of Southern Louisiana are still underwater after a weekend of historic flooding. @JudyWoodruff reports https://t.co/C6OnSTOtoa  PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) August 15, 2016

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There's no doubt what's causing this: crazy rainfall like this comes when you've heated the atmosphere, allowing it to hold more water vapor. The Gulf of Mexico is at record temperatures, pumping moisture into that atmosphere. What goes up must come down, and it came down on Louisiana (though Mississippi and Missouri are getting their share too, and the Illinois State Fair got flooded, and there's tons of water coming down in a long arc all the way to New York). This flood will do a billion dollars or more in damage: it's a hurricane without a hurricane. It's also a harbinger of things to come - the new normal that's prompting local leaders to consider mitigation strategies through an equity lens. This is evidence that the future is now.

And there's no doubt what's heating the atmosphere: it's the carbon and methane we're pouring into the atmosphere at such a breakneck pace. That's why what's happening in North Dakota is so important. There, almost spontaneously, an uprising has begun on the very center of America's latest oil boom in the Bakken shale. In the last week 18 people and counting, including the tribal chairman, have been arrested trying to block the so-called Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry half a million barrels a day of crude out of the Bakken to refineries in Illinois.

People protest the construction of a 1,100-mile pipeline that will carry crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. https://t.co/KTs7xMhBG9  AJ+ (@ajplus) August 16, 2016

There are crucial local issues at stake: water quality in the region, which will be imperiled if and when the oil leaks, and the sacred sites being disturbed by the construction. But there's also the global issue: if that oil makes it to the refinery without leaking, it will be turned into gasoline and that in turn will add yet more carbon to the atmosphere. Which is to say: people on rooftops in Louisiana hoping for someone to rescue them.

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So in North Dakota, as in the tarsands of Alberta, and at the proposed Cherry point coal port in Washington, and on the pipeline routes in British Columbia, indigenous people are leading the fight against the planet's destruction. It's not hyperbole to say that the most important force in the fight for the planet's survival has been the recognition of native leadership, in North America and elsewhere, in the last five years. The Keystone pipeline would never have been stopped without native organizing, nor plans for the world's largest coal mine in Australia.

The earth's oldest people are -- maybe just in the nick of time -- being recognized as its most important protectors. And they need us to stand behind them.
Just twelve weeks before the presidential elections, Comedy Central pulled the plug on one of its two black-hosted, late-night daily comedy programs, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. The reason: It "hasn't resonated."

In an interview with the New York Times, Comedy Central President Kent Alterman said the show was failing with the network's key audience: young men. Alterman didn't specify whether he meant young white men.

For a show that regularly tackled issues of race and representation The Nightly Show was very different than its predecessors, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. It wasn't perfect -- you'd be hard pressed to find such a thing in the world of late-night comedy. But it was unapologetically diverse and focused on current events from the perspective of people of color.

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The show, which regularly addressed institutional racism, police brutality and the presidential campaigns, first aired more than a year and a half ago, joining the late-night programming line up as the replacement for The Colbert Report. It was a welcome change -- white men had dominated the 11p.m. to midnight slot for more than a decade. Just six months later, John Stewart's replacement, Trevor Noah, took over The Daily Show, pushing the time block into a new era of diversity.

Robin Thede served as The Nightly Show's head writer for the first season and a half, making her the first woman of color to hold this position in the history of late night comedy. "I'm a black, female late-night comedy writer," she wrote in an essay for Lenny Letter. "We exist. We're just super-rare."

Rare indeed. As of May this year, there are only eight of them.

When Trevor Noah was asked about ways The Daily Show was diversifying its staff, he replied that more than 95 percent of the audition tapes he saw came from White comedians. When he confronted the network, they responded "but this is what we're getting."

Noah pressed the issue:

So I went to all the young comedians I knew -- black, Hispanic, female, whatever -- and I said, "Are you interested?" And they all said: "Are you crazy? Of course, I'm interested." So I asked, "Why didn't you audition?" And they said, "We didn't know about it." But they told me they'd sent it out to all the agents and managers. And they all went: "Oh, that's where you made the mistake. We can't get agents or managers." We can say we want diversity, but there's this little roadblock that no one tells you about.

Until the gatekeepers are as diverse as the audiences they are seeking to serve, racism will continue to be a problem for aspiring comedians of color. When networks cancel shows hosted by people of color who talk directly about race, there is a very real concern that there won't be anything similar taking it's place. There's no shortage of late-night programming hosted by white people. Blaming the failure of Wilmore's show on ratings gives Comedy Central an "out" for putting similar shows on the air, making it too easy to say: "We tried. It didn't work. We won't do it again any time soon."

Programs like The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Last Week Tonight aren't just about getting laughs. These shows serve as a new kind of journalism, using humor to dig deeper into the news of the day and take the powerful to task. The writers and hosts of these shows insist over and over that they're just comedians. But like it or not, they are exposing audiences to news and information through the stories and perspectives they elevate.

Representation matters. Over the course of Wilmore's show, we've seen an appalling increase in reports about police brutality against people of color, which is forcing a critical national conversation about race. At the same time, a presidential candidate who has made racist, homophobic, transphobic and xenophobic remarks became a major party nominee.

We need increased diversity across the board in television ("Shonda Rhimes can't do it ALL, people" quipped Thede). There is something unique about the roles these late-night comedy shows play. Their ability to critique current events has become an important feature of our media landscape. These shows talk about social issues in real time. These important conversations need to include more diverse voices, not fewer.
"Besides being a citizenship duty, there are benefits that Muslims can add to the American Muslim community and the global Muslim world by joining the U.S. Foreign Services. This session will shed light on the different career opportunities for Muslim youth in the U.S. Foreign Services Department. It will also clear any concerns that many people have feared about pursuing this career."

The Obama administration, including his top diplomat, all appear to have a serious misinterpretation of the diplomatic concept known as "outreach" when it comes to the Muslim world. This brand of outreach entailed recruiting Muslims into the U.S. Foreign Service under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to comments released by a top public-interest group that investigates and exposes government and political corruption, as well as government action taken that jeopardizes homeland security.A part of Obama's continuous Muslim outreach effort includes a variety of controversial moves, including the rewriting of the curriculum for training federal law enforcement officials in anti-terrorism by eliminating all references to Islamic terrorism or that portray Muslims negatively, according to Judicial Watch analysts in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even signed a special order to allow the reentry of two radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties banned them from entering the U.S., claim officials at JW.During the course of a Judicial Watch investigation into the U.S. State Department's activities with extremist Muslim groups, they discovered a secretive State Department campaign to add Muslims to its ranks. Investigators believe the new recruits will be deployed around the globe to help the agency fulfill its mission of promoting the country'sThe campaign was slated to be headed by Mark Ward, the Deputy Special Coordinator in the State Department's Office of Middle East Transition.Ward held a 90-minute seminar at a recent convention sponsored by two groups - Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) - both with known ties to radical Islam.Also, both non-profits are allegedly associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is known as the parent organization of Hamas and al-Qaeda. In fact, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reports that MAS was founded as the U.S. chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood which strives to indoctrinate the world with Islamic Sharia law."Yet there was a U.S. State Department official, side by side at a radical Islamic powwow in Chicago with a number of speakers who advocate violent jihad," stated JW.Among them was Kifah Mustapha, a fundraiser at terrorist organization (Holy Land Foundation) convicted of funneling millions to Hamas and Jamal Badawi, a MAS founder who praised the jihad of Gaza terrorists during a speech titled "Understanding Jihad and Martyrdom."The conference that Ward conducted focused on career opportunities for Muslim youth. Here is how the event was billed:Joining Ward at the podium during the recruitment seminar were Ayman Hammous and Oussama Jammal. Hammous is the Executive Director of the New York chapter of MAS and Jammal is the president of the Mosque Foundation, a conservative mosque in Bridgeview, Illinois that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Holy Land Foundation and other Islamic charities accused of financing terrorism.


Photo Courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States



National parks, preserves and wildlife refuges located in Alaska belong to all Americans, which means it is up to each of us to protect the animals living on these special lands from the worst kind of predator, a "super predator" in fact: the trophy hunter.



Trophy hunters killed grizzly bears, black bears, wolves and coyotes in Alaska using some of the most barbaric and unsporting means: shooting swimming caribou from motor boats; luring grizzly bears to buckets of rotting meat and pet food for a point-blank kill; using cruel, steel-jawed traps or snares; and rooting out black bear mothers and their cubs using artificial lights at the den in wintertime and killing them; slaughtering wolf and coyote mothers at the den with their pups and extended family members--exploiting them when they are completely vulnerable--and scouting grizzly bears from planes, landing and then shooting them.



Trophy hunters aren't killing animals for their meat or fur, or for subsistence. They butcher a once wild animal, a sentient being who is a family member, to prove how manly and virile they are. They hang an animal's head on a wall, they turn bears into rugs, and stuff wolves in full-body-mounted displays. This is nothing but a sick competition, ticking each species from a checklist, racing against each other to kill more animals to win prizes and other inducements from groups like Safari Club International.



Thanks to federal land managers, these egregious killing methods are no longer permitted in a large portion of Alaska. That's because on October 15, 2015, the National Park Service on its National Preserves, and this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on its National Wildlife Refuges, passed administrative rules that prohibit several of the most controversial and unsporting hunting activities. There are more than 96 million acres of these federal lands - national preserves and wildlife refuges - in Alaska impacted by these rules; more than in all the lower 48 states combined. These lands are home to wolves, wolverines, grizzly bears, black bears, lynx and other species whose very survival has been threatened repeatedly by reckless killing and dismal state management.



Alaskans should support these rules not only because they protect animals, but also because millions of people travel to Alaska annually to experience our abundant wildlife, and those tourists spend over $2 billion annually, immensely bolstering Alaska's sagging economy.



When the wolf population was decimated in Denali National Park because they were lured out of the Park and trapped ruthlessly on nearby state lands, many wolf-watching tourists abandoned Alaska for Yellowstone National Park, where they know they can see wild wolves in their natural habitat. Alaska hotel owners, restaurants, wildlife guides, and others who depend on tourism are economically harmed. The damage has been done in Denali. Not only does it need to be undone, we need to prevent this from happening in other parts of the state.



Yet the Alaska Board of Game continues what they call "Intensive Management," the slaughter of large carnivores in a misguided attempt to boost numbers of the prey species coveted by trophy hunters. This isn't surprising, considering that the BOG is composed of governor-appointees who aren't biologists, but are instead trophy hunters, trappers, NRA members, and even a hunting lodge manager. This group not only fails to recognize how much Alaskans value their wildlife, but they all appear to be oblivious to the fact that wildlife watchers and ecotourists bring far more money into the state economy than do trophy hunters.



In a statewide poll conducted in March, Alaska residents voiced their strong support for ending some of the most cruel and unsporting methods of hunting on national wildlife refuges and preserves in our state. What's more, these new rules are completely in keeping with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which allows for subsistence hunting while conserving and protecting preserves and refuges for their wild characteristics.



It is now up to each of us to tell our elected officials in Congress that public lands are meant to be managed in trust for all of us. They don't belong just to the BOG, or trophy hunters, or trappers. Whatever your political views are of the Obama administration, the fact remains that he, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service put forth policies that are far more humane, scientifically sound, and ecologically-minded and in keeping with Alaskans' values.



The animals in these parks belong to all Americans, and to our children and grandchildren. We must do whatever we can to protect them.
Man praying while holding a Holy Bible.

Two popular religious forces, the prosperity gospel and end times theology, have fueled the rise of countless megachurch pastors and televangelists in the United States. Now those forces have unleashed one of the most controversial presidential candidates in American history. Donald Trump's own religious background and salvation status have been under scrutiny during the primary season. Some conservative evangelical leaders claim he has been born again as a "baby Christian," other pastors have denounced him as a "lost soul," and the pope implied that he's not a Christian at all. But, according to June poll results from Pew, 78% of white evangelicals plan on voting for Donald Trump to be the next president. Frankly, I don't care about the state of Trump's soul. It's not Trump's faith or religious beliefs that matter to me in this election and they don't actually seem to matter to a lot of Americans. I'm much more interested in how our evangelical religious culture has driven Christians to support a candidate who does not reflect the values of their faith (humility and forgiveness, for example). The prosperity gospel and end times rhetoric have certainly contributed and here's how, in a nutshell.

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The prosperity gospel is embraced by many of the largest churches across the country and is promoted (in one form or another) by media-savvy megachurch pastors like Paula White and Joel Osteen. Just last year, White and other prosperity preachers prayed over Trump to proclaim his victory in the election and Osteen called him a "friend to [the Lakewood Church] ministry." The prosperity theology of these pastors has its roots in New Thought and the Charismatic movement and the current manifestations emphasize the power of praying for blessings. Some call the prosperity gospel "Name It and Claim It" (or "Blab It and Grab It," to naysayers). Prosperity preachers assure believers that if they ask God for blessings and contribute to church coffers, they will be rewarded with physical heath, financial wealth, and a better life. The message has resounded with millions of followers and is adapted by preachers to their congregants' particular needs and wants. Pastors themselves, with million-dollar mansions and private jets, display the potential for wealth on which their ministries and messages rely.

Trump can be likened to these prosperity preachers and their predecessors (like Norman Vincent Peale, the father of the "power of positive thinking"). With his golden elevators, billion-dollar businesses, and glamorous family, he reflects the American Dream and represents the ideal of success to many of his proponents. "The ethos of the prosperity gospel," according to one scholar, "is the key to Trump's power to persuade people that his victories can be theirs -- that the greatness of Trump is the means of making America great again." Trump promises on the political stage what Peale and prosperity preachers have guaranteed from the pulpit: success and greatness can be yours if you believe and put your faith and trust in them and/or God. Prosperity preaching has primed this group of Americans to desire a president who offers an easy way out. If you pray for it, and trust in the rhetoric, it will come.

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But there are two sides to this particular evangelical coin. On one side, there is positive prayer and prosperity. On the other side, anticipation of the end times and anxiety about signs of an impending apocalypse. This coin is just the right fit for the Trump slot machine.

The late Tim LaHaye and coauthor Jerry Jenkins popularized end times theology in their best-selling series, Left Behind. These books are a fictional account of what might happen if biblical prophesies of the Rapture and rise of the Antichrist came to fruition in our lifetime. This series is just part of a larger trend to prepare Christians for the end of this world and the return of Jesus Christ. There is a long-standing American tradition of apocalyptic imagining and several pastors have capitalized on the rising trend. John Hagee, a megachurch pastor in San Antonio, has published several books on the signs of the end times with a focus on conflicts in the Middle East and a Christian Zionist approach to the United States' relationship with Israel. Even in smaller congregations across the United States, children and youth are instructed to be Rapture ready in the event that the Second Coming happens and the saved all disappear as the rest of the world plummets in to chaos.

Trump's rhetoric mirrors white evangelical anxieties about the end times and the need to shape America's future to prepare for the coming crisis. "The apocalyptic rhetoric that regularly escapes the bounds of civil discourse at Trump events," argues a religion researcher, "is fueled by the particular energies that are unleashed when a long-dominant group senses the looming end of its era." Voters who have grown up on LaHaye and Jenkins's novels, who have sat through sermons on the darkness that will soon envelop the earth, and who proudly place "In Case of Rapture: This Car Will Be Unmanned" bumper stickers on their vehicles may be attracted to the forceful and fear-inciting speeches of the political candidate. He shares their unease and speaks their language of foreboding.
Georgia is an interesting state. It's known for its peaches, its pecans and recently for its perverts. Now it's not a stretch that some of you might be thinking I'm referring to Mr. Freddie Wadsworth of Paulding County, Georgia. Freddie, in case you missed the story was spotted by some of his neighbors having sex with a goat. Outdoors. On his own property. Seriously, Freddie, get a room.

But on the list of those committing perverted behavior, Mr. Wadsworth doesn't even come close to Jermaine Collins. Jermaine decided to take a stroll down a street in Forrest Park, Georgia.

He was fashionably outfitted in a ballistic vest and assault rifle. And apparently he had a very itchy trigger finger. He scratched that itch by firing his assault rifle hitting several people including a 3-year old.

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I think I hear the clamor from the NRA, Open Carry Texas and others who worship at the altar of the Second Amendment. They're not decrying that a child was shot but my use of the term "assault rifle." Well, kids, you can split all the semantic hairs you want but when a high velocity round enters the body of a 3-year old child, whether it was fired full auto or semi, the devastation to human flesh is pretty much the same. The bones are shattered and turned to internal shrapnel. The organs, muscles and other soft tissue get turned to jelly, meatloaf, a dog's breakfast, or whatever noxious food analogy you want to use. Just ask Dr. Jeremy Cannon. He's a trauma surgeon. He's also a crack military shooter and served in the Sandbox -- Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also on the list is Dennis Marx. He staged a one-man, full-on invasion of the Cumming, Georgia Courthouse. Marx naturally was armed with an assault rifle. He shot a deputy.

Then there's David Preston Cook of Walton County, Georgia. He apparently thought it would be a good idea to take his assault rifle and fire 40-50 rounds at cops who came for him after getting a 911 call.

But the real perverts in Georgia are the legislators who willingly allow these weapons of war to freely roam the highways, byways, and yes, even the airports of Georgia.

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Despite the NRA's verbal gymnastics to call these mass murder machines "modern sport rifles" they are anything but. These assault weapons, as most sane people recognize, are designed to do one thing and one thing only: kill as many humans as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. And as a side line make money for the politicians to keep those weapons coming. So that leads us to Georgia pervert number 1: House Speaker David Ralston, who said that no assault weapons will be banned on his watch. Along side him are Jan Jones, Speaker Pro Tempore and John Burns, Majority Leader.

Also please note that Georgia state legislators rank 6th out of all of our 50 states for receiving the highest amount of NRA backed money. That kind of money and those morally weak enough to take it to block any gun-sense legislation are perversions of a very high order.
By a 3-2 margin, the Delaware Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the state's death penalty law, because it allows a presiding judge to disregard a jury's recommendation on whether the death penalty should be imposed. The state's high court held that violates the Sixth Amendment's right to a jury trial.

The Delaware ruling follows the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent ruling on capital punishment, Hurst v. Florida, which in January held, by an 8-1 margin, that a similar Florida law was unconstitutional, since the Sixth Amendment requires juries, not judges, be the ultimate decision makers on a criminal defendant's guilt and punishment.

The 148-page Delaware decision, released August 1, came in a challenge to the state's law on deliberations in capital punishment cases. The challenge was brought on behalf of Benjamin Rauf, a Temple Law School graduate accused of murdering a classmate.

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Before the Supreme Court's Hurst decision, Florida allowed executions when a separate proceeding after conviction found the death sentence justified. In that hearing, the jury provided an advisory sentence, with only a majority vote needed to recommend capital punishment, but the sentencing judge could accept or reject the jury's advice. After Hurst's trial, the jury recommended the death penalty by a 7-5 margin.

After the Supreme Court invalidated Florida's procedures, that state suspended executions, leaving up in the air the fate of nearly 400 Death Row inmates in the state, while the state legislature sought to revise state law to address the Supreme Court's objections.

In March, the legislature passed, and Gov. Rick Scott signed, a bill which removed a sentencing judge's ability to overturn a jury's recommendation on the death penalty, and raised the required vote for a jury calling for the death sentence from a simple majority to at least 10-2 in favor.

Of the 31 states allowing death sentences, Alabama was the only state besides Delaware and Florida that gave judges, rather than juries, the final decision on the death penalty. Shortly after handing down the Hurst decision, an Alabama inmate claimed that state's death penalty deliberation procedures had the same flaw as did the Florida law.

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Since then, at least one Alabama judge has found the state's law unconstitutional, and -- if not resolved by state courts -- the issue could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida, despite its revamped death penalty deliberation law, could also find itself defending the new statute before the Supreme Court. The Hurst decision did not address the constitutionality of allowing a less than unanimous jury to hand down a death sentence, but opponents of capital punishment have long wanted to interest the Supreme Court in taking up that issue.

In addition, two of the Supreme Court's current eight members have written in favor of taking up the question of whether the death sentence inherently violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

And as public opinion polls show ever-dwindling majorities supporting capital punishment, for the first time ever, the Democratic Party's national platform this year pledges to abolish capital punishment.
We have a mental health workforce shortage in Texas.

Just look at the numbers. Last year, 185 Texas counties out of 254 did not have a single psychiatrist, which left more than three million Texans without access to a psychiatrist. Worse, 40 counties didn't even have a licensed clinical social worker.

This issue is not something that just sprang up. Five year ago, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health published a report on this shortage in Texas. We called it "Crisis Point." When we updated the report this year, we decided to change the name. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to call it a crisis anymore. It's just a chronic reality.

Like someone living with a chronic illness, we should be honest with ourselves about the costs of doing too little to treat it. But we can also be strategic and optimistic about the opportunities for getting healthier.

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The economic value of providing appropriate mental health services can be measured in the avoided costs of hospital admissions, emergency department visits, criminal and juvenile justice involvement, homelessness, and more. Providing appropriate mental health services has also been shown to reduce lost workdays and improve workplace productivity.

More importantly, access to the right services at the right time offers hope to individuals that they can achieve recovery and live meaningful lives. Meeting the mental health needs of Texans requires an adequate mental health workforce.

A lot of factors have converged to create this chronic problem. They include an aging mental health workforce, the unwillingness of mental health providers to accept patients with Medicaid, inadequate reimbursement rates, and outdated education and training practices.

These issues will need to be addressed collectively in order to make a significant impact. And it begins with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission formulating a comprehensive plan that outlines short-, mid- and long-term objectives.

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The process should include active participation from agencies responsible for higher education, public education, criminal justice, juvenile justice, the Texas workforce, child welfare, public health, insurance, housing, and others.

Fortunately, Texas doesn't need to start from scratch. There are common-sense reforms that can dramatically improve care.

For starters, we need improved integrated health care. Effective integrated health care is the comprehensive coordination of mental health, substance use and primary care services. Sixty-eight percent of adults with a mental health condition also have one or more chronic physical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. The integration of primary care and behavioral health services allows health professionals to better coordinate treatments.

We also need to improve the mental health reimbursement rates. Only half of Texas psychiatrists accept private insurance, compared with nearly 90 percent of other physician types. And only 21 percent of Texas psychiatrists will accept Medicaid patients, according to the Texas Medical Association. The state should increase reimbursement rates to increase the number of practicing mental health care providers willing to provide services to consumers with Medicaid.

The state would also be wise to increase access to services provided by certified peer specialists where "peers," who have a history of lived experience with mental illness or substance use, rely on their personal recovery and specialized training to help guide other individuals experiencing a behavioral health condition in their own recovery.

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And finally, we need to expand the use of technology. Technology can be useful to support individuals in rural areas of the state that have significant shortages of mental health professionals.

The challenges facing the mental health workforce are real, and the solutions are not always easy to implement. They require additional resources and funding. But the cost of ignoring the problem is greater. The growing Texas population coupled with the aging workforce will continue to strain mental health professionals. If we start now and think long term, the future can and will be healthier.
This is a Black Lives Matter Banner in Charlotte, NC, November 2015. Camera - Canon 7D Mark II, Lens - Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS USM

Ever since the coalition that composes the Movement for Black Lives published its platform, "A Vision for Black Lives," on August 1st, and included a paragraph condemning the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as "genocide," a great deal has been written about this one issue in the blogosphere. What is, for the most part, a coherent document representing the African-American drive for "black humanity and dignity," grounded in "black will and power," as described in the first sentence of the preamble, has been sidetracked by this recrudescence of the anti-Semitism that has lurked in the black civil rights movement since at least the 70's. This document, in its own words, represents a radical social movement focused on:

Ending the war on black people, including criminalization, incarceration, and killing

Reparations for slavery, colonialism, red-lining, mass incarceration and surveillance

Investment in education, health care and safety instead of criminalization and caging

Economic justice for all, and reconstruction of black communities to include black ownership

Community control of law and policy

Political power and self-determination

This list of demands, explicated in great detail in the platform, is one that, I believe, many Americans would support in part. I can argue with specifics, such as there is a significant caucus of black political power that has not been directed to the community's needs, making it more of an internal problem, and the call for reparations, even when brilliantly expressed by Ta-Nehisi Coates, being a very difficult political problem for a country controlled through gerrymandering. Many of the specifics go beyond Sanders-style democratic socialism into the realm of full socialism/communism, demanding community control over hiring and firing of teachers and police officers, marginal tax rates of 80% and a wealth tax, all of which has already led to right-wing attacks on the platform. To the authors' credit, they support other marginalized communities, such as the queer one, and have crafted a platform that is, in many ways, more a radical progressive platform than a specifically black-focused one.

But while they make the effort to embrace other communities, the one community they don't embrace, and single out for opprobrium, is the Jewish community through its relationship with Israel. One single paragraph, harkening back to Stokely Carmichael's equation of Zionism with racism a half-century ago, during the apex of that era's black power movement. Was this necessary? The question has been asked and is yet unanswered, but it is critical. Is calling Israel guilty of genocide an integral part of the BLM movement, or is it a sop thrown to Palestinian activists who hold sway among the group's leaders?

My sense, based on the fiasco at the Creating Change conference in Chicago last January, is that it is unfortunately the former, and reflects a strain of anti-Semitism that has lain dormant in the progressive movement's farthest reaches now coming to the fore for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is a half-century of occupation, which while irrelevant to the vast majority of African-Americans, is not irrelevant to Jewish millennials nurtured on social justice. One recent column by Daniel May lays this out well. As Israel moves further to the right, young American Jews lurch towards the far left, striving to be part of a movement which treats them with increasing disrespect.

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Another is that anti-Semitism has always played a role in leftist politics, back to the days of Marx and Engels, in spite of the communist movement's language about freedom and equality. In spite of Trotsky and Zinoviev, Sokolov and Kamenev, or maybe because of them, Soviet Jews were often the first to be exterminated by Stalin. Jeremy Corbyn of the British Labour Party comes by his anti-Semitism quite naturally.

Finally, as I've discussed before, the successful assimilation of American Jews into the American landscape (seen by the black community as the "white" American landscape) and their subsequent deracination into just a part of a larger mass, rather than one with a remarkable social justice tradition around the world, including aligning with African-Americans and black South Africans, eases the way for radical black activists to take the side of the Palestinian who is less of color than the Israeli.

Short of a revolution, and there won't be one in the U.S., as we are not a revolutionary state, persons of color must work with others to fundamentally change society. One can't simply demand and threaten; one must do the work. BLM must hold its own black elected officials accountable, and ensure that our politics on the Democratic side stops being simply a politics of identity but rather a politics of action. Too many black officials have been co-opted by the system, as is evident in the corrupt violence that pervades so many police forces, including the integrated ones.

The best elected officials, from Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy to Barack Obama and Cory Booker today, recognize that we're all in this together. LBJ's genius in selling civil rights to America was in convincing white America that black civil rights were as important for them as for the black community. That is still true, and President Obama has done his best to reflect that as well, but at the end of the day he is the President of all Americans, not just black Americans as the racists believe.

The Jewish community is the best ally the black community can have, both because of the historic connection going back to the founding of the NAACP and creation of the Julius Rosenwald - Booker T. Washington schools that educated generations of southern blacks, including Julian Bond, John Lewis and Maya Angelou, to today's efflorescence of Jewish social movement organizations such as Bend the Arc, Jews United for Justice, and the Religious Action Center. Throwing a wrench into that relationship, as happened fifty years ago, out of pique, spite, anti-Semitism or some legitimate grievances, will do no one any good. Tying the BLM movement to any foreign issue, let alone the sole Jewish state on the planet, is plain stupid. Doing so in support of a community which includes terrorist members who enslave Africans is suicidal.

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(Illustration: Laura Waldusky)

Also interviewed was the CDC's Paul Mead, MD, Chief of Epidemiology and Surveillance Activity of the Bacterial Diseases Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can watch that here.

Many patients and clinicians expressed outrage on social media regarding what they considered to be dangerous, misleading information offered by Mead, and pointed out the CDC's pattern of giving preferential treatment to outdated IDSA Lyme guidelines instead of the more scientifically-supported, patient-centered ILADS guidelines.

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Interestingly, The National Guidelines Clearinghouse, a federal database that provides treatment information to health care professionals and insurance companies, has removed the IDSA Lyme treatment guidelines from its website and only lists the ILADS guidelines.

To help chronic Lyme patients who feel that the CDC has once again turned its back on them, Phillips wrote a formal rebuttal to some of Mead's statements and Fox 5 posted it on their Facebook page.



Fox invited Mead to comment further but that request remains "under review."

See Mead's statements and Phillips' responses below and watch the TV special and all of the unedited interviews here.

Please join the conversation and add your comments below. We look forward to hearing from you.

Mead: "typically people with early stages of disease get a rash..."

Phillips: I don't actually think it's accurate to say that this is typical. The initial published findings by Steere documented that 25% of patients recalled a history of rash compatible with erythema migrans (EM). Other published research has pegged the rate of prior EM in late Lyme patients at 22%. Part of the problem with some of the research that demonstrates a very high rate of EM in Lyme disease is that it's part of the CDC reporting criteria as well as being a common diagnostic criterion. So the CDC's statistics on the rates of EM in early Lyme may be inherently skewed. It may be likened to publishing a study that 95% of people in prison have committed a crime.

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Mead: "well, actually 'the great imitator' is a term used to refer to syphilis which is a different disease"

Phillips: Well, actually, although syphilis was a previous illness given this nickname, Lyme disease has also carried the moniker in the medical literature. A Pubmed search of 'great imitator' and 'lyme' returned 23 results. This is because Lyme can present in so many varied ways, able to mimic a broad array of diseases.

Mead: "there are really two parts to diagnosis, there are the clinical features of the disease that is what the physician can see, a large joint, a red rash, a fever, that sort of thing, and then there is laboratory testing."

Phillips: Most of the clinical features of Lyme disease are subjective, i.e., symptoms that the physician can't see. There is robust data in the medical literature which documents that in patients diagnosed with Lyme disease based on the presence of EM or of B. burgdorferi and/or its components obtained from body tissues and/or fluids, the subjective symptoms of Lyme disease outnumber the objective signs by very significant numbers.

So to restrict clinical diagnosis to those patients who have the several objective features included in the CDC reporting criteria would mean that a great many patients would go undiagnosed.

I don't think it's justified to exclude subjective symptoms from the reporting criteria just because such symptoms can't be seen. More alarming, in my view, is that this practice reinforces a medical paradigm of not believing the patient. When do we start believing patients again?

I see lots of patients in my office who come in with the 'not-Lyme diagnosis'. When I ask the primary care physicians further about this, I'm frequently told that they don't know what the patient has, but that it's not Lyme. The exclusion of this diagnosis is most often predicated upon failure to meet CDC surveillance criteria. I find it really sad and frustrating. It's like we're speaking different languages.

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Mead: "So the recommended way of diagnosing Lyme disease in the laboratory is by the use of serologic tests primarily and in general we recommend a two-step process to this where the blood is tested essentially in two steps to identify whether or not the person has evidence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi."

"If a patient has been ill for just a few days or weeks the test may in fact be negative. However if a patient has been ill for months or years, if the test is negative, that's good evidence that their illness may be caused by something other than Borrelia burgdorferi infection."

Phillips: It's interesting to me that CDC currently recommends laboratory surveillance criteria for diagnosis since they've historically been recommending it for standardization purposes as below, which is still listed on their website:

"This surveillance case definition was developed for national reporting of Lyme disease; it is not intended to be used in clinical diagnosis."

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5623a1.htm

Further, this is Dr. Mead's testimony excerpted from the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health Public Hearing on Lyme Disease January 29th, 2004:

http://www.ct.gov/ag/lib/ag/health/0129lyme.pdf

"Let me now say a few words about clinical diagnosis. The clinical diagnosis is made for the purpose of treating an individual patient and should consider the many details associated with that patient's illness. Surveillance case definitions are created for the purpose of standardization, not patient care. They exist so that health officials can reasonably compare the number and distribution of cases over space and time. Whereas physicians appropriately err on the side of over-diagnosis, thereby assuring they don't miss a case, surveillance case definitions appropriately err on the side of specificity, thereby assuring they do not inadvertently capture illnesses due to other conditions."

"...CDC has stated repeatedly that the surveillance case definition is not a substitute for sound clinical judgment. Given other compelling evidence, a physician may choose to treat a patient with Lyme Disease when their condition does not meet the case surveillance definition."

If Dr. Mead has previously stated that surveillance case definitions are not to be used for patient care, then why is Dr. Mead now recommending the opposite? I'm not aware of any groundbreaking medical literature in the past 12 years which should have radically changed the opinion of the CDC on this matter.

To the contrary, since 2004, there have been even more published medical journal articles demonstrating Lyme disease with negative Lyme antibody tests, further raising questions about the validity of CDC surveillance criteria for diagnosis. In fact, there are now over 50 medical journal articles documenting Lyme disease despite negative antibody tests. This research spans all stages of illness, including late stage disease, at which time Dr. Mead opines that Lyme antibody testing should be positive.

Further, as additional pathogenic species of borrelia are continually being discovered, the term 'Lyme disease' is being thought of more and more in a collective sense. It is logical to conclude that the Lyme ELISA would cross-react with at least some of these species. By restricting diagnosis to CDC two-tier serologic reporting criteria, a greater truth may be missed in that diagnoses of such patients with non-Lyme borrelial infections would not be possible in the absence of species-specific testing for the new species, which is largely unavailable.

Another important question regarding diagnosis relates to the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR is a very well-established and reliable technology that has been in continuous use for more than 30 years. It replicates DNA many times over so that it can be picked up on a test. If a PCR test is positive, this means that the DNA of a microbe is present and is considered definitive proof of infection for virtually every other infectious disease known in medicine. Yet for Lyme disease, it appears to me that there may be a double standard.

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I recently saw a video from the CDC in which Dr. Christina Nelson advised against using Lyme PCR to evaluate Lyme disease. She spoke of its relatively low sensitivity in vivo presumably as a motivation to avoid its use. However, if this test is positive, then active infection is confirmed, which is exactly what's needed to clarify persistent infection in Lyme disease. So it's curious that she would advise against its use, even with a less than perfect sensitivity.

It should be further noted that PCR is a very specific technology, meaning that even small differences in the targeted snippets of DNA can result in a negative test. Coupled with strain heterogeneity and highly variable gene expression in B. burgdorferi in the tick vs. the mammal, it appears that some PCR assays be may going after the wrong target. It's not clear from the video to which Lyme PCR tests Dr. Nelson is referring. Newer PCR's using multiple targets and other improved technologies may have better sensitivities.

She also expressed concern that PCR tests might be falsely positive and represent dead DNA. However published data demonstrates that injection of dead borrelial DNA into dogs did not produce positive Lyme PCR tests in as little as even a few days after inoculation. This means that dead Lyme DNA does not remain in the absence of a continual resupply by a live infection. So I'd like to know from where this concern springs? And if PCR false positivity is so problematic, then why has PCR emerged as the cornerstone for diagnosing and monitoring a multitude of infectious diseases and where are the warnings from CDC about false positive PCR for these other infectious diseases?

Mead: "It's most valuable to order the test in people who have or who are likely to have the disease. If a person is unlikely to have the disease there's a chance that if the test comes back positive that it's more likely a false positive than a true positive"

Phillips: This statement appears to have its roots in Bayes' Theorem. Bayesian methods are one of the more controversial approaches in statistics, with the inherent limitations of being a closed system of logic. For example, who is likely to have the disease?

Everything depends on the initial assumption of probability based on clinical criteria that are under dispute. We know that the objective clinical signs described by CDC surveillance criteria are restrictive in that they do not capture the majority of Lyme diagnoses, which is echoed by CDC itself below:

"...the total number of people diagnosed with Lyme disease is roughly 10 times higher than the yearly reported number"nu

http://www.cdc.gov/me.../releases/2013/p0819-lyme-disease.html

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So whereas patients having the objective clinical signs described by CDC surveillance reporting criteria are likely to have Lyme disease, it appears from CDC's own statement that these represent only the minority of patients. We'd therefore be missing the majority of diagnoses if we followed a Bayesian approach.

Mead: "CDC recommends that people rely on FDA approved tests for the diagnosis of Lyme disease"

"FDA approved tests are various forms of the two tier assay that I just mentioned, the serologic antibody testing"

Phillips: FDA approval for lab testing requires clarification as there are currently no FDA approved Lyme tests. States have Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) offices which ensure that labs adhere to certain standards.

FDA test approval is required when a test kit is sold across state lines in the US and does not, per se, indicate improved accuracy compared to CLIA approval. In the absence of a lengthy FDA approval process, tests can be cleared by FDA and given similar treatment if they are demonstrated to be roughly equivalent to a former comparator test.

The first Lyme Western blot to receive FDA clearance was the MarDx Lyme Western blot. A review of the FDA's database reveals that this test was compared to the Lyme Western Blot performed by Dr. Steere's lab at Tufts. It's not clear to me if the comparator test was ever FDA approved, but it appears from my interpretation of the data that it was not. Because most doctors don't know what this actually means, they view the lack of FDA approval or FDA clearance of a test as a bad thing. Lyme antibody assays offered by even the major universities that perform research in Lyme disease are not FDA approved. Historically, these tests have not even been cleared by FDA.

Mead: "The ILADS Guidelines advance two basic ideas: The first is that there really is not any adequate scientific information about the management of Lyme disease; and the second is that in the absence of that sort of information, healthcare providers should be free to do and treat patients in whatever way they see fit. Our concerns are that misrepresents or does not give full credit to the amount of scientific evidence there is about management of Lyme disease..."

Phillips: In response to the claim regarding the first basic idea, I think that this is a highly inaccurate statement. ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) is a multi-specialty medical society made up of physicians and researchers. Its members are well-published in the medical literature and the society holds large, very well-attended, CME-approved medical conferences annually both in the US and abroad.

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ILADS Guidelines provide an evidence-based approach to the management of Lyme disease. They are published in the peer-reviewed medical literature and are presently the only Lyme disease treatment guidelines listed on Guidelines.gov, an agency which is under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Guidelines.gov was created by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans, (which is now known as America's Health Insurance Plans) in order to provide physicians, other healthcare providers, and health plans with detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their use. Despite this, both CDC and insurance companies do not endorse or refer to ILADS Guidelines.

The ILADS Guidelines assess the medical literature on the topic of Lyme disease and associated infections. There are many shortcomings with the state of research in the field, but the purpose of the ILADS Guidelines is not to bemoan this fact but to improve the welfare of a suffering population who may be the most disenfranchised patients in medicine.

What is very clear is that B. burgdorferi has been isolated alive from both animals and humans despite administration of antibiotics that are deemed curative by IDSA and CDC. More alarmingly, this organism has also been isolated alive from humans after antibiotic therapies measured in many months to years, when the administered therapies are far in excess of what is declared curative by these same agencies.

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Much of the medical literature in which B. burgdoferi was isolated from patients despite "appropriate" antibiotic therapy was penned by IDSA Guidelines authors. These medical journal articles were either not referenced in the IDSA Guidelines, or when they were, they did not specifically refer to the aspects that document persistent borrelial infection despite antibiotic therapy. Despite this, CDC gives preference to IDSA Guidelines and does not endorse ILADS Guidelines.

In response to the claim regarding the second basic idea, ILADS Guidelines provide a heuristic algorithm for optimal treatment of an extremely heterogeneous group of very ill patients given the best available published medical literature on the topic. Inherent to this, there must be a place for sound clinical judgment, which may be the freedom to which Dr. Mead is referring. I fear the day when individualized clinical judgment is replaced by medical guidelines of any kind. You simply can't rigidly standardize Lyme disease treatment due to strain heterogeneity, co-infections, and differences in immune system types among patients.

Mead: "...and perhaps more importantly, we are concerned about patients who are being treated with unproven therapies; with therapies that are sometimes harmful. There are case reports of patients who died as the result of long term therapies for Lyme disease when in fact there wasn't even necessarily evidence that they were infected."

Phillips: I think one thing that we can all agree upon is that we want to minimize risks to patients from treatments and maximize benefits, which is why ILADS has physician training programs.

Therapies for most serious diseases likewise have potentially serious side effects, but the risk of fatality from long-term antibiotic therapy is quite low. For example, far more fatalities have been caused by Lyme disease than by its treatment.

The risk of fatal outcomes in the treatment of inflammatory diseases with immunosuppressive agents and cancer with chemotherapy is far higher than that with antibiotic therapy, but the difference in those diseases is that they are well accepted by CDC as legitimate so that the risk is deemed worthy. I would further counter that in the rare case reports of patients who died during therapy for Lyme disease, there was indeed evidence of infection, albeit not meeting strict CDC surveillance reporting criteria in all cases.

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Although it's correct that some therapies being used to treat chronic Lyme patients are of unproven efficacy, the high rates of treatment failures of even early, and most certainly late Lyme, are quite well-documented in the medical literature. It has been demonstrated in study after study without equivocation that short-term antibiotics are not effective in a great many cases. This, coupled with the documentation of microbial persistence despite such short term antibiotic therapies, makes the case for longer and better treatments. It's not uncommon in medicine for innovative therapies to be used in patients before well-designed trials document their utility. I see it all the time in other diseases.

Mead: "the reports of cases of Lyme being mistaken for other diseases are really quite rare"

Phillips: There are a great many cases in the published medical literature where Lyme disease has been mistaken for other diseases. Of course, in these cases the diagnosis of Lyme was eventually made, hence the ability to have the published reports. The natural question which follows is how many patients never get appropriately diagnosed with Lyme, never get treated, and remain in the category of 'other disease'.

In my clinical experience of treating over 20,000 patients, I see patients come in with diagnoses of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, various inflammatory disorders, cardiac symptoms, and MS on a regular basis. When I find evidence for Lyme and/or other zoonotic infection such as bartonella, the large majority of these patients markedly improve with antibiotic therapy.

Mead: "...patients who have been told they have Lyme and are then treated for Lyme, when in fact they have other things: pituitary adenomas, other types of malignancy, and some of those patients were seriously harmed by being given a diagnosis and long term therapy for Lyme disease when in fact their underlying condition went untreated."

Phillips: Medical mistakes will occur as long as the practice of medicine exists. Of that I'm certain. It's crucial for physicians in any area of medicine to pursue the correct diagnoses. But again, if we examine the published literature, there are relatively few reports of Lyme being diagnosed instead of another serious diagnosis which was missed.

Mead: "Why there seems to be so much controversy, I'm not really entirely clear."

"There is a lot of misinformation about Lyme disease, about basic facts about it that are spread a great deal on the internet."

"I fear that sometimes if people have heard something enough times, they come to really believe that it must be true."

Phillips: I very much believe that Dr. Mead is earnest in his statements. But then again, I'm conflicted because such statements appear to me to be myopic at best. How could this intelligent physician working at the highest levels of CDC not realize why there is so much controversy?

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Bias blind spot in medical terminology refers to recognizing the impact of biases on the judgment of others, while failing to see the impact of biases on one's own judgment. Published studies demonstrate that bias blind spot is pervasive in humans, begins in childhood, and is greater in individuals with greater cognitive ability. Confirmation bias in medical terminology refers to the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories. Published evidence documents that confirmation bias is very common and can lead to implacable decision making.

I think that it's all too easy for intelligent individuals in large groups to fall prey to these biases.

Mead: "There have been a number of studies, including one just published recently in the New England Journal from the Netherlands, which have looked at longer courses of antibiotic therapy for these patients, and of course what they find is that when patients get that therapy that they improve. The problem is that the patients who got the placebo also improved at the same rate. So I think it's a little bit misleading to suggest that there's been no science done on this problem."

"We can't just dismiss out of hand the numerous studies that have been done."

"We certainly do recognize that there are patients who've had Lyme disease and who have been treated and who will have persistent subjective symptoms, as I mentioned fatigue, some difficulty with their sleep, and with thinking, and with muscle aches and pains.

Those patients we refer to has having 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome'. So we recognize that that condition exists. The fundamental question is what is the cause of that condition? Is it a persistent infection? Or is it a complication of prior infection? And what is the best treatment for it. Is it long-term antibiotics or not? On the first question, we don't know the answer. It's possible that it's either one of those. We do have data on the second question. As I mentioned, a number of placebo-controlled trials which have looked at patients with 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome' and given them various courses of prolonged antibiotic and the bottom line of those studies is that overall they do not seem to benefit those patients in the long run."

Phillips: The gold standard in microbiology for diagnosing an infectious disease has always been to culture the organism alive. Despite notorious difficulties in culturing B. burgdorferi, in about 30 studies this organism has been cultured alive from patients despite at least standard antibiotic therapy, and in many cases after antibiotics far in excess of what is deemed curative by IDSA and CDC.



If the pathogen that causes a disease is still present in conjunction with symptoms compatible with that infection, it would appear to me that these 'fundamental questions about the cause of long term symptoms' should have been answered a very long time ago. To add insult to injury, recent studies from Tulane, Johns Hopkins, and Northeastern University all demonstrate that we can't even kill B. burgdorferi in the test tube with the currently recommended antibiotics.

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I cannot in good conscience use the term 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome' given the wealth of published information that this organism persists. It is, I believe, by its very definition, an illogical construct. What are the chances that a second disease of mysterious etiology but with the same symptoms as the first disease, would come and replace the first disease when there is published evidence that the pathogen which causes the first disease persists despite both short and long-term antibiotics?

There are numerous chronic bacterial infections which require long-term combination antibiotic therapies: Tuberculosis, leprosy, coxiella endcocarditis, brucellosis, Whipple's. Why should Lyme be different?

By referring to patients with persistent symptoms of Lyme disease after a short course of antibiotics as 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome' this may produce a de facto fait accompli, in that such patients, when desperately searching for answers on the CDC website, may feel that antibiotics can't possibly help them.

This may only delay their care further and increase the likelihood of subsequent antibiotic treatment failure. Because semantics guide patient care, I believe that the term 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome' is harmful.

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In response to the second question, it's true that there have been a number of studies addressing the response to antibiotics vs placebo of patients with persistent symptoms after Lyme disease, but I think that it's very important to specify what that number is and what those studies showed. There have only been 3 NIH-funded randomized placebo controlled studies looking at this problem since 2001. New Lyme infections as estimated by CDC are over 329,000 cases per year, which is more than new diagnoses of invasive breast cancer and HIV combined, yet the NIH has only funded 3 studies on this topic, and two of those 3 studies have demonstrated responses to antibiotics, albeit imperfect responses, as explored in the following discussion.

The first study was by Klempner. This study evaluated antibiotic vs placebo. The study was terminated early due to the determined likelihood that a beneficial effect would not be found. When this was critically analyzed with biostatistical methods, an article was published which I believe demonstrates that Klempner's study was so poorly designed and analyzed that in order for a treatment effect to have been observed, the antibiotic treated patients would have had to improve to a level of health which was a full standard deviation better than the average health of the general population. It's a reasonable hope for antibiotics to return a patient to a somewhat normal life; it's not a reasonable hope that they would improve that patient's health status to better than average.

The second study was by Krupp. It showed a reduction in fatigue in patients treated with antibiotics and not with placebo. There was no improvement in cognitive functioning. A biostatistical analysis demonstrated that fatigue was the only outcome of the study for which it was properly designed.

The third study was by Fallon. This was, in my opinion, the best designed of the 3 trials. It demonstrated improved cognition in antibiotic treated patients and not placebo, but these patients relapsed when antibiotics were discontinued. There were also benefits to antibiotic treated patients in fatigue and body pain by subgroup analysis.

Another study was performed by Cameron, which demonstrated benefits to antibiotics and not placebo across quality of life assessments. However, this study may have had statistical issues with baseline randomization.

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The PLEASE study from The Netherlands to which Dr. Mead is referring is, in my opinion, a study looking for a question to answer but failing to find one. When studies are designed, they must be designed thoughtfully to answer important questions. An important question which requires further study is whether longer and innovative antibiotic treatment regimens are superior to placebo in patients with chronic Lyme symptoms after a previous short course of antibiotics. The PLEASE study did not have a true placebo group in that all patients were treated with antibiotics. Further, the patient population was heterogeneous in that although most patients had been treated previously with antibiotics, some had not been previously treated.

The placebo aspect of this study was such that after 2 weeks of IV antibiotics, the patients then received further oral antibiotics vs placebo. There was no benefit to oral antibiotics piggybacked directly onto the IV antibiotics. Again, very little useful information, if anything, in my opinion, can be gleaned from a study using a heterogeneous patient population in which all of them received some form of antibiotic.

Mead: "We are very concerned about patients who are ill, both those patients with 'post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome as well as those patients who may have been misdiagnosed with it."

Phillips: The only way for real progress to be made is to consider a problem from all sides with, to paraphrase from Buddhism, the proverbial 'new eyes'. Abraham Lincoln famously countered confirmation bias by forming his cabinet with those that publicly disagreed with him. Why isn't the CDC doing something similar? Why isn't the IDSA?

IDSA physicians, assuming that they follow IDSA Guidelines, are not able to see the beneficial effect of following ILADS Guidelines because they don't treat in that way. However, ILADS physicians see the other side of the equation every day in the form of innumerable treatment failures after short term and limited range antibiotic treatment options.

I think it's very compelling that a study funded by CDC and published in 2015 demonstrated that the majority of US physicians polled treat Lyme disease with antibiotics for longer than 4 weeks, which is in excess of what IDSA Guidelines recommend.

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If someone of a CDC/IDSA centric view were to have confirmation bias, they may interpret this data as a wake-up call to better educate physicians on the proper way to treat Lyme disease.
July 11, 2016

His Excellency Adel Al Jubeir

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian Consulates General

5, 866 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10017

Dear H.E Adel Al Jubeir:

It has been a while since we last spoke. I hope you are doing well.

We are saddened to hear of the news of the terror attacks in Jeddah, Qatif, and Medina, Saudi Arabia on July 5. On behalf of the American Jewish Congress (AJCongress), we extend our condolences to the families of all those killed and injured in these attacks.

As President and Vice President of the AJCongress, we are firmly committed to U.S.-Saudi relations, and the on going efforts between our two countries to address radical extremism and incitement to violence. Given the challenges we face today, especially from the recent wave of terrorist attacks across the globe, we appreciate the advancement of these special relations and honor that they have been strengthened greatly under His Majesty King Salman.

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As the Kingdom mourns these attacks, we stand with you in solidarity. These attacks are an attack on all of us.

Most sincerely,

Jack Rosen

President, American Jewish Congress
I was born square in the middle of the massive, confusing, buzz-worthy generation known as the Millennials. Although I hate to put myself into that giant box, I recognize that I fit many stereotypes of my generation: I graduated with student debt in the middle of an economic crisis, the United States has been at war for more than half of my life, and most of my peers live paycheck to paycheck. Millennials get a bad rap for many traits that I unfortunately can't exclude myself from, but the characteristic I most like to identify with is my unwavering Millennial optimism for the future. Despite the challenges I faced as I entered the workforce, I have chosen a career that gives me purpose as well as success. My expanding role over the past four years at The Tea Spot, a certified B Corporation, has helped to fuel my hopeful approach to life and has shaped my career not only as a driven woman, but also as a force for good in the world.



I'll be honest; before I started working for The Tea Spot - an innovative tea and teaware company with a robust philanthropic arm - I didn't know what a B Corp was. I got the job through a friend of a friend and I was mostly grateful that I could use my degree for something other than waiting tables. It didn't take long, however, to realize that this small but mighty company was about more than just serving up a delicious cuppa. Founded in 2004, The Tea Spot actively supports the wellness of our community, our employees, and our customers by donating 10% of all sales in-kind to cancer wellness and community programs. This 10% Pledge was put into action by founder and cancer survivor Maria Uspenski, but our mission of promoting health and wellness with our product is embraced fully by every member of our team. This generosity isn't a marketing ploy; it's our way of putting our money where our mouth is - literally, one healthy mouthful of tea at a time.



For The Tea Spot, becoming a certified B Corp in 2011 was a way to have a third party formally quantify our donation efforts, but as we grow into a larger company, our certification means much more than just our 10% Pledge. We strive to constantly be a positive link in the tea supply chain by always sourcing high quality ingredients and materials, and we aim to make our tea blends as delicious as possible so that the enjoyment and health benefits of tea can be spread far and wide. We've made a concerted effort to substantially expand our organic line in recent years not only to keep up with growing demand, but also to help reduce our impact on the environment. As we continue to grow, we look to the example set forth by other B Corps to guide us and help us shape an employee culture that encourages lasting and fulfilling jobs for each member of our workforce. These efforts aren't just to make ourselves feel good. Every year we are contacted by hundreds of people who thank us for sharing our story and products, and who share their own tale of survival and wellness. These personal stories fuel us through every extra hour we put in at work and every extra effort we make to lift those around us.



It's easy to get overwhelmed by the problems that our world faces: climate change, poverty, disease, and warfare. By taking small steps as a company, The Tea Spot is part of a fast-growing movement to expand the definition of good business, and a group that is poised to make large changes in the world. Now present in 50 countries, B Corporations have become more than a few small businesses taking small steps. This attitude of collective change-making is what drew me into The Tea Spot, and it's what encourages The Tea Spot to continue to shine within this community. Whether the B Corp movement mirrors the millennial attitude or vice versa, this enthusiastic community of like-minded individuals and businesses encourage us to believe that it is possible to have it all: a thriving career, a profitable passion, and the ability to use business as a positive influence in the world. For The Tea Spot, our philanthropy and sustainability efforts aren't just an important part of our roots, it's a vital part of our decision-making process and the driving force that gives our work purpose.
Getting Used to Thinking for Oneself

Over the decades, students were surprised that they were being taught how to think, not what to think. No theory was ever presented as either true or false, nor were the questions raised ever resolved. Instead, from the first day of class, students had to learn to think for themselves in a sink-or-swim effort without help from their teacher. By having to figure things out on their own, students become accustomed to the uncertainty of being an adult with no answer key to the big questions of life.

After the initial novelty had worn off, most students continued to thrive in their newfound ability to do their own thinking. They were intrigued by their daily encounters with questions, which they came to see as a series of detective stories with themselves as Sherlock Holmes, trying to decide for themselves which theory was the best answer. Others were uneasy at not being given "the answers," an unease which lasted until January, when virtually everyone had become accustomed to the non-committal nature of the course.

A few, however, never became reconciled to not having the questions answered for them. I can still recall one student dropping by my classroom after school thirty years ago and entreating me to tell him the answers to the questions posed by the Bible as Literature unit, which followed our study of Classical Greece. I told him that there weren't any answers but only opinions, although those who offered these opinions believed that they were "the answers," despite the fact that these answers contradicted "the answers" of others.

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All I could do as a public-school teacher in teaching about the Bible, the Greeks, Modernism, Shakespeare, and the other six units of the course was to explain the various theories that over the centuries claimed to answer the questions explored by the course. I suggested that he see his clergyman, who would be more than happy to answer his questions and be no doubt impressed by his interest in them.

Students Can Say Whatever They Want

At the outset of the course, students were told that they could say whatever they wanted as long as they supported it. This freedom of speech had a galvanizing effect on their willingness to share their opinions, so unaccustomed were they to ever having been asked their views that would become the heart of the course. They saw at once that this would be a serious class about serious matters, one that placed them and their views at the center of things since others would be reacting to whatever they said.

They understood that the success of these discussions depended solely on them, and that the quality of their responses was crucial to having an interesting class. As the year wore on, they came to realize that they were part of the Great Conversation, a centuries-old tradition of inquiry into hundreds of questions and answers that began with the Greeks, with themselves the judges as to which answer was right.

These were curious and fair-minded high-school seniors with the courage to listen to all sides of a question. More to the point, they were at just the right age to learn critical thinking, since they weren't as yet irreparably socialized into a particular viewpoint before age, habit, and vested interests would disincline them to doubt and to question. A few girls even brought their knitting to class, an infallible sign that students were listening and deeply absorbed.

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No Right or Wrong Answers

The question of which student is right or wrong is the end of free inquiry, and the presumption, either stated or implied, that one view is "right" and the remaining ones "wrong" should be anathema in any institution of learning with pretensions of educating, rather than indoctrinating, the young. The year-long regimen of dealing with question after question without "right" or "wrong" answers gave students insight into the infinite yearning of the Greeks and their revolutionary achievement in the ancient world. This was a fearless culture driven by the audacity to look upon the face of Medusa and not be turned into stone by assailing questions too important to be settled by anyone other than those who would have to live with the consequences of those answers themselves.

Students were encouraged to use their most valuable, yet often overlooked and underutilized, asset of youthful skepticism to confront the timeless questions that every human being must ask in leading an examined life. The sole task of the teacher was to facilitate this process by helping them experience both the challenge and dignity of this rite of passage as had the Greeks, at whose coming something new and exciting had entered the world, which from that moment on was transformed forever.

Truth Can Defend Itself

High-school seniors intuitively understand that if something is true it can defend itself by withstanding the most withering scrutiny. Conversely, if a viewpoint is protected by excluding other views from the classroom, students lose respect for the course, which they simply dismiss as propaganda. The more theories taught that answer a question, the more intellectually dangerous and interesting a course will become. This is the only way for students to learn to trust their own judgment, rather than being spoon-fed "answers" from talking dispensing machines.

While studying the Greeks, students also received an enhancement of their already considerable skeptical instincts by a technical introduction to critical thinking, listening, and reading. These skills were necessary for students to appreciate what exactly the Greeks were experiencing in exploring the nature of untrammeled thought as a means toward living a more humanized life.

Continual exposure to questions taught them that there was more than one plausible answer to questions, not simply the ones they had been socialized into believing; that an education consisted of learning as many competing answers to a question as possible rather than only those officially sanctioned; and that once they succumbed to letting any philosophy, institution, or party dictate their thinking, they ceased to be autonomous persons.

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"Negative Capability"

Making one's peace with uncertainty was another motif that reappeared later in our unit on Romanticism. In a famous letter to his brothers, the 22-year-old English poet John Keats refers to "Negative Capability," the state of mind when someone "is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any reaching after fact or reason." When encountering something which transcends understanding, we can only accept the limits of reason and admit that there are things which can never be known. Students were profoundly affected by this unusual letter in which one of England's greatest poets, not much older than themselves, opens his soul and speaks of the presence of mystery in human existence and the poet's attempt at capturing it.

They were reminded of what they had learned from the pre-Socratics and Skeptics about the unknown, the medieval scholastics' "Everything ends in mystery," Pascal's "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing," Faust's lament "that nothing can be known," Wittgenstein's "What we cannot speak of we must pass over in silence," and Nietzsche's enigmatic "Supposing truth is a woman - what then?" Develop the mind, they all seem to be saying, but do not make it your god. Welcome the unexplainable into your life. Remember Icarus and human limitation, and Pindar's "man is but a shadow's dream!"

Critical Thinking

What one would like to see students coming away with at the end of their high-school years is an awareness that everything they have ever been taught is only one set of theories among many; that entire libraries are filled with books written both to prove and to disprove their most cherished beliefs; and that an education is simply the ability to listen calmly to views that draw into question the very ground on which one stands while not losing one's temper or self-confidence. Critical thinking should permeate the entire high-school curriculum, so that students are both intellectually and emotionally prepared for all manner of controversies in a college classroom. Practically speaking, this would mean the ability to evaluate critically whatever a professor is saying before giving or withholding their assent.



To High-School Seniors Reading this Article

To test their college readiness, high-school seniors reading this article may want to ask themselves whether they would be able to make the following assessments when listening to a lecture by a college professor:

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Are there inconsistencies in what the speaker is saying?

Do any of the statements contradict known facts?

Could another theory explain the facts equally well? If so, why is the speaker's theory preferred?

Is the theory certain, probable, or only possible? Is the speaker claiming that the theory is certain or probable when it is only possible? Is the case being overstated by claiming more than the evidence allows?

Are the arguments convincing? What other arguments might support the case? Why aren't they mentioned?

Does the speaker think that merely stating a theory is proving it?

If the case were true, what would be the implications? Are these implications dealt with? If not, why not?

Does the speaker have a hidden agenda?

Who would profit if the theory were true?

Are fallacies present, especially appeals to the man, authority, fear, antiquity, novelty, pity, crowd, ignorance, self-interest, the fallacy of origins, vicious circle, self-evident truth, tautology, question-begging epithets, irrelevant conclusion, false cause, false generalization, false analogy, unqualified generalization, insufficient options, or complex question?

Are the facts presented actually facts or disguised opinions, value judgments, debatable explanatory theories, unprovable metaphysical hypotheses, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance, or fear-mongering dressed up as "facts"?

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Can the proofs advanced themselves be proven, or do they presuppose as true the very thing the speaker is trying to prove? Are the so-called "proofs" even relevant to the theory advanced? Are they simply the theory expressed in different words?

Is anything being said between the lines?

What are the objections against this theory? Does the speaker state them fairly or misrepresent them? Are they being refuted convincingly? Are only the easy ones refuted, but the hard ones ignored?

Are the questions put to the speaker being persuasively answered or evaded by creating the impression that they are being answered?

Does the speaker flit from point to point without offering proof for what's being claimed?

Is the presentation rushed, confused, or disorganized?

Does the speaker appeal to evidence or emotion? Is the choice of words manipulative by describing the issues in emotional terms?

Is the speaker trying to win listeners over by flattering them, wanting to be liked or to be accepted by them, or suggesting that they're all in this together to distract them from the fact that no proof is being offered for what has been claimed?

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Is the speaker trying to frighten listeners so that they won't be able to think calmly?

Concluding Reflections

Regrettably, not every high-school graduate entering college would be able to make these critical assessments. The question is shouldn't they be able to in order to get the most out of college?

If they don't possess these critical skills, where can they learn them if not in high school?

And if they aren't learning them, isn't it reasonable to assume that they'll have a rocky road ahead of them in college?

Don't high schools have an obligation to teach these skills before sending their graduates to college?

If they do, why haven't they done it?
Intelligence agents: Obama falsified reports regarding ISIS, Al Nusra Front

Dozens of U.S. intelligence analysts formally filed complaints that their honest intelligence evaluations regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaida's branch Al Nusra Front in Syria were altered by superiors to prop up President Barack Obama's false proclamations that he and his "national security team" are winning the war.



Fox News Channel's judicial analyst, former Bergen County, New Jersey, Criminal Court Judge Andrew Napolitano, told Fox anchorman Bret Baier that "charges of personnel at U.S Central Command (CENTCOM) allegedly destroying evidence to minimize negative assessments of the administration's fight against ISIS is a big deal and I'm sorry to say I think it's going to go nowhere in the Obama administration." Unfortunately, the judge was absolutely correct - the news media couldn't care less about the report that questioned Obama's mendacity.



Meanwhile the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee was quoted as openly accusing personnel at CENTCOM of deleting files that might reveal their intelligence assessments were "doctored up" to show U.S. success against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists.



"We have been made aware that both files and emails have been deleted by personnel at CENTCOM and we expect that the Department of Defense will provide these and all other relevant documents to the committee," Rep. Devin Nunes said at a hearing on worldwide threats facing the United States.



As previously reported in the Conservative Base, Fox News' Chief Intelligence Correspondent Catherine Herridge was informed by her anonymous but reliable source, who is an associate of the CENTCOM intelligence analysts, that they were instructed to avoid negative reports. In fact, they received two emails saying the analysts needed to "cut it out" and "toe the line," when submitting reports.



In an earlier report published by the Conservative Base, it was reported that some of the intelligence community's top analysts informed the Pentagon's official watchdog that their reports have been systematically edited to backup President Obama's - and his national security team's - false narrative in which they claimed the air campaign against ISIS is more successful than it actually is.


When I began my academic career at a historic Southern university, I recall being led to my new faculty office. My jaw dropped as I entered a spacious corner office in a building dating from well before the Civil War. Spying the majestic vaulted windows that overlooked the quad at the center of campus, I thought to myself, "I will never again have such a grand office."

That prediction remains true even after three decades and a succession of high-level administrative posts, including one as a college president.

I had been assigned such a swanky office as a fluke--a function of the dean's desire to support the university's new writing center, which I was to direct. Typically, such coveted spaces are reserved for senior professors or top administrators, not newly minted PhD's.

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Space, as I soon discovered, is often bitterly contested on many college campuses. Senior professors jockey to be assigned larger offices as they become available, while junior professors are often relegated to dingy, windowless cubicles.

Departments also vie for space, competing for control over additional classrooms and offices. Even administrative divisions are not above attempting to wrestle valuable real estate from one another. Student-affairs and academic-affairs officers might squabble over whether a certain room should be used as a classroom or as a student social room, for example.

I know a biology department at one college where laboratory space is the object of a pitched battle. The department was fortunate to have hired a contingent of bright junior scientists who were conducting potentially groundbreaking research in a cutting-edge subfield. But those assistant and associate professors were relegated to small, cramped labs, while the senior professors, who worked in more traditional--and, some would say, less au courant--areas enjoyed spacious labs despite the fact that several of them had long ago abandoned active research. The dean was reluctant to intervene and reallocate lab space, fearing he would offend the powerful senior professors.

At another university, the faculty offices of a large, sprawling department were scattered randomly throughout three floors of a building. Consolidating the entire department onto one floor would make logistical sense, but that would have entailed relocating a small but influential department. It resisted, thus triggering a decade-long dispute.

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And, of course, the perennial space dispute on practically every college campus is the one over parking--who gets to park where and for what reasons and at what cost. Parking spaces seem to be at a premium even more so than office and lab spaces. At some campuses, parking policy has become an explosive issue, the cause of petitions, senate resolutions, and public protests.

Clearly, space is a fraught subject in academe. At a conference for college presidents that I attended recently, a speaker asked the attendees to name their greatest challenge. Dealing with space issues was in the top three. As one frustrated president said, "I can raise millions of dollars from donors, solve complex problems in our infrastructure, and even mollify our restless faculty union, but I never seem to be able to conclusively solve our ever-present challenges involving the allocation of space."

While academic space is highly politicized, the ground of contestation is not solely the senior/junior-professor axis. Disciplinary politics often come into play as well. Faculty members at some institutions report that certain fields are perpetually discriminated against when it comes to assigning offices. More often than not, people in the humanities are the ones complaining about second-class treatment, although their colleagues in the social sciences are not far behind.

I remember years ago traveling to one of the nation's most prestigious technical institutions to spend time with a scholar who was a hugely influential language theorist. I passed by numerous modern, gleaming buildings before arriving at an old, poorly maintained building. The halls leading to his office were badly in need of paint, and in several places, a bare light bulb hung from a frayed wire. I was astounded that this celebrated intellectual was relegated to substandard accommodations, while science and engineering professors in adjacent buildings enjoyed state-of-the-art facilities.

It is understandable why this subject arouses such passions. Space is at the very core of our existence. As faculty members we spend our entire professional lives confined to modest-sized offices or laboratories, and in many cases we teach in the very same classrooms year after year. Administrators, too, are often consigned to narrowly circumscribed spaces. And this is precisely why space is so highly politicized on our campuses. In an economy of scarcity, a rare commodity will be fought over tenaciously.

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To minimize the volatility over the issue, some officials have attempted to regulate the allocation of space. Some university systems, for example, have established specific standards: faculty offices and labs must conform to certain dimensions and square footage, regardless of the professorial rank or academic discipline of the occupants. Even the size and furnishings of administrative offices are proscribed: An associate dean's office will contain one small conference table of a certain dimension and four matching chairs, while a dean's office will be proportionally larger and contain similar furnishings plus a small sofa and armchair.

The advantage of such regulations is that they ensure fairness--avoiding such situations as the chemistry professor with an office twice the size of the art historian's, or the associate dean of fine arts who has a more majestic office than the engineering dean.

It is increasingly common, especially at large universities, for individual departments and colleges to develop formal policies specifying how space will be allocated--who is entitled to laboratory space, for example, and under what conditions. Here, too, the idea is to calm tempers by introducing a systematic approach for allocating the precious real estate on our campuses.

Often, space is an issue of concern or contention beyond the campus borders. Some institutions, especially in cities, are "landlocked," their boundaries so predetermined that the only way they can grow is up. That's why many institutions take every opportunity to acquire adjacent properties, even before a clear use for them is determined.

While space remains a politically fraught subject, academe is now experiencing an unprecedented reconceptualization of academic space. What once were "dormitories" (nondescript cement-block cells) are today well-conceived living spaces complete with lounges, living areas, and bedroom suites. Libraries, such as the one at my own college, are being reconfigured. At one time, "the stacks" were likely to constitute the central hub of the library and our experience of library space; now the center is likely to be an "information commons," complete with networked computers and lounge space for students.

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Where the typical university building of a decade ago was dedicated to a single use--office space, or classroom space, for example--increasingly more campuses are now creating "mixed-use" buildings serving a number of functions. One university I worked for recently constructed a building that on the ground floor contains state-of-the-art classrooms and a modern food court; other floors contain administrative offices, and several floors are devoted to student residences. Another institution I worked for constructed a large parking facility with private retail establishments on the first floor. Such buildings redefine academic space in significant ways.

As administrators, we must be conscious of the politics of academic space. We need to be sensitive to the fact that many people measure their worth and self-esteem according to the offices they are assigned, and that much more is at stake than simply a place to work. Recognizing the fraught political realities might help us create policies and practices that are transparent and that ensure equity. And as colleges continue to redefine space in ways that are less "siloed" and more open and conducive to collaboration and interaction, perhaps we can redefine the very politics of academic space itself.
By, Shawn Grooms

With the recent string of attacks directed at Mexicans, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and people of color from Donald Trump, the idea of a gay or even black Republican sounds about as taboo as a trans-woman in the North Carolina public restroom.

The two just don't mix, right? Wrong.

The Republican National Convention did all they could to inject minority voices into the speaking lineup, yet many began to question whether or not those speakers were proper representations of minority communities or simply bucking the trend.

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"When we hear from these representatives of minority communities at the RNC, they're really trying to blanket some of Donald Trump's more dangerous ideas," Brian Tashman, a Senior Research Analyst at the People for the American Way, told GVH-Live.

Two of the RNC's speakers, Peter Thiel, a gay entrepreneur, and Sheriff David Clarke, a black conservative, caused some to scratch their heads.

"Peter Thiel is someone who wouldn't be affected by some of Donald Trump's most dangerous policies," Brian stressed. He pushed for policies that include giving parents the option of placing children in gay-conversion therapy, even with the American Psychiatric Association's strong opposition to such "treatment."

Thiel, who's the founder of PayPal, benefitted greatly from a lawsuit with the media company, Gawker, after the popular site outed him in 2007.

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"I am proud to be gay," Thiel exclaimed during his RNC speech. "I am proud to be a Republican, and most of all I am proud to be an American."

According to Time Magazine, Thiel's speech centered mostly around fixing the nation's economic crisis, an issue concerning many Americans, especially millennials. While it's a milestone, Thiel's lack of discussion on LGBTQ rights left a bitter taste with the majority of the community.

Thiel's disclaimer of "not agreeing with every plank of the platform" was insignificant to his indifference over the "transgender bathroom" debate. The venture capitalist did more to illustrate his immunity, than announce a call to action.

However, he wasn't the only minority speaker to come off as an anomaly, rather than a representative. Given the growing tensions between the black and law enforcement communities, Sheriff David Clarke took the opportunity to share his two cents spoke on the issue.

Opening his speech with "Blue Lives Matter!", the Milwaukee County sheriff made his stance against the Black Lives Matter movement perfectly clear, standing by his previous comments in which he denounced BLM activists as "black slime."

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Clarke is considered a "contradiction to his own statement within himself" by many members of the black community.
This July, I visited Venice for the fifth time in seven years. Over those five trips, I have fallen in love with Venice, with her backstreets and her broad canals, with her crowded buildings tumbling against one another and her crowds. After writing my article, "Venice: Must Sees and Mystique", I began to wonder what I had missed on my previous trips. Here are five tips on what to see and do off the beaten track from the eyes of two locals who have lived in Venice their whole lives.

Many thanks to Alex and Max, the two Venetians from the Hotel al Ponte Antico who showed me -- and now you -- their favorite spots to catch a glimpse of the true Venice.

1. The Gondola Yard

Cross the Ponte Academia and head the opposite direction of the Guggenheim Museum and the crowds to Squero San Trovaso. On the corner before you reach the Gondola Yard, be sure to step into "MAX Studio" where Max creates soft watercolors and jewel-colored masks. If you are looking for a memorable piece of Venice to bring home, invest in one of his unique, affordable, and hand-made masks. Continue onto the next street and stroll along the canal to Cantine del Vino Gia Schiavi for lunch. A hotspot for locals, this enoteca sells fragrant, fresh glasses of wine and crostini with a mouthwatering assortment of flavors from ricotta with pumpkin to nettle and asparagus. Across the street is the Gondola Yard, the sleek boats turned on their sides, open warehouses of tools framing the image and seagulls flying in and out. As with the best experiences, this one is about the journey and delicious and delightful discoveries along the way -- the destination is an added bonus.

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2. Ca'Rezzonico

This palace in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, rented by Cole Porter in the 1920s, paints a portrait of Venice across history from her magnificent glass pieces from Murano and items owned by the nobility of Venice to the Third Floor which features art from the greatest masters of Italy and Venice. If you are looking to see the past grandeur of this historically rich city, this palace is the place to go.

3. The Arsenale

The naval yard of Venice, the Arsenale still buzzes with officers and the hum of the ocean. The main attraction is the architecture, with the primary building in typical Venetian brown and white with a star-studded sapphire blue face on its clock tower and a winged Venetian lion on its frontispiece. Two resting lions flank the doors and Roman gods look accusingly at visitors from their high and mighty posts. Weave through the streets to go behind the building and look out onto the sea for one of the most striking views in Venice.

4. Punta della Dogana

For a panoramic view of Venice, take a trip to the Punta della Dogana -- the view from which is pictured at the top of this post. Set in the shadow the powder white Santa Maria della Salute (Our Lady of Health: built to celebrate Venice's rebirth after a particularly deadly bout of plague), choose a spot on the stairs or the point itself to watch over "La Serenissima," Venice's beloved nickname: the "Most Serene." Local musicians play in the shade and in the background you can hear the hustle and bustle of Venice and blare of boat horns atop the ever-present rumble of the sea. If you are looking for the best spot in Venice for a photo of you and your partner or family, look no further than this point. From late afternoon sunlight to watercolor sunset to bright lights of night, there is no better place in Venice to watch Venice.

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5. Isola di San Pietro

Behind the Biennale and Parco delle Rimembranze is the Isola di San Pietro. In front of the Church is the only true "Campo" left in Venice. Centuries ago, every Church in Venice had a green area, or Campo, in front of it -- as you may notice, the many churches of Venice, with the exception of this one, are now fronted by concrete and cobblestone. To see the Venice of centuries ago, take a hike from the center of town to this beautiful outpost, frozen in time.
Robin Lindley is a Seattle-based writer and attorney, and the features editor of the History News Network (hnn.us). His articles have appeared in HNN, Crosscut, Salon, Real Change, Documentary, Writer's Chronicle, and others. He has a special interest in the history of conflict and human rights. You can find his other interviews here. His email: robinlindley@gmail.com.

There's an American mythology about Abraham Lincoln that portrays him as saintly and far above the grimy rough-and-tumble world of politics.

Now Sidney Blumenthal, an acclaimed journalist and political advisor to President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton, dispels the notion of a Lincoln too noble for politics in the first volume of his planned four-volume work on the sixteenth president, A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1849 (Simon & Schuster).

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As this book reveals in fascinating detail, the young Lincoln fully embraced the world of politics, reveled in the messy give and take, and sparred energetically with his opponents--employing skilled oratory and acute knowledge of human nature peppered with sharp moments of wit, sarcasm and ridicule.

Mr. Blumenthal humanizes the man who became one of our greatest presidents, a man who came from poverty and youthful slavery as an indentured servant for his father until he turned 21 years old. It's a stunning story that continues to inspire: how the backwoods youth with only a few weeks of formal education became an accomplished lawyer, a brilliant politician, and an extraordinary leader and statesman.

In A Self-Made Man, we learn fascinating details of Lincoln's self-education and intellectual growth, his mastery of works from the Bible and Shakespeare to philosophy, history and law. Wherever he wandered, Lincoln found mentors and borrowed books, and his devotion to learning continued through his life.

Further, Mr. Blumenthal plumbs the roots of Lincoln's hatred of slavery that began in childhood, forged in anti-slavery Baptist churches he attended with his family. He later opposed the Mexican War, a war of choice based on mendacity; he stood up for women's rights, attacking the polygamy of Mormonism, a practice he compared to slavery; and he abhorred the nativism that eventually found form in the anti-immigrant Know Nothing Party. The book also explores Lincoln's personal life: his bouts of melancholy and self-doubt; his relationship with his politically savvy and encouraging wife Mary Todd Lincoln; his separation from his own family.

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Mr. Blumenthal offers a fresh view of Lincoln informed by his experience as a White House political advisor and as a prominent political journalist. His book has won wide praise for its exhaustive research, rich detail, and lively writing, including laudatory remarks from Lincoln experts and other historians such as James McPherson, Harold Holzer, Jean Edward Smith, Michael Beschloss, Jon Meacham, and Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo, who called A Self-Made Man a "great book" with a "miracle of detail" on Lincoln's political activism.

Mr. Blumenthal's other books include The Clinton Wars; The Rise of the Counter-Establishment; The Strange Death of the Republican Party; How Bush Rules; and The Permanent Campaign. In addition to his service as a political advisor, he is a renowned journalist and has been national staff reporter for The Washington Post, Washington editor and staff writer for the New Yorker, senior writer for The New Republic, and has contributed to many other publications.

Mr. Blumenthal graciously responded to an array of questions about his new book by telephone from his office in Washington, D.C.

Robin Lindley: What inspired you to undertake years of work on your multi-volume life of Abraham Lincoln?

Sidney Blumenthal: I didn't know when I began that I would do all of this work, but I fell down a rabbit hole.

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I always had an interest in Lincoln that was something of an obsession, even as a boy, growing up in Chicago and visiting Springfield on a kind of pilgrimage and reading the Sandburg biography.

This book began as quite a different project. When I finished The Clinton Wars, I began a book on race, politics and presidents. It was to be a historical work, and I did an enormous amount of work on it. I wrote a long proposal that could be published in its own right. It was thirty thousand words or more. It would have traced since FDR through Reagan how the identities of the parties changed under the impact of race and civil rights movements and politics.

But I kept falling deeper into the past, trying to understand the roots of it all. Very quickly, I found myself naturally at Lincoln, and then doing a great deal of reading and work on the Civil War. I had to get back to the very beginning to really grasp how all of this happened.

Then I wrote and wrote the first volume and thought I may as well keep going. I kept going all the way through the war and the assassination and then a lot about Reconstruction.

Then, when I realized what I had done and how I had done it and had a sense of the issues I was dealing with and the architecture of the whole work, I realized that volume one was inadequate. I basically threw it out and began from scratch. I wrote it in almost a long breath, and that volume came out to more than 1300 pages. My editor at Simon and Schuster, Alice Mayhew, told me it was too long to publish. But she didn't want to cut it, so it became two books, and what was originally a trilogy became four books.

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The book that has just been published is the first part of part one, but it's rounded out. I really wanted to get to the beginnings of Lincoln and the world around him. He is directly and indirectly influenced by all sorts of politics and religious developments from primitive Baptist churches his parents belonged to that were emancipationist to the Mormons and the Illinois Mormon War that dominated Illinois politics in the 1840s and culminated in the murder of the prophet Joseph Smith. And there was the rise of highly-organized political parties based on patronage, party discipline, party conventions and candidates, which Lincoln grew up in and was very much part of. I wanted to understand not only how Lincoln developed but also how these larger questions that consumed him developed and emerged and how he engaged with them.

Robin Lindley: There are thousands of books on Lincoln and I wondered what you hoped to add about him.

Sidney Blumenthal: I think I bring to bear a unique experience. I have been a journalist in Washington for a long time, and not many journalists write about Lincoln. And I've worked in the White House and had been closely involved with President Clinton. And I've been involved with elections. It's a set of experiences that inform what I do in approaching Lincoln.

As I understand Lincoln as a politician to the marrow of his bones, I also understand Lincoln's intellectual development and how he responds to and is a participant in the events of his times. And none of these things are separate. He is of a piece. I've approached Lincoln as a one of the first men of the first generation of professional politicians in America, an entirely new class.

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There's also some interpretation. I did find that his antislavery feelings were somewhat shrouded or mysterious from the beginning, as some historians have said. He said he was "naturally antislavery" in one of his autobiographies and I located this, and others have. I found more details from his semi-literate parents and their religious affiliation. I connected this to his character and drew out from his statement that he used to be a slave to his relationship with his father, which affected his sense of himself, his aspirations, his ambitions, his feelings about his family, his relationship with his wife, his understanding of himself as a Whig, a partisan warrior, a politician in relation to reform movements, his ideas of respectability, of how he dealt with his inner sense of inferiority, all the way up to his ideology of free labor and how he approached it. And beyond, there's a deeply rooted idea of emancipation and a sense of self-emancipation. It goes well beyond a simple version of being self-made.

Robin Lindley: You certainly correct some of my misconceptions about Lincoln's early life and debunk popular myths. Your account of Lincoln undermines the notion of him as a saintly person who felt above politics.

Sidney Blumenthal: Lincoln at one point, in his eulogy of [Henry] Clay--his ideal, who he didn't support for the presidency in 1840 because Clay wasn't electable and didn't support in 1848 for the same reason, and yet still attributed him a model--in his eulogy, Lincoln said that Clay never spoke except for a practical purpose. I believe that Lincoln followed that example. While his words are plain and eloquent and he had a uniquely American way of expressing himself. In his unadorned manner, he was a very deliberate thinker about the political effect of every phrase that he expressed.

Lincoln was not writing out of his aesthetic sense or simply to write something that might be beautifully done or artful. He was always cognizant of many levels of politics surrounding him simultaneously and trying to have an impact, in one way or another.

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Lincoln's political contemporaries who understood him thought he had the keenest understanding of human nature and politics. Gustavus Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, used the word "cute" to describe him. That's a political word and means someone who is exceedingly clever in politics. Lincoln was that and his personality served him in that way while he enormously enjoyed the company of politicians and newspaper people who were a form of politicians even as they are today, whatever they say.

Lincoln had an inner reserve as [his law partner and biographer William] Herndon and many others commented on. From that, with every hurdle, he was always closely assessing everyone around him. It was not that he was wary or skeptical. It was that he was figuring them out in the larger situation.

Without those skills, which were human skills, and political skills are human skills, he wouldn't have been able to achieve what he did. There's a direct connection between his always growing in his understanding of politics and the larger world around him, about which he paid the closest attention.

Robin Lindley: This may be a stretch, but it seems that President Clinton shared this special understanding of human nature. President Clinton is known for an emotional intelligence that goes beyond what most politicians possess.

Sidney Blumenthal: I'm very hesitant to compare anybody to Lincoln because Lincoln was unto himself.

But President Clinton paid very close attention to people. An example would be [House Speaker] Newt Gingrich who is an interesting psychological case study of someone who wants desperately to be taken seriously and is incredibly needy. And I think Clinton understood him. He was able to work with him in such a way that, when Gingrich returned to the House Republican Conference after being with Clinton, they would become infuriated with him because they thought he had conceded too much to Clinton. They decided they didn't trust Gingrich, and they sent him only to be with Clinton with minders and never to be alone with Clinton. They thought Clinton understood Gingrich too well, and that Gingrich was too psychologically vulnerable to somebody like Clinton. That's an interesting case study.

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Lincoln used humor and storytelling to persuade, cajole, entertain, but also to assess people.

Robin Lindley: I appreciated his skilled use of irony, sarcasm and ridicule.

Sidney Blumenthal: Yes. Lincoln early on was "The Slasher," and he was used by his party, the Whig Party, to "take down"--in the phrase they used--prominent, venerable opponents who could be humiliated on a platform by a quicker, younger man.

He altered his manner over time, but he learned how to do that and never forgot how to do that. That skill was always in him even if he tempered how he used it later in life.

Robin Lindley: Lincoln's literacy and skills as a reader, lawyer and statesman are incredible in view of his extremely limited formal education. What did you learn about his education?

Sidney Blumenthal: It's staggering to realize that Lincoln had only a few weeks of formal education at what was called a frontier "blab school" where a teacher would make students memorize and recite passages. That was it.

The rest of his education was on his own. His father discouraged him and even punished him for reading. He was protected by his stepmother. That's one reason he loved her so much. She protected him from the oppression of his father who was himself an oppressed man.

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Lincoln's reading was connected to his wandering. In one of his autobiographies, he called his father a "wandering labor boy." That's also a self-description. That's what Lincoln was in Indiana. His father was renting him out as an indentured servant, as a slave, until he was 21.

But he was wandering around finding older men, mainly lawyers, who had personal libraries and he would read his way through them. That's how he discovered the law, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, his first histories of the United States. He became an aficionado of Shakespeare. He had the Bible under his belt from attending churches in his childhood. But then he revolts against it. He read Tom Paine's Age of Reason and Volney's Ruins--an early anthropological critique of religion as myth by a French philosophe. That's an unusual book now. Lincoln would always recommend Volney.

He continued his self-education all the way through. His law partner had undoubtedly the largest private library in Springfield.

Lincoln was also a reader from a very early age of newspapers and this was a very important element of his education. He was known as a phenomenon at the time. He was called a "newsboy," and those were young people who avidly read newspapers. In a way, newspapers were one of the earliest forms of social media. They were handed person to person and copies were not thrown out usually. Many people would read one copy early on. When the Louisville paper arrived, that was precious.

Interestingly, in Lincoln's early life, these newspapers ran very little if any local news. That was assumed to be a matter of oral transmission. The local papers printed an enormous amount of national news and included whole excerpts from the speeches in Congress. That's how Lincoln first encountered that kind of language, the art of oration. He could quote to his children not only parts of the Bible but also from the speeches of Clay and Webster and so on that he had read in the newspapers.

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The United States had the greatest circulation of newspapers of any western nation and had, in the North, the greatest literacy rate of the western world. The newspapers were an important educational institution as they arose in the form they did in the nineteenth century. They were also partisan institutions, in one way or another attached to a movement or a political party and they expressed that point of view.

As I show, Lincoln was more or less the co-editor of the Sangamo Journal in Springfield. There were many anonymous editorials, and he presided over the editorials for decades.

Robin Lindley: Thank you for reminding me of the role of newspapers then. You bracket the book with Lincoln's comment "I was a slave," and you stress that he saw slavery from the point of view of a slave. Can you say more about Lincoln's indentured servitude to his father and how that came about?

Sidney Blumenthal: Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, was a crucial figure in Lincoln's life. His half-brother Mordecai inherited the family wealth and became wealthy and a kind of squire. He raced horses, owned land, and traded slaves. He received this [inheritance] through the practice of primogeniture that had existed since feudalism even in the United States then.

Thomas Lincoln had to make his way through some sort of labor. He was never formally educated and was semi-literate. He was a carpenter and he was forced to compete against slaves for wages. According to Ida Tarbell, an early Lincoln biographer whose research I found valuable, Thomas Lincoln was anti-slavery and was married by an anti-slavery preacher who was a follower of Tom Paine. She located the names of preachers he listened to and what they said, and I researched further about their careers as emancipationists.

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In any case, Thomas Lincoln had a farm that was basically expropriated unfairly through legal machinations by an absentee landlord living in Philadelphia. He fled across the Ohio River to Indiana, a free state, and started farming there. He wandered from place to place. He was never successful. Relatives described him as easy-going, but he was often harsh with young Abe. He did not believe in education. He saw education as an obstacle to learning a trade that would enable his son to get by in the world. He saw education as a waste of time and reading as a form of laziness. He would punish his son for reading.

Lincoln was a naturally bright, inquisitive boy with curiosity about the world around him. He read newspapers and books about other people who had wider experiences, and he felt himself oppressed by his father.

Interestingly, Lincoln made his comment "I was a slave" in 1856. But Lincoln was reticent and didn't like to talk about himself and didn't like to talk in detail about his earliest background: his impoverishment, his abandonment, his loneliness, his stunted upbringing, his father. All of this creates a ferocious aspiration on his part to escape this and become a most respectable person and a professional person and to rise as high as he could.

He left his father when he was 21 after the family had gone to Illinois. His father and family went one direction and he famously went down the Sangamon River and landed in New Salem as he began his new life alone.

It's not exactly an accident that he married up to the most socially prominent woman he knew who was also the most political woman he knew. That's who Lincoln was.

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Back to 1856, he said "I was a slave," and then he made a joke and said, "And now I am so free they let me practice law." And the audience laughed. But that was a searing experience for him growing up and he did feel he was a slave. And he often talked about slavery from the point of view of a slave, which is very different from the rhetoric of abolitionists who adopted a Protestant-Evangelical rhetoric through which they sought to arouse outrage and convert their audience.

Lincoln does something else. He talks often empathetically about slavery. In 1856, when he said, "I was a slave," he had just become a new man. He became a Republican. The extension of slavery had been an issue for him when he was in the Congress and before, but now it was the central issue of his life. He was, in a sense, further free to make this remark, and yet it's still burning so that it requires him to apply the kind of ointment of humor to it.

Robin Lindley: That adds to the understanding of Lincoln's deeply rooted anti-slavery sympathies. Many writers have described Mary Todd Lincoln as unbalanced and a detriment to Lincoln. However, you capture a tempestuous but very loving relationship where each partner supported and encouraged the other.

Sidney Blumenthal: There are other historians who appreciate Mary Lincoln more than the stereotype of her like Ruth Painter Randall.

But there is a stereotype of Mary Todd Lincoln. She's depicted as a burden on her husband and a weight on him--someone who harasses him constantly and is another source of his endless and Job-like condition. In addition to dealing with the war, he also has to deal with Mary. But that's not how he thought of it nor was it the essence of the marriage.

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I don't believe there would have been a Lincoln without Mary Lincoln. He was highly unstable himself. He had a nervous breakdown as a young man. He had risen fast in his world, but he still harbored an intense sense of inferiority because of his upbringing. He had cut himself off from his family and he sought to rise far above them. His manners were unschooled and he was awkward with women and in society. He was much more at ease entertaining groups of men, telling stories.

After his breakdown after his breakup of his relationship with Mary, he was very confused. He was treated by his doctor who was also his political associate, Anson Henry. Lincoln also conferred with someone who was the equivalent of a psychiatrist at the time in Cincinnati. This is virtually an unknown episode, and Lincoln wrote him a long letter about his psychological state of mind.

Lincoln and Mary were brought together by the editor of the Sangamon Journal, Simeon Francis and his wife, in a drawing room in their house. Lincoln and Mary engaged in a writing series of anonymous articles that attacked James Shields, an associate of Stephen Douglas. It's a vicious satire. Shields challenged Lincoln to a duel. Lincoln clownishly suggested using broadswords. He practiced cutting weeds with broadswords. They actually did go to a site to have a duel that was stopped by a cousin of Mary Todd, John Hardin.

The conclusion of the farce is that Lincoln and Mary got married. It was a rushed marriage. Mary announced it to her family on the day of the marriage and they were very upset. They regarded Lincoln as a plebe, someone of a lower order, and believed she was making a mistake by marrying someone below her. She revolted against her family and married Lincoln. She saw him as a person of promise.

After he married Mary, it was a marriage of affection, and despite everything he never falls apart again. He even counseled her at the worst moments of her life when, for example, their second child Edward died at a young age and she was inconsolable.

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She was also very political. She didn't necessarily share all of his points of view, but the key thing that's important with politics in the marriage is that he sometimes faltered because he underestimated himself. He underestimated himself because he wished for a more comfortable political position and somehow, at key moments, he shrank from rising incredibly enough, although as Herndon wrote, his ambition was like a resolution to do no less.

But Mary knew no rest, and she would push him forward. For example, in 1854, he ran for the state legislature after he had served in the U.S. Congress. He won a seat. She made him resign and run instead for a U.S. Senate seat because that, she felt, was where he belonged. Friends described him as upset, but he did it, and it was a very important experience for him. It set the stage for what came later.

As Lincoln said, both when he received the Republican nomination and on the night of the election as president, "there's a little woman I must tell for whom this news is most important." And it was.

I think Mary Todd was a volatile personality and she was difficult and he was not a perfect man and not a perfect husband. He was difficult given his long silences and she didn't have an easy time either, but it was a marriage and the marriage worked and it worked for him from the beginning. Mary Todd referred to the marriage as "Our Lincoln Party." The nucleus of that Lincoln party was two people.

Robin Lindley: Thank you for those insights. A psychiatrist who specializes in mood disorders, Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, wrote a book called A First-Rate Madness about great leaders who suffered from affective disorders such as major depression or bipolar disorder. He believed that Lincoln's depression may have made him a greater leader in times of crisis.

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Sidney Blumenthal: Lincoln's ability to work through what some might call depression in the midst of the war showed not only a depth of emotional understanding but also a lifetime of experience in dealing with this problem.

Robin Lindley: Today, many people may not know about Lincoln's opposition to the Mexican War in the 1840s. Opponents called it a war for territorial expansion that was based on lies. That war has resonance now, particularly in view of the Iraq War and the horrific aftermath.

Sidney Blumenthal: The Mexican War and its diplomacy were at the center of this volume. Lincoln arrived in the Congress when the war was over and James K. Polk, a Democrat, was president. Lincoln was a member of the "Young Indians," a caucus of younger, rising Congressmen. They attacked Polk's policies and Lincoln took a lead in calling for what was called "The Spot Resolution" in the belief that Polk had manufactured the story and the events of the origin of the war. That has an interesting resonance today with the Iraq War.

Lincoln engaged in this for political reasons. Obviously, he was establishing himself among his Congressional peers and was angling for an important position and hoped to bring down the Democrats in the next election. But he was also opposed to the extension of slavery. I deal with it at great length in the book through the career of John C. Calhoun who became the Secretary of State under Tyler, and helped set the stage for the Mexican War through his manipulations.

Calhoun of course was the great nullifier of South Carolina and he understood that, to advance the agenda of the extension of slavery and break down all of the barriers to slavery across the United States, and to bend the balance of power politically and economically within the country and create a slave empire in the hemisphere by annexing Cuba, for example, and other territories in the Caribbean, it was necessary to control and understand the levers of the federal government at the highest levels.

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This was not a protest group. Calhoun had been Secretary of War, Congressman, Senator and Secretary of State. That was the model for Southern, proslavery people for their agenda for the extension of slavery--the Calhoun model of being inside and knowing how government worked, using the U.S. government for slavery. His most effective protege was Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce. He was instrumental in enacting the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The seizing of vast western territories from Mexico opened the question of the extension of slavery. Lincoln faced these issues while he was in Congress and faced them until he became president and they forced secession. He calls himself a "Proviso Man" and he voted several times for the Wilmot Proviso that would have prohibited slavery in the new territories.

This politics led Lincoln into alliances with abolitionists and other anti-slavery leaders who were more radical than he was in Congress like Joshua Giddings, his boarding housemate and Horace Mann who replaced John Quincy Adams in Congress and who founded the public school system in Massachusetts, and many others--all who become key to his career over time and vouched for his credentials against slavery to more radical abolitionists who were suspicious of Lincoln.

Lincoln was dubbed by his rivals, Stephen A. Douglas and Douglas's press in Illinois, as "Ranchero Spotty." Ranchero is a derogatory word for Mexican guerillas who were fighting [U.S. troops], and "spotty" for Lincoln's Spot Resolution. So Lincoln was "Ranchero Spotty" as Douglas and the Democrats tried to smear him for his opposition to the Mexican War. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, was distressed by all of this and urged Lincoln to [retreat], and Lincoln refused to do so.

Lincoln devised a bill for the emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia after other bills had failed. He did this with Horace Mann and Joshua Giddings, but he never actually proposed the bill because the atmosphere was so unreceptive. And then in January 1849, his career was over in the Congress.

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He then mishandled his ability to get a patronage job. He returned to Illinois not knowing what to anticipate. His career in politics may well have been over, condemned to practicing law with William Herndon, who watched him while he often sat staring into the distance for hours at a time.

Robin Lindley: He could have been a governor in the Northwest.

Sidney Blumenthal: He was offered the position of territorial governor or secretary of Oregon. He turned that down largely because Mary Todd Lincoln was not going to have it. She wasn't going to move herself to the edge of the continent and away from civilization as she understood it and feel that he was sentenced to a sort of eternal exile. He then began his practice in the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois.

Robin Lindley: How do you think Lincoln would fit into the Republican Party today? As you note, he rejected nativist and anti-immigration policies. He was an early feminist who was concerned about women's rights. Of course, he opposed slavery and pressed for equal treatment of all citizens. Now you have a Republican presidential candidate who advances racist and nativist policies. It seems the "Party of Lincoln" wouldn't fit for Lincoln now.

Sidney Blumenthal: Lincoln was firmly opposed to the Know Nothings and nativism. He never publically denounced the Know Nothings, but privately denounced them vehemently. He saw the Know Nothings at a key moment during the formation of the Republican Party as a response to the anti-Nebraska forces that were creating a coalition to become the basis of a new party. He was confounded by how to handle this politically and combat the nativist movement. He had utter contempt for them and regarded their hatred of immigrants as like the slaveholder view of their slaves. He said that the nativists should go to Russia, which lacked the "base alloy of hypocrisy."

And Lincoln worked behind the scenes against the Know Nothings, as I'll show in my next volume, and that was instrumental in the creation of the Illinois Republican Party. I have some new documents on that.

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Lincoln would have regarded Trump's nativism as the latest expression of the worst of Know Nothing-ism and contrary to his fundamental views of the United States, the Rights of Man, and his sense of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal.

Needless to say, he'd have no truck with racism or denigration of whole religions or trying to exclude whole peoples based on their religion or calling people of other ethnicities rapists.

Lincoln warned against Trump-like figures. His earliest formal speech [in 1838]--the Springfield Lyceum Speech--was after Elijah Lovejoy, the anti-slavery editor, had been murdered in Illinois for publishing his newspaper. There had been also a number of incidents of rampant violence, hangings, lynchings, and the killing of a free black in St. Louis. It was at the time the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society was organized. Lincoln was not part of that, but he denounced the breakdown of law and order.

In this speech, he attacked the idea of a figure who arrives on the scene and thinks he is above the system, above the Constitution, above the rule of law, above the political process. He would be motivated by his celebrity and fame, Lincoln said, and essentially be a narcissistic figure who burns for distinction. That's a prescient warning against a Trump-like figure.

Lincoln himself also meant that to be a slashing attack on his rival Stephen A. Douglas, the "Little Giant," who Lincoln was trying to cut down to even smaller size. That kind of warning still resonates.

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Another thing, in his "House Divided Speech," Lincoln said, "it will either become all thing or all the other." And that applies to this election. The outcome will be all one thing or all the other. If the Democrat wins, it doesn't mean we'll all arrive in Utopia and everything will be easy, but it does mean that a president who is a Democrat will be naming the future Supreme Court, and that will remain for a generation to come. If Trump were to win, it would be all the other.

The idea that Lincoln posed of very stark choices isn't always true in our elections, but it is in 2016.

Robin Lindley: The 1838 Lyceum speech in the wake of civil discord is timely now as we experience police shootings of unarmed black men as well as the murders of police officers. That speech showed that, even very early in his career, Lincoln was crafting powerful, well-reasoned speeches. There may be a perception that he was a backwoods hick who blossomed only in the presidency.

Sidney Blumenthal: Lincoln in this first speech, like all of his later speeches, took his time. He was quite deliberate in gathering his thoughts and reading as much as he could to give him ideas. This speech is an early reflection of that method of his.

Lincoln talks about mob violence and mob law and killings including a white anti-slavery editor and black man who was lynched, apart from the rule of law. He said that if that were allowed to happen, this government cannot last. That's a pretty dark warning from Abraham Lincoln at a very early age and long before anyone was thinking about a civil war. It had to do with different circumstances, but this kind of lawlessness and incitement and violence sounds remarkably contemporary.

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Robin Lindley: Lincoln resonates in so many ways still. Where are you in your Lincoln project now?

Sidney Blumenthal: I've finished volume two, which will be published next spring. It's called The Man for the Time, 1849 to 1856. The title is taken from a phrase of Ralph Waldo Emerson on Lincoln. It deals with Lincoln creating the Republican Party and becoming the Lincoln we recognize today. That book is done. I'm rewriting a draft of volume three and I've basically finished volume four, but will do more work on it down the line. I'm looking forward to these volumes being published yearly.

Robin Lindley: You demystify the early Lincoln and humanize him in your book.

Sidney Blumenthal: I hope I can demystify Lincoln and bring him closer to people, which will not only help us to understand Lincoln but also the world around him, his times, the other political figures, and issues that, while very much of their time, still have their resonance today.
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The United States and South Korea's recent decision to counter North Korean missile capabilities with an advanced system on the Korean peninsula left China "deeply dissatisfied" and ready to take "necessary measures," a defense ministry spokesman said at the end of July.

In the month since the agreement was announced, many analysts have wondered how Beijing's anger will manifest. One common sentiment is that the strategic collateral imposed on China by the missile system, called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, may force Chinese diplomats to reconsider their inaction on North Korea's nuclear efforts. Others, fueled by an earlier Chinese warning that THAAD could "destroy" relations with South Korea "in an instant," argue that China may seek to discipline Seoul with economic repercussions.

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Such responses fail to encompass the full scope of China's domestic and foreign policy thinking. China will not move in a quick or meaningful fashion to oppose Pyongyang -- Beijing fears destabilizing the Kim regime, which would risk expanding the U.S. presence in the region far beyond THAAD deployment and potentially spur an influx of impoverished North Korean refugees into China. In fact, China's THAAD-inspired refusal to support a U.N. Security Council measure on recent North Korean missile launches suggests that negotiations are even less attainable than before.

Beijing fears destabilizing the Kim regime.

Likewise, THAAD deployment damages Chinese trust in Seoul on security issues, but it does not obscure the two countries' growing economic interdependence. While South Korea is asymmetrically dependent on economic relations with China, it is also China's second largest trade partner and a major source of foreign direct investment. Though Beijing will seek to coerce South Korea by publicly considering sanctions, the risk of collateral from major economic retaliation is thus unwarrantable for China, especially in the context of a slowing domestic economy.

How, then, will China respond? As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently stated, THAAD is "not a simple technical issue, but an out-and-out strategic one" -- and a strategic military problem will evoke a strategic military response. Countering a powerful missile defense system means more advanced Chinese missiles, with more aggressive deployment.

Little analysis has considered how the THAAD deployment will shape the Chinese military, and media outlets have mischaracterized the impact of the deployment from the Chinese perspective by focusing on the missile-intercepting aspects of the system. This assumption does not account for another major THAAD component -- the AN/TPY-2 radar, which identifies and communicates the location of missile targets to the interceptor. In reality, China's largest concerns come not from the interception component of THAAD, but rather the detection capability provided by the AN/TPY-2.

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People watch a news broadcast of North Korea's ballistic missile launch in Seoul, South Korea on June 23. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

The United States and South Korea have repeatedly asserted that the deployment will be "focused solely on North Korean nuclear and ballistic threats" -- not Chinese missiles. The possibility remains, however, for THAAD's radar to be covertly switched into a longer range mode that feeds into the broader U.S. missile defense -- giving Washington earlier notice of Chinese launches.

Regardless of the Pentagon's intentions, the Chinese perceive the agreement on THAAD as a demonstration that the United States does not value strategic stability with China. Beijing will be motivated to restore its nuclear and ballistic credibility by developing missile technologies that make the AN/TPY-2's early warning potential irrelevant.

In countering the THAAD deployment to South Korea, two existing Chinese missile programs are likely contenders for accelerated development -- hypersonic glide vehicles and multiple, independently targetable re-entry vehicles known as MIRVs.

A strategic military problem will evoke a strategic military response.

China has already tested and reportedly begun deploying small numbers of MIRV-equipped missiles. MIRVs provide China with the ability to inundate late-phase missile interceptors like THAAD, as multiple guided warheads will disperse from a single MIRV missile in the final minutes of its descent. Consequently, the potential strategic imbalances created by bringing THAAD to South Korea are offset, as MIRVs are significantly more difficult to intercept, regardless of how early they are detected.

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While MIRVs overwhelm THAAD's interception capabilities, hypersonic gliders empower China to bypass them altogether. HGVs are an emerging breed of ultra-fast weaponry, and China has apparently successfully tested its secret developmental glider, the DF-ZF, seven times. Capable of traveling in unconventional up and down trajectories at speeds far greater than traditional ballistic missiles, HGVs like the DF-ZF will be extraordinarily difficult to detect and intercept with existing U.S. missile defense.

Thus far, China's HGV testing has consisted of medium and intermediate-range demonstrations, perhaps indicating that the DF-ZF is being developed with regional missile defense systems in mind. With the South Korean THAAD deployment potentially informing the broader U.S. architecture, China is incentivized not only to accelerate its development of HGVs, but to expand the program to cover longer range missiles capable of hitting the United States. Once operational, the unprecedented speed of the DF-ZF would effectively neutralize the early warning potential of THAAD radars on the Korean peninsula.

Protesters attend a rally to denounce the THAAD missile system near the U.S. embassy on July 13 in Seoul. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Security analysts currently project China will deploy a hypersonic arsenal as early as 2020, and likely no later than 2025. Now galvanized by the promise of a nearby AN/TPY-2, the impending Chinese sprint to more advanced missiles will increase the odds of deployment at the earlier end of that timeline. Similarly, China is now more likely to convert existing missiles in its nuclear arsenal into MIRVs, subsequently enhancing its ability to override ballistic missile defenses and increasing its number of nuclear warheads in the process.

Of course, China's strategic response to THAAD will not be without limits, the most apparent of which is its transition to a new normal of slower economic growth. Furthermore, China has demonstrated a reigning military philosophy of acquiring, as Jeffrey Lewis recently put it, "a little bit of the best things" -- with missile programs being driven by technological breakthroughs and an eagerness to be seen as a first-rate nation, not strategic necessity.

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Such diligence has, until now, afforded China an efficient and increasingly modern arsenal that has avoided the insensible stockpiling and arms races seen previously in the U.S. and Russia. While this paradigm will require a much greater escalation of military tensions to be overturned, the agreement to deploy THAAD to South Korea may mark the first major step in a slow shift towards more strategically mandated Chinese missile development.

Earlier on WorldPost:
Amazon. Wow! It was the internet phenomenon that revolutionized retail selling through its ease of use and customer service.* Amazon's web site was secure and intuitive for users.

Yes, there were problems with pirates selling fake brand name merchandise, but customer reviews and refunds helped identify and solve problems. The items customers liked best became easy-to-find bestsellers.

Best Seller: Try to Find It!

In May of 2015, things changed. Perhaps Amazon was hard up for revenues and wanted to charge sellers to feature their products. That seemed like a good idea for Amazon as a business, but it turned into a bad idea when it eliminated "Best Sellers" from its familiar drop-down sort menu. You can sort items by "Relevance," "Price: low to high," Price: high to low," "Avg. Customer Review," and "Newest Arrivals." Moreover, when you independently search on categories of products, Best Sellers do not automatically appear; "Featured products appear."

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You can still sort by Best Sellers, but you have to look along the left-hand rail to find the Best Seller link.

Another feature customers loved was the ability to search "New and Popular." The current "Avg. Customer Review" search filter will give a product with one five-star rating priority over a product that has 1,000 ratings with an average rating of 4.9 stars. Which one would you rather see first?

Amazon got rid of the customer search features that made Amazon unbeatable. It is as if Amazon decided it no longer wants to be number one with customers and is opening the door to competitors willing to fill the gap.

Indie Authors Are Rethinking Kindle Exclusivity

Yesterday, I exchanged emails with my friend, award winning crime thriller author Libby Hellmann, about eBook promotions. Authors used to be able to buy ad space from book newsletter publishers like Book Bub, Ereader News Today, and Free Kindle Books & Tips, rise up the ranks, and have it mean something in terms of long-term and "halo" sales. But about a year ago, after Amazon made its changes, authors found that even though they might reach the number one slot in various categories, their Kindle books were not visible to customers who used organic search tools.

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Here are two examples why. I ran a promotion for the Kindle edition of my nonfiction memoir, Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism. Libby ran a broader promotion for her award-winning thriller Nobody's Child. She rose up the ranks in the much more competitive genre of mysteries. Unveiled Threat, after achieving an overall Amazon rank of 1,900 was #1 in the Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks> Religion & Spirituality > Islam. Nobody's Child, after achieving an overall Amazon rank of 100 or so was #5 in the Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Private Investigators.

When I cleared my browser and searched these categories on Amazon, I couldn't find either Kindle book. Again, that's because Amazon serves up "Featured" Kindle books, not the "Best Sellers." Most customers do not realize that in order to see the true Best Sellers in these categories, they have to specifically ask for them. For example, to find Nobody's Child sorted by Best Seller, a Customer must click: Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks, then find and click the link for "Bestsellers," and then click through to > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery > Private Investigators.
I'm constantly telling my wife there's no way Trump can win in Colorado, and she tells me I have no credibility, because I've said for the last year that Trump won't win anything, here or anywhere.

How that ruins my credibility, I don't know, but anyway, it's a useful exercise to look for examples of politicians who've won in Colorado, despite exhibiting Trump-like behavior.

Who comes to mind? Arvada/Westminister State Sen. Laura Woods, who has that same erratic quality as Trump. Woods won once by 650 votes. But can she win again, if she behaves like Trump?

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Case in point, Woods recently shared an article on Facebook about billionaire Tom Steyer's political donations in Colorado, as part of his evil agenda to stop global warming, as well as donations by fellow billionaire George Soros.

Woods' Trumpish behavior came out in the comments, where she "liked" this:

"Russia has a bounty on his head and an arrest warrant in place for Soros. We need someone to turn them over to them."

Does Woods want Steyer to be turned over to the Russians to be killed? Seriously? Does she think there's an actual factual bounty? Does she think Soros chould be shipped out? Is this a joke?

Woods and Trump are similar on a lot of issues (guns, immigration, choice), but "liking" the bounty comment is the kind of Trump behavior I'm talking about. Throwing something out there that raises a ton of questions.

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In Woods' case, however, despite the fact that her race against Democrat Rachel Zenzinger is probably the most important contest in the state, few reporters are asking Woods to explain herself. And she's not talking to me.
Entering Mamo's second floor dining room and knowing that its antecedent is in Antibes on the French Riviera, I saw immediately that the owners had gotten everything just right for a summer's evening in Soho. Twilight still stole through the windows and cast a lovely glow on the white brick walls hung with brightly colored Italian movie posters. The leather chairs are among the most comfortable in New York, and the waitstaff had both speed and youthful charm on their side. And when the food began to arrive, I felt that, yes, I could easily be on the French Riviera or Liguria tonight dining like this.

The original Mamo (appended with the name Michelangelo) has for more than twenty years been set in an ancient wine cave of Domaine Ott, but with tables right up to the shoreline outside, and it's always been one of the chic restaurants on the Riviera, with a gallery of celebrity photos posted on its website. The NYC Mamo looks nothing like the French place, but the menus are very similar, as are the wine lists of French and Italian labels, though, surprisingly, NYC's list is more expensive than Antibes's. There are precious few wines under $50 in NYC; in Antibes a bottle of Ornellaia runs $335, in NYC $480, and Col d'Orcia Brunello $97 versus $115. (In a wine store these would cost, respectively, about $170 and $40.)

Milan-born Chef Massimo Sola (above) has managed to do so many dishes so right despite a crushing number of guests who may or may not know much about authentic Italian food, like the correct texture, called all'onda, risotto should have. Since risotto needs 20 minutes to prepare from scratch, Sola par-cooks the rice and cuts the preparation time in half. The tender, saffron-scented risotto with shreds of osso buco ($20) that I ate was easily one of the very best I've had outside of Italy.

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Right off the bat, the bread and grissini were very good, as was the olive oil on the table. Mamo offers four fairly traditional pizzas, and the "Milano," with Cantal cheese, burrata, tomato, cherry tomatoes and basil (left), was a winning combination; at $22 it's not cheap but it makes a good appetizer for four people. The menu also has a pizza, as well as a number of other items, with truffles, but at this time of the year--before the black and white varieties arrive in the fall--they'd be only inferior summer truffles not worth ordering.

The full portions of pasta ($19-$27) are very hearty and may be split, not least a hefty cut of lasagne alla Bolognese, which, though it had more tomato than a classic Bolognese should, was rich, creamy and immensely satisfying. Spaghettoni all'amatriciana was everything that sumptuous Roman dish should be, with crispy bacon, sweet tomato and assertive pecorino.

As is often the case in Italian restaurants, main courses are kept at a simpler level than what precedes them, so the baby lamb chops ($42) called "scottadito" ("burn your finger") were just marinated then grilled. You don't often see rabbit on NYC menus, so Mamo's stuffed rabbit rolls with spinach and foie gras ($44) were very welcome at our table and as good as similar dishes I've had at French restaurants around town. Also unexpected was a rendering of Dover sole crusted with Parmigiano cheese and a caponata of olives and peppers ($40). Usually I'd protest anything but brown butter on delicate Dover sole, but I must say that the addition of the golden crust of cheese worked remarkably well.

There are some standard desserts ($9-$12)--chocolate mousse, cheesecake (with lavender), and tiramisu--but try the apple sponge cake with chocolate creme anglaise for something different.

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Sorry to say, the enjoyment of my evening at Mamo was curdled by how things developed after eight o'clock. Having arrived at seven, we felt quite blissful until the room filled up an hour later and the noise level started to rise, heightened by the booming of unidentifiable music that forced everyone to speak--no, shout--louder and louder just to be heard above the din. Simply turning off the music--which no one goes to Mamo to hear--would make for a far more congenial ambiance, as would calling an acoustical engineer to buffer the noise.

Otherwise, Mamo is serving wonderfully authentic Italian food and doing so with a conviviality not very different than you might find back in Antibes.
For the first time in close to 20 years of university teaching and research, I find myself not particularly excited to begin the Fall semester. I have always enjoyed seeing the new students arrive on campus and the feeling of renewed intellectual energy that autumn brings. This year, however, is different due to the campus carry law that took effect in the State of Texas on August 1st. I don't really think that the law will influence much in terms of safety on campus; very few students are old enough to be licensed to carry and there never has been anything stopping someone from carrying a concealed weapon on campus in the past.

The real problem is with the atmosphere this law may create. What campus carry has accomplished so far is the generation of fear and anger among many faculty, staff, and students. This is truly an unfortunate development; for a university should be a safe haven for new ideas and civil debate and discussion of complex and difficult issues. A university is a place where people disagree, sometimes very emotionally, and argue about what is right and wrong, moral and immoral, factual and non-factual. This happens in classrooms, faculty offices, dining halls, and dorm rooms.

A university is not just a school where students go to learn skills for the workplace or become good critical thinkers. Those are important aspects of a university's function in society, as is research. But colleges and universities have a much more vital role in American society.

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They help to protect freedom of expression and, thus, democracy itself.

A university provides a safe forum in which novel ideas can be created and challenged. This is why tenure exists--it protects professors from having administrators or politicians tell them what they can and cannot teach in the classroom. Tenure is the foundation that allows a university to be a place where ideas are freely and openly exchanged and discussed, even when those ideas run contrary to mainstream beliefs.

What worries and saddens me as the new academic year begins is that the campus carry law in Texas may silence, or at least significantly quiet, those exchanges, discussions, and debates. Fear has a tremendous power to mute those who might otherwise express controversial opinions and ideas. An environment governed or shaped by fear is anathema to free expression of thought and, thus, to the mission and purpose of a university.

Thomas Jefferson, writing about the University of Virginia he created, understood the aims of a university well. "This institution," noted Jefferson, "will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."

Can we follow the truth wherever it may lead when there is a pervasive fear that someone might be carrying a weapon?

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What worries me most about the coming semester is not that there may be students, staff, or faculty carrying guns. That has always been a possibility. Rather, it is that this law has generated an environment in which members of the university community may not feel the freedom and safety necessary to tolerate errors and combat those errors with reasoned, intense, and emotionally difficult discourse taking us wherever truth may pull our thoughts and actions.

The freedom to discuss and debate in safety allows people to identify mistaken ways of thinking and resist irrational representations of the world around us. It allows us to expand our concept of human rights or recognize that human actions have created a world with a rapidly changing climate, even when some would tell us otherwise. It encourages us to sharpen our view, analyze what we observe, and make our society a better place.

And those values--of reason and openness to rational debate and discussion of controversial ideas--must be treasured if a democracy is to flourish. If the campus carry law quiets that debate, then our society has lost a great deal.

Of course, those who resist change often don't like universities much, because the quest for knowledge inherently generates the potential for individuals to challenge fixed beliefs and, thus, for society as a whole to head in new directions. Learning makes you different; it makes you think and evaluate the world in new ways.
The U.S. government remains the greatest threat to our freedoms.

The systemic violence being perpetrated by agents of the government has done more collective harm to the American people and our liberties than any single act of terror.

More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, the U.S. government has become a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.

This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.

As I explain in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, when the government views itself as superior to the citizenry, when it no longer operates for the benefit of the people, when the people are no longer able to peacefully reform their government, when government officials cease to act like public servants, when elected officials no longer represent the will of the people, when the government routinely violates the rights of the people and perpetrates more violence against the citizenry than the criminal class, when government spending is unaccountable and unaccounted for, when the judiciary act as courts of order rather than justice, and when the government is no longer bound by the laws of the Constitution, then you no longer have a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."

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What we have is a government of wolves.

Worse than that, we are now being ruled by a government of scoundrels, spies, thugs, thieves, gangsters, ruffians, rapists, extortionists, bounty hunters, battle-ready warriors and cold-blooded killers who communicate using a language of force and oppression.

Does the government pose a danger to you and your loved ones?

The facts speak for themselves.

We're being held at gunpoint by a government of soldiers--a standing army. While Americans are being made to jump through an increasing number of hoops in order to exercise their Second Amendment right to own a gun, the government is arming its own civilian employees to the hilt with guns, ammunition and military-style equipment, authorizing them to make arrests, and training them in military tactics. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government civilians armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines. Clearly, the government is preparing for war--and a civil war, at that--but who is the enemy?

We're being robbed blind by a government of thieves. Americans no longer have any real protection against government agents empowered to seize private property at will. For instance, police agencies under the guise of asset forfeiture laws are taking property based on little more than a suspicion of criminal activity. Homeowners are losing their homes over nonpayment of taxes (for as little as $400 owed) and municipal bills such as water or sewer fees that amount to a fraction of what they have invested in their homes. And then there's the Drug Enforcement Agency, which has been searching train and airline passengers and pocketing their cash, without ever charging them with a crime.

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We're being taken advantage of by a government of scoundrels, idiots and cowards. When you've got government representatives who spend a large chunk of their work hours fundraising, being feted by lobbyists, shuffling through a lucrative revolving door between public service and lobbying, and making themselves available to anyone with enough money to secure access to a congressional office, you're in the clutches of a corrupt oligarchy. Mind you, these same elected officials rarely read the legislation they're enacting, nor do they seem capable of enacting much legislation that actually helps rather than hinders the plight of the American citizen.

We're being locked up by a government of greedy jailers. We have become a carceral state, spending three times more on our prisons than on our schools and imprisoning close to a quarter of the world's prisoners, despite the fact that crime is at an all-time low and the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world's population. The rise of overcriminalization and profit-driven private prisons provides even greater incentives for locking up American citizens for such non-violent "crimes" as having an overgrown lawn.

We're being spied on by a government of Peeping Toms. The government is watching everything you do, reading everything you write, listening to everything you say, and monitoring everything you spend. Omnipresent surveillance is paving the way for government programs that profile citizens, document their behavior and attempt to predict what they might do in the future, whether it's what they might buy, what politician they might support, or what kinds of crimes they might commit. The impact of this far-reaching surveillance, according to Psychology Today, is "reduced trust, increased conformity, and even diminished civic participation."

We're being ravaged by a government of ruffians, rapists and killers. It's not just the police shootings of unarmed citizens that are worrisome. It's the SWAT team raids gone wrong that are leaving innocent citizens wounded, children terrorized and family pets killed. It's the roadside strip searches--in some cases, cavity searches of men and women alike carried out in full view of the public--in pursuit of drugs that are never found. It's the potentially lethal--and unwarranted--use of so-called "nonlethal" weapons such as tasers on children for engaging in childish behavior.

We're being forced to surrender our freedoms--and those of our children--to a government of extortionists, money launderers and professional pirates. The American people have been repeatedly sold a bill of goods about how the government needs more money, more expansive powers, and more secrecy (secret courts, secret budgets, secret military campaigns, secret surveillance) in order to keep us safe. Under the guise of fighting its wars on terror, drugs and now domestic extremism, the government has spent billions in taxpayer dollars on endless wars that have not ended terrorism but merely sown the seeds of blowback, surveillance programs that have caught few terrorists while subjecting all Americans to a surveillance society, and militarized police that have done little to decrease crime while turning communities into warzones. Not surprisingly, the primary ones to benefit from these government exercises in legal money laundering have been the corporations, lobbyists and politicians who inflict them on a trusting public.

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Whatever else it may be--a danger, a menace, a threat--the U.S. government is certainly no friend to freedom.

To our detriment, the criminal class that Mark Twain mockingly referred to as Congress has since expanded to include every government agency that feeds off the carcass of our once-constitutional republic.

So no matter which party wins the White House, controls Congress or appoints future Supreme Court justices, rest assured that the menace of the shadow government--the permanent, unelected bureaucracy that operates beyond the reach of the Constitution, the courts and the citizenry--will continue uninterrupted.

How long we will continue to suffer depends on how much we're willing to give up for the sake of freedom.

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America's founders provided us with a very specific explanation about the purpose of government and a roadmap for what to do when the government abuses its authority, ignores our objections, and establishes itself as a tyrant.
The Annals of a Private Eye

Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com

Once upon a time, I was a journalist, covering war in Indochina, Central America, and the Middle East. I made it my job to write about the victims of war, the "civilian casualties." To me, they were hardly "collateral damage," that bloodless term the military persuaded journalists to adopt. To me, they were the center of war.Now, I work at home and Im a private eye -- or P.I. to you. I work mostly on homicide cases for defense lawyers on the mean streets of Oakland, California, one of America's murder capitals.

Some days, Oakland feels like Saigon, Tegucigalpa, or Gaza. There's the deception of daily life and the silent routine of dread punctured by out-of-the-blue mayhem. Oakland's poor neighborhoods are a war zone whose violence can even explode onto streets made rich overnight by the tech boom. Any quiet day, you can drive down San Pablo Avenue past St. Columba Catholic Church, where a thicket of white crosses, one for every Oaklander killed by gun violence, year by year, fills its front yard.

Whenever I tell people I'm a private eye, they ask: Do you get innocent people off death row? Or: Can you follow my ex around? Or: What kind of gun do you carry?

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I always disappoint them. Yes, I do defend people against the death penalty, but so far all my defendants have probably been guilty -- of something. (Often, I can only guess what.) While keeping them off death row may absolve me of being an accessory after the fact to murder, it also regularly condemns my defendants to life in prison until they die there.

And I find spying on people their ex-spouses fantasize about killing much sleazier than actual murder. Finally, I'm a good shot, but I don't carry a gun because that's the best way to get shot.

I work on the low-profile cases: poor people charged with murder, burglary, or robbery, who don't have the money for a lawyer or their own P.I. (I'm paid, if you can call it that, by the state.)

Then people invariably want to know: How can you help defend a murderer? The law school answer is: the constitution guarantees everyone a fair trial.

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For me, however, if it's a death penalty case, it's simple: I'm against the death penalty no matter what the accused did (or didn't do). But in this age of stop and frisk, racial profiling, mandatory sentencing, the death penalty, and life without parole, not to mention execution-by-cop, the real answer is: I can't. Defend anybody, that is. Not really.

I'm just a tiny cog in Americas vast Criminal Injustice System. One of the lawyers I work for sometimes calls himself "just a potted plant." My defendants may be guilty -- but seldom of what they are charged with. They are rarely convicted of what they actually did and are never sentenced fairly.

He Snapped

One day recently, I was getting ready to hit the Oakland streets in search of a witness to a murder when I found in my email Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in the Supreme Court Case of Utah v. Strieff. It had been forwarded to me by a psychologist with whom I once worked on a death penalty case.

Anyone lulled into thinking the new coalition of liberals and conservatives who hope to reform the criminal justice system will actually get somewhere should read Strieff. The facts are the following: a Salt Lake City cop was watching a home rumored to house methamphetamine dealers. When Edward Joseph Strieff left the house, the cop stopped him, questioned him, and checked his record. When the cop found a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket, he searched Strieff, found meth in his pockets, and arrested him for possession of drugs. In Strieff and other cases leading up to it, the Supreme Court has now decreed that evidence gathered in an illegal search isnt "the fruit of the poisoned tree" as Justice Felix Frankfurter put it in 1939, and so no longer must be suppressed. Even though gathered illegally, evidence can be used at trial against a defendant.

In short, stop-and-frisk policing and racial profiling, key targets of the new civil rights movement, just got a stamp of approval from the highest court in the land.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan also dissented. But it was Sotomayor who sounded the alarm in an opinion evoking nothing less than James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time and adding quotations from W.E.B. Du Bois, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Michelle Alexander for good measure.

She wrote:

"The Court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officers violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. Do not be soothed by the opinions technical language: this case allows the police to stop you on the street, demand your identification, and check it for outstanding traffic warrants -- even if you are doing nothing wrong. If the officer discovers a warrant for a fine you forgot to pay, courts will now excuse his illegal stop and will admit into evidence anything he happens to find by searching you after arresting you on the warrant. Because the Fourth Amendment should prohibit, not permit, such misconduct, I dissent."

And she concluded:

"This case tells everyone, white and black, guilty and innocent, that an officer can verify your legal status at any time. It says that your body is subject to invasion while courts excuse the violation of your rights. It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be catalogued.

We must not pretend that the countless people who are routinely targeted by police are 'isolated.' They are the canaries in the coal mine whose deaths, civil and literal, warn us that no one can breathe in this atmosphere."

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Sotomayor's dissent describes daily existence for my defendants. Too poor to buy car insurance, fix broken tail lights, pay parking tickets, or get green cards, they are always on high alert for the police. (Alice Goffman's brilliant study, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, describes just how it works in one of Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods). My defendants have been sentenced to life in a war zone even before they find themselves charged in court. They have been sentenced to a life without parole or sometimes to death, caught as they are in a crossfire between cops and warring neighborhood gangstas.

A warrant for, say, unpaid parking tickets discovered in a Strieff-approved stop gets you a search of yourself and your car by police and maybe a bust for weed, the intoxicant of choice for many of the poor. If you object or run or the arresting officer is having a bad day, it may get you dead. (Refusing to pay protection money to your neighborhood punks or standing on the wrong corner at the wrong time may do the same.)

Once you're arrested, if you say you want a lawyer, you get a public defender with so many cases she or he may not even be able to meet you or read the complaint against you before you appear in court. You may serve weeks or months in jail, even if you're innocent, before your case is heard, and years before you are tried.

A district attorney (DA) has a whole police department to use to investigate a crime (although the Oakland Police Department, which I'm often up against, solves only 27% of its murder cases, and so is not exactly the most formidable of foes). A recent investigation by the East Bay Express reveals that many Oakland cops are too busy hooking up with underage prostitutes on Facebook and screwing them in police cars to solve murders. But if a DA needs to find a witness, the OPD's army of street cops can often locate him through their CIs (confidential informants), or they can pull him in on a warrant for those unpaid parking tickets, threaten a drug bust or revocation of his parole or probation, or hold him as a material witness if he resists cooperating.

At best, a defendant gets just me -- and most of the accused don't get an investigator at all. The landmark 1963 Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright may have given poor defendants the right to an attorney, but there is no legal right to an investigator (except in death penalty cases). And unlike a DA, no one has to talk to me or face trouble with the law. I have no muscle. But I have been known to find a witness who doesn't want to be found and nag him or her into submission.

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In the last 10 years, in cases mostly in Northern California, among scores of people I've helped defend, only three have been white -- and they were as destitute as the poor blacks and Latinos who jam American jails and prisons.

Defense teams I've been on start off by guessing if and why the accused might have done what he's charged with. It's human nature to do so. But if the accused is pleading not guilty, it's better not to know.

"I don't know what happened, I wasn't there," one death penalty lawyer I work with regularly says to shut off such speculation. As for the why, the shrinks often cant help, even if you call on them to testify. Decades of research into the criminal mind often comes down to: "he snapped." That's not a good line for a jury, but it's the kicker to many a defense meeting.

"It Ain't Just, But That's How They Do"

In a real trial, the truth of what actually happened doesn't matter anyway. Only the truth of the evidence counts.

Are poverty, racism, and a desperate childhood a defense? Prosecutors love to face this argument. They get on their high horses and trot out the American dream and all the poor people who suck up their rage and despair and don't murder someone.

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All the folks who don't snap.

But in California, what might have caused someone to snap isn't admissible at trial anyway, except in death penalty cases. A "diminished capacity" defense was abolished in 1981 after ex-San Francisco Supervisor Dan White used one to beat a murder rap for killing Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The jury bought his lawyer's argument -- which came to be known as the "Twinkie defense" -- that White was addled by junk food when he killed the two of them. It ignored evidence that White intended and planned the murder, taking his gun to City Hall, climbing through a window to avoid metal detectors, and reloading it after first shooting Moscone.

These days, only in the penalty phase of a death penalty case -- when the jury decides whether the defendant they've just found guilty will face capital punishment or life in prison without parole -- can defense lawyers present evidence of the tragic facts of the defendant's life. The jury may then hear of his years in foster care, his Mom the crack addict, his Dad absent in prison, and the older brother who initiated him into street life. Only then will the jury be asked to see the accused as a person with a life beyond the crime with which he is charged. The defense will finally replace a prosecutor's blown-up mug shot of the defendant and Facebook screen shots of him showing off a gun with family photos of him at his sixth birthday party decked out in a silly hat and others of his toddler and baby mama.

Most jurors don't much like this defense. They assume it's just an excuse. But it's not. Its an explanation.

Take Larry. He's an OG (original gangsta, or old guy), a 50-year-old African-American man who grew up in dire poverty in Deep East, Oakland's most murderous neighborhood. Larry has symptoms of schizophrenia but has never been able to get real mental health care. Hes been living, on and off, with his mother who is also schizophrenic in Acorn (The Corn), one of the toughest housing projects in West Oakland. His mother is too afraid of its gangbangers to leave her apartment. Larry recently told a counselor at a walk-in clinic for the poor that he thought he had PTSD from all the shooting and killing he's witnessed.

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Like many poor Oaklanders, he makes his meager living in the underground economy, dealing small amounts of weed to regular customers who phone him on his cell. While cell phones have made it possible to sell drugs without the turf battles of the past, The 'Corn is ruled by a gang of young punks called The Acorn Mob and their rivals, The Gashouse Team. The Mob doesn't just support itself moving guns or drugs. It also makes money ripping off small-time dealers like Larry, demanding protection money from neighborhood people, and robbing the elderly when they cash their social security checks.

Like many poor people living on such mean streets, Larry is always looking over his shoulder. A simple walk down the block might mean being rolled by The Mob, accosted by police, or caught in the crossfire of someone else's feud.

In early 2012, Larry's life dropped off a cliff. His brother died of cancer; his daughter died in a freak case of emergency room malpractice; he witnessed a friend gunned down in a gang battle; and he was robbed at gunpoint on a street near The 'Corn. Meanwhile, the Acorn Mob was stepping up pressure on OGs like Larry to pay them protection money.

As Larry tells it, one morning that August, two of the most vicious Mob gangbangers dogged him on the streets around The 'Corn, demanding to know when he'd take up a collection from his OG buddies to pay them off. He took shelter along with his crew in a friend's apartment in one of the projects towers. When he told his friends about the latest threats, the group debated what to do, damping their fears by smoking weed and drinking mai tais.

Later, near dark, Larry and his friend Arthur wandered over to the local liquor store to buy the cigarillos they filled with weed to make blunts. On the way, the same two Acorn Mob punks who had accosted them earlier that day threatened to kill Larry if he didn't come up with some money fast. Larry and Arthur sought refuge in the store, but one of the young thugs followed them inside. The other waited outside the door.

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Larry had had enough. He snapped. He grabbed an old handgun Arthur carried for protection and ran out of the store. He says he fired once, hoping to scare off the two of them. That started a volley of wild shots. When Arthur's gun jammed, Larry ran back inside the liquor store. As soon as the shooting stopped, Larry and Arthur split the neighborhood. Somehow in the melee, one of the Acorn mobsters was shot and later died at the county hospital.

Larry and Arthur were arrested some months later. Larry was charged with murder and Arthur with being a felon with a gun and an accessory with knowledge of a crime. Word on the street was that the victim had been killed accidently by his own cousin, the gangsta who had followed Larry into the liquor store. Even the victim's stepfather told me he believed that. But no witness -- and there were many standing outside the liquor store during the melee, including several of Larry's buddies -- would come forward. They all had records, were doing drugs, and were afraid of the police.

Six cartridges from one gun and a single cartridge from another were found in the street near the body. Neither gun was ever found. The victim had suffered a "through and through" wound, which meant there were no bullet fragments to match to a particular gun anyway.

California's self-defense and provocation laws -- unlike Florida's "stand your ground law," which figured in George Zimmerman's killing of Trayvon Martin -- are very strict. Larry's lawyer worried that a judge would rule self-defense couldn't be justified because Larry had fired the first shot (even if it was, as he claimed, in the air). His possible PTSD, the recent dire tragedies in his personal life, the pressures of Oakland's mean streets, the fact that his mind was addled by weed and mai tais -- all would be irrelevant in a California trial.

So Larry didn't have the luxury of a Twinkie defense. He feared a jury. No poor person gets a jury of his or her peers. Few poor people are called for jury duty because the lists of potential jurors are made up from voter and drivers' license records; few poor people living the fugitive life vote and many don't have a driver's license. Coming to court might mean being stopped and frisked by the police. (I've had a defense witness arrested on a warrant while waiting to testify outside court and others who have been followed home by the police after they showed up to support a family member on trial.) No prosecutor would permit anyone on a jury who's led the kind of life Larry has -- someone with a drug record (even if 20 years old), or who understood life and death in Oakland's war zones firsthand.

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Larry feared mandatory sentencing, which severely restricts a judge's ability to vary a sentence by taking into consideration mitigating facts in a particular person's life like Larry's clean record for the last 20 years, his possible PTSD, or the daily grind of violence in The 'Corn. That meant he was facing 25 years to life if convicted of murder. For defending himself. For firing one shot when it wasn't even clear who had killed the victim.

Larry took a plea to a killing he may not have done. Voluntary manslaughter with a mandatory sentence of 12 years in prison.

The Acorn Mob youngster who threatened Larry in the liquor store that August night and probably fired the fatal round was soon arrested for many armed robberies and sent to prison for 15 years.

I saw Larry right before he left the county jail for prison. I apologized for not being able to defend him. He thanked me for trying and added, "It ain't just, but that's how they do."

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I was a guest of Disney at the Pete's Dragon Premiere Party and Red Carpet.

Hollywood is known for its movie making and fashion. It's also known for its red-carpet tradition.

The term "red carpet" may have originated back in 1902, when The New York Central Railroad used red carpets to direct people to board their 20th Century Limited Passenger train.

Hollywood showman Sid Grauman may be credited with creating Hollywood's red-carpet tradition. He rolled out a crimson-colored walkway for the movie Robin Hood premiere back in 1922 in front of his Egyptian Theater.

Today, red carpets in Hollywood embrace our fascination with movies, fashion, and celebrities. It's the party celebrating the premiere of a movie and Monday, August 8th, I was there for the premiere and pre-premiere party of Disney's Pete's Dragon.

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The theme was green.

I joined 24 bloggers in attending the Pre-premiere party at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. It's a hotel that dates back to 1927. Through the years it's seen famous stars such as Shirley Temple and Marilyn Monroe.

Some say the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is haunted. On this night, the rooms were filled with people, celebrities, and the Hollywood elite. The Pre-Party had plenty of activities.

Green screens that transformed your photo into owning your own dragon, or Riding a dragon.

There was food such as mini-hotdogs, sliders, a honey fried chicken, plenty of fruits and vegetables.

There were plenty of guests, including celebrities.

The amazingly talented comedian Patton Oswalt was here. You may know him from Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D or the narrator in Free Form's The Goldbergs!

The crowd was filled with fame. I even spotted Josh Gad!

My heart beat a little faster when this moment with NSYNC band member and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 happened with Joey Fatone!

On the way to the red carpet, I bumped into Longmire's Lou Diamond Phillips.

From the Pre-Premiere Party, we walked out the front door of the Hollywood Roosevelt on to Hollywood Boulevard. An Astroturf walkway was Disney's Pete's Dragon red-carpet. It was lined with beautiful green hedges all the way to the historic El Capitan Theatre.

Fun Fact: The El Capitan Theatre is a first-run theatre for movies released by Walt Disney Studios . Every Disney-Pixar movie has premiered at El Capitan Theatre, except Cars and Wall-E.

From outside, the El Capitan's marquee lights glimmer on Hollywood Boulevard

I posed with Rachel Mouton from Acadiana's Thrifty Mom and Elliot, mingled for a moment...

I actually watched Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays "Grace" in the movie, walk the line of reporters on the red carpet.

We also saw Oakes Fegley, who plays the titular Pete in the movie pose with his dragon Elliot.

Then we headed inside the

El Capitan

. This theater is a beautiful, fully restored movie palace that recently celebrated its 90th anniversary and 25th anniversary in partnership with Walt Disney Studios. It is "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama," whose opening film was

Charlot's Revue

on May 3, 1926, three months before

was born!

El Capitan Theatre was built on citrus groves. Most of Hollywood Boulevard in the early 1920s was residential and agricultural real estate. It wasn't until a Texas real estate developer by the name of Charles Toberman came to Hollywood Boulevard and built a theatre district, which included El Capitan Theatre, the Chinese Theatre, and the Egyptian Theatre.

There are about 30 dressing rooms inside the El Capitan Theatre. The Sherman Brothers have a dressing room named after them where high-profile celebrities gather.

It was designated as a Cultural Heritage Monument by Los Angeles in 1990 and underwent restoration. The El Capitan boasts the original look and ambiance with some of the most modern sound equipment in the world. El Capitan Theatre can experience Dolby Vision, the most advanced projection technology in the world, and Dolby Atmos, Dolby's groundbreaking surround sound technology.

The paint is the same color as it was back in its prime. Inside the architecture is stunning with rich golds, purples, and reds.

The organ that sits on stage today was the last built of its kind in the 1920s. It was originally installed at the Fox Theatre in San Francisco. The organ's over 2500 pipes are installed inside the theatre's two towers, which flank the main auditorium. A large Spencer Turbine organ blower powers the organ's performances." width="500" height="1200" />

The El Capitan has 1,000 seats equally divided between the stage and balcony. It is one of only two theaters in Los Angeles with a balcony.

Upstairs on the balcony level, there is a Hall of Fame with photos from the very first to the most recent special events that have taken place at the El Capitan Theatre. The display includes photos of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, the cast from Marvel Avengers, and more.

As we took our seats for the premiere of Pete's Dragon, we listened to the famous Rob Richards play "Ethel" the legendary Wurlitzer Pipe organ originally installed in San Francisco's Fox Theatre. It's an amazing moment to hear the beautiful Disney music being played.

Fun Fact: has played more than 4,000 performances at the El Capitan since 1999! Rob Richards has played more than 4,000 performances at the El Capitan since 1999!

The organ, known as "Ethel" was the last built of its kind in the 1920s. It features over 2,500 pipes, installed inside the theatre's two towers. A large Spencer Turbine organ blower powers the organ during performances.

Then the organ and its musician, face into the stage on the "Mickey Lift" as the music plays.

Here is "Ethel" being raised from the floor on to the El Capitan Theatre's stage:

One of my favorite moments is when the curtain rises. At one time the more curtains a theater had in its curtain show, the more luxurious it was considered.

We watched the movie premiere of Pete's Dragon, with Disney stars and other celebrities.

A once in a lifetime opportunity, to walk among the talent, mingle with directors, producers and catch a glimpse and feel of the other side of the movies.

Learn more about the El Capitan Theatre and its incredible history by visiting theatre's official

.

Pete's Dragon arrives in theaters everywhere August 12th!

Pete's Dragon Synopsis:

A reimagining of Disney's cherished family film, "Pete's Dragon" is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon.

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For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales...until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliot. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliot seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.

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Visit the official

Disney's Pete's Dragon opens in theaters everywhere August 12th.
Jasmine Newson, 21, turns around while praying at a gas station that was destroyed by rioters after a fatal police shooting two days prior, on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Milwaukee, Wis. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)

My city, my hometown, is burning. This weekend, Milwaukee saw a riot on Sherman Blvd. Police and race relations in Milwaukee are fragile. The public is outraged and placing blame. With fingers pointed, the outcome is still the same. Families in Milwaukee who've felt victimized by the police haven't gained resolution. In communities where there is no justice, the outcome is often no peace. People revolt when they feel they've run out of options, when people feel like they have nothing to lose they don't mind destroying what others have.

Instead of being outraged with the city, we should take a closer look at the root causes of violence and work together to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods. We should be building towards the same goal, that all of our community members are afforded the same opportunities and success as any other person in any zip code across the city.

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Poverty, systemic racism and oppression contribute significantly to community violence. When we address the poor outcomes for people in neighborhoods plagued with poverty, we can prevent a significant amount of violence and create pathways towards prosperity.



Instead of being outraged with the city, we should take a closer look at the root causes of violence and work together to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods.



Housing security impacts community violence. By examining the data on foreclosure we know that home ownership around Sherman Park plays a part in the events this past weekend. The national foreclosure rate is down 4.9 percent. Foreclosure in Wisconsin is down 22.7 percent. Although there is a decline in foreclosure, Milwaukee Black households had the lowest homeownership rate at 32 percent.

Communities of color are negatively impacted by the foreclosure crisis. This contributes to the rising racial wealth gap. Historically, Sherman Blvd. was a destination for black home ownership. Today Sherman Blvd. is in the zip code with the highest foreclosure rate; 53216. Sixty-seven percent of the homes in 53,216 are bank-owned. Today Sherman Blvd. is struggling to recover.

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Employment and educational opportunities available in Milwaukee impact community violence. Twenty-six percent of Milwaukee residents are living in poverty, and 38 percent are Black. Seventeen percent of 16 to 24 year olds are not working or in school, 24 percent are Black. Sherman Blvd. and the surrounding area have a high percentage of black youth that are unemployed. During summer vacation this leaves young people with nothing to do. When I was a teen there were so many opportunities to engage in healthy social activities.

Today, the funding for quality youth programs and jobs is slim. Our teens spent most of their summer with idle time. The intersection where the riot occurred has been an area of concern the entire summer. Countless youth workers and activist groups have organized activities for the teens to prevent potential violence. And although those efforts contributed positively to the area, the lack of resources to continue the engagement finally took its toll.

It's easy to place blame, accuse parents of not doing their job, blame elected officials for the conditions we are in, and avoid neighborhoods where this is happening. However, there are several more contributing factors that led to the riot this past weekend. Multiple barriers to success stand in the way of young people in my city, and when you complicate those factors with an overall lack of dignity and respect you get self-destructive behavior.

Many people believe that they've run out of options. The most dangerous person in a community is the one that has nothing to lose. Yet, the most dangerous action or inaction is not doing anything to change the current conditions. Stepping up to do something to change the world we see today takes hard work and courage.



Many people believe that they've run out of options. The most dangerous person in a community is the one that has nothing to lose.



We are committed to restoring this city to a thriving global center and staying in the fight for justice. Yes, the cards are stacked against us, but we fight to change the community conditions that contribute to moments like this. We are breaking the cycle of poverty and scarcity mindset. Although the conditions have been bad, we are seeing a community transition. Although the media is showing us in the worst light there are many people that have been at ground zero of this situation for months. The conditions on Sherman Blvd. today are temporary. People in Milwaukee are change agents -- we got this.

As we work to sustain economically diverse and abundant communities at Walnut Way Conservation Corporation, we will serve as a participant in resolving community violence. Over the last few months our staff have launched the Peace Project, and are working to build a culture of restorative justice, community mediation and peacekeeping in our neighborhoods. Now more than ever we resolve to pull together and embrace our young people in an effort to identify their talents and activate their assets.

Albert Einstein said, "A large part of history is replete with the struggle for human rights, an eternal struggle in which a final victory can never be won. But to tire in that struggle would mean the ruin of society."

We commit to stay in the struggle for human rights no matter how tense the environment becomes. We look forward to working collaboratively with community members, stakeholders and partners in peace to nurture civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and creating venues for prosperity.

We invite you too to make the personal commitment to invest in the long haul struggle, create change, eliminate systems of oppression, and invest in new systems of elevation. This is our city.
It is hard to deny the U.S. has a problem with gun violence. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino and Orlando all no longer occupy our minds only as cities, towns, colleges or schools -- but as places where mass shootings and tragedies took place. It's reported that nearly 100,000 people every year are killed or injured by guns in the U.S., yet despite the high casualty numbers there seems to be little progress on gun control.

Investors can use their voice to help bring about positive progress.

Divestment is one option

There are a number of ways investors can drive the conversation forward. One-way investors can help to move the conversation on, is by divestment, i.e. the selling of all (or most) stocks in a portfolio from a particular industry. Examples of issues subject to divestment campaigns include apartheid in the 1980s, tobacco in the 90s and, more recently, fossil fuels.

While divestment can inflict financial damage its real power tends to be in the message it sends. For example, in 1990 when Harvard University and City University of New York (CUNY) decided to divest from tobacco, then Harvard President Derek Bok stated they did not want "to be associated as a shareholder with companies engaged in significant sales of products that create a substantial and unjustified risk of harm to other human beings." These actions and public statements highlighted the dangers of smoking and helped to empower public debate about tobacco. Soon after many rules and regulations to limit tobacco's harm became institutionalized in society. For example, the banning of smoking on all interstate buses and all domestic flights longer than six hours and the FDA's moves to regulate tobacco sales and advertising aimed at minors.

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Active management and engagement

Another way investors can move the conversation forward is via engagement and active management. That is identifying risks and issues in companies and asking them to either address the issues or improve performance.

A very useful set of principles for investments in companies making or selling gun and ammunition already exists -- the Sandy Hook Principles. Created after the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy in which 20 children and six adults were shot and killed at an Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. They are a set of guiding principles meant to influence the behavior of gun and ammunition manufacturers and retailers by establishing baseline standards for responsible conduct. The 20 principles include:

Supporting universal background checks for all gun and ammunition sales,

Stop the sale of military style assault weapons to civilians,

Partnering with local communities to provide gun safety education for children and adults.

Investors can take the Sandy Hook Principles to their relevant investee companies, and ask them to actively work towards meeting them as a condition of investment.

It is time for investors to use their voice

Unfortunately, the uptake of the Sandy Hook Principles has not been widespread and only the Philadelphia Board of Pensions and Investments have explicitly supported it in their own investment policy.

As far as I am aware, less than a dozen U.S. municipalities or state pension funds have spoken out on their stance regarding gun and ammunition investment or any divestments made including CalPERS, CalSTRS, Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, Chicago Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund Board, the City of New York, New York State Comptroller's Office and Los Angeles City Council. Divestment has included gun and ammunition manufacturers, component parts, and retailers with significant gun sales.

The City of New York recently added divestment of financial institutions "Dirty Dozen" that have direct investments in makers of assault weapons and high-ammunition clips and retailers who sold guns. As New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stated, "If we are investing in companies that put military-grade weapons on our streets, then we are part of the problem. It's time to stop business as usual and become part of the solution."

Investors used their influence to help fight apartheid and the growth of the tobacco industry; now with 19 mass shootings taking place in the US since Sandy Hook and occurring with increasing frequency, they should come together to act on gun violence as well.

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It may not stop all gun violence but it may save one family or one community untold grief.
Last week I was called to jury duty. I was one of those delusional citizens who was a big believer that every American should perform their civic duty, and I've served on two criminal cases. My sheer enthusiasm for our justice system has been completely altered from this last experience.

I waited in the jury holding room for a few hours until I was called into a court room with about thirty other jurors. We were the third or fourth group called to be jurors/alternates on a homicide case. I'm not gonna lie. My ego thought being on a murder case would be exciting.

The court room was freezing, dark and had this evil/negative energy. I will not say the judges' name but he was a hard ass. I witnessed juror after juror saying whatever they could to get off the case and the judge would go after all of them like a lion goes after a gazelle while at the same time marveling at this own power.

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My anxiety started to surface. I did not feel safe. The judge barked at us that he would hear hardships and if anyone had any airplane tickets or surgery in the next few weeks because this trial would go on for a month.

Hands went up right away. One man had a flight in a week and was berated by the judge, shaming him for scheduling a trip when he needed to devote a whole week to jury duty. Then came the hardship cases who mercifully got a side bar to explain their situation. He was not letting anyone go.

One by one potential jurors were being interviewed in the jurors' box. They would answer questions meekly so the judge wouldn't attack them. It seemed he thought everyone was lying, trying to shirk their civic duty.

Then my number gets called and it's my time in the jury box. Luckily all of the jurors were already picked so they were picking alternates. My heart was racing and my hands were sweaty.

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There was this poor woman behind me who started crying. She was sexually assaulted and her family was stalked by her perpetrator who very much resembled the defendant. I could hear her shifting in her seat and hyperventilating. The judge could care less and made her sit there as she was near passing out.

I started to experience panic. I wanted to be a good girl and not make waves so I shut down which is exactly what happened to me when I was brutally raped many years ago. My survival mechanism became to just leave my body. I decided that I would just answer the questions honestly and get the hell out of there.

The problem is that they didn't ask me if I had been a victim of a violent crime so I didn't disclose it. Then my ego said that it happened so long ago, so how could it still bother me? Before I knew it I was picked as an alternate and then dismissed for the day.

Complete panic/PTSD took over and I literally couldn't function. I had to get out but didn't know how, I was already sworn in. The whole weekend I couldn't sleep or eat. I had so much anxiety and stress that I got a wicked migraine. I had to call the court and call in sick that Monday.

Calling in sick was a huge problem. They held me in contempt of court and demanded I come in the next morning at 8:30am. I went in the next morning at 8:30am with doctor's notes stating my PTSD, migraines and Lupus. At 9:00am the judge berated me in front of the whole court.

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He didn't believe my doctor's notes and yelled at me but I was dismissed. He told me that I would have to come back in six months to serve jury duty again

I had every intention of being a good citizen but was unable physically and emotionally to serve. I was literally bullied and punished by a judge who treated jurors like convicted serial killers. I finally got why the majority of Americans don't want to serve. Why 32 million of us are called a year but only three million show up.
After a year of Donald Trump rallies, the public has almost built up a resistance to his antics, despite them growing more and more excessive. The Republican presidential candidate crossed yet another line during one of his televised rallies earlier this month, when he suggested that "second amendment people" could act against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

During the initial phases of Trump's campaign, many Americans compared him to Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi. However, a year on, it's become clear that Trump is of an entirely different breed.

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His views carry latent racism, calls to violence, and the belief in the doctrine of American exceptionalism. At the same time, his persona falls outside the norms of American politics, as signified by the marginal role religion and the pro-life debate have played in his campaign.

The debate over Trump (regardless of the results of the November election) is actually a debate over America. There could be two explanations for this political phenomenon: Trump could be regarded as a deviation from the American political (as well as cultural and moral) tradition, or as the natural evolution of U.S. politics.

Among the leaders paralyzed in the face of the Trump phenomenon are the leaders of the Catholic Church.

The first proposition -- that Trump is but a deviation from the norm -- is reassuring. It suggests that Trump's extreme views will ultimately be balanced and toned down within the political structure of the United States. This is a very American argument -- in the sense that it is based on the idea that throughout its unique history, the United States has been able to overcome internal contradictions.

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The second proposition -- that Trump is an integral part of the "nation's autobiography," to quote Italian journalist Piero Gobetti -- suggests that the candidate represents an extreme version of conservatism, born as a reaction to the country's growing multiculturalism. This conservatism appeals to proponents of white America, and those who have suffered in the transition to economic globalization.

But today's America faces many challenges besides growing conservatism, including: A political class that is enslaved to lobbies and special interest groups, mass incarceration of African-Americans, political policies that systematically penalize ethnic minorities, an economic system that has greatly exacerbated the gap between the rich and the poor, and foreign policies that are increasingly authoritarian and fail to respect international laws and conventions.

If all of the above is true, then Trump is indeed an extreme case, but not necessarily a deviation; he is but the result of the trajectory that the United States has been following over the past three decades.

Many Americans have not been able to distance themselves from an electoral platform based on provocation and calls to violence.

Among the leaders paralyzed in the face of the Trump phenomenon are the leaders of the Catholic Church, which is currently the largest and most prominent Christian church in the United States.

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Pope Francis has very clearly and publicly distanced himself from Trump's platform last February. Meanwhile, a few people within the Catholic Church have raised their voices in protest of the authoritarianism Trump envisions for America's future.

The American bishops who have spent the last few years battling with the Obama administration over religious freedom...have not had the same enthusiasm to fight for the religious freedom of Muslims.

Among these few dissident voices is an organization of "progressive" nuns, a group of neo-conservative and anti-Francis intellectuals and academics who supported Ted Cruz, as well as the editors of a few Catholic publications. Some bishops have individually expressed their opinions, but the Episcopal Conference has been too divided and too distracted to make a joint official declaration.

One of the most important bishops in the United States, Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia, recently wrote a letter in which he essentially judged the two presidential candidates to be of equal character, and euphemistically described Trump as "an eccentric businessman of defective ethics whose bombast and buffoonery make him inconceivable as president." The letter does not bring up the racist, sexist and violent language that has become the hallmark of Trump's campaign.

The Trump phenomenon has revealed that the Catholic Church in America is endowed with a strange notion of civic duty: The American bishops who have spent the last few years battling with the Obama administration over religious freedom (which for American Catholics, means guarantees regarding the requirements for health insurance to pay for practices including abortion and contraception) have not had the same enthusiasm to fight for the religious freedom of Muslims (who are a specific target of Trump's). It is as if the question of Muslims' religious freedom does not touch everyone's freedom, including that of Catholics.

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Nearly a year ago, in September 2015, Pope Francis came to the United States for a visit that was an undisputed success. At the time, Trump's campaign had only just begun. Over the course of the past 12 months, it has gained the consistent support of conservatives, as well as significant support among religious voters.

Pope Francis's American campaign has had less support from Catholic conservatives, which reveals a lot about the complications of being the global leader of the Catholic Church today.

After the November elections, there will time to analyze the politics of the Trump phenomenon. It is not, however, too early to examine the impact Pope Francis's visit has had on Catholicism in the United States; a pope who represents everything Donald Trump is opposed to.

As always, the debate over the United States is a religious one.
Opinion by Reboot Illinois' Madeleine Doubek

I had such high hopes for the U.S. Senate race in Illinois with Tammy Duckworth, D-Hoffman Estates, taking on incumbent Mark Kirk, R-Wilmette. Here we have two respected, disabled military veterans, both of whom are more moderate than extreme.

We could have a meaningful discussion about the struggles of Illinoisans. We could have a detailed discussion of the U.S. military's role in the world, of foreign affairs and our policies in Afghanistan and Iran and Syria. We could have a real-world conversation about health care or our state's heroin epidemic; about violence in Chicago's gang-plagued neighborhoods and about the lack of opportunity as our state's debts mount. We could have a thoughtful discussion about how to get Washington working for all Americans again. The campaign even could be an antidote to what seems the most bizarre presidential campaign ever.

Enlightening civic events? None so far. Civil discourse? Not here. Duckworth campaign strategists spent the first several months trying everything they could think of to tie Kirk to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, though back in June, Kirk disavowed Trump after he suggested he could not get a fair trial from a judge of Mexican heritage. Granted, Kirk did not help himself in the least by first telling reporters he would instead write in David Petraeus, a retired four-star general who had to resign as CIA director after it was revealed he had shared classified information with his mistress-biographer. Kirk followed that by saying he could not support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton because she supported President Obama's Iran deal and would instead write in Colin Powell. Alas, Powell also supports Obama's Iran deal.

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Meanwhile, the Kirk camp spent months trying to tie Duckworth to convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich because she worked in his administration running the veterans' affairs department. Earlier this summer, a whistleblower lawsuit against her by two former veterans' department staffers who said they were victims of workplace retaliation was settled for $26,000, with no finding of wrongdoing. The Kirk camp suggested the settlement might collapse at one point, but that didn't happen.

Already in the muck, two true heroes -- the Army helicopter pilot who nearly died and sacrificed her legs in a U.S. military operation overseas and the former Naval Reserves officer who fought his way back from massive strokes -- can't seem to find a way to pull themselves out of it to get to dignified discourse.

When what follows landed in my inbox, what remained of my hope faded away:

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I'd include more of that email, but I won't repeat claims that might be false. Suffice it to say there were more memes and the suggestion that I go check out a new Tumblr account the Democratic Party of Illinois started, called "$#*% my Senator Says."

This is our race for the esteemed United States Senate? Believe me, I know as well as anyone how incredibly difficult it is to get people's attention in Illinois. They're so sick of corruption and budget fights that far too many of them just tune out. And I do appreciate trying new things to wake people up. Heck, I even get a chuckle out of a lot of the memes we use at Reboot Illinois to lighten things up.

But this meme, the one that came after it and a social media account called "$#*% my Senator Says?" Well, maybe it's just me? Maybe this is a smart way to reach young voters?

It's possible. After all, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, working to help Kirk, is at it, too:

It's not like attaching candidates to others is a new trick. And certainly, Duckworth's management of her department and Kirk's misstatements should be weighed by voters. But so should so many other things. I thought I should see if I was alone in my distaste for the tenor and the use of these gimmicks in what is the top U.S. Senate race in the nation.

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John Frendreis, a political scientist at Loyola University, noted in an email exchange that Kirk is in a difficult position.

"He cannot possibly win if he embraces Trump, who will lose Illinois by a large margin, but he cannot afford to push away any Republican voters. So his Clinton-Iran position is not credible, but it gives him something to say.

"... As far as her comments about Kirk," he continued, "this race is off to a dismal start of negative campaigning, and there is little reason to think it is going to change. She would be better off spending her time using Kirk's record as part of the Republican Senate caucus to show that he has worked against many things that the people of Illinois would like to see done. His involvement in blocking Obama's agenda will play reasonably well in a state where Obama is still popular."

And David Yepsen, the former Des Moines Register political writer who runs the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute in Carbondale, said in an email, "The dialogue in the Senate race - and many other races - leaves a lot to be desired these days. We've come a long way since Paul Simon and Everett Dirksen set the tone for political discourse."

Isn't that the truth?

"One reason this happens is people have such little respect for politicians these days that the best way to win is not to talk about your positives or your ideas," Yepsen continued, "but do things to drive up your opponent's negatives.

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"... Another reason is social media and coarseness that come with it. Attention spans are shorter. F-Bombs are used by presidential candidates. We debate and argue in 140 characters and call each other names in ALL CAPS!

"And in Illinois it comes against a state facing a perfect storm of state budget deficits, Chicago budgets deficits and street violence," he said. "It's little wonder people tune it out. Not only is this stuff coarse and often silly, but it's also irrelevant to the daily lives of hard-working people."

They nailed it. We have a long way to go to Nov. 8, so let's keep hope alive. Kirk just left on a bus tour of Illinois, so maybe some of those hard-working people will get him talking about how he can help bring better jobs back to Illinois. And Duckworth recently announced she'll join Kirk in participating in three debates and two joint editorial board endorsement sessions.

I'm going to count on the campaigns and my colleagues in journalism to set aside the coarse memes and tweets and tumblr silliness and put us back on track toward a Senate race discourse worthy of a state that faces a lot of challenges.
Twenty-year-old trainee volunteer surf life saver Mecca Laalaa runs along North Cronulla Beach in Sydney during her Bronze medallion competency test January 13, 2007. Specifically designed for Muslim women, Laalaa's body-covering swimming costume has been named the "burkini" by its Sydney based designer Aheda Zanetti. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne (AUSTRALIA)

Cannes has banned burkinis, or full-body swimsuits. Thierry Migoule, the head of municipal services for the town, is of the opinion that wearing a Burkini signifies an allegiance with the enemy. "We are not talking about banning the wearing of religious symbols on the beach...but ostentatious clothing which refers to an allegiance to terrorist movements which are at war with us," he said.

But what do women and girls who wear full-body swimsuits have to do with the Islamic State? Has a terrorist attack ever been traced back to a woman wearing a burkini?

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During the winter, headscarves make headlines. Now that it's summertime, it's the burkini. Why do so many non-Muslims feel offended by headscarves or longer swimsuits?

It's a complicated situation. I also don't approve of everything people wear on the streets. But I also know that how people choose to dress is none of my business.

I'm sick of reading that a woman is either a barbie doll in a miniskirt or a Taliban follower in a headscarf. Women are so much more than that.

What you wear is your decision -- but please, allow me to decide not to expose my breasts in your presence. Please let it be my decision not to wear hot shorts or leggings in the summertime.

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I value my femininity, even without exposing my body. It's not that I am a beauty queen -- but I know my worth. Not just as a woman, but also as a human being.

Just because someone is half naked doesn't mean they're free, and just because someone covers up, doesn't mean they're being oppressed.

This may come as a surprise to some, but none of the women who wear the headscarf were born with a headscarf. Women make the decision to wear it. At least, that's how it should be.

But we live in a superficial society that wants us at each other's throats. It's not about the headscarf, the burkini or the mini skirt!

Freedom starts inside your head, and not on top of it.

It's 2016: Can't we allow women the freedom to choose what to wear? Wouldn't that be the ultimate form of emancipation? Just because many female celebrities opt for revealing clothes and sing about feminism doesn't mean that they're free. Freedom starts inside your head, and not on top of it.

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Women shouldn't be reduced to what they're wearing; but it happens all the time! I'm sick of reading that a woman is either a barbie doll in a miniskirt or a Taliban follower in a headscarf. Women are so much more than that.

What's the plan? Are you tearing off women's headscarves so that they could have more rights? What do you expect to happen? How will this change anything? Is Fatima going to become Stephanie? None of them will turn blonde!

Where are the feminists on other topics such as equal pay, sexual harassment in the workplace, or domestic abuse?

Muslim women do not need to be liberated by force. If they needs liberation, they can do it themselves.

How would I explain to my daughter that Muslim women are not allowed to swim in public pools? What will that do to her mind?

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Europe often wonders about young jihadists who grow up in Europe then pledge their allegiance to terror. This is exactly how they're made. These youth, who feel rejected and marginalized, are young and emotionally unstable, and are therefore easily manipulated by hate-filled creatures with a desire to blow everything up.

I will not participate in this. I will not play this game. I will continue to swim in a burkini and I will do this wherever I choose.

I had a really good time swimming in Texas. No one gave me awkward looks or said anything condescending. Nobody cared who was wearing what.

There was a topless elderly woman, and nobody cared. I certainly didn't.

When I think about how well I was treated in Texas, I can't help but feel very disappointed with the French.


Competitive journalism

In 1988. I was working as a producer for CBS News, and in that year I got sent to Seoul to cover the 1988 Olympics.

As NBC owned the venue, we had to find 'other stories' to shoot to fill the news hole and keep content coming in.

That year, there were student riots in the streets of Seoul (God only know over what. Do I speak Korean?), but they made great TV, and there was a big demand for them at the news desk. After all, riots in the heart of the Olympics? Why not? Particulary for a network that did not have access to the sporting events.

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Being Korea, and being remarkably organized, there was a toll free number you could call to find out when and where the next student riot was going to be. They were pretty much daily events during the Olympics. Why would the students miss a world wide audience.

At any rate, I called the number and found out where the riots where scheduled, and the next morning, along with my crew, we headed over to the riot venue.

We were not the only ones there. There must have been a dozen news crews and reporters from all over the world. Everyone clearly had the same idea.

At around 9am, suddenly, all the shopkeepers began to pulldown the metal gratings in front of their stores and seal themselves in. At the same time, a line of students amassed behind us. They were carrying protest signs and looked pretty angry.

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Suddenly, ahead of us, a line of armed and heavily outfitted Korean police appeared - along with their truncheons and large plexiglass shields. They were all in helmets and combat gear. You've seen this kind of thing on TV.

Now, we were smack between them, and they were heade for us on both sides - not a great place to be.

I started to bolt to the side when my cameraman, Pete Henderson, a brilliant South African who really knew his way around (he would go on to found his own global TV news business), grabbed me by the collar and said 'Don't move'.

"But we're right in the middle of the riot", I said.

"Best place to be," Pete responded. And indeed, the dozen or so crews formed a kind of circle - an island, Pete called it. "Stay on the island".

And indeed, the riot was 'performed' around us, in a great circle, never going near us, but never getting too far away. Of course, the cameras rolled.

Then, suddenly, a flash of light and a fire. The students were throwing Molotov Cocktails!

"We're gonna get killed!" I said to Pete.

He was calm. "Dont' worry. They're not gasoline. They're filled with kerosene. Burns great, but not dangerous. And still the cameas rolled.

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In about 20 minutes, the whole thing was over.

The crews departed, headed for their various edit units and then to transmit the footage home for air. I also was heading back to CBS when Pete again grabbed me.

"If you want to see something REALLY interesting," he said, "stick around."

And so we did.

Everyone had now cleared out of the plaza. The camera crews, the reporters, the rioters and the police. The shopkeepers started to open up their stores again.

Then, suddenly, both the police and the student rioters returned, but this time without either signs or scary uniforms. Instead, they both got down on their hands and knees and began to sweep up the broken glass and tattered signs, cleaning the plaza and restoring it to its former pristine self.

"Unbelievable," I said.

"Kabuki theater," said Pete. "Very Asian."

When it was all over, I went back to the CBS office and sent the full tape in, including the clean up. I noted in the script that it was, in fact, not dangerous at all, and was actually Kabuki Theater, as Pete had shown me.

When the 'news' aired that night, it did not include any of the cleanup footage no anything about the cleanup or the theatrical nature of the demonstrations. Instead, it led with the headline - Student Riots Again Rock Seoul Disrupting the Olympic Games.

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Attending the Millennium Campus Conference (MCC) was one of the most successful experiences in my life. I was chosen as an international delegate twice; first for MCC15 at the United Nations Headquarters and then for MCC16 at Howard University. I traveled overseas all the way from Beirut, Lebanon to the United States of America to meet incredible youth leaders and powerful change makers, to think together about global issues, to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals and to come up with ideas that would help people get more benefits from the power of the UN and similar organizations.

MCC16 had a special taste this year with new opportunities and new experiences. There was a chance to visit the Capitol, and some of the attendees (including international ones) participated in a lobbying day, asking for support and funds from senators and their staffers who have the power to help solve lethal diseases such as Malaria and HIV/AIDS. Our group met with Mr. Matt Squer at senator Heidi Heitkamp's office. The meeting was smooth and easy. Mr. Squer liked how we presented the problem and he showed a big interest in funding the project we discussed.



Ghewa at a plenary session during MCC16. Photo cred @hieu.light.



The MCN team did incredible work to prepare for the conference at Howard University. There was an Opportunities Fair which was a chance to network with representatives from universities and NGOs focusing on various issues. As a chemist who has almost four years of experience in the medical field and an interest in women's rights issues and gender equality, I had multiple opportunities to network during the conference. I will continue to work during the next few months, hoping that I will be able to move at least one step forward towards my dream, which is working for UN Women. I want to put all the efforts and energy I have in programs that help girls and women all around the world to get their rights.

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A MCC16 selfie with Ghewa and friends outside the Blackburn Center at Howard University.



In the end, I want to thank every member of the MCN team, volunteers and delegates for being a great source of inspiration, for loving the creation of change and for willing to go forward for it. To the great friends I had the chance to meet over this week, I want to tell you how powerful your minds are and how proud I am to have you as my friends. Every single one of us has the passion to do something; for this we should all work together, think together, and act together. If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together!
Unlike tenure contract provisions, magistrate raises are based on service time and can be suspended by NCGA

"Rather, the General Assembly is free to amend the Salary Statute so long as, in doing so, the General Assembly does not reduce a magistrate's salary for work already performed."

Construing a statute to create contractual rights in the absence of an expression of unequivocal intent would be at best ill-advised, binding the hands of future sessions of the legislature and obstructing or preventing subsequent revisions and repeals. We are deeply reluctant to limit drastically the essential powers of a legislative body by finding a contract created by statute without compelling supporting evidence.

"Here, a magistrate could not have a contractual right to receive a higher salary in a future year simply until the magistrate completed work in that future year. The actions of the General Assembly in suspending step increases for future work did not take away any benefit already earned by plaintiffs, whereas in N.C. Ass'n of Educators, the successful plaintiffs had already worked the requisite years to earn career status."

At times, state law has granted pay raises to some classes of employees after they've been in a job for a certain amount of time. Can the General Assembly abolish such automatic raises proactively? The answer, according to the state's second highest court, is "yes."Magistrates' pay is defined by statute. Under the compensation scheme created by the General Assembly, there's a beginning pay grade. Beyond that are six higher pay levels - known as "steps" - which magistrates reach when they have spent a set amount of time at the previous level. In 2009, during the depths of the Great Recession, the General Assembly suspended step pay promotions; they were restarted as of July 1, 2014. Just before the step pay increases resumed, a group of magistrates filled a class-action lawsuit against the state. The magistrates claimed that the pay increase schedule in the statute amounted to a vested contractual right and that the state had breached this contract when it suspended the step pay increases.A Superior Court held that the statute did not create any such contractual rights and dismissed the lawsuit. The magistrates then brought their claim to the Court of Appeals.Like the lower court, the appeals court was not persuaded that magistrates had a right to automatic step pay increases.wrote Judge Chris Dillon for the court. (Emphasis in decision.)Before the appeals court, a key precedent was the N.C. Supreme Court's recent holding in N.C. Ass'n. of Educators, the teacher tenure case. In that case, the high court held that:The N.C. Supreme Court rejected the legislature's attempt to remove enhanced job protections from teachers who already had obtained career status. The high court concluded that those teachers had entered into contacts with local school districts including the promise of tenure, not because the wording of the state statute created an enforceable future contract.The Supreme Court left undisturbed the Court of Appeals' determination that the General Assembly could eliminate the prospect of tenure for teachers who hadn't spent enough time on the job to achieve career status.wrote Dillon.Court of Appeals decisions are binding interpretations of state law unless overruled by the state Supreme Court. As the decision by the three-judge panel of the appeals court was unanimous, the high court is not required to hear the case if the magistrates seek an appeal.The case is Adams v. State of NC (15-1275).
You may not be a techie at heart, but modern technology makes it vital to stay abreast of current trends. In this high speed, technology driven universe, what you don't know will hurt you and you must race to keep up.

CDN, or in other words a Content Delivery Network, is "a network of geographically distributed servers which caches the static content (CSS, Javascript, Images and other static components) of a website or blog" according to Wikipedia. In laymen's terms: a CDN speeds up the time it takes for your website to load when visitors click on your page.

With today's desire for rapid speed, a majority of website visitors have no patience for slow loading pages. If you have an e-commerce website, or a website that sells an digital product or service, a slow loading page could result in a loss of potential customers and visitors and could greatly harm your SEO rankings.

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Here's how it works:

Typically, websites and applications operate out of a single physical location, yet your site's content - images, text and video - are globally accessible. But does location have an impact on the performance of your site? For example, if a website's servers are in California, will people in Texas receive the content faster than people in Virginia or New York?

The answer is, yes.

The farther customers are from a company's data center, the slower the application loads on that customer's website, resulting in a frustrating and inconsistent user experience, decreasing your chances of an increase in blog or site traffic.

A novice might install a caching plugin to optimize his or her website. That alone will not solve the problem - you have to fully optimize your website in order to experience lightning fast loading speeds. This is where a CDN is vital.

One of CDN's benefits is that it improves the page loading speed of a particular website in a region where the CDN node (server) is located. Whenever the server of that CDN is located, visitors in that region will receive fast loading speeds for that website.

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This is more important than you think. Search engines now penalize sites that load too slowly and broadband penetration has created unprecedented traffic jams. Fast connection times do little good for viewers, if the content delivers slowly. Users with high-speed connections often experience choppiness, loading lags and poor quality, especially when viewing live events or if they are located far from the hosting servers. CDNs minimize latency issues and maximize available bandwidth for each viewer.

Here's another major advantage of CDN: it's cheaper! The decreased expense is because CDN saves on bandwidth, rack space, power, and cooling Since the CDN provides the configuration and hardware, you save money and the headache of maintaining that infrastructure.
Pregnant and expecting a baby, I asked myself the same question all moms ask: Do I want to breastfeed or formula feed my baby? I knew from the beginning that I wanted to breastfeed my son. I knew all of the benefits and prepared as much as possible -- it's not like it's something you can practice ahead of time -- and I was excited. I loved knowing I was going to provide my baby with all the nutrients he needed. It seemed like such a wonderfully natural thing to do. I quickly learned that while it may be natural, breastfeeding was definitely not easy for me at the beginning. Those first 31 days can be especially hard for new moms and babies learning to breastfeed.

To help you get an idea of what the first month of breastfeeding looks like, we began sharing a new tip each day in August for National Breastfeeding Month. You can follow along using #First31 on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Breastfeeding is different for every woman -- whether it's her first, second, or third baby -- but here are some of the common challenges breastfeeding moms face in the first day, first week, and beyond, plus tips to help you get through them.

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Days one and two: Bond with your baby. Your first couple of days as a new mom are likely to feel chaotic. You might be exhausted from giving birth. Nurses may be coming and going at all hours, making it hard to sleep. And the weight of being responsible for a new living being may be settling in. Try these tips to help you get off to a good start.

Feed your baby as soon as possible after delivery. This is a great way to "meet" your newborn, and it's an important step in starting your new breastfeeding routine. Give it a try as soon as she is in your arms. A nurse will probably help you with this first feeding.

Don't hesitate to ask for help. Hospital staff with breastfeeding expertise will be close at hand and can help you learn good nursing positions, including some that are more comfortable following a C-section.

Position and latch are key. When breastfeeding, your baby's belly button should face you, not the ceiling. Make sure your baby's lips are spread wide and turned out and that she has most of your areola in her mouth.

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The first milk is called colostrum, or "liquid gold." Your baby only needs small amounts of this, but it's packed with nutrients. Giving it to her clears the way for your milk to come in.

Week one: Get used to breastfeeding before setting any long-term goals. You're home and still recovering from giving birth. Family or friends may be staying over to give you a hand. Your nipples are sore from your baby's inexpert latch, and you're not sure she's getting enough to eat. It takes most new moms weeks to work out a breastfeeding routine. My advice is to let go of unrealistic expectations. Get through the first month before setting long-term goals. I used to tell myself, "It gets easier every day." Honestly, it wasn't always easier until suddenly it was and I'd gotten into a rhythm. Here are some ideas to help you develop the routine that works for you.

Create a calm and relaxing environment for breastfeeding.

Follow your baby's lead on when it's time to eat. When in doubt, always offer a breast. But every two hours is a good rule of thumb in the first week.

When family and friends offer helping hands, ask them to do routine chores. That'll give you more time to relax and bond with your baby, which is the biggest help of all.

Tender or sore nipples are normal when you start breastfeeding. But if you're in pain, ask your doctor or a lactation consultant for help. They may recommend soothing products or some new breastfeeding holds to help reduce irritation.

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Be patient and just keep trying.

Don't offer your baby a bottle during this time. It's best for you both to stick with breastfeeding.

Weeks two and three: Count on your amazing body to keep up with your baby's demand for milk.

You and your baby are easing into your breastfeeding routine. You're gaining confidence, and your baby seems to be getting enough milk. But out of the blue your baby starts nursing longer and reaches for your breast more often. You start to worry about making enough milk. But not to fear -- it's normal for your new baby to hit a growth spurt around weeks two and three. She'll ask for more milk to fuel the growth. You can help keep your milk supply up by making a few small changes:

Offer both breasts at each feeding.

Pump and freeze a supply of breast milk for times when your growing baby just can't seem to get enough.

Trust your body. Your milk will keep up as you nurse more and more often.

The first 31 days can be tricky, but you and your baby will be a well-coordinated breastfeeding team before you know it. And if you have any questions, we can help! Call the OWH Helpline at 800-994-9662, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, to talk with a trained breastfeeding peer counselor in English or Spanish.
With a year's worth of college credits and no degrees or certificates to show for it, Miguel Ponce, 28, was in a rut: living with his mom and siblings in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx and working hourly jobs that he didn't enjoy. "I bounced from retail job to retail job. I was making barely anything," he says. "It always felt like it was just a gateway to something better...I was working retail until I became a computer technician or a doctor -- always something else." While employed with a delivery company, Ponce used Craigslist to find a job that would allow him to work with computers -- his favorite way to spend time. One poster told him he was under-qualified for a tech job, but linked him to a website for Per Scholas, a New York City-based nonprofit that provides free, intensive I.T. job training to low-income adults in five other U.S. cities.

Along with 800 other aspiring employees who sign up every year for Per Scholas's classes (in IT support, network engineering and cyber security, among other subject matters), Ponce enrolled in an eight-week class on software testing. The rigorous sessions, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, taught him how software works and why it might fail, then asked him to practice spotting errors in real time. After receiving additional training in "soft skills," like communication, collaboration and problem solving in the workplace, Ponce had the skills he needed to start a career in a booming part of the tech industry. His chances were good: 80 percent of Per Scholas graduates find a job in less than a year, and most see their wages rise five-fold to more than $36,000 a year -- offering a pathway to the middle class, complete with a living wage, fulfilling tasks and the prospect of career advancement.

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APPLY: Per Scholas is an NBCUniversal Foundation 21st Century Solutions grant winner. Apply to the 2016 program today.

Perhaps surprisingly, many tech jobs require only a high school diploma. Per Scholas, which is supported by numerous partners and organizations, including NBCUniversal Foundation, the Center for Economic Opportunity and JPMorgan Chase, among others, aims to fill those positions. Employers in the tech sector give Per Scholas direct input on the curriculum, sharpening the organization's training beyond a generic computer science class. By doing this, participants receive skills for jobs that are available now, instead of abstract roles that might never exist. The results of the collaboration? A strong track record of placements at big firms like Bloomberg, ConEdison and TimeWarner Cable. Wayne Kunow, global head of information risk management at Barclays's investment banking arm, says he's "truly been impressed with the caliber and quality of talent coming from Per Scholas," rare praise for a program located in the South Bronx.

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The organization's impact, however, exceeds successful placement statistics. Tech companies often hire college graduates who are overqualified for entry-level jobs because other streams of talent haven't been identified. By proving that its workers (of which 90 percent are minorities) from poor communities can competently fill these jobs, Per Scholas could change the face of the sector and open job pipelines to forgotten communities. No longer do tech titans need to think they must sacrifice quality to add diversity. Hiring a Per Scholas graduate -- an asset with appropriate talent that can quickly fill a role -- is a win-win.

These trailblazers who will transform the tech industry come from neighborhoods consistently left behind by economic development. Per Scholas is headquartered in the South Bronx, an area notorious for being the poorest congressional district in the country (38 percent of residents live below the federal poverty line). Plinio Ayala, Per Scholas's president and CEO grew up in the neighborhood and says that while the physical decay may be better than it was during 1980s, the people still feel left behind. "The borough has always lacked opportunities, and the people have lacked opportunities." Better jobs, he believes, are the only way to foment a change.

"The success of programs such as Per Scholas is vital to the future of our economy," says Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. "We want to be the next tech hub of the world and in order to fulfill that goal, we will need qualified talent to step into those job opportunities. Per Scholas helps teach and build up our future tech geniuses that will help take our great borough to the next level."

A life-changing career can't come soon enough. Poverty dogs many: A male student reported not having eaten for three days; a female student couldn't do her homework in the homeless shelter where she lives. To solve these challenges, Per Scholas regularly signs people up for government assistance and offers advice from an in-house financial planner whose services are particularly valuable since three out of every five participants carry an average of $20,000 in outstanding debt (from prior schooling, cars, mortgages, credit cards, child support arrears or tax liens). The advisor advocates for those who are in default, helps students qualify for tax breaks and teaches them how to start saving. Thanks to regular group workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions, students collectively socked away more than $100,000 during the first three months of this year.

This financial planning is vital, especially since those enrolled are trying to leave behind retail and fast-food gigs -- low-wage work with limited possibilities -- to climb the career ladder. "If a crisis comes up, you can fix it," explains Ayala. "But if you're not making enough money at all, those problems are almost insurmountable. It creates this very yucky situation for people that don't know how to get out."

Ponce, once stuck in an endless cycle of dead-end jobs, now works at a top-tier Silicon Valley firm. "Back then, [Per Scholas] was the only thing that I had going for me," he says by phone from San Francisco. Today, he's using his computer skills to provide recommendations on how to improve software functionality, a job that gives him immense satisfaction.

The joy of the position, he says, is that testing is like a puzzle: There's so many ways humans might use a computer tool that he needs to consider to make sure it works. In a way, his job mirrors the role Per Scholas plays for tech companies. Without the organization, no one would give thought to how poor communities might participate in the online revolution, but thanks to its rigorous testing and training, a whole new functionality is deployed.
Blue light flasher atop of a police car. City lights on the background.

Among the many things that a rape victim has to deal with is the decision whether or not to involve law enforcement. It's a personal decision and there's no right answer. While it's important for perpetrators to face some kind of reckoning for their actions and to keep serial attackers away from potential victims (though what that should look like is a complicated question on its own), there are many disincentives for women to take their complaints to the police. The very people who are charged with taking sexual assault seriously and holding perpetrators accountable are far from immune from the rape culture that infects society at large.

Nobody is the "perfect victim." A new Justice Department report that excoriated the Baltimore police department for a long list of reprehensible acts highlighted the fact that in a majority-black city, the problem of taking sexual assault victims seriously is even more acute. Poor women of color who report assaults are dismissed, and the department displayed disgusting behavior toward transgender women:

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One transgender woman, for instance, said that an officer who was ordered to search her had protested in disgust, complaining to a colleague, "I am not searching that." Then the officer turned to the woman and declared: "I don't know if you're a boy or a girl. And I really don't care. I am not searching you."

It can be assumed you're lying until proven otherwise. A prosecutor in Baltimore called a woman who reported a sexual assault a "conniving little whore," and a police officer responded by texting "Lmao! I feel the same." When you report a burglary to the police, they don't interrogate you about whether you're faking the whole thing or misinterpreted what happened. But sexual assault victims are often treated like criminals, with police officers trying to tear apart their stories.

In a stunning story reported by the Marshall Project, an 18-year-old rape victim was grilled and pressured until she told police that she had made up the account of her rape. They even went so far as to charge her with a misdemeanor for a false report. Later they connected details of the crime to other rapes in nearby states and arrested someone who eventually pled to more than two dozen rapes and associated felonies. If law enforcement in other jurisdictions hadn't made those connections, no one may ever have known that the woman had been telling the truth the entire time.

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The evidence from your rape kit might never be tested. The federal government has estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits around the country remain untested. According to End the Backlog, law enforcement agencies often cite lack of resources, or sometimes don't fully understand the importance of rape kit testing and think it's only important in certain scenarios. Detroit has been leading the way in clearing out its backlog, and identified 2,616 suspects, including 477 serial rapists.

Police officers themselves have been implicated in sexual misconduct. The Justice Department report on Baltimore found that officers targeted sex workers and would "coerce sexual favors from them in exchange for avoiding arrest, or for cash or narcotics." The Oakland Police Department is currently mired in a scandal that involves police officers raping an underage sex worker. Officer Daniel Holtzclaw raped black women, knowing that they were vulnerable and would seem less credible in a racist criminal justice system when accusing a police officer. The long history of brutality against communities of color means that there is not a relationship of trust between the police and many communities.

A conviction doesn't necessarily mean punishment. Many words have been written about Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who was given a light sentence for rape despite the fact that witnesses saw him attacking an unconscious woman. A similar case just played out in Colorado. If the assailant is a privileged white man, he's more likely to get a light punishment regardless of the evidence against him.

None of this is meant to discourage anyone from going to law enforcement to report sexual assault. There are surely many people in law enforcement who are doing their best to support survivors and prosecute rapists. Even though the Brock Turner case outraged millions, the bravery of the survivor in that case and the moving letter she read in court did tremendous good in taking him to task, educating others about the reality of sexual assault, and letting other survivors know they are not alone.

What it does mean is that we must reserve judgment and not assume that a woman who decides not to go to law enforcement is making up her story. We must believe women and acknowledge that they don't go through this onerous process just to frame a man or get revenge for a bad hookup. We must commit to work to change rape culture and the volatile mix of misinformation, racism and sexism that allows such attitudes to thrive, even among the people who are supposed to protect us.

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___________________


There is no low road to greatness.

It is instructive that leading voices of the Christian right support someone for president who believes in nothing more than himself. To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, imagine a virtuous man and you have imagined everything Donald Trump is not.

The religious conservatives, however, are interested in power more than virtue. To be sure, trusting a pathological person like Trump is risky. But Trump promises to appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices and repeal the so-called Johnson Amendment, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates.

America's religious pluralism has always included people who use their freedom to infringe the freedom of their neighbors. Every zealot with a Bible seems to feel deputized by the Almighty to climb the nearest platform and issue damning decrees. Our shield against them is the Constitution, as long as we don't allow fundamentalists to rewrite or reinterpret it.

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Nothing is more pernicious than people asserting the authority of Holy Writ. This is not just because it is obnoxious and presumptuous, but because it has such bloody consequences. Just last week, the handiwork of American evangelicals like Scott Lively was on display in Uganda, where police brutally raided a Uganda Pride event, a fashion show dedicated to the Orlando massacre victims. One of the young people present was so terrified that he jumped out a window and suffered a fractured spine.

Like Lively, the Christianist zealots deny any role in fomenting such violence. But hate speech inspires hateful acts. Multiple cases have occurred recently in which Muslims were removed from commercial airline flights simply because their presence made others uncomfortable. If you want more of that, vote for Trump. If not, vote against the party that has put itself in thrall to the most ignorant, fearful, and intolerant element in this country. Vote against it up and down the ballot.

Some among us do not care about these threats. Their privilege will shield them even if the Constitution does not. The rest of us must stand together and take our civic duty seriously. If our complacency leads to a Republican win, its fruits could include loss of reproductive choice, recriminalization of gay sex, abolition of marriage equality, and ramped-up persecution of religious minorities.

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One thing that amazed me during the marriage battle in DC was the stout opposition by many of our ministerial opponents even to allowing women ministers. When I saw how stuck in the past they were, I was more confident that we would win; but we did not slacken our efforts. Those who think we should stay in separate silos ignore how our opponents link us, and how our own diversity links us. If we work together, the GOP will have to change if it is ever again to win a national election. If we fail, massive resistance will have to be organized against the repression that will follow.

The virtues needed are not the monopoly of any faith. Humility, charity, justice, courage, integrity and love brought our Ugandan brothers and sisters together last week, and have sustained them since the raid. If bellowing and bluster are the keys to victory, Trump will win. But there is no low road to greatness.

Fifty-one years ago, John Lewis put off attending to his own fractured skull as he saw to his wounded comrades who had followed him over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The seed of true greatness lies in the simple virtues that drove those patriots in the 1960s and the pioneers in Uganda last week. Chief among them is the virtue observed in the early Christians, however misshapen it has become in some of their latter-day heirs: "See how they love one another."

This piece originally appeared in the Washington Blade and Bay Windows.
US presidential candidate Donald Trump exits New York Supreme Court after morning jury duty August 17, 2015 in New York. Trump reported for jury duty in New York on Monday, stepping out of a sleek black limo to be mobbed by media and supporters. The bombastic real estate magnate, who is leading the polls among 17 Republican candidates for president, arrived at New York State Supreme Court at 9:08 am (1308 GMT) dressed in a blue suit and striped tie. He strode up the sweeping steps of the court house surrounded by a phalanx of police, television cameras, journalists and photographers, signing an autograph for one fan and fist-bumping another. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT / AFP / DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)

The GOP's unprecedented refusal to consider President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court underscores the stakes in the 2016 race. One is whether the Roberts court will continue to shield corporate interests at whatever cost to law or reason.

For millions of Americans, two decisions dramatize this question.

In Citizens United, five conservative justices -- Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas and Alito --reached well beyond the scope of the case, finding that businesses and individuals have a constitutional right to spend unlimited sums to defeat candidates who displease them. This decision reversed long-established precedent and shredded campaign finance laws aimed at limiting the power of money in politics. In short, the court changed established procedure and existing law to empower plutocracy over democracy.

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The Lily Ledbetter case was almost as remarkable. The same conservative justices allowed Goodyear to invoke the statute of limitations to protect decades of pay discrimination it had concealed from a female employee -- even though she filed suit promptly upon discovering that she was earning less than her male counterparts. The essence of this ruling was that a corporation can perpetuate pay discrimination by hiding what it's doing.

But these cases are not notorious because they are unique. In the jurisprudence of the Roberts court, they are business as usual -- in every sense of that phrase.

In a host of rulings governing labor law, workplace law, tort law, election law and consumer regulation, the Supreme Court has been less a repository of justice than a precinct of the Chamber of Commerce. Literally. An empirical study for the Center For Constitutional Accountability tracked 60 Supreme Court cases involving corporate interests from 2006 to 2009. During that period, the court sided with positions taken by the Chamber of Commerce in 68 percent of cases before it. For the term commencing in 2009, that percentage rose to 81 percent.

This pro-business agenda is confirmed by an exhaustive study of Supreme Court case law from 1946 through 2011. The authors are professors Lee Epstein and William Landes, and federal appellate judge Richard Posner, an eminent conservative legal scholar. Their research confirmed that the Roberts court is "much friendlier to business than either the Burger or Rehnquist courts..." In particular, the authors found, the court is much more likely to review and reverse lower court decisions unfavorable to business interests than decisions which protect them.

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The reasons for this pro-business bias are spelled out in another scholarly paper by professors Neil Devins and Lawrence Baum -- "Split Definitive: How Party Polarization Turned The Supreme Court Into A Partisan Court."

First, Justices are now chosen from polarized social networks which espouse a fixed political and social ideology -- most particularly the Federalist Society -- and which exist to identify and groom conservative lawyers to become ideologically reliable judges. These groups screen potential nominees for Republican presidents, ensuring the appointment of Justices whose rulings in key matters are all but preordained.

This process gave us Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Chief Justice Roberts -- all earmarked by the Federalist Society. Once on the court, these justices have maintained strong ties to the Society, attending and speaking at its functions. In short, the Court's conservative activists emanate from, and continue to inhabit, a world defined by political ideology.

There is very little chance that their rulings on matters dear to the political right will change -- their abiding loyalty is to the conservative network which put them on the court, not to precedent or broader ideas of justice. Indeed, another study by professors Nancy Scherer and Banks Miller found that federal judges who are members of the Federalist Society are twice as likely to cast votes which reflect conservative ideology than Republican nonmembers -- let alone Democrats.

With Justice Scalia's death, the Supreme Court is now split 4 to 4 between Republican and Democratic appointees. Thus whoever selects Scalia's replacement will dramatically affect whether ordinary citizens harmed by corporations can seek redress in court.

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Now comes Donald Trump.

In his most successful effort to secure the allegiance of Republican conservatives, Trump released a list of 11 prospective nominees vetted by the Federalist Society or its ideological running mate, the Heritage Foundation. As one would expect, all are hardline conservatives, and fit perfectly into Trump's promise to nominate justices who are clones of Antonin Scalia. Here is how Nan Aron, president of the progressive Alliance for Justice Action Council, characterized Trump's choices:

The list includes some of the most extreme conservatives on the federal bench today. Their opinions demonstrate open hostility to Americans' rights and liberties, including reproductive justice and environmental, consumer and worker protections. They have ruled consistently in favor of the powerful over everyone else. They would move the needle even further to the right on the Supreme Court.

In assessing the damage Trump could inflict by embedding a conservative majority, the record of the Roberts court is instructive. A telling way to demonstrate this is to review decisions by the court -- beyond Citizens United and Ledbetter -- in the area of corporate law.

Start with attempts to gut class-action lawsuits. As it happens, I know a bit about this subject -- in 17 years as a lawyer, I first brought class-actions on behalf of stockholders against corporations and, later, defended such suits. So I can speak with knowledge and, I hope, a modicum of dispassion.

A word for non-lawyers. Class actions are brought by an individual plaintiff on behalf of a much larger group of people who claim to be damaged by the same wrong inflicted by the same defendant. They are indispensable to people of modest means whose loss or injury may be significant to them but who, as individuals, cannot afford to sue a powerful and well-funded corporation.

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Hamstringing class actions is central to the corporate legal and political agenda. Corporations loathe the expense of defending them, and fear the possibility of large verdicts compensating thousands of individuals for their own alleged wrongdoing. As a matter of self-interest, the likely defendants in such cases want to erase class actions from the legal map. Their bottom line is simple: when it comes to class actions, the alleged victims of wrongdoing should bear the costs -- not the perpetrators.

A peculiarity of this is that, as a class, the patrician legal establishment of corporate lawyers -- of which John Roberts and I were both members -- tend to look on class actions, and the lawyers who bring them, with loathing and contempt. The intensity of this sentiment transcends mere disagreement between adversaries about the law or facts -- it goes bone deep, and one can feel it in the rulings of the Roberts court's conservative justices.

A fair example of how all this plays out is the kind of case I litigated: class-actions brought by stockholders who relied on allegedly fraudulent materials in purchasing shares from a corporation. For a retiree who invested $25,000 in a bogus company, the impact can be severe. But there is simply no way that such people -- who may number in the thousands -- can afford to sue as individuals: the legal fees alone would swallow any recovery.

Their only recourse is through a class action brought by a named plaintiff, represented by a lawyer who fronts the expenses of a lawsuit in exchange for a percentage of any recovery from a verdict or settlement. The lead plaintiff must faithfully represent the interests of the class as a whole -- he cannot dismiss the lawsuit in exchange for a private settlement for his injury alone, and the judge is required to find that any settlement on behalf of the class is in its best interests.

I know from my own experience that class actions are subject to abuse by the lawyers who bring them. I've defended lawsuits where the plaintiffs' lawyers rushed to the courthouse with a bogus boilerplate complaint, so that they could be first in line for a settlement.

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In one memorable case, venal lawyers claimed that their inattentive named plaintiffs had been defrauded by a document, with which my client had only a marginal involvement, which did not even exist when they invested. And while opportunistic lawyers like this may enrich themselves from a settlement -- 30 percent of $10 million is, after all, $3 million -- the chances that class members will receive full restitution are slight.

Indeed, the mere filing of a lawsuit may impel a settlement because of the expense and risk of defending it. I once had a lawsuit tossed simply by comparing the charges against my client, word for word, with five identical complaints filed by the same lawyers against different defendants. One of my favorite playmates, a nationally prominent plaintiff's' lawyer, ended up in a federal penitentiary for paying off pet plaintiffs to purchase a few shares of stock in hordes of companies, so that he could later bring lawsuits if a company went south.

If I know all this, so does the Chief Justice. So, on that level, I get it.

But none of this means that class actions cannot be meritorious. I've seen a bunch of cases where the corporation engaged in blatant crookedness -- cooking the books, covering up product failures, concealing corporate disasters which, if known, would discouraged investors from buying.

Without class actions, these victims of fraud would have received no compensation at all. And here, for me, is the clinching point -- class actions are often the only deterrent to a corporation which injures people who can't afford to fight back. All the more so, in fact, in an age where financial malefactors too often avoid prosecution by the government.

Nonetheless, the Roberts court has worked overtime to squelch class-action lawsuits.

One corporate weapon is enforcing arbitration agreements, in which guileless customers give up their right to sue in open court in exchange for submitting individual claims to an arbitrator. Stretching the law a bit, the conservative majority ruled that these agreements are enforceable.

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The obvious effect is to bar class actions and make individual plaintiffs undertake the time and expense of appearing before an arbitrator -- in many cases, preventing any recourse at all. And the use of this stratagem is spreading -- as one example, Airbnb now requires customers to waive class actions in numerous areas, including claims of racial discrimination based on flaws in corporate policy.

Another legal weapon of war is to refuse to recognize the right to sue as a class. In one such case, the plaintiff alleged that Comcast, America's largest cable company, conspired with other companies to raise prices in Philadelphia. The conservative majority ruled that 2 million consumers could not band together as a class, and that each cable customer must sue Comcast as individuals -- logically absurd, and economically impossible, a judicial grant of legal immunity.

Here, again, a corporation allegedly profited by cheating millions of people on a scale too modest for them to seek redress on their own. In the world of the Roberts court, this is preferable to calling Comcast to account for deliberately gouging its customers.

Then there's the nuclear option for destroying class actions -- allowing a corporation to compensate a lead plaintiff for his damages, in return for abandoning the claims of the class. So far, a majority of the Supreme Court has rejected this approach -- but not its conservative proponents, Roberts, Scalia and Alito. Here, again, the identity of Scalia's successor is critical. Should the the Roberts position ever become law, it would effectively terminate class actions.

In all these cases, the question is who the law protects -- the individuals who suffered the supposed wrongdoing, or the corporation which inflicted it? The essence of the American legal system is that violations of law can be remedied in court. But not, the court's conservatives believe, if the remedy is to bring a class action.

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This is sadly typical. In case after case, the Roberts court has increased the political and legal power of corporations, while cutting down on the remedies for corporate wrongdoing. In this country club view of America, corporations are not just "people" -- they are privileged people, protected by our highest court at the expense of everyone else.

That defies our most important legal traditions. The law exists to resolve disputes in a fair manner, not to immunize one party in a way that frees them to wrong others with impunity. That is not law -- it is class bias rooted in politics. And despite his populist pretense, Donald Trump has pledged to stack this deck for decades to come.
Senior fisherman with national flag and sunken tomb

August is often a quiet month in diplomatic circles; but not this year, and not in Ankara. With only one month since the failed Turkish coup, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed a flurry of diplomatic activities with Russia, Iran, and Israel this week--in addition to an upcoming visit by the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on August 24th. All this represents a continuation of Erdogan's recent pragmatic steps to restore strained diplomatic ties with key neighbors and allies--with potential impact on the current crisis in Syria as well as the country's relation with its Sunni Ally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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These diplomatic overtures have gained momentum after the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15, and signal Erdogan's determination to break Turkey out of its increasingly isolated diplomatic position. Turkey's "No Problems with Neighbors" foreign policy of 2004-2011, during which Turkey enjoyed increased prestige, economic growth, and regional clout, came under severe strain from the Arab Spring and -- in far greater measure -- by the region-wide upheaval of the Syria conflict.

Coming out of last month's failed coup attempt, President Erdogan signals an energetic leadership that could help navigate Turkey back into a leading regional peacemaking role--one key relationship at a time. Borrowing from the "No Problems" guidelines, all these relationships are based upon enhancing political cooperation in equal measure with boosting trade and investment ties. While this diplomatic campaign is still ongoing, it is worthwhile to consider briefly how this strategic reorientation may impact Turkey's key bilateral relationships.

Last week, a key shift occurred between Turkey and Israel, where the parliament suggested a rapprochement with Israel in the coming weeks and to formally ratify the resumption of diplomatic ties. For some time, Turkey and Israel have enjoyed strong political and economic ties for decades, including the first years of the Erdogan era. However, Turkey-Israel relations soured in 2008-2010 after Erdogan walked off a Davos panel including Israeli president Shimon Peres and in the aftermath of the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, in which several Turkish citizens were killed during a humanitarian aid visit to Gaza.

This past June Turkey and Israel reached an agreement on compensation for the Mavi Marmara, which laid the foundation for resumed ties, and agreed to commence discussions on a natural gas pipeline from Israel to Turkey and on to Europe. At the time, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden who himself is scheduled to visit Turkey on August 24th congratulated Netanyahu's government over this "significant positive security and economic benefits for both countries."Then in a rare meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin--one of the key Allies of Syria's Assad regime--Erdogan's August 9 sit-down with his Russian counterpart signaled a long way toward resetting Turkish-Russian economic and political ties that are still severely strained by the conflict in Syria.

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Since a nadir caused by a Turkish shoot down of a Russian fighter in November 2015 near the Turkey/Syria border, relations have remained tense -- particularly regarding the crisis in Syria and in dealing with the Islamic State. Erdogan formally apologized for this incident in late June, and Russia subsequently voiced support for Erdogan immediately after the failed coup attempt wracked Turkey in July. Erdogan and Putin, while acknowledging differences over Syria, pledged to work towards a cooperative solution of the now six-year old conflict. Moreover, both leaders pledged to revive trade and tourism ties, which both declined dramatically in 2016.

In an interview with the Turkish state news operator Anadolo, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that his government and Russia, "have similar views on the ceasefire in Syria, humanitarian aid and finding a political solution." This is while last week, Turkey offered Russia to carry out joint military operations against the Islamic State in Syria, with Cavusoglu calling ISIS the "common enemy" of the two nations.

"Let's fight against the terrorist group together, so that we can clear it out as soon as possible," the Cavusoglu said last week during an interview with the private NTV television station.

The second main supporter of the Assad regime is Iran--a country that have maintained a fairly unwavering relationship with Russia. This is while Turkey's Relations with Iran was quite strong prior to the Syrian conflict, even including a key Turkish role, along with Brazil, as an intermediary for resolving the Iran nuclear issue in 2010. But Turkish-Iranian relations suffered, however, as the Syrian conflict grew in intensity and Turkey advocated Syrian President Assad's removal. Assad continues to be a key Iranian ally, witch subsequently places Turkey and Iran on opposite sides of the conflict.

However in less than a month since the failed Turkish coup, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif's visited Ankara last week--only days after the Erdogan-Putin meeting--where both countries agreed to cooperate over the situation in Syria.

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During a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif said that Iran is "ready to work and cooperate" with Turkey and Russia on the issue of Syria, adding that it welcomed "the new cooperation that has started" between Moscow and Ankara.

"We believe all sides should work together to return tranquility and calm to the region and fight extremism in Syria." said Zarif. In addition, during the joint press conference, both presaged an increased bilateral trade with a target of $30 billion annually as well as investment volumes and continued energy cooperation.

This is while, the Saudi Arabia-Iran rivalry, continues to roil the region, including divergent views on Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq; and the greatest test for Erdogan's realignment towards a Turkish regional peacemaking role may remain the Saudi-Iran friction. However, as the only regional country enjoying strong ties with both these regional players, Erdogan may be able to steer this rivalry onto a more constructive path.

Turkey's relation with its long-term friend Saudi Arabia blossomed under the reign of King Salman, with Turkey nominally joining a Sunni anti-terrorism coalition of states led by Saudi Arabia in early 2016. But Turkey's support for anti-Assad forces in Syria has brought limited gains, and Turkey's ongoing reset of relations with Russia, particularly after July's coup, have apparently led Erdogan to seek a more balanced position between Saudi Arabia and its chief regional rival and--Russian ally--Iran on the Syria issue.

Perhaps, Turkey's apparent readiness to adopt a constructive role in resolving this conflict may now help to step some of the negative repercussions it has spawned. A pragmatically-minded President Erdogan's recent moves may signal such a strategic rethink, back toward Turkey as a regional peacemaker.

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When I learned I would be interning at Disney World for the summer two years ago I became ecstatic. It was easily the best day of my life up until that moment because I knew how prestigious the Disney College Program was to get into.

I read about how they only accept 5,000 out of 30,000 applicants, and how most interns come from all over the world to live at Disney for months on end.

Working at Disney is no joke. It's actually a downright privilege for college students to be able to put it on their resume. I'll tell you one thing, I learned a lot from working for the mouse, and in a lot of ways working for this amazing company kind of spoiled me from there on out.

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It spoiled me because now I was used to the amazing procedures, policies, and ideals of a Fortune 500 company. I actually consider The Walt Disney Company as the best company in America, and I believe that every business can learn a lot from their example. Here are a few lessons I learned from working for the mouse.

1. Sacrifice Now To Gain Later

Working at Disney isn't all fairy dust and pirate ships. I worked at a restaurant, and there were a few times when our kitchen got backed up so badly that customers started to complain. Sometimes I couldn't even see the end of the line from where I was serving the food.

Disney empowered us to make sure that whenever a guest was upset about something, we make amends for it. Sometimes when a guest was waiting for too long we would compensate them with a free dessert or two. One time I saw a woman's attitude completely change when I offered her a few free desserts. It also wasn't uncommon for our managers to step in and bring out the big guns by giving a refund in particularly dire circumstances.

The point is that Disney understood that taking a loss on something in the present would make up for a mistake and keep the customer happy. This would keep them coming back to Disney World later on and even spur them to tell their friends about what happened.

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2. Make Magic

One morning during Star Wars weekend my manager pulled me aside and asked me to do something before opening up the restaurant. She told me to find a child, preferably wearing Star Wars gear, and usher them up to the front of the restaurant. It was there that the child should raise their hands and act like they were using the force. She assured me that she would take care of the rest.

So I did what she told me, and the child, along with his parents, stood in front of the restaurant looking at me for next instructions. When he did use the force, all the metal windows to the shop opened up on their own--making it look like he was using the force. In the middle was a cupcake for the child.

I'll always remember that day.

3. Have a Lot Fun

There used to be a lot of talk about being "Show Ready" at Disney. This means that the company considered the parks to be the stage and the workers to be the entertainers. Whenever we worked we were always on stage. Because of this I never thought of myself as just a fast-food worker, I was someone that could entertain just like Darth Vader was doing in his "lair" across the way.

One fall day during the less busy season my coordinator came up to me and gave me some chalk. She told me to go out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant to draw a game of hopscotch.

I had different plans.

One of my best friends and I decided to go out and start drawing Disney characters on the sidewalk instead. After five minutes of drawing, we both looked up to see multiple kids with their parents staring at what we were doing. My friend and I looked at each other and then asked these young ones if they wanted to join in to draw.

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They did. And when they did everybody else wanted to join in too. It was like my friend and I were running a small day care center in the middle of Hollywood Studios. I'll always remember that day as one of my favorite days ever at Walt Disney World.

4. Think of Everyone

I was always amazed at how accommodating Disney really is--especially for those handicapped guests that make their way into the parks every day. Think about it--there aren't too many people that come in wheelchairs to the Disney Parks, yet Disney always molds their rides and restaurants to accommodate, whether that's having an elevator in the waiting line or a lower counter top at the restaurants.

But that's not it. During my Disney College Program I met people from all over the world. I thought I traveled far by flying 900 miles to Orlando, but some of my peers had traveled from across the world to work in Florida. I think that diversity is such an important thing. It's important to think of absolutely everyone in work as well as in life.

5. Dream

It's such a typical last point, but trust me on this. Working at Disney taught me to dream. Before I got into the program I was a kid in Pennsylvania where it was only sunny ten days out of the month, and it was only warm three months out of the year. Working at Disney seemed like some fantasy that every college kid wanted, but, because competition was so fierce, would never be able to get.

I studied every interview question and dreamed in class about what it might be like--with no honest belief that anything would actually happen.

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Then I got the news that I had been accepted, and it was the best day of my life. I realized that day that dreams can come true when you work hard enough and believe.

We live in a dark world that puts down anybody with a dream. It makes fun of anybody that believes in pixie dust or magic--but I'm here to tell you that the only way to accomplish anything of value is to leave them where they are and let your dreams take flight.

You'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
Everyone agrees that it is necessary to protect data and sensitive information that is shared on and over the internet. Virtual Private Network (VPN) enables a user to guard and make discrete connections to public and private networks. It provides security through the encoding and decoding of data that goes through a VPN connection.

Whether you are work more frequently on a computer or using a smartphone or tablet, you will need to use VPN still. Android phones are rated as the most vulnerable among the list of smartphones and an easy target for the cyber goons.

Itemized below are 6 reasons why you as an internet based business person needs to use VPN.

1. Optimal Security

In this time and age where everyone and everything is connected, security is a major challenge. There is a risk of viruses, hackers or damaging plug-ins once you are linked to the internet either through your smartphone or through your laptop. Even information sent is in the danger of being interrupted, diverted or changed. That is why smart businesses invest in security.

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Antiviruses are not enough to protect you from these risks and that is why VPN is needed. VPNs protect every connection between your device and remote resources. Even in instances where information channels are tampered with, a VPN connection will ensure youre safe.

If a hacker is lucky enough to violate a VPN connection, he/she would only see unreadable letters from you to a VPN server and cannot see what web pages you are connected to, what transactions you are carrying out or what mails/chat you are sending.

As an entrepreneur whose business practically lives on the internet, this is necessary to protect professional and personal transactions, client information, credit card details, and work files to avoid rivals using such information in a negative manner.

2. Online Secrecy

With a VPN connection, you can be anonymous while on the internet. Gone are those days when your name, location and personal details can be found using your IP address and ISP when you are connected to the internet through your mobile phone or pc.

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A VPN allows you to hide your IP address and thus protects your personal information from being available to anyone who wants to snoop or misuse it. Hackers will only be able to see the IP address of your VPN provider whilst your personal IP address will remain hidden.

However, there are other online solutions such as web proxies but with a VPN you can surf the internet whilst being completely anonymous.

3. Access to Blocked Websites

Among the advantages of using VPN, Unblocking websites & bypassing filters are vital. Using VPN is very useful in accessing websites that are restricted and in side-stepping internet filters. Some restrictions are geographical, while some are internet service providers and others are company ban on certain social media platforms.

VPNs have a lot of presence plugs in different geographic locations and you being identified with a VPN providers IP address allow you evade geographical barriers.VPNs are mostly used in countries where theres heavy restriction on access to specific web pages.

4. Enhanced Network

Generally, your internet connectivity becomes better with a VPN connection. Your bandwidth and internet routes might not be at its best performance level as a result of bandwidth limits by ISPs. This makes browsing experience sluggish and frustrating especially with business transactions done over the internet.

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In this instance, you should connect to a local VPN point of presence (POP) which routes your movement. This will enable you have a bandwidth to remote endpoints like the bandwidth available between you and your local VPN server and voila! your internet network becomes better.

5. File Sharing

VPN providers allow their users share files over a long period of time. Data sharing is faster, easy and without distance barriers as you can engage in any activity as though you are within a local network area (LAN), so even when you are at home or travelling, you can access the resources on your network at any time.

Through this, VPN increases efficiency and output within an internet based business as the excuse of distance and accessibility is removed.

6. Cost Reduction

VPN services providers are quite affordable and even if you choose to set up your own VPN server provided you have the technical know-how, the cost of maintaining it is low. Also if you decide to go with a service provider, network operations and surveillance no longer becomes your problem as the service provider handles it. Every business is constantly on the lookout for ways to be cost effective and VPN gives you that option.
Last July, I asked NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton a very benign question at a "Newsmakers Breakfast" my company produced: "Do you think you'll stick around for a second term after 2017?"

"Absolutely not," was Bratton's surprisingly candid response.

I was stunned, as were many in the audience that day. Instantly, two reporters scurried out of the room to report this breaking news. I sat there on the podium, feeling a mix of apprehension about the City's future without one of best Police Commissioners in our history and a journalistic concern that some other news outlet was going to break this story before my company could.

The daily newspapers the next day all had long stories about Bratton's surprising announcement. The secret was out and political observers began speculating about his successor while others began contemplating Mayor de Blasio's prospects for re-election without his well-respected police commissioner.

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But then the political forces of the administration urged Bratton to reconsider his public decision and walk back his comments. Bratton then issued a more diplomatic statement that it was too early to make decisions about his future.

Earlier this month, Bratton stayed true to his word and stepped down as Police Commissioner, handing the baton to his trusted deputy, James O'Neill. Immediately, skeptical pundits tried to ascertain the story behind the official story.

So far, there is no definitive answer about Bratton's decision. But this turn of events got me wondering about the state of policing in New York as well as the rest of our chaotic country. It has probably never been a more perilous time to be a cop in America, with all too frequent assassinations happening in recent months as well as many cities becoming engulfed in protests over police misconduct.

There is no doubt that the tougher crime legislation passed two decades ago in Bill Clinton's administration as well as the ascendancy of the "Broken Windows" theory of policing has made our police force more aggressive in fighting all crimes, including petty ones like drug dealing and farebeating and public urination among others.

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At the same time, a few very disparate trends emerged that affected society profoundly - guns became more plentiful and the homeless mentally ill began to fall through the cracks and were left to fend for themselves.

Police became much more concerned about preventing crime, aggressively stopping those suspected of carrying weapons and engaging in the controversial "stop, question and frisk" method of policing.

In large cities like New York, crime rates dropped steadily over two decades and today, our city is the safest large city in America. Bill Bratton and his erstwhile competitor and predecessor, Ray Kelly, started this impressive decline in crime in the early 1990s and now, a quarter century later, New Yorkers are the beneficiaries of a very impressive run of police commissioners.

After a huge spike in controversial "stop and frisks" under Bloomberg/Kelly, we now see crime rates holding steady while the use of "stops" has also dropped dramatically in the past few years.

With Bratton's exit in September, it is the end of an era. What lies ahead? Let's take a look at some trends and storylines.

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First of all, New York City police officers seem to be going through a period of lower morale because they feel that the current Mayor is not their ally and that he favors those who criticize police more than he stands up for the thin blue line. There is some validity to this in the wake of two Mayors - Giuliani and Bloomberg - who always backed their Police Commissioners and the whole police force despite the heat they sometimes received. De Blasio has always been lukewarm in his support of cops and allowed his very strong ally in Commissioner Bratton to act as a buffer between the Mayor and the NYPD.

Compounding this feeling is the ongoing heated contract negotiations that still have not been resolved. Mayor de Blasio has settled with almost every other union in the city, but the police feel that the mayor has not offered them anything near what is fair. Last week's revelation that many members of the Mayor's administration got generous raises only rubbed more salt in the wound for New York's finest.

What to do? Well, first of all, the Mayor should try to figure out a way to make a grand gesture which shows how much he appreciates the men and women in blue and their good work in keeping our city safe (while other large cities like Chicago descend into violent chaos). If he can't do it through a more generous contract, then maybe he could offer merit bonuses? Or bonuses for police who live in the communities they serve?

Yes, there have been a number of disturbing events of police misconduct around the country that have been caught on tape and we must make sure these officers are properly disciplined. But we must not lose sight of the fact that every day, New York's thin blue line keep all of us safe and they continue to do so by breaking previous crime lows.
The landmark Paris climate agreement opened a new chapter in confronting an enormous challenge to our planet. I believe that it also gave new life to a Clean Air Act provision that traces its roots to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson when my father was Interior Secretary. And as communities in New Mexico and across the globe increasingly battle the impacts of climate change - while congressional gridlock prevents the United States from taking significant action - this provision offers new avenues for action.



My father, Stewart Udall, was determined to make science a cornerstone of federal decision-making. The person he hired as the Department's first science adviser was a distinguished oceanographer, Roger Revelle, who recognized even then the looming dangers of climate change. Revelle collaborated with Johnson's top science advisers on a prescient report entitled "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment."



This 1965 report from the President's Science Advisory Committee devoted a chapter to "Carbon Dioxide From Fossil Fuels - The Invisible Pollutant." The scientists wrote, "Man is unwittingly conducting a vast geophysical experiment" that "may be sufficient by the year 2000 to produce measurable and perhaps marked changes in climate," as well as sea level rise "a hundred times greater than present worldwide rates."



The scientists' concerns clearly influenced Johnson who warned in a special message to Congress in 1965, that "this generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through ... a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels." He called on Congress to strengthen the Clean Air Act to permit the federal government to investigate and prevent air pollution.



Members went to the floor of the House and the Senate to echo Johnson's alarm. One even testified before the House Commerce Committee about the "unnerving" risk that "the increase in carbon dioxide ... may in time melt the polar ice caps" and "greatly raise the level of the oceans, thus dangerously shrinking the earth's land surface area."



That same year, Congress adopted what many of the nation's top environmental law professors now say may be the key to an economy-wide, market-based climate policy in the United States - the international air pollution provision of the Clean Air Act. The provision is surprisingly straightforward: if a pollutant meets an endangerment test and there is reciprocity with other nations, the Environmental Protection Agency can set emission reduction targets for the states, which they can meet using "economic incentives, such as fees, marketable permits, and auctions of emission rights."



The congressional drafters wrote that their goal was "to adopt a procedure whereby we can cooperate with foreign countries in cases involving endangerment of health or welfare." Legal experts maintain that after Paris, we can use this authority to tackle the ultimate international air pollutant: greenhouse gases.



The Clean Power Plan and the other actions contemplated in President Obama's Climate Action Plan are vital to the battle against climate change. But even if we implement all of them, there will still be a gap between the emissions reductions we will achieve and the level we have pledged to meet. The international clean air provision can unlock market mechanisms that will secure the additional reductions at the lowest possible cost.



Predictably, there are already critics of this approach and a bill has even been introduced to repeal it. Some argue that no one ever contemplated climate change when the provision was adopted. Of course, history tells us otherwise.



Others will say that Congress should pass legislation. I certainly hope Congress will act because a carefully crafted bill can address the myriad nuances climate change raises. But our country and the planet should not be held hostage to congressional inaction.



If legislation is not forthcoming, we need to rely on existing law, and none is more promising than the international clean air provision.



In 1969, when former Senator Patrick Moynihan was serving in the Nixon administration, he sent a remarkable memo to John Ehrlichman, writing: "It is now pretty clearly agreed that the CO2 content will rise 25 percent by 2000. This could increase the average temperature near the earth's surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This in turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington."



Despite these warnings, we've put off action for decades and now the consequences - fiercer storms and wildfires, rising sea levels, more severe droughts - are happening all around us.



Our generation can rise to this challenge. The work of visionary scientists and legislators from my father's era provides the legal foundation on which we can build an economically efficient climate policy for the United States.
Photo credit: Flickr/Jared Polin

Very little, if anything, has been appealing or ideal about this election cycle. In fact, determining a nominee to support has, oftentimes, felt like choosing between a colonoscopy with a mild sedative or being sodomized with a splintered broomstick while called a racial epithet. Watching the Republican and Democratic national conventions, respectively, offered more transparency while simultaneously illuminating the sheer contrast between the two presidential candidates.

In short, viewing the RNC was like witnessing a train wreck -- in slow motion. There was the presidential nominee's wife's plagiarized speech of the current sitting First Lady, what appeared to be a Nazi salute, and the convoluted assertion no other "subgroup" had contributed more to the world than Western civilization. Add to that a host of mediocre, disillusioned speakers topped off by Trump's quasi-apocalyptic, fear-mongering, divisive speech, after which one could wonder "if the sun [would] come out tomorrow," as the song goes. While the DNC had its own proverbial bumps in the road -- or, shall we say unyielding Bernie supporters -- it was the brilliant, even majestic, speech by the First Lady that was a turning point. It was the first grand gesture that left an indelible mark, offered hope, and painted a grossly different picture and, indeed, political and personal, historical and contemporary, patriotic and inclusive American tapestry. From that moment on, I was finally convinced.

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While multitudes of folks were equally moved and compelled, others are reluctant. A proponent of voting in state and local elections, Nick Cannon, host of America's Got Talent, vocalized he would not vote in the presidential election which he considers ceremonial; and, when called to task by news show host Roland Martin, Cannon noted he would write in a name or, in other words, issue a protest vote. Bow Wow, entertainer and former rapper, problematically disassociated himself along a skewed racial line: somehow a connection with Civil Rights and the need to vote does not resonate with him on the basis of his being "mixed" (his words). God bless and help millennials like him.

Ashley Williams, a graduate student known for interrupting a Clinton fundraiser and asking Hillary about her criminal justice platform, expressed ambivalence about (simply) voting: "I'm 23 years old, I'm black and I live in the [U.S.] south... I have not seen the powers of voting materialize" in ways that organizing impact "people power". "I don't think that we are being dismissive" of voting, Williams maintains, rather "we're acknowledging those things, but we're also saying it's going to take something else. We like to say in the movement 'voting is not going to get us free...voting is not going to abolish prisons." And others like Cornel West and Marc Lamont Hill are intent on voting for, that is, the highly unlikely third party candidate Jill Stein, whose chances of winning the election are about the same as that of a greyhound being the champion of the Kentucky derby.

What does it mean not to vote? What does it suggest when a non-Independent Party voter goes the third party route? In this particular election cycle, there are real and palpable consequences and, yes, danger in not voting or in casting a vote for a third party, especially for Democrats, given the numerics of electoral politics and elections. Not voting is, essentially, casting a vote for Donald Trump. Voting third party is, again, like casting a vote for Donald Trump. We could only fathom what a Trump presidency would mean given he is unfiltered, unhinged, inexperienced to the point it is criminal, as, too, is his inciting and perpetuating racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and hatred. Also, he lacks basic skills -- communicative, policy-oriented, or about governing in a manner that unifies; rather, he is deliberately divisive and contrarian. Such characteristics might not be so bad were he auditioning for a reality television show instead of running for President of the United States of America.

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Before considering not voting or going the third party route, then, "think really, really hard." As author, activist, and cultural critic James Baldwin put it best, "People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction." Democracy at its best and at its very core does not operate off of passivity, nor does it advance from willful resignation. The presidential candidate choices may not be ideal or perfect, but perfection is no prerequisite for democracy. Consider, too, the ramifications of not voting, as well as those brave women and men who marched, died, were beaten and bloodied so that all people -- regardless of race, gender, class or creed -- might be enfranchised and allowed to exercise their right to vote.
As someone who was an art major in college and who continues to work in the field of visual arts, these are questions I've either gotten asked, or have heard others around me asked. And yes, we do complain about them behind your back.

1. "I wish I'd taken more fun classes like art in college!"

I'm not going to argue that art isn't fun, because it is, but it's also hard as hell. Studying and producing art requires just as much time and effort as working on a paper or as studying for an exam. In fact, in college, it often it requires more time than other majors' studies do (I'm looking at all you law students). Just image how long it takes to study other artists' work; to brush up on art theories; to form your own original concept; and then to translate that concept into a successful work of art. It's hard to get this all right the first time, which is why an artist's work is often ongoing and can take years to complete.

2. "How do you even judge art? It's all subjective anyway"

Would you say the same thing about a film or a book? Because those are also forms of art, but most people don't have a problem saying whether they liked the movie they saw at the theater or why a book was so good that they couldn't put it down. Visual art is very similar--while everyone may not agree on whether or not a piece is successful, it's still possible to back up how you feel about it. You can look at the formal qualities of the work (does the artist have good technical skills? Is the piece visually interesting?), and then examine whether the work successfully communicates an idea to you.

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3. "Oh, I bet you're super good at drawing!"

Being an artist definitely doesn't guarantee that you're great with a pencil or pen. For example, I'll take your photo any day, but don't ask me to draw a portrait of you! There are plenty of artists who are good at drawing, but there are other artists who don't care for it. Not everyone's chosen medium is drawing; artists can focus on sculpture, painting, ceramics, graphic design, video, and so on.

4. "So do you do crafts all day long?"

What are we talking about, Pinterest DIY wall decor? Don't get me wrong, crafting makes a great Saturday afternoon activity, but artists do a little more than craft when they work on their pieces; they create installations and bodies of work that are often displayed in galleries and museums. Keep your crafts in your living room, please.

5. "Are you a teacher?"

While teaching is a very valuable career, not every artist decides to be a professor. For example, you can be an artist and decide to freelance, or to work for places like advertising agencies, publications, galleries, or museums.

6. "But how do you make any money doing art?"

While this question is ridiculous to begin with (as I said before, artists can be employed at many different companies), for me, it also points to a greater issue: artists are neither valued nor taken seriously in society. We live in a country where art classes are being cut from schools and where artwork is stolen and used without credit or reimbursement by big companies or by celebrities who, ironically, have the funds they need to hire artists to begin with.

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7. "You didn't really need to go to school for that, did you?"

Yes I did, along with many other people. An art education fosters creative and critical thinking, which strengthens the quality of the work you produce. While at school, I created an entire body of work over a period of nine months, a process was as informative as it was empowering. Let's get rid of the idea that artists' work springs into being without any training or practice. After all, you wouldn't question why accountants, therapists, or lawyers went to school for their careers.
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Whether you are a small business owner, a startup or a large conglomerate, marketing has become an essential and integral part of everyday business functions that needs to be diligently pursued. A sustainable business requires multiple marketing techniques in today's hyperactive world filled with interested people with very short attention spans.

While marketing budget doesn't appear to have any justifiable limits, not every business, especially a small one, can afford to spend generously on marketing. Still, there are quite a few techniques that do not require large budgets, but can still be effective if done well and with complete conviction.

Here are five such marketing techniques that a small business owner can employ to spread the word about the business and achieve customer engagement without burning a hole in your pocket:

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Instructional videos:

Thanks to YouTube, small business owners can easily upload videos about their products. However, merely putting up lengthy promotional videos won't draw viewers and potential customers. Audio-visual marketing experts advise creating content that includes your product and its uses, instead of showcasing what your products can do.

While anyone with a digital video camera or a smartphone can create and upload videos, it will certainly be helpful to create video content that appears professional. What majority of small business owners often neglect is the description below the video, which can also serve as free advertising space. Instead of merely cramming in links to your product page, a professionally created content at the bottom of the video can prove to be a great SEO tool as well.

Create and publish textual content:

While videos are a great audio-visual tool to promote your business, the written word still rules the digital world. While you can create content yourself, it is not about mere creation, but about crafting the words and placing them in all the appropriate places so that potential customers are drawn to your website.

Hence it is advisable to approach professional content companies like FatJoe that not only create content that's tailored to suit your business and products but also help generate a lot of interlinking digital chains that ensure the content stays evergreen in the online domain. You could also use a website like UpWork to find a dedicated writer to outsource projects to.

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Use Social Media platforms:

In today's world, it is imperative to generously include the social media platforms to market your business. However, many businesses focus merely on pushing content and often neglect to listen to what their readers are saying. While many, who visit the pages created by you, won't offer much, there will be tons of important insights shared by your audience. Merely incorporating the advice isn't enough. Businesses have to acknowledge the contribution and in certain cases, even reward them.

With a multitude of social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, it might not be a bad decision to focus on a select few instead of hitting all of them.

Go to the customer:

While engaging your potential customers on a digital platform is a must, it is equally important to step out and physically interact with them if your product so demands. By attending events that are created with a special niche, you get to meet people who are already interested in the product but aren't aware of your company.

In case an event doesn't exist for your product, attending the one that's slightly oblique could also work wonders. If there's none, you can also create your own. While you can certainly start small, other businesses can take it further in the near future.

Do something good for the society:
By Nick Eubanks

Digital marketers today have more to juggle than ever before. It's not longer about simply managing digital marketing efforts; digital has grown to require channel and campaign-specific expertise.

One of the specific growth strategies I've been forced to improve upon is content marketing. When done right, content marketing can deliver a steady stream of qualified visits and drive sustainable growth. For this reason, content marketing should be a focus of every digital marketing strategy.

The problem is that it takes time to learn the tricks of the trade, and even more so, it takes time to design campaigns and manage them. Plus, if your campaigns are doing well, other areas will soon require more of your attention (and more of your time), forcing you to delegate and outsource your content production.

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While most CMOs realize they should be investing in content marketing, many don't know where to start or how to execute a comprehensive strategy with an internal team. Outsourcing content creation through freelancers and influencers can create a winning two-pronged strategy, and produce high-quality content for potential customers.

Create a Comprehensive Content Strategy

Poor planning won't lead to positive results. Brainstorm potential topics and then research customer interest in these topics. For each potential topic, decide to pursue it or remove it from the plan based on potential opportunity.

You can research search volumes for related keywords in Google AdWords planner (or on another keyword planning tool) or search Quora for questions related to your topic. Focus on those with multiple answers and high view counts.

You can also run a Google search and look at the first few results pages, which are great for content strategy decision making. For less competitive results (links to articles, lower quality domains returned, and ads displayed are great signals), consider creating a content map leveraging internal assets. For competitive results (homepages and product pages, high ad density) consider working with an influencer for creation and publishing.

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Find Content Creators Based on Their Digital Footprint

Think of your potential creators in two buckets: influencers and ghostwriters.

When done right, working with influencers gives you instant access to your target audience. The best way to find influencers who can connect you to the right audience is from the content level up (beware of influencer agencies and marketplaces for this reason). To do this, run a Google (or YouTube or Instagram) search for your topics and look for content that returns high in results and/or has a large amount of social engagement.

You now have a list of people with instant access to an audience for a topic as well as a proven content creator, leading to maximum ROI for your influencer campaign. Since you are leveraging influencers for their audience, this content should be thought of as an external asset hosted by the influencer.

Ghostwriters can help you build your internal brand content. Marketplaces are a fine starting place for those us who are low on time and plan to add value to the draft before publishing.

Many authors of the content you find from a Google search for your topic are willing to flush out your content plan as a ghostwriter. This content doesn't have a built-in audience, so it requires promotional effort to get it in front of your customers (paid ads, sending to email list, etc.). You will figure this out during your influencer outreach.

Another helpful (and free) tool I've been using is Lumanu, which automatically pulls content engagement and influencer insights.

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Build Relationships and Reach Out to Content Creators

Working with an influencer starts with building a digital relationship. Understand who they are, what they write about, and connect with them on social media before reaching out. Once you are ready to email, you can find contact information through blog posts, via the Email Hunter Chrome extension on LinkedIn, or often on personal websites. These people receive countless pitches, so be sure to send a thoughtful draft.

Freelancer/ghostwriter outreach has the potential to be more transactional, and can be streamlined by sending along as much upfront research as possible with your ask. Including a clear topic, keywords, word count, images, and scope of research will streamline the process and result in far less back-and-forth.

Track Results

This is a critical step that we often see fall flat. Make sure your results tracking is in line with your campaign goals (email list sign ups, purchases, etc.) and you have mechanisms in place to track. Do you need a special coupon code for the influencer article? Should you specify custom URL parameters for any links? Does your company have an external social tracking tool (for mentions/shares/comments) in place as needed?

Pour creative energy into your research process and design a solid strategy. Use the process outlined above to identify the digital footprints of content producers in your niche (or who are at least capable of writing for your audience). Get to work building relationships. Track your progress. Iterate as needed and try to stick to your strategy before creating benchmarks to gauge your impact.
By Joel Butterly

Nothing feels better than onboarding a friend -- someone you know, trust, and can speak bluntly to, right? Nobody imagines that when they hire or partner with a friend, they may one day need to fire them, but that's often the case.

In my experience, hiring friends can lead to the very best, and the very worst, outcomes. If you have the fortitude to weather the latter, then it might be well worth the risk. For instance, my fellow co-founder, David Mainiero, has been my best friend since freshman year of college, and I can't imagine running my business without him.

Still, having fired friends a few times before, I thought I would pass along a step-by-step guide on how to confront what may be every entrepreneur's worst nightmare.

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1. Realize that, either way, your friendship is over.

Most individuals I've spoken to tell me their biggest concern is that firing their friend will jeopardize their relationship. "She won't forgive me!" Indeed, she may not forgive you. But one thing is certain: if you don't call it quits when the business relationship clearly isn't working out, it will be you who does not forgive them.

If you are debating whether to fire a friend, chances are that your friendship is already over - you just don't know it yet. Hopefully, your friend will handle their termination with grace and forgiveness, but that's the exception, not the rule.

2. Focus on the legal situation at hand.

Now that you've lost your friend, things could get ugly, and it's time to get your legal approach in order. Oftentimes, when people feel personally invested, they tend to overlook those pesky legal details. But it's precisely during that time that you should pay particular attention. You'd be surprised by the number of legal issues that arise due to personal, rather than business-related, issues.

Read your friend's employment agreement, and if necessary, the operating agreement for your company. If your friend is just an employee, consult an employment lawyer in your state, or if they're a partner, consult an attorney. Be sure to ask what your rights are, what his/her rights are, and how you can make termination legal and incontestable.

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Before your friend has even an inkling that you intend to fire them, you should essentially have your entire approach planned out.

3. Set up an in-person meeting.

Much like breaking up with a significant other, firing a friend should be done face-to-face. Once you've gathered yourself and your legal strategy, it's time to send them an email setting up a place and time to chat.

It will behoove you not to betray your intentions at this meeting. You've made up your mind, and this is what's best for your business. If you make it clear that you're coming in guns blazing, you'll only give them more of an opportunity to prepare.

Remember that self-preservation is human instinct, and if you were in their position, you would also leverage feelings of personal attachment and guilt to keep your job. They will likely do the same, and providing advance warning will only make it worse.

4. Be honest and transparent.

This is where things get really difficult, because you don't want to hurt your friend's feelings. As well, your friend (hopefully) doesn't want to let you down or lose their job. If you aren't extremely direct, open and firm, you're going to find yourself in an argument about how you can make things work. But this isn't the time for an argument; this is the time for separation.

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So. muster up all the courage you have, look directly at your friend and say, "I'm going to be completely honest. This isn't working out, and I don't believe we can work together. I'm very sorry, and it hurts me to do this."

Afterward, you may choose to provide examples and justifications. Give your friend the opportunity to vent, ask questions, and generally be angry. If possible, explain how your own shortcomings have contributed to the situation. But don't lie or sugarcoat your comments. The correct answer to, "I wasn't that bad" is not, "I know, I'm just looking for something else." It's, "Yes, you were that bad."

This may seem unduly harsh, but there are only two options from your friend's perspective. Either a) They couldn't meet your expectations, or b) You're a horrible friend who couldn't give your best friend a break. Trust me, you do not want the latter.

5. Remind your friend that this wasn't personal.

This entire affair means that you must remain dispassionate. It's a difficult thing to do, but it's necessary. Once it's clear that the business relationship has ended, remind your friend that this has nothing to do with your friendship, that you hope you can remain friends, and that you will help them however you can.
English is the most popular language in the world and it's getting even more popular by the day as more people strive to learn English. The supply of English teachers isn't enough to meet demand.

There's good news... you don't need to be an expert at English to teach English. In fact, all you need is the ability to read and write fluently in English. Remember you're not teaching English to college students... you're teaching it to first time learners and little kids.

If you understand everything you've read so far then you're qualified. You can make money with this English skill that you have and I'm about to show you how.



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Create Your Plan

Before you start doing anything you need to have a goal and a plan to achieve that goal.

Ask yourself, "How much money do I need and what will I do with it?"

Is it to take a gap year and travel the world while you teach English online?

Is it to save up $XXX of capital to fund your business?

Is it to save $20,000 a year by teaching English full time in China?

Whatever your goal is, write it down. Now for the sake of this example let's say your goal is to save $10,000 in a year so you can go and fund an ecommerce business.

Now let's create a plan to achieve the above goal...

First, we need to calculate living expenses: Rent, bills, food, transport etc. Let's assume that turns out to be $2,500/month. Here's a budgeting tool you can use here.

Second, we need to calculate how much we should save per month by dividing the goal amount by the time we want to achieve the goal. So that's $10,000/12 = $833.33/month. Let's just round that up to $840/month.

Third, we calculate our monthly income goal so we know how much we need to earn to be able to fully cover expenses and achieve our monthly saving goal. Use the following equation: expenses + monthly saving goal. So, that's $2,500 + $840 = $3340/month or $40,080/year. That's the minimum amount you need to make each month to achieve your goal.

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Personally, I'd recommend you open two bank accounts; one for expenses and one for saving money but that's up to you.



Get Certified (TESOL)

There's no doubt having a certificate is one of the best ways to boost credibility in the market. The

can be taken by anyone who's fluent in English to become a qualified ESL/EFL teacher around the world.

It takes only hours to complete the course and is very affordable. Of course, you could go the traditional method and get a degree from a university... but this is the cheapest route to get certified. In this day and age, people expect some sort of certification so that's why you need one.



Join Online Platforms

If you're going to teach English online rather than offline then you'll need to join online platforms where you can find students to teach.

If you'd like an offline job then you can apply for jobs on popular jobsites in the area you want to work in. But, for those who plan to teach online here's a list of some online platforms you can sign up for...

And much more. You can also Google "Online English Jobs", "ESL Jobs Online" and anything to that nature.

Get Experience & Build a Reputation

You have no experience, no reputation and there are English teachers out there who have more experience than you who students prefer to go instead of you.

No worries, it's the same in all the other markets. But, it's not a problem. There's a way to fill that gap very easily.

First, you need to know how many hours of experience you need to get you started. Let's say 10 hours.

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Second, go out and offer to teach people at an extremely cheap cost or even a free hour so they can test you out and get yourself a few testimonials.

Third, give it all you've got. Because in these first few hours you won't earn much, but you'll gain valuable experience.

If you did all the work then in less than a week you should have a few hours of experience under your belt. You can finally start executing on your plan to achieve your goal of saving $10,000.



Start Earning

What you need now is a consistent stream of income. The way to achieve that is to focus on getting regular students and not one offs. Just a handful of regular students is enough to get a steady income stream.

There's no straightforward way to do this, you'll just have to look for as many students as you can and hope some of them will stick with you. Of course, that means you'll need to try your best to help each student. Don't let your chase for quantity ruin the quality of your teaching.

Hopefully, in a months' time you should have found a few students who want to stick around for some time.

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You'll need to establish how much you'll charge per hour and how many hours you need to work per week.

Now let's say you're going to charge $40 an hour. That means you need to work 84 hours in a month to achieve your $3,340/month goal ($3340/$40). That's 21 hours per week (84/4). That's 4-5 hours a day. Of course, the more you charge per hour, the less hours you need to work.

You can then choose a tool such as Google calendar to schedule your teaching slots and organize your life.



You're Almost There

With a bit of hard work and patience you'll achieve your goals sooner than you think. Best of all, you're achieving your goals using a skill you already have.

Most people only dream of living an easy life like this, but for you it can be a reality.
There was once a time when hybrid vehicles were considered the future of motoring. With calls to cut down on the use of fuel guzzling traditional motors, not helped by rising gas prices, hybrid vehicles were undeniably an attractive option and that was evidenced by the number of drivers investing in them.

Fast forward to 2016 and a lot has changed in the motoring industry, including most prominently falling gas prices, so are hybrid cars still a worthy investment?

When gas prices started tumbling last year, there were calls that hybrid and electric cars simply wouldn't be able to compete with $2-a-gallon gas, compared to the higher up front cost of a hybrid vehicle. However, the fall in prices only appears to have had the opposite effect on green car buying trends. Since the fall in gas prices, more and more people are buying hybrid cars and it's easy to see why.

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Manufacturers of such vehicles have massively overcompensated for the fall in gas prices, by slashing the prices of their vehicles upfront. In fact, least year overall green vehicle sales hit a 10-year-high annualized rate of 17.8 million.

There should, of course, be another factor in persuading potential hybrid car owners and that's playing their part in protecting the planet. However, the fact of the matter still remains that many owners of green cars wouldn't have purchased their vehicle on that premise alone. Instead, manufacturers of cars have to place a heavy discount on top of any hybrid car that they sell in order to make them financially viable.

That being said, there's still a general shift away from hybrid and electric vehicles, which is largely a consequence of their size. Research shows more car buyers again turning towards bigger vehicles, like SUVs and people carriers. Of course, most hybrid vehicles still come in a smaller form factor, which is proving very difficult to manufacturers of hybrid cars.

Of course, other car manufacturers are capitalizing on that. Ford is set to release their 2017 Ford Raptor next year. It's a vehicle targeted at those looking to be eco-friendly with their car choice, however, the problem is, Ford's 2017 Raptor isn't actually that green, well, not by the standards of a hybrid car that is. That's a huge problem for the future of hybrid cars, with consumers thinking they can have the best of both worlds by opting for such a vehicle as aforementioned.

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The problem also lies with current manufacturers of hybrid cars, with many still far too stuck in their ways when it comes to selling such vehicles.

Toyota are undeniably the most prominent name on the hybrid scene, thanks to their Prius model and they're definitely more than aware of that. So much so that Toyota are now catering to a specific niche of hybrid car users and not doing all that much to attract other vehicle owners to put their money into a hybrid.

The manufacturer clearly has no plan to change that strategy either, with a Toyota spokesperson saying "The company thinks it has the bargaining power to make its prices stick." They're absolutely right. 60 percent of hybrid users choose either a Toyota or Lexus model, giving the two companies a large enough market to comfortably sell their vehicles without actually having to entice any further customers.

This should change, however, as more hybrid car manufacturers appear on the scene and the number of users continues to grow. If other manufacturers continue to offer incentives for buying their hybrid vehicles, it could force the likes of Toyota to do the same, which would have an overwhelmingly positive affect on the industry.
Kelly campaign deletes tweets without disclaimers on military endorsements

The re-election campaign for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly deleted social media photos of uniformed military members after leaving out a DOD disclaimer.
Health insurance under a President Hillary Clinton would likely see the strengthening and expansion of the Affordable Care Act, including the creation of a public option to compete with private insurers on the exchanges, the Democratic presidential nominee said during a recent campaign speech.Days after Republican Donald Trump outlined his economic plans in Detroit  a temporary ban on new financial regulations, for one  Clinton shared her own vision with audiences in Warren, Michigan. Part of her priorities include further health reform.Giving Americans in every state the choice of a public-option health insurance plan wont just help those who struggle to afford coverage, Clinton said. It will strengthen competition and drive down costs for everyone.The former Secretary of State also slammed Trumps proposals for a moratorium on financial regulation and the repeal of the ACA, saying his plans would let insurance companies write their own rules again.Ill do the opposite  we should strengthen those rules so that Wall Street can never wreck Main Street again, she said.Clinton has a long record of support for federal involvement in health insurance, including for a government-run program. In 1993, she headed the Bill Clinton administrations task force on reforming health insurance, delivering a 1,000-page plan later dubbed Hillary Care that included provisions for a public option. She reaffirmed that support in July, after criticizing rival Bernie Sanders plans for universal Medicare as costly and impractical.Clinton has also publicly scrutinized recent major health insurance merger proposals, including Anthems takeover of Cigna and the acquisition of Humana by Aetna. Together, she said, the two deals comprise nearly $100 billion and could undermine competition the health insurance space  violating one of the major tenets of the ACA.These mergers should be scrutinized very closely with an eye to preventing the undue concentration that they appear to create, she said in a statement. I am very skeptical of the claim that consumers will benefit from them because the evidence from careful studies shows that too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers.Clinton further vowed to increase regulatory scrutiny if elected president."I would strengthen the antitrust enforcement arms of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and appoint aggressive regulators to take on troubling concentration wherever it occurs in the healthcare industry," she said.The health insurance industry has been largely silent on the Big 5 mergers, but is adamantly opposed to the creation of a public option. Insurers famously spent more than $173 million in defeating the public option provision in the original iteration of the Affordable Care Act, and AHIP  the industrys lobbying arm  called the public option a roadblock to reform.A government-run plan would underpay doctors and hospitals rather than driving real reforms that bring down costs and improve quality, the group said. Its time we focus instead on broad-based reforms that will ensure the affordability and sustainability of our healthcare system.Health insurance agents have also been outspoken in their opposition to a public option, saying it would hinder their ability to assist consumers with coverage choice and even force them out of the market altogether.This will further squeeze compensation, Michael Keegan, senior vice president with Health Agents for America, said last month. There is an assumption by some in the state and federal government that agents are just salespeople. Certainly when you look at what goes into servicing clients, its much greater than that.Clintons controversial proposal comes at a time when agents are already contemplating exiting the ACA business. High costs and poor financial performance has caused many health insurers to seriously limit and sometimes axe commissions paid to agents.Such cost-cutting techniques are being implemented even among the nations largest insurers. Anthem and ConnectiCare made headlines last week by saying they may stop offering commissions to brokers next year, and UnitedHealth made the same move several months ago.With a public option also in the mix, agents say they are unsure how long they will continue to sell plans on the exchanges.At what point will agents and brokers even want to stay in this business? Keegan said. If agents and brokers leave, consumers will be hurt.
UK-based Sage, which provides payroll, accounting and payments software for businesses, has said that an internal login was used to gain unauthorised access to the data of its users.As one of Britains biggest tech firms, Sage has in excess of six million small and medium-sized businesses worldwide using its software. Although Sage provides services in more than 20 countries across the globe, the cyberattack is thought to only be impacting its UK customers. The incident has been reported to police in London and The Information Commissioners Office, which enforces the Data Protection Act, has also been informed. It is not clear whether the attack was an inside job or if an employees log in details were stolen by an outsider.Most cyber liability policies cover both rogue employee activity as well as an outside attack, explains Jeremy Barnett, Senior Vice President, Marketing, NAS Insurance Services. Sage is going to have respond to these activities with lawyers and an IT company to find out exactly what happened. Theyre also going to have to pay for data restoration and any regulatory fees. These are first party aspects that a cyber policy should cover.After it was revealed that the personal details of employees from approximately 280 companies were exposed in the attack, a source from the company said: We are investigating unauthorised access to customer information using an internal login We cannot comment further whilst we work with the authorities to investigate but our customers remain our first priority and we are speaking directly with those affected.As well as a cyber liability policy, any technology provider who deals with such sensitive data should have a technology E&O policy. This provides protection in the event that a client makes a claim against them. When dealing with companies that offer technology and software solutions, brokers need to understand the difference between a technology E&O policy and a cyber liability policy, Barnett says. There are broader coverages for those companies under the tech E&O.
The recent violence in Orlando, Nice and Brussels is prompting increased demand for political risk and standalone terrorism insurance. Whether carriers are prepared with the right products to address that demand, however, is an open question.According to research published earlier this month by KPMG, the market for political risk insurance is set to grow 4% over the next three years, eventually exceeding $10 billion. At the same time, the changing nature of ideologically motivated crime has yet to be addressed in the majority of products on the market.There is a shift in the nature of terror. In the 1990s, it was about property damage. The incidents were seeing now are about maximizing casualties. said KPMG partner Paul Merrey. There is a gap between what insurers are providing cover for and what customers actually want.Insurance carriers in the standalone terrorism space have agreed with KPMGs characterization of growing demand  a 35% increase in submissions for XL Catlin , for example  but say they are working hard to address the evolving risk presented by assailants.Ben Tucker, head of US Terrorism & Political Violence for XL Catlin, said the company is trying to fill the void with its new Active Assailant policy.Unveiled in February, Active Assailant offers time element coverage due to bodily injury or death, not just physical damage. It can be triggered when an event involving a handheld weapon (such as a gun or suicide bomb vest) affects three or more people  and the definition of affects is broad. A person could simply be a witness.Others have sought to address the method of attack. With gun violence in the United States so prevalent, major brands like Willis have begun offering active shooter insurance. The policies provide coverage outside of workers compensation policies, including the liability companies have if they are found not to have taken needed precautions to prevent gun rampages. It also covers on the scene costs of an attack, including property damage and any needed counseling or consulting for victims.Wendy Peters, an executive vice president at Willis, said that like terrorism insurance, theres been widespread interest in the product.So which of these new products, considered alongside traditional standalone terrorism coverage, is preferable?Jen Rubin, head of Hiscox War, Terrorism & Political Violence Practice Group, says it is up to an agent to determine, based on the particularities of the client.When youre doing your review of coverages, its really important to make sure perils are defined and any gray areas youre concerned about are documented or discussed, she said. New products are defining what is covered based on the evolution of events in the market."With less of a focus on property damage, such evolution of events may point agents toward policies with high business interruption limits and allowances for loss of attraction triggers rather than simple physical ones.In 2015, the global cost of terrorism was $32 billion, but the indirect cost was much higher, Merrey said. If you look at the Paris incident, business interruption costs were $12 billion.
On Monday, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) moved to block a lawsuit that challenged proposed premium rate hikes of workers compensation insurance in Florida.The NCCI is a licensed rating agency that makes rate filings on behalf of many of the workers comp insurers in Florida. The council had proposed a 19.6% increase in premiums, effective Oct. 1, following the Florida Supreme Courts decision to remove the legal limits on temporary total disability benefits and attorney fees.Floridas Office of Insurance Regulation is set to hold a public hearing on the rate hike on Tuesday in Tallahassee.Miami lawyer James Fee, who represents injured workers, filed a lawsuit the previous week in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court in an attempt to halt the public hearing. Fees lawsuit names the NCCI, the Office of Insurance Regulation, and state Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier.The NCCI, in a legal motion filed Monday, claimed that delaying the rate increase could cause severe public harm, as workers compensation rates are currently not adequate to meet claims. The group remarked that insurers could fall over $1 billion short of what they need to pay claims.If delayed, the unfunded liability will increase by tens of millions of dollars each month and may threaten the solvency of Floridas workers compensation insurers and their ability to pay claims, the council said in its motion. Insurers may react to this threat in ways that impact the availability and affordability of insurance products for Florida employers.Also on Monday, the office of Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier asked the court to move the dispute to Tallahassee. The office cited a legal presumption that lawsuits against state agencies belong in Leon County Circuit Court, reported saintpetersblog.com.
Victims of crime willing to speak out about their experience with the justice system are invited to share their thoughts with Montana Attorney General Tim Fox.

Fox is hosting a crime victims forum Thursday at the Billings Public Library. Fox said victims who attend will be given a chance to inform state and local officials about the experiences they had going through the criminal justice system, according to a news release from Fox's office.

The forum is meant to discuss three things; the personal experiences victims had with the justice system; the way they were treated by law enforcement, prosecutors and other staff employed through the criminal justice system; and where crime victims see a need for improvement.

Fox, Montana Department of Justice officials, local law enforcement agencies and victim advocates will be attending the forum.

The Billings Public Library, 510 N. Broadway, will be hosting the forum in the library's community room from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday.

The public is invited to attend the forum. Questions and RSVPs can be directed to Fox's Deputy Communications Director Anastasia Burton. She can be reached by phone at 406-444-2026 or by emailing aburton@mt.gov.
Airport Commission Chairman Chris Pedersen and Michael Lyon, owner of Lyon Aviation, updated the research committee on the fee changes on Monday.

Pittsfield Airport Raises Landing, Tie-Down Fees

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Airport Commission has implemented new fees in hopes to raise revenues.

Airport Commission Chairman Chris Pedersen told a research group looking to the operations on Monday that a number of the fees have gone up  including more than a 60 percent increase for tie-downs and a complete revamping of landing fees.

"The Airport Commission took this up in the beginning of July or the month prior and our goal was to have new fees in place for Aug. 1," Pedersen said.

The commission changed its landing fees from the three-tier system based on weight. The new plan calls for $4 per 1,000 pounds so some owners will be paying more than they had to land their planes while others will be paying less.

Pedersen estimated that if the exact same number of planes landed as had in the prior year, the revenues would increase by $14,000 to $15,000.

But maybe more importantly, a number of the planes from Lyon Aviation will now be assessed landing fees  resulting in an estimated $80,000 contribution. Lyon Aviation is the fixed-base operator and owner Michael Lyon said some of his planes will now be charged.

"Lyon is being charged for the landing out there. My estimation is we are going to be contributing about $80,000 to the budget," Lyon said.

The Airport Commission also changed parking fees but not by much, with revenue increase estimates being less than $1,000. Tie-down fees, however, were raised from $190 a year to $300. That 63 percent increase looks to double income from planes being stored there from $1,600 a year to $3,200.

According to Pedersen, the new rates update ones set in the 1980s. It isn't know how it will impact business operations. Pedersen said the Airport Commission reserves the ability to change fees at any point.

"We have certainly heard concerns that they are too high," Pedersen said.

One thing that hadn't changed in the fuel flowage fee. Lyon receives that but the city could add a surcharge on top to raise additional revenues. But, now taking on landing fees, Lyon said the fuel is too important to his business to raise it now.

"To put another tax on the transient aircraft, it is going to be detrimental to our business," Lyon said. "I think it is a total package."

Lyon and Pedersen said they are currently in discussions in trying to find a fee balance that doesn't hurt Lyon's business too much while also providing additional revenues. The Airport Commission could lower the landing fees for Lyon's planes while also raising the surcharge on fuel if that makes the numbers work better.

"Our hope is to come to a total package that will help both sides," Pedersen said.

For the first time since the airport study commission was formed in February, Ward 4 City Councilor Christopher Connell voiced optimism about the revenue picture. Connell had been one of three councilors behind forming the study commission and came down particularly hard on airport management during the budget sessions. The airport has been subsidized by the city budget, and Connell had pushed for either the airport to be self-sufficient or for the city to consider other management options.

"This is probably the most encouraging meeting I've attended," Connell said.

Connell agreed that if Lyon is paying more in landing fees, then his proposal to up the surcharge on fuel could be a "taken of the table."

While Lyon may be looking toward contributing more to the budget, the business is also looking to grow. At one of the research group meetings, it was said that there is tremendous demand for hangar space. Lyon said he is looking to build hangars  but right now it isn't clear where.

The airport has a master plan but that calls for various placements of buildings. Pedersen said the state is looking to renovate the airport's terminal but the master plan calls for it to be somewhere else. Pedersen is working to revisit the master plan  and that could have impacts on Lyon's building plans.

Lyon and Pedersen also addressed concerns for late night landings. Since staff is typically gone at night, there is nobody to collect the parking fees  a concern for Connell who expressed concern for not only the loss of revenue but also security.

"I really would like to explore the options here," Connell said. "Somehow, someway we have to come up with a plan so we can monitor it for not only collection purposes but also protections purposes."

Lyon said the majority of the planes that land are either scheduled and staff has been organized to be there for the landing or they are his own planes, which hadn't had to pay a landing fee in the past. He estimated 98 percent of those flights were accounted for one way or the other so very little revenue was lost.

As for security, Pedersen said the state has also planned to upgrade the entire security system.
C.T. Plunkett School to Serve Free Lunch & Breakfast

CHESHIRE, Mass.  The Adams-Cheshire Regional School District has secured a grant that will provide free breakfast and lunch to all C.T. Plunkett School pupils.



The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. The 2010 act allows eligible schools to provide meals to all children regardless of income.



Interim Superintendent Robert Putnam informed the School Committee on Monday that Food Service Director Rosanne Schutz had applied and a received a grant through the act's Community Eligibility Program.



"It is a great opportunity, and we are very happy to be able to take part in it," Putnam said. "Rosanne has been working towards these grants for a while ... and I think it is just a great opportunity."



The Adams school is the third in the county to take advantage of the federal meals program. The Pittsfield and North Adams public schools initiated the program last year.



Schools and educational institutions with a high poverty rate, based on a wider range of factors than the current free and reduced lunch program, can apply. The "Identified Student Percentage" for eligible must be 40 percent or greater to qualify; Plunkett's was 50 percent as calculated last year.



The elementary school has about 460 pupils enrolled in Grades kindergarten through 5.



Putnam said the program lasts four years and the district can reapply.



In other business, he said the University of Massachusetts' Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management study of cost-saving alternatives in the district should be complete by January.
Williamstown Elementary Creates Math Support Position

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Williamstown Elementary School Committee on Thursday discussed the possibility of adding a part-time math support position for the 2016-17 academic year.



The administration asked for a special meeting of the committee to approve the creation of the position in case the school district realize a cost savings from unexpected turnover on its staff.



"We may have a retirement," Superintendent Douglas Dias told the committee in a meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet. "When there are retirements, from a resource standpoint, you try to take advantage of that. When someone retires, typically, you replace at a lower cost, and that creates a resource."



Dias said Principal Joelle Brookner decided the top priority for such a windfall would be replacing a math support position that was cut from the fiscal 2016 budget.



"This past year, because it was targeted so well at students with special needs, they did quite well on the MCAS test," Dias said. "That position is no longer there. But math is always a challenge at the elementary school."



The proposed position would work a little differently than the position that was cut, Brookner told the committee.



"It's targeted to the younger grades," she said. "Our position last year was grades 3 through 6. And it was very targeted for children who have [individualized education programs]. One of the things we learned last year is that it was a wonderful position and very helpful for that cohort of children. But there are many regular education students who need extra support.



"Frequently, it was the students in the lower grades who needed numeracy development and basic concepts with the hope that by the time they're in third, fourth, fifth grade, those gaps are filled."



Neither Brookner nor Dias could say which staff member alerted the school to possibility he or she might retire. Nor could they say with any certainty that the retirement would occur. But Dias said he wanted the committee to sign off on the part-time position in case the funds became available.



"This position would be hourly, fixed rate," Dias said. "We did the math, and let's say someone retires at $80,000 [per year], and you hire someone with a salary if $60,000. We anticipate this [part-time] position to be be approximately $18,000 or so. So we've replaced the teacher, and we get the math support as well."



School Committee Chairman Dan Caplinger asked whether the hypothetical $20,000 could go elsewhere: specifically, rebuilding the district's School Choice reserve fund which was the focus of much of the FY17 budget discussion.



"In all our budget discussions last year, we were aware of the need to think long-term about what our fiscal needs would be," Caplinger reminded Dias. "Retirement opportunities like this will be the easiest way for us to identify long-term money. ... You and the business manager identified that as a way for us to find sources of money to put into a reserve.



"I'd be interested in having a longer discussion and tying those things together. Is this how we want to spend this money? In general, are we going to want to replace things we cut or build up the reserve or some combination of the two?"



Dias agreed that Caplinger's concern was valid and said that the declining reserve fund is his concern.



"If something happens or if nothing happens, I will come back and inform the committee," Dias said. "I'm optimistic there would be a little left over that we could put back into Choice eventually.



"I will have a lot of those answers at our next School Committee meeting. I will be able to be more specific from a fiscal standpoint."



Committee member Joe Johnson enthusiastically supported the idea of adding the math support position back in the budget, noting that Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System numbers could just as easily go the other way if students and teachers are not supported as they have been in the past.

Sept.
Page Content



Montreal, 16 August 2016  At the invitation of the Government and accompanied by ICAOs Regional Director for the Asia and Pacific (APAC) Region, Mr. Arun Mishra, the President of the ICAO Council, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, was in Delhi earlier this month to undertake high-level bilateral meetings with government and aviation officials.



In his meeting with Mr. Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Indias Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Jayant Sinha, its Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and the Permanent Secretary in the Civil Aviation Ministry, Mr. Rajeev Nayan Choubey, President Aliu thanked the Indian Government for their warm welcome on his first official visit to their country after being elected President of the ICAO Council. He highlighted that ICAO sees India as a key player in the APAC region and that its contributions to ICAO have been very valuable.



ICAO would greatly appreciate Indias consideration to enhance its leadership role in the APAC Region by providing technical assistance to its neighbouring countries to further the ICAO No Country Left Behind initiative, the President remarked. And I would also urge Indian experts to fully participate in the ongoing technical work of ICAO, both at the Regional level as well as at ICAO HQ.



President Aliu further proposed that the Indian Government could second various experts to ICAO for the benefit of international civil aviation, and suggested that a training programme for safety inspectors could be initiated by India, in collaboration with other Member States.



He additionally requested Indias support in making aviation development and cooperation a key agenda item for the ongoing work of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) group of nations. Minister Raju thanked the President for his visit and reiterated the commitment of India to work with ICAO to further its strategic objectives. He assured President Aliu that the proposal for secondment and the establishment of a Training Programme for Safety Inspectors would be favourably considered by his Government.



President Aliu was subsequently provided with a detailed presentation on Indias civil aviation sector by the countrys Civil Aviation Ministry Permanent Secretary and Senior Officials. President Aliu lauded Indias achievements with its GAGAN satellite based navigation system, as well as its civil/military aviation cooperation and Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM). Noting Indias near perfect scores on its recent ICAO Aviation Security Audit, President Aliu highlighted that its success could also benefit other States in the Region through greater collaboration and sharing of best practices. He requested the Secretary to enhance the participation of Indian experts in the various meetings of ICAO in the area of safety and aviation security.



President Aliu further observed that while India has made significant progress in all the fields of civil aviation, further work was required in the areas of personnel training, airports, and accident investigation, in addition to improved regulatory oversight in the air navigation services (ANS) domain.



In his meetings with Anil Madhav Dave and Ajay Narain Jha, Minister and Permanent Secretary respectively in Indias Ministry of Environment & Forests, President Aliu noted the importance of their discussions considering the forthcoming negotiations in ICAO to agree on a Global Market Based Measure for aviation emissions.



He observed that India played a very significant role in the positive outcome of the COP/21 talks in Paris, and expressed his hope that India would continue to work toward positive consensus through ICAO on the global MBM for international flight emissions.



The Minister thanked the President and reiterated his countrys prioritization of the aviation GMBM, stressing Indias concern as a developing nation that the GMBM should not hinder the aspirations of the Indian people to continue maximizing the significant economic benefits of global air transport connectivity. He reiterated his Governments commitment to work with ICAO and other Member States in order to resolve an MBM design borne out of consensus which adequately addresses the interest of all States.

Resources for Editors

ICAO's Asia and Pacific Regional Office

ICAO's No Country Left Behind initiative

Contacts

Anthony Philbin

Chief, Communications

aphilbin@icao.int

+1 (514) 954-8220

+1 (438) 402-8886 (mobile)

Twitter: @ICAO



William Raillant-Clark

Communications Officer

wraillantclark@icao.int

+1 514-954-6705

+1 514 409-0705

Twitter: @wraillantclark
Isabelle Lowry was in a tough spot after her prized heifer gave birth last spring to twins.

The young mother, a long-lashed black cross named Beauty, was a showstopper. Lowry was hopeful Beautys progeny would do the same at this years Montana Fair, but two calves were just one too many, certain to stunt each others growth as they split their mothers milk.

I told Isabelle shed have to sell them if she wanted an animal to show, mother Kimberly Lowry said.

The 12-year-old from East Helena took her mothers advice. Isabelle sold the twins and put her sale money on the most unusual blue steer. Named Smurf, the 1,345-pound beauty mottled like the moon. The gamble paid off this week at Montana Fair, where Smurf won a purple grand champion ribbon to complement his blue coat.

I first saw him in Dillon, and I just really liked his color. Thats how I pick them out. I thought he was cute, Isabelle said, while her step-father gestured in the background as if he was grabbing the animals stocky legs. Oh, and his bones. His legs.

Shane Tamcke gave his stepdaughter a smile and then sat back for rest of the story.

A girl doesnt just pick a show steer, she selects a friend. And Lowry selected Smurf in the arena of a NILE Auction, where she was showing the Maine-Anjou cross for owner Seth Probst. All Isabelle could think about was how badly she wanted the blue steer to be hers, but a girl cant show livestock and bid at the same time.

So, Lowry left the bidding to her mother, but as the price rose, it was clear the girls twin-calf money wasnt going to be enough. She left the arena sure shed lost Smurf to a higher bidder, but then the Dillon rancher disclosed that hed bid up the price on his own calf and won because he knew the girl couldnt both show Smurf and put her money down. He wanted her to have it.

That was 10 months and a half dozen shows ago. Lowry and Smurf have traveled from Arizona to Washington on the contest circuit. When they started out, the Maine-Anjou cross barely reached the girls chin.

She taught him to stand square legged before bringing his left foot just slightly forward to square his hips. Then, rubbing the steers brisket with her show stick, Lowry would persuade Smurf to flatten his spine and raise head level with the base of his tail.

I dont know what Im going to do this week when I have to sell him, Lowry said. Probably cry, but also Im going to take the money and look for another Smurf and try to be friends with him.

Smurf is lying in a bed of straw, where hes finally given up on trying to sneak a peanut butter sandwich from Lowrys lunch pail. Lowry climbs on his back and puts her arms half way around the steers neck. She cannot complete the loop. The steer doesnt even flinch.

Sales are the unavoidable end of the show season, said Roni Baker, 4-H extension agent for Yellowstone County. There are 371 kids at the Montana fair, with 2,822 entries, though some of entries are animals entered in more than one contest. Nearly all of them will be sold to the highest bidder at weeks end.

Its the culmination of it all, Baker said. It comes with the job. But they know its coming. These kids are marketers, they know what the purpose of it is.

The purpose doesnt keep a girl from feeling blue at auction. Lowry is bracing for it.

The 4-H market and breeding sheep show is at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The 4-H dog show is at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The 4-H market steer and market heifer show is at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Billings Motorcycle Club brings supercross back to Montana Fair at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
MontanaFair saw record crowds over the weekend, and a handful of Billings college students helped make it happen.

Gabriel Iglesias, the comedian known as Fluffy, attracted just over 8,100 people to Rimrock Auto Arena on Saturday night, setting a new high mark for attendance at a MontanaFair concert. Iglesias beat the previous record held by Trains 2014 appearance by about 700 people.

The stand-up comic is the first in eight years and was booked following the free guidance of a senior-level marketing class at Montana State University Billings.

Not all clients take our recommendations but the ones that do have been very happy with the results, said A.J. Otjen, MSU-B marketing professor.

Otjens strategic marketing class works with organizations in the community to develop ways to attract more business. Ray Massie, MetraParks marketing and sales director, reached out to MSU-B in the spring of 2015 in hopes of growing MontanaFair in 2016.

The class of about 30 is divided into four- or five-person groups. Each group focuses on one client throughout the semester, gathering market data from original research and secondary sources like recent census results before developing a strategy.

Otjen said the MontanaFair team found an underrepresented demographic at fair events and decided to focus on that part of the population while researching strategies.

There are a lot more young men in the community than were attending the fair and that provides an opportunity to increase attendance, she said.

The team looked at a number of different events popular with men between the ages of 18 and 30. In the end, the comedy option edged out a microbrewery competition.

Iglesias isnt the first comedian to perform at MontanaFair. Bill Engvall appeared in 2008, drawing an audience of more than 5,800 people.

Massie said comedians are easier to book than musicians because they dont travel with large crews and equipment. Iglesias came to Billings with two other comedians and several managers. But there are other difficulties with stand-up comedians.

Many comedians work in environments that are not family friendly, Massie said. So, a fair is the ultimate family friendly atmosphere that we try to put forward. A comedian like Gabriel, who is very family friendly, was wonderful, but there arent like hundreds of those guys to choose from.

Iglesias was by far the biggest draw of the weekend. Jason Derulo attracted about 6,100 people in his Montana debut and Three Doors Down brought in more than 6,900 people on Sunday night.
Its amazing just how quiet 32 well-behaved dogs  and their 27 young human companions  can be, even in a cavernous setting.

Competing beneath the grandstand Tuesday morning at the MontanaFair Dog Show, the dogs and their handlers, all of them 4-H members, did as contest judge Molly Adair asked them to do. Dogs sat still, did what they were told and refrained from barking while each pair of canines and 4-Hers were put through their paces.

Adair, who herself shows dogs, told the competitors that you know how important it is to have well-mannered, obedient dogs.

Then she gave the dogs  boxers, Saint Bernards, miniature Australian shepherds and dozens of other breeds  the chance to, one by one, demonstrate just how carefully they could pay attention to the 4-H member at their side and then do what theyre asked to do.

A Saint Bernard named Boo was competing about four months after having given birth to a dozen puppies.

Every time we thought she was done, another one would pop out, said 15-year-old Piper Vant of Lockwood, a member of the Boots and Britches 4-H Club and Boos handler.

She said its fun having a dog trained not to bark, not to fight with other dogs  and stay when its time to stay.

Thats less work for me, she said with a laugh. Its nice to be able to trust her like that.

Ten-year-old James Malchow, a member of the Shepherd Pioneers 4-H Club, was showing a boxer named Maia, his Christmas gift last year.

Shes excited to be here, he said. Ive got to stay happy, too, because she reacts to my mood.

Brooke Odei, the 4-H dog leader, said 12-week dog obedience classes began in February. Tuesdays competitors were divided by their dogs level of obedience  beginner novice, pre-novice, novice and graduate novice. Expectations were ratcheted up with each succeeding group.

Madeleine Fink, 15, showed two dogs  a yellow Lab named Blossom in the novice division and a miniature Australian shepherd named Bes, an acronym for black-eyed Susan, in the graduate novice division, where Fink and Bes were the only team competing.

All our dogs are named for flowers, she said.

Fink said that Bes did so well during her training that she skipped over two divisions, leaping her way into graduate novice, the top division.

As a graduate novice, Bes was asked to do things that were hard for her, Fink said.

Instead of simply coming when theyre called, graduate novice dogs must leap over a high jump or a broad jump to join their human companion. At one point, theyre told to lie down and stay there for three minutes while their handler leaves the room.

Taking obedience training has made her more obedient at home, Fink said. When were on a run, shell listen to me.

Its fun for the dog, too, because it spruces up their everyday life, she added. Theyre OK being around people and other dogs."

"And its all my responsibility  my time and my attitude affect how they perform," she said. "And if Im positive, thats a pretty good seven minutes of my life that Ive spent competing with her beloved dogs.
The public will have a big hand in helping shape the future of Billings parks and recreational offerings.

A number of consultants, including PROS Consulting of Indianapolis, have been retained to update the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which hasnt occurred in 17 years.

Mike Svetz, a senior project manager with PROS Consulting, told the Billings City Council Monday that the first step in updating the dated plan will be a public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Billings Community Center, 360 N. 23rd St.

Residents will be asked to prioritizes a number of potential investments in order to develop what he called a realistic strategic action plan that will ensure both long-term success and financial sustainability.

Peaks to Plains Design of Billings will also participate in the process, as will the ETC Institute of Olathe, Kansas, a market research firm that will survey hundreds of Billings residents to help gauge their priorities.

Svetz said he expects the updated master plan to be ready for city council approval next year.

Parking rate increases

Parking Manager Tracy Scott discussed on-street and garage parking increases proposed by the Parking Advisory Board and recommended by a strategic plan on downtown parking completed last year.

The recommendation is to increase garage rates by 5 percent each year for the next three years. Those paying full price would pay $15-$60 more per year.

Hourly fees inside garages would also be increased, but the first hour parking in a city-owned garage would be free. Thats designed to get people into garages and off the street, Scott told the council.

Scott said the city plans to purchase 150 solar-powered parking meters that accept credit card payment. The meters cost $665 each. Scott said the plan is to retain some coin-operated meters for people who prefer to pay that way.

Assistant City Administrator Bruce McCandless told the city council the proposed increases are being requested with affordability being an important factor.

We believe this is as much as we can increase the rates, he said, without discouraging people from coming downtown.

Library internet access

Most council members said they appreciated last weeks library board decision to require parents to fill out a form before allowing their children ages 13-17 access to one of the four library computers that have no internet filters.

The computer monitors are recessed, which make them difficult for anyone but the user to see. Library officials have said that most what's being viewed at the four computers are an individual's private matters, including tax and banking records.

A city council initiative by Councilman Chris Friedel had requested that the library board change its policy not to allow children under 18 access to the four computers, but the board declined in June.

Instead, the board arrived at its new policy after City Administrator Tina Volek completed a library form called a statement of concern about library resources.

I think this is a really good decision, and that the library board has come a long way, said Councilman Larry Brewster.

Library Director Gavin Woltjer said he hopes the boards decision is both  an efficacious and terminal solution. He said that library software has been updated to deny access to the four unfiltered computers if the young persons parent has not filled out the authorizing form.

Friedel said he doesnt believe the community wants people under 18 viewing online pornography at the library, and Woltjer invited him to complete a statement of concern if he disagrees with the boards decision.

"Only the library board can change library policy," he said.
Project Spotlight: Help for War-Weary Ukrainians

The Fellowship | August 16, 2016 Project Spotlight: Help for War-Weary Ukrainians

The Fellowship has been providing for people in need throughout the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, for decades. But when the fighting began in Ukraine a few years ago, we stepped up our relief efforts, ensuring that these war-weary Ukrainian residents, many who have been displaced by the fighting, have their basic human needs met.

Alika and her family are just one example of why this assistance is so important.

Young Girl Recovers from a Family Crisis

Alika spent the first seven years of her life living with her parents in a one-room apartment that the whole family shared. When Alika was 5 years old, her older brother was hit by a car and killed instantly. Alika had lost her best friend, her mother lost her precious son, and her father stopped smiling.

Stephan, Alikas father, began to drink heavily and spent most of his time intoxicated. He missed work so many times that he lost his job. One morning, Alika grabbed a stale roll and a bruised apple and left the apartment to go to school. As she left, though, she saw her father lying dead. He had decided to take his own life because the pain of losing a son was too much to cope with.

Life got very hard for Alika after her father died. Buzia, Alikas mother, dropped Alika off at her grandmother Mussias house and left her there in order to go out and find a job. Not long after she settled into life with her grandmother, war broke out in her hometown of Lugansk, Ukraine. It was far too dangerous to stay, so they fled the city as refugees bound for Kiev. They managed to survive for the duration of the major fighting and then returned home to Luhansk when things calmed down.

Go see if you can buy some of the fruits left over in the market today, Alika. If the fruits are bruised or moldy, they sell them cheap. Maybe we can afford a few, Mussia frequently says to Alika when they dont have anything to eat. Alika, who always had a weak immune system, has been getting sick frequently and gets dizzy every time she stands up too fast because of malnutrition.

Before The Fellowship intervened to help the struggling family, the two of them lived off Mussias pension, which is barely enough to pay for rent, let alone for nutritious food and decent clothing. Buzia, Alikas mother, is still searching for a job and cannot support herself or her daughter.

What have I done that makes God punish me so much? cried Alika to the Fellowship volunteer who came to meet her at her grandmothers house.

Tanya, the volunteer, was appalled to see the sickly looking child in front of her. When I came into the house, I was certain that Alika could be no more than 7 years old. She looked so thin.

Tanya first made sure Alika had food and clothing and scheduled her a long overdue doctor appointment. In order to begin helping the poor child, we first needed to take care of her poor health. After that we could begin to help her emotionally as well, says Tanya. When I met Alika, I sent a prayer of gratitude up to God for sending The Fellowship to Alika and others like her. I knew that we could help her heal, step by step.

Today, Alika still lives with her grandmother, but has plenty of nourishing food and warm clothing. She sees a therapist, who gives her the tools to move on and feel healthy and happy again. Alika has begun to smile and has even made a friend, Sasha, in her 4th grade class.

When I heard about her fathers passing, I believed that Alika would never recover, I didnt know how to help her, said Mussia. But now there is a new bounce in her step, and a glimmer of hope in her spirit. I am forever grateful for the kindness and generosity shown to my precious granddaughter by The Fellowship.
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Cal OES Activates State Operations Center in Support of Fires in Lake and San Luis Obispo Counties

Sacramento, California - The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has activated the State Operations Center to provide assistance to Lake and San Luis Obispo Counties for the Clayton and Chimney Fires, respectively.

Cal OES Fire, Law Enforcement and Southern and Coastal Region personnel are currently working with various response agencies to address all emergency management, evacuation and mutual aid needs for these fires. The recent sustained, high temperatures around the state and historic statewide drought have made ideal environment for dangerous fire conditions throughout California.

"Our State Operations Center ensures that the full capabilities of our State's mutual aid system are available to assist first responders and communities impacted by these fires," said Cal OES Director Mark Ghilarducci. "California's emergency managers and first responders are the best in the nation, and we work together to bring critical resources to the table for incidents like these."

The Clayton Fire, which started on August 13 in Lake County, has burned an estimated 3,000 acres. Approximately 10 residences have been destroyed and 1,500 additional structures are still threatened.

The Chimney Fire also started on August 13 in San Luis Obispo County and has burned an estimated 4,300 acres. Approximately 12 residences have been destroyed and 20 other structures damaged. There are an additional 200 structures are threatened.

There are currently over 9,074 firefighters deployed to assist with fires statewide, with several hundred on order. Cal OES is working to coordinate and dispatch state resources such as mutual aid fire engines, firefighting personnel, and other specialty equipment needed.
Sacramento Farm Tank Summit Announces Exciting Line Up of Speakers

Sacramento, California - Food Tank and Visit Sacramentos Farm-to-Fork Program have announced the full speaker list for the first annual Farm Tank conference on September 22 during Sacramentos Farm-to-Fork Celebration.

Farm Tank will include a diverse lineup of panelistsincluding farmers, business-owners, researchers, corporate leaders and other expertswho will gather at the Hyatt Regency to discuss the future of the food system. Several local leaders are also part of the lineupCalifornia Department of Food & Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross will serve as the Summits morning keynote.

We are thrilled that so many important voices will come together in Sacramento to discuss the challenges, solutions, and opportunities that exist within our food system, said Farm-to-Fork Director Nicole Rogers of Visit Sacramento. We look forward to the opportunity to share the Sacramento regions incredible farm-to-fork story with the Farm Tank attendees.

In addition to speakers panels, Farm Tanks second day, September 23rd, will allow attendees the opportunity to experience hands-on learning excursions to regional farms, distribution centers, restaurants, and other sites to highlight the greater Sacramento areas key role in the countrys food system.

Food Tank is incredibly excited to convene some of the most influential experts on food and agriculture in the country. We hope that Farm Tank will highlight environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable ways to nourish both people and the planet, says Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank.

Registration and more Farm Tank details can be found at http://farmtank.eventbrite.com/

Farm Tank 2016 Day One Itinerary (September 22 at Hyatt Regency Sacramento)

Opening Keynote: Navina Khanna, Co-Founder and Field Director, Live Real



Welcome: Nicole Rogers, Director, Farm to Fork, Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau



Welcome: Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank

Keynote: Secretary Karen Ross, California Department of Food and Agriculture



Panels



Food Transparency



Moderator: Julia Mitric, Food and Sustainability Reporter, Capital Public Radio

Keynote: Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director, Food First

Panelists:

Nikiko Masumoto, Farmer, Masumoto Family Farm

Thomas Reynolds, Vice President of Program, Partnerships, and Learning, CARE International

Kate Tscharner, Marketing Manager, California Farm Bureau

Hannah Freeman, Director of Produce and Floral, Fair Trade USA

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist, PANNA

Bruce Goldstein, President, Farmworker Justice



Food Tech



Moderator: Beth Ruyak, Insight Host, Capital Public Radio

Keynote: Michiel Bakker, Director, Global Food Services, Google

Panelists:

Jim Nelson, CEO, Sunworks, Inc.

Zachary Scott Dashner, Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN)

Nick Papadopoulos, CEO & Co-Founder, CropMobster

Gabriel Youtsey, CIO, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR)

John Purcell, Hawaii Business and Technology Lead and Vice President, Monsanto

Andrea Lepore, Founder & Creative Director, Hot Italian/Food Factory



Afternoon Keynote: Saru Jayaraman, Co-Director and Co-Founder, ROC United



Infrastructure



Moderator: Twilight Greenaway, Managing Editor, Civil Eats

Keynote: Robert Egger, Founder and President, L.A. Kitchen

Panelists:

Mary Kimball, Executive Director of the Center for Land-Based Learning (CLBL)

Oscar Villegas, Supervisor (District 1), Yolo County Board of Supervisors

Thaddeus Barsotti, Co-Owner, Farm Fresh to You

Keith Knopf, COO, Raleys Family of Fine Stores

Tom Chan, CEO, General Produce

Blake Young, CEO, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services



Food Business



Moderator: Hsiao-Ching Chou, Director of Communications, Institute for Systems Biology

Keynote: John Church, Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, General Mills

Panelists:

Nick Kastle, Director of Marketing and Business Development & Business Unit General Manager, The Morning Star Company

Matthew Dillon, Director of Agricultural Policy and Programs, Clif Bar & Company

Jennifer Maloney, Food Chain Sustainability Manager, Bayer CropScience

Richard Waycott, CEO, Almond Board of California

Matt Wadiak, Founder & COO, Blue Apron

Soren Bjorn, Executive Vice President, Driscolls



Sustainable Protein



Moderator: Tom Philpott, Food and Ag Correspondent, Mother Jones

Keynote: Sheila Bowman, Seafood Watch Manager of Culinary & Strategic Initiatives, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Panelists:

Michael Passmore, President, Passmore Ranch

Nicolette Hahn Niman, Rancher, Lawyer, and Author

Roz Naylor, Director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford

Jesse Solomon, Founder and CEO, Emmer & Co.



Closing Keynote: Michael Dimock, President, Roots of Change
We arent native Montanans, having moved to Red Lodge in 1998. But over 18 years, its appeared to us that Montanans value maturity, responsibility and restraint.

As such, it makes sense for Montana voters to deliver a resounding loss to Donald Trump in November.

At first, Trumps claim that he alone can fix Washington may seem refreshingly independent. But his ignorance of government process and international realities should be alarming to anyone who understands that change requires knowing how things actually are now. The Montanans we know have a good sense of when someone doesnt know what hes talking about.

Trump complains that theyre unfair to me  the courts, the media, his Republican primary opponents. The Montanans we know rise to their responsibilities and accept the consequences. We dont know Montanans who continually call attention to themselves, put their personal victories ahead of all else and threaten those who disagree.

We are by no means enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton, who has been disingenuous at best on important issues. Nor are we complacent about upheaval in the world. But we prefer a president whos been praised by Republicans for working across the aisle, as Clinton has been, over a president who cant get along, even in his own sandbox.

We hope Montanas values will lead voters to reject Donald Trump.

Dave Stauffer

Sue Bury

Red Lodge
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, 8 Other State Attorneys General Intervene to Support New Nationwide Standards to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Oil and Natural Gas Operations

Los Angeles, California - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, 8 other states and the city of Chicago today filed a motion to intervene in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) New Source Performance Standards to limit greenhouse gas emissions, specifically methane, from oil and natural gas operations. The new EPA standards mark the first time the EPA has directly limited greenhouse gases from the oil and natural gas sector and tightens existing limits on emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oil and natural gas operations.

Since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the emissions standards, Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, oil and gas industry associations, and others have filed lawsuits challenging the rules. California and 8 other states are intervening to defend the greenhouse gas emissions standards.

Climate change is a real and direct threat to the health and well being of our communities. We must do everything in our power to limit greenhouse gas emissions and preserve our planet for future generations, said Attorney General Harris. These new federal standards are based on scientific evidence, and will curb the emission of harmful greenhouse gas pollutants into our environment and help mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Attorney General are jointly filing the motion to intervene on behalf of the state of California and are joined by Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Chicago.

The EPA expects that the new standards will prevent the emission of 300,000 tons of methane by 2020 and 510,000 tons by 2025. The standards also serve to fulfill the commitments President Obama laid out with his June 2013 Climate Action Plan and the Paris Accord, as well as specific goals around reducing methane emissions that the White House announced in January 2015.

In November 2015, Attorney General Harris and 17 other state Attorneys General filed a motion to intervene in support of President Obamas Clean Power Plan, the EPAs first-ever national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Harris, the California Air Resources Board, and the EPA successfully reached a $14.7 billion settlement with Volkswagen over emissions defeat devices it had installed in its 2.0 liter diesel cars to manipulate emissions testing software to make its cars appear to be emitting significantly fewer pollutants than they were in actual driving conditions. As part of the $14.7 billion settlement, which is subject to approval by the court, VW must pay $2.7 billion into a trust fund for environmental mitigation projects and spend $2 billion over 10 years on zero-emission technology. $1.18 billion will come to California: $800 million in zero-emissions technology investments and $380 million for environmental mitigation projects in the state. Attorney General Harris also secured, subject to court approval, an additional $86 million in civil penalties and significant injunctive terms to deter future misconduct by the company.

Attorney General Harris has vigorously defended AB 32, Californias Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which has received global recognition as a leading example of legislation that promotes reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Attorney Generals office has also defended challenges to Californias cap and trade auctions and its precedent-setting Low Carbon Fuels Standard.
Davis Farmers Market celebrates 40th anniversary

Davis, California - On August 13 we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Davis Farmers Market. It is everything a Farmers market should be: a place to show the incredible diversity, quality and bounty of what our farmers produce. Where eaters can shake the hand of the grower and learn about their farming practices. It is a place for community and a source of pride.

Ten thousand people a week attend the Wednesday and Saturday markets  come rain or shine EVERY week. It is about healthy and flavorful  and as Davis Mayor Robb Davis said, it is also about gratitude. So proud that my boss, Governor Jerry Brown, signed the countrys first legislation to establish the certified farmers market program during his first term as Governor, in 1976. CALIFORNIA leads the nation with over 700 certified markets and Davis is a great model!
Cancer spreading: Caught in the act

Los Angeles, California - Scientists at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have taken a major step toward confirming an unusual theory of how some cancer cells metastasize. Their findings may lead to new strategies for keeping melanoma from spreading.

A commonly held theory about how cancer spreads is that tumor cells break off from the primary tumor and travel through the bloodstream to reach other organs, where they attach and grow into new tumors. But questions about that process have remained because circulating tumor cells in the blood sometimes have a short lifespan, and because of a lack of knowledge about how the cells leave the bloodstream and attach to organs.

The research team was led by Laurent Bentolila, director of UCLAs Advanced Light Microscopy/Spectroscopy lab, and included Claire Lugassy and Raymond Barnhill (formerly of UCLA and now of Frances Institut Curie). They theorized that  in addition to the prevailing theory about how cancer spreads  tumor cells also could spread through the body by a mechanism called angiotropism, meaning that they could travel along the outside of blood vessels, without entering into the bloodstream.

Over the past decade, Lugassy and Barnhill gathered proof that tumor cells, especially those of the deadly skin cancer melanoma, creep along the outside of blood vessels like tiny spiders to spread cancer. They also found that the migrating cancer cells mimicked pericytes  cells that line the capillary blood vessels  which prevented the cancer cells from being killed by the human immune system.

The research by Bentolilas team marks the first time that these migrating cells have been imaged in 3-D.

To do the imaging, the scientists infused blood vessels with red fluorescent dye while human melanoma cells, which were dyed green, were injected into the brain of a mouse. They used a microscopic technique called confocal fluorescence microscopy, which provides true three-dimensional optical resolution, to create 3-D images in which the dyed tumor cells and the vessels glowed under specific light. The images showed the cells begin to grow as a primary tumor at the injection site. Soon, the researchers observed the green cells spreading from the tumor and migrating along the outer surfaces of the red-dyed blood vessels.

Lugassy and Barnhills research on angiotropism has questioned the assumption that all metastatic tumor cells break off and flow through the bloodstream to spread disease, Bentolila said. If tumor cells can spread by continuous migration along the surfaces of blood vessels and other anatomical structures such as nerves, they now have an escape route outside the bloodstream.

If tumor cells are found circulating in the bloodstream, Bentolila said, doctors might prescribe chemotherapy.

But if the metastasizing cells are on the outside of the blood vessels, he said, they escape exposure to the treatment and continue to spread cancer.

The findings will enable researchers to seek new targets for deadly cancers such as glioma, glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer and gynecological carcinosarcomas.

Imaging for the study, which was published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, was performed at the Advanced Light Microscopy/Spectroscopy core technology center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the UCLA Clinical Translational Science Institute.
Imperial County Behavioral Health announces the pending retirement of Director Michael W. Horn

El Centro, California - Michael Horn has been the director of Behavioral Health for the past 17 years. During his tenure, Horn has overseen a dramatic expansion of services to the Imperial County community. When he began as director the department had a staff of approximately 100 employees with about 1200 patients. The department now has almost 500 employees and will see an estimated 7000 unduplicated patients in 2016.

Under Horns leadership, Behavioral Health greatly expanded both the scope of the care it offers and geographic reach of its service to the community, including ensuring access in even the countys most remote areas. The department now operates in 14 community clinics and is co-located on 18 different school campuses throughout the county. Additionally, four more community-based clinics are in development.

The commitment is reflected in the resources now dedicated to Behavioral Health, which have grown from $8 million annually to more than $60 million under Horns administration. The past and continued efforts are the embodiment of what has always been Horns main objective: ensuring all Imperial County residents have access to the best care available. Horn attributes the departments success to his excellent staff and the support of the county Board of Supervisors, partnering agencies and the general community.

Horn began his career with the county in 1975 as an eligibility technician with the Department of Social Services. He eventually became a social worker supervisor at Social Services overseeing Foster care placements and adoptions. In 1985, Horn received his masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and received his license as a psychotherapist in 1989.

Horn began his career with County Mental Health in 1987. In 1995, he was promoted to deputy director overseeing Clinical Services. In 1999, he was appointed by the Board of Supervisors as the director of Mental Health. Shortly thereafter, the name of the department changed to Behavioral Health.

Horn is a life-long resident of Imperial Valley, graduating from Holtville High, Imperial Valley College and San Diego State University. He has been married to his wife, Conchita, for 38 years. Mike and Conchita have three children, Lindsay Ortega, an associate planner for the City of Anaheim, Marissa Horn, a research biologist for Ely Lilly Pharmaceuticals, and Michael Horn, a supervisor for Disability Insurance Services Corporation.
WATCH: This Restaurant in Pune Are Run by Speech and Hearing Impaired People
MISSOULA  Big Sky High School lost longtime librarian Christine Fogerty on Friday when she died in a car wreck while visiting family in Bozeman, according to Principal Natalie Jaeger.

The Montana Highway Patrol listed a single fatal wreck in Bozeman Friday, but released no name.

Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Walrath said the wreck happened just before 9:30 a.m. on Baxter Lane when a dump trucks flatbed trailer came loose and crashed into an oncoming car, killing the female driver and injuring the passenger.

Walrath said the wreck happened on a strip of Baxter Lane outside city limits, just before its intersection with Monforton School Road. Although the car was pushed off the road by the oncoming trailer, Walrath said there was no evidence either of the cars was going too fast.

The injured passenger was airlifted to an unspecified city.

Jaeger sent out a note Saturday morning to students and parents informing them of Fogertys death, which she called "a great loss" to Big Sky and the community of Missoula.

Christine's work in our schools and throughout Missoula and across Montana made an incredible positive impact on all of our lives," Jaeger wrote.

Jaeger said on Sunday that Fogerty worked for the Missoula County Public School District for years, where she served as a librarian at various schools, including Willard Alternative High School, Sentinel High, C.S. Porter Middle School and Big Sky.

Fogerty, Jaeger said, was one of the most energetic and innovative educators in Missoula. Although Jaeger said Big Sky will be looking for another librarian in the near future, the faculty and students are focusing first on grieving their beloved librarian and supporting her family.

I can imagine that Christine would want us to take care of the professional loss immediately, Jaeger said. She was so organized and all business in that way. But well get to that next week because there is no way to ever replace her or fill that void.

Jaeger said Big Sky will be planning a vigil so students and faculty can pay their respects to Fogerty. Funeral arrangements are being planned by her two daughters, Sloan and Sundee Fogerty, she said.

MCPS Director of Communications Hatton Littman said Fogerty was involved in curriculum all across the state.

Christine had an incredibly long career with the district, Littman said. And she was one of the strongest educators Ive ever met.
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You know that phrase they always say? "Never steal antlers from your hero", or something?

Well, either way, it's clearly a lesson the King of Gonzo Journalism desperately needed to hear; after Hunter S. Thompson's widow, Anita Thompson, has now finally returned the prize elk antlers he once thieved from the home of Ernest Hemingway.

A young upstart journalist in 1964, the 27-year-old Thompson travelled to the quaint ski town of Ketchum, Idaho; notable as the location where Hemingway spent his final days, in the home he bought overlooking the Wood River, sent there on assignment to write about Hemingway for a weekly national newspaper called The National Observer.

And, as you do when visiting the dwelling of your literary hero, Thompson swiped a pair of prized elk horns which hung above the entrance to the cabin.

"He got caught up in the moment," Anita told Bro Bible about the incident. "He had so much respect for Hemingway. He was actually very embarrassed by it." Indeed, Thompson apparently told no one about the theft, keeping the horns fairly tucked away within his own property Owl Farm in Aspen, Colorado; hung in the garage above the red Chevy Impala convertible dubbed "The Red Shark", the very one referenced in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

"Hunter started thinking about it more when he realised his place in American literature and history," Anita continued. "He wrote that piece of paper that he stuck to the door [in Owl Farm] thats still there that said, Please dont steal from this home, by the management. That certainly played a role in him wanting to return it. You cant expect people to behave well in your own home if you have a piece of stolen art."



It was Anita herself who loaded the antlers into her car and made the 11-hour drive from Owl Farm, where she still resides, and Ketchum; she recalled how her husband had always intended to one day return the horns, "We planned to take a road trip and quietly return them, and not make a thing of it. Not even mention it, just return them. But we never did. We talked about a few times as a wouldnt it be neat if thing because we assumed we would."

"It was fun to return them properly. It seemed like the right thing to do. Im so glad I did it," she said of the endeavour.
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Never one to have too much of a rest, Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has begun shooting his next film The Shape of Water, a project of which details have been sparse - until now.

The Fox Searchlight film boasts an impressive ensemble comprised of Richard Jenkins, Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer and Hellboy actor Doug Jones.

Unsurprisingly, this being a del Toro property, the film is described as an otherworldly tale 'set against the backdrop of 1960s America in the grip of the Cold War.' No other specifics are known other than a 'mysterious creature' will be showing up.

Speaking about The Shape of Water, producer J. Miles Dale said: It feels like we have an embarrassment of riches on this film. An ensemble of incredible actors who are working at the very top of their craft, a wildly original story from Guillermo's one-of-a-kind mind, and the brilliant team at Fox Searchlight to shepherd us along. Were all very excited to see how far we can take it."

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 filmmaker's latest release was the gothic romance Crimson Peak which starred Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain. A sequel to his 2013 film Pacific Rim is moving ahead; titled Maelstrom, it's to be directed by Steven S. DeKnight (the Daredevil TV series) with Star Wars actor John Boyega taking over from Charlie Hunnam in the lead role.

The Shape of Water is currently shooting in Toronto and is expected to be released in cinemas in 2017.
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After what feels like an eternity, Rogue One is finally nearing release. As the Star Wars spin-off draws ever closer, the number of clips being released by Disney is growing exponentially.

The latest - the films international trailer - debuts little new footage but does advance our knowledge of the plot ever-so-slightly.

The biggest revelation comes in thanks to Diego Lunas Cassian Andor telling Felicity Jones lead rebel Jyn Erso that a message about an imminent weapons test has reached them, and it comes from Jyn's father.

Those of you who have been following Star Wars coverage in recent weeks, youll be aware Mads Mikkelsen - who plays Galen Erso - is Jyns father who, it is believed, is playing both sides. Whether a Rebel spy or an Empire-worker turned good, it has yet to be revealed.

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Meanwhile, in other Star Wars news, Lando Calrissian is thought to be in the upcoming Han Solo spin-off film, with Donald Glover thought to be the favourite to take the role.
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The release of The Birth of a Nation has been thrown into question following an interview which saw the film's lead star and director Nate Parker discuss a rape trial he was involved in as a student.

Fox Searchlight acquired the film - focused on the 1831 slave revolt led by Nat Turner - for a record-breaking $17.5 million following its debut at Sundance Film Festival in January and were hoping to release it in the height of awards season.

Now, the distributor is said to be taking a 'wait and see' approach believing Parker's history, discussed with Variety, may disrupt the planned release schedule which would have seen the African-American filmmaker visit church groups and college campuses to promote the film he's also written and produced.

 Birth of a Nation Trailer 2

Parker and his roommate Jean Celestin - The Birth of a Nation 's co-writer - were accused of raping the 18-year-old woman while she was unconscious when studying at Penn State in 1999.

The claim also suggested Parker and Celestin stalked the woman after she reported the incident to the police.

While Parker was acquitted in 2000, Celestin was found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison (he later appealed the verdict and a second trial was thrown out due to the victim's inability to testify again).

Both of the accused were suspended from the wrestling team and Parker went on to transfer to Oklahoma. The woman dropped out of college and, following her refusal to testify at Celestin's appeal, settled a $17,500 payout with Penn State.

Early Oscars 2017 contenders Show all 19 1 /19 Early Oscars 2017 contenders Early Oscars 2017 contenders La La Land Whiplash director Damien Chapelle opens this years Venice Film Festival with this original musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as a couple of dreamers trying to make it big in Hollywood: she, a lonely aspiring actress; he, a cocky jazz pianist. The trailer promises a neon-soaked, dreamy take on the classic Golden Age musical, all big-hearted romance and wholesome glamour. Expect La La Land to explore some darker emotional territory alongside all the toe-tapping, too. In cinemas here on 13 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Silence Martin Scorseses passion project since 1991 is yet to receive a release date but rumours abound that it will be out in time for the Oscars. Based on a novel of the same name by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, the story centres on two Jesuit missionaries sent to 17th century Japan to spread Christianity and find their mentor Once there, they endure brutal persecution at the time of Kakura Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) following the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion. Silence sounds weighty, intense and full of hard-hitting promise. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi director Ang Lee has narrowly missed out on a Best Picture win twice now but this adaptation of Ben Fountains acclaimed novel could be the film that finally wins him some overdue glory. The cast includes Kristen Stewart and Vin Diesel with newcomer Joe Alwyn in the lead as 19-year-old soldier Billy, who is brought home for a victory tour after serving in Iraq. Told in flashbacks, the drama reveals the horror of what really happened to his squad in contrast to Americas flashy, patriotic perceptions. Out here 6 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders A United Kingdom Oyelowo plays Prince Seretse Khama, inaugural Botswana president from 1966 to 1980, in this follow-up to 2015s Belle. Films about real life people often hold clout with the Academy when done well and with Gone Girls Rosamund Pike playing Khamas eventual wife Ruth Williams, A United Kingdom should pull in cinemagoers. Khama sparked a global stir when he married the white Londoner in the late Forties and the first pictures from the movie promise beautiful costumes and cinematography. A United Kingdom will open the London Film Festival before its general release on 25 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Loving Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton star as Mildred and Richard Loving in this historical drama about an interracial couple sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958 for the crime of getting married. Out here just in time for the Oscars on 3 February. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, Loving earned positive reviews from critics when it competed for the Palme dOr at Cannes and received a standing ovation for understated, strong performances. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Manchester by the Sea One of the best scripts co-producer Matt Damon had ever read, this tragedy about an uncle who is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boys father dies while trying to reconcile with his ex-wife stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and newcomer Lucas Hedges. It was bought at Sundance by Amazon for $10 million and arrives in the UK on 13 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Nocturnal Animals Designer Tom Ford has cinematic strings to his bow, as proved with 2009s Venice premiere The Single Man. Hes back in the chair for this drama-thriller starring Amy Adams as a remarried art gallery owner whose ex-husbands violent new book begins to haunt her. Jake Gyllenhaal, Isla Fisher and Armie Hammer also star. Due in UK cinemas on 4 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Light Between Oceans Michael Fassbender stars alongside last years Best Supporting Actress winner Alicia Vikander in the big screen adaptation of ML Stedmans 2012 novel of the same name. Derek Cianfrance is the man behind the camera for this story about a lighthouse keeper war veteran who rescues a baby girl with his wife after she washes up on an adrift rowboat. Then, in steps another Oscar winner, Rachel Weisz, as the woman who threatens to break their happy family apart. Out in the UK on 4 November - bring tissues. Early Oscars 2017 contenders American Pastoral Ewan McGregor makes his directorial debut with this period adaptation of Philip Roths novel American Pastoral. The drama - set in the 60s - centres on a successful businessman (McGregor) whose missing daughter (Dakota Fanning) is accused of a violent bombing in post-war America. Out in the UK on 11 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Queen of Katwe Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) is the director behind this long-awaited biopic of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. That Mutesi is played by 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyongo is reason enough to anticipate this Disney-produced film, out here 21 October. Disney Early Oscars 2017 contenders Free Fire Ben Wheatleys new action thriller will close the London Film Festival. Set in Massachusetts in the late Seventies, Free Fire stars Oscar-winning Room actress Brie Larson in the lead alongside Cillian Murphy. It 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. Expect blood, sweat and irony with bravura filmmaking from the High-Rise director. Reaches UK cinemas sometime in 2017. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Paterson Jim Jarmuschs Palme dOr contender sees Adam Driver take the lead as a bus driver poet from Paterson, New Jersey. Each night after work, he has dinner with his wife Laura before walking his dog (2016s Palm Dog winner) to the bar for one beer. Then one day, a small disaster strikes. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Founder Michael Keaton has starred in the last two Best Picture winners Spotlight and Birdman. Here, he takes on the role of ruthless McDonalds founder Ray Kroc, with the film telling the story of the fast food empires origins. The ambitious entrepreneur on a journey to theme didnt end so well for last years Joy, so it remains to be seen whether The Founder can live up to expectations as an Oscars contender. Out here 30 September. The Weinstein Company Early Oscars 2017 contenders Sully Clint Eastwood returns with Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, about the hero pilot who, in 2009, successfully landed his plane along the Hudson River after it was disabled by a flock of geese, saving all 155 crew and passengers. Tom Hanks takes the lead as Chesley Sullenberger in a biopic that sounds like it could tick a lot of Oscars boxes. Based on the autobiography Highest Duty, the thriller marks Eastwoods first directorial effort since 2014s American Sniper. Out 2 December. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Jackie Pablo Larrain directs Oscar winner Natalie Portman as late first lady and fashion icon Jacqueline Kennedy in what he has promised will not be another classic biopic. Set in the days immediately after John F Kennedys 1963 assassination, the film sparked great excitement among distributors after a seven-minute promo screened at Cannes. Release date unknown at this stage. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Girl on the Train The Helps Tate Taylor is in the directors chair for this years Gone Girl about a troubled woman who becomes embroiled in a murder case after developing a fixation on a beautiful couple from her commuter train. Expect a film pulsating with creepy, voyeur vibes, a la Rear Window, based on Paula Hawkins bestselling thriller. Out in the UK on 7 October. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Florence Foster Jenkins Meryl Streep has been widely praised for her turn as the 1940s New York heiress who couldnt sing (and we mean really couldnt sing) yet somehow became an opera singer with the help of her patient husband St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and pianist Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg). Directed by two-time Academy nominee Stephen Frears, the film proved heartwarming and inspiring upon its release earlier this year and was embraced by both film lovers and critics. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Christine Rebecca Hall set Sundance ablaze in January, earning five-star reviews for the performance of her career in Christine, about the news anchor who killed herself live on air in 1974 after suffering from depression. Yet to receive a UK release date, Christine arrives in US cinemas in October, with Antonio Campos also one to watch for directorial accolades come awards season. Courtesy of Sundance Institute Early Oscars 2017 contenders Arrival Paramount Pictures

In a statement, the studio said: Fox Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State. We also know that he was found innocent and cleared of all charges. We stand behind Nate and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen.

Parker has spent seven years trying to get The Birth of a Nation made, even reportedly investing $100,000 into the $10 million budget - something which paid off following the standing ovations received at the film's Sundance premiere earlier this year.

Fox Searchlight - who were banking on this being a critical, commercial and awards favourite in the year following the controversial #OscarsSoWhite campaign - are set to be rethinking their strategy in the fear Parker's past could dissuade many from seeing the film.

The Birth of a Nation is slated to arrive in UK cinemas on 20 January; the film also stars Armie Hammer, Penelope Ann Miller, Aja Naomi King and Gabrielle Union.
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Acclaimed filmmaker, explorer of the human condition and Pokemon Go commentator Werner Herzog stopped into Marc Maron's WTF Podcast this week, and shared the most Werner Herzog dream imaginable.

The sonorous German was discussing evil (obviously) with Maron, when he suddenly side-stepped:

"Sorry, I would like to tell you a dream. I hardly ever dream. I dream maybe once in a year."

Intrigued, as anyone would be, Maron indulged him.

"I was running in a street in Mexico, somehow pursued by God knows what," Herzog recalled.

Recommended Read more This is what happens when you tell Werner Herzog about Pokemon Go

"And, at an intersection, I bump into a donkey that has some sort of load packed on it and I'm knocked down.

"A priest picks me up and shakes me and screams at me: 'Do you believe in the forces of evil? Do you renounce Satan himself?'

"And somehow, perplexed as I was, I said 'I do not believe in the Devil, I only believe in stupidity.'

"That was what I dreamt," he concluded.

Now my dreams get pretty dark, but I have to confess to being disappointed they rarely involve face-offs with religious figures in deserted Mexican environments.

Herzog and Maron discussed stupidity and evil not being mutually exclusive in relation to the former's new documentary on the internet, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.

It's a typically dark look at our hyperconnectivity, but Herzog doesn't see the internet as intrinsically bad, it's how humans use it.

"The internet is not good or evil, nor is electricity, it does not have qualities beyond the technical qualities," he said.

"Although, if we strap you onto an electric chair and execute you you better first recalibrate your opinion of humans."

You can listen to the podcast in full here.
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One of the most charming moments in one of Wes Anderson's most idiosyncratic films, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, was Seu Jorge's seafaring acoustic reworkings of Bowie hits in Portuguese.

The Brazilian musician's cameo was so popular that the covers were released as an album in 2005 and now, more than a decade later, he is going on tour with them.

Seu Jorge will play dates across the US and Canada this autumn, with images from the film projected on screens shaped like sail boats behind him.

Tour dates in full:

4.11 Miami Beach, FL - Faena Theater

7.11 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer

8.11 Washington, DC - The Howard Theatre

9.11 Boston, MA - Symphony Hall

12-11 New York City, NY - Town Hall

14.11 Montreal, Quebec - Theatre Maisonneuve

15.11 Toronto, Ontario - Queen Elizabeth Theatre

17.11 Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall

20.11 Vancouver, British Columba - Vogue Theatre

21.11 Seattle, WA - Showbox

22.11 Portland, OR - Revolution Hall

25.11 San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom

26.11 Los Angeles, CA - The Theatre at Ace Hotel
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Set in the beautiful surroundings of Slottsskogen Park in Swedens musical capital Gothenburg, Way Out West certainly sets out to differ from Europes ever-increasing festival competition. The deluge of corporate branding might feel familiar (although the sight of people scrambling in the mud fighting for packets of Doritos fired from a canon is a new one for me), but the sense that your fun is precisely defined on our behalf is inescapable, with specified areas to eat and drink, heavy-handed security, and one-way systems that make it feel like youre in a particularly bucolic branch of Ikea. Add in an eco-friendly ethos that means the festival is, bar the odd exception, essentially vegan, and the contrast with, say, Glastonbury, couldnt be more pronounced.

This is all a mixed blessing. By and large behaviour is impeccable, the predominantly local crowds giving hushed reverence to Julia Holters sumptuous operatic pop and Kamasi Washingtons expansive jazz odyssey in a way that is becoming increasingly rare in the UK. But it also makes the atmosphere somewhat staid: while Sias hit-laden set draws a frenzied response from the youngest demographic of the weekend, elsewhere the response is one of mild appreciation.

But even with some high profile pull outs (The Avalanches, The Kills and Anohni all cancelled, while The Libertines scheduled Thursday appearance eventually happened, albeit drearily, on Friday) the line-up provides delights at nearly every turn, as heavy hitting as it is eclectic. Dr Dre collaborator Anderson Paaks energetic set of funk, soul and hip-hop is exhilarating; likewise Jessy Lanzas hyper electro-pop that momentarily helps us forget the pouring rain. Stay Out Wests late night offerings of bands and DJs scattered around town  of which, Peaches provocatively NSFW show of dancing vaginas, simulated sex and an inflatable penis is an electrifying sight to behold  adds decadent after hours fun.

The headliners set an uncompromising tone, none more so than a buoyant Morrissey, who stalks the stage, lashing his microphone lead, visibly thrilled theres no meat on the horizon. No death for sale! he exclaims, merrily.

Of course, theres nearly as much chance of him serving up a juicy T-bone as there is pandering to the masses with a full-on greatest hits show, but in among a quixotic set list (three B-sides, just two of The Smiths' songs) there are a smattering of dutifully delivered hits  a faithful Suedehead, a viscous Irish Blood, English Heart  and a mariachi reworking of First of the Gang to Die that show the magic still sparkles. His croon has never sounded better, and his politically charged missives  he throws barbs towards Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump and television news  are very much on brand and on point.

Both PJ Harvey and Massive Attack take the civil baton, the former leaning heavily on her last two war-torn, state-of-the-world albums to deliver a spellbinding display of poise and power. Abetted by a stellar all-male nine-piece band dressed like a security firm playing by its own rules, Harvey, resplendent in corvine garb, mesmerises as she postures throughout an ominous set of singular brass and percussion blues.

Similarly, trip-hop legends Massive Attacks immersive and at times blistering set, invigorated by the presence of Mercury Prize-winners Young Fathers, is as much an irate visual assault: everything from the plight of refugees to the state of political parties is depicted in multi-colour fury, suiting an oeuvre that can be claustrophobic as well as, on Safe From Harms climax especially, searing. Their world is a fascinating place to visit, but not necessarily one for everyone. The same could be said of Way Out West itself.
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Smallpox  a deadly disease eradicated from the world in 1977  could return as the frozen tundra of Siberia melts and releases the virus from the corpses of people who died in a major epidemic about 120 years ago, experts have warned.

The disease was once one of the most feared in the world. Up to 30 per cent of people who caught it would die, according to the World Health Organisation, after experiencing symptoms including a high fever and the characteristic pus-filled spots.

Spores of potentially fatal anthrax from dead people and reindeer that had been entombed in the permafrost are already thought to have infected 24 patients currently in hospital in Salekhard near Russias north coast.

But health experts told the Siberian Times this was a warning sign that there could be worse to come.

Boris Kershengolts, of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences, said: Back in the 1890s, there occurred a major epidemic of smallpox. There was a town where up to 40 per cent of the population died.

Naturally, the bodies were buried under the upper layer of permafrost soil, on the bank of the Kolyma River.

Now, a little more than 100 years later, Kolyma's floodwaters have started eroding the banks.

The melting of the permafrost has speeded up this erosion process.

After anthrax spores have been found Yamal peninsula near Salekhard, experts from the Novosibirsk-based Virology and Biotechnology Centre have been testing for other diseases.

They found corpses that bore sores that look like the marks left by smallpox.

While the experts  dressed in protective clothing because of the risks  did not find the virus itself, they did detect fragments of its DNA.

Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA

The permafrost of the Yakutia region usually melts to between 30 to 60cm, but this year it was more than a metre, according to Mikhail Grigoriev, the deputy director of the Permafrost Studies Institute.

The rock and soil that forms the Yamal Peninsula contains much ice, he said told The Siberian Times.

Thawing may loosen the soil rather quickly, so the probability is high that old cattle graves may come to the surface.

Some graves dug in the past may be just three meters deep, covered by a very thin layer of soil. The spores of the disease [anthrax] are now on the loose.

There are also fears that the Siberian permafrost could release vast amounts of methane gas, which has a much greater greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, in a vicious circle that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming.
The sponsor of a ballot measure to repeal the state medical marijuana program is asking the courts to compel officials to verify 6,000 signatures he claims counties either lost or rejected in error.

After conducting an internal review, Safe Montana founder Steve Zabawa asked a Flathead County judge to grant an emergency injunction to approve the signatures he claims were lost and rejected. A hearing will take place less than a week before ballots are printed.

County officials deny that any signatures were lost, and a Secretary of State Office spokeswoman said the office has not received any information from Safe Montana.

In July, the Secretary of State deemed the initiative, I-176, to be short of the requisite signatures needed to make the fall ballot. On Monday, Zabawa said county officials failed to match the signatures to registered voters and rejected them in error.

They get a big batch of them, and they just plow right through them, he said. And they do the best job they can. They get tired, they get lazy, whatever the case dependent on the person and their skill level. And thats where you get your rejections.

Counties rejected 8,009 signatures from the I-176 petitions that Safe Montana campaigners submitted. Of those, two-thirds were deemed to be unregistered voters, according to Montana Secretary of States office spokeswoman Emily Dean.

Zabawa argued there were 3,500 signatures wrongly rejected. He said that they were registered voters.

Dean said Monday that Zabawa set a Wednesday meeting with state election officials but that he didnt provide any information on his findings to her or the officials. Without those documents, Dean said she couldnt speculate on the validity of the claims.

I believe the Secretary of State will do the right thing, Zabawa said. Theres no reason for them not to. (The signatures) are registered voters. (The Secretary of State's office) didnt take the time. I spent the extra money to do it.

Zabawa also claimed that an additional 2,500 signatures were lost by Flathead County, a charge that officials dispute.

We dont have the petitions and have never had the petitions, said Debbie Pierson, Flathead County Election Administrator. And they didnt get enough signatures, so this is where its at.

Zabawa doesnt have copies of the alleged lost petitions but said that he relied on notary logs. Petitions must be notarized prior to submission to a county office. Without copies of the actual petitions, he doesnt know how many signatures were actually on each petition  only that a notary signed off on them.

He said that the notary records indicated to him that signatures collected in March and April in Flathead County were not accounted for in the final tally.

Not so, according to Pierson. She said that they did an exhaustive search of their records and didnt turn up any overlooked petitions. She said signatures on a group of petitions can span months. In going through her records, she said one submission had signatures ranging from February to May.

Additionally, once petitions are turned into the county office, it may take months before they are fully certified by counties. The deadline for counties to certify petitions was July 15. She said if petitions were submitted in March or April, they may not have been checked and certified until after the primary election.

Were not showing any gap in months that we dont have petitions with signatures on them, Pierson said.

If the roughly 6,000 signatures were found to be valid, that would give I-176 an unusually high signature acceptance rate of 93 percent, according to Yellowstone County Election Administrator Bret Rutherford.

He said the average acceptance rate is about 70 percent. Though it missed the ballot, 72 percent of I-176 signatures were validated  among the highest for ballot initiatives this year.

Zabawas court action, first filed Aug. 10, requests that the judge accept the wrongfully rejected signatures, as well as the alleged missing ones.

Alternatively, he asked the judge to order Secretary of State Linda McCulloch to simply approve I-176 for either the 2016 or 2018 ballot.

Flathead County District Judge Heidi Ulbricht will hear arguments on Friday.
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In the 2004 Oscar winning film Sideways, part romantic comedy, part serious homage to wine, the lead character delivers a heartfelt tribute to the pinot noir grape. As a result, pinot sales everywhere rocketed.

While the films protagonist was spot on calling it a hard grape to grow, with the right combination of soils, topography and climate working together, the results can be sensational.

Burgundy, of course, was the original tucked away place, where some of the most legendary pinots are produced. But in recent decades, remarkable pinots have been produced in New Zealand, California and Chile. And in England, fabulous pinot is also starting to be produced, which its advocates say might represent our best chance of producing a truly great red wine.

All pinot noirs are very food friendly, pairing well with both lighter duck and lamb dishes, as well as being one of the few red wines to work with fish, particularly rare tuna. Plus, the earthy quality also means it goes very well with mushrooms and with game.

So, as we head into the autumn, these wines are ideal for both warm days and cooler evenings. Drink at room temperature, or the straight from the fridge door.

Read more:

For this selection it must be remembered that, because of some of the difficulties in making pinot noir, the best wines can attract premium prices. However, we have tried to focus on wines that wont break the bank, as well as more special occasion bottles.

How we tested

We were looking for an amazing aroma, which should combine those earthy, fungal notes we mentioned earlier, and a light to medium-bodied palate which is fresh, elegant and ethereal.

The best pinot noirs for 2021 are:

Best overall  Domaine Jean Fery et Fils sous la Cabotte Savigny les Beaune 2017, 13%, 750ml: 29.99, Secretcellar.co.uk

 Domaine Jean Fery et Fils sous la Cabotte Savigny les Beaune 2017, 13%, 750ml: 29.99, Secretcellar.co.uk Best for vegans and vegetarians  Seresin Leah pinot noir 2017, 13%, 750ml: 19.76, Winebuyers.com

 Seresin Leah pinot noir 2017, 13%, 750ml: 19.76, Winebuyers.com Best for game  Scott Base Central Otago pinot noir 2018, 13%, 750ml: 19.99, Finewinesdirectuk.com

 Scott Base Central Otago pinot noir 2018, 13%, 750ml: 19.99, Finewinesdirectuk.com Best for fish  Kurtatsch Mazon pinot noir riserva Alto Adige 2016, 13%: 30.95, Independent.wine

 Kurtatsch Mazon pinot noir riserva Alto Adige 2016, 13%: 30.95, Independent.wine Best for mushroom dishes  Domaine Drouhin Oregon Dundee Hills pinot noir 2017, 14%, 750ml: 32, Winemerchants.com

 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Dundee Hills pinot noir 2017, 14%, 750ml: 32, Winemerchants.com Best for special occasions  Luminous Hills Estate Astra pinot noir 2015, 16.7%, 750ml: 42.50, Henningswine.co.uk

 Luminous Hills Estate Astra pinot noir 2015, 16.7%, 750ml: 42.50, Henningswine.co.uk Best for lightly spiced dishes  Talbott Monterey Kali Hart pinot noir 2017, 14.5%, 750ml: 24.99, Majestic.co.uk

 Talbott Monterey Kali Hart pinot noir 2017, 14.5%, 750ml: 24.99, Majestic.co.uk Best for duck  Tara pinot noir Atacama 2016, 13.5%, 750ml: 39.99, Thewinereserve.co.uk

 Tara pinot noir Atacama 2016, 13.5%, 750ml: 39.99, Thewinereserve.co.uk Best English pinot noir  Gusbourne pinot noir Boot Hill Vineyard, Kent 2018: 33, Vivino.com

 Gusbourne pinot noir Boot Hill Vineyard, Kent 2018: 33, Vivino.com Best bargain bottle  Calmel + Joseph Le Sentier 2019, 12.5%: 16.95, Vivino.com

Domaine Jean Fery et Fils sous la Cabotte Savigny les Beaune 2017, 13%, 75cl Best: Overall Rating: 10/10 Burgundy could, of course, be the subject of a whole column devoted to its magnificent wines  and indeed much has been written on the subject. But its pinots can be overpriced. So, here weve chosen just one medium priced, great value bottle that comes from a family winery in the Cote De Beaune area. Aromas of red and black fruits mingling with earth and a little peppery spice on the palate; great structure and firmness on the palate and suitable for a wide range of foods, from lighter meat and game dishes to vegetable tagines and simple fish dishes. Buy now 29.99 Secretcellar.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Seresin Leah pinot noir 2017, 13%, 75cl Best: For vegans and vegetarians Rating: 9/10 The Marlborough region of New Zealand is not just about fabulous sauvignon blanc  it also produces sublime pinot noir. This bottle comes from the estate of Michael Seresin, an internationally known cinematographer who has worked on a large number of films, including the Harry Potter and Planet of the Apes films. Seresin has been making white and red wines since the early 1990s and the vines are cultivated biodynamically and are all vegan friendly. The Leah pinot noir is named after his daughter and is a very youthful and vibrant pinot, with fresh red berry fruit flavours, a crisp acidity and a clean, long finish, with notes of pomegranate. This is ideal for light chilling and for drinking with tomato-based pasta and vegetable dishes of all kinds. Buy now 19.76 Winebuyers.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Scott Base Central Otago pinot noir 2018, 13%, 75cl Best: For game Rating: 9/10 Central Otago is the most southerly wine producing region in New Zealand and its pinot noirs tend to be a little fuller and richer than Marlborough. Ten months of oak ageing give this wine a really full flavour, with notes of ripe berry fruits and some dried herbal characteristics. The fuller flavours lend themselves to pairing with game  the season is already underway  and lamb dishes. Buy now 19.99 Finewinesdirectuk.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Kurtatsch Mazon pinot noir riserva Alto Adige 2016, 13% , 75cl Best: For fish Rating: 8/10 Pinot noir is also produced in the German-speaking Alto Adige Alpine region of Italy, bordering Austria and Switzerland, and where it is known as pinot nero or blauburgunder. This is as fresh as an Alpine stream, but gets added complexity from cave ageing in oak barrels. With gorgeous aromas of spices such as cinnamon and earthy fungal notes, hints of mint, a light to medium bodied mouthfeel, and cherry, raspberry and strawberry flavours this feels lively on the palate. It is perfect just lightly chilled with a plate of mixed charcuterie or some grilled fish, particularly seared tuna. Buy now 30.95 Independent.wine {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Domaine Drouhin Oregon Dundee Hills pinot noir 2017, 14%, 75cl Best: For mushroom dishes Rating: 8/10 Pinot noir production in Oregon only began seriously in the 1980s, and one of the first investors in the main wine growing region of the Willamette Valley was one of the great names of Burgundy, Maison Joseph Drouhin. The valley shares a similar climate, latitude and aspect with Burgundy, and Drouhin describes the wines produced there as French soul, Oregon soil, which is clearly apparent here. This is an iteration of pure pinot noir  complex and expressive, yet elegant. Flavours include fresh but dark black fruits, some red-cherry notes, sandalwood and a little earthy spice. Its fuller flavoured than some others and just brilliant with autumnal foods involving mushrooms. Buy now 32 Winemerchants.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Luminous Hills Estate Astra pinot noir 2015, 16.7%, 75cl Best: For special occasions Rating: 9/10 In another part of the Willamette Valley, the Yamill Cartlon district, lies the Luminous Hills vineyards, where winemaker Byron Dooley is intent on matching particular clones of vines with soil types to ensure absolute purity of flavours. This wine from an excellent vintage, is packed with ethereal but intense dark-fruit flavours; a developed structure, supple tannins and a hint of spice. A remarkable wine with a real sense of its place, this is one for a special occasion dinner party, to be served with lamb or duck dishes. Buy now 42.50 Henningswine.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Talbott Monterey Kali Hart pinot noir 2017, 14.5%, 75cl Best: For lightly spiced dishes Rating: 7/10 The best Californian pinot noir come from the deep mountain valleys, where the daytime heat is cooled by coastal fogs. Monterey, a scenic region where vines were first grown more than 200 years ago, is where the potential for great wines was only fully realised in the 1960. This characteristic pinot has sublime distinctive smoky qualities with, spicy, cherry fruit and vanilla flavours balanced with fresh acidity. If you didnt get Californian pinot noir until now, this should do the trick. Drink with lightly spiced oriental dishes or any lighter meats like grilled chicken. Buy now 24.99 Majestic.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Tara pinot noir Atacama 2016, 13.5%, 75cl Best: For duck Rating: 9/10 This is the stunning product of a venture by winemakers Vino Ventisquero. To plant vineyards in Chiles Atacama desert, one of the least hospitable places in the world to grow grapes, with daily fogs and salt deposits that cling to the vines, was a bold move. But it pays off. The lightness of colour belies the intensity of flavours in this limited edition wine. Made without filtration or fining, it has aromas of earth and red fruits on the nose, vibrant, complex strawberry and black cherry flavours, a fine, crisp acidity and a long saline, yes, saline, finish. A high price, but worth it for the experience and just ideal with grilled fish or poultry, but particularly a roast duck, drunk cellar cool. Buy now 39.99 Thewinereserve.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Gusbourne pinot noir Boot Hill Vineyard 2018, 75cl Best: English pinot noir Rating: 8/10 It is now well established that England can produce great sparkling wine, which of course often involves pinot noir as a constituent grape. Therefore hopes have long been high that we can also create great still pinot noir wines, although it is a more challenging task given the difficulties associated with the grape. The Gusbourne estate in Kent is one of those producers of terrific award winning sparkling, and this single vineyard wine is a fabulous example of just what is possible. This is elegant and refreshing, with gorgeous flavours of cranberry and red berry fruits, with some subtle hints of earth and spice, and with enough tannic firmness on the palate to match poultry like spatchcocked chicken or poussin. Buy now 33 Vivino.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
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Volakov, as hes known on the forum  and he doesnt want any other clues given out  is an 18-year-old with a problem. He cant get an erection with the girlfriend he loves. His issue isnt physical. Neither is it a typical psychological problem such as performance anxiety. The reason Volakov is impotent, he believes, is internet porn.

And he isnt alone. Volakov is just one of more than 200,000 members of NoFap  fap being an American equivalent of wank  an online community trying to overcome similar issues. The cause of Volakovs distress is so-called porn-induced erectile dysfunction, a 21st century sexual problem whereby men can only achieve or maintain an erection masturbating to porn, but not with a real partner. And this condition isnt the only problem. Delayed ejaculation, loss of libido, and desensitisation of the penis are some of the other physical symptoms reported on the forum, alongside psychological issues such as social anxiety, lack of motivation and depression.

One young man who went through all of these issues was the founder of NoFap himself, 26-year-old Alexander Rhodes, from Pennsylvania. Rhodess first exposure to porn was as an 11-year-old boy growing up in the Nineties. While surfing a gaming website, he saw a pop-up of a woman in a simulated rape scenario. It was just an image, says Rhodes, but it was enough to gain the interest of a young boy. Rhodess porn use quickly escalated from what he calls laughable internet searches for images like legs or stomach to viewing hardcore porn videos for hours on end  at one point 14 times in a day. Rhodess porn use soon became so intense that he was physically injuring himself. I tried to take a break for a day to allow my injuries to heal and I couldnt even stop for a day. I just masturbated through the pain.

In his first real-life sexual experience, Rhodes was distressed to find that he couldnt maintain an erection. In subsequent encounters he found he could only cope by fantasising about porn but even then was unable to orgasm. Finally, realising he had a problem, Rhodes turned to the internet for help but found nothing relating to his experiences. He started posting on mens health and self-improvement forums and soon found a growing number of men facing similar issues. There was no dedicated space to chat about the topic, so in 2011 Rhodes set up NoFap, a group on the social news networking site Reddit. I was expecting, like, eight people, says Rhodes. Fifty, tops. Instead the initial numbers were quite alarming and the sub-Reddit group grew exponentially.

Fast forward five years and NoFap has more than 200,000 members, or Fapstronauts, and is just one of several similar online communities. These sites offer not only a place to share problems but also, they claim, a solution: rebooting.

Rebooting involves abstaining from just porn; porn and masturbation; or porn, masturbation and sex, from periods of 90 days or longer. Rebooters claim that long-term abstinence from porn and the subsequent rewiring of their brains (hence the term rebooting) cure all their problems, even impotence. Users claim not only to regain their interest in sex with real partners but also with life in general, even coining the term superpowers for their newfound ability to concentrate, engage with society and apply themselves to different activities.

One Canadian study was unable to find any men who had never watched porn (Sean Gallup/Getty) (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The idea of rebooting rests on some not-fully-established neuroscience tying together the increasing accessibility and endless supply of porn with neural changes desensitising mens brains to sexual stimuli. This causes them to seek ever higher and more frequent hits and leaves them cold to real-world sexual experiences that dont live up to their porn-led expectations.

The science is still disputed as is the model of porn addiction that often goes with it. But despite the lack of hard proof, the anecdotal evidence is mounting. One expert who has seen it first-hand is Robert Weiss, an author on sex addiction and senior vice president of Elements Behavioural Health, a US-wide chain of clinics treating behavioural addictions. Weiss, who has treated sex addiction for more than 20 years, has seen the number of young men with internet porn-related problems increase from near-zero to a quarter of all his patients, at least half of these suffering from erectile dysfunction.

When asked if he thinks porn-induced erectile dysfunction is a real phenomenon, Weiss says: Yes absolutely, if youre using the hyper-stimulation of internet porn as your sole means of experiencing arousal, youre hitting your brain up with such a high level of dopamine, and such a high level of expectation around what sex is, then when you get into the real thing, which can be a little smelly, a little wet and a little uncomfortable, its like  Id rather just look at my porn. Weiss also points out that the new problem is different from traditional forms of sex addiction that often involve profound early traumas such as sexual abuse. Instead, according to Weiss, clinicians are increasingly seeing otherwise healthy young men with good upbringings turning to porn as a way to escape the challenges of real life.

But the problem isnt confined to single teenagers sitting alone in their bedrooms. Older men in stable relationships, and their partners, are increasingly turning to forums to seek help. One rebooter, a married man with children who posts under the name Sender, describes how his porn dependency led him to use his wife as a kind of porn fantasy prop. I couldnt have an orgasm unless she wasnt facing me, he says. That bothered me for a long time. Another forum poster is a 49-year-old Dutch wife and mother of three who uses the name Volpool. Volpool documents her 44-year-old partners struggle with porn dependency on the forum Reboot Nation. It really tears down your self-esteem, she says. realising that your partner prefers porn to you. Its very hard to deal with.

But the problem doesnt just affect women as partners. An increasing number are coming to forums with their own porn-related issues, including a female form of porn-induced erectile dysfunction that involves an inability to maintain arousal without the aid of porn.

One female fapstronaut is 29-year-old Sami Kiley from Georgia. Her story is remarkably similar to most of the male posters. She went from first coming across porn at the age of 12 to sneaking a few minutes on the family computer in her early teens. Her porn use escalated when she got her own computer and high-speed internet. She would watch porn for several hours at a time until it began to adversely affect her studies and her relationships. It started to make me feel ways I didnt want to feel, says Kiley. It changed my views on sex substantially. Everything was pornified. I never felt that I had that special connection where you have sex and really relate to somebody.

Kiley decided to quit porn in June after joining NoFap. Like many rebooters, her porn use had escalated to the point where she was watching genres that didnt even reflect her sexual tastes, just to find a novel hit. I felt like I had moved so far away from my own sexual interest, I was kind of disgusted with myself. I sat there and cried and said, this is enough. I want to stop this now.

Female rebooters make up less than 5 per cent of the NoFap community, but most people believe the numbers seen on the forums are just the tip of the iceberg. Some even believe that the problem of internet-porn dependency, if left unchecked, could turn a whole generation off sex. One of these is the founder of Reboot Nation, Gabe Deem, a 28-eight-year-old man who suffered from porn-induced erectile dysfunction so severely it took him two years to recover. According to Deem: You could have a whole generation of people that literally have to watch other people have sex on screen to be able to have sex with a real person.

There is evidence to suggest that Deems point is more than just hyperbole. One Canadian study was unable to find any men who had never watched porn. And a Japanese study into declining birth rates found that a fifth of all young men, when asked if they were interested in sex with a real partner, said no, they were happy sticking with porn.

The true scale of the problem may not be known for years to come but everyone agrees that solutions need to be effected now. Some want blocks on porn, such as Volpool, who points to the discrepancy between how we treat porn and other dependencies like alcoholism. The liquor store doesnt come to my house twice a week to leave bottles of beer everywhere for free where my kids can find them. Thats something that frustrates me very much  its everywhere.

Others, like Rhodes, disagree, and use the alcohol model to point out the problems associated with prohibition. Rhodes wants to see wider awareness and better education in schools. As does Deem, who compares porn and its effects to junk food and the obesity epidemic now being tackled in schools.

Still, says Weiss, sex education can only go so far. He believes parents have a crucial role to play  but first, he says, we need a cultural shift in how parents view their childrens sex lives. We need parents to explain that porn is not real life, says Weiss. But we live in a culture where no one wants to think about my little boy or girl doing that sort of thing. The days where parents could say, My kid would never do that are gone. Every kid is looking at porn. We need to face up to that and move on.

Some names have been changed to preserve the anonymity of contributors
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A group of UK businesses, from convenience stores to vending machine operators and pubs, have joined forces to call for a rethink of the governments proposed tax on the soft drinks industry.

Former chancellor George Osborne has announced a sugar tax on the soft drinks industry as part of the 2016 Budget with the goal to raise an estimated 520 million a year. He has pledged to spend the money on funding for sport in primary schools.

The coalition of UK businesses, which between them, employ more than 400,000 people across the UK, on Tuesday, launched a Face the Fact, Can the Tax campaign arguing the tax will not reduce obesity and would results in job losses and higher prices.

Businesses taking part in the campaign all agreed that obesity levels were too high, but argued that the sugar tax was not the answer.

We know from the evidence around the world where theyve tried a tax that it will not make a difference to obesity. What it will do, as this report shows, is damage thousands of businesses across the entire soft drinks supply chain, from farmers, to manufacturers, to convenience stores and the pub and restaurant trade, Gavin Partington, director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association which part funds the campaign, said.

At a time of economic uncertainty the Government needs to be supporting these businesses and working with industry to support actions that are already making a difference, such as reformulation, smaller packs, and more marketing of the many no sugar options now available, he added.

Leendert Den Hollander, vice-president and general manager of Coca-Cola, previously said in an interview at Retail Week that a sugar tax would not reduce childhood obesity.

We just believe theres no proof or evidence that sugar tax works. Theres no evidence that calories significantly reduce after sugar tax, Mr Hollander said.

The launch of the campaign comes as a new report from Oxford Economics has highlighted the worrying economic damage the proposed soft drinks tax will have on British industry.

The report predicts a loss of more than 4,000 jobs across the UK and a decline of 132 million in economic output.

Brigid Simmonds OBE, chief executive, British Beer & Pub Association, said the new tax will further increase the burden of taxation on pubs.

With research from Oxford Economics showing up to 1,800 jobs in the pub and restaurant sector alone are at risk from this tax, the Government should think again about this unnecessary burden on our nations pubs, she said.

Coffee shop sugary drinks

Companies will be given two years to reformulate their products with reduced sugar levels, after which drinks with over 5g of sugar per 100ml and over 8g per 100ml will be hit with greater taxes in two bands, following Geroge Osbornes announcement in March

Britvic, the owner of Pepsi, Robinsons squash and Fruit Shoot, is already planning to make further changes to the recipe of its drinks to comply with the UK sugar tax.

In February, Cancer Research UK and the UK Health Forum have previously calculated that a 20 per cent tax on sugary drink could reduce obesity rate in the UK by 5 per by 2025.

The amounts of sugar in food and drink Show all 6 1 /6 The amounts of sugar in food and drink The amounts of sugar in food and drink Minstrels A 42g bag contains 28.9g of sugar The amounts of sugar in food and drink Dairy Milk A 49g bar contains 26.8g of sugar The amounts of sugar in food and drink Skittles 45g of Skittles (about a quarter of a large 174g pouch) contains 40.4g of sugar The amounts of sugar in food and drink Ribena A 500ml bottle of Blackcurrant Ribena contains 23g of sugar, down from 50g/500ml after it was reformulated to avoid the government's tax on sugary drinks The amounts of sugar in food and drink Coca Cola A 330ml can of Coca Cola contains 35g of sugar The amounts of sugar in food and drink Innocent Smoothies A 250ml bottle of strawberries & bananas Innocent Smoothie (the middle size) contains 26g of sugar

This is equal to 3.7 million fewer obese people - the combined populations of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol and Leicester.

Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Childrens Food Campaign, called the sugar tax an important victory for children's health which will encourage people to choose healthier drinks, and send a wider message about cutting down on sugar for consumers and businesses.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned the tax could lead to people consuming more sugar as they turn to foods instead.


Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report 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

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Ellen DeGeneres is on the defensive following social media backlash to a tweet many say is racist.

The comedian and daytime talk show host published a tweet Monday evening featuring an image of herself on the back of Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt as he sprinted toward the finish line during his historic 100 metre sprint.

This is how Im running errands from now, the caption said.

Social media users quickly fired back, criticising the picture for its racist undertones.

The issue with the image, one user explained, is that it invokes imagery reminiscent of slavery in the US, during which time black people were subjugated by whites.

The criticism was dismissed by other people on Twitter, who argue that DeGeneres was simply trying to say Bolt  a world record-holding track star  is fast.

DeGeneres posted a defence on her page without apology.

I am highly aware of the racism that exists in our country, she wrote. It is the furthest thing from who I am.

 Michelle Obama dances with Ellen

The Ellen Show has previously drawn criticism for alleged racial insensitivity.

Last October, the show was criticised for a depiction of rapper Nicki Minajs family in a sketch about her childhood growing up in Queens, New York. The operative joke was that every member of the family had large buttocks  a well known characteristic of the Trinidadian-American pop star.

Critics saw the sketch as lazy and tasteless, and a reduction of a prominent black womans talents to her body parts. Some criticised for toeing the line of minstrelsy.

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.

As the sketch concluded, DeGeneres said, They have big butts. Thats the joke.
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George Osborne is the fast lane to make hundreds of thousands of pounds in a new career as an after dinner speaker  proving the point that top rank politicians can make far more money in semi-retirement than while they are in office.

The former Chancellor, who was sacked by Theresa May, has been signed up by the Washington Speakers Bureau, whose books include some of the most famous names in contemporary politics, who can fetch five or six figure sums for delivering a speech.

The agency does not reveal what its clients are paid, but as a sitting MP Mr Osborne will be obliged to declare his outside earnings in the Commons Register of Members Interest. Gordon Brown, who was signed up by the same agency after he lost the 2010 general election was paid 46,155.72, plus 24,555.14 in travel and accommodation costs, for delivering a speech in Washington in 2014. While he was backbench MP, Mr Brown gave all his outside earnings to a charitable trust he ran with his wife, Sarah Brown.

Tony Blair is also on the same agencys books. He has not needed to declare his earnings because he quit Parliament almost immediately after he had left Downing Street, but it has been reported that he was once paid almost 400,000 for delivering two half hour speeches in the Philippines.

When the agency took on the former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott last October, they announced that he would be available to speak if the fee was over $40,000 (31,000)

Other speakers on the same agencys books include another former UK prime minister, Sir John Major, Tony Blairs former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, a former US President, George W. Bush, and his wife Laura and brother Jeb, three former US secretaries of State, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice, the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, another former Australian prime minister, John Howard, a former Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, the former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, the former President of the European Commission, Jose Manuela Barroso, the former Mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani, the founder of Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, and the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

Before Mr Osborne could join the cast list, he had to get clearance from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which checks that there is no conflict of interest when former government ministers take up new paid employment.

Dave Brown on George Osborne Show all 10 1 /10 Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne 1 January 2016 Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne Dave Brown on George Osborne

According to the Daily Telegraph, the former Chancellor will have to wait until three months after being sacked before he starts his new role, in which he is expected to work one or two days a week, giving speeches on the current political environment.

He has promised to personally approve any engagement to ensure that there is no conflict of interest.

The committee instructed him that he should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government on behalf of the Washington Speakers Bureau or its clients for at least two years.

Mr Osbornes salary dropped from 134,500 a year to 74,962 on the day Theresa May sacked him, though under an arrangement introduced by a previous Conservative government, in 1992, he is entitled to a payment of nearly 15,000 to tide him over. He also has a 15 per cent share  worth between 2.25 million and 4.5 million - in Osborne and Little, the wallpaper firm founded by his father, Sir Peter Osborne. Last year, the company sold its London headquarters for 6 million to a company based the British Virgin islands, an off shore tax haven.


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The leak of more than 2,500 documents from a philanthropic network founded by George Soros has sparked a furious reaction from critics and conspiracy theorists.

They include reports and research documents from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which offers grants for humanitarian organisations, human rights groups, development projects and policy reform.

The refugee crisis and migration are among the diverse issues covered, alongside the Ukraine conflict, racial discrimination in the US, anti-corruption initiatives and education in Pakistan.

George Soros has been outspoken in his support for refugees (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Excerpts relating to Israel and the Palestinian territories provoked a particularly strong reaction, with far-right activists calling Mr Soros anti-Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reported that almost $10 million had been awarded to pro-Palestinian groups since 2001 through the OSFs Arab Regional Office, citing a 2015 document hailing successes in challenging Israels racist and anti-democratic policies in the international arena.

The Republican Jewish Coalition said the figures amounted to undermining Israel, while Jeremy K Nolt, a volunteer for Donald Trumps campaign in Arizona called Mr Soros a terrorist.

 Netanyahu claims he cares more about Palestinians than their own leaders

But anti-Semites also took the leaks as proof of their conspiracy theories related to supposed plots regarding the refugee crisis and Muslim migrants.

The source for the assertion was leaked OSF reports on the refugee crisis and immigration, which has seen Mr Soros call for increased co-operation in Europe.

The Hungarian-American business magnate and philanthropist has drawn ire for decades because of his wealth and funding of liberal causes.

Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology Show all 5 1 /5 Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology ecsImg5289354-7753960917046.jpg According to one new theory, Muammar Gaddafi was not overthrown because he was a crazed brutal dictator; he was ousted and killed because he was plotting to introduce a new Africa-wide trading currency to threaten the dollar. There are also conspiracies which claim his death photographs are faked REX FEATURES Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology 5289356.jpg Starbucks has been the subject of several long-running conspiracies which range from the belief that the company donates profits to the Israeli military, to the suggestion that the woman on Starbucks' logo is Esther, a biblical Jewish prophet Rex Features Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology 5289054.jpg A classic among conspiracy theories is that the moon landings never took place: proponents allege that they were faked by Nasa with possible CIA support Rex Features Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology 5289050.jpg A New York Times/CBS poll showed that 84 per cent of Americans believe 9/11 was an inside job Rex Features Truth and lies: Conspiracy theories are running rampant thanks to modern technology 5288837.jpg One theory purports that the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise is owned by the Ku Klux Klan, and that the chicken is laced with a drug that makes only black men impotent Getty Images

The billionaire, who was born to a Jewish family in Budapest and was forced into hiding during the Nazi occupation of Hungary, has long been the subject of conspiracy theories dubbed anti-Sorosism.

The group that published the leaked documents online described themselves as American hacktivists who respect and appreciate freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people.

Intelligence sources told Bloomberg the hack was believed to originate from Russia and could be the same group that accessed 20,000 Democratic Party internal emails in June.

That cache was published by WikiLeaks, with Julian Assange saying at the time there was no proof whatsoever of Russian state backing.

Hillary Clinton blamed Russian hackers for a leak of Democratic National Committee emails

Vladimir Putin has previously dismissed similar allegations and the Russian government-owned Sputnik news website claimed American policies were scrambling to distract from disturbing revelations.

An email put online by WikiLeaks last week showed Mr Soros had advised Hillary Clinton on how to handle unrest in Albania in 2011, when she was Secretary of State.

On its website, the OSF says its aim is to build vibrant and tolerant societieswith respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions.

Among the groups supported by the OSF is the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists, which headed the release of the Panama Papers earlier this year.

A spokesperson for the OSF told The Independent the intrusion was detected in June and was reported to the FBI, with an internal investigation finding hackers had used an intranet system used by board members, staff and foundation members.

"The materials reflect big-picture strategies over several years from within the Open Society Foundations network, which supports human rights and the rule of law in more than 100 countries around the world," she added.
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Team GB athlete Tom Bosworth has become the latest Olympian to get engaged at the Rio games.

The speed walker and three-time British record holder, who finished sixth in the mens 20km walk, proposed to his partner Harry Dineley on Copacabana beach.

The 26-year-old shared a picture of him popping the question on social media on Tuesday alongside the caption: He said YES!!!. His fiance later shared a photo of the ring, adding: Ok then.

Bosworth is the first British track athlete to come out as gay. In October 2015, he explained his decision to come out on the Victoria Derbyshire show, saying he wanted to make sure the news came from him and did not disrupt his life or his family closer to the Rio Olympics.

Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Show all 74 1 /74 Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Eight Andy Murray celebrates his victory over Kai Nishikori to reach the men's Olympic final. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Eight Jessica Ennis-Hill continues her bid for gold in heptathlon. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Eight Usain Bolt breezed through his 100m heat. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Eight Team GB took silver in the women's eight. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Eight The men's eight gold took Great Britain top of the rowing medal table. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Britain's Jazz Carlin secured her second silver of the Games in the women's 800m freestyle, as American Katie Ledecky surged to her fourth Rio gold. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Singapore's Joseph Schooling won his nation's first gold medal with victory in the 100m butterfly as Michael Phelps was denied a 23rd Olympic title. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Sir Bradley Wiggins becomes Britain's greatest Olympian ever as Team GB win gold in the men's Team Pursuit at the Velodrome. AFP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Bryony Page on her way to a silver in gymnastics trampoline. EPA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Heather Stanning and Helen Glover win gold in the women's rowing pairs. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis celebrate their success in the mens coxless four. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Seven Defending champions Great Britain won silver in the Olympic team dressage, as world champions Germany claimed gold. The British quartet - Spencer Wilton, Fiona Bigwood, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin - were beaten into second by 3.334 points. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six American Simone Manuel became the first black female swimmer to win an Olympic title as she shared the women's 100m freestyle gold with Canada's Penny Oleksiak, 16, after a dead heat. Getty Images Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Swimming legend Michael Phelps demolished the field in the 200m individual medley to claim his 22nd Olympic gold. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Simone Biles takes gold in the Womens individual all-around artistic gymnastics. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Fiji's Vatemo Ravouvou breaks through to score during the Men's Rugby Sevens Gold medal final match against Great Britain. Team GB settled for silver as Fiji romped to gold. David Rogers/Getty Images Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Callum Skinner, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes of Great Britain celebrate after winning gold in the men's team sprint. AFP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Double act David Florence and Richard Hounslow won their second joint Olympic silver in the canoeing slalom. Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Six Victoria Thornley and Katherine Grainger show off their silver medals after the women's double sculls final Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Five Max Whitlock poses with his bronze medal Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Five Joe Clarke reacts to winning Britain's second gold of thee Games Reuters Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Five Jack Laugher and Chris Mears celebrate with their gold medals Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Four David Florence suffered heartbreak in the canoe single C1 men's semi-final Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Four Andy Murray celebrates his straight sets victory against Juan Monaco Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Lilly King shows off her gold medal as Yulia Efimova parades her silver AFP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Russia's Yulia Efimova (left) looks on as the US's Lilly King (right) celebrates winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke Final earlier this morning Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Lilly King celebrates after beating her Russian rival Yulia Efimova Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Michael Phelps takes on Chad Le Clos in the men's 200m butterfly final Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Michael Phelps says it 'breaks my heart' to see drug cheats at the Olympics Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three James Guy missed out on bronze on Monday night Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Louis Smith reacts to his pommel stumble which may have cost Team GB a medal Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Dan Goodfellow (right) and Tom Daley celebrate with their bronze medals Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow dive into the pool in delight after winning bronze Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Tom Daley (left) and Daniel Goodfellow performing in the men's synchronised 10m platform final PA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Canada celebrate their victory against Team GB on day three Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Three Heather Watson leaves the court yesterday after losing her second round match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine Reuters Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Carlin proudly shows off her silver medal Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Carlin reacts after learning that she has won the silver medal Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Peaty shows off his gold medal with pride Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Adam Peaty celebrates his gold Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Andy Murray and Jamie Murray were knocked out of the men's doubles by Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa AFP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Venus and Serena Williams suffered their first ever Olympic defeat playing together Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Richard Kruse battling the Russian Timur Safin GETTY Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Lizzie Armitstead finished fifth in the women's road race PA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Anna van der Breggen celebrates winning gold in the women's road race Reuters Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a horrific accident in the women's road race Reuters Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two The women's road race passes along the beach in Rio de Janeiro Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Andy Murray beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2 to win his men's singles first round match Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Serena Williams is through to the second round of the women's singles after defeating Daria Gavrilova Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Gold medal winner, Hoang Xuan Vinh of Vietnam, center, silver medal winner, Felipe Almeida Wu of Brazil, left, and bronze medalist Pang Wei of China, at the victory ceremony for the men's 10-meter air pistol event AP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day Two Rowing was cancelled on day two over fears of sinking and capsizing due to strong winds Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Yusra Mardini has won her heat of the Women's 100m Butterfly but she will not be able to go forward to the semi-final Getty Images Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Britain's James Guy chops through the water Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Kantinka Hosszu of Hungary set a new world record in winning gold in the Women's 100m Individual Medley final Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Samir Ait Said receiving medical help after suffering a badly broken leg Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Yusra Mardini leads the race in the 100m Butterfly heat at Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio EPA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Natasha Hunt scored two tries to inspire Britain to victory against Brazil Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Joanne Watmore scored Britain's first try in Olympic rugby sevens history Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Adam Peaty celebrates after breaking the 100m breaststroke world record Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Adam Peaty broke his own world record in the 100m breaststroke heats and is favourite to win gold on Sunday Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Adam Peaty broke his own world record in the 100m breaststroke heats Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Chris Froome speaks with a bruised Geraint Thomas after the men's road race PA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Greg van Avermaet celebrates winning gold in the men's road race Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Rafal Majka was caught with just two kilometres to go Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Greg van Avermaet won a sprint finish to clinch Olympic road race gold EPA Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One A bullet is marked by Brazilian police in the equestrian media centre Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One The peloton make their way along the beach during the road race Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Chris Froome leads away the men's road race along with the rest of Team GB Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One The field make their way along the opening stages of the road race Eric Gaillard/Reuters Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand had no trouble in qualifying for the men's single skulls quarter-finals Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Day One Rowers warm up under the watchful gaze of the Christ the Redeemer statue Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Opening Ceremony A huge fireworks display signals the end of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony. Felipe Dana/AP Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Opening Ceremony Andy Murray leads out Team GB at the Rio Olympics opening ceremony Getty Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures Opening Ceremony Gisele Bundchen turns the stage into a catwalk during the opening ceremony AP

This is by no means the first public engagement at the Rio Olympics. Chinese diver He Zi received a proposal from her boyfriend and fellow diver Qin Zai on Sunday moments after she won a silver medal for the womens three-metre springboard. As she stepped down from the podium, he proposed to her with a velvet box.

Whats more, on Monday, Marjorie Enya, a manager at the Deodoro Stadium, proposed to her girlfriend and Olympic rugby player Isadora Cerullo on the pitch after the Brazilian squad were knocked out of the competition.
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Radical preacher Anjem Choudary wanted to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque, a court has heard.

Choudary is now facing jail after being found guilty of supporting Islamic State.

Jurors at the Old Bailey also heard he had suggested that under Sharia Law, Britain's monarchy would be abolished and "idols" such as Nelson's Column torn down.

In a video entitled Khalifah Vs The World, Choudary even digressed into an anecdote about the cleanliness of Londoners and the bathing habits of the Queen, the court heard.

He said: You know, even now if you go to the toilets, you know, the public toilets the lavatories here in England there's tracing paper just rub it around and leave the toilet. Honestly, faecal matter everywhere in the public arena.

"It's not just me saying that, there are surveys they say that there is more faecal matter on the typewriter than there is in the toilet in the city of London. Why? because people don't clean themselves. They say 'oh look these Muslims clean themselves', of course we do...

"I once gave a talk and I said Queen Elizabeth used to have one bath a year. I gave this talk in a church and there was a woman there at the front, an elderly lady, and she kind of shrieked at me. She said: 'that's a lie, she had two baths a year.'

"Two baths a year okay, fair enough, twice as much, still doesn't make it a lot, does it, a year? Doesn't make it that clean."

Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, Choudary clarified that he did not mean the current monarch - he was actually referring to Elizabeth I.

He told jurors that he would deliberately "bait" mainstream media to win a platform to get across his message of spreading Islam worldwide.

In the months after IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a Caliphate in June 2014, the London-born Sunni Muslim said he gave between 60 and 70 interviews.

Despite engaging with "biased" journalists, Choudary told jurors that he did not rely on the media for news of what was going on within IS territory, even though he said he had no direct contacts in the area.

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Asked by his lawyer Mark Summers QC if he would describe himself as a self-publicist, Choudary said: "People are not going to listen to your message unless they know who you are."

On his controversial style, he said: A lot of things people shy away from, if I was asked what does Islam say about a person who would steal, I would say it is to cut their hand and foot. A lot of people do not want to talk about that.

My own style is to speak the truth whether people like it or not. Because there are so few people talking about these topics, it leaves a vacuum.

"I would use that as a vehicle for the wider explanation. If it was about stoning an adulterer I would use it to talk about social systems. I would use that as a platform to pass on my message."

With additional reporting by PA
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Radical preacher Anjem Choudary is facing years in prison after being found guilty of inviting support for Isis in what police said was a significant victory in the fight against extremism.

The 49-year-old and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman pledged allegiance to Isis during its brutal advance through Syria and Iraq in 2014 and used videos to support the terrorist group's cause, police said.

And security sources now believe Choudary has links to as many as 500 jihadis who have left Britain to join Isis in Syria and Iraq.

He and Rahman were found guilty on 28 July following a trial at the Old Bailey but the verdict was not announced until Tuesday because of reporting restrictions.

 Choudary 'treading fine line'

Choudary, who was previously a spokesperson for the banned Islam4UK group, denied the charges but was convicted over a series of lectures put on YouTube between June 2014 and March last year.

He and Rahman, of Palmers Green in London, were charged under section 12 of the Terrorism Act after being arrested on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organisation on 25 September 2014.

Speaking to Sky News before his conviction, Choudary claimed he was exercising his right to freedom of speech and had not broken the law.

If you look at my speeches, I have said the same thing for 20 years. For me, it is a matter of worship, he said.

If people are implementing the Sharia, then I cannot shy away from what the divine text says in relationship to that.

If you cannot say when you believe in something and you cannot share that view, then you don't really have freedom to express yourself in this country.

Anjem Choudary (left) and Mohammed Mizanur Rahman are facing jail after being convicted drumming up support for Isis (Metropolitan Police)

Choudary, of Ilford, co-founded the Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, which was named by Scotland Yard as the driving force behind a number of people who later committed terrorist attacks including the 7/7 bombers and Drummer Lee Rigby's murderers.

Among al-Muhajirouns members was Siddhartha Dhar, known as Abu Rumaysah, an aide of Choudarys who would later travel to Syria to fight for Isis, boasting of evading British security forces online and posting a photo of himself holding his baby son in one arm and a Kalashnikov in the other.

Dhar is suspected of being the masked executioner in a propaganda video released in January, apparently replacing the British militant Mohammed Emwazi after he was killed in a drone strike.

Choudary was also a prominent member of Islam4UK, al-Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect, which were proscribed as aliases for the same terrorist organisation by the British Government.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said Choudary and Rahman have been recruiters and radicalisers for over 20 years", who were called upon to pledge their support to Isis and encourage Muslims in the UK to join its ranks when the group declared its "caliphate" 2014.

At a meeting in a restaurant on 2 July of that year, the men spoke to convicted Indonesian terrorist Mohammed Fachry by phone and pledged their allegiance to Isis and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Fachry then published the oath on an Indonesian website, giving police the evidence investigators said was needed to show they "stepped over the line.

On the same day, Choudary posted a series of tweets praising the "caliphate" and urging Muslims to travel to Dar ul-Islam (Isis territory)  part of a series of messages praising Isis.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP

Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Mets counter-terror command, said Choudary and Rahmans prosecution was significant in the UK's fight against terrorism.

These men have stayed just within the law for many years, but there is no one within the counter terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had, the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join terrorist organisations, he said.

"Over and over again we have seen people on trial for the most serious offences who have attended lectures or speeches given by these men.

"This has been a significant prosecution in our fight against terrorism and we will now be working with communities to ensure that they are not replaced by others spreading hate.

Investigators analysed decades of evidence for the case, including 333 electronic devices containing 12.1 terabytes of data, and worked with authorities in Indonesia.

Choudary and Rahman are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 6 September.
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Social media giants had the last word on Anjem Choudary's online posts, even after he was arrested for inviting support for Isis.

British authorities made repeated efforts to get his Twitter posts and YouTube videos taken down after an oath of allegiance to the Caliphate surfaced online with the preacher's name on it, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.

But they had no power to force corporations to remove material from the internet even if it was believed to have fallen foul of UK anti-terror laws.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

An open source researcher from the National Counter Terrorism Police Operations Centre (NCTPOC) catalogued a series of failed attempts.

The officer, identified only by a number, said in a statement read to court that it was up to the companies whether or not to take down posts and videos as "the police do not have the capability to remove any material from any platform".

Choudary currently has more than 32,000 followers on Twitter and his account can still be viewed online, despite requests for its removal in August last year and the following March.

The officer argued the account showed support for so-called Islamic State contrary to section 12 Terrorism Act 2000 and breached Twitter rules on "threatening or promoting terrorism", the court heard.

On June 23 this year, a request was sent to YouTube for the removal of a video entitled "Duties of the Kilafah by Anjem Choudary" which was refused.

 Isis destroy satellites

A video entitled "The Caliphate will expand into Europe and US" was not referred because YouTube consider it "journalistic" as it was uploaded on Memri TV, a Middle East research institute.

The official also urged Twitter to remove Choudary's co-accused Mohammed Rahman's account.

It was eventually taken down although the officer said it "does not appear to have been from our referral due to the time elapsed from the original email we sent to them".

However, Facebook did agree to a request to delete Rahman's profile in August last year.

The officer had mixed success in getting YouTube to remove Rahman's posts.

On March 17 this year, a request was sent to YouTube to remove two of Rahman's videos - The real meaning of jihad and Using fire as punishment.

One was taken down for breaching "community guidelines" although the other was left online to allow for "religious debate".

YouTube rebuffed a further request to remove Rahman's video entitled "Can you join Kuffar army just to get some training".

Four more of Rahman's videos were taken down without interventions from British police.
A man who drowned Saturday in Alcova Reservoir, west of Casper, was a teacher at Natrona County High School, the district confirmed Monday.

Todd Hallsted had been teaching science at the high school since 2002, said NCHS principal Shannon Harris.

"He was known for blowing things up, setting things on fire and engaging classrooms," Harris said. "He was just one of those teachers who made science fun."

"Hes going to be sorely missed by his family and his Mustang family," Harris continued. "He was a great teacher and his colleagues loved working with him. You just don't replace someone like that. We'll miss him and we'll do the best we can to honor his memory as we move forward."

Harris said grief counselors will be at the high school all week to assist anyone who needs them.

Authorities are unsure what led to the drowning. Witnesses said they saw Hallsted go underwater at Cottonwood Beach about 11:15 a.m., said Natrona County sheriff Lt. Mike Steinberg. When Hallsted didnt resurface, a bystander called 911.

Witnesses said Hallsted had been in the water bobbing up and down while playing with a dog, Steinberg said. Hallsted had been at the lake with other people, but none of them were at the campsite at the time.

Hallsted had been about 30 feet from the shore in an area where the water depth was about 12 feet, Steinberg said.

Wyoming Game and Fish officials and sheriff deputies located Hallsted just under the water about 11:40 a.m. They took Hallsted to shore and began lifesaving measures.

Steinberg said officials are unsure if Hallsted suffered a medical emergency that led to the drowning. An autopsy is pending.
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Two men have been arrested in connection to reports of machete-wielding teenager who allegedly attacked a bus in Scotland.

Witnesses said two hooded teenagers, one of whom was carrying a machete more than a foot long, attacked the bus along with other vehicles in the east end of Glasgow at 8:30pm on Monday evening.

Passenger Kris Goodman, 30, who was travelling on the bus with his five-year-old daughter when the incident occurred, said he saw two people, one with a machete, attacking cars on Alexandra Parade.

Then I saw them going for the bus I was on. They hit the driver's side window. They were hitting vehicles as if they really wanted to scare people," he said.

Locals reported several police vehicles and a helicopter being spotted in neighbouring Roystonhill following the incident.

Another witness said both teenagers were wearing grey hooded tops and jogging bottoms.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Two males have been apprehended in connection with the incident and are currently in police custody".

Additional reporting by Press Association
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A 13-year-old British boy is feared to have drowned while swimming in the sea on holiday in France.

Emergency services in Boulogne stopped search efforts on Tuesday morning as rescuers said strong currents in the area and the water temperature made the teenagers survival almost impossible.

He disappeared while swimming with his two younger brothers, aged eight and 10, near a jetty in the towns harbour on Monday afternoon.

The children raised the alarm at 6.30pm local time (5.30pm BST), local media reported, but search operations using boats, divers and a helicopter have found no trace of the child.

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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. 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A rescue worker told La Voix du Nord newspaper hopes of finding the boy alive and the prosecutors office had started an investigation.

At this temperature, the chances of survival in the water are estimated at two or three hours at the most, he added.

A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was supporting the boy's family, adding: Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time."
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Learning to drive can be a tricky business involving unintentional stalling, bad parking and even a few scrapes to the paintwork, which is why taking to the roads for the very first time in a gold supercar probably isnt the best idea.

Its an even worse idea to drive a gold Maserati while carrying L-plates without being insured, which is what one driver in Kingston discovered on Tuesday, after their car was seized by police.

Kingston police officers on patrol on the Kings Road were drawn to the car due to its value and the L plates at around 10:20am on Tuesday morning. The driver, who has not been named, was stopped and found to have no insurance, causing the car to be towed.

The car may be worth an estimated 90,000 but the driver will now have to pay a 150 towing charge and 25 a day until they buy insurance to be able to retrieve it from the local pound. They will then receive a court date, and if found guilty of driving without a license, will get a minimum of six points on their license and a further 300 fine.

There has been speculation the car is the same gold Maserati bearing L-plates that was given a parking ticket after parking illegally on the Edgeware Road in April. Police could not confirm if it was the same car.

This isn't the first time the drivers of gold supercars have got themselves into trouble. In March this year three gold cars - a Lamborghini Aventador, Mercedes G63 6x6 and a Bentley Flying Spur - were parked with a gold Rolls Royce in London's Knightsbridge and all but one had been slapped with parking tickets, the BBC reported.
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Customers on the London Underground have suffered a 41 per cent increase in violent crimes, including sex crimes, in the past year, new figures reveal.

The big spike in reported incidents bucks a trend of 11 years of reducing crime on the Tube and DLR networks, with the Central Line identified as the route where passengers were most likely to have been assaulted.

According to statistics obtained by the Evening Standard, In the first six months of 2016, 1,961 violent crimes were recorded across the network compared to 1,389 violent crimes in the same period last year. Sexual assaults rose by 40 per cent, from 328 to 460 reported incidents.

A British Transport Police (BTP) spokesperson said they were not entirely suprised by the increase, as they launched the "report it to stop it" campaign in collaboration with Transport for London (TfL) last April. The campaign focuses specifically on sexual assault and gives passengers a number to call or text if they experience or witness a crime.

The figures, which were broken down by Tube line, show that between January and June this year there were more incidents reports on the Central Line than any other, though it is also one of the network's most busy.

It is disappointing to see that after 11 years of reductions in crime that there was an increase last year," Chief Superintendent Martin Fry, BTP divisional commander for London, told the Evening Standard.

However, this must be seen in the context that during 2015/16, passenger journeys increased by more than two million, bringing the total number of passenger journeys up to more than 11 million per day.

In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London People queue for buses at Stratford station In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London Commuters crowd on a platform as they wait for a train on the c2c line at Upminster station In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London Metropolitan Police with crowds of people queuing for buses at Stratford station In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London People queue for buses in Stratford In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London People queue to get on a bus outside Victoria Station In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London A long line of people waiting at a bus stop in Wimbledon, south west London, as tennis fans leaving the All England Club faced a difficult journey home due to a tube strike In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London People wait in line for taxis in Wimbledon In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London A closed entrance to Stratford underground station, as commuters face travel misery trying to get to work because of a strike which has brought London Underground to a standstill In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London District Line tube trains parked at the Upminster depot during a 24-hour walkout of London Underground staff In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London Commuters try to board a tube train at Westminster station as workers across the British capital begin a 24-hour strike on 7 July In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London Commuters crowding around one of the entrances to Oxford Circus Tube station, the rush hour on 7 July started early in London as commuters left work to beat a Tube strike In pictures: Tube strike in London (July 2015) London Commuters crowding around one of the closed entrances to Oxford Circus Tube station. Picket lines were mounted outside stations by members of four trade unions involved in a 24-hour walkout in a row over the new all-night Tubes, due to start in mid-September

In 2005/2006, there were more than 18 crimes per million customer journeys in 2005/6 and that is now down to just 7.3  meaning the chances of becoming a victim of crime on Londons rail network are extremely low.

This does not mean we are complacent, each crime is one crime too many.

The increase comes as TfL prepares to operate a night service for the first time on certain lines from next weekend.
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Brexit will not boost wage levels even if leaving the EU allows the Government to reduce immigration, according to a new study published.

The Resolution Foundation think tank found that any wage gains for British workers resulting from lower migration from EU countries will be dwarfed by the economic downside of Brexit  such as the fall in the value of sterling in the short term and lower growth in future years.

Even if the Government achieved its target to reduce net migration from 330,000 to under 100,000 a year, it would increase the wages of low-paid workers in the sectors most affected by only between 0.2 and 0.6 per cent. That would be more than wiped out by the 2 per cent downgrade to average wage growth expected after the Brexit vote.

During the referendum campaign, Leave campaigners raised the prospect of higher pay if Britain left the EU, claiming the current open door policy had cut wages by 10 per cent. A continuing pay squeeze would be seized on by those who campaigned for Remain as another broken promise by the Leave camp. Remainers have already accused Leavers of diluting their pledges to spend more on the NHS and to cut immigration.

A longer period of wage stagnation would be a setback for Theresa May, who has said one aim of her new pro-active industrial policy is rewarding hard-working people with higher wages.

According to the study, while the large increase in migration over the last decade had no impact on the wages of British-born workers overall, it has dragged down earnings slightly in occupations such as skilled trades and basic cleaning, sales and security jobs. But Stephen Clarke, policy analyst at the foundation, said: Those expecting a wage boost off the back of a post-Brexit fall in migration are likely to be disappointed. Any such gains will be dwarfed by the losses caused by the post-referendum slowdown in the economy.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

The report, A Brave New World, warned that Brexit will create big challenges for businesses, which the Government will need to address to avoid company closures and wider disruption.

Lower migration will hit sectors such as food manufacturing, clothing and domestic personnel services, where more than 30 per cent of the workforce are migrants. The rights of these existing workers will need to be safeguarded to avoid short term and severe damage to these sectors, said the study. A short, sharp drop in the number of workers available could even threaten the viability of some businesses, it added.

The foundation argued that simply replacing migrant workers in such firms with British-born employees is not realistic given the large pay gap between the two groups. Eastern European workers typically earn almost 3 an hour less than British-born ones. It said these low-paying sectors, and not only hi-tech industries, should be a priority for the Governments industrial strategy to help them through the major labour market shake-up. In the medium term, firms will need to invest in skills and labour-saving technology to support more high-paid jobs or replace low-paid positions that can no longer be filled.

The foundation predicted a greater role for temporary workers after the ending of free movement from the EU. It warned that this would require Britains light-touch labour market enforcement regime to be beefed up, because there is currently just one officer for every 20,000 working age migrants.

 Theresa May says she has an 'open mind' over Brexit negotiations

The combined frontline staffing of the three existing agencies  HMRCs National Minimum Wage Enforcement Unit, the Gangmasters Licensing and Labour Abuse Authority and Employment Standards Agency Inspectorate  is less than 350. At present the number of staff enforcing labour market policies like the minimum wage is scarcely enough, and a new immigration regime will throw up major new enforcement challenges, said the report.

John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor, said the report showed that Britain's low-wage, low-investment economy is in no fit state to deal with the shock of Brexit.

He added: "It is no good Tory ministers trying to scapegoat migrants for the failures of their policy. We need an emergency programme of investment to create jobs and lay the foundations for high-skill, high-wage economy we deserve."
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A leading Brexit campaigner has called on the Government to guarantee by Christmas the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

Gisela Stuart MP said politicians had to be humane, as she helped found a new think tank to explore how best to protect the rights of 3.5 million EU nationals in the UK.

Speaking to the BBC, the Labour MP said the research project aimed to help the Government form plans to achieve the goal.

Asked if she wanted ministers to guarantee rights by Christmas, she said: Yes.

Ms Stuart added: One of the duties of politicians is also to be humane.

When we deal with peoples lives, I think, to show that we are open, that we are a welcoming country, that we simply decided to leave an institution called the European Union, that doesnt mean that we are ignoring peoples rights.

EU citizens living in the UK have been left in limbo since the referendum, according to one of the senior figures for the Leave campaign during the EU referendum.

Gisela Stuart is to head up a cross-party inquiry for the think tank British Future on how to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

Ms Stuart said the Government should make it clear that EU citizens will be allowed to stay and that it was the right thing to do.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Stuart said: We are dealing with peoples lives. It is important we get it right.

There is a tremendous political will to get the right outcome on this and be helpful to the government. I hope this will be a priority for the Government.

The Labour MP also added she believes that EU citizens are welcome in the UK.

"There is wide agreement, among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here," she told the BBC.

The former co-chair of the Vote Leave campaign said she was "confident" the government would guarantee EU nationals status and that it was what the campaign had promised all along,

The inquiry is set to publish its findings in the autumn and will also look at EU citizens welfare and healthcare rights in the UK.

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

Steve Ballinger, director of communications for British Future spoke to The Independent about the inquiry: "EU migrants need reassurance about their future in the UK. Making clear that they are welcome here would send a message about the kind of country Britain wants to be after Brexit.

"Sorting out the status of 3.5 million people will, however, throw up a raft of questions - about rights, residency, cut-off dates and access to services, for instance.

"What this new inquiry seeks to do is consult interested parties and those with expertise to help find practical solutions and make recommendations to the Government."

So far the Government has indicated a desire to protect EU citizens living in the UK if Britons living in Europe are treated similarly.
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Green campaigners and politicians welcomed news that ministers have approved plans to construct of the worlds largest ever off-shore windfarm in the UK.

The gigantic Hornsea scheme off the Yorkshire coast will be made up of more than 300 turbines and generate low carbon electricity to power some 1.8 million homes.

Friends of the Earth, the Greens and Labour all praised the move but urged the Government to continue to peruse a low carbon future.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark hailed the decision as a marker of the UKs status as a global leader in offshore wind.



 Professor Brian Cox clashes with Australian climate sceptic

He said: The [UKs] industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system.

Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and were determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country.

Recommended Read more Scotland just produced enough wind energy to power it for a whole day

The Government is making 730m of financial support available for renewable electricity generation this Parliament and expects 10GW of offshore wind installed by the end of the decade.

Energy campaigner Guy Shrubsole said Hornsea was fantastic news, adding: Developing the nations massive offshore wind resource could also boost demand for UK steel and help repower British manufacturing.

Theresa Mays Government must do more to harness the UKs huge green energy potential and end our reliance on climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

Ministers claim the windfarm, being constructed by Danish firm Dong Energy, will create up to 1,960 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance jobs.

They add that if the site is built to capacity, investment will total around 6 billion.

Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA

Green party leader Natalie Bennett said the project demonstrated funds should be directed away from nuclear power to green energy.

She said: As it becomes increasingly clear that Hinkley Point C is a white elephant which will not meet the UK's energy needs, the government must instead direct resources to renewable sources like wind, the price of which is falling rapidly while the cost of building new nuclear facilities mounts.

Dong Energy UK Chairman Brent Cheshire said: Development consent for Hornsea Project Two is very welcome. We have already invested 6 billion in the UK, and Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind.

It comes after Dong pulled out of a 450 million project that promised to create thousands of jobs in the green energy sector on the Humber.

Labour shadow minister Barry Gardiner said cuts to subsidies may have discouraged some investment in green energy. He added: It is vital that Britain continues to be an attractive destination for investment in clean energy. But that means government must stop sending mixed messages to investors with incoherent stop start policy decisions.
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Jeremy Corbyn is to set out a plan to make travelling by train 10 per cent cheaper, and to extend the reach of the bus network.

The Labour leader has advocated nationalising the rail services ever since they were first sold to private companies more than 20 years ago.

In a speech to launch what he calls Transport Tuesday, Mr Corbyn will cite research commissioned by the TUC which has suggested that renationalisation could improve the service and lower regulated fares by 10 per cent.

He will also claim that extending public control over Britains privatised bus services could save 340m a year, which he will promise to invest in improving rural and socially useful bus services.

His call for nationalising the railways may resonate with passengers in Sussex, who have suffered months of delays, cancellations and strikes on the Southern Rail network, partly caused by work at London Bridge station.

Mr Corbyn was expected to say: The Southern Rail debacle just goes to show how private transport operators cannot be trusted with having passengers best interests at heart.

Public ownership of our railways is needed now to fix the transport nightmare we are currently faced with, and we know there is overwhelming support among the British public for a people's railway.

It is only by bringing the railways back under public ownership as the contracts expire, that will fix the rail crisis and I'm pleased that even some Tory politicians are now joining us in calling for Southern rail to immediately be brought under public ownership.

Today I am also pledging that under my leadership, the next Labour government, will enable all local authorities to have franchising powers over their bus networks and enable all local authorities to establish municipal bus companies.

"Together these plans for the bus and rail network will help us rebuild and transform Britains transport system, so that no-one and no community is left behind."

In August last year, research carried out by the specialist firm Transport for Quality of Life (TfQL), commissioned by the TUC, calculated that if the rail services coming for retender by 2017 were renationalised, it could save 1.5bn over five years, and reduce the cost of a season ticket by 10 per cent.

TfQL has also carried out detailed research into the bus services, and found that the companies made profits that average 297m a year, and paid dividends to their shareholders of an average of 277m a year.

The firm calculated that if buses were run by local authorities rather than private companies, there would be a net financial gain of the order of 340m a year.
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Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at right-wing authorities for indulging in an orgy of xenophobia and racism rather than focusing on providing local services and developing the economy.

Standing on a fire engine, the Labour leader spoke to hundreds gathered at a black, asian and minority ethnic rally at Highbury Fields, north London, on Monday evening.

Adding fuel to his campaign to retain the party leadership, he spoke particularly about discrimination against minorities, and how it has a knock-on impact on the economy.

He said: To those who indulge in an orgy of xenophobia and racism, you may well have a problem. You can expend a vast amount of energy abusing your neighbour and creating and atmosphere of hate... but in that time you have not employed a single nurse or built a single school.

Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn hold up placards and cheer at a Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) rally in north London (AFP)

Mr Corbyn pledged to act against austerity by investing in workers' rights, not saddling students with debt, and funding new housing.

He said it is necessary to bring communities together, because that has got to be the only way forward.

Mr Corbyn was joined at the event near his Islington home by speakers representing a number of ethnic groups, many of whom said there had been a rise in racist attitudes in Britain.

Labour councillor Claudia Webbe took to the makeshift stage, having recently become the third black woman to win a position on Labour's National Executive Committee.

Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn hold up placards and cheer at a Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) rally in north London (AFP)

Commenting on the global refugee crisis, she said: Refugees have a right to be here and we have a duty to support them. We must fight to end the demonisation and scapegoating of migrants and refugees.

The Islington councillor also saw the funny side as her microphone failed just as she said: We will not be silenced.

Hundreds of people of all ages gathered at the event to support the Labour leader, who has recently faced strong criticism from his party and a leadership challenge from Owen Smith MP.

Dereck Richards, from Enfield, said after the event: The turnout shows this is a movement that was bound to happen, and Jeremy Corbyn is a stimulant.

Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Show all 8 1 /8 Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith clash at a leadership hustings in Gateshead, where Mr Smith was scarcely able to answer a question without being booed by Mr Corbyns supporters PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy himself admitted he was seven out of 10 in terms of his faith in the European Union. He said it, said Mr Smith during his second live debate with Jeremy Corbyn Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Ballot papers are currently due to be sent out on 22 August and returned a month later, with the result being announced at a special Labour conference on 24 September Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn supporters cheer and wave placards as the Labour Leader addresses thousands of supporters in in Liverpool, England Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour Party leadership candidate Owen Smith poses for a picture with supporters during a picnic for young members in London Fields, Hackney in London Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith The Labour leader has a spring in his step at a leadership rally in Sunderland Screenshot Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contender Owen Smith delivers a speech at the Open University in Milton Keynes, where he promised to reverse Conservative cuts set to leave millions of low paid workers thousands of pounds a year worse off PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has urged Owen Smith to distance himself from those saying they want to split the Labour party Getty

On the one hand it is a tragedy that Labour have fallen behind in popularity over the last years, but we have our eyes on the bigger prize and events like this show that people are capable of deciding for themselves what they think is right - so bring it on.

His friend, Albert Collymore, said: As a trade unionist and a black male I feel that Jeremy Corbyn has been consistently fighting against sexism and racism, and I am more than hopeful that change is happening.

Mr Corbyn last month vowed to tackle discrimination in the workplace as he launched his campaign to hold on to the Labour leadership. He pledged to force firms to publish details of the pay and conditions of workers.

He warned companies with more than 21 staff they could be fined unless they publish equality pay audits, in a bid to combat the five ills of 21st century Britain, which he described as inequality, neglect, insecurity, prejudice and discrimination.
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Claims that ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage is attempting to apply for dual-German citizenship have been rejected as complete rubbish.

A source close to the former-leader dismissed speculation that stirred online after he was seen at the German Embassy.

The source said: He was at the embassy in relation to a personal matter. The idea that its anything to do with German citizenship is complete rubbish.

 5 of the worst things Nigel Farage has said about immigration

Mr Farage, who has a German wife, was spotted in a queue at the embassy in London.

One Facebook user who witnessed the politicians visit wrote: I guess he realised he really kind a screwed us over and is quickly trying to also get some dual citizenship.

She also claimed to have overheard Mr Farage apologise for not having a relevant document by responding as you might have noticed Ive been a bit busy lately.

Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Show all 12 1 /12 Nigel Farage's most controversial moments Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he unveiled that 'breaking point' poster during the referendum Mr Farage was accused of deploying Nazi-style propaganda when he unveiled a poster showing Syrian refugees travelling to Europe under the next Breaking point. Users on social media were quick to compare the advert to a Nazi propaganda film with similar visuals and featuring Jewish refugees. The poster was particularly controversial because it was unveiled the morning of the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox Rex Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said hed be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian In May 2014 Mr Farage was accused of a racial slur against Romanians after he suggested he would be concerned living next to a house of them. I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be, he told LBC radio during an interview. Asked whether he would also object to living next to German children, he said: You know the difference Bongarts/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the EU campaign was won 'without a bullet being fired' Nigel Farage has said the next Prime Minister has to be a Leave supporter AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he resigned as Ukip leader and came back days later After failing to win the seat of South Thanet at the general election, Nigel Farage stepped down as Ukip leader  as he had promised to do during the campaign. Days later on 11 May he un-resigned and said he would stay after being convinced by supporters within the party. Well see how long his resignation lasts this time AP/Matt Dunham Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he blamed immigrants for making him late Mr Farage turned up late to a 25-a-head meet the leader style event in Port Talbot, Wales in December 2014. Asked why he was late, he blamed immigrants. It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four, he said. That has nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a country in which the population is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he wanted to ban immigrants with HIV from Britain Mr Farage has used his platform as Ukip leader call for people with HIV to be banned from coming to Britain. Asked in an interview with Newsweek Europe in October 2014 who he thought should be allowed to come to the UK, he said: People who do not have HIV, to be frank. Thats a good start. And people with a skill. He also repeated similar comments in the 2015 general election leadership debates Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he defended the use of a racial slur against Chinese people Defending one of Ukips candidates, who used the word ch**ky to describe a Chinese person, Mr Farage said: If you and your mates were going out for a Chinese, what do you say you're going for?" When he was told by the presented that he honestly would not use the slur, Mr Farage replied: A lot would Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said parts of Britain were like a foreign land The Ukip leader used his 2014 conference speech to declare parts of Britain as being like a foreign land. He told his audience in Torquay that parts of the country were unrecognisable because of the number of foreigners there. Mr Farage has also previously said he felt uncomfortable when people spoke other language on a train Screengrab Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the British army should be deployed to France At the height of trouble at Britains Calais border Mr Farage proposed a novel solution. The Ukip leader called for the British army to be sent to France to put down a migrant rebellion. In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a Territorial Army as well and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency, he said. If in a crisis to make sure weve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in, to stop people illegally coming to Britain, if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not AFP/Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said breastfeeding women should sit in the corner Mr Farage sparked protests from mothers after he told women to sit on the corner if they wanted to breastfeed their children. I think that given that some people feel very embarrassed by it, it isnt too difficult to breastfeed a baby in a way that's not openly ostentatious, Mr Farage said. He added: "Or perhaps sit in the corner, or whatever it might be AFP/Getty Images Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said the gender pay gap exists because women are worth less At a Q&A on the European Union in January 2014 Mr Farage said there was no discrimination against women causing the gender pay gap. Instead, he said, women were paid less because they were simply worth far less than many of their male counterparts. A woman who has a client base, has a child and takes two or three years off - she is worth far less to her employer when she comes back than when she went away because that client base won't be stuck as rigidly to her portfolio, he said Getty Nigel Farage's most controversial moments When he said he actually couldnt guarantee 350m to the NHS after Brexit During the EU referendum campaign the Leave side pledged to spend 350 million a week on the National Health Service  claiming that this is what the UK sends to Brussels. Nigel Farage didnt speak out against this figure and also pledged to spend EU cash on the health service and other public services himself. Then the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone, saying he couldnt guarantee the cash for the NHS and that to pledge to do so was a mistake Getty

There have been reports of British citizens rushing to secure EU passports since the countrys Brexit vote.

British enquiries for Irish passports, for example, spiked to 7,321 in July  up from 4,242 at the same point last year.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple is one of two North Dakotans named to a newly created agricultural advisory committee for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The Trump campaign released the roster of the more than 60-member committee in a Tuesday release consisting of state and federal lawmakers, governors and agricultural leaders from across the country. Also on the list is state Rep. Michael Brandenburg, R-Edgeley.

The members of my agricultural advisory committee represent the best that America can offer to help serve agricultural communities. Many of these officials have been elected by their communities to solve the issues that impact our rural areas every day, Trump said in the campaign release.

A message left with Dalrymples office left for comment Tuesday afternoon wasnt immediately returned.

The Trump campaign has received support from other North Dakota officials in recent months, including Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

In April during the state GOP convention, Cramer was among the first members of Congress to endorse Trump. He drafted an energy policy paper for Trump this spring as well.
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A deadly African virus is on the brink of spreading to Europe and the Americas amid the largest outbreak in more than 30 years, a charity has warned.

Yellow fever can cause bleeding from the ears, eyes and nose, organ failure, jaundice and death in the most severe cases, and is considered such a threat that many African nations refuse entry to anyone who has not been vaccinated.

Yet despite those regulations, thousands of suspected cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the disease crossed the border from Angola.

 Angola yellow fever outbreak spreads

Other cases have already been reported in Uganda and in Kenya, and earlier this year China notified the World Health Organisation (WHO) of 11 cases imported by migrant workers coming back from Africa.

Save The Children has dispatched a rapid response unit of experts to DRC to assist with an emergency vaccination programme. They will support a government drive to inoculate half a million people in the capital of Kinshasa in just 10 days, starting on Wednesday.

Recommended Read more One in four in Puerto Rico are expected to get the Zika virus

Heather Kerr, Save the Children's country director for the DRC, told The Independent the urgent action was being taken to prevent the worrying prospect of the disease spreading further.

But the charity has concerns that there are just seven million doses of yellow fever vaccine in global emergency stocks  not enough to cover the capital Kinshasas population of 10 million, let alone cope with an international outbreak.

Health workers in DRC have already been ordered to dilute the vaccine to one-fifth of its normal strength in order to help stocks stretch further. This provides cover for up to one year  normally, the vaccine works for life.

Ms Kerr said there had been nearly 100 confirmed deaths from yellow fever in DRC since the disease entered the country, with hundreds more deaths in Angola and thousands of suspected cases across the region as a whole. She added that the current numbers were seen as conservative.

The WHO warned the figures could rise to 10 to 50 times higher, describing it as the worst outbreak since 1992, when it took six years to contain the virus and more than 4,500 people died. Death rates in yellow fever outbreaks can be as high as 50 per cent, though the current strain is estimated to have killed around 20 per cent of those infected.

The virus can only be passed on by the Aedes mosquito, the same vector as for Zika and dengue, but once it arrives in a region it can in theory be spread anywhere where the insects are present. That includes most of Latin America, the US, Asia, northern Australia and much of southern Europe.

The Zika virus - in pictures Show all 5 1 /5 The Zika virus - in pictures The Zika virus - in pictures A three-month-old, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil. A rise in microcephaly cases is thought to have been caused by the spread of the Zika virus in affected countries Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A mother holds her baby who has microcephaly Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A five-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A pediatric infectologist examines a two-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A baby affected with microcephaly

Citing the cases in China, Ms Kerr said: It already has a history outside Africa. If a person is travelling, they have yellow ever and there are the same mosquitoes [there], thats how it can be passed on. It cant be passed from person to person.

Were concerned about what is going on here in DRC and neighbouring Angola. There is no cure, so the best thing we can do is prevention  getting a vaccination campaign started and reaching as many people as possible.

Save The Children hopes the campaign can buy enough time for scientists to add to limited global stocks of the vaccine. Charities have previously raised concerns over the management of what little there is  particularly after around one million doses went missing.

We know stocks are limited, she said. So if it spreads very widely, that would be worrying. But thats why we need a preventative campaign now. The production of the new vaccine is happening - it is just a question of when those will be ready.

Ms Kerr said the current outbreak was particularly concerning because it exposes failures in the system to check travellers in Africa have been inoculated against the virus.

"You are always asked for your yellow fever vaccination card when you come into the DRC and sometimes when you move, now, but that needs to be applied more rigorously.

"In the past we had stocks available to vaccinate people coming in who hadn't already received it, but I think they are all being used now for this campaign. [These checks] are definitely something that needs looking at."
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The last month has been disastrous for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton got a major bounce from the Democratic National Convention. Trump got no such bounce from his own convention. And he's compounded his problems with a series of increasingly erratic performances on the campaign trail even as his advisers -- and the broader Republican Party -- worry that he is on a path to not just lose but to lose, in Trump's own words, bigly.

A look at the electoral map makes plain just how narrow Trump's path really is -- and how badly it has eroded over the last month. Here's what our map look liked in early July:

That map gave Clinton 201 electoral votes to 158 for Trump. Another 105 electoral votes were "toss-ups" while 33 were rated "lean Republican" and 41 "lean Democratic."

Here's where our map stands today:

This new map gives Clinton 273 electoral votes to Trump's 175, meaning she wins the White House even if she loses all six of the states we currently rate as "toss-ups," which are marked in gray. We've moved all states leaning or solidly for one party into their corresponding red or blue color. We are now less than 90 days before the election after all!

Of the changes we've made since last month, almost all of them favor Clinton.

 Diagnosing a narcissist with Donald Trump

Three states -- Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Hampshire -- all move from "toss-up" to "lean Democratic." Clinton holds leads of 9.2 points, 8 points and 8.2 points in the three states respectively, according to RealClearPolitics. Pennsylvania, in particular, is a major blow to Trump since, as recently as last month, polling suggested he was very competitive in the state. Pennsylvania's move away from Trump is of a piece with his ongoing struggles to make the broader Rust Belt competitive, with Michigan and Wisconsin continuing to look out of reach.

We're also moving Georgia -- and its 16 electoral votes -- from "lean Republican" to "toss-up" amid several credible polls suggesting a close race. (Clinton actually has a 0.3 percentage point lead in the Peach State, according to Real Clear.) The Clinton campaign is also adding staff resources in Georgia.

People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit!  Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone'

And we're adding Missouri and its 10 electoral votes onto our list of competitive states, with a "lean Republican" ranking. Polling suggests Trump holds a mid-single-digit lead, but his struggles with suburban Republicans in St. Louis and Kansas City make this a state worth watching.

The lone piece of good news for Trump in our latest rankings is that we are moving Nevada from "lean Democratic" to "toss-up" given that polling shows a close race in the state. The problem for Trump is that Nevada's six electoral votes don't make up for, say, Pennsylvania's 20. Or Virginia's 13.

Here's the full list of competitive states as we currently rate them:

Toss-up (90 electoral votes)

Florida (29)

Georgia (16)*

Iowa (6)

Ohio (18)

Nevada (6)#

North Carolina (15)

Lean Democratic (72 electoral votes)

Colorado (9)

Michigan (16)

New Hampshire (4)*

Pennsylvania (20)*

Virginia (13)*

Wisconsin (10)

Lean Republican (27 electoral votes)

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Keeping up with politics is easy now.

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Arizona (11)

Missouri (10)*

Utah (6)

* -- moved in favor of Democrats since last rankings

# -- moved in favor of Republicans since last rankings

Copyright: Washington Post
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NBC network boss Robert Greenblatt has labeled The Apprentice star Donald Trump as toxic, pompous and demented.

On a private post on Facebook, as first reported by The New York Post, Mr Greenblatt wrote: The sad state of affairs thanks to a pompous businessman turned reality TV star (whose show consistently ran LAST in its time period, by the way) who thinks speaking his mind is refreshing.

Its actually corrosive and toxic because his mind is so demented; and his effect will unfortunately linger long after hes been told to get off the stage.

Recommended Read more Donald Trump to speak in Milwaukee days after violent protests

The post has since been deleted.

Variety reported that Mr Greenblatt wrote the remarks in response to a New York Times op-ed called Donald Trump Is Making America Meaner.

Mr Greenblatt started working with the Republican nominee in 2011 when the executive joined the network, and Celebrity Apprentice was already on television.

The television show was axed last summer, and the new host will be actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

NBC also cut loose the Trump-produced Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageant shows following his "deorgatory" remarks about immigrants.

Mr Trump has not been completely cut off from NBC however, appearing on Jimmy Fallons Tonight Show and hosting Saturday Night Live.

NBC declined to comment.

The news comes the same week that vice president Joe Biden, while campaigning alongside Hillary Clinton for the first time, said that Mr Trump's most famous phrase was "You're fired".

"Kidding aside, just think about that," he told the crowd in Pennsylvania, adding it was a negative message and a bet against America.
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Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, a son of the Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, may have been abducted by armed men along with six others, authorities said on Tuesday.

The men were kidnapped from an upscale restaurant at the resort of Puerto Vallarta, located in the western state of Jalisco. Nearly a dozen men were first reported kidnapped at the resort on Monday and Mexican officials framed the incident as gang-on-gang crime.

"There is a possibility that Ivan Guzman is among the kidnapped," Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told Radio Formula on Tuesday. However, Mr Almaguer warned that several fake identification cards were also found at the scene.

Guzman has escaped prison twice and is currently awaiting extradition to the United States inside a Ciudad Juarez prison. El Chapos influence in Mexico has been under pressure from rivals and law enforcement since his recapture. Authorities have placed him under tight surveillance in prison to prevent a third, humiliating prison break.

Recommended Read more Gunmen abduct multiple people from Mexican restaurant

Two months before the potential kidnapping of El Chapos son, an armed gang reportedly broke into the home of Guzmans mother Consuelo Loera Guzman, stealing property from the residence located in Sinaloa.

"Ivan Archivaldo was, I believe, a bit crazy," said Raul Benitez, a political science specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told The Associated Press. "He spent all his time posting things on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. A serious narco doesn't do that."

The highly-criticized Rolling Stone profile of the drug lord, recently written by Hollywood actor Sean Penn, somewhat praised Ivan Guzman.

At 32, he is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel, Penn wrote. Hes attentive with a calm maturity.
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The emptying out of the notorious US prison in Guantanamo Bay has been agonisingly slow. While this week has seen the single biggest transfer of detainees to a third country since Barack Obama took office in 2009  involving 15 men  his pledge to close the facility has still gone unrealised. Unless he can pull off a miracle in the twilight of his second term, the failure to shut it down risks becoming one of the biggest blots on the presidents legacy.

What went wrong?

The blame is widely shared. After taking office in January 2009 and promising to close the camp within a year, Mr Obama thought he would have enough bi-partisan support to make it happen. Not so. The miscalculation was compounded by the White House putting all its energies into other policy goals, like passing healthcare reform. Meanwhile, parts of his own administration, notably the Pentagon, were ambivalent in the first place.

But it was primarily opposition on Capitol Hill that has stymied progress. Congress objected from the outset to plans to put five men accused in connection with the 9/11 attacks on trial in Manhattan and to build special super-max penitentiaries on US soil for detainees deemed too dangerous to transfer to other countries but who cant be tried for lack of evidence or because evidence has been tainted by the interrogation or torture. Under Republican control for most of Mr Obamas two terms, it passed laws preventing the allocation of funds to build such facilities.

Recommended Read more Obama takes significant step towards closure of Guantanamo

If other countries can be persuaded to take the bulk of detainees, whats the problem?

Its all about recidivism. This spring, in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill, an administration official confirmed that 12 men released from the camp had launched attacks against US or allied troops in Afghanistan, killing about six people. All had been released when George W Bush was president. Among those killed was a female aid worker in Afghanistan.

US intelligence believes that nearly 21 per cent of those released prior to 2009 engaged in terror activities subsequently with a lower rate for those released under Mr Obama.

Opponents of the transfer programme argue that the countries that receive detainees cannot be trusted to take the necessary steps to prevent recidivism. They point to the case of Abdallah al-Ajmhen, who was among eight men sent to Kuwait by the Bush Administration. He later drove a truck bomb onto an Iraqi Army base, killing thirteen Iraqi soldiers.

How many prisoners have been released from the camp already?

Since its opening in 2002, the complex on a remote, 45-square-mile parcel of land that has been leased from Cuba as a US Naval base since 1903 has held as many as 779 prisoners at one time. The bulk has either been sent back home or to third countries, including 532 who were released before Mr Obama came to office, when just 242 detainees remained.

Other countries that have agreed, under intense US coaxing, to take in Guantanamo detainees have included Serbia, Italy and Montenegro.

This weeks deal sending 15 detainees to the United Arab Emirates reduced the remaining population at the facility by one fifth, leaving only 61 men behind. Of those, 14 men are believed to be languishing in a special part of the prison called Camp 7. They are considered special high-value detainees and include five accused in connection with the 9/11 attacks. No reporters have ever been given access to Camp 7.

Protesters have been demanding that President Obama live up to his pledge to close the prison for years (Getty) (Getty Images)

Who are the released men?

In the event he cannot close Guantanamo, Mr Obama wants at least to ensure that those men who have been approved for repatriation or release to third countries by a special parole review board are indeed shipped out. The deal for these 15 men gets him closer to that goal. They include 12 Yemenis and three Afghans. All had been held without trial for about 14 years.

Among those going to the UAE is an Afghan named Obaydullah. Arrested in 2002 and accused of hiding anti-tank mines for an insurgent cell, his case was especially problematic, notably after a 2012 report from his defence team insisting he had been wrongfully detained.

About 20 men who have been approved for transfer by the review board remain in the camp pending a deal with countries willing to take them.

Why are they going to the UAE?

On the one hand, the Gulf region is suitable because the detainees will fit in there  the culture and language is the same. More importantly, perhaps, the US believes the UAE have a sufficiently sophisticated security infrastructure in place to make sure they stay out of trouble.

Oman set the example by agreeing to accept 10 detainees already approved for transfer last year. Mr Obama subsequently made a personal effort to push other leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries to follow suit. The UAE agreed to resettle 5 Yemenis in November last year. In January, Oman took another group of 10. Saudi Arabia took nine in April.

Qatar played a particularly controversial role accepting the five high-level Taliban-connected detainees who were released by the US in exchange for Sgt Bowe Bergdahl in 2014, who had been in Taliban custody. Those men are still in Qatar under close surveillance.

Who in Washington is unhappy with this latest release?

The Republicans. President Obama is more focused on releasing hardened terrorists than capturing new ones  a reckless policy that is putting America and the West at risk, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Michael McCaul, said on Tuesday. The Administration has admitted that Americans have been killed by these released detainees. And now the President is giving more terrorists a one-way ticket back to the battlefield.

Is there still any chance Obama can fulfil his pledge to close the camp?

It is not inconceivable. I cant say with certainty that were 100 per cent going to get there, but I can tell you were going to die trying, Susan Rice, the national security adviser, told Reuters at the end of last year. In February, Mr Obama unveiled an updated blueprint for closure of the camp, which costs some $445m (341m) a year to keep running. This weeks detainee transfer brings him closer but not by much. But its possible he hasnt given up on the notion just yet.

It could be that by the time the US elections happen in early November, the US will be left with about 10 detainees, including the five connected to 9/11, still being tried in military commissions, and an additional 30-odd men who will not have won approval for transfer overseas.

Imagine that Hillary Clinton wins election and also the Republicans suffer setbacks in Congress, perhaps losing control of the US Senate. In the window remaining before Mr Obama leaves office next January, the conditions just might exist for closure to happen by way of a mix of executive action by the president and legislation rammed through the new US Congress.
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Fifteen prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the US prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organisation. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six U.S. government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon.

Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the US was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention center's closure.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Wolosky said.

In the United Arab Emirates, the state-run WAM news agency had no reports on the Guantanamo transfers on Tuesday and UAE officials declined to immediately comment on the Pentagon announcement.

Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. for any reason. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced Monday are a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office."

US Rep Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as "hardened terrorists."

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 percent are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected during the Bush administration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in US military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by US special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target U.S. and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he hasn't expressed any anti-U.S. sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little "insight into his current mindset."

One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.

A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the U.S., which they identified as "an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad."

Returning Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen would be difficult amid a two-year civil war raging in the Arab world's most impoverished country. The conflict there pits an internationally recognized government, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies.

There was also no immediate reaction in Afghanistan on the transfer of the three Afghans from Guantanamo to the UAE.

AP
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Khizr Khan has challenged Donald Trump to take a US naturalisation test after the Republican nominee proposed that all immigrants should declare their ideological beliefs before being allowed into the country.

Mr Khan, a Gold Star parent of the slain Muslim solider Humayan Khan, first addressed Mr Trump directly at the Democratic National Convention in July, urging him not to smear Muslims characters and to read the US constitution.

His latest attack is a response to Mr Trumps keynote speech on Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, where the Republican outlined his plan on terrorism and how to combat Isis.

One part of the plan was to make visa applicants undergo an "ideological test" before entering the country, a form of "extreme vetting" to screen out anyone who has a "hostile attitude" to the US.

Mr Khan, who became a US citizen after emigrating from Pakistan in 1980 and now lives with his wife Ghazala in Virigina, condemned the plan.

"I challenge Trump to take the naturalisation test with me any day. His is demagoguery and pandering for vote. A divider like Trump can never be the steward of this country," he told the Huffington Post, referring to the test that immigrants must pass to become a US citizen.

 Muslim parents of soldier speak out after Trump criticism

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid also challenged Mr Trump to take the test, calling him a "spoiled, unpatriotic drain on society" in a statement on Monday.

The Khans' son died in 2004 during his military service in the Iraq War. Humayun Khan was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

Last week, the co-chairman of the Trump campaign, Carl Paladino, said that the Khans did not need to be referred to as "Gold star parents" because Mr Khan is "a member of the Muslim Brotherhood".
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As the death toll from Louisianas flooding reaches nine and 10,000 people remain in shelters, emergency workers and residents are being confronted by another challenge - the disquieting sight of coffins loosened by the waters floating down streets.

This is not the first time that severe flooding in the state has resulted in such disturbing scenes. When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, many coffins were loosened and left floating in parts of the wrecked city of New Orleans

Over the weekend, police in the town of Walker, located east of the city of Baton Rouge, posted images of the coffins on their Facebook page.

A photo of caskets which have floated up in the St Marks Cemetery on Dunn St in Walker as a result of the high water, the post said.

One woman, Betty Worrell McGonigle, wrote in response: My Daddys wife is buried here. I feel so sorry for her children.

The deadly flooding that saw rivers and creeks bursting their banks, followed several days of heavy rain that in some locations saw more than half-a-metre fall in a 48-hour period. Experts said such an rainfall might fall only once in a thousand years.

The Associated Press said that rescuers had evacuated more than 20,000 people since the flooding started Friday and more than 10,000 people were in shelters as of late Sunday, according to Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.

 Dramatic video shows woman and dog rescued from submerged car

In high-water vehicles, boats and helicopters, emergency crews hurried to rescue scores of people and the governor warned it was not over.

I've never seen anything like this before, said Barbara Manuel, 41, speaking on the side of the road as she was about to get in a National Guard vehicle.

On Monday, the states Department of Children and Family Services said more people continued to arrive at shelters as new parts of Baton Rouge, its suburbs and other areas took on water draining from other hard-hit neighbourhoods.

A makeshift shelter set up at a large film studio complex in East Baton Rouge Parish was among the largest, estimated to hold 2,000-plus evacuees.

Over the weekend and into Monday, residents whose homes were high and dry sought to help out, delivering supplies to shelters and other designated sites. People cooked pounds of red beans and rice and jambalaya to feed evacuees. Others took the stranded and temporarily homeless into their own houses.

In one dramatic rescue over the weekend, two men on a boat pulled a woman from a car almost completely underwater in Baton Rouge, according to a video by WAFB.

The woman, who is not initially visible on camera, yells from inside the car: Oh my god, Im drowning.

One of the rescuers, David Phung, jumps into the brown water and pulls the woman to safety. She pleads with Mr Phung to get her dog, but he can not find it. After several seconds, Mr Phung takes a deep breath, goes underwater and resurfaces - with the small dog.
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A man has been arrested in California on arson charges for allegedly starting a fire that destroyed 175 homes and threatens hundreds more.

Police said Damin Pashilk, 40, was arrested on 17 counts of arson and was suspected of numerous fires across Lake County during the past year.

The vast Clayton Fire has been spread by fierce winds and stretched to more than six square miles about 90 miles from San Francisco.

Weather conditions have hampered more than 1600 firefighters trying to put out the blaze. Temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight.

A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Ken Pimlott, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director, said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused more than $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

Mr Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time, said Mr Pimlott.

Damin Pashilk, seen here in a poster on display at a press briefing at Twin Pines Casino in Middletown, California, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of arson (AP)

Wildfires hit Lower Lake for the first time in generations last year when three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland close to the town.

They returned on Sunday when flames fed by pines and oaks wiped out whole blocks.

 US wildfires rage in California

In places, only brick chimneys marked where homes had once stood. Blackened shells of vehicles stood in roads.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organisation was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

On Monday afternoon, Jerry Brown, the Democrat governor of California, declared states of emergency for the Clayton fire and another in San Luis Obispo County, the so-called Chimney fire, allowing local officials to get help from emergency response agencies statewide.

The Chimney fire was just 10 per cent contained by Monday evening. It had scorched more than 5,400 acres (2,185 hectares) within less than 48 hours after erupting on Saturday afternoon, destroying a dozen structures and threatening about 200 more, with hundreds of residents being told to evacuate.

to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.
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New York City has agreed to pay $4.1 million to the family of Akai Gurley, an unarmed man who was fatally shot by a police officer in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project back in 2014.

The city will pay the majority of the settlement while the New York City Housing Authority will pay up $400,000. Former police officer Peter Liang will pay $25,000 out of pocket, The New York Daily News reports.

Mr Gurley, 28, was struck and killed by a ricocheting bullet fired by Mr Liang, Chinese-American rookie police officer, on November 20, 2014. Mr Liang, 28, was convicted of manslaughter in February of this year and fired by the New York Police Department. However, in April, Mr Liangs conviction was reduced to criminally negligent homicide, and he was sentenced to five years probation with 800 hours of community service.

Obviously, were pleased with the results, Scott Rynecki, the Gurley family lawyer, told The New York Post. At this point, were hoping that the new incoming police commissioner, James ONeill, will take this opportunity to review the policy and training that takes place at the academy, as well as the procedure of allowing two rookies to go on patrol together.

After the single shot rang out, Mr Liang and his partner Shaun Landau debated who would report the shooting as Mr Gurley bled out in the stairwell of the Louis H Pink Houses. Mr Landau testified that his partner seemed more concerned with his losing his job than the bullet lodged n the left side of Mr Gurleys chest.

I hear a shot go off. I heard footsteps, sounded like running, Mr Landau said in court. I was in shock, the gun just fired out of nowhere. He said it went off by accident. He said Im fired.

Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Show all 8 1 /8 Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Akai Gurley's casket is carried into the Brown Memorial Baptist Church on December 5, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Gurley was an unarmed 28-year-old recently killed by a New York City police officer in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Bryan Thomas/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Akai Gurley's casket is carried into the Brown Memorial Baptist Church on December 5, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Gurley was an unarmed 28-year-old recently killed by a New York City police officer in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Bryan Thomas/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Friends of Akai Gurley touch his casket at the Brown Memorial Baptist Church on December 5, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Gurley was an unarmed 28-year-old man killed by New York City police officer Peter Liang in a housing development in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn on November 20. Richard Perry-Pool/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Family members of Akai Gurley attend his funeral service at the Brown Memorial Baptist Church on December 6, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Gurley was an unarmed 28-year-old man killed by New York City police officer Peter Liang in a housing development in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn on November 20. Kena Betancur/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case New York City police officer Peter Liang is escorted into court after he was charged with manslaughter, official misconduct and other offenses on February 11, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Liang pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the November 20 death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Liang claims he fired his gun accidentally in a stairwell in the Pink Houses, a public housing complex in East New York. Liang was released without bail. The Brooklyn courtroom was packed with officers and protesters. Spencer Platt/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case Akai Gurley's partner, Kimberly Ballinger, speaks at a news conference with her attorney Scott Rynecki (L) following remarks by Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson concerning the death of Gurley by a New York City police officer on February 11, 2015 in New York City. Police officer Peter Liang has been charged with manslaughter, official misconduct and other offenses following what he claims was the accidental shooting death of Gurley in a Brooklyn public housing complex last year. Liang pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the November 20 death of 28-year-old Gurley in the Pink Houses, a public housing complex in East New York. Spencer Platt/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 11: Protesters stand in a courthouse after New York City police officer Peter Liang was charged with manslaughter, official misconduct and other offenses on February 11, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Liang pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the November 20 death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Liang claims he fired his gun accidentally in a stairwell in the Pink Houses, a public housing complex in East New York. Liang was released without bail. The Brooklyn courtroom was packed with officers and protesters. Spencer Platt/Getty Timeline of the Akai Gurley case New York City police officer Peter Liang sits in court as testimony is read back for jurors during deliberations in his trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court February 10, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Liang is on trial for the shooting death of Akai Gurley in the stairwell of a housing project in November 2014. Byron Smith-Pool/Getty

Reports that Mr Liang was texting his union representative instead of calling an ambulance or performing CPR also fueled outrage in the case.

Activists drew parallels to the recent police killings of unarmed black people across the country and raised concerns with policing tactics used in housing projects. But the case also frustrated activists within the Chinese-American community who cited the notably absent support of the NYPD police union, the Patrolmens Benevolent Association.

"There are many within the Asian-American community, for example, who believe that Liang deserved to be convicted of manslaughter," Jay Caspian Kang writes for The New York Times, "but who also wonder why it was the Asian cop, among many other equally deserving officers, who took the fall."
Civil disobedience has a long history in this country. It was used before the Revolutionary War to defy the British. Through our history its been a tactic of unions, suffragettes, the civil rights movement and more.

Now we see it on and near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation as tribal members oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. A spirit camp was established near Cannon Ball where pipeline opponents have maintained a vigil and tried to keep public pressure on the pipeline.

Last week opponents stepped up their activities as 18 were arrested, including Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault. Most the protesters have been charged with disorderly conduct after entering the work site. The arrests occurred at the pipeline work site in Morton County.

The legal battle against the pipeline continues as a coalition seeks an injunction while a court reviews whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to conduct a full environmental impact statement and held proper tribal consultations.

The 1,100-mile pipeline will carry about a half-million barrels of Bakken crude daily from the oil patch to Chicago, twice crossing the Missouri River. Tribal members opposed to the pipeline fear a rupture will harm the drinking water, water for millions of users downstream and disrupt the sacred sites.

At the moment protesters are engaged in a public relations battle. Actress Shailene Woodley has joined them, vowing to stay with the protest until they win.

If they are victorious it will be through the courts. So far agencies in several states have approved the needed permits. Iowa opposition has failed to stop the pipeline.

In North Dakota there are residents who welcome the pipeline work because it has brought jobs and business to small communities. So winning a PR war will be difficult.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has handled most of the security at the present protest site, which isnt on the reservation. Law enforcement has been tolerant, setting ground rules for everyone to follow.

As more protesters arrive from across the country it will be important that everyone continues to follow the rules. Arrests are part of civil disobedience and can be done in a peaceful manner.

The protesters are working hard to push their agenda, which is understandable. There will come a time when the protests become less newsworthy and theyll attract less attention.

It doesnt mean their cause isnt important, but its difficult to stay in the spotlight as different events draw the medias attention.

When that happens everyone needs to remain patient. The fate of the Dakota Access Pipeline will be decided in the courts, not in the North Dakota protests.
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A man has been charged with murder over the brazen gunning down of a Muslim cleric and his assistant on a New York street.

Officers said Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Officers took Mr Morel into custody late Sunday night outside a Brooklyn apartment as he approached a vehicle that police had linked to an unrelated hit-and-run and that matched the description of the shooting suspects getaway vehicle. He was charged on Monday night.

Mosque leader Maulama Akonjee was killed close to his New York mosque (Obtained by New York Daily News ) (Obtained by New York Daily News)

Detectives from the Fugitive Task Force Unit approached the car, and then he rammed the detectives car several times in an effort to get away, said the New York Police Departments chief of detectives, Robert Boyce.

He was placed under arrest without any further incident and brought back to the precinct for more debriefing.

Mr Boyce said Mr Morel was seen on surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer. About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description hit a cyclist in the nearby borough of Brooklyn.

 Donald Trump blamed for stoking Islamophobia after imam and assistant shot dead

Earlier on Monday, traditional services were held for for Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, 64, who served at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

Hundreds of Muslims from across the city attended a ceremony in a large car park where funeral prayers were held and members of the community urged action.

Reuters said that speaker after speaker at the event implored law enforcement to investigate the murders as a hate crime and step up efforts to protect those sections of the city where many Muslims live and work.

Community members pray outside the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Ozone Park after imam Maulama Akonjee and friend Thara Uddin were killed (Getty)



We want justice, Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the services opening speech. We want justice, responded the mourners.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised that the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear.

We dont know what happened but we will, the mayor said. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

Members of the mosque, which largely serves migrants from Bangladesh, were adamant that it was a hate crime. They said there was no other possible motive for the attack. Other residents said they believed it was possible the attack was a robbery that had gone wrong.

This was a hate crime. There is nothing else, Mr Khan told The Independent. He did his job. He did not make political statements. His job was here.
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A Republican nominee for the New York senate has been criticised for linking a new mosque to crime, prostitution and money laundering.

Wendy Long posted a series of tweets about the Syracuse mosque, which was converted from a Catholic church last year, and suggesting that the mosque was related to a rise in crime.

Ms Long posted a picture of a boarded up house near the Masjid Isa Ibn Maryam mosque, and wrote: Neighbourhood where the mosque displaced the church. Crime, prostitution, money laundering.

Recommended Read more Man charged with murder of NYC Muslim cleric and assistant

She also tweeted a photo of two Muslim women walking down the street and wrote: Catholic Charities takes federal tax dollars to resettle the refugees we cant screen. Leaves the Catholics to Isis.

Ms Long told the Syracuse Post-Standard that she had no independent proof that crime in the area had risen since the mosque opened.

She was also asked if she believed there was a direct link between an increase in the number of Muslim refugees living in the area and a rise in crime.

"Probably not," she replied.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for an apology from the politician.

Once again we see a Republican candidate stoking anti-Muslim bigotry based on stereotypes and falsehoods, said CAIR-New York executive director Afaf Nasher.

We demand that Ms Long apologise for the harm she has done to the Syracuse Muslim community.

The news comes as Republican nominee Donald Trump has demanded that all visa applicants undertake an ideological test to find out who has hostile attitudes towards the US before they enter the country, less than a year after he proposed a temporary ban of all Muslims.
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Univision has won the auction to buy Gawker Media.

The predominantly Spanish-speaking news channel offered $135 million to buy the bankrupt news website and has outbid Ziff Davis offer of $90 million, according to reports.

Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy in June after reality television star Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel won $140 million in an alleged case of privacy invasion.

Recommended Read more Gawker founder Nick Denton files for personal bankruptcy

The US bankruptcy court is required to sign off on the deal, which could end Gawker's 14-year run as an independent company.

In the meantime, Gawker will appeal its court case.

Ziff Davis, the publisher of PCMag and other technology-focused outlets, was the only other bidder.

Nick Denton, who founded the company in 2002, said last year that Gawker was worth at least $250 million.

Univision has been expanding its reach among a younger readership as it acquired The Onion and The Root, a publication aimed at African Americans.

Earlier this year it acquired a full stake in Fusion, a network aimed at millennials, which it launched in partnership with Disney in 2013.

Mr Denton sold a minority stake in the company in January, but otherwise maintained independent ownership.

The media outlet struggled in several legal battles over the years, including arguing that an article about a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan was protected under the First Amendment.

It was later discovered that PayPal founder Peter Thiel secretly funded the wrestler's lawsuit in an attempt to bankrupt Gawker.

Mr Thiel was outed as gay by a 2007 Gawker article.

The billionaire wrote in a New York Times op-ed this week that he was proud of his actions, but he has alarmed journalists who fear other billionaires could fund legal battles to silence the media outlets they dislike.
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Donald Trump is due to speak in Milwaukee, bringing his bombastic campaign to a city still in shock at violence sparked by the killing of a black man by a police officer.

Recommended Read more Milwaukee sees night of violence after police shoot man dead

The Republican presidential nominee will appear at a town hall moderated by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity event early Tuesday evening. Mr Trump will meet with police officials  although it is unclear whether or not the meeting was scheduled.

But Mr Trump faces trouble at this stage in the election as he struggles to find his footing in Wisconsin  likely exacerbated by his public standoff with Representative for Wisconsin Paul Ryan. His opponent Hillary Clinton leads in polling by more than nine points, according to RealClear Politics.

 Donald Trump calls for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants

The Trump campaign draws protests wherever it goes, and with national scrutiny on Milwaukee following the shooting of 23-year-old Sylville Smith, his downtown appearance could stoke the flames of discontent.

Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett issued nightly curfews on teenagers following the street disturbances on Saturday and Sunday nights, which saw cars and buildings burn, rocks were reportedly thrown at police, and one person suffered a gunshot wound.

The unrest drew attention to the issues of racial inequality in the city, where black communities face high levels of unemployment and poverty, at rates that are seemingly non-existent in white areas of Milwaukee and its suburbs.

While the killing of Smith sparked the weekend protests, the unrest stemmed from decades of racial tension in the city.

Monday night was quiet for residents of Milwaukee  which city officials attribute to the effectiveness of the curfew  but the presence of Mr Trump could awaken more protests like those that erupted outside of his rallies in Chicago and Los Angeles.

It remains unclear when the curfew will be lifted.

Mr Trump will head to West Bend after the Milwaukee town hall for an additional campaign rally Tuesday night.
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It is a custom of US presidential elections that the candidates of the major parities receive classified briefings to prepare them, should they take office.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Mr Trump is set to receive his first such update on Wednesday at the FBIs New York Field Office.

ABC News said that the Republican candidate planned to take with him New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Lt Gen Michael Flynn, the former top military and intelligence official who has become an outspoken supporter of Mr Trump.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he had no problem briefing the candidates (Director of National Intelligence)

The report said staff from the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI), the nations top intelligence office, will be leading the briefing, which is expected to cover major threats and emerging concerns from around the world.

Mr Trumps session comes two days after he laid out a series of foreign policy proposals, including plans for subjecting immigrants to extreme vetting and temporarily blocking immigration from the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world.

Due to the sensitivity of the information discussed during briefings of presidential candidates, the sessions must take place in locations with secure rooms, known as Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities. The FBIs office in New York City has such rooms, though it is unlikely that the bureaus agents will play any role in the briefing.

Earlier this year, when Mr Trump secured the partys nomination, some people raised concerns about the wisdom of providing him with some briefings. They claimed there was a potential security risk because of links between his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Russian political figures.

 Donald Trump calls for 'extreme vetting' of immigrants

Others have pointed out the controversial statements he has made on the campaign trail and his suggestion  which he later dismissed as just a joke  that Russia should hack Hillary Clintons emails.

DNI Director James Clapper and the White House recently said they had no qualms about briefing the Republican or Democratic presidential candidates, noting the move was a long-standing tradition in our system that dated back more than 60 years.

Ensuring a smooth transition to the next president is a top priority, and thats important, in part, because of the significant threats around the world, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington last month.

He said US intelligence officials understand what steps are necessary to protect sensitive national security information, and the administration is confident that they can both provide relevant and sufficient briefings to the two major-party presidential candidates while also protecting sensitive national security information.

Mr Clapper said at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado: The American electorate is in the process of deciding the suitability of these two candidates to serve as commander in chief, and they will make that decision, to pick someone who will be cleared for everything.

Yet the reaction on Twitter to Mr Trumps imminent briefing was not so sanguine. Many suggested it would only be a matter of time before Mr Trump started to blurt out details of what he had been told.

Prediction: Trump will come close to having his clearance revoked after tweeting some classified information, said one tweeter.

Another said: LOL, they're giving Donald Trump classified briefings now. How long before he tweets about what the FBI is giving him? I say 48 hrs.
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Japan had 13,831 asylum applications under review in December last year. It was the largest number in the history of a nation with twice the population of the UK and which is often estimated to be more than 95 per cent ethnically homogenous. And a tiny figure compared to the million-plus pending applications in Europe, which is still coping with the stream of migrants from such war-torn areas as Syria and Libya.

However, Japan's apparent reluctance to take in foreign workers seems increasingly at odds with the reality of the nation's worst labour shortage in more than two decades. And while many politicians are loath to lower any barriers to immigration, the number of retirees is growing relentlessly in comparison to people of working-age.

Japan is investing heavily in robotics, particularly in old-age care. And Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared that the nation should address its demographic problems by putting more women to work  as well as encouraging the elderly to stay in the jobs market  before considering importing labour. But why? Because, as his advisor Masahiko Shibayama said last week, there is an allergy towards the word immigration in Japan. People are worried about public security, he said. They worry that foreign workers would eat up Japanese jobs.

Kurdish men mingle outside a convenience store in Japan (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

That hasnt stopped some companies from ignoring the popular will for the sake of their profits. In the construction sector, especially, theres a growing black market in unaccredited foreign workers; likewise in manufacturing. Indeed it was reported last year that carmaker Subaru was enjoying a boom driven in part by the cheap labour of asylum-seekers working without permits. Now, with preparations underway for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, such illegal labour could increase.

Many business leaders want the Government to rethink its immigration policy. Of 259 major Japanese companies that responded to a Reuters poll in October, 76 per cent said they supported opening up the country to blue-collar migrants. And prominent among the beneficiaries, no doubt, would be the Kurds of Warabi and Kawaguchi, central-Japanese cities in the Saitama prefecture that are embraced by Tokyos sprawl. According to the latest data, at the end of 2015 there were 4,701 people on provisional release in the country  that is, free from detention but officially barred from working while their asylum applications are considered  of whom Greater Tokyos Kurds represent about 30 per cent.

Living in drab, blue-collar suburbs with some of the highest crime rates in Japan  the area has been dubbed Warabistan by locals  Kurds who are working illegally while on provisional release don't have contracts, are paid in cash and can be laid off without warning.

Kurdish boy Ozgur Cinaroglu, 12, poses with this school rucksack outside his house in Warabi (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Their status means they can be detained again at any time  though not deported while their applications are under scrutiny. They have no national health insurance, often leaving them with the agonising choice of debt or no treatment when they or family members fall ill. They cannot legally rent apartments, open bank accounts or sign up for mobile phone contracts in their names  a phantom status they navigate by borrowing the names and personal details of relatives and friends with residency permits. And they need official permission to leave the prefecture of their residence.

Mazlum Balibay, 24, a Kurdish asylum seeker who fled to Japan more than eight years ago is one of the phantom citizens. He arrived in the country claiming persecution by the Turkish security forces, who had tortured his father. The absence of a work permit hasn't stopped him, two of his brothers and a cousin from working on taxpayer-funded projects in the past few years. As he told Reuters earlier this month: Everyone knows that without foreigners this country's in trouble. Construction jobs won't get done. But then, he knows that the mayor of Kawaguchi  who recently declared, I'm not going to tell these people they can't work when they have families to support  has no intention of playing policeman.

Mazlum Balibay, 23, and his sister Suzan at their home in Warabi, north of Tokyo (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Almost all the Kurds in Warabi and Kawaguchi are from villages around Gaziantep, an industrial city in southern Turkey. Starting in the 1990s, they entered Japan on tourist visas, fleeing violent clashes between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Kurdish homelands. Balibay says his own family decided to leave after his father's arrest in 1999 on charges of giving aid to members of the outlawed PKK, including transferring funds collected in Japan for the group.

Over several years, Balibay's parents and five of his siblings have come to Japan  which according to immigration activists, has never given refugee status to a Turkish Kurd. The family's asylum claims have all been rejected, and their time in Japan has been peppered with legal battles against deportation orders and detention. (Balibay has submitted four asylum applications, including one in August last year.) However, they remain on provisional release.

Police keep watch as Mustafa Balibay (centre) lines up outside the Turkish embassy to vote in the parliamentary election in Tokyo (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Government officials say that friends, relatives or NGOs should help asylum seekers caught in this limbo. But once out of detention, the reality is that provisionally released migrants are left largely to fend for themselves. Contractors risk a maximum (and seldom enforced) $30,000 fine and three-year jail sentence for employing them. Meanwhile, desperate to attract home-grown workers, the labour ministry has partnered with construction firms to recruit young Japanese people. Although their website shows a group of smiling young women in hard hats under the headline Women who work in the construction industry are cool, privately, civil servants admit the outreach has done little to make the industry more attractive.

Kurdish worker Suleyman Hasgul smokes a cigarette during a break at a demolition site in Chiba east of Tokyo (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Some will even concede that they have had an answer staring them in the face since the north-eastern earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, when the Japan Association for Refugees was inundated with offers of help from provisionally-released migrants. A group of Kurdish men  many on provisional release, many with construction and demolition experience  were given permission to leave their prefectures and make the journey to the worst-hit areas. In the coastal village of Rikuzentakata  which was swallowed by a 15-metre wave that killed 1,700 people and swept away thousands of buildings  the volunteers cleared rubble from roads and rice fields, and cleaned up damaged homes.

With Prime Minister Abe struggling to boost the economy, his ruling Liberal Democratic Party published a proposal to recruit foreign workers to sectors including nursing and agriculture in May. But for now, Justice Ministry spokesman Naoaki Torisu says there are no plans to change the prevailing system. Just because there are people on provisional release, he says, doesn't change our stance that they should go home.
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An 81-year-old British journalist may die in a Bangladeshi jail before he has even been sentenced, his family have said.

Shafik Rehman's son Shumit told The Independent he did not expect his father to live to "see the year out".

The British-Bangladeshi journalist is accused of plotting to murder the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a crime that carries the death penalty.

Despite not yet being charged with any offence, he has now been detained for four months.

A well-known former BBC journalist and talk-show host, Mr Rehman is the third pro-opposition editor to be arrested in Bangladesh since 2013.

Both Mr Rehman and his wife were becoming physically ill because of the stress of his detention, Shumit said.

Quite honestly, Im not sure if either of them will see the year out," he said.

Mr Rehman has been receiving hospital treatment for chest pains since entering jail and is diabetic.

When Mr Rehman was first detained he was sprightly, according to his son, but after a month of interrogation he needed a wheelchair. After four months of jail, Mr Rehman could only walk while holding onto someone, his son said. He feared his father may suffer a "natural death" in prison if he was not released soon.

Recommended Read more Irish teen jailed and tortured in Egypt faces death sentence in days

Mr Rehmans 82-year-old wife is the only person allowed to see him, according to Shumit, and he is not allowed any telephone contact.

Appointments for Mr Rehman's bail hearing have previously been cancelled. The family say they have now been told there will be a hearing at the end of the month but have not been given a date.

Sentencing is a long way off," Shumit said, before likening his father's situation to that of people held without charge at the infamous US-run detention centre in Cuba.

"The whole thing is a bit Guantanamo Bay," he said.

Its much easier never to charge him and just hold him in jail.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, a charity that has been working to free Mr Rehman, told The Independent: Shafik Rehman has been put through a litany of injustices as punishment for his journalism and his criticism of the government.

"First arrested by plainclothes officers posing as a TV crew, hes since been held in such terrible conditions that he needs hospital treatment.

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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

"Now the authorities seem intent on dragging out his detention for as long as possible, while they threaten him with charges that carry a potential death sentence.

"Given that Shafik is 81 and in poor health, this ongoing ordeal puts him in grave danger. The UK Government must urgently demand that Bangladesh release this British grandfather on bail  before its too late.

Reprieve wrote to the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, urging him to support Mr Rehman's application for bail, but has yet to receive a reply.

In response to Mr Rehman's sustained imprisonment, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: Our staff are continuing to provide consular assistance in this case, and will remain in contact with the family and local authorities.
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A man has attacked and wounded two passengers on a train in Austria.

Austrian police say the attacker, a 60-year-old German national, appeared mentally confused.

Two people have been hospitalised after the attack. A 19-year-old man had wounds to the stomach and back and a 17-year-old male suffered a throat injury.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The attack took place around 6.30am (local time) in Roethis, on the Austrian-Swiss border.

The attacker was arrested by police with the help of another passenger, who suffered minor injuries to his hand.

He is currently being questioned by police.

Police ruled out any connection to an attack on a Swiss train on Saturday that left both the attacker and a victim dead after the man attacked passengers with a knife and flammable liquid.
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The incoming head of Frances government body on Islam is facing a mounting backlash for suggesting Muslims should be discreet.

Jean-Pierre Chevenement, 77, has been charged with heading the Foundation for French Islam by President Francois Hollande  despite not being a Muslim himself.

The advice I give in these difficult times  like the imam of the Bordeaux mosque - is that of discretion, the former interior minister told Le Parisien.

Muslims, like all French citizens, should be able to worship freely but they must also understand that in the public space where there is public interest, all citizens should make the effort to use natural reason.

The call for discretion provoked outrage on Twitter, with critics comparing it to Nazi-era policies amid reports of rising Islamaphobic attacks in the country.

French politician advises Muslims to stay discreet in public. Welcome to 1939, wrote one woman.

Many said the demand was an affront to Frances values of liberte, egalite, fraternite, while the hashtag #MusulmanDiscret (#DiscreetMuslim) had a more sardonic take on the controversy.

The French government is investing in reviving the Foundation, a project originally set in motion 11 years ago, to integrate Islam with a sense of nationalism.

Proposals include giving imams secular training, the creation of an Islamic research institute and preventing mosques relying on foreign funding, possibly through a voluntary tax on halal meat.

Defending his selection as a non-Muslim, Mr Chevenement described himself as a secular republican, adding: Secularism is not set against religion, it frees spirituality from any influence of the state. I have no intention to interfere in the religious sphere.

He said he wanted to prevent young French Muslims from falling into the suicidal cult spread by Daesh (Isis) and salafists.

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

There is growing tension between French secularism and religious freedom, with outrage over a ban on burkinis in some Riviera resorts and the continuing prohibition of full-face veils.

The country is home to 4.7 million Muslims according to Pew Research, making up 7.5 per cent of the population and standing as the countrys second-largest religion.

The issue of integration has come under scrutiny following the terror attacks in Nice, Normandy and Paris, as well as the presence of French fighters among Isis ranks in Syria.

Critics have said the burkini bans and other measures are discriminatory and counter-productive, further alienating communities and fuelling extremist propaganda.
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A giant panda who gave birth to a cub at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo last week, surprised staff after a second cub was discovered hiding underneath her large paws.

The zoo initially said mother Yang Yang had given birth to one cub on 7 August.

But on Tuesday it was revealed she had actually given birth to twins after pictures and video footage from CCTV observing the animal showed two tiny pink cubs resting on Yang Yang's chest.

Yang Yang the panda cradles her new cubs (AP)

"It sounded as though two cubs were squealing, but we only ever saw one," zoo director Dagmar Schratter said in a statement on Tuesday.

"On Friday, the zookeepers were first able to make out two of them on the screen."

The delay in spotting the extra cub is due to the fact the birth was only observed by camera in a private pen and that new-born pandas are incredibly tiny. The cub whose birth was announced last week measured just 10cm and weighed only 100g.

Panda cubs are also rarely seen because their mothers constantly warm them between their paws.

The giant panda that gave birth at Viennas Schoenbrunn Zoo last week was hiding a tiny little secret - an extra cub (AP)

The baby giant pandas are Yang Yang's fourth and fifth cubs. Her three other cubs, Fu Long, Fu Hu and Fu Bao, are now in China.

The birth of panda cubs in captivity is a rare event for the endangered species who struggle to breed in zoos.

Artificial breeding techniques and better knowledge of the animals' needs has seen an increase in births in recent years.

The Schoenbrunn Zoo, however, says no other European zoo has managed to breed giant pandas by natural means.

Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear Show all 8 1 /8 Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300458.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300646.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300496.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300479.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300480.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300446.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300459.jpg Jonathan Browning Kung fu panda: The fight to save China's favourite bear 5300437.jpg Jonathan Browning

In June, six-year-old giant panda Hao Hao gave birth to a cub weighing 171 grams at Pairi Daiza wildlife park in Belgium. However, this followed artificial insemination from her mate Xing Hui.

In 2014 a survey by the World Wide fund for Nature (WWF) found only 1,864 pandas still lived in the wild, although this was a 17 per cent increase in a decade and double the numbers in the late 1970s.

More than 300 pandas now live in zoos mostly in China, as part of an effort to save the species.

Additional reporting by agencies
MORTON COUNTY  Work stopped Tuesday at the site where hundreds of Standing Rock Sioux tribal members and supporters are protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the reservation boundary.

The work stoppage gave law enforcement, tribal and state officials time to plan how to manage the protest, with numbers swelling by the hour as busloads of Sioux and others arriving to join the anti-pipeline movement. Arrests are occurring almost daily.

Workers were instructed to leave their equipment late Monday after youthful protesters walked onto the work site and surrounded the machinery. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the mix of people around the machinery caused him to stop work until an improved plan for safety could be developed.

Kirchmeier said he didnt know whether work would resume because some options were still in flux Tuesday evening. One option was for the private landowner to allow his fence to be moved back into his property to give protesters more room to assemble off the highway.

Kirchmeier met with Standing Rock Sioux officials in the morning and with state officials at the governors office Tuesday afternoon before returning to the department headquarters to brief patrol on how and when work will continue.

Basically, what we talked about at the meeting was how to de-escalate tensions between the pipeline workers and the protesters, and us, I guess. One option is to give them more land and more comfort, room for tents, water, a Dumpster, that kind of thing, the sheriff said.

Ideally, there would be ample room to move the hundreds of cars, pickups and enforcement vehicles off the roadway, too, he said.

About 28 people have been arrested since last week, including tribal chairman Dave Archambault, and charged with disorderly conduct for trying to block access to the work site. The tribal members are protesting the pipelines crossing of the Missouri River near the reservation boundary for fear it will rupture and contaminate their water, water downstream and disrupt sacred historic sites.

The sheriff confirmed that a federal court judge  at the request of Dakota Access Pipeline  signed a restraining order against previously arrested protesters from returning to the pipeline location.

In a situation of historical irony, after the work shutdown, law enforcement pulled back from the protest site on Highway 1806 to a communication command center at Fort Lincoln State Park. The park preserves the fort from which the cavalry and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer left to never return after a fatal battle against the Sioux. A replica of Custers captured flag was flying among others representing some of the 25 to 30 estimated tribes that have arrived to support Standing Rock since the protest started last week.

Another reason to pull back toward Mandan was to get into range of reliable cell phone service. Many at the protest scene believe cell towers are being purposely jammed to prevent communication, but North Dakota Highway Patrol Cap. Eric Pederson said there is no truth to the rumor.

With the growing numbers of protestors  now at least 500 to 600  a second protest camp was established late Monday night on low land just south of the Cannonball River, and tents, buses and tipis were scattered around a central kitchen and check-in tent. An original spirit camp was set up months ago in protest.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal chairman Harold Frazier arrived with several busloads of his tribal members Tuesday afternoon and said its the biggest such gathering of Native tribes he can recall, with representatives from tribes coast to coast and Canada.

Things are going well, with the construction stopped. I think it should stay stopped and let the courts settle it, Frazier said. I believe we will stop it.

Frazier said he and Archambault were cooperating to ensure there is adequate food and shelter for everyone arriving to support Standing Rock.

Dakota Access did not return calls and emails seeking comment on the work stoppage.

Back at the protest site  closest to where the pipeline is being staged for boring under the Missouri River  the scene was relatively quiet and peaceful through the day.

One of the Sioux most holy men, Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th successive keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf pipe, led hundreds in prayer at the gated entrance to the pipeline route.

The prayers, burning sage and sounds of drumming were intended to restore a protest based on prayer and peaceful objection, amid worries that not everyone can be controlled in such a large, fast-moving situation and as arrests continued to mount. Men, women and children sang the old language and turned as one to the four corners of the universe. Cameras were forbidden during the ceremony.

Tribal member and former councilman Tim Mentz said the prayers were at the request of Archambault.

The chairman asked to go back to prayer, to ask for peace and safety and that we can accomplish what we are here to do, Mentz said. Its for one thing: the safety of everyone. Were all praying for the same thing.

After the prayers, the access gates were propped open and the protesters walked the construction route on private land down to the Missouri River below, a hot walk in nearly 85-degree temperatures. Many walked, some rode horses and others rode in the back of pickups, intent on making contact with the water a half-mile away.
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A High Court has quashed the acquittal of three youths for raping a drunk diabetic teenage girl at a party.

The High Court of Eastern Denmark ruled the 17-year-old victim was so drunk and affected by diabetes, she was unable to consent to sex.

The victim was found with her insulin pump disconnected behind bushes at a community hall. Multiple abrasions were found on her body with lacerations to her vagina and anus.

A District Court in Roskilde had previously ruled the victim was in a fit state to consent. The youths' acquittal caused outrage and demonstrations across Denmark.

The victim had apparently drunk 12 units of alcohol after arriving at the party.

Her blood sugar levels were found to be many times higher than normal.

The three defendants, aged 17 at the time of the offence in September 2014, have now been convicted of rape and attempted rape, receiving prison sentences.

 Woman raped on women-only trip

Two of the youths received eight-month jail terms while the third was given a six-month prison sentence.

Helena Hansen from the Danish Women's Society told TV2 the High Court will "give rape victims the courage to stand up".
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I dont like being known as the only gay Iraqi activist, Amir Ashour says, brow furrowing slightly.

But the label is hard to escape: Ashour, originally from Sulaimaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, has been beaten up and arrested because of his sexuality. In 2015, he was forced to flee his home and seek asylum in Sweden, fearing for his life.

Now 26, hes already been through more than many people could ever imagine - but, Ashour says, he wouldnt have changed a thing.

It is not exactly a choice, he says. It is not easy its draining. But there is nothing else I would or could do. Everything Ive been through, everyone Ive met who has inspired me, its all relevant.

Recommended Read more Leaked Isis documents reveal recruits have poor grasp of Islamic faith

Ashour is the founder and leading voice of IraQueer, the only LGBT+ rights awareness organisation operating in Iraq, which is forced to carry out most of its work anonymously. The growing network of activists, most using synonyms rather than their real names, is a precious resource for Iraqs gay community, which remains almost completely underground for fear of dying at the hands of armed vigilante gangs, rogue police officers, or family members unable to accept them.

As recently as 1995, Saddam Hussein created a paramilitary group with the sole purpose of identifying, torturing and executing LGBT+ individuals, as well as women accused of adultery, and the memory - as well as the taboo - is still fresh for many. Post-Saddam, the gay community began tentatively organising parties and meet-ups in gay-friendly spaces, but militia attacks have increased again in recent years, driving the community further underground.

While same-sex relationships were decriminalised after the US invasion, Iraqi law offers no constitutional protection for LGBT+ citizens, and the state often turns a blind eye to the horrors non-conforming Iraqis face if outed. Shiite militias who claim to be fighting Isis under the banner of the Iraqi army have been accused of multiple murders by the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

IraQueers role is vital in providing advice and safe houses for LGBT+ people - often teenagers - who have been disowned by their families, or fled for their own safety. Doctors and officials will often refuse to deal with people they think are gay, so IraQueer tries to connect vulnerable people to allies, too.

The group has about 40 regular contributors and has been growing steadily for two years, now reaching up to 11,000 readers a month via essays and safety warnings tirelessly translated from Kurdish or Arabic into English or vice versa. Yet its members have only just met face to face for the first time, at a workshop organised by Ashour in Lebanon last month. It was a fantastic experience, he says.

Technology, and especially social media, have changed the face of activism, theyve had so much impact for us, Ashour says. That me and my fellow activists can talk long-distance and hide our identities that would never have been possible before the last few years.

Ashour has lived in Malmo in Sweden since last year. He loves life in Europe, where he is free to be himself. I have never hidden who I am. It was never a question of coming out of the closet, there was nothing to escape from, he says. Ashour's family, and group of friends and activists at university, were all very accepting, he says. But even in a relatively liberal area such as Iraqi Kurdistan, witch-hunts are still mounted for people suspected of being gay, or partaking in sinful behaviour.

This is what happened to Ashour. He was forced to leave the country to escape rumours which bought him to the attention of local vigilantes, started while he was working for a women's rights group in Baghdad. But he also has the strength to use his experiences to speak out, in the hope that others will not have to suffer the same discrimination.

Ashour speaking at a One Young World event (Amir Ashour)

I met Ashour while he was in London this summer to meet with UKLGIG, a UK charity which works to support LGBT aslyum seekers and refugees, and One Young World (OYW) representatives. OYW was founded in 2009 with the aim of bringing together young leaders to effect lasting, positive change. Meeting others from across the world who face the same LGBT struggle as he does, or stand up for other worthy causes, has shaped the way I look at the world... The core, the root of everything I try to do, is giving the voiceless a voice, Ashour says.

The renewed scrutiny of Muslim attitudes towards homosexuality following the Orlando LGBT nightclub shooting by an closeted Muslim man has, for Ashour, driven home how important this is. There is no room for the gay Muslim narrative, even now, he says. I never had to come out of the closet. But I still could never have functioned without my support network. And thats what IraQueer is to many people now.

In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women and children celebrating after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man cuts the beard of a civilian who was freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Women carry newborn babies while running after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman freed from Isis hugs an SDF fighter in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman adding her veil to a pile of niqabs burning in Manbij, Syria, after being freed from Isis on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Children celebrating on top of a lorry after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A man and child freed from Isis by the SDF in Manbij on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman carrying her children walks towards SDF fighters after being freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij A woman and child freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij An SDF fighter kisses a crying man who was freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters In pictures: Civilians freed from Isis in Manbij Hundreds of civilians freed from Isis in Manbij, Syria, on 12 August Reuters

But, as Ashour concedes, the opportunities opened up to IraQueer by the internet and secure smartphone messaging is both a blessing and a threat. While the net helps LGBT+ people in Iraq find each other, an uncleared browser cache or public comments or likes on a gay-friendly Facebook page can help vigilantes identify and track down people they suspect of homosexual behaviour.

One of the crucial aims of IraQueers first in-person workshop, which took place in secret in Lebanon last month, was to help teach members how to keep themselves safe online, whether by using fake names and accounts or switching to services much harder to hack such as encrypted messaging and Tor browsers.

Its sad, Ashour notes, that the international community only focused on the lack of gay rights in the Middle East after Isiss hatred placed the issue on the world stage. Horrific reports from Idlib and Kirkuk of public executions by al-Nusra and Isis, as well as images of gay men forced to jump from buildings, reverberated in the worlds media.

And while Isis atrocities continue to grab international attention, gay people continue to suffer across the Arab world, Ashour says. The problem is so much wider, and deeper rooted, than this recent flare of extremism, he adds.

(Amir Ashour (Amir Ashour)

Ashour is also sceptical of Kurdish efforts to portray the now autonomous regions across Iraq and Syria as gay-friendly. Its an attractive idea politically, gay rights, it is an encouraging sign to the West, he says. Talking is easier than action, though. And Rojava [Kurdish region] is still yet to be tested like that.

I ask Ashour whether he thinks his battle is hopeless. He says he still has hope, and if its ever possible to be openly gay in Iraq, hell be the first to go back. One day he wants to run for office in his native country. But for now, hes strengthening IraQueer, and enjoying being able to date in Sweden.

I want to be the one who makes it possible to be gay in Iraq. Maybe Ill be attacked for it, its possible. But winning is a mindset. And as long as IraQueer exists and grows, we are prepared, we are winning. All we need is time.
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When Samer Attar was growing up in Chicago his parents took him on frequent visits to Syria, the country where he had been born.

Yet nothing prepared him for what he has seen during the medical visits he has made in the past five years as Syria has become engulfed in a brutal civil war. Last week, the orthopedic surgeon gave testimony to the UN on what he had seen on a recent trip to Aleppo, where his work as a volunteer medic made him  and his colleagues  a target for the Assad regime.

Things have become so bad. It is a living hell, he told The Independent, speaking from Chicago. Whenever I go there, it is the two worst weeks of my life. Its also the best two weeks of my life, because of the people you meet there.

Dr Attar amid the destruction of Aleppo (CNN)

Mr Attar, 40, said he was working in a hospital in part of the city controlled by rebel forces opposed to the Syrian government. Civilians in such areas have suffered horrendous injuries as the result of barrel bombs and other ordinance that have been dropped by government forces.

A report published this week by Human Rights Watch said that Syrian forces, along with the Russian military, had been using incendiary devices which burn their victims and start fires in those areas in violation of international law.

The Syrian government and Russia should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons, said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. These weapons inflict horrible injuries and excruciating pain, so all countries should condemn their use in civilian areas.

Mr Samer said that hospitals, clinics and even ambulances have also become favourite targets for the government. There is a saying in Syria that if you can kill one doctor, you kill 100 soldiers because there is no one to care for them, he said. Its a scorched earth policy.

 Children play games in the streets of Aleppo while bombs fall on surrounding neighbourhoods

Mr Samer and other members of the Syrian American Medical Society have been sending volunteers to Aleppo and to refugee camps in countries such as Jordan and Greece to provide emergency medical care. They have also been backing their Syrian colleagues inside cities such as Aleppo by means of tele-medicine - helping diagnose patients and suggest treatment by means of skype and FaceTime.

He travelled to Syria in the company of another US-based doctor, Zaher Sahloul, who also testified last week to the UN. They called on the international community to do more to help end the suffering of a war that has seen half the countrys pre-war population of more than 11 million people killed or forced to flee.

Medical personnel have been asking for two things since the beginning of the crisis. Protection and access. They have neither, said Dr Sahloul. Everyone in Syria is looking for the end of the crisis. We cannot do it alone. We need the UN Security Council to facilitate an end to the crisis.

Among the doctors in Syria who have refused to leave is Rami Kalazi.

He recently told PBS that all the hospitals in Aleppo City have been bombed, all of them. Theres no exceptions".

He added: The first thing you will think is looking for your colleagues. Are they still alive or dead? Will I see, for example, an arm for my colleague or a leg, or I will see a body, or half of a body, or will I see him alive? You dont know.

He said that patients were warned that it was risky to stay too long in the hospital and that they should find an alternative place to stay, as quickly as they can.

When asked what happens to the critical patients who can not leave, he said: "They stay in the hospital. And some of them died during these attacks.
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Turkey's constitutional court has prompted anger after voting to scrap a law that automatically categorises sexual acts with children between the ages of 12 and 15 as sexual abuse.

Judges in the country's highest court voted to annul the provision by a narrow margin, in response to an application from a district court which complained the law did not differentiate between age groups in cases of child sexual abuse.

The complaint also said the law failed to take into account the consent of victims in cases where the child victim was between the ages of 12 and 15 and able to understand the meaning of the sexual act. The law's removal is due to take effect in January.

Human Rights groups condemned the move - saying it would lead to cases of child abuse going unpunished - while Sweden's foreign minister suggested the vote in July had effectively legalised sex with children.

Margot Wallstrom said: "Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed. Children need more protection, not less, against violence, sex abuse."

Meanwhile, professor Bahar Gokler, chair of the Association to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect, told state-run Turkish news agency Anadolu: "Seeking a childs consent in cases of sexual abuse is out of the question.

First of all, every individual under the age of 18 is a child according to international conventions."

But Turkish ministers insisted critics were misinformed and spreading lies which could tarnish the country's reputation.

Deputy Prime Minister Memet Simsek tweeted that Ms Wallstrom should "get her facts right", while Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in televised comments cited by AFP: It is a scandal for a foreign minister to post such a tweet based on false news or speculation.

"A foreign minister should not tell lies and should not adopt an approach accusing Turkey. Yes to criticism but this is a slander, a lie.

Turkey has summoned Sweden's envoy to meet officials in Ankara in response to Ms Wallstrom's tweet. The Austrian charge daffaires was also called to the Turkish capital at the weekend after a news ticker at Vienna airport reported that Turkey had legalised sex with children.

The Constitutional Court sought to clarify the situation with a press release that stated: Sexual abuse actions against children will not be decriminalised and will not remain unpunished, and the legislative body will be provided the opportunity to make a new regulation within the scope set out in the grounds.

However, the statement did not say the vote would be reversed or that sex with children between the ages of 12 and 15 would remain illegal in all instances. Instead, the court said only that the old law would remain in place until January, and might then be replaced with new legislation.

Professor Aysun Baransel, General Secretary of the Association to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect, told Anadolu that the creation of new legislation must be prioritised.

The most important point is that unless this provision is urgently addressed, child abusers will start walking around freely because there is no new regulation [to fill the void]," she said.

She added that if no new legislation was introduced, after January child sexual abusers would be tried in the same way as people who sexually abuse adults.

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

The head of the Turkey Federation of Womens Association (TKDF), Canan Gullu, told Hurriyet Daily that activists were now considering bringing the case to the attention of the European Court of Human Rights, to see if the amendment could be reversed.

This decision will lead to unwanted marriages," she said.

"People will be able to kidnap and rape children, marry them at an early age, and prevent them from going to school.

We are looking to see whether we can make an appeal to annul the decision. We could go to the European Court of Human Rights."

She added that Turkey already had an acute problem with child brides, which the ruling could exacerbate.
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Rio de Janeiro has been the talk of 2016 thanks to the Olympics, but theres far more to the worlds fifth-largest country than this citys legendary surf, sand and street parties. Brazil has world-beating trekking, wildlife-spotting, beaches and cities to offer every type of traveller, way beyond the hedonistic throb of the 2016 Games host city. Here are five very different ways to see the best of South Americas biggest nation.

City: Salvador

What: While Rio is undoubtedly one of the worlds best-looking cities, the energy in Salvador  capital of the state of Bahia  is something else. Teetering at the edge of Brazils north-eastern tropical coastline, its known for being the epicentre of the countrys Afro-Brazilian culture  and the intriguing traditions that go with it. The streets are teeming with drumming troupes and capoeira performers (the highly entertaining mash-up of martial arts, dance and acrobatics), so every day here feels like a festival. Thats particularly true in the historic centre of Pelourinho, where a rainbow of colourful colonial houses competes with pulsing rhythms and capoeira circles for attention. The African-influenced food is standout, too. Dont miss the likes of moqueca  salt water fish stewed in coconut milk  or acaraje, beans deep fried in palm oil and served with spicy shrimp paste.

When: Salvador is a year-round destination thanks to temperatures that rarely dip below the upper 20Cs. June and July can be wetter, but tend to be cheaper than the drier high season (December to March).

Get there: TAP Portugal flies to Salvador via Lisbon.

Capoeira - a Brazilian art combining martial arts and dance, first developed by African slaves in the Portuguese colony - is a common sight on the streets of Salvador (Getty)

Coast: Jericoacoara

What: The Copacabana is Brazils most famous beach, but the under-visited north of the country might just have the best. A favourite of the relatively few tourists who make it up here is Jericoacoara, in the state of Ceara. This isolated little fishing village is 300km west of the nearest big city, Fortaleza, making it the sort of pristine idyll Alex Garland fans dream about  the locals are so protective of their back-to-basics charm, street lighting is forbidden here. However, though it is certainly quieter than any beach youll find in Rio, Jericoacoara isnt exactly undiscovered. But there are advantages to that  namely, the plentiful Caipirinha stalls that ensure you wont go empty-handed come sunset.

When: Between March and June promises the best weather and smallest crowds, as Brazilians tend to take their holidays around Christmas and Carnival (February to March).

Get there: TAP Portugal flies to Fortaleza via Lisbon.

Relax in a hammock in the sea at Brazil's isolated paradise beach, Jericoacoara (Shutterstock)

Mountains: Chapada Diamantina National Park

What: The Chapada Diamantina is often referred to as Brazils Lost World, and its easy to see why: a mountainous playground of caves, bluffs and jungle, its a largely untouched 376,000 acres of fun for intrepid hikers, potholers and, er, subterranean kayakers (various rivers flow underground here). The name, which means Diamond Plateau in Portuguese, is derived from the fact that the area was a huge area for diamond mining in the mid-1800s; that was until the diamond boom in South Africa put a decisive end to that particular gold rush.

When: Adventuring  particularly trekking  is better suited to the drier months of March to October.

Get there: Probably the biggest reason this brilliant spot is so quiet is that its not too easy to get to  determined travellers who want to arrive here independently will need to take a six-hour bus from Salvador to the old mining town of Lencois. This is basically base camp for Chapada Diamantina visitors, and with its cobbled streets and bright yellow houses, is rather lovely in itself.

Known as Brazil's "Lost World", the Chapada Diamantina National Park is a playground for adventurous travellers (Shutterstock)

Jungle: The Amazon

What: With all the hype around Rio, its easy to forget Brazil has another world-renowned star attraction: the Amazon. Delving into its depths is a proper once-in-a-lifetime endeavour and gives a real feel for Brazils outrageous vastness  60 per cent of the Amazon, the worlds largest tropical rainforest, is within Brazilian borders. Most trips into the jungle will involve day excursions from the comfort of a lodge, though there are also camping tours and even river cruises. The most popular jumping off point is big city Manaus, but you can also find more boutiquey tours starting from places like Piaui or Tefe. Try ticking off South Americas very own Big Five: jaguar, Brazilian tapir, giant anteater, maned wolf and giant river otter. (We choose not to think about the anacondas.)

When: May to June falls neatly between the wet season (February to April) and the scorching driest months (September to November).

Get there: There are various convoluted routes to Manaus (involving the likes of American Airlines, Iberia, KLM and Latam), but TAP Portugal via Lisbon is probably simplest.

Brazil's Amazon rainforest is home to various weird and wonderful creatures, including the giant anteater (Shutterstock)

Wetlands: Pantanal

What: Weve saved the best for last. Unesco World Heritage site the Pantanal is potentially the worlds most under-appreciated wonder  70,000 square miles of tropical wetland (thats 20 times the size of the Florida Everglades), where sightings of beasts ranging from jaguars to capybaras (the largest rodent in the world) are all but guaranteed. Lacking the thick foliage of the Amazon, spotting wildlife is much easier here, and visitors can do everything from pedalling mountain bikes along dirt roads to riding horses through flooded fields to get a look at it. The area was once home to a thriving cattle industry, so many disused ranches have now reopened as tourist lodges.

When: Dry season is May to September, and makes wildlife spotting easier  flooding can push big animals, like jaguar, deeper into wilder, inaccessible areas.

Get there: With few roads and no towns, this is a tough area to access. Visitors will need to fly to Corumba (TAM Airlines flies here via Sao Paulo) and then fork out for either a land or a single engine plane transfer to their lodge (reserving ahead is essential).

Sightings of families of capybaras - the world's largest rodent - are all but guaranteed in the Pantanal (Shutterstock / Vadim Petrakov)

More information

visitbrasil.com/en
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The first thing you see when you check into Casa Cook is the hotels Concept Store, which takes up four-fifths of the reception. Here you can buy leather-bound notebooks, Turkish hammam towels, grey marl yoga shorts and handwoven hammocks. Quite different from  and arguably quite a lot less useful than  the usual hotel shop selling suncream, Haribo and bat-and-ball. But then this is quite different from the usual hotel.

Casa Cook on Rhodes is Thomas Cooks big new idea  the first in a planned chain of boutique lifestyle hotels, for trend-conscious travellers ... inspired by the spirit of our times. In other words, its a package hotel for hipsters. Hence the hammocks, which you can buy to take home a bit of the bohemian dream, having spent a week swinging in one, sipping an Aperol spritzers in the hotel bar. Or the Happiness Hub, as its called at Casa Cook  an Instagram-friendly, open-sided, starlit white cube, with mismatched chairs, big cushions, cocktails and a luxuriously bearded DJ who sets up poolside at 7pm and plays Cafe del Mar beats until 11pm every night. #bliss, etc.

Apart from the not-very-Greek mi casa es su casa, Casa Cooks mantra is stylish design, great value, laid-back vibes, healthy food and a taste of local flavours and adventures. Accordingly, there are no wristbands, no British reps, no clipboards. At breakfast in the dining room  or Kitchen Club  goji berries and quinoa porridge are laid out alongside the usual fruit, bread and pastries. At dinner, the food is served in bowls. Guests can book one-on-one open-air yoga classes and hire retro-style white bicycles for the day. The look is minimalist  muted colours, lots of wood and concrete and clean lines with the odd flourish. On the whole, its very much more Mykonos than Malia.

It is easy to be sniffy about all this try-hard stuff, but Casa Cook looks great. The 90 rooms are scattered across a generous site dotted with wildflowers and grazing goats in a series of dazzling white, Miami-style cubes, which look very striking against the bright blue sky and rugged limestone rocks. The pool is large with plenty of attractive, comfy sunbeds. The dining room  so often in big hotels an overlit, soulless space  is large and airy with a cool jungle tile mural covering one wall. A few outside tables  not enough, judging by the fierce competition to get one  line the pool. The bar buzzes all day long, staffed by cheerful, young locals in jeans and white T-shirts.

The rooms and suites offer comfortable, futon-style beds and cool concrete floors (Digital by mail)

The rooms are handsome, too. Of the 90, 11 are split-level suites  roomy, with cool concrete floors, elephant-grey walls and bleached wood. The beds are low, futon-style but very comfortable, there are cushions, wicker baskets and those hammam towels strewn about. The non-suites are smaller but just as stylish. It certainly feels a notch up from the usual Thomas Cook experience, but then there is no free mineral water in the rooms and, when I visited, no towels by the pool. Its the little things.

The winning touch is that each room has its own sun terrace and loungers and its own pool. Or at least its own bit of pool; each one is shared with the four neighbouring rooms, which creates some etiquette problems. I never left my zone of the pool, but my neighbours had no qualms paddling up to my end. If youre British/bothered by this sort of thing, try and get a room on the end of a row - you get more space and visitors only swim in from one direction. On the design front, then, Casa Cook achieves what it sets out to do. It also ticks the box on laid-back vibes  its a very relaxing place. When I visited, it seemed to have attracted the crowd it was aiming for, too: youngish, trendy-ish, no children, not the hordes of 60-something German holidaymakers most packages seem to attract.

Each room opens on to its own section of pool

The problems, then, come on the other parts of the mantra. The food is better than in many package hotels but not quite good enough. Breakfast is a big spread with an excellent chef making everything from poached eggs to pancakes, but they could lose some of the quirkier elements for more fresh fruit. For dinner, there is a varied menu of meze, fish and steaks. There are also seven degustation menus offering six Greek-themed dishes like cheese saganaki, grilled octopus and lamb chops with goat's cheese and rosemary to share. If you were dining in every night, you could try the whole menu this way, though at 50 (43) its an expensive way to eat when Taverna Michel is five minutes away and twice as authentic at half the price.

As for local adventures, Casa Cook is in Kolymbia, a resort 19 miles from the airport, and around a half hours drive from both Rhodes Old Town and Lindos, both of which are a must-visit. With no town to speak of and streets lined with hotels, its not a destination in itself. The beach is rather thin and packed, though there are two excellent, fish restaurants  To Nissaki and Limanaki  with gorgeous views and waterside dining at the far end (about a half-hour walk from the hotel).

For beaches, drive 10 minutes to Tsambika or a little further to Afandou (for rare golden sand). Hiring a car is probably wiser than using the hotels ruinously expensive taxi service. The hotel can also arrange hikes to Tsambika monastery in the early morning, trips to Lindos to see the acropolis and charter a sailing boat around the island.

A nearby beach at Anthony Quinn Bay

So does Casa Cook have a future? Its a cut above, but it has a price to match. A weeks half-board with flights in August will cost somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 per person, though prices drop very sharply come September and there are bargains to be had. As for attracting the mythical bohemian/hipster traveller, I suspect location might be an issue; they are are more likely to be found on the nearby islands of Symi or Kastellorizo  both delightful and a short ferry from Rhodes port. If Thomas Cook can keep the price down, though, theres certainly a gap in the market for savvy travellers who know their way around the world but are looking for a hassle-free, sunshine break. A package with class, say. And hammocks.

Travel essentials

Getting and staying there

Thomas Cook (0844 412 5970; casacook.com) offers seven nights at Casa Cook, Rhodes, from 885 per person on a half-board basis, including flights from Gatwick in September.

More information

rodosisland.gr
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It is 20 years since Bill Bryson wrote his wildly successful Notes from a Small Island, the go-to book over which people who dont read many books effuse enjoyment. Brysons epistle, which I have enjoyed several times, in largely Stockholm syndrome conditions, as it can be found abandoned in every rain-battered holiday cottage from Largs to Leamington Spa, is the tale of a peaceable Yank encountering everyday British folks.

Bryson trundles into a parochial town, eats a cream tea, notices a pomander collection, peruses a pitch and putt, then sleeps fitfully in a budget B&B close to a leaky faucet and the landladys ceramic Victorian doll haul. Brysons shtick, two decades later, continues to delight people and finds itself being serialised by the Daily Mail, including the sections where he surveys our population, concluding that we are the happiest people on earth.

Interestingly, many of Brysons 1996 observations on the gleeful Britons come from his interactions with hospitality staff: waitresses, receptionists, hotel maids. Currently, this industry lives in grim fear of non-Brits being shoved off home, leaving us reliant on British workers only to provide its public-facing  smiling despite an AFD (all fucking day) shift  hospitable cheer.

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Nevertheless, Bryson noted back then that the British were a relentlessly jolly crowd. The British are so easy to please, he said. They actually like their pleasures small. That is why, I suppose, so many of their treats  teacakes, scones, crumpets, rock cakes, rich tea biscuits, fruit Shrewsburys  are so cautiously flavourful. Bryson noted people in a land festooned with tireless, dogged British optimism who held great joy in cozy minutiae such as a fresh pair of socks and a nice seat next to a two-bar fire.

And at some level, I recognise this whimsical tweeness in our psyche. Cheeky Nandos Syndrome, one might call it after our intrinsic modern British certainty that most bad days could be assuaged with an impromptu Fino Platter and unlimited Fanta refills. But this joy in the small stuff has never been the full story. Not in 1996, not in 2016 and actually, not ever. If Bryson has noticed us rhapsodising over millionaire shortbread, crap moss-covered swimming lidos and the Eddie the eagle Edwards story (for the 700th time since Calgary 1988), well, he has merely caught us at our best.

We are not even remotely a glibly chipper bunch. Our glee at an extra Yorkshire pudding, the Next January sale, a raunchy Archers plot, a nice brew or a half-hour stew in a Radox bath is a thin veneer over our glorious puddle-coloured pessimisms. Our occasional notes of joy over heated car seats, regular bin collections and a Kit Kat with an inordinately chocolately finger is mere gratitude for a brief alleviation in our suffering. And oh, how we suffer, here on our small island, battered by rain, tormented by soggy leaves, or worse still scorched by summer sun which weve decided by mid May is making us too clammy.

 Happiest countries in the world

Brysons conclusion that were cheerful is, in actually, an affront to our sterling talent for low-level moaning, champion standard chuntering and a heroic approach to being utterly hacked off. How dare he besmirch our good name for bad attitude? I moaned, my mother moaned and my ancestors moaned before that. Our moaning is proudly multi-cultural, attracting people from all over the globe to set up home here and follow a common goal of being a bit furious about the council and writing a slightly terse letter to the local Gazette about double parking near the Londis.

Watch any two Britons, Bryson says, in conversation and see how long it is before they smile or laugh over some joke or pleasantry. But he overlooks that the run up to this laughter will be a gallows-style tirade about tiredness, tax bills and bastard traffic wardens, followed by a wry laugh to denote Oh well, what can you do!? Well be dead soon anyway! Cheerio!

I put it to you, Bryson, that is the Americans who are blindly, daftly happy. Two weeks is the longest any sane British person can spend in California before hearing a sunset described as so blessy leading to random violence. I have laid, some years ago, on a sofa in the sunshine state of Florida aching for home and for its grey skies, a crap pub with sticky tables, piss-taking, pickled eggs and pessimism. This is my small island. Im miserable and I love it.
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I cannot see whats so commendable about the Olympics. It seems to me to be the ultimate form of total self-absorption  admittedly taking a great deal of self-discipline and hard work, but for what? To jump a minuscule fraction higher than anyone else, or row fractionally faster than another team, or to repeatedly and rigidly discipline an unfortunate horse to carry you about in a totally unnatural way. This last one seems actually cruel to me, as it involves and animal in the physical torture as well as an athlete.

At the end of this supreme effort is the world a better place? Is there less cruelty? Is there an environmental benefit? No. Some people feel proud of their nations tally of medals and some are disappointed, so its divisive as well. The phenomenal cost of it all is mind-boggling, and the vast sums of lottery money poured into promoting these athletes personal ambitions could be put to vastly better use to help the poor and protect the environment.

Sorry, I dont get it and I never will. I think its a massive ego trip, a crashing bore and an utter waste of time and human effort.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire

The continuing bad-mouthing of Rio is just naive. When you live in a favela, there is no money. You don t have any certainty or security.

But it's worse than that in Brazil. Drive through the tunnel from the airport to the city and you see if extended families under cardboard. These folk wake up thinking about today only. Food, clothes, shelter is all that is on for the day.

So when most tourists and athletes are standing up in clothing costing more than these folk see in a year, do you really expect them to be fair? They have needs today that must be met. Maybe we should understand theft of possessions better in a poor society?

John Sinclair

East Riding

Sierra Leone needs more than funding alone

Jo Lehmann writes of the continuing crisis in Sierra Leone and concludes: Funding must be provided for these basic building blocks of good health and development. Then and only then will these nations be prepared if another epidemic hits. But funding has been provided since the end of the war in millions if not billions of dollars and that has not resolved even the most basic issues of clean water supply and adoption of good hygiene practices. In fact, despite that funding, Sierra Leone easily succumbed to the Ebola epidemic. Sierra Leone is one of the most richly resourced countries in West Africa with its infamous diamonds, plus gold, rutile, iron ore and rare earth metals. So how does more external funding become a solution?

The solution is within the people and leadership of a country. Externally providing technical support for the need to change detrimental and self-enriching practices can gain results, but simply supporting with funding that will rarely reach the needy individual is more likely to exacerbate corruption. To ignore this aspect is to remove any attempt at building accountability of a government to its own people, and merely swell the coffers of those whose interest is to resist all possibility of development.

J McClean

Kent

There should be more justice than that found in the inheritance tax

The question of inheritance tax on the aristocracy is irrelevant. A large percentage of their Lordships inherited their wealth from their ancestors who were chums of William the Conqueror.

Historians are in no doubt that William was a vicious warlord who, along with his pals, committed terrible crimes against humanity in the early years of his reign, not least of which was the Harrying of the North. Contemporary chronicles vividly record the savagery of the Norman invaders and the massive scale of the destruction and the devastating famine caused by looting, burning of crops, alongside the rape and slaughter of civilians.

There is now the universally held principle that there should be no time limit on delivering justice to war criminals, or those who benefitted from such crimes, such as their descendants. Not to do so would be send a message to the villains of the world that they just have to wait for sufficient time to pass for them and their families to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

Colin Burke

Manchester

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and its allies are not deliberately targeting civilians in Yemen. That is the conclusion of an independent investigation conducted by the Arab coalition into allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen.

The inquiry also found the Houthi rebels have been using hospitals as military hideouts, in direct contravention of international humanitarian law. These findings echo a UN report released overnight showing the Houthi rebels are responsible for many of the atrocities taking place in Yemen.

The probe by the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT)  a first for the coalition that has no history of independent inquiries into officialdom  concluded that out of the eight incidents investigated, there was no intention to deliberately target civilians in bombing raids.

The JIAT consisted of representatives from the Coalition of Saudi, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Yemen. They were either experienced in the military or in the legal field. It was formed in January 2016 to investigate claims by the United Nations and humanitarian groups of breaches of international humanitarian law by the joint force in Yemen.

It found that the coalition had abided by the military rules of engagement in six out of eight accusations of attacks on a residential area, hospitals, markets, a wedding and World Food Programme (WFP) aid trucks.

The investigation found the coalition had not abided by military rules when bombing a residential complex in Mokha in July. It determined the residential complex was partly affected by unintentional bombing due to the presence of four military targets in the area controlled by the Houthi rebels. Inaccurate intelligence was thought to lie behind the error.

The report acknowledged errors where they were made, and JIAT recommended providing financial reparation to the families of the Mokha victims.

A claim by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) regarding raids on the organisations Haydan Hospital in Saada was dismissed. The investigation said Houthis were using the hospital as a hideout, ruling their actions to be a breach of international humanitarian law.

An investigation into a second claim by MSF that a mobile clinic in Taiz was affected by nearby bombings found that armed groupings of Houthi militias were targeted in the bombing, considered to be a high-value military target that achieves military advantage as a legitimate target.

The JIAT stressed the necessity of keeping mobile clinics away from military targets.

The JIAT investigated a claim by WFP that four trucks affiliated to the organisation carrying food supplies were bombed. However, they found the trucks were not marked to show that they belonged to an international aid organisation and concluded the bombing was the result of a lack of direct coordination between the WFP and the relevant authorities at the coalition forces command.

The JIATs conclusion also found the coalition had acted in accordance with international and humanitarian law in four other cases, including a purported attack on a residential area and another alleged bombing of a wedding ceremony.

JIATs legal advisor, Lieutenant General Mansour Ahmed Al-Mansour from Bahrain, said the JIATs work in assessing the accidents depends on ensuring the legal aspects of target operations that are compatible with the international law and on using the American and British mechanism to assess accidents in addition to the law of armed conflict.

Whilst the investigation found that coalition forces in Yemen are committed to observing the rules laid down by international conventions on humanitarian law, Mansour also announced that the JIAT would continue to carry out its tasks independently and would publicly announce the results reached.

The conflict began when the Iranian supported Houthi rebels undertook a bloody rebellion against the legitimate Government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and, with the unanimous support of the UN Security Council resolution 2216, an Arab coalition was formed to thwart the rebellion.

Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia

London
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Fu Yuanhui, Chinas Olympic swimmer, has just become an internet sensation. Why? She nonchalantly shattered what many are calling the ultimate sporting taboo by publically discussing her period.

After competing in the women's 4x100m medley relay on Sunday, Yuanhui told a journalist I didn't swim well enough this time, explaining, because my period came yesterday, so I felt particularly tired  but this isn't a reason, I still didn't swim well enough.

This was one small step for Yuanhui but a giant leap for womankind. Because this isnt just a sporting taboo, its a straight up classic taboo. A too much information, keep it to yourself, dont mention that in front of children, taboo.

And yet Yuanhui didnt talk about her period as though she were making a bold, feminist statement. She treated the whole issue of menstruation as a mundane and unavoidable inconvenience. In her mind, it was a hurdle that made her already difficult task that much harder.

Yuanhui spoke about her menstrual cycle in the tone that most teenage girls would use when surreptitiously borrowing a tampon from their best friend midway through a geography lesson God, being forced to study tectonic activity is painful enough, but with these cramps Im just about ready to take up truancy  got a tampon I can borrow?

It is one thing whispering across a desk to a school friend or woman at work who you know well. Most of us have done this at least once. But to translate that candour into a public address to the world while representing ones country is nothing short of a triumph. Keep your Olympic medals; Yuanhui deserves a huge gold, tampon-shaped trophy.

Because periods  after you get over the initial shock of the first one  are totally prosaic occurrences in the lives of most young women, and yet we still seem to find it difficult to openly discuss them as such. If a sanitary towel falls out of my bag, the period taboo means I have to turn the incident into some sort of political statement  Yes, I bleed monthly, deal with it!  though the whole business is so ordinary it feels like anything but.

Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Show all 6 1 /6 Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire Flames can be seen on the hill behind the Deodoro rugby pitch in Rio. Getty Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire The fire started in scrub land near the Deodoro shooting venue. Getty Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire The flames were blown towards the mountain bike centre where action is due to begin this weekend. Getty Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire Smoke can be seen rising from the hills in Rio behind the Deodoro hockey stadium. Getty Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire The smoke continued to rise throughout the evening. Getty Rio Olympics venue damaged by fire Rio fire The fire was eventually weakened by a change of wind direction and heavy rain. Getty

Thats not to say that we should only address the treatment of female menstruation calmly. I am, personally, a massive fan of the idea of breaking into Westminster and leaving large, unsightly, brownish blood stains on every single seat in the House of Commons. I strongly advocate doing this monthly until sanitary products are free on the NHS.

So my point is not dont shout about your period; please bellow away. (I find a good shout can often simultaneously mitigate cramps and help channel menstrual crabbiness.) But we should nevertheless feel very encouraged by the fact that Yuanhui didnt feel the need to shout. She reminded us, without any pointed agenda, about the reality of periods: they might make things difficult, but they sure as hell dont stop us.

For centuries, women have been securing wonderful achievements and never have they been able to say, I nailed that job interview even though I felt like someone was taking the blood pressure of my womb. But they should.

So we must all take a leaf out of Yuanhuis book. Please, lets forget about the patriarchal distaste for menstruation and mention our periods as casually and as frequently as we like. Lets talk about them with family: Could you make the birthday cake chocolate, Nan? I think Im going to be on my period that day. Lets talk about them with partners: Lay down the towels darling, I dont want to stain the Egyptian cotton sheets.

Most importantly, and as Yuanhui has shown us, lets talk about periods publically, openly and without embarrassment.

I think its about time we amended the mantra that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels. From now on, let us say, Women do everything men do, except once a month they do it while in pain with blood pouring out of their vaginas.
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Security services will be breathing a sigh of relief this afternoon, after it was revealed that Anjem Choudary, smooth-talking preacher of hate, has been convicted of supporting Isis  and of encouraging others to do the same. He is likely to be jailed when he appears at the Old Bailey for sentencing next month.

Choudary has been prominent in Britain for two decades, delivering speeches on street corners, in mosques and via the internet, regularly decrying the perceived grotesqueness of the West and calling for Muslims to establish sharia across the world. Notoriously he was given a platform by the BBC and Channel 4 in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby. The media, said Baroness Warsi at the time, has a responsibility not to give airtime to extremist voices.

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Yet Choudary was unquestionably clever with the words he used. For years he teetered along the boundary between freedom of speech and incitement to violence. His frequently expressed hope that one day the flag of Islam would fly over Downing Street was presented as simply a kind of evangelism, a prediction that the religion would eventually be the worlds accepted faith.

Sure enough, the news of his conviction will reignite debate in some quarters over the limits of legitimate speech in this country. Freedom of expression is, of course, protected by law. And when the media came under fire for putting Choudary in front of the camera in 2013, their defence was always that it was important to hear extremist views in order that they can be challenged and deconstructed. There is surely a degree of truth in that. If we condemn Choudary for supposedly removing the ability of young Muslims to think for themselves, how should we react when his supporters contend that by silencing him we are fundamentally hypocritical?

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In the end, though, no right comes wholly without restriction. Where one competes with another, they must be balanced until the scales tip too far in either direction. In Choudarys case, the right to free expression could not extend to support for Isis because backing for  and encouragement of  the violence that group engages in ultimately impinges on the rights of those who wish to live without fear of attack or persecution by its fighters. As soon as Coudhary and his co-defendant, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, made an oath of allegiance to Isis, and pleaded with others to follow suit, the scales were tipped and the police could act.

Jailing a person for words they have spoken ought to trouble anyone who believes in liberal democratic values. Yet to protect those very values it is sometimes necessary to be intolerant of intolerance. Many of those to whom Choudary preached his silver-tongued messages of hatred went to Syria to fight with Isis: in short, he persuaded impressionable young men to kill for a perverted vision of Islam. Ultimately, it feels impossible to ignore the conclusion that jail is the very best place for him.
RURAL HARWOOD  A National Veterans Cemetery to be built near Fargo is being hailed as a tremendous benefit for military veterans and their families in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

The cemetery will be on nearly 5 acres of land just east of Maple Sheyenne Lutheran Church at 4711 40th Ave. N. The area, surrounded by farmland, is north of West Fargo and west of the Sheyenne River.

It is part of a Department of Veterans Affairs effort to make it easier for veterans in rural areas to access a national cemetery.

We owe our veterans so much. Weve been working very hard to get them services near home, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said before an informational meeting with veterans at the church on Monday.

Having a veterans cemetery in the eastern part of the state is so important for our veterans, but also important for our families, he said. We dont want our veterans to have to go a long way from home for their final resting place.

I think its huge, said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. For very many family members, its just too far to travel to Mandan, and the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery there to bury a relative or visit their gravesite, she said.

John Knapp, director of Fort Snelling National Cemetery, will also serve as director for North Dakotas National Cemetery. It will be the first VA national cemetery in the state.

Knapp spent 40 minutes offering a PowerPoint presentation on national cemeteries and answering veterans questions.

Knapp said the timeline calls for bidding on the project to take place in January 2017, with completion in September or October 2018. He did not have a cost estimate available.

This is the second of eight national cemeteries planned to offer greater services to veterans in rural areas with populations of veterans of 25,000 or less. There are about 24,388 veterans within a 75-mile radius of Fargo, Knapp said.

The 3- to 6-acre sites will provide pre-placed crypts, columbarium niches and in-ground burial of cremains. It will also have a memorial plaza, a flag assembly area, roads and parking, decorative fencing, an irrigation system, and electric and water utilities, he said.

Knapp said the cemetery will probably start with about 164 burials in the first year, rising to about 300 in a few years. Still, he said theres room on the site to serve the area for decades.

I think its fantastic. Its long overdue, said. Bob Krause of Fargo, a former North Dakota state commander for the American Legion. We just need something in this part of the state.

I think its a great idea. We dont have to travel to Mandan, said Terry Richardson, commander of the United Patriotic Bodies.

Lonnie Wangen, commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs, said the small cemetery concept has been in the works since 2011. He said its great that we got picked right out of the gate for the VA pilot project.

I think its a wonderful idea, especially in this area, said Bill Tuff of West Fargo, who is the commander of North Dakota Veterans of Foreign Wars. It probably will be used very readily and very often.

Standing by the plowed patch of land for the cemetery, Jake Gust, who sold it to the VA, wore the flight suit he used in the Air Force as a navigator for refueling tankers.

I felt it was going to be a good use of this land, Gust said.

The pastor of Maple Sheyenne Lutheran, the Rev. Nichole Johnson, said church members are excited.

Johnson said cemetery area has never flooded in the churchs 138-year-history.

We just want to be good neighbors. I think its important and a good cause, Johnson said.
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Every faith likes to keep its adherents, though no respectable one would use coercion to do so  but has one particular group crossed over a red line and gone too far?

This may apply to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group in Stamford Hill, North London, which has launched a 1m fund under the banner of Rescue the Children. It is designed to fight child custody battles involving parents who wish to leave the community, integrate into wider society and take their children with them.

Though many would say that faith is a voluntary activity, entirely a matter of personal choice, that is not a view shared by ultra-Orthodox groups. This applies whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh or Hindu; what they share as Orthodox believers is the same approach of seeing their version of faith as the only truth.

It means, therefore, that every other variation is wrong  be it a different denomination within that same faith, or those of another faith, or those of no religious belief system at all. For many of them, the stakes are even higher; not just a contrast between right and wrong, but a cosmic battle between good and evil.

There is also a strategic motive, for all ultra-Orthodox circles depend on group pressure and resistance to the outer world as a means of keeping the faithful in check. The outside is painted as degenerate and mired in unhappiness. If members of the group see that some not only leave, but go on to lead happy and successful lives outside the group, it is a massive blow, both to the attempts to maintain that sense of internal discipline, and to the depiction of wider society as a place to fear.

The creation of Rescue the Children in the Orthodox Jewish community is in line with that aggressive policy of maintaining the fortress mentality. The threat that a person may gain their own freedom at the cost of losing their children is designed to strongly dissuade would-be Leavers from considering such a step.

Still, the existence of the campaign is an admission that the ultra-Orthodox community does face dissension within its ranks and fears that those leaving are a trend rather than isolated incidents.

However, the move is contrary to mainstream Jewish ethics. The rabbis of old have a well-known expression: Everything is in the hands of Heaven, except the fear of Heaven. Jewish thinking has always understood this to mean that while God is the all-powerful creator and revealer, God cannot control what people think. If they chose to believe or not believe, observe tradition or transgress it, they have the ability to do so. Freewill is crucial to both Jewish life and to the human condition.

Perhaps this is the distinction between a faith and a cult. Whereas they have many similarities, a key difference is the level of control exercised by the hierarchy over followers and whether they have the right to leave the group if they so wish.

When a Jewish friend of mine told me she was thinking of becoming a Christian we talked over the issues, covering her own spiritual needs and the impact conversion might have on her family.

I had to be honest and say that the rabbis had always had a tolerant attitude to other faiths, providing they had a moral basis, as we do not hold there is one exclusive route to God. If she had explored her roots but no longer felt Judaism could offer her anything meaningful and she had now found a religious home elsewhere, that was better than her remaining Jewish unhappily.

Stamford Hill, please take note.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue
July turned out to be a particularly busy month for me this year. First off it was a case of out with the old and in with the new as far as my cattle slats were concerned.

Having being built in the early 1970s, my shed with its low eves and narrow feeding passageway posed a major challenge to anyone trying to replace the slats. However thanks to the amazing problem solving ability and hard work of the crew involved, everything went smoothly with the minimum amount of disruption to both the yard and shed.

Just as soon as we had finished laying the new slats my annual herd test fell due, so the pressure was on to replace the barriers and side shutters next to the yard in order to get all the cattle in together. As luck would have it this challenge also had a happy outcome with the herd passing the test, which of course is a great relief to any farmer.

Next up was second-cut silage and in spite of the changeable weather luck was again on my side with the grass going in nice and dry, which resulted in little or no seepage from the pit. It turned out to be a good heavy crop, so hopefully it will be sufficient to compensate for the disappointing first cut.

I also had good news about my little 10 year old C4 van, which has nearly 200,000 miles on the clock - it also passed its DOE test with flying colours.

While other sectors in farming are benefiting from emergency EU funding to ameliorate their current difficulties, it appears that once again cattle farmers are simply being thrown to the wolves.

Is it that cattle farmers are just too meek and so find themselves being totally ignored? Perhaps the time has come to take a leaf from another sector's book by becoming quite vociferous and defiant when incomes are threatened. Continually playing the best boy in the class appears to have achieved little more than hasten the cattle sector's extinction.

All we need now is another pretentious farming guru telling us how to get rich fattening cattle. It's about time that these types were told once and for all what to do with their 'increased output!' and 'gross margins'. They should be politely encouraged to join the real world where actual farm income (net profit) is the only figure that counts.

We've all heard the old saying about the glass being half full or half empty, but people's opinions seem to be divided about the weather this summer.

For some the sporadic spells of beautiful fine weather were seen as a half full grass while the numerous wet spells convinced the rest that the glass is half empty.

However, as a farmer who relies solely on grass for feed, the proverbial glass has been nicely full all summer. With both heat and moisture in good supply, overall growing conditions have been quite good. It did slow down a bit in mid July but at the moment it appears to be taking off again.

With all the recent market volatility it is difficult to know whether it would be better to move cattle or wait a while in the hope of things settling down. My best cattle appear to be quite fleshy so I'll probably try to get a load away in the next week or two and then at least I'll know where I stand.

On a happier note I paid a very enjoyable visit to the recent RDS horse show in Ballsbridge. What a great event it was and what a spectacle with its myriad of classes for what must have been thousands of entries. It was a real case of rural Ireland meets the leafy suburbs with 'Foxrock fillies' mingling freely with farmers from as far away as Farranfore and beyond.

Perhaps it's a sign of the times, but I also found it quite uplifting to see a very prominent Kildare cattle farmer chatting happily with 'The Princess Royal' as they watched the 'Nations Cup' on Friday. I wonder if he used the opportunity to discuss the effect that Brexit was having on the cattle trade over here - probably not!

It really was an amazing display of beautifully presented horses, who were such a credit to their owners, participating in the many events which were run with amazing military precision. Full marks must go to all the hardworking RDS staff involved.

A big well done must also go to the legions of judges and stewards; the gentlemen resplendent in their bowlers and the ladies in their colourfully bedecked straw hats, who performed their highly important duties with such aptitude and aplomb.

John Heney farms in Kilfeacle, Co Tipperary
By virtue of the billions that have been spent on trying to eradicate TB, badgers are now one of the best studied animals in the country.

Scientists have tracked their every move in an effort to understand the creature's role in the spread of TB.

Some of the results have been startling. One badger, nicknamed Ray by researchers, emerged from his sett one evening at 9pm only to embark upon an impressive 12.5km trip that saw him covering up to 5km per hour before he returned to his home six hours later.

Another badger called Olivia rachetted up a massive 180km in 11 weeks that brought it into several different social groupings and indeed, different counties.

On average, researchers found that males confine themselves to three to four farms per year, and travel no more than 2km per night. Despite popular belief, the studies also indicated that badgers actively avoided farmyards.

Ireland has a dense badger population compared to international averages, with the ready availability of ideal habitats such as hedges, which is in complete contrast with vast tracts of Continental Europe and the US.

However, scientists are also convinced that we do not need to eradicate badgers to eradicate TB. Instead, they believe that it needs to be reduced to a 'threshold' level that would allow healthy badgers to co-exist with the 6.5m strong cattle herd.

While deer have also featured in relation to TB, especially in certain parts of Wicklow, scientists believe that it is the badger that is driving disease levels in the wild.
Government and grain merchants have been warned that the grain sector is on the verge of collapse as the combination of poor yields and prices looks set to wipe 100m off cereal grower incomes this year.

Cereal growers are being instructed by the IFA to reject a forward price from Glanbia, who were told by the farm organisation to "get real" this week.

Glanbia have offered 162/t for dried wheat and 152/t for dried barley. The deal, which is for payment in November, was communicated to growers via text message over the last few days.

However, IFA grain chairman, Liam Dunne, said the proposed payment did not reflect recent developments in global cereals markets and was totally unacceptable.

"Glanbia need to get real on grain prices, be supportive of growers, and back this industry or else we won't have one," Mr Dunne insisted.

He said there were clear indications that the collapse in French grain yields would have a greater impact on world markets than previously believed.

Mr Dunne predicted that global markets would bounce back when the implications of the poor harvest in the France and Western Europe generally were fully appreciated.

The French cereal harvest is estimated to be back by 16m tonnes, with private analysts predicting a 26pc drop in wheat production from last year.

Cereal production forecasts for Germany, Britain and Poland have also been downgraded in recent days by anywhere from 12pc to 15pc.

Speaking at a press briefing this week, Philippe Pinta, a French grain farming leader said: "The situation is very serious. I've never known anything like this before. Yields are down for the majority. The big cereal-growing regions of the Ile-de-France and Centre-Val-de-Loire have been particularly affected."

However, bumper yields across Bulgaria and Romania, and into the Black Sea Region of Ukraine and Russia, have dented the possibility of grain prices recovering in the short-term.

But experienced traders suspect prices have bottomed out and argue that there is potential for some uplift as a clearer picture emerges of where overall EU production lies.

In Britain spot feed wheat prices jumped by 3.80/t (4.50/t) last week to 113.80/t (134/t) ex-farm, on the back of poor harvest reports from the continent.

However, the talk from North America is very different. FC Stone has forecast US maize and soya bean production this autumn to hit record levels of over 380m tonnes and 110m tonnes respectively.

On the home front, poor weather delayed completion of the winter barley harvest particularly in the northern part of the country.

Winter oat yields range from 2.7t to 3.5t/ac. Some spring malting barley was cut over the weekend but not enough to give a handle on yield or protein trends.

Liam Dunne said without political intervention the tillage sector was in "imminent danger of collapse with major implications for the entire livestock sector and our world-renowned drinks industry".

He claims that cereal area has fallen here by 100,000ac in the last four years due to steadily declining prices during the same period.

He called on the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to immediately convene a meeting of all stakeholders to secure a commitment from them to use native grains and support the industry.

In addition to the abolition of tariffs and duties on fertilisers, the IFA is also seeking a review by the EU Competition Authority on the cost of sprays, access to low-cost loans, increased Glas and TAMS payments, more funding for protein crops, and simpler Greening rules.
Ireland must support the growing of bio-energy crops such as miscanthus and willow to avoid annual EU fines of up to 95m.

Paddy O'Toole of Quinns of Baltinglass warned that the State was likely to miss challenging EU renewable energy targets and faced massive penalties from Brussels as a consequence.

He said growing crops such as miscanthus could, however, offset EU fines while delivering a margin to farmers of 500/ha, which is comparable to the tillage sector.

Mr O'Toole called on the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, to immediately introduce and implement an incentive scheme which encourages the changeover from gas oil to renewable energy fuels such as miscanthus.

Based on expert analysis Ireland faces annual fines of over 95m if the State fails to deliver 16pc of its heat, transport and electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.

At a recent Teagasc bio-energy conference it was predicted by SEAI that Ireland would miss this 16pc cut-off, with a resultant penalty of between 65m to 130m imposed by the EU for every 1pc the State is below the target.

The overall 16pc target is comprised of three individual targets for electricity, transport and heat.

The renewable threshold for heat is 12pc, and Barry Caslin of Teagasc, described this as the "hardest nut to crack".

"The shortfall to achieving 12pc renewable heat target is estimated by SEAI to be 1-2pc of the overall national target of a 16pc cut," Mr Caslin explained.

Ireland could opt instead to purchase carbon credits on the international markets to offset any potential fine.

However, Mr Caslin said massive benefits were possible if the potential value of the fine were used to develop supply chain mechanisms around renewable energy crops.

"This fine could be offset by using 560,000t of miscanthus," he explained.

Paddy O'Toole of Quinns in Baltinglass claimed that 4,000ha of miscanthus could realistically result in a 50m reduction in EU fines.

He said Quinns currently had 9,000t of miscanthus in big bales stored across the southeast, which if used instead of oil would reduce any penalty imposed on Ireland by around 4m.

Bord na Mona recently informed Quinns that Edenderry Power Station would no longer use miscanthus as a replacement for peat. However, Mr O'Toole pointed out that a number of businesses in the southeast were successfully using the crop as a fuel source.

Growers are currently paid 60/t for miscanthus. With 12.5t/ha possible on good ground, this gives a potential income of 750/ha. Sprays, fertiliser and establishment costs spread over 10 years (allowing for an initial grant of 1,300/ha) come to around 250/ha, leaving a margin of 500/ha.

However, Mr O'Toole said a subsidy of 4c/kWh would put a value of 100/t on miscanthus for the grower.

It would also make sense for the Government, he argued, as a 4,000ha crop producing 12.5t/ha annually would cost 5m per year but potentially save the State 22m a year in fines.

He added that any subsidy regime should ensure that smaller heating units used in the pig, poultry and mushroom sectors also qualified for aid.
Irish people are upbeat about their current economic situation, according to a new survey published by the EU.

When asked about the financial situation of their households, 77pc of Irish respondents replied that it was good, a figure well above the EU average.

In addition, 70pc of Irish people said that their current employment situation was good, which was also above the EU average of 58pc. The eurostat survey also revealed that Irish citizens are much more positive about the prospects for the economy than their EU counterparts, with 42pc of people here saying they believed the economic situation would improve over the next 12 months.

Irish people also said they thought that employment would continue to grow over the coming year, with 45pc forecasting an improvement, while 41pc said it was likely to remain the same.

However, the study was carried out prior to the EU referendum in the UK. Since the vote, there's been a clear dip in Eurozone consumer confidence.

When asked what were the two most pressing concerns for the country, housing and health featured most prominently in the survey.

The issue of housing was viewed as one of the most important by 45pc of people, while health and social security concerns were viewed as one of the key concerns for 37pc.

Concerns about the housing question in the country are reflected by the comparison with other EU states, with housing seen as an important issue for just 8pc of people in other member states.

Irish people are much more confident that the economic crisis is over; 71pc of respondents believing the worst had already been seen.

Other Europeans are more pessimistic; 47pc of people across the continent think the worst has still to come.

The euro remains popular among the Irish, with 80pc of people supporting the single currency.

In fact, 56pc of Irish people believe that the euro is best thing to have emerged from the European Union.

Conversely, just 20pc of Irish people believe that the economic power of the EU is the best thing to have emerged from the union, which was close to the overall EU figure of 18pc.

When asked about the possibility of a free trade deal with the US, Irish people were overwhelmingly in favour of a pact, with 70pc of people saying they would be supportive.

Only 51pc of fellow EU respondents indicated they would be supportive of the measure.

There has been widespread concern about the prospect of the Transatlantic Trade and Innovation Partnership (TTIP) agreement, with critics arguing the deal will erode national sovereignty for the benefit of global corporations. In general, Irish people are more likely to trust EU institutions more than other countries, with 44pc of people here saying they tend to trust EU institutions, compared to just 33pc across Europe. A majority of EU citizens are sceptical about the institutions, with 55pc of Europeans saying they tend not to trust them. In Ireland, 38pc of people expressed reservations about the institutions.

In a worrying statistic for politicians here, we have more confidence in the EU parliament than in the Oireachtas. Just 29pc of Irish people have confidence in the Dail,the survey found.
Ireland's trade surplus expanded by more than a fifth in June, as exports increased by 5pc, but imports tumbled 8pc.

Latest official data shows that goods exports jumped 412m in the month to 9.55bn, while imports dropped by 412m to 5.1bn.

This led to the trade surplus rising by 826m to 4.5bn.

Davy economist Conall Mac Coille said the trade figures look encouraging, but when pharmaceuticals are stripped out, exports are up just 1.2pc in the first half of the year.

"This outcome chimes with manufacturing PMI surveys, suggesting sterling's weakness, uncertainty on Brexit and weaker global manufacturing are weighing on exports," Mr Mac Coille said.

"So we still expect net trade to make a smaller contribution to Irish GDP growth through 2016 and 2017."

The EU accounted for the bulk of total goods exports last year, followed by Belgium and Britain. The US was the main non-EU destination.

Alan McQuaid of Merrion Stockbrokers said the data was better than expected.

But he said Brexit was the big unknown, with business confidence dented following the vote.

"However, the trade data for the first half of the year were quite positive, though we expect to see a slowdown in activity in the second half of 2016."

"One can only speculate as to how Brexit will impact Ireland in the coming months and years, but there is likely to be a negative impact on trade."

Mr McQuaid said that while the UK accounts for up to 17pc of Irish exports, "30pc of all employment is in sectors which are heavily related to UK exports".
Sterling hit a new three-year low against the euro yesterday, placing further pressure on Irish exporters.

The pound traded above 87 pence to the euro for a short period - for the first time since August 2013 - before dipping below it again.

Hard economic data for July is due to be released this week, giving the first indications of how the Brexit vote is impacting on the UK economy.

Meanwhile, Ulster Bank parent Royal Bank of Scotland would move its main office from Scotland if the country were to split from the UK after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, although moving would not mean major job losses, the bank's head has said.

"The Royal Bank of Scotland would just be too big for the economy, but that's around the plaque and not about where our people (are) because we have a very big business up here in Scotland," chief executive Ross McEwan told the BBC. "We will have the people in the right place, moving the plaque won't make any difference to that."

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to find ways to honour Scotland's vote to stay in the European Union, which was at odds with the overall vote in Britain to leave the bloc. As part of that she said is not ruling out holding a second independence referendum. Less than two years ago Scots voted to stay in the UK by 55pc to 45pc.

Royal Bank of Scotland has been based in Scotland since 1727 and employs 11,000 staff. In the wake of Britain's vote to exit the EU, there has been debate about the impact of Brexit on the financial services sector, which is key for Scottish jobs. Asked what his advice to Ms Sturgeon would be, Mr McEwan said: "Take account of uncertainty, that's what you're seeing after Brexit. It's uncertainty that slows markets down, make sure the long game is worth it, but that's going to be up to the people of Scotland."

Meanwhile, reacting to weekend press reports that a Brexit would not occur until late 2019, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was throwing the full weight of government behind her goal of winning the best Brexit deal for Britain but reiterated that she will not trigger the formal divorce procedure before the end of the year.

"The Prime Minister is providing the kind of leadership you would expect to confront this serious and very complex task," the spokesman said.

"Article 50 notification won't happen before the end of 2016," the spokesman added. (Reuters)
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is helping to bankroll the construction of five new schools being built in Ireland under a public-private partnership programme.

UK firm InspiredSpaces, which won one of the contracts to build a number of new schools here, has secured the finance from the bank.

The InspiredSpaces unit that won the contract is a 50-50 joint venture between UK firm Carillion and Dutch Infrastructure Fund.

InspiredSpaces was named last December by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), part of the National Treasury Management Agency, as the preferred bidder for the so-called 'bundle five' of schools .

The schools are being built under public-private partnerships (PPPs) by the Department of Education and Skills.

Those five school projects will deliver almost 5,000 pupil spaces. The deal was finalised with the NDFA last month as InspiredSpaces secured the project finance from the London-based arm of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

The InspiredSpaces joint venture is investing a total of 9m (10.4m) of equity in the project.

Carillion will undertake the construction and fit-out, and deliver support services over the 27-year concession period.

The projects is expected to generate around 190m (219m) in revenue to Carillion over its lifetime.

The NDFA has already delivered 18 schools under the PPPs programme, and bundles four and five will see an additional nine schools in total built. They will provide a total of about 20,000 student spaces.

The NDFA is the statutory financial adviser and procurement authority on the public-private partnership component of the government stimulus programme.

Inspired Spaces is building the five schools at locations around the country.

They include a replacement primary school in Wexford to cater for 900 pupils; the combination of two existing primary schools in Wicklow; another primary school in Kells, Co Meath, for 800 pupils; and the Tyndall College Campus in Carlow, which will cater for 2,000 secondary and further education students.

Inspired Spaces has built a large number of schools throughout the UK.
Money that was put aside to pay for future pensions was swallowed up to rescue the banks.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund was put in place to pay for future State pensions and the pensions of public servants. But the head of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, Jerry Moriarty, said the State ended up raiding it to bail out the banks.

Mr Moriarty said that this left the Exchequer vulnerable, as the State pension is not funded in advance.

Instead, he said, the State is now using current taxation and current PRSI (pay related social insurance) contributions to pay for it.

"That's already running at a deficit," Mr Moriarty told Keelin Shanley on RTE Radio 1.

"We've got an ageing population, so we are going to have a lot more people relying on the State pension in the coming years and a lot fewer taxpayers."

The number of people in Ireland aged 65 and over will increase by almost 300,000 over the course of the next 10 years, from 570,000 in 2013 to 855,000 in 2026.

By 2055, just two people will be working to support every pensioner. This is down from about five today, according to Central Statistics Office projections.

Mr Moriarty added: "We had taken steps with the National Pensions Reserve Fund, where we were putting money aside. But that got used up to bail out the banks."

A report published in May concluded that the current State pension system is unsustainable.

Commissioned by the Society of Actuaries, it recommended cutting the pension payment, reducing future increases or restricting who qualifies for it.
Workers have been warned that they face a massive shortfall in the level of pensions they are set to get in retirement.

The warning came as it emerged that the average worker only has enough in their private pension fund to give them a weekly income of 60 - that's 8.50 a day.

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The head of the State's pensions regulator said that expectations around retirement income were unrealistic.

Chairman of the Pensions Authority David Begg said that what people expect to receive in retirement income was way out of line with what they will actually get.

He said too few workers had pensions and many of those that have a private pension in place were putting too little into it.

Mr Begg's comments come as research shows that the average person has only put enough into their pension to give them a weekly income of 60, excluding the State pension.

Yet half of people want to retire to live in the sun or by the sea. But the average person has only enough in their pension pot to give them a retirement income of 3,000 a year, according to new research by the pensions and investment firm Standard Life.

This is unlikely to allow them to realise their dreams of retiring to a seaside villa in Spain.

Most people opted for a figure of 31,000 when asked how much they would need a year to retire and live comfortably, according to the survey of 1,000 people commissioned by Standard Life.

But the average amount saved in private pensions is only enough to give an annual income of just one-tenth of this - 3,000 a year. This excludes the State contributory pension of close to 12,000 a year for those who qualify for it.

The number of people saving in a pension scheme, sometimes called a supplementary pension, has fallen since the financial collapse. Just 47pc of those who are in employment save towards a pension.

Retirement

But once the public sector is excluded, some six out of 10 workers have no supplementary pension coverage, according to the 'Fuller Working Lives' report issued by the Government last week.

Head of the Pension Authority David Begg yesterday warned that the numbers of people in a pension scheme was falling, while many of those who were in schemes could expect a small retirement income.

"A lot of people have expectations about what they will get when they retire which will not necessarily be met," he told RTE's 'Today With Sean O'Rourke' programme.

He said poor investment returns, low annuity rates and high charges meant that someone with 100,000 saved into a retirement fund could only expect between 3,000 and 5,000 a year in retirement from this.

The former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, who took over a chairman of the Pensions Authority at the start of the year, said more people would have to be encouraged into saving for their retirement.

He warned that various reports had found that the State pension of 233 a week was unlikely to be kept at this level due to the future swelling of the ranks of the retired.

Standard Life's John McInerney said people had high expectations for their retirement, but they needed to save adequately for it.

He said: "My advice is to calculate how much you need to buy your house in the sun and how much income you need to live on comfortably. Sit down with a financial adviser and work out how much you need to save."
Specsavers wants to trademark the word 'should've' which it uses heavily in its advertising

Rival opticians might have seen it coming but high street glasses chain Specsavers has applied to trademark the words shouldve and shouldve in an attempt to protect its slogan.

The companys advertising features topical events or people finding themselves in embarrassing situations because they have forgotten their glasses accompanied by the words Shouldve gone to Specsavers.

If the application is successful it could mean the international optician chain can block other companies from using the world in their advertising  potentially taking a common word out of the advertising lexicon.

Privately held Specsavers - which was launched in 1984 by husband and wife team Doug and Mary Perkins and now has 1,750 stores in 10 countries turning over 1.5bn a year  started using the slogan in 2003.

Since then it has run hundreds of adverts under the catchphrase, and earlier this year recruited John Cleese to reprise his role as Basil Fawlty, who famously gave a damn good thrashing to his Austin 1100 car with a tree branch when it broke down in the sitcom Fawlty Towers.

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In the updated version, his lack of glasses saw the comedian launching a frenzied attack on a police car that had been called to the scene.

Documents from the UK Intellectual Property Office show Specsavers applied for the trademarks on July 18. The body approved the application and there is now a two-month waiting period to allow third parties to object.

The application has raised eyebrows among legal experts.

Tania Clark, partner and trade mark attorney at intellectual property firm, Withers & Rogers, said: It is surprising the Office has accepted this trademark for a single word, which is a verb in common usage.

While such registrations are not impossible to obtain, it means that the retailer could soon have the right to exclude others from using shouldve or shouldve when communicating about certain classes of goods, including optician services, medical hearing aids and eyewear.

This monopoly right could make life extremely difficult for rivals.

The legal expert also warned that it could encourage other companies to try to secure trademarks on words.

We would expect more brand owners to try to obtain a registration for a single word used in their advertising or marketing campaigns in the future. After all, the ability to exclusively own the right to use a commonly-used word in your communications activity is an incredibly powerful marketing tool.

Brewer Carlsberg set a precedent more than 20 years ago when it successfully registered the world probably as a trademark, having used it extensively in its Probably the best lager in the world advertising strapline.

This is not the first time Specsavers has turned to the law to protect its image. In 2009 Asda relaunched its optician business with a green logo that looked similar to Specsavers, and the retailer giant also used the slogans Be a real spec saver at Asda and Spec savings at Asda.

Specsavers sued for on a range of grounds including trademark infringement and passing off, a battle which it largely won  but not before a five-year legal fight and the involvement of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Specsavers was not available to comment.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A new social network that aims to appeal to teenagers disillusioned with Facebook is expanding to Europe after securing 18m in backing.

Founded by Gareth Evans, an entrepreneur who sold his PR firm to ad giant Omnicom in 2011, Yubl lets members create posts that other users can interact with, such as suggesting dinner locations or voting between different outfits.

The app, which launched in the UK earlier this year, enters a crowded space for social networks but hopes to attract young users looking for an alternative to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Facebook, in particular, has been plagued by reports that teenagers have fallen out of love with it as the websites seismic growth has seen it infiltrated by their parents.

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Yubl allows users to take photos or write messages, as most other social apps do, but adds interactive buttons such as votes or their location. It has attracted 200,000 monthly users, which it says is faster than Snapchat at the same time, and has been downloaded 500,000 times. It plans to launch in 30 European countries in October.

Mr Evans said the company has raised just over 16m from a number of private investors but was targeting a new funding round in the coming months that would see it raise tens of millions.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Scandinavian airline Norwegian has paid a total of over $1m to a high-profile Washington lobby firm and a former senior civil servant with the US Department of State in its efforts to secure a US permit for its Dublin-based subsidiary, according to figures seen by the Irish Independent.

Norwegian Air Shuttle's Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (NAI), has been pressing US authorities to issue it a permit to enable it to fly to America from Europe.

Aviation unions in America opposed to NAI's plans have also made donations totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars to US politicians who are fighting their case against the carrier in Washington.

The payments by Norwegian Air Shuttle were made between 2014 and 2016 amid a background of intense lobbying for and against the Irish subsidiary's plans to operate flights from Europe to the United States under the Open Skies deal.

NAI has been trying to secure a permit to fly from Europe to the US for over two years.

The US Department of Transportation indicated in April that it intended to grant the permit, but the process has since stalled.

The EU has warned the US that the failure to issue the permit could damage wider trade relations between them.

US aviation unions claim that NAI only wants to use Ireland as a base to circumvent more stringent labour laws in Norway, something it and Norwegian Air Shuttle have consistently denied.

NAI wants to launch routes including services from Cork to Boston and New York. Dozens of companies, organisations and high-profile individuals in Ireland had submitted letters of support for NAI's plan to the US Department of Transportation.

In the US, many aviation unions have opposed NAI, although many airports there have voiced their support for the Ireland-based carrier.

Filings collated by the Centre for Responsive Politics in the US show that Norwegian Air Shuttle paid $450,000 in lobbying fees in 2014. That included $360,000 to Washington-based public relations firm Prime Policy Group, and $90,000 to John Byerly.

Mr Byerly is a former deputy assistant secretary for transportation affairs at the US State Department. In 2015, Norwegian paid $360,000 to Prime Group and $60,000 to Mr Byerly.

So far this year, Prime Group has been paid $180,000, and Mr Byerly has received $40,000 from Norwegian. Mr Byerly also has also lobbied on issues in the US on behalf of Emirates.

Prime Policy Group is among the biggest lobby firms in Washington DC. It's a unit of London-based global advertising giant WPP. Prime Policy's clients include companies and organisations such as GlaxoSmithkline, Airbus and the National Rifle Association.

So far this year, the firm has raked in at least $4.5m in lobbying fees. Last year, its figure was just over $10m.

"The unique nature of the US political and legal system mean that Norwegian employs a law firm and advisors in Washington to advise on key political and legal matters - this is common practice among large organisations operating in the US," said a spokesman for Norwegian.

He added: "Their work includes advising on Norwegian's applications to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and in communicating NAI's legitimate right for a foreign carrier permit - a fact clearly acknowledged in the DoT's tentative approval of NAI earlier this year."

He said that no other lobbyist payments have been made by the airline in the US or Europe.
The scene can be found in almost every major U.S. city: a panhandler stands on a street corner holding a sign saying, Need a job. But one U.S. mayor decided to try something different  by taking them up on the offer and give the person a job

One year ago Berry started a campaign to curb panhandling, called Theres a Better Way. The goal of the campaign is to give panhandlers a chance at a change in life and provide caring members of our community with a better way to donate their money.

When Im out in the community, Im frequently asked about the rise in panhandling and people are concerned, said Richard Berry, mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico. People give money because they are compassionate, but dont have the benefit of certainty to know where that money is going.

According to the Washington Post, a key part of the program is hiring panhandlers for day jobs beautifying the city:



In partnership with a local nonprofit that serves the homeless population, a van is dispatched around the city to pick up panhandlers who are interested in working. The job pays $9 an hour, which is above minimum wage, and provides a lunch. At the end of the shift, the participants are offered overnight shelter as needed. In less than a year since its start, the program has given out 932 jobs clearing 69,601 pounds of litter and weeds from 196 city blocks. And more than 100 people have been connected to permanent employment. You can just see the spiral theyve been on to end up on the corner. Sometimes it takes a little catalyst in their lives to stop the downward spiral, to let them catch their breath, and its remarkable, Berry said in an interview. Theyve had the dignity of work for a day; someone believed in them today.

Several scholars and activists who focus on poverty have praised the program, notes Israel Ortega of Opportunity Lives. Dr. Bob Woodson, founder and president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, an organization dedicated to helping community and faith based organizations transform lives, schools and troubled neighborhoods, told Opportunity Lives, the mayors plan sounds promising because it is not promoting charity, but instead creating the opportunity to work.

Thats important, Woodson added, because its a really good way to determine which people are truly homeless because they lack some form of character deficit preventing them from working and contributing to society.

Dozens of cities around the country have reached out to Berry wanting to copy the program, says the Washington Post. Its helping hundreds of people, says Berry, and our city is more beautiful than ever.
"Trying to make the decision is hard, because what it means in practical terms for my life, our lives, is pretty grim," says Joanne Ryan on motherhood

'We had to do this exercise where we had to stand up and, off the cuff, talk about things we're afraid of or angry about for one minute. So I did my minute. At the very end, they said 'time's up', and I said '. . . and I don't know whether or not I should have a baby'. The room just went quiet, and I said 'I don't know where that came from, but that's the question'."

Actress Joanne Ryan - shortlisted for an Irish Times Theatre Award for best leading actress in 2014 for her role in What Happened Bridgie Cleary - is talking about the genesis of her new show Eggsistentialism, a one-woman examination of whether or not to have a baby, with all the many and myriad considerations that wait upon that decision.

As she says herself, this is very much a personal, comedic journey through the last nearly-two-years of her life, but it is also an examination of the social and political structure within which we all live, explaining: "On the one hand, it's just about me and my decision, on the other, it's politically and socially fraught. The more I thought about it, the more complex the question became."

Joanne admits she is "not great at decision-making anyway . . . I tend to over-analyse, over-think myself into a quandary" (although she is later at pains to clarify "I'm making myself sound like a lunatic now and I'm not; I quite enjoy analysing things, I don't have any anxiety problems"), but here, she is far from exaggerating the impact of the choices in front of her.

"The thing that really strikes me about this decision is it's so final," she says. "If I decide not to, that's it. If I decide to, there's no going back. You can't un-have the child. It's not a house or a car, or a relationship that you can end. It's an intense decision."

But let's go backwards a bit, to the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick almost two years ago, which is where - as part of a four-month theatre incubation scheme - Joanne first blurted out that fateful question. Did she know, before she said the words, that the issue was so much on her mind?

"In hindsight, maybe a bit, but I didn't know I was going to say it," she says. "The course coincided with my 35th birthday, which is sort of a loaded day. At that age we're told it's the point of decline for fertility. It's the cliff edge. At that point I didn't feel any different, mentally or physically, than I had 10 years previously, but I was being told I had to figure this thing out, and I didn't know what the answer was at all."

Add to that the fact that Joanne's father had died a short time before, the very week she had been due to move to Dublin from Limerick to pursue stand-up comedy and writing.

"I had accommodation sorted, a part-time acting job to pay the bills, and my father died very suddenly. That put the kibosh on everything," she recalls.

And so, she says, the idea of children "had been percolating. I feel it had been partially triggered by my dad dying, because you become more aware of your own mortality when you lose a parent."

Simple awareness, however, was not - could not - be enough to make the decision easy. So how did she feel?

"Terrible," she says. "It was really stressful."

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She says this with a big laugh, although she clearly means what she said. Throughout the interview, Joanne - who is thoughtful, careful as well as hilarious, and analytical in what she says - goes off into occasional peals of laughter that nearly double her up. It's an infectious laugh, deep and raucous, but it doesn't in any way take away from the seriousness of what she says. The show has a similar dynamic. Despite the fundamental gravity of the question, it is full of fun.

"I did some wacky stuff," Joanne says. "I went to fortune-tellers as well as fertility clinics." So what did the fortune-teller say? "The reason I went is because I thought 'maybe I know the answer to this already. Maybe I have a gut feeling and I'm over-thinking it'. So if the fortune teller told me I'd have a child, I might have an emotional reaction - relief, excitement, disappointment - and then I might figure out what I really felt," she explains, before adding "it didn't work".

So, what insight did she gain? "She told me 'don't pick up anything heavy, you might put out your back', and 'tell your mother to get a pair of wide-fitting, comfortable shoes, she might have an ingrown toenail'. You actually couldn't make it up," she roars laughing.

And the fertility clinics? "The difficulty increases with every passing year. Forty was the number that really came up - it gets much trickier after that," she says. "I did get my eggs counted early on, because I thought 'maybe I'm wasting my time, and the decision had already been made for me by nature'. But it hadn't. I was completely average, so back to square one!"

At this stage, I have to ask - what about a partner? Was this soul-searching happening within the context of a relationship?

"My boyfriend, Rob, and I had just met," Joanne tells me, adding, "the day I had to tell him, 'I'm trying to figure this out . . .' we had been together a couple of months, at most." At this stage, she's laughing so hard that no more words come out, but I can imagine.

"We met on Tinder, he was my first date on Tinder. I took a break from men for about a year after my dad died, then went on my first date, and we're still together," she says. "So I had to tell him about this nuts stuff, and that I was thinking of writing a show about it, which was even more nuts. And he took it very well. He brought a lot to it. He said 'it's really interesting, it's important - people don't talk about it and it's a thing'. Also, for him, as a man, he didn't have the same time pressures as me, but he still had to make the decision. And he didn't know what he wanted to do either, so he said 'maybe the show will help me too'."

There is, she says "so much shame still around being able to reproduce. It feels that we haven't caught up socially to where we are demographically. It's estimated now that one fifth of young Irish women will never become mothers, and that's an increasingly legitimate choice, but there are no positive role models represented in the media."

Instead, we agree, there is the same old two-hander: prurient interest in whether or not certain celebrities are pregnant, along with the sneery assumption that no woman's life, no matter how successful, can be complete without children.

So does Joanne feel that her generation have been sold a pup? Encouraged to be ambitious, work hard, forge a career - then berated for not having children earlier, for leaving it 'too late'?

"Yes, absolutely," she says. "There's a bit in the show where I look at what would happen if I was to get pregnant tomorrow, and me and Rob were to have a baby," she adds. "Only since a couple of weeks ago, he'd be entitled to two weeks' paternity leave. The State would give 230 a week to him for those two weeks, and that's it. That's the end of it. Men are not, culturally and Constitutionally, supported to parent their children in this country."

She mentions a recent, shocking report into unpaid childcare and who does it, carried out by the Overseas Development Institute. Out of 37 countries surveyed, including Iraq and Algeria, Ireland finished last, with 93pc of childcare done by women, as compared with Sweden, where the split is 63:37 female-male.

"I knew things were bad," says Joanne, "but the split . . . I'll get emotional talking about it, because I find it upsetting."

Sure enough, she is visibly moved by the enormity of the battle, falling momentarily silent, before saying: "I'm kind of speechless, still. Trying to make the decision is hard, because what it means in practical terms for my life, our lives, is pretty grim. I'm an artist and a theatre-maker so, unsurprisingly, Rob makes more money than me - it wouldn't be difficult. I see my friends with babies, and it's hard enough already without having to also be a professional and creative trail-blazer."

Joanne's mother appears as a character within the show, in recordings and clips taken from conversations the pair have had.

"In the show, she's passing remarks on everything - she's a very Irish mother, pass-remarkable - but she's also the generational link. She's interesting and, I hesitate to use the word eccentric, but she was quite ahead of her time. At my age, she was on her way to a kibbutz."

Joanne herself lived in Bangkok for eight years, where she taught English and worked as a journalist, before coming back to Ireland and getting a job on TG4's Ros na Run.

"My mother lived all over the place," she says, "which I don't think was that common. She was sure she wouldn't have children and wouldn't get married - and she didn't get married - and I was kind of an accident that she got on with."

Joanne's dad was from Kerry, and she is an only child. "We're massively close," she says of her mother. "She's a single mother, I'm an only child. She's been really involved in the process from the outset."

The show also contains what Joanne describes as "elements of documentary. I started thinking about Ireland's sexual history. My grandmother was born in 1916, and so was the nation, so we kind of start there.

"When you put everything down, even things that happened in my lifetime, I'm still shocked. The date marital rape became a crime, the sale of the morning-after pill, by prescription - there was still a caveat that a doctor could choose not to prescribe it - and I had that experience. I was in Dublin, I needed the morning-after pill, I went to a doctor and he refused. He gave me a lecture on abortion, and I left in tears.

"I was 21, so that was 2001. Then, in 2011, Boots started selling the morning-after pill, without prescription, and then you could buy it in any pharmacy. But again, a chemist could refuse to sell it - as happened to me. I was filming in Connemara, Ros Na Run, and I was with my boyfriend at the time when I needed the pill, and again, I was refused. It really struck me, because I was in a rural village and I wasn't driving. Luckily, I wasn't pregnant - but the impact those kinds of laws and loopholes have on people's lives."

Where did her interest in feminism come from? "It's weird to hear it described like that . . . 'an interest in feminism'," she says, adding with a mock-serious voice: "The interest in being a woman and living in an equal society, when did that start?"

She goes off into peels of laughter, then adds in a serious tone: "When I was younger, I had the feeling that gender was irrelevant. I thought 'we can do anything, there's no real difference between men and women'. I know now that's not the case, that there are lots of ways we're different, and that's wonderful, but I don't know when I started to realise that things were different for me because I was a woman, and started to feel sad that I was alive at the time that I was."

Really? She felt sad to be alive? "Yeah. I have done," she says. "Less so now. But I think it's sad for everybody when things are unequal. No one benefits from an unequal world. Now I try to come to terms with it, because you have to, and I'm quite optimistic and positive - I can see it changing all the time around me."

For now though, Joanne is "overwhelmed with excitement. It's been nearly two years in the making, and now we're three days into rehearsal. It's amazing, after so long, to get it on the floor."

So how differently does she feel about the baby question, compared with the start point? "I don't want to give too much away," she adds. "I do feel differently. The panic and anxiety has gone, although it got worse before it got better. I'm much more at peace with the whole thing. I think that was made possible by writing the show. But I don't want to give anything away."

And I wouldn't want her to. From what I've heard, this is going to be a clever, thoughtful, hilarious show. The thing to do is see it.

Eggsistentialism plays Belltable, Limerick, 8-10 September and Smock Alley, Dublin, as part of the Tiger Fringe Festival, 12-17 September.
Rose of Tralee host Daithi OSe has admitted that he has his eyes set on RTEs top presenting job  the Late Late Show.

The presenter revealed his ambitions in the RTE Guide, saying that no presenter in Ireland would turn down the job.

Daithi, who hosts RTE's afternoon lifestyle show "Today" with Maura Derrane, said his

There is no presenter in Ireland that wouldnt take the Late Late if it was offered to him.

We will get the headlines, Daithi OSe wants the Late Late! But everyone wants it.

Ill do the Rose of Tralee for as long as Im allowed, I want to make it my own so no one can slip in.

Though he told the RTE Guide that if RTE decided to give him the chop, he would take it on the chin.

If the powers that be change and say they dont want your man to do it anymore, you just have to take it on the chin.
Fianna Fail TD Jack Chambers hit out at RTE over their decision to allow McDonalds to sponsor the channels Big Big Movie.

The flagship programme, a traditional favourite for families after the Six One News each Saturday, is now supported by the fast food giant.

Mr Chambers claimed that the national broadcaster could be in breach of its standards, adding that the sponsorship could encourage unhealthy eating habits among children.

It is remarkable that RTE are allowing McDonalds to sponsor this slot, despite the ban on high fat salt and sugar foods during childrens programming, he said.

RTE are potentially infringing the Codes of Standards for Advertising, Promotional and Direct Marketing in Ireland, by allowing the advertising of junk food during the Big Big Movie, he added.

As their own website details, this programme slot has a quarter of a million viewers which include a 31% average share of viewing for kids, he said. Sponsorship can reach 85% of households with children.

"Evidence is clear, that the advertising of junk food adversely influences childrens preferences and heavily contributes to childhood obesity, he continued.

Our national broadcaster should therefore be doing more to protect Irish children from any exposure to the advertising of unhealthy food.

"RTE's clear breach of public responsibility underscores the need for a blanket ban on advertising of junk food during the watershed hours (6am to 9pm).

A spokesman for RTE said it was fully compliant with BAI broadcasting codes, adding that the Big Movie slot is scheduled for family viewing on a Saturday evening when children can enjoy a popular movie in the company of parents or guardians.

As a dual-funded organisation, RTE is legally required to supplement the licence fee by raising commercial income to enable it to deliver services to the public, he added.

This income contributes towards the production of programming such as Operation Transformation and Irelands Fittest Family which encourage active and healthy lifestyles in Irish families.
Dublin City Council has defended allowing the company behind the controversial redevelopment of Clerys to include public lands in its planning application

The council has told developers OCS Properties Ltd that it can include the road and footpath at Earl Place and Sackville Place in its application, which would facilitate access to the proposed development.

The move was slammed as an act of bad faith by the Labour Party leader on the city council, Dermot Lacey, who said councillors should have been informed, especially as so many had expressed outrage at the treatment of Clerys workers.

The council said the letter outlining consent was "standard", and that it did not intend to sell the lands. "The intention of the planning application is to facilitate an upgrade in the quality of the public realm in question," it said.

Clerys became mired in controversy in June last year after it was sold to Natrium, a joint venture between D2 Private, whose chief executive is Deirdre Foley, and a UK company, Cheyne Capital Management.

Clerys was restructured in 2012 as part of a receivership process by its previous owners and bankers which resulted in the property assets being separated into one company, and the day-to-day retail business operation put in another.

When the operating company went into liquidation more than 130 staff who were directly employed by OCS Operations Limited were made redundant without any warning. An additional 330 staff who worked for other concession companies that operated within the Clerys building may also have lost their jobs or been relocated to other outlets. The State paid statutory redundancy to workers totalling 2.5m.

The Workplace Relations Commission has undertaken an investigation in respect of the failure to provide OCS employees with the requisite 30 days notice of redundancy, but the powers used by the WRC at D2 Private's office have been challenged in the High Court by D2 Private. The High Court has yet to rule.

Planning files published by the council state that part of the project includes 'Boutique Food and Beverage Inspiration and Aspiration', to be located on Earl Place and Earl Street North. In a letter, dated July 19 last, the council gives consent to the developers, OCS Properties Ltd, to include the public road and footpath at Earl Place and Sackville Place in the planning application.

Former Clerys worker Susie Gaynor-McGowan, who is part of the Justice for Clerys Workers group, said the council appeared to be ignoring the wishes of councillors who had supported their campaign.

But Cllr Lacey said local politicians should have been informed of the move.

"Everybody wants to see that building used again properly, but there is a basic fairness here. Why should people who engage in these practices be allowed make even more money?" he said. "They (the officials) should exercise their judgment with some degree of respect for the political make up of the council. Knowing the councillors had expressed very serious reservations about Clerys, for officials to do so without reference to the councillors was an act of bad faith."

OCS intends redeveloping the iconic store, adding an extra storey to the building and including an hotel, offices and shops.
Gardai are on alert after a hitman for one of the country's most dangerous gangs returned to Ireland after spending time on the Costa del Sol.

Sources said the volatile gunman is staying in a compound linked to the leader of the mob he works for.

The gang's leader is currently on remand in prison but is due to apply for bail in the coming weeks.

The hitman's return has led to an increase in tensions as two brothers of 35-year-old Benny Whitehouse, who was murdered outside a Dublin school almost two years ago, are facing renewed death threats from the mob.

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"Things are very tense, and the fact that this individual is back in the country will certainly not calm things," a source said.

Gardai fear Whitehouse's brothers, Jimmy and Clifford, will become the next targets of the mob.

Both men were previously warned about an active threat against their lives, and it is understood they were given new security advice by detectives based in Drogheda at the start of this month.

The gang who are believed to have killed Whitehouse are also the chief suspects in the disappearance and murders of Tallaght man Willie Maughan (34) and his partner Anna Varslavane (21), who were last seen in the Gormanston area of Co Meath on the afternoon of April 14 last year.

Expand Close Brothers of murdered Benny Whitehouse (left) face renewed death threats / Facebook

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Terror

The leader of the gang has been locked up since just after Christmas, shortly before he was hit with a significant bill by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

However, it is feared he may be back on the streets within weeks and will be ready to orchestrate a renewed campaign of terror.

His right-hand man is also out of jail after spending a number of months on remand.

"This is a gang whose power base is north Co Dublin and significant chunks of Co Louth and Co Meath," a source said.
Serial paedophile Eamon Cooke had a 14-year-old girlfriend during his time with Radio Dublin, according to TV3's Martin King.

The weatherman (53) briefly worked at the radio station alongside child abuser Cooke during the late 1970s.

Cooke died in June. He was serving a number of prison terms for the sexual abuse of children and is a suspect in the disappearance of schoolboy Philip Cairns.

King told Paul Williams in an Independent.ie podcast that he began working at Radio Dublin in 1979.

He recalled: "The first time I saw him (Cooke), he was courteous and kind and welcomed me to the station.

"I remember sitting there one morning and he was coming down the stairs. He looked like he had slept in his clothes. He opened a box of cigarettes and lit one up.

"I said 'good morning' to him and he just looked at me and grunted. I looked at a girl (working there) and asked had I done something wrong.

"I was told, 'He's in a bad mood, he's not allowed to see his girlfriend.'

"I thought of why he wasn't allowed to see her and she replied, 'She's studying for her Group Cert'. "It's an exam you did back then in second year, so she was 14, at a push 15, but unlikely."

It was the first time that King realised there was a very sinister side to Eamon Cooke that he hadn't witnessed before.

"The voice he had, it had a sense of evil - that's what I always thought about him. I just knew that wasn't right.

"It was the late '70s and early '80s and something like that could nearly go over your head but I knew that was wrong and what I thought was, did this girl's parents know?"

A bag belonging to missing Philip Cairns was recently tested for DNA, but there was no forensic evidence linking Eamon Cooke to it.

Read more of the interview in today's The Herald
Students have been urged to be careful when renting accommodation for the college year ahead.

The Leaving Cert results will be released tomorrow and the first round of offers from the Central Applications Office (CAO) are due to be issued next Monday, which will increase the numbers of students seeking accommodation for the coming academic year.

NUI Galway students' union is encouraging students to make sure that the property fully fits their needs before paying out a deposit and a month's rent.

They also warn against paying a deposit in cash and to get a receipt for any money paid. They remind students that they are legally entitled to a receipt and to insist on one if necessary.

The union said it was vital to make sure the house was fully furnished with the necessary equipment, and that the electricity and gas were working properly.

The warning comes as the student accommodation crisis continues to worsen as thousands of students flock to cities ahead of the new college term. This September will be one of the worst yet for students seeking accommodation as student numbers hit record highs.

The CAO had a record 80,887 applicants for third-level courses as of the end of July, and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has estimated that student numbers will continue to rise year-on-year until 2024.

Tim Murphy, a 19-year-old Engineering student at NUI Galway, has been unable to find anywhere to live as he prepares to start his third year at the university.

"I found somewhere for the summer and it was very easy to find it at the start of the summer. But then you only get it for three months and then they won't rent it out to you then for September," he told the Irish Independent.

Tim, who is originally from Co Clare, said commuting would not be a feasible option for him.

"It was bad last year, they said it was the worst they've ever seen, but this year, it's a huge problem," he said. "I would not be surprised if people just dropped out because they couldn't find accommodation."
Dublin Fire Brigade battled three separate field fires last night as the hot weather returned.

The shocking images show a fire that broke out at a straw field in Kinsealy Co Dublin last night.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close The fire at Kinsealy took an hour to control Photo: DFB / Facebook

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Two units of the fire brigade were called to the scene at around 8:45pm on Monday night.

The straw field fire is believed to be linked to the rise in temperature over the last few days.

Dublin fire brigade battled the blaze for over an hour and was brought under control at 9:40pm.

The fire brigade also attended a second field fire in Kinsealy that was controlled quickly.

The field fire in Kinsealy is now out, no injuries reported. #Dublin #fire pic.twitter.com/iPnpb94Ub7  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 15, 2016

A third field fire broke out in Tallaght and no injuries are reported.

A spokesperson for the Dublin Fire Brigade said: Its that time of year again. With the good weather, were advising people to remain cautious of field fires.
A participant holds a rainbow umbrella as he attends a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade in Hong Kong

A gay man has condemned a local Pride event on the issue of reproductive rights to be held this week.

Tommy Roddy, a former general and local election candidate from Galway, was speaking to RTE Radio Ones Liveline on Tuesday about the upcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride festival in the city.

Mr Roddy objected to an event being hosted by the festival which according to organisers aims to highlight that our queer and trans community members are very much a part of the fight for reproductive rights in Ireland.

Mr Roddy, who professes to be pro-life, told the show a pro-choice group should host the event instead or alternatively give an equal platform to people like himself.

The event, Galway Pride Festival Btqia+ Tea Party and Reproductive Rights Talk, is due to take place on Thursday evening in Galway and will host speakers from both the festival and the Abortion Rights Campaign.

Defending the event on the show was Galway Pride Festival committee member Sharon Nolan, who disagreed with Mr Roddys accusation that the committee was abusing its position in holding the event.

Ms Nolan said that the committee had held open meetings over a number of months where potential events for the festival were discussed.

She explained that no one seemed to raise concern over the event and the committee had taken a unanimous decision to hold it following the open discussion process.

Mr Roddy insisted however: I think for them to be hosting an event like thisis the wrong stance for them to be taking.

He said Galway Pride Festival was actually promoting the pro-choice stance and that he did not know an event like this would be held and so did not approach the group earlier to raise his objection.

He said: Galway Pride community and Galway Pride Festival should not be getting involved in a divisive issue like [abortion].

Ms Nolan however explained: The point of the discussion is promote the use of more inclusive language.

She explained: Its about giving the people who wouldnt usually get their say a platform.

Im personally very proud that the committee decided to hold this event, she added.

Ms Nolan also said that the LGBT Pride movement is historically a political movement and she welcomed the fact the LGBT community was recognising intersectionality between groups in society.
A whistleblowing website aimed at gathering information from anyone who believes they have been unfairly treated by Nama has gone live.

Namaleaks.com bills itself as a "secure and anonymous" site and Independent TD Mick Wallace has encouraged people to come forward with any evidence they might have of poor practice by the State's so-called 'bad bank'.

The site is being operated in conjunction with the US-based Freedom of the Press Association, which worked closely in the past with CIA whistleblower, Edward Snowden

Mr Wallace claimed recently he had been approached by up to 40 people, including developers, solicitors, former Nama employees and businesspeople, with serious allegations of misconduct involving Nama.

The Independent TD has been relentless in his pursuit of claims of wrongdoing at the State agency. The most serious of these centres on the sale of Nama's 5.6bn Northern Ireland loan book - code-named 'Project Eagle' - to the US private equity giant Cerberus.

All parties involved in the transaction have denied any impropriety, but the deal is the subject of an investigation by the UK's National Crime Agency and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States.

Following the launch of Namaleaks.com yesterday, Mr Wallace pledged that the website would "hold Nama to account in the interests of the people of Ireland".

He added: "The best interests of the people of Ireland have not always been served by this State organisation."

A spokesman for Nama declined to comment.
A SEARCH operation was launched off the west Cork coast last night for an elderly fisherman feared dead.

A small fishing craft was found drifting not far from Cape Clear. However, there was no sign of any occupant.

The missing man was apparently spotted fishing not far from Cape Clear at around 2.30pm.

He was not in any difficulty at that time. The search operation was launched shortly before 8pm.

Adult measles case

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmed that a case of adult measles has been detected in Cork.

The case was in the north Cork area and the public have been made aware that the individual involved was at a number of locations in Mitchelstown late last month when the virus was at the infectious stage.

The illness is usually quite minor but can have serious complications for the very young, the elderly or those with immune system problems.

Teen animal cruelty

ANIMAL rights charities have demanded pet welfare be taught as a primary school module after expressing alarm at the number of youngsters involved in horrific acts of cruelty.

It comes after a spate of incidents saw minors and teens torture animals around the country.

ISPCA inspector Lisa O'Donovan said that, as a society, Ireland had to tackle the issue head on.

Missing man appeal

GARDAI are seeking the public's assistance in tracing the whereabouts of Damien Donoghue (28), who is missing from his home at Belvedere Hills, Mullingar.

Damien was last seen at 2.30am on the morning of Sunday, August 14.

He is described as being 5ft 8 inches, and of slim build with black hair, and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, grey skinny jeans and distinctive red New Balance runners.

Culture night at Aras

President Michael D Higgins, and his wife Sabina will open Aras an Uachtarain to the public on Culture Night, on September 16.

Visitors will be given guided tours of the historic State Rooms of the residence built by Phoenix Park Ranger Nathaniel Clements in 1751, and an insight into the history of all nine Presidents of Ireland.

The evening will also include music recitals.
A search operation is due to resume off the Irish coast for a fishermen reported overdue in port and feared to be missing.

The search operation was launched off the west Cork coast shortly before 8pm on Monday evening.

It involves the Baltimore and Schull RNLI lifeboats, the Irish Coastguard's Sikorsky search and rescue helicopter and a Naval Service vessel.

A small fishing craft was found drifting not far from Cape Clear.

However, there was no sign of any occupant.

The missing man, who is elderly and from the west Cork area, was apparently spotted fishing not far from Cape Clear around 2.30pm.

He was not in any difficulty at that time.

The search is being co-ordinated by the Irish Coastguard helicopter with the Naval Service vessel, LE Orla, departing Castletownbere to assist in sweeps of waters around Schull and Cape Clear.

The Sikorsky used its infra-red cameras to sweep waters around the island.

Fishing and leisure craft in the area also assisted in the search of waters between Toe Head and Mizen Head.
The HSE has urged people in Cork and Tipperary to be vigilant after another person was infected with the measles virus in the area.

Dr Kevin Kelleher, consultant in public health at the HSE said anyone who thinks they might have caught the highly infectious virus should stay at home.

This case is part of the group of cases weve been speaking about for the past two or three months, Dr Kelleher told RTEs Morning Ireland.

This is unfortunately somebody else who has been exposed and has the disease and unfortunately while they didnt realise they had the measles they were out and about and were trying to get people to know about that. So far people have reacted very well and it is slowing down the number of cases but it is still dragging on a bit, he said.

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Dr Kelleher said the infected person visited a number of places over a couple of days and is warning people about its potential spread.

He said the person was in Supervalu on New Square in Mitchelstown on July 25 and 27. They were also at the Living Health Clinic on Fermoy Road in Mitchelstown on July 28 while infectious.

The person was also in Clonmel over the same period between July 23 and 24 and again between July 30 and August 3 when they were infectious with the disease.

Theyre well now but were trying to make sure that other people who may have been exposed make sure that if they start feeling unwell they dont go out into public places. Theyll get advice initially on what the issue is. Have they had their measles vaccine in the past? If they hadnt they should get it now.

Make sure when youre going on holiday now to have a measles vaccine, its as important as getting your passport ready because there are parts of Europe where people often go on holiday that measles are still an epidemic.

The cases were talking about are a result of people who visited parts of Europe and came back with measles.

Dr Kelleher said that the unpleasant disease can leave one in ten in hospital, one in a hundred in intensive care and one in a thousand will die from the measles.

The symptoms of measles include a runny nose, red eyes and a fever developing into a red rash after four days. The rash typically starts on the forehead and spreads downwards, over the face, neck and body.

If people are starting to feel ill with those kind of symptoms, people should be staying at home and not exposing other people. Theres an element of responsibility here, if you are infectious you shouldnt be infecting other people.

Weve had 38 confirmed cases since April and 40 more were confirmed as not measles. The vast majority of those were in May and June. Now there are a few more cases coming through.

Dr Kelleher advised people who havent received the measles vaccine to do so at their GP immediately.
Glen Jankowski's search for his dad connected him with his extended family in Donegal

A British man has connected with his extended Irish family after a long search for his father ended with the heartbreaking discovery that he passed away more than two decades ago.

Glen Jankowski (27), who lives in Leeds, grew up in a series of foster homes and never had the opportunity to meet his father.

Over the years, Glen began to trace his heritage with the help of his mother Linda, who had a romance with a Donegal man named Martin McBride in the late 1980s.

I was born in London in 1989 and from about three, grew up in a series of foster homes. After foster care, I started to trace my family roots and met most of my maternal family at age 20, said Glen.

My mother told me my father was from Donegal, about the same age as her and was tall with mousy brown hair. His name was Martin McBride. She thought he might have had a lot of siblings too.

Throughout the years asked social services to find him. Unfortunately Martin McBride is a common name and he wasn't on my birth certificate so they never got far. I was also a bit nervous as I'm gay and whilst I'm proud to be gay, you never know how someone else will react, he said.

Glen and his mum Linda decided to approach a journalist in Martins home county of Donegal and an article published on website Donegal Daily helped the pair make a connection with Martins family.

My mother was great and together we must have messaged at least 30 Martin McBrides on Facebook.

My dad's family were always searching for Glen McBride, not knowing I have my maternal grandfather's polish surname. We kept missing each other, he said.

The reunion finally came last month when my mother had the brilliant idea to talk to a local journalist where we knew Martin was from. She befriended Elaine McCallig from Donegal Daily and together they wrote a short article with some pictures of me. It worked and within a day I was talking to my aunt, Catherine Cullen, and my cousins, said Glen.

Although Glens search was focused on finding his father Martin, the lecturer was upset to discover his dad had died more than 20 years ago, when Glen was 4. Upon meeting his family, Glen was told that his paternal grandmother was also keen to connect with him before her death last summer.

My father died when I would have been four-years-old. His family always searched for me though. Over the years they searched London hospital archives, went back to my old addresses and messaged Glens on Facebook living in London, where they thought I was. At one point they were even going to hire a private investigator. I'm told my grandma was particularly keen to meet me before she died in August last year.

Last week, Glen flew to Donegal to spend a week with his extended family, which includes 21 cousins and nine aunts and uncles in Carrigart.

I went over for six days in Donegal last week. I went to my cousin's 11th birthday party on Tuesday, attended my grandparents' anniversary mass on the Wednesday, went swimming in Donegal pier on the Thursday, shopping on the Friday and on my final night my family arranged for a big dinner out which was beautiful. Everyone was so welcoming and easy to talk to. It just flew by.

It was disappointing to discover Martin had died but finding out about this big, beautiful family was a very big silver lining, said Glen.
Experts recommend that parents do not allow children under the age of two to have any screen time

Parenting expert and clinical psychologist David Coleman on why a toddler should not use a tablet and on how there is no correct age for a child to start school.

Q. I have a 21-month-old and give her my iPad to watch, and listen to, nursery rhymes. She loves it. Then I read your article about Snapchat the other week and was horrified to think that I might be setting up bad habits in her. I limit the tablet to nursery rhymes and I feel she learns so much from it. I also sing them to her, but she really loves listening to them on the iPad. She doesn't seem to like TV at all, so I felt this was a good thing. Please can you clarify that if I keep it just to nursery rhymes on the iPad that it'll be okay for her?

David replies: Even if you limit your daughter's tablet use to watching and listening to nursery rhymes, it is still bad for her. You need to get rid of the tablet and any other screens while she is around.

As far back as 1999, the American Academy of Paediatrics recommended that parents don't let their children have any screen time, under age two, and that after this age, screen time should be limited.

That was 17 years ago. You may argue that technology and the potential benefits of technology have moved on considerably since then. But, the most recent article I came across, from 2015, from the National Center for Health Research, again highlighted all the dangers of screens for small children. The article can be found at center4research.org/child-teen-health/early-childhood-development/young-children-and-screen-time-television-dvds-computer

I do urge you to read it. It is a concise gathering of recent literature on the area of young children and screen time. I'll give you some headline stats from it.

For example, the more TV a child under three watches, the more likely he is to have trouble with reading and paying attention later on. The more television a baby eight to 16 months old watches, the fewer words she knows.

Even having screens on in the background makes a difference. Children play less intently and for shorter periods of time if a TV is on in the room with them. Parents are distracted and less attuned to their children's needs, affecting the quality of their interactions when there is a TV on in the room.

Research shows that the more television infants and toddlers are exposed to, the more likely they are to be inactive and obese, have difficulty sleeping, and show aggression.

I am especially disheartened when I hear about activities we can do, very effectively, with our children (like sing nursery rhymes to them) that are being substituted by screens.

John Bowlby, one of the pioneering researchers in the field of attachment theory, made the observation that humans are not machines and it is the intricacy and intimacy of our human relationships that provide the richest context for connection, attachment and healthy development.

From birth until about age three, children are developing and solidifying their attachments. A continuing developmental task, for your daughter, is to negotiate and integrate her relationship with you. She needs to know that you are present, reliable and able to meet her needs. She needs time to play, alone and with you, interacting and exploring her world.

She'll learn far more from being with you, singing with you, rocking in your arms, or on your lap, than she ever will from sitting on the sofa with a tablet in her own lap.

Please don't let your daughter miss out on the critical opportunity to establish and stabilise her relationship with you, by substituting a screen for your own presence and your own willingness to connect with, play with and relate to her. God knows, when she is older you will have little say about her access to screens. You will join the legions of parents who struggle to know how best to limit, regulate, moderate or facilitate their children's access to media.

But for now, you have this wonderful window, and the capacity to let your daughter have you, rather than have a tablet. She isn't even two and so you can easily ensure that she has no access to screens but lots of access to play and to human relationships.

My daughter will be four-and-a-half in September. Should I send her to school this year or wait?

Q. September is looming like a dark cloud. My first-born is due to begin school in a few weeks, but she will only be four years and seven months old. I am in a dilemma as to whether to send her or keep her out for another year. Would I be damaging her by sending her too young, when things like reading and homework are expected in junior infants? Do I leave it for another year and risk damaging her socially, as some friends will be a year ahead of her in school? What if she is too advanced or bored if I leave her for another year?

David replies: The fact that you have your daughter enrolled to start school, but feel like that enrolment "looms like a dark cloud" suggests that, in your heart, you feel this September is too soon for your daughter to begin school.

Your dilemma, however, I could imagine is shared by many parents around the country. In truth, there is no "correct" age at which a child should start school.

However, the primary factors to consider are your child's social, emotional and academic readiness (as best you can judge). It is your child's development in these areas that will give an indication of whether, or how well, she will cope in school.

I do hear your other concerns, about the academic pressure to learn to read and write and do homework, that she may face too soon. I also hear your concern about the potential to miss out, socially, if she waits till next year. But, if we return to a consideration of the "readiness" factors that I suggested, it may help you with your decision making.

So, socially, where do you think your daughter is at? It seems like she already has a social circle (presumably from preschool or the local neighbourhood). How easy does she find it to make friends? How comfortable does she seem to be in groups of her peers? How able is she to stand up for herself with her friends? Does she integrate easily with new children?

All of these questions help to identify if she has the social skills necessary to cope with the cut and thrust of primary school. Socially confident and outgoing children, typically, have little problem settling into the social pressure of school at her age. If she is a little more shy, hesitant or unsure socially, then waiting till she is older may be a good thing.

Don't forget, if she has the skills to make friends then she can make friends, no matter if current friends are with her or not. So, if she is socially capable, then it may not matter that she has no immediate circle of friends to start with, should she wait till next year.

Emotionally, the considerations are primarily about your child's ability to cope with her own strong feelings. So, does your child get anxious or stressed easily? How does she cope if others around her are stressed? Does she cope with direction, rules and limits, without major tantrums?

Naturally, no child, at age four or five, will be entirely emotionally robust, but having a little bit of emotional resilience makes the settling process easier.

Can your daughter sit, avoiding giddiness and distraction? Is she able to focus and concentrate for periods of time?

It may be hard to judge her academic readiness, in terms of the formal learning element, unless she has been in a preschool or Montessori.

If she has, then it is a good idea to get the opinion of her preschool teacher about her. In fact, her teacher may be able to give you a good, independent, opinion about your daughter's readiness across all of the areas above.

The other factor to consider is the dynamic, and age ranges, of the children going into the school this September. If it is possible, go and meet her potential teacher to see if it is going to be a big or small class, populated by mostly five-year-olds, mostly four-year-olds, or a mix.

Knowing that your daughter will have peers that are at the same age and developmental stage may make the decision easier. Similarly, if you know your daughter will always be "young" in the class, that might be the deciding factor.
The ego has undergone something of an image overhaul in recent years.

We used to associate it with arrogance, conceit and dark sunglasses. Nowadays, thanks to authors such as Eckhart Tolle, we understand that we all have an ego and that it can take many different forms.

The ego is often crudely defined as the 'false self', or the part of us that acts out of fear rather than love.

However, it isn't just the telephone voice or the front-door face. Likewise, the biggest ego in the room isn't always the person who is talking the loudest.

An ego doesn't necessarily carry a leather briefcase and wear a gold watch. Indeed, introverts can have larger egos than extroverts, just as the oppressed can be more egocentric than their oppressors.

Elsewhere, spiritual gurus can have greater ego attachments than their disciples (look up 'spiritual bypassing' if you get a chance).

The ego, in its many guises, can sneak in the back door. Yes, even if you practise meditation and own a Himalayan salt lamp.

Here's a few ways in which the ego operates in disguise:

Can you recall the Aesop's Fable about the fox and the grapes? When the fox was unable to reach the grapes that he wanted to eat, he claimed that he didn't actually want them, rather than admit defeat. Most of us fall into this ego trap when it comes to matters of the heart. Rather than admit disappointment when we are rejected, we declare that we never really wanted them anyway. In other cases, we dwell on the bad and disregard the good, constructing a narrative that leads us to believe that we had a choice in the matter. At times like this, it's worth remembering that the ego is the ultimate spin doctor.

Modern self-help literature advises us to cull 'toxic friends' from our friendship circles. This is largely helpful advice; however, occasionally the ego can get in the way and cause us to dissociate from friends that challenge us, as opposed to friends that devitalise us. An ego that is in check knows the difference between constructive criticism and gratuitous criticism. We need friends that push our buttons just as we need friends that help us heal our wounds.

Those with 'victim complex', aka 'martyr complex', have an unconscious desire for penance and drama. They seem to sacrifice their own needs for the needs of others, yet by habitually putting themselves last, they are unconsciously putting themselves first. It's inverted egocentrism, in that the victim's 'poor me' posturing showcases their apparent selflessness, while making those around them feel guilty for not doing likewise. If this sounds like you, it's worth examining the role of martyr. Who conferred you with the role? Do those around you appreciate that you have taken on the role? More to the point, who would you be if you weren't a martyr?

We've all met people with the fairly lofty ambition of 'changing the world'. They want to make a difference, but that difference generally involves them being centre stage. An ego that is in check doesn't underestimate its capacity to effect change. Yet it also realises that a series of mindful day-to-day actions can be as prolific as one big, front-facing campaign.

The act of surrender and letting go is a form of ego dismantling. It follows that forensic 10-year plans are often drawn up by the ego in disguise. The trouble with this level of projecting is that it doesn't allow for the ebb and flow of life. Fastidious planning flies in the face of natural law, or, as the saying goes: 'If you want to give God a laugh, tell him your plans'. Even non-believers would have to concede that life often has other plans in store for us. It's egocentric to think that we have complete control over the matter.

It's wise to ask yourself who you're really helping when you are in service to others: them or you? Genuine service to others tends to be quiet, discreet and humble, while ego-led service to others tends to be loud, proud and overbearing. The ego helps others because it wants to control and dominate situations. The sacred self helps others because it knows no other way.

We're all aware of the tendency for addicts to pair off with what are known as 'enablers'. These beatified beings are often praised for 'taking on' an addict. I don't know how she does it, etc. The truth, however, is that enablers are often co-dependents with an ego-attachment to the victim role. They also get to avoid their own problems by focusing on the problems of others. What may look like self-sacrificing behaviour is, on closer inspection, self-interested approval-seeking.

I've heard one or two people claim that they don't have an ego. It's a lovely idea, but patently untrue. If you didn't have an ego you'd be levitating in a cave somewhere. As CS Lewis put it: "If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed."
Angela Patton (centre) with her children, from left to right: Anna, Nicole, Michelle, Ryan, Tommy and Shaun. Photo: Kathleen M King

Angela Patton had her first child when she was just 18-years-old. The Donegal woman, now 39, went on to have five more (in as many years) with her husband and childhood sweetheart, Michael. And while having six children by the age of 23 is a feat in itself, the fact that Angela has suffered from chronic endometriosis all her adult life makes it even more astonishing.

"After my eldest daughter (Nicole) was born, I suffered with excruciating stomach cramps," says Angela. "The doctor told me that I probably had a tilted womb and, because I was so young, I just took this information and tried to get on with living my life.

"So although I was in extreme pain most of the time, I just put up with it and went on to get pregnant for a second time with my son Ryan."

Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (endometrium) is found outside the uterus or womb. This tissue (called endometriosis) behaves like the lining of the womb and bleeds every month when the woman has a period.

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The condition causes painful periods and pelvic pain, and can lead to infertility.

In constant pain while running around after two children, Angela, who works in insurance, sought advice from various experts. But because she had conceived twice, the notion that she could have had endometriosis seemed impossible.

"Over the years I visited doctors on many different occasions and some thought I was suffering from IBS, while others said it was pelvic inflammatory disease," she says.

"By this point I had four more children (Tommy, Shaun and twins Michelle and Emma) and the pain got worse after each one was born.

"At times it was so bad that I literally felt like I was being stabbed with a knife and no one seemed to be taking me seriously. I couldn't sit or lie down as this is when the pain was worse and, during the night, Michael would have to help me into a hot bath as I couldn't sleep from the pain - it was horrendous."

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Angela's symptoms had all the hallmarks of endometriosis and when she was 23 years of age, she was finally diagnosed with the condition.

"Having gone through so much pain for years, I was eventually seen by a consultant who said my symptoms had all the signs of endometriosis," she says.

"He sent me for a laparoscopy [keyhole surgery] and it was confirmed that I had a very aggressive stage 4 form of the condition.

"It is highly unusual for a woman to be able to get pregnant so easily while having endometriosis. The doctors were very surprised, but put it down to the fact that I was so young," Angela says. "I was advised to have a hysterectomy, which I agreed to as I thought that would be the end of my pain forever - but unfortunately that wasn't the case."

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Angela has had many complications over the years as a result of her condition and, despite treatment, still suffers from debilitating pain, but remains positive, and says women today are in a much better place than she was a decade ago.

Professor Mary Wingfield, clinical director of the Merrion Fertility Clinic in Dublin, agrees: "Thankfully, doctors are much more aware of the condition now and treatment is instituted sooner."

Prof. Wingfield, who is also a consultant obstetrician gynaecologist at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, advises women who have severe period pain to see their GP straight away.

Read More

"Of course, it is always difficult for women to know whether their period pain is normal or not but, generally, if it is bad enough to interfere with working or attending college or school, then endometriosis should be considered."

According to Prof. Wingfield, if the endometriosis is behind the womb it can cause pain with intercourse. "If it is over the bladder it can cause pain during urination and if it is close to the bowel it can cause pain with bowel motions. These symptoms typically occur around the time of a period."

She says a diagnosis gives women a wide range of treatment options. These include surgery, medicines, the pill and alternative medicine. "While it is a difficult condition, it is very possible to find good treatment. Fertility [issues] only affect one in three but, even then, there are excellent options; early diagnosis and treatment is key."

Angela still suffers with endometriosis as it wasn't eradicated completely, but says she has learned to live with it. "I don't want to have any more surgery and would rather not be dependent on painkillers, so I just get on with things as best as I can."

Prof. Wingfield adds that the condition often affects fertility and can run in families.

"It is estimated that one third of women with endometriosis have fertility issues; however, many don't and endometriosis has been found in women who have several children," she says.

"We know that very bad endometriosis can cause adhesions or scarring within the pelvis and this damages the ovaries, making it difficult for an ovulated egg to find its way into the fallopian tube.

"In milder forms, the endometriosis lesions cause inflammation or a reaction in the pelvis and toxins are produced which can affect sperm, eggs or embryos."

What is endometriosis?

 Endometriosis is a gynaecological condition which causes painful periods, pelvic pain and can lead to infertility.

 It affects up to 100,000 women in Ireland.

 It occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (endometrium) is found outside the uterus or womb. This tissue (called endometriosis) behaves like the lining of the womb and bleeds every month when the woman has a period.

 Endometriosis is commonly found on the ovaries, behind the womb and close to the bowel.

 Like the lining of the uterus, it bleeds during a womans period and this can cause pain.

 Endometriosis on the ovaries can lead to ovarian cysts and severe endometriosis can cause pelvic scarring and adhesions  this makes the pelvic organs sticky so an ovary can get stuck to the back of the womb or the bowel can become attached to the ovary or womb.

 Treatment includes surgery and medication.

* For more information, see endometriosis.ie
Migrant children attend a lesson in a makeshift school on February 10, 2016, in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images

Migrant children are taught at a makeshift school in the "Jungle" camp in the port town of Calais, northern France, on February 16, 2016. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images

Migrants use computers in a makeshift school on February 10, 2016, in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images

From ancient odysseys to solo adventures, a feast of travel tales is coming to Dublin's Grafton Street this Thursday.

If you're passing Dubray Books between 11am and 8pm, check the front window - where 50 participants will be reading for 10 minutes each in aid of L'Ecole Laique du Chemin des Dunes, a school for adult and child refugees in Calais, France.

Paul Howard (aka Ross O'Carroll-Kelly), Mark Pollock, Louise Kennedy, poets Colm Keegan and Angela Carr, food writer and Independent Travel contributor Aoife Carrigy and actor Aisling O'Sullivan are just a handful of the participants.

L'Ecole Laique du Chemin des Dunes is the only school for refugees at the Calais camp nicknamed 'Jungle', where thousands of migrants are living after fleeing violence in countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Expand Close Migrant children attend a lesson in a makeshift school on February 10, 2016, in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Migrant children attend a lesson in a makeshift school on February 10, 2016, in the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images

The school, now a year old, is run by waves of volunteers and a full-time staff of 30, and provides a safe space for children to play and make art, as well as teaching French and English to both children and adults.

The 50 readers taking part in 'Odyssey: A Continuous Reading for Calais' have selected works on the theme of travel - ranging from seafaring epics to solo adventures, tales of displacement, close escapes and new beginnings in foreign lands.

Odyssey's organiser, Fiona McHardy, a French teacher at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, says the Calais school is most in need of dictionaries - including Pashtun, Kurdish and Arabic into French and/or English.

"Choosing the theme of travel was a bit of a brainwave, because it's so rich and evocative and, in this fraught context, so tragically loaded, she added.

Donations are welcome on the day, or at ifundraise.ie/elcd.
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Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors

With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions.
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Ian O'Doherty Opinion For once, the UN is right  were standing on the edge of a deadly nuclear precipice

For those of us of a certain age, the last few months have felt as if we have somehow time-warped back to the 1980s. Stranger Things, which is set in that decade, has been the biggest show on TV. Kate Bush  thanks, incidentally, to Stranger Things  is now regularly played on the radio and she has reached number one in 2022 with the re-release of her 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill.
The explanation for the Olympic 'ticket touting' scandal has come very late in the day. Why has it taken so long for the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) to come up with the explanation that the individual at the centre of the controversy was allegedly an agent?

It also seems that safeguards regarding taxpayers' money are not good enough and a Garda inquiry should now begin, given the OCI's refusal to accept an independent person on the OCI's investigation team. There are also many other unanswered questions.

The OCI's funding should be suspended or cancelled until all questions have been fully and satisfactorily answered.

In relation to boxer Michael O'Reilly, who was sent home after taking a banned substance, the public has yet to know what that substance was, despite the passage of weeks.

The Olympics for the Irish so far has been a very ugly state of affairs. Let us not be surprised at all if other Irish athletes test positive.

The signs are not good. It is time our Government took a very strong stand in the world of sport, which can be a very strange business indeed.

Maurice Fitzgerald, Shanbally, Co Cork

Bethany Home 'a stain on State'

Like all who value principles of freedom and justice, I believe the absence of a fair and speedy trial for Irishman Ibrahim Halawa is a serious breach of these principles.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan expressed disappointment at the protracted delay in the trial process, which has been postponed for the 14th time. This is not to suggest the Government has been silent in this matter. To date, Mr Halawa has received in excess of 50 consular visits, in addition to visits from members of the European Parliament, Oireachtas members, Amnesty International. The European Parliament has also passed a resolution calling for his immediate release.

However, while the Irish Government has been vocal in its denunciation of Egypt's record on human rights, I suggest it is engaged in politics of double standards. It is demanding justice for Mr Halawa, yet denying justice to children of the Bethany Home.

Successive governments have obfuscated and filibustered on the issue of children who were incarcerated in the Bethany Home. Despite being the principal facility for single Protestant pregnant women deemed in need of institutional care, Bethany was not considered a State residential institution and therefore the children born there have been excluded from the Residential Institutional Redress Act 2002.

In this special centenary commemorative year, it seems the Proclamation, which guarantees to cherish all the children of the nation equally, doesn't apply to children of Bethany. Why does the Government remain equivocal on cherishing all the children of the nation equally?

In her address to the MacGill Summer School on the Children's Referendum, former Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said that she accepted that Ireland had a "nationally shameful record on protecting children".

Ms Fitzgerald, speaking on the referendum to strengthen children's rights, which includes legislative changes, said it "will be the most important set of reforms that have ever been made in child protection in Ireland". While acknowledging the attempts that have been made to heal the scars and wounds associated with institutional child abuse by way of the Ryan Report, I nonetheless believe the exemption of those former residents of the Bethany Home from appropriate redress is indefensible.

In failing to address this issue satisfactorily, the State has utterly lost its moral compass. We are fast approaching a point when the ravages of time will silence forever the few remaining victims of the Bethany Homes and these abused children will cease to be a potential burden on the State's balance sheet. However, the stain of the wilfully immoral neglect of these children will remain on the conscience of this State for ever.

Tom Cooper, Dublin 6W

Enslavement of today's women

In three minutes on Sunday night, RTE assailed me with advertisements for 'The Rose of Tralee' and the child-obsessed Aldi Mammy. I then stumbled on the Meryl Streep film 'Suffragette'. These great women could not have envisaged the self-imposed enslavement of their sisters in 2016.

Dr Florence Craven, Maynooth, Co Kildare

Soaring insurance premiums

I think we may take it for granted that car insurance premiums will continue to rise. Indeed, it looks a dead cert.

Tom Gilsenan, Beaumont, Dublin 9

Austerity even hits the retired

Since the start of the recession, the imposition of austerity has been the hallmark of present and past government policy affecting people's lives in many different ways.

Even though we are being told we are in recovery and that we have seen the last of austerity measures, the opposite is the case. One of the most recent instalments of austerity has been the raising of the retirement age for the state pension, which will initially mean a loss of income to present retirees of 2,500 and it will cost a qualifying couple 3,700 for the year they are on jobseekers' allowance after retiring while waiting to receive the state pension.

Many of our retirees could have been working for almost 50 years, with the expectation of being able to retire with dignity at 65 instead of being forced on to the dole queue after a lifetime of work and paying taxes.

Of course, some people may look forward to staying on in the workforce for longer if allowed to do so by their employer, but that prospect may not suit everybody. It ought to be optional for people to retire at age 65 without incurring a penalty to their pension entitlements.

It ought to be recalled that during the past five years, this Government, along with the previous Fianna Fail government, has raided and squandered the 25bn National Pension Reserve Fund to bail out banks and those who gambled on our economy and lost.

Christy Kelly, Templeglantine, Co Limerick
Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton were married for three years in the noughties

Johnny Depp was filmed by his then-wife Amber Heard in a violent rage.

US actress Amber Heard arrives with US actor Johnny Depp for the screening of the movie "The Danish Girl" presented in competition at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival

Johnny Depp's estranged wife Amber Heard has included a graphic photo of the actor's bloody finger in court documents after he allegedly cut off the tip by accident during a fit of rage.

Amber Heard (30), who is locked in acrimonious divorce proceedings with Depp, has submitted a series of images documenting the alleged incident as part of her domestic violence case against the actor.

The actress claimed the incident happened in March last year while they were staying at a villa in Australia, only a month after they exchanged vows.

Heard claimed Depp (52) was drunk and had taken ecstasy when he smashed several bottles and windows and slammed a plastic phone against the wall.

Expand Close Johnny Depp was filmed by his then-wife Amber Heard in a violent rage. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Johnny Depp was filmed by his then-wife Amber Heard in a violent rage.

He then accidentally ripped off a portion of his forefinger. Deep dipped his finger into a pot of black paint and smeared actor Billy Bob Thornton's name across a bathroom mirror as well as writing "Easy Amber".

Heard said she had just finished filming with Thornton - the former husband of Angelina Jolie - and Depp had accused her of having an affair with him.

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Heard denies having any relationship with Thornton and said Depp had accused her of infidelity with a number of other men.

Depp did not seek medical help for 24 hours, and by the time he did it was too late to surgically reattach the tip of his finger.

Expand Close Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton were married for three years in the noughties / Facebook

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Whatsapp Angelina Jolie & Billy Bob Thornton were married for three years in the noughties

They used a "flap from his hand to sew on a new tip".

At the time of the incident, Depp was in Australia filming the next instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

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Reports at the time said the accident did not happen on set, and Depp flew home to Los Angeles from the Gold Coast for treatment.

He was away from set for two weeks.
Niall Horans ex Zoe Whelan has showed the pop star what hes missing in a racy lingerie shoot. Picture: Instagram

Niall Horans ex Zoe Whelan has showed the pop star what hes missing in a racy lingerie shoot.

Zoe, from Dublin, took to Instagram to show her rock-hard abs as she pursues a career as a fitness model.

The 22-year-old and the One Direction star dated briefly in 2013, during which Zoe attended Nialls brothers wedding.

Gym-bunny Zoe is signed to Assets Modelling Agency and has a following of over 16,000 online.

Earlier this week Niall was spotted with a mystery blonde while out for lunch in California, and while he was recently linked to Beglian student Celine Helene Vandyke, he has ultimately kept his love life under wraps.
Yvonne Connolly has jetted out to LA ahead of her red-carpet appearance at the Emmy's next month.

Yvonne will be rubbing shoulders with stars like Idris Elba, who has been nominated for Luther - as has her her boyfriend John Conroy.

Nabbed

The TV presenter has nabbed a coveted invite after her talented cinematographer partner was nominated for a prestigious award for his work on the detective TV series.

Another perfect day. Bikes on the beach. #family #holidays #santamonica @viceroysm A photo posted by Yvonne Connolly (@yvonneconnolly_) on Aug 12, 2016 at 11:59am PDT

Lucky Yvonne is over there this week soaking up the sunshine after bringing her three children Jack (17), Missy (15) and Ali (10) along for a holiday ahead of their return to school in two weeks' time.

Missy, a talented actress, also supported friend when she attended the premiere of Kubo and the Two Strings.

A photo posted by Yvonne Connolly (@yvonneconnolly_) on Aug 11, 2016 at 5:05pm PDT

The film co-starred Missy's actor pal Art Parkinson and the gang looked thrilled to be at the glitzy event as they made the most of their time in California.

Yvonne will be returning to the Sunshine State for the September 18 awards ceremony, where she vowed to fly the flag for an Irish designer.

A photo posted by Yvonne Connolly (@yvonneconnolly_) on Aug 11, 2016 at 11:04pm PDT

Meanwhile, she has spoken of how proud she is of her gorgeous niece, Jill Connolly.

The striking 16-year-old turned heads at the recent Dublin premiere of the Suicide Squad - Yvonne has since revealed that she's now signed with her old agency, Assets.

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The Catherine Zeta-Jones lookalike has been hailed as one to watch as she follows in the footsteps of her well-known auntie.

Expand Close Missy Keating and Jill Connolly at the Irish premiere of theSuicide Squad at The Savoy Cinema, O'Connell Street, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Missy Keating and Jill Connolly at the Irish premiere of theSuicide Squad at The Savoy Cinema, O'Connell Street, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

"Jill is such a gorgeous girl and a beautiful person. I'm delighted for her and wish her the best," she said.

"She's in good hands with Dickie (Derek Daniels), my agent from back in the day," Yvonne told the Diary.
Hillary Clinton's campaign has accused Donald Trump of "troubling connections" to the Kremlin after Paul Manafort, his key aide, was forced to deny allegations that he received millions of dollars in cash payments from pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

Handwritten entries in a secret ledger unearthed by Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau showed that Viktor Yanukovych, the country's pro-Russian former president, earmarked $12.7m (11m) for Mr Manafort between 2007 and 2012, the 'New York Times' reported.

Mr Manafort was working for Mr Yanukovych's party as a political consultant.

Investigators are looking into whether it was part of an illegal, off-the-books scheme.

Mr Manafort, the Republican presidential nominee's campaign manager, vehemently denied any wrongdoing, saying he had never received the payments.

Setback

The furore overshadowed a major speech that Mr Trump was making on how he would defeat Isil. It was another setback for Mr Trump as the billionaire, who is trailing in polls, attempted to present himself as a candidate with serious policies.

Addressing the allegations, made by the 'New York Times', Mr Manafort said: "The simplest answer is the truth - I am a campaign professional. The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical.

"I have never received a single off-the-books cash payment, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia.

"Further, all of the political payments directed to me were for my entire political team - campaign staff, local and international, polling and research, election integrity and television advertising."

Mr Manafort said his work in Ukraine ended in October 2014 and "every government official interviewed states I have done nothing wrong".

Mr Manafort accused the 'New York Times' of pursuing a "political agenda" against him.

But Robby Mook, Mrs Clinton's campaign manager, said: "We have learned of more troubling connections between Donald Trump's team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine.

"Given the pro-Putin policy stances adopted by Donald Trump and the recent Russian government hacking of Democratic Party records, Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose the ties of Paul Manafort, and all other campaign employees and advisers, to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities."

The Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau said that it could not confirm if Mr Manafort ever received the $12.7m referred to in the ledger as it could not decipher a signature next to it.

Mr Manafort, whose other clients have included Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, had a professional relationship with Mr Yanukovych going back to 2004.

An image makeover partly masterminded by Mr Manafort culminated in Mr Yanukovych winning the presidential election in 2010.

Mr Yanukovych was ousted by a revolution in February 2014 and fled to Russia, where he continues to live. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Less than 24 hours after the news broke, the government of Alberta has spoken out against the Ohio man, Josh Bowmar, who killed a bear with a homemade spear at a bait site in this western province of Canada. Photo by iStockphoto

3.5K shares







Less than 24 hours after the news broke, the government of Alberta has spoken out about the depravity of the sick, self-filming, and unrepentant Josh Bowmar, the Ohio man who killed a bear with a homemade spear at a bait site in this western province of Canada.

The type of archaic hunting seen in the recently posted video is unacceptable, Albertas Ministry of Environment and Parks said in response to the controversy. We will introduce a ban on spear hunting this fall. The department also ordered fish and wildlife officers to see if any charges can be laid under already existing laws.

The blade that Bowmar attached to his spear was 13 centimeters wide and 40 centimeters long. Thats over five inches wide and over a foot long (about 16 inches). It was the equivalent of being hit with a flying ax.

The day before, Bowmars wife wounded a bear with a crossbow, and didnt find the bear until the next day. Who knows how many hours that creature suffered. Neither bear deserved this treatment from these two people. If they did this to a dog or a horse, theyd be in jail for animal cruelty. Lets hope the authorities are able to bring a case against the two.

There is malice in the worldpeople with not an ounce of compassion and the ability and desire to inflict great pain. Its sickening to know that this couple celebrated their cruelty and documented it on a GoPro so they could enjoy it, replaying the experience and getting some sort of warped kick from it.

I am very glad that Albertas government is planning on banning spearing as a method of trophy hunting. Certainly it is a method more ethically minded hunters abhor. While theyre at it, officials should end baiting of bears and other animals like wolves and coyotesa deeply unethical activity that involves luring hungry animals with food and shooting them when they are exposed and vulnerable, unaware of the lurking threat. Its not allowed for waterfowl hunting and its banned in most states and provinces for deer, elk, and moose hunting. Its a relic of yesteryear to allow this method for predator hunting. And its the only way that Bowmar could get close enough to a bear to slay the animal with a spear.

In fact, its probably a good time for Alberta to listen to the public on the broader issue of trophy huntingkilling animals as a head-hunting exercise. Polling shows Canadians are deeply opposed to it, including the overwhelming majority of Albertans. Its not enough that we as a societyand our governmentsrespond to the latest cases of cruelty and prevent its most appalling forms from recurring. We must get ahead of the larger, fundamental problem and lift our sights and establish a new normal when it comes to our treatment of wildlife. Shooting them for bragging rights and wall mounts is a practice that cannot stand the test of time and is inconsistent with the values of a society that gives regard to animals.
Donald Trump called for "extreme" ideological vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the US, vowing to block those who sympathise with extremist groups or do not embrace American values.

"Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country," he said in a foreign policy address in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Only those who we expect to flourish in our country - and to embrace a tolerant American society - should be issued visas."

Mr Trump's proposals were the latest version of a policy that began with his unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country - a religious test that was criticised across party lines as un-American.

The Republican nominee has made stricter immigration measures a central part of his proposals for defeating the Islamic State group, a battle he said on Monday is akin to the Cold War struggle against communism.

He called for parents, teachers and others to promote "American culture" and encourage "assimilation".

Mr Trump's speech comes during a difficult time for his presidential campaign.

He has struggled to stay on message and build a consistent case against Democrat Hillary Clinton, repeatedly causing problems for the White House race with provocative comments that have deeply frustrated many in his own party.

Mrs Clinton has seized on Republican concerns about Mr Trump, highlighting the steady stream of party national security experts who say the billionaire tycoon is unfit to serve as commander in chief.

She kept up that argument on Monday night as she campaigned alongside Vice President Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a working class area where both have family ties.

Mr Biden called Mr Trump's views "dangerous" and "un-American" and said that his false assertions last week about President Barack Obama founding IS could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

Mr Trump has since said he was being sarcastic in accusing Mr Obama of founding IS. Still, he directly blamed the president and Mrs Clinton, who served as secretary of state, for backing policies that "unleashed" the group, including withdrawing US troops from Iraq in late 2011.

He was vague about what he would do differently to hit IS in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. He vowed to join any country that shares his goal of defeating the extremist group, regardless of other strategic disagreements, and named Russia as a nation he would like to improve relations with.

Mr Trump also pledged to end "our current strategy of nation-building and regime change" - a criticism that extends to policies of both parties.

His most specific anti-IS proposals centred on keeping those seeking to carry out attacks in the West from entering the US. He said attacks involving "immigrants or the children of immigrants" underscore the need to implement "extreme vetting".

Trump aides said the government would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with family and friends or other means to vet applicants' stances on issues including religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

Mr Tr ump did not clarify how US officials would assess the veracity of responses to the questionnaires or how much manpower it would require to complete such arduous vetting.

He did say that implementing the policy overhaul would require a temporary halt in immigration from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism".

The nominee said: "We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures."

Mr Trump's first announced his call for banning Muslims last year. He introduced a new standard following the June massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats".

That proposal raised numerous questions that the campaign never clarified, including whether it would apply to citizens of countries like France, Israel, or Ireland, which have suffered recent and past attacks.

AP
Mr Johnson takes the helm just weeks after he was forced to drop out of the Conservative leadership race following a coup by Michael Gove, the former justice secretary. Photo credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Boris Johnson is effectively running the UK after becoming the most senior politician while Theresa May is on holiday in Switzerland, Downing Street has revealed.

The Foreign Secretary takes over from Chancellor Philip Hammond as he goes on holiday. Mr Hammond was the senior duty minister last week when the prime minister began her annual walking holiday in Switzerland.

A No 10 spokesman stressed, however, that Ms May still remained very much in charge of the government even while out of the country.

Mr Johnson has been given the role despite featuring in a Whitehall feud in which Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, effectively called for the Foreign Office to be broken up. In a letter to Mr Johnson, Dr Fox suggested that British trade with other countries will not "flourish" if responsibility for future policy rests with the Foreign Office.

Ms May was "unimpressed" with Dr Fox's behaviour and sources said she wants her ministers to "stop wasting time" and instead focus on delivering Brexit.

Mr Johnson takes the helm just weeks after he was forced to drop out of the Conservative leadership race following a coup by Michael Gove, the former justice secretary.

Alistair Burt, a former foreign office minister, told BBC Radio 4's 'The World At One' he believed the Foreign Office should retain serious responsibility for all elements of foreign policy, including trade. He also admitted that Mr Johnson, Dr Fox and David Davis, the new Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, did not have a record as "team players".

However, he said they "owed" Ms May and should "drop a bit of their strong characters" to work together.

In the letter, sent to Mr Johnson at the end of last month, Dr Fox said: "If we fail to take this opportunity to restructure now I feel we will have a suboptimal structure for the future." Mr Johnson rejected the request and instead agreed to "second a small number of staff" to Dr Fox's department. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Russia and the United States are on the brink of forming a military alliance to carry out joint operations in Syria, Moscow claimed yesterday.

"We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues," Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said in comments broadcast on state television.

"We are moving step by step closer to a plan - and I'm only talking about Aleppo here - that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace so people can return to their homes in this troubled land."

A Pentagon spokesman played down Mr Shoigu's comments, however, saying no deal is imminent and that there is "nothing in play". The United States is believed to have offered Russia a military alliance against groups both sides consider terrorists last month.

The proposed deal, laid out in a document leaked to the 'Washington Post', would result in the countries working together to attack Isil, but also al-Qa'ida-aligned Jabhat al-Nusra jihadists, who have been locked in fierce battles with the regime.

The proposals were controversial because the former Cold War foes support opposing sides in the conflict, with Russia bombing in support of the Syrian government, and the US arming and training rebels.

The nascent deal was further strained in June, after Russia bombed a base used by British and US special forces. Jabhat al-Nusra cut its ties with al-Qa'ida and renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in late July, apparently to deflect pressure from Washington and Moscow. The group is playing a key role in the intensifying battle for Aleppo, the north-western city that has been a stronghold of the anti-Assad uprising since war broke out in 2011.

Meanwhile, Syrian troops repelled a rebel advance near Aleppo yesterday, forcing opposition forces to retreat from positions they seized a day earlier as heavy fighting continued in the country's largest city.

Russia has been launching air strikes in support of President Assad's forces for nearly a year, and Syrian and Russian warplanes have stepped up their raids in recent days in Aleppo and the rebel-held Idlib province nearby.

The Isil group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that struck a bus transporting rebels through a border crossing between Syria's opposition-held Idlib province and Turkey late on Sunday, killing more than 30 fighters.

The Atmeh border post is one of several crossings Syrian rebels use to bring in fighters and supplies. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll from the bombing rose to 32. The rebel assault on Sunday targeted army positions at a cement factory southwest of Aleppo. But opposition activists said yesterday the insurgents retreated following a massive government counterattack.
Mayor Pierre-Ange Vivoni of Sisco, a small village in the north of Corsica, said that burkinis would be banned in the area from today. Photo: Getty Images

The mayor of a Corsican village that was the scene of a massive brawl - apparently sparked by burkinis - between locals and youths of North African origin has banned the full-body swimsuits from nearby beaches.

The ban is the third to be introduced this summer in French towns, with the mayor of the glitzy Riviera resort of Cannes saying he would not allow "a uniform that is the symbol of Islamist extremism" to be worn on the beaches in his town.

Mayor Pierre-Ange Vivoni of Sisco, a small village in the north of Corsica, said that burkinis would be banned in the area from today.

The decision was made at a special council session held on Sunday to assess the situation after the beach brawl the day before in which five people were injured and several cars burned.

The burkini bans have sparked controversy as tensions have grown this summer between Muslims of North African origin and others in communities in the south of France, in particular after the massacre of 85 people in Nice a month ago by a Tunisian truck driver.

Supporters of the bans say the garment - which some Muslim women wear to meet with Islamic requirements to dress modestly in public - collides with French secular principles.

But anti-racism campaigners say that banning women from wearing it amounts to discrimination. Burkinis were the apparent cause of the brawl on a beach near Sisco on Saturday.

The village's mayor said that the incident started when a tourist took a photo of some young women wearing burkinis.

"And the Maghrebins (North Africans) didn't want to have their photos taken. It was quite a trivial matter to begin with," Mr Vivoni said. A hundred police officers were mobilised to break up the fight, which lasted for several hours. ( Daily Telegraph London)
Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said the suspect had 'been active in the economic field'

Iranian authorities have detained a dual national, alleging that the person has links to British intelligence services, according to Iran's state-run news agency.

The report from the IRNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying the suspect had "been active in the economic field, related to Iran".

Mr Dolatabadi did not elaborate, saying only that the arrest took place last week. He did not identify the individual's second nationality.

The British Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since Iran's nuclear deal with world powers last year, Iranian authorities have detained a number of dual nationals visiting the country, accusing them of a variety of security-related charges.

AP
An air strike has hit a hospital which Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres) was operating in northern Yemen, killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 19.

The blast immediately killed nine people, including an MSF staff member, and two more patients died while being transferred to Al Jamhouri hospital.

Five patients currently remain hospitalised after the strike near the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada, in the country's north.

Abs hospital, supported by MSF since July 2015, has been partially destroyed, and all the remaining patients and staff have been evacuated.

This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months. Once again, today we witness the tragic consequences of the bombing of a hospital. Once again, a fully functional hospital full of patients and MSF national and international staff members, was bombed in a war that has shown no for respect medical facilities or patients, says Teresa Sancristoval, desk manager for the Emergency Unit in Yemen.

People in Yemen continue to be killed and injured while seeking medical care. The violence in Yemen is having an disproportionate burden on civilians. We want to express our outrage at having to send condolences once more to the families of our staff member and 10 patients, who should have been safe inside a hospital."

Expand Close Credit: MSF / Facebook

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The conflict in Yemen pits an internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite rebels, who captured the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014.

The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes in Yemen since March 2015.

More than 2,000 MSF staff are currently working in Yemen, including 90 international staff.
Mourners near the site of the killings of Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, after funeral services for both men (AP)

Police arrested and charged a man with murder over the fatal shootings of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque over the weekend.

Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Morel, who police said hit a cyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after Saturday's shooting in Queens, was taken into custody late on Sunday night, said the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce.

Morel could be seen on the surveillance video fleeing the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer after Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin were shot in the head, Mr Boyce said.

About 10 minutes later, a car matching that description struck a cyclist about three miles away in Brooklyn, he said.

Morel was arrested outside a Brooklyn flat after he intentionally rammed his car into an unmarked police cruiser trying to block him in, Mr Boyce said.

Charges against the Brooklyn man were upgraded on Monday night after police said they recovered a revolver at his home and clothes similar to those being worn in a surveillance video that showed the gunman.

Earlier on Monday, about 1,000 people gathered under tents to praise Mr Akonjee, 55, and Mr Uddin, 64, at an Islamic funeral service where emotions ran high.

The ceremony featured several speakers who said they believed the victims were targeted because of their religion. Some members of the congregation shouted "justice" throughout the service.

After the ceremony, part of the crowd marched to the spot where the shooting took place.

Mayor Bill de Blasio told those gathered that the entire city was "mourning with you".

The a uthorities have not revealed a motive for the killings, though Mr Boyce said the possibility that the murders were a hate crime is "certainly on the table".

Some in the largely Bangladeshi Muslim community in Queens and Brooklyn have described harassment in recent months by people who shouted anti-Muslim epithets.

AP
The now-closed Camp X-Ray at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base - the Pentagon announced 15 prisoners were released to the UAE (AP)

Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to reduce the number of detainees held at the US prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organisation.

During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six US government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon.

Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the US was grateful to the UAE for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention centre's closure.

"The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," he said.

Mr Obama has been seeking to close Guantanamo amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the US for any reason. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers were a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office".

Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticised the administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as "hardened terrorists".

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5% of Guantanamo prisoners released since Mr Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8% are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21% confirmed and 14% suspected during the Bush administration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was "tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment" while in US military custody.

The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by US special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target US and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he has not expressed any anti-US sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little "insight into his current mindset".

One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged travelled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.

A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the US, which it identified as "an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad".

AP
Mine workers sit on a hill during the commemoration near Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa (AP)

Thousands of mine workers have gathered around a rocky hill in South Africa to mark the anniversary of the country's deadliest protest in decades.

Four years ago, police shot dead 34 miners who were striking over low pay and poor living conditions at Marikana.

Miners say those conditions have not improved since the shooting shocked South Africa and again exposed the tensions between mining companies and black workers, who are often migrants.

"Comrades, this is hard labour that is poorly rewarded," Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, told the crowd on Tuesday.

The ceremony of remembrance was peaceful. Miners sang, danced and carried sticks.

Squalid living conditions without sewer systems or other basic services are a problem for mine workers across South Africa, whose economy was built on the mining industry.

Leaders of the country's most prominent opposition parties used the commemoration to appeal for justice, and for political support.

"It is very painful when we remember that day, especially for us who were there when it happened," said mine worker Thabang Khoete.

"Because some people take it as if it was a game or a fairy tale. Even some use it as a tool to advertise their agendas. For us who were there, it is very painful."

AP
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rab's Country Lanes in Dongan Hills provided the perfect setting for Mary Lindeman's 91st birthday part, a festive event replete with kinfolk and friends -- and even nonagenarian friends.

It all made perfect sense.

According to her family, bowling had always been one of Mary's favorite past times, inasmuch as she was a member of a bowling league for a number of years.

Yet for this year's birthday bash on Aug. 7, enjoying bowling with her friends was even more fun -- the score was not really important -- than usual. Even the cake had a bowling theme.

The event was hosted by Mary's daughter and son-in-law, Cecelia and Michael Somogyi.



To backtrack for a bit, Mary was born in Manhattan of Italian immigrant parents. She was brought to Staten Island at the age of 2 and has lived in the same Dongan Hills home ever since.

Though Mary's parents hailed from Sicily they nonetheless wanted to create an American household in their new found country. They stressed use of English in the home and Mary would grow up speaking both languages.

To rejuvenate her Italian, over the last few years, the birthday celebrant enrolled in Italian language classes at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, Rosebank.

In fact she became so fluent in the language, she was recently able to hire a woman who only spoke Italian for household assistance. Mary found that with her daily use of Italian, a lot of the language resurfaced from her childhood years.



As a teen Mary commuted from Dongan Hills to McKee High School in St. George and volunteered to become the student librarian. Sje's proud to say her name is still on the permanent Honor Roll at McKee High School.

With little effort, she participated in a large neighborhood canvasing for the March of Dimes.

She knew that if the porch light was on, that meant folks wanted to donate.

On one such walk back in 1943, Mary would meet her future husband, John Lindeman, while he was doing guard duty at the Hylan Boulevard entrance to the Miller Field Army Base.

John understood the Italian protocol, and showing up unexpectedly at her door, asked her Father for permission to date her.

With the sweet gesture Mary's parents welcomed John with open arms.

Marrying an enlisted Army man in 1944 was not without its stipulations, like traveling back to Fort Bragg, N.C., immediately after the ceremony on Staten Island.

Missing the train connection in Washington D.C., John ended up in danger of becoming AWOL.

They went directly to the nearest MP to explain the circumstances, resulting in a telegraph to John's Commanding Officer.

Once in North Carolina, John had to leave her at the station to report to the base in a hurry. She found lodging for herself through the USO. When John called the USO to find her, he asked for "Mary Azzaretto" instead of Mrs. Lindeman, complicating the matter. And from that time forward, Mary was a big supporter of the USO.



Within a few months, John got a furlough before being shipped overseas. The young couple used that time to travel to Minnesota so he could introduce her to his family for the first time.

There the family, friends and neighbors staged a "shivaree." At the uproarious party, Mary was somewhat alarmed at the noise of pots and pans, shouting neighbors and general commotion. As she and her new husband acclimated, she discovered her first introduction to the customs of German Minnesotans. Her new father-in-law followed by hosting a heartwarming party.



John was then shipped to an anti-aircraft unit in Belgium in the midst of the fighting, serving as a German interpreter. He returned to Staten Island in 1945 until his death in 2004 after 60 years of marriage. The Lindenmans had three children who Mary describes as being "just wonderful."



When their children were grown, Mary returned to the work force in 1974 as an executive secretary for the Department of Welfare, Manhattan, retiring after 15 years of service.



Her secret for longevity is keeping her mind active.

She's a lifelong daily reader of the Advance, keeping up with not only the national news but with what's happening in her community.

When computers made their debut, she jumped on board. She took computer classes at New Dorp High School for seniors and is quite familiar with e-mails, FaceBook, and takes advantage of many games and puzzles computer sites offer.



When Mary developed a problem with her vision, she used her knowledge of computers and electronic equipment to adapt, making use of CD players for recorded books.

Her cell phone equipment changed to one that will talk and obey voice commands, as well as tell her the time.

She's always trying out new devices: the voice activated Alexa app, programmed to find answers to her questions, plays music, tells her jokes, and even turns lights on and off.



Music has always been an integral part of her life. She still plays her electronic keyboard with her favorites listed as classic country, opera and spirituals.



She's always loved travel, with some of her most recent trips being a flight to Michigan and a car trip to New Hampshire.



Her social life remains active. She participates in many societies and clubs at St. Ann's R.C. Church. When she retired she became a member of AARP, traveling and attending dances and social clubs.



Mary's smitten wiith her first great-grandson, an adorable 3 year-old Carl, who calls her GG, short for great-grandmother.



Perhaps the biggest boost to her longevity is her comment: "I have the most wonderful family and friends who keep me going."

CELEBRATIONS: AUG. 17

Happy birthday Wednesday to Bart Horowitz, John C. Andersen III, Liam Collins and Kathleen Lucadamo.
The World Trade Centre shopping complex is set to reopen in Manhattan, illustrating how much progress has been made in rebuilding and revitalising the area since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Shops from Apple to Forever 21 to H&M to John Varvatos will serve an increasingly diverse group of area residents and workers beyond Wall Street bankers that now includes many advertising and media employees.

The new spaces will let customers tap into technology as some retailers use the space for their latest ideas.

Ford is set to open the first FordHub this autumn, a showroom for innovations that is not a dealership. Shoe retailer Aldo Group is using the opening to launch an app feature which will be rolled out to other stores. Digital billboards in the shopping centre include a 280ft-long one.

But they will also be catering to tourists who come to visit the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

"We truly believe this will be the centre of commerce and culture for lower Manhattan," said Bill Hecht, chief operating officer of Westfield's US division.

Westfield manages the retail properties, while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the real estate.

Mr Hecht described the location as a "symbol of hope, opportunity, progress and perseverance".

The 365,000sq ft centre will have more than 100 shops, with about 60 opening on Tuesday and the rest by the winter holiday season. Eateries include Eataly's second Manhattan location, which features foods from Italy and coffee and gelato bars.

It stretches along an underground network that spans the bases of three office towers.

While mostly below street level, light beams in through the windows of the winged Oculus, designed by Santiago Calatrava, that top the transportation hub of 13 subway trains and river ferries. More than 300,000 commuters use it on a daily basis.

Westfield says 15 million travellers are expected to visit the area from the US and around the world next year to see the memorial and nearby places of interest.

"We have huge respect for this site," Mr Hecht said.

There is no signage on the side of the centre that faces the 9/11 memorial.

Every year on the anniversary of the attacks, the skylight of the Oculus - meant to symbolise the image of a dove released from a child's hand - will open to bring a slice of the open New York sky into the building.

Westfield said ensuring safety and security at the centre is the highest priority for it and the Port Authority. Uniformed police and private security will be present at the centre, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo said, but declined to give specifics about any other measures.

"As with any high-profile public location and transit centre, there are extensive security measures that have been put in place with law enforcement and others," Westfield said.

More than 60,000 residents live within streets of the World Trade Centre area, about three times the number from just before 9/11.

The former shopping complex in the World Trade Centre was one of the most successful properties in the world, but catered to daytime weekday shopping, said Robin Abrams, vice chairman of The Lansco Corporation, a property advisory firm.

The new centre is expected to have a vibrant night and weekend atmosphere, and Mr Hecht noted a deliberate move to include shops with necessities such as pharmacy Duane Reade.

Property experts believe the centre will complement the nearby Brookfield Place, which opened in 2015 and features high-end shops such as Gucci and Hermes.

It will also be different to the Seaport Mall, which is being reopened next year and is focusing on catering to local residents.

In addition to retail, a Beekman Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel as well as a performing arts centre are coming, part of the 30 billion dollars (23 billion) poured into the central area from public and private investment since 9/11.

The lower downtown area has about 6.5 billion dollars (5 billion) in annual buying potential, said Jessica Lappin, head of the Downtown Alliance, which manages the downtown-lower Manhattan business improvement district.

Mr Hecht expects the centre will eventually generate about one billion dollars (768 million) in retail sales annually, making it one of the most productive of the company's sites.

Smythson of Bond Street, a British maker of luxury stationery and leather goods, has a shop in midtown Manhattan but is "really excited to be downtown", said Ruby Victor, the head of marketing.

Given all the foot traffic, she hopes being there will raise awareness of the company.

"We're still a niche brand," she said.

Aldo spokeswoman Marine Jegard said the company is happy to be at the centre. "This is the location of the future," she said.

The new centre plus the developments to come are a lot of new retail for the area to absorb.

But New York property experts believe residents have been eager for more shopping and restaurants.

"Our sense is that there has been demand for a long time that wasn't met," said Ms Lappin. "There may be some bumps along the way. This is an area that needs places to shop and eat."

AP
SHARE Hugh Durham

Hugh Durham & Associates giving to Haven of Rest after each closing

Realtor Hugh Durham, of Coldwell Banker Hugh Durham & Associates, will donate to Haven of Rest Ministries after every real estate closing.

Durham, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker Hugh Durham & Associates, is proud to announce the humanitarian real estate company will be donating a portion of each transaction to Haven of Rest Ministries. "The whole company will be doing this for the foreseeable future," said Durham.

Haven of Rest Ministries was originally founded to provide shelter, food and clothing to homeless men in the Anderson area. Today, it exists to see those bound by life-dominating problems, such as addiction, rescued, restored and released.

"I chose Haven of Rest Ministries because they help people that have drinking and drug problems," said Durham. "Their recovery rate is over 90 percent, and it is an honor to help these people find the right path in life."
SHARE Michael Scott Holley

By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail

An Anderson County man has been arrested and charged with throwing gasoline in a woman's face in Pendleton and trying to steal her car.

Michael Scott Holley, 46, of Iva, was arrested Monday at a home in Abbeville, according to Pendleton Police Chief Doyle Burdette.

Holley was taken into custody by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's fugitive-apprehension team, Burdette said. Holley was taken into custody without incident or injury, Burdette said.

Holley is charged with carjacking and with two counts of assault and battery, Burdette said.

Investigators say the attempted carjacking occurred shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday on East Main Street in Pendleton. A woman who was with her daughters had just parked her car when she was approached by a man who threw a cup of gasoline at her, police said.

The man then took the woman's car keys, investigators said.

One of the woman's teenage daughters began taking pictures of the man, Burdette said. Burdette said the man then pushed the woman's daughter and the teenager fell to the ground.

The man got into the car and tried to figure out which key would start it. When he could not figure it out, he ran away and left the keys behind.

The identities of the woman and her daughters have not been made public.

Burdette said they were not seriously injured. The woman washed the gasoline off her face and appeared fine after that, he said.

Records show that Holley has a criminal history in Anderson County. In June 2012, he was found guilty of receiving stolen goods valued at less than $2,000. In March 2013, he pleaded guilty to shoplifting, records show.
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By Mike Eads of the Independent Mail

Be careful about eating spotted bass out of Upstate lakes, according to new warnings from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Mercury levels in the spotted bass from those lakes, along with largemouth bass in lakes Keowee and Jocassee, have led the health department to advise caution about eating such fish. The agency recommends against eating spotted bass from Hartwell more than once a month, and spotted and largemouth bass from Keowee and Jocassee more than once a week.

"Fish caught in the state's waters are safe to eat if people follow the fish consumption advisory guidelines," said David Baize, chief of the health department Bureau of Water, in a news release. "The advisory helps anglers know what amounts are healthy to eat based on the location and species they are catching."

Cleaning the fat and oil present in lake fish can reduce contaminant levels. The health department recommends removing skin, head, guts and fat from all lake catches. Pan or deep frying is not recommended, because those methods don't allow the contaminants to drip away; baking, broiling, poaching or boiling the fish are the preferred cooking methods.

Health department spokesman Robert Yanity added that mercury levels in lake fish tissue vary year to year, and have generally decreased nationally over the last four decades. He said the health department has no evidence of an increasing mercury problem in Lake Keowee.

"For the last several years, values in fish tissue in Lake Keowee have hovered near the threshold at which a consumption advisory is issued," Yanity said Monday. "In the interest of public health, we decided to reissue the advisory."

Contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) has also been a problem in the Twelve Mile and Seneca River sections of Lake Hartwell in recent years, as the result of an EPA Superfund site on Town Creek. Monitoring and cleanup work since 1990 have lowered the PCBs levels, but the health department still advises against eating fish caught in those areas, as well as all hybrid and striped bass in Lake Hartwell.

Clemson University research has found that the Twelve Mile and Seneca River areas of the lake are safe for recreation, even if the fish aren't OK for eating. Professor Cindy Lee told the Independent Mail in 2014 that the removal of old dams on Twelve Mile Creek has improved the silting process and helped cover up the problem PCBs.

Visit http://bit.ly/2btuXIm to see more about PCBs and Lake Hartwell, as well as a video show how best to clean fish caught out of local lakes.

Visit www.scdhec.gov/fish to see updated fish advisories. Call 1-888-849-7241 for more information.

Follow Michael Eads on Twitter @MikeEads_AIM
Maternity Leave to Increase to 26 Weeks for Working Women in the Organized Sector

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed in Indias upper house of parliament on August 11. It will be applicable to female workers in the formal sector, in all establishments employing 10 or more people. A notable feature of the amended Maternity Benefit Bill is the increase in maternity leave for working women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. This leave can now be availed before eight weeks from the date of expected delivery, instead of six weeks as was the case previously. However, in case of a woman with two or more children, the maternity benefit will continue to be 12 weeks, which cannot be availed before six weeks from the date of the expected delivery.

RELATED: Pre-Investment Advisory from Dezan Shira & Associates

Other new provisions include 12 weeks of maternity leave for commissioning and adopting mothers. A commissioning mother is defined as a biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo implanted in another woman. Further, the bill makes it mandatory for an establishment to provide a creche (childcare) facility, where the number of workers is 50 and above.

The bill must now be approved by the lower house of parliament before it turns into an Act of law after getting signed by the President. This is not expected to be an obstacle as the ruling government holds a party majority in the lower house. However, a key challenge for Indias government is to introduce maternity welfare provisions for women in the informal or unorganized sector, which employs around 100 million women. In its current form, the bill applies to only about 180,000 women who are employed in the organized sector.

Union Cabinet Approves Liberalization of FDI Norms for NBFCs

The Union cabinet approved the liberalization of foreign investment (FDI) norms for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on August 10. The measure aims to improve the ease of doing business in the sector and will boost the countrys burgeoning fintech startups as well.

According to the new norms, foreign investment in NBFCs will come under the automatic route if they are regulated by financial sector regulators. Those entities that are not regulated will need approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to secure FDI. The cabinet has also cleared with the earlier provision of minimum capital requirements for NBFCs, as they are already imposed by regulators.

The ease in investment norms for NBFCs was first introduced in Finance Minister Arun Jaitelys budget speech for the current fiscal year. If formalized, the new rules would expand the number of NBFC activities allowed under the automatic investment route, from the present restriction of 18 specified areas.

No Capital Gains Tax for Demerged PSUs, Customs Duty Raised to 40% on Marble and Granite, and Tax Sops for Textile Sector

The lower house of Indias parliament passed the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on August 9, which will amend aspects of The Income Tax Act, 1961 and The Customs Tariffs Act, 1975.

With respect to implications for The Income Tax Act, The Taxation Laws Bill seeks to exempt the land holdings of erstwhile public sector undertakings (PSUs) from the levy of capital gains tax, when transferred to the government and/or privatized. Next, the bill reduces the criterion of 240 days to 150 days of required annual employment in the textile sector, for businesses to deduct an additional 30 percent of the employee costs incurred for tax purposes, as entailed under The Income Tax Act, 1961. The amendment comes in the wake of a series of corrective measures and legislative policies by the government to revitalize the textiles and apparel sector.

Finally, the bill amends The Customs Tariffs Act in order to increase the upper limit of customs duty on marble and granite to 40 percent from 10 percent to protect the domestic industry from the onslaught of cheap imports.



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.
We all know, and in many cases, from years or even decades of practical experience, that movie tie-in games seldom go well. They go almost as well as movies based on games, and anyone who's seen more than a half-dozen of them knows how well that goes. Firefly Games, meanwhile, has managed to not only land investment in its plan to bring more Hollywood to gaming, but a new report suggests that it's managed to pull in a second round. That second round was worth $10 million, at last report, and that's big news.Interestingly, this time, one of the biggest investors in this $10 million round was an unusual source: China Construction Bank International Holdings. This is actually one of the biggest banks in China, at least part of it, and it wasn't the only one getting in on the action. China Credit Limited Holdings also laid cash in on this run, and that makes for an odd mix. However, it's not particularly surprising to see banks getting in on this; with mobile gaming now a $36 billion industry, pursuing a slice of the action is a worthwhile project. However, with major competitors already entrenched, it means that newcomers have a tough time getting in...at least, not without some backing, which Firefly Games now has.With $18 million total investment to its credit, and some major names involved--Michael Zhang and Justin K.J. Lin--it's got a lot of firepower to work with. Throw in plans to build around Hollywood IP that already has an audience and the end result could be a ready-made market. Reports note that the company is already working on one such game, and that could be the start of something impressive.The recipe by itself is a worthwhile one. It's got resources, it's got a decent audience--at least potentially--and if it's got the content to match then it may be poised for a success. Of course, it's also got to overcome the long string of failures that games built around Hollywood films are noted for. If it can break the chain, then it stands a very good chance of doing well in the market. That's a strong if, however; the notion of movie-based games has been a dud for a long time, and one company trying to turn that around will be a tall order. It will be a tall order to just keep from looking like a cheesy cash grab, a point that's a real risk.If it can get the content down--and with 35 employees on hand, it's got a good chance to develop right--then it may not only have a prime opportunity to make some cash, but it may be preparing to break a chain of disaster going back 30 years or more. That may be an even bigger development than anything that comes out of its shop.
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 | 28-10-2022 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 | 28-10-2022 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 | 28-10-2022 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 | 28-10-2022 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 | 28-10-2022 2:00 pm
UPDATE: (Aug. 26) This event has been cancelled and event organizers plan to reschedule for a later date.

Central Lodge No. 1, Indianas oldest Prince Hall Affiliated Masonic Lodge, will host a 160 year anniversary celebration Sunday, Aug. 28 at 4 p.m. in the Madame C.J. Walker Building.

This event will commemorate past and present achievements of the organization and some of its distinguished members including Will Porter, Sumner A. Furniss, James S. Hinton, Dr. Andrew J. Brown, George P. Stewart, and more.

A banquet dinner, live music and dancing will be at the event with tickets priced at $40.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I), standing left, and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott (D), standing right, at Celebration, an Alaska Native cultural festival hosted by Sealaska Heritage Institute in June 2016. Photo from Office of Governor Bill Walker



It's official -- tribes in Alaska will finally be able to follow the land-into-trust process just like their brothers and sisters in the Lower 48.

A new era emerged as state officials made two significant announcements on Monday. First, Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth said she would stop fighting a court case that paved the way for tribes to submit land-into-trust applications to the Bureau of Indian Affairs

"I don't see any need to use our limited resources in pursuing dead-end litigation," Lindemuth, who became the state's top legal official earlier this month, said in a press release . "While litigation remains an option, it seems more productive to come back to the table and see if the state's concerns can be addressed outside of litigation."

To that end, Gov. Bill Walker (I) said the state will convene a series of meetings to discuss the land-into-trust process. Tribes, Native organizations and other stakeholders are being invited to come together and share concerns that are likely to be unique to the state.

I support Attorney General Lindemuths conclusion that it doesnt make sense to use the states limited resources pursuing this litigation that has already dragged on for ten years, Walker said in a press release . Instead, we will work collaboratively with all parties to shape solutions that improve public safety, empower local communities, and protect our resources.

The announcements came only a few weeks after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals handed a victory to tribes in the long-running dispute. But it was unclear at the time whether more litigation in the works, especially since the decision came down to a 2-1 vote.

The state could have asked for a rehearing or it could have taken the case to the U.S. Supreme Court . But rather than wait for the clock to run out on those options, Walker's administration acted quickly to end the controversy, something that hasn't happened in prior legal scuffles.

"Governor William Walkers decision to work with tribes rather than against them ushers in a new era where tribal and state officials can cooperatively work together to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Alaskas tribal member citizens," the Native American Rights Fund , which represented the Native plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement

For now, tribes have not rushed to the BIA with land-into-trust requests. The agency itself promised not to approve any applications while the appeal was pending at the D.C. but that hurdle was removed with the court's July 1 decision.

Alaska, though, represents a huge opportunity for the Obama administration to meet its goal of placing 500,000 acres in trust before President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017.

An aerial view of the Akiachak Native Community, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that prompted the Obama administration to include Alaska tribes in the land-into-trust process. Photo from Calista Corporation



"Since 2009, we have restored 416,000 acres to tribal ownership and we anticipate reaching the administrations goal of restoring half a million acres," Larry Roberts, the acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said in June

For decades, the BIA had believed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 precluded the acquisition of Indian lands in the 49th state. The NARF lawsuit resulted in the removal of the so-called Alaska exception from existing land-into-trust regulations.

The regulations do not include any Alaska-specific provisions but officials say their upcoming meetings could lead to potential changes that address the state's unique jurisdictional, cultural, infrastructure, transportation and natural resource concerns.

We have an opportunity to establish a new set of rules that works for our particular circumstances," Lt. Governor Byron Mallott (D), who is Native, said on Monday.

The state's decision to drop the case, though, does not mean that legal challenges are off the table. The state will still be able to file administrative appeals or take the BIA to court in the event it opposes a particular land-into-trust application, Attorney General Lindemuth noted.

Lindemuth just came to her post after being nominated by Walker in late June. As an attorney in private practice , she has represented Cook Inlet Region Inc. , an Alaska Native regional corporation, and was part of the team that won the freedom of the Fairbanks Four , the four Native men who spent 18 years in prison for a crime they insist they did not commit.

Alaska is home to 229 tribes, the most of any state. Prior to the victory in the NARF case, only the Metlakatla Indian Community was allowed to follow the land-into-trust process because the tribe was not covered by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision: Akiachak Native Community v. Department of the Interior (July 1, 2016)

Federal Register Notices: Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (December 23, 2014) Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (July 1, 2014) Land Acquisitions in the State of Alaska (May 1, 2014)

Relevant Documents: Dear Tribal Leader Letter from Kevin Washburn (April 30, 2014)

District Court Decisions: Akiachak Native Community v. Jewell (September 30, 2013) Akiachak Native Community v. Salazar (March 31, 2013)

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The sacred San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. Photo by Tyler finvold



The Hopi Tribe has lost a lawsuit that challenges the use of treated wastewater at the sacred San Francisco Peaks in Arizona.

The tribe sued the city of Flagstaff for agreeing to provide reclaimed wastewater to a privately-owned ski resort located within the peaks. The tribe said the presence of the treated sewage desecrates the sanctity of the area.

Judge Mark Moran, however, determined that the tribe failed to make its case, The Arizona Daily Sun reported. There was no disruption to the tribe's ceremonies and no evidence of environmental harm, he concluded.

The Arizona Snowbowl ski resort starting using the reclaimed wastewater to make fake snow after securing approval from the U.S. Forest Service . The resort is located on federal land in the Coconino National Forest

The Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation and other tribes sued the agency but were rebuffed in the federal courts. The Hopis then launched their case against Flagstaff in the Arizona court system.

Read More on the Story: Hopi snowmaking lawsuit dismissed (The Arizona Daily Sun 8/160 Hopi Lawsuit VS Flagstaff Over Snowmaking Dismissed (AP 8/16)

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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.


The Pine Ridge Hospital on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo from Dean Kurtz Construction



The Indian Health Service made a patient wait four days before removing a sewing needle from her foot, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

Karrie Yankton, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe , showed up to the Pine Ridge Hospital on September 24, 2010, in intense pain, according to the lawsuit. Staff there discovered the needle lodged in her right foot but asked her to return the following week for treatment, the complaint states

By the time the needle was removed on September 28, 2010, Yankton had suffered through extreme pain and her entire foot became infected. Only later did she discover that a doctor could have performed the surgery on her first visit, according to the complaint, which was first reported by the Associated Press.

"The sewing needle was very dirty and likely caused a severe infection by remaining lodged in her foot for so long before being removed," the complaint reads.

Yankton, who has since suffered from numerous health problems, submitted an administrative claim for $5 million against the IHS. But it was denied so she filed the lawsuit in federal court in South Dakota on August 5.

"The agents and employees of the Pine Ridge IHS Hospital, failed to exercise reasonable care and/or the level of care according to the standard of care required of a physicians' medical specialty and/or that of a medical professional, when they neglected to reasonably treat Plaintiff's foot condition and injury, in a timely and reasonable fashion," the complaint states.

Yankton also filed a complaint against the Pine Ridge Hospital. A patient rights advocate apologized for the way she was treated at the facility, according to an email from the time.

"The complaint was reviewed by the Chief of Medical Staff and appropriate action was taken," the October 7, 2010, message reads. No further details were provided.

The Pine Ridge Hospital is located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It's part of the Great Plains Area , a region of the IHS that has come under intense scrutiny due to quality of care and management issues.

The hospital nearly lost certification from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Service until the IHS entered into an agreement to address long-standing problems.

Read More on the Story: Patient: IHS delayed removing dirty sewing needle from foot (AP 8/15)

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When you're heading one of the biggest companies in the world, the room for error is slim. A good leader will always have a trustworthy person or a group of people rather, to guide him/her whenever required. Apple CEO Tim Cook, in his interview with Washington Post, spoke about the importance of the same, saying, "I think its incumbent on a CEO to not just listen to points of view but to actually solicit them. Because I think, if not, you quickly become insular. And youre sort of living in the echo chamber."

Along the interview, Cook goes on to list out five of his friends he could always rely on for advice.

1. Warren Buffet

Reuters

Apparently, before Apple decided to return money to their shareholders as dividends before 2012, Tim Cook consulted the investment guru for advice. Partly because of his knowledge on the subject, but more so because Cook admitted that he would give an unbiased opinion over the matter. He said, "When I was going through [the question of] what should we do on returning cash to shareholders, I thought who could really give us great advice here, who wouldnt have a bias? So I called up Warren Buffett. I thought hes the natural person, and so I try to go through that process on everyone. That doesnt mean I always do what they say."

2. Anderson Cooper

CNN

When you're handling one of the biggest companies on the planet, going to a media person with your woes doesn't seem like a logical decision, does it? But Tim Cook did seek help from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper before making one of the most difficult decisions in life - coming out in front of the world as a homosexual. Especially Cooper because he had announced himself as gay back in 2012. The way he handled the whole thing was really classy Cook thought, and he could really understand where Cook was coming from here. So before writing about his sexuality, Cook apparently spoke to Anderson multiple times. He said, "I was getting advice from people who I thought were really great people who had really deeply thought about it."

3. Bill Clinton

denofgeek.com

The biggest surprise of the list? Perhaps, but Cook had his reasons. In 2013, he was facing his first Congressional testimony regarding Apple's tax practices. He apparently had a word with a number of people, as well as ex-US president Bill Clinton. A lot of time it's not the advice you seek but who you seek it from. Bill Clinton's knowledge about politics is vast, meeting him through the Clinton foundation helped Cook.

4. Lloyd Blankfein

pehub.com

For those who don't know, Lloyd Blankfein is the CEO of the world renowned investment firm, Goldman Sachs. It was the same Apple tax practices hearing that made him reach out to Blankfein as well. "I looked back to say whos done this before? I knew Lloyd and thought hed be honest with me," Cook said.

5. Laurene Powell Jobs

Fortune

Calling Job's death "the worst day ever," Cook admits to having sought advice from his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs over the Congressional testimony among other things from time to time. Cook believes Laurene has this understanding of the company, and more importantly, Cook himself, which makes her an important driving force. Talking about her Cook said, "Laurene has the lens of knowing me and deeply understanding Apple.

Wish we had such powerhouses advising us time and again.

You can check out the entire interview here.
Google hasn't finished the alphabet of their Android operating system editions A to Z yet (they're on Nougat at the moment), and the company is already restless.

Google is reportedly working on a new OS, that moves the company away from its dependence on Linux

Japanexperterna dot se flickr

Tentatively called 'Fuchsia', the OS will power smart devices, including phones, TV, and home devices. The home devices bit is the clincher - Google is moving into futuristic home tech, Internet of Things terrain.

The name was revealed on software repository Github :Pink + Purple = = Fuchsia (a new Operating System)."

Till date, Google has depended on Linux for ChromeOS and Android. The name comes from the new software on which Fuchsia may be built - Magenta. Android Police report claims that Google may replace Android and Chrome OS.

With Google already working to push Android apps to Chrome OS device, a unified approach seems like Google's long term strategy.
With Pakistan once again openly coaxing the separatist movement in Kashmir and India returning the favour when PM Modi talked about Pakistan's atrocities in Balochistan, the two countries seem to be at their perennial best in terms of hitting at each other. But Kashmir and Siachen aren't the only issues the two nuclear powers of South Asia lock horns. Sir Creek is another major issue that's been waiting for a resolution for over 70 years now.

Google Maps

Here is all you need to know about the dispute of Sir Creek between Pakistan and India.



What is Sir Creek?

Sir Creek is a 96-km strip of water disputed between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands. Originally named Ban Ganga, Sir Creek is named after a British representative. The Creek opens up in the Arabian Sea and roughly divides the Kutch region of Gujarat from the Sindh Province of Pakistan.

What's the dispute?

The dispute lies in the interpretation of the maritime boundary line between Kutch and Sindh. Before India's independence, the provincial region was a part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. But after India's independence in 1947, Sindh became a part of Pakistan while Kutch remained a part of India.

newstodaypk.com

Pakistan claims the entire creek as per paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Bombay Government Resolution of 1914 signed between then the Government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch. The resolution, which demarcated the boundaries between the two territories, included the creek as part of Sindh, thus setting the boundary as the eastern flank of the creek popularly known as Green Line. But India claims that the boundary lies mid-channel as depicted in another map drawn in 1925, and implemented by the installation of mid-channel pillars back in 1924.

The Genesis

The marshland of Sir Creek first became disputed in the early 20th century when the Rao of Kutch and the Chief Commissioner of Sindh Province of British India, due to different perceptions of the boundaries, laid claims over the creek. The case was taken up by then Government of Bombay, which conducted a survey and mandated its verdict in 1914. This verdict has two contradictory paragraphs, which make the India and Pakistan contenders on the same issue. Paragraph 9 of this verdict states that the boundary between Kutch and Sindh lies to the east of the Creek, (Green Line) which effectively implied that the creek belonged to Sindh and, therefore, to Pakistan.

On the other hand, Paragraph 10 states that since Sir Creek is navigable most of the year. According to international law and the Thalweg principle, a boundary can only be fixed in the middle of the navigable channel, which meant that it has be divided between Sindh and Kutch, and thereby India and Pakistan. India has used this para to consistently argue that the boundary needs to be fixed in the middle of the creek. Pakistan, however, claims that Sir Creek isn't navigable but India claims that since it's navigable in high tide, the boundary should be drawn from the mid channel.

What's the importance of Sir Creek?

Apart from strategic location, Sir Creek's core importance is fishing resources. Sir Creek is considered to be among the largest fishing grounds in Asia.

IndianExpress

Another vital reason for two countries locking horns over this creek is the possible presence of great oil and gas concentration under the sea, which are currently unexploited thanks to the impending deadlock on the issue.

UNCLOS supports India's stand

If Thalweg principle is to be upheld, Pakistan would lose a considerable portion of the territory that was historically part of the province of Sindh. Acceding to India's stance would mean shifting of the land/sea terminus point several kilometres to the detriment of Pakistan, leading in turn to a loss of several thousand square kilometres of its Exclusive Economic Zone under the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea(UNCLOS).

War in 1965 and tribunal

After the 1965 war, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson successfully persuaded both countries to end hostilities and set up a tribunal to resolve the dispute.

BCCL

The verdict of the tribunal came in 1968 which saw Pakistan getting 10% of its claim of 9,000 km (3,500 sq. miles). Since 1969, 12 rounds of talks have been held over the issue of Sir Creek, but both sides have denied reaching any solution. The region fell amid tensions in 1999 after the Pakistan Navy shot down a MiG-21 fighter plane, but the last rounds of talks were held in 2012. Since then it's been status quo.

The Indiatimes Frontlines team is at Sir Creek today. Follow their journey here
Blame it on the recurrence of suicides that our hearts have become numb to them.

Every year, many young adults commit suicide because of too much pressure.

Last week, a third year Law student at Amity Law School Delhi committed suicide by hanging himself to death after college authorities debarred him.

Sushant Rohilla was known for his academic merits. He was the head of debating society, a meticulous performer in college events, and someone who brought back many awards to his college.

On 15th August, Rohillas classmate tweeted about the event and it is only then the world came to know about the colleges callous attitude. Teerth Waraich, a fellow Amity Law Student tweeted this letter Rohilla.



But his pleas fell on deaf ears. You can see my friend, Sushant, begging for another chance, they didn't even reply. pic.twitter.com/ZpHXELANiZ  Teerth Waraich (@WesterosKaKing) August 15, 2016
An Assam elephant, who is believed to have travelled over 1,000 kms after separating from his herd, died in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

AFP

The elephant, it is being supposed, was separated from his herd because of the severe floods in Assam recently. He then began walking towards Bangladesh and authorities suspect he walked around 1,600 kms.

Authorities tranquilised the animal three times in an effort to transport him to a safari park in Bangladesh after he crossed the border in late June. He was given huge amounts of saline and chained in a paddy field in a northern village to recover but officials say he was "too week and tired" from his journey.

Wildlife conservator Ashit Ranjan Paul told AFP he died at 7am.

Locals are blaming authorities for his death saying he died because he was too weak from multiple tranquilisations but Mr Paul said it was because of long journey and curious villagers hampering rescue efforts by following him.
A 25-year-old dancer was allegedly gangraped at gunpoint by four manager-rank employees of a renowned Ayurvedic drug company in a hotel room after an office party in Banthara, 20 km from Lucknow, early Sunday morning.

TOI

The four accused, Satyavir Singh, Devraj Singh, Rashtriya Bhushan Bharti, and Paresh Tomar, all in their 30s and residents of Lucknow, were arrested and sent to jail after being produced in court. The manager of the hotel, Saurabh Sachchar, was also arrested for allowing a dance troupe to perform in the hotel in violation of norms.

According to the FIR, the dancer runs an event management company in Lucknow. Satyavir Singh approached her through a common acquaintance Ashfaq and hired her for a performance at a party for the company's executives which was organised at the hotel.

Along with two other women members of her dance troupe, the rape survivor performed at the hotel's banquet hall till late in the night.

westcoastleaf

She said in the FIR that at 1.30am, one of the co-performers told her that the four accused, who were heavily drunk, had tried to molest the dancers. The dancers were about to leave when Ashfaq told the survivor that Satyavir wanted to talk to her about the payment. According to the FIR, when she entered his room, one of the accused closed the door and at gunpoint all four raped her.

After she was let off, the survivor went to Banthara police station and lodged the FIR. "Police nabbed the four accused with the help of electronic surveillance," Lucknow SSP Manzil Saini said. The police are looking for Ashfaq, who is absconding.
At least ten people from the Dalit community were injured in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district after their vehicles were torched by a group of men.

The victims were returning from Una after attending the mass Dalit rally to protest the recent atrocities against them.

AP

Dalit activist Mavji Sarvaiya said the protesters were pelted with stones in Samter, the village from where maximum cow vigilantes were arrested for the flogging of four Dalits last month for skinning a dead cow.

Gujarat's junior home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said the police are working hard to bridge the mistrust between Dalits and locals in Samter.

Activists said Dalits from across the state were self-mobilised ever since the Una incident rocked the nation and Sunday's rally witnessed a spontaneous outpouring right from the village level.

AP

On Sunday thousands of Dalits from across the state had assembled in Una at the culmination of the ten-day rally against the recent attacks on the community by cow vigilantes.

AP

In the rally, Dalits vowed not to remove cow carcasses and issued an ultimatum to the Vijay Rupani government, to provide land for livelihood or face a mega 'rail roko'.

The gathering led by Jignesh Mewani, who has emerged as the face of Dalit uprising in Gujarat was also attended by JNU students leader Kanhaiya Kumar and renowned documentary maker Anand Patwardhan.

AP

At the meeting on Independence Day, Radhika Vemula, the mother of Rohith Vemula, the dalit PhD scholar from Hyderabad University who committed suicide earlier this year, unfurled the national flag.

AP

"I have not got justice for my son. I've come here so that Dalit children don't face what my son had to suffer," said addressing the crowd.

Muslims were present in large numbers to support Dalits in their campaign. Slogans like 'Dalit-Muslim bhai bhai' were heard.
As a civilisation as old as we are, India has had no dearth of scholars and learned men who provided answers to every possible question - practical or philosophical - that generations might need advice on. And Namami is an autonomous organisation launched by the former government to convert Indian manuscripts into a digital format and showcase them through the National Manuscripts Library.

After 14 years, Namami has been able to complete the documentation of 4,134,746 manuscripts from across the country and have another 2 million more to go!

Each of these manuscripts holds a wealth of knowledge that was thought to be lost or were forgotten by the people they belonged to. Now, with a single click on the digital library, the wealth of these manuscripts will be available for seekers from anywhere in the world.

Bhukampalakshana

BCCL

The compilation of manuscripts by Varahamihira suggests that earthquakes, specially the massive ones, can be predicted at least 7 days in advance. The Tamas-Keelak or sunspots are one of the signs suggested by the great saint as an indicator of earthquake. His study also indicates the presence of water on Mars, 1500 years ago!

Vaishnava texts by Madhadeva and Sankaradeva

Cambridge University Library

Renowned saints of the 15th century, Sankaradeva was the spiritual master and Mahadeva his disciple. After the death of Sankardev, Madhavdev incorporated narrations of his life in prayer services, a practice that was followed by his apostles, and in due course of time a large body of biographical literature arose. These Vaishnava texts were found in Majuli Islands, Assam and brought to the Namami for digitalisation.

Gondi tribal language

Indiatomorrow

A native script that dates up to 1750 has been discovered by a group of researchers from the University of Hyderabad. This script is the subject of ongoing linguistic and historical research. Discovered manuscripts have been dated up to 1750, and discuss information from as early as the 6th-7th centuries. Much of the information reveals independence initiatives by the Gond Rajas and encounters with the British. Also, the names of the days of the week, the months, the Gond festivals have been discovered in this Gondi script.

Atharvaveda

BCCL

This manuscript in Sharda script is one of the two Atharvaveda recensions that have survived. Originally, nine recensions existed. But only the recensions of Pipalada and Shaunaka survived. It was in the custody of the Maharajah of Kashmir. In the 1870, Prof. Rudolph von Roth, a German Indologist searching for Atharvaveda manuscripts wrote to the Maharajah asking for the manuscript. The manuscript is dated ca. 9000 BC, when Greece had not developed the writing system yet.

Jaiminisutra Tika

BCCL

The 18th century text by Krsnananda Saraswati is one of the most comprehensive studies in astronomy. The author was a noted scholar of his time and his study provides a fresh look at the movement of various constellations and the impact of the movement on crops and water bodies on the Earth.

Jyotisa Shastram

BCCL

The father of modern computing languages, Maharishi Panini is also credited for his research in the field of astrology. His contribution to the use of grammar in Sanksrit remains unparalleled in India. The Jyotisa Shastram is a comprehensive study of astrological charts as an exact science.

Suryapannati by Bhadrabahu

BCCL

Bhadrabahu was the last Jain Acharyas (Shrut Kevali) who was proficient in the 12 angas (original texts of Jainism based on the discourse of the tirthankara). His study on the Surya - the sun, and the Chandra - the moon, respectively are known to have been written during his lifetime (433-357 BC), and study the location, shape and movement of the sun, moon and stars.
Several education advocacy groups have harshly criticized a Federal Bureau of Investigation program designed to prevent the spread of violent extremism in American schools , saying it will harm the schools and students its targeting.

The American Federation of Teachers, AASA (the School Superintendents Association), the League of United Latin American Citizens, and other organizations expressed their concerns to FBI Director James Comey in an Aug. 9 letter. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. was also copied on the letter. They expressed specific concerns about Muslim students and those with Middle Eastern backgrounds.

The issue of discrimination against those students in particular, and more generally how they are viewed and treated in schools, is a growing issue.

At the start of this year, our coworker Evie Blad wrote about the U.S. Department of Educations efforts to safeguard Muslim, immigrant, and other students from bullying and other forms of harassment. And Corey Mitchell of Education Week also wrote about how the St. Cloud district in Minnesota is helping a sizeable share of students from Somali backgrounds .

The goal of this site is to help you better understand the destructive nature of violent extremism and learn to recognize the deceptive recruiting strategies of violent extremists who seek to turn you into puppets to carry out their orders, the FBIs Dont Be a Puppet home page states.

There are several sections of the website, including one that deals with the definition of violent extremism, how extremists make contact with individuals using the internet or cell phones, and a test your knowledge section asking students, for example, where the Al Shabbab terrorist group is located (Somalia), and the typical targets of extremist groups. And it urges students to contact teachers, police officers, and others if they know someone who is reading a lot of content from these sources or researching how to make explosives.

But those education advocacy groups we mentioned arent having it.

Increasing ideological policing and surveillance efforts like the Dont Be a Puppet campaign will have a chilling effect on our schools and on immigrant communities, jeopardizing childrens sense of safety and well-being and threatening the security and sense of trust of entire communities, the groups wrote.

The letter goes on to say that racial profiling is marginalizing for children and will only exacerbate the bullying and profiling of Middle Eastern and Muslim students.

Asked to comment, Dorie Nolt, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, wrote in an email that, Our role is limited: We reviewed the website and provided feedback to the FBI. She did not provide more information about the nature of that feedback. Nolt also said the department wouldnt comment on the advocacy groups letter itself, since it was addressed to the head of a different federal agency.

Last month, the Education Department highlighted several steps it said it had taken recently to address religious discrimination in schools , including a new website featuring information about discrimination, a new complaint form, and increased collaboration across federal agencies about the issuethe Justice Department is singled out in the departments news release.

Read the full letter from the education groups to Comey below:

Image from the FBIs Dont Be a Puppet website.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Open offers for selling kidneys on social media have baffled the medical fraternity and law-enforcers alike, especially at a time when such rackets have been busted at notable hospitals in Mumbai, Akola, Gurgaon and the Anand district of Gujarat.

The state human organ transplant unit recently stumbled upon certain Facebook pages like 'I want to sell my kidney', and has decided to liaise with the cyber-crime cell to get to the heart of the malaise.

PuneMirror

State human organ transplant unit head and assistant director (health services), Maharashtra, Gauri Rathod said, "When we came across the pages, the initial impression was of people trying to play mischief, nevertheless, it cannot be ignored as it involves a sensitive topic like kidney and its donation. It is also clear that many people were posting such messages out of very little awareness about organ donation. Besides, we also came across people luring donors into a scam by showing them huge money."

Rathod observed that while some people had responded to such advertisements driven by the need to finance their own higher education, it is an illegal act, a violation of which could land the gullible in prison. "While we are still reeling from the recent bust, this is yet another major scam. Social media is quite powerful and it can be misused like this.

Facebook

To further control such illegal activities, we will write a letter to the police's cyber-crime branch as they should be aware how social media is being used for vile acts," she said. "In fact, they should have been the first to have informed us about this activity and verify the facts. However, we will coordinate with them now to get to the root of this 'misuse'. Offenders must be taught a lesson."

One of the senior officials in the state health department, requesting anonymity, said, "It is nothing short of alarming to see people using such sites to sell off their organs. It is equally sad to see certain hospitals promoting this. Following the recent countrywide busts, we have now been discussing raiding hospitals and paying surprise visits to cross-check and verify the documents the surgeons possess. They charge around Rs 25-50 lakh for every transplant, so they can certainly verify the documents as well rather than blame the investigating authorities. Hospitals now have to come clean."

When escalated to the chief minister's office, principal secretary Pravinsinh Pardeshi said, "We will take this up in the department, where the involvement of the cybercrime cell too can be discussed to nip scams on social media." Later, CM Devendra Fadnavis responded to our text message, saying: "We will take strict action against such offenders and violators."

dawn.com

Another highly placed source at the CM's office said, "Since there is no helpline to clear issues and discuss lacunae of the law, we are thinking of coming up with a helpline where only doctors and kidney donors can be connected rather than people who run illegal activities and lure hospitals and donors into business. There are many who can afford the transplant and are rich but most of the times fly to Sri Lanka and other countries with their Indian doctors. Kidney or organ transplant can be made transparent if the law and implementing authorities focus on stopping commercialisation and being more vigilant than only looking for registrations or waiting lists."

D K Sakore, deputy commissioner of police, economic offences wing and cyber-crime cell, Pune, said, "We will appeal to all the citizens to notify us on dcpcyber.pune@nic.in if they come across any such incriminating page or comment on kidney or selling of any organ so that further investigations can be ordered. However, it is not easy to find offenders promoting selling of organs on social media, but it can be done with better software and technical teams."
Agencies investigating terror cases have come across a new trait among youths inclined towards the Islamic State. The youths have stopped using savings accounts in banks and instead are operating current accounts. Reason: they do not want interest on money lying in banks.

Reuters

This characteristic came to their attention while they were probing recent cases involving IS sympathisers , including those who have left the country to join the IS. "The police have come across at least three such savings accounts which the holder stopped using to begin financial transactions through current accounts," said a police source.

A current account is mostly used by businesses for transactions, but it does not earn any returns. According to sources in intelligence agencies, this new information on IS sympathisers may yield leads in future if they start scanning more bank accounts.

Reuters

Islamic law or Sharia prohibits acceptance of interest. However, what many orthodox Muslims with bank accounts do is they give away interest earned from an account to charities. Since it is regarded by sections to be un-Islamic, many Muslims don't even take loans from banks. Shifting from a savings account to a current format is a relatively unknown trend.

Police sources said in the light of the recent findings, they may consider looking at bank accounts of potential suspects. "In case of Arshi Qureshi, arrested by Kerala police in a UAPA case two weeks ago, he had also changed his family's two accounts from savings to current. We are trying to find out if there are such more cases," said an officer.

Reuters

Besides this, the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad is also looking at ways to scan chat messages of certain groups to find evidence of radical leanings. Mohammed Haneef, caught from Kerala by the Mumbai crime branch, for instance had created a WhatsApp group Mujahid.

Haneef is accused of radicalising over a dozen youths who disappeared in the last one year. Some of the youths are suspected to have reached Iraq and joined the IS. "While scanning blogs, Facebook pages, etc, is easier, penetration of WhatsApp groups is not so easy," said a police source.

The Mumbai crime branch is going through electronic records, mobile logs and other data on Haneef to ascertain his exact role.
It could be a sign of China shifting its position when it comes to the Kashmir conflict. China just snubbed its 'all-weather friend' Pakistan and called the Kashmir region under its occupation, as Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Reuters

An article published by Global Times, considered as the international mouthpiece of Beijing, in an article titled 'India should adopt an open attitude toward the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor' the Global Times termed the region PoK.

This is a significant shift from the official stand of Beijing which for all these years used to refer to the area as Pakistan Administered Kashmir.

The opinion column written by Hu Weijia, in the context of the multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the role of India mentions PoK twice.

"The dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan makes the two countries habitually vigilant against any possibility of large-scale foreign investment flowing into the region, but it is the Kashmir conflict itself, rather than any alleged political intent behind the foreign investment, that creates tension in the region. Rather than prevent foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute, the article reads.

The article ends with the prospect of a resolution to the conflict, derived out of the economic cooperation between the three countries.

BCCL

"Economic cooperation between India, Pakistan and China would create an open atmosphere for launching talks to solve the Kashmir dispute. In this regard, New Delhi may need to take the long view for its national interests."

The article in Global Times comes at a time India has made an aggressive push on its policy on PoK, Gilgit Baltistan and Balochistan.

It should also be noted that China, after suffering a 'setback' on the South China sea issue is trying to get closer to India.

Beijing wanted New Delhi to forget that it foiled India's NSG bid earlier this year and increase cooperation. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi was in India last week where Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of NSG bid and UN sanctions against Jaish-e-Muhammed chief Masood Azhar which China had earlier blocked.

MEA

While the Chinese Foreign Minister remained non-committal in changing its stand in both the issues, Swaraj made it clear India would resolutely oppose CPEC which runs through PoK.
Maharashtra police have recovered four dead bodies from the farmhouse of Santosh Pol, a murder accused doctor.

Police searched his farmhouse in Wai after he reportedly confessed of killing six people, five women and one man, with lethal overdoses of medicines.

Screengrab

Dr. Santosh Pol was arrested in connection with the suspicious disappearance of a 49-year-old woman Mangal Jedhe, an anganwadi worker.

According to people who were close to Jedhe, she had left Wai for Pune to attend to her daughter's delivery, but never reached there.

Police said that investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal Pol's alleged shady and criminal activities.

Pol with the help of a nurse Jyoti Mandre, allegedly kidnapped Jedhe while she waiting at the Wai bus depot. The duo killed her the next day by administering an overdose of a lethal medicine.

Screengrab

According to police the 41-year-old doctor was in a relationship with the two women. The investigation into Jedhe's missing led to Mandre who revealed the role of Pol. He was tracked down in Dadar in central Mumbai and arrested on Saturday and Jedhe's body was exhumed from Pol's farmhouse.

It was during the prolonged investigation Pol admitted of other murders, committed over a period of years. While five women were buried at his farmhouse, the body of the male victim was thrown into a local water reservoir. All the victims were from the neighbourhood and were reported missing.

According to police, the crimes were driven by lust and robbery.
HMD Global Oy, a new Finnish company looking to relaunch the Nokia brand for phones, said on Monday it has hired Pekka Rantala, the former CEO of Angry Birds maker Rovio, as its Chief Marketing Officer.

s3.amazonaws

Nokia has reportedly signed an exclusive licensing deal with HMD to bring Nokia-branded devices back to the market.

Rantala is a Nokia veteran, with a 6 year stint at the Finnish major that was once world famous for its phones. He joined Rovio as CEO in 2015 but stepped down after only a year in the job after imposing deep job cuts and restructuring.

BCCL

The rise of smartphones, which was initiated by Apple and then briefly hijacked by Samsung shook Nokia's market share. Then obselete, the company sold its handset business to Microsoft Corp in 2014. After a stint with Lumia and Windows Phone OS, Microsoft largely abandoned the business it acquired since then.

BCCL

HMD's Nokia-branded phones and tablets run on the Android operating system. The devices will be manufactured and distributed by FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology. It is yet to give any ETA for the products to hit the market.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ended a long-running legal dispute between the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the school district, ruling Monday that the school district cannot unilaterally cancel the teachers union contract.

The dispute goes back to October 2014, when the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, the entity that runs the school system, called a special school board meeting and announced that it was cancelling the teachers union contract and making changes to the union members health benefits.

The district, then facing serious financial troubles, hoped to save $43.8 million that school year through the health benefit changes, and $198 million over a four-year period. Other unions had made similar concessions, the district said at the time.

The move against the teachers union came after the district went to court earlier that year to ask for a declaration that the district had the authority to make changes to work rules and work conditions. The court declined to issue that declaration.

A Commonwealth Court judge ruled in January 2015 that the district did not have such broad powers under Act 46, under which the School Reform Commission was created in 2001, or other state laws, to unilaterally cancel the collective bargaining agreement with its teachers and add new conditions.

The district appealed, leading to the state Supreme Courts ruling on Monday.

This much-anticipated decision by the Supreme Court is a total and complete repudiation of the position taken by the SRC when it surreptitiously met in October of 2014 and adopted a resolution which purported to cancel the terms of the agreement with our union, Jerry Jordan, the union president, said in a statement on Monday.

The costs to the taxpayers just in the sheer number of attorneys and law firms hired to advance this fruitless strategy is truly breathtaking, Jordan added. It is time now for the District to negotiate a new contract with the PFT. Our educators and schoolchildren cant wait any longer.

The union represents teachers, nurses, secretaries, and counselors. Its last contract expired in August 2013.

The district argued that state law (the Distressed School Law) and various amendments to the states school code gave the School Reform Commission the authority to make changes to contracts, including the teachers union collective bargaining agreement, to deal with the fiscal uncertainty it was facing.

In the 24-page ruling issued Aug. 15, the five-member panel concluded that the teachers union collective bargaining agreements are excepted from a school reform commissions cancellation powers.

A spokesman for the district told the local CBS affiliate that the district was disappointed with the ruling and that it hoped to reach new labor agreements with its unions soon.
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Igbo youths have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore recent calls for the prosecution of the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), over the arms procurement scandal.

The youths, who spoke under the aegis of the Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo Students Youth Wing, said the calls for the prosecution of the minister was made by some disgruntled persons to tarnish the image of Mr. Dambazau.

The National President of the group, Comrade Anya S. Anya, who addressed a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said: The call is enmeshed in dirty politics and aimed at tarnishing the image of a man who has maintained credible records in his military career and academics.

He argued that in the criminal justice system all over the world, indictments must be based on investigation supported by genuine evidence before persons are brought to trial.

To that effect, he said criminal trials are not supposed to be politicized or initiated on the media.

Anya added that some faceless persons with ulterior motives conjured up mere imaginations to initiate frivolous allegations against Dambazau, describing it as a diversionary plot to unnecessarily overheat polity.

We wish to remind all and sundry that General Dambazzau was a chief of army staff and not Minister of Defence nor national security adviser to any administration. Therefore, enemies of progress should stop roping him into any corruption charge.

Ohaneze Ndigbo students shall vehemently oppose any attempt to tarnish the hard earned image and integrity of this noble General who all his life is serving Nigeria as a first class security person
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has said former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) deserves accolades for his contributions to the development of the nation.

He stated this in a congratulatory message to Mr. Babangida on the occasion of his 75th birthday tomorrow (Wednesday).

The former vice president, in a statement signed by his head of media, Paul Ibe, in Abuja on Tuesday, said one of the greatest legacies of IBB is giving the country a manageable number of political parties by reducing them to two.

This, he said, reduced waste of resources through financial support from the countrys electoral commission.

Atiku noted that following the conception of the Federal Capital Territory by Gen. Murtala Mohammed, the late Head of State, Mr. Babangida facilitated the rapid development of the city.

The virtues of forgiveness, and the magnanimous spirit of the former president is one of the magnetic and endearing features of his character.

It is impossible to encounter IBB without being moved by his humility towards people, regardless of their social status in life.

His detribalised nature and passion about Nigerias oneness are virtues worthy of emulation, the Turakin Adamawa added.

He, therefore, prayed God to grant IBB many more years in good health so that the country could continue to drink from his fountain of wisdom.
The senator representing Kaduna Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Shehu Sani, has said that the recent Federal Governments ban on conference materials and souvenirs was not a solution to the nations economic challenges.

Sani made this known when he featured at the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

The APC-led Federal Government had last month announced a ban on the procurement and distribution of conference bags, T-shirts and other souvenirs at events such as conferences and seminars funded by federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures and efficiency drive in the utilization of public funds.

But the senator, who is Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the ban would contribute little or nothing to tackling the current economic problems in the country, describing the measure as cosmetic.

The lawmaker urged the governments economic team and other relevant stakeholders to find lasting solution to the nations challenges rather than discouraging small-scale businesses from growing.

He also urged the Federal Government to give a human face to any new policy on internally-generated revenue.

According to him, any policy on revenue generation that will affect common Nigerians negatively will make life unbearable for them.

IGR should not be about making life unbearable for the people, because you want more money to do your own project.

It should be about targeting very key areas of business that will further add to revenue.

We have the upper, middle and lower class and I think the lower class of Nigerians has suffered enough.

They have suffered enough from previous governments and they should not suffer now in the name of trying to revive our economy, he said. (NAN)
The sacked Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Monday said that he had approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some embassies in Nigeria over the ongoing budget padding crisis in the House.

Jibrin said in a statement that after sending a letter to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the matter on Friday, he dispatched a similar letter yesterday to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption, requesting for an appointment to make a detailed presentation on all the allegations he levelled against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and 12 others.

I have also commenced briefing the diplomatic community and will in the next few days provide a comprehensive briefing to the British High Commission and the American, French and German embassies.

I have therefore petitioned the Public Complaints Commission and National Human Right Commission to enforce and protect my fundamental human right. Though as Speaker, he has the powers to sack committee chairmen but that must be done with justice, fairness and a huge sense of responsibility.

Nigerians must be vigilant because Speaker Dogara is using his office to obstruct investigation and provide shield for himself and the other accused. He is also using his office to raise money with the massive withdrawal from the House account, he said.

The House had at various times said through its spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa), that it would not join issues with the sacked Appropriation Committee Chair in the media on the matter, but that an action would be taken when the lawmakers reconvene from their annual recess in September.
Recently, we posted a piece on the effect that testing has on Chinese education and parenting . Todays author, Maya Thiagarajan, an English teacher at an international school in Singapore, similarly looks at these issues in her book, "Beyond The Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting in the Global Age ." Here are some of the lessons she learned.

By guest author Maya Thiagarajan



Until 2010, I believed certain ideas to be universal educational truths, and I followed them religiously:



Truth #1: Kids of all ages have a short attention span, so educators need to divide their lessons into short, engaging, and fun segments that will keep kids engaged.

Kids of all ages have a short attention span, so educators need to divide their lessons into short, engaging, and fun segments that will keep kids engaged. Truth #2: Learning should always be fun. As a teacher, youve got to make it fun. If kids are not engaged, its the teachers fault.

Learning should always be fun. As a teacher, youve got to make it fun. If kids are not engaged, its the teachers fault. Truth #3: Good teachers are always the guide on the side. No good teacher should be a sage on the stage.

Good teachers are always the guide on the side. No good teacher should be a sage on the stage. Truth #4: Making kids memorize stuff is not just unnecessary in the age of Google, its downright bad pedagogy. Twenty-first century learning is not about knowing information, its about analyzing, synthesizing, applying, and creating.

Making kids memorize stuff is not just unnecessary in the age of Google, its downright bad pedagogy. Twenty-first century learning is not about knowing information, its about analyzing, synthesizing, applying, and creating. Truth #5: Class participation is all about talking in class discussions and group activities. All kids must learn to share their ideas verbally, offer their opinions verbally, and ensure that their voices get heard.

And then, in 2010, I moved to Singapore.

On this tiny, high-performing Asian island, I found my educational world turned upside-down. I began teaching at an international school, where the vast majority of my students were Asian (both East Asian and South Asian). I also became increasingly interested in the much talked about Singapore local system, known for its sky-high PISA scores. Through my interactions with Asian parents and educators in Singapore, I began to realize that many of my educational truths were not universal truths at all. If anything, they were cultural constructs, and here in Singapore, they just didnt apply.

In fact, I was so interested by the differences in East-West approaches to education and parenting, that I began to formally interview educators, policymakers, and parents in Singapore, and I ended up writing a book titled Beyond The Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting in the Global Age. Despite the title, the book is as much about education as it is about parenting, and its thesis is that both East and West have tremendous strengths, and global parents and educators can blend the best of both approaches to raise successful kids.

So here are five lessons Ive learned from Singapore:

Lesson #1: Educators dont need to accommodate short attention spans; we need to train kids to extend their attention spans.

Many of the Singaporean educators I spoke with, particularly elementary school teachers, described the benefits of making young kids complete long and demanding academic tasks. Kids spend hours learning how to write thousands of complex Chinese characters. From grade two onward, they take exams that last for 90 minutes in each of their four major subjects. Yes, thats right: seven year olds can sit down and concentrate on math for an hour and a half.

When I expressed surprise (or shock and horror, to be more precise) over this, parents and educators agreed that Singaporean kids experience significant educational stress because of the exam system, but none of them seemed to think that it was asking too much to make a young child sit down and focus on a single task for an hour and a half. These tests and activities help train our children to shut out distractions, focus their minds, and concentrate, said one teacher. Said a parent, It is important to teach our children to focus for extended periods of time. Thats a very important skill.

Lesson #2: Educators dont need to worry so much about making learning fun"; we need to make learning meaningful, engaging, rigorous, and satisfying .

In Singapore, parents and educators seem much less concerned with entertaining kids and making learning fun. In fact, the word fun seems to suggest a game or a party, and education on this island is certainly no game or party. Its serious business.

But that doesnt mean that kids dont like learning.

What Ive realized is that many students find serious academic work very satisfying, and as educators, we shouldnt be hesitant to engage our students in challenging work and demand excellence from them. One Chinese teacher at my school told me that the Western emphasis on fun is one of the biggest differences between East and West. She added, We Asians arent so interested in constantly having fun. Our kids learn to like serious studying and learning. They dont want or expect everything to be a game or a party.

Lesson #3: Dont mock the sage on the stage. The elder does have an important role to play, and despite technology, that role is still important.

With phrases like sage on the stage, American educational rhetoric literally ridicules the idea that a teacher has wisdom to offer young kids. In every way, the rhetoric exhorts teachers to stay on the sidelines and play only a facilitating role while empowering kids to take the lead.

While I think that playing the role of a guide or a facilitator certainly has its place in a 21st century classroom, Ive also started to think deeply about the Singaporean belief that the elder not only has wisdom to offer the child, but also has a responsibility to be front and center in the childs life.

When I read American rhetoric exhorting teachers and parents to empower children by giving them more choices and greater freedom (and in the process, less explicit guidance), I cant help but wonder whether it makes sense to marginalize the role of the elder. When we let machines and peer culture teach our children, arent we devaluing our own wisdom and expertise? Arent we abdicating a central responsibility that the elders in communities around the world have performed for millennia? Dont children benefit from some explicit guidance? And shouldnt there be times when we are the sages on the stage?

Lesson #4: Despite Google and 21st century progress, kids still need to know stuff, and memorization is still an important part of education.

In Singapore, and perhaps across Asia, many parents and teachers still harbor a deep reverence for the power of human memory. In her book on The Cultural Foundations of Learning , education professor Jin Li describes memorization as repeated learning, and argues that this process helps Chinese students to gain a deep impression of the material. In his defense of a knowledge rich curriculum, the former Singaporean education minister Heng Swee Keat said, If creativity is about connecting the dots, you need to have solid dots in the first place, or you will have nothing to connect. Kids here memorize a lot of information, and they know a lot. Perhaps the emphasis on memorization in Singapore is excessive and comes with opportunity costs, but it has certainly challenged my paradigms.

Lesson #5: Class participation isnt just about talking; its also about listening.

At the end of my first semester of teaching, I gave an East-Asian student in my class a low score for class participation. In every way possible, this kid was a model student: she worked very hard, she did all her homework, her essays were fantastic, and she was always polite and well-behaved. Yet, she was quiet and reserved in class discussions. As a result, I gave her an insufficient for class participation.

She came to see me later with tears in her eyes. I said, But you dont speak up in our class discussions. She looked at me confused. She then explained to me that in her old school, class participation involved being prepared for class and listening very carefully to what the teacher said. Class participation involved listening, not talking.

In Singapore, and across East Asia, kids are taught to listen, and listening seems to be valued more than talking. I still expect my students to speak up and share their ideas in class discussions, but I now do two things differently: I explain what I mean by participation more specifically, and I also value listening a whole lot more. Our kids need to learn to listen to each other and to adults. And when we assume that participation is all about talking, we devalue listening unfairly.

Now, the Singaporean approach to education is not perfect by any means. It has its own slew of issues, and parents and educators on the island engage in heated debates about the exam system, the degree of pressure, the tracking systems, and the need for more creativity. But, the fact of the matter is that Singapore does a lot of stuff very, very well. Parents and educators from around the world can learn from each other, and by blending the best of Eastern and Western approaches, we can all raise successful global kids.

Connect with Maya and Heather on Twitter.

Image courtesy of Heather Singmaster.
The Department of State Services (DSS) on Tuesday arrested a traditional ruler of Agrisaba community in Nembe local government area of Bayelsa State, King Walter Agiri, over boundary dispute between Agrisaba and Oluasiri in the council.

The traditional rulers arrest was however, hailed by the Bayelsa Renaissance Movement, BRM, which commended the DSS for taking the bold step as part of efforts to find lasting solution to the problem.

It was learnt that King Agiri was arrested by the security agency in Yenagoa, the state capital, and whisked away to the commands headquarters for interrogation.

BRM in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Mr. Rondson Irokari, faulted the claims by some Agrisaba elders that the monarch was nabbed following a protest against the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in the community.

According Irokari, an independent investigation by the group revealed that the DSS arrested the monarch following security breaches in the area.

Nembe local government area was where three soldiers were recently killed by suspected militants.
In spite of the current hardships confronting the country, Nigeria will not shirk its responsibility to other African nations, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured.

He spoke yesterday at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja while receiving the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Modibo Toure.

While decrying the lingering political crisis in Guinea-Bissau, President Buhari appealed to political leaders in that country to embrace unity and avoid acts that could plunge the nation into further crisis.

He urged them to accept responsibility for leadership to stabilise the West African nation, noting that it is the countrys political leaders, not outsiders that would effectively resolve the political crisis in the country.

The president assured the visiting envoy that Nigeria would welcome increased support from ECOWAS and the United Nations to stabilise Guinea-Bissau and prevent the breakdown of law and order.

Earlier, Toure had requested Nigeria to use her clout in the regional bloc, ECOWAS, to break the deadlock in his country Guinea-Bissau, warning that the country faced a very bleak future if it continued without a functioning government.
The academic qualifications of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo state, Dr. Godwin Obaseki, has suddenly become subject of controversy.

This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the State, Monday, expressed concern over claims by Obaseki that he lost the original copies of all his credentials.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Benin, the State Chairman of PDP, Dan Orbih, said the claims deposed to by Obaseki in an affidavit were suspicious and that Obaseki should come clean on the matter instead of playing on the intelligence of Edo people.

He made reference to the affidavit sworn to at an Abuja High Court, wherein he alleged that Obaseki stated that he lost the originals of his primary, secondary, university and National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) certificates at a date that was not given.

According to Orbih, in the affidavit dated 7th June, 2016, Obaseki said, that all originals of my above said certificates are kept in safe custody in my office but unfortunately during the process of relocating from one office to another, I misplaced the original of the above said original documentsThat what I have with me now are photocopies of the secondary school leaving certificates, university leaving certificates and the NYSC discharge certificate.

Accordingly, the PDP said; The reasons he advanced are so flimsy and unconvincing. There are many question begging for answers. The affidavit does not contain the locations of where he was moving from and to or the state where he lost the certificates.

Did he report to the police when he lost the certificates. If it was reported at the time they got missing, we want him to tell us. One will expect that he must have reported the matter to the police. If he did, why did he not attach a copy of the police extract.

We also do not understand the choice of an Abuja High Court. Did he do that so that Edo people will not know that he claimed he lost his certificates. Is it not unusual that someone will keep his certificates in the office? Since certificates are private documents, one will expect that such documents will be kept in a private residence.

We dont want to have a careless governor who will misplace vital state documents and give flimsy excuses. Edo State deserves a better person. Who knows the next thing he will claim to have lost? Edo people deserve a better explanation and a more serious minded person.

Is it not disturbing that the governor could not produce his certificates and has now brought a man, who also cannot produce his own certificate. I challenge Oshiomhole, Obaseki, Phillip Shuaibu and Anslem Ojezua to show their certificates. Pastor Ize-Iyamu, John Yakubu and myself will bring out our certificates. I want journalists to be the judge that day.

Reacting to the allegations, the Deputy Director in charge of Communication, Media and Publicity of the Godwin Obaseki Campaign Organisation, Mr. Greg Ogiogwa, said the affidavit was self explanatory and that the PDP was only trying to make something out of nothing.

On whether Obaseki reported the matter to the police, he said the PDP leaders ought to know that police extract is a condition for issuance of affidavit.

It is an old trick used by the PDP that has always failed them. They did it to Oshiomhole, they did it to Buhari and now it is the turn of Obaseki. It is stated in the affidavit that Godwin Obaseki has applied for the re-issuance of the said certificates or a Certified True Copy of the original certificates.

They can spend their time chasing shadows instead of campaigning. We are talking about how to move Edo to the next level and industrialised Edo but they are talking about certificates. We remain focused and will not be distracted by their old tricks.

In the affidavit signed at the registry of the FCT High Court and date June 7, 2016, a copy of which was obtained by this paper, Obaseki said he had applied to all the schools he attended as well as the National Youth Service Corps ( NYSC) for the re-issuance of certified true copies of the certificates.

Source: Naija Defender
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has declared billionaire businessman and Managing Director of Aiteo Group, Mr. Benedict Peters, wanted for his alleged role in the $115m (N23bn) bribe given to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the build-up to the 2015 election.

The EFCC said in an official gazette signed by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that Peters was wanted for criminal conspiracy, diversion of funds and money laundering.

The notice read in part, Dark-complexioned Peters is wanted in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy , diversion of funds and money laundering. He hails from Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. His last known address is 8B Agodogba Avenue, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Peters is alleged to have given Diezani about $60m during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

The EFCC had alleged that the MD of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, helped Diezani convert $115m to N23bn after which it was disbursed to INEC officials.

Some of the money was said to have emanated from some oil companies including Northern Belt Gas Company Limited which allegedly gave $60m to Fidelity Bank on behalf of Diezani.

An EFCC source told our correspondent that Peters was the person behind Northern Belt Gas Company Limited.

The source said, We have launched investigations into the companies that gave Diezani money in form of kickbacks. About $60m came from Northern Belt Gas Company Limited. We have not been able to ascertain the directors of the company. However, we found out that Mr. Benedict Peters is the sole signatory to the account at Fidelity Bank.

All attempts to get him have proved abortive. We currently do not know where he is and he is hardly ever in one place because he has a private jet.

The oil magnate, who owns oil facilities in several countries, is said to own tank farms in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, Peters acquired an 85-per cent stake in block OML 29 from Shell Gas Company for $2.56bn. OML 29 potentially holds up to 2.2 billion barrels of oil and about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas.

He was also alleged to have taken part in the controversial crude oil swap deal involving the exchange of crude oil for refined petroleum products in which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation gave out 445,000 barrels of crude per day to nine companies through the Pipelines Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC.

However, Peters had in an advertorial in Sunday PUNCH of May 8, 2016, denied the allegations levelled against him.

The statement read in part, In order to put the facts clearly and correctly in the public domain, both AIETO Group and Mr. Peter would like to state categorically that Mr. Peters has not been officially invited by the EFCC on this matter.

As a law-abiding citizen and a significant participant in Nigerias key oil and gas sector and an accomplished global businessman with significant interests in different parts of the world, Mr. Benedict Peters will upon receipt of an official invitation from the EFCC, cooperate with such relevant authorities.

Mr. Peters who is currently out of the country will certainly attend to an invitation from the EFCC upon return to Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the anti-graft agency has also declared one Mr. Johnson Salako wanted for allegedly defrauding the Bank of Industry of N1.424bn.

Source: Punch
The Judiciary yesterday came under the spotlight again as it sang discordant tunes over the August 17, 2016 national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, scheduled for Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

While Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja gave an interim order suspending the convention late Monday afternoon, Justice Ibrahim Watila of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, ordered the PDP to go ahead with the exercise and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the convention.

Justice Walita also directed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) to provide security for the convention billed to hold tomorrow (Wednesday).

The court also ordered that the police, DSS and INEC be served by substituted means through their respective offices in Port Harcourt.

The judge delivered the ruling in a motion on notice filed by the Secretary of the PDP National Convention Planning Committee, Senator Ben Obi, for himself and other members of the Committee against the IGP, the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, the DSS and the INEC, in suit number FHC/ PH/CS/585/2016.

The judge also held that the July 4, 2016, judgment of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, which gave recognition to the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee that is organizing the national convention tomorrow, had not been appealed against, saying it behooved the court to protect that judgment.

The court added that there was no court injunction against the forthcoming August 17, 2016 National Convention in Port Harcourt during the hearing of the application by Senator Obi.

The suit was adjourned to today (August 16) for the hearing of the originating summons filed by Senator Obi.

In his reaction to the ruling, counsel for the applicant, Barrister Wori Nyeche Wori, said with the granting of the interlocutory injunction, the party has the legal backing to carry on with the August 17 PDP National Convention.
Hungarian authorities are known to be keen on keeping migrants out.

Over the past year, Hungary erected a vast border fence to impede the movement of refugees seeking passage to countries in Western Europe.

It seemed to work, for a time, but many Syrian refugees still attempt the dangerous crossing. Thousands remain encamped in limbo on the other side of the border in northern Serbia.

In one place, at least, security forces have resorted to a new tactic, putting up makeshift scarecrows.

The photos were uploaded onto the Facebook page of a group that supports Hungarys police and troops, especially those patrolling the border.

The account posting the images said that the masks were made in part out of carved sugar beet root and that no migrants had reportedly crossed in the areas where the scarecrows had been put up in the past month.

These are some of the pictures below.
Punch

Two mobile policemen were killed in the early hours of Tuesday at Hawan Kibo along Jos  Abuja road as armed robbers attacked a convoy of bullion vans belonging to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Vanguard

Thisday

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that it will go ahead with its national convention scheduled for wednesday despite a restraining order by a Federal High Court in Abuja stopping the convention.

The Sun

Former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, is an aspirant for the office of national chairman of the erstwhile ruling party at its convention fixed for Wednesday in Port Harcourt. In this interview, George, who is from Lagos State, insists he is the best

candidate for the topmost position in the party.

Daily Times

Following the release of a video showing the Chibok schoolgirls abducted since April 14, 2014 by the Boko Haram sect, security chiefs yesterday met at the Presidential Villa to review the development.

Guardian

Ahead of its national convention, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said that the party was on a mission to rescue the nation from confusion and strife the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government imposed on the people.

Daily Trust

Groups supporting and opposing the speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara in Bauchi State are voicing their opinions over calls for his resignation.

Leadership

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested a suspected fake lawyer, Thankgod Okachi Echem in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for defrauding his client, a sum of N7,000,000.

Tribune

Against the backdrop of the allegation by the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) that former President Goodluck Jonathan formed the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), kinsmen of Dr Jonathan under the aegis of Ogbia Brotherhood have dismissed the unfounded allegation.

The Nation

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is probing ex-Governor Jonah Jang following his inability to account for billions of naira belonging to the stat
A 27-year-old pregnant woman suffered burns to 45 per cent of her body after she set herself aflame over her husbands alleged extra-marital affair.

Cythia Njoki sustained injuries in her hands, abdomen, thighs and face after attempting to commits suicide in her house at Langalanga estate using Kerosene after her husband failed to explain where he spent the Saturday night, August 14.

Ms Njoki said her husband, a mechanic, failed to return home that night and when he came on Sunday evening, he kept on calling a woman she suspected was having an affair with him. In anger, she went into their bedroom, poured kerosene on her body and set herself alight.

I had an issue with my husband after he failed to report home and on coming, he continued to call a woman he was having a relationship with. I was angry and burnt myself, said Njoki who was in deep pain at Rift Valley Provincial Hospital.

Nursing officer in charge of the ward, Jenipher Mathenge said the patient was received on Sunday night at around 8pm in a critical condition.

The patient was received in a very critical condition, with her hands, face, abdomen and thighs burnt. Her fingers are also totally burnt, Mathenge said.

She said the Ms Njoki, who is six months pregnant also has breathing problems after she inhaled hot air. They are investigating the status of the unborn baby after they noticed the foetus had irregular heart beat.

The patient is pregnant and we are conducting further investigations to know the status of the unborn child, she said.

The patients mother Mary Wangui said she rushed to the hospital immediately after she was informed about the incident but could not communicate with Njoki because she had breathing difficulties.

Ms Wangui said prior to the incident, Njoki had shared with her the problems she was going through due to the alleged promiscuity. She asked the husband what happened but he did not give a clear explanation, claiming to have received a phone call from a woman whom Njoki suspected was his lover.

Source: News Every Hour
An official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Segun Enikuemehin, who dared to ask some military men who were assaulting a civilian to desist from such a dastardly act is currently at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) with one of his eyes totally damaged.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Enikuemehin came upon the military men beating a harmless civilian. Convinced that the military officials would beat the man to death if nothing was done, he reportedly walked up the angry soldiers and pleaded that they let the man go or hand him over to the police if he had done something illegal.

The military men would not take such effrontery lightly as they descended on the Good Samaritan and started beating him as well.

But not even the beating from the soldiers would discourage him, and he managed amidst his own beating to rescue the already battered man, whom he then took to the Adekunle Police station at Ebute Metta.

Our sources say that thereafter, Mr. Enikuemehin led the police back to the venue of the incident. Upon sighting him in the company of the policemen, the soldiers, who were by that time already cooling off at a nearby beer parlor, became even enraged and descended on Mr. Enikuemehin, during which they eye was plucked out.

The damaged eye was reportedly picked from the ground and the man rushed down to the General Hospital. Rejected upon arrival by that hospital, the blinded man reportedly asked that he be taken to LUTH.

Meanwhile, the soldiers, upon realizing what they had done, were said to have taken to their heels but were overtaken by residents and handed over to the police.

The story got messier when a relative of the stabbed Federal Road Safety Officer went back to the police station only to find that the military men had already been released by the police. While still digesting that development, one of the accused soldiers walked into the station in the company of a senior officer who was identified as Captain Okoli.

Speaking to SaharaReporters, Mr. Enikuemehins Uncle, Prince Ojatunwse Oluwajoba, said the DPO of Adekunle Police Station informed him when he got there that the soldier who stabbed his nephew had been handed over to the military authorities. He said that soldier, who had been in civilian clothes when the incident happened, arrived at the police station with Captain Okoli to collect his identity card and other personal effects that had been taken from him at the station.

According to Mr. Oluwajobaa, doctors at LUTH are now saying his nephews left eye has been completely damaged and that the second eye might be affected as well if proper medical care is not given.

Source: Sahara Reporters
The unusual happened in Dade County, Miami, USA during a court session on Thursday morning.

Calvin Griffith, 30, showed off his dance moves to the judge during his first appearance on charges that he broke into a local school and stole an employees car keys and then the car.

While facing Judge Catherine Pooler, Griffith broke out into a twerking routine.

Laughter can be heard throughout the proceedings, but Judge Pooler kept a straight face and did not appear to be amused.

The accused criminal also appears to say Hi Mom when he realises hes appearing on an in-court camera.

Griffith is accused of entering Miami Edison Senior High School which was closed during the summer. He then took a set of car keys in the main office, went out to the parking lot and drove away in the car.

The schools surveillance cameras showed Griffith entering the school and the car.

Griffith was confronted Wednesday at North Miami Senior High School where the victims car keys were found in his pants pocket.

He was awarded bond of $18,500.
Consider two California schools. Both schools have 40 percent of students scoring proficient on state tests. Because both schools are well short of the states accountability targets, they are subject to intervention. According to the accountability classifications used under No Child Left Behind and those proposed for the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act, these two schools look exactly the same.

But a glance under the hood shows that the two schools are not at all the same. School A has performance that looks like the following: 20% below basic, 40% basic, 20% proficient, 20% advanced. School B has performance of 40% below basic, 20% basic, 40% proficient, 0% advanced. In terms of average achievement levels, School B is clearly worse off than School A. If the goal of an accountability system is to target resources and support to the lowest-performing schools, it would be a mistake to treat these two schools the same.

NCLB All Over Again

Yet that is exactly what NCLB did through its Adequate Yearly Progress calculation, and which the draft regulations of ESSA would continue. All that mattered for school performance was the proportion of students in a school at or above the state-defined proficiency threshold. Research showed that this design led to negative unintended consequences:



It encouraged schools to focus their energies on students just below this proficiency cut score, since improving student achievement for already-proficient (or very-far-below-proficient) students would not help the schools accountability ratings.

schools to focus their energies on students just below this proficiency cut score, since improving student achievement for already-proficient (or very-far-below-proficient) students would not help the schools accountability ratings. It is statistically a very poor measure of school performance because the relative rankings depend heavily on where the proficiency score is set.

measure of school performance because the relative rankings depend heavily on where the proficiency score is set. It is a very poor measure of achievement gapsactual changes in achievement gaps can sometimes be opposite to changes identified by comparing proficiency rates, again because of where proficiency levels are set and the distribution of student achievement.

There are more arguments about the problems of this accountability policy design, which I detail in the letter I wrote to the US Department of Education. (It was signed by nearly 100 scholars and practitioners, including former presidents of the American Educational Research Association, former Commissioners of The National Center for Educational Statistics and the Institute of Education Sciences, and more than a dozen K-12 educators and school district data and accountability officers. The letter was also covered by news media here , here , and here .)

Theres Time To Fix This

Fortunately, there is a window of opportunity for the U.S. Department of Education to address these issues in ESSA through its regulation process. The regulations being developed by the Department will have profound consequences for the kinds of accountability policies that are actually written and implemented under ESSA.

Based on the research evidence, I argue in the letter that the Department should interpret the law to allow states to use alternative measures of performance. In particular, I recommend one of two options:



The simple average of students scores on the assessment (whats known as average scale scores). A proficiency index that gives schools credit for performance all along the achievement distribution (for instance, 0 points for far below basic, 25 for below basic, 50 for basic, 75 for proficient, and 100 for advanced).

In the letter I recommend the first approach because it uses the most information available in the assessment data. However, both approaches would be far superior to rating schools according to the percent of students who achieved at least a proficient score.

So how would this work for our two example schools? In either of the two approaches sketched above, School A would come out on top of School B, as it should. For instance, using the proficiency index described above, School A would score a 65 and School B would score a 50 on the 0-to-100 scale, a dramatic difference reflecting the fact that the students in School A are higher-achieving on average than those in school B. An average scale score approach would even more precisely reflect the performance of kids in each school.

Why am I so concerned about such a seemingly esoteric design feature of accountability policy?

Incentives Matter

In short, incentives matter. Educators understandably pay attention to the design of accountability systems. Given the stakes involved, which can sometimes include reconstituting schools, it is not surprising that educators would shape their instructional responses based on the incentives of the policy even if they are educationally unsound. Given the once-in-a-generation opportunity that a new federal law offers, its important for its accountability policies to encourage good practices, not bad ones.

The letter, however, did not describe my ideal accountability system, which would be one based heavily on student achievement growth. That kind of policy would encourage schools to focus on growing ALL students, and it would be much fairer to schools that serve large proportions of low income and other historically underserved students. Unfortunately, such a policy would not be allowable under ESSA as I read the statute.

I sincerely hope that the Department takes my letter seriously, because such a simple change could have profound effects on the incentives in ESSA. Others have written letters that make the same or similar points, so there will be ample voices behind these policy changes. Regardless, it is encouraging that so many researchers, educators, and advocates are interested in improving accountability policy for the next generation.

Morgan Polikoff is associate professor of education at the University of Southern California. His areas of expertise include K-12 education policy; Common Core standards; assessment policy; alignment among instruction, standards and assessments, and the measurement of classroom instruction. He blogs at //morganpolikoff.com , and this article was adapted from his earlier post .
Also on this day in 2012; Police opened fire killing 34 striking mine workers at Marikana, North West Province of South Africa.

During this fateful event 78 people were left wounded while more than 250 people were arrested.

The protesting miners were demanding a wage increase at the Lonmin platinum mine. This was the biggest incident of police brutality since the dawn of democracy and it revived memories of brutality suffered under Apartheid security police.
At least 16 Boko Haram insurgents were killed when troops on Operation Lafiya Dole repelled the terrorists attack at Kangarwa, Borno State.

The Nigerian Army yesterday said the attack was launched by the suspected insurgents at about 5:30pm on Sunday.

A statement by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, said The alert troops rose to the occasion and dealt a decisive blow on the insurgents by killing 16 of them and recovering arms and ammunitions from them.

Col. Usman said an officer and 11 soldiers were wounded in action during the encounter, adding that they had all been treated at the units medical facility and were all in stable condition.

The army spokesman also said troops on fighting patrol to Dogon Chikun recovered one vehicle and rescued five people from the insurgents.
Troops on clearance operations in the North-East have rescued 88 people in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State and killed three during an encounter.

A statement signed by Col. Sani Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, in Abuja on Tuesday, said 28 people of those rescued, claimed they escaped from Bula Musa village.

The statement said the 28 people comprised two men, nine women and 17 children, adding that the troops killed three terrorists during separate encounter.

They have been taken to Bama town for screening, profiling and possible handover to emergency management and humanitarian agencies, Usman said.

He said that another 23, comprising a man, five women and 17 children were intercepted by troops deployed at Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Bama.

Usman said this was after they escaped from terrorists in Bula Musa general area on Sunday.

In Dikwa, the troops also recorded influx of 37 IDPs, comprising two men, 12 women, 12 boys and 11 girls from Gulumba Gana village which is about 45km astride Gulumba-Kumshe Road axis, Bama Local Government Area.

They were screened by the troops and the Civilian JTF who, later handed them over to the Dikwa IDPs camp management for further registration and rehabilitation, Usman said.

He said those deployed at Nigeria-Cameroon border in conjunction with Civilian JTF also arrested two escaping Boko Haram terrorists named Mohammed Mundilga and Ahmed Ali.

The terrorists, who hail from Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area on preliminary investigation confessed that they were Boko Haram fighters, and added that they sneaked into Gamboru from Abbaganaram village, Marte Local Government Area after being tired of staying in the bush.

They, terrorists, attempted to disguise and pass on as IDPs but ran out of luck as they were found out. Both of them have been handed over to the Joint Investigation centre for further interrogation, he said.

The army spokesman said troops also carried out clearance operation and fighting patrol at Wadama, Izakah, Gelemari and Kalizaram villages.

He said following information that terrorists were extorting residents of Zankari village, troops stationed in Monguno, responded and killed two of them, while one sustained gunshot wounds.

Usman said the troops recovered one AK-45 rifle and three rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from the insurgents.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari that its members are fast losing patience with his administrations policies on education.

The umbrella body of all public university lecturers listed their grievances at a briefing addressed by its National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi in Lagos yesterday.

The grievances include lackluster implementation of the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government Agreements, non-remittance of Earned Academic Allowances and non-remittance of N605bn outstanding Needs Assessment Intervention.

Other contentious areas include: non-functioning of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO), shortfalls in personnel emoluments, University of Ilorin non-functioning ASUU chapter, funding of State Universities, non-release of white paper on special visitation to eight universities, appointment of Prof. Ishaq Oloyede as Registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and state of the nation.

According to Prof. Ogunyemi, the leadership of the Union decided to meet journalists to voice out their frustrations so that Nigerians can join them in appealing to the government to honour all of its agreements.

What we have in ASUU is a bottom-up approach. We will not tell you anything that has not been agreed on by our members. We have had wide consultations and we are now telling the world what our members are saying: that they are running out of patience with this government.

At this stage, we are only aggregating and telling the world what they are talking about. And let it not look like ASUU often takes delight in embarking on strike action. We want the world to hear us and appeal to the government to honour agreement reached with ASUU, Ogunyemi said.

We are not passing votes of no confidence but if any government is not getting it right policy wise, education wise, governance wise, it is our responsibility to voice it out, the ASUU President said.
Salesforce.com has acquired business intelligence and analytics startup BeyondCore, as part of its strategy to make its software more intelligent.

"I am thrilled [to] announce @Salesforce has acquired @beyondcoreinc to enhance the AI capabilities of Analytics Cloud," wrote Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in a tweet on Monday.

[ Reviewed on InfoWorld: Tableau vs. Qlik Sense vs. Power BI. | Explore current trends and solutions in BI with InfoWorld's Extreme Analytics blog. ]

The financial terms of the deal were not not disclosed.

BeyondCore in San Mateo, Calif., had already started integrating its product with the Salesforce platform. At the Gartner BI Summit earlier this year, the company showed off this integration, which would be part of its upcoming BeyondCore 7 release, wrote CEO Arijit Sengupta in a blog post.

"Business user after business user told us how wonderful it was that smart analytics was now embedded into an application they use every day. At this point, our two teams naturally started brainstorming what more we could do together," he added.

BeyondCore, which uses smart pattern discovery technology, is expected to extend its analytics capability across the Salesforce platform. It will become part of Salesforce's Analytics Cloud, which the company launched in 2014 to provide tools to businesses to better analyze data from their interactions with customers.

"Of course, we'll continue to deliver our innovative technology to customers as part of Salesforce and deliver the same great service you've come to expect from us," wrote Sengupta, who encouraged users to take a free trial of the service.

Salesforce has made a number of acquisitions in the business intelligence, machine learning and analytics space, including that of MinHash, Tempo AI and RelateIQ.
Raisio sales down, profits up

Plant-based nutrition company Raisio has announced EBIT up from 14 million to 15 million for the second quarter. Profitability grew from 10% of sales to 12% of sales. Net sales at 124.1 million were down from 141.5 million.

Plant-based nutrition company Raisio has announced EBIT up from 14 million to 15 million for the second quarter. Profitability grew from 10% of sales to 12% of sales. Net sales at 124.1 million were down from 141.5 million for the comparable prior year period. Sales for the half year were down from 264 million to 238.1 million.

In April, we licensed our Honey Monster brand to the British cereal producer Brecks, said Matti Rihko, CEO. Brecks started the production, marketing and sales of Honey Monster cereals on 1 July 2016. In July after the review period, we also divested our Newport snack bar business to the Dutch equity investor Nimbus.

Both Honey Monster and Newport were loss-making so the divestment will improve our operational cash flow. In Southall, we still own the land of over three hectares located in one of the most important urban development areas in London.

In the short term, Brexit affects particularly through exchange rates but the pound, even weakened, is still within its ten-year currency range. So it is essential to manage the company's own operative business well. Long-term effects are difficult to predict and therefore, it is important to maintain the ability to be flexible in changing situations. In all scenarios, the UK will continue to be the second largest consumer market in Europe.

With Benemilk's international licensing, we decided to take a time out because, due to the crisis facing the dairy market, it seems that customers are not ready to change their feeding models within the next couple of years. Even though Benemilk Ltd is now becoming dormant, the consolidation of its IP portfolio continues; the portfolio will be made a ready, strong package. In Australia, we had an encouraging proof of the IP's strength as the Benemilk feed and the milk produced through Benemilk feeding were granted a patent in July. In Finland, Benemilk has made a breakthrough and Raisioagro will continue its sale as usual," concluded Rihko.

Despite what the company described as weakened visibility and difficult market conditions, Raisio said it expects its comparable EBIT to improve in 2016.
Cattle Market Fades on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Live cattle futures ended the weeks last trade day down by 35 cents to $1.02 with soon to expire October down the most. Cash trade picked up later in the week with some Friday catch up sales mostly... LEV22 : 150.375s (-0.68%) LEZ22 : 153.000s (-0.28%) LEG23 : 156.325s (-0.33%) GFX22 : 177.875s (-0.14%) GFF23 : 180.375s (-0.04%)

Hogs Rebound into Weekend Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Lean hog futures ended the Friday round with 32 to 97 cent gains to fade the triple digit losses from Thursday. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was $90.54 in the PM update, down by $1.15. The... HEZ22 : 86.100s (+1.15%) HEJ23 : 92.700s (+0.62%) KMZ22 : 96.125s (+0.37%)

Cotton Falls Triple Digits Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT December cotton ended the day locked limit lower on the 3c loss. The March contract worked back off the limit for the bell, but still went home down by 274 points. For the week, Dec cotton closed 702 points... CTZ22 : 72.11s (-3.99%) CTH23 : 72.07s (-3.66%) CTK23 : 72.30s (-2.99%)

Loss for Friday Wheat Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Wheat futures faded on Friday with the front month contracts going home 6 1/4 to 9 1/4 cents lower in SRW. For the December contract that completed the week with a 21 1/2 cent loss. KC futures closed down... ZWZ22 : 829-2s (-1.10%) ZWH23 : 849-0s (-1.05%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.6281 (-1.18%) KEZ22 : 925-0s (-0.78%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.8324 (-0.81%) MWZ22 : 945-0s (-0.58%)

Corn Closes Red on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Front month corn futures settled the Friday session with fractional to 1 1/2 cent losses. The December contract saw a tight 7 1/2 cent range from -6 cents to +1 1/2 cents on the day. It was also down for... ZCZ22 : 680-6s (-0.22%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7193 (-0.15%) ZCH23 : 686-6s (-0.15%) ZCK23 : 686-2s (unch)

Soy Futures Close Mixed on Higher Beans and Meal Barchart - Fri Oct 28, 4:39PM CDT Soybean futures ended the day with the deferred contracts above the $14/bu mark on 5 1/2 to 8 cent gains. November contracts stayed 12 cents under the mark but closed near the top end of the 20 cent range... ZSX22 : 1387-6s (+0.40%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.4825 (+0.51%) ZSF23 : 1400-2s (+0.48%) ZSH23 : 1409-0s (+0.50%)
The four districts that have led a fight to reform Kansas school funding formula will argue next month that state and national test scores prove that school personnel dont have enough money to help its poor and minority students learn the states own set of standards, according to a brief filed by their lawyers last week.

The state, on the other hand, will argue that they are spending record-breaking amounts of money on their public school system (more than $4 billion), that all of the districts are meeting its own accreditation standards and that the court meddling in how the legislature distributes state revenue would be a flagrant violation of the separation of powers , according to the Associated Press .

The Gannon v. Kansas case has roiled the state for years after Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, passed through a series of income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013. Earlier this year , the state supreme court told the legislature that unless they make their funding formula more equitable and increase the amount of money they provide to its poorest districts, they will shut down all of the states schools .

With the equity half of the case resolved, the states supreme court is expected on Sept. 21 to begin deliberating on how to rule on the adequacy portion of the case. If the state loses the adequacy part of the case, the defendants lawyers say the legislature will have to provide up to $400 million more to its entire school system.

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.
As everyone should know, Lubbock, Texas is Buddy Holly's birthplace and the home of the Buddy Holly Center. These two facts should cement the city's reputation as an arts Mecca for perpetuity.

(Buddy Holly fans will also hopefully appreciate the obvious shout-out in this post's title.)

But the city is getting an additional boost thanks to the J.T. & Margaret Talkington Charitable Foundation.

In a move that mirrors similar developments across the higher education spaceand we'll provide some corroborating evidence momentarilythe foundation announced a $10 million gift to Lubbock's Texas Tech University supporting academic and research advancements in the College of Visual & Performing Arts and ongoing efforts to enhance the arts.

According to the university, the gift provides critical funding for the expansion and renovation of research and academic facilities at the Charles E. Maedgen Jr. Theatre, and in the process, will transform teaching, research, and performance spaces, and increase the building's footprint and bring together faculty and students in one location for added interdisciplinary opportunities.

Indeed, the gift maps neatly with the "arts-building-as-community-nexus-point" trend we've been seeing over the past year or so. (We also realize the aforementioned trend is rather clumsily named. We'll try and streamline it.)

Talkington's give follows in the footsteps of a $20 million gift, announced in early August, from renowned art dealer and influential contemporary art world figure Margo Leavin to rebuild and expand UCLA's aging graduate art studio facilities.

And in late June we looked at a $5 million pledge from Chancellor Emeritus Alex Ewing to redefine on the on-campus art experience by renaming the University of North Carolina School of the Arts' largest performance venue.

What's it all mean? Well, when you examine these gifts at a thematic level, it's pretty simple. Donors from all across the countryin fact, you can draw a straight line, east to west, from North Carolina, to Texas, to Los Angeles; nothing's stopping you!are funding what is essentially creative placemaking at the university level.

The details may vary, but the overarching sentiment is the same. The gifts supportand we're quoting Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors President and CEO Melissa Berman from a previous post on the subject"the role of art in sustaining a healthy and thriving community." It just so happens that the anchor institution is on a university campus.

And so it should come as no surprise that Texas Tech's Maedgen Theatre building serves as a "cultural gateway for the arts and the Lubbock community," holding performances and offering outreach programs for more than 7,000 patrons each year.

And what about the J.T. & Margaret Talkington Charitable Foundation?

Well, the couple were the founders and owners of Margaret's, a premiere, high fashion store that opened its doors in Lubbock in 1946 when Buddy was a mere 10 years old.

The foundation was established in 1997 to honor the history of the couple's philanthropy and dedication to the city of Lubbock. Through their foundation and personal giving, the Talkingtons have supported multiple initiatives throughout the Texas Tech University System including, among other things, the J.T. & Margaret Talkington Graduate Fellowships.

And as previously noted here on IP, the foundation has also providing funding to the Lubbock-based anti-hunger nonprofit Breedlove Foods.
Did Darren Walker start a philanthropic revolution when he pivoted the famous and influential Ford Foundation to focus exclusively on combating inequality in all its forms?

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But since Ford's much-discussed shift last year, inequality has definitely become a more salient issue among fundersand, for some, the dominant issue.

Last month, we wrote about how the San Francisco Foundation revamped its grantmaking to focus on inequality, especially in terms of race and wealth. The Chicago Community Trust is another local funder that moved inequality way up on its agenda, along with another priority that Walker helped legimitizeoffering more general operating support.

Related:

Now comes news that the Los Angeles-based Weingart Foundation is also moving the fight against inequality front and center. In a recent message, its president, Fred Ali, and board chair, Monica C. Lozano, committed Weingart to base all policy and program decisions on achieving the goal to advance fairness, inclusion, and opportunity for all Southern Californiansespecially those communities hit hardest by persistent poverty.

Like Ford, Weingart is taking a broad approach to the equity challenge, targeting disparities in a range of areas, including the economy, race, education, health and human service systems, and criminal justice. As with Ford's shift, there's also an element of repackaging here, since Weingartfounded 65 years agohas long supported nonprofits that fight poverty and expand opportunities for people in Southern California.

Another parallel: The shift at Weingart comes after listening to a lot of community concerns, much as Walker circled the world talking to Ford's grantees and others. As we've reported before, Weingart has long been a standout on the listening front. This is a funder thats regularly hosted input sessions to better understand local needs and what it can do about them. More importantly, it's actually used this feedback to shape grantmaking priorities. Unsurprisingly, Ali and Lozano cited the concerns the foundation was hearing in explaining the new shift. Local nonprofits have been telling Weingart that the safety net is eroding and that SoCal is increasingly becoming a place of inequality. That same story, of course, could be told in many parts of the country.

Related:

So what does all this mean for grantseekers in Los Angeles?

The foundation is taking a little time to review its internal polices, practices and culture to adapt to its new exclusive focus on inequality. That said, you can expect to see some big changes in how Weingart works with nonprofits and what it funds. Starting in 2017, Weingart will focus all of its resources on organizations that serve low-income communities deeply affected by inequity.

Heres a quick overview of what you can expect to see starting next year:

Large unrestricted grants in low-income, unequal communities

Support for policy change

Program-related investments to put more of Weingarts resources to work

Weingart board and staff members stepping up as leaders and advocates

Experimental strategies and new ideas

New targeted initiatives as yet unannounced

Although this is a whole lot of change to take in, the foundation's leaders stress that some things will stay the same for nonprofits that have come to rely upon Weingarts support over the years. Their recent announcement said Weingart wouldnt be abandoning its "responsive grantmaking" practices, and that it will still award multi-year unrestricted operating support grants.

Weingart says it will keep listening, too, soliciting input and feedback as it pursues this new direction. In fact, if you're in L.A., mark your calendar for Tuesday, September 27, which is when Weingart hosts a teleconference to answer questions about its new grantmaking strategy. Register now.

In the meantime, learn more about the Weingart FY2017 Program Plan here.
Many factors play into student achievement, from class size and school facilities to income level and nutrition. But a number of studies, including this one from RAND, have suggested that among in-school factors, teachers have the single greatest impact on academic performance, at a rate two to three times higher than anything else. Teachers may matter even more when it comes to the intimidating subjects of science and math, and the critical importance of qualified, competent teachers in this area is a big reason why weve seen a trend toward increased funding for educator training in STEM fields.

We've been talking about this for over two years, and the new grants and initiatives keep rolling in. One group attracting the big bucks is EnCorps, a nonprofit that transitions STEM professionals into encore careers as teachers. The California-based organization has garnered support from Qualcomm, the Keck Foundation, and others as it prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2017.

Another high-profile educator training organization is 100Kin10, which seeks to recruit and retain 100,000 STEM teachers by 2021. A response to a call to action made by President Obama in his 2011 State of the Union address, 100Kin10 is a partnership of more than 200 groups spanning all sectors from private to public to nonprofit.

Related:

Even if funders are ready to write checks in support of preparing educators, however, questions remain about how best to do that. Last year, we wrote about the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation stepping up to the plate with a proposed solution in the form of an alternative path for teacher training and a laboratory to examine best practices. Recently, we checked in on the progress of that project with Patrick Riccards, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer at the Wilson Foundation. So far, the news is promising.

The Wilson Foundation is committed to developing our countrys intellectual capital, and is known for supporting scholars who go on to become Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners. The foundation also offers teaching fellowships to get people who understand STEM into schools in five states.

Moving beyond that is an ambitious project to create the Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning to offer a new model of teacher prep with a masters degree program that includes a year of clinical training and three years of mentorship. And at the risk of sounding like a late-night infomercial: But wait! Theres more! The foundation is simultaneously developing the Walter Buckley Teaching and Learning Lab at MIT to study what actually works when it comes to getting teachers ready for the classroom.

A year after announcing the WW Academy and the Buckley Lab, the foundation has raised half of the $35 million total budget and remains on track to open in June 2017 with the first cohort of about 25 students. In subsequent years, enrollment is estimated to reach 200-250 students. Funders in the first two rounds include the Bezos Family Foundation, at $1.5 million, Nellie Mae and Carnegie at $1 million each, plus other foundations and individuals who chose to remain anonymous.

The WW Academy is working with school districts in Massachusetts to develop the program and has received informal approval from the state to offer an initial, post-baccalaureate license in biology, chemistry, and math for middle and secondary school teachers.

Look at any state in the country and its teacher shortage lists, and the STEM disciplines are always at the top. We are first focusing on biology, chemistry, and math because that is where the greatest needs currently lie, Riccards tells Inside Philanthropy, adding that the program will eventually expand to include other content areas.

Riccards believes that the ability to adapt to the new digital age is crucial to our nations success. Weve seen other industries, from healthcare to media, make the transition from the industrial economy of old to the current information economy, he says. We know our learners must be prepared for the latter. But education has been slow to make the necessary adjustments. The Woodrow Wilson Academy is looking to fill that need.

The big picture plan for the WW Academy is to influence the next generation of teacher training by creating a roadmap for other institutions to follow. We will serve as a resource to teacher education programs across the country, providing the tools, research, and direction, says Riccards. And determining what to draw on that map will require input from the Buckley Lab.

The Wilson Foundation intends for the Buckley Lab to serve three purposes. First, to evaluate methods employed by the WW Academy to see whats effective and where changes need to be made. With so many incredible advances in cognitive scienceboth coming out of our partner MIT and other institutionsone must constantly take those lessons and apply them in the classroom, says Riccards.

Second, the lab will act as a clearinghouse for teacher training research from the United States and worldwide, in order to guide policymakers. Finally, the foundation wants the lab to find ways to support existing teachers. There are currently more than 3.5 million K-12 educators in the United States. By providing content-focused professional development, we will seek to help existing teachers improve their craft, Riccards tells us.

So can this dual academy/lab track break new ground in training methods to have a lasting impact on American education? Considering the backing from funders, a partnership with MIT, and buy-in from school districts, a shake of the Magic Eightball says, Signs point to yes. The main premise, here, is to prepare the STEM teachers that our schools so desperately need by reimagining training models that were developed in a different paradigm. Times have changed, and were hoping a fresh take will get results.
Update 3/19/18  Hampshire Real Estate has opened its latest self-storage facility in Carteret. The property at 6640 Industrial Highway comprises 784 units. It offers after-hours electronic access, two elevators and three off-loading areas. Last weeks opening was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included the mayor as well as officials from Extra Space, Hollister Construction Services LLC and SNS Architects & Engineering PC, according to a press release.

Weve come a long way from the old self-storage model of three walls and a garage door, said James E. Hanson II, president and CEO of The Hampshire Cos. The industry has certainly changed, but our formula for success has remained the same. We search for underserved residential areas with a high barrier to entry, and leverage the experience of our team and our project partners to execute our vision. Carteret, under the leadership of Mayor Reiman and the Borough Council, has been a great community to work with to create projects like the Carteret self-storage facility that took a former Brownfield site and turned it into a facility that serves the community.

The facility is Hampshires 38th under Extra Space management and the seventh project the company has completed in Carteret in the last five years. The developer has 15 other projects in its pipeline totaling $240 million in investment, the release stated.

Joining Hampshire Cos. executives at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Ronald G. Rios, Middlesex County freeholder director; Mayor Daniel J. Reiman; and representatives from Carteret.

8/15/16  An affiliate of Hampshire Real Estate Cos., a real estate investment firm and self-storage operator, has received approval to move forward with a 96,000-square-foot storage facility in Carteret, N.J. The company, 48 Lefferts Street Urban Renewal LLC, will build the project in two phases at the site of the former Magruder Chemical Plant between Lefferts Street and Peter J. Sica Industrial Highway. Construction is expected to be complete next fall, according to the source.

Phase one includes a four-story self-storage structure comprising 81,745 square feet. The second phase will include three single-story buildings totaling 14,895 square feet. The developer has already demolished existing buildings on the site, which has been vacant for about 10 years, the source reported.

Any time a brownfield site is allowed to remain vacant it is a detriment to the surrounding area and our local economy, Mayor Dan Reiman told the source. This much-needed facility will be a great benefit to Carteret residents. It will provide needed storage services, and it will also clean up a contaminated brownfield site that will boost the economy with added development, construction jobs and additional taxes.

Hampshire Real Estate has a diversified investment platform that includes self-storage, industrial, medical, office and retail properties primarily in Northern New Jersey. The company has a strategic alliance with self-storage real estate investment trust and third-party management company Extra Space Storage Inc., which has been involved in several of its developments, according to the Hampshire website.

Sources:

Commercial Property Executive, The Hampshire Cos. Opens NJ Storage Facility

MyCentralJersey.com, Self-Storage Facility Coming to Carteret
@EibachCanada  @Northern_Motor  @EibachFedern  @eibach_racing  This year, suspension specialist Eibach celebrates its 65th anniversary and can look back on many eventful and exciting moments. Currently, there is a lot going on: Eibach has completed a new German production plant in Wiethfeld and has distribution partners in about 80 countries. In-firm training is also a story of success: More than 100 former trainees have found a job at Eibach and are now regularly working for the company.

In 2016, Wilfried Eibach, head of the company since his fathers death in 1967, can look back on 65 successful business years. According to a long tradition our business partners, employees management and owners will celebrate this occasion with a traditional festival in Eibachs home region at the end of September. The company from the German Sauerland region has experienced a lot of change since the last big anniversary five years ago. With the construction of the new production plant at the industrial park Wiethfeld, situated close to the headquarters in Finnentrop, Eibach has mastered by far the largest investment of its history. The plant serves as one of the worlds most advanced production plants for chassis components. At this plant, Eibach manufactures products for the business areas aftermarket and OEM by means of interlinked production.

In these days, owners and management are also proud of the decade-long training of young people. Today, more than 100 former trainees work in virtually all company departments.

Eibach has made a name for itself on all continents of the world, in line with its own motto The Will To Win. It has been recognised and awarded as a globally leading premium brand in various market segments such as motorsports. Special credit goes to Eibach Springs Inc. in the USA. The subsidiary is considered one of the most successful German family businesses in the USA. Next year, it will also celebrate its 30th anniversary. In China, which is by now the worlds largest automotive market, Eibach has established a production site in Taicang, near Shanghai. In addition to these three production sites, there are several sales subsidiaries in the UK, in Australia and South Africa with roughly 500 employees worldwide. They are supplemented by independent sales partners in around 80 countries.

Being a family business rich in tradition, emotional intelligence is an equally important part of Eibachs corporate culture as loyalty, trustworthiness and mutual care. In order to also obtain and promote this philosophy in the area of Social Responsibility, management staff from all Eibach plants worldwide are represented as members of the Board of Trustees, the Eibach family foundation. Furthermore, the owners look back on 10 years of their non-profit Eibach foundation. The favourite project of Nina and Wilfried Eibach, the Sauerlander Sprachsommer (Sauerland Language Summer)  a summer camp for families with a migrant background  has been recognised at a supra-regional level for years.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled against the School Reform Commission , the board in charge of overseeing Philadelphia schools, in a case stemming from a 2014 decision by that body to unilaterally cancel teachers collective-bargaining agreement.

The SRC was founded in 2001 to turnaround the district, which had long struggled academically and financially. This was three years after the Pennsylvania General Assembly crafted a bill, called Act 46, that would allow the state secretary of education to declare a school district in distress, and replace its school board with a five-member School Reform Commission. The new board was given special powers under the states constitution. But today, the justices unanimously ruled that when the SRC cancelled its contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) and altered members healthcare benefits it had overstepped the bounds of those extraordinary powers.

According to state law, the SRC can cancel or renegotiate any contract other than teachers contracts to which the board or the school district is a party, if such cancellation or renegotiation of contract will effect needed economies in the operation of the districts schools.

The districts lawyers argued that collective-bargaining agreements werent teachers contracts, but instead defined teachers contracts more narrowly as the individual contracts that the school district has with each teacher. Three Pennsylvania courts have now ruled against that reading of state law.

After two years and three Court decisions ruling against them, we hope that the SRC has now learned that even Act 46 presumes what is required for good public schools is to work with your employees by bargaining in good-faith negotiations, not brute and dictatorial actions, said American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten in a statement following the ruling.

Long cash strapped, the SRC revoked the agreement while facing down a $70 million budget shortfall . The board said that changes made to teachers health plans, requiring them to pay for some of the costs for the first time, would save them $44 million.

Former Republican Gov. Tom Corbett called the move a common-sense cost saver .

For nearly two years many have been working to provide a long-term funding solution for Philadelphia schools. The commonwealth and the city have approved new sources of funding; the district has dramatically cut its operating costs; and other school-related unions have agreed to contract concessions, Corbett said in a statement. Philadelphia is one of only two districts across the commonwealth that pays zero toward health care. It is now time that members of the PFT join the thousands of public school employees across the state who already contribute to their health-care costs.

PFT President Jerry Jordan said , in a statement following the Supreme Court ruling, that this lawsuit was a unnecessary cost to the financially struggling district.

The costs to the taxpayers just in the sheer number of attorneys and law firms hired to advance this fruitless strategy is truly breathtaking, Jordan said, It is time now for the district to negotiate a new contract with the PFT. Our educators and schoolchildren cant wait any longer.

Philadelphia teachers have been without a contract for four years and havent seen a raise during that period.

Philadelphia councilmember and educational activist Helen Gym said that she hoped todays ruling moves the citys teachers closer to finally getting that contract.

I am relieved that an exorbitant and ultimately futile attempt to upend collective bargaining has come to a clear end, said Gym in a statement. This major ruling reaffirms what teachers, parents, and students have said for years: our teachers are our partners and a fair contract is too long overdue.
Emerging market currencies and commodities rose for the second day on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar continued to decline. Global traders appear less convinced that the Federal Reserve will raise rates in September, following mixed economic data at home and sluggish demand abroad that drove the greenback lower against major currencies. Spot gold prices in London rose by nearly 1 percent in early trading in response. For now, investors appear content to remain on the beach and watch from a distance after the Standard & Poors 500 drifted to fresh highs on Monday, despite concerns over earnings as a downbeat reporting season came to an end.

Aetna drops Obamacare. On Monday, Aetna announced it will drop almost 70 percent of its current individual health coverage available under the Affordable Care Act. The insurance giant expects to reap significant savings after booking nearly $200 million in losses before taxes on the coverage plans due to the high percentage of high-cost-need subscribers. The news follows a statement by executives two weeks ago during the second-quarter earnings shareholder call that Aetna was considering options regarding the state insurance-exchange programs.

BHP announces record loss. Australian mining giant BHP Billiton announced a record fiscal full-year loss today of more than $6 billion driven by declining base metal and oil demand globally. In addition to a decline in revenue of 31 percent versus the prior year, the company also wrote down assets in its global portfolio. In the accompany statement, management indicated that cost-cutting measures will continue.

Home Depot earnings rise as homeowners spend more. On Tuesday, home-repair retailer Home Depot announced second quarter financial results that included a 9.3 percent year-over-year rise in profits driven by rising home improvement spending. Per share earnings registered at $1.97, in line with consensus analysts estimates, while revenues also climbed as expected. Home Depot raised guidance for the full year as rising home values continue to provide confidence to owners considering improvements.

VW, DOJ near settlement. According to several news agencies, the U.S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen are nearing a settlement over possible criminal charges related to the emissions-testing scandal that rocked the German company last year. The company has already agreed to nearly $15 billion in civil settlements with U.S. consumers. Last month the Bavarian auto giant reported second-quarter earnings that included a 56 percent contraction in profits versus the same period last year.

Gawker finds few bidders. According to multiple media outlets, interest from potential buyers for Gawker Media, which has sought court protection after losing a widely publicized invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, has been spare. According to unnamed sources, both Ziff Davis and Univision Holdings have been the only potential suitors to emerge. No bids yet reported are equal to the $115 million-dollar judgment against the online media company.
Homeowners in New South Wales could be at risk as legislation surrounding backyard pools has left more than a third of homeowners with pools in breach of new rules.A survey, conducted by Aitkin Lawyers, found that more than a third of the 60 properties in the state currently for sale on Domain were in breach of rules which came into place in April which could affect home insurance policies.In a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, Julian Peters, special counsel with Aiken Lawyers, said that failure to comply with the changes in legislation could see home-owners left vulnerable by insurance coverage in the event of an accident but brokers have downplayed the change.I dont see this as a major issue, John Usher, account executive at Teamcare told Insurance Business.From a risk management and insurance perspective the crux of the matter is the condition of the pool.If the pool truly was non-compliant & this led to someone dying then the homeowner could be held liable for this & would seek recourse under the liability section of their house insurance. The main issue if it got to court would likely be the actual state of the pool at the time of the loss rather than whether or not it was registered.Pools in New South Wales have had to be registered with local government after legislative changes at the end of April in a bid to help reduce injuries and drownings.Michael Olofinsky, managing director of Brookvale Insurance Brokers , told Insurance Business that the rule changes were designed for public safety and should be followed.The change in legislation is about saving lives from preventable accidents. Who in their right mind would not want to comply if an unsafe issue was identified?If the homeowner does have the pool certified it does not prevent actions against them by a third party, conversely if it does not comply they are opening themselves up to a potential actions that may be difficult to defend, Olofinsky said.Olofinsky said that brokers could get in touch with their clients via email to help spread the news but it may not be the role of the broker.The changes in legislation could be pro-actively broadcast to a brokers client list, via newsletter or via renewal letter, Olofinsky continued.Whilst it would be proactive I dont see it as a brokers role. Local government have already written to homeowners.Usher said that the advice on offer from brokers was key to insurance decisions as the legislative changes highlight the lack of advice customers receive.The general market is never going to give people any advice about insurance, Usher said.So people are completely in the dark and if they dont know about an issue like this the insurer isnt going to tell them. As brokers we have an ongoing relationship with people and are much better placed to offer that sort of insight.
Toyota has admitted to selling 'junk' insurance through its dealerships, it has been reported.In a letter, Supplementary Product Disclosure Statement (SPDS) for Toyotas novated lease insurance issued on 1 July, the automaker has in effect directly admitted to selling customers junk, News.com.au reported.In a new section titled Risks, Toyota Insurance warned customers of the risks they need to consider when purchasing insurance policies in conjunction with financing agreements through motor dealers.It said insurance purchased this way is often more expensive than similar cover purchased through other methods, and the types and levels of insurance provided may not be appropriate for you, especially if you have no dependants or already have insurance cover sufficient to meet your liabilities through other policies.It also acknowledged that including the premium for insurance as part of the financed amount increases the real cost of the insurance due to the interest payable on the financed amount.Gerard Brody, Consumer Action chief executive, told News.com.au the letter was admitting that its junk.We have raised concerns that the sales of this sort of insurance misleads people or takes advantage of them through the sales process, he said.I think Toyota are trying to protect themselves by saying this is clearly disclosed at the outset. But in practice we know consumers rarely read complex and lengthy disclosure documents.The securities regulator issued two damning reports into the industry earlier this year, titled Buying add-on insurance in car yards: why it can be hard to say no, and The sale of life insurance through car dealers: Taking consumers for a ride, which exposed major issues with the practice of selling add-on insurance, News.com.au reported.The practice, which has been described as a get rich quick scheme for car dealers and finance providers has incurred Australians an estimated $70 million in losses, with some unaware they availed of the junk insurance in the first place, said Consumer Action Law Centre.The advocacy group has been campaigning for consumers who have been sold junk insurance and warranties to complain and seek a refund, said the report. To date, there are more than $230,000 in refunds requested through the DemandARefund website.The group is also lobbying for tougher laws. Brody said: Were hoping governments will intervene and change the law to prevent insurance being bundled with personal loans or other products in a way that people are unable to assess the value of the product.In a statement, a spokesperson for Toyota Finance Australia said: We are aware of an article that has appeared today in relation to insurance add on products.Toyota Finance Australia is committed to and ensures at all times that there is full transparency with regards to costs across all of its products, including its insurance product range.Our customers are always and will continue to be our priority.
A farmer whose 800-hectare property adjoins the failed Linc Energy project on Queensland's Darling Downs is hoping to force the liquidator to release the insurance policy of the troubled oil and gas company, ABC reported.Pamela Bender, whose property is inside a 320-kilometer excavation caution zone set up around the Linc trial site in 2015, has filed a 1,174-page application in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, arguing Lincs insurance documents would determine whether a class action was financially viable, said the report.Linc Energy has been accused of wilfully and unlawfully causing serious harm to the environment by allowing contaminants from its trial underground coal gasification (UCG) plant to leech into surrounding farmland, said ABC.Said action has caused widespread, and in some areas irreversible, damage to arable farmland, a report commissioned by the Queensland Government has found.The company was committed to stand trial on five charges relating to environmental breaches but has since been placed in liquidation.In a statement submitted to the court, Bender has alleged PPB Advisory of refusing to provide access to Linc Energys insurance policy. The documents also showed Bender seeking to pursue Linc Energy and its former directors, including Peter Bond, for damages to her land value, said ABC."The Queensland State Government's testing, the scientific reports, the establishment of the [excavation caution zone], and the institution of criminal proceedings have all been the source of significant concern for myself and my family," Bender said in the documents."I wish to make a claim against Linc for diminution of my property as a result of the stigma affecting my land as a result of environmental contamination allegedly emanating from Linc's UCG facility," said Bender.To date, 50 people have signed up to join any future class action, said ABC.Stephen Longley from PPB Advisory told ABC that if Bender or anyone else was successful in legal action against Linc Energy, they would only join a list of unsecured creditors unlikely to receive their full debts. He added that the cost of legal action might outweigh the return.Earlier this year, the Queensland Government has banned UCG activity due to its environmental impact.The Supreme Court application is due to be heard on 23 August, said the report.RELATED ARTICLES:
Four people have been charged with arson and fraud following investigations into a suspicious house fire in 2009.Detectives from the Gympie and Sunshine Coast Criminal Investigation Branches (CIB) alleged the group of setting fire to a house in Old Maryborough Road, Gympie on 31 May 2009, resulting in a fraudulent insurance claim.The investigations, which led to the arrest of the group on 13 August, were renewed after the police received a tip-off late last year, The Gympie Times reported.Acting Detective Sergeant Ben Rose of Gympie CIB told The Gympie Times that all four people may not have directly lit the fire or made the insurance claim, but alleged all four "shared responsibility" for the offences.A 49-year-old man and a 67-year old woman from Maroochydore are due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on 19 September. Whereas, a 51-year-old Kybong man and a 46-year-old woman from The Palms are set to appear before the Gympie Magistrates Court on 19 September and 26 September respectively.
A Sydney-founded, San Francisco-based cyber security startup has raised US$ 17 million in the Series B fundraising round, which was joined by insurance giant IAG and venture capital firms Square Peg Capital and Pelion Capital Partners, it has been reported.The fund will be used by UpGuard (nee ScriptRock) to further grow its software platform and double the size of its team to 120 employees by early next year, Financial Times (FT) reported.UpGuards digital resilience platform is a system for identifying the weak spots in a companys tech system and ranking its overall level of risk in a scale of zero to 950. The tool, marketed as the Cybersecurity Threat Assessment Rating (CSTAR), aims to become the cyber risk benchmark for companies, insurance providers, and consumers, said the report.Ron Arnold, IAG GM of Venturing, said the US$14.7 billion ASX-listed insurer decided to back UpGuard because its technology holds possible future applications to IAGs own business."CSTAR has the potential to help insurance companies like IAG better assess, and therefore price, a customer's cyber risk," Arnold told FT.The recent 2016 census debacle highlights the massive market opportunity for UpGuard, which boasts of being fast growing and profitable, the report said."We have a goal to increase both revenue and profit by 400 per cent annually, and this year we hit that target in April," said Mike Baukes, who co-founded UpGuard with Alan Sharp-Paul in 2012. Baukes said the latest funding valued the business as "somewhere sub $100 million."Sharp-Paul and Baukes told The Australian Financial Review, on the other hand, of a possible sharemarket listing in the future."An IPO is something we are constantly thinking about but there is still lots to do first ... I don't know when it would be," Baukes said."Even though the business is now based in Silicon Valley we sort of have a natural inclination to want to list in Australia."
Maine Bureau of Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa has denied Progressives request to raise auto insurance rates for new customers above the age of 65.

Cioppa stated in the August 10 ruling that the move would have affected more than 65,000 Maine policyholders and violates a section of Maines insurance code meant to protect drivers from rate hikes based on age.

Maine is the oldest state in the U.S. by median age, with a median population age of nearly 44 compared to the U.S. average of about 38, according to a 2014 U.S. Census report. This has led some to question the reasoning behind Progressives appeal.

If youve had a lot of loss from a particular group that you insure in an area where you have a large market share, you may seek to raise rates for that group. So that may be the reason behind the decision Progressive made, explained Loretta Worters, vice president of communications for Insurance Information Institute, a New York based insurance trade group. Companies can look at doing different things in that situation  pulling out of a market or reducing their amount of exposure  but they cant arbitrarily raise rates.

Progressive initially sought state approval for charging higher auto insurance premiums for existing older Maine customers, but that request was denied by the states bureau of insurance. The bureau then agreed to reopen the case to discuss Progressives appeal for raising premiums exclusively for new, older customers, which was ultimately denied in the latest ruling.

When the issue resurfaced for the second time, we voiced our concerns around this age based approach, said Lori Parham, state director of AARP Maine. We believe driving is a function of ability and not age. By saying across the board when you turn 65, you can raise rates, that sets a dangerous precedent.

In an emailed statement to Insurance Journal, Progressive spokesman Jeff Sibel explained that the company engaged with the Maine Bureau of Insurance in an effort to determine how to more accurately price customers in accordance with the laws of the state, adding that it took factors besides age into consideration.

Progressive did not propose to raise the rates of Maine seniors based solely on age, he said. He did not comment further.

Allison Feakins, head of analytics at Compare.com, a car insurance comparison website, explained that generally, insurance companies look at the probability that a driver is going to have an incident and the expected cost of that claim when deciding how to accurately price.

The data they are looking at is slicing and dicing the probability of an issue with the cost by hundreds of different factors, she said. Age is one of them, but there are lots of other things  driving records, marital status, the type of car you drive and how many drivers  to figure out how likely they are to have to pay out after they sell a policy and how much they will have to pay out.

To establish accurate rates, insurers look at past trends and changes in the current environment that may affect potential losses in the future, Worters said. If a particular age group in an area consists of higher risk drivers based on past data, an insurance company may need to charge more for that group, Feakins added.

You have a lot of factors that are used to help determine what rates are, but Ive never seen a situation where age has been a factor to this extent, Worters stated.

The section of Maines insurance code that the Maine Bureau of Insurance said the appeal violates states that no insurance company authorized to transact business in this state shall cancel, reduce liability limits, refuse to renew or increase the premium of any automobile insurance policy of any kind whatsoever for the sole reason that the person to whom such policy has been issued has reached a certain age.

Feakins said this rule is an anomaly compared to national trends.

The issue that were talking about with Maine is not actually the norm nationally, she stated. If you look at average premiums by age across all of the states, youll see that the issue at hand is very specific to Maine. Normally, anybody less than 25 years old has very high premiums. Those get lower until you are in your 60s, and then on average nationally, insurance premiums do increase.

The national average yearly auto insurance premium is around $800, but there is wide variation around this average based on other factors, such as previous driving history, Worters explained.

Approximately one-third of seniors rely on social security for income, which totals about $1,100 per month, Worters said. They have to make a lot of tough decisions about how they spend their money. At the end of the day, the cost of insurance is a pocket book issue.

In his statement to Insurance Journal, Sibel said that while the company had the right to appeal the Superintendents latest ruling, it decided to abide by the decision and dismissed the administrative action two weeks ago, considering the matter terminated.

Topics USA Auto Personal Auto Maine
Do I Need an Attorney for an Assault Case?

It could have all been a misunderstanding. Or you were only defending yourself. Heck, you may not have even hit anyone else and you're still charged with assault. The charge can vary from state to state, and the circumstances that can lead to an assault charge are always unique. You can try explaining all of those circumstances to the police or a judge on your own, or you can enlist the help of a good criminal defense lawyer.

Here's why you might want to go with a lawyer:

Fighting for Your Rights

The biggest reason you should get an attorney when facing assault charges is because you can. The Sixth Amendment guarantees your right to counsel in any criminal proceeding, and if you can't afford an attorney, the state must appoint you one in any case where you could face imprisonment. In most states, even misdemeanor assault could get you jail time, so you have the right to an attorney in almost all assault cases.

And a good criminal defense lawyer can help protect your other constitutional rights as well. If you contact one soon enough, they can help you invoke your right to remain silent. (Remember that impulse to explain what led up to the assault and why it was justified? You'd be shocked to learn how many unrepresented defendants confess to a crime while trying to explain themselves.) A god attorney can also spot possible Fourth Amendment violations regarding search and seizure, or any other illegal behavior on the part of officers.

Fighting at Trial

Criminal trials are way more complicated than anything you've seen on "Law & Order," and there are countless procedural rules and courtroom nuances that only an experienced lawyer will know. From opening and closing statements to calling witnesses to introducing evidence, a trial could be the one chance you have to stay out of jail.

Besides, with a lawyer on your side you may not even need to go to trial. A well-regarded criminal defense lawyer may be able to negotiate with prosecutors and get you the best plea deal possible. They know what prosecutors normally offer and how your circumstances can help your case.

Even if you're planning to plead guilty to an assault charge, an experienced criminal defense attorney can help. If you've been charged with assault, contact one today.

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An outbreak of yellow fever that has killed hundreds of people in central Africa could spread across the world, an international childrens charity warned on Tuesday, even as a massive vaccination campaign was expected to get underway.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared a yellow fever epidemic in June after the hemorrhagic virus spread from Angola, where at least 360 people have died since last December in the worst outbreak in decades.

A wide effort to bring the outbreak under control by vaccinating more than 10 million people in DRC was due to start this week after delays due to shortages of vaccine and syringes.

There is no known cure for yellow fever and it could go global, said Save the Childrens country director for DRC, Heather Kerr, in a statement.

The yellow fever vaccine takes one year to manufacture. Save the Children said there are only 7 million emergency vaccines after stocks were depleted in series of outbreaks earlier this year.

World Health Organization (WHO) advisers have recommended using a fifth of the standard dose of vaccine in the event of a global shortage  enough to immunize temporarily but not to give lifelong immunity.

Weve got to urgently reach as many children and families as we can with the supplies that are left, and this is the only way we are able to do that right now, Kerr said.

The WHO aims to vaccinate 8.5 million people in Congos capital Kinshasa and 3.4 million in DRCs border areas before the onset of the rainy season in October, to reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases spreading.

A total of 2,269 suspected cases and 16 deaths have been reported in DRC as of August 8, the WHO said.

Angola is starting a campaign this week to vaccinate 3 million people. The epidemic appears to be declining in the Southern African country with no confirmed cases reported in July or August, the WHO said.

(This article was credited to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, womens rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change.)

Related:
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is taking the rare step of weighing in on the states handling of a hefty health insurance rate increase request, asking Illinois regulators to press the states leading insurer of families and small businesses to reduce costs and be more competitive.

Blue Cross Blue Shield has proposed increases for 2017 ranging from 23 percent to 45 percent for individual health plans sold on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchange. The Illinois Department of Insurance, which has until Aug. 23 to review the proposed rates, cant reject them outright but can negotiate.

The request prompted Durbin  the Senates second-highest ranking Democrat and a vocal supporter of the health care law  to issue a sharply worded statement. It gave a peek into federal involvement in Illinois insurance market and put pressure on Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners administration to show that its protecting consumer interests.

Durbin, the states senior senator, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2018. He has said hes focused on the November presidential election and will decide after that whether to seek the office.

The Illinois Department of Insurance is now reviewing the Blues initial big number request for a rate increase, Durbin said in a statement last week. I trust that the Illinois Department will hold BCBS to an honest standard which requires reform of their practices reflecting the new health care marketplace, professional management of their company, and a sensitivity to the costs to be borne by businesses and consumers in our state.

Department of Insurance spokesman Michael Batkins responded, saying the agency is working vigorously on behalf of consumers in order to maintain a competitive choice in the marketplace and ensure consumers are protected.

While many Illinois residents qualify for a tax credit to pay a portion of their premiums, many do not. There are no subsidies for individuals who make more than $47,520 a year or for families of four making at least $97,200 a year.

Mike Moyer, a 45-year-old entrepreneur in Lake Forest, Ill., pays $1,397 each month for Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance to cover himself, his wife and their three children. Meeting the $6,000 deductible is pushing his total health care costs this year well over $20,000.

With a household income thats too high for a federal tax credit, an increase in premiums next year would mean he would save even less for emergencies and retirement, Moyer said. But hes grateful for the coverage because old health problems flared up this year.

Its been confusing, frustrating and expensive, but this year its been totally worth it, he said. Blue Cross has been very helpful.

Other Illinois insurers are proposing double-digit rate increases. But Durbin is focusing on Blue Cross, urging state regulators to hold the company accountable.

Durbin said he met in April with the highest ranking officials from Health Care Service Corporation, which runs Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. They told me they were losing money and considering pulling out of Illinois, Durbin said.

Blue Cross spokeswoman Kristen Cunningham confirmed the meeting, but declined to answer whether the company was considering leaving the states marketplace.

During the meeting, we shared that we are working hard toward continuing to provide health insurance options for consumers, Cunningham said in an email to The Associated Press. We will continue to work with state and federal regulators and health policy makers to help ensure a stable and sustainable insurance marketplace for Illinois.

Durbin said that after the meeting he asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to look into Illinois personally, and she sent a team to Chicago to try and understand why there was a greater problem in Illinois than in other major states served by the Blues.

The Department of Health and Human Services made recommendations that Illinois BCBS could be more competitive, reduce costs, and still maintain quality care in our state and the other states they serve, Durbin said.

Cunningham declined to comment on the federal recommendations mentioned in Durbins statement.

Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger ripped Durbin for criticizing the states handling of a dysfunctional, damaging federal policy, noting the senator was a leading proponent.

Bottom line: Obamacare is not working for Illinois families and rather than blame the companies or the consumers or Governor Rauner, Sen. Durbin should recognize and accept the failure of this plan he so adamantly supported, Kinzinger said.

Durbin has said that the measure is imperfect and lawmakers should work to change it over time.

Consumer advocates are welcoming Durbins help, saying Illinois has a weak rate review system, compared to many other states where rate filing information is public and insurance commissioners can deny a rate increase after holding a hearing.

Stephanie Altman of the Chicago-based Shriver National Center on Poverty Law said advocates want Department of Insurance acting director Anne Melissa Dowling, a Rauner appointee, to take as active a role as she can.

Durbins statement stressed the solid results of the Affordable Care Act in lowering the states uninsured rate from 15.5 percent in 2013 to 8.7 percent in 2015.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA Illinois
A judge in southeastern Minnesota has awarded $3.5 million to a man who said he was fired from the family banking business because hes gay.

The attorney for Stephen Habberstad, Leslie Lienemann, said it could be one of the largest payouts in Minnesota to a single person for sexual orientation discrimination.

People can have their own views on sexual orientation. Thats not the issue, Lienemann said. The issue is that people have a right to work without that impacting their employment and their ability to earn a living. Discrimination happens even among people who you think are your friends and family who support you. Its a hard reality for a lot of people.

Steele County Judge Joseph Bueltel recently ruled Habberstads family discriminated against him, retaliated after he filed a lawsuit and breached its fiduciary duty.

The shareholders and directors involved in the decision to terminate Stephen Habberstad felt that Stephen, as a gay man, was a liability to the Banks, Bueltel wrote in his ruling.

Relatives maintain Habberstad was fired for business reasons.

We couldnt agree more with Mr. Habberstad that you shouldnt discriminate against anyone because theyre gay or any other reason, said John Harper III, an attorney representing the family. And they didnt.

Family members own a piece of the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Blooming Prairie and Citizens State Bank of Hayfield. Their holding company is Country Bankers, The Star Tribune reported.

Bueltel also ruled that Habberstad must repay a loan from the familys bank as well as another from his sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Terry Boschetti.

The 61-year-old Habberstad said he always knew he was gay, but kept his sexual orientation to himself until he was in his 50s.

I didnt realize my sister harbored those kind of feelings, Habberstad said. It really fries me. Im the same person today that I was 25 years ago.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Minnesota
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proceedings against an Illinois construction company fined for allegedly importing Mexican workers to remove asbestos are on hold as federal officials look into possible criminal activity by the company.

OSHA last year fined Joseph Kehrer and Albers-based Kehrer Brothers Construction $1.8 million for having the workers remove asbestos from a former school in Okawville without safety gear. Breathing asbestos fibers can increase the risk of cancer. The company is contesting the allegations.

The Belleville News-Democrat reported that Department of Labor spokeswoman Rhonda Burke said federal prosecutors are conducting an investigation into possibly pursuing criminal charges against the employer.

Kehrers attorney, Clyde Kuehn, confirmed that federal prosecutors, along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are conducting an investigation. He said such probes arent uncommon in such cases.

The reason these citations are being contested is that there are some very significant disagreements on the facts of this case, Kuehn said. OSHAs position on the facts is much different from Mr. Kehrers position. Were trying to work toward having an opportunity to lay that out.

OSHA alleges many of the workers used by Kehrer came to the U.S. to work for the company under a special visa program that allows companies to hire foreign workers temporarily.

This case stands out because of the outrageous behavior of Joseph Kehrer, Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels said when the fine was announced in August 2015, adding the workers were threatened with firing if they spoke to investigators.

They spoke no English. He drove them to jobs, he said. He set up a housing camp for them. They were at his mercy.

Michaels said Kehrer exposed at least eight workers to asbestos in violation of federal health standards, and then threatened to fire them if they spoke to safety investigators.

Investigators said the workers removed floor tiles, insulation and other materials from the old school, unaware that they were exposed to asbestos fibers.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA Workers' Compensation Pollution Illinois
Internal emails show Texas energy regulators describing a mess of leaking crude oil heading downstream near Houston following heavy storms in May, raising new questions about how the state has handled flood-related spills visible in aerial photographs, a newspaper reported on Aug. 14.

The Texas Railroad Commission did not answer specific questions from the El Paso Times about whether the state levied any fines or if regulators know how much oil had escaped into the San Jacinto River. The agency also would not address whether steps were taken to look for pollution downstream, where upscale houses are nestled against the shoreline.

All this mess has gone downstream into Lake Houston and maybe beyond; it will also get spread out over whatever it lands upon when the water recedes, Railroad Commission geoscientist Olin Macnamara wrote to colleagues on June 10. We may need to prepare for a lot of calls, now that public (access to) these areas is available & folks are going back home.

How Texas regulators handle flood-related spills is under increasing scrutiny following the release of aerial photographs showing large crude slicks on waterways. The emails were part of documents provided to Democratic state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, who has been questioning regulators response to spills photographed statewide by the Texas Civil Air Patrol.

The El Paso lawmakers concern followed stories by the El Paso Times earlier this year that detailed inadequacies in the states documentation of the spills.

Meredith Miller, senior program coordinator at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, said she was unimpressed with the level of documentation the Railroad Commission provided Rodriguez.

My first comment is that their recordkeeping is not particularly informative, is totally antiquated and is riddled with errors and missing information, Miller told the newspaper in an email. This is 2016, for Petes sake. My citizen scientists keep much better records.

Among the documents the agency sent Rodriguez was a July 2015 inspection report that describes a spill site on the Trinity River in Houston County. It details oil found in tree branches 50 feet away from a tank battery owned by Warrior Petroleum Corp. But there is no information about whether this was cleaned up, how much oil escaped the site or whether Warrior was fined.

Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye did not directly answer when asked why that information was missing.

Protection of public safety and our natural resources is the Railroad Commissions highest priority, Nye told the newspaper in an email. And the Railroad Commissions oil and gas rules have been effective in carrying out this mission.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Texas Flood Energy Oil Gas
United Insurance Holdings Corp. (UPC Insurance), a property and casualty insurance holding company, appointed Scott St. John as its chief claims officer effective August 22, 2016. St. John will be responsible for directing and leading all aspects of the companys claims operations.

St. John has more than 25 years of industry-related experience, of which more than 15 years was spent at Fortune 100 companies that specialize in property and casualty insurance. Most recently, St. John served as the Eastern Property Field Zone leader for Farmers Insurance Group.

While at Farmers, St. John was responsible for managing all personal lines property claims in a 27 state region. Previously, St. John had served as the national manager of catastrophe operations for Farmers.

Founded in 1999, UPC Insurance is an insurance holding company that sources, writes and services residential property and casualty insurance policies using a network of independent agents and a group of wholly owned insurance subsidiaries.

UPC Insurance writes and services property and casualty insurance in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas, and is licensed to write in Alabama, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and Virginia. The company is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Topics Florida Claims Property Casualty Property
An east Tennessee community is urging the proper storage and disposal of oil-soaked rags following the fourth fire involving spontaneous combustion in the past four years.

The city of Oak Ridge says in a news release that the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Lodge was heavily damaged by fire Saturday. The building was unoccupied.

The statement says the fire appears to be caused by spontaneous combustion from oily rags stored after being laundered. Washing and drying oil-soaked rags will not prevent spontaneous combustion.

The release says an Oak Ridge furniture shop fire on July 22 also was started by oily rags. The shop reopened after a few days.

The city says such rags should be kept in a covered metal container or laid out flat so the residue can evaporate prior to disposal.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Tennessee
An insurance company contesting an arbitrators award following the shooting death of a dog by a neighbor has agreed to settle for $100,000.

The Seattle Times reported Liberty Mutual settled with the attorney representing Jim Anderson of Eltopia.

Andersons 7-year-old male English springer spaniel named Chucky was shot and killed in March 2014.

Anderson filed a lawsuit against neighbor Scott Hayes and an arbitrator in August 2015 awarded Anderson $21,400.

Hayes challenged the award but a jury of mostly dog owners earlier this month upped the damages to $36,475.

Liberty Mutual then agreed to settle for $100,000, which includes attorney fees.

Court documents say Chucky was an excellent swimmer and had a vocabulary of more than 100 words.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Carriers Washington
The Eugene School District in Oregon has been hit with a $2.5 million lawsuit by a former administrator alleging he faced retaliation and pressure to resign after complaining of illegal practices within the district.

The suit was filed by Brad New. The Register-Guard reported that most of News complaints during his eight years at the district were found to be unsubstantiated by the state. But the state did find it overpaid the district for two school years, because district officials wrongly identified how many of its students were attending school full time.

New also made two complaints to the U.S. Department of Education, including one accusing the district of discriminating against students in an alternative program.

Spokeswoman Kerry Delf says district officials havent yet been served with the complaint, but they plan to vigorously defend against the allegations.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Education Oregon
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has fined a pet insurance company $150,000 for violating state laws.

Kreidler sayid his agency issued fines in July against American Pet Insurance, which goes under the name Trupanion. Its based in New York.

Most of the violations were related to charging rates that the commissioner did not approve, as required by law.

The violations include a failure to cancel policies in a timely manner after a pets deaths, after a customer no longer owned a pet, and when the pet owner canceled a policy.

The agency suspended an additional $100,000 fine that American Pet Insurance must pay if it commits the same violations in two years or fails to develop a plan to fix the violations.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Carriers Washington
Sotomayor Visits Alaska, Tells Congress to Get Along

Justice Sonia Sotomayor capped off a 10-day tour of Alaska on Sunday with a speech at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sadly, the Bronx native didn't regale her audience with tales of Grizzly sightings, glacier climbing, or moose hunting, which is what we would have liked to hear about.

But she did have some words of wisdom for her legislative branch counterparts back in Washington, D.C.: You might work together a bit better if you chilled out and got along, just like they do it in the Supreme Court.

Who You Calling Politicized?

Speaking in Fairbanks, Justice Sotomayor rejected claims that the Supreme Court was becoming more politicized, according to the Alaska Dispatch News. In fact, it's just the opposite. The country, not the Supreme Court, is becoming more politically divided, Sotomayor argued. And the country and Congress could learn a thing or two from the Supreme Court.

It's the close relationship of the Supreme Court justices that makes them able to work together and disagree without disrupting Court business. "We understand if we take our disagreements as personal attacks then we won't be able to function as a group," she said, according to ADN. Even biting or sarcastic language in decisions is "borne of passion," Sotomayor explained, and not personal.

To illustrate her point, Justice Sotomayor brought up the obvious: the strong friendship between the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Though they rarely agreed on divisive legal issues, "they were the best of friends" nonetheless.

But it's not just RBG who got a shout out from the justice. Sotomayor also praised Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas is the "only justice who knows the names of every employee" in the Court -- and their spouses'.

The Supreme Court in an Election Year

Justice Sotomayor's comments come in the midst of an election cycle that regularly sees the Supreme Court used as a cudgel. Last week, Donald Trump warned that a Clinton Court would undermine Second Amendment rights, while Hillary Clinton has said that Trump-appointed justices would "demolish pillars of the progressive movement."

Sotomayor's comments also come shortly after Justice Ginsburg was widely criticized for insulting Donald Trump and joking that she might have to move to New Zealand if he is elected. "Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office," she said in a later apology. "In the future I will be more circumspect."

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The family of a Washington state man who was killed during an intense windstorm when a tree fell on his car has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the developer of the project where the tree was located.

Jamie Fay was driving home in Gig Harbor on Aug. 29, 2015 with his 3-year-old daughter when the tree struck his vehicle. His daughter was in the back seat and wasnt harmed.

The suit filed in Pierce County Superior Court claims the developer was negligent for failing to properly log the area and remove the tree.

The tree suffered from extensive root rot.

The lawsuit also claims that the tree was damaged by the use of heavy equipment clearing the land above its root system, in violation of Gig Harbor city codes.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Washington
Panoramica privacy

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Dopo Medici senza frontiere, anche Save the Children e Sea Eye sospendono lattivita di soccorso dei migranti davanti alle coste libiche. Salgono cosi a tre le ong che fermano temporaneamente le loro navi in attesa di capire se ci sono le condizioni di sicurezza per riprendere le operazioni. Save the Children, in un comunicato, si dice rammaricata di aver fatto questa scelta, dovuta alle decisioni della Marina Libica di controllare le acque internazionali. Si tratta di una situazione molto preoccupante  afferma la Ong  per il rischio di sicurezza dello staff e per la reale capacita della Vos Hestia di mettere in atto la propria missione di soccorso. Inoltre, in questa nuova situazione, le imbarcazioni dei migranti saranno costrette a tornare in Libia e molti bambini e adolescenti moriranno prima di lasciare la nuova zona sar.

Sea Eye: Da irresponsabili proseguire

Oggi abbiamo deciso a malincuore di sospendere temporaneamente le nostre missioni di salvataggio. Cosi, tramite Twitter, Sea Eye annuncia la sospensione delle attivita di soccorso. Il motivo, spiega, e la mutata situazione di sicurezza nel Mediterraneo occidentale. Proseguire il nostro lavoro di salvataggio  prosegue long tedesca  sarebbe irresponsabile nei confronti dei nostri equipaggi. In una serie di tweet, si legge: Ci troviamo costretti a questa decisione a causa della mutata situazione di sicurezza nel Mediterraneo; Non possiamo piu continuare il nostro lavoro, non possiamo garantire la sicurezza degli equipaggi; lespansione delle acque territoriali libiche e le minacce alle ong non ci lasciano altra scelta.

+++ 13 AGOSTO 2017  LONG #SeaEye ha oggi deciso di sospendere le missioni di soccorso programmate nel Mediterraneo.+++ pic.twitter.com/177iepytZ7  Sea-Eye It (@SeaEye_It) 13 agosto 2017

Il rammarico di Save the Children

Una comunicazione simili e arrivata anche da Save the Children che sta valutando levolversi dellintero scenario dopo la dichiarazione della Marina libica di voler estendere il controllo e il divieto alle navi delle Ong nelle acque internazionali che fanno parte della Sar zone e la nave Vos Hestia resta ferma a Malta in attesa di capire se ci sono le condizioni di sicurezza per riprendere le operazioni. Long si rammarica di dover essere costretta a mettere in pausa le proprie operazioni di ricerca e salvataggio nel Mediterraneo a causa delle decisioni dalla Marina libica di controllare le acque internazionali in cui normalmente opera la nave di Save the Children con lobiettivo di salvare vite umane. Una situazione molto preoccupante, secondo lorganizzazione, per il rischio di sicurezza dello staff e per la reale capacita della Vos Hestia di mettere in atto la propria missione di soccorso. Il nostro team di esperti a bordo della nave e preoccupato che in questa nuova situazione le imbarcazioni dei migranti saranno costrette a tornare in Libia e molti bambini e adolescenti moriranno prima di lasciare la nuova zona Sar libica.

La Sar libica

Secondo quanto afferma Save the Children, le autorita libiche avrebbero spostato la loro zona di competenza Sar dalle 12 miglia nautiche alle 70 miglia dalla costa africana e le imbarcazioni su cui viaggiano i migranti sono di gomma molto leggera, imbarcano facilmente acqua e non possono portare abbastanza carburante. In questo momento non e chiaro se entrando in quella zona, loperazione di ricerca e salvataggio potrebbe essere a rischio, ma cio che e chiaro e che molte vite potrebbero essere messe in pericolo, con la diminuzione della capacita di soccorso e salvataggio in quel tratto di mare. Long, tramite Rob MacGillivray, direttore delle operazioni di Save the Children, si dice comunque pronta a riprendere le proprie operazioni nella zona di salvataggio, ma abbiamo il dovere di garantire la sicurezza del team e lefficacia delle operazioni. Se non dovessero arrivare rassicurazioni sulla sicurezza del personale lassociazione potrebbe seriamente considerare la completa sospensione delle operazioni di salvataggio.

La risposta della marina libica

Intanto la marina libica difende la sua decisione di vietare lingresso alle navi straniere nella sua zona appena istituita di ricerca e salvataggio. Tutti i Paesi hanno le proprie zone di ricerca. La decisione e stata presa in base alle leggi e i regolamenti internazionali  ha detto allagenzia Dpa il portavoce della marina libica, Ayoub Qasim  cio fa parte del lavoro della marina libica. Lo abbiamo notificato alle agenzie delle Nazioni Unite.

Msf: Ue lascia campo libero ai libici

In queste ore torna sulla questione anche Medici senza frontiere. I libici oramai possono fare quello che vogliono con il sostegno dellEuropa e dellItalia  afferma Stefano Argenziano, coordinatore dei progetti di migrazione della ong che per prima ha annunciato la sospensione dei soccorsi in mare -. Noi di Msf non vogliamo essere cooptati in questo meccanismo illegale, perverso e disumano. Secondo Argenziano, il codice di condotta e solo una distrazione, non ha alcuna base legale. Chi rispetta la legalita siamo noi, come abbiamo sempre fatto. Sono illegali, invece, gli accordi con la Libia, che fanno proliferare gli scafisti e le mafie. Le crisi migratorie si risolvono solo con la gestione ragionata dei flussi. Riprenderemo le nostre attivita in mare solo  conclude  se si tornera alla legge e al diritto internazionale.
Il jazz va nel museo, per usare il titolo delledizione 2016 di Umbria Jazz che vede, come principale novita, il ritorno della musica in una delle location piu prestigiose ed evocative del capoluogo: la sala Podiani della Galleria Nazionale dellUmbria. Il ciclo di concerti, che si svolgeranno tutti i giorni da sabato 9 luglio a domenica 17 luglio a mezzogiorno, riprende una tradizione molto praticata in America ma che in passato anche Umbria Jazz aveva tradotto in eventi memorabili come, per esempio, il pianoforte di Brad Mehldau, Uri Caine e Danilo Rea o il duo Charlie Haden  Pat Metheny. E, naturalmente, non bisogna dimenticare che anche la Galleria Nazionale dellUmbria ha una antica consuetudine con la musica, visto che e stata la sede di stagioni leggendarie degli Amici della Musica di Perugia.

Il jazz va dunque nel museo dove e custodita la grande arte del Medioevo e del Rinascimento umbro e dellItalia centrale, e lo fa con un programma colto e curioso. Inoltre, esibendo il biglietto di un concerto di Umbria Jazz 16 si avra diritto al biglietto di ingresso ridotto per la visita alla Galleria: 40 sale in due piani di Palazzo dei Priori, uno dei maggiori esempi di architettura civile gotica italiana. Vi sono esposte, tra le altre, opere di Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, Arnolfo di Cambio, Pinturicchio, Gentile da Fabriano, Duccio di Boninsegna e, naturalmente, lartista di casa, il Perugino. Per i concerti alla sala Podiani, e stato scelto un programma italiano con i musicisti della Tuk Music, letichetta fondata sei anni fa da Paolo Fresu, ma che guarda anche allinternazionale con due pianisti ragazzini di cui si parla molto, il cinese A Bu (17 anni) e lindonesiano Joey Alexander (13 anni) con il suo trio. Jazz goes to the museum, il cui programma completo e scaricabile dal sito ufficiale dei Umbria Jazz, e stato reso possibile anche grazie alla fattiva collaborazione del direttore della Galleria, Marco Pierini.
With hundreds of millions of users around the world, Twitter (TWTR) is one of the world's most popular social media sites. It has about 211 million global monetizable daily active users, making it the 16th most popular social network worldwide. Users post tweets and interact with each other using 280 characters or less.

The site has become a place for people to debate and share ideas and is a popular venue for many heavy users of social medianotably former President Donald Trump (before he was banned). Since the presidential election of 2016, the site has become one of the most popular places to share and break important news; both political and otherwise.

Since going public, the company has tried to stay ahead of the game by making strategic acquisitions, especially in the face of competition from other companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) and Snapchat. Some of these buys have been great; others, not so much. This article looks at the company's history, how it became what it is today, and its financials, along with some of the biggest companies it owns.

Key Takeaways Since going public, Twitter has made a series of acquisitions to try to remain competitive in the social media landscape.

Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology in 2016 to improve its machine-learning capabilities.

Periscope was acquired by Twitter for $100 million of stock and cash.

The company's largest acquisition$479 million for digital advertising platform TellAparthas been a losing venture.

Other acquisitions include Gnip, TapCommerce, and TweetDeck.

Twitter History

Twitter was founded in 2006 by a group of employees of the podcasting company Odeo, including Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. The idea for the company came from Dorsey, who wanted to create an SMS-based platform through which people could communicate. Twitter initially began with tens of thousands of users, limiting users to 140 characters per tweet.

The company went public on Nov. 7, 2013. It planned to raise $1 billion through the initial public offering (IPO) and exceeded that target by making $1.8 billion by issuing 70 million shares at $26 a share. Opening at $45.10, the stock soared as high as $50.09 before closing at $44.90 on that first day.

Financials

Full-year results for the company in 2020 were reported on December 31, 2020. The company reported $3.72 billion in annual revenue along with a net income of $1.14 billion. Both figures increased from the previous year.

211 million Total number of Twitter's monetizable daily active users, as of October 2021.

1. Gnip

Gnip was acquired by Twitter in 2014 in a cash and stock deal worth more than $134 million. The company was a social media application programming interface (API) aggregation company. It was among the first social media API-aggregation service providers and provided data to Twitter long before the acquisition. Twitter extended its own data platform as well as its existing public API as a result of the acquisition.

The startup company was founded in 2008 in Boulder, Colorado, and had customers in about 40 different countries. Before the acquisition, Gnip also provided data to rival social media platforms, including Facebook and Tumblr.

2. Magic Pony Technology

Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology in 2016 in an effort to improve its machine-learning capabilities. The London-based company developed neural network systems for image-related data expansion. The acquisition was valued at $150 million, and both co-founders of Magic Pony Technology were retained in the deal. But the full terms of the deal were not disclosed by either party.

By acquiring the company, Twitter hoped it would improve the delivery of photos and videos across apps. Twitter received technology related to neural network development and machine learning to enhance video quality, expand a photographs size, and develop virtual reality graphics. This isn't Twitter's first time at the machine learning rodeo. The company acquired two other machine learning startups: Whetlab in 2015 and Madbits in 2014.





3. TapCommerce

Twitter acquired mobile ad startup TapCommerce in June 2014. Reported in the industry press as around $100 million, the purchase helped Twitter improve mobile installation and engagement advertisements. Twitter confirmed the acquisition was made to assist in mobile marketing, as TapCommerce assists companies with target advertisements based on prior user activity. The process of retargeting advertisements requires large amounts of data coupled with statistical analysis since mobile devices lack the use of cookies.

The onset of the 2020s has seen Twitter consolidating, divesting itself of some major acquisitions. On March 31, 2021, it shut down Periscope, a live-video-streaming app it acquired (reportedly for between $75 and $100 million) in 2015. On Jan. 3, 2022, it completed the sale of MoPub to AppLovin Corporation; it received $1.05 billion in cash for the advertising app, which it bought for $350 million in 2013.

4. TellApart

Twitters largest acquisition was a $479 million stock purchase to acquire TellApart in 2015. The digital advertising platform boosts Twitters advertising revenue generated by ads that resemble tweets and encourages users to perform a certain action. In addition, TellApart specializes in targeting users to monitor usage across mobile and desktop devices.

This hasn't been the best acquisition for Twitter. In 2017, the company said it stopped investing in TellApart and deprecated the subsidiary. Twitter has had to incur restructuring charges related to TellApart.

5. TweetDeck

Twitter acquired TweetDeck in 2011 for $20.4 million. The platform is a social media dashboard application for the management of Twitter accounts. TweetDeck was originally an independent app but was later merged into the social media giant's interface.

TweetDeck provides brands, publishers, marketers, and others with a powerful platform to track all the real-time conversations they care about," a blog post by the company said of the acquisition.

The very first version of TweetDeck went live in 2008, three years before Twitter purchased the company. Although it did have mobile versions, the company decided to get rid of them and focus entirely on its web-based applications.
What Is a Program Manager?

A program manager oversees the management of a specific program, generally in the credit card or information technology business. In the credit card or corporate card area, a program manager oversees the issuance and cancelation of cards, liaises with various departments, and monitors and reports on key performance metrics. In information technology, a program manager oversees groups of related projects that are managed by individual project managers.

Key Takeaways A program manager is an individual that oversees the management of a specific program, most often in the credit card or information technology sectors.

In the credit card world, a program manager oversees the issuance and cancelation of cards, liaises with various departments, and monitors and reports on key performance metrics.

In information technology, a program manager oversees groups of related projects that are managed by individual project managers.

A program manager and a project manager differ slightly in the information technology sector. A program manager is judged on a cumulative basis for all the projects within their program; not just the cost and scope of a project as applied to a project manager.

The Project Management Institute offers a number of recognized certifications in the areas of program manager and project management, such as the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.

Understanding a Program Manager

The program manager role is a leadership one that requires a combination of skills. The card program manager's diverse job functions include identification of business opportunities, vendor negotiations, risk mitigation to minimize credit losses, and compliance. It also involves establishing policies and procedures and cardholder support services.

In the information technology realm, there are some key distinctions between program management and project management. While a project manager's performance is based on the time, cost, and scope of a project, a program manager is judged on a cumulative basis for all the projects within their program.

Most often, a program manager is responsible for the outcome of a particular initiative as it applies to the entire company. As such, program managers oversee project managers and manage the overall strategy for a particular initiative. Initiatives can include the implementation of a new inventory system, the launch of a new product, and expansion achieved through the opening of new stores.

This requires the program manager to consider other factors apart from the near-term project deliverables that are the focus of the project manager, such as the long-term effectiveness of the program, its impact on corporate targets, etc.

Certifications

Project Management Institute, a not-for-profit professional membership association for project and program management, offers a number of recognized certifications in these areas. The Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is a globally recognized credential that demonstrates a program manager's competency to oversee multiple, related projects and allocate resources to achieve strategic business goals.

To be eligible for the PMP certification, one needs a four-year degree, 36 months of experience leading projects, and 35 hours of training; or one needs a high school diploma or two-year degree, 60 months of experience leading projects, and 35 hours of training.

Responsibilities of a Program Manager

According to the Project Management Institute, the following are the key responsibilities of a program manager:

Daily program management throughout the program lifecycle

Define the program governance

Plan the overall program and monitor the progress

Manage the programs budget

Manage risks and issues and take corrective measurements

Coordinate the projects and their interdependencies

Manage and utilize resources across projects

Manage stakeholders communication

Align deliverables to the programs outcome

Manage the main program documents

How to Become a Program Manager

The starting point to becoming a program manager is having a bachelor's degree in business administration, computer science, communications, or marketing. Depending on the industry you would like to join, further credentials, such as a master's program or certificates may need to be completed. Management and leadership courses are beneficial to becoming a program manager

The average salary for a program manager is $87,415. The salary ranges between $53,000 and $132,000, depending on the region, specific job, and industry. Regardless, being a program manager is a well-paying career. In addition to a base salary, a program manager job comes with bonuses and possible profit-sharing plans depending on the company one works at.
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REE Stock News - Defense Metals (TSX-V: DEFN.V) (OTCQB: DFMTF) Drills 113 metres of 2.50% Total Rare Earth Oxide at Wicheeda

Vancouver, British Columbia - October 26, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mining / Metals / Green Energy Stock News - Defense Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DEFN / OTCQB: DFMTF/ FSE:35D) is pleased to announce high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") assay results from one additional core hole, totalling 383 metres (m), collared within the northern area of Defense Metals' 100% owned Wicheeda REE Deposit.

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Breaking EV Stock News: Pre-orders for Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) FIVE Electric-SUV Crossover Exceed Expectations as the FIVE 'Strikingly Different' Tour Begins

BREA, Calif. - October 28, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today that the Mullen FIVE "Strikingly Different" EV Crossover Tour which began yesterday, in Pasadena, California, is off to a great start with first day reservations exceeding expectations and overwhelmingly positive customer feedback.

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Health and Wellness Stock News - Endexx (OTCBB: EDXC) Secures Third Order for Non-Nicotine Vape Product HYLA Worth Approximately $1.5M in Revenue for First two Fiscal Quarters of 2023

CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - October 27, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-derived, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces it has secured three key significant orders for its newly acquired, non-nicotine plant-based vape product, HYLA.

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Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses

NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore.

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Irelands High Court has ordered the extradition to the United States of a Wicklow man alleged to have been an administrator of the criminal underground website Silk Road.

The Irish Times reports that Gary Davis, 27, of Johnstown Court, Kilpedder, County Wicklow, is wanted for trial by authorities in the U.S. on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

On Friday, Justice Paul McDermott rejected all grounds of Daviss opposition to the extradition request and ruled that he be surrendered to the United States. Davis, who was present in court at the time of the ruling, is expiated to appeal the decision.

Davis, who claims he suffers from Aspergers Syndrome and depression, objected to the extradition saying that if extradited he will be detained in an inhuman and degrading manner.

He also said that the formal request seeking his surrender lacks clarity and that the details of the charges against him are vague. It was also argued that Davis should have been charged with corresponding offenses he is accused of by the US in Ireland.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Juan Mendez said he was concerned about the conditions at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC), the facility in New York City where Davis would likely be held if extradited to the U.S.

Daviss lawyers argued during the hearing that Daviss mental health would suffer if he were to be held in isolation at a special housing unit within the MCC.

The court rejected these points, and lawyers for the Attorney General said there was no evidence that David would be held in the special housing unit at the MCC.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down the Silk Road website in 2013. The site, which was launched in 2011 and dealt with illegal drugs and hacking software, hosted a sprawling black market bazaar on the internet.

The site was created by Ross William Ulbricht, under the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts (DPR). Ulbricht, an American, was arrested in 2013 and charged with money laundering, trafficking drugs and hacking offenses. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Gary Davis is accused of acting as a site administrator on the website under the name Libertas between June 2013 and October 2013. US authorities claim he had an explicit knowledge of the items for sale on the website.

The drugs available on the site included LSD, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines, reports the Irish Times.

If convicted, David could receive a life sentence.

Here's a report from the Guardian one year ago on Silk Road:
The polls and experts may be dismissing Donald Trumps chances of the White House, but he has one fervent supporter, an immigrant from Ireland now living in Virginia who heads up Women for Trump in the state and she still believes in him full barrel full bore.

Alice Butler-Short has met and discoursed with Trump and found him to be a strong man with a very compassionate heart who will pay attention to the issues that matter. Butler-Short, (73), a native of Cahir, County Tipperary, credits Trumps bestseller The Art of the Deal with her belief that Trump will conquer all.

She says Americans will not have any truck with socialism or a secular state with no place for God in our schools. Trump is the man who can deliver and also end the ridiculous political correctness which overshadows all debate.

She believes Trump is honest and Hillary is not. Hillary Clinton, she believes, is a congenital socialist and a liar" while her husband is a lying, cheating rascal.

When asked to explain Trumps three marriages she says he had a long happy first one but on the rebound foolishly married Marla Maples, but then married his latest bride Melania. Better to divorce than stay married in misery, she said.

When we spoke she had just returned from a Vietnamese festival where she thinks she won several supporters for Trump. Once you explain he is for low taxes, less regulation, pro-small-business they immediately understand.

Read more: Melania Trump should release her immigration files, not hold a presser

She knocks on doors and maintains a large database in her home, where pictures of her with George Bush Senior and junior and other Republican luminaries bedeck the walls. In her spare time, she teaches Irish dance. She now has seven grandchildren, who she regularly sees when they visit her at her beautifully appointed home.

A longtime Republican fundraiser and canvasser, she says she picked out Trump early on from the crowded field after reading The Art of the Deal, especially the final pages which she felt spoke directly to her where Trump wrote that after all his money and success he wanted to give back.

He doesnt need jets or servants or security or people trying to reach him, says Butler-Short. "He has all those things already. He is doing this to do his best for the country he loves.

She says when she met him they discussed her passion  looking after military wives living on the paltry widows benefit, which can be a little as $900 a month for sergeants wives after their husbands are killed.

He listened and promised to take action when he was elected. I strongly believe he will.

She believes Trump has been deliberately portrayed as wrong on immigration by the media. He wants to continue legal immigration. It is the illegals he wants to stop and the jihadis she believes infiltrate themselves with the undocumented. She says there is no question some came into the country with Syrian refugees.

When asked about the comparison with the Irish who were also anything but welcome post-Famine, she says the Irish loved America while many jihadi immigrants today wanted to destroy it.

As for her native Ireland, she believes that in 30 years the country may face Sharia law and an entirely different culture because of uncontrolled borders and an influx of Muslims. There's a strong possibility it could become part of the ISIS caliphate, she believes.

Living in the exclusive suburb of Lorton, Virginia and married to an ex-colonel in the US military, Butler-Short has about 1,000 women statewide signed up for her organization and numerous women in other states as well, all supporting the Donald.

The women's group has zero to do with feminism. "Many women who call themselves feminists are, to me, not feminine enough," Butler-Short said. "I love men who carry my boxes and know how to change a lightbulb."

Virginia is a key state in the election, one which most believe Trump must win in order to be successful and win the White House. When asked about his declining numbers there Butler-Short stated she was puzzled by the polls as everyone she met, rich or working class was voting for Trump.

Alice Butler, the daughter of a shoemaker and a housewife, left Ireland at the age of 18 in 1961 and made her way to London. She says her upbringing as one of eight children and her mother's strength and support made her immediately independent.

Read more: Why Im voting for Donald Trump  give me potential over platitudes

She met her first husband, a Chinese businessman, in London and later moved to Singapore. Her first husband died and she married again, this time to an American intelligence officer. She accompanied him on several missions overseas, including when he was military head at the American mission in Somalia.

It was when she was in Africa that she realized how precious the American way of life was and she was determined to preserve that for her grandchildren.

"Sometimes you have to take a bird's-eye view to become aware of the beauty  and the threat."

She says these are very dangerous times for Americans and Trump is the only answer. She will play her part as best she can to elect him.

Nothing like a little dancing to lift the spirits. When I got home from the Convention some of my Irish dancers were here for a performance rehearsal and I thought I would let you all see I can do it even in the boots. This is for you all and #PresidentTrump  Posted by Alice Butler-Short on Saturday, May 14, 2016

This country needs him and I will do everything in my power to help elect him. We must save America, That's why I fight for Donald Trump," she said, "because he's strong enough to make sure this will happen.

"I want my grandchildren to say: 'My grandmother was part of the movement that saved America.'"

Its a long way from Tipperary, but Alice Butler-Short is determined to leave her mark in the new world. If Donald Trump is elected she will certainly have done so.
Ko Ann Thar Gyi, chairman of Thingaha Kann Latt Rakhita group, said: The people living in refugee camps are unemployed so they are reliant on donated food items.

The group is donating food to camps around Yay Soe Chaung and Kyauk Tan villages in Rathedaung Township and Si Taung IDP camp in Buthidaung Township.

U Kyaw Chay, from Si Taung IDP camp, said: Groups that provide assistance to IDP camps havent come here lately so we are facing food shortages. The food (we have) will run out in the next five or six days.

Authorities have told us to return home several times, but without financial assistance or employment, we are afraid we will starve if we leave the camps, he said.

U Kyaw Chay explained that they used to be able to make money by working in the mountains but since the military has made these areas off limits they are reliant on hand-outs.

IDP camps located in Ponnakyun Township are also facing food shortages. U Hla Maung Thein, an IDP living in the township, said he and his family are doing okay because they were early arrivals to the camp.

U Hla Maung Thein said: Eleven households that arrived after us are struggling. They arrived late so they didnt receive 200,000 kyats (about US$168) that was given by the state government to build homes.

Reporting by San Maung Than for Narinjara News

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited by BNI staff
In the 1960s one Tipperary mans crazy and dangerous stunt captured the attention of the world.

A laborer by trade, Mike Meaney wanted to be a boxer, but a work accident ended his pugilistic ambitions. It was his daring and willingness to take on a challenge that would garner him worldwide attention in 1968. The Tipperary man decided that he wanted to break the record for being buried alive.

They called him the human JCB back then, recalls his daughter Mary Meaney, according to the Irish Post.

He could literally lift up a tree and throw it over his shoulder. Incredible strength. The strength of 10 men.

Based in London, Mike Meaney wanted his name in lights and the subterranean challenge was his ticket to fame.

But when he couldnt become a boxer he said hed find another way. As he said himself being buried alive was all the rage at the time and I reckon he said: 'Ill do that. Ill get into the Guinness Book of Records and Ill be world famous,' continued his daughter.

A pub owner from Kerry by the name Butty Sugrue helped Meaney with his quest. They met Mick Keane, who owned a yard in Kilburn in London where Meaney could be buried.

Thanks to a workplace accident in which he was buried alive a few years earlier, Meaney knew he could train his mind to be still and not panic.

Meaney did some trial runs in a coffin in the Admiral Lord Nelson pub before starting his challenge on February 21, 1968. But, to add even more intrigue, on the other side of the Atlantic, American Bill White was attempting to break the same record at the same time, so the race was on.

Meaney was buried seven feet under the ground and his coffin had two holes for pipes, one for food and one for air. Incredibly, Meaney never told his wife that he was attempting the record.

Read more: Weird stories about Irish people youve never heard of

She found out through the radio, his daughter Mary told RTE documentarians.

He probably knew the answer would be no. She left him be  I like that fact. She let him off, and said, If he wants this.

There was huge media attention on both sides of the pond as the two men tried to outlast one another. Meaneys biggest challenge was the heat, and, when a 10-ton truck reversed into the yard he was buried in, the pressure of the weight was almost too much, but he persevered.

He was going to come up but he said hed stick it out, says Mary. He said that was scary. At least someone realized. It could have killed him.

After 55 days, Bill White came out of his coffin, but Meaney would push on and emerge from the earth after 61 days. In a cruel twist, there was no official there to validate the record for the Guinness Book of Records, so Meaneys name or the mark he set never made it into the book.

I dont know who to blame, said Meaney. They have not been fair to me. They could have seen 61 days were hammered out under worldwide television, radio and newspapers.

Meaney would eventually settle back in Ireland in Mitchelstown in County Cork and live out his days there with his family. He died on February 17, 2003.

The priest saying his funeral Mass told the congregation: Ive never buried someone who has been buried before.

Said Mary: You couldnt help but laugh.

Check out the RTE documentary on his 61 days of fame here.
Some of the worlds greatest leaders suffered from mental health issues such as depression, and psychologists and psychiatrists say that it was a big contributing factor to their success.

Tufts professor of Psychiatry Nassir Ghaemi, who wrote a book about the psychological issues of important historical figures, said that manic depressive people tend to be more creative, empathetic, and realistic than the average person. They often excel during times of crisis, while they may disappoint in times of peace.

Saying that someone has psychiatric issues in my view, is a compliment, Ghaemi said.

Two such examples are former American presidents John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, two of Americas most beloved leaders, who psychiatrists say both suffered from depression.

Some of those mental health problems can, in fact, make for greatness, said Katherine Nordal, head of the American Psychological Associations professional practice program, and other psychiatric professionals agreed.

In his book, A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness, Ghaemi also discusses Civil War generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., as examples of great leaders who suffered from depression. Grant, who suffered from alcoholism, excelled during the crisis of war but wasnt a good leader during times of peace, the Times of India said.

Another such example is former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who suffered from long bouts of depression, which he referred to as his black dog. Churchill also thrived in the crisis of war and failed during post-war times of peace and prosperity.

His predecessor of the same political party, Neville Chamberlain, was considered to be more mentally healthy, which is thought to have contributed to the fact that he didnt recognize the real threat of Adolf Hitler.
Update 2pm: At least three people, including a child, have died and another four are injured in a collision between a speedboat and a tourist vessel, the Greek Coast Guard has said.

A speedboat and a tourist boat crash off Aegina island in #Greece . Four killed, two critically wounded.  pic.twitter.com/BpEBp9HG0h

Earlier:

A speedboat and a tourist vessel have collided off the Greek island of Aegina, leaving at least three people dead and three others injured.

Greece's coast guard is conducting a search-and-rescue operation after the collision involving a tourist boat which was transporting people from Aegina in the Saronic Gulf near Athens to a beach on the nearby deserted islet of Moni.

There were believed to have been about 15 to 20 people onboard the tourist boat but it was unclear how many people were on the speedboat, the coast guard said.

The agency said a number of people were rescued and it was focusing on finding survivors.

Aegina's proximity to the Greek capital makes it a popular destination for Greeks and foreign tourists.
While Maersk assumes no matter how the US presidential election ends, it probably wont have an effect on the contracts we have and the employment exposure we have in the US, Trond Westlie, its chief financial officer, said any steps in a more protectionist direction would clearly hurt global economic growth.

In general, trade barriers weaken global growth, Mr Westlie said in an interview.

Low trade barriers not only help trade growth, but also economic growth, he said.

With real-estate- magnate-turned-politician Donald Trump blaming China and Mexico for American job losses, the tone in the US presidential race is more anti-trade than its been in decades.

Democratic party nominee Hillary Clinton is also toughening her stance on globalisation, and has criticised the Trans-Pacific Partnership for failing to do enough to support American jobs.

Mr Trump has gone so far as to call the pact a disaster for the US. Mr Westlie declined to comment on either candidate or on any specific elements in their proposals as they vie for the presidency.

But the government in Maersks home country of Denmark has been less restrained in voicing its concerns. Foreign minister Kristian Jensen says hes worried about what Trump has said.

There are two things in particular that are grounds for unease, according to Mr Jensen.

His anti-trade rhetoric is one, while the second issue is his security and defense policy, where hes questioning NATOs Article 5, the minister said in an interview.

The World Bank has identified trade as a key means to fight poverty. But since the global financial crisis, cross-border commerce has slowed, and in a report this year, the World Trade Organisation estimated rade grew less than 3% for a fifth consecutive year.

It cited the threat of creeping protectionism as many governments continue to apply trade restrictions, in an April 7 report.

Maersk transports about 15% of the manufactured goods that are sent across the globe each year, making it the worlds biggest container shipping line.

Trade barriers should be reduced as much as possible, Mr Westlie said.
Lero, the Irish Software Research Centre, and the University of Limericks startup incubation hub, Nexus Innovation Centre have announced a partnership that will extend Leros reach into the startup community.

The collaboration will allow Nexus-based companies access to the research capabilities of the Lero centre which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

Thirty startups employing 135 staff are currently based at the Nexus centre which was founded in 2011.

Nexus centre manager Gert ORourke said the partnership will expose startups in the Mid-West to top quality research.

Lero is recognised as one of the leading software research organisations in the world. Startups seldom have the opportunity to avail of such a world class resource, Mr ORourke said.

Two companies have signed up to take advantage of the collaboration, to date.

Salaso Health Services, which employs six people, provides a connected health technology platform that allows patients engage in exercise programmes designed to complement physiotherapy services.

Collaborating with Lero is enabling us to ensure that our platform will have best practice software development processes that meet the highest standards of international healthcare regulatory compliance as a mobile medical device, said Salaso chief operating officer, Grainne Barry.

The other participant is Horizon Globex which develops carrier grade VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol] solutions for mobile providers and smartphones.
Prices had climbed 6.4% last week as Saudi Arabia signalled its prepared to discuss stabilising markets at informal Opec discussions next month.

Russia is open to talks for a joint output freeze if necessary, its energy minister Alexander Novak said.

The current cycle of low oil prices will end by late 2017, while a balancing of the market will take place next year, Russias Mr Novak said in an interview

Oil has rebounded more than 10% since closing below $40 a barrel and tumbling into a bear market earlier this month.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a statement last week that talks with members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers may result in action to stabilise the market, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Its really a question of whether the fundamental picture is going to improve and help us with a rally, said Gene McGillian, a senior analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford in Connecticut.

Well find out if were going to see a continued rebalance in the market, a tightened supply and demand picture, in the coming weeks, said Mr McGillian.

Brent for October settlement added 33 cents, or 0.7%, to $47.30 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

The global benchmark crude traded at a $1.76 premium to West Texas Intermediate for October delivery.

West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose as much as 66 cents to $45.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since July 21, and was up 39 cents, or 0.9%, to $44.88 in New York trade.

Total volume traded was about 11% below the 100-day average. US producers added rigs for a seventh week, the longest run since 2014, according to Baker Hughes data on Friday.

Rigs targeting crude in the US increased by 15 to 396, the highest level since February.

Explorers have now added 66 rigs since June 24, led by rising activity in the Permian Basin.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has begun coordinating efforts among Opec members and producers outside the group including Russia, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on state television, while Nigeria will pump no more than 1.5 million barrels a day of oil this year amid sustained attacks by militants.
The UK property market was one of the first sectors hit by uncertainty after Britons voted to leave the EU on June 23, at one point forcing more than 18bn (20.8bn) worth of commercial property funds to be frozen.

Some wealthy foreign buyers saw an opportunity, however.

One Canadian buyer snapped up a seven- bedroom, five-bathroom home with a pool two weeks after the vote for 11.5m, a discount of around a third from its 14m list price when combined with a drop in the pound of more than 10%.

The property, in sought-after Holland Park in west London, had been on the market for eight months, said Charles McDowell, a property consultant working for the buyer.

Prices in prime central London had already started to fall in the run-up to the referendum, thanks partly to hikes in stamp duty tax on high-end property in December 2014 and on second home and buy-to-let properties in April, according to research from consultancy Knight Frank.

After the vote, in July, prices in prime central London -- from Holland Park and Knightsbridge in the west to the City of London in the east -- fell by 1.5%, the biggest fall in nearly seven years, it said.

Since the vote, a number of buyers have requested discounts due to the climate of political and economic uncertainty, said Tom Bill, Knight Franks head of London Residential Research.

London house prices rose nearly 14% in the year to May, however, asking prices fell by a monthly 1.2% nationwide between July 10 and August 6, according to a survey by property website Rightmove.

Summer is generally a quiet period as many househunters are on holiday, but director of Residential Research at international estate agency Savills said she expected there to be less demand heading into the autumn.

Around 80,000 homes were listed on major property websites in London in the second half of 2015, with half under offer, according to data collated by Swiss bank UBS.

We believe that this is indicative of a slowing market, which pre-dated the referendum, said UBS analyst Mark Fielding.
Missy Berberabe Umandal was a passenger on the Cebu Pacific Air flight and shared a photo of the new mother and baby girl on her Facebook.

According to Missy, the woman began having contractions about 5 hours into the flight:

"For once in my life, I saw flight attendants, who are meant to always maintain their poise and composure, panic ever so slightly. Flight attendants started calling for medical assistance, and luckily, there were two nurses among the passengers. She was already crowning, so she was brought to the more spacious area in front of the plane."

"We only heard one semi-loud screech, and a few seconds later, there were tinier, cute screeches, and it was when we knew the baby was born. Luckily, she only had to push ONCE.

"Moments later, the woman got up to go back to her seat, baby in arms (mighty strong, I might say)."

Missy Berberabe Umandal /Facebook

Missy also writes that the baby girl will be entitled to free flights for life with Cebu Pacific Air but that has not been confirmed.

Another passenger who had a baby shared baby clothes and other necessities with the newborn while the flight attendants took a shelf from the cabinets and filled it with mineral water to make a makeshift bath to clean the baby.

The decision was immediately made that an emergency landing in India was necessary to ensure the babys health, as it was born two months earlier than expected.

That meant that the flight was once again delayed - the nine-hour flight turned into an 18 hour one - but Missy says that there were "no complaints.. everyone in that plane was blessed".

And although she doesnt know the womans name, Missy left this message for her on Facebook:

"To the woman, in the hopes she gets to read this: we understand you are resting and giving time to take care of your baby, but we are all hoping for your quick recovery and a lifetime of happiness to your beautiful child!"

And for anyone wondering about the babys nationality, it turns out the baby will have Filipino citizenship as Cebu Pacific Air is registered in the Philippines.

via breakingnews.ie
There are 373,548 students in secondary schools and 44,738 of those were born outside of Ireland.

Next to Irish-born students at 328,810, the largest number of foreign-born pupils are those from Britain with a total of 10,050.

Following the UK, is Poland and Lithuania at 6,541 and 2,542 respectively. There are 2,450 students from the United States, 2,340 from Nigeria and 2,196 from Spain.

These are the most up-to-date figures and all relate to the 2014/2015 school year. They were provided to the Irish Examiner, from the Department of Education.

In the 2014/2015 school year, there were 1,700 Filipino-born students in Irish secondary schools, 1,440 Romanian-born and 1,346 Latvian-born.

In terms of school types, the 161 different nationalities (which include Irish) attended community, comprehensive, secondary and Education and Training Board (ETB) run schools.

A total of 191,147 students were enrolled in secondary schools, 124,325 were registered to ETB schools, 50,199 pupils were enrolled in community schools and 7,877 in comprehensive schools.

Of the foreign nationalities, 22,834 were enrolled in secondary schools and 15,247 were enrolled in ETB schools.

A further 5,962 attended community schools and the remaining 695 were enrolled in comprehensive schools.

Students hailed from countries as remote as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, Togo in West Africa and Yemen.

On the other end of the scale, the least number of students came from Mozambique, with just five pupils enrolled in Irish schools with this country registered as their place of birth.

Seven pupils came from Yemen, 15 from Burma and 38 from Malawi.

A spokesperson from the Department of Education said the figures were recorded after schools submitted their report of students by country of birth, last October.

These figures are indicative only. Amongst the data collected on each student is a country of birth designation. This designation defaults to Ireland unless otherwise indicated by schools in their returns to the department.

The figures for 2014/15 are based on the returned designations for countries other than Ireland. The figures include all students enrolled in post-primary schools including Post-Leaving Certificate and Core VTOS (Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme).

The primary school figures were collected from the census of schools in 2014 and therefore have been previously published.

In 2014, there were 544,696 students enrolled in primary schools and 60,979 (11.2%) were born outside of Ireland.

More than 30,000 of the students came from other countries in Europe, 9,048 were born in African countries, 3,549 were born in Britain and 782 came from Latin or South America.
The National Electrification Project is a joint venture by the World Bank and the Department of Rural Development that was supposed to deliver electricity to villages by late May. Villagers in Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State have previously not had access to electricity.

Villagers were informed that solar panels would be provided under the National Electrification Project, but villagers say nothing has happened and that they are still waiting.

More than 1,800 households, from 29 villages have already paid two installments to the Myanmar Economic Bank for the solar panels that were promised to be operational by May, but it is now August and they are still without the promised solar panels.

Nan Anine Pawt, a villager from Khalae Dagundaing village said; We were told the solar panels installment would be finished by May, but it is already August. Weve already paid two installments. We have been waiting a long time. We dont know whats happening? We are worried weve been cheated?

Mann Khin Hlaing, governor of Tamout Wong village said; People paid their installments twice. They have not seen the solar panels yet. Villagers are asking if they have been cheated. We are worried about this misunderstanding and have told them to be patient.

Kyain Seikgyi Township officials said that in the past the solar panels were provided by internal companies, but with this project, since it involves the World Bank, more accredited foreign companies are involved in the tender.

Solar panels with a five-year warranty have been ordered from over 60 companies, including companies from Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Germany and officials say that this has contributed to the delays.

Saw Aung Myo Myint, the department head of the Township Rural Development Department spoke to Karen News about the delays.

We work cooperatively with the World Bank on this project. Over 60 companies are involved. We have been examining the companies. We are trying to provide people with quality solar panels. Solar panels will be set up by December this year.

The solar panels have been divided into three prices  300,000 kyat, 480,000 kyat and 520,000 kyat. Villagers have to pay 30% to 40% of these costs depending on the type they get.

Villagers who get solar panels that cost 300,000 kyats will have to pay three installments of 30,000 kyats, panels that cost 480,000 kyats, villagers will have to pay three installments of 50,000 kyats and panels that cost 520,000 kyats, villagers will have to pay three installments of 70,000 kyats to the Myanmar Economic Bank.

The National Electrification Project was implemented in 2014 with help from the World Bank. It was implemented with the aim to supply villages within a five-mile radius of the Myanmar Mega Cableline with solar electricity. The World Bank has committed to provide USD $400 million of the total USD $567 million needed for the project.
The man, a veteran of the Second World War, is recovering in hospital after he slipped and fell at his home on Einaun Island in Sneem Harbour.

He may have sustained a fracture or a dislocation of a hip following the accident which occurred late on Sunday.

The Coast Guard at Valentia, which co-ordinated the rescue, was alerted yesterday and tasked the Derrynane coastal rescue boat at 9.47am.

Normally crewed by four, the Delta 740 rescue rib included a stretcher team which brought its rescue team to eight.

The crew, under chief coxswain Michael Donnelly, also transferred a medic to the Kenmare Bay island to assist the casualty.

The rescue boats honorary secretary David OMahony said: The casualty possibly spent a night of pain.

In the event of any accident or emergency, we would urge people to immediately contact 112 and, if its water-related, ask for the Coast Guard.

Some people may not want to disturb the emergency services late at night but we are 24/7 year-round.

Theres always a risk of someone, involved in a fall, suffering internal bleeding.

Mr OMahony said the emergency, about a mile offshore, was completed by the crew of the inshore service boat at 11.28am.

The crew got the call-out at 9.47 and were mobile, on the water, at 10.02am.

A stretcher team was also required which meant we had a crew of eight on the boat.

The casualty, not named by the emergency services, was taken to University Hospital Kerry in Tralee.

The 7.4-metre boat transferred the casualty to a HSE ambulance crew at Oyster Bed Pier near Sneem.

Meanwhile, the Derrynane inshore rescue service is one of a number of independent voluntary rescue boats that assists the Coast Guard.

The eleven boats are part of a countrywide group, Community Rescue Boats Ireland (CRBI), who respond to emergencies in their areas on a 24/7/365 basis.

Mr OMahony said the Derrynane service is supported by local events and donations and can cost up to 30,000 a year to operate.

Other CRBI Boats are located in Bantry and Schull in Co Cork, Cahore in Co Wexford, Tramore and Bonmahon in Co Waterford, Derrynane, Banna, Ballyheigue and Ballybunion in Co Kerry, Shannon waterway in Limerick City and Corrib/Mask in Co Galway.
A Cobh, Co Cork publican said he, alone, could face a 500 charge in addition to general licensing fees for street furniture in public areas.

Along with a current 635 fee for footpath signage and a 100 charge for licensing, businesses face an annual payment of 125 for every table and four chairs.

Publican Tom Kelly, of Kellys Bar in Cobh, said the increased charge could cost him over 500 a year. Its not as if were living in the south of Spain. How often does the sun shine? How often can customers sit outside?

The harbour town is one of the first in Cork where a 2010 regulation is to be enforced. The Government, at the peak of the recession, upped a 50 charge to 125. Most local authorities did not implement it.

However, businesses in Cobh along with the towns Chamber of Commerce are to meet with the Cobh/Glanmire Municipal District officer Paraig Lynch, to highlight their increased cost concerns.

Cobh Chamber of Commerce president John Sweeney said the charges should be considered within the context of the countrys economic status but there needed to be greater communication between the local authority and businesses.

Businesses, meanwhile are also anticipating a further demand for 635 per annum for footpath signage such as sandwich boards.

The proposed 2010 increases had not been implemented in Cobh. Council official Mr Lynch said, on realising the anomaly, the council had no option but to implement the correct charges.

Mr Lynch said he was bound by the regulation. A primary concern, he said, was councillors had noted up to 20 businesses putting out tables and chairs and I have to ensure conditions are observed and maintained. I must apply the statutory fee.
MEP Deirdre Clune met airport bosses to discuss the continuing saga over the stalled decision by US authorities on a licence for Norwegian Airlines Irish subsidiary NAI to operate a Cork to Boston service this year, and a Cork New York service next year.

The launch of such services, which are facing bitter opposition from unions on both sides of the Atlantic who are critical of Norwegians employment practices, could transform the airports fortunes.

The European Commission has threatened the US authorities with arbitration, a process should get underway next month.

However, amid fears that that process could take several months, it is expected that political pressure will increase over the coming months in a bid to encourage the US Department of Transport to finally make a decision on a licence application which has been pending now for over two years.

Kicking off the terminals birthday celebrations yesterday, airport managing director Niall MacCarthy said some 25m passengers have travelled through the terminal since it opened in August 2005.

Mr MacCarthy said the addition of direct low-cost transatlantic services  once the logjam over the US licensing for Norwegian Air International Limited is finally resolved  would be a major win, not just for the airport and Cork but for the Munster region.

We are hopeful that the recent intervention of the EU Transport Commissioner Violetta Bulc together with the support of the Irish Government will get this over the line, he said.

Lillabeth Horne, head of Retail Cork & Shannon Airport, with Laura and Sophie Talens at Cork Airport.

The birthday celebrations come at the end of an impressive year of passenger growth at Cork Airport, which has seen new routes and capacity and new airlines make it the busiest airport in the Republic after Dublin.

We plan to consolidate that growth with further announcements for 2017, said Mr MacCarthy.

Although we have a fine facility here, we continue to develop our offering which included the addition of a second airbridge in recent months, which is fully utilised, and a new fire training ground, which is about to commence construction.

Mr MacCarthy also announced plans to reconfigure and upgrade the terminals food and beverage areas ahead of next years busy summer season, with plans to move the bar and food facilities from where they are now, before security, to the terminals airside  after passengers go through security.

There are also plans to extend the terminals executive lounge.
Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Helen McEntee, favours the option of extending the scheme to include home help.

There needs to be, in my own view, a similar model for home help as there is for the Fair Deal, the Meath East TD said.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner Ms McEntee said it was an issue that needed to be worked on and felt the will was there.

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme, also known as the Fair Deal, provides financial support to people who need long-term nursing home care.

Age Action, a charity that promotes positive ageing and better policies and services for older people, agreed with Ms McEntee that the current crisis in community care needed to be tackled.

However, its head of advocacy and communications, Justin Moran, warned that extending the Fair Deal scheme to allow people receive care in their home would be extremely challenging.

We need immediate investment in community care and to go further by examining how we can bring in a right to community care for all older people in this country. It's hard to see how that can be done using the Fair Deal model, said Mr Moran.

Ms McEntee, said the provision of care for an increasing elderly population needed to be prioritised, and she favoured the extension of the Fair Deal scheme for those people wanting to remain at home.

She said ways would have to be found to get around some hurdles and legal aspects of the scheme that calculates how much older people should pay towards their residential care based on their income and assets.

A report by Age Action published in June found that community supports for older people were disorganised, fragmented and underfunded.

It revealed that social workers nationally estimated that half of the older people they worked with who were in long-term residential care could be at home if the appropriate services were available.

Speaking earlier on RTE radio, Mr Moran said Age Action agreed with Ms McEntee that the issue of community care needed to be tackled quickly.

But, he said, the most obvious problem was that older people who qualified for the Fair Deal scheme agreed to a 7.5% levy on their home for the first three years.

Mr Moran said older people in residential care did not need their home so it could be sold off or rented out to help them with the payments.

He pointed out that most people currently getting home help were not paying for it and wondered would they be required to make co-payments in future if Fair Deal was extended to include home care.

Also, the medical assessment that older people have to undergo to quality for Fair Deal was to confirm that people needed nursing home care because of their level of dependence. People getting home help would not have a similar degree of dependency.

Home and Community Care Ireland spokesperson, Michael Harty, said making home care part of Fair Deal would be "a very positive move". The organisation representing 25 private home care providers wants home care to be put on a statutory footing and regulated in the same way as residential care.
Darren Hughes Gibson (17) was found at the Stephenstown Industrial Estate in Balbriggan, north country Dublin on August 23, 2012.

He had been reported missing by his mother, Elaine Hughes after he failed to return to the family home at New Haven Bay the previous night. Next week, his family will mark the fourth anniversary of his death.

At a brief inquest hearing at Dublin Coroners court, family members were told they may have to wait up to six months for a decision as to whether charges will be brought.

Inspector Liam Casey said the Director of Public Prosecutions is examining a Garda file but no decision on whether charges will be brought has been received. Insp Casey sought a six month adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 of the Coroners Act.

I believe a six month adjournment is more appropriate to ensure we have directions received. We may or may not have a decision within the next three months, Insp Casey said.

The file Gardai submitted to the DPP was described as substantial. It contains 2,500 pages of documents obtained from Facebook through mutual assistance between Irish and US authorities.

Det Insp Kieran Holohan of Balbriggan Garda Station previously told Dublin Coroners Court that the material obtained from Facebook forms a large part of the material submitted to the DPP as part of the Garda file.

A substantial file has been submitted to the DPP. The material obtained from Facebook in the US forms part of the file and the issue is now with the DPP, Det Insp Holohan said.

Elaine Hughes asked at a previous hearing if the file contained any specific information but Gardai said they were unable to answer in court. Its a very difficult situation, Det Insp Holohan replied. The file consists of all the issues we could generate, he said.

Former Dublin Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said he was glad the information had been obtained from Facebook and apologized to Ms Hughes for the ongoing delay.

You have always been very helpful, I dont mind about the delay I have nothing but time, Elaine Hughes told Dr Farrell in reply.

Ms Hughes claims her son had been bullied throughout his life for the colour of his skin and because he wore a hearing aid. Facebook made more than 2,500 pages of messages sent to and from Darrens account available to Gardai. The information provided by Facebook includes messages that were deleted after the teenagers death and messages that include inferences of harassment and bullying.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said a longer adjournment period was preferable to bringing the family back to court too frequently. The inquest was adjourned until February 2 2017.
The secret is there is no secret, Gary and Paul ODonovans grandmother, Mary Doab, insisted yesterday.

Gary has been living with his grandmother in Ballincollig, Co Cork, for the last four years while studying at CIT while Paul moved in last year as they both stepped up Olympic training at the National Rowing Centre in Farran, a few miles west of the town.

The Skibbereen Rowing Club duo, who rowed their way to an historic Olympic silver last Friday, and who went viral with their shteak and spuds interview, cook their own steaks, their mother revealed. They like it rare, Trish said.

But they praised their grannys soup and brown bread which, they said, got them through tough training sessions at the rowing centre.

They also said she makes a fantastic roast lamb dinner on Sundays. Sitting in her front room yesterday still festooned with bunting, Paul and Garys European silver and gold medals dangling from the sideboard, Mary played down her role in their success and said anybody can make the same soup and brown bread.

Anybody can make it. Its just brown bread. Ive been baking brown bread since I was 12, at home, in the bastible, when there were no ovens, she said. And the soup is mushroom or vegetable, depends on the day. But theres no packet stuff whatsoever. They got a flask each going off to the training each morning.

But anybody can do soup as well. Theres no skill attached to baking brown bread and making soup.

Youve got a pair of hands the same as me. You can go up to the shop and buy gorgeous fresh veg, lovely carrots and parsnips, all Irish, dont be buying those things coming in from Spain.

Mary who has five other grandchildren and six great grandchildren, said she is delighted for Paul and Gary.

I know what they put in to it. I know how hard they worked. But Im terribly proud of all my grandchildren. I love them all to bits equally.

And even if Gary and Paul didnt win a medal, Id still have been incredibly proud of them.

And the international rowing community should take heed - the family could be set to produce another generation of Olympic rowers.

Theyre all (the great grand children) going to take it (rowing) up now. Theyre waiting for Gary and Paul to come back, because the lads promised to take them training with them, she said.

Hero rowers mother starts saving for Tokyo

Trish ODonovan, the mother of Olympic silver medal winners Gary and Paul, with their granmother Mary Doab who makes them brown bread and soup at her house in Ballincollig which the lads use as a base when they train at the National Rowing Centre. Picture: Dan Linehan

She started saving for Rio in 2008 when her Olympic rowing hero sons won gold at under-18 level in the Homes International Regatta in Cardiff.

And as she touched down in Cork Airport yesterday after watching them make Olympic history last Friday, Paul and Gary ODonovans exhausted but elated mother, Trish, confirmed shes already planning to be at the Tokyo 2020 games to watch her boys win gold.

In 2008 they made the Irish team as juniors and they went to the Home Internationals in Cardiff, she said. They stormed it in Cardiff and got the gold. That was when I started saving. I said they are going to the Olympics  they are not going to stop. Every week I went up to [Skibbereen] Credit Union and put in a few saving stamps. Did I get pleasure in cashing them in.

I dont care now if I have to strap myself onto the wing of the plane for Tokyo, Im going there.

Mary arrived into Cork Airports arrivals hall just after 11am yesterday having travelled from Rio with her fiance, Mick McCabe and her sons godmother, Kathleen Kiely-Wingate.

She said they were treated to champagne on both the British Airways and Aer Lingus flights. Strangers at the airport offered them congratulations, with shouts of up Skibbereen. Even the loss of some of their luggage en route didnt dampen their spirits. Mary joked: They didnt even look at our passports at the check in desks - they said sure youre all over the place, we know tis ye coming back.

Watching her boys take Olympic silver in Lagoa last week was a dream come true, she said, and she believes the half second gap between first and second can be bridged.

They wanted it [gold]. They nearly had it. But, what harm? I do think because the way the race was put back it cost them. If they had a day of rest before the final it would have been theirs. They want the gold and they know they have the making of it [for Tokyo].

But she is confident the success and global attention wont change her sons, whose interviews have gone viral. Their feet will stay on the ground  absolutely. You can see that. They will take this in their stride.

Asked about the female attention her sons are likely to attract, she said: They will have to go through me first. I will have to vet them all first. But they will all have to be athletes. No one else would understand them.

Trish left the airport and visited her mother, Mary, at her home in Ballincollig before heading for Skibbereen. She said she has some sense of the excitement at home but said getting home will be magic. The reaction at home has been incredible. We werent even out of the airport when people in Lisheen and Skibbereen were texting me to ask could they make an appointment to give me a hug, she said.
The original sign stood for many years on the side of the old main Cork-Dublin road just south of Watergrasshill and read: Welcome to Cork, home of The Dixies.

Vincent Scanlon of B2B Signs has offered to recreate the original sign which is believed to be in a pub in New York.

He has already presented Joe Mac, one of only two former band members still alive, with a smaller version.

The presentation to Joe Mac was made at Cantys Pub in Pembroke St recently to celebrate Joes 80th birthday.

Cantys owner Ger Buttimer is leading the charge to have the replacement sign erected in the original spot and is being backed by other businessmen and Lord Mayor Des Cahill.

People will always remember The Dixies for what they did and I think its highly appropriate that the sign goes back up, said Mr Buttimer.

He said that, in January 2011, he asked Joe Mac to play a few gigs in his bar as a sort of one-off.

He proved incredibly popular and still is, he said. Joe gigs here every Sunday from 6pm to 8pm and the place is packed. Hes created such a stir that we get people coming to the gigs from all over Ireland. We often get buses arriving from Galway and Dublin.

Hes an exceptional character, and always up for a laugh and a bit of slagging. Now more than ever, we should recognise Joe and The Dixies for what they did for Cork.

Mr Cahill said he wasnt sure if planning permission would be required to erect the new sign because it was replacing one which stood on the spot for many years.

We will be looking into that, said Mr Cahill. It was an iconic sign that many generations remember. I believe the original is in a bar in the US.

He said the businessmen leading the campaign got the idea of replacing the sign after it was mentioned by comedian Brendan Grace.
A skeleton crew has been maintaining the LE Aislings engines, pumps and other equipment since she was decommissioned on June 20 last after 36 years of service, during which she arrested the IRA gun-running ship Marita Ann.

They will, however, have to keep maintaining the vessel which clocked up in excess of 628,000 nautical miles  an equivalent of circumnavigating the globe 32 times  in the event of it being auctioned.

Built in 1980, the ship has been maintained to a very high standard by the Naval Service and, if put on the market, could fetch in the region of 300,000, or more.

However, there are many possible outcomes apart from auction.

Minister with responsibility for defence Paul Kehoe said a request had been made by a group in Galway to take charge of the vessel, for its use as a floating museum.

He is awaiting a detailed proposal from the group before making a decision.

All Naval Service ships are twinned with Irish cities. LE Aisling had been twinned with Galway.

In the meantime, the Irish Examiner has learnt two countries have expressed interest in acquiring the vessel, one party is in the Middle East and the other in Africa.

Sources have also revealed that the Maltese government could be interested in acquiring LE Aisling, as it is a sister ship of LE Aoife and it could be used for spare parts.

During his time as Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney gifted the LE Aoife to the Maltese government in early 2015.

At the time, the minister had said he wanted to help the Maltese with humanitarian rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea, primarily to save north African migrants who regularly pass through its waters in flimsy boats seeking a better life in Europe.

Previous ships have been auctioned off.

After LE Deirdre was decommissioned in 2001, she was sold at public auction for 190,000 after being purchased by English yacht chartering company Seastream International for conversion into a luxury charter yacht.

In 2013, LE Emer was also sold for 320,000 to a Nigerian businessman. Cyprian Imobhio, chief executive and managing director of Uniglobe Group had said, at the time, he planned to upgrade the vessel but had been uncertain about its future uses. However, he subsequently sold it to the Nigerian navy.
Dr Byrnes has presented Health of the Nation, for RTE, and Doctor in the House, for TV3.

She sought an injunction in respect of a GP surgery trading under the name Generation Health on the 1st Floor, Glenageary Shopping Centre, in Co Dublin.

Dr Byrnes claimed she had been evicted from the surgery by the landlords and owners of the property in Glenageary from where she had operated the surgery since June 2015. Their actions, she claimed, meant she was not in a position to attend to her patients.

She took the proceedings against Pearl Health Ltd, its director David Johnson of Killiney Hill Upper, Killiney, Co Dublin, and UK-based Irish businessman Derek Richardson, the owner of English rugby team Wasps.

At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Hanna granted Dr Byrnes an interim injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with her operation of, and the employees working at the medical practice.

The defendants must also surrender vacant possession of the property to her and are prohibited from trespassing on the property. The injunction also restrains the defendants from accessing, interfering with or removing patients records held at the GP clinic.

In a sworn statement, Dr Byrnes, who also operates another Generation Health clinic in Castleknock, Dublin, said following negotiations in 2015, she established a new GP clinic at Glenageary shopping centre, where she employs two GPs.

She did so after Pearl Health Ltd had stated its plan was to bring together dentists, physiotherapists and other related professionals so as to create a medical centre.

At that time, she said Pearls director, Mr Johnson, advised her Mr Richardson was his business partner. While she had never met Mr Richardson, she said he is the owner of the 1st Floor premises of the shopping centre.

She said it had been agreed she would be a lessee of the property, where she would have exclusive rights to provide GP services under the Generation Health brand.

As part of the agreement, rent was to be paid to Pearl in the form of 20% of the profit available after Generation Health paid its staff. It was to be capped at 40k per year.

She claimed attempts had been made to amend the agreement which, she said, amounted to an unlawful interference with her business.

Changes had been made to the clinics website without her knowledge which had made it look like the GPs employed by Generation Health were employed by another company. A printed brochure promoting the medical clinic had made no mention of the Generation Health brand, and inappropriate emails had been sent to staff, she claimed.

When she attempted to pay rent at the end of May, it had been returned and, in a letter from Mr Johnson in June, she had been informed Generation Health no longer existed in Glenageary.

When she arrived for work on Friday last, there had been an attempt to lock her out of the premises. She says she now stands evicted.

The judge made the matter returnable to next Monday.
David Begg said the retirement age was a matter for employers and any changes would need to take into account what people did for a living.

Mr Begg, who is chairman of the authority, said some practical difficulties would have to be confronted and employers would have to decide what they were willing to do.

You cant do this by any form of compulsion  that would not work, he said on RTE radio yesterday.

Mr Begg said people could be given incentives to stay at work. Employees could be encouraged to take their old age pension a bit later by having it adjusted to a higher level.

The business group, Ibec, said setting a contractual retirement date must ultimately remain a matter between employers and employees.

Welcoming the Governments pensions report, Ibec head of social policy, Tony Donohoe, said businesses shared the objective of facilitating longer working lives.

But, he said, a balance had to be struck between the needs of companies to have certainty and flexibility over workforce planning and the viability of their business.

At a time when youth unemployment is still above 18% the considerations of longer working also need to be balanced with the need to ensure adequate employment opportunities for young people and the need to provide career progression pathways, said Mr Donohoe. Age Action pointed out that there were no proposals in the report to address the situation occurring every year where older workers were forced out of their jobs and onto the dole because of mandatory retirement ages.

Siptu president, Jack OConnor, said Ireland was almost unique in the developed world because it did not have a pension scheme requiring mandatory contributions by employers, government and employees.

Instead of abolishing the Universal Social Charge, we should be redeploying it in this direction, he said.

Speaking yesterday on RTE radio, Mr OConnor said the political will to have such a pension scheme did not exist.

You could paper the walls of Liberty Hall with the white papers and the green papers and the reports and the rest of it  all of them pointing in the one direction.

Mr OConnor described the pensions report as useless window dressing because it failed to deal with the significant aspects of the developing pensions crisis.

There is a major crisis unfolding in the retirement and pensions arena. If it isnt tackled, it will ultimately rank second only to the banking crisis of 2008 in terms of severity and economic implications.

We deserve more from our elected legislators than the kind of hand-wringing that is displayed in this useless report.

Chief executive of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, Jerry Moriarty, also speaking on RTE radio, said current taxation and PRSI contributions were funding Irelands state pension. Thats already running at a deficit, he warned.
DKBA Col. Saw San Aung said: The government said it will work for an-inclusiveness in the Panglong conference so we made a request (to join) as we want to take part in the peace process.

When contacted by the KIC News, U Hla Maung Shwe, secretary of the Union Peace Conference Preparatory Committee, confirmed that the letter has been received.

The Karen armed group also submitted a letter to U Khin Zaw Oo, a retired lieutenant general and member of preparatory committee.

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Armynot to be confused with original group with the same name that was transformed into a Border Guard Forcesplit from mother organisation the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army.

Until now, the faction group hasnt expressed interest in the peace process that is being led by the government.

Small clashes between the DKBA and Burma Army, and also with Karen Border Guard Front, are still breaking out in Karen State.

Reporting by SPhan Shaung for KIC News

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited by BNI staff
With the Leaving Certificate results out tomorrow and the CAO offers out on August 22, up to 40,000 first-time students are set to accept offers for third-level courses around the country.

In total, a record 80,887 people have applied for CAO courses this year. Meanwhile, more than 300,000 third-level students will also be returning to their studies. And despite the excitement this time of year can bring, an autumn of uncertainty awaits many students in the face of an ever-tightening student housing market.

Numbers in third-level education are set to increase massively over the next 10 years. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has predicted that there will be an increase from 167,991 students in full-time education (FTEs) in 2014 to 192,886 FTEs in 2024, which will add to the demand for rental property enormously. The demand for property and private rental accommodation already outstrips demand, and rising rents and rising student numbers threaten to exacerbate matters further.

In addition, there has been a huge increase in the cost of third-level education with many students buckling under the expense. A recent Union of Students in Ireland (USI) survey found 87% said they fear having to drop out of college because of the costs and 38% say they miss meals to try to fund college.

While the cost of a degree has skyrocketed, the property market has only added to the burden. Dublin house prices are up 10% since 2015, and the average student room costs 460 a month, while city centre prices are up at 1,000. In Cork City, there are just 87 units available for rent, while average rent surpassed 1,000 a month in early 2016.

There are currently around 30,000 beds available to rent for students. However, supply is not spread across the country to cater to the areas of highest demand. This lack of bed space creates a number of problems, including overcrowding, questionable living conditions, and poverty.

Overcrowding is a massive factor in private rentals at third level. Due to the lack of availability of housing, it is a common occurrence for a number of students to take up one house.

Chris McCahill, a 22-year-old studying for his Masters in Geography at UCC, said: A 3/4-bedroom house having five- or six-plus people in it can easily become very cramped and, thinking of kitchens, bathrooms, etc, doesnt really afford the tenants much personal space.

Second-year UCC Social Science student Emma Breen, 19, has first-hand experience of the kind of overcrowding the the rental market squeeze can cause.

This year, myself and nine other girls are living in a house on College Road, which we started looking for around February because it seemed houses were filling up fast, she said.

Overcrowded living spaces give rise to questionable living conditions, and high demand puts little onus on landlords to make repairs. UCC student Mary Collins, 24, said: Ive lived in damp-riddled houses, but Ive been lucky. I know people who have not had hot water for months on end, who live in houses with doors or windows jammed or nailed shut  a huge fire hazard  houses with no insulation, houses with mice and rats, and more.

The pressure to secure housing also leaves students vulnerable to scams, as UCD student Rebecca Hart found out to her cost when she and her friends were conned out of 4,400 by scammers using a fake accommodation website.

Meanwhile, the consequences of not securing accommodation can be homelessness. While readily acknowledged as a major factor in the wider housing crisis, with 5,000 people homeless or in emergency accommodation, student homelessness has received less attention.

Nonetheless, students have been hit hard by the crisis. Dorothea Mages made headlines last year when it emerged that the 41-year-old mature student would study in UCCs Boole Library until 2am before sleeping under a bridge each night.

Student homelessness is not always as dramatic, but can be insidious. To address the student housing crisis, Housing Minister Simon Coveney has allocated 49,000 for the appointment of a new student housing officer to the USI  a role that has yet to be filled.

USI deputy president Jack Leahy welcomed the announcement, but stressed the need for a tailor-made infrastructural solution.

The place for students right now is definitely not the private rental market, with purpose-built student accommodation much easier to manage. They are built with the students needs in mind.

Mr Leahy added that the student housing officer role is only a stop-gap measure.

One of their roles will be to run and manage homes for a students webpage, such as reaching out to homeowners and getting them to take students in, with the 12,000 tax relief, he said.

This is something the Department of Education have reached out and supported before, but now were pushing for the Department of Housing to promote that as a short-term measure. Its not the perfect solution, but it is better than 700 or 800 a month for a Dublin room. Theyll be involved in that and there will be a huge amount of promotion.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, a 40m student facility with 471 bed spaces has been completed on Thomas St, near the National College of Art and Design, and will be available for use in September, while almost 1,900 further spaces are on schedule to be completed in the capital by the 2017 academic year.

British student accommodation giant Ziggurat plans to build 4,000 student units in Cork, Dublin, and Galway in a 400m development.

Student union leaders have said prospective renters should not panic.

I would urge students not to get too worried and worked up about it, said UCC student welfare officer Rory ODonnell. Keep actively looking through the UCC Studentpad site and our UCC Accommodation Search Facebook Page, and something will come up.

Other, longer-term measures, such as changing the profile of student renters, would help ease the student crisis, said Mr ODonnell.

Wed love to see more students who are living close to Cork City commute to college instead of getting a house near the college. This would massively help in freeing up spaces for students who arent in a position to commute.

My mental health collapsed sleeping on a couch for year

Alexander Cosgrave says his is not an uncommon story.

Alexander Cosgrave, a 22-year-old Politics and Philosophy student at UCC, spent his final year sleeping on a friends couch in Ballincollig, some 8km from campus, after his initial accommodation plans fell through. He tells the Irish Examiner his is not an uncommon story.

I know people who have had to live on friends sofas, I know people who have had to commute for hours and hours a day, says Alexander.

You see, a lot of the issue with student homelessness is that is not a visible homelessness. Most of the time it is a subtle, insidious homelessness. You dont have people living rough on the street, but you have people who couch-surf every night, bum favours off families and friends, to be able to get through college, to get to college every day and get their education.

These less-than-ideal arrangements are detrimental to both a students wellbeing and their academic career, says Alexander.

Time-travelling was a useful skill I learned, he laughs. No, mostly I didnt sleep that much, my health went out the window, my mental health collapsed. I did a lot involving personal relationships and friendships I am not proud of.

I had a lot of fights I shouldnt have had. By the end of September, I was pretty strung out. By the end of the year, I was a husk of a human. Getting my degree was something I had to do, but I wouldnt encourage anyone else to do it [that way].

Where I was staying was far out from college, it wasnt a good walking distance. I could walk it but it was an hour walk.

If I wanted to stay in the library late to 2am, I would have to walk an hour home at two in the morning, which is not healthy and safe. I know people who have it worse.

On top of everything else, Alexander ran in Februarys general election for the Green Party in Limerick County, highlighting sustainable planning and education reform.

I believe [the Government] has a housing policy, but I dont know how much a focus there is on student housing, he says.

But I believe, as a student activist, there should be a huge focus on housing for the higher education. Like, there is a broader problem with housing here in Ireland, there are all these ghost estates, which are out in the middle of nowhere, and if youre going to college in Dublin you have to learn to drive, have to commute long hours each day.

It is my opinion that the State is trying to price students out of the market. In education over the last number of years, there has been a gradual increase in fees, there is talking about bringing in full fees, while there is talking about increasing student numbers  and its definitely going to get worse, because there are just not a lot of houses out there.

Students are tricked out of 4,400 by fake website

Rebecca Hart: Students are desperate to find housing.

The increased pressure on students to secure a room to live in during the year has made students more vulnerable to scams.

While looking for a house for herself and friends for the upcoming academic year, UCD nursing student Rebecca Hart came across the seemingly ideal spot on Lepordstown Avenue, Stillorgan, on daft.ie. She learned from the advertisers they were an elderly couple who lived in the UK and who wanted someone to mind their house back in Ireland.

The couple, Lloyd and Martha, explained that they organised their affairs through British travel website TripAdvisor. They sent pictures of themselves, and told Rebecca about TripAdvisors payment protection scheme, which meant that if customers are not happy with their booking they will be offered a full refund.

Speaking to RTE Radio Ones Liveline, Rebecca, 22, from Wexford, said: We had looked into it ourselves and it was legit, so we followed through the links and were happy enough.

It was almost too good to be true really, but between the four of us we managed to beg, borrow, and steal to get the 4,400 deposit for the house.

Rebecca and her friends transferred their money to one account and then to Llyod and Martha via TripAdvisor.

However, after the couple suggested viewing dates which where unsuitable, the contact went quiet.

After contacting TripAdvisor with their booking reference and screenshots, the students learned that the booking did not exist, and that they had been duped by a fake version of the website.

Daft.ie has confirmed the listing was fraudulent and offered to work with a Garda investigation, but has told the students that there is nothing more it can do.

Were waiting for the guards, said Rebecca. Unfortunately, that seems to be a lot slower than we would like. The bank has been very helpful but theres only so much they can do.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced last week of overseas students falling victim to similar rental scams in Cork City. Online scammers using accommodation websites and online forums are said to have contacted at least 30 students claiming that they have rooms to rent to them.

UCCSU welfare officer Rory ODonnell said: Its been highlighted to me in the last three weeks, and there are definitely two cases where a deposit was paid, and possibly one other, all of them international students.

Rebecca has recently secured alternative accommodation for the upcoming academic year. However, the scammers remain at large.

Were vulnerable targets really, and students would go through desperate measures to get some place to live, she said. So I wouldnt say it is a common thing, but there is a bit of it going on because some students are so desperate to find some place to live.
IN Michel Houellebecqs bleak satirical novel, Submission, the French political order is upturned in 2017, after the soul-crushing re-election of Francois Hollande, the countrys most unpopular president ever.

A strange, oppressive mood settled over France, a kind of suffocating despair, all-encompassing, but shot through with glints of insurrection, wrote Houellebecq in the 2015 bestseller.

Nine months before real French voters go to the polls, this gloomy vision no longer seems outlandish.

Hollande, 62, may be a long shot to win re-election, but his chances of remaining the Socialist candidate are high, despite his abysmal approval ratings, now hovering in the mid-teens.

Also high, following a string of horrific attacks in France that have made security the top issue in the election campaign, are the chances that his main challenger could be Nicolas Sarkozy, 61, the man who was Frances most unpopular modern leader before Hollande beat him in 2012 and claimed the mantle for himself.

So the next French election may be between two failed presidents who are disdained by a majority of French voters, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front.

It would be election by elimination, says Thomas Guenole, a political scientist and co-founder of consulting firm, Vox Politica. The choice facing French voters would be: who do you hate the least?

A survey by Ifop, last month, asked French voters who they would not want elected next year, not under any circumstances. Hollande was top, at 73%. Sarkozy and Le Pen were not far behind, at 66% and 63%, respectively.

Perhaps the only certainty is that Le Pen, whose party is comfortably ahead of Hollandes Socialists and Sarkozys Republicans in the polls, would make it into the second round.

The expectation is that Hollande, if he did run, would not make it. But if Hollande is up against Sarkozy in the first round, and if Francois Bayrou, leader of the centrist Democratic Movement, joins the fray, he has a glimmer of hope.

Le Pens chances of winning a second-round run-off are seen as extremely slim. But the antipathy towards both Hollande and Sarkozy makes it difficult to rule out a victory for her.

Unlike in 2002, when Socialist voters held their noses and backed centre candidate, Jacques Chirac, in the second round, to stop Le Pens father, Jean-Marie, the appetite for crossing party lines to back Hollande or Sarkozy would be far more limited  in part because Marine Le Pen has spent years softening the image of the National Front.

If elections were taking place today, she would have no chance, said Dominique Moisi, senior adviser at the French Institute for International Affairs (IFRI). But if they are taking place in a context of new terrorist attacks, you cannot exclude this scenario.

Regardless of who emerges victorious, the choice between three deeply unpopular candidates could deepen alienation in France, fuelling a despondency akin to what Houellebecq describes in his book.

France is not the only country whose voters face poor choices.

The US election campaign is playing out similarly, with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump both intensely disliked by large portions of the voting population.

In Germany, which will hold an election in the autumn of 2017, voters may feel they have little choice but to give Angela Merkel a fourth term, despite deep misgivings over her handling of Europes refugee crisis. There are simply no attractive alternatives.

But the situation in France stands out, because the country has such a desperate need for new ideas and for new leadership to pull it out of its economic malaise and spiralling crisis of confidence.

On the right, the alternative to Sarkozy is Alain Juppe, the 70-year-old former prime minister, foreign minister, and defense minister.

Polls suggest Juppe would have an easier ride to the presidency. And although there is nothing new about him, he enjoys broader support than his conservative rival, with 58% of the French saying they could accept him as president, according to the Ifop poll.

But the recent attacks  a mass killing on the promenade in Nice and the throat-slitting of a Catholic priest in a church near Rouen  have shifted the focus of the campaign to security, immigration, and national identity, themes that play to Sarkozys strengths as a hardline former interior minister.

Sarkozy is climbing in the polls, and Juppe, seen for months as the frontrunner, is falling, as a November primary to decide the centre candidate for president approaches.

Whoever wins that primary will be the favourite to become Frances next president.

The attacks are also undermining the appeal of Emmanuel Macron, the 38-year-old economy minister and former investment banker, who has been positioning himself as an alternative to Hollande, on the left, by preaching economic renewal.

A political sensation a few months ago, French media are now questioning whether Macrons new political movement, En Marche (forward), shouldnt be renamed En Panne (broken down).

In the current environment, people want an experienced commander-in-chief and that is not Macron, says Jerome Fourquet, of Ifop.

That means French voters may well be confronted with a choice, next year, that satisfies few.

In Houellebecqs fictional world, the disillusionment resulting from Hollandes re-election leads to the rise of a Muslim candidate, who defeats Marine Le Pen in 2022 and introduces Sharia law and polygamy in France.

That wont come to pass. But if the 2017 vote does play out, as it now looks like it might, it would not be good for France or for Europe, where leaders are already struggling to inspire their citizens.
Irelands housing market collapsed less than a decade ago, but has lately been experiencing a blistering recovery in prices. They have risen in Dublin by 50% from the trough of 2010. Is Ireland setting itself up for another devastating crash?

The collapse of asset bubbles carries massive financial and social costs. With construction activity and investment spending grinding to a halt, sharp recessions  which cause tax revenues to fall, even as surging unemployment demands increased social spending  are unavoidable.

Taxpayers may even be asked to shore up financial institutions capital base. The last time that happened in Ireland, it cost 60bn, or 40% of GDP.

Housing bubbles are not difficult to spot; on the contrary, they typically make headlines long before they pop. Yet, they are far from rare. Bubbles in Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States collapsed after the financial crisis of 2008.

After the Asian financial crisis of 1997, property prices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand sank by 20% to 60%. And, a decade earlier, Sweden, Norway, and Finland experienced property price declines of 30% to 50%.

Why did nobody step in before it was too late? The answer is simple: while the bubbles are inflating, many people benefit. With the construction sector thriving, unemployment falling, and banks lending freely, people are happy  and politicians like it that way.

The process is simple. Rising prices trigger a surge in building activity, which creates job opportunities for young, low-skill workers, whose employment options are otherwise limited, and generates large profits for property developers and builders. In fact, a telltale sign of a bubble is that second-rate developers are suddenly earning billions.

Banks profits rise, too, because there is plenty of demand for mortgage-lending, which is viewed as risk-free. After all, steadily-rising property prices mean that, if a borrower defaults, the property can be resold at a profit. (The inevitable market correction remains too remote to be taken seriously at the height of the boom.)

Taking advantage of this lending, ordinary people, from taxi drivers to hairdressers, can become millionaires by playing the market on the side.

All of this benefits elected leaders. They win the support of voters, who feel wealthier, of the formerly unemployed, who find jobs, and of homeowners, whose houses are rising in value. Further endearing politicians to voters are new spending increases and tax cuts, as accelerating economic growth causes the debt-to-GDP ratio to fall.

Because bubbles tend to inflate gradually over a number of years, before their abrupt collapse, letting them run a little further seems politically astute. No-one wants to be the one to stop the party, especially not if their job is at stake.

But the partygoers of the private sector cannot be counted on to stop themselves. In particular, banks, for which maintaining market share is crucial, cannot be expected to constrain risky lending, especially given the assumption that, if things do go wrong, the taxpayers will fund a bailout.

This leaves only the financial regulator or the central bank, which can use macroprudential tools  such as loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios on new mortgage lending  to limit the deterioration of banks balance sheets during boom times.

But this approach isnt perfect, either, because the risky borrowers to whom lending is restricted tend to be first-time or low-income buyers. This might not be a problem in countries with well-developed housing markets, where there are plenty of rental properties available from professional landlords.

After all, in such markets, renters can find housing with security of tenure at price levels that are predictable, even as they evolve gradually over time, according to market conditions, thereby ensuring that landlords have incentives to maintain the properties.

But in countries where rental markets are small and function poorly  often a result of a widely held belief that all families should own their homes  financial stability and access to mortgage-financing are closely linked. By limiting the riskiest borrowers access to finance, rules on mortgage-lending can trigger a fierce political backlash.

Ireland is a case in point. In January, 2015, the Central Bank sought to protect financial institutions from another catastrophic bubble by restricting their lending to high-risk borrowers. As a result, annual growth in property prices fell from a little over 20% to just below 5%.

But the construction industry, worried about its profits, has been harshly critical of the rules, as have ordinary people who have been denied credit, and thus must struggle to find suitable housing in a small rental market.

Politicians, no surprise, have jumped on the bandwagon, to capitalise on the popular mood. As the pressure on Irish regulators to relax lending rules intensifies, so do concerns that they will succumb to it. One hopes that they will continue to resist.

Would-be borrowers face genuine challenges as a result of these regulations; but that is nothing compared to the pain that a collapsing bubble would cause.

In any case, Irelands experience with housing bubbles carries a deeper lesson  one that everyone has missed. A housing system that can so easily produce such large and damaging bubbles is fundamentally flawed. While restrictions on lending may be useful, they are not enough to bring about an efficient and stable housing system.

Many in Ireland might find that conclusion overly pessimistic. Maybe they are simply hoping that, this time, the luck of the Irish will hold. Perhaps it will, and this time really is different. But there isnt much evidence of that.

Stefan Gerlach is chief economist at BSI Bank in Zurich and a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Ireland. He has also served as executive director and chief economist of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and as secretary to the Committee on the Global Financial System at BIS. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016.

www.projectsyndicate.org
The man with the Kalashnikov is telling us to go back and eat the dinner. He is highly excited, talking to the driver with chopping hands and wild eyes and an urgency that might engender fear if one hadnt been told that it was all about the dinner.

He tells the driver to cut the engine until the matter is sorted. For a few minutes we sit there, in the heat, in this settlement of a few buildings, literally in the middle of nowhere near the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and wonder whether an international incident is brewing.

This was the scene last month in the course of a three-day visit by Mary Robinson to Ethiopia to highlight the devastation being wrecked by El Nino, a climatic phenomenon that stills the rain, and has been greatly exacerbated by climate change. Robinson was accompanied by the heads of the three Irish aid agencies, Concern, Trocaire and Goal.

Ethiopia is suffering its worst drought in 30 years as a result of El Nino. Twice last year the rains failed, putting the future of 10m onto a perilous footing. They dont have enough to eat.

Parents are watching their children going hungry once more, evoking memory of the apocalyptic scenes from the 1980s. In desperation, the subsistence farmers who make up the overwhelming bulk of the rural population, are selling their meagre assets.

First it is the contents of their homes, then the primitive farm implements of their livelihoods, and finally the livestock. Tomorrows food is being bartered for todays survival.

Mary Robinson is the UNs envoy for climate change and El Nino. At a stage when many of her contemporaries are kicking back and enjoying the grandchildren, she is tearing around the world, trying to evaluate and publicise the plight of those already feeling the effects of climate change.

On the day in question, she is on her fourth visit to various projects involving one of the three agencies in the northern region of Tigray. The venue this afternoon was a Womens Co-operative Grain Bank programme run in conjunction with Concern which is located many miles from the nearest village, on a dusty plain where food must be coaxed from the shallow topsoil with great difficulty.

Robinson is greeted like an arriving celebrity. More than half a mile shy of the settlement, on a road that bumps and grinds, she is forced to leave her vehicle and be walked the final leg of her journey by colourful procession, under a rain of popcorn, which serves as confetti in this country.

A drama of sorts is enacted at the outpost to greet the arrival and then Mrs Robinson is shown around. Up to 1,000 women come here regularly to acquire seeds to attempt to grow corn, maize or wheat to feed their families. They are also provided with lessons in cooking and how to maximise nutrition. This, in an area where over 40% of people suffer from stunted growth.

It was in places like here, in the rural heartlands of Ethiopia, that the famine of the 1980s was at its worst. Lessons were learned from those days. There is now an early warning system.

The government has introduced a form of permanent aid known as the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), which attempts to keep the hunger at bay. In this northern province of Tigray, nearly half of the six million population are dependent on PSNP.

Among the gathering is Welde Gebreal, a 60-year- old farmer who is a father of six. Most of his offspring have left the area in search of work and survival.

The drought this year is very much worse than anything over the last 30 years, he says.

My sons have gone and the women who remain often have to go very far to collect water. Even the water wells are now all dry.

He wears the haunted look of one who has seen the worst and tries to live in hope that it will not return. Others among the gathering chew the khat leaf, a stimulant that can divert the mind from the hunger that is affecting the body.

Yet despite their desperate circumstances these people of the Amhara region want to share all they have with the visitors. When the delegation is leaving, moving onto the next appointment, there is confusion over the feast that has been prepared. The man with the Kalishnikov wants to know why we dont stay for food.

Eventually, the head of Goal, Barry Andrews, and one of the Concern personnel agree to return to face the food, which is a huge mix of meats that have been prepared. They do what they can to accommodate the hospitality and rejoin the convoy kicking up dust down the road.

The following morning, Robinson and her delegation venture closer to the border with Eritrea which has been the scene of occasional skirmishes between the two countries. On a road that winds around mountains where little grows, looking down on dry river beds, the conditions that the people of this area of the Ingal mountains must endure are writ large.

Here and there, men push ploughs behind pairs of oxen, and the route is marked every so often by women walking under the weight of barrels on their backs, en route to or from acquiring water. On a ridge, half a dozen army tanks lay idle under tarpaulins, awaiting the next call to action on the nearby border.

Even out here, there are people aplenty. Ethiopia has a very high birthrate with 40,000 babies born each week. The country is the second most populous in Africa at close to 90m and while migration to the towns and cities is a constant, the rural outposts are still densely populated.

As we move deeper into the mountains a pattern can be seen on the barren slopes. Deep ridges run across creating the effect of a terrace. This is part of a project involving Trocaire and local partners to manage the rainfall in order to irrigate the land.

Apart from the terracing there are also check dams and a pumping system is set up from a lake far below to channel the water. For some, the system may appear primitive, but for the people here it is a lifeline to hope of a sustainable future.

Mrs Robinson is greeted by the water management committee who explain the details of the system to her. In the project she is shown, the water is distributed to 56 households, of which 49 are headed by women. The men have left to seek work.

Freweyni is 30 and the mother of three children. Her husband has left to find work, but she hasnt heard from him now for nearly a month. She stands holding a shovel upright, as if it is more weapon than tool. Freweyni works on the irrigation scheme for 11 hours a day, six days a week.

I have to feed my children, she says. The work here is good. I dont have any land so I work here, but the rains are getting shorter and shorter every year for the last five or six years. The men leave, but the women cant because of the children. We must stay. Eamon Meehan, the chief executive of Trocaire says that this kind of project is all about the long term.

This is stopping the crisis rather than responding to it as happened so much in the past, he says.

As the convoy trundles back down the side of the mountain, Mrs Robinson requests an impromptu stop. A group of young people are at the side of the road. She gets out, approaches the group and asks, through an interpreter, whether they will stay in this area when they are finished school.

Three boys respond that yes, they want to stay and hope to do so. A young girl responds. I will stay here and work if we get the rains. Everything is dependent on the rains. If the climate continues to change, depleting the frequency and intensity of the annual rainfall, a time may come when this dry and dusty land is uninhabitable.

For now, the irrigation project ensures that there is hope.

Later that day, at a health and stabilisation centre run by Goal, in the shadow of the red Gheralta mountain slab, the former president is introduced to scores of pregnant women and mothers among the 1,000 who attend for check-ups. These women literally walk for hours to get here.

Mulu Gebresisie walked for six hours to be here. She had six children, but two died as a result of malnutrition. Her husband is also dead, having succumbed to TB last year. Today, she came for the occasion of the visit rather than out of a necessity for a check-up, such is the esteem in which she holds a centre that she has attended for years.

If the time is enough, I will walk back home, she says, her eyes drifting to a darkened sky. If its not I can stay with friends about three hours away. My neighbours will look after the children. She works one hectare farm herself since her husbands death. I plough with the ox, she says.

There is no water, but sometimes the government brings us water. It can take me two days to do the ploughing. Even if the land was fertile the hectare is not enough to feed the family.

She doesnt want her children to become farmers like their father. If they finish school they can be nurses or teachers, she says.

They have to go live in the city, but it will be a better life.

Mulu looks once more at the sky, wraps her white shawl-like gabbi around her shoulders and offers a wide smile before taking to the road home to her village, and the ongoing struggle for survival.

Vulnerable bear the brunt of developing crisis

El Nino is a phenomenon that occurs once every two to seven years.

It involves the warming of surface waters which leads to an increased temperature of water in the entire equatorial zone of central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

This affects atmospheric circulation worldwide, leading to a drying up of rainfall in large tracts of the developing world.

El Nino is usually followed by an atmospheric reaction known as La Nina, which can lead to flash flooding, which has as much capacity for disrupting farming and forcing people off the land.

The latest El Nino occurred last year and has led to a major humanitarian crisis in southern and East Africa as well as Central America, where agriculture provides the primary source of livelihood.

The UN estimates that around 100m will be affected by the end of this year by the combined impact of both phenomena.

On July 6, the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation said that 3.5bn was now required to alleviate the impact of El Nino around the world.

EL Nino has caused primarily a food and agricultural crisis, FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva said following a meeting of UN agencies in Rome to discuss the impact of El Nino in Africa and Asia Pacific.

The United Nations has called on governments and the international community to increase efforts to boost the resilience of highly vulnerable communities who are struggling to feed themselves, as well as to help them prepare for La Nina.

The FAO said was mobilising extra funding for agriculture, food and nutrition, and to invest in disaster preparedness, he said.

It [the FAO] will finance early actions that prevent unfolding disasters from happening, Mr Graziano da Silva said.

Southern Africa had a three-month window of opportunity before the 2016/2017 planting season to take urgent measures to prevent millions of rural families becoming dependent on humanitarian assistance in 2018, according to FAO.

The principal reason that the current crisis far exceeds previous El Ninos is down to climate change, according to a number of different studies.

This was touched on during Mrs Robinsons visit when she met Ethiopias minister for foreign affairs during her visit to the country.

We have contributed nothing (to climate change) but we are the victims. And although we are the victims we want to be part of the solution, Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

A study by Trocaire into the effects of climate change in the developing world published earlier this year looked at the scientific evidence in five countries, the Philippines, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi and Ethiopia.

The report, entitled Feeling The Heat, found in all of the counties increases in temperature both during the day and at night are clearly observable. Longer dry seasons and hotter days are leading to greater evaporation losses and serious risk of drought, it found.

When rain does fall, it falls more intensely than before, leading to greater risk of floods, damage to crops and risks to human health through waster and vector borne diseases.

As the ocean warms, tropical storms are expected to get stronger. This is a huge concern in those countries already massively affected by tropical storms.

As with much in the developing world, it is often women and children who are disproportionately affected.

In Ethiopia, the most recent drought has affected school attendance for up to three million children. In a country where primary school completion rates are below 50%, girls who miss school for any length of time are unlikely to return.

According to Concern, El Nino has increased the workloads and vulnerability of women in particular.

Their husbands migrate in search of work. Migration can boost family income but it brings with it a heavy cost.

It reduces household labour capacity, which impacts on agricultural production and it increases the risk of extra-marital relations, bringing with it the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, and of divorce.
The Irish people awoke yesterday morning dazed and confused. Their Minister for Sport was on the radio proclaiming himself stunned after a meeting with the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI). It was fairly tense, fairly direct and fairly frank, Shane Ross told Morning Ireland.

An excellent meeting was how Pat Hickey described it. Were they at the same meeting? Is there any hotel room capable of accommodating both egos in full flight?

The two titans of Irish life had come together to discuss this embarrassing business about how an Irishman has ended up in a jail in Rio de Janeiro after being lifted with bundles of tickets on his person. Where did he get them? On whose behalf was he operating? What does the OCI know about him? What the hell is going on?

These are the kind of questions that Mr Ross wanted answered. More specifically, Mr Ross had told the nation that he would insist on an independent person being included on an OCI panel inquiring into the affair.

The summit in Rio was supposed to be an exercise in bringing Mr Hickey to heel. However, Mr Ross discovered, as many before him had, that Mr Hickey is a wily old dog who can bite as well as others might bark.

In effect, Shane Ross was snubbed. This is highly embarrassing for a senior politician. Albert Reynolds was once snubbed by Boris Yeltsin at Shannon Airport, but at least Boris was reportedly out of his mind on drink at the time. The snub issued to Shane Ross on Monday was a simple, sober message.

Take a hike, minister, this is my baby, the long-standing OCI president conveyed. And then, just to show that there are no hard feelings, he invited the minister to dinner. Say what you like about Pat Hickey, but you gotta love his chutzpah.

Minister Ross was stunned at the whole thing. His initial reaction included the news that he would consult with his junior minister Patrick ODonovan and the attorney general. Patrick ODonovan is a fine, young man but its difficult to see what advice he could give Shane Ross about politics or life.

As for the attorney general, well, you can imagine the sheer delight Marie Whelan would enjoy if told that Shane Ross was on the line. Just a few short weeks ago, Miss Whelan was subjected to acute embarrassment at the cabinet table when Mr Ross rejected her advice on the abortion issue as just an opinion.

Now the same minister plans to run to her seeking some form of advice that might save his ego from abrupt deflation.

The other course of action Mr Ross threatened was looking very closely at the prospect of another inquiry. That hasnt been ruled out.

Bring it on. In keeping with a prevailing trend, it might be best to have an inquiry into the inquiry.

We could get the ball rolling with a scoping inquiry into the OCI inquiry to see whether a full inquiry was required. If not, then the inquiry into the inquiry could be handed over to an Oireachtas committee to do a sort-of an inquiry.

While Mr Ross nurses his considerably bruised ego, there are nevertheless some serious questions that must be addressed in any inquiry. We know that the OCI awarded ticket allocation to a company called Pro10, yet this outfit apparently did not have the capacity to physically issue tickets to purchasers. Why then was the contract awarded to Pro10? Surely a basic requirement for any agency awarded the contract should have been capacity to distribute tickets.

The man detained in Rio, Kevin Mallon, is a director of THG Sport, the agency that previously had the contract from the OCI to distribute tickets but which it lost to Pro10 for these games. Was he sub-contracted by his rival Pro10 to distribute the tickets, and was this known to the OCI?

Pro10 issued a statement last week outlining its version of how things had unfolded. We explained that the tickets Mr Kevin Mallon, an employee of THG group, had in his possession were held on our behalf to be made available simply for collection by Irish and other European customers of Pro10 in Rio.

These had been made available for sale through the authorised ticket reseller process and were sold to legitimate customers of Pro10 at face value plus the allowed ATR reseller fee.

Up to 1.000 tickets are understood to have been seized by Brazilian police following Mr Mallons arrest. If this is the case, then where are the shortchanged customers who bought tickets online yet never actually received them?

Irrespective of the cack-handed manner in which the Minister for Sport has approached this issue, those questions require proper answers.

Shane Ross is certainly correct in his estimation that full answers are unlikely to emerge from what is effectively an internal OCI inquiry. Ensuring transparency in any process will require the kind of political handling that has sadly been lacking so far.

Perhaps Mr Ross should take up the invitation to dine with Pat Hickey. The latter would undoubtedly be able to tell the politician a thing or two about politics.
The 49-year-old, from Croydon, south London, told medical staff her children had asthma, autism and other health problems, meaning they were given drugs they did not need and went through invasive treatment including having tubes fitted in their stomachs.

The womans lies, which spanned a decade, allowed her to claim more than 375,000 in benefits, before she was arrested by police in 2013.

Following a three-year investigation the woman, who cannot be named to protect her childrens identity, was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail.

She was convicted last month of cruelty, fraud, making a false representation and obtaining money transfer by deception.

Addressing the woman at Croydon Crown Court, Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Smaller said: I note that you have appeared to be very sad at times during this trial - but, watching you as I have for three months in court, in my view, it cannot be said to amount to remorse for what you did.

Judge Smaller said the mother, despite being made aware of all the risks of surgery, had signed the consent forms to ensure it went ahead, and noted that she had not been filled with the disquiet that most parents would have at the thought of their child undergoing such an operation.

The children, a young boy and girl, had surgery to fit them with gastrostomy tubes for feeding, despite being able to eat normally, after the woman lied to authorities to say they had stomach problems.

Her son was given steroids after she claimed he suffered breathlessness, and he was told to behave as though he had autism.

In what the judge described as an embarrassing episode for him, he was also kept in nappies until he was taken into care aged seven-and-a-half.

The woman was determined to find another problem when it looked as though others she had created were resolved, the judge said.

At the time of her conviction, the Metropolitan Police, which led the complex investigation, involving 114 witnesses for the prosecution, described the womans behaviour as staggering.
He said the policy would first require a temporary halt in immigration from dangerous regions of the world.

Speaking in swing state Ohio, Trump also said his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on the Islamic State.

He said destroying the terror group would be the centerpiece of his foreign policy and he would partner with any countries that share that goal  specifically singling out Russia as a nation the US could have a better relationship with.

Any country that shares this goal will be our allies, Trump said. We can never choose our friends, but we can never fail to recognize our enemies.

Ahead of Trumps address, Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden vigorously challenged the Republican nominees preparedness to be commander in chief.

Biden called Trumps views are dangerous and un-American and warned that Trumps false assertions last week about President Obama founding the Islamic State could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

The threat to their life has gone up a couple clicks, he said.

While Trump has been harshly critical of Obamas handling of the threat posed by the Islamic State, his own policies for defeating the group remain vague.

His most specific prescriptions centred on changing US immigration policy to keep potential attackers from entering the country.

Trumps campaign aides said the new ideological test for admission to the United States would vet applicants for their stance on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

The government would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with friends and family or other means to determine if applicants support American values like tolerance and pluralism.

The U.S. would stop issuing visas in any case where it cannot perform adequate screenings.

Trump did not clarify how US officials would assess the veracity of responses to the questionnaires or how much manpower it would require to complete such arduous vetting.

Nor did the campaign say whether additional screenings would apply to the millions of tourists who spend billions of dollars visiting the United States each year.

The Republican nominees foreign policy address comes during a rocky stretch for his campaign.

Hes struggled to stay on message and has consistently overshadowed his policy rollouts, including an economic speech last week, with provocative statements, including his comments falsely declaring that Obama was the founder of the Islamic State.

Democrat Hillary Clinton has spent the summer hammering Mr Trump as unfit to serve as commander in chief.

She has been bolstered by a steady stream of Republican national security experts who argue the billionaire businessman lacks the temperament and knowledge of world affairs to be president.

US vice president Joe Biden branded Donald Trump totally, thoroughly unqualified to lead America at home and abroad, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

In his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Mr Biden, who decided not to make a third presidential bid last year, also said that Mr Trumps revelling in his TV reality show tag-line Youre fired showed his true colours.
The robbery of Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen early on Sunday, as they returned in a taxi to their hotels after a night of partying, has fed concern over safety at the first Olympic Games in South America.

We got pulled over in our taxi and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, 32-year-old Lochte said.

They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground, they got down on the ground.

But Lochte, among the most successful swimmers in Olympic history, said he initially refused.

I was like, we didnt do anything wrong, so Im not getting down on the ground, Lochte said in the interview conducted at a Rio beach.

And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead.

At that point, Lochte said he complied.

I put my hands up, and was like, Whatever.

The gunmen stole their cash and wallets, he said. They let the swimmers keep their phones and credentials.

Lochte released a statement on Sunday, in which he said: What is most important is that we are safe and unharmed.

Witnesses said the four swimmers left a club hosting a French Games delegation party early on Sunday, bought popcorn from a street vendor and then got into a taxi cab, Today reported.

Rio police plan to interview the swimmers as part of their probe into the robbery.
Officers used an armoured vehicle to retrieve the injured victim and take them to hospital, but there was no repeat of widespread destruction of property.

Some two dozen officers in riot gear confronted a group who were throwing rocks and other objects at police near where the black man was fatally shot a day earlier.

Police moved in to try to disperse the crowd and made multiple arrests after skirmishes between protesters and officers on Sunday night.

Local television showed police forming a line and using shields to deflect missiles.

One police officer fell to the ground after apparently being hit by one of the objects and was moved away by fellow officers.

Police also said an injured officer was taken to hospital after a rock broke the windscreen of a squad car.

Earlier, video taken from a media helicopter showed a small group of protesters running through the streets, picking up orange construction barriers and hurling them out of the way.

Police posted on Twitter three locations where they said shots were fired.

There were no other reports of injuries and no major destruction of property after six businesses were burned in the unrest on Saturday.

Police Chief Edward Flynn said at a press conference that the man whose death sparked Saturday nights rioting was shot after he turned towards an officer with a gun in his hand.

Mr Flynn said the shooting was still under investigation and authorities were awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination, but that, based on the silent video from the unidentified officers body camera, he certainly appeared to be within lawful bounds.

At the same news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett said a still image pulled from the footage clearly showed a gun in 23-year-old Sylville K Smiths hand as he fled a traffic stop on Saturday.

I want our community to know that, Mr Barrett said. But he also called for understanding for Smiths family.

A young man lost his life, the mayor said.

And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting.

Mr Flynn declined to identify the officer who shot Smith but said he is black.

After watching the officers body camera footage, Mr Flynn said the entire episode took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired.

He said Smith ran a few dozen feet and turned towards the officer while holding a gun.
Last weeks incident in the eastern canton of Graubuenden was a new twist on an old trick of getting elderly people to send money to a supposed favourite grandchild in trouble, police said.

Be suspicious of supposed police who call speaking high German, a police statement advised residents of the region, where many speak German and Romansch dialects very different from the Hochdeutsch (high German) spoken in Germany.

Double trouble

Scotland: Primary teachers will see double this week as 15 sets of twins start school in one local authority area in Scotland.

When the bell rings to begin the new term in Inverclyde tomorrow, there will be more than 80 sets of twins in primary schools across the region. Local education leaders have once again been left wondering if there is something in the water after a record 19 pairs enrolled in 2015.

Hull open for homestays

England: People in Hull are being encouraged to throw open their doors to visitors from across the world during the citys tenure as UK City of Culture next year.

The call to embrace the everyone back to ours atmosphere comes amid predictions that the expected hundreds of thousands of visitors will overwhelm Hull hotel capacity.

Hull 2017, along with Visit Hull and East Yorkshire, has launched the Homestay challenge, backed by TV designer Linda Barker.

Those taking part have been told they could also make money, as well as immerse themselves in the events taking place.

Irina a stinging sensation

Russia: A nine-year-old girl has triumphed at the Russian Mosquito Festival in the town of Berezniki, winning the tastiest girl category with 43 bites to show for going berry-picking in the forest with her mother.

Irina Ilyukhina was awarded a ceramic cup in recognition of the welts all over her legs. Unusually hot and dry weather in the Ural Mountains town, however, has greatly depleted the number of mosquitoes this year. Festival organisers had to cancel the traditional mosquito hunt, where participants try collect as many insects as possible in jars.

Responders save squirrel

USA: Emergency responders in Connecticut rescued a squirrel caught in a nutty situation.

Members of Enfield Emergency Medical Services responded after the rodent got its head stuck in what appeared to be a plastic or paper cup. Video posted on the Enfield EMS Facebook page shows the squirrel wildly jumping and flipping into the air in an effort to dislodge the cup.

After several unsuccessful attempts, an officer covered the animal with a blanket and held its body steady while another officer removed the cup before the squirrel scampered away into some bushes.

Following Alices trail

USA: The 400-mile trek of a radio-collared moose named Alice is the inspiration behind a proposed hiking trail from Ontarios Algonquin Park to the heart of New Yorks Adirondack Mountains. Planners of the A2A  Algonquin to Adirondack  Trail liken it to Spains Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, with the benefit of preserving an important wildlife migration corridor.

The A2A will follow the general route taken by Alice, tracked as she swam across lakes, traversed the US armys Fort Drum, swam the St Lawrence River and loped across Canadas busy Highway 401 before eventually reaching Algonquin Park, where she died of unknown causes.

8theist finally gets her plate

USA: A woman whose request for a vanity licence plate reading 8THEIST was denied two years ago as state officials ruled that it might be considered offensive will now be allowed to display it.

A settlement filed in federal court resolves a lawsuit filed in 2014 by Shannon Morgan. As part of the settlement, the state Motor Vehicle Commission also will issue vanity plates or combinations that are substantially similar including: Heathen, Heratic, Skeptic, and Blasfmr.

The commission will pay Morgan $75,000 (67,000) to resolve her claim.

Eagle rays born in Devon

England: The UKs first captive-bred spotted eagle rays have been born.

Female ray Kitts recently gave birth to twin pups at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, Devon, following a seven-year project. The unnamed twins  one male and one female  are both healthy and feeding well and are in the Atlantic Ocean acclimation tank.
Donald Trump today went Full Cold War on those great unwashed and unwhite masses of immigrants just itchin' to come to our shores and stir up some Radical Islamic Terrorism. How are we going to protect the United states? Extreme Vetting.

The New York Times reports that his latest flight of white supremacist fancy "invoked comparisons to the Cold War era in arguing that the United States must wage an unrelenting ideological fight if it is to defeat the Islamic State."

Trump says if he's elected president, he will halt immigration from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world," and determine who is an American ally "solely on their participation in America's mission to root out Islamic terrorism."

"Just as we won the Cold War, in part by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam," he said in a speech at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where he is losing to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

He again tried to change his politically inflammatory approach to immigration, replacing his 2015 vow to bar Muslims from entering the United States with a new commitment to bar anyone from parts of the world where terrorism breeds. Once again, he did not name those countries, or say whether citizens of longtime allies where terrorists have plotted and executed attacks  Germany, France and Belgium among them  would be included. Mr. Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the border with Mexico, also said he would call for "extreme vetting" of immigrants that would include requiring them to respond to a questionnaire with an "ideological test." Over all, he appeared to be arguing for the kind of terrorism-centric foreign policy that President George W. Bush adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"We will also work closely with NATO on this new mission," said Trump. His ISIS remarks earlier this summer were publicly criticized even by some of his fellow Republicans.

[NYT, Reuters]
The 35-year-old man, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was arrested by local officers in Lisbon.

After a court appearance in Portugal on August 4, 2016 he was extradited to the UK, Cambridgeshire Police said.

Rikki was found strangled in woodland near his home in Peterborough in November 1994.

The man was arrested under a European Arrest Warrant on suspicion of breaching his licence and has been taken to Bedford prison to be dealt with by the probation service.

Officers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit travelled to Portugal to return the man, working with the National Crime Agency, police in Portugal and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The suspects age means he would have been a juvenile at the time of Rikkis death.

In April, police said they had detained a man in his 30s from Peterborough.

Cambridgeshire police relaunched an investigation into the boys death last June, building a timeline of his last movements.

In November, detectives said in a Crimewatch appeal that they wanted to speak to two teenage boys over the killing.

The boys mother, Ruth Neave, was charged with murder at the time but found not guilty by a jury.

She admitted child neglect and cruelty and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Rikki Neave was last seen leaving his Welland estate home for school on the morning of 28 November 1994.

His body was found the next day in a wooded area about five minutes walk away.

He had died as a result of compression to the neck, post-mortem tests found.
The fire seemed calm on Sunday before gusts kicked up the flames that tore through neighbourhoods in Lower Lake, a town of 1,200 about 90 miles north of San Francisco, officials said.

It reached Main Street and burned the post office, a winery, a Habitat for Humanity office and several businesses as thick, black smoke loomed over the small central strip.

Staff at a hospital in Clearlake, a neighbouring town of about 15,000, rushed to transfer 16 patients to another hospital and firefighters carried goats and other animals to safety as homes burned around them.

The blaze was one of 11 large wildfires in California, where high temperatures and parched conditions brought on by a five-year drought raised the fire danger. In central California, a day-old wildfire burned 20 structures and threatened 150 homes.

The Lower Lake fire broke out on Saturday afternoon and exploded to nearly five square miles as it fed on bone-dry vegetation.

Besides the wind, 100F (37C) heat hindered firefighters struggling to get a handle on the largely out-of-control blaze.

This fire roared through the city like a wave of water - it was a wave of fire that came through here, said Lt Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriffs spokesman working on behalf of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Well over 100 homes were destroyed, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. Officials did not immediately know how many businesses and other buildings were lost but say thousands are still threatened.
Judge John Hlophe in Cape Town announced the sentence, telling the 52-year-old convicted kidnapper that she had caused immense pain to the biological parents whose baby was taken from them, the African News Agency reported.

Publicly, the young woman who was kidnapped as a baby is known as Zephany Nurse, the name given to her by her biological parents (below) and used in the media in the years since her disappearance.

After she was found, the girl chose to continue using the name given to her by the kidnapper. Zephany is expecting her own first child soon.

To protect her privacy, a judge ordered that her adopted name and the name of her kidnapper not be used by the media.

Judge Hlophe criticised the kidnapper for sticking to her story that she had bought the baby from a woman who told her that the biological parents did not want the child.

At the very least, one would expect you to apologise, but you chose not to, the African News Agency quoted Hlophe as saying.

The family of the convicted kidnapper blew kisses to her as she was led to a holding cell after the sentencing, according to the agency.

It also reported a confrontation between the kidnappers family and Zephany Nurses biological family outside the courthouse.

She belongs to us, said Chantall Berry, Zephany Nurses aunt.

She has our DNA. Her DNA will never change.

Eric Ntabazalila, spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, said prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence for the kidnapper, who cannot be named to protect her victims identity.

She gets 10 years direct imprisonment. We are happy with that, said Ntabazalila.

You cannot go out and steal a child and expect that the society will accept that, or the courts will accept that, or the general public will accept that, he added.

Zephany Nurse was reunited last year with her biological parents, Morne and Celeste Nurse, after the couples second daughter befriended a girl at school who looked remarkably like her.

A police investigation and DNA tests showed that the two girls were sisters and that the new friend was the Nurses missing child.

Zephany Nurses biological parents were in court for the sentencing yesterday, but their daughter was not.

Zephany Nurse has not been allowed contact with the convicted kidnapper but has been living with the kidnappers husband, who she thought was her biological father, according to South African media reports.

State prosecutors said the kidnapper snatched a three-day-old baby from her sleeping mothers hospital bedside in Cape Town in April 1997.

The prosecution also said the woman defrauded authorities when she registered the child as her own daughter in 2003 under a false birthdate.

Zephanys biological father, Morne Nurse, welcomed the sentence, saying he was looking forward to building a relationship with his daughter.

Its actually made me tired, its made me sick completely, he told AFP outside court.

I couldnt sleep for nights. I couldnt even eat properly. So the way forward is to build my relationship with my daughter, and thats it.
Burma Environmentalists Objections Convince Shan Parliament to Reconsider Building Site

Trees marked with red Xs at the proposed site of a new parliamentary building in Taunggyi, Shan State / Living Earth Green Network

RANGOON  The speaker of the Shan State legislature has pledged to reconsider the location for the construction of a new regional parliamentary building after environmental activists voiced objections to the proposed site in the state capital of Taunggyi.

Those in opposition to the plan launched a signature campaign over the course of the last week to stop the new structure from being built, as more than 80 trees are slated to be cut down to make way for the building.

The activists have described the proposed site as a landmark area in Taunggyi.

Cherry Kyaw, a Taunggyi-based environmentalist who chairs the local Living Earth Green Network, said that the state parliaments speaker Sai Loon Seng from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) met with the activists on Saturday regarding their objections.

He said that they will reconsider using a place which has been objected to by the public and he will [consult] the regional government about a new location, she said.

She said that the network collected over 3,000 signatures from August 11-14. On Monday, the network sent the official objection, along with the petition, to the state government and legislature.

We are not objecting to the construction of a new parliament. We only reject the [proposed] venue, as it will have a lot of impact on the local ecology. We wont stop them if their next location doesnt have as much impact on the enviornment, said Cherry Kyaw, adding that during the meeting with Sai Loon Seng, the speaker had asked for their input regarding an alternative location.

Nang San San Aye, a Shan State parliamentarian from Hsipaw Township and one of four lawmakers appointed to the tender selection committee for the new parliamentary building, told The Irrawaddy that she had heard that the building would not longer be constructed on the site originally proposed. There is not yet a decision regarding a new location, she said.
Burma Ethnic Mon IDPs Concerned About Declining Aid

The release of a report on Burmas internally displaced persons on August 12 / Zue Zue / The Irrawaddy

Ethnic Mon internally displaced persons (IDPs) are concerned about declining aid and financial assistance, according to a recent report on IDPs in Burma.

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland, Burma Link and Burma Partnership released a joint report called Invisible Lives: The Untold Story of the Displacement Cycle in Burma in Rangoon on Friday.

Nearly 70 years of ethnic conflict has created a displacement crisis with almost 650,000 internally displaced people and about 480,000 refugees who have fled the country, predominantly from ethnic minority areas, according to the report.

Currently, more than 100,000 refugees live in camps along the Thailand-Burma border, and approximately 400,000 IDPs live in protracted displacement in southeastern Burma.

As the political and social transformation in Burma continuesand following the triumph of the National League for Democracy in the 2015 elections which captivated local citizens and observers around the worldoptimism that displaced persons would soon begin to move back to Burma has led to further decline in donor funding along the border, said the report.

We hate to think what will happen to us if we no longer receive assistance, said an IDP who lives near the border as quoted in the report.

Those living in IDP camps are mainly concerned that they will not continue to receive food and healthcare amid the constant decline in supplies over the past few years.

Although a coalition of international nongovernmental organizations called The Border Consortium (TBC) continues to assist ethnic Mon IDPs, its policy is to gradually reduce aid to encourage self-reliance. The Nippon Foundation has also provided assistance to Mon IDPs for years, but IDPs are worried that this aid will also stop, said Nai Awe Mon, program director of the Mon State Human Rights Foundation

Aid has not completely ceased. IDPs still receive some assistance from the Nippon Foundation, International Rescue Committee and the American Refugee Committee. There are still projects from the last fiscal year but we dont know if these will be extended or if new ones will take their place when they end, said Nai Awe Mon.

He called for continued aid to Mon IDPs and said that, for countries in transition, aid should continue for people who were scapegoated in conflict until the transition is complete.

Mon IDPs have been unable to find sustainable livelihoods in IDPs camps and continue to suffer from chronic poverty, debt and lack of medical care, according to the report.

The report stated that there are about 35,000 IDPs in Mon Sate, mainly along the Thai-Burma border in the eastern part of the state controlled by the New Mon State Party. Some of them were forced from their homes some 20 years ago due to armed clashes and land confiscation.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
Burma The Time for Electoral Reform is Now Says the Carter Center

Carter Center associate director Jonathan Stonestreet (right) and Burma field office director Stefan Krause (center) speak at the Tuesday press conference in Rangoon / Ben Dunant / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON  US-based non-governmental organization the Carter Center has stressed the need to get electoral reform efforts underway early on, if Burma is to have a fully democratic parliament after the next general election in 2020.

The Carter Center, founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, launched its final report on the 2015 general election at a press conference in Rangoon on Tuesday. The 80-page report includes recommendations and findings from its observation of the full electoral process, from the drawing up of voter lists to post-election dispute resolution.

Jonathan Stonestreet, an associate director at the Carter Center, said at the report launch, The time to start thinking about electoral reform is now.

He commented that, in countries in transition, electoral reform is easily put on the back-burner after the successful staging of an election, passed over in favor of reforms that appear more pressinguntil the next election arrives and it is too late.

Proper adherence to international democratic standards would require changes to the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, says the Carter Centerfor instance, so that all members of at least one house of the Union parliament are elected by direct vote.

The current 25 percent reservation in Parliament for military appointees should be phased out, says the report, which also recommends that Article 59(f), which barred Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president because her children hold foreign citizenship, be reconsidered.

The Carter Center also cites candidate eligibility as unduly restrictive. Under current laws, only full citizens can run for elected office; the many residents of Burma holding naturalized and associate forms of citizenship are barred.

The report touches on the large-scale exclusion of the Muslim Rohingya community in Arakan State, the majority of whom holding temporary forms of citizenship were barred from voting, despite being enfranchised in all previous elections.

The Carter Center recommends the amendment of Burmas citizenship legislation in line with international standards: The legal status of habitual residents of [Burma], especially former temporary registration certificate [white card] holders, should be resolved, and equal access to citizenship ensured through a timely, non-discriminatory, and transparent process.

Stefan Krause, the Carter Center field office director in Burma, noted at the report launch that amendments to the constitution and election laws necessary for fully democratic elections could take some time and face political hurdlesbut the Union Election Commission could take the initiative in reviewing its own by-laws and regulations.

Efforts from the commission could include improving the gender-balance and diversity of election sub-commissionswhich exist at various administrative levels in the country and consist largely of current and former civil servantsand allotting them more resources to lessen their dependency on local government structures under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, the report says.

Other recommendations include updating the voter list at regular intervals; reforming the appointment system for the Union Election Commissioncurrently the prerogative of the Presidentto ensure impartiality and independence; curbing the unaccountable powers of the commission by making its decisions open to judicial appeal; and for Burma to sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Carter Center has been present in Burma since October 2013, and deployed international observers across all states and divisions between December 2014 and March 2016. Since 1989, the organization has observed more than 100 elections in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
News UPDJC Agrees to All-Inclusion at Union Peace Conference

Dr. Tin Myo Win, Aung San Suu Kyi and Kyaw Tint Swe (L to R) at the UPDJC meeting on August 15, 2016 in Naypyidaw. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYIDAWThe Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) has approved a principle of all-inclusion at the Union Peace Conference, slated for later this month, during a two-day meeting in Naypyidaw.

UPDJC members (from the government, Parliament, the Burma Army, representatives of registered political parties and eight non-state ethnic armed organizations) agreed to include non-signatories of the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) in the joint convening committee for the conference, according to Hla Maung Shwe, secretary and government representative of the UPDJC.

The conference will focus on five main topics; politics, defense, the economy, social welfare and the environment and natural resources, said Zaw Htay, Presidents Office spokesman.

Zaw Htay told the media on Monday that participants would be given equal status during discussions, whether they were NCA signatories or non-signatories.

The representatives of the ethnic armed groups and Parliament agreed to the scheduled date and the political dialogue framework.

The Union Peace Conference will commence on August 31 and will be held for five days in Naypyidaws Myanmar International Convention Centre No. 2. A similar conference is planned every six months thereafter, according to the presidential spokesman.

Hla Maung Shwe said they had decided on all-inclusion for conference attendants whether they had previously signed the NCA or not.

We will uphold the principle of all-inclusion throughout negotiations, he added. We will move forward and hold national level talks. We will all take joint ownership of the process and work to include all stakeholders in the process.

In terms of all-inclusion, Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan National Party and political representative of the UPDJC, said the group would try to include all stakeholders, including three active armed groupsthe Taang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army and the Kokangs Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Armyin the national conference, despite the Burma Army having previously issued a demand that these groups disarm before joining the peace dialogue talks.

All participants will be considered conference attendants, without categorizing them as aligning with the Burma Army or the ethnic armed groups, said Hla Maung Shwe. Negotiations are still being held to decide who will be invited, as the building only holds about 1,600 people.

State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who also serves as chairperson of the UPDJC, urged stakeholders to try to reach a common political agreement in a speech on Monday in which she stressed that support from the ethnic groups would be necessary in order to achieve a genuine federal union.

She said, We aim to negotiate all of our different opinions at the conference. I believe we can all work together for our peoples prosperity by negotiating, as we all have different views for our future.

Another UPDJC meeting will be held prior to the Union Peace Conference, said Hla Maung Shwe on Tuesday after the meeting.
Commentary Suu Kyi Goes to China

Chinas President Xi Jinping with Burmas then-opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Beijing on June 11, 2015 / Reuters

In former times, Burmese and foreign observers considered Burmas generals well versed at playing international powers off against one another.

Now it is Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmas current de facto leader, who is visiting China. Many in the region, and in the West, will be assessing her diplomatic skills in engaging the Chinese and reconciling Chinas interests in Burma with rising Western influence.

During Hillary Clintons breakthrough visit to Burma in 2011, Suu Kyi said that Burma wanted to maintain good, friendly relations with China, our very close neighbor, and not just with China but the rest of the world.

Suu Kyis visit to Beijing this week is an attempt to make good on this statement. On the agenda for her meetings with Chinese leaders is Burmas peace process and Chinas controversial mega investment projects in Burma. Her leadership skills will be tested.

Like previous leaders, civilian or military, Suu Kyi made the right decision to visit Burmas powerful neighbor before heading to the West. It would be provocative, and create ill feeling, if she had first chosen to visit Washington first.

Since assuming power, she has visited Laos and Thailand, where she won more friends and allies in the region. She should do well in Beijing. Likewise, Chinas adjustment to political changes in Burma is increasingly evident.

Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew to Burma in early April, shortly after the formation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government, making him the first foreign dignity to pay his respects to Burmas new administrationa demonstration of Burmas continued importance to China. Wang Yi conveyed president Xi Jinpings invitation to Suu Kyi to visit China.

In June of last year, Beijing surprised everyone by hosting Suu Kyi, as head of the NLD and leader of the opposition. She received red carpet treatment, meeting with Chinas President Xi Jinping. It was a sign that Beijing was ready to outmaneuver Western governments, including the US. Chinas engagement with Burma has since stepped up.

Last week, Beijing deputed the Communist Partys head of international relations, Song Tao, to visit Burma and meet not only with Suu Kyi, but also with Burmas armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing, former President Thein Seinwho invited Beijings displeasure with his suspension of the Myitsone Dam in 2011and Shwe Mann, the powerful former parliamentary speaker and current ally of Suu Kyi.

To the surprise of many, Burmas former supreme leader, ex-Snr-Gen Than Shwewho generally keeps well out of public viewreceived Song Tao at his residence.

Than Shwe and his subordinates in the ruling junta before 2011 were seen as selling off Burmas natural resources, allowing China to build several dams and oil and gas pipelines running from Burmas Arakan coast to Chinas Yunnan Province. These concessions consolidated Chinas strategic position in Burma.

The recent meeting with Than Shwe was testament both to Chinas long arm and its history of relations with elite political forces in Burma.

The visit to Than Shwes opulent Naypyidaw residence (probably built by gas money from China) was private, but the former junta head reportedly told his Chinese guests that China was a good neighbor and friend, and thanked China for supporting Burmas economic and social development.

Over the last two decades, Than Shwenow into his 80s, and still firmly under US sanctionsmade numerous visits to China. His extensive friendship with, and business connections in, China should not be underestimated.

After reforms were launched in 2011, Beijing was forced to adjust its policy towards Burma, a country once considered to be firmly within its sphere of influence; it was caught short by the rapid political change in Burma.

Burmas re-engagement with the West made Beijing nervous. In January 2012, the US normalized its relations with Burma and substantially upped its influence. Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Burma.

Perhaps to irk Beijing, the US applauded the decision of the previous Burmese government to suspend construction of the multi-billion dollar Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam project in northern Burma.

The US has always denied that re-engaging Burma has anything to do with Chinabut it does. Re-engagement from the West has raised the stakes in Burma. Options have multiplied for Suu Kyi and all key playersparticularly in cultivating friends and allies other than Chinanow that the country is no longer a pariah.

The suspension of the US$3.6 billion Myitsone Dam projecton which $42.5 million of Chinese money had already been spentwas a big lesson for China, which is determined not to allow a repeat of such incidents in Burma.

Many expect the dam to feature prominently on Suu Kyis agenda in Beijing. Ahead of her visit, President Htin Kyaw formed a new commission to evaluate all proposed hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River. It must submit its first assessment report to the Presidents desk by November 11. This was a calculated move, since Suu Kyi is now able to defer any firm positions on the dam while meeting with President Xi in Beijing.

The truth is, any resumption of the Myitsone Dam is a non-starter; Suu Kyi wouldnt risk the ensuing public discontent. In July, an editorial in state-run newspaper The Mirror called for the cancellation of the Myitsone Dam.

However, the oil and gas pipelines linking Chinas Yunnan Province to Burmas Arakan coast is more important than the Myitsone Dam. The former military regime in Burma reached an agreement with Beijing on the dual pipelines in 2006, with construction beginning in 2010, when two countries celebrated their 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

The multi-billion dollar pipelines offer Beijing strategic access to the Bay of Bengal via Burma, allowing it to counter Indias influence and growing naval capabilities in the Indian Ocean. New Delhi shifted its Burma policy away from that of the West back in 1993, due to Chinas speedy engagement and rising influence in Burma.

In Burmas conflict-ridden northern borderlands, China remains a key player, continuing its tacit support to ethnic armed groups now engaged in the formal peace process.

Sun Guoxiang, Chinas Special Envoy on Asian Affairs, addressed the summit of ethnic armed groups in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State in late July, saying that China backed all the forces that support internal peace in Burma. No western diplomats were to be seen.

We expect that all ethnic armed groups will join the 21st Century Panglong Conference, Sun Guoxiang told The Irrawaddy, referring to the Union Peace Conference scheduled to begin on August 31.

Beijing has shown an increasing interest in stability along its long shared border with Burma. It is crucial for Burma to achieve internal peace, Sun Guoxiang said, citing the payoff the country would receive.

Reading these messages, one might assume that Beijing is playing along with Suu Kyis peace plan. However, Beijing is unlikely to compromise on its strategic interests and investment, no matter how far Western influence rises in Burma.

During Hillary Clintons visit to Burma in 2011, The Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, wrote that China did not oppose Burma seeking an improved relationship with the West, but wouldnt accept its interests being stomped on.

It is a complicated relationship indeedChina knows Suu Kyi holds the key.

Suu Kyi will be pragmatic, and some will find this hard to swallow. In November, she told the state-owned Xinhua news agency, Well pay special attention to our relations in order to make them smooth, effective and clear.

Ties between neighbors are always more delicate than that between countries far apart, Suu Kyi said.

In comparison to previous Burmese leaders, Suu Kyi will face daunting challenges in rebalancing Burmas relationship with China, on the one hand, and the West, on the otherwhile serving the interest of the Burmese public, and trying not to overly upset powerful former generals who developed strong ties with Beijing.

But she knows she will have to set the record straight and repair past damage, while setting a new tone in Burmas relationship with China. Most importantly, she cant disappoint the Burmese people, who are counting on her leadershipand are hoping she wont come back empty handed.


Bobby Hutcherson, a pioneering jazz vibraphonist whose style pushed the iconic Blue Note label into more spiritual and experimental directions, died yesterday at age 75. He was under ongoing treatment for emphysema. Along with a phenomenal career as a band leader on dozens of records, Hutchinson famously played on the jazz classics "Out to Lunch," by Eric Dolphy and "Mode for Joe," by sax player Joe Henderson. From the New York Times:



The first album (Hutchinson) released as a leader was "Dialogue" (1965), featuring Mr. Hill, the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and the saxophonist and flutist Sam Rivers. Among his notable subsequent albums was "Stick-Up!" (1966), with Mr. Henderson and the pianist McCoy Tyner among his partners. He and Mr. Tyner would forge a close alliance.





After being arrested for marijuana possession in Central Park in 1967, Mr. Hutcherson lost his cabaret card, required of any musician working in New York clubs. He returned to California and struck a rapport with the tenor saxophonist Harold Land. Among the recordings they made together was "Ummh," a funk shuffle that became a crossover hit in 1970. (It was later sampled by the rapper Ice Cube.)





In the early '70s Mr. Hutcherson bought an acre of land along the coast in Montara, where he built a house. He lived there with his wife, the former Rosemary Zuniga, whom he married in 1972. She survives him, along with their son, Teddy Hutcherson, a marketing production manager for the organization SFJazz, as does his older son, Barry Hutcherson, a jazz drummer.
Multi-Cloud 101: 7 Things You Need to Know

To go private or not to go private; is that really the question?

A few weeks ago, I posted some thoughts on the public vs. private vs. hybrid debate, concluding that it wont really make much difference in the long run because both public and private infrastructure is becoming less costly and more easily manageable, and the rise of software-defined architectures will shift the focus to the services that are provided, not the infrastructure they sit upon.

Since then, the news for the private cloud seems to only have gotten worse. As ActiveState Softwares VP Bernard Golden pointed out to cio.com this week, Amazon and Microsoft are eating the IT world while OpenStack struggles to find itself, and all the while Google is forging ahead with advanced machine learning and streamlined frameworks to make its cloud easier and more capable of meeting emerging enterprise needs than anything they can hope to do on their own. In Goldens view, this will lead to a long, slow but inevitable death for the private cloud.

The saving grace for private clouds, however, is that they are necessary to build the hybrid cloud  and who doesnt want one of those? But as InfoWorld Editor-in-Chief Eric Knorr notes, if this is the plan then the enterprise is already way behind the curve. To be successful, a hybrid cloud needs private infrastructure that can scale and is governed by a high degree of automation. Of the three leading hybrid developers  Microsoft, VMware and OpenStack  only Microsoft has a compelling strategy to implement a private cloud, and it is daunting. An Azure stack integrated into Dell, HPE or Lenovo hardware requires a minimum of 12 physical cores with 96 GB of RAM, and preferably 16 cores with 128 GB. This kind of system lends itself more to scale-up architectures than scale-out, and will very likely be undermined by Microsofts own Operations Management Suite that delivers full cloud control in a low-cost SaaS package.

As with most things infrastructure-related these days, the type of cloud you deploy depends upon the use case, says TechBlocks Marketing Director Annie Bustos. A private cloud is more customizable and offers greater oversight of the entire stack, from hardware to the service layer. That makes it more amenable to extremely sensitive data and applications, particularly those in highly regulated environments with stringent compliance standards, such as finance and health care. And it should be noted that the difference between public and private has more to do with the shared, multi-tenant nature of the infrastructure, not its location. So increasingly, firms are turning to the hosted private model when warranted, allowing them to launch services quickly and maintain access to cutting-edge technologies while still keeping budgets in check.

So is the private cloud doomed to failure? Not entirely, and not anytime soon. Organizations of all sizes still have a wealth of valuable hardware at their disposal, so rather than simply chuck it all and migrate the entire data footprint to the cloud, it makes more sense to leverage it as long as possible by enhancing it with greater efficiency, flexibility and ease of use  that is, make it more cloud-like. In the meantime, emerging applications of the kind that are disrupting markets will likely be more at home on public resources, either shared or single-tenant.

So when all is said and done, it appears that the enterprise will get to have its private cloud and use it too. The only remaining question is whether the boxes that support it are in the office, across town, or on the other side of the world.

Arthur Cole writes about infrastructure for IT Business Edge. Cole has been covering the high-tech media and computing industries for more than 20 years, having served as editor of TV Technology, Video Technology News, Internet News and Multimedia Weekly. His contributions have appeared in Communications Today and Enterprise Networking Planet and as web content for numerous high-tech clients like TwinStrata and Carpathia. Follow Art on Twitter @acole602.

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Fans of the TV series "Outlander" are now hyped as actor Sam Heughan expressed his excitement about going back to work with Caitriona Balfe on Twitter. Moreover, there are more spoilers revealed by the executive producer about what is in store for the upcoming season.

Sam Heughan And Caitriona Balfe Off-Screen Relationship

There have already been speculations about an off-screen love interest going on between on-screen partners, Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. They are currently playing the roles of Claire and Jamie on the show "Outlander." In a current Question and Answer game led by the Scottish actor himself, he admitted how can't wait to do scenes with Balfe on the series.

This admission has then led the fans to quickly assume a romantic relationship with the two, going way beyond their professional relationship. Although the two have already denied these speculations, there is just so much chemistry between the two that the fans believe just cannot be denied.

As for their character's relationship on screen, after having been apart for 20 years and Claire believing her husband is already dead, the two will finally reunite on the third season of "Outlander" and this has been much anticipated by many viewers of the show. A change in Jamie's character will be seen as soon as he makes his return, and may be a different person from the one Claire once loved.

New Characters Introduced For Season 3

The executive producer of "Outlander," Ronald Moore, also did his version of a Q&A on his Twitter account. He answered some of the fans' questions about season 3 of the series. Vine Report reports that Moore revealed there will be new writers for the new season to make the series all the more enticing to the viewers.

There have been allegations that Harry Potter actor Tom Felton may be casted into the show, however, unlikely since he is confirmed to be a series regular on CW's "The Flash" season 3. Moore is now casting for the roles for young Ian, an older Fergus and Lord John Grey as well.
See sample pages from this book at Wink.

Castro's Cuba: An American Journalist's Inside Look at Cuba 1959-1969

by Lee Lockwood

Taschen

2016, 360 pages, 10.3 x 13.6 x 1.4 inches (hardcover)

$45 Buy a copy on Amazon

Right now, Cuba is red hot, hotter even than when Ry Cooder introduced most of the world to the Buena Vista Social Club almost 20 years ago. Thanks to the normalization of relations between the United States and the Caribbean island nation, American tourists will soon have a new place to drink alcohol, lie in the sun, and complain about their ceviche  regular flights between the U.S. and Cuba begin at the end of August.

Despite the diplomatic thaw, though, Cuba is still Castro country. Fidel, who just turned, 90, may be out of the picture, but his younger brother, Raul (age 85), remains firmly in control. Which makes the new Taschen reprint and expansion of photojournalist Lee Lockwood's 1967 Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel so timely. The new 7 -pound, 360-page version  simplified to Castro's Cuba  expands greatly on the original, supplementing the original 100 black-and-white photos with hundreds of color shots, a pair of essays by the late Castro documentarian Saul Landau, and, as usual with Taschen, high-production values.

Style, though, is not the book's primary virtue. Its heart revolves around lengthy interviews Lockwood conducted with Fidel Castro in 1965, in which the revolutionary leader spelled out his vision for his country  from its agriculture to its education system to its arts. Castro considered the roles of his country's institutions carefully, explaining at one point that what looked like political indoctrination to Americans was social education to the Cubans, who were, after all, being prepared for a new life in a new Communist society. "From an early age," Castro tells Lockwood, "they must be discouraged from every egotistical feeling in the enjoyment of material things." Lockwood captured examples of this social education with his camera, as seen in the numerous images of young people working in fields, but he was no propagandist for the Cuban leader who granted him so much exclusive access  Lockwood also got a priceless candid shot of two boys proudly posing with the latest album by The Beatles.

 Ben Marks
Video is fuelling the growth of the Web. Facebook has Live for, well, live broadcasting, Twitter has periscope, Apple has Apple TV, Amazon has Twitch, and then there is the king of content Netflix. Now it is Microsofts turn.

Microsoft Xbox has acquired Beam, a real-time, live, interactive, video streaming app for iOS, Apple TV, Android, Kindle, Chromecast (and any browser, so that includes Windows and macOS) to add to the Xbox experience  is this just the beginning or something entirely new?

Beam has the potential to be used in so many ways for gaming  joint viewing and co-operative play in games like Minecraft and the upcoming title Sea of Thieves. Or think what it could do to Skype, MMS, and real-time video delivery. This immersive technology could create a virtual Sunday dinner table.

In typical geek fashion, it is being referred to as a remote presence and it offers a brand new streaming protocol dubbed FTL (fast than light), where interaction is less than a second  as if you were in the same room as the caster. It is entirely HTML5, uses SSL security, removes the need for Flash, and is encoded in VP8 for less bandwidth  which means it is great for mobile use.

The service lets streamers define how co-gamers can participate in a given session  it should work with any game to set up quests and challenges and create opportunities to reward them with new offers and promotions.

Beam already supports "Sparks" where users can accumulate and spend on upgrades  for example, viewers can earn Sparks for every five minutes they spend watching content without an ad blocker.

But what is more interesting is its roadmap of forthcoming features that include private messaging, group messaging, voice commands, VOD and replay, AV1 encoding, VR and AR, and more that make this a far more powerful tool.

Beam was started by 18-year-old Matt Salsamendi who launched his Seattle-based start-up, which has 24 employees, just eight months ago. It has more than 100,000 registered users.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Media Watch programme has taken a swing at the ABC's reporting of the census stuff-up on 9 August, focusing on a claim in a 10 August news report that Australian criticism of a Chinese swimmer could have resulted in a hack of the census website.

The headline on the report in question read: "Census attack 'could be Chinese hackers unhappy about Mack Horton v Sun Yang drugs saga'." It refers to comments made by Australian Olympic swimmer Horton about China's Sun Yang, a fellow competitor who had tested positive for drugs some years ago.

The census website was taken down at 7.30pm on 9 August, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics claiming that it had done so because of repeated distributed denial of service attacks. The ABS had the ambitious target of having about two-thirds of the Australian population doing the census online.

A screenshot from the Media Watch programme on Monday night.

The headline referred to earlier had its genesis in a question asked by reporter Eliza Borrello on The World Today programme on 10 August. "Could it have been, for example, civilian hackers from China unhappy about the drugs in sport issue involving the Australian swimmer, Mack Horton, and his Chinese rival  is, is that too way out of left field?" Borrello asked Suelette Dreyfus, a researcher and lecturer in the department of computing and information systems at the University of Melbourne.

Dreyfus dismissed the claim, saying: "No it's, it's not way out of left field that it was just average plain vanilla hackers but, you know, dont underestimate that it could have just been literally bedroom hackers in Australia routing their traffic from overseas ... and one would query why another government would really care that much about disrupting the census to bother to run some sort of denial, denial of service attack."

But in the ABC report, Borrello's question somehow morphed into being Dreyfuss' reply.

The opening paragraph read: "Melbourne University cyber security expert Suelette Dreyfus says the attacks on yesterday's census could be the work of Chinese citizens unhappy about Australian swimmer Mack Horton calling his Chinese rival Sun Yang a drug cheat."

Media Watch host Paul Barry (seen above) said: "The reporter's question is brushed aside by Dreyfus but it still ends up as a quote from her in the headline of the online story."

Barry sought comment from the ABC, but only got a strong defence of what had transpired. A spokesperson told the programme: "Dr Dreyfus was not 'verballed' and her qualifying comments are included in the story."

And further, the spokesperson said: "The census attack was a big story that ABC News covered comprehensively, with the China/Olympics theory just one interesting angle which was heavily qualified as 'a highly speculative suggestion'."

As iTWire has reported, the ABC has pushed the government's explanation of a DDoS being responsible for the census stuff-up though there is no proof of the same, and one of its senior reporters, Greg Jennett has used the claim about Horton and Sun Yang in a report to camera on 10 August.
Which Android smartphone manufacturer pushes out updates fastest? Which has the fastest response times and least app crashes? Which countries have the highest Android fragmentation rates?

Apteligent, a US-based leader in mobile app metrics, has released its Android Manufacturer Edition July 2016 report that tracks a range of metrics.

It concludes that Google is working on several remedies for Android fragmentation, such as pushing more functionality via Google Play services, as well as partnering with device manufacturers to build its Nexus line of devices. Those devices represent the purest form of Android without bloatware and custom skins. They also are the first devices to receive Android updates.

Non-Nexus devices still face a lengthy approval process between carriers and OEMs, but clearly, Google has been working to mitigate this issue  or Android may lose its crown. Read on for a summary of the report.

The Top 5 manufacturers by volume are  in no particular order  Sony, Motorola (Lenovo), HTC, Samsung, LG and ZTE. By volume is the important word, as many of these have multiple models in multiple markets.

Fastest Android Update

Samsungs Galaxy series has a commitment to push out updates for at least one version above the shipped Android version. If it comes with Android 6.x, it should get 7.x. But its lower-cost handsets  where the volume and money is  have no such commitment. The same is largely true of Sony, Motorola, LG, and HTC for their flagships. But not so with ZTE that appears to have a sell and forget mentality.

In many cases, it is not the manufacturer who is tardy, but the telco carrier who may have further customised the OS for locked devices or carrier-specific frequencies.

In the US, Motorola, Samsung and HTC were neck and neck in pushing out Android 6.x to flagship devices. LG was not too far behind but Sony was, and ZTE (which does not do flagships in the US) was conspicuous by its absence. Nexus devices are excluded as they get updates as fast as Google can roll them out.

Motorola was the fastest at three months post-release because it only had Moto X Pure and X Style, LG and HTC were next, while Samsung and Sony took five months.

App crash rate

Again to be fair, this relates to the range of models. According to the data, Samsung had 117, LG 70, Sony 35, ZTE 18, Motorola and HTC 17 apiece. Data was normalised to exclude older devices (on earlier versions of Android).

Sony had the lowest crash rate at .08% followed closely by the rest (except ZTE)  there was not much between them. ZTE showed up at .28% which is around thrice the average.

And the most popular devices for the remainder of 2016?

At the time of writing, it is going to be an interesting few months with Samsungs Galaxy Note7 (just released), LG soon to up the ante with its premium V20, HTC building all the new Nexus devices, Motorola with a new Moto Z/Force, Sony to launch more of its X series, and ZTE to bring out a premium Axon 7.

Apteligent says that, based on user feedback in the US, Nexus (HTC) and Motorola will elicit the strongest interest followed closely by LG. That is not to say that Samsungs Note7 will not outsell them all  it has far superior marketing and distribution.

Android fragmentation  why Google is tearing its hair out

There have been too many articles on Android fragmentation (iTWires latest is here) but suffice to say that the older a device, the older its version of Android is and the more vulnerabilities it has. Older devices also crash more and have higher network access latency. This also puts a huge strain on app developers who must cater for different devices and Android versions.

Russia has the highest fragmentation, with the top 10 devices having 27% of the market compared to the US, at 44% and Australia, at 74%.

Comment

Apteligent does not claim to be totally statistically correct. Its data is benchmarked across tens of thousands of mobile apps representing hundreds of millions of application launches. The adoption rate is based on app loads and network data, which means it is based on actual usage of the operating system.

But it shows that of the majors  Samsung, LG, Sony, and Motorola  you can be reasonably sure that you will get at least one more Android version OS upgrade from what you purchased.

But for all others, that is not a given. To be fair to ZTE, it is all about volume and sell and forget low-cost devices. If it wants to play in the flagship or even mid-range segment, it will need to pick up its act significantly.

Apteligent also tracks iOS. Apple pushes out iOS updates to all users so fragmentation is not an issue (about 90% run iOS9.x).

They also track carrier latency (essentially ping times). China leads the way with 174ms reflecting huge infrastructure upgrades, the US is next at 278ms, Canada comes in at 279ms, and and Australia is at 399ms. Our NZ neighbours look forward to 500ms.
A relatively unknown brand Alcatel  except to Rabbitohs fans  has maintained its number three position by volume of handsets shipped, according to IDCs quarterly mobile phone tracker.

Alcatel was formerly known as Alcatel OneTouch. Yesterdays IDC report on the Australian smartphone market held few surprises, with Apple haemorrhaging and Android gaining more market share.

The figures, covering April-June 2016, means that Alcatel has held its market position for a full year after taking the number three spot outright in Q3 2015. They also reveal that while the overall smartphone market is declining, Alcatel has grown 23.6% compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to IDC, Alcatel controls just over 5% of the smartphone market as they consolidated their hold on the low-end space. The targeted strategy of pre-paid phones exclusive to telco providers is the key driving force behind Alcatel shipments.

With key releases already occurring at the start of Q3 with the Pop 4, $119 smartphone via Optus and the launch of its flagship Idol 4 and Idol 4S in the coming months, Alcatel is confident of further consolidating its position in the market.

This latest result shows that we have delivered a sustained performance over a solid period such that any debate about data in the market can be put to bed. We offer Australian consumers a combination of innovative features and affordability that they find compelling, and they have responded accordingly. We continue to invest in the market in both channel activity and broader consumer brand awareness initiatives, and have a strong roadmap of products that we are very excited about, said Sam Skontos, vice-president and regional managing director, Alcatel Australia New Zealand.

Comment

I have been following Alcatel for the last year or so. Its a French brand acquired by Chinese company TCL (of TV fame). In that time, I have noticed Alcatel everywhere  corner stores, service stations, supermarkets, telcos and more. It is obviously focused on volume but equally it is a quality product with great local support in Australia.

Last years flagship, the Idol 3 (reviewed here) was an amazing product for the price. The Idol 4/S is even better, and iTWire looks forward to reviewing that.

Below is the Idol 4 that comes with a VR headset as part of its packaging, an innovative touch.
Nvidia's Pascal-powered GPUs are now available in notebooks from vendors including Acer, Asus, HP and Lenovo.

Following the release of Nvidia's GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 earlier this year, the company has now brought its Pascal GPU architecture to the notebook market.

Versions of the GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 for notebooks  "optimised for performance per watt"  are now shipping in devices from several leading vendors.

Nvidia claims the new GPUs "represent the single largest generational performance jump in the history of gaming notebooks" in that they deliver up to 75% more performance, plus more than thrice the overclocking potential of the previous Maxwell-based parts.

Features include support for 2500x1400 resolution and 120Hz displays, and up to twice the battery life thanks to Nvidia's Battery Boost technology.

The 10-Series GPUs also support Nvidia's VRWorks technologies for more realistic and immersive VR experiences, and Ansel for in-game photography.

Notebooks incorporating 10-Series GPUs are available from companies including Acer, Alienware, Asus, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo and MSI.
Three civil rights groups have filed a formal complaint against Baltimore City police for using cell site simulator technology to investigate potential crimes, calling the process racially biased and unauthorized.

The groups called the use of Stingray phone tracker technology "racially discriminatory," and even a disruption of emergency calling services, according to the complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) early today.

The 37-page complaint by the Center for Media Justice, Color Of Change and the Open Technology Institute at New America calls on the FCC to enforce two sections of the Communications Act. That act requires the police to obtain a federal license to operate cell site (CS) simulator equipment on frequency bands that are exclusively licensed to cellular phone carriers in Baltimore, according to the complaint.

The Baltimore Police Department "has no license whatsoever," it adds.

A CS simulator, usually about the size of a briefcase, works by mimicking a legitimate cell tower and by receiving the signals from nearby cell phones.

In that sense, any cell phone used to make an emergency call would not be able to reach a 911 call center, according to the complaint, which also raises concerns about racial bias.

"CS simulators disproportionately interfere with communications in communities of color, where police surveillance tools are disproportionately deployed...," the complaint says. "The Baltimore Police Department has long exhibited well-documented embedded racial bias, making excessive CS simulator use all the more concerning."

Baltimore Police could not be reached immediately to comment.

FCC spokesman Neil Grace said the commission looks forward to reviewing the complaint. The commission expects state and local law enforcement to work through the appropriate legal processes to use these devices.

He didnt define the appropriate legal process for law enforcement agencies, which is apparently distinct from the way consumers are treated under the law.

It is illegal for consumers to use Stingray devices and others in the category of IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) catchers, according to FCC officials. Section 333 of the Communications Act prohibits any unauthorized person from using an IMSI catcher or other device to intercept radio communications, including cell phone calls, from someone else.

Laura Moy, visiting assistant professor of Georgetown Law Schools Institute for Public Representation, was the principal representative cited in the complaint. The FCC should not site idly by while police departments in Baltimore and other cities systematically undermine Americans fundamental rights by intercepting cell phone traffic on licensed spectrum without a license, she said in a statement.

Various civil rights and privacy groups have long expressed concerns about the use of Stingray-type technology, especially by law enforcement. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit in 2012 seeking documents that revealed the FBI was using CS simulators without a warrant and has used them since 1995.

The American Civil Liberties Union has posted an interactive U.S. map tracking the use of CS simulators as well as a list of the federal agencies known to have the technology. The list includes 66 agencies in 24 states.

The complaint to the FCC comes just days after the Justice Department found that the Baltimore Police Department routinely violated civil rights of the citys black residents. Police had a pattern or practice of making unconstitutional stops and using excessive force against residents exercising First Amendment Rights, according to the Justice Department report released Aug. 10.

This story, "FCC urged to crack down on Baltimore police for using phone trackers" was originally published by Computerworld .
Two high-profile airline technology meltdowns stranding thousands of travelers in the recent weeks have prompted two US senators to push carriers to bolster their technology.

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)this week sent a letter to the most recent offenders -- Delta and Southwest -- as well as 11 other airlines to get a better handle on whether or not their information technology systems are reliable and resilient.

+More on Network World: Not dead yet: 7 of the oldest federal IT systems still wheezing away+

In addition Reuters reported last week further outages are likely because major carriers have not invested enough to overhaul reservations systems based on technology dating to the 1960s, citing airline industry and technology experts. Airlines have spent heavily to introduce new features such as automated check-in kiosks, real-time luggage tracking and slick mobile apps. But they have avoided the steep cost of rebuilding their reservations systems from the ground up, former airline executives told Reuters.

We are concerned with recent reports indicating that airlines IT systems may be susceptible to faltering because of the way they are designed and have been maintained, wrote Blumenthal and Markey wrote in the letter to airline CEOs. Now that four air carriers control approximately 85% of domestic capacity, all it takes is one airline to experience an outage and thousands of passengers could be stranded, resulting in missed business meetings, graduations, weddings, funerals, and other prepaid events.

+More on Network World: +

In the letter, the senators ask:

Over the past five years, what was the cause of IT outages or disruptions that caused flight cancellations or delays longer than one hour, what safeguards were in place at the time each outage occurred, and why did these safeguards fail to prevent the disruption?

What specific safeguards and backups does your company have in place to prevent your airlines IT systems from failing?

What is the state of your airlines IT system and what specific steps are being taken to modernize it, if needed?

In the event of delays and cancellations caused by the air carrier, does your airline rebook passengers on another airline or with a different mode of transportation for no additional charge?

What other compensation and recourse, including but not limited to lodging, food, and reimbursement, does your airline provide consumers in the event of delays and cancellations caused by the air carrier?

The senators sent letters to: American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Allegiant Air, Virgin America, Sun Country Airlines and Island Air Hawaii.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
When Maria Rivera got a bill from Orange County for her young son's year in juvenile detention, she sold her house to pay for it, but ended up short, and the county got a court order for another $10K to pay the remainder and various fees and penalties.

When Rivera declared bankruptcy, the county refused to let up, arguing that the law that prevents parents from escaping their child-support duties in bankruptcy applied to parents who'd been dinged for their kids' jail time. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the county, saying that this was bullshit, and letting Rivera get on with her life.

The court wrote that the case was "troubling" because it "compromise[s] the goals of juvenile correction and the best interests of the child, and, ironically, impair the ability of his mother to provide him with future support."

The court condemned the reliance of the probation department on "unremittingly pursuing legal actions against disadvantaged individuals." Given the overwhelmingly racist character of the US criminal justice system, sending poor, racialized people inescapable bills for their kids' jail time is profoundly unjust and cruel, the first step on the path that the Chinese pursued, whose terminus was the practice of sending families bills for the bullets used to execute their loved ones.



Orange County's public budget shows that the Probation Department relies on self-generated revenue for more than 40% of its financing. Seeking to obtain that revenue by unremittingly pursuing legal actions against disadvantaged individuals  the counterproductive practice at issue here  can have damaging effects on the community. Not only does such a policy unfairly conscript the poorest members of society to bear the costs of public institutions, operating "as a regressive tax," but it takes advantage of people when they are at their most vulnerable, essentially imposing "a tax upon distress."

Everything Wrong With How Our Justice System Treats Poor People, In One Awful Case

[Ian Millhiser/Think Progress]

(via Naked Capitalism)
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POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a Harlow man was viciously attacked by burglars as he returned home.

The 47-year-old man noticed something amiss as he approached the front door of his Felmongers home at around 1.30am on Sunday, and saw a small glass door panel had been smashed.

On opening the front door, the man, who lives at the address with his son, was confronted by one or two men and hit over the head with an unknown instrument or a fist.

He suffered a cut above his eye, causing a black eye and swelling, but did not need hospital treatment.

Police said nothing appeared to have been stolen.

Now detectives are urging anybody who may have seen anything suspicious to get in touch after the men ran off towards First Avenue.

Det Con Sally Brown said: 'The attack happened so quickly that we do not even know whether there was one or two men in his home.

'I'd be interested to hear from anybody who may have seen anything suspicious in the First Avenue area or any residents who may have heard a disturbance in their garden during the night.'
Happy Thursday, friends! Since were starting to get out and about more and people are traveling again, I thought Id republish this popular post from the archives with expert packing tips and an easy summer travel outfit.

While our family isnt jet-setting around the globe on a regular basis, every summer we road trip it to Maine to visit family, and we usually take at least one other family vacation during the year. In addition to that, I travel a bit for work, so Ive had to do a lot of packing over the years.

My best travel tip is to keep a master packing list on your computer. I try to update our master packing list regularly so I dont have to reinvent the wheel every time we go somewhere. Then I can just adjust it depending on where we are going and what we need to bring. Mine looks like this. (This is a generic version that I created to share. You can CLICK HERE for a printable, if youd like to have it.)

When it comes to packing, I am not the most efficient packer. I subscribe to the theory that there is no such thing as over-packing. Ha! Just ask my husband, who has to carry my suitcase(s). But we happen to have an expert in our midst!

Mary Fowler is a long-time blog reader and commenter, who has traveled the globe and pretty much mastered the art of packing light. She sent me these amazing packing tips a while back and gave me permission to use them on the blog.

Here is what she said:

Marys Expert Packing Tips

I have traveled quite a bit over the years for both business trips and now only for pleasure, but Ive got it down now where I can go anywhere in a carry-on  for up to a month. Its like the capsule wardrobe but with some tweaks. Heres my top tips:

1) Figure out your shoes first. Its a strange place to start but I find your activities dictate your shoes. I think about what activities we will be doing and select the shoes for it. I usually take 3 pair, plus one pair flip flops for slippers/beach wear. All shoes have to be useful for walking which is why I bought Vionic flip-flops with arch support for Maui.

2) Make clothes choices based on weight, and always wear your bulkiest shoes on the plane. This makes for a lighter suitcase, and less bulk means you have space for more items. More items means more choices for outfits. Lightweight clothes are also easily layered and dry quickly if you wash them out. Ive made some purchases targeted for traveling. For example, I have a Patagonia parka that is about 8 oz and compresses easily into my travel purse. My raincoat fits in the outside zipper compartment of my suitcase, and my hiking shoes weigh 7 oz each.

3) Dont think in terms of outfits. Instead, choose a basic color or two for bottoms and add tops and accessories that work with all of the bottoms. Make sure the shoes youre taking work with all outfit combos. I dont take anything that does not interchange, and I dont add shoes to make an outfit work.

4) Think through various possible scenarios. For example:

What would I wear if it rains while we are hiking?

Will I be comfortable walking in my dressier shoes if we take the subway to a restaurant?

Whats my plan if not? Can my pashmina work with this outfit if its chilly?

This part takes time, but its worth the effort to make sure youve got everything covered.

5) Roll the clothes and use mesh zippered packing cubes. Ziplock baggies also work. Clothes stay compressed nicely in the suitcases using the bags and nothing is loose. I use one for underclothes/pjs/scarfs/swimsuits/misc, one for tops, and one for bottoms.

6) Invest in quick drying underwear. I take three pair  one to wear, one to wash, and one spare. I have ExOffico brand. Every night I wash the ones I wore that day in the shower or sink, and they are dry by the next day. I usually wash out my top nightly so I have most of my clothes clean and available to choose from on any day. If it is an extended trip, we visit a Laundromat every 8-10 days or so. Thats always a fun adventure in a foreign country.

7) Bring only the essential cosmetics in the smallest sizes. I dont use a lot of products so this is pretty easy for me. I have 3 oz travel containers for my shampoo, conditioner, and Woolite. The liquids go into a ziplock for TSA. Makeup goes in small zippered case in my Baggalini travel purse. Baggalini bags are really functional, but they are kinda ugly so I put a cute small crossbody bag in my suitcase too.

8) Packing in a carry-on is, in my opinion, a huge safety precaution when traveling out of the country. (Actually anywhere when you fly.) If you have a huge suitcase you are trying to move thru airports or into cabs or trains, you are not as alert to your surroundings. You can avoid iffy situations better with a carry-on, and with a single bag, you look like a traveler and not a tourist.

Ive got some other tricks but these are the basics that work for me. Once I got the hang of this, I found it very freeing, and I still feel I bring too much.

So there you have it, some fabulous packing tips from someone who has this packing thing down to a science. I especially love the tip to start with the shoes. Ive been doing that ever since I read this advice, and it makes a big difference. And Id never heard of quick drying underwear. Who knew!?!

I kind of had to giggle at #7! Of course a cute crossbody is a necessity no matter how efficient a packer you are! Says the fashion blogger

And that is the perfect segue. Now lets talk about what to wear when we travel.

My Go-To Travel Outfit

denim jacket // grey tee // Vuori joggers // Brooks sneakers // sunnies // Away luggage // LV Neverfull

This outfit is from our trip to Florida in May. I dont usually dress so casually to fly, but I wanted to wear my running shoes to save room in my suitcase, so then it made sense to wear my joggers. I wore them in Florida when I wanted loungewear.

The grey tee is a versatile basic that looks good with white or blue jeans and jean shorts, and the denim jacket kept me warm on the plane. It also worked as a topper for my daytime and dinner-out vacation outfits.

Finally, I always carry a large tote with my laptop, purse contents, and all the extra stuff we seem to accumulate when we travel. I clearly did not take Marys advice about traveling with a carry-on, but Im okay with that. I still feel like Im a much better packer than I used to be, using her tips #1-4.

I hope these travel tips are helpful. Id love to hear from you if you have any packing tips to add, or product recommendations.

Stay In Touch!

If you liked this post, be sure youre signed up for my email newsletter. In addition to my most recent blog posts, youll receive exclusive content like special sales, my newest favorite finds, and an occasional peek behind the scenes  all delivered right to your inbox. Also, Id love for you to join my Facebook Group!

This post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my links, it helps support my business (at no additional cost to you) so thank you!
J. L. BELL is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.
Bowalley Road Rules



The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place.

So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules.

These are based on two very simple principles:

Courtesy and Respect.

Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned.

Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym.

Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse.

However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen.


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by Anna Baltzer, US Campaign to End the Occupation | IMEMC |  

On Friday, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted overwhelmingly  by an estimated 90%  to create an investment screen that would identify and remove the Churchs investments in corporations profiting from Israels violations of Palestinian rights, and other human rights abuses around the world.

The new screen has a broad reach, ensuring that the Church would avoid investments in corporations currently complicit in human rights violations as part of the Israeli occupation, as well as any future corporations that become complicit.

In addition, the ELCA voted by a margin of 82%  751 to 162  calling for an end to unconditional U.S. aid to Israel.

ELCA marks the ninth denomination to engage in economic acts of conscience to support justice for Palestinians, following the Quakers, Mennonite Central Committee, United Methodists, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalists, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men, and the Alliance of Baptists.

ELCA voting member Darla Thiele, Dakota name Shining Star Woman, had this to say before the vote:

As a Native woman, the situation in Palestine reminds me of what my people have gone through here in America. I have seen my people lose our land, our lives, our culture  our songs, dances, spiritual ways. Like the Palestinians, we have no justice. Treaties have been broken We talk about loving our neighbor. We talk about justice. But where is the justice? Now is the time for the church to stop profiting from these injustices. Now is the time to bring healing, to bring peace, to bring justice.

Via IMEMC
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

In an attempt at a foreign policy speech in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday, Donald Trump attempted to get back to his fearmongering roots by focusing on the threat of ISIL, which he depicted as a hydra-headed menace with tentacles in a range of Western countries including the US.

In fact, Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is a relatively small organization that has been shrinking in both personnel and territory. It has lost its footholds in Diyala, al-Anbar and Salahuddin provinces in Iraq and a campaign against its remaining stronghold in that country, Mosul, by Kurdish and Shiite forces is now building. It is possible that it will be finished as a holder of territory in Iraq before the November election in the US. Likewise, in Syria, Daesh has just lost Manbij, which sits astride one of its major smuggling routes. It has also lost most of northern al-Raqqa province, the city of Palmyra, and other important real estate. In Libya, its fighters in Sirte have fled the city under US bombardment. As for Sinai, those are mistreated Sinai residents some of them Bedouin tribes, who have been fighting the Egyptian army for some time and only declared themselves ISIL to gain the benefits of franchising, sort of like a local burger joint putting up golden arches and pretending it is a McDonalds. The terrorism it has pulled off in Europe has been of the lazy soft-target variety, and while the deaths it has caused have been traumatic and are horrific, the incidents havent actually been a challenge to national security anywhere outside the Middle East.

Trump supported the interventions he now condemns, including the Iraq War and the no-fly zone in Libya, so his picture of a Middle East in flames as a result of President Obamas policies is ignoring his own positions.

Trump said he wanted to ally with Russia against ISIL. De facto, that is an arrangement President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have already worked out.

Having tried to scare people with an ISIL clearly in rapid decline, he went on to bash ordinary Muslims again. He wants to exclude immigrants from volatile parts of the world, and wants to exclude those who question gay marriage e.g.

He called for extreme vetting of those admitted. But US visa procedures, unbeknownst to Trump, are already extremely strict. His vague addition of the modifier extreme to vetting wont make them more strict.

He said,

We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. . . In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles  or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law. Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted.

Sharia law is just Muslim religious law, akin to Roman Catholic canon law or Jewish religious law (Halakhah). It isnt a substitute for the US constitution. Aside from a few countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, it isnt even part of the constitution of most Muslim countries (Turkeys constitution is based on that of Switzerland; even Tunisias party of the religious right, al-Nahda, declined to push for putting shariah in the Tunisian constitution; etc., etc.)

Would believing in these things religiously make you ineligible to come to the US?

Marriage age for girls of 12

Stoning adulterers to death.

Death penalty for gay sex

Burning at the stake for incest

If so, Trump would actually be excluding fundamentalist Jews from the US. Some American Jews are worried that Trump would exclude Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews from Israel.

Likewise, a lot of Ukrainians, who are also from a volatile part of the world, likely dont subscribe to some of the values Trump wants to make litmus tests.

Trump hopes for a bounce in the polls via this ugly religious bigotry. I am hoping that Americans are better than that.



Related video:

PBS Newshour: Trump reveals his national security plan  while Clinton says he doesnt have one
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 15, 2016) - Diamond Fields International Ltd. (TSXV: DFI) ("DFI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a conditional Purchase Agreement with Pala Investments Limited ("Pala") and Austral Resources Limited ("Austral") for the purchase of the Beravina Zircon deposit (the "Deposit") in Madagascar (the "Agreement"), subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Pala and Austral collectively own 100% of the issued shares of Action Mining Limited ("Action"), a Mauritius company and the parent company of the Madagascar entity holding the license to the Deposit. Under the terms of the Agreement, DFI, through its wholly owned subsidiary Kimberley Overseas, will acquire 100% of the issued shares of Action. In consideration therefor, DFI has agreed (a) to pay Pala US$300,000 (Cdn$391,878) cash and issue 3,265,650 common shares at a deemed price of Cdn$0.02 per share; and (b) pay Austral US$60,420 (Cdn$78,924) cash.

Beravina is a pegmatite hosted hard rock zircon deposit located approximately 325 kilometers west-northwest of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The Deposit is characterized by a small surface footprint, with the mineralized pegmatite describing a steeply dipping cone-shaped structure. A historical independent JORC compliant geological resource estimate on the property undertaken by Badger Mining and Consulting (Pty) Ltd. in 2012 estimated an indicated resource of 1.8mt at 29.5% zircon, open at depth. While the estimate was a consideration in the decision to acquire the deposit, the Company cautions that it is historical in nature and the Company is not treating such resources as a current resource under NI 43-101. Investors are further cautioned that a qualified person has not yet completed sufficient work to be able to verify the historical resources, and therefore they should not be relied upon. Limited metallurgical work undertaken to date indicates that the zircon ore can be liberated and concentrated by crushing and gravity separation.

The geological and technical information in this press release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. Ian Ransome B.Sc. (Hons) Geology, Pri. Sci. Nat. Mr. Ransome is a director of DFI, and is a registered geological scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), and is thus a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

DIAMOND FIELDS INTERNATIONAL LTD.

SIGNED: "Sybrand van der Spuy"

Sybrand van der Spuy, Chief Executive Officer

Contact: Earl Young at +1 214 566 3709

Website: www.diamondfields.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Statements in this release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors identified in Diamond Fields' periodic filings with Canadian Securities Regulators. Such forward-looking information represents management's best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Diamond Fields does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as otherwise required by law.
August 16, 2016 / TheNewswire / Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia - Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: BGM) ("Barkerville") and Williams Creek Gold Limited ("Williams Creek") (TSXV: WCX) are pleased to announce that Barkerville has acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Williams Creek by way of plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the "Arrangement"). The Arrangement was approved by shareholders of Williams Creek at a special meeting of shareholders held on August 8, 2016 and approved by the Supreme Court of British Columbia on August 11, 2016.

Pursuant to the terms of the Arrangement, Williams Creek shareholders are now entitled to receive 0.062352572 of a common share of Barkerville (each whole common share, a "Barkerville Share") for each one common share of Williams Creek (a "Williams Creek Share") held by such Williams Creek shareholders. In total, Barkerville has issued 6,799,989 Barkerville Shares in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding Williams Creek Shares held by Williams Creek shareholders.

Effective today, Williams Creek has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Barkerville and, collectively, former shareholders of Williams Creek will hold approximately 2.25% of the issued and outstanding Barkerville Shares and the Williams Creek Shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange.

In order to receive their Barkerville Shares, Williams Creek shareholders are required to surrender their Williams Creek Share certificates to the depositary, Computershare Investor Services Inc., together with a properly completed letter of transmittal. A copy of the letter of transmittal was mailed to the registered shareholders of Williams Creek and is also available for viewing on SEDAR under the Williams Creek profile at www.sedar.com.

About Barkerville:

Barkerville is focused on developing its extensive land package located in the historical Cariboo Mining District of central British Columbia. Barkerville's mineral tenures cover 1,164 square kilometres along a strike length of 60 kilometres which includes several past producing hard rock mines of the historic Barkerville Gold Mining Camp near the town of Wells, British Columbia. The QR Project, located approximately 110 kilometres by highway and all weather road from Wells was acquired by Barkerville in 2010 and boasts a fully permitted 900 tonne/day gold milling and tailings facility. Test mining of the Bonanza Ledge open pit was completed in March of 2015 with 91,489 tonnes of ore milled producing 25,464 ounces of gold. Barkerville has completed a number of drilling and exploration programs over the past 20 years and is currently compiling this data with all historical information in order to develop geologic models which will assist new management and provide the framework to continue to explore the Cariboo Gold Project. An extensive drill program is currently underway with the goal of delineating additional high grade gold mineralization.

For further information on Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd., please contact:

Chris Lodder

President & Chief Executive Officer

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release and has in no way passed upon the merits of the Arrangement and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer of securities in the United States. The securities issuable in the transaction have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless exemptions from such registration requirements are available

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Arrangement, any information released or received with respect to the Arrangement may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Williams Creek or Barkerville should be considered highly speculative.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The information in this news release has been prepared as at August 16, 2016. Certain statements in this news release, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", constitute "forward-looking statements" under the provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. These statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expected", "may", "will" or similar terms.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Barkerville and Williams Creek as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements in this press release relate to, among other things: the delisting of the Williams Creek Shares and the operations of Barkerville. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: satisfaction or waiver of all applicable conditions to closing of the Transaction including, without limitation, receipt of all necessary securityholder, court, stock exchange and regulatory approvals or consents and lack of material changes with respect to the parties and their respective businesses; the synergies expected from the Transaction not being realized; business integration risks; fluctuations in general macro-economic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets and the market price of Barkerville's shares; fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in the currency.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Vancouver, B.C. / TheNewswire / August 16, 2016 - Tower Resources Ltd., (TSXV: TWR) announces it has acquired the More Creek property, by staking, within the world-class Golden Triangle district of northwest British Columbia. The 6,430 hectare More Creek property is located near the centre of the Golden Triangle and is considered prospective for epithermal gold and silver mineralization. The property is approximately 55 kilometers north of Pretium Resources' significant Brucejack development project which contains a Measured and Indicated mineral resource of 9.1 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 17.2 grams per tonne gold (source, Pretium's July 21st, 2016 Press Release).

More Creek is 120 kilometres north of Stewart, BC and benefits from close proximity to significant infrastructure such as the Northwest Transmission Line, a nearby fixed-wing aircraft runway and Highway 37, all of which are approximately 10 kilometers to the east.

Previous work at More Creek was focused on a prominent mountain and ridge top gossan known as the Sinter zone. Geological mapping and geochemical sampling (rock, soil, and stream silts) by Noranda and Corona in the early 1990s and reconnaissance mapping by Barrick Gold and Teck Resources in the 2000's at Sinter outlined an extensive zone, up to 2 kilometers long, of strong silicification, argillic alteration and hydrothermal brecciation associated with a regional fault cutting through Upper Triassic Stuhini Group volcanic and siliciclastic rocks. This zone is characterized by highly anomalous (in rocks, soils and silts) concentrations of epithermal-gold pathfinder elements. Furthermore, a creek draining the Sinter zone also contains highly anomalous concentrations of gold as noted by Noranda and Corona (BC Assessment Reports 19216 and 21311). Together, this historic data suggests the Sinter zone may represent the upper, barren zone of an epithermal gold system and gold mineralization should be targeted vertically below the outcropping alteration zone. This exploration model has not yet been tested by systematic diamond drilling.

Tower will continue with data compilation and will also conduct an initial property visit this fall.

The More Creek property is within the Golden Triangle mineral district of northwest British Columbia. This prolific mineral belt contains many significant development projects such as, Pretium Resources' Brucejack deposits, Seabridge Gold's KSM deposits, Teck Resources' and Nova Gold's Galore Creek deposits, Imperial Metals' Red Chris mine and Barrick Gold's past-producing Eskay Creek mine.

Some technical information contained in this release is historical in nature and has been compiled from sources believed to be accurate. This technical information has not been verified by Tower and may in some instances be unverifiable dependent on the existence of all historical grab and trench samples and drill core. Management also cautions that mineral resources on nearby properties are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the subject property.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Christopher Leslie, M.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for the company and qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Tower Resources

Tower Resources Ltd. (TWR.V) is a Vancouver based junior mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects, primarily in British Columbia. The company's key exploration assets are Rabbit North, Nechako Gold and More Creek.

Tower Resources Ltd.

Mark Vanry - Director, CEO & President

(604) 558-2565

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.towerresources.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement Caution

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements", as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, except as required by law. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and Tower's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's public disclosure which is available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / August 16, 2016 - Pursuant to the press release dated July 26, 2016, NORTEC MINERALS CORP. (the "Company" or "Nortec") (TSXV: NVT) is pleased to announce that Carlos Fernando Jaramillo Munoz has been appointed as a Director of Nortec, effective August 16, 2016.

Ing. Jaramillo is a senior executive, based in Quito, Ecuador with extensive experience in the commercial, financial and administrative fields in well-known multinational and national companies in automotive, oil and mining sectors. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Catholic University of Ecuador and a Diploma in Business Administration from ESCP Europe Business School, Berlin Campus. He also completed courses in Strategic Planning, Sales, Management and Leadership from INCAE Business School of Costa Rica and the University of California, Berkeley.

Ing Jaramillo has strong relationships with government authorities, mining and oil companies in both the public and private sectors, and national and international financial institutions.

The Board of Directors welcomes Mr. Jaramillo as a member and the Board believes this appointment will provide opportunities for potential acquisitions in Ecuador and to explore, to develop and share mineral resource interests in a socially responsible and ecologically conscientious manner.

About Nortec Minerals Corp.

Nortec is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Information on the Company's projects can be referred to on www.nortecminerals.com. Nortec recently signed a Joint Venture earn-in agreement with Avalon Minerals of Australia on its Tammela Lithium - Gold project, Southern Finland.

Mohan R. Vulimiri, M.Sc., P.Geo, CEO, Nortec Minerals, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Vulimiri has approved the corporate and technical content contained in this press release

On behalf of the Board of Directors,NORTEC MINERALS CORP. " Mohan R. Vulimiri" Mohan R. Vulimiri, CEO and Chairman

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This press release contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays and uncertainties not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performances or expectations implied by these forward looking statements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.


The Su-30MKI fighter fitted with BRAHMOS airborne missile before its take off at HAL, Nasik on June 25, 2016. A Brahmand photo

NEW DELHI (BNS): BrahMos Aerospace today on 25th of June 2016 successfully demonstrated the integration of world's most formidable supersonic cruise missile system BRAHMOS on Su-30MKI frontline strike fighter of the Indian Air Force (IAF).



The demonstration flight, carried out at HAL Nasik, involved carriage of BRAHMOS weapon on the long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter, giving a major fillip to the BRAHMOS air-launched flight test programme.



With today's successful flight, the BRAHMOS air version programme now inches closer towards actual test firing when a 2.5-ton BRAHMOS air-to-ground missile will be fired from the Sukhoi-30 in the coming months.



Today's flight took place in the presence of Shri T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, Shri Sudhir Kumar Mishra CEO & MD, BrahMos Aerospace & Shri Daljeet Singh, CEO, HAL Nasik.



Dr. S Christopher, Secretary, DRDO congratulated the team. He has continuously motivated and guided the BrahMos team to achieve the design capability of the BRAHMOS airborne missile system and personally reviewed engineering activities.



Shri. S K Mishra congratulated the Joint team of HAL, DRDO, IAF & BrahMos for achieving this technological feat which will go down in the history as first in the World combination of supersonic cruise missile with a long range strike fighter. He further noted the immense contribution of Mr. V S N Murthy, PD (BrahMos), and the three Deputy PDs  Gp. Capt. M K Srivastava, Gp. Capt. S Mondal, and Gp. Capt. K N Santosh for the BRAHMOS air version programme.



The Indian Air Force is elated at the enhanced firepower and range this deadly combination of Su-30 with BRAHMOS will provide to them.



The powerful missile will enable the IAF penetrate deep inside the enemy territory to deliver a deadly blow to their vital installations from stand-off ranges. The integration brings a paradigm shift in the capability of the IAF vis-a-vis its adversaries.



The Su-30-BRAHMOS combination will carry out air combat operations within and beyond visibility range and will provide the IAF with the capability of attacking targets protected by powerful air defence assets.



Integration of BRAHMOS with the Su-30MKI will render the weapon a multi-platform capability while making the IAF the only Air Force in the world in procession of a supersonic cruise missile system.



Today's flight trial has been keenly observed by several other nations in the world in possession of the Su-30 strike fighter who are looking towards acquiring a lethal weapon system for the Russian-made warplanes.


UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, warned [press release] on Monday that the upcoming trial in Singapore of a teenage blogger is a sign of increased criminalization of expression. The trial is scheduled this week for a 17 year-old blogger who posted to Facebook content that allegedly wounded the religious feelings of Muslims and Christians. If convicted at the trial in which he will defend himself, the teenager will face up to three years in jail. The UN Special Rapporteur asserted that the trial is contrary to international human rights law because (1) the trial concerns a lawful expression and (2) the teenager is considered a child under international human rights law. The UN expert expressed that only serious and extreme instances of incitement to hatred are to be prohibited as criminal offenses under international human rights law, even if the expression is disturbing, offensive or shocking.

Singapore has faced growing international concerns about its human rights practices. Last month JURIST guest columnist Stephen Cooper, former DC public defender, discussed [JURIST op-ed] with JURIST the harshness of the death penalty in California, Singapore and other places. In May Singapore police officials announced [JURIST report] the hanging death of a man allegedly complicit in the death of another. In July of last year a Singapore court released [JURIST report] a 16-year-old video blogger who had been jailed after posting images and videos insulting the countrys first prime minister. In January 2015 a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced [JURIST report] concern over the continued use of the death penalty in Southeast Asia as punishment for drug-related crimes.
The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] on Monday announced the transfer [press release] of 15 Guantanamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Twelve of the detainees were from Yemen, and the other three were from Afghanistan. Six of the detainees had been approved for release since 2009, and the others were cleared for release more recently. Thirteen of the detainees had never faced any charges, and two of the Afghan detainees had their military commission charges drops. This marks the largest single detainee transfer so far, as the Obama administration works toward its goal of shuttering the detention center. After these transfers, there are 61 detainees remaining at Guantanamo.

A US Senator last week released a Pentagon Report [JURIST report] detailing the profiles of those currently detained in and recently released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) concluded that closing the facility would not be in the US best interests and would pose a safety risk. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told Fox News in January that US President Barack Obama intends to fulfill [JURIST report] his promise to close the Guantanamo detention facility before leaving office. Last November the US Senate passed [JURIST report] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA), which prohibits Guantanamo detainees from being transferred into the US. Obama signed the bill into law, despite the fact that it could delay his plan to close the prison. The NDAA comes after the DOD said [JURIST report] they were sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of Obamas efforts to close the facility in October. The Guantanamo Review Task Force was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order [text, PDF] to review the status of all detainees. In September White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said Obama was considering a wide array of options [JURIST report] for closing the prison.
Human rights victims of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos regime petitioned the Philippine Supreme Court on Monday to permanently block the governments plan to bury him in the Heroes Cemetery. The petitioners assert [AP report] that the burial for the tyrant would be illegal, flout the constitution, violate regulations concerning the military-run cemetery and would violate a 1993 agreement to bury the dictator in his hometown in northern Ilocos Norte province. President Rodrigo Duterte maintains [AP report] that the late dictator qualifies for burial in the cemetery as a former soldier and president. Hundreds have protested [Guardian report] the burial asserting that Marcos collaborated [WP report] with Japanese forces that occupied the Philippines during World War II, that approximately 3,240 people were killed under martial law imposed by him between 1972 and 1981, and other massive rights violations.

The effects of Marcos regime have been felt in the Philippines. In 2013 JURIST guest columnist Lara Wharton, discussed [JURIST op-ed] human rights abuses in the Philippines. Also in that year, then-Philippines President Benigno Aquino III signed [JURIST report] legislation to compensate the victims of human rights abuses committed 27 years ago under the regime of former president Marcos. In January 2013 the Philippines House of Representatives and Senate ratified the legislation to compensate [JURIST reports] approximately 10,000 victims. In 2012 the Philippine president signed [JURIST report] legislation that criminalized enforced disappearances by agents of the state, an allegedly common practice under Marcos. In April 2011 Imelda Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos wife, was ordered [JURIST report] to return USD $280,000 in state funds stolen by the late dictator.
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About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com

From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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Nigerian cracker maker Beloxxi is to expand production backed by an US$80m package of support from international investors including Germanys government-owned development bank KfW and a private-equity firm chaired by Sir Bob Geldof.

The German Investment and Development Company (DEG), a subsidiary of KfW, said today (16 August) it was contributing US$10m to the package, with the remainder coming from UK investment firm 8 Miles and the Africa Capital Alliance, both of which focus on investing in Africa. Musician and campaigner Sir Bob Geldof is chairman of 8 Miles.

DEG said German plant engineering would support expanded production including the installation of four additional production lines at Beloxxi. The expansion is set to create 300 jobs in addition to the existing 2,000 already employed.

The savoury crackers made by Beloxxi are becoming increasingly popular among consumers in Nigeria, DEG said. Beloxxi is the market leader, but cannot handle the increasing demand. The company would therefore like to expand its capacity significantly and establish four additional production lines.

Beloxxi also has plans to expand its range of products to include sweet pastries, DEG said.

Beloxxi launched in 1994 as an importer and started production of its own crackers in 2005. The majority of the crackers the company produces are sold in Nigeria through street vendors and small shops. Outlets also include supermarkets, schools, hotels and airline catering firms.
Boca Raton, FL, USA, 08/16/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Foreign visitors are critical to the states economy. But Floridas open arms to tourists and visitors cant always protect them when they become pedestrians or motorists on the states often congested and dangerous roadways. Boca Raton car accident lawyer Joe Osborne discusses issues faced by foreign visitors if they become accident victims in a podcast available on YouTube.

The Sun Sentinel reports that in 2013 11.2 million international visitors plus 3.7 million Canadians (or about 10% of the countrys population) visited Florida. When they come they need to cope with the fact that on average there are almost 700 fatalities a year due to car accidents in South Florida. Many foreign tourists get more than they bargained for when they visit the state. Some go home with serious injuries or coping with the trauma of suddenly losing a loved one in an accident.

One of car accident attorney Osbornes cases involves an Irish couple that was visiting Florida when they became victims of a tragic accident in Miami Dade County. Robert and Adrienne Hammond were driving and while making a legal left turn they were struck on the drivers side by a speeding truck trying to illegally pass them. The accident fatally injured Mr. Hammond and caused physical and brain injuries to his wife.

Mrs. Hammond had to be airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Due to the accident she suffered a loss of motor function and cognitive abilities. Mrs. Hammond spent a significant amount of time at the hospital and was later transferred to a rehabilitation facility. Once she was well enough she was flown back to Ireland suffering serious, chronic physical and mental limitations.

The Hammonds reached out to us through a law firm in Ireland. They have two grown sons who obviously were devastated by the loss of their father and by the injuries to their mother, Osborne says. He says the Irish law firm found him because he and his car accident law firm specialize in representing victims of auto accidents. Osborne answered their many questions about the Hammonds legal rights as foreigners.

Osborne says foreign visitors can use the U.S. civil justice system just as citizens can. When a person is injured due the negligence of another they can seek compensation for their injuries through the legal system. Even though the Hammonds were not citizens of the United States as foreign visitors they have the full rights and privileges that citizens do when they are hurt, especially if its in a situation like this, Osborne says.

Osborne says the Hammonds two sons came to Florida and they met to discuss the case. We developed a plan to bring a lawsuit for the death of Mr. Hammond and the injuries that Mrs. Hammond sustained. We filed that case in Miami Dade County, prosecuted the case and ultimately got a verdict in their favor. Part of that verdict will help pay for the ongoing care that Mrs. Hammonds will receive in Ireland.

They need to be protected just like everybody else. The Hammonds were not familiar with our civil justice system but certainly their sons were able to reach out to us and we were able to discuss their options, Osborne says.

If you or a family member were injured in an auto accident in the South Florida area, whether youre a U.S. citizen who lives here or a foreign national visiting the area, contact Boca Raton car accident lawyer Joe Osborne at (561) 800-4011 or fill out this online contact form. You can discuss your case, how the law may apply and your best legal options to protect your rights and obtain compensation for your injuries.

Press Contact:

Personal injury lawyer Joseph Osborne

561-800-4020

source: http://www.oa-lawfirm.com/foreigners-find-danger-florida-reveals-boca-raton-car-accident-lawyer/

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Photo Credit: Vast

Exit Crosstown Boulevard off I-40 into Oklahoma City and the initial impression isn't greatboarded up businesses, abandoned warehouses and deserted streets. Venture a couple more miles in, however, and everything changes. Sophisticated restaurants pop into view and a juice bar and Pilates studio show signs of prosperity. Anchoring this new landscape is a handsome seven-story brick structure, reading Osler Building above the entrance.

Photo Credit: Ambassador Hotel

This is the now the Ambassador Hotel, part of the Autograph Collection, whose sister hotels include St Ermin's in London and the Algonquin in New York. We had just driven more than four hours from Amarillo, Texas, and this was quickly our proverbial oasis. The hotel, in the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City, was formerly a condemned building, not unlike many other properties in this once run-down part of town. At the turn of the century, Bricktown was a commercial hub, but began decaying in the 1960s. These days, however, Bricktown has a new, hip facade.

The Osler Building was acquired a couple of years ago, gutted, and then reopened as one of the city's newest and most acclaimed boutique hotels. It features an intimate lobby where guests are welcomed with a glass of lemonade and freshly-baked cookies, plush seating, low lighting and soft music. The spacious, luxurious rooms are done in a modern Art-Deco design. There is a saltwater pool downstairs and a rooftop bar for cocktails.

Photo Credit: Oklahoma CVB

My family and I were four days into a two-week, 5,000-mile journey across the country from our Los Angeles home. Our final destination was Malvern, a tiny town in Ohio, and we decided to spend each night in a different state. We read that Oklahoma City was one of the country's most underrated cities. After a couple of days there, we discovered that it shouldn't be.

Photo Credit: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

For that afternoon, we abandoned the guide books. Anyone will tell you that the Oklahoma City National Memorial is a must-visit, and they're not wrong. The expansive outdoor memorial is a tribute to those who perished in the 1995 bombing. At night, the 168 chairs, each one engraved with a name of a victim, in the Field of Empty Chairs are lit up. They are set along one side of a reflecting pool and there is an inherent beauty to the space that deflects the melancholy.

Photo Credit: Oklahoma CVB

A few minutes down the road is the Bricktown canal. During the day, water taxis run up and down its length. There are wine-and-paint bars, artisanal food shops, cute gift boutiques, and horse-and-carriage rides. Shopping is quite the attraction in the city in an area called Automobile Alley. Once a length of car dealerships, it now houses cute stores, farm-to-table eateries and moonshine-based cocktail bars. At Sara Kate Studios, where guests can find delicate Murano glass pendant lights, elaborate chandeliers and malachite stools. Urbane, a hip and upscale furniture store, carries the Jonathan Adler line and hard-to-find, one-off pieces from around the world.

Photo Credit: Red PrimeSteak

The city is in the midst of something of a dining renaissance, while retaining its culinary roots (this is the Midwest after all). Steak, chicken fried and otherwise, is still on a lot of menus, alongside biscuits, gravy and waffles. That nod to history is everywhere. Still, what's so appealing about this city is how it likes to hang onto its buildings, instead of razing them to the ground. The recently-opened Red PrimeSteak, within the restored 1911 Buick Building, offers soaring 18-foot ceilings and delicious grass-fed ribeye steaks. Cheever's Cafe, housed in a building that's been around for at least a century, is a great lunch spot. In front it holds a flower case from which the original homeowner used to sell flowers in the 1930s. The menu is hearty, but rendered in a contemporary way. The chicken fried steak comes with a jalapeno cream gravy and red-skinned mashed potatoes.

Photo Credit: Vast

Also in the neighborhood is the acclaimed Vast, a fine dining eatery featuring New American cuisine, 49 floors above the city. About ten steps from the front entrance of The Ambassador is the hugely popular Waffle Champion with its lines out the door on weekends for its signature waffle sandwiches (thick cut bacon, free range egg and Tillamook cheddar) and updated classic waffles (cinnamon baked apple waffles with vanilla bean ice cream and bourbon caramel).

Photo Credit: Oklahoma CVB

En route back to The Ambassador, we drove through Heritage Hillsstreets of fine, historic homes, standing proud amongst all the modernizing happening around them. And it's that homage to the past that is one of the most compelling reasons to visit this city.
Business / Companies

by Staff reporter

Captain Ripton Muzenda has been appointed as the new Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer.The airline has been operating without substantive head for the past few years, since the departure of Peter Chikumba when he failed to renew his contract in 2011.Later the post was held first by Innocent Mavhunga and Edmund Makona in an acting capacity.The fate of Makona could not be ascertained yesterday with the former acting CEO saying that his bid for the top post was unsuccessful.
News / Africa

by EU External Action

The European Union congratulates President-elect Edgar Chagwa Lungu and looks forward to deepening its partnership with the Republic of Zambia.The people of Zambia participated in large numbers in the general elections on 11 August 2016.The EU Election Observation Mission's preliminary assessment found that voting was peaceful and generally well administered. Yet, the EU Election Observation Mission found the elections marred by systematic bias in the state media and restrictions on the campaign.The EU expects all the political parties and electoral stakeholders to act in order to preserve peace, stability and tolerance in the country. Existing legal channels should be used to address possible complaints.The EU Election Observation Mission will remain in the country until completion of the electoral process and will issue a final report with recommendations within two months.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A multi-billion Turkish company Cukurove Group is set to visit Zimbabwe soon to explore investment opportunities, an official has said.CZI Chief executive officer Clifford Sileya revealed in a letter to the association's members that they had received communication from a leading Turkish company interested in visiting the country to explore investment opportunities.Sileya said as the group progressed, it discovered that further penetration into other sectors was necessary to meet its ambitious strategic targets.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Ex-liberation fighters aligned to the generation (G40) Zanu-PF faction have tipped Chegutu East MP Webster Shamu to replace Christopher Mutsvangwa as chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation and War Veterans Association.Webster ShamuThis follows President Robert Mugabe's directive last month that the war veterans' leadership backing Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa's presidential ambitions be removed from office.The war vets had announced their disengagement with the 92 year-old ruler, citing his alleged dictatorial tendencies and failure to fix the prevailing economic crisis.However, there have been concerns that of all the members of the war vets faction led by Manicaland Provincial minister Mandi Chimene had questionable war credentials, leaving them vulnerable to attacks by their rivals led by Mutsvangwa.While Chimene refused to discuss the impending coming on board of Shamu saying "I do not want to be forced into that discussion", sources privy to the goings on in the camp said the move was meant "to counter the Team Lacoste claims"."Everybody is agreed that Shamu is probably the only war veteran who is acceptable to all former freedom fighters because his credentials are not in doubt and he has also not engaged in fights with anyone, so his leadership will disarm the Mutsvangwa group that has been saying Chimene and her faction are not genuine," the insider said.Another Zanu-PF insider added that a recent move by Zanu-PF to have Shamu, whose political life has been hanging in the balance in the past two years, was part of the strategy."The first thing that the war veterans have done is to push the Mashonaland West Provincial executive to recommend that Shamu's case be dropped and that he be brought back to the fold."Now what is left is for the politburo to endorse the recommendation while the process leading to the war veterans congress is finalised and by then, Shamu will be ready for the post."Shamu was slapped with a five-year suspension from Zanu-PF after he was accused of backing ousted former Vice President Joice Mujuru - now leader of Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) opposition party.The G40 camp has of late been wooing back former Mujuru sympathisers, especially MPs, to boost their numbers in the face of bruising battle for control of the party against Mnangagwa and his allies.One other perceived Mujuru ally, former Labour minister Nicholas Goche, has since been reinstated in Zanu-PF.Goche was along with Shamu and several other senior officials suspended last year on allegations of working with Mujuru in a plot to assassinate Mugabe.About 50 members including the likes of former Indigenisation minister Francis Nhema, the majority of who were perceived allies of the ZPF leader have appealed against their suspension and expulsion.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Church organisations are plotting an anti-Mugabe protest tomorrow in Harare.The organisations said they will proceed with the demonstration despite failing to get a police clearance.Zimbabwe Devine Destiny leader Ancelimo Magaya said the church will also submit a document to the Botswana Embassy in Harare, directed to SADC, seeking the bloc's intervention in the prevailing Zimbabwean economic crisis.
News / National

by Thabo Kunene

South African performing arts group, Siphesakhe will stage another show that exposes the Zimbabwe government's post independence ethnic cleansing campaign now referred to as "Gukurahundi Genocide."The blood cuddling play will be held at Athlone hall in the coloured township of Cape Town on August 26. However some posters advertising the controversial play were removed by unknown people at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).One of the Siphesakhe actors said he suspected the posters were removed by Shona speaking students at the institution who wanted to protect their leader, Robert Mugabe.This is a clear sign that the Shona will always support and protect Mugabe on Gukurahundi genocide. The Shona, regardless of their political affiliations, have never condemned Mugabe or the Fifth Brigade for the massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands.They have praised Mugabe in private for killing the Ndebele and their allies.Some MDC-T supporters in the diaspora have refused to join exiles from Matabeleland in anti-Gukurahundi protests.Some of the Shona students abroad have been denying that the massacres took place saying the government was dealing with dissidents-some of whom proved to have been trained and armed by the government.The majority of Zimbabwean students at the CPUT are Shona and are on a presidential scholarship while those from Matabeleland are private students. The Matabeleland Genocide took place between 1983 and 1985.During that time the killings were on a massive scale. But in 1985 when there was an international outcry, the government changed tactics. Operatives from the spy agency,the Central Intelligence Organisation(CIO) and those from Police Internal Security and Intelligence(PISI) resorted to abductions instead of public executions.The ethnic groups targetted for extinction under the Zanu-PF "master plan" were the Ndebele, Kalanga, Venda, Xhosa and Sotho.The ethnic cleansing campaign-a form of genocide was carried out by Zimbabwe's notorious army unit, the Fifth Brigade.The brigade, trained by North Koreans, was a Zanu killing machine. Its recruits were exclusively drawn from Mugabe's Shona tribe. At their training camps in Nyanga, the young soldiers were taught to hate the NdebeleThe Fifth Brigade campaign included mass murder of villagers, rape, sexual assaults, torture of those accused of being dissidents, illegal detention centres and concentration camps, abductions and deliberate targetting of Ndebele, Kalanga, Sotho and Venda speaking professionals.The ethnic cleansing campaign also included the destruction of Ndebele homes and starving of villagers-often referred to by Zanu leaders as cockroaches.The word cockroache was the same term used by leaders of Rwanda's Hutu Power to describe their Tutsi victims. The Hutu Power leaders were accused of planning the 1993 genocide in Rwanda where the French and Belgians turned a blind eye.The Matabeleland massacres which were declared genocide by Genocide Watch, left more than 20 000 civillians dead, thousands disappeared without trace and now presumed dead. More than 200 000 people fled into Botswana.
Its that time of year. Pencils are sharpened. Backpacks are filled with books. Soon, rows of yellow buses will make the morning rounds. Nebraskans are going back to school.

At night around the dinner table, parents will ask about new classes and friends, how strong this years team will be, and whether that homework will be done on time. Like their parents years before, they ask out of love and genuine desire to see their children succeed.

In these conversations, parents and students should keep in mind the many resources my office has to help young people prepare for their career and gain valuable experience.

For example, my High School Youth Advisory Council is a fantastic way to participate in and learn about our system of government. Organized by my staff, these councils offer high school students a chance to share their views with me directly through listening sessions held in Lincoln and Omaha. I highly value the feedback I receive, and I am always encouraged by the enthusiasm of our council members. Interested students should ask a teacher or school administrator about the selection process. Selections are made every fall.

My office also handles nominations to U.S. military service academies. Admittance is among our countrys highest honors. Through this highly competitive process, we choose our next generation of military leaders. Students interested in attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, or the Merchant Marine Academy in New York should visit my website at www.fischer.senate.gov. Applications for academy nominations are due in October.

A Senate internship is an excellent opportunity to gain experience in our government and the political process. Positions are available in my Omaha, Lincoln and Washington, D.C. offices. Responsibilities may include: leading U.S. Capitol tours, processing constituent correspondence, attending briefings and committee hearings, tracking legislation, monitoring Senate floor proceedings, drafting correspondence, assisting constituents with federal casework, and conducting legislative research. I encourage interested students to apply on my website and be mindful of fall, spring, and summer deadlines. Please keep in mind that internship positions are only available to college students and college graduates.

With these opportunities, as with any job application, competition is tough. Applicants are carefully vetted. Young people and parents should know a social media profile is every bit as important to employers as a resume. In todays digital age, it is unrealistic to think that only friends on social media can view or access posts.

This is an important message that must be stressed to our young people. There are so many opportunities before them, but a careless Tweet or Instagram post, an inappropriate photo on Facebook, or a foolish video on Snapchat could cost them an amazing opportunity. As parents have these conversations, I encourage them to emphasize prudence and safety in the digital world.

The start of school is exciting. For students in their senior year of high school or heading off to college, it is a transition. They may even be a little nervous. Thats alright. The opportunities are many, and the boundaries are few. I encourage all of our Nebraska students to take full advantage of these resources, and I hope to see them soon.

Thank you for taking part in our democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.

Deb Fischer is Nebraskas senior representative in the U.S. Senate.
In this frame grab from video provided by the Russian Defence Ministry Press Service, Russian long range bomber Tu-22M3 flies during a strike above an undisclosed location in Syria on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2015. ( Russian Defence Ministry press service photo via AP)
A man moves a part of a tourist vessel in Aegina, southwest of Athens, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. A speedboat collided with a tourist vessel off the Greek island of Aegina near Athens, killing four people, including a child, and injuring at least another four, the coast guard said. (Yannis Liakos/InTime News via AP)
News / National

by Staff reporter

A panicked Zanu-PF has gone into overdrive in its desperate bid to scupper the pending 2018 electoral deal between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and former Vice President Joice Mujuru, while throwing up all kinds of political conspiracies about the revered liberation struggle icon, the late General Solomon Mujuru.But the savage propaganda blitzkrieg - particularly the assault on the political legacy of the immensely popular Mujuru in lapdog State media yesterday - appeared to backfire spectacularly with analysts, liberation struggle stalwarts, disaffected Zanu-PF bigwigs and opposition parties saying this raised questions about the late general's contested death.Former Mugabe confidante and senior Cabinet minister, Didymus Mutasa told the Daily News that the attacks on the late husband of Mujuru strongly suggested that there was "more to Solomon's death than the official version indicated"."I think the current government's officials who are responsible for security should tell us what really happened to Solomon. Officials such as those in the Central Intelligence Organisation should tell us everything because it is only fair for everyone if they do that," Mutasa said.Zimbabwe's first black army commander, who was seen as a kingmaker within the warring Zanu-PF, and who is credited with playing a major role in catapulting President Robert Mugabe to the leadership of the ruling party in the mid 1970s, was found dead after a mysterious fire at his Beatrice farmhouse, just outside Harare, in August 2011.State media went into overdrive yesterday, blaming the late decorated soldier for the impending coalition between Tsvangirai and Mujuru, after the two opposition heavyweights sent fresh shivers down the spines of panicking Zanu-PF bigwigs at the weekend when they publicly flaunted their readiness to join forces against the ruling party ahead of Zimbabwe's eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.In a move that political analysts described as "very significant", Mujuru - now leader of the Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) - held hands and also joined Tsvangirai during another massive demonstration in Gweru that was organised by the MDC.And in a reciprocal development that was also variously described as "historic", Mujuru - who was hounded out of Zanu-PF in December 2014 on untested allegations of plotting to oust and assassinate Mugabe - was later joined by the MDC top brass at her own rally in the same city.Interestingly, Zanu-PF politburo member and Higher Education minister, Jonathan Moyo, appeared to take umbrage with the State media's crass attacks on the late general."Gen Mujuru's role in union exposed as Tsvangirai-Mujuru go public. But in Africa wafa wanaka (In Africa we don't insult the dead)! Let's expose Mujuru in her own right. Gen Mujuru is not here to explain himself!" said Moyo on micro-blogging site Twitter.On its part, Tsvangirai's MDC said the wheels of a grand coalition were in motion and "no amount of propaganda" would get in the way of the pending electoral pact."There was absolutely nothing wrong with MDC officials attending Solomon's funeral as State media are saying. Even on a personal level, from the time that I was a young boy, I used to idolise Josiah Tongogara and Rex Nhongo."I actually feel very proud that I attended his burial at the national Heroes' Acre. Rex Nhongo was a revolutionary icon and no amount of hostile and puerile propaganda by the Zanu-PF-controlled media can take that away from him."The Zanu-PF regime will soon be receiving the shock of their lives. It is fractured in more places than one and it's just a matter of time before this beleaguered and bankrupt regime crumbles," MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu said.Joice herself said her husband had left an indelible mark on the body politic of Zimbabwe and that as a result, she was not fazed by "futile attempts" to rubbish him through State media.She also told the Daily News through her spokesperson Gift Nyandoro that it was "disrespectful to her family and all well-meaning Zimbabweans" that Zanu-PF would want to discredit her husband when there were still many unanswered questions regarding his death."The question of interrogating and unravelling what happened to the late general is not a one day event but is a process."We believe that soon we will find the answers. However, Mai Mujuru is a person with a forgiving heart and she has made it clear that she will not seek revenge, even though the killers will be revealed in time."Today, (August 15) is a remarkable and historic day, for it will forever be written in the history of Zimbabwe as the day the country lost its most beloved son of the soil, that is so notwithstanding the mysterious and unexplained circumstances in which his life was taken away."We remember this day with heavy hearts but we urge all Zimbabweans to seek solace and comfort in the hope that God will provide the ultimate answer to the mysterious way the decorated soldier lost his life," Nyandoro said.On the other hand academic Ibbo Mandaza said "It is rather interesting that on the anniversary of his death such a story is written. People are going to speculate, and I think it is in bad taste considering that there is enduring suspicion about who killed him".Another scholar, Maxwell Saungweme, said the death of Mujuru had left "more questions than answers and the nation deserves to be told the truth about his death"."The revelations in The Herald point to someone somewhere who knows how the general died. It is really hard to believe that a general perished in a fire where no one claimed to have started and extinguished it. As they say, time will tell," Saungweme said.The late general's brother, Joel, told the Daily News earlier this year that a 12-member team was investigating the death of the revered liberation war commander - who is known to have helped to catapult Mugabe to his current post despite fierce resistance from the frontline States which were helping liberation forces at the time.Apart from that, Rex is said to have been the only man who could stand up to Mugabe, and his widow Joice has often intimated in previous interviews that the national hero may have been eliminated by his enemies."These matters should have been dealt with a long time ago. It is really painful that your brother is demonised every time regardless of the work he did for this country. Kuzvisungirira kuri nani (it is better for me to hang myself). I am the only one left," the elder Mujuru said then."That Zanu-PF is suffering serious strain going into the 2018 elections is obvious to all. Unfortunately too, it is stating the obvious to say most of our problems, if truth be told, are self-inflicted if you look at the worsening factional and succession wars eating the party, and which are likely to all see another vice president (Emmerson Mnangagwa) falling this year."Still, this is all no reason to soil Rex's name when he can't defend himself from his grave at the national Heroes Acre. But even more importantly, it forces some of us to revisit the circumstances surrounding his controversial death in 2011, which up to this day has not been explained satisfactorily," a senior Zanu-PF official said yesterday.In its hatchet job on the Mujurus yesterday, The Herald said the pending electoral pact between Tsvangirai and Mujuru was allegedly "a project that started before the death of the late General Mujuru"."The Herald has it on good authority that the late General had several meetings with the MDC-T leader and agreed on a scheme of taking over and a power-sharing formula that would incorporate the General's interests."It is understood that the project had the backing of Western countries who felt that MDC-T needed someone with liberation war credentials to enhance its power bid against President Mugabe."Even at the funeral of General (Mujuru), we had a very awkward situation where MDC-T people were part and parcel of the mourners which is quite unusual. That stemmed from the interaction that was taking place behind the scenes involving the General or some of his aides and Mr Tsvangirai but also underpinned with Western interests," the government-controlled daily said.
News / National

by Thobekilw Zhou

Zanu PF chief propagandist Jonathan Moyo has upped his social media attack on Pastor Evan Mawarire labelling him a fake preacher.Moyo said Mawarire lacks leadership qualities saying "leadership isn't about selfies!""One lesson from the saga of Pastor E's betrayal of his hashtag movement is that leadership isn't about selfies!" wrote Moyo on his official twitter account today.Mawarire was a little-known man without any political involvement until April, when he spontaneously posted a videotaped lament for the Zimbabwean flag, creating the movement that became known as #ThisFlag He made the video at a moment of anger at Zimbabwe's decline, spurred by his inability to pay his children's school fees because of the impoverished economy.The #ThisFlag leader has now fled to the US after threats from President Robert Mugabe.Added Moyo "Selfie leaders are about themselves. They can only lead fads of movements of fake democrats & fake Christians!"."Real social or political movements aren't about selfies but about selfless & enduring values of realpolitik!"
News / National

by Staff reporter

The government has warned Zimbabweans working in cahoots with political parties and some known hostile governments to circulate terror messages against the state on social media platforms that the law will catch up with them.The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr Christopher Mushohwe said all law abiding citizens must dissociate themselves from the activities that are notNumerous terror video clips have been circulating on social media in the past few days and Dr Mushohwe said the government is closely monitoring the activities which are being fronted by political parties operating from within an outside the country."Government is aware of a number of Zimbabweans, among them Victor Dube, Jeff Judah Hossana and Tapiwa Marimbe, who have been riding on social media platforms to insert and circulate messages of terror against the state and the people of Zimbabwe...Government is aware of activists in the country collaborating with the diaspora cyber-terrorist. They must warned be warned that the long arm of the law is encircling them," said Dr Mushohwe.Minister Mushohwe noted that zimbabwe does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and therefore expects other countries to do likewise.Media practitioners have also been warned not to promote hate, divisive and defamatory messages.Meanwhile, Dr Mushohwe has urged media practitioners to always stay on the side of law enforcement agents when covering demonstrations and desist from crossing over to the demonstrators' side, to avoid being caught in the middle in the event that the demonstration turns violent.The statement comes in the wake of reports that some media practitioners who were covering a demonstration were harassed by law enforcement agents and treated as demonstrators when they were doing their job.Dr Mushohwe said it is difficult for law enforcement agents to distinguish between journalists and demonstrators especially when protests turn violent.
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To paraphrase Tolstoy, all competence is alike, but every incompetence is incompetence in its own way. Every time I think Ive seen the horizon of incompetence, Im dealt a surprise. The sun never sets on incompetence. In health care, incompetence can be found in odd places, such as three recent examples I encountered with third-party payers.

Case 1: Downgrading caviar to boiled salmon

A patient was referred for a CT angiogram run off  which is a CT scan of the arteries of the belly, pelvis, both legs, and feet  a very detailed and costly study. The cardiologist suspected a pseudoaneurysm of the femoral artery. The exam was an overkill, I felt, as the femoral arteries could be covered in a CT angiogram of the abdomen and pelvis; you dont need to image down to the toes. I was confident that a pseudoaneurysm in the femoral artery would not extend to the arteries of the feet; it would be a world record, if it did. I suggested we stop the exam in the middle of the thigh.

Thats fraud, warned the chief technologist, who was also an expert in billing.

Why is it fraud to restrict the field of view to the area of clinical relevance? I asked.

You cant bill for a CT angiogram run off and only do the abdomen and pelvis. Thats fraud.

Why dont we bill just for CT angiogram of the abdomen and pelvis? I asked.

You cant bill just for the abdomen and pelvis; the patient has been pre-authorized for a runoff.

You mean I cant do less and bill for less when the patient has been pre-authorized for more, and the insurer will pay more? I asked.

Exactly, replied the chief technologist.

So what do I need to do? I asked.

You need a new order from the cardiologist, and a new pre-certification number, and may have to reschedule the patient.

I didnt want to relent, so I phoned the cardiologist, but I could not get hold of him. The patient was getting annoyed and didnt wish to come back another day for the exam. The technologists were getting antsy that I was stalling the scanner. The conveyor belt had to keep moving. The show had to continue. So the patient had the more expensive CT angiogram run off instead of the cheaper CT angiogram of the abdomen and pelvis.

There is a paradoxical billing phenomenon known as de-authorization, coined by Richard Duszak, a radiologist from Emory, where if you bill for a less resource-intensive and cheaper study than pre-authorized by the insurer, the payment is denied. Once youve asked for caviar, you must eat caviar. And if you change your mind and want boiled salmon instead, thats tough.

For example, if the patient is approved for a contrast-enhanced CT of the chest and you decide contrast is not needed, or may be harmful, and do the CT without contrast, and bill for CT without contrast, the payment will be denied. Worse, the patient will be lumbered with the bill (i.e. the chargemaster, price-gouging, flesh-eating bill). Not the discounted rate offered to insurers. The chief technologist saved the patient from a billing clusterfuck. But the insurer paid more for the study than would have if my clinical judgment was allowed to dictate the billing.

Case 2: Cutting your nose to spite your face

A young man had a cardiac MRI for palpitations. During the exam, I spotted a hole in the heart  a left-to-right shunt. It was an incidental finding. I thought we should get flow measurements through the aorta and pulmonary artery  it would be useful information which could help the management, because the timing of repair of shunts depends on these parameters.

Cant do flows. He hasnt been pre-authorized for them, said the tech.

Just do it. Dont bill  Ill take the flak, I offered.

Cant, were forbidden to do more than has been ordered, the tech protested.

The referring cardiologist agreed and put an order for flow mapping. However, the order needed authorization from insurers. I phoned the insurer who connected me to a physician from the advanced imaging management elite squad  also known as radiology benefit managers. The chap, a most boring metronome, told me that the first line test for left-to- right shunt was an echocardiogram. I explained that the patient, a young professional with a demanding job, would have to take another day off work  we could easily nip the issue in the bud within five minutes. But the chap continued like a broken down record, Our guidelines say echocardiogram first.

I slammed the phone and muttered ducking tosser under my breath.

The patient came back another day for an echocardiogram and another day for another cardiac MRI for flow measurements because the echocardiogram was not clear enough. Imagine  two separate days of taking time off work, driving on the interstate, and finding parking, could so easily have been avoided. Not to mention that the insurer could have saved money.

Case 3: Charity is fraud

I spotted a mass in the kidney at the edge of the field of view, which looked like cancer, in an elderly man having a cardiac MRI.

Lets go lower and cover the kidneys, and the bladder, I asked the technologist.

I cant. Thats fraud. Covering the kidneys will make this an MRI of the abdomen, which the patient doesnt have a script for. The technologist said.

Fraud! WTF, I barked.

It is Medicare fraud if you do more for the patient than what youve billed for, explained the technologist.

I was losing my marbles, but I wasnt going to relent with this one.

Just do it  put my name down. Say I insisted. And if its fraud to do more than I billed for, Ill happily go to Guantanamo Bay for fraud.

The kidneys were covered. I overcalled the finding in the kidney; the patient did not have cancer. However, the technologist was correct: It can be considered fraud to dispense billable services (such as an MRI of the abdomen) to Medicare patients without billing Medicare. This reminds me of a physician I once met, who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and runs a direct pay practice. She doesnt accept Medicare, Medicaid or any insurance. She sees kids of undocumented migrants for free one afternoon a week, but wont extend the same courtesy (i.e., waiving charges) to patients on Medicaid because she fears she might be fried for fraud.

Charity is fraud with Medicare and Medicaid. Allow that to sink for a moment.

I understand it is fraud if you buy a ticket from Philadelphia to New York and get off at Boston, but how is it fraud if you buy a ticket to Boston and get off at New York? Who makes these rules? Who are these people? Which parts of their brain light up on functional MRI? What do they eat for breakfast? How can a country which gave the world Edison, Wright brothers, and Kim Kardashian produce such imbeciles?

It is hard to maintain disdain for such buffoonery for too long because such spectacular incompetence is an art, a practiced art to be precise, but art nonetheless, and art induces wonder, eventually. But even this explanation is wrong. Third party payers are not incompetent. They may seem to be, but theyre not.

The reason insurers, and Medicare, would rather pay more, than less, for an exam, that is cut off their nose to spite their face, is that they dont trust physicians. They dont trust physicians because fifty years of health economics has yielded a spectacular insight; physicians, like crack dealers, are guilty of supplier-induced demand. This meme is now structurally embedded in payers.

The information to discern between physicians inducing their demand and physicians curbing their demand is too costly to obtain. So third party payers have a blanket rule: You can neither upgrade nor downgrade an imaging study, and if you do youll be paid nothing or will be done for fraud.

Dont get me wrong; Im flattered that I induce my demand in health care (I wish I could induce my demand in other areas, too). But a costly game of chicken is being played between payers and providers. Its a game of reverse chicken actually, where both sides avoid staring at each other, and adapt to each others pathologies. The costs of this game may be forgivable, but the inconvenience to patients is inexcusable.

Disclaimer

The vignettes have been modified from their true state to protect patient health information and to protect the author from HIPAA vigilantes and bounty hunters. However, the gist of the vignettes is correct.

Saurabh Jha is a radiologist and can be reached on Twitter @RogueRad. This article originally appeared in the Health Care Blog.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwe government is living in a time warp thinking it can control technology and net citizens!Social media campaigns have become the order of day in Zimbabwe politics. Politicians who are smart enough to realise technology is a new way of communicating with your constituency have caught up with fast growing trend. Those who want to suppress the citizens are busy drafting the laws to persecute citizens who are moving forward with technological advancement. The recent threats to ban social media activities and brand anyone who tweets, whatsapps or Facebook any statement critical of how the country is being run, a social media terrorist shows how out of touch they are with the real world.ZANU-PF government and its minions cannot stop the world from advancing they may try to hold back Zimbabweans but they cannot stop them forever. Zimbabwe is not an island in Mars where it is only reachable by astronauts far from it. Zimbabwe is on planet earth where it is part of a human race and Zimbabweans have spread all over the world thanks to ZANU-PF. Super Mandiwanzira needs to come out of his naivety and accept reality, Zimbabweans will never be quiet again we will talk and act and until government listens. Super there is no going back on citizens voicing their concerns about corruption and bad governance we will speak and continue to speak until you hear us. We cannot allow a few people to benefit from our independence. Yes ZANU-PF government has power to arrest, abduct, detain, imprison and kill but as things carry on uncorrected they will soon run out of prison detention cells, police cells and even abductors will soon question the logic behind being used to terrorise their fellow citizens.Calling citizens social media terrorists is ill advised and shows panic. How else can a whole president, military commanders, ministers get so miffed by tweets from net citizens that express truth. Net citizens have found a collective voice behind their keyboards, phones and gadgets alike. We are able to write online and express ourselves, unlike the old days of print news. A single tweet can be read a thousand of times before the authorities can respond and only in their newspapers. The politicians in Zimbabwe cannot stand the fact that they have lost control of what citizen's say. There have hiked the cost of data by 500% in an attempt to control how we say or access news. Mr Mugabe talked about the Arabs spring last week at Heroes Acre and tried to link that with what is happening in Zimbabwe. Well the news is that almost every Zimbabwean has now access to online news and can see for themselves. This week the social media was full of pictures of the Presidents wrinkled hand, this in years gone could have been unreported but thanks to social media. The reason they want to ban social media activism is because for now citizen reporters can report on everything even the Presidents hand.Instead of focusing on finding ways of preventing foreigners stealing our resources "$15 billion" the government is busy trying to ban cellphones or arrest net citizens.Gen. Chiwenga and Mr Chihuri there is no need whatsoever for you to be meddling in politics. Your job is to guard our Zimbabwe together with its resources which makes me wonder,where were you when 15 billon dollars went missing? Or how much bribe did u get for all that money to go unnoticed. As for you Honorable finance minister you might be able to fool Zimbabweans, but if only you did your job well surely billions of dollars would not leave the country without your knowledge. Minister you definitely cant fool the IMF or other European countries coz everyone knows that if they give you and your cronies money they will be funding violent terror against Zimbabweans. Sorry Mr Chinamasa, if your government is running out of police button sticks, helmets or even police and army salaries please recover the 15 billion that you gave to your friends and fund for your own terror.Thank you very much for your time.YoursChrispen DhliwayoChrispen Dhliwayo is a human right activist fighting for the rights everyone especially of youth and the next generation. You can contact me dhliwayochrispen@gmail.comTWITTER :@dhl_chris.Facebook: Chris dee
Music lovers and accordion afficionados flocked to Kilkenny last weeked for one of the the greatest gatherings of accordionists ever seen in Ireland.

The Big Squeeze Festival was held in order to celebrate the accordion as a truly global and culturally-significant instrument. It took place at venues both in Kilkenny City and in Freshford, with a variety of workshops, exhibitions, concerts and public performances to suit everyone.

The festival was a huge success with a great turnout and plenty of music and craic around the place from August 12 - 14. It marked the fulfilment of a dream long-held by technical consultant, teacher and musician, Noel Cleere.

Noel felt that most people in Ireland associate the accordion only with Irish Traditional music, and in Ireland, it is rarely heard outside of traditional circles.

While its role in the traditional Irish music world is admirable, Noel was determined to organise an event that would educate and demonstrate the true potential and significance of his favourite instrument and rekindle an interest in learning and/or a return to the instrument.

The Big Squeeze Festival was thus born in coop-

eration with The Acorn Club Freshford  a voluntary not-for profit organisation which encourages and facilitates music, drama and artistic creativity.
Aug 16 (Reuters) - The head of Australia's foreign investment review board said a decision to block the A$10 billion ($7.7 billion) sale of the country's biggest energy grid to Chinese bidders was based on new information and not politically motivated.

In a series of interviews with local media published on Tuesday, review board chairman Brian Wilson defended the agency's handling of the proposed sale of Ausgrid to the short-listed bidders, State Grid Corp of China STGRD.UL and Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings 1038.HK .

Treasurer Scott Morrison announced last week that the government would veto the sale to those companies based on national interest grounds.

Wilson said the board had not "changed its mind" on the suitability of the bidders after it greenlighted the short list a few months ago.

"It is not about the board changing its mind, it is a case of responding to new information," he told The Australian newspaper. "This is not a politically influenced decision. It is a result of a confluence of events." The sale of Ausgrid was expected to fetch a record sum for an Australian privatisation.

Wilson told the Australian Financial Review newspaper that he felt obliged to speak publicly, a rare occurrence for the FIRB chair, to correct the record.

A "genuine national security issue" became apparent as detailed work was done by the agency, he told the newspaper, without specifying the concern.

"The proposed structure is contrary to the national security interest because it leaves a material national security vulnerability," Wilson said. "Almost by definition it is not a security issue you can disclose." ($1 = 1.3028 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Cecile Lefort, editing by Jane Wardell and Richard Pullin)
Aug 15 (Reuters) - Industrial gas supplier Praxair Inc PX.N is in early talks to merge with Germany's Linde AG LING.DE , according to a person familiar with the matter.

Details of the talks were not immediately clear and any potential deal could still fall apart, according to the person.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the talks and said there is no guarantee that antitrust regulators would approve if there is any agreement. http://on.wsj.com/2b9Njz2 This could be the second consolidation in the gas supplier industry after France's Air Liquide AIRP.PA agreed to buy U.S.

peer Airgas Inc in a $13.4 billion deal last year. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N13C4TX Analysts at that time pointed out that the deal would help Air Liquide overtake rivals including Linde AG, Air Products APD.N and Praxair to top spot in North America and speed diversification away from slow-growth Europe. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N13D20Z Praxair is an industrial gas supplier in North and South America, Asia and Europe, while Linde Group's core business division offers planning, project development and construction of turnkey industrial plants used in fields, such as petrochemical and chemical industries.

The companies could not be immediately reached for comment after regular business hours.

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in New York; Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan's overnight interbank rate opened at 0.176 percent on Tuesday, up from its previous session open of 0.174 percent.

The overnight interbank rate is closely watched by market participants because it is guided by the central bank and is seen as a signal of its monetary policy bias.

The overnight interbank rate has been guided to between 0.175 percent and 0.180 percent, from 0.20 percent since the central bank cut policy rates in late June.

The central bank has said monetary policy is accommodative.

It has cut policy rates four times in a row at quarterly policy meetings since September last year to bolster the weak economy.

(Reporting by Jeanny Kao & Faith Hung; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
(Kitco News) - The world will soon learn the truth about the mystery of a lost Nazi train believed to be laden with gold and looted treasure.

One year after being discovered, a team of 35 researchers will start to excavate the site of a hidden underground tunnel, just outside of Walbrzych, Poland, which is believed to contain the Nazi ghost train.

"The train is not a needle in the haystack, said Andrzej Gaik, the spokesman of the search committee, in an interview with the news agency Agence France-Presse. If there is one, we will find it.

According to comments, the tunnel could be unearthed within the week.

Last August, two treasure hunters, Andreas Richter, from Germany, and Piotr Koper from Poland, announced that they had irrefutable proof of the train and filed a 10% finders claim with the Polish government.

Since then, it has been a long year for the rumored Nazi ghost train, filled with mystery, intrigue and even some doubt to its very existence.

In December, researchers from the Krakow University of Science and Technology conducted an extensive survey of the area, using ground penetrating radar and found no evidence of a train. The team used a combination of magnetic and gravitation methods in its research.

There may be a tunnel. There is no train," said Professor Janusz Madej from Krakow's Academy of Mining at the press conference last year.

Despite the findings from the mining school, Richter and Koper maintain that there is a train there and about 100 meters long.

After they filed their finders claim, it was discovered that they too started searching the forest outside Walbrzych because of a deathbed confession. Last summer, the Polish Army was sent to the region to keep potential treasure hunters out and to search the site for potential booby traps.

Rumors have circulated for almost 70 years that a train, containing Nazi gold, has been hidden in the area waiting to be claimed. It was believed the train, filled with gold and other looted treasure, fled Wroclaw near the end of the Second World War and was headed to the historic Ksiaz Castle, which dates back to the 13th century and is located just less than 10 kilometers from Walbrzych; Some historian have even speculated the Nazis wanted to hide the gold in tunnels that were built underneath the castle during the occupation.

This also wouldnt be the first time that the ghost train has eluded hunters. Because of these persistent rumors, the Polish government conducted an excavation around the Ksiaz Castle in the 1990s but came up empty handed.

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

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While we shouldn't live in the past, we can certainly learn from it. We are not the first humans to walk the Earth and yet too many, especially the young, suffer from the conceit that history is just a boring subject in school.

PBS is rerunning episodes on its award-winning series "American Experience" on modern presidents and the challenges they faced. Each episode retraces what presidents believed to be good ideas at the time  from Lyndon Johnson's program to wipe out poverty and defeat the communists in Vietnam, to George W. Bush's toppling of Saddam Hussein. In each episode, historians, as well as members of those administrations, are interviewed and provide perspective only hindsight can give.

One scene in the LBJ segment is particularly instructive when thinking about the two main candidates in the current presidential race. During consideration of Johnson's pledge to create a "Great Society," there is film of him signing a large stack of bills passed by a Democratic Congress.

The narrator says the bills were passed and signed so quickly no one had any idea what the programs would cost, or how they would be implemented.

This is the heart of liberalism. Little consideration is given to whether a program or idea will accomplish its stated goal, only intentions matter.

In a speech last week in Warren, Michigan, Hillary Clinton borrowed from the past, not to learn from it, but to repeat it. "So starting on Day 1," she said, "we will work with both parties to pass the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II." She followed with recycled promises to repair infrastructure, such as bridges, highways and airports.

Those with short memories may have forgotten her pledges have been tried in the very recent past. Remember President Obama's "stimulus"? Remember "shovel-ready jobs"? When they didn't materialize, even the president had to joke that "shovel-ready was not as ... uh ... shovel-ready as we expected." Remember the infrastructure repair Obama promised?

Government doesn't create private-sector jobs, businesses do. Government can stimulate the private sector by lowering taxes and reducing unnecessary regulations. Hillary Clinton wants to do the reverse. In her view government has all the answers when, in fact, it has few. If it had answers, the problems we face would have long ago been solved. After so many failures, why would voters continue to trust government to fix anything?

Hillary Clinton again is using the liberal code word "investment." She means spending. As the debt approaches $20 trillion, a wise person might say we need to spend less, not more, starting with reforming entitlement programs, which consume a great deal of the budget.

Would any business survive a sales strategy that has failed so dramatically?

President Obama has tried everything Hillary Clinton is proposing. It hasn't worked. Economic growth is stagnant and the 5 percent unemployment rate masks a labor force that has either given up looking for work, is working only part time or is working at jobs that pay less than the employee previously earned. Insurance companies are pulling out of Obamacare due to its high cost. Taxes will soon rise. Bloomberg.com reports homeownership is at its lowest level since 1965.

The experience of Democrat liberalism is a theme Donald Trump should hammer home. If you like the damage President Obama has caused, vote for Hillary. She will give you more of the same and you won't like it.

In his best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren writes, "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."

President Hillary Clinton would impose a life sentence of failed liberalism.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
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Douglas Ridley, Fox Island

Spitzer has the right priorities for 26th

When I first saw Randy Spitzer speak, he struck me as someone more interested in policy solutions than politics. In this time of political gridlock, we need a moderate voice who can bring legislators from both sides of the aisle together around sensible legislation that addresses the major issues impacting our state. I can think of no two issues more critical to the future of our state than education and infrastructure.

Today, the legislature is being fined $100,000 dollars a day for failing to uphold the state's constitutional obligation to fully fund K-12 education. Randy Spitzer is the only candidate running for State Representative Pos. 2 in the 26th Legislative District who is committed to fully funding our schools.

The most recent ASCE report card on Washington State's infrastructure assigned a C- to our bridges and a D+ to our roads. This means longer commutes and more bridges at risk of collapsing. Randy Spitzer is the only candidate running who will make substantial long-term investments in our infrastructure.

In making these investments, we need someone who will spend our tax dollars wisely. Randy Spitzer is a trusted Business Adviser and Certified Financial Planner. And he will make an excellent legislator.
The Government Statistician has said:

Like my predecessors I am fiercely protective of the statutory independence of the role of the Government Statistician and strongly refute any assertions made by Grant Robertson that there has been political interference in the production of official statistics.

This independence means that I maintain the right to make changes necessary to ensure the relevance and quality of our official statistics. Changes to the Household Labour Force Survey have been made to ensure that we produce the best possible measure of the current state of the labour market and to maintain consistency with international best practice.

Far from ignoring technological change during the past 30 years, such as the advent of the internet, we are incorporating these changes so as to be technology neutral.

Within the survey questions, to be regarded as actively looking for a job you must do more than simply look at job advertisements, whether it is online or in a newspaper.

It is not uncommon for revisions to be made to official statistics as a result of more accurate information becoming available or changes to international standards and frameworks.
- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
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Majority of ISIS Members Have Little to No Knowledge of Islam

Trending News: Prospective ISIS Members Are Reading 'Islam For Dummies'

Why Is This Important?

Because as a society, we need to facts like this to help dissociate Islamic religion with violent terrorist groups like ISIS.

Long Story Short

Fresh recruits that are pledging allegiance to terrorist group ISIS are reportedly so ignorant about the group and the Islamic faith, that theyve been ordering books like Islam for Dummies to quickly prepare themselves before joining.

Long Story

The Associated Press recently analyzed thousands of leaked Islamic State documents revealing that the vast majority of its recruits from its earliest days came with only the most basic knowledge of Islam. In fact, only 70 percent of them were noted as having just basic knowledge (the lowest possible choice) of Shariah, the system that interprets as law verses from the Quran and "hadith"  the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad. Approximately 24 percent of that group was categorized as having an "intermediate" knowledge and just 5 percent were considered to be advanced students of Islam.

In fact, in at least a few instances, recruits ordered books like Islam for Dummies and The Koran for Dummies prior to joining the terrorist group. It's also not clear that all those involved knew what they were signing up for. One western man who ordered the aforementioned books initially believed he was joining a force to fight President Bashar Assad in Syria.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer with a background in Mideast extremist organizations, told the AP that some people claim allegiance to ISIS out of religious belief. However, most who join (including those from the West) are instead looking for a sense of belonging, notoriety or excitement  with faith not being even part of the decision.

"Religion is an afterthought," said Skinner, who is also director of special projects at security consultancy the Soufan Group.

Like any organization, you need some members on the front line and you need others to be back at the office worrying about administration and other higher level items. ISIS is no different. ISIS looked to recruits not only for soldiers and suicide bombers, but administrators and Shariah officials to oversee its local courts and judges as well. In fact, those who claimed to have an advanced knowledge in Shariah on their ISIS entry documents were actually less likely to want to become suicide bombers, according to a study by the U.S. military's Combating Terrorism Center, an academic institution at the United States Military Academy.

"If martyrdom is seen as the highest religious calling, then a reasonable expectation would be that the people with the most knowledge about Islamic law (Shariah) would desire to carry out these operations with greater frequency," said the report.

However, despite the religious justification that ISIS uses for suicide missions, the study also found that those with the most religious knowledge within the organization were the least likely to volunteer to be suicide bombers.

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe, believes Muslim scholars must demonstrate that what ISIS teaches is wrong.

"The people who are doing this are not experiencing martyrdom, they are criminals, he said. They are killing innocent people. Nothing in Islam, nothing ever can justify the killing of innocent people, never, ever."

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Are those with little knowledge of Islam more susceptible to the group's radical ideas that promote violence?

Disrupt Your Feed

Practicing the religion of Islam does not mean you are affiliated with ISIS, but you wouldn't know that judging by my Facebook feed.

Drop This Fact

Just 5% of ISIS recruits were found to have "advanced" knowledge of Islam and Sharia law.
University Of Texas Students Protest Guns On Campus With Dildos

Trending News: UT Students Launch 'Cocks Not Glocks' Gun Protest Campaign

Why Is This Important?

Because this is a unique chance to carry a sex toy in public and make a strong political statement at the same time.

Long Story Short

Students at the University of Texas at Austin will display over 4,000 dildos on the first day of classes in protest at a new law in the state which makes it legal to carry a concealed firearm in university buildings.

Long Story

Students attending the first day of classes at the University of Texas at Austin next Wednesday will have one extra item to remember to bring with them - a dildo.

Around 10,000 students have already sent their RSVP on Facebook to show their support for the "Cocks Not Glocks" campaign that is protesting the August 1 law, Senate Bill II, that makes it legal to carry a concealed firearm in university buildings.

A photo posted by emma hunt (@wuffls) on Aug 11, 2016 at 7:46pm PDT

The protest movement was started last year by Jessica Jin after attempts to oppose the Senate bill by petition and signed letters failed, and it is now starting ready to make a more eye-catching statement.

What started as something of a joke has quickly gained serious momentum and is making a strong political statement in a nation where gun laws are a matter of fierce debate.

Graduate Jin is going to return to campus to help hand out 4,000 "non-phallic" sex toys to students, and others are getting ready to bring in their own from home to show their support.

There are also promotional pics doing the rounds of students wearing t-shirts with a big picture of a dildo on them and the motto: Take It And Come." A tip of the hat to that wordplay.

A photo from my most recent shoot for #cocksnotglocks ! Photojournalism never fails to lead me to interesting situations ? Other photos from this shoot were published by @observer recently! A photo posted by Marshall Tidrick (@marshalltidrickphoto) on Aug 15, 2016 at 6:13pm PDT

It offers a visual representation of what it would look like if the gun lobby really got what it wanted, which is the complete normalization of gun culture. If the guns around you arent making you uncomfortable, then maybe this dildo protest will make you think twice about what it is that makes you feel uncomfortable, and why, Jin told the Observer.

So if you know someone attending their first day of class at the University of Texas at Austin next week, it's probably good to give them a heads-up about this. It may be the first time in history that its a faux pas not to bring a sex toy to class.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is "Cocks Not Glocks" a good way to protest gun laws in Texas?

Disrupt Your Feed

To be fair some people treat their gun like an extension of their manhood already.

Drop This Fact

As of 2015, the General Social Survey found that gun ownership was declining slightly but nearly a third of households still owned a gun.
James Pate Williams, 44, charged in second arson fire in Cocke County. (TENNESSEE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION)

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By News Sentinel Staff

A Cocke County man already charged in a 2011 fatal house fire has been indicted on arson charges in connection with a July house fire, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.

At the request of 4th Judicial District Attorney General James Dunn, TBI special agents and investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office began investigating a July 24 house fire at 1105 Palmer Hollow Road in Cocke County's Bybee community. During that investigation, information was uncovered that linked James Pate Williams, 44, to the intentional fire.

A Cocke County grand jury on Monday indicted Williams on one count of arson. Williams was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Cocke County Jail. He is currently being held without bond.

At the time of his arrest, Williams was out of jail on bond awaiting trial in connection with the 2011 slaying of this brother, Richard D. Williams, 38. The younger Williams' body was found inside a burned residence at 1120 Palmer Hollow Road.

James Williams has been charged with first-degree murder and arson in that case.
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Calling it the stuff of a Tom Clancy international thriller novel, Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan had one question for prosecutors Tuesday  where's the proof the Chinese government would spirit away the engineer accused of buying American nuclear know-how?

"Where's the evidence the court can bring as opposed to speculation?" Varlan asked at a hearing Tuesday on whether engineer Szuhsiung "Allen" Ho should remain jailed pending trial on charges he procured American nuclear technological information for the Chinese government.

Prosecutors have called Ho a flight risk.

"Your argument that China would assist him in fleeing, how would that fit into the weight of the evidence for the court to consider?" Varlan pressed Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley Jr. "What's the evidence?"

Ho, his firm Energy Technology International and Chinese nuclear power plant China General Nuclear Power were indicted in April on charges of a plot to lure nuclear experts in the U.S. into providing information to allow China to develop and produce nuclear material based on American technology and below the radar of the U.S. government.

It is the first such case in the nation brought under a provision of law that regulates the sharing of U.S. nuclear technology with certain countries deemed untrustworthy to see it. Those countries include China. Although the technology is used for nuclear-power generation, the byproduct of that process can be used to produce nuclear weapons.

Atchley has alleged Ho, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is essentially a paid operative for China who funneled $3.8 million from the Chinese government into the U.S. to pay American nuclear engineers to provide restricted reports and consulting services. He convinced U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton to order Ho detained pending trial, in part, by arguing the Chinese government could sneak Ho out of the country if he's freed.

Defense attorneys Peter Zeidenberg and Wade Davies appealed to Varlan, who heard arguments at a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Pressed by the judge for proof China would help Ho flee, Atchley conceded he had none.

"The Chinese government hasn't told me what they're going to be doing," Atchley said.

But the veteran prosecutor noted China has ignored the indictment of its own nuclear power company and has a vested interest in preventing a trial that could expose the Chinese government's role in nuclear espionage.

"The Chinese government wants no part of this case," Atchley said. "His co-conspirator is the Chinese government.  It's not far-fetched to believe this. He has spent the last few years stealing (nuclear know-how) and sending it to China."

Zeidenberg countered Ho is staking the homes of his wife, his sister-in-law and a childhood friend as bail to the tune of $3 million, would be required to surrender his passport and has agreed to submit to electronic monitoring.

"That is pure conjecture," he said of Atchley's argument. "What use is (Ho) to (China) now? The idea that China would risk an international incident with the United States to jet (Ho) out of the United States? It makes no sense."

Ho, a native of Taiwan, is alleged to have begun recruiting engineers in the U.S. to provide restricted nuclear power technological information as far back as 2009. Engineer Ching Huey, a TVA senior manager, has admitted he divulged such information to Ho and even traveled to China on the Chinese government's tab and will testify against Ho.

Zeidenberg and Davies have contended Ho was told by a government official he did not need authorization to acquire the information he bought. Atchley countered Tuesday that prosecutors have proof Ho tried to "cover up" his dealings once he learned he was under investigation.

Varlan said he will issue a written ruling soon. Ho's trial is set for Jan. 24. The defense last week filed a motion alleging the FBI elicited incriminating statements from Ho even after he asked for a lawyer. A hearing on that motion has not yet been set.
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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A Sevierville man pleaded guilty Monday to charges of defrauding the government by continuing to collect his mother's Social Security benefits for 12 years after she had died.

Niles Olyn Thornton pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court with theft of government funds for collecting  and spending on himself  $138,172 in Social Security survivor benefits intended for his widowed mother.

According to a plea agreement filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooklyn Sawyers, Thornton's mother became eligible to receive payments from the Old Age Survivor Disability Insurance program, which allows the spouses of deceased workers to collect Social Security benefits that would have been paid to the workers had they survived to retirement age. Widows and widowers can only begin collecting those benefits once they reach their 60s.

Thornton's mother's age is not listed in the plea agreement. However, a provision in the document explaining how Thornton's thievery was discovered suggests she was in her late 80s or early 90s at the time of her death.

In August 2000, Thornton was appointed to be his mother's "representative payee" of the benefits and, each year, had to submit documentation showing the benefits were used exclusively for her care. In April 2002, Thornton's mother died, but he continued to collect the payments and filed false annual reports on how he spent the money.

It took the Social Security Administration 12 years to discover the mother's death. When confronted, Thornton said, "Oops, I know I am in trouble," the plea agreement stated. Sentencing is set for Dec. 15. Thornton remains free.
SHARE Beal Bourne who runs Jarnigan & Son Mortuary talks about his thoughts on running a business and working in the MLK Avenue area of East Knoxville Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Longtime businessman and community advocate Beal Bourne will have an East Knoxville street named in his honor this week.

Knoxville officials will dedicate Milligan Street, between Magnolia and Martin Luther King Jr. avenues, after the longtime funeral director of Jarnigan & Son Mortuary at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Jarnigan & Son Mortuary, founded in 1886 by Clem Jarnigan, is believed to be the city's oldest black-owned business.

Originally from Virginia, Bourne graduated from the University of Maryland and found an interest in the funeral business after his father died. He decided to pursue a career as a funeral director and licensed mortician.

"Beal is an energetic individual who believes in the Knoxville community and does whatever he can to help people achieve their dreams, often going out of his way to serve people in need," the Rev. Harold Middlebrook, a legendary civil-rights and community leader and longtime friend of Bourne, said in a statement.

Middlebrook petitioned the city to rename the street in Bourne's honor, something City Council members approved in June.

Bourne moved to Knoxville in 1973 and is a member of the C.C. Russell Masonic Lodge, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission.

Bourne called the renaming "an honor" in a statement, and added: "In my line of work, you always hear people say that they wished they had told someone how they felt when they were alive; I'm happy that people thought enough of me and appreciated my work in the community to have a street named for me while I am still here to enjoy it."
SHARE Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett helps kick off the Missing Type campaign by taking a photograph with missing letters in his name and title. MEDIC Regional Blood Center is participating in the global campaign to highlight a nearly 30 percent decrease in the number of new blood donors over the past decade. Throughout the campaign, the letters A, B and O will disappear. (submitted)

By Kristi L. Nelson of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The number of blood donors is down worldwide.

A new global campaign hopes to bring up what's missing: blood types A, B and O.

Medic Regional Blood Center is among those participating in a new Missing Type campaign, highlighted by local and national celebrities, well-known landmarks and regular folks with those letters missing in their names.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett kicked off the local campaign Monday by holding a sign reading, "M_Y_R TIM _URCHETT."

Elsewhere, Microsoft and Tesco are among brands dropping the letters from their names for the campaign, a particularly common sight in the United Kingdom, where the National Health Service created the campaign last year. The tactic proved highly successful there, with 30,000 new donors registering, and this year the campaign is being used in 21 countries, the NHS said.

It's a lighthearted attempt to bring attention to a serious problem: Over the past 10 years, the number of first-time blood donors has decreased by more than 27 percent, from 1.8 million in 2005 to 1.3 million last year.

But, worldwide, three people every second receive blood, said Medic spokesman Benjamin Prijatel.

"The need is greater than ever," Prijatel said.

The campaign will be largely driven by social media, with blood centers asking people to share information on social media sites using the hashtag #missingtype.

But the goal is to drive supporters to become blood donors. Medic's main center at 1601 Ailor Ave. is open 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekdays, 8-11:30 a.m. Saturdays and 1-4:30 p.m. Sundays, and its Farragut center, 11000 Kingston Pike, is open 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

The center also has several mobile drives scheduled this week and next, including noon-3 p.m. today at TestAmerica Inc., 5815 Middlebrook Pike; noon-6 p.m. Friday at Rusty Wallace Honda, 109 Callahan Drive; noon-6 p.m. Monday at Food City, 4216 N. Broadway; and 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at KCDC, 901 N. Broadway.

Medic is the sole provider of blood products for 29 hospitals in East Tennessee and Kentucky and needs donations of whole blood as well as plasma and platelets.

To learn more about the Medic Regional Blood Center or to see if you're eligible to donate, visit medicblood.org or call 865-524-3074.
The Tennessee Theatre sign hangs over the center of Gay Street after it was removed from the Burwell Building on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

After spending the summer in a South Carolina warehouse for repairs, the green vertical Tennessee Theatre sign will resume its iconic position on Gay Street next week.

A relighting ceremony will take place on Aug. 31, with an open house for visitors interested in self-guided tours of the front of the house and backstage from 6-8 p.m. House organist Dr. Bill Snyder will play the Mighty Wurlitzer organ, and a caricature artist will be on hand to draw portraits of guests with the iconic Tennessee Theatre marquee.

At the end of the open house, Gay Street will close in front of the theater for the relighting ceremony with Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, other elected officials and theater board members. The sign, a favorite photo backdrop for tourists and locals alike, will be installed about a week before the event.

An exact date for installation has not been set, but will likely be mid-week, a spokeswoman said.

The sign was removed overnight June 6, when the city closed the block of Gay Street and downtown residents and visitors gathered to watch the hourslong process.

The $150,000 undertaking to restore the vertical sign and the horizontal marquee has been in the works for years. Between private fundraising, capital gifts and a city grant, the theater has raised about $136,000 of the goal so far, said executive director Becky Hancock.

The vertical sign, which went up in 2005 when the venue underwent a $24 million restoration, is a reproduction of the one installed when the theater opened in 1928. Pattison Sign Group upgraded 5,700 lightbulbs and sockets for the sign and the marquee. The company also repaired hail damage and repainted the signs.
By MJ Slaby of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Scott Kelly stood at the edge of the stage and peered out into the crowd in front of him.

"You guys look really young," the retired astronaut and University of Tennessee alumnus said. "You make me feel really old."

With incoming freshmen in the seats directly in front of him, Kelly took the stage Monday at the university's Thompson-Boling Arena to speak to them and a crowd of upperclassmen, UT employees and community members.

Kelly told them how he got his start and about day-to-day life during his record-setting year in space with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko aboard the International Space Station.

Kelly, one of multiple graduates of the UT Space Institute in Tullahoma who has flown for NASA, retired shortly after returning from that mission in March.

He said the most difficult adjustment to life on Earth wasn't expecting things to float. It was the schedule.

In space, most of his time was scheduled by other people who told him what to do and when, Kelly said. He conducted experiments, helped maintain the Space Station and participated in a study with his twin, Mark Kelly, also a retired NASA astronaut who stayed on Earth. Scientists studied the health effects of Scott Kelly's trip, in hopes of future human travel to Mars.

Going to space is also about having a variety of skills, Kelly said, adding he served as plumber, electrician and even dentist, once replacing a crew member's tooth.

Back on Earth, it's hard to stay organized, he said, but now he has writing assignments to finish for Margaret Lazarus Dean, a UT associate professor of English, who he shared the stage with on Monday.

They are working on a book about Kelly's year in space and the future of space travel. "Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars" is expected in November 2017.

And Dean's 2015 book, "Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight," was the reading selection for UT's Life of the Mind program, which is part of an noncredit class that helps freshmen prepare for college.

Incoming students read the book before coming to campus. This is the first year that a faculty member's book was the selection.

Near the front row during Monday's event were freshmen Emma Beach and Zane Chapman, both engineering students who said they were excited to hear Kelly's perspective.

And UT senior Jonathan Andrews said he looks up to Kelly, as they are both in the Navy.

"I'd like to be him someday." Andrews said.

Kelly told the crowd that he didn't grow up wanting to be an astronaut.

"I didn't think it was achievable," he said.

But as a college freshman, he was in the bookstore  not to buy a book, he admitted  when a red, white and blue cover caught his eye.

It was "The Right Stuff," a book about the first NASA astronauts selected for Project Mercury. Kelly said it was probably the first book he read without being assigned to do so.

"I decided right then, I'm going to be like one of these guys, I don't know how, but I'm going to try," Kelly said.

And that decision led him to start attending class more often, and join the Navy, where he became a test pilot while earning his master's degree from the UT Space Institute.

It was "a bunch of small, manageable steps," Kelly said.

As he left the stage he paused to look at the crowd again, telling the freshmen that so many opportunities were ahead.

"Man, I wish I was you guys," Kelly said.
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Spare time

Karen Carson, an outgoing Knox County Board of Education member, is about to have a lot of extra time on her hands after leaving office.

She's part of the turnover in people holding local elected office who chose to not seek re-election or weren't re-elected, a group that includes people such as Doug Harris from the school board and several Knox County Commissioners.

Carson compared leaving the school board to quitting a job.

"I think I'm just going to focus (time) back on my profession," she said. "I've been kind of doing two jobs, and it makes it real hard to give your all."

Most every outgoing local elected official have said they plan to remain working in their local community in some way, and Carson is no different.

"I'll still be involved in a number of different community organizations that I'm currently involved in," she said.

She's being replaced on the school board by Susan Horn in West Knox County's 5th District.

Mayor's race update

At-Large Knox County Commissioners Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas are holding another night out to meet with constituents 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Love That BBQ, 1901 Maryville Pike.

It's worth noting that Thomas has said he is running for Knox County Mayor in 2018, and he and Brantley are old buddies who used to have a radio show on WCYQ-FM called the "Ed and Bob Show."

And people around here who watch local races have told PolitiKnox reporters it's pretty likely that Brantley will have a position in Thomas' office if he's elected.

Also running for mayor is Knox County GOP Chairman Buddy Burkhardt, who has a Facebook page already set up for his run but hasn't begun campaigning. Others rumored to be interested in the seat  but who have not confirmed their intention  include Knox County Commissioner Brad Anders and Ryan Haynes, Tennessee state GOP chairman. Anders recently was re-elected to the 6th District of County Commission, and Haynes resigned from the Tennessee state House 14th District seat when he became the state party chairman in 2015.

Time to schmooze

If you want to hang out with a bunch of politicos from Knox County and East Tennessee, then mark your calendar for noon on Sept. 9.

That's when a big group of elected officials meet up at the Tennessee Valley Fair Government and Business luncheon. You'll easily see a quorum of several local elected bodies, and chances of seeing local mayors and a Congress member or two are high.

Certification

Knox County's Election Commission meets 8:30 a.m. Aug. 22 in the City County Building to certify the Aug. 4 election results.
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By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has named a West Tennessee cotton farmer to a committee that will advise him on agriculture issues.

Charlotte Kelley of Tipton County is one of more than five dozen people who will serve on the panel.

Kelley, a former Tipton County commissioner, and her husband, Richard, farm 14,000 acres of cotton and operate a cotton gin in Burlison that processes more than 30,000 bales.

Trump's campaign said Tuesday the committee will be responsible for providing ideas to strengthen the nation's agriculture industry and provide support to rural communities.

"The members of my agricultural advisory committee represent the best that America can offer to help serve agricultural communities," Trump said in a statement. "Many of these officials have been elected by their communities to solve the issues that impact our rural areas every day."
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For the first time in recent years, the city of Knoxville has used a third-party analysis to help determine the use of tax incentives for redevelopment projects.

MuniCap Inc., a Maryland-based public financing consultant, determined that the proposed redevelopment of the dilapidated Pryor Brown Parking Garage in downtown Knoxville would not be financially feasible without a 30-year, $2.5 million tax increment financing deal.

The $10.5 million project is the first to go through a new outside vetting process established after elected officials in April raised questions about whether tax deals were receiving enough scrutiny.

The determination by MuniCap should be enough to convince city and county officials to move forward with the project. The Knoxville City Council is set to vote on the proposal today, while Knox County Commission will take it up later this month.

Dover Development Inc., a seasoned redevelopment firm, plans to partner with the owners of the property on the project. Plans include 30 condo units, 30 parking spaces and about 2,200 square feet of commercial retail space. The 76,000-square-foot, four-and-a-half story structure includes a partial basement for storage.

The garage at the corner of Market Street and Church Avenue is one of the oldest parking garages in the country and has been on Knox Heritage's Fragile 15 list of endangered historic properties for years. The City Council blocked one attempt to raze the building in 2014, and the roof collapsed last summer.

As outlined in documents provided to City Council, Dover Development would join with property owner Royal Property in the project. Dover Development plans to invest $2.3 million into the project.

Once the project is complete, the assessed value is expected to jump from $1.35 million to $15.5 million and would add $178,887 to the annual tax rolls, according to the application.

MuniCap examined expected return rates and found that even with public support, Dover Development is expected to generate profits "at the lower end" of the range developers typically expect.

Without the subsidy, the developers would see a return of about 9.9 percent, much lower than the 12 to 20 percent typically anticipated for in such projects. The tax increment financing is expected to boost the combined return for the owners and the developer to 22.9 percent.

"This provides a level of certainty," said Bill Lyons, deputy to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero and the city's chief policy officer. "It gives the legislative bodies  council and commission  something more to have to feel comfortable with the vote."

The use of a third-party consultant should address criticisms of city and county subsidies for redevelopment projects. Without subsidies, Knoxville's downtown would not have grown into a vibrant urban core over the past decade. Their continued use will enable the community to sustain its economic momentum.

Using a third-party consultant to examine the use of public subsidies for redevelopment projects protects taxpayers. Armed with the MuniCap report, council members and county commissioners should be confident in moving forward with the Pryor Brown project.
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Sunday's full-page guest column on the front of the Perspective section is a good example of the liberal journalism most readers in the Knoxville area object to. Titled "White leaders must recognize importance of believing and saying: 'Black lives matter,' " the guest column goes into detail to describe our country's past sins all the way back to the founding of this nation. And certainly there are many events in our past that were despicable and should not ever happen again. But do we always have to reopen old wounds every time race is brought up? When we say that "all lives matter" is that wrong or untrue?

The writer conveniently omits that some Black Lives Matter groups have been chanting in their rallies for the killing of police officers. Does the writer believe that? When he omits that, does he not think that is important?

The writer also conveniently omits that No. 1 in the list of demands of Black Lives Matter groups is to pay reparations to the tune of many billions (or trillions) of dollars for past sins to all individual African-Americans now living in this country. Does the writer believe that? He doesn't mention this fact, so maybe he does support this idea. We just don't know what he thinks.

The fact of the matter is that all lives matter, and the lives of police and others matter as well as those of blacks. And as soon as everyone understands this, we can begin to heal our racial problems in this country, just like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speech that all children may finally be treated the same.

Glenn Norris, Powell
Tennessee man sentenced to 48 months in prison for fraud and extortion scheme

AUGUST 16, 2016 at 1:57 a.m.



KNOXVILLE -- Michael Mancil Brown, 37, of Franklin, Tenn., has been sentenced to 48 months in prison for engaging in an extortion and wire fraud scheme involving former presidential candidate Mitt Romneys tax returns.



Brown was found guilty at trial on May 12, 2016, of six counts of wire fraud and six counts of using facilities of interstate commerce to commit extortion. U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson of the Eastern District of Arkansas imposed the sentence and also ordered Brown to pay $201,836 in restitution to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.



According to testimony at trial, evidence recovered from a computer seized from Browns residence in 2012 implicated Brown in a scheme to defraud Romney, the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers and others, by falsely claiming that he had gained access to the PricewaterhouseCoopers internal computer network and had stolen tax documents for Romney and his wife, Ann D. Romney, for tax years prior to 2010.



In August 2012, a letter delivered to the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Franklin demanded that $1 million worth of the digital currency Bitcoin be deposited to a specific Bitcoin account to prevent the release of the purportedly stolen Romney tax returns, according to trial evidence. The letter invited interested parties who wanted the allegedly stolen Romney tax documents to be released to contribute $1 million to another Bitcoin account. As part of the scheme, similar letters were delivered to the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties in Franklin and similar statements were posted to Pastebin.com.

Published August 16, 2016
National Guard assists in Louisiana flood fight

AUGUST 16, 2016 at 12:24 a.m.





Louisiana National Guard has rescued nearly 3,400 people and 400 pets in

12 parishes from heavy flash flooding.





Soldiers help residents out the back of a high-water vehicle after severe flooding in Baton Rouge, La., Aug. 14, 2016. Guardsmen rescued more than 3,400 people and 400 pets since operations began Aug. 12. Army National Guard photo





NEW ORLEANS  Rescue operations brought on by excessive flooding in Louisiana began on August 12. Since that time, the Louisiana National Guard has rescued nearly 3,400 people and 400 pets in 12 parishes from heavy flash flooding.



Nearly 2,500 personnel are mobilized and nearly 195 high-water vehicles tasked or staged to assist local, parish and state emergency officials with heavy flash flooding in Ascension, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, Iberia, Lafayette, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Vermillion and West Feliciana parishes, officials said.



"That's what we are focused on: saving lives. We currently have 1,700 people mobilized. Those numbers will build up towards 2,000 and possibly as high as 2,500 as requests come in, said Army Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, Louisianas adjutant general. We can also bring on military police and give police officers a chance to rest and check on their homes."



Helicopter crews began airdrops of water and food on Interstate 12 to stranded motorists. About 100 bus drivers reported to Memorial Stadium over the weekend to aid in assistance.



The Louisiana Army National Guard has 131 high-water vehicles deployed for search and rescue, 30 boats, eight bridge-erection boats and five helicopters to combat the flood waters and protect communities in support of local officials. Liaison officers are working in 10 parishes.



More than 600,000 sandbags have been distributed, as well as about 96,000 bottles of water and 2,300 packaged meals. Additional resources are available if needed, officials said.

Published August 16, 2016
By Choi Sung-jin



Amid the lingering controversy over the proper level of the minimum wage, the number of workers not receiving even the minimum will exceed 3 million next year, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday.



This is because the government is negligent in ferreting out and punishing business owners who do not pay the lower wage limit to their workers, the central bank said, adding that this is also why chances are slim that a rise in the minimum wage would lead to an overall pay increase.



According to the BOK report submitted to the Monetary Policy Board, the domestic minimum wage increased at an annual average of 5.7 percent between 2008 and 2013, and that will accelerate to 7.4 percent from 2014 to 2017. It rose 8.1 percent this year and another 7.3 percent for next year, to 6,470 won ($5.80) an hour.



In 2010, the minimum accounted for 40.2 percent of the average wage an hour but the comparable ratio climbed to 46.5 percent this year.



Yet the central bank estimated the number of workers who do not receive the minimum wage will increase to 2.8 million this year and grow an additional 11.8 percent to reach 3.13 million next year.



That means about one in six workers will receive wages that fall short of the legal minimum. Accordingly, the share of workers who get a wage below the minimum will rise from 12.4 percent in 2010 to 14.6 percent this year and to 16.3 percent next year.



This is because there are wide-ranging exceptions in the Minimum Wage Law and labor inspectors are loose in supervising and punishing violators, allegedly considering the difficult situations facing business owners, especially smaller ones, the BOK report said.



The number of workers who received wages below the minimum fell from 2.06 million in 2010 to 1.86 million in 2012 but rebounded to 2.12 million in 2013. It reached 2.5 million last year and 2.8 million this year, showing sharp growth every year.



Earlier, the Korea Labor and Society Institute said there were nearly 2.64 million workers not getting the minimum wage as of March, or 13.7 percent of the total 19.23 million wage earners.



The central bank calculated the number of workers whose wages fall short of the legal minimum by estimating the hourly wage of workers and the distribution of workers' numbers next year based on 2017's forecast wage increase of 3.5 percent.



By industry, the largest number of workers on less than the minimum wage was in farming and fishing, followed by food service and lodging, art and leisure, business support, real estate rental, wholesale-retail and manufacturing.



By corporate size, small companies hiring fewer than 10 workers had the largest number of employees earning less than the minimum wage.



The state sets the minimum wage and employers who violate it can be jailed for a maximum three years or fined up to 20 million won.



But the number of violators detected has been declining every year, reducing incentives to abide by the rule. The number of disclosures was 6,081 in 2013 but fell to 1,645 in 2014 and 1,502 last year. Labor activists say this is because inspectors are not doing their job properly.



Because of this and other reasons, there is little possibility an increase in the minimum wage would lead to a rise in overall wages, the BOK said. The correlative coefficient between the average wage and the minimum wage also remained at a mere 0.2, pointing to the lack of a meaningful link between the two.



The report called for tougher labor inspection to raise employers' compliance and, in the longer run, introducing different minimum wages for various industries to increase the system's efficacy.




TmaxSoft CEO Chang In-soo, left, poses with Hewlett-Packard (HP) Korea CEO Ham Ki-ho, after signing a memorandum of understanding for their new database appliance equipment, ZetaData with HPE, at the latter's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of TmaxSoft



By Jhoo Dong-chan

TmaxSoft, the nation's leading database and middleware software firm, has forged its alliance with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) in database appliance systems, in their bid to take on dominant market leader Oracle.

The Korea's enterprise-level software firm said Tuesday that it signed an agreement with the U.S.-based IT giant, to boost marketing activities for their server-based database appliance equipment ZetaData with HPE.

This came at a time when demands for high-end database appliances are surging to manage massive datasets and process them in real-time. TmaxSoft provides its software expertise, while HPE is offering its high performance hardware, according to the Korean software firm.

In particular, both sides agreed to strengthen their ties in pushing for more aggressive marketing and promotion strategies to take on market leader Oracle's ExaData.

"The ZetaData with HPE will be the best option for clients seeking fast processing of massive datasets," TmaxSoft CEO Chang In-soo said in a statement. "We are going to expand our presence into the database appliance market, along with our Tibero database management system."

TmaxSoft said enterprises, adopting the equipment for three years, can benefit from an up to 45 percent decrease in the total cost of ownership, compared to existing counterparts from other companies.

The equipment won its first order from the Korea Racing Authority (KRA). TmaxSoft said it expects the product to play a central role in establishing a platform for the state-run horse racing firm's big data-based business.

TmaxSoft and the local subsidiary of the U.S.-based software company said they will also offer more flexible technological aids by teaming up with a local IT service company BayNex.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



The government has come under criticism for its two-faced policy on pre-installed applications for smartphones.



In recent years, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) has called for Google, handset manufacturers and mobile carriers to stop non-essential apps from coming bundled with phones as pre-installed apps, as the regulator identified the move as a monopolistic scheme hurting users' rights.



As part of its hard-line policy, the media watchdog said in May that it plans to revise a law to allow Android users to delete Google's non-removable, pre-installed apps.



The move earned favorable market responses, as customers here have voiced complaints over some non-removable preinstalled apps that gobble up a fair amount of storage for their handsets.



But the government ignited another controversy last week over its "Government 3.0" application recommended for installation in the Galaxy Note 7. The app is not non-removable, nor is it pre-installed for Samsung's new flagship handset.



Critics, however, voiced concerns over why the government made the decision to promote policy by introducing its app at a time when it is taking a hard-line stance on unnecessary apps from Google and Android platform business operators.



The Government 3.0 project is a mainstream policy initiated by President Park Geun-hye, pushing for more active data sharing among relevant state-run bodies to provide more convenient online and mobile services for the public.



"The government is making fun of the public by introducing the app while setting up Galaxy Note 7," the Green Consumer Network, a local civic group, said in a statement, Tuesday.



"Users can download tens of hundreds of government apps by going to mobile app markets, but the apps are unpopular as they are unnecessary for users' lives," it added. The civic group expressed regret that the government violated the gist of its own policy, and called for regulators  including the MSIP and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC)  to stop hurting users' freedom to choose apps.



Over the controversy, Samsung Electronics stressed last week that the Government 3.0 app was "not pre-installed" and users can choose whether to download it or not.



Samsung Electronics Mobile Communications President Koh Dong-jin said in a Galaxy Note 7 launch event here: "Customers can decide whether to download it or not."



He stressed that the Government 3.0 app is not a pre-installed app, and the company is only introducing the app.



"Users can make their own choices over installing the app while setting up the Galaxy Note 7," he said.




Queen Moonjeong's stamp was returned to Korea last year, 65 years after being illegally shipped out to the U.S. during the Korean War (1950-53). / Yonhap



By Yun Suh-young

As many as 71,375 Korean cultural assets are retained in Japan as of June, accounting for 43 percent or the total number of Korean cultural assets located overseas, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said Monday.

Yet the number of returned cultural assets from Japan only amounts to 9 percent, which is 6,550 pieces. Of the returned pieces, 3,300 were donated while the other 3,000 were restituted through governmental negotiations.

The number of identified Korean cultural assets in Japan increased by 3,600 according to the CHA's statistics report as of June 30 but the number of returned items only increased by 76.

This demonstrates the difficulties of restituting national assets. The slow progress lies in poor research records in the past, according to experts. Only 30 percent of the cultural assets discovered in Japan have been studied, according to CHA's 2014 report.

The difficulty of discovering assets comes from the unwillingness of their possessors to reveal them to the public due to fears they will be pressured to return the items to their countries of origin.



An example of this is Joseon Bell which is retained at the Jogu Shrine in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture in Japan. The bell which is known to have been built in 833 A.D. during the Unified Silla Period (668-935) was offered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi who invaded Korea in 1592. The bell has since been designated as Japan's national treasure. Numerous Korean civic groups have requested the bell be restituted to Korea but the shrine had remained silent, storing the bell away from public view.



The more people request its return, the more likely the possessors will be passive in taking action, experts say. "There is no way we can get cultural assets that have been designated as Japanese national treasures through international law, unless the requesting country approaches the country in possession of the objects carefully and convinces them to voluntarily return them," one expert said.
Eric Swanson

This is the second in a series of contributions about Seoul's charms as seen from foreigners' points of view.  ED.

By Eric Swanson

Seoul has many charms, but for me, the two things that stand out the most are its people and its delicious cuisine, and perhaps the bonding that happens when the two are combined.

In Korea, helping friends and acquaintances is an unforced but expected act. Assistance given thus creates a debt that should always be reciprocated. But, this reciprocation is an art that requires spontaneity, so that the giving is not done in a calculated way that requires repayment of the obligation.

This mutual-help ethic is known as "uiri" (loyalty or faith).

Uiri has drawn me closer to the Korean culture and its people. Consequently, a meal of samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly) with friends shared over a glass of soju has an entirely new meaning. More than a mere meal, the sharing of food and drink is an opportunity to foster a deeper relationship and understanding with the people you are with. I think that is why foods associated with ceremonious rituals always strike a chord with me.

One of my favorite restaurants is located not too far from Millennium Seoul Hilton where I reside. On the first floor of the structure, where you take the cable cars up to Mount Nam, is the restaurant, Namsan Galbi. A hotel staff member recommended this restaurant to me in 2006 and it remains my all-time favorite even today, a decade later.

I take staff members there for staff get-togethers and take Hilton HQ management there when they visit Seoul. It is where I first met my wife, and where we often went after a tiring stage performance with her other cast members. We celebrated her birthdays there, held family gatherings there and even used it for interviews with the press. You can imagine how often I frequented this restaurant.

Not only are wonderful memories created, but it's also an opportunity to smooth out any misunderstandings or difficulties, get to know the people I work with and promote uiri. Never have I come home from the galbi restaurant without a full feeling of camaraderie and connectedness.

The waitstaff here always have smiles on their faces and they always listen so intently with interest even though they do not understand most of what we are saying in our foreign tongue. But what they completely understand is the presentation of the most mouth-watering foods, offered to us in an amazing spread covering every inch of the table. This restaurant has wholeheartedly charmed me; it's a place where you can savor the smiles of warmhearted people and enjoy the foods and ambience you can't find anywhere else in the world. I think these are the beauties of this city of Seoul.



--

Eric Swanson is General Manager of Millennium Seoul Hilton.
A man, 19, allegedly snatched 3.6 million won from a voice-phishing group.

/ Courtesy of Twitter



By Lee Jin-a

There is no honor among thieves.

Police have caught a con artist for allegedly swindling money from a voice-phishing ring.

According to Busan police, Lee, 19, lent his bank account to a voice-phishing group in March in return for 250,000 won ($228) a week later. But Lee took 3.6 million won wired from a voice-phishing victim and fled to Australia, spending the money there, police said.

Lee returned to Korea on Aug 3 and was caught at Gimhae International Airport in Busan.

"I will receive due punishment for my crime," he told police.
Number of victims likely to increase



By Kim Bo-eun



The number of victims of toxic humidifier disinfectants is likely to increase as hospitals have been found to have used the products over the past years.



Several brands of humidifier disinfectants containing harmful chemicals sold from 2001 to 2011, gave rise to 530 government-recognized victims, including 146 deaths.



Data released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. Lee Hoon of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea showed eight general hospitals across the nation had used a total of 1,223 humidifier disinfectant products from 2006 to 2011.



The hospitals are the Korean Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Bundang, Miz Medi Hospital and Wooridul Hospital in western Seoul, Gwanghye General Hospital in Busan, the Hallym University Medical Center in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Gangneung Asan Hospital in Gangwon Province and Anyang Sam Hospital in Gyeonggi Province.



The hospitals used three brands: RB Korea, Aekyung and Home plus. Among them, RB Korea's product is known to have caused over 100 deaths in the scandal, as it contained PHMG, a chemical which authorities later found to be responsible for lung damage.



Gwanghye General Hospital used 396 humidifier disinfectant products over four years  which is the largest amount  among which RB Korea's products accounted for 137.



Local authorities sent documents requesting the data to 337 general hospitals across the nation but based on responses, only eight hospitals stated they had used the humidifier disinfectant products.



Lee's office said "it is likely that the majority of hospitals used the products, but covered up the fact, because they expect to face disadvantages."



"But because the general hospitals also exist for the public good, they have the ethical responsibility to correctly report the use of the disinfectant, if there were any," said Lee Jung-hee, aide to lawmaker Lee.



"We are continuing the investigation to find additional hospitals which used the product. We may feel the need to disclose the names of hospitals which drew up false reports and request the Health Ministry to conduct on-site examinations."



At the same time, Lee said "the hospitals are also victims," as they did not know that the products they used were harmful at the time.



Lee also said an investigation must also be launched into other institutions which are likely to have used the product.



"The environment or the health ministries were supposed to have launched a full-scale probe into hospitals, day care centers, nursing homes and postnatal care centers in 2011, when the humidifier disinfectant was shown to have been the cause of lung damage and deaths, but the government failed to do so, and therefore loopholes exist in finding and aiding victims," Lee said.



"Although belated, the ministries must launch the investigations now, for the victims."



Meanwhile, the National Assembly special committee on the humidifier disinfectant scandal on Tuesday started receiving reports from related ministries over their responsibility in regulating the manufacturing of the toxic products and their distribution. The Health Ministry will give its briefing today and ministry briefings will continue through Thursday.




By John Redmond

The Canadian Chamber in Korea (CanCham) will host a university alumni night at the Embassy of Canada in central Seoul, Aug. 26.

"Organized by CanCham the Canadian University Alumni Night is an annual networking event for business professionals, senior executives, educators and young professionals who graduated from Canadian universities and colleges or who are current students," states the invite.

CanCham is a member-driven, nonprofit organization in which members can take an active role in policymaking decisions that may affect their businesses.

"Our activities keep members abreast of political developments and business trends and offer the best opportunities for networking and developing business contacts," the chamber says on its website. "We strive to open doors to new opportunities, expand the depth and breadth of your business network and acquaintances, and offer an engaging community of Canadians and companies."

Early bird registration started this week and tickets are now available at 35,000 won.

The price will go back to the regular ticket price of 50,000 won after 6 p.m. on Aug. 22.

The event is from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and the dress code is business casual.

The Canadian Embassy is at Scofield Hall in Jeong-dong.

You can reach the Embassy of Canada via subway lines 1, 2 and 5.

From Seodaemun Station leave exit 5, walk about 300 meters and turn right at the first controlled intersection in front of the Kyunghyang Shinmun building. The Canadian Embassy is on the left side of the road across from Changdeok Girls' Middle School.

From City Hall Station, leave exit 1 or 12 and walk about 400 meters along the stone wall of Deoksu Palace. Walk straight through the three-way intersection, pass Jeongdong Theatre and walk about 200 meters straight up to the Embassy of Canada.
President Park Geun-hye said a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense unit will be deployed on South Korean soil by next year, but doubts are growing about whether this will be possible, as the presidential election is scheduled for December next year and presidential hopefuls from opposition parties, including Moon Jae-in, center, and Ahn Cheol-soo, right, have disagreed with the plan. / Graphic by Cho Sang-won



By Jun Ji-hye



The planned deployment of a U.S. advanced anti-missile system on South Korean soil is no longer a simple military issue but has emerged as a complicated political and diplomatic one.

The Park Geun-hye government said on July 13 that South Korea and the United States will deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, by the end of next year, but skepticism is abounding that ongoing deputes inside and outside of the nation could be dragged out, very likely until the next presidential election, scheduled for December 2017.

Once the election looms next year, presidential runners who are against the THAAD will very likely highlight the negative aspects of the system, and their opposition could help decide the fate of the deployment.

Park completes her term in office in February 2018, meaning she could lose her political leverage to push for deployment as her lame-duck status becomes more apparent toward the end of her presidency.

Presidential hopefuls from opposition parties have already been expressing their opposition to THAAD, citing the possible aggravation of South Korea-China relations and health and environmental risks, as well as the Seongju residents' resistance.

Last month, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party suggested putting the deployment decision to a referendum, saying the THAAD issue is not a simple security matter but a larger one that will have a great impact on the nation's economy and diplomacy.

"There is little to be gained by the THAAD deployment and much to be lost," he said. "My position is that the nation needs to keenly review what it will gain and lose from the deployment."

Ahn, who ran in the 2012 presidential election as an independent candidate, has been mentioned as one of the leading liberal runners for the next presidential poll.

Ahn's comment was referring to China's strong opposition against the deployment associated with the concerns that the AN/TPY-2 radar of the system could be used to spy on China's military activities and missile capabilities, and consequently, invade its security interests.

He said that the deployment will worsen Seoul-Beijing relations and prompt South Korea's top trading partner to retaliate.

Speculation is also rampant that China, a veto-wielding United Nations Security Council member and North Korea's traditional ally, will remain uncooperative in seeking measures against Pyongyang's provocations to protest the deployment.

Indeed, China's protest against the THAAD has recently intensified, as evidenced by an Aug. 3 editorial by the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of China's Communist Party, that stated that President Park should resolve the issue prudently to avoid driving her country to ruin.

Moon Jae-in, a presidential hopeful from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), has joined THAAD opponents on Aug. 9 when he slammed the Park government for criticizing six first-term lawmakers from the MPK, who left for China on Aug. 8 for talks with Chinese officials and scholars over the deployment of the THAAD system.

"The most urgent mission of the nation's diplomacy is preventing Seoul-Beijing relations from being damaged further," Moon said. "The government made a stupid mistake when it slammed the opposition lawmakers."

Ahead of the lawmakers' tour, Cheong Wa Dae warned that the visit will only bolster Beijing's stance over the THAAD and exacerbate the growing division among South Koreans.

After they pushed ahead with the visit despite the warning, President Park openly criticized them, saying they sympathized with the opinions of China and North Korea.

Other presidential runners who are against the THAAD include Rep. Kim Boo-kyum from the MPK, who raised the possibility of reversing the deployment decision during his visit to Seongju on Aug. 6.

"The deployment should not be accepted as fait accompli," he told the local residents. "It will take at least two years to deploy the battery completely. There is still time."

He added that the deployment was decided upon the necessity of the United States, and South Korea adopted a too submissive attitude.

"China and Russia have no choice but to react sensitively," he said.

Rep. Kim visited Seongju to listen to sentiments of local residents, who have been rising up in protest, claiming that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the battery's AN/TPY-2 radar can damage health and agricultural products.

Their protest has not showed any signs of slowing down, as they vowed to resist the deployment by every possible means, including legal action, which could also set back the government's deployment plan.

Experts also expect China to gradually intensify its criticism against the THAAD until Seoul's next presidential election in a bid to worsen the division among South Koreans. They say China might hope that the division will delay the deployment and the next government will withdraw the decision.

"China is apparently using the THAAD to cause internal division and make its side in South Korea," Park Hwee-rhak, dean of the Graduate School of Politics and Leadership at Kookmin University, told reporters.

Song Dae-sung, a former head of the Sejong Institute, said, "China probably wants a political party against the THAAD to win the presidential election in 2017."

In fact, political parties have been divided over the plan for deployment since it was announced by the government -- the ruling Saenuri Party supports it and the People's Party opposes it, while the MPK has failed to adopt a clear stance. Since China criticized President Park directly through its state-run media, such division has deepened.

Although several presidential hopefuls from the MPK have opposed the THAAD, the party itself has assumed an ambiguous attitude toward the THAAD mainly because of the position of its leader Rep. Kim Chong-in.

Kim said on Aug. 6 that if there is no alternative to cope with the mounting nuclear and missile threats from the North, the party should not disagree with the THAAD.

"If somebody asks me about whether the MPK can present the withdrawal of the deployment decision as an election pledge in the presidential poll, I will say No,'" he told reporters.

But observers say the MPK will soon join the People Party and another minor opposition Justice Party to protest the THAAD once its leadership is changed in a national convention scheduled for Aug. 27, as Reps. Choo Mi-ae, Lee Jong-kul and Kim Sang-gon, who are running for the chairmanship, have all indicated that they were against the THAAD.

Once the MPK officially adopts a "No THAAD" stance, the three opposition parties at the National Assembly will be able to jointly protest the deployment and highlight the issue during the election campaign.

In fact, a national security issue has been a hot potato during elections in South Korea due to the unique situation of the divided Korean Peninsula, which has always been beset by military tension.

In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential poll, one of the major issues was allegations that the late President Roh Moo-hyun had tried to nullify the inter-Korean sea border in the West Sea, called the Northern Limit Line (NLL), during his meeting with the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2007.

President Park's recent remark that the government will consider an alternative location for the THAAD within Seongju County also raised possibility of the issue continuing for long as it will take considerable time to find a new site and build a base for an artillery unit, which means deploying the system by next year would be almost impossible.
Russian doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova recently moved house, fearing for her life. / AP-Yonhap



By Choi Ha-young



The former Russian runner who fled to the United States after revealing her nation's state-sponsored doping of athletes fears assassination.



"If something happens to us then you should know that it is not an accident," Yuliya Stepanova told journalists though a video conference call, Tuesday. She is hiding somewhere in the U.S.



She took the recent hacking attempt on her World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) account as indicating someone is going after her.



"The only reason somebody would hack an Anti-Doping Administration and Management System account is to find out your exact location," she said.



She and husband Vitaly, a former Russian anti-doping official, revealed Russia's state-sponsored doping violations in 2014 through a German documentary.



"I was part of that system but I decided I no longer wanted to be a part of that system," she said in the conference call.



Her revelation led the International Olympic Committee to slap a blanket ban on several Russian athletes, including track and field athletes. The IOC and WADA invited her to the Rio Games, but she refused due to safety concerns.
By Jane Jeong Trenka

In past decades, the process to adopt children internationally took about four months, and the result was often child trafficking; many children were sent away without their mothers' knowledge or permission. Today, the process takes two or three years. These children experience a broken bond with their foster mothers in addition to their birthmothers.

One cause of these two extremes is the complete privatization of the intake process of children, which is completely controlled by adoption agencies. This kind of system is banned under the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, the main international treaty on international adoption.

The Convention has not been ratified by South Korea, even though it has sent more of its babies abroad for adoption than any other country in the history of modern international adoption. But ratification is one of 140 presidential projects  including strengthening post-adoption services and stabilizing unwed mother families  that must be completed by the end of Park Geun-hye's term.

According to The Hague, a competent authority, such as a government body or a court, should determine whether or not a child may be adopted. This protects the child's best interests by combating abduction and child trafficking and in Korea, could also speed up adoption for children who truly need it.

Today, the only government gatekeeping comes at the end of the long adoption process, when a judge gives permission to adoptive parents. Hopefully, the adoptive parents are qualified to raise the adopted child, because if they are not, the judge has little choice but to approve the adoption anyway; nothing else has been prepared for the child.

A good bill to properly implement The Hague Convention was proposed during the 19th National Assembly, but discarded at the end of the session. Yet a law still needs to be finalized by early 2017 because ratification is a presidential project. So the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been redrafting the bill in committee meetings that have been closed to the public.

The content of the new draft is of high concern. The committee wants to remove the main point of the old bill, which gave local governments the power to determine adoptability, and replace it with adoption agencies which again would decide the adoptability of the child.

The Convention may not be ratified with this kind of plan, as Article 4 clearly states that competent authorities must establish that the child is adoptable. Even an accredited adoption agency may not be considered to be a competent authority for the purpose of determining adoptability.

If the government does not take responsibility for gatekeeping but allows adoption agencies to continue to determine adoptability  whether officially or in practice  there will be no difference from how adoptions have been conducted for the past 60 years.

As of now, no one ultimately takes responsibility for the children of single mothers. The Ministry of Gender Equality  which is in charge of single parent policy  and the Ministry of Health and Welfare are not coordinating with each other. Therefore, it will also be extremely difficult for Korea to properly implement The Hague Convention's principle of subsidiarity, which means that family preservation must be tried before determining if the child is adoptable. Government agencies should work together instead of passing the buck.

The ratification of The Hague must open up a new era of ethical adoption in Korea, not simply dress up old mistakes in new legal facades. Korea should request guidance from The Hague's Permanent Bureau, as well as people affected by adoption, such as adoptees and single mothers. Transparency is urgently needed to ensure the proper ratification of the Convention.

Jane Jeong Trenka is president of TRACK (Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea) and holds a master's degree in public policy from Seoul National University. She is an adoptee and single mom. Write to jjtrenka@gmail.com.
By Shlomo Ben-Ami

MADRID  It seems that practically no Western democracy nowadays is immune to right-wing populism. While populist rhetoric seems to be reaching fever pitch, with far-reaching consequences  most notably the United Kingdom's vote to "Brexit" the European Union  the reality is that the strain of nativism that it represents has long bedeviled democratic politics.

Populist movements tend to focus on blame. Father Charles Coughlin, the 1930s-era Roman Catholic priest from Detroit who promoted a fascist agenda for America, consistently sought to root out the culprits for society's problems. Likewise, today's right-wing populists have eagerly turned on the "establishment" and the "elites."

In Europe, this has meant blaming the EU for everything that goes wrong. Addressing the complex roots of current economic and social challenges  the UK and France, for example, suffer substantially from hereditary privilege and frozen class systems  is a lot harder than decrying the EU as a villainous behemoth.

Beyond blame, populist ideology relies heavily on nostalgia . Much of the current upheaval in Europe evokes Edmund Burke's repudiation in 1790 of the French Revolution as the product of a misguided faith in ideas that defied people's attachment to history and tradition.

For the UK's Brexiteers, the borderless world that the EU, with its commitment to globalization, represents is destroying the nation-state, which better protected their interests. In their referendum campaign, they recalled a past when jobs were secure, neighbors were familiar, and security was assured. Whether that past ever really existed was irrelevant.

The last time European democracies were overtaken by radical political movements, in the 1930s, demagogues based their support largely on the old lower middle class, whose members feared being dispossessed and pushed into poverty by uncontrolled economic forces. In the wake of the protracted euro crisis, and the painful austerity that followed, today's populists have been able to play on similar fears, again primarily among older workers and other vulnerable groups.

Of course, Europe is not alone in being swept up by populism. The United States, where Donald Trump has secured the Republican nomination to be president, is also in serious danger. Trump paints a bleak picture of life in the US today, blaming globalization (specifically, immigration) and the "establishment" leaders who have advanced it for the struggles of ordinary American workers. His slogan, "Make America Great Again," is the ultimate display of false populist nostalgia.

Moreover, just as Brexiteers want to withdraw from Europe, Trump wants to withdraw the US from international arrangements of which it is a part, if not the linchpin. He has suggested dispensing with NATO, declaring that US allies should have to pay for America's protection. He has also launched tirades against free trade and even the United Nations.

As elsewhere, Trump's protectionism and national narcissism are sustained by the anxiety of those hit by the impersonal dark forces of the "market." The turn toward populism constitutes a revolt against intellectual orthodoxy, embodied by cosmopolitan professional elites. In the Brexit campaign, "expert" became a slur

This is not to say that challenging the establishment is entirely without merit. The establishment is not always in touch with the people. Populism can sometimes be a legitimate channel for aggrieved voters to make their frustrations known, and to call for a change of course. And in Europe, there are plenty of legitimate grievances: austerity, widespread youth unemployment, a democratic deficit in the EU, and an overloaded bureaucracy in Brussels.

But, rather than focus on real solutions, today's populists are often appealing to people's basest instincts. In many cases, they are emphasizing feelings over facts, stoking fear and hate, and relying on nativist appeals. And, in fact, they are less interested in tackling economic grievances than they are in using those grievances to win support for an agenda that would roll back social and cultural openness.

This is most apparent in the immigration debate. In the US, Trump has won support with proposals to block Muslims from entering the US and to build a wall to keep out those crossing the border from Mexico. Likewise, in Europe, populist leaders have capitalized on the influx of refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East to convince people that EU-imposed policies threaten not just Europeans' security, but also their culture.

The fact that nearly all of the regions in Britain that voted for Brexit received massive EU subsidies supports this interpretation. So do circumstances in Germany. Though the arrival of a million largely Muslim immigrants last year has not hurt the economy  which remains at full employment  many people are rejecting Chancellor Angela Merkel's vision of a new, more multicultural Germany.

Simply put, for many Europeans, immigrants represent less a threat to their livelihoods than a challenge to their national and tribal identities . Populist leaders like the UK Independence Party's Nigel Farage have not hesitated to capitalize on this cultural anxiety, leading British voters ultimately to vote against their own interests.

And yet the grievances which populists like Farage and Trump manipulate are real. To preserve the principles of openness and democracy on which continued social and economic progress depends, those grievances must be understood and addressed. Otherwise, populists will continue to win support, with potentially severe consequences, as the Brexit debacle shows.

Fortunately, there is also precedent for escaping populist takeovers. In the 1930s, as Europe drifted into the hands of either tyrants or banal democratic leaders, America's Coughlins and others were overshadowed by President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. And a new deal  one that corrects the EU's yawning democratic deficit and puts an end to self-defeating austerity policies  is precisely what will save Europe today.

Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, is Vice President of the Toledo International Center for Peace. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate.
A judge is facing an investigation over a lobbying scandal involving Jung Woon-ho, CEO of the cosmetics company Nature Republic.



On Monday, the prosecution indicted the head of a plastic surgery clinic, surnamed Lee, who is suspected of having lobbied the judge in return for 100 million won from Jung. In March when Jung was facing an appeals trial for his overseas gambling, Lee reportedly contacted the judge at a district court in the Seoul Metropolitan area and asked him to plead for favors from the court in charge of the trial. The judge, surnamed Kim, denied the lobbying suspicions, saying he turned down Lee's request.



But the prosecution's investigation into the scandal so far has offered plausible reasons to suspect the judge's involvement.



Jung allegedly sold his used sport utility vehicle to the judge for 50 million won. But prosecutors found that the money was returned to the judge, meaning that Jung offered the car for free with the aim of lobbying the judge.



The prosecution also found that several 1 million-won checks issued by Jung were deposited into an account held by a relative of Judge Kim through Lee. The judge claims that it was condolence money sent by Lee, noting that he was not aware that the money came from Jung.



This is the first time that an incumbent judge has been on the list of suspects in the latest lobbying scandal. The prosecution plans to summon the judge within this week.



In fact, the involvement of incumbent judges and prosecutors has been raised from the outset, but the prosecution's probe has made little progress. The prosecution only managed to indict two lawyers who had been a prosecutor and a judge, respectively, raising speculation that it might have been tepid on investigating incumbents.



But given that the point of the lobbying scandal is to uncover whether Jung's high-profile lawyers lobbied high-ranking prosecutors or judges, the public has to be disappointed with the prosecution's practice of protecting its colleagues.



It is needless to say that the top law enforcement agency must speed up its investigation into the scandal lest the public come to doubt the integrity of its probe. Few people would accept the results of the investigation unless irregularities involving incumbent judges or prosecutors are transparently laid bare.



The prosecution is facing its gravest crisis as prosecutors have been mired in a string of corruption cases. Its honest and thorough investigation of the lobbying scandal will serve as an occasion for it to win back public trust.




President lacks compassion toward people's hardships



The Liberation Day presidential speech has routinely been an occasion for the President to share a vision for unification and comment on the situation in Northeast Asia.



In her fourth Liberation Day speech, President Park Geun-hye tried to become a messenger of hope by stressing a can-do spirit, recalling the "proud history" of nation-building and economic leap after liberation from Japanese rule.



Her message of optimism did not penetrate with the people because she showed no remorse about her own failures in addressing their hardships. In this regard, Park should take a lesson or two from U.S. President Barack Obama, a phenomenal speaker who has underlined hope in many of his speeches. His latest was at the Democratic National Convention to nominate Hillary Clinton as the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. party.



The reason President Obama's Democratic National Convention speech was so compelling was that it contained words of reflection on his shortcomings. In the marquee speech at the DNC, Obama said "my time in this office hasn't fixed everything." His speech was moving because he paid tribute to the people, saying "time and again, you've picked me up. I hope, sometimes, I picked you up, too." The sincerity and humble tone was why his message of "hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty" was deeply moving.



In contrast, Park only angered the public with her message by showing an absence of sympathy toward the hardships many Koreans face in their lives.



She showed resentment toward the widespread use of newly-coined terms reflecting the hardships of life in Korea. She was referring to terms like "Hell Joseon" or the "gold spoon/earth spoon" dichotomy for describing the widening social gap. She said that such expressions "deny Korea's great contemporary history and degrade Korea, which is the envy of the world, into a nation of hard living." She stressed that putting oneself down and being pessimistic cannot bring change or development and called on the nation to revive the "spirit of challenge and optimism" that had been the driving force of Korea's growth.



Rather than criticizing the spread of these words, she needs to think in earnest about why such terms have been created. These terms became popular during her term in office because Koreans have become unhappier.



From the ordinary people's perspective, life has become harder in the last few years she has been President. Taxes have soared while income has remained stagnant. Korea's young adults are suffering one of the worst youth unemployment crises. The nation's elderly are at the top of poverty index among OECD countries. Koreans are working the longest hours among OECD countries, leaving little room for self-development and leisure. Due to economic instability among young adults, more Koreans are shunning marriage and giving birth, resulting in one of the lowest birthrates in the world. All in all, Koreans are unhappy and that is why many people call this country "Hell Joseon."



The use of these terms shows that the people are not happier or more prosperous than when she arrived at Cheong Wa Dae. A responsible leader will admit her or his faults and encourage the people.



It is true that virtues such as optimism are missing in today's Koreans, particularly among the young and the elderly who are worried about their livelihoods. The right thing for the President to do is to show more compassion toward them rather than scold them for being cynical.




Social networking services remain in blind spot of monitoring



By Yoon Sung-won



An opposition lawmaker has called on the nation's top online portal operators Kakao and Naver to step up the drive to remove online obscenity and pornographic content from their platforms.



Quoting a data analysis from the Korea Communication Standards Commission, Rep. Choi Myung-ghil of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) said Tuesday that Kakao, provider of the nation's most-used mobile messenger service Kakao Talk, has received a total of 20,295 requests for correction of postings including pornographic or prostitution-related content since 2011. This is the highest number among web portal operators here.



Of more than 20,000 requests, however, the lawmaker said the company handled 2,694 cases, only around one-tenth the total requests, through voluntary censorship. He pointed out that Kakao needs to be active in monitoring distribution of improper and illegal content.



Naver has voluntarily handled only 571 cases out of 6,467 correction requests, which is less than one-tenth.



"It is questionable whether the company is actual making voluntary efforts to screen obscene content," the lawmaker said.



The lawmaker said Kakao has had the most correction requests for obscene content since 2013. Before then, Naver received the most requests but the number has dramatically decreased since 2014, he said.



The number of total correction requests for illegal and harmful content has also increased from 53,485 in 2011 to 148,751 in 2015.



"Despite the efforts by the Korea Communication Standards Commission, it is practically impossible to completely eradicate illegal and harmful content as millions of them are being posted online every day," Choi said. "For this reason, I believe that more preemptive actions, based on thorough analysis of past cases and current status, are needed."



In terms of information regarding gambling, classified as illegal and harmful content, Google received 2,282 correction requests in 2014 and 1,367 in 2015. In the meantime, Kakao has rooted out 53,374 cases and Naver 40,533 cases since 2012, through voluntary screening efforts, Choi said.



Among social networking services, Twitter and Tumblr have received the greatest number of correction requests over pornographic content and prostitution ads.



In particular, Tumblr, Yahoo's microblogging service, has increasingly been highlighted as a hotbed of obscene content. According to the data, Tumblr received a total of 5,483 correction requests in the first half of this year, compared to Twitter's 2,052. In 2015, Tumblr received 9,477 and Twitter received 10,165 requests.



Choi pointed out that Facebook and Instagram have remained blind spots of government monitoring. He said it has been difficult for the government to effectively monitor illegal content on Facebook because the service provides a private boundary option.



For Instagram, which has increasingly become the most popular social networking platform here, a more strategic measure to tackle illegal content is needed due to its unique inquiry system based on the use of hashtags.



"A massive volume of obscene content and prostitution advertisements come up on hashtag-based inquiries with certain keywords," Choi said. "For this reason, the Korea Communications Standards Commission needs even more active measures."




SK Holdings C&C's smart factory business head Park Jong-tae, center, poses with Clean Factomation CEO Park Eui-su, left, and Daifuku's e-FA business head Seiji Sato after signing an agreement to cooperate in smart factory business in China at Daifuku's office in Japan, Tuesday. / Courtesy of SK Holdings C&C



By Yoon Sung-won



SK Holdings C&C said Tuesday it is expanding partnerships to strengthen its smart factory business targeting China's semiconductor and display panel industries.



The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japanese logistics automation equipment maker Daifuku. Tapping into the latest partnerships in this sector, the company has made similar agreements with Siemens. SK pledged to roll out smart factory services next year.



"In cooperation with Daifuku, we will expedite the launch of smart factory system services targeting China's semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturers," SK Holdings C&C's smart factory business head Park Jong-tae said in a statement. "We plan to roll out services optimized for the Chinese market in the first half of 2017."



Established in 1937, Daifuku is operating more than 40 branch offices and plants in 22 countries with 7,800 employees around the globe.



Based on the partnership, the two companies will combine SK's smart factory system named "Scala" and Daifuku's manufacturing and logistics automation equipment and technologies.



"We understand that Daifuku has appreciated Scala's openness, flexibility and expandability as well as functions that are compatible with the newest information technologies such as big data analysis, cloud and the Internet of Things," SK said.



To prepare for smart factory services specialized for China's semiconductor and flat panel display markets, the two companies will organize and operate a dedicated team. The team will share potential customer information between the two companies and devise smart factory system service models including maximization of manufacturing efficiency, process improvement and introduction of intelligent logistics systems.



"Based on the Scala system, we will expand our clean room automation equipments' penetration into China's semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing markets," Daifuku's e-FA business head Seiji Sato said. "In cooperation with SK, we pledge to secure the status as the most competitive smart factory system provider in the Chinese semiconductor and display manufacturing markets."
By Kim Tae-gyu



People will be able to send money on Samsung Electronics' new cell phone by just looking at it.



Korea's major lenders said Tuesday that they are working on biometrics-based authentication, which would be enabled by an iris-scanning option built into the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that will be released later this week.



The iris scanning-powered Samsung Pass will let customers of Woori, Shinhan and KEB Hana banks carry out mobile-banking transactions with the new phone.



The mobile giant seems to be confident about the success of the new feature.



"Samsung Pass service will simplify the complicated process of authentication," Samsung's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said last week during a media event. "It is the safest security technology at the current level."



He added that Korea's largest company will continue its talks with around 350 banks that have partnerships with Samsung Pay both at home and abroad.



Biometrics technology has developed involving the three main pillars of facial, fingerprint and iris recognition. Among them, the error rate of iris recognition is the lowest  a person's iris is fixed one-and-a-half years after birth and cannot be reproduced.



Observers have indicated that the iris scanner is the marquee solution of the Note 7 since its recent unveiling event in New York.



"The Note 7 comes with an improved stylus, a stronger glass screen, more storage and better water- and dust-resistance. But they are basically enhancements from the previous versions," a Seoul analyst said.



"What most arrests my attention is the iris scanner, which is brand new. I hope to see what people will do with the new feature."



Not everybody is optimistic about the Note 7's new application, though, since Samsung competitors in Japan and the United States already failed to chalk up any notable successes with the same feature.



Last year, Fujitsu came up with the Arrow NX F-04G with an embedded iris scanner and so did Microsoft with the Lumia 950 but neither could take root in global markets.



Yet, the Seoul analyst pointed out that Samsung might be different.



"For the Fujitsu and Microsoft models, the iris scanner worked as a wow factor but nothing much beyond that. The function is mostly used to unlock phones and questions arose on the accuracy and speed of the process," he said.



"In the case of the Note 7, the process seems to be reliably fast and accurate as Samsung reportedly had been preparing it for quite a long time. On top of it, the outfit appears to have arranged its actual usage along with its financial partners early on. Such efforts might bear fruit. Let's see what is in store."




According to the Italian brand, Bruno Magli, their newest spring-summer shopper bag "Rosa" was sold out in a month of its launch after it was featured on SBS's "Doctors."

In the drama, Actress Park Shin Hye matched the bag with casual and trendy looks which formed different styles using the adjustable drawstrings.

In a period of a month, all 1,000 bags were sold out since it's launch in early June. Bruno Maglisaid that they had to demand an emergency re-order and will stock up the bags again.

"Rosa" is made from canvas and leather and comes in three colors which includes: navy, olive & khaki, and white & blue. The bag is priced at 218,000 won ($190).
U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence J. OShaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, met with Japanese Defense leaders and PACAF Airmen Aug. 7 through 12 as part of his first trip to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region as the commander.

The trip bolstered relationships with Japanese counterparts and allowed OShaughnessy the opportunity to discuss the vital role Airmen at Yokota Air Base and Kadena Air Base play in that relationship with Japan.

The strength of our alliance with Japan has never been more important, OShaughnessy said. When we look at the current security situation in the region, the growing dependence on air power to maintain the peace and stability is directly related to both the strength of our Airmen, as well as their ability to contribute to the alliance.

During his visit, OShaughnessy met with Japan Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada, Japan Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Yoshiyuki Sugiyama, Air Defense Command Commander Lt. Gen. Hiroaki Fukue, and several other key JASDF leaders. The general also took the time to visit the AN/TPY-2 radar site at Kyogamisaki to visit with the Soldiers of the 14th Missile Defense Battery who are responsible for the operations and maintenance of the vital ballistic missile defense system.

We must continue to build these relationships and enhance the capabilities of our alliances, OShaughnessy said. Its the daily things we do, the partnerships that are people-to-people. If we are going to fight together, we need to understand each other. The relationships we make over time will have a huge impact.

While meeting with Airmen, the general also addressed the importance of preserving ambassadorship with Japan.

The actions of our Airmen can have a strategic impact on our vital relationship with Japan, he explained. I stress to all our Airmen that the professionalism they show each day must continue both in an out of uniform. Ensuring we maintain a strong alliance will help us to deter and defeat any potential threats.

While visiting Yokota and Kadena with Chief Master Sgt. Buddy Hutchison, PACAF command chief, OShaughnessy thanked Airmen for their dedication to maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Youre an amazing team; I know you will keep doing amazing things, he said. Remember you are an American Airman who is making a big difference and completing the mission our nation needs you to do. You should be proud of that.

(The 374th Airlift Wing and 18th Wing Public Affairs Offices contributed to this article.)
A six-month pregnant woman is receiving treatment at Nakuru Level Five Hospital after she set herself ablaze over a love gone sour.

Cythia Njoki is said to have poured kerosene on her body after picking a fight with her husband whom she had accused of having an illicit affair. The 28-year-old woman sustained 45 per cent burns on her hands, abdomen, thighs and face.

My husband is a mechanic and over the weekend, he did not come home, confirming my fears that he was having a good time with his mistress, she said.

Njoki, who lives in Langa Langa estate, said she was unable to comprehend why her husband was living a promiscuous lifestyle. I was overwhelmed by anger, went into my bedroom where I set myself ablaze.

Oh well, trust my Nigerian ladies. May God not let us see fire inside well. Set your self and your born child ablaze because of a man? IT IS WELL.

Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
The body of a transgender prostitute has been found mutilated and badly-burnt on a road side in Istanbul. The murder of sex worker and political activist Hande Kader is the latest in a string of violent hate attacks carried out against the Turkish LGBT community.

Kader, 22, was last seen getting into a clients car before her body was found in the posh neighbourhood of Zekeriyakoy.

A missing persons report was filed last week after the victims partner alerted authorities that she had not returned home.



Her burnt corpse was later positively identified at the city morgue. Kader had previously been pictured at LGBT rallies and was filmed being arrested by police at a demonstration in Istanbul.

This latest murder comes less than two weeks after the beheading of a gay Syrian refugee whose body was found a few miles from where Kader was discovered.

Muhammed Wisam Sankari, who had fled war torn Syria, was found decapitated after being raped and assaulted.



Follow Us on Facebook  @LadunLiadi; Instagram  @LadunLiadi; Twitter  @LadunLiadi; Youtube  @LadunLiadiTV for updates
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
PRESS RELEASE

Chinese Launching Bullet Trains on 12,000 Miles of Hi-Speed Rail

Aug. 15, 2016 (EIRNS)Xinhua reported today that "China Standard" passenger bullet trains, a new Chinese design capable of 350-km/hr travel, have started operation in its northeast Liaoning Province.

China Rail Corporation (CRC) has 2,470 of the trains, called electric multiple units (EMUs), built or being manufactured, and is launching them on Chinas entire high-speed rail network, which now totals 19,000 kilometers (about 12,000 miles) built within the past decade.

CRC executive Zhou Li told Xinhua that "China independently owns the design of the EMU, and it will be a leading model for China to export to the world." He said China will offer rail products according to the needs of various countries, where it is also developing the many transport infrastructure projects of the "One Belt One Road," or Silk Road Belt and Maritime Silk Road.
PRESS RELEASE

Former JCS Vice Chair Calls for End to U.S. First Strike Doctrine

Aug. 15, 2016 (EIRNS)General James Cartwright, who was Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and earlier served as head of the Strategic Command, has co-authored an op-ed appearing in todays New York Times, calling on President Obama to end the U.S. nuclear first strike doctrine. Cartwright and co-author Bruce G. Blair also called for a drastic reduction in the US arsenal of thermonuclear weapons, down to 1,000, largely to be deployed on submarines and strategic bombers not vulnerable to a first strike attack.

In April 2015, General Cartwright co-authored another New York Times op-ed with General Vladimir Dvorkin, former intelligence director of Russias Strategic Rocket Force, warning about the growing danger of thermonuclear war and calling for the US and Russia to agree to end the hair-trigger policy of launch on warning.

After running down a list of benefits of declaring an end to U.S. nuclear first strike, Cartwright and Blair noted,

Although a no-first-use policy would limit the presidents discretion by imposing procedural and physical constraints on his or her ability to initiate the use of nuclear weapons, we believe such checks on the commander-in-chief would serve the national interest.

After noting that China has taken the lead in a no-first-use policy, the authors concluded that

President Obama would be wise to follow Chinas example. As commander-in-chief, he can adopt no-first-use overnight and lead the way in establishing it as a global norm among all of the nine countries with nuclear weapons.

Washington sources indicated that the Cartwright-Blair op-ed is an important contribution to the much-needed debate over U.S. strategic doctrine, for a post-Cold War world.
PRESS RELEASE

New German-Russian Cooperation in Fusion Power Research

Aug. 15, 2016 (EIRNS)The German nuclear research center in Julich and Russian research at the Budker Center in Novosibirsk have signed a cooperation agreement for the joint construction of a special facility to produce polarized deuterium fuel from unpolarized deuterium. This will generate pre-ordered "nuclear spins"alignments of the deuterium atomsfor fusion power experiments involving both deuterium and helium fuel. The joint project is funded by the German Research Association DFG and the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).

Departing from traditional generation of pre-ordered spins from already-polarized deuterium, the Russian scientists and engineers will contribute a specific magnetic field configuration, which will pre-order the isotope spins already during the polarization process. This enables the desired spins to be more easily filtered out and, in the same process, separated from the spin alignments not wanted for the experiment.

Why? The efficiency of the fusion power reaction is considerably higher with completely polarized fuel than with the traditional method. It gives a larger "cross-section" to the reaction which combines the atoms of deuterium and/or helium, at extremely high temperatures and pressures produced by magnets or lasers.

The reaction is thus longer-lastingone major goal of fusion power developmentand the energy and particles produced can be directed magnetically for technological purposes.

The configuration design for polarizing the deuterium fuel comes from the Russian center. The German contribution will be the construction of four Lamb Shift Polarimeters from the Julich center. There are only five of these worldwide at this point, so Julich will take a global lead in this kind of research. Related research teams at the Universities of Dusseldorf and Darmstadt are part of the effort.

The key for German fusion power testing is the availability of this polarized fuel for the national fusion research center in Greifswaldan advanced magnetic fusion confinement design known as a stellerator. In early February, Greifswald, with unpolarized fuel, achieved 80 million degrees Fahrenheit temperature for one-quarter of a second of complete confinement of the fusion plasma by the magnetic fields.

But then, in late February, Chinas tokamak magnetic confinement designthe Experiment Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST)achieved 90 million degrees for 100 seconds of confinement.

The combination of polarized fuel and stellerator design was widely discussed and described in Lyndon LaRouches Fusion magazine 35 years ago, as key to achieving fusion power.
PRESS RELEASE

Rand Paul Calls for Blocking Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia; Sen. Murphy Blames Obama for Saudi Crimes

Aug. 15, 2016 (EIRNS)Members of the House and the Senate are putting the blame on British puppet Obama for Saudi war crimes in Yemen, and are threatening to block the $1.15 billion arms sales to the terrorist-supporting Kingdom that Obama approved last week. Reports from Doctors without Borders in Yemen over the weekend are that Saudi airstrikes killed 21 civilians, including 10 children, when bombs hit a school in the northern village of Sadah, reported antiwar.com today. Another 19 children were injured in the attack.

Congress has 30 days after reconvening, following the summer recess, to block the sale that was announced last week. The weapons deal includes up to 153 Abrams tanks, 20 Hercules armored vehicles, and some 500 machine guns.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that he will work to block the deal in the Senate.

I will work with a bipartisan coalition to explore forcing a vote on blocking this sale," he said in a statement emailed to Foreign Policy.

"Saudi Arabia is an unreliable ally with a poor human rights record. We should not rush to sell them advanced arms and promote an arms race in the Middle East.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member with Paul on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was quoted today in the Guardian from a June statement on Capitol Hill.

If you talk to Yemeni Americans, they will tell you in Yemen this isnt a Saudi bombing campaign, its a US bombing campaign, Murphy said. Every single civilian death inside Yemen in attributable to the United States. We accept that as a consequence of our participation.

In the House, opposition to the Saudi arms deal is also strong, reported US News on Aug. 12th.

I believe the Saudi militarys operational conduct in Yemen and the killing of civilians with U.S.-made weapons have harmed our national security interests, and I will continue to oppose any arms sale that contributes to its operations in that arena,

says Rep. Ted Lieu, (D-Calif.).

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) similarly told the media, This approved sale deserves to be scrutinized by Congress rather than rubber-stamped. He added,

Saudi Arabias dangerous and reckless use of cluster munitions and other weapons has already harmed and killed countless innocent civilians. The last thing the United States should do is sell them more than a billion dollars worth of additional arms and military equipment.... America has a solemn responsibility to stand up for human rights and help protect the lives of innocent civilians."

In June, Congressional opposition to the Saudis genocidal war surged after a UN report said that in 2015 the Saudi-led coalition had killed 510 children and wounded 667 others in Yemen.

Last week the hyper-defensive Saudis "hijacked" Sen. Pauls Twitter account when he launched a poll in which he asked readers to vote yes or no on the question, should the United States sell arms to Saudi Arabia? According to the Washington Examiner, dozens of Saudi twitterers swarmed the poll, tilting the unofficial results to 73,000 "for," and 27,000 "against," and leaving all kinds of threatening comments. The Saudi reaction shows how paranoid Riyadh is now, after the release of the 28 pages.
Big private insurance companies bailing out of a government-sponsored healthcare program, complaining about financial losses. Hundreds of thousands of customers lose their health plans. Terminations are especially severe in rural counties, leaving virtually no competition. Total enrollment drops.

Obamacare, 2016? No, Medicare, 1998-2002. During that time, insurers canceled nearly half of their contracts to participate in the managed care program then known as Medicare+Choice and now called Medicare Advantage. Between 300,000 and 1 million customers lost their plans. Total managed care enrollments fell to 4.6 million from 6.4 million. The future of the program was very much in doubt.

And yet, enrollments in Medicare Advantage today number 17.2 million.

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What happened? An answer comes from Sabrina Corlette and Jack Hoadley of Georgetown Universitys Health Policy Institute. In a new study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, they apply lessons from that experience and other healthcare reforms to the state of the Affordable Care Act individual exchange.

When you provide a public benefit using private companies, those companies are going to make business decisions that are not in the public interest.  Sabrina Corlette, Georgetown University

Resistance by private insurers to the Medicare managed care program elicited concerns about the programs survival. That should sound familiar to followers of the ACAs individual exchanges, which have suffered withdrawals by insurers covering hundreds of thousands of enrollees nationwide. The most recent announcement comes from Aetna, which said Monday that it would cease selling exchange plans next year in 11 of the 15 states where it has been participating. That potentially will force more than 500,000 customers to find new plans. The company will continue to sell exchange plans only in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia.

Similar uncertainties also affected Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit Congress created in 2003creating a market for private drug plans that, like Medicare managed care and the ACA exchanges, had not existed before. As Corlette and Hoadley observe, policymakers aware of Medicare+Choices troubled history wrote a fallback plan into Part D that ensured its success. But they didnt take all the same steps in creating the ACA exchanges, which explains why those are still experiencing birth pains.

When you provide a public benefit using private companies, Corlette told me, those companies are going to make business decisions that are not in the public interest. Policy makers have to be ready to manage that.

These programs differ from each other in significant ways, so the solutions chosen for Medicare arent entirely applicable to the Affordable Care Act. But they do provide a rough roadmap to guide Congress and state and federal regulators.

Thats because the programs faced similar problems, endemic to situations in which insurers are required to accept enrollees regardless of the risk that theyll require costly healthcare. That happened with Medicare managed care and with the governments Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, which delivers group coverage to government workers. In 1989, Corlette and Hoadley found, Aetna withdrew from FEHBP because of this so-called adverse risk selection; more recently, other commercial insurers, including United Healthcare, have cut back their participation.

Typically, this translates into a complaint that the insurers arent being paid enough to shoulder the riskthe essence of their problem with the ACA exchanges. Congress responded to the insurance industrys complaint about Medicare managed care by increasing reimbursements to the insurers starting in 2003, temporarily paying about 10% more than they were paid for straight Medicare treatments.

Congress threw money at the problem, Corlette says. The changes enticed insurers back into the managed care market: While nearly a third of Medicare enrollees had no access to managed care in 2000, nearly all did by 2006.

That remedy wont work for the ACA, because the insurers arent paid directly by the government, but by enrollees. Premiums, deductibles and co-payments are set via marketplace competition, overseen (in some cases) by state insurance regulators.

Congress could, however, increase subsidies to help enrollees meet those costs. That would encourage signups by more people, especially younger and healthier customers who are needed to bring insurers per-customer expenses down. That would lure insurers back into the system, Corlette and Hoadley contend. Hillary Clinton has advocated that change as part of her Presidential campaign, but enacting it will require Congressional cooperation.

Congress took steps to avoid similar uncertainties with Medicare Part D. For any region left without at least two privately administered prescription plans, the government would assign a private insurer to administer a plan but would carry the financial risk itself. As it happened, the fallback was never needed.

Policy makers also provided three permanent risk adjustment mechanisms for Part D which have helped keep the marketandprices stable, Corlette and Hoadley observe. Congress wrote similar programs into the ACA, but limited two of the three to just three years, expiring this year. Congress further hobbled one of the temporary programs, rendering it almost completely ineffective. As weve reported, those shortsighted limitations have undermined the exchangesat the expense of millions of customers. Congress probably should have given the risk program more time to make sure they worked as intended, Corlette says.

Another possible option is to force insurers to participate in the exchanges, perhaps as a tradeoff for something they want. As weve observed, some of the same insurers who are bailing out of the individual exchanges are making big profits in Obamacares Medicaid expansion programs; why not tie the two together? Another option has been pioneered by Florida, which conditioned its consent to the proposed merger of Aetna and Humana to the merged companys agreement to offer individual exchange plans in five counties where it was not yet operating. Insurers want and need accommodations from state and federal authorities all the time; theres plenty of opportunity to make deals.

For all that, the most important lesson from Medicare and other public programs has been ignored by the insurers themselves: the creation of a new marketplace with a large risk pool will mean new risks that have to be covered.

The risk profile of the overall public in itself should not be a surprise; as insurers know from their experience with Medicare, Medicaid, and employer health plans, a small minority of patients always accounts for the preponderance of costs. Before the ACA, insurers in the individual market dealt with this reality simply by refusing to offer insurance to high-risk customers or pricing them effectively out of the pool. Under the ACA, such medical underwriting is forbidden. Consequently, the risk profile of ACA customers looks a lot worse than that of the pre-ACA individual market, though not much different from employer-sponsored insurance, in which all customers must be covered.

Corlette acknowledges that the key to making the ACA market work is to broaden the customer base by attracting more low-risk customers. But she questions whether the insurers themselves have taken sufficient steps to bring them into the pool. What are they doing to market to young healthies? she asks. From what Ive seen, instead of doing more outreach, theyre disappearing into their bunkers. To some extent, if the risk pool is unbalanced, theyre to blame.

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.

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The Los Angeles Convention Center, once a financial drain on the city, reported a record $8.1 million in profit for the latest fiscal year thanks to a surge in conventions and trade shows.

Profit for the fiscal year that ended June 30 is nearly triple the $2.8 million in profit reported in the previous fiscal year, according to AEG Facilities, the private subsidiary of Anschutz Co., which took over operation of the facility in 2013.

The glowing financial report is in stark contrast to the years before AEG took over managing the center. Operating the facility cost the city of Los Angeles more than $48,000 in 2013 and $1.8 million in 2012, according to city records.

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The increased profit came primarily from a boost in revenue from parking, movie and television filming, and food and beverage sales at the facility, said Brad Gessner, general manager of the convention center and senior vice president at AEG Facilities.

It helped that the convention center had a 30% increase in citywide conventions, he said. The National Assn. of Letter Carriers, a group that has about 8,000 delegates visiting Los Angeles this week, will help boost the current fiscal year.

The conventions are the ones that put the heads in the beds and generate economic growth in the city, Gessner said, adding that the last time the letter carriers met in Los Angeles was 1941.

Much of the profit goes to the city or to a reserve fund for the convention center, he said. AEG collected a $175,000 annual management fee and is likely to receive a $175,000 bonus for reaching revenue benchmarks.

AEG Facilities also manages convention centers in Bakersfield, Honolulu, Puerto Rico, Australia, Oman and Malaysia, in addition to concert venues from Los Angeles to Sweden and China.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.
For years, insurance provider Health Net Inc. used illegal severance agreements to try to keep departing employees from talking to state and federal officials about company violations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday.

The Woodland Hills company agreed to pay a $340,000 penalty to settle the SECs allegations. It also agreed to contact former employees who had signed the severance agreements between Aug.12, 2011, and Oct. 22, 2015, and inform them that they were not prohibited from blowing the whistle about potential securities violations.

SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >>

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Health Net did not respond to requests for comment. The SEC said the company had agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the commissions findings.

The health insurer changed language in its severance agreements after the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation was enacted in 2010. The law encourages whistleblowers to report possible securities law violations by providing financial awards and other incentives.

Under Health Nets amended severance agreements, former employees waived their right to any monetary recovery that came from becoming a whistleblower. The SECs order does not address non-securities-related whistleblower lawsuits.

Financial incentives in the form of whistleblower awards, as Congress recognized, are integral to promoting whistleblowing to the commission, said Antonia Chion, associate director of the SECs enforcement division. Health Net used its severance agreements with departing employees to strip away those financial incentives.

Hundreds of former Health Net employees signed the agreements, the SEC said.

Health Net merged with Centene, a St. Louis-based health insurer, earlier this year.

melody.petersen@latimes.com

Twitter: @melodypetersen

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Youre out on the town. You hail a taxi with an app. A cushy vehicle shows up with no steering wheel, no gas pedal, no brake pedal and no driver.

Youve heard those ambitious plans spelled out for some pie-in-the-sky future.

Now, Ford Motor Co. says it will make it happen, and soon.

The Detroit automaker revealed in broad strokes Tuesday an ambitious strategy to make fully autonomous cars available for sale by 2021. At first theyll be used for ride sharing and ride hailing, with sales to individual drivers an indeterminate number of years after that, Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said.

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This is a transformational moment in our industry and it is a transformational moment for our company, Fields said outside Fords Palo Alto research center in Silicon Valley. The next decade will be defined by the automation of the automobile, and we see autonomous vehicles as having as significant an impact on society as Fords moving assembly line did 100 years ago.

In fact, the real transformation will occur when Ford delivers on its plans, or when another company beats it to the punch. All of the major automakers are working on such technology. So is Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and, possibly, Apple. Earlier this year, General Motors bought an autonomous car start-up, Cruise Automation, and announced it would work with Lyft, which GM partly owns, to develop driverless taxis.

The fast-approaching date for driverless cars also ratchets up the pressure on state and federal lawmakers to come up with guidelines. Last month, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said his department will issue new guidelines on the vehicles this summer. It has been working with companies developing driverless and partly autonomous cars to adapt existing safety rules to the new technologies.

But, in the race to bring driverless cars to market, Ford is the first to commit to a date.

The business opportunity here is absolutely huge, said Fields, a Ford veteran who was named CEO in 2014. The driverless car is part of a major strategic reorientation at Ford that will allow us to get a growing share of [the] transportation-as-a-service market.

By that, he means vehicles, software and services that cater to a market where people need to navigate independently through increasingly packed cities around the world, but dont want or cant afford their own cars, or are physically unable to drive them.

To make it happen, Ford also announced acquisitions of and investments in a few driverless technology companies, but did not identify any partnerships or even discussions with existing ride-hailing companies, such as Lyft and Uber. Asked for details, Fields said, There will be things we do on our own; there will be things we do with others.

The first deployments, he said, will be in crowded urban areas and require partnerships with government leaders on regulations and infrastructure needed to support driverless cars. For instance, right now such experimental vehicles need clear lane markings to operate.

He figures local governments will go along: Its an economic development issue for cities that want to keep central shopping districts healthy.

The CEO, 55, said hes confident of Fords ability to develop the technology to meet the deadline. But consumer acceptance is another issue. By rolling out the cars in ride-hailing capacities first, he said, consumers will have time to build trust and confidence in the vehicles.

He criticized competitors for promising too much with current driver-assist technology, an oblique swipe at Tesla Motors, whose attitude toward its own driver-assist feature, named Autopilot, has come under criticism.

They throw these terms around very liberally, he said.

Tesla has been facing questions about its Autopilot system since the death of a Model S driver in Florida in May. On the afternoon of May 7, in clear, dry conditions, a Tesla Model S driven by 40-year-old Joshua Brown slammed into a tractor trailer attempting to turn in front of it.

The accident sheared the roof off the car, which skidded under the truck and off the road, plowing through two wire fences before crashing into a utility pole, the accident report said.

The crash of the car, which was using the still-in-beta Autopilot, highlighted what some say is a gaping pothole on the road to self-driving vehicles: the lack of federal rules.

Automakers do not need to get the technology approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration before rolling it out to the public. They just have to attest that their vehicles meet federal safety standards -- yet there still are no such standards for autonomous driving features.

That enables carmakers to, at their own discretion, roll out features when they deem them to be ready to hit the road.

Critics, lawmakers and safety advocates say carmakers should not be using their customers as guinea pigs. Theyre questioning whether the companies are moving too fast and say regulators should put the brakes on a nascent technology that might have been rolled out too hastily.

Ford, Fields said, will completely skip whats known as level 3 autonomous cars, which would put the driverless system in control of the vehicle but expect the human driver to take over if need be. We couldnt get confident with that kind of human-machine interaction, he said.

Instead, Ford will sell cars in which the driver is responsible for all systems, and driverless cars in which the passengers have no responsibility at all.

Ford also plans to expand its research center in Palo Alto by doubling the staff there, to 260, in order to push the company toward the deadline.

This whole thing is really significant, said Ed Kim, vice president of industry analysis at market research firm AutoPacific. It is a great technological accomplishment to be able to offer such a level of autonomy in such a short amount of time.

Ford also announced related business deals:

 A $75-million investment in Velodyne LiDAR Inc., a Northern California company that specializes in lidar, a technology that uses light to detect objects. Baidu, the Chinese Internet giant with an artificial-intelligence lab in Silicon Valley, will also kick in $75 million.

 The acquisition of SAIPS, an Israeli computer vision company.

 An investment in Civil Maps, which applied artificial intelligence to digital map making.

 An exclusive licensing agreement with Nirenberg Neuroscience to use its machine vision technology, which it says has been used to restore sight to the visually impaired.

Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Autotrader, cautioned that Ford now has to meet its target date for rolling out the vehicles.

Weve got to be careful about first, biggest, most, she said. These are plans. Weve been waiting for Ford to make some announcement of where they are, Krebs said. GMs been getting a lot of publicity, and Wall Street has been asking, Whats Fords plan?

Fields acknowledges that the carmaker, the second largest in the country, has been under pressure to reveal its autonomous vehicle efforts.

Weve taken our time to talk about our plans, and weve been criticized for that, he said. We are not in a race to make announcements.

Shares of Ford fell 9 cents, or less than 1%, to $12.34 on Tuesday.

Times staff writer Jim Puzzanghera in Washington contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

6:20 p.m.: This article has been revised for additional updates and for clarity.

12 p.m.: This article was updated with details from Fords news conference in Palo Alto, Calif.

9:20 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting.

This article was originally published at 8 a.m.
Denis Robinson wasnt bothered in the least that he was billed nearly $100,000 by Providence Tarzana Medical Center for the recent removal of his gallbladder.

What do I care? he said. I have Medicare Plan F, the Cadillac of Medicare plans. They covered every dime.

Actually, Robinson, 69, should care a great deal. Medicare is a taxpayer-funded system, so any claim submitted by a doctor or hospital affects the financial integrity of the entire program. The fact that Medicare paid less than $4,000 for a $97,000 claim  well get back to that in a moment.

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What sizzled Robinsons bacon was the explanation of benefits he received from Blue Shield of California, through which he purchased his supplemental Medicare coverage and which covered about $900 of his massive hospital bill. It features three pages of itemized costs, each listed only as surgical services.

Seriously. Three pages of individual charges, ranging from $1 to $66,607, and no way to tell what any particular one might be for, or whether there were any errors or instances of double billing, or just the perverse satisfaction of knowing that $100 was paid for a Tylenol.

I pointed to a charge for $49.50. Whats that for? What about this one for $132.04?

I have no clue, Robinson replied. I have no way of knowing.

He could narrow down the possibilities. Each listing for a surgical service was accompanied by a billing code. A little rooting around online will reveal, for instance, that code 0636 is pharmacy-related. But its anyones guess what that may be.

This is, to put it mildly, nuts.

How can a hospital charge $97,000 for a procedure that Medicare and Blue Shield say is fairly valued at closer to $4,500, the total Providence received? Why arent all costs made clear to patients in their explanations of benefits, which insurers send policyholders ostensibly to shed light on the billing process?

The way its set up, medical billing isnt at all useful to the patient, acknowledged Paul Ginsburg, director of public policy at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Its not designed to let you understand things.

A key problem is that almost the entire financial conversation regarding healthcare goes on behind closed doors between insurers on the one hand and doctors and hospitals on the other. The patient, who typically pays only a fraction of the overall cost, is little more than an afterthought.

However, that system was established before the current era of rising deductibles and co-pays, leaving patients responsible for an ever-growing share of medical costs, and before hospitals started defraying overhead expenses by charging $10 for a Band-Aid, say, or $50 for a piece of gauze.

Hospital spending is so difficult to get under control because the patient has no idea about actual costs, said Craig Garthwaite, an assistant professor of strategy at Northwestern University who focuses on healthcare.

The explanations of benefits that patients receive typically contain fictional numbers that have no relation to the economics of whats going on, he said.

Clinton McGue, a Blue Shield spokesman, demonstrated the lunacy of medical billing by explaining that even though the insurer receives its own receipt from the hospital for all services rendered, spelling out details of each and every cost, Blue Shield feels no need to share such information with policyholders in its explanations of benefits, or EOBs.

Blue Shield provides industry-standard EOBs to its members, he said, in effect admitting that the company denies patients helpful information because everyone else does. McGue said that if people want a proper explanation of benefits, they can request one from the hospital.

I pointed out that since Blue Shield is sending out an explanation of benefits anyway, why not include real information?

We adhere to an industry standard with EOBs, McGue reiterated. We will provide the detail if asked, but we think that it is best for the member to review and discuss the services with the provider.

Patricia Aidem, a spokeswoman for Providence Health & Services, which runs half a dozen hospitals in Southern California, acknowledged that the billing system can be a challenge for most people.

This is absolutely something that needs to be fixed and Providence is working to create and implement solutions that will make this easier for patients, she said.

Well, lets start with Robinsons bill. Providence charged $97,000 for his operation and then, according to the explanation of benefits, willingly wrote off more than $90,000 as the amount saved by using a network provider. Thats a pretty hefty markup for anyone visiting the hospital on an out-of-network basis.

Aidem declined to elaborate on how the hospital arrived at these figures. She said only that Medicare pays a preset, non-negotiable rate for diagnoses and procedures and that hospitals almost always lose money on Medicare cases.

The federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says the average hospital is paid about 95 cents for every dollar spent treating a Medicare patient. Hospitals recoup some of those losses from the rates they charge private insurers. Hospitals also balance their books by charging uninsured patients about three times, on average, what Medicare allows, according to the journal Health Affairs.

If that sounds like a profit grab, Providences initial bill to Robinson  the starting price, presumably, for someone without coverage  was more than 20 times higher than what it received from Medicare and Blue Shield.

This just shows that the system is crazy and that its manipulated by healthcare providers for their benefit, said Alain Enthoven, a Stanford University health economist.

Heres a thought: How about a requirement that explanations of benefits truly explain benefits, clearly and precisely?

Or we can just keep things as they are, forcing patients to seek explanations for their explanations.

David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.

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From the street, David Gebhard and Robert Winter noted in the second edition of their still-indispensable guide to Los Angeles architecture, It is almost impossible to see the International Style house of the great novelist Thomas Mann. It is a pity since the Manns were so deeply involved with the planning. We list it because of the thrill of knowing it is there.

How much longer it is liable to be there  there being a large corner lot on San Remo Drive in Pacific Palisades, just north of the Riviera Country Club and about three miles from the Pacific  is now a pressing question.

The house, which Mann and his wife, Katia, commissioned from architect J.R. Davidson and built in 1941, after moving to Southern California from Princeton, N.J., by way of Switzerland and Germany, is on the market with an asking price of $14,995,000. It sits on nearly an acre of land.

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It is being marketed as a tear-down. There is no mention in the listing of its connection to Mann, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1929, or Davidson, a fellow German emigre best remembered for designing three houses as part of the postwar Case Study program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine.

Although the language in the listing  Create your dream estate or remodel and expand the existing home in the ultra-exclusive upper Riviera neighborhood  hedges its bets a bit, Joyce Rey, the agent representing the seller, was more direct in a phone interview, saying she had a hard time imagining that any potential buyers would be interested in its history.

The value is in the land, she said. The value is not really in the architecture, I would say.

The uncertainty surrounding the house is a reminder of how unusually fragile the cultural patrimony of Los Angeles remains, since so much of it is contained not in public spaces or buildings but in the private realm. To a degree rare among major world cities, L.A.s civic heritage is a scattered collection of (official and unofficial) house museums often vulnerable to the whims of their owners.

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Like news of the cholera epidemic spreading through Italy in Death in Venice, Manns 1912 novella, reports that the house was on the market were spotted first in the German press.

They arrive less than two years after Los Angeles architect Thom Mayne demolished a modest yellow house in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood owned for five decades by Ray Bradbury. Mayne is building a house for himself and his family in its place. As a token remembrance of the writer, Mayne has said, it will include an outer wall etched with the titles of Bradburys books.

The Mann house would be a bigger loss. Unlike Bradburys residence, it is a work of real architectural significance on whose design the novelist and his wife collaborated closely with Davidson.

It is not just the house, in other words, where Mann wrote Doctor Faustus and The Holy Sinner; it is also a portrait of his artistic temperament and a measure of his relationship with Southern California  and with architectures modern movement.

The house is not one of L.A.s official historic-cultural monuments, though it is listed as a historic resource in a larger inventory called SurveyLA. A new citywide ordinance requires that owners seeking to demolish houses older than 45 years provide notice to neighbors and the local city council office at least 30 days in advance. But in general there are limited protections for most residential buildings in Los Angeles, even those with notable architectural pedigrees.

Rey said the seller, whom she declined at least for the time being to identify, was not interested in opening the house to preservationists or journalists. That will it make it tough to determine precisely what kind of shape it is in.

L.A.s civic heritage is a scattered collection of (official and unofficial) house museums often vulnerable to the whims of their owners.

Seeing it from the base of its long driveway at the corner of San Remo and Monaco Drive has, if anything, grown more difficult since Gebhard and Winter first wrote about the house in 1977. A row of eucalyptus trees is filled in at street level by a collection of hedges.

Photographs published online when the house was put up for rent in 2012 (at a cool $15,500 per month) suggest that while some less-than-authentic updates and what appear to be modest additions have been made, its architectural integrity remains at least somewhat intact.

Before picking Davidson, Mann made a careful study of L.A.s leading architects. According to Ehrhard Bahrs Weimar on the Pacific: German Exile Culture in Los Angeles and the Crisis of Modernism, he arranged a tour in 1938 with the Austrian-born architect Richard Neutra of important new houses here.

Many local architects assumed the commission was Neutras to lose. But Mann had reservations both about the clinical quality of much orthodox Modern architecture  he wrote in his diary in 1938 about how much he disliked the cubist glass-box style  and about Neutra himself, who according to architectural historian Thomas S. Hines offended Mann by making an aggressive pitch for the job at a party thrown by writer Vicki Baum.

In the end, Mann and his wife found a far better match with Davidson, who had left Berlin for California in 1923 and whose style was more moderate than Neutras as well as a touch more romantic. As one report from Germany put it this week, the house Davidson designed for them is a gemutlich, or comfortably agreeable, spin on the modern.

In that sense, it is not quite right to label the house, as Gebhard and Winter do in the 1977 second edition of their guide, an example of the International Style. Davidson called it nostalgic German, though it is nostalgic only compared to the work of unrelentingly forward-looking architects like Neutra or Walter Gropius. (Or perhaps nostalgic for the earliest buildings of those architects.) Photographs of the house when it was new show the unadorned surfaces and bands of plain windows common in Bauhaus architecture but also bedrooms set back to make room for terraces topped by a continuous built-in pergola.

The effect is a piece of architecture entirely comfortable in and even ceding some glory to the surrounding landscape, not unlike the house and studio Charles and Ray Eames would build for themselves nearby at the end of the 1940s.

(In later editions, Gebhard and Winter changed the wording a bit and described it as a stucco-and-glass two-story Modern image house, meaning it aims for the general impression, rather than following every rule, of modernism.)

Mann left Los Angeles and returned to Europe in 1952, alarmed by the rise of McCarthyism and red-baiting. According to writer Jeffrey Meyers, he was deeply disillusioned by the toxic political atmosphere that reminded him of the Hitler years. He died in Switzerland in 1955.

Though the asking price of the Mann house will be daunting for any preservation-minded buyer, there is at least one precedent when it comes to protecting the legacy of the accomplished German emigres who settled in Los Angeles.

The Villa Aurora, also in Pacific Palisades, is the former home of writer Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife, Marta. A nonprofit group based in Berlin bought and restored the house with financial help from the German government; since 1995 it has operated as a cultural center with a residency program for visiting artists, its rooms lined with more than 20,000 books from Feuchtwangers own collection.

christopher.hawthorne@latimes.com

Twitter: @HawthorneLAT

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The Hammer Museums $100,000 Mohn Award, granted for artistic excellence to a Los Angeles artist featured in the museums biennial, Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only, has been announced and its not going to a painter, sculptor or installationist. Instead, the award has gone to a dancer.

Adam Linder, an Australia-born, L.A.-based dancer and choreographer, whose Klein Paradiso pokes a stick at the abstract (his dancers take to the stage in costumes that match the design of the scenery), has taken the biennials generous top prize.

For the record: This article incorrectly states the title of the Adam Linder dance piece that won the Hammer Museums Mohn Award as Klein Paradiso. The correct title is Kein Paradiso.

Its a big deal, the performer says via Skype from Berlin, where hes preparing for another show. [Dance] is definitely not at the top of the disciplinary pinnacle in [museums]. ... But I think performance and dance have had a resurgent invitation into the visual arts and museological practice in the last decade to two decades.

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Its exciting for us to see a dance chosen for the Mohn Award, Hammer director Ann Philbin says in a statement. Adams work was a standout for its nuanced choreography and evocative visual and sound design.

As part of the award, Linder will also have a monographic book produced about his work.

In addition to the $100,000 artistic excellence prize, the Made in L.A. 2016 Mohn Awards include two $25,000 prizes.

The first, for career achievement, goes to composer Wadada Leo Smith, whose inventive musical notations also function as works of geometric abstraction.

The second, a public recognition award, goes to Compton-based sculptor Kenzi Shiokava, whose towering wood totems lord over an entire gallery at the Hammer.

Sculptor Kenzi Shiokava in his Compton studio. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times )

Linder and Smiths awards were determined by an independent jury consisting of Jose Luis Blondet, curator of special initiatives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mika Yoshitake, associate curator at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and Ingrid Schaffner, curator of the 2018 Carnegie International exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Shiokavas award was chosen by a public vote, open to all visitors of the Hammers Made in L.A. show.

The Mohn Awards, funded by Jarl and Pamela Mohn, are now in their third iteration at the Hammer Museum, handed out in conjunction with every Made in L.A. biennial exhibition.

Jarl Mohn is best known as CEO of National Public Radio, and locally for his support of Southern California Public Radio and KPCC-FM (89.3). But he and his wife Pamela are also art collectors and patrons. Their funding of the prizes, Jarl Mohn says, is an attempt to support a handful of emerging artists from Los Angeles with something that is meaningful and impactful.

The Mohns were inspired by the Pacific Standard Time series of exhibitions, funded by the Getty Foundation, which have brought local arts organizations together to explore subjects such as the history of art in California or the regions role as a hotbed for cutting-edge architecture.

I was so impressed by what the institutions had done in Southern California, that everyone would work together, Jarl Mohn says. It was a gift to the artistic community and that nudged me.

Alice Konitz, creator of the Los Angeles Museum of Art, a backyard micro gallery, won the $100,000 Mohn Award in 2014. She says it was a life-changer.

It has been an enormous financial support that helped me continue my work and be able to devote almost all my time to making art, she states via email. I do believe that the award contributed to getting international and local attention for my work.

Linder says the money will be a boon to his work in myriad ways.

It can go into the production of a new work or it can mean that rather than take on 10 different projects, I can focus energy on fewer, he says. My work, what it entails is people power. This entails being able to employ dancers. That is very costly.

The 33-year-old artist is almost a little overwhelmed at the possibilities. To be honest, he says, its too soon to say how concretely I would use it.

+++

Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only

Where: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, Los Angeles

When: Through Aug. 28

Info: hammer.ucla.edu

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Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.

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Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have settled their rancorous divorce battle and will avoid a court hearing that would have potentially aired intimate and embarrassing details on both sides of the nasty celebrity split.

The actors said in a joint statement issued Tuesday: Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity. There will be no further public statements about this matter.

The settlement was reached Monday for an undisclosed sum. Heard filed for divorce on May 23, after two years of marriage to Depp.

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See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour 

The actress was granted a temporary restraining order on May 27 following her allegations that Depp physically attacked her on a number of occasions during their brief marriage.

Depp has denied that he ever engaged in domestic abuse against his wife.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Superior Court said Tuesday that Heards request for a restraining order has been dismissed. The dismissal means that the estranged couple wont have to square off in a court hearing that had been scheduled to start Wednesday.

The hearing was expected to focus on the temporary restraining order Heard obtained after she made allegations of domestic abuse against Depp, including an incident on May 21 in which she claimed the actor physically attacked her and threw a phone at her.

Depp denied the allegations of abuse. In court papers, his lawyers cited several individuals, including two law enforcement officers, who said they saw no signs of abuse that day.

Still, Heards legal team submitted as evidence photographs showing the actress with what appear to be bruises on her face.

In recent days, Depps lawyers have accused Heard of delaying her deposition. The actress, who has been working on the superhero movie Justice League in London, gave her deposition Saturday.

Depp and Heard were married in 2015. He was previously in a relationship with French actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children.

david.ng@latimes.com

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10:46 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information provided by L.A. Superior Court.

This story was originally published at 10 a.m.
The Netflix original series Marco Polo is more than a reinterpretation of the Venetian merchants travels through Asia during the 13th century  its a look back at the dress found along the silk road during that era. The historical drama features a large collection of ornate bespoke costumes, all handmade by a team of freelance artisans under the watch of costume designer Jo Korer. WWD caught up with Korer to discuss the show after the release of its second season last month.

WWD: How did you alter your approach between season one and season two?

Jo Korer: Season one was very much typical of a new show  everybody was finding their feet. We kind of stuck to more the historically correct look and that  to be honest  Mongolians wore robes. If its summer, its cotton robes, if its winter, its wool robes with fur and leather. I started to make noises around about halfway through filming season one that I felt [the look] should evolve. I felt, what was starting to happen was it was very obvious Marco Polos time with Kublai Khan was extending and developingI felt a lot of the characters needed to move on. The biggest task for me was to keep [the costumes] fundamentally historically accurate, and not take it too far into the contemporary realm, but definitely stylize them more.

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WWD: What kind of research went into making the show historically accurate?

Korer: For season one I was flown to Mongolia, and I worked with a historian. Of course, there was no photographic evidence of that time. It was very much down to the museums, the books  of which there are very few  and even less in English. It was very helpful to have at least a few books that had been written by historians in Mongolia. Also the museums and the paintings there.

It was very important to me to actually spend time in Mongolia and get a feeling of not only the clothes and what they would look like, but the wearability and access of certain fabrics or furs that would be around at the time. I tried to stick as much as I could to being historically correct. Any decoration I used on any of the costumes, whether it be for the jewelry or stones that were woven into or appliqued on the costumes, or with the dyes and the color we used, I tried to be sensitive and aware of what plants or what minerals were available in any of the particular areas we were trying to depict. It was greatly helped of course with the connection of the silk road, that connection from Mongolia straight through to Europe.

WWD: Where did you source the fabrics and beading used for the costumes?

Korer: Literally around the world. London, Venice, Rome, Florence, Istanbul, China, Mongolia, India, Thailand, Bangkok, Shanghai, some fabrics in Malaysia itself  worldwide. And I went to all of those countries to personally find them and purchase them. And same for all of the accessories, all of the gem stones. You have to, with a show like this, to find the authenticity you need. You have to travel, and you need to go to markets. A lot of the items I bought were antique from markets around the world. I found contemporary sources too contemporary. To define the more traditional antique feel to [the show], thats what takes the time, to source that beautiful antique feel.

WWD: How long did it take to make each costume by hand?

Korer: When were making the more intricate designs of like Marco Polos jacket, theyre all hand-beaded with crystals and stones. It takes a long time, sometimes two to three weeks with three or four people working on it. What takes the time is actually the first [costume]. Once weve made one, we usually have to make another twp, sometimes even three  for the stunts people to wear or the actor to have a double.

How large is the shows costume department?

Korer: Theres somewhere around 22,000 individual pieces between season one and two  thats all of the actors, all of the crowd, everybody. Its mammoth. The costume department is quite huge. I have more than 200 people in the costume department. All of the armor is handmade, all of the metalwork, everything is handmade. Its a very large department that works incredibly hard and supports me 100 percent. I wouldnt be anything without them.
Naked Cashmere, a premium cashmere line that will launch online next month, is getting a boost from a famous face. The inaugural ads will feature Kate Moss shot by Peter Lindbergh in a campaign created by David Lipman.

Naked Cashmere was started by Bruce and Leslie Gifford. After spending 20 years selling cashmere the traditional way  the Giffords are the founders of Los Angeles-based 360Sweater  the founders were inspired by a trip to inner Mongolia to bring their premium cashmere directly to consumers at affordable prices. The collection includes cardigans, sweaters, wraps, ponchos and gloves.

The new global line of 100 percent cashmere products, for women and men, will be offered exclusively online at Nakedcashmere.com. The collection retails from $50 to $500.

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Ads featuring Moss wrapped in cashmere will appear online.

When Im on a shoot I go to a different place in my mind. Clothes make you feel a certain way, and you move in that way and you play a character. When I first put on Naked Cashmere, I didnt feel like I was anyone other than myself. It was really amazing. And working with Peter Lindbergh on the shoot makes things even more special, Moss said.

She added that she has worked with Lindbergh for many years and he has known her since she was very young. So together we were able to express what Naked Cashmere is all about. I was so comfortable working with him and I think the campaign feels really true to who I am, she said.
Blend it like Beckham. Come September, Victoria Beckham devotees  and others  will be able to buff, line, sweep and blend their makeup like the celebrity fashion designer, whos set to unveil a limited-edition collection of color cosmetics with the Estee Lauder Cos.

The Victoria Beckham Estee Lauder collection will debut in the U.S. and the U.K. on Sept. 13, although guests at the designers New York runway show on Sept. 11 will get a glimpse of what is to come. Lauder is the beauty sponsor of Beckhams spring 2017 outing, and models will be wearing some of the new products.

One of the most photographed women in the world whose black-rimmed eyes and nude pout have long been paparazzi magnets, Beckham said shes fulfilling a long-held dream, creating a very personal makeup collection that will work on a variety of ages and skin tones.

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In an interview with WWD, Beckham said her aim is to empower women, fill a few market niches, complement her fashion collection and relay some of the makeup and skin-care wisdom shes gathered from a life spent on airplanes, red carpets and in the full glare of paparazzi flashbulbs.

I was very specific about what I wanted. It was about the must-have items that I felt everybody should have in their makeup bag, things that are really quite difficult to find because I know, Ive searched, said Beckham.

The aim was also to deliver products people could immediately associate with her, whether its a smoky eye, a nude lip, or dewy skin. So Ive been very honest, very true to myself. This has been something that Ive wanted to do for so many years, she said.

For Lauder the feeling was mutual: Weve had our eye on her for a long time, said Jane Hertzmark Hudis, group president, The Estee Lauder Cos. There are women in this world that represent the Estee Lauder point of view, and she is one of them.

To us, shes a next-generation Estee: Authentic, an entrepreneur, wife, mother, fashion designer  and shes a beauty maven. Some people in fashion are into fashion, but not beauty. Shes into the whole picture, and has a vision. She knows her style, her point of view and about the way she wants women to look, feel, act and be comfortable in their skin  but really have a great deal of glamour at the same time.

There are 15 stockkeeping units, including a limited-edition, portable mirror that casts a flattering light for makeup application. Prices range from $30 for the designers signature nude-matte lip pencil to $45 for an Eye Metals Eyeshadow, $95 for the Morning Aura Illuminating Creme and $1,200 for the Victoria Beckham Collection Daylight Edition, a light box that includes a removable lighted mirror as well as 8 products.

Although Lauder declined to comment on sales projections, market sources said global retail sales should be close to $10 million.

While the focus is mostly on lips and eyes, there is also a bronzer, a highlighter (Beckham convinced Lauder to bring back a version of its limited-edition Modern Mercury highlighter) and the Morning Aura cream.

Beckham refers to the latter as a hero, a glow potion for skin that can be used over or under makeup and that helps with airline-induced dullness and dehydration.

I will get on a plane from London and travel to either New York or L.A. or Asia, and when I get off at the other end, Im paparazzi-ed, said Beckham matter-of-factly. So I want something that moisturizes, tightens, lifts, acts as a primer, and gives me that really great glow. And it can be used on its own.

Wherever I am, if Im just running around and want a more natural look, Ill put on my moisturizer and then Ill put Morning Aura all over my face. If Im going out, and know Im going to be photographed, then I will put it on top of my makeup, on my eyes, down the center of my nose, on the bow of my lip and also on the top of my cheeks, and Ive also used it on my collar bones.

Shes even mixed Morning Aura with moisturizer and rubbed it on her arms and legs. Its so versatile but very, very luxurious, and the kind of thing Ive searched for and never been able to find.

Although Beckham has spent most of her adult life in the spotlight, initially as one of the Spice Girls, wife of David Beckham, mother to their four children, and later as a ready-to-wear designer and charity fundraiser, she points out that camera lenses are no longer just for the famous nowadays.

Everybody is always taking a selfie. You could be anywhere, bump into someone, and take a selfie. Everyone has to be photo-ready, she said.

Another photo-friendly product is the matte bronzer, Java Sun, which Beckham also uses to contour her cheeks, on her eyes and under her chin. You dont need to have tons of products. You can have a few key pieces and use them in different ways. This is very, very easy.

Asked whether she does her own makeup, Beckham said all the time, even if Im going out for dinner. I would never have a makeup artist unless its for a major event. Ive worked with the best makeup artists in the world, and Ive learned how to do my own makeup over the years.

While the skin and face products may be multitasking, the lip and eye items are bold, drenched in color and glistening with shine and texture.

Theres the Eye Ink, a newly engineered pressed gel-cream formula that can be used dry or wet. Its hard to find the right black eyeliner thats thick and sooty enough, and looks great the longer its worn, something thats easy to apply, use at home and get that really cool fashion editorial runway look as well, said Beckham.

There are also metal-finish eye shadows and liquid eye foils, that deliver a vinyl-like shine with pearl pigments and metallic flecks  as well as translucent, light-reflecting shadows that come in a palette.

Lip products include Chilean Sunset, which Beckham refers to as a modern red. Its an orangey-red, which is very much a signature color, a color that Ive used in rtw and also Ive used it in accessories.

Creating a powerful color story was paramount: If I do color, I really want to do color. If I want to do blue, lets make it really electric, strong and different  the same with the green and the sunset orange. Its all very strong, but also flattering on (a variety of) skin tones, nothing middle of the road.

Even her neutrals have a powerful story to tell: Beckham said she spent a long time trying to formulate the perfect nude, because the shade is famously tricky. I always end up mixing lots of different nudes, because theyre either too pale or too mauve or too pink  or the textures are not right. The result is her Brazilian Nude lipstick. There is also a nude pencil and a high-shine nude gloss.

For the packaging, Beckham dipped into the Lauder archives and picked out a signature gold color, which Beckham was able to change into her own blond-gold. She said she wanted the packaging to feel luxurious, something you would feel proud to have in your makeup bag if someone looked inside it, something that would look great displayed in the bathroom and felt special.

Many of the products are named after aromas and spices  reflecting their rich color content  and Beckhams former life in the worlds most famous girl band.

The gel-cream eye ink comes in Black Myrrh while the shadows and foils have names including Bitter Clove, Burnt Anise, Blond Cumin, Metal Saffron, Burnished Sage and Black Nutmeg.

I liked the idea of strong, sexy South American spices  that was the starting point. Those names really do suit the makeup and the different looks that weve created. It is a little wink to my past, in a good way. I look back at those days and smile because Im obviously very proud of everything I achieved with the girls.

(The Spice Girls announced last month they are planning to reunite  as a trio, without Beckham or Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known as Mel C  to mark their 20th anniversary next year. They will be known as GEM, the first initials of the threesome Geri Halliwell, Mel B and Emma Bunton.)

As part of the limited-edition collection, Beckham has also created personal looks inspired by some of the cities she loves, London, New York, L.A. and Paris.

All looks are very me, whether its what Id wear during the day, evening, or for editorial purposes. Its making it very, very easy for the customer. Im not a professional makeup artist. Im not a model. I dont have hours to follow instructions. Im a busy working mum, and I think there are lots of women in my position, and I just want it made easy for them.

Ease was also the reason she wanted Lauder to help her develop the light box mirror. I travel around the world, Im constantly in and out of hotels, and quite often the lighting is terrible, said Beckham, adding that she wanted something you could throw in your suitcase that had proper makeup lighting around it, something easy and not bulky.

The mirrors have also been produced in a limited quantity and will be available at Bergdorf Goodman, Selfridges and select retailers worldwide.

The full collection will be sold at Bergdorf Goodman and bergdorfgoodman.com, Selfridges, Victoria Beckhams Dover Street store in London and on victoriabeckham.com and esteelauder.com from Sept. 13. It will launch in the rest of the world from Oct. 1.

Lauder plans to support the launch through digital and social media, via Beckhams, Estee Lauders and retailers channels, and through public relations and events. Beckham is planning to do two personal appearances, on Sept. 13 at Bergdorf Goodman and at Selfridges that same month. Print ads will run in the September and October issues of glossy titles worldwide.

Lauders decision to sponsor the beauty element of Beckhams show underlines the importance of the new partnership.

We have done some beauty sponsorships from time to time, but its not our norm. Here, what better way to bring beauty and fashion together than to sponsor her show? Its her. Its one concept to her, and the runway show is the greatest expression of this, said Hertzmark Hudis.

Although the collection is limited edition, Beckham and Lauder believe its just the beginning. I hope this collection does go on, said Beckham, while Hertzmark Hudis said there are a number of roads they can take.

Were living in a world today where there are a lot of new business models. If something is enormously successful  in London or Paris or New York  we have the opportunity to bring it back, she said.

The idea today is certainly about creating limited editions, creating great demand for what [Victoria] is about to offer. Potentially, if something is enormously successful, we have the opportunity to bring that back  maybe have it sold exclusively online. Well see how it goes.

Asked whether this collection might be the prelude to a future Beckham fragrance, Hertzmark Hudis did not rule it out. We take things one step at a time, she said. Beckham no longer has any ties with Coty, which had produced fragrances for her in the past. Coty still has a license for David Beckham fragrances.

Hertzmark Hudis said the fact that Lauder is even collaborating with Beckham is a win for the beauty giant: We have a history of collaborations, but were very selective. This is at the upper, ultimate, aspirational tier of what our brand is all about  especially in makeup. This is obviously the ultimate aspiration, but its also real girl at the same time.

She added that Beckham put her all into the project.

Shes in this 1,000 percent: Her vision, point of view, choice on textures, insistence on quality make her more Estee than anyone under the sun because nothing is good enough until its perfect. Like a true beauty product person she understands textures, performance, look, sheen, color, skin color  she knows what she needs to look like, said Hertzmark Hudis.

She has a sense of a woman in total: Her lifestyle, her point of view, the way she should look, the way she should be. She has lent all of this in a deeply passionate and committed way to the collection  in a way, almost more so than anyone in our history. Its been an ideal marriage.
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
Last August, my sister Betsy asked if I knew anything about using bitcoin, a form of virtual currency.

It took me a while to realize why she was asking: She wanted to buy a lethal amount of drugs and she didnt want the purchase to be traceable.

Betsy was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in July 2013. Its a cruel disease that slowly robs a person of the ability to move, speak, eat and, eventually, breathe. There is no treatment, let alone a cure, and there probably wont be for several years.

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You are all very brave for sending me off on my journey  Betsy Davis

Early on, she knew shed rather take her own life than succumb to a disease that kills most of its patients through suffocation. Some ALS patients use ventilators and feeding tubes to prolong their lives, but thats not what my sister wanted. Over the last year, I watched her increasingly struggle to eat and speak and do the simple things the rest of us take for granted, like scratch an itch or brush a stray hair from her eyes. No longer able to walk, she spent most of the day in bed.

I am losing strength in my arms and hands quickly, she wrote to me in an email last year. I dont want to live out my life paralyzed, eating through a tube in my stomach and communicating through a machine. Id rather be free than entombed in my body.

A month before she asked me about bitcoin, an aid-in-dying bill had stalled in the state Assemblys health committee.

The End of Life Option Act was resurrected in mid-August 2015, passed and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown the following month.

Brown is Catholic, and many were unsure whether hed sign the bill. In a signing message explaining his decision, Brown wrote: I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldnt deny that right to others.

The law didnt take effect until June 9 this year, but my sister was willing to wait so she could end her life safely and legally.

In early July, Betsy emailed her closest friends and family, inviting them to her house in Ojai for a two-day celebration.

You are all very brave for sending me off on my journey, she wrote in an email to her guests. Thank you so much for traveling the physical and emotional distance for me. These circumstances are unlike any party you have attended before, requiring emotional stamina, centeredness, and openness.

There was just one rule, she wrote: Do not cry in front of me.

Starting June 9, terminally ill Californians can request prescriptions from physicians for medications that would end their lives.

More than 30 people showed up to help send Betsy on what she referred to as her next great adventure. We ate pizza and tamales. There was music, booze and lots of photos. Under her guidance, Id put sticky notes next to items around the house, explaining their significance. She invited everyone to take a Betsy souvenir to remember her.

About 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 24, all three of her truly incredible caregivers helped her change into a kimono shed bought in Japan. A family friend drove her in his new Tesla up a hillside next to the house, where wed placed a white canopy and a makeshift bed. She wanted to fall asleep as the sun was setting.

My sister is an example of exactly what the law intended to do: allow a dying young woman the ability to assert control over the chaos and uncertainty of terminal illness. She turned death into a reason to celebrate, and she was there to enjoy the party.

Opponents of the aid-in-dying law have argued theres potential for abuse  that chronically ill people could be coerced or compelled to take their own lives.

There have been stories of miraculous recoveries: During last Septembers Assembly vote, one lawmaker talked about her son, who came down with an infection and was put on life support. Doctors told her there was no hope, yet he ultimately recovered. She offered that as proof that a physicians opinion cant always be trusted.

Yet a case like that wouldnt meet the laws criteria. Patients must be able to make their own medical decisions. There are multiple safeguards in place to ensure the decision is voluntary and the patients illness is terminal. No one can simply go to a doctor and request a prescription for a lethal amount of medication.

And if someone wants to fight to the very end, thats a personal choice. Both paths are equally brave.

Even with the law now in place, there were still some logistical hurdles.

Seconal, the drug Betsys doctor recommended, wasnt available. We were given different reasons why, depending on which pharmacy we called  that it was back-ordered for three months, or that it was so infrequently prescribed, a pharmacist who filled a prescription for the necessary 100 pills would attract unwanted attention from the DEA.

Instead, Betsy was prescribed a combination of morphine, pentobarbital and chloral hydrate  not ideal, but we did our best to mask the taste with coconut milk, sugar and a little salt. She took the medication around 6:45 p.m. and within a few minutes slipped into a coma. Four hours later, she peacefully departed for her next adventure.

Davis is a contributor to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

local@sduniontribune.com

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A Mono County doctor pleaded guilty Monday to two felony counts connected to the looting of Native American artifacts from public lands, including Death Valley National Park.

Jonathan Bourne, 59, an anesthesiologist at Mammoth Hospital, also agreed to pay $249,372 to cover the costs of curating and storing about 20,000 relics that federal agents found in his home overlooking the High Sierra community of Mammoth Lakes, U.S. Atty. Phillip A. Talbert said.

The case stems from a yearlong investigation by the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that was launched after photos of Bourne digging a wooden bow out of a melting glacier in the High Sierra appeared on a hiking club website. Wooden splinters recovered at the glacier by federal archaeologists matched the bow in Bournes possession, officials said.

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As part of his plea deal, Bourne will not be allowed on public lands administered by any of the four federal agencies; the period of the ban will be imposed Nov. 7 during sentencing in U.S. District Court in Fresno.

The Mammoth Mountain downhill and cross-country ski areas will also be considered off-limits, Talbert said.

Public lands within a one-mile radius of Bournes home were excluded so that he could attend to personal responsibilities including commuting to work and walking his dog, authorities said. However, the amateur botanist will not be allowed to collect mushrooms and other flora and fauna from any public lands.

In an earlier interview, Bourne declined to comment other than to say: The blog has gotten me in trouble with the authorities. The bow in question has gotten me in trouble as well. It might have legal consequences.

A federal grand jury in 2015 charged Bourne with eight counts of unlawful transportation of archaeological resources removed from public lands; six counts of unauthorized excavation, removal, damage or defacement of archaeological resources removed from public lands; six counts of injury or depredation to government property; and one count of possession of stolen government property.

If convicted of all counts, Bourne would have faced up to 50 years in prison, according to the indictment. He also would have faced forfeiture of all vehicles and equipment used in connection with the violations.

Under the plea agreement, Bourne admitted to unlawfully removing glass trade beads in 2010 from a prehistoric cremation and burial site in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. A year later, he unlawfully altered a prehistoric site in Death Valley National Park by removing a tool made from a bighorn sheep horn and three etched stone tablets considered sacred to the Timbisha Shoshone tribe.

Bourne faces a maximum statutory penalty of two years in prison and a $20,000 fine for each of the two felony counts. However, the government has agreed not to request any time in custody for Mr. Bourne, Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorneys office, said.

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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Whats for lunch? Some super-easy ideas to make at home

For many of us parents, theres little more daunting than packing school lunches  every weekday for an entire school year. The anxiety builds with each week: What do you pack? What if your kid gets bored? Can it be nutritious and delicious at the same time? What even constitutes lunch?

We tapped the expertise of our Test Kitchen manager, Noelle Carter, to find a few ideas to mix things up a bit. They range from the easy-to-master standard fare to the slightly ambitious and creative.

Wed love to hear your lunch ideas as well. Tweet me your lunchbox tips and tricks at @mmaltaisLA.

Cookie cutters can mold the boring PB&J into fun shapes. To make them even more exciting, try other nut butters or even homemade. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

First, old faithful.

PB&J: Theres a reason this is a classic. If peanut butter is not your thing, try another nut butter, such as almond or cashew  or a non-nut butter for those nut-free kids and schools.

Noelle offers an extra credit option: You could also have your kids help you make homemade nut butter. She says jams are just as simple and recipes are readily available  or you could always go with a store-bought option.

A regular sandwich can turn magical when you cut it into interesting shapes using cookie cutters, like in the photo above. (Weve gone with the Millennium Falcon and TIE Fighters in our homemade lunches.)

(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Wraps: Keep a package of tortillas or flatbread on hand, along with an assortment of deli meats and cheeses. Layer them in the tortilla, along with tomatoes and lettuce or other greens (spinach! kale!), along with some mayonnaise or mustard.

Gluten-free? Forget the tortilla and wrap everything in lettuce.

As another option, you can make a peanut butter (or other butter) wrap with mini chocolate chips, and youve got a healthful alternative for dessert.

Onigiri: Have you seen all the creative photos of onigiri on Pinterest? Before you get nervous, its really not much more than rice molded into shapes. Noelle suggests using cookie cutters to mold the rice into cute little bears or other shapes. Add bits of vegetable  peas, carrots, etc.  for flavor and then top with sesame seeds and nori sushi wrap.

Skewers: Who doesnt love food on a stick? Skewer cubes of cheese and leftover roast or chicken, or roll and skewer slices of deli meat. Add tomatoes and veggies, such as carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. It also works with fruit and dessert nibbles.

Helpful hint: If your kids are too young or the school doesnt allow sharp skewers, popsicle sticks or coffee stirrers are a creative alternative.

And for a little extra credit...

Calzones: Just like empanadas or hand pies but using pizza dough. Sure, you can mix the pizza dough from scratch if youve got the time, but theres also ready-made versions in the refrigerated section. Slather the dough with pasta sauce and add meatballs (homemade or frozen) or other meats or vegetables and top with cheese, then fold over the dough and seal. The calzones bake in about 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven. Pack a little extra pasta sauce on the side for dipping.

For more about homemade dips, soups, salads and quesadillas that are lunch-ready, check out more of Noelle Carters tips.

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The Brooks Institute, a for-profit Ventura visual arts school, is shutting down immediately, amid questions from students, faculty and alumni.

Brooks abruptly stopped enrolling students and announced that classes wont resume in the fall.

The campus will close completely, effective October 31, 2016, transitions officer Kristen Howard wrote in a letter to students. She said Brooks would return tuition to those enrolled for the fall and help students transfer or find other schools at which to finish their programs.

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At a series of meetings on Friday to inform faculty and students, attorney Aaron Lacey, a partner at the St. Louis-based firm Thompson Coburn, told them that enrollment had declined from about 2,500 students in 2005 to 250 students registered for fall 2016.

The school also faced regulatory hurdles and economic pressures, he said.

Weve attempted to mitigate this impact through contraction, strategic planning and innovation, he said. Our only remaining responsible course of action at this time is to proceed with closure.

Turmoil at the school had been evident, but the swift closure took many by surprise. For David Leighton, the schools student life coordinator, who was getting his masters degree in fine arts, it packed a triple punch. Leighton, who turned 26 on Saturday, said he felt shattered. He earned an undergraduate degree from Brooks and was one semester short of finishing his masters. All at once, he lost his degree, his health insurance and his job.

There were signs that an end was near, Leighton said. But none of the faculty or staff or administration had any idea it would be so sudden.

The closure followed a swift series of blows: Last week, as the Ventura County Star reported, the schools president was ousted and most of the trustees resigned. Plans to build a new downtown campus had stagnated.

At the school, which was founded 70 years ago, undergraduates could study such subjects as visual journalism, film, graphic design and professional photography. Graduate students could immerse themselves in photography or technical imaging. Undergraduate tuition could add up to about $80,000 without scholarships or loans.

Benjo Arwas, 30, said Brooks was the reason he came to America from Tel Aviv, Israel. After serving in the Israeli army, he did a Google search for the worlds best beach-side photography school. He found Brooks, which helped him get a visa, and hes now enrolling for his green card.

Arwas, who works as a photographer in Santa Monica, graduated from Brooks in 2013. He credits the school with launching his career. Brooks destroyed you to make you better, almost like the Israeli military, he said.

Brooks has faced scrutiny over the years amid a nationwide push to ensure for-profit colleges were spending federal financial aid appropriately, educating students sufficiently to enable them to land jobs after graduation and not saddling them with crushing debts.

Matt Harbicht, president of the schools alumni association, said he had gotten used to the schools ups and downs. There have been rumors about the school closing for 10 years now, he said. But somehow, the school just pulled through. This time, that didnt happen.

The school has faced numerous lawsuits and investigations relating to loans and hidden fees. In 2012, in response to a New York suit against its parent company, Brooks revealed that it had been overstating its job placement rate. The school was placed on the federal governments list for increased financial oversight in March 2015 but has since been removed. Last summer, it was sold by Career Education Corp. to the Massachusetts-based Gphomestay.

Completion rates for the schools various programs ranged from 3% to 40%, according to Brooks accreditors records from 2012. Some said many students dropped out as soon as they got full-time work.

Brooks did not respond to requests for comment Monday, and Lacey said he was not authorized to answer questions on the schools behalf.

Students, meanwhile, are researching their options. We are sort of school refugees, Leighton said. We hope other schools help us out.

You can reach Joy Resmovits on Twitter @Joy_Resmovits and by email at Joy.Resmovits@LATimes.com.

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As more students in high school take advanced classes and Common Core guidelines have made kindergarten an academic experience, many parents feel like their children have too much homework.

So how much is too much, and what can parents do about it? Education Matters spoke to experts in the field to answer these questions.

How much homework should my student be doing?

LAUSD has suggested time allocations for students homework, and it suggests assigning homework only four days a week. The guidelines arent mandatory.

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The middle- and high-school homework policy notes Special consideration must be given to students in honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, School for Advanced Studies (SAS) and highly gifted classes and programs.

The California state Parent Teacher Assn. encourages local PTAs to work with districts to come up with homework guidelines.

What is the point of homework?

That depends on what grade your child is in. In elementary school, homework is mostly about establishing responsibility, said Katie McGrath, LAUSDs director of elementary instruction. That includes teaching children to follow directions, learning how to be accountable for keeping homework safe, completing it, and turning it in.

Homework should reinforce lessons students have already learned in class. Perhaps, says Harris Cooper, a Duke psychology professor who studies homework, it includes a bonus question that takes the concept one step further -- preparing students for the next days lesson.

In middle school and high school, homework takes on the role of being important to academic achievement, Cooper said. Homework improves academic outcomes, up to a point. Research suggests that middle school students who complete 60 to 90 minutes of homework per night perform as well on standardized tests as the students who spend more time, Cooper said. In high school, that cutoff is at two hours of homework per night.

Whats the 10-minute rule?

For years, teachers have been using the so-called 10-minute rule to figure out homework targets. Its the idea that with each grade of elementary school, a childs average homework per night should increase about 10 minutes, said Cooper, who has researched this trend.

What do I do if theres too much homework?

Parents can talk to or email teachers if there is consistently too much homework, or if its too difficult. If enough parents speak to the teacher, there might be a pattern that emerges that a teacher can address, either by covering the subject more in class or by assigning different homework. It could also be an opportunity to talk about tutoring or academic help options for a student.

Its also OK to prioritize sleep and health over homework  LAUSDs homework policy says that homework can count for only 20% or less of a students grade, so skipping an assignment in favor of being healthy once in awhile wont affect the overall grade too much. Just address the underlying problem before it becomes a pattern.

What is a parents role?

Parents should be emotionally supportive and can help explain concepts, but stop short of solving a problem.

It should really be the students responsibility to do homework with the parent playing a minor supporting role, said Erika Patall, a University of Texas at Austin educational psychology professor who studies student motivation.

Parents can have a conversation with students at the beginning of the year to discuss when the students will do homework, where theyll do it (it can be helpful to have a designated homework spot in the house, for example), and how students will best budget their time.

Researchers say its important for students to feel like they have autonomy and to feel responsible for their homework, as opposed to feeling like someone else is controlling them.

What can teachers do?

Like parents, it helps for teachers to give students a choice, Patall said. She has conducted research and found that when teachers gave students the option between two different assignments on the same topic, students performed better on that unit test and felt more competent and confident.

It also helps if students understand the purpose of homework. Listen to students feedback, and explain why this particular piece of homework is important, Patall said, and what role it plays in the lesson.

Is it normal to hate homework?

Yes.

Everybody hates homework, said Janine Bempechat, professor of human development and psychology at Wheelock College in Boston. She interviews students about homework and educational experience.

That includes high-achieving and low-achieving students alike, Bempechat said.

Some parents hate homework too  kids parrot their parents behavior, so theyre less likely to react positively if their parent has a negative attitude toward homework.

And homework can be both lonely and exhausting, especially after six hours in school, Bempechat said. Parents can implement little reward systems for completing tasks, like 10-minute breaks to watch a YouTube video or ride a bike around the block.

Can my kid get homework help?

Yes. Depending on the time of day and the teacher, students or parents can email teachers with specific questions if theyve exhausted other options. Dont always expect a response, but the teacher will know that your kid is trying, and will be able to address the specific problem.

Here is a list of free tutoring programs throughout L.A. County. There are also homework hotlines that help students struggling with specific problems. Harvey Mudd College has a number that 4th- through 12th-grade students can call for help on science and math problems.

Reach Sonali Kohli on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli or by email at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com.
Residents of Lake County were just beginning to recover from a deadly series of wildfires that destroyed more than a thousand homes last summer when a firestorm this weekend blazed a new path of destruction and despair through the rural pocket of Northern California.

The 4,000-acre Clayton fire  which authorities said late Monday was arson  spread with frightening speed through the small town of Lower Lake on the southern edge of Clear Lake, ravaging Main Street and wiping out much of its small commercial district.

Thousands of people  some of them already dubbed fire survivors after last year  fled as they awaited word on whether their homes and businesses were still standing. By Monday afternoon, the fire had destroyed at least 175 structures and threatened 1,500 more, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It was only 5% contained.

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Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said late Monday that Damin Pashilk, a resident of nearby Clearlake, had been arrested and booked on multiple counts of arson in connection with the Clayton fire and other fires in the area during the last year.

For some evacuees at the shelter in Middletown, the arrest of Pashilk was the first good news in days, and the crowd burst into applause.

At Hardesters Market & Hardware in Middletown, clerks on Monday said they had already met their first double-fire survivors: a family burned out of Middletown by the Valley fire just lost their new home in Lower Lake right up the road.

We were just starting to recover, lamented store owner Ross Hardester. The area got through those first bleak months and was starting to see permits being issued and new homes going up on charred lots.

Now this, Hardester said. So many people are on edge again.

The ferocious spread of the Clayton fire offers fresh evidence of how five years of unrelenting drought in California leave the state particularly vulnerable to destructive wildfires this year. Wildfires this year have already burned more than 360 square miles and destroyed more than 400 homes and other structures.

Major fires have hit across the state including San Diego, Kern, Monterey, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties, fueled by bone-dry brush and, in some area, miles of dead or dying trees. Fire officials are warning the worst might still be ahead in Southern California, where the traditional fire season  fueled by hot Santa Ana winds  doesnt begin until the fall.

But the situation in the Lake County area is particularly troubling given the devastating fires that hit the same area last year. Together, the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires burned more than 170,000 acres and destroyed more than a thousand homes. The Valley fire killed four people.

Emotions are significantly raw from the Valley fire, said state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) at a fire briefing in the town of Middletown, which was devastated 11 months ago by the fire, one of the most destructive in state history. This is the last thing we needed in the county of Lake.

The fast-moving Clayton fire broke out late Saturday afternoon off Highway 29 and Clayton Creek Road, according to Cal Fire.

Its unclear how arson investigators linked Pashilk to the blaze, or how the fire ignited. Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott said Pashilk had been under investigation for about a year.

Pashilk, 40, faces 17 counts of arson in connection with the Clayton fire and other recent fires. He was being held in the county jail, according to the sheriff.

Extreme heat and low humidity, combined with drought-dried brush, fueled the fires growth, and it doubled in size Sunday as it reached Main Street in Lower Lake, officials said.

Daytime high temperatures near the fire are expected to hover around 100 degrees through Wednesday before cooling slightly going into the weekend, said Eric Kurth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Fire officials said the wildfire gained ground Monday at a much slower pace than it did over the weekend. Bulldozer operators spent much of Sunday night and Monday morning carving extra-wide fire lines along the town of Clearlakes eastern border in an effort to corral the flames, while helicopters and tankers dropped fire retardant and buckets of water. More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the blaze, and the cost of the firefighting effort has reached nearly $5 million, according to Cal Fire.

Martin, the county sheriff, called Lower Lake very, very devastated, on the order of the Valley fire, just in a smaller community.

Entire neighborhoods have been decimated and destroyed, he said.

On Sunday afternoon, McGuire tweeted a photo of a smoky street in Lower Lake.

Words cannot express sorrow, he wrote.

McGuire had spent the last year immersed in the countys struggles as it tried to rebound. On Sunday, he took a new role, joining sheriffs officials in going door-to-door to warn Lower Lake residents to leave.

Home right now is this truck: Manny Cook, who fled #ClaytonFire w family, 3 dogs, 6 snakes, a bird and this kitten. pic.twitter.com/bUuurAE3Ez  Paige St. John (@paigestjohn) August 15, 2016

The senator at my door! said a surprised Manny Cook, 34, who heeded the warning to leave and was parked Monday at Twin Pine Casino & Hotel in Middletown, which is serving as an American Red Cross evacuation center. Three people, three dogs, six snakes, a bird and a kitten were jammed into his red GMC Sonoma.

Nearly 200 people forced out of their homes in Lower Lake spent Sunday night at Twin Pine. The casino was certainly ready: The Red Cross had left behind two trailers of cots and care kits when it pulled out of town last year, and the casino had opened itself up as a fire shelter even before being declared one, said Kyle Lewis, a spokesman for the facility.

People who lost their homes in last years fires had lived for months at Twin Pine, and the last of them left just a few weeks ago, Lewis said.

The back-to-back wildfires have changed how Lewis, 37, a relative newcomer, views life in the rolling hills of Lake County. He was evacuated from his home last year for a week and considers himself lucky to have just had superficial property damage. He knows many others who lost everything.

I think it has made us a very strong community that I am very proud of, he said.

Tessie Espinosa said she fled her Lower Lake house the moment she saw smoke.

Weve learned that you cant trust for warnings to get out, she said.

Espinosa is an administrator for the senior center in Middletown, where elderly clients interrupted her every few minutes Monday for updates on what was destroyed the night before and what was still standing in Lower Lake. Her tone was light and reassuring  but on the I am not sure list is her own house.

She pulled out her phone and showed a state map of the fires that have affected the region. She pointed at a small, unburned area in the center.

Thats where we live, Espinosa said.

Last years Rocky fire, which started about 9 miles east of Lower Lake and burned for two weeks in July and August, burned more than 100 square miles of forest and destroyed 43 homes. State fire investigators said that fire was sparked by a malfunctioning gas water heater.

The Jerusalem fire started a few days later, just south of the Rocky fire, and destroyed six homes. The fires briefly ran alongside each other.

The Valley fire  the third-most-destructive wildfire in state history  burned for more than a month in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, starting in September. The fire killed four people and destroyed 1,281 homes and 27 multifamily structures, according to state fire officials.

Last week, Cal Fire announced that a hot tubs faulty wiring ignited the 120-square-mile fire. The property owners are being investigated for possible criminal charges, officials said.

On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Lake County, as well as for San Luis Obispo County, where the Chimney fire that broke out near Lake Nacimiento on Saturday had burned 5,400 acres and was 10% contained.

Back at Twin Pine Casino in Middletown, Charles Farrell was camping out in his pickup truck in the casinos parking lot, having evacuated from his home outside Lower Lake. The 63-year-old watched the fast-growing fire across a ridge and stayed there, even when the power went out. But when Farrells water was cut off, the retiree packed his family, tools and a nervous Chihuahua into the truck and fled.

Its kinda sad, he said, referring to the blackened, dead trees that are now the landscape of southern Lake County. In addition to the four major fires, there also have been a series of smaller fires this summer, fueling rumors of an arsonist and keeping local fire crews busy.

Weve always had fires, but never this big, one woman said Monday. And on the anniversary of the last three.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com | Twitter: @paigestjohn

hailey.branson@latimes.com | Twitter: @haileybranson

Times staff writer St. John reported from Middletown and Branson-Potts from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

10:00 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on the cost of the firefighting effort.

8:35 p.m.: This article was updated with information on the arrest of an arson suspect.

This article was originally published at 7:10 p.m.
During more than three decades of discussion and planning, Los Angeles County transportation officials have cleared almost every obstacle to the long-planned Wilshire subway.

The main exception has been Beverly Hills.

Over the last five years, the city and the local school district have spent nearly $10 million fighting the Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys plans to tunnel beneath Beverly Hills High School for a nine-mile heavy rail link between Westwood and Koreatown, where the subway line currently terminates.

That legal battle moved toward detente Friday, when a U.S. District Court judge issued a ruling that chided federal officials for several missteps during the environmental review process but stopped short of delaying the subways construction.

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In a 23-page ruling, Judge George H. Wu said the Federal Transit Administration had not adequately responded to Beverly Hills Unified School Districts concerns about tunneling in an area studded with pockets of methane gas, and had not addressed the effects of construction on air quality and recreation at the high school campus.

But Wu refused to void the environmental review entirely, which could have added several years to the projects timeline.

Nothing so far has kept us from meeting the goal of delivering the project.  Metro spokesman Dave Sotero

Delaying the phase of the subway that will run through Beverly Hills could have a domino effect on the subsequent phase of the project, to West L.A. and Westwood, Wu wrote. That could jeopardize grants and low-interest federal loans for the project, as well as L.A.s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Metro officials called the ruling very good news. A spokesman said the agency will finish the new analyses in the spring  at least six months before heavy construction begins on the phase of the subway that will pass through Beverly Hills.

We take the ruling seriously and we are going to get the work done, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said. Nothing so far has kept us from meeting the goal of delivering the project.

But school district attorney Jennifer Recine called the ruling a victory for Beverly Hills, noting that the additional Federal Transit Administration and Metro studies may well be superficial, opening the door for future litigation.

The school district will pursue those claims, if necessary, to ensure its communitys resources are protected and preserved, Recine said.

When asked if the ruling was good news, a spokeswoman for the city of Beverly Hills did not respond.

Construction on the $6.3-billion Purple Line extension is planned in three phases: first, from Koreatown to Miracle Mile, slated for 2023; to Beverly Hills and Century City in 2026; and finally to Westwood and West L.A. in 2035.

The subway route Metro chose includes a station near Constellation Boulevard in Century City, two blocks west of Beverly Hills High School. Metro considered an alternative route along Santa Monica Boulevard but discarded it after agency studies found a complex earthquake fault zone in that area.

Metros additional analysis will incorporate already public seismic information about the Constellation station, Sotero said.

Officials are hoping that the extension to Westwood and West L.A. can be finished 11 years ahead of schedule to transport athletes, visitors and journalists between downtown and UCLA during the 2024 Olympics.

Metros half-cent sales tax increase proposal, which will be on the November ballot, would allot nearly $1 billion to accelerate construction of the line. Transportation officials have also sought federal grants and low-interest loans to speed construction.

Beverly Hills city and school officials sued the FTA in 2013 over grants and federally backed low-interest loans for the Purple Line, saying the project violated environmental, transit and administrative laws.

They filed a similar lawsuit against Metro in Los Angeles County Superior Court. A judge ruled two years ago that the agencys five-year, $13.8-million environmental review had been thorough and fair.

laura.nelson@latimes.com

For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter.

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The aggressive fire in the Cajon Pass grew to 31,600 acres on Thursday as flames ripped through canyons and flatlands and reduced homes to ash and rubble.

Although crews made some progress against the blaze, which was 4% contained as of 6:30 a.m., a red flag warning is still in effect, meaning weather conditions are prime for a fast-moving, destructive wildfire.

The flames have left even veteran firefighters bewildered.

It hit hard, it hit fast  it hit with an intensity that we havent seen before, San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said.

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The menacing fire remained unruly Wednesday night, racing up Lone Pine Canyon and toward Highway 2, where the ski resort town of Wrightwood, population 4,525, was under threat.

Marc Peebles, a spokesman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, likened the blazes activity Wednesday to an energetic child eluding his parents at the mall.

It has been running all day, he said.

With winds fanning the blaze, officials were concerned it could decimate Lytle Creek, a tiny mountain community along the wildfires southwestern flank that was under mandatory evacuation.

Structure-protection engines are stationed in Lytle Creek and Wrightwood. More than 1,500 firefighters were attacking the inferno with everything they can from the air and the ground, Lardner said.

More than 80,000 people in the countys rural communities have been forced to flee. An unknown number of homes were destroyed.

The blazes small containment line was centered around Old Cajon, where the fire broke out Tuesday morning.

Officials are bracing for an immense tally of devastation from a fire fed by strong winds, parched tinder and triple-digit heat.

There will be a lot of families that will come home to nothing, Hartwig warned.

On Wednesday, the remote region was an ominous version of itself. Brilliant flames of red, gold and copper licked at skies choked with smoke. Multiple helicopters whirred in darkness as bulldozers razed paths below.

Summit Inn, a historic diner along Route 66 once frequented by Elvis Presley, had become indistinguishable rubble. Charred skeletons of buildings and cars dotted the area. A cargo train sat idle on tracks, abandoned by its engineer.

A spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service said assessment teams and cadaver dogs would be sent to homes and structures along Highway 138.

The fire came so quickly, said Chon Bribiescas. We want to make sure nobody was left behind.

Its been 13 years since the area was struck by fire, leaving the hills and mountains a mix of dead brush and new growth.

The conditions on Tuesday were ripe for a fast-moving fire, officials said. The Cajon Pass, acting as a funnel, sent winds that raced up to 30 mph to help the blaze jump Interstate 15, said Michael Wakoski, battalion chief of the San Bernardino County Fire Department and incident commander of the Blue Cut fire.

Firefighters had difficulty navigating the steep slopes while the flames chewed through the rugged terrain, Wakoski said.

1 / 88 About 10 buildings belonging to the Thanksgiving Korean Church were reduced to rubble by the Blue Cut fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 88 Miguel and Mabel Ramos, both 73, survey the devastation of the Blue Cut fire after it swept through their Oak Hills residence. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 88 Mabel Ramos, 73, is overcome by emotion upon seeing the devastation caused by the Blue Cut fire, which swept through her Oak Hills residence. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 88 Miguel Ramos holds a single chicken that survived after the Blue Cut fire swept through his Oak Hills property, burning the guest house and killing about 135 animals. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 88 A CalFire helicopter makes a water drop on still smoldering remnants of Blue Cut Fire on the hilltop ridges along Hwy 2 in Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 88 The Blue Cut fire continues to burn north of Lytle Creek in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 88 Ground crews put out errant fires that popped up near the train tracks in Keenbrook in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 88 A firefighting helicopter makes water drops to keep errant fires from approaching the train tracks near Interstate 15 at Keenbrook in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 88 Fire burns on the train tracks near Interstate 15 at Keenbrook in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 88 A firefighting helicopter drops water on glames getting close to the train tracks near Interstate 15 at Keenbrook in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 88 An abandoned structure sits in the path of the Blue Cut fire after it has passed through Lone Pine Canyon in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 88 A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop on a flare-up of the Blue Cut fire along Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass on Thursday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 88 The Blue Cut fire burns in the mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest, leaving charred vegetation in its wake near Wrightwood on Thursday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 88 A firefighting helicopter flies through thick smoke as it makes a water drop on a flare-up of the Blue Cut fire along Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 88 A dust cyclone swirls through a charred moonscape left by the Blue Cut fire near Wrightwood. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 88 Scott Steele of the Beverly Hills Fire Department comforts one of two dogs hurt in the Blue Cut fire next to a burned structure on Monte Vista Road in Phelan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 88 Jaime Jungle, left, and Chris Schreiner from San Bernardino County Animal Control carry one of two dogs hurt by the Blue Cut fire at a burned-out structure on Monte Vista Road in Phelan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 88 A light pole with plastic globes melted in the heat of the Blue Cut fire stands along Tamarind Avenue in Phelan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 88 Fire crews are busy mopping up hot spots from the Blue Cut fire on Highway 2 on the way to Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 88 A helicopter makes a water drop in very dense smoke from Blue Cut Fire smoldering in the hills along Highway 2 near Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 88 Smoldering hillside from Blue Cut fire along Highway 2 near Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 88 Work crew prepare to repair downed power lines damaged by the Blue Cut fire on Highway 138 at the junction of 15 Freeway. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 88 The Blue Cut fire grew to more than 31,000 acres Thursday morning. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 24 / 88 A car destroyed by the Blue Cut wildfire in Phelan, California. (JONATHAN ALCORN / AFP/Getty Images) 25 / 88 A firefighter douses the Blue Cut fire burning alongside Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 88 Firefighters attack the Blue Cut fire as it burns along Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 88 Firefighters work to defend structures on Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 88 A firefighter monitors the Blue Cut fire on the side of Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 88

A firefighter works to defend structures on Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 88 Firefighters set back fires on Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 88 With a full moon in the background, firefighters monitor the Blue Cut fire along Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday night. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 88 A firefighting helicopter drops water on a hillside to battle the Blue Cut fire west of Interstate 15 on Wednesday in Devore. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 88 Smoke from the Blue Cut fire burns over Interstate 15 on Wednesday in Devore. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 88 Firefighters work to extinguish flames on Cajon Blvd along the interstate 15, in San Bernardino County on Aug. 17. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 88 A firefighter battles the Blue Cut fire in thick brush along Lytle Creek Road. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 88 CalFire firefighters keep watch on the Blue Cut fire as it roars on a hillside above Sheep Canyon Road on Wednesday in Lytle Creek. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 88 A sky crane drops water on the Blue Cut Fire to keep it from crossing Lytle Creek Road on Wednesday in Lytle Creek. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 88 Lytle Creek residents check-in at the evacuation center set up at the Jessie Turner Health & Fitness Center on Wednesday in Fontana. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 88 The Blue Cut fire burns close to Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 88 Firefighters work around the Blue Cut fire near Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 88 The Blue Cut fire burns a hillside near Wrightwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 88 Firefighting helicopters battle the Blue Cut fire as it burns out of control around the community of Lytle Creek. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 88 Lytle Creek residents Nico and Dalia Santucci prepare to evacuate as the Blue Cut fire burns near their home. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 88 A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Blue Cut fire as it burns above Lytle Creek on Wednesday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 88 Air tanker drops fire retardant near residences threatened by Blue Cut Fire along Highway 2 Wednesday afternoon. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 88 A structure is engulfed in flames as the Blue Cut fire burns out of control in Lytle Creek. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 88 A firefighting airplane drops fire retardant on the Blue Cut fire in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 88 Towering flames of the Blue Cut fire burn out of control in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest above Lytle Creek. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 88 A firefighting helicopter drops water on bruning brush as the Blue Cut fire burns out of control in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest on Wednesday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 88 The Blue Cut fire exploded out of control Tuesday in the Cajon Pass, scorching 30,000 acres and destroying an unknown number of homes in several rural San Bernardino County communities. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 88 David Pearson, who lives on Lone Pine Canyon Road, decided to stay at home in Wrightwood as long as conditions allowed. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 88 Firefighter Bryan Hagan and Pegi Fall, standing along Lone Pine Canyon Road, watch as the Blue Cut fire approaches Wrightwood. Fall has decided to stay as long as conditions allow. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 88 The Blue Cut fire exploded out of control Tuesday in the Cajon Pass, scorching 30,000 acres and forcing over 80,000 to evacuate. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 88 A cat wandering around jumps way from hot surface and flames emitting at still smoldering structure at Hess Road. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 88 Destruction brought by Blue Cut fire on Hess Road in Phelan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 88 Smoke rises out from underneath railroad tracks at a damaged bridge near the Interstate 15 damaged by the Blue Cut fire burning in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 88 Michelle Keeney and her husband, Scott, salvage some old signs from gutted Summit Inn Wednesday morning. Michelle Keeney is the manager of the restaurant destroyed in the fire. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 88 Spot fire continue to burn in what remains of the gutted Summit Inn at the junction of the 15 Freeway and Highway 138 Wednesday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 88 A melted sign from a McDonalds restaurant shows the damage as firefighters check the area after the Blue Cut fire swept through Cajon Junction. (EUGENE GARCIA / EPA) 60 / 88 Burned homes and vehicles are left in the wake of the Blue Cut Fire that broke out in Devore near the Cajon Pass on Aug. 16, 2016. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 88 Burned homes and vehicles are left in the wake of the Blue Cut fire that broke out in Devore near the Cajon Pass on Aug. 16, 2016. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 88 Smoke from the Blue Cut fire that broke out in Devore near the Cajon Pass and quickly spread on Aug. 16, 2016. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 88 Fire continues to burn along Highway 138, in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 88 During the night, a portion of the Blue Cut fire burns along Interstate 15. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 88 A firefighter returns to his vehicle as fire continue to burn along Highway 138 in San Bernardino County. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 88 The Blue Cut fire still burns out of control into the evening off Highway 138 in Summit Valley, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 88 Winds blow hot embers along a burning fence line as the Blue Cut fire torches the landscape into the evening off Highway 138 in Summit Valley. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 88 Motorists flee The Blue Cut fire as it burns out of control on both sides of Highway 138 in Summit Valley. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 88 Residents watch in despair as the Blue Cut fire burns homes on the hillside off Highway 138 in Summit Valley, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 88 An air tanker drops fire retardant near homes as the Blue Cut fire burns out of control on both sides of Highway 138 in Summit Valley, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 88 A home is engulfed in flames as the Blue Cut fire burns out of control on both sides of Highway 138 in Summit Valley, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 88 San Bernadino County firefighter David Pingree works to save a home near Hwy 138. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 88 The Blue Cut fire burns out of control on both sides of Highway 138 in Summit Valley, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 74 / 88 A home located at 5375 Hwy 138 in Phelan is consumed by the Blue Cut fire as it rages out of control August 16, 2016. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 75 / 88 Fire crews head back to their truck after a failed attempt to stop the Blue Cut Fire spreading along Highway 138 in Phelan, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 76 / 88 The Blue Cut Fire roars out of control behind greenhouses along Highway 138 in Phelan, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 77 / 88 A firefighter watches as the Blue Cut Fire roars near Highway 138 as it burns vegetation and power poles in Phelan, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times ) 78 / 88 Fire crews attempts but can not stop the Blue Cut fire as it spreads along Highway 138 in Phelan, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 79 / 88 A firefighter reports that the Blue Cut fire is burning on both sides of Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times ) 80 / 88 A power pole burns as the Blue Cut fire burns out of control on both sides of Highway 138 in Summit Valley, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 81 / 88 A house is surrounded by flames as the Blue Cut Fire roars above Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif., on Tuesday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 82 / 88 A firestorm approaches as a fire crew begins to pull out at Mormon Rocks Station in the San Bernardino National Forest off Highway 138. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 83 / 88 A firefighter on Tuesday monitors the Blue Cut fire along Highway 138, near the Cajon Pass. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 84 / 88 The Blue Cut fire engulfs the Mormon Rocks Fire Station in the San Bernardino National Forest off Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif., on Tuesday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 85 / 88 The Blue Cut fire burns along California Highway 138 on Tuesday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 86 / 88 The Blue Cut Fire roars out of control as it heads towards home off Highway 138. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 87 / 88 The Blue Cut fire throws up a large plume of smoke shortly after it broke out late Tuesday morning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 88 / 88 The Blue Cut fire engulfs the Mormon Rocks area off Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif., on Tuesday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Six county firefighters were trapped Tuesday by walls of flame while defending homes and evacuating residents in Swarthout Canyon, officials said. They were treated for minor injuries and have returned to the field, officials said.

No other injuries have been reported.

In addition to Lytle Creek, Lone Pine Canyon, Wrightwood and Swarthout Canyon, mandatory evacuations were ordered for Baldy Mesa, Old Cajon Road and West Cajon Valley, fire officials said.

The northbound lanes of the 15 Freeway through the Cajon Pass reopened late Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The freeway, a key trucking and commuter route that connects Southern California with Nevada, was closed after the Blue Cut fire erupted. Clogged traffic and major road closures had made it difficult for residents to leave the area.

Mary Grass, 74, and her husband left their Phelan home Tuesday as smoke and flames tore through the area. After dropping their horse off at a friends house in Hesperia, they headed to Victorville to spend the night.

They have already seen television footage of neighbors residences destroyed.

Just wondering about our house now, Grass said.

Others couldnt bear to leave.

I stayed just in case theres a chance that I can do something to save my house, said Joe Knowlton, who watched the flames from his porch in Wrightwood.

Knowlton, 49, said he watered his property and was standing guard with his 14-year-old son. If an ember fell nearby, at least hed be around to stamp it out, he said.

Thats the difference between the house going up in flames or not, he said. I dont mind sticking it out.

This year alone, California has been besieged by wildfires that have scorched hundreds of homes and killed eight people  all before autumn, when the states traditional fire season begins and the Santa Ana winds come into play.

The onslaught of fires has taxed fire departments and left little time for rest. Some firefighters were working up to 36 hours straight, said Peebles, the San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman.

These guys are going from fire to fire, he added.

Such fires are a sort of new normal, said Char Miller, an expert on wildfires and national forests at Pomona College.

Were in the fifth year of drought and were starting to see the consequences of that, he said.

Aerial fights against intense blazes can only do so much, Miller said. You need boots on the ground.

Thats a tall order as firefighters face temperatures that arent likely to cool until Friday, said Philip Gonsalves, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

Crews wont be able to rely on any nighttime humidity to recover either, he said.

The dozens of residents who made their way to Sultana High School in Hesperia found themselves fearing the worst and taking stock of the best.

You cant worry about your things, said Anthony Botello, 48, who left his home with just a handful of clothes and his wedding band. Its your life that you have to value.

Nearby, Osuna Rosa sipped coffee on a cot and retraced the past days events.

The 53-year-old hospice nurse was at work in the High Desert on Tuesday morning when she noticed smoke.

The southbound Interstate 15 was closed. She tried an alternate route along Summit Valley Road, but found it clogged with traffic.

After Rosa failed to get a hotel room, she found herself in tears.

Then, a motel employee pointed her to the shelter. In the dimly lighted gymnasium, she managed to get a few hours of sleep, still dressed in her blue hospital scrubs.

paloma.esquivel@latimes.com

angel.jennings@latimes.com

shane.newell@latimes.com

Esquivel reported from Lytle Creek; Jennings from San Bernardino; Newell from Hesperia. Times staff writers Ruben Vives in Wrightwood and Sarah Parvini, Matt Stevens, Matt Hamilton and Corina Knoll in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Photographers Gina Ferrazi and Irfan Khan contributed to this report from Phelan.

ALSO

Arson suspected after fire strikes three Rosemead carports

Arson suspect held on $5.1-million bail as firefighters battle Lake County blaze

Police catch Dreaded Bandit suspect after a series of bank robberies in San Francisco

UPDATES:

7 a.m.: This article was updated with information that the fire has grown to 31,600 acres.

Aug. 18, 6:45 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the Interstate 15 reopening.

9:20 p.m.: This article was updated with new details throughout.

6:20 p.m.: This article was updated with current statistics about the size of the fire.

4:45 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

2:55 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the damage.

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated throughout.

12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from area residents.

11:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from an incident commander.

10:55 a.m.: This article was updated with information about assessment teams and cadaver dogs.

9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with information from a press conference.

8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from the National Weather Service.

8:05 a.m.: This article was updated with expert comment.

6:57 a.m.: This article was updated with information from evacuation centers.

5:42 a.m.: This article was updated with information about a burned restaurant.

10:35 p.m.: This article was updated with the fires growth to 18,000 acres.

8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the fire growing to 15,000 acres.

7:35 p.m.: This article was updated with information about a state of emergency being declared.

5:40 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the number of residents evacuated from the area.

5:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from residents near the scene of the fire.

5:10 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from fire officials.

3:50 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from residents who had evacuated the area.

3:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the size of the fire and the amount of firefighters responding.

2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information.

2:10 p.m.: This article was updated with information about damaged buildings and injuries to firefighters.

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 1:15 p.m. on August 16, 2016.
A suspected serial arsonist charged with starting the Clayton fire that destroyed more than 175 buildings in Northern California this week worked as an inmate firefighter while in prison for drug and weapons charges years ago, authorities said.

Damin Pashilk, of Clearlake, faces 17 counts of arson in connection with the 4,000-acre Clayton fire in Lake County, as well as numerous others set in the area in recent months, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Chief Ken Pimlott said.

Pashilk had been under investigation for about a year and has a lengthy criminal record, authorities said.

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When Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin announced Pashilks arrest at a community meeting in Middletown late Monday, weary residents  including some who had lost homes to the fire  cheered.

String him up! someone shouted.

Youre going to hell, bud! someone else yelled.

Here in this rural pocket, besieged last year by a string of deadly wildfires, news that the Clayton fire was attributed to arson was met with fury but little surprise. The arson rumors started about as soon as the Clayton fire did, residents said. This summer has been full of smaller fires  far too many to blame on bad luck.

We that call Lake County home know that the fire activity that weve been experiencing over the last couple of years is definitely not normal, Martin said Monday. Fires dont just simply start.

The fast-moving Clayton fire started late Saturday afternoon off Highway 29 and Clayton Creek Road, according to Cal Fire. Thousands of people in the small towns of Lower Lake and Clearlake were evacuated because of the fire, which was 20% contained Tuesday.

It remains unclear how arson investigators linked Pashilk to the blaze or how it started. Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday declared a state of emergency in Lake County to help expedite aid to those affected by the fire.

Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley, said arson is to blame in a small number of wildland fires in California. Most wildland fires, he said, are started by humans accidentally, and half of the ones in the mountains are caused by lightning strikes.

It is very unusual to catch an arsonist so close to the fire starting, said Stephens, who has spent decades studying fire behavior. Often, he said, it take years of investigation and other fires to eventually reveal the culprit.

The Clayton fire ravaged tiny Lower Lake, blazing through its Main Street commercial district. A Habitat for Humanity office, whose staff had been helping victims of last years fires rebuild their homes, was destroyed. So was a Methodist church.

Lake County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Hinchcliff said prosecutors expect to arraign Pashilk on Wednesday. He was being held in the Lake County jail on $5.1-million bail, Hinchcliff said.

Pashilk has been arrested more than 20 times throughout Northern California during the last two decades, a law enforcement source said. He was arrested at least a dozen times in Lake County for a variety of offenses, according to the Sheriffs Department.

Pashilk worked as an inmate firefighter while serving a five-year prison term for drug and weapons convictions years ago, state corrections officials said. He was trained at the California Correctional Center in Susanville and assigned to Trinity Camp in Lewiston from April 12, 2007, through July 5, 2007, Vicky Waters, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Pashilk was committed to state prison from Lake County in January 2002 and was released on parole on July 25, 2007. He was subsequently brought back into custody six times for parole violations but did not serve again as a firefighter, Waters said.

Authorities said about 340 inmate firefighters were battling the Clayton fire Tuesday.

In 2009, Clearlake police arrested Pashilk on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, police said at the time.

According to an account of the arrest in the Lake County News, officers detained a driver suspected of drug possession, and authorities went with a search warrant to that mans home. Pashilk answered the door with a loaded handgun, then ran back into the residence  which held a marijuana-growing operation  to try to hide the weapon. He was wanted at the time on parole violations in Napa County.

A Facebook page with Pashilks name and photos of him, and which lists him as a Clearlake resident, has a cover photo depicting a pair of white SS lightning bolts, a neo-Nazi symbol.

Clearlake resident Joshua Manion said Tuesday that hes known Pashilk for a few years.

He seems like a pretty good guy, Manion said. If hes innocent, hes innocent. If hes guilty, he almost killed my family. Thats all I have to say.

Paul Dawson, a longtime Clearlake resident, said he was watching television Monday night when he saw a picture of Pashilk, whom hes known for eight years. He didnt believe the accusations.

Hes a good guy, Dawson said. Hes got a jaded past, but your past is your past. He served his time.

Dawson said Pashilk doesnt seem like the kind of guy to destroy things, and said he was always helping people out.

Dawson, leaving his house on a bicycle on a dirt road not far from the Clearlake Police Department, said Pashilk lived in the area and did odd jobs around the neighborhood for money.

Last year, Lake County was devastated by the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires, which burned more than 170,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. The Valley fire killed four people. The Clayton fire is now burning in an area between those major fires.

News of Pashilks arrest seemed to confirm the suspicions of many residents and firefighters that the Clayton fire and other recent blazes did not start by natural causes.

The chatter of air tanker pilots involved in Mondays attack on the blaze included their own hints of arson. About noon, they reported suspicious puffs of white smoke rising near an unburned area. They swooped over to put out the new fire and alerted other pilots to be watchful for signs of others popping up outside the char.

The Clayton fire was preceded this summer by a rash of fires near highways around Clearlake that destroyed some homes, caused power outages and subjected residents to repeated evacuation orders. Firefighters were able to douse those fires before they blossomed into full-fledged wildfires.

Three of the fires were last week; two of those were reported within minutes of each other.

Chris McMullin, 47, was hanging out at the B&B Cocktail Lounge in Clearlake on Tuesday afternoon, trying to find out any news about the fire victims. The Clearlake resident knows people who lost their homes and trucks this week. Last year, McMullin, who installs fire sprinklers for a living, let some friends who were evacuated by the Valley fire stay on his couch.

Everyones tired of it, thats for sure, he said of the fires.

McMullin said he was suspicious about the Clayton fire. Another fire was set in the area at almost the same time exactly a week before, he said.

Lake County residents have already been through so much, and theyre furious at the suspect, he said.

Nobodys happy, McMullin said. There are a lot of displaced people right now because of the fire. Theres probably a lot of people who want to kill him right now.

richard.winton@latimes.com | Twitter: @lacrimes

hailey.branson@latimes.com | Twitter: @haileybranson

joseph.serna@latimes.com | Twitter: @JosephSerna

Times staff writers Winton and Branson-Potts reported from Los Angeles and Serna from Clearlake. Times staff writers Paige St. John, Sarah Parvini and Erica Evans contributed to this report.

ALSO

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Police catch Dreaded Bandit suspect after a series of bank robberies in San Francisco

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UPDATES:

8:50 p.m.: This article was updated throughout.

3:17 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Pashilks time as an inmate firefighter.

10:15 a.m.: This article was updated with details on an earlier arrest.

9:39 a.m.: This post was updated with details on the suspects arrest.

This article was originally published at 8:20 a.m.
The suspect had a strange description: a 6-foot man wearing white face paint, a wig with dreadlocks, a fake beard and a hat.

Beginning in April, the man robbed a bank about once a month at various locations around San Francisco, usually taking over the register at gunpoint and directing employees and customers to the vault area, where he would nab a large stack of cash.

Authorities dubbed him the Dreaded Bandit because of the locks that fell from his cap.

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But the streak of robberies appears to have ended. Last week, San Francisco police on Aug. 12 arrested Andre Mitchell Brown, 57, moments before he stepped into a bank in the 5400 block of Geary Boulevard.

He was wearing a wig, fake beard, sunglasses and gloves, police said. Officers also found a loaded revolver in Browns possession.

Brown recently was released from prison after serving 27 years, according to the police. He was a parolee on active federal probation for armed bank robbery.

Javier Jenkins, 44, whom police say was the getaway driver in the latest bank heist attempt, also was arrested. He was booked at San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of felony conspiracy and attempted robbery, police said.

Brown was booked at San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of attempted robbery, conspiracy, carrying a concealed firearm, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm with the intent to commit a felony.

The FBI said the Dreaded Bandit stole from banks on April 22, May 12, June 23 and July 11. In all four robberies, an undisclosed amount of money was taken from each bank.

San Francisco police said they are working with the FBI to solve other bank robberies that may be linked to Brown.

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

For more local and breaking news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini

ALSO

Alleged stalker arrested at reality TV star Kendall Jenners home

Suspected drunk driver kills 7-year-old girl in Seal Beach crash

Authorities say arsonist set fire that destroyed swath of Lake County town; firefighters make progress
Two days after the apprehension of an inmate who walked away from a halfway house in South Los Angeles, another inmate escaped from a halfway house in the Rampart area on Monday, officials said.

Jeffrey Scott Pine, 47 is at least the ninth offender to walk away from one of the two Los Angeles County Male Community Reentry Program facilities in 2016. At least 12 other inmates have left conservation camps and reentry facilities in different cities across the state this year, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation news releases.

Like the case of the man who was apprehended Saturday, Pines GPS-equipped ankle bracelet was found down the street from the facility where he was being housed. Authorities began searching for Pine after they received a notification that his device had been tampered with.

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Its basically a hard piece of plastic that has the device on it, said Joe Orlando, a public information officer with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. I suppose if you had a sharp object and you worked on it enough, you could probably get it off.

The L.A. County reentry facility allows eligible offenders to participate in rehabilitation programs during the last 180 days of their sentence. Some inmates are permitted to come and go from the facility for work or for school, but all inmates are required to wear GPS tracking devices.

Sometimes they just take off, Orlando said. Its not the same high walls youd have in a prison facility. Its pretty much an honor system.

Pine was serving a three-year sentence for false impersonation and was transferred from prison to the reentry program facility located at 6th street and Alvarado on July 5. He was scheduled to be released on probation in October.

Authorities are seeking the publics help to locate Pine. They said he is 5-foot-11, weighs about 165 pounds, is bald and has green eyes.

According to Orlando, more than 99% of escapees are eventually located. We have a very high success rate, he said.

Once caught, Pine is likely headed back to prison, Orlando said, but the circumstances of his escape are still under investigation.

ALSO

Alleged stalker arrested at reality TV star Kendall Jenners home

Arson suspect held on $5.1-million bail as firefighters battle Lake County blaze

Police catch Dreaded Bandit suspect after a series of bank robberies in San Francisco
The death of a 56-year-old woman who was hiking in Joshua Tree National Park this weekend has prompted officials to warn visitors about the dangers of heat exposure as temperatures soar across Southern California.

The womans death is still under investigation by the Riverside County coroners office, but park spokeswoman Jennie Albrinck said the hiker showed signs of heat-related stress before she went unconscious.

Her name has not been released.

The woman was hiking with her family on Saturday in the Cottonwood area of the park, where temperatures hovered around 100 degrees, Albrinck said.

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The family started about 10 a.m. on the Mastodon Peak Trail but missed a sign and unknowingly ventured toward Lost Palms Oasis. The group eventually reversed course.

On the hike back toward the intended trail, the woman lost consciousness after showing symptoms associated with heat exposure. The group remained behind while her husband rushed ahead to get emergency help, Albrinck said.

The park ranger responded about 2:30 p.m. and said the woman lacked a pulse and was not breathing. She was taken to an ambulance, where paramedics declared her dead.

Across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories and red-flag fire warnings because of the dangerous mixture of gusty winds, dry conditions and persistent heat.

On Tuesday, temperatures in the San Fernando Valley will reach the high 90s; downtown Los Angeles and nearby neighborhoods will reach the high 80s to the low 90s; and coastal areas from Oxnard to Hermosa Beach will see temperatures reach the mid-70s.

The National Weather Service has forecast the Joshua Tree area to see temperatures above 100 degrees through Wednesday, with the heat dropping to the high 90s for the remainder of the week.

Officials at Joshua Tree, a 1,250-square-mile park that covers parts of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, urged visitors to use caution when planning hikes. In 2011, two European tourists were found dead after hiking on a day that saw highs of up to 105 degrees.

All hikers in Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding desert areas are strongly encouraged to take adequate water and food on any hikes, and avoid hiking in the middle of the day when it is the hottest, Albrinck said in a statement.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno

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Los Angeles police arrested two men clad in military gear who were seen carrying rifles on Tuesday after they were monitored for hours in a bizarre rolling standoff that began in Inglewood and ended in the San Fernando Valley.

The spectacle, which was captured by local television stations, began around 11:30 p.m. Monday in Inglewood and continued through the night and into Tuesday morning as the men shouted at police officers and drove randomly across the city.

The men were taken into custody after they exited their car at a busy intersection in Sylmar, and one was blasted with a less-than-lethal round. The other man stripped down to his boxer shorts and surrendered to heavily armed LAPD officers.

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During a briefing Tuesday at the Police Commission meeting, LAPD Assistant Chief Michel Moore said the men carried assault-type firearms with ammunition magazines that appear to be prohibited.

Inglewood police initially responded to reports of men with rifles, and the LAPD assisted the smaller department, according to officials.

At one point, Moore said, the men got into a car and drove to an apartment complex in the San Fernando Valley. The LAPD continued to monitor the pair as they entered the Los Angeles city limits, Moore said.

Later in the morning, the two left the apartment, and police made an investigative stop in Sylmar, where Moore said the pair was taken into custody without significant incident.

Police in L.A. and Inglewood still are trying to determine the pairs motives, authorities said.

Were not completely clear on the intent yet, said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Downing. Theres still a lot of work to do.

By Tuesday afternoon, police had obtained a warrant and were searching the apartment in the San Fernando Valley where it appeared the men lived, Downing said. Investigators had recovered two rifles that matched what the men were seen carrying, Downing said, along with ammunition, hatchets and backpacks.

Police also planned to examine computers and other devices for digital evidence, Downing said.

Investigators are also reviewing radio calls that indicated the men had said they were at a convenience store waiting for the police to arrive so that they would shoot the police, Moore said.

The assistant chief told police commissioners he was thankful the two were taken into custody. Police are concerned about the weapons, the anti-police remarks and the violence that could have erupted from this incident and fortunately did not, he added.

The names of the men have not yet been released. Downing said the pair had been arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats.

kate.mather@latimes.com

ALSO

Arson suspected after fire strikes three Rosemead carports

Arson suspect held on $5.1-million bail as firefighters battle Lake County blaze

Police catch Dreaded Bandit suspect after a series of bank robberies in San Francisco

UPDATES:

2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the arrest and investigation from the LAPD.

This article was originally published at 12:50 p.m.
A 25-year-old man accused of stalking reality TV star Kendall Jenner was arrested at the models home late Sunday, police said.

Officers in Hollywood responded to a trespassing call in the 1600 block of Marmont Avenue around 9:45 Sunday night and found Shavaughn McKenzie on the property, police said.

Jenner pulled into the driveway of her residence that night and saw McKenzie, who tried to talk to her, according to the Associated Press. Thats when the 20-year-old Jenner called the police.

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McKenzie was arrested on suspicion of felony stalking, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department records show. He is being held on $180,000 bail.

McKenzie pleaded no contest to two trespassing cases in May.

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

For more local and breaking news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini

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A U.S. appeals court decided unanimously Tuesday that the federal government may not prosecute people who grow and distribute medical marijuana if they are complying with state laws.

Congress in the last two years has banned the federal government from spending money in ways that would thwart state medical marijuana laws.

The U.S. Deptartment of Justice contended the ban did not undermine its right to prosecute growers and distributors under federal law, even in states where medical cannabis was legal.

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But in the first federal appellate decision on the subject, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the ban prevents the government from spending money on prosecutions of people whose marijuana activities were legal in their states.

Still, the ruling was not a complete victory for medical marijuana activists.

Rather than simply ordering lower courts to dismiss criminal charges, the 9th Circuit said defendants must be given the opportunity to show their actions complied with state law.

The court decision involved 10 appeals brought by dispensaries and growers in California and the state of Washington.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the congressional bans  in the form of appropriation riders passed annually  stymie the governments efforts to close down dispensaries, the court said.

Tuesdays ruling affects only the Western states and territories of the 9th Circuit, but the decision is likely to influence other circuits. Dozens of states authorize cannabis for medical use

Judge Diarmuid F. OScannlain, writing for the court, warned that the the law remains subject to change by Congress.

Congress could appropriate funds for such prosecutions tomorrow, the Reagan appointee wrote.

Conversely, he said, this temporary lack of funds could become a more permanent lack of funds if Congress continues to include the same rider in future appropriations bills.

The federal government could appeal Tuesdays decision to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit or up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I hope this is the beginning of the end of federal prosecutions of state medical marijuana dispensary operators, growers and patients, said Marc J. Zilversmit, who represented a Los Angeles dispensary in one of the cases before the court.

The federal government recently dropped a civil forfeiture action against a huge medical cannabis dispensary in Oakland, but Zilversmit said the Department of Justice has fought hard to continue with criminal prosecutions.

One of the cases before the court involved five defendants accused of running four marijuana stores in Los Angeles County and growing the plants at indoor locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Four other defendants were charged with manufacturing marijuana after authorities said they found 30,000 plants on 60 acres of land in Fresno County.

In Washington, five people were charged with growing more than 562 marijuana plants.

The defendants argued that the federal government was spending money that was not appropriated by Congress in violation of the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution.

They will now be entitled to present evidence in court to try to show that state laws authorized their actions.

OScannlain called the problems with the prosecutions temporal.

The government had authority to initiate criminal proceedings, and it merely lost funds to continue them, he wrote.

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Twitter: @mauradolan

UPDATES:

2:36 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the decision.

This article was originally published at 1:20 p.m.
A 7-year-old girl was killed and her sister and father were injured Monday in a multi-vehicle crash in Seal Beach that authorities say was caused by a suspected drunk driver.

Authorities received multiple calls reporting the crash on the northbound 405 Freeway near Seal Beach Boulevard about 9:30 a.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Denise Quesada. Paramedics transported three members of a Bay Area family to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

The 7-year-old was pronounced dead, her 13-year-old sister was in critical condition and their father was hospitalized with moderate to major injuries. None of their names has been released.

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The father, 49, was driving a 2015 Tesla Model S sedan in the carpool lane with his two daughters in the back seat, according to Tom Joy, public information officer for the CHP.

The driver of a 2013 Chevy Tahoe, Adam Kanas, 36, of San Clemente, crossed the double yellow lines into the carpool lane and rear-ended the Tesla, pinning it against a 2012 Honda Civic that was driving ahead in the same lane, Joy said.

The rear end of the Tesla was pushed all the way in, he said.

Capt. Steve Concialdi of the Orange County Fire Authority said the Tesla was so damaged that firefighters had to extract the injured girls through the front door on the drivers side.

Any time a child dies in a crash, our hearts break for the family, Concialdi said. This was a very tragic accident.

The people in the Civic, a 28-year-old man from San Diego and two passengers, were not injured, but the car sustained heavy damage.

Before the crash, the CHP received calls reporting that Kanas was driving erratically.

We had a unit trying to catch up to him, Joy said. But he crashed moments before they were able to get there.

At the scene, Kanas exhibited signs of inebriation and was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, authorities said. He was booked into Orange County Jail.

erica.evans@latimes.com

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Slowly, residents began to return to water-ravaged homes in Baton Rouge on Tuesday after heavy rain submerged large stretches of southern Louisiana, killing 11 people, damaging entire neighborhoods and prompting tens of thousands of rescues.

Yet as floodwater flowed downstream, officials warned that the danger was far from over. In communities to the south  still in rescue mode  residents were urged to stay in their homes or evacuate.

The devastation was severe. In Livingston Parish, just east of Baton Rouge, officials estimated that as many as 75% of the areas 52,000 homes had been damaged by floodwaters. Southeast, in Ascension Parish, water had seeped into one of every three homes.

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Weve been through Hurricane Gustav, Katrina, Isaac and Rita, but this without a doubt is the roughest weve ever had in this parish, said Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard.

 By Tuesday morning, more than 40,000 people across Louisiana had registered for federal emergency aid. Heres a look at the effects of Louisianas flooding by the numbers.

As many as 20,000 of the parishs 141,000 residents had to be rescued after the area endured 25 inches of rain in just three days, Ard said. About 5,000 residents were in shelters.

At least 75 of my deputies no longer have a home, Ard said. What do you tell them? Its heartbreaking to see a man have an emotional moment, wipe his tears away, and then get back on his boat and take off. He knows his people need him.

Sheriffs Sgt. Gene Higginbotham continued to work 12-hour shifts at the local Emergency Operations Center in Livingson Parish, helping with rescue efforts as his own home was engulfed in almost knee-deep water.

On Saturday, the 42-year-old was injured when his police SUV was overtaken by flood water as he tried to move his wife, daughter and mother out of their one-story brick home. After visiting a local emergency room to get stitches on his arm, he was soon back at work, coordinating shelters at local schools and churches.

Its not easy, he said of staying at his in-laws place and leaving his wife to venture back home to rip up baseboards.

You know youre feeling lost, but you just have to try to put some of that stuff in the back of mind when youre at work, he said. Its just one of those things. You worry about your family, and you worry about your home. At same time, youve got a job to do. You kind of carry on.

Some of his colleagues, he said, had as much four to six feet of water in their homes. Its total destruction, and they were back at work, putting their gear on and rescuing people, he said. Our sheriff, he told us: Were going to get through this.

On Tuesday, President Obama expanded the federal disaster declaration for Louisiana to 20 parishes. More than 60,000 people across the state had already registered for federal aid.

This is a historic flooding event, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday. When you have a storm that is unnamed  it wasnt a tropical storm, it wasnt a hurricane  a lot of times people underestimate the impact that it would have. But this is historic. We are seeing unprecedented flood levels as the waters move south.

Edwards estimated that more than 40,000 homes had been damaged by the heavy rainfall and floodwater. About 8,000 people were taking refuge in shelters, he said, noting that the number is shifting as residents return home, relocate with family or move into motels.

With sporadic looting, dawn-to-dusk curfews and more than 30,000 homes and businesses without power, it was clear the disaster was not over.

1 / 22 President Barack Obama hugs Marlene Sanders as he visits with with residents of Castle Place, a flood-damaged area of Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 23. (Ted Jackson / AP) 2 / 22 US President Barack Obama speaks with residents as he tours a flood-affected area in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on August 23, 2016. President Barack Obama touched down in flood-stricken Louisiana Tuesday, hoping to offer support to devastated communities and silence his critics who say he should have visited sooner. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMMNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD ** (NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 22 President Barack Obama walks with a family to tour their flood-damaged home in the Castle Place neighborhood of Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, Aug. 23. (Susan Walsh / AP) 4 / 22 Daniel Stover, 17, wipes his head as he helps Laura Albritton recover personal belongings in Sorrento, La., as the state continues to deal with devastating floods. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 5 / 22 Daniel Stover moves a boat loaded with personal belongings from a friends flooded home in Sorrento, La. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 6 / 22 Friends and family help to clean out the flood-damaged home of Sheila Siener in St. Amant, La. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 7 / 22 Jody Harelson dumps a wheelbarrel of wet sheet rock over a growing pile of rubbish as he helps clean out a home in St. Amant, La., on Saturday. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 8 / 22 People drive a boat through a gas station as they navigate a flooded neighborhood in Sorrento, La. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 9 / 22 People sort through water-damaged products outside Jasmines Beauty Supply in Baton Rouge, La. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 22 People navigate flooded street in boats in Gonzales, La. Tens of thousands of people have been rescued after unprecedented floods in the state. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) 11 / 22 Belongings are coated in mud after floodwaters receded from a home in Denham Springs, La. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 22 Raymond Lieteau pulls furniture out of his flood-damaged home with the help of his friend Danny Lemoine in Baton Rouge. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 13 / 22 Danielle Blount feeds her 3-month-old baby, Ember, while they wait to be evacuated by members of the Louisiana Army National Guard near Walker, La., after heavy rains inundating the region. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 14 / 22 Aerial photo of flooded homes along the flooded Tangipahoa River in Louisiana. (Ted Jackson / Associated Press) 15 / 22 Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jon Tatroe evacuates people from a flooded assisted living home in Baton Rouge, La. (AFP/Getty Images) 16 / 22 A residential street is covered by floodwaters in Youngsville, La. (Scott Clause / Associated Press) 17 / 22 People wade in water near flood damaged homes in Highland Ridge Subdivision in Youngsville, La. (Scott Clause / Associated Press) 18 / 22 Residents being evacuated from floodwaters in Baton Rouge, La. Emergency crews in flood-devastated Louisiana have rescued more than 20,000 people after catastrophic flooding. (AFP/Getty Images) 19 / 22 Coast Guard personnel evacuate people from floodwaters in Baton Rouge, La. ( AFP/Getty Images) 20 / 22 Residents push an inflatable mattress through flood water at Tiger Manor Apartments by the North Gates of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. (Brianna Paciorka / Associated Press) 21 / 22 A boat motors between flooded homes after heavy rains inundate the region in Hammond, La. (Max Becherer / Associated Press) 22 / 22 This aerial image shows flooded areas of North Baton Rouge, La. (Patrick Dennis / Associated Press)

I want everyone to understand: Nobody has been forgotten, Edwards said.

In many of the worst-hit parishes, emergency teams began to coordinate door-to-door search and rescue operations, checking and marking homes as well as cars that had washed off the roads.

Dana Richardson of Gonzalez, who has been staying in a hotel since Friday night, said local stores were running out of food, and she wasnt sure when they would receive more shipments.

There isnt bread for miles! she said.

Yet people were cooking huge pots of jambalaya and passing out servings. Local residents from Baton Rouge and Zachary cooked large batches of red beans to feed sheriffs in Ascension Parish. Restaurant owners from New Orleans drove more than 50 miles to flooded areas to serve chicken fricassee, cornbread and bread pudding.

Even through disaster, God has shown us how strong love truly is, Richardson said. There is no end to the kindness that our people have right now. Our community is saving each other.

Nearly 15,000 homes in Ascension Parish were flooded, said Richard Webre, director of the parishs Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Residents who lived in low-lying areas near waterways were urged to evacuate Monday night after water breached a 14.5-foot levee along the Amite River.

As the scope of the devastation sunk in, many Louisiana residents took to social media to rail against news outlets for what they believed was their lack of coverage. Why, some wondered, was the displacement of thousands of people less deserving of attention than the Olympics or Donald Trump?

How the #laflood is not on national news truly amazes me, Abigail Mawae of Baton Rouge posted on Twitter.

Why isnt national media covering the floods in Louisiana? tweeted Amy Crowe Duhe, a Baton Rouge nursing student. This is like nothing weve ever seen before.

Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, assured Louisianans his agency was committed to supporting a full recovery across the state  whether or not the natural disaster was commanding front-page national media attention.

You have the Olympics, you got the election, he said. If you look at the national news, youre probably on the third or fourth page. FEMA understands this is a very large disaster impacting tens of thousands of people. Regardless of what it may be getting in the national coverage, we know there has been a significant impact here in Louisiana.

The Louisiana flooding is likely the worst natural disaster in the United States since Superstorm Sandy hammered the East Coast in 2012, according to the Red Cross.

Harrowing rescues were posted on social media as emergency teams continued to evacuate residents in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes. The East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office shared footage taken from a helicopter Monday of rescuers saving a man from waist-high floodwater and two others clinging to a tree.

On Tuesday, floodwater inundated the small town of Sorrento in Ascension Parish, the parish sheriffs office reported. With several inland waterways unable to drain into their usual channels, Meredith Conger, planning and intelligence officer at Ascension Parish Homeland Security, warned residents living near low-lying areas around Bayou Narcisse, Bayou Francois, New River Canal and Black Bayou that they remained at risk.

We are not out of danger yet, Conger said in a video statement. If you feel threatened and you have the capability of getting out of your homes and to safety  you are encouraged to voluntarily evacuate.

As of Tuesday evening, local and state officials had reported that 11 people had died as a result of flooding  five in East Baton Rouge Parish, three in Tangipahoa Parish, two in St. Helena Parish and one in Rapides Parish.

Many residents whose homes were damaged by the floods were not covered by national flood insurance, said Rafael Lemaitre, a FEMA public information officer. Just over 20% of Louisiana residences carry flood insurance, and that number is lower in many of the parishes most afflicted by the rainstorms.

Jarvie is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske contributed reporting.

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UPDATES:

Aug. 17, 8:20 a.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from people affected by the flooding.

This article was originally published Aug. 16 at 8:05 p.m.
Two years ago, Supreme Omokunde was driving his Jeep Cherokee through one of Milwaukees business districts when a police officer pulled him over for expired license plate tags.

Omokunde, who is black, cracked open his window, he said, but the officer, who was white, wanted it rolled down all the way and threatened to smash it.

He said he would drag me out of the car, recalled the 37-year-old Milwaukee County supervisor.

Such stories abound on the largely black north side of the city, where riots broke out over the weekend after police fatally shot a black man who they say ran from his car after a traffic stop.

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That police say Sylville Smith had a gun and that the officer who killed him was also black hardly seemed to matter to many of the protesters. Residents said the riots were about years of mistreatment by police as well as the lack of economic opportunities for blacks in one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States.

Black Milwaukee is in some ways a city in a city, said Omokunde, who was born in the Sherman Park neighborhood where the protests occurred. This isnt about one thing.

Reggie Moore, a black man from Sherman Park who was appointed by the mayor this year to lead the citys Office of Violence Prevention, said he had been on the streets monitoring the protesters and teaming with pastors and community groups in an attempt to bring calm.

Whats happening isnt random, he said. Last year, we saw a spike in homicides. There is job loss. There are bad schools. There are a lot of teens in this neighborhood who feel like they arent getting their fair share.

About 40% of Milwaukees 600,000 residents are black. That gives the city the largest black population in Wisconsin, including many families in which parents and grandparents migrated from the South in the 1960s for factory jobs that quickly declined.

The poverty rate for blacks is among the highest anywhere in the United States, as is the rate of incarceration for black men. There are stark differences in average incomes between blacks and whites.

Black families are concentrated on the northern, poorer side of the city, where high school graduation rates are lower and the unemployment rate is higher. On the south and east sides, neighborhoods are whiter and wealthier.

The disparities also show up on the police force. Of the more than 2,000 officers, 17% are black and 18% are other minorities.

Tension between police and Milwaukees black community had reached a peak in recent years. In 2011, a black man, Derek Williams, died in the back seat of a police car after struggling to breathe. The officer in front, Jason Bleichwehl, was fired last month, but activists were disappointed that it was for nondisciplinary reasons.

In 2014, a white officer shot and killed a 31-year-old mentally ill black man, Dontre Hamilton  one of several controversial police shootings of black men. Protests ensued after the district attorney and federal prosecutors declined to pursue cases against the officer, who was fired.

Last year the city moved to settle a lawsuit for $5 million with 74 black residents who had sued over accusations that police had subjected them to body cavity and rectal searches by officers.

The U.S. Department of Justice agreed to a review of its police last year after a request from the chief. The review, which will look at how police treat black residents, is expected to be completed next year.

The situation for black people here is getting worse, said Vaun Mayes, a 29-year-old activist who has led protests against police shootings over the years.

You have businesses closing that employ young black people, he said. Schools dont have enough funds. Then you blame them for sitting outside all day with nothing to do but get into a fight.

Mayes lives in Sherman Park, a once-middle-class black neighborhood now scarred by foreclosed homes and boarded-up buildings. In the wake of the shooting Saturday, the rioters burned down a gas station, an auto parts outlet and a liquor store. Its unclear why those businesses were targeted.

Sherman Park is 12 blocks long and 30 blocks wide. The protests have been clustered around a police precinct and the corner of North Sherman Boulevard and West Burleigh Street.

Police made 14 arrests late Sunday after declaring that the protesters were part of an unlawful assembly. Police said 30 shots rang out through the early morning Monday, at least one of them sending an 18-year-old man to a hospital. Police said they were looking for suspects and did not release any more information about the man.

Officials were struggling with how to quell the unrest. On Monday, Mayor Tom Barrett said the city would begin enforcing a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers, and County Sheriff David Clarke instructed officers to cordon off the neighborhoods namesake park near the protests. The park was closed before sundown, ahead of usual schedule.

By Monday evening, there were still about 100 protesters in the streets. Some huddled and sang and called for calm. In a news conference Monday night, city officials said streets had been quieter than they were during previous nights.

We think we are in, comparatively speaking, a positive place, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said. He added that six people were arrested earlier in the day.

Earlier, Gov. Scott Walker visited with police officers in the citys 3rd District. He also met the 123 Wisconsin National Guard troops who had been sent to the city but not been deployed to the streets. An extra 26 state troopers have been assigned to the county.

Under pressure from Walker and activists, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said it was working expeditiously to investigate the killing of Smith and release a body camera video from the officer who fired the fatal shots.

That wasnt enough for some residents, including members of Smiths family. Kimberly Neal, his sister, said she believed her brother wasnt holding a gun when he was shot.

She called for an end to the violence, decried both the police for recent shootings and the people who had used her brothers killing as a pretext to loot.

His death came during an already violent time in the city, as five people were killed in three non-officer-involved shootings between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Khalif Rainey, an alderman who represents the district where the riots occurred, also called for peace.

While the residents of Sherman Park and Milwaukees impoverished neighborhoods have just cause for anger and frustration, absolutely nothing justifies the display of violence and incivility weve witnessed in our neighborhoods these past two evenings, he said in a statement.

In a neighborhood where the opportunities for employment are so few and far between already, it is foolish and counterproductive to take out your anger on the few businesses that choose to operate on your block, said Rainey, who is black. Looting and burning wont create opportunities to get a job and get ahead in life.

The governor, a Republican who has been widely criticized for supporting budget cuts to schools and public transit, also spoke to the complexity of the problem.

If you want to address poverty, if you want to address living conditions, if you want to address housing  all those things are legitimate issues people have frustrations about, Walker said. But if youve got neighborhoods where businesses are burned down, where people are afraid to live and work, its only going to make those problems more difficult.

There was one thing protesters and officials could agree on: Smith was only the catalyst for the riots.

This department has had some major issues, said one of the citys black police officers, who was not authorized to speak to a reporter. But this guy that was shot, he is not one of them. People are not invested in him. This was just the moment things exploded that had been building up.

jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com

Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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UPDATES:

Aug. 16, 12:30 a.m.: This article has been updated with details about Monday arrests and a news conference.

This article was originally published Aug. 15 at 8:30 p.m.
Yohannes Abraham was a new college graduate driving a top member of Barack Obamas first presidential campaign to visit churches on a snowy day in Des Moines when he got lost.

Abraham was too embarrassed to tell his passenger. But after they passed the same gas station a third time, she spoke up.

Maybe it was time to ask for directions, Valerie Jarrett politely suggested.

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Abraham had no idea that day in 2007 how close Jarrett, now a constant presence in the Oval Office, was to the future president. But he and Jarrett formed a connection then that continues: Now, he is her chief of staff at the White House.

Abraham is one of dozens of Obama lifers  aides and advisors to the president inspired by an underdog quest for history who joined nearly nine years ago as Obama launched his candidacy and have been with him since.

Some of the stories they tell about how they came to work for the president could be rejected plot lines from an early episode of The West Wing. But together they see their durability as a tribute to how Obama inspires both loyalty and sacrifice from staff in a field where burnout is the norm, and where many people accept political appointments with an eye toward self-promotion and long-term financial benefit.

As one lifer put it: Were not political people. Were Obama people.

Everyone hopes theyll go on to be a bigger part of smaller things, Abraham said. But I think most of us have a sense that this is the biggest thing that well ever get to be a small part of.

Jarrett said Abraham was illustrative of many of the early staff, passionate, hard-working, without ego or agenda, determined to help recapture the true honor of public service.

That is why so many of them continue to serve, and have formed a lifelong bond with one another, she added.

Kori Schulman began stopping by the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago during college breaks in 2008 to volunteer on its fledgling new media desk  her job was to approve MySpace friend requests. Now she is deputy director of the White Houses digital strategy office.

Katie Waldo, a White House trip coordinator, remembers escorting senior staff from the Capitol to the White House on inauguration day in 2009 with a backpack full of blueprints. They arrived and literally started turning the lights on, she recalled.

Bess Evans remembers the three questions that changed her life in 2007: Do you have a car? When can you get here? Do you want to come to Iowa and help us change the world? Shes now a senior policy advisor after tours in other posts.

The lifers say their loyalty, and the institutional knowledge theyve gained, serve the president well.

Thats what makes this period of the presidency easier, said Jen Psaki, the White House communications director. The challenges are greater in some ways. But when you can build on the knowledge you have  whether its the presidents record, the history of what hes said or done, or how he thinks about things  it helps make you better at your job.

Psaki, who was one of the first staffers on Obamas 2008 campaign and has served as a spokeswoman in the White House, for his reelection campaign and then at the State Department before returning to the White House in her current role, remembers her first interaction with Obama when staffing him on a trip to Ohio in October 2007. You must be wondering who I am and why I am in your car, she said, breaking the ice at a time when everyone was feeling their way through the early days of the campaign.

A lot of us have grown up in these jobs, she said. Its interesting looking around and realizing a lot of people are actually now seasoned government officials. Thats certainly not how we started when we walked into the campaign headquarters 10 years ago.

This group, like the president, is feeling particularly nostalgic these days. Each anniversary of a major policy or political win takes on greater meaning. Many have been marking a series of lasts all year  the final State of the Union address, the last European trip, even the the last Marthas Vineyard getaway this month for the Obamas annual vacation.

Some longtime staffers are using the slower pace of the presidential vacation to schedule time here to seriously consider, for the first time, their next steps. They have as a resource members of the Obama Alumni Assn., created after Obamas 2012 reelection, which consists of former aides who have sought to continue work on the types of issues that drew them to the president from the private sector.

The association has looked for ways this year to organize on behalf of the presidents agenda. But ultimately the success of Obamas final initiatives rests in the hands of the 50 or so staffers who have been with him since the beginning. Obama sees many every day, including his chief of staff, his top speechwriter, and the ultimate lifer, deputy chief of staff Anita Decker Breckenridge, who has worked for Obama since he was an Illinois state senator.

Abrahams portfolio includes some of the biggest-ticket, if stalled, items left on the administrations to-do list, including efforts to pass a major Pacific trade pact and confirm a new Supreme Court justice, as well as bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation. This week he attended a state legislators conference in Chicago to discuss policing reforms.

The common experience among many in the West Wing dating to Obamas early campaign days has helped motivate them as they stare down the finish line.

Everyone feels a sense of urgency around the fact that theres limited time, Abraham said.

As for what comes next, Abraham says he knows hes not alone in making that a low priority.

Personally, Im going to be happy I put my head down and ran through the tape, Abraham said.

michael.memoli@latimes.com

For more White House coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter.

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FBI gives Congress documents related to its investigation of Hillary Clintons emails

The FBI will send the Hillary Clinton email server investigative report to Congress https://t.co/jWKPT58xuC pic.twitter.com/Qw7chbMCM9  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 16, 2016

The FBI has provided Congress with classified documents related to its investigation of Hillary Clintons emails, as Republican lawmakers probe why prosecutors chose not to pursue a case against her.

Congressional staff were poring over the papers Tuesday but it was unclear whether the documents would be made public. The cache included notes on Clintons interview with investigators and witness interviews.

The FBI has turned over a number of documents related to their investigation of former Secretary Clintons use of a personal email server, said a spokesperson for the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee led by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Committee staff is currently reviewing the information that is classified secret. There are no further details.

Democrats on the committee blasted the review as a partisan attempt by Republicans to revive the email scandal after the Department of Justice declined to pursue charges.

Republicans are now investigating the investigator in a desperate attempt to resuscitate this issue, keep it in the headlines, and distract from Donald Trumps sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the panel.

In a letter to the committee Tuesday, the FBI said because of the intense interest in Clintons emails, it wanted to again explain Director James Comeys rationale for declining to recommend prosecution.

The FBI did find evidence that Secretary Clinton and her colleagues were extremely careless in their handling of certain, very sensitive, highly classified information, wrote Jason V. Herring, acting assistant director. The director did not equate extreme carelessness with the legal standard of gross negligence that is required by the statute.

Herring noted that the FBI believes only one person has been charged for gross negligence in the handling of national defense information during the nearly 100 years that the statute has been law. In that case, he noted, there were indications of espionage and disloyalty to the U.S.

The email probe has continued to ripple across the presidential race.

Trump has put Clintons handling of the emails at the center of his bid, mockingly referring to her as crooked Hillary.

An aide indicated Clintons campaign would likely welcome a declassified version of the FBI documents being made public  if it were released in full, to avoid selective leaks that would be designed to hurt her.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called any release of the documents a mistake.

With the exception of the classified emails that had been found on the private server, I can see little legitimate purpose to which Congress will put these materials, Schiff said.

Instead, he said, he expects the reports will simply be leaked for political purposes, much as happened, he said, with a House special committees investigation into the attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Times staff writer Michael A. Memoli in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
Los Angeles City Councilman Felipe Fuentes had already announced that he was giving up elective office and would not run for a second term next year. But now hes decided he cant even be bothered to serve out the rest of his term. Fuentes told Times reporter David Zahniser that he will step down on Sept. 11 in order to become a lobbyist in Sacramento.

That means his more than 250,000 constituents in the North San Fernando Valley will have no representative on the City Council until a replacement is elected next May and sworn into office on July 1. Until then Council District 7 will be overseen by a City Hall bureaucrat. Thanks a lot, Councilman Fuentes.

The job of an elected official is different than most other jobs. It comes with a commitment to serve for a set period of time. Fuentes signed up for four years and hes leaving after three. Its true that politicians often skip out before the end their terms  usually to run for other elected offices  but that tends to be an unfortunate side effect of term limits, in which ambitious politicians are forced to hop from office to office to avoid getting termed out.

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Fuentes, on the other hand, is leaving office for the private sector. He will join Apex Group, a Sacramento lobbying firm, where he will work as a paid advocate for the Associated General Contractors of California, a statewide trade group. But whats the urgency, beyond his own desire to get out of City Hall?

When Fuentes ran for the City Council in 2013, the Times Editorial Board said that Council District 7, which includes the communities of Sylmar, Pacoima and Sunland-Tujunga, needed an extraordinarily talented and committed council member who could enhance the areas industrial potential while ending its use as a dumping ground both for garbage and bad development. Fuentes, who had served in the state Assembly after working for former Mayor James Hahn and former Council President Alex Padilla, had the most experience in a field of novice politicians. The Times reluctantly endorsed him, noting that he was smart enough to be really good one day, if he wants to be. Apparently he doesnt want to be.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Should the law treat attacks on police officers as hate crimes in the same way it does attacks on racial and religious minorities? A movement known as Blue Lives Matter  an unsubtle answer to Black Lives Matter  believes so and, unfortunately, its gaining converts.

Earlier this year Louisiana expanded its hate-crime statute to provide for additional penalties for people convicted of attacking police officers and first responders. The law previously provided for enhanced penalties when the victim of a crime of violence was targeted on the basis of several other factors including race, gender, religion and sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) has introduced the Blue Lives Matter Act of 2016. The bill would expand the federal hate-crime statute to make it a crime to target law enforcement officers for acts of violence.

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Especially after the killings of police officers in Baton Rouge, La., and Dallas, this campaign is likely to continue to gain adherents. But its based on a misunderstanding of what hate crime statutes are designed to do. Every violent attack on a human being is hateful, but as originally conceived, a hate crime is also rooted in a pervasive and especially pernicious prejudice that infects society at large. The paradigm of such prejudice in this country is racism, the toxic taproot of both racial violence against minorities and day-to-day discrimination.

New Yorks hate-crime statute explains the justification for such laws well: Crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs. Hate crimes can and do intimidate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the civility that is essential to healthy democratic processes.

Hate-crime laws deal with bias-motivated acts of violence in one of two ways: either by making them crimes in themselves (as the principal federal hate-crime statute does) or by providing harsher punishment for someone convicted of a traditional offense such as assault and battery if the defendant chose his victim on the basis of a characteristic such as race. In either case, the evil addressed by the law extends beyond a specific criminal act.

It is possible to provide additional penalties for attacks on police officers without declaring them hate crimes.

In defending his legislation, Buck said: Whether based on skin color or uniform color, a crime motivated by hate is not going to be tolerated in America. Of course no one should tolerate attacks on police officers or object to punishment for those who attack them. But its specious to equate distrust of  or even hostility to  law enforcement with the sort of pervasive racial or religious prejudice hate-crime statutes are designed to address.

Moreover, it is possible to provide additional penalties for attacks on police officers without declaring them hate crimes. Even before Louisiana amended its hate-crime statute, state law provided for longer sentences for those who committed attacks on a peace officer.

As much as we disagree with the campaign to add police officers to the list of groups covered by hate-crime laws, we understand why the idea has gained traction. In recent years hate-crime laws at both the state and federal level have evolved, expanding to include an increasing number of categories of victims. That creates the temptation to expand the coverage further to encompass our group.

The federal hate-crime statute allows for the prosecution of acts of violence motivated by the victims race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Yet reports of bias-related crimes in some of those categories is vanishingly small. (In 2014, according to the FBI, only 1.5% of single-bias incidents  those in which only one trait was targeted  involved disability.) State hate-crime laws have been expanded to include crimes targeting not only the physically and mentally disabled but also the elderly and the homeless. When the federal hate-crime law was expanded in 2009, Republicans unsuccessfully tried to have attacks on veterans classified as hate crimes.

This overbroad definition creates two impressions in the popular mind: that an act of violence isnt being treated seriously unless it is designated a hate crime and that inclusion in the list of categories is itself a mark of respect. Black lives matter because crimes motivated by racism are hate crimes; therefore, the thinking goes, attacks on the police must be declared a hate crime to send the symbolic message that blue lives matter. By that logic, every crime of violence would have to be declared a hate crime.

Police need to be protected and those who attack them must be punished severely. But the issue is safety, not hate.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To listen to both his defenders and critics, Donald Trump represents the U.S. version of a new nationalism popping up around the world. Im not so sure.

In a fairly representative analysis, Politicos Michael Hirsch explained the new nationalism as a bitter populist rejection of the status quo that global elites have imposed on the international system since the Cold War ended, and which lower-income voters have decided  understandably  is unfair. James P. Pinkerton, writing for the stridently pro-Trump website Breitbart.com, sees nothing less than a Worldwide Trumpian Majority forming to oppose globalization in all its forms.

Interestingly, commentators across the ideological spectrum also agree that these trends are fueled by economic conditions  manifested here as outrage at Wall Street and global trade deals  and can be solved by some government response. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offer similar solutions, such as more trade barriers and massive infrastructure spending.

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That interpretation is fine as far as it goes, but I dont think it goes very far. Ultimately, the term nationalism distorts more than it clarifies about whats going on with Trump supporters in the United States.

First, suggestions that a Trumpian nationalism is rising among all low-income Americans could only be true if all low-income Americans were white. Certainly reading Breitbart.coms celebrations of populist-nationalism or the constant invocations of We the People from Trump supporters on social media might leave you with that impression. This is not to say that everyone who supports Trump is a white nationalist  which conjures various racist doctrines. Rather it is to simply point out that Trumps support is overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, white.

Hillary Clinton, according to some polls, gets nearly 9 out of 10 Latino voters and 9.9 out of 10 African American voters. When Trump pointed out a black attendee at one of his rallies and said, Thats my African American, he might have been speaking literally.

I think commentators focus on the broad-stroke economic arguments because the real issues  the American cultural ones  are so fraught. Simply put, this so-called nationalism in the U.S. is really little more than a brand name for generic white identity politics.

When Trump pointed out a black attendee at one of his rallies and said, Thats my African American, he might have been speaking literally.

Liberals are uncomfortable discussing this; to do so would acknowledge how they failed the white working-class voters who were once the emotional heart of the Democratic Party, but are now the core of Trumps support. The Democrats emotional heart now revolves around a diversity-mania that left many of its traditional voters feeling deserted  or as President Obama once put it, bitterly clinging to their guns and their Bibles.

The Trumpian nationalist right wants to stay focused on economics, because to be open about their cultural appeal would be to admit that they have surrendered to the logic of left-wing identity politics.

Imagine for a moment you are a member of the working white poor in the parts of America that J.D. Vance writes about in his bestselling Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Imagine how ridiculous phrases like white (male) privilege sound to you. Imagine you are an evangelical Christian, repeatedly told by elites and authority figures that your faith is the source of un-American injustices  but that to suggest Islamic terrorism might have some relationship to Islam is rank bigotry.

Every year, liberal pundits metaphorically rub their hands in glee at the latest demographic projections forecasting the dissolution of the white majority in the United States. Is it so shocking that some white people might not greet that prospect with the same glee  particularly when they have not seen tangible benefits from the immigration that is the source of all that diversity?

Daily, I receive emails and comments from people who describe themselves as nationalists  but who are, in fact, making arguments for white culture as if whites were now an oppressed minority in need of an American government that zealously defends their interests. Right or wrong, many of them believe that Donald Trump will protect white culture from the forces of multiculturalism and Christianity from spreading secularism.

Which brings me back to why I think nationalism is a poor word to describe what were witnessing in this election.

If nationalism is supposed to do anything, its supposed to unify the country. When I look at these so-called nationalists, though, I dont see a unifying force. I see the latest entrants into a decades-old game of subdividing the country into tribes seeking to yoke government to their narrow agendas.

jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Many Republicans are trying to persuade themselves to support Donald Trump. They start by admitting a problem they have with him: Im embarrassed that Trump attacked a Gold Star family ... " or Yes, hes confused about the nuclear triad... And then they come to this conclusion: But we have to support him because of the Supreme Court.

As conservative law professors, we share the concern that a Hillary Clinton victory would halt decades of efforts to restore an originalist interpretation of the Constitution. Since Justice Antonin Scalias death in February, the court has been divided between four very liberal justices and four conservatives (some more than others). Central constitutional concerns, including religious freedom, voting rights, property rights, the death penalty and gun control are up for grabs, possibly turning on the views of the next new justice.

Trump himself has been gloating over the leverage the situation sets up. They have no choice, he said on the stump in Virginia not long ago. Even if you cant stand Donald Trump, you think Donald Trump is the worst, youre going to vote for me. You know why? Justices of the Supreme Court.

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But the Supreme Court is not enough. Our nation confronts a revanchist Russia; a bellicose, expansionist China; terrorism in Europe; and civil war in the Middle East  in short, a world reeling at the edge of chaos. The presidents first responsibilities are to maintain national security, advance our national interests in foreign affairs and provide direction for the military. As Alexander Hamilton observed, the framers of the Constitution vested the executive power in one person, the president, to ensure that the United States could conduct its foreign relations with decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch.

Faced with mounting international instability, Trumps answer is to promise an unpredictable and unreliable America. He has proposed breaking U.S. commitments to NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, closing our military bases in Japan and South Korea, repudiating security guarantees to NATO allies, pulling out of the Middle East, and ceding Eastern Europe to Russia and East Asia to China. A Trump presidency invites a cascade of global crises. Constitutional order will not thrive at home in a world beset by threats and disorder.

While he is shaking up the world, Trump will also nominate conservatives to the federal courts  or so he says. But no one should rely on his vague promises. He has already flip-flopped on numerous core issues, such as the minimum wage, tax rates and entitlement reform. Even when he announced his list of judges in May, Trump would not be pinned down.

Were going to choose from, most likely from this list, he hedged in a Fox News interview, adding At a minimum, we will keep people within this general realm.

While he is shaking up the world, Trump will also nominate conservatives to the federal courts  or so he says. But no one should rely on his vague promises

Why should we be confident that Trump, who mistook the number of articles in the Constitution and erred in thinking that federal judges could investigate Hillary Clinton, knows the boundaries of this general realm? Besides, choosing justices does not belong to the president alone. Senate Democrats and their allies in the media and the academy, will launch unlimited political warfare to stop conservative Supreme Court nominees, as they did with Judge Robert Bork in 1987 and attempted to do with Clarence Thomas in 1991.

In fact, Republican presidents have filled 12 of 16 Supreme Court vacancies since 1968. Only four of the those confirmed were truly conservative jurists (William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.), with the rest either outright liberals (John Paul Stevens and David Souter) or moderates (Sandra Day OConnor, Anthony M. Kennedy, John G. Roberts Jr.). Trumps outbursts wont persuade the Senate to embrace more conservative nominees, where Reagans sunny optimism and George H.W. Bushs patrician decency failed.

If, miraculously, a President Trump were to succeed in making some favorable appointments to the Supreme Court, the results cannot be guaranteed to satisfy conservatives.

For example, had Scalia lived or had another conservative quickly filled his seat, that wouldnt have prevented the court from upholding racial preferences in college admissions, thanks to Kennedys vote in Fisher vs. University of Texas this term. Also this term, Kennedy joined the court liberals to strike down a Texas effort to regulate abortions. In 2015, with Scalia alive and well, Kennedy also provided the fifth vote in Obergefell vs. Hodges, striking down federal and state bans on gay marriage.

In 2012, Chief Justice Roberts joined the four liberals to uphold the Affordable Care Act, one of the most disruptive extensions of federal power in our nations history, and introduced the idea that Washingtons taxing authority is essentially unlimited.

Recent history shows that even conservative appointees flinch from upholding constitutional norms when they fear it will provoke a strong political response against the court. Trump will not be able to change this depressing reality.

Conservatives who are indulging delusions about a Trump presidency are fantasizing even more about the Supreme Court. The inconstant ideological majorities of the Supreme Court cannot provide reliable protection for a conservative constitutional agenda. Conservatives must face the hard political challenge of consistently winning elections that advance the cause of limited government not just for the presidency and Congress, but also for governors, statehouses and mayoralties.

Even if Trump were to win in November, it is in the legislative and executive branches that conservatives will have to win their most important battles. Does Trump look like the man to lead them?

John Yoo is a professor at the UC Berkeley Law School. Jeremy Rabkin is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. They are also scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook

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To the editor: A rare well-balanced article on Gaza. Israel and the U.S. are helping rebuild. ( 2 years after Gaza war, still no homes, Aug. 10)

The corrupt leadership is diverting the funds to insiders and attack tunnels that will have to be destroyed again.

The Arab donors have held back their funds because they know they will be misused.

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Once again the U.S.A. is being played.

Paul Zimmelman, Marina del Rey

..

To the editor: There are a number of reasons why the Gazans are having difficulty getting their homes rebuilt. Most of them appear at the end of the article after the reader has probably gotten the impression that those nasty Israelis are the cause.

The homes were destroyed because Hamas commandeered them to use as missile launching sites and as sites from which to attack Israeli soldiers. Hamas, as your article pointed out, is using most of whatever concrete has been made available to the group to build more tunnels to attack Israel and to build homes for Hamas elite. Corrupt Hamas leaders have taken much of the financial aid sent to Gaza to line their own pockets.

Gazans will not fare well as long as Hamas, which rules Gaza, places a much higher priority on destroying Israel than on helping the Palestinian people.

Emanuel R. Baker, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: The authors wasted five columns of sympathetic filler before they got to the truth as to why Nashat Nawatis house has not been rebuilt.

The Hamas government continues to use building materials to construct cross-border attack tunnels as well as giving priority to rebuilding homes of Hamas insiders and mosques.

Unless the people of Gaza confront the real problem, the terrorist regime, Hamas, destruction and hardship will continue, making the Gaza Strip possibly uninhabitable before 2020.

Jeffrey Melman, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Im always surprised by The Times stories from Gaza that a question isnt asked of the citizens, Do you think it is wise to be lobbing rockets into Israel if this is the consequence? The polls say the Gazans support attacking Israel. The dire conditions in Gaza are a direct result of their attacks and denial of Israels right to exist.

Im sure their leaders are living well, sacrificing the local citizens for their personal agendas of wiping Israel off of the map.

Bob Aronoff, South Pasadena

..

To the editor: One simple step will expedite the rebuilding in Gaza that has unacceptably left 75,000 people homeless since the 2014 war  Israel must end the blockade of Gaza. As the occupying power, Israel has a responsibility to maintain decent living standards for the millions of people living in Gaza.

Rather than fulfill that duty, Israel maintains a siege that not only delays rebuilding, but also continues to destroy the economy and social structure in the Gaza Strip.

Jeff Warner, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Donald Trump, who has made tighter controls on immigration a mainstay of his campaign, has a new plan: an ideological test for anyone entering the U.S.

Trump has famously proposed building a wall on the Mexican border and a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., an idea that has spawned continuing attacks on him  most notably, a denunciation from the parents of a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq. Hes also talked about suspending immigration from countries with a history of spawning terrorists, a proposal he repeated Monday.

Although the anti-immigration statements have won him support from many Republican voters, the newest message seems aimed at winning over others who might be worried about terrorism, but who have been turned off by the harsh divisiveness of his earlier remarks. But experts say its unclear how the proposals would differ from current U.S. immigration policy  or how they could help prevent terrorist attacks.

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Whats new in Trumps proposal?

In a speech in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump called for a new screening test, which he labeled extreme, extreme vetting, designed to keep out anyone who does not share American values and who is not prepared to embrace a tolerant American society. Until such a test is ready, he said, the U.S. should temporarily suspend immigration from countries that have histories of spawning terrorists.

Which countries is he talking about?

He didnt specify, but in his speech he spoke about the dangers of admitting refugees from Syria and other countries in the Middle East that have been torn apart by civil war and attacks by Islamic State. If he is elected, he said, he would ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify regions where adequate screening is impossible, and stop processing visas from those areas.

How would this make the U.S. safer?

Theres an open question. People traveling from countries like Syria and Iran already face tough screening measures. Trump wants to use the immigration system to keep out people who believe the tenets of radical Islamist ideology. But in reciting a list of terrorism attacks in the U.S., Trump failed to mention that a number of those attackers were U.S. citizens, or had come to the U.S. as children.

Is Trumps plan legal?

Probably. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gives the president and the executive branch sweeping powers to deny entry to anyone who would be detrimental to the interests of the U.S. The law cites a host of reasons for rejecting would-be immigrants, including support or association with terrorist organizations or membership in totalitarian political parties. Some of those provisions, on assessing potentially dangerous political beliefs, date from the Cold War.

But its hard to imagine how questions about gender roles or terrorist leanings would help prevent dangerous people from entering the U.S., said one former immigration official.

If someone really was coming here to do us harm, do we really believe they would answer that question honestly? said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service under former President Bill Clinton.

How would Trumps process differ from current practice?

Thats also unclear. In the 15 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. has built a system to screen all non-citizens trying to enter the U.S. Intelligence is now shared with immigration officials, and security employees are posted in sensitive countries to help vet visa applicants, former officials said.

How many people would have to be screened?

Again, Trump did not make clear whether the new extreme vetting would apply to all visitors, or simply select people, or those from specific countries. The U.S. issued more than 10.8 million visas to visitors last year  up from 7.5 million in 2011  and granted approval to more than 531,000 immigrants to enter the U.S. If all of those people were to face significant new regulations and tests, the gears of the immigration process could slow dramatically, said John Sandweg, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The U.S. also denied admission to about 3 million visitors. Fewer than 1,000 of those were on grounds of terrorism-related activities, according to government statistics.

joseph.tanfani@latimes.com

Twitter: @jtanfani

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Donald Trump will be presented to California voters on Nov. 8 as the nominee of two different political parties, after leaders of the ultra-conservative American Independent Party voted to select the New York real estate developer as its standard bearer.

It will be the first time a presidential candidate is listed on the California ballot as the choice of two parties in at least 80 years, state election officials said.

We are the demographic that Trump is appealing to, said Markham Robinson, the secretary of the American Independent Party of California. We are heeding the voice of our voters.

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Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, were chosen over the weekend by AIP members at the partys convention in Sacramento. Robinson said 19 state party members voted in the nomination process, the vast majority of them for the two Republicans.

The party, headquartered in Robinsons Solano County home, has more registered voters than all of Californias other minor parties combined. But an investigation by The Times in April found a number of voters who thought they were registered as a nonpartisan independent and had mistakenly selected the AIP when filling out their registration card.

An exclusive poll of AIP voters conducted for The Times found 73% of those surveyed had no idea they were registered with an actual party, and a subsequent review of state voter registration records found that included a number of Hollywood celebrities.

The states American Independent Party traces its roots back to the 1968 insurgent presidential campaign of Alabama Gov. George Wallace. Its platform includes sharply conservative positions on abortion, as well as opposition to same-sex marriage and illegal immigration.

Trumps stance on immigration, especially his promise to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, was especially appealing to AIP members who voted on the partys nomination.

Obviously, the man is not opposed to immigration, because hes imported workers, Robinson said. Hes against dangerous immigration and unfair immigration.

Are you an accidental member of Californias American Independent Party? 

The size of AIP voter registration in California  more than 457,000 in the late May report by Secretary of State Alex Padilla  ensures the partys spot on the statewide ballot. Party leaders wanted to include Trump on the June 7 primary ballot, but Padillas office refused because there was no evidence the GOP candidate wanted the endorsement.

Seven AIP candidates for president were on the June ballot, each one receiving fewer than 9,000 votes. Markham said anecdotal data from a few counties showed Trump was a popular write-in candidate, though those votes werent counted.

A spokesman for Padilla said state election law allows a presidential candidate to have multiple parties listed next to his or her name, but records dating back to 1936 offer no proof of it happening before now.

Whether Trump will embrace the AIP seal of approval remains unclear.

Mr. Trumps campaign did not seek the endorsement or nomination of the American Independent Party, Tim Clark, Trumps state director, said in an emailed statement. Clark and AIP officials both confirmed they spoke about the nomination Saturday.

Still, state AIP leaders believe their minor party could provide a noticeable boost.

They appreciate that our brand is going to have some impact, Robinson said. Its going to encourage people to get out there and vote.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast

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When the Richard Nixon Presidential Library first opened 26 years ago, it was dismissed by many historians as more of a whitewash than a faithful retelling of his presidency.

For years, the museums Watergate exhibit, approved by Nixon himself, depicted the scandal as a coup orchestrated by Nixon enemies and unethical journalists. Historian and Nixon scholar Stanley Kutler once called the library just another Southern California theme park whose reality level was slightly better than Disneyland.

But in 2007, when the library finally entered the official presidential library system under the auspices of the National Archives, the exhibit was torn down and eventually replaced with a much more critical version. The museums heavily edited rendition of the smoking gun tape that implicated Nixon was replaced with the full recording, and the new exhibit placed the Watergate episode in the context of a larger campaign of presidential secrecy and sabotage.

Now a $15-million renovation focuses on the rest of the museums decades-old galleries, set to reopen in October, with the aim of building an unflinching but well-rounded portrait of a complicated man whose long career has often been overshadowed by his quick and stunning fall from grace.

Anybody and everybody whos taken a critical look at this is going to look at it through the lens of a failed presidency, ultimately, a president who resigned. And they wonder, What are they trying to cover up? said Michael Ellzey, director of the museum since 2014 and an employee of the National Archives and Records Administration, which jointly operates the site.

The intellectual honesty and integrity of this was very important to us. We wanted to be beyond reproach.

(The William J. Clinton Presidential Library, also run by the National Archives but built with $165 million in private donations through the Clinton Foundation, includes a section dedicated to the 42nd presidents impeachment. It depicts the investigation as a political witch hunt.)

While the updated Watergate exhibit was unveiled in 2011, the redesign of the rest of the galleries, with some 70-plus exhibits, completes a process that began more than a decade ago to bring greater legitimacy and historical honesty to the Nixon library.

The renovation is being paid for by funds raised by the Nixon Foundation. But the gallery designs and exhibit content will be the result of an ongoing collaboration between the foundation and the federal government. Construction kicked off in January, with Karl Rove and Christopher Nixon Cox, Nixons grandson, in attendance.

Weve got a generation of guests that were either born after or know very little about this president, said Bill Baribault, president of the Nixon Foundation. Nixon, for many of those who didnt live the history, has become synonymous with the scandal that led to his political downfall and, ultimately, his resignation.

But, said Baribault, few people know about his far-reaching policy feats, which include founding the Environmental Protection Agency, signing into law Title IX, which banned gender bias in colleges and universities receiving federal funding, and ending the military draft.

Its a chance to tell the complete story, Baribault said.

One of Ellzeys first tasks was to mend relations and ease long-simmering tensions between the leadership of the Nixon Foundation and the National Archives over the portrayal of Nixons legacy.

The sometimes contentious relationship between the two has deep roots.

This was a good man who accomplished many things, who ultimately failed in certain ways and then fought his way back. Its just a good story to tell.  Michael Ellzey, director of the Richard Nixon Library and Museum

The library opened in 1990, built with $21 million from the private Nixon Foundation, with a board that was (and still is) composed largely of Nixon loyalists, including his daughters Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

Nixon attended its opening, along with three other presidents and a crowd of 50,000 people. Nothing we have ever seen matches this moment  to be welcomed home again, Nixon said.

An act of Congress, stemming from a fear that Nixon supporters would destroy crucial papers if given the chance, mandated in 1974 that his presidential records stay with the National Archives and therefore out of the library.

When the library finally joined the federal presidential library system, its first director, historian Timothy Naftali, set his sights on the discredited Watergate narrative.

But Naftali received tremendous pushback, much of it from Nixon loyalists and former deputies, who filed a 132-page letter of objection that held up the 2011 reopening for months. Supporters of the former president even employed hardball tactics, temporarily tying up Senate confirmation of U.S. Archivist David Ferriero over the issue.

Naftali resigned eight months after the Watergate exhibit reopened. The museum was without a director for three years until Ellzey was appointed in 2014.

Since then, Ellzey said, the relationship between the Nixon Foundation and National Archives employees has improved.

Their natural inclination was to be protective of his legacy, Ellzey said, but the foundation made a commitment to me that ... it was not going to be any kind of whitewash of the bad times and a propping up of the good times.

In the end, Ellzey said, both sides agreed that Nixons legacy would be well served by a museum that hewed to the historical record.

This was a good man who accomplished many things, who ultimately failed in certain ways and then fought his way back. Its just a good story to tell.

Unlike most museums, this new story begins in the middle, in the tumultuous events leading up to the 1968 election. Martin Luther King Jr. had just been assassinated, as had Robert F. Kennedy. Rioting in cities across America prompted the Marines to prop up machine guns on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

We thought, Lets start where the action is, said Kate McConnell, creative director at Thinkwell Group, the company at the center of the redesign. Going back to 1913 can feel really distant and kind of hard to contextualize when [Nixon] is just this little boy. But starting in 1968 and talking about the country in turmoil and the Vietnam War and the cultural and social conflicts gets you excited.

When it reopens in October, visitors will pass through the chaos of the late 1960s and Nixons pitch as the law-and-order candidate, directly into his election, inauguration, and inside the Oval Office. The exact replica will include a copy of Nixons desk, where visitors can sit down and take a photo or look at artifacts. (Though there are no plans to place replicas of his famed secret tape recorders, the docents will be able to point out the locations of the five desk microphones and two wall lamps where Nixon put them.)

In the newly expanded Vietnam War exhibit will be a replica of a safe that contained the troop report for the conflict on the day of Nixons inauguration. It was a parting gift from President Lyndon Johnson that he left untouched as a stark reminder until the war was over.

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The museum then opens up into a large gallery depicting Nixons top domestic and foreign policy achievements, including his environmental initiatives and his role in desegregating schools in the South.

Those were things that were ahead of his time, and that he didnt necessarily get credit or recognition for, said grandson Christopher Nixon Cox.

The gallery also will include an alcove fashioned into a walk-in closet featuring the travels of Pat Nixon, who was the most widely traveled First Lady in history until Hillary Clinton.

Ellzey said the museums new galleries will seek to raise more questions than they answer, particularly with thought experiments that prompt visitors to make decisions like whether or not to arm Israel in the Yom Kippur War or whether to order the invasion of Cambodia based on the information Nixon had at the time.

Also new to the museum will be an expanded look at Nixons historic trip to China, including a photo of the handshake between Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, the first direct contact the two countries had had in 23 years.

The galleries continue on into life in the White House, a facsimile of La Casa Pacifica, the oceanfront San Clemente villa that served Nixons working Western White House, and his re-election in 1972. As it has for the last five years, the Watergate exhibit will include 131 taped interviews with various characters involved in the episode and the full smoking gun tape.

The dark final day of his presidency is punctuated with a scene of the Nixons staring out of the windows of the Army One helicopter that carried them to Andrews Air Force Base on their way back to California, before launching into the origin story of Richard M. Nixon, who was born in the Nixon family home that still stands on the museum property a short walk from the galleries.

The sunny clapboard farmhouse, built by Nixons father in 1912, includes a replica of the bedroom where the future president was born and an upstairs loft where he and three of his brothers shared just 130 square feet of space. His gravesite is a few feet from the home.

Its one of a handful of attractions visitors can still experience ahead of the Oct. 14 reopening.

Christopher Nixon Cox said, on balance, he and his family are excited about the reopening of the museums galleries.

Its a very candid look at my grandfathers presidency and his life, and I think in many ways, you really see the man, Cox said. And to the extent that it allows people to look at the positive aspects of my grandfathers legacy in a new lightwell take the good with the bad.

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.

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UPDATES:

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the galleries that showcase Nixons decision-making.

This article was originally published at 12:05 a.m.
Video or audio footage showing the deaths of police officers in California will not be made public unless their immediate family agrees to release it should a bill passed Monday by the state Senate become law.

Lawmakers in support of AB 2611 by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) said the measure protects the families of police officers from having to relive when their loved ones were killed.

Body cameras are necessary to not only protect potential victims but to also protect the men and women wearing them, said Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton). No one should have to worry about an audio or video recording of graphic sounds or morbid images be open to the public to be viewed over and over again, nor should the surviving families of any officers.

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Senators engaged in lengthy debate about the bill on the floor, with opponents arguing that the measure would create a special exemption for police officer families and could result in unforeseen circumstances where there was overriding public interest in the release of such footage, but law enforcement agencies would be unable to disclose it.

Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) said the bill could harm efforts to build trust between the public and law enforcement.

Transparency in public safety and law enforcement is so lacking, Moorlach said. The issues that it creates actually I believe hurts our public safety officials because were saying, No, you cant have this, or You cant see that, or You dont get this video. And so we see the public extremely frustrated. Now were going to create this bill, another barrier that just raises angst among our constituents.

The bill passed with a slim majority of 23 senators in favor, with many abstaining. Multiple senators both for and against the bill noted the sensitivity of measures related to the death of law enforcement officers.

Lows bill is the most narrow in the raft of bills introduced this year to deal with the difficult questions of privacy and transparency as police departments across the state outfit their officers with body cameras. The rest of the measures, including one that would have allowed for public disclosure when officers were accused of excessive force, have failed.

About 10 law enforcement officers have died annually in the line of duty in California since 1980, according to statistics from the state Department of Justice and National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Roughly half of those deaths were accidental.

California police departments began adopting body cameras in earnest in early 2015, and Lows office said it was unaware of any department that has released footage of an officers death in response to a public records request.

But body cameras are beginning to capture such incidents.

Last month, San Diego Police Officer Jonathan De Guzman was shot and killed and a second officer was wounded after approaching a pedestrian during a nighttime patrol. The officers didnt turn on their body cameras before the incident, though the injured officer caught the aftermath on his camera.

Brian Marvel, the president of the San Diego Police Officers Assn., said he supported Lows bill. Public disclosure of the video of De Guzmans death would unnecessarily harm his family, Marvel said.

I couldnt fathom right now an opportunity where the footage of an officer being murdered should be released, he said in an interview.

Still, few police departments in California  including the Los Angeles Police Department  release any body camera footage outside of a courtroom because of the states already strict laws blocking most law enforcement information from becoming public through open records requests.

San Diego has the largest coordinated effort in the state to release body camera footage, where Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis says her office will make public selected body camera video from officer-involved shootings. But the policy doesnt call for disclosure in incidents where an officer was killed. A spokesman for Dumanis confirmed that the district attorney has no plans to release footage from De Guzmans killing.

Gov. Jerry Browns administration has called Lows bill unnecessary, saying the states public records law already ensures that most recordings of a police officers death would never be released.

This bill provides privacy protections to peace officers which are greater than those provided to the general public, and moreover implies that the privacy interest of a peace officers family outweighs public interest in the events of an officers death, a bill analysis from Browns Department of Finance said.

Before the bill heads to Browns desk, it has to return to the Assembly for a vote after minor changes were made in the Senate. In May, the Assembly passed an earlier version 76 to 0.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

Follow @dillonliam on Twitter

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The power of storytelling came to life at Whittier Law School as students and faculty gathered Wednesday on the Costa Mesa campus to hear Holocaust survivor Edith Eva Eger speak on the 71st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The United Nations General Assembly in 2005 designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Egers visit to Whittier Law School was planned by the schools Jewish Law Society. The groups president, Ariela Keller, wanted some kind of activity to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust after seeing that nothing was done on campus last year to acknowledge Holocaust Remembrance Day.

As law students, were taught to advocate for social and legal justice, whether its for something that happened in the past, present or future, Keller said. Not only is the day important, but keeping these stories alive are important as well.

Among those stories is one belonging to someone very close to Keller  her father, Alexander.

Alexander Keller, born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1942, never got to meet his own father. During World War II, Alexanders father was deported from Hungary and forced by the Nazis to build the railroad tracks that would later take millions to concentration camps, Ariela said.

Holocaust survivor Edith Eva Eger speaks to Maria Elena Parada following Egers presentation to the Jewish Law Society of Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa. (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)

In September 1942, when Alexander was 5 months old, his mother, Ilonka Keller, received news that her husband had died. It is unclear whether he was shot by the Nazis or froze to death, Ariela said.

Ilonka took her child and fled from basement to basement as the Nazis searched for Jews.

After World War II, Alexander and his mother journeyed from Hungary to Austria, where they took a ship to the United States. He was 14 years old when they arrived in New York.

I consider myself very lucky, Alexander said Wednesday at the law school. Theres no question about that.

The Jewish Law Society turned to the USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust museums in Los Angeles and its own research to find a guest speaker for the campus event.

More than 30 Whittier students and faculty members gathered at the schools legal clinic to hear Egers survival story.

Nazis rounded up Eger and her family when she was a teenager in Hungary, she said. They were packed onto a train headed for the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Upon arriving, camp officer Josef Mengele ordered Eger to separate from her mother. He told the girl that her mother was going to take a shower.

Later, Eger tried to find her mother. When smoke began to rise out of a chimney, she was told thats where her mother was.

Eger later learned that both her parents were killed in gas chambers.

Eger, 88, said she shares her story so others can learn about history. Otherwise, the world is doomed to repeat itself, she said.

Edith Eva Eger, 88, was a teenager in Hungary when she and her family were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. Both her parents were killed in gas chambers, she said. (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)

Some Jewish Law Society members said they didnt begin to delve into the history of the Holocaust until their high school and even college years.

Costa Mesa High School social studies teacher Gary Gonzalez said he has his students study the topic during the class World War II unit.

He said his class also discusses the Armenian genocide in the World War I unit and genocides in Darfur and Rwanda.

Ill always remind my students that the Holocaust was not the first nor the last genocide of the 20th century, Gonzalez said. Its important to know how these events occur. We dont want history to repeat itself.

Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces on Jan. 27, 1945. Having survived disease and slave labor in the camp, Eger immigrated to the United States in 1949.

She became a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. She now lives in La Jolla.

Eger also is a great-grandmother to three boys whom she calls her greatest pride and joy.

I was always told [in Auschwitz] that the only way I was going to get out was as a corpse, Eger said. I knew that on any day I could be beaten or sent to the gas chamber. But I knew no matter what, they could never murder my spirit.

Another date, known as Yom Hashoah at the beginning of May, also is dedicated within the Jewish community to remembering the Holocaust, Keller said.
Meetings in Newport Beach and Irvine arranged by a blogger who has reportedly advocated for the legalization of rape on private property have been canceled in response to backlash from several communities.

Daryush Valizadeh, a 36-year-old blogger who goes by the nickname Roosh V, wrote online that followers of his philosophy of neo-masculinity had plans to meet at more than 165 locations in 40 countries, including 13 spots across California, at 8 p.m. Saturday for what he called International Tribal Meetup Day.

Two Orange County locations were listed on his website, including the outdoor fountain in front of the Macys department store at Fashion Island and the fountain in front of the Ferris wheel at the Irvine Spectrum. The events were not sanctioned by the two shopping centers.

Valizadeh wrote Wednesday afternoon that he canceled the meetings, which were not open to gay men, women or the transgendered, because he can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend.

Valizadeh publishes on two websites, Rooshv and Return of Kings, where he shares pickup tips and pens articles explaining his thoughts on why he believes women shouldnt work and are intellectually inferior.

He has also written an article  one that he now claims is satirical  asserting that rape should be legalized on private property.

Valizadeh wrote online that the meetings are a way of like-minded men to network. It is not clear how many men had planned to attend.

While I cant stop men who want to continue meeting in private groups, there will be no official Return of Kings meetups, he wrote. I apologize to all the supporters who are let down by my decision.

Change.org petitions asking police and government officials to prevent meetings from occurring in Australia, Stockholm and Canada received thousands of signatures this week.

Irvine police spokeswoman Farrah Emami said that while this group often discusses hate against women, there have been no direct threats against anyone related to the Irvine meeting.

We plan to have officers at the spectrum on Saturday as we would any other weekend for the safety and comfort of community members and visitors, she said.
A Glendale physician accused of sexually assaulting a patient and overprescribing dangerous drugs to 15 patients  some of whom were undercover officers  was suspended last month from practicing medicine, records show.

Manasseh Nwaigwe is also accused of failing to comply with the terms of his probation with the Medical Board of California, which stemmed from a 2012 conviction for failing to file income-tax returns.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>

Kimberly Kirchmeyer, the boards executive director, filed a petition last week that seeks to revoke Nwaigwes medical license. An administrative hearing on the case has not yet been scheduled.

Nwaigwes attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last year, a patient visited Nwaigwe twice for her back pain and anxiety. During the second visit last July, Nwaigwe allegedly reached into her sweatpants and touched her inappropriately without explaining why, according to board records.

He subsequently asked her on a date and reportedly prescribed her anxiety, pain, blood pressure and cough medications, though she never complained about pain or a cough.

Records show that he later told Los Angeles police that he was checking for a tumor or anything of that nature.

Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges in the case due to insufficient evidence, according to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorneys office.

Before the sexual assault allegations surfaced, the Drug Enforcement Agency had started investigating Nwaigwes prescribing practices.

Nwaigwe, who worked in East Los Angeles, allegedly prescribed two undercover officers hydrocodone, a pain medication, as well as clonazepam, an anxiety medication, and promethazine with codeine cough syrup without properly examining them.

During most of these visits, (Nwaigwe) sat in his chair and wrote notes and barely spoke to the patients, according to board records.

A couple months later, three police officers obtained the same prescriptions from Nwaigwe, who allegedly failed to ask questions about their medical history or examine them beyond listening to their chest and back.

A representative of the DEA could not immediately be reached.

A medical board expert subsequently reviewed the records of a dozen random patients, who were reportedly prescribed the same medications  a combination of Norco or Vicodin, along with Klonopin or Valium, and Phenergan with codeine  each time they went to see Nwaigwe. Together, those patients logged roughly 225 visits.

"(Nwaigwe) prescribed dangerous, controlled-substance medications at nearly every visit for each patient without any regard to the complaint, records stated.

Nwaigwes medical license was already set to expire at the end of March, unless its renewed, according to board records.

We wanted to make sure that he wasnt allowed to practice immediately because we felt he was a danger to the public, said Cassandra Hockenson, the boards public affairs manager.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

--

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A third French mayor has banned women from wearing burkinis after a brawl over the swimsuit broke out between residents of a Corsican village and beachgoers of North African descent.

Around 100 police were called to a beach in the village of Sisco, near the island capital Bastia, on Saturday.

The details of the fight itself are murky. Local press reported that it began when a group of teenagers and their families took photographs of women swimming in so-called burkinis  bathing suits that cover most of the body except for the face, feet and hands, which satisfy Islamic standards of modesty for women.

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A girl who witnessed the altercation told a slightly different version of the story: Three men started arguing with a tourist they accused of taking pictures of the women in burkinis. She recounted that version of events at an impromptu rally the following day in Bastia. French media that covered the event did not name her, identifying her only as a minor.

The violence escalated when around 40 people from the village arrived and joined the fray. Stones and bottles were thrown, three cars were burned and others had their tires slashed as law enforcement officers struggled to bring the brawl under control.

At least four people were taken to the hospital with injuries. The girl who witnessed the fight said that a boy and his father were stabbed with a harpoon.

The day after the brawl, a group of 200 demonstrators marched on the citys Lupino district, home to many families of North African descent, shouting This is our home!

The public prosecutor has opened an inquiry into the cause of the brawl and for gang violence. On Monday, a public holiday, the French interior minister condemned the violence and promised a full investigation into the events.

Afterward, Pierre-Ange Vivoni announced that burkinis would be banned in his area starting Tuesday. He is the third city official to ban the swimsuit, after it was outlawed in the French Riviera resorts of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet.

The burkini has become a political and social hot potato in France. Earlier this year, a government minister criticized leading fashion labels for including Islamic dress items in their collections, accusing them of colluding in the imprisonment of womens bodies.

After the Cannes ban, Feiza Ben Mohamed, spokesperson for the Southern Federation of Muslims, told French journalists the ban was not only discriminatory, but played into the hands of the terrorists with whom France is at war.

Here in France, we have a principle of secularism  but this law concerns only Muslim women, Ben Mohamed told The Local, an English language website.

The mayor talks about protecting public order, which means he thinks the presence of a Muslim woman on a beach will cause trouble, she said. Yet again its ordinary Muslims who pay for the actions of the terrorists even though they have nothing to do with it. Its exactly what Daesh [Islamic State] wants.

In 2011, France banned clothing that covered the face, including full veils, in public places. Ostentatious religious symbols are outlawed in public offices and schools. The country has been under a state of emergency, meaning heightened security, since a series of terrorist bombings and shootings in Paris last November that left 130 people dead.

On Saturday, a court in Nice -- where 85 people were killed when an Islamic State supporter plowed a truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day on July 14 -- upheld the Cannes burkini ban. The judge ruled that in the context of the state of emergency and the Nice attack forms of beachwear that indicate belief were likely to exacerbate tension and pose a possible threat to public order.

Willsher is a special correspondent.

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Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

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The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprising representatives from six U.S. government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon. In July 2008, the seven-emirate nation also repatriated UAE citizen and Guantanamo prisoner Abdulah Alhamiri at the same time that Afghanistan and Qatar each accepted one prisoner.

In the United Arab Emirates, the state-run WAM news agency had no reports on the Guantanamo transfers on Tuesday and UAE officials declined to immediately comment on the Pentagon announcement.

The United Arab Emirates is a major regional military ally for the U.S., as it hosts American military personnel targeting the Islamic State group with airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Dubais Jebel Ali port is the most frequently visited by ships of the U.S. Navy outside of America.

Lee Wolosky, the State Departments special envoy for Guantanamos closure, said the U.S. was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention centers closure.

The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists, Wolosky said.

Its unclear what has happened to prisoners the UAE previously took in, though its widely believed they undergo some sort of government-monitored rehabilitation. Of those already taken in, there have been no complaints of maltreatment, said Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the British-based advocacy group Reprieve, which represented one of the Yemenis released.

From what weve learned, theyve been treated pretty well, he told the Associated Press. Theyve been banned from traveling and any meaningful communication. ... Theyve actually been OK. Arabic is the main language and its pretty close to home.

Obama has been seeking to close the detention center amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. for any reason. The administration has been working with other countries to resettle detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USAs director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced Monday are a powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office.

U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the Obama administration for recent releases, portraying the freed detainees as hardened terrorists.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5% of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8% are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21% confirmed and 14% suspected during the Bush administration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was tortured and subjected to other cruel treatment while in U.S. military custody. The man, identified only as Obaidullah, was captured by U.S. special forces in July 2002 and allegedly admitted to acquiring and planting anti-tank mines to target U.S. and other coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan.

In clearing him for transfer, the review board said he hasnt expressed any anti-U.S. sentiment or intent to re-engage in militant activities. However, a Pentagon profile from last year also said he provided little information and they had little insight into his current mindset.

One of the Yemeni men sent to the UAE was identified as Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamdun, who the Pentagon alleged traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and after training at a camp acted as a weapons and explosives trainer.

A Pentagon profile from September 2015 said he expressed dislike of the U.S., which they identified as an emotion that probably is motivated more by frustration over his continuing detention than by a commitment to global jihad.

Returning Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen would be difficult as a two-year civil war is raging in the Arab worlds most impoverished country. The conflict there pits an internationally recognized government, backed by a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies. The UAE is a part of that Saudi-led coalition.

There was also no immediate reaction in Afghanistan on the transfer of the three Afghans from Guantanamo to the UAE.

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First, fire falls from the sky. Then come the excruciating burns and the flames that refuse to be extinguished.

Adding to the Job-like sufferings of Syrian civilians in areas like the divided city of Aleppo, the use of airborne incendiary weapons in the countrys chaotic, multi-sided war is an increasingly well-documented phenomenon despite being illegal under international law.

At least 18 times over a nine-week period this summer, incendiary weapons were deployed in Syrian-Russian military operations in civilian areas including opposition-held parts of Aleppo and Idlib provinces in northern Syria, Human Rights Watch said in a report Tuesday.

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And those numbers are conservative, the New York-based rights group says. About 40 other such attacks were reported, it said, but the group cited only those that were supported by video and photographic evidence.

I saw with my own eyes two strikes. Blocks of flame were falling from the sky, Ala Abdel Aziz Hmeidan, who lives in Idlib city, told the group. Buildings were on fire. Rocks were on fire.

That attack on Aug. 7 left two civilians injured, witnesses told the group, which documented a dozen injuries from the weapons from June 5 to Aug. 10.

Incendiary weapons and munitions work by using the chemical reaction of a flammable substance to produce intense heat and fires that resist all efforts to put them out. That makes them not only a source of horrific burns, but also disproportionately destructive to objects and infrastructure.

Theyre particularly cruel injuries, said Mary Wareham, advocacy director of Human Rights Watchs arms division. With only the most rudimentary of war-zone medical care available, victims may spend weeks in agony, ending up dying or struggling to cope with lifelong effects of deep and extensive burns.

Syria is not a signatory to the protocol banning the use of incendiary weapons in civilian-populated areas. Moscow has denied use of such weaponry in civilian areas in Syria, and it did so again Tuesday. But the report cited compelling evidence that Russian warplanes were either being fitted with incendiary payloads or flying supporting missions for Syrian government aircraft armed with the weapons.

Incendiary weapons have distinctive signatures, including bright-burning trails that are highly visible as the munitions are airdropped, and fires on the ground that blaze until they burn themselves out, sometimes setting off larger conflagrations in nearby cars and buildings.

The fire was so bright you could see it from outside the city, civil defense volunteer Mouti Jalal, who lives near Idlib, told the group in describing an Aug. 9 attack. Everyone saw it.

Part of the problem, rights advocates say, is that international protocols governing use of such weaponry date back to the Vietnam War era and need updating and toughening. Human Rights Watch hopes to make some headway toward that at a United Nations gathering at the end of this month in Geneva to discuss modifications to the 1980 treaty.

The Syrian government and Russia should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons, said Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watchs arms division, and all countries should condemn their use in civilian areas.

Incendiary weapons attacks in Syria have been reported as far back as 2012, but their use has increased significantly in the nearly 11 months since Russia began joint military operations with the Syrian government, rights groups say.

In Aleppo, where some of the worst fighting of the five-year conflict has been taking place, the use of such weapons add to already intolerable horrors, aid agencies said. With the help of Russian airstrikes, troops and militias loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad are fighting to reverse rebel gains in the city, once a Middle East architectural and historic treasure and Syrias commercial capital.

The eastern sector is held by the opposition, with the rest controlled by the government. The latest wave of airstrikes on rebel-held areas killed at least 15 civilians, Syrian opposition monitoring groups said Tuesday.

No one and nowhere is safe, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement Monday. Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of suffering is immense.

laura.king@latimes.com

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Authorities in California have charged a local man with setting the still raging Clayton fire and "numerous" others.

Damin Pashilk, a construction worker from nearby Clearlake, faces several counts of arson in connection with the latest Northern California blaze and others that have devastated the area over the past year.

Suspect Long Investigated

While it's unclear how the Clayton fire started, reports are the 40-year-old Pashilk has been under the watch of authorities for about a year. In all, he now faces 17 counts of arson and is being held at the county jail on a bond of $5.1 million.

At a community meeting held on Monday, other area residents cheered when they learned an arrest had been made in connection with all the fires.

"Mr. Pashhilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law," said Chief Kenneth Pimlott, Cal Fire's director. "My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time."

Back in 2009, Pashilk was nabbed on suspicion of being a felon in possession a weapon and possession of a controlled substance charges. Authorities identified the substance as methamphetamine.

Reports are a search of the home where the man lived turned out to be a marijuana-growing operation and he was also found to be in possession of a loaded revolver.

As of Tuesday, fire officials reported the Clayton blaze had destroyed more than 175 buildings and charred at least 4,000 acres across the state. It's estimated the Clayton blaze remains just 20 percent contained.

State of Emergency Declared

Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown has already declared a state of emergency in Lake County. By Tuesday, the blaze about 100 miles north of San Francisco had already forced the entire community of Lower Lake to evacuate.

"We are all devastated to have so much destruction," said Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce. "We feel we were put through hell last year and now we are in it again."
The Lehigh County coroner is searching for next of kin for a man stabbed to death Sunday in his Bethlehem apartment.

Roger Herencia, 66, was found suffering from multiple stab wounds in the apartment he shared with his wife at 130 Valley Park South Road in Bethlehem. Police said Kathleen Herencia stabbed her husband.

Roger Herencia was rushed to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill, but succumbed to his injuries. His cause of death was multiple sharp force trauma and his death was ruled a homicide, the coroner said on Monday.

Anyone with information on Roger Herencia's family is asked to call the coroner's office 610-782-3426.

Kathleen Herencia was arrested soon after the Sunday attack, and arraigned early Monday morning on a single homicide charge. She is being held in Lehigh County Jail without bail.

Kathleen Herencia was the one who called police a minute before 3 p.m. Sunday, claiming she stabbed her husband and he stabbed her. The woman later admitted she stabbed herself, police said.

Kathleen Herencia reportedly told police she attacked her husband of 41 years after he told her he didn't need her anymore and was going to kick her out of their apartment.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A Bethlehem woman is facing theft related charges after using a credit card she found on the ground to make purchases, police said.

Christine Ann Davis, 45, of the 1300 block of Fritz Drive, on July 10 found the credit card in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, 3926 Nazareth Pike, Bethlehem Township.

A female victim on July 10 reported to police she was shopping at 9:15 a.m. at Wal-Mart when she realized she was missing $100 in cash and a credit card from her purse. The victim told police she suspected the items fell out of her wallet and went to cancel the credit card.

The victim then learned from her creditor an unauthorized purchase for $80 was made at Holiday Hair, which is located in the same shopping center as Wal-Mart. Police contacted the manager of Holiday Hair and was provided a description of Davis.

Police nabbed Davis when she returned to the store to return the hair products. She allegedly provided a false name when signing the return slip, but gave police an identification card revealing her true identity.

In an interview with police at the station, Davis allegedly admitted to the crime, saying she used a credit card she found to pay for the hair products because she didn't have enough of her own money.

Davis is charged with unauthorized use of an access device, theft (two counts), forgery and receiving stolen property. She was arraigned Saturday before District Judge Jacqueline Taschner, who set bail at $5,000.

In lieu of bail, Davis 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.
Easton fire Chief John Bast took to Facebook in an attempt to thank all those who helped fight the fire at a former silk mill at West Lincoln and Coal streets on the city's South Side.

The former Stewart Silk Co. mill, which Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said at one time allowed people who lived in the neighborhood to walk to and from a good job, for the past 21 years has been owned by John Robinson and in recent years has been on the city's list of blighted properties.

There is a plan to convert the one-square-block property into housing.

But Monday morning's blaze, which was first seen by workers installing a cell tower on the mill's smokestack, will delay those plans, Panto said.

Bast said on Monday evening that the fire was out by about 4:30 p.m., no one was hurt and Deputy Chief Kevin Arnold will lead the investigation into a cause.

But first the chief wanted to thank some people.

"Today the City of Easton had one of it's largest fires in quite some time," he wrote on Facebook. "I would like to thank the following for their assistance. Wilson Borough Fire, Palmer Municipal Fire, Forks Fire, Easton Emergency Squad, Nancy Run Fire, Northampton County EMA, Lehigh County Special Operations, East Allen Rehab, and Bethlehem Fire with Forks Township for covering the City while we were out. I would also like to thank those companies for move-ups and covering the remaining Easton Area.

"I would like to thank all the Easton Firefighters and City of Easton Employees (Police, Public Works and Codes) for their hard work and assistance. Finally I would like to thank Mayor Sal Panto, and City Administrator Luis E Campos for their support.

"If I forgot anyone I sincerely apologize."

One of our blighted properties caught fire today. Thank you to our firefighters for maintaining it to the one building... Posted by Sal Panto on Monday, August 15, 2016

Forks Township and Bethlehem firefighters responded to at least one call in Easton as a backing-up garbage truck struck the gas meter at Ocean restaurant at 235 Ferry St. UGI came out to fix the device.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Tyler Evans - 72.jpg

Tyler Evans on the guitar. He, along with Sean Gough, Gene Perla and Adam Niewood, make up the Tyler Evans Quartet.

(Special to Lehighvalleylive.com)

The Pennsylvania Jazz Collective and Minsi Ridge Records will be hosting the second annual Riverside Park Jazz Festival 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Riverside Park Amphitheater (Larry Holmes Drive and Church streets), in Easton.

Patrick McGee Quintet it one of three groups performing. (Courtesy Photo)

The event features an "Emerging Artists Showcase" with the newest jazz talent in the region.

Admission is free; food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Minsi Ridge Records label produces jazz musicians and young, groundbreaking talent of the Lehigh Valley and Pocono regions.

The nonprofit Pennsylvania Jazz Collective is an educational organization dedicated to promoting jazz through concerts, community initiatives, educational outreach programs and by showcasing jazz artists in venues throughout the area.

Tyrone Fredericks, tenor saxophone. (Courtesy photo)

The lineup for Sunday includes:

The Tyler Evans Quartet

Patrick McGee Quintet

Tyrone Fredericks Quintet

Information: 570-656-6531, pajazzcollective@gmail.com, pajazzcollective.org

Do you have news to share? To see it posted here and possibly in The Express-Times, send me an email.
UPDATE: Kathleen Kane quits as Pennsylvania attorney general

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted Monday of all nine counts against her in a perjury and obstruction case related to a grand jury leak.

The jury seated in Montgomery County reached the verdict late Monday. Kane, the first Democrat and first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict.

Earlier, a lawyer for Kane in closing arguments blamed her former top aides for a leak of grand jury material that found its way to a newspaper and attacked a rival prosecutor.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane attends the final day of her perjury and obstruction trial Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown. A jury convicted her later in the day, announcing the verdict shortly before 9 p.m. (AP | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Kane, a Democrat, wanted the public to know her predecessor had failed to prosecute a case involving an NAACP official, but she never authorized the leak of secret criminal files, said her lawyer, Seth Farber.

Instead, he said, Kane's chief deputy, Adrian King, abused his power when he sent the files to a reporter through Kane's political consultant. King and the consultant, Josh Morrow, testified against Kane last week.

Morrow, who had a grant of immunity, said he and Kane devised a cover-up story that framed King for the leak. He acknowledged telling the lie to a grand jury.

"Those are two witnesses who will say whatever they need to in order to protect themselves," Farber said. "You would not even buy a used car from either one of them."

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele noted, though, that Kane had chosen the men as confidants. Text messages and phone records show frequent interactions among them on key days in the prosecution's timeline: when the documents changed hands, when the Philadelphia Daily News article appeared and when a grand jury started to investigate the leak.

A top deputy told the jury he was alarmed when he saw the June 2014 article. He testified Kane told him it was no big deal.

"Who would say that other than the person that is responsible for it?" Steele asked.

From attorney general to felon: Here's what's next for Kathleen Kane https://t.co/p88j9J4RFb pic.twitter.com/6NjTVOxEMf  PennLive.com (@PennLive) August 16, 2016

The leak grew out of Kane's feud with former office prosecutor Frank Fina, he said. According to trial testimony, Kane believed Fina had planted a story that showed she had dropped a statehouse sting.

"She was just hell-bent on getting back at Frank Fina," Morrow testified last week, describing Kane as "unhinged" at the time.

Kane did not testify or call any defense witnesses after three days of prosecution evidence. The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon.

Kane, 50, was once a rising star in the state's Democratic party, using her then-husband's trucking fortune to run for statewide office after stints as a Scranton prosecutor and a stay-at-home mother. But an early honeymoon period in office, when she spoke out for the legalization of gay marriage, was soon marred by turmoil as she sparred with officials inside and outside the office.

She staunchly described the charges as payback for her efforts to take on an "old-boys network" in state government that traded offensive, mildly pornographic emails. Her investigation led two state Supreme Court justices and others to resign.

However, the trial judge did not let her lawyers wade into that argument.

Public officials convicted of official misconduct in Pennsylvania typically don't have to resign until they are sentenced. Kane, if convicted, could stay in office while she appeals, the governor's office said.

Perjury, the only felony charged, can bring up to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor charges facing Kane include conspiracy, official oppression and false swearing.

Kane lost her law license over the charges and did not seek re-election this year.
Federal regulators tasked with deciding whether to permit construction of a 120-mile-long natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania into New Jersey visited the Bethlehem area on Monday night to gather public input.

Best Western Lehigh Valley and Conference Center off Route 512 in Hanover Township, Northampton County, hosted the comment meeting for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as part of its review, now 2 years old, of the proposal from PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC.

At issue was the draft environmental impact statement, subject to public comment until Sept. 12. There was no presentation, and rather than commenting in a traditional hearing setting, those who signed up to speak did so privately before a FERC stenographer.

Opponents criticized the format as a "divide and conquer strategy," in New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel's words. Holding signs, they held a rally outside prior to the meeting as a way to voice their disapproval collectively.

PennEast spokeswoman Patricia Kornick noted the approach sped up the meeting, scheduled 6 to 10 p.m., by allowing two speakers at a time to share their thoughts with the commission.

The next public input meeting is 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Clinton-Bridgewater, Hunterdon Ballroom, 111 W. Main St. in Clinton.

About 80 people had signed in for Monday's meeting as of 6:45 p.m., with 42 indicating plans to speak.

FERC has set a March 16, 2017, deadline on deciding whether to authorize the project. PennEast, a consortium of energy companies that includes a division of UGI Utilities Inc., hopes to have the pipeline in service by the second half of 2018.

It would link Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale natural gas-producing region to Mercer County, New Jersey, tying into several other pipelines to serve the eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York markets, Kornick said.

Many of the opponents concerned about the project's impact on the environment, public and private land and other issues read Monday night from a community comment crafted by grassroots groups, said Maya van Rossum, leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

FERC issued its draft environmental impact statement on the project July 22. The time since then has been insufficient to craft a meaningful verbal comment to be delivered in three minutes, she said. So in addition to the community comment, opponents are working on written comments due Sept. 12 before FERC.

The commission is looking to finalize the environmental impact statement in December, said Medha Kochhar, ecologist and biological resources manager for the agency.

Tittel, from the Sierra Club, criticized the draft statement on which public comment is being taken as too open-ended, with FERC posing unanswered questions throughout the document. The pipeline's environmental impact is bound to be substantial, he said, with 255 waterway crossings, some 1,600 acres of land taken for project right of way and a construction footprint 150 to 200 feet wide across 118.8 miles.

"This document has more holes in it than Swiss cheese," he said in prepared remarks. "It's 'Plan first, fill in the blanks later.' How can the public respond when the document has 79 instances where lack of or missing information is cited?"

#PennEast has developed an Agricultural Impact Minimization Plan to address all #agricultural concerns. https://t.co/JMS7dFcaKY  PennEast Pipeline (@PennEast) August 16, 2016

Critics labeled the FERC review as a rubber stamp, a view shared by Guy Wagner, a farmer from Lower Nazareth Township who opposes the project.

"You know what? They don't listen to anything we say," he told lehighvalleylive.com after providing his comment. "We're trying to show some solidarity here. ... They're hell-bent on this thing happening. It's all about the money."

Supporters of the project on hand Monday included members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 542, who could expect to see some work from FERC green-lighting the project. They were visible in their blue shirts, in the banquet room of the Best Western where speakers waited before airing their views privately in an adjacent room. Opponents wore bright green shirts deriding FERC as a rubber-stamp commission.

Paul Saunders, a retired engineer from Hanover Township, Northampton County, prepared a comment in support of the project because "fossil fuels are plentiful, inexpensive, reliable energy sources vital for human flourishing, vital for prosperity, and vital for technological and economic growth," according to a copy provided to a reporter.

Also in attendance was Jim Welty, vice president for government affairs for the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

He cited projections that construction of the pipeline will carry a nearly $1.62 billion economic impact, supporting 12,160 jobs and $740 million in associated wages. His prepared comment also cited an economic analysis showing shale gas development has saved the average household $1,200 on energy costs in recent years.

"Pennsylvania and new Jersey families could see additional savings once PennEast is optional," Welty said.

Be heard

In addition to six scheduled meetings, public comment on the draft environmental impact statement is being taken until Sept. 12 in the following ways, according to FERC:

File comments electronically using the eComment feature on the commission's website (www.ferc.gov) under the link to Documents and

Filings.

File comments electronically by using the eFiling feature on the commission's website under the link to Documents and Filings. With eFiling, you can provide comments in a variety of formats by attaching them as a file with your submission. New eFiling users must first create an account by clicking on "eRegister." Those filing a comment on a particular project should select "Comment on a Filing" as the filing type.

File a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to the following address, and referencing the project docket number (CP15-558-000) with your submission:

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

888 First Street NE, Room 1A

Washington, DC 20426

Editor's note: This article has been changed from its original version to reflect a change of venue for the Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, public input meeting.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
With more than 800 Laois students receiving their Leaving Cert results this week the Union of Students in Ireland the has published some advice on those who wish to progress to third level education on the next steps to take.

In total 832 Laois pupils sat the Leaving Cert according to the State Examinations Commission. A further 30 students took the Leaving Cert Applied exam.

The first thing we would like to say to students who have just done their leaving cert is congratulations. Annie Hoey, USI President, said. Its probably the toughest exam most people will do in their life and it spans across so many diverse subjects, both optional and obligatory. Its important to bear in mind that when you go to college, youll most likely be studying in a field youre interested in and better at. Overall leaving cert points dont reflect your ability in one area.

CAO Round Two offers are issued on the 31st August and USI is reminding students that if they dont get their first choice, to wait and see what they get in the second round.

USI President, Annie Hoey, said that receiving the Leaving Cert results and CAO offers are two of the most exciting and stressful days young people can experience because five or six years of studying and hard work leads to one day. Hoey said students should get plenty of sleep the night before to help reduce anxiety levels. USI said that there is plenty of help available for students who didnt get the points for their preferred course choice. Young people should talk to career guidance counsellors if they feel disappointed. Services like Childline are also available 24/7 on 1800 666 666.

On the 22nd August the first round of CAO offers will be sent out to young people across Ireland. USI is urging young people to reflect on their decision before accepting the offer as they may get a second choice in the second round offer on the 31st August. Hoey said anyone feeling confused or worried about their choices should get in contact with the Colleges Students Union or access office. In terms of finding and securing student accommodation, USI said if students are set on a certain college, they should ring the accommodation office ASAP so they have a place to stay during their studies. Further digs accommodation is available on homes.usi.ie.
What a difference a year can make  even a couple of months.

Earlier this year, in March to be precise, 30-something year old Coill Dubh mother of two Tracy Mulreid felt her life was at a cross roads.

And now shes preparing to launch her first fashion line.

The 37-yea- old Coill Dubh native and former Scoil Mhuire, Clane student was feeling a bit adrift.

Back in March I was at a bit of a loss, didnt have much confidence in myself, she admits.

She remembers the day she picked up The Secret, a book by Australian Rhonda Byrne which encourages people to use the power of positivity in a practical way in their lives.

And since she read the book amazing things started happening in my life.

She read the book feeling she had nothing to lose.

I was basically feeling a bit down in myself.

The Secret urges people to do a couple of things, like writing down the 10 things youre grateful for in their lives.

Things started going great for me there and then, Tracy says.

I had started to wonder if my art was any good if it would sell, so I started believing in myself and my portrait business has really started to grow and not eased up since then.

Another element of the book is to encourage readers to try to think of things that have never been invented.

So she came up with a unique concept for a coat  essentially one that allows the wearer to change the length of it  or to turn parts inside out to change the colour.

Its basically a three-in-one coat, says Tracy.

An initial version of the coat was created, and it is still in development.

I searched for it online and could find nothing like it, she said.

Then some time later, one night she was on the phone to an acquaintance chatting about a tattoo design that Tracy was to design for her.

This might sound weird, the woman said to her but have you ever done anything with fashion?

Tracy explains that the woman is a psychic and felt that she was being told that Tracy should go into fashion.

She was able to describe my coat to a T.

Except that she had no idea how to approach getting into fashion.

And thats where well-known Prosperous musician Mick Dunne stepped in.

He was over discussing some art work and I happened to mention this idea I had.

So a few days later he rang back and said he had great news. He had been gigging in the Corner House in Clane and got chatting to Frank Owens, the official sponsor and designer behind the Miss Ireland competition.

Mick said hed love to meet me and to mentor me.

So she took Franks number and rang him and they met up.

Mr Owens has a premises in Ballymount and is establishing a new business with Tracy.

He has a girl who was involved in Lord of the Dance as well.

In more recent times, Mick Dunne has entered her life again as his daughter Niamh is the current Miss Kildare, bound for the Miss Ireland Finals.

Niamh wanted a Kildare based designer to do her dress, which is lead to her producing the dress, pictured right, and which is being modelled by Robertstown model Shannon Balfe.

The big message is that no dream is too big, she says, adding that the books message of gratitude and positivity can be applied to anyone."
Members of the Nuclear Weapons Working Group are presenting their personal views as part of a wider consultation process into the partys future policy on nuclear weapons. The full consultation paper can be found at www.libdems.org.uk/autumn-conference-16-policypapers and the consultation window runs until 28 October. Party members are invited to attend the consultation session at party conference in Brighton, to be held on Saturday 17 September at 1pm in the Balmoral Room of the Hilton.

Last year, Conference agreed to review our nuclear weapons policies. As a party member committed to achieving a nuclear weapons free Britain in a nuclear weapons free world, I am honoured to serve on the working group established by the Federal Policy Committee.

The group has heard from a range of experts, and two things have been very clear to me. First, the case for replacing Trident with Trident hasnt been made; many of the strategic and operational criticisms I laid out in Retiring Trident (March 2015) remain valid, and since it was published, the capital costs have increased by 25% and now total at least 41bn.



Second, the evidence sessions have confirmed my view that multilateralism remains the most viable route for delivering global disarmament. We have heard no evidence that one-sided / unilateral UK nuclear disarmament would make any of the other nuclear weapons states give their weapons up. But it would leave the UK free riding on the nuclear weapons capabilities of six other NATO members, which would be likely to damage the UKs relationship with Europe and with NATO. Doing this at any time would be unwise, but after Brexit, when the UK needs to make greater efforts to strengthen and deepen relationships with our NATO allies, it seems especially foolhardy.

The usual riposte is that multilateralism hasnt delivered on President Obamas vision of a nuclear weapons free world, as set out in his 2009 Prague speech. Such claims miss the point that between them the USA and the former Soviet Union accounted for a staggering 70,481 warheads at their peak in 1986, representing more than 95% of nuclear weapon production; France in the late 1980s was next with 540 warheads. Today, the US and Russia each have around 1,550 strategic warheads, with another 7,000 warheads in reserve, being dismantled  or crucially, in Russias case, as unregulated tactical nuclear weapons.

Our aim should be to bring these numbers down further. It is clear that both the US and Russia could achieve their deterrence postures with fewer warheads  a figure of around 750 per side with China capped at around 400 warheads  more than theyve ever fielded  appears technically deliverable if the political will exists. Sadly, in Putins Moscow, this will doesnt exist at the moment.

But Putin will not be in power forever: it is wholly conceivable that in the late 2020s/early 2030s, as the new Trident submarines would be coming into service, the UK could be in a position for China, Russia and the US to move to these much lower levels of strategic warheads.

In parallel, this would give the UK and France  which, in the late 2020s when they have to replace their missile submarines, will be facing the same issues of affordability as the UK is currently  a role in trading our nuclear weapons, and those NATO nuclear weapons operated by Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, for Russias 4,000 tactical nuclear weapons. This would be a win  win  win: but as a Russian arms controller put it to me, getting Britain and France to give up their weapons would really help us present such a package at home.

This was a really important insight for me. The UK needs to help our negotiating partners down the nuclear ladder, too. And that is why I favour a major step down the nuclear ladder by moving to a true minimum deterrent, based on dual use aircraft as I outlined in Retiring Trident, but one which is much cheaper. Crucially, my proposal is much more disarmament friendly because it would be comparatively cheap to negotiate away: the nuclear-specific costs would be less than 10% of buying Trident.

These, along with the other steps discussed in the groups consultation document, would be concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament and a safer world. I urge you to read the consultation document and respond to the questions raised; this is difficult policy and members input is invaluable. I look forward to meeting and discussing these points with as many of you as possible in Brighton.

* Toby Fenwick is a Research Associate of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has written extensively on the UK Trident programme, and served on the partys last Trident Working Group. This article is written in a personal capacity.
THE head of the divisional traffic corps is appealing to drivers to slow down after it emerged several motorists were caught driving at speed on the M20 at the weekend.

In one incident a vehicle was clocked traveling at 144kph (24kph above the limit) near exit 3 on the inbound lane of the motorway.

One of 3 motorists detected exceeding 140kph during traffic op on major routes around Limerick read a tweet which was posted on the official Garda Twitter account (@GardaTraffic).

Limerick Traffic - One of 3 motorists detected exceeding 140kph during traffic op on major routes around Limerick pic.twitter.com/25vL3F0WM5 August 14, 2016

It is expected Fixed Charge Penalty Notices will be issued in relation to each of the detections and that prosecutions will follow if the fines are not paid within the appropriate timeframe.

Inspector Paul Reidy, who is based at Henry Street garda station, confirmed the detections were made by members of the divisional traffic corps who were deployed on the motorway as part of Operation TISPOL - an EU-wide road safety initiative.

He says motorists driving at excessive and sometimes dangerous speeds remain one of the main concerns of gardai.

We have had an increase in road fatalities in Limerick so far this year and our priority is to ensure that we reduce the number of fatalities and serious injury collisions, he said adding that the detections on the M20 at the weekend show gardai are enforcing the road traffic laws on all roads across the city and county.

We are trying to be as visible as possible and we are out on motorways, regional roads and secondary roads, he said inisisting that gardai are specifically targeting accident-prone areas in an effort to prevent collisions.

Appealing to drivers of all ages to slow down, Insp Reidy said a reduction in speed of just 5kph can have a significant impact in reducing the chance of serious injuries being sustained in the event of a collision happening.

Meanwhile, the number of people using mobile phones while driving is also a concern for gardai despite a major advertising campaign.

It is still a severe problem, people are just not listening (to road safety experts), said Insp Reidy who added that the number of people who continue to drive while not wearing a seatbelt is also a major concern for the authorities.

He said new figures from the RSA show a considerable number of people who have been injured in road collisions so far in 2016 were not wearing seatbelts at the time.
FORMER Limerick senator James Heffernan was arrested again over the weekend and charged with a public order offence.

This latest incident comes a fortnight after Mr Heffernan, from Kilfinane, was arrested three times over the course of a weekend while attending a music festival in Mitchelstown.

He was arrested in the early hours of last Saturday morning by gardai in Galway city following an incident outside a popular music venue.

The Limerick politician, who ran for the Social Democrats in the recent general election, was charged at a special sitting of Galway District Court on same day.

He is due to appear before the court on December 19.

The former primary school teacher is understood to have been with his band in the Roisin Dubh venue before the incident which resulted in his arrest.

It is unclear what led to his arrest but sources say onlookers videoed the incident.

Sources close to the former Senator said he was examined by a doctor following his release due to injuries he sustained from the incident.

A Garda spokesman said a 36-year-old male was arrested at 2am on Dominic Street in Galway City Centre on Saturday morning.

The spokesman said the male was brought to Mill Street garda station and charged on the same day.

In the last week of September, Mr Heffernan was arrested three times in Mitchelstown over the course of a 36 hour period while attending a music festival.

He was arrested at the Indiependence Festival after gardai became concerned about what has been described as his erratic behaviour. He was arrested and detained over night before being released without charge.

He was arrested on the day of his release on suspicion of drink driving and again detained by gardai. He was later released and arrested on third occasion for public order offences.

In May, before the election, he was arrested in Temple Bar in Dublin city centre after he mistakenly entered a crime scene.
GARDAI in Limerick are investigating an attack by youths throwing rocks that left a fire service appliance damaged.

A window was smashed in a Limerick City Fire and Rescue appliance in the incident in the Fairview Crescent area of the city this Monday.

The fire service, it is understood, attended a bonfire in the area at 5pm on Monday when it came under attack from youths throwing rocks.

During the incident, a large rock was thrown at the appliance, smashing the drivers door window. No firefighters were injured in the incident, but the appliance was taken out of service for repairs.

Gardai at Roxboro are understood to be investigating the incident.

It is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the Garryowen area of the city, with firefighters attacked in May by a gang of around 15 youths, some as young as 13, when attending the scene to put out a routine bonfire".

The gang attacked the emergency service personnel with planks of wood, a shovel and rocks in that incident.

One firefighter was struck over the head with a pool cue, while a large rock was hurled through the front windscreen of the fire appliance.

Local councillors condemned the incident, with CCTV understood to have captured those responsible.
Senator calls on U.S. Postal Service to issue stamp for Gold Star Mothers

Aug 15, 2016, 3 PM

In 1948, the United States issued a 3 stamp in honor of Gold Star Mothers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is calling on the U.S. Postal Service to reissue the Gold Star Mothers stamp as a current forever stamp.

By Bill McAllister, Washington Correspondent

There is a philatelic echo of this years presidential campaign and the role of Khizr and Ghazzala Khan, who lost their son, United States Army Capt. Humayun Khan, in combat in Iraq in 2004.

Khizr, accompanied by his wife, spoke July 28 at the Democratic National Convention.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has written Postmaster General Megan Brennan asking her to reissue the 1948 3 commemorative honoring Gold Star Mothers.

This would reaffirm and revive our nations long-standing commitment to Gold Star families, he said in the letter.

Blumenthal said he intends to offer legislation for a new stamp honoring Gold Star families when Congress reconvenes in early September.

In the meantime, he said reissuing the 1948 stamp as a current forever stamp would be a good interim move.

The senators letter to Brennan did not mention Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, who created controversy with his remarks about the Khans after their speech.

The Gold Star Mothers stamp (Scott 969) was issued to honor the mothers of deceased members of the United States Armed Forces.
Four countries come together for Jan Jessenius joint issue: New Stamps of the World

Aug 16, 2016, 9 AM

An upcoming joint issue between the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein shows the painting "A Young Woman on a Balcony" by Dutch artist Gerrit Dou. The stamps will be issued in September.

The latest issue in Denmarks Stamp Art series is a souvenir sheet of two stamps showing recent works by artist and photographer Trine Sondergaard. The sheet was issued June 23.

The Czech Republic, along with Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, participated in a joint issue for the 450th birth anniversary of Jan Jessenius, a physician, politician and philosopher.

A stamp from French Polynesia depicts a six-story street mural created for a 2015 street art and graffiti festival in Tahiti.

By Denise McCarty

Four countries participated in a joint issue commemorating the 450th birth anniversary of Jan Jessenius, a physician, politician and philosopher.

The countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Jessenius was born Dec. 27, 1566, in Wroclaw in present-day Poland. His father was from a Hungarian noble family, originally from Turiec in present-day Slovakia.

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Jessenius performed the first public autopsy in what is now the Czech Republic in 1600, and moved to Prague the next year, teaching anatomy and also serving as the private physician of King and Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II.

Jessenius political activities eventually led to his arrest and later his public execution June 21, 1621, along with 26 other leaders of the Protestant Bohemian rebellion. One contemporary historian, Jiri Kezelius-Bydzovsky, described Jessenius as a man who quartered people only to be quartered himself, according to the new-issue announcement from Ceska Posta.

An engraved image of this mass execution is depicted on a Czech Republic stamp issued June 1, 2011 (Scott 3504), for the 390th anniversary.

All four stamps in the joint issue (Czech Republic 27 koruna, Hungary 280 forint, Poland 6 zlotych, Slovakia 0.90) were released June 22 and show the same design based on a 1618 engraving of Jessenius by Lucas Kilian. A se-tenant label pictures the title page of Jessenius Anatomiae Anatomiae Pragae, Anno M.D.C. abs se solenniter administratae historia, in which he discusses the public autopsy. An engraving of a barn owl also is pictured on the label.

Vladislav Rostoka designed the stamps, and Frantisek Horniak engraved the designs.

Czech-Liechtenstein joint issue

The Czech Republic and Liechtenstein will release joint-issue stamps in early September reproducing a painting by a Dutch artist.

The stamps show A Young Woman on a Balcony, painted around 1665 by Gerrit Dou (1613-75), who studied with Rembrant from 1628-32.

This painting was donated by Johann II of Liechtenstein to the Society of Patriotic Friends of the Arts who established what later would become the National Gallery of Prague.

The Liechtenstein stamp is denominated 1.50 francs, and the Czech Republic stamp 27kc. The stamps were designed by Vaclav Fajt and printed in the Czech Republic.

Denmark

Denmark launched a stamp series in 1988 to introduce living Danish artists to the public. The latest issue in this Stamp Art series highlights the work of Trine Sondergaard, an artist and photographer.

The souvenir sheet issued June 23 includes two se-tenant (side-by-side) 25-krone stamps.

The stamp on the left shows Sondergaards Interior #12. Pictured on the right is the photograph Guldnakke No. 16. Both works are part of larger series.

In an article in Journal, Postnords bulletin of Denmarks new stamps, Sondergaard said of the Interior series, In recent years I have worked with interiors in unoccupied, historic buildings, which are just standing there waiting.

The photographs in the Guldnakke series show young women in modern clothes wearing 19th-century gold bonnets called guldnakker. On her website, the artist said that when she saw the bonnets at a local museum she was fascinated by the material and delicate embroidery.

Ella Clausen of Postnord Stamps designed the souvenir sheet. It was printed by offset.

French Polynesia

A recent stamp from French Polynesia pictures a six-story high mural painted on a building in Papeete. Issued May 27 to commemorate World Stamp Show-NY 2016, the 1.40-franc stamp also includes the shows Statue of Liberty emblem.

The mural was created by French street artist Julien Malland, who works under the name Seth, and a local Polynesian artist known as HTJ for an international street and graffiti festival, ONOU, l held in May 2015 in Tahiti.

The mural shows a sleeping Tahitian girl surrounded by a red pareo (wrap) with white flowers and other Polynesian symbols painted on it. It took five days to complete.

Martha Cooper took the photograph of the mural that appears on the stamp.

Philaposte, the French government printing office, printed the stamp by offset in panes of 10. Pictured in the selvage is a hand with a can of red spray paint. The words Street Art En Polynesie are written in white in the red paint.

Photographs taken during the painting of the mural are included in an article by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington on the websites of Brooklyn Street Art, and Huffington Post.
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Repair work is about to begin on the historic Walnut Street Bridge. From fresh paint to the replacement of portions of the deck and corroded ironwork, one of Chattanoogas best-known icons is getting some much needed attention. The work is expected to take approximately six months and is being performed by Bell and Associates Construction Company.

The company will be communicating proactively through a Facebook page set up to share information about the work and documenting progress along the way. Bell President Keith Pyle said, Our team is committed to making these repairs in a way that causes minimal disruption to those visiting the bridge. We know the importance of having the bridge available during Wine Over Water, the Head of the Hooch races and many other special events.

Bell encouraged those interested in the project to visit the Walnut Street Bridge page on Facebook for regular updates and news about the progress of the work.






Drivers crossing Veterans Bridge from downtown Chattanooga may have noticed a Year of Love sign in front of Girls Preparatory School, a welcome sign of sorts for the 600 students who start the school year on Tuesday. The seniors in the Class of 2017 hope the theme for the year will be a restorative balm for all students and faculty as they return to school after a summer of news events that challenged many communities in the U.S. and abroad.

At a class dinner in early August, the seniors took on the commitment to the theme in words and ideas for the year. Starting with their plans to welcome the sixth graders in the schools Cat-Rat tradition, they also talked about the importance of teamwork and taking the spirit of love into service opportunities in Chattanooga.

We must lead with love, said the students charged with leading the Honor Council, Student Council, Senior Class, and Partnership in Community.

We want the students to understand that every decision made by the school is made with love and respect, says Head of School Dr. Autumn Graves. We believe in them so much and want to do whats in their best interests. Self-confidence and loving oneself are positive values, she says, adding that those traits can make a huge difference in the lives of young women.










Senator Bob Corker will continue his four-week, 32-county tour across the Volunteer State with stops in three East Tennessee counties on Tuesday. Senator Corker will meet with community and business leaders in Sequatchie, Bledsoe and Morgan counties.Senator Corker is traveling across the Volunteer State this month to hear from Tennesseans and share his perspective on how to address some of the major challenges facing our nation. The senator has visited 21 counties over the last two weeks and will visit a total of nine counties this week.In 2012, Tennesseans re-elected Mr.Corker to his second term in the U.S. Senate, where he is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and an active member of the Banking Committee and the Budget Committee. Senator Corker was Tennessees commissioner of finance and mayor of Chattanooga, but he spent most of his life in business.
The Stela of Amenophis III, shown here at the Cairo Museum, Egypt. This enormous stela, hewn out of black granite, bears the earliest mention of Israel of any of the exhibits in the National Museum of Egypt.

The term "ancient Israel" is used by scholars to refer to the tribes, kingdoms and dynasties formed by ancient Jewish people in the Levant (an area that encompasses modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria).

Scholars draw mainly on three sources to reconstruct the history of ancient Israel  archaeological excavations, the Hebrew Bible and texts that are not found in the Hebrew Bible. The use of the Hebrew Bible can be challenging for scholars  while some of the accounts are thought by many scholars to be mystical, others, such as Nebuchandezzar II's conquest of Jerusalem are known to have happened.

Early history

The earliest mention of the word "Israel" comes from a stele (an inscription carved on stone) found in Thebes (modern day Luxor ) and erected by the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah, who reigned from around 1213 B.C. to 1203 B.C. The inscription mentions a military campaign in the Levant during which Merneptah supposedly "laid waste" to "Israel" among other kingdoms and cities in the region.

The Hebrew Bible claims that the Jewish people fled Egypt as refugees before arriving (with some divine help) in the Levant, where they started conquering territory from the local population  such as the Canaanites . When exactly this would have happened is unclear although it would have been more than 3,000 years ago. Whether there is any truth to this biblical account is a point of contention among modern-day scholars. Some scholars think that there was no exodus from Egypt, while others believe that some Jewish people could have fled Egypt in the second millennium B.C.

James Hoffmeier, an archaeologist and professor at Trinity International University in Illinois, pointed out in papers and lectures that people from the Levant did live in ancient Egypt at different points in Egypt's history. He also noted that the ancient city of Ramesses, mentioned in the exodus stories told in the Hebrew Bible, did exist, and archaeologists have discovered that it flourished for several centuries during the second millennium B.C., before it was abandoned about 3,100 years ago.

King David

King David bearing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, in the early 16th century. (Image credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

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According to the Hebrew Bible, a man named David rose to become Israel's king after slaying a giant named Goliath in a battle that led to the rout of a Philistine army. King David then led a series of military campaigns that made Israel a powerful kingdom centered at Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew Bible.

After King David's death, possibly around 3,000 years ago, his son Solomon took over the kingdom and constructed what is now called the First Temple  supposedly the first purpose-built temple in which to worship God. The temple was located in Jerusalem and contained the Ark of the Covenant , which held tablets inscribed with the 10 Commandments. Recent archaeological excavations show that smaller temples also existed in Israel at the time the First Temple was flourishing.

Most of what scholars know about King David comes from the Hebrew Bible. However, fragments of an inscription found at the archaeological site of Tel Dan in 1993 mention a "House of David." The fragmented inscription dates back over 2,800 years. Although the meaning of the words is debated by scholars, many think it's evidence that a ruler named David really existed.

However, a number of archaeologists have noted that evidence for King David's supposedly vast kingdom is scarce. Jerusalem appears to have been sparsely populated around 3,000 years ago, Israel Finkelstein, a professor at Tel Aviv University, wrote in 2010.

"Over a century of archaeological explorations in Jerusalem  the capital of the glamorous biblical United Monarchy  failed to reveal evidence for any meaningful 10th-century building activity," Finkelstein wrote in a paper published in 2010 in the book " One God? One Cult? One Nation: Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives (opens in new tab)" (De Gruyter, 2010). Finkelstein wrote that King David's kingdom was likely a more modest state than the one described in the Hebrew Bible.

Over the last decade, a 3,000-year-old site called Khirbet Qeiyafa has been excavated by a team of archaeologists. The site is located west of Jerusalem, and the excavators believe it was controlled by King David. They even claim to have found a palace that may have belonged to King David , Live Science reported in 2013.

Northern & southern kingdoms

After King Solomon's death in around 930 B.C., the kingdom split into a northern kingdom, which retained the name Israel, and a southern kingdom called Judah, named after the tribe of Judah that dominated the new kingdom. Accounts in the Hebrew Bible suggest that grievances over taxes and corvee labor (free labor that had to be done for the state) played a role in the breakup.

The Hebrew Bible says that at the time of the breakup an Egyptian pharaoh named Shishak launched a military campaign in the Levant , where he carried out a successful raid of Jerusalem (capital of the kingdom of Judah) and took war booty back home.

Ancient Egyptian records say that around this time a pharaoh named Sheshonq I ruled Egypt. Sheshonq launched a military campaign into the Levant and conquered a number of settlements, according to these records. However, it's unclear from the surviving evidence whether he successfully attacked Jerusalem. Many scholars believe that the names Shishak and Sheshonq refer to the same pharaoh.

Israel and Judah co-existed for about two centuries, although they often fought each other. Israel also fought against a non-Jewish kingdom called Moab, which was located largely in modern-day Jordan. A ninth-century B.C. stele created by a Moabite king discusses the conflict between Israel and Moab; it is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Assyrian involvement

Here, one of a series of panels showing Tiglath-pileser III campaigns in southern Iraq. (Image credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Between the ninth and seventh centuries B.C., the Assyrian Empire, originally from the region that is now northern Iraq, grew in size and conquered an empire that stretched from modern-day Iraq to the borders of Egypt. As the Assyrian Empire grew, it came into contact with both Israel and Judah. The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III claims that an Israeli king named Jehu was forced to pay tribute to the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (reign 859 to 824 B.C.); the obelisk is now in the British Museum.

The Hebrew Bible states that during the rule of Israel's King Pekah (who reigned around 735 B.C.), the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III (who reigned from 745 to 727 B.C.) launched a military campaign that conquered several cities from Israel. Pekah was assassinated around 732 B.C. as Israel's losses mounted, and a new king named Hoshea took control of what was left of Israel.

Accounts recorded in the Hebrew Bible suggest that the Assyrian campaign against Israel was part of a larger war in which Israel and Judah fought against each other  the Assyrians sided with Judah, while a kingdom named Aram sided with Israel.

Hoshea was forced to pay tribute to the Assyrians, the Hebrew Bible says. He later rebelled but was crushed by Assyrian forces around 723 B.C. (the exact date is not clear). The kingdom of Israel then came to an end, and its remaining territory was incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. Many Israelites were deported to Assyria. The Hebrew Bible says that Judah was the last Jewish kingdom standing, although it was forced to pay tribute to Assyria.

In 705 B.C., Sennacherib ascended the throne of Assyria, and launched a military campaign against Judah that culminated in the siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. Both the Hebrew Bible and cuneiform texts tell of the siege. The Hebrew Bible says that Taharqa, a ruler who controlled both Nubia and Egypt, marched against Sennacherib, which may have helped end the siege. The Hebrew Bible also says that at one point, "The angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning  there were all the dead bodies!" (2 Kings 19:35 and Isaiah 37:36)

Cuneiform texts written by the Assyrians also say that Sennacherib failed to take Jerusalem. They don't specify why, only saying that Sennacherib trapped Hezekiah, the king of Judah, in Jerusalem "like a caged bird" and that the Assyrian king captured other cities that Hezekiah had controlled. The Assyrian texts claim that Hezekiah paid an enormous tribute to Sennacherib before the Assyrian king went home.

Fall of Judah & Babylonian exile

A painting showing the burning of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar's Army. (Image credit: VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Ultimately, it wasn't the Assyrian Empire that destroyed Judah. Nearly a century after Sennacherib's unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem, a Babylonian king named Nebuchadnezzar II conquered much of Assyria's former empire and laid siege to Jerusalem. His forces conquered the city in 587 B.C., destroyed the First Temple, along with much of the rest of Jerusalem, and deported many of Judah's inhabitants to Babylonia (modern-day southern Iraq). Both the Hebrew Bible and cuneiform tablets that were written in Nebuchadnezzar II's time recorded these events.

The fate of the Ark of the Covenant, which was housed in the First Temple is unknown. Some ancient writers said that the ark was brought back to Babylon, while others suggested that it was hidden away. In the millennia after the destruction of the First Temple, a number of stories were spun about the supposed location of the lost Ark .

In recent years, a number of cuneiform tablets have emerged from Iraq that reveal details of the lives of some of the Jewish deportees. Many of these tablets were purchased by private collectors on the antiquities market, raising concerns that some of the tablets may have been looted.

The tablets give details on Jewish people who lived at a village called Al-Yahudu, which in Akkadian means the "village of Judea." The tablets were "written by Babylonian scribes on behalf of the Judean families that lived in and around Al-Yahudu," Kathleen Abraham, a professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium, wrote in a paper (opens in new tab) for an exhibition catalog, "Light and Shadows: The Story of Iran and the Jews" (Beit Hatfutsot, 2011).

The "tablets show that the exiles and their descendants had, at least to some extent, adopted the local language, script and legal traditions of Babylonia a relatively short time after their arrival there," Abraham wrote.

The Babylonians were eventually conquered by the ancient Persians in 539 B.C., and the Persian king Cyrus the Great (died circa 530 B.C.) gave the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem.

The Hasmonean Dynasty

The Persian Empire was virtually destroyed in the fourth century B.C. after suffering a series of stunning defeats at the hands of Alexander the Great , who went on to conquer an empire that stretched from Macedonia to Afghanistan. Even before Alexander's time, Greek forces launched raids on Persian territories, including Israel; a 2,500-year-old helmet that may be from a Greek raid was found in Haifa harbor in 2007.

Alexander's empire rapidly fell apart following his death in 323 B.C.. One of his generals, Seleucus Nicator, formed an empire that eventually controlled ancient Israel. The "Seleucid Empire" as it is called by modern-day historians, was passed down through the Seleucid family line for about 250 years.

The Seleucid Empire began to weaken during the 2nd century B.C., and a line of Jewish rulers descended from a priest named Simon Maccabeus gained semi-autonomy and eventually full independence from the Seleucids. This line of rulers is called the Hasmonean dynasty by modern-day scholars. By 100 B.C., the Hasmoneans had gained control of the territory that was once controlled by Israel and Judah, as well as territories that those kingdoms had never controlled, such as some areas of Jordan.

However, the Hasmonean dynasty's success proved short-lived. Roman power grew in the eastern Mediterranean during the first century B.C., taking territory in Anatolia during the late second and early first centuries B.C  gradually inching closer to Hasmonean territory. The Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, more commonly known as Pompey the Great, took advantage of a Hasmonean civil war to launch a military expedition into Hasmonean territory. Jerusalem fell to Pompey in 63 B.C. and from that point on the territories that the Hasmoneans controlled were effectively under Roman rule  with Herod the Great eventually being named as a client king.

Herod the Great

The Masada Plateau in Israel (Image credit: Walter Bibikow/Getty Images)

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While the Romans held sway over the former Hasmonean territories, they didn't impose Roman rule directly. Instead, a number of Jewish rulers controlled the territories as client kings of Rome.

The most famous of these client kings was Herod the Great (who lived circa 73 B.C. to 4 B.C.). The Roman general Mark Antony was a key supporter of Herod and supplied the military strength necessary to cement Herod's position as king of Judea, Barry Strauss, a professor of history and classics, wrote in his book "The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian at Actium (opens in new tab)" (Simon & Schuster, 2022). Despite this, Antony also forced Herod to cede land to Cleopatra VII, Strauss wrote.

Herod became well known for his building achievements. "Without a doubt he [Herod] was the greatest builder in the Holy Land, planning and overseeing the execution of palaces, fortresses, theatres, amphitheatres, harbours and the entire city of Caesarea, and to crown them all, he organized the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem," Geza Vermes, who was professor emeritus of Jewish Studies at Oxford University in the U.K., wrote in his book "The True Herod (opens in new tab)" (Bloomsbury, 2014).

Herod built what is today called the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a replacement of sorts for the First Temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. Herod also constructed a series of palaces at Masada.

Biblical literature often vilifies Herod, claiming that he tried to seek out and kill Jesus when he was a baby, as he supposedly perceived the infant as a threat to his rule. One biblical story claims that he killed all the infants living in Bethlehem in hopes of killing Jesus. Scholars are generally skeptical of these biblical claims and doubt that they actually happened.

Some scholars think that a group called the Essenes established a retreat at Qumran during or shortly after King Herod's reign. The Dead Sea Scrolls  thousands of fragments from 900 manuscripts  were found in 11 nearby caves near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s. An additional scroll was found blank inside another cave in 2017. Some of the scrolls contain parts of the Hebrew Bible while others include calendars, community rules and astronomical texts.

Rebellions against Rome

After Herod's death around 4 B.C., Rome asserted more control over the area and ruled parts of Israel directly. These parts were governed by prefects who were appointed by Rome  such as Pontius Pilate .

Tensions between the region's Jewish inhabitants and Roman rulers increased and came to a head in A.D. 66. A rebellion in A.D. 70 culminated in the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman forces. Resistance continued after the city's fall  the rebels' last major stronghold was at Masada; it didn't fall until A.D. 73 or A.D. 74, after a protracted Roman siege.

Masada's defenders were part of a group that modern-day scholars often refer to as the "Zealots." The ancient Jewish writer Josephus (who lived from A.D. 37 to 100) wrote that the Zealots took their own lives rather than surrender to the Romans. "For the husbands tenderly embraced their wives, and took their children into their arms, and gave the longest parting kisses to them, with tear in their eyes," before they committed suicide, Josephus wrote.

Further rebellions occurred over the decades. The final rebellion was crushed in A.D. 136. The Roman writer Cassius Dio (who lived circa. A.D. 155 to A.D. 235) wrote that this last rebellion led to the desolation of the Jewish population.

"Five hundred and eighty thousand men were slain in the various raids and battles, and the number of those that perished by famine, disease and fire was past finding out  thus nearly the whole of Judaea was made desolate," Dio wrote. (Translation by Earnest Cary, from volume VIII of the "Loeb Classical Library" published in 1925). Archaeologists are still finding treasure hoards buried by people who lived during this rebellion.

In the millennia afterward, the Jewish diaspora spread throughout the world. The modern state of Israel was established in 1948, with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Israel Museum (opens in new tab) in Jerusalem holds many of the Dead Sea Scrolls and numerous artifacts from Israel's ancient and modern history. Archeologists plan to restart excavations at Masada in 2023  more information on their finds and plans can be found on the excavation's website (opens in new tab).

Additional resources

The site study.com (opens in new tab) has a video and resources on daily life in ancient Israel.

has a video and resources on daily life in ancient Israel. The Biblical Archaeology Society has loads of features on ancient Israel, along with information about live events and digs.

The World History Encyclopedia (opens in new tab) provides an in-depth look at Herod the Great.

Bibliography

Yeroushalmi, David, ed, "Light and Shadows: The Story of Iran and the Jews" Fowler Museum at UCLA, 2012

Hoffmeier, James. "Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Narrative" Oxford University Press, 2005

Kratz, Reinhard G. and Spieckermann, Hermann (eds) "One God? One Cult? One Nation: Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives" De Gruyter, 2010

Strauss, Barry "The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian at Actium" Simon & Schuster, 2022

Vermes, Geza, "The True Herod" Bloomsbury, 2014
If you're fascinated with conspiracy theories, you've probably come across one involving those streaks that jet aircraft leave behind them in the sky, as particles from the engines' exhaust plume cause water vapor in the air to condense around them and form ice particles. In aviation, those streaks are called "contrails," short for condensation trails, and they're a phenomenon that's been observed since the beginnings of jet-powered flight. (Here's a Federal Aviation Administration FAQ on them.)

RELATED: Bacteria in Clouds Could Make Rain on Demand

Nevertheless, to conspiracy buffs, nothing is that simple or innocuous. Some believe that the streaks are what they call "chemtrails," and that they're part of a sinister, clandestine government plot to modify the weather, or else some sort of biological warfare weapon. (From the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, here's a guide to those accusations.) One poll a few years back found that nearly 17 percent of Americans thought it was either true or partly true that the government was involved in atmospheric alteration, and the chemtrails conspiracy theory even has been promoted by celebrities such as Kylie Jenner and the late Prince.

That's why a group of scientists from the University of California, Irvine, the Carnegie Institution for Science and the nonprofit Near Zero organization thought it would be a good idea to survey 77 atmospheric chemists and geoscientists, the folks who actually study the atmosphere. The survey-takers asked atmospheric researchers if they had found any evidence of a large-scale program to spray chemicals into the sky.

An article just published in Environmental Research Letters contains the findings. Of the 77 scientists surveyed, 76 (98.7 percent) said they had found no evidence of such spraying.

RELATED: Viral Video Claims to Prove Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory

Beyond that, when showed the evidence presented by chemtrails proponents  such as strontium, barium and aluminum found in water, soil and snow samples  the researchers concluded that those things could be explained through other factors, "including well-understood physics and chemistry associated with aircraft contrails and atmospheric aerosols."

If you're a believer in chemtrails, you may be wondering: What about the one scientist who found evidence? Maybe that person is the InfoWars version of Galileo, right?

Sorry to disappoint you, but no.

As the study clarifies: "The one participant who answered yes said the evidence s/he had come across was 'high levels of atmospheric barium in a remote area with standard 'low' soil barium'." That scientist stops short of absolutely ruling out the remote possibility that someone deliberately sprayed barium over that area, which is not the same as saying that it's the likely explanation. (As Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait explains, "When I can't find my keys in the morning I can't rule out that dinosaur ghosts hid them from me. It just seems a tad unlikely.")

RELATED: 11 Conspiracy Theories That Proved True

"The chemtrails conspiracy theory maps pretty closely to the origin and growth of the internet, where you can still find a number of websites that promote this particular brand of pseudoscience," study co-author Steven Davis, UCI associate professor of Earth system science, said in a UCI press release. "Our survey found little agreement in the scientific community with claims that the government, the military, airlines and others are colluding in a widespread, nefarious program to poison the planet from the skies."

On the plus side, this now means that chemtrails believers can move on to potentially more fruitful areas of inquiry, such as the question of whether Tupac Shakur is still alive and hiding out in Cuba.

Originally published on Discovery News.
For the first time, scientists have managed to breed rare spiders known as Montserrat tarantulas.

Little is known about these elusive, secretive creatures that live on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean.

"Breeding these tarantulas is a huge achievement for the team as very little is known about them. It's taken a lot of patience and care to reach this point," Gerardo Garcia, the curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at the Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. [Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider]

Scientists first described the furry, translucent octopeds a century ago from a single male specimen. Later, researchers discovered that another threatened creature from Montserrat, the mountain chicken frog, preyed upon the spiders.

However, except for those isolated sightings, no one had ever glimpsed the tarantulas living in the wild. That all changed three years ago, when adult specimens were captured on the Caribbean island and brought to the zoo.

Researchers then spent the next three years trying to get the tarantulas to breed. Eventually, they succeeded, producing a bumper crop of 200 of the furry babies. It turned out that the male spiders had a very short life span and matured quickly, so finding just the right time to put the males and females together was key to getting them to breed, the researchers said.

Here, one of the Montserrat spiderlings in a test tube. The spiderlings could reveal new insights about the elusive Montserrat tarantulas. (Image credit: Chester Zoo)

"The data we've been able to gather and knowledge we've developed over the last three years since the adults first arrived has led us to this first ever successful, recorded breeding, and hopefully these tiny tarantulas will uncover more secrets about the behaviour, reproduction and life cycle of the species," Garcia said.

Studying the new clutch of spiderlings could reveal new information about the Montserrat tarantula's reproduction and life cycle, and the effort and insights gleaned from the breeding process could also offer insights into other species, Garcia said.

Original article on Live Science.
Treasure hunters broke ground today in Poland, hoping to find a legendary train said to be filled with gold and hidden by Nazis near the end of World War II.

But some scientists doubt that such a train ever existed and said it's unlikely the team will find the gold they're looking for.

"We're entering the sphere of almost urban myth," Tony Pollard, a battlefield archaeologist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, told Live Science. "From my own experience as an archaeologist, I'm highly dubious about it, and I think most of the archaeological community shares that opinion."

See more

The tale of the Nazi train

According to local lore, the Germans hid a train loaded with gold and other loot in a secret tunnel as the Soviet army advanced in 1945. Government-sponsored and private efforts alike had attempted to locate this fabled treasure trove over the past several decades. Last summer, a pair of amateur explorers, Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter, claimed that they had identified the spot where the train was buried, in the town of Walbrzych in Poland. [Images: Missing Nazi Diary Resurfaces]

The announcement touched off a frenzy. Treasure hunters and tourists reportedly flocked to the region. Some Polish officials even backed the claims; Poland's deputy minister of culture said he was "99 percent" certain the train existed after seeing Koper and Richter's ground-penetrating radar images, which supposedly showed an armored train buried underground.

Excitement over the discovery dampened just a few months later, after a scientific commission from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland, attempted to verify the findings and found no evidence for the train. "There may be a tunnel, but there is no train," Janusz Madej, a geology professor who led thecommission, reportedly told a press conference in December 2015.

Koper and Richter, however, pressed on. This week they began digging in the spot where they say they found a train-shaped anomaly in their radar scans. Photos from the site showed that the team has already started clearing large amounts of dirt with an excavator. The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that the team plans to initially dig 20 feet (6 meters) deep.

Is the train real?

"I suspect that any findings will disappoint those who are seeking gold," said David Passmore, a visiting lecturer at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom and a geoarchaeologist who has worked on World War II battlefields. "I think the widespread use of terminology like 'legend' and 'myth' in connection with this story is revealing, since there is no compelling evidence of hidden trains in the public domain, despite the use of state-of-the-art geoprospection technology by Madej and colleagues." [In Photos: The Hunt for a Circus Train Graveyard]

Pollard noted that he was especially skeptical about Koper and Richter's radar images, which purported to show the underground train in great detail. "I've worked with ground-penetrating radar experts, and these are like no results that I've ever seen," he said, adding that radar images of buried archaeological features typically look more abstract.

He added that he was also disappointed that much of the discussion surrounding this treasure hunt was about the possibility of striking gold and its value. "I certainly don't want people to think this is archaeological research," Pollard said. "Archaeology's raison d'etre is to answer questions about the past. If there is indeed a train laced with Nazi gold, it could raise a lot of questions."

Even the discovery of an empty tunnel could be an interesting turn of events. In this part of southern Poland, the Nazis used forced labor to build a vast network of tunnels called the Riese complex ("riese" is the German word for "giant"). Though the unfinished tunnels have been surveyed and some are now even major tourist attractions it's not clear what purpose these Nazi bunkers were intended for. Some ideas hold that the tunnels were meant to protect industry and armament from Allied bombing.

The muddled history of the tunnels combined with the fact that some of the art and other treasures the Nazis were moving around at the end of the war are still missing has probably helped fuel the story about a hidden gold train, Pollard explained. And even if Koper and Richter are empty-handed by the end of their dig, he doesnt expect stories about the lost Nazi gold train to go away. Pollard said he saw parallels with the case of another amateur explorer, David Cundall of the United Kingdom, who recently launched an expedition to find 140 World War II planes known as Spitfires that Cundall said were buried, still in their crates,in Myanmar. "They found absolutely nothing, but the leader of the expedition is still convinced that the planes are there," Pollard said.

Original article on Live Science.
Lightning has already killed as many people in the U.S. this year as in all of 2015, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Although it's not clear what's driving all these deaths, it's a good bet that people are taking more risks than usual, according to an expert at the NWS.

"One of the biggest problems is that people don't like to be inconvenienced by thunderstorms," said John Jensenius, an NWS lightning safety specialist. "They have plans, they want to go through with those plans, and they're willing to take the chance. And unfortunately, some people are killed or injured because they do take a chance." [Images of Lightning Unfolding, Frame by Frame]

An infographic showing that a total of 27 people have died from lightning strikes in the United States so far this year. (Image credit: Purch Creative Ops)

The latest fatality happened in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, when lightning killed a 38-year-old man who was swimming in a state park during a storm on Saturday (Aug. 13), according to The Morning Call, a local newspaper.

The man's death brought the number of 2016 lightning fatalities in the U.S. to 27, Jensenius said. That's more than the average number of lightning-related deaths for the past 10 years through Aug. 13, which is 25, he said.

Like the 38-year-old-man, most lightning fatalities in the country occur when people are doing leisure activities, Jensenius said. For instance, the first person killed by lightning in the U.S. in 2016 was a 28-year-old woman who died in March in her tent at a music festival in Louisiana, he said.

Other 2016 lightning fatalities included people at family picnics, working in their yards, riding horses or simply standing outside with friends, Jensenius said. Earlier this month, lightning killed a 5-year-old boy when his family was visiting a beach in North Carolina, Live Science reported.

So far, most lightning deaths in 2016 have occurred on the East Coast and in the South, including six fatalities in Florida, four in Louisiana, three in New York and two each in Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina, Jensenius said.

Moreover, more men than women die from lightning strikes. This year, 22 (81 percent) of the deaths were men, Jensenius said. That's partly because men are more likely to work in outdoor jobs, such as construction. But it's also likely that more men die from lightning strikes because they tend to take more risks and may be less willing than women to get to a safe place during storms, Jensenius said.

He added that in addition to this year's 27 fatalities, a vast number of people have been injured by lightning strikes. For instance, lightning gravely injured a 29-year-old man when he was on his house deck in St. Augustine, Florida on May 17, according to a GoFundMe page raising money for his medical care.

Lightning safety

During a lightning storm, people should head inside or get into a hard-topped metal vehicle, Jensenius said.

"One of the worst things to do [during a storm] is shelter under a tree" during a storm, Jensenius told Live Science. That's because even though lightning may strike the tree, a "side flash" may occur, meaning that part of the current can jump from the tree to a person standing close by, according to the NWS. [What Are the Odds of Dying from Lightning?]

"Side flashes generally occur when the victim is within a foot or two [0.3 to 0.6 meters] of the object that is struck," the NWS said.

Safety advocates also offered another compelling reason to stay away from trees and other tall outdoor structures during a lightning storm. Once lightning strikes, its ground current can be lethal, the NWS said. "Because the ground current affects a much larger area than the other causes of lightning casualties, the ground current causes the most lightning deaths and injuries," including of farm animals, the NWS said.

There's not much variation in the number of lightning storms from year to year, so the uptick in deaths from lightning in 2016 can likely be explained by differences in human behavior, Jensenius said. However, educational campaigns and advances in lifesaving technology have saved countless lives, he said. In 1995, there were 85 deaths in the U.S., in 2000 there were 51 and in 2010 there were 29, according to the NWS.

"We think a lot of that had to do with education and awareness," Jensenius said.

Original article on Live Science.
Is there anything about reading the Bible that has ever made you feel anything other than bad?



That was the query I put to the group I was leading once it became loudly apparent that most of the groups members had walked away from Bible reading with the same slumped shoulders and drooping head that have characterized many of my post-Bible reading ventures.



They, like I, love Jesus.



They, like I, have listened to scores of sermons where the zeal of the preacher about THE WORD (always pronounced in ALL CAPS) enticed them to read it.



They, like I, read it with a burst of expectation, only to find our reading zeal sputter like a gas-thirsty Ford whose fuel-indicator light has been ignored for too many miles.



Tastes like...Bologna Left Out Over Night?

Then they, like I, felt somehow tricked, or else deficient:



Why does it taste less like honey and more like bologna left out on the counter over night; less like bread from heaven, and more like stale Saltines?



Why does it make so little sense?



Why, if Jesus is so sweet, does he sometimes seem so mean?



How on earth am I supposed to do all the things it requires of me?



Why does it not work for me the way they said it was supposed to?



Why does it seem such a chore to get through my reading plan?



When will I experience the Love Letter from Christ tingles that Bonhoeffer experienced and every evangelical preacher since has used for cajoling Bible truants to read the Bible?



Give up or Grind it out...

This family of questions has pinned bus-loads of eager Christians to a mat of Bible-reading defeat. Your questions may be distant cousins of these, but Ill bet you have wondered something like them! At some point, when your experience doesnt jibe with what youve been told to look forward to, you will often either:



Give up, and many folks do. Give up hoping. Give up trying.



or



Grind it out dutifully with nary an ounce of anticipation of anything happening. Get it over with so you can get on to real life with its tangible pleasures and burdening responsibilities.



And of course giving up and anticipation-less grinding are nearly the same thing. In neither instance is the Bible living up to its hype and in both, we are essentially Scripture high-school drop-outs who have concluded that real life must be elsewhere.



But heres the thing.



The Scriptures reveal a wonderful Savior and present to us words that work. The Bible ought to do things in us, to us and for us and the world. As surely as a puff of Aslans warm breath thawed out Fauns, Centaurs and Giants whod been turned into museum pieces in the White Witchs frigid Ice Castle, the Words of God ought to re-animate us, wake us up from deep freezes of heart, and make us what we ought to be.



So I offer here a few suggestions and permissions which might be useful for a remedial, and perhaps, quasi-disappointed Bible reader whos interested in a more full-orbed relationship with God through the Scriptures:



1. Think Small - If you rightly have the sense that the Scriptures are meant to be carriers of the life of God, revealers of Christ himself, good. Keep that sense. But throw away the idea that you need to read the whole Bible this year.



If youre the Scripture-savoring gal or Bible-binging boy who easily, cheerfully, regularly, and profitably reads the Bible each year, please ignore much of what I am saying. And I do believe you are out there.



But for the other 99 and 44/100 of you out there, think small.



Take a small selection (a paragraph or connected passage) of Scripture and read that same small selection multiple times in a week. It would be helpful if you manage to read it daily. But it might be more attainable, and therefore, exponentially more helpful, to suggest that you endeavor to read it several (3-5) times throughout the week prayerfully asking Christ to speak as you read.



2. Begin with passages of Scripture you like - I know there is hardwired spiritual DNA in some of us that expects that we should only do things for the Lord that we do not like. But were not trying to cultivate our neuroses, superstitions, or what my wife has astutely identified as jinx theology. Were trying to figure out how to eat the Gospel, or good news. Eating Good News shouldnt primarily taste bad, should it?



And of course not many of us conduct the rest of their lives this way. I doubt, for instance, many of us aspire to feast regularly on foods we despise. Ill not touch or even draw near kale unless Im wearing a hazmat suit. No, most do their best to prepare, purchase, and consume those culinary treats that make for the cheer-ful-est bellies!



Why shouldn't you regard Bible reading in a similar way?



(And if all this makes you feel a strange sort of guilt, all this talk about reading according to your taste buds, consider how your present approach is working.)



This advice is not for the Simone Biles of Scripture reading, but rather for those who are dad-bodded in their spiritual sensibilities and a touch too flabby from lack of practice. For folks, like most of us, who did hit the snooze button in the morning too often, instead of choosing to be awesome!



So primarily "eat" parts of the Bible that you like. The things that move you toward God. Find passages that "speak" to you. Passages that make you say, ah-ha. Words that cause your heart to thaw out. Scriptural overlooks and hiking paths that cause you to notice or to expect God's involvement in your life, in the life of the world or in the life of your work or church. Passages that, when you read them, you say, Hey, I like this book. I want to get closer to God, I want to move toward Him, I want to follow Him. Or I find myself strangely and inexplicably wanting to want what I see here on these pages.



Spend time with the passages that cause the rotting places in your insides to be re-vitalized. Its ok. You have permission. God wont be mad. Start with the places you like.



3) The Bible is not primarily a direct communication to us but a divine revelation for us - The Scriptures follows a loose sort of story line. And it is ultimately meant to introduce us to Jesus.



God made lions, lizards, ladies, and long-bearded men. The gents and their brides revolted. The whole place was vandalized to the core. God figured he would have to fix the place and its inhabitants back up, to even better than before. Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. Everything of course changing when God himself steps onto the stage (as Jesus) to reprise the role of the first Dude (Adam), only playing it with such stunning perfection that it changes the whole rest of history, moving backward (in forgiveness) and forward (in restoration and renewal).



Its mighty helpful to realize this, because many of us have the tendency, perhaps, to identify primarily with the main characters in the play. We will read of Abraham being told to leave his family and presume we too are being called to do likewise. We will not be consistent, happily, and assume we should try to pawn off our wife as our sister, but we will think, If I am in earnest in my faith, I too will leave all to follow God.



Or since Moses had a run in with a talking bush-a-blaze before his calling that surely we should also expect such a similarly dramatic run in with God sometime during or after college so we too can know what were supposed to do!



But what if these Biblical leaders (eg. Abraham/Moses) are shown to have exceptional things happen to them, because they were selected on exceptional occasions, because they, though quite ordinary, had been hand picked by God to advance the drama of reconciling the universe to Himself?



What if we were told these things so we (and those original audiences) would know to pay attention to them as spokesmen for the Heavens? And what if God was wanting us periodically to consider the whole big story, as the actual authoritative story of the world, and be captivated by the Him who was writing and starring in it?



If these things are so, there is no necessary reason to presume we will completely identical experiences. And God may want us to identify more with Pauls audience (the troubled churches being chastised) than with Paul himself, with the grumbling Israelites who were urged to listen to Moses, than with Moses himself, or with a nameless 30-something in the magically fed crowd of 5000 than with Jesus himself, at least sometimes, right?



Steeping in a Personality

St. Paul once told his young pastoral charge, Timothy, reflect on these things and the Lord will give you insight into all of this. Perhaps by thinking small, choosing what seems most appetizing, and calling to mind that in the Scriptures, our God means to introduce us to himself and his constant fussing mercy over all he has breathed into being, well be given a deeper insight into a friendship with the Savior to whom these words wish to introduce us.



C.S. Lewis reminds us, most importantly of all:



It may be indispensable that Our Lords teaching...should demand a response from the whole man, should make it so clear that there is no question of learning a subject but of steeping ourselves in a Personality, acquiring a new outlook and temper, breathing a new atmosphere, suffering Him, in His own way, to rebuild in us the defaced image of Himself. So in St. Paul. Perhaps the sort of works I should wish him to have written would have been useless. The crabbedness, the appearance of inconsequence and even of sophistry, the turbulent mixture of petty detail, personal complaint, practical advice, and lyrical rapture, finally let through what matters more than ideasa whole Christian life in operationbetter say, Christ Himself operating in a mans life.



Lets pray, read, and act toward steeping ourselves in Christ, even in small bits, acquiring a new outlook and temper, breathing a new atmosphere, suffering him, in His own way, to rebuild in us the defaced image of Himself for the sake of the world whose ruin Jesus has sturdily and sacrificially propped himself up against.



-----

Eric Youngblood is the senior pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship (PCA) on Lookout Mountain. Please feel free to contact him at eric@rockcreekfellowship.org or follow him on Twitter @GEricYoungblood.
Mayor Kelly invited the community to come out and hear about the plan to rezone the Airport Inn from C-2 to UGC so they can turn it into a....well, no one seems to know what. Is it a homeless shelter, a mental health facility, an assisted living home, another "fleabag motel", an apartment complex, all we know for sure is "that is not this" and "this is not that" according to Mayor ... (click for more)
Donoghues Hardware has been a mainstay on Granards streetscape since 1968.

Throughout the decades, this well-known family business went from strength to strength, despite the economic challenges of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and from 2008 onwards.

This week, Edgeworthstowns Quinns Supply Stores will take over the family business, and Jimmy Donoghue and his wife Sheila - who have been married for 52 years - will finally take a well earned rest after 48 years serving the people of north Longford and far beyond.

Ah it was a good business, thank God, said Jimmy nestling into his armchair at the fireside in the familys sitting room, just above the shop, to chat to the Leader last week.

I always liked the hardware business.

In fact, Jimmy Donoghue was deeply involved in the Irish hardware industry over the years and served as president of the National Hardware Association in 1995/96.

I enjoyed that, he recalled, before pointing out that he met a lot of very nice people.

It was a nice trade to be in and I even received an award actually, two of us received the award including the late Terry Spillane, who founded the Irish Hardware Magazine which was published four times a year.

He was also honoured by the organisation in 2009.

I got a lifetime achievement award and that was something very special to me, he added.

He is delighted to be handing over the business to one of the best known family-run enterprises in the county - Quinn's Supply Stores.

Quinn's Supply Stores is a very good company and they are going to lease the business from us, Jimmy explained.

They will also bring the building side of things into the business and that is something that we didnt do; in fact I think that this change will be good for Granard.

He feels Granard has successfully weathered the ill-winds of the economic downturn.

In fact, it was brought to my attention recently that not one job was lost at either Pat the Baker or Kiernan Milling during the last recession and that both companies created even more employment.

Sitting chatting to Jimmy, it becomes very apparent that his heart is in everything Granard.

A former town councillor for the area, he was fortunate to be in a position where he presided over a town that was becoming more and more industrious as time went on.

In fact one of the things that brings him much satisfaction is the number of businesses in Granard that, like his own, began from humble beginnings and went on to blossom in the years thereafter.

Again, Pat the Baker and Kiernan Milling are two such companies that spring to mind for Jimmy as he recalls the previous years.

One of the very first things I ever became involved in was Granard Agricultural Show and I remember the late Tommy Quinn - I was assistant secretary to Tommy back in 1953, and I was just after finishing in the Tech [Ardscoil Phadraig], the local businessman continued.

Tommy was a great character - he was involved in a lot of things around here and did a lot for the town.

Both he and Tommy Kiernan built the Granada then - what a wonderful achievement that was and something that was ahead of its time, and it right here in Granard.

The Granada brought the showband era to life in Granard and so many of the legends of that time - including the towns very own Larry Cunningham - rocked that stage throughout the 1960s and 70s.

Those two men also built the mart, they were great men.

Later a development association was established in the north Longford town and a cinema opened up.

Stegans also established itself there and then Sean Quinn invested in Granard when he took over Lite Pac.

And we cant forget the Buddy Kiernan of course and the Mill - now one of the biggest in Europe, and also here in Granard; the family are actually building a second mill out there at the moment, and sure without Pat the Baker there wouldnt be a Granard at all! smiled Jimmy as he reminisced fondly by the fireside.

When Stegans went, five of us here in Granard backed another enterprise, unfortunately it didnt work out, but the fact that the town backed that second factory was a source of great pride to people in the area, he continued, before pointing out that overall, Granard is a town that has achieved much.

This is a great town; people are wonderful and there is a wonderful sense of community - that is not just Granard though - there is that sense from Mullahoran and Finea to Mullinalaghta and Abbeylara, all the surrounding areas.

In 1964, Jimmy married Sheila and together the couple had three sons - Joe, Seamus and John.

Joe died tragically in a car accident nearly 24 years ago and John continues to work alongside his parents in the family business.

Seamus is a Managing Director with Dulux Paints in Dublin and doing well for himself thank God, added Jimmy who then moved on to chatting about his adored grandchildren.

We have three grandchildren and we are very proud of them.

For Jimmy though one of the lasting memories he will have of Granard is the famous Harp Festival which saw crowds descend on the north Longford town from all over the world.

In the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, it was a magical time for local children, who donned either their Scor attire, dancing costumes or club jersey to march proudly and participate in the main event which was the massive parade up the town on the Sunday of the event.

The Harp Festival was, as Jimmy recalled, something special.

Everyone from Granard and the surrounding areas got involved in the Harp Festival and it was an absolutely wonderful occasion, he smiled before pointing out that it went on to earn the prestigious title of Bun Fleadh [first Fleadh Cheoil] after the first ever event was established at the Market House in the heart of the town in 1781.

Granard is a very old town and the Harp Festival represented all the traditions of the area - from great music and dancing to writing and song.

St Patrick came to Granard and the first Irish Bishop was the Bishop of Granard.

At this point Jimmys knowledge from his years of involvement with Longford Historical Society and most recently the Granard Area Historical Society kicks in.

Then of course we had Pauric Colum, another famous author and some people say that She Moves Through the Fair was in reference either to the fair in Granard or Arva.

Nowadays we have Noel Monahan, the poet.

The recent 1916 Commemorations gave everyone the opportunity to delve into the history books and re-examine the role of Granard in the Rising.

The love affair between Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan is well known, but the restoration of Larry Kiernans car for the Commemorations earlier this year, has put Granard firmly on the historical map again.

Larry brought a first cousin of his - Paul Cusack who owned a drapery shop in Granard - and John Cawley who worked at the local creamery here in the town, to Dublin for the Rising in that very car, said Jimmy.

They couldnt get in on that Easter Tuesday of 1916 when they got to the city and were turned back - none the less, Larry went up with them anyway.

Paul Cusack worked with Collins in the GPO in London and Cusack is the man who can be credited with being the first person to bring Collins to Granard.

Brendan OReilly - another great Granard man - wrote a ballad about Collins and actually gave the oration at Beal na mBlath one year.

Brendan would claim that the first time Collins came to Granard he stayed in Flood's, the building of which is now part of McBriens supermarket.

Jimmy then recalled the great show jumper Eddie Macken who brought acclaim to Granard with his brilliant wins at famous horse shows across the globe.

I remember Eddie jumping at the Granard Show on Granard Boy, a pony that his father bought him, smiled Jimmy recalling the memory.

Looking back through time, and bringing all his memories to the fore, it's his family and the friendships he made that now hold most of the space in his very big heart.

I made great friends all over the country and there are great people in this area - that makes me happy.

There is a younger generation coming along now and they organise the Easter Festival and Christmas Lights, etc and they are fantastic young people - in fact that is one of the things that I am most proud of in this town - the young people, their involvement and their abilities.

The baton has been passed on but Jimmy clearly will remain at the heart of Granard, and Granard will remain in his heart as he enters his retirement and begins a new chapter in his life.
County Longford Historical Society will host a conference on the 1916 Rising on Saturday, August 20 in the Longford Arms Hotel.

The event is the last and biggest of the societys programme for the centenary of the Rising.

The conference will consist of five separate lectures on a range of subjects relating to the rising, its background and consequences.

Dermot Meleady, biographer of John Redmond, will begin by speaking on Redmond and Home Rule, 1914-1916.

Dr Mary McAuliffe will follow with an account of the involvement of women in the Revolutionary period, a topic that is now receiving the attention it deserves.

Then Fr Tom Murray and Martin Morris will recount the parts played by fifteen Longford people in the events of Easter week. The afternoons speakers are both local.

Ballinalee native, Dr Eileen Reilly will consider the reaction of Longford Unionists to the rising, which is a subject that has not been examined previously.

Ardagh man, Dr Mel Farrell will outline the political fallout in the county, including the results of 1917 South Longford by-election and the 1918 general election.

The event will finish with a panel discussion.

We are absolutely delighted to have such a line-up of speakers, all experts in their subjects, explained the Historical Societys chairman, Hugh Farrell. We are looking forward to a large attendance and hope that the various talks will encourage good discussion at the end.

Mr Farrell was also keen to point out that the event has received some financial support from Longford County Councils Ireland 2016 fund.

Registration begins at 9.30am and will be followed at 10am by the chairmans opening address. It will conclude at approximately 4pm. The event is free and all are welcome.
Local News, Business & Finance, Press Releases

By Chris Boyle Published: August 16 2016

A tireless executive responsible for spearheading countless initiatives that have helped to grow and shape LongIsland.com into what it is today gets a much-deserved promotion.

After working for Long Island Media, Inc. for over five years, and tackling multiple roles within the company, Cait Russell was promoted to the new position of Director of Operations in August of 2016.

Commack, NY - August 16th, 2016 - Long Island Media, Inc. parent company of Long Islands most popular websites, including LongIsland.com, LongIslandExchange.com, and NewsLI.com, has proudly announced that their Editor-in-Chief, Cait Russell, has been promoted to the newly-created position of Director of Operations. The move is a logical professional evolution that mirrors her five years of hard work and devotion to developing LongIsland.com  Long Islands Most Popular Website Since 1996  and its affiliated network of websites into the huge success that they are today.

A Kings Park native and SUNY Purchase graduate, Russell started with Long Island Media in 2011, having initially applied for a Sales Position with the company.

I was moving back to my hometown after living in Nassau County for a while, and I saw an opening for Long Island Media, Inc. in Kings Park, which caught my eye, she said. I was excited to see an opportunity that I was well suited for in my hometown, and so I took a leap of faith and applied."

However, that Sales position was soon left far behind once Russells unique talents made themselves readily apparent, and within six months she found herself spearheading content-related projects for LongIsland.com, including developing page content, drafting a weekly newsletter and writing articles. LongIsland.com had only been purchased by Long Island Media the year before, so many of the projects that Russell was involved in had not been established by that point, so she truly found herself discovering  and thriving in  new territory.

From there, Russell took over LongIsland.coms Facebook Page; at the time it had an anemic following of less than 500, but due to her tireless efforts that number has swelled to over 58,000 as of August 2016. She can also boast of similar successes on other social media outlets, such as Twitter , Pinterest, Google Plus, and Instagram.

Russell also reached out to the communities that were the very lifeblood of Long Island Media, seeing the need for and establishing strategic partnerships with local Chambers of Commerce, and cutting-edge business organizations such as HIA-LI, while also creating good will by getting Long Island Media involved in charity work benefiting groups such as Island Harvest.



However, Russells accomplishments dont end there - she also is the mastermind behind the launches of some of LongIsland.coms most highly-trafficked sections, creating its well-known Things to Do Section, as well as a whole host of themed guides  including holiday, seasonal, towns, and more  covering almost every conceivable aspect of the things that make Long Island such a unique place to live, work, and play.



In addition, Russell is also behind the launch of LongIsland.coms industry-known weather coverage, which won a prestigious Folio Award in 2016 from media watchdog group Fair Media Council.

Hurricane Sandy happened only about 18 months after I had started at Long Island Media, and it was really devastating to the community. Our team did the best we could to cover what we could - getting emergency information out there, and ensuring locals could find the need-to-know updates that were vital at the time, she said.



Since then, this type of coverage has always remained a priority to us, and when inclement weather is on the horizon, Long Islanders know that they can turn to LongIsland.com for breaking storm coverage, school closures, emergency alerts, and all of the important local weather updates.

Russell said that her experience with Long Island Media has paved the way for tremendous professional and personal growth, and that she looks upon the past with great pride and a feeling of accomplishment, and towards the future with ambition, and a unifying sense of teamwork and hard work, underlying the even greater successes to come to Long Island Media.

"I have greatly enjoyed having the opportunity to grow with Long Island Media, Inc. and LongIsland.com over the past five years - making the transition from Account Manager, to Content Creator, to Editor in Chief, and now my new role, Director of Operations, has been not only exciting, but tremendously satisfying on a personal level, she said.



Our entire team has worked very hard to revitalize LongIsland.com, and to create important, insightful content for all of our sites, and I am very proud of everything we've achieved, and how much we have grown as a company since I began here in 2011. I am very much looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities ahead in helping Long Island Media reach its full potential as its Director of Operations."

Long Island Media Chief Executive Officer John Colascione noted that, despite only having worked with Russell for just under a year so far since joining the operation in 2015, he has been so impressed and taken with her drive, determination, and attention to detail. Even in such a short frame of time, he felt that she was ready to take her efforts to the next level and, in turn, drive the success of Long Island Media even further into the future.

"I would like to openly congratulate Cait on her promotion from Editor-in-Chief to Director of Operations. This new position and title much more accurately represent her role, hard work, dedication and persistence to perfection when it comes to our company, with both its operations and image, he said.



I can honestly say that I have never before assigned a title that more accurately fit and described the role of an employee. Thank you, Cait, for all of your hard work through the years  even though I was not here for all of them  and your continual dedication to Long Island Media, Inc.

About Long Island Media Inc.

Long Island Media, Inc. owns and operates the largest privately held network of Long Island based web sites on the internet. The company owns LongIsland.com, and has acquired most of Long Islands original web portals; websites specifically focused on Long Island New York.



Reaching over one million monthly visitors, Long Island Medias online-only publications providing Long Islanders with a wealth of news, business information, and resources for planning activities in the area. No matter what type of business you own, or what local demographic you're trying to reach, if you're targeting Long Islanders, Long Island Media must be part of your marketing mix.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: August 18 2016

The Firemens Association of the State of New York named Frederick Kopf, Ex-Captain of the Baldwin Fire Department, the FASNY 2016 Firefighter of the Year.

Update - August 18 - Unfortunately, today's event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Information will be offered when it is rescheduled.

The original press release is below.

Baldwin, NY - August 15, 2016 - The Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY) named Frederick Kopf, Ex-Captain of the Baldwin Fire Department, the FASNY 2016 Firefighter of the Year. The awards were presented at FASNYs 144th Annual Convention at the Desmond Hotel in Albany during a ceremony on the morning of Saturday, August 13th.

FASNY 2016 Firefighter of the Year

In the late-night hours of the Independence Day holiday last year, the Baldwin Fire Department was dispatched to an initial report of smoke coming from an apartment on Old Mill Road in Baldwin, where police officers on the fire scene reported that people were trapped in a second-floor apartment. Ex-Captain Kopf performed a search and rescue and located a victim in a rear bedroom, past the fire room (the living room), then carried from the building a 56-yr-old man suffering from severe smoke inhalation.

It gives me great pleasure to present FASNYs 2016 Firefighter of the Year to Frederick Kopf for demonstrating outstanding heroism and risking his own life to save another. It is gratifying to recognize and celebrate that sacrifice in the presence of our FASNY family and friends, said FASNY President Robert McConville.

Baldwin Fire Departments then-Chief, Karen Bendel, who was the first to arrive on the scene of the uncontrolled fire and transmitted the Signal 10 (working fire) nominated Kopf for FASNYs Firefighter of the Year Award. Bendel noted, Ex-Captain Frederick Kopf arrived in his personal vehicleand conducted a search. Kopf located a 56-year-old male in the fire apartment and successfully removed him with assistance to awaiting EMS personnel outsideFor his actions at this scene, we are pleased to nominate Frederick Kopf for the FASNY Firefighter of the Year Award. For his actions on this fire call, Kopf will also receive a special Nassau County commendation from County Executive Ed Mangano on August 18th and the Baldwin Fire Departments Distinguished Service Award at the departments headquarters later this year.

Captain Frederick Dirmeir, Ladder Company 2 recommended Kopf with this summary, Firefighter Fred Kopf negotiated the fire apartment in zero visibility, blistering heat and without the benefit of a partner to carry out this successful rescue. Due to the imminent life threat to the victim he knowingly passed the fire room without the protection of a hand line, in a rapidly deteriorating environment. During the course of this rescue Fred Kopf exhibited remarkable courage, determination and skill to ensure the successful solution which directly resulted in the saving of a human life. Fred Kopf acted in the highest traditions of the Fire Service and without regard to his own personal safety. For his actions above and beyond the call of duty we submit that he be recognized and awarded the highest honor.

Kopfs son, along with about a dozen volunteer firefighters from Baldwin Fire Departments Ladder 2 Company were on hand to congratulate Fred at the FASNY Firefighter of the Year Award presentation ceremony in Albany at The Desmond Hotel this Saturday morning.

Ex-Captain Fred Kopf, a life-long Baldwin resident is a 29-year-veteran of the Baldwin Fire Department, with all 29 years assigned to Hook and Ladder Company 2. He is also an 18-year career firefighter with the FDNY, holding the rank of Lieutenant for the past 11 years with a Queens engine company.

About FASNY

Founded in 1872, the Firemens Association of the State of New York (FASNY) represents the interests of the nearly 110,000 volunteer firefighters and emergency medical personnel in New York State. For more information, visit www.fasny.com.
Family & Parenting, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: August 16 2016

The Town-run Project P.L.A.Y. and St. Johns Camp have provided a safe and enjoyable summer experience for thousands of needy children throughout Huntington.

Bikes for Kids in America recently donated over 25 bicycles, helmets and locks to be distributed to children throughout the town of Huntington.

Huntington Station, NY - August 15, 2016 - On Friday, August 12, 2016, Suffolk County Police Department joined the Town of Huntington for the last day of camp festivities at the Project P.L.A.Y. and St. Johns Camp located at the Jack Abrams STEM School in Huntington Station.



The Town-run Project P.L.A.Y. and St. Johns Camp have provided a safe and enjoyable summer experience for thousands of needy children throughout Huntington. The full-day camps, conducted free of charge for nearly 300 children annually, feature nutritious meals, games and activities, field trips and educational programs. All expenses, including meals, are covered by a Town appropriation and a New York State grant.

Joining Carineh Mendez, Kevin Thorbourne, town representatives and numerous camp counselors on August 12th were Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini, Deputy Police Commissioner Risco Mention-Lewis, Deputy Inspector Matthew McCormick, Sergeant Steven Surian, Community Liaison Officer Claudia Delgado, School Resource Officer Drew Fiorillo and Officer Anthony Iadevaio from the 2nd Precinct Community Support Unit.



An end of summer camp tradition, the annual carnival features music, face painting and arts and crafts. This year Bouncy Houses were sponsored by the Suffolk County Police Departments Hispanic Society. Representing the SCPD Hispanic Society were Sergeant Richard Dougherty, Sergeant Gerard Frielingsdorf, Officers Eileen Nieves and Johnny Rodriguez.

In addition, numerous bicycles were raffled off to many happy and deserving campers. The bicycles were donated to the 2nd Precinct by Enrico Deluca of Bikes for Kids in America. Bikes for Kids in America recently donated over 25 bicycles, helmets and locks to be distributed to children throughout the town of Huntington.

Suffolk County Police - 2nd Precinct: As always, it is a pleasure to be a part of such a rich and rewarding program and we would like to thank the Town for allowing us this opportunity and we look forward to joining the camp again next summer!
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

Columnists Press Releases
The Friends of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park announce plans for the eighth annual National Treasures event on Thursday, Aug. 25 at Point Park.



"This years party at Point Park marks the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service on Aug. 25, 1916 and celebrates the importance of our local national park," organizers said. "From 5:30-8:30 p.m., guests will gather atop Lookout Mountain to stroll along the parks breathtaking paths on the brow, enjoy the music of the Power Players underneath the iconic New York Peace Monument, and toast the centennial of the National Park Service. Chattanoogas first tourist destination  Umbrella Rock  will be exclusively open for this event, allowing guests to take photographs and 'selfies.'"

National Treasures Chair Becky Browder said, This years National Treasures event is even more special as it is occurring on the National Park Services Founders Day  the day the agency is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its establishment. Each year, National Treasures honors our local National Park and commemorates the important role it plays in our community. This year is especially significant, as we also celebrate the importance of the National Park Service that manages 407 sites across the country, maintaining Americas natural and historic treasures.

"Along with great music, the Centennial Picnic promises to be an evening of food, fun, and facts about our national parks as guests enjoy living history re-enactments of Civil War activity and a special 100th Anniversary presentation on the creation and history of the Park Service. This casual evening in Point Park only happens once a year, and the Friends of the Park invite all National Park Service fans and supporters to attend National Treasures 2016: Centennial Picnic in Point Park," organizers said.

Tickets are available for purchase through Aug. 22 online at www.friendsofchch.org, or by contacting Tricia Mims, executive director, at (423) 648-5623.

Presenting sponsor is First Tennessee Foundation and hospitality partner is ShopRite Super Markets. Additional support is courtesy of Morning Pointe Assisted Living; Waterhouse Public Relations; Heritage Funeral Homes and Cremation Services; East Tennessee Specialty Builders; Rhonda Nunley; Sandra and Duane DeVore; Ruby Falls; March Adams and Associates: TAG Manufacturing; Shelley and Jack Deaton; Reliable Building Solutions; Ringgold Telephone Company; Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union; Auntie Annes; Capital Bank; PDM Engineering; Bank of Lafayette; Ft. Oglethorpe Kiwanis Club; The Barn Nursery; Carter Distributing Company; Coca-Cola United; The Meeting Company; Kay Parish Design; and Chattacakes.
The Chattanooga icon, The Historic Dent House just off Bonny Oaks between Highway 153 and

Interstate 75 is currently undergoing renovations as new owner Rashelle Stafford begins her first

small business. After scouring the scenic city for the right location, Stafford discovered what she

believed was the perfect venue for her vision of a tea room. The sprawling lawns, majestic

Magnolias, and centuries old oak trees that surround the 162 year old plantation home were

among reasons Stafford was persuaded to purchase the Nationally Registered Historic Dent

House, circa 1854, over leasing a space elsewhere.

With several months training at the Tennessee Small Business Development Center and Bright

Bridge Womens Small Business Center, and a vast amount of research, Stafford purchased The

Dent House on July 12, 2016 and renovations began to catapult the last plantation home in

Chattanooga back into a business the public could enjoy once again.

Stafford comments,

Having lived in London, the dream of owning a first class afternoon tea parlor was planted in

my mind long ago. Now named after my own two daughters; Polly and Claire, the dream is

becoming reality. I knew opening Polly Claires meant long hours and hard work, I just never

imagined how much fantastic fun it would be.

The business is far more than a tea room though. Polly Claires offers full venue rental for large

celebrations including weddings and receptions. A detached building in the rear of the home will

serve grab and go boxed lunches and host a complete gift shop with a full line of fine china, not

sold anywhere else in the area for bridal and birthday registries. Stafford comments, It is never

too soon to begin collecting china. Tea cups for birthday party gift giving is just a great way to

bring the tea party home. Once open, Polly Claires will use all seven dining rooms to seat

guests for private or corporate gatherings daily from 11-3pm.

The Dent house was formerly owned by the neighboring Chattanooga Church and used for

childrens classes and administrative offices. After having been on the market for some months,

the sale of the property brought gain to both parties. The Dent has most notably served as The

Bonny Oaks Childrens Home, among many other uses including a bed and breakfast, military

field hospital, and a meat and three cafe.

When asked if any surprises came with the purchased home Stafford answered, The Pokemon

Go treasures outside our front door perhaps? The home has been a treasure from the first day. A

back filled cistern and an attic full of vintage Christmas decorations were among some of the

curiosities. More and more Chattanoogans continue to share memories of the Historic Dent

House bringing the homes history to life. Showcased in two downstairs necessary rooms

Stafford honors the Bonny Oaks Childrens Home by displaying pictures.

Polly Claires menu will include hot and cold southern classics and traditional English favorites

such as soups, salads, sandwiches, and savory items including individual quiche and shepherds

pie as well as a four course afternoon tea service complete with scones. All menu items are

created in house daily. Teas have been selected from around the world and include flower petals

and aromatics. Polly Claires has private labeled their own tea for resale. The decor is period

appropriate with fresh presentations of antiques and vintage pieces obtained from many months

of auctions.

Renovations have been vast including replacing carpet for marble flooring, updating electrical

and plumbing, adding a mandatory grease inceptor, and repairing exterior deterioration, and

cosmetic changes. The theme in every area was to restore the home to its closest original form

while making comfortable conveniences available to guests. All in all contractors have agreed,

the Dent house is in incredible shape for her age.

Polly Claires has many events planned for the first year including Drink Pink, a breast cancer

benefit, Sweet Mondays the first Monday every month after hours which showcases themes of

interest from other small business owners. However the biggest demand from the public has been

the opening date. The grand opening gala will include live special music from Chattanooga

Symphony couple; The Reeds. Stafford claims the business will be in full swing very soon and

the momentum on social media continues to grow. The exact opening date will be launched on

Face Book at Polly Claires on Saturday, Aug. 20. For more information visit pollyclaires.com,

email owner@pollyclaires, call 423-521-4TEA, visit All4HighTea on Instagram, or Polly

Claires on FACE BOOK
UnifiEd, a local grassroots public education advocacy organization, has launched an online Public School Guide detailing information about all public schools in Hamilton County. The Public School Guide is described as "the first user friendly, accessible database that compiles information about a schools student body makeup, academic achievement, class offerings, and contact information for local representatives and principals in Hamilton County."

UnifiEd is really excited to provide parents, students, teachers, and the community with a one stop shop for information concerning Hamilton County schools, said UnifiEds Executive Director, Jonas Barriere. The Public School Guide details test scores, spending, student background, leadership, and many other details of the school, he added Our intent is to provide an easy-to-understand guide to all Hamilton County public schools.

The Public School Guide gives users the ability to compare their schools with other districts of similar size including Davidson County, Shelby County, Knox County, and Tennessee as a whole.

Jamie Gaines, a CSLA parent said, The Public School Guide helps me better understand what services and classes our schools have to offer our students including pre-k, AP classes, and exceptional education capabilities. This guide helps me better understand the unique challenges facing our community and empowers me with the tools I need to ask the right questions of the right people.

UnifiEd has plans to expand the Public School Guide in the future based on community feedback.

As a teacher, the Public School Guide helps me identify the strengths and areas of growth for my school. It will help me set goals for myself and my class as a whole, said Jessica Dean, a third grade teacher at Battle Academy.

UnifiEd hopes that this data will spur much needed conversations about how to ensure a great teacher in every classroom, achieve equal opportunity for all students, highlight transparency and accountability, and prioritize funding for our schools, it was stated.
Spread the love

A special thank you to Adams Natural for supporting our PNW outdoor journeys this summer.

This year our canoe family traveled to Nisqually for the 2016 annual canoe journey. We love our experience with the Canoe Journey. It brings together natives and non-natives with a common goal of providing a drug and alcohol free event. Plus, it offers pullers a chance to take a personal journey towards healing and recovery of culture, traditional knowledge and spirituality.

Paddle to Nisqually 2016 Map with Stops

Our canoe family, the Salmon Dancer, started paddling in Samish on July 21. That day was a three hour canoe pull from Samish to Swinomish. That was the day, and is usually the day that I paddle on the Salmon Dancer. The other days, I drive my mom or other paddlers to and fro and help with set up and food prep.

The weather started out cool for the beginning of our journey. The evening of that first day, my hands and wrists were so sore. I think I was gripping the paddle way to hard for three hours. It was a great day to pull canoe though with my sister.

Swinomish to Tulalip was the next canoe pull. Thats a long one. I drove down to pick up the paddlers that day. But, it was a beautiful sunny day after the fog lifted. It was so foggy in the morning (they had to leave by 6am), that our support boat couldnt even see them at times.

Suquamish was the next step. That required a ferry ride for the support crew. My sister and skipped that day so we could attend an Adele Concert at the Key Arena. Not much takes my sister away from the Canoe Journey, but Adele in Seattle easily did.

The next leg of Paddle to Nisqually was Suquamish to Muckleshoot. That was the day the kids and I decided to start camping. The other parts of the journey were easy to drive to and home from. It is nice to be able to sleep in your own bed on Canoe Journey. Camping with thousands of other canoe families can be loud at night!

On a side note, did you know that Adams Natural is celebrating their 100 year anniversary this summer. To celebrate they are encouraging people to get outside these 100 days of summer. In fact, they even sent me a stack of coupons to hand out on the Canoe Journey. I was able to spread the love this summer in a fun way. And who doesnt love peanut butter. {I love supporting local great companies!}

The Muckleshoot Tribe had their landing at Alki Beach in West Seattle. It was a beutiful day. I love seeing the Washington State Ferry boats driving by. Parking was very difficult at this stop. The kids and I had to walk pretty far to meet our family canoe. But we made it, literally just in time to welcome them in.

The final stop on our canoe journey this year was of course Nisqually. We landed in the Port of Olympia. Our support crew family arrived early, parked far, and rode a bus down to the port. We snagged a great seat and waited patiently for the almost 100 canoes to land. It was worth the wait!

Canoe Journey History

Canoe Journey 2016, Paddle to Nisqually, continues an inter-tribal celebration and annual gathering of Northwest indigenous nations. The annual tribal journey in the Pacific Northwest region was sparked by the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 as part of Washington States Centennial celebration. Over 20 Canoe Journeys have been held since 1993, when pullers (the preferred term because of the pulling motion on the paddle) from Canada, Alaska and Washington voyaged from their home communities to Bella Bella, B.C. The Canoe Journey has grown to include over 100 canoes and the participation of Canoe Families from other native canoe cultures, including Native American tribes, First Nations peoples, Alaska Natives, Inuit, Maori, Native Hawaiians, and other indigenous peoples from across the world.

Canoe Journey gatherings are rich in meaning and cultural significance. Canoe families travel great distances as their ancestors did and participating in the journey requires physical and spiritual discipline. At each stop, canoe families follow certain protocols, they ask for permission to come ashore, often in their native languages. At night in longhouses there is gifting, honoring and the sharing of traditional prayers, drumming, songs and dances. Meals, including evening dinners of traditional foods, are provided by the host nations. source

About Adams Peanut Butter

Growing up in Washington state, my family has been fans of Adams Peanut Butter since I was a child. I can remember stirring the oil into the jar 25+ years ago. Now, I buy the organic version for my kids. Adams Peanut Butter is celebrating its 100 year anniversary this year! Embrace the Pacific Northwest spirit, get outside, and snap some photos. Give them a shout out on social media and tag them at #AdamsNatural.

Connect with Adams Peanut Butter on Facebook.
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.
Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC announces that 11 lawyers have been named to the 2017 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America.



Best Lawyers has published their list for over three decades, earning the respect of the profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals, officials said. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has

grown to provide lists in over 65 countries.



"For more than a third of a century," said CEO Steven Naifeh, "Best Lawyers has been the gold standard of excellence in the legal profession."

President Phil Greer said, "We are extremely proud of that record and equally proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of these exceptional legal professionals."



Lawyers on The Best Lawyers in America list are divided by geographic region and practice areas. They are reviewed by their peers on the basis of professional expertise, and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing.



Leitner, Williams, Dooley and Napolitan, PLLC attorneys named to The Best Lawyers in America list are:



Craig R. Allen, Construction Law

C. Douglas Dooley, Litigation - Insurance

C. Douglas Dooley, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

Alan B. Easterly, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

William E. Godbold III, Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants

William E. Godbold III, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

Marc H. Harwell, Construction Law

Paul R. Leitner, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

Gary S. Napolitan, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

David W. Noblit, Mediation

J. Frank Thomas II, Insurance Law

J. Frank Thomas II, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

Thomas A. Williams, Insurance Law

Thomas A. Williams, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants

Joshua A. Wolfe, Construction Law
A reader recently saw a previous Memories article on the Jolly Ox / Steak & Ale restaurant (http://www.chattanoogan.com/2013/4/17/249135/Remembering-the-Jolly-Ox--Steak--Ale.aspx) which prompted him to contact me concerning a dessert which was on the menu. He would like to find the recipe for Tumbleweeds. Heres his request:



In the early 70s I waited tables at the Jolly Ox in Indianapolis. I worked there for a year then went into real estate. Years later when I saw that my days in real estate were numbered I had a casual phone conversation with an ex-Oxer that eventually became the impetus for me to move into the Washington DC area and work with him. Thirty-five years later, I am still in the area. My friends 70th is coming up and my idea is to make up a batch of Tumbleweeds for the celebration, but I can not find the recipe anywhere on the internet. Any ideas?

I replied to him that there is a Tumbleweed dessert which we sometimes fix at home. That delicacy is made of butterscotch chips, peanut butter, chow mien noodles, and peanuts. However, thats not the one that our reader recalls from the Jolly Ox. He said, The Tumbleweed served at the Ox where I worked looked like tapioca and had the same consistency. It was served in a champagne type dessert holder (not a flute) cold. None the less, it's nowhere to be found.

If you know the recipe for the Jolly Ox Tumbleweeds, please send me an e-mail tumbling along to me at jolleyh@bellsouth.net and Ill pass the formula along to our reader.

Response from a 14-year Jolly Ox employee who managed restaurants in Chattanooga and Knoxville:



Good brand vanilla ice cream

Kahlua

Creme De Cacao dark

Blended with a whisk or lightly pulsed on a blender

Can't remember the ratios but too much alcohol may minimize refreezing etc
16855 Northchase Drive

Houston, TX 77060

Telephone: (281) 877-6774

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.eagle.org

CEO/President: Christopher J. Wiernicki





The Company:

ABS, a leading provider of classification services to the global maritime industry, is guided by its mission to promote security of life, property and the natural environment. The organization offers support during initial concept design, design approval, construction and throughout a vessels lifecycle. ABS is built on a commitment to providing great classification services, being a recognized leader for new technology development and assessment, and serving as a trusted technical advisor to the industry. These three pillars have formed the foundation for the success of ABS for more than 150 years, and, more importantly, position the organization to provide the practical solutions needed to weather current and future industry uncertainties. Today, ABS operates in 70 countries around the world, allowing for its truly global network of surveyors, engineers, and technical specialists to leverage their collective experience at the local level. Across North America, the company has a presence in nearly 40 offices, covering every major shipping hub across the continent. Over the past several years, this commitment to North America has included an expansion of operations in Canada, the development of services specifically geared toward Subchapter M compliance, and new services and products developed to support the growing North American gas industry.

Primary Product/Service:

Classification is at the core of every product and service provided by ABS. The commitment to safety and environmental protection is in the DNA of the entire organization. The drive for innovation is leading ABS to redefine the role of class and proactively aide the maritime industry in solving its most pressing safety, regulatory, and environmental challenges. Beyond traditional classification, ABS offers a suite of technical services that help designers, builders, owners, and operators leverage the latest technologies and best practices in developing their projects. These services include:

EEDI Verification

Operational Profile Definition

Propulsion System Evaluation

Design Benchmarking

Ballast Water Management System Evaluations

Energy Saving Device Verification

Vessel General Permit Services

Techno-Economic Modeling

Optimum Trim guidance

Hydrodynamic Evaluation

Hull Form Optimization

EU-MRV Services

To help owners tackle the growing risks of cybersecurity in the maritime industry, ABS has launched the industrys first risk-based management program to help owners and operators apply best practice approaches to cybersecurity. ABS CyberSafety can be applied from a single component or to a multi-system suite of assets and can be used with industry regulatory mechanisms to achieve a sustainable, measurable and secure asset condition.

The Case:

As a leading provider of global classification services, ABS is helping lead the North American maritime industry into the future by serving as a focal point of innovation. With cutting-edge services in safety, environmental stewardship, and regulatory compliance, ABS is working to develop the next generation of solutions, today.
Responding to strong demand from the ice-going vessel segment, ABB says it has developed in cooperation with customers a new course for deck officers covering the operational principles of diesel-electric Azipod vessels, taking into account vessel safety, environmental and economical requirements and operational efficiency and maintenance needs when operating in arctic conditions.



Demand from the ice going segment for ABBs solutions has been strong for some time, said Juha Koskela, Managing Director of ABBs Marine and Ports business unit. By combining ABBs expertise with the needs of the customer, we have set a new benchmark for arctic training.



The course will build on the companys history of working with ice class vessels; ABB delivered the first electric propulsion system to an icebreaker in 1939. Azipod propulsion has also gained a strong foothold in the segment and has recently expanded its reach to ice class passenger vessels.



The five-day course is held in cooperation with Aboa Mare training center in Turku, Finland. Training consists of discussions, lessons and full mission bridge simulator exercises. Topics of the lessons vary from Azipod vessel operation and propulsion system behavior in all conditions to resource management and bridge communication. After the course the crew will be able to fully utilize the flexibility of the propulsion system, identify potential malfunctions of the propulsion system and cope with them without sacrificing vessel safety. The new course will complement the portfolio of 35 different courses offered by the Marine Academy.



Captain Takashi Saito, Marine Manager from MOL LNG Transport took the new course and said, The training was way beyond my expectations. We look forward to sending other seafarers to expand their knowledge of polar conditions.



Micael Vuorio, Training Manager at Aboa Mare, said, We are pleased to continue our cooperation with ABB on designing the best courses available at the market. Aboa Mare provides a diversified training portfolio, including training according to the Polar Code, as well as training for Baltic ice conditions and this expertise is also included in to ABBs new training course.
After 19 months of building, trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) JUN YANG 1 left Kinderdijk on 15 August 2016. A ceremony to celebrate the on-time completion was held before the vessel set off for Guangzhou, China where she will be handed over to CCCC Guangzhou Dredging Company (GDC). JUN YANG 1, which has a hopper capacity of 21,393m3, is expected to arrive at her homeport at the end of September 2016.



IHC is proud to have completed this flagship for our customer, said Alexander van Noort, COO IHC. We would like to express our appreciation to Mr Luo Rijia, Deputy Chief Engineer of



CCCC GDC and his team of experts. The excellent cooperation between CCCC GDC and the IHC project team has resulted in the delivery of the largest TSHD in China. The JUN YANG 1 is the 21st vessel designed, constructed and delivered by IHC, or in close cooperation with



Chinese ship yards, for CCCC GDC over the last 40 years.



Mr Luo Rijia said: The new vessel will enable us to carry out capital dredging and land reclamation projects on the domestic and international markets in an efficient way.



Training programme



Prior to delivery of the vessel, the IHC Training Institute offered a tailor-made training programme to a group of CCCC GDC crew members at IHC's facilities and on board the vessel.



Due to the high level of automation, the crew required a specialised operator course. The course was specially designed for the dredging process by IHC so the crew could learn about the functioning and handling of the various systems on board, such as the complete Dynamic Positioning/Dynamic Tracking (DP/DT) system.



By offering expert training courses, IHC enabled the crew to open up the full potential of the vessel, and facilitate immediate operational readiness.


Within the Littoral Combat Ship Program (LCS), the consortium consisting of Fincantieri, through its subsidiary Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), and Lockheed Martin Corporation, has delivered the future USS Detroit (LCS 7) to the U.S. Navy at FMMs shipyard in Marinette, Wisc.

Detroit is the fourth Freedom-class ship delivered by the consortium, and it is part of a program started in 2010, which comprises 11 units, all fully funded, on top of the two units delivered before 2010 (Freedom - LCS 1 and Forth Worth - LCS 3). The other 10 ships delivered or in production are: Milwaukee (LCS 5), Little Rock (LCS 9), Sioux City (LCS 11), Wichita (LCS 13), Billings (LCS 15), Indianapolis (LCS 17), St. Louis (LCS 19), Minneapolis/St. Paul (LCS 21), Cooperstown (LCS 23) and LCS 25.

LCS 7 will be the sixth U.S. Navy ship named USS Detroit. Previous ships to bear the name included a Sacramento-class fast combat support ship, an Omaha-class light cruiser, a Montgomery-class cruiser and two 19th century sloops of war.

The future USS Detroit is scheduled to be commissioned in Detroit on October 22, 2016.

The construction contract for the LCS Program Freedom-class was awarded to FMM in 2010, within the partnership by Lockheed Martin, global leader in the defense sector. The LCS Freedom-class is one of the U.S. Navys main shipbuilding programs and relates to a new generation of mid-sized multirole vessels, designed for surveillance activities and coastal defense for deep water operations as well as capabilities for addressing asymmetrical threats such as mines, silent diesel submarines and fast surface ships. 2 LCS Freedom-class vessels have been successfully deployed to the Western Pacific, a third has been delivered in October 2015, six are under construction and three more in long-lead procurement.
Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN Ltd) has announced the delivery of the Aframax crude tanker "Thomas Zafiras" from Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries which will immediately enter a long term contract to a Northern European charterer that could generate gross revenues in excess of $100 million.

This is the second vessel in a series of nine purposely built Aframax tankers on long term time charters at accretive rates.

TEN's new building program continues later this month with the delivery of a Panamax LR1 tanker also chartered to long term accretive employment.

The majority of the Company's new building vessels are built against long lasting time charters that secure revenue growth and dividend distributions.

TEN is a leading crude, product and LNG tanker operator. The Company's pro-forma fleet, including one VLCC, one LNG carrier, eight Aframax tankers, a Suezmax DP2 shuttle tanker and two LR1 product tankers all under construction, consists of 65 double-hull vessels, constituting a mix of crude tankers, product tankers and LNG carriers, totaling 7.2 million dwt. Of these, 47 vessels trade in crude, 13 in products, three are shuttle tankers and two are LNG carriers.
10 CPD Officers Could Be Discplined Or Fired Due To New Laquan McDonald Report

By Gwendolyn Purdom in News on Aug 15, 2016 9:45PM



A still from the Laquan McDonald dashcam video.

One high-ranking Chicago police official has already stepped down, and a new report from the city's inspector general is recommending at least ten officers be disciplined or fired for their involvement in the 2014 Laquan McDonald shooting case, the Sun-Times is reporting. Sources told the paper that Deputy Chief David McNaughton retired Friday in response to the release of the report.

McNaughton and other involved officers, should Police Chief Eddie Johnson decide to punish them, would be the latest police department employees to fall in connection to the racially-and-emotionally-charged controversy. In May, Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez recused herself from prosecuting the case against Jason Van Dyke, the police officer charged with murder after shooting McDonald 16 times. In July, a judge ruled that a special prosecutor will be appointed to investigate whether officers took part in a cover-up.

People were outraged when video of McDonald's death, which was finally released in November of last year, appeared to contradict details officers had given of what happened. Massive protests and even an investigation by the Department of Justice ensued. In March, Alvarez lost her re-election bid in a political upset many attributed to her botched handling of the McDonald case. Last month, Hillary Clinton invoked McDonald's death and the CPD response to it as a symbol of the national progress that still needs to be made with regard to police accountability during a campaign speech in Springfield.

According to the Sun-Times, the head of the Independent Police Review Authority requested this new examination of the case from the inspector general in December to help restore public trust in the system. Chief Johnson has yet to make an official announcement regarding disciplinary action against the officers involved.
Record low freight rates have driven the Worlds largest container carrier Maersk Line to report a second-quarter loss of US$151 million.

The second quarter result and revenue both fall year-on-year as average freight rates hit record low levels, despite an internal efficiency drive that reduced its own unit costs by around 15% to an all-time low!

The container arm of Denmarks AP Moller-Maersk has confirmed the Q2 loss is $658m lower than its $507m profit for the corresponding period in 2015.

Revenue in Q2 was USD 5,061 million, which is 19% lower than Q2 2015 (USD 6,263 million). Volumes were 6.9% higher as Maersk Line delivered on its objective of growing at least in line with the market to defend our leading position.

Maersk Lines capacity grew 2.2%. The container shipping demand growth was about 2% and the global container fleet (capacity) growth was about 6%. Consequently, the market conditions continue to be very challenging.

Unit costs reached an all-time low of USD 1,911 per FFE in the second quarter of 2016 due to a clear cost focus and very tightly managed capacity.

The average freight rate continued to fall throughout the second quarter of 2016 due to lower bunker prices, weak demand and overcapacity. Compared to Q2 2015, Maersk Lines average rate declined by 24% to USD 1,716, which is the lowest average freight rate ever reported by Maersk Line.

Freight rates dropped in the second quarter of 2016 to record low levels and we made a loss as we were unable to reduce costs at the same speed. We are not satisfied with our second quarter result. We continue to deliver on our growth and cost objectives. We have won market share and we have record low unit costs as our network is close to fully utilised. On top of this, we maintain our lead on competition measured on profitability, says Sren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line.

On 4 November 2015, Maersk Line announced a cost reduction programme aiming to reduce SG&A cost by USD 250 million per year in 2016 and 2017 including reducing the work force by at least 4,000 positions. This is progressing as planned.

Maersk Line maintains its 2016 full year expectation of a significantly lower underlying result than for 2015 (USD 1.3bn).

We believe that the freight spot rates have bottomed out and we anticipate that they will increase in the third quarter due to seasonal factors. However, the rates will remain under pressure due to overcapacity and low demand. And while we see improvements in e.g. European imports, we maintain our expectation that the demand for container shipping will only grow by 1-3% in 2016, concludes Sren Skou.
1822 - USS Grampus investigates and pursues a brig flying Spanish colors. When called upon to surrender, the privateer brig Palmyra from Puerto Rico fires cannon and musket fire. USS Grampus fires back on Palmyras broadsides reducing Palmyras rigging to a complete wreck, killing one and wounding six. The brig surrenders with a crew of 88, one long 18-pounder gun and eight 18-pound carronades. Her officers acknowledge they had robbed the American schooner USS Coquette.

1863 - During the Civil War, three Union ships, USS Rhode Island, USS De Soto and USS Gertrude each capture steamers loaded with cargoes of turpentine, cotton, tobacco, coffee, cigars and dry goods from the Bahama Islands to the Gulf of Mexico to Cuba.

1864 - During the Civil War, USS Saratoga, commanded by Cmdr. George Colvocoresses, captures 100 prisoners and a quantity of arms on a raid into McIntosh County, Ga.

1944 - USS Croaker (SS 246) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper, Taito Maru.

1954 - Operation Passage to Freedom begins. The operation transports refugees from Haiphong to Saigon, Vietnam.

1958 - USS Seadragon (SSN 584) launches at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. USS Seadragon decommissions in 1984.

1986 - USS Nevada (SSBN 733) is commissioned at Groton, Conn. The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine is the fourth named after the Silver State.

2009 - USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9) is christened and launched at San Diego, Calif. The Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship is named to honor Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who led the expedition to open trading between the West and Japan.

(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
Haven 29

Antwerp, Belgium 2030

Telephone: +32 3 213 53 00

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.hydrex.be

CEO/President: Boud Van Rompay

The Company:

Hydrex offers turnkey underwater repair solutions to shipowners wherever and whenever they are needed. Hydrexs multidisciplinary team will help you find the best solution for any problem encountered with your ship below the water line. Hydrex provides a complete range of high quality underwater repair and maintenance services. These are performed on-site to avoid costly unscheduled off-hire time or a drydock visit. The firm immediately mobilizes its diver/technicians to any location around the globe to carry out necessary repair work without the need to drydock. All projects are engineered and carried out in close cooperation with the customer and any third party suppliers. These operations are permanent, class approved and provided at any location. Headquartered in the Belgian port of Antwerp, the firm has offices in Rotterdam, Tampa (USA) and Algeciras (Spain). The firm employs about 40.

Recent Highlights / Deliveries / Contracts:

Last month a team of experienced Hydrex diver/technicians performed underwater thruster operations on two vessels simultaneously in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. Repairs were carried out on both azimuth thrusters of an FPSO while the thruster seals of a heavy load carrier were replaced. Both vessels are managed by the same company and both were suffering from leakage problems on their propulsion system. Both repairs were effected in one operation, giving the costumer the advantage of only one mobilization for both vessels and kept the cost within budget.

The Case:

With over 40 years of experience, Hydrex has the know how to offers turnkey underwater repair and maintenance solutions to vessel owners. Large and multidisciplinary teams can solve any problem encountered below the water line. Diver/technicians carry out any necessary repair work without the need to drydock.
Congressman French Hill (AR-2) joined Mayor Mark Stodola to celebrate the official announcement of the a $6.185M TIGER grant awarded by the US Department of Transportation to the Little Rock Port Authority. The funds will be used to support the Little Rock Port Authority Growth Initiative to construct improvements to the existing slackwater harbor area, including a new dock with direct dock-to-rail capability; and add new rail storage.



We are celebrating today because getting a TIGER grant is a big deal, said Congressman French Hill. Our leadership around the world in a trade regime that works for American exports and American workers is what has driven the global wealth expansion of the last three centuries.



The Little Rock Port Authority through the leadership of our board of directors and staff have helped mold the Little Rock Port Authority into an economic engine for our central Arkansas economy, said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. The Port had more than a $5 Billion impact on our local economy in the last ten years, and I am confident that this grant will not only sustain but grow that impact in the next decade.



U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced Friday, July 29, that the Little Rock Port Authority was among 40 applications from a pool of 585 to receive funding. The Little Rock Port Authority will receive $6,185,400.



"This is great news for Arkansass economy. In order to remain competitive in todays global economy, our infrastructure must have the capability to quickly move goods to international markets, said U.S. Senator John Boozman. The addition of a new dock will help maximize our export potential and attract new investment to Arkansas. The expansion of rail capability and storage will reduce the number of cargo trucks on our highways, which will lead to safer roads in the region.



Today would not have been possible without the help and hard work of so many people including Senator Boozman and Congressman Hill and the continued support of Mayor Stodola and the Little Rock Port Authority Board of Directors, said Executive Director Bryan Day. This grant will allow us to add more value to our tenants, as well as, attract to new industry partners to central Arkansas that will benefit from the services only available at the Little Rock Port Authority.



Currently, the slackwater harbor at Little Rock is an inland channel from the Arkansas River providing direct river access. At 4500 feet long, 15 feet deep, 320 feet wide, the harbor has no current and provides an enormous capacity for export development. The lack of current provides a safe harbor against any current the river might be experiencing. The adjacent industrial property is zoned I-3. It provides services for those cargoes, which are damaging to highway transportation but are ideal for rail and barge. The Harbor has the capacity for sustained efficient service to these heavy industries.


The Northwest Seaport Alliance said it will reimburse up to $2 million to extend gate hours at its international container terminals during peak season.

With a 3 to 5 percent increase in cargo volume forecasted during peak season, which will start in late August and continue through early November, the alliance proposes to help the marine terminal operators avoid congestion on surface streets in the port industrial area and keep import and export cargo flowing efficiently.

This program will reimburse terminal operators for some of the costs to operate flexed gates from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and lunch gate hours Monday through Friday during peak season.

It also would provide one off-shift gate per week. Off-shift gates are after 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or any shift on Saturday or Sunday.

The program will kick off the week of August 22 and last up to 12 weeks.

We applaud the NWSA efforts in working on turn times and congestion to keep both the seaport and the shippers in the Northwest viable, said Laura Daniels, ocean shipping coordinator for Anderson Hay & Grain Co.

We depend on delivering full containers and picking up an empty with a maximum turn time at the terminals of one hour. This allows our trucks to return to our plant with an empty, which will be used for production that afternoon, Mary Anne Levine, global logistics and customer relations for Calaway Trading, wrote in a letter. Longer gate hours would help, as well as alternating labor to work through breaks and lunch time.

I welcome the ports recommendation to open late gates, which will provide some needed relief from congestion, said Richard Perket, senior director of global logistics for Christopher & Banks Corporation. It is critical to my business that we keep these marketed goods on time to marry up with marketing and promotions that have been planned for months.
Abu Dhabi Ports and Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) have signed a long term contract that when fully realized will see a fully operational ship repair facility that will also include a floating dock capability within Zayed Port.

The agreement was signed at Abu Dhabi Ports Head Office at Zayed Port by Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Ports and Dr Khaled Al Mazrouei, Chief Executive Officer of ADSB, along with a senior delegation representing both parties.

Commenting on the agreement, Captain Mohamed Al Shamisi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Ports, said, In line with the UAE leaderships vision to achieve the diversification of the national economy, our agreement with Abu Dhabi Ship Building to establish a ship repair facility and floating dock capability will play a key role in boosting the trade and maritime industry in Abu Dhabi and enhance the contribution of the sector to the UAEs GDP.

Dr. Khaled Al Mazrouei, Chief Executive Officer of ADSB further elaborated, We are proud to sign this agreement with Abu Dhabi Ports, that aims to strengthen our long term partnership between the two companies and cement the joint relationship.

He added, The operational expansion of ADSB through the new floating dry dock in Zayed Port reflects the positive growth seen in the UAE ship building and repair sector. It is also a testament of the effective strategy ADSB has adopted to provide the most innovative MRO services to our customers regionally and internationally. The new 12,000 square meter area will assist in our vision to be a leading shipbuilding company, developing world class MRO services. The new area includes ship workshops as well as the floating dry dock that will transform the ADSB services to a new era of growth as it aspires to expand its commercial services.

Both parties will comply with several guidelines to advance operations and conveniences at Zayed Port. Phase 1 operating features include developing and operating a dedicated berth of 430 linear meters of quay wall and over 12,000 m2 of dedicated yard facilities.

Established to support the UAE Navy, ADSB specializes in the construction, repair and refit of naval, military and commercial vessels. The company carries out its projects in steel, aluminum alloy and high tech composite materials.
Almanac Warns Of 'Numbing Cold' Winter And Snow Ahead For Midwest

By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 15, 2016 9:00PM



efroten

The Return of the Ice Cold Winter is upon us after the autumn, at least according to the Farmers Almanac. Famed for its annual long-term forecastsnot to mention generally terminal levels of folksinessthe Almanac predicts that exceptionally cold conditions will hit many parts of the country, including here in the Midwest.

February is the month to really be ready for cold conditions, said Editor Peter Geiger, Philom. Any snowfall would be white and would fall from a blue-tinted sky, he added. No, he in fact said, according to our long-range outlook, many places will see downright frigid temperatures this month, some as low as 40 degrees below zero! The outlook for the Midwest calls for "Numbing Cold and Snowy."

The Almanacs predictive formula is a self-described closely guarded secret. Charles Mott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service-Chicago, told Chicagoist that while the NWS is often aware of the Farmers Almanac predictions, they do not incorporate their forecasts into their own.

So what does the NWS say?

For the time being theres no reason to suspect particularly frigid temps this winter, but we could very well see higher-than-average precipitation. According to the services most recent seasonal outlook maps, the timeframe between November and April shows an equal chance of temperatures falling above or below average. As for precipitation theres again an equal chance of falling in line with averages from November through December; but the back leg of winter is much higher: theres a roughly 40 percent chance that precipitation levels will be above average levels January through April.

And as NBC points out, if the rumored La NiAa comes to pass, that could indeed lead to heavier snowfall.

It's never too early to start thinking about those dibs markers, eh?
13980 Shell Belt Road

Bayou La Batre, Alabama 36509

Telephone: (251) 824-1660

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.horizonshipbuilding.com

CEO/President: Travis Short

The Company:

Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc. is located on the Southwestern coast of Alabama, about 30 miles from Mobile. Designing, building and repairing ships, boats, and barges up to 300 in length and 1500 tons, Horizons customer base includes tug and barge operators, the offshore oil industry, cruise and diving industry, and specialized craft for domestic and foreign governments. The firm has 250 employees and has annual sales of $40,000,000.00

Primary Product / Service:

Horizon was founded in 1997 by a father-and-son team who bring more than 60 years combined experience in ship design, construction, operation, maintenance and repair. The combined Horizon facilities include 30 fenced acres, with additional 3 acres for parking adjacent to 150 wide, a 20 deep waterway and a 180 X 50 X 20 deep slip for launching and retrieving vessels with 660-ton Travelift. Seven steel buildings for fabrication and construction are complemented by 12 overhead cranes. A turning basin for compass and electronic adjustments adjacent to shipyard is situated just minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.

The Case:

Horizon Shipbuilding continues to add contracts. Several towboats are under construction for Florida Marine Transporters, continuing this nearly decade-long business relationship, along with a multi-unit build of ship assist tugs for McAllister Towing. Steel will be cut for an additional vessel shortly and repair jobs continue to keep the shipyard busy. Horizon developed management software, Gordhead, to improve efficiency in shipyard projects. Not only has productivity significantly improved, schedules are being shortened, resulting in on-time deliveries. Gordhead has won two innovation awards and is now available for sale to other manufacturers.
Private partnerships, executed perfectly  thats West Coast boatbuilding in todays challenging business climates.

P3 Partnerships: no, were not talking about infrastructure funding. But, in our P3 version, boatbuilding in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska is alive and well, because of it. Long-standing enterprises and relative newcomers are all experiencing an uptick in projects. Here, as part of our annual MN100 top company profiles, we take a look at how three organizations have either merged and/or partnered with complementary companies to expand skills, capabilities, employees and market reach.

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB) is a complete new-build shipyard and full-service repair facility with over 50 years of experience on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Founded in 1964, NBBB specializes in steel and aluminum vessel construction, repair and major conversions.

NBBB has a 15-acre shipyard and a growing workforce of over 300 skilled tradespeople. In fact, many employees have been with the company for more than 20 years. These employees are training the next generation of boat builders. NBBB also has an in-house, state-recognized apprenticeship program that ensures its personnel meet and exceed NBBB expectations and regulatory demands. The training program runs every Tuesday and Thursday night for our apprentices, says Matt Nichols, Executive Vice President. Its very advanced, and about 30 young men and women are going through it right now.

NBBBs diversity in skill enables it to provide a wide variety of vessels to customers, such as lightweight, aluminum high-speed catamarans, small cruise ships, ferries, tug boats, ATBs, and most recently, a 140 x 38 x 13 Cargo/Passenger containership for American Samoa. The company has also built boats with Z-drives, Voith Schneider propellers, water jet propulsion and working paddlewheels.

Facilities include 11 big top portable buildings, each 40 x 85 wide and 55 high that can be constructed as needed, in addition to the permanent administration building, engineering, warehouse, electrical, pipe, carpenter and paint shops.

We use a lot of local naval architects here to design a lot of what we build, explains Nichols. We also have engineers on staff. I think were about as modern as you can be. We try to keep materials in front of the people and design staff and have the equipment necessary for them to work with and be safe and clean at the same time. Besides constructing vessels from scratch, NBBB has also partnered with Vigor on several ferry projects for Washington State ferries that involved building massive 375-foot-long, five-story high superstructures. We always have an open mind and think outside the box when were approached with new projects, says Nichols.

Recent workboat deliveries include two 10,000 HP 136 x 44 x 19 ATBs for Kirby Offshore Marine, LLC. Also for Kirby, NBBB is currently building two new 120 twin screw LineTow tugs. The tugs are expected to be delivered in May and November of 2017.

Boat building is accomplished using the most environmentally-conscious practices. All vessels are cocooned before being blasted and painted. Additionally, an award-winning advanced storm water runoff treatment system deals with anything that hits the ground. Looking at safety, NBBB has its own Emergency Response Team (NBBB ERT). All members are trained in firefighting, EMS, Rescue, and Hazmat/ Spill Control. The NBBB ERT responds to all fire, medical, rescue, and or hazmat responses within the facility. The team regularly trains with the local Fire Department and Hospital; Island County Fire District #3 and Whidbey General Hospital EMS, as well as performing in house drills on a monthly basis.

I think we have a great crew, says Nichols. I always say to them, there are three things in sales: price, delivery and quality. I only have two things to worry about because your quality is always excellent.

Vigor

Vigor, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, has long been a staple of shipbuilding, ship repair and complex fabrication in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. In the Marine sector, 45 percent of Vigors business is in ship repair and 40 percent in shipbuilding. The company has not only grown its own expertise, but it has also merged with other companies to create even more value to its customers. Vigor now boasts 12 locations and approximately 2,500 employees.

In the past two years, Vigor merged with Kvichak Marine Industries and Oregon Iron Works (OIW). While Vigor proper began building barges, it now has a very diverse North American market, providing ferries, fish boats, hovercraft, aluminum pilot boats, patrol boats, and oil skimmers to various customers. In addition, Vigor has been expanding into overseas markets as well. And the partnership with OIW has led to Vigor dominating the high performance vessel market for defense and maritime security customers.

When Kvichak became part of the Vigor family, it was 35 years old. It is still run and managed by one of the original the owners, Brian Thomas. Keith Whittemore and Jim Meckey have taken on broader roles within Vigor, lending their expertise throughout the various marine teams within the company. Kvichak is as good of an aluminum workboat builder as anybody in the world and probably anybody in the Americas, says Whittemore, EVP of Business Development. OIW, now called Vigor Works, has been building boats in Clackamas, Oregon for 30 years. Where Kvichak is very high tech and has been building by standard practices, Vigor Works takes it to a whole new level of fine-tuned complexity, adds Whittemore.

Vigor Works specialty is high performance vessels; anything from variable ballast vessels to autonomous vessels to an autonomous sub chaser that was built for DARPA, which is the US Navys Research and Development arm. The pride right now of that group is the Combatant Craft Medium, which is 62 feet long and is faster than 50 knots (the actual speed is classified). We already have a lot of inquiries from overseas from other countries interested in the craft, says Whittemore.

Kvichak has also helped make advances in overall production capabilities and production organization due to their three existing facilities. After this merger, all of the business development is done centrally in Harbor Island, the engineering work is being done together and the Kvichak cutting facility is cutting Combatant Craft Mediums for Vigor Works and prefabricating work, says Whittemore. It makes for a more efficient workforce. Were reducing the production costs of the boats and getting the quality up. Our warranty claims have dropped to almost nothing. And we have very robust sea trial and QA processes.

Recent workboat deliveries include 180 patrol boats for different US Coast Guard agencies, two 54 Fast Response Boats for the City of Portland, two 19m pilot boats for the Port of Duqm, Oman, a 45 Response Boat Medium-C for the New York Police Dept Harbor Unit, two 83,000 BBL tank barges and an ATB tug for Harley Marine Services. Putting these three companies together is a huge plus, says Whittemore. Were sharing people, talents and knowledge. For us, this is a dream come true. All sides couldnt be happier.

Moose Boats

Moose Boats, Inc., based in Petaluma, California was founded in 2000 by Roger Fleck who began with a 34 aluminum catamaran design, the 340C, propelled by twin diesel water jets. The company is known for building high-quality aluminum catamaran and monohull vessels and its market focus has been the US Navy and several top tier law enforcement and firefighting agencies throughout the United States.

The US Navy Combatant Craft Division (CCD) recognized Moose Boats in 2002 and the design was further enhanced to meet military specifications. After 9/11, the Navy started looking for domestic builders to build small craft, explains Mark Stott, Sales Engineer. Subsequently dozens of Moose Boats 340C catamarans, and its M2 successor, were delivered to CCD fulfilling submarine escort and harbor patrol roles.

In the early 2000s, Moose Boats began tapping the firefighting market after successfully implementing firefighting equipment into sheriffs boats. There are over 100 Moose Boats vessels in service, and more than 20 are their firefighting workboat design. Weve managed to get in with the right kind of agencies like, for example, the New York Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the Los Angeles Police Department and many of the Bay area agencies, says Stott.

In 2007, Moose Boats delivered a larger M1-44 catamaran to the New York Naval Militia. The M1 has continued to be a success in both law enforcement and firefighting applications as a command and high-volume fire suppression platform. In 2011, Moose Boats developed its first mono-hull, the M3, as a smaller, more maneuverable platform aimed at tactical and interdiction applications, completing its current product line up.

Like Vigor and Nichols Brothers, Moose Boats looked outside its yard for synergy and added value. To that end, Moose recently merged with Lind Marine, a 110-year-old tug and barge company which operates a shipyard adjacent to the 440-foot Dry Dock 4, along with 2,000 linear feet of pier at the site formerly known as Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Moose is moving its Port Sonoma operations in the early fall into the 20,000 square-foot facility co-located adjacent to Lind Marines shipyard, which will consolidate production into one place, allowing for production automation such as in-house water jet cutting. Dedicated rigging bays will mean that multiple boats can be outfitted simultaneously with rigging crews able to access tools and equipment readily from the deck level of the vessels. Moose will also have access to a 137-ton portal crane. Occupying the space and sharing the shipyard will take us into the realm of being able to design and build 60-plus-foot crew boats as well as tug boats and survey boats, so

there will be a big shift in what were building over the next 10 years, says Stott.

Moose Boats expects to expand the companys workforce alongside the new operations facility. Its a good place to attract skilled workers because it would be a welcome industry move there, adds Stott. There are a number of industries already operating on the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

With access to a deep-water channel, Moose Boats can now offer boat maintenance and repair, in conjunction with Lind Marine. This is where the blend of two skill sets come together, says Stott. Lind Marine is very familiar with the larger-scale equipment they run with their tugs and barges, and Moose Boats has very in-depth knowledge of electrical, electronics, mechanical installation and interior outfitting, along with our aluminum welding capabilities. We listen to our customers and collaboratively design a boat to final specifications with them. Out of that comes good ideas and the need for increased performance of the boats.

Beyond Boatbuilding: Planned Partnerships with Purpose

With each new vessel project, these boat builders are fine-tuning their output and procedures, according to customer expectations, changing technologies and regulatory demands. While competition between companies is the natural state of affairs, this new breed of strategic partnerships appears to be helping bring more diversity, market share and revenue to all involved. And that adds up to a greener bottom line  and, a P3 model of a different kind.





The Author

Kathy A. Smith is a Victoria, BC-based maritime writer who has penned over 100 published trade articles.
MARTINSVILLE  Patrick Henry Community College President Angeline Godwin said Monday that she never imagined being invited to apply for the top post at one of North Carolinas largest community colleges.

So when an executive recruitment firm contacted her about the presidents job at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in Charlotte, I was shocked, absolutely stunned, she said. It never crossed my mind to apply.

Both colleges last week announced that Godwin is one of five finalists for the post. On Aug. 23, she will go to Charlotte for an interview and to meet CPCC faculty and staff members during a meet the candidate forum.

My understanding is that an economic developer from North Carolina nominated me to the recruitment firm, Godwin said. She thinks she may know who that person is, but she does not know for sure, she said, because CPCC does not release the names of those who nominate people for executive posts.

Its humbling, Godwin said, to know that somebody thinks she is capable of leading such a large college. It certainly is an honor.

She decided to apply because she enjoys challenges and she knows leading CPCC will be a challenge, she said.

Central Piedmont and Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh are North Carolinas largest community colleges. According to Godwin, CPCC has about 70,000 students, which would make it roughly equal in enrollment to Wake. CPCC has eight campuses in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and operates WTVI, the local public television station. The college offers 258 degree, diploma and certificate programs, online information shows.

In comparison, statistics show PHCC had about 2,600 students in 2015. The college offers about 30 associate degree programs and 60 certificate programs and has workforce development centers in Martinsville and Stuart, a motorsports training center and the IDEA Center in uptown Martinsville.

Godwin has worked in both higher education and economic development, and she has earned various academic degrees, including a doctorate in English and a law degree. The Mississippi native is PHCCs third president, having succeeded former president Max Wingett in 2012. Wingett led the college for 33 years before retiring.

If she is chosen as CPCCs next president, and she accepts the job, Godwin will succeed Tony Zeiss, who retired in July after 23 years there.

Godwin said she does not know Zeiss, but she has met him a couple of times at conferences. She summed it up this way: If he walked into a crowded room, she would recognize him, but she is unsure if he would recognize her.

However, she has long admired him. He was the first community college president she heard discuss the concept that such presidents have the side role of being economic development leaders in their communities because of the education and training that their colleges provide to future workers.

I take that very seriously, in being PHCCs president, Godwin said.

Godwin has not yet decided whether she will accept the CPCC post if it is offered to her. Right now, she remains focused on PHCC and ongoing projects in which she is involved, she said.

She is happy at PHCC and with living in Martinsville-Henry County, Godwin said.

Im just open to how it evolves, she added. If this (either PHCC or CPCC) is where Im supposed to be, I think it will evolve that way.

Godwin made her remarks in an interview after a PHCC board meeting on Monday. Neither she nor board members mentioned her consideration for the Charlotte job during the meeting.

Mickey Powell reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at .
Updated: Cyclist, 20, Fatally Hit By Semi Truck In Noble Square

By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 16, 2016 4:12PM



800 N Milwaukee Intersection via Google street view

A 20-year-old bicyclist was fatally hit by a semi truck on Tuesday morning in Noble Square, according to Chicago police.

The collision happened around 8:15 a.m. in the 800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, police told Chicagoist. Authorities could not confirm the direction of travel of either the cyclist or the truck driver.

The victim was taken to Northwestern Hospital, where they (the cyclist goes by gender neutral pronouns) were first listed in critical condition then pronounced dead.

The driver, a 37-year-old man, stayed on the scene after the crash, police said. Citations are pending, according to CPD spokeswoman.

This is the third bicyclist fatality in Chicago this year. Virginia Murray, 25, was struck and killed in a right-hook crash in July while riding a Divvy in Avondale. Courier Blaine Klingenberg, 29, was hit and pinned underneath a double-decker tour bus, just north of the Magnificent Mile in June.

Update: 2:25 p.m.:

The cyclist was identified as 20-year-old Lisa Kuivinen of Rolling Meadows, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Initial police reports identified their age as 21. They appears to have been a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The collision occurred on a busy portion of Milwaukee Avenue, just north of Racine Avenue, as the cyclist and truck both traveled southbound. Bike lanes run along both north- and southbound lanes on the 800 block of North Milwaukee Ave.; but only the northbound bike lines are protected.

The victim was struck and dragged underneath an 18-wheel flatbed truck owned by the Illinois Brick Company, according to ABC 7.

A large-scale construction project, at 830 N. Milwaukee Ave., is underway just south of where the crash occurred. Work has been ongoing for several months. It is unclear whether the truck was headed to that site.

bkL Architecturethe firm developing the 830 N. Milwaukee Ave. siteand Illinois Brick Company were not immediately available for comment.

Jim Merrell, Advocacy Director of Active Transportation Alliance, said the noticeably high-traffic corridor carries potential for trouble. Milwaukee stands out nationally as one of the biggest biking streets in the whole country, he told Chicagoist. Whenever you have so much traffic mixing in one area, that raises concern.

At the same time, he complimented the citys overall commitment to biking infrastructure while stressing the need to remain flexible. We believe that despite tragedies like todays, overall were moving in a better direction. But we have to continue to develop how we respond. Were eagerly looking forward to the citys Vision Zero findings, he said, referring to the administrations partnered plan to eliminate traffic fatalities. The city is expected to release the findings this fall.

Update, 5:30 p.m.:

Kuivinen was riding in the bike lane when they were struck, a CPD spokesman confirmed with Chicagoist. The driver of the truck has been cited for driving in a bike lane and failure to take due care of a bicyclist in the roadway, he said.
MARTINSVILLE-In order for areas like Southside Virginia to rebuild their economy, its going to take long term thinking. Thats how U.S. Sen. Mark Warner outlined the situation Monday night in a meeting with elected officials from Martinsville and Henry County. Warner was in the area to discuss economic changes he hopes to push through Congress. The problem, he told the audience, is the mindset of companies and politicians.

It feels to me that a lot of our business practices in this country have become so focused on the short term that nobody creates long term value, Warner said. Businesses cut back on workers to save money immediately, not considering what a smaller workforce could do to their productivity. Then as productivity drops, it brings the need for more cutbacks. He gave the example that in 1971, the average time people held a public stock for was eight years. In 2016, the average time a public stock is held is four months.

Twenty-five years ago, public companies would invest 50 percent of their profits into their business, Warner said. That meant hiring more people, building more equipment. In the last quarter, 95 percent of all corporate profits were paid out in dividends or share buybacks. Weve never seen capitalism like this before, where its all about the short term.

Warner used Martinsville as an example of the changing face of American economics. Before manufacturing shut down in the area, there was plenty of steady work here, Warner said. It wasn't just the big companies, but those larger groups also had multiple mom and pop operations that produced the parts and materials needed. You could work in the same job for 20 to 30 years, but increasingly, those kind of jobs are gone from our society.

To fix that, Warner wants to see several changes on the federal level. The first is a transformation of the social insurance system from one traditionally run by the government into something more portable.

For every dollar that someone makes, a piece of that dollar [should] attach to you as a part of your benefit package, Warner explained. That [should] travel with you so that even if you have 20 different jobs, a little bit goes with you. Part for health, part for retirement, part to give you a bit of a security fund, $200 to $300 so if you hit a bump in the road, you dont have to go to a payday lender.

Also, Warner wants to change the U.S. tax code, as he understands why employers might be hesitant about taking on untrained staff. He added that he doesnt think the government has done a good job with worker training program or incentives. Instead of the current system, Warner said he wants to see a situation where companies get incentives as workers grow in skill and position.

If you invest in training a human being, thats a cost, Warner said. :How do we think about rewarding responsible businesses?

Several of the elected officials in attendance outlined different ways they hoped the federal government could help. Martinsville City Council member Gene Teague pointed out that some of the old manufacturing buildings in the area cant be reused, theyre just too old and need to be torn down and then the ground used for something else. Others could be reused by the right company. The problem for Martinsville, he said, was finding a way to connect that land with the right people to use it or to find someone willing to invest in a renovation.

We need some type of way to help communities retool their resources to go after that future economy, Teague said.

Warner encouraged out of the box thinking, like an idea to promise a total tax rebate to a company if they came into a place like Martinsville and invested in a project over a 10 year period. It couldnt be just a one year investment. The company would have to add equipment or workers every year to get the full incentive package. Ideas like that could help recruit more businesses, he felt.

Martinsville Vice Mayor Jennifer Bowles looked at the situation from a different view. She felt that if the city could improve its school system, that would help give companies a reason to come to Martinsville. An improved education system means a workforce potentially better prepared for what some of these companies need. Bowles asked about the possibility of using a group like Teach for America, recruiting teachers out of college through a loan forgiveness program. Right now, Teach for America doesnt operate in Virginia. The closest cluster is in North Carolinas Piedmont Triad. Warner said hed be glad to help if possible.

When it comes to changes on the federal level however, the problem is gridlock. Warner said theres not enough Democrats or Republicans willing to work together in Congress. It doesnt matter which party wins control of the House or Senate, Warner said, it takes a majority to pass a bill. Unless politicians from both sides are willing to negotiate, its hard to get anything done.

If we dont think about our politics in a little bit of a different way, Im afraid the anger and frustration is just gonna grow, Warner said.

Brian Carlton is the editor of the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at brian.carlton@martinsvillebulletin.com.
Which four restaurants are worthy of visits from MassLive's Best Of Mass Lobster Roll judges? You tell us.

The vote to find the Top 10 lobster rolls in Massachusetts closed on Monday. Readers who voted in the poll said the following eateries are the best spots for a lobster roll:

-Captain Jack's Roadside Shack, Easthampton

-Williamsburg Snack Bar, Haydenville

-The Raw Bar, Mashpee

-The Skipper Chowder House, South Yarmouth

-Sesuit Harbor Cafe, Dennis

-Schermerhorn's Seafood, Holyoke

-Dockside Restaurant, South Hadley

-Local Burgy, Haydenville

-Fishtales Bar & Grill, Hatfield

-Scotti's Drive-In, Leeds

Now we need you to decide which restaurants belong in the Final Four. Readers can vote in the poll below for up to four of their favorite places every 24 hours. The poll will close on Monday, Aug. 22 at noon. After that, MassLive judges will visit the four spots with the most votes to crown the best lobster roll in Massachusetts.
HOLYOKE - A nationally-known healthcare leader in the design and implementation of hyper-converged network architecture, VertitechIT has promoted Gerry Gosselin to the position of Vice President, Engineering. Having formerly served as the company's Director of Technical Operations, Gosselin brings with him more than eighteen years of programming and network engineering experience.

"Gerry's wealth of early experience as a programmer shines through in his infrastructure design skills," commented VertitechIT Chief Operations Officer Gregory Pellerin. "As health system IT departments across the country adopt a software-defined approach to networking and storage, we're confident that Gerry will further our leadership position in the industry."

Gosselin will oversee VertitechIT's team of senior engineers and architects in determining technology, scope, and level of effort for all company projects. He joined the company in 2013 and has developed high-level IT experience in network engineering, monitoring and management, virtualization, system administration, and systems integration.

Gerry resides in Agawam, Massachusetts with his wife and daughter. He is a 1998 graduate of Holyoke Community College with a degree in Computer Information Systems.
A group of Muslims left northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, local authorities said.

A total of 297 Muslims boarded a chartered flight in Gansu's capital of Lanzhou at around 2:45 p.m. Monday, according to the Gansu Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. It is Gansu's first chartered plane this year for the Hajj.

From Monday to Saturday, more than 2,900 pilgrims from Gansu, Tibet Autonomous Region and other parts of China will fly to Saudi Arabia via ten chartered flights departing from Lanzhou.

The bureau has enhanced efforts to spread knowledge about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The Saudi health ministry will also enforce tight border control measures to prevent the spread of MERS and the Zika virus during the Hajj, which will start next month.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi, India, Aug. 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Bi Xiaoyang)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's three-day visit to India last weekend had a clear and positive outcome. Wang, who met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi, also travelled to Goa, the venue for the BRICS Summit to be held in October.

During his Goa visit on August 12, the very first day of his visit to India, Wang had a warm and productive meeting with Goa Chief Minister Mr. Laxmikant Parsekar.

Beijing has reason to be pleased that New Delhi pulled out the stops to banish the chill induced by recent events - such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group rejecting India's membership bid, the international tribunal's verdict on the South China Sea and the Chamoli "transgression" - and restore an atmosphere for a frank and friendly discussion.

As the Chinese Consul-General in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu told a news agency, Wang's visit shows the maturity of a bilateral relationship. "The shared interests far outweigh the differences. It shows that there is a lot of scope to continue with discussions and dialogues."

Asked about the differences that persist between India and China, Ma said: "Ours is a very important relationship. The differences are not that important. Our relationship is strong and differences are nothing new."

Modi, who received Wang for 20 minutes, was briefed on the G20 Summit to be held in Hangzhou in September. Modi also conveyed his greetings to President Xi Jinping.

According to official sources in the Ministry of External Affairs, Wang had a three-hour discussion with Swaraj. The discussion focused on bilateral issues and regional and global developments. They also discussed preparations for the BRICS Summit scheduled in October.

The regional and international issues which figured in the Swaraj-Wang talks include the implications of Brexit, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the UN Security Council and three forthcoming summits - G20 in China, the East Asia Summit in Laos and BRICS in India.

The two foreign ministers reviewed the progress in bilateral ties and did not fail to go over the recent "challenges" that have strained Sino-Indian relations. One such issue was India's NSG membership, which the two discussed at length.

Swaraj stressed the importance of meeting clean energy goals in the context of COP-21. This is a reiteration of India's position linking climate change objectives - rooted in the implementation of the COP-21 commitments - to the expansion of the nuclear power industry. This is part of India's application for joining the NSG, which was spurned by the 48-member group at its plenary in Seoul in June last year.

The COP-21 twist is a sort of Catch-22 proposition, a trade-off for NSG membership. As Swaraj stated on June 24: "An early positive decision by the NSG would have allowed us to move forward on the Paris agreement." This puts almost all members of the NSG, including the West but particularly the U.S. and China, in a difficult spot, for it says India's NSG membership is a precondition for holding it to the Paris climate change agreement.

India's approval of the climate change agreement was the product of a last-minute deal between U.S. President Barack Obama and Modi. Therefore, the relevance of COP-21 to India's NSG membership, as discussed between Swaraj and Wang. In this regard, Swaraj offered to discuss any technical issues that China may have.

Wang responded by making it known that the door to the NSG is not entirely shut for India. This enabled agreement on a mechanism for the heads of the disarmament divisions in China and India to discuss the matter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being a precondition for India's NSG membership.

In addition, another mechanism at the level of Foreign Secretaries was agreed to for discussing Sino-Indian ties. The issues it may deal with include China's technical hold on listing Pakistan's Masood Azhar as a terrorist. Wang, official sources said, was urged to "revisit" the matter in line with China's own "professed zero tolerance of terrorism".

While Swaraj conveyed India's concerns on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Wang did not bring up the South China Sea issue.

For all the contentious issues discussed, the outcomes are being viewed as positive because both sides were able to be candid about their respective concerns.

The author, an independent Indian political and foreign affairs commentator, is Senior Consultant and Editor of China-India Dialogue published by China International Publishing Group (CIPG). He was in New Delhi during the three-day visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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 Flash

North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region opened new international air routes on Friday to Thailand and Russia.

A Thai AirAsia Airbus 330 will fly Ordos to Pattaya once a week, covering the distance in 4.5 hours.

A new link from Ordos to Russia's Irkutsk run by Tianjin Airline will fly every Monday and Friday taking 2.5 hours.

The airport was accredited by the State Council as an international air hub in January and its first international route was to Seoul and plans flights to Ulan Bator and Hong Kong.

Ordos is about 300 km from the regional capital Hohhot. Its name translates into "many palaces" in Mongolian. The city, with a population of 1.94 million, has rich coal and natural gas reserves. For tourists, its major attractions include the tomb of Genghis Khan, deserts and ruins of an ancient civilization dating back almost 50,000 years.
Following the detection of a patient infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Reunion Island, the Ministry of Health and Wellness wishes to inform the public.

1. The passenger travelled from Mozambique (where he stayed from the 14th to 19th November) to Reunion Island through South Africa and Mauritius.

2. The passenger had a negative PCR test at his port of embarkation (Mozambique) prior to his arrival in Mauritius.

3. The passenger arrived in Mauritius on 19 November 2021 at 19 10 Hours, on board flight MK 852 from Johannesburg.

4. The passengers mandatory COVID-19 test done in Mauritius upon his arrival was negative.

5. The passenger had a transit time of less than 24 hours in Mauritius and stayed in an in-room quarantine facility, as per protocol.

6. The passenger left Mauritius for Reunion Island on 20 November 2021 at 18 20 Hours on board flight UU 105.

7. The passenger was tested for COVID-19 upon his arrival in Reunion Island on 20 November 2021. His test result was negative.

8. The passenger started to have COVID-19 like symptoms after his arrival in Reunion island on the 21st November 2021.

9. On the 22nd November 2021, he was further tested for COVID-19 and found positive for COVID-19.

10. The sequencing of this last COVID-19 test revealed that he contracted the Omicron variant.

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Chinese tourists took a fancy to shopping in Russia, spending over $2 billion in 2015, recent figures from a report of the Russian federal tourism agency Rostourism showed.

"The Chinese are responsible for 5 to 20 percent of revenues of major malls of Moscow and St. Petersburg," the agency said.

Rostourism said Chinese tourists prefer buying luxury goods, watches, cosmetics and Russian jewelry. There has also been an increase in demand for luxury rooms in hotels.

Last year, Russia received more than 1.2 million Chinese tourists, which is 87 percent more than in 2014, the agency said.

The number of tourists arriving in Russia from China on a visa-free exchange basis in the first quarter of this year exceeded 35,000, or 47 percent more than a year ago.

"We are seeing a growing interest in our country and for our part, make every effort to make guests from China feel comfortable in Russia," Rostourism's head Oleg Safonov said.
Le Board of Racing Stewards MTC Sports and Leisure Limited compose de S. de Chalain (Chair), Ms J. Keevy, Messrs H. Maigrot et P.

Kalleechurn, a rendu son rapport pour la 17e journee hippque 2021.

stipes 17_21 08 21



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A team of Chinese ophthalmologists are conducting free cataract surgeries for Sudanese patients in Khartoum, Sudan on August 15, 2016. [Xinhua]

A team of Chinese ophthalmologists have started to conduct free cataract surgeries for Sudanese patients in Khartoum as part of a medical cooperation program between the two countries.

Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health organized a ceremony at a local eye hospital on Monday to inaugurate the therapeutic Light Program.

"This therapeutic program indicates the level of the distinguished ties between Sudan and China and their cooperation in what brings benefit for the two peoples," said Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz, Sudanese official in charge of maintaining Sino-Sudanese relations, when addressing the ceremony.

"Sudan and China are tending to make their relationship comprehensive and strategic in all fields. We hope this practical application would push the bilateral ties to a strategic level with mutual benefits," he said.

According to Sudan's Federal Minister of Health Bahar Idriss Abu Garada, the Light Program aims to conduct 1,000 free eye surgeries at an average of 30 operations a day.

"We launch the Light Program which tends to conduct 1,000 eye surgeries by specialized Chinese ophthalmologists, using the most modern medical devices, as part of the National Program for Combating Blindness," the minister said.

In his address at the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Khartoum Li Lianhe reiterated China's concern with enhancing ties with Sudan in all fields and reviewed the health cooperation between the two countries starting about 50 years ago.

"The Light Program represents one of the practical steps that the Chinese government adopts in line with the outcomes of Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. It incarnates the idea of the Chinese side towards cooperation with the African countries according to the principles of devotion, true results, convergence and honesty," Li said.

The visiting Chinese medical team includes 15 ophthalmologists, surgeons, surgery assistants and medical technicians.

Ahmed Al-Ma'moun Ahmed, a Sudanese patient who had a cataract surgery by the Chinese medical team, expressed his appreciation for the Chinese initiative, which has assisted Sudanese cataract patients to recover.

"I was suffering from cataract and could not undergo the surgery which costs 5,000 Sudanese pounds, so when I heard that there was a medical team arriving in Sudan to conduct free eye operation, I did not hesitate to travel to Khartoum," he told Xinhua.

Ahmed lives at Kiraima area in Sudan's Northern State, some 371 km north of the capital Khartoum.

"Now I feel much better. I will wait for two days and then they will remove the bandage. I'm optimistic to recover my sight. Thanks for these doctors who are so humane," said Ahmed after the surgery.

Sudan is planning to reduce its blindness rates to 0.3 percent by 2020.

In 2005, Sudan launched Vision 2020 initiative to eliminate blindness diseases, which focuses on preventing the spread of trachoma and cataract, the two major diseases responsible for blindness in Sudan.
On Feb. 14, 1979, less than one month after the shah of Irans exile, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was overrun by Iranian militants. Within hours, it was returned to U.S. hands. Now on notice that our diplomats were stationed at a vulnerable outpost in a sea of anti-Americanism, the Carter administration considered, but rejected, closing the embassy. In October, President Carter permitted the shah  despised by Iranians and the regime that replaced his  to enter the United States. Days later, Iranians climbed the embassy gates again, took the Americans there hostage and demanded the shahs return, beginning a 444-day crisis.

There are no do-overs in history, but there are lessons. The 1979 hostage crisis should have taught us the importance of proactively responding to obvious threats and removing vulnerable targets  a lesson that should be applied now if there are U.S. nuclear weapons based in Turkey.

After a faction within the Turkish military tried to overthrow the Turkish government last month, one of the many arrested in the attempted coup was a commanding officer at the Incirlik Air Base. That base, according to numerous media reports, is a major NATO installation hosting one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons in Europe.

What if the Turkish base commander at Incirlik had ordered his troops surrounding the perimeter of the base to turn their guns on the American soldiers who reportedly guard U.S. nuclear storage bunkers there?

What if anti-American Turkish protesters, believing that the U.S. was behind the coup plot and that it was harboring the coup leader (ominously reminiscent of how Iranians felt about America and the shah 37 years ago), decided to march on Incirlik chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans (as has actually happened) and take over the base?

The coup aside, what if Islamic State militants were to attack Incirlik? In March, the Pentagon reportedly ordered military families out of southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik, because of terrorism-related security concerns.

While weve avoided disaster so far, we have ample evidence that the security of U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Turkey can change literally overnight. Now fully aware of the dangers, the Obama administration should remove any remaining nuclear weapons from Turkey  and the next president should remove all U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe.

Granted, as one American analyst has pointed out, any U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Turkey would be defended by ferociously well-trained and well-equipped American troops. Maintaining control of the weapons would be the top priority if seizure was ever threatened, with all of Americas military power put to the task. Well, if thats the case being made to President Barack Obama, he should ask: Why would I or any American president take that risk?

We are in for a long stretch of political uncertainty in Turkey, exacerbated by growing anti-Americanism. Any U.S. nuclear weapons stored there are more likely to complicate than to improve the domestic political currents in play. The U.S. will (and should) remain a strong ally and friend of Turkey, and Turkey will (and should) remain in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is shared interests, not nuclear sharing, that will keep us together.

Nuclear deterrence does not require the U.S. to store nuclear bombs in Turkey, or elsewhere in Europe. The U.S. has long-range strategic nuclear weapons to ward off hostile powers and guarantee the security of all NATO allies. But in light of the end of the Cold War, most military leaders believe that our short-range tactical nuclear weapons based in Europe have virtually no utility, for the simple reason that no U.S. president is likely to use them.

Some may argue that we should not remove nuclear weapons from Turkey because we dont want to signal lack of confidence in its stability, or that we need tactical weapons throughout Europe to bolster NATO members who are worried about Russia.

Now weigh those arguments against the fact that storing tactical nuclear weapons in Turkey and in other NATO nations comes with the increasing risk of vulnerability to an evolving and more deadly terrorist threat, or to domestic unrest. In the wake of an incident at a nuclear storage site  for which the U.S. would be held accountable and suffer long-term consequences with allies  it would be difficult to explain that vulnerable targets were left in place because of a perceived need to reassure our allies.

As was the case in 1979, the warning bells are ringing.
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
by Jess Nelson , August 16, 2016

Oracle announced the launch of a new B2B data marketplace on Friday within its Oracle Data Cloud, aggregating both internal and third-party data for more effective account-based marketing.

Oracle has unified data from BlueKai, Datalogic and AddThis to create a centralized database of more than 400 million business user profiles and 1 million companies. In addition to Oracles internal data, the marketplace also contains data derived from third-party sources and Oracle partners, including Dunn & Bradstreet, Infogroup, Leadspace, Bombora, HG Data, PlaceIQ, FullContact and TransUnion.

The goal is to help B2B marketers with data-driven and programmatic digital advertising, allowing Oracle marketers to finitely target potential customers and sales leads. The data marketplace is a store where marketers or sales professionals can buy business intelligence.

Oracle marketers can leverage and target prebuilt audience segments with marketing content, including 700 audience segments from Oracles data sources and 4000 audience segments from its partners. In addition, customers can customize segmentation based on account data, such as company, title, industry or conferences and events attended.

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Digital marketing can be targeted toward any specific business user, and across any device, contained within Oracle Data Clouds B2B audience marketplace.

Additional product features include account-based marketing capabilities, event-based marketing and audience generators based on a company's past purchases and enterprise solutions in use.

Oracles Data Cloud is one of the companys Data-as-a-Service Solutions, enabling marketers and sales professionals to correctly identify the best prospects to target. The companys release of a data marketplace places it in competition with LinkedIn, newly acquired by Microsoft, and Salesforces data.com.

Additional data marketplaces include Microsofts Azure data market and infochimps.com.
by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 16, 2016

Is the Golden Age of British TV over?

For all I know, no one has yet identified the current era as a British TV Golden Age -- an era of perhaps 20 years or more, partly running more or less parallel to the American TV Golden Age that everyone on this side of the Atlantic talks about constantly.

The idea of a British TV Golden Age comes to mind with the finale airing this coming Sunday of Inspector Lewis on PBS. This series was a spinoff of the old Inspector Morse series, which ran for 33 episodes. Inspector Lewis ran for 33 episodes too. Detective Inspector Robert Lewis (played by Kevin Whately, seen at right in the photo) was an assistant-partner for Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse (John Thaw).

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Inspector Lewis got his own series, which raises the possibility that his own partner, Detective Inspector James Hathaway (formerly detective sergeant) -- played by Laurence Fox (left in the photo) -- would now be getting his own spinoff. However, no evidence that such a spinoff is in the works could be found in a Google search Tuesday morning. And a PBS publicist said she has not heard of one. (Inspector Morse spawned another spinoff -- the prequel series called Endeavour.)

Inspector Lewis was a perfectly serviceable detective-mystery series -- a durable entry in the Masterpiece Mystery pantheon. Fans of the show, and all the ones like it that are seen on public television here in the U.S., should be well-satisfied by its concluding episode -- most of which is another complicated murder mystery requiring almost 90 minutes to solve. By all means, enjoy it.

But perfectly serviceable is not extraordinary -- which was an adjective you could apply to so many made-for-British TV productions from the 90s through the mid-00s (and beyond). This was a period in my own career in which few packages I received in the mail filled me with more excitement than a padded envelope or small box containing DVDs (or before that, VHS cassettes) of an upcoming British-made TV series, movie or miniseries.

To give credit where credit is due, a TV critic who I once worked with -- David Bianculli -- was the first to identify for me the particular qualities of British TV productions when he championed the work of producer-writer Dennis Potter, auteur of The Singing Detective, the legendary miniseries that aired on British and American television in the late 1980s. (The star of The Singing Detective, Michael Gambon, plays Winston Churchill in a Masterpiece movie coming to PBS next month.)

My own list of four-star British TV productions -- pieced together mainly from memory -- includes a number of titles many people might not readily remember. These include the miniseries White Teeth (2002), the two-part TV movie Armadillo (aired in the U.S. on A&E in 2002) and the TV movie Gideons Daughter (2005), starring Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt.

Nighy figures into a number of other highlights of the British TV Golden Age, including the three installments of Worricker, seen on Masterpiece Contemporary, and the great 2003 miniseries State of Play (seen in the U.S. on BBC America).

Watching and reviewing the 2004 miniseries Island at War -- a dramatization of the Nazi occupation of the English Channel Islands during World War II -- remains a highlight of my career. The cast included Clare Holman and Laurence Fox  both seen in Inspector Lewis -- and Joanne Froggatt, who became a star on Downton Abbey (as the ladys maid Anna).

Downton Abbey, of course, occupies a lofty position in television history all its own. And yet, Foyles War is my personal favorite among all of the British TV series I have watched and written about.

These titles are rarely mentioned in the context of shows everyone goes and binge-watches. But they should be. For a time, the Brits had a special way with the writing and filming of their TV programmes. And then theres the high quality of British acting. The Brits have a special way with that too -- so much so that American TV is brimming with English actors all adopting American accents in roles that American actors would have killed to play.

Ever since Downton Abbey came to an end last winter, nothing has emerged to take its place. I realize thats a tough act to follow. But following The Singing Detective, British TV production flourished -- at least as it was reflected in the shows we got to see over here.

Where is the next Downton Abbey, Foyles War or State of Play? For now, that question has no answer.

Masterpiece Mystery: Inspector Lewis: Finale: What Lies Tangled airs Sunday night (Aug. 21) at 9 Eastern on PBS.
by Larissa Faw , August 16, 2016

Online shopping has increased expectations for shoppers worldwide, according to DigitasLBi's 2016 Connected Commerce study that focuses on the behaviors of consumers in 15 countries who have bought something online in the last 30 days.

One in five (18%) expect products bought online to be delivered within one day. Consumers from the Netherlands are the most impatient, with 38% expecting delivery within a day, while Danish customers are the most laid back (7%). U.S. shoppers fall in the middle (16.5%).

Half of U.S. shoppers ages 25-34 buy something online at least once a day, and 56% of buyers say live chat support is a must."

"Even in the age where customers are empowered with all sorts of information to help them make their own decisions, they're still showing they want to connect or speak with someone (or bot) to aid their decision-making process," says Brett Leary, SVP mobile & digital shopper innovation, DigitasLBi U.S. "The chat mechanism also ties into this trend, with using chat to communicate with brands."

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Retailer sites are the first digital information resource for all respondents, most notably in the U.S., UK, Germany, France and China, followed by price comparison sites and brand Web sites/apps.

Three in four online shoppers globally (78%) look for other shoppers opinions before making a purchase. This behavior is most prevalent in Asia, with consumers in China (95%), Hong Kong (89%), India (89%) and Singapore (88%) most likely to seek out opinions before buying. Eight in 10 U.S. shoppers look for other shoppers opinions online before making a purchase.

One out of three global consumers (35%) consults friends and family before buying online. German consumers are most likely to pay attention to the opinions of their friends and family (44%), while Italians are least likely (22%). The U.S. ranks among the average (38%).

Only 10% of shoppers globally say the expertise of salespeople is the factor that is most likely to make them shop in-store rather than online, compared to 38% who say the ability to test products is the main draw.

The salespersons craft is most valued in Denmark, with 19% saying it is the factor which is most likely to make them shop in-store, and least valued in the US (5%).

The three key reasons that in-store purchasing still is preferable to virtual stores are testing products, immediate availability and physical proximity, says the report. The three key factors driving online purchases are price, unavailable in-store, and preferring to stay at home.

Most online shopping is done alone (62%), while the remaining 38% typically involves purchases for leisure/travel or home equipment. Online shoppers also like to multitask, with 25% watching TV, 13% listening to music, and 7% eating.

Fashion and health & beauty are the most popular items to purchase while in bed (both 19%), whereas Italians are more likely than any other nation to shop in the kitchen, with 24% shopping for food in the kitchen and 23% shopping for household items.

Twenty-nine percent of online shoppers globally have used a wearable device. Online shoppers in China and India are most likely to use a wearable (both 48%) while online shoppers from the Netherlands are least likely (11%). Shoppers in the U.S. are a bit above average, with 37% of respondents having used a wearable.

Smartphones are important devices for all stages of online shopping. Some 94% use their phones as part of the process, while 90% use laptops, 75% desktop, 73% tablet, and 61% who buy via connected TVs. This isn't one or the other: Shoppers use an average of 3.9 devices.

"Whether its browsing for fashion in bed or moving away from the expertise of the salesman, our customers are finding new ways to choose the things they want. By looking at a connected view of the sales journey, smart brands can find ways to improve their service and ultimately, their performance," says Fern Miller, CMO, International at DigitasLBi.

DigitasLBi queried 1,000 people ages 18-64 online between May 4-May 23 living in Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. Additional insights were taken from DigitasLBis IDIOM data platform.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, August 16, 2016

In a blow to the record labels, a federal appellate court said it won't reconsider its recent decision that Web companies have the same protection from copyright lawsuits for music recorded before 1972 as for more recent records.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals didn't give a reason for its order, issued Monday.

The move marks the latest development in a seven-year battle between online video platform Vimeo and Capitol Records over clips uploaded by users. Capitol alleged in a 2009 lawsuit that some of those clips infringed its copyright, and that Vimeo should be held responsible.

Vimeo said it was protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provisions, which broadly say that Web platforms aren't liable for infringement by users, as long as the sites take down infringing material upon request.

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But Capitol countered that the DMCA doesn't apply to music that was recorded before 1972, including records by The Beatles, The Supremes, and Marvin Gaye. The company pointed to language in the Copyright Act stating that the DMCA doesn't annul or limit common law copyright protections for pre-1972 sound recordings.

A trial judge in New York sided with Capitol on that point. But this June, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Capitol's argument.

The judges ruled that the purpose of the safe harbors was to allow Web companies to offer interactive platforms without monitoring users' posts in advance. Excluding older music from the safe harbors would defeat that purpose, the judges said. "Service providers would be compelled either to incur heavy costs of monitoring every posting to be sure it did not contain infringing pre-1972 recordings, or incurring potentially crushing liabilities under state copyright laws," a three-judge panel of the appeals court wrote.

That decision appeared to mark the first time a federal appellate court weighed in on whether the DMCA applies to pre-1972 music. A state appellate court in New York came to the opposite conclusion in 2013, when it ruled that the safe harbor provisions don't apply when users upload songs recorded before 1972.

Capitol then asked the 2nd Circuit to reconsider its ruling. The Recording Industry Association of America backed that request, arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that the ruling is at odds with "the history of U.S. copyright law."

The 2nd Circuit rejected the request without asking for Vimeo to respond.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, August 16, 2016

The Gawker Media auction is heating up with a new bid from Univision, challenging the initial stalking horse bid submitted by Ziff Davis when the auction was first announced in June of this year, according to Forbes, which first reported the news.



Also, online womens lifestyle publisher LittleThings announced it is bidding for Gawker Medias Jezebel, which targets millennial women with political, cultural, and lifestyle coverage.

Univision Holdings is bidding an undisclosed amount for Gawker Media, according to a separate report from Reuters, citing several unnamed individuals familiar with the auction process. However, to be competitive with Ziff Davis earlier bid of $90 million, it must presumably be near nine figures as well.

Reuters notes that bankers representing Gawker have shopped the media company around to dozens of buyers, suggesting there may be limited appetite for property mired in legal woes.

Gawker is in the midst of a drawn-out court battle with professional wrestler and reality TV personality Terry Gene Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan. Bollea sued Gawker Media for invasion of privacy after the flagship site of the same name published part of a sex tape he claims was made without his knowledge.

In March, a Florida jury awarded him a total of $140 million in damages. It was subsequently revealed that Bollea launched the lawsuit with financial backing from Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, whom Gawker angered by revealing he was gay back in 2007.

While Gawkers lawyers are appealing the ruling, in the near term, the judgment forced the site to declare bankruptcy in June, when the stalking horse bid by Ziff Davis, publisher of PC Magazine, was also announced.

For Univision, the move is just the latest in a series of acquisitions and investments by the Spanish-language broadcaster as it seeks to bolster its reach among younger audiences. Back in January, for example, the broadcaster acquired a 40% controlling stake in satirical comedy news site The Onion, and last year it bought The Root, a publisher targeting millennial African-Americans.

Separatel, LittleThings announced its own $10 million bid for Jezebel on Tuesday, touting the combinations potential to increase the companys reach among millennial women, given the low overlap between their existing audiences.

LittleThings co-founder and CEO Joe Speiser noted: There is tremendous synergy between LittleThings and Jezebel as both sites skew heavy female, however there is little reader duplication. According to comScore, shared audience is only 2.37 million monthly unique visitors, so the incremental increase in monthly traffic is very appealing to us.

LittleThings has roughly 50 million unique visitors per month, according to Speiser, while Jezebel attracts 10 million monthly readers.
There's just a 1 in 5 chance that a potentially life-saving automated external defibrillator will be nearby when someone experiences cardiac arrest and a 20 to 30 percent chance that the nearby device will be inaccessible because it is inside a building that's closed, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Currently, AED placement in Canada does not necessarily consider accessibility of the device during an emergency. Laws and practices regarding AEDs vary by state and locality in the United States.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has a less than 10 percent survival rate and is the cause of about 400,000 deaths each year in North America. Research has shown that immediate access to an AED greatly increases a person's chance of survival; however, use of AEDs in public is not prevalent due to many issues, including concerns of legal liability, confusion on training requirements, general awareness and access.

While research has been conducted to determine locations where cardiac arrest is most likely to occur and, as a result, where AEDs should be placed geographically, this research assumes all AEDs are available and accessible 24 hours every day. Researchers in this study explored AED access to determine if AED availability is significantly overestimated when hours of operation are not considered and if accounting for hours of operation when determining AED locations can provide better coverage.

All public out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occurring January 2006 to August 2014 in Toronto were looked at. Public locations included public buildings, places of recreation, industrial facilities and outdoor public spaces, but not hospitals or nursing homes. Researchers compared that to a list of registered AEDs in Toronto as of March 2015. AED registration is voluntary, but according to researchers, unregistered AEDs are more likely to be privately owned and located in places where a bystander would not be able to access them.

Toronto had 2,440 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest during the study period and 767 AED locations. Of the AED locations, 542, or 73.5 percent, were not open 24 hours a day and 211, or 28.6 percent were closed on weekends. Of the total number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, 451 were located near an AED but only 354 were located near an AED when the AED was accessible, resulting in a coverage loss of 21.5 percent. When researchers just looked at cardiac arrests during evenings (4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.), nights (12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.) and weekends, which is when the majority of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur, coverage loss increased to 31.6 percent.

The researchers concluded that a significant proportion of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur close to a public AED that is inaccessible at the time of the arrest, and a model that accounts for both location and availability when determining AED placement has the potential to significantly increase the likelihood of accessing an AED when needed. Also, government legislation mandating all AEDs must be registered with emergency medical services dispatch centers and accessible to the public 24/7 would improve access to AEDs.

The authors said that coverage is only one issue, and AED coverage does not necessarily equal survival because coverage does not mean the AEDs are being used.

"Accessibility is only one piece of the larger puzzle in optimizing public defibrillator use and bystander response in an emergency," said Timothy C.Y. Chan, Ph.D., senior author of the study and director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering at the University of Toronto.

In an accompanying editorial comment, Robert J. Myerburg, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said the study is important and should be included in planning strategies for AED locations, but society would benefit more by both achieving better outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and reducing the number that occur in the first place.

"Now we need a parallel effort to develop a roadmap for improving prediction and prevention of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest," he said.

This study was funded by the ZOLL Foundation. The authors of the study and the editorial comment have no disclosures to report.
Use of Acetaminophen during pregnancy may result in hyperactivity and childhood behavioral problems in the offspring.



According to a research study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, it was found that acetaminophen exposure during the 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy may be associated with kids behavioral problems.

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Prenatal exposure of Acetaminophen during 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy may account for hyperactivity and behavioral problems in children.

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy Increases the Risk of Childhood Behavioral Problems
The Russian Ministry of Defense today, August 16, 2016,[1] announced that Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and Su-34 fighter bombers had taken off from Iran's Hamadan airbase in order to strike the Islamic State (ISIS) and Jabhat Fath Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra) in Syria.[2] This is the first time Russia openly acknowledges it has deployed strategic bombers in Iran.[3]

According to Russia 24, the aim of deploying the bombers in Iran is to shorten the flight time to targets by 60%. The Russia Today channel reported, citing Russian diplomatic sources, that Russia has asked Iran and Iraq to allow Kaliber missiles to pass through their airspace. The Russia Today website added that on August 15, 2016 the Russian Defense Ministry announced the launch of tactical exercises in the Caspian Sea, involving warships bearing cruise Kaliber missiles. According to the ministry, the goal of the exercises is to test the Caspian Sea fleet's ability to respond to sudden crises, including terror-related crises.[4]

Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani responded to reports on Russia's use of Iran's airspace and facilities in attacks on terrorist elements in Syria, saying: "There is strategic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow regarding the war on terror in Syria, and in this field each [country] uses the abilities and facilities of the other."[5] Furthermore, the Russian daily Izvestia stated that Iran and Iraq have officially authorized Russia to use their airspace for Kaliber MK cruise missile.[6]

Semen Bagdasarov, director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia, said that Iran understands that the situation is difficult in northwest Syria but lacks the technical capabilities that Russia has."[7]

On August 11, 2016, Russian media also reported that Moscow plans to turn the Hmeymim base, located in Syria's northwestern Latakia province, into a fully operational base. Russian Federation Council Defense and Security Committee first deputy chairman Franz Klintsevich said: "After an agreement on its legal status, Hmeymim will become a base of Russian armed forces, all the appropriate infrastructure will be built there and our servicemen will live in decent conditions." He added that a permanent contingent of Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) could be based at the Hmeymim airbase: "The VKS unit could be increased in accordance with bilateral agreements, but so far, from the perspective of tasks at hand, the forces currently deployed there [at Hmeymim] are enough." He also noted that nuclear weapons and heavy bombers will not be permanently deployed at the Hmeymim base in Syria as this is against international agreements.

Russian Long-Range Bombers Targeting ISIS From Iran's Hamadan Airfield - Video Released By The Russian Federation Ministry Of Defense

To view video click here or below:



A Russian Aerospace Force Tupolev Tu-22 M3 strategic bomber. (Source: Russian Federation Ministry of Defense)

Tu-22M3 Strategic Bombers: A Warning To The West

On July 13, 2016, the Russian news agency Ria.ru published an article on strategic bombers titled "If The Enemy Does Not Surrender... Tu-22M3 Strategic Bombers Come To Visit," written by Russia Today analyst Alexander Khrolenko.[8] It stated: "On... July 12, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers took off from Russian territory, delivered an airstrike against [ISIS] facilities... in Syria, and returned to the base airfield... The strategic bombers seemed to be acting as part of a scheduled operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, as they had before... It is probable that the Syrian events of July 8, when ISIS militants shot down a Mi-25 helicopter with a Russian crew, had an impact on the plans of the RAF. In any case, the connection between the deaths of the pilots and the strike by the Tu-22M3 squad is chronologically quite perceptible. Still, why was the strike made not from land (by thermo-baric ammunition, for example), nor by Kalibr-NK cruise missiles from the sea, but from the stratosphere? Maybe this 'sign from above' was not intended only for the Middle East militants.

"The Tu-22M3 long-range multimode missile-carrying bomber is designed to conduct missile and bomb strikes in operational areas of land and sea theaters of war against stationary and moving objects (optically visible and radar-contrast objects, areas and points) by guided missiles and aerial bombs - as a single unit and as part of an aircraft group. The area of combat operations practically in the center of Syria evidently needed to be cleansed of large military groups and modern weapons. And TU-22M3 long-range bombers (combat radius with payload about 7000 km), capable of performing their task at any hour of the day and in any weather conditions, were very effective.

"Earlier, official representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the air base in Gvardeiskoye (Crimea) will receive in 2016 a maritime carrier-borne missile-armed regiment, including Tu-22M3 strategic bombers. It is only 980 km from the Crimean air field to Aleppo in a straight line, half an hour of flight... But these planes can do so much more.

"The Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic missile-carrying bomber (NATO reporting name: Backfire-) is the most modern modification of Tu-22M. It carries on board powerful weapons for the destruction of ship groups in the sea and military industrial facilities deep in the enemy territory. It can conduct reconnaissance using organic on-board radio-electronic equipment, as well as actively and passively jam attacking planes, fighter-interceptor guidance and control systems, and surface-to-air missile systems.

"During the Cold War, Tu-22M3s were a constant headache for NATO headquarters in Europe, and it is no accident that these planes were called 'ship eaters.' Former confrontations were left in the past century, but it is still just one hour's flight for a Tu-22M3 from Crimea to Brussels (the Mediterranean sea is even closer), and missile weapons have become more advanced. Near Aleppo, the power of Tu-22M3 may seem excessive. Of course, Middle Eastern terrorists do not have warships. But they didn't used to have modern Western-made guided missiles either. Is it purely coincidental that a specimen of high technology weaponry (American, according to some reports) has emerged in the area of combat operations, and not for the first time?...

"Russia can greatly increase the number of mission sorties by its composite air group in Syria... and carrier aviation of the Admiral Kuznetsov cruiser (will be on combat duty in the Mediterranean from October 2016 until January 2017). And the armistice could be left in effect only for those who adhere to its terms, including western instructors of the Syrian 'opposition groups.' I think it would be fair.

"Once, Russian leaders warned our Western partners: You'd better not touch Ukraine. They did not listen. And what is the result? The Kremlin's position on the civil war in Syria was not taken into account until recently either. And it looks like our Western partners are still supplying weapons to Middle Eastern terrorists. What are they hoping for? In the German magazine Der Spiegel, Sergey Karaganov, the Russian president's advisor, plainly explains to the West: If Russia has to go to war, it will not be the way you are planning.

"The Tu-22M3 strike in Syria on July 12 may be called a tactical warning on the eve of the Russia-NATO Council meeting [that took place on July 13]. Maybe to someone in Brussels and Washington, it is a chance to realize that Russia is smarter, stronger and more determined than the West likes to think."



Endnotes:
In a day and age when our education system is all but dwindling (some would agree to disagree), there are only a handful of people and institutions who uphold the value of holistic learningteaching a boy to become a man of principles, skill, discipline and self-worth. One such institution happens to be the Haydes Heritage Academy, in Kotdwara, Uttarakhand; and two such people happen to be Lt Colonel Kunwar Ajay Singh and Rupamala Singhthe brains behind the institute.

What these two individuals are doing for the students of the school is more than what most modern-day principals and directors would do. But, thats not the only reason why the Heritage Academy stands out.

 Heritage Academy

Standing majestically against a backdrop of mountains, in the small city of Kotdwara is Haydes Heritage Academya school that was founded by the Late Mahavir Chakra awarded Indian Army Brigadier Desmond E Hayde, who served the Indian army during and after 1947. After his death, the schools legacy was carried on by his protege and student, Lt Colonel Kunwar Ajay Singh, a man of discipline, dedication and great teachings; alongside his wife, Rupamala Singh, who has more than 20 years experience in the Indian media industry. Together, the couple has not just built up the school; but have nurtured every child and seen them grow, along with the school.

 Dessidre Fleming

On a recent trip to Uttarakhand, I decided to pay a visit to the school of 550 students, all of whom are from in and around the area. The one thing I was most taken up by was the camaraderie between the teachers and the students and the kind of relationship they shared. It was one of a mentor and apprentice. Every teacher knew each students strength and weakness, as if they were their own kids.

 Dessidre Fleming

The school is more than just an educational institute that sets out a routine for the students to follow. No, on the contrary, it is the one place that the students eagerly look forward to visit, every single day, unfailingly; for the simple reason that they dont want to miss a thing. Ive known of army schools and boarding in hill stations that are popular for their disciplinarian regime. At Haydes Heritage, however, sincerity seemed to breed the discipline, all by itself.

 Heritage Academy

The school prides itself on its unique teaching methodology which is a mix of experiential & personal attention, bringing out the positives in the child and helping in the building of a strong foundation of an individual. Every teacher at the institution wants to be there; they believe in the art of education. Yes, at the Haydes Heritage Academy, education is an art. At a time when our education system is increasingly rigid about textbook notions, the principal and director of this school are doing things slightly differently. We encourage the students to engage in practice, instead of just theory, says Mrs. Rupamala Singh, Principal of Heritage Academy. Her passion for giving the kids more than just an education; a life skill; is resplendent. I just want my kids to do well and thats how the kids do well.

 Heritage Academy

This is usually the kind of scenario that lends a lot of pressure on the studentsthe curriculum and the deadlinesto be insurmountable. Only, its not. The faculty members make it a point not to encroach on the extra-curricular activities of the students. They encourage most of their studies to be completed in the school so that their time away from the institute is spent at leisure. This is something that doesnt always bode well with the parents, Rupamala says. This, of course, is only common nature, given that in a country like India, if the youth is not overburdened, theyre not achieving anything at all. We want to break the stereotypes of what most people still consider normal, the Principal goes on. Not everyone is meant to be an engineer, or a doctor or a scientist; some of us are meant to be artists and musicians and sportspersons and our society needs to learn to accept and embrace that, instead of forcing their unfulfilled dreams on their kids.

 Dessidre Fleming

The objective of Heritage Academy Kotdwara is to provide to the children a unique, opportune, serene, technologically advanced, harmonious and a complete platform that transforms dynamic minds into complete, competitive, humane and robust, thinking platforms, developing and shaping dynamic leaders of tomorrow. The school has a unique Scientific Minds Programme that connects young kids to integrate math, science, cultural understanding and creativity to solve real life problems. Its objective is to teach them how to think, rather than what to think. The inclusive atmosphere has been one that has allowed kids with special needs to sit at the same tableliterally soas the others.

 Dessidre Fleming

But, one of the most amazing things about the school is how it lets each and every student connect with music and through music, with their surroundings. Its hair-raising to see the students heartily pick up different kinds of instruments and treat their musical prowess with as much sincerity as they would their studies. And thats what truly sets the school apart from a lot of schools in the country.

 Dessidre Fleming

Its easy to be a part of the rat race; especially in the race for material development; whats difficult to do is to willfully stand out from the pack, and pave a new road for a better understanding, a better culture and a better set of individuals, ready to carry the torch from the predecessors in a new relay where the race isnt against each other but, with ones own self. Thats what the Heritage Academy Kotdwara is doing in a small city that is still rigid with belief systems and dogmas that people like Lt Colonel Kunwar Ajay Singh and his wife, the enterprising Rupamala Singh are breaking.

It is through and because of people and schools like these that we can hope for a brighter future and for the country to be a better India.
Ranveer Singhs display of love for the people he loves is pretty open, in-your-face, and extremely vocal, particularly Deepika Padukone, his lady love and SRK, the king Khan. First he did the famous Jabra dance and then recently he impersonated Shahrukhs Tu Mere Saamne from the movie Darr while he was holidaying in Switzerland. Everybody couldnt stop raving about how cool Ranveer is, and that this was something totally expected out of him. The icing on the cake is that even Shah Rukh Khan himself has acknowledged his love for Singh boy!

@RanveerOfficial woke up & saw Darr song, thot o wow I can dance till I realised it was u my man.Dont know Tujhe dekhoon ke pyaar karoon!  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 15, 2016

King Khan is the king of hearts and he proves it every time with his amicability and warmth. Remember that one time recently when Ranveer broke into an impromptu dance routine for Salmans Sultan? Bhai wasnt warm enough with his response when he said hed want to break a chair on his head for dancing during the screening of his movie. Y u no chill, Bhai?
Cloud Security

When businesses move applications and data to the cloud, they lose control of certain aspects of digitized information. The cloud changes how information is stored and transported between applications and clients, and this loss of control exposes personal and corporate data to threats and vulnerabilities in ways not considered in traditional IT architectures.

Cloud providers offer varying levels of support and control for the IT infrastructure that hosts the applications and data. This encompasses Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where the physical hardware is owned, managed, and leased by the service provider, as well as Platform as a Service (PaaS), where the operating systems, database infrastructure, and even Web servers that are managed by the service provider. Finally, one of the most recognized is Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)), where the applications are owned and managed by the service provider and the business only has to provide the data used by the application.

Because control changes as businesses adopt these cloud architectures, policies and security must be adjusted and redesigned to fit the new environment.

Managed services means managed threat exposure

Relinquishing control of different components means youre also surrendering control and oversight of the associated security policies. If the service provider is managing and supporting the server operating system, then you have to assume the service provider is maintaining the security policies. The system needs to be updated and patched on a regular basis to protect against vulnerabilities and there needs to be regular testing of managed solutions to ensure there are no weaknesses in the products or architecture.

Unfortunately, in todays ever-changing IT security environment, its not enough to expect cloud providers to complete the due diligence necessary to understand and protect all their customers applications and data. This means businesses are, ultimately, still responsible for their security.

When applications and data are placed in cloud environments, it usually means that accessing the information requires connectivity to the public Internet. Further adding to the security concerns, information can be exposed to individuals viewing Internet traffic or acting as a man in the middle (MITM). Hackers can easily attack and attempt to compromise applications and data, since the protections that would have been built into a private IT architecture, specific to a business IT security requirements, are non-existent or extremely limited.

Assume everyone is a threat

There are three primary actions a business must consider during a move to the cloud to help mitigate threats. All three considerations are equally important, because no matter which vector becomes an avenue to compromise, the application and all its related data becomes exposed and vulnerable.

IT infrastructure must be protected and hardened  This is a combination of the service provider managing the security risks of the components it provides, as well as the business applying additional protections. These extra security measures may include a solution such as a cloud-based DDoS mitigation service.

Applications must be secured  Assume that applications are accessible by malicious parties, and secure them with extra care. Include modern security technologies to provide the maximum protection possible, including a Web application firewall (WAF) solution to deliver enhanced application security in the cloud.

Applications and data should be encrypted end-to-end  Public network infrastructure cannot be trusted, so protect the privacy and integrity of your information. High-performance encryption solutions must be a priority when moving applications and data to the cloud.

To the cloud and beyond

The cloud ensures applications and data are accessible anytime, anywhere, and to any device. But with this convenience, businesses also have an obligation to make sure information is delivered reliably and securely. Leveraging and applying the lessons learned from IT security to cloud architectures will ensure more secure and connected businesses in the future.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi
FEATURES

Three important trends keep coming up in conversations with customers in the high performance computing (HPC) and big data markets. The first is that more and more users want to combine HPC workloads with big data analytics workloads on the same infrastructure. The second trend is the demand for flexibility to run workloads on either bare metal, virtual machines, or, most recently, in containerized environments. The third trend, closely related to the second, is the demand for flexibility to run on-premises and in the public cloud. New technology is providing an infrastructure that can be the foundation for combining high performance computing, big data, and private and public cloud environments, and managing it all through a single pane of glass.

HPC and OpenStack  gaining flexibility to allocate resources

The cloud computing revolution continues to change the way organizations view their IT resources. OpenStack cloud software provides a common, open source platform that can be used by corporations, service providers, researchers, and anyone else that wants to deploy a private cloud. For many HPC users, the question now becomes, can I run an HPC workload atop this OpenStack or alongside it? In the past, users needed a dedicated HPC cluster, but now, the ability to choose either option creates flexibility. Virtualizing the infrastructure using an OpenStack private cloud allows administrators to be far more flexible in allocating resources.

Take an example of a 25-server environment, in which 10 servers must be dedicated to meet the demands of the HPC load. In this scenario, it is difficult to grow or shrink to meet demand if the demands change significantly. With OpenStack, users have far more flexibility to grow or shrink the cluster. One might increase the cluster overnight and decrease it again in the morning.

Running workloads virtualized inside OpenStack can be a big benefit in many settings. Take the example of researchers in the pharmaceutical industry conducting simulations for drug discovery. When one is required by regulation to store results of simulations and be able to produce them years later, one could choose to run inside a virtual machine (VM) and then shut down and store the entire VM, complete with operating system and libraries. The user would know for certain that results can be precisely duplicated, because the software environment is stored exactly as it was. In addition, some users have very different requirements for their operating systems and their versions of libraries, and a completely tailored environment can be offered in a VM.

While offering a variety of benefits, OpenStack can be difficult to configure and manage. In addition, with virtualization there is a performance penalty, typically less than 10 percent. Some users chalk that up to the price one must pay, while others consider it a barrier to adoption. Also, there is a perception that some hardware technologies are not fully supported by OpenStack, but the industry is definitely making huge progress. For example, InfiniBand and accelerators can now be used through virtualization.

Those not using OpenStack are probably turning to other forms of private cloud, which can be quite an expensive proposition. Or, they may just semi-manually manage their VMs on bare metal using customized scripts and smart provisioning. This is not as flexible, can be prone to errors and, perhaps most significantly, makes users very dependent on the system administrator.

Foundation for combining HPC and big data workloads

Figure 1 is a conceptualization of an infrastructure that combines HPC and big data workloads and gives users the choice of working in either a bare metal or virtualized infrastructure  and even burst through into the public cloud.

We start at the bottom with the physical infrastructure of the servers. On top of that basic infrastructure resides a Linux operating system, with a management solution in which the agent is running on every server. Running HPC on top of that foundation would require the use of a cluster management solution, in this case, Bright Cluster Manager, creating a consistent layer that provides single-pane-of-glass management for the hardware, the operating system, the software, and users.

For running big data workloads or adding big data functionality on top of that, one would use a big data-specific manager, for instance, Bright Cluster Manager for Big Data, an option that builds, manages, and maintains big data clusters using Hadoop and/or Spark.

The scenarios in the Other category, for example, server farms, storage clusters, or even a high frequency trading cluster at a bank, also require similar cluster management solution and infrastructure. For the Private Cloud option, Bright OpenStack and other cloud managers adds cloud capability on top of the initial foundation.

The support of the cluster manager allows users to offload workloads to a public cloud or to a mixed environment, with some servers running on-premises and some in the cloud. It is easy to expand the two options with the single-pane-of-glass solution.

The demand to build an on-premises private cloud has become stronger recently, driven in part by security issues. In some industries, legislation requires that certain data remain inside the companys firewall. There are other issues that favor an on-premises solution over a public cloud. For example, the very large datasets involved with big data applications may be impractical to transfer to a public cloud. Finally, cost may be a factor, since public cloud services are often more expensive to use over the long term, when compared to on-premises alternatives.

Moving up the diagram, perhaps the most exciting aspect of the concept is the ability to combine all these options on the same infrastructure. For example, the next step would be to further build on top of the virtualization layer provided by OpenStack.

The chief task of OpenStack is to manage VMs  to stand them up, apply a configuration to the template, move them around, and to manage them. But it is important to realize that OpenStack has no awareness of  and no control over  what happens inside the VM. In other words, it controls the VM itself, but it does not control what goes on inside it. Typically, an operating system runs inside of these VMs, either Linux or Windows. If one wants control and awareness of what happens inside the VM, one could apply the Bright layer on top of these VMs and operating systems.

This means that the software used to build and manage the cloud is the same as that used to manage the cluster built inside that cloud  even though the bottom is based on bare metal, and the top is based on virtual machines. The figure shows that one can continue to build exactly the same infrastructure on top of the VM layer as was achieved with bare metal, including HPC, big data, private cloud, as well as other server types. Finally, this foundation sets the stage for bursting out to the public cloud from within both the physical and virtualized infrastructures.

The conceptualization shows an approach for combining HPC and big data workloads and giving operators the flexibility to choose between bare metal and virtualized infrastructure. The next step, now in the works, is working with containers  simulated virtual machines that may look and feel like a real server from the point of view of owners and users.

Real world examples of HPC and big data clusters working together

The innovative and unique infrastructure depicted in the diagram has been in place for nearly a year at Bright Computing (News - Alert). It is being used to run a private cloud inside a Bright data center, where software developers stand up HPC clusters, big data clusters, and OpenStack clouds. It has also been used by quality assurance engineers to run tests, by support engineers who need to reproduce a scenario experienced at a customer site, and by systems engineers to run demonstrations.

The infrastructure has proven to be extremely flexible, enabling Bright to do a lot more with its resources. The ability to virtualize the clusters enables us to stand up and shut down the large number of clusters needed to serve customers, without having to build out a much larger data center.

Another example is a major pharmaceutical company that was looking to optimize the use of its existing server infrastructure. The company had a substantial group of HPC and big data users and wanted to deploy a private cloud in its data center to be able to mix general IT workloads with HPC workloads. The objective was to make more HPC resources available for researchers to run jobs overnight when the general IT world load was low.

Using a similarly designed solution, the companys administrators were able to provide flexibility and customization to their user base, while optimizing the use of existing resources. The solution reduced their need to invest in more hardware because they could use what they already had more efficiently. The initial deployment was so successful that similar deployments are now in use at five other sites.

Matthijs founded Bright Computing in 2009 and served as CEO until February 2016. Previously, Matthijs was CEO of ClusterVision, a systems integrator in the Netherlands specializing in High Performance Computing (HPC). He co-founded ClusterVision in 2002 after working for Compusys in the UK. Matthijs was originally trained as a civil engineer and scientist, earning his PhD in Stochastic Subsurface Modeling at Imperial College in the UK in 2000. The computationally-intensive nature of his PhD research introduced him to the world of HPC. He ran his research simulations on Cray and Fujitsu (News - Alert) supercomputers, as well as various commodity HPC clusters

Edited by Alicia Young
PARIS (AP)  The jihadi employment form asked the recruits, on a scale of 1 to 3, to rate their knowledge of Islam. And the Islamic State applicants, herded into a hangar somewhere at the Syria-Turkey border, turned out to be overwhelmingly ignorant.

The extremist group could hardly have hoped for better.

At the height of Islamic State's drive for foot soldiers in 2013 and 2014, typical recruits included the group of Frenchmen who went bar-hopping with their recruiter back home, the recent European convert who now hesitantly describes himself as gay, and two Britons who ordered "The Koran for Dummies" and "Islam for Dummies" from Amazon to prepare for jihad abroad. Their intake process complete, they were grouped in safe houses as a stream of Islamic State imams came in to indoctrinate them, according to court testimony and interviews by The Associated Press.

"I realized that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these forms like 'when you die, who should we call?'" said the 32-year-old European recruit, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said he thought he was joining a group to fight President Bashar Assad and help Syrians, not the Islamic State.

The European, whose boyish demeanor makes him appear far younger than his age, went to Syria in 2014. He said new recruits were shown IS propaganda videos on Islam, and the visiting imams repeatedly praised martyrdom. Far from home, unschooled in religion, having severed family ties and turned over electronic devices, most were in little position to judge.

An AP analysis of thousands of leaked Islamic State documents reveals most of its recruits from its earliest days came with only the most basic knowledge of Islam. A little more than 3,000 of these documents included the recruit's knowledge of Shariah, the system that interprets into law verses from the Quran and "hadith"  the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to the documents, which were acquired by the Syrian opposition site Zaman al-Wasl and shared with the AP, 70 percent of recruits were listed as having just "basic" knowledge of Shariah  the lowest possible choice. Around 24 percent were categorized as having an "intermediate" knowledge, with just 5 percent considered advanced students of Islam. Five recruits were listed as having memorized the Quran.

The findings address one of the most troubling questions about IS recruitment in the United States and Europe: Are disaffected people who understand Shariah more prone to radicalization? Or are those with little knowledge of Islam more susceptible to the group's radical ideas that promote violence?

The documents suggest the latter. The group preys on this religious ignorance, allowing extremists to impose a brand of Islam constructed to suit its goal of maximum territorial expansion and carnage as soon as recruits come under its sway.

Islamic State's most notorious new supporters appear to have an equally tenuous link with religion. Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel, who killed 85 people by plowing a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France, was described by family and neighbors as indifferent to religion, volatile and prone to drinking sprees, with a bent for salsa dancing and a reported male lover.

Unlike Omar Mateen, the Orlando attacker, Bouhlel did not make a public declaration of allegiance to Islamic State, much less prove he had direct ties to extremists in the war zone. Still, the group was quick to claim both as foot soldiers.

___

The AP analyzed the IS entry form documents of around 4,030 foreign recruits who crossed into Syria when the group was rapidly expanding and seizing territory in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and 2014. At that time, the CIA estimated the extremist group had between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria.

Among the documents were forms for nine of 10 young men from the eastern French city of Strasbourg, all recruited by a man named Mourad Fares. One of them, Karim Mohammad-Aggad, described barhopping in Germany with Fares. He told investigators that IS recruiters used "smooth talk" to persuade him.

He'd traveled with his younger brother and friends to Syria in late 2013. Two died in Syria, and within a few months, seven returned to France and were arrested. Mohammad-Aggad's brother, 23-year-old Foued, returned to Paris and was one of the three men who stormed the Bataclan in a night of attacks Nov. 13 that killed 130 people.

"My religious beliefs had nothing to do with my departure," Karim Mohammad-Aggad told the court, before being sentenced to nine years in prison. "Islam was used to trap me like a wolf," he said.

IS data shows Karim and his brother Foued were among eight in the Strasbourg group listed as having "basic" knowledge of Sharia.

Expressing a common sentiment shared by many Europeans of North African descent, Mohammed-Aggad told the court he felt like an immigrant in Algeria and "a dirty Arab" in France. After just a few months in Syria, he said he left IS because he was treated by the extremists as an "apostate"  someone who had renounced his religion.

When pressed by the judge on his knowledge of Shariah and how the IS group implements it, Mohammad-Aggad, a former gas station attendant, appeared dumbfounded, saying repeatedly: "I don't have the knowledge to answer the question."

One of his co-defendants, Radouane Taher, was also pressed by the judge on whether beheadings carried out by the IS group conformed to Islamic law.

He couldn't say for sure, answering: "I don't have the credentials."

That's where Amazon comes in.

The trial of longtime friends Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, from the British city of Birmingham, revealed the 22-year-olds had ordered "The Koran for Dummies" and "Islam for Dummies" books in preparation for their trip to join extremists in Syria. They were arrested on their return to Britain and convicted in 2014 of terrorism offenses.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer with extensive experience with Mideast extremist organizations, said some people claim allegiance to IS out of religious belief, but that most who join, including those from the West, are people "reaching for a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitement."

"Religion is an afterthought," said Skinner, who is also director of special projects at security consultancy the Soufan Group.

Those who truly crave religious immersion would go to Al-Azhar in Cairo, he added, referring to the thousand-year-old seat of learning for Shariah and Quranic studies.

In its recent English language magazine Dabiq, dedicated largely to bolstering its own Muslim credentials, Islamic State dismissed Al-Azhar as part of an "approach to subdue Muslims through appeasement," with the West.

Mohammed Abdelfadel, an Islamic scholar who heads a German-language unit at Al-Azhar that tracks Islamic State propaganda and statements, said the group spews superficial notions about what is "halal and haram," or what is permissible and forbidden in Islam. He says the group's propaganda videos lionize IS fighters as masculine, strong martyrs going to heaven for the sake of God  counter to Islamic laws that forbid terrorism, the murder of non-combatants in war, the imposition of Islam on non-Muslims and other criminal activity.

____

The recruits' Shariah knowledge is important because IS not only needs soldiers and suicide bombers, but administrators and Shariah officials to oversee its local courts and judges, who in turn promote IS ideology.

It also matters because those who've claimed advanced knowledge in Shariah on the IS entry documents were less likely to want to become suicide bombers, according to a study by the U.S. military's Combating Terrorism Center, an academic institution at the United States Military Academy.

"If martyrdom is seen as the highest religious calling, then a reasonable expectation would be that the people with the most knowledge about Islamic law (Shariah) would desire to carry out these operations with greater frequency," said the report.

However, despite the religious justification that IS uses for suicide missions, "those with the most religious knowledge within the organization itself are the least likely to volunteer to be suicide bombers," the study found.

Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan said a close look at the IS group's top commanders shows that many had no religious credentials but, instead, they once held senior positions under Saddam Hussein's secular Baathist government.

Ramadan teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe. He says Muslim scholars must demonstrate that what IS teaches is wrong.

"The people who are doing this are not experiencing martyrdom, they are criminals. They are killing innocent people. Nothing in Islam, nothing ever can justify the killing of innocent people, never, ever."

The gay European recruit said he converted to Islam because he was interested in the culture and it was easy.

"It only required one prayer and no prior understanding of Islam," he said. "There was no hierarchy and it was all about living a good life."

As a convert with almost no knowledge in Islam, he says he was easy prey.

"People like me were tricked into something that they didn't understand. I never meant to end up with IS."
SEBEWAING  Dont let this summer fly by without getting in a fun day of shopping, listening to live music and spending time with friends.

You can check all of these off of your summer bucket list in one trip to downtown Sebewaing Aug. 20.

The Sebewaing Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting its Country Market and Music Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 20 along Center Street. About 20 vendors will be offering a wide variety of wares, such as jewelry, clothing, birdhouses, toys, candles, home decor, produce, baked goods and more. Many items are handmade, and you wouldnt be able to find these unique items at a department or big box store. Pick up some gifts for family and friends and dont forget to pick out something for yourself.

Its a chance to get together in downtown Sebewaing and see what (the vendors have), said Kathy Manary about the country market. I enjoy it.

Manary is the person in charge of getting the vendors lined up for the market. She contacts vendors who have attended the country market in previous years, along with vendors who set up shop at the Michigan Sugar Festival.

I also try to invite other vendors from places I visit, she said.

The Unionville-Sebewaing Area FFA is hosting a Duck Derby at 10 a.m. by the bridge. Purchase a rubber duck for $5 and watch it race down the river  with the help of a water hose from the Sebewaing Fire Department. Prizes will be given to owners of the winning faux floating fowls.

Its a fun thing to watch, Manary said.

Starting at noon, live country music will be provided at Muellerweiss Park by Southern Breeze, a Michigan-based band that plays rock and country music covers. From 11 a.m. to noon, Doug Deming, local music artist, will perform at the park. Chairs will be set up around the park for people to take a break and enjoy the performances.
Speaking Monday to tourists Monday in St. Peter's Square, Francis cited massacres in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an example of bloodshed that too often has "no weight on worldwide opinion." He said such massacres have "for some time been perpetrated in shameful silence, without even attracting our attention."

He recalled the suffering of populations in many parts of the world who are "innocent victims of persistent conflicts."

On Sunday officials said suspected rebels killed at least 36 people in northeastern Congo, spurring street protests against the ongoing violence. The rebel group has killed at least 500 civilians in the region since October 2014, a local rights group says.
In a speech the Republican presidential nominee will deliver on Monday in Ohio, Trump will argue that the country needs to work with anyone that shares that mission, regardless of other ideological and strategic disagreements. Any country that wants to work with the U.S. to defeat "radical Islamic terrorism" will be a U.S. ally, he is expected to say.

"Mr. Trump's speech will explain that while we can't choose our friends, we must always recognize our enemies," Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said Sunday.

On the eve of the speech, the Clinton campaign slammed Trump's campaign manager for ties to Russia and pro-Kremlin interests, an apparent reference to a New York Times story published Sunday night. The story alleges Paul Manafort received $12.7 million from Ukraine's former pro-Russia president and his political party for consultant work over a five-year period. The newspaper says Manafort's lawyer denied his client received any such payments.

Trump on Monday is also expected to outline a new immigration policy proposal under which the U.S. would stop issuing visas in any case where it cannot perform adequate screenings.

It will be the latest version of a policy that began with Trump's unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticized across party lines as un-American. Following a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June, Trump introduced a new standard.

"As he laid out in his Orlando remarks, Mr. Trump will describe the need to temporarily suspend visa issuances to geographic regions with a history of exporting terrorism and where adequate checks and background vetting cannot occur," Miller said.

Trump is also expected to propose creating a new, ideological test for admission to the country that would assess a candidate's stances on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. Through questionnaires, searching social media, interviewing friends and family or other means, applicants would be vetted to see whether they support American values like tolerance and pluralism.

The candidate is also expected to call in the speech for declaring in explicit terms that, like during the Cold War, the nation is in an ideological conflict with radical Islam.

Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and top U.S. government officials have warned of the dangers of using that kind of language to describe the conflict, arguing that it plays into militants' hands.

While Trump has been criticized in the past for failing to lay out specific policy solutions, aides say that Monday's speech will again focus on his broader vision. Additional speeches with more details are expected in the weeks ahead, they said.

Trump is also expected to spend significant time going after President Barack Obama and Clinton, the former secretary of state, blaming them for enacting policies he argues allowed the Islamic State group to spread. Obama has made ending nation building a central part of his foreign policy argument for years.

"Mr. Trump will outline his vision for defeating radical Islamic terrorism, and explain how the policies of Obama-Clinton are responsible for the rise of ISIS and the spread of barbarism that has taken the lives of so many," Miller said Sunday in an email, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.

The speech comes as Trump has struggled to stay on message. Last week, an economic policy speech he delivered calling for lower corporate taxes and rolling back federal regulations was overshadowed by a series of provocative statements, including falsely declaring that Obama was the "founder" of the Islamic State group.
BAD AXE  One of three defendants involved in stealing nearly $19,000 worth of televisions from a local retail store, in exchange for drugs, was hauled off to prison Monday morning.

According to police reports, Derrick N. Grifka, 23, of Ubly, and his two co-defendants stole $18,958 worth of televisions from the Bad Axe Wal-Mart during several visits to the store from April 24 through May 19. The trio would load up shopping carts with televisions, walk out the front door and then later trade, or sell, the stolen items for heroin in the Flint area, authorities said.

Grifka was a part of seven of the incidents between April and May, making him the least involved out of the three defendants.

Following an investigation, Grifka was charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and habitual offender-fourth. He pleaded guilty to the charges on June 16.

Grifka made his appearance in Huron County Circuit Court on Monday and awaited a sentence from Circuit Judge Gerald M. Prill. Attorney Jill L. Schmidt described her client as a nice, personable guy who became a victim of the drug epidemic.

He would like to be sober. He doesnt want to abuse drugs, Schmidt said. ... If we could get him clean, he would be a productive member of society.

Schmidt told the courtroom her client has suffered from drug addiction for a number of years, but would like to change his ways. A remorseful Grifka then offered the court his apologies.

I would like to apologize to the entire community, Grifka said, noting a majority of the crimes he committed were to help support his heroin addiction.

Its been the hardest part of my life for years, he added. Id like to find help ... I also want to apologize to the people I hurt.

Moments after the apology, Prill informed Grifka of the advisory sentencing guidelines and the prison term he faced  84 to 280 months.

Heres an example of a young man who couldnt control his controlled substance use, Prill said. ... When you look at all three individuals, there was roughly $19,000 (worth of televisions) stolen and you were involved in the least amount (of incidents).

The judge had a difficult time following the advisory guidelines and ruled to sentence Grifka lower than the recommendation because of his role in the incidents.

Grifka was sentenced to serve his time in the Michigan prison system for five to 25 years, with credit for 85 days served.

I believe its reasonable to depart downward in this case because of your involvement, Prill said after imposing the sentence.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump renewed his charges Monday that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton allowed the rise of the Islamic State and proposed alliances with any state, including Russia, in a campaign to destroy the terror group.

Possibly his biggest round of applause from an invited audience at Youngstown State University in Ohio came when he declared that U.S. "nation building" in the Mideast and elsewhere would come to an end in a Trump administration.

"Our current strategy of nation-building and regime change have been a total disaster -- it's time to chart a new course," he said. "When I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a swift close."

Trump said he favored a new type of "foreign policy realism" that would overlook a potential ally's acts of aggression, internal policies and human rights track record to get cooperation in an anti-ISIS campaign.

"We cannot let this evil continue," he said. "We will defeat Islamic terrorism just like we've defeated every threat before.

"Our new approach must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," he added. "All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognize our enemies."

Russia led by President Vladimir Putin appeared to be at the top of the list for new allies when Trump said, "Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford has repeatedly named Russia as the major "existential' threat to the U.S.

Even so, the Obama administration has proposed a new pact on Syria to the Russian government that would deepen military cooperation between the two countries against terrorists in exchange for Russia getting the Assad regime to stop bombing U.S.-backed rebels, The Washington Post reported.

The speech, billed as a major address by his campaign, followed on an economic address last week that was overshadowed by his off-the-cuff remarks calling Obama and Clinton the "founders" of ISIS.

Trump appeared to stick mostly to his prepared remarks Monday while renewing his allegations that Obama, abetted by Clinton, by design or negligence presided over the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"The rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton," Trump said.

Prior to Obama's coming to office in 2009, Trump said, "Libya was stable, Syria was under control, Egypt was ruled by a secular president and ally to the U.S., Iraq was experiencing a decrease in violence and Iran was being choked off by economic sanctions."

The candidate also used the speech to renew his call for a ban on immigrants from countries with a "history of exporting terrorism," saying it is impossible to properly vet people coming from those places.

Under Trump's plan, immigrants would also be subjected to tests to show a commitment to U.S. values, including religious freedom and tolerance. He advocated "a new screening test for the threats we face today." He said of the process, "I call it extreme vetting -- extreme, extreme vetting."

At a campaign rally with Clinton in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Vice President Joe Biden mocked what he called Trump's fondness for authoritarian leaders such as Putin and the late dictator Saddam Hussein, and went on criticize the Republican nominee in personal terms, citing his late son Beau Biden.

"I was proud my son Beau -- served for a year in Iraq," Biden said. "I must tell you had Donald Trump been president I would have thrown my body in front of him  to keep him from going if the judgment was based on Trump's decision."

Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in May 2015, was a major in the Judge Advocate's General Corps of the Delaware Army National Guard and deployed to Iraq in 2008.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

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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.
Five days into the first U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command assessment and selection course to admit women, one female Marine has washed out and one remains.

Capt. Nicholas Mannweiler, a spokesman for the command, told Military.com that two women, a staff sergeant and a corporal checked in Aug. 9 at the command's headquarters near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and began the first 19-day phase of assessment and selection on Aug. 11.

The staff sergeant washed out of the course the following day during a timed ruck march, Mannweiler said. The news was first reported by Marine Corps Times.

Both the corporal and the staff sergeant came from administrative military occupational specialties, Mannweiler said. He did not disclose their identities or ages.

Mannweiler said he couldn't say how many started the A&S class for operational security reasons, but noted that 32 Marines, including the female staff sergeant, have departed the course so far.

The first phase of assessment and selection tests physical fitness and a range of aptitudes to ensure Marines are physically and mentally prepared for what will be 10 months of intensive follow-on training to become Marine Raiders. Alongside physical training, Marines receive classroom instruction in land navigation skills, MARSOC and special operations history, and nutrition and fitness.

In January, Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, then the commander of MARSOC, called A&S Phase 1 a holistic profile for the Marines who qualify to enter the training pipeline.

Military.com broke the news in March that a female staff sergeant had been accepted for A&S, just months after a mandate from Defense Secretary Ash Carter had required all military services to open special operations jobs and other previously closed fields to women.

Osterman said then that MARSOC leadership had leaned into the new reality, reaching out to all eligible female Marines through the command's recruiting arm to give them the opportunity to apply.

The current A&S phase is set to conclude Aug. 22. If the female corporal in A&S can make it through this phase, she will enter a second, more secretive three-week A&S phase. Following that is MARSOC's individual training course, which covers survival, evasion, resistance and escape [SERE], special reconnaissance, close urban combat, irregular warfare and more over the course of nine intensive months.

Those who wash out of A&S have up to two chances to re-enter the pipeline, Mannweiler said, as long as they have enough time left on their contracts and until their next promotion, and the command has enough boat spaces to accommodate them.

While MARSOC recruiters have received interest from other female Marines, the command is not currently processing any other applications from women, Mannweiler said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related Video:
Army Reserve 2nd Lt. Sam Kendricks cleared the pole vault bar at 19 feet 2- inches to take third place and win a bronze medal on Monday night at the Rio Olympics, becoming the first military member of the U.S. team to medal.

It also marked the first pole vault medal for the United States in a dozen years -- since since Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson went 1-2 at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Army Secretary Eric Fanning, who will be part of the U.S. Presidential Delegation attending the closing ceremonies on Sunday, took to Twitter to congratulate Kendricks on the achievement.

"Congrats @samkendricks! USA!" Fanning tweeted on Monday night after the event. "#ArmyOlympian #TeamUSA." This morning, he added, "Still thinking about @SamKendricks's medal last night, Now, even more energized for my trip to #Rio2016. #ArmyProud."

Kendricks, who led the competition after the qualifying rounds, finished behind Brazil's Thiago Silva and France's Renaud Lavillenie.

Silva won gold with an Olympic record of 19 feet 8 inches with the boisterous support of Brazilian fans. They were so rowdy that silver medalist, world record holder and defending Olympic champion Lavillenie complained about the crowd booing him on his final jump. "There is no respect. There is no fair play. It's the Olympics. So if we have no respect in the Olympics, where can we get respect?"

Kendricks, who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2014 and is the five-time U.S. champion, previously represented Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics.

"As a military man and as a U.S. athlete, I keep my haircut in order to put the best foot forward for all the soldiers who are watching," Kendricks said. "Those guys are really proud of me and have given me every chance to continue as a civilian," he added, noting that he was proud "to represent the Americans on two fronts, as a military man and as a U.S. athlete."

While Kendricks is the first U.S. military athlete to medal at the Rio Games, American service members were shut out in the shooting competitions after finishing behind competitors from such countries as Russia and China. The five soldiers and one Marine competed Aug. 8-14 in 50-meter rifle, 10-meter air rifle, 25-meter pistol, and double trap shotgun events in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

But there are still opportunities left for U.S. military members to medal in the 2016 Olympic Games.

On Wednesday, Army Spc. Hillary Bor will compete in the Men's 3,000 meter Steeplechase Final and Army Spc. Paul Chelimo will try to qualify in the Men's 5,000 meter. On Thursday, Army Sgt. Nathan Schrimsher competes in the Modern pentathlon and Army Staff Sgt. John Nunn races in the Men's 50 kilometer walk on Friday.

--James Barber can be reached at jbarber@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mrjamesbarber.
Dear Ms. Vicki,

How can I stop my husband from spreading messages about me to everyone in his unit, even to his commander?

It's not fair that I'm in Germany all alone and without anyone, no friends or anything, because he has turned everyone against me.

He tells people that I trapped him by getting pregnant and that my parents forced him to marry me, and that's the reason he joined the Army.

He told his commander that all I do is shop at malls in Frankfurt with his money but, Ms. Vicki, please tell me, what money? He's at the low end of the totem pole, and he doesn't make any money.

His commander had the nerve to confront me and started asking me a bunch of questions, acting like everything is my fault. Well, I told him a thing or two, gave him a piece of my mind! And yes, I had a few choice words for him!

Then his fool commander had the nerve to call my husband on the carpet about it when my husband is the one who started it by accusing me of all those things.

Now, of course, my husband is even madder at me and the other wives on base are calling me a gold digger! When my husband came home today, he said he was going to do an ERD [Early Return of Dependents] for me and our baby.

Can he do that? Can he get us kicked out of Germany for no reason?

-- Gossip Victim

Dear Gossip Victim,

Girl -- Lord help me! This sounds like a big high school mess!

Why do I feel like I am missing something with this story? It's like you went to Germany, and all hell broke loose while you were shopping in the mall in Frankfurt!

I feel like I'm missing some details somewhere in between the commander said something to you that made you angry and now they are sending you and your child back to the States.

To answer your question, yes, your husband and his commander can initiate an Early Return of Dependents. I'm guessing you are command sponsored in Germany, and something has gone terribly wrong.

I don't mean to sound judgmental, but I think you are a very young couple who could be away from home for the first time without family support. This can be difficult. I know what moving overseas without close family and friends is like. It can be very stressful.

Instead of alleviating the stress and putting a game plan or a wellness plan in action -- which is what we should do -- sometimes we do just the opposite.

We get moody and cranky, and we find substitutes for happiness, like spending more money than we have. Then the arguments and shouting start.

This is what I think happened with you and your husband: Instead of the two of you coming together as two adults to handle your problems, everyone on base and in your husband's unit got involved.

I think you and your husband should sit down like two married adults and talk to each other, instead of talking at each other and talking to other people.

Get everyone else out of your marriage. Tell him you want to work on the marriage, and you can't do that long distance. I have a feeling that if you leave Germany, your marriage will be over.

Lastly, you and your husband should talk to his commander. Hopefully, he or she is willing to rescind the ERD paperwork. If not, then you should visit with legal on base and try to get something in writing regarding spousal support and child support.

If you leave without it, it might be very hard to get your husband to provide support, and you don't need that frustration. Let me know what happens.

-- Ms. Vicki

Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life

For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox.
Mark Fields at NAIAS

Ford CEO Mark Fields speaks to media after the unveiling of the Ford GT, a super car that will go into production next year, at the North American International Auto Show in a special unveiling inside Joe Louis Arena Downtown Detroit Monday Jan. 12, 2015.

(Tanya Moutzalias)

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields told CNBC Tuesday that over the next decade autonomous vehicles could have as much impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago.

He made the comments while disclosing that Ford and Chinese search engine firm Baidu each plan to invest $75 million in Velodyne, a Silicon Valley firm that produces sensors that are a critical component to the technology of self-driving cars.



Velodyne will use the $150 million investment to expand production of its laser sensors, the Associated Press reports. In addition to autonomous driving, such sensors are already used in some newer cars and trucks for advanced safety technology, such as automatic brake assist.

Ford is also doubling its staff in Palo Alto, Calif. to more than 260 personnel, while expanding its offices and labs there.

Fields told CNBC it was all part of the company's transition to becoming both an automotive and a mobility company, a transformation the automaker began touting back in January at the Detroit auto show.

The Deaborn automaker also announced in May that it is investing $182.2 million in Pivotal, a San Francisco-based tech firm that specializes in cloud-based, advanced software development technology.

Ford's latest investment in autonomous driving comes as traditional automotive powerhouses and technology companies alike vie for position in what appears to a major wave sweeping into the industry, even while regulations still remain uncertain.

General Motors for example is developing self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EVs in San Francisco and Scottsdale, Ariz. as part of a collaboration with Cruise Automation, a Silicon Valley tech firm it acquired last spring.

And in May, Tech giant Alphabet and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced a partnership that will test Google's self-driving car program in 2017 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans.

John Krafcik, who heads Google's autonomous vehicle program, said a new, 53,000-square-foot development center in Novi will first be tasked with equipping the self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans it's getting as part of the partnership.

"Ford's announcements today regarding its Silicon Valley operations, high-tech investments and autonomous vehicle plans are intended to let the world - especially Wall Street - know that it is moving forward in future mobility," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Autotrader. "General Motors has been grabbing all of the headlines of late, and Ford can't be happy about that, especially as some Wall Street analysts have wondered if Ford is falling behind in future mobility."
DETROIT - Honda Motor Co. on Monday showed off the latest addition to its run of new, 10th-generation Civic models: the 2017 Civic Hatchback, seen above.

Arriving at U.S. dealers this fall, the 2017 Civic Hatchback is based on the same platform as the new Civic sedan and coupe models, which launched earlier this year.

Honda said a "radical" Type-R Civic based on the Civic Hatchback will arrive in 2017.

The 2017 Civic Hatchback features a 1.5-liter, turbocharged in-line 4-cylinder engine with a peak output of 174 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque on lower trim levels, and an upgraded Sport and Sport Touring drivetrain with 180 horsepower and 162 lb.-ft. of torque.

A continuously variable automatic transmission will be available on all trim levels, and a 6-speed manual transmission will be offered on the lower LX, Sport, and EX trims.

Honda expects the Civic Hatchback to get an EPA-rated fuel economy of about 31 miles per gallon city, 40 highway and 34 combined.

The new Civic hatchback was developed jointly by R&D teams in Europe and Japan. It's being built at Honda's UK Manufacturing in Swindown, United Kingdom.

Pricing has not yet been announced.

"The Civic Hatch has been a staple for Honda in Europe, but has long been the forbidden fruit for Honda fans in the U.S.," Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager of the Honda Division of American Honda Motor Co., said in a release. "Now, we're bringing this sporty, stylish and versatile Civic Hatchback to North America, as we amp up the performance of our incredible Civic lineup with each new Civic model."
Tesla Model S

(Tesla Motors)

DETROIT - A Tesla Model S spontaneously burst into flames Monday while on a test drive in France, according to French media reports.

The car was being driven by a couple and a representative of Tesla as part of an event hosted by the California electric carmaker. The Model S sedan was cruising on the boulevard d'Aritxague in Bayonne in the southwest of France when the incident occurred.

The driver of the car told French media outlet Sud Ouest that after a little acceleration there was a warning noise in the car, at which point the Tesla host told the driver to pull over so she could call Tesla about the issue before continuing the test drive.

The trio then saw white smoke, and exited the vehicle. The driver, identified only as Nicolas, said the car was engulfed in flames in less than a minute and totally destroyed within five minutes. No one was injured.

Tesla said in a statement to Agence France Presse the company is working with authorities to determine what happened.

A video of the car engulfed in flames was posted to Twitter:
handshake-business-2.jpg

So you've got this great business idea, one that will liberate you from your current job or offer a lifeline after losing one.

With Michigan hurt by a marked decline in the number of new businesses created in the last decade, you think your idea is a sure-fire winner. Your husband thinks it's a great idea, too, as does your Aunt Irene. Can't fail, right?

Hold on a minute.

Business leaders contacted by Bridge Magazine for our recent article on the dearth of entrepreneurs in Michigan say they see new business owners make the same, critical mistakes that, with some work, can be avoided.

Read "Michigan and the death of Entrepreneurship"

Here are their tips on what steps to take - and avoid - to help your business succeed.

Stage 1: Planning your business

1. MAKE A BUSINESS PLAN

Before you quit your job and buy that commercial sewing machine, experts are unified on the need for a sound, well-thought-out business plan.

Banks require them, as does any lender. A business plan outlines how your product or service will sell, the costs involved, the marketing required. It is a blueprint for success, and a great way to identify gaps or weaknesses in your idea before you start.

Shawn Preissle of the Small Business Development Center of Michigan says too many entrepreneurs open a new business without developing a detailed plan.

You need to know what your costs are, how soon you can be projected to make money and whether you need to adjust your plans. Many people, said Shawn Preissle of the Small Business Development Center of Michigan, believe they don't need a plan because they know what they're doing. (The SBDC offers free business planning advice to prospective entrepreneurs.)

"You need a business plan, you need a map," Preissle said. She said people who do not make a plan, don't have map they will need to determine if they're on pace for a profit.

"You have no way to determine that you are meeting your goals."

2. IDENTIFY LIKELY CUSTOMERS

Tina Frazer helps businesses in St. Clair County, where she's marketing manager for the Economic Development Alliance. Her No. 1 advice: Don't assume someone will buy your cupcakes or your photo-book services just because you believe in your skills.

"Often aspiring entrepreneurs fall in love with their own idea and assume others want the product or service they plan to offer and are highly disappointed when they find that this isn't the case," Frazer explained via email.

"Go beyond asking family and friends," she said. This is one case where the Internet can be your friend. "Survey people in your community, neighboring regions and even globally."

3. MANAGE STARTUP COSTS

Preissle learned this one the hard way. She started a business in Ann Arbor where people came in to cook meals they would then take home and eat over the next couple days. As part of the plan, she and a business partner spent over $350,000 on a commercial-grade kitchen, including $50,000 in cabinets.

"Our build-out was much more elaborate than it needed to be," she said. "We didn't need everything in the beginning." In fact, she said the cabinets, suggested by a contractor, were never fully used.

The lesson: Don't buy what you don't need immediately. "If we had made better decisions on spending in the beginning we would have made more money in the end," Preissle said. She ultimately sold the business.

So if, say, you're starting a lawn care business, maybe the 36-inch mower will suffice rather than the 52-incher. Or buy used equipment to start and see how business goes before upgrading.

4. DREAM BIG, BUT PLAN REALISTICALLY

Preissle had a client who wanted to hem skirts. She figured she'd do it for $5 a skirt. When asked how long it took to do one, the woman said an hour. Preissle told her she'd then be working for $5 an hour; the women never came back to the SBDC.

Others estimated they could sell far more than was physically possible, Preissle said. Her point: Be realistic in estimating sales.

Neil Kane, director of MSU's new undergraduate entrepreneurship program, says one way to lift a struggling business is to "lean on someone whom you know is on your side and who has the right experience and expertise.

Neil Kane, director of Michigan State University's new undergraduate entrepreneurship program at the Eli Broad College of Business, suggests another metric. "Everything costs twice as much and takes three times as you long as you expect," he said. Plan accordingly.

Know too that starting your own business takes more than an idea - it takes money. And banks are leery of providing 100 percent of startup costs.

"If you don't have a lot of cash to start, you can't start," Preissle said. It may come in the form of collateral (like equity from your home) it may come from your personal savings. But it's going to have to come from somewhere.

The rule of thumb is having six months to a year of cash to cover expenses, though Preissle said four months is more typical.

Stage 2: Running your business

OK. So you've done your business planning, properly estimated costs and have enough working capital - cash - to sustain your startup. Here are some tips to remember now:

5. REMAIN WILLING TO LEARN

You may have a great idea, or a great skill honed by decades working for someone else. But that doesn't make you a businessperson - yet. You may know how to make something, but maybe not how to sell it.

MSU's Kane started a few businesses before coming to MSU and knows what awaits the entrepreneur.

"You will constantly be bombarded with things that will test your mettle, and may even seem counter-intuitive," he said.

The solution: Find a mentor and be coachable.

"The best way to get through (tough times) is to lean on someone whom you know is on your side and who has the right experience and expertise," Kane said.

Preissle agrees, and says organizations like hers offer free advice.

Aimee Bozinoff, who took over her parents' frame shop in Jackson, benefitted from knowing what she didn't know, and taking the advice of experts. (Courtesy photo)

It was Preissle who helped Aimee Bozinoff recently. Bozinoff bought her parents frame shop, I've Been Framed, in Jackson recently after working with the SBDC. Preissle taught Bozinoff some basics: for instance, that it isn't just about making frames and matting pictures - it was about inventory and sales and planning.

Bozinoff listened and now has the business. "I have a creative mind," she said. "But I needed someone to help so the business didn't fail."

6. THE ART OF THE SELL

Many people planning a new business focus too narrowly on the product itself: you know it's good and figure, heck, everyone else will love it, too.

But it takes more than a "build it and they will come" mentality. You have to sell, sell, sell.

"In the end, the success of your business is always about sales," Frazer said. "If you're not gaining new customers, new sales and experiencing growth daily, weekly and monthly, this is a red flag. Sales are key. Focus your efforts on actions that results in sales."

It's not just the idea, Frazer said, but the small but important steps to capitalize on it.

Preissle said she's seen the same thing: people who fail to properly market their business and find those sales. She said this is the "step" that is most likely skipped. They'll call Preissle and wonder why things are slow. Then they admit they haven't taken the marketing steps she suggested.

"Of course (sales are bad). They're waiting for the phone to ring," she said.

7. SEEK HELP

You may be self-employed but you don't have to do it alone. Help is a call or email away. Organizations like the SBDC and local business groups are willing to share their expertise. Local chambers of commerce want to help. You city or village can probably lend a hand, and don't forget that other people in your field can also be collaborative.

Preissle, who now dispenses advice, wishes she knew about the SBDC years ago. It would have helped her avoid some mistakes. The best part? It's free.

You may still need an accountant and you'll most likely be digging into your savings or seeking a loan. But resources exist. Still, owning a business can be frightening. There's a lot of risk and hard work ahead. "It's always got to be a little bit scary," said Kane.

Still, the rewards can be great, he said. "It is excruciatingly difficult to build a successful business from scratch. But it's also an amazing experience that is (fiscally) very rewarding, and could also secure your financial future."

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey."
GRAND HAVEN, MI - When Robert Mol announced he was running as a write-in candidate against incumbent Ottawa County Circuit Judge Kent Engle last week, he did not disclose his personal involvement with Engle's court.

Mol, an assistant state attorney general, is involved in a heated visitation battle in Engle's court that involves Mol's wife, Christina Moffatt, and the father of Moffatt's 10-year-old child.

The couple now is hoping to have Engle removed from a 10-year-old custody case, claiming Mol's new status as a write-in candidate creates a conflict of interest for Engle, according to court documents.

But Mol has insisted his decision to become a candidate was not made in order to remove Engle from presiding over the custody battle.

Mol said he is not running because of his wife's dissatisfaction with Engle's rulings, which allowed the child visitations by her father.

"My running against Judge Engle is not personal," Mol said in a statement to MLive and The Grand Rapids Press on Monday, Aug. 15. "I am running because I believe the family court is broken and not operating properly to protect Ottawa County children, or acting to foster healthy relationships between parents and their children.

The 10-year-old dispute flared up this summer after what was supposed to be a custody exchange with the father who lives in Kentucky.

Engle had ordered Moffatt to bring her child to the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, where the father was scheduled to pick her up and fly her back to Kentucky.

Mol interfered with that ruling on July 15, when he stepped in during an incident that broke out after the child balked at leaving her mother.

After being called to the airport by Moffatt, Mol identified himself as an assistant state attorney general to airport police officers and told them the child did not have to go with her father, according to an incident report filed by airport police. The transfer did not take place and the child remained with her mother.

Mol said he stepped in because the child was "catatonic and incoherent" when the transfer was supposed to occur.

After that, Mol fought a subpoena that sought to depose him about the incident, according to case files in Ottawa County Circuit Court. On Monday, Aug. 15, Mol said he submitted to a deposition about the case last week.

Last Thursday, lawyers for Mol's wife filed a petition asking that Engle be removed from the custody case between her and the father of her daughter. The request was filed shortly after Mol announced he was registering as a write-in candidate against Engle.

Moffatt's lawyers argued that Mol's candidacy created a conflict of interest that should force Engle to remove himself from the case.

"Both Defendant Christina Moffatt and candidate Robert Mol will be publicly and actively campaigning against Judge Engle, educating voters about Judge Engle and urging voters to replace him with a more qualified candidate, Robert Mol," the petition said.

"The Court has a clear and direct conflict of interest," Moffatt's lawyer said in the request to have Engle removed from the custody case.

The request claimed Engle has a financial interest in dragging out their custody case by forcing Mol and Moffatt to spend time and money on the custody case, rather than his election campaign.

"If Judge Engle succeeds in dragging out this case and tying up Defendant and her husband's money in this case, which the Court has every incentive to do, this will enhance Judge Engle's likelihood of re-election in the November 8 general election," the request said.

Engle had not ruled on the case as of Monday, Aug. 15. If he steps down, the case would be heard by Ottawa County Chief Circuit Judge Edward Post. If he stays on the case, an appeal of his refusal to step down would be heard by Post.

When Mol announced he was registering as a write-in candidate for the seat Engle has held for the past six years, he made no mention of his personal involvement in the long-running case before Engle.

Mol, a 28-year assistant in the attorney general's office, had been one of five primary candidates for the seat being vacated by Post.

In the Aug. 2 primary, Mol was beaten by Karen Jongekrijg Miedema and Dan Martin, who received 31.9 percent and 23.4 percent of the vote, respectively. Mol received 13 percent of the vote in that race.

According to his Aug. 11 news release, Mol decided to become a write-in candidate for Engle's seat during his unsuccessful campaign for Post's seat.

"...once voters learned about his experience, character and moral commitment to obey the law and do the right thing, he was urged to run against Judge Engle, whom they viewed as unfit, and biased," his press release said.

"The people of Ottawa County don't deserve six more years of a judge who is indifferent to the concerns of families and children; they need someone who puts the needs of kids first, especially in our family court," Mol said.

"I know write-in campaigns can be difficult, but I am convinced that the people of Ottawa County demand and expect high quality judges serving them at every level of government, and that I am the best candidate to provide that for them."

In an interview with MLive, Mol said he was told Engle is rude and dismissive toward females in his court and female attorneys. "He is totally biased in favor of fathers even when there is evidence of abuse," Mol said.

Mol said he was not able to produce any cases in which Engle was over-ruled, nor did he have transcripts of hearings in which Engle was abusive. Mol also said he was unaware of any complaints about Engle to the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC).

Engle last week told MLive that he was surprised by Mol's allegations and decision to run for the seat.

"I have not had anyone come to me with a transcript or ask me about a biased decision," Engle said. "I think the only appeals have been on financial issues and I'm not aware of any JTC reports."

"I know there have been people who have been disappointed with my decisions," Engle said. "But I have not had contact with anybody complaining about those kinds of things."
Tom McCollum, a former No. 1 pick of the Detroit Red Wings and one of the all-time leading goaltenders with the Grand Rapids Griffins, is headed west.

The 26-year-old reached agreement with the Los Angeles Kings' on a PTO (professional try out) last week, ending an association with the Detroit franchise that began in 2009.

"Obviously, I was hoping for a contract, but that didn't work out, so out of all the teams I talked to the Kings seemed most interested in me being at their camp," McCollum said by phone Tuesday. "They were very persistent and I looked at it and decided it was a really good fit. They have a long history of churning out pretty good goalies, so it seemed like a good spot for me developing even more."

The 30th overall pick in the 2008 draft, McCollum spent nearly all his time in the AHL with the Griffins, where he became the franchise's all-time leaders in games played (226), saves (5,653) minutes (12,737) and second in wins (103) and tied for fifth in shutouts (7).

Last year, McCollum played in 30 games with a 2.42 goals against average and .923 save percentage and split time with Jared Coreau. Likewise in the playoffs, McCollum started the first seven games and then gave way to Coreau.

"I think we were both looking at different things," McCollum said of briefs talks this summer with Detroit. "They were looking to give Jared a lot more playing time and, obviously, more playing time is something I was also looking for. So, staying wasn't going to be a good fit for either party."

The turning point for McCollum came in the 2012-13 season in Grand Rapids and the fast emergence of Petr Mrazek, who played in all the postseason games and led the franchise to its first Calder Cup trophy.

Afterward, McCollum never received much attention with the Red Wings as Mrazek quickly played his way into the starting job Detroit. Overall, McCollum played in three games with the parent club with a 2.98 GAA and .879 save percentage.

In addition to the stats, McCollum was also the Griffins' IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year the past two years.

"I had a lot of fun when I was in Grand Rapids and I definitely learned a lot as a player and as a person," he said. "I'm definitely disappointed things didn't turn out better for myself and for the team as far as my situation is concerned. But that's what was meant to be, I guess, and I'm looking forward to a new challenge."

Without him, Coreau becomes the clear No. 1 goalie in Grand Rapids. The Griffins will give a shot at backup to 22-year-old Jake Paterson, who played most of last season with Toledo Walleye in the ECHL, and recently signed Calvin Heeter, 27, who played the past two seasons overseas and was formerly with the Philadelphia Flyers organization.

In California, McCollum faces competition from four veterans. Jonathan Quick is the established starter for the Kings, while last season with the Ontario Reign in the AHL, 33-year-old veteran Petr Budaj played in 60 regular-season games and another 13 in the playoffs.

There are two others in the mix, both with Michigan ties. Detroit native Jeff Zatkolf, previously with the Penguins' organization, signed a one-year, two-way contract on July 1, and Port Huron's Jack Campbell, a former No. 1 pick of the Dallas Stars, signed July 11 as a restricted free agent to a two-year, two-way contract.
RICHMOND, CA - In recent years, women in the Ypsilanti area and San Francisco's bay area have played tug of war with the Guinness Book of World Record's record for the most Rosie The Riveter lookalikes gathered in one spot.

The rivalry is friendly, and, since October, the record belonged to Ypsilanti. But on Saturday, a group of San Francisco bay area Rosies reclaimed it, along with bragging rights.

For a Rosie to participate, she must don a red bandana with large white polka dots, red socks, a dark blue "Dickies-style" cotton work shirt, and dark blue cotton or denim pants.

Those are the rules laid out by the Guinness Book of World Records. It's a required code as that's how Rosie was presented in the iconic 1942 wartime propaganda image produced by artist J. Howard Miller. And the Guinness organization is a stickler for accuracy.

Except, apparently, when it comes to gender.

On Saturday, 2,265 Rosies gathered in Richmond. That topped the previous record of 2,090 Rosies who turned out at Ypsilanti Township's Yankee Air Museum in October. But the latest California group of Rosies included what some have jokingly dubbed "Ronnie the Riveter."

In other words, they recruited men.

What do the Ypsilanti Rosies think of the rule bending? Congresswoman Debbie Dingell organizes the Ypsilanti Township gathering with Ypsilanti Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo. She said the organizers are seeking clarification from Guinness, but, either way, they expect to reclaim the record.

"In the meantime, we're gearing up, getting a date, puling our team back together, and we're not afraid," Dingell said, adding that they are eyeing Mother's Day 2017.

The Willow Run plant is famously the workplace of Rose Will Monroe, better known as "Rosie the Riveter," who played a key propaganda role in enlisting women to work in factories on the homefront while men were fighting overseas.

The plant, nicknamed the "Arsenal of Democracy," produced one B-24 Liberator bomber an hour at its peak during Word War II.

Richmond is home of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. Many of the bay area's women worked in the area's shipyards during World War II.

As the rules for the record stated, the Rosies have to stay in one place for at least 5 minutes.

"Regardless of them using men, we will beat this record," Stumbo said.
vote_here_080216_RJS_01.jpg

Election workers in Ann Arbor are getting a pay raise.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR, MI - Citizens who help staff Ann Arbor's polling stations during elections are paid for their work.

But not as much as they're paid in some other places.

For example, Ypsilanti pays $10.50 per hour for election inspectors, compared to $9 in Ann Arbor.

Pittsfield Township, one of the highest-paying places in the county for election workers, offers $14 per hour for inspectors and $17 per hour for chairpersons.

Precinct chairpersons in Ann Arbor make $12 per hour.

But the pay scales are changing.

The Ann Arbor City Council voted 10-0 Monday night, Aug. 15, to approve pay increases for election workers.

Normal polling station workers, known as inspectors, will see their pay increase from $9 per hour to $11 per hour, while floater positions will increase from $9.50 to $11.50. The chairpersons of each precinct will make $15 per hour, up from $12, and co-chairpersons will make $14 per hour, up from $12.

The pay rate for an absentee vote count board supervisor will increase from $14.50 per hour to $15.50 per hour.

City Clerk Jackie Beaudry said the last time the City Council increased pay rates for election workers was in 2012.

At the time of that increase, she said, Ann Arbor had the lowest election inspector pay rates in Washtenaw County.

"Since 2012, Ann Arbor's rates have remained fixed, while neighboring jurisdictions in Washtenaw County have continued to increase their pay rates, and Ann Arbor again is among the lowest paying in the county," Beaudry wrote in a memo to the council.

With one of the lowest pay rates, Beaudry said election inspector recruitment efforts have become increasingly difficult for her office.

"By law, election inspectors can be appointed to work the polls in any precinct in the state, with the only requirement being that they are a registered voter in Michigan," she wrote in her memo. "Competition between the city and neighboring townships in busy elections has meant the loss of some Ann Arbor poll workers to other jurisdictions, due to compensation."

In addition, some of the smaller townships in the county provide meals on election days, which Beaudry said is not a practical option in Ann Arbor.

An election inspector must report for work at 6 a.m. and the typical election day is about 16 hours long.

Due to the challenges with recruitment and the additional cost of training, the city does not offer split shifts, Beaudry said.

The chairperson assigned to each precinct must contend with voter registration problems, poll challengers and provisional ballots, in addition to the regular processing of voters. In busy elections, the stream of voters can be almost non-stop from the opening of polls at 7 a.m. until the closing at 8 p.m.

As elections become more technologically complex, including use of electronic poll books, more is being expected of election inspectors, Beaudry said.

In the next few years, she said, the state of Michigan will be implementing new optical-scan vote tabulators.

Beaudry said the increases in Ann Arbor's pay rates take into consideration the additional knowledge and skills required to work the polls on election day and also allow the city to be competitive in recruitment efforts.

The city expects the increased compensation will save the city in recruitment and training costs in the even-year elections due to retention of workers.

The increase in pay is estimated to cost between $4,000 in a local election and $10,000 in a presidential election.

Funds are coming from the clerk's election budget for fiscal year 2016-17 for the November presidential election.



Anyone interested in working at a polling station on Nov. 8 can email cityclerk@a2gov.org.

For more information, visit www.a2gov.org/elections.

Read other Ann Arbor City Council stories.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
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This was identified in 2013 as the preferred option for tunneling under the railroad tracks between Depot Street and the Huron River in Ann Arbor.

(OHM Advisors)

ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor officials have been talking for years about creating a tunnel under the railroad tracks north of downtown so people -- and stormwater -- can more easily get from Depot Street down to the Huron River.

It's now looking likely that such a project will happen in 2018, providing pedestrians and cyclists with better access to riverfront recreation opportunities, including the Border-to-Border Trail, while addressing flooding issues.

The City Council voted 10-0 Monday night, Aug. 15, to accept nearly $300,000 in federal grant funding for the first phase of the project.

"We've now accepted the funding to do the design phase. Once the design phase is done, then we get to the implementation part. That's when it will become really cool," said City Council Member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward.

The city has been awarded a hazard mitigation grant that's expected to pay for 75 percent of the flood-mitigation portion of the work to design railroad berm openings at the outlet of the Allen Creek, which is buried in underground pipes and discharges stormwater to the Huron River near Argo Dam.

Heavy rains on Aug. 11, 2010, left East Summit Street, between Fourth Avenue and Main Street near Wheeler Park, flooded with water that was knee-high in some spots.

Earlier this spring, the city was invited by the Michigan State Police's emergency management division to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency grant funding. In late June, the MSP provided the city with a FEMA grant agreement for the first phase of a two-phase project to create the openings.

Phase one consists of the engineering design, development of construction plans and preparation of the Phase 2 grant application.

If the Phase 2 application is accepted, the city will receive additional FEMA funding toward the actual construction, which is expected to occur in 2018. The design phase is expected to take about a year.

The city's North Main-Huron River Corridor Vision Task Force recommended the project in September 2013, suggesting a passage to allow pedestrian access through the berm should be built north of Depot Street between Fourth Avenue and Main Street. It could become part of the future Allen Creek Greenway and connect with a future park area on the now-vacant MichCon site owned by DTE Energy on the south side of the river next to the Broadway bridges.

"For now, we have to work with the surrounding land owners, determine the best route, talk with the public, redetermine the best route, make certain we've thought this whole thing through, drawn it up, and then submit to FEMA again to get the funding to build," said Briere, who served on the task force.

Briere said the city will be talking to private property owners in the area, including First Martin Corp. and Peter Allen, about potential pedestrian access points.

"All that land is privately owned after all, so we will have to work with property owners about allowing the public to use it," she said. "Peter Allen owns property in one direction. First Martin owns property in another direction, and First Martin has voiced an unwillingness to allow the public to cross their parking lot. Peter Allen has voiced a willingness to encourage the public to cross his. But it all depends on what the best route is and what negotiations have to take place."

The FEMA grant funding is expected to cover 75 percent of the stormwater portion of the project in both phases. Matching funds for the grant have been established in the city's approved Capital Improvement Plan.

The total project cost is estimated at $4.3 million, which includes $1.2 million for the non-motorized transportation components.

The cost of creating accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists is not included in the FEMA grant.

Funding for the non-motorized transportation portion of Phase 1 has been programmed in the city's alternative transportation capital budget.

Funding for Phase 2 of the non-motorized portion has several potential funding sources, including a potential grant through the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Those details will be determined prior to the Phase 2 FEMA grant application, according to a memo prepared by Jerry Hancock, the city's stormwater and floodplain programs coordinator, who is handling grant management.

The design phase of the project is estimated to cost $548,000 with $293,899 covered by the FEMA grant, $97,966 from the city's stormwater funds, and $156,135 in transportation funds.

The construction phase is estimated to cost $3.76 million, with more than $2 million coming from FEMA pending Phase 2 approval, $673,421 from the city's stormwater funds, and $1.06 million in transportation funds.

In 2007, the City Council approved a flood mitigation plan, and one of the recommendations was to study the Allen Creek railroad berm.

In 2013, the city and its consultant, OHM Advisors, completed a feasibility study to determine if it was possible to create openings in the railroad berm to accommodate passage of floodwaters and to allow pedestrians to cross safely under the railroad to get to the park facilities to the north. The study determined the project was feasible and a preferred concept was selected and deemed acceptable to MDOT, which owns the railroad.

The study found it's possible to lower the floodplain elevation in the area by as much as 6.5 feet.

By doing so, 31 structures would have reduced flood risk and some would no longer be within the floodplain, and substantial reductions in flood insurance rates could be realized by affected properties, Hancock wrote in a memo.

Council Member Julie Grand was absent Monday night.

Read other Ann Arbor City Council stories.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City man is facing a pair of felonies just months after he was placed on parole.

About 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10, police responded an apartment in the 4000 block of Cambria Drive for a domestic violence complaint. They met with a 29-year-old woman who told them on July 26, she was at the home of her husband, 30-year-old Creighton R. McCullough. Upset over McCullough talking on the phone to another woman, the complainant threw a drink on him, she told police.

McCullough then grew upset when his wife was receiving Facebook messages from another man, the wife said. McCullough proceeded to hit her in the side of her head and choked her, she told police.

"I was afraid to call the police at the time it happened," she said, according to court files. "I couldn't go into work, because I couldn't hide the bruising. I'm pretty sure I had a concussion."

The woman said she did not visit a hospital. She added she is scared for her life. Though the injuries were no longer visible when she spoke with police, she showed them photographs she took the day after of the alleged assault.

Police went to McCullough's house and spoke with him. He said he had an argument with his wife after she threw a drink on him, but declined to say more and asked for an attorney, court records show.

As officers arrested him, they found a small package of suspected cocaine in his shorts pockets. Officers later tested the substance at the Bay County Law Enforcement Center. The results indicated the substance was cocaine.

McCullough on Thursday, Aug. 11, appeared in Bay County District Court for arraignment on single counts of domestic violence, third offense, and possession of less than 25 grams of a narcotic or cocaine, second offense. The charges are five- and eight-year felonies, respectively.

McCullough is to appear for a preliminary examination before District Judge Mark E. Janer at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25.

The Michigan Department of Corrections paroled McCullough on March 17. In December 2012, a Bay County judge sentenced McCullough to 23 months to 20 years in prison on convictions of felon in possession of a firearm and delivering or manufacturing less than 50 grams of a narcotic or cocaine. Before that, he served prison time for third-degree home invasion and domestic violence, third offense.
BAY CITY, MI -- A former manager of the Prime Event Center has filed a federal race discrimination lawsuit against Bay City's manager and its top police officials, alleging the city's police department pressured owners of the facility to terminate their contract with him because he's black.

Choice Causey filed the lawsuit against Bay City Manager Rick Finn, Bay City Public Safety Director Michael Cecchini and Assistant Director Thomas Pletzke in U.S. District Court last month. He's seeking in excess of $25,000 for various damages, including a loss of income by not being able to run the event center and non-economic damages, such as humiliation, embarrassment and mental anguish. Causey is represented by Saginaw attorney Victor Mastromarco Jr.

The Bay City Commission on Monday, Aug. 15, received the summons for the lawsuit, voting to send it to the Michigan Municipal League for review.

Causey entered into a lease agreement on March 1 with Dore Real Estate LLC to manage and operate the Prime Event Center, 1201 Washington Ave., a venue known for hosting professional fights and concerts. According to court records, Causey had secured "a number of rental agreements."

After signing the lease agreement, Causey alleges, Bay City police officials began to "administer pressure" on the owners of Dore Real Estate to terminate their contract with him. Dore Real Estate is owned by longtime Bay City businessman Art Dore.

Specifically, Causey said Pletzke, Bay City's assistant public safety director, told him that it was "his intention to run (Causey) out of town" and brought up a 2002 lawsuit that Causey filed against the city and several police officers, including Pletzke, alleging similar discrimination.

Sometime between March and July, Dore notified Causey that his contract to run the Prime was being terminated. According to the lawsuit complaint, Dore told Causey that Bay City's manager and its police department were "on his ass" to terminate his contract because they believed he was having gangs promote upcoming events.

Dore said Monday, Aug. 15, that Bay City police officials approached him with concerns about Causey, but that his contract was terminated because Causey wasn't paying his rent.

"The fact is, he didn't live up to his contract," Dore said. "He didn't pay, that's it. I don't know anything about all of that other stuff."

Dore said his team is back to managing the day-to-day operations of the Prime.

In his lawsuit, Causey says he operated the Prime in a lawful manner consistent with the business' past practices "when it had been managed by caucasians." He argues Bay City police "abused their badge of authority" by discriminating against him because of his race and as a form of retaliation for his previously filed lawsuit, which was ultimately settled.

Finn, Bay City's manager, and Cecchini, the city's public safety director, declined to comment for this story. Finn said it's customary for the city not to comment on active litigation.
BAY CITY, MI -- Days after his 25th birthday, a Bay City man found himself charged with a dozen offenses stemming from an alleged heroin-fueled crime spree, largely against the mother of his newborn child.

Bay County District Magistrate Janice E. Doner on Monday, Aug. 15, arraigned Zachary L. Rodriguez on the following charges:

Possession of less than 25 grams of a narcotic or cocaine, a four-year felony.

First-degree home invasion, a 20-year felony.

Second-degree home invasion, a 15-year felony.

Two counts of third-degree home invasion, a five-year felony.

Two counts of unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle, a five-year felony.

Larceny between $200 and $1,000, a one-year misdemeanor.

Domestic violence, second offense, a one-year misdemeanor.

Domestic violence, third offense, a five-year felony.

Assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police, a two-year felony.

Malicious destruction of a building less than $200, a one-year misdemeanor.

The charges are contained in eight files.

The first incident dates to July 13, when police responded to a domestic violence complaint at a home in the 700 block of Michigan Avenue. A 36-year-old woman told officers Rodriguez, the father of their 1-month-old baby, had slapped her when she refused to drive him to Saginaw to buy heroin, court records show. He then took the car keys of her 84-year-old grandfather, who lives in a separate unit at the building, and drove off in his 2003 Buick LeSabre, court records show.

In the wee hours of July 30, police again responded to the address on a complaint that Rodriguez allegedly broke into the home and started rummaging for cash. The woman's grandfather gave Rodriguez $20 to leave, court records show.

About 12:30 p.m. that day, the woman went to a cousin's house to tend to her dog when Rodriguez approached her, beat her, took her cellphone, car keys, and $200 in cash, the woman told police

Several hours later, police located Rodriguez driving in the LeSabre and initiated a traffic stop. Rodriguez took off running on foot and managed to get away, though the car was retrieved, court records show.

On two occasions separated by several hours on Thursday, Aug. 11, police responded to the woman's home for reports of Rodriguez again breaking into it. In the later incident, which occurred about 2:15 p.m., Rodrigurez allegedly kicked in the house door and stole $700 from the woman's grandfather and about $60 from her, court records show.

A Michigan State Police Fugitive Team arrested Rodriguez Friday, Aug. 12. Rodriguez had a morphine pill in his possession at the time, court records show.

"This is a lot of files to accumulate in a very short period of time," Magistrate Doner told Rodriguez at his arraignment. She added Rodriguez had already been court-ordered not to have any contact with his ex-girlfriend, the victim in most of the files.

Rodriguez was free on bond when the incidents occurred. In April, he pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence, second offense, and is to be sentenced on those offenses by District Judge Mark E. Janer on Friday, Aug. 26.

Doner set Rodriguez's bond at $250,000 cash-surety. Rodriguez is to appear for a preliminary examination before Judge Janer at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1.
BANGOR TWP., MI - Residents along the Kawkawlin River woke up Tuesday to new and unwelcomed "islands" on the waterway -- a series of floating grass clumps, the largest of which is about 20-feet in diameter, had appeared overnight.

It has become somewhat of a familiar sight over the past few months to those whose homes, backyards and private piers line each side of the river, although longtime resident John VanOchten says this is the first year he's seen the phenomenon.

Glenn Rowley, vice president of the Kawkawlin River Watershed Association, says the clumps, which residents are calling "grass islands," are caused by debris from wetlands that grow when the water level is low, then wash down the river during windy storms, such as the one that hit Bay County and a large portion of Michigan early Tuesday morning.

During such storms, especially nor'easters, these wetland grasses are broken off their roots and carried downriver where they become intertwined, creating wide masses that can cause navigational problems for boaters, fishers and kayakers.

VanOchten says the issue is especially troublesome near the former rail bridge near State Park Drive, where the grass islands can become caught on leftover concrete supports and have, at points, blocked the entire width of the river.

As the wind carries the clumps in, VanOchten has observed, runoff from the same storms that brought them can cause the current to push them in the other direction. The result is a single growing mass that moves up and down the river.

Rowley says the watershed association is looking for ways to deal with the issue, which is complicated due to wetland protection laws.

"Did mother nature pull a permit to move the wetlands?" Rowley said. "This has become quite a hotbed for people to fish and kayak... we're trying to put together a plan on how to deal with it."

In the meantime, residents have taken the issue into their own hands, using paddleboats to push the islands out of the way and warning other boaters who may be unfamiliar with the area.
BAY CITY, MI -- A 29-year-old physician assistant is facing criminal charges after allegedly writing and selling prescriptions for profit and for her own use.

The Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team, or BAYANET, began investigating Kelly L. Beelman in the summer after a tipster contacted them, claiming Beelman was writing prescriptions to people who hadn't seen a doctor. The tipster went on to say the people Beelman wrote prescriptions for would sell the drugs on the street, and would fill Ambien prescriptions for Beelman and give them to her, court records show.

At the time, Beelman was working at Mid Michigan Medical Corp., 863 N. Pine Road in Hampton Township, court records show.

The tipster told police that in May, her husband obtained a prescription for Ambien from Beelman, had it filled for 30 pills, then gave them to Beelman for $80, court records show.

Acting on investigators' behalf, the source on July 11 went to Beelman's Essexville home and obtained three prescriptions from her for 240 tablets of Tramadol, 30 tablets of Zolpidem, and 30 tablets of Loratadine, court records show. The prescriptions were written on Mid Michigan Medical Corp. forms.

Two days later, police went to a local pharmacy and had the Tramadol prescription filled, court records show.

In the course of their investigation, police learned Beelman had been investigated in 2015 on similar allegations, but charges were dismissed in exchange for Beelman pleading guilty to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a drug. A Bay County judge on March 21, 2016, sentenced her to one year of probation on that offense.

On July 15, police in Hampton Township arrested Beelman after she was involved in a traffic crash, court records show. She was arraigned on one count of operating while intoxicated, second offense.

Authorities issued a warrant for Beelman's arrest on the prescriptions on Friday, Aug. 12.

Bay County District Magistrate Janice E. Doner on Monday, Aug. 15, arraigned Beelman on two counts of controlled substance-licensee prescription violations, second offense, and one count of false prescription. The first charge is a four-year felony, while the latter is a 90-day misdemeanor.

Defense attorney Jason Ball appeared at the arraignment on Beelman's behalf and requested a reasonable bond. Doner set bond at $5,000 cash-surety or 10 percent.

Beelman is to appear for a preliminary examination at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
WEST BRANCH TWP, MI -- Police are investigating the death of an Ogemaw County man, killed in an apparent tree-removal accident.

About 3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 15., Michigan State Police troopers responded to the site in West Branch Township.

Jared Kaltenbach, 24, was working with an assistant on a tree-removal job, troopers report. Kaltenbach was wearing a climbing harness and a hard hat and was secured to the tree about 50 feet above the ground.

"When attempting to fell the tree, the tree trunk broke and struck Mr. Kaltenbach," troopers wrote in a press release. The incident caused fatal injuries to Kaltenbach.

Troopers were assisted by Ogemaw County EMS, Ogemaw County sheriff's deputies, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, West Branch Fire Department and the City of West Branch Department of Public Works.
Only about 10 percent of the places serving liquor in the country are legally allowed to do so, tourism experts say, and while the widespread availability of unlicensed premises serving drinks is costing the local economy in unpaid taxes, the Ministry of Home Affairs refuses to issue more licences.





The Liquor and Tax Department, under the home affairs ministry, has issued only 41,153 liquor licences for the whole country, U Khin Aung Htun, joint secretary of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, told The Myanmar Times in a recent interview.

Many hoteliers believe the right to serve liquor is granted as part of the hotel licence issued by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, but they are wrong, he said. A separate licence to serve alcohol must be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Bagan has only four licensed restaurants and about 30 hotels with a licence to serve drinks. All the others operate on the basis of an understanding with township administrators, he added, hinting at a below-the-counter system.

And he said only one in every 10 of Yangon watering holes is legally licensed, contributing to a shortfall in tax duty.

Many bar owners allowed their licences to lapse when taxes were put up at the end of March 2015, preferring to strike a deal with understanding local officials, he added.

He would like to see the government bring in a policy that would encourage hoteliers and bar owners to get a licence and reduce the tax losses.





Restaurant and bar owners must pay income tax based on their net profits, as well as collecting a 5 percent commercial tax on each sale from customers.

Income tax of 5pc is payable on net profits from K2-K5 million, 10pc on profits worth K5-K10 million, 15pc on profits worth K10-K20 million, 20pc on profits between K20-K30 million and 25pc on profits of more than K30 million, according to the Internal Revenue Department.

Another problem, according to U Khin Aung Htun, is that the black market for liquor sales can drive up prices.

Some owners bribe an administrator instead of paying for a licence. But they can end up paying more because theyre afraid of being arrested. They then put up the price of the drinks to cover the cost and everybody loses out  the bar owner, the customer and the tax office.

The wine and spirits sold in such places also often enter the country

illegally, since the law forbids imports of foreign liquor except to duty-free shops at international airports, he said.

The country will keep losing money over this issue as long as alcohol is being imported illegally. But [the government] also has to crack down on people who break the law. He said the temptation to distil fake alcohol could bring health risks, and that the current system perpetuated corruption.

For U Myo Win Nyunt, a director at the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, the problem is likely to grow as more tourists travel to the country.

The ministry expects as many as 7.5 million tourists a year to visit by 2020, and as formerly closed parts of the country in Kayin, Kayah and Chin states open up to tourists, the problem of unlicenced hotels will no longer be limited to Yangon and Bagan.

We grant about seven hotel licences each month, U Myo Win Nyunt said. As of the end of July, we had already issued licences to 1361 hotels with 53,355 rooms. An international-standard hotel will have restaurants and bars, which require separate liquor licences, so we need a better

policy.

But the tourism and home affairs ministries are directly odds over this question, with the Ministry of Home Affairs trying to keep the number of licences down, and the Ministry of Tourism wanting to attract more visitors.

Policy at the Ministry of Home Affairs policy deters hoteliers from applying for a liquor licence, said one distributor, asking to remain

anonymous.

People who want to open a bar, restaurant or hotel have to get hold of a CS2A licence. They can buy a K200,000 licence on the black market for K2 million and trade it for an FL17 licence with the help of a friendly township administrator for another K8 or K10 million. That will allow them to trade imported liquor and wine, but not draught beer.

The home affairs ministry is not selling any new liquor licences for the time being, which means that all new licences must be bought on the black market.

A CS2A licence covers only locally made alcohol, while an FL17 allows the bearer to sell imported liquor, wine and beer. For the sale of draught beer, a separate licence known as FL9 is required, for an annual fee of K1.2

million.

All of these allow consumption on the premises. For home consumption, from supermarkets and liquor stores, a retailer can pay K1.5 million for an FL12 licence, or a wholesaler can pay K3 million for an FL11. A recent crackdown on unlicensed sales of draught beer has left many beer stations out of pocket.

Tourism ministry director U Myint U said, Hoteliers complain to us that the Ministry of Home Affairs takes too long to deal with their licence applications. Sometimes theyre rejected even though we have recommended approval.

Bar owners meanwhile are still smarting from a ban on late-hours drinking.

One owner said, The law requires us to close at 9pm, but the police used not to bother us until 11, unless the authorities wanted to set an example. But everyone knows that some places stay open all night.
For more than a century Myanmar companies have been regulated by the colonial-era Myanmar Companies Act of 1914. The law shares similarities with company laws from other former British colonies such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong  yet while they have updated their laws to reflect the realities of modern businesses, the Myanmar Companies Act has remained largely frozen in time.





Today, Myanmar is transforming rapidly into a democratic, market-based economy that is among the fastest-growing in the world. Change is sweeping the corporate sector. The Yangon Securities Exchange opened last year under the newly established Myanmar Securities Exchange Commission. The Financial Institutions Law passed by the Union parliament this year is helping modernise the banking sector. Separate foreign and Myanmar citizen investments laws are being merged to encourage greater

investment.

With these developments, more domestic and international investors are gaining the confidence to set up businesses, which could contribute much needed funding, technology, knowledge and job opportunities to the economy.

To maintain momentum and further build investor confidence, however, a clear and stable legal framework for company affairs is important. A robust Companies Law can instil sound corporate practices that safeguard investors, creditors and other stakeholders in companies ranging from small businesses to large conglomerates.

For example, the reporting and disclosure requirements for companies usually imposed under the company law, if properly applied, would bring much-needed transparency and accountability to Myanmar companies performance.

The current Companies Act provides a solid framework for corporate regulation, but it also contains many outdated requirements. Companies are required to seek presidential approval to change their names, and court approval to change business objectives. Directors legal duties are not clearly set out and companies cannot easily alter their share capital to reflect business needs.

Sections of the law no longer in use have not been removed, creating uncertainty for users. The law also lacks proper sanctions and enforcement mechanisms to regulate corporate conduct. The penalties and fines specified in the law were last updated in 1989 and reflect prices from 25 years ago.

But change is coming. The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), with assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has prepared a new Myanmar Companies Law.





The law will govern the registration, ownership, management and internal affairs of all companies in Myanmar, and reflect tried and tested reforms from the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.

The draft law, expected to be submitted to parliament for approval in the coming months, is designed to streamline company management and administration, strengthen governance and enforcement, and make Myanmar firms more competitive and attractive to investors.

Key reforms include the introduction of single-shareholder and single-director companies  meaning Myanmars individual business owners will no longer have to find a partner to form a company. More flexible capital structures and changes to share capital will allow companies to raise or reduce capital with fewer procedural requirements.

Small and family-owned business will be the main beneficiaries of simpler company administration requirements, which will lower compliance costs. The law introduces written resolutions of directors and shareholders in place of meetings and now recognises electronic communication methods. Small companies will no longer be required to hold annual general meetings or prepare audited annual financial statements, except in limited circumstances.

Corporate governance standards will be raised, which for public companies will help build confidence in the newly established Yangon Securities Exchange. The proposed law will also make it easier for Myanmars public companies to attract new investment, technology and knowhow by permitting foreign investors to own shares. The government will be able to set a higher threshold for when a Myanmar company with foreign shareholders will be considered a foreign company.

All these changes are aimed at spurring entrepreneurship and greater business activity by providing the flexibility to form and manage companies based on market conditions. Lower compliance costs, particularly for small and family businesses, reflect the new governments priority of supporting small and medium enterprises, creating opportunities and jobs, and increasing transparency and the rule of law.

The new law will also supportthe much-needed reform of state-owned enterprises by providing a legal framework for corporatisation and improved corporate governance. This will be an important step toward enhancing the transparency and accountability of public administration.

Once approved, the law will be complemented by a new electronic companies registry containing all company documents filed with DICA.

While the Myanmar companies registry has come a long way in the past three years  it now takes one or two days and costs K500,000 (US$425) to register a local company, compared to six months and K50 million in 2011  the government is striving to do even better.

The new electronic registry, to be established with ADB assistance, will provide an efficient and cost-effective way for companies to meet compulsory reporting requirements. Publically accessible online 24 hours a day, the registry will also promote unprecedented transparency.

These transformative changes will help Myanmar make rapid strides in improving its business environment in line with neighbouring countries. They will send an important message to local and international investors  the new Myanmar is now open for business.

Aung Naing Oo is director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, the registrar of companies in Myanmar. Winfried Wicklein is the Asian Development Banks country director in Myanmar.
Myanmar Citizens Bank  soon to be the first lender listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange  named its reliance on the Ministry of Commerce as a major risk to its business model in disclosure documents published last week.





The ministry, which founded MCB in 1992, has reduced its holdings in the lender to around 10 percent but the bank still enjoys huge commercial advantages as a result of this relationship, and the possibility the commerce ministry could sell its holdings is a key risk to MCBs business, the firm said.

The ministry founded the bank mainly to process foreign exchange for exporters, and still owned the majority of shares in the lender as recently as 2012. Along with the share sales, the ministrys influence over the bank  at least on paper  has also declined. Until this year, it held a separate class of shares to the 90pc held by the general public.

These special Class A shares allowed it to appoint five of the banks 15 directors and the managing director. But the Central Bank of Myanmar and the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration approved the removal of this distinction between Class A and Class B shares in May.

If the ministry is an ordinary shareholder on paper, however, the reality is very different. MCB published its disclosure document last week ahead of its debut on August 26, and listed the possibility that the ministry could sell its shares as one of the main risks to its business.

The government ministry has helped the bank build relationships with government officials and other important persons inside and outside Myanmar, MCB said. But there is also a commercial arrangement whereby MCB collects import-export license fees from trades on behalf of the ministry.

MCB has partnered with the ministry to create an e-payment system that allows importers and exporters with an account at MCB to pay their licence fees to the Ministry of Commerce online or at an MCB branch, rather than physically travelling to Nay Pyi Taw.





This has allowed MCB to vastly expand its customer base, the bank said.

Customer deposits rose from K26.2 billion in March 31 2015, to K41.1 billion at the same point this year  a 56pc increase. The top 10 depositors account for over 37pc of the banks total deposits, according to the disclosure document, but they are not named.

There is no formal arrangement with the ministry or even a contractual agreement for MCB to collect the licence fees, however. The ministry is also planning on drastically reducing the number of goods that require an import licence.

But as the service charge MCB collects for processing traders licence fees provides less than 1pc of the banks total income, any change to licence requirements would not hit the banks bottom line, MCB said.

The commercial agreement does provide a platform for the lender to rapidly expand its customer base. If the ministry sold its shares then the business relationships and commercial arrangements may no longer be available, and MCBs profitability could suffer, the disclosure document said.

MCBs net profit after tax has more than doubled across the last three financial years, from K2.51 billion in 2013-14 to K5.3 billion in 2015-16. The bank said the rise in profits was partly down to new activities like pledge loans  requiring physical collateral that is not land or buildings  and an expansion of hire purchase loans.

But a ramp-up in share capital  from K18.2 billion at the end of the 2013-14 financial year to K49.8 billion as the end of March this year  has also helped profits, it said.

For the financial year ending in March, 36pc of the banks private sector loans were to the trading sector, with services the second-largest recipient with 27pc and the industrial sector receiving 22pc of MCB loans.

The bank had 13 accounts with non-performing loans in the most recent financial year, amounting to K3 billion. This gave an NPL ratio  the NPL figure as a percentage of total loans  of 2.69pc.

MCB has three classifications of non-performing loan, beginning with sub-standard where defaults on payments of interest or principle have lasted for six months. The bank said it will eventually adopt the Central Banks revised NPL definitions, which begin with watch loans where there are defaults on interest or principle for 31 days.

With K49.8 billion in share capital the bank has almost reached its target of K50 billion in paid-up capital, which will help MCB fund a planned branch expansion.

The number of MCB branches rose from three to 21 between 2010 and 2016, and the bank is aiming to establish another 50 branches in the next five years.

It also plans to hire foreign bankers with international expertise to mitigate the risk of losing senior management to rival banks, it added.

Of the banks 10.4 million shares, 4.45 million are held by individuals on the board of directors or key executives. Potential investors often look at the floating stock of a particular company. This is the number of shares available for trading  the total number of shares minus those held by major shareholders, employees and company insiders.

In the case of MCB the floating stock will be around 42pc. U Tun Tun, chief financial officer of First Myanmar Investment, estimated that his company  the first to list on the exchange  listed with a floating stock of 25-26pc.

The directors and executive officers of Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings  the second firm to list on the YSX  held 46 percent of total shares when that firm launched its shares on the exchange, according to MTSHs disclosure document.
Taung Pyone village has once again erupted into a carnival of song, dance and fake eyelashes





The farming town near Mandalay hosts Myanmars largest nat (spirit) festival this week  where pilgrims from across the country converge to seek favour from these otherworldly beings.

Renowned and amateur natkadaws, or spirit mediums, have set up hundreds of shrines along muddy Taung Pyone roads to hold court with the some of the official 37 central nats and many other regional spirits.

Most of the natkadaws are homosexual or transvestite men as they are seen to possess the requisite powers of nat communication.

We are the bridge to the nats, said Aung Moe Kyaw, a gay natkadaw who has been in the business for 20 years. We know how to pay respect to them.

A central part of the festival involves small gatherings in bamboo huts where the natkadaws call on individual nat spirits to visit this realm.

The Myanmar Times was invited to attend several of these ceremonies.





Surrounded by offerings such as roast chicken and bananas, natkadaws would enter a voodoo-like trance, and then emerge with a specific nat inhabiting them.

One spent hours as Ko Gyi Kyaw  a nat with an infamous penchant for alcohol, cigarettes and, occasionally, gambling.

Speaking as Ko Gyi Kyaw, the natkadaw drunkenly prophesied between swigs of rum which he shared among the crowd. Bottles emptied out and piled up.

Sometimes I remember what happens [during the trance], sometimes I dont  Its the nat talking, not me, he said after proceedings.

Messages from the various nats ranged from the hopeful to the hopeless.

Attendees were told who would have success in business and who would not. Some faced the prospect of unfaithful partners. Some would have their parents pass away.

An unfortunate woman found out that her son would likely fail his exams and her divorced daughter would not remarry. But this was not a foregone conclusion. An offering of 26 plants to a specific shrine may alter the course of events.

Ma Than Nu, a softly spoken 49-year-old, travelled 550 kilometres (340 miles) to attend the festival. I have severe joint pains, she said So I talk [and make offerings] to the nats.

While health and welfare were topics of intrigue, one natkadaw was blunt: Most people just want to be rich, he said.

At one gathering, this reporter even received the concerning  or exciting?  news from a natkadaw that not one but three children may be on the horizon.

The sheer volume of gay spirit mediums and generally raucous atmosphere means the festival has turned into something of a gay pride event over recent years.

We dont dress up like this in Yangon but we can here, said Kaung Htet Oo, a 20-year old natkadaw-in-training.

Kaung Htet Oo came to Taung Pyone with two other 20-something apprentice natkadaws. When speaking to The Myanmar Times, the group was testing out which kind of makeup would look best for their upcoming music performance.

Its a lot of fun, Kaung Htet said before being reminded by his natkadaw mentor about the seriousness of the event.

The music performances at Taung Pyone are wild affairs. Natkadaws twirl to the clash and clang of traditional music while onlookers pin wads of cash on the performers  with the hope of ensuring good luck in the years ahead.

At moments of crescendo, smaller amounts of money are thrown back to the crowd, eliciting screams of happiness.

On August 14, one of the festivals most important days, visitors could barely speak to each other due to the cacophony from music performances throughout the grounds.

The eight-day festival will end on the August 18 full moon. Taung Pyone will again return to being just another quiet Myanmar village  save for some leftover glitter here and there.

 Translation by Khin Su Wai
Even down here in Yangon, they say youre never more than 100 yards from a Shan noodle shop. Or at least, thats the way it sometimes seems.





Shan noodles are good for breakfast as well as lunch, and wherever you live you dont need to go all the way downtown in search of them.

Noodle salads, Shan noodles with or without soup, meeshay salad, myay oh meeshay (noodles cooked in an earthenware pot), malar curry, malar noodle, Shan kneaded rice: All abound. Shan foods are sold not only in street stalls but also in sit-down shops. The chef may be Shan, but people from upper Myanmar called Anyarthar also cook Shan-style food.

If you like Shan and Shan-style foods, try Tant Yann Shan Traditional Foods on Mitta Street in South Okkalapa for a unique spin on the region: Wa.

Run by Wa entrepreneurs, Tant Yann offers traditional Wa mote ti among a range of Shan foods on offer.

The dish is a staple of northern Shan State, inescapable at ceremonies of any description, including weddings. It tastes like Shan noodles in soup and, like many home-cooked favourites, can vary considerably from place to place in terms of ingredients and degrees of spiciness. Even the name might change from one village to the next. But wherever you go, and whatever they call it, you can bet it will be hot, sour and spicy.





The noodles are best made by kneading flour, paste and eggs instead of using the ready-made variety. The main ingredients are tomato sauce made with ground chilli and poppy seeds. Fry the garlic to taste in sweet-smelling oil and fish sauce while boiling water as if for mohinga gravy. Place your hsan zi mishay noodles in the boiling water and drizzle the tomato sauce and sweet oil while sprinkling the poppy seeds. For more spice, and more authentic local flavour, add fried chilli and coriander, Ma Nan Sai Ohn from Tant Yan Shan noodle shop advised.

Tant Yan itself has a house tomato sauce already made up in its sparkling-clean kitchen and mixes it with chicken soup at the customers command. This being Yangon, the chef will add chicken or pork gravy if asked, though it would not normally come with this dish in the mountains. There is no MSG. The price is K1500-K2000 per bowl.

Weve been open three years. We didnt think Wa mote ti would go down well here, but customers keep ordering it, said Nan Sai Ohn.

For those who cant make it to Wa region to try the snack, the shop is open for lunch and dinner.

 Translation by San Layy
When the news finally made its way to her home in Tanintharyi Region, Daw Phyu Khine knew she had to go to Yangon. Having no better plan, she went out to Yangon Airport and waited in the arrivals hall on August 8, hope and anxiety vying in her face.





The hopes were dashed, however. Her son was not on the flight bringing back the migrant workers from Malaysia, from where they had been rescued. Now the waiting, and the anxiety, will have to go on a lot longer.

My son was not included [in the first batch]. I hope he will be soon, she said, looking on as those who did return queued up before the immigration counter. To be sure, though, she waited until the last of them, formalities completed, left the airport.

Her son went to Malaysia to look for a job. She lost touch with him about two years ago after hearing hed been detained for illegally overstaying his visa.

One of his friends told me. But I didnt know how to contact him, she said. I came to the airport today on the off-chance of seeing him because I saw the news about the repatriation, she said.

Many people are in the same position as Daw Phyu Khine. According to the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation, about 4000 Myanmar migrant workers are sent legally to Malaysia every month, nearly 50,000 a year. The number of workers who go illegally is thought to be higher. Many of them are arrested, imprisoned and then sent to immigration camps around Malaysia.

And many of those who started out legal become illegal because of the cost and complexities of renewing their status. Complaints have also surfaced about cheating by agencies that are supposedly helping them with the paperwork.

Ko Kyaw Zin, a senior member of the Malaysia-based Kepong Free Funeral Service, said many legal workers became illegal are then detained. We call them ghosts because their existence is invisible, he said.





The detained workers have to spend at least two months in the camps, with most remaining there for more than a year. Returning workers say they were given boiled gourd and rice to eat, issued with 20 litres of

water a day for all purposes, and confined about 80 to a room measuring 40 feet (12 metres) square.

Because of communications problems and a lack of liaison with the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, detained migrant workers risk being held there for much longer than the term of their sentence, as well as losing all contact with their families, says Ko Mya Min Htike, who was detained for more than five months in Belentik camp.

Detention in a camp is normal after completion of a jail sentence. You are supposed to be able to contact the embassy, which will help you return home, but the embassy visits only once a month. The citizenship verification process is subject to delays. Detainees can spend at least two months in the camps, he said.

Ma Shoon Lae Lae Khine, now 17, was detained for more than a year in Tenah Merah camp. She said she was from Mawlamyine, Mon State, and went to Malaysia when she was only 13 to work in a shop for two years. She was arrested, jailed for one month for illegal immigration and then sent to the camp after her release.

Because she told officials she was 18, she was sent to an adult camp.

Though she said she had given her name to a visiting Myanmar embassy official, she had lost contact with her family. Im not sure if my family still lives in our village. We lost contact so long ago. I dont know when I can go back either. When I do, Ill have to stay with a friend I made in the camp, she said.

Labour and immigration minister U Thein Swe said the protracted citizen verification procedures had held back the governments efforts to repatriate detained Myanmar migrant workers. Were visiting camps around Malaysia to meet with detained Myanmar migrant workers and to verify their citizenship in order to repatriate them as soon as possible, said a spokesperson for the Myanmar embassy in Malaysia.

If they are confirmed as a citizen and want to go home, we take action as best we can, the official added. The embassy says it knows of more than 2000 Myanmar migrant workers detained in 11 camps in Malaysia.

Last month, the Presidents Office announced that Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would visit Malaysia this month and would meet Myanmar migrant workers there. This would be her first visit to Malaysia, the second-biggest destination for Myanmar migrant workers after Thailand.

Ko Kyaw Zin of the Kepong Free Funeral Service said the plight of migrant workers in Malaysia was more complicated than that in Thailand, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyis visit could help detainees.

Detainees are like ghosts because its hard to prove they really exist. I think the condition of migrant workers will improve once she is able to see the real situation, he said.

According to the Myanmar embassy in Malaysia, more than 12,000 Myanmar migrant workers have been repatriated since 2015. Last month, 300 detained workers were repatriated with funding from some Malaysia-based organisations. The Myanmar government launched its own repatriation plan on August 8, bringing home 130 detainees.

Daw Phyu Khine still hopes for the swift return of her son. I hope he can come home, she said, if hes still alive.
The Myanmar Poets Union raised more than K14 million for flood victims and measles patients over a one-week period by selling hand-written poems and drawings by Myanmar artists, said Ma Eain Dra, who is charge of the organisations finances.





On August 10, artists took to Facebook, advertising their poetry, writing or paintings for sale to benefit flood victims in Bago Region and those who have contracted measles in the Naga Self-Administered Zone.

We asked famous artists to sell their paintings and donate the proceeds, said Ma Eain Dra.

On August 14 the union hosted a charity event at Yangons Taw Win Centre during which artists sold their art and requested donations. About half the donated money was raised at that event, according Myanmar Poets Union secretary Ko Wayy Khaung.

I think those who bought our art and contributed are art lovers, philanthropists or maybe both, he said.

Poet Yoe Myay raised nearly K1 million through the sale of just four poems.

Although I did not really write the poems to make money, I consider the money earned from these poems to be very pure, he said. I am really glad to be able to contribute to the flood victims by using my poems.

The donated money will provide rice packs, oil bottles and purified drinking water to 12 villages and eight monasteries in Monyo township in Bago Region. The remainder will go to Sagaing Regions Naga area, which has suffered a measles outbreak, said Ma Eain Dra.





Social media like Facebook is very effective in fostering communication so we took advantage of this to do a good deed, she said. As poets, we are concerned with every problem facing the country so we did what we could.

More than 470,000 people are suffering as the result of flooding across six regions and two states, according to an August 14 report from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. Many people, including children, have contracted measles since the middle of July.
The Myanmar ASEAN Youth Organization will hold events focused on the development of education and the environment in its 2016-18 strategic plan, Myanmar branch president Ko Min Waiyan Win Ko said yesterday.





We will cooperate with the government when we implement the strategic plan, especially when it comes to environmental and educational development, he said.

The organisation is open to male volunteers aged 17 to 40, with committee members being 18 to 35.

We plan to start a two-month rainforest project as part of the environmental mission by cooperating with the local, concerned organisations in Myanmar, said ASEAN Youth Organization president Senjaya Mulia.

The organisation hopes to facilitate volunteer experiences, youth empowerment, education, and institutional and civic responsibilities, he said.

The borders of its membership do not end with ASEAN member countries; Japan and Australia are involved as well.

The ASEAN Youth Organization was founded in August 2011 and was reformed in 2013. Today, there are 150 committee members and 3000 volunteers.

The committee forming the Myanmar ASEAN Youth Organization is still small  10 members  but recruitment starts next month, said organisation secretary Ko Zaw Lunn Naung. Interested members can fill out an online form, he said.





The Myanmar ASEAN Youth Organization attended an entrepreneurship training in June with Enactus Canada, the Youth Empowerment Project and ASESEC, a Spanish economic organisation.
Mon nationalists will gather ahead of the 21st-century Panglong Conference late this month in a bid to shore up ethnic solidarity among civil society organisations, the armed group and the political parties that champion the minoritys interests.





The summit is being spearheaded by the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the ethnic armed organisation, and will be held from August 22 to 25 in Kayin States Kya-in Seikkyi township.

U Naing Soe Myint, a central executive committee member of the Mon Democracy Party, confirmed that the meeting will be held next week, with about 250 participants expected.

At the conference, we will focus on discussions about the upcoming 21st-century Panglong [Conference]. We also aim to unite among Mon people and hope to get a resulting Mon nationality agreement, which will reflect the Mon peoples desires and problems, U Naing Soe Myint said.

Mon National Party central executive committee member Mi Nwe Nwe Lin said she was optimistic that participants in next weeks meeting would achieve positive outcomes for the Mon cause.

I hope that the conference could bring together the main needs and voices of the Mon people to then present at the Union Peace Conference, said Mi Nwe Nwe Lin, using an alternative name for the Panglong Conference.

While Mon civil society organisations have already held discussions ahead of the Panglong event  a separate forum will be held concurrent with the peace conference for CSOs from across the country  next weeks conference is intended to bring a broader range of Mon perspectives together.

One stakeholder that is opting out of the gathering, however, is the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), which last week decided not to attend out of concern that the presence of its members might land the party in legal hot water.





Contact with the NMSP, which controls Taung Pauk village where the meeting will take place, is technically illegal as the group is still listed as an unlawful association and subject to provisions of a law of the same name.

Enforcement of the law has been eased since the previous government began a concerted push to sign ceasefires with Myanmars many ethnic armed groups, but indictments under its provisions have still occurred in recent years.

The government last year removed eight non-state armed groups from its list of unlawful associations after they committed to a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement, but the NMSP was among about a dozen ethnic armies that opted not to sign the accord or were denied the opportunity to do so.

AMRDP politicians in Ye and Chaungzone townships have urged the party to reconsider its decision not to join the conference in Kayin State, and have said that if its organisers invite them, they will attend.
A proposal that the government should lobby for the removal of US economic sanctions has been shot down in the lower house, after the motion was submitted by a Union Solidarity and Development Party member.





MP U Than Soe (USDP; Thazi) tabled a proposal yesterday urging the government to strive for lifting US economic sanctions on Myanmar.

The motion received the backing of fellow USDP MP Sai Tun Sein (Mine Pyin/Mong Ping), who said the motion deserved to be discussed.

The NLD-majority Pyithu Hluttaw saw 219 MPs vote against the proposal, with 151 votes being cast in favour, as well as 16 abstentions.

Myanmar has faced economic sanctions from the United States since 1997, when the military regime was singled out for brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement.

U Than Soe pointed to last years democratic elections and the transfer of power facilitated by then-president U Thein Seins government as proof of progress, registering his disappointment that this had not been rewarded by wholesale removal of sanctions.

The US said it will provide help and encourage Myanmars [democratic transition]. But in reality it is found that [the US] is not as good as its word. Sadly, it extended sanctions in May, rather than withdrawing [them], he said.

Sai Tun Sein said sanctions could be considered an impediment to the countrys democratic transformation, which, if lifted, could prove a boon to the economy and foster further political reform.





USDP MP U Maung Myint (Mingin) questioned whether rejecting the proposal outright signified tacit support of ongoing sanctions by the National League for Democracy.

The sanctions are not good for our country. [The NLD] needs to think again if the government really has good intentions for its people, he said.

Shan Nationalities League for Democracy MP Sai Thiha Kyaw (Mine-ye/Mong Yai) said he felt the proposal warranted discussion, and should be put before the parliament.

Rejecting the proposal [in absolute terms] without allowing discussion means we agree with US sanctions on our country, he said.

The NLDs U Hla Moe (Aung Myay Tharzan), secretary of the Pyithu Hluttaw Rights Committee, said the issue of targeted sanctions fell outside parliaments remit.

Theres no reason to put up a proposal for it. And theres no reason to discuss it, because the sanctions are imposed for those who are obstructions to the countrys democratic movements, not for the [whole] country. So the parliament doesnt need to urge to ease them, he said.

If [sanctioned individuals] can conduct themselves well in democratic affairs  the sanctions on them will be lifted.

 Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Diplomatic negotiations are under way to finalise construction for milestones along demarcation lines at Myanmars Thai and Indian border points, vice minister for Foreign Affairs U Kyaw Tin told the lower house yesterday.





In order to leave a good legacy for our next generation, we have been trying to start defining the border as fast as we can, he said. An agreement has been reached to reboot border-defining efforts in the south, as a result of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis recent visit to Thailand in her capacity as Union minister for foreign affairs.

A delegation of Thai officials will visit Myanmar on September 16 and 17 to discuss the undertaking.

The border between Myanmar and Thailand is 1318 miles (2135 kilometres) long, but by 1991 demarcation had only been completed along 36 miles. Renewed efforts between 1993 and 2013 came to naught. Two hundred miles of the border are in line for the first phase of construction.

Myanmar shares a 1010-mile border with India. U Kyaw Tin said the government has been trying to erect nine milestones along a disputed 24-mile pass in the Kabaw Valley. Just 79 miles remains to be completed in the north, to mark the intersection of Myanmar, India and China. This can only proceed once India and China settle their own territorial dispute, he said.

To address the disputed 24 miles on the India border, a joint border working group convened in January of this year. A coordination meeting was held among ministers and secretaries for foreign affairs ministries in New Delhi on August 9. Sripriya Rangannthan, director general of Indias Ministry for External Affairs, is due to visit Myanmar on August 22.

Myanmars border with China stretches 1348 miles, and has been demarcated since 1960. The 149-mile border with Laos has been demarcated at the Mekong River as a fixed border. Laos President

Bounnhang Vorachiths recent visit to Myanmar saw an agreement inked on joint management of the Friendship Bridge between the two countries. It was also agreed that a bronze plaque will be installed to mark the border point on the bridge.





The 168-mile Myanmar-Bangladesh border was demarcated at the Naf River in 1964. Inland borders were further defined in 1998.

Seeing to incomplete border demarcations is a pressing duty of the current government, said Pyithu Hluttaw MP U Maung Myint. He noted recent political developments have paved the way for progress on the issue.

It is a good time to continue defining the border with Thailand as the area is stable now.

 Translation by Zar Zar Soe
China-backed developments are expected to loom large during Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyis upcoming visit to China, as many anticipate striking a deal on the suspended Myitsone dam project will be the order of the day.





Political analyst U Than Soe Naing believes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be under pressure to reach a resolution on the controversial mega-dam.

I think that the [National League for Democracy] government has no solution for the Myitsone dam, and they have no prospect for compensation. China will ask her about the Myitsone dam during her trip. She cannot avoid [it], he said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been a vocal opponent of the Myitsone project. In 2011, she penned a personal appeal calling for a mutually agreeable resolution. The missive has gone viral on Facebook in Myanmar in recent days, ahead of the landmark China trip which starts tomorow.

While recognising that large sums of money have already been spent on the realisation of the project, we would urge that in the interests of both national and international harmony, concerned parties should reassess the scheme and cooperate to find solutions that would prevent undesirable consequences and thus allay the fears of all who are anxious to protect the Ayeyarwady [River], the letter reads.

The Myitsone dam project was suspended in 2011 by then-president U Thein Sein.

The proposed US$3.6 billion, 4600-megawatt hydropower facility on the Ayeyarwady River was the result of a deal between the previous military government and China Power Investment (CPI).

In 2009, Myanmar and China concluded a hydropower cooperation framework agreement, in which both parties supported CPIs investment and development.





CPI indicated that then-prime minister General Soe Win had been the one who invited them in 2006 to invest in Myanmars development by building the dam.

In 2009, CPI  now Upstream Ayeyarwaddy Confluence Basin Hydropower Company  set up a new village in 2009 to relocate the residents from the hydropower project area.

Daw Ja Hkaung of the Mungchying Rawt Jat organisation in Kachin State, a veteran opponent of the Myitsone project, said that the MRJ hopes the foreign ministers discussions in China will lead to a favourable outcome.

We dont want to continue the project [nor do most citizens]. The government needs to reconsider the best thing for the Ayeyarwaddy River, she said.

The government last week announced it would form a commission for reviewing and scrutinising hydropower projects along the Ayeyarwaddy. Following yesterdays parliamentary session, commission chair and Pyithu Hluttaw Deputy Speaker U T Khun Myat told reporters not to worry about the project.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang remarked at a press conference yesterday that Chinese leaders intend to exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of common interest.

In remarks issued on Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Mr Lu was quoted as saying bilateral relations are in a state of growth, and that it is thus of great importance to promote a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

It is believed that the visit will help enhance strategic communication, deepen pragmatic cooperation, increase amity among the people, further advance the bilateral relationship and deliver more benefits to people from both sides, he said.

Former MP and political columnist U Ye Tun says he doubts Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will back down from her previously stated position on the Myitsone matter, but says negotiations will require significant political finesse. He pointed to the formation of a special commission on the Myitsone dam as a show of goodwill toward China  and a means of buying time.

Her trip could end without any agreement, he said.
Villagers in Magwe Regions Sinbaungwe township are calling for the reconstitution of committees in the township tasked with resolving seized land claims, saying their current memberships do not have locals approval.





A letter urging the shake-up was sent on August 11 to Magwe Region Chief Minister U Aung Moe Nyo, the regional Farmers, Workers and Youth Affairs Committee, and Sinbaungwe townships General Administration Department.

U Paw Oo, chair of the Sinbaungwe township Farmers Network, said, Those who can speak on behalf of the public ... should be involved in the committees at the village, township and national level. The submission calling for its reformation is due to the unsatisfactory practice of, for convenience sake, picking the 10-household group elders names to take part in it.

In May, U Paw Oo told The Myanmar Times that farmers in Sinbaungwe township were reviving a campaign to recover more than 12,000 acres of paddy-growing land that was confiscated by the military in 1998. Protests in the township in 2014 saw thousands of demonstrators demand that they be allowed to continue to farm on land designated for a forest reserve more than 10 years ago.

U Paw Oo last week said the lack of public consultation in forming the ward- and village tract-level committees  and the absence farmers representatives  was particularly problematic given the importance of the committees to victims of land seizures seeking redress.

U Aung Kyaw Kyaw, an expert in farmland law and a Magwe Region Farmers Federation adviser, said, Formation of the committees has been wrong every step of the way, according to paragraph 41[d] of the farmland policy [Myanmars national land-use policy], in which it is mentioned that every single step must involve farmers representatives. But there is no farmer representation ... so far. It is proof of what is wrong.

President U Htin Kyaw established the Central Committee for Re-scrutinising Seized Farmlands and Other Lands in May, with regional, state-, township- and ward/village tract-level authorities instructed to follow suit.

 Translation by Emoon
The Tatmadaw is responsible for taking action in a case involving more than 300 tonnes of illegally harvested timber in Pyin Oo Lwin township, Mandalay Region, which was discovered last month in a protected forest area cordoned off for military research.





This firewood was seized in the militarys research compound. Thats why it is the militarys responsibility to take action against [the perpetrators], said U Maung Maung Aye, deputy director of the Department of Forestry for Pyin Oo Lwin township. I have no idea how they will take action, using which laws ... Our department conducted field investigations.

U Tun Win, administrator for the Ho Late village tract, told The Myanmar Times earlier this month that at least one suspect has been detained in connection with the case.

With instruction from the township administrator, I took part in the inspection along with the Forestry Departments head, said U Tun Win, whose village tract includes Ban Thar village, located near the military compound.

We found a lot of piles of firewood and two trawlergyi [tractor-trailers] that carried the firewood. Total tonnage is about 328, he added.

All were cut from the protected research area. The person who asked to cut wood in the forest is U Htay Hlaing from Htone Kone village. Lumberjacks also admitted that they were being asked [to harvest the timber] by U Htay Hlaing. No action has been taken so far, since his arrest.

U Htay Hlaing was officially permitted to collect firewood totalling about 60 tonnes a year for kitchen fuel at a local forestry school.

For the forestry schools kitchen, up to 60 tonnes of firewood a year is allowed to be cut. From what I saw, this was not firewood but big trees, Ban Thar villages administrator told The Myanmar Times earlier this month.





The cache of seized timber included hardwood varieties such as Shorea obtusa and ironwood, said residents.

Local environmental conservation group Sein Lan Pyin Oo Lwin condemned the illegal timber extraction and urged both military and civilian authorities to act in the case.

All are cut from big trees so we cant consider it to be firewood ... Both the military and the Forestry Department should cooperate and take separate actions in this case, Sein Lan Pyin Oo Lwins vice chair, U Ko Ko Gyi, told The Myanmar Times yesterday.

In May the group accused Pyin Oo Lwin districts Forestry Department of lax enforcement of forest protection laws, noting that its seizures of illegal timber in 2015-16  at about 1036 tonnes  amounted to less than half the haul authorities had made the year prior.

 Translation by Zar Zar Soe
Without peace there will not be any economic development, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday as chair of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), while a senior member of her government revealed its plan to hold high-level peace conferences every six months.





We will have peace of mind only once we have peace, she said at a committee session in Nay Pyi Taw. Without long-term peace, we cannot control the economy for public development.

The economy could falter without peace, she added.

We will not ignore economic and social development, but the way of peace is important, she said. We will focus on them at the same time because we cannot fulfill the peoples physical and mental needs if there is no peace in the country.

A unified vision of the future is necessary, she said.

The common agreement is simple, she said. I want to build a vast, authentic Union.

It is essential, she said, for all ethnic groups to be included in that Union.





It is very important to negotiate our differences of opinion, she said. For positive outcomes, we should have a variety of opinions. We must use our negotiation skills to get the best from all those varieties of opinion.

The 21st-century Panglong Conference, which the state counsellor was referencing, will start on August 31.

Speaking to The Myanmar Times following yesterdays UPDJC meeting, U Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the Presidents Office, said after the Panglong Conference concludes, the government will convene similar dialogues every six months.

Addressing lingering uncertainty over a dichotomy that remains between signatories to the nationwide ceasefire agreement and non-signatories, the senior official appeared to indicate that the two groups would be afforded an equal seat at the negotiating table. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was opening the door wider, he said.

For us, signatories and non-signatories to the NCA are of the same status to attend the peace conference. We did not stipulate that only signatories can attend the conference, he added.

The attendance of a trio of ethnic armed groups in particular  the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Taang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army  looked questionable last week after the government seemed to indicate that they would need to disarm in order to join the peace process going forward.

The three groups were not invited to negotiations that led to the signing of last years NCA, and while they are among about a dozen non-signatories to the NCA, their relationship with the Tatmadaw and the government has been approached as different from the rest.

All can be included in the peace conference  from the Tatmadaw side and the armed ethnic groups side, said UPDJC member Aye Maung, who is also a member of the Arakan National Party. If we can begin to take steps toward national reconciliation  it would be better for the Union. We agreed in the meeting on that opinion.

He echoed that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has asked for the peace talks to include all ethnic groups.

The new government started halfway through the process, he said. It has a big responsibility. The whole Union needs to have a generous mind and authorities should have a more generous spirit.

Zaw Htay said about 1600 people were expected to attend the conference from an array of backgrounds and capacities, while noting a distinction between attendees and conference representatives. Last week another senior cabinet official said a final roster of the conferences official participants would number about 700.

 Translation by Emoon and Thiri Min Htun
Since Myanmars landmark election in November 2015, the National League for Democracy government has publicly condemned the use of so-called hate speech on several occasions and indicated that a new law may be drafted to tackle the problem. The issue is particularly evident in online attacks against Muslims, women and LGBT people. While Muslims receive most of such attacks, women have also received anonymous threats for standing up for womens rights and for LGBT people targeted for abuse.





Since the government was installed earlier this year, the Ministry of Information (MOI) website has made clear that there is no place for hate speech in Myanmar society. MOI website statements have also urged all Myanmar people to avoid hate speech and to live in unity within diversity. The Ministry has called for retributive action against those who make hate speech.

U Aung Ko, the Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs, recently referred to plans for a new Hate Speech Law  which would criminalise verbal attacks on other religions besides Buddhism  being developed in consultation with interfaith groups comprising members of Myanmars various religious communities. Such a law, whose precise contents are not yet known to the public, would empower ordinary citizens to report discriminatory speech.

Article 364 of Myanmars 2008 constitution prohibits the abuse of religion for political purposes and any act which is intended or is likely to promote feelings of hatred, enmity or discord between racial or religious communities or sects. It allows for the promulgation of laws to punish such activity.

A former legal adviser to the NLD, U Ko Ni was recently interviewed by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and suggested that a draft law on hate speech had been circulated in 2013 and that the drafting process could be revived under the new government.

In September 2015, the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business published an ICT Sector Wide Impact Assessment (SWIA), which featured an extensive analysis of hate speech in the Myanmar context. An important recommendation made in the SWIA was that clear public signals should be sent from the highest level of government and by all political parties that hate speech is unacceptable. That is now happening and is welcome.

However, legislation needs to be carefully considered. Many other countries struggle with legislating against online hate speech because it is not always easy to distinguish where freedom of expression ends and legitimate restriction on expression begins. What is considered hate speech in one country may not be considered hate speech in another; it may be region- or culture-specific, rooted in a countrys history. The lack of an internationally agreed definition of hate speech has made it difficult to clarify how such acts should be dealt with, including in the digital world.

One statement published on the Ministry of Information website defines hate speech according to the definition published on Wikipedia. While we welcome the governments concern about hate speech, we also call on government officials to draft any future law using international human rights law rather than any other definition.





Freedom of expression is protected under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The right to freedom of expression and opinion extends to ideas deemed unpopular, shocking, offensive or disturbing.

The former UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, outlines this in a 2012 report: The right to freedom of expression implies that it should be possible to scrutinize, openly debate and criticize, even harshly and unreasonably, ideas, opinions, belief systems and institutions, including religious ones, as long as this does not advocate hatred that incites hostility, discrimination or violence against an individual or a group of individuals.

This is the nature of freedom of expression: Someone may express an opinion others disagree with, but they nonetheless have a right to say it, except in certain narrowly defined circumstances. When it comes to determining what speech should be restricted in order to protect the rights of others, international human rights law provides a very high threshold that must be met before the expression can be legitimately restricted or in some cases prohibited.

International human rights law does not use the term hate speech. It has become a vague term that often encompasses both expression that can be restricted under international law, and legitimate expression that cannot, even if it is offensive.

Article 19, paragraph 3, of the ICCPR outlines a basis for legitimate restrictions as are provided by law and are necessary  (c) for respect of the rights or reputation of others; (d) for the protection of national order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Article 20 of the ICCPR elaborates on these restriction in more depth and prohibits by law any propaganda for war and any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

In other words, according to Article 20 (2), hatred, by itself, would not be subject to restriction. It is only when advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence that is prohibited under international law.

Incitement is also recognised as a crime in other international human rights treaties. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) criminalises a direct and public incitement to commit genocide. The International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966) requires states to criminalise the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority and assisting or financing racist activities.

Therefore the government should avoid vaguely defined terms in any future law such as hurting religious feelings, which could be applied too broadly and does not address the real damage of language that incites, discriminates, and is hostile and violent, as outlined in international human rights law.

In addition to considering and consulting widely on appropriate legislation  which should protect all those who are vulnerable to online abuse, including women and LGBT  the government could also support civil society and corporate efforts aimed at what is known as counter speech. This is where users challenge hate speech by exposing false rumours, ideally with the support of the police, and encouraging peaceful expression.

While researching our assessment, interviewees told the MCRB that there was a lack of guidelines across public and private institutions on how to use social media appropriately. Many interviewees also said they did not report online hate speech to website administrators because either they didnt know how to or the internet connection was too slow. Owners of social media platforms should take note of this and educate their users on how to report abusive behaviour online, while taking into account possible low bandwidth.

Yangon Region Religious Affairs Minister U Tun Nyunt suggested that complaints could be made to police stations. However, police will need training and guidelines on how to deal with complaints, and the government should manage peoples expectations about prosecutions. In 2013, the UK director of public prosecutions issued guidelines for prosecutions involving social media communications to assist both the police and prosecutors in this new area.

The government of Myanmar has the opportunity to lead from the front in tackling hate speech and to present an example of good practice to the world. But it must tread carefully by ensuring that any restrictions on speech do not stifle free expression and are aligned with international human rights law.

Lucy Purdon is an adviser to the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business on ICT and human rights, and a research fellow of the Institute of Human Rights and Business.
Nigerian award-winning director, Kunle Afolayan's latest movie, 'The CEO', opened in Ghana last Friday after enjoying months of cinema success in Nigeria.

The movie was outdoored with a special screening ceremony at the Silverbird Cinemas in Accra, and it attracted a lot of A-list faces in Ghana's movie industry.

Among them were Yvonne Nelson, Lydia Forson, Joselyn Dumas, Shirley Frimpong Manso, Zynnel Zuh, Christabel Ekeh, Salma Mumin and others who came to grace the occasion.

Also present were the movie's director, Kunle Afolayan, and Wale Ojo, an actor in the movie.

Stars at the CEO premiere

It also stars Hilda Dokubo, Kemi Lala-Akindoju, and Kenyan actor, Peter King, among others.

Set mainly on a beautiful beach resort on the outskirts of Lagos in Nigeria, 'The CEO' is a mystery-thriller surrounding five top executives from across Africa who are dispatched on a one-week leadership retreat by a multinational telecommunications firm to determine which one to appoint as the firm's new CEO.

Things go awry when one-by-one the executives are eliminated in sudden death circumstances and the finger falls on the last two remaining executives as prime suspects.

The movie has had a couple of premieres in other countries, including an in-flight premiere for the cast and crew as they travelled from Lagos to Paris for the Nollywood Week via AirFrance.

Kunle Afolayan begged pirates at one of the movie's earlier premieres not to pirate the movie, saying, I borrowed N50 million from Bank of Industry to produce this film, please, do not pirate the film. I beg you o. I need to pay back the money. I think I have 13 months left. Please, help o.

By Francis Addo (Twitter: fdee50 Email: [email protected] )
16.08.2016 LISTEN

Accra - 16th August, 2016: Airtel Money, Ghanas most innovative mobile money service is enabling the purchase of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) results checker pins on its platform. The company announced that the service has been made possible through a partnership with the WAEC.

This service which, is available only on Airtel Money, will enable candidates purchase pins via the short code *587*10# to check the recently released West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination results online anywhere across the country.

Airtel Ghanas innovation will ease up the pressure on WAEC offices across the country and make it possible for candidates to check their results in the comfort of their homes.

The Results Checker service uses the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data system (USSD) enabled by the short code *587*10#. This means the service is available to everyone on the Airtel Money service, no matter the type of phone being used.

Edmund Bawuah, Head of Corporate M-Commerce at Airtel Ghana said, Our strategic tie-up with WAEC brings on an innovation which, gives all candidates the benefit of making secure purchases as well as online payments through their Airtel Money wallets  the most innovative, secured and convenient mobile money platform in Ghana.

The results checker service ensures that candidates now spend few minutes to secure a pin on their phones and use this pin to access their results from the WAEC Portal on the internet. This saves them the time and money they would otherwise have spent in traveling to make physical payments at designated sales and payment points.

Airtel Money and WAEC also provide other online services for which WAEC candidates can pay with Airtel Money such as Request for certificate, Attestation and Verification of Results.

Airtel Money is Ghanas innovative, safe and secure mobile wallet that provides a complete suite of services like money transfer, bill payments and recharge on the move from a mobile device.

About Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 353 millioncustomers across its operations at the end of January 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

About Airtel in Africa

Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com , or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana.

For more information, please contact:

Richard Ahiagble

Head, Corporate Communications

Airtel Ghana

[email protected]
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Anti-slavery activists demonstrate in Dakar, Senegal, against the imprisonement of fellow activists in Mauritania, on August 3, 2016. By Seyllou (AFP/File)

16.08.2016 LISTEN

Nouakchott (AFP) - Thirteen Mauritanian anti-slavery campaigners who are on trial for "rebellion and use of violence" told a court on Monday they had been tortured in custody, their lawyer said.

They were arrested last month after a protest in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the west African country prepared for an Arab League summit.

"One by one, the thirteen spoke out against the forms of torture they had been subjected to in custody," said Brahim Ould Ebetty, representing the members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA).

The activists demanded that "proceedings be brought against the torturers they have mentioned by name," the lawyer added.

The thirteen are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years.

The Nouakchott slum was home to many so-called Haratin -- a "slave caste" under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.

About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials.

Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to "slave castes" are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay.
LINCOLN - Award-winning conservation photographer, and co-founder of the Platte Basin Timelapse (PBT) project, Michael Forsberg has spent years discovering many of the hidden places and species in the Platte River Basin. Now, he hopes to answer the question: Where does your water come from?

On July 1, Forsberg, together with field producer Pete Stegen, began a 1000-mile traverse of the basinhiking, biking and canoeing from the headwaters in Wyoming and Colorado to the confluence with the Missouri Riverand plan to arrive in Plattsmouth the last week of August.

The team has crossed from Wyoming into Nebraska at the Stateline Gauge and is making its way across the state. Nebraskans are invited to follow this journey of local interest that also speaks to national and international issues related to water conservation and the future of agriculture. Forsberg urges us to consider that, Our economy starts with the health of the land, and the health of the land begins with the ecological infrastructure and biodiversity a watershed provides.

Given that water has become the defining issue of this century, Forsberg hopes to raise awareness of how global water shortages, increased by climate change and population pressures, can be viewed through the microcosm of the Platte River Basin. By exploring this critical water source, Forsberg and Stegen hope to show the importance of water to the daily lives of the millions of people who live in this 90,000 square-mile watershed.

The Platte River is the great artery of the plains. In Nebraska, it is our lifeline. I have lived in the Platte Basin most of my life. It is where I grew up, and where I work and raise a family. This watershed is personal to me. But it is only in the last few years, working on this project, that I have really thought about where that water comes from, and what it means to live in a watershed today. This journey traversing the Platte Basin with Pete is a way to personify that drop of water and connect the dots, take the river in slowly, feel its heartbeat, and try to understand its beautiful and complex journey from mountains to plains, said Forsberg

To follow their journey on the web, visit plattebasintimelapse.com/journey and https://www.facebook.com/mforsbergphoto/
The Ghana Medical and Dental Council (MDC) has inducted 267 Physician Assistants and Registered Certified Anaesthetists into the Council to augment the equitable distribution of personnel in the health sector.

They took the Oath of Office and the National Pledge which enjoins them to uphold the tenets of patient anatomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance and justice as well as defend the good name of Ghana.

The inductees are also personally accountable for their actions and inactions in their professional practice and must be prepared to justify their decisions.

Dr Eric Asamoa, the Chairman of the MDC, congratulated the inductees on their efforts and dedication throughout their studies, admonishing them to pursue excellence in their profession.

He charged the physician assistants to abide by the very core competences of the medical profession which includes effective and appropriate application of medical knowledge, interpersonal and communication skills, patience and care, professionalism, continual learning and professional growth, knowing their limits and calling for help.

He said the physician assistants would contribute to the well-being of persons resident in Ghana and would be very useful in district hospitals, health centres and other facilities and areas that were crying for healthcare practitioners.

The functions of the Council, he said, were to assess facilities and contents of programmes for the training of doctors, dentists and physician assistants, conduct examination for foreign trained medical and dental practitioners and physician assistants, prescribe and enforce professional standards among other things.

Dr Asamoa, therefore, advised them to adhere to the professional standards and conduct of the MDC to deliver the best services to Ghanaians.

He urged all institutions that had not obtained programme accreditation from the MDC to do so to enable their students to partake in the examinations conducted by the Council.

Dr Caroline Tettehfio, the Director of the School of Anaesthesia at the 37 Military Hospital also urged them to be selfless and not to discriminate against patients and serve the Ghanaian populace.

The inductees are from the College of Health and Well-being, Kintampo, the Central University College, Presbyterian University, Narh Bita College and the Schools of Anaesteisia, of 37 Military Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and University for Development Studies.

They would be issued with provisional registrations to enable them to undertake their one-year internship in an accredited institution, a prerequisite for permanent registration which would also serve as national service.

They would, among other things, diagnose and treat illnesses, conduct physical examinations, counsel on preventative health issues, and order and interpret laboratory tests.


The Health Ministry is pushing for passage of the Mental Health Act to streamline state support for mental health institutions in Ghana.

Public Relations Officer at the Ministry, Tony Goodman, believes the unyielding financial and logistical challenges at Accra Psychiatric Hospital and other health institutions in the country have been caused by a lack of dedicated fund for mental healthcare delivery.

He said on Newsnite on Joy FM Monday that the Act makes provision for a fund that can mitigate the problems at Ghana's mental health care front.

In the law we say we should have a Mental Health Fund which will have a dedicated source of funding," Mr Goodman said on Newsnite.

The Act has however been sitting in Parliament since October 2010.

Mental health institutions have been battling perennial financial and logistical challenges.

The Accra Psychiatric Hospital says it is currently running on donations as inadequate food and medical supply to the hospital stifle health care delivery.

Nurses have also complained about an absence risk allowance.

The hospital has been in the news for weeks over a GH4.2 million debt owed it medical and food suppliers forcing the hospital to shut its doors to new patients.

However speaking on Newsnite on Monday, Mr Goodman said the situation has received adequate government attention.

The Ministry of Health has released GH1.5 million to the Mental Health Authority, he revealed.

He said contrary to reports that the psychiatric care in Ghana is under-funded, government has been allocating significant expenditure to mental health care delivery.

Mental health care is expensive. Government is footing all the bills. Hundred percent care. As I speak to you we have up-to-date medication for psychiatric care in this country, he said.

He admits the problem at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital has been delays in the payment of feeding grant.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]
Lawyer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Godfred Dame, has described as worrying, attempts by the former National Chairman of the NPP , Paul Afoko, to challenge the Human Right Court's dismissal of his suit against the party.

A Human Rights Court in Accra on Monday dismissed a suit filed by Paul Afoko challenging his suspension.

But lawyers of the suspended Chairman have indicated they might appeal the judgement.

A statement signed by Paul Afoko's Spokesperson, Nana Yaw Osei, said lawyers for Mr. Afoko will carefully study the judgment and launch an appeal against the decision at the appropriate time.

Speaking on Eyewitness News,Mr. Dame said although he does not have any qualms about Afoko's decision to appeal , he believes it is unnecessary,

I do not have any qualms or whatsoever about the fight not being over. As far as I am concerned, the suspension of Mr. Afoko has been declared lawful by the High Court. Now a greater burden is on him to convince the court of appeal about the irregularities of the decision taken today. This indication by Mr. Afoko is very worrying. It is very worrying

He wondered why Mr, Afoko will act contrary to the spirit of unity peace and reconciliation shown by the party by going a further up to the appeal process.

Ruling on Afoko not an opportunity to jubilate  NPP

Meanwhile the NPP has welcomed the ruling of the Court that upheld its suspension of the party's National Chairman, Paul Afoko, as lawful, saying it gingers them to pursue their 'change' agenda.

The party however says the ruling is neither a defeat nor a win for both parties, and urged members not to necessarily jubilate, but to revitalize themselves and work hard to return the party to power in the December polls.



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
AFOKO THROWN OUT

The legal action by the suspend National Chairman of the NPP Mr Paul Afoko, challenging his suspension was yesterday dismissed by the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court.

PRESIDENT CHALLENGED OVER MONTIE TRIO

A legal practitioner, Mr Elikpilim Agbemava, wants the Supreme Court to restain President John Mahama from pardoning the Montie trio until a suit challenging the Presidents prerogative of authority is determined by the court.

REINTRODUCE TABOODAYS TO PRESERVE ENVIRONMENT  REV. DR FRIMPONG-MANSO

The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Ghana, Rev Dr Paul Yaw Frimpong-Manso, has called for the re-introduction of and effective implementation of days of rest, popularly known as holy days (nnabone), in Ghana.

A GHANAIAN-OWNED ECONOMY: RUNNING GEF THEME ENTERS SECOND YEAR

As the five-year running theme of the Ghana Economic Forum enters its second year, the focus of the discussions has been expanded to include entrepreneurship and agriculture, alongside infrastructure, energy and finance.

WOBBLY TIMES AHEAD FOR AGRICULTURE AS SCHOOLS ABANDON ITS STUDY

Most Senior High Schools have abandoned the study of agriculture, whilst its study was struck out of Primary and Junior High School syllabuses in 2007, the Agriculture Educators and Trainers Association of Ghana (AETAG), has said, warning of dire consequences.

NPP FLOORS AFOKO

A human rights court in Accra presided over by Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, yesterday affirmed the indefinite suspension of Paul A. Afoko as the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

FOREIGN VOTERS MISSING IN COURT

Some voters in the Ho West Constituency of the Volta Region who are suspected to be foreigners failed to appear before a magistrate court where a case was filed against their eligibility to be registered as voters.

ONLY 6.6M VOTERS VERIFIED; 29550 NHI CARD VOTERS RE-REGISTERED

Despite the fact that exhibition of the voters register is very important in the electoral process, less than half of registered voters verified their names during the 21 days of voters exhibition exercise carried out by the Electoral Commission.

TOR TO CONVERT GH950M BANK DEBT TO 10-YEAR BOND IN 3 WEEKS

Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Ghanas only processor of crude into fuels, is converting bank loans held by lenders to re-organise its debt and streamline repayment.

GIVE US FULL PICTURE OF ARREARS  IFS URGES GOVT

Economic think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies has said details of the governments stock of arrears, its evolution and liquidation payments need to be disclosed to improve budget transparency, as it is difficult to make sense of continuing huge expenditure on arrears clearance.

FDI INFLOWS BACK ELECTION YEAR TREND

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into the country rose to $1.7 billion in the first six months of the year, strengthening hopes that investor confidence in the economy had started rebounding to appreciable levels after sliding early on.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
Government and the striking members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) failed to reach an agreement on the settlement of their interim market premiums by government.

A meeting held yesterday [Monday] was expected to bring some resolution to the CLOGSAG strike with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the union and Government.

CLOGSAG declared the strike to force government to pay its members interim premium allowances, and had refused to rescind the decision until their demands are met.

The Public Relations Officer of CLOSSAG, Eddie Acquaye, had told Citi News they would first have to finalize the MOU with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations before the termination of the strike.

Despite the inconclusive meeting, the Minister of Labour and Employment relations, Haruna Iddrisu, assured the members of CLOGSAG that government remains committed to addressing their grievances.

He explained after the meeting that CLOGSAG's demands would be subjected to further consultations with the new market premium pay policy, expected to be introduced in January 2017, in mind.

I am subjecting it to further consultation with the Fai Wages and Salaries Commission and the Ministry of Finance; Compensation Division and to further consult with higher authority whilst they also engage with their constituents and membership.

We have to reach an understanding as to where we will begin with in January when government introduces a new market premium pay policy, Mr. Iddrisu added.

Government's previous explanations to CLOGSAG

Government has been engaging the striking union over the past week with even President John Mahama imploring the striking workers to return to work.

The President explained that any attempt to yield to the demands of CLOGSAG will throw the budget completely off track, and make nonsense of the sacrifices we have made together over the last year.

Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe-Addo

Prior to the Presidents explanation, a meeting organized by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations aimed at resolving the issue, did not appease CLOGSAG.

The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, has stated that government could not pay the interim premium being demanded by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, (CLOGSAG).

According to him, provision was not made for such payments in the 2016 budget.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Association of Rural Banks says it taking steps to establish an insurance company to take care of high risk transactions of members.

Officials say the move is to ensure sustained rural banking amid growing competition from microfinance institutions.

We want to be sustainable. Rural banks want to stay in business and we think one way of doing that is by opening our own insurance company, President of the Association of Rural Banks, Dr. Nana Akowuah Boamah said.

The proliferation of microfinance businesses in recent times has taken a toll on revenue, subscription and deposits of rural banks.

Despite this situation, the banks have had to contend with increased corporate tax from previous eight per cent to 25 per cent, per the new Income Tax law, ACT (2015).

The over 139 rural banks in the country have over time relied on mainstream insurance companies to secure loans and assets.

This adds to their cost while revenues sources dwindle due to the challenges in the economy.

Dr. Nana Akowuah Boamah, says the proposed insurance company offers a bright future.

He believes, instead of going out and paying insurance, we need our own (insurance), though we will be paying but the moneys will be recycled within the rural bank fraternity.

According to him, processes are far advanced in getting the certificate of establishment from the registrar of companies to fully take off.

Board Chairman of Odobiri Rural Bank, Bernard Asamoah Boateng, believes well-tailored insurance packages would benefit rural and community banks.

We have our own peculiar issues that these insurance companies may understand because they are for us.

Other insurance companies dont understand us because they are not for us, they dont normally develop products that are for rural banks alone, he adds.

There are concerns the move could shift the focus of the rural banks.

Executive director of the Centre for Economic and Business Research, a policy think tank, Gordon Newlove Asamoah, however said the move would rather complement the core mandate of rural and community banks because they need to expand.

He explains the move will have some positive impact on the local economy as it could generate employment in the bank catchment areas in rural communities.

Community and rural banks are exposed to a lot of risks. Most of them have mobile bankers that go out and are sometimes attacked and the monies taken from them.

The banks are mostly in rural communities, they were formed to basically assist farmers.

But they incur huge liabilities because loans to farmers are most often not paid because rains may not come at the right time or in the right quantities which mean conditions are not good for them to pay back the loans.

These coupled with other challenges explains why non-performing loans of these banks have been growing over the years.

The insurance company initiative is expected to address these challenges and provide the necessary relief to rural and community banks.

Anytime facilities are granted, rural banks wont use their capital to pay loans that somebody have contracted and is unable to pay by so doing they are reducing the amount of risk in the business, Mr. Asamoah explains.
During his first visit since his appointment, Minister Wharton, who oversees development aid in Africa, saw how the UK is helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Northern Kenya cope with climate shocks and droughts. He met women in the drought threatened, arid areas who are being helped to start small businesses in their rural communities, so they can pay for vital food, school fees and medical care for their families.

James Wharton said:

The UK is playing a leading role in Kenya, providing life saving support to millions of people in need. I was pleased to see first hand the positive impact of UK aid and the strong partnerships weve built over the years.

Kenya remains a key partner for an outward-looking and globally engaged UK. We will continue to work together to tackle poverty, boost economic growth and improve security and stability in Kenya, which is building a safer and more prosperous world  which is in both Kenya and the UKs national interest.

Minister Wharton visited various energy sites, including a geothermal power plant, to see the positive effects of improving energy access for people in Kenya and the importance of clean, reliable and affordable energy. Half of Kenyas population do not have access to electricity  a barrier to economic development. He saw how M-KOPA  a company supported by DFID  is providing cheap and efficient solar energy products to over 375,000 homes, helping some of the poorest people in Kenya lift themselves out of poverty.

The UKs Energy Africa campaign aims to light up Africa quickly by opening up solar energy markets to private sector investment and innovation, and by working with African Governments to remove the barriers to private investment in energy and creating stable business environments where British companies can invest, create jobs and change lives.

Minister Wharton met Cabinet Secretaries from the National Treasury, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry departments where he underlined the importance that Britain places on our cooperation and relationship with Kenya. They discussed developing our trade relationship and how Kenya can create the conditions for increased private sector investment to tackle poverty and boost economic growth.

He met partners working on deepening democracy and the process of devolution and heard about the challenges and opportunities as Kenya approaches elections in 2017.

The UK is one of the largest bilateral donors delivering aid to help the poorest Kenyans, by improving health and education, tackling conflict and creating jobs.

Over the past 5 years support from the UK has:

enabled access to primary education for 550,000 children

provided 450,000 women with family planning services

helped 1.1 million people cope with the effects of climate change

improved access to clean energy for 476,000 people
The Secretary-General is appalled by reports of the killing of at least 36 civilians on 13 August in the area of Rwangoma village, North Kivu province of the DRC, by suspected members of the Allied Defense Forces (ADF). The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest terms this latest attack in the Beni area where, since October 2014, several hundred civilians have been killed by suspected members of the ADF.

The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He calls for those responsible for this attack to be brought to justice. He reiterates the commitment of the United Nations to support the authorities of the DRC in their efforts to address the threat posed by armed groups and end impunity, in line with MONUSCOs mandate.
The Secretary-General congratulates the people of Zambia for the peaceful and orderly presidential, parliamentary and local elections, as well as the referendum on the Bill of Rights, held on 11 August.

The Secretary-General recalls Zambias history of peaceful elections, and the democratic transition he witnessed when he visited the country in 2012. In this regard, he reminds all parties, especially political leaders and their supporters, of their responsibility to reject violence and to refrain from the use of inflammatory and incendiary language. He also reminds them to resolve differences or disputes through constitutional means and in line with international norms and standards.

The United Nations remains committed to supporting Zambia's democratic governance and sustainable development and will continue to work closely with the African Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Commonwealth and other international partners in this regard.
Elizabeth Trudeau

Director, Press Office

[Excerpted]

Democratic Republic of Congo: The United States offers our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the reported massacres that occurred the night of August 13th outside of Beni, North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by presumed elements of the Allied Democratic Forces armed group. Congolese authorities and the UN peacekeeping mission are working jointly to determine those responsible for the attack as well as the details of the what exactly happened.

We deplore in the strongest terms this horrific attack and will continue to support all efforts to end the ongoing violence in eastern Congo, to increase civilian protection, and to bring perpetrators to justice.

Zambia: Question: The opposition is challenging the results of the presidential election, alleging vote rigging, riots are breaking out in the south today. Does the United States recognize the results of the re-election of President Lungu?

Ms. Trudeau: So the United States welcomes the Zambian citizens democratic spirit which was characterized in voting on August 11th. We congratulate President-elect Edgar Lungu and call on all candidates to show leadership in respecting the official results as announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia. We do encourage all Zambians to maintain the good conduct exhibited during the vote, and if they have objections to the results, to use the approved legal mechanisms for peaceful re-address.

We do note the statements by many of the international election observer missions which highlighted concerns with the pre-electoral environment, specifically increased violence and restrictions on freedom of press and assembly. We hope that the government will address these concerns in the context of future elections to strengthen Zambian democracy. We have a strong partnership with Zambia and with the Zambian people. We look forward to advancing our shared interests.

South Sudan:

Question: There was a fairly disturbing account put out today of the July 11th attack on the

Terrain hotel compound. And as part of it, survivors are saying that they waited for hours after calling for help from the U.S. embassy as well as other embassies in the area, with no one responding. Do you dispute that, and do you have any timeline that you can share with us about what occurred during the time of the assault?

Ms. Trudeau: Okay. So I think weve all seen those horrific reports. I want to say at the top that privacy considerations will prevent me from talking about any specific part of this in detail. But as I go through this, I do not in any way want to minimize in any way, shape, or form what people might have gone through during that crisis in South Sudan.

So in terms of the timeline: In the midst of the ongoing fighting throughout the city between government and opposition forces, Embassy Juba actively responded to the July 11 assault on a private compound hosting U.S. citizens, among others. Upon learning about the attacks at Terrain camp, Ambassador Phee immediately  herself  immediately contacted South Sudanese government officials, including officials in the presidential guard and National Security Service. National Security Service sent a response force to the site and put a stop to the attack. Presidential guard forces also went to the scene, but they arrived after the National Security Service.

Following the attack and in the midst of ongoing fighting and violence throughout Juba, including in the immediate vicinity of the embassy, the U.S. embassy ensured that U.S. citizens and foreign nationals affected by the attack were moved to safety and provided emergency medical assistance. The U.S. embassy also facilitated the rapid departure of those involved from South Sudan by air ambulance.

As part of its response to the crisis in South Sudan, the U.S. embassy provided emergency services for those in need and assisted in the departure of more than 80 U.S. citizens during last months crisis.

Weve stated we condemn these attacks. We have called for accountability for those who are involved in the violence.

Anything more on South Sudan?

Question: So you cant confirm that Americans were singled out and were specifically assaulted due to the fact that they were American in the course of the assault?

Ms.Trudeau: Im not in a position to say that any particular nationality was singled out.

Question: And as part of the report, it suggests that it was South Sudanese soldiers who were in fact committing this assault. So how was the U.S. embassy  how could they be assured that the people that they were calling were the ones who were actually going to help rather than contributing to the ongoing --

Ms. Trudeau: So what I can say is that the attackers in this incident wore uniforms and they were armed. There were both opposition and government troops in Juba at that time. Armed clashes were occurring throughout the city. The area where Terrain is located was controlled by the SPLA on July 10th and 11th.

Matt.

Question: Yeah, I just wanted  you said that the  in the midst of the ongoing attack at Terrain, you said Embassy Juba actively responded.

Ms.Trudeau: We did.

Question: So the active response, though, as far as I can tell from what you said, was that the ambassador made a phone call. Is that --

Ms.Trudeau: The ambassador made several phone calls.

Question: Several phone calls?

Ms. Trudeau: When we were assured that people would go out and bring people in, then we actively ensured that those people were safe. So yeah.

Question: But in the midst of  while it was going  I understand what --

Ms. Trudeau: Yeah.

Question: -- youre saying after it was over what you did, but during it, was there --

Ms.Trudeau: When we received reports, we called the people who are best poised to go out and make it stop, which was the National Security Services as well as the presidential guard.

Question: But  yeah, I understand that, but I mean  but was it just the ambassador or did other people  did other staffers do anything? I mean, Im just trying to get an idea of what the active response was.

Ms. Trudeau: Yeah, in terms of sequence, it was  it was reaching out to the government officials who were in a position at that place to intervene.

Question: So I think that the point that at least the survivors of this or some of the survivors of the attack is, is there wasnt any kind  any attempt to intervene. Is that not appropriate or --

Ms. Trudeau: I  its  again, there was an immediate response from the U.S. embassy to identify and dispatch the people who could intervene immediately in the attack.

Question: Right. But the embassy itself was not in a position to do anything?

Ms. Trudeau: Was not in a position to do that.



Question: So did the embassy, then, reach out to the UN peacekeeping force or try to get the UN peacekeeping force there quickly? Is there any follow-up to that, any concern on the part of the U.S. about their handling of the situation?

Ms. Trudeau So weve raised the incident with senior officials in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations as well as the Secretary Generals staff. We will continue to seek clarification on the UNs response to the events on July 11th.

Question: So did  but can you say whether the embassy, then, did try to reach out and get the UN peacekeeping force there on --

Ms. Trudeau: I have no information on that, Abigail.

Question: Thank you.

Link to full transcript : www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2016/08/261068.htm
COLUMBUS  The newest king and queen of Columbus Days are officially enthroned.

Rich Aerni and Mimi Ernst were crowned King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella XLII, respectively, Monday evening during a coronation at Ramada-Columbus. The duty of the pair is to oversee the annual Columbus Days celebration that kicks off Thursday.

The king and queen are chosen based on their service and impact on the community. They are selected by past royalty and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee.

Aerni, a Columbus native, has given back to his hometown by working with the Platte Valley Literacy Association, where he has been a tutor for adults seeking citizenship, basic education and English language skills. He has also been on several boards including the Platte County Historical Society, Columbus Area United Way, Columbus Family YMCA and past president of the Columbus High Booster Club.

Ernst helped form Columbus Area Arts Council and was the organization's first executive director. She has also worked with the Columbus Public Library Foundation Board while supporting the proposed downtown library/cultural arts center. Ernst has been on the board for Columbus Public Library, Nebraska Humanities Council and the Museum of Nebraska Art.
Ambassador Samantha Power

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations

U.S. Mission to the United Nations

The United States is outraged by reports of assaults and rapes of civilians, including humanitarian aid workers and journalists, by South Sudanese soldiers in Juba at the Terrain Compound last month. Attacks against brave individuals attempting to help the people of South Sudan are attacks against humanity itself. All innocent civilians deserve protection.

It is especially reprehensible that the perpetrators appear to have targeted those who came to South Sudan despite risks to their own personal safety to help the country and its people  thereby depriving the South Sudanese people of urgently needed assistance and compounding this man-made humanitarian crisis. Throughout this three-year conflict, the Government of South Sudan has routinely allowed impunity for murder and sexual violence. This must end. South Sudans leaders must investigate this incident and hold accountable the individuals responsible for these cowardly and brutal assaults.

During the fighting throughout the city, the U.S. embassy in South Sudan responded to distress calls from the compound and urgently contacted South Sudanese government officials, who sent a response force to the site to stop the attack. We are deeply concerned that United Nations peacekeepers were apparently either incapable of or unwilling to respond to calls for help. We have requested and are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by the United Nations and demand swift corrective action in the event that these allegations are substantiated.

This horrific incident further underscores the need for an enhanced, assertive, and more robust international peacekeeping presence in Juba in order to better prevent crimes against civilians and the further deterioration of security in the capital. Last week, the UN Security Council mandated the creation of a robust unit of 4,000 peacekeepers to respond swiftly to security challenges in South Sudan.

The parties to the conflict must immediately cease attacks against innocent civilians and recommit to settle the conflict and leave the South Sudanese to live in peace at last.
Women Talk of Tamale, an association of young women in Tamale has called on religious leaders to pray for peace as the country goes to polls on December 7.

The women group urged Pastors, Imams and the traditionalists not to relent on their efforts to ensure there is peace during and after the elections.

According to them, peace is an essential tool for development which must be cherish at all times.

The Women Talk of Tamale made this called when they donated 1 polytank and 200 prayer-kettle for 4 mosques within the Tamale Metropolis.

The mosques includes, the Tamale Central market mosque, TTH Mosque, Marikazia Mosque and Barimansi Line Mosque.

The donation was made by the Vice President of the Association, Madam Seidu Sharifa and the Treasurer Madam Yussif Lateeta Mandeiya.

The donations forms part of the associations aims and objectives to give out humanitarian services to the vulnerable in the society.

Leadership of both mosques thanked the association for their gesture and good initiatives in embarking on a peace project and therefore encourage them to continue to be role models to their fellow young women in the society.

Speaking to the media after the donations in a telephone interview, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Women Talk of Tamale, Miss Lateeta Fuseini who is based in New York, USA entreats all and sundry to pray for the country saying, peace in the Northern Region and the country as a whole is very paramount.

She stated that, though the association is a humanitarian service association, however, the association will be embarking on a peace project to preach peace and unity as the country vote in December 7.

Miss Lateeta said, the association will also visit the Clergy, Imams, Chiefs, the security agencies, the political parties and other political youth group within the Tamale Metropolis.

We are doing this to add our voice to the many voices out there seeking for peace in this years general elections. And as young women who love peace and hold our country in high esteem in terms of its democratic credentials, its our duty and responsibility

Miss Lateeta Fuseini said, the Women Talk of Tamale are made up of talented and idea oriented young ladies living in Ghana and abroad who wants to inspire, encourage and empower other young women in Northern Ghana.
He was the man who so ingeniously exposed the unconscionable scam-artists who constitute the cream of the National Democratic Congress leadership and the latters neck-deep involvement in the epic Woyome heist. And so one was easily tempted to invest his declaration of having been reliably informed that Mrs. Charlotte Kesson-Smith Osei had offered sexual favors to President John Dramani Mahama in exchange for her post as Electoral Commissions Chairperson with a modicum of credibility, however inexcusably scandalous such accusation might have seemed.

Matters were also not helped that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) had been adamantly stonewalling the Supreme Courts order to have the names of all voters who had registered to vote in the 2012 general election by the use of their National Health Insurance Scheme-issued ID cards deleted from the current National Voters Register.

To be certain, many avid students and scholars of contemporary Ghanaian political rhetoric were always fully aware of the fact of such accusations being utterly devoid of merit, or credibility, although we were also fully aware of the fact that the corrupt practice of sex-for-jobs did exist in Ghanaian society and was alive and well.

We need to also quickly point out that this indefensibly immoral practice is not peculiar to Ghana; it is a global practice and a crime against the salutary advancement of women in the workplace, as was recently proven right here in the United States in the Roger Ailes Case. The latter, until he was recently forced to resign as CEO of the Twentieth-Century Fox Television Network, had been accused of rampantly and, some say, riotously subjecting female employees of Fox and other media organizations where Mr. Ailes had worked in senior managerial capacities of pressuring vulnerable female subordinates to offer him sexual favors, if they wanted to keep their jobs.

Of course, the fact of such practice being globally riotously rampant did not give Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong the right or license to malign and defame any woman in Ghanaian society. The New Patriotic Partys Member of Parliament for Assin-Central, in the Central Region, by his scurrilous accusation, definitely reached far beyond the person of Mrs. Osei.

We often forget that the EC Chairpersons husband and children, as well as her relatives, had been inexcusably scandalized by such scatological act of slander. In short, any apologies would have to take due cognizance and account of all these emotionally and publicly injured persons. I am also not sure that a mere public apology would adequately remedy the far-reaching harm caused the victims involved. And so maybe some form of a combination of discipline and material/monetary compensation ought to be worked out among the major parties involved.

And on the foregoing score, I am thinking of some form of parliamentary censure or even suspension of some form. Which is not, in any way, to imply that Mr. Agyapong is the only Ghanaian politician who is guilty of such grossly abusive use of language. Some form of fine would also be quite in order, the way it would have been done in Akan Common Law, for example.

Generally, I found the massive outcry for Mr. Agyapong to be eaten alive, largely by critics of National Democratic Congress affiliation, to be unacceptably hypocritical, because this was not the very first time that any Ghanaian politician had impugned the chastity of a high-profile woman. For instance, when Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the former Mayor of Kumasi, intemperately accused Mrs. Patricia Appiagyei, also a former Kumasi Mayor, of having secured her mayoral appointment by offering sexual favors to then-President John Agyekum-Kufuor, scarcely any prominent members of the National Democratic Congress raised any voice in dissent.

Perhaps politicians like Nana Oye Lithur and Ms. Hanna Tetteh presumed such scandalous accusation to be the internal affair of the members and supporters of the New Patriotic Party. Our great Akan philosophers and thinkers of old were fond of the maxim that If it touches your heels, it also touches your butts. In essence, our destinies as Ghanaians, irrespective of ethnicity or ideological suasion, are intertwined. It is hoped that some edifying lessons have been learned here. May God bless the diligent and longsuffering Ghanaian woman. May God bless our homeland Ghana.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Dr. Abdul Nashiru Issahaku, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has expressed worry about the increase in Non Performing Loans (NPLs) of universal banks in the country.

According to him, the banks' NPLs have always been a source of worry to the Central Bank no matter the level.

He said the Central Bank was putting measures in place to address the NPLs.

The Governor made this known at the recent press briefing of the Monetary Policy Committee in Accra.

NPL ratio of the banking system, as at the end of May 2016, was 19.3 percent while capital adequacy ratio for the banking industry was 11.5 percent.

Owing to the BoG's Financial Stability Report, universal banks in Ghana made a provision of GH231.52 million for bad debt for the first quarter of this year compared to GH140.21 million in the first three months of 2015, representing a 65.13 percent increase.

Credit ratings agency Moody's has warned that the fortunes of Ghanaian banks could further decline as a result of the increase in NPLs.

Dr. Issahaku said a substantial portion of the NPLs is attributable to banks reclassifying their existing assets to higher degrees of impairment following the Asset Quality Review (AQR) exercise, particularly, the energy sector state-owned enterprises loans.

He said, Government's plans to retire the Volta River Authority (VRA) legacy debt using 50 percent of the proceeds from the Power Generation and Infrastructure Support sub-account under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA, 2015), as well as the on-going arrangement between government and banks to restructure the VRA debt exposure are all part of the considered review. This is aimed at improving banks' asset quality and their overall performance.

By Cephas Larbi

[email protected]
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked its members not to see the decision of the High Court to uphold the suspension of National Chairman, Paul Afoko as an opportunity to jubilate.

Mr Afoko went to court, claiming the processes that were used by the party to suspend him were not in tandem with its constitution.

After several months, the court yesterday dismissed the case of Mr Afoko and added that his suspension was in accordance with the NPP's constitution and the rule of law.

A statement issued by acting General Secretary of the party, John Boadu when news of the court's verdict was made public said there are, however, no winners and losers in this case as far as we are concerned.

He advised the rank and file of the party to see the decision of the court not as an opportunity to jubilate, but rather as another reason to renew our faith in our cause and our commitment to getting all hands on deck.

According to him, The overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are looking up to us and we will not let them down.

The truism that the NPP is built and governed on the principles of rule of law and equality before the law, and no member is above the constitution of the party.

For us in the NPP, we are determined to rescue Ghana from the incompetence, corruption and insensitivity of President John Mahama and his NDC. We are united, disciplined and focused on the 2016 campaign for change and equally confident of victory come December 7, the statement noted.

For them, The 2016 battle is about the people of Ghana. It is about the over 70% of Ghanaians worried about the dangerous direction President John Mahama is taking the country. It is about the over 70% of Ghanaians who believe that the President has failed to deliver. It is about his 27% approval rating. It is about the killing high cost of living. It is about the President's incompetent management of the economy that continues to cripple businesses and cost jobs.

The statement said the upcoming election is about the failure, under his leadership, of the real sectors of the economy, industry and agriculture, to perform. It is about the high cost of corruption to the situation of bad roads, lack of access to decent health, sanitation, and education. It is about how insensitive President Mahama has been to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.

The December 7th polls are also about the formidable leadership and alternative policies that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have on offer to get the country working again for every Ghanaian and not just a privileged few.

He stated that we are fortified by the strong, popular support being manifested towards our presidential candidate in his interactions with Ghanaians across the country.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Accra Regional police have apprehended four men for allegedly defrauding a white man of an amount of $325,000 under the pretext of selling him some gold bars.

The suspects are Mark Kojo Conry aka Alhassan Mark Conry, aged 42; Richard Obeng Osei aka Opuni, a 38-year-old consultant; Kofi Amehoun aka Ali Abu, 34, small scale miner and Aikins Ameho, 40, computer technician.

Two others  Emmanuel Kwesi Dotse and Samuel Kofi Grant Kontoh  purported accomplices of the suspects, are at large and are being hunted by the police.

The four, according to police reports, after collecting the said money presented to the victim 13 pieces of some coated metallic bars concealed in a box as the gold and bolted.

They were apprehended when they resurfaced and used a different telephone number to attempt to defraud the victim again.

Briefing the media, the Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Timothy Yoosa Bonga, said the suspects, in June this year, together with two others (currently at large), were introduced to the victim by one Dawti (based in Dubai) as small scale miners.

Dotse, Grant Kontoh together with Conry, engaged the victim in a series of conversations on phone and further convinced him that they had gold for sale.

The victim who was in Dubai, came to Ghana with intent to purchase fine gold.

ACP Yoosa Bonga said on arrival on June 28, 2016, the victim was met by Dotse and Grant Kontoh at the airport after which they accompanied him to meet Conry at Ataltec Investment Ghana Limited  a registered company dealing in gold at East Legon in Accra  to examine the said gold which was being sold.

After the examination was completed, the three suspects took the victim to his hotel room where an amount of $325,000 was paid in exchange for the gold which turned out to be plated metals.

The victim later tried reaching the suspects on their mobile phones but they were not answering and so he became suspicious and broke into one of the boxes to check the content.

The coated metals were found in it and with disappointment, the victim travelled back to his country.

Days later, Mark Conry and Kofi Amehoun contacted the victim with a different telephone number and told him that they had some gold to sell.

The complainant contacted the police and feigned interest based on directives.

He came to Ghana again on August 12, 2016 for the deal.

On arrival, he met Conry, Obeng Osei, Amehoun and Aikins Ameho at his hotel.

They negotiated the price of the gold and all agreed to proceed to Ataltec Investment Ghana Limited at East Legon (the same location where the previous examination was done) to conduct another examination on the supposed gold, which was priced $400,000.

The four men were arrested and brought to the station for questioning.

Another box which was used in defrauding the complainant and two yellowish metallic substances which Richard Obeng Osei claimed to be genuine gold, were retrieved.

When data on their mobile phones were examined in their presence, police discovered that they contained pictures they had sent to the complainant and other unsuspecting victims, some of whom they had succeeded in duping.

Investigations are still ongoing.

By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey

( [email protected] )
This article will take an objective view of the whole electioneering process for the benefit of politicians who have ears to listen and act accordingly if they desire to win the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections on 7th December, 2016.

Painting the Electoral Commission (EC) black will NOT win any political party the 2016 general elections. Individuals with certain political, ideological, religious, racial and ethnic inclinations have to be appointed to man both state and non-state institutions despite the advancement in technology. Having been so appointed, such individuals need time to settle into their positions, and be given the benefit of the doubt to play the role of a statesman/person until proven otherwise with uncontrovertible evidence.

The retired Chairman of the EC, Dr. Afari Gyan was fortunate because, there wasnt party politics in Ghana prior to his appointment, so there wasnt much noise when he was appointed the Chairman of the EC by President Rawlings, after having previously served as the Chairman of the National Commission for Democracy (NCD) and later as Chairman of the Interim National Electoral Commission (INEC).

When a President is voted into power, he doesnt assume the mantle of State to rule for the benefit of only those who voted him into office. The policies mooted and implemented by the Presidents we have had under the Fourth Republic, all implemented policies for the benefit or detriment of all Ghanaians.

In a similar vein, someone has to appoint somebody! This is an undeniable fact and the 1992 Constitution has clearly stated the procedure for appointing the Chairman of the EC which was adhered to by the President. The EC Chairmans position is equated to the office of a Court of Appeal Judge, but the Constitution did not require the Chairman of the EC to have the qualifications of a Court of Appeal Judge, which includes among several requirements for the person to have a high moral character and integrity, which was the bone of contention in the ABBAN CASE. To put it bluntly, a prostitute qualifies to be appointed the Chairman of the EC if the President so wishes and the laid down procedures are followed.

Dr. Afari Gyan was appointed by Chairman Rawlings of the PNDC and this fact did not stop Dr. Afari Gyan from declaring J.A. Kufour of the NPP as winner of the 2000 elections. When the tables turned in 2008, the same Dr. Afari Gyan declared the late Atta Mills as winner of the 2008 Presidential elections. Therefore, despite the fact that, the current Chairperson of the EC was appointed by the current President, nothing can stop her from declaring any other Presidential candidate as winner of the 2016 general elections other than the current President. The only thing that can stop her from declaring any other Presidential candidate other than the current President as winner, is if the current President wins the elections at the polling stations! Elections are not won at the EC headquarters in Accra. The headquarters merely declares what has transpired at the polling stations!

Can the Chairman of the EC declare a loser in the 2016 Presidential elections as the winner? The answer to this question would have been in the affirmative if it was in regard of the 1992 Presidential elections. The electoral process in Ghana, has advanced in terms of making the elections results credible since the 1992 general elections. Ghanas electoral process, is top notch! Even our colonial masters, the United Kingdoms electoral process, is not as advanced as that of Ghana. I voted in three (3) general elections in the UK. The only qualification to vote was and is still being a Commonwealth Citizen! End of story! Can a Commonwealth Citizen register and vote in Ghana? No Chance!! The UK voter card is just a hard paper. No photo, not to talk of biometric voter registration.

The electoral process in Ghana is such that, it will be the fault of the political parties or individuals contesting the Presidential/Parliamentary elections that will hand victory to their opponents in the 2016 general elections, thus, compelling the Chairman of the EC as the 1992 Constitution demands, to declare such a candidate as the winner. Why is this the position?

As Dr. Afari Gyan once famously said, elections are won and lost at the polling stations. This statement is more valid today than when it was made. Statements in the print and electronic media lambasting the EC will not hand victory to any political party on a silver platter come 7th December, 2016. The EC cannot and will not dare pronounce any figures different from what has been declared at the polling stations!

For example, calling for a new voters register could have ended this country with a much bloated voters register than the current one if the political parties had done the same mistake by not appointing the right caliber of persons (polling agents) to police the registration process.

Back to winning the elections at the polling stations. All political parties/candidates are supposed to have polling agents at all the polling stations. Is this the situation on the ground on election days? No! There are some political parties/candidates who fail to assign agents to some polling stations due to financial constraints, and this is to their detriment.

Failure to appoint agents to all the designated polling stations, is one sure way of losing the 2016 Presidential/Parliamentary elections. It is not only appointing any Tom, Dick and Harry as a polling agent, it is the matter of appointing persons who cannot only read and write, but understand the whole electoral process, especially, the duties and responsibilities of the polling agent during and after the elections.

These include the process of raising objections with regards to the validity of ballot papers during the counting process; signing the declaration of poll sheet that was coloured pink in the 2012 general elections, thus, earning the nickname, pink sheet; forwarding the declaration of poll sheet from the polling station to the constituency collation centre agents for the figures on the declaration of poll sheet to be cross checked against the figures received at the constituency collation centre before the results are transmitted onwards, etc. Suffice is to say that, due to cost cutting, most political parties/candidates, do not make it a condition binding on the polling agents to forward the declaration of poll sheets to the constituency collation agent at the collation centre.

Some political parties/candidates are the cause of their failure to win the Presidential/Parliamentary elections. Before every general elections, the EC will invite the various political parties/candidates to nominate and send persons to it to train as polling agents. In most instances, some political parties/candidates will just send anybody to the training just to satisfy the demands of the EC. On the actual voting day, most of these people who were sent for the training will not be appointed as polling agents. Even if a class 6 pupil is sent for the training, he will have a better knowledge regarding the duties and responsibilities of a polling agent than the holder of a Masters Degree who has had no such training.

If any figures are disputed by the collation agent/agents, the only cure to that dispute will be the declaration of poll sheet from the polling station agents. If the polling station agents fail to forward the declaration of poll sheets to the constituency collation centre agent, then how can an objection to some figures be effectively contested? The rules are that, the Returning Officer will go ahead and declare the winner, and anyone with baseless objections without documentary proof can do that later in court.

This is why it is very important to have persons who are not only literates, but those with functioning brains and NOT those who can insult or shout the most as polling agents. The EC so-called strong room in Accra, is not as strong as the polling station. The strong room only declares what has been sent to it from the various polling stations. Any attempt by the EC Chair to declare any results different from what has been communicated to the EC from the various collation centres, will spell doom for that particular EC Chair!!

Based on the foregoing, it is clear that, elections are actually won and lost at the polling stations. The political parties/candidates should make the payment of the allowances of the polling station agents dependent on the submission of the declaration of poll sheets to the constituency collation centre agents immediately after the declaration of results at the polling station.

It is incumbent on any political party/candidate desirous of winning the 2016 Presidential/Parliamentary elections to source resource persons to train their polling agents to enable the agents know their duties and responsibilities during and after the elections.

For example, instead of each polling agent taking the declaration of poll sheet individually to the constituency collation centre, a super-agent can be appointed for each zone to assemble the declaration of poll sheets from all the polling agents in the zone and deliver them on a motorbike to the constituency collation centre. This is not Rocket Science! The Nalerigu/Gambaga Constituency in the Northern Region for instance, has five (5) Zones, thus, Gambaga, Nalerigu, Sakogu, Gbintiri and Langbinsi.

A super-agent can be appointed for each zone to assemble all the declaration of poll sheets from the polling agents and deliver them to the constituency collation centre in the constituency. This will put an end to from some EC officials telling some political parties/candidates to go to court if they are not happy with the results declared. Statements like this appear on the surface to be arrogant on the part of the EC officials, but the EC has a mandate to declare election results within a specified period of time in the absence of proved irregularities and NOT perceived irregularities. In the absence of the declaration of poll sheets from the polling agents at the constituency collation centre, any irregularity complained of, is perceived, and that is not a bar from declaring the results.

One way by which elections can be skewed at the polling station to favour a particular party/candidate, is via the swapping of ballot boxes. This can be eliminated by not extending the voting day. The Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), should come into an agreement with the EC not to extend the voting day like what pertained in the 2012 general elections. Even if at the close of polls on 7th December 2016, and only one person has voted in the whole of Ghana that should suffice. Under no circumstances should voting continue the next day!

Put the systems in place before the elections, and whether win or lose, the results will happily be accepted by all and sundry. Any political party/candidate failing to get its/his house in order, is digging its/his own grave and should therefore not jump from one radio/television station to another after the elections crying wolf, when in actual fact, it/he failed from the outset to follow basic rules and procedures which are geared towards its/his own benefit.

Alhassan Salifu Bawah (Lecturer)

Business Education Department

University of Education, Winneba

Email: [email protected]
16.08.2016 LISTEN

Dear Kumawuman Prominent People,

Out of curiosity, and the quest to secure answers to certain questions that beat my gumption, I have resolved to publish this open letter to you in case any such association does exist.

I have heard from a source I did not pay too much attention to, that there exists a group in Accra in which some prominent members, or subjects of Kumawuman, belong. This group, they have named, Prominent People of Kumawuman, I think I was told.

Be that as it may, can I please know the criteria for accepting, or co-opting, one, into the group? Is it by ones acquired higher and, or chains of academic qualifications; or volume of wealth acquired, or their political affiliations and positions in both the private and public sector services, or their elevated traditional status within the Kumawuman community in particular and Ghana in general?

I am really interested in knowing if any such group exists, their membership and their aims and objectives. For how long has it been in existence and what are their achievements so far?

Until I confirm the existence of the group and their aims and objectives, I am not in the position to say much, thus, pass any comments on them. However, the members of the group are to bear in mind the deplorable state of their ancestral place of birth, the knowledge of which will shape their views to aspire to develop Kumawuman. This will also help them to resist any attempts by crooks presenting themselves as traditional overlords, puppet chiefs and insatiably greedy queens who do not mean good for Kumawuman.

For being well known and important, one will expect to find your ancestral place of birth to much your prominence. Subsequently, be reminded of the fact that Kumawuman, especially its traditional headquarters (Kumawu), lacks so many things to the extent of lacking public places of convenience hence children defecating in their backyards.

The dearth of essential developments has partly culminated in the periodic outbreak of cholera and typhoid fever, giving rise to the many monthly deaths occurring among the population/subjects.

Kumawu is in such a poor state that I shall request the Prominent People Association of Kumawuman, if indeed any such group exists, to ensure that no one individual or group of individuals, be they the supposed Asante Overlord, illegally imposed Kumawuhene, queen etc., is allowed to short-change the entire citizens or subjects of Kumawuman.

I am sure the group will be Kumawuman-focused without the members pursuing their parochial interests. Again, I hope there are no moles planted in the group that seek the interests of some saboteurs of Kumawuman, by spying on other members to report back to their secret contacts.

I wish the Association well if they are of good practically-focused intention about Kumawuman, their ancestral place of birth.

Yours Faithfully,

Rockson Adofo
1. The Government of Japan welcomes the signing of the Roadmap Agreement on August 9 (August 8 in local time) by Sudanese opposition groups, including armed movements, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We also praise the persevering mediation efforts of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), the roles played by other international players, and the earlier signing of the Roadmap Agreement by the Government of the Republic of the Sudan.

2. The Government of Japan strongly hopes that all signatories will steadily implement the measures stipulated in the Roadmap. We also hope that the implementation of these measures will lead to a permanent ceasefire, a national consensus on the countrys future, and lasting peace.

3. Recognizing the importance of peace and stability in Sudan for the entire region, the Government of Japan will continue to support Sudans efforts to achieve this goal and assist the sustainable development of Sudan in coordination with the international community.
On August 11, 2016, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda met in Kampala with visiting Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Yoweri Museveni expressed that China is an old friend of Uganda and Africa, who has sided with the African people during their fight against colonialism. Even when its economy was in the underdeveloped period, China never stopped supporting and helping the development of Africa. The Tanzania-Zambia railway can serve as the best evidence. Uganda thanks China for more actively supporting the economic and social development of Africa now that China has achieved development. Uganda has defined the development direction and planned the development vision. The country will speed up the industrialization process and move towards a true economic independence, during which Uganda hopes to receive continuous support and assistance from China. China adheres to the correct cooperation policy towards Africa, and carries out multifaceted cooperation in areas including infrastructure, investment and people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Africa. Such kind of cooperation is more conducive to Africa's long-term development than simply providing aids and selling products like certain countries. Uganda hopes that China can join in Uganda's construction of infrastructure and industrial parks through various ways, and welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country and more Chinese tourists to travel in Uganda.

Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping's greetings to Yoweri Museveni and hailed the vision Uganda has made in realizing industrialization and agricultural modernization. Wang Yi noted that China is willing to inherit the friendly tradition between both countries, become the most reliable and ideal cooperation partner during the development process of Uganda, and continuously do its best in helping Uganda pursue economic and social development. Wang Yi said that China-Uganda cooperation is based on the high-level political mutual trust and traditional friendship between the two countries. It is a form of sincere mutual assistance without any political strings attached. China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Uganda on the construction of infrastructure and industrial parks, and supports the country to develop its two superior resources of energy and agriculture, so as to help Uganda, as a landlocked country, take the lead in realizing industrialization and agricultural modernization.
Five injured in crash

RICHLAND  Five people were transported to area hospitals Friday afternoon after a one-vehicle accident on a Colfax County gravel road.

According to the Colfax County Attorney's Office, 18-year-old Benita Andres Cervantes of Schuyler was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Classic sedan east on County Road C when she lost control of the vehicle between County Roads 5 and 6, just southeast of Richland.

The vehicle entered the south ditch, rolled and struck a power pole. The impact on the driver's side door caused the pole to break, downing power lines in the area.

A witness reported the vehicle was traveling 75-80 mph before the accident, which occurred around 2:30 p.m., according to the county attorney's office.

The driver and four passengers in the vehicle, all ages 14 and older, were transported to area hospitals. Details on their injuries were not available.

The names of the passengers haven't been released.

Rescue crews from Schuyler and Columbus responded to the accident, which is being investigated by the Colfax County Sheriff's Office.

Detention Center

The inmate count at the Platte County Detention Facility on Monday is 73, with 44 from Platte County and 29 from out of county.

Police

July 22

1 p.m.  At 972 28th Ave., Janella Nichols, 51, homeless, was cited for possession of stolen property.

July 29

4:24 p.m.  In the 4500 block of 23rd Street, traffic accident. Drivers were Monte Krchnavy, 66, Hager City, Wisconsin, and Melissa Martin, 30, Silver Creek.

Aug. 8

Unknown time  On 26th Street, near Pershing Road, an unknown vehicle struck a parked vehicle owned by Audra Korger, 2009 26th St., and struck the scene.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

The intensity of the heat on Dr Yaw Sarfo, the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Tweneboa Kodua, to make public a certified true copy of the Chieftaincy Declaration forms he filled out, subsequent upon which he was accepted and gazetted as Kumawu Omanhene is mounting to his discomfort.

On Tuesday 2 August 2016, the association, Kumawuman Subjects Living Home and Abroad at their mammoth Press Conference organised at Kumawu declared their unrelenting interest in having a certified true copy of the Chieftaincy Declaration Forms filled out by Dr Yaw Sarfo before he was gazetted, amid doubts, as Kumawuhene.

The members of the association are desirous of bringing about peace and harmony among the people of the locality to guarantee the eventual infrastructural and human resource development in the area. To attain their good intentions, they first need to rid the place of the chieftaincy disputes dating from the early years of the late Kumawuhene Barima Asumadu Sakyi II ascending to the Kumawu Kodua stool.

Hardly had he ascended the throne when he was caught to have embezzled stool funds; the start of the acrimoniously ruinous chieftaincy disputes that have since deprived Kumawu and by extension, Kumawuman, of any essential developments for the past forty years.

After his death in June 2007, the dispute continues to exacerbate. This is all because of the resolute determination by Kumawuhemaa Nana Abenaa Serwaah Amponsah, who is alleged to have stolen the historic Abamoo artefact/doll dating over 300 years, sold it in a foreign land and again, colluding with the Asante Overlord and other Asanteman chiefs to impose one puppet on Kumawuman as their Omanhene. This is all with the intention to have unrestrained access to continue to exploit the resources of Kumawwuman for their selfish ends.

To avoid any further exploitation of Kumawuman by whomever, and to solve the chieftaincy disputes once and for all in order to put Kumawuman on track for development, Kumawuman Subjects Living Home and Abroad has issued a gentle ultimatum to Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua to furnish them with a certified true copy of the Chieftaincy Declaration Forms he filled out upon which he was accepted and gazetted as Kumawuhene.

When they get the forms and are satisfied with their authenticity, they will in turn negotiate through putting pressure on the faction contesting the legitimacy of Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua to bury the hatchet so as to bring about not only peace and harmony to Kumawuman but speedy development.

Is the above request any big deal that Dr Yaw Sarfo and his cronies cant fulfil?

Following the Press Conference, the alleged Kumawuhene Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua has gone on television declaring with shameless pomposity and audacity that he is the one and only legitimate Kumawuhene because he was enstooled by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asante Overlord, and again, he has been gazetted.

Yes, he was enstooled by Asantehene and has been gazetted. However, is Asantehene who enstools a candidate as Kumawuhene? Is the process taken to install Dr Yaw Sarfo as Kumawuhene not at variance with existing Kumawu traditions and custom?

In the wake of the Press Conference, a dubious association calling itself The Progressive Youth of Kumawu, chaired by one Mr Yaw Gyamfi Koduah, has sprung up intending to counter the dynamic Kumawuman Subjects Living Home and Abroad through utter lies and fabrications all of which are the figment of their imagination. Check their counter publication at,

http://www.africasell.com/2016/08/11/kumawu-youth-group-hails-omanhene-barima-sarfo-tweneboa-kodua/

I have checked and there is no association registered in Ghana as The Progressive Youth of Kumawu. Its a quack organization same as Dr Yaw Sarfo aka Barima Sarfo Tweneboa is.

Is it hard to produce the requested document? If it is, then be it known to him that he can run but he cant hide!

There is no way that Asantehene, Nana Abenaa Serwaah (now in Toronto caring for her newly born grandchild), the colluding Asanteman chiefs and Dr Yaw Sarfo will be allowed to continue to toy with Kumawuman and the collective interests of the subjects.

Now that the decision has been taken, there is no backtracking  When the heart decides, there is no turning back or better still, When the dice is cast, there is no turning back.

More grease to the elbows of the membership of Kumawuman Subjects Living Home and Abroad for your intention is noble and your action taken in the nick of time to save Kumawuman from the ravaging corruption and ill-will in clear perpetration by Asantehene, Kumawuhemaa and the Asanteman Council.

Rockson Adofo
The Ashanti Regional Minister,Honorable John Alexander Ackon and the Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi,Honorable Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi have inaugurated a state of the arts High Court in Obuasi.t.The official commissioning of the project was held on Friday, 12th August,2016 at New Nyamebekyere,a suburb of Obuasi.This means Obuasi now has a High Court,Magistrate Court and a District Court.

Delivering a speech on behalf of Her Lady Chief Justice,His Lordship Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, Justice of the Court of Appeal who was the special guest on the day appealed to all stakeholders to assist the Court to exercise its constitutional mandate without fear or favor.He revealed that, Obuasi now joins Kumasi Metro and Mampong Municipal as the only three (3) districts with a functioning High Court in the Ashanti Region.

He admonished the general public to respect the Courts' decisions to refer matters to Court connected Alternative Dispute Resolution (A.D.R) for settlement.He further appealed to the public to eschew what he termed 'Self help',a situation where people usurp the adjudication powers of the Courts and settle matters themselves without recourse to the Courts.His Lordship Adjei made reference to Act 459,Section 73 of the Courts Act 1993 which explicitly emphasized that cases like felony,rape,defilement, armed robbery and other related cases should not be settled at home.

He gave the Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi, Honorable Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi a pat on the back for such a monumental project and for the provision of accommodation for the Magistrate and the registrar. He added that with the appointment of His Lordship Charles Gyamfi Dankwa as Judge to the High Cour ,Justice would be served for the people of Obuasi.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi Honorable Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi who could not hide his joy for fulfilling his dream to carry out vigorous infrastructural development that will bring transformation to the people of Obuasi said,he is only emulating the shining examples of his predecessor, Honorable John Alexander Ackon who during his tenure brought massive infrastructural development to Obuasi .

The aspiring legislator said, the High Court will serve the needs of not only the people of Obuasi but also that of surrounding towns like Assin Praso and Dunkwa in the Central Region,Fomena,New Edubiase Bekwai,Jacobi,Manso Nkwanta and other nearby communities. He again appealed to judges to give room for justice to be served fairly and equitably.

On his part, the Ashanti Regional Minister,Honorable John Alexander Ackon commended the Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi for fulfilling his promise of providing Obuasi with an ultra modern High Court.He felicitated the administrative body of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly for their immense contribution towards the achievement and excellent delivery of their mandate.

He appealed to the general public to help maintain the building and all its facilities for the benefit of all. " I will also advise all political and traditional authorities to eschew the habit of interfering in cases brought before the Law Courts. We must learn to trust our Judicial system, he said".

Nana Gyamerah Yiakwan II, Kwapiahene who represented the Adansihene in a brief speech, thanked the President of Ghana, His Excellency John Mahatma and the Municipal Chief for Obuasi for the enviable project for the people of Adansiman and Ghana as a whole.

It must be noted that the Obuasi High Court has appalette jurisdiction over all the neighbouring District Courts and all land,criminal and other matters that may be referred to it.

The commissioning ceremony was also witnessed by Traditional Leaders,Members of the Clergy, Assembly members,Staff of the Judicial Service,Officers of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly and the Media.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

The Damongo Hospital in the West Gonja District in the Northern Region has been shut down since Sunday due to attacks on nurses by some residents in the area.

The facility takes care of over 2,000 patients in the district as well as other districts and surrounding communities in the area.

Information available indicates that the facility has been experiencing some theft-related issues for some time now. On Sunday, two motorbikes belonging to the staff of the hospital were stolen, prompting them to lodge a complaint to the police, and some persons were arrested in the process.

According to reports, two persons who were arrested by the police were later granted bail; the arrest which angered some youth in the area to launch an attack on the facility and in the process injuring some nurses.

The angry youth allegedly threatened the staff of the facility; a situation which forced them to lay down their tools to save their lives.

The authorities of the facility temporarily shut down the place and discharged all patients in the hospital.

A patient who spoke to DAILY GUIDE on condition of anonymity said, It's unfortunate that this is happening but we have no choice than to go home hoping that they would reopen the place again but those who have money can still go to private clinics here.

The spokesperson for the nurses, Salifu Lukman, told DAILY GUIDE that their stolen motorbikes should be brought back to them.

He mentioned that they would only go back to work if only the district can assure them of maximum security both at home, adding, They threatened us that we are not from Damongo and so we cannot come and tell them what they should do so if we are not coming from here then the officials should release us to go to where we were also born.

Salifu Lukman called on the district police to arrest the perpetrators who are threatening them and prosecute them to serve as deterrents to others.

The West Gonja District Health Director, Hajia Fuseina, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, expressed her disappointment in the attacks on the staff, adding that the facility risked closure if the chiefs fail to intervene and talk to the youth.

From Eric Kombat, Damongo
Some residents of Tema on Saturday rushed to siphon fuel from a tanker belonging to GOIL company which was involved in an accident.

Residents quickly moved to the accident scene to siphon fuel at the peril of their lives.

The incident happened at Tema Motorway Roundabout on Saturday when a driving mirror of a Tata truck with registration number GN 6573-14 belonging to Belaqua Mineral Water damaged the tank of the GOIL truck.

Personnel of the Tema regional office of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were quickly called to the scene to avert any fire outbreak.

The police, who intervened quickly, had a hectic time driving away residents who were trying to siphon fuel from the tanker.

Eyewitnesses told DAILY GUIDE that the Howo fuel tanker was reportedly from the Bulk Oil Storage Transportation (BOST) in Tema and heading towards Accra.

The Tata truck which belongs to the water producing company located at Kpone Barrier damaged the tank of the other vehicle at the roundabout.

According to reports, the driver of the water company truck sustained minor injuries.

Police say they are still investigating the matter.

From Vincent Kubi, Tema
Gifty Twum Ampofo, a Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North Constituency in the Eastern Region has indicated that, she will retire Mr Victor Smith from active politics in the upcoming polls since he had nothing to offer the constituents but was only desperate for the seat.

According to her, Anthony Gyimah's candidature looked competitive to her than Victor Smith who the National Democratic Congress had forcibly imposed on the electorates in the constituency.

Madam Twum Ampofo, who made these known when speaking to DAILY GUIDE at a fun fair games organised for her constituents at Akyem  Tafo stressed that, Dr. Anthony Gyimah who withdrew from the contest under bizarre circumstances looked a tougher opponent than Victor Smith.

As for Victor, I'll give him compulsory retirement, because he's no match for me. Gyimah looked unpredictable because he had stayed abroad for so many years and it will be difficult to predict what he was bringing on-board.

According to her, the constituency had seen it all with Mr Victor Smith, who had been a Regional Minister for the incumbent government yet was unable to attract any meaningful development for the constituency.

Madam Gifty Twum  Ampofo who was optimistic of maintaining the seat for the NPP in the upcoming polls, called on Ghanaians to listen to Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, the NPP flagbearer and vote massively for him in the upcoming general elections to win and turn the fortunes of the collapsed country around.

FROM Daniel Bampoe, Akyem Tafo
16.08.2016 LISTEN

Ideas make the world go round. The Creation of Mankind was a process of Ideas. GOD had a Vision that is a combined force of Ideas. Vision is a concept in the seeing capacity and capability of an Individual to mature to a written and visible plan and concept for others to work on in a world full of contradicting or supporting forces. A Vision with no Force, no guiding light is a Dream of the moment left to the blowing wind to carry it away.

Especially in USA, the country of no limits in business ventures is filled with the Spirit challenging every creative Human to bring out the Best in him. Money is the Force to make a Vision clothes in Force come to see the light of the day. To become rich is not a matter of social and economic or educational Background, it is about a forceful contribution to change and for that matter better the lives of many to be outstanding among others that are simple Talkers wasting their and other peoples life.

Angle Investors are rich people mostly having gone the same path from poverty to richness like the young Aspirant for Greatness or have inherited money from their Forefathers not knowing how to move ahead and bring a company to the next necessary level before taken over by competitors or seeing competition in the same business field being more accepted by consumers than themselves only in order over time to lose the market and go down on his knees begging for Chop-Money from others.

When Brain meets Money to form a strong Alliance of Equals in the idea of wanting to achieve something better for this world, this Force will surely overtake the market to come out on Top.

Levis Strauss, a German Jew, left for USA in the middle of the nineteen hundreds, saw the chance to make lots of money by offering Jeans Material to the Armies in the Civil War against Slavery. Having made financial mistakes, his Mother and Brother took over the company while he stayed on as the Creative Force behind the Company Levis. Years later being back on his feet, he forced the Mother and his Brother out of the company and took it to its enormous height we know Levis of today.

Ideas are not the privilege of a selected few, but the Spirit in the Air ready for anybody to use and have dominion over. Hewlett and Packard in the small Garage of the Parents were young and had a Vision. IBM, Industrial Business Machine, was the biggest company in its sector, gigantic. HP is a household name to all Tech users having overtaken IBM by far.

Societies relying on the ancient concept of Industrialization as THE solution for their economic problems making them inflexible with less profit compared to the modern Economy setup of Human Intelligence with high-speed of solving problems and implementing consistently fast new products and services to stay in the lead of economic development across the world, will set back their people unto the role of Back Benchers only to see others progress in this world. Africans have much to catch up with and to forget about used political ideas but come up with innovations to move their countries ahead of any others.

Charles Goodyear invented the Rubber Boots and Rubber Tires for Bikes and today used for Cars being highly indebted with various Investors having to move from city to city found two Brothers that built a factory for him and in his name making him a well to do man.

Thoughts, pictures, ideas and like come and go into the brain of all of us. Mostly they disappear as fast as they have appeared. Some of them stay and haunt a man to the extent, they become an obsession to him. Once he realizes it, his destiny has taken him over. Live events proof whether a Man with a Vision is a Visionary or a simple man with Vision like dreams. A Politician talking about his vision is nothing but a Politician with Ideas and a Plan to make them happen. Mostly this Ideas are not generated out of his own Brain but are the products of Peoples demand or political discussions.

A Visionary is a Person that has a Vision inside oneself with an inbuilt Force to make it come to pass and see the light of the day. He has the capacity and capability to fight through all obstacles that come its way and wise enough to decide from right or wrong path to embark on in a second. His Vision becomes his instinct, no time to waste to think but to follow what the Instinct commands. Michael Schumacher was never thinking how to drive to become 7 times F1 World Champion, he was using his winning instinct based on his acquired skills to drive a Formula 1 Race Car.

It is not surprising that H.J. Schulz invented Autogenic Training (see Internet for Literature references and Training Offers) in Germany, a form of Self-Hypnosis that at its Basic Level heals a Human from various illnesses while at the Advanced Level lets someone walk around its own brain to heal distressed areas as well as to unveil Creativity and the force behind a Vision. This Training is not a magical tool, it is a Training into the inner self of a Human and the inbuilt capacity and capability that makes as Humans of what we are. Brainstorming Seminars and other form of Mental Techniques are all at a junior stage to the real encounter with once Brain and its Creativity opening up Dimensions of life others will never be blessed with while making encounters possible of Human Being that is hard to find words for.

Like any form of Training it must be clearly stated that NOBODY should ever try to learn Autogenic Training from Books or Internet; an experienced Trainer can be the only source for success while written Material will support the Training sessions and give explanations. What the Brain will unveil to a Trainee in this field is too powerful to be left alone for a Beginner but so powerful to the Master of his own Brain.

Every Human Brain is the same, how we use it as Individuals and Societies makes all the difference of success of failure in Life.

Enjoy your journey through your Brain and make lots of money with it!

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt.9, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 16.08.2016
About 8 indigenous insurance companies risk losing their licenses if they fail to meet the new minimum recapitalization requirement set by the Nation Insurance Commission (NIC).

Citi Business News has learnt about 10 out of 46 insurance companies are yet to meet the new recapitalization requirement.

Most of the 10 are domestically owned.

Also 3 re  insurance companies are also yet to meet the deadline.

According to the NIC it has fixed September 30, 2016 as the deadline for the remaining 10 insurance companies to recapitalize or they risk losing their licenses.

Speaking to Citi Business News, the Deputy Commissioner at the National Insurance Commission, Simon Nerro Davor said the commission will crack the whip if the 10 companies fail to meet the recapitalization requirement.

As at now we are of the view that any insurance company who is not able to meet the minimum requirement which was issued in our solvency framework last year by the end of the third quarter of this year, we will have to take action against.

Everything we do is according to the dictates of the insurance law. The insurance law is so clear that if you are not able to meet the minimum capitalization requirement then meaning a certain regulatory actions has to be taken against you. He said.

Simon Nerro Davor further stated that when we start the regulatory process it could lead to liquidation, it can lead to transfer of assets or lead to anything. So we are saying that all the insurances companies have up to the end of the third quarter to capitalize or all the measures recommended in the insurance law will be followed to have them taken out.

The NIC, last year, raised the minimum capitalization requirement for insurance companies to 15 million cedis and 40 million cedis for re  insurance companies.

This formed part of moves to build the capacity of the local insurance industry to be able to underwrite big ticketing transactions like insuring the petroleum upstream activities such as the insuring of the Floating Production Storage and offloading vessels among others.



By: Norvan Acquah  Hayford/citibsinessnews.com/Ghana
The founder and flagbearer of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Ndoum, intends to reduce the number of Ministers in public office to 40 if voted into power.

We will reduce the number of Minsters of State to 40 and when I say 40, counting all of them, whether they are in the region, there they are a deputy or whether they are the Minister of State, Dr. Nduom said.

That will be made possible because we will rely on the professional civil service, the PPP flagbearer added as the party launched its Presidential policy team in Accra on Monday.

There are currently 72 Ministers of State including Deputy and Regional ministers who head the various ministries and regions in the country.

There is no constitutional floor or cap on the number of Ministers a government can have and Dr. Nduom explained that his administration would downsize as a means of reducing the cost of governance and set the tone for the effective restructuring of the civil service.

The PPP also believes Ghana will be able to attain first world status within a generation under its governance.

We want through our leadership of this country move to move from a third world nation to a first world one by working with a great sense of duty and urgency within one generation, Dr. Nduom said.

PPPs promise of a more inclusive government

The PPPs proposed reforms are all geared towards creating a more inclusive government, something the party has trumpeted on the campaign trail ahead of the polls in December.

The party has vowed to eradicate the politics of winner takes all from the governance system as its flagbearer has assured that a PPP government would be one that placed a premium on competence and would be blind to party affiliations.

We are committed to running an inclusive government using the best men and women no matter where they come from, no matter what their religion is, no matter their party affiliation. We want the best for Ghana and only the best and selfless will serve in our administration, Dr. Nduom said when he was affirmed as the PPP presidential candidate in July.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The European Union congratulates President-elect Edgar Chagwa Lungu and looks forward to deepening its partnership with the Republic of Zambia.

The people of Zambia participated in large numbers in the general elections on 11 August 2016.

The EU Election Observation Missions preliminary assessment found that voting was peaceful and generally well administered. Yet, the EU Election Observation Mission found the elections marred by systematic bias in the state media and restrictions on the campaign.

The EU expects all the political parties and electoral stakeholders to act in order to preserve peace, stability and tolerance in the country. Existing legal channels should be used to address possible complaints.

The EU Election Observation Mission will remain in the country until completion of the electoral process and will issue a final report with recommendations within two months.
One of the largest emergency vaccination campaigns ever attempted in Africa will start in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo this week as WHO and partners work to curb a yellow fever outbreak that has killed more than 400 people and sickened thousands more.

Working with Ministries of Health in the 2 countries, WHO is coordinating 56 global partners to vaccinate more than 14 million people against yellow fever in more than 8000 locations. The yellow fever outbreak has found its way to dense, urban areas and hard-to-reach border regions, making planning for the vaccination campaign especially complex.

Emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns have already reached more than 13 million people in Angola and more than 3 million in Democratic Republic of the Congo. These campaigns have been crucial to stopping the spread of the outbreak. Some areas are still considered at high risk and so preventive vaccination campaigns are planned for the capital city of Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of the Congo and along the countrys border with Angola, which spans 2646 km. The preventive vaccination campaign aims to build protection in the population perceived to be at high risk of getting infected and prevent potential spread and expansion of the current outbreak.

Kinshasa has more than 10 million people, with only 2 million already vaccinated against yellow fever. With local transmission of the virus and low immunity in the population, there is a potential risk that the deadly outbreak could spread to other urban areas.

Protecting as many people as possible

With limited supplies of the vaccine, and a 6-month minimum manufacturing process, WHO has been working with the Ministries of Health to plan the mass vaccination campaign that uses one-fifth of the standard vaccine dose as a short-term emergency measure to reach as many people as possible.

This method, known as fractional dosing, was recommended by WHOs Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), after it reviewed existing evidence that demonstrated lower doses would protect people safely and effectively against the disease for at least 12 months, and likely much longer. The fractional dose will not entitle people to travel internationally, but it will protect them from yellow fever during this outbreak and will help stop it from spreading further.

Protecting as many people as possible is at the heart of this strategy. With a limited supply we need to use these vaccines very carefully, says William Perea, Coordinator for the Control of Epidemic Diseases Unit at WHO.

Nuts and bolts of the mass vaccination campaigns

WHO and partners including Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and UNICEF have been working closely together through the complex planning and logistics needed for the campaign.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has already enabled these countries to access almost 19 million doses of the vaccine since January and is providing strong support to the upcoming campaigns as well. Other partners providing expertise and support include Save the Children and the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Usually, planning a mass vaccination campaign can take anywhere between 3 to 6 months. This emergency campaign, however, must take place as soon as possible to end transmission before the rainy season starts in September.

In order to vaccinate roughly 8 million people in Kinshasa within a short period, each team will need to vaccinate hundreds of people per day, says Perea.

Approximately 17.3 million syringes and 41 000 health workers and volunteers are needed for the campaign. More than 500 vehicles will be used to transport the teams and supplies, which will be dispersed across more than 8000 vaccination sites in Kinshasa and along the Angola-Democratic Republic of the Congo border.

Essential supplies by the numbers

The fractional dose campaign in Kinshasa hinged on the availability of vaccines donated by the Brazilian government and manufactured by The Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos).

The campaign also required the purchase and shipment of 10 million specialized 0.1ml syringes, to ensure the right amount is used for every vaccination.

"The quantity of the syringes needed was not available on the open market, so we made a special order to manufacture these syringes," says Guillaume Queyras, responsible for Operations Support and Logistics at WHO. "Supply of the syringes usually takes more than 2 months. Given this emergency situation, manufacturers worked with us to speed up production and deliver the syringes on time in the country".

The 17.3 million vaccine syringes  equivalent to 700 cubic metres or 17 40-foot shipping containers  were air freighted to Democratic Republic of the Congo. After the vaccines and syringes arrived in the country, the freight had to be cleared through customs, a procedure that normally takes weeks. WHO worked closely with the Government of Democratic Republic of the Congo to fast-track this process.

Cool vaccines

From the manufacturer to the person being immunized, the vaccine must be stored and transported at the right temperature  between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius  to maintain their potency. With lack of reliable electricity supply and fuel to run generators in large parts of the country, refrigeration is a big challenge. For this campaign alone, 115 000 ice packs are needed to keep vaccines cold and usable.

Training

WHO has developed guidance and materials that is being used to train thousands of health workers and volunteers before the campaign starts. Health workers in Kinshasa need specific training on how to vaccinate people using the fractional dose.

Engaging communities

In the weeks leading up to the campaign, communities have been informed about the importance of getting vaccinated. WHO, UNICEF and partners have developed guidance and resources to help country teams, community health workers and volunteers engage communities to participate in the campaigns.

Teams on the ground are using local languages and trusted communication channels to reach and engage people. They have been meeting with religious and political leaders, delivering presentations and flyers at markets, health centres, churches and schools to ensure that people understand the campaign and how to protect themselves. Media announcements have also been made in local languages across print, radio and television channels to ensure maximum participation in this important campaign that aims to end this yellow fever outbreak.
Summer is coming to an end and soon the kids will be back into their school routine. Now is the perfect time to consider getting back into your fitness routine and sticking with it.

Here are a few tips to get you back on track.

Start back at it slow and easy. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. So that would be 30 minutes a day/ five days a week. After taking the summer off, you will want to start out slowly and maybe just start with 10-15 minutes of cardio exercise and gradually build your way up to 30 minutes. You do not want to overdo it as this may cause injury.

Schedule your exercise. Try writing down your exercise like writing down an appointment every day. You wouldnt want to miss an appointment, so try not to miss your exercise. This is time for yourself, which you deserve. Find the best time of day for you to work out and try to stick with it.

Find a workout buddy. Its very easy to skip out of your workout if its just yourself that you have to answer to. Having a friend to workout with is a great way to stay motivated. You and your friend can hold each other accountable and stick to your workout routine. Having someone to work out with can also make the time seem to go by much faster.

Mix it up. Cardio doesnt have to be all done on a treadmill or an elliptical. You can cross train. Try to mix up your workout. Make it fun. The YMCA has many fun, energetic classes that you can attend to mix it up and prevent boredom.

Dont just think the gym. Being fit and healthy isnt just about going to the gym every day. On days you may not be able to make it to the gym, find ways to mix it up and incorporate other physical activities into your day that you enjoy.

Remember how good it can make you feel. Sometimes we may focus on the effort of our workout rather than the outcome. Exercise is not supposed to be easy and it may feel hard at that moment, but you should feel a sense of accomplishment afterwards and glad you did it.

Do it for yourself. Being fit and healthy should be about making yourself feel great and proud of what you have accomplished with all your hard work and dedication. Habits are created by the consistent daily activities that we choose to do. The more consistent you are with exercise the sooner it will become a habit. Once it is a habit, it will be part of your daily life that you no longer can go without.

Be proud of what you have accomplished. No one has done all your hard work but you.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission Theophilus Ahwireng has stated that the Exploration and Production (E&P) Bill which was passed by parliament recently will enhance accountability in the petroleum upstream sector.

According to him, the bill will help create certainty in the petroleum upstream industry by removing developments that may cause to unnecessary litigation.

The predictability of the regime in which you are going to invest is very important and what the E&P Bill does is that it creates certainty that every company coming into the country knows the rules, knows the laws, knows the do's and don'ts and so it is clear, he said.

Mr. Ahwireng maintained that the industry is financially intensive, hence requires clear guidelines and regulations to avert any issues that may drag activities into a legal tussle.

This industry involves a lot of money. If you want to develop a field it needs several billions of dollars, he said, assuring that the E&P bill was purposely designed to cure the dysfunctions in Ghana's upstream sector.

He pointed out for example that the law has streamlined the processes in awarding exploration contracts to prospecting companies to enhance transparency.

It doesn't subject the environment to unnecessary litigation because we were not clear what was there. That is what the E&P Bill does. he said.

Passage of the bill

Parliament on August 4, 2016, passed the Petroleum Production and Exploration Bill which will among other things regulate activities within the country's oil and gas sector and also ensure value for money.

While debating the bill in parliament, some members however expressed dissatisfaction at the powers granted the sector minister.

But the Petroleum Commission rejected the claims, describing it as misplaced.

Mr. Ahwireng insisted that the commission has rather developed more regulations which seek to stipulate conditions under the E&P Bill.

We are not even stopping there. We have moved on to develop regulations that go further to stipulate conditions under the E&P Bill, he said.

Mr. Ahwireng further added that we must appreciate that it is an improvement on a bill, the PNDC law 84, which has been in existence for thirty three years. So this is a major feet and we are very pleased about it.



By: Jessica Ayorkor Aryee/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
Information gathered by Citi Business News indicates that telecom company, Expresso has still not been able to secure an investor to stabilize its operations.

The company which is currently struggling announced earlier this year that it will seek investors to help it come back into full operation.

Some Players within the telecom industry have however warned that the company risks folding up if it fails to find an investor soon.

According to observers in the industry, Expresso's lack of change in technology from Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is a major contributing factor to the difficulties in securing an investor.

The development has also reduced Expresso's market share to just about 0.36% as at the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, The National Communications Authority (NCA) has hinted to Citi Business News it will be meeting with the management of Expresso to review the company's operations due to its growing financial and operational challenges.

With the introduction of 4G into Ghana's telecom industry, Expresso, must get a strategic investor to move the capacity of the company to full operation.

Expresso's challenges

The woes of Expresso have in the past affected its operation with some of its competitors MTN and Airtel.

The two companies had been compelled to block calls from Expresso over unpaid debts under the Interconnect Clearing House(ICH).

In what appeared to be an unending feud, the industry regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA) recommended that subscribers of Expresso port to other networks.

Association with Sudatel

Expresso's challenges have largely been attributed to its affiliation with Sudatel from Sudan which has made difficult for Expresso to raise capital locally and internationally due to sanctions placed by the UN on Sudan.

Also, moves by Sudatel to sell its shares in Expresso in 2013/2014, granted former National Security Coordinator, Colonel Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (Retired) the power of attorney to run the telecommunications company.



By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
16.08.2016 LISTEN

Destiny Ugorji

Barring any last minute change in arrangement, the office of Nigerias Inspector General of Police (IGP) will be conducting an autopsy/DNA test on a corpse said to have been dismembered beyond identification, allegedly seen in Abuja on the 12th of May, 2016 and identified by Lagos lawyer, Emeka Ugwuonye as that of the missing Abuja woman, Charity Aiyedogbon. This is part of the steps in unravelling the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of Chacha, as she is fondly called.

When conducted, it will put to rest the controversy over the actual identity of the lifeless body, guide the Police in its investigations, confirm Ugwuonyes claims or deflate his ego and ultimately guide the public, earlier fed with unsubstantiated reports of alleged murder of the missing woman by her ex-husband, David Aiyedogbon.

The dismembered body came into the picture, when Ugwuonye displayed same on Facebook, alleging that it was that of Chacha, directly accusing her ex-husband, David Aiyedogbon of having a hand in her alleged death. Hear Ugwuonye:

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 on his Facebook group, Due Process Advocate (DPA), 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. This body was discovered by school children on May 12, 2016, by accident in a remote area of Abuja, but which is close to Gwarimpa. The body was dumped at the spot, presumably over the night. DPA contact and resources had pursued the trace as to how the body was disposed. We are fairly comfortable with the information we have.

Anyone that read the above posts will assume that there were some substance in the claim; considering the certainty with which it was made. Unfortunately, there is nothing suggesting credibility in same.

First, the missing woman has four grown-up (educated) children and none of them has identified the corpse as that of their mother. Her ex-husband of twenty-six years, David Aiyedogbon also never identified same as that of his ex-wife. Chachas parents are alive and her four siblings are going about their normal businesses. None of them has identified the corpse as hers. In fact, as at the time of filing this report, no member of her nuclear or extended family, not even the Police, have seen the corpse paraded on social media by Mr. Ugwuonye, not to talk of identifying same as that of the missing woman.

Following his (Ugwuonyes) claims at the Police Station that one of the suspects, Jo, whom he earlier claimed was his client, identified the corpse as that of Chacha, the Police re-invited him (Jo- who was on bail). Upon arrival at the station, Jo denied him. First, he came with his lawyer, saying he neither briefed nor consulted Emeka Ugwuonye as his lawyer. Second, he denied ever seeing or identifying the corpse to anyone, including Ugwuonye, insisting that he only saw the said corpse on Facebook, just like many others.

Now, how did the dismembered body come about? How did Ugwuonye come into this and what was his interest? He claims not to have met with the missing Chacha ever before, yet he is able to identify her dismembered body in death? On countless times, he declared the woman dead, even when her children said she is not. Till date, he has not provided any single evidence to the Police to substantiate his claims? Now without evidence, how do you declare a missing person dead? Without a DNA test and/or physical recognition by relatives, how do you identify a corpse? Is this what Harvard University, United States of America (that trained Ugwuonye) teaches in its law faculty?

The puzzle of the actual identity of the corpse Ugwuonye will show the Police this week will be solved in the coming days, and I wonder where he will stand if it is confirmed not to be Chacha's body.

Meanwhile, the first puzzle was solved earlier, following the admission by one of Chachas lawyers, Barrister Nsikak Udo that Chachas signature was forged. He admitted that he lied on oath and his fate shall be determined by the laws of the land.

Barrister Nsikak Udo, handling a fresh suit filed by Chacha at the Federal High Court, Lokoja on 29th April, 2016 against 29 respondents, including her biological children and her former husband claimed she (Chacha) came to his house on the 18th of May, 2016 (eight days after her purported disappearance) and one of his staff accompanied her to Federal High Court, Abuja to sign and depose to an affidavit in support of the ex-parte motion filed along with the case. A case of perjury and forgery appears to have been established.

Now, Chachas last post before she went missing shows that she sat on the passengers seat of her car. That was the last she posted on Facebook, using that particular User ID- Deepdealdehammer. The question is: who drove her in the car and where were they going?

Today, that car has been recovered, following a tip-off by one of the suspects in Police custody, IK Ezeugo. IK never opened up until Police arrested one of Jekwus friends, who now gave the lead, indicating that he (IK) personally drove the vehicle to the place where it was parked. His (IKs) younger brother, identified as Paul Chukwujekwu Ezeugo (still at large) is believed to have been in custody of the vehicle. He (Chukwujekwu) is also believed to have driven the missing woman on that last trip. The car was found somewhere in Enugu State by men of the Nigerian Police, in the residence of one Uche, with its Plate Number and particulars already changed.

Again, Chachas two handsets have been recovered. One of them, a Nokia handset, is said to have been found with Chukwujekwus biological mother, Mrs. Ezeugo, believed to also be a guest of the Nigerian Police presently. The second handset (a Samsung Handset) was recovered from one Augustine, who claimed that one Odinaka, Chukwujekwus friend and phone repairer sold it to him for Twenty Five Thousand Naira. The proceeds, according to Odinaka, were handed over to Chukwujekwu. Just like the vehicle, the both handsets were found in Enugu. Now, where is Chukwujekwu? Is he in the country or has he fled Nigeria, as is being speculated?

One is forced to ask: is it a coincidence that almost all the persons arrested/suspected so far in connection with Chachas case are from Enugu State? Precisely, six suspects so far arrested in the case are from Enugu State. Chukwujekwu Ezeugo (at large) is also from Enugu.

Emeka Ugwuonye is from Enugu and Chachas car and handsets were found in Enugu. Chachas maternal home is Enugu. In fact, Paul Chukwujekwu Ezeugo and the missing Chachas mother are both from Oba-Nsukka, in Enugu State. Could her disappearance be an Enugu agenda?

More worrisome is the fact that the Police have kept Nigerians in the dark regarding their findings so far. While I agree that it may be premature to disclose certain sensitive findings on the matter, it is a tactical error to remain mum, while charlatans continue to mislead and divert the attention of Nigerians from the real issues. The least I expect is that after the DNA test, the Police should address Nigerians on the status of their investigation on Chachas case, while waiting for the Courts to resume before they can charge those that have questions to answer. But, why has Paul Chukwujekwu Ezeugo not been declared wanted by the Police, if they feel strongly that he has questions to answer and is on the run?

At the risk of sounding judgemental, Emeka Ugwuonye has questions to answer on missing Chachas case and no one can convince me to the contrary. He claimed to have been in the United States as at the time of Chachas disappearance and only came into Nigeria in June, 2016, after being briefed to handle the matter, but his call log betrayed him, showing that he was in Abuja on the 10th, 11th and 12th of May, 2016; same time Chacha is said to have got missing. Was he there to supervise her disappearance?

Also, he has a very suspicious relationship with one of the prime suspects, Chukwujekwu Ezeugo, popularly called Jekwu (still at large) and his call log shows a lot about it. He is also suspected to have aided his escape, as, according to Police sources, the day he (Jekwu) was to be picked up by the Police, Ugwuonye personally called the Police, promising to produce him, only to revert 24hours later, telling the Police that he had escaped. There are lots and lots of questions for Ugwuonye to answer.

Meanwhile, understanding how bad the matter is getting, Ugwuonye recently played a card, announcing his withdrawal from Chachas case, a move Police sources described as diversionary, since he is already a suspect in the case.

A school of thought holds that his earlier accusation of the ex-husband of the missing woman, David Aiyedogbon was aimed at diverting the attention of the Police from focussing on the actual persons, believed to be close to him.

Reports say Ugwuonye has appealed to lawyers to David Aiyedogbon not to sue him for defamation of character, promising to apologise publicly. But, was he not given time to apologise earlier and he refused, or is my memory failing me? Mr. Aiyedogbon, a retired Civil Servant earlier wrote his accuser-Ugwuonye, through his lawyers, demanding an apology, failure which he would seek legal redress. He refused to utilize the window. Why now?

The letter titled: Defamation of the character of David Aiyedogbon; demand for apology, signed by his lawyer, Barrister Tony Ogbulafor and made available to newsmen, expressly states: It is our instruction to demand an unqualified apology from you to our client through our chambers for the defamatory publications you have made of and concerning our client.

But, are the latest appeals to Mr. Aiyedogbons lawyers not to sue him and the Police not to make him an accused in the matter helpful? What about the Police officer, whom he wrongly accused of receiving bribe from a lawyer (in an envelope) to detain him and the lawyer himself, who have vowed to institute legal actions against him? Anyway, let him continue to beg; he might be lucky and they forgive him. But how does he tell his members in DPA, whom he has consistently fed with falsehood?

Chachas case is getting more interesting. While we await the outcome of the DNA test, there is no doubt that those in possession of Chachas car and handsets have something to tell the world about her whereabouts; or is her disappearance a set-up or another Nollywood movie?

Only time shall tell!
A 19- year-old Zambian student Esther Mungalaba, of Meanwood, Lusaka has been selected as the Senior Runner-up of The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition.

Four young writers have been awarded Winners and Runners-Up of The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition 2016, the worlds oldest international schools writing competition. The winning essays were selected from approximately 13,500 entries spanning the five regions of the Commonwealth.

Representing nearly every Commonwealth country, entrants wrote about contemporary issues including the Syrian refugee crisis, conflict migration in Africa and finding a diasporic identity.

Senior Winner Inessa Rajah, 17, is from Durban, South Africa. Senior Runner-up Esther Mugalaba, 19, comes from Lusaka, Zambia. The Junior Winner and Runner-up, Gauri Kumar, 13, and Tan Wan Gee, 14, respectively, are both Singaporean nationals.

Entries were assessed by a pan-Commonwealth body of judges, drawn from more than 30 different countries across the globe. Judges described the entries as inspirational, ambitious, profound, moving, imaginative and stated that the future of the Commonwealth is bright.

The four pan-Commonwealth Winners and Runners-up will attend the traditional Winners Week in London in October of this year; a special programme consisting of cultural and educational activities. The week will culminate in an Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace where HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will present the Winners and Runners-up with their certificates on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.

The ceremony will form part of a week of cultural and educational activities in London and Cambridge, UK. The Duchess of Cornwall will be presenting the prizes on behalf of HM The Queen, Patron of the competition. The Duchess is a keen supporter of promoting literacy amongst young people and adults.

In January this year, The Zambia High Commission in London urged young Zambian people to take part in this year's prestigious Queens Commonwealth Essay Schools Competition.

The annual essay competition, which is open to all Commonwealth citizens under the age of 18 years, offers young people from diverse backgrounds an opportunity to air their views and express their aspirations for the future. Each year, participants demonstrate ability to stimulate and provoke discussions about important Commonwealth and global issues from a young persons perspective and to showcase their critical and creative skills.

The Royal Commonwealth Society said Esthers essay was highlighted from nearly 6,500 Senior entries by a body of judges from over 30 countries, and ultimately selected by a prestigious Final Panel in London in August.

Michael Lake CBE, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society said: The four young people chosen as the Winners and Runners-up of The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition 2016 represent the very best and brightest that the Commonwealth has to offer. Their essays and poems explore contemporary themes with maturity, intelligence and depth beyond their years. We are proud of them and the thousands of other young writers who entered the competition this year from all around the Commonwealth.

Rod Smith, Managing Director of Education, Cambridge University Press: The Royal Commonwealth Society shares our vision of empowerment through education, and were thrilled to be sponsoring The Queens Commonwealth Essay Competition once again. The quality of the entries this year were exceptional, and all of us at Cambridge University Press would like to extend our congratulations to the winners.

The Commonwealth Royal Commonwealth Society further said that Esther wrote a balanced and discursive essay about Europes Migrant Crisis, providing a mature assessment of the situation saying that her essay was well written and argued.

An excerpt from Esthers essay: This crisis is a call to our long forgotten compassionate sides. It is a call for selflessness, a very complicated concept for many including myself. It is a call to put our selfishness aside and for once, do something for others that does not seem to have anything in it for us. Esther said: I feel incredibly blessed

Esther graduated from Kasisi Girls Secondary School in 2014 and is currently waiting to be accepted in the University of Zambia. She enjoys reading, writing, talking, jazz music and the idea of travelling.
We urge the Congolese authorities to promptly investigate a massacre that occurred in Beni territory in Northern Kivu province on Saturday. At least 47 civilians, including two children, were reportedly killed by suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) members, four wounded and 10 houses burnt down. This brings to more than 645 the total civilian death toll resulting from presumed ADF attacks since 1 January 2014. This is the most serious violence to affect the area since late 2014, when the UN documented at least 237 civilian deaths in a three-month period between 1 October and 31 December 2014.

We urge the Government of the DRC to enhance its efforts to protect civilians, to investigate these serious violations of international humanitarian law and to ensure the perpetrators of human rights abuses and violations on all sides are brought to justice.
Prior to the introduction of the professional practice of herbal medicine, made possible by way of formal education/training in Ghana through the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the unprofessional/informal practice of herbal medicine existed and still exists. The informal herbal medicine practice forms part of the Traditional medicine practices in Ghana. Traditional medicine has undergone lots of developments in effort to meet modern trends of healthcare delivery.

The developments were made possible through successive government policies and the establishment of a Traditional and Alternative Medicine Directorate (TAMD) within the Ministry of Health to help with the implementation of the set policies. The contribution of a highly recognized body, the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations (GHAFTRAM) in the Traditional medicine developmental journey cannot be overlooked. GHAFTRAM, formed in 1999 as proposed in previous government policies on a common representation for all Traditional medicine practices brings together associations of the different practices within the Ghanaian Traditional medicine thus providing a common representation in the interest of the different practices to government through agencies of the ministry of health like the Traditional medicine practice council(TMPC), Traditional and Alternative Medicine Directorate ( TAMD), and other stakeholders. With all the good efforts , GHAFTRAM, have not been successful in migrating the services of Traditional Medicine Practitioners unto the main health delivery system in Ghana despite government policies on integration of TMP's into the healthcare system.

The reason for this shortcoming is the fact that practitioners of Traditional Medicine are not professionally trained and the healthcare system in Ghana employs professionally trained people in different fields of practices with a common foundation that enables them work together as a unit in the interest of patients and the general public as a whole. The training of professionals usually involve formal education through tertiary institutions like universities etc. While the activities of professionals are regulated by legally recognized bodies, their various professional associations ensure the continuous development of their practices in general as they have the controlling power which is believed to always serve in interest of the public. 16 years after the introduction of professional practice of herbal medicine by personnels trained at KNUST, these professionals and their professional association have nothing close to the controlling power of practice as expected of any recognized professionals in a professional association/body.A professional association is that which is made up of group of persons in a learned occupation entrusted with maintaining control/having privileges and powerful position as the controlling body of the legitimate practice of a profession.

The Ghana Associations of Medical Herbalists (GAMH) is the only professional association of herbal medicine professionals trained at KNUST. GAMH was established in Accra in 2005 and has since been involved in lots of activities/work to carry out the objectives to which it was formed for the betterment of the herbal medicine industry in general. GAMH with the help of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge ( BUSAC) fund, and the Ministry of health pushed for the integration of the services of its members into the mainstream healthcare delivery system in September 2012 after years of tireless effort. This resulted in the creation of herbal medicine units in selected government hospitals nationwide as pilot centres of the services of Medical Herbalists. Other success stories of GAMH as a professional body include; advocacy for National Health Insurance Scheme's (NHIS) coverage of diagnostic services at the various herbal medicine pilot centres, organization of the maiden scientific conference in Kumasi in 2013. Two Continous Professional Development trainings (CPD) for members of GAMH was also organized with the support of the Traditional Medicine Practice Council(TMPC) and other stakeholders in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Despite the efforts and success stories enjoyed by the Ghana Association of Medical Herbalists ( GAMH) in recent times, it is still faced with lots of shortcomings and as such it is not strongly recorgnized and does not have the controlling power over the herbal medicine practice as expected of a professional association in the health sector. The shortcomings are described in this article in accordance with the structure of an ideal professional association/body. These include; Policy and Public affairs, Legal and governance, Education, Training and Continuos Professional Development (CPD), Membership and employer engagement, Research and Knowledge, International membership and affiliation, and Other factors.

POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Policy refers to a written document on the laid down plans about a subject with directives on the implementation of the set objectives. There is currently no known government policy or policies on the professional practice of herbal medicine. No policy exist that gives GAMH authority as the controlling body/association over herbal medicine practice in Ghana. The available policies from the past till date have focused on Traditional Medical Practitioners ( TMP's).

The available policy on herbal medicine practice , I.e " Policy on Traditional Medicine Practice in Ghana" only makes provision for local herbalists and other indigenous practices that employ the use of herbs under the Traditional medicine umbrella. The policy which was developed by the Ministry of Health in 2005 at the time where the professional practice of herbal medicine was at its earliest stage with very few professionals in the system, the same year GAMH came into being, outlines the directives for the development of Traditional medicine practices and as such the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations (GHAFTRAM) in addition to other stakeholders like Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Food and Drugs Authority(FDA), Ghana National Drugs Programme, Centre for Scientific Research Into Plant Medicine, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, , Ghana Medical Association, Nurses and Midwives Council, Pharmacy Council, World Health Organization and DANIDA were the bodies that contributed towards the development of the policy for TMP's. . Others included were Sociology and Biochemistry Departments of the University of Ghana and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Some of the laid down directives contained in the said TMP policy was the need for a Traditional Medicine Practice Council( TMPC) to regulate practices of TMP's, among others. The TMPC was later established in 2010 under the act 575 parliamentary act 2000 in accordance with the provisions made in the 2005 policy on Traditional Medicine.

It is therefore sad and appalling that TMPC , a council established for and controlled by TMP's( "unprofessionals") per the policy earlier discussed still regulates the activities of the professional body of formally trained herbal doctors designated Medical Herbalists, 16 years after their introduction with successive batches of people inducted into the practice. TMPC (with no board membership for GAMH representives) has since offered licenses to qualified Medical herbalists, handle the educational curricula and other aspects of the training of these professionals including internships to professional examination etc which should not be so. This has grately undermine the development of the clinical practice of herbal medicine by Medical herbalists and prevented the Ghana association of medical herbalists (GAMH) from fully carrying out its functions like ensuring the total integration of professional herbal medicine practice into the healthcare system in Ghana. As it stands now, only a few Medical Herbalists of the several batches of graduated students are employed by the Ghana Health Service(GHS) at the various herbal clinic pilot centres in the government hospitals. One would expect that most hospitals in Ghana now by law should have herbal clinic or herbal medicine units managed by Medical Herbalists and not just the temporal provisions at the piloting level in government hospitals as still exist 4 years after the piloting commended in September 2012. Due to lack of policy and proper recognition GAMH, now works under GHAFTRAM, an unprofessional body and as such there is no difference in the value of the license of Medical Herbalists and that of Traditional Medical Practitioners(TMP's). In reality the license given to TMP's are currently more valuable than that of the members of the professional body and there is lack of recorgnition on the part of GAMH as a professional association in the health delivery system.

The only solution to this is for the professional association GAMH to push either for the amendment of the already established policy on herbal medicine under the Traditional medicine practice for indigenous herbalists to cover the Medical herbalists as formally trained professionals with well laid down directive to promote their practice and offer them the controlling power especially at a regulatory council level with issues regarding herbal medicine practice or push for an independent policy on the professional practice of herbal medicine that will enable Medical Herbalists have It's own regulatory council backed by law to perform such functions like licencing and certification, etc. This would change everything completely and the herbal industry will now enjoy protection from professionals who will serve it wholeheartedly as there will now be a balance in the interests of all drivers of the industry, and that of the public . GAMH should seek legal advice and assistance from stakeholders in the health sector especially representatives from the various professional associations/regulatory bodies in addition to others that helped GHAFTRAM develop the 2005 policy through the Ministry of Health. These stakeholders and government should be well enlightened on the important role Medical Herbalists play and the need for a professional body in the herbal industry. Work done so far at the various herbal medicine pilot centres may be used in addition to research/studies conducted.

LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE

This is another important structure that should be in place for any profession/practice and for its professional association or representation to be properly recognized. A law should exist that backs a practice. For a law to exist, a bill(drafted act of parliament) has to be passed by parliament. The preparation of bills is done by Government and occasionally initiated by representations outside the circle of government as a legislative proposal or amendment legislative proposal ( if the party involved seeks for amendment of existing laws)

In the case where a bill expected to be prepared by government as a result of the submission of a legislative proposal or amendment legislative proposal from representations of a practice or profession( for instance by GAMH ), the Ministry in charge passes the proposal through some processes to become a draft bill to be introduced to parliament after the approval from cabinet. The bill if passed successfully by parliament becomes a law after approval from the attorney general and president. In a nutshell a law is an approved bill(act of parliament) that binds or backs any practice and its subsequent association (be it professional or not) or governmental provisions.

The established act of parliament( passed bill) gives the structural and functional framework to a practice or government provisions. In the case of passage of a bill to recorgnize a new professional health practice, the typical structures to be established usually include; regulatory council with well defined members of which the representative or association of the practice( e.g GAMH) is recorgnized as a key body in the council aside other stakeholders on the council's board.

There is no act of parliament established to back the professional herbal medicine practice currently in Ghana, just as there isn't a policy. It is therefore expected of the representation, the Ghana Association of Medical Herbalists ( GAMH) to make an initiative with the processes explained above. The available Traditional Medicine Practice act 2000 for Traditional medical practitioners(TMP's) for instance outlines an act( act 575) to establish a Council, Traditional Medicine Practice Council(TMPC) to regulate the practice of traditional medicine, register practitioners and licence practices, regulate the preparation and sale of herbal, medicines and to provide for related matters. The board membership of TMPC includes five members nominated by the federation of all associations of TMPs ( which is GHAFTRAM) , and recognized by the government as representing all TMPs in the country. It is the duty of these five members to elect the Chairman of the Council from among them. Other members of Council include representatives from the universities and research institutions, the Director of the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine, the Chief Executive of the Food and Drugs Authority(FDA) and a Registrar, who shall be the Secretary to the Board.

An established act of parliament either by way of ammendment of the TMP act 2000 or a totally new act for the formal/professional practice of herbal medicine in Ghana will also help keep the activities of registered Medical Herbalists in check as relevance will be placed on the code of ethics developed by regulatory council( which will now give recorgnition to GAMH) to help govern the profession. Other provisions under this structure is the availability of a working constitution to guide the activities of the professional association. GAMH has a constitution but it is still faced with governance issues; the electoral process for executives of the association in the past was not properly observe and as such some executives overstayed their tenure of office leading to mistrusts from the membership

To be continued.............

NB:

This article irrespective of the title is meant to inform the government , other stakeholders in the health delivery system, and the general public on the need to empower the professional association of herbal medicine practice, GAMH, and the professionals in effect to take control of the herbal industry in the interest of the general public. The contributions from practising Medical Herbalists ( both in the private and public sector), Interns, Ghana Herbal Medical Students Association(GHEMSA) KNUST, and the public in addition to the stated references below were very helpful in putting together this article.

REFERENCES

1. (MOH, 2005), Policy on Traditional Medicine Practice.

2. Traditional Medicine Practice by Marian Ewurama Addy.

3.Strategic Plan for Traditional Health Care in Ghana (2000  2004). Second draft. Ministry of Health, Ghana. August 1999.

4. Understanding the values of professionals and professional bodies by the Chartered Institute of Building(CIOB)

5. Traditional Medicine Practice Act 2000

6. Constitutional laws of Ghana by Francis Bennion

EMMANUEL BENTIL ASARE ADUSEI,

BSC HERBAL MEDICINE, KNUST

C.E.O, ADUBEN HERBAL CONSULT

[email protected]

+233546678401
Ghana accrued a little over 3.1 billion dollars in revenue from the mining and quarrying sector in 2015.

Of this amount a little over 465 thousand dollars was returned to Ghana through the Bank of Ghana as mandatory surrender.

Mineral revenue returned to the country through commercial banks as voluntary repatriation was a little over 2.1 billion dollars.

Of the total revenue accrued that is 3.1 billion dollars, figures from the Ghana Revenue Authority shows 2.6 billion dollars was returned to Ghana which comes up to 85 percent of the total revenue accrued.

The figures published by the Ghana Chamber Mines shows total fiscal payment from the 3.1 billion dollars amounted to 377.3 million dollars of which a little over 130 million dollars went into mineral royalties, 124 million dollars into corporate tax.

108 million dollars went into Employee Income Tax Payments (PAYE) while 234 thousand dollars went into other taxes, meanwhile dividends paid to the state amounted to 13 million dollars and property rate payments amounted to 978 thousand dollars.



Vivian Kai Lokko/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
Sirte (Libya) (AFP) - Libyan pro-government forces went back on the offensive Tuesday against last pockets of resistance by fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group in the coastal city of Sirte.

Backed by tanks and mortar fire, pro-government forces advanced inside "District Two" of central Sirte, an AFP photographer reported, after a day of clearing and demining areas of the city captured in earlier clashes.

The assault against IS has been mounted in a west-to-east direction and led by tanks opening the way for infantry.

A commander of the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) said loyalists had also taken up positions south of District Two to cut off escape routes.

Loyalist forces launched operations in May to retake the Mediterranean city and home town of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, which IS seized in June last year.

On June 9, pro-government forces entered Sirte and have since pushed the jihadists from key positions including their headquarters at the Ouagadougou conference centre, a sprawling compound near the city centre.

AFP correspondents who toured the city on Saturday said loyalist forces were pressing their advance, buoyed by US air strikes earlier this month that targeted IS holdouts in the city.

More than 300 pro-government fighters have been killed and 1,800 wounded in the three-month-old battle for Sirte, according to an official casualty toll. The jihadists have not revealed their losses.
On behalf of the executive and on my own behalf I would like to Salute the youth of Ghana, especially the youth of our great party the NDC, and more especially the youth of the UK/Ireland Chapter of the NDC on the occasion of the world youth day.

I urge the youth to redouble their effort and direct their energies towards nation building. I plead with the youth to unite and contribute positively towards the President's effort in "transforming Ghana and changing lives".

The youth are the future of our country and therefore must sacrifice and work even harder to protect and preserve that future. May the Lord continue to bless and strengthen our youth. Long live our youth, long live the NDC, long live Ghana.

Kofi Kwakye

Chairman NDC UK/Ireland Chapter
The Northern regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, says the NPP wants its suspended National Chairman, Paul Afoko back.

He said the party believes that Mr. Afoko will return to the NPP because he is an NPP [member], no doubt adding that we will welcome him and so he should come back.

An Accra Human Rights Court Monday dismissed Mr. Afokos challenge of the legality of his suspension by the NPP, explaining that he has no case. As a result, Mr. Afoko remains indefinitely suspended.

But, Mr. Afoko in a statement said he has instructed his counsel to study the judgment affirming his sanction, and to appeal at the appropriate time.

Welcoming the decision of the court Bugri Naabu called on Mr. Afoko to appologise and return to the elephant fraternity.

We welcome what the court has done and that is the right decision. He took to the court and the court has demonstrated the right decision. He should apologise to the hierarchy of the party because the path he took was too bad, stated Bugri Naabu on Accra-based Citi FM Monday.

The lead counsel for the NPP Godfred Dame described Mr. Afokos resolve to appeal the dismissal of his suit against the party as worrying.

Mr. Afoko said in statement signed by his spokesperson Nana Yaw Osei that It has always been emphasised that this legal battle is not about personalities but about the restoration of our party to its core values of respect for one another's opinion, the rule of law and the need to remain united in face of all challenges.

However, Mr. Dame said even though the party has no qualms whatsoever about Afokos quest to appeal the courts judgment, it is simply needless and petty.

This indication by Mr. Afoko is very worrying, he said.

He said in the wake of calls for reconciliation, he was surprised that Afoko will more or less want to act contrary to the spirit of unity, peace and reconciliation shown by the party by going further up to the appeal system.

It is totally frivolous and mischievous, he argued adding I have never seen any high profile case in all my practice laden with so much mischief and frivolous as this one.
GENOA  Sid Byrd, a former student at Genoa Indian Industrial School, opened his talk Saturday at the annual school reunion with a story about his name.

My middle named used to be Oliver, but I changed it to Howard because I got sick and tired of initialing S.O.B, he said.

The 97-year-old (or 97 winters, as his tribe says) is a gifted storyteller who managed to slip in slivers of humor while recalling the hardships and discrimination he faced while attending the Indian school.

Byrd grew up in Porcupine, South Dakota, as a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe. In 1927, Byrd was sent to the Genoa Indian School to receive a Western education.

My grandfather, he said, 'We can no longer live as we once did, the old ways are gone. We have to change and learn the ways of the white man,'  Byrd said. In order to take your rightful place in this great nation with dignity and respect, you have to learn the white man's way.

His biggest struggle as a child was learning to speak English. Byrd, who grew up speaking Lakota, said English had many sounds that did not exist in his native language. And children were harshly punished for speaking their own language.

Byrd recalled a story of a little boy who was crying one night while others were sleeping and began to pray in his native tongue. He was reported and punished by being sent to the hole.

God hears all prayers, whatever language, the boy told Byrd. Was it wrong for me to pray?

Byrd also shared the story of another boy who talked back to a teacher who threatened to beat him for speaking his language.

I wished I had his courage, said Byrd. The disciplinarian got up, he said, 'Go ahead big man, you like to beat on little kids? You can beat me but you're not going to take my language from me. It's mine and I'm going to speak it as often as I can. You can beat me to death but I'll speak it.

He was not a rebel. He was a soldier, a warrior, said Byrd. He defended our culture and our language. I admired that little boy who had the courage to stand up for his rights.

Some of the students struggles were also physical. Byrd told a couple of stories about going hungry when he was young.

In one, Byrd got into a fight with a boy who sat at his table who would take all the food, leaving little for the rest of the children.

All the days of being bullied, all the days of being hungry, he said. I had to do what I had to do.

Even with a fair distribution of food, Byrd said it often wasnt enough. Students tried to sneak food out but the boys were searched and the food confiscated. Byrd befriended a green-eyed girl named Cookie who offered to wrap sandwiches in wax paper and sneak them out in her bloomers, the long, tightly cuffed pants popular in the early 1900s.

At the Indian school, Byrd said, corporal punishment was freely administered.

In one incident, school Superintendent Sam B. Davis caught Byrd and some other boys playing in a trash pile. He pulled a switch off a cherry tree and beat the boys. Byrd was one of the last to be beaten, he said, and by the time Davis got to him the smaller branches had come off and Byrd was essentially hit with a club.

The next day Byrd was assigned to shovel coal, but the supervising teacher saw the bruises on his back and sent him to the school nurse. She called the town doctor to examine the bruises.

I'd been beaten so (badly) I could hardly lie down. I had to lie down on my stomach, said Byrd. I don't know what Dr. Davis did but it was not long afterward that (superintendent) Davis would be replaced with Herman Bogart.

Byrd said Bogart was more lenient with the children, allowing boys and girls to sit together at meals and occasionally speak their native language with one another.

His memories arent all about hardship. He remembered winning the Nance County spelling bee.

Me, a poor little boy that didnt even know how to speak English, he chuckled.

He also remembered when he got second place in a county-wide declamatory speech contest by reciting the Gettysburg Address.

The teacher told me I could have won first place but I didnt gesture, he said. I didn't know I was supposed to gesture.

Byrd befriended some of the local children. One winter he went to his friends house to see if he wanted to go sledding.

None of us Indians could purchase new sleds so we made our own, he said. And I went to my friends dragging my homemade sled.

His friend had the mumps but his mother said Byrd could borrow their sled.

She came out with a brand new Flexible Flyer, he said. So I went out and I was having the time of my life.

The fun ended when was picked up by the town constable who asked where he got the sled. The constable drove him to his friends house and spoke with his friend's mother.

The constable said, This little buck Indian claims he has a friend that loaned him this sled,'" said Byrd.

His friends mother defended him then drove Byrd back out to the hill so the other kids would see he didn't steal the sled.

Byrd also recalled that some of the townspeople would give the children gifts around Christmastime. When the school closed in 1937, Byrd remembers the tearful good-byes he had with some of the townspeople, including the father of one of his friends.

The father said, 'Sid, you're going to go to the top. Put your mind to it and make your best effort. If you do your best, no one can fault you,'" said Byrd. I followed his advice.

Byrd was transferred to another Indian school, and when he completed school he joined the Army and fought in the South Pacific in World War II. After the Army, he was the first in his village to get a college degree and went on to seminary school. In the 1960s he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement.

In Bishop, California, he started a remedial reading program, though he deliberately didnt use the name remedial.

I had a terrible time learning to read, so I could understand, could relate to these Paiute and Shoshone children, he said. When you see the word remedial, something is wrong with you. We called them opportunity courses  here's an opportunity to improve your reading.

Some of the kids who took the remedial reading program went on to college and came back to the school system, he said. My heart soars like a hawk.

Byrd could very well be the last surviving student of the Genoa Indian School. At the end of his talk, he reflected on his experience and the balance of positive and negative memories from his time there.

However harsh it was for me, I also had friends, he said. And it served as a stepping stone to even greater accomplishments.
Renewed violence underscores the urgency of bringing to account those responsible for crimes under international law committed during South Sudans armed conflict, said Amnesty International and FIDH today, a year on from a faltering peace agreement.

The peace accord was signed on 17 August 2015 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It requires the African Union (AU) to set up a hybrid court for South Sudan to investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity since the conflict began in December 2013.

Last months return to violence underscores the need to seek accountability for the horrendous crimes committed and should bolster, not undermine, the pursuit of justice, said Elizabeth Deng, Amnesty Internationals South Sudan Researcher.

The African Union must stop dragging its feet and take concrete steps to set up the court, including by immediately collecting and preserving evidence before it is lost and witnesses memories of events fade.

Since the agreement was signed, the AU and South Sudanese authorities have made little progress in setting up the court. In the meantime, hostilities have continued and recently escalated, further worsening the human rights situation for millions of South Sudanese people.

During and after the recent fighting between government and opposition armed forces, civilians were once again targets of killings, rapes and other forms of sexual violence, and their property was looted and destroyed.

The recent outbreak of fighting in Juba and elsewhere is only the latest in a cycle of violence fuelled by impunity. Sustainable peace will remain elusive if nothing is done to ensure accountability for serious crimes committed in the past, said Sheila Muwanga, FIDH Vice President.

The African Union must start engaging with South Sudanese, including civil society, to determine the statute, rules of procedure, location and personnel of the court.

The organizations reiterated that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law committed during South Sudans armed conflict should be brought to justice in fair trials without recourse to death penalty.

They also called on the AU to ensure that the court complies with international fair trial standards, draws on best practices of other hybrid and ad hoc tribunals, includes South Sudanese nationals among its personnel, provides for the participation of victims at all stages of the proceedings and guarantees the protection of victims and witnesses.
Prospective Hajj pilgrims have been warned against carrying Kola nuts to Saudi Arabia during this years Hajj as they risk execution.

A circular by the government of Saudi Arabia stated that pilgrims traveling to that country must do so without Kola nuts.

Deputy Communications Director of the Ghana Hajj board, Mohammed Amin Lamptey, warned pilgrims to adhere strictly to the order and ensure that they do not carry along the banned product to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government believes that a time has come for them to let out their arsenals to stamp out this issue of kola nuts that has been there for years. They have given some space for people to carry along kola nuts because basically we need to believe that some African countries are used to kola nuts, especially the aged who would always want to have kola nuts."

According to Mr. Amin Lamptey, the Saudi government is intent on executing any pilgrim found carrying kola nuts saying  It could lead you to losing your life.

I think they know the reasons why they are coming up with such restrictions and regulations because this years Hajj is very critical.  We know last year what happened and this year, even before the main hajj, there are issues of suicide bombing and all that so they are trying to put things in order to prevent any untold story, Mr. Lamptey told Class FM.

Over 5,000 pilgrims are expected to be airlifted from Ghana to Saudi Arabia to participate in this years Hajj.

Saudi Arabia prohibits kola nuts and other hard drugs they identify as harmful to their citizens.
By Kofi Mensah, GNA

Obuasi, Aug 16, GNA - A fully computerized High Court with internet facility has been inaugurated in the mining town of Obuasi with a call to officials, who would be working there to be fair to be everybody.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. John Alexander Ackon, said the court should give justice to all those appearing before it to sustain public confidence in the judicial system.

'I wish to urge the officials to work hard to promote efficient adjudication of cases to minimize the challenges people go through in their quest for justice.'

He indicated that access to justice was vital for the growth of the nation's democracy - it was the way forward to guarantee individual freedom.

That was why the step taken by the municipal assembly to construct the modern structure to house the high court was commendable, he added.

The Minister said the situation where significant proportion of the population lived outside the protection of the law for reasons of poverty and distance would have to change.

Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, an Appeal Court Judge, who stood in for the Chief Justice asked that criminal cases should be brought before the courts for determination.

He said rape, defilement and other criminal offences must not be settled outside the courts.

Justice Adjei pointed out that the Judicial Council was eager to see more law courts opened across the nation to save the people the trouble of traveling long distances to seek justice.

Mr. Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said litigants in Obuasi, Assin Fosu, Bekwai, Dunkwa, Manso-Nkwanta and Jacobu would no longer have to travel to Kumasi to access justice.

Nana Kwabena Oyiakwan II, the chief of Kwapia, urged court workers to refuse to be corrupted.

GNA
By Samuel Osei-Frempong

Tema, Aug. 15, GNA - Professor John Aheto, a business development consultant, has bemoaned poor negotiation skills among the country's political and business leaders resulting in poor loan and project agreements and a stifled business environment.

According to him, government and businesses sign away many rights of the people because they always look desperate and ill-informed at the negotiation table.

Prof Aheto, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said negotiation is not an act or art of begging as viewed by many Ghanaians.

He had held a serminar on "negotiation" for members of the Tema Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Tema.

According to him, most projects and businesses fail due to poor negotiations and called for a conscious effort to train political leaders and managers of businesses in the art of negotiations.

"One mistake most businesses commit is how they approach the banks for loans. Their very demeanour gives them away as desperate and ill informed. They start begging even before the terms of the loan are spelt out."

Mr Yusif Barry, Chairman, TCCI, said the members needed to be taught the strategies of negotiations because its implications on businesses are crucial.

"Poor negotiation skills are like a disease plaguing a lot of businesses and families. It closes the mind to fairness and opportunity. Rights become favours."

According to him, "Right from the supplier to the banker, we need to negotiate for better deals. Most often we beg or at best we persuade."

He called on banks to be sensitive to the needs and aspirations of businesses by offering good customer service, well-tailored loan packages and facilitate networking among clients.

"It is in the interest of the banks to support the growth and stability of the business environment because at the end of the day, the will pick up deposits needed for on lending activities"', he said.

GNA
The Executive Director of VIAM Africa is calling for a review of the country's education policy to cater for the majority of the country's youth who do not make it past the Senior High School level.

Dr Prince Armah believes the dreams of many young men and women are shattered because the educational system does not make adequate provision for those who do not have the aptitude to go past the secondary level.

His comments on TV3's Agenda comes at a time the nation is wailing over poor results recorded at the just ended WASSCE released just a week ago.

Over 60% of the pupils who sat for this year's exams could not pass for a place in the university education.

That has triggered another debate with stakeholders and politicians blaming each other.

Even though the results were a slight improvement over results released last year, there has been a general consensus that the country needs to do better.

In a panel discussion, Dr Prince Armah said the country must be able to set a clear objective about what it wants to achieve in these examinations.

Currently, he identified two major objectives the secondary school examination is providing which to serve as a matriculation or a qualifying entry for few people into the university and also serves as terminal point for majority who do not have the aptitude to make it into the tertiary level.

"What do we do for those who do not have the aptitude to go further from the SHS?" he asked, pointing to a collapsed technical and vocational training.

He was even more disappointed that there was no data on the number of students who are unable to proceed beyond the SHS level and what exactly they have been doing after their exam.

Dr Armah said instead of government "rebranding polytechnics" as universities, there must be a conscious government policy aimed at equipping many of the students who do not make it past the SHS level with technical and vocational skills which will help them in life.

Prof Kwasi Yankah who was also on the show agreed largely with Dr Armah saying that entry into the university for many of these students has become a do-it-or commit-suicide affair.

"We are only university driven; we have put so much attention on university education; it is either university education or suicide," he mocked, adding, it is time to open other opportunities, like training colleges.

Prof Yankah also lamented the social disparities in the country which makes the BECE and WASSCE "a bit problematic."

He would rather the country reverts to the four year SHS policy which he said recorded some of the best results in recent history.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
16.08.2016 LISTEN

After the long winding legal banter between the suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko and the opposition party, the dust has finally settled.

The Accra Human Rights Court yesterday dismissed the case brought before it by Mr. Afoko, challenging the legality of his suspension.

In October 2015, the Disciplinary Committee of the NPP recommended that Mr Afoko should be suspended indefinitely from the party, following a petition filed by two NPP members.

The Disciplinary Committee's recommendation was unanimously endorsed by the NPP National Executive Committee and later adopted by the National Council, which is the second highest decision making body of the party, after congress.

Mr. Freddie Blay, the first vice chairman of the party, was made to act in his stead, but the embattled National Chairman rejected the reasons for his suspension and subsequently sued the party for taking such an action against him.

Kwabena Agyepong and Sammy Crabbe, General Secretary and Second vice Chairman respectively, who themselves were later suspended, contested the procedure used in suspending Mr. Afoko.

The suspended NPP National Chairman on December 7, 2015, dragged the party to court and accused the NPP of not going through the right processes in suspending him.

He also challenged the capacity of one of the members of the disciplinary committee, Gifty Kusi, who sat on the issue and recommended his suspension.

Giving its judgment, the court, presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah, said the NPPs National Executive Committee acted lawfully by adopting the recommendations of the Disciplinary Committee of the party to suspend Paul Afoko.

But, indications are that, the suspended National Chairman of the NPP, even though has accepted the decision of the court in dismissing the case, still has serious reservations about the verdict.

Mr Afoko said in a statement that his lawyers are carefully studying the judgment and at the appropriate time they would launch an appeal against the decision.

It is worthy to note that while all these back and forth were still ongoing, the suspended General Secretary of the party, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong decided to stay quiet and study the environment or perhaps cast his burden onto the good Lord for his intervention.

Even when they were going to and from the court, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong kept a low profile, hoping that a miracle was going to come from Macedonia to help him out of his predicament.

It is this humble example of the suspended General Secretary that The Chronicle is calling on Paul Afoko to emulate and rescind his decision to appeal against the case.

From the word go, many people, including members of both the NPP and National Democratic Congress (NDC), political commentators and other individuals chastised Mr Afoko for going too far, by dragging the party to court.

Although he has the constitutional rights to appeal against the case and if possible continue to the Supreme Court to seek redress, it is abundantly clear to The Chronicle that the scale of justice, as far as this case is concerned, may not tilt in his favour.

As a member of the elephant family, at this point in time, when all the odds point to a likely victory in the upcoming general elections, he should bury his pride and initiate moves to reconcile with his brethren, so that together they can work to win power for the party.

A stitch in time saves nine.


In line with its strategic objective of becoming an Employer of Choice in Ghana, Access Bank Ghana has welcomed its newest batch of young banking trainees from the Access Bank School of Banking Excellence in Lagos - Nigeria, which has over the years acquired an enviable reputation as a learning centre of excellence.

Numbering over 36, the young graduates were selected across the countrys top universities to undergo a four-month rigorous training across all the banking disciplines, which will better prepare them to begin their banking careers. The graduates are expected to take up various roles within the Bank including Marketing, Global Trade, Retail operations, Customer Experience and Information Technology among others.

Till date the school, which has become a training ground for developing a pipeline of talent for the Ghanaian banking industry, has trained over 161 Ghanaian students since 2009 when the Bank established its operations.

Welcoming the graduates back to Ghana the Managing Director, Mr. Dolapo Ogundimu urged the young trainees to pursue continuous learning, which is one of Access Banks core values.

Highlighting the Banks rationale for sending new recruits to the training school, Mr. Ogundimu said We have partnered the leading universities across the country to develop promising talent for the industry, which we believe will help in reducing the perennial deficit in meeting human capital needs. Through our banking operations, we are also creating an environment where everyone aspires to be the best in line with our vision to become the Most Respected Bank.

He added that the Banks approach to employee development is a mix of different learning methods ranging from self-study, on-the-job training to e-learning programmes and employees on a continuous basis are exposed to various capacity building programmes both locally and internationally.

Since launching its operation in Ghana, Access Bank has supported the growth of the Ghanaian economy through its ecosystem of partnerships and suppliers that support the operations of the Bank. Over the years, Access Bank Ghana has demonstrated a strong commitment to sustainable business practices driving profitable, sustainable growth that is also environmentally responsible and socially relevant.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
Almost 300 registered nurses and midwives in Damongo in the Northern Region, have laid down their tools in solidarity with an alleged assault on some of their colleagues.

Last Wednesday, three nurses were reportedly attacked and beaten by some youth in the area for reporting them to the police for stealing a motorbike belonging to one of the nurses.

Even though law enforcement was able to retrieve the bike from the criminals, they subsequently ambushed the nurses and assaulted them in retaliation.

Spokesperson for the Damongo nurses, Salifu Lukman insisted that, until these perpetrators are re-arrested, they will not return to work as their safety cannot be guaranteed.

The Health Services in the District have been shut down completely. There is no health facility, there is no clinic, there is no Health Centre that is working currently, he said.

Mr. Lukman revealed that, the nurses had a meeting with the coordination director and some of the chiefs so they assured us of the security, but we are still maintaining that those guys are arrested not just because of the motorbike but the threat that they gave us What we are saying is that, re-arrest them and we will go back to work.

Tomorrow morning [Wednesday], we will be meeting our constituents and from there we will take a decision to whether we will reinforce the strike or suspend it.



By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Ministry of Education has said that the necessary funds have been made available ahead of the implementation of the free Senior High School (SHS) education for some boarding students.

According to the Ministry, they expect a successful implementation as provisions for the new programme had been made in the budget for 2016.

Government and for that matter the Ministry of Education is ready for the funding of this particular policy. We have already taken care of this policy in the 2016 budget, and so we do not think that there is any problem, the Public Relations officer of the Ministry, Francis Gbadago told Citi News.

What the Day students are currently benefitting from, that's exactly what we are extending to the boarding students and at the appropriate time, other activities or other fees will be added, he said

The reassurance follows concerns over governments ability to sustain the policy particularly given recent economic challenges.

The deputy minister of Education in charge of tertiary, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced at the National Democratic Congress (NDC)s campaign launch on Sunday, that the government would extend the free education to boarding students for the next academic year.

Next month September when the 2016/2017 academic year begins, president Mahama will be launching the free SHS for borders. 120,000 borders are going to benefit from this programme as we expand progressively free senior high school education. This is what the NDC stands for, Mr. Ablakwa said.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, NDC Campaign launch in Cape Coast

Education investments take time to show; but we are committed and President Mahama led by the able Professor Naana Opoku Agyeman, we are making progress and progress is there for all to see. Apart from quality and access, affordability is also key and so we have implemented the progressively free senior high school education. More than 400,000 school pupils are benefiting at the second cycle level.

This was confirmation of President John Mahamas earlier announcement that the government would expand the policy to cover both Day and Boarding students in deprived communities

He had said in 2014 that the payment of fees at the SHS level was a huge burden on most parents, and cutting those expenses would enable them venture into other areas that could be beneficial to their families.



By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Armed robbers on Monday attacked a Ghana Commercial Bank bullion van at Maame Krobo in the Affram Plains South district of the Eastern region, killing the driver of the van, StarrFMonline.com has gathered.

Also, a police officer escorting the van, according to Starr News' Eastern regional correspondent Kojo Ansah, was shot and is now receiving treatment at Donkokrom Hospital.

The heinous incident reportedly occurred on Monday morning at about 10:30am. The Police are yet to make any arrest as the robbers fled into the bush, Affram Plains district commander Superintendent Obeng Dompreh told Starrfmonline.com.

He said the robbers could not succeed with their operation as a result of a gun battle with the police officer on board.

-Starrfmonline
COLUMBUS  U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse made his second appearance in Columbus in two weeks, touching more on political issues than government services during Tuesday's visit.

Traffic issues caused by an anti-gun protest pushed back Sasse's arrival to an Aug. 2 meeting in Columbus and altered his plans to speak about constituent services.

But Sasse brought a number of representatives from his office to town Tuesday morning to assist the crowd with any federal issues they may be experiencing.

Sasse and members of his staff have been conducting a series of meetings across the state to listen to constituents and provide help with Social Security, veterans benefits and other federal programs.

Though the meetings are meant to focus on government functions, not politics, Sasse again fielded questions from the crowd during the hourlong meeting at the American Legion that attracted about 50 people.

The questions were strongly geared toward Sasses opposition to both the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and his unwillingness to vote for either candidate.

There were also questions about his stance on education, respecting the American flag and trade agreements.

Things got a little heated when one attendee asked Sasse about his stance on the Flag Desecration Amendment, a previously proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to ban desecration of the American flag instead of maintaining its protection under the First Amendment.

Thats a complicated one, Sasse responded. I believe that the meaning of America centers on the First Amendment and so while I personally would want to go and rough up anybody who tried to demean the flag, I really dont want the government involved with trying to police speech.

The man then stated that the flag is a symbol of freedom that soldiers fought for, not a free speech issue.

The flag is a critically important symbol of what unites us as a people, but Im really resistant to the idea of the federal government passing more laws that limit debate, Sasse replied, adding that today's culture is more about not hurting someones feelings than free speech.

I dont want to disappoint you, he said to the man, but my guess is that its not something Im in favor of supporting.

Sasse ended the conversation by saying men and women have died for our freedom and the flag is a symbol of that, including freedom of speech. The senator said he believes that freedom would be compromised by passing the Flag Desecration Amendment.

Dianne Newell, who moved here from California in 2000, asked Sasse about trade and job outsourcing while mentioning she has sisters who lost their jobs after companies relocated to other countries to reduce costs.

Sasse used welders at Nucor Corporation in Norfolk as an example, saying the median household income in Nebraska is $50,000 but welding jobs at Nucor pay more than $70,000 annually.

Mike Rowe, the 'Dirty Jobs' guy, talks constantly about how many great welding jobs there are in America that we cant fill, Sasse said to Newell. So first off, as a bit of good news, there are a lot of jobs out there that are important and add value for your neighbor and are high-paying that we cant fill right now because were not training our kids to work hard.

The real issue, he said, lies with what leads to companies transitioning jobs out of the country.

In the 1970s, he said, the average tenure at a job was 26 years, but today its less than four years.

Sasse said while trade can feel scary and disruptive, Americans dont have the same work ethic to fill every job opening available.

Rather than trying to stop trade, Sasse said people need to be trained better. He used his 15-year-old daughter as an example, telling the crowd he sent her to work on a Holt County cattle ranch earlier this year.

She was helping deliver baby cows. She was tagging and vaccinating and driving a pickup in the middle of the night to match a newborn baby with its mama, Sasse explained after the meeting.

Larry Kaufmann, a Columbus resident for the past seven years, piggybacked on that topic, asking how youths are supposed to pay for college or trade school to get these types of jobs.

Sasse concluded the meeting by answering this question.

Were creating a world where a lot of people think if theres anything wrong in the world, we should just hope that the government solves it for us and we just sort of want to give more and more of our power, more of our energy, more and more of our emotional consciousness, our hopes, to Washington. That is a terrible idea, Sasse said.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

The desire of the suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paul Afoko, to use the legal process for his reinstatement to his former position suffered a serious setback yesterday, as the court, which heard the case, refused to grant his request.

According to the court, presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah, the National Executive Committee of the party did not err when it adopted the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee to suspend him.

On December 7 2015, Mr Paul Afoko brought an action against the party, the Acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay, contending that the decision to suspend him was unconstitutional and should be reversed. After serious legal argument back and forth, the court finally gave its ruling yesterday, dismissing the case.

Earlier, the Second Vice Chairman, Mr Sammy Crabbe, who was also suspended on the same grounds had his case dismissed by another court after he had challenged the decision.

Both Sammy Crabbe and Paul Afoko have indicated their intention to appeal against the rulings of the court.

Kwabena Agyapong, the suspended General Secretary did not, however, go to court. Mr Agyapong was at the initial stages regular in court to support his suspended colleagues, but he later pulled out.

Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the decision of the court against the suspended Chairman is a clear indication that the party is built and governed by principles of rule of law. The following is a full press statement the party issued to that effect, which was signed by the Acting General Secretary, John Boadu.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has taken keen note of the decision of the High Court in the case filed by Mr. Paul Afoko against his suspension as National Chairman of the party.

The High Court has held that the decision taken by the party was proper and in accordance with the Party's Constitution and the rule of law. This reaffirms the truism that the NPP is built and governed on the principles of rule of law and equality before the law.

No member is above the Constitution of the Party. We are proud of these credentials. There are, however, no winners and losers in this case, as far as we are concerned.

The 2016 battle is about the people of Ghana. It is about the over 70% of Ghanaians worried about the dangerous direction President John Mahama is taking the country. It is about the over 70% of Ghanaians who believe that the President has failed to deliver. It is about his 27% approval rating. It is about killing the high cost of living.

It is about the President's incompetent management of the economy that continues to cripple businesses and cost jobs. It is about the failure of the real sectors of the economy, industry and agriculture. It is about the high cost of corruption to the situation of bad roads, lack of access to decent health, sanitation, and education.

It is about how insensitive President Mahama has been to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians. Above all, it is also about the formidable leadership and alternative policies that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have on offer to get the country working again for every Ghanaian, and not just a privileged few.

For us in the NPP, we are determined to rescue Ghana from the incompetence, corruption and insensitivity of President John Mahama and his NDC.

We are united, disciplined and focused on the 2016 campaign for CHANGE and equally confident of victory come December 7. We are fortified by the strong, popular support being manifested towards our presidential candidate in his interactions with Ghanaians across the country.

To our members, let us see the decision of the Court not as an opportunity to jubilate, but rather as another reason to renew our faith in our cause and our commitment to getting all hands on deck. The overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are looking up to us and we will not let them down.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

From Michael Boateng, Tamale

The General Overseer of the Holy Hill Chapel Worldwide, Prophet Godwin Sarfo Annan, has called on the youth to focus on using their energies and skills on productive ventures to build a stronger economy for the country, instead of allowing themselves to be used as gears for destruction.

Speaking to a section of the media in Tamale in the Northern region as part of activities marking the International Youth Day celebration, which falls on August 12 annually, Prophet Sarfo called on the youth to eschew violence before, during and after the December 7 general elections.

He also appealed to power seekers to see the youth as the driving force for change towards a better future for all, stressing that in a world of increasing conflict, young people must be our strongest partners if peace and security are to win out over war.

The General Overseer is of the opinion that the youth must be leading actions on climate change, campaigning to end discrimination, speaking out to uphold democracy and the freedom of speech, connecting communities with innovations in information technology, and building peace in societies in their communities.

The theme for this year's National Youth Day celebration is The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production. This year's day is about achieving the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

It focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.

Sustainable consumption entails the use of products and services that meet the basic needs of communities while safeguarding the needs of future generations.

The General Overseer of Holy Hill Chapel Worldwide said the youth are the backbone of the country and must face life with Optimism, adding that if the youth would live meaningful lives, they must be optimistic about the future of the country and focus on beneficial ventures

Prophet Sarfo Annan pointed out that youth may not hold all the power or money in the world but they have something more valuable, which is the passion to be creative and succeed.

He noted that the youth all around the world were coming up with several innovations to address domestic and technological problems, stressing that the Ghanaian youth must take advantage of the enabling environment to lead the development agenda of the country.

Prophet Sarfo Annan noted that for a country to enjoy sustainable growth, the youth must possess the entrepreneurial mindset and strive to own businesses that would drive the economy.

Let it be known to the youth, we are the driving force of the economy, therefore we must start to own businesses and avoid relying on governments to provide us with jobs, he said.

Prophet Sarfo Annan observed that in close to 70 countries, more than half the population is younger than 24 years and therefore called on the authorities to involve the youth in all stages of decision making.

He said, Denying these young people the right to meaningful participation in decision-making is a gross violation of their human rights and a failure of the democratic process. It is also a waste of human capital that can propel nations towards development.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

TWENTY SIX pastors, including two females, who were ordained at the weekend have pledged their commitment to the Ghana Baptist church. They affirmed to be loyal, faithful and committed to the church.

The Executive President of Ghana Baptist Convention (GBC), Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi admonished the newly ordained pastors to remain faithful to God in their journey as ministers of the Gospel of the Baptist church reminding them of their primary duty to serve.

He charged them to serve the church which ordained them as ministers and preach the gospel. The ordination ceremony coincided with the closing ceremony of the 53 GBC's annual session at Ejura in the Ashanti region.

Rev. Dr. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, who preached the sermon, also asked the church and the ministers to be strong, remain committed and work for the Baptist church.

President Adu-Gyamafi poured oil on their heads in the ordination, while high ranking ministers of the church prayed for the ordained ministers.
16.08.2016 LISTEN

 Over constant Threat And Stealing Of Their Motorbikes

From Edmond Gyebi, Tamale

PIECES OF information reaching the Northern Regional Bureau of The Chronicle have indicated that all the nurses and some key medical personnel at the Damongo Government Hospital in the West Gonja District have embarked on an indefinite sit-down strike.

This follows alleged frequent invasion by thieves, threats on their lives and physical assault of some nurses by a group of youth in the community.

The Chronicle gathered that the delivery of healthcare services at the Damongo Government Hospital had since come to a halt, with the nurses and other personnel crying for the safety of their lives and properties.

Speaking in an interview with this paper, the Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah confirmed the story.

The Police Commander hinted that, at the time of speaking to this reporter, the Overlord of the Gonja Traditional Council, Yagbonwura Tuntumba Boresa I, was in a crunch meeting with the hospital authorities and the police in Damongo to find a solution to the problem or to get the nurses back to work.

He said that, there had been several complaints from the doctors and nurses at the hospital over alleged rampant stealing of items and motorbikes by some unknown persons.

The doctors, according to DCOP Ken Yeboah, reported the stealing of their motorbikes to the Police in Damongo and as a result two persons were arrested on mere suspicion.

The two suspects denied their involvement in the crime and the police combed the whole community and retrieved the motorbike and handed it over to the hospital authority. It then granted the people bail.

However, those two suspects he said, after they were granted bail launched an attack on the nurses and assaulted them. The assault, the Regional Police Commander said, was immediately reported to the police for further actions.

Because the two suspects had already been processed for court over based on the earlier arrest, the police took the complaint but did not arrest them again.

Unfortunately, another motorbike was again stolen by thieves, which had angered the nurses to embark on a strike to demand for adequate security and protection of their lives and properties.

The issue is that, once those two people have been identified as those who had assaulted those nurses, definitely they will go to court, but as for the stealing of the motorbikes since we don't have enough evidence, it will be very difficult to put those guys before court.

Even though some people were linking the incident to chieftaincy, the Regional Police Commander blatantly rubbished that impression.

DCOP Ken Yeboah said that in spite of the planned strike action by the nurses, the entire Damongo was calm and peaceful. He said the police in Damongo were already providing patrolling services at the hospital to forestall any eventualities.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Damongo, Ali Bakari Kassim, who was in Cape Coast for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2016 National Campaign Launch, also confirmed the incident.

He said he was taking the next available flight to get to Northern Region to ensure the matter was resolved amicably. Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the District Director of the Ghana Health Service proved unsuccessful, as he was locked up in the meeting with the Yagbonwura.
Women engaged in fish processing in the country have welcomed the fisheries management plan which seeks to rebuild fish stock to enhance the socio-economic conditions of fishing communities as well as create employment, improve food security and contribute towards foreign exchange earnings within national and international standards.

The fisheries management plan specifically aims to reduce excessive pressure on fish stock, and ensure fish stocks are exploited within biological acceptable levels. In addition, the plan seeks to ensure effective implementation of fisheries legislation, strengthen participatory decision making in fisheries to meet regional and global obligations in fisheries.

The fisheries management plan, developed by the Fisheries Commission, has become a necessity due to excessive fishing effort everted in all fisheries, inadequate information on fisheries biology and stock as well as regulations and weak enforcement of existing regulations, low levels of protection of marine biodiversity and Inadequate procedures in certifying fish for export.

The fisheries management plan has outlined some key action plans to rebuild fisheries stock. One of the significant action plans is the creation of habitat protection areas for spawning grounds in estuaries or mangroves, in addition to controlling the number and capacity of vessels in efforts to rebuild fisheries stock.

The action plans also set a target to achieve 50% reduction in fishing days over the next five years, as well as to reduce fishing effort through strict implementation of the sanctions framework under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2014 to promote procreation of fishes to achieve nutrition security.

Moreover, the action plans also will undertake survey and registration of active canoes, increase the traditional one day per week fishing holiday to two days per week, and control/moratorium on new entrants to the fishery.

Others are to improve social intervention through the implementation of insurance and pension scheme for fishermen, implementation of co-management for the artisanal sector, and modernisation of the fleet by using innovative materials to control increasing effort number of canoes.

The women fish processors at a forum held on August 2, in Winneba in the central region, organised by Development Action (DAA), a farmer based organisation and one of the implementing partners of the Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP) by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID/Ghana) and Fisheries Commission called on fellow women and fishermen in the fisheries sector to adhere to management plan to prevent a total collapse of the fisheries sector.

The five year USAIDs SFMP seeks to rebuild marine fisheries stocks and catches through the adoption of responsible fishing practices.

Gertrude Imprim, a fish processor based in Winneba, called for called for consistent communication on the closed season, which the plan seeks to initiate to ensure complete adherence to the directive.

Another fish processor, Betty, called for the closed season for entire jurisdiction of the sea and not parts of the sea.

Stella Quartey, a fish processor expressed concerns about light fishing, saying that in the olden days without light fishing, fishermen were able to engage in fishing and encountered few or no problems, therefore authorities have to put in place all measures to end it.

The chief fisherman for Winneba, Nana Kofi Kaikoo, urged fishermen in the country to desist from using chemicals in fishing and obey the closed season once it begins.

The Director of Projects at the Fisheries Commission, Mr Thomas Insaidoo, says it is extremely difficult to have bumper season due to inappropriate fishing practices deployed by stakeholders in the industry.

Mr Insaidoo urged the women fish processors to apply sustainable fisheries management practices in fishing activities especially when fisheries stock is on decline in the country.

According to him, there is abundant pollution along the coastal belt posing as danger to procreation of fish, saying, fishes require clean environment to mature properly.

The Executive Director for DAA, Lydia Sasu also said the sea is being destroyed due to usage of dynamite by fishermen accounting for low stock in fisheries.

She indicated that due this practice, poverty levels among people operating in the fisheries sector has gone up hereby resulting in some parents to give up their children to the practice of child labour and trafficking.

She therefore called for pragmatic measures from all stakeholders by working together to protect the sea from further destruction through human induced activities to ensure continuous fishing to achieve nutrition security and income for women fish processors.

As a local partner to the SFMP, she noted that the project entreats women other stakeholders to engage in sustainable fishing activities such as mangrove preservation, which is very essential to sustainable fishing.

She explained that the forum was organised to provide the platform for the women fish processors to learn e fisheries management plan to promote acceptable practices as far as fishing is concerned.

Mr Kofi Agbogah, the Director of Hen Mpoano, a non-governmental organisation and also a local partner to the SFMP, said the closed season once fully observed would lead to full replenishment of the fisheries stock to improve livelihoods of fish processors, largely made up of women.

He stated that the police and military would be charged to ensure the closed season directive is respected by all stakeholders.

He cautioned against women patronage and selling of fishes caught using chemicals as they pose health problems to consumers.

The ministry of fisheries and aquaculture development and the fisheries commission developed the fisheries management plan in accordance with the fisheries Act 2002 and with stakeholder consultation in order to address issues identified for the marine fisheries sector.

The plan is a demonstration of the government commitment to implement a robust fisheries management plan to ensure long term conservation of its fish stocks whiles at the same time contributing to improved food safety at a national level.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has advised factions in a long-standing chieftaincy dispute at Nyinahin to wait for a resolution by the Asantehene.

The service has vowed to deal with any group of persons or individuals found taking the law into their own hands.

12 people were arrested on Friday after confusion broke out on Friday over who has the right to pour libation.

They been granted bail today but police say they are on the hunt for some youth who took advantage of the confusion to disrupt proceedings at a local court at Nyinahin.

Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Tanko tells Luv News, the command is keeping men in the town to maintain law and order.

"Last week there was some confusion at Nyinahin as to who had the right to pour libation ignited the age old chieftaincy dispute so policemen were sent to assist in containing the situation," ASP Tanko said.

Narrating what happened, he said before the police got there, one Juve, who is the ringleader for one of the factions causing trouble went around the court area while the court was in session.

"He was threatening some people around the court to the extent that those in court were hearing and this forced the court to close down. Police went to look for him and his gang to arrest, they run into the bush. We were about to arrest some people we suspect were part of those causing a commotion in the community," he said.

ASP Tanko said calm has returned to the Nyinahin because of police being on the ground and the parties involved have been advised to wait unto Manhyia's verdict since the case has been sent to Asantehene for a resolution.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com |Erastus Asare Donkor |Joy News
Fund managers in the country have been cautioned against investing in banking stocks as the return on such investments keep dwindling.

The warning was made by the Chairman of IFS Capital Management Limited, Samuel Agyapong Apenteng.

According to him, the sharp drop in the performance of banking stocks attributed to the rise in Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) among banks in the country, makes it unwise to invest in such stocks.

In addition, Mr. Apenteng explained the year under review saw banking stocks drop massively leading to the my -wealth unit trust fund having to move its funds to other areas.

He made the remarks when he spoke to Citi Business News at the Annual General Meetings of the three unit schemes managed by the IFS Capital Management Limited.

Historically, the banks were quite a juicy area, but the way the economy has performed over the last couple of years or so, you would find that most banks are having very huge NPLs which means that their performance is beginning to have some challenges. Debtors are not really honoring their obligations and so it is an area which we find very risky at this point to want to invest in but it doesn't mean that it will continue to be same all the time.

Samuel Agyapong Apenteng further stated that the other area to look at is the construction industry which is quite risky as well. Because you will find that the main employer often times turns to be government and its district assemblies and these are institutions who perhaps are not meeting their obligations on time.

So anybody who gets involved in such areas where there is no certainty and a difficulty in predicting cash receipts is getting into serious crises, Samuel Agyapong Apenteng further intimated.

In 2015 the mywealth unit trust fund grew by 28.53% from 654,561 cedis to 841,319 cedis.

The net income as at December 31, 2015 stood at 129,934 cedis representing a 26.20% increase from the 2014 performance.

Meanwhile the Richie Rich Unit Trust grew significantly by 102% from 150,457 cedis to 303,941 cedis at the end of 2015.

Net income for the Richie Rich Unit trust was 54,411 cedis representing a 99% growth over the 2014 performance.

The legacy unit fund rather grew marginally by 1.68% from 523,225 cedis to 531,589 cedis in 2015 with its unit holders seeing 13.61% growth.



By: Norvan Acquah  Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
16.08.2016 LISTEN

By Richard Kofi Attenkah

Email: [email protected]

The ministerial round table of eminent leaders, including African ministers, at the International Convention on Water and Climate (ICWC) at Rabat, Morocco, about a month ago, discussed into detail the impact of climate change on water on our continent, and how it should be factored into climate discussions in COP 22.

At the end of the conference, the African leaders called on the international community to consider water as a priority in all adaptation discussions, set up an Adaptation Committee, and put adaptation policies at the same level as those of mitigation at the COP 22 conference.

They also called for; Create a political momentum; launch a call for action for water and adopt a priority action plan particularly in Africa, and to put in place mechanisms to monitor the commitments made in the fields of water and climate change.

Most importantly, they called on the international community to open up more climate funds, in addition to the Adaptation and Green Funds, to help establish water management and support infrastructure projects to aid the climate change adaptation and mitigation process for Africa.

The call of the African leaders on the international community was justified, because, although Africa is a low producer of greenhouse gases, its countries are the most affected by the impact of climate change.

The only way to reduce the impact is for the continent to embark on the adaptation and mitigation process, which involves huge sums of money.

A document released at the ICWC indicates that: On a macroeconomic scale, the negative effects of climate change reduce the GDP of Africa by approximately 3%. Africa needs 7 to 15 billion of the USDs per year by 2020 to address the challenges of adaptation.

The document continued: The cost of adaptation in Africa will be about 35 billion of the USDs per year by 2040, and around 200 billion of USDs in 2070, even if global warming is kept below 2  C.

Scientists have revealed that the world is warming, because, mainly industrial nations, have for a long time pumped harmful emissions, known as greenhouse gases (GHGs), into the earth's atmosphere.

Now, water has been identified as the primary medium through which people in Africa will experience climate change impacts.

A South Africa-based scientist, Dr. Mary Galvin, in a recent analysis of the effects of hotter weather on Africa's water supplies, has written that by 2020, up to 250 million Africans will be exposed to increased water stress.

According to leading climatologists, large parts of Africa could become warm by as much as 4C by the year 2100. But, Dr. Kevin Chika Urama, a Kenyan ecological economist, has said that an increase of just one degree C will have terrible consequences for the continent's water sources, and the people who rely on them to survive.

Water resources in Africa are currently facing multiple challenges, which include intense droughts and floods, and the drying up of rivers and lakes that have sustained life for centuries, because of Climate change.

Dr. Urama continued that there are strange weather patterns causing havoc across the African continent in recent times. He explained that recently, he travelled to Nigeria in mid-October, which is usually a dry period for the country.

Unfortunately, according to him, heavy rains had washed away crops and flooded cities and towns in the West African state. Taryn Pereira, an environmentalist with South Africa's Environmental Monitoring Group, who is researching into changing weather systems in Africa, said areas accustomed to regular rainfall are now suffering prolonged droughts.

Pereira used South Africa's Southern Cape region, which, until recently, has experienced regular rainfall all year round, as an example.

The environmentalists said: That area has just had the lowest rainfall in 130 years of recording rainfall. The entire districts and towns ran out of water. People were sharing water with livestock.

In the last two decades or more, the situation in Ghana has not been different, as there has been serious flooding all over the country, washing away crops, properties and people anytime it rains heavily.

In Accra, the capital city, for example, heavy rains led to flooding mixed with a fire outbreak, and claimed the lives of over 150 people in 2015.

Extreme variability in weather will be more prevalent in Africa in the near future, Urama said, resulting in widespread water scarcity. We're seeing how much carnage that it is causing at the moment in Somalia and Kenya, he pointed out.

The water resource expert predicted that future droughts will be worse than ever before, especially, in areas that are traditionally dry, such as the Horn of Africa.

Zambian environmental engineer Alex Simalabwi agreed. With the increase in temperatures, some regions are going to become much drier, such as in North Africa along the Sahara desert. He continued: For southern Africa, the areas around the Kalahari Desert, and going down to the west coast in Namibia, are going to become much, much drier.

It has been established that the state of all the major rivers and lake basins on the African continent, numbering about 64, are in pretty bad shape, as a result of climate change. As an advisor to several African governments, Simalabwi, has emphasised the need for intergovernmental protection for all of Africa's 64 rivers and lake basins.

He said, if African leaders do not manage and use these rivers and lake basins properly and responsibly, and put aside narrow self interests to cooperate to share the water resources, the consequences for the entire continent would be myriad and horrible.

It is further estimated that a proportion of the African population, which would continue to face the huge water stress in the water supply chain, is expected to increase from 47% in 2000 to 65% by 2025.

Indeed, these ramifications threaten the new sustainable development programme adopted by the UN in September 2015, which includes a set of worldwide goals, integrating access to water and sanitation, integrated and sustainable water management in order to end poverty, fight against inequality and injustice to face climate change by 2030.
Ghana, a nation touted to be the gateway to Africa is on a crossroad panting for breath, to be rescued to its promise land. In Africa we are hailed as the first Sub-Saharan Africa country to gain independence, the beacon of hope and black star of the Continent. We have been created with impressive democratic credentials, having held six successful general elections under the fourth Republican constitution.

Our culture, beliefs and values defines our identity and orientation. Ghana has been blessed with many great personalities like Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, J.B Danquah, H.E. John Jerry John Rawlings and H.E. John Agyekum Kuffour, H.E. Kofi Annan, Prof. Francis Allotey, Ama Ata Aidoo, Theodosia Okoh, Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, Apostle Kojo Safo, Prof. Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia, Dr. Mensah Otabil , Kormla Dumor, Kwame Sefa Kyei, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Dr. Kwame Despite, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, Dr. Patrick Awuah, Stephen Appiah and the up-and-coming Asamoah Gyans and Abraham Attas of our time .

Many of our heroes and heroines, known and unknown are flying high the national flag of Ghana in other parts of the world, yet here at home we are busy vilifying ourselves with insults and derogatory comments. We express no hope in Mother Ghana but expect hope from our decorated development partners and allies.

The success stories of this great nation is worth celebrating. We were once the world No.1 producer of Cocoa, built industries and provided social amenities like Korle bu Teaching Hospital, Adomi Bridge, Akosombo Dam, K Komeda Sugar Factory, and Kumasi Shoe Factory, Tema Oil Refinery and created an enabling business environment for our market women and entrepreneurs. Our Parliament and Judiciary represented the hope of African parliamentary and judicial blue print.

These achievements were all chalked by Ghanaians with Ghanaian resources and not from the money bags of the World Bank and the International Money Fund (IMF).

I ask, what happened to our focus, undying sacrifice and commitment to building a better Ghana. Did we forget how far we have come as a nation and our political and economic orientation? The struggles we went through to become a true Republican nation.

Lets revisit the many national development plans and policies we have drafted. Lets reorient ourselves on the basic tenets of nation building, restructure our educational system, eschew corruption, expand road networks from farmlands to our regional capitals to help boost agriculture, give our farmers that necessary state resources to make Ghana the bread basket of Africa, adhere to basic economic principle to grow the economy, build more hospitals to save the lives of our dying rural folks and create more employable opportunities for our youth.

The current generation expects its leaders not to further destroy Ghana but to inspire hope and change in our developmental potentials as people.

Civil society groups, state agencies, private sector and ordinary Ghanaian should not continually look on as we have in fast allowed these unpatriotic political leaders rob this nation of its limited resources.

My plea to the young and old, men and women, the elites and illiterates , market women, business executives and students is to go all out and do our best for Mother Ghana, for this nation needs us now.

Emmanuel Owusu, Street Parliamentarian

(0248110208, [email protected])
LINCOLN  Almost a year to the day after Nebraska Corrections Director Scott Frakes announced his appointment of Lisa Jones as behavioral health administrator for the prison system, he announced her resignation amid an investigation into her alleged "over-familiarity" with a parolee.

The extent of the relationship will be determined through the investigation, which has been turned over to the Nebraska State Patrol, according to a news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

Department spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith wouldn't say where the parolee had done time or how the alleged relationship came to light. She did say Jones, 48, started work for the department on July 6, 2010, as a psychologist and supervisor of substance abuse clinicians.

There is zero tolerance for unprofessional relationships with inmates and this is no exception," Frakes said in the news release.

"The department has been working diligently to streamline and increase the availability of treatment services over the last year. While upsetting, I am confident this will not alter our course or diminish our commitment to transforming behavioral health services within NDCS.

On Aug. 11, 2015, Frakes announced Jones' appointment as one of five people he was putting into senior staff positions as part of a reconfiguration of the beleaguered department.

Gov. Pete Ricketts brought Frakes to Nebraska in January 2015 after a series of missteps that included the accidental early release of hundreds of prison inmates and the case of inmate Nikko Jenkins, who killed four people within weeks of being released from prison.

Other prison woes in the past couple of years include staffing shortages, inadequate mental and physical health care for inmates, low morale among staff, threats of lawsuits over crowded prisons and a riot on Mother's Day 2015 that left parts of the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in ruins and two inmates dead.

I was hoping to find a combination of proven NDCS experience and perspectives from outside of Nebraska Corrections," Frakes said in announcing the appointment of Jones and others to key positions last year.

Jones received a masters degree in psychology from Wake Forest University and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nebraska. At the time of her promotion to head of behavioral health, she was teaching two masters of counseling program classes at Doane College, was a member of American and Nebraska Psychological Associations and had served two years on the board for Bridge of Hope Child Advocacy Center in North Platte. Before working in the prison system, Jones had a private practice specializing in psychological evaluations, including forensic evaluations for the courts.

On Monday, the Corrections Department said Dr. Alice Mitwaruciu will step into Jones' position and a search will begin for a permanent replacement. Mitwaruciu has been with Corrections since January 2014 as a psychologist and was promoted to assistant administrator of mental health on Sept. 7.

The Nebraska Legislature formed a special committee to look into prison problems and has expressed frustration with Frakes and the pace of reforming the Corrections Department.

Ricketts has steadfastly stood behind him, including during the aftermath of two dangerous sex offenders escaping from the Lincoln Correctional Center in June. On Monday, he reiterated that stance.

"Such behavior is unacceptable and undermines the mission and work of Corrections," he said of the investigation into Jones' alleged relationship with a parolee. "My team will support Director Frakes as he takes swift action to fill this important role."

The news about Jones comes after two other Corrections employees were charged July 29 with having illegal relationships with inmates.

Cindy Huber, a food service specialist at LCC, is charged with second-degree sexual abuse of a 52-year-old inmate, and Erin Harris, 32, is charged with having unlawful communication with a 30-year-old penitentiary inmate serving time for burglary. Federal and state laws bar police officers or jail guards from having sex with anyone under arrest or in custody. Nebraska law says consent cannot be used as a defense.
The Ashanti Region Police Command has said it would no longer wait to combat armed robbers when they strike but will rather take the fight to their doorsteps.

Deputy Ashanti Regional Police Commander, ACP Kwaku Ampofo, said the police would use the Anti-Robbery Squad, established two months ago, to tactically target the hideouts of the armed groups who are tormenting residents in the region.

We have been conducting series of swoops on hideout of criminals. We know that crime is related to the use of drugs so they try to find means of replenishing their pockets and their source of drug. As a result, for the past six weeks, we have [arrested] not less than 34 people from their hideouts. We are taking the fight to their hideouts, he told Francis Abban, host of Multi TV's news analysis programme, PULSE Tuesday.

The police in the region arrested at least 54 suspected armed robbers from various hideouts. Two of those suspects were shot dead, Joy News has learnt. The success of the Tuesday dawn operation has bolstered the confidence the residents have in the security agency after enduring several months of attacks by armed groups.

In June, a police officer was killed by armed robbers at Denchemuoso near Kumasi. This was soon followed by a robbery incident at Pakyi number two. Also in Kwadaso and Kronum, all suburbs of Kumasi, activities by armed robbers led to the death of an employee of Kwamanman Rural Bank.

In the heat of the attacks, the police arrested six persons for allegedly killing the police officer at Denchemuoso.

Some residents who spoke to Joy News believe the arrest is the beginning of something new by the police.

I think it is good news to hear this as we all know we are in an election year and this is the time people take to violence. For now I feel safe because of the arrest, one of the residents said.

Another added, the police have to try harder to arrest good number of the armed robbers in the region.

ACP Ampofo said the arrest by the police has brought calm to the region which was, hitherto, not the case.

Residents in Kumasi will testify that things have been different now and this has all been due to the activities of the police, he said.

Touching on the 54 suspects the police arrested on Tuesday, he said they were taken from several areas especially in Asokore Mampong which has for some time now served as the major hideout for these armed robbers.

He said the police fed on intelligence to arrest the suspects. He explained two of the men resisted arrest resulting in the decision by the police to gun them down.

He said one of the men killed was the supplier of arms used by robbers in the region. He had four AK-47 assault rifles which he hired to criminals but fortunately for us we have all these four ammunition they are safe at the custody of the police.

He also said the police retrieved two foreign made ammunitions from a man they arrested some days ago.

He was confident there will be lasting peace and tranquility in the region given the activities and measures the police have put in place.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | Email: [email protected]
Conakry (AFP) - At least half a million Guineans joined a massive opposition rally in Conkary on Tuesday to denounce alleged economic mismanagement and corruption by the government of President Alpha Conde.

Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said 700,000 people had joined a 15-kilometre (9.3-mile) procession from the suburbs to the 28 Septembre stadium in the west African nation's capital.

Security forces said the numbers were closer to 500,000.

Supporters of several opposition parties gathered for the event, shouting "Alpha resign, Alpha that's enough, students unemployed, we want jobs," brandishing placards reading "death to dictatorship."

Diallo hailed the huge turnout and said it proved the "rejection of dictatorship and poor governance of Mr Alpha Conde."

Diallo blamed Conde's government specifically for mishandling the massive Simandou iron ore project in the south of the country managed by British-Australian firm Rio Tinto, which he said meant Guineas could miss out on "decent jobs".

The government said in July the challenges of getting the project off the ground during a global iron ore glut were considerable but it would "do everything" to ensure it went on-stream.

Guinea's constitutional court in November 2015 formally confirmed Conde's re-election, dismissing opposition claims of vote rigging and fraud.

It was only the second democratic presidential poll since Guinea gained independence from France in 1958.

In addition to focusing on the economy, rights campaigners have urged Conde to use his second term to intensify the fight against impunity, strengthen the judiciary and promote equal respect for the rights of all Guineans.

Despite being rich in minerals, the majority of Guinea's population lives in poverty and survives on less than one euro ($1.08) per day, according to the UN.
President John Dramani Mahama has suggested that the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, was sleeping during his 5-day tour in the Western Region, for which reason he didnt see the numerous good roads in the region, and other projects.

The NPP Flagbearer, Nana Addo, is reported to have stated during his campaign tour of the region that roads in the region are bad and have not seen any face-lift under the NDC administration.

But responding to his claims on a tour he commenced today [Tuesday] in the Western Region, President Mahama said Nana Akufo Addo might have fallen asleep while touring the region, hence did not notice the various projects the NDC had so far embarked on in the region.

The President insisted that he has honoured his word by constructing roads and embarking on other developmental projects as promised earlier.

During my campaign in 2012 , I realized that most of the roads here are very bad. I made the promise to invest heavily in roads here if I am elected President. I have kept my promise. Under the cocoa roads programme, most of the projects are in the Western Region. The majority of roads in this region, are many, I cannot name them. I heard someone came here and said he had not seen these roads. I am sure he was sleeping at the time, he said

The President further revealed that his government has constructed about 120 schools under the free SHS programme.

When it comes to education, in our millennium development goals, we want every school going child to be in school. If you observe, you will notice in our basic schools especially the primary and JHS levels, enrollment has increased. After completion, most of them do not have the opportunity to be enrolled at second cycle institutions. This is why my government initiated the free SHS programme. As I speak, I have built 120 of such schools.

At Agona Nkwanta in the Ahanta West constituency in the region, President Mahama urged the electorate to vote for him to continue what he calls unprecedented infrastructural developments in the region.

We will not give you promises; we will rather give you developmental projects. The constitution gives every President a four year term after which they seek re-election for another four years. President Kufuor of the NPP said the first four years of every President is for the foundation, the second four years is for the actual work that will reap benefits.

In my first four years, I have laid a very solid foundation. In building you cannot lay a foundation for someone to build on it. It is never done. You would have to give me another four year term to build for you a brighter future. I have laid the most solid foundation and I need another four years to build on these foundations. I know you will give me another mandate because the foundation is yielding results.

Living conditions of W/R residents 'terrible'  NPP

Meanwhile the NPP has dismissed President Mahama's assertion that the NDC has embarked on various developmental projects in the region.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Spokesperson for Nana Akufo Addo, Hamid Mustapha insisted the region has not seen any major development under the NDC.

Mr. Hamidu described the Presidents sleeping comments targeted at Nana Addo as very unfortunate and unpresidential.

The reality of the matter is that, the living conditions of the people in the Western Region is terrible.He says all the roads in the region are done but go to Prestea and go to Tarkwa and you realize that there is no single motorable road in Prestea where all the gold is taken from. The youth in Prestea do not have jobs to do and instead of you telling the people I recognize the problems you are going through so vote for me in the next four years and let me fix it, you are living in denial which means you do not even recognize that the people have a problem in the first place so how do you even purport to solve problems that you say do not exist.

He believes the few roads being constructed by the NDC is just an attempt to deceive residents ahead of the general elections.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories



By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @EfeAnsah
16.08.2016 LISTEN

In a bid to control arm possession by individuals as the country heads to the 2016 general election, the government has declared a 32- day amnesty to help retrieve all unlicensed guns in the country.

The intervention which spans from August 22 to September 23 would afford Ghanaians in possession of unregistered arms to either get them registered or turn them in to the police.

This decision was announced by the Interior Minister, Prosper Bani when he addressed a news conference Tuesday.

He explained the programme, which is the third intervention after two similar programmes had failed, has been designed to conform to best practices globally so that uncontrolled possessions of small arms in Ghana which has led to the death of innocent Ghanaians is put under control.

Within 32 days all citizens who are in possession of weapons that have not been registered have the pleasure to come and register them at the various police centers where weapons are registered, he said.

According to him, beyond these days, should there be anyone in possession of illicit weapon and the police or any person comes across it this person shall face the full rigours of the law.

By law, any one with an illegal possession of weapon in the country flouts the Criminal Code 1960 (Amended) section 96, Mr Bani said, adding, if anyone is found with unregistered arms after the deadline, the person would face a sentence of a minimum of 10 years.

He said it is in the collective interest of everyone, both Ghanaians, and foreigners, that the government eliminates the dangers associated with the possession of illicit weapons in this country.

As a result, he has entreated all well-meaning Ghanaians and foreign residents in Ghana to make use of the programme in order to prevent any future armed attacks.

Executive Secretary of the Small Arms Commission, Jones Applerh, was confident this intervention would help address issues regarding unlicensed arms in the country.

He said the Gun for Cash programme which was undertaken by government in Bawku failed because there were issues of mistrust which were not resolved.

Mr Applerh noted the amnesty would work because of the thinking and work that have been invested in it.
Tamale, Aug. 16, GNA - The Very Reverend Father Mathew Yitiereh, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Tamale, has called on Marshallans, a body within the Catholic Church, to live by acceptable standards and help strengthen the Catholic faith.

He said 'there are disturbing stories about Marshallans living double standards in their marriage lives. Lately, there is even a more disturbing story about Marshallans consulting pagan oracles, mallams and going to spiritual churches for their own welfare'.

Reverend Father Yitiereh gave the advice in Tamale at the weekend during the Third Northern Regional Conference of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, which brought together Marshallans from the Damongo, the Tamale Ola and Cathedral Dioceses for the two-day conference.

The conference was on the theme: 'The Marshallans and the New Evangelisation for the transmission of faith' and it was meant to engage in discourses that would deepen the spirituality of members and enhance fraternal relationship.

Reverend Father Yitiereh said it is important for Christians especially Marshallans to be more vigilant in their apostolate to win more souls for Christ saying 'there is the need to refer constantly to your aims and objectives as you support one another'.

He said it is important to unite behind the Roman Catholic Church and that it was also necessary for members to share common understanding in all matters that would promote their welfare other than consulting pagan oracles, which is anti-Christian.

He said members should inculcate loyalty and fidelity to the state and the Church to promote unity and development in the country.

The Rev. Father Yitiereh called for the total commitment of members to evangelize saying, 'The Noble order has very attractive aims and objectives and this includes evangelization'.

He advised Marshallans to let their actions and faith be guided by the four pillars of 'Unity, Charity, Service and Fraternity' to ensure that the attributes of Jesus Christ remained in them.

A message from the Supreme Knight called on Marshallans to reflect and identify their individual as well as collective roles in the New Evangelisation and stressed the importance of members to strengthen their evangelization drive.

The message said the major resource required for undertaking evangelization was to understand the teachings of the Church and strive to improve on Marshallan practices with the view to demystifying certain rituals and activities to make it easier for people to understand the Marshallan community.

Sir Knight C.N Kasei Chief Kamanpesiwura, Chief of the Kamanpe Traditional Area, who chaired the function advised members to stay focused and united to achieve their aims and objectives.

GNA

By Caesar Abagali, GNA
Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - UNESCO will on September 6, launch a new series of reports entitled the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Reports, which will monitor the state of education in the new framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The first report in the series, the 2016 Report, would establish a new monitoring framework for education post-2015, and examine key financing and governance challenges for the post-2015 era.

A concept noted on the report which was made available by UNESCO to the Ghana News Agency on Monday said, the Report would also focus on 'Education for people and planet: Creating sustainable futures for all', examining the complex interrelationships and links between education and key development sectors.

It would determine which education strategies, policies and programmes are most effectively linked to the economic, social, environmental and political priorities of the new sustainable development agenda.

The 2016 report, the first of a new series of post-2015 reports, would establish a new set of tools and a toolkit for monitoring the post-2015 education goal and its targets.

The thematic section of 2016 report would examine the reciprocal links between education and major aspects of the post-2015 development agenda, and present how the role of education could be re-envisioned to contribute to the ambitious sustainable development agenda.

The report will document cross-sectoral initiatives that are cost-effective, contextually relevant and sustainable; such initiatives, backed by appropriate cross-sectoral indicators, could lead the way for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

GNA
By Christopher Arko, GNA

Cape Coast (C/R), Aug.16, GNA - Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has expressed the need for the country to prioritise science education because it is key to national development.

He said without science training there is no way the nation could compete with the rest of the world as they leap-frog in terms of progress.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur was speaking at the inauguration of the refurbished Science Laboratory and Library/IT Complex at the Mfantsipim School in Cape coast.

Tullow Oil Ghana Limited renovated the Science Laboratory while the GETFund provided funds to complete the Library/IT Complex.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur stated that education is only the way by which the nation could secure it future.

He commended Tullow Oil and its Jubilee partners for helping to revamp the Science Laboratory to train technically gifted students.

He called on the school authorities to put in place a high maintenance regime for the facility and not wait for the place to deteriorate.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur pledged to provide five per cent of the cost of the equipment set for the facility whilst urging Tullow oil and the Mfantsipim Old Boys Association to support with the rest of the funding.

Mr Joseph Klemesu, who represented Mr Charles Darku, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tullow Oil Ghana Limited stated that the Jubilee partners are committed to making meaningful contribution towards economic and social development of the country.

He said in demonstrate this commitment the partners have made significant contribution education which is considered as central to the growth and development of Ghana.

He said more important to education is the partners support towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Mr Klemesu said the refurbish science laboratory of the Mfantsipim School is expected to raise student performance in the study of science and develop favourable attitude towards the study.

He urged students and the school management to take good care of the new facility.

GNA
Coaltar (E/R), Aug 16, GNA - Cocoa farmers at Asiam near Coaltar in the Ayensuano District have appealed to the government to act without delay to rehabilitate the 10 kilometre feeder connecting the area with the Suhum-Nsawam highway.

Nana Ohene Acquah, the Odikro (community head), said the bad nature of the road was making things uncomfortable for them.

He spoke of the difficulty of transporting cocoa and other farm produce to the marketing centres.

Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Coaltar, he indicated that the situation was becoming a huge disincentive to farming and must not be allowed to continue.

He again pleaded with the Cocobod for the supply of improved cocoa seedlings to assure them of increased crop yield and returns.

He said many of the farmers were eager to expand their farm and needed to be supported.

GNA

By Alex Agyekum, GNA
Bolgatanga, Aug. 16, GNA - Dr Robert Kugnab -Lam, Deputy Minister of the Upper East Region, has called on parents to place a high premium on the education of their children.

The Deputy Minister made the call when some of his former class mates visited him in his office at the Regional Coordinating Council in Bolgatanga, to congratulate him for his appointment as the Deputy Regional Minister.

The Deputy Minister and his colleagues were part of the 1995 batch of the Notre Dame Secondary School located at Navrongo.

The Deputy Minister until his appointment was a Lecturer and Head of Department at the Community Health and Allied Sciences of the University of for Development Studies (UDS).

His former classmates who visited him included, Dr Emmanuel Abeere-Inge, Director of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority in charge of Infrastructure, Mr Alfred Saawag, the Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and Mr Kenneth Adabayere, Counsel for the Regional House of Chiefs.

'Had it not been for education, all of you here including myself wouldn't have been occupying these important positions. I, therefore, want to encourage all of us here including all parents to place premium on the education of our children', he said.

Mr Kugnab-Lam said government has invested so much in educational infrastructure and other interventions to enrich the human resource base and boost the country's development.

Dr Abeere-Inge, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, expressed gratitude to the President for appointing Dr Kugnab -Lam, and said they were very happy with the appointment of their classmate as a Minister.

They said they had no doubt that the Deputy Minister with his good leadership skills would help contribute significantly to propel the development agenda of the region.

GNA
Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - Bishop Dag Heward - Mills, the Founder and Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International, has noted that most African leaders are highly educated and products of world class universities, but lack wisdom.

He these leaders lack the ability to implement the knowledge acquired for the development of their countries.

'Even though most of these leaders are highly educated having received knowledge from these prestigious universities abroad, they lack the ability and wisdom to apply the knowledge for the benefit of their people,' he stressed.

He explained that it is lack of wisdom, that has culminated in developing countries to resort to borrowing and depending on the Western countries for aid and assistance, when the continent is well - endowed with natural resources, which could be harnessed its total development.

Bishop Heward - Mills was speaking on the first day of the Give Thyself Wholly Conference in organised in Accra at the Qodesh, the Headquarters of the Church for pastors and church workers across the globe.

The annual conference seeks to empower and equip church leaders with requisite skill and knowledge to build and ensure the growth of God's Kingdom.

Bishop Heward - Mills said it is a shame that most African leaders fail to utilise the knowledge they acquire to its optimum best, observing that it is very crucial if the continent is to move into development and prosperity.

He advised pastors to guard against the excessive love for money and desist from making it their priority, and rather seek the advancement and promotion of the Kingdom of God.

Bishop Heward - Mills appealed to them to commit to following the mind and wisdom of God by helping to fulfill the Great Commission.

'If you seek the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, God will take care of their material needs and bless them beyond their expectations,' he said.

GNA

By Robert Tachie Menson, GNA




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
Sunyani, Aug 16, GNA - The Brong-Ahafo Regional branch of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled has called for the government to show the political will to implement the disability law.

Ms. Sirina Mahamadu, the Regional Advocacy Chairperson, said they were unimpressed that a decade after the enactment of the law - Act 715, not much progress had been made.

She asked that the government came out with a legislative instrument to back the implementation.

She made the call when she spoke to the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani as part of this year's advocacy programme of the Federation.

This is being held under the theme '10 years of PWD Act 715, 2006, its impact in the lives of members'.

Ms. Mahamadu said although the law enjoined state institutions and organisations to ensure the safety and interest of the PWDs, this was largely being ignored.

Many public and private buildings, places of convenience and public transport remained inaccessible to people with physical disabilities, she added.

She said they were also not being given equal employment opportunities as their able-bodied counterparts with the same skills, academic qualification and competencies.

Ms. Mahamadu said asked that the fundamental human rights of everybody as enshrined in the Constitution was respected.

GNA

By Paa Nii Stevenson, GNA
16.08.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - The Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, Ms Esther A. N. Cobbah has underlined the need for parents and teachers to instill the value of integrity in the lives of children.

According to her integrity is vital for the wellbeing of the country and there is therefore the need to inculcate integrity in children by setting good example for them to follow.

Ms Cobbah was speaking at the 14th graduation ceremony of the Ladlink School on the theme: 'Integrity' in Accra, a statement in Accra by Stratcomm Africa and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said.

Ms Cobbah commended the founders of Ladlink School for their commitment to invest so much in the upbringing of children and applauded the teachers for their 'grooming dreams, nurturing gifts and raising leaders out of the children'.

It said the early stage in life determines the future of every human being and therefore must be given much attention, she said, adding: 'Children are the kind of gifts that need careful unwrapping and proper care so that they could fully grow and share what is in them to benefit the world.'

Ms Cobbah advised parents and guardians to exhibit good morals at home, to compliment efforts of teachers in shaping the lifestyles of their children.

'We must recognise that children also learn from things that they are exposed to. As parents and guardians we must therefore expose our children to the right media contents so as to prevent them from misleading characters that may influence intelligent behaviors,' she stated.

The Headmistress of the school Mrs Lady Darfoor said parents and guardians must imbibe discipline and integrity in their children at all times.

Mrs Darfoor expressed the view that, parents must ensure that honesty become a household attitude that children demonstrate at school and everywhere.

The guests and parents were treated to exciting performances such as cultural display, recitals among others by the students.

GNA
Kumasi, Aug 16, GNA - Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Trade and Industry Minister, has asked the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to take steps to subject its curricula development to industrial peer review.

He said it was critical to involve experts and other experienced people to come out with practical-based and demand-driven courses.

Addressing senior members of the university at a summer school in Kumasi, he noted that university education generally should be more of problem-solving.

The Minister underlined that the universities needed to deepen their collaboration with the private sector to produce well-resourced graduates, who would be readily absorbed by industry.

That was the path to travel to substantially reduce the graduate unemployment and aid the nation to catch up with the rest of the world, he added.

'Strengthening the linkage amongst academia, industry and government' was the theme for the programme, held under the auspices of the KNUST Quality Assurance and Planning Unit' was the theme for the three-day programme.

The wide range of topics discussed included 'The role of industry in curriculum development', 'Perception of industry about academia', 'Improving quality and relevance of tertiary education in Ghana', 'Competency-based learning' and 'Building stronger universities: the post-graduate education and training pathway'.

The summer school had been planned to provide the platform for the staff and key stakeholders in education and industry to brainstorm - identify and define the way forward to address the country's development challenges.

It brought together in excess of 2, 000 participants drawn from state-owned and private universities and the polytechnics, civil society organizations (CSOs) and industry.

Dr. Spio-Gabrah gave the assurance that the government would continue to support the university by way of the provision of vital logistics and funding.

Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso, the Vice-Chancellor, said they were determined to sustain the conversation with industry - to exchange ideas to bring efficiency into their operations.

GNA

By Stephen Asante, GNA
Tarkwa, Aug. 16, GNA - The Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has indicated that the party would not halt illegal mining operations popularly known as 'galamsey' in the Western Region when elected into power.

He said considering the staggering number of Ghanaian's who are involved in galamsey, the NPP would rather regularise the operations of illegal miners to enable them operate responsibly to earn a living.

The NPP in power would also reduce the rate at which farm lands are destroyed and water bodies polluted in the region.

The NPP flag bearer gave the assurance when he addressed party faithful at the fore court of the Tarkwa community centre.

He stated that to reduce poverty in the region the one factory project in every district or municipality would be executed as planned as well as the disabled loan made accessible to the physically challenged.

The twice defeated NPP flag bearer said he is the best candidate to wrest the presidency from the governing National Democratic Congress.

He therefore commended the people of the region for accepting the party and asked members to campaign vigorously to ensure a sound victory in the coming elections.

Whiles in Tarkwa, Nana Akufo-Addo and his team, which included, Mr Alan Kyerematen, former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Peter Mac Manu, Campaign Chairman of the NPP, Mr Joseph Boahene Aidoo, former Western Regional Minister, Mr Abu Jinapor, an aid to Nana Addo and aspiring Parliamentary candidate for Tarkwa Nsueam, Mr George Mireku Duker and executives in the region paid courtesy call on the Zongo community.

The team earlier on worshiped with members of the Gaddiel Acquah Methodist Cathedral and made a donation of GH5,000.00 towards their upcoming 47th Biennial conference.

GNA

By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA
Sekondi, Aug. 16, GNA - The Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, has noted that fisher folks in the country are living in misery because the ruling government had neglected them.

He, therefore, promised to establish a Coastal Development Authority to champion their welfare when given the nod to govern this country in the December 7 polls.

He said unlike the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, which has failed to deliver on its mandate, he would redeem his promises because he respects the people of Ghana.

He asked the electorate to have confidence in him, saying: 'Please, am knocking at your door for the third time, open me and I will deliver on my promises.'

Nana Addo said this in Sekondi, when the NPP parliamentary candidate for Sekondi, Mr Andrew Egyapa Mercer launched his campaign for this year's elections.

The event coincided with the wrapping-up of Nana Addo's five-day campaign tour of some constituencies in the Western Region.

Some of the constituencies he visited included Bia West and East, Juaboso, Sefwi-Bodi, Akontombra, Aowin, Sefwi-Wiawso, Wassa Amenfi East and Tarkwa-Nsuaem.

The NPP flag bearer stated that the ruling government under President John Dramani Mahama has no solution to the country's economic hardships and asked the electorate to use the power of their thumbs, to change the destiny of this country come December 7.

He indicated that the Mahama-led Administration has been an impediment to the progress of the people, and stated that rejecting the ruling NDC government in the December polls, is the only solution for changing the fortunes of the country for the better.

He expressed dissatisfaction that the country has huge natural and human resources that could propel it into the era of economic industrialisation, but eight years of mismanagement and widespread corruption by the ruling NDC government has plunged Ghanaians into abject poverty and deprivation.

The NPP flag bearer reiterated his commitment to fulfill the one-district, one-factory agenda that would serve as a platform for job creation and process most of the local raw materials into finished products for export.

He cited Alasane Quattara of La Cote d'Ivoire who took over a stagnant economy at the time that country was emerging from civil war.

He said within a short period of time, he had transformed his country's economic fortunes and currently La Cote d'Ivoire is being regarded as the preferred destination for most investors on the African continent due to sound economic policies.

Some of the dignitaries in Nana Addo's entourage included Mr Kwodwo Alan Kyeremanten, former Trade and Industry Minister, Mr Peter Mac Manu, the Campaign Manager for the party, Madam Otiko Efisah Gyaba, the National Women's Organiser, as well as some parliamentary candidates in the southern sector of the Region.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Fund Managers of Mywealth Unit Trust, IFS Capital management limited has pulled out its investments in most financial institutions in the stock market in order to refocus on the oil and gas sector.

This move is part of strategies to maximize its investment profits and spread the company's investment portfolio.

Speaking to Joy Business at the second Annual General Meeting of the company in Accra, General Manager Manfred Brassey noted that the company decided to move out from financial firms because it wants to re-strategies its investment focus onto other sectors like oil and gas and manufacturing

Meanwhile, he says they are monitoring the performance of Stanchart and very soon they might take a decision of going to invest in the stocks.

Accounting to stakeholders, Board Chairman, Samuel Appenteng disclosed that despite challenges faced by the economy, they performed well and gave back good returns to investors.

The company's net asset grew by 28.53 percent from Gh654,561 to Gh841, 319 attributable to the continued patronage and returns on investment.

Despite the negative performance of stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange, the fund managed to return a positive yield of 14.69 percent to shareholders.

Net income from operations as at December 31, 2015 stood at Gh129, 934 representing 26.20 percent increase over 2014s performance.

The Fund unit holder base in 2014 also grew by 17.91 percent from 536 to 632 Unit Holders.

As part of strategies to remain in business, Mr Appenteng highlighted in the funds report that the company will continue to rebalance its investments alongside the revised asset allocations targets as approved by the trustee.

By so doing, the fund will reduce significantly its exposure to the equity market but keep an eye on the growth stocks whiles focusing principally on areas such as the commodities market, money market, real estate and other structured finance products for the benefit of Unit Holders.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com | Ebenezer K Sabutey |Joy Business
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has expressed discomfort over continued poor handling of the cedi notes  the local currency, something Dr. Johnson Asiama, the Second Deputy Governor, says is a huge bother.

He said people should recognize that it costs a lot of money to print and replace the dirty and torn notes.

That was why everybody must accept to handle them properly  they should not be squeezed.

He was speaking after an-hour-and-a-half walk in Kumasi by workers of the Central Bank to send a message to the public about the need to ensure that the notes were kept clean.

Dr. Asiama indicated that holding clean notes tended to give confidence in the currency, saying, nobody wants to have dirty notes.

He spoke of the banks determination to intensify the public education campaign to aid the people to do the right thing.

The staff, he said, would sustain their visits to the markets, churches and other public places to bring the much needed change.

Mr. Bernard Otabil, Director of Communications of the Bank, responding to concerns about the activities of illegal micro-finance companies, said steps had been taken to rein them in.

He said the BOG, as a regulatory body, was eager to make sure that there was sanity in the financial sector and underlined that everybody must be ethnically guided in things that they do.

He rallied the media to support the BOG effort at protecting people from being swindled by fraudsters by refusing to run advertisements for unlicensed microfinance companies.

He asked that they went the extra mile to check from the list of licensed microfinance companies posted at the Central Banks website, adding that, all should find space to assist stop fraudsters out there from having their way.

The other highpoint of the walk was the promotion of the physical fitness of the workers  to keep them healthy and reduce medical bills.
you are here:
TORRANCE, Calif., August 16, 2016  Toyota Financial Services (TFS) announced it is offering payment relief options to its customers affected by the flooding in Louisiana. This broad outreach includes any Toyota Financial Services (TFS) or Lexus Financial Services (LFS) customer in the FEMA designated Louisiana disaster areas.



We at Toyota Financial Services care about the safety and well-being of our customers and want to help those impacted by the storms and flooding. Impacted lease and retail customers residing in the devastated areas may be eligible to take advantage of several payment relief options, some of which include:

extensions and lease deferred payments

redirecting billing statements

arranging phone or on-line payments



Customers who have been affected by the flooding and would like to discuss their account options are encouraged to contact TFS or LFS:



Toyota Financial Services customers may call (800) 874-8822 or contact TFS via email using the Mail Center function after logging into ToyotaFinancial.com.



Lexus Financial Services customers may call (800) 874-7050 or contact LFS via email using the Mail Center function after logging into LexusFinancial.com.



We extend our heartfelt thoughts to those affected by the natural disaster.
Ned Thomas spent his summer helping Occidental Petroleum in Houston have a better understanding of what the future life of young oil wells will look like.

Thomas, 26, who is working toward a masters degree in petroleum engineering at Texas A&M, is one of 16 A&M and University of Texas students who worked as part of a new college internship program trying to find ways to produce more oil on the University Lands, 2.1 million acres of oil fields in West Texas that belong to the two universities. Money made off the oil from the wells supplies the Permanent University Fund, one of the nations largest university endowments, which supports UT and A&M.

These are elite-level appointments, akin to what a Wall Street internship would mean for business students, and the experience and exposure for students is invaluable, UT Regent Jeffrey Hildebrand said. They are solving real-world challenges facing the (energy) industry today and the industry is benefitting from the latest, cutting-edge research.

The student interns comb data on the West Texas wells, looking for ways to make them more productive or last longer. Its the type of work typically done by the research and development employees that oil companies have laid off during the slump, said Jeff Spath, who runs the newly formed Texas Oil and Gas Institute in Houston.

Powerful leverage

If the engineering students in the competitive internship program find a way to make one more oil well in West Texas produce 1 million more barrels of oil, the rich Permanent University Fund would instantly increase by about $10 million.

The oil companies that run the 494 wells that were running on the University Lands last year, such as Houston-based Occidental Petroleum, would see profits jump by about $40 million.

This is a lot of money that stays in Texas and displaces checks written to the Saudis, UT Regent Alex Cranberg said, after doing a quick calculation of the financial effects the 16 engineering students in the internship program this summer could have. The leverage right here is powerful.

The first round of internships at the oil and gas institute wrapped up Friday.

In some ways, the institute is a precursor of UTs planned expansion into Houston, where the UT System plans to build on a 300-acre tract. Plans for the institute stretch back beyond the latest expansion plans, which University of Houston officials have called an invasion and which have been questioned by numerous state lawmakers. UT was planning the internship program for at least a year before Chancellor William McRaven announced UT would buy the Houston land.

The internship program was developed after a 2013 report found that Texas needs 9,000 more engineers every year. UT, which now educates about half of the states engineers, can help carry the load, the report said. And Houston, rich with industry opportunities from the Texas Medical Center to energy companies, could be key to accomplishing that goal.

Students marketable

The institute, already eyeing an expansion, asked officials at Occidental if they could accommodate more interns going forward. They eagerly asked how many more they could have, Spath said.

The experience will hopefully make the students more marketable to employers once they graduate. The work Thomas has done at Occidental this summer is more hands-on than some of his peers, he said.

You dont really feel like an intern, Thomas said. You feel like its your job.
Junior Achievement of the Permian Basin had a very successful 2015-16 school year, thanks to very generous donors and volunteers in our area. The board and staff wanted to take the opportunity to let the community know the great things that have been happening and to thank our supporters.

Junior Achievement is a youth development nonprofit organization that impacts young people locally, nationally and globally. Even though JA is a global organization, all money given in the Permian Basin stays here and is used to teach students the skills needed to be financially literate, be prepared for life after high school whether it be for college or the working world and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship by teaching kids about the world of business. This is all accomplished by volunteers from the community who go into local classrooms and teach JA curriculums, while at the same time letting students get to know them and find out what they do in life and how they got where they are today.

In the 2015-16 school year, 129 volunteers taught 152 JA Classes in 21 schools, plus the Midland County Public Library summer programs for a total number of 3,210 students. Names of some of these programs are: JA Career Success, JA Personal Finance, JA Its My Future, JA Global Marketplace, JA Our City, JA Our Nation. We have programs for kindergarten through 12th grade and some after-school programs. All are designed to show students where they fit into the world and what it takes to be successful and productive citizens. Volunteers are able to talk about what they do for a living and share some of their life experiences to inspire others. Corporations that get involved with JA possibly can inspire their future work force. These programs are provided free of charge to public schools.

This last year, we implemented our first JA in a Day program. A team from Security Bank sponsored the event at Washington Math and Science Institute and taught JA Our Families to all the first-graders. Another JA in a Day took place with Odessa High School students who learned about Career Success. Several speakers from organizations in both Midland and Odessa taught JA lessons and talked about their careers and how they came to be in those careers. Another first for JA this past school year was our partnership with the Midland County Public Library to offer JA classes in their summer programs, which were generously sponsored by Frost Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

Students enjoy JA volunteers because it gives them a break in their regular school routine and teaches them about things they will need to know in life. After finishing their classes, many volunteers run into the students, who come up to them to say that they have used what they have learned about saving money or that what they taught them helped them in a job interview. Many volunteers have expressed that they have returned to teach again because they know they made a difference. The time commitment for a volunteer is one hour per week for five to seven weeks, depending on the program. The classroom teacher is always present, so volunteers do not have to worry about being left alone with students or having to handle classroom management. There is a short training and background check before the volunteer goes into the classroom for the first time.

Junior Achievement could not fulfill its mission of inspiring and preparing young people to succeed without the generous help of so many people and organizations. As much as we would like to list every donor, that isn't possible; therefore, we have listed some of our major donors, but this is in no way an all-inclusive list: Permian Basin Area Foundation, Mabee Foundation, The Henry Foundation, The Beal Foundation, Greathouse Charitable Trust, Fasken Foundation, The Wayne and Jo Ann Moore Charitable Foundation, The E.A Franklin Trust, The Prairie Foundation, the Hext Family Foundation, First Basin Credit Union, My Community FCU, XTO Energy, Frost Bank, Edward Jones Investments, Mr. and Mrs. Timothy McGraw, Spencer Beal, Heritage USA FCU, Wells Fargo Bank, Lynch, Chappell, and Alsup, Engineered Pipeline Systems, Hilliard Office Solutions, Fast ER Care, Sport Environmental Services. On behalf of all students in Midland and Ector counties, we cant thank you enough for your generosity.

Junior Achievement believes in the mission of the Educate Midland initiative and agrees that in order to impact all students, we all have to work together to collectively impact our youth. JA provides a pathway for people to get involved within our schools and for corporations to support that volunteerism with financial and employee support. We believe that we all must work together to improve education and performance. Studies show that students attitudes and beliefs about themselves and their potential improve after attending JA programs. When a student starts to realize that their I can is stronger than their I cant, their attitude and outlook on school and their future becomes more hopeful. This in turn helps them start to see the importance of staying in school and performing well. Join us at Junior Achievement and become a part of the Permian Basins education solution.
An oil company engineer will run for Midland ISD school board.

Ernie P. Garcia, a husband and father of Midland ISD teachers, has filed to run for the District 1 seat. District 1 is generally found in east and southeast Midland. It includes areas around Pease Communication & Technology Academy, Lee Freshman High School, Carver Center, Milam Elementary, Washington Math & Science Institute and some areas around Crockett Elementary. James Fuller is the current representative and is running for the position again.

Garcias wife is a teacher at Lee High School. They have a daughter who is a teacher at Midland Freshman High School. They have three other children -- one a Lee High School graduate, another who attends Lee and a child who attends Alamo Junior High.

I have a vested interest with two educators and children directly involved in the school system, Garcia said.

Garcia, 43, stated that he is running for school board as a response to the communitys desire to see change and new leadership. He said the opportunity to hire a new superintendent provides that opportunity for change. MISD officials have said that the search for a new superintendent to replace Ryder Warren will begin after Novembers school board election.

Garcia said that new superintendent will need to have new ideas as Midland continues toward reform.

Being a part of the school board is how I can begin to help build a new leadership team that proves Midland is indeed a community committed to education, said Garcia, a Texas Tech graduate.

He is employed by BOPCO as an operations engineer and has 10 1/2 years of oil and gas experience. He is a retired sergeant first class in the U.S. Army Reserves and lists military experience from 1995-2016, including deployment to Landstahl Regional Medical Center in 2006 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

He and his family are members of Mid-Cities Community Church.
Some junior high classes at St. Anns School will be held in portable buildings this school year. The schools principal said a recent enrollment spike prompted the Catholic school to create four new classrooms in the buildings.

Principal Joan Wilmes said portable buildings were a necessary addition for students.

Our enrollment shot up about four years ago, Wilmes said. We had been using small spaces throughout the parish campus. They needed classroom space.

Wilmes said the enrollment surged during the oil boom of the 2013-2014 school year. The school  which had an enrollment of about 350 students before the boom  jumped to about 415 pre-kindergarten through eighth- grade students.

The two portable buildings are on St. Anns Catholic Church property and detached from other school buildings. The school has four permanent structures on the property.

The classrooms in the portable buildings are for sixth- through eighth- graders. The spaces will be for both core classes and expanded programming.

Msgr. Larry Droll, pastor of St. Anns Catholic Church, said the extra classrooms give the school space to accommodate junior high electives.

The teachers are very delighted in having their own classrooms now, Droll said. Some had to carry materials to different classrooms or whatever small spaces we had available.

The money to rent the buildings comes from tuition. While the enrollment has remained almost the same since the surge, the portable buildings are the schools first effort to add portable classrooms.

We needed more classroom space, Droll said. It initiated an overall planning process with the whole parish.

Droll said the need for new classrooms prompted the parish to consider other facility renovations or expansions. The parish is in the planning stage, consulting an architect for the next phase of the project.

We need to balance the needs for the parish and the school, Droll said.
I walked into a classroom for the first time in September 1968, a 20-old graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, naive, excited, and determined to do good work. Five decades later, I continue to anticipate the first day of school as a precious gift, one to be opened with enthusiasm, appreciated and valued.

At the end of the day, there is nothing more important than seeing a light blossom in a childs eyes when they own a new skill, a new strategy or a new idea for the first time. Competence is a powerful motivator, and all our children deserve to feel the rush of adrenaline that happens when they are able to say, I can do it!

What can we do to guarantee this opportunity for all our children? First and foremost, as we kick off a new year, we can support the teachers of this community -- all teachers, whether they are laboring in public, private or independent schools. I didnt use the word laboring lightly, but intentionally, as teaching -- while both rewarding and certainly joy-filled -- is hard work.

Let me be more specific about what I think you can do, because generalities wont get the job done. Its not enough to simply think about what can be done to help, and its definitely not enough to simply editorialize about what can be done to help.

What can you do if you have five minutes to give? Stop, sit down, and write a thank you note to a teacher who helped you or a child you know in some special and specific way. I purposefully used the word, specific, because it is important for teachers to know what you value, as this kind of information is not only encouraging, but can inform practice in important ways.

As an example, a belated thank you goes to Pablo Salas for penning that personal note of encouragement to my son so many years ago when he was in your sixth-grade math class. Your confidence in him was a beacon to his ultimate success, and he saved the note and used the feelings it conveyed to motivate him even when things were difficult.

Mr. Salas is now retired, but if he were still in the trenches, I have no doubt he would be writing notes to his students, challenging them to step up, work hard, and never give up. What he did for my son didnt cost a thing, but it was an important investment in his future, and I still appreciate it.

Dont miss an opportunity to let a teacher know about those important investments that you see them make in the lives of children. When teachers get tired or discouraged, your notes of appreciation may be just the motivation they need to find the time to do something similar for another child. Kindness matters, and kindness multiplies.

What can you do if you have five hours to give? Check with someone at a school you know and volunteer, but only if you are willing to be steady and dependable. For the last six years, the first grade teachers at my school have enjoyed the helping hands of Karen Fago, who devotes far more than five hours a week, I might add. She came to us when her son entered seventh grade at Trinity, approaching me with a simple, How can I help?

Mrs. Fago has been a life-saver on so many occasions, buying this grade- level team valuable time to spend working with children. If it needs to be cut, collated, laminated or stuffed, Mrs. Fago is willing to do the job. She counts no task as meaningless if it gives her teaching team additional minutes of meaningful time to prepare for or work with children.

I wish every grade-level team at every school in Midland had a Mrs. Fago. Her kindness truly matters, and I hope my words of appreciation for her service will encourage someone else to be that faithful partner in the life of a teacher.

What can you do if you have $5 to give? August through December may find teachers running short of things that brighten their days and that help them do their jobs. What if, once each month, on your regular trip to the grocery store, you bought something to save for a special holiday gift basket for a teacher?

Sticky notes to leave tracks of thinking in texts are welcome. Stickers to point to evidence of excellence in a paper or on a project are appreciated. Colored pens, markers and pencils never go unused. Bookmarks, colored paper clips, vibrant highlighters -- literally anything that a teacher can use to inspire or add flavor to their work with children.

Estimates on how many teachers leave the profession within their first five years of service range from a high of 50 percent to a low of 17 percent, according to an April 30, 2015, article by Emma Brown in the Washington Post.

Because I choose to be an optimist, the 17 percent figure is easier to swallow, but it is still far too high. Mentoring is one variable Brown reported as supporting the retention of new teachers. Many schools regularly assign professional mentors to new teachers, but I submit that the support system created by people who step up to show kindness to any teacher -- first year or veteran professional -- has the potential to make a difference.

What can you do if you have five friends to share the load? Like many memorable quotes making their way around social media, I cannot find clear attribution for the original source, but the power of this statement is none the less both clear and true. Teaching is the profession that creates all other professions.

Everyone who counts themselves successful in any regard owes a debt to a teacher. My challenge to you is to leverage the support of five friends, members of your working group on the job, members of your Sunday school class, members of your book club or sorority group, and think of just one more way that you can reach out in support of the teachers in this community.

There is no doubt that this is a generous community, and the educational enterprise in Midland -- both public and private -- has benefited greatly from civic and philanthropic commitments recently demonstrated by individuals, corporations and foundations. In this case, however, I am asking for something far more personal.

If each of us reached out to one teacher who is trying to do good work in one classroom in this community, we could fund a miracle. If that means that I am still naive and excited to start another school year, so be it. Find a way to help; you are needed.

Patricia Maurer is of Trinity School is head of preschool and lower school at Trinity School.
Donald Trump has tapped half a dozen well-known Texans  including former Gov. Perry and U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway  to advise him on agriculture policy in his campaign for the White House.

The Republican nominees campaign on Tuesday announced a 64-member Agricultural Advisory Committee that it said will provide pioneering new ideas to strengthen our nations agricultural industry as well as provide support to our rural communities.
Please enable JavaScript to experience the functionality of this website.

- MWEB
We were not bribed to drop ...
GOP: Bipartisanship Allows Us To Make Progress

Microphone and US Flag View Photos

In the Weekly Republican Address, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley discussed the successes of his committee.

Grassley was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

Hi, Im Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Now consider this.

On the first Senate bill debated in 2015 under a new Republican majority, the Senate considered more amendments, from both sides of the aisle, than the entire previous year under the leadership of Harry Reid.

That is the dramatic change in the way business is done for you.

And its working.

As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I work to make sure that the committee works for all Americans.

So, I adopted an approach to get things done for you-straight from the common sense nature of Iowans.

I decided early on that the Judiciary Committee would spend your taxpayer dollars and our time focusing on areas where we can reach an agreement, rather than on political fights destined for failure.

Its the right thing to do. And it works.

Every one of the 27 bills passed out of the committee under my leadership has had bipartisan support.

The president has signed 12 of those bills into law.

Our committees approach expanded access to justice, prioritized public safety, and demanded accountability from the bureaucracy.

Republicans and Democrats collaborated to enact legislation to help communities heal the wounds of addiction.

We worked to reduce the illicit market for sex trafficking and modern slavery and expanded support for its victims.

We empowered first responders to more safely and effectively answer the call to protect communities.

We protected inventors and entrepreneurs who fuel innovation and job growth that drive the economy of Iowa, and the rest of the nation.

And we expanded government transparency to make the federal government more accountable to the American people.

These are just a few of the bipartisan bills I have led through the committee that have become law.

They are helping Americans from diverse walks of life.

With four months left in this Congress, the Judiciary Committee has already outpaced the previous Congress in bills processed in committee, passed in the Senate and signed into law.

And were not done yet.

Were pushing ahead on legislation for all ages.

Were making significant progress on a bill to prevent troubled youth from entering a life of crime and steer them towards a path of opportunity and productivity.

And, were moving a bill to reduce crimes against seniors by expanding education, prevention and prosecution.

Ive worked with colleagues to keep better tabs on convicted sex offenders and ensure evidence is properly preserved to improve justice for victims.

Im working with a diverse group of senators to recalibrate sentences for low-level drug offenders while keeping violent criminals off our streets.

Weve empowered government whistleblowers in their efforts to tackle fraud, waste and abuse in government.

Whistleblowers know whats wrong and we ought to listen to them in order to get things fixed.

So, Republicans and Democrats can work together.

Bipartisanship has allowed us to make meaningful progress on good ideas from senators on both sides of the aisle.

This principle has ensured the Republican-led Senate hasnt wasted time or resources.

Now its a formula for representative government that puts us to work for you

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weeekday morning on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM
When it comes to children, health is a major issue.

It can also be a huge selling point for parents working to choose the candidate they believe can best serve this country as president of the United State. So its no surprise the issue has found its way into the 2016 presidential race.

During his speech at the Democratic National Convention, former President Bill Clinton said Hillary Clinton helped, get done the Childrens Health Insurance Program.

PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and gave it a MOSTLY TRUE rating.

Writer Josh Gillin said thats based on statements from CHIPs Democratic sponsor, the late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

He actually in a prior interview going back to 2007 credited Hillary Clinton with a lot of help, Gillin said. And his health advisor at the time had actually said yes, Hillary Clinton did really help them negotiate to get that legislation through a Republican congress at the time.

Gillin went on to say the bills Republican sponsor, Sen. Orin Hatch, did not remember talking with Hillary Clinton about the legislation.

For those reasons, Bill Clintons statement received a MOSTLY TRUE rating.

SOURCES: Hillary Clinton helped with the creation of CHIP, Bill Clinton says
Tim Hardage, Chamber of Commerce first vice president, claimed it was just coincidental that Plainviews Walmart Distribution Center was selected Business of the Month less than a month before the Chamber will help it celebrate its 30th anniversary in Plainview.

Nonetheless, Chamber President Dr. Bobby Hall was quick to express the communitys appreciation for Walmart being a valued part of Plainview.

Representing Walmart at Tuesdays Chamber board meeting were Rosa Padilla and Danny Salazar, a Plainview High and Wayland Baptist University graduate who has been with Walmart for past 10 years. Salazar returned to the Plainview distribution center about 1 1/2 years ago.

We have 830 hourly associates and 70 managers at the distribution center, Salazar noted. Weve spent several million dollars on renovations over the past five to 10 years, and continue to make improvements. Were investing back into this facility and are planning to stay despite persistent rumors otherwise. Let me assure you that the Walmart Distribution Center is going strong.

To help Walmart Distribution Center celebrate its 30th anniversary in Plainview, the Chamber is joining with the Plainview/Hale County Economic Development Corporation, City of Plainview, Hale County and corporate sponsors Xcel Energy and Energas for a Walmart family celebration Saturday, Sept. 10, at the Ollie Liner Center.

Linda Morris, Chamber executive director, asked for volunteers from the Chamber board to help stage the Sept. 10 event for Walmart associates and their guests. That will including cooking approximately 3,000 hamburgers and 1,000 hotdogs for the event, which will include music, bounce houses and similar activities. In addition to the sponsors, Morris noted that 4-H youth will participate by preparing bags of vegetables and condiments.

While the Sept. 10 celebration is for Walmart associates, a separate anniversary event with dignitaries from Walmarts corporate offices is set for Thursday, Sept. 8.

Both the Walmart Distribution Center and Walmart store are celebrating 30th anniversaries, having opened in 1986.

In other reports, Morris reported that 12 students have registered for the Leadership Plainview as it begins its 33rd year. Registration deadline was Tuesday.

Hall asked for volunteers for Waylands Business Intern Advisory Committee. Working under Dr. Barry Evans, dean of the School of Business, the panel will help redesign, renew and refresh the business curriculum to help graduates be better equipped to serve the business community. Its first meeting is 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at the Cotton Patch restaurant. Those interested can contact either Hall or Evans.

Hari Kotaiya, Chamber Ambassadors chair, reported that the group was to participate in a ribbon cutting Tuesday afternoon at the Plainview Bowling Center. Another is set at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at West Texas Medical Plaza.

Other upcoming events include a reception for Bob Copeland, CEO of Covenant Hospital Plainview, at 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, at the hospital, and Business After Hours on Sept. 8 at Petes Place in the basement of the McClung Student Center at Wayland.

Melinda Brown, Main Street director, reported that Wayland Night, a special event to introduce the downtown to Wayland students, will be held Aug. 26. Also, Ash High School will partner with local charities for three game nights, in September, January and April, where adults will be asked to interact with and mentor students in an informal setting. Plans also are being formulated for the Plainview Fall Festival on Oct. 1. A chili cookoff to benefit Plainview Area United Way will be held in conjunction with the event.

Mike Fox, executive director of the PHCEDC, reported that the Plainview Industrial Parks steering committee will meet soon to select and sign a contract with an engineering consultant. Once the contract is executed, a site plan for the industrial park can be drafted to show industrial prospects. Currently there are eight prospects in the local pipeline, Fox said, which are considering Plainview as a potential site to relocate or expand.

He added that BNSF Logistics is continuing to expand its wind energy rail yard in Plainview. It now covers more than 100 acres after starting out at 10 acres in March 2015.
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With 32 years of classroom experience, much of it working with students with significant learning disabilities and other challenges, a former Plainview resident has released a book that shares of her proven techniques for helping young students learn their ABCs and more.

I wrote the book (originally) to use in my own classroom, explains Brenda G. (Marshall) Martin, who grew up in Plainview and graduated from PHS in 1967.

The Lubbock resident retired in 2014, and almost immediately went to work updating her original text and adding full-color illustrations with the help of her daughter, Shawna Martin Kinslow of Austin.

The result is a 72-page book, The Alphabet Learned Quickly and Easily, which is available in both print and e-book formats from Amazon.com as well as Barnes & Noble. Published by Xlibrus, the books can also be ordered directly from the author.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Martin explained, The book began when I was working on the alphabet with a cute learning disabled kindergarten boy. He said, Ma'am, B, C, D, E -- they all sound alike to me. I started drawing pictures with the beginning letter on the picture along with a companion story. I asked him if the picture and story helped. He enthusiastically said yes. Unusual pictures and stories help trigger the memory. Techniques to correct letter reversals are incorporated in the book. A multi-sensory approach was used to help various learning styles.

The cover illustration demonstrates how absurd illustrations can drive home the desired learning points. It shows an alligator hanging by its tail from an apple tree. Both its tail and mouth show the shape of a capital A while apples hanging from the tree are outlined by lower case as.

Friends and other teachers have seen how (the teaching technique) could benefit all students, from your average learner to those with learning disabilities and dyslexics, she explains. It works well for students using association memory techniques and other methods to increase memory for concepts taught. Anything that works well for students with learning difficulties will accelerate learning in all students.

The technique even helps English As A Second Language students of any age as well as adults taught through literacy programs.

Martin is the daughter of Curt and Jennie Marshall, who are both deceased, and the stepdaughter of Elmo Snelling.

After graduating from PHS, Martin spent two years at Lubbock Christian University which was then a junior college, before receiving her degree in elementary education from Abilene Christian University in 1971. She later received her Language and Learning Disabilities Certification through Texas Womans University.

During her teaching career, Martin spent time at Rule, Rochester and Littlefield - taking 11 years off to raise her children - before joining the Lubbock school system where she taught in an elementary school on the northeast side of town, and later in the districts homebound program. I had all ages, from 3 years through high school. Most of these were either sick and injured, or recovering at home following surgery. Others were severely handicapped, or in very delicate physical condition.

As she tutored students, Martin developed several successful methods of her own to teach.

The true success is finding creative ways to help the child associate something unfamiliar with things that are familiar to them. If a student forgets the shape of a letter, associating it with an animal or some other object can trigger their memory, she explains.

An advocate of teaching cursive writing to students, Martin has found that using exaggerated motions to write letters in the air to be an effective technique. Not teaching cursive writing is a big mistake, she warns, because we soon could have adults who cant read or write cursive.

To prepare her book for general circulation, Martin enlisted the aid of her daughter, Shawna Martin Kinslow, as co-illustrator. She earned her degree at Texas Tech and is now a technical writer in Austin.

This book can be used by both teachers and parents, Martin explains, with a teachers manual in the front that explains how to use the book. Ive positioned the teachers pages and the students pages side-by-side, so you can look at both pages at the same time.

She feels that her book is both unique and creative, and designed to engage students with a dose of humor.

Ive tried to include other spellings for the various letter sounds, and several other tricks that youll have to buy the book to learn.

Its suggested price is $41.99 for soft cover and $51.99 for hardback, with the e-book available for $3.99 through Xlibrus.com, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or by calling 1-888-795-4274. Interested individuals can also contact Martin direct by emailing yobgmartin@yahoo.com. She plans to schedule a book signing in Plainview in the near future.
BERLIN- Neighborhoods in town are bracing for sidewalk construction this fall, though officials say some homeowners are seeking a second opinion.



Next week were going to start to review those properties and any changes that need to be made, said Jim Horbal, deputy director of Public Works.



The department along with Economic Development held a public meeting Thursday, Aug. 11, to discuss the sidewalk project for the areas of Kensington Village and the Berlin Train Station.



A couple dozen residents attended the meeting to ask the towns project consultant Milone and MacBroom questions and to voice their concerns.



Horbal collected the information of nine residents who requested a second look at their properties before a sidewalk was put in.



Main concerns included having to take out trees or shrubs to fit a sidewalk, maintaining the new sidewalks, and property space that could possibly be compromised.



Horbal says that snow removal has been a common worry.



Unfortunately the way the town ordinance is written, residents are currently responsible for removing snow and ice from sidewalks in the winter, he said.



The homes that will get second evaluations are primarily in the neighborhoods of Kensington Road and Four Rod Road.



Chris Edge, Economic Development Director, says the sidewalks will connect the dots to allow easier access to main destinations in town.



Right now theres no easy way to go from Town Hall to the village or to the train station, he said.



The project will be funded from a state grant received last year to provide multiple sidewalk connections throughout town.



Sidewalks are proposed for Kensington Road, Four Rod Road, Burnham Street, and Grove Hill.



Other streets in consideration include, Langdon Court, Newton Street, Percival Avenue, and Robbins Road.



Jack Healy, Director of Public Works, says that the project is expected to go out to bid in time to start construction in the fall. There will be a break in the winter with completion in the spring.



We are trying to minimize the impact to residents, Healy said. Were keeping their interest in mind.






Relationships.



When you ask Pastor Dale Azevedo, who is leaving the Middlefield Federated Church at the end of August, what he treasures the most from his tenure here, thats the answer: Relationships.



Pastor Dale, or just plain Dale, as most people know him, is on his way to a new church in Barrington, Rhode Island. Like his journey from a small Methodist church in Lakeville, Connecticut to the medium-sized Middlefield Federated (United Methodist and Congregational-UCC) Church in 1999, Dale is confident that God is leading him on his lifes journey.



That journey has included marriage to his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth, and raising two children. Daughter Jesse turned 3 the summer the Azevedos came to Middlefield, and son Seth was born that September. Jesse graduated from Coginchaug in 2014 and is entering her junior year at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts as a theater major specializing in costume design.



Elizabeth, a public preschool teacher in East Haven, and Seth, who will be a senior at Coginchaug in September, will actually stay in their Middlefield home this school year so Seth can finish his education in District 13, one of the community assets that Dale has come to treasure in his time here. The music and arts programs in these schools are outstanding, he said. And my kids had opportunities to become involved in so many different things both in and out of school.



Thats been Dales experience as well. Besides pastoring MFC, Dale has been the Middlefield Fire Department chaplain for many years and chairperson of the Middlefield Community Services Council since 2002. He also served several years on the Levi Coe Library board. This community involvement is another source of the relationships Dale treasures.



In fact, Dale names this as the heart of his ministry. My highest aspiration is to live in relationships that embody Gods love for all of us. Remaining in one place for 17 years has enabled and strengthened those relationships, and brought Dale some of his most rewarding moments watching young people grow up and seeing people of all ages grow in faith through lifes stages.



Hes proud of the MFC congregations desire to be the body of Christ in this time and place. The people of this church really care about each other and living their faith, but in a way that allows individuals to have differing opinions and still remain part of the body.



This freedom to disagree was one of the most surprising things to me when I arrived, he said with a smile. I remember thinking how refreshing it was that members were willing to confront one another without being disagreeable. I think its healthy and works against any one person or group being too powerful.



The number of young families in the church also impressed Dale, coming from a small, older congregation. The rush of growth in Middlefield and Durham during the 1990s was visible in the church as well and led directly to another project Dale is proud to have been part of  the building project that expanded the church facilities in the early 2000s. Even as growth has slowed, the availability of that space for community use has been a blessing, Dale explained.



While remaining in one place, Dales pastoral evolution continued. He came to Middlefield as a Methodist, and over the course of his tenure, decided to switch and become a Congregational-UCC pastor mostly because he felt a calling to remain in Middlefield while Methodist Church structure moves pastors on a regular basis. The primacy of the individual congregation in choosing ministers in the UCC was important to me, as well as the UCC views on social issues. The NY Conference of the Methodist Church, however, holds many of those same views. I may have changed much earlier if our church was in a different Methodist conference, Dale explained.



Now he feels the need for new challenges. Ive been thinking for a year or two about how long can anyone stay in one place and remain effective, Dale shared. Then he came across the listing of the opening in Barrington and felt that familiar nudge. I showed it to Elizabeth and said I think I should explore this, he continued.



So the journey continues. Hell miss walking through Lyman Orchards, District 13 events (even though his new contract has allowances for time spent in Middlefield this school year as Seths dad), many, many wonderful relationships and the sense of familiarity and home that 17 years in one place brings.



He leaves with the gifts he says he received at MFC, including grace  the churchs willing acceptance of me  faults and all, confidence, maturing communication skills and the willingness to take a risk. And he leaves behind a congregation and community enriched by 17 years of relationships with the Azevedo family, and one perhaps also ready for new challenges. Its easy to become insular here, Dale explained, with the lovely small town atmosphere, but one of our assets is also our connection to larger communities such as Middletown, Meriden and even New Haven. We sometimes need to look beyond ourselves and take responsibility for broken relationships in the wider world.



Or, as the church mission statement says, approved after long and arduous prayer and discussion under Dales guidance: The mission of the Middlefield Federated Church is building relationships with God, one another and our world.



The whole community is invited to a reception for the Azevedo family, at the church, on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 4 to 6 p.m.






Seattle rolls as Neal cant recapture form, Aug. 15, Sports, B5

The score was incorrect in a headline with the story. The correct score was Mariners 8, As 4.

Politics behind building design,

Aug. 14, Bay Area, C11
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H-E-B appears to be laying groundwork for expansion in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex with the purchase of six North Texas grocery stores.

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that the San Antonio-based grocer bought six Sun Fresh Market stores  four in Dallas, one in Grapevine and another in McKinney.

H-E-B is "currently evaluating the feasibility of each site to determine the most effective use of the properties," Todd Piland, H-E-B's executive vice president of real estate, said in a statement Monday.

The company does not currently operate its flagship H-E-B grocery stores in Dallas, according to the store locator on the companys website, but does have stores in Waxahachie, Ennis, Burleson, Cleburne, Granbury, Corsicana and Stephenville. The chain has two Central Market stores in Dallas and one in Fort Worth, Plano and Southlake.

The grocer chain has been busy buying up land in Bexar County in recent years.

H-E-B bought two plots north of its downtown headquarters totaling 1.1 acres in March and April and a a 21.66-acre lot near the intersection of De Zavala Road and the JV Bacon Parkway, about a mile from the University of Texas at San Antonio main campus.

The grocery store chain announced in July it will open two new San Antonio locations: one at the intersection of Alamo Ranch Parkway and Alamo Parkway on the citys far West Side and another in the Bulverde Marketplace near the intersection of Loop 1604 and Bulverde Road.

H-E-B purchased about 250 acres valued at more than $90 million from 2009 to 2014. Last year, the grocery chain acquired about 107.7 acres.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports
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When San Antonio radio was still in its hot heyday during the 1980s and '90s, there was an on-air personality who prompted grins with the mere mention of his name: Joe Nasty.

Well, that lovable and engaging talent -- who worked in L.A. and other markets all over the country, but was known best here for his colorful years on the old KTFM -- died today at the age of 68.

His real name was Dennis Alvord, but everyone knew him by the naughty name of "Nasty," not to mention his favorite saying: "I want to sing, I want to dance, I want to ha cha cha cha."

Facebook was full of tributes to the Jourdanton native by other local radio personalities, past and present. A sampling:

KTSA talk show host Trey Ware wrote: "In the early 80's I was doing evenings on 92.9 KITY when my phone rang. A low voice said, 'Hey It's Nasty.' I knew immediately who it was. Although we hadn't yet met, I, like everyone else in San Antonio, listened to Joe Nasty every afternoon on KTFM.

"He was amazing. Entertaining. Fun. Tight. Happy. Positive. He was everything you wanted to hear coming out of the speakers. "

Lee Woods, another iconic name from S.A. radio's golden years, who was just inducted into the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame, wrote: "Today we lost a radio great. One of the most talented and outrageous jocks who ever opened a microphone. I had the honor of working with Joe Nasty, the man who invented 'no pants Fridays.' We sure had some fun back in the day drinking tequila shooters and abusing ourselves with foreign substances."

"He was a true shock-jock that would say ANYTHING to strike emotion," said another local radio vet, Robin Flores. ".Knowing him as Dennis Alvord who loved his family & friends dearly is how I wish to think of him right now. May his love give strength to his family in the days ahead."

Yes, "Nasty" back then was synonymous with good times, solid hits and risque antics.

For instance, another popular disc jockey of four decades, Mark Carrillo, recalled: "He was quite a character. I remember him walking down the stairs in his underwear, just to make the receptionist aghast."

Yep, it sure was a kick covering you, Joe.

Thanks for the memories, and rest in peace.

jjakle@express-news.net
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As universities across Texas prepare for the commencement of the fall semester, a fraction of those students  members of Greek organizations  return to their respective campuses weeks early to prepare for a fall semester tradition: sorority recruitment.

RELATED: 15 signs you are (or were) a member of a fraternity or sorority in Texas

An in-depth search for the most populous chapters at some of the biggest schools in Texas returned 25 of the largest sororities at each campus.

New college students interested in joining a sorority can find some of the largest in the state, while rivals or different chapters may want to compare size with others  after all, everything is bigger in Texas.

Each campus included in the gallery above boasted a student population exceeding 24,000 students in fall 2015.

RELATED: Video: University of Texas Round-Up parade footage from 1949 gives a glimpse at college life then

From Texas State University to the University of Texas at Austin, many Greek communities reported chapter totals exceeding 200 women, while others approached 300.

RELATED: #UTSAGoGreek encourages students to join campus groups during orientation

Although more than 10 campuses were contacted, four did not return a request for chapter totals. Among the four are Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.

Click through the slideshow above to see the biggest chapters at each of Texas' biggest universities.

MMedina@mySA.com



Twitter: @MMedinaNews
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Albany

The home-state blues are a boon for Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Clinton has expanded her lead over Republican Donald Trump by seven points since June, besting her fellow New Yorker by 30 points in Monday's Siena Research Institute poll.

Clinton's lead is the largest she has held since Siena's May 3 poll, and the 57 percent of voters who say they will cast their ballots for Clinton is her highest percentage this year. In contrast, the 27 percent who say they would vote for Trump is his lowest ever percentage.

Clinton holds leads across every region of the state, but in both the New York City suburbs and upstate only a plurality of voters say they will vote for the former secretary of state and U.S. senator. Upstate, 48 percent of voters say they would vote for Clinton, and 37 percent said they would vote for Trump. Seven percent said they wouldn't vote if those were the only two options on the ballot.

Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg noted that while the 13 weeks before the election is a virtual lifetime in politics, it does not appear that New York's streak of voting Democratic in seven consecutive presidential elections does not appear to be in jeopardy.

In the head-to-head matchup, Clinton has 81 percent of Democrats on her side, while Trump has just more than half (55 percent) of GOP voters on his side. A plurality of independent voters (43 percent) favors Clinton.

Those party-line breakdowns are noteworthy given that Democrats hold a 2-to-1 enrollment advantage in New York, and presidential election years tend to drive a higher turnout, decreasing the chances that a suppression of Democratic voters helps even the playing field in November.

"Given the 2-to-1 enrollment edge, in order for a Republican to win statewide, he's got to do as well if not better among Republicans than she is doing with Democrats and he's got to carry independents by a sizable margin," Greenberg said. "He's not doing either of those things."

If the field is expanded to include Gary Johnson on the Libertarian line and Jill Stein on the Green Party line, Clinton's support hardly is diluted. Statewide she still holds a 25-point lead over Trump. Upstate, 42 percent of voters say they'd vote for Clinton; 34 percent, Trump; nine percent, Johnson; and six percent, Stein.

If given the option between the two major party candidates, voters statewide find Clinton more honest and trustworthy 54-38, but they don't find either Clinton or Trump honest and trustworthy on their own. Thirty-seven percent say Clinton is honest and trustworthy, and 60 percent say she isn't. Twenty-eight percent say Trump is honest and trustworthy, and 69 percent say he isn't.

"These are two individuals who have been in the public limelight for three decades," Greenberg said. "This is two campaigns that are kicking the ever-loving crap out of each other. And this is two candidates who have a history of being accused by various people of lying and being untrustworthy. These are not new charges against either one of these candidates."

Sixty-two percent of voters say Clinton is qualified to be commander in chief, while just 25 percent believe Trump is qualified.

As for what voters think of Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, 49 percent believe America is great now, while 44 percent agree that it's time to make the country great again.

Siena polled 717 registered voters statewide. The margin of error is +/- 4.3 percent.

mhamilton@timesunion.com  518-454-5449  @matt_hamilton10

The full crosstabs are below:

SNY 8-16 Presidential Poll
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Two friends of missing woman Rachael Mattice threw a smoke bomb into a house in the hope that firefighters would respond and find the missing woman there.

Jacob Eggleston, 31, and James Gasiweski, 30, saw false reports on social media that Mattice was being held in a home in the Town of Caroga, State Police said.

On June 29, Eggleston drove to the Johnstown residents to the Caroga home, police said. Gasiewski allegedly threw an ignited smoke-producing device through a window into the house and then called 911 and reported the house was on fire.

Police said he hoped firefighters and police officers would search the house and perhaps find Mattice inside.

There was no one in the home, and firefighters quickly extinguished the smoke device, police said. The two men were an impromptu addtion to the search for Mattice, which began on June 22 in the Hamilton County community of Wells, where the family had a camp, and ended when she returned home on July 6.

The search for the missing 24-year-olld in the Adirondacks involved 130 police officers, rangers and volunteers, State Police Maj. William Keeler said.

During the search over rugged terrain, the State Police as well as the sheriffs' offices from Hamilton and Fulton counties followed up on 400 leads.

When the woman returned to her mother's home July 6, she claimed to be abducted by a bearded man and held in a shed for two weeks.

Police later charged her with making the whole story up and said the bearded man did not exist. In August, she was charged with petit larceny and accused of stealing pills that were not prescribed to her.

Gasiewski was charged with misdemeanors for reckless endangerment of property and misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Eggleston was charged with misdemeanor conspiracy.

Both individuals were released on appearance tickets returnable to the Town of Caroga Court.

Police do not believe Rachael Mattice had any involvement or knowledge of this incident.
MILFORD  Buy a doughnut, help a cop sounds like the setup for an old joke.

But two Dunkin Donuts shops here will donate the proceeds from special Paw Print doughnuts on Thursday to the Milford police K-9 program.
1 Plane crash: Three married couples killed in the crash of a small airplane in Alabama all lived in the university town of Oxford, Miss., where city flags were lowered Monday as residents grappled with the loss. The victims were identified as dentists Jason Farese and Lea Farese; dentist Michael Perry and his wife, Kim Perry, a nurse practitioner; and dentist Austin Poole and his wife, Angie Poole. The three couples were parents of 11 children total. The plane went down Sunday while the six were returning home from a dental seminar in central Florida. The Federal Aviation Administration said their twin-engine Piper crashed while trying to land in Tuscaloosa. Police there said the aircraft had engine problems.

2 Mosque shooting: Police arrested and charged a man with murder late Monday night in the brazen daytime shooting deaths of an imam and his friend as they left a New York City mosque Saturday. Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, police said. Morel was taken into custody late Sunday night for hitting a bicyclist with his SUV just 10 minutes after the shooting in Queens, said Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce on Monday. Police said they strongly believed he was the same person who killed Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Uddin.
Making the case to become San Franciscos next police chief, Acting Chief Toney Chaplin said Monday that his experience as a street cop and gang fighter in the citys roughest neighborhoods gives him the perspective necessary to guide the department at a time of great change and intense scrutiny.

Chaplin, who has headed the department for nearly three months, told The Chronicles editorial board that as recently as two weeks ago he viewed the job as temporary.

But in a wide-ranging interview, he laid out his priorities for the department, including fighting an epidemic of property crime, rolling out body cameras that officers will use to record interactions, and working with the U.S. Department of Justice, which initiated a top-to-bottom review of the city force after five officers in the Bayview neighborhood shot and killed a stabbing suspect in December.

Chaplin, 47, discussed the strained relationship between police and District Attorney George Gascon, criticisms that the officers union wields too much power, and an incident in 2012 in which he shot and wounded an armed man.

A couple weeks ago, I said I would try and get things as much as I possibly can in the right direction, and then Id leave, he said. But more and more support has been pouring in, and folks have been backing me being in this position. Quite frankly, its something that Im looking as really doable. I think I can get the department in a better place, and I think I can get the city in a better place.

Chaplin, who took command after Chief Greg Suhr stepped down following an officers killing of an unarmed car-theft suspect, said he believes that his time on the streets allowed him to earn the respect of rank-and-file officers as well as community members.

Im coming from a point of someone who has been there and done that, he said.

As chief, Chaplin said hed work to bring down car burglaries and other property crimes, install the body-worn camera program and see through the re-engineering of the departments use-of-force policies. Prior to being named acting chief, he was heavily involved in policy negotiations as deputy chief of the Professional Standards and Principled Policing Bureau.

The city is conducting a nationwide search for a new chief. Mayor Ed Lee will pick the next chief from three candidates tabbed by the Police Commission, after a series of public meetings intended to gather community input.

It is premature to discuss who the mayor will be supporting, Deirdre Hussey, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said Monday. The mayor appointed Acting Chief Chaplin because he has faith and confidence that Acting Chief Chaplin can do what needs to be done  move police reforms forward and rebuild trust with our communities.

Chaplin said he understood the challenge ahead of him. The Police Department is reeling after two separate scandals in which officers were accused of exchanging racist and homophobic text messages, while several controversial police killings are still under investigation.

The Department of Justices community-policing unit plans to release the findings of its review in the next two months. Meanwhile, a blue-ribbon panel of three retired judges  brought together by Gascon after the emergence of the first set of text messages  recently concluded that the department struggled with systemic bias.

While saying he will fight for reform  and will recommend that any officer accused of bigotry be fired  Chaplin staunchly defended the department. He denied the existence of any cultural issues in the force, or problems with systemic racism, while saying that he would fight the type of subconscious bias that researchers say is ever-present in the criminal justice system.

He asserted that the department has entered a new era in which there is real diversity in the ranks, and in which officers are taught to speak up when they witness any wrongdoing. Referring to police forces around the country that have been investigated by the Department of Justice for civil rights abuses  and which then faced court-ordered reforms because of their resistance to change  he said, We are anything but.

At the end of the day, Im a firm believer that if I dont know whats broken, I cant fix it, he said. I dont mind everybody looking at us.

Chaplin, who said he and Gascon have agreed to work together, also addressed the blue-ribbon panels criticism that the officers union was an obstacle to change. While saying that some of the commentary in the unions monthly journal is archaic, he said, The message I am making crystal clear to everybody is the POA is not the Police Department.

He said a former union president active in the union had a right to complain that the department was trying to get officers to be snitches by reporting each others abuses. But he said he was making it crystal clear, if you embrace those comments and that commentary and you bring it to the Police Department, youre going to have some problems.

Chaplin said he didnt always want to be police chief. He was a longtime sergeant, spending years in the Bayview, and he laughed that he was pulled out of there kicking and screaming and to start promoting up.

It was while he was working against gangs that he was involved in a shooting. In 2012, he and another sergeant were doing curfew checks on parolees and probationers when they came across a 22-year-old known member of the Nortenos gang.

You could see the outline of the weapon in his waistband, Chaplin said.

It was a Tec-9 pistol with a 30-round ammunition magazine. Chaplin said he chased the young man, and had to shoot him twice when the suspect became trapped and engaged him with the weapon.

The man lived and is now in prison, Chaplin said. He said the shooting drove home the need for body-worn cameras.

After I shot this adult who was on parole for shooting two people, it automatically went out that I shot a 14-year-old kid in the back, he said. There was rioting. They damaged Mission Station. ... I used my experience in that instance to say I wish I had a body camera to show people how terrifying it really is to have this guy running with a 30-round clip.

As police shootings prompt controversy across the nation, Chaplin said the 2012 incident, for which he received a Medal of Valor, offered him another perspective.

Your life is never the same again, Chaplin said. One of my selling points to gang members  they kill each other, and they look just like me  it was always that I carry a gun all day and I never shot anybody. That night in 2012, I lost that privilege. I lost the right to make that statement ever again, and its not a good feeling.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @VivianHo
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A Bridge City woman whose newborn died four days after her December 2013 birth was awarded a $10.2 million judgment on Tuesday against a Port Arthur hospital and the doctor who delivered the baby.

Rachel Melancon sobbed as the verdict was read and left the Jefferson County courtroom immediately after the civil trial concluded.

Melancon's daughter, Oliva Marie Coats, lived only four days after Dr. George Backardjiev used forceps in her delivery, despite indications the child was in distress and a natural birth was unsafe, experts testified during the two-week trial.

A Jefferson County jury found in a 10-2 verdict that Backardjiev was mostly responsible for Coats' New Year's Day 2014 death and ordered him to pay close to $9.7 million, or 95 percent of the award.

The remainder of the award is to come from The Medical Center of Southeast Texas, where Coats was delivered.

Melancon could receive far less because Texas law places a cap on how much someone receives in damages.

Each plaintiff is limited to about $1.8 million from a health care provider, according to civil attorneys.

Melancon had sought $30 million in her civil suit. Trent Allen Coats, Olivia's father, was named as a plaintiff when the suit was originally filed. Trent Coats committed suicide in March 2015.

Angie Coats, Olivia's paternal grandmother, said the jury's decision holds Backardjiev and the hospital accountable.

"I believe (Backardjiev) should've taken more care. This is a human life," she said. "It's been hard on our entire family. It's been hard without my son sitting in that chair fighting this, also."

Backardjiev and his attorneys declined to comment after the verdict.

Melancon's attorney, Malachi Daws, called the outcome Tuesday "a considerable verdict" and said hopefully it leads to policy changes at the hospital.

Despite the multi-million dollar judgment, Daws said Melancon is experiencing a range of emotions, including anger and grief.

"The defendants get to move on with their lives," Daws said. "The jury did send the hospital and the doctor a message, but (Melancon) doesn't get to go back to her family. And so it's still tough."

Richard Gonzalez, CEO at The Medical Center of Southeast Texas, said in prepared statement that while the hospital was sympathetic for Melancon's loss, "the jury was swayed by sympathy as well." Gonzalez said the hospital's attorneys plan to appeal the jury's decision.

"We strongly support our nurses and excellent care they deliver," Gonzalez said. "We disagree with the verdict for a number of legal factual reasons and will pursue post verdict relief and appeal."

Melancon was awarded $6 million for loss of companionship, $4.1 million for mental anguish, $100,000 for physical pain and another $575 for Olivia's funeral expenses.

According to court testimony, Olivia's heart rate increased after Melancon received Pitocin, a hormone used to cause or strengthen labor contractions.

The hospital's policy suggests nurses stop the hormone in this instance, though it is not uncommon to decrease the dosage.

Nurses followed the policy for several hours until Backardjiev ordered the dosage to be increased, according to the lawsuit and medical records.

Backardjiev later used forceps to try and deliver the baby vaginally before ordering a cesarean section when the move failed, according to the suit and testimony.

By then, Olivia had suffered a partial skull fracture and brain hemorrhaging, the lawsuit states.

After her birth, Olivia was taken to Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital in Houston, where her parents learned that multiple organs were failing, the lawsuit states.

Brittany Haynes, of Beaumont, was one of the 10 jurors to vote in Melancon's favor.

Haynes, who is pregnant, said jurors tried to leave their emotions out of deliberations. She said they focused on accountability - whether the obstetrician and hospital were responsible for what happened to Olivia.

Backardjiev, who owned the Southeast Texas Women's Health clinic in Port Neches, is still a licensed physician, according to the Texas Medical Board.

Angie Coats said she is petitioning to have Backardjiev's license revoked.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
John Keith Lewis, who pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in Beaumont's West End of nearly $9,300 earlier this year, was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison.

Lewis is the first of five defendants to be sentenced. All of them have pleaded guilty to the Jan. 4 robbery at Chase Bank on Dowlen Road.Lewis, 22, and Kenderrick Demone Greer, 33, pleaded guilty to robbery May 2.

Ten days later, Samuel Lee Weston, 28, Victoria Weston, 21, and Jodeci M. Colbert, 24, pleaded guilty for their roles in the robbery.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone recommended to the Bureau of Prisons that Lewis receive mental health treatment while in prison.

Plea agreements for the other four defendants are sealed.

The bank was robbed at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 4 by a man who police said pointed a silver handgun at a bank teller.

The man, later determined to be Lewis, ran from the bank, toward the Lancaster Cornwall apartment complex at Dowlen Road and Phelan Boulevard, dropping some of the cash.

Soon after the robbery, Lewis and Greer traded in the getaway car - a white Toyota Corolla - for a Chrysler Concorde of the same color.Lewis and Greer purchased an additional car when they traded in the Toyota - a Cadillac sedan, according to court documents.

Samuel Weston purchased the car in his name because Greer did not have a driver's license or insurance, the documents state.Colbert, Lewis' girlfriend at the time, was the driver that day, according to an affidavit supporting charges.

The robbery was planned two nights before at a home in the 1800 block of East Lucas, the document states.Lewis and Greer targeted that particular bank because "apartments by it did not have cameras," according to the affidavit.

Colbert and Victoria Weston rode in the front seats with Colbert driving, according to the affidavit.

Victoria's brother, Samuel Weston, was charged as an accessory after the fact.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/BrandonKScott
Scranton, Pa

Vice President Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump's ability to lead America at home and abroad on Monday, branding him as indifferent to the needs of Americans in his first campaign appearance with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Biden, who decided not to make a presidential bid last year, said in his native city of Scranton that Trump was "totally, thoroughly unqualified" to be president, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

On the economy, he said, Trump's reveling in his TV reality show tag line, "You're fired," showed his true colors.

"He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break. It's such a bunch of malarkey," Biden told a crowd of about 3,000, adding: "He doesn't have a clue."

Pennsylvania has not supported a Republican in a presidential election since 1988, but is among the most-contested battleground states between Clinton and Trump, who are both vying for white working-class voters here.

Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness in the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and over her family's foundation. She has tried to make the case that working-class voters would fare better under her economic policies than Trump's and that her opponent would inject danger into an unstable world.

Offering himself as a character witness for Clinton, Biden portrayed the former secretary of state as the most qualified person to lead the country, singling out her foreign policy experience and passion for improving people's lives. He cited his long history with Clinton, saying he's known her for three decades, since before she was first lady in the 1990s.

"Hillary has forgotten more about American foreign policy then Trump and his entire team will ever understand," he said.

And he cited Clinton's gender as a powerful asset, saying electing the first female president would change the lives of American women and girls.

"Hillary Clinton is going to write the next chapter in American history," he said.

Introducing Biden, Clinton sought to sow doubts about Trump's ability to bring jobs back to blue-collar communities like Scranton, where Biden lived for the first decade of his life before moving to Delaware.

She acknowledged that many people in the audience might have friends considering voting for the Republican, but offered this advice: "Friends should not let friends vote for Trump."

Clinton and Biden spoke ahead of Trump's national security address in Ohio, questioning the business mogul's ability to represent the nation overseas.

In his speech, Trump accused Clinton of pushing policies that have opened the United States to foreign terrorists.

"Hillary Clinton wants to be America's Angela Merkel," he said, arguing that Germany's immigration policy has weakened that country's national security.

Clinton said Trump had been "all over the place" on foreign policy and had suggested sending in ground troops to fight the Islamic State group.
Its stinky time.

Im not talking about the smelly lagoon near Olympic Park, or the sudden wafts of sewage that rise up from the pavement in Rio. Im not even talking about the green-water diving venue, which one German competitor described this way: The whole building smells like a fart.

No, Im talking about my media brethren. They are starting to get stinky.

It always happens around the midway point of the Olympics. People have apparently run out of clean clothes, and seeing the end in sight, have opted to simply stop doing laundry. Maybe theyre getting worn down and are choosing an extra 15 minutes of sleep instead of the time it would take to shower.

The problem is, stinky time coincides with the start of track and field and the worst mixed zone at the Olympics. The mixed zone is where reporters conduct post-competition interviews. The pack lunges toward an athlete, arms outstretched to get our recorders as close as possible. When that athlete is gold medalist Usain Bolt, and thousands of people are trying to get close, its an olfactory nightmare.

Im less than 5 feet tall. Which means that Im under a lot of those outstretched arms, squashed up against armpits (my head is occasionally used to balance a camera or a microphone, too).

Its not a pleasant experience. While the organizers are busy handing out condoms to athletes, maybe they could hand out soap and deodorant to the media?
I need my own banned, performance-enhancing substance at these Olympics. A grande Starbucks triple-shot latte.

Rumor has it that there are dozens of Starbucks in Rio, but I havent seen one. Which only means there isnt one on my bus route or inside Olympic Park, my primary sphere of life.

Sadly, there isnt even a McDonalds for the media this year. In Beijing, I lived on McCafe lattes and iced coffees. (There is a McCafe in the International Broadcast Center, but us non-makeup-wearing print journalists arent allowed in there!)

What they have in Brazil, instead of triple-shot lattes, is cafezinho. Little coffee. And I mean really little, like thimble-size. Thats fine when you can get a real espresso as your cafezinho. But what they serve in the media work area is regular black coffee from a large urn, which we drink in tiny plastic cups.

So you see a lot of Americans standing by the urn slamming shot after shot of tiny coffee. And we hope its performance enhancing.
The public comment was heated at Monday nights Cumberland Valley School Board meeting as residents questioned the boards decision to allow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to conduct a campaign rally at the high school on Aug. 1.

Several irate residents addressed the board, most reiterating their disappointment in the boards unanimous decision for the high school to host the rally. Residents referred to Trump as a bully and bigot, and said he contradicts the districts anti-discrimination policies.

School board President Robert Walker responded that a board consensus taken before the rally indicated that there would be a tremendous benefit to our extended community to host a campaign event for the nominee of a major political party for the office of the president of the United States of America, therefore allowing our students to actively participate in the political process, where in favor of, or in peaceful protest of the candidate.

Silver Spring Township Supervisor Robert Seader apparently disagreed. During the public comment period, Seader attempted to give Walker an invoice for expenses he said the township incurred during Trumps rally at the high school in the township. The invoice stated expenses for unforeseen, unbudgeted but entirely avoidable crisis response were just shy of $12,000, Seader said.

Walker instructed Seader to hand the bill to the districts solicitor, adding, That does not mean acceptance (of the invoice).

The district charged Trumps campaign a total of $4,750 for rental of the high schools facilities, according to an invoice that the district submitted to the campaign. The Sentinel acquired a copy of the invoice through a right-to-know request.

Seader also complained on Monday that the township wasnt notified about the Aug. 1 rally until after 4 p.m. on Friday, July 29, which, he said, resulted in township officials and emergency responders scrambling to prepare for the event. This was no swim meet, folks, he noted.

Walker said a local state representative contacted district administration on Thursday, July 28 to check on the availability of the high schools Dome Gymnasium and Performing Arts Center for Trumps rally on Aug. 1. The event qualified under the districts facility-policy as an organizational use, but it didnt qualify for a fee waiver.

Policy 707 does not mandate that (facility use) applications be submitted 60 days in advance. Rather, the policy simply suggests rental applications be submitted 60 days prior to the planned event so as to assure timely processing, Walker stated.

Seader said township supervisors currently are developing a new ordinance listing stipulations for allowable public events within the municipality.

Were not going to let this slip by. There will be bond requirements and you will need a permit to hold a rally in the township, Seader noted.

Meanwhile, Hampden Township resident Mary Bollinger, a parent of two bi-racial high school students, stated personal concerns about perceived effects of Trumps rally.

This summer my son was working an internship and was called a racial slur for the first time ever in Carlisle," she said. "This never happened until this summer. I want to know how you are going to keep my boys safe. None of you on this board have my vote. This board is supposed to be here to keep my kids educated and safe."
Youngstown, Ohio

Donald Trump called Monday for "extreme" ideological vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the United States, vowing to significantly overhaul the country's screening process and block those who sympathize with extremist groups or don't embrace American values.

"Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country," Trump said in a foreign policy address in Youngstown, Ohio. "Only those who we expect to flourish in our country  and to embrace a tolerant American society  should be issued visas."

Trump's proposals were the latest version of a policy that began with his unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticized across party lines.

The Republican nominee has made stricter immigration measures a central part of his proposals for defeating the Islamic State, a battle he said Monday is akin to the Cold War struggle against communism. He called for parents, teachers and others to promote "American culture" and encouraged "assimilation."

Trump's address comes during a trying stretch for his presidential campaign. He's struggled to stay on message and build a consistent case against Democrat Hillary Clinton, repeatedly roiling the White House race with provocative comments that have deeply frustrated many in his own party.

Clinton has seized on Republican concerns about Trump, highlighting the GOP national security experts who say their party's nominee is unfit to serve as commander in chief. She kept up that argument Monday as she campaigned alongside Vice President Joe Biden in Scranton, Pa., a working class area where both have family ties.

Biden warned that Trump's false assertions last week about President Barack Obama founding the Islamic State could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

Trump has since said he was being sarcastic in accusing Obama of founding IS. Still, he directly blamed the president and Clinton, who served as secretary of state, for backing policies that "unleashed" the group, including withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in late 2011.

He also challenged Clinton's fitness to be president, declaring she lacks the "mental and physical stamina" to take on the Islamic State.

Trump was vague about what he would do differently to decimate IS in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. He vowed to partner with any country that shares his goal of defeating the extremist group, regardless of other strategic disagreements, and named Russia as a nation he would like to improve relations with.

Russia and the U.S. have been discussing greater coordination in Syria, where IS is part of a volatile mix of groups fighting for power. But they have been unable to reach an agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Trump also vowed to end "our current strategy of nation-building and regime change"  a criticism that extends to policies of both parties. He panned the long, expensive Iraq War started under Republican President George W. Bush, as well as Obama's calls for new leadership in some Middle East countries during the pro-democracy Arab Spring uprisings.

Obama has held up Bush's years-long commitment to setting up and securing a new government in Iraq after the initial invasion as a reason to avoid U.S. military intervention in countries like Syria.

Trump's most specific anti-Islamic State proposals centered on keeping those seeking to carry out attacks in the West from entering the United States. He said attacks involving "immigrants or the children of immigrants" underscore the need to implement "extreme vetting."

Trump aides said the government would use questionnaires, social media, interview with family and friends or other means to vet applicants' stances on issues including religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. Trump did not clarify how U.S. officials would assess the veracity of responses to the questionnaires or how much manpower it would require to complete such arduous vetting.

He did say that implementing the policy overhaul would require a temporary halt in immigration from "the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism." He did not identify those regions, saying instead that he would ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to do so once he is elected.

"We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," Trump said.

Trump's first announced his call for banning Muslims last year during the GOP primary. He introduced a new standard following the June massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."
Last week, GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump told a crowd in Altoona to suspect cheating if he were to lose the state, as current polls indicate that may be a possibility.

The only way we could lose, in my opinion, I really mean this, Pennsylvania  is if cheating goes on, he said.

He also encouraged people to become a Trump Election Observer on his campaign website, after a donation. An ensuing letter states the campaign will do everything we are legally allowed to do (to stop Hilary Clinton).

But, are poll watchers legal? According to Pennsylvania State Election Code  yes.

Dauphin County Elections Bureau Director Jerry Feaser said General Watch certificates are granted by the county.

(Dauphin County would) provide them to both Republican and Democratic parties. Any candidate committee can request a number for their people who will then go out and do poll watching, Feaser said.

He said poll watchers typically station themselves at a polling station throughout the duration Election Day. Most track party voters in order to make get out the vote (GOTV) calls, relay early voter turnout information to campaigns, and try to get quick results when polls close.

According to the rights of a poll watcher, each party of a candidate can appoint up to three poll watchers per polling location. That person also has the ability to call out suspected voter fraud.

But, Feaser said there has been no evidence of such fraud in Dauphin County.

To my knowledge, theres really generally no issues of voter fraud in Dauphin County that are credible, he said.

In a report from the Washington Post, Pennsylvania has found little credible evidence of voter fraud statewide. And, a 2014 nationwide study of a billion votes cast since 2000, found 241 reports of in-person voter fraud.

The law professor who conducted the study said voter fraud was rarer than Powerball winners.

Trumps intent of poll watchers has been called into question by political pundits.

We have to have the sheriffs, and the police chiefs, and everybody watching, Trump stated in Altoona.

The Washington Post pointed out that intimidation at the polls would be a violation of a 1982 consent decree between the DNC and RNC, which set ground rules after the Republican Party was alleged to have had armed guards at minority polling places in New Jersey.

A person who found guilty of violating the decree could be held in contempt of court.

As for Dauphin County, Feaser said election workers are routinely trained on the latest rules and procedures. He strongly believes the workers in the 162 voting districts in the country would ensure a clean, fair election.

We have a team of well-trained, prepared poll workers at every one of those polling places, he said.

Oct. 11 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 8 general election.
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Voters in the San Antonio Independent School District will decide on a $450 million bond and a separate proposal to raise the districts tax rate by 13 cents per $100.

The SAISD board Monday unanimously voted to place both proposals on the November ballot.

The bond would provide funding toward extensive school building renovations, upgrades for 21st-century classrooms, and programs for expanded learning opportunities outside the normal school day, a district press release states.

A community-based task force toured schools and facilities and reviewed a list of needs before recommending the bond proposal to pay for renovations at 13 schools, replace aging infrastructure, upgrade science labs and classrooms.

District officials expect the bond expenditures, if approved, will require increases to the interest and sinking part of the tax rate, which is used to pay off long-term debt, by 12 cents per $100 assessed valuation of taxable property over five years, starting in 2017.

The other part of the tax rate, the maintenance and operations rate, is capped by state law and only voters can raise it from its current $1.04 per $100. The trustees voted to increase it to $1.17 per $100, which will required a tax ratification election, or TRE. If approved, it would generate an estimated $15.6 million and the state would more than match it with an estimated $16.5 million contribution, for a total of $32.1 million, the release said.

The money would provide technology and other classroom improvements across the district and to pay teachers for afterschool and summer programs that target the approximately 40 percent of students in need of additional academic support, a district press release stated.

In light of the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling upholding the states public school funding system as constitutional, we believe the only means for generating additional state revenue for daily operations is through a TRE, board president Patti Radle said. Together the TRE and bond would bring additional academic support to every SAISD campus, and further our efforts to modernize our many aging schools.

The district uses assumptions about homestead and other exemptions to calculate the average taxable value of a house in SAISD at $70,023. If voters approve both ballot items, the owner of such a house would see an initial tax increase of $7.59 a month in 2016, rising to $8.75 a month in 2017, then incrementally rising to $14.59 a month by 2020, district officials said.
Courtesy/Travis County

Pflugerville police arrested a woman after they found her in a storage unit filled with drugs and rats with her 7-year-old son, according to media reports.

Carissa Chancey, 36, was arrested Aug. 11 and charged with abandoning and endangering a child, and possession of a controlled substance. She is being held on a $40,000 bond in the Travis County Correctional Complex, according to county records.
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A man who ran a Boerne-based regional produce company pleaded guilty Tuesday to concealing assets during a bankruptcy related to his failed business, while his wife admitted helping him.

Curtis Harold DeBerry, 55, head of the now defunct Boerne-based Progreso Produce Ltd., agreed to a plea deal that will cap his sentence at 24 months in prison, while his wife, Kathy Suzanne DeBerry, 54, is to receive probation.

Curtis DeBerry was indicted in 2014 and 2015 on several charges that included wire fraud, making false statements to a financial institution, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering, making false declarations in a bankruptcy proceeding and concealing assets in bankruptcy. Kathy DeBerry also faced five counts, including aiding and abetting her husband in concealing assets in bankruptcy.

But as part of plea deals with the government, they each pleaded guilty to a single count of aiding and abetting each other to conceal assets during the bankruptcy.

He did not plead guilty to any counts (having to do) with the company, Curtis DeBerrys lawyer, Cynthia Orr, stressed. He pleaded guilty to not putting something in (the filing) about the stock he owned.

Progreso Produce was started by Curtis DeBerrys father more than 40 years ago, and the younger DeBerry controlled it in more recent years. Progreso Produce filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in early 2014.

Before the filing, the FBI and Internal Revenue Service alleged, Curtis DeBerry lied about deals with Mexican strawberry growers and Raleigh, N.C.-based L&M Cos. to bring in financing and lure a potential buyer for the failing enterprise.

He had also been accused of falsifying accounts receivable to secure about $7 million in refinancing, and agents claimed he lied to a potential buyer of the company, pitting that buyer against nonexistent counteroffers to get a $500,000 down payment.

But as part of the plea deals, counts related to those allegations will be dismissed at sentencing. The bankruptcy-related charge they pleaded guilty to deals with 100,000 shares of stock worth about $200,000 they did not list in bankruptcy disclosures.

When they sold (the stock), they gave it to the bankruptcy trustee, defense lawyer Orr said.

The couple faces about $850,000 in restitution, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Giese told U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez that a portion of that has been paid.

Orr said the restitution is part of the settlement the DeBerrys reached with the trustee in the bankruptcy proceedings.

Judge Rodriguez set sentencing for Nov. 16.

Curtis DeBerry is a past board chairman of the Texas Produce Association, which changed its name in 2012 to the Texas International Produce Association, according to published reports.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland
SAN ANTONIO  Police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old man who was found in his bedroom with gunshot wounds Monday night.

Armando Guerrero was found deceased at his residence in the 1800 block of Dawson Street.
Donald Trumps supporters complain that the media is fixated on the billionaires wild and crazy campaign while ignoring or at least downplaying Hillary Clintons gaffes, missteps and outright scandals.

And theyre right. There is a double standard.

Actually, its a multipronged standard.

For some in the mainstream media, good old-fashioned left-wing bias is at work. Every four years, the Republican presidential candidate is treated like some alien warlord wandering in from the badlands beyond the frontier to seize power in our glorious capital city.

One small example: Its a wistful nostalgic exercise in the era of Trump to think back to 2012, when Mitt Romney explained how, after being elected governor of Massachusetts, he worked with womens groups so he could hire more females for his administration. He said the groups sent binders full of women  i.e., binders full of resumes  for him to review. In other words, Romney did exactly what feminists want politicians to do, but he used the phrase binders full of women and the mainstream media collectively ran around like their hair was on fire.

They should remember that the next time they wonder why so many Trump supporters discount media hysteria about Trump.

But what about the conservative media? Notwithstanding some talk radio and Fox News opinion hosts, and a few Trump-friendly political operatives moonlighting as pundits, most of the conservative press is hostile to Trump. If youve been reading me over the last year, you know I am part of this group. I am a senior editor at National Review magazine, which has been extremely critical of Trump for the most part (though we have run some dissenters). Other conservative outlets  The Weekly Standard, Commentary, and the websites The Federalist, HotAir, RedState and The Resurgent  have taken similar approaches.

Objections to Trump from the right cover the waterfront, from his glandular personality and narcissistic character to the threat his populism poses to the conservative movement and to the country.

But virtually every conservative I know  including those openly saying they will vote for her  thinks Clinton is awful. Indeed, a great many of the mainstream reporters I know think shes pretty terrible too.

As P.J. ORourke, the brilliant libertarian satirist, (quite un-satirically) put it on NPR: I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises. Its the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but shes way behind in second place. Shes wrong about absolutely everything, but shes wrong within normal parameters. He added in an essay for The Daily Beast, Better the devil you know than the Lord of the Flies on his own 757.

Thanks to my fear of spontaneously bursting into flames, I cant follow ORourke all the way to pulling a lever for Hillary Clinton  Ill write-in some third choice  but I think ORourkes analysis offers insight into the media coverage as well.

As has been confirmed for the umpteen-billionth time this week, Clinton is corrupt and deceitful. She and her husband operate as if they are some medieval royal family, above the petty rules and customs that govern the little people. Its why Ive been calling them the Medicis of the Ozarks for so long.

If you dont think they are aloof, entitled graspers and grifters, its probably because you havent been paying attention. And thats the problem. Their grafting and grifting is so well established, so well known, it never really surprises anyone. Her corruption is priced into politics. In a normal, healthy political system, the Clintons would be shunned like pimps in an Amish colony. But we dont live there, so the Clintons bore rather than shock.

This is Hillary Clintons greatest advantage. The devil we know is a boring, paper-pushing bureaucrat.

Meanwhile, the one thing no one can deny: Trump is not boring. Its possible to love him or hate him, but no one can be indifferent to him. When you drive past a part of town that has been blighted and run-down all your life, you dont slow down to look at it. But if an 18-wheeler loaded with bovine manure jackknifes on the highway, sending its cargo in all directions, whether youre horrified or amused, youve just gotta slow down and take a gander.

This rubber-necking magnetism largely explains Trumps primary victories, but it also explains his probable general election defeat.

Enough primary voters loved the spectacle, but general election voters are apt to recoil at such a spectacle in the Oval Office.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. You can email him at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com.
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A San Antonio man was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for running over another man in a parking lot after leaving a North Side bar in 2011.

Christopher John Cerna, 39, pleaded guilty last month before state District Judge Melisa Skinner for killing Miguel Alonzo, 29, on Nov. 13, 2011, in a parking lot in the 280 block of Bitters Road.

According to court records, Alonzo had forgotten his ID and was waiting on friends who were inside Falls Night Club when Cerna and his then-girlfriend, Veronica Garcia, 31, left the bar and didn't remember where they had parked.

One of Alonzo's friends, Robert Herrera, 26, yelled, Shut that (expletive) thing up, when Cerna clicked the panic button on his keys so the alarm would sound on the Jeep that Cerna and Garcia were driving. Cerna then told the man, You don't know who you're messing with, and the men began to argue, according to a narrative filed with the court.

The couple then got into the Jeep, and Cerna sped toward Herrera, clipped him and knocked the man to the ground, court documents state. Alonzo, who was nearby, ran after the Jeep. According to court documents, witnesses told police that the Jeep made a U-turn, chased Alonzo in the parking lot and ran over him. He died hours later at a hospital.

Cerna left the scene. Surveillance video from a nearby Hobby Lobby captured the incident, and police arrested him in August 2012 after a lengthy investigation.

Cerna will have to serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
A man walking across Texas 151 about a mile south of Loop 1604 was killed early Monday when he was hit by a vehicle.

Carlos Saenz, 52, was crossing the multilane highway in a largely undeveloped area on the Northwest Side. There was no crosswalk, police said, and it was dark and rainy, hampering driver visibility.
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Inclement weather, a significant population increase and uninsured drivers are causing San Antonio car owners to pay more in auto insurance than the state's average rate, according to a new study.

The Zebra, which claims to be the "nation's largest quote comparison website for car insurance," released findings of a "massive national study" on Monday. The company took into account pricing data spanning the last 5 years and "millions" of premiums affected by variables such as age and gender in order to locate the places in San Antonio where people are spending the most on car insurance.

RELATED: San Antonio's April hailstorm damage topping $2 billion

"San Antonio car insurance rates have increased 41.4% over the past five years, far higher than the national increase of 11% over 2011 rates (and the state of Texas increase of 40.5%)," according to The Zebra.

The study showed the 78237 ZIP code, which encompasses Westlawn, Edgewood and parts of Memorial Heights, is paying the most in insurance at $1,934 annually. Kingsbury, an area about northeast of San Antonio, is paying the least in the region examined  about $1,606 annually.

RELATED: Hail 'annihilates' portions of inventory at San Antonio car dealerships for the second time in April

The Zebra also discovered the rates at which the expenses have grown over the years.

"Within the city of San Antonio, the 78266 zip code saw the largest increase in rates, up 45.2% ($536/year) over this 5-year time period," the release said. "[...] the 78253 zip code saw the smallest increase in rates, up 36.8% ($460/year)."

As a whole, San Antonio ranks as the third most expensive major Texas city for car insurance at $1,783. Houston and Dallas take the top spots at $1,906 and $1,791, respectively. The average state rate is $1,783.

RELATED: San Antonio neighborhood near Stone Oak best for affordable homes, good schools, list says

Neil Richardson, one of The Zebra's licensed insurance agents and a "resident expert," discussed the local increase.

"Texas has experienced severe, damaging weather in the last few years that has led to billions of dollars in property claims," he said in the release.

Along with the claims payouts, Richardson also mentioned population as a factor.

"Metropolitan areas have become increasingly densely populated, which means more people will be filing claims in a particular region when we experience flooding or hail or other damaging events," he added.

And with rates increasing, Richardson said some motorists are opting out of insurance coverage.

"If you are hit by someone without insurance, then it is up to your company to pay for your damage," he said. "This puts more risk on the insurance company and they will charge consumers higher rates because of it."

Click through the gallery above to find out if you're living in an area where car insurance rates are highest.

mmmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
A member of the Texas Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty Tuesday for his role in helping the gang control the drug trade in Seguin.

Eddie Lil E Flores, 29, of Seguin pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and to a separate charge of extortion. He is the fourth defendant to take a plea deal in the case, which made headlines in April when the FBI raided 15 locations, mostly in Seguin and New Braunfels, to chip away at the gangs operations there.
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A son of drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is in fact among the half-dozen kidnapped from a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta Monday (but not the one previously named), Mexican officials said Tuesday.

Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer earlier told Radio Formula that "it is presumed," though not yet certain, that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was among those kidnapped around 1 a.m. at La Leche restaurant on the city's main boulevard by five gunmen.

But later Almaguer said that forensic evidence and items found left in the vehicles showed that it was the 29-year-old "El Chapo" son, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, who was kidnapped rather than Ivan Guzman.

Experts say Ivan Guzman took over parts of his father's business when the Sinaloa cartel leader was arrested in January.

RELATED: 'El Chapo' once ate Viagra daily so he could have sex all day while running a Mexican prison

Authorities believe those involved in the kidnapping are part of cartels.

They were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities, Almaguer said. They were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume.

The prosecutor said the kidnappers appear to belong to the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, according to an Associated Press report.

RELATED: Mexico frees official jailed in drug lord 'El Chapo's escape

Witnesses reported that four women in the targeted group were not taken by the gunmen, he said. He said authorities were looking for those women for more information.

He said some of those abducted had been vacationing in Puerto Vallarta for a week and authorities found lots of drinks and luxury items inside the restaurant. Five vehicles were abandoned at the restaurant, among them one with Jalisco license plates, but a false registration.

RELATED: El Chapo's attorney: Drug lord is going 'crazy,' bald from 'torture' in maximum security prison

"Obviously, those who acted (the kidnappers)  we presume with the information we have  also belonged to a criminal group that acted against members of another criminal group they located here in Puerto Vallarta," Almaguer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Thirty four people who are suspected of being in the country illegally were found Monday afternoon in a stash house in South Texas after another tipster notified police about the home.

Border Patrol agents and the San Juan Police Department smelled food burning from inside the residence and entered the apartment to find 34 undocumented immigrants inside the home, located in San Juan, near McAllen and the Texas-Mexico border.
Police searched for about three hours Tuesday for a man who escaped custody from the Magisterial District Judges office in North Middleton Township.

Middlesex Township Police said they transported Ryan S. Hou, 23, of Mechanicsburg, about 11:30 a.m. to Fegleys office on Spring Road to be arraigned on charges of burglary. On arrival, he was placed in a holding area prior to seeing the judge.

Police said Hou fled the holding area while an officer was tending to administrative duties. Hou exited the rear door, and police said they gave chase but were unable to catch him before he ran into a wooded area.

Police requested help from other agencies, and officers were seen searching around West Middlesex Drive and Spring Road, in the vicinity of Fegleys office.

Township police was assisted by North Middleton Township Police, Carlisle Borough Police, State Police at Carlisle and Newville, the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department, Cumberland County Fugitive Task Force and U.S. Army War College Federal Police. K-9 units were also involved, and State Police provided a helicopter in the search.

Police said Hou was located and captured without incident about 2:30 p.m., according to the Cumberland County Department of Public Safety.
Associated Press

DANBURY  A former Newtown teacher charged with carrying a loaded gun in school will have to wait another month to argue his application for a special probation program.

Jason Adams has asked a judge to allow him into a probation program that could result in his charges being erased. Adams appeared in Superior Court on Tuesday for arguments on his application for accelerated rehabilitation, but his case was continued to Sept. 15 because of a paperwork glitch, said John Maxwell, Adams attorney.
San Antonio-area home sales declined slightly in July, breaking a growth streak that lasted more than two years, while prices continued to rise.

Last month, 2,850 homes were sold in the local area, a 2 percent decrease from the year before, according to data from the San Antonio Board of Realtors. Year-over-year sales have steadily risen every month since May 2014, when they dropped by 5.6 percent, breaking another two-year growth streak.
Weston Urban has been gathering up properties along San Pedro Creek in the northwest corner of downtown over the last year and a half, adding to its substantial holdings in an area that the city and county are trying hard to revitalize.

The developer, co-founded by local tech magnate Graham Weston, has accumulated 3.3 acres at the southwest corner of the intersection of Kingsbury and Flores streets, county property records show. Most recently, it bought a sliver of land there in late June.
John 3:17-21  17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of Gods one and only Son.19) this is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20) Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.(NIV1984)

This months discussion paper brings us face to face with both love and judgment. It is much easier for us to talk about the love of God. But here we are faced with the love of God as well as His judgment. First, the apostle John writes that God so loved the world that He sent His Son to save the world. But then John also writes that Jesus said He came into the world to pronounce judgment on those who reject His message. Can both be true?

Those who refuse to believe that Christ died for the sins of the whole world stand judged. Condemned by their refusal to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died to save humanity from their sin. They and they only have decided their own fate.

This is how judgment works. Judgment is the separation between our wantonness, shamelessness and lack of remorse and the love that Christ brought into the world. The love that Christ was talking about proved to be a great dividing influence in the world because people are so emotionally involved in a way of life that in the eyes of Christ is evil. Those who do evil things hate what Scripture teaches because it reveals their evil deeds. When we make the choice to remain enmeshed, trapped and spellbound in sinful behaviour and refuse to come to Christ, we pass judgment on ourselves in our own denial of the choices we have made. But when people are confronted with what Jesus taught, some respond in a very positive way by accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior who removes that future judgment.

But what about believers/Christians: How does love and judgment affect the way we live our daily lives? The first thing we must remember is that Christ has died for all past and future sin in our lives. Having said that, I do not believe that we have the right to sin willfully; when we do sin, we can humbly come to Jesus to repent of our sin knowing that He will forgive us.

But, we do not always come to Christ because we might be involved in, lets say, A secret sin. It is in times like that, that the Holy Spirit wants to bring to our attention that what we are involved in is sinful. That attention might be carried out by Satan but conceived by God. Often the insults and buffeting we suffer will be of a spiritual nature as we struggle with holiness and perhaps even spiritual pride. Many times, we can hurt on various levels, not all which are noticeable or in plain sight for others to see, we should never be surprised at how the thorn in our side will be noticeable because God wants us to understand that His love for us endures forever.

When we Christians/believers find our faith being challenged with a spiritual pain (my pain maybe very different from yours) in our side, and that spiritual pain lingers in our life, we should not be disheartened or discouraged. Rather, we should think of it as God continuing to be at work in our lives. His desire is for us to change whatever it is we are involved in. We may never know all the reasons why we have had to suffer all the thorns in our side. Remember the apostle Paul asked God 3 times for his thorn to be removed (2 Corinthians. 12:7-10). However, God said that His grace was sufficient for Paul. I believe that same grace is sufficient for you and me To God Be the Glory great Things He Has Done!

Would you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I want my life to change. My thoughts and my attitude need to change. I do not have the peace in my heart that I yearn for. I really want that peace, joy and happiness that fulfills my hearts desire. Please let the Holy Spirit help me be the kind of Christian that will honour Your Name. Amen
Shemos Rabbah (52:03) The story is told of R. Simeon b. Halafta, that he once came home just before the Sabbath and found that he had no fo...

Important!! email - yadmoshe@gmail.com
   ,     :         ,   -  
MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora has conceded defeat in the Saturday by-elections, but boldly declared he performed like Argentine football maestros, Lionel Messi who sometimes misses penalties.

He claimed the party is still alive saying it is not time yet to write the MDC epitaph.

At the same time, Mwonzoras nemesis, Nelson Chamisa, was in a celebratory mood after chaperoning his party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) to an astounding victory, winning 19 out of 28 National Assembly seats and 75 out of 122 municipal wards.

Zanu-PF managed nine seats and 47 wards.

Mwonzora is highly responsible for the by-elections following his recall of more than half of MPs and councillors who supported Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the newly formed CCC party.

Addressing journalists in Harare Monday, Mwonzora said the MDC-T, which contested as MDC Alliance, got its strategies wrong.

We got our strategy wrong, Mwonzora said.

Someone was asking how come you got your strategy wrong? This is my answer, Lionel Messi misses a penalty, doesnt he? Diego Maradona missed a penalty, didnt he? So strategists get strategies wrong sometimes, Mwonzora said.

Asked if would to join Chamisa following his defeat, Mwonzora said: Regarding President Chamisa and myself specifically, a lot depends on them and their attitude towards us. There is nothing personal between myself and Mr Chamisa. After all its not what I think about him or what he thinks about me. What is important is what Zimbabweans want.

We remain committed to dialogue as a main vehicle to solve the social, political and economic problems bedevilling our country. We also note that these by-elections were one of the most apathetic in history. It is clear that by not turning out to vote, the majority of Zimbabweans are communicating a clear message to the political leaders. This message is underpinned by the growing disillusionment of the electorate in elections under the current commission. Its not time yet to write the MDC epitaph. There are people who wish we were politically dead.

 NewZimbabwe

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All professional footballers know that injuries are part of the risks they need to be aware of. The best players of this sport are...
Lambert here: Oh, so now were arguing about how to go to war. Whatever. This paragraph, on how the Air Force decided which Vietnamese villages to bomb, caught my eye:

A Bayesian algorithm combined data from 169 questions on security, political, and economic characteristics into a single hamlet security rating. The output ranged continuously from 1 to 5 (where 1 meant very insecure and 5 meant very secure), but was rounded to the nearest whole number. Due to computational constraints, the continuous scores were not saved or printed from the mainframe computer, and Air Force planners only saw the rounded scores.  [T]he hamlets that just barely got rounded down were substantially more likely to be bombed than those just barely rounded up.

And we go to Happyville, instead of to Pain City

By Melissa Dell, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and Pablo Querubin, Assistant Professor of Politics and Economics, NYU. Originally published at VoxEU.

The nature of US military interventions has become relevant in the face of new growing threats, particularly from so-called Islamic State. While top-down strategies that rely on overwhelming firepower are sometimes favoured by politicians, longer-term strategies use a bottom-up approach, gaining citizens support through civic engagement. This column introduces evidence from US actions during the Vietnam War to show that bottom-up approaches are more successful in countering insurgencies than violent, top-down interventions.

Interventions in weakly institutionalised societies have been central to US foreign policy during the past half-century. Military strategies used during foreign interventions have ranged from the deployment of overwhelming firepower to bottom-up initiatives to win hearts and minds through development aid and civic engagement. Discussions about the form that such interventions should take  if they are pursued at all  remain central to US public discourse, most recently in the context of debates about how to best counter Islamic State.

A central goal in US interventions has been to create a state monopoly on violence that will persist after US withdrawal. Achieving this goal requires both a capable state and citizen compliance. If it is relatively easy to disperse insurgent forces by purely military action it is impossible to prevent the return unless the population cooperates, writes the military scholar David Galula (1964). Top-down approaches to foreign intervention emphasise gaining citizen compliance by making it costly for citizens to oppose the state, whereas bottom-up approaches aim to increase the benefits of supporting the state by providing public goods, economic aid, and political opportunities.

Top-Down versus Bottom-Up

The top-down overwhelming firepower approach is summed up by the Vietnam era adage, get the people by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow (Kodosky 2007). This view was famously advocated by Vietnam War General William DePuy, who argued that the solution in Vietnam is more bombs, more shells, more napalm (Sheehan 1988). It has also been advanced as an effective way to promote a monopoly on violence by prominent social scientists. Huntington (1968) wrote that air strikes could be used to establish social control and then modernisation would organically follow. Economist and National Security Adviser Walt Rostow argued that countering communism required a ruthless projection to the peasantry that the central government intends to be the wave of the future(Milne 2008).

This contrasts with an approach focused on building bottom-up support  a positive programme of civil assistance must be conducted to eliminate the original cause of the resistance movement (USMC 1962). James Scott (1985, 2009) cautions that a top-down approach that aims to gain citizens cooperation through force is likely to backfire, as citizens have many ways to undermine a state they do not genuinely support, even without going so far as to join an armed rebellion. Moreover, when states try to impose a simplified order from above, their failure to understand local realities and tendencies to disrupt them can lead the scheme to fail (Scott 1998).

These strategies are challenging to study empirically because randomised control trials  viewed as a gold standard of empirical evidence  are typically infeasible. For example, it would not be ethical to randomly assign drone strikes. Instead, we can better understand the impacts of these approaches by examining military strategies that, while not assigned using a random number generator, were deployed in some places but not others for reasons that are uncorrelated with the characteristics of the locations being studied. In such a situation, any differences between locations following the deployment of a military strategy can be attributed to the military actions themselves and not to other underlying distinctions.

The Vietnam War provides a particularly rich setting in which to apply this approach. During the war, quantitative metrics for resource allocation were used to an unprecedented extent, spurred by the systems analysis perspective that Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara brought to the Department of Defense (DoD). McNamara pioneered the use of operations research in the private sector during his tenure in the 1950s as president of Ford Motor Company. Upon being named Secretary of Defense by John F Kennedy, McNamara surrounded himself with Whiz Kid analysts from the Rand Corporation, aiming to bring economics and operations research into the DoD. This produced policies and data that offer unique opportunities for estimating causal impacts.

Bombing Civilian Population Centres in Vietnam

The Air Force received over half of Vietnam wartime appropriations and twice as many tons of explosives were dropped during the war as during WWII, making bombing particularly central to the conflict (Thayer 1975). Our recent paper exploits a newly discovered algorithm component of US bombing strategy in Vietnam that includes discontinuities useful for identifying causal effects (Dell and Querubin 2016). The US used quantitative scoring of the security of Vietnamese population centres to decide which ones to bomb. A Bayesian algorithm combined data from 169 questions on security, political, and economic characteristics into a single hamlet security rating. The output ranged continuously from 1 to 5 (where 1 meant very insecure and 5 meant very secure), but was rounded to the nearest whole number. Due to computational constraints, the continuous scores were not saved or printed from the mainframe computer, and Air Force planners only saw the rounded scores.

Our study identifies the causal impacts of bombing by comparing places just below and above the rounding thresholds. They were similar in all ways prior to bombing, but the hamlets that just barely got rounded down were substantially more likely to be bombed than those just barely rounded up.

Estimates document that the bombing of South Vietnamese population centres backfired, leading more Vietnamese to participate in Viet Cong (VC) military and political activities and increasing VC attacks on troops and civilians. The initial deterioration in security entered the next quarters security score, increasing the probability of future bombing and hence leading to sustained increases in VC activity. Moreover, while US intervention aimed to build a strong state and engaged civic society that would provide a bulwark against communism after US withdrawal, bombing instead reduced the probability that the local government collected taxes, decreased access to primary schools, and reduced participation in civic organisations. To the extent that spillover effects of bombing on other locations exist, the impacts tend to go in the same direction as the effects on the locations that were bombed.

Interviews of VC prisoners and defectors provide a potential explanation for why bombing increased VC activity. Grievances against the government  particularly in cases where a civilian family member was killed in US or South Vietnamese attacks  were strong motivators for joining the VC (Denton 1968). Civilian casualties and property damage are plausibly particularly harmful to the trust between government and citizens that underlies an effective social contract.

Comparing Strategies of the Army and Marines

Our study also sheds light on how the top-down approach compares to a more bottom-up strategy. The study exploits the boundary between Military Region I  commanded by the US Marine Corps (USMC)  and Military Region II  commanded by the US Army. The Marines emphasised providing security by embedding soldiers in communities and winning hearts and minds through development programmes (USMC 2009). Their approach was motivated by the view that in small wars the goal is to gain decisive results with the least application of force the end aim is the social, economic, and political development of the people (USMC 1940). In contrast, the Army relied on overwhelming firepower deployed through search and destroy raids (Krepinevich 1986, Long 2016). Evidence points to this difference in counterinsurgency strategies as a central distinction between the Army and Marines.

Figure 1 Corps Region boundary

Note: Figure plots hamlets near the Corps I-II boundary.

Hamlets just to the USMC side of the boundary were less likely to have a VC presence than those just to the Army side, and public opinion data document that citizens in the USMC region reported less anti-Americanism and more positive attitudes towards all levels of South Vietnamese government than did citizens in the Army region. Pre-period VC attacks, pre-characteristics, and soldier characteristics  including Armed Forces Qualifying Test scores  are all relatively balanced across the boundary, suggesting that the effects are driven by differences in military strategy and not by omitted factors.

These estimates, while highlighting the merits of hearts and minds oriented approaches relative to a more exclusive reliance on overwhelming firepower, do not reveal whether a bottom-up approach is more effective at achieving US objectives than refraining from intervention, a question for which empirical evidence remains sparse.

These Issues Remain Relevant

Understanding whether heavily top-down counterinsurgency strategies are likely to achieve their desired objectives remains policy-relevant. The culture of the US Armed Forces has changed only slowly since Vietnam (Long 2016). Moreover, while targeting has improved significantly, insurgents have responded by embedding themselves more tightly amongst civilians, and it is widely accepted that heavy reliance on air power will lead to civilian casualties. Additionally, politicians continue to advocate a top-down approach. Speaking in Fort Dodge earlier this year, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said, I would bomb the [expletive] out of them [ISIS]. I would just bomb those suckers  I would blow up every single inch. According to the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, speaking in New York in 2015, [i]t is time to begin a new phase and intensify our efforts [air strikes] to smash the would-be caliphate. Lessons drawn from the Vietnam War underscore how intensively focusing on top-down strategies could pose challenges to achieving US objectives, particularly when insurgents are tightly embedded amongst civilians as they are in the Middle East.

References

Dell, M. and P. Querubin (2016), Nation Building Through Foreign Intervention: Evidence from Discontinuities in Military Strategies, NBER Working Paper No. 22395.

Denton, F (1968), Volunteers for the Viet Cong, Technical Report, RAND

Galula, D (1964), Counterinsurgency warfare: theory and practice, Greenwood Publishing Group

Huntington, S P (1968), Political Order in Changing Societies, Yale University Press

Kodosky, R J (2007), Psychological Operations American Style: The Joint United States Public Affairs Office, Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series, Lexington Books

Krepinevich, A F (1986), The army and Vietnam, JHU Press

Long, A (2016), The Soul of Armies: Counterinsurgency Doctrine and Military Culture in the US and UK. Cornell University Press

Milne, D (2008), Americas Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War, Macmillan

Scott, J C (1985), Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, Yale University Press

Scott J C (1998), Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed,Yale University Press

Scott, J C (2009), The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, Yale University Press

Sheehan, N (1988), A bright shining lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, Vintage

Thayer, T C (1975), A Systems Analysis View of the Vietnam War: 1965-1972, 12 Volumes, Defense Technical Information Center

United States Marine Corps (1940), Marine Corps Manual.

United States Marine Corps (1962), Operations against Guerrilla Forces, FMFM-21

United States Marine Corps (2009), Vietnam War: U.S. Marine Corps Official History Volumes, United States Marine Corps History and Museums Division.
Moire Nanosphere Lithography allows fabrication of large-area tunable graphene metasurfaces

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Graphene, one of the most exciting two-dimensional (2D) materials, has shown extraordinary optical properties due to strong surface plasmon polaritons supported by the graphene nanostructure. Graphene metasurfaces show plasmonic resonance bands that can be tuned from mid-infrared (MIR) to terahertz (THz) regime. These plasmonic devices can be used for biosensing, spectroscopy, light modulation and communication applications.

Commonly fabricated graphene plasmonic metasurfaces are usually single-band. Plasmonic metasurfaces with multi-band resonance peaks have proven to be extremely effective in molecular detection with ultrahigh sensitivity and accuracy. Multi-band devices at variable electromagnetic spectra are also highly desired to meet the strong demand for the ever-increasing accuracy and high speed in surveillance and communication systems.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, led by professors Yuebing Zheng and Deji Akinwande, demonstrate for the first time an effective method to pattern large area graphene  which is grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD)  into moire metasurfaces with gradient nanostructures having multiband resonance peaks in mid infrared range (MIR).

The results of this work have been published in the August 11, 2016 online edition of Advanced Optical Materials ("Tunable Graphene Metasurfaces with Gradient Features by Self-Assembly-Based Moire Nanosphere Lithography").

"In our work, the CVD graphene is patterned into moire metasurfaces via combination of moire nanosphere lithography (MNSL) with O 2 reactive ion etching (RIE)," Zilong Wu, researcher at University of Texas at Austin, papers first author, tells Nanowerk. "In brief, colloidal polystyrene (PS) nanospheres self-assemble into monolayer on substrates with graphene. A second monolayer of PS nanospheres is then deposited on top of the first PS monolayer via a similar process."

Wu explains that the relative rotation angle between the first and second PS monolayer can be controlled to obtain various moire patterns. The following RIE with O 2 creates voids between closely packed nanospheres and etches away graphene that are exposed to O 2 plasma by voids.

After removal of the residue nanospheres, graphene sheets with moire patterns are then left on substrates.

(a-c) Schematics of fabrication processes of graphene moire metasurfaces on Si substrates (blue).  denotes the relative rotation angle between the bottom (green) and top (red) monolayers of nanospheres. (d) SEM figures of a representative graphene moire metasurface. (Reprinted with permission by Wiley-VCH Verlag) (click on image to enlarge)

"By varying the relative rotational angle between top and bottom monolayers of PS nanosphere during MNSL, the size and shape of the graphene nanostructures in the metasurfaces change significantly," Wu adds.

Wei Li, the papers joint first author, points out "that our results demonstrate that graphene moire metasurfaces with gradient and complex moire patterns can be controllably fabricated in cost effective and scalable way."

Maruthi Yogeesh, a graduate student in Prof. Akinwande's research group, and a co-author of the paper working on FTIR characterization of these graphene metasurfaces, notes that these devices support surface plasmon with resonance wavelength that is highly dependent on the shape and size of the nanostructures.

"Under light illumination, the surface plasmon resonances can be excited. Due to the large gradient and the high complexity of graphene moire metasurfaces, they are promising candidates for tunable multiband plasmonic devices," he says. "We prove this by measuring the transmission extinction of graphene moire metasurfaces with different patterns. The number and the wavelength of resonance peaks of the graphene metasurfaces are highly dependent on the patterns."

(a) Schematic illustration of transmission extinction measurement of graphene moire metasurfaces. The graphene nanostructures illuminated by incident light are excited to support surface plasmon resonances, resulting extinction in transmission. (b) Measured extinction spectra of three graphene moire metasurfaces with different patterns. (Reprinted with permission by Wiley-VCH Verlag)

"We have demonstrated large-area graphene moire metasurfaces by MNSL," Prof. Zheng concludes. "Our studies reveal that the extinction spectra of the graphene metasurfaces can be controlled by the size and shape of the graphene nanostructures. We also demonstrate for the first time multiband graphene metasurfaces in mid infrared range by the complex and gradient nanostructures in moire patterns.

"These tunable and multiple plasmon resonance modes in the MIR and THz range of electromagnetic spectra make graphene moire metasurfaces very promising candidates for ultrathin light modulators, biosensors, flexible optoelectronics and photodetectors," says Prof. Akinwande (who recently received the prestigious presidential early career award (PECASE) for his group's outstanding work on two dimensional (2D) materials based electronics).
The HSE has issued a warning that a Clonmel link has been identified in a case of measles confirmed in County Cork.

The HSE has issued a warning to the public that there is a possibility members of the public may have been exposed as the individual in question was in the Clonmel area at the end of July.(July 23-24th) and also over the Bank Holiday weekend (30th July-3rd August) easles is a highly infectious disease with young babies and those without the MMR vaccine most at risk.

A case of the virus has been confirmed in Mitchelstown in North Cork but it has emerged that the individual in question was also in the Clonmel area in recent weeks.

It's not possible to specifically identify all those who may have been exposed so the Health Service is issuing a general warning around the dates the case was in South Tipperary.

Symptoms of measles usually appear about 10 days after exposure and start with irritability, a runny nose, red eyes and a cough which can be mistaken for a cold- the rash develops after this while there may also be diarrhoea and vomiting.

Anybody who feels they may have been infected are asked to stay indoors and ring their GP - they also need to ensure visitors stay away to stop the possible spread of the virus.
Peter Hancock, chief executive officer of American International Group Inc., speaks during an interview on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. AIG plans to return $25 billion to shareholders over the next two years as Hancock divests assets and seeks to boost returns to protect his job amid criticism from activist investor Carl Icahn. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Peter Hancock Michael Nagle

American International Group Inc. agreed to sell mortgage insurer United Guaranty Corp. to Arch Capital Group Ltd. as Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock works to simplify his company and free up capital to return to shareholders.

The deal is valued at $3.4 billion including $2.2 billion in cash and the rest in Arch securities, New York-based AIG said Monday in a statement. AIG will keep some mortgage-insurance business originated from 2014 through 2016.

"This transaction maximizes UGC's value while further streamlining our organization," Hancock said in the statement. "The deal also maintains our affiliation with the mortgage-insurance market and its leading company."

The Arch deal accelerates AIG's exit from United Guaranty, which filed in March for an initial public offering in which Hancock's insurer would have retained a majority stake. AIG sought a valuation of about $4 billion through an IPO, people familiar with the company's plans said in May. Hancock has been under pressure from activist investors including Carl Icahn, and announced a plan in January to return $25 billion to shareholders over two years with as much as $7 billion coming from divestitures.

The CEO is focusing on improving margins in the property-casualty operations that are the core of his New York-based business, and has been scaling back in regions where the company doesn't have significant scale.

The mortgage-guaranty business, led by CEO Donna DeMaio, contributed $350 million of pretax operating income this year through June 30, compared with $302 million in the first six months of 2015.

Arch hired former star banking analyst Meredith Whitney last year to oversee a group of outside managers who invest in equities. CEO Dinos Iordanou, who previously worked at AIG, expanded his Bermuda-based commercial insurer by pushing into the business of backing home loans in 2013 with an agreement to add assets from PMI Group Inc. Mortgage insurers cover losses for lenders when homeowners default and foreclosure fails to recoup costs.

Arch also is a reinsurer, which provides coverage for primary carriers, and is known for a venture it started in 2014 with JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Highbridge operation. That business is considering an eventual IPO, people familiar with the matter said in April.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Monday on the possibility of a deal with Arch.

United Guaranty was founded in 1963 and sold to AIG in 1981. The unit has rebounded from the housing crash, when AIG was required to tap a Treasury Department line within its rescue package to help restructure the operation.

Arch advanced 3.1% to $77.09 at 4:02 p.m. in New York before the announcement. AIG climbed 0.6%.
Antibiotic overuse blamed

Four Florida counties declare water state of emergency

(NaturalNews) Last summer, beaches and waterways were closed after St. Petersburg dumped millions of gallons of a mixture of storm water and untreated sewage into Tampa Bay and Clam Bayou. Swimming, fishing and even playing in the water were subsequently banned, and residents were warned to avoid any type of contact with surface water.The fecal bacteria within this water was deemed dangerous enough to force the closures, but now there is something even more dire to worry about in the area's waters: A team of University of South Florida biologists discovered that a sewer line break that occurred back in 2014 contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria that is capable of transferring the genes that cause its antibiotic resistance to other bacteria.Researcher Suzanne Young of USF's Department of Integrative Biology told WMNF News that aging infrastructure is the culprit, and that the problem could get worse before it gets better.She said that it was quite possible that more such breaks could occur, releasing raw sewage into nearby waterways and the environment. She also explained why this particular antibiotic-resistant bacteria was so concerning:"These particular bacteria, they're called vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Something that's kind of misunderstood a lot, is that antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon. We see it in the environment anyway, but, what was concerning to us was this was associated with a human pathogen and with the antibiotic resistance gene that can be easily transferred between bacteria."Young stated that she felt rising antibiotic use is behind the proliferation of this particular gene. She noted that the gene has been seen in hospital waste in the past, but this is the first time it has been found in residential wastewater, which is very risky because of the potential for it to spread to surrounding areas. Sewer spills into recreational water and beaches pose a significant threat to human health, particularly when you consider the fact that Young's research team were able to detect the gene for nearly two weeks after the original spill date.She's calling on the government and healthcare system in general to give more consideration to the impact of antibiotic use.Four counties in Florida are currently under a state of emergency as a result of the high levels of toxic algae found in the ocean there. Several beaches were closed over the 4th of July weekend, and the problem is only getting worse, as a foul-smelling, slimy algae triggers complaints of respiratory problems, rashes and headaches.The algae began forming after authorities let water flow from Lake Okeechobee to canals that drain into the ocean a few weeks ago. Farm-fertilizer runoff has been blamed for the algae blooms, but some scientists believe that biosolids are also playing a role. This waste material occurs when solids from domestic sewage undergo further treatment to meet regulations, and these biosolids are known to be used in the areas surrounding the lake. Biosolids often test positive for heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, phthalates and other dangerous chemicals.This means that rules governing the placement of biosolids are being blatantly ignored. This is yet another example of why independent lab testing is so important in uncovering the presence of dangerous substances in our environment.Algae continues to take over the intracoastal area of Summa Beach in West Palm Beach. These waters are popular places for children to play, causing concern among residents about the possible health effects of the toxic algae. Authorities have sent samples of the algae to a Tallahassee lab to determine if it is dangerous to animals or humans. Those results are expected on Friday.
Dying for a cure

Banned for violating advertising policies

(NaturalNews) After a three-year battle, John Piears lost his 41-year-old wife Beata to ovarian cancer in October 2015. In her memory, he launched the " Dying for a Cure " campaign against profiteering drug companies.To promote the campaign and encourage users to sign his petition, the father-of-two from West Horsley used an image of a cancer patient with a scar near her collarbone from the cancer treatment . In the picture, the woman is holding a sign over her bare chest with the slogan: "UK Government: The profits on cancer drugs are killing us."While the picture clearly doesn't evoke any sexual feelings, Facebook banned the advert because it showed "excessive amounts of skin or suggestive content."When she was 38, dental nurse Beata was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. According to her husband, Beata desperately wanted to live and was quite literally dying for a cure . Willing to try everything possible, she underwent two major surgeries, 12 grueling chemotherapy sessions and participated in demanding clinical trials of experimental drugs.Unfortunately, she lost the battle against cancer. Even though millions, if not billions, of dollars each year are pumped into cancer research, a long-term cure has still to be found.Because the whole system is crooked, John founded the "Dying for a Cure" campaign to raise awareness of how our medical system has no incentive to find a cure, but merely prescribes expensive treatments to extend life for a few months.While our society seemingly has accepted cancer as an inevitable part of modern life, pharmaceutical companies are laughing their way to the bank. In 2014, the revenues for cancer treatments passed the $100 billion mark, and they are expected to rise to $147 billion in the coming two years.As John wrote on his website: "The people looking for cancer cures (the pharmaceutical companies) have nothing to gain by developing them, but plenty to lose."His experience and the bare facts motivate him every day to expose the criminal, profit-led practices of the drug industry and push for honest research to find a real cure Paid Facebook posts are one of his major promotional strategies to raise awareness for the campaign, however by banning his adverts, Facebook wasn't exactly showing any support to spreading the word.On July 8, John Piears received a message from Facebook saying that his paid advert couldn't be approved as it violated advertising policies by featuring a photo containing too much bare skin.They further noted that Facebook does not allow images that either portray people in explicit positions or show nudity or cleavage  even if they are used for artistic or educational reasons. They recommended using less sexual content to promote his cause.Shocked and outraged, John contacted Facebook and highlighted the fact that the picture was being used for his cancer campaign and portrayed a cancer patient in a non-sexual way."I felt very deflated when I saw that Facebook suspended any promotion of this post, as there had been an excellent response to it," he told theHowever, when Facebook was approached for comment, the company quickly admitted it had made a mistake by banning the advert. A spokesman said that Facebook supports people and organizations campaigning for the things that matter to them, and that the Dying For a Cure post is an excellent example of that.Furthermore, they apologized for the inconvenience it may have caused and reinstated the advert with the photo.(Photo credit: SWNS.com)
The maiden flight of the world's biggest aircraft Airlander 10 was postponed last August 14 due to an undisclosed "slight technical issue", making the 302-foot long grounded in an airfield 45 miles north of London until the next flight will be rescheduled.

Airlander 10, or dubbed as "flying bum" due to its bulbous front end, is an hybrid between air blimp and airplane. It is designed to use less fuel, but carry heavier loads than traditional airships. Measuring at 302-foot long, Airlander 10 is around 50 feet longer than the largest passenger jets. It can travel up to 90mph and stay in the air for up to two weeks.

Originally designed to be used by the Unites States Army, the aircraft were planned to be used for surveillance in Afghanistan. However, cutbacks in defense funding caused the program for the aircraft to be scrapped in 2013.

According to the report from Daily Mail, the large aircraft also has a bad reputation after having a public image of failed 20th Century aviation experiment. In 1930, the Britain's air minister, along with 49 other people, was almost killed when similar aircraft crashed. Furthermore, the airship crashed in New Jersey of the Hindenburg in 1937, killing 35 people.

However, the developers of Airlander 10 were confident that such incidents can be avoided. Unlike the one in Hindenburg, Airlander 10 was filled with helium, instead of hydrogen. Helium, as opposed to hydrogen, is not flammable.

"It's a disruptive capability," said Stephen McGlennan, chief executive of Hybrid Air Vehicles, in a report from Fox News. "Something that disruptive, it's always long, and it's always a winding road,"

The humongous aircraft was built by Hybrid Air Vehicles. The construction of Airlander costs almost $28 million and took ten years to finish.

Developers chose to cancel the flight because the repairs or maintenance necessary for Airlander to have the green light will take time and flying it in the dark is not a good idea.


A man from Massachusetts caught a blue lobster -- yes, blue, like the sky. But what makes it more interesting is that this same lucky man from Massachusetts had caught another blue lobster a few years ago. This rare blue sapphire lobster is more than just a possible delectable food in the table.

Fox News reports that blue lobsters are so rare that they approximately occur just one in two million. Its blue color is caused by a genetic defect which creates high quantities of protein, according to the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine.

Blue lobsters, despite being rare, are more common than lobsters that are in bright red (before being cooked), yellow or even calico. This particular blue lobster weighs two pounds and even though it stood out due to its size and color, it wasn't eaten by a larger animal, Yahoo reports.

Plymouth lobsterman Wayne Nickerson caught his first rare blue lobster when he was 19 years old. Instead of selling it at that time, Nickerson displayed the blue lobster in a tank at the Manomet lobster pound.

Last Monday, the lucky man caught another blue lobster again. His wife, Jan Nickerson, later on named the second blue lobster Bleu, as per the Associated Press.

"It was more brilliantly blue than the bluest hydrangea you've ever seen," Jan told The Boston Globe. "It was almost fluorescent. It was almost glowing."

WHEC says Jan hopes to donate Bleu to Boston's New England Aquarium, where several colored lobsters are on display. Meanwhile, the New England Aquarium's media relations director said that they can let it in display if they have space, calling the bright blue lobster "just spectacular."

The Nickersons took Bleu to shore to show him off to a bunch of cheering children on a boat tour called Lobster Tales.
A revolutionary study reveals the possibility of the fifth force of nature. A group of experimental nuclear physicists at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences claim that the fifth force is "manifestations of one grander, more fundamental force."

"For decades, we've known of four fundamental forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the universe, with consequences for the unification of forces and dark matter," stated Jonathan Feng, the study lead author and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California.

Feng along with his colleagues were analyzing data in hopes of finding "dark photons," which could be an indicator of dark matter. Scientists believe dark matter makes up 85 percent of all matter in the entire universe. Yet, because dark matter does not absorb or emit light, scientists have yet to directly detect it.

However, the new study suggests that the Hungarians have found an unknown particle which is 30 times heavier than an electron. While it might not be a "dark photon," data collected by the Hungarians suggest it is a "protophobic X boson." This is the strange particle that may indicate the presence of the fifth force of nature.

"The experimentalists weren't able to claim that it was a new force," explained Feng, adding, "They simply saw an excess of events that indicated a new particle, but it was not clear to them whether it was a matter particle or a force-carrying particle."

This fifth force could potentially be linked to strong and weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces. Though the speculation of the fifth force of nature is quite intriguing, researchers claim that further study and experiments are needed.

For more information about the fifth force of nature, you may read the study at ArXiv.org.
After successfully sending a rover to the moon, China has once again trumped over its neighboring countries. China has managed to launch a rocket with the world's first ever quantum-communication satellite. It is one of science's most challenging fields, especially in this day and age of cyberespionage.

China is on its way to hack-proof communications thanks to a quantum-communications satellite launched from the Gobi Desert early Tuesday. The rocket was launched at specifically 1:40pm ET. The quantum-satellite, which is 600 plus kilograms in weight, was designed to distribute keys between China and Europe's relay stations.

"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role - from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," said Pan Jianwei, the chief scientist of QUESS project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

If all goes as planned, the result would be an unprecedented level of security between both parties. How exactly does the satellite work? Quite similar to existing fiber-based quantum key distribution networks in the US, Europe, and China, the satellite incorporates the same principles of quantum cryptography. Through noise monitoring, the system would allow distant parties to obtain identical data without interception from outside parties. Basically, the system resists all forms of decryption.

China's satellite utilizes high-speed coherent lasers which connect to base stations found on two different continents. The payload of the satellite also includes emitters and controllers which are related to quantum entanglement. Though China's satellite launch was successful, there is still no guarantee that the quantum satellite system would work.

"If China is going to send more quantum communication satellites into orbit, we can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030," added Pan.

While China might have launched the rocket, it was a project first proposed to the European Space Agency back in 2001. Anton Zeilinger had proposed the quantum satellite system, who is now working on the Chinese project.
The U.S. government on Friday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico over the Zika epidemic.

Puerto Rico has recorded 10,690 Zika cases to date, including 1,035 infected pregnant women. According to the Puerto Rico department of health, two people have died from complications caused by the virus while 90 were hospitalized, CNN reports.

However, health authorities believe that the number of Zika cases could be much higher as most infected people do not show symptoms and might not seek treatment.

With the declaration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will grant access to emergency funds and other resources that could help the U.S. territory fight the outbreak.

"This administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico with the necessary urgency," HHS secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement.

The declaration came hours after Puerto Rico has reported 1,914 new cases in the past week.

Health officials in Puerto Rico are also concerned about the severe birth defects caused by the virus. The first case of Zika-related microcephaly in Puerto Rico was reported in May, which involved a dead fetus turned over to health authorities by an unidentified woman. Since then, no cases of Zika-related birth defects have been reported.

"Zika poses a hidden threat to future generations of Puerto Ricans, and I feel the responsibility to do everything in my power to fight the spread of it," Alejandro Garcia Padilla, governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, said in a statement.

The mosquito-borne virus is known to cause microcephaly and other brain abnormalities in newborns and is associated with miscarriage, stillbirths and neurological problems.

In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned officials that Puerto Rico could see dozens, or possibly hundreds of infants born with microcephaly in the months to come.

Apart from local mosquito-borne transmission, the Zika virus can also be transmitted through sexual contact.
Recent research has found that the Pacific Northwest has a 20 percent chance of being hit by a major earthquake.

People living in the region, particularly in Northern Oregon, are under the threat of a megaquake with a magnitude of 8.0 or above in the next 50 years, which is the first in over 300 years, The Atlantic reports.

On January 26, 1700, the small tectonic plate named Juan de Fuca had slipped and caused a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, which devastated the coast of Oregon and Washington. Some reports claimed that several people living in the region had died in the flooding overnight. The quake had also triggered a tsunami in Japan 10 hours later.

According to an article published in The New Yorker, the catastrophic incident could happen again. Writer Kathryn Schulz had raised awareness about the existence of the Cascadia subduction zone and its power to shake the whole region with "a really big one," causing alarm to the millions of people currently inhabiting the Pacific Northwest.

The Cascadia subduction zone is a fault line that lies north of the San Andreas fault. It runs 700 miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, starting from near Cape Mendocino, California, running along Oregon and Washington, and ending around Vancouver Island, Canada.

But as the plate continues to slide under the great North American plate, researchers could detect near-undetectable earthquakes about every year or so. Scientists at Oregon State University, led by geologist Chris Goldfinger, found that at least 43 major earthquakes had occurred in the last 10,000 years.

According to the study, the number is slightly bigger than previous estimates. Previous studies showed that Washington State will be hit by a major quake every 500 years on average. But Goldfinger and his team now show that the earthquake could occur every 430 years.

This follows that northern Oregon, which used to be hit by a quake about every 430 years, will be under the threat of a big one every 350 years, the researchers said. This means that in the next 50 years, Oregon has a 17 to 20 percent chance of being hit by another megaquake, following the catastrophic jolt that happened in the region 300 years ago.

The study also showed that the San Francisco Bay area has a 50 percent chance of being hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in the next 30 years, while Los Angeles has a 93 percent chance.

But the researchers warned that a major rapture in Cascadia would be more powerful and more catastrophic than any of the Californian quakes.

"Now it's turned into a regional semi-panic, and that's not entirely a bad thing," Goldfinger told The Atlantic. "We do have a big problem, and we do have a long way to go, and if we don't panic a little bit, we'll never get anywhere."
A physicist thinks he might have just proven one of Stephen Hawking's most famous predictions: the Hawking radiation.

In 1974, Stephen Hawking theorized that black holes might not be the inescapable, bottomless void people have thought it to be. Which means that, as the famous physicist said, black holes could have a possible exit, and that through this exit energy could escape.

This is known as the "Hawking radiation." Matter and antimatter pairs of particles constantly obliterate each other. But if one of these particles is pulled in the event horizon of a black hole just before the pair annihilates, one would fall into the black hole while the other would escape and become Hawking radiation.

Jeff Steinhauer, a physicist at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, has created an artificial black hole in his lab. According to Steinhauer, the experimental black hole, which was done using the laws of sound rather than the laws of light, showed compelling evidence of the Hawking radiation.

The analogue black hole was created using cold rubidium atoms that entered the quantum state called Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Using laser beams, Steinhauer created a waterfall effect: atoms moved slowly but as they poured over the edge, they accelerated at speeds faster than the speed of sound. Thus, the acoustic black hole was created.

In the acoustic black hole, phonons - the individual units of sound - could not escape past the energy waterfall as the condensate was flowing faster. Like swimming against a river, a person could not move forward or back if the river is flowing faster than the person swimming, Steinhauer told Business Insider. The same happens with black holes, except that in space black holes, the light particles could not escape the light-speed pull of gravity.

Steinhauer also observed that when pairs of phonons were created near the analogue black hole, one particle fell in while the other escaped. He said that this is the same with a photon escaping a real black hole.

In the experiment, Steinhauer also explored the idea of "entanglement," which is one of the most important principles of the quantum mechanics. Entanglement happens between two particles, where even if one particle falls into the black hole and the other escapes, the particle outside will still carry the information of the trapped particle.

"The reason people care about black holes and Hawking radiation is not to learn about the black holes themselves so much as to test the new laws of physics," Steinhauer told Business Insider.

"Verifying that Hawking radiation really occurs is a good step toward trying to figure out what the new laws of physics are."
Leather lovers need to be careful about that new jacket or pair of shoes because reports say they could easily have been made out of the world's favorite pets.

In a recent report from The Guardian, it was revealed that the U.S. imports about $8.5 billion of leather from China in 2014. Although the country doesn't allow the importation of leather made out of pets under the Dog and Cat Protection Act of 2000, it's still very difficult to distinguish what animal the leather is made from once it's on store shelves.

The controversy over China using dogs and cats to produce leather spiked back in 2014 when an undercover investigator from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) found out about it. About 100 to 200 dogs were killed daily to meet the leather export demands to the U.S.

"The dog leather investigation we did, groups that are in the country with us really had no idea," Jason Baker, PETA Asia's vice-president of international operations, explained. "While [the investigations] shock people internationally, they also shock people in China."

China does not currently have animal welfare laws to protect the interests of dogs and cats. Peter Li, an associate professor of east Asian politics at the University of Houston-Downtown and a China policy specialist and consultant for Humane Society International, said that dog fur facilities aren't very common in China, but because killing dogs for their meat aren't illegal, the skin and fur may be used for other purposes.

The fight has reached Congress in the past few years, with U.S. representative Alcee L. Hastings sending a letter to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to make sure dog leather does not get into the country. His proposal was to conduct random testing on China products to ensure their quality, a report from PETA revealed. Tennessee and Nevada representatives Steve Cohen and Dina Titus also joined Hastings in a second letter.
It might sound strange, but there is a reason to celebrate the hatching of about 200 hundred hairy brown Montserrat tarantulas in Chester Zoo, U.K. The birth of this clutch marks the first time the species has been bred in captivity.

According to a report from BBC, this creepy crawly insect is a rare spider breed that is only found in a single Caribbean island called Montserrat. A zookeeper observed them in their habitat several times, then brought a dozen of them to Chester Zoo for further studies back in 2013.

Now, one of the females has given birth to about 200 of the Montserrat tarantulas. Coordination between the cycles of the different spiders proved to be a challenge, according to the zoo's curator of lower vertebrates Dr. Gerardo Garcia. After all, the males of the species only live for around two and a half years, but females live longer and develop gradually.

"It's kind of a race against time," Garcia explained in the BBC report. "Whether you can synchronize the sexual maturity between individuals."

The scientists knew there was a danger in pairing up the males and females, not only because the former is rarer but also because the females could attack, as Garcia pointed out.

Their efforts eventually proved to be a success as hundreds of spiderlings popped up from the burrows. And because of the monumental task, it took to produce the clutch, the little insects are being looked after carefully in Chester Zoo.

He concluded in a report from Telegraph, ""It's successes like this which really highlight the work that zoos are doing behind-the-scenes to conserve a range of endangered species, including the smaller, less known species that contribute to the world's biodiversity. Importantly, the skills and techniques the team has developed with this new breeding success will now be transferred to other threatened species."
For Wendell Pierce, lightning may not strike twice, but devastating floods do.

"The Wire" star says he lost his house in the recent Louisiana flooding that's been responsible for seven deaths and estimates of up to 15,000 homes and businesses flooded.

"I lost my house. I lost everything," Pierce told gossip site TMZ. "It's a private pain. I don't know what I'm going to do."

My neighbors & I have flooded in Baton Rouge. I am reminded of the generosity given to my family during Katrina. Now we will care for you  Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) August 14, 2016

Sadly, it's not the first time Pierce has lost a home to horrific flooding. In January he told People Magazine of witnessing the damage from Hurricane Katrina to his childhood neighborhood, "It was a like a nuclear winter  verything was totally destroyed and covered in gray and green."

Pierce took to social media solicit help for the people of his home state.

Help the people of Louisiana: American Red Cross  Baton Rouge/Louisiana Chapter (225-291-4533)Baton Rouge Food Bank (225-359-9940)  Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) August 15, 2016

At least seven people have died in severe flooding that has swamped a large swath of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. More than 20,000 people have been rescued as officials warned Sunday that even though the rain had subsided, dangers loomed.

"It's not over," Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday. "The water's going to rise in many areas. It's no time to let the guard down."
Many of the whales spotted in and around the San Francisco Bay are endangered, and one of their biggest threats is the steady flow of ship traffic moving in and out of the area.

While the federal government is trying to reduce the risk to whales by implementing a voluntary slowdown of ship traffic, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit has learned those attempts have largely failed. The Investigative Unit also learned the overwhelming number of whales hit and killed may not be represented in the data collected by the federal government.

Some scientists say the absence of reliable data and a solid plan to curb ship strikes is now leaving these majestic mammals  the largest on earth  vulnerable.

Stay informed about local news and weather. Get the NBC Bay Area app for iOS or Android and pick your alerts.

Ship Strikes Are Underreported

There is no penalty for ships when they crash into whales. But when ships do strike them, crews are required to report it to the federal government.

Since 2005, ships hit and killed at least 45 whales off the California coast and 173 whales in waters throughout the country, according to data obtained from NOAA.

An analysis by NBC Bay Area reveals 75 percent of those whales are endangered.

Massive cargo ships can stretch as far as 1,000 feet long, and shipping crews may be reasonably oblivious to a potential collision with a whale. As a result, scientists fear the number of reported cases of ship strikes may only represent a fairly small number of actual deaths.

Our worry is that even those represent the tip of the iceberg, said John Calambokidis, a research biologist who has spent the past 30 years studying whales along the west coast. Most whales that die disappear from sight and sink.

Calambokidis, who founded the non-profit group Cascadia Research, estimates the actual number of ship strikes may be more than 10 times higher than the figures collected by NOAA. His estimation means that hundreds of whales off the California coast could have been killed in the past decade.

Behind the Scenes: Our Trip Out to Sea

Behind the Scenes: Our Trip Out to Sea

Voluntary Slowdown Doesnt Work

Bay Area ports are some of the busiest in the country with ships passing in and out of the area roughly 10,000 times each year. Vessels enter the bay using one of three shipping lanes, which happen to intersect with prime feeding areas.

The whales come from all over the Northern Pacific, to the waters off San Francisco to feed, said Maria Brown, a Superintendent with NOAA. This is their place, this is their restaurant, their breadbasket, their kitchen.

Brown, who leads a team of scientists at the Greater Farrollones National Marine Sanctuary in San Francisco, helped institute a voluntary slowdown of ship traffic last year in and around the bay. Beginning last year, ships were asked to slow down to 10 knots, or 11.5 miles per hour, during the peak whale season of May to November.

Researchers hope the speed reduction might provide whales more time to veer away if they sense an oncoming collision. Many of the whales often spotted in the Bay Area, including humpbacks and blue whales, are incredibly vulnerable and have been classified by the federal government as endangered.

For example, removing three whales  just three whales  in one year from the population can cause that population to plateau or even decline, Brown said.

Cameras attached to the back of a massive blue whale  go along for the ride! (Video provided by researchers from Cascadia Research)

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit, however, obtained federal documents that show the shipping industry has largely ignored the federal governments plan to protect the whales.

According to data, ships failed to adhere to the speed limit about 81 percent of the time. In fact, some ships traveled at speeds that were more than double what the federal government recommended.

Nobody wants to hit a whale, said John Berge, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which represents roughly 20 barge and cargo shipping companies that pass through the bay.

In an industry where time is money, Berge said a reduction in speed translates into a loss of productivity and potentially tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.

There is a bit of a dual issue with the ship obviously wanting to reduce the risk of hitting a whale but at the same time a lot of these ships are on strict time schedules, Berge said.

NOAA, however, says if ships do not start complying, the voluntary slowdown could become permanent. As a result, violations could carry hefty fines.

Theres a potential we would have to make it a requirement, Brown said.

A Failed Plan

Calambokidis believes theres a better option; one that he and other scientists recommended to the federal government four years ago as part of a joint working group that included government representatives and independent scientists.

Rather than reducing speeds in all three shipping lanes, the group proposed only slowing down one lane at a time, based on which had the largest concentration of whales.

The government says it tried that plan, but eventually realized it didnt have the manpower needed to accurately track whales full-time. The plan was dissolved.

I dont know if it will ever be feasible, Brown said. So we're going to the next best option of looking at vessels slowing down in all three lanes.

Raw video of an up-close look at a blue whale  the largest animal ever known to have lived on Earth. Video courtesy: Cascadia Research

Calambokidis, however, said the massive vessels that started the ship strike problem, should have been part of the solution.

The big missing piece of the plan was really tapping the industry ships themselves and turning them into a platform for sightings, he said.

While he acknowledged the unpredictable nature of whale travel patterns, Calambokidis said the plan had the potential to protect even more whales and should have been pursued further in order to limit the interactions between ships and the massive mammals.

No plan is going to create a total separation, he said. All we can do is reduce the odds.

If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.

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Its been a busy last few days for South Bay and San Francisco firefighters, dealing with not only local conditions but raging wildfires in neighboring communities that desperately require help.

Unfortunately, those firefighters have no reason to believe their busy days will let up any time soon.

Cal Fire says the Monterey County fire expanded more than 2,000 acres overnight, up to about 75,000 acres since July 22nd. More than 4,000 firefighters are there, working to squash flames that has destroyed homes, killed wildlife and turned flourishing businesses into piles of ash.

But the new Clayton fire has also required resources, sending firefighters on a pseudo-relay to provide aid and resources.

Santa Clara County and San Francisco fire departments have crews in both places, working tirelessly against the flames. Strike teams and dozens of firefighters have been sent in to help out.

Battalion Chief Jason Falarski just returned from 2 weeks battling the Soberanes Fire as part of a local strike team.

Its such a large, complex operationso every day was different, he said. Its both mentally and physically (challenging) because youre working long hours. Were working 24-hour plus shifts.

San Jose fire crews also battled four separate vegetation fires Friday, including one near Coyote Road, all of which were fortunately knocked down before damaging homes.

Those crews have been out 13 to 14 days, said Capt. Christopher Salcido of the San Jose Fire Department. Theyre not with their families, theyre not there, you know? And theyre going to potentially go out to other fires.

One homeowner said he was grateful firefighters stopped the flames from spreading, but worries about crews getting too spread out.

Suddenly, if something happened in our area, we dont know how many firefighters can come and help.

But, as the neighboring fires have demonstrated, the value of mutual aid cannot be understated, and itll be the norm for quite some time.
Louis Galicia wants to know what happened to his brother at the Westfield shopping center in San Francisco. Days after his body was found in a stairwell near Bloomingdales, Louis thought they would get the answers they desperately needed.

But it's been almost a week now, and the answers they were hoping for have not come forward.

Frank Galicia's body was found last Wednesday 10:15 a.m. in a stairwell by Bloomingdale's at the mall, with scratches and numerous injuries, and he was "unresponsive" when found, according to a co-worker who discovered the body. Police ruled the death a homicide, but haven't said much more. Detectives are looking if there are surveillance cameras in the area to help them figure out what happened.

But things are not moving fast enough for the Galicia family, who feel as if their lives have been put on pause.

"We're almost at a week, and it's frustrating," Louis told NBC Bay Area. "We haven't heard anything other than we found your brother. No resolution."

Galicia's Instagram page shows that he was a student at City College of San Francisco. Sprinkled among photographs of the city that he called home, Galicia also chronicled his love for cooking and trying out new restaurants. His most recent picture was posted three days ago at the Black Cat bar.

San Francisco police says the department cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, and the Westfield shopping mall says it is taking the investigation seriously -- but Galicia has questions. Police say three men beat and robbed a man in a mall bathroom two days after Galicia was found.

"My brother is gone," Louis said. "If we can prevent something else, we need that to happen."

On the heels of Galicias death, nervous mall employees said they were avoiding stairwells and only venturing outside  to Fifth and Market streets in downtown San Francisco  in pairs.

The Westfield mall, although a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, has been subjected to a rash of crimes in recent years.

A person was shot in a parking garage near Bloomingdales last November, while a 19-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds in February 2014. A trio of armed and masked robbers also barged into Tiffany's and made off with a stash of diamonds in February 2015.
A violent and deadly weekend has left many neighbors in Hayward concerned and anxious for the crimes to stop.

Police are investigating the East Bay city's eight homicide of the year after a man was stabbed to death around 7 p.m. Sunday. Five of Hayward's homicides have occurred in the past week and a half.

"It really scares me sometimes," resident Victor Freitas said. "After I heard (about it), it really shocked me. It really touched me."

Freitas said he has known the stabbing victim for years and vows to keep an eye out for the getaway car that is described as a white vehicle.

"It takes more than police, it takes neighbors keeping an eye on stuff," Freitas said.

The stabbing on Cottonwood Avenue comes a day after two cops were hurt in an officer-involved shooting just five miles away.

Investigators said the driver of a black, stolen Mercedes hurt two officers when he rammed into several cop cars while he was trying to get away.

One suspecct was shot by police and taken to the hospital in critical condition. The other suspect was arrested on scene.

The injured officers are expected to recover.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old man was found shot to death in a car near the corner of Gading and Harder roads. No arrests have been made in that case.

And just a few hours before that killing, a man was found shot to death in his home. A woman has been arrested in that crime.

Hayward police said they do not believe any of the crimes are linked, but are not ruling anything out. An investigation is ongoing.
A four-foot alligator found in a Fremont creek was shot and killed by California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens Tuesday.

The reptile was shot with a state-issued rifle.

According to department spokesman Steve Gonzalez, officials felt they had to kill the alligator because they couldn't figure out how to get close to the animal and safely crate it up otherwise. The only other alternative was to let the alligator walk off, which would have posed a threat to the public, Gonzalez said.

"When it's a pubic safety issue we don't want to take a chance of losing it," Capt. Sheree Christensen with Fish and Wildlife reiterated. "It's very difficult to tranquilize an alligator from a distance. A lot of people hike in this area, and they are not expecting an alligator to be there."

Gonzalez said that as far as he knows, this is the first time his agency has shot an alligator, which had been sunning itself on a rock in Alameda Creek near Niles before wardens found it and shot it.

Fremont police posted the unusual photo of the gator sunning in the creek on their Facebook page Tuesday, sparking off speculation about where it came from and how it got there. "Please avoid area," they warned.

Gaby Torres of Newark was stunned to learn they had just hiked past the alligator.

"That's scary," Torres said. "I had my little brother with me, and anything could have happened if we were by the water."

The news of its death prompted some NBC Bay Area viewers to speak out against the killing, questioning why the reptile couldn't be sent to a zoo or rescue facility.

"Ridiculous! Because a big ol 4 footer is that dangerous," one commenter said on Facebook.

"Relocation shouldn't be that difficult," another commenter said.

Fremont resident Sam Cuellar agreed: "I think it should have been released. It's only four feet long; it's not that big."

It's illegal to buy or sell alligators in California, and violators could face hefty federal and state fines, according to Aron Dickey, owner of the Reptile Room in Fremont, where snakes and lizards, but no gators, are sold.

But that doesn't mean exotic animals aren't exchanged on the internet "all the time," he said.

Dickey suspects that someone illegally bought the alligator, thought it was cute, and then got scared when it grew to 4 feet long. "It probably got too big, too vicious for them, and they dumped it in the creek," he said.

It's dangerous to do that, Dickey said, because the alligators will start to prey on ducks, bird and native wildlife. It also hurts his business, he said, because then people wrongly assume he's illegally selling the gators, which in the United States, are most commonly found in the south, in hot places including Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas.

Alligators are not native to California. According to Florida State University, Florida and Louisiana have the largest populations of alligators in America, with each inhabited by around 1.5 million alligators. Alligators prefer fresh water but can sometimes handle brackish water and can be found in rivers, lakes and other small bodies of water.
A suspected serial arsonist, arrested Monday in connection with more than a dozen devastating fires, was trained as a firefighter while serving a five-year sentence at the Susanville-based California Correctional Center, authorities said.

According to Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake was jailed in 2002 on drug possession and firearm charges. As an inmate, he was trained in battling fires from April to July 2007, she said.

The 40-year-old San Francisco native was paroled in July 2007. He was imprisoned six more times for violating his parole, but did not work as a firefighter again before he finally left parole in 2011, Waters said.

Pashilk is suspected of sparking the massive Clayton Fire, which as of Tuesday, had scorched 4,000 acres, burned at least 175 structures, and is threatening nearly 1,500 more in Clearlake, Calif. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

A woman with the last name Pashilk hung up the phone on Tuesday when NBC Bay Area called for comment. Lake County Sheriff's Capt. Greg Hosman said Pashilk was refusing all media requests. An attorney listed as representing Pashilk did not return a call requesting comment.

"Right now, we know and believe 17 fires are connected to" Pashilk, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said Tuesday morning. "Ten years ago this person worked to put out these fires and here we are, 10 years later, we believe he's starting them."

Arson investigators said Tuesday they had been building a case against the construction worker for more than a year but did not have enough evidence to make an arrest until the weekend blaze ripped through Lower Lake  the latest fire to besiege Lake County.

"Cal Fire knew of this gentleman," Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson Anderson said. "He was under surveillance and we got enough information, we got a search warrant and made the arrest."

But neither the California Department of Forestry, which led the investigation that resulted in Pashilk's arrest Monday, nor the Lake County sheriff would discuss what led authorities to him.

"Arson investigations are complex and difficult. The evidence standards are stringent," forestry department spokeswoman Janet Upton said. "They have to build a case that is going to be successful, it's complex."

Pashilk lived in Clearlake  one of the towns that was evacuated but remained untouched by the fire that was still raging in the tinder-dry countryside of Lake County. In a sign of progress, fire officials lifted many of the evacuation orders in the town Tuesday, allowing about 4,000 residents to return.

The Lower Lake fire destroyed homes, businesses and other structures in the working-class town. And many of those residents were more than upset.

"What I'd do to him, you don't want to know," said Butch Cancilla, who saw his neighbor's home catch fire as he fled on Sunday. Cancilla still doesn't know the fate of his own home and spoke at a center for evacuees set up at a high school.

"A lot of people want to hang him high," his wife, Jennie Cancilla, added.

"I'm hoping, I'm praying that the man has mental illness - because if it's not mental illness, then it's evil," said Diana Bundesen, who was at the evacuation center after fleeing Clearlake.

Pashilk's lengthy rap sheet includes charges for possession of methamphetamine, driving under the influence, evading an officer, resisting arrest, and driving with a suspended license, according to to the District Attorney.

In a website posting, the Lake County Sheriff's Office initially said he was arrested on a felony count of starting a fire after having an arson conviction within the past 10 years, but later said that was an error made when booking Pashilk and he had no known prior arson conviction.

There were some people who know Pashilk, who called him a "great guy" and who couldn't believe he would do such a thing.

"He's a great guy, a great neighbor," Jon Charles Knowles told NBC News on Tuesday. "He saved my dog's life once," recounting how the 40-year-old San Francisco native broke up a fight between his pit bull and another dog.

And Louetta Mallard, originally of Los Gatos, said that Pashilk once helped "a single girl with a baby" move into a new home. "He did favors for people," she said.

Mallard added: "I hope he's innocent. I really do. I really don't think he did it. He doesn't seem like that type of guy."

Despite saying that she hopes "to God that they finds the right person" who set the fires, Mallard stayed in Pashilk's corner. "I don't think it's him," she said.

Associated Press writers Justin Pritchard, Sudhin Thanawala, Kritin Bender, Don Thompson and Robert Jablon, as well as NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez contributed to this report.
Reem Assil dreams of channeling her community organizing past into a delicious, neighborhood-empowering bakery in Oakland.

Assil hopes to raise at least $35,000 via a Kickstarter campaign to help towards a projected cost of $300,000 to help transform Reem's from a catering company that serves farmer's markets and special events to a permanent bakery that will both employ and bring together people in the Fruitvale neighborhood where she has secured a space.

As she explains in the campaign video, it was on a trip to Beirut where Assil had an epiphany inside a street corner bakery. She noticed that the freshly baked flatbreads that flew out of the oven into customers' hands was a unifying daily activity that could be applied here at home. She strives to create a place where you can "literally feel the warmth."

One of the specialty items for Reem's is man'oushe, a hot, griddled flatbread that is topped with vegetables or meat and then rolled up. It is a ubiquitous street food snack in the Arab world, but not as easy to find in the Bay Area.

Reem's Kickstarter campaign is one of three finalists in the OpenTable Restaurant OPEN 2016 contest, which will donate an additional $15,000 to the project that raises the most money by September 10.
After months of complaints, San Jose code inspectors on Monday returned to a troubled apartment complex.

The visit comes after several tenants at Sunny Apartments along Story Road say the problem with bed bugs and mold still exist, despite the city's prior inspections. It is the same area where two children had to jump from a second story after an electrical fire ripped through their unit.

Code enforcement gave the apartments at 1991 Story Road the all-clear last year, saying all issues were resolved. But the tenants say all is not clear, and they invited NBC Bay Area into the complex to prove it. The department didn't receive formal complaints from the tenants until last week.

"The water doesn't come out and when it does, sometimes it turns yellow," tenant Melanie Gutierrez said. "It makes me feel disgusting."

After a fire last June, inspectors discovered a myriad of code violations. Kitchens were remodeled, but tenants say bed bugs still exist.

Kids who live in the complex claim they often wake up with rashes because of the bed bugs.

And Veronica Martinez says as much as she wipes her walls with Clorox, the mold always reappears.

Martinez says there is a fear that comes with complaining, but the family believes they have no choice.

In May, tenants also filed a lawsuit against the property owner, claiming among other things, negligence.

The property owner's son was on the property when inspectors arrived on Monday, and did not want to comment.

"There's a lot of money being made in Silicon Valley renting properties, renting apartments, and I hope they balance that with providing a quality place to live for families," Councilman Ash Kalra said.

Kalra is a candidate for state assembly and has been working with housing advocates. He says code enforcement will hire more inspectors to get to more complaints in San Jose.

Inspectors say they'll report their findings and then determine if the owner needs to make more repairs.
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP)  Authorities say a 29-year-old Berkeley man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he drove over dozens of gravesites at a San Bruno cemetery.

The East Bay Times reports that Pierce Jagger was found on the grounds of Golden Gate National Cemetery inside his severely damaged vehicle Sunday night.

Police say Jagger drove through the gates to the closed cemetery and over dozens of gravesites on a grassy hill. He also attempted to drive up some granite steps, but his vehicle became disabled, the newspaper reported.

Jagger was also arrested for driving with a suspended license and could face felony vandalism charges.

Constructed in 1937, Golden Gate National Cemetery is the final resting place for scores of veterans and their family members.
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Less than a week since the body of a 28-year-old chef was found in a Westfield shopping center stairwell, police have downgraded the case from a homicide to a "suspicious death."

Frank Galicia was found around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday near Bloomingdale's, and police initially ruled his death a homicide. A medical examiner has since performed an autopsy on the San Francisco man's body, leading to Tuesday's move, according to police.

Police said that homicide detectives continue to investigate Galicia's death, but did not comment on how he was killed.

Someone who works at the Westfield San Francisco Centre, who found Galicia's body, said the man was covered with scratches, numerous injuries and "unresponsive."

A line chef at the popular Sons & Daughters restaurant, Galicia's Instagram page shows that he was a student at City College of San Francisco. Sprinkled among photographs of the city that he called home, Galicia, a native of Los Angeles, also chronicled his love for cooking and trying out new restaurants.

The Galicia family, whose members feel as though their lives have been put on pause, is pushing for answers from police.

"We're almost at a week, and it's frustrating," Frank Galicia's brother Louis Galicia told NBC Bay Area. "We haven't heard anything other than we found your brother. No resolution."
Authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a 40-year-old man on suspicion of starting a blaze that destroyed more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures in a Northern California community.

At a news conference that was greeted by cheers from the community, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk of Clearlake was arrested by the California Department of Forestry on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. Other than the Clayton Fire, it was not immediately clear what other fires Pashilk could allegedly be linked to. Authorities did not provide a motive or any evidence that led officials to Pashilk The District Attorney has not yet charged him, and it was unclear on Monday whether Pashilk had an attorney. He is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday. A woman with the last name Pashilk hung up the phone on Tuesday morning when NBC Bay Area called for comment. Sheriff's Capt. Greg Hosman said Pashilk was refusing all media requests.

Pashilk's booking records show that he was born in San Francisco and he listed his occupation as a construction worker. Records also show that he was arrested on one "aggravated arson with prior," though it was unclear what the previous arrest was for. His bail was set at $5 million. As of Tuesday, there were only three felony charges listed against him: arson, arson with a sentence enhancement, and aggravated arson with a prior. A 2009 article in the Lake County News states Pashilk was arrested when he was 33 on parole violations and suspicion of being a felon in possession of a handgun and methamphetamine. The newspaper said Pashilk had numerous arrests from 2005 to 2015 for charges related to drugs and firearms.

More than 4,000 acres have been scorched in the Lake County's Clayton Fire, leaving the city with a price tag of millions of dollars in damage. On Tuesday, the fire was 20 percent contained, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze caused more than $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless. Officials made the announcement at a news conference, but opted not to take questions or give any other details on Pashilk.

The emotions of fire victims erupted at the news conference, with many relieved that police had found a suspect  but it did nothing to bring their homes back or repair the damage caused by the fire.

"I'm in shock, said Lake County resident Linda Miller. "I can't imagine what would motivate someone to do something like that."

The fast-moving wildfire had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

"It's a tragic day when we have an arsonist  an individual  intentionally starting a fire," said Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott. "The suspect is in jail tonight, and that's what is important."

Pimlott would not say what the alleged arsonist used to start the fire.

Dee Newell was one of the residents forced to evacuate. Leaving her home with only what she could carry, she didn't have time to rescue her horse, Dakota, from the flames. It was happenstance that she was searching through Facebook and found a picture of the horse, safely away from fire. Her home, built in 1850, was destroyed.

"She's alive," Newell with relief. "She's alive, but they won't let us get her."

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

NBC Bay Area's Shawn Murphy and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Officials with the Transbay terminal promised back in 2008 to pay the Millennium Tower project for any soil settlement and the cracking caused by the transit hubs construction -- a deal that could now end up saddling taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars to repair the sinking and tilting building.

NBC Bay Area has obtained the 30-page agreement that binds the agency overseeing the transit hub on the south side of the tower for any damages by its digging operation. Its a promise that could significantly strain the $2 billion-plus terminal project. Until a recent bail out, the terminal project had been running a quarter of a billion in the red.

The 2008 deal suggests that the joint powers agency knew before work began on the transit terminal that the tower was not built on bedrock and could be imperiled by the massive digging operation needed to construct the project next door.

But after project officials signed the agreement giving them access to do testing, they learned that the 58-story concrete structure had already sunk ten inches into the bay mud.

The city approved the $600 million Millennium project without it being anchor piles being sunk to through mud at or near bedrock. Such piles prevent sinking and had been often required on other projects in the part of the city built on top of bay mud.

As part of the agreement, the transit authority promised to build a wall between the two projects to prevent damage. The head of the Transbay agency at the time, Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan, left earlier this year amid revelations that the project was in the red.

Since the agreement was signed in late 2008, the terminal has sunk another six inches and is now leaning two inches to the northwest, away from the terminal project south side wall.

In the agreement, the joint powers authority agreed to Repair damage to waterproofing or cracks in the foundations or walls of the development resulting from settlement or movement substantially caused by the construction activities.

All the sides are preparing to fight in court what role the Transbay projects construction activities that caused the tower to begin leaning. Millennium officials have said that the terminal officials were obligated to monitor and protect existing structures, and to mitigate any impacts of their work.

Transbay officials have countered that the data collected since 2009 shows that the full responsibility for the tilting and excessive settlement of the building lies with Millennium Partners, the developer of the Tower, and that the a poor design decision is the cause of the tilt and excessive vertical settlement at issue in the dispute.

Its the towers leaning, according to experts, that could spell disaster for the luxury high rise.

If they get too far off center, former San Francisco assistant fire chief Frank Blackburn warned, the elevators wont work or theyll jam.

Blackburn, formerly director of the citys earthquake preparedness effort, that could mean people couldnt get out  its a serious problem in my opinion.

The building was only supposed to sink six inches at the most over its lifetime, but since 2009 the building has dropped 16 inches and is now sinking at a rate of about one inch per year.

Some of the owners of the luxury units have recently filed a $500 million suit for construction defects, naming both the developer and the joint powers authority as responsible. More suits are expected.

Jackson Fahnestock, an architect who was recently appointed to a citizens advisory panel to the Transbay project, said he has some experience with such disputes.

They tend to be very complex  I believe this will go on into some litigation that is beyond what I know, he said.

Any time a building settles or tilts, he says, there will be disputes over who is liable.

Things happen when you dont have full compaction, he said. Its not something you want to see.
The Navy on Tuesday named a ship in honor of the late gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy for four years before he began a career in San Francisco city government.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said at a ceremony on Treasure Island that Milk displayed tremendous courage fighting for the rights of the LGBT community. The ship is one of a new fleet of replenishment oilers that will be built in San Diego.

It is the first Navy ship to be named for a gay rights leader. Milk's nephew, Stuart Milk, said Tuesday's ceremony marks the progress his uncle worked so hard for.

"He dreamed of this day," Stuart Milk said. "It really was what gave him the courage to take those bullets of the daily hate mail that he got."

Milk's career as a Navy officer, however, ended with an "other than honorable" discharge, due to allegations of fraternization with enlisted personnel.

Some argue that Milk was forced out of the military because he was gay.

A defense official said Tuesday that Milk accepted the other than honorable discharge to avoid possible disciplinary action.

Fraternization with enlisted personnel by an officer is against military regulations  whether they are the same or different genders. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military was formally ended in September 2011.

Milk became one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office. He was serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 when a former political colleague, Dan White, assassinated him and Mayor George Moscone at City Hall.

Mabus said Milk "offered hope for millions of Americans who were being ostracized and prosecuted just for who they loved."

Speaking in San Francisco during the announcement, Mabus said it was important to honor those like Milk who have fought in a different way, battling  and sometimes dying  for freedom and equality.

"If anyone here, or anyone you know, was discharged for being a member of the LGBT community, and if they're interested, come back and let the Navy take another look at that discharge," Mabus said.

Tuesday's ceremony on Treasure Island also drew House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the city's Mayor Ed Lee, both of whom spoke highly of Milk's impact on San Francisco.

Pelosi said Milk was, in a word, irrepressible.

"He had confidence in who he was," she said. "He had served our country in the military, and now he wanted to make our country more American."

Mabus also invited family members of deceased sailors and marines to come forward and give Navy officials a chance to address improperly discharged service members.

Five other replenishment oilers will bear the names of civil and human rights leaders: Sojourner Truth, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Robert F. Kennedy, suffragist Lucy Stone and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

NBC Bay Area's Peggy Bunker contributed to this report.

HAPPENING NOW: @USNavy Sec Mabus invites all discharged LGBT sailors to have their discharges reexamined pic.twitter.com/id3fgCg5a9  Peggy Bunker (@PeggyBunker) August 16, 2016
A San Francisco woman who was struck by a nearly 100-pound tree limb that fell at Washington Square Park last week is still in critical condition, police said Monday.

The giant branch collapsed nearly 60 feet and fell on the 36-year-old woman as she was watching her two children play in the park on Friday afternoon. Emergency crews rushed to the scene to provide assistance, while city officials tried to determine whether more trees could be dangerous to passersby.

"It's devastating beyond words," said Aaron Peskin, a San Francisco City Supervisor. "Obviously our concern now is for this mom."

Police say the 9 and 5-year-old children saw the branch fall.

"When we arrived, the victim was in and out of consciousness," said David Lazar of the San Francisco Police Department. "We were able to get her assistance quickly, and off to the hospital she went."

The victim's children are now with their father as she struggles to recover at San Francisco General Hospital.

Peskin and othe city officials met at the park to consider the safety of the Canary Island Pine Tree, a tree that has "performed well" in San Francisco parks in the past, according to a statement.

That particular pine was last assessed in 2010 and found to be healthy, according to Elton Pon, and outreach and communications manager for San Francisco.

Pon said in an email that the department has conducted 14 tree assessments at the park over the last 10 years, and added that crews would be out next week to check to see if conditions have changed at the park.
FactCheck.org is a non-partisan non-profit organization that will hold candidates and key figures accountable during the 2016 presidential campaign. FactCheck.org will check facts of speeches, advertisements and more for NBC.

In a speech in Ohio on terrorism, Donald Trump repeated several fact-twisting and bogus claims he has made before:

He again said that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, and this time pointed to two interviews as support. But he didnt express an opinion in one interview on whether the U.S. should invade Iraq. And the other came more than a year after the war had started.

Trump blamed President Obama for saying, heres our time, heres our date for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but that date had been set by an agreement signed by President George W. Bush.

Trump wrongly said that one of the San Bernardino shooters very openly supported jihad online. The FBI said the messages on jihad that it found were private messages  not public postings.

Trump again claimed with no evidence that a neighbor of the San Bernardino shooters saw  bombs on the floor of their home but didnt report it because of racial profiling concerns. One neighbor reportedly saw the couple receiving several packages and doing work in their garage.

Trump said Hillary Clintons plan would allow 620,000 refugees from around the world to resettle in the U.S. during a first term as president. But Clinton didnt say that. The number comes from a Republican-led subcommittee that made assumptions about what Clinton would do as president.

Still No Evidence for Iraq War Claim

Trump misrepresented a TV interview he gave in January 2003 to claim that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. In that interview, Trump said polling showed the economy is a much bigger problem for President Bush than Iraq, but he expressed no opinion on whether the U.S. should invade.

As we have written before, Trump on numerous occasions has made the claim without providing evidence that he was opposed to the Iraq War before it started. In this speech, he claims to have the evidence  but he doesnt have the goods. Instead, he cherry-picks his quotes to twist the facts.

Trump, Aug. 15: I was an opponent of the Iraq War from the beginning  a major difference between me and my opponent. Though I was a private citizen, whose personal opinions on such matters were really not sought, I nonetheless publicly expressed my private doubts about the invasion. I was against it, believe me. Three months before the invasion I said, in an interview with Neil Cavuto, to whom I offer my best wishes for a speedy recovery, that quote, perhaps we shouldnt be doing it yet and that the economy is a much bigger problem.

Trump did not tell Cavuto that we shouldnt be doing it yet and that the economy is a much bigger problem. Trump is conflating two separate statements and presenting them as a single sentence and thought.

A little background: The Jan. 28, 2003, interview with Cavuto on Fox Business was conducted prior to President Bushs State of the Union address that would be delivered that night. Cavuto starts by asking Trump what advice he would give the president on how much time to devote to Iraq and how much to the economy. Trump said the American public is much more focused now on the economy, and he criticized the Bush administration for dragging out the decision on whether to invade Iraq.

Either you attack or you dont attack, Trump said.

Trump softened his criticism when Cavuto asked Trump if what he was saying was that Bushs indecision could ultimately hurt us.

Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps [we] shouldnt be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know, Trump responds. Hes under a lot of pressure. Hes  I think hes doing a very good job.

Trump switched to defending the administration and presented the alternative argument that the invasion should have the support of the United Nations. He didnt say the U.S. shouldnt invade Iraq.

Trump then went on to say, But, of course, if you look at the polls, a lot of people are getting a little tired. I think the Iraqi situation is a problem. And I think the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned.

Once again, Trump didnt say the U.S. shouldnt invade Iraq. He said public opinion polls show the economy is a much bigger problem for Bush.

Below is a fuller exchange with Cavuto. We marked in bold the passages that Trump highlighted in his speech. They are not part of the same sentence, or even the same thought.

Cavuto, Jan. 28, 2003: If you had to sort of breakdown for the president, if you were advising him, how much time do you commit [in the State of the Union] to Iraq versus how much time you commit to the economy, what would you say? Trump: Well, Im starting to think that people are much more focused now on the economy. They are getting a little bit tired of hearing, were going in, were not going in, the  you know, whatever happened to the days of the Douglas MacArthur. He would go and attack. He wouldnt talk. We have to  you know, its sort like either do it or dont do it. When I watch Dan Rather explaining how we are going to be attacking, where were going to attack, what routes were taking, what kind of planes were using, how to stop them, how to stop us, it is a little bit disconcerting. Ive never seen this, where newscasters are telling you how  telling the enemy how were going about it, we have just found out this and that. It is ridiculous. Cavuto: Well, the problem right there. Trump: Either you attack or you dont attack. Cavuto: The problem there, Donald, is youre watching Dan Rather. Maybe you should just be watching Fox. Trump: Well, no, I watch Dan Rather, but not necessarily fondly. But I happened to see it the other night. And I must tell you it was rather amazing as they were explaining the different  I dont know if it is fact or if it is fiction, but the concept of a newscaster talking about the routes is  just seems ridiculous. So the point is either you do it or you dont do it, or you  but I just  or if you dont do it, just dont talk about it. When you do it, you start talking about it. Cavuto: So youre saying the leash on this is getting kind of short here, that the president has got to do something presumably sooner rather than later and stringing this along could ultimately hurt us. Trump: Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps [we] shouldnt be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know. Hes under a lot of pressure. Hes  I think hes doing a very good job. But, of course, if you look at the polls, a lot of people are getting a little tired. I think the Iraqi situation is a problem. And I think the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned.

Trump also offered as evidence an interview with Esquire that ran in the August 2004 edition  17 months after the Iraq War started. As we have written, Trump was an early critic of the war after it started, but we can find no clear evidence that he was opposed to it before it started.

Withdrawal from Iraq

Trump blamed President Obama for setting a date for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but that date had been set by an agreement signed by President George W. Bush.

Trump: But I have been just as clear in saying what a catastrophic mistake Hillary Clinton and President Obama made with the reckless way in which they pulled out. After we had made those hard-fought sacrifices and gains, we should never have made such a sudden withdrawal  on a timetable advertised to our enemies. They said were moving out, heres our time, heres our date. Who would do this but an incompetent president?

As we recently explained, some have argued that Obama could have done more to renegotiate the Status of Forces Agreement signed by Bush in 2008. But Trump blames the wrong president for, in his words, saying, heres our time, heres our date.

Bush signed the SOFA on Dec. 14, 2008. It said: All the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011. Then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a book published in 2011 that Bush didnt want to set a deadline and wanted an agreement for a residual force  but Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki objected. Bush reluctantly signed the agreement.

Obama had three years to renegotiate, and, indeed, Obama sought to leave a residual force of 5,000 to 10,000 troops. But Maliki wouldnt agree to shield U.S. troops from criminal prosecution by Iraqi authorities, and the negotiations ended in October 2011 over that issue.

Then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta later wrote in his 2014 book that Obama didnt press hard enough for a deal. But some experts say Maliki wasnt going to agree to a residual force. Iraq was more closely aligned with Iran at that point.

Maliki wanted the Americans out of there  and the Iranians wanted the same thing, Princeton University professor Bernard Haykel, who heads the universitys Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, told us. I dont think there was a deal to be had  not one in which the Americans would have had immunity.

As for Clinton  who was secretary of state at the time  she publicly supported Obama. In 2014, she blamed the Iraqi government for not coming to an agreement to protect American troops. In a recent interview with the Washington Posts Fact Checker, Joby Warrick, a Post reporter and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, said that [w]ithin the administration, Clinton was one of the loudest forces for keeping a residual force in Iraq.

And as for Trumps views on leaving Iraq, he strongly supported withdrawing in March 2007, telling CNN. You know how they get out? They get out. Thats how they get out. Declare victory and leave, because Ill tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down.

Missed Signs?

Trump cited two bogus examples to back up his point that warning signs were totally ignored in recent terrorist shootings.

He claimed one of the San Bernardino shooters very openly supported jihad online. It was incorrectly reported that the shooter had posted public messages supporting jihad on social media, but the FBI later clarified that those were private messages.

Trump wrongly claimed that a neighbor [of the San Bernardino shooters] saw suspicious behavior  bombs on the floor and other things  but didnt warn authorities because they said they didnt want to be accused of racial profiling. The neighbor in question only reportedly saw the couple receiving a large number of packages, and observed that they were working a lot in their garage.

Stop us if youve heard these before, because we have written about these claims several times. But it bears repeating: Neither of these claims has been substantiated.

Heres what Trump said in his Aug. 15 speech on Understanding The Threat: Radical Islam And The Age Of Terror.

Trump: Another common feature of the past attacks that have occurred on our soil is that warning signs were totally ignored.  The female San Bernardino shooter on her  statements and everything that she said. She was here on a fiancee visa, which most people have never even heard of. From Saudi Arabia. And she wanted to support very openly jihad, online. These are the people were taking in. A neighbor saw suspicious behavior  bombs on the floor and other things  but didnt warn authorities because they said they didnt want to be accused of racial profiling. Now, many are dead, and many more are gravely wounded.

We wrote about the first claim back in March when then Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz claimed that the woman involved in the San Bernardino, California, shooting had publicly posted on social media calls to jihad.

The Dec. 2, 2015, shooting in San Bernardino that left 14 dead was carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook, who was born in the United States, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan in July 2014 on a K-1 fiancee visa. Farook and Malik were killed in a police shootout.

Support material for Trumps speech provided by his campaign links to two articles, one by CNN and the other in the Los Angeles Times, both on Dec. 14. Both stories cited unnamed law enforcement officials saying that the woman sent messages advocating jihad on social media, but both noted the messages were private and written under a pseudonym.

The New York Times  which wrote on Dec. 12 that Malik had talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad  later added an editors note explaining that that wasnt correct, and that FBI Director James B. Comey said on Dec. 16, 2015, that the online communication the FBI had found from late 2013 between the two San Bernardino shooters was in private, direct messages, not social media messages.

Comey went on to say: So far in this investigation we have found no evidence of the posting on social media by either of them at that period of time and thereafter reflecting their commitment to jihad or to martyrdom.

The Times public editor, Margaret Sullivan, wrote about the Times faulty original report, which relied on anonymous sources. Sullivan quoted Executive Editor Dean Baquet as saying, This was a really big mistake.

Sullivan wrote that Comeys statements, in addition to further reporting by the Times, found Ms. Malik had not posted openly on social media. She had written emails; she had written private messages, not visible to the public; and she had written on a dating site.  In other words, the storys clear implication that those who vetted Ms. Maliks visa had missed the boat  a clearly visible ocean liner  was based on a false premise.

Trump was also off-base with his claim that a neighbor saw suspicious behavior  bombs on the floor and other things  but didnt warn authorities because they said they didnt want to be accused of racial profiling.

Despite Trumps repeated claims, there is no evidence that any neighbor saw bombs on the floor of the San Bernardino shooters home but declined to report it because of racial profiling concerns.

Authorities did find what the Los Angeles Times described as an armory of weapons and explosives  including a dozen pipe bombs and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the Redlands home of the couple responsible for the shooting rampage. But there is no evidence so far that any neighbors knew about that cache of explosives.

On Dec. 3, 2015, Los Angeles KTLA 5 aired an interview with a man, Aaron Elswick, who is a friend of one of the neighbors. Elswick said the neighbor told him she noticed, They were receiving quite a number of packages and they were also working a lot in their garage.

And it sounds like she didnt do anything about it, Elswick said. She didnt want to do any kind of racial profiling.

On the day of the shooting on Dec. 2, 2015, CBS Los Angeles also aired an interview with a man who worked in the neighborhood the past three months who said he noticed unusual activity. But the extent of the unusual activity reported by the man  who was not identified in the news report  was that he noticed six well-dressed Middle Eastern guys walk from the home to a nearby lunch spot on several occasions. The man said he and his co-workers wondered, What are those guys doing in this neighborhood?

Neither of those reported cases includes someone who saw the inside of the home, let alone bombs on the floor, as Trump claims.

Clinton on Refugees

Trump, citing a Senate subcommittee report, said that Hillary Clintons plan would allow 620,000 refugees to resettle in the U.S. during her first term as president. But Clinton didnt say thats how many refugees she would allow into the country. The Republican-led subcommittee made assumptions about what Clinton would do as president.

Trump: The United States Senate subcommittee on immigration estimates that Hillary Clintons plan would mean roughly 620,000 refugees from all current refugee-sending nations in her first term, assuming no cuts to other refugee programs. So it could get worse.

Last year, Clinton proposed that the U.S. accept 65,000 refugees from Syria. That was 55,000 more than the 10,000 President Obama authorized for admission from that country for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. In all, Obama authorized the admission of 85,000 refugees from all nations in fiscal 2016, and Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the administration would aim to admit at least 100,000 global refugees in fiscal 2017.

To get to 620,000 refugees, the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest assumed that Clinton would do something she has not explicitly said that she would  allow 155,000 refugees into the U.S. each year during her first term as president.

Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest, June 27, 2016: Assuming Clintons desire to bring in 65,000 Syrian refugees is in addition to the Obama Administrations current goal of admitting 10,000 this fiscal year (out of 85,000 total refugees), that would amount to an increase of 55,000 refugees. 55,000 on top of 85,000 totals 140,000 refugees. The Obama Administrations target for FY 2017 is actually 100,000 refugees, meaning that adding 55,000 refugees to that would result in 155,000 refugees each year. Due to statutory flaws in our Refugee Admissions Program, the number could be as high as Hillary Clinton desires. Assuming her goal is to admit 155,000 refugees each year during a hypothetical first term in office, a Clinton Administration would admit at least 620,000 refugees in just four years  a population roughly the size of Baltimore.

So, its not Clintons plan to admit 620,000 refugees as president. The subcommittee assumed she wanted to do that, even though Clinton has not specified a figure for all refugees over four years.

Trump went on to say that the Republican subcommittee estimates her plan would impose a lifetime cost of roughly $400 billion when you include the costs of health care, welfare, housing, schooling, and all other entitlement benefits that are excluded from the State Departments placement figures. So, that lifetime estimate is also based on an assumption about the number of admitted refugees that Clinton has not yet addressed. It relies on other assumptions as well, such as that most of the refugees would be low-skilled workers.
The Chicago Teachers Union sent an email to teachers Tuesday offering training for a potential fall strike.

According to the email, the training is aimed at bringing "educators together with union members from other public sector unions to share common realities and strategize together about gaining leverage through using combined power.

Chicago Public Schools released their $5.4 million budget earlier this month. The proposal includes a 7 percent pension payment for teachers that would help pay for the districts $300 million deficit. That pension pick-up was paid for by the city for more than 20 years by the city. Additionally, the budget includes layoffs of roughly 1,000 teachers and staff.

Shortly after the budget announcement, the CTU once again ramped up talks of a potential strike this fall.

If the Board of Education imposes a seven percent slash in our salaries, we will move to strike, CTU President Karen Lewis said after the budget announcement. Cutting our pay is unacceptable.

At the time, Lewis encouraged teachers to save money in preparation for a strike. The union president also noted that Emanuel might not be able to stand another CTU strike because "confidence in his leadership is at an all-time low.

The union last staged a strike in 2012. It lasted a week.

Earlier this month, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said the district plans to negotiate in good faith with the CTU.

We have two objectives, Claypool said. One is to protect teacher jobs and pensions. The second is to protect our kids in our classrooms and thats the most important thing of all."

The email to CTU members was written by a representative from Labor Works, a nonprofit organization that deals in labor activism.

Chicagos issues are bigger than one workplace, the email said. Our bully mayor, billionaire governor, and greedy corporations in Illinois are pushing a coordinated agenda. They want to slash wages, abolish pensions, outsource jobs, and gut public services.

The training is scheduled to take place Saturday at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Regular registration costs $25, while student and low-income registration costs $10. However, the email notes that no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Workshops will focus on one-on-one conversations, taking action and planning and winning strikes. Sponsors include the CTU, as well as other unions, like SEIU Local 73 and the United Electrical Workers union.
Americans for Prosperity, a conservative anti-tax group, is targeting a group of vulnerable Illinois Democrats in a series of new web ads.

The ads accuse state Reps. Deb Conroy, Sam Yingling, Dan Beiser and John Bradley of saying yes to House Speaker Mike Madigans agenda. Additionally, the ads claim the lawmakers are also saying yes to special interests, more spending and handouts.

What do all those yeses add up to, the ads narrator asks. A budget out of balance by $7 billion.

The ads direct viewers to call Conroy, Yingling, Beiser and Bradley to tell them to quit voting for Mike Madigans overspending so were not stuck with another massive tax hike to pay for all those yeses."

In another pair of ads, the group claims state Sens. Tom Cullerton and Melinda Bush are blocking a property tax freeze by using insider political tactics and pandering to special interests. The ads encourage voters to call the state senators to encourage them to "pass a property tax freeze now."

The 30-second spots reference an AFP We Ask America poll from April that showed 80 percent of Illinoisans in many legislative districts supporting a property tax freeze.

In response, Cullerton accused the group of distorting his record.

I have voted to freeze property taxes in my district, Cullerton said in a statement. In addition, I was the first legislator in Illinois to successfully pass government consolidation, in DuPage County. Consolidation of redundant and wasteful units of government will have a direct effect towards decreasing property taxes in Illinois.

Hopefully AFP will back my legislation, he added.

Bush also admonished AFP, noting that, since last summer, she has voted for a property tax freeze and has served as chief co-sponsor on legislation aimed at freezing property taxes.

"It's propaganda and it's dishonest," Bush said. "Voters deserve better than this."

Other targeted lawmakers did not immediately respond to Ward Rooms request for comment.

AFP is one of the nations most influential conservative groups, receiving funding from the billionaire Koch brothers.
A group promoting its TV series in a Chicago film festival has a strong message theyre trying to convey in the wake of Spike Lees film Chiraq.

The series, This is Not Chiraq, was originally called Chiraq but when Lees film created so much controversy over the label, the people behind the series changed to the title to tackle the stigma. It's currently being featured in the Black Harvest Film Festival.

Dont compare Chicago with the war in Iraq, its two different countries, ethnicities, you name it, actor Jose Santiago Jr. said.

This is Not Chiraq sets out to portray Chicago in what producers call a more realistic light.

Director Phil Lee says the series is about hard working people  who are just trying to do whats best for them and their community.

Its an the actors say they feel passionate about.

We have to educate, inspire and motivate the youth and we cant give up. You wanna give up sometimes, but you cant, said Simone Henderson of This is Not Chiraq.

Santiago echoed Henderson's thoughts.

This is our goal, he said. Put the guns down. Stop the violence. Get educated. Do it the right way.
Police are searching for two men who stole a Volkswagen Passat with a 3-year-old boy in the back seat early Tuesday in the Buena Park neighborhood on the North Side.

About 4:55 a.m., a 39-year-old man left his car running while he was delivering papers in the 4100 block of North Marine Drive, according to Chicago Police.

A white Nissan pulled up behind his car and the suspects got out, then jumped in the victims running car, which sped away with the Nissan following, police said.

The victims 3-year-old son was in the back seat at the time, police said. A short time later, the boy was found in his car seat in the 200 block of East Superior, where someone took him into a building and called authorities.

The boy was taken in good condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he will be reunited with his family, police said.

The suspect is described as a white man, thought to be between 20 and 25 years old, police said. Area North detectives are investigating.
An emotional Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson addressed the overwhelming violence that continues to plague the city and left 52 people shot over the weekend, including the 26th child under the age of 13 this year.

"I can tell you I've seen far too many families affected by gun violence ... Too many a statistic," Johnson said. "I'm just sick of it.

Johnson also lamented systemic problems that he said allows repeat gun offenders to continue committing crimes, calling the pretrial time for those charged with gun crimes ridiculous, saying its longer for retail theft charges. He also said gun arrests are up and the failure lies with the inability to keep offenders in jail. He said violent offenders are only emboldened when they can just get back on the street.

"I'm asking for community members and parents to do their part, this isn't just CPD," Johnson said.

The response comes after the son of a Chicago Police officer was fatally shot in what Johnson called a case of mistaken identity, and the shooting of several children in the city.

"Little kids getting shot out there is just stupid, he said. "It's simply because these gun offenders don't care."

Johnson said police are arresting the offenders but CPD needs help from its judicial partners to hold them accountable.

"(The) police department is doing its job, not holding them accountable, it's just silly," he said.
The battle over transgender student access to a northwest suburban girls locker room returned to Chicagos federal courthouse Monday, where lawyers for a group of students and parents hope a judge will intervene.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert said Monday he would not immediately rule on a request to stop a transgender student from using the girls locker room while a lawsuit proceeds. The complaint was filed by Students and Parents for Privacy, an unincorporated association of 51 families with ties to Palatine-based Township High School District 211, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.

At the center of the debate is a transgendered student, referred to in court Monday as Student A, entering her senior year at William Fremd High School. Born male, lawyers for the school district said the student is a girl in every way she can be. The student has been allowed to use the girls restroom at Fremd since August 2013. The district agreed to let the student use the girls locker room last December in a deal that involved installing privacy curtains.

Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for Students and Parents for Privacy, insisted to the judge that Student A is male, and he said his clients have a right to use a locker room free of a male student. He also decried a subjective definition of sex.

But Sheila Lieber, representing the U.S. Department of Education, argued that Student A is a female who was harmed when she was not allowed to use the female locker room prior to December. Sally Scott, a lawyer for the school district, said Student A changes her clothes in a bathroom stall or doesnt change. Meanwhile, a locker room attendant is present, and other students are given access to private areas to change their clothes.

There are no lines to the privacy areas, Scott said. As far as we know, theyre not even being used.

Tedesco said after court that girls who use the privacy areas have been bullied, and those who object to Student As use of the locker room are labeled by the school as narrow minded.

District 211 serves nearly 12,500 students from Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Inverness and Schaumburg, and parts of seven other northwestern suburbs, in five high schools and two alternative high schools. It was forced to give Student A access to the locker room last year when the Department of Education charged that not accommodating the student was a violation of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

The lawsuit maintains that the 1972 federal law actually authorizes schools to retain single-sex restrooms and locker rooms, and Title IX is being unlawfully redefined by the Department of Education.
Four children and one adult were injured by an electric shock from an amusement park ride in New London, Connecticut on Tuesday.

New London police responded to the Ocean Beach Park boardwalk just before 2 p.m. Tuesday after a park employee called 911 about a child having some kind of a medical problem, Deputy Police Chief Peter Reichard said Wednesday.

Then, the dispatcher was able to determine the child received an electrical shock when he touched a metal fence while getting off the Scrambler ride.

After a daylong investigation, officials determined the issue was in a separate ride.

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our guests, and we never want anyone to have a negative experience when they come to the park. As soon as the incident took place, we took immediate action to call authorities and have the ride operators cease operations until we could ensure safety. Inspectors have been onsite conducting an official investigation and all rides have been cleared to re-open today," a spokesman for Ocean Beach Park said Wednesday.

A source with the city said early Wednesday afternoon that a loose lighting wire came into contact with the frame of the ride and sent a current through it. Water from recent rains might have contributed to the issue, the source said.

During a news conference, police said the problem was an electrical connection to the lighting ballast in the top of the Octopus, a ride that has fluorescent and incandescent lights that flash at different times.

Reichard said it appears the electrical charge went through the ride, out though the metal platform and to the rails on the outside of both rides.

The operator of the Scrambler told police he felt a "tingling" sensation when he was pressing the button to bring the ride to the stop, police said.

The five people who also said they felt "tingling" on the ride went to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital to be treated for minor injuries and were released on Tuesday.

They have been identified as 25-year-old Victor Williams, of Wauregan, his 10-year-old son and Williams girlfriends 4-year-old daughter, 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.

Police said Williams and his son were in one car of the Scrambler and the other children were in another car.

Williams son suffered minor burns to his hands when he touched a metal fence as he was getting off the Scrambler and the New London Fire Department transported the father and son to the hospital.

The other three children arrived at the hospital in a personal vehicle, police said.

Detectives ordered all rides in the park to be shut down until the issues were fixed and the rides have since reopened.

The Scrambler was built in 1965 and it was inspected this past spring before the season started.
A California man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for trafficking heroin in Connecticut after authorities found around six kilograms of heroin in a vehicle in 2013.

Members of the Drug Enforcement Administrations New Haven Task Force followed a white Cadillac Escalade 33-year-old Luis Cedillo was driving on Nov. 14, 2013 when he drove to a store and bought items used to process and package illegal drugs, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

When the Escalade arrived at a garage in Wolcott, agents approached Cedillo, searched the garage and noticed a vehicle raised on a lift that had sheet-rock screws coming through the metal of the bottom of the car, federal officials said.

After a canine alert, agents opened a trap in the back of the vehicle and retrieved approximately six kilograms of heroin.

Cedillo, who last lived in Los Angeles, California, was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin.

Officials said they also searched a Danbury home connected to him and found $400,000 in cash.

Cedillo has been detained since his arrest and pleaded guilty on May 19 to one count of possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.
The creator of the Christmas House on Lexington Street in New Britain has died.

Rita Giancola, 91, died Monday surrounded by family and Christmas lights.

She started decorating her home and yard with Christmas decor more than 40 years ago. It started as a family tradition, but took on a life of its own when visitors from New Britain and beyond came to catch a glimpse.

It was amazing. She had her ceilings decorated, she had her bathrooms decorated. She had ever inch of that house decorated, said Molly Sherman, a volunteer at St. Marks Episcopal Food Pantry in New Britain.

I took my daughter through there when she was very little and my daughter was like at the north pole, wide eyes and very excited as most kids were, said David Hartshorn, a lawyer at the Law Offices of Brian Mongelluzzo next to Giancolas home for the past 26 years.

For every person that stepped through her door, all Giancola asked was that they donate non-perishable food to feed the hungry in the community.

Just this last year alone, she collected and donated 3,000 pounds of food to St. Marks Food Pantry in New Britain.

She was so happy to do it. You would think she was getting the gift. She was just so thrilled, said Sherman.

Giancolas passion went beyond the Christmas season. She also loved ballroom dancing and used her home to teach students for 61 years.

It was in that same home, that brought joy to so many, that Giancola passed away.

It is like the passing of an era. She was a remarkable woman, said Hartshorn.

Im very sad to lose Rita as a friend. I cant help smiling just to think about her because she was such an extraordinary, energetic, generous, exuberant person. So full of joy and she just spread that, said Sherman.
Gathered outside the New Haven Police Department, a small group of protesters called on the resignation or removal of Chief Dean Esserman as the citys top cop.

He cannot have temper tantrums in public, said Lia Miller-Granger, an organizer from Black Lives Matter New Haven. He cannot directly demean the people who are supposed to work under him and the residents of the city without being held accountable.

Chief Esserman was scheduled to return to work after a 15 working day paid leave of absence for berating a waitress at Archie Moores Restaurant in New Haven.

Instead, Mayor Toni Harp (D) said in a statement Monday he is now on temporary sick leave.

If somebody is bullying at the top that filters down throughout the rest of the force, protester Norman Clement said, it gives license to the next guy to do it.

Two of New Havens Assistant Police Chiefs watched the protesters before they marched to meet up with another group of Church Street.

Right before going on paid leave, Chief Esserman flew to Washington, D.C. for a discussion with President Obama on improving police and community relations.

Essermans supporters point out crime in the past five years has declined under his leadership.

Although Esserman is at the top head, Miller-Granger said, he is not directly responsible for what is going on in the city. The police officers and residents are and I definitely thank them.

Two sources, one with police and one with the city, confirm another episode of questionable behavior by Chief Esserman. Back in October 2014, they say he got into an argument with the Secret Service during a visit by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mayor Harp has declined NBC Connecticuts interview requests. It is unclear how long Esserman will be on sick leave.
Mosquitoes trapped at Beacon Point in Stratford have tested positive for West Nile Virus and it appears this is the second time this summer the virus has been detected in mosquitoes in the state.

According to the Stratford Health Department, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reported Culex pipiens mosquitoes trapped at Beacon Point on Aug. 4 tested positive for West Nile Virus.

This has been a particularly bad season with a larger than normal crop of mosquitos. With positive WNV-carrying mosquitos, residents should double-down on taking pre-cautions, Andrea Boissevain, director of health in Stratford, said in a statement. Take quick and easy steps to prevent exposure and bites like wearing long sleeves, especially at dawn and dusk and use insect repellent.

Boissevain said the good news is that there is no local transmission of Zika in Connecticut.

Christina Batoh, Stratfords Environmental Conservation Administrator said the town started treating for mosquitos earlier in July using a biological larvicide and the town will likely treat again in mid-August.

Mosquitoes trapped in Stamford on July 6 also tested positive for West Nile virus, according to the state Department of Health.

To avoid mosquito bites and to decrease mosquito activity around your home include:
Two more cases of Zika virus have been confirmed in Dallas County Tuesday, including a 50-year-old Grand Prairie resident and a 6-year-old Dallas resident, health officials say.

Dallas County Health and Human Services confirmed both cases were travel-related.

The child, officials said, contracted the virus during a recent trip to Guatemala; the 50-year-old contracted the case while traveling in the Dominican Republic.

The cases are the 26th and 27th Zika cases confirmed in Dallas County this year.

After confirming the cases through testing at the DCHHS lab, the cases were referred to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

No other health information will be released about the patients, as per usual, to protect their identities.

Still, no known Zika cases have been transmitted locally by mosquitoes, local health officials confirm -- all local cases have been imported with the exception of one case in Dallas County that is believed to have been spread by sexual contact.

Zika virus is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, a known aggressive daytime biter. Common symptoms of Zika virus include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting several days to a week, though there can be profound impact to a developing fetus should the mother contract the virus.

There is no medication to treat Zika virus and there is no vaccine; the best prevention is to avoid mosquitoes and sexual contact with infected people. The recommendations for avoiding the Zika virus are the same for avoiding West Nile virus.

How to Protect Yourself From Mosquito Bites

Dress in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent.

in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent. DEET : Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent.

: Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent. Drain standing water in your yard and neighborhood: Mosquitoes can develop in any water stagnant for more than three days.

It has been recommended in the past that to avoid mosquito bites you should avoid being outdoors during Dusk and Dawn (the 4 Ds). While this is true for mosquitoes that commonly carry the West Nile virus, other types of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry Zika, dengue and chikungunya are active during the day. When outdoors, no matter what time of day, adjust your dress accordingly and wear insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus as your first line of defense against insect bites.
Health officials say a Texas resident who recently traveled to an area of Miami where local Zika transmission occurred has tested positive for the virus.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said Monday that it's the first Texas case to be linked to travel within the continental U.S.

Health officials linked the case to Miami travel after investigating factors such as travel dates and when symptoms appeared.

The El Paso County resident sought testing after becoming ill. Health officials say it's that county's first case and no other evidence of the virus or local transmission has been found there.

Texas has reported more than 100 cases of Zika associated with travel to areas with active transmission. There haven't been any reported cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes in Texas.
After two cars crashed through the same backyard fence in five years, an Azle mother wants the city to install a guardrail to prevent it from happening again.

Kristina Davis won't allow her 13-year-old and five-year-old twin daughters to play in their backyard, where a swing set and slide sit unused.

"We never go back there," said Sierra, the oldest sister. "We used to have a lot of fun back there."

In April, a driver veered off busy Wells Burnett Road and slammed into their house.

"He traveled through my fence, through another fence, hit some wood and slides that we had back here, went airborne, (and) hit our roof," Kristina Davis said.

The driver then crashed into the wall just outside their kitchen.

Five years ago, another driver careened into the same fence from another direction, but didn't hit the house.

Nobody was hurt in either incident.

"Twice is two times too many," Davis said.

Now, she's worried about a third.

"It is going to happen again," she said.

She wants the city to put in a guardrail along Wells Burnett.

"I mean, that's all I want is to protect my home and my family," Davis said.

Azle Assistant City Manager Lawrence Bryant said he didn't believe the details of the accidents support the need for a guardrail.

He said the city would have to hire a contractor to install up to 400 feet of guardrail at a cost of $20,000.

Davis says she'll take her case directly to the mayor and council at this week's meeting.

Bryant and Mayor Alan Brundrett said the city would take a fresh look at the issue but, for now, don't believe an expensive guardrail is the answer.

Meanwhile, even after four months, Davis said she is still haggling with her insurance company to repair the damage to her home.
Dallas police asked for the public's help finding a 17-year-old female who went missing early Tuesday morning. [[390276152,C]]

Police said Chasmine Lawrence stated she wanted to hurt herself and left her home in the 3400 block of Mark Trail Way at about 12:45 am.

Lawrence had a bottle of unknown pills when she left, according to authorities.

Lawrence was described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and 125 pounds with short black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a white shirt with "Vegas" on the front, a white sweater and pink pajama bottoms.

Police asked anyone with information about Lawrence's disappearance to call them at 214-671-4268 or 911.
Dallas police said they need the publics help finding a 35-year-old man who went missing early Tuesday morning.

Police said Germy Jackson sent a text stating he wanted to hurt himself at about 2:15 a.m.

Jackson was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and 172 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen driving a silver 2007 Dodge Charger with the Texas license plate FDD3542 in the 11600 block of McCree Road in Dallas.

Police asked anyone with information about Jackson's disappearance to call them at 214-671-4268 or 911.
Dallas-Fort Worth continues to lead the country in regards to job growth, with thousands flocking to North Texas every month to take advantage of the robust job market and low cost of living.

Axiometrics, an apartment research and marketing company, compiled a list of the highest value apartment transactions within the last 6 months.

The Arts Apartment in downtown Dallas was bought for $32 million. Apartments in Plano, Carrollton, the Bell Knox District and the Chatham Court in Dallas were all purchased for under $40 million each.

Arbrook Park in Arlington was bought for $50 million, but the apartment on the top of the list was in Little Elm.

Orion McCord Park Apartments was purchased for $71 million. Even though Little Elm is 40 minutes away from Dallas and more than an hour's drive from Fort Worth, the small town is alluring to investors because of the growth potential.

In the past five years Little Elm has grown 48.6%.

According to Ryan Reid, the Executive Vice President specializing in multifamily investment properties at CBRE, location remains to be a huge determining factor in regards to property value.

If the development is near a job base, like Legacy or City Line, youll definitely see higher value. The school district is also important, especially in the suburbs. You also have to look at how high quality the building is. The amenities offered at the development are also very important," Reid said.

"Overall, growth potential of a community will drive up the value of the developments within the area."

10 Amenities that add value to real estate:
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office says the man caught on tape taking a car and dragging the owner a short distance has been placed under arrest.

On Monday, the sheriff's department released three surveillance videos showing different angles of a resident checking his mail July 27 at the Pecan Lake Mobile Home Park on the 2800 block of South Belt Line Road.

In the video the man can be seen stepping away from his running car toward a bank of mailboxes as another man walks over and climbs into the driver's seat. The car's owner tried to stop the man and was dragged several feet in the process.

Sheriff's deputies identified the man who took the car as Leedon Ireland and said he was arrested on an unrelated charge. Ireland was held in the Dallas County Jail for a short time before being transferred to Collin County where he'll face a charge of burglary of a habitation.

The resident who was dragged was not seriously injured.
Dallas developer Phillip Huffines has been elected chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party in a landslide victory with 76 percent of the vote Monday.

Some 158 party leaders cast ballots at Monday night's executive committee meeting, and Huffines received 120 of their votes.

"We can now declare, based on that vote count, that this party is now united," Huffines said before he was sworn in as chairman.

Elizabeth Bingham, a Plano attorney and former Dallas County vice chair, received 26 votes.

Davin Bernstein, a Coppell businessman and president of the Coppell Republican Club, received 12 votes.

"The hardcore conservatives in the party, the tea party folks, the libertarians, now have control of the Dallas County Republican Party," said Gromer Jeffers, political reporter for The Dallas Morning News and Lone Star Politics. "So the question is, will donors now follow up and put their money on the line under his leadership?"

Huffines is the twin brother of State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas.

The former party chairman, Mark Montgomery, abruptly resigned after just two months on the job and days after the party reported having only $180 in its bank account.
The plastic jars with the word "MISSING" on them sit beside cash registers at diners and gas stations. A child's picture fills the front, while pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and, occasionally a dollar bill, sit inside.

The canisters raise many questions. Does the change actually add up to anything? Who gets the money? And who are the kids on them, anyway?

Andoni Petroutsas is missing. Yet, his father, George Petroutsas, can tell you his son is with his mother in Greece and has not returned. So, imagine Petroutsas' surprise when he stopped at a Palo Alto gas station and saw his son's picture on a donation jar.

Petroutsas had given his son's photo to the government-backed National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But not the group named on the canister, Child Watch.

Child Watch is a registered charity. Its website says it helps rescue missing children. Petroutsas says Child Watch didn't take any additional steps to try to find Andoni.

Child Watch eventually removed Andoni's photo. But only Andoni's photo.

Read more from NBC Bay Area
The joint investigation, Tracking Californias Guns, was a partnership between the following NBC TV stations: KNTV, KNSD, KNBC, KCRA and KSEE.

The project began when NBC Bay Area Investigates submitted a California Public Records Act request to the California Attorney General Bureau of Firearms, a division within the California Department of Justice.

The agency provided a database detailing guns reported lost or stolen to California law enforcement agencies from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2015. It contained nearly 70,000 firearms.

The database provided serial numbers for the guns. Serial numbers serve as unique identifiers for weapons, like a persons social security number.

To find out if any of the guns reported lost or stolen in that nearly five year period, the investigative teams submitted CPRAs to local law enforcement agencies (police and sheriffs departments) asking for information about guns they have seized in connection with crimes in recent years.

Click here to read one of those CPRA requests.

More than 70 agencies responded to the CPRA, providing 66,000 crime records.

Using the unique serial numbers stamped on each weapon and found in the California DOJ database and local police records, matches between guns reported lost or stolen and those used in crimes were found. A total of 2,655.

The California DOJ database included information about which agency the gun was reported lost or stolen to. It also included the date it was reported lost or stolen. Most of the data gathered from the local law enforcement agencies also included dates for when the crimes happened. The local data also included what type of crime was committed and where the crime occurred. Some agencies data was more comprehensive than others.

Not all local agencies produced data in response to the CRPA requests. Those that didnt either did not have the information or refused to provide it citing exemptions in the state public record law. The most common exemption cited was California Government Code 6254(f), which allows law enforcement agencies to withhold records that are part of an investigation.

Click here to see which agencies provided records and which agencies did not.
A $35,000 reward was offered Tuesday for information leading up to the arrest of an accused sex predator who was involved in several incidents around Los Angeles and was caught on surveillance video twice breaking into two apartments.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Councilman Mitch O'Farrell and the Los Angeles Police Department will hold a news conference 8:30 a.m. outside the Civic Center in downtown Los Angeles to announce the reward.

The predator might have been involved in several incidents in the Echo Park, downtown Los Angeles, East Hollywood and Silver Lake/Sunset areas.

Surveillance footage was released Aug. 5 in the hunt for the accused sex predator after one victim said he told her: "You're pretty. I want to make you mine," before grabbing her.

The Los Angeles Police Department was searching for a man caught on camera twice in two different apartment buildings.

Police accused him of going into the victim's homes and attacking them in the East Hollywood and Historic Filipinotown areas.

The first victim left her front door open in the 800 block of N. Mariposa Avenue so she could go to the laundry room just after noon. The man can be seen using his shirt to open the door, presumably to not leave behind fingerprints.

That's when a man went inside and waited behind a door for her to return, the LAPD said.

Once the woman came back inside, the man pushed her up against the wall and assaulted her, police said.

In the second attack, the woman was in her bedroom in the 1600 block of Cortez Street. She had left her door unlocked, and the man went inside.

When she heard her dogs barking, she went to the door to find the man standing in her apartment.

The man said, "You're pretty. I want to make you mine," then put his hand in her shirt and pulled her against a couch, the victim told police.

When the woman's dog bit at the man, he ran, police said.

The man was described as 25 to 30 years old, with black hair and brown eyes, about 6 feet tall and weighing 170-190 pounds. He was seen wearing a green shirt with a depiction of the Virgin Mary, blue jeans and white shoes.
City and county leaders have approved rewards totaling $35,000 in hopes of tracking down a suspect in a string of sexual assault attempts and home invasion crimes this month in the Echo Park, Westlake, Silver Lake, Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles areas.

The Board of Supervisors approved a $10,000 reward Tuesday, as recommended by Supervisor Hilda Solis, while the Los Angeles City Council will vote next week on whether to offer a $25,000 reward.

Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, who introduced the council reward motion, said during a City Hall news conference that "we have a violent predator on the loose" who has been known to strike several times in a day.

He urged anyone who may know the man to turn him in, as did Lt. Joe Losorelli, who said the suspect is very likely to strike again.

"This suspect, we believe, has the potential to carry out a more serious crime," Losorelli said. "He's very bold, he's entered locations and attacked the people who are inside ... In my past ... experience in investigating these crimes, they don't just stop, they'll continue."

The suspect, who has been known to carry a kitchen knife, has entered apartment buildings and trespassed into homes. He's attempted sexual assaults on two women, who screamed and fought him off, according to police.

In those two incidents -- in the 800 block of North Mariposa Avenue in East Hollywood and the 1600 block of Cortez Street in Echo Park -- the man checked numerous apartment doors and then entered unlocked units, according to Solis. When a female resident returned to her apartment from the complex's laundry room, the suspect covered her mouth and pinned her to the wall.

Her loud scream ultimately scared him off. In the second case, the suspect pinned a woman against a couch and assaulted her. Her dogs somehow intervened and the woman was able to push the man off and run for help, Solis said.

The suspect is described as a light-skinned black man in his 20s or 30s, with black hair and brown eyes. He was seen on surveillance video earlier this month wearing an olive green shirt with an Virgin Mary image, blue jeans and a pair of blue and white Adidas shoes. He is connected to eight incidents, seven of which took place on Aug. 1- 2.

The most recent sighting took place this past Saturday morning in Hollywood, when the suspect was seen peeping into a home in the 1900 block Highland Avenue through a window. He was wearing a black shirt, khaki pants and red and white Nike high- top sneakers, police said. Authorities urged members of the public with any tips or leads for the Los Angeles Police Department to call (800) 222-TIPS.
A least three fires started at separate carports within blocks of each other early Tuesday morning in the Rosemead area and are being investigated as cases of arson, authorities said.

The first call of a carport fire came in at 2:25 a.m. on the 7700 block of East Hellman Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Temple Station.

The second call came in at 2:32 a.m. about a burning carport on the 3000 block of Jackson Avenue, authorities said.

The third call in came in five minutes later about a fire at another carport on the 2500 block of North Del Mar Avenue, authorities said.

No injuries were reported, said Deputy Juanita Navarro of the sheriff's Information Bureau.

The cause of the fires and details on whether they were related were unknown.

City News Service contributed to this report.
Many of them might prefer to be visiting the beach Tuesday, but more than a half-million students instead will be heading back to class as the 2016-17 school year begins for the nation's second-largest school district.

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Michelle King, members of the district's board, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education James Cole Jr. are among the dignitaries who will be fanning out across a variety of campuses to welcome the more than 640,000 students back to class.

King, who recently announced that the district had a 75 percent graduation rate for high school students in the class of 2016, will be pushing for to continue increasing that figure. She said the district is making an extra effort this year to help keep kids on track in their studies.

Specialized counselors will be assigned to "high-needs" high schools, while college and career counselors will be working with students at "struggling" middle schools. The district is also planning to provide additional resources to help English-learners -- a group that represents almost one-third of the district's students.

Parents, meanwhile, will have to ensure that their children are fully immunized before they're allowed to attend classes. A state law that took effect in January eliminated the so-called personal-belief exemption to the vaccination requirement, so LAUSD students will have to show proof of immunizations against such diseases as polio, measles, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

The start of school also means more children on city streets in the mornings and afternoons, and Los Angeles police issued a warning to drivers to be extra cautious. The LAPD will be conducting a "traffic education and enforcement task force" at various campuses to drive home the point.

Police reminded motorists to:

-- slow down, particularly in school zones;

-- be alert for small children who sometimes cannot be easily seen from behind the wheel; and

-- come to a full stop when a school bus has its flashing red lights and signal arm activated as it loads or unloads passengers.
Police investigating reports of two men wearing military-style gear carrying what appeared to be rifles through Inglewood have made two arrests after a traffic stop.

Los Angeles police said the men were taken into custody in Lake View Terrace for questioning. They appeared to be carrying what police desribed as "an assault weapon with extended magazines."

One of the men was struck by a rubber bullet fired by an officer during the brief standoff, police said.

No weapons were found during a search of the men's sport utility vehicle, police said.

The driver and a passenger in an SUV surrendered to Los Angeles police near Foothill Boulevard and Terra Bella Street, hours after a call came in at around midnight about men dressed in a full tactical outfit roaming Inglewood. One of the men was heard yelling about a police protest, Inglewood police said, and was holding what appeared to be a rifle.

Police weren't sure whether the weapons they had were real.

"It appeared to be an assault weapon with extended magazines on them," said LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green. "We're trying to determine whether they're legal weapons."

The two men left in a car and the search ended without arrests, police said.

A vehicle matching the description of the car used by the armed men was spotted in the area of Roscoe and Bardwell Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department Mission Division.
A "public nudity" arrest made five years ago could wind up costing San Diego taxpayers a lot of money.

The case centers on a leather loincloth outfit worn  over thong underwear -- by a Hillcrest man during the 2011 LGBT Pride Festival.

The city never brought charges against Will Walters, who fashioned his garb in what he called a gladiator style.

But Walters later filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging selective enforcement by the San Diego Police Dept.

And a federal appeals court has set a December trial date on his claim.

Walters, 35, is hoping to recover more than a million dollars in legal expenses.

Thats because the civil case has climbed the legal ladder all the way up to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, where one of the justices remarked, at the end of a hearing: Why dont we just say that was a bad call by a police officer?

But the city apparently isn't content to leave it there, and settle with Walters.

"I find it sad that in a city as big as San Diego, in a state as progressive as California should be, I still can't get an apology for something that the nation now accepts," Walters said in an interview Monday.

Five years ago, police officers patrolling the Pride Festival saw Walters costume legally as unacceptable, and booked him into jail on suspicion of public nudity.

City prosecutors never brought the case to court, where jurors would have been shown ample evidence of women's flesh likewise being flashed at local beaches -- and not made subject to police activity.

Selective enforcement, gender discrimination?

Questions for civil jurors to decide.

But Walters, who works in finance, faces a million dollars in legal costs that his friends and lawyers have been fronting -- when, long ago, he might have settled for a sincere apology.

"I have no idea why they didn't just tell me 'We're sorry that we did this to you, he told NBC 7. It's incredible."

This observation, from his attorney Christopher Morris: "Most people that have these kinds of things happen to them just have to chalk it up to bias, chalk it up to life experiences and just move on. But Will has the opportunity in this case to stand up for his rights. A right and an opportunity that a lot of people in this country simply don't have."

Now the taxpayers could be on the hook, because Walters is determined to "fight City Hall".

Conversely, however, he could wind up with nothing by taking the case to trial and risking a thumbs-down from the jury.

"In history, everyone has taken a risk to try to achieve equality, he says. So I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take."

To some extent, the outcome of the case could hinge on the first order of business -- jury selection, and whether issues of homophobia arise and are addressed.

In response to a request for comment on the case, Gerry Braun, spokesman for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, provided the following by email:

Mr. Walters was given a ticket (similar to a traffic ticket) by an officer who believed the outfit violated the law.

But Mr. Walters refused to sign the ticket committing to appearing in court. So he was taken into custody, just as a motorist would be if the motorist refused to sign a ticket.

The City Attorneys office received the case and decided not to prosecute because, although the officer had probable cause, our prosecutors did not believe the case could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Thus, the matter was over. Mr. Walters decided to sue the city seeking money. The city won a motion for summary judgment. Mr. Walters appealed.

The appellate court threw out his claims of false arrest and battery. The remaining issue for trial is whether SDPD engaged in selective enforcement.
A U.S. citizen is facing charges for allegedly attempting to smuggle five Mexican nationals across the U.S.-Mexico border in a hot railroad boxcar, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said.

The discovery happened at approximately 4:30 p.m. Friday when El Centro Sector agents were notified by local police of a 911 distress call.

El Centro police said they were near Clark Road and El Dorado Avenue in El Centro, approximately 90 miles east of San Diego. Police had found six people in a railroad boxcar, they said.

CBP agents discovered five of the men were Mexican nationals and one was a U.S. citizen.

All six men needed medical treatment for symptoms of dehydration and were taken to a local hospital, where they were later cleared.

The men were given a portable cooler and an ice chest with water, CBP agents said. Authorities learned that at the time of the distress call, they had just run out of water and decided to call 911 to ask for help.

Officials took the men back to the El Centro station, where they will be processed. The U.S. citizen will face human smuggling charges. He has not yet been identified.

No other information was immediately available.

Authorities ask anyone who sees suspicious activity to call the Border Community Threat Hotline at 1 (800) 901-2003.
FactCheck.org is a non-partisan non-profit organization that will hold candidates and key figures accountable during the 2016 presidential campaign. FactCheck.org will check facts of speeches, advertisements and more for NBC.

Paul Manafort, Donald Trumps campaign chairman, wrongly claimed that the NATO base in Turkey was attacked last week by terrorists. Middle East experts told us there wasnt any such attack. One expert called Manaforts remark a total fabrication.

Manafort, appearing on CNNs State of the Union, accused the media of ignoring major news stories last week and instead covering stories that were critical of Trump. He cited, for example, the extensive media coverage of Trumps comment that perhaps Second Amendment people could stop Hillary Clinton from making Supreme Court appointments.

Trumps Second Amendment comment, which he made Aug. 9, was perceived by some as a threat against Clinton. Trump later said he only meant that gun-rights supporters could deny Clinton an election victory if they mobilize to elect him. Manafort told CNNs Jake Tapper that you covered this aside about the Second Amendment for three days.

Manafort, Aug. 14: I mean, theres plenty of news to cover this week that I havent seen covered. You had information coming out about pay-for-play out of emails of Hillary Clintons that werent turned over, by the way, to the Justice Department for her investigation. Thats a major news story.

You had  you had the NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists. You had a number of things that were appropriate to this campaign, were part of what Mr. Trump has been talking about.

Lets first dispense of Manaforts comment that Clintons emails werent covered. They were widely covered, as Tapper said.

Manafort is referring to emails and other State Department documents that were released on Aug. 9 by Judicial Watch. As part of its ongoing freedom of information lawsuit against the State Department, the conservative group disclosed that it had obtained 296 pages of State Department records, of which 44 email exchanges were not previously turned over to the State Department. That email release was widely covered by the media, including CNN, which reported that the emails raise questions about the Clinton Foundations influence on the State Department and its relations during her tenure as secretary of state.

The coverage may not have been as extensive as Manafort would have liked, but he was wrong to say that it wasnt covered.

What about the failure of the media to cover a NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists?

There was no terrorist attack on a NATO base in Turkey that I am aware of, Steven A. Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told us in an email.

Other experts said the same thing. There was no attack on the American base by anyone in Turkey, Henri J. Barkey, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., said in an email. Total fabrication.

What was Manafort talking about? We dont know because the Trump campaign did not respond to our requests for information.

There was, of course, a failed military coup in Turkey on July 15. The Turkish government claims Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania, plotted the coup attempt. Turkey describes Gulen as the leader of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization, and it has asked the U.S. to extradite Gulen, as the New York Times has reported.

Kemal Kirisci, director of the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution, said Manafort may be referring to the coup attempt and the Fethullah Terrorist Organization, but he said the U.S. does not consider the group to be a terrorist organization.

The term terrorism is being used these days in a very loose fashion, Kirisci told us. The Turkish government defines this group as a terrorist organization. And in some ways it is a terrorist organization. The West does not define this group as a terrorist group.

Also, the coup attempt happened a month ago (not a week ago) and it was widely reported (not ignored by the media).

The experts with whom we consulted also told us that there were anti-American demonstrations in late July at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. Turkey is a NATO member, and Incirlik is sometimes misidentified as a NATO base. But it is not, Cook told us. It is operated jointly by the U.S. and Turkey.

The anti-American demonstrations sprung from the belief widely held in Turkey that the U.S. was behind the coup attempt either directly or simply because the man widely suspected to be the leader of the conspiracy, the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, lives in self-exile in the United States, as the New York Times explains.

Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense authorized news outlet, reported that there were at least 1,000 demonstrators on July 28, but operations at the base were not disrupted. There were protests again on July 30, and this time Turkish police blocked access to the base amid inaccurate speculation of a second military coup, Stars and Stripes reported.

Mr. Manafort may be referring to the fact that Turkish police surrounded Incirlik airbase, which is not a NATO facility, Cook said. That happened about 2.5 weeks ago.

The anti-U.S. demonstrations at the base did not receive much U.S. attention that we could find. But Barkey told us they were peaceful.

There simply is no evidence that we could find of a NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists, as Manafort claimed.
Lady Justice is blindfolded, but shed surely want to take a peek at this.

Sitting at a table in a Miami-Dade County judges chambers is Angel Sanchez, a former teenage gang-banger once so adept in breaking the law, now seeking to master it.

A judicial intern this summer for Circuit Judge Miguel de la O, Sanchez on a recent morning reviewed handwritten pleas for relief from prisoners who, like him years ago, are desperate for a second chance.

"Angel is my hero," de la O told the NBC 6 Investigators. "I havent met anyone like him."

Now 34, Sanchezs life and his freedom are testament to his resilience and intelligence, a transformation that began in prison and has led so far to a 4.0 college grade-point average, an honors college education and a full-ride scholarship to the best law school that will accept him.

"That is my dream. That is my goal," Sanchez said of becoming a lawyer.

But, to even live this long, he had to dodge bullets in Allapattah and Little Havana.

His rap sheet begins with a racketeering charge at age 11, followed in quick succession by arrests for attempted murder, aggravated battery and aggravated assault  all before age 15.

When he was 16, he participated in an attempted murder and armed robbery that resulted in a 30-year sentence imposed in 1999.

While in state prison, his fathers insistence he get an education finally took root -- in the law library.

Armed with only a ninth-grade education, Sanchez researched his case and discovered his sentence was illegal, scrawling petitions to the court that ultimately led to a successful appeal and his 30-year term being reduced to 15.

He was released in 2011, after 12 years in custody.

His father had died years earlier and a return to Miami, he reasoned, would only lead to trouble, a new crime, a violation of probation or death.

"I didnt think I could be safe in my own neighborhood," he said. "I thought a better solution: How about if I leave it all together?"

So he took a leap, deciding to become homeless in Orlando, living in a Salvation Army shelter, trying desperately for months to get a minimum-wage job and almost giving up when it seemed no one would trust a felon with even the most menial of jobs.

But, as he was walking dejectedly out of another fast-food joint interview, the manager took a second look and saw something in Sanchez others did not  and gave him the job.

That allowed him to enroll in Valencia College.

Then, another obstacle.

He was told he couldnt get financial aid without proof he enrolled with the Selective Service System when he was 18.

But Sanchez researched the law and found there was an exception for people who were incarcerated.

A Valencia financial aid manager, impressed with the documents Sanchez had assembled to prove he was, indeed, eligible for aid, decided to hire him.

So Flippin Burgers was out, and Sanchez began working for Valencia College.

For Sanchez, college life was a dream realized.

All I would think to myself and privately to God is I need one chance. I will not blow this, he said in a Valencia College video highlighting his successes. I was so excited to be doing what I had dreamt of doing so often that the day-to-day struggles didnt seem like anything to me.

And he began mastering his classes, earning a 4.0 grade-point average.

When Jill Biden, the vice presidents wife, came to campus, he asked what she and the federal government could do to help homeless students across the country get the same benefits he was able to receive in Florida.

That caught the eye of Valencia President Sandy Shugart, who connected with Sanchez and helped guide him to even greater heights.

As he continued living in the shelter, working and studying, Sanchez applied for one of the nations most generous scholarships the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship that covers up to $40,000 a year in undergraduate educational expenses.

And he got it.

It will cover up to $50,000 a year of his expenses once he gets into law school.

As he transforms his life, Sanchez is also committed to helping at-risk kids avoid the path that led him to prison.

At a recent conference for inner-city youth in Miami, Sanchez spoke their language, quoting Tupac Shakur lyrics, and telling harrowing stories from the streets and from prison.

The conference organizers, he told them, are trying to get in the way between us and our bad decisions that can affect us for the rest of our lives.

For some of them, as it was for him, respect means holding a handgun and being willing to use it.

I say I understand because I was there, he said in an interview after the presentation. But I also say be patient: everything youre going to get with that gun youre going to lose tenfold afterwards.

Angel is my hero, Judge de la O told the students at the conference. He decided to change.  First of all he decided he was going to work on his own case, he educated himself, he became a paralegal in jail, in prison, wrote his own appeals and got his sentence reduced.

In a poignant twist, it is the felon who inspires the judge.

I haven't met anyone like him and it keeps my faith going that I know that, even when I sentence sometimes people to prison, it can give them an opportunity to change, de la O said in an interview.

Now, hes back in Orlando, completing his last semester at the University of Central Florida honors college before moving on next year to law school.

During a lunch break from de la Os chambers this summer, he walked on the street where, nearly 18 years ago, an armed buddy riding shotgun in his 1967 Impala opened fire on a rival gang member, hitting only the rivals car  but producing attempted murder convictions for both the shooter and the driver -- Sanchez.

This is not something that I intended to turn out into a shooting, he said. But I think it doesnt take much reach of imagination to know that it would eventually lead to that.

For all Sanchez has accomplished, hes still a convicted felon and needs restoration of his civil rights before he can become a lawyer.

That requires years of effort and, ultimately, approval by the governor and cabinet, sitting as the state clemency board -- something few violent felons ever achieve.

But de la O is confident, vowing, I will see him standing in front of me as a lawyer. I will be with him every step of the way. Ill be there at the clemency hearing. I will be writing the letters to the governor and I will be testifying on his behalf.

The most compelling testimony, though, will come from Sanchez himself.

Gazing at a mark on a Little Havana wall -- the scar, he said, from a bullet that missed him when he was 13 -- Sanchez reflected: I think the most frightening thing is how much potential I've realized today, how much I'm achieving, what turnaround I've made -- none of this would be true had this bullet not missed.

And he knows others were not so fortunate.

I think about how many bullet holes like those haven't missed and ended some great lives that could have had some great potential realized.
The decades-long search for a fugitive featured on America's Most Wanted has come to an end in Hialeah. Police confirm Monday Anibal Mustelier, 66, was arrested and transported to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami.

Mustelier was arrested, along with two others, for their involvement in several robberies or attempted robberies of businesses in the Hialeah area, with the latest one coming last week when they broke intp a jewelry store on West 49th Street.

Mustelier was wanted by the U.S. Marshals for extortion. He was also wanted by the FBI for a bank robbery that happened in the 90's. In the late 80's, Mustelier was implicated in the attempted assassination of a convicted drug dealer.

For years, the fugitive was rumored to be the most notorious hitman in the world, with possible ties to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

It was believed Mustelier fled to Venezuela, but eventually returned to South Florida and had been hiding out ever since
A transgender Florida inmate who sought to change her name to a traditionally female one was found dead in a cell earlier this month.

The Miami Herald reports that Justin Lee Naber, who went by Stacy Lorraine Naber, was found dead Aug. 6 at the Dade Correctional Institution in Florida City.

Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady confirmed the death but declined to provide details.

Naber's aunt, 60-year-old Lee Kahn, said Naber hanged herself.

The American Civil Liberties Union in March adopted a federal complaint Naber had filed in which she sought to change her name. The lawsuit argued the name change would be psychologically therapeutic. The lawsuit was dismissed after Naber's death.

Naber was serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing a man in 2013.

Her death comes as another transgender prisoner sued the Florida Department of Corrections on Monday to demand hormone treatments that she said were promised when she pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder.

The suit filed in federal court in Tallahassee says Reiyn Keohane, 22, is receiving cruel and unusual punishment because she needs the hormone treatments to avoid depression. Since being incarcerated in men's prisons, she has tried to hang herself and attempted to castrate herself.

"This treatment is absolutely necessary to my ability to mentally function," Keohane wrote in one grievance to prison officials. "Without it I consider self-harm and suicide every single day. It is the only thing that matters in my life in this moment."

Keohane was arrested in September 2013, one month after beginning hormone treatments. Her decision to plead guilty to stabbing her roommate was motivated by a promise that hormone treatments would continue while she was in prison, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Keohane was sentenced to 15 years for the attack in Fort Myers.

Keohane has felt she was born with the wrong gender since she was 12 and began seeing therapists when she was 13. By age 14, she began living as a female. She legally changed her name when she was 17 and began hormone therapy when she was 19.

The lawsuit also complains that female underwear was taken from her when she was transferred to a new prison and officials refused to return them. The suit seeks to force the department to let her wear female clothing and to grow her hair so she can style it as a woman would. Her prison mug shot shows her with a crew cut.

"I am a transgender female and am not comfortable wearing male underwear - it is a discrimination on the basis of sex or gender to force a person to act in a certain way because of their sex," Keohane wrote in another complaint to prison officials.

The Department of Corrections said it hadn't yet received the lawsuit.
A man has been arrested on murder and weapons charges in the shooting deaths of a Queens imam and his associate in broad daylight, police say.

The suspect, 35-year-old Oscar Morel, was taken into custody late Sunday night as he approached a vehicle that police had connected to a hit-and-run earlier in the day. He appears to match the description of the suspected shooter, a senior police official said.

Senior police officials said that officers boxed him in with patrol cars, but the suspect tried to flee and hit a police car. Officers then pulled out their weapons and ordered him to surrender.

A gun and clothes similar to those worn by the suspected shooter were found at Morel's home in East New York Monday, police sources close to the investigation told NBC 4 New York. The Queens district attorney's office drew up the search warrant for the property search.

The gun was found hidden in the apartment's wall, behind drywall and screws, the sources said. Ballistics tests will be done to see if it is the murder weapon.

Morel has a past arrest for marijuana possession, sources said.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 people packed streets Monday about six blocks from where the shooting took place for a service for Imam Maulama Akonjee and his associate, Thara Uddin. Some of those attending chanted "justice" periodically throughout the service.

Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were walking home from the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque at about 1:50 p.m on Saturday when they were shot and killed.

Local political leaders, including Mayor de Blasio, addressed the crowd gathered for the service Monday.

Emotions ran high. Some people shouted for justice as a man spoke at the podium. People cheered when de Blasio assured them whoever committed the crime will be brought to justice.

Surveillance video obtained by NBC 4 New York shows the moment the two men were gunned down on an Ozone Park street.

The video shows a lone gunman approach both men from behind and fire shots from a handgun. The suspect then sprints away from the scene as both victims fall to the ground.

A sketch of the shooter released by police early Sunday shows a dark-haired, bearded man wearing glasses.

Both victims were shot in the head at point-blank range, police said. The suspect was seen fleeing the scene southbound on 79 street with the gun still in his hand.

Investigators hadn't established a motive for the shootings, said NYPD Deputy Inspector Hank Sautner during a news conference.

The shooting has struck fear in an Ozone Park Muslim community.

"We usually look left and right and to the front to be careful. But now we have to look in the back. How do you do that?" Kobir Chowdhury said.

Akonjee's sister-in-law, Ifia Uddin, had seen the imam earlier on Saturday. She said that when her husband called her to tell her the news, she was shocked and didn't believe him. She said she's heartbroken.

"I just want justice, that's it," Uddin said. "Everybody wants that."

Akonjees son-in-law, Momin Ahmed, said the community is struggling to make sense of the killing of such a beloved man.

"Everybody's not doing very good," Ahmed said. "He's the greatest guy. I've been married for 13 years. So since that, we've been talking every day. He calls me every few hours."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the shootings.

"The perpetrator of these senseless killings must be swiftly apprehended and face the full force of the law," said Afaf Nasher, the executive director of the organization's New York chapter. "We ask anyone with information about this attack to contact appropriate law enforcement authorities."

The Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, posted a message on Twitter calling the shooting a "cowardly act on peace-loving people."
What to Know Akai Gurley was shot in a darkened stairwell in November 2014

The city is paying $4.1 million and the New York City Housing Authority is contributing $400,000 to settle the wrongful death suit

Former officer Peter Liang, who shot Gurley, was sentenced to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service

New York City has reached a settlement of more than $4 million with the family of an unarmed man fatally shot by a police officer in a darkened stairwell in November 2014, the attorney for the family said Tuesday.

The city is paying $4.1 million and the New York City Housing Authority is contributing $400,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of 28-year-old Akai Gurley.

The city's Law Department called the settlement a "fair resolution of a tragic matter."

Former Officer Peter Liang was on patrol when he opened a stairwell door at a public housing building and suddenly fired. The bullet ricocheted and hit Gurley. Liang will pay $25,000 to Kim Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's daughter as part of the settlement.

Liang was sentenced to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service; he later apologized to Gurley's family.

Family attorney Scott Rynecki said the parties reached the settlement "after extensive negotiations guided by Supreme Court Justice Dawn Jimenez-Salta."

"I'm glad it's all done. I'm pleased with the outcome," Ballinger told the Daily News.

The case became a flashpoint for police accountability. The shooting came just months after the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York prompted protests and a nationwide discussion of police killings.

Liang's supporters said he has been made a scapegoat for past injustices. More than 10,000 of his backers rallied in New York and across the U.S. after the verdict, protesting his conviction.

Liang was a rookie patrolling a pitch-dark stairwell with his gun drawn while Gurley headed down to the lobby because the elevator was out of order. Liang said he was startled by a noise, fired accidentally and didn't immediately realize his bullet had hit someone.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter, but Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun said prosecutors hadn't proven key elements of that charge and reduced it to criminally negligent homicide, a lowest-level felony. He said there was no need for prison "to have a just sentence in this case."
What to Know Oscar Morel was held without bail on murder and weapons charges Tuesday afternoon in the shooting deaths of a Queens Imam and his associate

Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin were walking home from a mosque when they were shot in the head on Sunday.

No motive has been revealed for the shootings, but authorities have said the possibility of hate crime is "certainly on the table."

Ballistics tests performed on a gun found in a wall at the home of the man accused of killing a Queens imam and his associate have revealed a match to the shooting scene, according to the NYPD.

The NYPD said that the tests linked the gun found in Oscar Morel's home and the crime scene near Al-Furquan Jame Masjid mosque on Sunday. It comes a little over a day after Morel, 35, was charged with multiple counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee and his associate, Thara Uddin.

Though the motive remained unclear, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the attack was being viewed as a possible hate crime.

Morel, 35, "is accused of the murder of a highly respected and beloved religious leader and his friend as they walked home from an afternoon prayer service," said Brown, who met with family members of the victims on Tuesday. "Their deaths are a devastating loss to their families and the community that they served as men of peace."

Defense attorney Leonard Ressler said Morel adamantly denied any involvement in the shootings, telling the lawyer, "I didn't do anything."

Morel, who was employed as a porter at a Manhattan college, did not enter a plea at a hearing on Tuesday. He was ordered held without bail.

Akonjee, 55, and Uddin, 64, were walking home from the Al-Furquan Jame Masjid mosque on Sunday afternoon when they were both shot in the head. They were later pronounced dead.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Monday that Morel was seen on surveillance video leaving the area of the shooting in a black GMC Trailblazer. About 10 minutes later, a vehicle matching that description struck a bicyclist in Brooklyn.

Authorities then began watching Morel's vehicle and cuffed him on Sunday night when he allegedly rammed a NYPD cruiser being used to box his vehicle in. Boyce said that on Monday, officers found a revolver hidden behind drywall and screws in his home and clothes similar to those being worn in the surveillance video that showed the gunman.

The shooting left many Muslims in Ozone Park in fear, and chants of "Justice!" were heard as thousands paid respects at a funeral for Akonjee on Monday.
A 19-year-old St. John's student and son of a Chicago police officer was killed in a shooting on the city's South Side early Sunday, just hours before family members said he was scheduled to return to New York City to start his junior year.

Arshell Edward Dennis was sitting with another man in front of his family's home on West 82nd Street in Chicago's Wrightwood neighborhood when an unknown man approached them around 12:04 a.m. and opened fire, authorities said, striking Dennis in the chest.

The 20-year-old man sitting with Dennis sustained gunshot wounds to the arm and side of the chest, according to police.

Both men were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where Dennis was pronounced dead. The other victim was listed in critical condition, officials said.

Family members said Dennis, who was known as Trey, graduated from Chicago's Urban Prep Academy in 2014. He was home visiting his mother, who has been sick, the family said, before starting his junior year studying journalism at St. John's University in Queens.

"Our family is deeply saddened by this tragic and senseless shooting. The loss of our son is stunning and painful," the Dennis family said in a statement.

"Tragically, we were going to take him to airport today at 3 p.m. to return to school. Now because of this senseless violence, we will be grieving and planning his funeral."

"Trey was smart, funny and the light of our lives," they added.

Dennis' father is a Chicago police officer, CPD confirmed. Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that he and Superintendent Eddie Johnson served as patrol officers together in the 6th District.

Johnson spoke with Dennis's father and "is at a loss for words for the amount of grief the officer and his family are dealing with," according to Guglielmi, adding that Johnson will visit with the family on Sunday.

"Officer Dennis dedicated his life to make this city safer, and his son Arshell was a good kid, making his parents proud and studying for a promising future as a journalist," Johnson said in the statement.

"As always, the men and women of the CPD will stop at nothing to find who was responsible and bring a sense of closure and justice to Officer Dennis and all of families affected by violence.

But in order to address the root of this violence, we must change the way the criminal justice system treats the reckless, repeat gun offenders who are causing this violence and send a clear message that when you are involved in gun crimes you will be held accountable," Johnson added.

"It's a deep loss," Dennis' grandfather said. "It hurts and I wish some of this senseless killing would stop."

No one is in custody for the shooting and authorities continue to investigate.

Dennis was one of 9 people killed in shootings that left at least 30 others wounded across Chicago this past weekend.
A Long Island police officer whose nose was nearly severed when he was stabbed in the face has been released from a hospital.

The Suffolk County police officer underwent four hours of surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital following the attack, according to Newsday. He was released Sunday.

Police say the 20-year department veteran was responding to a report of a person acting irrationally and armed with knives in Central Islip on Saturday afternoon when he was attacked by 40-year-old Mark Caraway. The man was shot by another officer in the home.

Authorities didn't disclose the injured officer's name.

Caraway remains in critical condition. Charges haven't been filed against him.
Since at least 2013, Philadelphia school superintendent William Hite told state officials his schools were conducting fire drills as required by law. However, an NBC10 investigation using the districts own fire drill logs shows only 15 percent of Philadelphia public schools performed enough fire drills to comply with the fire code.

The NBC10 investigators also found state officials at the Department of Education did not audit the districts certifications to ensure accuracy.

I called the Department of Education myself to report that I had been sending them information about being in compliance when we clearly were not, Hite told the NBC10 Investigators. I have certified that were in compliance when were clearly not in compliance.

Hite credited an NBC10 investigation which first revealed schools failing to follow the fire code for discovering the error.

After your report, obviously we were not in compliance, he said.

The districts signed certifications represent the third time the NBC10 Investigators discovered a government agency failed to see the School District of Philadelphias failure to follow fire code.

The districts own records reveal some schools recorded fire drills on weekends and holidays when school wasnt in session.

City building inspections show inspectors passed schools needing, additional emergency evacuation drills.

State law requires the Department of Education to collect the certifications but not to make sure they are accurate.

I think its because the Department of Education is vastly underfunded and understaffed, state representative James Roebuck said. I certainly am going to talk to the secretary and to the department and see if they can get a higher level of urgency.

Roebuck represents West Philadelphia and is the minority chairman of the House Education Committee.

Pennsylvania Education Secretary Pedro Rivera refused to talk about his departments emergency drill oversight.

The Department relies on schools to submit accurate information in a timely manner and is continuing to monitor the situation, a statement provided by the department read. Because we understand that local law enforcement may have been contacted, it would be inappropriate for the Department to comment further.

A Department of Education spokesperson said the department believes it would be an issue for the Attorney General and Philadelphia District Attorney to investigate. According to state law it is a misdemeanor offense to falsely certify safety drills.

The Philadelphia District Attorneys office would not confirm whether or not it is looking into the matter.

Superintendent Hite said law enforcement hasnt contacted the school district.

Pennsylvanias Auditor General said he is now investigating the accuracy of school safety certifications statewide.

There are so many potential checkpoints on this that should have caught this that didnt and its got to be fixed, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said. The fact that theyre not doing it, thats a major problem and it risks the health and safety of the kids and staff in the district.

Superintendent Hite said he relies on his staff to verify the sometimes hundreds of documents that cross his desk in a given day. He said that includes the person who was supposed to check the fire drill logs.

Theyre no longer with the district, Hite said.

The School District of Philadelphia plans to change its fire drill procedure for the upcoming school year. The School Reform Commission is set to vote on the plan before September 1.

Philadelphia Fire Drills By the Numbers:
Hillary Clinton spoke at West Philadelphia High School this afternoon to promote a voter registration effort in the city over the next three months, and then the Democratic nominee for president will do some canvassing in the surrounding neighborhood.

The former secretary of state arrived at the school at 49th and Chestnut streets shortly after 1 p.m. Doors to the public opened at 11:15 a.m.

Pennsylvania is among the key swing states in the election between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

While attending a Hillary Clinton voter registration event at West Philadelphia High School, Philly hip hop artist Freeway spoke to NBC10s David Chang about how his recent health issues have influenced his political involvement.

According to a press release from Clinton's Pennsylvania office prior to the event:

"Clinton will discuss her belief that we are stronger together, with an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. She will also urge Pennsylvanians to register ahead of the October 11 deadline, as well as organize voters in their communities ahead of November's election, before kicking off a post-event canvass in West Philadelphia. The event on Tuesday is a part of Clinton's nationwide effort to register and commit to vote three million Americans this November."

Her arrival signals the beginning of a three-month effort by Democrats to register voters ahead of the Nov. 8 general election, according to Clinton's campaign.

Gymnasium decked out for @HillaryClinton rally at West Philadelphia High School pic.twitter.com/ruciOMKIxL  Lauren Mayk (@Laurenjmayk) August 16, 2016

Election Day is 84 days away.

In addition to registering new voters, nine offices across Pennsylvania will also "further engage supporters and expand its voter turnout efforts," the presidential campaign's state operation said in a release.

Here are the locations of the nine offices and when they were opened or will be opened this week:

Lower Bucks Coordinated Office Opening with Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia and State Rep. Steve Santarsiero

WHEN: Monday, August 15 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 245 Mill St Bristol, Pennsylvania 19007



Johnstown Coordinated Office Opening - Cambria County Democratic Chair Frank Frantuzzo, Democratic Nominee for the 12 Congressional District Erin McClelland, and Cambria County Controller Ed Cernic, Jr.

WHEN: Monday, August 15 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 345 Main St Johnstown, Pennsylvania 15901



Pittsburgh Strip District Coordinated Office Opening with Congressman Mike Doyle (PA-14), State Senator Wayne Fontana, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, PA Attorney General Candidate Josh Shapiro, and Allegheny Democratic Committee Chairwoman Nancy Patton-Mills

WHEN: Monday, August 15 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 108 19th St Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222



West Philadelphia Coordinated Office Opening with Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 533 S 52nd St Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19143



Harrisburg Democratic National Committee HQ Office Opening with Pennsylvania State Senator Rob Teplitz

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 1701 N 3rd St Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17102



Reading Coordinated Office Opening with County Party Chair Kevin Boughter

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 400 Washington St Reading, Pennsylvania 19601



West Mifflin Coordinated Office Opening with State Senator Jay Costa, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and Allegheny County Democratic Vice Chair Austin Davis

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 1812 Homeville Rd West Mifflin, Pennsylvania 15122



Williamsport Coordinated Office Opening

WHEN: Tuesday, August 16 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 25 W 3rd St Williamsport, Pennsylvania 17701



Stroudsburg Coordinated Office Opening

WHEN: Wednesday, August 17 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 515 Main St Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360



Hazleton Coordinated Office Opening

WHEN: Wednesday, August 17 at 6:30 PM

WHERE: 270 W Broad St Hazleton, Pennsylvania 18201
A Berks County mother and her three children killed by the children's father in a murder-suicide earlier this month are being memorialized in the form of thousands of dollars in donations pouring into the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation.



Megan Swingle Short, 33, and her three children, 8-year-old Liana, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, died Aug. 6 in their Sinking Spring home when police say Short's husband and the children's father, 40-year-old Mark Short, shot all four of them to death before turning the gun on himself. Authorities said Mark Short left a handwritten note, but have not detailed what the note said, except to say that in it, he admitted to killing his wife and children.



The Short family spent much of Willow's life at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after the little girl was born with a severe congenital heart defect that required her to undergo a heart transplant when she was just six days old. In memory of Megan Short, Willow and the children, more than $3,000 in donations poured in for the CHOP Cardiac Center on a donation page titled, "Remembering the Short Family."



"The Philly Heart Community will always remember and cherish the Short family. Taken from us all far too soon, Megan, Liana, Mark Jr. & Willow's spirit will live on in the hearts of those they touched so deeply," the page reads. "Megan gave selflessly to the heart and transplant communities to support all who walked similar journeys. The family would want donations to go to the Cardiac Center, so that other families can continue to receive the love, support and hope that the Short family received."



The page includes a quote from Megan Short: "Anytime I am given the choice between love and fear, I will choose love. To me, the greater risk is never experiencing love at all."



Authorities and relatives have said that there were domestic issues between Mark and Megan Short, and she planned to move out with the children to an apartment in Yardley, Bucks County on the day of their deaths. Officials said officers responded to the Shorts' home on Winding Brook Drive July 18 after Megan Short called them following a fight with her husband. She told officers that day that she feared he would harm her, and they advised her to file for a protection-from-abuse order. Berks County authorities, though, say she did not file for one.



A day later, authorities said, Mark Short traveled to Lancaster County and purchased the .38-caliber revolver he used to kill Megan, the children, the family dog and himself.

View and donate to the CHOP fund in Megan Swingle Short and her children's memory here.

If you are experiencing domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
A 39-year-old Delaware woman is facing charges for allegedly pouring bleach on another woman's head and a 1-year-old baby at a Wilmington Target store last week.

Delaware State Police said Lataka Mason surrendered to State Police Tuesday morning after "multiple tips from the public" poured in identifying her as the suspect in the bleach throwing seen in surveillance stills released by police over the weekend.

Mason argued with another woman after their shopping carts bumped into each other at the Target on Brandywine Parkway on Thursday, then picked up a bottle of bleach and "proceeded to pour it on the victim's head," according to police. The bleach also landed on a 1-year-old baby sitting in the victim's cart at the time, police said.

Mason fled after the attack, according to police. She's now charged with two counts of assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She faced arraignment Tuesday and is being held at the Delores Baylor Correctional Institution in lieu of $25,000 bail.
A wind-whipped wildfire that police believe was started by a 40-year-old Lake County man decimated a hardscrabble California town, destroying more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures, including a Habitat for Humanity office, in an area that was spared last year by another major blaze, officials said Monday.

Cal Fire Law enforcement and the Lake County Sheriff's office arrested Damin Anthony Pashilk on suspicion of 17 counts of arson for starting the devasting blaze, dubbed the "Clayton Fire." The counts will carry enhancements due to the massive destruction caused by the fire.

The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year, said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director. Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time."

The fast-moving wildfire had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

It's those winds that firefighters called their "biggest challenge," due to its unpredictable nature. On Saturday, the winds changed directions, sending the fire storming into a town.

"Our goal is to just hold it back," said Calfire's Daniel Berlant. "We don't want it to get any closer to these homes than it did yesterday."

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area -- some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe. A press conference was held at 7:30 p.m Monday for people affected by the fire. Some attendees were angered that they weren't allowed to return to their homes or check on their belongings.

Dee Newell was one of the residents forced to evacuate. Leaving her home with only what she could carry, she didn't have time to rescue her horse, Dakota, from the flames. It was happenstance that she was searching through Facebook and found a picture of the horse, safely away from fire. Her home, built in 1850, was destroyed.

"She's alive," Newell with relief. "She's alive, but they won't let us get her."

Fire officials have denied residents access to their homes, destroyed or still standing, due to the unruly nature of the fire.

"There's still potential the fire could shift," Berlant explained. "There's still hot spots. There's still power lines down."

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldn't protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

Residents flocked to nearby evacuation centers. In Middletown, one shelter was providing more than 200 people with three meals a day and a place to sleep. Heather Jewell, another evacuee, said they were lucky to have a roof over their heads.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of California's most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lake's modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock can't remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty they've always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks _ a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

"Everybody is just on edge,'' he said. "The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire.''

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

"It's a poor community,'' he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. "There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them.''
More crews were arriving to battle the destructive and fast-moving Blue Cut Fire through the night after the blaze charred more than 28 square miles Tuesday alone, forcing the closure of the Cajon Pass, and burning structures with no end in sight.

The devastating blaze came as a punishing summer heat wave swept across Southern California.

By Tuesday evening, 82,000 residents were under mandatory evacuations and Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency. The fire was zero percent contained at 11 p.m. PT, according to CalFire.

The so-called Blue Cut Fire, named because it started near a trail called Blue Cut, erupted at 10:36 a.m. Tuesday in the Cajon Pass near Kenwood Avenue west of Interstate 15.

Nobody was seriously hurt, but the fire left two firefighters with minor injuries.

Two firefighters were hurt when they became trapped by fire while defending homes and assisting evacuations in the Swarthout Canyon area west of the Cajon Pass. They took shelter in a home, but were briefly hospitalized and returned to the fire line defending structures.

Ash rained down from above as motorists snapped pictures and videos of the large black and gray plume rising above the Cajon Pass. Smoke could be seen in Big Bear Lake.

At least eight communities were under evacuation orders, affecting 82,340 people, according to fire officials.

The entire community of Wrightwood was forced to evacuate Tuesday afternoon, and by nightfall, the evacuations extended to the edge of Los Angeles County.

Up to 800 people evacuated Lytle Creek, a community along the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains.

One resident who only gave NBC4 her first name, Amber, said she was in the shower when deputies knocked on her door in the Happy Jack community and asked her to evacuate.



She grabbed what she could, including her dogs, and took off. But she said her neighbor refused to evacuate and remains in her house. Communication is sketchy in the area.

"There is no escape," she said. "This was the time for me to go."

The blaze closed the main route to Nevada as the 15/215 interchange was shut down.

The fire shut down both directions of Interstate 15 from Oak Hill Road to Kenwood Avenue, Caltrans reported. A photo from a motorist showed a line of vehicles sitting on a stretch of highway under a red, apocalyptic plume. A video on Instagram showed cars and semis stranded on Interstate 15. A cement truck can be seen driving in reverse.

Highway 138 to Lone Pine Canyon was closed. A video by a newspaper reporter showed flames approaching State Route 138, which runs east-west along the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the Mojave Desert.

The fire disrupted the first day of school for many in the region.

Students at Kimbark Elementary School were being transported to Cesar Chavez School in San Bernardino. Snowline Unified School District also evacuated student to Wrightwood Elementary School. Any parents who could not pick up their children by 3 p.m. would be reunited at Serrano High School.

Bus routes were canceled in Wrightwood and the West Cajon Valley for Snowline Unified. Any students who were aboard buses on the route would also be taken to Serrano High School.

Red Cross emergency shelters were set up for evacuees at the Jessie Turner Community Center, 15556 Summit Ave., in Fontana, and also at Sultana High School, at 17311 Sultana St., in Hesperia, which has become the designated overnight shelter.

A shelter for large and small animals can be taken to the Devore Animal Shelter, 19777 Shelter Way or the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, at 14800 Seventh St., in Victorville.

BNSF Railway Company also halted train operations through the Cajon Pass Tuesday due to the blaze.

The fire is raging during an extreme heat wave and a historic drought and when a red-flag fire warning and an air quality alert was issued for the area.

The number of fires in the state has grown 20 percent over the last decade, going from more than 4,800 fires in 2006 to nearly 5,800 fires in 2015, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
One year after a head-on collision killed a mother and daughter, the San Diego County District Attorneys Office announced it will not be filing criminal charges.

Diane Defenbaugh, 60, and her daughter Kathryn Katy Defenbaugh, 29, were killed on August 13, 2015. The two were driving along State Route 125 in the Bonita area of San Diego when they were hit head-on.

Angel Animal Hospital organized a memorial last week to honor the mother and daughter, who had both been veterinarians.

Family members say it was heartwarming to embrace the clients and friends of the women, but devastating to learn in that same visit, there would be no criminal charges filed.

Friends told NBC 7 that Diane and Katy Defenbaugh were not just mother and daughter but the best of friends. Their life work as veterinarians touched the lives of so many people.

Diane's brother-in-law Mark Malartsik spoke to NBC 7 over the phone from Illinois on Monday.

We don't understand why it even happened. That is the hardest part about it, Malartsik said, speaking of the accident that took the lives of both women.

The two women were on their way to SeaWorld San Diego to celebrate Katy's birthday when they were killed.

Kenneth Shaw, 27-year old at the time, had been driving northbound when he lost control and crossed into the southbound lanes of the freeway where he crashed head-on into the Defenbaughs car.

Malartsik says Shaw can't remember any of it and that the District Attorney does not enough evidence to make a criminal case.

We lost two people who were a huge part of our family and we're going to miss them the rest of our lives. Then someone else gets to move on and still live a life, Malartsik said.

Malartsik, says the DA's office only received the accident investigation in March and the deadline to file charges was August 13.

To this day, a year later, to really not have any answers as to how this could have happened, its frustrating, Malartsik said.

But the family's quest for answers won't end with the DA's decision. They sued Shaw in Civil Court where they might get a look at the investigation.

NBC 7 found that Shaw has since moved away from Spring Valley where he lived at the time of the crash and by most accounts, no longer lives in California.

The civil trial is set for February next year.
A North Park gang member will spend more than a decade behind bars for his leadership role in a racketeering enterprise supervising, managing and maintaining adult women for prostitution, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

Aaron Dwayne Pittman, known as "Q-Tip" or "Lil' Q-Tip", a member of the Black Mob/Skanless Enterprise, two North Park-based criminal street gangs, was sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday on a RICO conspiracy charge.

Attorneys say Pittman acted as a pimp, taking the lead in supervising, managing and maintaining adult women for prostitution in San Diego, Phoenix, Orlando, Honolulu and other U.S. cities.

Additionally, he would buy flights, post online ads and promote prostitution of women working for him, which he referred to as "Team Tip," according to his plea agreement.

He would conspire with other gang members to engage in sex trafficking, robbery and assault across the U.S., attorneys said.

He worked in his leadership role from the late 1990s to December 2013, according to his plea agreement.

When sentencing Pittman, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Houston said Pittman had "little regard for the women who (he) controlled."

Sex trafficking is a crime that has long-lasting and devastating effects on the women and girls who are controlled by pimps like Mr. Pittman, said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy in a statement. The 11-year sentence imposed for one of the leaders of the Black Mob criminal street gang demonstrates the seriousness of this crime and will hopefully deter other criminal street gangs from engaging in such activity.

In addition to his time in prison, Judge Houston ordered Pittman to forfeit several cars, computers, other electronic devices and pimp-related paraphernalia.

Once he is released, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.
Saint Archer Brewing Companys craft beer is now available in Sin City, the San Diego-based brewery announced Tuesday.

Saint Archer said it has expanded distribution of its line of craft brews to Las Vegas, offering the brands core and specialty beers in six-pack cans, draft and 22-ounce bottles throughout the state of Nevada.

In a press release, Josh Landan, president and founder of Saint Archer, said that every time the company has tried to expand distribution to other states, production has been constrained by capacity.

After our most recent brewery expansion we can now produce upwards of 65,000 barrels, he explained.

Over the next 18 months, Landan said the company plans to launch distribution in several other markets. The expansion into Las Vegas is possible through a partnership with distributor Breakthru Beverage.

Earlier this year, Saint Archer launched distribution in Reno, Nevada.

We feel that were going to have a lot of success in the Vegas market, said Matt Wilson, Saint Archer director of sales, in a press release.

Saint Archer, founded by Landan in 2013, operates a 33,000-square-foot brewery and tasting room located at 9550 Distribution Ave. in San Diegos Miramar area, better known as Beer-amar to craft beer connoisseurs.

The three-vessel, 30-barrel brew house boasts 120 barrel fermenters. The Tasting Room is open seven days a week: 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Gourmet food trucks typically park at the brewery, offering grub for patrons enjoying the brews.

In September 2015, brewing giant MillerCoors LLC agreed to acquire a majority interest in Saint Archer Brewing Company. At that time, Landan said the transaction would allow Saint Archer to remain in San Diego but with more resources to grow.

The brewery is known beers like the Blonde/Kolsch-style Ale, an American Pale Ale, an IPA, Hoppy Pilsner and Belgian White Ale. The companys brews have won three medals at the World Class San Diego International Beer Festival and a medal ay the Great American Beer Festival.
What to Know State law requires Charles Town to operate at least 220 racing days each year or to formally request approval for reducing its schedule.

A Humane Society database shows Charles Town stages among the most horse races in the nation, including 13,610 in 2014.

The state racing commission recommended stewards watch races from outside, but at 12 races the I-Team saw, stewards observed from a booth.

More than 160 thoroughbred racehorses have died from injuries suffered before, during or after race days at the Charles Town race track in Jefferson County, West Virginia, since January 2014, according to a review of state racing records by the News4 I-Team.

Though state records show the track does not suffer from a significantly higher rate of horse mortalities than others nationwide, an I-Team investigation found Charles Town is operating a larger number of races than almost any other track nationwide.

The review also uncovered a series of disagreements between track managers and state racing officials over safety protocols and disciplinary action against horse trainers.

Charles Town Races managers said the state racing agency is failing to follow its own recommended safety protocols and is allowing trainers with a history of horse injuries to continue operating at the track.

The 160 deaths reviewed by the I-Team include a freak and tragic incident in December 2014, in which a horse stumbled, lost its jockey, then broke free in the wrong direction, triggering a head-on collision with other thoroughbreds on the track.

An investigation into the incident ordered by the West Virginia Racing Commission recommended changes in safety protocols to prevent future mishaps, including a recommendation that a state racing steward watch future races with binoculars from an outdoor position along an elevated rail above the grandstand. The investigation found the stewards were instead watching the December 2014 race on a TV monitor from inside a glass-enclosed booth when the incident occurred.

The I-Team review of multiple races at Charles Town in the year since the recommendation was issued found stewards are continuing to watch races exclusively from inside the glass-enclosed booth, not out on the railing with binoculars. During 12 races viewed by the I-Team, racing stewards watched the race from the recommended position on the railing zero times.

The stewards would be better positioned to see wrong-way horses and other safety hazards by watching races live along the outdoor rail, Charles Town Races operations manager Erich Zimny said.

Their employees are not doing what was in their initial recommendations, Zimny said. We do feel there is some risk by them not (watching on the rail), but all we can do is bring it to the racing commission's attention.

When asked why the Racing Commission hasnt ordered the stewards to move outside to a position on the rail, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia Racing Commission said, Having constant communication with the other two stewards reduces reaction time in the event there is a problem on the track. This is delayed if a steward is outside on the rail viewing the race.

At least two of the other horses euthanized since the beginning of 2014 were overseen by assistant trainer Scott Lane of Pennsylvania. Lane is at the center of a different dispute between the track and the West Virginia Racing Commission.

Lanes horses have suffered at least five break downs at Charles Town. The state racing commission ordered Lane expelled from the track in 2014, after a state investigation concluded Lane misled investigators and showed a lack of candor about one of those horses. The horse in question, Diplomatic Gal, died from an injury suffered in a Charles Town race in early 2014, according to state records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Footage of the race obtained by the I-Team shows the horse pull up with an apparent injury midrace.

Thats their interpretation," Lane said. "I was here (the day of the workout). There was documentation saying I was here.

Lane said he is dedicated to his horses and often works a 15-hour day to prepare and care for them. A lot of devotion goes into these horses to make a little bit of money. Half the people who do it love the game. Lane said he was financially impacted by his ejection from the track. I lost everything, Lane said.

For someone to come in and accuse me of doing something that I didnt do and take everything from me, thats hard," he said. "But look where I am. Im right back here.

The state racing commissions investigation said Lane made false statements that Diplomatic Gal had undergone a required pre-race workout the day the horse suffered the fatal injury. The investigation also cited a series of other injuries suffered Lanes horses in 2014 and said, (Lanes track record) is of obvious and serious concern and must be considered in evaluating the ejection period in this case.

Though the West Virginia Racing Commission ejected Lane from Charles Town shortly after, the agency allowed him to return to his operations at the track in June 2015. By August 2015, another of Lanes horses, failed to complete the race and needed a van escort from the track, according to race records.

Charles Town managers said they strongly disagree with the agencys decision to allow Lane to resume his operations at the track. His ejection from the track was curtailed, Zimny said. He's back racing horses here. If it was up to us, unilaterally, it would not have happened.

In its statement to News4, the West Virginia Racing Commission said, The West Virginia Racing Commission utilized the services of an independent party to conduct a full hearing on the matter. The agency confirmed the hearing recommended Lane be allowed to return June 25, 2015, to Charles Town. The agencys statement said, After reviewing the transcripts of the hearing and recommended decision, the Commission voted to adopt the recommendation of the hearing examiners.

A database maintained by the Humane Society of the United States shows Charles Town stages among the most horse races in the nation. There were 13,610 horse starts at Charles Town in 2014, according to the database. A horse start is the departure of a thoroughbred from the starting gate at the track. Charles Town had almost double the number of starts of some high-profile U.S. race tracks, including Aqueduct and Belmont. Charles Town also had thousands more starts in 2014 than major Maryland tracks, including Pimlico and Laurel. Only one track nationwide, Gulfstream Park in Florida, had a larger number of horse starts in 2014, according to the database.

State law requires Charles Town to operate at least 220 racing days each year or to formally request approval from the state racing commission to reduce its schedule. The Humane Society of the United States said the length of the race year, and the larger number of horse starts, raises the risk of injuries to the thoroughbreds. If they don't have enough horses, that's a problem, Humane Society equine industry expert Keith Dane said. Horses that would've retired run longer, perhaps with injuries, in order to fill these (races)."

Horse owners and track operators often must reach agreement before state regulators formally grant Charles Town permission to reduce its racing calendar each year.

Joe Funkhouser, head of the Charles Town Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association, said a large majority of horsemen want a sweet spot, which he described as a racing calendar of less than 220 days that protects the health of the horses and the health of the local horse industry. He said a smaller minority of horsemen support racing a calendar closer to 220 days each year.

It is unnecessary for legislators to change law to reduce the 220-day race day requirement, Funkhouser said, because racing officials are empowered to make reductions each year based on weather incidents and shortages of horses.

Safety of our horses is paramount," Funkhouser said. "Everybodys livelihoods depend on the safety of these horses.

Leslie Condon, a long horse trainer in Jefferson County, West Virginia, said the length of the race year is not contributing to a higher mortality rate. Condon, whose thoroughbred Lovin It suffered a mortal injury in March 2015, said the quality of horses racing at Charles Town are no more predisposed to fatal injuries than others.

Condon said race horses are animals for whom special care is provided. (My horse) lives in a padded room, she said. He gets a bath every day. He gets groomed every day and a sponge bath every day. He has a vet who visits him on a regular basis. They get more care than if they were just standing in a field.

The West Virginia Racing Commission gave the I-Team this statement:

We are concerned with the health and well-being of our thoroughbreds in West Virginia and are committed to ensuring that our rules and regulations meet the industry standard at all times for the protection of the animals involved. During the past few years, our rules have gone through an overhaul to include State Veterinarian pre-race exams for all thoroughbreds starting in a race; medication reforms to bring our rules up to industry standards; the collection of injury information by our state veterinarians into the Equine Injury Database; the use of an accredited testing lab; the regulation of the size of toe grabs on horse shoes worn by thoroughbreds; and measures related to rider safety. We have been annually re-evaluating our rules to make sure that we keep up with industry developments.

NOTE: A prior version of this report misidentified the name of a young foal at a trainers stable in Jefferson County.

Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones and Jeff Piper.
Authorities say a 43-year-old inmate has been fatally stabbed inside a Maryland prison.

Maryland State Police said in a statement that corrections officers found John A. O'Sullivan lying on the floor and bleeding Sunday morning after a fight inside Jessup Correctional Institution in Anne Arundel County.

Police say O'Sullivan died at the prison.

Multiple prisoners were taken into custody, but no charges had been filed as of Sunday night.

The Baltimore Sun reports O'Sullivan is at least the second inmate to have been killed inside the prison this year.

Johnnie Sellers, 37, was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault in the death of his cellmate, Maryland State Police announced Monday.

Glenn Smith, 58, was last seen uninjured before cells were locked for the night Jan. 17. The next morning, Sellers told a correctional officer that Smith was hurt. Smith died three days later.

Smith's death was ruled a homicide from multiple blunt force injuries, police said.
An Army veteran who lives in Maryland man spent tens of thousands of dollars to start his own business, but almost four years later, hes still waiting to get to work.

Nathan Faison of Landover has a dream of starting his own barbecue business, so he met with the owner of Riverbend Smokers and Concession Trailers in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and signed a contract for a 25-foot trailer with a smoker grill and an 8-foot porch. He made two payments totaling $29,500.

The contract said his commercial smoker would be complete by Oct. 31, 2012, but four years later, he still doesnt have his smoker.

He said every time he heard from Riverbends owner, Faison was told he didnt have any money.

Faison filed a complaint with Virginia's Attorney General's Office earlier this year.

And they did nothing, he said.

The companys website has been taken down, but News4 did reach the owner, Steve Randles, by phone and asked him how long it takes to build the smoker Faison ordered. He said three months and proceeded to say he did not have to explain why Faison's smoker wasnt built. Then he hung up.

He didnt answer his door when News4 visited his Fredericksburg home, which is also his business address.

Meanwhile, Faison has been unemployed for four years. He said he spent all of his money on the smoker.

Im tired of all the lies, and its time to get my money, try to get back on track and get to work, he said.

The Attorney Generals Office said it does not comment on open cases.
A 5-year-old girl from Washington, D.C., died in a serious crash along I-66 westbound in Haymarket, Virginia, Monday morning.

Four vehicles were involved in the crash just after 9 a.m. as they approached the Route 15 exit in lanes narrowed from four to two due to construction.

Traffic was slowing, and the driver of a Nissan pickup truck failed to break in time and smashed into a smaller Chevrolet Cobalt, Virginia State Police said. Two other vehicles were damaged when the Cobalt was pushed forward.

Nayla Mitchel, the 5-year-old girl in the backseat of the Cobalt, died at the scene, Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reported. Her parents -- 26-year-old Simone Rhodes, who was driving, and 34-year-old Gerald Mitchel -- were flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

The drivers of the other two vehicles that were struck were treated at the scene.

The driver of the truck was taken to a hospital for treatment. He is charged with reckless driving.

Westbound traffic was backed up for hours, with cars stuck between the accident and the Route 29 interchange. For a time, police diverted westbound traffic through the median to the eastbound lanes to backtrack to the exit. The detour on John Marshal Highway clogged Haymarket for much of the day. Westbound I-66 reopened about 1 p.m.
A Maryland woman charged with lying to a grand jury investigating the 1975 disappearance of two sisters entered an Alford plea Tuesday.

Patricia Welch received a suspended sentence of two years, a $1,000 fine and five years unsupervised good behavior, Bedford County Commonwealth Attorney Wes Nance told News4.

Twelve-year-old Sheila and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon were last seen on March 25, 1975, at the Wheaton Plaza Mall near their home in Wheaton, Maryland.

Prosecutors believe Lloyd Welch kidnapped the young girls, killed them and buried their burned remains on family property in the mountains of Bedford, Virginia. Lloyd Welch is the only person who has been charged in the case.

Prosecutors have called Patricia Welch's husband, Richard Welch, "the prime focus'' in the case, but he has not been charged.

Nance told the judge that prosecutors have phone records and audio recordings of Patricia Welch talking to witnesses and urging them not to cooperate with investigators.

Patricia Welch had denied talking to witnesses when questioned before a grand jury in December 2014.

An Alford plea allows the defendant to maintain their innocence while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence to gain a conviction.

Patricia Welchs daughter, Patricia Ann Welch, told News 4 her mother never told anyone not to cooperate.

"She simply told people they didnt have to talk to anyone they didnt any to talk to, Patricia Ann Welch said.
Rudolph Giuliani, promoting Donald Trump's national security plan, said Monday that in the "eight years before (President Barack) Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States." That's an apparent omission of the largest terror attack in United States history.

Giuliani was mayor of New York City on Sept. 11, 2001 and in the hours after the World Trade Center fell, while then-President George W. Bush was largely unseen, he became the face of American grief and determination.

His brave and graceful performance in the weeks after the towers' collapse earned him the nickname "America's mayor" and he was soon launched into national political stardom, his name synonymous with the response to the attacks. That made his comments Monday all the more puzzling.

"Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office," Giuliani said ahead of Trump's speech on national security.

Rudy Giuliani on Pence, 9/11 and no successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks in the U.S. before President Obama.https://t.co/mCT15iRsq9  CSPAN (@cspan) August 15, 2016

The eyebrow-raising comments, which were immediately lampooned on social media, were a far cry from Giuliani's usual speeches, which are often peppered with references to the resolve New Yorkers displayed after the attacks.

Giuliani has often spoken about his experiences on and after the attacks. The Los Angeles Times reports that Vice President Joe Biden once said of the former mayor, "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence  a noun and a verb and 9/11."

Jake Menges, a spokesman for the former mayor, told The Associated Press on Monday evening that Giuliani was referring to a lack of major attacks during the remainder of Bush's term.

https://twitter.com/JamilSmith/status/765254546159378432

Earlier in his speech the former mayor made several mentions to the 2001 attack.

"Remember: We didn't start this war; they did. We don't want this war; they do. And they didn't start it even in 2001. They attacked the World Trade Center in 1993," Giuliani said minutes before his apparent gaffe.

Though Giuliani governed the nation's largest city as a moderate Republican, who moved much further to the right when he welcomed Bush to New York for the 2004 Republican National Convention and as he mounted an ill-fated 2008 presidential bid. He has fashioned himself as a sharp critic of Obama as well as Hillary Clinton, whom Giuliani was to run against for the U.S. Senate in 2000 before bowing out after a cancer diagnosis.

But while Giuliani has never publicly blamed Bush for the 2001 attacks, Donald Trump on several occasions during this year's Republican primary made a point of saying that the attacks happened "during the reign of George Bush."

"You always have to look to the person at the top," Trump said in October. "Do I blame George Bush? I only say that he was the president at the time, and you know, you could say the buck stops here."

It wasn't the only time the mayor misspoke at the rally. He also said that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence served the people of Ohio well.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More
A teenager has been hospitalized after being shot last night on Gavin Way in South Boston.

Police are actively investigating the shooting, which occured right before midnight on August 15.

Police said the victim is a 15-year-old male who was allegedly shot while in a vehicle. He then apparently drove to Boston Medical Center.

The teen was allegedly shot three times and underwent surgery at the hospital, where police said he was in serious condition.

Police are looking for one to two suspects who were seen allegedly running toward Colony Avenue after the shooting. No other details have been released at this time. Anyone with more information is asked to contact the police.
Maine state police said a man they were chasing in connection with a an alleged domestic violence shooting killed himself during the pursuit.

Shane Prior, 34, of Cushing allegedly shot a woman in Jefferson on Monday before leading authorities on a pursuit along Route 32.

Police responded to the call from a 30-year-old woman, identified as Prior's ex-girlfriend. According to police, she was shot in the arm at 130 Somerville Road, and was taken to Miles Memorial Hospital for treatment.

When responding to the call, Prior was seen allegedly driving his pickup truck away from the scene. Police pursued him for roughly three miles on Route 32. Prior stopped his truck and fired his gun at one officer, who shot back. Prior allegedly then fatally shot himself in the head inside the truck.

The officer who was shot, Sgt. Jason Madore did not sustain injuries and is on paid administrative leave. As per standard procedure in Maine for all police-involved shootings, the Maine Attorney General's Office will be investigating the incident.

The State Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy on Prior's body.

Route 32 had been closed overnight, but has since reopened.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has teamed up with local politicians to introduce a new project that would bring homes to those in need.

During a press conference on Monday, Baker announced that 1,400 units of housing will be created for those that are homeless or considered low-income. Out of those 1,400 units, 90 percent will be qualified for affordable housing. Forty-six of those units will benefit the homeless who utilize resources at Boston's St. Francis House.

"While we are here to talk about housing, we understand that it doesn't just end with housing," said Karen Lafrazia, Executive Director-St. Francis House. "To ensure that people not only have a place to live, but they can thrive in their new homes."

St. Francis House already has more than 50 units. The new units will be available in 18 months.
Six public schools in Boston were found to have unsafe levels of lead in their drinking water after being tested.

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang issued a statement explaining that 30 school buildings in the city had been tested for lead. While 24 of those buildings were cleared, seven schools in six buildings were found to have higher levels of lead than the acceptable threshold set by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

All of the schools were tested in the spring. Chang says the schools that failed the summer test had previously passed.

"These new results, indicating higher levels, are likely due to testing conditions in the summer that did not reflect typical fountain usage during the school year," Chang wrote.

"That's really shameful and it certainly should be corrected or it should be shut down and making sure the kids aren't drinking that water," said Elliot Schwartz of Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood.

"They're going to have to keep testing because that can't be, you can't have that," said Boston resident John Denapoli. "They're going to have to do what they have to do, if they have to change the pipes, they have to change the pipes."

"They have to figure out what's the source," added Bobbi Denapoli. "If the lead is in the pipes, then where else is it?"

The following schools failed:

Boston Latin School

Patrick Lyndon K-8 School

Lee Academy School

Josiah Quincy Elementary School

F. Lyman Winship Elementary School

Jeremiah E. Burke High School

Dearborn STEM Academy

The water fountains in these buildings were deactivated and replaced by bottled water coolers.

A parent of two students at the Lyndon School told necn by phone he's at least pleased the district is shining a light on the problem.

"I think they're doing the best they can," said Ronak Shah. "I'm still hoping they get out of being reactive around it and doing a patchwork and sort of beginning to address having a long-term conversation."

The school district says it is working with health and water experts to try to determine a long-term solution, including exploring flushing methods and filtration systems.

Boston Public Schools dealt with lead problems throughout last school year.
A particularly lethal strain of heroin labeled "Game of Thrones" is circulating in northern New England, where officials say at least 10 people overdosed on the highly potent drug over the weekend.

A 32-year-old man in Lebanon, New Hampshire, had to be revived Friday night with Narcan, an opioid-reversal medication, after an overdose. On Monday, police arrested 30-year-old Brock Richardson of Enfield on charges of possession with intent to distribute and with the sale of heroin.

Lebanon Police

Caleb Dumont-Willey, a 21-year-old Lebanon man police believe bought heroin from Richardson, was also arrested.

"The heroin that was recovered, stamped 'Game of Thrones,' appears to have a high potency level," Lebanon Police said in a release. "Although all heroin should be considered potentially lethal, this particular batch led to an overdose and near death."

Vermont health officials believe the strain may be laced with fentanyl, an opiate up to 50 times the strength of heroin. Multiple doses of Narcan were needed to revive the people who overdosed, and "Game of Thrones" appears to be connected to at least some of those incidents.
The remains of a Korean War veteran are back in his hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 65 years after he died, thanks to his nephew's 11-year effort seeking their return.

The remains of U.S. Army Cpl. Ronald Sparks were flown from Hawaii to Logan International Airport on Tuesday. Sparks died in a North Korean POW camp in May 1951 at age 20.

"The worst part of that is we never knew where. His parents never knew if he was even buried in a grave what happened to him," Bob Sparks, his nephew said.

Sparks' remains had been interred at a military lab until he recently was identified through DNA testing. His nephew will forever remember the call confirming he had been positively identified.

"My throat tightened, my eyes welled up and I had to call back because I couldnt speak," Sparks said. "It was such overwhelming joy that I just couldn't speak."

Family members, veterans and city officials were among the crowd that lined Massachusetts Avenue Tuesday to pay tribute as his remains passed by.

Sparks says he made it his mission to locate his uncle's remains following a deathbed plea from his father. He only met his uncle once, the night before he shipped out.

"Eleven years after my dad asked me to find him, we found him," Sparks said. "And today he's home back here in Cambridge."

A wake for Cpl. Sparks will be held Thursday at DeVito Funeral home in Arlington. He will be buried Friday in Everett with full military honors.
Police in Massachusetts are asking Jimmy Buffet fans attending a concert this weekend to leave behind the homemade toilets.

The post on the Mansfield Police Department's Facebook page calls on "parrotheads" attending the Saturday concert at the Xfinity Center to leave the "tent toilets" at home. The amphitheater's parking lots open early so fans can tailgate.

The post is accompanied by photos of improvised toilets made by placing toilet seats over buckets fitted with trash bags. One of these makeshift toilets is mounted to the bumper of a pickup truck.

Police say the lots will have an abundance of toilets and the so-called tent toilets won't be tolerated.

Police tell the fans: "No one likes to poo in a Porta-Loo, but think of it as an experience to build character."
Massachusetts education officials said Monday they had received proposals for six new charter schools and the expansion of 12 others, but added that current state caps on charters would prevent all of them from being approved.

Voters will consider a ballot question in November that would allow for annual increases in charter school enrollment outside of the existing caps.

In a statement, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it would evaluate the applications before deciding which groups will be invited to submit more detailed proposals. Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester will then submit a list of finalists to the state Board of Education for a vote in February.

Even if all of the applications were deemed worthy, some could not be approved because of the current caps, the department said.

"Massachusetts has some of the strongest charter schools in the nation, and I am pleased that groups continue to be interested in opening and expanding schools here," Chester said.

Charter schools are public schools that operate independently from local school committees. Backers, including Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, contend the schools offer students high-quality educational alternatives to mainstream public schools.

Critics, including teachers unions, argue they siphon financial resources away from traditional schools and fail to adequately serve certain groups of students, including the disabled and English-language learners.

State law bars most school districts from allocating more than 9 percent of its net school spending to charter school tuition. The state's lowest-performing school districts can allocate up to 18 percent.

The ballot question would allow the board to add up to a dozen new or expanded charters each year outside of those existing caps.

Combined, the proposed new or expanded charters seek to add between 5,000 and 6,000 new slots for students. There are currently about 32,000 students on waiting lists to attend charter schools, according to state officials.

The applications include:

Collegiate Charter School of Pioneer Valley, for kindergarten through grade 12 in Chicopee and Springfield.

Equity Lab Charter School, for grades 5-12 in Lynn.

MAP Academy Charter School, for high school students in Plymouth, Wareham and Carver.

Old Sturbridge Academy Charter Public School, for grades K-8 in Sturbridge and surrounding towns.

The Entrepreneurial Village, for grades K-5 in Brockton, Stoughton and Avon.

Hampden Charter School of Science II - for grades 6-12 in Holyoke, Westfield and Agawam.

Six of the 12 existing schools seeking to expand proposed adding more than 100 seats.
Barbara Healy has a stunning property in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

But nearly two dozen trees that mark her hideaway on White Oak Run have been spray painted with blue circles the size of softballs.

"They said that this was part of their program that they have to reduce outages," Healy said.

They is NStar - now known as Eversource. Healy said the power company sent a letter asking permission to remove her trees and she said yes. But that was more than two years ago.

"We had people out here for days - people surveying and then people doing the dots and the ribbons and then nothing happened," she said. She points into her front woods, "It won't take much to take this tree down."

Healy lost power for a week after both hurricanes Bob and Gloria and for three days after Sandy.

"We lose our fridge, we lose our water. It's a major inconvenience," she lamented.

And it's not just Healy's trees. We spoke to other neighbors with the same complaint and found dozens of spray painted trees for more than a mile.

Healy said over the last two years, she's called and emailed Eversource a half dozen times. She characterized last month's response from a customer service representative as pretty typical.

"Oh, she couldn't believe it," Healy said. "She said, 'It couldn't be two years -we'll get back to you right away. Someone will get back to you by Monday.' It never happened."

We asked Eversource spokesman Mike Durand if he thought two-plus years was a reasonable response time.

"Two years can be a reasonable time," he said. "In some cases it can be less and in other cases more."

Though he initially said two years was reasonable, Eversource's arborist later clarified that most jobs take six months or less and they hope not to hit the one year mark.

Durand insists Healy's trees were not an "immediate" threat, so they prioritized removals in neighboring Westport first.

"I can understand that there would be questions," he said. "We have spoken with Ms. Healy and made sure that she was aware to the extent we could on the timing of our project."

But Healy said no one gave her any answers at Eversource until she started peppering the company with calls after she got in touch with necn. She claims she has been given conflicting reasons for the delay.

First she was told that Eversource didn't have the resources to take the trees out two years ago - then that the town was holding up the removal because White Oak Run is a scenic road.

But we talked to Dartmouth's tree warden and he said it's not a scenic road and Eversource hasn't asked for any clearance for jobs on White Oak Run.

About the responses to Healy, Durand said, "That's not the way the process should work. That's not the way we want to communicate with our customers so we will definitely look into that."

Healy hopes so and hopes that her trees won't be left to fall.

"In a fancy neighborhood it wouldn't have been left for two years, but we're out in the woods so we're not high priority, I guess," she said.

After our interview, the Eversource arborist went to check Healy's trees again. The company told us and her that they hope to begin removing them in the next two months.
Police in Nashua, New Hampshire, are searching for the hit-and-run driver that struck one of their cruisers on Sunday evening.

The empty cruiser was parked on Crown Street near the Independence Rowing Club when police said it was hit at 7:11 p.m.

Authorities said the vehicle, which fled the scene, is believed to be orange and should have moderate damage to its right front corner.

Any witnesses to the incident or if anyone has information, is asked to call the Nashua Police Department at 603-594-3500.
The mayor of New Haven said Police Chief Dean Esserman will not be returning to work immediately following his suspension.

Mayor Toni Harp said Esserman's disciplinary leave, which started on July 25, will end on Monday as planned, but he will now be on temporary sick leave.

I am eager for residents, property owners and those visiting and doing business in New Haven to be assured their public safety requirements are being effectively met by the very capable command staff and officers of the New Haven Police Department, Harp said.

On Friday questions surrounded Esserman's status after sources said a meeting between the mayor and the police chief was about his resignation.

Laurance Grotheer, the city's spokesman, said Esserman did not resign nor did the mayor ask him to resign.

Earlier this year, Esserman allegedly berated a waitress at a New Haven restaurant, an employee told NBC Connecticut. The accusations of the incident surfaced during his paid absence.

It was the second time the mayor punished the chief since he was appointed to the top job in the police department. In 2014, he was reprimanded after a confrontation with an usher at Yale Bowl.

Assistant Chief Anthony Campbell has been acting chief during Esserman's absence.

Protests to call for Esserman to be removed from his position are planned for today at police headquarters and city hall,
Police in Bedford, New Hampshire, are searching for a suspect they believe robbed a residence last Thursday.

According to police, officers responded to a burglary at a residence on New Boston Road near the intersection of Polly Peabody Road.

Officers checked the residence but did not find anyone.

The homeowner told officers she found the back door and back window open.

Jewelry, a jewelry box, and a home phone were stolen.

Officers believed the burglary occurred sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 10:40 p.m.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
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A private funeral mass was held Tuesday morning for the New York City Google employee found dead a week ago after she went for a run near her mother's Massachusetts home.

Facing unanswered questions regarding Vanessa Marcotte's death, family and friends shifted their focus to celebrating her life as she was laid to rest. Marcotte was remembered as a young woman who loved the outdoors, had a great sense of style and had a passion for volunteering.

Marcotte was found dead last Sunday night hours after she went for a run near her mother's home in Princeton, a rural town west of Boston.

A wake was held Monday night for the 27-year-old who graduated with honors from Boston University. Runners, family, friends and community members met Sunday night in the small town for a 5K run in honor of Marcotte.

Investigators believe Marcotte fought for her life and left her attacker wounded. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the tip line at 508-453-7589.

The Worcester District Attorney's Office, Massachusetts State Police and Princeton Police are working together on the investigation.
The New Hampshire prep school at the center of a sex assault case is demanding that a federal court release the victim's name.

Owen Labrie was found guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault and other charges. Now, St. Paul's School is being sued on allegations that it did not do enough to protect its students.

According to the Boston Globe, the victim, who was 15 at the time, and her family were not identified in the suit.

In its filing, St. Paul's argues that the family is "hiding behind anonymity" to attack the school's reputation.
An alleged prank led to the arrest of two teenage brothers in Natick, Massachusetts, over the weekend.

Police said the teens were wearing all black, along with white masks on Saturday night, when a cleaning lady from a bank on Main Street went to throw the trash in the back dumpster. When the two teens approached, the cleaning lady dropped the trash and said, 'don't come any closer.'

Authorities said one of the teens allegedly lunged at her.

Necn spoke with people who work directly across the street at Corrados of Natick, and while they didn't witness what happened, they called it a frightening situation.

"I noticed the cleaning person out taking trash out," said Peter Salis, owner of Corrado's.

Police say the cleaner had no idea what the teen's intent was, and was able to run away and frantically scream for help, until someone nearby called police.

"We take the trash out sometimes later in the evening and it's dark and it could easily have been one of us that happened to," said Mikela Tock, Corrado's employee.

Officers said they found the teens a short distance away walking with their hoods still up on their heads. Arrested were Chandler Ortiz, 18, and his brother, a minor, both of Natick.

Authorities said the teens weren't remorseful and smiled as they explained the prank, calling it a "social experiment,"  that they just wanted to scare the woman.

Police told the teens the cleaning lady has prior military experience and carries a firearm on occasion and was actually in fear for her life.

Both teens are facing a charge of disorderly conduct.
Mad Hatters strike at Red Flag

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. - F-15E Strike Eagles, personnel and equipment from the 492nd Fighter Squadron out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England kicked-off exercise Red Flag 16-4, to conduct air combat training with joint and U.S. allies combat air forces at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, August 15.



The exercise is held four times annually at Nellis, with the goal to prepare warfighters and support personnel from around the world for air combat in a realistic training environment from planning to execution on the Nevada Test and Training Range.



"This is a great training opportunity for us," said Lt. Col. Matthew Hund, 492nd Fighter Squadron commander. Exercises like Red Flag give us the ability to train to the high-end fight in a peacetime environment, and teach us to survive and win together.



Over the next two weeks, the Mad Hatters will test their skills against realistic threat systems and an opposing enemy force that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.



As the core fighter squadron for this exercise, its important that the 492nd set the tone and start this iteration of Red Flag off on the right foot, said Hund.



Red Flag is the U.S. Air Forces premier air-to-air combat training exercise and one of a series of advanced training programs that is administered by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center and executed through the 57th Wing's 414th Combat Training Squadron. The exercise has expanded to include all spectrums of warfare (command, control, intelligence, electronic warfare) during day and night missions with the goal to improve tactics and increase aircraft and aircrew capabilities.




Prize competitions backed by the government continue to grow with great success, according to a report by the White House Office of Science and Technology.

+More on Network World: DARPA $2M contest looks to bring AI to wireless spectrum provisioning+

It has been over six years that the government set the America Competes Act which in combination with Challenge.gov has prompted more than 700 public-sector prize competitions that have doled out more than $80 million in prizes.

The Office of Science and Technology says prize competitions and challenges have an established record of spurring innovation in the private and philanthropic sectors letting the government:

Pay only for success and establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or approach is most likely to succeed;

Reach beyond the usual suspects to increase the number of solvers tackling a problem and to identify novel approaches, without bearing high levels of risk;

Bring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear;

Increase cost-effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars;

Establish clear success metrics and validation protocols that themselves become defining tools and standards for the subject industry or field.

According to the report: The unique benefits and diverse outcomes of prizes have been well documented in the private, philanthropic, and public sectors. Early adopters in the public sector have seen the value of well-designed prizes over the last decade. For example, the Chief Technologist of NASA reports that NASA recognizes the value of the public as a strategic partner in addressing some of the countrys most pressing challenges.

+More on Network World: What are grand technology and scientific challenges for the 21st century?+

The agency is working to more effectively harness the expertise, ingenuity, and creativity of individual members of the public by enabling, accelerating, and scaling the use of open innovation approaches including prizes, challenges and crowdsourcing. These methods present an extraordinary opportunity to inspire the development of transformative solutions by offering a means to engage with non-traditional sources of innovative ideas, all in a remarkably cost-effective way.

The report noted a number of successful challenges including:

IARPAs Automatic Speech Recognition in Reverberant Environments (ASpIRE) Challenge: ASpIRE challenged teams to apply and refine state-

of-the-art speech-to-text (STT) techniques to transcribe recordings of native speakers of American English. Typically, speech-recognition systems are trained on speech recorded in environments very similar to those in which they are expected to be used. The ASpIRE challenge tackled a more ambitious problem of building accurate systems for automatically transcribing speech recorded in noisy and reverberant environments without any training data that resembled the challenges final test conditionsand without knowing anything about the recording devices used, the placement of the talker relative to the recording device, or the acoustics of the rooms where the speech was recorded. Despite this ambitious goal, the winning solutions were significantly more accurate than IARPAs baseline system. The four ASpIRE challenge winners developed systems that delivered 50% error reduction or greater compared to the IARPA baseline system. IARPA structured this prize competition so that prize payments would be made only if the desired performance requirements for the challenge were met or exceeded. Since the requirements were exceeded and the baseline significantly improved upon, IARPA considers the results to be quite successful for the cost.

NASAs Disruption Tolerant Networking Challenge Series (DTN): The DTN Series is an ambitious, multi-year series of challenges to develop data networking protocols that can extend the Internet into the Solar System. The challenges helped improve the security, performance, and application of network protocols that can withstand the time delays caused by the immense distances between planets and the disruptions and non-contiguous paths of the space communication links. The series of challenges included two challenges in 2013, two challenges in 2014, and three challenges in 2015.The most significant challenge to close in 2015 was the Astronaut Email Challenge. This challenge aimed to fix an existing problem with the International Space Station (ISS) email systems ability to handle large file attachments for astronauts by developing an architecture that uses the DTN protocols to solve the problem. The Astronaut Email challenge received 24 entries for 18 contests, and awarded 12 winners a total of $23,638. The Astronaut Email software will begin the process of flight certification for eventual use on the ISS. If this issue had been fixed in-house, NASA estimates it would have cost $193,000. In the challenge format, this challenge cost NASA about $81,000, 42% of the estimated in-house solution cost.

DARPAs Cyber Grand Challenge: The recently completed DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC) utilized a series of competition events to test the abilities of a new generation of fully automated cyber

-defense systems. CGC teams created automated systems to compete against each other to evaluate software, test for vulnerabilities,

and generate and apply security patches to protected computers on a network. The competition drew teams of top experts from across a wide range of computer-security disciplines. Collectively, the automated systems participating in CGC were able to mitigate all currently known security flaws in the sample software (no individual system accomplished this). Competitors systems were able to identify 96 of the 131 security vulnerabilities (73%) in the software challenges without human assistance. The automated synthesis of input proofs and secure replacement software without human involvement demonstrated a groundbreaking level of autonomy. [Cyber-reasoning platform Mayhem from Carnegie Mellon University spin-out All Secure won the $2 million first prize in the completion completed this month.]

USAIDs Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge: The Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge sought out solutions to combat the challenges faced by

health care workers. These challenges include personal protective equipment (PPE), lack of adequate health centers, difficulty in tracking person-to-person transmission, the absence of rapid point-of-care diagnostics, and a need to accommodate traditional burial ceremonies involving direct contact with a deceased body. The purpose of USAIDs open ideation challenge was to engage a wide variety of creative thinkers with diverse expertise around the globe to rapidly source and develop potential solutions to this epidemic. The Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge sourced over 1,500 ideas and potential solutions.

Check out these other hot stories:

Much ado about the ransomware scourge

Cisco uncovers security threat in industrial control system

Open vSwitch finds new home at the Linux Foundation

What will space living look like? NASA picks 6 habitat prototypes

Branch office links, big bandwidth needs drive SD-WAN evolution

ITS ALIVE! DARPA looks to build programmable, self-healing, living building materials

DARPA wants to build very low frequency wireless systems

Feds need to do a better job of measuring telecommuting benefits

IRS warns on super summer scam scourge
Aussie cops hacked U.S. TOR users as part of a child porn investigation, according to a report by Motherboard. The IP addresses of at least 30 Americans were turned over to the FBI.

The police knew the owner of the dark web child porn site called The Love Zone started all of his messages with hiyas. Search engine results turned up over 450,000 hits for hiyas, but police whittled away at it until they had identified the owner; the former childcare worker is currently serving 35 years for "evil, depraved" sex offenses.

After the Queensland Police Services Task Force Argos took over The Love Zone owners account, the cops could see what users were viewing on the TOR-hidden site and could read all private messages, but they could not see the users IP addresses. So, after running the site for six months, the Australian police resorted to social engineering and hacking, sending out a child porn video as bait.

A court filing from 2015 described how Australian police obtained the real IP addresses.

When a user clicked on that hyperlink, the user was advised that the user was attempting to open a video file from an external website. If the user chose to open the file, a video file containing images of child pornography began to play, and the [foreign law enforcement agency] captured and recorded the IP address of the user accessing the file. FLA configured the video file to open an Internet connection outside of the Network software, thereby allowing FLA to capture the users actual IP address, as well as a session identifier to tie the IP address to the activity of a particular user account.

Motherboard called it hacking but also noted that it is unclear if Australian police hacked computers in other countries or if they obtained a warrant to do so.

Another court filing mentioned that the IP addresses of more than 30 registered users were turned over the FBI. Turning those U.S.-based IPs over to an American intelligence agency is not so much the issue as is how the IPs were obtained, such as if hacking were involved and if it were even legal. Some U.S. judges have ruled that using TOR does not give users a reasonable expectation of IP address privacy; others have decided that using slick computer tricks to obtain IP addresses is a violation of Fourth Amendment rights.

Although the FBI wouldnt comment on The Love Zone operation, the agency told Motherboard, The FBI, led by its Legal Attaches in numerous countries around the world, seeks to foster strategic partnerships with foreign law enforcement, intelligence, and security services, as well as with other U.S. government agencies by sharing knowledge, experience, capabilities and by exploring joint operational opportunities.

The FBI has come under fire for the network investigative technique (NIT) it used during the investigation into the TOR-based Playpen child porn site, which had 150,000 members. Several judges have found the FBIs warrant was invalid. Those judges decided that just because a warrant was issued in one district, it did not give the FBI the legal right to hack computers in other districts. One hundred thirty-five cases are currently being prosecuted.

And just as an FYI, the Aussie cops caught another guy from The Love Zone site because even though he cleaned up the meta data on child porn pictures, he didnt clear the make and model of his Olympus camera. With access to private messages and a clue that the guy was in southeast Asia, the police combed over Flickr and TrekEarth. That led them to a photography studio publishing images with that type of camera.

Some of the same kids featured in the child porn were featured in photos that contained nothing illegal. After the photographer posted on Facebook about booking a flight, including a hashtagged airline, the police arrested him at the airport and seized his computers and hard drives. A detective told The Guardian, It was almost too easy.

Two of the Argos officers were given awards for so successfully pulling off the identity of The Love Zone owner for six months.
King Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde of Belgium will make an official visit to Japan in this October upon the invitation of Emperor Akihito of Japan. The visit is made for the purpose of developing "more friendship, good will and relations of cooperation in various fields". Also, that visit is made between October 9-15 in order to celebrate the 150th anniversary of beginning of bilateral relations between Belgium and Japan. Royal Couple of Belgium will visit Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka cities and attend an official dinner to be held at the Imperial Palace.
What if one blood test could screen for more than 50 types of cancer?
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Reporter/Columnist

Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth).
Blog Hinangai

While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is the major cause of acute renal failure in children. It follows gastroenteritis caused by a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strain, most frequently O157:H7, though other strains are also implicated in some outbreaks.

The infection is self-limited in most children, but in 10-15% of cases, the toxins are absorbed into the bloodstream and bind to receptors on endothelial cells in the brain, kidney and gastrointestinal tract. This binding activates the complement system and initiates a cascade of microthrombotic and inflammatory events leading to ischemic damage to multiple end-organs.

Understandably, the prevention of this chain of events is the key to lowering the incidence of HUS, however no specific antidote has yet been found. The measures listed below have been found useful in preventing HUS. The most important action to take is avoidance of any short-term intervention that may finally complicate the course of the disease or result in a worse prognosis.

Specific Management of STEC Infection

Experts advise the admission of all children with diarrhea and who test positive for enterohemorrhagic strains of E. coli to a separate unit. Family history of HUS should be asked for.

The presence of the following risk factors should be noted:

Relapsing D+HUS

Family history of HUS

Insidious onset of HUS

Epidemiological data should also be gathered.

Tests to be done include:

Stool sample testing for E. coli O157:H7 and other prevalent strains with culture and PCR

Serum antibody testing for O157 antigen

Culture of sterile body fluids if S. pneumoniae infection is suspected

In children with the above risk factors, overlapping of infectious and genetic etiology in HUS should be suspected and the following additional tests performed:

Assay of complement factors

Measurement of ADAMTS 13

Autoantibodies to CFH

It is important that relatives of these patients also be screened for complement abnormalities as they may develop the syndrome.

Close monitoring of the patient with STEC infections for any signs of HUS is mandatory, including the use of blood tests such as a full blood count and platelet count to detect thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia.

Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Supportive management is also important. Fluid balance maintenance is crucial in the pre-HUS stage, when there is diarrhea and nausea with or without vomiting, associated with intense colic. All of these are likely to precipitate dehydration. Volume depletion, leading to poor renal perfusion, is a factor which increases the risk of thrombosis in the context of the endothelial injury caused by STX. Best practice includes the administration of adequate fluids by appropriate routes to expand the intravascular volume, especially in the first 4 days. This has been shown to improve outcomes.

Avoidance of antibiotics and antimotility agents in the acute gastroenteritic phase of STEC infection is recommended. These may prolong the duration of exposure of the gastrointestinal cells to the toxins and increase their absorption into the bloodstream. They do not appear to affect the toxin-receptor binding.

Any case of gastroenteritis that presents with or develops bloody flux should be tested for STEC. This may be done by stool culture even if the diarrhea has stopped meanwhile. A faster and more reliable method involves testing for Shiga-like toxins (STX) 1 and 2 from stool samples, using ELISA-linked assay and PCR.

Public health measures

Since HUS in over 90% of children is due to the STEC serotype O157 H7, it is vital to investigate the source of this microbial infection. The O157 H7 strain is found in the intestinal tract of 1% of healthy cattle - it may contaminate the flesh during slaughter and meat processing. It is transmitted to children through undercooked beef, as well as by unhygienic hand-to-hand transfer by people involved in food preparation and serving.

Some foods which may spread STEC include:

Unpasteurized juices or milk

Undercooked venison, beef, or sausages made from beef

Non-chlorinated water

Lake water contaminated with feces

Certain raw vegetables such as leaf lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and radish sprouts

Farm animals (through hand contact)

Thus primary prevention of HUS requires public health recommendations and practices such as:

Attentiveness of patients and care providers to avoid transmitting infection during cooking of raw beef

Diaper changes only performed in a hygienic environment

Thorough cooking of all meat and milk, or products derived from these

Encouraging cattle vaccination to avoid contamination of feces and cattle hide with HUS-causing strains of STEC.

References

Further Reading
The former health minister Norman Lamb has given his backing to Inhealthcares new self-testing service in rural Norfolk.

The Harrogate-based digital health specialist is using its innovative technology to help patients with heart failure and lung disease.

Norman Lamb MP, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said:

This is a fantastic new service which will help people to monitor their health at home, bringing peace of mind while making sure that doctors and nurses can step in early if there is a sign something might be wrong. At a time when the NHS is under enormous pressure, its more vital than ever that we do everything we can to prevent people from being admitted to hospital unnecessarily, and this digital tool can make an important contribution. Its a great example of the benefits that innovation and new technologies can bring to the NHS.

Mr Lamb, the MP for North Norfolk, was minister of state in the Department of Health from 2012 to 2015.

Inhealthcares new service for Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust allows patients to check their vital signs at home and is designed to reduce preventable hospital admissions.

It will also free up hospital beds and surgery time, improve quality of life for patients and cut travel costs across large rural areas.

The trust serves a population of more than 880,000 people in Norfolk, making it one of the largest providers of community health and care services in the health service.

Up to 240 patients could use the service in the first year and will allow some to be discharged from hospital sooner.

Inhealthcare works with the NHS to digitise care services across the UK.

Bryn Sage, chief executive, said:

We are delighted that the former health minister Norman Lamb has recognised the value of our technology in helping the NHS. Digital health offers huge potential to increase productivity in our healthcare system but needs enlightened political advocates like Norman to help increase adoption.

The Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust will measure and evaluate the reduction in preventable hospital admissions as well as patient perception of the service.

About Inhealthcare Ltd

Inhealthcare is a digital health specialist working with the NHS to digitise care services across the UK. The company enables patients to be cared for remotely, whether thats at work, at home or abroad. Importantly, its services are highly secure, cost effective and studies show consistent improved clinical outcomes. For further information visit www.inhealthcare.co.uk
insights from industry Peter Holgate Sales Director for MultiTaction

MultiTactions interactive iWall solution was recently used at the week-long parliamentary launch of the British Lung Foundations Listen to your lungs campaign at the Houses of Parliament. Can you please give an overview of the MultiTaction technology and the reason it was used for this launch?

The MultiTaction solution is the most advanced visualization and engagement platform in the market today. Our unique hardware and software solution provides users with a compelling interactive experience as they engage with various forms of content.

For this reason, the MultiTaction displays are used in many different showcase environments across the world; from Museums, Universities and Marketing Suites through to events and exhibitions.

We were contacted by the British Lung Foundation about helping with their event at the Houses of Parliament and were very happy to assist with this cause.

We agreed that we could bring significant value to the event providing the attendees with an alternative, immersive experience and a different approach to their interactions with the content and the 'listen to your lungs' online test.

What feedback did you receive on the technology from the event?

The feedback has all been very positive. As a visual solution during the opening speeches the MultiTaction iWall was mentioned a number of times with people saying it brought a fresh and innovative approach to the showcase area.

Throughout the event, we had many people commenting on how good the wall looked visually and then when they engaged with the content; whether this was the Twitter feed, live updates from the Houses of Parliament or indeed taking the online test through the interactive wall, there was a genuine excitement about the responsiveness of the touch and their overall experience.

Overall, we were delighted that we attended the event, and that we were able to help and really make a difference.

How has MultiTactions technology previously been used for a virtual autopsy table?

MultiTaction has some unique hardware characteristics which makes our solution compelling and this drives a lot of the user experience when they are interacting with different forms of content. The other key advantage we have is the flexibility of our software.

We have different software solutions for different scenarios; whether this be a showcase event or whether this is for production or practical use.

We also have a powerful and flexible SDK that our partner network can use to develop their own bespoke content and applications and have these available through the MultiTaction displays.

The Virtual Autopsy Table Play

The video above shows an example of an organization using our SDK and bringing their own software to provide the capability of a Virtual Autopsy Table. The software was produced by the Visualization Center and Interactive Institute at University of Linkoping in Sweden back in 2009.

This is using some of our first generation displays, but even using these early models, our technology was chosen for the responsiveness this provided to the overall experience.

Given the use case here, the user experience was paramount so it needed the market leading interactive display in conjunction with the very powerful software in order to be a success.

What impact do you think interactive touch display systems will have on medical teaching?

When we speak to people across all industry sectors there are two key elements that tend to come up the most; these are visualization and collaboration.

More and more organizations are realizing that its not just about providing visual displays for content but its now very important for their employees, partners and customers to be able to work together in an interactive way as this drives the best kind of collaboration and ultimately the best outcome for all parties.

Weve seen the same in all areas of teaching, including medical studies. Interactive technology, such as MultiTaction, helps to bring the content to the fore and brings people closer to the content in a way that other teaching methods cannot do.

Its through this improved engagement with students where the teaching becomes more effective and drives improved results.

Moving forward, MultiTaction are incredibly excited about the opportunity to support health organizations that make such a difference in peoples lives.

One of the reasons we wanted to act as the chosen partner for the British Lung Foundation was that the interactive experience that people received during the event raised awareness of the importance of lung health in all ages across all members of society.

The way people learn has dramatically changed in the last 10 years and so people respond to this interaction due to the fact that it takes the daily use of Smart Phones and tablets to the next level and allows the user to become truly immersed in the experience.

What other healthcare and research applications has MultiTactions technology been used for?

The MultiTaction solution is also being used by researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Finland.

In this instance, we are helping to add value to both teaching and research through improved engagement and interactivity with the content, in this case the samples being reviewed. There is a video demonstrating this use case below:

MultiTouch Microscope Play

Can you please tell us more about the MT Canvus solution and how this is being used by some Medical Schools both from a research and teaching perspective?

MT Canvus is an application that allows organizations to use the MultiTaction solution in a more operational way.

MT Canvus builds on a showcase experience and delivers a compelling solution for use cases including visualization of data and / or processes, collaboration and teaching and training.

There is a more detailed overview of MT Canvus including a short video at the below link:

https://www.multitaction.com/products/mt-canvus

We partner with a number of Universities across the world and many of these Universities use the MultiTaction technology to help to showcase themselves and their courses to interested students.

The technology is also used as an exciting and interesting way for students to learn more about the University and various activities during their courses.

Since MT Canvus was released last year we have seen many other use cases within Universities focused on how we can help the different Faculties and bring a new dimension to the overall student experience from a teaching and learning perspective, i.e. improving the student experience and helping them to get closer to the content, collaborate with other students and their lecturers and generate new ideas and different ways of thinking.

There is an example of how this is being used and some early feedback at the University of Nebraska:

What have been the main challenges in universities adopting this technology?

As this is a new way of working, its important to have all of the key stakeholders engaged in the project to ensure everyone is on board with what the university is trying to achieve.

So long as this is the case, then the adoption process is very straight forward. There would be some functional training involved with the solution but it is extremely intuitive and the users are naturally interested in the technology as it delivers the wow factor.

Its then a case of working with the university to develop the various uses for the solution as they start to understand more about the capabilities.

How do you think the costs of this technology will change moving forwards?

As the technology becomes more widespread its likely that the costs will start to decrease somewhat due to the economies this can bring from the manufacturing perspective.

The MultiTaction technology has many unique aspects to it though so will likely still carry a premium as the market leading solution.

What do you think the future holds for the use of interactive touch display systems in healthcare?

Based on the way we are seeing the market develop and start to adopt the use of interactive technology, I think there will be many more creative solutions designed for healthcare, both from a teaching and learning perspective, within universities and hospitals, but also from a general operations perspective in terms of diagnosing health problems and helping to explain these to patients along with their potential remedies.

I think this is a very exciting opportunity that enables individuals to learn more about their health through the delivery of an engaging experience.

There is also a developing use case for Pharmaceutical organizations we are working with. Initially they were just using our technology to help to showcase some of their offerings at events and trade shows but they are now increasingly using the MultiTaction technology, with MT Canvus, to help facilitate meetings and ideation sessions with doctors and physicians as they are developing innovative drugs and medicines.

Where can readers find more information?

The best place to find out more about MultiTaction is through our website, www.multitaction.com.

We have a number of showrooms across Europe, with two located in London, and the rest of the World and would be happy to arrange a demonstration of the capabilities if people are interested in seeing the technology for themselves.

There is a link below where people can request a demonstration - https://www.multitaction.com/demo.

About Peter Holgate

Peter Holgate is the Sales Director for MultiTaction, managing sales in the UK and Ireland. MultiTaction is the leading provider of advanced visualization solutions.

They help organizations engage with their content more effectively, whether this is students working together on a medical science course or a group of data scientists and senior managers developing greater insight from their company information.

The common factor with all scenarios involving the MultiTaction solution is a fantastic user experience which provides an immersive experience for all content types and encourages people to work in a collaborative way leading to the best results.

Prior to joining MultiTaction, Peter has worked in the enterprise software market for the last 12 years and has experience at large corporates in the likes of Citrix Systems and Akamai and also smaller start up organizations. Peter has a BSc in Business Management from the University of East Anglia.
Reports new study in Biological Psychiatry

Brain abnormalities in schizophrenia have been identified at the microscale (alterations in synaptic connections between neurons) and the macroscale (altered connections between brain regions). Findings of these two levels of abnormalities have emerged separately, but a new study in Biological Psychiatry reports that the microscale and macroscale changes may go hand in hand.

"This study suggests that disturbances in connections between nerve cells in the brain emerge together in schizophrenia," said John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

Research on the neurobiological origins of schizophrenia indicates a reduction in the density of neuronal spines, where neurons form connections with each other to communicate. In parallel, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown reductions in large-scale white matter, the pathways connecting different brain regions. But how changes in these two levels of connectivity relate in schizophrenia remained an open question.

"This is quite remarkable, as in the end they both describe the same system, namely our brain," said first author Martijn van den Heuvel, from the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. "So in my book, there has to be a link between these two scales of brain organization."

In their goal to bridge microscale cellular findings with macroscale MRI findings, the authors first studied the micro-macro association in healthy people. They collated data from published studies on spine density and cross-analyzed it with imaging data of long-range white matter connections that they derived from the Human Connectome Project. They found an association between microscale spine density, which indicates neuronal complexity, and the complexity of macroscale connections in the cortex.

To determine how the microscale changes relate to macroscale changes in schizophrenia, the researchers then analyzed spine density changes in schizophrenia, collated from published studies, with data on changes in MRI connectivity. They found a strong overlap in those regions showing the largest effects in spine density reductions and regions showing the largest effects of macroscale connectivity. The results suggest a possible relationship between the often, but independently, reported micro- and macroscale abnormalities.

According to van den Heuvel, bridging neuronal and macroscale connectivity completes an important missing link in schizophrenia research, and provides the first steps in understanding how changes in neuronal properties are related to changes in white matter connectivity in schizophrenia.

"Our study shows that we should no longer interpret neuronal and macroscale findings independently from each other, but that they likely strongly influence each other and are perhaps related to a similar disease origin," said van den Heuvel.

Krystal noted that the finding supports a view of the brain as a highly adaptive organism, where disturbances in some components of brain function result in coordinated effects on brain circuits.

"Understanding the cross-scale link brings us one step closer to understanding the etiology of the disorder," said van den Heuvel, "and this hopefully brings us closer to finding new treatment strategies for this severe psychiatric disorder."
Boys exposed prenatally to a common chemical used in plastics may be more likely to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression at age 10-12. The new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) within the Mailman School of Public Health examined early life exposure to the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA). Results are published in the journal Environmental Research.

BPA is a component of some plastics and is found in food containers, plastic water bottles, dental sealants, and thermal receipt paper. In the body, BPA is a synthetic estrogen, one of the class of chemicals known as "endocrine disruptors." The Columbia researchers, led by Frederica Perera, PhD, DrPH, director of CCCEH, previously reported that prenatal exposure to BPA was associated with emotionally reactive and aggressive behavior, and more symptoms of anxiety and depression in boys at age 7-9.

Perera and her co-investigators followed 241 nonsmoking pregnant women and their children, a subset of CCCEH's longstanding urban birth cohort study in New York City, from pregnancy through childhood. To measure the amount of BPA that had been absorbed in the body, researchers collected a urine sample from the mothers during the third trimester of their pregnancy, and from the children at age 3 and age 5. At ages 10-12, children completed an interview with a trained researcher about their symptoms of depression and completed a self-assessment that measures anxiety.

Researchers controlled for factors that have been previously associated with BPA exposure levels, including socioeconomic factors. After separating the data by sex, they found that boys with the highest levels of prenatal exposure to BPA had more symptoms of depression and anxiety than boys with lower levels of prenatal exposure to BPA; no such associations were found in girls.

"These findings are consistent with our prior reports on BPA and children's development assessed at earlier ages and suggest greater susceptibility of the male brain during prenatal development," says Perera. "Anxiety and depression are particularly worrisome because they can interfere with a child's ability to concentrate, perform in school, socialize and make friends," adds neuropsychologist and co-investigator Amy Margolis, PhD, assistant professor of Medical Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center.

Source: Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
A so-called meta-analysis of reports on more than 4,000 patients suggests that almost one in three people discharged from hospital intensive care units (ICUs) has clinically important and persistent symptoms of depression, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In some patients, the symptoms can last for a year or more, and they are notably more likely in people with a history of psychological distress before an ICU stay, the investigators say.

The prevalence of depressive symptoms in this population, described in the September issue of the journal Critical Care Medicine, is three to four times that of the general population, says study coauthor O. Joseph Bienvenu, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Not only can people with depression have slower physical recovery, but they also experience financial strain because they often cannot return to work and their caregivers must stay home with them," Bienvenu says.

Psychological symptoms occurring before an ICU stay and psychological distress experienced during the ICU stay or hospitalization were risk factors most associated with depressive symptoms after hospital discharge, the review found.

"It's very clear that ICU survivors have physical, cognitive and psychological problems that greatly impair their reintegration into society, return to work and being able to take on previous roles in life," says senior study author Dale Needham, M.D., professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"If patients are talking about the ICU being stressful, or they're having unusual memories or feeling down in the dumps, we should take that seriously. Health care providers, family members and caregivers should pay attention to those symptoms and make sure they're not glossed over," says Needham. More than 5 million patients in the United States are admitted to ICUs each year, he says.

For the study, the investigators searched five electronic databases to look for studies of depression after ICU stays that were conducted from 1970 through March 13, 2015. Studies included in this research evaluated survivors older than 16 and assessed for depressive symptoms after hospital discharge. Ultimately, the investigators focused on 42 reports composed of 4,113 patients, who were assessed for depressive symptoms generally between one and 12 months after ICU discharge. The studies included male and female patients of varying ages; 14 studies were conducted in the United Kingdom, and 10 were conducted in the United States.

The most common measurement of depressive symptoms (in 22 of the studies) was the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D), a questionnaire that researchers commonly use to assess anxiety and depression. The depression subscale determines the level of depressive symptoms a person is experiencing based on a 0 to 21 score, with a score of 0 to 7 being normal, 8 to 10 being mild, and 11 or greater being moderate to severe.

Next, they combined data from the studies, taking into account variations in the seven different measures of depressive symptoms used, and created a pooled "prevalence of depressive symptoms" statistic. Third, they calculated the change in the average depression scores on HADS, and depressive symptom prevalence between two months to six months, and from six to 12 months after discharge.

The prevalence of depressive symptoms across all studies ranged from 4 percent to 64 percent. The pooled prevalence of HADS-D greater than or equal to 8, representing at least mild depressive symptoms, was 29 percent two to three months following discharge, 34 percent six months after discharge and 29 percent 12-14 months after discharge. The pooled prevalence of HADS-D greater than or equal to 11, representing moderate to severe depressive symptoms, was 17 percent two to three months following discharge, 17 percent six months after discharge and 13 percent 12 to 14 months after discharge.

Needham and the team say there was no significant change in prevalence of depressive symptoms during the first 12 months after discharge, indicating persistence of symptoms during this time period.

Psychological symptoms that existed before ICU stay were strongly associated with depressive symptoms after ICU discharge, as was the presence of psychological distress symptoms experienced in the ICU or hospital, including anger, nervousness and acute stress symptoms, such as emotional detachment or flashbacks. By contrast, patient age, severity of illness, ICU or hospital length of stay, and duration of sedation were not associated with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were correlated with greater anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and with worse quality of life.

Physical rehabilitation after hospital discharge was assessed in three of the studies reviewed and found to be potentially beneficial. Use of an ICU diary, assessed in two studies, was not associated with significant reduction in depressive symptoms, nor was a nurse-led ICU follow-up clinic, assessed in one study.

"Identifying patients with pre-existing psychological comorbidity and psychological distress symptoms in the hospital may help maximize identification of depression and early intervention efforts," says lead study author Anahita Rabiee, M.D., a former Johns Hopkins researcher and now an internal medicine resident at Yale School of Medicine. "And, given the strong relationship of depression with anxiety and PTSD symptoms after critical illness, patients who screen positive for depression should be evaluated for a full spectrum of psychological symptoms."

But the researchers caution that in this study, depressive symptoms were assessed using questionnaires in all but two studies, most of which have not been rigorously evaluated for their performance in ICU survivors. Another limitation of the study was that there was substantial statistical heterogeneity, and the existing data do not clarify whether depressive symptoms are the result of critical illness, or if post-ICU depressive symptoms mainly reflect illness before ICU admission or are a result of hospitalization.
Leptomeningeal metastases (LM), a devastating complication and predictor of poor survival in lung cancer patients, was found to be more prevalent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. Patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting EGFR mutations had a longer overall survival (OS) than those who did not receive TKIs, demonstrating the effectiveness of TKIs for LM therapy.

The leptomeninges are the membranes that surround the brain, including the arachnoid mater and pia mater, and ensue when cancer cells metastasize to intracranial structures and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). LM occurs in 10-26% of lung cancer and the presence of LM is a devastating complication for patients and often associated with poor survival. Treatment strategies for LM include epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), chemotherapy, whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), intrathecal chemotherapy (ITC), surgery, and ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt operations. However, therapeutic options for treating LM are challenging with no standard treatment. The use of EGFR-TKIs markedly prolong survival in patients with EGFR mutations and frequent EGFR mutations.

A group of Chinese investigators retrospectively screened 5,387 NSCLC patients at Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital, from January 2011 to June 2015 to examine the prevalence of EGFR mutations in NSCLC patients with LM as well as treatments and clinical outcomes. Medical records of patients were reviewed for demographics, tumor-related features, and major treatments. Patients with known EGFR status were screened for LM by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology test or gadolinium-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). OS was determined from the period of LM diagnosis to death or last follow-up. OS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and presented as a median value with a two-sided 95% confidence interval (CI).

The results of the study published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), showed that of the 5,387 patients examined only 3,775 patients were tested for EGFR gene status. Of those tested for EGFR status, 1,258 patients had confirmed EGRF mutations and 2,517 had wild-type EGFR (no identified mutations). The incidence of LM in all 5,387 patients was 3.4% (184/5,387). However, the incidence of patients with LM harboring EGFR mutations (9.4%, 118/1258) were significantly more than those with a wild-type EGFR status (1.7%, 42/2,517; 2 = 122.9, p <0.001). Of the 118 patients harboring EGFR mutations, 109 patients had the most common EGFR mutations, 53 had exon 19 deletions (del 19) and 56 had Leu858Arg mutations (L858R).

Patients that were given TKIs for treatment of LM had longer OS than patients that did not take TKIs (10 months, 95% CI=8.9-11.1 vs. 3.3 months, 95% CI = 0.5-6.1; p <0.001). Patients that had not taken TKIs prior to LM demonstrated a longer OS than those who failed on initial TKIs (12.2 months, 95% CI=9.7-14.8 vs. 9.2 months, 95% CI=7.8-10.5; p=0.016). Patients that underwent WBRT for LM did not show longer OS than those without WBRT (9.3 months, 95% CI=8.4-10.3 vs. 8.1 months, 95% CI=4.8-11.4; p=0.448) and patients treated with both WBRT and TKIs did not have longer OS than those who only received TKIs (9.7 months, 95% CI=8.7-10.8 vs. 10.1 months, 95% CI=7.1-13.1; p=0.778). Chemotherapy after LM was associated with prolonged survival when compared to those not receiving chemotherapy (21.0 months, 95% CI=14.8-27.1 vs. 8.7 months, 95% CI=6.8-10.6; p=0.001). Overall, the two factors that significantly affected prolonged survival after LM were TKIs (p<0.001, HR=0.218, 95% CI=0.116-0.411) and chemotherapy (p<0.001, HR=0.206, 95% CI=0.092-0.460).

The authors comment that, "This study had some limitations, however, we showed that OS after LM was longer than that in previous reports, and LM were much more frequent in NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations. EGFR-TKIs were the optimal strategy for LM with EGFR mutations, especially TKI treatment-naIve patients. Nevertheless, active treatment with WBRT, with or without EGFR-TKIs, was not supported by our study."
A future war between China and the US would be "intense, destructive, and protracted", US President Barack Obama's former chief intelligence adviser warned US policy makers on Monday (August 15).

David Gompert sent the warning in a Rand Corporation report commissioned by the US Army. "War between the United States and China could be so ruinous for both countries, for East Asia, and for the world that it might seem unthinkableThe United States can no longer be so certain that war would follow its plan and lead to decisive victory," Mr Gompert wrote.

Looking ahead, the report predicts that with the possibility that China's economy may overtake the US' by 2025, and with Chinese technological advances, the military gap between the US and China is set to narrow.  FLICKR/ THOMAS DEPENBUSCH Huge Slice of the Market: Why China-Bashing Prevails in US Politics "Even then, however, China could not be confident of gaining military advantage, which suggests the possibility of a prolonged and destructive, yet inconclusive, war." It's a prospect that many hope will never be realised. "Chinese technological progress has been very impressive in the last decade or two. Whether they will reach parity with the US, I hope we never know. There's only one way to find out," Professor Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics and associate fellow at Chatham House , told Sputnik. Certainly, Monday's report will do little to ease rattled nerves in the Pacific. China has maintained an inflexible commitment to its territorial claims in the South China Sea. It's neighbors see ongoing military expansion, particularly of its navy, now the biggest in the region, and construction activities on the islands as part of a more assertive foreign policy by Beijing. In April this year, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, accused China of making the world "worried." In April this year, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, accused China of making the world "worried."

In a speech to business leaders Mr Kishida said: "Candidly speaking, a rapid and opaque increase in (China's) military spending and unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, under the aim of building a strong maritime state, are having not only people in Japan, but countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the international community worried greatly."

China and Japan dispute sovereignty over a group of uninhabited East China Sea islets.

Also disputing parts of the waters, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, are Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

 AP PHOTO/ EMILY WANG, FILE Japan Vows to Develop New Land-to-Sea Missile to Protect Disputed Islands

Indeed, Professor Tsang notes that the Chinese have a right to flex their own military muscle.

"I do not think it is right to say the military reforms are just for the purpose of defending their territorial claims in the South China Sea. From the Chinese government's perspective, why should they accept that the US has a predominance in the world?" Professor Tsang told Sputnik.

"The message to the rest of the world is quite simply that the territory is Chinese, back off. In China it is not controversial. It's the rest of the world that does not accept the claim."

, Beijing has been suspicious of US activities in the Asia-Pacific region, as an attempt to counter its rise. Since Obama's so-called pivot to Asia , a major policy shift outlined in 2011Beijing has been suspicious of US activities in the Asia-Pacific region, as an attempt to counter its rise.

However, such fears may be exaggerated, suggests Professor Tsang.

"Beijing does have a perspective that the US is encroaching on the region. The Chinese see the Americans as being aggressive in Asia but there is little to support that. The Americans could not have imposed themselves on the Philippines or Vietnam because they both have a record of kicking the US out."

"Obama's America prefers not to drive in the front seat, like in the George Bush administration, but it is being accused of doing just that."

The difference between reality and perception, and the resulting suspicions that arise as a result, is also highlighted in the Rand report:

 FLICKR/ NAVAL SURFACE WARRIORS China Will Not Let Washington 'Destabilize Asia-Pacific'

"Premeditated war between the United States and China is very unlikely, but the danger that a mishandled crisis could trigger hostilities cannot be ignored. Thus, while neither state wants war, both states' militaries have plans to fight one."

Gompert's dire warnings come ahead of the November's US presidential election, in which the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has refused to rule out the possibility of declaring war.

"I would use trade to negotiate. Would I go to war? Look, let me just tell you. There's a question I wouldn't want to answer," Mr Trump told the New York Times in March.
Infosys has said it will ramp-down about 3,000 jobs following Royal Bank of Scotland's decision to cancel the project to set up a separate bank in the UK.



RBS announced last week that it will not pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), for which Infosys was a key technology partner.



"Infosys has been a W&G program technology partner for Consulting, Application Delivery and Testing services, and subsequent to this decision, will carry out an orderly ramp-down of about 3,000 persons, primarily in India, over the next few months," Infosys said in a statement.



An Infosys spokesperson clarified that these jobs are not being cut and that the employees will be reallocated to other projects.



RBS is a key relationship for Infosys and the company looks forward to further strengthening strategic partnership and working with them across other strategic and transformation programmes, it added.



While Infosys has not specified the impact of the cancellation, market analysts peg it at around USD 40 million. The loss of the five-year 300-million pound RBS deal could force Infosys to further downgrade revenue guidance for FY2016-17. Infosys had in July slashed annual sales outlook citing weak demand to 10.512 per cent in constant currency terms, lower than the previously estimated 11.513.5%.



Stock of Infosys was trading at Rs 1,054.10, down by 0.87% on BSE in afternoon session.
Odisha Enterprises Minister Yogendra Behera embarassed the BJD government when he was caught on camera getting his shoe tied by his personal security officer in an Independence Day celebration in Keonjhar.



The security officer helped Behera to wear his shoes & tied his shoelaces after the minister addressed the gathering. Later the minister justified the act, attributing it to his VIP status.



However, speaking to CNN-News18, Behra said he had a leg injury and that is why the officer was helping him.



Behera was the chief guest on the occasion and hoisted the national flag in the presence of thousands of people.



Video footages aired by television channels showed the PSO going beyond his call of duty and helping the minister wear his shoes and tying the shoelaces after he addressed the gathering. Surprisingly, Behera, clad in a white kurta and pajama, did nothing to stop his PSO from doing so.







When asked about the matter, the MLA first denied any such incident happened. But after realising that the whole episode had been filmed by the newsmen present on the occasion, he said something that stunned everybody present there.



"I had not put on the shoesI am a VIP. I have hoisted the flag and he has not done," Behera said.



The minister's act has invited criticism from civil society groups.



"By doing this, the minister has brought back British rule against which our freedom fighters had fought a long battle and brought us freedom seventy years back. This act is shameful.

"In Independent India, all are equal. This is condemnable. At least an elected representative should not do this," rued Santali Community president Samrat Tudu.


Srinagar: Five civilian protesters were killed in firing by security forces as fresh violence erupted in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday, taking the toll to 65 in the weeks of unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel commander.



A police officer told IANS here that four protesters were killed in Budgam district and one more in Anantnag.



The officer said the protesters, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Budgam's Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here, in central Kashmir.



The security forces opened fire to bring the situation under control. One person was killed on the spot and three more succumbed to their injuries at a hospital. More than a dozen persons sustained injuries in the incident.



Another civilian was killed when security forces fired at an unruly mob who were throwing stones at police and paramilitary troopers in Larkipora village of Anantnag district, some 60 km south of here.



At least a dozen protesters were also injured in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Kashmir Valley in more than five weeks.



The valley has been on the boil amid curfew and separatist shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday.



Police said curfew and restrictions would continue in all the 10 districts of the valley. Separatists have already extended their protest shutdown to August 18.



All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed.




Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday ridiculed Pakistan's state of affairs and compared it with hell.



"There was intrusion happening at our border. Our jawans sent 5 people back. Going to Pakistan or to hell is the same thing. Pakistan has given encouragement to terrorism and now sometimes they themselves are bearing the consequences of terrorism," he said.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi also in his Independence Day speech on Monday criticised Pakistan for supporting terror groups. 671 infiltration incidents and 738 terrorist attacks were reported in Jammu and Kashmir over the last three years, according to a government reply to Parliament during its just-concluded Monsoon Session.



As many as 141 terrorists and 64 civilians were killed across the state between 2013 and July 10, 2016, the reply said.







Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry on Monday invited his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar for talks to resolve the ongoing dispute between the countries.



The invitation highlights the international obligation of both the countries to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.



India has accused Islamabad of arming and training the terrorists fighting to end Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan says it gives only moral and diplomatic backing.



India-Pakistan ties have become frosty after largescale violence broke out in Jammu and Kashmir following the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
Satara (Maharashtra): Police on Tuesday said they had found bodies of five of the six people murdered in cold blood by self-confessed medico Santosh Gulabrao Pol in a case that has stunned Maharashtra.



Solapur Range Inspector General of Police Vishwas Nangre-Patil and Satara Superintendent of Police Sandip Patil said that following the shocking revelations by Pol, police dug his poultry farmhouse premises and discovered the remains of the five bodies.



Charged with kidnapping and murdering an 'aanganwadi worker' Mangal Jedhe, 49, on June 16, Pol admitted to committing a total of six murders, including that of a man, after administering them lethal overdose of some medicines, earning him the sobriquet 'Dr. Death'.



The 41-year-old Pol's associate, nurse Jyoti Pandurang Mandre, 25, has also been arrested. Both have been sent to police custody by a court.



Pol was also functioning as a police informer on corruption cases against government officials and flaunted his 'links' with top police officials whenever anyone tried to enquire about his activities, said Nangre-Patil.



Nangre-Patil added that a probe would be conducted why the local police were scared of taking action against the accused pair if they had information about suspicious happenings at the farmhouse.



SP Patil said they were attempting to trace the body of a woman, Vanita Gaikwad, whose body was thrown into a water reservoir of Krishna river.



Senior Inspector of Wai Police Crime Branch Padmakar Ghanvat revealed that soon after Jedhe's disappearance, Pol lodged a police complaint on June 24 accusing her of fleeing with 200 gms of gold on the pretext of doubling them in a ponzi scheme.



In his latest revelations under custodial interrogation, Pol has claimed that he had conspired to kill Jedhe almost three months ago and even kept a dug-up grave ready for her.



He was also planning to eliminate his associate Jyoti Mandre and he had planted an almond tree on one of his victim's grave.



He has confessed to killing Surekha Kisan Chikane on May 20, 2003, Vanita Narhari Gaikwad on August 12, 2006, Jagabai Laxman Pol on August 13, 2010, Nathmal Dhanaji Bhandari on December 7, 2015 and an orphan Salma Shaikh on January 17, 2016, said Ghanvat.



A majority of the victims either worked with him or came in contact as patients, and their remains have been sent for forensic and DNA tests, Ghanvat added.



"We shall investigate all the missing persons' cases in and around Wai since 2003, the hospitals where he worked, question other patients and employees, tackle all possible angles," Patil said.



Nangre-Patil assured that nothing was being ruled out, including the possibility of more murders of missing persons in the region that may have been committed by the accused.



Pol, described as an 'Electro-Homoeopath', practiced in some local hospitals and at his farmhouse, 13 km on the outskirts of the quaint Wai town, at the base of the twin hill stations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani, around 175 km south of Mumbai.



The medico's alleged crimes came to light after police began to probe the suspicious disappearance of Jedhe, President of the Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS), on June 16.



"She had left Wai for Pune on June 15 evening to attend to her pregnant daughter's delivery but never reached there," said MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan.



Ghanvat said investigations revealed that prior to leaving for Pune, she was in touch with Pol and both had a bitter fight when she threatened to reveal his activities, and later her husband Bhikhu R. Jedhe had pointed a finger of suspicion at the medico.



As the horrifying details of the case tumbled out since Monday, hundreds of curious onlookers from Wai and surroundings came to view Pol's home and farmhouse.
Mumbai: Police in Mumbai have arrested a homeopathic doctor on charges that he killed anganwadi worker Mangal Jedhe and five others and buried their bodies at his farmhouse.



The doctor, Santosh Pol, has confessed to killing five women and a man since 2003, police said.



Jedhe had gone missing while on her way to Pune to meet her daughter and police traced her last phone call to Dr Pol.



Police sources said that during interrogation, Pol broke down and confessed to abducting and killing Jedhe with a medicine overdose.



Sources said the doctor further confessed to killing five others and burying the bodies at his farmhouse at Wai in Maharashtra. The motive for the killings is not yet clear.







"We have arrested a nurse Jyoti Mandre working for Pol. Four decomposed bodies were recovered from his farmhouse. The bodies will be sent for DNA test to ascertain their identities. It is yet to be clear that why he killed these persons," a police source said.
A plea alleging that reckless dumping of garbage and municipal solid waste near a school in East Delhi was causing health hazard to the children has prompted the National Green Tribunal to retrain authorities from throwing any waste in front of the school.



A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and sought its reply in two weeks on a plea filed by a former scientist.



"In the meanwhile we restrain the EDMC or any other person from throwing municipal solid waste or any other kind of waste in front of the school in question and the Corporation should also take all steps to remove the waste that has been dumped in front of the school gate," the bench also comprising justices M S Nambiar and Raghuvendra S Rathore said.



The tribunal also took exception to unplanned dumping of municipal solid waste and said that school children were suffering due to the mismanagement of the Corporation. The matter is now listed for next hearing on September 23. The green panel was hearing a plea filed by retired scientist C V Singh seeking directions to "collect, segregate,dispose and transport" the solid waste of the dump sites as per the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.



Singh, in his plea filed through advocate Gaurav Bansal, said that while passing through Indraprastha Extension here, he observed that two 'dhalaos' (garbage collection points) are situated at the gate of a government school in West Vinod Nagar and near Mohammad Chowk, Vinod Nagar respectively.



"Due to mismanagement and littering of solid waste dumped at dhalao no 1, the adjacent road gets automatically covered with solid waste resulting into traffic congestion leading to vehicular pollution," the plea said.
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their "indigenous freedom struggle".



Sharif's remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).



The Prime Minister reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.



"The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom," he said on the occasion.



Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting states affairs during his term in office.



The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the "democratic system" in PoK, said the Prime Minister. Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last month's parliamentary elections in Kashmir.



Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK.



While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including Foreign Office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.



Khan was today elected as the new president of Pakistani Kashmir. The legislative assembly of PoK met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president.



Khan, who was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), got 42 votes and was declared as elected.



His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) got just six votes.



The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.
Rio de Janerio: USA star Simone Biles claimed a record-equalling fourth Olympic women's gold on the floor in Rio on Tuesday as former gymnastics giants China flopped to their worst Games showing in 32 years.

The 19-year-old Biles sealed the floor title with a powerful display of acrobatics and tumbling to add to her team, all-around and vault gold on the final day of competition in the Rio Olympic Arena.

The three-time world floor champion scored 15.966 points to lead a US 1-2 ahead of Aly Raisman (15.500), the 2012 Olympic floor champion.

Britain's Amy Tinkler (14.933) won bronze.

Biles had been bidding to win a record five women's gold in Rio after taking the team, all-around and vault titles.

But a slip on the beam on Monday saw her take bronze on that apparatus.

She becomes the fifth woman to win four gold at the same Olympics joining Hungarian Agnes Keleti (1956), Soviet Larissa Latynina (1956), Czech Vera Caslavska (1968) and Romanian Ecaterina Szabo (1984).

China return home without a title since they got a first gymnastics gold in 1984.

Wang Yan finished fourth on the floor.

Their last men's hopes Deng Shudi and You Hao slumped on parallel bars, which was won by Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev.

Verniaiev, 22, the all-around silver medallist in Rio, took gold with 16.041.

American Danell Leyva took silver (15.900) with Russia's David Belyavskiy taking bronze (15.783).

It is the first time a Chinese gymnast has not won the parallel bars title since 2004.

Deng finished fourth after a wobble and You last in the eight-man final after falling on his dismount.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the opposition Congress was "divided" on the issues concerning national security.



The BJP reaction came after Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raking up the Balochistan issue in his Independence Day address to the nation from the Red Fort here.



The Congress, however, distanced itself officially from Khurshid and backed the Prime Minister's stand on countering Pakistan by raising the Balochistan issue.



"The divisions in the Congress and among its leaders were even visible over the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement. They are divided over the issues concerning national security," BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh told the media here.



The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani met in July 2009 on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.



The joint statement issued by the two nations mentioned Balochistan, which was criticised by the BJP which was then in opposition at the Centre.



"Pakistan had lost the golden opportunity given by India to walk along on the path of peace," Singh said.
ok ill see them get away with it and how many of those people have to come out and do that, how much space they have in those american concentration camps for gun owners makers?



that wasnt my point and are you threatening me? the feds cant do nothing over me rifling a gun as i said. and want to come calling it manufacturing. we need though some drug type laws against guns dont we? me carrying on a conversation i dont care about and making a sarcastic joke about... the similiarities between this and the "drug war". and how they arent dealing with someone with a bag of pot but an actual leave me the **** alone, gun. When yo8u come then you'll think twice. Why why he's rifling a gun and manufacturing like the idiots who do drug busts, lets go "do" something.



out of how many of those gun workers, not manufacturer's is my point is the result going to end up good, as compared to someone as compared, to guns. Who wants to do that, who is going to and since, you avoided the question i can see its 1 no for you. but yo8u want to threaten me. make my day punk. the feds can kiss my ***. They have no jurisdiction across the states. Plus again read my stupid question which your too big of a scaredy cat to answer.
Last February, after the Delhi Police slapped sedition charges against Kanhaiya Kumar and a few other student leaders of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) alleging they raised pro-azaadi Kashmir slogans, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi led a team of party leaders to the university and called the government action draconian.



Life now seems to have come a full circle for Rahul's party. The Congress government in Karnataka has slapped sedition charges against Amnesty International India for organising a programme on Kashmir in which some unidentified people allegedly raised azaadi slogans.



Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara and Law Minister TB Jayachandra have said the government was verifying claims and counter-claims and that they would not tolerate anti-national activity in the state. Parameshwara said, The police have registered an FIR. They are verifying video recordings. Based on the outcome, they will proceed.



Law Minister Jayachandra said there must be a thorough probe into the whole incident and that the government was trying to find out if any political party was linked to it. According to government sources, the city police are treading cautiously and have registered a case against unnamed persons who organised the programme.



The Congress High Command has however told CM Siddaramaiah that they would have preferred him to wait and watch rather than call it sedition straight away.







Amnesty India said it has not received a copy of the FIR which reportedly listed a number of offences including sedition, unlawful assembly, rioting and promoting enmity.



Merely organising an event to defend constitutional values is now being branded anti-India and criminalised, said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India.



The police were invited and present at the event. The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India, Patel said.



The organisation said that among those who spoke at the event were the family of Shahzad Ahmad Khan, one of the men killed in the Macchil extrajudicial execution for which five Army personnel were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.



Like in JNU, the FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint filed by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student organisation affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).



BJP, the main opposition party in the state, is demanding the immediate arrest of all those present at the event held at United Theological College in Bengaluru. State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa said,this must be stopped immediately and Karnataka is not the place where anyone can indulge in anti-national activity.



Two days after the Bengaluru event, a similar incident was reported from neighbouring Tumkur. Initial reports said some students from Kashmir and from other states studying at a reputed engineering college allegedly raised azaadi slogans on Independence Day. However, the state government says they are yet to confirm the incident.



The Congress high command in New Delhi has not reacted to the actions taken by its government in Karnataka.


New Delhi: A day after a sedition case was filed against Amnesty International India, the Congress party on Tuesday said that it doesn't agree with Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah's views and that the party prefers to wait and watch.



The party said it also disapproves of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah calling it a sedition straight away.







After ABVP activists filed a complaint against Amnesty International India over Azadi slogans during an event organised in Bengaluru, Siddaramiah had said on Monday that it was a case of sedition and action needs to be taken against the culprits.



Siddharamaiah had said the police was investigating the case and further course of action will decided accordingly.



Sources also indicate that the reason for this sudden change of heart could also be due to the fact that it contradicts Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's stand over the sedition issue.



Gandhi who was a vocal supporter of JNU students during the protests over the anti-national sloganeering issue in January had even visited the campus and backed the students over the issue of sedition.



Congress party leaders even expressed doubts whether the allegations of sloganeering by ABVP will stand in a court of law and that could also be the reason why the party chose to issue a statement contradicting Siddaramaiah.


New Delhi: BJP today targeted Congress alleging that some of its leaders are "seen offering support to Pakistan" after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech and said it's a sad commentary that it is divided on issues of national interests.



It said while the main opposition party offered support to Modi on his reference to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan in an all-party meeting on August 12, its leaders were outside seen offering support to Pakistan.



"As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking in one voice.



There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala," party leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Information and Broadcasting Minister, said.



The saffron party was aggressive in its attack on Congress at its briefing in which its National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh targeted it.



"It's a sad commentary as to how Congress is divided on issues of national interest. This division of the party and its leaders had reflected in the joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh," he said, referring to the Indo-Pak statement which spoke about threats in Balochistan and invited strong criticism from BJP, then in opposition.



"Its leaders are seen to be supporting Pakistan...It is obvious that the country is supporting Modi on his comments on Balochistan and PoK," Singh said.



Khurshid had yesterday accused Modi of "ruining" India's case on PoK by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. But later, Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of "atrocities in Balochistan and PoK" in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.
Beijing: China has protested to two Japanese leaders visiting a controversial shrine for war dead on the occasion of 71st anniversary of the end of World War II, saying it once again proved Japan's "wrong attitude" to the history-related issue.



"That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said.



Lu urged the Japanese side "to squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way and work to win trust from its Asian neighbours and the international community with concrete moves".



China takes exception to such visits by Japanese leaders as it also honours "Class-A criminals" of World War-II who were accused of committing atrocities in China.



Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine that honours convicted war criminals among the war dead is regarded by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.


A hijab-clad mother-daughter duo was assaulted, spit at and called 'ISIS' by a woman in Chicago in an alleged hate crime incident, the latest in the US amid growing concerns over rising Islamophobic rhetoric. The two Muslim women, both wearing hijabs were being harassed and physically attacked in West Rogers Park neighbourhood.



The women said they were physically and verbally assaulted by another woman who hurled anti-Islamic insults at them. They also claimed that the Chicago police were not taking the incident seriously.



Suzanne Damra told NBC Chicago that the woman followed her and her mother just last Thursday, and tried to spit on them while calling them 'ISIS'.



A cellphone video, shot by one of the women, shows the alleged assailant hurling insults, as the two take refuge in their car. The woman can be heard screaming "...you Isis! ...you ISIS!"



Damra said it was at least the fifth time she and her mother had been accosted by the woman. But she suggested it was the lack of help from others who witnessed the incident,which possibly upset her even more.



"There were two very young men, I don't think they were more than 21 or 22. And they were laughing, they high-fived her, and said, yeah, they are ISIS!" Damra said.



In the video, Damra's mother seems to find the whole episode hard to believe. "That's what you get from Donald Trump?" she says on the tape. "Encouraging crazy people?" Damra's mother Siham Zahdam said she believed Trump's rhetoric had emboldened those with anti-Islamic sentiments. "People copy what he is saying. And they think he is going to make the white people more powerful!" she said.



Chicago Police confirmed they were investigating the incident as a simple assault. However, Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations called for both state and federal authorities to make a more aggressive inquiry. "It's very clearly a hate crime," said CAIR spokesman Hoda Katebi. "To file this as a simple assault is not at all close to what it actually is," she said
Washington: In the wake of recent incidents of honour killing in Pakistan, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that if elected, his administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers and will amplify their voices.



"Our administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East and will amplify their voices," Trump said in a major policy speech in Ohio.



"This includes speaking out against the horrible practice of honour killings, where women are murdered by their relatives for dressing, marrying or acting in a way that violates fundamentalist teachings. Over 1,000 Pakistani girls are estimated to be the victims of honour killings by their relatives each year," he said.



"Recently a prominent Pakistani social media star was strangled to death by her brother on the charge of dishonouring the family. In his confession, the brother took pride in the murder and said,"Girls are born to stay home and follow traditions." Shockingly, this is a tradition that has reached our own shores," Trump said.



"On such cases, and many, many cases have happened - where one involves an Iraqi immigrant who was sentenced to 34 years in jail for running over his own daughter, claiming she had been too Westernised," Trump said.



Trump said ideological warfare would be very important part of his administration's policy to defeat radical Islam.



"We must use ideological warfare as well. Very important. And they use it on us, better than we have ever even thought of using it on them. But that will change," he said.



"Just as we won, just as we won the Cold War in part by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam," he said.



"While my opponent accepted millions of dollars in foundation donations from countries where being gay is an offense punishable by prison or death, my administration will speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different beliefs," Trump said.
Sanaa: Saudi-led air strikes on a school in a rebel-held province of northern Yemen have killed 10 children and wounded 28 others, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today.



"We received 10 dead children and 28 wounded, all under the age of 15, who are victims of air strikes on a Koranic school in Haydan," in Saada province, said MSF spokeswoman Malak Shaher, adding the attack took place on Saturday.



Shaher told AFP that MSF had received the children at a field hospital near the school before they were transferred to a public hospital.



The Iran-backed Huthi rebels posted pictures and videos on Facebook of dead and bloodied children wrapped in blankets.Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said warplanes "targeted" children at the Jomaa bin Fadhel school, in what he described as a "heinous crime".



The United Nation's children agency, UNICEF, confirmed the attack warning that "with the intensification in violence across the country in the past week, the number of children killed and injured by air strikes, street fighting and landmines has grown sharply."



"UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to respect and abide by their obligations under international law," it said.



"This includes the obligation to only target combatants and limit harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure." Saudi Arabia reacted angrily to a decision in June to blacklist the coalition after a UN report found the Arab alliance responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year.



UN chief Ban Ki-moon had accused Saudi Arabia of threatening to cut off funding to UN aid programmes over the blacklist, a charge denied by Riyadh.



The UN says more than 6,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Yemen since the coalition air campaign began in March last year.
Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed an "extreme vetting process" for new immigrants to prevent entry of radicalized ones into the US.



"We should only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people. In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting," Trump said at an election rally in Ohio.



"Our country has enough problems. We don't need more. These are problems like we have never had before. In addition to scrape out all members of the sympathisers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any hostile attitude towards our country or its principles, or who believed Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.



"Those who did not believe in our Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country. Only those who we expect to flourish in our country and to embrace a tolerant American society should be issued visas," Trump said amidst applause.



To put these new procedures in place, Trump said the country will have to temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.



"As soon as I take office, I will ask the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to identify a list of regions where inadequate screening cannot take place. There are many such regions. We will stop processing visas from those area until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures," he said.



"The size of current immigration flows are too large to perform adequate screening. We admit about 100,000 permanent immigrants from the middle east every year. Beyond that, we admit hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and visitors from the same regions," he said.



"Hundreds of thousands. If we don't control the numbers, we can't perform adequate screening. There's no way it can take place," he added.



Trump said one of his first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will hopefully work with his administration.



"We want to build bridges and erase divisions. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American public the core convictions and beliefs of radical Islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalisation, and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalisation," he said.



"This commission will be used to develop new protocols for local police officers, federal investigators, and immigration screeners. And while I'm at it, we should give a hand to our great police officers and law enforcement officials," he said.



Trump said his administration will keep open Guantanamo Bay, and place a renewed emphasis on human intelligence.



"Drone strikes will remain part of our strategy, but we will also seek to capture high value targets to gain needed information to dismantle their organisations. Foreign combatants will be tried in military commissions," Trump said.



"Finally, we will pursue aggressive criminal or immigration charges against anyone who lends material support to terrorism. There will be consequences for those people. There will be very serious consequences," he said.



Meanwhile, a top American Muslim group opposed Trump's policies.



"Donald Trump proposed an ideological 'test' to ensure that potential immigrants support American values. American values include the right to hold unpopular or non-majority opinions," said Robert McCaw, the director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in a statement.



"Trump himself would likely not gain entry into the US if tested for basic American values of tolerance and pluralism, given that his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States and his views on Latinos are in complete contradiction to America's traditions of ethnic diversity and religious freedom," he said.
Berlin: A pilot of an ultralight aircraft in Germany spent more than 12 hours stuck up a tree after rescuers were unable to reach him overnight.



Police in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said the unidentified man crash-landed in the tree late yesterday about 30 kilometres east of Stuttgart.



Attempts to bring the man down from his lofty perch 30 metres above ground had to be abandoned at nightfall because of the risk that the plane and its pilot might be dislodged and fall to the ground, police said.



The 59-year-old was eventually rescued unharmed on Tuesday.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that the era of nation building should come to an end, as he laid out a foreign policy approach to deal with the Islamic State militant group and radical Islam.



"If I become president, the era of nation-building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. Our new approach - which must be shared by both parties in America, by our allies overseas and by our friends in the Middle East - must be to halt the spread of radical Islam," Trump said in a major policy speech on defeating radical Islam in Ohio.



"All actions should be oriented around this goal and any country which shares this goal will be our ally. Some don't share this goal. We cannot always choose our friends but we can never fail to recognise our enemies," he said. "As president, I will call for an international conference focused on this goal. We will work side by side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally Israel. We will partner with King Abdullah of Jordan and the president of Egypt, President Sisi, and all others who recognise this ideology of death that must be extinguished," said Trump.



A Trump Administration will also work very closely with NATO on this new mission. "I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats. Very good. Very, very good," he said.



"I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in a fight against ISIS. Wouldn't that be a good thing? They, too, have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism just as bad as ours. They have a big, big problem in Russia with ISIS," he said.



Trump said his administration will aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS. International cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyber warfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting. Their recruiting is taking place right now, and they're setting records. It's got to be stopped, he said.



"We cannot allow the internet to be used as a recruiting tool and for other purposes by our enemy. We must shut down their access to this form of communication, and we must do it immediately," he said. Trump alleged that the rise of ISIS is the direct result of policy decisions made by President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival who served as the Secretary of

State in his first term.


A non-profit group controlled by billionaire financier George Soros set out to conduct opposition research on a handful of critics of radical Islam, a newly released internal memo shows.



The 2011 document, entitled Extreme Polarization and Breakdown in Civil Discourse, is one of more than 2,500 files stolen from Soros Open Society Foundations and published online on Saturday.



It names prominent critics of radical Islam, such as Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, and Robert Spencer as targets for opposition researchers working on a project operated by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank that has received millions of dollars in grants from Soros groups.



In the memo, Open Society Foundations (OSF) executives lamented that progressive groups and members of the Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian-American (AMEMSA) community lacked high quality opposition research to combat anti-Muslim xenophobia and to promote tolerance.



To close that gap, OSF sought to provide a $200,000 grant to CAP, which was founded in 2003 by Hillary Clintons campaign chairman John Podesta.



...




When disaster strikes around the world, Lynchburg resident Ron Sanders often arrives on the scene in a matter of hours with his Labrador, Pryse, in tow.

The duo is part of a niche group of people who volunteer their time and skill set to find survivors in the wake of mayhem, whether it be an earthquake, flood or hurricane. They are dispatched regionally with the Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association and internationally with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The latter allowed him to assist with searches in disaster zones following hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy, as well as the earthquakes in Haiti, Japan and Nepal.

"Were not the ones really known about, Sanders said in a recent interview.

The 56-year-old joked hes the dope on the end of the rope, and that Pryse does the real work during searches. But Sanders role in the process is rooted more in science than in scent.

Theres a methodology to it to clear the area, he said.

Take, for example, the case of a missing autistic teen earlier this month in Bedford County.

Sanders was one of dozens of searchers from several volunteer organizations that descended on the area just hours after the boy was reported missing. Using a two-and-a-half-mile ring as their guide, the group worked methodically to make sure the boy wasnt near water  a place to which he said autistic people often are drawn.

Sanders used baby powder during the search to check wind direction so he could guide Pryses snout in the right direction. Scent travels in a cone-shape, he said, so setting up his dog properly is a key part of exhausting any given search area.

Its not just a shot in the dark, [there] really is some science based on it, he said.

Sanders got started in the search and rescue field about 15 years ago while working at the Lynchburg Fire Department. He attended a conference in Charlottesville around that time and met Heidi Yamaguchi, a world-renowned dog handler and trainer who took Sanders under her wing.

As time went on, she kind of adopted me and mentored me, Sanders said.

But he didnt know she was terminally ill. One of her last wishes was for Sanders to finish training her Belgian Malinois, Ondo. Sanders later got another dog, a Belgian Malinois-shepherd mix.

"I got Tomo as a little puppy, and I called her family and asked them to name him. So they named him Tomo, which, in Japanese, means friend, Sanders said.

His journey seemed to come full-circle when he and Tomo went to Japan to help search for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.

"I thought it was kind of cool that then I ended up going to Japan, where her home was, he said.

Tammy Sage, executive assistant at the fire department, recently recalled how well-trained both dogs were when Sanders brought them to the fire department years ago.

"Ill never forget the first time he brought the dog here, Sage said in a phone interview, explaining that Sanders left the pup in the fire department lobby and asked people to try to get him to move while he walked around the building.

"We tried to coax the dog, Sage said, laughing. "Its like he was deaf to everything we were saying. He definitely wanted to please Ron.

She also noted how Sanders  who retired in 2013  always stayed humble about his volunteering, despite the countless hours and money that went into the training process and travel.

"But you can just tell that hes just passionate about what he does with the dogs, and the dogs, as well, Sage said. "He really has a God-given talent to train those dogs and do what he does.

A new pup wriggled her way into Sanders life about a month ago. Her name is Palau, a 16-month-old Labrador who Sanders says is a natural human remains, or HR, dog. He showed off a video of Palau gracefully leaping across building debris as part of a training exercise for a building collapse.

Sanders explained the importance of having dogs that can seek out the living rather than the dead in search situations.

"So when a building collapses, the expectation is theres going to be people that die. So if we were to send a dog that did both, that dog would alert and then the guys would spend, sometimes it can be hours to a day, digging that person out. And then they would have perished, and you would have wasted that valuable first bit of time, he said. "So instead, Pryse is trained to ignore the HR scent and just alert on the live human scent.

Sanders stressed the value of having volunteers who dedicate their time to staying up-to-date on the latest training and methodology, something he said is relatively unknown by the general public.

"Theyre just there to help, Sanders said. "Its a really good community of people that really care about taking care of other people.
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A Chesapeake man who claimed innocence but pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl nearly 40 years ago hopes the Virginia Supreme Court will clear his name.

Citing new DNA evidence, Roy L. Watford III filed a petition for a writ of actual innocence in the high court Monday, explaining that he was a teenager at the time and agreed to an unusually lenient plea deal at the urging of his grandfather, who did not want him to go to prison.

Because Watford pleaded guilty to the Sept. 14, 1977, rape in Portsmouth, authorities dropped a sodomy charge and he was given a 10-year suspended sentence. That meant he did not miss a day of classes at Woodrow Wilson High School, said his lawyer, Jon Sheldon of Fairfax.

Watford, now 57, has no other criminal record. Although he was not sent to prison, he said the conviction stained his name and prevented him from winning good jobs in the ensuing decades.

The writ petition includes a declaration from Gregory M. Pomije, who prosecuted Watford in 1978 as an assistant commonwealths attorney and who later became Portsmouths commonwealths attorney.

I support the granting of Roy Watfords petition and know of no facts contrary to what is in the petition or brief, Pomije said in his declaration. Portsmouth police also have reviewed the case and told the Richmond Times-Dispatch last month that they do not oppose the petition.

DNA testing completed in June by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science found that Watfords DNA did not match the genetic profile identified in sperm recovered from the victim and her jeans and two other genetic profiles found in sperm from two mattress stains.

Testing in 2010 also failed to match the DNA profiles of his two younger brothers  who were not convicted  with any of three suspect DNA profiles identified by the lab. The victim in the case said she was assaulted by the three Watfords.

Because of failing memories and a lack of records, much about the crime remains unknown.

Watford and his two younger brothers, Anthony and Evelio, knew the victim in 1977. At the time, they were living with their grandparents, Roy L. Watford Sr. and Hattie Watford, who were their guardians, in the Brighton area of Portsmouth.

The petition says Roy Watford later aged out of high school instead of graduating. His brother, Evelio, has schizophrenia, the petition says.

The brothers recall hearing about the attack in their neighborhood and that it happened in a vacant house in the Prentiss Park area of Portsmouth.

The victim told police the attack occurred about 9:30 p.m. A quilt was placed over her head, and she was assaulted on a bare mattress. The girl initially told police she was sodomized. In addition to sodomy, the Watfords also were charged with rape.

Saliva samples for blood-typing  DNA testing was not available then  were taken by police and sent to the state forensic science lab.

According to the petition, a Portsmouth police detective spoke with the victim after the DNA results in 2010 and then again this year, when testing in Roy Watfords case was completed.

On both occasions the detective met with (her), but she provided no further details and simply responded that she wanted to put this behind her, Sheldon wrote.

The courts, commonwealths attorneys office, Portsmouth police department, and all three defense attorneys have been contacted numerous times and no further files on this case exist, he wrote.

The victim declined to comment, but in emails to The Times-Dispatch, she suggested that Watford knew something about the crime.

Watford, however, insisted he knows nothing. I wasnt there, he said.

The petition reports that the case against Anthony Watford, then 16, was dismissed in Portsmouth Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on Feb. 10, 1978. Sometime later, the case against Evelio Watford, then 15, was dropped.

Roy Watford pleaded guilty on March 23, 1978, the day he was arraigned in Portsmouth Circuit Court on rape and sodomy charges. He completed his 10 years of probation and was never arrested again. Nevertheless, the conviction kept coming up when he applied for jobs.

Fortunately for Watford, the saliva samples collected in 1977 were saved by the lab. The discovery of biological evidence taped in old Department of Forensic Science files from cases handled before the use of DNA prompted a post-conviction DNA testing project started in 2005 that thus far has cleared 11 people of wrongful convictions.

In 2010, the project tested the old saliva samples from the Watford brothers and evidence recovered from the victim, her clothing and the mattress.

Anthony and Evelio Watfords DNA did not match any of the genetic profiles identified in sperm from the evidence.

Roy Watfords old saliva sample, however, failed to yield a DNA profile. Watford was notified by the forensic science lab that a new sample was needed if he wished further testing.

He sought testing in 2010, but the effort fell through, apparently because communication between Watford and the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project by mail was difficult due to his lack of a long-time residence.

Nothing happened in the case until last year, when a family friend heard about the case and put Watford in touch with Sheldon. Police quickly obtained a new saliva sample, and the state forensic science lab completed testing June 17.

The new DNA testing results in this case conclusively prove that none of the three men were Roy Watford or his brothers, Watfords petition says.

There are at least three tragedies in this case: First, that (the victim) was raped; second, that the rapists have never been brought to justice; and third, that Roy Watford was wrongfully convicted of raping (her) and has lived with this violent felony on his record for 38 years, Sheldon wrote to the justices.

The lawyer argued, If DNA testing had been available at the time of this crime in 1977, Watford would not have been found guilty of this crime.

The Virginia Attorney Generals office has 30 days to respond to Watfords petition.

In light of Watfords case, the Department of Forensic Science said last week that it would make a renewed effort to contact or recontact other people whose DNA samples are needed to make sure their samples are collected and tested if that is their desire.

The exact number of such cases is not known, but it is thought to be no more than roughly two dozen.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe suggested Monday that four conservative justices were scared to side against Republican leaders in the courts recent opinion on felon voting rights, because the General Assembly decides who serves on the high court.

In a radio appearance, McAuliffe made his most direct accusation to date that politics drove the Supreme Courts decision to strike down his executive order restoring civil rights to more than 200,000 felons who had completed their sentences and supervised release.

McAuliffe called the 4-3 court opinion almost unfathomable.

They were sued by the speaker and the Senate leader, who appoint them to the bench, were scared and wrote an opinion that absolutely makes no sense, McAuliffe said in an appearance on Lynchburgs Morning Show With Mari and Brian on WIQO.

They dont even talk about my authority. They say, Well, we do things incrementally here in Virginia. 

Though McAuliffe routinely has blasted Republicans for filing a lawsuit that could have the effect of preventing thousands of Virginians from voting, his comments about the Supreme Court were an unusually strong rebuke by a sitting governor.

In a statement, House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said the four justices who sided against McAuliffe are widely respected jurists elected with bipartisan support.

The governors remarks are an attack on the Supreme Court as an institution and all of its members, former and present, Howell said. The governor is free to disagree with the courts ruling, but it is wholly inappropriate to question the judicial integrity of the justices.

McAuliffes criticism comes after Republicans took the unusual step of ousting a sitting Supreme Court justice  former Fairfax Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush  amid a political fight with the governor.

McAuliffe noted Monday that Virginia is one of two states in which the legislature has full power over the election of Supreme Court justices, a system he called very unfortunate.

In other states, justices are chosen through gubernatorial appointments with legislative approval, decided by the public through elections or recommended by nonpartisan judicial commissions.

The governors office did not respond directly to follow-up questions about whether McAuliffe feels Virginias system has led to a politicized Supreme Court and whether the governor believes the Roush battle affected the felon rights opinion.

Governor McAuliffe is very disappointed by the courts ruling, and he has made it clear that the decision was simply erroneous, McAuliffe spokeswoman Christina Nuckols said in an email.

McAuliffe had called the blanket rights restoration one of his top achievements in office. After the state canceled roughly 13,000 felons voter registrations to comply with the court order, the McAuliffe administration says its now crafting a process to restore rights for those 13,000 individually.

In the July 22 opinion, the court majority threw out McAuliffes blanket rights restoration action and said it amounted to an unlawful workaround of Virginias constitutional policy of disenfranchising felons for life.

Ex-offenders can apply to have their rights restored, a process already made easier by both McAuliffe and his predecessor, Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican.

Backed by Attorney General Mark R. Herring and constitutional scholar A.E. Dick Howard, McAuliffe claimed he had broad authority to restore rights to an entire class of felons with one order.

In a legal challenge filed against the governor and state officials who implemented his order, Republicans argued that McAuliffe is restricted to restoring rights on a case-by-case basis. Howell and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City County  two of the plaintiffs in the case  hailed the court opinion as a validation of the rule of law and a check on McAuliffes claims to broad executive power.

Virginias process became a flashpoint last year as the GOP-controlled General Assembly moved to oust Roush, who had received an interim appointment from McAuliffe. Virginia governors have the power to fill court vacancies while the legislature is not in session, but all justices must be elected formally by the General Assembly.

Roush became the first sitting justice to be removed from the court in 115 years when her temporary post expired and Republicans elected conservative appeals court judge Stephen R. McCullough to fill the seat.

McCullough was among the four justices who ruled against McAuliffe in the felon voting case.
the most non-libertarian Libertarian Party, presidential ticket in history

Becauseis vying for the presidency, it is imperative now more than ever that libertarianism, rightly defined and applied, be explained to the masses.Whenever I speak or write about libertarianism, I invariably refer to libertarianism greatest philosopher and theorist, Murray Rothbard (1926-1995). Here is his classic statement on libertarianism:

Libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral, or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life. Political theory deals with what is proper or improper for the government to do, and the government is distinguished from every other group in society as being the institution of organized violence.



Libertarianism holds that the only proper role of violence is to defend person and property against violence, that any use of violence that goes beyond such just defense is itself aggressive, unjust, and criminal. Libertarianism, therefore, is a theory which states that everyone should be free of violent invasion, should be free to do as he sees fit except invade the person or property of another. What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism.

And here is one of his classic statements on the nonaggression theory that underlies libertarianism:

The fundamental axiom of libertarian theory is that no one may threaten or commit violence (aggress) against another mans person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.

...
Students at Virginia Episcopal School will host a community fundraiser for the Lynchburg Humane Society featuring a dog walk, police K9 demonstration and food trucks Sunday, Sept. 18.

Participants in the Paws for a Cause event can bring their leashed dogs or sign up to walk a dog from the humane society on the 1-mile course, according to a news release.

After the walk, participants can grab some food from the Taco Shark, Jacked Rabbit or Maylynns Creamery food trucks.

The event will take place from 1 to 3 p.m., rain or shine, on the VES campus. Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased in advance at www.lynchburghumane.org or at the gate Sunday.

 We wanted to bring awareness to the adoptable pets at Lynchburg Humane Society and raise money for their care while enjoying a fun day outdoors at the VES campus, VES student and organizer Sydney Courville said in the release.
Hawk Claus spreads Christmas cheer in DC's Grifter Got Run Over By a Reindeer first look

Take a look at two stories from the DC holiday special including the titular chapter and a Hawkwoman and Hawkman tale
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Waldron to enhance theatre skills

Instead, the young man was accepted as a 2016 special research fellow for theatre directing at the internationally acclaimed Yale School of Drama in New Haven Connecticut, USA.

There, he will take MFA level courses to further develop his craft for a one-year period. He is deeply interested in Carnival and Afro-Caribbean rituals in religious practice. He also has interest in how distinct cultures connect on a stage and interplay to unite people, while still maintaining their unique flavours.

When he discovered theatre directing while studying for his BA degree in his second year at the University of The West Indies (UWI).

He did not expect that it would change the trajectory of his life, but now, he intends it to be his lifes work.

It all started with an underwhelming directing attempt and ever since, he has been determined to perfect his craft.

Following in the footsteps of stalwart theatre professionals like Tony Hall, Dr Lester Efebo Wilkinson and specifically, the late Dr Errol Hill, a Yale School of Drama alumnus, Waldron has his eyes set on the prize.

At Yale, he will be exposed to a world class theatre education at a top-tier school. Yale has given us the likes of actors Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyongo and Angela Bassett, along with theatre critic Robert Burstein and St Lucian playwright Derek Walcott.

It is safe to say that his experience will be fruitful and benefit TT s theatre.

Waldron considers Trinidadian theatre to be very rich and praises it for its quality. He cites Rawle Gibbons and several other Trinidadian theatre practitioners as proof of local talent and is motivated to work his hardest by their work, as well as by the fact that TT theatre is severely under-represented internationally, despite its high quality.

One point he has gleaned from a mentor is that Trinidadians do not know or often overlook the fact that they do not matter. He believes that the two possible outcomes that could arise from this are that people could either accept their unimportance, which would then yield the unspectacular, or they could be inspired to do great things, in order to make themselves and their voices matter.

We are talented people and I see this as an opportunity to spark hope and inspire fresh thinking on our cultural-theatrical landscape. Our stories are universal ones and they matter, regardless of our small size. he said.

One thing that is certain is that Marcus intends to make his voice matter to the world.

He will do his part to present the great aspects of local culture and has the long-term goal of creating good, clear and exciting commercial theatre that is inspired by various international cultures.

He does, however, describe Trinidadian theatre as being in a state of transition, where the volume of youth entering the field far exceeds the availability of creative outlets.

His primary concern is with theatre administrators who curate art and decide where money is invested as well as the inflexibility of more seasoned theatre practitioners, who often insist that their ways of practice are the only valid ways.

He believes that youth, himself included, have a lot to offer in the field and that collaboration across generations is tantamount to theatres success in the TT context.

He referenced productive collaborations such as the Monday Night Theatre Forum, Best Village and the upcoming New Play Festival at the Trinidad Theatre Workshop in October, 2016.

Further, he expressed enthusiasm for theatres imminent blossoming in TT . It is his view that theatre requires open-mindedness, without which creativity cannot flow.

He noted that there are plays of extremely high quality performed in pockets all over the country and is very optimistic about the future of theatre when increased collaboration becomes the norm.

Waldron believes that team spirit, curiosity and an appreciation for all lifes complexities are three qualities that all creative people possess.

He is governed by principles of truth, love, determination and balance and always tries to surround himself with positive energy. He experiences the most joy in the company of friends and family.

His time at Yale has been sponsored by the Insurance Company of the West Indies, an organisation birthed from the entrepreneurial spirit of post-independence Jamaica, serving clients in eight Caribbean territories. Another sponsor is M+M Insurance Company. He is grateful to senior lecturer Dani Lyndersay for her confidence in his ability to be accepted at Yale, his mentors Marvin George, Camille Quamina and Tony Hall, who always answered his questions.

He also credits his mother, Barbara Waldron who, despite very difficult times has constantly been his rock of support, with her unwavering belief that he should pursue his dreams.

He is also thankful to supportive friends, to the staff at UWIs Department of Carnival and Festival Arts and to the Good Samaritan whom, after reading his story, decided to significantly contribute to his efforts.

From his work in theatre, Waldron has learnt the importance of determination and co-operation, which he intends to extend to all other areas of his life.

He intends to strive hard to attain the high goals he has set for himself and he expects to do TT proud.
MYSTERY DEATH

They are accusing personnel at that institution of giving them a run-around, misdiagnosis and bad treatment.

This is what they believe led to the death of a 31-year old Ministry of Agriculture employee, Keisha Howell, at the hospital on Saturday night after intense vomiting and abdominal pains for close to a week.

Her distraught brother, Kuzes, told Newsday yesterday, If we were told exactly what was happening to our sister and we were able to get proper treatment then I am sure my sister may still be alive today. But with all this run-around, misdiagnosis and bad treatment at hospital with little care from the doctors, my sister is no longer alive today and we have no recourse. The young womans tragic story began two Saturdays ago when she first complained about feeling unwell and started vomiting profusely.

Relatives, along with her boyfriend, Christopher John, took Howell to a private doctor, in St Augustine, who told relatives that she may have contracted Zika. The relatives were given a letter to go to the EWMSC for emergency treatment.

Relatives complied and, according to Kuzes, when they went to Mt Hope that Saturday there was not even a wheelchair to take his sister around, and when he asked for a bed for her, he was told that there was none available.

Kuzes said that when he complained to nurses that his sister was having problems breathing, he was told that there was nothing they could do.

According to Kuzes, his sister was given panadol and panadene and told to drink lots of coconut water and eat fruits.

However, when she returned home her condition did not improve. Kuzes said EWMSC personnel took a blood sample and said that her blood count was low and told them to come back on Monday.

Last Monday she was taken to a private doctor where she was given two injections.

According to Kuzes, his sister drank some more coconut water on Saturday, but by 8.30 pm she was dead.

John said that he is at a loss about the whole situation because his girlfriend was never an ill person nor one who ever complained about feeling unwell except for the common cold or flu. He said that everything happened so fast he is yet to understand exactly what transpired.

Yesterday an autopsy at the EWMSC revealed that Howell died from multiple organ failure. Primum Esse Executive Search in Vilnius, Lithuania, Baltics

The hospital did not reveal what prompted the multiple organ failure. Relatives were told that additional tests will have to be carried out to determine this.
NYLO visits St Judes

Judes Home for Girls located in Belmont, Port of Spain.

The team comprised of Newsdays Ed itor-in-Ch i e f , Jones P Madeira, along with interns Tyrell Gittens and Tenisha Sylvester.

Madeira related lessons learnt and memories from his illustrious career spanning over 50 years.

Gittens and Sylvester also spoke to the girls about the time they have spent thus far in the NYLO project.

Madeiras message and that of the two NYLO interns was well received. Some of the girls even stated that they were interested in joining the media fraternity at some point in their life.

The Home hosted a Career Fair at which groups from diverse fields were present to expose the residents to multiple career paths.

The Paper Studio, African Ark Jewellery and Clothing, members of the Public Transportation Services Corporation (PTSC), representatives from the Ministry of National Security, Market Movers and the 2 Cents Movement were just some of the groups present. Stating that their presence at the fair wasnt only to attract possible servicewomen, members of the security services stated that they aimed to sensitise children on crime prevention, sexual abuse and domestic violence. On her experience at the days event, one girl said, What was interesting to me is the presentation by the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (TTHTI), as I always wanted to be a culinary chef.
US: We See

No Signs

Putin Will

Use Dirty Bomb
(Newser)  The proposal might sound unlikely: Take an abandoned steel mill in Newark, NJ, and build a so-called vertical farm, the world's largest. In so doing, revive a rundown area, produce more crops in less space far faster than in a field, use fewer resources, and pack in more nutrients than leafy greens grown from the great outdoors. All that while producing greens that taste, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently said, "Fabulous. No dressing necessary." AeroFarms has invested $30 million into this dream, and proponents call the vertical growing system the "Third Green Revolution," reports the Guardian. Oh, and they also hope to help end world hungeror at least work on dealing with food shortages as the global population continues to climb. "Weve taken the volatility of Mother Nature out of the equation," the marketing director tells the New York Times. And: "Were offering year-round employment."

The company currently employs 100 people and promises to bring more jobs to the region soon; New Jersey's Economic Development Authority has bought in, throwing $6.5 million in tax credits. What AeroFarms has grown is limited to short-stemmed leafy greens such as kale, spinach, and arugula, though it's tested more than 250 greens and hopes in time to expand to other crops, such as tomatoes and berries. And it expects to churn out 30 harvests totaling 2 million pounds of greens a year, reports Tech Insider. It all happens on 30-foot-tall machines decked out in LED lights and microfleece membranes that house the roots in a nutrient-dense mist. Oh and no pesticides, because, well, no pests. (Speaking of pesticides, strawberries now top the "dirty dozen" list.)
(Newser)  A serial killer who has shot at least nine people since March remains at large in the Phoenix area, and authorities don't have a ton to go on. He's white or Hispanic, drives a black car, and seemingly chooses his victims at random on the streets at night. All of those shot have been black or Hispanic, and most have been hit in the Latino neighborhood of Maryvale. While the shooter's motive is uncertain, one thing that is clear is his effect on this working-class neighborhood, as a story at the Trace explores. In an area where summer temperatures routinely push 100 degrees, the streets typically come alive in the cooler evenings with barbecues, block parties, and kids on bikes.

"Lately, however, Maryvale has felt like a ghost town when the sun goes down," writes Eric Markowitz. Parents keep their kids in, people are reluctant to walk their dogs, residents are arming themselves or at least talking about itin short, paranoia abounds. "You know like when youre a little kid and you want to run and turn the lights on real quick because you think somethings chasing you?" says a 31-year-old woman. "Thats the feeling you get when you come out of your car to go into the house. Click for the full story, which includes theories about the killer and a police official describing "a complex investigation with a lot of moving parts." (Read more Phoenix stories.)
(Newser)  It was only after World War II, after she had served five years in a prison camp and returned to Berlin, that Brunhilde Pomsel says she learned about "the matter of the Jews." That's her circumlocution for the Holocaust, and it's a fairly surprising assertion considering the now 105-year-old's role as secretary to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. She speaks to the Guardian in what Kate Connolly describes as "one of the first, and last, in-depth interviews of her life," spurred by the release of a documentary about her called A German Life. So many decades later, Pomsel is "unrepentant," writes Connolly, insisting there is nothing weighing on her conscience and that she "really ... didn't do anything other than type." In the film she casts herself as too "dumb" and "superficial" to comprehend what was happening, reports the New York Times.

That's not to say all that typing was innocuous: She recalls beefing up the count of the number of women raped by Red Army soldiers, and expresses pride that Goebbels trusted her with the case file of a young woman who was executed for treason. In terms of other recollections, Haaretz reports the film provides little untold insight into Goebbels beyond an affection so deep for his dog that he once had it flown to him in Venice, "but it does shed light on human nature." As for Eva Lowenthal, her Jewish friend who went missing, Pomsel says she completely accepted the story that was being told: that Jews were sent to empty homes in Czech lands Germany had annexed. It wasn't until 2005 that she sought the truth of Lowenthal's fate: Records showed her friend ended up in Auschwitz in November 1943 and was dead by the war's end. (Also making headlines: Himmler's lost diaries.)
(Newser)  A British woman was murdered in an "honor killing" in Pakistan last month, and her ex-husband has confessed to the crime, police sources tell the Telegraph. Samia Shahid, 28, was visiting her relatives in northern Punjab when, those relatives say, she died of a heart attack. Her second husband suspected an "honor killing" over disapproval of her marriage to him. Now her ex, Choudhry Shakeel, and her father, Mohammed, have been arrested, Shakeel for the alleged murder and Shahid's father for allegedly being an accomplice.

The BBC reports that Shakeel allegedly admitted he strangled Shahid with a scarf after she refused to leave her second husband and remarry Shakeel. Authorities are still collecting evidence because "confessional statements have no value in the court" in Pakistan, a police officer explains. (Read more Pakistan stories.)
(Newser)  The death toll has risen as searchers sift through the rubble from an explosion at a Maryland apartment building. Montgomery County Police said Monday that a sixth body has been found in the debris of the Flower Branch apartments in Silver Spring, the AP reports. An explosion at the four-story building Wednesday night shook buildings more than a mile away. More than 30 people were injured, including three firefighters. Still, there was good news. Police said a 55-year-old man who had been unaccounted for, Oscar Ochoa, was located and is unharmed. That reduces the number of missing from eight to seven. Their ages range from three to 66.

Police believe that the six bodies found correspond to those on the missing list, but the condition of the bodies has prevented authorities from making a positive identification thus far. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the blast; some residents reported smelling gas before the explosion. Search efforts, and the investigation itself, have been slowed by consecutive days of 100-degree heat and high humidity, along with unsafe conditions at the site, where the building has been in danger of total collapse. (Read more explosion stories.)
(Newser)  Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced Monday. The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the US prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close, the AP reports. The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six US government agencies.

The UAE successfully resettled five detainees transferred there last year, according to the Pentagon. Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the US was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention center's closure. "The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists," Wolosky said. Naureen Shah, Amnesty International USA's director of national security and human rights, said the transfers announced Monday are a "powerful sign that President Obama is serious about closing Guantanamo before he leaves office." (Read more Guantanamo Bay stories.)
Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley said that deputies responded to 79 calls for service at the Bi-Mart Willamette Country Music Festival, and the vast majority of the incidents  including two sex abuse cases  were alcohol-related.

Most of these problems were in the camping area.  Theres no alcohol allowed in camping, but, as you know, with 25,000 people on the premises, a lot of the folks are going there to party and have a good time, Riley said.

Few problems occurred within the venue itself, which includes designated beer areas with vendors.

The three-day country music festival is held in a field near Brownsville. For four days, the site becomes the second largest city in Linn County, Riley said. And for some campers there, the fun got out of hand.

Judgement becomes impaired. People make poor decisions. Thats what were seeing as a result of our investigations, Riley said. People take chances they normally wouldnt.

The sheriff's office had a mobile command station on site throughout the festival.

The cause of security issues at the festival arent much different than with society in general, in a way. Most people lodged at the Linn County Jail, Riley said, have underlying substance abuse issues.

Riley urged residents to imbibe in moderation, in part to keep themselves from becoming a victim. People always need to be aware of their surroundings and cautious of what they do, where they go, who they hang out with and that sort of thing, he said.

Deputies made seven arrests total at the festival, and those were for driving under the influence of intoxicants, domestic assault and other crimes.

There also were 37 underage alcohol offenses, such as minor in possession of alcohol and using another persons identification.

We took more of an aggressive stance on the underage drinking, Riley said.

Three vehicle crashes also were of concern, though only one, where an ATV rider rolled with two passengers on board, caused injuries. The driver was not intoxicated but his injured passengers were, Riley said.

Overall, the calls for service were down slightly from last year, when deputies responded to 92 incidents. (Calls for service include self-initiated calls, where a deputy patrolling might notice something amiss and investigate.)

The calls this year, however, were more substantial, Riley said.

This is the ninth year. Were always looking at ways to improve and enhance security, he said.

Music festival staff also tried to curb shenanigans, kicking out 14 campsites for violation of policies and cutting nearly 115 wristbands, Riley said.

Problems at music festivals arent limited to the Brownsville area, of course. A woman reported she was raped at the Northwest World Reggae Festival in Scio in July. That case remains under investigation.

On Monday, Terry Pepiot, 56, of Harrisburg, was accused in Linn County Circuit Court of sex crimes that were allegedly committed on Sunday at the Willamette Country Music Festival.

He was charged with first-degree sex abuse, first-degree sodomy and first-degree unlawful sexual penetration. Judge Carol Bispham set his bail at $50,000.

Ive never been in trouble with anything ever, Pepiot told Bispham.

According to a news release, Pepiot confessed to sexually abusing the victim, an adult female, while she was sleeping in an RV.

Another man, Jeremy Russell Janssen, 37, of Ridgefield, Washington, was arrested on a charge of first-degree sex abuse on Sunday at the country music festival grounds.
(Newser)  A sailor who photographed classified areas inside a nuclear sub finds it deeply unfair that he's probably on his way to prison while Hillary Clinton might be on her way to the White House. Petty Officer 1st Class Kristian Saucier, 29, pleaded guilty in May this year to retaining national defense information without permission in 2009, Politico reports. He could get up to 78 months in prison when he's sentenced on Friday, but in a court filing, his lawyer argues that probation would be more appropriate because he possessed just six classified photos from the USS Alexandriaand Hillary Clinton wasn't punished for having 110 emails on her private server that contained information considered classified.

"It will be unjust and unfair for Mr. Saucier to receive any sentence other than probation for a crime those more powerful than him will likely avoid," attorney Derrick Hogan says in the filing, noting that Saucier didn't pass the photos to any unauthorized recipient, but took them out of a "misguided desire" to someday show his children what he did in the Navy. The Hill notes that the citing of the Clinton case will give ammunition to critics who say not indicting Clinton set a "dangerous precedent." Hogan, however, also cites the cases of two other sailors on the Alexandria who were found to have taken photos in classified areas. One was docked $560 in pay and bumped down a rank, while the other was docked $560 without having his rank reduced. (Read more Hillary Clinton stories.)
(Newser)  In an attempt to bury a relic of its past, Vanderbilt University announced Monday that it will pay more than $1 million to remove the word "Confederate" from one of its dorms, the Tennessean reports. Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos called the inscription on Confederate Memorial Hall "a reminder of racism, slavery and a very, very bloody Civil War." The Nashville university's efforts to change the name in 2002 were halted when the United Daughters of the Confederacy sued. The groups $50,000 donation in 1933 helped build the dorm. A state appeals court ruled the building could be renamed Memorial Hall only after Vanderbilt gave the United Daughters back their money$1.2 million in todays dollars.

The university has the cash, thanks to a raft of anonymous contributors who wanted the tie to Americas painful past broken for good. "It's a symbol that is, for many people, deeply offensive and painful," Zeppos told the Tennessean. "And to walk past it or to have to live in that space is really something that I just don't think is acceptable. Yet tampering with Confederate imagery remains controversial, and a new state law makes it harder to do so, the AP reports. Efforts by Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro to remove the name of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from a building could face a tougher climb under the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, which now requires a vote of two-thirds of the states Historical Commission rather than a simple majority. (Read more Vanderbilt University stories.)
(Newser)  It measures just 0.16 inches in diameter and weighs just 0.005 ounces, but its importance could be countless magnitudes of that: A tiny gold bead has been found in southern Bulgaria and dated to as early as 4600 BC. If confirmed, that would make it the "oldest gold of mankind," a title that has been held by gold found in Varna, a city along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, reports Discovery News. "I have no doubt that it is older than the Varna gold," which dates to 200 years later, Bulgarian professor Yavor Boyadzhiev tells Reuters. The 13 pounds of Varna gold are still not thoroughly understood, reports Smithsonian. Varna's people were thought to have been farmers who had come from the Anatolia Peninsula just a few centuries before the gold was processed. "How they were able to master [that] ... in that short span of time" remains a mystery.

With the new discovery at Tell Yunatsite, our understanding of man's ability to process gold, and the area over which it occurred, expand. Reuters reports that the excavations at Tell Yunatsitefirst excavated in 1939 and the site of ongoing digs since 1976  have surfaced what Boyadzhiev calls the "prototype of a modern town" over some 25 to 30 acres. A website on the excavations notes that only a third of the tell (an archaeological mound) has been excavated. A 2012 Popular Archaeology article about the site notes it "may have been Europe's first civilization," and met an unfortunate end. Violence befell the settlement around 4100 BC. "Many skeletons of children, elderly men, and women were found scattered on floors, suggesting a massive massacre." (Archaeologists are currently hunting for some legendary gold.)
(Newser)  Killing a bear with a hand-thrown spear isn't an everyday featbut the government of Alberta, Canada, is not impressed by the prowess of American hunter Josh Bowmar. The government promised to introduce a ban on "archaic" and "unacceptable" hunting with spears after video surfaced of Bowmar, a former javelin athlete, killing a bear from more than 12 yards away with a 7-foot spear that had a GoPro camera attached, the Edmonton Journal reports. The wounded bear, which had been attracted by a bait bin, ran off. In a YouTube video that has now been taken offline, Bowmar says he returned the next day and found the body of the bear around 150 feet from where it was hit.

The video sparked controversyand lurid headlines like "Warped Hunter Kills Starving Bear with Seven Foot Homemade Spear" in British tabloidsnot just for the manner of the kill, but for Bowmar's celebration, the CBC reports. "That's going to be some epic footage," he exclaims. "Yeah, I got mad penetration. That's a dead bear." The Humane Society of the US also weighed in, referring to the Ohio man as "this year's version of Walter Palmer," the American dentist who killed Cecil the Lion, notes the Dayton Daily News. Bowmar says he was surprised by the reaction. The kill was "as humane and ethical as one could get in a hunting situation on big game animals," he says, adding that "no one cares more about these animals than us hunters, especially me," and that the bear's hide and meat did not go to waste. (A California woman angered her neighbors by having a bear shot.)
(Newser)  Rudy Giuliani found himself the subject of plenty of angry headlines Monday, and many sounded much like that of the New York Daily News: "Rudy Giuliani forgets about 9/11." The former NYC mayorwhose tenure included 9/11was in Youngstown, Ohio, to introduce Donald Trump at a campaign event, and said these lines: "Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didnt have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack inside the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office." Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, leading many outlets to point out that the eight years prior included the 9/11 attacks. How it's playing out:

CNN reports that Giuliani had only moments before referenced the World Trade Center attacks, and Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Giuliani meant the time between 9/11 and Obama's first day on the job.

Slate agrees that Giuliani's sin was simple imprecision. Yes, "his phrasing was misleading," but take a look at the context: Giuliani was praising Mike Pence's work on the Patriot Act "with preventing more attacks before pivoting to his remarks about eight years without another attack." He was talking post-9/11, and just said it poorly.

The Washington Post and Slate flag something they see as more fascinating than the verbal faux pas: As the Post writes, what Giuliani is saying is "actually pretty diametrically opposed" to Trump's campaign stance on America's safety under George W. Bush.

MSNBC points out Giuliani made a similar gaffe in 2010.

How's that for timing? The comments coincide with a New Yorker article published Monday that isn't about the Youngstown appearance. The headline: "The Appalling Last Act of Rudy Giuliani."

(Read more Rudy Giuliani stories.)
(Newser)  She was the first Democrat elected as Pennsylvania's attorney general, and hers was a seemingly limitless future in the Democratic Party. Now, the state's top prosecutor, Kathleen Kane, faces prison time after a jury convicted her Monday in a tawdry scandal that brought down several other state officials. Gov. Tom Wolf immediately called on Kane to step down, the New York Times reports, saying "the people of Pennsylvania deserve to move on." On Tuesday, Kane announced that she would do so, effective Wednesday, reports the AP. A jury found Kane, 50, guilty of nine charges including criminal conspiracy and two felony counts of perjury for leaking grand jury information and lying about it, PennLive reports.

Events that led to her downfall began after she was criticized in the media for shutting down an undercover probe of state Democratic officials. She schemed to discredit a prosecutor she blamed for embarrassing herand she meant business. This is war, Kane vowed in an email, per the Times. The judge in the case warned her that "there is to be absolutely no retaliation of any kind." Kane, who did not testify in the four-day trial, faces more than 14 years in prison. Her defenders say her take-down was payback for rattling the establishment after her election in 2012. Kanes law license was suspended last year after the criminal probe was announced. (Adding insult to injury, Kane was even being sued by her own twin sister.)
(Newser)  Like many students heading off to college, Jeremy Shuler is excited to attend classesincluding multivariable calculus and intermediate Latinand meet new people. Partying, however, is out of the question: Jeremy is only 12. The real-life Sheldon Cooperalso from Texasis believed to be the youngest person to ever attend Cornell University, reports the Washington Post. His parents, both aerospace engineers, say he had a passion for learning from the start. He knew the alphabet and numbers at 15 months old and could read both English and Korean at 2. At age 5, he was studying pre-calculus and reading Lord of the Rings. That's when his mom decided to quit her job to focus on homeschooling Jeremy, reports Texas Tech University.

"We gave up Wikipedia," says Jeremy's dad. "We would just ask Jeremy, 'What is the capital of Chad?' and he would tell us. He's much smarter than either of us, for sure," he adds. "It's a challenge to keep him challenged." At age 10, Jeremy took the SAT, scoring in the 99.6 percentile, before earning his high school diploma, per the Ithaca Journal. He was accepted to Cornell this spring on the condition that he live with his parents, who've since moved to Ithaca. "I know it's the right choice, it's the only way he can be challenged and grow," his dad says. A Cornell rep admits the situation is "highly unusual," but Jeremy "will be able to thrive." He can't wait. "I've been preparing for college for a long time," says Jeremy, who plans to study engineering and math. (This 11-year-old has three college degrees.)
(Newser)  For more than a decade, scientists have been aware of a methane hot spot the size of Delaware in the Four Corners region of the US. Now they know what's responsible. A NASA study finds more than 250 sources of the leak in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, including gas wells, pipelines, and processing plants. Roughly 66% of the leak can be blamed on just 25 locations, which were not identified, reports the AP. That, at least, is a good sign since "this can help [the] industry to more efficiently curb methane emissions," study author Christian Frankenberg tells the Farmington Daily Times. "Once these leaks are detected by regular inspections, we can go out with a wrench or unstick a plugged valve," adds an Environmental Defense Fund rep.

Though evidence of the hot spot surfaced in 2003, a satellite image made it obvious in 2014. To determine the source, researchers flew over 1,200 square miles of the Four Corners region with spectrometers that reveal atmospheric gases in April 2015, identifying sources releasing methane at up to 11,000 pounds per hour, reports Tech Times. Frankenberg says the study shows only "a single snapshot in time," but the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association describes it as limited. A rep says the industry has reduced emissions by 15% since 1990. And though the EPA says natural gas, made up of 90% methane, is a major contributor to global warming, the rep says it's better for the environment than coal. "Many groups exploit study findings like these unfairly," he says. (Read more on the leak here.)
(Newser)  Hillary Clinton has spent $61 million on TV ads in two months, a hefty sum that does not include $43 million spent by pro-Clinton groups. That's exactly $104 million more than Donald Trump. With less than three months until the election, the Republican candidate has yet to spend a dollar on TV ads, though pro-Trump groups have contributed $12.4 million. Even Green Party candidate Jill Stein has spent more, about $189,000, while Libertarian Gary Johnson has spent $15,000, reports NBC News. If Trump were already well ahead, keeping money in the bank might make sense. But an NBC weekly national poll finds he's nine points behind Clinton, 50% to 41%, with a slightly higher unfavorability rating of 64% compared to Clinton's 59%.

Trumpof whom only 19% of Republican and Republican-leaning poll respondents say has the personality and temperament to serve as presidentis hardly short on cash. As the New York Times reports, Trump and the Republicans raised $82 million last month alone. So whats he spending his money on? Philip Bump at the Washington Post says it's "a question that defies a logical answer." He adds Trump's lack of spending is particularly strange because "the longer the Trump campaign waits to reserve ad time, the less ad time exists to buy and the more ads cost" since candidates in House and Senate races are also in the mix. "Political scientists, you now have an amazing case study on your hands," as NBC puts it. (Read more Election 2016 stories.)
(Newser)  Arshell Dennis III was due to fly back to New York on Sunday after a surprise visit home to Chicago for his sick mother's birthday, reports the Washington Post. Instead, the son of a Chicago police officer was shot dead. Police say Dennis, 19, was sitting on his familys front porch, chatting with a friend after a block party, when an unknown assailant opened fire, reports WGN. DennisNAACP student chapter vice president at St. John's University, where he was studying journalismwas killed by a bullet to the chest, while his friend was taken to a hospital in serious condition with wounds to his arm and side. No arrests have been made but the shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity or part of a gang initiation, police tell the Chicago Sun-Times.

There is "absolutely no credibility" to the idea that Dennis' death was linked to his father's role as a DEA task force officer, says Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. "Any shooting victim that's in Chicago is unacceptable," he adds, "but this one hits close to home." Neither victim was involved in gangs or had a criminal history, says Johnson. Dennisseen discussing police brutality in this YouTube video"was a beautiful young man, full of laughs and always teasing us," his grandfather tells the Chicago Tribune. "It's a deep loss, and it hurts. I wish this senseless killing would stop." Nine people were killed over the weekend in Chicago, which had tallied 436 deaths from gun violence in 2016 as of Thursday. (In all, more than 2,000 people have been shot in the city this year.)
The Linn County Sheriffs Office conducted a boating under the influence of intoxicants saturation patrol at Foster Reservoir near Sweet Home on Friday through Sunday.

Five people were arrested for BUII of a motorized boat, and one person was arrested for BUII of a non-motorized boat.

Marine deputies from Josephine County and Klamath County assisted Linn County during the weekend.

Oregon law prohibits anyone from boating while intoxicated. Boating while intoxicated causes impaired balance, blurred vision, poor coordination, impaired judgment and slower reaction times. Mixing alcohol while operating a boat is a major contributor to boating accidents and fatalities.
(Newser)  The brazen kidnapping at a Mexican resort on Monday may have netted a big prize for the kidnappers: the son of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo," reports Reuters. Between seven and eight armed men snatched six other men early Monday from a high-end restaurant in a Puerto Vallarta, and Ivan Guzman is "presumed" to be among the abducted, per the Jalisco state AG. In fact, all of those taken are believed to be from his jailed father's Sinaloa Cartel, though false IDs at the scene were complicating identification of the missing.

The largest gang in that area is the Jalisco New Generation cartel, though it hasn't been officially named in the abduction. As for why Ivan Guzman may have been targeted, experts who spoke to the AP say he has a reputation for rubbing people in the Sinaloa Cartel the wrong way by being ostentatious in person and on social media. "Ivan  was, I believe, a bit crazy," a political science professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico says, adding "a serious narco" wouldn't post all his exploits online the way the younger Guzman does. (Click to read how the legalization of marijuana helped lead to the nation's heroin epidemic.)
(Newser)  A nice moment emerged out of a rough one in Rio Tuesday morning: During a qualifying race for the women's 5,000 meters, Abbey D'Agostino appeared to accidentally clip the foot of New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin, and both fell to the ground hard. When I went down I was like, Why am I on the ground and suddenly there was this hand on my shoulder, recalls Hamblin, per USA Today. D'Agostino had gotten up but stopped to help Hamblin. In doing so, D'Agostino discovered she had injured her leg in the crashit buckled, and she fell again. Hamblin then helped her up, and didn't move on until she was sure D'Agostino was steady on her feet, recounts Yahoo. They both finished the race, far behind the pack.

I am so grateful to Abbey for doing that for me, says Hamblin. I had never met her, isnt that so amazing? It is a moment that I will never ever forget for the rest of my life. The good news is that both runners successfully petitioned the results and will be allowed to compete in the final. However, it remains unclear whether D'Agostino will be able to run it. She hobbled noticeably in the laps after her fall, though Hamblin greeted her with a hug at the finish line. (Read more Rio Olympics stories.)
(Newser)  The discoverers of a brand new dolphin species didn't even have to leave the office to make their find, UPI reports. Smithsonian curator Nicholas Pyenson and researcher Alexandra Boersma were presumably going about their business whenin Boersma's words"this beautiful little skull from Alaska" jumped out at them, according to a press release. The 9-inch partial skull had been in the Smithsonian's collections since it was discovered in 1951, but it had never been properly studied. Pyenson and Boersma rectified that, making a shocking discovery: The skull belonged to a brand new genus and species of dolphin, which they dubbed Arktocara yakataga. They published their findings Tuesday in PeerJ.

The long-extinct Arktocara yakataga lived 25 million years ago and is related to the highly endangered South Asian river dolphin. Gizmodo calls the South Asian river dolphin the "weirdest dolphin on Earth." It swims on its side, has a long beak, and can't see, instead using echolocation to find its way around. Boersma says it's "kind of mind-boggling" to find a relative of the South Asian river dolphin all the way up in Alaska. She and Pyenson plan on digging for more Arktocara yakataga fossils next year. They believe the new species could teach us more about the evolution of both dolphins and whales. (This is what a dolphin "sees.")
(Newser)  Two South Carolina teenagers are charged with murder in the shooting death of a Good Samaritan who helped them pull an SUV out of a ditch, the AP reports. North Charleston Police spokesperson Spencer Pryor told local news outlets the victim stopped to help the teens pull the vehicle out of a ditch about 11pm Monday and was robbed and shot after the vehicle was freed. The Charleston County Coroner's Office has IDed the deceased as 45-year-old Chadwick Garrett, per the Post and Courier.

Pryor says 17-year-old Deon Frasier and 19-year-old Michael Dupree-Tyler, both of North Charleston, are charged with murder. Frasier is also charged with possession of a firearm during a violent crime. It was the 21st homicide in North Charleston this year. (A tragic end for two other Good Samaritans in South Carolina last month.)
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.
Patna:

A special one-day session of both the Houses of Bihar Legislature will be held on Tuesday (August 16) for ratification of the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST.



The one-day session of the Bihar State Legislative Assembly was called by Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary for ratification of GST Bill, its Secretary Ram Shreshtha Rai told a news agency.



The Bill has been supported by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.



The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014 on GST has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.



The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state

legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.



Assam had become the first state to ratify the Bill.



The government has set a deadline of April 2017 for its rollout.

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Lucknow:

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday backed his brother and Cabinet Minister Shivpal Yadav, who had threatened to resign, and made veiled criticism of the Uttar Pradesh government which is headed by his son.



In an indication of an intense feud in the ruling partys first family, Mulayam while coming out in support of Shivpal said if he left the Samajwadi Party(SP), it will get divided into factions.



Mulayams remarks came a day after Shivpal threatened to resign alleging rampant corruption in the state government headed by Akhilesh Yadav. Assembly polls in UP are due next year.



At a flag-hoisting programme on the occasion of the Independence Day, Mulayam said that while Shivpal was working hard a conspiracy was being hatched against the minister within the SP and the government and cautioned that if he leaves the party, it will get divided into factions.



He said he had read media reports that Shivpal while expressing concern over touts and musclemen calling the shots in the state, had threatened to resign.



Shivpal is working very hard. A few people are against him. If he quits, then the situation for the party will become bad. Half of the people will go with him, the SP supremo said.



As some party leaders attempted to prevent the issue from being talked about in the presence of the media, he said, How does it matter? An issue that is true is true.



SP state president and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was present on the occasion.



While expressing concern over land-grabbing, Shivpal, who was in Mainpuri, had spoken about his resignation.



He had alleged some party workers and office-bearers were involved in wrongful acts of land-grabbing and harassment of the public.



MLAs and MLCs involved in such activities will be expelled from SP. Those party workers and office-bearers involved in land grabbing and acts of deceit will be expelled, Shivpal had said yesterday.



He had said, Government staff at police stations and tehsils are not paying heed to public grievances. SP had to face defamation because of those involved in land-grabbing and illegal acts.



Shivpal had later said in a statement that SP would not allow people to be harassed even if it requires him to resign.



Samajwadi Party will never allow harassment of the public...Iske liye chahe mujhe istifa kyun na dena pade (for this I am even prepared to resign)...Those involved in harassment of the people have no connection with SP, he said.



Mulayam said that from next month, he would hold rallies in 18 divisions.

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Washington:

The US has said that it is for India and Pakistan to determine the pace, scope and character of any discussions on Kashmir.



Our position on Kashmir has not changed. The pace, the scope, the character of any discussions in Kashmir is for the two sides to determine. We support any and all positive steps that India and Pakistan can take to forge closer relations, State Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said.



Were aware of the clashes. We remain concerned about the violence and we encourage to all sides to make efforts for finding a peaceful resolution, Trudeau said at her daily news conference yesterday.



The State Department spokesperson, however, did not respond to questions on the remarks by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on Monday.



I wouldnt speak to Mr Modis comments, that would be for him to speak to, Trudeau said.

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Kathmandu:

At least 37 people were killed and 43 others injured in two separate bus accidents in Nepal today.



The first incident took place when a bus with 85 passengers, heading for Kattike Deurali from Kathmandu, skidded off the road and plunged 500 metres down the road at Birta Deurali-7 in Kavre after the driver lost control of it.



According to the District Police Office Kavre, 33 people were killed in the accident. As many as 43 others have been injured in the incident, police said. A Nepal Army helicopter airlifted 15 injured passengers to Kathmandu for treatment, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.



An eyewitness said that many passengers have been squeezed by the bus wreckage. Prime Minister Prachanda directed concerned stakeholders including the government bodies to intensify rescue mission.



In the second accident, a passenger bus met with an accident at Siddheshwor, killing four people on the spot. The bus was heading for Bajhang district from Dhangadi.



Nepal has many mountainous areas and most roads are narrow. Most accidents in Nepal are blamed on poorly maintained vehicles and road conditions. Buses are crowded and people also travel on the roofs of buses.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Beijing:

China is unlikely to give up on the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor being built through PoK despite Indias protests but it may not be interested in taking sides in the Kashmir dispute due to close economic ties with both nations, state-run media said today.



"It is regrettable to see CPEC become another unharmonious factor in Sino-India ties, but China is unlikely to give up on the idea of CPEC because of Indias protest," an article in Global Times said.



In fact, the economic corridor, linking northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan, does not target any third party, India included. Given that China has developed close economic ties with both India and Pakistan in recent years, Beijing is unlikely to be interested in taking a side between the two countries, it said.



Significantly, the article uses the term Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) twice even though at one place it makes the mention attributing it to Indian media reports.



Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj voiced Indias concerns over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis India trip, Indian media reported, the article said.



It is precisely because of the regions worsening investment environment that PoKs economy is still heavily reliant on agriculture. Also, the northern part of India bordering Pakistan and Kashmir both lack basic infrastructure, the article said.



Chinese media usually refers to PoK as Pakistan-administered Kashmir.



Another state-run news outlet, the Peoples Daily which which published photos of Chinese and Pakistani troops patrolling for the first time Xinjiang and PoK border last month referred to the area as China-Pakistan border.



Global Times is part of Peoples Daily publishing group controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).



In its article, the Global Times said, the dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan makes the two countries habitually vigilant against any possibility of large-scale foreign investment flowing into the region, but it is the Kashmir conflict itself, rather than any alleged political intent behind the foreign investment, that creates tension in the region.



Rather than prevent foreign investors from entering the region as a solution to concerns over CPEC, India should focus on its negations with Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute, it said.

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New Delhi:

Congress on Tuesday distanced itself from the remarks of its senior leader Salman Khurshid on Prime Minister Narendra Modis reference to Balochistan in his Independence Day address, terming them as his personal view.

The main opposition party, however, asked the government to raise the issue of alleged atrocities in Balochistan and PoK in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.

Congress does not subscribe to the statement of Salman Khurshid who is a senior leader. He can have his own opinion. Our view is very, very clear. Congress party believes there are serious human rights violations in Balochistan and the voice of democratic dissent is being suppressed by Pakistani forces and agencies. Similar human rights violations are being committed by the armed forces of Pakistan in PoK which is an integral part of India," the head of Congress communication department Randeep Surjewala said.

All such issues need to be raised and need to be sorted out. We suport the government. However what is Modi going to do for taking up these issues on a bilateral forum with Pakistan so that suppression of democratic dissent in Balochistan and PoK come to end and what he and his government are going to do about raising these issues on international forums, he added.

He said the nomenclature PoK means that the territory is an integral part of India and Kashmirs accession to India is an issue which was settled decades ago.Surjewala said Pakistan had attacked and occupied a part of Jammu and Kashmir which was integral to India.

This issue needs to be sorted out and it can only be sorted out in favour of India, he said.The Congress leader criticised the PDP-BJP government for the turmoil in Kashmir.The PDP-BJP governments lopsided policies and blind lust for power were responsible for the situation in Kashmir, he alleged.

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New Delhi:

Appealing to parties, including Congress, to speak with one voice on the issues of Balochistan and Gilgit, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said all should avoid making any statement which hurts Indias interests.

Naidus remarks came in response to a question on Congress Leader Salman Khurshids statement in which he attacked the Prime Minister for raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address.

As far as international issues are concerned India should speak with one voice. But unfortunately Congress party is not speaking with one voice within the party also. There is a statement from Salman Khurshid, there is a statement by Kapil Sibal, subsequently a statement given by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.

I only appeal to the main opposition party please bear with the country. Try to understand the implications. We must all speak with one voice. Our neighbor is aiding, habitating (sic) and funding terrorism in the country continuously. It cant go on like this, Naidu said at the sidelines of an event here.

I appeal to all domestic parties do not make any such statements which hurts India, he added.

Khurshid had yesterday accused Modi of ruining Indias case on Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) by raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address.

But later Congress distanced itself from the remarks and asked the government to raise the issue of atrocities in Balochistan and PoK in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at international forums.

Taking a strong note of Pakistans position on Kashmir, Naidu said that Kashmir is integral part of India.Government of India and state government are capable of handling Kashmir. There is an elected government in the state, he said.

They are trying to give us lectures about Kashmir, thats why we have told them what is happening in Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit. Let them focus about human rights violation masscare and atrocities there, Naidu said.

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New Delhi :

Google has launched a new video chat app called Duo. With this, Google is ready to take on Apples Face Time, Microsofts Skype and Facebooks Messenger app.



Duo isnt much different from the other video chatting services, except that it gives a glimpse at who is making the call, helping the recipient decide whether to answer. Google calls this feature, "Knock, knock".

The new app, announced in May, is being released on Tuesday as a free service for phones running on Googles Android operating system as well as Apples iPhones.

Today, we're releasing Google Duo - a simple 1-to-1 video calling app available for Android and iOS. Duo takes the complexity out of video calling, so that you can be together in the moment wherever you are, the company posted on its official blog.

Like FaceTime for iPhones, Duo only requires a persons phone number to connect. Many other services require both participants to have account logins to use their video calling options.

Google has been offering video calling through its Hangout feature for several years, but the internet company is now tailoring that service for business meetings.

Duo is being billed as a simpler, more reliable way to see friends and family as you talk to them.

It is the first of two new mobile apps that Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., has planned for this summer.

The Mountain View, California, company also is preparing to unveil a new messaging app called Allo featuring a robotic assistant that will suggest automated responses to texts.

Google claims that all Duo calls are end-to-end encrypted.

Furthermore, it says the video chat app will switch between Wi-Fi and cellular data automatically without dropping your call.


























New Delhi:

Commenting on an infiltration plot foiled on Independence Day near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said that a visit to Pakistan is same as a visit to hell.

"Our soldiers sent back five terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is the same as going to hell," Parrikar was quoted as saying by ANI. "Pakistan has encouraged terrorism, and now they are facing consequences of that policy," he said.

In the fourth foiled infiltration bid in the last three weeks, five militants were killed in Uri during encounter with security forces. In the history of Jammu and Kashmir, this years Independence Day was the bloodiest. A CRPF jawan was martyred in Srinagar, while two militants were killed in another encounter.

The Indian government has hardened stance on Pakistan since the unrest in Kashmir began in July when terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter by security forces. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif had called Wani a 'martyr', saying July 19 would be observed as a 'black day' in solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

On Monday, PM Modi in his Independence Day speech sent a strong message to Pakistan. He said that he was grateful to the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, for thanking him for his criticism of the "atrocities" committed in those places by the Pakistan government and its forces.

Last week, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Rajya Sabha that "no power on earth" could separate Kashmir from India.

Pakistan has encouraged terrorism, and now they are facing consequences of that policy: Defence Min Manohar Parrikar pic.twitter.com/AbDsWWPWs1  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Our soldiers sent back 5 terrorists yesterday. Going to Pakistan is same as going to hell: Manohar Parrikar pic.twitter.com/zqtx39Gjcv  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

"It is a very important day," these were the last words of CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar after he unfurled the tricolour at the forces' base in Srinagar, minutes before he fell to militants' bullets in the Nowhatta area of the Jammu and Kashmir capital.

44-year-old Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 49th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force deployed in the Kashmir valley, hoisted the flag between 8:30-8:40 AM and made a speech saying with India clocking 70 years of its freedom, the responsibility on security forces has "increased" and they have to effectively tackle militants and incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Pics: Last words of Promod Kumar and other bravehearts of India

Just before he ended his speech, Kumar, in a video of the event, is seen looking at his watch as he said "it is an important day", unaware of the fate that awaited him.

The officer who joined the paramilitary in 1998 also read out the names of those personnel of the force who were awarded gallantry medals on the eve of the Independence Day and congratulated them.

Soon after, officials said, the wireless set in the CRPF control room crackled informing it about militants hurling grenades and firing on security forces at four places in downtown Srinagar like Nowhatta Chowk, Gojwara Chowk, Bata Gali and Khaniyar Chowk, as they sought reinforcements.

WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

Kumar, along with a small team of his personal security team, dashed out in a bullet proof vehicle and soon after landed at the incident spot.

"The militants were still firing. Kumar led from the front and was shot grievously on the upper part of his neck," they said.

He was rushed to the 92 Base Hospital of the army in Srinagar where he succumbed to his injuries.

A senior CRPF officer who had served with Kumar in the counter-insurgency grid in the north-east earlier said the officer was very "cool but daring."

"We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time yesterday," he said.

While Kumar and his men eliminated the two militants, nine other personnel including a state police official were injured in the attack.

Kumar was posted to Srinagar in April 2014 and was recently promoted as a Commandant. He hailed from Patna in Bihar but was living at present in neighbouring Jharkhand's Jamtara district. He is survived by his wife Neha Tripathi and 7-year-old daughter Aarna.

Kumar had been thrice decorated with the CRPF Director General's commendation in 2015, 2014 and 2011. He has earlier served in the Special Protection Group for 3 years. His last rites were today performed with military honours in his native village Mihijam in Jamtara.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.

Martin Luther King Jr.

No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

Nelson Mandela

We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist

James Baldwin

There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence.

Newton Lee

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.

Albert Einstein
Balochistan:

There are lesser known facts about Balochistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an impressive speech on the occasion of Indias 70th Independence Day where he spoke about the atrocities against the people in Balochistan. He also said, that people of Balochistan and PoK have thanked him for raising issue of atrocities against them.

It was the first time, that someone of this high stature from India has raised this issue. What is Balochistan? What are its issues? How is India related to that? Lets take a look at some of the facts about Balochistan:

 Balochistan, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the southwestern region of the country. Its provincial capital is Quetta. It shares borders with Punjab, Sindh, the Arabian Sea, Iran, and Afghanistan.

 It constitutes more than 40% of Pakistans area. It is the least developed province of Pakistan. It never accepted integration with Pakistan in 1947 and brute force was used in 1948. Since then the Balochi people call their land an occupied area.

 Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of supporting insurgents in Balochistan through RAW. India has always denied its role in Balochistans insurgency. Whenever India had asked for proof, Pakistan has not been able to produce any credible evidence against India.

 PM Modis initiative of raising up this pertinent issue is quite commendable and he said people of Balochistan and PoK have thanked him for raising issue of atrocities against them.

 Although, Pakistan is upset with Indias stand on Balochistan. Pakistan Prime Ministers Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, while reacting to Modis Independence Day speech, said the Premier was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in Kashmir over the past five weeks.

 Dissident Baloch leaders have welcomed PM Modis statement. They said:

We appreciate the statement of PM of India. Worlds largest democracy n being a responsible neighbor, India shd intervene in Balochistan. Brahumdagh Bugti (@BBugti) August 12, 2016. (sic)

Another Balochistan Activist Hammal Haider Baloch said, We welcome PM Modis statement to support freedom movement of Balochistan.

 While security experts have welcomed shift on Indias stand, Congress slammed PMs statement. Congress leader and former External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid said, PoK is our right. Our entitlement. We will support it. But by bringing in Balochistan, you are ruining our case... We are going to ruin our own case on PoK.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Islamabad:

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said the world needs to take stock of the plight of Kashmiri people and vowed to support their indigenous freedom struggle.

Sharifs remarks came as he met Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing president of Pakistani-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The Prime Minister reiterated his governments firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.

The world needs to take stock of the latest brutalities against unarmed innocent Kashmiri people who are heavily sacrificing for attainment of their inalienable right to freedom, he said on the occasion.

Sharif also appreciated the outgoing president for amicably conducting states affairs during his term in office. The continuity of electoral process has amply strengthened the democratic system in PoK, said the Prime Minister.

Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won last months parliamentary elections in Kashmir.Sharif already appointed Raja Farooq Haider as prime minister of Kashmir and Masood Khan as president. Both are from PoK.

While Haider is seasoned politician, Khan is career diplomat who served in key positions including Foreign Office spokesperson, ambassador to China and Permanent Representative at the UN.

Khan was today elected as the new president of Pakistani Kashmir. The legislative assembly of PoK met at capital Muzaffarabad to choose the new president.

Khan, who was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), got 42 votes and was declared as elected.

His opponent Lateef Akbar of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got just six votes. The new president is nominated by Sharif but is believed to enjoy the confidence and support of the army.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
EPA to finally be held responsible for Gold King Mine toxic waste spill

(BigGovernment.news) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ponied up more than $1 million last week to reimburse affected communities, a year after an EPA-led remediation operation at a Colorado mine backfired and sent three million gallons of toxic water into nearby waterways.

The EPAs Office of Inspector General has also confirmed that it is conducting a criminal investigation into the federal agencys actions last August at the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colo. The excavation of a horizontal drainage passage caused pressurized water containing heavy metals to spew into a nearby creek and eventually contaminate waterways in three states and the Navajo Nation.

Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.), whose district includes the Gold King Mine, is supporting local communities in their request that the mining district be added to the National Priorities List, which would make the area eligible for long-term cleanup strategies under the Superfund program, Tiptons spokeswoman told AMI Newswire.

Liz Payne said the congressman is also planning to introduce legislation later this year called the Good Samaritan Act, which would encourage organizations with expertise in environmental cleanup, such as conservation groups and mining companies, to take on cleanup projects without being saddled with huge liability risks and civil lawsuits.

In addition, Tipton wants to get to the bottom of any errors made by the EPA that led to the spill, which affected areas downstream in New Mexico and Utah as well. Were still holding them responsible for making wronged parties right again, Payne said.

Last years spill turned the Animas and San Juan rivers orange, hurting farmers who depended on the waters for irrigation and taking its toll on rafting companies. The incident also produced starkly competing narratives on the agencys actions and its response to an environmental emergency.

The House Oversight Committee, which held hearings into the matter last fall, painted the image of EPA officials as bumbling federal bureaucrats whose incompetence caused the spill. The committees website offers numerous takeaways from the hearings, including the conclusion that the EPAs response to the spill was slow and insufficient and that it failed to consult the Fish and Wildlife Service about the remediation efforts, as required by law.

The EPA, on the other hand, states that it has to date dedicated more than $29 million to deal with issues arising from the spill. That includes more than $2 million in Clean Water Act funds and $3.1 million in reimbursements for emergency response actions by the affected communities.

Meanwhile, the surface water in Colorado and along the San Juan River has returned to its prespill quality, based on the data gathered from samples after the accident, EPA reports state.

The EPA funding awards include nearly $500,000 given to the Navajo Nation and more than $700,000 to reimburse local response costs in Colorado and Utah  both announced last week  according to EPA news releases.

EPA officials also characterize the problem not in terms of a single catastrophic blowout but a major regional challenge in the West, where leaching from more than 160,000 closed mines naturally sends millions of gallons of water containing heavy metals into watersheds.

Even so, the agency acknowledges the high public interest in the Gold King Mine spill. The EPA confirmed publicly at the end of July that its Office of Inspector General has opened a criminal investigation into the incident. An EPA news release also said that a program evaluation into the incident  which will include formal findings and recommendations  is now on hold until the EPAs Office of Investigations and the Department of Justice give the go-ahead to release investigation results.

If there is evidence of criminal misconduct, the EPA OIG special agent will present the relevant facts to the appropriate prosecutor, EPA spokesman Jeffrey Lagda said in an email to AMI Newswire Tuesday.

The inspector generals evaluation will examine both the cause of the Gold King Mine release as well as the EPAs response to it, Lagda said.

Other government responses to the spill continue to play out. In New Mexico, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez is seeking $130 million in damages in a lawsuit against the EPA, the contractors involved in the mine remediation, the mine owners and the state of Colorado.

Well continue to do all we can to keep New Mexicans safe and informed about any long-term effects, as well as to hold the EPA accountable, the same way they would if a private business had been responsible, Martinez said last week in a prepared statement.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate have also echoed the GOPs criticism of the EPA since the mine accident. In a joint statement last week, New Mexico Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich said: Investigations have shown that the EPA made several serious mistakes that led to the spill. The agency owes it to the people of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation to make things right.

The senators have introduced legislation titled the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2015, which would require that mining companies pay a royalty to offset future mine cleanup costs and prevent catastrophic accidents. The legislation, however, is stalled in the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Reporting by Michael Carroll, AMI Newswire.

More:

BigGovernment.news is part of USA Features Media.

Submit a correction >>
Saudi airstrikes bomb Doctors Without Borders in Yemen  just days after killing 10 children in a school attack

At least 15 people in northern Yemen are dead and at least 20 more are wounded after an airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital.

Abs Hospital in the Hajjah Province of northern Yemen was hit by a series of warplanes, killing doctors, patients and officials in their wake. This attack comes just days after an airstrike that left ten schoolchildren and nine others dead after a small school in Saada was hit.

The party responsible is none other than a Saudi-led military coalition comprised of various Arab nations that is currently warring with rebel militias in Yemen. The innocent people they continue to murder in the crossfire are not members of those militias, though they claim that their attacks are targeted only at dangerous threats.

So why do they keep killing people that clearly are not a threat to their safety? How can Saudi Arabia continuously justify these attacks when they almost always leave innocent children dead?

The New York Times reports, Hospitals in Yemen supported by Doctors Without Borders have been hit by coalition airstrikes at least four times in the countrys 17-month war. Saudi officials have insisted that they have struck only at military targets.

Clearly thats not the case, as countless innocents have been killed during the violent war. Theres no reason to believe the Saudi Arabian government anymore. Theyre visibly a corrupt group of power-hungry lunatics who have no remorse for murdering young children. This has become par for the course when it comes to the entire area, sadly enough.

Were still living in a time of unnecessary warfare and random, unexpected attacks. Preparation for the worst is of vital importance. It seems as though every passing day leaves a new string of dead innocents. You never know when your time is going to be up, so its best to be ready for anything.

If nothing changes soon, your life could very well depend on it.

Sources:

Telegraph.co.uk

NYTimes.com

Submit a correction >>
NEW MILFORD --"Flag Man'' Peter Orenski designed a golden jubilee American flag to honor the Fourth of July, 50th anniversary of the 50-star flag, one custom-ordered by a New Jersey man to celebrate the occasion in honor of his veteran father.

Orenski, who designs custom and lapel flags of all kinds, crafted his latest design -- "50" is made with 13 gold stars for each numeral in the blue panel, with the 24 white stars lining the border next to the traditional 13 red and white stripes -- for what he thought was a fitting tribute to the symbol most Americans salute with pride and affection.

Orenski expected the half-century anniversary of the current United States flag, one students and teachers across the nation honor with the Pledge of Allegiance, might heighten existing patriotism in the United States.

Yet the Fouth of July passed without nary a mention. Then Veterans Day. Still no bow to what Orenski believes is a significant piece of this nation's history.

So he started to ask, why? Why is the 50th anniversary of the current American flag not auspicious enough to draw notice?

He can almost understand complacency by the mainstream public, but not by veterans and government leaders who in their daily pursuits are enveloped by what the flag represents: liberty and justice for all.

More Information Flag man Peter Orenski is the owner of TME Co. Inc. Through his company, he has designed a Golden Jubilee flag to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 50-star flag. A 3-by-5-foot polyester flag is $45. For more information about the flag, or to learn more about flag history, visit the website http://www.tmealf.com/us50.htm. Orenski will show his flag and present a survey about the 50th anniversary at the International Convention for Vexillology in Alexandria, Va., on Aug. 24. See More Collapse

"In the morning we pledge our allegiance and in the afternoon, we don't care?'' said the 70-year-old native of Romania, a naturalized citizen.

Flags are not only Orenski's livelihood, but they are his passion. He loves researching the history behind the flags he makes, whether it happens to be for a Native American tribe or for a college. But for him the U.S. flag is something extra special. He remembers that in his homeland an American flag was contraband, and one could be arrested for even gazing too long at the flag waving outside the American embassy.

Whether or not his jubilee flag becomes a must-buy, Orenski simply does not want fellow experts on flags or those in his home community to forget what the U.S. flag represents.

"I'm puzzled about how we ignore something we care as much about as we do this symbol,'' Orenski said.

Mayor Patricia Murphy said she has not seen Orenski's flag, but is certain it is a fine tribute. As for people overlooking the anniversary, the U.S. Army veteran said people have come to know the flag as it is and can't think of a time when it was not a 50-star flag.

"We probably do take it for granted a little bit,'' Murphy said, noting that does not mean they do not embrace the flag's importance.

She said she respects, and would even expect, that Orenski would care enough to make a commemoration.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Murphy said. "And it's good, because you need people who have a variety of interests to point these things out. I'm excited to see it.''

Contact Nanci Hutson at nhutson@newstimes.com

or call 860- 354-2274.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 5 / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Deborah Rose / Deborah Rose /Spectrum Show More Show Less 5 of 5









Peter Orenski, aka The Flag Man, donated a Connecticut State Flag and U.S. Flag to New Milfords new Gronbach administration at the Town Council meeting Monday.

Orenski, an international flag dealer, has donated flags and memorial plaques to the town in the past. He found the present state flag in the E. Paul Martin meeting room at New Milfords Town Hall dirty and old and the U.S. Flag in front of Town Hall too small. The new flags will be 5 feet by 8 feet in size.
$1 from Every Burrito Sold on October 18 to Support Expansion of Youth Program

TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is pleased to announce that they have teamed up with Canadian-owned and operated restaurant chain Quesada Burritos & Tacos to raise funds for a unique program that promotes physical activity and learning by encouraging young people to explore their community on foot.

The Walk This Way program began when Gavin Lumsden, a volunteer at Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, was looking for a way to get kids active while teaching them about their communities. He designed the program to take participants on long treks to surrounding points of interest, encouraging them to keep fit and play tourists in their own cities.

After seeing the incredible success of Walk This Way in Ottawa, Lumsden raised funds to help Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada create a national version of the program. Thanks to Quesada's support, that dream will now become a reality.

The national fundraising event, Walk This Way Day, will take place across Canada on Tuesday, October 18 at more than 60 Quesada locations, with $1 from every burrito sold going to support the national expansion of Walk this Way.

"After seeing how well-received Walk This Way was at Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, we are excited to bring this active-living program to more Clubs across the country," said Owen Charters, President & CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. "Thanks to the hard work of Gavin Lumsden and the support of Quesada, we will now be able to ensure that even more young people get to know their cities while learning the benefits of a healthy lifestyle."

"We're thrilled and honoured to support Boys and Girls Clubs and we feel Quesada customers will be equally as enthusiastic about supporting healthy, happy lifestyles among Canadian youth," said Steve Gill, Founder and CEO, Quesada Burritos & Tacos.

Boys and Girls Clubs members and staff will be on hand at Quesada restaurants on Oct. 18 to help make Walk this Way Day a success. In addition to purchasing a burrito, customers will also have the opportunity to make additional donations.

Follow the conversation on social media with #WalkThisWayDay.

About Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is dedicated to supporting and encouraging children and youth as they discover, develop, and achieve great futures. We are a national charity serving 96 member Clubs that provide services to 200,000 young people in 625 locations across Canada. Our trained staff and volunteers listen to the opinions and ideas of children and youth, applaud their accomplishments, lend support during their struggles, and provide ways for them to explore their interests and talents. With this encouragement, young people develop the confidence and sense of belonging that helps them overcome barriers, form positive relationships and mature into responsible, caring adults. For 116 years, we have welcomed children, youth, and their families into Clubs that reflect the diversity of Canada in small and large cities, and rural and Indigenous communities. Visit www.bgccan.com and follow us at www.facebook.com/bgccan and www.twitter.com/bgccan.

About Quesada

Quesada is a homegrown success story and has been doubling in size year-over-year since 2009. It was founded in Toronto in 2004 by Steve Gilla former technology consultant turned restauranteur who was hungry for healthier choices with a Mexican flare. Today Quesada's 'made fresh for you' philosophy and lighter, fresher unique flavour profiles distinguish the brand. Salsas and sauces are made fresh daily.

SOURCE Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Image with caption: "Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada members walk with Steve Gill, founder of Quesada Burritos & Tacos. On Oct. 18 the Canadian chain will donate $1 from every burrito sold to support the expansion of BGCC's 'Walk this Way' youth program. (CNW Group/Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160816_C1643_PHOTO_EN_753119.jpg

For further information: Media contacts: Victoria Kirk, V & Co. PR & Marketing Communications, [email protected], 416.558.4507; Mary O'Connell, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, [email protected], 647.273.6653
Landmark agreement between Canada and the United States conserves treasured wildlife

OTTAWA, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - The skies of North America today provide the backdrop for celebrating a century of conservation of one group of Earth's most treasured animals: migratory birds. On this date in 1916, the first Migratory Bird Treaty was signed between Canada and the United States. Today, the two nations mark the monumental success of this agreement.

A century ago, birds were in trouble. Overuse of natural resources was the norm: habitat destruction and unregulated harvest for restaurateurs and feathers for the millinery trade devastated migratory bird populations. In 1914, the passenger pigeon, once the most abundant land bird in North America with an estimated population of 3-5 billion individuals, went extinct when the last bird  Martha  died at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Amidst this crisis, partners in Canada and the United States recognized the overwhelming need for collaboration to protect species that traversed or spanned their borders. They created an agreement to cooperatively manage and protect birds that migrate internationally. On August 16, 1916, Great Britain (on behalf of Canada) and the United States signed the first Migratory Bird Treaty (known in Canada as a Convention) to protect these shared natural resources. The treaty was the first international agreement forged to protect wild birds, and among the first to protect any wildlife species.

The Migratory Bird Treaty is the foundation for significant achievements in bird conservation that followed, with both nations enacting statutes to implement its provisions. In 1917, the Canadian Parliament passed the Migratory Birds Convention Act. In 1918, the U.S. Congress followed suit, passing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Quotes

"During the North American Leaders' Summit this past June in Ottawa, Prime Minister Trudeau, President Obama and President Pena Nieto decided to act for the wellbeing of migratory birds and habitat conservation. They called for a plan to protect the birds of North America over the next century. Our three countries will cooperate in monitoring, research, conservation, and education activities. We must all show this level of commitment and dedication to the environment and to science if we hope to have healthy bird populations for another 100 years."

 Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

"It's hard to imagine the North American continent without egrets, ducks, hawks or songbirds, but at the turn of the 20th century, that's the way things were looking. This treaty marked a turning point in the fate of our shared bird life, and it continues to this day to unite efforts in the United States and Canada to protect birds across our international boundaries."

 Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Associated links

You can celebrate the Migratory Bird Treaty Centennial, too. This month, both Canada and the United States are highlighting the many ways that citizens can participate in conservation of our shared bird resources. Visit the Web sites dedicated to the Migratory Bird Treaty Centennial for Canada and the United States and pledge to take simple actions for birds.

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page

Environment and Natural Resources in Canada's Facebook page

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

For further information: Caitlin Workman, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-938-9436; Media Relations, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll free)
CAMBRIDGE, ON, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT) (the "Company"), announces that it has been selected by the Fisheries Commission (West Africa Regional Fisheries Programme), an agency of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) of the Government of Ghana, for the provision of Satellite AIS data services as well as a small vessel tracking solution. The contract value is in a range of $1.0-$2.0 million for a 12 month period and will enable Ghana to acquire the technology necessary to monitor its expansive coastlines and deter illegal fishing in its national waters.

Along with a comprehensive Satellite AIS data feed, exactEarth will provide MOFAD with 450 Class B AIS transceivers to be installed on inshore fishing vessels which will be tracked via satellite utilising exactEarth's exactTraxTM small vessel tracking technology. In order to address the rampant Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing around Ghana's Exclusive Economic Zone, MOFAD have provisioned this small vessel tracking solution to gain access to detailed fishing vessel positions and movement analysis services through the exactEarth ShipView platform. exactEarth ShipView will be upgraded to include a SOS alerting facility in an effort to support Ghana's government in their "safety of life at sea" initiative, which is intended to help its fishermen. exactEarth will be working with a local partner and academic institutions in Ghana to provide vessel movement analysis and reporting to help inform policy decision making and also to engage the next generation maritime professionals in coastal surveillance to protect and preserve Ghana`s fish stock for the future.

"This is an important strategic win and a major step forward for our small vessel tracking initiative," said Peter Mabson, exactEarth CEO. "MOFAD needs a high performance, reliable and compliant maritime monitoring solution to protect their critical fishing industry and our small vessel tracking capabilities will be an integral part of helping them achieve that objective. This reflects the growing opportunity for both our large and small vessel tracking solutions and our reputation for having the leading Satellite AIS solution on the market."

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS ("S-AIS") and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world's oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced "big data" processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that, to the extent they are not recitations of historical fact, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding exactEarth's future plans, objectives or economic performance, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, including statements regarding, among other things, the intentions of the parties, the use of any intellectual property, further investments that may be made by exactEarth and new markets that may be exploited by either party. exactEarth uses words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by exactEarth in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors exactEarth believes are appropriate under the relevant circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to exactEarth's expectations and predictions is subject to any number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties. Many factors could cause exactEarth's actual results, historical financial statements, or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors include, without limitation: uncertainty in the global economic environment; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; delays in the purchasing decisions of exactEarth's customers; the competition exactEarth faces in its industry and/or marketplace; the further delayed launch of satellites; the reduced scope of significant existing contracts and the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with the deployment of exactEarth's products or services.

SOURCE exactEarth Ltd.

Image with caption: "exactEarth Logo (CNW Group/exactEarth Ltd.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160816_C1264_PHOTO_EN_753761.jpg

For further information: Media: Nicole Schill, Marketing Communications Manager, Tel: +1 519-622-4445, [email protected]; Investors: Dave Mason, Investor Relations, Tel: +1 416-985-3647, [email protected]
OTTAWA, Aug. 15, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, the Government of Canada took the next step to deliver on its commitment to review and restore confidence in Canada's environmental and regulatory processes. This is essential to ensure that decisions on major projects are based on science, facts, and evidence, including traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, today announced the creation of a four-member Expert Panel to undertake the review of federal environmental assessment processes.

Johanne Gelinas has been appointed as the Chair of the Expert Panel. Doug Horswill, Rod Northey, and Renee Pelletier have been appointed as members of the Expert Panel. The Minister has issued the Terms of Reference, establishing the mandate and timelines for the Panel.

Panel members were selected based on their knowledge, experience and expertise relevant to federal environmental assessment processes. The Minister also considered the need for diversity in terms of Indigenous, regional and gender representation.

The Expert Panel will engage broadly with Canadians, including Indigenous groups, the public and a wide range of stakeholders. Consultation opportunities will be held across Canada starting in September 2016.

As part of the government's commitment to renewing its relationship with Indigenous people based on trust, respect, and cooperation, the Expert Panel will work directly with Indigenous groups to ensure that their concerns are heard and taken into account throughout the review.

For details on funding availability for Indigenous groups or for more information, visit Canada.ca/environmentalreviews

Quotes:

"Our belief that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand in hand is central to the health and well-being of Canadians. This is especially important as we work to get resources to market and develop major projects responsibly in the twenty-first century. Canadians expect and deserve to have an environmental assessment system that they can trust."

"The members of the Expert Panel will bring a broad cross-section of views and experience to this process and I have every faith in their ability to complete this review in a way that represents the views of all Canadians. I had the opportunity to meet the Panel today and share my thoughts with them on the importance of this review. I look forward to receiving their report, as we move towards a more open, transparent and inclusive process leading to decisions based on facts and scientific evidence."

- The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Backgrounder

Expert Panel biographies

Photo

Backgrounder

Biographies of Expert Panel Members

Review of Environmental Assessment Processes

Johanne Gelinas  Panel Chair

Johanne Gelinas is a Partner in Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton's Strategy and Performance Consulting Group and in charge of its Sustainability and Greenhouse Gas Management practice. Before joining Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, she led the Sustainable Development and Climate Change practice at Deloitte, from 2007 to 2012.

Johanne was the Canadian Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development from 2000 to 2007. She also served for 10 years as Commissioner with the Government of Quebec BAPE (Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement). She recently led the think tank and public consultation on the social acceptability issue for the Ministere de l'Energie et des Ressources naturelles du Quebec.

Johanne is a certified Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) trainer. She has been teaching at the College des administrateurs de societes since 2011. She is currently Chair of the Board of Protegez-Vous magazine and a member of the Board of Directors for the Espace Libre Theatre. She was also Chair of RECYC-Quebec's Board of Directors.

She received the 2009 UQAM Recognition Award for her innovative vision and commitment to sustainable development. She also was awarded the Prix Femmes d'affaires du Quebec, and won the 2012 Korn/Ferry Award for Enterprise Governance Excellence. Premiere en affaires recognized her as one of the top eight individuals in Quebec's governance industry.



Doug Horswill  Panel Member

Doug Horswill retired as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs, Teck Resources in April 2014. Doug holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Mineral Engineering and a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of British Columbia.

Following 20 years in the Public Service, culminating in the positions of Deputy Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations and Deputy Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources for the Province of British Columbia, Doug joined Cominco Ltd., later Teck Resources Ltd, as Vice President, Environment and Public Affairs in September 1992. He spent the next 22 years developing and leading Teck's sustainability, community relations, environment, health, safety and external relations areas including Teck's international zinc and health program.

Doug is past Chairman of the Mining Association of Canada and the Mining Association of British Columbia. He recently served as Chairman of the Board of Resource Works and is a member of the Boards of the Sunny Hill Health Care Centre for Children, The International Fertilizer Development Center, Providence Health Care and the Canadian International Resource Development Institute. He is past Board Member of CARE Canada and the Vancouver Aquarium and Marine Research Center. He is an Executive in Residence for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Doug was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal for service in international development charitable sector.



Rod Northey  Panel Member

Rod Northey is an environmental lawyer and partner in the Toronto office of Gowling WLG. He is in his 27th year of private practice and certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in environmental law.

Rod is author of the 2016 Guide to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (LexisNexis), a 1994 annotation of federal environmental assessment law and panel reviews, and law journal articles on infrastructure planning, and federalism and environmental law.

Rod is an adjunct faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School's Municipal Law LLM program for a graduate course on environmental protection. He is recognized by his peers in national and international listings, including Lexpert, Canada's Best Lawyers, and Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers.

Throughout his career, Rod has been active in environmental law reform. He has been retained by the federal government to deal with the precautionary principle, apply environmental assessment to Crown corporations, and apply environmental assessment to projects outside Canada. He has also appeared before parliamentary committees on constitutional law and environmental assessment. In Ontario, Rod was on the 2004 task force to establish the Ontario Greenbelt, and on the 2005 advisory committee to reform environmental assessment to better address green energy, transit and waste management projects.

Outside his legal practice, Rod is chair of the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and the Greenbelt Fund.



Renee Pelletier  Panel Member

Renee Pelletier is the managing partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, one of Canada's leading Aboriginal rights law firms. Renee is Maliseet and grew up in Nova Scotia. Renee practices Aboriginal rights and environmental law. She regularly advises and represents her Indigenous clients on consultation matters, regulatory and environmental matters, reserve land management and impacts and benefits agreements. Her practice also includes work on Aboriginal and treaty rights litigation and specific claims. She has litigated judicial review applications and appeared before various levels of courts on motions, trials and appeals. Renee was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in the high-profile case R. v. Ipeelee, 2012 SCC 13. Renee is especially passionate about assisting her Indigenous clients in achieving greater self-determination. She also strives to incorporate the legal traditions of her Indigenous clients into the work she does on their behalf.

Renee has worked at Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, volunteered for the Native Women's Resource Centre, and worked with the Innocence Project about the case of Native American Activist Leonard Peltier. Renee was also a Native Court Worker at College Park Criminal Court.

Renee is a member of the New Brunswick and Ontario Bars. She is French Acadian, her first language is French, and she is fluently bilingual in both French and English. Renee is also a member of the Indigenous Bar Association.

Follow us on Twitter: @CEAA_ACEE (http://twitter.com/CEAA_ACEE)

SOURCE Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency

Image with caption: "Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, meets with members of the Expert Panel who will be reviewing environmental assessment processes. (CNW Group/Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160815_C4064_PHOTO_EN_752936.jpg

For further information: Media Contacts, Caitlin Workman, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-938-9436; Toban Morrison, Manager, Communications, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, [email protected], 819-635-2067
WINDSOR, ON, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - The 2016 Association of Municipalities of Ontario's Conference delivered key presentations on policing costs and marijuana legalization today.

Wendy Williams, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, an independent inspector of police services, spoke to delegates about the United Kingdom's efforts to reduce policing costs while maintaining safety and protecting community policing and frontline policing. Rising policing costs continue to be a concern for many municipal governments.

Delegates also heard from Ashley Rea Kilroy, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy, City and County of Denver. Ms. Kilroy discussed Denver's experience with the legalization of marijuana, noting that it required significant coordination between public services.

"Municipal governments deliver many of the services that will be impacted by the legalization of marijuana," said Gary McNamara, AMO President. "Policing, licensing, public health and local economies will all be affected. We need to work with the provincial and federal governments as legalization moves forward."

Conference presentations are being posted to www.amo.on.ca.

Ontario Government Ministers took questions from Conference delegates in an open session. Key issues include interest arbitration, municipal insurance costs and energy. More information on these and other key municipal matters is available at http://www.amo.on.ca/AMO-Content/Footer/Newsroom.

The Honourable Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Growth announced the launch of the Investment Ready: Certified Site Program aimed at helping projects get off the ground faster by marketing sites to international investors.

Program highlights for Wednesday, August 17, the final day of the Conference, will include:

9:05 a.m.  Incoming AMO President Lynn Dollin , Deputy Mayor, Town of Innisfil

 Incoming AMO President , Deputy Mayor, 9:15 a.m.  The AMO Gas Tax Awards are presented by Adam Vaughan , Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and MP, Spadina-Fort York

 The AMO Gas Tax Awards are presented by , Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Intergovernmental Affairs and MP, Spadina-Fort York 9:45 a.m.  Special session on Climate Change Going Forward

AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario's 444 municipal governments. AMO supports and enhances strong and effective municipal government in Ontario and promotes the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada's political system.

Follow AMO on Twitter: @AMOPolicy, #AMOCONF16

SOURCE Association of Municipalities of Ontario

For further information: Brian Lambie, AMO Media Contact, 416-729-5425, [email protected]
RNC will host a call/webcast on August 16 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss second quarter 2016 results. North American callers please dial: 1-888-231-8191, international callers please dial: (+1) 647-427-7450. For the webcast of this event click [here] (replay access information below).

TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - Royal Nickel Corporation ("RNC") (TSX: RNX) (OTCQX: RNKLF) is pleased to report its financial results and review of activities for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted, and are based on the unaudited financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Mark Selby, President and CEO, commented, "The second quarter of 2016 was another major step forward by RNC where we successfully completed acquiring 100% control of the Beta Hunt Mine and completed the acquisition of VMS Ventures and its 30% interest in the Reed Mine. Beta Hunt's gold production in the second quarter surpassed our prior guidance and the Reed Mine, operated by HudBay Minerals, had a record quarter. With the strong operating results at Reed, RNC expects the contribution and bridge loan balances (net of related receivables) owed to Hudbay to be zero in the third quarter of 2017, based on current metal prices. RNC also recently announced a new discovery at Beta Hunt of a third major gold zone further increasing the resource potential. Finally, exploration began at our Qiqavik property after the recent flow-through financing following up on the high grade surface discoveries made last year."

Mr. Selby continued "RNC is in advanced discussions to replace the current Lascaux gold and nickel prepay debt facilities that are in place in respect of its Beta Hunt mine. Although there can be no assurance of a successful refinancing, RNC expects to conclude this process by August 31st."

Q2 2016  Summary and Recent Highlights

Beta Hunt pre-commercial gold production was 7,599 ounces for Q2 2016 (equivalent to 6,900 payable ounces), an increase of 35% from the prior quarter, and ahead of previously announced guidance of 6,400  6,600 ounces for the quarter (100% basis). The cash operating cost per ounce sold was US$826 and the all-in sustaining cost per ounce sold was US$1,269 . Nickel in concentrate production from Beta Hunt was 0.42 kt, a decline of 47% from Q1 as RNC focused on gold production as nickel prices during the first half of 2016 reached a 16 year low. The cash operating cost per pound sold was US$3.67 and the all-in sustaining cost per pound sold US$3.88 .

and the all-in sustaining cost per ounce sold was . Nickel in concentrate production from Beta Hunt was 0.42 kt, a decline of 47% from Q1 as RNC focused on gold production as nickel prices during the first half of 2016 reached a 16 year low. The cash operating cost per pound sold was and the all-in sustaining cost per pound sold . RNC announced the discovery of a significant new gold zone, the third major gold zone, at the Beta Hunt mine.

RNC's 30% proportionate share of copper contained in concentrate production from the Reed Mine of 3.3 MM lbs (1.5 kt) was a quarterly record. Gold in concentrate from the Reed Mine was 402 ounces. The cash operating cost (net of by-product credits) per pound of copper sold was US$1.21 and all-in sustaining cost was US$1.35 per pound.

and all-in sustaining cost was per pound. Cash flow from the Reed Mine reduced the effective contribution and bridge loan balance by an estimated $4.4 million during the quarter to an estimated $10 million 1 .

during the quarter to an estimated . Combined operating income from Beta Hunt and the Reed Mine was $0.3 million for the quarter. EBITDA during the quarter was $(2.3) million or $(0.01) per share. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.2 million , which excludes one-time acquisition costs of $1.9 million and share-based payments of $1.5 million . Adjusted net loss during the quarter was $2.4 million or $0.01 per share, excluding one-time acquisition costs and net other expenses (income) of $5.2 million .







1. The contribution loan balance and bridge loan balances owing to Hudbay as at June 30, 2016 were, respectively, $13.6 million and $3.4 million ($16.3 million and $3.4 million as at March 31, 2016). Total loan balance as at June 30, 2016 was $17.0 million ($19.7 million as at March 31, 2016). Due to the approximate 100 day delay in the finalization of ore concentrate sales, these quarter-end loan balances do not reflect RNC's share of concentrate sales receivables (made during the quarter). This excess as at June 30, 2016 was $7.0 million ($5.3 million as at March 31, 2016). Net of this receivable, the total contribution loan and bridge loan balance as at June 30, 2016 would be $10.0 million ($14.4 million as at March 31, 2016).

Q2 2016 Operating Results and 2016 Outlook

In the quarter ended June 30, 2016 the Beta Hunt Mine was not 100% owned until May 31, 2016. The following is a summary of the 2016 Q2 Production from Beta Hunt Mine:

Beta Hunt Mine Q2 Overview (100% basis)

Beta Hunt Gold and Nickel Operation Q2 2016 Q1 2016 Gold tonnes mined (000s) 95.4 66.2 Gold mined grade 2.54 2.411 Gold tonnes milled (000s) 80.4 43.1 Gold mill grade (g/t)1 2.23 2.65 Gold mined (ounces)1,2 7,599 5,636 Gold sales (ounces) 5,402 3,416 Gold C1 cash operating cost (US$ per ounce sold)3,4 826 n/a Gold all-in sustaining cost (US$ per ounce sold)3,4 1,269 n/a Nickel tonnes mined (000s) 19.1 29.4 Nickel tonnes milled (000s) 19.2 29.7 Nickel mill grade (% nickel) 2.34 3.04 Nickel in concentrate tonnes (000s) 0.42 0.8 Nickel C1 cash operating cost (US$ per lb / tonne sold)4 $3.67 / $8,084 $2.63 / $5,808 Nickel all-in sustaining cost (AISC) US$ per lb / tonne sold)4 $3.88 / $8,555 $2.83 / $6,229

1. The March 2016 mineralization mine grade and ounces were finalized with the final results from the Q2 2016 toll, which resulted in lower gold mine grade (2.41) than previously reported (3.10). The June 2016 mineralization mine grade and ounces will be finalized with the final results from the Q3 2016 toll. The Q2 numbers provided above include preliminary estimates of the ROM grade. 2. As of June 30, 2016, 39,000 tonnes of gold mineralization from June 2016 production remained on the ROM pad for tolling in the subsequent quarter, compared to 23,000 tonnes of gold mineralization from March 2016 production as of March 31, 2016. 3. Gold operations in Q1 2016 were at the early stage of the ramp up towards commercial production and operating and sustaining costs per ounce are not comparable to Q2 or to other companies. 4. Cash operating cost, cash operating cost per tonne, and all-in sustaining cost, are not recognized measures under IFRS. Such non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Management uses these measures internally. The use of these measures enables management to better assess performance trends. Management understands that a number of investors, and others who follow RNC's performance, assess performance in this way. Management believes that these measures better reflect RNC's performance and are better indications of its expected performance in future periods. This data is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.





During the three months ended June 30, 2016, RNC increased its ownership interest in the Beta Hunt Mine to 100%. In 2016, the Beta Hunt Mine is also transitioning from a nickel producer to a gold and nickel producer. As a result, the 2016 results will not be directly comparable to the prior or future years.

The Beta Hunt Mine continues to transition to gold production with mined gold production increasing by 34% during the quarter. Gold grades were below expectations as mineralized material from some of the initial stopes that were classified in the inferred category were lower than planned. Going forward, variance in grades is expected to be reduced as drilling to upgrade the resource proceeds and mining advances into those areas of the mine that are already in higher confidence categories. Nickel production declined by 47% to 0.42kt as a result of the previously indicated decision to focus on gold production as nickel prices reached multi-year lows during the first half of the year and to preserve the nickel resource for higher nickel price periods. The combination of lower gold grades, lower nickel production, and higher than anticipated Australian currency resulted in higher than expected cash costs of US$826 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of US$1,269 per ounce. As gold production ramps up and grades improve, operating costs are expected to decline. Once the mine completes its ramp up, costs are expected to decline towards previously indicated levels  final figures will be dependent on levels of nickel and gold production which will be finalized later this year.

A preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") for Beta Hunt, prepared as a NI 43-101 compliant technical report, was filed under RNC's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com on March 7, 2016.

Cautionary Statement: The decision by SLM to produce at the Beta Hunt Mine was not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that that anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on SLM's cash flow and future profitability. It is further cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. . No mining feasibility study has been completed on Beta Hunt. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.

Reed Mine

RNC's acquisition of 100% of VMS Ventures, whose main asset is a 30% interest in the Reed Mine, closed on April 27, 2016. As such the financial and operating results of the Reed Mine in the second quarter have been included in RNC's reporting of consolidated second quarter results for the period April 27, 2016 to June 30, 2016 only.

Reed Mine Q2 2016 Production

For the three months ended June 30, 2016, VMS's 30% share of metal contained in concentrate production from the Reed Mine was 1.5 kt of copper and 402 oz of gold.

Reed Mine Q2 2016 Operating Review (100% basis)



Q2 2016 Q1 2016 Ore (tonnes hoisted) 114,452 111,461 Ore (tonnes milled) 111,002 94,997 Copper (%) 4.87 4.38 Zinc (%) 0.45 0.82 Gold (g/t) 0.60 0.54 Silver (g/t) 7.47 7.21 Mine unit operating cost (CDN$/tonne) $44 $46

Reed Mine Q2 2016 Production and Costs (30% basis)



Q2 2016 Copper contained in concentrate (tonnes) 1.5 Gold contained in concentrate (ounces) 402 Copper operating cash cost per pound sold 1 $1.21 Copper all-in sustaining cost per pound sold 1 $1.35



1. Cash cost and all-in sustaining cost per pound sold, net of by-product credits







Further information regarding the VMS acquisition and the Reed Mine is available at www.royalnickel.com and filed under RNC's profile on www.sedar.com.

Dumont Project

During Q2 2016, RNC continued its activities in support of the evaluation of the Dumont Nickel Project. The work program focused on the bulk test program including both a mineral processing pilot plant and concentrate roasting, assisting with the EPC proposal preparation, supporting and following up on the ESIA filing. The following were the major activities and accomplishments during the second quarter:

Roasting Tests: Samples of the Dumont calcine were sent to potential customers and testing was ongoing through Q2.

Samples of the Dumont calcine were sent to potential customers and testing was ongoing through Q2. EPC Proposal: In August 2015 it was announced that an MOU had been signed with Ausenco/DF to prepare a lump sum turn key (EPC) proposal. Work has been ongoing to support the proposal including review of the preliminary results, and assistance with development of the general terms and conditions.

In it was announced that an MOU had been signed with Ausenco/DF to prepare a lump sum turn key (EPC) proposal. Work has been ongoing to support the proposal including review of the preliminary results, and assistance with development of the general terms and conditions. Dumont Project Engineering: Two proposals were awarded to advance the engineering on the Dumont Project. RNC has begun preliminary trade-off studies in anticipation of completing an updated feasibility study for the project when market conditions are appropriate.

Development work on the contemplated alternative concentrate processing route (roasting) has continued to demonstrate positive results.

Mark Selby, President and CEO, commented, "The roasting testwork clearly demonstrates the potential for significant value creation through simpler, lower cost processing compared to traditional smelting and refining and providing access to a much larger group of potential consumers for Dumont concentrate. This testwork confirms RNC's belief that this alternative processing approach allows RNC to capture additional value from the high grade and relatively clean concentrate to be produced from Dumont ore."

Pilot scale testwork confirms the early laboratory scale work that demonstrated the ability to produce a low sulphur nickel calcine, potentially suitable for direct use in nickel pig iron, ferro-nickel and stainless steel production. Initial samples have been shipped to potential customers for downstream test work. The calcine produced contained <0.2% S.

Initial characterization tests on Dumont concentrate in a laboratory scale roaster were performed to quantify the roasting parameters required in the pilot scale. The pilot scale testwork on the first batch was completed by the end of Q1 and the calcine was characterized and prepared for shipment and testing in Q2 2016.

RNC has the following targeted key milestones to achieve the development of the Dumont Nickel Project:

Completion of partnership and financing arrangements;

Estimated construction schedule of 24 months post securing of financing and completion of detailed engineering;

Project commissioning is expected to begin in ten to eleven quarters after financing is in place.

Financial Results

For the three months ended June 30, 2016, RNC incurred a net loss of $7.5 million ($0.04 per share), compared to a net loss of $1.2 million ($0.01 per share) in the same period last year. The net loss increase of $6.3 million is due primarily to higher general and administrative expenses ($3.4 million), higher other expenses ($3.3 million) and Beta Hunt mine operating loss ($1.3 million), partially offset by Reed Mine operating income ($1.6 million). The increase in general and administrative expenses ($3.4 million) is due primarily to acquisition costs ($2.0 million) on RNC's acquisitions of SLM and VMS, higher non-cash share-based payments ($1.2 million) due to the increase in RNC's share price during the quarter, and higher consulting fees ($0.3 million).

The increase in other expenses ($3.3 million) is due primarily to the change in fair value ($1.9 million) and accretion ($0.5 million) of SLM's senior secured facility, SLM finance costs ($0.4 million), and accretion of VMS's contribution loan from Hudbay ($0.3 million).

Highlights of RNC's financial position are as follows (in millions of dollars):



June 30, 2016 March 31, 2016 December 31, 2015 Cash position1 Working capital2 Total assets Shareholder's equity 9.7 (12.8) 166.8 94.0 7.2 (5.7) 124.9 77.8 9.6 7.8 82.6 68.3



1 Includes Cash and Cash equivalents.

2 Working capital is a measure of current assets less current liabilities







RNC's ability to operate as a going concern is dependent on its ability to raise financing. While management has been successful in securing financing in the past, there can be no assurance that adequate or sufficient funding will be available in the future, or available under terms acceptable to RNC.

Conference Call / Webcast

RNC will be hosting a conference call and webcast today beginning at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern time).

Live Conference Call and Webcast Access Information:

North American callers please dial: 1-888-231-8191

Local and international callers please dial: 647-427-7450

A live webcast of the call will be available through CNW Group's website at: www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/index.cgi

A recording of the conference call will be available for replay for a one week period beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on August 16, 2016, and can be accessed as follows:

North American callers please dial: 1-855-859-2056; Pass Code: 61531494

Local and international callers please dial: 416-849-0833; Pass Code: 61531494

About RNC

RNC is a multi-asset mineral resource company focused primarily on the acquisition, exploration, evaluation and development of base metal and precious metal properties. RNC's principal assets are the producing Beta Hunt nickel and gold mine in Western Australia, the Dumont Nickel Project located in the established Abitibi mining camp in Quebec and a 30% stake in the producing Reed Mine in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake region of Manitoba, Canada. RNC also owns a majority interest in the West Raglan and Qiqavik projects in Northern Quebec. RNC has a strong management team and Board with over 100 years of mining experience at Inco and Falconbridge. RNC's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol RNX. RNC shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol RNKLF.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release provides certain financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Readers are cautioned to review the stated information and footnotes regarding use of non-IFRS measures.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the the liquidity and capital resources of RNC, production and cost guidance, the potential of the Beta Hunt and Reed mines, and the potential of the Dumont, West Raglan and Qiqavik projects.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of RNC to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: failure of the parties to sign definitive agreements and satisfy conditions of closing; future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, projected cash costs, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to RNC's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although RNC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and RNC disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Royal Nickel Corporation

For further information: Rob Buchanan, Director, Investor Relations, T: (416) 363-0649, www.royalnickel.com; Melanie Corriveau (French contact), Community Relations Coordinator, T: (819) 727-3777
TORONTO, Aug. 15, 2016 /CNW/ - Trez Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: TZZ) (the "Company") today released its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2016.

Financial Highlights

For the three months ended June 30th

Loss from operations totaled $3.8 million , compared to income from operations of $3.0 million in Q2 of 2015

, compared to income from operations of $3.0 million in Q2 of 2015 Net loss for the quarter totaled $3.8 million , compared to net income of $2.7 million in Q2 of 2015

, compared to net income of $2.7 million in Q2 of 2015 Basic and diluted loss per share were ($0.20) versus dividends declared of $0.175 per share

During the second quarter, income from operations and net income declined primarily as a result of lower commitment fees and interest revenue resulting from a reduction in the average size of the mortgage portfolio. In addition, there was an increase in expenses primarily related to the orderly wind up plan. Included in those expenses, an incentive fee program was approved by the Shareholders on June 16, 2016 whereby the manager would be paid a fee when the realized proceeds on mortgage dispositions exceeded a specified minimum. Accounting standards require that a provision, in the amount of $2.1 million as of June 30, 2016, be recorded in the financial statements commencing this quarter. This estimated amount is based on the current fair value of investments in mortgages. The amount of the incentive fee currently owing as of June 30, 2016 is $86,971. The estimated fee will be adjusted quarterly and any adjusted balance will be due and payable as proceeds are realized from the monetization of the mortgage investments and the net proceeds become available for distribution to the Company's shareholders. Other significant increases in expenses relate to audit, legal fees and charges related to fair value adjustments on investments in mortgages.

Investment Portfolio Highlights

72% of the portfolio was invested in first mortgages

Weighted average loan-to-value of the mortgage portfolio was 75%

Weighted average interest rate and term to maturity on mortgage investments was 7.3% and 20.5 months, respectively

Geographically diversified portfolio across Canada : Ontario 45%, Alberta 27%, New Brunswick 14%, Nova Scotia 12% and 2% in Saskatchewan .

Business Update

Since the shareholders approved the orderly wind-up plan on June 16, 2016, in addition to selling approximately $13.3 million principal amount of mortgages prior to their maturity, the Company has received repayments of approximately $3.3 million principal amount of mortgages.

Over the next 90 days the Company anticipates receiving approximately $7.9 million in refinancing of existing mortgages by other private funds managed by the Manager. In addition, over the next 90 days, the Company anticipates receiving repayment of up to $1.1 million principal amount of mortgages, however, there can be no assurance that any such repayments will occur.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release about Trez Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (the "Company"), and its business, operations, investments and strategies, and financial performance and condition may constitute forward-looking information, future oriented financial information, or financial outlooks (collectively, "forward looking statements"). The forward-looking statements are stated as of the date of this news release and are based on estimates and assumptions made by Trez Capital Fund Management LP ("Trez") in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that Trez believes are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results, performance and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Past performance is not an indication of future returns, and there can be no guarantee that targeted returns or yields can be achieved. Trez refers you to the Company's public disclosure for information regarding these forward-looking statements, including the assumptions made in preparing forward-looking statements and management's expectations, and the risk factors that could cause the Company's actual results, yield, levels of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such public disclosure is available on SEDAR and at the request of Trez. This news release does not represent an offer or solicitation to sell securities of the Company.

About the Company

The Company holds a diversified portfolio of mortgages in Canada. Trez Capital Fund Management Limited Partnership is the manager of and portfolio advisor to the Company.

SOURCE Trez Capital Junior Mortgage Investment Corporation

For further information: Karyn Phuong, Vice President, Investor Relations, Trez Capital, Tel: (647) 788-1788, E-mail: [email protected]
-Q2 Revenue Increased 63% Period over Period-

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

VANCOUVER, Aug. 16, 2016 /CNW/ - VirtualArmor International Inc. ("VirtualArmor" or the "Company") (CSE: VAI) today announced second quarter (Q2) financial results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2016. All figures are in USD unless otherwise stated.

"We are pleased to report a record 63% revenue growth period over period due to increased demand for our cybersecurity and advanced networking solutions," said Todd Kannegieter, CEO of VirtualArmor. "Our growth this past quarter came from both our hardware and services segments, but hardware led the way growing at 70% period over period, with managed services growing at 36%. We expect these initial hardware sales to translate into our high margin multi-year managed services agreements that will contribute to predictable and recurring cash flows in the years to come."

"Also, during the first 6 months we began our much anticipated expansion by doubling the size of our sales staff in an effort to scale our operations and gain traction in a market we believe to be very underserved," said Matthew Brennan, President of VirtualArmor. "For the duration of this year we anticipate strategically adding additional personnel to various pockets of the U.S. and Canada where we believe we will get the best return for our shareholders."

Second Quarter Financial Highlights

Total revenue for Q2 2016 increased by 63% to $3,169,284 , compared to $1,942,587 in Q2 2015. The increase in revenue was due to an increase in the number of customers served as well as the size of orders from new and existing customers.

, compared to in Q2 2015. The increase in revenue was due to an increase in the number of customers served as well as the size of orders from new and existing customers. Hardware and software sales revenue increased by 70% to $2,642 ,453 in the quarter ended June 30, 2016 , compared to $1,556,825 in 2015.

,453 in the quarter ended , compared to in 2015. Managed and professional services revenue increased by 36% to $518 ,998 in the quarter ended June 30, 2016 , compared to $382,560 in 2015.

,998 in the quarter ended , compared to in 2015. As at June 30, 2016 , the Company's cash balance was $187 ,657 compared to $250,812 as at December 31, 2015 .

, the Company's cash balance was ,657 compared to as at . The Company recorded a net loss of $501,729 ( $0.01 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as compared to net income of $169,070 ( $0.01 per share) for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 .

( per share) for the quarter ended as compared to net income of ( per share) for the quarter ended . The Company recorded an adjusted income of $7,671 for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as compared to an adjusted income of $171,074 for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 . The table below details certain non-cash and other transactions that for the purposes of this discussion have been adjusted out of the reported (loss) income to produce an adjusted income that forms a better basis for comparing the period-over-period operating results of the Company.







2016 $

2015 $ (Loss) income for the period as reported



(501,729)

169,070 Add (deduct):











Change in fair value of warrant derivative liabilities



458,527

-

G&A expense  share-based payments



50,873

2,004 Adjusted income for the period (1)



7,671

171,074





(1) Adjusted income for the period is not a term recognized under IFRS. Non-IFRS

measures do not have standardized meaning. Accordingly, non-IFRS measures

should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of

performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.





Operational Highlights:

During the quarter, the Company: Announced the appointment of new sales professionals responsible for driving sales efforts in Seattle, WA , Portland, OR and the Bay Area, CA. Closed a $486,000 initial hardware sale to a leading American university. Expanded its sales force to meet surging cybersecurity solution demands. Closed a $330,000 hardware and software order from a leading American university hospital group. Received a $450,000 three-year contract under its managed services platform from a leading specialty finance company.

Subsequent to the quarter, the Company: Announced the closing of a CAD$415,000 non-brokered private placement. Announced new partnerships with leading security solutions providers.



About VirtualArmor

VirtualArmor is a cybersecurity company that delivers solutions to help enterprises build, monitor, maintain and secure their networks from cloud to core. As a managed security services provider, VirtualArmor's services run 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year through its primary security operations center ("SOC") located in Middlesbrough, U.K. and a secondary SOC located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Each member of VirtualArmor's team supports the three main facets of its business: managed services, professional services, and hardware sales, by handling the design, configuration and installation of advanced network and cloud architecture solutions. VirtualArmor uses best-in-breed partnerships to provide solutions for customers that are affordable, highly reliable, scalable, and backed by thorough knowledge of the related technologies, products, and platforms. VirtualArmor has secured partnerships with established technology businesses specializing in network appliances, software, and systems and provides its services to the mid- to large- enterprise and service provider markets. VirtualArmor customers include a 13-location data center provider, a Fortune 100 oil and gas company, multiple service providers with presences throughout the United States, and household name enterprise organizations located primarily in the western United States. Further information about the Company is available under its profile on the SEDAR website, www.sedar.com, on the CSE website, www.thecse.com, and on its website, http://www.virtualarmor.com/.

Forward-Looking Information:

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of VirtualArmor. Although VirtualArmor believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information as VirtualArmor cannot provide any assurance that it will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and VirtualArmor disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Virtual Armor

For further information: Company Contact: Todd Kannegieter, Chief Executive Officer, Office: 720-961-3304, [email protected]; Investor Relations Contact: Babak Pedram, Office: 416-644-5081, [email protected]
Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it plans to deploy a fully autonomous and driverless ride-hailing car by 2021. Ford today announces its intent to have a high-volume, fully autonomous SAE level 4-capable vehicle in commercial operation in 2021 in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service.

CEO Mark Fields set the target at Fords Research and Innovation facility here, which will double its staff to 300 and grow its footprint by 150,000 square feet by years end to respond to the challenge.

This is one example of how were thinking about expanding our business into mobility more broadly, Fields told USA TODAY. Taking the driver out of the equation improves the economics for us as well as consumers.

Currently, Ford is testing around a dozen self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrids on California, Michigan and Arizona roads. Its goal is to introduce cars with no steering wheels or pedals.

Google leads the way in this arena with a seven-year self-driving program whose vehicles have logged more than 1.5 million miles in four states.

Ford plans to have 30 Fusions testing its autonomous car tech by the end of this year, and nearly 100 in 2017.

Were aiming for Level 4 automation with this vehicle, said Ford CTO Raj Nair, referring to the Society of Automotive Engineers standard, where Level 1 is a human-guided vehicle and 5 requires no human input regardless of the environment.

Nair said Level 4 offers full autonomy but in a geo-fenced area that is very heavily 3D mapped. In other words, a typical city center.

Ford will continue to invest in driver-assist features that will be added to traditional vehicles, Nair said. But in conducting research on car technology that is semi-autonomous, doing most of the driving while relying on the human in certain situations, Ford discovered certain risks.

Ford announced that it was co-leading a $150 million investment with Chinese search giant Baidu in Velodyne Lidar, which makes a critical laser radar component for self-driving vehicles. Last month, Ford participated in a $6.6 million seed round for 3D mapping company, Civil Maps.

Ford and Chinese search giant Baidu announced they will be investing $150M in Velodyne, which makes laser radar devices that are integral to the development of self-driving cars. (Photo: Velodyne)

Ford announcing four key investments and collaborations that are expanding its strong research in advanced algorithms, 3D mapping, LiDAR, and radar and camera sensors:

Velodyne: Ford has invested in Velodyne, the Silicon Valley-based leader in light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. The aim is to quickly mass-produce a more affordable automotive LiDAR sensor. Ford has a longstanding relationship with Velodyne, and was among the first to use LiDAR for both high-resolution mapping and autonomous driving beginning more than 10 years ago

SAIPS: Ford has acquired the Israel-based computer vision and machine learning company to further strengthen its expertise in artificial intelligence and enhance computer vision. SAIPS has developed algorithmic solutions in image and video processing, deep learning, signal processing and classification. This expertise will help Ford autonomous vehicles learn and adapt to the surroundings of their environment

Nirenberg Neuroscience LLC: Ford has an exclusive licensing agreement with Nirenberg Neuroscience, a machine vision company founded by neuroscientist Dr. Sheila Nirenberg, who cracked the neural code the eye uses to transmit visual information to the brain. This has led to a powerful machine vision platform for performing navigation, object recognition, facial recognition and other functions, with many potential applications. For example, it is already being applied by Dr. Nirenberg to develop a device for restoring sight to patients with degenerative diseases of the retina. Fords partnership with Nirenberg Neuroscience will help bring humanlike intelligence to the machine learning modules of its autonomous vehicle virtual driver system

Civil Maps: Ford has invested in Berkeley, California-based Civil Maps to further develop high-resolution 3D mapping capabilities. Civil Maps has pioneered an innovative 3D mapping technique that is scalable and more efficient than existing processes. This provides Ford another way to develop high-resolution 3D maps of autonomous vehicle environments

SOURCES- Ford, Youtube, NHTSA,
The Federal Government has dismissed 23 Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) officers and suspended 11 others following reoccurring jailbreak...

The Federal Government has dismissed 23 Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) officers and suspended 11 others following reoccurring jailbreaks.The Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board (CDFIPB) after its emergency meeting held last Thursday, approved the dismissal of three senior prisons officers serving in Kuje Medium Security Prison and three other senior officers serving in Koton Karfe Prison for their complicity in the escape of prisoners.The dismissal letters dated August 12, were signed by the boards secretary, Alhaji A.A. Ibrahim.The letter reads: CDFIPB considered the allegation of serious misconduct arising from your negligence of duty as levelled against you The board thereafter approved your immediate dismissal from the NPS in line with the provision of the Public Service Rule 030402 (O), being an action prejudicial to the security of the state.A statement by NPS spokesman Francis Enobore, said: Similarly, the Controller-General of Prisons, in his capacity, has approved the dismissal of seven junior officers serving in Kuje Medium Security Prison and 10 other junior staff serving in Koton Karfe Prison also implicated in the escape saga.The affected officers are to hand over all government properties in their possession to their immediate superior and proceed accordingly.Meanwhile, the officer in charge of Nsukka Prison DCP Okonkwo Lawrence and 10 others have been suspended over the recent prisoners escape from the prison.The suspension is to allow for detailed and uninterrupted investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident to facilitate appropriate action by the authority.It will be recalled that in the wake of incessant escape of prisoners from some prisons in the country, the CGP, Jaafaru Ahmed, on August 2, convened an emergency meeting of command officers and 241 officers in charge of prisons across the country to reassess security measures for safe-keeping of prisoners. Although a number of escapees have been recaptured, efforts are still being made to ensure that all the fugitives are apprehended and returned to prison custody.The controller-general wishes to assure all officers and men of the Nigerian Prisons Service of his readiness to support and encourage hard work and dedication to duty, but frowns at acts of negligence capable of embarrassing the service and the nation at large.The controller-general, who appreciated the collaboration of security agencies, vigilance groups and the public for their support, assured that necessary measures were being put in place to guarantee maximum security of persons in prison custody.
The Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) has said it may go on a nationwide strike, except the Federal Government addresses some infra...

The Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) has said it may go on a nationwide strike, except the Federal Government addresses some infrastructural and financial challenges confronting universities.ASUU said the strike was inevitable, as most public universities were grounded in serious indebtedness.Rising from its National Executive Council meeting yesterday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, its National President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, told reporters atthe Lagos State College of Medicine Ikeja, that the union was being pushed to the wall; hence the need to draw Nigerians and stakeholders to their plight so the union would not be blamed, if it decided to go on strike.Ogunyemi said: At our NEC, we engaged members. Unfortunately, what our members are saying is that they are frustrated and running out of patience, and that if the situation becomes unbearable, they may have to take the option of strike.It is not that ASUU has agreed to go on strike. However, the NEC afforded us the opportunity to aggregate all outstanding issues affecting us. As we keep telling Nigerians, ASUU does not take delight in strike. We believe in consulting widely among our members before any decision is taken. So we are using this opportunity to tell the world what we are going through and seek their intervention.The union recalled the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government Agreement and its non-implementation, which forced it to strike in 2012 and 2013.As a result, the Federal Government signed an MoU with the union in 2013, adding that Section 3.2 of the agreement recommended Earned Academic Allowances in nine categories, which was not upheld.According to it, of the N30 billion Federal Government disbursed in 2013 for the Earned Academic Allowances, only N13 billion was released.It is important to state here that of the N30 billion disbursed, only N13 billion wwas released to partly settle claims of academic staff. The refusal to release the outstanding of N128,250,692.47 almost three years after the MoU, is a clear breach of the MoU, it said.Following the Needs Assessment Report by the Federal Government in 2012, it agreed to disburse N1,300,000,000 to revitalise universities nationwide.However, it extended the report between 2013 and 2018, instead of the 2009 take off year. According to ASUU, Federal Government is to provide N200 billion in 2013, N220 billion each year between 2014 and 2018.
Ex-deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore has faulted Abdulmumin Jibrin for describing him as godfather to Speaker of the...

Ex-deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore has faulted Abdulmumin Jibrin for describing him as godfather to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, saying Jibrins attempt to implicate him in the budget padding scandal is unfortunate.Jibrin, former chairman, Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, had alleged that Omisore is the godfather of Dogara. Omisore, who spoke through his Media Adviser, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said He (Omisore) is not a member of the House of Representatives and there is nothing wrong having friends across the country.So, if he (Omisore) has friends across the country and somebody wants to rope him in in any issue, it is very unfortunate and it is very unfortunate. Speaking further, he said he (Omisore) is not a member of the APC and everybody knows that. As a senior colleague and former member of the Senate, he relates with virtually all politicians in this country. So, for somebody to accuse him (Omisore) of being a godfather to anybody, it is unfair.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday appealed to political leaders in Guinea Bissau to embrace unity and avoid any act that could plunge...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday appealed to political leaders in Guinea Bissau to embrace unity and avoid any act that could plunge the nation into further crisis. The president made the appeal when he received Mr Modibo Toure, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Guinea Bissau at the State House, Abuja. Buhari decried the lingering political crisis in the West African country.They must accept responsibility for leadership to stabilize their own country, he said. He further maintained that only the countrys political leaders, not outsiders that could effectively resolve the political crisis in the country. The president told the visiting envoy that Nigeria would welcome increased support from ECOWAS and the United Nations to stabilise the country and prevent breakdown of law and order.According to him, Nigeria has a responsibility to the region and the rest of Africa, saying that we will not shirk on our responsibility, in spite of the hardship confronting us. Toure had requested Nigeria to use its clout in the regional bloc, ECOWAS, to break the deadlock in the country. The UN representative warned that Guinea Bissau faced a very grim future if the country continues without a functioning government.
The decision to release Boko Haram suspects in exchange for abducted Chibok schoolgirls as being demanded by the terror sect, will be a ...

The decision to release Boko Haram suspects in exchange for abducted Chibok schoolgirls as being demanded by the terror sect, will be a political decision.Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Gabriel Olonishakin stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a security meeting, held in the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.He, however, said that military operations against activities of the terrorist group would continue irrespective of any negotiations with the sect.That is a political decision to be taken.The military decision is that we are going ahead with our operations.The operation is being conducted appropriately.The CDS stated that the military authorities were analysing the video released by Boko Haram sect and we will make appropriate comments at the right time.He said that one of the people declared wanted by the army in connection with the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls had surrendered himself to the army for interrogation.Olonishaki disclosed that the meeting went beyond discussing security matters, saying that it also discussed issues on floods apart from terrorism.Also speaking on the outcome of the meeting, the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali said the meeting took the form of workshop as participants were trained on how to respond to emergency issues.It was not a meeting as such, it was a little workshop that was arranged for us to understand how to respond to emergency issues, how to be in the position to advise the President to take the right decisions under emergency cases either terrorism, flood or any other thing.It was put together for chief executives to sit down and understand the processes of thinking when there is disaster.And I think that is what we have learnt today, and hope we will put into use.Also commenting on the activities of the Boko Haram, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said even though the Federal Government was in touch with the sect, the government is being careful and cautious in view of the split in the leadership of the group.What is important to government is the safety and security of these girls.Dont forget that this is not the first time we will be engaged in talking and engaging them.The point is we assure the nation that we are on top of the situation.We are not even just reacting to the video; we have gone far beyond the video in talking to the group already.Until you are able to ascertain the authenticity of the people you are talking to, you dont go into details.On the planned protest-march to the Presidential Villa by members of the BringBack Our Girls group, Mohammed stated that government was committed to doing everything possible to rescue all kidnapped citizens, including the Chibok schoolgirls.We appreciate their commitment to the return of these girls but there are few things we need to do behind the scene.What we are saying is that the government is committed to do everything to rescue these girls.
The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu has reminded President Muhammadu Buhari not to forget that he is no longer a military man.





The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu has reminded President Muhammadu Buhari not to forget that he is no longer a military man.The monarch said the ongoing economic hardship in the nation could not be totally blamed on former President Goodluck Jonathan.He spoke in Lagos during the unveiling of SunTrust Bank Limited, the first commercial bank to be licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 15 years.Akiolu said, All of us just have to support the President and I advise him to know that he is no more a military man. I am not afraid to say that. The measures they are taking on the rot of the past, honestly whether they like it or not, it was not totally the fault of former President Goodluck Jonathan. I dont hide the fact that he (Jonathan) is my personal friend.Other dignitaries at the event included a former Chairman, Economic and Financial Services Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu; Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Achebe; President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Nike Akande; a former Managing Director, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, among others.
Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, says the recovery of over 200 missing school girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok...

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, says the recovery of over 200 missing school girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, is more important than protection of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.Speaking to Richard Quest on CNNs Quest Means Business on Monday night, Kachikwu said it is not true that the government is paying more attention to protecting oil facilities than to recovering the girls.A critic of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, who was aired on the show said the military was leaving the northeast for the Niger Delta to guide pipelines, adding that this means the oil is better than the human.Kachikwu responded, saying; not quite so, at all. On the contrary, since President Muhammadu Buhari resumed, I think his first steps were targeted at the northeast and the Chibok girls.If you remember, most of his first state visits were to neighbouring countries, trying to gather alignment among neighbouring countries military forces in fighting this issue, and the military has been engaged in that territory.One of the crisis the president had to inherit, was the fact that once he came in, he found that monies that were allocated to the military to be able to deal with these issues, were largely diverted, and he spent a lot of time trying to find funds.He first had to deal with that problem, but once he dealt with that, the army has got more brisk in its business, however, we havent found the girls and its sorrowful for every Nigerian who thinks about it. I have children, the last thing I want is for peoples children to be in the forest abandoned, and we are doing everything we can, I sympathise with all parents who are in this situation, but the president hasnt given upon this.Kachikwu also said that Nigeria would need to produce as much as 900,000 barrels of excess crude per day to cover for lost crude and to meet budget 2016 benchmark.It is a difficult time, production is about 1.5 million barrels a day, but we intend to get that up. We are putting a lot of energy around it, a lot of dialogue, a lot of engagement, a lot of security meetings to try and resolve it, he said.President Muhammadu Buhari is very concerned about these things, a lot of executive time is being given to this. We are expecting that over the next one month, two months, we would find some final solution that would bring production upward.Beyond that, the reality is that we have lost a lot quite a lot of months, about five, six months of continuous problems. so it is going to be difficult to catch up with the 2.2 million barrels on which the 2016 budget is based.But we are certainly going to try, once things are calmer. We need an average of 900,000 barrels per day, excess production to catch up. That is going to be very tough, but we are going to work on that.He added that he was not optimistic about an OPEC freeze deal.
The federal high court in Abuja has suspended the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention planned by the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the pa...

The federal high court in Abuja has suspended the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention planned by the Ahmed Makarfi faction of the party.The convention is scheduled for Wednesday.Okon Abang, the judge, disagreed with Ben Obi, a a former senator who filed an application to be joined in the case as a respondent.Obi had got an order of the Port Harcourt division of the court for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agents to be present at the convention.He, alongside Makarfi and some PDP members, had sought to join in the suit to stop the convention by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction.Obi cannot undermine the authority of this court. Senator Ben Obi cannot treat the court with disdain and levity, Abang said.He said the court would have adjourned the matter to the next day to give Obis counsel time to prepare for an intending application from Sheriffs group. But he added that going by Obis actions, which he described as a slap on the court, he said he had no choice but to adjourn the matter to August 16 at 12pm.Putting an end to the convention, Abang said: Where a party has taken law into its hands, and to maintain the dignity and integrity of the court and in the over all interest of justice, taking into consideration the competing claims of the parties, an order is hereby made in the interim suspending the PDP convention slated for August 17, 2016, pending when the plaintiff motion on notice dated July 20 is served and , he said.A High Court in Port Harcourt had earlier given a go ahead for the proposed convention and upheld the legitimacy of the Markafi led caretaker committee, only for the judgement to be upturned by the court in Abuja.
Ohanaeze Youths Council has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately begin direct negotiation with the detained leader of Indig...

Ohanaeze Youths Council has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately begin direct negotiation with the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB], Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with a view to releasing him.Kanu is facing treasonable charges in an Abuja High Court and is being detained at the Kuje Prisons.Ohanaeze Youths Council urged the president to use the opportunity of the reported on-going negotiation between some Niger Delta groups and a representative of the Federal Government and talk with Kanu to free him. Kanu himself had last week through his lawyers said that he was open for dialogue with the government for a political resolution of the matter.According to the National President of the Ohanaeze Youth Council, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Federal Government should not allow this window of peace talk to pass it by.This is a much-awaited opportunity which should be utilized to end the bitterness against the Federal Government by people of the South-East.We call on President Muhammadu Buhari not to allow this golden opportunity slip off his hands. It is our firm belief that Buhari will engrave his name as a hero of democracy if he utilized this opportunity to free Nnamdi Kanu, Ohaneze Youths said.Isiguzoro, however, suggested that Kanu himself should be allowed to lead such a negotiation.For the dialogue to be genuine and fruitful, Kanu should lead the IPOB delegation. Nobody or group should negotiate on his behalf; this is to avoid a situation where the government will end up wasting time and resources.If the government succeeds in this regard, it would no doubt endear it to Ndigbo and help in healing so many wounds.Kanus lawyers advised to seek approval first Meantime, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday, charged lawyers to the detained Director of Radio Biafra,Nnamdi Kanu, to seek approval from him first before dabbling into any negotiation for his release with the Federal Government.MASSOB said it aligned with Kanus stance that, hed rather die, than jettison the struggle for Biafra after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, had given the Federal Government, last week, conditions to end agitations in the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones, wherein MEND, urged Kanu to renounce Biafra to regain his freedom.Kanu, who was arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, upon arrival from the United Kingdom, has been in detention since October 14, last year, for alleged treasonable felony.But frowning at the remarks from Kanus lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Amobi Nzelu, indicating that their client was not aversed to negotiations for his release, MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu, in a statement to newsmen in Enugu, stated that, MASSOB supports the position of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as the leader of IPOB. Approval for negotiation must be obtained first. MASSOB as a sister organization will always support every positive move that will effect the release of our Comrade, Nnamdi Kanu. We will not accept any confusing steps which some groups even the defense counsels are making.IPOB has quickly condemned the position of Kanus lawyers. We will never relent or succumb on the agitation for Biafra. We shall continue to forge ahead with the spirit of consistency and commitment in accord with other pro-Biafra groups. Nigeria should be tired and ashamed of Kanus continued detention.IPOB names released members In another development, IPOB, has reeled out names of their members who were granted bail at Umuahia Chief Magistrates Court last week, on the orders of the Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF.Among those granted bail, according to a statement signed by Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, are John Onyebuchi M aged 52; Joseph Okorie M aged 25; Ikechukwu Obi M aged 35; Ifeanyi Okike M aged 65; Ani Chimezie M aged 62; Emeka Ezeugo M aged 30 and Chibuzo Okpara F aged 40. Others are Donatus Okeke M aged 36; Okechukwu Nnebennum M aged 34; Jude Aniche M aged 48; Amos Nkemjika Ezekiel M aged 43; Ngozi Onuora F aged 30; Goodness Emeka F aged 25; Nene Ekwueme F aged 52; Amarachi Chukwu F aged 22; Oluchukwu Bekee F aged 48; Igwechukwu Ebuka M aged 26; Okwudili Okafor M aged 35; Nnadike Obasi M aged 29 and Monday Ibejii M aged 25.In the statement, Powerful noted that of these 20 detainees, 19 were released by the Umuahia Chief Magistrate Court on Thursday, August 11, while one of them was released before now with the efforts made by his family members, adding that they had all been given at the weekend.It would be recalled that the federal government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF had ordered the court to release the detained IPOB members who were arrested inside Aba High School, on February 9, this year during their prayer rally and charged to court.
An Environmentalist, Mr Toyin Oshaniwa, on Tuesday expressed support for eviction of the cow skin processors at the Oko-Oba Abattoir, Ageg...





An Environmentalist, Mr Toyin Oshaniwa, on Tuesday expressed support for eviction of the cow skin processors at the Oko-Oba Abattoir, Agege, by the Lagos State Government.Oshaniwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the use of tyre to process cow skin, popularly known as `Ponmo, was highly injurious to the health of Lagos residents.He urged the state government to provide smoking kiln, as done in the fish-drying chain of aquaculture.The process of using tyres to process Ponmo is highly toxic to mans health and can cause severe damage to the well-being of consumers and even people living in that vicinity.So, I honestly support the move to stop further processing of the commodity in that manner by the state government.Alternatively, government should build efficient burning chambers and smoking kiln like those used for drying fish, Oshaniwa said.NAN reports that the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Toyin Suarau, had, on Sunday, shut down activities and dislodged the processors of the commodity at the market. Suarau said that the closure became necessary because of the danger `ponmo preparation posed to the health of the people in the area.The ponmo processors use heaps of burning tyres, thereby, emitting thick toxic smoke into the air and endangering residents of the adjoining neighbourhood.This bonfire emits a thick toxic smoke which spreads from within the complex to adjoining neighbourhood, endangering lives including those of the processors themselves, he said.
There were strong indications on Monday that the Federal Government was in a dilemma over the faction of the Boko Haram sect, it should ho...

There were strong indications on Monday that the Federal Government was in a dilemma over the faction of the Boko Haram sect, it should hold talks with.It was gathered that the Federal Government had in the past four months been holding talks with members of the sect with a view to securing the release of the Chibok girls.It was, however, learnt that the matter came to a head two weeks ago with the factionalisation of the sect.A top government official, who confided in reporters, said that contrary to the belief of many people, the release of the girls was uppermost in the mind of President Muhammadu Buhari.He admitted that there had been offers by some members of the sect to release the girls, but the government was being careful.The source stated, We do not want to make the mistake the past administration made when its negotiation with the sect did not lead to the release of the girls. We are still in a dilemma on which of the two factions should we negotiate with. We must confirm that the offers are genuine.The sect had on August 3 split with the ISIS naming Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new leader of Boko Haram.In an interview with al-Barnawi in its Al-Naba online weekly magazine, ISIS introduced him as Boko Haram new leader.But a few days later, following the new appointment, the erstwhile leader, Abubakar Shekau, released an audio message in Arabic and Hausa languages accusing al-Barnawi of trying to stage a coup against him.Shekau dismissed el-Barnawi as an infidel who condones living in an un-Islamic society without waging jihad. He also claimed to have been tricked by some of his followers.Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in an interview with State House correspondents after a workshop organised for top security chiefs on how to respond to emergency situations such as terrorism and flood inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday, said the government must first ascertain the authenticity of those it was talking with.He said, The governments position is clear that we are in touch with them. We are just being careful and cautious to ensure that we are talking to the right people especially with the news that there is a split in the leadership. But what is important is the safety and security of these girls.The thrust of my statement (on Sunday) was to assure the nation that we are on top of the situation. We are not even just reacting to the video, we have gone far beyond the video in talking to the group already. Until you are able to ascertain the authenticity of those you are talking to, you dont go into details, he said.The minister said the position of government was that there could not be an end to the issue of terrorism until the abducted girls were rescued.On the reported plan by the BringBackOurGirls coalition to again match on the Presidential Villa, Mohammed said, We appreciate their commitment to the return of these girls but there are few things we need to do behind the scene. What we are saying is that the government is committed to doing everything to rescue these girls.We are engaging them. By saying we are talking to them, I am talking from a point of knowledge. It does not matter what other people say. I know that the government is in touch with the groupUntil the release of this video, the effort is not attracting any attention. But every day, the Office of the NSA and others concerned are working on it.For us, it is not just because of the release of the video but because of our belief that there will be no final closure to Boko Haram until we are able to resolve the issue of these girls.On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Abayomi Olonishakin, also in an interview with journalists at the event, said the demand that the Federal Government swap detained Boko Haram members for the Chibok was a political decision that would not stop ongoing military operations.The BringBackOurGirls group and the parents of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls had on Sunday demanded that the government heed the call for a swap following the video of the girls released by the sect on Sunday.Olonishakin told reporters that he would not stop the ongoing military operations against the insurgents which he said were going on smoothly.That (call for the swap of the girls with Boko Haram fighters) is a political decision to be taken. The military decision is that we are going ahead with our operations. The operation is being conducted appropriately, he said.The CDS however promised to analyze the video with a view to taking a position on it soon.Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has interrogated two of the three people it declared wanted on Sunday over a Boko Haram video showing the Chibok girls.While a woman lawyer, Aisha Wakil, was quizzed at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, Ahmed Bolori was interrogated at a military barracks in Maiduguri.It was gathered that Wakil was interrogated at the Directorate of Military Intelligence at the Defence Headquarters.The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said on the telephone on Monday that Wakil had reported to the military authorities to shed more light on what she knew about the Chibok girls.When asked whether Wakil was to be detained at the Directorate of Military Intelligence, he said that the issue had to do with getting more information from the lady and not detention.He said that it was the view of the Army that the three persons who were declared wanted on Sunday were not saying all they knew about the truth concerning the Chibok girls.The Acting Army spokesman said that it was wrong for some persons to withhold information on the girls for pecuniary benefits.Usman also denied the claim by Wakil that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, refused a request from her to meet him with some commanders of the Boko Haram as part of the efforts to resolve the crisis.He said, She (Aisha Wakil) has reported to the military. Nobody told you about detention. No. The thing is that she should come and shed more light on the things they know. From all indications, they are not saying what they know.Bolori on his facebook page on Monday said that he reported at the military barracks in Maiduguri at 10am.According an online medium, The Cable Wakil had earlier in a statement on Monday said that the military knew where to find her.She said that she was surprised that the army took the action despite knowing where to find her, adding that she knew the Boko Haram boys.Wakil, in her statement, said she once met the Chief of Army Staff and offered to bring along Boko Haram commanders for dialogue, but the army chose to do things their own way.The third person, Salkida said in a statement made available to an Abuja based media consultant outfit to security agencies, the PR Nigeria, that if the Army buys him a ticket, he will visit Nigeria to honour the invitation.
Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has hailed the Police for their quick intervention in apprehending some suspected killers of the late ...

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has hailed the Police for their quick intervention in apprehending some suspected killers of the late member of House of Assembly, Gideon Aremu.He spoke through a statement signed by Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism Mr. Toye Arulogun.The governor lauded the police command for exhibiting professionalism, commitment and dedication to a crime-free society by tracking down the suspected culprits in the gruesome murder of the former Chairman, House Committee on Information.He said the government saw this laudable development by the police as working in line with the Ajimobi administrations zero tolerance for criminality and brigandage, which once marked out Oyo as a state of violence.The combination of similar efforts by both the government and security agencies account for the reason Oyo State was not included in the states listed as unsafe for foreign nationals in Nigeria by the United States (U.S.) Department of State.The commissioner reiterated the governments readiness to support the police and other security agencies, assuring residents and citizens of the governments zero tolerance for criminal and violent acts.
Vietnamese consumers spent $4.07 billion shopping over the internet last year.

In an attempt to boost e-commerce, Vietnam is trying to convince 50 percent of urban residents to convert to non-cash payments such as debit and credit cards.

Vietnam expects revenue from online retail to hit $10 billion by 2020, accounting for 5 percent of the total nationwide revenue from sales of goods and services, according to the governments e-commerce development plan for 2016-2020.

The Southeast Asian country forecasts a rapidly growing demand for online shopping, and projects 30 percent of the population will buy goods and services directly over the internet in 2020, with each shopper spending an average of $350 per year.

Last year, Vietnamese consumers spent $4.07 billion shopping online, a jump of 37 percent from the previous year, according to the 2015 Report on Vietnam E-commerce.

Revenue from online retail accounted for 2.8 percent of the total nationwide revenue from sales of goods and services, said the Vietnam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The Southeast Asian country, with a population of 93 million, just three years ago was ranked as the smallest e-commerce market in the region in terms of sales. Now online retail is gaining momentum with 48 million internet users increasingly turning to online shopping.

VECITA estimated that if 70 percent of Vietnamese internet users shopped online it would create annual revenue of about $4.3 billion.

Each Vietnamese consumer spent an average of $160 on online purchases in 2015. Clothing, footwear and cosmetics were the best selling items, followed by technology and electronic goods, household appliances, and audio-visual equipment.

In order to increase non-cash transactions, Vietnam will require all supermarkets, shopping malls and convenience stores to accept payments via credit and debit cards.

The target of 50 per cent of people switching from cash will be very hard to achieve because of poor infrastructure, limited legal framework, cash habit, and [the fact that] some shops charge a fee if customers pay by card, said banking expert Huynh Trung Minh.

Official statistics released by the Vietnam Banking Card Association showed that Vietnamese banks had issued about 82 million cards by the end of 2015, but 90 percent of them were ATM cards.



The E-commerce Index report showed that last year 27 percent of smartphone users shopped online on their phones and mostly made non-cash payments, while 45 percent of smartphone users browsed through online shopping websites more than once a day.

However, only 15 percent of Vietnamese shopping portals have mobile platforms to meet the demands of the 11.3 million people in the country who use mobile devices to shop online, according to Nguyen Dinh Thanh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Computer Association.

"E-commerce businesses have not paid enough attention to mobile commerce," said Thang.

Vietnam also wants around 70 percent of utility service providers including telecommunications companies and electricity and water suppliers to move their billings online.

The Vietnamese government expects to start rolling out the electronic government procurement system in 2018 in which all businesses looking to work with government bodies, mainly at a ministerial level, will have to go online to qualify. The country has set a target of moving all government procurement online by 2025.

Related news:

> Google rep sees Vietnam as fast growing e-commerce market

> Vietnam's retail sales see slowest growth in 6 years

> Vietnam ranks in top 30 fastest growing retail markets
Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts at tackling the flooding predicted by th...

Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts at tackling the flooding predicted by that the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET).Babangida made the call in Minna on Tuesday in an interview with newsmen to mark his 75th birthday which comes up on Wednesday. He said that the government needed to put in place measures to ensure that states prone to flooding took the necessary measures to prevent loss of lives and property.When I was the Head of state, I was aware of the flood problems the country was faced with during rainy season, especially in Niger.So, using Minna as an example, a lot of people lost their homes and property were destroyed. Quite a lot of children were dying as a result of flood. So, the first thing I did was to a make good drainage in Minna town, which is one of the best drainage system you can find in the city and the country at large.I believe government can look at those areas that are prone to flooding and start putting measures in place to avoid loss of lives and property, he said. The former military ruler said that both federal and state governments should construct drains to forestall disasters.
The Japanese Government on Monday announced a donation of three million dollars in support of victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Adamaw...

The Japanese Government on Monday announced a donation of three million dollars in support of victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.The Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Sadanabu Kusaoke, made the announcement at the launch of the project in Maiduguri. Kusaake said that the project was aimed at assisting the victims to engage in gainful activities like farming and trading for social stability.The Japanese Government has decided to support the project for early recovery and social cohesion in the North-East of Nigeria with a 3 million dollars donation.This is to help people who engage in gainful activities like farming and trading to contribute to the social stabilisation and recovery of the affected communities in the three states, he said. Kusaoke said that the project would concentrate on women, youths and other vulnerable groups in the communities.Priority is on women, youths and other vulnerable people. The project is expected to create safe environment for the returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as reduce pressure on migration to neighboring countries, he said.Kusaoke said that the project would also involved support for UNDP programme of de-radicalisation of former militants in the states. We have also decided to fund the UNDP project on de-radicalisation and also to increase the capacity of security agents in investigations and prosecution as well as preventing and controlling migration, he said. The envoy commended the Borno state Government for its multi-facet approach in addressing the problems of insurgency in the state.We commend the state government for its comprehensive approach in dealing with the insurgency problems. We also commended the Federal Government for its support to the military to end the Boko Haram crisis, he said.Commenting, Gov. Kashim Shettima thanked the Japanese Government for the gesture and urged other donors to emulate the gesture by providing similar assistance to victms of insurgency. (NAN)
There was jubilation yesterday at Uselu, the secretariat of Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, when the workers received alert for...

There was jubilation yesterday at Uselu, the secretariat of Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, when the workers received alert for the payment of seven months salaries out of the 18 months owed them.The workers thanked the House of Assembly for approving the payment and the timely release of funds to pay them.They did not get the bailout fund from the Federal Government when other councils in the state were paid because of alleged alteration in the file it submitted to the government.The states Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Young Ilenikhena, urged the state government to pay the outstanding salaries.Ilenikhena said NULGE was working with the State Internal Revenue Service to release Egor, Oredo and Ikpoba-Okha local government areas percentage without further delay.House of Assembly Speaker Justin Okonoboh, who announced the payment during plenary yesterday, said all categories of workers being owed in the state would be paid.
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday put paid to his threat to stamp out kidnapping, militancy and menace of land grabbing in t...

Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday put paid to his threat to stamp out kidnapping, militancy and menace of land grabbing in the countrys commercial nerve centre by signing two bills into laws.Ambode signed the two laws, entitled: Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps Law and the Lagos State Properties Protection Law, in his office yesterday.He explained that it was necessary to enact the law considering recent cases of kidnapping, armed robbery, militant attack and forceful dispossession of land by land grabbers.According to him, I have just given assent to two very important bills: the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps Law and the Lagos State Properties Protection Law.These two bills are very central to our administrations focus of safeguarding the lives of residents, attracting and growing investments and improving the ease of doing business in our state.He added that the law would equip the states security agencies, as the government has created a legal framework to put some form of communal protection in place to boost and support the Police.The Neighbourhood Safety Corps will assist the police and other security agencies within the state to maintain law and order across our communities. It will also be charged with the responsibility of registering all private home security and any other person employed for private home security among other things.One of the issues that discourages investors and hinders the ease of doing business in Lagos is the issue of land grabbing. A lot of our would-be property owners encounter untold harassment from exploitative land grabbers. This law marks the end of the road for such land grabbers.The Lagos State Properties Protection Law will give legal backing to the operations of our law enforcement officers. The main objective of this law is to ensure that our investors, businessmen and the general populace carry on their legitimate land, property transactions without any hindrance or intimidation henceforth.The governor explained that the Properties Law will eliminate the activities of persons or corporate entities using force and intimidation to dispossess or prevent people or entity from acquiring legitimate interest and possession of property.Ambode added that it would ensure that the Special Task Force on Land-Grabbers work with all security agencies to ensure enforcement of government and private property rights and ensure proper coordination of the efforts of the various agencies of government charged with enforcing the state governments rights over land.He hailed the efforts of the House of Assemblys members and the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, for their determination to move the state forward.Ambode urged Lagosians to obey the laws and join hands with the government in ensuring that the rule of law is enthroned.
Hours after they were declared wanted, Mrs Aisha Wakil aka Mama Boko Haram, and a lawyer, Ahmed Bolori, yesterday surrendered to the mil...

Hours after they were declared wanted, Mrs Aisha Wakil aka Mama Boko Haram, and a lawyer, Ahmed Bolori, yesterday surrendered to the military.Mama Boko Haram reported at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja; Bolori turned up at the Army Headquarters in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at 10am.The third person declared wanted with them, Ahmed Salkida, a journalist, said he was also ready to give himself up, but asked for a ticket from the military to facilitate his return home from his Dubai base.Mama Boko Haram, also a lawyer, said she was not immediately taken in for interrogations when she arrived at the DHQ.The front desk officers, she said, asked her what she wanted and she told them she was declared wanted yesterday (Sunday). But the officers said they were not aware of such and she asked them to read the newspapers online.They told me they will go and read and get back to me, she said, adding that a few minutes later, a supervisor entered the reception to collect her passport and told her he would return 10 minutes later.The spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Sani Usman, confirmed that Mama Boko Haram has submitted herself.I have been reliably informed that she has reported at the Defence Headquarters and she has been directed to the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Usman said.Before giving herself up, Mama Boko Haram had said she was innocent of the allegation against her.She said she had told the military what to do to secure the freedom of the Chibok girls but her advice was ignored.In a statement posted on Facebook by Dr. Emman Shehu of the International Institute of Journalism, Abuja, she said: I am Aisha Alkali Wakil. I understand that the military declared me, Ahmed Silkida and Ahmed Bolori wanted for having links with Boko Haram. Its interesting, now they believe me?I know the Boko Haram boys. I have been in the front fighting for peace long before Chibok girls were kidnapped. Nigerian security knows me too well, Im not shady. Why declare me wanted?I have had meetings with the Chief of Army Staff and his people. I told them the way forward, to allow me come with some commanders of Boko Haram and discuss with them, but they chose to do things their own way only and never gave considerations to any of my suggestions.I want to inform the Nigerian people of my innocence and make them realise that I am in constant touch with the security personnel and they know where to find me but I wonder why I had to be declared wanted on national news even mentioning my husbands name alongside.This has put my immediate and extended family under a lot of pressure and I do not deserve this from the government.Though they may not appreciate all my efforts to proffer peaceful solutions to the menace of Boko Haram, my name should not be dragged to the mud nor my character defamed.Bolori said he was well-treated by the army, with a colonel offering him tea.Reliving his encounter with the army since Sunday night, he said: I have received several calls that the Nigerian Army has declared me and two others wanted. What kind of system is that where you will be declared wanted without being informed.I dont know what crime I have committed. Whatever the case, I have contacted the army to provide a venue and they are yet to respond as expected.Sequel to my efforts to reach and report to them, the Nigerian Army asked me to return home and meet them by 10am on Monday (yesterday).This was after several unanswered calls and messages I have sent them. May God grant us peace.On arrival at the Army Headquarters, Bolori wrote: I have signed the visitors register since and I am still waiting to be taken in although the army guard doesnt have airtime to contact his supervisors.The army is now treating me very friendly and peacefully as a nice colonel just took me to his office to drink tea.Stating his readiness to return home to face the military, Salkida wrote on his Twitter handle, that he has stayed within the creed of professional journalism, in all his work and extensive coverage of Boko Haram insurgency since 2006.Clearly, my status as a Nigerian journalist who has reported extensively, painstakingly and consistently on the Boko Haram menace in the country since 2006 is an open book known to Nigerians and the international community. Equally, my total allegiance and sacrifice to Nigeria is self-evident. I have stayed within the creed of professional journalism in my work.As a testimony to the credible and professional values of my access, since May 2015, l have been to Nigeria three times on the invitation of Federal Government agencies. I made personal sacrifices for the release of our Chibok daughters.Finally, the army is aware that I am not in Nigeria at present. In the coming days, I will seek to get a flight to Abuja and avail myself to the army authorities. Indeed, my return will be hastened if the military sends me a ticket.
Ex-spokesperson to immediate past President, Dr Goodluck Jonathans Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said yes...

Ex-spokesperson to immediate past President, Dr Goodluck Jonathans Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said yesterday, that the embattled former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was a curse on the party and must be kicked out, if the PDP must be returned to its past glory.Fani-Kayode in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, said the mission of Sheriff to PDP was to destroy the party. He, however, stressed that each time the former governor of Borno State moved to a new party that was not in power at the centre, what he often did would be to quickly assume the role of a government mole, and put everything in motion to destroy it from within on behalf of the government of the day.Fani-Kayodes statement read: Lying Ali Modu Sheriff told Channels TV last night (Sunday) that I sent people to beg him for claiming that he was Boko Haram. These are the lies of a desperate and drowning man. He came to destroy the PDP and if we did not rise against him and kicked him out when we did, he would have succeeded in his mission.I am proud to have been the first to see him for what he is and to publicly blow the whistle on him. I was one of those that led the rebellion against him and orchestrated the campaign to push him out and dump him as the National Chairman of our party and many have thanked me for that, including some of those that brought him in and attempted to impose him on us.The man is of the devil and no-one should believe a word that comes out of his mouth or take him seriously. He is a curse to the PDP and the sooner he is kicked out of the party the better it is for us all. On the issue of changing goal posts let me add the following. Modu Sheriff has changed political parties no less than four times in the last few years. Each time he goes to a new party that is not in power at the center, he assumes the role of a government mole and tries to destroy it from within on behalf of the government of the day That is his modus operandi.On return he gets protection from the state for all the many atrocities he has committed over the years. He has betrayed everyone and every political party he has ever worked with or for. Go and ask around. We used him to spy on and destroy the APP when Obasanjo was in power and now Buhari is using him to destroy the PDP. Luckily, he has failed because 99 per cent of PDP members have rejected him and now he is on his own.He failed in his evil mission and now he is making noise like a chicken or snake whose head has been cut off. Unlike him, I am consistent in my views and I am as constant as the northern star. It is a matter of good breeding. With me you will always know where you stand and I will always speak my mind no matter whose ox is gored. He is the opposite. He pretends to be a friend and a loyalist when his real plan is to stab you in the back and kill you on the night. He does not have the courage to be loyal to any cause, any person or any political party.
Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, has disclosed that he still regrets his inability to scrap the National Assembly.





Former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, has disclosed that he still regrets his inability to scrap the National Assembly.Babangida, who spoke to journalists at his Uphill residence in Minna, Niger State, as part of activities marking his 75th birthday, said he would make amends if given another chance to act on the matter.Babangida said, During my public life, there were several decisions we took as military officers or as political officers (when I was a dictator) that if given another chance, I would do differently. For example, in 1989, we proposed that the National Assembly should be optional, that is part-time.I still believe that if I had the opportunity, I would make the National Assembly part time. I believe in that very strongly and is parts of efforts to cut down the cost of governance in Nigeria.
The Federal Government on Monday inaugurated a roadmap for the agriculture sector, tagged: The Green Alternative: Agriculture Promotion ...

The Federal Government on Monday inaugurated a roadmap for the agriculture sector, tagged: The Green Alternative: Agriculture Promotion Policy, 2016-2020.Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the vision was to revive agric sector to boost food production in the country. According to Ogbeh, the policy will serve as the new fulcrum for economic diversification, inclusive growth and sustainable development in agric sector.The launch of the `Green Alternative is an attestation that the change that the overwhelming majority of Nigerians canvassed for and openly welcomed by giving Muhammadu Buhari a resounding victory in the last presidential election is here. In this policy, you will see us navigating through the agricultural terrain, trucking on virtually every aspect, we launched on the human element. We will reflect on years of neglect where agriculture was seen as a refuge for the wretched and unsophisticated, Ogbeh said.The minister explained further that the emphasis on Green would capture the essence, spirit and orientation of the new policy/strategy document. The emphasis on green is deliberate; it is to underscore, not only the imperative of building a strong, vibrant and resilient economy, but also a green refreshing, generating, transformative-agriculture-led economy. It is to ensure mutual complementary between efficient, effective and productive agricultural production, system and processes on one hand and environmental sustainability, Ogbeh said. He stated that the policy had five major strategic driving forces namely, achievement of self-sufficiency and sustainable food security, reduction in import dependence and economic losses, particularly through value addition.Other, he said, were stimulation of agro-exports for enhanced foreign exchange earnings, enhancement of wealth and job creation, especially provision of employment opportunities for the teeming youths. The minister also said achievement of economic diversification to make the economy less oil-dependent was among the driving forces of the green policy. Ogbeh said that through the policy, farmers would have access to land, soil fertility, information and knowledge, inputs, production management, storage, processing, marketing and trade, including access to finance. Others are promoting agribusiness and ensuring investment development, institutional setting and roles, youth and women, infrastructure, research and innovation and nutrition security.Also, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri explained that agricultural policy over the years had focused on conventional paradigm of harnessing the sectors potential to provide sufficient food for the growing population. Lokpobiri, who was represented by Dr Shehu Ahmed, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry said effective implementation of the policy required a systematic collaboration among the stakeholders.One significant element of this desire is the relevance and suitability of support institutions as an integral process of facilitating the consultative, entrepreneurial, coordinating and regulatory roles in the nations development process. In this regard, governments responsibility is to continuously put in place measures that will restructure, re-orientate and strengthen the relevant national institutions as well as utilise the opportunities offered by international cooperate bodies,  he said According to him, this is to embrace the challenges of intensifying the integration of the countrys development goals into the liberalisation principle of the world economy.Mr kabir Ibrahim, President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), commended the ministry for the policy, saying it would go a long way in assisting farmers to boost productivity. The Nigerian farmers are seeking more availability of fertiliser, timely application of the research finding, adoption of good science and technology, provision of good seeds and small irrigation facility for all-year-round farming,  he said.Ibrahim urged both states and local governments to key into the policy to enable the nation achieve self-reliance in food production. (NAN)
The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says Nigerian women, especially minors, are being trafficked for prosti...

The United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says Nigerian women, especially minors, are being trafficked for prostitution from Libya to Italy at a dangerous rate.According to the Guardian, the IOM said 3,600 Nigerian women got into Italy by boats in the first half of the year, a figure that is double the number of the recorded last year in the same period.What we have seen this year is a crisis, it is absolutely unprecedented and is the most significant increase in the number of Nigerian women arriving in Italy for 10 years, Simona Moscarelli, anti-trafficking expert at the IOM told Guardian.Moscatelli said Nigerian women who get into Italy by boats should no longer be treated as refugees but as trafficking victims and should be placed in specialist shelter where they can be supported to get away from sexual exploitation.She said putting them with refugees give traffickers a leeway.Our indicators are the majority of these women are being deliberately brought in for sexual exploitation purposes. There has been a big enhancement of criminal gangs and trafficking networks engaging in the sexual exploitation of younger and younger Nigerian girls, Moscatelli said.Already we have seen nearly 4,000 women come in the first six months of this year. We are expecting the numbers to have increased again by the end of this year.There is little understanding of the dynamics and nature of this form of trafficking.The reception centres are not good places for trafficked women. Just last week, six girls went missing from a reception centre in Sicily, they were just picked up in a car and driven away.Moscarelli particularly lamented the age of the trafficking victims whom she said are particularly young, a lot of them, minors.She said they are treated as sex slaves.
Vietnam to quicken share sales in EVN in push for wholesale power market by 2017

Vietnams sole retail power supplier is going to open up to private and foreign investors.

State utility Vietnam Electricity group (EVN) is quickening its privatization and divestments from non-core businesses as Vietnam moves towards a competitive power sector, including full wholesale and retail competition.

Vietnams sole retail power supplier is going to sell shares in three power generation companies, known as Genco 1, 2 and 3, to the public in the next five years, EVN Chairman Duong Quang Thanh said in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

The Vietnamese government in 2007 announced plans to partially sell stakes in most of EVNs power generation and distribution units.

In 2012, EVN restructured the generation part into the three Gencos. These companies are currently fully controlled by EVN.

According to the Asian Development Bank, as of 2013, EVN owned 22 percent of total installed capacity and the three Gencos held 39 percent. Meanwhile, state-owned companies PetroVietnam and Vinacomin held 16 percent, and plants under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model and private ownership accounted for another 16 percent. Who held the remaining seven percent is unclear.

Chairman Thanh said that EVN is ready to accelerate share sales in Genco 3 this year, while Genco 1 and Genco 2 will be privatized in 2017 and 2018 respectively. These companies are expected to be independent from EVN when the competitive wholesale market opens.

Vietnam has already partly opened its power market to foreign players, allowing them to invest in power generation. Official statistics show that in 2013, foreign investments in generation through the BOT model accounted for 6 percent of total installed capacity.

At that time, the government laid out a clear road map for power sector reforms that started with limited competition among selected state-owned generators with a single buyer for power in 2009. This should progress to a competitive wholesale market by 2017, then finally a competitive retail market by 2023.

According to Thanh, EVN will maintain its 100 percent ownership of the National Power Transmission Corporation, which was established in 2008 based on the reorganization of the state utility's four transmission companies and three power grid management units.

Chairman Thanh also said that when the wholesale market becomes fully operational, EVN will stop functioning as the single buyer in the generation market, making power purchases through long-term contracts known as power purchase agreements, or PPAs.

Five power corporations set up within EVN in 2010 will take over the power purchases via PPA contracts.

Since July 2012, the three Gencos, independent power producers and other companies through the BOT model have competed in a pool to sell to a single buyer - the Electricity Power Trading Company - which was set up in 2008 as part of EVN.

The prices of PPA contracts are negotiated between generators and the government, usually the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Related news:

> Vietnam to retain state control of enterprises in national security and defense

> EVN hooks up power deal with China on rising demand

> EVN to maintain retail electricity prices
An aspirant for the office of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Raymond Dokpesi, has stated that the decision of...

An aspirant for the office of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Raymond Dokpesi, has stated that the decision of some southern leaders to zone the position of the partys national chairmanship to the Southwest should not stop candidates from the wider South who were still interested in the position from contesting.In a statement issued by his media aide, Omor Bazuaye, the media mogul averred that, When you are in opposition, what matters is to present the candidate that can win the election and not zoning.The statement disclosed that Dokpesi was on Monday successfully screened to contest for the position at the partys convention scheduled for Wednesday in Port Harcourt.Fielding questions from the screening committee, Dokpesi said his decision to run for the position was to restructure and rebuild a party with conscience and have respect for the wishes and aspiration of the people.While addressing newsmen at the end of his screening exercise that lasted barely 10 minutes, he promised to re-position the PDP, and make it a reputable democratic institution.On the issue of zoning, the AIT founder cited the case in Rivers State where Governor Nyesom Wike contested and won the election for PDP despite that his candidacy was clearly against the zoning arrangement in the state.He pointed out that Wike was PDPs best candidate for the election and that it was good enough for the party to look beyond zoning.
A former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, on Monday said he was quizzed by the police in connection with an alleged plot to fra...

A former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, on Monday said he was quizzed by the police in connection with an alleged plot to frame him up as a sponsor of the new Ombatse violence in Nasarawa State even as he denied any link with the group.Maku, the National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, in a statement obtained by The PUNCH in Abuja entitled: Plot to destroy my reputation, denied the accusation by Governor Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa State that he was sponsoring crisis in the state.According to him, the sudden attempt to associate his name with the new Ombatse violence is politicaally motivated to destroy his reputation and silence the oppressed in the state.He said, I can never be part of any group to sponsor violence in my native state which is still largely buffeted by crisis in Doma, Nasarawa, Obi, Kokona and Lafia local government areas where herdsmen still kill and maim people and displace communities within and outside the borders of Nasarawa State.He added, On my way to attend the stakeholders meeting of my party, APGA, in Lafia on Thursday, August 11, 2016, I got a call from the police commissioner (Bello Mohammed) to see him at the command headquarters, Lafia. Even though the invitation came by way of a phone call, I decided to honour the invitation as a law abiding citizen.At the command headquarters in Lafia, I was informed that I was invited in order to respond to some information of an alleged fresh plot by a new Ombatse group to attack Asakio on Saturday, August 13, 2016. I was asked if I was aware of the plans by the new Ombatse group and I made it clear that I had no knowledge of either a new Ombatse group or plans by them to cause violence anywhere in the state.He claimed that the police told him that they had information that he was the sponsor of the new group, to which he replied that it would be strange to associate himself with violence in any form because throughout my life I have never belonged to any cult or taken part in any evil against any human being.Maku said, For the sake of clarity, I took the security chiefs down memory lane. It will be recalled that when Ombatse group arose in 2011 mainly as part of the governorship campaign by the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, I was the only public figure in Nasarawa State that rose against the Ombatse group.
Jamaica's seven-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt ran 20.28 seconds to reach the semi-finals of the men's 200m.Bolt, who won the 100m title on Sunday, jogged home in the final 50 metres to win the ninth of 10 heats.Britain's Adam Gemili, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake also qualified, as did USA's Justin Gatlin."I hate the mornings so I am happy to have this out the way. It's a good start and I'm happy," Bolt told BBC Sport.Gemili ran 20.20 seconds in his heat, Gatlin clocked 20.42, Talbot equalled his personal best in running 20.27 in heat one and Mitchell-Blake ran 20.24 in the final heat.Image credit: AP
On April 14th 2014, the entire globe was greeted with the news of the abduction of over 200 girls who were preparing for an examination, f...

By Charles Ibekwe

On April 14th 2014, the entire globe was greeted with the news of the abduction of over 200 girls who were preparing for an examination, from their school in Chibok, Borno- State. As expected, the barbaric act was greeted with widespread condemnation especially when the abductors were confirmed to be the deadly terrorist sect: Boko Haram.Here in Nigeria it marked the hallmark of a new chapter in our politics and in fact our national life. Nothing was going to be the same again after that episode, it rattled the government. The military and other security agencies were criticized heavily for failing to protect the citizenry, it was chaos here.In my opinion, the issue of the missing chibok girls was a major factor in determining the outcome of the last presidential elections.The tortuous feeling that over two hundred girls forcefully snatched up with little hope of ever seen alive again, the traumatic and extremely depressing and long-lasting negative psychological effects for their families and friends ,and what about the girls themselves? The unimaginable agony they will experience in the hands of their abductors? Any human with blood flowing through its veins will and should be terribly worried. Those who committed this heinous crime are nothing but savages. Their actions can never ever be justified by any form of sense. They cannot be considered as homo sapiens let alone humans.Many people from across the world lent their support to the rescue of these girls , heads of governments , religious leaders , celebrities, Leaders of the United states, United Kingdom, France, Germany and many other countries pledged different forms of assistance to help get the girls back. Such was the level of uproar that the abductions generated that even pressure groups were formed in Nigeria to heap some pressure on the government to ensure that the rescue of the girls is given top priority.It is therefore really baffling when with such International and national focus to rescue these girls off the hands of the deadly Boko Haram Sect, some individuals continue to act in ways impeding the rescue of these young girls , Whilst claiming to be journalists, such has been the behaviour of Ahmad Salkida.I have followed with keen interest, Mr Salkidas disposition to the entire Boko Haram issue from inception, and my perception has been of extreme discomfort, though I have always sought to give him the benefit of doubt and want to believe he is only doing his job. However, I guess there should be a line between what we call a job and what endangers other peoples lives or even takes the lives of others.Haven read several articles by this young man criticizing the governments approach in dealing with the Boko haram Issue, (dont get me wrong there is absolutely nothing wrong in criticizing the governments handling of any issue , thats in fact quite important to keep the government on its toes.) It however becomes worrisome when you do that with the intent to malign the government and tactically endorse the actions of the terrorist group.Salkidas access to top leadership of the sect has been suspect to me for some time, but recent actions by this man and emerging details is beginning to confirm my suspicion that he may indeed be a Boko Haram sympathiser, a terrorist accomplice, or even perhaps the intellectual head of the deadly sect.I was gladdened when the news broke that Mr Salkida has been declared wanted by the military authorities, following his refusal to show up and honor several invitations in the past. The declaration in my opinion is indeed long overdue.In the world over, there have been instances of journalists gallantry efforts in obtaining valuable information from terrorist group and making such information available to relevant government agencies and the populace, but this is usually done to help reduce the act of terror or totally eliminating same. It however appears that Mr Salkida is not interested in gallantry journalism but rather in self-enrichment!If there is any man that knows the details as much as Shekau the purported leader of Boko Haram on the issue of the missing girls then it is Salkida Ahmad. Almost if not all the info he has given about Boko Haram activities has been accurate. This goes to proof that he indeed has the right linksI understand he sought to lead a negotiation between government and Boko Haram sect under the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan which I learnt collapsed under suspicious circumstances with several millions of dollars alleged to have been swindled off the government at the time.I hear he has also approached this new government to play the same role again, which this government is not in a hurry to indulge him due to his record with the last government.The latest release of a video showing the Chibok girls alive should be a relief to many of us. We however have to be very strategic in digesting information released by terrorist.Terrorist organizations mostly release info to the public that they consider will be to their advantage and will help further their course. In this case, the video shows bodies of some of the Chibok girls that were purportedly killed by airstrikes of the Nigerian air force jets.This assertion in the video is an attempt to change the narrative and distract attention away from the progress being made by the military against the now fleeing terrorist. This narrative claims the air force are killing the girls, but rather takes away the fact that Boko Haram like many of these cowardly terrorist organizations are in the habit of using women and children as human shields and many times waste their lives out of anger.These latest video is part of the Boko harams propaganda, circulated to get the public to put pressure on government to stop the successful air campaign by the Nigerian air force that has greatly decimated the Boko Haramn terrorist.There is no doubt in my mind that there is some benefit in this abduction saga for Ahmad Salkida, the vigor with which he seeks to be the governments negotiator , plus his self-exile in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) is suspect. Who is footing the bills of his life in Dubai? Why does he and the terrorist group come up with videos that attempt to change the narrative any time the terrorist group is getting a beating down?All of these questions are what I think the security agencies should consider.The UAE should as a matter of urgency deport Ahmad Salkida back to Nigeria to answer the very important questions that has been put to him. No serious country in the world would joke with its national security.Attempting to take advantage of the democratic system of government to support terrorist activities will not stand . The security of the lives of our citizens is equally as important if not more important than the ethics of Salkidas profession. We will have to navigate that thin line between national security and Journalism once again.Ibekwe a security analyst contributed this piece from Agbani Road, Enugu.
By Inuwa Suleiman It is finally becoming clearer that Boko Haram has taken a hit from Nigerias military, a bad hit. Things are bad en...

By Inuwa SuleimanIt is finally becoming clearer that Boko Haram has taken a hit from Nigerias military, a bad hit. Things are bad enough for the group to have gotten to the point of splitting down the middle, Jama'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihad the old school Boko Haram led by Abubakar Shekau and al-Wilayat al-Islamiyya Gharb Afriqiyyah (Islamic State West Africa Province,IWAP) for which the Islamic State (ISIS) recently announced a new leadership have become two dominant strain of the virus that once threatened or future existence.The next bad news for the terror group was the report that its fighters were fleeing through the desert and across the Mediterranean to join ISIS in the Middle East. Tales carried by those fleeing mirrored camps that have become too chaotic in Sambisa forest to be conducive for continuing to wage an insurgency. The fleeing fighters see better prospects of survival with ISIS as opposed to remaining with a decimated group, whose members are being flushed out daily by the military. Their reasoning is possibly to disappear for a while until the intellectual arm of their struggle can again distract the Nigerian authorities long enough for them recover from their losses.Closely on the heels of the division within Boko Haram and the flight of its members was the release of the video of some captive girls, believed to be from among those abducted from their school in Chibok in a development that drew international outrage and became bad PR for Boko Haram. International news agency, AFP quoted Ryan Cummings, director at intelligence firm Signal Risk, as saying This (release of the video) focuses on using the girls as a bargaining chip,. This goes to show the fighting days of Boko Haram are over except they can find a lull in the military operations to mop up their fighters and then lay dormant to await the return of their members who took flight to join ISIS. Those behind the video are apparently too known to the international security circles to attempt fleeing like their foot soldiers.The only way to get that lull in the ongoing military operations is to dangle the girls as bait. To underscore their desire for a ceasefire there has been so much emphasis on how some of the girls have been killed in military strikes  no mention of who placed the girls in harms way in the course being used as human shield. The logic is that further military operations could lead to the death of those that were shown in the latest video. This thinking shows a terror group that is running short of fighters and command structure to launch the kind of spectacular attacks it needed to recruit new fanatics.Boko Haram, or at least the faction behind the Chibok Girls video is turning to its intellectual resources to play the mind game with the Nigerian government. As would be expected the parents of the captive girls are imploring government to accede to the terror groups request for a swap of the girls for fighters in custody.Under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, similar strategy of shopping for a slowdown in military pursuit had seen the group able to raise money from phony negotiations to acquire more weapons. There are detailed reports about how the Federal Government representatives were hoodwinked on several occasions leading to billions of naira ending up in the pocket of terrorists. Ahmad Salkida, a journalists turned Boko Haram affiliate, has been a name in all the intellectual manoeuvre by the terror group. One Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil are equally connected, posing as negotiator or any other title that does not directly link them with the group but rather present them as people the government cannot do without in taming terrorism.Frighteningly, Salkidas name has again been tied to the latest video from the Shekaus gang. He, even from far away United Arab Emirates, correctly recounted the content of the video before it was published online having been sent an advance copy according to tweets from his verified Twitter handle. It wasnt the first time that Salkida would be neck deep in the execution of Boko Haram strategies. He had run several content that amounted to doing propaganda for the group in the past and knowing the nature of his business with the terrorists he had the sense to have bolted from Nigeria long before the law could catch up with him.He has offered to repeat what he did under previous administration: to be a negotiator with the flimsy claim that being a journalist meant he has contact to initiate talks. This is the intellectual wing of Boko Haram at work and the government, military and security forces must immediately counter this. If the country falls for this trick one more time, then things would definitely get ugly. One, there could be a repeat of being connected with the wrong crowd and billions of naira again ends up with the terrorists and other crises contractors. There is also the thing that any talk Salkida brokers would be surrounded by confusion and controversies that will ensure it drags on while his true masters have time to regroup, re-arm with the gotten funds and return to being a threat. Thirdly, regardless of whether the federal government falls into the trap Salkida and his team have set, he has already used the video to make the military and the government look bad, which is a long running Boko Haram objective.There is therefore a pressing need, after defeating its militant wing, for Nigeria to defeat the intellectual wing of the Boko Haram terror group. This intellectual wing would not be defeated by constantly pandering to a culture of political correctness. It would be defeated only by marshalling the political will needed to throw the books at otherwise insulated persons like Salkida, who will hide behind his former profession as journalist  he would allege being persecuted as an investigative journalist in order to continue using this cover to work as the propaganda chief of the terror group.As some associations are already clamouring, this man should be shipped back to Nigeria under whatever or whichever of our uncountable treaties is applicable and be made to face trial for being a terror collaborator. It is a good sign that the Nigerian Army has declared Ahmed Salkida, (Ambassador) Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil wanted, which is a welcome development as these peoples faces should have graced that infamous poster of wanted terrorists. According to the Army, their being declared wanted  becomes necessary as a result of their link with the last two videos released by Boko Haram Terrorists and other findings of our preliminary investigations.From the information made available, these trio have information on the conditions and the exact location of the Chibok girls. The question we should ask is for what purpose could these people have kept this information to themselves while playing mind games with the rest of us if they are not more connected to the terror group than they are making the world believe.The security agencies should watch out as lesser ranking members of the Boko Haram propaganda machine would unleash their full capability by whipping up public outcry against their leaders being declared wanted or eventually arrested. They would be banking on other Nigerians falling for their intellectual trick by joining what they would think is a genuine concern about rights violation while in actual fact the reverse if the case.It is thus up to the government to properly enlighten Nigerians and the world about people who hide under journalistic privileges or posing as negotiators to run errands for terrorists. There are several journalists that have done professionally sound exclusive stories around Boko Haram just as there have been stakeholders making genuine efforts at negotiation without being sympathisers of the terror group. There should therefore be no dilly dallying on dismantling the intellectual front of these killers. The eventual arrest and prosecution of Salkida, Bolori and Wakil would send the intellectual component of Boko Haram into disarray and move Nigeria closer to being rid of these vermin.Suleiman wrote Maiduguri, Borno State.
And this is not just for parents in this life...

Western countries have their own days for mothers and fathers, and so does Vietnam.

Like other Asian countries, Vietnam honors the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar as the day to pray for their parents. That is today, August 17.

The Vu Lan Festival at Ninh Tao Pagoda in the northern province of Nam Dinh. Photo by VnExpress

The legend

The Vu Lan Festival, as it's known here, originates from a legend that goes something like this:

Once upon a time there lived a wicked lady named Thanh De. She never gave anything to anyone, even those in dire need. Distressed beggars were driven away from her house. She trampled on the peasants' hard-earned rice they had worked year-round to grow. She made fun of Buddhist priests and nuns, trying to interrupt their prayers. She blasphemed and made food offerings to the pagodas mixed with forbidden meat.

After her death, she was sent to Hell where she had to pay for all the evils she had committed. She sat on spikes and thorns holding a basin of blood. She starved because all the food that touched her lips turned to fire or melted into blood.

Her son Muc Kien Lien a monk of high virtue, went down to Hell to look for his mother. Having witnessed her suffering, he requested grace from Buddha to help his mother.

Buddha told him to arrange the Vu Lan Ceremony on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, during which time he could ask for his mother's sentence to be overturned with prayers and alms.

He arrived back to Earth and when the day arrived, an austere and fervent Muc Kien Lien set up an altar in honor of Buddha. With sincerity of spirit, he prayed and gave alms to the poor. In Hell, Thanh De had gradually come to understand what it meant to be hungry and to suffer pain. Her naughty nature turned into sincere remorse.

The story of Muc Kien Liens piety reached the gates of Heaven. The Holy Father reviewed Thanh Des case, found that she had truly repented and acquitted her. Muc Kien Lien was allowed to go down to Hell to bring his mother back to the living world.

Inspired by the story, Vietnamese hold a ceremony to ask for Buddha to bless their parents if they're still alive or to protect and welcome them into Heaven if they had passed away. They burn fake alms for their parents, and also for lonely spirits because they believe it is a good deed that will bestow more blessings on their parents.

During the ceremony, people not only pray for their parents in this life but in all previous lives. Buddhists believes in reincarnation, which means any lonely spirits drifting out there could be their parents from previous lives, so they pray for every one who has ever walked this planet.

What to do?

For Vietnamese, this is a special occasion for all children to honor their parents and to remember their responsibilities for them. Vietnamese believe that children bear an immeasurable debt to their parents and dedicating one's lifetime to paying it off is still not enough. Children are taught to place their parents above all: to care for and love them till the day they die.

The Vu Lan Festival is a good time to once again remind children about that.

If you are in Vietnam on the occasion, here are some suggestions for you to enjoy one of the most important cultural days of the year:

- Go to a pagoda to watch the ceremony, where people of all age gather together to read Buddhist scripture and children wash their parents feet as a mark of respect. Roses and tea are also presented to parents as part of the ceremony.

- If you want to do something rather than watching, some pagodas will let you "give candles to the lake/river". People release these little lantarns onto the water, whispering prayers for their parents while hoping the gods can hear.

A feet washing ceremony. Photo by VnEpress

- Take part in your native friends' July ceremony. Families burn fake alms for lonely spirits and desperately need people to "steal" the ceremonial food. People believe that the food offered to the gods and lonely spirits should be given to others outside the family for good luck, so the more food that is 'stolen', the better.

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> Ghosts make audacious break-out from gates of hell

> Photographers eye: Washing bad luck away

> How to meet and greet in Vietnamese
An adventure tour through the world's largest cave Son Doong in Quang Binh Province. Photo courtesy of Oxalis Adventure Tours

Bookings have been available since August 15 and are often sold out quickly.

An exclusive adventure tour into Son Doong, the worlds largest cave, in Quang Binh Province has opened for bookings for 2017 and will accept up to 600 tourists.

Since August 15, Oxalis Adventure Tours (http://oxalis.com.vn/), the single private company licensed to explore the cave, has started to sell tours in 2017 on its website for around $3,000 per person. Just like last year, the cave will open from January to August to avoid bad weather, the company said.

Oxalis will have to maintain the same itinerary and number of tours, with a maximum number of 600 tourists in total, the company said. Accordingly, each tour last for five days and four nights with ten people at most, who will be accompanied by a team of at least 25 people, including porters, a cooker, a tour guide, two cave experts and two park rangers.

Tourists are required to make sure that their health is suitable for activities that include 50 km (31 miles) jungle and mountain trekking, elevation change up to 400m (between road and valleys), surface river crossing 40 times (knee deep, 10-50m wide river), 10 km caving including rope climbs, rocky terrain and scrambling, 80m descent with rope and harnesses, and underground river-strong current crossing.

Oxalis, headquartered in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh, has been organizing tours to Son Dong Cave since August 2013.

The company sold out limited tours well before it started. 442 tourists explored the cave last year, including foreign diplomats from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Sweden, Argentina, or Czech Republic.

First discovered in 1991 by local resident Ho Khanh, Son Doong shot to international fame in 2009 after being explored by members of the British Cave Research Association with Khanhs help.

The cave, which contains at least 150 individual grottos, a dense subterranean jungle, and several underground rivers became known as the world's largest cave.

The five-kilometer-long Son Doong is 150 meters high and 200 meters wide. It took over as the worlds largest from Deer Cave in Malaysia, which is 148 meters high and 142 meters wide at the widest part.

In May 2015, the cave was featured in Good Morning America, the number one morning show in the U.S. It was the first live feed from Vietnam for the popular talk show.

Tours to Son Doong are resumed at a time when the tourism sector of Quang Binh has borne the brunt of the toxic disaster caused by the Vietnam unit of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group in Ha Tinh Province.

2017s tours to worlds largest cave in Vietnam province on sale Ambassadors embark on five-day expedition into Son Doong Cave

In early April, large quantities of fish washed up dead near the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province. The disaster stretched 200 kilometers (124 miles) along the central Vietnamese coast, as far south as Thua Thien-Hue, resulting in the death of more than 70 tons of sea fish and 35 tons of farm-raised fish. Especially hard hit were Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue provinces where thousands of fishermen lost customers or were forced to sell at a loss.

The number of tourists to the central province has recorded a 20-percent year-on-year decrease, plummeting to 1.3 million, Tran Tien Dung, Quang Binh's vice mayor, said last month.

Related news:

> Filthy toilets and robberies: Deputy PM names tourism nightmares in Vietnam

> Formosa catastrophe takes toll on tourism in Vietnam province

> Weak marketing hurts Vietnam's tourism growth
Security forces escort U.S. President Obama during his visit in Hanoi on May 24, 2016. Photo by VnExpress/Phong Van

Amendments to the public security law involving guns and bodyguards have leaders divided.

Vietnam is looking to extend the role and power of its public security forces with a new draft law which provides them with extra privileges while carrying out their duties and more detailed regulations on the use of firearms.

A report on the draft law was delivered by Minister of Public Security To Lam to Vietnam's highest legislative body - the National Assembly (NA) - at a session held yesterday morning, August 15.

With five chapters and 29 articles, the newly proposed draft says that public security forces, defined as local security, communal police and police forces in general, will be given extra powers to carry out their tasks. These include special authorization papers, technical equipment, traffic priority and permission to carry firearms into airports and on aircraft.

On the use of guns, a number of NA deputies have voiced their concerns, saying the use of weapons must be mentioned in the law because it relates directly to human rights and citizenship. "According to the Constitution of 2013, these rights must be defined in the law," said Minister Lam.

The NAs Standing Committee of Defense and Security said the draft law should regulate in detail the use of weapons by public security forces, allowing them to take the initiative in situations that require, while also avoiding the misuse of guns.

Intending to fire a gun may vary as a warning to injure or to eliminate So firing in any case must be specifically regulated by the law in detail, said Le Thi Nga, chairwoman of NAs Justice Committee.

In response, Minister Lam mentioned that if the regulations are too strict then guards and officers may be more hesitant to draw their weapons for fear of breaking the law.

Bodyguards for top state officials

The draft also lists the top positions in Vietnams political system that should be protected by bodyguards. They included the party general secretary, state president, NA chairperson, prime minister and members of the Politburo, among other senior officers in all three branches of the government.

Compared to current regulations, the new draft law has added foreign minister and heads of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy and Supreme Peoples Court to the list of key figures who require protection.

Explaining the new additions, Public Security Minister Lam said that with legal reforms, crime fighting and expanding international cooperation, the nature of their jobs will become more complicated, possibly putting them at higher risks.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan opposed the idea, saying that it was not necessary. If the foreign minister is included then why arent the other ministers? In reality, it is unnecessary for people in those roles to have bodyguards, said Ngan.

An ordinance regulating public security forces was issued back in 2005, which provides a legal foundation for them to carry out their tasks.

The draft Law on the Public Security Forces was discussed for the first time at the second session of the NAs Standing Committee, and is set to be submitted to the upcoming NA session in October.

Related news:

> Vietnam's parliament passes new International Treaties Law

> Vietnam passes Access to Information Law

> No old wine in a new bottle: Vietnam's business law revolution

> Vietnam in preparations to adopt common law
The public say they are victims, and it's the manufacturers that should be targeted.

Ho Chi Minh Citys People's Committee has asked the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport to consider slapping fines on drivers who wear fake helmets.

Market management forces in Ho Chi Minh City check helmet stalls. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Hau

The committee said that many consumers are not aware of the importance of choosing a real helmet to ensure their safety, and instead they often pick up low-cost products.

Despite the potential risks from fake helmets, there aren't any specific penalties for the people who wear them, the committee added. Traffic police can only issue fines for people who don't wear helmets and people who don't fasten the chin straps.

The idea, however, has provoked backlash from many Vietnamese citizens. They claim that the government should focus on the vendors and manufacturers of fake helmets as the wearers, in fact, are just victims.

Over the last few months, market management forces in Ho Chi Minh City have inspected 676 helmet stores, of which 298 were unable to produce papers to confirm the origins of their products and 182 violated rules regarding certificates, trademarks and business registration.

The city also imposed fines of VND52 million ($2,300) on 47 manufactures and destroyed some 60,000 fake helmets.

Related news:

> Blocked sidewalks lead to 100 road deaths in Saigon each year
Traffic police should be allowed to fire on fleeing vehicles: senior police official

Police would have the right to take aim at vehicles under a wider range of circumstances.

The Traffic Police Department has asked the National Assembly to revise the firearms ordinance so that traffic officers will be given the power to open fire in dangerous circumstances, Major General Tran Son Ha said at the launch of a major traffic operation on Monday.

The revision to the ordinance will support police use of firearms to ensure public order and safety, said the director of the Traffic Police Department.

Ha cited an example of a truck that crashed into thousands of people on the streets of Hanoi during a police chase to justify the suggestion.

It may be too late if police officers have to wait for an order to open fire, said Ha.

This must become law so that traffic police no longer have to ask for approval before pulling the trigger.

Traffic police fire three warning shots in pursuit of a vehicle, a video clip shows.

Last year, a police officer fired three warning shots during a routine traffic stop in Hai Duong, 58 kilometers east of Hanoi. Police had asked the driver to pull over to check if his vehicle was overloaded, but the driver tried to flee. Traffic police gave chase in their squad car, and during the pursuit, a police officer fired three shots into the air. He police was subsequently suspended from going on routine patrols.

It is virtually unheard of in Vietnam for traffic police to fire at moving vehicles, so the incident raised public concern about police abuse of power.

Vietnam's ordinance on firearms says that police officers may shoot to kill under guidelines signed by the Minister of Police.

Related news:

> More power for police? Proposal meets opposition in Vietnam's parliament

> Vietnams new traffic rule makes yellow the new red to educate bad drivers

> Vietnam police crack down on drunk drivers ahead of national holiday
The plane and passengers survived, but the bird wasn't as lucky.

A representative from state-owned carrier Vietnam Airlines said that a flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on August 15 had to turn back to Noi Bai International Airport in the capital 20 minutes after take-off.

The decision was made after the captain found something was wrong with the engine. After checking, Vietnam Airlines detected a bird had crashed into the engine.

The carrier arranged another plane for the passengers, which departed at 3:30 p.m. the same day.

Were fixing the engine and estimating the cost of the damage, said the representative.

In September last year, a plane from private carrier Vietjet Air's fleet was forced to land unexpectedly after a bird crashed into it.

The dent on the Vietjet Air airplane caused by the bird. Photo by VnExpress/Viet Anh

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) recently asked the Ministry of Transport to approve a proposal to install a $52 million system to clear birds at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat, the two largest airports in Vietnam.

However, the proposal was rejected because it wasnt feasible and there aren't many birds living near the two airports, according to aviation experts.

Related news:

> Vietnam's $52-mln proposal to clear birds from major airports raises eyebrows

> Airfares could climb if fee hike approved in Vietnam
Police looking for suspect who shot man in face in CBD
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.
Today

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 76F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
Today

Cloudy with rain this evening...then scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Tonight

Cloudy with rain this evening...then scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Tomorrow

Thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. High 76F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
Community

Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place.
Last October, Vietnam committed to adopting the UNAIDS ambitious 90-90-90 goals, making it the first country in Asia to do so. Under the 90-90-90 goals, the Vietnamese government has set a target wherein 90 percent of its people living with HIV must know their HIV status; 90 percent of people who know their HIV-positive status must be on treatment; and 90 percent of people on treatment must achieve suppressed viral loads by the year 2020. If Vietnam can reach this ambitious goal, it will be well on the way toward eliminating the disease entirely.

The first cases of HIV/AIDS were found in Vietnam in 1990. By 1992, some 3,000 people were known to be living with the virus. And although the spread of the disease has slowed over the past few years, today, around 260,000 Vietnamese are known to be living with the HIV virus.

The United States government began to support HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Vietnam in the early 1990s, not long after the disease was found among the population there. These programs received a significant boost in 2004, shortly after the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was initiated in 2004.

Today, the United States is ready to help Vietnam reach the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target. In late July, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, announced a new program, the Sustainable HIV Response From Technical Assistance Project, which aims to strengthen Vietnams capacity to lead the national HIV and AIDS response. The five year, $26-million project will be implemented by the U.S.-based, non-profit human development organization, FHI 360.

The project will scale up services along the entire HIV care continuum from diagnosis to successful treatment in high HIV burden provinces to achieve 90-90-90 HIV case-finding, care, and treatment targets, said USAID-Vietnam Mission Director Michael Greene. It will also provide demand-driven technical assistance at the national, provincial and local levels to build sustainable HIV/AIDS services and systems.

This project is part of our continuing effort toward achieving the ambitious PEPFAR and UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets, and beyond that, the ultimate goal of an AIDS-free world.
After a recent meeting at the Department of Defense with his National Security Council, President Barack Obama said that ISIL leaders know they will lose in Syria and Iraq. With support from the Counter ISIL Coalition, local forces have made significant progress against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. They have taken key territory from ISIL and continue to advance in their planning and on the battlefield toward Mosul. In Syria, said the President, they are choking off the last entry to the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa.

The military portion of the counter-ISIL strategy is showing great progress, President Obama said. The coalition air campaign continues to hit ISIL targets wherever the terrorists try to hide. American pilots are doing their best to avoid civilian casualties, in stark contrast to ISIL, which uses noncombatants as shields.

Coalition and local forces continue to take out senior ISIL leaders and commanders and this is having an effect on the organizations command and control and its discipline. None of ISILs leaders are safe, and we are going to keep going after them, said President Obama.

The terror group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. Iraqi forces have taken Fallujah and are pushing up the Euphrates River valley. They are also pushing up the Tigris River, taking Qayyarah, and are preparing to launch an offensive against Mosul  the largest city still under ISIL control.

Meanwhile in Syria, Obama said, a coalition of local forces backed by our special operations forces and airstrikes continues to take the fight to ISIL as well. The coalition is fighting its way into the town of Manbij, a gateway for ISIL fighters coming in and terrorists heading out to attack Europe, which is why ISIL was fighting hard to hold it.

ISIL has not had a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq in a full year, said President Obama. Even ISILs leaders know they're going to keep losing. In their message to followers, they're increasingly acknowledging that they may lose Mosul and Raqqa, and ISIL is right, he continued. They will lose them. And well keep hitting them and pushing them back and driving them out until they do.
A Roadmap agreement aimed at forging a path for the parties to engage in political negotiation leading to ending hostilities and achieving broader political reconciliation in Sudan through a national dialogue was signed by members of the Sudan Call alliance of opposition groups. Signatories to the Roadmap Agreement include the Justice and Equality Movement-Gibril, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North, and the National Umma Party.

The U.S., UK, Norway, Germany and the European Union welcomed the signing of the Roadmap Agreement, saying it constitutes a valuable step towards ending the wars in Sudan. We urge the signatories to lose no further time in agreeing to a cessation of hostilities and modalities for humanitarian access in Darfur and the Two Areas. The U.S. and its allies also commended the government of Sudan for signing the Agreement on March 16.

The resumption of intensified fighting in 2011 between the Sudanese army and Sudan People Liberation Movement-North in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile was a remnant of the civil war between the SPLM-A and the central government of Khartoum, and reflects the lack of implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement before and after South Sudan declared independence. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when ethnic tribes took up arms against the central government of Khartoum to protest against political, economic and social/ethnic marginalization.

The Roadmap Agreement marks the first time Sudans political and armed opposition groups jointly signed a deal with the government since fighting broke out in 2011.

The accord lays out the process for a permanent ceasefire, the mechanism for the opposition to participate in a national dialogue between the government, and includes provisions for negotiating an immediate humanitarian aid.

The United States and its partners encourage opposition parties in Sudan to seize this opportunity to come together through a process of dialogue to achieve a political settlement addressing the challenges that continue face their people. Likewise, the government of Sudan should take all steps necessary to ensure a conducive environment for peace to succeed.
Canberra Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson will miss his side's clash with the Eels after deciding to not to contest his dangerous contact charge for an incident involving Melbourne's Jesse Browmich on Monday night.

Hodgson was hit with a grade one charge of making dangerous contact to the head or neck in the 17th minute of Canberra's win over the league leaders.

While he would have avoided suspension with an early guilty plea, the decision to not contest the charge means Hodgson won't have any carryover points to his name ahead of the 2016 finals series.
Love will abide but a long-standing bridal shop in Merrillville is calling it quits.

Park Avenue Brides, which claimed to offer the largest selection of bridal gowns in Northwest Indiana, is shutting down its location at 3700 W. 80th Lane, which is U.S. 30.

I am 87 years old and way overdue, owner Josephine Dolatowski said.

The shop was a licensed carrier of top brands like Maggie Sottero and Demetrios, and also rented tuxedos and prom dresses.

Another member of Dolatowskis family will start a new business in the Park Avenue Brides building, which is next to Aladdin Pita and the Dawg House Pub in Merrillville.

We have been here for 26 years, Dolatowski said. The new business will be right here since we own the building. We have to sell a lot of merchandise before closing so we cant give you an opening date for the new business.

Park Avenue Brides is now having a going out of business sale.

For more information, visit www.parkavenuebrides.net or email parkavenuebrides@airbaud.net.
HAMMOND  A second high-end office building may be coming to the city's Oxbow Landing development.

The Hammond Redevelopment Commission on Tuesday is expected to enter into an option agreement with ATG Real Estate Development LLC for the last parcel of land the commission has available at the development.

ATG is well along on construction of its first 37,200-square-foot office building on a 3.5-acre site at the development.

"We think they did a great job," Phil Taillon, executive director of the city's planning and development department, said Monday of the company's building at 2929 Carlson Drive.

Kathryn L. Harris, ATG's vice president of development, said the current building will open later this year. She said signed leases have been secured for a third of the building and the company is in final negotiations for another third of the space available.

The three-story structure is the city's first Class A professional office building, said Taillon, and the new one will be the second. Class A space is considered to be of high quality with state-of-the-art amenities and premier tenants.

"We are anxious to bring another first-class development to Oxbow Landing and we want to help fulfill the city's redevelopment plan," Harris said.

Taillon said the lower level of the new building is expected to have a restaurant, which will be of a different type than the Buffalo Wild Wings and Byway Brewery restaurant that is located in the same complex.

The earlier project by the company was the beneficiary of a $1.6 million incentive package provided through the sale of economic development bonds.

The second project will not receive such incentives, but Taillon said the commission is selling the 4.4-acre site at a discount because additional soil compaction will have to be done at the site. The average price of the land at the site is about $148,000 per acre, he said, but under the option agreement ATG would pay $125,000 per acre.

Groundbreaking for a Holiday Inn Express & Suites also is scheduled to take place Wednesday at Oxbow Landing. The 113-room hotel is expected to employ about 20 to 25 people when completed.
CROWN POINT  On a motion by the Lake County prosecutors office Tuesday, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray dismissed without prejudice the case against a Gary man accused of conspiring to kill witnesses in a pending murder case.

Terrence D. Christmas Jr., 21, faced a charge of conspiracy to commit murder, a Level 2 felony. He has been held in Lake County Jail on a $200,000 bond since spring 2015 and appeared in jail garb in front of Murray with his defense attorney, Mark K. Gruenhagen.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Veronica Gonzalez made the motion to dismiss the case without prejudice during the hearing and to release Christmas from custody subject to any outstanding holds or warrants.

Gruenhagen told The Times the prosecutors office saw problems with presenting evidence after taking depositions from two police officers.

It was allegedly problematic, he said.

The case against Christmas was tied to the shooting death on April 24, 2013, of Alex Lenore in the 4900 block of Baring Avenue in East Chicago. James L. Taylor, 27, is charged with Lenores murder.

Earlier this year, Murray denied a bond reduction for Christmas. At that hearing, Gonzalez said correctional officers found a map and a list of intended targets who are witnesses in the pending murder case.

According to court records, Christmas told a man that Taylor wanted the listed people dead, because they were capable of testifying against him at trial.

Christmas allegedly told this man he planned to carry out the plot when he made bail in his pending burglary charge, according to the affidavit.
CHESTERTON  Police here are investigating the theft of prescription narcotics from Symphony of Chesterton, a residential care facility.

Police were called Thursday to the facility, 2775 Village Point. Employees told them that a card, containing 23 7.5 mg Norco pills was missing from a medical cart. There were no suspects. The medication was valued at $60.

Norco, according to drug.com, is a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Hydrocodone is an opioid pain medication. An opioid is sometimes called a narcotic. Acetaminophen is a less potent pain reliever that increases the effects of hydrocodone.
WESTVILLE  A visitor to Westville Correctional Facility was arrested Sunday at the facility.

Sarah Kindig, of Warsaw, planned to visit offender Tony Booth. While undergoing the routine search of all visitors, the shakedown officer felt something suspicious on Kindig. Following questioning and a subsequent search she was found to be in possession of contraband.

A facility correctional police officer from the office of investigations and intelligence arrested her on one count of trafficking, a level 5 felony and transported her to the LaPorte County Jail.

The incident is still under investigation by the facilitys investigative office to determine what charges or internal disciplinary action may be taken with offender Booth or any others allegedly involved.

Booth was transferred to a restrictive housing unit for further questioning. He was sentenced to four years in Noble County for possession of a controlled substance, a Class C felony, and is currently serving time on a parole violation. His projected release date is March 21, 2017, pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.
VALPARAISO  Glenda Ritz drew applause, cheers and a standing ovation at a teachers convocation held at Valparaiso High School.

Have a great start. Just enjoy the kids. They should love coming to school, Ritz told teachers at the end of her speech on Monday.

The first day of school for students in the Valparaiso Community Schools is Wednesday with a student orientation day held Tuesday.

Ritz spoke following a speech by Valparaiso superintendent E. Ric Frataccia during which he updated the district-wide school improvement projects, including construction of the new Heavilin Elementary School.

Two years from now we will have a new school district that can compete well anywhere. In the meantime, hold and have some flexibility, Frataccia told teachers.

Ritz, an Indiana educator since 1978, was elected state superintendent of public instruction in 2012 and is seeking a second term running against Republican Jennifer McCormick.

Ritz outlined her major goals in the next four years including a pre-K program that would be available to all 4-year-olds, in both public and private schools, and funded through less than 1 percent of the state budget.

Another priority for Ritz is to spend less time on testing and more time on learning.

Ritz spoke of the 5,000 free books online for young people and the state goal of 2 million books read by the end of the year.

Making sure those graduating from high school will have the skills to obtain a living wage career is another of her priorities including offering more intro-career courses.

Frataccia said a number of the construction projects could be completed within the next 18 months including a number of changes to the high school, downsizing of Central Elementary and additions to Memorial and Cooks Corner elementary schools.

All will be finished by 2018. Well keep our fingers crossed, Frataccia said.

Frataccia said teachers wanting to know any details about the various construction projects could ask their school principal or go to the schools web site.

He credited the community for their strong approval last year of two referendums, including a facilities referendum for $150 million and a General Fund referendum for $4.5 million.

Thats the community you live in, Frataccia said.

Frataccia said the school district has gotten to where it is because of strong educators in the past who believed in what they were doing and held the philosophy of next to the family were the most important thing.

The excellence is maintained. Its our job to keep the excellence going, Frataccia said.
CROWN POINT  Lake election officials ruled Tuesday that an East Chicago business didnt exceed the states limits on political contributions.

The county elections board members unanimously dismissed a complaint against Lubrifleet Power Wash, 2500 Gary Ave., in East Chicago.

Ken Davidson, author of an area news blog, complained earlier this summer that Lubrifleet, a car and truck washing business, gave thousands of dollars in excess of the state limit for corporations to a number of Democratic politicians in county and municipal politics.

The elections panel voted to investigate and ordered Lubrifleet to answer the allegations.

Noel Pina, of Hebron, president of Lubrifleet, attended Tuesdays election board meeting with his attorney, Jewel Harris Jr., and provided board members with financial documents indicating the East Chicago firm only donated $750 in 2014 to politicians and a political action committee.

Pina also provided copies of a bank check, personal money orders and receipts indicating a dozen other contributions listed by campaign treasurers as corporate contributions were in fact made from Pinas personal funds. They totaled $10,300.

Indiana doesnt limit the amounts U.S. citizens can contribute, Valerie Warycha, deputy director of the election division of the Indiana secretary of states office, said Tuesday.

Attorneys for the county election board said it made no difference whether the source of Pinas personal contributions was from Lubrifleets revenues.

Lake County Clerk Mike Brown, a Democratic member of the elections board, thanked Pina for contributing to local candidates and participating in the elective process.

The elections board also voted to write letters to campaign committee treasurers to more carefully list whether campaign contributions are from individuals or corporations to avoid future confusion.
Its caucus week in Lake County where Democratic party officials are filling vacant city council posts in Hammond, Hobart and especially East Chicago where a small crowd of candidates has gathered.

Precinct committee members must replace three city councilmen who resigned late last month after a state judge ruled them in violation of a state law forbidding municipal employees from holding elective offices in the same local government unit.

Michael Opinker surrendered his 5th District Hammond City Council seat to remain an assistant Hammond fire chief. Juda Parks left his East Chicago City Council at-large seat so remain an East Chicago police officer and Matthew D. Claussen resigned his Hobart City Council at-large seat to remain a Hobart police officer.

All three are Democrats and had three years remaining in their terms. State law gives their political party the role of naming the new council members.

David Woerpel, Hammonds Democratic city chairman, was the only person to file for Opinkers seat so a caucus of Hammonds 5th District precinct committee members will make his election to the City Council official Tuesday night.

A caucus of Democratic precinct committee members from around East Chicago will gather Wednesday choose among nine candidates: Jesse Ortiz, Rosendo Quevas, Rosa Maria Rose Rodriguez, former East Chicago City Clerk Mary Morris Leonard, Lydia Corsbie, Ronald London, Reggie Tisdale, James Ventura and former state Rep. John Aguilera.

Hobarts Democratic precinct committee members will meet Thursday to replace Claussen. Candidates had until late Monday to file.

The law forbidding municipal employees from also holding elective office in the same city or town went into effect during last years municipal elections.

Opinker, Claussen and Parks sued to overturn the law on grounds it was unconstitutional infringement of their right to political expression and ran successfully for re-election. A state judge permitted them to remain in office while their suit was pending.

But a U.S. District Court judge last year and Lake Superior Court Judge William E. Davis last month ruled the Indiana General Assembly has the authority to regulate conflicts of interest involving a persons governmental employment.

Davis wrote the nepotism law only forbids them from holding an elective office that gives them improper financial and policy-making authority over the government agency employing them.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to issue a license to sell beer, wine and liquor at a renovated Indiana Dunes State Park pavilion.

The new license was awarded to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in accordance with a law signed in March by Republican Gov. Mike Pence mandating the commission issue a "state park" alcohol permit for the Dunes pavilion if the DNR requested one.

"They did comply with everything we've asked for in the application process and at this point they are complete," said Commission Chairman David Cook moments before the permit approval vote.

House Enrolled Act 1386 explicitly removed local participation from the state park alcohol licensing decision after strident opposition last summer prompted the Porter County Alcoholic Beverage Commission to deny a permit to Pavilion Partners, the company chosen by the DNR to renovate and operate bars and restaurants in the historic Lake Michigan pavilion with plans to add an adjacent banquet center.

That didn't stop Norman Hellmers, of Valparaiso, from writing to the commission on behalf of Dunes Action!, a group opposed to alcohol in the park, asking the permit be denied to protect the "sacred rights" of Hoosiers to safe, non-commercial state parks.

"The changes to the Indiana Code were forced through the General Assembly to satisfy personal needs unrelated to what is best for the citizens of the state," Hellmers said.

The commissioners, who last October affirmed the Porter County decision denying Pavilion Partners an alcohol sales permit, seemed sympathetic to Hellmers' point but acknowledged their hands were tied.

In a last-ditch suggestion, Commissioner Marjorie Maginn proposed holding final approval of the DNR Dunes permit until Pavilion Partners agreed to drop the pending appeal of its earlier permit denial.

She ultimately acquiesced after Cook pointed out that issuing the DNR permit makes the Pavilion Partners appeal moot, because the same site cannot be licensed twice by different entities.

The new law allows Pavilion Partners to use the DNR permit to sell alcohol at the Dunes pavilion, which is expected to open next year.

Alcohol opponents still can try to persuade the Indiana Natural Resources Commission to reject final adoption of its preliminarily approved rule allowing alcohol consumption in and near the pavilion, but not on the beach or elsewhere in Indiana Dunes State Park.

They are unlikely to succeed, however, because a commission majority includes either state employees working for the governor or citizens selected by him, and he already has signaled his approval for the pavilion project, including alcohol availability.
The Hanover School Corp. School Board approved Adam Minth as their new director of business services.

Minth is a graduate of St. Josephs College in Rensselaer with a bachelors in business management and a minor in human resources. He brings more than a decade of leadership, operational skills and experience in the banking industry to the position of business director.

As a branch manager at JP Morgan Chase, Minth earned recognition as one of the top 10 percent of achievers nationwide. Additional experience garnered as an area cluster manager at BMO Harris Bank has provided him with a wealth of knowledge not only in finance, but working collaboratively with others as well.

Minth is a native of Lafayette, who moved with his wife, Katie, and two young children to Cedar Lake about four years ago. Katie Minth and her three sisters are all native and current residents of Cedar Lake and Hanover alumni.

My finance background is important, but more importantly my eight nieces and nephews currently attend Hanover schools and my two daughters, Ava, 4, and Khloe, 2, will ultimately attend Jane Ball Elementary, Minth said. This is a very close-knit community and the kind of atmosphere we want to raise our girls in.

Minth is pleased the staff, team and superintendent, Tom Taylor, have made a commitment to making his transition seamless and are helping him get up to speed during the annual budget preparation period.

Minth said Hanover schools truly do put children first.

Im glad that putting children first is at the forefront of the entire teams efforts, he said.
GARY  Many ran inside the Salvation Army on Monday afternoon, but it wasnt just to get out of the rain.

The Salvation Army and Carter Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church teamed up again to host their third annual back to school rally.

Although the weather was dreary, there was a more festive atmosphere inside the facility.

With music playing, students went through a variety of stations to obtain free backpacks and other school supplies to help prepare them for their school year. Some students at the event showed off dance moves as they made their way through the facility.

Many stopped by the Mighty Sharp Barber Shop station to receive free haircuts so they can have a fresh look as they head back to class. Representatives from a variety of organizations, including the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana, were at the event to explain assistance available to local families.

It was clear there was a need for Mondays program because people began lining up outside of the Salvation Army at least an hour before it started, said the Rev. Willie B. Weaver, of Carter Memorial.

Merrillville Town Council President Richard Hardaway, the rally chairman, estimated hundreds of families were helped through the event.

Children showed their appreciation as they received their free items, but they werent the only people thankful to be part of the program.

Its a blessing to help the community again, Weaver said with a smile.

Many local businesses sponsored the program, and Ashley HomeStore made a notable contribution.

Prior to the rally, Ashley HomeStore selected 50 local children to receive free mattress sets that come with a pillow and comforter. Following the initial donation, the company decided to provide an additional 25 mattress sets to area children. Ashley delivered and assembled beds for the recipients.

The donation comes from Ashleys Hope to Dream program, which provides mattress sets to children from families in need.

Michelle Paszek, regional training and development manager for Ashley, said sleep affects mental and physical development for children, and providing new mattresses can help students be better prepared for school.

Tenisha Wright said her 6-year-old daughter was excited to be one of the 75 children to receive a new mattress set, which was definitely needed in their Merrillville home.

Its really appreciated, Wright said.
We know that fitness is important to Inspired Living readers. So we asked you to share where you go to work out and get fit.
Chris Valavanis has always been fascinated by the effect a simple haircut can have on a person, how it can change the way someone looks and feels.
There has been lots of talk from the outgoing and incoming police commissioners about their new community policing program. It is supposed to help fight crime and improve police-community relations in neighborhoods of color. NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger went on a ride along with cops in Brooklyn to check it out.

In the 79th Precinct, they're known as Salt and Pepper. John Bruchanan and Robert Bramble are Neighborhood Coordination Officers, which makes them part of an expanding program in which the same cops work the same streets every day to get to know the people they're supposed to serve and protect.

The Neighborhood Coordination Officer program began last year, and just moved into the 79th Precinct this summer.

It's a return of the old community policing concept encouraging officers to solve problems while also breaking down the mistrust that can develop between cops and the neighborhoods they police.

But don't mistake it as soft on crime.

"The purpose of collaborating with different sources and different people in the neighborhood is so that we gain information that we otherwise would not have gotten," Bramble said.

"We are not shaking hands and kissing babies and that is all we do," Bruchanan added. "We are still cops. And our main function is crime fighting we are just using the community and networking to do that."

The program is expected to be a cornerstone of incoming Commissioner James O'Neill's strategy - as Chief of Department, he helped develop it.

Along Fulton Avenue business owners say the program works and they appreciate it.

"We have been getting to know them and they have been getting to know us," said one business owner. "We feel very comfortable with them. We feel very secure that they are on the job."

"Always coming here, say you okay, everything all right, you don't have no problem," added another. "Any problem, call us."

The officers say their age enables them to work with young adults in making the community safer.

"A lot of the times the people who have significant problems in the neighborhood, significant information to provide us are the younger folks and they have not been really reached out to and now as a younger officer, I feel I am more able to do that," said Bramble.

By this fall, the NCO program is expected to be in half of all precincts including all public housing commands.
A 35-year-old Brooklyn man was officially charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday in connection with the shooting deaths of a Queens imam and his assistant over the weekend.

Oscar Morel is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

He was taken into custody late Sunday night, questioned and charged Monday.

Police say Morel is the man seen on surveillance video running away from the crime scene near 79th Street and Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park.

Imam Maulana Akonjee and his assistant, Thara Uddin, were shot in the back of the head at point blank range as they were leaving afternoon prayer.

"The motive right now has not been determined," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "We're still drilling down on it as we go forward. That's certainly on the table, a hate crime."

"I assured the members of the community that the NYPD would be out in force, protecting community institutions, protecting Muslim communities all over the city," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Police say after the murders, Morel was driving a black SUV that hit a cyclist about three miles away.
A Brooklyn woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges she operated an interstate gun smuggling ring.

Prosecutors say Natasha Harris used Chinatown buses to bring the firearms into the city from Florida.

She was arrested in 2014 along with seven other people.

According to the 196-count felony indictment, police seized more than 70 illegal guns.

Many of them were purchased at gun shows down south and resold for up to 4 times their original price in parts of Brooklyn.

Harris will be sentenced to 15 years in prison during her next court appearance.
The State Attorney General's Office is going after an online store for allegedly selling synthetic marijuana.

According to a lawsuit filed against LegalHerbalBud.com, undercover agents purchased K2 from the website and had it delivered to an address in East Harlem.

Authorities say the products were branded with names like "Scooby Snax" and "The Incredible Hulk" to attract younger customers.

Most of the synthetic marijuana had practically no information on its label, warnings or directions for use  which is required by law.

A Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the owners of the online retailer from selling any more products until the matter is resolved.

However, at 6:30 p.m. the website was still up and appeared to be accepting orders for shipping to New York City zip codes.

Health officials warn that K2 causes hallucinations, psychosis and even death.
Michel Richard, a French-born chef whose French-Californian hybrid Citrus was one of the top restaurants in Los Angeles for more than a decade, and who gave Washington a major claim to be a serious dining city after he opened Citronelle there in 1993, died on Saturday in Washington. He was 68.

The cause was complications of a stroke, said Mel Davis, his longtime publicist.

Mr. Richard (pronounced ree-SHAR), a pastry chef by training, was an adventurous, jovial chef, fond of experimentation and open to the myriad culinary influences of his adopted country.

He loved to cook, to please, to amuse and to astonish. His many signature dishes included begula (a play on beluga), a trick caviar made from Israeli couscous cooked in squid ink and served in a tin. His trompe loeil lemon egg-ceptional fooled diners by presenting them with an eggshell made of white chocolate encasing a yolk made of lemon meringue. On one occasion, at Citronelle, he served an entire dessert plate made to resemble breakfast foods: French toast with butter, a fried egg, a strip of bacon.

I want to create a festive feeling, he told The Washington Post in 1998. I want people to be surprised, to be happy. It doesnt take a genius to do this. Just someone like me.
In the hours after an imam and his assistant were shot dead on a Queens street on Saturday, several elected officials rushed to the scene.

They sought to reassure the community, amid fears that the two men were killed because of their religion, in a climate when anti-Muslim sentiment has been percolating across the nation. Among the officials were the the local councilman, Eric Ulrich, a Republican; and the only Muslim member of the Council, I. Daneek Miller, a Democrat.

Mayor Bill de Blasio was not among them.

It took the mayor more than 24 hours to issue a written statement on the killings, and a full two days before he addressed the community, during funeral prayers for the two men on Monday.

The mayor, a Democrat, received applause during his short speech, not far from the imams Ozone Park mosque, which seemed to soothe some of the unease over the pace of his response.
Two days after an imam and his assistant were gunned down after afternoon prayers in Queens, the police said late Monday that a man they had in custody had been charged in the killings.

The man, Oscar Morel of Brooklyn, 35, who was taken into custody late Sunday after the police connected him to a hit and run that occurred about a mile away from the fatal attack, faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, the police said.

A police official said investigators had found what they believe was the murder weapon in the mans home as well as clothes matching the description of what the gunman had been wearing during the shootings. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gun was found inside a wall in his apartment, on Miller Avenue in the East New York neighborhood, in a cavity that had apparently been cut open and resealed.

A man who answered a phone listed for Mr. Morels family said that he was stunned by the arrest. That is our relative, the man said, his voice soft and shaking with emotion. We are just finding out ourselves. Were pulling together the pieces as well.
Leaving two legacies in Elko, Fred Harris championed Elkos own community college and initiated the Man-Mule race, a tradition that continues almost 40 years after the inaugural event.

Fred B. Harris was born May 7, 1915, in Brigham City, Utah. He attended Utah State University at Logan and was one of the first graduates of the range management program in 1939. While at Utah State, he met Helen Kinney and they married November 12, 1937.

Harris work with the BLM and University of Nevada Reno led to developing animal unit months used for measuring grazing use on public lands. He and Helen moved to Elko County in 1941 and raised their daughters, Nancy and Itha Ann. For several years, Fred was a ranch manager on ranches in Lee, Starr Valley and Deeth.

Harris began another career in real estate in 1954, forming the Nevada Ranch Service which sold and evaluated ranch property. He purchased the Mackey Ranch in Lamoille and lived on a parcel at the base of the Ruby Mountains.

Fred became the leading voice in establishing Elko Community College, now Great Basin College, and he gathered local support from local businessmen and professionals.

The college opened in 1967, using classrooms from Elko High School and Grammar No. 1. To help the growth of the school, Fred and Helen, along with Mark and Kathy Chilton, donated land that was used in developing and expanding GBCs campus.

While living in Lamoille, Fred raised horses, donkeys, llamas and mules. His prized mule, Dear Old Girl, was challenged by runner Tony LaMorte to a race from Lamoille to the Stockmens Hotel, a 20-mile distance.

The race drew attention from local residents and turned into a fundraiser for Ruby Mountain Riding for the Handicapped with 50 other participants competing on October 15, 1978, alongside Harris and LaMorte. Harris and Dear Old Girl won by an hour. The race is now an annual event and benefits RMRH.
New York City has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man killed in a Brooklyn housing project in 2014 by a police officer on patrol, according to a lawyer for Mr. Gurleys family.

The city will pay the bulk of the settlement, $4.1 million, said Scott Rynecki, who represents Mr. Gurleys domestic partner, Kimberly Ballinger, and their 4-year-old daughter, Akaila Gurley. The New York City Housing Authority will pay an additional $400,000, and the officer, Peter Liang, will pay $25,000, Mr. Rynecki said.

The settlement, reported by The Daily News, was finalized on Monday afternoon by Justice Dawn M. Jimenez-Salta of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, after two months of negotiations. Efforts to reach a lawyer for Mr. Liang and the citys Law Department late Monday were unsuccessful.
1. Floodwaters saturated southern Louisiana, forcing more desperate rescues and evacuations.

The death toll rose to 11, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

Some areas have received as much as 31 inches of rain (yes, 31) in the last week  a once-in-a-millennium phenomenon that some experts say foretells the disasters of climate change.
Donald Trumps speech on Monday was advertised as an attempt to redirect his campaign from a series of blunders to a more serious discussion of foreign policy, starting with combating global terrorism. As such, it marked another test of his readiness to lead. It did not go well.

Far from coherent analysis of the threat of Islamic extremism and a plausible blueprint for action, the speech was a collection of confused and random thoughts that showed little understanding of the rise of the Islamic State and often conflicted with the historical record.

Meanwhile, with terrorism as his central focus, Mr. Trump doubled down on the anti-refugee themes that have dominated his campaign, dressing them up as a national security issue. He proposed a new extreme vetting approach to immigration that would impose an ideological test on newcomers and undermine the very American values of tolerance and equal treatment that he said he wanted to encourage. He also called for the creation of a commission that would expose the networks in our society that support radicalization, which struck many listeners as an uncomfortable echo of McCarthyism.

There are, of course, reasons to criticize President Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee and Mr. Obamas former secretary of state, for their handling of the Middle East. They dropped the ball in Libya after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was ousted, and their ill-defined strategy in Syria has generated many legitimate questions.
A blogger who writes about New York City parks looked at some crime statistics recently and found an uptick. For the nine months ending in March, there were 417 major crimes (like murder, rape, robbery and assault) in about 1,000 of the citys biggest parks. That is up 23 percent from the 340 crimes reported in the same period last year.

Should you be worried? Not really. New Yorkers who are old and gray enough to remember life well before, say, Facebook or Twitter know that this city used to be a place where crime, or at least the fear of it, demanded a perpetual low-grade wariness, especially after dark and especially in parks. But a lot has changed since Art Garfunkel first sang ominously about Central Park (where they say you should not wander after dark), thanks to the New York Police Department and the array of other forces that over the years have wrested order from urban chaos.

The data add up to less than one crime per day per park, as a New York Police Department spokesman put it, noting that the parks account for a tiny percentage of crime citywide, which at any rate is lower than it has been in decades.

In other words, look around: If you can see trees, benches and squirrels, you are safer than practically anywhere else in the city.
HONG KONG  The run-up to the Sept. 4 election for Legislative Council is getting tense, and the governments of both Hong Kong and Beijing are watching with keen interest. For the first time, a crop of fresh-faced candidates who cut their political teeth during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in 2014 are hoping to bring to the lawmaking body their battle to emancipate Hong Kong from Beijings increasingly authoritarian control.

The activists, most of whom are in their 20s, no longer believe in the promises of the one country, two systems principle set out in the Basic Law, Hong Kongs mini-constitution since Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997. Even after paralyzing major traffic hubs in the city for 79 days in 2014, they failed to obtain any concession to democratize the rules by which the head of Hong Kongs government, the chief executive, is nominated and elected. They concluded from the experience that democracy is impossible in Hong Kong as long as the territory remains under Chinese sovereignty.

These paratroopers  as they are affectionately called by supporters in homage to their standing up to police brutality  are now asking for more than they were during the Umbrella Movement, or than the mainstream pro-democracy camp known as the pan-democrats. Two years ago, as protesters, they invoked the Basic Law to demand true universal suffrage and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong. Today, they are calling for Hong Kongs right to self-determination or even outright independence from China in 2047, when the Basic Law is set to expire.

Edward Leung Tin-kei, arguably the paratrooper with the best chance of securing a seat in LegCo, has been disqualified. He is the eloquent leader of Hong Kong Indigenous, a party that advocates a distinct national identity for the people of Hong Kong. Another aspirant who was sidelined is from the fledgling Hong Kong National Party, which calls for the city to secede from China and become a full-blown nation of its own.
And we talk to Mark Landler, a White House correspondent for The Times, about the high-profile episodes, from Benghazi, Libya, to a private email server, which have contributed to Mrs. Clintons troubles. Did she mislead the public in these cases or not? Few people are better positioned to know than Mr. Landler, who wrote a book about her time as secretary of state called Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Twilight Struggle Over American Power.

Why wasnt she willing to have a government email account like every other employee of the state department? Mr. Landler asked on The Run-Up. That goes to the broader issue around the Clintons: that they simply dont view themselves as being subject to the same regulations that the rest of the world has to comply with.

Please let us know what you think of the show. You can reach us at therunup@nytimes.com, or find me on Twitter, and you can leave ratings and feedback on iTunes.

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When Gabriela Hearst began dating her future husband Austin Hearst, scion of the publishing clan, they shared memories of growing up on their families ranches. Austins, of course, was San Simeon, the well-groomed coastal California spread (including the now-public Hearst Castle) where he rode the Arabians his family breeds. Gabriela recalls smiling back at him indulgently. It sounded so nice, she says, but I was thinking, No, I meant I grew up on a ranch. 

The onetime-model-turned-fashion designer now owns that ranch. Tall and animated, with the untamed grace of a leggy thoroughbred, Hearst has won praise for her two-year-old line, Gabriela Hearst, which marries the urban sophistication of her New York life with the more rustic romanticism of her childhood home  17,000 acres on the pampas of Uruguays Paysandu region. Her father, who died in 2011, bequeathed the ranch to Hearst, and another, a few miles away, to her brother. Their mother, a practicing Buddhist, taekwondo master and fifth-generation Uruguayan cattlewoman, has her own 6,000 acres, handed down from her family, about 10 miles away.

Hearsts spread is run by a full-time foreman, there since her fathers time, but she flies down from New York several times a year (a 24-hour trip requiring three planes, one a two-seater) to oversee sheep shearing and the plethora of details that come with 5,000 heads of cattle, 9,000 sheep and 110 horses. No one, she says, was more gaucho than my father, although he was one of Uruguays few self-made ranchers, whose mother was a teacher and whose father died when he was 2. There really is nothing for my family but the ranch, she says.
If it feels as if terrorism deaths are rising in the West, its because they are. Yet the numbers remain relatively small, and globally, deaths from terrorism appear to be declining, not rising.

According to two big databases, the number of people who died in terror attacks in North America and Western Europe rose markedly in 2015, claiming more than 200 lives. This year, according to one count, it is on track to be even worse.

But terrorism in the West is rare. In the parts of the world where it is more common  deaths in those regions are in the thousands rather than the dozens  terror attacks appear to be decreasing.

And as bad as terrorism has been in the West recently, it was worse in the 1970s and 1980s.

High-profile attacks in cities that include Brussels; Paris; Orlando, Fla.; and San Bernardino, Calif., have fed public fears of terrorism in the United States and made it a big issue in the presidential campaign. President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump have all highlighted the risk of terrorism at home.
The rest, between 170 and 270 families, live inside the behemoth D.C. General, a dilapidated building and all-purpose public service warehouse for the poor. Besides housing the shelter, the hospital building hosts videoconferences for visitors to connect with men imprisoned in the citys jail next door. The medical campus also serves as a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases, a methadone center and an alcohol rehabilitation unit.

Two years ago, 8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared from the shelter, apparently kidnapped by a janitor who was hired by the contractor that manages D.C. General. Khalil Tatum, the man suspected of abducting Relisha, murdered his wife and killed himself when the missing girl was reported to the police. Relisha is still missing.

The Washington Post uncovered 14 complaints of sexual assault, abuse and exploitation against staff members at D.C. General since 2012.

The family shelter fills four floors above the old hospitals emergency room lobby. Inside, the daily matters of life are time-consuming burdens. To get into a room, a family has to pass through metal detectors and then ask a staff member to unlock the door of the room. If one family member needs to use the restroom, the whole family treks to the large shared restrooms because parents cannot leave their children  even teenagers  alone in a shelter room. There are no kitchens or private bathrooms, and only a few couches or chairs in the shelter.

After it closes, the city hopes to open seven smaller shelters scattered throughout Washington. But political difficulties keep delaying the plan.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers administration first announced in February the proposal to replace D.C. General with the smaller shelters located in residential neighborhoods, each in a different ward of the city. The initial deals that were brokered between the mayor and property owners drew criticism for paying above-market rates for leases  sometimes to the benefit of Ms. Bowsers political donors.
WASHINGTON  In a blow to President Obamas health care law, Aetna, one of the nations major insurers, said Monday that it would sharply reduce its participation in the laws public marketplaces next year.

Aetna said it would no longer offer individual insurance products on the exchanges in about two-thirds of the 778 counties where it now provides such coverage. The company will maintain a presence on exchanges in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia, it said.

In recent months, the large insurers UnitedHealth and Humana also said that they intended to pull back from the online exchanges, and other insurers are struggling to break even in marketplaces where low prices appear to be the top priority for low-income consumers.

The exchanges are a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act: the only place where consumers can obtain subsidies to buy health insurance, which most Americans are required to have under the 2010 law. About 11 million consumers have coverage through the marketplaces, and about 85 percent of them receive subsidies in the form of tax credits.
WASHINGTON  The Pentagon said on Monday that it had sent 15 Guantanamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates in the largest single transfer of the Obama administration. The move eliminated a fifth of the wartime prisons remaining population, which dropped to 61.

While it appears increasingly unlikely that President Obama will succeed in closing the prison before he leaves office in January, the transfer brought him significantly closer to another goal: getting out every detainee who has been approved for transfer. Some have been stranded on that list for years because they could not be repatriated.

The detainees sent to the United Arab Emirates included 12 Yemenis and three Afghans. The United States had held each of them without trial for about 14 years. Their departure reduced the list of prisoners approved for transfer to 20 men, although a parole-like review board occasionally adds new names to it.

The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its continued assistance in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Lee Wolosky, the State Department special envoy who negotiates such transfers, said in a statement.
PHILADELPHIA  Hillary Clintons campaign announced on Tuesday that Ken Salazar, the former interior secretary and Colorado senator, would become chairman of Mrs. Clintons transition planning team.

The effort, which will be based out of Washington, is aimed at preparing Mrs. Clinton and her team to enter the White House after the November election if she wins  an operation intended to be largely separated from Mrs. Clintons campaign apparatus in Brooklyn.

The campaign said Mr. Salazar would lead four team members: Tom Donilon, who served as national security adviser under President Obama; Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan; Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress; and Maggie Williams, the director of Harvards Institute of Politics and a longtime Clinton confidante.

Two top campaign policy advisers for the Democratic nominee, Ed Meier and Ann OLeary, will also shift full-time to the transition efforts. Heather Boushey, the executive director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will be the teams chief economist.
A deadly yellow fever epidemic that has afflicted southern and central Africa this year could soon spread worldwide, exacerbated by a severe vaccine shortage, the charity Save the Children warned on Tuesday.

The organization issued the warning a day before the beginning of a mass vaccination campaign it is helping to administer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, starting with the capital, Kinshasa, where about 10 million people are at risk.

Because of the vaccine shortage, just seven million emergency doses are available for the campaign, Save the Children said in its statement: too few to even fully cover Kinshasa, let alone the whole of the D.R.C.

As an emergency measure, on the advice of the World Health Organization, the doses will be severely diluted to treat five people instead of one, Save the Children said. The diluted doses provide a stopgap immunity of about one year, as opposed to lifetime immunity from a full dose.
When the Mississippi-born writer Jesmyn Ward was in high school, she and five members of her class visited the office of Trent Lott, one of her states senators, in Washington.

Ms. Ward would soon be on her way to Stanford, where she received her undergraduate degree. On this day she was one of six young people excited to be away from home, and the only African-American.

In her introduction to The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, an anthology of essays she has edited, Ms. Ward describes what happened there. Trent Lott took a whip as long as a car off his office table, where it lay coiled and shiny brown, and said to my one male schoolmate who grinned at Lott enthusiastically: Lets show em how us good old boys do it. And then he swung that whip through the air and cracked it above our heads, again and again. I remember the experience in my bones.

Over the course of The Fire This Time, like cordite in your nostrils, this scene remains with you. Essayist after essayist in this powerful book (there are also some poems) considers black experience in America in light of the recent deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner and others. Most agree with Ms. Ward, who declares: Replace ropes with bullets. Hound dogs with German shepherds. A gray uniform with a bulletproof vest. Nothing is new.
A former senior trader at Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $400,000 and be barred from the securities business for at least two years for misleading customers into paying more for residential mortgage-backed bonds in the years after the financial crisis.

The former trader, Edwin Chin, was fired from Goldman in 2012, when he was running its residential mortgage-backed securities trading desk and was its most active trader in the securities.

In his work, Mr. Chin negotiated transactions for hedge funds and other clients that were buying and selling the bonds, sometimes out of Goldmans own holdings. Bonds like the ones Mr. Chin traded are not publicly listed, so transactions between buyers and sellers are negotiated with the help of a dealer. The bank makes money by selling bonds for more than it buys them, but a dealer can make that spread wider by taking advantage of the lack of pricing information in the market.

In a civil settlement announced on Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Mr. Chin had repeatedly abused his duty as an intermediary to increase Goldmans trading profits, and thus, indirectly, his own compensation. The S.E.C. said his activity reaped an extra $1.5 million in trading profit for the company. The S.E.C. said its investigation was continuing.
Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, has agreed in a settlement to refrain from engaging in any activities overseen by federal commodities regulators until at least Dec. 31, 2017.

The settlement, announced Tuesday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, follows an action brought against Mr. Cohen by the Securities and Exchange Commission over insider trading at his firm, SAC Capital Advisors.

Federal prosecutors accused SAC Capital, one of the biggest and most successful hedge funds, of illegal insider trading, and said Mr. Cohen, its founder and owner, had enabled the misconduct. SAC Capital agreed in 2013 to plead guilty to criminal fraud charges and to pay $1.8 billion, at the time the largest financial penalty for insider trading, according to prosecutors.

In an agreement with the S.E.C. in January, Mr. Cohen was barred for two years from managing other peoples money, but he was not fined and did not admit to wrongdoing. He never faced criminal charges; the investigation by the S.E.C. focused on his supervision of subordinates.
The activist investor ValueAct Capital Management has paired its new $1 billion-plus stake in Morgan Stanley with support for the banks chief executive, James P. Gorman. But ValueActs logic for investing in the Wall Street bank goes only so far.

Jeffrey W. Ubben, the ValueAct chief executive, thinks shareholders just do not get Morgan Stanley, which now collects 80 percent of its net income from wealth management, investment management and merger advisory services, compared with just 30 percent around a decade ago. Mr. Ubben says other highly regulated businesses hog too much attention.

It is not that simple. Trading absorbs most of the $43 billion in capital at Morgan Stanleys investment bank  almost two-thirds of the companys total. Performance in fixed-income trading is volatile and subpar. Other businesses deserve credit, but shareholders fully grasp that. The roughly 82 percent of book value at which the company trades is on the nail for a company that managed an annualized return on equity last quarter of only 8.3 percent. If the businesses Mr. Ubben likes are really better, it is not showing yet.

Mr. Gorman is only part of the way through cutting $1 billion of costs, and he is saving $175 million a year buying back expensive trust-preferred securities. These tactics could eventually take the return on equity above 10 percent and warrant the company trading at book value  a 43 percent improvement from where Mr. Ubben jumped in, bagging his fund around $500 million.
His ancient enmities are now fresher than ever because of the islands catastrophic $72 billion debt, which has placed Puerto Rico into what amounts to federal receivership. A seven-member panel appointed by Congress and President Obama will soon hold sway over the island and its finances, which collapsed after years of long-term borrowing to cover rising short-term costs. To longtime nationalists like Mr. Cancel Miranda, it is yet more proof that colonialism is alive and well here.

This helps Mr. Cancel Miranda explain something odd that happened this summer. In June, the governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro J. Garcia Padilla, traveled to New York City and told a special committee of the United Nations that despite all appearances, Puerto Rico was still a colony of the United States. He sought the United Nations help in achieving self-determination for the island, which is a territory of the United States.

Puerto Rico is hungry and thirsty for justice, Mr. Garcia Padilla said.

The special committee has called on Washington to allow the Puerto Rican people fully to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.

To understand why Mr. Garcia Padillas remarks were so unusual, it helps to know that his Popular Democratic Party claims to have already freed Puerto Rico from the colonial yoke. The islands independence is a signature issue: The party takes credit for negotiating a unique status for Puerto Rico  that of an associated free state  which is said to provide the best of both worlds, statehood and independence, without forcing Puerto Rico to choose.
One reason for the lack of rules is that women make up only about 4 percent of the nations 159,000 certified airline pilots  a number that has been slow to rise over the past decade or so.

There were no female pilots at the biggest airlines until 1973, when American Airlines hired the first, Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo. In a reminder of how times have changed, that news was reported in The Los Angeles Times under the headline, Airline Pilot to Fly by Seat of Panties.

Airline jobs were really reserved for men, said Captain Caputo, 67, who became something of a minor celebrity when American hired her. She has been retired from the airline for about 18 years. When we started, there were no maternity leaves, because there were no female pilots.

More than 40 years later, the major carriers still havent resolved this issue. They set their policies for pilots based on the collective bargaining agreements negotiated by the unions. But women of childbearing age account for just a sliver of union membership, so maternity leave and breast-feeding policies have not been at the top of union agendas.

Plus, some members oppose the proposals, citing the costs. One local union leader told several women in an email: Having a child is a personal choice and asking the rest of us to fund your choice will be a difficult sell to the pilot group. The leader declined to be interviewed for this article; the union said he was not an authorized spokesman.

Deltas female pilots still hope to win over a majority of their colleagues. They argue that without paid leave, theyre faced with a choice to either stay home to breast-feed their babies or earn income for their families.
ELKO  Following the death of Elko County District Attorney Mark Torvinen, the Elko County Commission will appoint an interim district attorney Wednesday morning, before visiting Jarbidge and Jackpot for the boards regular meeting.

Torvinen died Monday of natural causes, according to the Elko County Coroners Office.

The commission will begin its morning at 7 a.m. in Elko to approve this added agenda item, the upcoming calendar and hear from the public.

County Manager Rob Stokes said Nevada Revised Statutes stipulates an interim district attorney must be appointed at the next county commission meeting, making it an emergency item.

The appointment will be recommended to the commission for up to 60 days to allow for an application process and then the County will appoint a district attorney for the remainder of the term, almost two-and-a-half years, said Stokes.

There will possibly be a discussion at the September meeting concerning the process for accepting applications to come before the county commission, he said.

There are two chief deputies in the district attorneys office: Chief District Attorney Chad Thompson and Chief Civil District Attorney Kristin McQueary.

They met Tuesday morning, at Stokes request, and have come forward with McQueary as the recommended interim district attorney.

I had hoped that we could delay this process a little simply out of respect for Mark Torvinen, said Stokes. The statutes dont allow us that luxury.

The meeting will be recessed until they reconvene at 11 a.m. Pacific Time in the Jarbidge Community Hall. The commissioners will hear any comments from the public and then receive updates on the Jarbidge South Canyon legal case and reports from the town board.

The meeting will once again recess until the commissioners travel to Jackpot. The board is expected to reconvene at 4 p.m. Pacific Time in the Jackpot Recreation Center.

Commissioners will listen to any public comments and receive reports from the town board.

The next regularly scheduled commission meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in Elko.
Forteos high price is at the heart of the problem of getting the drug to those who need it, said Dr. Dolores Shoback, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The cost in the private sector is getting prohibitive, she said. You have to hunt for a reason, find a very strong reason that is ironclad, to get an insurer to approve Forteo, she added. We find it can be extremely difficult to get it covered.

Like Forteo, the new drug must be injected daily, but it is a derivative of a different hormone  one that almost entirely stimulates bone growth. Lillys drug stimulates both bone growth and bone loss, though the net effect is a gain in bone.

With the Radius drug, holes in osteoporotic bone appeared to fill faster than with the Lilly drug. But the study was not large enough to determine whether that translated to fewer fractures. Both drugs were far better than a placebo. After 18 months, four women of the 824 taking the Radius drug had a new spine fracture, compared with six of the 818 taking Lillys drug and 30 of the 821 taking a placebo.

Radius has filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration to market the drug.

Osteoporosis is not one disease, and no one treatment will work for everyone, Dr. Teitelbaum said. At Washington University and other leading medical centers with a major focus on osteoporosis, doctors perform bone biopsies to decide which drug is best for a high-risk patient. Some patients lose bone too quickly. For them, a bisphosphonate or a similar injected drug, Prolia, made by Amgen, is preferred. Those who make new bone too slowly need a drug that builds it. Until now, the only such drug has been Forteo.

Patients can generally take Forteo for only two years because it has been found to increase the incidence of bone cancer in rats. So far this effect has not been seen in people, said Dr. Henry M. Kronenberg, the chief of the endocrine unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. But the F.D.A. requires the drug to carry a warning on its label about the rat data, and insurance policies generally pay for only two years of treatment.

The new drugs development grew out of cancer research. Two endocrinologists, Dr. Andrew F. Stewart, now the director of the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and his mentor, Dr. Arthur E. Broadus at Yale University, tried to figure out why some cancer patients had excessive amounts of calcium in their blood. It is a dangerous condition, leading to lassitude and even coma. When the doctors studied tumors that had made patients skeletons release calcium, they discovered the cancer was secreting a hormone no one had ever heard of that regulated calcium levels in the blood.
Drivers in New Jersey will be able to request vanity license plates that reference their belief in atheism after the states Motor Vehicle Commission settled a lawsuit this month filed by a woman whose request for a license plate that said 8THEIST was rejected almost three years ago.

Shannon Morgan, a resident of Leesburg, N.J., applied for the license plate in November 2013 but was told her application had been denied because the plate may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency, according to court papers posted online last week.

After she received that rejection, Ms. Morgan used the states online application form to apply for a plate that said BAPTIST and was quickly approved, said Richard B. Katskee, the legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group in Washington that acted as her legal counsel. It sued the commission in April 2014.

She rightly realized that it was a straight-up case of religious discrimination against atheists and nonbelievers, Mr. Katskee said.
ABOARD THE RESEARCH SHIP THE MV OCEARCH, off Long Island  Brett McBride lined up his fishing wires in the ships tackle room, carefully ensuring that all knots were tied and all hooks were in place.

For Mr. McBride, the captain of the converted crabbing vessel, precise organization of this equipment would be crucial to ensnare a creature that drew his ship to these waters: a great white shark.

In an expedition over about two weeks, Mr. McBride and other members of the shark-tracking organization Ocearch, along with scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and other agencies, hope to capture and tag sharks swimming nearby with satellite and acoustic monitoring devices.

By monitoring the movement and behavior of these fish, researchers hope to show a theory that this swath of the Long Island coastline serves as a great white breeding ground.
While there are certainly troublesome tenants on the list, housing advocates say its use by landlords exacerbates the affordable housing crisis in New York, putting apartments further out of reach for poor people.

There are a lot of tenants who are terrified of complaining or of withholding rent because they are afraid of getting on these blacklists, said James B. Fishman, a lawyer who has settled two class-action lawsuits against tenant-screening companies.

Like most housing court cases, Ms. Millers is complicated. She owed back rent. Her daughters name, not hers, was on the lease. But the apartment also had holes in the ceiling, a bathroom leak and no cooking gas for months. Ms. Miller said that she agreed to leave in early 2014 because she was scared to stay, and that she moved out shortly after a final eviction notice. She said she had no idea that her decision might doom her in her search for a new apartment.

Its taken my life away from me, Ms. Miller, an artist who goes by the name Lumiere, said. She has been staying at the convent, but the people who run it want her to find a new home. Virtually taking my life away, she added. My health is affected, everything is affected. Its inhumane.

A spokesman for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides the subsidies for older adults in the Prince Hall Plaza building, said the agency does not refuse people with prior evictions. But the owners of apartment buildings receiving subsidies, who sign contracts with the agency, can use their own screening tools.

Lorraine Carrington, who signed the original letter from Prince Hall Plaza and who Ms. Miller said claimed that the housing agency would not accept tenants with evictions, said she knew Ms. Miller but declined to comment.
When lawsuits against the police are settled, like the one announced this week in which New York City agreed to pay $4 million to the family of Akai Gurley, people tend to focus on the amount of money changing hands. Sometimes overlooked are the institutional reforms embedded in the deals, and the difficult decisions made by plaintiffs and their lawyers in trading a full public airing of the facts for the recovery of damages.

In many police misconduct cases, the victims and their families are people of limited means for whom a six-figure check could be life-changing. At the same time, lawyers said, those who file, and settle, such suits belong to what might be called a community of the wronged, and often have a strong desire to tell their stories or force the system to change.

Frequently, plaintiffs in these cases are badly damaged and want or even need compensation, said Barry Scheck, a lawyer who helped negotiate the $9 million settlement for Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was sexually assaulted by the police with a broomstick inside a Brooklyn station house in 1997. But you have to trade that off sometimes with their aspirations to expose what happened, and to find solutions.

Mr. Louimas suit, which was filed against the city and its main police union, was a rare example of litigation that produced enormous monetary damages and real alterations to policing policy. When the settlement was reached in 2001, Mr. Louima said that he had dropped his three-year battle because he was convinced that the city and the union had started to improve the ways the Police Department trained, monitored and disciplined its officers.
TEL AVIV  For decades, Israel has prided itself on its anti death-penalty stance. But in the past year, calls for the use of capital punishment have started to rise again, heightened by the trial of Elor Azaria, a sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces. Sergeant Azaria has been charged with manslaughter for killing Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a Palestinian. Mr. Sharif had stabbed an Israeli soldier, and been shot and wounded by the soldiers colleagues. In a video of the event, he can be seen lying supine and still for several minutes before Sergeant Azaria calmly points the gun at his head and fires.

The sergeant, who has pleaded innocent, claims that Mr. Sharif still posed a threat and that he acted to eliminate the danger. While many Israelis, including the commanders of the Israel Defense Forces, have responded in outrage, others have said that Sergeant Azarias actions were justified and have called him a hero.

The support for Sergeant Azaria coincides with a renewed debate on the death penalty in Israel. Avigdor Lieberman, the defense minister recently proposed a bill asking Israeli courts to enact the death penalty in terrorism cases. It would have essentially applied only to Palestinian assailants.

Mr. Lieberman campaigned in last years elections on a promise to apply capital punishment to convicted terrorists. He agreed to a partial implementation of his original bill, which had been rejected by the Knesset, when he negotiated his terms for joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus coalition in May. The recent attack by Mr. Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, a fellow Palestinian, seemed to play into his hands by reinforcing an increasingly widespread yet simplified conception of the conflict: that Palestinians are inherently violent and will never stop trying to kill Israelis.
To the Editor:

Re Trump Invokes Cold War in Plan to Fight Terror (front page, Aug. 16):

My jaw dropped when I read that Donald Trump stated that the Orlando and San Bernardino mass attacks were carried out by immigrants, or the children of immigrants. I am the child of an immigrant. My father came here after being in a slave labor camp in Siberia, having fled the Nazis in World War II.

My family and I live in a very diverse town of immigrants. Amazingly, there isnt a terrorist in the whole bunch of us.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Trump did not mention homegrown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, or Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooter. Instead of worrying about immigrants, I would like to know how Mr. Trump plans to deal with the problem of white men, or the children of white men.

ELAINE EDELMAN

East Brunswick, N.J.

To the Editor:

Its too bad the Republican Party didnt come up with the idea of extreme vetting first.
In November 2015, a cartoon in Al-Ahram, an Egyptian state-owned newspaper, depicted an Islamic State ogre with Made in America emblazoned on his back. It wasnt unusual. A look at Middle Eastern news media shows that this idea is startlingly common. Even prominent officials in the region, from Egypts former culture minister to a former deputy prime minister of Iraq, have publicly ventured conspiracy theories that Washington created the Islamic State.

Enter Donald J. Trump. Last week, Mr. Trump repeatedly claimed that President Obama is the founder of ISIS. Even when a sympathetic conservative radio host offered Mr. Trump a chance to backtrack from his ridiculous claim and instead blame the Obama administrations policies for the Islamic States rise, the Republican candidate doubled down: No, I meant hes the founder of ISIS. I do. (The next day, Mr. Trump belatedly took to Twitter to plead sarcasm.)

This will most likely fade from the news cycle as Mr. Trump moves on and the next controversy arises. But these misleading words will reverberate far beyond Americas shores for years to come, and there will be serious implications for American foreign policy.

Mr. Trump is drawing on a tradition in American politics that tars political opponents as treasonous and un-American. As the historian Richard Hofstadter wrote when describing an earlier flare-up in 1964, it is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant.
To the Editor:

Vexing Question on Patient Surveys: Did We Ease Your Pain? (news article, Aug. 5) raises the question of whether these surveys create a dangerous incentive for doctors to prescribe powerful and potentially addictive painkillers as the country struggles to control the epidemic of overdoses and deaths from prescription opioids.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, a law Congress passed last month, is a major step forward in combating opioid abuse. But it is only a first step, as the programs created by the law are unfunded. Without real dollars behind it, it is nothing but an empty promise. When Congress returns in September, one of our first priorities must be to put money toward the effort to combat this totally preventable epidemic.

Congress also has to make guidelines for doctors prescribing painkillers crystal clear and ensure that patients are properly educated about realistic expectations for pain and options for pain management. When I get back to Congress, I plan to introduce legislation to require changes in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services survey to eliminate any possible pressure on doctors to overprescribe pain medication.

CAROLYN B. MALONEY

New York

The writer, a Democrat, represents New Yorks 12th District in the House.
Bishop Gerardis murder is widely believed to have been planned and carried out by a military network extending far beyond Mr. Lima. In return for Mr. Limas taking the fall, some believe, his allies among Guatemalas shadow powers  high-ranking generals and economic elites with links to organized crime  tacitly backed his activities. With astonishing speed, he took over prison after prison. He wrested control of the sale of drugs, cellphones and sex, and taxed restaurants, stores and other prisoner-run businesses. Through threats and bribes, he had prison officials, from guards to directors, in his pocket. Prison guards would even address him as Mi Capitan.

Mr. Lima also had powerful enemies, and his feuds in prison made him new ones. The first attempt on his life took place in 2003, when hundreds of gang members stormed his sector. As rumor has it, a guard tipped him off beforehand, and he saved himself while leaving his allies to die. In March, after his transfer to Pavon, I asked him how he had escaped. He countered with a question.

Do you believe in God?

Uh, sure, I said.

Well, then, he said. I walked out before all the gangsters, and they didnt see me. God made me invisible to them.

All the while, Mr. Lima wore the mantle of prison reformer. Amid the chaos of the prison system, he posed as a beacon of order and discipline. Whenever I visited him, I was searched twice: the first time by prison authorities, and the second by Mr. Limas personal security detail, staffed by prisoners with military training. Unlike the prison guards, Mr. Limas men were thorough and used metal detectors.

Dominating life inside prison was only the beginning. Mr. Lima aimed to control the prison system itself. His power peaked when Mr. Perez Molina, a former general, became president in 2012. Connected to the administration through military networks, Mr. Lima could direct prison official appointments at every level. He used his authority to siphon enormous wealth from rich prisoners. Those who would not pay were beaten and tortured by prison guards. The money from this and other schemes circulated to Mr. Limas accomplices on both sides of the law.

But Mr. Limas grip over prison life  and his usefulness to the governing elite  ended abruptly. With Mr. Perez Molina and much of his administration out of office and facing criminal charges, and Mr. Limas own prison profiteering publicly exposed, the prison boss became a liability. And yet his death, and the continuing corruption trials, will do little to shift Guatemalas violent status quo. These men were just the tip of the iceberg. The real powers-that-be dont expose themselves by becoming president, much less going to prison.
Feb. 12

Juan Carlos Sanchez was sentenced after previously pleading guilty to lights or devices required in darkness or restricted visibility and improper turn or stop without signal; and no contest to resisting, delaying or obstructing a public official, evading, eluding or failing to stop on the signal of police and reckless driving  willful or wanton disregard of safety of persons or property.

Feb. 16

Wade Alan Knight was found in contempt of court, after being sentenced on guilty pleas of of an unregistered vehicle, proof of insurance required and an obstructed windshield or window.

March 11

Michaela Sue Murphy was bound over to district court on a charge of eluding police endangering a person or property.

March 22

All conditions in two cases against Jacob Edward Pangborn were placed on a stay and will be reordered after the completion of a district court sentence. He previously pleaded guilty to second offense domestic battery and domestic battery, amended from battery by strangulation.

March 23

Jerremy James Gamble was bound over to district court on a charge of battery by a prisoner, probationer or parolee.



Andrea Lee Peebles was bound over to district court on a charge of fraudulent acts of gaming.

March 24

Kyle James Olson was bound over to district court on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

March 25

Sean Maurice Dean was bound over to district court on charges of battery with the use of a deadly weapon, with substantial bodily harm; battery with a deadly weapon; assault with a deadly weapon; an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, amended from burglary; and burglary with the possession of a firearm, amended from an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.
Part of me wondered where everyone was. Late on Saturday night, at the fifth production of what would be a dozen-show dive into the New York International Fringe Festival, I had finally found something rather glorious  but the house looked more empty than not. It hardly seemed right.

Honestly, though? Id almost stayed away, too. A gorgeous, rafter-raising gospel musical, Mother Emanuel (through Aug. 25 at the SoHo Playhouse) sounds as if it would be depressing at best, inspired as it is by the shooting that killed nine people last year at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Instead, its a defiantly vibrant celebration of the lives of those who died, and an excellent piece of documentary theater.

Stumbling across a treasure like that is one of the joys of Fringe-going, but oh, how I longed for some buzz to follow as I chose from the nearly 200 shows on offer at this years FringeNYC. Particularly in the opening days of the festival (the schedule is at fringenyc.org), theres not a lot to go on.

I started on Saturday at noon, ducking out of the hideous heat into Pryor Truth at Under St. Marks, the theater I would nominate for Best Air-Conditioning, if that were a Fringe prize  which maybe it should be, given the sweaty spaces I encountered. Written and performed by Khalil Muhammad, Pryor Truth (through Aug. 27) is a sympathetic solo show about the comedian Richard Pryor. Its quest to illuminate is foiled, though, by that bane of biographical performance: tedious exposition of a life we know too well.
LONDON  Who knew that deja vu could smell this fresh all over again? On paper, the happy new musical Groundhog Day, which opened on Tuesday night at the Old Vic Theater here, seemed like one of those shows that elicit instant groans of been there, done that among jaded theatergoers.

For starters, Groundhog Day is based on a film about someone (a jaded someone, just like you, groaners of little faith) becoming caught in time and being forced to relive the same day over and over and over again. Which feels like dangerous ground for a musical that is the latest in a long, far-fetched, sporadically successful line of musicals based on popular movies that hardly seemed to require song sheets to fulfill their inner nature.

In other words, would audiences for Groundhog Day feel they were reliving their traumatic memories of recent movie-to-musical clunkers like Rocky, based on Sylvester Stallones 1976 flick about an underdog boxer, or Ghost, a reworking of the 1990 flick about an underdog dead man? More scary portents: Groundhog Day stars Andy Karl (who played the title role in the musical Rocky) and is directed by Matthew Warchus (who did the same, er, honors, on Ghost).

Yet much in the manner of its improbable romantic Twilight Zone- style plot, Groundhog Day seems guaranteed to have the skeptics waving (and using) white handkerchiefs long before its final curtain, while transforming Mr. Karl into the top-of-the-heap musical star he has long deserved to be. Featuring a creative team that includes the book writer Danny Rubin (who wrote the Groundhog Day screenplay with Harold Ramis) and the songwriter Tim Minchin (the fabulous Matilda the Musical), this bright whirligig of a show is a shrewd juggler of contradictions.
Climate change is never going to announce itself by name. But this is what we should expect it to look like.

Thats what many scientists, analysts and activists are saying after heavy rains in southern Louisiana have killed at least 11 people and forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes, in the latest in a series of extreme floods that have occurred in the United States over the last two years.

That increase in heavy rainfall and the resultant flooding is consistent with what we expect to see in the future if you look at climate models, said David Easterling, a director at the National Centers for Environmental Information, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Not just in the U.S. but in many other parts of the world as well.

The flooding in Louisiana is the eighth event since May of last year in which the amount of rainfall in an area in a specified window of time matches or exceeds the NOAA predictions for an amount of precipitation that will occur once every five hundred years, or has a 0.2 percent chance of occurring in any given year.
We are still very much in an emergency, search-and-rescue response mode for much of the Florida parishes, Mr. Edwards said, referring to an eight-parish area east of the Mississippi River. Saving life is the most important priority that we have. Were going to dedicate every available response to that effort until its no longer required.

In Louisiana, severe weather can often seem a trauma visited and revisited. But the disaster unfolding here this week fits into a recent and staggering pattern in more than half-dozen states, where floods have rolled out at such a scale that scientists say they might be a once-every-500-or-1,000-year occurrence. The cumulative, increasingly grim toll, from Maryland to South Carolina to Louisiana to Texas, includes scores of lives and billions of dollars in economic losses.

Everywhere the same refrain  that it has never happened like this  has given rise to the same question: How should communities and families plan for deluges that are theoretically uncommon but now seem to play out with appalling regularity?

Weve clearly had a rash of these things in the last year; in the last 12 months, its just been incredible, said Barry D. Keim, Louisianas state climatologist. Were learning a lot, but, unfortunately, its flooding a lot of people and causing a lot of problems.
Though this was couched as part of Mr. Trumps tirade against radical Islam, the reference to honor killings implied that Muslim culture as a whole is morally flawed and dangerous. This is despite the fact that honor killings are not exclusive to Muslim societies. Many occur in India, a mostly Hindu country  something Mr. Trump ignored as he used such examples to bolster his argument for restrictions on Muslim immigration to the United States.

A similar flawed logic was used to defend lynching in the South: Black men, the theory went, by some innate nature threatened the honor and safety of white women. But historians have documented that many black men who were lynched had not even been accused of rape. Rather, the deaths were a product of the portrayal of black men as an undifferentiated mass who had to be terrorized into submission.

The myth insisted that black men were driven to assault white women and that, as a deterrent, black beast rapists should pay with their lives, wrote Lisa Lindquist-Dorr, a historian, in her book, White Women, Rape and the Power of Race in Virginia, 1900-1960. For whites, responding to black mens alleged assaults was both a means of racial control and a way to assert white supremacy.

Similarly, in 1930s Spain, nationalist propaganda falsely claimed that republican fighters had raped nuns during the civil war. Because nuns held an especially respected position in Catholic Spain, the accusations served to demonize the republican forces as monstrous, and to generate support for Francos nationalists.

Britains use in World War I of lurid tales of rapist soldiers was part of a campaign to pressure the United States into joining the war effort. Once the United States joined, American propaganda used the same imagery to encourage people to enlist. One poster portrayed Germany as a giant ape, carrying a swooning woman in one arm and a club in the other. Its tagline read, Destroy this mad brute: enlist!
Advisers to Donald J. Trump keep reassuring Republicans that there is still plenty of time to rescue his candidacy  nearly three months to counter Hillary Clintons vast operation in swing states and get Mr. Trump on message.

The Trump team had better check the calendar.

Voting actually starts in less than six weeks, on Sept. 23 in Minnesota and South Dakota, the first of some 35 states and the District of Columbia that allow people to cast ballots at polling sites or by mail before Nov. 8. Iowa is expected to have ballots ready by the end of September, as are Illinois and two other states.

The electoral battlegrounds of Arizona and Ohio are to begin voting on Oct. 12, nearly four weeks before Election Day. And North Carolina and Florida will be underway before Halloween.

Early voting has become a critical, even decisive factor in presidential elections: President Obama was sufficiently ahead in the early vote in Iowa and Nevada in 2012 that his campaign shifted resources from those states to others, according to former advisers, who also credited enthusiastic early voting in 2008 for his victory in North Carolina and elsewhere.
No presidential candidate in modern history has behaved like Donald J. Trump. And that distinction, paradoxically, might be enough for Republicans in the House of Representatives to keep their majority in November.

Outside Mr. Trumps campaign, Republican strategists are resigned to the likelihood that Hillary Clinton will keep the White House in Democratic hands. The scramble to defend their Senate majority, perilous with any Republican nominee, has grown increasingly difficult.

But theres little sign that the partys majority in the House is in jeopardy. Democrats need a 30-seat gain to snatch the speakers gavel. That would require Democrats to win nearly all the Republican seats for which they are even in striking distance now.

David Wasserman, an analyst of House elections for The Cook Political Report, sees that as a sign that Republican voters have separated their judgment of the partys nominee from its candidates for the House.
Will a Cheney be returning to power in Washington? Liz Cheney, that is, a daughter of Dick Cheney, the former vice president, and the favorite in Tuesdays crowded Republican primary for Wyomings at-large House seat.

Ms. Cheney opted to try for the House seat being vacated by Representative Cynthia M. Lummis after Ms. Cheneys 2014 Senate primary bid against Mike Enzi, the popular Republican incumbent, spurred Republican infighting and raised questions about her ties to Wyoming after spending most of her life in the Washington area. She ultimately withdrew. Ms. Lummiss retirement opened the door for Ms. Cheney to try to reclaim the House seat once held by father without having to challenge an incumbent.

Others in the state were not ready to simply surrender to her and her well-known last name. She faces seven opponents, including Tim Stubson, a State House leader, and Leland Christensen, a state senator. Mr. Christensen received a last-minute endorsement from Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who noted that Mr. Christensen lives in Wyoming and walks the walk as a proud Westerner.

In another notable primary on Tuesday, Senator Lisa Murkowski is expected to prevail in Alaska after a loss in the Republican primary six years ago forced her to win re-election through a successful write-in campaign. She hopes to avoid a repeat of that unorthodox approach.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.  Senator Tim Kaine played the harmonica. His wife gave an impromptu clogging performance.

When it was over, Mr. Kaine had just one wish: another beer.

For a vice-presidential candidate who was often described as being boring, Mr. Kaine seemed more than comfortable letting loose  at least by campaign trail standards  in a night out on Monday.

After a rally in Asheville, Mr. Kaine greeted patrons at a restaurant, Buxton Hall Barbecue, where he also sang Happy Birthday to his communications director, Karen Finney. At the end of the song, he threw his arms in the air in triumph.

After having dinner  a meal that included two pitchers of beer, according to an aide  Mr. Kaine moved next door to an outpost of a local brewery, Catawba Brewing Company, where he showed off his musical side.
NAIROBI, Kenya  United States forces assisted Somali commandos in killing several members of the Shabab militant group in an attack last week, an American military spokesman said on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether any high-level operatives had been eliminated.

The raid took place last Wednesday, when a contingent of elite American troops acting as military advisers accompanied Somali forces in an assault on a Shabab checkpoint in Saakow, a remote outpost in southern Somalia that has become a notorious hide-out for the militants.

American Special Forces have been quietly working in Somalia for years, with increasing success.

As the Somali-led force approached the checkpoint, the militants opened fire, setting off a gun battle, said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Falvo, a spokesman for the United States militarys Africa Command. Three Shabab militants died; no Americans were hurt.

U.S. advisers accompanied the Somali-led force, which is standard for what we do in that area, said Commander Falvo, who added that the American forces were armed but did not participate in the firefight.
ELKO  An Elko man accused of lighting his nephew on fire pleaded no contest to two of nine child abuse and battery charges during his arraignment Monday in Elko District Court.

Before the proceedings, Jesus Calvillo-Esparza, 34, was told by Elko District Judge Nancy Porter there could be immigration consequences and deportation is a likelihood with a conviction in this case.

The defendant pleaded no contest to counts six and eight: battery with the use of a deadly weapon and first-degree arson  both are category B felonies.

The complaint charged Calvillo-Esparza with child abuse causing substantial bodily harm by pouring or throwing lighter fluid on the childs clothes and igniting it with a piece of burning wood, causing serious, permanent disfigurement.

Alternative counts include child abuse, attempted child abuse for attempting to force snow melt into the childs mouth, mayhem, battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, and bribing or intimidating a witness.

For count six, he could serve a maximum of 10 years, with minimum parole eligibility after two years in prison, and a possible fine of up to $10,000.

There is a 15 year maximum prison sentence, with a minimum sentence of two years in prison for the arson charge, and a fine of up to $15,000.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Mills said Calvillo-Esparza is eligible for probation on both counts.

Pursuant to the plea agreement Public Defender Kriston Hill said the State would not prosecute Calvillo-Esparza on the remaining charges or under any habitual criminal status.

The defendant will not ask for probation or seek diversion, she said.

Sentencing will potentially take place in October. Mills was not sure if witnesses wished to make victim impact statements at the sentencing, which could delay sentencing.

According to Free Press files, School Resource Officers responded to the child abuse case reported by a student at Adobe Middle School on Feb. 1, said Lt. Kevin McKinney.

The student reported being burned by Calvillo-Esparza. The initial investigation included meeting with school counselors.

There are visible burns on the childs torso, on the abdomen area, which were substantial enough for the child to receive medical treatment, but were not life threatening, said McKinney.
One of the first significant warning signs for business owners came on Nov. 30, 2009.

That morning, two dozen police officers and a judge descended on Ocho Tulum, a hotel belonging to Mr. Wolf, the American entrepreneur. It sat on beachfront land that he had rented since 2005 under a 30-year lease. In 2006, before he started building, he had learned there was a competing claim to part of the land, but decided to move ahead with the project.

I heard that it would probably not amount to anything, he said. I never thought that I was at risk of losing it.

He challenged his loss in court, but was defeated after years of litigation.

The seizure of Mr. Wolfs property stunned Tulum, but people kept building and the tourists kept coming.

For Mr. Jacquet, fear lurked in the back of his mind. Its like crossing from France to England swimming and youre halfway across and you think: Maybe you shouldnt have gone there. But what are you going to do? Youre going to go back? You keep swimming!

The evictions continued. There were some in 2011, and another round in 2013.

In May 2014, four more hotels were seized on a judges order in a labor case. Two men had sued the estate of a former landowner, claiming they were owed millions of dollars in unpaid wages, and a judge awarded them the four properties as payment.

The Tulum Hotel Association found no record of the two men having worked in Tulum. Furthermore, the hotel owners said they had never been notified that their properties were the subject of legal action.
NEW DELHI  A wild Indian elephant that attracted worldwide attention after being swept hundreds of miles down a flood-swollen river into Bangladesh died on Tuesday of a heart attack, Bangladeshi officials said.

The animals death was brought on by a long period of stress, heat and humidity, said Mustafizur Rahman, a veterinary surgeon who supervised the treatment of the elephant last week in northern Bangladesh.

The death brought an end to a sad journey.

Caught in the rising waters of the Brahmaputra River in late June, the elephant, a fully grown male, tried repeatedly to climb ashore in India, but villagers drove him back into the water, in some cases pelting him with stones, said K. K. Sarma, a government veterinary surgeon from India who visited the animal.
BEIJING  China launched the worlds first quantum communications satellite from the Gobi Desert early Tuesday, a major step in the countrys bid to be at the forefront of quantum research, which could lead to new, completely secure methods of transmitting information.

Researchers hope to use the satellite to beam communications from space to earth with quantum technology, which employs photons, or particles of light. That type of communication could prove to be the most secure in the world, invulnerable to hacking. Scientists and security experts in many countries are studying the technology.

The satellite is expected to circle the earth every 90 minutes after entering orbit at an altitude of about 310 miles, according to a report by Xinhua, the state news agency.

Chinas many high-tech scientific endeavors, including its ambitious space program, have enormous backing from the central government. The countrys 13th Five-Year Plan, an economic blueprint that was announced in March, listed quantum technology as a focal point for research and development.
In 2010, Japan began to accept refugees who had fled Myanmar to camps in Thailand. But it has taken in only 24 families since then, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This summer, the government also agreed to host up to 150 Syrian refugees as foreign exchange students.

At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country needed to focus on its economy before considering whether to accept more refugees or immigrants.

Nearly 14,000 people in Japan are in some stage of an asylum process that usually lasts more than three years and that some critics say is designed to deter new migrants from applying. Asylum seekers may work while they wait for an answer, but those denied refugee status can be given temporary permits that prohibit them from working while giving them no living stipends.

Yasuhiro Hishida, assistant to the director of Japans Refugee Status Recognition Office, said officials suspected widespread abuse of the refugee process. Most applicants come from countries that are not currently considered conflict zones, including Nepal, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, he said, suggesting that they are economic migrants rather than refugees fleeing persecution.
KATHMANDU, Nepal  The second time the overloaded bus stalled, passengers stayed put. They had already exited once to push. With the bus stuck on a one-lane mountain dirt road, its occupants stuffed inside and on the roof amid luggage and rice sacks, the driver backed up first to regain uphill momentum.

But something was horribly wrong: The bus kept going in reverse.

The accident that killed 27 and injured 38 on Monday was not just another tragedy for Nepal, a poor Himalayan country where vehicles careening off unpaved roads are not uncommon. For this was no ordinary bus trip. Many of the 70-plus passengers piled into the bus were on a journey of recovery after the devastating 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people and destroyed more than 700,000 homes.

After months of waiting, many were en route to their village, Madan Pudari, 55 miles from Kathmandu, to sign agreements required to release government grant money to help rebuild their wrecked homes  and lives.

Because of widespread confusion, some mistakenly thought only a few days remained before a 45-day window to sign the agreements expired. Others thought, in error, that they were nearing a deadline to receive the money, which will not be released until later.
LONDON  One of Britains best-known Islamist activists has been found guilty of inviting support for the Islamic State and could face a prison term of up to 10 years, officials announced on Tuesday.

The activist, Anjem Choudary, 49, and an associate, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, were convicted of using online lectures and messages to encourage support for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which is banned in Britain.

In social media posts, the two men pledged allegiance to the caliphate declared by the head of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and said that Muslims had a duty to obey and support him.

The men were arrested in 2014 and were tried at the Old Bailey in London, the central criminal court. The jury delivered its verdict on July 28, but it was not announced until Tuesday for legal reasons. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6.
CAIRO  An airstrike on a residential area near the Yemeni capital, Sana, on Tuesday killed 17 civilians, most of them women and children, as international criticism continued to build over a deadly bombing the day before of a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders.

Residents of a village in Nehem District, northeast of the capital, said that warplanes from the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government had bombed a family home. Health officials in Sana confirmed that 17 bodies had been taken to local hospitals after the airstrike.

Shayef Muhsin Asem, who lived in the house but was out at the time of the attack, said that after the house was bombed, family members rushed in to try to rescue survivors when a second airstrike hit.

The attack on Tuesday took place in the village of Al Madeed, where a marketplace was struck on Aug. 7, killing 18 civilians, according to witnesses and health workers.
The bombers  too big for the air base Russia established in Syria in September  had been flying missions from Russia, a trip that will now be 1,000 miles shorter, officials said. Because they are based so much closer to the Syrian battlefields, the planes will be able to carry heavier payloads, adding new muscle to the recently faltering Syrian government effort in Aleppo.

Indeed, observers on the ground in Aleppo described a particularly heavy day of bombing, even if they could not identify the bombers. Civilians bore the brunt of the strikes. The bombing today was intensive and massive, said Mohamed al-Ahmed, a radiologist in an Aleppo hospital reached via the messaging app Viber, who said he had counted 28 victims.

Beyond any tactical advantages, launching Russian bombers from Iran also seemed to be part of a grander plan by President Vladimir V. Putin to cobble together a coalition to fight in Syria with Russia at its center. The use of the Iranian base comes on the heels of Mr. Putins recent detente with Turkey and amid Russian-American talks on cooperating more in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

I think what Russia is trying to do is put together a broader coalition that goes beyond Russian-Iranian cooperation, said Andrey V. Kortunov, the director general of the Russian International Affairs Council. They consider this operation as another bargaining chip in their negotiations with the West.

The new level of Russian-Iranian cooperation raises questions about whether the United States made a larger strategic error when, in choosing not to create safe zones or conduct major air operations over Syria, it left a window for the Russians to enter the war. President Obama warned in October that Moscow would be sucked into a quagmire as it sought to prop up Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. Toner, the State Department deputy spokesman, said the Russian activity could violate a United Nations Security Council resolution that, he said, prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran unless approved in advance by the U.N. Security Council.

But it is not clear how that resolution would apply to combat aircraft flown by Russian pilots and not transferred to Iran. Mr. Toner said. I just dont have a definitive answer. I know our lawyers are looking at this.
But they also take seriously Ms. Castillos opposition. Like many who escaped the rule of Fidel Castro in the 1960s and 1970s by leaving all their possessions behind, she recoils at the idea of her loved ones lending legitimacy and financial support to a country still under Mr. Castros administration.

I dont see why she has to go, Ms. Castillo said of her daughter. Nothing has changed. The money doesnt go to the people. It all goes back to the regime. She feels so much anger toward Mr. Castro, she said, that she refuses to utter his name.

On Mr. Davilas side, his aunts, uncles and cousins are opposed to relatives visiting the island. At a recent family dinner of roasted pig, fried plantains, rice and beans, some people were referring to Mr. Davilas brother George, a 37-year-old litigation lawyer in Miami, as a Communist for having visited Cuba three times. There was like food being thrown, Mr. Davila said.

When they first found out I was going, my fathers sisters were like: Why are you going? You are going to get yourself arrested. You are going to contribute dollars to the government. You are going to get Communist-brainwashed, George said.

George and Michaels mother, Maria Davila, was shamed by friends and relatives for allowing Georges travel. They told me and my husband that we were crazy Communists, she said. And I said, No, we want them to experience what we had there and see another side of the world.
The word clueless may appear in the subtitle, but its false modesty, as it would seem that Tarneys biggest misstep is buying Harry a Peter Pan costume for Halloween when he wanted to be Wendy. Twenty years later she still feels guilty, though Harry has grown up to be a preternaturally self-possessed young man, buoyed by loving, enlightened parents and the kind of high school environment that has L.G.B.T.Q. clubs and students who erupt into applause when he collects his diploma wearing red platform stilettos.

On the level of craft, My Son Wears Heels, which includes a foreword by Diane Ehrensaft, a developmental and clinical psychologist specializing in gender, is workmanlike at best. Tarney relies too heavily on overexpositional, oversimplistic dialogue and indulges in an almost overloving portrayal of Harry, whose list of unconventional traits includes not only cross-dressing but also growing into an always witty and delightful, never bratty or brooding teenager (maybe Tarneys next book will be about how she managed that). But Tarney does an exceptional job of tracing the zigzagging line of Harrys self-identity and recalling the inevitable questions asked along the way. Is he transgender? Bisexual (as he surmises as a preteen)? A heterosexual who just likes to play dress-up? In the end, the ease with which she tells a tailor her son is a drag queen who always has great luck at thrift stores brings her the peace she needs to stop asking questions. Harry was living the authentic self hed known since childhood, Tarney writes, and rather than worry about reactions I could finally just celebrate him.

For Steven Gaines, growing up as a homo in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 60s meant being a freak, natures mistake, so at 15 he tries to kill himself by punching through the windowpane of his grandparents bra and girdle store. Threatened with hospitalization in a dumpy state mental facility in Queens, he talks his way into a six-month stay at the famed Payne Whitney clinic, in the Ivy League of psychiatric hospitals, where former patients have included Marilyn Monroe, Carson McCullers, Jean Stafford and William Burroughs.

Its still a 1960s psych ward, though, complete with shock treatments and padded rooms and, in Gainess case, a Freudian analyst who believed a whole lot of confusing things, not least of all that homosexuality could be cured. Nonetheless, Gaines recalls the place as a sort of magical finishing school, a round-the-clock dinner party attended by the most interesting people you could possibly imagine. The theatrical producer Richard Halliday becomes a gruff mentor, and Hallidays wife, the actress Mary Martin, visits regularly and introduces Gaines, a proud reader of everything that Sidney Sheldon ever wrote, to the work of Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Gaines learns to hold his silverware properly and to play bridge. He never wants to leave. I dreamed Payne Whitney would always be my home, he writes, and that I would live forever above the F.D.R. Drive with the rich and neurasthenic.

Gainess numerous books include a biography of the fashion designer Halston and popular social histories about New York real estate. One of These Things First is not only a departure but an absolute treasure. A skilled humorist as well as a tender yet trenchant observer of human behavior and the social forces that so often control it, Gaines has a particular gift for sustaining a tension between self-loathing and self-grandeur  his own as well as that of the people around him.
ELKO  The annual Magic School Supply Bus community fundraiser sponsored by Soroptimist International of Elko is coming to an end this week. Last year Ignite Chiropractic was able to collect 300 donated backpacks stuffed with supplies. This season they are hoping to top 500.

We see tons of children who have needs in the community, said Dr. Kyle Kurscheidt, partner in the business.

The business is a drop-off location for donated school supplies. The last day to bring in items or fully loaded backpacks is August 18. After that members of Elko Soroptimist pick up the supplies and take them to the schools.

We help an average of 300 kids a year, said Soroptimist President-elect Marianne Kobak McKown.

The program benefits children at Elko and Spring Creek schools. The Soroptimists also partner with Communities in Schools. Any extra supplies that exceed the student need are then distributed to other area children.

When Ignite Chiropractic was opened we wanted to help the community  said business partner Dr. Joshua Byers. Whats cool is that weve received Amazon boxes anonymously with donations.

Byers, a father of three, went on to explain the high costs of educational supplies. He said that recent statistics point to an average cost of $107  175 per year.

Donations will be given out before school starts. The schools select recipients ahead of time so that supplies go to those most in need.

Specific student needs are detailed on tags located at Ignite Chiropractic and other businesses. Or, people are welcome to bring by individual supplies like backpacks, pencils and other goods.
Moreover, most E.U. legislation is not in the form of written law, but rather directives to the states, whose legislatures then turn them into law. The heavy lifting is done by the member states. As for autonomy, it is the states that drive the E.U., whether through their national ministers in the Council of Ministers, one of the E.U.s legislative bodies, or the commission, where state appointees deal with everything from agriculture to consumer protection. The governments call the shots, and it is therefore at their feet that Merritt lays most of the blame for the E.U.s malaise.

In the same vein, the E.U. has come under fire for its policies guaranteeing workers freedom of movement within the union. In the Brexit campaign, anti-E.U. voices charged that its provisions enabled Central Europeans to swamp Britain. In fact, demographic analyses show that northern Europe needs many kinds of workers now and will increasingly require more in decades to come. Although European politicians know this too, many cant sell this argument to their electorates, just one example of the dichotomy that pits the interests of elected national officials against those of the greater good, embodied in the E.U.

Merritt, despite his substantial respect for the E.U., argues that bold, sweeping reforms are imperative to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Global warming, terrorism, globalized markets, mass migration, militarized geopolitics and the digital revolution all require supranational attention. On their own, he argues, the individual nation states of Europe, Britain included, are doomed to irrelevance.

Yet theres much more consensus on the unions shortcomings than on how to address them. The so-called democratic deficit, for instance, refers to the lack of transparency and accountability in the E.U.s decision-making process. The council, the true legislative body, meets behind closed doors. The European Parliaments elected M.P.s exercise some power, yet no one is held responsible for failure. And then there are the unelected civil servants. No democratic state worth its salt would permit such basic transgressions of democratic procedure. But the E.U., Merritt charges, gets away with it.

Image Credit... Kelly Blair

Furthermore, the E.U.s rigidity undermines its ability to promote innovation. Europe lags woefully behind the United States and China in turning digital technology into commercial success. Meager investment in R&D has hurt Europes productivity and thus global competitiveness, causing Europes share of the international market to stagnate while its rivals post gains. In more ways than one, Merritt argues convincingly, the E.U. is stuck in the 20th century.
Not everyone who challenges the claims of the E.P.A., C.D.C. and State of Michigan are automatically correct, he wrote. Smith had no degrees in the sciences, Edwards noted, and appeared to be a businessman of dubious accomplishment who was now trying to market his sponges. Edwards made the case that Water Defenses meddling would do harm. A recent increase in gastrointestinal infections in Flint, Edwards speculated, could have been caused by the poor hygiene that Smiths fear-mongering had encouraged. The disinfection byproducts, or DBPs, that Water Defense had detected in showers  produced by reactions between chlorine and organic matter  had been reviewed by a scientist Edwards recruited, Dr. David Reckhow of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, one of the foremost authorities on DBPs in the world. Reckhows assessment: There is nothing at all unusual or abnormal in the Flint DBP data.

Water Defense, though, made its own appeal to authority. Smith was not a credentialed scientist, it was true, but all his samples were being tested by an independent lab and reviewed by Judith Zelikoff, a toxicologist in the environmental-medicine department at New York University. (Water Defense is producing data in an ethical and transparent manner, Zelikoff told me, and I will continue to support them.) Once again, Flint residents were left to wonder whom to believe.

This time, Edwardss pugilistic brand of advocacy proved less effective than it had last fall. Among the activists who fought to expose Flints water crisis, a schism emerged. There were those, led by LeeAnne Walters, who kept faith in Virginia Tech, and those, led by another Flint mother, Melissa Mays, who placed their trust in Water Defense. Mays helped conduct the fieldwork for the Virginia Tech water study and, like LeeAnne Walters, she appeared alongside Edwards at his news conference last September. Now, after his denunciation of Water Defense, she renounced him. You arent listening anymore, she wrote in an email that Edwards shared with me. Well go back to doing the work on our own with those willing to work WITH us in the community as we discover more and vindicate what the residents here already know by THE PAIN WE ARE IN, that it is not safe to bathe.

On a hot May afternoon, Mays and other Flint residents drove to Ann Arbor to protest outside the condominium on Main Street where Gov. Rick Snyder lives when he isnt in Lansing. They wore bathrobes and carried signs calling for Snyders impeachment. Tricky Ricky, you cant hide! We can see your dirty side! the protesters chanted. I spotted a woman in a pink bathrobe and a FLINT LIVES MATTER T-shirt whom Edwards had introduced me to in the winter. Her name was Nayyirah Shariff, and she was a community organizer with the Flint Democracy Defense League. When we first met, Shariff expressed gratitude and admiration for what Virginia Tech had done, but her opinion of Edwards had since changed. Now it feels like, intentionally or unintentionally, hes filling the role of the State of Michigan and how they felt about our experiences back in the summer of 2015.

When I caught up with Melissa Mays, she said, What broke my heart the most is that when we brought Marc Edwards in last August, the state did the same thing to him, called him a fear-monger. Thats the same thing that Marc just did to Water Defense. Edwardss remarks about hygiene, moreover, were offensive. People in Flint hadnt stopped bathing despite their adverse reactions. Youre saying that were dumb and dirty, Mays said. Thats whats wrong with us.

At the end of May, Edwards returned to Michigan to hold yet another news conference, at which he and other scientists would try to allay the fears and doubts that Water Defense had fueled. For this occasion, Edwards toned down his rhetoric, presenting the latest data neutrally. Lead levels were still too high, but they were coming down. The disinfection byproducts were comparable to the national average. Sounding weary, he continued: I understand that the trust will never be there for some people. If the residents in Flint, given their journey, decide they never want to drink tap water again, never want to take a bath or shower again, Im not going to try to talk them out of it, because they went through hell for 18 months.

After the news conference ended, Edwards visited the home of Mari Copeny, the 9-year-old known as Little Miss Flint, whose letter to President Obama prompted him to visit. From LeeAnne Walters, Edwards had learned that Water Defense had collected samples in Maris home. She was at school, but her mother, Lulu Brezzell, let Edwards in. Even after the city returned to Detroits system, the water gave her family bad rashes, Brezzell said. She showed him pictures  angry red splotches on hands and arms and legs. Washing the dishes made the skin on her knuckles blister and split. She and her children were still doing their best to practice good hygiene, but they had learned to take speed showers  no more than two minutes. Water Defense had found high levels of chloroform in her water. Another scientist, with Hydroviv, a company that sells water filters, told her that her chloroform levels were comparable to other municipal water sources. Like many people in Flint, she didnt know what or whom to believe, but she was inclined to trust her symptoms and her senses. Her water smelled like a swimming pool, and it had acquired a mysterious blue tint.
When Twain arrived in Germany, his writers block had hamstrung not only Huckleberry Finn but also several other books, including Life on the Mississippi and The Prince and the Pauper. And he had humiliated himself in December 1877 with an irreverent speech in Boston before some of Americas greatest literary figures: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. I feel that my misfortune has injured me all over the country, he wrote to a friend. He told his mother that he needed to fly to some little corner of Europe.

I arrived in Heidelberg in June with some sense of Twains restlessness. When I told a friend that I was having trouble concentrating, he said I should stay present: open my senses to whatever was happening at the moment, and exist in the world instead of in my head. As I reread A Tramp Abroad, knowing that Twain had arrived in Germany under a cloud of shame and failure, it seemed to me that he had faced a similar challenge. His goal was not so much to penetrate Heidelberg and the Neckar Valley but to soak his senses in those places, to dissolve his insecurity in the scenery and to rediscover his pride and purpose.

This comes through clearest in Twains Neckar narrative, so I followed him upriver. From Heidelberg, I took a boat to Neckarsteinach, an old town with a quartet of castle ruins. The river winds between hills like a lazy cursive signature. Time has worked slowly on its banks: The terrain is still mainly field and forest; the mountains robed in thick green foliage. Every few miles our boat passed a village with bored-looking teenagers and rows of simple white homes. After sundown, the buildings glowed like votive candles in the dark.

The inns where Twain stayed along the Neckar have closed, but some of his favorite castle ruins are now connected with hotels. Burg Hornberg is a mountaintop fortress surrounded by terraced vineyards, with a tower so high that surely, at some point, someone must have locked a princess in it. The hotels impressive view of the Neckar is marred only slightly by an industrial plant.

Farther downstream, you can stay at the Schlosshotel Hirschhorn, whose ruins were one of Twains favorite Neckar sights. The clustered brown towers perched on the green hilltop, and the old battlemented stone wall, stretching up and over the grassy ridge and disappearing in the leafy sea beyond, make a picture whose grace and beauty entirely satisfy the eye, he wrote in A Tramp Abroad.

Twains Neckar story is filled with these moments of sensory immersion. He luxuriates in the green and fragrant banks, the vineyards, the poppy fields. In these sensual descriptions, Twains language often turns therapeutic. The raft, he wrote, soothes to sleep all nervous hurry and impatience; under its restful influence all the troubles and vexations and sorrows that harass the mind vanish away. In Germany, Twain was finding the equilibrium that had deserted him at home.
Mark Thomas, the western district director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation  a fancy title that involves oversight of Niagara Falls State Park  recommended the New York Power Authoritys Niagara Power Vista, a free attraction that was recently overhauled and reopened, 10 minutes away from the park.

Mr. Schmidt noted that the copy of Michelangelos David on the Piazza della Signoria near the Uffizi was indistinguishable to nonexperts. Lines to see the real one at the Accademia Gallery can run hours if you dont buy tickets in advance. If someone has just three days in Florence, do you want to waste three hours in line when you can see a very faithful copy? he said.

Sometimes, the skipped-over attraction is even part of the same complex. Mr. Amato noted that this year Liberty Island would attract 4.4 million visitors, while the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration will attract just 2.4 million. Thats preposterous, considering that the boat to Liberty Island also stops at Ellis Island, which costs nothing extra and (in my opinion, not his) is far more interesting. But again, it means killing a day.

Reading up on the attraction can make a vast difference in how much you appreciate it. I slogged through The Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming before visiting Machu Picchu for the first time, and it made for a rich experience. But there are easier ways. Mr. Thomas recommended visitors watch Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film noir picture Niagara, set at and near the falls. And in the next six months, Mr. Schmidts book about the Uffizi should come out. (Exercise some discretion  for example, Ms. Greaney of English Heritage did not mention the Stonehenge scene from the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, and for good reason.)

Some final recommendations: Be an active visitor, engaging guides, rangers or docents and exploring lesser-known corners. For hard-to-reach monuments, consider a more adventurous alternative route to avoid crowds  walking the steep hill to the Peak viewpoint in Hong Kong or hiking up the rain forest path to Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro instead of taking the crowded trams that lead to each. Even if youre not traveling with children, I recommend inventing a game before you go  even adults run out of steam on a long day of sightseeing. My favorite, applicable to any museum with abstract art, is Name the Picasso, in which you guess the name of a painting (Death in the Jungle) and then compare it to its real name (Nude in a Black Armchair.)

Of course, you can also simply skip the world-famous attraction. If youre sick of museums by the time you get to Florence, forgo the Uffizi and take advantage of other things Florence has to offer. Perhaps a gelato (or tripe sandwich) crawl is in order? Dont worry about what your friends will think. You can use Photoshop to show them you saw The Birth of Venus.
Similar markers line Castro Street. Since 2011, Castro Camera, once owned by Harvey Milk, has housed, appropriately, the Human Rights Campaign Action Center and Store. From there, I walked north, past the home of Leonard Matlovich, the first member of the United States Armed Forces to come out while still in uniform, and past colorful cafes and erotica shops, before ending up at the GLBT History Museum.

There was a powerful retrospective of dancers who died of AIDS on exhibit, and I also stood for a time in front of a glass case shielding the bloodstained shirt, tie, jacket, pants and belt that Mr. Milk  affectionately called the mayor of the Castro  was wearing when he was assassinated. Visitors can listen, as I did, to a moving, reflective recording Mr. Milk made shortly after being elected to the citys board of supervisors in 1977.

Afterward, around the corner, I sat at Harveys for a late veggie burger lunch. Like Castro Camera and other sites I had visited earlier in the day, it had a story. As I waited for my order, I read about it in the menu: It had once been called the Elephant Walk, and its opening date, Nov. 27, 1974, was exactly four years before Milk was assassinated. The disco icon Sylvester had been a regular in the 1970s; a police riot broke out here when Mr. Milks convicted assassin, Dan White, received a light sentence. In 1988, a fire nearly destroyed it.

But it was thriving now, with packed tables and large windows thrown open onto the street. The owners, when they opened the Elephant Walk, decided it should be a place where all patrons feel no shame, and it would have this airy atmosphere, this wide and good view to the world. It hadnt been easy. But then again, as the author Armistead Maupin, the San Francisco faithful and connoisseur, once put it, The worst of times in San Francisco was still better than the best of times anywhere else.
MEXICO CITY  The abduction was notable for how and where it took place  during a birthday party at a restaurant in the Mexican Pacific Coast resort of Puerto Vallarta  and because the kidnappers and the victims are criminals.

Now, it turns out that a son of the drug cartel leader Joaquin Guzman Loera was one of the six men abducted at gunpoint early Monday morning.

Not a shot was fired as the gunmen hustled Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 30  an operative in the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexicos most powerful criminal enterprise  and the others into sport utility vehicles, according to the attorney general for Jalisco State, Eduardo Almaguer. Mr. Almaguer confirmed Tuesday that the younger Mr. Guzman was one of the missing men, who had not been heard from as of Tuesday night.

His fathers escape last year from a maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel dug under his cell embarrassed the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto and underscored Mexicos reputation for pervasive corruption and impunity for well-connected criminals. Mr. Pena Nieto had hailed his arrest in February 2014 as a major victory in a long campaign against the powerful narcotics rackets.
Mid-2015 to mid-2016 June 15 July 22 Russian group has access to D.N.C. systems D.N.C. announces it was hacked Almost 20,000 D.N.C. emails are published April 2016 August 12 Cellphone numbers and email addresses of nearly 200 lawmakers are published Second Russian group hacks the D.N.C. Mid-2015 to mid-2016 June 15 July 22 Russian group has access to D.N.C. systems D.N.C. announces it was hacked Almost 20,000 D.N.C. emails are published April 2016 August 12 Cellphone numbers and email addresses of nearly 200 lawmakers are published Second Russian group hacks the D.N.C. June 15 July 22 Mid-2015 to mid-2016 D.N.C. announces it was hacked Almost 20,000 D.N.C. emails are published Russian group has access to D.N.C. systems April 2016 August 12 Cellphone numbers and email addresses of nearly 200 lawmakers are published Second Russian group hacks the D.N.C.

In addition to the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Russian agencies may have also gained access to the email accounts of Hillary Clintons campaign officials, party operatives and other party organizations. An F.B.I. investigation continues, and Democrats worry that more documents will be released.

So Far, 20,000 Emails and Contact Information for Nearly 200 Lawmakers Have Been Released

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, in February. Peter Nicholls/Reuters

WikiLeaks released almost 20,000 emails from the D.N.C.s system on July 22, days before the partys convention in Philadelphia. Julian Assange, its founder, has suggested that he has more material about her campaign. U.S. officials say Russian intelligence agencies were almost certainly behind the hacking, but it is unclear how WikiLeaks got the material before releasing it publicly.

On Aug. 12, a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, who officials believe is working for Russias military intelligence service, published documents obtained through the D.C.C.C. breach that included the personal cellphone numbers and email addresses of nearly 200 lawmakers.

D.N.C. Emails Include Exchanges With News Media and Fund-Raisers and Show Favor for Clinton

In the 20,000 emails that have been released, D.N.C. employees exhibit favoritism toward Mrs. Clintons campaign and discuss how they might be able to undermine her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders. The emails also reveal pleas for favors from fund-raisers, ego clashes and feuds with members of the news media.

Email Release Has Led to Resignations, and Fueled Unrest During Democratic Convention

Bernie Sanderss supporters marching in Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention in July. John Minchillo/Associated Press

The release of emails showing the D.N.C.s preference for Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Sanders led to the resignation of the committees chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and three other top committee officials. It also fueled the outrage of Mr. Sanderss supporters, many of whom protested at the convention.

Officials Have High Confidence That Russian Intelligence Agencies Are Behind Hackings

While investigators have said publicly that they have high confidence that the hackings were the work of Russian intelligence agencies, the F.S.B. and the G.R.U., they told members of Congress that they have virtually no doubt it was the Russians, according to one staff member.

Guccifer 2.0 claimed sole credit and posted some of the stolen documents online as proof, but U.S. investigators have said they now believe that the person was an agent of Russias military intelligence service.
With more than 20,000 rescued and seven killed in recent flooding in Louisiana, a local ministry is gearing up to help bring relief.

Harvest Evangelism, comprised of His Place and Hosanna Home ministries and Harvest Thrift Super Center, is bringing a team to help clear out homes affected by the flood.

The group will be traveling to Hammond, Louisiana, either Wednesday or Thursday, whenever they collect enough supplies, said Harvest Evangelism founder Pastor Rick Hagans. Hagans is asking the community to donate supplies, such as shovels, rubber gloves, wheelbarrows, bleach, spray bottles and masks.

Hagans decided to go after Gary Dennis, Hagans friend and former Opelika resident, asked for help from members of the church he pastors in Hammond.

He called me and he said, Listen, I hate to ask for help, but Im asking, Hagans said, adding that 80 percent of Dennis church members homes were flooded. He said, Its been overwhelming.

Hagans added that though many larger groups will be bringing much needed help to the area, a smaller group such as the team he is taking can move faster to provide targeted and immediate assistance.

The people, they need the help right nowtodayyesterday, Hagans said.

Donations are being accepted at Harvest Thrift Super Center and His place. Monetary donations are also being accepted, and checks can be made to Harvest Evangelism Disaster Relief.

As Americans were celebrating the Olympics, and weve got people that are swimming and winning gold medals and it makes us proudand Im one of thosebut theres nothing that says America like helping your neighbor, Hagans said.

For more information, contact Hagans at 334-332-3932 or rickhagans@harvestevangelism.org.
MONTGOMERY (AP)  The Latest on the special session of the Alabama Legislature (all times local):

4:50 p.m.

House members have named Republican Rep. Mac McCutcheon of Capshaw as the new speaker of the house.

Representatives on Monday elected McCutcheon to the powerful post with 68 votes.

McCutcheon, after his election, promised to be fair to House members and said the days of the "imperial speakership are over."

McCutcheon replaces former House Speaker Mike Hubbard. Hubbard was removed from office after being convicted on ethics charges.

McCutcheon is a former police officer and has recently served as the chairman of the Rules Committee.

House Republicans, who hold a lopsided majority in the House, voted for McCutcheon after agreeing on McCutcheon as their nominee. Democrats voted for Rep. John Knight of Montgomery.

The selection of a new speaker came on the first day of a special session focused on a state lottery and Medicaid funding.

11:46 a.m.

Lawmakers are gathering in Montgomery to begin a special session on the possibility of creating a state lottery.

Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday morning issued a broad agenda for the session. It will focus on a lottery and any legislation that could provide money for Medicaid, infrastructure and debt payment.

Bentley is asking lawmakers to approve a state lottery. Lawmakers are also expected to debate a rival bill that would allow electronic gambling machines at state dog tracks.

Some legislative leaders say the bills face uncertain odds in a Legislature split over gambling.

Lawmakers are expected to debate possible uses of oil spill settlement funds.

The first business in the House of Representatives is the election of a new speaker.

The session begins at 4 p.m.
Victoryland will not reopen Sept. 6  contrary to a previous press release sent out by Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford, but it will open soon, Ford said.

Any official announcements on Victoryland will come from the casinos owner Milton McGregor, Ford said.

Ford sent out a press release Friday announcing Victoryland would reopen on Sept. 6 citing Luther Curry, chairman of the Macon County Racing Commission, who was told about the opening.

Unless you hear Mr. McGregor say it or see it in writing that he said it, dont depend on that Sept. 6 (date,) McGregors assistant, Linda Pittman told the Opelika-Auburn News Monday.

Ford said he was reacting to Currys statement to him about Victoryland reopening.

We wished that we wouldve waited before we made that statement, Ford said. But the point is we are confident Victoryland will be opening very soon, but in terms of the exact date we are going to let Mr. McGregor make that announcement.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in March that Victorylands bingo machines seized in a 2013 raid were illegal, overruling a circuit court judge who said the state was cherry-picking which facilities were allowed to operate.

Despite the ruling, McGregor said he would reopen this summer in an April press conference at the casino.

Milton McGregor has said all along that VictoryLand will reopen before the end of this summer, and Sept. 6 is good enough for us in Tuskegee/Macon County, who have been waiting so long for our homegrown industry, which was illegally closed by Luther Strange, to be reopened, Ford said in the Friday press release.

Ford, first elected mayor in 1972, is defending a challenge for the mayors seat by Tuskegee Councilman Lawrence Tony Haygood.

Everyone is anxious for Victoryland to reopen as soon as possible, Ford said. We know Mr. McGregor is doing the best he can with a very difficult situation. Whenever it opens we will be very very grateful because we have at stake here over 2,000 jobs and millions of dollars that will benefit our schools, cities, county and our charitable organizations.

Efforts to reach Curry by phone Monday were unsuccessful.
The Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association on Tuesday announced their opposition to Question 2 on the November ballot, the initiative to legalize the commercial sale of marijuana in Nevada.

Robert E. Roshak, NvSCAs executive director, said passage of the marijuana industry-written initiative would have the effect of destigmatizing drug use and makes it easier for young people to get their hands on a wide range of marijuana products.

Our association members have a particular concern about the growing edibles market of marijuana-infused products such as gummy bears, candy bars, and sodas; products with specific appeal to children that would become legal under this initiative, Roshak said. A second major concern to our members is the near-certain increase in impaired drivers and fatal car crashes.

According to the association, and based upon reports from Colorado where commercial marijuana was legalized in 2012, passage of Question 2 runs the risk of drawing organized crime and drug trafficking operations to Nevada continued Roshak. We ask Nevada voters to vote No on Question 2 and join us in making public safety priority number one.

The Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association, formed in 1953, is a professional nonprofit organization of law enforcement leaders from throughout the state of Nevada.
A group of tourists on a bike tour of Lavapies. SAMUEL SANCHEZ

The streets of Lavapies still smell of cheap red wine the morning after workers begin dismantling the food stalls set up to celebrate this emblematic working-class Madrid neighborhoods annual summer fiesta.

A group of tourists on a bike tour pause on the corner of the triangular plaza that sits at the center of Lavapies, facing the Valle Inclan theater and Argumosa street, which is lined with bars and restaurants.

The guide tells them that this is still the capitals most multi-cultural area, with incomers from more than 80 countries (the area is also very popular with bohemian Americans, British and Irish) living alongside long-time locals, many of them in old age who have lived here all their lives.

But although the tourists may not be able to see it, Lavapies is moving upmarket.

Lavapies was simply the logical next candidate for moving upmarket after Malasana and Chueca

To start with, the number of immigrants is falling: over the last decade they have gone from making up around a third of the population to a little under a quarter, similar to the levels in other parts of the capital, according to Madrid City Hall.

Similarly, the number of elderly people has dropped from 17% to 14% over the same time. Meanwhile, middle-class Spaniards are moving in, attracted partly by its central location, easy-going, old-fashioned charm and presumably by its lower rents.

Francisco Inarreta of property site Idealista.com says that apartments in Lavapies are snapped up quickly, pointing out that last year the average price per square meter went up by 11%, compared to the 8.9% increase in the rest of the city.

The neighborhood is a textbook example of gentrification, as has happened in Malasana and Chueca, he says, referring to two formerly run-down areas behind the northern side of the capitals main Gran Via thoroughfare.

Long-standing residents of Lavapies say that in recent years they have seen their neighborhood undergo the same processes and trends as took place in Chueca and Malasana a decade or so ago, with bookshop cafes, galleries and vintage clothes shops starting to open.

The opening ceremony of this summers fiestas, held in La Quimera, a former tenement that has been taken over by squatters and turned into a neighborhood center, rejected the gentrification process.

But Sergio Garcia, a sociology lecturer at Madrids Complutense University, says that there is no point in trying to resist gentrification: Its unstoppable, and that symbolic prestige will end up as an empty facade.

For the moment, like much of Madrid, Lavapies is in the midst of a transition, with the vintage shops and trendy bars frequented by hipsters rubbing shoulders with the traditional corner shops, wholesalers set up by African, Chinese and Bangladeshi immigrants, and old-timers restaurants. This getting along is well illustrated by the San Fernando market on Embajadores street, which reopened in 2013, where fruit and veg stalls, fishmongers and butchers sit alongside coworking spaces, arts and crafts, and fashionable bars and restaurants.

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Just like lots of other markets, food and drink has been introduced. And it has worked well; this place is packed on Saturdays, says Javier Vazquez, president of the district shopkeepers association. But I think that for the traditional fruit and veg stall or butcher, things havent improved that much, he adds.

"Theres no point in being in favor of gentrification or against it: its just something that happens in every big city and cannot be stopped, says architect and anthropologist Fernando Caballero Baruque. He believes that Lavapies was simply the logical next candidate for moving upmarket after Malasana and Chueca, and that other working-class neighborhoods such as Tetuan, in the northwest of the city, will follow suit eventually.

What we have to remember is that the people who leave do so, or will do so because they can no longer afford the rents here, he adds. Madrid City Halls job is to make sure that there are proper facilities and amenities for them in the areas they move to, he concludes.

English version by Nick Lyne.
One hundred California Highway Patrol cadets graduated in Sacramento on Friday, with eight headed to the Santa Ana division.

More hands on deck?

Nope.

As the eight officers walk in, 10 will walk out.

We have people transferring out and retiring, said Officer Florentino Olivera, a CHP spokesman based in Santa Ana. Were still short-staffed.

The Santa Ana office, budgeted for 105 cops, will have 88.

The local staffing mirrors the states for the CHP: As of January, there were 7,139 officers on the force  and yet the agency was authorized to carry 7,608.

Even hitting that mark wouldnt exactly flood the freeways and highways with those CHP SUVs.

Our numbers are still the same of basically of what we had in the 70s, said Officer Hope Maxson, a spokeswoman for the Border Division, which covers Orange County.

And, according to the U.S. Census, Californias population was 20 million in 1970, compared with 39 million now.

Were also building larger infrastructure and freeways, so theres a lot more to patrol, said Capt. Brian Lee, commander of the CHPs Westminster office.

No one reason is causing the shortage of CHP cops, officials said, but retirements, rigors of the academy and even injuries help create the gap.

Some might have marijuana use or traffic citations in their past and believe, wrongly, that the CHP wont give them a chance. The agency considers backgrounds on a case-by-case basis.

And, for others, it just isnt a good fit.

We get people that at the time are just looking for jobs, and honestly were looking for people that want law enforcement as a career, said Sgt. Brent Carter, who, at the Sacramento headquarters, works in recruiting and hiring.

What isnt a problem is the actual number of applicants  there are 20,000 a year.

Some people have trouble with the physical fitness tests (or) passing the background checks, Carter said. We see a lot of candidates that have lived their lives and made mistakes.

Candidates who make the cut go to a six-month academy. A new one begins four times a year, each usually with about 150 students. Unlike a lot of police academies, the California Highway Patrols requires that students live on-site, leaving their families and other aspects of their lives behind.

Graduates can be assigned to any office in the state. Most go to metropolitan areas where the need is the greatest, such as in Los Angeles County and in the Bay Area.

In Santa Anas division, the largest of the three in Orange County, not all 88 officers are on patrol. About 15 are in other roles. Some typical non-patrol CHP jobs are dispatch, working with K-9s, or in investigations.

We still provide the public a good service, but we have to run from call to call, said Capt. Ryan Shackleford, the Santa Ana offices commander. Its a little challenging.

Upon graduation, cadets are promoted to the position of officer, which has a base annual salary of $74,700, with 5 percent increases yearly until $92,640; they receive full health and dental benefits for them and their families.

When the new officers arrive on Monday, theyll start field training, accompanied by a more experienced officer for six months or more. This means two officers will be on one assignment instead of two.

These days, the well-documented dangers of the job, and the modern-day controversies surrounding law enforcement shootings, are factors possibly discouraging people from joining up.

Shackleford said he believes people might not be as passionate for law enforcement as they used to be.

With people seeing our brothers and sisters in uniform dying, he said, those on the fence might decide its not for them.

Of course, becoming an officer isnt easy.

Our public expects our law enforcement to act a certain way on and off duty, Carter said.

It requires changes in your life that are not easy. You may lose family or friends for your decision to be a peace officer. Thats just how it is.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
The Capistrano Unified School District may initiate a lawsuit against two city mayors and ask the Orange County district attorney and the California attorney general to investigate whether they used public money to influence an election.

The initiation of both is still pending, as the districts board did not take any action in closed session at Wednesdays meeting.

Board President Amy Hanacek announced the boards intentions after a closed session Aug. 10 before the board voted 6-1 to put an $889 million bond measure on the November ballot.

Board members said they felt bullied by city leaders in the weeks ahead of the meeting and that the two mayors actions may have an impact on voters.

Mayors Frank Ury of Mission Viejo and Tony Beall of Rancho Santa Margarita orchestrated a July 28 letter of opposition to the districts proposed bond measure and circulated it among five other city mayors, three state officials and a county official.

The letter gained signatures from all city mayors within the district boundaries, except Dana Point Mayor John Tomlinson. Councilmember Joe Muller signed in his place.

The announcement came as a surprise to both mayors. Ury, who had been attending some of the meetings leading up to the vote, said the board gave no forewarning of a potential lawsuit.

Weve been doing what we could to dialogue with the district, Ury said. Weve been asking very pertinent questions for our constituents. How that pivoted into a lawsuit I dont know.

Beall said the allegations made by the board are baseless.

Its designed to do two things, Beall added. One, deflect attention away from their own wrongdoing and the other is to intimidate their critics to silence.

Conversations between city officials and CUSD board members were contentious Aug. 10, as city leaders voiced concerns about a lack of communication from district officials about the bond measure. Board members responded that the matter is strictly a school board function and doesnt need to involve city leaders.

Our focus is students, and you can always make the right decision when you have that in your heart and your mind, Trustee Lynn Hatton-Hodson said. Having good education will ensure our economic future, so we should be in partnership, but instead were being bullied.

City leaders contend that they are looking out for the taxpayers. Should the bond measure pass, parcels in the district, with the exception of Rancho Mission Viejo, would pay an estimated $43 per $100,000 of assessed value over a 35-year period to pay off an estimated $1.8 billion when factoring in state matching money, interest and fees.

Our residents are already overtaxed and overburdened financially, Pam Patterson, San Juan Capistranos mayor, told the board Aug. 10. We dont believe you are taking that into consideration and in many cases, people are being triple-taxed with respect to what is being proposed.

Aliso Viejo Mayor Mike Munzing said creating separate facilities improvement districts would have been appropriate because each city could then raise their own funds.

Laguna Niguel Mayor Laurie Davies said that of the about $50 million that will be paid by Laguna Niguel residents, only 74 percent of it will be returned to schools in the city.

We know whats best and whats needed here, Davies said, but when you bundle this together, it takes all local control away from each city.

But Trustee Gila Jones pointed out that because CUSD is an open-enrollment district, families have the ability to pick which schools students attend as long as they live within district boundaries. She said both options had advantages and disadvantages.

If we did six (separate facilities improvement districts) and one didnt pass, parents will now want their kids to go to all the fixed-up schools, Jones said.

Voters have the final say in November. The measure needs 55 percent of votes to pass.

Contact the writer: npercy@scng.com
A peculiar incident last year involving Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer has prompted an unproductive legal battle between the county and news website Voice of OC.

At issue is whether the county is obligated to release emails between Mr. Spitzer and county spokeswoman Jean Pasco, including an unreleased press statement, regarding an incident which took place April 3, 2014  Good Friday  at Wahoos Fish Taco in Lake Forest.

According to reporting by the Register, and court filings by attorneys on behalf of the county, Mr. Spitzer was dining when approached by youth counselor Jeovany Castellano, who attempted to engage the supervisor in a discussion on religion. County court filings note that Mr. Castellano was wearing loose fitting clothing which covered his waistline and possibly weapons.

Mr. Spitzer alleges he became concerned as Mr. Castellano repeatedly returned his gaze to a serrated, metal, black-handled steak knife that was on the table, prompting Mr. Spitzer to leave the restaurant to his car and retrieve  a pair of handcuffs and a belt pouch, which contained a firearm.

He proceeded to handcuff Mr. Castellano and awaited the arrival of police, who questioned both men before releasing them. Mr. Castellano was unarmed. Orange County Sheriffs Department investigators concluded Mr. Spitzers actions were legal. Regardless of the legality at hand, the incident is certainly unusual and, as it involves a county supervisor, it merits attention from the press.

In March of this year, Voice of OC submitted a California Public Records Act request for Emails between Jean Pasco and Supervisor Todd Spitzer regarding Spitzers citizen arrest of a man at Wahoos Fish Taco. The county denied the request on the grounds that such information is exempted from the CPRA.

This prompted legal action by Voice of OC seeking the release of the requested information. Rather than just release the emails, the county decided to fight the request.

In court filings, the county argues the news outlet is utilizing this lawsuit not to obtain disclosures that will contribute significantly to the publics understanding of government activities  but rather to solicit financial contributions to VoiceofOC.org.

Further, the county is seeking to depose Voice of OC publisher Norberto Santana Jr. regarding conversations he had with Mr. Spitzer over the incident. Mr. Santana argues any discussions with Mr. Spitzer are not only irrelevant to the case at hand, but protected by the California Shield Law and his reporters privilege.

Breaching this pillar of the news gathering process would have a chilling effect, not only here in Orange County, but in newsrooms across the country, he argued in a recent column.

Rather than squabble with a news outlet over such a simple matter, with all the costs associated with a legal battle, the county should stop wasting resources and comply with the request.
WASHINGTON  The Pentagon said Monday that it had sent 15 Guantanamo detainees to the United Arab Emirates in the largest single transfer of the Obama administration. The move eliminated a fifth of the wartime prisons remaining population, which dropped to 61.

While it appears increasingly unlikely that President Barack Obama will succeed in closing the prison before he leaves office in January, the transfer brought him significantly closer to another goal: getting out every detainee who has been approved for transfer. Some have been stranded on that list for years because they could not be repatriated.

The detainees sent to the United Arab Emirates included 12 Yemenis and three Afghans. The United States had held each of them without trial for about 14 years. Their departure reduced the list of prisoners approved for transfer to 20 men, although a parole-like review board occasionally adds new names to it.

The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its continued assistance in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Lee Wolosky, the State Department special envoy who negotiates such transfers, said in a statement.

The Obama administration has made a sustained diplomatic push to persuade Persian Gulf states to resettle detainees from troubled countries like Yemen. U.S. security officials see them as attractive places to send such detainees both because they share the same language and culture, and because they have security agencies with the capacity to monitor them.

When Obama took office in 2009, 242 detainees remained at Guantanamo. He has proposed closing it by bringing several dozen detainees who are not approved for transfer to a replacement prison on domestic soil.

But Congress has blocked that plan, and some Republican lawmakers have proposed shutting down transfers of lower-level detainees to other countries, too.

The pre-eminent responsibility of the federal government is to keep the American people safe, yet the Obama administrations misguided commitment to releasing detainees in order to eventually close Guantanamo unacceptably gambles with our nations safety, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said last week.
Disneyland Resort is planning a massive expansion project that would include creating a seven-story, 6,800-space parking structure, a new transportation hub, and a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard.

They are slated to be completed by the end of 2018.

After the Register wrote the story of Disneys plans last week, questions were asked, via Twitter and e-mail, about the development.

The Register went back to Disney and the planning documents for more information. The answers:

Q. Whats going to happen to the Carousel Inn?

A. It will close sometime in October and eventually be razed. A spokesman for Wincome Group, which manages the property for Disney, said the hotel is relocating the 55 employees or helping them find a new job at a nearby hotel.

Q. How about the Pizza Press, which was also on the Carousel Inn property?

A. Disneys lease with Pizza Press ends in April.

Q. Will visitors staying at nearby non-Disney hotels be forced to walk around to the Eastern Gateway transit facility on Manchester Avenue to get to the Disneyland Resort?

A. Guests staying in the hotels or motels on Harbor will be able to access the resort without going through the Eastern Gateway. The plans are still being developed but there will be another entrance with a security point for those entering on Harbor.

Q. Will nearby hotels or motels have backside access to the Eastern Gateway?

A. Disney has no plans to create an access point behind the hotels and motels on Harbor.

Q. Will people walking on Harbor have access to the pedestrian bridge linking the new transportation hub with the theme parks, similar to the bridges that connect some hotels in Las Vegas?

A. There will not be a direct access to the pedestrian connector or bridge from Harbor. However, vistitors can use a pedestrian pathway at Harbor and Disney Way directly to the Eastern Gateway.

Q. What will the pedestrian walkway and bridge over Harbor look like?

A. The bridge may be similar to the one visitors cross in Downtown Disney over Disneyland Drive. Visitors may not have noticed that they are using the well-disguised bridge, because planters and tall hedges hide the view of the street. There will be a limited amount of retail and food vendors along the pedestrian walkway.

Q. How far is the walk from the Eastern Gateway security checkpoint, on the east side of Harbor, where the theme parks new transportation hub will be, to the esplanade that leads to the theme parks main gates?

A. The walk is about a half-mile, or 10 minutes. There will be shuttles to take handicap visitors to a drop-off area near the esplanade.

Q. Will there be a new route for the Monorail? Is there a chance Disney California Adventure will expand into the area that now holds the transit hub?

A. Its unclear if the route will change. And Disney says that the design for the main entryway, where the current transportation hub sits, is in progress.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2443 or jpimentel@ocregister.com or follow on Twitter @OCDisney
A former Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy was sentenced Monday to a year in county jail after pleading guilty to threatening and assaulting a girlfriend and setting her hair on fire in Buena Park.

Alejandro Flores, 34, accepted a court offer requiring him to plead guilty to nine felonies, including domestic battery, assault, dissuading a witness, making criminal threats and false imprisonment, according to the Orange County District Attorneys Office.

Along with the time in local lockup, Flores also was sentenced to five years formal probation, eight hours of community service and treatment in a domestic violence batterers program.

Prosecutors objected to the deal, arguing that Flores should be sent to state prison, the District Attorneys Office said.

Authorities say the abuse occurred while Flores was living with a girlfriend and a 2-year-old at a Buena Park residence. Due to the nature of the charges, authorities did not specify the relationship, if any, between the child and Flores.

In October 2014, prosecutors allege, Flores punched his girlfriend in the face and broke her nose.

In June 2015, prosecutors said, Flores and his girlfriend were arguing about the childs pacifier when Flores pushed his girlfriend into a wall, struck her on the top of the head with his fist, grabbed her neck and knocked her to the ground.

Prosecutors allege that Flores dragged the woman into their kitchen, held her over a stove and turned on a gas burner. Her hair caught fire. After the flames were extinguished, Flores threw a phone at the woman, turned up the television to drown out her screams and brandished a gun as he threatened her so she wouldnt leave or call authorities, prosecutors added.

The woman left with the child the next day. After learning what happened, the womans relatives contacted the Buena Park Police Department.

Had the case gone to trial, Flores faced up to 25 years and eight months in state prison.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com
Heidi and Frank and Frosty are getting the band  or more accurately, the morning DJ crew  back together, the parent company of KLOS/95.5-FM announced on Monday.

The Heidi & Frank Show landed at KLOS in September 2012 after longtime KLOS morning duo Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps hung up their microphones to go their separate ways.

Heidi Hamilton and Frank Kramer had worked together from 2000 to 2009 with Frosty Stillwell as the morning team at KLSX/97.1-FM but Stillwell had not followed his partners to KLOS  until now.

Frostys unique take on the world is something that has been missing from the airwaves for too long, Kramer said in a statement released by Cumulus Media, which also announced that The Heidi & Frank Show has been re-signed to a new multi-year deal. Given the opportunity to bring my old friend and radio partner of 17 years back to the show was unexpected, considering I had only asked for a vibrating recliner.

Frosty got me into radio and I always said I would keep him in it, Kramer said. So now were even.

Hamilton said much the same: Frosty coming back is like hearing that an old friend you havent seen in a long time is going to be in town and wants to hang out.

Hes due to return on Sept. 6.

Stillwell, who had landed on the airwaves in San Francisco after he parted ways with Kramer and Hamilton six years ago, also sounded as excited as one can sound in a corporate press release.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA  A caregiver accused by a 66-year-old patient of abusing her pleaded guilty Monday to sexual battery.

Robert Ligayo, 65, of Aliso Viejo was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26, according to court records.

At his arraignment in June 2013, Ligayos family proclaimed his innocence to reporters and the judge.

His wife said all of his patients love him and the company used him as one of their main guys because the patients liked him so much, defense attorney Dennis OConnell said at the time.

Ligayo was arrested after the then-66-year-old woman came forward to allege that her in-home caregiver, Ligayo, had been sexually abusing her for the past six months, according to Orange County Sheriffs Department officials.

The woman resided at the time in the Laguna Woods senior housing community, sheriffs officials said at the time of Ligayos arrest.
TV highlights for this week:

TUESDAY

Didnt make it to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics? You can at least get a feel for some of the countrys rich and diverse culinary experiences in the opening episode of the new series Driven By Food. Andrew Zimmern is our guide. 9 p.m., Travel Channel.

WEDNESDAY

The laughs just keep coming on Another Period. Tonight, Lillian (Natasha Leggero) mourns her mothers death by drinking too much and Dodo (Paget Brewster) challenges Chair (Christina Hendricks) to a duel. 10 p.m., Comedy Central.

The hacker hit Mr. Robot continues as Elliott (Rami Malek) actually tries to make nice with the hallucinatory title character (Christian Slater). Something tells us that wont work out well. 10 p.m., USA.

THURSDAY

Big Brother is for wimps. On Season 2 of 60 Days In, eight innocent civilians posing as inmates enter an Indiana jail and attempt to adapt to their scary new surroundings. 9 p.m., A&E.

FRIDAY

Its quite also right to watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives as Guy delves into real-deal diners and classic comfort food. Please, just dont lick the TV screen. 9 p.m., Food Network.

SATURDAY

Make It Pop returns with a special that finds the MacKendrick Prep and XO-IQ band members spending their summer as the house band at an exclusive resort hotel. But tempers flare when the resort manager tries to steer them in a new musical direction. 8 p.m., Nickelodeon.
The Laguna Niguel Military Support Committee joined forces with 65 Marines from Camp Pendleton and raised $5,000 during a car wash for the 1st Battalion 4th Regiment Marines on Aug. 6. The team washed more than 300 cars at Plaza De La Paz in Laguna Niguel during the event.

It was our most successful car wash, said organizer Frank McGrath, a Navy veteran. We could not have squeezed in another car.

The raised funds will go towards supporting the units families when the Marines are deployed, Christmas parties for their children, single Marine cookouts and emergency funds for their families.

Locals came out to rally for the cause and show support, he said.

It was an opportunity for the community to support our adopted Marines and for the Marines to give back to the community, he said. The community was really behind this cause and it makes me feel great.

The committees next fundraiser is a car wash on Oct. 15 for the service men on the Navy destroyer USS Stockdale, also adopted by the city.
SACRAMENTO  Lawmakers are advancing legislation to prevent California police from prematurely selling suspected criminals belongings.

California law already requires that a person be convicted before police can seize cash or property valued under $25,000 thats believed to have been attained illegally.

Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles says police work around that law by partnering with federal agencies to seize assets and reap millions of dollars.

SB443 would prohibit law enforcement agencies from profiting off of those partnerships in cases of suspected drug activity. It would increase the ceiling for other crimes to $40,000.

The Assembly sent SB443 back to the Senate on a 66-8 vote Monday.

The Assembly denied it in September, but lawmakers since won support from police after adding the drug-case restriction and exempting dead or evasive suspects.

In other action:

Police departments would be prohibited from releasing recordings of an officers death or serious injury under legislation advancing in the California Legislature.

The bill approved in the Senate in a 23-6 vote on Monday would allow footage to be released only with the permission of an officers family or a judge.

Democratic Sen. Ben Hueso of San Diego says the children of a slain officer shouldnt have to see footage of his death on the internet.

Critics from both political parties say its not in the public interest to give surviving relatives a veto over the release of footage. They also say it will cause confusion if relatives disagree.

AB2611 by Assemblyman Evan Low of Campbell returns to the Assembly, which previously approved it but must agree to Senate changes.

The California Senate is backing an effort to combat age discrimination in Hollywood.

Democratic senators approved AB1687 in a 25-12 party-line vote on Monday.

The bill would allow actors, actresses and directors to ask that their ages and birthdates be removed from websites that provide employment services. It was requested by the Screen Actors Guild.

Proponents say that making it harder for casting directors to know an actors age will make them less likely to discriminate. The bill says the websites shall remove such information within five days, but does not include sanctions for failing to do so.

Republican Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine says the state can use existing anti-discrimination laws to protect actors.

Democratic Assemblyman Ian Calderon of Whittier wrote the measure, which now returns to the Assembly.

California lawmakers are advancing legislation to get taxpayers donations into the hands of charities more quickly following a critical report by The Associated Press.

Democratic Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys wrote SB1476 after an AP investigation found at least one-tenth of all charitable donations made on tax returns went unspent last year.

APs review found nearly $10 million in 29 funds was awaiting delivery to or distribution by state agencies and another $278,000 had reverted to state coffers.

Hertzberg says taxpayers have donated about $100 million through the check-off system since 1982.

His bill would continuously appropriate the aid and retire a fund if taxpayers provide less than $250,000 in one year.

The Assembly unanimously approved the bill Monday, sending it to the Senate.

Californians who break into hot vehicles to rescue distressed dogs would be protected from lawsuits under legislation advancing in the California Legislature.

The Senate unanimously approved AB797 Monday.

The bill by Republican Assemblyman Marc Steinorth of Rancho Cucamonga says bystanders are not liable for property damage or trespassing claims if they rescue an animal from a locked vehicle. They could only break in if theyve called authorities and believe the animal is in imminent danger.

They must turn the animal over to responding law-enforcement or animal control officers. Steinorth says good Samaritans shouldnt fear a lawsuit.

The California Federation of Dog Clubs opposes the legislation. The organization says a rescuer could risk being bitten or may inadvertently allow a dog to escape.

The bill returns to the Assembly.
NEW YORK  Two days after an imam and his assistant were gunned down after afternoon prayers in Queens, the police said late Monday that a man they had in custody had been charged in the killings.

The man, Oscar Morel of Brooklyn, 35, who was taken into custody late Sunday after the police connected him to a hit and run that occurred about a mile away from the fatal attack, faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, the police said.

A police official said investigators had found what they believe was the murder weapon in the mans home as well as clothes matching the description of what the gunman had been wearing during the shootings. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the gun was found inside a wall in his apartment, in the East New York neighborhood, in a cavity that had apparently been cut open and resealed.

A man who answered a phone listed for Morels family said that he was stunned by the arrest. That is our relative, the man said, his voice soft and shaking with emotion. We are just finding out ourselves. Were pulling together the pieces as well.

Earlier Monday evening, New York City officials sought to reassure members of the Muslim community in New York, saying that a strong person of interest was in police custody.

At a news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the fear that had spread among members of the citys Bangladeshi community over concerns that the two men, who were dressed in religious garb at the time of the attack, had been targeted because of their faith.

Its a very rare thing to see a cleric killed, and the Muslim community has already been on edge, de Blasio said. I assured the members of the community the NYPD would be out in force.

The killings of the two men, Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and Thara Miah, 64, have shaken those in the Bangladeshi community, many of whom reside in the area around Ozone Park where the men lived, worshipped and were killed. In that neighborhood, some have been calling the attack a hate crime, even though police officials said the motivation for the killings remained unclear.

Investigators believe the gunman followed the two men and shot each in the back of the head, police officials said.

In surveillance footage captured by cameras, investigators were able to see the assailant get into his car, a black GMC sport utility vehicle, and drive away, soon blending into traffic, Robert K. Boyce, the Police Departments chief of detectives, told reporters Monday.

By tracking the make and model of the vehicle, he said, investigators found that the same kind of vehicle had been involved in a hit and run nearby. Investigators found the car parked on the street in East New York, where they waited for the driver to emerge.

On Sunday night, officials said the man got into the car and rammed into a police vehicle as he tried to flee. The man was arrested in connection with the hit and run and hitting the police vehicle. Boyce said investigators were searching his home on Monday night.

Because of the evidence so far, we strongly believe this is the individual, Boyce said.

Still, Boyce said investigators had not determined the motivation for the attack, and that it was unclear if the man had any connection to the two murder victims. Were still drilling down on it, Boyce said of the motive, adding that it was certainly on the table that its a hate crime.

Right now, he said, we cant explain why that person was there.

Earlier in the day, the funeral prayers for Akonjee and Miah drew several hundred mourners along with de Blasio and other officials to a parking lot in East New York, bordering Ozone Park.

The same people who had worshipped five times a day at Akonjees Al-Furqan Jame Masjid, a two-story house turned into a mosque, came to get a last look at their imams closed coffin, draped in fabric of gold and green and resting in the back of a hearse.

Akonjee, a father of seven, came to the United States in 2011 and moved his family to New York a year later to provide a better education for his children. Now his wife and two of his children will fly back with his body to Bangladesh for a burial Tuesday morning, said Sayed Ahmed, a family friend.

Mosharraft Hossain said: The imam was our spiritual leader; we worshipped with him five times a day. You cant imagine what weve lost.

On Monday, many mourners expressed concern about an increasing anti-Muslim climate in New York.

I dont feel safe anymore, Hossain said. All of this hatred being propagated, especially by Donald Trump, it puts us at risk. People sometimes pass me on the street and call me Bin Laden. I just try to keep my head down and keep walking.
A nonprofit known for training people to give great speeches has clammed up about efforts to move its worldwide headquarters out of Orange County.

Toastmasters International  with 179 employees and 345,000 members in 15,900 clubs in 142 countries  will hold a vote this week at its International Convention in Washington, D.C., on a proposal to move to Denver from Rancho Santa Margarita, where the organizations home base has been since 1990. A two-thirds vote is required for approval. The club was founded in Santa Ana in 1924.

The Toastmasters board recommended in 2015 on its website that the organization make the move because it says Orange County is too expensive. The board says moving to Denver will save the nonprofit 18 percent, but the website does not explain how it arrived at that figure. The group owns its headquarters building on Arroyo Vista, according to CoStar, a real estate information group.

In the run-up to the vote, Toastmasters has run into a bit of a problem. Her name is Ann Lau.

Lau, a proud Toastmasters member from Torrance, has launched a one-woman effort to encourage a no vote.

It almost seems like theyre trying to pull the wool over our eyes, said Lau, who is not attending the Toastmasters International convention after her effort to set up a table to hand out literature was blocked. Theres no transparency to the reasons they want to move. Where is the analysis?

The Orange County Register contacted Toastmasters several times by phone and email, providing questions for a potential interview with Chief Executive Daniel Rex. At first, the Register was told Rex would be available in the week before the convention. Then Toastmasters provided a one-sentence reply.

Our president or CEO will be happy to answer your questions after the vote, wrote Suzanne Frey, Toastmasters public relations manager.

Reasons for the move

Lau, a computer analyst, joined Toastmasters in 2002 after she had trouble giving a speech.

I did really terribly, she said. I was holding my paper, and I was shaking.

Toastmasters became an important part of her life. Her club meets every month in Torrance to discuss public speaking. She helped persuade her club members to vote no on the proposed move.

Lau said she has three main reasons for opposing the move:

 Denver is not as much of an international hub as Southern California.

 The Denver population isnt as diverse as Southern California.

 She believes the reason the move is being proposed is the top members of the Toastmasters board will face a lower personal income tax rate in Colorado.

Colorados income tax rate is 4.63 percent for all incomes. California has nine tax rates, the highest being 12.3 percent.

If you compare rate to rate, California looks really bad, but if you are in a lower tax bracket, California is better than Colorado, said Machiavelli W. Chao, of the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. High-income earners will pay less in Colorado.

Chao found that individuals making more than $150,000 a year had more favorable tax rates in Colorado.

Toastmasters 990 form in 2014 lists Rexs annual salary as $395,724. The next two highest-paid executives make more than $200,000 annually.

Individuals also pay less in property taxes in Colorado. California homeowners pay a minimum of 1 percent of their property value in taxes. It can increase up to 3 percent a year. In Colorado the tax rate is decided based on an assessment rate multiplied by the fair market value of the home. Every year it changes.

Right now, an Orange County homeowner would pay $8,800 a year in property taxes on a $800,000 house, while a Colorado resident would be paying less than $5,000.

A lack of affordable, not to mention available, real estate here has made the move to other states desirable for some, Chao said.

Rents, home prices, home sales and commercial real estate prices are projected to continue rising in Orange County in 2016.

At the beginning of the year, Chapman University predicted the median home price in Orange County would rise 2.5 percent. CSUF predicted a 4 percent to 6 percent increase.

You hear about big companies moving out of California, especially to Texas, Chao said. We have a couple of clients that have moved to Colorado. The even bigger driver is they can get into the housing market there. Prices are more affordable, and the real estate tax is less. And once they go there they realized they had a lower tax burden.

For companies, taxes are much lower in Colorado than in California. Colorado companies pay 4.63 percent of their companys net income. California companies pay 8.84 percent, but also have a minimum amount they pay in taxes.

Nonprofits generally dont pay taxes, Chao said. So moving to Colorado from Orange County would not offer any tax benefit to a group like Toastmasters, even though it may for individuals.

The fight continues

Lau has sent emails to as many clubs as she could, urging them to vote no on the move.

She asked that her counter-argument be posted on the Toastmasters website. That request was denied.

Lau has persuaded the Toastmasters Covina club to join her in opposing the move.

Shes a dynamo, said Leslie Martel, Covina club president. Theyre in a nice area. Its very convenient. I dont see the reason for the move.

Other clubs declined to comment on how they will vote.

Contact the writer: ksharon@scng.com
WASHINGTON  Donald Trump on Monday painted the Middle East as an oasis of stability before Hillary Clintons tenure as secretary of state, arguing that she and President Barack Obama launched the Islamic State group onto the world.

In trying to outline how he would defeat the threat, Trump himself launched several other false claims.

He said Clinton and Obama sought to install a democracy in Libya and pushed for immediate change in leadership in Syria, accusing the pair of embarking on a nation-building strategy that few Republicans would ascribe to Obamas intervention-averse administration.

In contrast, he advocated his own vision for U.S. foreign policy that included the suggestion of a U.S. takeover of Iraqs oil reserves.

A look at some of Trumps comments and how they adhered to the facts:

TRUMP: President Obama and Hillary Clinton should have never attempted to build a democracy in Libya, to push for immediate regime change in Syria or to support the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt.

THE FACTS: Trump seems to be confusing Obama and Clintons limited interventions, and sometimes non-interventions, with President George W. Bushs post-9/11 regime-change efforts.

When the U.S. led a coalition to bomb Libya in March 2011, it was sold as a humanitarian intervention. Obama vowed not to deploy U.S. troops on the ground and focused primarily on protecting Libyan civilians from dictator Moammar Gadhafis military forces. He didnt promise a stable democracy there, like Bush did in invading Iraq.

Five months into Syrias conflict, Obama urged President Bashar Assad to step aside. But Obama did very little to realize such a result, to the great dismay of his GOP critics and even some in his own administration.

To this day, the United States maintains its call for a Syria without Assad, even as it works with the Syrian leaders closest partners to try to engineer a unity government that would keep Assad in power, perhaps indefinitely.

While Trump is right that Libya, Syria and Egypt appeared more stable seven years ago, his analysis leaves out the simmering resentment for autocratic governments that would bubble over during the 2011 Arab Spring. That cannot be ascribed to Obama and Clinton.



TRUMP on Clintons role in the Libya campaign: With one episode of bad judgment after another, Hillary Clintons policies launched ISIS onto the world stage.

THE FACTS: The U.S.-led military campaign in Libya created a security vacuum and political chaos. But it took three years before IS emerged in Iraq and Syria, and there is no connection between those developments.

The group has its roots in a militant organization known as al-Qaida in Iraq, which found haven in Syria after being nearly decimated in Iraq in 2007-2009.

Some experts say the instability in Libya opened a door for the Islamic State to spread to North Africa, particularly after it suffered heavy losses in Syria and Iraq in 2015-16. But the group is facing severe setbacks there, too.



TRUMP on the Iraq war: I have been clear for a long time that we should not have gone in. But I have been just as clear in saying what a catastrophic mistake Hillary Clinton and President Obama made with the reckless way in which they pulled out.

THE FACTS: Trump did publicly say he wanted U.S. troops out years earlier than Obama pulled them out.

He said in March 2007 the U.S. should declare victory and withdraw troops because Iraq was going to get further bogged down in civil strife.

He said the U.S. was keeping a lid on the situation by being there, but that when the U.S. leaves, its all going to blow up so the U.S. might as well leave because you just are wasting time.



TRUMP: I have long said that we should have kept the oil in Iraq  In the old days, when we won a war, to the victor belonged the spoils.

THE FACTS: While Trump argues against nation-building, he seems to be suggesting the U.S. should have seized Iraq and its natural resources as an American colony. He ignores the fact that Iraq is a sovereign country and the U.S. at no point threatened to take possession of the country.

Trump says he would have used the money from oil sales to pay for the care of wounded soldiers. But the mission would require a permanent occupation, or at least until the oil runs out, and a large presence of American soldiers to guard sometimes isolated oil fields and infrastructure.

Trumps claim that the U.S. has taken spoils in previous wars also raises questions.

After major wars, the 240-year-old United States has tended to pour money and aid back into countries it has fought to help re-establish governments and services.

The U.S. still has troops in Germany and Japan, with the permission of those nations, but it did not take possession of their oil or other natural resources.

To achieve Trumps stated goal of destroying Islamic State militants revenue stream, the U.S. has bombed oil facilities in Iraq. The bombing was designed to render the oil facilities inoperable, but not destroy them, with the notion that Iraq could rebuild its own economy with their oil when the conflict ended.



TRUMP: Anyone who cannot name our enemy is not fit to lead our country. Anyone who cannot condemn the hatred, oppression and violence of radical Islam lacks the moral clarity to serve as our president.

THE FACTS: Obama doesnt use the phrase radical Islamic terrorism, but he condemns the group harshly and regularly. He has characterized IS fighters as thugs, thieves and terrorists.

Obama says he doesnt want to connect the group to the religion of Islam. Doing so, he says, would unnecessarily anger Arab allies fighting the group, alienate Muslims at home and validate the claims of the enemy. ISIL is not Islamic. he has said, using his preferred acronym for the group.

Trumps actual opponent in the presidential race, Clinton, is more comfortable with such terminology.

She has used the terms radical jihadism and radical Islamism.



TRUMP on one of the San Bernardino shooters: She wanted to support very openly jihad online A neighbor saw suspicious behavior, bombs on the floor and other things, but didnt warn authorities because they said they didnt want to be accused of racial profiling.

THE FACTS: There is no such evidence.

Jarrod Burguan, the citys police chief, says no one reported knowing anything about what husband-and-wife shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik had been plotting, even after the Dec. 2, 2015, terror attack that killed 14 people at a luncheon for county government employees.

Instead, some neighbors told investigators after the attack that they had general concerns about people who looked a little different in the neighborhood and didnt feel it was appropriate to say anything.

Thats a far cry from seeing bombs on the floor or identifying other suspicious behavior.



TRUMP: I had previously said that NATO was obsolete because it failed to deal adequately with terrorism. Since my comments, they have changed their policy and now have a new division focused on terror threats.

THE FACTS: NATO established a Defense Against Terrorism program in 2004, long before Trump ran for president. And its latest efforts in Iraq were already under discussion when Trump criticized the alliance in March.

Trumps comments reflected a broader frustration of the U.S. and others that NATO members werent playing an active role against IS in Iraq and Syria.

At a July summit, the alliance agreed to contribute aircraft and conduct training in Iraq. It also has stepped up intelligence coordination. No one has cited Trump as a motivation for such decisions.



TRUMP: The Islamic State has a new base of operations in Libya.

THE FACTS: Islamic State militants have tried to establish such a base in the city of Sirte. But a U.S.-supported military offensive in Libya this year has all but driven the group out of its former headquarters there.

U.S. officials estimated at one point as many as 6,000 extremists in the North African country. Latest estimates put only a couple hundred IS militants left in Sirte. Libyan officials say the city is 70 percent liberated and IS militants are cornered in a few locations.

Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Deb Riechmann and Kathleen Hennessey contributed to this report.
Re: Tom Steyers big money boosting Democrats [News, Aug. 14]: Billionaire Tom Steyer has made $31 million in contributions this election, including a few thousand into Orange County politics, and all of it toward very liberal goals. Hes running misleading television ads on the environment, which is kind of ironic since his hedge fund made huge profits on coal companies, and there is even speculation that he may run for governor. Why is it bad, according to the Left, for the Koch brothers to exert financial influence in elections for conservative causes but its OK for Steyer to use his for liberal causes?

Bill Ring

Mission Viejo

Media bias

I am getting sick of the Registers agenda of attempting to sway its readership against Donald Trump. Im sure your readers can see through your agenda. Why doesnt the Register just be honest and come out and say, the Register is for Hillary Clinton and our so-called journalists will only write negative stories about Donald Trump.

There is already a newspaper with the same agenda as yours. Its called the Los Angeles Times. Maybe the papers should merge.

David Love

Mission Viejo

  

Mr. Trump seems to revel in the fact that, as a very wealthy celebrity, he can publicly say whatever he wants about anyone else, true or not. And he does have that right  as part of our amazing Constitutions First Amendment: the freedom of speech. But, hey, the First Amendment is also about the freedom of the press.

You wont find either right in a country run by dictators, such as North Korea. And they are precious rights, not just for the rich and powerful, but for every single American of every background and political persuasion  including news reporters in all our media, such as our Orange County Register. Yes, the very reporters Trump maligns as the lowest form of humanity, just because they wont tell his lies for him, are a vital part of keeping America free. Keep telling the truth, not propaganda for one side or the other.

Honoring all the rights spelled out for all of us in our awesome Constitution are what has made America great, both now and throughout its history, assuring liberty and justice for all not just for bullying politicians or sneering plutocrats.

Bonnie Compton Hanson

Santa Ana
In the midst of a deeply divisive presidential campaign, more than 1,000 psychiatrists declared the Republican candidate unfit for the office, citing severe personality defects, including paranoia, a grandiose manner and a Godlike self-image. One doctor called him a dangerous lunatic.

The year was 1964, and after losing in a landslide, the candidate, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, sued the publisher of Fact magazine, which had published the survey, winning $75,000 in damages.

But doctors attacked the survey, too, for its unsupported clinical language and obvious partisanship. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association adopted what became known as the Goldwater Rule, declaring it unethical for any psychiatrist to diagnose a public figures condition unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.

Enter Donald Trump

The 2016 Republican nominees incendiary, stream-of-consciousness pronouncements have strained that agreement to the breaking point, exposing divisions in the field over whether such restraint is appropriate today.

Psychiatrists and psychologists have publicly flouted the Goldwater Rule, tagging Trump with an assortment of personality problems, including grandiosity, a lack of empathy, and malignant narcissism. The clinical insults are flying so thick that this month, the psychiatric association reiterated that breaking the Goldwater Rule is irresponsible, potentially stigmatizing, and definitely unethical.

Putting a psychiatric label on a candidate they oppose can be a seemingly irresistible tool for some in the field, said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a professor of psychiatry, medicine and law at Columbia University who disapproves of the practice. This year, perhaps more than most, theyre persuaded theyre saving the nation from a terrible fate.

William Doherty, a psychologist at the University of Minnesota, believes exactly that. In June, Doherty posted an online manifesto against Trumpism that has been signed by more than 2,200 mental health specialists.

Yes, for me this is an exception, Doherty said. What we have here is a threat to democracy itself.

Three reasons for the rule

Supporters of the Goldwater Rule have cited three main rationales for adhering to it: Most diagnoses made from a distance turn out to be wrong; the labels themselves can cause real harm to the person and family members; and the practice undermines the fields credibility, particularly its commitment to confidentiality. Not to mention, others say, that it could expose a left-leaning bias in the field.

But the psychoanalyzing of public figures by commentators, columnists and pop psychologists has a bipartisan history. Concerns about grandiosity and narcissism dogged Lyndon B. Johnsons presidency. Suspicions of a deepening paranoia clouded the end of Richard Nixons. Accusations of manipulation, deceit and a sense of entitlement have trailed the Clintons for years, prompting speculation about deeper personality problems.

Trump himself has recently tried to turn the tables, accusing Hillary Clinton of being unstable and unhinged.

While the vast majority of therapists comments remain focused on Trump, some in the profession say that if public psychoanalyzing is going to be done, it should be directed at both candidates.

Do those things rise to a diagnosable level? I sure dont know, said Don Sizemore, a family therapist in Lexington, Kentucky. But if were diagnosing him, we should be doing the same for her.

Yet history cautions against the armchair analysis of either one. Psychiatrists point to Goldwater himself as a prime example of getting it wrong. By the time he died in 1998, Goldwater was regarded as one of his partys most respected elder statesmen, The Washington Post said in its obituary.

In the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, many people longed for a diagnosis to explain or denounce President Bill Clintons behavior, said Dr. Nada Stotland, a psychiatrist at Rush Medical College in Chicago. I remember getting all these media calls asking if he was a narcissist or a sex addict, she said. Well, sex addiction wasnt a recognized disorder at the time. And if it had been, was the behavior then not his fault? I ended up dancing around these questions, because this idea that we should go around, willy-nilly, putting diagnoses on people is just wrong.

Enough material for analysis

But those using clinical language to describe Trumps behavior contend that this presidential election is vastly different, for a big reason: The proliferation of social media comments and video clips, which afford direct, unscripted access to candidates, was simply not available in previous races. The depth of that material creates a public persona complete enough to analyze on its own merits, they say.

Doherty said he and the therapists who signed his manifesto were not diagnosing Trumps personal traits, but his public persona. The manifesto characterizes Trumpism as reinventing history, never apologizing, demeaning critics and inciting violence. One can talk about his public behavior without knowing whether he is fully that way with his children, his wife, his friends, Doherty said.

Dr. Steven Buser, a psychiatrist who with his colleague, Dr. Leonard Cruz, coedited a new book, A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump, stressed, We are careful not to make a clinical diagnosis here, to say that Donald Trump has narcissistic personality disorder. The contributing writers include psychiatrists and psychologists, but Buser said, We are focused on the image he projects, on TV, in tweets, in quotes.

Appelbaum calls this distinction a convenient splitting of hairs. It takes a skilled therapist months, sometimes longer, seeing a person regularly and asking probing questions to make a determination of whether a disorder is present, Appelbaum said.

But in an era when private moments and comments are increasingly available for public consumption, some argue that the Goldwater Rule is due for an update.

Theres another perspective on this altogether, said John D. Mayer, a University of New Hampshire psychologist who has written widely on the rule. The ethicists who wrote the rule have been entirely focused on the negative side of commentaries. But theres a positive, adaptive side to every personality trait.

If you call someone deceitful, whether Clinton or Trump, Mayer said of this years nominees, it needs to be said that, for a good politician, there are reasons you cant always say everything you know, or exactly what you think.
Hotel sales volume was down 56 percent in California the first half of this year as buyers and sellers retreated from the market, according to Atlas Hospitality, an Irvine-based real estate firm.

Orange County was a bright spot as hotel sales were up 27 percent.

Sales are way down year to date, but thats not a surprise to us, Atlas President Alan Reay said. Last year was a record-breaking year for sales transactions, and we did expect to see a decline, but we didnt predict this large of a decline.

Plummeting hotel stock contributed largely to the plunge, Reay said, as publicly traded hotel groups were no longer buying and became sellers.

We had a lot of inventory in the first quarter and not a lot of buyers. A lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, people thinking we might have peaked. Buyers were very cautious, he said.

Reay added that the second quarter of the year was better than the first.

The market is taking a breather, and people are looking at 2016 as a year where we might see where the direction hotels are going, Reay added. We also have a lot of new development going on and people are watching that very carefully in terms of how it will affect occupancy and profitability.

Other statewide highlights from Atlas half-year survey:

 Statewide, transactions fell 17 percent.

 Northern California transactions were down 32 percent.

 Southern California transactions were up 1 percent.

 The median price per room was up 11.3 percent, far below the 25 percent increase seen last year.

 The Vintage Estate in Napa Countys Yountville sold for $197 million, the most expensive transaction so far this year.

Orange County highlights:

 Sales were up 27 percent (14 from 11).

 Volume dropped 83 percent ($124 million from $749 million).

 Median price per room dropped 35 percent.

 The Crowne Plaza Costa Mesa sale for $37.5 million was the most expensive transaction.

Like the state, Orange Countys hospitality industry had a record-breaking 2015. Approximately $1.4 billion was spent on hotel purchases in Orange County, according to Atlas.

Eight hotels were under construction, while four opened by the end of the year, according to the firm.

Highlights last year include the January sale of the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach, which was bought for $360 million in the biggest hotel sale in Californias history.

Then in September, the Montage and the 393-room Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel got a new owner when the Blackstone Group, which owns the Motel 6 budget hotel chain, bought its parent company, Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., for roughly $6 billion.

The high purchase amount drove the high sale numbers seen by the end of the year. (The two local hotels were again part of a hotel group deal this year.)

This year, most buyers are purchasing 30-100 room hotels, according to Reay.

The drop in median price per room is not a true reflection of whats happening, according to Reay. Its more a reflection of assets like the Montage being sold last year.

Reay predicts that by years end, sales volume will be off 20 percent in the state.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
Japanese audiophiles are so obsessed with perfect sound quality that they not only invest tens of thousands of dollars in high quality audio technology, but also install private utility poles to makes sure their setups have enough electricity to work perfectly.

There is currently no definitive proof that having your very own utility pole and an ample amount of electricity makes any meaningful difference on sound quality, but die-hard audiophiles insist that they are critical for a pure audio experience. Electricity is like blood. If it is tainted, the whole body will get sick, Takeo Morita recently told the Wall Street Journal. No matter how expensive the audio equipment is, it will be no good if the blood is bad. He recently paid around $10,000 to have a concrete utility pole installed in his yard. It comes complete with his own personal transformer, which feeds power more directly from the grid.

Photo: Yukio Yoshihara

Installing a personal utility pole might sound like a waste of money to most people, but Japanese audiophiles are apparently a very special breed. Most of them insist that sharing a pole with neighbors means putting up with electrical interference, a noise that makes subtle notes inaudible and the overall sound flatter, whenever they use any gadgets in their homes. A personal pole eliminates such problems, making any music sound much better.

62-year-old Yukio Yoshihara always thought his expensive audio system sounded much better at night, when neighbors werent using their appliances, and after asking electricians to assess the quality of power in his home, he knew he had to invest in a personal utility pole. I found out just how polluted the power supply was, he told WSJ. He ended up paying $40,000 for a custom setup, complete with a new circuit-breaker panel and wiring.

Photo: Yukio Yoshihara

Now he says his favorite classic music sounds completely different. It sounded so fresh and vivid, like they were playing in front of my eyes, he claims. His wife, on the other hand, couldnt tell the difference. Its completely beyond my understanding, 57-year-old Reiko said. But if I take it away from him, he will lose the motivation to live.

Izumi Denki Corp. installed Mr. Moritas private utility pole and 40 others across Japan in the last decade, but its definitely bot the only company catering to this very unique niche. Japanese magazine Power Sources & Accessories also specializes in power sourcing for audio equipment, including private utility poles for audiophiles.
Steven Seagal, who has long supported nuclear disarmament, helping to fund the multinational Center for Defense Information, today said the cause of peace will be advanced when nations realize they are "one family" that must transcend an obsession with national borders.

He made the statement to ODwyers on the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II which took place Aug. 15, 1945 when Japan announced it was unconditionally surrendering after atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It is the responsibility of every global citizen to rid the world of this imminent threat. I have been blessed to know many of the individuals who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Seagal said at ceremonies in San Francisco July 16, 2005.



He told O'Dwyer's today: "The world is concerned with defending borders but in order for mankind to survive these perilous times we have to realize we are one famlly and to survive we must transcend these territorial concerns."

Steven Seagal and blinded victim Takahashi Tanemori of Hiroshima blast view memorial plaque.



Photos: Sharlene Spingler



Seagal, who attended the July 15, 2005 ceremonies with Sharlene Spingler, now Associate Publisher and Editor of ODwyers, praised the monks who had preserve a flame from the Hiroshima blast, brought it to San Francisco, and who then walked 1,600 miles to Alamogordo, N.M., where the first atomic bomb was detonated 60 years earlier.

Said Seagal: It is by their example of spirit and strength that drives my determination to make this world a safer place.

Also taking part in the ceremonies were survivors of the Hiroshima blast, Japanese Senator Shoukichi Kina, and Dr. Bruce Blair of the Center for Defense Information, Washington, D.C.

The ceremony commemorated the deaths of more than 120,000 in atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hiroshima was bombed Aug. 6, 1945 and Nagasaki three days later. Japan surrendered Aug. 14 but historians record both Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 as end-of-the war days.

Spingler, Associate Publisher and Editor of ODwyers, has long been a friend of actor Seagal who had lived in Japan a third of his life and married and raised children there.

He brought to Spingler to a ceremony in San Francisco July 16, 2005, which was the 60th anniversary of the detonation of the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, N.M. It was held on the pier next to which was docked the Japanese Tall Ship Nippon Maru.

The ship transported the original atomic flame taken by a monk from the burning embers in Hiroshima and kept alive in a monastery for 60 years. At least 80,000 died instantly in the Aug. 6, 1945 blast while 40,000+ died in the Aug. 9 blast.

Other estimates are that from 90,000 to 146,000 died in Hiroshima and from 39,000 to 80,000 in Nagasaki.

As of 2005 there were 270,000 hibakusha or bomb survivors still living in Japan.

Monks Walked 1,600 Miles to Test Site

Seagal & Spingler

The monks believed that good and evil happen in circles, says an article on the event that appeared under Spinglers byline in The Day, New London, on July 31, 2005. The monks then walked 1,600-miles from S.F. to the Trinity Test Site where the flame was extinguished. Sponsoring the commemoration was the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund.

The atomic flame was passed to Japanese Senator Shoukici Kina who gave it to Seagal who passed it back to the monks so they could begin their walk to the Trinity site.

Seagal gave the Fund its first $100,000.

Says the Spingler article: They believe that by bringing the flame back to its source, they will close the circle of destruction in a peaceful manner while opening up a new circle of peace."

Spinglers mother worked during the 1940s on the Manhattan Project, which created the atomic bomb.

The original atomic flame was passed from a Hiroshima survivor to Dr. Bruce Blair of the multinational Center for Defense Information, Washington, D.C.
Long established agri-business J. Grennan & Sons has secured Irish brand Lir Agri for their six stores across Offaly and Westmeath.

Long established agri-business J. Grennan & Sons has secured Irish brand Lir Agri for their six stores across Offaly and Westmeath.

The Rath based business has been a part of Irish farming for generations and in agri-trading since 1878. Lir Agri, which develop and manufacture a range of premium bio-security solutions for the dairy industry, will be sold exclusively in their six stores across the midlands.

John Grennan, managing director of J. Grennan & Sons said, As a family owned Irish business J. Grennan & Sons are delighted to be supporting an Irish brand. Lir Agri products will be sold in all of our stores and we expect them to sell very well.

J. Grennan & Sons, which employs up to 100 people during their peak months, is an exceptional example of what an Irish agricultural business can achieve. As a progressive Irish business, Lir Agri is on track to emulate this success. The majority of dairy hygiene products used on Irish farms today are imported. Lir Agri is changing this by producing the highest quality bio-security solutions for farms in their plant in Granard, Co. Longford. The state of the art research and development facility creates superior products for the expanding Irish dairy sector .

Lir Agri Managing Director, Micheal Savage said, Lir Agri is delighted to be exclusively stocking J. Grennan & Sons stores. J. Grennan & Sons are a highly reputable agri-business and their customers will be very satisfied with our bio-security solutions. We have a stringent development process that results in dairy hygiene products of exceptional quality. Farmers using Lir Agri are reporting improvements in bacterial counts. Thats whats important to us  creating products that farmers can trust

.

Pictured above at J. Grennan and Sons head office in Rath are (L to R) J. Grennan and Sons Store Sales Sheelagh Grennan, J. Grennan and Sons Store Manager Tony Makim, J. Grennan and Sons Managing Director John Grennan, Lir Agri Managing Director Micheal Savage, Lir Agri Head of Sales Neil Tully.
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Agricultural News

HSUS, Cocky After Success in Cage Free Egg Efforts, Going After Big Changes in Unnatural, Stressful Broiler Production

Dr. Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton is Director of the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Thaxton has written a recent blog that offers her thoughts on the Humane Soceity of the US and recent overtures they have made to US Broiler producers. The following blog was originally published at Meatingplace.Com:





"It seems that HSUS has sent a letter to many CEOs of broiler companies with language noting their victories with layers and swine as well as their intent to now focus on the broiler industry. While I am not surprised at the attitude, I am somewhat flummoxed by their sending such an obvious threat.





"I agree that they have won some major victories. In the case of cage-free at the expense of the animals but nevertheless, the change is now a fact. The swine issue with gestation stalls is also now a fact. So what do they have in mind for broilers? I took a look at their white paper on the topic.





"More than 8.5 billion chickens are slaughtered for meat production in the United States every year. Raised in industrial production systems, these animals experience crowded indoor confinement, unnatural lighting regimes, poor air quality, stressful handling and transportation, and inadequate stunning and slaughter procedures. Because they are selectively bred for rapid growth, broiler chickens are prone to a variety of severe skeletal and metabolic disorders that can cause suffering, pain, and even death. Broiler breeders, the parent birds of chickens raised for meat, are subjected to severe feed restriction, and males may undergo painful toe and beak amputations, performed without pain relief. Scientific research on the behavior and welfare of broiler chickens demonstrates that these are substantial and important issues. Rapid and immediate reform is needed to improve the welfare of chickens raised for meat."





"That pretty much says it all. And the industry has been warned.





"Apparently in the letter HSUS said they have now "partnered with Perdue." Earlier this year, Perdue announced plans to switch to gas stunning, eliminating dumping and shackling sensible birds. The company is adding windows and perches to the growing houses. Perdue also indicated the company would study slower growing breeds of birds.





"At this point the horse is not out of the barn, but the door is open and the horse is moving toward the door which leads me to believe that HSUS is likely to once again claim they won the race."













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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  The nations first offshore wind farm is set to open off the coast of Rhode Island this fall, ushering in a new era in the United States for the industry.

Developers, federal regulators and industry experts said the opening will move the U.S. industry from a theory to reality, paving the way for the construction of many more wind farms that will eventually provide power for many Americans.

Deepwater Wind is building a five-turbine wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island, to power about 17,000 homes. The project costs about $300 million, according to the company.

CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said the Block Island wind farm enables larger projects because it proves that wind farms can be built along the nations coast.

I look at Block Island as sort of the key to unlocking the code of how to do offshore wind in the U.S., he said.

This comes as other states have suddenly woken up to offshore winds potential, Grybowski added.

Areas suitable for offshore wind farms have been identified off seven states, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has already awarded 11 commercial offshore wind energy leases for sites in the Atlantic Ocean.

Developers have requested commercial wind leases for areas off California and Hawaii. And a lease sale is planned for 81,000 acres off New York for commercial wind energy this year.

Theres a tremendous amount of activity, and I think this will be viewed in history as the year that changed everything for the U.S. offshore wind industry, said Kit Kennedy, an energy and transportation expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Offshore wind farms  which benefit from strong winds because of their location  are being proposed near population epicenters that lack the space to build on land.

Abigail Ross-Hopper, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said that climate change is driving interest in offshore wind and that she expects to see more wind farms being built in about three to five years.

We are right on the edge of the cliff and were about to leap off into the building of many wind farms, Ross-Hopper said. I really think thats true. State and federal policy, and the technology, are all coming together at the same time.

Indeed, several states are pushing ambitious clean energy goals that include offshore wind. Among them is California, which has a target of generating 50 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030. Vermont hopes to hit 55 percent by next year and Hawaii has called for 100 percent renewable power by 2045.

Massachusetts decided to ramp up its reliance on renewable and alternative sources of energy under a bill signed into law last week. The law in part requires utilities to solicit long-term contracts with offshore wind farm developers to bring at least 1,600 megawatts of wind energy, enough to power about 240,000 homes, to Massachusetts in the next decade. New York state recently committed to generating half its power from renewable sources by the year 2030. Many other states have set more modest goals.

But offshore wind is not without its growing pains.

Cape Wind would have built the nations first offshore wind farm if the 130-turbine project off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, had not stalled. The company faced a series of legal challenges brought by project opponents, largely funded by billionaire businessman William Koch.

Last month a New York utility was set to approve a different Deepwater Wind project, this one a 15-turbine wind farm off eastern Long Island. But the vote was put on hold after officials said they wanted to wait until after the states offshore wind master plan is released, sometime in the next several weeks.

Catherine Bowes, a climate and energy expert at the National Wildlife Federation, said it has been hard for some people to think about offshore wind as a real, viable option until now. She sees the Block Island wind farm coming online as a springboard for the industry.

Its a shift from offshore wind being something that might happen in the future to being a here-and-now clean energy opportunity, Bowes said.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nearly $68,000 in possessions were stolen from an out-of-state family seeking shelter from last weeks severe storms when they stopped at an Omaha motel.

Duane Mitchell Jr., 53, said Monday that he and his family were returning to their Suffolk, Virginia, home after vacationing in Idaho. Mitchell, his wife, son and grandson pulled their two vehicles into the Motel 6 at 109th and J Streets.

The rain had been relentless and flash flood warnings had been issued, so the family didnt want to take any chances. The southwest metro, where the family had been traveling, saw some of the heaviest rain  in some areas, rainfall totaled nearly 4 inches.

About 7 a.m. Friday the family emerged from their room to find their 2002 Ford F-350 and an attached trailer carrying two Honda all-terrain vehicles stolen. A $4,000 computer, three handguns, two rifles, a shotgun, ammunition and $3,000 worth of tools were in the truck.

Because the rain was really coming down, we probably didnt empty out as much of our belongings as we usually do, Mitchell said. You dont realize all that you lost until you get a chance to stop and add it up.

Surveillance video from the motel shows a light-colored Cadillac Escalade with a roof rack pulling into the parking lot near the silver pickup at 3:26 a.m., Mitchell said. Two men are seen approaching the truck.

They seemed to know exactly where the cameras were because they came from the opposite side, Mitchell said. It took them one minute to get in, and they were gone eight minutes later. Its probably just as well I didnt catch them, or it would have been bad (for them).

The Mitchells returned home in their sons car, driving 1,500 miles straight through. A spokesman with the Omaha Police Department said there are no leads and none of the Mitchells property has been recovered.

I have a lot of friends at Kiewit (Corp.) who are always talking about what a great place Omaha is, said Mitchell, who works for Weeks Marine Inc. Well, Omaha left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. But we got out of there with our health.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP (7867) or go to omahacrimestoppers.org. Tipsters remain anonymous and are eligible for a cash reward.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1272, kevin.cole@owh.com
A 25-year-old Chicago woman has been sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay nearly $14,000 in restitution in a case involving the use of counterfeit credit and debit cards in eastern Nebraska.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf also sentenced Aisha Morgan in federal court in Lincoln to 20 hours of community service, U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilgs office said.

Morgan and Cornesha Kelly, 24, also of Chicago, were stopped in their car by authorities in Lancaster County on March 28, 2015. In the car, officers found 346 counterfeit credit and debit cards and 258 gift cards from Walmart, Walgreens and Dollar General, Gilgs office said.

The counterfeit credit and debit cards were encoded with stolen credit card information from 91 financial institutions in several states and 13 foreign countries.

Gilgs office said an investigation by Lincoln police found that Morgan and Kelly used counterfeit cards numerous times over three days in eastern Nebraska:

 March 26, 2015, in Omaha, Blair, Papillion, La Vista, Bellevue, and Fremont.

 March 27, 2015, in Fremont, Lincoln, Crete, Seward, York and Grand Island.

 March 28, 2015, in Grand Island, Hastings, Aurora and York before being stopped in Lancaster County.

During the three-day span, Morgan and Kelly attempted to use counterfeit cards 123 times at Walmart, Walgreens and Dollar General, with 75 attempts successful at 40 locations, resulting in 240 purchases totaling $15,886, Gilgs office said.

Kelly is to be sentenced Aug. 25, Gilgs office said.
A 20-year-old man was arrested Monday night in connection with a shooting in South Omaha that left a teenage girl injured.

Police said gang unit officers spotted the man sought in the shooting as he was driving near 10th and Bancroft Streets around 7 p.m. The man was pulled over and he was taken into custody, police said.

He was booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of second-degree felony assault, use of a weapon to commit a felony and possession of a controlled substance  manufactured hash oil, police said.

Around 9:30 p.m. July 31, a 15-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound to a lower leg in a shooting at 30th and R Streets, police said. The wound was not considered life-threatening.

Officers were flagged down near the emergency entrance to Nebraska Medical Center, police said. The victim, Valerie Xochiwua, told officers that an unknown person gave her a ride to the hospital after she was shot, police said.

In a shooting late Monday night at North 64th Street and Fowler Avenue, a 22-year-old man suffered a wound that was not considered life-threatening, police said.

Officers were dispatched to the area around 11:20 p.m., where they found the victim, James Brimmer.

Police said Brimmer told them he was walking in the area when he was hit by a gunshot fired from a dark-colored SUV.

Brimmer was taken in critical condition to Nebraska Medical Center.
Upon hearing the word guilty four times, Traci Sanchez clasped her hands, nodded and let out tearful sighs of relief.

A jury Monday afternoon convicted James Cotton of first-degree murder and three other felonies in the death of her foster son, Trevor Bare, 24.

Sanchez, who was Bares foster mom from the time he was about 8 years old, said she was grateful for prosecutor Chad Browns work and the jurys decision. Sanchez and Brown hugged after the verdict was delivered.

It was a long wait, Sanchez said. Im ready to move on and think about the good memories.

Cotton, 61, shot Bare during an argument on the morning of Aug. 7, 2015, outside Bares apartment at 4301 Marcy St.

Cotton had once been the roommate of Bares biological mother, but at some point the relationship soured.

The 7 a.m. argument started between Bare and another man, Travis Labno, who accused Bare of setting his pickup on fire that morning. Labno was moving into another apartment in the house, and Cotton was helping him.

As they argued, Bare stood in a narrow walkway outside, holding a fence post that he wouldnt drop, Labno testified.

Then Labno heard a noise, which he testified was Cotton behind him, racking a shotgun.

Labno got out of the way.

Bare told Cotton: If youre going to hold the gun to me, then you better (expletive) shoot me, Bares girlfriend, McKayla Burnette, testified.

Cotton fired once.

Bare collapsed, blood spilling from his abdomen.

Cotton also testified during the trial.

In closing statements, Brown questioned Cottons Friday testimony, saying that it was riddled with inconsistencies.

It almost felt like it was a script, Brown said. Cue the quivering lip.

Cottons attorney, Travis Penn, told the jury that the states witnesses were not credible and his client provided what he remembered about the fatal shooting.

He wanted to elaborate, Penn said. He wanted to fill in every detail you didnt have, even if it was inconsistent with the other witnesses.

After the verdict, Penn declined to comment except to say that he plans to appeal and file a motion for a new trial. He wouldnt elaborate.

I dont want to say anything that will affect the proceedings, he said.

The jury reached its verdict in three hours. The trial had lasted five days.

Brown said he was pleased the jury found Cotton guilty on all counts despite the defenses effort to paint Bare as a violent person.

The kid finally gets justice for what he went through, Brown said.

Cotton also was found guilty of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person and possession of a controlled substance. Those convictions could add a maximum of 102 years to his life sentence on the murder charge.

After the verdict was read, Cotton hoisted himself into his wheelchair and the deputies escorted him out of the courtroom.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1068, alia.conley@owh.com
It doesnt look like many school districts in the Omaha area are eager to follow the lead of Bellevue and Omaha and craft their own policies or regulations addressing transgender students.

One day after the Omaha Public Schools board indicated its willingness to expand anti-discrimination protections and accommodations for transgender students, several school officials said they werent immediately considering drafting or tweaking any school policies.

Theres been nothing from our community on changing the policies in the matter, said Mike Kennedy, president of the Millard school board. No directives that would make us change our policy. We dont have a specific policy, and we havent had any complaints on any side of this issue.

Matt Belka, the spokesman for the Nebraska Association of School Boards, said his association has fielded a small number of phone calls from school officials across the state. The association recommends that they consult with their board attorney before moving forward with any policy changes, he said.

Schools are focused on doing what is in the best interest for their kids, Belka said. Nebraska is a strong local-control state, and we expect schools to address these issues ethically and competently.

An OPS board meeting Monday night drew a large crowd of community members, students and parents, many of whom asked the board to vote down policies that would allow transgender students to use locker rooms or restrooms that match their gender identity, not their biological sex.

The board voted to advance a revised anti-discrimination policy that would include gender identity and gender expression.

Board members also asked staff to start researching and drafting a policy that could address issues such as bathrooms, locker rooms and name changes for transgender students.

OPS board members who supported a more detailed policy said the district, the largest in Nebraska, could lead the state in ensuring that transgender students feel safe and accepted at school. The district has not said how many transgender students attend OPS schools.

The discussion comes on the heels of national controversies involving transgender students and adults and a federal directive handed down in May that ordered schools to meet the needs of transgender students.

Nebraska and nine other states sued the federal government last month in an attempt to block the guidelines. State officials have said the directive twists the Title IX federal education law and could compromise the privacy and safety of other students.

Bellevue was the first local district to tackle the issue head-on, adopting administrative rules in October that were met with both support and skepticism from parents and taxpayers. Those regulations assert that transgender students have a right to privacy and are allowed to use the name, bathroom and clothes that align with their gender identity.

The regulation is used as a guide to help us support transgender students while understanding the needs of all students in the school, Bellevue spokeswoman Amanda Oliver said in a statement. It does not anticipate every scenario and situation that may occur with transgender students needs. Therefore, each student and family meets with building administrators to discuss these issues on a case-by-case basis and then determine how best to support the student within the parameters of the districts administrative regulation.

Most districts do not have a separate policy for transgender students, or include gender identity in their anti-discrimination policies, which typically cover grounds such as race, religion, age and sex.

But several districts have said they do sit down with transgender students and their parents to hash out details such as restroom usage or concerns over bullying.

As with any other issue involving our students, our philosophy is, and has been, to work with the individual student and to assess issues on an individual basis, said Westside spokeswoman Brandi Petersen. We do not have separate policies on transgender students. We have comprehensive policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment, and we expect and require that all students be treated with dignity and respect.

We also understand this is an issue involving a vast spectrum of beliefs, questions and concerns, and we will continue to advocate for an environment that is safe for all, while upholding the rights of all students privacy.

The Lincoln Public Schools are not considering any policy changes but will continue to work with transgender students and their families, spokeswoman Mary Kay Roth said.

Lincoln parents and school officials can create action plans for transgender students that may include deciding which restroom a student will use and informing teachers of any name changes.

In May, Russ Uhing, the student services director in Lincoln, said three transgender students used restrooms that corresponded with their gender identity, but no accommodations had been made for locker rooms.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1210, erin.duffy@owh.com
KEARNEY, Neb.  After 46 years in the United States, Ileana Martin Sanchez of Grand Island, Nebraska, finally became a U.S. citizen on Friday.

Ive been in the United States a long, long time, its my country, said the native of Cuba.

Friday night, she invited 15 friends and family to celebrate her citizenship by sharing one of her favorite meals from her island nation: rice, black beans, roast pork and fried plantains.

Martin Sanchez was among about 40 immigrants who swore their loyalty to the United States at The Archway during a special naturalization ceremony the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service dubbed Westward Ho. The theme emphasizes the migration of Americans who settled the West during the great westward expansion from 1834 to 1869. Several hundred thousand of those travelers passed through Kearney on the three historic routes that converged along the Great Platte River Road: The California Trail, Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail.

The Kearney ceremony is among 13 Westward Ho events where the Immigration Service plans to usher in new U.S. citizens.

The historical connection between the past and present is obvious, said Immigration Service Director David Douglas. The settlers were seeking new lands and opportunities, just as modern immigrants coming to the United States.

Friday at The Archway, new citizens included people from four continents  South America, Europe, Asia and Africa  and 14 countries.

For Scottsbluff, Nebraska, factory worker Melquiades Ortiz, the journey from his native Mexico to U.S. citizenship spanned 18 years. Asked what was the most difficult part of achieving citizenship, he said, Everything. This is a new country.

U.S. Magistrate Cheryl Zort of Lincoln noted The Archways exhibits that tell the story of the westward migration that transformed the United States into a nation spanning coast to coast.

You are in the perfect place, a monument to explorers looking for freedom, Zwort told the new citizens. Serve and give back to this country. We are a democracy, the largest board of directors on earth.

Jorge Tort, a Cuban immigrant from Grand Island, was among family members watching their loved ones become new U.S. citizens. Tort is studying English at Central Community College, but his wife, Meibis, knew English when they arrived in the United States.

One of Meibis big challenges was learning U.S. history and civics to pass the citizenship test.

After Fridays ceremony, she went directly to the League of Women Voters table and registered to participate in the November election.

In Cuba we didnt get to learn about democracy, but here we can get better jobs and vote  finally, she said. Im excited to vote, especially for president.
DES MOINES (AP)  Transportation officials say there has been a spike in traffic fatalities in Iowa this year.

Data from the Iowa Department of Transportation show at least 238 traffic fatalities recorded in the state between the start of the year and the middle of August. There were 182 traffic fatalities during the same period last year.

Steve Gent, the departments director of traffic and safety, said there has been an increase in fatalities nearly every month of 2016. Theres no specific reason for the jump, though Gent noted that more people are driving Iowa roads in part because the price of gasoline has decreased in recent years.

There have been roughly 320 traffic fatalities every year in Iowa between 2013 and 2015. Gent said the department expects this years final tally to top that number.

Copyright 2016, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
DES MOINES (AP)  A flag desecration charge was dropped Monday for a man who protested a crude oil pipeline that crosses his property by hanging an American flag upside-down at his home, online court records show.

Homer Martz, 63, was charged Friday under a state law that makes it illegal to defile, cast contempt upon, satirize or deride a flag. That law, however, was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in December 2014, and state prosecutors were told not to enforce it.

The law, which lawmakers have not removed from the books, says law enforcement officers have a duty to enforce the provisions of this chapter, and for failure to do so they may be removed as by law provided.

Calhoun County Attorney Tina Meth Farrington filed a motion to dismiss the charges Monday, saying that she read the 2014 federal ruling and concluded that she shouldnt pursue the charge.

A judge approved the motion Monday afternoon.

Calhoun County Sheriff William Davis said at the time Martz was arrested that he and the two arresting officers were unaware the law had been struck down.

The American flag was hanging upside down on a flagpole underneath a Chinese flag at Martzs home, and a sign on the flagpole under the flags said: In China there is no freedom, no protesting, no due process. In Iowa? In America?

Martz, an Army veteran, told the Fort Dodge Messenger that it was a display of protest due to frustration over having no say in the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline near the well that serves as the drinking water source for his home.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP)  A white officer in Iowa is facing a disciplinary investigation after he was caught on tape disparaging a black teenager who was the victim of a fatal 2013 shooting, a police chief said Monday.

Waterloo Police Chief Daniel Trelka said he opened an internal investigation into the remarks by Officer Kenneth Schaaf after learning about them on Friday. We dont tolerate these kinds of remarks, Trelka said.

The remarks  first reported by the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier  came to light when Schaaf testified at the trial of a man charged in the November 2013 shooting death of 18-year-old DaeQuan Campbell.

In remarks caught on tape while he provided security for the death scene, Schaaf was recording asking a colleague, When was the last time we had a death where its a true victim? He also referred to Campbell as an obscenity and said we just need a semi-apocalyptic event to get rid of 90 percent of them.

Waterloos largely white police force is already facing scrutiny over the way it treats minorities in the city, which has the highest percentage of African-Americans in Iowa.

The city agreed to pay $2.5 million earlier this year to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a 22-year-old black man who was fatally shot by a white officer in 2012. Last week, the Associated Press reported that the city is settling four lawsuits filed by three other black residents, including two teenagers, who alleged that they were illegally arrested and roughed up by white officers.

Schaaf called his statements stupid, crass, and insensitive while on the witness stand Friday at the trial of Perquondis Holmes, 25, whos charged with fatally shooting Campbell.

Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams had objected to allowing jurors to hear Schaafs statements, saying: It is just one officers idiotic opinion on this, and it is wrong.

But Judge David Staudt ruled that the comments were admissible as part of a defense strategy to convince the jury that police did not have the motivation to fully investigate Campbells death. The trial is continuing this week.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The City of Omaha will pay $250,000 to continue its fight against the emerald ash borer.

The borer, believed to be the most destructive insect to afflict trees in North America, was found in Omaha in June.

The city has about 11,000 ash trees on public property, and the goal is to save 5,000 of them. Parks Director Brook Bench said the city has treated 500.

The City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to approve a contract with the firm Holland and McKee to treat more trees next year.

The city will spend $4.67 per inch of tree up to $250,000. Bench said its hard to say how many trees that will treat, but he estimated it would be several thousand.

Parks employees have also taken down about 1,000 other ash trees, Bench said.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms were expected this morning in the Omaha area.

Sunny skies and a high temperature near 87 are expected by afternoon.

Tonight, there is a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., and a low around 68 is likely.

Early today, a storm system stretching from Kearney to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and Norfolk to Lincoln moved east just north of the Omaha area. A handful of locations in eastern Nebraska reported rainfall this morning: Columbus, .48 of an inch; Fremont, .14; Norfolk, .06; Tekamah, .17; Valley, .16; Wahoo, .29; Wayne, .50.

Meanwhile, warmer conditions and a bit more humidity are likely through midweek across the region before a strong cold front arrives Friday night, leaving high temperatures for the weekend in the 70s.

In the Omaha area Wednesday, sunny skies, a 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7 a.m. and a high near 89 are forecast, the weather service said.

Thursday will warm up to near 90, forecasters said, while Fridays high will be near 83. There is also a chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday. The weather service said showers and thunderstorms are likely Friday night, along with a low around 62.

Saturday and Sundays forecasts call for sunny skies, highs in the mid-70s and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows on Saturday night and Sunday night will be in the mid- to upper 50s.
The B-29 Superfortress "Fifi" is expected to arrive at Eppley Airfield at 11:30 a.m. today, about three hours earlier than the time announced yesterday.

The 1940s-vintage bomber belonging to the Commemorative Air Force will be on display at Eppley through Sunday. It is one of only two flying models of the B-29 in existence. It had originally been scheduled to fly to Omaha Monday but was grounded at its last stop in Springfield, Illinois, because of bad weather, said Kim Pardon, a spokeswoman for the group.

The B-29 has a close association with the Omaha area.

More than 400 of them were built at the Martin Bomber Plant at Offutt Air Force Base  including Enola Gay and Bockscar, which dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, leading to the end of World War II.

Fifi, a B-29A, was built in Renton, Washington, and delivered to the Army Air Forces in 1945. It was retired in 1958 and stored for 13 years, when the restoration group recovered it. Fifi was refurbished and returned to flying condition in 1974.

Fifi was the only B-29 still flying until last month, when a second aircraft, Doc, made a successful test flight at Wichita, Kansas, after several years of restoration. About 20 more non-flying models are in museums around the country, including one, the "Lucky Lady," at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland.

The public will be able to view "Fifi"  along with five other vintage aircraft  at TACAir, 3737 Orville Plaza, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for youths ages 11-17, and free for children 10 and under. Flights aboard Fifi are available for $595 and up.

More information is available at www.airpowersquadron.org.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com
LOWER LAKE, Calif. (AP)  A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking the wildfire that destroyed more than 175 homes, business and other structures in a Northern California town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

The residents of Lake County have experienced senseless loss and endured significant hardship over the past year, Pimlott said. Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time.

The wind-whipped had spread to more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

It was just 5 percent contained, though late in the day fire officials said no other structures were under direct threat.

Weather conditions bedeviled firefighters Monday and the forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in coming days, with no rain in sight. A heat wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

Underlying it all is a five-year drought that has sapped vegetation of moisture.

For the first time in several generations, wildfire had stalked Lower Lake last year during a devastating period from the end of July through September. Three major blazes blackened towns and mountainous wildland within a few miles to the east and south of town.

The new reality roared into Lower Lake on Sunday, when wind-driven flames fed by pines in the mountains and oaks that cluster on the rolling hills close to town wiped out whole blocks, authorities said.

Thousands of people fled the area  some after ensuring their goats and chickens were safe.

Lower Lake is home to about 1,300 mostly working class people and retirees who are drawn by its rustic charm and housing prices that are lower than the San Francisco Bay Area.

Firefighters couldnt protect all of historic Main Street and flames burned a winery, an antiques store, old firehouse and the Habitat for Humanity office.

The organization was raising money to help rebuild homes in nearby communities torched last year. Between them, the four blazes have destroyed more than 1,400 of the 36,000 housing units in all Lake County.

The fire in Lower Lake reduced businesses to little more than charred foundations that were still smoldering on Monday. All that remained of many homes was burnt patio furniture and appliances, and burned out cars in the driveways.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire that broke out Saturday was unknown.

Last September, one of Californias most destructive wildfires ravaged a series of small towns just a half-hour from Lower Lake, whose residents were forced to evacuate. It killed four people, left a fifth missing and destroyed more than 1,300 homes in nearby communities.

Despite getting some rain last winter and spring, Lake County is tinder dry. Lawns in front of Lower Lakes modest, one-story homes are brown, matching the wildland grasses on the mountains outside town.

In wetter times, the region was not visited by the kind of wildfires that now batter it.

Other than a pair of large blazes in the 1960s, which destroyed far fewer homes in a county that had just one-quarter its current 64,000 residents, lifelong resident and county supervisor Jim Comstock cant remember anything approaching the past year.

Residents have a new view of the wild beauty theyve always admired. Comstock said when his wife sees tall grass, she wonders aloud when the property owner will cut it. After 1,500 acres burned last year on the 1,700-acre ranch where Comstock grew up and still lives, he has cleared out brush to make fire breaks  a ritual familiar to other Californians who live in areas traditionally associated with wildfires.

Everybody is just on edge, he said. The trees are beautiful, but when they catch fire, they carry fire.

Retirees Denis and Carolyn Quinn evacuated once last year and again this weekend, when they grabbed family photos and fled the house they share just off Main Street with their adult daughter and granddaughter.

Last time, their property was spared. On Sunday, they were let back in briefly to see that only their home and the one next door still stood among the 15 or so homes on the block.

For Denis Quinn, it was a sign from God that the couple should not succumb to thoughts of leaving due to the wildfire threat.

Its a poor community, he said at a high school opened to evacuees about 20 miles from town. There are a lot of people who are down here, down on their luck. I really feel for people and think that we can stay and help them.

In central California, a wildfire near Lake Nacimiento, about 180 miles northwest of Los Angeles, grew to nearly 7 square miles and forced authorities to evacuate some residents by boat when it shifted toward the lake Sunday. It was partially contained.

A wildfire in Nevada turned deadly when U.S. Forest Service firefighter Justin Beebe, 26, of Vermont, was hit by a tree Saturday, authorities say.

Copyright 2016, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TECUMSEH, Neb.  One of the deadliest and most destructive prison riots in state history escalated quickly, according to video surveillance recordings shown publicly for the first time on Monday.

Video shot in the yard of the Tecumseh State Prison on May 10, 2015, shows inmates milling about when, suddenly, one inmate slugs a corrections officer in the face.

The sucker punch delivered by inmate Frederick Gooch to the jaw of Cpl. Joseph Hatzenbuehler started a chain of assaults and vandalism that ended with two inmates dead and more than $2 million in damage at the states highest-security prison, prosecutors said.

Although no one has been charged in the two slayings, six inmates so far have been charged with assault or starting fires in connection with the riot.

Monday, a jury of seven women and five men began hearing evidence in the first of the assault cases to go to trial.

Roger Weikle, 60, who is serving 72 to 218 years for first-degree murder, escape and several other felonies, is charged with assault by a confined person and being a habitual criminal for joining in on the initial assault of Hatzenbuehler just outside a prison housing unit.

The corporal had been dispatched to the area after a group of inmates ignored commands to return to the housing unit. As he tried to take a ringleader into custody he was punched by Gooch, prosecutors said. Gooch also was charged with assaulting Hatzenbuehler.

The two wrestled to the ground when, according to prosecutors, Weikle ran to the confrontation, leaped in the air and stomped the corrections corporal in the forehead with his foot.

Corey OBrien, a special prosecutor with the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office, showed three video versions of the initial assault to jurors on Monday.

The assault, he said, took place like that, snapping his fingers for emphasis. But the video and eyewitness accounts clearly show that Weikle unmistakenly assaulted Hatzenbuehler, OBrien said.

Weikles defense attorney argued that the video wasnt clear enough or close enough to prove that his client had committed the assault. Todd Lancaster of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy tried to show that other inmates or even fellow prison guards may have caused the injuries to Hatzenbuehler in the melee, and that Weikles mental troubles left him unable to understand his actions.

Inmate Daniel Jones, who said he used to be Weikles cellmate, testified that the defendant suffered from wild mood swings and was often so unresponsive that it was like looking at a ghost.

Hes out there, said Jones, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Jones said Weikle was infamous at the Tecumseh prison for having spent at least 18 years in solitary confinement, known as the Special Management Unit, for misbehavior and assaults behind bars.

The trial, before Johnson County District Judge Daniel Bryan, was expected to go to the jury today following closing arguments.

Weikles case was the first of the assault and arson cases to go to trial. Three other inmates have pleaded guilty in plea bargains.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
LINCOLN  The chairman of the Nebraska Legislatures Executive Board is asking State Sen. Bill Kintner, who has been embroiled in a cybersex scandal, to resign, then petition to get his name on the November ballot.

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha said that option would be among those discussed Friday when the committee meets to discuss Kintner.

Kintner is not up for re-election until 2018. But if the Papillion senator were to resign this month, his seat would be subject to election Nov. 8. Anyone interested in running for his seat would then have until Sept. 1 to file petitions to get on the November ballot.

(Kintner) says that he believes (his constituents) would want him to stay, Krist said. If thats the case, I would invite him to get himself on the ballot and get re-elected.

Krist on Tuesday also renewed his call for Kintner to resign ahead of Fridays meeting, and he said he would pull the item from the committees meeting agenda if Kintner resigns before then.

In a letter to Kintner on Tuesday, Krist said the action would avoid further embarrassment to Kintner, his wife, Lauren, and other lawmakers.

Your conduct has not been consistent with the standards of this Legislature or those who preceded us, Krist wrote.

Kintner on Tuesday said he was aware of the Executive Boards plan to meet, and that Krists individual view regarding his status as a senator is not new information.

Asked whether he plans to attend Fridays meeting, the Papillion senator said maybe.

Kintner has admitted to engaging in cybersex on his state computer in July 2015 with a woman he met online. He reported the matter to the Nebraska State Patrol after the woman tried to extort money from him.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission has approved a settlement with Kintner under which he agreed to pay a $1,000 fine for misuse of public resources.

Gov. Pete Ricketts and Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley have called for his resignation, but Kintner has rejected those calls.

Mary Harding of Plattsmouth, who lives in Kintners district, said petitions seeking Kintners immediate resignation have gotten at least 500 signatures, though several petitions are still circulating. The petitions cant force Kintner out but are meant to reflect the views of his constituents, she said.

Harding said she would support Kintner resigning now and petitioning to put his name on the November ballot.

This district has had a couple of (legislative) appointees, but an appointee has a different relationship with the voters than someone who is elected and vetted by an electoral process, she said.

On Friday, members of the Executive Board plan to discuss the facts and chronology of the events surrounding the case. The committee, which has 10 members, will also hear options for actions that could be taken against Kintner, which include sanctions, expulsion and impeachment. The committee then plans to move into an executive session, which is closed to the public but open to the press.

A member who is sanctioned could lose benefits such as a parking space or office at the State Capitol, Krist has said. A senator could also lose his or her staff and be assigned someone to simply take messages from constituents and forward them to the senator.

Expulsion and impeachment would force a member out of the Legislature, though a state senator could run for office again after being expelled.

Kintner said Tuesday that hes more concerned about personal attacks being launched against him by State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.

Chambers on Tuesday issued his third memo about Kintner. In the memos, Chambers has drawn pictures of Kintner and written rhymes about the scandal.

Chambers said Kintner should point out anything that isnt true in his writings and that he intends to continue to write his rhymes. He said if Kintner has not resigned by January, he may not introduce any bills during the session so that he can dedicate his time to dealing with Kintner.

His act was not a private matter, Chambers said.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9581, emily.nohr@owh.com
LINCOLN (AP)  Lancaster County officials say they want to handle Lincolns juvenile court cases and plan to notify the city of their consolidation wishes.

The county wont ask the city for financial support, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick said he doesnt want to give up the cases because he thinks the city staff does a good job with them and because transferring the cases wont save any money.

A task force looking at a county-city merger recommended in 2013 that county prosecutors handle all juvenile cases to avoid confusion for youths and their families.

Judges also have said that having one office handle the cases is in the best interest of those directly involved, according to Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly.

Kirkpatrick said he wont be able to cut his staff if all juvenile cases were to move to county prosecutors, so there is no efficiency to consolidation.

County officials said that the overriding issue should be providing better outcomes for involved families.

We are acting in the best interest of the kids, said County Board member Deb Schorr.

The County Attorneys Office handles most juvenile cases, including truancy, felonies committed by juveniles, some misdemeanors, and abuse and neglect.

The city attorneys staff handles only cases involving juveniles ages 16 or 17 who are accused of committing misdemeanors within the city limits.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Donald Trump, who has been looking for more retail politicking opportunities lately, will head to a barbecue picnic in late August hosted by Sen. Joni Ernst in Iowa, a swing state he still has a chance to win.

Trump has assured Ernst that he'll be there for her second annual Roast and Ride fundraiser in Des Moines on Aug. 27, aides told Bloomberg Politics. The inaugural event last summer attracted seven presidential contenders, all of whom stepped off the stage to mingle with voters of the state that held the country's first primary-season test. Trump did not attend and came in second in the Iowa caucuses in February behind Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

As other battleground states slip away, including Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado, Trump and Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton are essentially tied in Iowa, according to a polling average compiled by Real Clear Politics.

Trump enjoys the support of Gov. Terry Branstad and a good chunk of the GOP establishment in Iowa, a rural state dominated by the white voters who make up Trump's base. His immigration message has also been well-received by state Republicans.

Ernst, who in 2014 won the Senate seat vacated by Democrat Tom Harkin when he retired, has turned her Roast and Ride into the conservative answer to Harkin's legendary Steak Fry fundraiser, which auditioned dozens of presidential candidates over its 37-year history.

Ernst's big political festival will feature a motorcycle ride from the Big Barn Harley-Davidson store in Des Moines to the Iowa State Fairgrounds for an afternoon of roasted meats, music and politicians.

In recent weeks, Trump has been scheduling more one-on-one campaigning, including short gatherings with small groups of businesspeople, law enforcement officials and veterans.

The Roast and Ride in June 2015 attracted GOP presidential hopefuls Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry and Scott Walker. Perry and Walker were the only two who rode Harleys.

Walker, the governor of neighboring Wisconsin, was the frontrunner at the time, and Trump had the support of just 4 percent of likely Iowa voters, a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll in late May 2015 found.
Something immensely important for our country happened in 1801. Its a bit of history that can provide a much-needed guidepost this election year.

On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as our third president. It was a landmark occasion  the first time in our countrys history that control of the presidency passed from one political grouping (the Federalists) to another (the Jeffersonians).

Many Americans had understandably doubted whether it would be possible to achieve such a transfer of power. The political warring between the two opposing groups was often brutal.

Yet in March 1801, Thomas Jefferson stood tall and was sworn in as president. There were no riots in the streets. His Federalist political foes didnt spur their followers to rebellion.

In his inaugural address, Jefferson promoted a spirit of solidarity. Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle, he said. Our being Americans, Jefferson said, links us together in an important way, beyond the loyalty to party.

The orderly transfer of power illustrated by Jeffersons inauguration  the acceptance by one party that its opponents have won the right to wield control  is the very foundation of a stable democratic system.

How astounding it is, then, that in 2016, the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has chosen to sow public suspicion and distrust on this very matter.

Its a crooked system. Were running against a rigged system, he told one audience.

I hope the Republicans are watching closely or its going to be taken away from us, he told another audience.

At another campaign stop, he said, People are going to walk in, theyre going to vote 10 times. In Pennsylvania last week, he said, The only way we can lose, in my opinion  I really mean this, Pennsylvania  is if cheating goes on.

Such statements cant be explained away as mere griping about recent court decisions striking down state election laws. Courts said the laws undermined the voting rights of minority citizens.

With his rhetoric, Trump went out of his way to promote conspiracy-theory thinking and to encourage people to see a Trump victory as the only legitimate outcome for November.

Never mind, of course, that in a lot of swing states  including Florida, Ohio, Nevada and Iowa  the top election official is a Republican.

Frank Luntz, a nationally known Republican pollster, observes that ever since the 2000 presidential election, a percentage of Americans have believed the system was rigged. And that percentage has grown as politicians discovered the power of that phrase and used it more and more often.

Some candidates may find it tempting and advantageous to question the legitimacy of their political opponents, but its harmful to our political system.

Politics by definition involves strong, honest disagreement. But part of the problem is that Americans are regularly bombarded with over-the-top rhetoric  from candidates, party loyalists and commentators  that self-servingly depicts politics as a simplistic morality play in which one party is the sole source for good and the other party is an outright danger, depending on the speaker.

Thomas Jefferson offered a very different message when he was sworn in as president in 1801. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind, he told the nation.

We are all bound together as Americans, with the peaceful alternation of power between the parties crucial to our national democracy. The example set by Jefferson at the dawn of our republic could not be more relevant in the 21st century.
In Olde England, hunting was the privilege of the landed and the rich. The right to hunt depended on the number of acres owned or ones income.

This inequity led English jurist William Blackstone to complain in the late 18th century that 50 times as much property (is required) to enable a man to kill a partridge as to vote for a knight of the shire.

English colonists settling America wanted no part of the old countrys class-based rules. Anyone could hunt or fish in America.

But that is slowly changing, as the rich and politically connected employ new tactics to close off opportunities for hunting and fishing to the common folk. The most intense conflicts between the wealthy and locals are taking place in the American West  where theres room for everyone, or so we thought.

First, a plea to nonhunting environmentalists to join sportsmen in the battle to preserve access to wildlife. Ordinary hunters seeking sport or food were not to blame for the near loss of the bison and the extinction of such species as the passenger pigeon, heath hen and Labrador duck.

The villains were commercial hunters who slaughtered wildlife for profit, shipping millions of hides, feathers and racks of game meat to American and foreign markets. Hunters started the American conservation movement over a century ago to stop the destruction.

Today, the biggest threat to wildlife is loss of habitat, a concern for all environmentalists. Another issue, the movement to privatize public lands, should also link hunters and vegan hikers in common cause.

In Montana, public access to the states wildlife now dominates the governors race. On one side, incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock is fighting private efforts to close off hunting and fishing grounds that Montanans have enjoyed for generations.

On the other, Republican Greg Gianforte is seeking to empower big landowners (like himself) to limit such access.

In 2009, he sued the state to remove a public easement that gave anglers, walkers and others access to the East Gallatin River via his property. He accused the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks of using extortion to keep that river path open.

Through much of the rural West, wealthy out-of-state buyers are amassing huge tracts of land to create their personal duchies. They often break with the neighborly ways of an older West where landowners didnt fret much over locals crossing their property.

The North American Wildlife Conservation Model is clearly under threat. Formulated by a group of wildlife biologists about 20 years ago, it regulates hunting, protects habitat and defends the right of every citizen to hunt and fish.

Colorful misfits like rancher Cliven Bundy make headlines for occupying federal land, but of more concern are serious proposals to turn land owned by all Americans over to state politicians and allied moneyed interests. Calling this a land grab is not an exaggeration.

The Republican Party platform officially calls for handing federal lands to the states. Thats after Utah passed a bill in 2012 demanding that more than 20 million acres of federal land be transferred to state officials.

Eleven Western states have considered 37 similar bills. Six of them got through.

Happily, there has been pushback. Lawmakers in Wyoming and Oregon turned thumbs down to the awful (and radical) idea. Colorado and New Mexico actually passed bills affirming support for national forests, parks and wildlife refuges.

The battles over public lands and access to wildlife will rage on  among mining companies, Native Americans, sportsmen and their fellow environmentalists. We must not let money determine the outcome.
The writer, a former director for defense policy and arms control on the White House National Security Council staff, is a consultant to the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

On Feb. 14, 1979, less than one month after the shah of Irans exile, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was overrun by Iranian militants. Within hours, it was returned to U.S. hands. Now on notice that our diplomats were stationed at a vulnerable outpost in a sea of anti-Americanism, the Carter administration considered, but rejected, closing the embassy.

That October, President Carter permitted the shah  despised by Iranians and the regime that replaced his  to enter the United States. Days later, Iranians climbed the embassy gates again, took the Americans there hostage and demanded the shahs return, beginning a 444-day crisis.

There are no do-overs in history, but there are lessons. The 1979 hostage crisis should have taught us the importance of proactively responding to obvious threats and removing vulnerable targets  a lesson that should be applied now if there are U.S. nuclear weapons based in Turkey.

After a faction within the Turkish military tried to overthrow the Turkish government last month, one of the many arrested in the attempted coup was a commanding officer at the Incirlik Air Base. That base is a major NATO installation hosting one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons in Europe.

What if the Turkish base commander at Incirlik had ordered his troops surrounding the perimeter of the base to turn their guns on the American soldiers who reportedly guard U.S. nuclear storage bunkers there?

What if anti-American Turkish protesters, believing that the U.S. was behind the coup plot and that it was harboring the coup leader (ominously reminiscent of how Iranians felt about America and the shah 37 years ago), decided to march on Incirlik chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans (as has actually happened) and take over the base?

The coup aside, what if Islamic State militants were to attack Incirlik? In March, the Pentagon reportedly ordered military families out of southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik, because of terrorism-related security concerns.

While weve avoided disaster so far, we have ample evidence that the security of U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Turkey can change literally overnight. Now fully aware of the dangers, the Obama administration should remove any remaining nuclear weapons from Turkey  and the next president should remove all U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe.

Granted, as one American analyst has pointed out, any U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Turkey would be defended by ferociously well-trained and well-equipped American troops. Maintaining control of the weapons would be the top priority if seizure was ever threatened, with all of Americas military power put to the task.

Well, if thats the case being made to President Barack Obama, he should ask: Why would I or any American president take that risk?

We are in for a long stretch of political uncertainty in Turkey, exacerbated by growing anti-Americanism. Any U.S. nuclear weapons stored there are more likely to complicate than to improve the domestic political currents in play.

The U.S. will (and should) remain a strong ally and friend of Turkey, and Turkey will (and should) remain in NATO. It is shared interests, not nuclear sharing, that will keep us together.

Nuclear deterrence does not require the U.S. to store nuclear bombs in Turkey or elsewhere in Europe. The U.S. has long-range strategic nuclear weapons to ward off hostile powers and guarantee the security of all NATO allies. But in light of the end of the Cold War, most military leaders believe that our short-range tactical nuclear weapons based in Europe have virtually no utility, for the simple reason that no U.S. president is likely to use them.

Some may argue that we should not remove nuclear weapons from Turkey because we dont want to signal lack of confidence in its stability or that we need tactical weapons throughout Europe to bolster NATO members who are worried about Russia.

Now weigh those arguments against the fact that storing tactical nuclear weapons in Turkey and in other NATO nations comes with the increasing risk of vulnerability to an evolving and more deadly terrorist threat or to domestic unrest.

In the wake of an incident at a nuclear storage site  for which the U.S. would be held accountable and suffer long-term consequences with allies  it would be difficult to explain that vulnerable targets were left in place because of a perceived need to reassure our allies.

As was the case in 1979, the warning bells are ringing.
Child care is parents responsibility

Kudos to Barbara Soderlin of The World-Herald for her very informative article on what parents are running into these days with day-care costs (Its like found money for working families, Aug. 14).

My favorite comment in the story was by parent Paul Vondra, who basically said it is up to those who decide to have children to see that proper day care is provided for. He further stated it was not fair to ask other people, through the government, for help. Wouldnt it be great if other people thought this way, instead of looking to Uncle Sam for a bailout?

John W. Hoffert, Omaha

Grandparents can benefit, too

I think the story about child care breaks was informative, but it didnt address all the local grandparents who are retired or nearing retirement but are raising school-age grandkids.

I think retirees should look into this because this child-care break can help them fund their retirement, travel, etc.

Steve Casto, Omaha

Mayor Stothert is listening

We residents of the Arboretum are extremely pleased to have a newly surfaced street around our property within a week of the letter I sent to Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and the Public Pulse (The bill is in the mail, July 24). It explained our dangerous driving conditions due to potholes and excessive traffic.

A huge and grateful thank-you to Mayor Stothert for the rapid response and listening ears.

Dick Galusha, Omaha

Whiteclay needs a better plan

The proposals credited to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts task force on the Whiteclay situation are sensible first steps only towards damage control and image cleanup (Practical steps to address Whiteclay, Aug. 12 World-Herald). Its political spin with the clear intent being to keep the beer flowing.

Free enterprise is no license for predatory opportunism; Nebraskas complicity in the moral abyss that is Whiteclay must end. Fetal alcohol syndrome physically and mentally deforms an estimated one in four births at the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

State Liquor Control Commission Chairman Bob Batts call that the Legislature define alcohol impact areas, using University of Nebraska Medical Center data on alcohol abuse, must also address alcohol-related issues statewide. Its a great idea that will likely be opposed by many Nebraskans and bar and restaurant owners.

Lincoln State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks has hopes something can be achieved. Perhaps this would help: There is a nascent movement to build a brewery on the reservation. Pine Ridge advocates say local production would help identify alcohol abusers, provide jobs and fund treatment facilities.

Maybe Ricketts, who famously gives money to social causes he supports, could help kick-start a Pine Ridge brewery?

Tym Livers, Omaha

Clinton more qualified

Many are saying that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is unfit to be president. Just in the Public Pulse, she has been called a used care saleswoman and a mishandler of classified information.

She is crooked, has difficulties with the truth, sacrificed Americans at Benghazi and hides transcripts of speeches.

However, the truth is that Clinton is the most prepared candidate (lawyer, senator, secretary of state) for the office of the presidency.

The presidency requires so much more than on-the-job training, and America needs the best-prepared person to respond appropriately when crises occur, and they will.

The United States is fortunate that most voters appreciate Secretary Clintons 40 years of public service and preparedness and will vote for her to become its 45th president.

Mary Ruth Stegman, Omaha

Love your country? Vote for Trump

The Aug. 15 Public Pulse writer (GOP puts party ahead of country) who stated that, for supporters of Donald Trump, the well-being of the Republican Party is their utmost concern at this point, not the future of our country has it backwards.

As a Trump supporter, my utmost concern is for the future of this country. At this point, I dont care about the Republican Party and seriously regret helping to elect Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse. I dont ever remember asking for his opinion on how I should vote.

Another Pulse writer said he was going to write in his two 21-year-old daughters names for president. Im not sure of his political affiliation, but if a President Hillary Clinton appoints Barack Obama to the Supreme Court, hell get what he deserves.

Sandi Tabor, Omaha

Getting medals the easy way

Now that Donald Trump got the Purple Heart he always wanted, maybe, if hes lucky, someone will present him with an Olympic Gold medal  also something which he would not have earned.

Mark Koesters, Omaha

Childrens Museum an Omaha showcase

I want to thank The World-Herald for celebrating the life of a vital resource in our community, the Omaha Childrens Museum. Its an exciting place where visitors of all ages are invited at every turn to explore, engage their imagination and discover a genuine sense of wonder about learning.

I salute the boards of directors that have stayed true to the original vision while expanding visitors horizons and cultivating community collaborations and ownership.

My heartfelt thanks to current Executive Director Lindy Hoyer and her well-chosen staff for their inspiration, extraordinary creativity and passion for families and friends learning and playing together.

Karen Levin, Omaha
Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board

Bengaluru Demolition Drive: It'll go on for four months, says BBMP

Bengaluru

oi-Shreyas

By H S Shreyas

Bengaluru, Aug 16: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) Raja Kaluve demolition drive, which started on August 5, is likely to go on for about four months.

That's the amount of time Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given the BBMP to free the city's storm-water drains of all encroachments, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told OneIndia.

Bengaluru demolition drive: BBMP asks encroachers to DIY, puts up storm-water drain maps

The BBMP has identified 1,100 properties illegally built on storm-water drains, and it has brought down some 130 offending properties so far, he said, even as the bulldozers stood by to begin another round of demolitions on Tuesday morning in the Dasarahalli zone.

Apart from Dasarahalli Zone, the civic body will also demolish some properties that had escaped the bulldozers last week in Yelahanka, Bommanahalli and Bengaluru East Zone.

Besides, BBMP will continue to mark the proportion of encroachments that are to be razed.

The Joint Commissioner of Bengaluru East K.C. Yatish Kumar said, "We have to mark illegal structures in Shivajinagar and Ulsoor areas. Once the marking is done, the demolitions will begin." Demolitions had been completed at Obalapura, he added.

Mahadevapura Zone Joint Commissioner M. Muniveerappa said that in his zone, encroached properties in areas from Kasavanahalli to Kaigondanahalli had been bulldozed. "We have to remove the debris and open the channels to facilitate remodeling of the storm-water drains", he added.

Manjunath Prasad said that the BBMP will ensure that in four months, all illegal structures on storm-water drains in all eight zones of Bengaluru are demolished.

The BBMP has put online revenue records of encroached properties and has given the option to property owners to bring down violations themselves. If they fail to remove the illegal structures, the BBMP will do it, he warned.

OneIndia News
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Karnataka gets Rs 7 crore grant from Centre for 2 forensic labs

Raising anti-RSS slogans, three men attack Hindu youth with stones in Shivamogga

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Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board

Civic body BBMP completely failed in filling potholes in Bengaluru: HC

Karnataka celebrates Independence Day with patriotic fervour

Bengaluru

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Bengaluru, Aug 16: Gaiety and patriotic fervour marked the 70th Independence Day celebrations in Karnataka on Monday.

In Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hoisted the national flag, inspected guard of honour and other contingents at the Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw parade ground in the city centre.

About 10,000 people, including women and children, joined Siddaramaiah in singing the national anthem at the ceremony on a partly cloudy day.

An army helicopter hovered over the sprawling parade ground showering rose petals.

According to reports from districts, the national flag was unfurled by cabinet ministers and deputy commissioners at their respective headquarters.

Independence day celebrations also took place in schools and colleges.

IANS
Telangana to grow by fostering friendly ties with neighbouring states: KCR

Hyderabad

oi-PTI

Hyderabad, Aug 15: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today said his government would maintain cordial relations with neighbouring states as well as the Centre for faster development of the state.

Addressing the gathering at Independence Day celebrations after unfurling the tri-colour at historic Golconda Fort here, Rao said measures taken in this direction have shown results. "From the day I assumed charge as Chief Minister, I made it clear that Telangana will maintain friendly relations with all its neighbouring states.

Towards that spirit, the government's efforts have yielded good results," he said, adding "On irrigation and Energy sector, we have been able to have tie ups with Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh."

Power purchase agreement for 1,000 MW has been finalised with Chhattisgarh and the power will become available to Telangana in next four months, he said. Rao said that because of the policies followed by the previous governments (during united Andhra Pradesh), the irrigation projects on Godavari river are mired in disputes with neighbouring states and did not make headway.

He pointed out that "Now, with our sustained efforts we have been able to take strides towards signing agreements on irrigation projects with Maharashtra. It is an important step in the interest of the state." On the other hand, Telangana has also strengthened relations with Karnataka and as a result Karnataka has come forward to complete work of RDS Project which will ensure water to Mahabubnagar district.

"Ours is a newly formed state and in order to ensure speedy development, the Government would maintain cordial relationship with the Centre as well as the neighbouring states. We will protect the interests of the state without compromising on policies," Rao said. Rao announced that the process of creation of new districts is on and they will come into being from Dasara festival as gift to the public.

PTI
Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board

ABVP hunts for a 'Kanhaiya' in Bengaluru, police say arrests in sedition case only after probe

India

oi-Vicky

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday demanded that those responsible for raising "Freedom for Kashmir" slogans at a Bengaluru meet organised by NGO Amnesty International last week be arrested. Police, however, say that they have to investigate the matter further before making arrests.

Police have sent a video of the event for forensic analysis. The probe will make progress only after the forensic report is obtained, a senior police officer said, even as ABVP activists staged a vociferous protest in Bengaluru on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, three persons have been detained in Tumkur for allegedly raising 'freedom for Kashmir' slogans. Police are yet to establish their identity and whether they hail from Jammu and Kashmir.

Police had on Monday registered a case of sedition against Amnesty International.

At the event last week, an argument had broken out after a Kashmiri Pandit praised the role of the Indian Army in J&K. Some students from Kashmir and a professor objected and are alleged to have raised 'freedom for Kashmir' slogans.

Activists of the ABVP, who shot a video of the event, submitted it to police, based on which a case was filed. But the ABVP chose to up the ante on Tuesday and staged a protest outside Raj Bhavan.

They have been demanding that the organisers of the meet as well as those who raised the slogans be arrested.

"Our investigations are on and several people are being questioned. The video footage is crucial to the probe. We are waiting to get the forensic report of the video, and will make arrests if warranted", the senior police officer said.

Sources said that the FIR was filed against Amnesty International after a state intelligence report warned on Saturday that protests could intensify if the police did not book the NGO and lead to a situation reminiscent of the JNU Kanhaiya Kumar episode in Delhi.

Police, on the other hand, wanted to probe the matter before it filed the case.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 14:11 [IST]
CRPF officer unfurled national flag minutes before martyrdom

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Aug 16: "It is a very important day," these were the last words of CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar after he unfurled the tricolour at the forces' base in Srinagar, minutes before he fell to militants' bullets in the Nowhatta area of the Jammu and Kashmir capital.

44-year-old Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 49th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force deployed in the Kashmir valley, hoisted the flag between 8:30-8:40 AM and made a speech saying with India clocking 70 years of its freedom, the responsibility on security forces has "increased" and they have to effectively tackle militants and incidents of stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Just before he ended his speech, Kumar, in a video of the event, is seen looking at his watch as he said "it is an important day", unaware of the fate that awaited him.

The officer who joined the paramilitary in 1998 also read out the names of those personnel of the force who were awarded gallantry medals on the eve of the Independence Day and congratulated them.

Soon after, officials said, the wireless set in the CRPF control room crackled informing it about militants hurling grenades and firing on security forces at four places in downtown Srinagar like Nowhatta Chowk, Gojwara Chowk, Bata Gali and Khaniyar Chowk, as they sought reinforcements.

Kumar, along with a small team of his personal security team, dashed out in a bullet proof vehicle and soon after landed at the incident spot.

"The militants were still firing. Kumar led from the front and was shot grievously on the upper part of his neck," they said. He was rushed to the 92 Base Hospital of the army in Srinagar where he succumbed to his injuries. A senior CRPF officer who had served with Kumar in the counter-insurgency grid in the north-east earlier said the officer was very "cool but daring."

"We will never know why he said yesterday that it was an important day. May be he had some premonition of the events that unfolded in quick time yesterday," he said. While Kumar and his men eliminated the two militants, nine other personnel including a state police official were injured in the attack.

Kumar was posted to Srinagar in April 2014 and was recently promoted as a Commandant. He hailed from Patna in Bihar but was living at present in neighbouring Jharkhand's Jamtara district. He is survived by his wife Neha Tripathi and 7-year-old daughter Aarna.

Kumar had been thrice decorated with the CRPF Director General's commendation in 2015, 2014 and 2011. He has earlier served in the Special Protection Group for 3 years. His last rites were today performed with military honours in his native village Mihijam in Jamtara.

WATCH: CRPF Commandant Pramod Kumar unfurled tricolour in Srinagar y'day, was shot dead by terrorists an hour later.https://t.co/HBjfPSaV88  ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2016

PTI
Mumbai: Dawood may attend nephew's wedding via Skype

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Aug 16: Dawood Ibrahim's nephew Alishah Parkar will tie the knot in the megapolis tomorrow even as the Mumbai Police and other security agencies are going to keep a close watch on the event, which is likely to be attended by the mob boss via Skype.

Alishah, son of Dawood's late sister Hasina Parkar, will marry Aisha Nagani, daughter of a city-based businessman at a hotel here. Police sources said Dawood is likely to attend the function via 'Skype'.

Mumbai Police's Crime Branch has asked the anti-extortion cell to keep a hawk-eye vigil on the events. "Police will keep a close watch on the proceedings as there is a possibility of rival gangsters trying to disturb the peace," a senior police official said.

Alishah's elder brother Danish had died in a road accident in 2006, while his sister Umaira got married in May last year.

PTI
BJP MP scolds official for cleaning Yamuna with 'poisonous chemical' ahead of Chhath

Delhi court asks Omar Abdullah's estranged wife to vacate house

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Aug 16: A court here on Tuesday ordered Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to vacate the government accommodation allotted to Omar in the national capital.

District Judge Amarnath dismissed her plea to quash the eviction notice issued on June 30 by the Estate Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government for vacating bungalow No. 7 on the Akbar Road here.

IANS


Delhi government bans Chinese manja

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Aug 16: A day after kite strings claimed three lives in the national capital, the Delhi government today imposed a ban on the sale, production and storage of glass-coated threads or Chinese manja even as a blame game erupted with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claiming the Environment Secretary took seven days to clear a notification.

According to the draft notification issued by Environment Secretary Chandraker Bharti, kite flying will be permissible only with a cotton thread and natural fibre free from any metallic and glass components.

Violation of directions will be punishable with an imprisonment of up to five years or fine which may be extended to Rs 1 lakh or with both.

However, sources in the LG office said the Lt Governor had approved the draft notification on August 8 and sent it back to the government the next day. The AAP government delayed issuance of the draft notification despite the fact that the LG office had sent the notification with his approval to Environment Department on August 9, they said, adding that notification may not make a good impact as the flying kite season is almost over with the wrapping up of Independence Day celebrations.

Sisodia said he was writing to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung seeking action against the Environment Secretary for "gross negligence in duty and insensitiveness in Chinese manja case".

"Environment Secretary took 7days to issue notification though file was cleared by my & Env Minster's office within minutes on 9th August," the Deputy CM tweeted. A government official said as the LG is in-charge of the Services Department, he should seek clarification for the delay from the officer concerned.

Environment Department of Delhi government has sought public suggestions and objections on its draft notification asking them to file the same within 60 days and thereafter, a final notification will be issued.

"There shall be complete ban on 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 such as by being laced with glass, metal or other sharp objects in National Capital Territory of Delhi," the notification stated.

Yesterday, three-year-old Saanchi Goyal, who was returning with her parents after watching a movie, was killed after a stray kite string slashed her neck in Rani Bagh area when she was looking out of open sunroof in their car.

A four-and-a-half-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man also died after their necks got slit while a Delhi Police sub- inspector was injured in such incidents. "During kite flying, a lot of injury is caused to the people and birds on account of pucca thread made out of plastic or similar such synthetic material commonly known as Chinese thread.

These injuries many a times turn out to be fatal causing death of people and birds. "It is, therefore, desirable to protect the people and birds from the fatal effects of the kite thread made out of plastic or synthetic thread as Chinese thread," notification also said.

On August 11, the Delhi High Court had asked the AAP government and the civic bodies to issue advisory ahead of Independence Day making the public aware of fatal effect of the use of razor sharp kite-flying threads.

PTI
BJP MP scolds official for cleaning Yamuna with 'poisonous chemical' ahead of Chhath

Auto, taxi fare in Delhi hiked over rising CNG prices | Check new rates

Delhi govt promotes 632 doctors

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Aug 16: 632 doctors working in various positions across the national capital were today promoted by the Delhi government.

The AAP dispensation issued the promotion orders of these doctors, saying the final orders have been issued following the approval of the competent authority. "265 Medical Officers have been promoted to (the post of) Senior Medical Officers (Ist DACP).

These promotions were pending since 23.12.2013. Health Minister Satyendar Jain issued orders for their promotion," the government said in a statement.

"Similarly, 185 non-teaching specialist grade-III doctors under the Delhi Health Service (DHS Cadre) have been promoted to non-teaching specialist grade -II w.e.f. 23.12.2011 (Ist DACP).

"182 non-teaching specialist grade-II doctors have been promoted to non-teaching specialist grade-I w.e.f. 23.12.2015 (IInd DACP)," it said.

Jain directed the Department of Health to speedily process all other pending proposals for promotion, particularly of doctors working with the Delhi government, it added.

PTI
India makes another move to question Tawahhur Rana

India

oi-Vicky

Tawahhur Rana, a close aide of David Headley will walk out of a US jail in 6 years. India feels that before he is released from jail, they need to move the US authorities seeking his custody or at least question him.

Rana who is alleged to have provided support to Headley while the latter conducted a reconnaissance at Mumbai in connection with the 26/11 attack, was arrested in 2009.

Rana was sentenced to undergo imprisonment of 14 years. India has now made another attempt to seek his custody and question him. However, the US states that convicting him in India for the same offense would amount to double jeopardy.

During a visit by senior investigators to the US earlier this month, it was stated that questioning Rana would not amount to double jeopardy. Indian officials submitted a fresh set of documents to the US stating that new leads have cropped up. This would mean that there are new grounds to try him and hence the double jeopardy clause would not apply here.

The National Investigation Agency which is probing the case against Rana had sent an extradition request to the US in March this year.

Rana was convicted in connection with the 26/11 attack case in the US. Hence it was stated that he cannot be tried and convicted for the same offense twice.

However, India argues that its officials want to question and try him for plotting attacks on Jewish religious centres across India and the National Defence College at New Delhi.

OneIndia News
MP: Babulal Gaur holds Cong flag during event on I-Day, creates flutter

India

oi-PTI

Bhopal, Aug 16: Veteran BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur created flutter in the political circles when he held the Congress flag during a programme organised on the occasion of 70th Independence Day here.

Local Congress MLA Arif Aqueel, who has been organising 'Paigam-e-Mohabbat' programme on Independence Day since many years, yesterday invited religious heads, freedom fighters and prominent party leaders for the event. Gaur took part in the event is his capacity as a freedom fighter.

Congress MLA and former Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh was also present. A rally was taken out from Bhopal Talkies which was flagged-off by those present there. At this point, to everyone's surprise, Gaur took in his hands the Congress flag, causing murmurs in political circles.

"Gaur Sahab is no doubt angry with BJP, but he is a very senior leader of the party and deeply rooted with it. Somebody handed over him a Congress flag which he had held in his hands in true spirit of the programme. Nothing more should be read into it," Aqueel said today.

However, he added, "If he (Gaur) leaves BJP and joins Congress, the party would welcome him with open heart." When contacted, Gaur said, "I have been attending this programme every year in my capacity as freedom fighter.

Aqueel used to honour those who fought for the country, including MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) detainees among others." "During the flagging-off ceremony somebody handed me a flag and the moment I noticed it was not of my party I gave it back. Nothing more should be read into it," he said and asserted that he will not leave BJP.

"The question of leaving BJP does not arise as it had made me the chief minister from a mere labourer. It made my daughter-in-law mayor of Bhopal and has given me a lot. Why should I go to a party whose existence is in danger," Gaur asked.

Gaur, who was also the state home minister, was reportedly not happy the way he was asked to resign from the state Cabinet in the last reshuffle apparently on ground of old age. He had also created unpleasant situation for the ruling party a few times during the monsoon session of the Assembly by asking unpalatable questions.

PTI
Naidu hits out at Centre over unfulfilled promises to AP

India

oi-PTI

Anantapuram (AP), Aug 15: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today launched yet another attack on the Narendra Modi government saying it "failed to honour the promises" made to the state and vowed to not rest until he drew the "last paisa" from the Centre.

"They (Central government) are not releasing funds to bridge our revenue deficit (caused by the state bifurcation). They are not releasing funds for the Polavaram irrigation project nor are they trying to resolve the contentious issues between the two states (AP and Telangana)," the Chief Minister said on the occasion of the 70th Independence Day.

He was addressing a gathering after hoisting the national flag and reviewing a guard of honour at the Independence Day celebrations at Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy grounds here today. He demanded that the Centre honour its promise and grant special category status to the state and also establish a new railway zone at Visakhapatnam.

"We are constantly negotiating with the Centre for fulfillment of promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 and also release of funds promised therein. I requested Prime Minister Modi many times to support AP till it developed at par with other states. We are fighting uncompromisingly for fulfillment of all promises made by the Centre at the time of bifurcation," Chandrababu pointed out.

"I will not rest till we draw the last paisa (due to the state) from the Centre. I need people's cooperation in this regard," he added. Despite the financial constraints, his government was doing everything for the overall development of all regions in the state, the Chief Minister said.

He reiterated the government's goal to make AP one of the top three states in the country by 2022 and the top state by 2029.

"By 2050, we should become the top in the world in attracting investments," he added. Last year, AP recorded an economic growth rate of 10.99 per cent as against the country's 7.5 per cent, he said.

Ministers Paritala Sunitha, P R Reddy, Chief Whip Kalva Srinivasulu, district Collector Kona Sasidhar and others were also present.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 15:14 [IST]
Solar eclipse to be sighted in Bengaluru for 45 minutes: Report

Karnataka gets Rs 7 crore grant from Centre for 2 forensic labs

Raising anti-RSS slogans, three men attack Hindu youth with stones in Shivamogga

Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board

Odisha CM to meet investors in Bengaluru

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Bhubaneswar, Aug 16: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet investors at the 'Invest Odisha' meet in Bengaluru on August 26, an official said here on Tuesday.

The Odisha government will hold the investors' meet in Bengaluru on August 25-26 to attract investments to the state.

Sources said around 50 large and medium industries have been invited to the meet.

Several industry leaders, including Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, Wipro chairman Azim Premji, and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon have been invited to the two-day meet.

The Chief Minister will meet the investors on August 26 and hold discussions with industry leaders, said an official statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

The meet is organised jointly by CII, Karnataka and Odisha government.

Besides, the Chief Minister would launch the Start Up policy of the state government at a seminar on 'Industrial Development and Investment Opportunities in Odisha'.

The master plan of proposed Info-valley project would also be unveiled on the occasion, the statement said.

The state government would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Wadhawani Foundation for assisting the Odisha administration on vocational and skill development training of youths.

A preparatory meeting under the chairmanship of Naveen Patnaik was held at the state secretariat here on Tuesday.

International sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik would create a sand art at the event. The government would also hold cultural programmes on the same evening to celebrate the birth centenary of legendary leader Biju Patnaik.

IANS


Sushma Swaraj 68th birth anniversary: Some striking facts about 'People's Minister'

The joy of our lives: Sushma Swaraj's husband warm birthday wishes for late leader

Remembering Sushma Swaraj on her death anniversary: Facts about Iron Lady of India

Remembering Sushma Swaraj on her 3rd death anniversary

Sushma Swaraj meets Maldivian Foreign Minister

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Aug 16 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met new Maldivian Foreign Minister Mohamed Asim.

"India First! FM Mohamed Asim meets EAM @SushmaSwaraj on his 1st official visit abroad," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Asim, formerly Maidives' High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was appointed the country's Foreign Minister last month after Dunya Maumoon quit the post voicing opposition to the government's plan to implement the death penalty.

IANS
Swachh Bharat: Govt mulling penalising those spreading dirt

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Aug 16: The government is considering imposing penalties on those spreading dirt in urban areas as part of measures to make Swachh Bharat Mission a success, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said today. He said the government is considering a three-point strategy for success of the cleanliness drive.

"There is a three-point strategy for this mission -- first, to create infrastructure; second, change the mindset; and third, at end of the day we need to consider imposing penalties in urban areas once the entire infrastructure is created," he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on 'Scaling up Citizens' Participation to a Jan Andolan in Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban)', Naidu said, "Swachh Bharat Mission is now becoming a jan andolan (people's movement) but not fully. The change of mindset is fast taking place in the country. People are supporting the Prime Minister's initiative."

He said the government is working to find new ways and means to reach out to the people. Representatives of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and several foreign countries participated in the workshop, Naidu said.

Swachh Bharat Mission is being implemented by the Urban Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The mission aims at elimination of open defecation, eradication of manual scavenging, modern and scientific municipal solid waste management, effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices, generate awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health.

Besides, this it also focuses on capacity augmentation for urban local bodies. The special attention is being given on constructing public and household toilets.

PTI
Talking Baloch should go beyond Red Fort speech, says ex-RAW spook

India

oi-Vicky

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's I-Day speech reference to Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan is being both hailed and criticised as a departure from India's response so far to Pakistan's unrelenting propaganda on the Kashmir issue. Former RAW spook Amar Bhushan thinks, however, that while Modi did well to hold the mirror to Islamabad, India should have begun doing so 30 years ago, around the time the Baloch liberation movement began.

"India has always shied away from taking a stand on the Baloch issue, while Pakistan continues to needle us on Kashmir, calling it its 'strategic asset' and Pakistan's 'jugular vein'. It's time to cut that jugular vein. That's why I think Modi's statement was necessary", Bhushan told OneIndia on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Modi raised the issue during his Independence Day address on Monday, but the Baloch tack should go beyond Delhi's Red Fort, Bhushan said.

While India cannot take the same approach to Balochistan that Pakistan takes to Kashmir, because "unlike Pakistan we are not a terrorist state", and so cannot give material support to Baloch, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan's liberation struggles, India should step up the pressure on Islamabad by getting foreign offices across the world to get in touch with the leaders of these movements and ensure that information on Pakistan's atrocities on the populations of these regions becomes available to the world.

"We must highlight the plight of the people of these regions to the world. Modi said as much during the all-party meeting on Kashmir recently, and I think that's a clever formulation," Bhushan said.

India must pursue the issue seriously, identify the leaders of the liberation movements in these regions and India must highlight their issues at international fora.

"We must bring the focus of human rights bodies on these regions," he added.
Balochistan CM rubbishes PM Modi's assertion of repression

International

oi-PTI

Karachi, Aug 15: The chief minister of Pakistan's restive Balochistan has dismissed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that the province was suffering from repression and accused India of fomenting trouble there.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri made the remarks on Sunday (Aug 14) after Modi, during an all-party meeting on the Kashmir situation last week, had said the time had come to expose the atrocities committed "by our neighbouring nation" in Balochistan and the areas of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation.

Zehri, while addressing a ceremony in the provincial capital of Quetta to mark Pakistan's Independence Day, said there was no comparison between Balochistan and Kashmir.

"The government and people of Balochistan vehemently reject Modi's statement on the situation in the province," Zehri said.

"A handful of miscreants, manipulated by the Indian intelligence agency, are involved in anti-peace activities in Balochistan. People of Balochistan are loyal and patriotic...

they love Pakistan and will never support the nefarious designs of the country's enemies," he said.

Zehri blamed India for unrest in Balochistan and said that arrest of a "serving" Indian navy officer vindicates Pakistan's claim.

"India is behind terrorism, militancy and anti-peace activities in Balochistan," he alleged.

Zehri asserted that the situation in Balochistan is very different from that of Kashmir where he claimed people want freedom from India and Indian armed forces.

"But in Balochistan, the people want to live within the legal framework of the country," he said.

Zehri said there was no fight for freedom in Balochistan as only a few misguided youth were involved in militancy and anti-peace activities in the province.

Prime Minister Modi also made a mention of atrocities committed by Pakistan in Balochistan in his Indepence Day speech on Monday (Aug 15).

"From the ramparts of the Red Fort, I want to express my gratitude to some people -- the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak-occupied-Kashmir -- for the way they whole-heartedly thanked me, the way they expressed gratitude to me, the way they conveyed their goodwill to me recently," he said.

This is for the first time the disturbed areas in the control of Pakistan have been mentioned by any Prime Minister during his Independence Day speech.

PTI
Thief calls cops for help after being caught by mob

Bangladesh claims arrest of 4 women JMB activists

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Dhaka, Aug 16: Bangladesh's elite police unit Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Tuesday (Aug 16) claimed to have arrested four women activists of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a militant outfit, from here, said reports.

Chief of RAB-4 Major Sayeed said the arrests were made during raids in different parts of Dhaka, said the country's bdnews24.com. He, however, did not reveal identities and said details would be given later on Tuesday, it added.

Bangladeshi authorities have blamed the JMB for the endless numbers of targeted killings and terror attacks in the country, including the one at an upmarket cafe in Gulshan on July 1, which led to the death of many foreigners and a few security personnel.

In July, the police arrested seven women JMB activists from Sirajganj and Tangail in the country with arms, bombs and jihadi literature.

Oneindia News
Canada greets India on 70th Independence Day

International

oi-PTI

Toronto, Aug 16: Greeting India on its 70th Independence Day, Canada re-affirmed its pledge to strengthen bilateral economic ties and collaborate on global issues to maintain international peace and security.

"It has been a pleasure to meet with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, and I look forward to working together to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries, and to collaborating on global issues, including peace and security, climate change, and gender equality," Canadaian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau said.

"Today, we join the people of India and members of the Indo-Canadian community in celebrating India's 70th Independence Day," Trudeau said in a statement on Monday.

"Canada and India unite in our shared traditions of democracy and diversity.Together, our nations stand as a testament to the fact that countries can prosper not in spite of their diversity, but precisely because of it," he said.

"On behalf of the Government of Canada, Sophie (spouse of Trudeau) and I invite all Canadians to reflect on the significant contributions that Indo-Canadians have made to our national fabric, and wish all those celebrating today a happy Independence Day," Trudeau said.

Celebrations were held in Toronto and Ottawa attended by thousands of people, with marching bands and colourful cultural extravaganza including unfurling of Indian flag in Ottawa by India's High Commissioner Vishnu Prakash and in Toronto by Consul General of India Dinesh Bhatia.

The High Commissioner read out excerpts from President Pranab Mukherjee's message to the nation and addressed the gathering comprising of members and families of the Indo-Canadian Community, friends of India and officials of the High Commission.

Earlier, India Canada Association (ICA) and Panorama India organised the India Day Parade in Ottawa and Toronto. Hundreds of people walked from the Parliament to the city hall, holding afloat banners, Indian and Canadian flags and singing patriotic songs.

A number of Indian community associations and prominent individuals joined the parade with colourful floats.

To mark the occasion, a special flag hoisting ceremony was held at the Ottawa city hall, followed by a cultural programme and brief reception. Minister for Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, Member of Parliament Chandra Arya, Deputy Mayor Bob Monette and the High Commissioner addressed the gathering.

PTI
Donald Trump speaks out against honour killings

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Aug 16: In the wake of recent incidents of honour killing in Pakistan, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that if elected, his administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers and will amplify their voices.

"Our administration would be a friend to all moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East and will amplify their voices," Trump said in a major policy speech in Ohio.

"This includes speaking out against the horrible practice of honour killings, where women are murdered by their relatives for dressing, marrying or acting in a way that violates fundamentalist teachings. Over 1,000 Pakistani girls are estimated to be the victims of honour killings by their relatives each year," he said.

"Recently a prominent Pakistani social media star was strangled to death by her brother on the charge of dishonouring the family. In his confession, the brother took pride in the murder and said,"Girls are born to stay home and follow traditions." Shockingly, this is a tradition that has reached our own shores," Trump said.

"On such cases, and many, many cases have happened - where one involves an Iraqi immigrant who was sentenced to 34 years in jail for running over his own daughter, claiming she had been too Westernised," Trump said.

Trump said ideological warfare would be very important part of his administration's policy to defeat radical Islam.

"We must use ideological warfare as well. Very important. And they use it on us, better than we have ever even thought of using it on them. But that will change," he said.

"Just as we won, just as we won the Cold War in part by exposing the evils of communism and the virtues of free markets, so too must we take on the ideology of radical Islam," he said.

"While my opponent accepted millions of dollars in foundation donations from countries where being gay is an offence punishable by prison or death, my administration will speak out against the oppression of women, gays and people of different beliefs," Trump said.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 14:21 [IST]
Earthquake in Peru kills at least 9: Officials

International

oi-PTI

Lima, Aug 15: A moderate 5.2-magnitude earthquake in Peru killed at least nine people including a US tourist and left 52 injured, crushing villagers under rubble and blocking roads, officials said on Monday (Aug 15).

The quake knocked down about 50 homes and cut off roads and power in the southern Arequipa region. The governor of Arequipa, Yamila Osorio, said on the radio that three people were reported killed in Achoma and six in another village, Yanque.

"It was tragic. They got wounded people out as best they could," said Yanque resident John Rivera on RPP radio. "There were no lights, no beds. The electricity has got cut off. We still have water but we don't know what will happen next."

The civil defence service said one of the victims was a 66-year-old American who died in a hotel in Yanque that was badly damaged. Earthquakes are fairly common in Peru but this one hit at a shallow depth of eight kilometers last night so damage could be heavy near the epicentre.

The epicentre was 10 kilometers from the city of Chivay, capital of Caylloma province, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru. Several aftershocks hit today. The quake caused damage throughout an area of Arequipa called the Colca Valley, and several villages have been cut off. "We felt a very strong tremor. It has caused devastation in the whole Colca valley," the mayor of Caylloma, Romulo Tinta, told RPP.

"We have no communication links between the surrounding villages," he added. "We are asking for heavy machinery to gain access." Osorio, the governor of Arequipa, called for food and clothing to be airlifted to people left homeless by the quake.

"We are taking aid to Caylloma and the other districts affected by the earthquake," Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said in a message on Twitter. More than 80 homes have been left uninhabitable, but crews cannot reach the epicentre, Osorio said.

"We will have to declare an emergency in this zone," said Prime Minister Fernando Zavala. Among the worst-hit spots was Yanque, a rural village of mud huts with some 1,200 inhabitants.

(AFP) PMS
Narendra Modi's words boost Baloch nationalists

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Aug 16: Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement here have sought support from the US and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.

"The world must understand that Pakistan's use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively," Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said here in a statement.

"Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom," Baloch said.

While welcoming Modi's stance on Balochistan, he said the "policy of indifference towards Pakistan's war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying".

"The Indian Prime Minister's statement on Balochistan is a positive development," Baloch said.

Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti -- a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistan's destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

"In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government," Bugti said.

"The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s," he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech yesterday.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 14:02 [IST]
Minister MJ Akbar makes veiled attack on Pakistan in US on I-Day

International

oi-PTI

New York, Aug 16: Nations which use the "facade of human rights" to sponsor terror are "hypocrites of the worst kind", Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar said, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

In the city to lead India's 70th Independence Day celebrations, Akbar asserted that India is a nation which believes in "faith equality" and not faith "supremacy" as he called terrorism a major threat to human rights.

"Terrorism is the biggest enemy of human rights. Those who use the facade of human rights in order to sponsor barbaric terrorism are hypocrites of the worst kind," Akbar told PTI here.

"We (India) do not believe in faith supremacy. Nations created in the name of faith supremacy are coming apart along the fault lines of a failed idea," he said on Monday (Aug 15) after unfurling the tricolour at the Indian Consulate in a ceremony attended by several members of the Indian community.

"That is why Bangladesh happened in 1971 and that is why Balochistan is simmering now," the journalist-turned- politician said on his maiden visit to the US after assuming charge.

Akbar's remarks came on a day when back home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also referred to Pakistan's atrocities in the restive Balochistan province and the PoK, prompting a sharp reaction from across the border. In his address to the community members, Akbar said India represents the very essence of human rights.

"This is the moment to tell the world and ourselves that the greatest enemy of human rights is terrorist and terrorism.

"That is why Bangladesh happened in 1971 and that is why balochistan is simmering now" 4/4  M.J. Akbar (@mjakbar) August 16, 2016

We are a nation which believes in faith equality and not in faith supremacy. Nations created in the name of faith supremacy are coming apart  M.J. Akbar (@mjakbar) August 16, 2016

"Those who use the facade of human rights in order to sponsor barbaric terrorism are hypocrites of the worst kind" 2/4  M.J. Akbar (@mjakbar) August 16, 2016

Excerpts from my address in New York during the flag hoisting ceremony : "Terrorism is the biggest enemy of human rights" 1/4  M.J. Akbar (@mjakbar) August 16, 2016

Proud to hoist our national flag and flag off the tiranga rally in New York. Also addressed the Indian community pic.twitter.com/MCs9WuzOHs  M.J. Akbar (@mjakbar) August 15, 2016

"Faith equality emerges from the ancient philosophy of our nation. The challenge to civilisation and the challenge to stability is coming from those, including in our neighbourhood, who believe in faith supremacy rather than in faith equality, who believe that one faith is supreme or superior to others," he said, in another veiled reference to Pakistan.

He underscored that India believes in freedom and equality for every faith not just before the law but in society as well, adding that freedom is not simply the right to vote but it is the right to express oneself everyday.

"In India, I am a proud Indian Muslim and in my country the Azaan has been heard for 1,400 years and shall be heard for 1,400 years. It emerges out of the belief and will of the Indian people," he said. Akbar noted the Indian Constitution, created under the "inspiration" of Mahatma Gandhi and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, represents a "template" of modernity, a template for the future and for the whole world.

"Freedom is engrained in our Constitution. Nobody can take away our freedom," he said. "Our mission for the next 70 years is very clear. It is to turn India and put it on the high table of prosperity not just for some but prosperity for all. That is true nationalism," he said.

PTI
Pro-Russia ties: Trump's top aide calls NYT report "unfounded, silly"

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New York, Aug 16: Paul Manafort, top aide of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has slammed the New York Times calling its report suggesting him accepting money from pro-Russian groups in Ukraine as "unfounded, silly and nonsensical", a New York Post report said.

"The New York Times has chosen to purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report," Manafort said in a statement on Monday (Aug 15), said the report.

The NYT report alleged that a secret handwritten ledger seen in Ukraine revealed Manafort was on the books for a previously undisclosed payout of $12.7 million. It said the money was a part of the illegal payments aimed at rigging elections in Ukraine.

Trump's aide denied the charges, saying he had not taken a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as "falsely" reported by the NYT.

The campaign of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic rival of Trump in this year's election, grabbed the opportunity and sought an explanation from Trump about Manafort's ties with Russia, the Post said.

"Given the pro-Putin policy stances adopted by Donald Trump and the recent Russian government hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records, Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort's and all other campaign employees' and advisers' ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump's employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement late Sunday (Aug 14), according to the Post.

Oneindia News
Pakistan is 'one of the most dangerous nations in the world': President Biden

From 'dangerous' to 'secure and confident': US makes a u-turn after Biden's comment on Pak

Trump's ideas dangerous and un-American: US vice president

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Aug 16: US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's ideas are very dangerous and un-American while he attacked the billionaire of playing into the hands of Islamic State (IS) by his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"Trump's ideas are not only profoundly wrong, they're very dangerous and they're very un-American. You know, they reveal a profound ignorance of our constitution," Biden said.

"It's a recipe for playing into the hands of terrorists and their propaganda," Biden said at an election really in Pennsylvania where he campaigned for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Last year, ISIS's top leader who we had been tracking since we got Bin Laden, his name is Al-Baghdadi and he revealed the goal of ISIS, he just said it straight out. You can go on their website," Biden said.

He said their goal is to, quote, "compel the crusaders to actively destroy the gray zones themselves," meaning anywhere where Christians and Muslims live, he calls a gray zone. He said the objective is to actively destroy that gray zone," he said.

"Muslims in the west, he says, will have to quickly find themselves between two choices. Either apostatize or emigrate to the Islamic state and thereby escape prosecution. How does he make the case? By pointing out that no Muslim is welcome in the west," Biden said.

"ISIS wants to manufacture a clash of civilizations between us versus them. Trump is trying to give them exactly what they want," Biden said.

"Last week he stood in front of a crowd in Florida and said President Obama founded a terrorist organisation, ISIS," he said as he described this as an outrageous statement.

"But let me tell you why it's a dangerous statement. Why - as he might say, the bad guys are listening. Yesterday, the head of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, Iran's top terrorist surrogate, and a direct threat to our ally Israel, repeated Trump's claim in the entire Muslim world and - I mean, around the world, that President Obama founded ISIS," he said.

Trump, he alleged, is already making the country less safe.

"He has said, "Hillary hasn't forgotten more about American foreign policies than Trump and his entire team will ever understand."

"Ladies and gentlemen Hillary has been there, she has been tested. I have been in the room with her as we jointly have with the president's leadership, sent some of these killers to the gates of hell," Biden said.

In her remarks Clinton reiterated that Trump is not fit to lead the country.

"I said in Philadelphia that a man you can bait with a Tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons. It's also not a man you can trust to run our economy, help heal our cities, or be a role model for our children," Clinton said.

"There is no doubt Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States and Commander-In-Chief," she said.

PTI
Taiwan defence ministry says China simulating attack on its main island

China continues unprecedented military drills around Taiwan even after end of four-day schedule

After two year of COVID-19 delay, China plans to issue visas for stranded Indian students

Combat drills by Chinas aircraft carrier in South China Sea amidst tensions with China

US Army chief visits China

International

oi-PTI

Beijing, Aug 16: The US Army chief of staff is visiting China amid tensions over American ally South Korea's decision to deploy a powerful missile defence system.

The Army said General Mark A Milley was due to meet his Chinese counterpart and other senior People's Liberation Army leaders on Tuesday (Aug 16) to find ways to work on cooperation while handling differences.

Milley will also visit the PLA's Academy of Military Science.

China has objected strenuously to a decision to base the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, or THAAD, system south of the South Korean capital Seoul, believing it's X-Band radar is intended to track missiles inside China.

Chinese state media have published daily attacks against the US and South Korea, and China has cancelled events involving South Korean entertainers.

AP
Amnesty International India has been booked under sedition charges by Bengaluru Police based on a complaint by ABVP about alleged anti-India slogans raised during an Amnesty International programme here Saturday. Investigations into the charges of sedition filed against Amnesty International would rely heavily on the videos taken at the event. A senior police officer told OneIndia that the culpability would be fixed based on the videos that have been shot at the event.
Finance minister Arun Jately is unlikely to attend the SAARC meeting in Pakistan next week. A final decision will be taken by PM Modi, follwing which a formal announcement will be made. Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das might go to Pakistan in place of Jaitely.
Preacher at Salafi Mosque in Kerala questioned for radicalisation

Thiruvananthapuram

oi-Vicky

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16: A preacher at a Salafi Mosque, Mohammad Hanif is alleged to have influenced several youth in Kerala who allegedly are said to have joined the ISIS. Hanif was arrested by the Mumbai police last week after a complaint alleged that he was responsible for indoctrinating a youth from Nagpada in Maharashtra.

The Mumbai and Kerala police who have been coordinating in this case have learnt that Hanif may have indoctrinated several youth from Kerala as well. The Kerala police is probing a case in which 21 persons from the state had gone missing and are alleged to have joined the ISIS.

Kerala police officials tell OneIndia that Hanif had been under their radar for sometime now. There have been complaints that his speeches were radical in nature. The probe now focuses on whether Hanif had radicalised youth and urged them to join the ISIS, the officer also notes.

Further the police are also probing to find out if the missing youth were in touch with Hanif. There are indications that some of the youth were in touch with him, the police say. Our probe has found that some of the youth were regularly in touch with him since 2014, the police also note.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, August 16, 2016, 10:55 [IST]
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by  Graham Pierrepoint



Its arguably been one of the most politically dramatic few months in the UKs history  having seen a change of Prime Minister from David Cameron to Theresa May, and having overseen a referendum in which the public voted to leave the European Union, this summer has been particularly shaky for the British Isles. The value of the pound has struggled against the Euro, and economic uncertainty has led to rumors of some businesses considering moving their UK bases abroad once departure from the EU is finalized. However, one thing still remains  despite the widespread panic and the speculation over what will happen to the UKs financial status as well as its status as a power in the West, the UK has not yet officially left the EU. The country will need to activate an article of the Lisbon Treaty known as Article 50 before leaving can even be considered  which will then result in a countdown of a suggested two years to initiate before the severing of ties becomes official.

However, many are skeptical as to whether or not the two years will be adhered to, as there is much policy and bureaucracy to be considered before the country can be considered good to go  and with news this week in various media outlets suggesting that the triggering of Article 50 may not occur for some time, the exact timescales for the UK to leave the Union remain as hazy as ever. Its suggested that an actual Brexit may not occur at all until 2019  and with Theresa May having stated that the best time to trigger Article 50 may not be until early next year, this may well be the case.

It is still not clear exactly how much work will entail to remove the UK from the EU entirely  as a number of laws and statutes need to be carefully untangled from existing recommendations made by the Union to existing members states. Previous reports have advised that the UK may not have as many advisors or specialists on board to negotiate and finalize the negation of membership as first assumed  leading some to speculate that a deal of sorts may be thrashed out before a final departure  if a departure is at all to occur! With a passionate response to Brexit mania having taken place earlier this year, its clear that some British citizens are keen for the process to be started and over and done with sooner rather than later.
KDKA CBS 2 Pittsburgh 31 Jul 2019

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been released from jail after serving less than a year for a grand jury..
Jerusalem Post 21 Oct 2022

The missile has an effective range of thousands of kilometers and can hit its target within several minutes after launch.
Mid-Day 07 Aug 2021

Miller-Uibo, 27, from Nassau surged to the line in 48.36sec, with Maileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic taking silver and..
Opalesque Industry Update - Global law firm Ropes & Gray today announced that Amanda Persaud has joined the private investment funds practice as a partner in the firms 300-lawyer New York office. Ms. Persauds practice focuses on the formation, fundraising and operation of private investment funds, including private equity funds, hedge funds, credit funds and other types of alternative asset funds. She regularly provides counsel on a wide range of governance, operational and regulatory matters affecting sponsor clients. She frequently advises on significant business transactions such as purchases and sales of asset management businesses, spinouts and key person separations. Ms. Persaud joins Ropes & Gray from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where she served as head of its private investment funds practice. Amandas intelligence and the scope of her deep funds experience will be of great advantage to our diverse base of sophisticated clients, said John Ayer, co-leader of Ropes & Grays private investment funds practice. We foresee that Amanda will play a prominent leadership role within our expanding practice in New York as we enhance our service offerings across a broader set of asset classes and grow client relationships, said Matt Judd, co-leader of Ropes & Grays private investment funds practice. Joining a team that is highly regarded within the marketplace, with an exceptional platform and a premier global client base, is truly exciting, said Ms. Persaud. Ive long known of the firms reputation as having a leading funds practice, and I am energized at the prospect of contributing my own leadership experience and capabilities as the firm increases its presence in New York. Ropes & Gray is widely recognized for having one of the largest and most sophisticated private investment funds practices, advising both fund sponsors and investors. The practice has been ranked by Chambers Global for the last eight years as one of the worlds leading fund formation practices. The firms other accolades include rankings in the top bands of The Legal 500 and IFLR1000, and for three consecutive years, being named as Law Firm of the Year for private funds/hedge funds law by U.S. News-Best Lawyers. With more than 300 lawyers in New York, Ropes & Gray is one of the largest law firms in the city. The firm has expanded its presence in New York significantly in the past 18 months with the addition of more than 10 partners and counsel in this time. Ms. Persaud is the sixth high-profile lateral partner to join our New York office in 2016, following Garrett Charon, who joined the firms private equity practice in July, Kristen Chang Winckler, who joined the tax practice in June; David Blittner, who joined the private equity practice in April; Gregg Galardi, who joined the business restructuring practice in February; and Michael Littenberg, who joined the securities & public companies practice in January. As our asset management practice expands and solidifies its position in New York, we are delighted to welcome Amanda to our office here, said Eva Ciko Carman, co-managing partner of the firms New York office. With the addition of more than 10 partners and counsel in the past 18 months to our New York office, this number demonstrates Ropes & Grays position as a destination for market-leading, world-class legal talent. Ms. Persaud received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She graduated with honors from Duke University with a B.A. in political science.
Reprinted from Consortium News

Over the past few decades, the U.S. mainstream media has failed the American people in a historic fashion by spinning false or misleading narratives on virtually every important global issue, continuing to this day to guide the nation into destructive and unnecessary conflicts.

To me, a major turning point came with the failure of the major news organization to get anywhere near the bottom of the Iran-Contra scandal, including its origins in illicit contacts between Republicans and Iranians during the 1980 campaign and the Reagan administration's collaboration with drug traffickers to support the Contra war in Nicaragua. (Instead, the major U.S. media disparaged reporting on these very real scandals.)

If these unsavory stories had been fully explained to the American people, their impression of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush would be far less favorable and the rise of Reagan's neocon underlings might well have been halted. Instead the neocons consolidated their dominance over Official Washington's foreign policy establishment and Bush's inept son was allowed to take the White House in 2001.

Then, one might have thought that the disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- justified by a legion of lies -- would have finally doomed the neocons but, by then, they had deeply penetrated the national news media and major think tanks, with their influence reaching not only across the Republican Party but deeply into the Democratic Party as well.

So, despite the Iraq catastrophe, almost nothing changed. The neocons and their liberal interventionist chums continued to fabricate narratives that have led the United States into one mess after another, seeking more and more "regime change" and brushing aside recommendations for peaceful resolution of international crises.

Cognitive Dissonance

As part of this phenomenon, there is profound cognitive dissonance as the rationales shift depending on the neocons' tactical needs. From one case to the next, there is no logical or moral consistency, and the major U.S. news organizations go along, failing again and again to expose these blatant hypocrisies.

The U.S. government can stand for a "rules-based" world when that serves its interests but then freely violate international law when it's decided that "humanitarian warfare" trumps national sovereignty and the United Nations Charter. The latter is particularly easy after a foreign leader has been demonized in the American press, but sovereignty becomes inviolate in other circumstances when Washington is on the side of the killing regimes.

George W. Bush's administration and the mainstream media justified invading Iraq, in part, by accusing Saddam Hussein of human rights violations. The obvious illegality of the invasion was ignored or dismissed as so much caviling by "Saddam apologists." Similarly, the Obama administration and media rationalized invading Libya in 2011 under the propagandistic charge that Muammar Gaddafi was planning a mass slaughter of civilians (though he said he was only after Islamic terrorists).

But the same media looks the other way or make excuses when the slaughter of civilians is being done by "allies," such as Israel against Palestinians or Saudi Arabia against Yemenis. Then the U.S. government even rushes more military supplies so the bombings can continue.

The view of terrorism is selective, too. Israel, Saudi Arabia and other U.S. "allies" in the Persian Gulf have aided and abetted terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda's Nusra Front, in the war against the largely secular government of Syria. That support for violent subversion followed the U.S. media's demonization of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Thus, trying to avoid another Iraq-style morass, President Obama faces heavy criticism from neocon-dominated Washington for not doing more to force "regime change" in Syria, although he actually has authorized shipments of sophisticated U.S. weaponry to the supposedly "moderate" opposition, which often operates under Nusra's command structure.

In other words, it's okay to intervene overtly and covertly when Official Washington wants to do so, regardless of international law and even if that involves complicity with terrorists. But it's different when the shoe is on the other foot.

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Reprinted from Wallwritings

In the beginning was Donald J. Trump's false birther tweet, posted four years ago.

The Los Angeles Times' Matt Pearce remembers: "On Aug. 6, 2012, the Twitter account @realDonaldTrump posted an important public announcement: "An 'extremely credible source' called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.'"

Donald Trump's presidential campaign began with that false statement from an "extremely credible source."

The birther allegation was so obviously false that it should have fallen into the trash heap of absurdity. Instead, an alarming number of Republican voters took the birther nonsense seriously enough to launch Trump's campaign for president, a campaign one final election away from placing "birther" Trump in the White House.

Trump's style of short falsehoods embellished with insulting adjectives ("crooked Hillary"), is tailor-made for Twitter. The Times' Mike Pearce points to August 6, four years ago, and asks:

"Who was the source? (Why was 'extremely credible source' in quotation marks?) Donald Trump didn't say. Nor did he offer evidence to back up his claim. But out it went to his millions of Twitter followers."

Trump's style has not changed. His tweets and public speeches continue with the same misleading bellicosity with the hashtag "@realDonaldTrump. Here is one recent 2016 tweet:

"The failing @nytimes has become a newspaper of fiction. Their stories about me always quote non-existent unnamed sources. Very dishonest!"

The polls, state by state, show that Trump is headed for a blowout defeat. In a normal campaign this would be a call for shift in strategy. Trump, however, is not running a normal campaign. Why won't he change?

Peter Danou, former advisor to both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, writes in his Blue Nation Review:

"Donald Trump is not running a campaign to win the American presidency. Rather, he is using his presidential run as a vehicle to achieve a larger personal ambition: To be seen as the leader of a 'white [nationalist] awakening' -- the term David Duke used to describe his campaign."

Accustomed to political campaigns run to be won, Danou's proposition appears far-fetched. But is it? Danou again:

"By accident or design, Trump is now seeking what he sees as a greater glory than the mere presidency. His strategy could be described as 'lose at all costs.' That's not to say he wants to lose. Far from it. He'd happily advance his agenda from the Oval Office."

That makes more sense. Trump wants to win. He is gambling that his twitter style campaigning could put him in the White House. If he loses?

Peter Danou suggests that Trump...

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We are against abortion--the murder of the innocent unborn children in the womb but in favor of death penalty only for or to heinous criminals. (?) We have to pray for them to change their lives.

Pasay Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Pedro Corales backed the restoration of the death penalty during a rights-dialogue forum in Davao City held in 2005 (http://ccadp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board-news&action=display&thread=3107 ) of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty (PDI 12/24/2011).

"Imprisonment is expensive for the state, so the best way to deter criminality is to execute those with death sentences... If you don't execute how long should the state provide and spend for their existence and how sure are we that he (heinous criminal(s)) would not kill anybody anymore."

DEATH PENALTY?

"TO PRACTICE JUSTICE IS A JOY FOR THE JUST, BUT TERROR FOR EVILDOERS." -- Proverbs 21:15. "HE LOVES JUSTICE AND RIGHT; OF THE KINDNESS OF THE LORD THE EARTH IS FULL." -- Psalms 33:5

Other than that, pestiferous and heinous crimes committed by the government officials such as treason, corruptions and scams against the people should be put to death penalty as a matter of justice, not for the sake of death, not for the sake of killing, but for the sake of eliminating pestiferous elements in the government and in our society.

For the sake of justice, I am in favor of the restoration of death penalty in the Philippines upon the heinous criminals and particularly to those government officials who have committed heinous crimes against the Filipino people like graft and corruption and electoral sabotage, among other heinous crimes.

Even in the "THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH", alluding specifically to the 5th Commandment, "You shall not kill" (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) No. 2266: Preserving the common good of society requires rendering the aggressor unable to inflict harm. For this reason the traditional teaching of the Church has acknowledged as well-founded the right and duty of legitimate public authority to punish malefactors by means of penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime, not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, "the death penalty". For analogous reasons those holding authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the community in their charge.

The primary effect of punishment is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiration. Moreover, punishment has the effect of preserving public order and the safety of persons. Finally punishment has a medical value; as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender. (Luke 23:40-43).

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As the economic and humanitarian crisis has worsened in Puerto Rico in recent months, playwright and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, has given voice in interviews and Op-Eds to the severity of the crisis among ordinary Puerto Ricans. Miranda called the island's debt crisis a matter of "life and death," saying, "I have a lot of family who are struggling in Puerto Rico, that's not an abstract issue to me." He humanizes what the statistics - $73 billion in debt, $19,500 median household income, 11.5 percent sales tax, 64,000 people leaving per year - can not. Puerto Rico is a debt colony whose function as a political entity is to service its creditors. Ironically, Miranda achieved the celebrity he's now using to advocate for the Puerto Rican people by glorifying and aggrandizing the most ruthless champion of creditors in American history.



Miranda has become an elite pop-culture sensation as the creator and star of the award-winning and immensely popular Broadway play Hamilton. The hip-hop musical has been as successful with critics as it has with Broadway theatergoers, dominating the Tony awards and selling out months in advance. The Harvard Business Review argues its $849 tickets are priced too low.



The show's namesake is, of course, Revolutionary War commander, George Washington adviser, and first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Miranda focuses on the rags to riches story of Hamilton - a poor immigrant who triumphed against all odds by using his intelligence and relentless hard work to fight British oppression and guide his new country to independence and greatness. In My Shot, Miranda's title character raps:





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Reprinted from To The Point Analyses



The Ideology of 'Superior People'

(Image by boilingfrogspost.com) Details DMCA



Part I -- Two Classes of Autocrats

The United States has been, and continues to be, selective about which foreign strongmen it does and does not support. Among the latter, there have been Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela (who was not as autocratic as publicly portrayed), Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Vladimir Putin in Russia. These are just a few of those recent rulers who have drawn the wrath of the "democratic" exemplars in Washington. That wrath often includes economic strangulation and CIA plots.

In the meantime, another group of autocrats is well tolerated by the U.S. Among this group are Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Egypt's General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and various European rightwing politicos such as Viktor Orban of Hungary. Each of these strongmen shows little tolerance for dissent and a ready willingness to exploit racially tinged nationalism.

Part II -- Why the Double Standards?

What is behind Washington's double standards -- its contrasting reactions to one set of regimes as against another? Often American politicians will talk about promoting democracy and claim that the dictators they support have a better chance of evolving in a democratic direction than those they oppose. It might be that these politicians actually believe this to be the case, at least at the moment they make these declarations. However, there is no historical evidence that their claims are true. This argument is largely a face-saving one. Other underlying reasons exist for the choices they make.

Here are a few of those probable reasons:

The friend/enemy of our friend/enemy is our friend/enemy. In this scenario the primary friend of the U.S. is Israel and the primary enemy is Russia. The secondary friend/enemy countries are the decidedly undemocratic Egypt and Syria. Egypt became a friend of the U.S.once Anwar Sadat made a peace treaty with Israel in March of 1979. Syria, on the other hand, has always been hostile to Israel and it has remained an enemy state. No democratic motivation is to be found here.

Cold War positioning rationale. After World War II, Turkey became a "strategic asset" by virtue of its proximity to the Soviet Union and its willingness to house U.S. air bases and missile launchers. The repeated interference of the Turkish military in civilian politics was of no consequence to Washington. Present-day East European governments, increasingly autocratic in nature, seem to be considered by many in the Pentagon as "post Cold War" assets on the border of a Russia that never ceased to be an enemy. For a whole subset of Americans (militarists and neoconservatives) the Cold War never really did end.

Resource assets rationale. Autocracies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait fall into this category. The U.S. assumes a role of a supportive ally in exchange for stable and affordable worldwide oil prices. Sunni suppression of Shiite and other minorities in these countries is immaterial. What happens if such resource-rich regimes do an about-face and are no longer cooperative with the United States? Well, you have your answer in Iran. Here the U.S. was once completely supportive of the Shah, but he was replaced by hostile ayatollahs in 1979. So friendliness has given way to tactics of economic isolation and CIA plots. Again, democracy has little to do with anything in these cases.

The classic left vs right rationale. Finally, there is the historically entrenched U.S. tradition that economically cooperative autocratic regimes are acceptable allies. "Cooperative" here means rulers who engage in friendly capitalist behavior: tolerate private enterprise and safeguard the property of foreign investors. Such an economic stance pre-dates the Cold War and has always been more important than political freedoms. Those who act this way, such as Chile under Augusto Pinochet or Argentina under its brutal regime of military rule, get a free pass when they suppress democracy and civil rights.

However, other regimes, such as those in Cuba under Castro and Venezuela under Chavez are treated differently. In the case of Venezuela, democracy was in fact practiced, but because of its socialist-leaning economic policies, Washington tried very hard to destroy the country's government. For those interested in the evolution of this classic U.S. foreign policy, its history is explained in detail in my book, Foreign Policy Inc.: Privatizing America's National Interest.

Part III -- Democracy and the "Other"

By prioritizing traditional alliances, control of resources and economic ideology, the U.S. turns a blind eye to other aspects of autocratic behavior that contradict its own avowed values, thereby setting up a vivid display of foreign policy hypocrisy. An example is the issue of democracy and the "Other." Since the 1960s the United States has been struggling with its racist impulses. That is, most of its population knows that discrimination against the "Other" is wrong. They can recognize it in the country's voting laws, in the behavior of its police, and in the attitude of a political candidate like Donald Trump. Official steps, even if they are agonizingly slow and subject to periodic reversals, are taken to dampen down, if not overcome, such public biases. You would think that such a sensitivity would carry over into foreign affairs. Yet the opposite is true.

Many of the autocratic leaders the U.S. favors have risen to power, at least in part, through instilling fear of the "Other" -- those who threaten the fantasies of an eternal national character, pure blood, and the status of a God-chosen people. For instance, Washington's premier ally in the Middle East, Israel, is a state that, at best, can be described as an officially discriminatory democracy where bias against the "Other" (in this case the Palestinians and other non-Jews) is legally sanctioned.

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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Step aside, Sam Spade. Move over, Philip Marlowe. You want noir? Skip the famed private eye novels and films of the 1930s and 1940s and turn to our present American world and to neighborhoods where the postman doesn't ring even once, but the police are ready to shoot more than once, often on the slightest excuse. It's a world that TomDispatch regular Judith Coburn, whom I've known since the Vietnam era when she was a war correspondent, enters regularly. It's her job. It may not be Afghanistan or Iraq, but in its own way, it's close enough.

Think of Coburn as today's Sam Spade and let her take you deep into an American world in which justice couldn't be blinder. Tom

America's Criminal Injustice System

The Annals of a Private Eye

By Judith Coburn

Once upon a time, I was a journalist, covering war in Indochina, Central America, and the Middle East. I made it my job to write about the victims of war, the "civilian casualties." To me, they were hardly "collateral damage," that bloodless term the military persuaded journalists to adopt. To me, they were the center of war. Now, I work at home and I'm a private eye -- or P.I. to you. I work mostly on homicide cases for defense lawyers on the mean streets of Oakland, California, one of America's murder capitals.

Some days, Oakland feels like Saigon, Tegucigalpa, or Gaza. There's the deception of daily life and the silent routine of dread punctured by out-of-the blue mayhem. Oakland's poor neighborhoods are a war zone whose violence can even explode onto streets made rich overnight by the tech boom. Any quiet day, you can drive down San Pablo Avenue past St. Columba Catholic Church, where a thicket of white crosses, one for every Oaklander killed by gun violence, year by year, fills its front yard.

Whenever I tell people I'm a private eye, they ask: Do you get innocent people off death row? Or: Can you follow my ex around? Or: What kind of gun do you carry?

I always disappoint them. Yes, I do defend people against the death penalty, but so far all my defendants have probably been guilty -- of something. (Often, I can only guess what.) While keeping them off death row may absolve me of being an accessory after the fact to murder, it also regularly condemns my defendants to life in prison until they die there.

And I find spying on people their ex-spouses fantasize about killing much sleazier than actual murder. Finally, I'm a good shot, but I don't carry a gun because that's the best way to get shot.

I work on the low-profile cases: poor people charged with murder, burglary, or robbery, who don't have the money for a lawyer or their own P.I. (I'm paid, if you can call it that, by the state.)

Then people invariably want to know: How can you help defend a murderer? The law school answer is: the constitution guarantees everyone a fair trial.

For me, however, if it's a death penalty case, it's simple: I'm against the death penalty no matter what the accused did (or didn't do). But in this age of stop and frisk, racial profiling, mandatory sentencing, the death penalty, and life without parole, not to mention execution-by-cop, the real answer is: I can't. Defend anybody, that is. Not really.

I'm just a tiny cog in America's vast Criminal Injustice System. One of the lawyers I work for sometimes calls himself "just a potted plant." My defendants may be guilty -- but seldom of what they are charged with. They are rarely convicted of what they actually did and are never sentenced fairly.

"He Snapped"

One day recently, I was getting ready to hit the Oakland streets in search of a witness to a murder when I found in my email Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in the Supreme Court Case of Utah v. Strieff. It had been forwarded to me by a psychologist with whom I once worked on a death penalty case.

Anyone lulled into thinking the new coalition of liberals and conservatives who hope to reform the criminal justice system will actually get somewhere should read Strieff. The facts are the following: a Salt Lake City cop was watching a home rumored to house methamphetamine dealers. When Edward Joseph Strieff left the house, the cop stopped him, questioned him, and checked his record. When the cop found a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket, he searched Strieff, found meth in his pockets, and arrested him for possession of drugs. In Strieff and other cases leading up to it, the Supreme Court has now decreed that evidence gathered in an illegal search isn't "the fruit of the poisoned tree" as Justice Felix Frankfurter put it in 1939, and so no longer must be suppressed. Even though gathered illegally, evidence can be used at trial against a defendant.
Reprinted from Robert Reich Blog

It looks increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton, a self-described "progressive who likes to get things done," will have her chance starting next January. But how much that's progressive will she actually be able to get done?

The Senate may flip to the Democrats but there's almost no way Democrats will get the 60 votes they need to stop Republicans from filibustering everything she says she wants to do.

She's unlikely to have a typical presidential honeymoon because she won't be riding a wave of hope and enthusiasm that typically accompanies a new president into office. She's already more distrusted by the public than any major candidate in recent history. On Election Day many Americans will be choosing which candidate they loathe the least.

She hasn't established a powerful mandate for what she wants to get done. Her policy proposals are admirably detailed but cover so much ground that even her most ardent supporters don't have a clear picture of what she stands for. And she's had to spend more time on the campaign trail attacking Trump's outrage du jour than building a case for a few big ideas.

To say nothing of the moneyed interests -- wealthy individuals, big corporations, and Wall Street -- that are more powerful today than at any time since the Gilded Age, and don't want progressive change.

Even if Hillary sincerely intends to raise taxes on rich Americans in order to pay for universal child care, affordable higher education, and infrastructure spending, the moneyed interests have the clout to stop her.

They'll also resist any effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour, require employers to offer paid family leave, or push them to share their profits with employees.

The heart of American politics is now a vicious cycle in which big money has enough political influence to get laws and regulations that make big money even bigger, and prevent laws and rules that threaten its wealth and power.

Before Hillary can accomplish anything important, that vicious cycle has to be reversed. But how?

Bear with me a moment for some pertinent history.

As economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted in the 1950s, a key legacy of the New Deal was creating centers of economic power that offset the power of giant corporations and Wall Street: labor unions, small retail businesses, local banks, and political parties active at the state and local levels.

These alternative power centers supported policies that helped America's vast middle and working classes during the first three decades after World War II -- the largest infrastructure project in American history (the Interstate Highway program), a vast expansion of nearly-free public higher education, Medicare and Medicaid, and, to pay for all this, high taxes on the wealthy. (Between 1946 and 1980, the top marginal tax rate never dipped below 70 percent.)

But over the last three decades, countervailing power has almost vanished from American politics. Labor unions have been decimated. In the 2012 presidential election, the richest 0.01 percent of households gave Democratic candidates more than four times what unions contributed to their campaigns.

Small retailers have been displaced by Walmart and Amazon. Local banks have been absorbed by Wall Street behemoths.

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Effective and Reliable Vacuum Supply

One of four packaging lines supplied by the central vacuum system

For more than 50 years Salzbrenner sausages have been a byword for quality, especially in the greater Hamburg area.The founder of Salzbrenner KG, Karlheinz Salzbrenner explains the company philosophy: We want to make high-quality sausages from locally produced meat and natural ingredients. A simple idea that has been successful to the present day. Initially Salzbrenner sold products to restaurants and snack bars, but now it also supplies retail and wholesale companies throughout northern Germany.The company focuses on cooked products such as Krakauer (polish sausage), Bratwurst (frying sausage), Currywurst (sausage with curry sauce), and Kohlwurst (smoked sausage for cabbage dishes). Salzbrenners concept is to bring high-quality fresh products to the market. No pasteurising processes are involved, limiting the shelf life of the products to three of four weeks. A sophisticated logistics system is therefore necessary to process fresh meat on the day of delivery, and to ship the finished sausage products the following day. On delivery, fresh meat is subjected to quality control checks, stored in a cold room for a short time, then weighed and minced according to recipe. Ninety five percent of the meat processed is cut boneless pork. The mincing process is carried out in a shredder or colloid mill, after which the mixture is filled into skins. Bratwurst sausages are boiled immediately, whereas other varieties such as Knackwurst, Wiener Wurstchen and Krakauer are reddened, dried and smoked before boiling. All varieties are cooled immediately after the boiling process, then separated and packed.The traditional company Salzbrenner KG manufactures 15 to 30 tons of boiled sausage products daily. Production focuses on proven recipes, natural spices and locally sourced fresh meat. In contrast, the processing technology used by Salzbrenner is highly modern. Vacuum for the packaging machines is supplied by an efficient centralized vacuum system made by Busch. Salzbrenner uses the latest technology to manufacture and pack top quality products economically and to the highest hygiene standards.The success of Salzbrenner products made it necessary to continuously increase production capacity, although the production area of the site at the old Hamburg Abattoir could not be expanded. In 2006 a new building making optimal use of the available space was inaugurated at the site. The original vacuum supply for the four thermoforming machines and a dual chamber machine included the pumps for rough vacuum located in a separate room above the production area. This was done to prevent waste heat from the pumps entering the cooled production area, causing increased air conditioning costs. The vacuum boosters remained in the thermoforming machines, as did the smaller rotary vane vacuum pumps used for forming foil into trays. However, this arrangement proved to have a disadvantage: the vacuum pumps were started with the packaging machines, and ran almost continuously throughout the working day.Reducing Energy Costs in ThermoformingIn order to reduce energy costs and improve system reliability, production manager Christian Heitmann decided last year to centralize the vacuum supply. Busch vacuum specialists were contacted, who designed a central vacuum system for installation in the same room as the previously used rotary vane vacuum pumps.This centralized system now generates vacuum for the four thermoforming machines, and supplies the pre-vacuum to evacuate the packaging in these machines and the dual chamber machine. Between the central vacuum system and the packaging machines three vacuum containers are installed, which act as reservoirs to maintain a permanent vacuum of 30 to 40 mbar. This arrangement has the advantage that vacuum is available immediately at the start of the evacuation cycle. The rotary lobe boosters installed directly to the packaging machines increase the rough vacuum instantly to the level required for packaging, permitting extremely short cycle times. Part of the central vacuum system runs independently to supply vacuum for tray forming at about 150 mbar.After a year of operation, the central vacuum system has met production manager Christian Heitmanns expectations in full: the operating hours of individual vacuum pumps have been reduced by 20%, as the pumps only run if required by current demand. In addition, only four rotary vane vacuum pumps and two rotary lobe boosters are installed in the central system. A fifth rotary vane vacuum pump acts as a reserve, and can also be connected to the system if production is expanded and another packaging machine added. The previous decentralized system had a rotary vane vacuum pump for each of the four thermoforming machines and the dual chamber packaging machine, and a smaller rotary vane pump for each of the tray thermoformers.The new system creates substantial energy savings by reducing:- The operating hours of individual vacuum pumps- The number of vacuum pumps in operation- Air conditioning energy consumption by eliminating waste heat emissions in the packaging roomChristian Heitmann regards the improved system reliability as another significant advantage. In the event of a vacuum pump failure, the reserve pump will activate automatically without production interruptions or downtime. In addition, maintenance personnel no longer need to enter the production area. Stoppages due to maintenance have been eliminated, as service staff have unrestricted access to the individual vacuum modules during production.Production manager Christian Heitmann also relies on Busch to carry out maintenance work. A service contract guarantees the availability of the entire vacuum system over a five year period for a fixed annual payment. This contract allows Salzbrenner to plan operating costs in advance, and provides professional and punctual execution of all maintenance work by a Busch service technician.Busch Vacuum Pumps and SystemsUli Merkle - 28 January 2016Busch Vacuum Pumps and Systems is one of the largest manufacturers of vacuum pumps, blowers and compressors in the world.With a lot of experience and top qualified personnel, we are forward-looking and strive to improve our products and ourselves. We are constantly at work developing innovative technologies that will define the vacuum world of the future.Our manufacturing plants utilize the most modern manufacturing techniques, machinery and equipment under very strict quality controls, which surpass DIN EN ISO 9001 requirements.As of 2016, Busch Vacuum Pumps and Systems employs more than 3000 people and features the largest selection of vacuum pumps for the industrial applications in the world. Due to its immense line of vacuum pumps, expertise and experience in the building of vacuum systems and the extensive service network, Busch is capable of providing ideal comprehensive solutions.With 60 companies in 42 countries and sales agencies worldwide, we are strategically positioned throughout the world to provide our customers with the essentials for success.Our goal always is to provide the customer with the highest possible return on investment. Personal consulting, choice of the optimum product and prompt service on site are key features of our comprehensive service that make the achievement of this goal reality. Our experience and know how in broadly diversified applications and product design furnish the basis.Buschs headquarter is located in Maulburg, Germany. Besides Busch Holding, the German manufacturing plant, Busch Produktions GmbH, the sales organization, Dr.-Ing. K. Busch GmbH and service company, Busch Dienste GmbH are headquartered here. In addition, Busch operates production plants in Switzerland, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Korea and the USA.Busch Vacuum Pumps and SystemsMarketing/Marketing ServicesSchauinslandstrae 179689 Maulburg
The United States Market Survey- Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Sales Market Report 2016

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Report SummaryThe United States Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor market analysis is provided for the United States markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.The report focuses on United States major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 152 tables and figures the report praovides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to: phoebe@qyresearch.comKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry OverviewChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray SensorChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants AnalysisChapter Four Production Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor by Regions, Technology, and ApplicationsChapter Five Sales and Revenue Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor by RegionsChapter Six Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Production, Supply, Sales and Market Status 2010-2016Chapter Seven Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Key ManufacturersChapter Eight Price and Gross Margin AnalysisChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray SensorChapter Ten Development Trend of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry 2016-2021Chapter Eleven Industry Chain Suppliers of Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor with Contact InformationChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Dental Intraoral X-ray SensorChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the United States Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Report 2016Related Reports:Global Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Market Research Report 2016China Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Market Research Report 2016Europe Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Market Research Report 2016Japan Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Market Research Report 2016India Dental Intraoral X-ray Sensor Industry Market Research Report 2016For more information or any question, please feel free to contact me~O(_)O~Contact : Phoebe LeePhone: 001-8883654458 or +86-20-8665 5165Email: phoebe@qyresearch.com phoebe@qyresearchglobal.comWeb:QYResearch 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.QYResearch CO.,ltdVILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe District Guangzhou City 510610 ChinaContact:Phoebe LeeTEL:862086655165
Cell Culture Media, Sera and Reagents Market Outlook, Worldwide Strategies And Forecasts 2015 - 2023

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The global cell culture media, sera and reagents market is witnessing impressive growth due to the increase in demand for biopharmaceutical products. Since its introduction as an integral part of the life sciences industry, the cell culture market has witnessed significant growth in terms of scope as well as adoption by the end-users. The double-digit growth in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries is the major factor likely to boost the growth of the cell culture media, sera and reagents market in the near future.The market has been extensively analyzed on the basis of media, sera, reagents, and geography. Cell culture media are further segmented into chemically defines media, classical media, lysogeny broth, protein-free, serum-free and specialty media; segment for cell culture sera is sub-segmented into fetal bovine serum, newborn calf and adult bovine serum and others; and reagents segmented to further divided into albumin, amino acids, attachment factors, growth factors and cytokines, protease inhibitors, and others. Albumin market is further studied for human serum albumin, bovine serum albumin, and recombinant serum albumin. Growth factors and cytokines market is studied for insulin-like growth factors, interleukins and interferons, tumor necrosis factors and other growth factors and cytokines. The others reagents segment is further divided in porcine trypsin, recombinant trypsin, thrombin and miscellaneous reagents.Each of the segments has been analyzed in detail for market trends, recent developments, outlook, and opportunities. The report provides current and future market size for each segment and sub-segment for the period from 2013 to 2023, in terms of revenue in USD million considering 2013 and 2014 as the base years. The compound annual growth rate (% CAGR) for each market segment has been provided for the forecast period from 2015 to 2023 along with the estimations of market size.Inquiry on this report @Geographically, the global cell culture media, sera and reagents market has been classified into five major regions: North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (Germany, the U.K., Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (Japan, China, India, Korea, Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of Latin America), and Rest of the World (RoW) (Israel and Russia). The regions have been further segmented by media, sera and reagents. The current and future market sizes in terms of revenue (USD million) of these regional markets and their major countries have been provided in the report for the period from 2013 to 2023, with their growth rate (%) for the period from 2015 to 2023. The study also offers a list of recommendations and highlights of the market for new companies willing to enter the market and for existing companies to increase market shares, which is likely to help in the decision-making process.The market overview section of the report demonstrates the market dynamics and market trends such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current and future status of the cell culture industry. The report also covers market attractiveness analysis, Porters Five Forces Analysis and key market share analysis in the market overview section, in order to give a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global cell culture media, sera and reagents market.Get a Free Sample Copy of the Report @The competitive landscape section of the report includes the market share analysis of major players in the cell culture media, sera and reagents market for the year 2013. The report concludes with the company profiles section that includes key information about the major players in the market. Key players profiled in this report include BD Biosciences, Corning Incorporated, EMD Millipore, GE Healthcare, Lonza Group, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., VWR International, LLC, and PromoCell GmbH. Each of these players is profiled in the report considering parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments.About MRRSEMRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.Mr.Nachiket GhumareCorporate OfficeState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Global Sublingual Films Sprays Market 2016 Industry Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021

Sublingual Films Sprays

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Global Sublingual Films Sprays Industry 2016The Global Sublingual Films Sprays Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the Global Sublingual Films Sprays market. Details such as the size, key players, segmentation, SWOT analysis, most influential trends, and business environment of the market are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, this report features tables and figures that render a clear perspective of the Sublingual Films Sprays market. The report features an up-to-date data on key companies product details, revenue figures, and sales. Furthermore, the details also gives the Global Sublingual Films Sprays market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Sublingual Films Sprays market are also included. Key strengths, weaknesses, and threats shaping the leading players in the market have also been included in this research report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing Global Sublingual Films Sprays market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Complete Report with TOC :The study on the Global Sublingual Films Sprays market also features a history of the tactical mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships activity in the market. Valuable recommendations by senior analysts about investing strategically in research and development can help new entrants or established players penetrate the emerging sectors in the Sublingual Films Sprays market. Investors will gain a clear insight on the dominant players in this industry and their future forecasts. Furthermore, readers will get a clear perspective on the high demand and the unmet needs of consumers that will enhance the growth of this market.Table of ContentChapter One Sublingual Films Sprays Industry Overview1.1 Sublingual Films Sprays Definition1.1.1 Sublingual Films Sprays Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Sublingual Films Sprays Classification1.3 Sublingual Films Sprays Application Field1.4 Sublingual Films Sprays Industry Chain Structure1.5 Sublingual Films Sprays Industry Regional Overview1.6 Sublingual Films Sprays Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Sublingual Films Sprays Industry Related Companies Contact InformationGet Sample Copy of Report @About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651
Radiofrequency Ablation Devices for Pain Management Market: Current and Projected industry size and Recent Industry Trends by 2023

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This report on the radiofrequency ablation (RF) devices for pain management market studies the current and future prospects of the market across the globe. Radiofrequency ablation devices in pain management are majorly used to reduce chronic low-back and neck pain caused due to degenerative joint diseases such as arthritis and other spinal conditions. It is a minimally invasive surgical procedure which involves heating of a small area of nervous tissue leading to blockage of pain signals. This ultimately helps in relieving the patient from chronic pain. The rising prevalence of pain among elderly population, and technological advancements in products are some of the factors driving the radiofrequency ablation devices for pain management market. The market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments and sub-segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the radiofrequency ablation devices for pain management market with respect to market segments based on the product type and their geographic analysis.Based on the product type, the radiofrequency ablation devices for pain management market has been segmented into: capital equipment (RF Generators), Reusables (Probes, Electrodes), and Disposables (Cannula, Needles, Single-use Probes, and Single-use Electrodes). Each of the market segments have been extensively analyzed based on the market related factors such as increasing rate of accidents leading to traumatic injury, aging population, technological advancement, and growing number of disabilities in various geographies. Moreover, historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. The market size and forecast in terms of USD million for each segment has been provided for the period from 2013 to 2023. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2015 to 2023, considering 2014 as the base year.Inquiry on this report @Geographically, radiofrequency ablation devices for pain management market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of the World. The market size and forecast for each of these regions has been provided for the period from 2013 to 2023, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2015 to 2023, considering 2014 as the base year. The report also provides with market size and forecast for major countries in the respective regions. A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides with market attractiveness analysis, Porters five forces analysis, value chain analysis, pricing analysis and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global radiofrequency ablation devices for pain management market.Get a Free Sample Copy of the Report @A list of recommendations has been provided for new entrants as well as existing market players to assist them in taking strategic initiatives to establish a strong presence in the market. The report also profiles major players in the market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include Boston Scientific Corporation, Cosman Medical, Inc., Diros Technology, Inc., Halyard Health, Inc., Medtronic (Covidien), NeuroTherm, Inc. (St. Jude Medical, Inc.), and Stryker Corporation.MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.Mr.Nachiket GhumareCorporate OfficeState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Advanced Glazing Material Market -Projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period 2023

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The materials used on windows to transmit light and enable partial thermal radiation to pass through are known as advanced glazing materials. The developments in glass industry have led to the growing use of coating technology by forming a thin molecular coat or by laminating a film onto a glass surface. The coatings have enhanced the properties of the glass. The thermal performance of a window can be established depending on the glazing material used on its surface. The advanced glazing materials are categorized on different factors such as transparency, material used, and cross section of the elements.Advanced glazing materials are segmented depending on their adopted physical characteristics and the area of application. They are segmented as regular transparent glass, double glazing, absorbing glass, dark glass, reflective glass, polycarbonate, double polycarbonate with air space, corrugated fiber glass, and acrylic sheets. The construction and automobile sectors are the key end-user industries for advanced glazing materials. Regular transparent glass is largely used in south-facing windows and greenhouses as it permits a large portion of visible light and solar radiation striking it to pass through. Double or triple glazing material contains two or three glass sheets with space in between or filled with gas or air. The thickness of the glass and the space between the glass sheets limits the amount of radiation allowed to penetrate and the thermal conductivity of the composite systems. Absorbing glass type of glazing permits nearly eighty per cent of light to enter but transmits only a small quantity of the total solar radiation of different wavelengths. Reflective glass type of glazing material is used in the buildings where no penetration of solar radiation is required such as the buildings that are facing westwards or regions which have a hot climate throughout the year. Polycarbonate material is physically hard, permits penetration of light, and heats up comparatively lesser than glass. Acrylic sheets are similar to that of plastics but less fragile as compared to glass; their deterioration is comparatively faster since exposure to ultraviolet radiation or abrasion caused by the sand and dust in desert accelerates its deterioration.The construction sector accounts for a major share and acts as a key market driver for the advance glazing material market. Due to high customer preference towards aesthetically appealing structures, the demand for glazed glasses is growing globally, consequently creating a huge market demand for advanced glazing materials in the construction sector. In the automobile sector, glazing materials play a vital role as windows are a key structural part of the vehicle and contribute to the visibility. Laminated glass holds the glass particles together when shattered and hence, it is used in vehicles from a safety point of view in the event of accidents.Globally, the advanced glazing market is segmented in five regions, namely, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Europe accounts for a major market share of advanced glazing materials, followed by North America and Asia Pacific. The growing construction sector in regions such as Asia Pacific is forecasted to create a large market for advanced glazing materials. Adaptation of products with high price-performance index is growing in North America and Europe, and the penetration of advanced glazing materials in Asia Pacific is anticipated to boost the market demand for them in the next few years. The growing automotive sector in developing economies is all set to propel the demand for advanced glazing material as forecasted.Read More -About UsTMR is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Specialty Paper Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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Specialty paper is used to transport and safeguard a wide range of merchandise. High demand from the end use industry, such as packaging and labelling, is anticipated to drive growth of the specialty paper market over the forecast period. The specialty paper market constituted almost 6% of the global specialty paper and paperboard market in terms of volume in 2014. Europe was the leading exporter of specialty papers in 2014. Rapid increase in consumerism, in turn, is projected to drive demand for specialty papers in the developing countries. The convenience offered by customizable specialty paper products, coupled with their beneficial properties, is also among the major factors anticipated to drive growth of the specialty paper market over the forecast period. Thus, in view of all the above driving factors, the global specialty paper market is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period.Specialty Paper Market: Drivers and RestraintsGrowth witnessed in the end-use industry, such as packaging and labelling, in turn is expected to drive growth of the specialty paper market in the near future, as packaging and labelling constitutes almost 40% of the global specialty paper application. Change in lifestyle of people and rise in aging population are factors anticipated to increase demand for specialty paper in the food service, packaging, and medical applications. Besides, rise in the disposable income of people across the globe is expected to further fuel demand for specialty papers over the forecast period.Carbon emissions resulting from the paper manufacturing processes, coupled with deforestation, is projected to be a strong disadvantage of specialty papers, in turn hindering their market growth. Besides, the advent of the digitalization age is expected to be another major restraining factor for growth of the specialty paper market in the coming years. Furthermore, anticipated extermination of paper-based communication due to the increasing consumer preference for electronic media is expected to lead to further decline in growth of the specialty paper market over the forecast period. Moreover, the specialty paper market is extremely fragmented, which is another restraining factor for growth of the specialty paper market over the forecast period.Get Free Sample Report Copy :Specialty Paper Market: SegmentationThe global specialty paper market is segmented based on raw materials into:AdditivesFillersBindersPulpOthers (fibre, chemicals)The global specialty paper market is segmented on the basis of product type into:Release & labelsDecor papersPharmaceutical leaflet papersFlexible packaging papersOthers (automotive, kitchen worktops, and abrasive backings)The global specialty paper market is segmented based on end use application into:IndustrialConstructionPackagingLabelFood ServicePrintingsOthersSpecialty Paper Market: Region  wise outlookThe global specialty paper market is segmented into seven key regions on the basis of geography, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Japan. Asia Pacific market is expected to expand at the highest CAGR in terms of value and volume over the forecast period. Increasing population and industrialization in APAC is expected to be the major reason for the rise in demand for specialty papers in the region. Europe and North America markets are expected to account for nearly half of the total share of the specialty paper market over the forecast period. The Latin America and the MEA markets are expected to witness stagnant growth in the near future.Specialty Paper Market: Major key playersSome of the key market players identified in the global specialty paper market are:Nippon Paper GroupDomtar CorporationMondi PlcInternational PaperStora EnsoOji Holdings CorporationAsia Pulp & Paper Co. LimitedSappi LimitedAbout 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:
Ambient Food Packaging Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2026

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Ambient food packaging refers to packing a food product in pasteurised and sterilized packs to increase its shelf life. Ambient food packing has become a trend in the food packaging industry and ambient food products are preferred by majority of the consumers over others. Increasing demand for having more empty space in chill cabinets calls for the adoption of the food packaging methods that can offer a better shelf life to the product even without a refrigerator. Demand for sustainable packaging material has become a new trend in the ambient food packaging industry.Ambient food packaging bestows extended shelf life to the food product as compared to the usual packaging methods and, thus, enables storing the product at room temperature. Additionally, it also makes use of high barrier sheets, which assure that certain important aspects related to food storage, such as safety of food stored inside, consumer convenience, and attractive design, are taken care of. All these supporting factors have led to the increased demand for ambient food packaging among food manufacturers globally.Get Free Sample Report Copy :The ambient food packaging market can be classified on the basis of types of containers used, on the basis of food, and by packaging material. On the basis of containers used, the ambient food packaging is segmented into tray, pots, lids, cups, and bowls. On the basis of food, the ambient food packaging market is segmented into ready meals, baby foods, soups and sauces, seafood, fruits and vegetables, coffee, and pet food.On the supply side, major players in the market have started offering services, such as blow moulding, injection moulding, and thermoforming, which has been leading to the additional demand for the packaging type.However, high level of processing required in case of ambient food packaging ultimately adds to the overall cost of packaging product, which poses as a potential threat for growth of the global ambient food packaging market.Main market for ambient food packaging lies in Asia Pacific, as demand for packaged food is increasing along with the growing population and rising disposable income levels of consumers in the region. The Asia Pacific market is anticipated to be followed by North America and Western Europe, as these markets account for the largest share of canned foods consumption across the globe. The Western Europe market is expected to be followed by South America, Eastern Europe, and Middle East & Africa markets. However, the global ambient food packaging market is still expected to be dominated by the emerging economies.Major players in ambient packaging market include FFP Packaging Solutions Ltd. (U.K), RPC Group (U.K), Amcor Limited (Australia), SIG Combiblog Obeikan (Switzerland), Tetra Pak (India) , Rexam (U.K), Bemis (U.S.), Mondi (South Africa), Ampac (U.S), Dupont (U.S.), Excelsior Technologies (India), KM Packaging (UK), and Marsden (US). These companies are continuously focused on inventing new packaging materials that can help prevent contamination of food products and extend their shelf life.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:
South Korea: Operator Investments in 4G/5G, IoT and Fixed Infrastructure to Drive Future Revenue Growth

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Albany, New York, August 16, 2016: Market Research HUB has announced the addition of the "South Korea: Operator Investments in 4G/5G, IoT and Fixed Infrastructure to Drive Future Revenue Growth " report to their huge collection of market research reports. The telecommunications market in South Korea generated $32.1bn (W 37,843 bn) in service revenue in 2015. The telecom service revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 0.7% during 2016-2021, primarily driven by the growth in data revenue. Mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment over the 2016-2021 period. Operators are focusing on the expansion of the LTE network, deployment of 5G technology and the fiber network. In addition, ongoing investments in network expansion and modernization will enable operators to monetize the growing demand of data services.Browse Full Report with TOC -Key Findings The overall telecom service revenue in South Korea is estimated to generate $32.9 in 2016 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 0.7% during 2016-2021, mainly driven by data segments (mobile and fixed). Mobile revenue will account for 60.7% of the total telecom revenue in 2021, and mobile data will be the fastest-growing segment over 2016-2021. We expect the contribution of mobile data to mobile services revenue to reach 79% by 2021, driven by expansion of LTE network coverage. The South Korean telecom market will be dominated by KT as the leading operator, followed by SK Telecom and LG U+. Operators will continue to invest in fixed and mobile network expansion and deployment of 5G technology to have a competitive edge in the market.SynopsisSouth Korea: Operator Investments in 4G/5G, IoT and Fixed Infrastructure to Drive Future Revenue Growth provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in South Korea today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2021. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into South Koreas telecom market, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following: Regional context: Telecom market size and trends in South Korea compared with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Economic, demographic and political context in South Korea. The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, number portability and more. A demand profile: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, fixed Internet, mobile voice and mobile data and pay-TV. Service evolution: a look at changes in the breakdown of overall revenue between the fixed and mobile sectors and between voice, data and video from 2014 to 2021. The competitive landscape: an examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months. In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data services: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period. Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in South Koreas telecommunications market.Request for Free Sample Report -Reasons To Buy Gain in-depth analysis of current strategies and future trends of the telecommunications market in South Korea, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format, to build proactive and profitable growth strategies. Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in South Koreas mobile communications, fixed telephony, broadband markets and pay-TV markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customers demand. Leverage the graphical information (more than 20 charts and tables in the report based on the Pyramid Research forecast products), to gain an overview of the telecom market in South Korea. Analysis of key telecom players in the markets and major business strategies being adopted by them, to identify the opportunities to improve the market share. Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet the requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in South Korea.About Market Research HUBMarket Research HUB (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel : +1-518-621-2074Email : sales@marketresearchhub.comWebsite :
Cosmetic and Perfume Glass Bottle Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

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The improved lifestyle coupled with increased disposable income and desire towards better personality are the prime reasons for growing demands of beauty products. The rapid growth in consumption and production of these products is evident that the look and feel of the packaging is also a considerable factor. Hence, manufacturers are highly focusing on better packaging solutions which gives customers a premium feel in a cost effective way. Quality packaging not only offer an attractive options for customers but it also maintain the quality and effectiveness of the product inside the bottle.The global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market is primarily driven by the growth in cosmetic and perfumery industry. The global cosmetic industry is forecasted to be of more than US $ 600 Bn by 2019. The growing aspirations of better physical appearance and beauty is anticipated to be the major driving factor for the cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market. The fierce competition in cosmetic industry is supposed to force the cosmetic and perfumery industry to choose innovative and better glass packaging solutions which is anticipated to be the driving factor for the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market. The increased disposable income and growing inclusion of cosmetic and perfumery products into everyday grooming practices is projected to the driving factor for the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market. On the other hand the growing use of plastic in cosmetic and perfumery packaging is anticipated to be the major restrain in the growth of the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market.The opportunity of global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market lies in providing durable packaging solutions at cost effective especially in mid and low range perfume and cosmetic segments. Improving the product visibility and attractiveness is anticipated to be the major challenges for the global cosmetic and cosmetic and perfumery which can be perceived as an opportunity for the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market by providing innovative packaging solutions.Get Free Sample Report Copy :The global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market is segmented on the basis of product into high-end cosmetic and perfumes, mid-range and low range. The mid-range cosmetic and perfumery market is anticipated to register the highest growth in global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market. By application the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market is segmented into hair care, skin care, make-up, fragrances, bath and shower and others. Where skin care and fragrances is anticipated to be the major contributor of the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market.On the basis of geography the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. Europe is anticipated to be the largest market for global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market primarily driven by strong demand and higher consumption of cosmetic and perfumery products. Asia pacific is anticipated to be the second largest market for the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market primarily driven by growing per capita income and increasing awareness of cosmetic and perfumery especially in rapidly growing urban population. The strong demand in Japan, India and China are the major contributing factors for the demand in Asia pacific region. The North America is also anticipated to contribute significantly in the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market followed by Asia pacific. Middle East is also expected to contribute to the demand of global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market primarily due to rapid urbanization and rising expenditure on beauty care products.Some of the key players in the global cosmetic and perfume glass bottle market are Heinz-Glas Group Holding, SGD Group, ZIGNAGO VETRO S.p.A., Rockwood & Hines, Gerresheimer Group, Saverglass, Piramal Glass, Groupe Pochet and others.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:
Strategic Analysis on Geospatial Analytics Market Forecast to 2025 The Insight Partners

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The Geospatial Analytics Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type, Technology and Application report provides a detailed overview of the major factors impacting the global market with the market share analysis and revenues of various sub segments.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the In Geospatial Analytics Market to 2025 @Geospatial analytics use this data and interpret used to build maps, graphs, and statistics which are further used by organization to understand the pattern of activities. Technologies such as mobile devices, location sensors, social media, and other platforms allow organization to collect the information or data. Geospatial analytics offer solutions to organizations which help in anticipating and to formulate strategies for predicted changes in reference to dynamic spatial conditions or location based events.According to CISCO`s report, in 2008 the number of connected devices crossed number people on the earth and it is also estimated by 2020 the number of connected devices will reach 50 billion. Fast growing trends in mobile devices and internet of everything will drive the geospatial analytics market positively in near future. Some of the key concerns of developing economies would include poor connectivity and as the data is collected in real-time congestion of connected devices in low bandwidth internet which may lead to false location results and analysis may fail to produce desired results.Avail discount on full report @The global geospatial analytics market is broadly classified into segments such as type, technology, application, end-users and geography. Key types of geospatial analytics include surface analytics, network analytics, geo-visualization and others. Technologies used in this market are further segmented as Remote Sensing, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographical Information System (GIS), and Others. The application segment is further sub-segmented into Surveying,, Disaster Risk Reduction Management, Climate Change Adaptation, , Medicine and Public Safety and Others. The global geospatial analytics market is also divided by geography and include regions such as North America, Europe, APAC, South America (SAM) and Middle East Africa (MEA).Request Free Sample @North America being one of the leading hub for technologies, companies in this region are more focused on offering solution and services which are more inclined or associated to analytics and cloud computing next big thing which will drive the market of geospatial analytics market. While North America being one of the leading markets, APAC is the fasted growing market for analytics APAC is one of the key regions which include growing economies such as China, Japan, India, etc. hence this region is considered to be fastest growing and is estimated to gain major share of the market in near future.Some of the key players in global surface computing market include Trimble Navigation Ltd., General Electric (GE), MDA Corporation, Bentley Systems, Inc., ESRI, RMSI, Hexagon AB, Fugro N.V., and Harris Corporation among others.About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Public Cloud Market: Industry Analysis & Opportunities-The Insight Partners

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Cloud services act as the storage or third party vendors where the data of organization is stored for various purposes. The stored data is then retrieved for analytical purposes. The public cloud domain denotes, the cloud services offered over a public network that can be accessed remotely. The biggest advantage of having the public cloud model is that organizations will have limited concerns regarding the storage and maintenance of data. The setup is off-premise and the architecture type is multi-tenant where a number of organizations share the computing space of the third-party vendor. SME`s will be gain more benefits as they outsource the storage and maintenance of their data to third-party cloud vendors and thus save a lot on capital investments in setting up infrastructure. Cost savings, rapid building, testing and lesser time-to-market the product has attracted a lot of businesses across various verticals to adopt the public cloud technology.Browse market data tables and in-depth TOC of the Public Cloud Market to 2025 @Over the past decade, the software industry has witnessed massive changes. The deployment of cloud models by organizations being the foremost of them due to the stated advantages it offers. Highly scalable nature of businesses prompt them to opt for cloud based services as the data at storage centers can be scaled up and down as per the user requirements. Additionally, the pricing structure followed by the public cloud vendors model is generally pay-as-per-use. The organizations especially SMEs do not have to pay huge amounts in one go and thus makes it highly desirable for them to deploy public cloud model for their business operations. Core competency of businesses is maintained and hence allows them to stay competitive in this highly dynamic market.Reduced operational costs and the plethora of solutions that are business specific offered from a single source are the primary drivers for the public cloud services market. Need for a scalable, flexible, easy and efficient IT infrastructure is also driving this market considerably. Human errors are minimized as the operations are totally machine operated and eventually attracts the organizations to adopt the public cloud services. The above drivers are the reasons behind the exponential adoption of this market.Avail discount on full report @In spite of being significantly adopted in developed countries of the world, the growth of public cloud services has experienced few constraints. Security concerns regarding the privacy of data has been the major restraining factor for this market. The internet connectivity requirements for this cloud model is high and in countries with poor connectivity will impact the implementation of public cloud. Also, the integration of the model with the legacy systems has been a restraining factor. The other restraints for this market include outages and data mobility.The global public cloud market has been segmented by types into hardware, software and services. Further the public cloud market has been fragmented on the basis of delivery model into SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. In addition, this market has been further segmented based on end-users, namely: SMEs and large enterprises. Public cloud market segmentation is also done on the basis of industry verticals that includes BFSI, Telecommunications, Hospitality & Retail, Government, Manufacturing and Healthcare.Request for Free Sample @North America leads the global public cloud market due to remarkable technological advancements and socio economic development of the region.. Europe which is another major industrial hub has been contributing to the growth of public cloud market. The NORDIC region in Europe with many small industries has largely contributed to the European market share for the public cloud market. Additionally, steadily catching up with these regions is the APAC region with developing countries like India and China gradually investing in public cloud technologies. Some of the key players operating within the global public cloud market include Microsoft Corporation, Salesforce.com, Cisco Systems, Inc., VMWare, Google, Inc., Oracle Corporation, and Eucalyptus among others.About The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Ethylene Propylene Rubber Market - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015  2021

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Ethylene propylene rubber is a copolymer of ethylene and propylene (EPR) combined with a third comonomer adiene (EPDM). It is used as packing material. Ethylene propylene has excellent water resistance and it retains this property up to temperatures as high as approximately 120-140C. On a contrary, ethylene propylene rubber has poor resistance to mineral oil and fuel. Ethylene propylene rubber is classified under two different type including ethylene propylene monomer (EPM) and EPDM.Request Sample Report:The growth of global ethylene propylene rubber market has been accelerated by increasing use of EPDM for plastic modification applications. It also finds wide range of applications in automotive weather-stripping and seals. In addition, ethylene propylene rubber is used as an additive in motor oils and used in the production of engine mounts, break parts and windshield wipers. However, raw material supply bottlenecks are expected to restrain the market growth in coming years. Nonetheless, increasing demand from automotive industry is expected to offer new opportunities for ethylene propylene rubber market in near future.The report covers forecast and analysis for the ethylene propylene rubber market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on volume (kilo tons) & revenue (USD million). In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the ethylene propylene rubber market, we have included a detailed value chain analysis. Study also covers Porters Five Forces model, which offers an insights view and intensity of competition within the market. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.Do Inquiry before buying:The report provides detailed segmentation of the ethylene propylene rubber market based on application and region. Major applications includes automotive, tires & tube, lubricant additives, building & construction, plastic modifications, wires & cables and others.Major regional segments analyzed in this study include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market in term of demand and this growth is attributed to the rapidly rising automotive sector in developing countries.Key players profiled in the report include ExxonMobil Chemical Company, JSR Corporation, LANXESS AG, Firestone Building Products Company LLC, Versalis, Lion Copolymer LLC., Kumho Polychem Co. Ltd., SK Global Chemical Co. Ltd., and Mitsui Chemicals.Browse report at:The report segments the global ethylene propylene rubber market as follows:Ethylene Propylene Rubber Market: Application Segment AnalysisAutomotiveBuilding & ConstructionPlastic ModificationsTires & TubeWires & CablesLubricant AdditivesOthersEthylene Propylene Rubber Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaAbout Us: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:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Offshore Support Vessels Market - Global Industry Analysis, Trends, Growth and Forecast 2015 - 2023

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Increased offshore activities and investments in infrastructure are expected to boost the offshore support vessels market. Offshore support vessels provide services to offshore pipe laying, drilling rigs and oil production platforms utilized in exploration and production activities. Facility associated with logistics along with other supporting activities is provided by the offshore support vessels. All type of offshore support vessels has its own properties and features according to the type of operation. Offshore support vessel is resourceful and fundamental components of the oil & gas industry. Offshore support vessels provide transport facility along with activities such as support to platform, anchor management and standby capability. Crew members are taken to the offshore sites by offshore support vessels.Interpret a Competitive outlook Analysis Report with free PDF Brochure:Offshore support vessels market is segmented on the basis of types. Multi-Purpose Service Vessel (MPSV), Anchor Handling, Towing and Supply Vessel (AHTS), Crew boats, Platform Supply vessels (PSV) and Standby Vessels are various types of offshore support vessels. Anchor Handling, Towing and Supply Vessel (AHTS) are designed to position the rigs anchors and tow rigs from one location to another. Anchor Handling, Towing and Supply Vessel (AHTS) support offshore construction projects and carry drilling pipe. AHTS is expected to dominate the OSV market in the coming years. Simpler tasks such as cargo runs and supply duties are performed by platform support vessels (PSV).An enormous demand is expected in offshore vessels market across the Asia-Pacific because of the increased exploration activities in the Southeast Asia. Demand of more volume of offshore support vessels are expected from South East Asia, China, Malaysia and Australia. Thus these regions provide a big opportunity for the OSV manufacturers. The key driving factors for the high growth of offshore support vessel market are offshore regions with high investments such as U.S Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and North Sea. North America and South America is expected to witness high revenue growth in coming years. Middle East is expected to be leading market for offshore support vessels market.Some of the macro drivers prompting offshore support vessels market are high energy demands, increasing offshore exploration as onshore matures and robust OSV demand. Other driving factor in offshore support vessels market is increase in the offshore rig count. Increasing marine logistics demand is propelling growth of global offshore support vessel market. Constant modifications in vessels are made by manufacturers of offshore support vessels to enhance market share to supply bulk contracts. Some strategies being followed by leading industry players are new products launched and an agreement of distribution to increase their penetration in various regions. Offshore support vessels market restraints are high maintenance cost and replacement cost of offshore support vessels. There is increasing emphasis on environmental features like clean design in some geographical regions. Regulations are expected to remain stricter in certain geographical regions, especially in the North Sea but the drift of offshore support vessels market is scattering world-wide.Browse Industry Research Report with free Analysis:Some of the players in offshore support vessels market are Intermarine LLC, Edison Chouest Offshore, Gulfmark Offshore Inc., Havila Shipping ASA, Island Offshore Management AS, Harvey Gulf, Abdon Callais Offshore, Farstad Shipping ASA, and Bourbon Offshore Marine services, Bass Marine Pty Ltd, China Yantai Salvage and Rem Maritime As among others. Developments, expansion, investments, mergers, acquisition, new technologies developments, agreements and contracts are some of the strategies adopted by companies to expand their offshore support vessels market.About UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700Albany NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453E-mail: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Industrial Tapes Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024.

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The industrial tapes market has experienced robust growth in the past few years with the global growth of the tapes and adhesives industry. Increasing demand for high strength, solvent-resistant tapes are gaining popularity in industrial applications. These tapes comprise a face stock which is coated on one side with an active adhesive. The face stock material forms the backing of the tape. Several types of backings are currently popular in the industry. Some of them include paper, polypropylene, vinyl, polyethylene, polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene, metal foil, and glass foil. Paper tapes are the most economical choice for industrial tapes; however, due to poor moisture and tear resistance, they are usually employed in paper and corrugated packaging industry. Polypropylene industrial tapes are usually used as substitute for paper tapes. Polypropylene tapes are tear resistant and offer good performance at low temperatures. Polytetrafluoroethylene tapes are relatively high priced; they however exhibit excellent anti-stick properties and have excellent moisture-resistance property as well.Get Free PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:Industrial tapes, commercially available in the market are primarily of two types- single coated and double coated. Single coated industrial tapes can have different adhesives such as acrylic, rubber, or silicone. These types of industrial tapes are usually used for electrical, masking, carton sealing, and medical applications. On the contrary, double coated tapes consist of pressure-sensitive adhesive on both sides of a carrier. These tapes tend to be thicker due to the added layer. Double coated tapes are usually the preferred choice when two distinct adhesives are needed in order to join dissimilar surfaces. Thus, these are often referred to as differential tapes.Industrial tapes are predominantly used in various end-user industries such as packaging, footwear, construction, furniture, automotive, and others. The end-user industry utilizes several types of industrial tapes as per the requirement of the application. For instance, double coated polypropylene tapes are widely used in automotive, aerospace, and carpet installation due to their flame retardant property. Industrial tapes are used for masking, lamination, protection, jointing, insulation (cold & electrical), holding or mounting during the manufacturing of automobiles & their accessories. Similarly, these tapes are used for bonding of white goods appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, washing machines, printers, microwave ovens etc. Industrial tapes for packaging industry are made up of paper, cloth & foams, and polyethylene and are used for carton sealing, bonding, jointing, and sealing application.The demand for industrial tapes is significantly expanding in the fields of flooring for commercial and housing applications. Steady growth rate of construction of residential buildings, especially in emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia (BRICS), is driving the industrial tapes market. Moreover, robust growth in the packaging and converting industry will increase demand for industrial tapes. However, enactment of several environmental regulations regarding VOC emission from solvents used in industrial tapes is the prime restraining factor for the market. Innovation in the market related to improvement in aesthetics and application time is expected to create immense opportunity in the market.Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing region in the industrial tapes market in the coming years. Increasing urbanization and formation of smart cities is boosting the demand for industrial tapes in the region. The Middle East and Africa (MEA) is estimated to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period due to easing government processes for residential mortgaging, especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Latin America is projected to witness moderate growth during the forecast period. Brazil and Argentina are likely to drive the industrial tapes market in Latin America due to significant public investments in commercial, infrastructural, and industrial construction. Europe held a significant share of the global industrial tapes market in 2015. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and Turkey have been identified as high growth markets for industrial tapes for construction end-user industry. The industrial tapes market in North America for construction end-user industry is likely to expand at a below average growth rate due to maturity of the construction industry.Browse Industry Research Report with free Analysis:Some key players in the industrial tapes market include 3M, Scapa, Avery Dennison Corporation, H.B. Fuller, Ashland Inc., Sika AG, Henkel AG & Co. KHaA, Saint Gobain SA, The Eastman Chemical Company, Tape Products Company, and Tesa Tape, inc.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsAbout UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700Albany NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453E-mail: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Health Insurance Market - Growing By Leaps & Bounds, Contributing Significantly to The Global Economy

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http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/health-insurance-market.html

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Transparency Market Researchs report, titled Health Insurance Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023, examines the market through a microscopic lens to get a detailed understanding of various facets of the global health insurance market. It also presents historical data pertaining to the healthcare insurance industry and correlates it with the forecast to help readers in building a framework of the markets trajectory.Download Healthcare Analytic Brochure:The global health insurance market is growing by leaps and bounds, contributing significantly to the global economy. Health insurance can be purchased individually or by companies for their employees to offer heath care coverage. In an individually purchased health insurance, the out-of-pocket spending is far more than group insurance purchases. The premium is higher in the individual market, as the buyer pays the full premium without any contribution from the employer.The most obvious benefit of health insurance is the financial security it provides to the patient in the event a health-related expense arises. The remarkable growth of the health insurance market in the past few decades has made it the spinal cord of the global economy, as it collects mammoth amounts of revenue. The healthcare industry also plays a vital role in determining the global investments and securing lives of many, thereby keeping the socio-economic structure balanced.In 2014, as the global economies stabilized, limping back to normalcy after an economic downturn, the disposable incomes and GDPs showed notable improvements. As the high income groups and middle class were equipped with more financial resources, both the groups were seen investing in healthcare insurance for safeguarding themselves against unforeseen problems. This trend is expected to augment the global health insurance market in the coming years as well.In the coming years, insurance companies and investment firms will adopt digitalization of business process to reach out to a wider audience across all boundaries. Furthermore, the impactful business and marketing strategies, transparency in operations, and simplification of products by insurance companies is also expected to win them new clientele.Get a Research Report:Some of the important players profiled in the global health insurance market are UnitedHealth Group Inc., Allianz SE, Cigna Corporation, Express Scripts Holding Company, AIA Insurance Group, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., AXA, Aetna, Inc., International Medical Group, Aviva plc, and Apollo Munich Health Insurance. The research report offers an insight into the competitive landscape of the global health insurance market along with presenting details regarding companies financial overview, research and development activities, investment outlook, and business and marketing strategies. The report also assesses the companies using a SWOT analysis and a Porters five forces analysis to highlight the key elements impacting them.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Intelligent Polymers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13205

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/intelligent-polymers-market.html

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Intelligent polymers, also known as smart polymers or stimuli-responsive polymers, are high-performance polymers that are sensitive to the slightest environmental changes. These change according to the temperature, humidity, pH, and electrical, or magnetic field. They are synthesized by combining reactive functional groups to backbone chains during polymerization. Based on the selection of backbone chain and functional group, intelligent polymers possess different properties such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, and optical.Interpret a Competitive outlook Analysis Report with free PDF Brochure:They are flexible, easy to color, strong, easy to mold, and tough. Intelligent polymers are primarily used in the production of hydrogels, biodegradable packaging, and biomedical engineering products. They are also employed in the manufacture of daily-usage products such as nappies, helmets, plastic bags, plastic bottles, and chewing gums.Based on physical features, intelligent polymers can be classified into free linear chain solutions, reversible gels covalently cross linked and polymer chain grafted on a surface. Based on stimuli, these polymers can be classified into physical stimuli (temperature, ultrasounds, light, and mechanical stress), chemical stimuli (pH and ionic strength) and biological stimuli (enzymes and biomolecules).Intelligent Polymers Market: Trends SnapshotIntelligent polymers are used in various industries such as biomedical, tissue engineering, textile engineering, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. These polymers are employed in drug delivery systems, where they can safely transport a pharmaceutical compound into the body, in the biomedical industry. This is done automatically without the use of sensors, transducers, switches, or pumps. When the polymers are exposed to critical temperature they show certain changes in their properties, which is used in tissue culture application. Certain category of new polymers are being developed by companies; these have the ability to return to their original shape from the deformed shape once exposed to external stimuli. These polymers are known as shape-memory polymers and are used in textile engineering. Smart polymers are employed in biotechnology and pharmaceutical formulations, as they get physically mixed or chemically conjugated to biomolecules. These are used for yielding other products.Intelligent Polymers Market: Region-wise InsightNorth America and Europe have been dominating the intelligent polymers market since the last few years. These polymers are used extensively in the biomedical sector, which is expanding significantly in North America and Europe. These regions have been considered among the most technologically advanced across the globe. Companies operating in the intelligent polymers market in North America and Europe focus on product innovation through research and development.Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in the intelligent polymers market in the near future. The emerging economies of developing countries in Asia Pacific region, like India and China are expected to drive the growth of this market. Other regions such as Middle East & Africa and Latin America are expected to provide growth opportunities for intelligent polymers market during the forecast period.Intelligent Polymers Market: Competitive LandscapeIntelligent polymers have the potential to drive the growth of all the industries, as they can adapt to the environmental changes. This increases product performance and extends its lifespan. Various companies are applying the concept of intelligent polymers to their products to improve their performance and quality. Autonomic Materials, Inc. uses intelligent polymers as self-healing agents in products such as elastomers, thermosets, and powder coatings. This allows the use of products for customized solutions and various applications. High Impact Technology, LLC uses intelligent polymers in its resin systems for self-sealing technology. This provides superior corrosion and abrasion protection to prevent leakages.Key players operating in the intelligent polymers market include The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman International LLC, Akzo Nobel N.V., Covestro AG, Autonomic Materials Inc., and High Impact Technology LLC.Browse Industry Research Report with free Analysis: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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Key market segments and sub-segmentsEvolving market trends and dynamicsChanging supply and demand scenariosQuantifying market opportunities through market sizing and market forecastingTracking current trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive insightsOpportunity mapping in terms of technological breakthroughsAbout UsTransparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We are privileged with highly experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700Albany NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453E-mail: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
DayTradeToWin Launches New All-Inclusive Educational Trading Program for Beginners and Advanced Traders

8-Weeks All-Inclusive Program Includes Support, Courses and Full Software Licenses by DayTradeToWin

We are excited to announce that starting in early September just after Labor Day weekend on Tuesday September 6 at 4:00 PM EDT a new launch date has been officially confirmed for the next Mentorship class. Classes will be held on Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00 PM EDT. As the start date approaches spots will fill fast on a first come basis for this exciting new Group Mentorship Class. Founder John Paul will conduct the classes live for 8 weeks in this all-inclusive program. DayTradeToWin.com is focused on your success and the major goal is creating successful traders. The objective is to turn new traders and advanced traders into professionals. Participants can expect founder and CEO John Paul to personally take them from basic concepts to application of various strategies in live trading conditions.Regarding the announcement, John Paul stated, "Whenever a new class begins, I am excited to take individuals who are skeptical about the markets and show them how it's possible to make a living day trading. My goal is to make traders independent and consistently successful. I show my students objective strategies that they can apply on the markets on any given day. It's all about having a game plan from start to finish. I've help thousands of traders with live training and videos."John Paul says what sets Day Trade to Win apart from other educators is his unique approach. Instead of relying on complex indicators that have no value, he prefers to keep the charts clean. He believes a quick study of a chart's price movement can help predict where price will go next. This is his definition of "price action," and how he classifies his trading style.When price moves on a chart over time, lines or candles form. Typically, the vertical or right axis of a chart measures price while the bottom, horizontal axis measures time. A candle explains how price is moving or will move into the future. A chart may consist of candles and the bar timer which represent individual minutes, hours, or even days. John Paul prefers to work with five-minute charts, as this time frame offers an inside look with plenty of opportunities for market behavior.There are various types of markets to trade. Futures and currencies are two popular categories. The E-mini S&P 500 is the world's most popular equity index market and one that John Paul prefers. The E-mini market is highly liquid and due to its frequent volatility offers plenty of opportunities. Stock trading brokers often requires large accounts to maintain a trading margin. In contrast, most futures brokers require far less. Futures trading is much more accessible to traders with modest budgets. Unlike futures, currencies, or Forex markets, are often unregulated. With little government oversight, these cash currency markets are subject to manipulation and can behave erratically. John Paul believes the E-mini and similar futures markets are the best to trade because they provide the perfect balance of risk, reward, and accessibility.John Paul says he provides traders with access to the E-mini:"We are able to provide a trader with a practice environment where they can simulate live trades. It's very close to real conditions without the risk. We have a free Get Started Trading Guide made available on DayTradeToWin.com where anyone can take the first step. I can't tell you how many times people have told me how surprised they were to find how easy trading can be."Because of a degree of unpredictability and risk of significant financial loss in the markets, traders need to be tread carefully. The DayTradeToWin.com website contains many testimonials that describe positive experiences with the Mentorship Program and the individually sold trading courses. Many of the traders describe long losing or break-even performance before finding Day Trade to Win. A type of performance record for one of the systems, the Atlas Line, is also provided on the site.A student of Day Trade to Win had this to say regarding the last Mentorship class held in July 2016:"I've been trading options/futures for over eight years and lost money every year. John Paul's training and how he teaches is truly the best I've seen! In trading rooms and losses, I have spent over $25,000 in these last eight years. The information provided in the Mentorship training is much better than I expected. No exaggeration."To participate in the next Mentorship training feel free to call toll free 888-607-0008 or by visiting the main website at daytradetowin.com.Day Trade To Win offers new and advanced traders the opportunity to learn unique trading methods using the Atlas Line propriety Software and Price Action Courses designed for success. Live training, support and archived lessons are part of the programs offered.Day Trade To Win1200 N. Federal HighwaySTE 200Boca Raton, Florida, 33432888-607-0008Info@daytradetowin.comContact John Paul
Data Center UPS Market to be worth more than 6 billion dollars by 2021

www.knowledge-sourcing.com/products/data-center-ups-market-forecasts-from-2016-to-2021

Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence announces the publication of a new report on Data Center UPS Market - Forecasts from 2016 to 2021 - Forecasts from 2016 to 2021 - Forecasts from 2016 to 2021 " report to their offering.A UPS is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails. A UPS differs from an auxiliary or emergency power system or standby generator in that it will provide near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions, by supplying energy stored in batteries, supercapacitors, or flywheels. The on-battery runtime of most uninterruptible power sources is relatively short (only a few minutes) but sufficient to start a standby power source or properly shut down the protected equipment.This report provides forecast and analysis of Data Center UPS market which is projected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 8.71% over the forecast period to cross $6.120 billion by 2021. Cloud computing, increasing adoption of virtualization solutions, streaming media are some of the factors creating the need for data centers and in turn impacting the UPS market. Uninterrupted power supply to data centers without disruptions has become a necessity for businesses across the world. UPS system includes intelligent battery management system, power conditioning, and temperature compensated battery charging, automated self-test and other relevant features which enable efficient power management to the enterprise data center facility.The competitive section of this report gives the detailed analysis of the market shares, growth strategies, products, financials, and recent investments of the major players of Data Center UPS Market. Some of the vendors profiled as part of the report are Emerson, Gamatronic, Schneider Electric, ABB, Schneider Electric, GE, Hitachi, AEG Power Solutions, Mitsubishi Electric, Socomec among other major playersThis report segmented the Data Center UPS Market into following: By Technologyo Line Interactiveo Standbyo Double Conversion By Typeo Rackmount UPSo Zone-level UPSo Centralized UPS By Type of Data Centerso Small Data Centerso Medium Data Centerso Large Data Centers By Geographyo Americaso USo Canadao Brazilo Mexicoo Otherso Europe Middle East and Africao United Kingdomo Germanyo Franceo Saudi Arabiao Otherso Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao OthersPurchase complete report or request sample:Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence is a market research and consulting firm based out of India. Driven by industry experts, the company provides syndicated reports, custom research, and consulting services. Our proprietary data analytics model blended with quality primary and secondary research data, assists in generating quality reports providing crucial insights to managers and decision makers. The services offered by us helps companies to gain required competitive edge. Our expertise across 10 industries such as ICT, Chemicals, Semiconductors, Healthcare among others caters to diverse client needs.Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLPH-38, Sector 63 Noida, U.P., IndiaPhone: +1-866-714-4587E-mail: sales@knowledge-sourcing.com
Worldwide Vacuum Lifter Market : Recent Industry Trends, Current and Projected Industry 2016 - 2026

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11296

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/11296

Introduction:Industrial products require special and specific care and handling to prevent any damage. This damage is primarily from external sources, such as scratching or rub marks. The risk of surface and edge damage increases if the product is improperly handled; this may be either due to transportation or due to manhandling. In order to safely transport and position heavy industrial products, vacuum lifters are used. Vacuum lifter is an equipment that utilizes vacuum to create a suction to lift heavy objects and materials. The use of vacuum lifters is not limited to glass; it is also used to efficiently handle materials such as stone, plastics, timber and laminate. Vacuum lifters are used in the construction industry, automobile, oil and gas industries.Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Vacuum Lifter Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe varying demands of lifting capacities in the industry have called for the introduction of customizable attachments with different suction pressures. With advancements in the lifter technology, attachments are now designed in such a way that they are not limited to lifting straight and flat faced objects but can also strongly grasp spherical and curved surfaces. The current demand in the industry calls for the introduction of robust and easily maneuverable vacuum lifters that require less maintenance. The high demand for efficient handling vacuum system in cornucopia of industries is expected to drive the growth of the market for vacuum lifters. The market for vacuum lifters is likely to be motivated by the shifts in the manufacturing systems and their varied demands. With the rapid changes in the fields of infrastructure and construction, the application of vacuum lifters can be found in various areas, right from flooring to external structure such as glass buildings. There is also an emerging scope for the vacuum lifter market in the steel plates and precision products industries, wherein the product surface cannot be harmed and flexible movement and precision positioning is required. The availability of the vacuum lifter equipment at lower prices and high maintenance cost of the equipment act as restraints for the growth of the vacuum lifter market.Vacuum Lifter Market: SegmentationThe vacuum lifter market is segmented on the basis of:End use applicationLifting capacityVacuum Lifter Market: Regional OutlookWith organized and increased automation of industries, the vacuum lifter market projects a strong positive outlook in the North America and Western Europe regions, followed by Asia Pacific, Latin America, Western Europe and the Middle East and Africa. During the forecast period, North America and Western Europe are expected to be the lucrative markets for vacuum lifters as compared to the rest of the world. This is attributed to the substantial increase in automation in various industries, especially construction, wherein the increase in Green (Glass) buildings calls for the introduction of advanced equipment that can work under extreme conditions. The vacuum lifter equipment is also widely employed in the automobile and oil and gas industries in the MEA and Asia Pacific regions which, thus, are also expected to be potential markets for vacuum lifters.Vacuum Lifter Market: Key playersThe market for vacuum lifters is largely segmented and scattered with numerous players participating in the market, which vary from region to region. Among these, some of the most prominent players identified during our research are Schmalz, Aardwolf Group, GGR Group, Peter Hird and Sons Ltd, Wood's Powr-Grip, Co. Inc., ANVER Corp, TAWI AB, Viavac, Vacuworx International and Schmalz India Pvt. LtdBuy Full Report@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 done using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technologies and applications.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE LAUNCHES IN EUROPE

www.smiknowledge.com

The Strategic Management Institute (SMI) -- has opened a London office to support a launch in Britain and across Europe.SMI offers business leaders the opportunity to develop new skills in strategy to take their organisations to the next level in the face of swiftly-changing internal and external environments.SMI knowledge is grounded in research applied to real-world situations. The organisation presents a dynamic approach to strategy, strategic thought and practice through a suite of courses and recognised accreditations.SMI was founded in Australia in 2005 but has been delivering courses around the world for more than a decade. Now the increasing interest in its work from European managers has led to the opening of a new London base.SMI managing director Dr Paul Hunter  who has personally relocated to London to lead the new SMI European operation  said: SMI operates beyond the mindset of static planning, by embracing greater thinking and a systems perspective of continual strategy renewal. Through our Strategic Management Framework we deliver the tools required for managers to strategise effectively within environments of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.Graduates can obtain valuable insights and the capacity to take their appreciation of strategy to the next level. The London launch of SMI offers an opportunity for British management to add even more value to its strategy procedures.SMI creates professional development knowledge designed to elevate competency in the practice of strategy, strategic management and leadership.As a research focused network and learning organisation, we are renowned for the extremely high standard of our strategy development courses and programs that can lead to an individuals accreditation as a Certified Strategy Practitioner (CSP). Grounded in empirical research our graduates regularly applaud our programs as having a capacity to take their appreciation of strategy to the next level.Mike HollandOlsenMetrix63 High StreetKettonStamfordPE9 3TE
Pharmacy Automation Systems Market worth $4,566.2 Million by 2019

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/pharmacy-automation-systems-market-71522890.html

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=71522890

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=71522890

The report Pharmacy Automation Systems Market by product type (Medication Dispensing Systems, Packaging and Labeling Systems, Table-top Counters) by End-user (Inpatient Pharmacy Automation, Outpatient Pharmacy Automation) - Global Forecasts & Trends to 2019 analyzes and studies the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW).Browse 101 market tables and 30 figures spread through 300 pages and in-depth TOC on "Pharmacy Automation Systems Market"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.This report studies the global pharmacy automation systems market, with forecast to 2019. The pharmacy automation market comprises of automated medication dispensing systems, automated packaging and labeling systems, automated medication compounding systems, storage and retrieval systems, table-top counters, and other systems. The major end users of this market include inpatient pharmacy automation, outpatient pharmacy automation, retail pharmacy chains, and pharmacy benefit management organizations and other mail-order settings. The global pharmacy automation systems market has witnessed substantial growth over the past few years and is further expected to grow in the near future.Ask For PDF Brochure:Factors such as the increasing number of drug prescriptions with the rising aging population and the shift from centralized to decentralized pharmacies driver the growth of this market. Moreover, the need for cost reduction due to the increasing healthcare costs, reduction of medication errors with improved work efficiency within the pharmacies, and awareness regarding the provision of additional time to clinicians and pharmacists for patient care is further expected to boost the demand for pharmacy automation systems.However, stringent regulatory guidelines that delay the product launches, high costs of implementation, and limited budgets of the healthcare organizations that restrict the investment in automation are some of the key factors that inhibit the growth of the global pharmacy automation market.Get The Sample Copy:The North American region will continue to dominate the pharmacy automation systems market, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW. The Asian region is anticipated to grow at a faster pace due to the increasing awareness and adoption of technologies that boost the demand for pharmacy automation systems in this region.Some of the major players in the pharmacy automation market are Baxter International Inc. (U.S.), CareFusion Corporation (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), Kirby Lester LLC (U.S.), McKesson Corporation (U.S.), Omnicell Inc. (U.S.), ScriptPro LLC (U.S.), Swisslog Holdings AG (Switzerland), and Talyst Inc. (U.S.).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 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&Ms 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. RohanUnit No. 802, 8th Floor,Tower - 7, Magarpatta City SEZ,Hadapsar, Pune  411013,Maharashtra, India.Tel: +1-888-6006-441.
Anti-Obesity Drugs Market driven by Extensive Research and Development Activities in the Field

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12461

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/anti-obesity-drugs-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

The World Health Organization reveals that global obesity has more than doubled since 1980, with over 1.9 billion adults overweight in 2014, of which, more than 600 million were obese. Percentage-wise, an estimated 39% of adults were overweight and 13% were obese in 2014. An additional 42 million children below the age of five were found to be overweight or obese in 2013. Based on two surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an astounding 68.8% of the U.S. adult population is considered to be overweight or obese. It is no surprise, then, that today, most of the worlds population lives in countries where obesity and overweight are claiming more lives than underweight and malnutrition.Get a Research Report Brochure:This alarming rise in the prevalence of obesity, particularly in the developed region of North America, has been single-handedly propelling the anti-obesity drugs market. Anti-obesity drugs  both prescription and OTC  are of two main types: Centrally-acting drugs and peripherally-acting drugs. These contain a host of pharmacological agents that control or reduce weight by altering either the absorption of calories or regulating appetite.This comprehensive research publication offers clients an exhaustive database of accurate, authentic, objective, and the most recent information on the global anti-obesity drugs market. The overall market is segmented based on several key criteria and each segment is thoroughly evaluated to identify the leading and weakest categories. Statistical data and inputs from industry experts support the qualitative data offered in the report and help clients devise actionable and profitable decisions for the future.The global market for anti-obesity drugs has been expanding at a significant pace in recent years. With the obvious driving factor being the surge in obesity levels around the globe, this market is also propelled by the strong pipeline of anti-obesity drugs. Advanced medical research by drug-manufacturing companies, medical universities and institutes, and government agencies has also substantially contributed toward the growth of the anti-obesity drugs market.The anti-obesity drugs market in North America has been flourishing over the years owing to the high level of awareness among the population about obesity and the various risks arising from the medical condition, increased healthcare expenditure, the presence of favorable reimbursement policies, extensive research and development activities in the field, and the increased involvement of government as well as non-government organizations in generating awareness and funding research.Research Report:The Asia Pacific market for anti-obesity drugs is anticipated to gain momentum in the coming years thanks to the rise in obese population, resulting from increased spending on processed and packaged foods and the growing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Improving healthcare infrastructure and mounting healthcare expenditure is also expected to drive the market for anti-obesity drugs in APAC.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Current and Projected Savory Ingredient Market size in terms of volume and value 2015-2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-915

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Savory ingredients are kind of flavor enhancer which possess the property to modify flavors in food without contributing to any separate flavor of their own. Savory flavors are primarily used while manufacturing processed savory products such and snacks, frozen savory meal and others. Savory ingredient enables to provide pleasant sense of taste and smell especially by reason of effective seasoning. Savory ingredient play an important role in enhancing the umami flavor of the product which is supporting its growth in the current scenario.Savory Ingredient Market SegmentationSavory ingredient market is segmented on the basis of form which includes liquid, powder, paste and spray dried. Among all these segments powder is expected occupy the major position on the pie. Easy usage and mixing properties with other ingredient is expected to drive its growth during the forecast period. Moreover, liquid is expected to show healthy growth in savory ingredient market in the near future. In addition spray dried savory ingredient is currently an emerging product in savory ingredient market, however it is expected to account for substantial growth within next five to six years.Savory ingredient is also segmented on the basis of ingredient type which includes yeast extract, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), hydrolyzed animal protein (HAP), monosodium glutamate (MSG), nucleotides and others. Among all these segments monosodium glutamate is expected to contribute highest in terms of revenue. Monosodium glutamate properties such as it act as thickening and stabilizing agent in food products. Moreover it is cost effective which are supporting monosodium glutamate growth in the near future. In addition, yeast extract act as a fermenting ingredient. It also enables to reduce salt level from food content. Thus yeast extract is expected to account for substantial growth in next five to six years.Request Free Report Sample@Savory ingredient market is further segmented on the basis of application which includes food Industry pet food industry, others. Among all these segments food industry is expected to have a strong presence in savory ingredient market as compared to remaining segments. Increased consumption of processed savory and culinary food products across the globe is expected to be the prime factor driving the growth of savory ingredient market during the forecast period. Also, pet food industry is expected to show a substantial growth in the near future. Food industry is further sub-segment as dips, soups, instant noodle & sauces, meat & seafood, bakery products & savory snacks, others (baby food). Among all these sub- segment meat and sea food is expected to be dominant in terms of revenue contribution followed by savory snacks. Increased consumption of frozen and processed meat and sea food is predicted be the major factor contributing to the market growth of savory ingredient.Geographically, North America is expected to be the major contributor in terms of value followed by Europe. However these region is predicted to show a stable growth in the near future. Increasing awareness among the consumer regarding the ill effects of consuming processed food may affect the growth of savory ingredient in these regions. In developing countries of Asia Pacific region China is expected to dominate the market in terms of savory product consumption followed by India. Moreover Japan is expected to show a substantial growth during the forecast period. High volume consumption of sauces and noodles is predicted to be the supporting factor in the growth of savory ingredient market across the country.Visit For TOC@Savory Ingredient Market DriversRising disposable income in developing regions has led the consumer to get inclined towards processed savory and culinary food product which is predicted to support the growth of savory ingredient market in the near future. Moreover, savory ingredient is cost effective, due to which manufacturers is using it various reason such as stabilizer, emulsifier, thickening agent and others in food products which also expected to fuel its growth during the forecast period.Savory Ingredient Market Key PlayersSome of the key companies operating in savory ingredient market includes Tate & Lyle PLC, Kerry Group Plc., Lesaffre Group, Royal DSM, Synergy Flavors and Diana Group among others.ABOUT US: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.CONTACT: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:
Laboratory Chemical Reagents Market: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast 2015-2021

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Laboratory chemical reagent is a compound that is utilized in a chemical reaction to identify, examine, determine or produce other chemical substance. The chemical reagents play an essential role in the accuracy of a chemical experiment. Whereas preparing the chemistry reagents in a laboratory, correct proportion of chemicals and solvents as well as procedure is very crucial.Request Sample Report:The worldwide market for laboratory chemical reagent is expected to grow at significant rate due to extensive chemical reagents applications and research activity. Constant improvements and evolution in technologies such as bio-therapeutics, cell culture and recombinant DNA technology that facilitated the production of numerous essential therapeutic agents also fuel the demand for laboratory chemical reagents. Furthermore, increasing demand from biotechnology industry may boost the market growth in upcoming years. Protein synthesis and DNA sequencing reagents market has increased dramatically in recent years.The report covers forecast and analysis for the laboratory chemical reagents market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes study of opportunities available in the laboratory chemical reagents market on a global level.Do Inquiry before buying:Global laboratory chemical reagents market has been segmented on the basis of product, end user and region. On the basis of product, laboratory chemical reagent market is classified into molecular biology, cytokine and chemokine testing, carbohydrate analysis, immunochemistry, cell/tissue culture, environmental testing and biochemistry. Molecular biology accounted for largest share of the market in 2015. Whereas, cytokine and chemokine testing is expected to emerge as the fastest growing segment in near future.End user segment includes biotechnology, academic segment, non-academic segment and corporate segment. Currently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies are being used extensively in several applications such as forensic labs, gene expression and DNA sequencing. The reagents used in real time PCR testing offer quick and quality results compared to conventional PCR testing method which is consequently expected to increase the sales of PCR reagents. PCR market is rising on account of increasing acceptance and awareness for real time PCR.Request TOC (Table of Contents) of this report:Geographically, laboratory chemical reagent market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. North America dominated the laboratory chemical reagent market in 2015 owing to technological advancements and innovations in molecular biology. Asia Pacific region is estimated to emerge as the fastest growing region due to development of new academic centers across the region mainly in the biological and chemical science area. Additionally, entry of new pharmaceutical companies and increasing clinical research outsourcing activities in the Asia Pacific region can increase investment in research and development consequently enabling more laboratory test analysis.Beckman Coulter Inc., Life Technologies Corporation, Promega Corporation, SAFC Biosciences, Inc., EMD Chemicals Inc., Wako Pure Chemical Industries Ltd., GE Healthcare, Takara Bio Inc., Meridian Life Science Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Corp., Shimadzu Biotech and PerkinElmer Inc. are some of the major players operating in laboratory chemical reagents market.This report segments the Bionematicides market as follows:Laboratory Chemical Reagent Market: Product Segment AnalysisMolecular biologyCytokine and chemokine testingCarbohydrate analysisImmunochemistryCell/tissue cultureEnvironmental testingBiochemistryLaboratory Chemical Reagent Market: End User Segment AnalysisBrowse report at:BiotechnologyAcademic segmentNon-academic segmentCorporate segmentBionematicides Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout Us: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:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
2-Furoic Acid Market: Latest Innovations, Drivers and Industry Key Events 2015 to 2021

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2-Furoic acid is a carboxylic acid with aromatic ring and carboxylic group. It is categorized into specialty chemical. 2-furoic acid is generally used as a food preservative and flavoring agent. It is used in pasteurization and sterilization of food products. It acts as a fungicide and bactericide. In addition, it is also used in optic technologies, nylon preparation and as an intermediate in pharmaceutical industry.Use For to: Download TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:The market for 2-furoic acid was mainly driven by food manufacturing sector. 2-furoic acid is also used as a starting material in furoate esters production. The derivatives of 2-furoic acid are used in medicinal preparations and biological research. The major opportunity for 2-furoic acid market is optic technology. 2-Furoic acid crystals can be used in optical devices due to its favorable properties such as non linear optical material (NLO). However, health hazards related to 2-furoic acid such as mutagenic effects are likely to inhibit the market growth.In terms of demand, North America was the leading region for 2-furoic acid market in 2012. The demand for 2-furoic acid is huge due to growing consumption from food industry. North America was followed by Europe, owing to huge demand of 2-furoic acid in medical applications. In addition, optic technology is likely to drive the market for 2-furoic acid in European region. Asia Pacific has substantial share in 2-furoic acid market and is expected to exhibit higher demand in the near future due to various manufacturing activities. Rest of the World is expected to witness stable growth for 2-furoic acid market.Buy Full Report@Some of the major industry participants include Lotus Enterprise, Meryer Chemical Technology Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar and J & K Scientific Ltd. among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Bio Based Polypropylene Market: Recent Industry Trends and Projected Industry Size by 2015 to 2021

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Polypropylene (PP) is a thermoplastic polymer with a melting point of approximately 165C. The higher melting point of polypropylene makes it eligible for use in certain plastic items such as medical products and dishwasher safe containers. Bio based polypropylene have similar characteristics to synthetic polypropylene, but is manufactured from bio-based raw materials such as corn, sugarcane, and beet. Bio based propylene are used across several industries such as automobiles, textiles, packaging, medical devices, and pipe systems. Due to good fatigue properties, polypropylene are also used in plastic living hinges, such as those on flip-top bottles.Use For to: Download TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report:Increasing demand for lightweight materials in several industry sectors and supportive regulatory and political environment are the key drivers for bio based polypropylene market. Based on application, bio based polypropylene market can be classified into four major categories: injection, textile, films, and others. Injection application segment accounted for more than 50% share of the bio based polypropylene market in 2013. Injection molding is use in several industries such as automotive, medical, aerospace, consumer products, toys, construction, packaging, and plumbing. The textile industry in developing countries has been growing at over 6% annually; thereby laying the foundation of growth opportunities for bio based polypropylene market. Bio based polypropylene can be stretched and extruded to form biaxially oriented polypropylene films which are used as a sustainable packaging material for industries such as snack foods, confectionaries, and fresh vegetables.Bio based polypropylene has emerged as a substitute to synthetic polypropylene due to increasing environmental concerns regarding the use of latter. The health hazards associated with the production and use of polypropylene derived from fossil fuels have led to boost in the demand for bio based polypropylene. However, the bio based polypropylene market is currently in the nascent stage and is growing at a significant pace.Buy Full Report@The rising prices of petroleum-based chemicals due to a volatile crude oil market have been further encouraging the polypropylene end-users to switch to bio based propylene. The depleting crude oil levels are also opening up opportunities for bio-based chemicals market. The governments across the globe have been encouraging the bio based chemical manufacturers by providing them subsidies. The cost effectiveness of bio propylene is another important driver for its growth.Bio based polypropylene are obtained from bio based propylene, which is manufactured from several bio sources such as corn, biomass, and vegetable oil. The two key methods of propylene production include fermentation and gasification. Bio based polypropylene manufactured from the ethanol derived from sugarcane is expected to witness strong growth in the market due to its high acceptability. Europe dominated the global bio based polypropylene market in 2013, followed by North America and Asia Pacific. The demand for polypropylene has been growing at a considerable pace in the packaging industry in China. Trellis Earth Products, Inc. is the largest bio based polypropylene company globally.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Refinery Process Chemicals Market 10-Year Market Forecast and Trends Analysis Research Report

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Crude oil is composed of a variety of organic compounds and hydrocarbons such as alkanes, aromatics, asphaltics and naphthenes with varying molecular weights. This crude oil undergoes a series of numerous complex processes such as reformation, alkylation, cracking, desulfurization, and hydro treating, among the others in order to yield a gamut of desired products which find wide scale applications across a diverse set of industries as well as in household use. The aforementioned processes are complex and involve use of numerous chemicals at various stages in order to ensure high quality of the end products. Some of the commonly used refinery processing chemicals include corrosion inhibitors, catalysts, and anti-fouling agents among the others. Refinery process chemicals market is expected to witness a steady growth in its market value during the forecast period.Refinery Process Chemicals Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe ever-growing demand for fuels especially from transportation sector is expected to emerge as one of the primary growth driving factor for global refinery process chemicals market during the forecast period. Moreover, increase in demand across the globe for petroleum based products is another factor that is likely to result in growth of global refinery process chemicals market. The growing pressure from regulatory bodies on the refineries as regards pollution is expected to result in an increase in use of refinery process chemicals over the forecast period.Refinery Process Chemicals Market: SegmentationOn the basis of type of products, global Refinery Process Chemicals market can be segmented into following key market segments:CatalystsCorrosion InhibitorsPH adjustorsAnti-fouling agentsOthersRequest Free Report Sample@Catalysts segment of global refinery chemicals market is expected to register a moderate single digit growth rate during the forecast period.Depending on the type of refinery process, global refinery process chemicals market has been segmented into the following key market segments:ConversionPetroleum TreatmentHydro treatmentRefinery Process Chemicals Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of geographic regions, global Refinery Process Chemicals market is segmented into seven key market segments namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Among all the above mentioned regions, North America refinery process chemicals market is expected to dominate the overall global refinery chemicals market during the forecast period. Asia Pacific refinery process chemicals market and Middle East & Africa refinery process chemicals market are expected to witness steady growth during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Refinery Process Chemicals Market: Key PlayersSome of the identified major players operating in the global Refinery Process Chemicals market are as follows:BASF SEGeneral ElectricLubrizol CorporationAkzo Nobel N.V.ClariantJohnson Matthey Plc.Dorf KetalAlbemarle CorporationABOUT US: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.CONTACT: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:
Biopesticides Market - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2015  2021

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Pesticides are ubiquitous, toxic and synthetic agents. It mainly kills or prevents pests present on plants and animals. The other functions of pesticides are crop protection, prevention of vector-borne diseases and preservation of food and materials. As of April 2016, there are around 299 registered biopesticides active ingredients and 1401 active biopesticides product registrations. Biopesticides target the organisms affecting the growth as compared to the conventional pesticides which are harmful for birds and other animals.Request Sample Report:Biopesticides can be applied using different formulations. They are mainly used as liquid solution or in dry form. The liquid solution can be directly sprayed on plants or in the soil whereas dry form can be thrown over the field. However, this formulation type solely depends on the crop type. Biopesticides are derived from the natural resources and can be mainly classified into three major groups such as biochemical pesticides, microbial pesticides and Plant-Incorporated-Protectants (PIPs) pesticides. Microbial pesticides are extensively used pesticides owing to their high effectiveness.The report provides a comprehensive view on the biopesticides market. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the biopesticides market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein product segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.Request TOC (Table of Contents) of this report:Biopesticides are considered to be eco friendly and hence rising awareness for use of eco friendly products drives biopesticides market. Ample support and funding from the government for the use of eco friendly biopesticides further stimulates the growth of this market. Furthermore, increasing incidence of crop diseases coupled with growing demand for organic food fuels supports the demand for biopesticides. However, lack of awareness from the developing and underdeveloped regions may hinder the growth of the biopesticides market. Research and development expenditure for biopesticides is low as compared to the conventional pesticides. This factor may persuade the inventors to focus on the development of innovative products.The biopesticides market can be segmented on the basis of type, which includes biofungicides, bioinsecticides, bionematicides and bioherbicides. On basis of end user the biopesticides market can be segmented as fruits & vegetables, grains & oilseeds and others. Fruits, vegetables, grains and oilseeds are the most prominent segments due to high consumption of biopesticides. The biopesticides can be applied by means of soil treatment, post harvest, seed treatment, and foliar spray among others.Do Inquiry before buying:North America dominated the biopesticides market in 2015 followed by Europe owing to high use of organic products. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest pace and is likely to continue the traction in the forecast period. This growth is mainly attributed to rapidly developing agricultural sector and growing demand for eco friendly, organic products. Also, continuous demand for high productivity due huge population base and cost effective techniques in production of food further contribute to the market growth. Latin America is anticipated to experience decent growth over the coming years due to high growth in agricultural sector in Brazil. Middle East and Africa may show sustainable growth in the estimated period owing to rising living standards and abundant arable land for agriculture.Bayers CropScience Ag, Parry America, Inc, BASF SE, Monsanto Company, Certis USA L.L.C, Isagro S.p.A, Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. and The Dow Chemical Company are some of the major key players in the biopesticides market. Companies primarily focus on the extensive R&D for the development of innovative products in order to maintain their shares in the market.Browse report at:The report segments of the underfloor heating market into:Biopesticides Market: Type Segment AnalysisBiofungicidesBioinsecticidesBionematicidesBioherbicidesBiopesticides Market: End User Segment AnalysisFruits & vegetablesGrains & oilseedsOthersBiopesticides Market: Type of Usage Segment AnalysisSoil treatmentPost harvestSeed treatmentFoliar sprayOthersBiopesticides Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaAbout Us: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:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Solar Cooker Market - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast 2015-2021

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The energy obtained due to the nuclear fusion of hydrogen and helium in the inner core of the sun is called as solar energy. The solar energy is considered to be safe, green and renewable energy. Solar cookers are the application of solar energy used to cook, bake, and fry food. Solar Cookers can also be used for pasteurization. Solar cooker converts the radiant energy to the heat energy which is used for cooking food.Request Sample Report:Growing awareness for the use of renewable energy along with escalating prices of non renewable energy drives the solar cooker market. Government support and funding for the use of solar energy also stimulates the growth of solar cooker market. Also, development of new technologies utilizing solar energy along with introduction of cost efficient technologies compared to conventional energy sources foster the demand for the solar cooker market. However, lack of awareness among the developing countries and maturation of the solar cooker market in the developed countries may inhibit the growth of solar cooker market. Nevertheless, untapped opportunities from the emerging economies are likely to open new avenue in the near future.The report provides a comprehensive view on the solar cooker market we have included a detailed value chain analysis. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the solar cooker market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein type segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate and general attractiveness. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.Request TOC (Table of Contents) of this report:Various types of solar cooker are designed according to the intensity of exposure to the sun and according to the type of food to be cooked in. Solar panel cooker, solar parabolic cooker and solar box cooker are the types of solar cooker. Solar box cooker is the most widely known and used cooker due to easy and safe operating with no regulation required. The solar panel cooker consists of vessel kept in the center of the reflective panel to concentrate the radiations on the vessel. The solar panel is highly efficient as compared to solar box cooker. For obtaining high temperatures for grilling and frying food solar parabolic cooker is utilized. The only drawback for using of parabolic cookers is, they need to be adjusted according to the sun rays frequently for achieving high temperature and efficiency.Asia Pacific and Latin America are the fastest growing market for the solar cooker market and is expected to accelerate the growth rate in the coming years. This is mainly attributed to the factors such as rising awareness along with accomplishment from the government for developing techniques for the use of solar energy. To meet the unmet demands for petroleum products such as use of LPG for cooking food from the escalating population, solar cooker are used on large scale. However, due to saturated market, North America and Europe are expected to exhibit steady growth during the forecast period. However, the U.S. is the largest producer for solar box cooker followed by China.Do Inquiry before buying:Solar Cookers International, Sunrise Global Solar Energy, Sun Fire Rudra Solar Energy, and Sun Oven are some of the key participants for the solar cooker market.The report segments of the solar cooker market into:Solar Cooker Market: Type Segment AnalysisSolar panel cookerSolar parabolic cookerSolar box cookerSolar Cooker Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & AfricaBrowse report at:About Us: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:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:
Narrowband Internet of Things Market -- New Market Research Report Announced; Global Industry Analysis 2016 - 2024

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Narrowband internet of things (NB IoT) is an emerging IoT technology which is being developed to meet challenges of future cellular IoT. This technology will meet the requirement of connecting low-power devices which relies on batteries and send small-scale information.Furthermore, this new technology would enhance indoor coverage, lowering delay sensitivity among interconnected devices, decrease device cost, enable multiple devices connectivity, optimize network architecture and consumes low power. This technology is expected to use resource blocks of the normal LTE carrier or unused resource blocks of guard bands of the LTE carrier. The developing ecosystem of IoT is the key trends influencing the growth of NB-IoT market. Along with this, expanding network of connected devices throughout is globe is paving the growth of NB-IoT market. Presently, NB-IoT deployment is characterized on three scenarios viz. standalone, guard band and In Band, of which standalone and guard band deployment of NB-IoT offers optimum performance and superior indoor coverage.The elevating growth of NB-IoT technology possess strong revenue potential in near future. The revenue generation is expected to be largely from those end-use verticals which have started adoption of IoT technology. On the basis of end-use industry, NB-IoT market is segmented as agriculture, healthcare, automotive & logistics, manufacturing, energy and utilities and retail. With shifting consumer interests in IoT ecosystem, NB-IoT is likely to be adopted in various applications.In terms of applications, NB-IoT market is further classified as smart metering especially in gas, electricity and water meters, facility management services, safety and security systems, connected personal appliances especially the one used in healthcare industry, connected industrial appliances and people and animal tracking. Companies which are in the development of NB-IoT services, have shown some crucial developments occurred in recent past. For instance, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. released worlds first NB-IoT commercial chip in Global MBB forum health at Hong Kong. Similarly in February 2016, Nokia along with Intel Corporation and Vodafone group demonstrated NB-IoT at Mobile World Congress held at Barcelona, Spain.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:Significant penetration of Internet among developed economies and rising penetration of the same amongst nascent economies is the primary growth driver of NB-IoT market. Alongside, escalating demand for low power indoor connectivity among connected devices is further uplifting the NB-IoT market. However, lack of awareness amongst large pool of consumers is expected to restrain the growth of NB-IoT market. This factor is expected to have a moderate impact on the market growth throughout the forecast period. With IoT is still increasing its footprint globally, NB-IoT holds strong market oppournity to develop its footprint across the world.Moreover, government agencies promoting IoT with proposing new development policies and developing digital infrastructure. NB-IoT is expected to get appreciated among all the leading economies around the globe. Also, rising worldwide events to promote IoT is expected to result in widespread adoption of NB-IoT technology. For instance, in November 2016, Istanbul is expected to organize smart city expo world congress. Similarly, with the initiative of Euroforum, Amsterdam will hold smart city event in June 2016. Alongside this, in January 2016 government of India proposed development/urban makeover of its 100 cities under the smart city project. This evolving ecosystem of IoT is expected to boost the market of NB-IoT is coming years.Some of the leading companies in development of NB-IoT are Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Ericsson AB, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG, Vodafone Group plc, Intel Corporation, and Nokia Solutions and Network.View exclusive Global strategic Business Report: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.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Antenna Transducer and Radome Market -Improvements in sonar and sensor technologies Industry Analysis 2024

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An antenna is a device which transmits and receives radio-frequency signals. It converts electrical waves into radio waves and vice versa. Transducers are used for conversion of electric waves into radio waves. The radome is structure which protects antenna or radar system from damages. It also helps in hiding the antenna from the public view.Antenna, transducer, and radome technology has been developed for reliability in radar, sonar and communication systems. It helps in detecting small, non-linearly moving targets for radar and sonar applications. Antenna, transducer and radome are important equipment which enable wireless transmission/communication between two or more devices. Antennas, transducers, and radome are used in airspace, marine, and ground security applications to monitor a wide range of targets such as aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles, ships and underwater objects.Rise in defense budgets is the key growth driver for antenna, transducer and radome market. Replacement and up-gradation of submarines offers new growth opportunities for the players operating in the antenna, transducer and radome market. In addition to this, the increase in manufacturing of aircraft is anticipated to aid the growth of antenna, transducer and radome market in coming years. Aircrafts and submarines use these technologies extensively.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:A number of industries have started implementing antenna, transducer and radome systems, thus, driving market growth. The increasing need for better and efficient long distance communication system is helping the market to grow further. Improvements in sonar and sensor technologies used by submarines and aircrafts are accelerating the market for defense transducers. Furthermore, the defense industry is demanding for advanced radar systems. In addition to this, need for a well-equipped weather forecast infrastructure will drive the market significantly in coming years.In spite of the factors which are propelling the growth of the antenna, transducer and radome market, there are few factors restraining the growth of market such as the cost and high maintenance requirement.Further, it also faces challenges due to problems with operation in underwater environments and complex terrain, and lack of real time testing facility. The market can be categorized into antenna, transducer and radome based on product types. Further, by technology it can be categorized into radar, communication and sonar. In North America, the demand for antenna, transducer and radome systems is expected to be driven by defense applications. Further, in Asia Pacific the demand is anticipated to be driven by growing demand from countries such as South Korea, Japan and India.View exclusive Global strategic Business Report:The market for antenna, transducer and radome is competitive with key players focusing on partnerships and investing in research and development to enhance their market positioning. Furthermore, the focus of key players is also on vertical integration in order to enhance the features of their other offerings such as aircrafts and submarines. Major players in the antenna, transducer and radome market includes Cobham plc, Lockheed Martin Corporation, L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc, Thales Group, Cobham plc, Exelis and Raytheon Company. The other competitors in the market are Airbus S.A.S., QinetiQ, Finmeccanica SpA, Honeywell International Inc and Ball Aerospace.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.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the working session (Source: VNA)



The Prime Minister made the request at a meeting with the provincial leaders on August 15 to review the provinces socio-economic development over the past seven months as well as its three-year implementation of the Politburos Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, which outlines development orientations for the locality by 2020.

Nghe An should continuously diversify its development model and resources, especially from the private economic sector, he said.

Notably, economic development must be paired with environmental protection, he reminded, citing the recent environmental incident relating to Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co Ltd as a lesson in this regard.

To that end, the PM asked the provincial Party Committee to raise the capacity and virtue of local officials and Party members.

The province was also requested to seek more sustainable and comprehensive measures in an effort to become a centre of the countrys north central region.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc praised Nghe Ans achievements in building new-style rural areas, and maintaining political security, social order and safety over the past time.

He, however, pointed to the provinces limitations in effectuating the resolution such as low per-capital income, high poverty rate and weak competitiveness.

Nghe An has failed to create major breakthroughs in socio-economic development, he noted.

Leaders of ministries and agencies suggested Nghe An generate more jobs for local labourers, especially in education and health care, and prioritise investments in infrastructure, especially seaports and airports.

The same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his entourage visited Nam Giang, a new-style commune in Nam Dan district, where he urged efforts to restructure local agricultural production.

While in Nghe An, the PM inspected the construction of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP Nghe An), which began in September last year and is expected to create a big breakthrough for the provincial industrial development, and visited the Vissai seaport project.

He asked the investors to ensure the quality and progress of the projects to soon put them into operation, helping boost socio-economic development of the locality and the region at large./.
Family members of slain Daniel James Dombroski lashed out at the convicted killers defense attorney Monday in 55th Circuit Court, when Chad Alan Ballard sought a reduced sentence.

Gladwin County Circuit Court Judge Roy G. Mienk denied the motion, but it didnt ease the anger of the victims family.

He stabbed him 27 times and left him lying in the woods, the victims sister-in-law, Debbie Dombroski, shouted. The victim was found next to a Beaverton Township swamp.

Its disgusting and youre still defending him, the victims sister, Michelle Ingles, said loudly, as Ballards attorney, Robert Dunn, left the courtroom.

Ballard, 28, was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison on June 6 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He petitioned the court Monday asking for a reduced sentence of 15 to 25 years in prison, saying the crime was more fitting of manslaughter. Dunn argued that Ballard wouldnt have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder if he knew manslaughter was an option. Dunn said Ballard and Dombroski were out drinking, a woman showed up, and things went downhill.

Dombroski was reported missing in early October. His body was recovered from a wooded thicket on the edge of a swamp in Beaverton Township in November, after a detective interviewed Ballard. Ballard gave the detective information about the location of the body.

I really believe this is a case for manslaughter, Dunn said. He probably thought that (second-degree murder) was his best hope at the time.

Gladwin County Assistant Prosecutor Norm Gage said Monday that this is nothing more than buyers remorse on Ballards part.

Mienk said this is more a case of ineffective assistance of counsel. When Dunn asked to address the judges remark, Mienk said, No.

Were reliving this all over again by somebody that wants to get their time reduced, Ingles said, but her brother doesnt get his life back. He had his day in court. We thought this was all over.

The family is questioning how the legal system works.

How can you get another chance after admitting to everything? Wheres my brothers second chance? asked the victims bother, Henry Dombroski.

Dunn plans to file an appeal in the case.
The Air Force has awarded the highest non-combat valor award to an Airman from Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, who rescued four people trapped in a burning vehicle.

Staff Sgt. Rodney X. Dowell, assigned to the 51st Security Forces Squadron, has received the Airmans Medal for his heroism during his assignment at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, when he pulled four civilians out of a burning overturned vehicle.

While driving to morning PT at Eglin, Dowell observed an overturned vehicle sputtering flames and smoke on the side of the road. Without hesitation, Dowell pulled over and immediately began to pull the passengers out. Though the flames continued to get thicker, he was able to pull two of the victims from the back of the vehicle. With the fire spreading into the passenger compartment, and two victims still trapped inside, he needed to act quickly.

Thats when it started to hit me, when the fire started coming in the cabin and [the driver] was lying there, passed out, said Dowell. I didnt want to risk dropping him on top of the other passenger.

Dowell flagged down two more drivers and used their combined strength to pull the unconscious driver and the last passenger out of the vehicle.

It goes to show that you dont have to be on duty to save someones life, said Dowell. You dont want to be one of the bystanders just watching or driving by, and not everyone has the same mentality. I would hope if I were ever in a bad situation, somebody would do the same for me.

Once the victims had been attended to by emergency personnel and the scene was contained, Dowell went back home to change out of his blood-soaked clothing and reported to his duty section. Dowells leadership quickly realized the depth of his actions.

Ive known Staff Sgt. Dowell since 2010, when I was his detachment commander in Bahrain, said Lt. Col. Joseph Ringer, 51st SFS commander. He was reserved, professional, dependable and possessed an incredible work ethic, even as a young [airman first class]. Its nice to see that nothing, other than his rank, has changed.
After nearly three weeks of construction, the Misawa Air Base runway became fully operational Aug. 5.

Due to the high volume of aircraft using the runway, the west sections pavement surface was highly degraded resulting in the need for a repair. The 3,840 cubic meters of asphalt laid on the flightline spans a surface length of approximately 1,200 feet by 150 feet wide with 50 feet of shoulder width.

Factors such as the volume of traffic, environmental conditions, adequate maintenance and type of vehicles use (i.e... snow plows during winter), all have contributing effects on the longevity of the pavement surface, said Maj. Lionel Lanuza, the 35th Civil Engineer Squadron engineering flight commander. As the runway pavement surface degrades over time, aggregate surface materials unbind and become loose debris. The resulting debris causes potential foreign object damage hazards to the aircraft and can threaten the safety of pilots.

The project cost more than $2.1 million, using four milling machines, two pavers, 76 dump trucks and approximately 80 on-site personnel, ultimately enhancing the longevity of the runway and ensuring safety for 35th Fighter Wing, Naval Air Facility Misawa, CTF-72, Japan Air Self-Defense Force and Misawa City Airport use.

The more sorties we generate to support the pivot to the Pacific, the faster our runway will degrade, said Kirk Schaumann, 35th CES chief of construction management. At the current rate of operation, to include the next phase of the runway repair scheduled in summer 2017, we estimate the next major airfield repair will be in 2026.

The construction plays a vital role, ensuring the continuation of the 35th FW's mission to provide worldwide deployable forces, while also allowing partnership with JASDF across a number of disciplines and domains.

The runway construction allows our Airmen to train with our JASDF allies, said Schaumann. This span of training not only involves pilots, but also the support functions such as the Air Force Civil Engineers. For example, during the runway closure, our civil engineering Airmen provided just-in-time training to JASDF's civil engineering personnel to install a Mobile Aircraft Arresting System, and ensure their alert mission is fully mission capable.

According to Lanuza, during the construction the asphalt surface was applied in layers called lifts. To ensure optimum compaction and density was met, the lifts were applied in three thin layers on the runway and two on the shoulder sections.

The contractor first performs a survey to calculate the materials he needs to remove and replace, said Lanuza. The contractor then removes the worn out portion of the runway to include the shoulder surface. Once removed, a thin layer of bonding adhesive, called a tack coat, is placed allowing paving operations to begin. Asphalt is then put into one continuous lift in order to minimize the joints. The final surface is then compacted, ensuring the pavement surface is at its optimum density. The last phase is installing runway marking and sealing the joints.

Lanuza stated with a project of this caliber, multiple base agencies to include the 35th Contracting Squadron, 35th Security Forces Squadron and 35th Operations Support Squadron played a role in its success.

It's been an awesome experience to work this project, said Schaumann. Our team was well prepared; from the planners, contractors, engineers, and other agencies, it is rewarding to see how great things can be accomplished with great and dedicated people.
The United States, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka began Operation Pacific Angel 16-3 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Aug. 15.

Operation PACANGEL is a total force, joint and combined humanitarian assistance/civil-military operation led by Pacific Air Forces. Assistance through Aug. 19 includes general health, dental, optometry, physical therapy and engineering programs as well as various subject-matter expert exchanges.

The health services operation site sees the local nationals and are providing medical care while our civil engineers are working with their Sri Lankan counterparts to restore facilities in the area, said Lt. Col. Edward Khim, PACANGEL 16-3 mission commander. The great thing about being here is our doctors are receiving hands on training with real patients in an austere environment, allowing them to treat things they wouldnt see back at their base clinics; and our engineers are able to gain knowledge while working with multilateral militaries.

Approximately 60 members of the U.S. military, in partnership with local non-governmental organizations and host nation military forces, will conduct HA/CMO throughout the operation. PACANGEL will help enhance participating nations, including Sri Lankas humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities.

This is my first humanitarian trip, said Maj. June Lee. I wanted to do something out of my daily routine and this is very rewarding being able to provide access to medical care and see how we impact the locals. Its also a great opportunity to build our relationship with our bilateral partners.

Officially in its ninth year, PACANGEL will be used to improve and build relationships in the event of future humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts. Since 2007, U.S. military members, together with host nation military and civilian personnel throughout the region have improved the lives of tens of thousands of people through PACANGEL operations.

Participating in PACANGEL has opened my eyes to the wonderful culture of Sri Lanka, said Tech. Sgt. Maybelle McKinney-Martin, 35th Medical Group physical therapy flight chief. Learning how to communicate has been a difficult but very rewarding challenge. Just being able to help the Sri Lankan community alongside other nations has been a wonderful experience.
NORMAL  Normal's medical marijuana dispensary is getting close to opening.

The Green Solution, the Denver, Colo.-based marijuana retailer that is building the facility at 501 Northtown Road, has erected a sign in front of the structure, and one one west of it on Northtown intended to draw traffic from Interstate 55.

Previously, Vice President of Local Expansion Tanya Griffin said the business had begun training employees and expected a grand opening in late August. Griffin could not be reached for comment Monday.

TGS Illinois Inc., a subsidiary of the Colorado company, received the only retail dispensary license in Illinois' Sixth State Police District when licenses were awarded in 2014. That district stretches from Pontiac to the Twin Cities.

The company bought the half-acre lot on Northtown in October for an undisclosed sum. TGS started a "gut rehab" of the building in March.

The store was scheduled to open in mid-April, but that date has been pushed back several times.

The company also was scheduled to open a store in Sauget, a St. Louis suburb, Jan. 1, but that was delayed due to computer problems, the Belleville News-Democrat has reported. CBS St. Louis reported Monday that facility is now set to open next month.

After it opens, the Normal store is expected to sell marijuana products that will include: flowers, a traditional plant version; edibles, which put marijuana into food including candy and fruit; concentrates that are intended to be mixed with food or drink; and topicals, including oils and creams.
BLOOMINGTON  The former Allin Township fire chief will serve 120 days in jail and 30 months of probation for stealing more than $19,000 from the fire district, according to a sternly worded ruling Monday by a McLean County judge who cited the lengthy and deliberate theft of public money.

Josh Deterding, 31, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty in April to theft of more than $10,000 from the fire district where he'd worked for 13 years  five of them as chief  before he was arrested in 2015 on felony theft, official misconduct and money laundering charges. Five charges were dismissed in a plea agreement.

In his ruling, Judge Casey Costigan said he was surprised by a recommendation from the state for probation and 180 days in jail, but no prison time, on the charge that carries a possible prison term of three to seven years.

The transfer of money to petty cash accounts over a period of several years where Deterding could have access to the funds represented more than a one-time decision to break the law, said the judge.

"The public trust was violated by your actions," said Costigan.

The judge ordered Deterding to report to the jail Aug. 29 to begin the 120-day sentence. Another 60 days will be stayed pending a hearing in March.

Deterding also must repay the fire district's insurance carrier $10,071 for the stolen funds and pay an additional $2,575 to the township for accounting and attorney fees related to the thefts.

Assistant State's Attorney Samantha Walley asked for 30 months' probation and six months in jail, noting Deterding's comments to McLean County Sheriff's detective Tim Tyler that "I guess at the time I didn't think it was stealing from the fire department."

An investigation showed that Deterding used the fire district debit card at ATM machines in bars, according to police.

Walley noted that the shame of the theft is felt by Deterding's father and uncle who previously served as fire chiefs of Allin Township.

"He had a legacy to carry," said Walley.

In his comments to the judge, Deterding apologized to his family, friends and township residents.

"I take full responsibility," said Deterding, adding, "I have every intention to pay the fire district in full as soon as possible."

Defense lawyer Steve Skelton argued that his client regrets his actions and will work to repay the debt.

"Any lesson he needs to learn has sunk in long ago and is never going to leave his mind," said Skelton.
BLOOMINGTON  A fundraiser for what could be Central Illinois' first health clinic and community center for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and intersex populations will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at The Bistro, 316 N. Main St.

The Health for All fundraiser for the Central Illinois Pride Health Center will be hosted by YWCA McLean County.

Health center Executive Director Len Meyer and others will discuss the importance of creating the health center and the need for LGBTQI-friendly health care. Event attendees will be asked to make a donation.

Meyer told The Pantagraph last month that some doctors' offices don't understand LGBTQI-released issues, meaning that population is less likely to seek health care. Meyer and health center board President Jan Lancaster said they decided to focus on opening a clinic rather than education and advocacy.

Meyer and Lancaster said the goal is to provide primary health care, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and hormone replacement therapy within three years. They hope to open a center next June, beginning with meetings and mental health counseling.

The board is working on its 501c(3) status to be tax-exempt and is searching for space. The center sponsors a youth group and parents group.
NORMAL  People caught in Normal with up to 10 grams of marijuana will face fines higher than the state-mandated minimums under a policy approved Monday.

Offenders will pay between $350 and $1,000 under the ordinance for possession of up to 10 grams.

The policy is in response to a state law passed last month that decriminalizes possession up to 10 grams. The law sets minimum penalties of $100 to $200 but leaves municipalities flexibility to levy higher fines.

Among council members, Jeff Fritzen said he favors higher fines while Cheryl Gaines spoke in favor of decriminalizing marijuana.

"This goes well beyond parents and our community. ... A lot of the (Mexican and Central American) drug lords, this is their way of making money, and they're not going to worry about who gets hurt," said Gaines. "The war on drugs surely has not worked. ... Let's tax it. Let's sell it. Have it grown here where people can know what's in it."

Fritzen said he understands what supporters say are the benefits of decriminalization, including lowering prison costs and "leniency toward sticking somebody with a criminal record," but "there are plenty of reasons to continue to be strident."

"It's becoming the (preferred) illicit substance for youth that used to be alcohol," said Fritzen of marijuana. "The answer isn't putting everybody in jail, but I also don't think the answer is a light slap on the hand."

Fritzen added he "would encourage our folks in Springfield to now turn their attention to the important matters of the state's finances." Illinois is operating on a temporary budget.

In other business, the council approved:

 A feasibility study for a pedestrian railroad underpass at Uptown Station.

Consultant WSP/Parsons-Brinckerhoff will negotiate a contract to perform the study, which is expected to take two years and cost about $1.5 million.

Public Works Director Wayne Aldrich said the study also will examine other options, including an overpass and not building either structure.

If the council decides to proceed with an underpass after the study, construction design will take up to a year, and construction could take two years, said Aldrich. That would put completion in fall 2021.

"Not only will this information be essential to all of you in making a decision as to how to proceed, it will be absolutely essential for us to compete effectively for federal (grant) dollars (for the project)," Normal City Manager Mark Peterson told the council.

 Approved a cable TV franchise agreement for MetroNet, an Evansville, Ind.-based telecommunications company looking to offer TV, phone and fiber-optic internet service locally.

The company has started building infrastructure in Bloomington and will do so in Normal very soon with completion expected in two years, said Peterson.
BLOOMINGTON  Flooding in Louisiana is prompting help from Central Illinois.

American Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region is sending volunteers, vehicles and supplies to Louisiana, where 11 people have died after torrential rain and flooding in the southeastern part of the state.

Alyssa Pollock of Morton, regional disaster officer for the Red Cross in Central and Southern Illinois, is in Baton Rouge, La., serving in a leadership role on the response team, said Trish Burnett of Red Cross.

In addition, three emergency response vehicles (ERVs) and driving teams are on their way to Louisiana. ERVs contain food, drinks and supplies.

Among ERV drivers are Diane Patten of Bloomington and Jerry Olden of Champaign, Burnett said.

"We anticipate more volunteers being deployed this week," Burnett said Tuesday.

More than 40,000 homes have been affected by the flooding, more than 30,000 people have been rescued since Friday and 8,000 people were in shelters on Tuesday.

Red Cross said the flooding may be the worst natural disaster in the United States since superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The Red Cross has dispatched to Louisiana more than 1,000 disaster volunteers as well as disaster response vehicles, trailer loads of shelter and kitchen supplies and tens of thousands of meals.

The Salvation Army response teams are serving meals and offering spiritual and emotional support and hygiene and cleanup kits throughout the region, said Rich Draeger of The Salvation Army.

Bloomington-based Midwest Food Bank is anticipating being asked to supply food, said Phil Hodel of the food bank.

People may assist Red Cross's efforts by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 800-RED-CROS or texting LAFLOODS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

People who wish to help The Salvation Army's program may go to http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/gulf_coast_floods or text STORM to 51555.
It is time for all of us to make our voices heard in support of the Independent Map Amendment. Illinois government is broken as most of us are aware. While we cannot prove the secretive legislative map process has singularly caused this, it certainly hasnt prevented it. The same political leaders continue to be reelected because they create their district in a way to assure this will happen.

Over 500,000 voters signed a petition to get this amendment on the November ballot, assured by its creators that it would fit with the state Constitution. Yet those same political leaders are taking it to the Supreme Court, contesting many issues that were already resolved in court in 2014. We need the Supreme Court to uphold the rights of the Illinois voters, not those political leaders.

While living downstate, we often assume the actions of Chicago Democratic leaders must be heavily supported by their voters to retain the current system. The demographics of those signing the petition do not confirm that. In fact over 70 percent of those wanting change were from the greater Chicago area - 34percent were registered voters in Chicago, 19 percent in the rest of Cook County and 18 percent in collar counties. It should also be noted that 56 percent of the signers were registered Democrats requesting this change.

Clearly the call for the Independent Map Amendment is widespread and needs to be heard before it is too late to correct the many negative issues impacting our state and its economy.

Sharon Tarvin, Bloomington
Finland's Production of Pulp, Paperboard and Softwood Sawn Timber Up in First Half 2016 August 16, 2016 (Press Release) - The forest-based sector's [Finland] recent investments have boosted production of both paperboard and pulp in the first half of the year. Paperboard production increased 6.6% in January-June and pulp production was up 4.2% compared to the corresponding period of 2015. Production of softwood sawn timber likewise increased substantially in January-June, with output up some five percent. Total softwood sawn timber production came to 5.8 million cubic metres. The forest-based sector produced a total of 1.6 million tonnes of paperboard and 3.7 million tonnes of pulp in the first half of 2016. Paper production continued to contract and totalled 3.4 million tonnes in the first half of the year, down 6.7% from January-June 2015. April-June paperboard production totalled 810,000 tonnes, representing an increase of 4.8% from the corresponding period of the previous year, while pulp production grew 4.4% in the second quarter to a total of 1.9 million tonnes. Forest industry corporations produced no less than eight percent more of softwood sawn timber in April-June than in the corresponding period of 2015 and production grew to 3.1 million cubic metres. Paper production contracted 8.5% in the second quarter to a total of 1.6 million tonnes. Forest industry investments have started to grow, but this positive development can only continue in a competitive operating environment. The European Union is currently deliberating on several matters that have an impact on the forest-based sector. "Proposals regarding the European Union's implementation of the Paris climate agreement were complemented by the Commission's publication of emission-reduction obligations for sectors not covered by emissions trading. The 39% emission-reduction target imposed on Finland is very challenging. The possibility of taking full advantage of sustainable annual harvesting opportunities must be ensured when drafting regulations concerning the climate and the environment. In addition, measures must be taken to minimise the risk of carbon leakage," says Timo Jaatinen, Director General of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. The Finnish Forest Industries Federation's membership is comprised of pulp, paper and paperboard companies that have operations in Finland as well as about 80 percent of the wood products industry. To learn more, please visit: www.forestindustries.fi SOURCE: Finnish Forest Industries Federation
Black and white children have similar rates of mental health problems, but black children are only half as likely to receive mental health care, results of a study revealed. Hispanic children had lesser rates of mental impairment, but they still received less mental health care compared to white children.

According to a report published in Pulse Headlines, the researchers looked into visits to psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists and counseling for mental health care of children aged under 18 and young adults aged 18 to 34 years old. The data was taken from a nationwide survey in the United States in 2006 to 2012.

Mental health care is racially uneven among children - Pulse Headlines: Pulse HeadlinesMental health care is ... https://t.co/BlDOThx9o5  CUNY News (@googlenewsCUNY) August 13, 2016

The report said that the lesser use of mental health care in black and Hispanics was found to be more pronounced in young adults than in children. For young adults, the researchers found that the rate of mental health treatment was about three times lower compared to young adults who are white. Pulse Headlines said that Hispanic parents are less inclined to report mental health issues in their children.

Perf Science reported that black children were found to have made 37 percent fewer visits to psychiatrists compared to their white counterparts while Hispanic children made 49 percent fewer visits. Statistics for visits to mental health professionals also revealed a disparity, with black and Hispanic children making 47 percent and 58 percent fewer visits respectively, the report added.

However, differences in income and insurance among the black, Hispanic and white children's families did not reportedly factor in the disparities in mental health care received by the children. Researchers discovered that young men who were black or Hispanic had markedly low mental health-related visits to medical professionals, the report added.

"The under-provision of mental health care for minority children contrasts starkly with the high frequency of punitive sanctions that their behaviors elicit," said the authors of the research, as per Science Daily. The research, led by Dr. Lyndonna Marrast, was published the International Journal of Health Services. Marrast presently teaches at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine in New York.
Rumors about Kate Middleton's pregnancy are nothing new. As a matter of fact, the Duchess of Cambridge has been the target of pregnancy speculations just four months after she gave birth to Princess Charlotte in May 2015 but recently, new reports emerged claiming that Duchess Kate is "pregnant and anxious."

Kate Middleton's alleged third pregnancy made headlines just a week ago, setting the online realm abuzz. The speculations came after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned home from their 10-day summer escapade in France, which was reportedly a way to save the royal couple's failing marriage.

According to Celeb Dirty Laundry, Kate Middleton and Prince William's recent French holiday seemed to have given the royal couple an opportunity to "reconnect and conceive another royal baby." In addition, Duchess Kate's absence in the upcoming royal visit to Germany has further ignited the pregnancy rumors.

Avid royal watchers also added that Kate Middleton's recent admission about her worries when it comes to the mental health of her children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, was suggestive that Duchess Kate is pregnant. Even though the 34-year-old Duchess appeared far from looking pregnant, Inquisitr noted that her concern over her kids' mental health made royal fans wonder if she's pregnant since she never opened up the things she would do for her children.

As of writing, Kate Middleton's pregnancy remains to be a mere speculation as the Palace and the royal couple has yet to confirm the reports. But if the rumors are indeed true, it won't be kept under wraps for so long since the Duchess has a history of a debilitating morning sickness condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum.

Speaking of Kate Middleton's mental health concerns, Prince William's wife admitted that she and her husband would not think twice to seek professional help if their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, would need support with their state of mental health. The Duchess also stressed that the stigma over mental health should stop, urging people to change the way mental health is discussed.

"Throughout my work with family and child support organizations, one thing that has stood out to me time and again is that getting early support for a child who is struggling to cope is the best possible thing we can do to help our children as they grow up," Kate Middleton said on Sunday, as per People. "Knowing this, both William and I feel very strongly that we wouldn't hesitate to get expert support for George and Charlotte if they need it."

In other royal-related news, Kate Middleton and Prince William are reportedly bringing their royal heirs, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, on their official visit to Canada later this year. Vanity Fair revealed that a lot of outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking and walking are being planned as part of the Cambridges' visit to British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

Do you think Kate Middleton is pregnant? Share your thoughts below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
Photo: (Photo : Pool / Pool)

There's a long list of things I want my three boys to learn before they fly the coop. How to tie a bowtie, how to drive a stick shift and how to ask out a girl out by actually talking to her, rather than texting her, are all lost arts in America, and just some of my aspirations for them.

But far more important than these ultimately trivial things, I want my three young men to learn empathy. By some estimates, college students today are 40 percent less empathetic than they were 30 years ago. We are facing an empathy shortage of massive proportions. Growing inequality and global unrest are its product.

While tech is a frequently cited fall guy for everything scary in our world, and especially all that is wrong with our children today, there are advances on the horizon that give me incredible hope that tech can reintroduce empathy to the world and, perhaps, one day save us from all of what ails us.

So much of today's media consumption is siloed, individual media consumption. We consume video on personal devices, such as smartphones and tablets. We listen to music with expensive headphones. But all of that is changing - or will.

After years in the lab, virtual reality is ready for the mainstream. While it might look like very personal, individual media consumption, it is well-positioned to have a tremendous impact on how we view ourselves within the world.

Virtual reality can break down the borders that surround today's video - putting us, the viewer, in control of what we focus in on. It can also allow us to feel digitally what is happening in the physical world that we are viewing. Mark Zuckerberg wrote that virtual reality "is really a new communication platform."

"By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life," he wrote. "Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures."

Imagine being digitally dropped into the middle of refugee camp. You can look around you in a 360-degree space. You can see the faces of the children in front of you and behind you. You can see the desolate accommodations and the desperate surroundings. Imagine surveying the carnage caused by a tsunami or earthquake from the eye of those caught its destructive path.

In the same way, drone video footage can help others see devastation quickly and absorb the scale of the devastation.

P.J. Manney, in an article published several years ago in the Journal of Evolution & Technology, suggests "empathy is created through storytelling" and technology coming to market today and in the near future are extremely well-positioned for storytelling.

Augmented reality blends and blurs the physical, real-world environment with digital elements. This information will allow us to more fully assess an environment and our place within it. This information allows us to more fully see the story.

While early digital communication technologies, such as email and texting, were messaging platforms designed to be private, person-to-person communication, more recent digital messaging platforms are broader, extra expansive and increasingly inclusive messaging platforms. Twitter, for example, was widely credited for its pivotal role in communicating to and self-organizing protesters in the absence of open, free media during the Arab Spring uprisings.

Sabba Quidwai, director of innovative learning at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, makes the case that communication platforms such as Snapchat are redefining the type of storytelling that breeds empathy.

Quidwai explains, "Snaps come from local people telling the story of who they are, what they do and what the day-to-day looks like. At the end of the day, when I have finished watching an entire Snapchat story, I have a deeper appreciation for humanity; but above all, I always leave with the same thought, 'Wow, they are just like us.'"

Indeed, we are sharing more photos that ever before, and we are moving into a world in which we will be sharing more video than ever before.

That's just the start. A digital-infused world is going to drive empathy by helping us remember just how small we are in the world. As the world gets smaller and we become increasingly connected, empathy matters even more.

Recently, I attended an incredibly impactful memorial service for a 10-year-old boy who died from a brain tumor. My three sons were with me and were moved by the number of people in attendance, but perhaps even more moved when they saw that the service was being streamed.

It broadened their perspective and allowed them to see the reach of this tragedy beyond their own periphery. Not only did the webcast allow others separated by geography to mourn together with those who mourned at the service, it also allowed my sons to see that the loss we all felt was being felt across the globe by hundreds of people they will probably never meet.

On a larger scale, services such as Google Translate are allowing us to communicate with a wider spectrum of people than ever before.

Today's tech platforms are rekindling empathy, changing the way we help one another in times of need. The new wave of consumer technology is re-engaging people through immediate, shared experiences.

Tech is making it easier than ever to support causes we believe in and help in times of crisis. Through crowd-funding platforms, such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and GoFundme, we are able to put our money where our mouths are.

Tomorrow's tech will help us better understand the needs of those affected in a way yesterday's tech simply couldn't convey. Technology is driving empathy, and in that I find great hope for our children.

Shawn DuBravac is chief economist of the Consumer Electronics Association and the author of "Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Communicate." Follow him on Twitter @shawndubravac
Prince William and Kate Middleton have always been keen when it comes to their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The Royal Couple openly shared that they would not think twice about asking for help when it comes to their children's mental health.

Kate Middleton and Prince William have always been active when it comes to rising mental health awareness. The Duchess of Cambridge has shown her support in the past where she makes it a point to attend talks and conventions in regards to mental health.

Prince William and Kate Middleton boldly stated that they "feel very strongly" when it comes to seeking help for their children when it comes to mental health. Daily Mail's reports that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are doing the right thing as seeking help for any mental health issue is the right thing to do.

Kate, who works for the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (a charity on mental health) stated that what Kate Middleton and Prince William is willing to do for their children is the "best possible things" they can do as parents.

"No parent would fail to call the doctor if their child developed a fever, yet some children are tackling tough times without the support that can help them because the adults in their life are scared to ask, Kate Middleton told BBC Radio 4 during an interview. "It doesn't need to be like this. Throughout my work with family and child support organizations, one thing that has stood out to me time and again is that getting early support for a child who is struggling to cope is the best possible thing we can do to help our children as they grow up. Knowing this, both William and I feel very strongly that we wouldn't hesitate to get expert support for George and Charlotte if they need it.
Comedy Central has decided to cancel "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" after just a year and a half. The news, which had been stirring at the network for some time, still surprised and saddened Larry Wilmore.

The decision to cancel "The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore" has come amid the show's struggle to resonate with the audience, according to Comedy Central president Kent Alterman. "We stuck with it for a year and a half but ultimately we didn't feel that we see enough traction to justify doing another year," Alterman said via Deadline. The show's cancellation has also come just two months before the United States election, and a few weeks before Comedy Central has to renew Wilmore's contract, as well as that of around 15 creative contributors.

Larry Wilmore said, "I'm really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, and our fans to have had this opportunity, but I'm also saddened and surprised we won't be covering this crazy election, or 'The Unblackening' as we've coined it. And keeping it 100, I guess I hadn't counted on 'The Unblackening' happening to my time slot as well."

According to Vox, one of the reasons that the show has not gained enough traction was because it was made for TV, and not for YouTube. Simply put, its contents don't seem to be that shareable on social media platforms. Despite the struggle, Alterman still praised Wilmore and "The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore" team for "a great work," particularly in creative contributions. However, the decision boils down to business.

"The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore" still has one more week on the air and the last episode will be aired on Thursday, Aug. 18, 11:30 p.m. The show's time slot will be taken over by "@midnight" temporarily while the network looks for a replacement.
George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin have gotten married just months after they started dating and many have speculated that the two wanted to start a family thus tying the knot. However, new reports are saying that the two are not planning to have a family at all and that the actor urged his wife to choose her law career over motherhood.

Clooney was recently interviewed and he said that he is very supportive of his wife's law career. It was then deemed as Clooney's way of saying that they are not settling down and focusing on raising a family of their own. Clooney reportedly said that he is putting Alamuddin's career before anything else.

Inquistr reported that Clooney is not getting any younger but he has not figured out whether or not he wants to have a child with Alamuddin. Accordingly, Clooney would rather spend his personal life traveling in different areas of the world as he has homes in Italy, Los Angeles and Mexico. He also wants to travel to promote his brand of tequila with his business partner Rande Gerber.

Clooney and Alamuddin's chances of having a baby is quite slim now since Clooney's acting career is also at its high point while his wife's law career is also soaring. An insider shared, "Amal Alamuddin might not have time for a baby either, especially with her travel schedule, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to become a mother."

Another source claims that Alamuddin knew that she was not going to have children before she said yes to Clooney regarding marrying him. They reportedly are on the same page when it comes to the topic about children.

More on Alamuddin, Hall of Fame Magazine reported that Angelina Jolie is very jealous of the lawyer and has been making stories to ruin her. Accordingly, the many achievements of Alamuddin activated the green monster inside Jolie and wants to prove to the world that she is more successful that Clooney's wife.

On top of her law career, Alamuddin is also reportedly pursuing fashion as she hopes to launch her own line soon.
"Limitless" Season 2 was canceled even after receiving good reviews for the show which mostly disappointed its viewers. However, it is not just the fans who have been let down by CBS since Limitless producer Craig Sweeny also showed its support for a second season for "Limitless."

Craig Sweeny earlier announced on Twitter that "Limitless" Season 2 is mostly canceled since no network wants to pick it up. When CBS was asked about why they drop the show, they confirmed that they want to give its viewers new shows that may garner more interest.

However, fans do not agree with this decision since "Limitless" garnered better viewers than "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders" which is now going to have a second season. According to CBS even with "Limitless" good numbers, it still failed to connect with its audience which is why they had to pull the plug on the show.

Craig Sweeny, on the other hand, thinks otherwise. In his recent posts on Twitter, he is also hoping that "Limitless" Season 2 would still get the green light. It seems that the fight for "Limitless" Season 2 still has a chance since Sweeny himself is still fighting for the show.

"Hope the next season gets green lit... af" https://t.co/3bpD3sYiI4  Craig Sweeny (@CraigSweeny) August 13, 2016

While Craig Sweeney is promoting "Limitless" on Netflix, he is still making noise for a possible "Limitless" Season 2. CBS already gave up on the show, so "Limitless" only hope is for Netflix to pick it up.

Once Netflix decides that they want to continue with "Limitless" Season 2, the show would still have another set of problems as the cast may already be busy with their other engagements. Although it is safe to conclude that most of them especially Jake McDorman who plays Brian Finch and Jennifer Carpenter who plays FBI agent Rebecca Harris will go back and continue the show.
Perhaps one of the greatest movies in film history, "The Exorcist," will now have its own television series premiering this September on Fox. This remake of the 1973 horror classic will surely have fans glued to their seats while trying to cover their eyes.

With all of the exorcism-related films and television series, including the highly praised "Outcast," it's great to see that an homage is being paid to the mother of all exorcism movies, "The Exorcist. The brand new TV series based on the demonic possession classic, follows two priests who help a family drive out a demonic spirit invading their home.

According to Polygon, the two priests are very different from one another, with Father Tomas Ortega, played by Alfonso Herrera, being the "modern-day" priest who believes that demons don't exist, and that they are simply "just metaphors, while the other priest, Father Marcus Brennan, played by Ben Daniels, is today's example of a Templar Knight, set to wage war against the forces of evil.

Fox released a series of promotional teasers for "The Exorcist" including the main trailer which premiered at the San Diego Comic-con, and needless to say, it was downright creepy. Fans caught a first glimpse of how potentially terrifying the series could be, with the trailer revealing possessed children, demonic voices, levitation, and all the exorcism goodness people could ask for.

In a report from IGN, creator and executive of "The Exorcist" TV series, Jeremy Slater explained how they turned the iconic movie into television show at the latest Television Critics Association, saying "Even in the scripting phase, we were very conscious of the fact that you can't tell an ongoing series where every season, every year, it's just another American family undergoing a possession," says Slater, adding " "You would burn out the audience really fast. I don't know how to write that show. I wouldn't want to watch that show. So it was important to start laying in bread crumbs right from the beginning."

Many are also wondering whether the TV series will follow the controversial exploits of the original film that shocked audiences to extreme degrees, including one particular scene involving a crucifix, or will they tone down the macabre-ness for television's sake. Fans will just have to wait and see as "The Exorcist" premieres on September 23.
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So, guns. Gun rights advocates argue that protecting private gun ownership is important, because it is important to ensure that private citizens are able to protect themselves against threats. Exceptwait a minutewhats that?

A 14-year-old girl is behind bars, facing aggravated murder charges for killing her father, but her family says she did it to protect her mother and her family.

Huh. Maybe theres more to the story?

With tears flowing down her face, Brandi Meadows told the Fox 8 I-Team that her husband abused her for years but she was afraid to leave. She had filed for a protective order five years ago but later dismissed it. I am so sorry she had to go through this, Brandi said Thursday. She is my hero. She helped me; she helped all of us so we could have a better life. Bresha Meadows is accused of shooting her father in their Warren home during the early morning hours of July 28. Her mother called 911 right after the shooting took place. The girls attorney, Ian Friedman, said Bresha is a child that faced years of abuse at the hands of her father, and she witnessed her mother being abused. She wanted to protect her Mom, Friedman said. Bresha allegedly used her fathers gun to shoot him. Family members say the father often threatened them with that very gun. Using that gun around the house, to intimidate, everyone in the home was terrified, Friedman said.

Yeah, no, I do not appear to be missing a thing. And Bresha sits in jail.

So, I wonder. How often does this happen? How often are women and/or children jailed for using guns to protect themselves against domestic violence?

Lets take a gander down google lane . . .

A convicted Alabama murderer wept openly Tuesday as she was hauled away to serve a 25-year prison sentence for killing her ex-husband. . . . . . . Prosecutors argued that she did it to collect a $103,000 life insurance policy. But Tracey has maintained that Hunter approached her menacingly on that fateful day and that she shot him in self-defense after a relationship filled with domestic abuse. I didnt do anything wrong, the mom cried as news cameras followed her through a courthouse hallway. All I did was protect myself. Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge John England wouldnt allow jurors to hear details about the rape and sodomy that Tracey alleged she suffered at Hunters hands. The ex-husband was charged with assault in 2010. . . . The attack allegedly caused rectal nerve damage and required surgery. At one point, Tracey pulled up her shirt to reveal a colostomy bag. He told me that he would make it to where nobody would ever want me, Tracey said.

WTF. Seriously, WTF.

Surely there arent . . . more, are there?

A Smyrna woman received a 25-year prison sentence, suspended after four years, for shooting her husband to death during a domestic violence-fueled confrontation in 2014 that shattered two families. . . . In court, a case where Mrs. King declined to cooperate with police after taking a gunshot to the scalp from Mr. King in 1996 was referenced. Judge Witham described the relationship as a classic case of the cycle of domestic violence that continues despite ongoing abuse. . . . In remarks before the court, Deputy Attorney General Babowal requested a sentence of substantially more than the mandatory minimum required and said the defendant had numerous opportunities to address issues with police and other state agencies but failed to do so.

They cant be serious. Can they?

By the time she was 19, shed married her boyfriend. One day, he and Kelli got in a fight that resulted in second-degree burns all over her body, because hed used an iron. She says she was burnt completely on my chest, on my arm, on my face and on my neck. Shed fought back, so they both went to jail. He was released before she was, and he was waiting for Kelli on the same street as the police station where shed been held when she got out. They went home together. Seven months later, it was happening again. Theyd gotten into what Kelli calls a domestic violence fight that started because her husband was upset about some things that were laying around the house. She escaped to a neighbors and called the cops, who came and made a joke like, Dang, didnt we come here before?' Kelli pointed to the marks on her body  not yet fully healed  and said there was a reason she called the police so regularly. Sometimes they came and sometimes they didnt, she told them. The police decided not to kick her husband out, and asked whether she had anywhere to go. She went to her moms, but that day he kept calling my moms house, threatening to kill me, she says. He threatened that something was going to happen to me and my children because if we couldnt stay together, we were going to die together. Kelli had to return to her house to pick up more of her belongings. But before she did, she bought a gun. When I went back over there, he was there, Kelli says. He kept taunting me; he kept telling me, You think this is over? Finally, he threatened me somehow, she says. Whispered in my ear. And I just lost it. At that point, I pulled out the gun; hes taunting me and then he charged at me. And I shot him. Kelli, now 36, spent 15 years in jail for manslaughter. She got out when she was 33 years old.

WHAT. WHAT. But, thats . . . thatss it, right? Right?

A Queens woman who killed her husband after suffering years of abuse at his hands was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison on a weapons charge, less than the maximum sentence of 15 years but short of her request for further leniency. . . .

So the picture Im gathering is that women are not in fact allowed to use guns in self-defenseor at least, theyre not allowed to do so if the person theyre defending themselves against is their husband or partner. Apparently?

Tanya Mitchells voice was frantic on the 911 call. Why did you shoot him with a gun? the operator asked. I dont know, said Mitchell, crying. He said that he was going to kill me. No, I know he was going to kill me. Mitchell had plenty of reason to believe she was in danger: She says her husband had tortured her, that he had offered her up to members of his motorcycle club, and watched as they gang-raped heronly to beat her afterward for allowing the rape to happen. She recalls how he tried to rip her toenails off with pliers, and times she endured games of Russian roulette, where he held a gun to her foreheadclick, click, click. . . . . . . Mitchell . . . pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and like many women who kill an intimate partner, she received the maximum sentencein her case, 15 years. Lorenz-Moser says that generally, men who kill their wives receive less jail time than women who kill their husbandseven when those husbands were abusive.

Oh good god. And the article also has some statistics.

As many as 93 percent of women serving time for killing an intimate partner were abused by that partner, according to a California state prison study. Seventy-five percent of women in New York prisons have been the victim of abuse as an adult, and data from the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision shows that 67 percent of women jailed in 2005 for killing someone close to them were abused by their victims.

You know what this means? I have to look for more statistics.

Though women commit murder far less often than men, they typically receive longer sentences for killing their male partners than do men who kill female partners, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. While these women average 15-year sentences, mens sentences are between two and six years. Roughly 90 percent of women behind bars for killing men were physically abused by their victims, according to the Purple Berets, a California-based organization that advocates for equal justice for women. Part of the disparity in sentence lengths has to do with women being more likely to kill with weapons, bringing harsher sentences than a homicide caused by beating or strangulation might. Waitthese women get longer terms because they use weapons to kill their abusers, rather than their bare hands? Thats the whole point of weapons! Gun advocates talk all the time about how guns level the playing field and make self-defense easier for those without the physical strength or stature to protect themselves that way. I bet the NRA is all over this shit, right? For nearly a decade, the National Rifle Association successfully blocked a bill in Washington state that would have required alleged domestic abusers to surrender their firearms after being served with a protective order. Only those actually convicted of felony domestic violence, the nations largest gun lobby argued, should be made to forfeit their gun rights. Okay, no, thats not it, lets try again . . .

Whoa. The NRA apparently released a whole series of ads last month encouraging women to buy guns and shoot their abusers or rapists. Those women are in for a tough awakening if they actually do so, though, and Im still digging, but the NRA does not appear to be either aware of this or on top of this problem at all.

Im looking, looking . . .

Okay, Ive now finished combing the legal and issues sections of the NRA website, and no, they are definitely not aware of this issue. The closest I can find is support for a law that would allow domestic violence victims who have taken out protective orders against their abusers to obtain expedited temporary concealed carry permits. I dont see any acknowledgement that these women could end up in jail if they actually use those guns to protect themselves from their abusers.

Perhaps youre wonderingwhat about stand your ground laws? Yes, the NRA has supported stand your ground laws, but thats not actually what Im talking about. Im talking about ordinary, existing lawsthe laws we already had, which should have been good enoughbeing applied with a serious gender bias. Stand your ground laws allow you to shoot strangers you find scary in that moment. Im talking about women who have been abused for months, years, even decades, who shoot their domestic abusers in what should be clearly seen as self defense. Its not about standing your ground, its about regular old self defense. And you know what? Ive never seen the NRA address the sexism embedded in the application of these laws.

Perhaps most amazing, even in states that have stand your ground laws, women are still convicted of murdering their abusers. Why is that? Have a look:

South Carolina is one of more than 20 states that has passed an expansive Stand Your Ground law authorizing individuals to use deadly force in self-defense. The law has been used to protect a man who killed an innocent bystander while pointing his gun at several teens he called women thugs. But prosecutors in Charleston are drawing the line at domestic violence. In the cases of women who claim they feared for their lives when confronted with violent intimate abusers, prosecutors say the Stand Your Ground law shouldnt apply. (The Legislatures) intent  was to provide law-abiding citizens greater protections from external threats in the form of intruders and attackers, prosecutor Culver Kidd told the Post and Courier. We believe that applying the statute so that its reach into our homes and personal relationships is inconsistent with (its) wording and intent.

I wish I were making this up. Im not, and frankly, Im only being more gobsmacked the deeper into this I go. I cant find the NRA responding to this at all. They appear content to let this interpretation fly, perhaps because their membership is primarily male. The problem appears to be thisstand your ground laws are designed for protection against an intruder, not for protection against an abuser. Have a look:

Florida became the first state to adopt a SYG law in 2005. Based on the British common law on self-defense, SYG eliminates the duty to retreat when using self-defense and expands the Castle Doctrine. The statute contains two additional unusual components: immunity from arrest and prosecution for anyone falling under the statute and a presumption that a person facing an intruder in a dwelling or residence possesses fear of death or great bodily harm. Stranger yet, SYG also presents several exceptions in which the person using deadly force is denied the presumption of reasonable fearthus, prosecutorial immunityincluding if [t]he person against whom the defensive force is used or threatened has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the dwelling, [or] residence . . . such as an owner, lessee, or titleholder, and there is not an injunction for protection from domestic violence or a written pretrial supervision of no contact order against that person (emphasis added). This exception is particularly problematic for victims of domestic violence who live with their abuser because it denies them the SYG defense if they do not have a valid protective order.

In other words, Floridas stand your ground law specifically and explicitly excludes cases where an individual kills someone lawfully living in the same dwellingi.e., a domestic partner. Given that ten of the twenty-four states that passed bills similar to Floridas stand your ground law copied the text virtually identically, this problem appears to be widespread. Not only is the NRA not addressing sexist applications of self-defense law, theyre also okay with explicitly exempting cases where an individual shoots a domestic abuser from their extensive new stand your ground laws. I mean for gods sake, the NRA drafted Floridas stand your ground law.

As I wrap this up, I find myself coming back to Bresha Meadows, the 14-year-old girl in jail awaiting trial for shooting and killing her abusive father. The NRA ought to be championing Bresha as a heroshe picked up a gun and used it to save her mother and protect herself from a man who had already proven himself ready and willing to harm her. Whats that I hear? Radio silence? I am not surprised, but I am grievedterribly, terribly grieved. Hang in there, Bresha. Hang in there.
The topics of religious liberties and human rights are two of the most fundamental values embedded into our national consciousness as Americans. From the very conception of our nation, we have been a people who have defended the right of all people to worship whatever they believe in without fear of discrimination or persecution. We have also, increasingly, become a nation who values the life and rights of all people, especially minorities within our nation. In order to achieve a perfect democracy, we must continually uphold the tension that allows people to hold and practice beliefs that we may disagree with or find offensive, while also ensuring that our rights to life, liberty, and hapiness are protected from those who may disagree with us.

This tension has been the epicenter of a large majority of debates between the so-called conservatives and so-called progressives in recent years. Should business owners be permitted to discriminate against gays or Muslims? Should schools be forced to adopt LGBT+ inclusive curricula? Should religious schools receive federal funding if they do not allow LGBT+ students to enroll? These are the questions that we have been fighting policy battles over for the last five years, at least, and continue to fight until this present day. There doesnt seem to be a clear answer to any of these questions, yet both sides claim it to be black and white. As a person who identifies as LGBT+ and is a Christian minister myself, this debate is not just theoretical, but deals directly with my ability to thrive in America as an equal citizen.

Alan Noble, professor of English as Oklahoma Baptist University, wrote an article in The Atlantic addressing these questions, particularly focusing on religious universities who refuse to accept openly LGBT+ students into their degree programs. This is probably the most timely issue for our nation at this moment, as the Fall Semester of college is about to commence, and many religious schools will be fighting to defend their perceived right to demand that their students live by their religious code of ethics. In the past year, a wide range of religious colleges and universities have been in the midst of a heated debate centering on Title IX, which protects sexual minorities from discrimination by institutions that receive federal funding. A number of prominent Christian universities, most prominently Biola University in California, have fought for and won exemptions from Title IX, allowing these schools to continue to refuse admission to anyone identified as a sexual or gender minority. Now, as the Fall 2016 semester begins, the controversy about state and federal funding for religious schools continues.

Last week, Califorinan religious colleges claimed a victory when the state legislature refused to pass bill SB 1146, which would have required any school which received Cal Grants to comply with Californias expansive non-discrimination policies, including allowing transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their choice and providing housing to openly LGBT+ couples. The bill was ammended and now only requires that these universities publiclize that they have received at Title IX exemption as well as providing reports to the federal government anytime a school expels a student based on their religious code of ethics. Whether or not this victory will be a lasting one has yet to be seen, but at the heart of this debate a question remains unanswered: Should religious schools (or institutions) be allowed to receive tax-payer dollars if they discriminate against any class of people, including sexual and gender minorities?

We have seen many answers to this question over the course of our nations history, and most often, it seems, the answer is inevitably no. We dont have to look far back in our history until we arrive at an identical controversy. In 1983, the Supreme Court heard the case Bob Jones University v. United States, which focused on the right of Bob Jones University to discriminate in their admission practices based on the applicants race, citing their Christian beliefs as the foundation of this practice. In this particular case, the Supreme Court determined that the tax-exempt status of an institution of higher education could be revoked if the institution chose to discriminate. The Courts statement argued:

Government has a fundamental, overriding interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education . . . which substantially outweighs whatever burden denial of tax benefits places on [the Universitys] exercise of their religious beliefs.

In other words, the United States interest in eradicating racial discrimination outweighed the universities right to be tax exempt. Bob Jones University was permitted to continue discriminating against people of color, in accordance with their beliefs, but the government was not going to assist or reward them for those beliefs. No matter how we spin this case, it is essentially the same with our modern day controversy. The United States Government, across every branch of government, has decided that LGBT+ individuals deserve equal rights in every sphere of American life. This journey has taken far too long, and is yet incomplete, but we are now at a place when my ability to marry the man I love and be protected from all forms of discrimination is gradually becoming the law of the land, and for that I am grateful. And while I am quite certain that the writing is on the wall for private colleges and universities, we have not reached a point where people like me, LGBT+ people of faith, are protected from discrimination in institutions that represent our faith.

In Alan Nobles aforementioned post, he lays out three suggestions meant to help work out a way for Christian schools and their surrounding communities to live with each other with respect and dignity. I want to briefly reflect on Nobles three points, and why I believe they are ultimately untenable.

First, Noble suggests that schools must be very open about their values and codes of conduct. Students should understand the kind of religious community they are joining when they enroll so that they can make a prudent decision about what is best for them. On the surface, this seems like quite a reasonable suggestion, until one considers that a large number of LGBT+ individuals do not step into their identity until between the ages of 17 and 21, or right in the middle of their college years. This is especially the case for those who have grown up in a conservative religious context. For many, myself included, I believed that homosexuality was a sin up until I was in college. I had suppressed my sexuality, as I was taught to do by the church, and wasnt given the opportunity to explore my beliefs and sexuality until I was living on my own, in a new city, at my Bible college. I couldnt have imagined where my journey was going to lead. I didnt expect to come out in college, and especially didnt expect the harsh abuse I received at the hands of professors and students alike when news of my sexual orientation spread (not by my choosing) across our campus. The college I went to was my dream school, and I fully agreed with its ethics and values when I was admitted. But half way through my college career, as I began to grow and mature, things changed. My beliefs evolved. My self-awareness increased. And I discovered that I was LGBT+ and that I didnt believe that was in contradiction with my faith. This is what happens for many, dare I say, most college students in one way or another. So to assume that students can somehow make a choice to stay away from colleges with values they disagree with is largely unrealistic.

Second, Noble writes that state and federal governments should continue to provide aid to students who attend religious schools. He argues that this aid largely supports low-income students, and often minorities. Cutting off these funds might mean that only wealthy, non-minority students would be able to afford to attend religious schools

Again, at a very surface level I agree with this statement. I came from a low-income family and could not have graduated college without the aid I received from the federal government. I understand this to be deeply true. But what Noble completely ignores is any notion of intersectional justice and seems to suggest that the government should set aside LGBT+ students rights for the greater good of other minorities. This argument is neither ethical nor tenable. Champions of justice have long warned us against this line of thinking. As Australian activist Lilla Watson once famously said, your liberation is bound up in mine [therefore], let us work together! Unless we seek collective equality for all people, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, class, or religion, then we know that no liberation is truly possible. Nobles argument is outdated and reveals a lack of understanding of what true equality and justice look like. If private colleges desire to serve minorities using federal or state funding, then they must be willing to serve all minorities, period.

Lastly, Noble writes religious schools should help students who enroll and later decide they can no longer attend in good conscience. He continues, saying, schools must be vigilant about dealing with bullying and abuse and create an environment in which students who have suffered feel safe to report these incidents without fear of expulsion or retribution.

What is essentially begin suggested here is that schools should assist students in their own expulsion when they come to embrace their sexual orientation or gender identity. But what if the student, like me, is in their Junior year of studies when they begin changing their perspectives? Why should a student be forced to leave the community that they have cultivated because the institutions doctrinal statement says they are flawed or less than? How does this cultivate an institution of higher learning, providing a quality education that Noble mentions in his article? What part of asking diverse students who find the freedom to speak about their sexuality or gender to leave the community helps cultivate the educational process? If this is the perspective we are vying for, then serious questions must be raised as to whether or not schools which do not allow for the full diversity of human creativity to be admitted can truly be considered institutions of higher learning at all. They seem, more accurately, to be institutions of indoctrination, which should absolutely not be receiving tax-payer dollars.

On Nobles suggestion that Christian schools create environments that deal with bullying and are safe spaces, again, I believe he is speaking from a place of privilege that is blind to the real experience of LGBT+ Christian students on campuses like his. As a freshman in my Christian college, I, along with a number of other men on my floor, were victims of a homophobic hate crime. We woke up one morning to find the word FAGS written in powder outside our doors in the hallway. A number of us, who had spoken about our sexual orientation to each other, converged in my dorm room to discuss what to do. I sat at my computer and compiled an email to the Dean of Students, alerting him to what had happened. Within a few days, an email went out to all the men on campus saying that these actions were inappropriate and that it was likely intended to be a simple, harmless prank that crossed serious lines. Almost five months later, another email was sent saying that the prankster had come forward and apologized. And that was that.

Now that my sexual orientation was exposed to the Dean of Students (and a few other professors), I began meeting with professors who warned me about the dangers of embracing my same-sex attractions and recommending various forms of reparative therapy to me. As my own beliefs about sexuality continued to evolve, these meetings with the Dean and professors only intensified, eventually leading to being called in to the Deans office to promise that when I graduated I wouldnt waive rainbow flags and being told by a professor that I was demon possessed and publicly ridiculed in her classes before my peers.

How can colleges who believe that LGBT+ people are inherently flawed and sinful ever cultivate an environment in which we flourish along with the rest of the community? If your community believes LGBT+ people are, as Romans 1 is often interpreted to describe us, those who have exchanged the truth for a lie and are worthy of Gods wrath, how could you ever create a space where we feel safe and un-ridiculed?

The answer is simple- You cant.

Colleges and Universities that are openly anti-LGBT+ will never be capable of creating safe spaces where LGBT+ people can flourish. They will never be able to address bullying with necessary measures, because the bullying comes as part of the theological belief system being taught. Have you ever sat in an audience of your peers, while you are studying for ministry, when someone stands at a pulpit and proclaims from the Bible, No homosexual will enter the Kingdom of God! Do you understand the actual psychological trauma such experiences cause? And how do you think that message gets embodied in other heterosexual students who are unable to sympathies with the struggle of LGBT+ peers? Its embodied in immature and abusive ways that will never be addressed by these universities administrations.

Thus, these institutions will never be safe places for sexual and gender minorities. They will always be places that not only perpetuate discrimination, but abuse. And that is the reason that I believe religious colleges and universities should not receive state or federal funding. Because their teachings and practices do not promote human flourishing, but perpetuate deeply rooted discrimination, which is fundamentally against our interest as Americans.
Iranian carpets recapture US market

08/16/16

Source: Press TV

Iran's prized rug trade is getting a boost from the lifting of sanctions, with exports to the US reclaiming the lost ground in a big way.



3rd biggest Persian carpet (October 2012 file photo by Yunes Khani)





A stack of sanctions imposed in 2010 and then in 2012 pulled the rug from under the much-coveted Iranian carpet business, allowing cheaper craft from Pakistan, India and China to gain a foothold in the US and other key markets.

A nuclear accord reached in July has put Iran back on the market and the country's elegant hand-knotted carpets have returned to their traditional destinations with a vengeance.

According to head of the Iranian National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar on Tuesday, Iran's carpet exports to the US significantly grew in the four months since the beginning of the Persian year on March 21, totaling $27.6 million.

The figure compared with $80 million of Iranian carpet exports a year to the United States before the sanctions were imposed, bringing them to zero, the IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Kargar said Iran exported $83 million of carpets in total in the first quarter of its calendar year, a rise of about 40% year-on-year.

Iranian caviar, pistachios, saffron and carpets and US commercial aircraft and their parts are among the items allowed for limited business with the US.

Carpets are a major source of revenue for Iran's $400 billion economy behind oil and gas and their derivatives, and pistachio nuts.

In 2011, the country exported more than $600 million worth of carpets and sought to raise it to $1 billion in the next year but intensified sanctions disrupted the plan.

In the United States, Persian carpets are offered from $200,000 to $5,000 a piece depending on the type of the fabric, design and intricacy employed in their making.

Those produced in India, Pakistan and China sell for about half the price of Persian carpets due to their lower quality, according to dealers.

In recent years, Iranian rug dealers have switched to the Asian market, catering especially to the growing crave in China and the UAE where many affluent families see exotic Persian carpets as a way of investment.
Iran kills four Daesh affiliates, arrests six: Kermanshah Governor

08/16/16

Source: Tehran Times

TEHRAN - Iranian security and intelligence officers on Monday and Tuesday killed four members of a Daesh-affiliated network in the western province Kermanshah, Kermanshah governor said on Tuesday. They were planning suicide bombings in central parts of the country, IRNA quoted Assadollah Razani as saying.





cartoon by Ehsan Ganji, Iranian daily Ghanoon





"A Daesh-affiliated terrorist team which had penetrated into the borders to conduct operations in central parts of the county was busted on Monday and Tuesday in one of Kermanshah's neighborhoods and another city of the province," Razani stated.

Located in western Iran, Kermanshah province has border crossings with Iraq. Iran shares upwards of 1400 km borders with Iraq, the longest compared to other neighboring countries.

Security forces had swooped on the hideout of the terrorists on Monday night, killing three and seizing suicide-bomber vests, grenades, and rifles, according to the provincial official.

Locals could hear rounds being fired, the governor said.

During another clash with members of the same network, one more was killed and dozens were arrested.

"During a second clash, one key member of the cell was killed and some were arrested."

The news was confirmed by Brigadier General Manouchehr Amanollahi, the provincial police chief, as well.

Other officials including Hossein Zolfaghari, the deputy interior minister for security issues, and Mojtaba Maleki, Kermanshah prosecutor general, confirmed that four were killed. They put the number of arrestees at six.

"One of the members killed in the clashes had already been spotted who was a high-ranking figure of the Takfiri current in Iraq," Zolfaghari said.

Western and eastern borders of Iran have been a hotbed for terrorist activities, mainly influenced by weak border monitoring of neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Every so often Iranian forces bust terrorists groups in the regions, while losing forces, keeping a vigilant eye on its mainland.

In June, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced it had thwarted several planned bombings in Tehran and other cities, following extensive intelligence operations across the country, which borders Iraq to its west.

The country's intelligence officers have already proven themselves, preventing terrorist blasts in the country, while its vast borders are surrounded by terrorist teams.

This is while terrorist groups have conducted operations in almost all regional countries, including Turkey and Lebanon.

Even European counties have not been safe from terrorist attack.
The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops

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The disintegration of Google+ continues with one of the failed social networks key features disappearing. With little fanfare or announcement, Google posted a note to its YouTube support pages that Google+ Hangouts on Air live web broadcasts will cease to be available come September 12. After that date all Hangouts on Air will have to happen on YouTube Livewhere the feature already exists.

The service is also being renamed Google Hangouts On Air, which notably drops the plus symbol from the name. Hangouts on Air first debuted in September 2011 as an easy way to turn your group chats into a live public broadcast.

The service was restricted to particularly notable users at first, but finally went live for everyone in May 2012. Although YouTubes help page says Hangouts On Air is moving from Google+ to YouTube Live, thats not quite accurate. Hangouts on Air have been a part of YouTube Live since December 2013 when Google opened YouTube Live to anyone with a verified YouTube account that was in good standing. On YouTube, Hangouts on Air serves as a quick and easy way to start a webcast for broadcasters who dont need control of encoding and other advanced features.

Why this matters: Google is slowly moving features away from the waning Google+, and either removing them entirely or replacing them with something else. The end of Hangouts on Air for Google+ comes around the time that Google is making changes on Android to end the reign of its social network. The company recently removed the +1 button from app profiles, and theres a rumor that you soon wont need a Google+ profile to review an app or game in Google Play.
Microsoft is getting into the Windows 10 spirit for Windows 7 and 8.1 users. No, the company is not returning to its nagging tactics for the (now expired) free upgrade to Windows 10. What Microsoft is doing is making updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 much easier and similar to how it handles Windows 10 updates. Beginning in October 2016, both older operating systems will receive a cumulative rollup patch available each and every month via Windows Update.

What this means is that if your Windows 7 or 8.1 machine is currently up-to-date, when Patch Tuesday rolls around in October youll only have one update package from Microsoft to download via Windows Update. If you dont bother to download Octobers update, then youll be able to get those updates as part of Novembers update cycle. If you wait until January to update your machine, youll get a single update containing patches from October, November, and December, in addition to the newest updates from January.

Microsoft calls this a cumulative rollup system where each months update package includes all previous updates (going back to October 2016). The new monthly rollups will include both security and stability patches.

On top of that, Microsoft intends to add older updates to the monthly rollup over time. Eventually, Microsoft wants to include every update between the last baseline for each operating system and the present. Presumably, that baseline is Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and the Windows 8.1 upgrade for Windows 8.

The impact on you at home: Microsofts change is great for Windows 8.1, but the real winners are Windows 7 users who must contend with years of updates. Right now, updating a fresh version of Windows 7 is a painful experienceespecially if youre reinstalling from a pre-SP1 disc. Microsoft did make the updating process a little bit easier in May when it introduced a convenience rollup that includes all security and non-security updates since the release of Windows 7 SP1. But the convenience rollup doesnt appear as an option in Windows Update and must be downloaded via the Microsoft Download Center. That means users unaware of the cumulative rollup will never see it. Once Microsoft completes its work on the monthly rollup, which will be available via Windows Update, the update process will be much easier and available to anyone.

The one group of people who may not be happy to hear about Microsofts new update system are those who like to pick-and-choose individual updates for their machines. Its not clear if there will be a process that allows power users to selectively download parts of the roll-up package, or if users will be able to roll back specific parts of the update after-the-fact.

Weve asked Microsoft for clarification on this issue; however, its unlikely that there will be an option to be selective about the updates. Windows 10 users dont have a pick-and-choose option, and Microsofts aim is to have all supported versions of Windows follow a similar update servicing model.

For a detailed explanation of why Microsoft is moving to a monthly rollup model check out Microsofts TechNet blog post on the matter.
The U.S. presidential campaign has shined a spotlight on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade deal thats simmered on the back burner for years.

Both major-party presidential candidates oppose the deal, negotiated in secret among 12 Pacific Region countries, including the U.S., Japan, Australia, Canada, and Singapore. China and Russia are notably absent from the negotiations.

While negotiators approved the final language in October, the U.S. has not yet ratified the deal.

Here are five important things to know about TPP:

Whats in the TPP?

The goal of the trade deal, with negotiations that began in 2008, is to lower trade barriers, including tariffs, between the countries. The deal also allows companies to ask for legal arbitration against countries they believe to be discriminating against their products.

The deal also includes worker rights, environmental, and open internet provisions. But critics worry that it will lead to a loss of U.S. jobs, and many digital rights groups have protested the deals copyright and intellectual property enforcement provisions.

While the deal was negotiated in secret for years, the text is now available as lawmakers in the U.S. and other countries debate whether to ratify the TPP.

Support and opposition dont follow traditional political lines

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made opposition to free trade deals like the TPP a centerpiece of his campaign. Democrat Hillary Clinton has reversed the support she voiced while serving as secretary of state in President Barack Obamas administration.

Meanwhile, Democrat Obama has continued to push hard for passage, and many Republicans in Congress support the TPP.

Much of the opposition isnt directly related to tech issues

Trump, as well as many liberals, oppose the deal because of concerns that it will make it easier for U.S. companies move jobs overseas, that it will drive down U.S. wages because of competition from foreign workers, and that it will increase the countrys trade deficit.

Critics worry that the deal will lead to a flood of foreign products into the U.S. without corresponding exports. Many opponents are also concerned that U.S. jobs will flow to TPP countries like Vietnam and Mexico, where worker wages are much lower.

But many tech trade groups and companies support the deal

Many tech companies and trade groups see the deal as a way to more easily sell their products overseas. About 95 percent of the worlds population lives outside the U.S., and tech companies see the Asia-Pacific Region as a growth market for them.

Among the tech trade groups supporting the TPP are the BSA, with members including Apple, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce; the Software and Information Industry Association, with members including Google, Facebook, Adobe Systems, and Intuit; and the Consumer Technology Association, members including Best Buy, FitBit, Newegg, Amazon.com, and Samsung Electronics.

TPP is a leap forward in trade agreements, Victoria Espinel, president and CEO of BSA, said earlier this year. The deal will drive growth in the IT industry by establishing the first-ever strong and enforceable trade rules for data flows across borders in a multilateral agreement, she said.

Tech-related opposition revolves around copyright enforcement

Digital rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future, have protested the deal, largely because it would expand copyright enforcement provisions across the Asia-Pacific region.

The deal would entrench controversial pieces of U.S. copyright law, including parts of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it would restrict Congress ability to reform copyright law, the EFF says. The deal would expand the lengthy of copyright terms in many countries from 50 years beyond the death of the author/creator to 70 years, and it would requiring signatory countries to mirror provisions in the DMCA that ban the circumvention of digital locks, or DRM.

Many critics have also protested the deals secret negotiations, saying important policy-changing trade deals should be discussed in the open.
Microsoft said last fall that it would allow third-party hardware makers to build their own HoloLens devices. The first, perhaps not surprisingly, will be made by Intel: Project Alloy.

Alloy will be a wire-free,head-mounted VR device, complete with a pair of RealSense cameras to detect the outside world, including what Intel called five-finger detection, or the ability to actually see your hand and allow it to interact with virtual objects. Intel did not release a price or a ship date for Project Alloy, nor disclose which chip is powering it.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich introduced Project Alloy at the opening keynote Tuesday for the companys Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. Its not clear whether Intel will actually manufacture Alloy, however; Krzanich added that midway through 2017, the company plans to open-source the hardware.

In December 2016, Microsoft and Intel plan to jointly release a spec for head-mounted devices like the HoloLens and Alloy at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in December in Shenzhen, China.

Microsofts OS chief Terry Myerson, who appeared onstage with Krzanich, announced that, simultaneously, Microsoft plans to release an update to Windows 10 that enables Windows Holographic, the operating system that powers the HoloLens.

Given those two upcoming milestones, what this means is that anybody can take the Alloy hardware, combined with Windows Holographic, to any manufacturer they choose, Krzanich said.

Its important to note, however, that Project Alloy is a virtual reality device, a distinct product from the HoloLens, which uses augmented reality to superimpose graphics over the real world. In a demo, for example, executives showed off a real image of Krzanich inside the virtual world. Krzanich, in fact, referred to something called mixed reality to describe the intersection of the real and virtual worlds.

To sense the real world, Alloy uses dual RealSense cameras, the depth camera that Intel began showing off a few years ago. RealSense can measure relative depth and position, and even orientation, which makes the camera appropriate for VR as well as robots and even drones, Krzanich said.

Project Alloy also is a victory of sorts for Microsofts vision. Even though the HoloLens uses augmented reality, Microsoft thinks that Windows Holographic could be used to power VR devices, as well. For now, VR device makers like Oculus have refused to buy in. Intel apparently feels differently.

Updated at 12:29 PM with a picture of Project Alloy and more details.
Microsoft is bringing Windows Holographic to the masses with a forthcoming update to Windows 10, in a move to make it easier to blend physical and digital reality on any PC.

Windows Holographic will be made available through a software update sometime in 2017, Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, said at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday. Microsoft and Intel are working together to provide minimum hardware specifications for Windows Holographic PCs and headsets, he added.

Its part of a push to let more people use what Microsoft calls mixed reality  either bringing physical objects into virtual reality or overlaying digital objects on the physical world. Right now, Microsoft already covers that second area with its HoloLens hardware, but its also working with a variety of hardware manufacturing partners like Intel to build new hardware that works with mixed reality.

The move is a positive one for both companies, as virtual, augmented, and mixed reality all become increasingly popular, said analyst Patrick Moorhead.

Microsoft and Intel working together on mixed reality is a very positive sign and historically, more has been accomplished with the two working together than against each other, Moorhead said by email. Intel and Microsoft were not aligned in smartphones or tablets, and the result was negative for both.

The Windows Holographic announcement dovetailed with the news that Microsoft and Intel are working together on Project Alloy, a wireless headset that uses sensors to bring objects into VR from the real world. Intel will release an open-source set of specifications for building an Alloy headset and allow hardware makers to build their own.

As part of the news, Myerson showed off a simple Windows Holographic demo running on a US$600 Intel NUC mini computer. The demo, which ran at 90 frames per second, is an encouraging sign for people who dont have the powerful PCs needed to run the current crop of high-end VR headsets.

Microsoft will be outlining more details about its Windows Holographic strategy at the WinHEC conference in Shenzhen, China, this December.
Direct bus transportation of passengers to Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is illegal, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Lavreniuk has said at a meeting of the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety in Kyiv.

Head of the service Mykhailo Noniak, in turn, gave the following example: mini vans with up to eight seats, which are not licensed by the service, go to Crimea.

"We know there are such facts. Together with the State Border Guard Service, the Ukrainian Security Service we also conduct raids at the checkpoints in Kherson region. We are working on the so called carriers. All other legal carriers, which have the license, follow the route, go only to the checkpoints, afterwards passengers pass to the annexed territory of Crimea on foot, and then go by the so called Crimean transport," he said.

According to Noniak, the same applies to the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Lavreniuk added in general such traffic is a joint agreement between concerned passengers and drivers.
Intel isnt yet shipping its Optane SSDs, but they soon will be available for testing over the cloud.

This is good news for enterprise users, who are eagerly awaiting the new class of storage and memory shown to break SSD speed records.

Optane is based on 3D Xpoint technology, which is 10 times faster than the technology in standard SSDs. It also can serve as a substitute to traditional DRAM, but software needs to be written so parts of Optane operate like memory tiers.

Optane SSDs will be available at the end of the year to enterprises and gamers. Unfortunately for gamers, the cloud-based Optane test bed will be accessible for free only to enterprise users looking to test applications tied to financial transactions, machine learning, autonomous driving, and other uses, Intel said.

Optane offers many advantages, but applications will need to be written for the storage and memory structures. The blazing speed of Optane SSDs will allow them to cache data and provide in-memory data processing features. The caching feature will be important in gaming, where game levels can be pre-loaded on SSDs ahead of time, allowing for quicker load times.

Intel plans to show how memory tiers can be designed in Optane SSDs with the help of software from ScaleMP, which provides virtualization tools for in-memory computing. ScaleMP typically provides tools for high-end computing.

The test bed will help enterprises prepare applications that could be used once Optane SSDs start shipping.

More details on access to Optane through the cloud will be provided at Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week.

Optane is generating excitement from prospective users. Intel will ship Optane SSDs for laptops and 2-in-1s, as well as memory DIMMs based on 3D Xpoint, starting next year. The storage will be compatible with NVMe slots, which are used for SSDs today and work with systems running on CPUs not designed by Intel.

Intel and Micron jointly developed 3D Xpoint technology. SSDs based on 3D Xpoint technology from Micron will be available next year to enterprise customers through storage companies.
Not even the National Security Agency is immune to carelessness, according to noted leaker Edward Snowden. The agencys operatives can get lazy, and sometimes they leave behind files inside the servers theyve hacked.

That could explain how an anonymous group managed to obtain hacking tools that may belong to the NSA. The files are up for auction to the highest bidder, and allegedly include cyber weapons that rival the Stuxnet computer worm.

Counterhacking

On Tuesday, Snowden, a former NSA contractor, tweeted that it isnt unprecedented for cyberspies to try to hack the agencys malware staging servers.

The NSA itself routinely hacks into servers used by opposing groups, Snowden added. This is how the agency can steal rival hacking tools, and it can lurk undetected on these servers for years.

But the NSA is not made out of magic, Snowden said. Our rivals do the same thing to usand occasionally succeed. NSA operatives are told to never leave behind any hacking tools they use on servers, but people get lazy, Snowden said.

Its still unclear if the tools actually belong to the NSA. The anonymous hackers who obtained them claim they were stolen from the Equation Group, a top cyberespionage team that may be linked to the NSA and may have helped develop the Stuxnet worm.

The hackers have posted sample files online, and the files contain numerous exploits, implants, and tools for firewall and router products from Cisco, Juniper Networks, Fortinet, and Chinese vendor Topsec, according to security researchers. (A list of the exploits can be found here.)

Free exploits

Brian Martin, a director of vulnerability intelligence at Risk Based Security, said he was surprised the hackers offered up these exploits as free samples.

These exploits have a huge value, and normally hackers would never give them away, he said.

For instance, a few of the exploits target Cisco productswhich are widely used and thought to be secure and stable and can allow a bad actor to bypass a firewall, Martin said.

Risk Based Security is still looking at how severe these exploits might be, and if theyve previously been patched. But the stolen hacking tools might be old, the company noted.

The sample files that have been released were dated most recently to 2013. This suggests that the NSA probably wasnt hacked directly, Martin said.

The NSA hasnt commented on the alleged leak. Cisco, however, said Tuesday it was investigating the exploits. So far, we have not found any new vulnerabilities related to this incident, the company said.

A political message?

However, a potentially more alarming issue is what else might have been stolen.

The hackers, who call themselves the Shadow Brokers, have warned theyve obtained other cyber weapons that could wreck havoc on financial systems.

We auction best files to highest bidder. Auction files better than Stuxnet, the hackers said in posts on Github and Tumblr that were later taken down.

Security experts suspect that the Shadow Brokers may actually be foreign spies who are trying to threaten the U.S.

Whoever stole this data now wants the world to know, Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the International Computer Science Institute in California, wrote in a blog post.

He and other security researchers have noted the timing of the auction. It comes as the U.S. is investigating whether Russian state-sponsored hackers may have stolen sensitive files from the Democratic National Committee.

The Shadow Brokers, however, have painted themselves as hacktivists who oppose wealthy elites. Their auction is still up for bids and accepting bitcoin.

Although the Shadow Brokers are offering no guarantees with their auction, the sale probably isnt a scam. On Tuesday, security firm Kaspersky Lab found further evidence that Shadow Brokers did indeed steal files from the Equation Group.
Wildomar Mayor Bridgette Moore is virtually guaranteed a fourth term as council member because she is the only person to qualify as a candidate in her district.

City Clerk Debbie Lee announced that she closed the nomination period for District 4, where Moore resides, on Friday as required by state law because the incumbent had qualified. If an incumbent failed to file by the end of the business day Friday, the nomination period was automatically extended to Wednesday, Aug. 17.

That is what happened in Wildomars District 2 race since City Councilman Bob Cashman chose not to run for this third term in office. As of midday Monday, only Dustin Nigg, a newcomer to city politics, had qualified.

Ironically, the city replaced its at large election system, in which any registered vote could cast ballots for any candidates, with elections by district, based on the theory that it would prompt more participation and give Latinos a better chance to be elected.

Wildomar is one of a number of cities, including Hemet, that recently decided to elect their five council members by district rather than face a potentially costly lawsuit over alleged violations of the California Voting Rights Act.

Another ironic note to the legal threat in Wildomar is that Moore, one of the citys original council members dating from incorporation in 2008, is of Mexican heritage.

The system obviously did not have the intended effect of encouraging candidates to run against her in District 4, which covers the west side of the city.

It felt good, Moore said of being the lone qualifier. I appreciate that our residents felt I was doing a good enough job that no one else wanted to run.

Since Moore is unopposed, the City Council can decide to appoint her to the four-year term and not hold a District 4 election or go forward with the election with the possibility Moore could be challenged by write-in candidates. Such candidates can file from Sept. 5 through Oct. 24 to run without being on the ballot.

Lee said in her 25 years of experience in the clerks office at various cities, only twice has it occurred that there were lone qualifying candidates for elections.

It has happened before, but its been few and far between, she said.

When she worked in Highland, the council went ahead with the election, while in Laguna Niguel, council members appointed the two candidates seeking two seats and did not put them on the ballot.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams@pressenterprise.com
Several months after cleanup of a former Riverside sewer plant site was expected to begin, state regulators have cleared the property owner to start removing contaminated soil so homes can be built there.

Its an apparently unprecedented second cleanup of a property the state Department of Toxic Substances Control said was safe for development in 2014.

Property owner Henry C. Chuck Cox planned to build about 100 homes on the site between Crest and Rutland avenues in Riversides Arlanza area. But questions from neighbors and an environmental group led to additional testing in 2015 that found contamination in some spots exceeded the states cleanup target.

The levels that we found out there, with the exception of a couple of areas, are very close to the cleanup goals, said Peter Garcia, branch chief of brownfields restoration for the state toxics department. However, we want to make sure that this time around nothing is missed.

FINAL CLEANUP

Under the latest plan, work at the roughly 60-acre property known as the ag park should begin Monday, Aug. 22, said Bob Beers, Coxs project manager.

Up to 70,000 tons of soil contaminated with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, will be removed for disposal, according to a notice from the department, which is overseeing the cleanup.

During the work, about 50 to 60 trucks a day will visit the site. Soil testing, digging, hauling and follow-up tests should take four to six months, Beers said.

The second effort comes more than a year after Riverside officials ordered Cox to stop development on the property so it could be reevaluated and four months after final cleanup was projected to start. Some residents have told regulators theyre frustrated with the delays.

They are very concerned that the process is taking (so) long and they just want to make sure it happens in a timely manner, Garcia said.

Some residents have attributed health problems to contaminated dust from the site and several filed claims against the city last year, though none have made their medical records public. The city has asked a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to look into neighbors health concerns.

FURTHER REVIEW

Much of the delay is because state toxics officials consulted with state water and air agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before signing off on a final cleanup plan. They also responded to public concerns about dust control and other issues.

As a result, data will be checked hourly from three air monitoring stations on the downwind side of the property, and a state toxics employee will monitor all work on the site.

Separately from the cleanup, a work group that includes residents is looking into testing properties in the neighborhood for PCB contamination.

Meanwhile, the state is contending with anger from two sides  frustrated residents who hope a road extension through the home development will relieve traffic, and distrustful neighbors who say the state bungled the first cleanup.

Siegfried Rissling, 61, whose home abuts the ag park site, says traffic is so bad he can hardly get out of his Rutland Avenue driveway in the mornings, and other drivers roll down their windows to yell at him for trying.

Every time the project is about to move forward, activist residents complain and the work stops, he said.

But Siobhan Pitsenberger, 32, said shes more concerned about the contamination than traffic, even thought her street, Altadena Drive, is used as a cut-through.

Lara and Pitsenberger say theyve had health issues since moving to the area around 2009.

We didnt think (the contamination) was as serious as it really was, Pitsenberger said. How are we actually supposed to know that its being cleaned up?

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com

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Its late in coming, but some good might finally come of the ongoing low-intensity campaign against the Islamic State. That conflict, which critics have charged has been too slow and too narrowly drawn to defeat the self-proclaimed caliphate, led military planners to pursue unconventional forms of conflict at a distance, including new forms of cyberwarfare. Now U.S. officials have cleared the way for the White House to approve elevating Cyber Command to the highest organizational level. President Obama can  and should  do exactly that.

To be sure, America is behind Russia, and perhaps others, in the race to operationalize permanent structures that recognize the increasing centrality of cyberwarfare and cybersecurity. The outsized role cyber plays in Russian military and foreign policy has only recently made waves in news and policy circles, but Moscow has orchestrated sophisticated, groundbreaking cyber campaigns for years. Beginning most notably with a wave of disabling attacks on Estonia in 2007, and a hybrid cyber and conventional war against Georgia in 2008, Russian operatives have honed their craft to the point where, today, the U.S. must endure humiliating hacks against its political parties (and perhaps even its presidential candidates).

But the U.S. has a deep advantage in cyber, reaching back decades to the internets creation on American soil and, even further, to the National Security Agencys founding in the early 1950s. That long lineage has supplied the U.S. with the infrastructure and institutional memory cyber commanders need to be effective in a dramatically changing world. But more is needed  the efficiency, flexibility and resources that will flow toward Cyber Command if President Obama approves the new plan.

There is more at stake than prestige or even independence. Elevating Cyber Command will, of necessity, clearly separate it from the NSA. Currently, Admiral Michael Rogers heads both Cyber Command and the NSA; going forward, if Cyber Command is elevated, the NSA will no longer be headed by a military official at all, and there would be fewer concerns about the two agencies missions being conflated and convoluted. As a result, the task of orchestrating offensive and defensive cyber capabilities be cabined off from the NSAs task of managing surveillance capabilities  good news for those concerned those two missions could be conflated and convoluted. Whats more, Cyber Command will not have to rely on NSA work to achieve its objectives  a plus for military commanders who have not always been satisfied with how the cyberwar against ISIS has been prosecuted.

Not just in a strategic sense is this the perfect time for a new and improved Cyber Command to receive the mandate to elevate its game. Its also true in a more nakedly political one. Amid the fallout from the administrations unsatisfactory first steps against ISIS, House Republicans probed reports that Central Command had cooked the books on military intelligence concerning the strength and danger of the jihadist regime, casting the U.S. effort as more successful than, in fact, it was. The investigating task force has now concluded in a brief report that Central Command officials did, indeed, alter intelligence reports that way; although the changes may have influenced White House decision-making in an ancillary way, the ordeal is a significant institutional setback for the armed forces. During a time when Central Command has been tarnished over revelations that it cooked the books on military intelligence regarding the strength and danger of the jihadist regime and the success of U.S. efforts to combat it, there is strategic wisdom in the politics of handing Cyber Command the opportunity to shine.

Of course, a bureaucratic restructuring alone will not make up for Americas belated struggle to destroy the latest iteration of global jihadist violence. Nor will it, by itself, make the U.S. safer from attack. But in this case, it will align Americas military capabilities much more closely with the reality of threats many officials have been much too slow to take seriously.
An overnight fire at a San Jacinto triplex left five people without a home early Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Flames were reported in the 300 block of West Main Street about midnight, according to a news release from the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

Firefighters found the fire on the second floor of the two-story triplex and contained it to the back of that floor by about 12:35 a.m., the release said.

The American Red Cross was called to assist three adults, two children and two dogs, the release said.

No injuries were reported.
A federal judge said he will take at least a week before ruling on a request to temporarily stop Californias new vaccination law, an unwelcome delay for vaccination opponents seeking a speedy injunction that would allow students who dont meet vaccination requirements to start the new school year.

Judge Dana Sabraw said he was aware of the urgency of his ruling and asked about start dates for California schools, according to courtroom observers. Some schools in California have already opened their doors, including districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest district in the state, will begin school this week. Sabraw said he would likely issue a ruling the week of Aug. 22.

For the 2014-15 school year in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, 95 percent of children entering kindergarten were fully vaccinated. In Los Angeles County, the rate is 90 percent. The Centers for Disease Control says a vaccination rate of at least 95 percent is necessary to provide herd immunity intended to protect babies too young for vaccines and those with health conditions that preclude immunization.

Rebecca Estepp, spokeswoman for Education 4 All, a Sacramento-based advocacy group that requested the temporary restraining order as part of its lawsuit seeking to overturn the law, called the delay unfortunate but somewhat understandable. Its a complicated topic, she said. She described Sabraws manner during the oral arguments as very thorough and very thoughtful and said, It was a fair hearing.

The law, which took effect July 1 and is often referred to by its legislative name, Senate Bill 277, requires students who attend public or private schools or child care centers to be vaccinated against 10 serious, communicable diseases unless they have a medical exemption. Previously, unvaccinated children could attend public or private schools or child care centers if their parents stated they were opposed to vaccinations based on their personal beliefs.

Education 4 All filed suit July 1 against the California Department of Education and other state agencies charging that the law violates the right to education guaranteed in the California Constitution.

The suit, Whitlow v. the California Department of Education, was filed on behalf of Ana Whitlow, a San Diego parent of a 7th-grader and a kindergartner who does not want her children to obtain the required vaccinations, and 20 other individuals and nonprofit organizations. If granted, an injunction would temporarily reinstate the personal belief exemption to vaccination requirements while the lawsuit proceeds.

The legal complaint cites the 1971 California Supreme Court decision in Serrano v. Priest, a pivotal case concerning inequities in education, that recognized education as the bright hope for the poor and oppressed and noted that society has a compelling interest in affording children an opportunity to attend school.

The complaint continues, But today, as a result of the enactment of Senate Bill 277, the State of California denies tens of thousands of children access to its schools and daycares and relegates them to the separate-and-unequal position of learning in isolation, in permanent quarantine. Education 4 All is represented by lawyers James Turner and Betsy Lehrfeld of Washington, D.C.; Robert Moxley of Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Carl Lewis of San Diego.

But lawyers with the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris argued that decades of jurisprudence have upheld the right of the state to impose vaccination requirements in service of the greater good of public health. In its written response to the suit, the states lawyers said that claims made by Education 4 All disregard decades of scientific knowledge and legal precedent to advance their subjective personal beliefs and prevent the implementation of an important public health measure.

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and a proponent of the vaccination law, was in the courtroom Friday. A close observer of the legal arguments, Reiss said that the decision to grant a temporary restraining order must weigh the question of harm: the harm to public health and the state if the law is temporarily put on hold and the harm to the children whose parents choose not to have them vaccinated and who therefore must be home schooled.

She noted that Sabraw clearly read the briefs very closely and asked thoughtful questions, but said it was impossible to predict the judges decision.

In a statement, the California Department of Education said, We cant comment on ongoing litigation, but Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson strongly supports vaccinating students. Its the law, and its the right thing to do for public health.

EdSource is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to clarify complex education issues and to promote thoughtful policy decisions about public school improvement.
Inland Republican congressional candidate Paul Chabot on Monday denounced an award nomination for a federal immigration official who has been criticized for stonewalling agents on the hunt for a suspect connected to the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terror attack.

Irene Martin, who oversaw the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCSIS) field office in San Bernardino, was nominated for a valor award, although she did not receive it, according to a statement from the agency

This would not happen on my watch. It is a disgrace to learn that a person who acted improperly, lied to, and hindered investigators would be considered for such an accommodation, Chabot said in an e-mailed statement.

Chabot is running against Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, for the 31st Congressional District, which includes Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga, Loma Linda and Grand Terrace. Aguilars campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The San Bernardino immigration field office is about two miles from the Inland Regional Center, where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire during a holiday gathering of Farooks co-workers from the San Bernardino County public health department.

Fourteen people were killed and 22 wounded. Farook and Malik died hours later in a shootout with police.

Martin could not be reached for comment Monday. The immigration agency responded to a request for an interview with her by sending a statement.

In its statement, the immigration agency said Martin was nominated for the award in March based solely on her actions to ensure the safety, security, and well-being of her employees and USCISs customers who were in the waiting rooms on December 2, 2015  when the field office was in lockdown.

Martin took it upon herself to go to the parking lot to escort an employee back to the office to ensure the employees safety during the lockdown. The employee was returning from lunch and would not have otherwise been able to seek secure shelter in the (USCIS) building, the statement read.

Furthermore, Ms. Martin took the time to address USCISs customers and seek their patience through the lockdown, the statement added. Finally, she made arrangements for a counselor to address the staff understanding how stressful this event may have been for her employees.

A review board considered Martins nomination and Ms. Martin was not recommended to receive the award, the statement read.

According to a homeland security inspector general report issued June 1, five armed federal agents in tactical gear arrived at the immigration field office around 12:30 p.m. Dec. 3 looking for Enrique Marquez Jr. of Riverside and his wife, Mariya Chernykh.

The agents believed the couple would be at the center, where they had a scheduled appointment. Agents sought to prevent another attack and detain Marquez and Chernykh for questioning.

Marquez currently faces federal charges of terrorism conspiracy and illegally obtaining the assault rifles used in the attack. He also is accused of entering a sham marriage with Chernykh, whose sister is married to Farooks older brother.

Martin made the agents wait roughly an hour while she sought authorization to allow them to search the building, even though the agents said they were looking for Marquez and Chernykh in connection with the terror attack, the report found.

Martin told the agents they could not detain, arrest or interview anyone in the building, but no such policy exists, the report read.

Martin denied telling the agents they couldnt arrest anyone, but her testimony was contradicted by other witnesses, the report found. The report also criticized Martin for not being candid with investigators.

Marquez and Chernykh never checked in for their appointment, but agents said Martin initially refused to give them Chernykhs file. The agents should have been able to see the file, the report found.

The report concluded that Martin improperly delayed (homeland security) agents from conducting a lawful and routine law enforcement action, but when the field office director elevated the situation to her supervisors, the situation was corrected.

Following the attack, Martin was transferred to the Los Angeles field office and promoted to acting deputy district director.

Chabot, an Iraq War veteran and reserve naval intelligence officer who lost to Aguilar in 2014, is touting his military experience in his campaign.

Chabot has issued terrorist hunting permits to donors and has accused Aguilar of not doing enough to keep his district and country safe. But Aguilar, a former Redlands mayor, has out-fundraised Chabot to this point, and independent political analysts expect Aguilar to win re-election in November.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com
An earlier version of this report gave the wrong name for the National Guard wing. The corrected version is below.

Inland Empire residents may look up in the coming weeks and catch sight of the same military drones used to target suspected terrorists in such troubled places as Iraq and Pakistan.

These MQ-9 Reapers will not be on the hunt, however. Instead they will be flying training missions as new pilots with the California Air National Guards 163rd Attack Wing learn how to operate the aircraft from computer consoles at March Air Reserve Base.

The 163rd has been flying drone missions for years. The wings mission is split between surveillance and combat missions in the Middle East and training operations. The drones used for pilot training have been based at the Southern California Logistics Center in Victorville  the former George Air Force Base. Over the next few months, however, the drones will be relocated and will begin flying out of March, making their way to the high desert.

The training space for the Reapers will still be over Edwards Air Force Base. But Col. Dana Hessheimer, commander for the 163rd, said that by relocating the instructors and pilots to March, it will save commuting time, allow for additional training and enable the operation to expand. He hopes to double the size of the training operation  from 40 to 80 personnel  in the next two years.

What he doesnt want, is for local residents who see the drones to freak out.

I dont want it to be a surprise, to see an MQ-9 fly out of March and have a big pile-up on the 215, Hessheimer said.

He said the National Guard has been working with the FAA and local governments to get airspace clearance and to meet environmental impact requirements for issues such as noise, air quality and public opinion.

We wanted to make this as transparent as possible, he said. Its been a total joint effort.

While Reapers are used as offensive weapons in the Middle East, carrying bombs and hellfire missiles, the ones flying locally will not be armed, although they may carry munitions that are not live so that pilots learn how the plane handles when loaded with weapons.

Hessheimer said he hopes to add two or three more Reapers to the six the wing already has. That and locating the planes at March will be a good thing for the base.

If there is such a thing as BRAC-proofing, he said, referring to future action by Congress that might pare back on military bases, having (the Reapers) here, makes us look better.

In a statement, base commander Brig. Gen. Russell Muncy said the addition of the Reapers is an important addition to the scope of Marchs operations.

He said the addition would help the base stay relevant, mission-ready, and poised for a successful future.

Concerns have been raised in recent years about the increasing use of drones for surveillance and their potential use by law enforcement agencies.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington D.C., said that while he knew of no instances of military drones conducting domestic surveillance, having clear guidelines is critical.

I would want to see good rules in place to ensure that these arent repurposed for surveillance, Stanley said. There is a history in this country of the military getting involved in domestic surveillance.

If that thing flew over my house, added Stanley, a former Riverside resident, I would want to know that the military had in place strong policies governing exactly what kind of video surveillance and photography is being carried out. I think a lot of Americans feel that way.

Hessheimer said strict policies already are in place and that the Reapers are prohibited from any form of domestic surveillance.

It is illegal for the military to spy on the American public, he said. People are kind of scared of the military flying these things. But the news helicopters are violating their rights more than we ever have, because we have restrictions.

Those restrictions, he said are sometimes more stringent than he would like them to be. During the massive Rim Fire, in and around Yosemite, in 2013, a Predator drone, flown by the 163rd, was used to assist firefighters by determining the perimeter of the fire and finding hot spots. But Hessheimer said more could have been done.

I cant just send an MQ-9 out, he said. It has to be approved by the Secretary of Defense.

When the wing responded to the Rim Fire, its Predator had to fly past the Fish Fire burning in the Sequoia National Forest. Hessheimer said it would have been easy for the drone to do a quick 10-minute survey of that fires perimeter, but the wing did not have clearance from the Department of Defense to do so.

We couldnt even put our sensors on it, he said.

He sees opportunities for the wing to respond to future fires and perhaps major earthquakes. Contingency plans already have been written for such possibilities, he said, which should expedite the wings response time.

What it wont be doing is competing with the drones Amazon is talking about putting into the air.

Were not going to be delivering packages, Hessheimer said. I can say that with 100-percent certainty.

RELATED

Life-saving liftoff for Riverside County Sheriffs Department

Stray drones continue to obstruct firefighters

Technology poised to lift business operations

Contact the writer: mmuckenfuss@scng.com or 951-368-9595
Naftogaz Ukrainy only plans to pay Gazprom for the natural gas it orders and receives and not for the gas volumes that Gazprom claims to supply to the territory outside Kyiv's control in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which may be used to write off losses, Naftogaz has said.

"Gazprom has billed Ukraine for supply of 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas in the first half of the year. Apparently, the Gazprom management has found the ideal method for writing off losses. After all, any figure for supplies can be written in, if the accepting side has no control over it," Naftogaz said on its Facebook blog.

"Naftogaz will not pay for gas that we did not order and have not received," it said.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said on June 30 that gas worth $718.5 million had been supplied to the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics (LPR and DPR). Miller continues to refer to that amount as the "Naftogaz debt," while the Ukrainian side maintains just as categorically that the supplies to those territories are illegal.

Moreover, Naftogaz has repeatedly said that it is not accepting gas under the contract with Gazprom at the Prokhorivka and Platove gas metering stations.

"All the reciprocal claims arising in economic relations between Naftogaz and Gazprom must be resolved through arbitration," Naftogaz said.

Naftogaz notes that in recent years, gas purchases from Gazprom are transacted exclusively on a pre-payment basis. In addition, Naftogaz has not paid for or purchased any gas from Gazprom since November 2015. Before that, it only imported gas at metering stations in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
Professor John Aheto, a business development consultant, has bemoaned poor negotiation skills among the country's political and business leaders resulting in poor loan and project agreements and a stifled business environment.



According to him, government and businesses sign away many rights of the people because they always look desperate and ill informed at the negotiation table.



Prof Aheto, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said negotiation is not an act or art of begging as viewed by many Ghanaians.



He had held a serminar on "negotiation" for members of the Tema Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Tema.



According to him, most projects and businesses fail due to poor negotiations and called for a conscious effort to train political leaders and managers of businesses in the art of negotiations.



"One mistake most businesses commit is how they approach the banks for loans. Their very demeanour gives them away as desperate and ill informed. They start begging even before the terms of the loan are spelt out."



Mr Yusif Barry, Chairman, TCCI, said the members needed to be taught the strategies of negotiations because its implications on businesses are crucial.



"Poor negotiation skills are like a disease plaguing a lot of businesses and families. It closes the mind to fairness and opportunity.Rights become favours."



According to him, "Right from the supplier to the banker, we need to negotiate for better deals. Most often we beg or at best we persuade."



He called on banks to be sensitive to the needs and aspirations of businesses by offering good customer service,well tailored loan packages and facilitate networking among clients.



"It is in the interest of the banks to support the growth and stability of the business environment because at the end of the day, the will pick up deposits needed for on lending activities"', he said.

Source: GNA









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A Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Johnson Asiama, has debunked the notion that the one Ghana pesewa coin is no longer legal tender.



Many traders, especially sachet water sellers, are refusing to accept the coin.



Commenting on this when he addressed a section of the media in Kumasi, during an annual health walk by the BoG Senior Staff Association (BoGSSA), Dr. Asiama said the one Ghana pesewa coin is still legal tender and the public must patronise and accept it for any business transactions within the confines of the country.



As far as I know, the one Ghana pesewa coin is still legal tender and until we announce otherwise, it is in the system, we have not withdrawn it, he stated.



Dr. Asiama noted that, it costs the Central bank a lot of money to print the cedi notes, likewise replacing them when they get spoilt, and so it is necessary to educate the public on how to handle them.



We think that it is important to carry the message on keeping the cedi clean out there, because it costs us a lot of money to make these notes, and so if you go to the church and you squeeze the note when you want to drop an offering, remember that it is costing us a lot of money to replace them when they get torn.



He said the campaign, running on the wheels of The Clean Note Policy of the bank, was to restore and promote confidence in the cedi notes.



The walk, under the theme, Keep The Cedi Clean was the second in a series being held to promote the health of staff of the bank, as well as create the awareness of the public on the need to keep the cedi notes clean.



It took off from the premises of the BoG through the principal streets of Adum to the Rattray Park, with the participants bearing placards with inscriptions such as Keep the cedi clean, Do not fold the cedi and Do not soil the cedi with oilamong others.





Source: The Ghanaian Times









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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.
Solomon K. Yeboah, Managing Director of Solo and Jones Company Limited, has dragged the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Ga East Municipal Assembly to court for failing to satisfy the terms of a 12-year old consent judgement.



According to lawyer Margaret Y. N. Acheampong, the High Court (General Jurisdiction Division) must jail Kwaw Sackey, the MCE to serve as deterrent to others.



Consent Judgement



The parties, in an earlier legal battle over the land located at Dome in Accra, had on July 9, 2004 reached specific terms of settlement which the court adopted as its judgement in the suit.



Per the judgement, the said land with two indentures- 4.59 acres consisting of 18 plots of 100 by 80, was acknowledged by the Co-defendant, formerly Ga District Assembly now Ga East District Assembly, as belonging to the company.



It stated that there had also been an acknowledgement by the Assembly that it had trespassed on the whole of the companys land.



The parties had also agreed that the plaintiff will reserve two plots for itself and lease the remaining 12 plots to the Assembly with the necessary written consent furnished by the company.



There will be payment of consideration of GH1, 800 per plot for 12 plots by the Assembly to the company. It is further agreed that the company shall pay half of the total cost immediately, and the balance due shall be paid by December 31, 2004.



It stated that the Assembly was to use its administrative authority to prevent encroachment of the said land, among others.



Affidavit



But the plaintiff is back in court demanding the imprisonment of the MCE over what the company described as blatant disrespect and disregard of the orders of the court and therefore warrants his attachment.



In a 19-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion for committal for contempt, the plaintiff argued that he was forced to file execution processes against the Assembly after all his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Source: Daily Guide









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THE TEMA Traditional Council (TTC) has descended heavily on media outlet, Enquirer Newspaper and warns the paper not to involve the Council in its dirty politics.



According to the Council, its unacceptable for politicians and a media house to entangle them in false and diabolic media reportage.



The Traditional Council is considering summoning the newspaper to the palace for an appropriate punishment.



The outburst of the Council came on the backdrop of a report by the Enquirer some few days after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by the wife of the party flagbearer, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo who donated some food items and tricycle to the TTC for the celebration of this years Homowo festival.



Some bags of maize which was among the items donated by the wife of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, according to the newspaper, were rotten and infested with insects which consequently compelled the chiefs to reject them.



The paper said, the Council felt insulted and returned the maize and other items describing it as an abomination.



Nii Adjei Kraku I, Tema Mantse, speaking on Adom Fm, debunked the publication describing it as diabolical and false and apologized to the wife of the NPP presidential candidate.



He discredited the newspaper publication, saying such false publications can only come from people bent on creating divisions between the Council and the NPP.



He expressed shock at the publication and people behind it, saying Im surprised at the publication because nothing of that sort happened. We used the maize presented by Mrs. Akufo-Addo for our meal during the Homowo and no one complained so I wonder where they got the story.



I know such false stories come out during elections but to rope us into your dirty politics is unacceptable.



Tema Mantse seized the opportunity to apologise to the NPP, especially Mrs. Akufo-Addo to disregard the false newspaper publication.



However, some residents of Tema were of the view that Robert Kempes Ofosuware, the defeated NDC parliamentary candidate in the 2012 general elections who is the current candidate of the party for the 2016 elections, masterminded the reportage just to the drag the chiefs into dirty politics and bring the name of the Council into disrepute.







Source: Daily Guide









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Two of Kumasi most wanted robbers were on Tuesday dawn gunned down by the police in a swoop at their hideout within the metropolis.



50 Cent and Lumba, are believed to have led recent robberies in the city resulting in the death of their victims after robbing them of their money and other property



The two were among four others declared wanted by the police after the police established their culpability in the robberies with the recent one being the robbery and murder of a fuel retailer, Anthony Trobo at Kotwi.



The cover of 50 Cent was blown following the arrest Lumba Monday evening following police intelligence. The suspect, upon interrogation, named 50 Cent as the gang leader and promised to assist the police cause his arrest.



The Police used Lumba to set up a meeting with 50 Cent at Asafo Ahmadiyya Roundabout in Kumasi under the pretext of delivering message to him (50 Cent). A Police officer disguised himself at the meeting point. Upon arrival at the meeting point, 50 Cent was said to have realised it was a set up and an attempt to capture him. He then fired at the undercover officer but missed him; something that caused the officer to return fire.



The arrested suspect, Lumba, who also attempted to take advantage of the melee to escape in a handcuff was also shot by the Police in the process but died while being taking to hospital for medical attention, the sources said.  Ultimatefmonline.com

Source: kasapafmonline.com









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A Ghanaian citizen, Elikplim L. Agbemava, has filed a suit seeking an interlocutory injunction to restrain the President from exercising his prerogative of mercy under Article 72 of the constitution to free the Montie three contemnors.



A petition signed by several government officials and members of the incumbent government in particular, asking the President to pardon the three NDC sympathizers, has been forwarded to Council of State for advice by the Chief of Staff.



The three were incarcerated by the Supreme Court for four months and fined Ghc10,000 each, after they were found guilty of contempt by the apex court.



The three, Alistair Nelson, Godwin Ako Gunn and Salifu Maase, alias Mugabe, had on a radio programme threatened to eliminate justices of the apex court over their handling of the lawsuit on the credibility of Ghanas voters register.



Those pushing for pardon for the three, have largely described the four-month sentence as harsh.



But Mr. Agbemava in his suit argues that, on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 72 and 296 of the constitution, the exercise of the power of prerogative of mercy ought to be governed by regulations that set out, in an open and transparent manner, the grounds and requirements for the submission and consideration of application for pardon to ensure certainty, consistency, and fairness in the process that leads to the grant of pardons.



He further posited that the President and the Council of State shall exercise the prerogative of mercy in a judicial manner that assures the people of Ghana of some certainty, consistency, and fairness in the processes that lead to the grating of pardons.



Mr. Agbemava is therefore seeking an injunction to restrain the President from granting presidential pardon to the trio, until the final determination of his suit.



Government has 14-days to file its response to the suit.

Source: citifmonline.com









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Over 3,600 Russian citizens were refused entry into Ukraine in the six months of 2016, Ukrainian State Border Service chief Viktor Nazarenko said.

"The procedure with documents for Russian citizens arriving in Ukraine has not changed. They can enter with their travel passports. Other issues concern second-tier control for the identification of citizens with risk status," he told Interfax-Ukraine in an exclusive interview.

In his words, this category includes Russian citizens aged from 18 to 55 years. "In the first phase of the hybrid warfare, they actively tried to get in Ukraine, and we refused entry to many of them. In 2014, 2.5 million Russian citizens came to Ukraine, in 2015 their number was already 1.3 million, and in the six months this year it is over 600,000," he said.

As for entry refusals, their number in 2014 was 16,500 citizens of Russia, whereas there were 10,800 Russians who were refused entry into Ukraine in 2015, and in the six months of 2016, it is over 3,600, he added.

Nazarenko stressed that such statistics show that fewer Russian citizens come to Ukraine. Russians have seen that control at the Ukrainian border is now strict, he said.
Presidential nominee of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has declared that a government led by him will be run with only forty (40) ministers.



The forty, he explained, will also include deputy ministers and regional ministers.



According to Dr. Nduom, a PPP-led administration will rely mostly on professional civil and local servants to ensure an efficient administration. This measure, he explained will make government efficient and help raise revenue to pay public sector workers well.



The PPP standard bearer made the announcement when he addressed a press conference at the partys headquarters at Asylum Down Accra, during which he outdoored the partys Presidential Policy Team (PPT).



He said the PPT was another step by which the PPP was demonstrating to Ghanaians its unique brand of politics which focuses on what they can do differently to change the dwindling fortunes of Ghana for the better.



The PPP Presidential Policy Teams, Dr Nduom disclosed, have been formed around the following important agenda items that also represent priority areas for a future PPP administration.



He stressed that the teams will be convened by the Team Leaders to engage in research, analysis and detailed policy preparation for the consideration of the National Committee of the Party prior to the December 7, 2016 elections.



National Policy Advisor, Mr. Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, will serve as the Convener for the PPT while Mr Ladi Nylander heads the key policy area of job creation and domestic enterprise development, Dr. Nduom revealed.



The main objective of the PPT, he said, will be to recommend how a PPP administration should implement our priority policies including funding and human resources considerations.



The PPP flag-bearer noted that members of the PPTs will speak for the partys presidential candidate and the party in their areas of expertise.



Aside from the out-dooring of the PPT, the party also unveiled eleven thematic areas it will tackle to fast track the transformational development of the country.



The areas included: Constitutional Reforms & Good Governance, Public Sector Reforms, Preventable Diseases, Compulsory & Universal Education, Agriculture & Food Security as well as Financing Energy.



The rest are Economic Infrastructure, Sports, Domestic Enterprise Development, Womens Enterprise Development and Technology.



In the estimation of Dr. Nduom, the outdoing of PPT by PPP was ample proof that the partys brand of politics was unique, exceptional and just what Ghanaians need to give them hope and confidence.



This is to show to the Ghanaian public that PPP have available, qualified and experience men and women we will offer as part of an all-inclusive team to take charge of Ghana in January 2017 and make it a better nation for all its citizens, he indicated.



Unlike other political parties such as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP), we have already made public our Policy Document that clearly sets out our reform agenda and job creation strategy. While others are busying about launching campaigns and running around the country making promises they know very well they cannot keep, the PPP is strategising and doing research on what to do when in power to make our country great and strong with a prosperous people, he intoned.



According to the Dr. Nduom, the PPP believes in broad-based human progress that is felt by the people.



Unlike others who have made us poor by bad governance practices and a leadership prepared to accept less than what our God-given, abundant natural resources must provide. Our orientation and core beliefs about the world we live in are progressive, he added.



He said under a PPP government, Ghana will move from a third world nation to a first world nation by working with a great sense of duty and urgency within one generation.



This, he stressed, is the more reason the PPP has created the PPT to prepare the grounds now so that we will be ready to take off when given the nod come January, 7, 2017 to work for Ghana from the blast of the whistle.





Source: Today









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The Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese of the Methodist Church, Kofi Asare Bediako, has urged parents to prevail upon their children to eschew violence, and also avoid being deceived by politicians into fomenting trouble before, during and the December 7 elections.



Rt Rev Asare Bediako also warned the electorate against selling their conscience by taking monies from politicians before voting for them.



He further advised the electorate not to vote on partisan lines or based on entrenched ideologies and beliefs but vote the right people to political power and positions.



The Methodist Bishop gave the advice when the Techimantia circuit of the Methodist church, in the Tano South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region, was marking its 10th Anniversary of becoming autonomous, from the Duayaw Nkwanta Circuit.



He further bemoaned the practice whereby the electorate pesters and puts undue pressure on politicians and their scarce resources with excessive demands, which become burdensome on them during their electioneering campaign.



Rt Rev Asare Bediako further advised Christians to speak boldly against the evils in the society, as well as irresponsible statements by politicians, irrespective of which political divide such politicians belong to.



He admonished Ghanaians against the use of intemperate and unsavoury language in this political season.



Odeifo Ampong Koromantan II, the Kontihene of Techimantia Traditional area, asked the people to seek peace and eschew violence during the December 7 elections.



Odeifo Koromantan pleaded with the clergy to always preach about peace and pray for peace for Ghana in the upcoming elections.



The circuit prayed for the Methodist Church of Ghana and the nation for peace during the December 7 election.



In attendance to grace the occasion were Jackson Adiyiah Nyantakyi, Lay Chairman, Sunyani Diocese of the Methodist church; Very Rev Daniel Kwasi Tannor, Synod Secretary, Sunyani Diocese; Grace Amoako, Lay Chairperson-elect for Sunyani Diocese; and Andrews Adjei Yeboah, former MP for Tano South.





Source: The New Statesman









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In a new photo shared by Mzbel, she collaged herself with a pic of Ghanas President John Dramani Mahama, expressing her undying support for him, ahead of the general elections.

She captioned the photo as; Who rocked it Best? Daddy or Me? Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces X Commander in Chief of the JamesTown and Yaanom Forces #Mzbel#MzbelBabee #BeLAndTheCity#SemiQuaver.









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SUICIDE SQUAD



SYNOPSIS: A secret government agency recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.



Stars: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie



ACTION, CRIME, FANTASY

Proudly sponsored by Unibank



THE CEO

SYNOPSIS: Five top level staff of a company are selected for a retreat where the new CEO of a global company will be chosen. What starts off as cordial soon goes sour as they attempt to outdo one another to be named The CEO.



Stars: Kemi Lala Akindoju, Hilda Dokubo, Aurelie Eliam



MYSTERY



CORPORATE WEDNESSDAYS

Pay GH15 every WEDNESDAY when you show your STAFF ID, and drop your CALL CARD



#CorporateWednesdays



SUICIDE SQUAD PREMIERES ON 5TH & THE CEO premieres on 10TH at SilverbirdGhana Cinemas, West hills and Accra Mall.

Source: SilverbirdGhana









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Some of Ghanas biggest stars are still celebrating winning some of the top awards at this years Vodafone Ghanaian Music Awards, while others (especially a few newcomers) will already be planning for the 2017 ceremony.



One person who wont be involved in next years awards is rapper, Shatta Wale.



The rapper has come out publicly and declared that he wont be submitting any of his work for next years show, following disputes with the organizer of the yearly ceremony, Charterhouse.



I will not submit my works for (2017) Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. They [Charterhouse] rejected my submission last year so I wont submit next year.



He went on to suggest that the only people who have a chance of changing his mind are his fans.



If my fans ask me to submit, why not? My fans are my God so I will listen to their advice.



A few months ago, before this years awards ceremony, several celebrities called Charterhouse out for banning Shatta Wales music.

Source: Mtvbase.com









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Mmra No Se Sen, an Akan talk show which educates television viewers on the position of the law regarding all aspects of their everyday lives and hosted by lawyer Tweneboa Konduah, aka TK, has become one of the most talked about programmes on United Television (UTV).



Aired on Friday nights, the programme explains what the law says on almost any subject Ghanaians encounter on daily basis, be it in marriage, social engagements, business contracts, civil rights, natural rights, employer-employee contracts, land and property acquisition, how to bail an arrested person from a police station, amongst others.



Mmra No Se Sen has become one of the most popular programmes on the station, and viewers send in their concerns and questions and legal concerns to the host for free consultancy.



Aside the interactive segment, each episode of the show has a specific subject it discusses in detail.



Mmra No Se Sen also has a guest lawyer, often a very high profile legal consultant, to help the host in addressing the issues and educating the viewers.



The programme is presented in Akan. Apart from the right content and professional attitude of the host, there is a possibility that the language in which the proggramme is presented has played a significant role in making it a favourite among television viewers.



UTV is from the stables of the Despite Group of Companies, operators of Peace FM, Peacefmonline.com, Okay FM, Neat FM and Hello FM.













Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vodafone Ghana has presented prizes to the winners of senior high schools of the Vodafone Icons High School Edition.



The winning school, Accra Academy Senior High School, was presented with music studio with a complete band set, laptops with audio editing software for music production.



Speaking during the presentation in Accra recently, Agnes Emefa Essah, Marketing Director at Vodafone Ghana, stated that Accra Academy would also be given the opportunity to attend the High School Musical Global Concert that is coming off in Turkey.



The each member of the five-man band will also get a one-year scholarship package from Vodafone.



Last year, we decided that we will go to the senior high school (SHS) and were we amazed. We found such wonderful talent that Im still reliving every single moment and this is an area that we are going to continue to push into this coming year as well.



You hear about us saying Power To You and when we say power to you we mean we want to encourage you for you develop and find out what your potential is. Icons is one of the routes we have been using, she said.



The five finalists, including Osei Tutu Senior High School (SHS), Adisadel College, Presec, among others, also received PA systems, shopping vouchers, mobile phones, tablets, Vodafone souvenirs and hampers as consolation prizes.



She commended the Ghana Education Service and the heads at the various schools for their commitment and direction which led to a very successful debut of the Vodafone Icons High School Edition.









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Kiwi actor, winemaker, dinosaur hunter and man about town Sam Neill is in Australia for the announcement that short film festival Tropfest will move to Parramatta in 2017, and he had some choice words for Sydney.

He used his time at the podium to slam two Liberal policies: the lockout laws and the greyhound racing ban. We cant in good conscience agree with him on the doggies, but what he said about the lockout laws rings true.

Sydney (in the 1970s) seemed to me to be the most vibrant place in the world and I think a lot of that vibrancy has been sucked out of the place, Neill said.

I particularly lament this lockout which has taken the guts out of the nightlife of Sydney. And Sydney without nightlife is kind of a pointless place. I dont really want to see Adelaide being a place to go for a good weekend.

Harsh sledge on Adelaide, but given that he runs a vineyard these days, maybe its actually a compliment. I dunno. South Australia, you do you. Neill said that Kings Cross is like Londons Soho  sure, conservatives might consider it a den of iniquity and sin, but its the beating heart of city culture and people need it. Instead of making the streets safe, theyve just stopped the streets.

He went on to critique the greyhound racing ban. I really think that just shutting down the dogs is a crime. Its a very valuable part of working class culture, he said. Were way less onboard with that one. Keep talking about the Cross, my man.

You hear that, Baird? The dinosaur dude thinks youre naff.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Photo: Jurassic Park.
Troubling news for Australians who consider Indonesia a kind of unimportant bureaucratic backend to unlimited beer consumption in Bali: the countrys House of Representatives is considering a booze ban.

The bill, which has been proposed by two Islamist parties, namely the United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), bans producing, consuming, or distributing beverages that contain more than one percent alcohol throughout the country. There may be some exceptions for tourism, customary activities and religious rituals.

As you might imagine, the hospitality sector in Indonesia, which relies heavily on tourism, isnt particularly keen on the concept of a dry nation. If the bill is passed, our business will be done. The tourists, who mostly come from Europe, drink alcohol all the time. It will be very inconvenient for them if they cant find alcohol, Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association head Hariyadi Sukamdani told The Jakarta Post.

Bali tourism office head A.A. Gede Yuniartha Putra agrees that this would be troublesome for tourism. Foreigners like to have a drink when they are here. This is going to seriously affect tourism.

This isnt the first time Indonesia has made legislative moves towards restricting the sale of alcohol  and its often a delicate balance in a country which needs to balance diverse cultural sensibilities with the money they take from tourism. In May, the country banned the sale of alcohol in convenience stores and small shops (honestly, not that different to how it is in Australia).

There is a concern that banning alcohol will merely encourage bootlegging and black market trade, which has already kinda happened after the small shops ban. Bootleg grog is obviously not ideal, as it is unregulated and comes with a risk of methanol poisoning  which has happened in the past.

Collectively, the PPP and the PKS hold 79 seats in the Peoples Representative Council  the house of reps, essentially  which is not even close to a majority of the 560 seats. The PPP is part of the countrys governing coalition.

It probably wont get up. Indonesia Institute president Ross Taylor told news.com.au that there isnt enough of appetite for a national ban. In my view, I think that nationally, the bill wont get up. I dont think in the Indonesian government theres enough support for it, he said

Moderation is a better way to go because they need tourists to go to Indonesia and tourists having a glass of wine or a Bintang wont do any harm.

Source: Jakarta Post.

Photo: Getty Images / Agung Parameswara.
Positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas came under fire 48 times on Monday, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) headquarters wrote on Facebook on Tuesday morning.

Mortar strikes were conducted on Ukrainian military positions in Avdiyivka's industrial zone, as well as in the villages of Zaitseve and Mayorsk in Donetsk region, the press center said. Grenade launchers and large-caliber machine-guns were actively used there as well. Ukrainian army positions also came under mortar and grenade launcher fire in the villages of Novhorodske and Kirove. Donbas militants were active in the villages of Novotroyitske and Nyzhne Lozove. Infantry fighting vehicles were also used to shell the villages of Luhanske, Verkhniotoretske and Novhorodske.

Heavy 122mm artillery weapons were used near the village of Novoselivka close to the Ukrainian-controlled strategic port city of Mariupol. The Ukrainian army's fortifications in the villages of Taramchuk, Talakivka, Vodiane, and the town of Krasnohorivka came under 120mm and 82mm mortar fire. Machine-guns were fired on Ukrainian military positions in the town of Maryinka. Armored hardware was used in Krasnohorivka and the village of Shyrokyne. A sniper was operating in the village of Novotroitske.

According to the report, there was a skirmish in the village of Bohdanivka on Monday morning, when two armed persons came up to 200 meters close to a Ukrainian checkpoint, small arms were fired on them. The other enemy group fired under-barrel grenade launchers to cover the attackers. The shootout continued for 20 minutes, then the fighters retreated.

Grenade launchers of different systems and large-caliber machine-guns were used against Ukrainian positions in the villages of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Zhovte, and the town of Zolote in Luhansk region. Further, 120mm mortars were used in the village of Stanytsia Luhanska. Small arms were fired in the villages of Stary Aidar and Katerynivka, and a sniper was operating in Zhovte.
HARRISBURG -- Manpower. Money. Time.

Gather together a bunch of volunteer firefighters and elected officials sharing their concerns about the future of emergency services in the region, and these are some of the biggest.

In a special Firefighters Forum organized by the Capital Region Council of Governments on Monday night in Harrisburg, the goal was to start a conversation on what CapCOG can do to help with the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. The Commonwealth had 300,000 volunteer firefighters in the 1970s. That number has drastically dwindled to 50,000.

State and local elected officials, as well as volunteer firefighters from municipalities all over York, Cumberland and Dauphin counties attending the forum were tasked with writing down three of their biggest concerns, and what they believed to be some solutions.

For example, more emphasis on educating the public about the costs and effort to running an all-volunteer fire company--and simply the fact that fire companies in the region are all volunteer.

State Fire Commissioner Timothy Solobay said the three main issues statewide are not enough funding, the struggle to recruit volunteers ages 35 and younger; and training requirements that are both costly and time-consuming and therefore, often a turnoff to possible recruits.

Solobay said there is some good news, including the reauthorization of a $30 million grant this year, an increase from 5 to 10 years for a merged fire company to apply for grant money, and some additional federal funding recently to ramp up education efforts.

Rob Brady, with the Local Government Services arm of the Department of Community and Economic Development, said his job is to work with organizations to create new partnerships, whether mergers to combine resources or another form of cooperation that would increase efficiency.

"We need a consistent delivery of the system," he said, adding, "The problem is that we continue to talk. We're not doing."

Donald Konkle, former Harrisburg fire chief and currently executive director at Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute, said it's important to make sure fire companies and elected officials are working together all the time, rather than only when a funding need arises.

And recruitment must be intentional.

"To save the volunteer fire service, we're going to have to provide incentives to volunteers," he said.

One of those incentives may be the recent push for Pennsylvania to offer online firefighter training, which would save a lot of time.

Nate Silcox, president of CapCOG and a Hampden Township commissioner, said Harrisburg Area Community College next year will be offering firefighter training beginning in 10th grade at Cumberland Valley School District in an effort to get more younger volunteers interested and trained.

Amy Myers, president of the Union Fire Company in Carlisle, said she is concerned about manpower--making sure that there are always enough volunteers to not only respond to calls, but also to do all of the work that needs to be done at the station, while also having the younger generation in line to take over duties as the "leadership of tomorrow."

"None of us are getting any younger," she said.

And the need isn't just for active firefighters; many on Monday night said there is a great need for people to handle administrative duties.

Other concerns included the health and safety of the volunteers. Related to that, discussion on Monday night included the increase in some forms of cancer among career firefighters and the corresponding costs in insurance to investigate and cover those claims for volunteers.

According to Jerry Ozog, assistant fire chief at Hampden Township Volunteer Fire Company and education specialist at VFIS, said the goal of the fire company and municipality partnership needs to be system enhancements, and making decisions based data, rather than emotion.

"The goal is being pro-active, not reactive," Ozog added.

Todd Schadel, fire chief for West Shore Bureau of Fire, said the merger that formed their department helped boost resources and manpower, but constantly trying to stay above the rising funding demands and the need to sustain its operations through younger volunteers is wearisome.

"I got to tell you, I'm tired," he said, adding that when he and some others who have served the department for decades move on, "There's not a lot behind us."

According to Nathan Martin, Paxtang Borough Council president, the borough is working hand-in-hand with their local fire department to find ways to get the most effective fire service in a way that is the most cost effective, while also getting the volunteers they so desperately need to keep it going.

Having just formed a partnership for police services with the neighboring Swatara Township, the borough now, Martin said, is exploring the possibility of consolidating fire service with the township as well.

Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline said he believed surrounding fire companies should look at a "regional staffing model" that would be administered by an authority such as the COG, and that there should be a closer look at how funds are spent and consider the possibility of funding needs collectively.

Others suggested the hiring of paid drivers to assist with staffing needs, more participation in auctions where equipment can be swapped, getting into middle schools to talk with kids about volunteering in the future, and most of all--everyone working together as professionals to meet the emergency service needs of their communities.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced Tuesday that she will resign following her conviction on felony perjury and other charges related to her leak of secret grand jury materials.

"I have been honored to serve the people of Pennsylvania and I wish them health and safety in all their days," she said, in a written statement.

Kane's resignation will take effect at the end of business on Wednesday.

The attorney general had faced mounting pressure by a House impeachment probe that was launching subpoenas against her and a Senate removal effort.

Bruce L. Castor Jr., Kane's second-in-command, is scheduled to appear at a press conference at 3:30 p.m. He has served as the de facto legal head of her office since March, when Kane selected him as solicitor general.

The former Montgomery County district attorney has carried out the responsibilities Kane was barred from performing due to the suspension of her law license.
About 1,000 officers of the police and the National Guard of Ukraine have been engaged in maintaining law and order outside the Obolonsky district court building in Kyiv where the case of former members of the Tornado special patrol police squad is scheduled to be heard, the Kyiv police's media liaison office has reported.

The court hearings will be held behind closed doors, it said.

The Obolonsky court announced on its website on Monday that it would consider the Tornado case alone on Tuesday, putting aside other cases, as it anticipates possible disruptions of its work amid the Tornado hearings.

As was reported, eight people, including seven members of the Tornado special patrol police squad, were detained in Luhansk region in June 2015.

Kyiv's Obolonsky district court has been considering the Tornado case since the end of 2015.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced then that he had signed an order to disband the squad.

Tornado's former commander and members are accused of committing grave crimes.

Press secretary of Kyiv's Obolonsky district court Inna Svynarenko said that the court hearings were held behind closed doors as the suspects are accused of crimes against sexual freedom and personal inviolability.

On August 2, 2016, activists and members of some volunteer battalions blocked the exits of the Obolonsky district court, which was scheduled to consider the Tornado case on that day. Then there were clashes when men in the Tornado squad uniforms attempted to throw car tires, flour and bottles with water at police officers and guardsmen who cordoned the court's building while the court hearing was on behind closed doors. Someone tried to climb across the fence. Tear gas was sprayed on the site of the incident.

Chief of Kyiv's National Police Andriy Krishchenko later said that 15 guardsmen and 12 police officers had been poisoned by tear gas during the clashes. In his words, neither police nor the National Guard used the gas.

Later, the National Guard's press service confirmed that the National Guard had not used tear gas, but said that no one of the guardsmen had been poisoned.

On August 6, it was announced that three active participants in the clashes had been informed they were suspected of having committed a breach of public order as a group of people (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

On August 9, the court postponed hearings due to the absence of a lawyer from the defense of one of the suspects.
Gov. Tom Wolf, who has long called on Attorney General Kathleen Kane to resign, said Tuesday that her departure from the office would "allow the people of Pennsylvania to finally move on."

Kane announced, in a written statement, that her resignation would take effect at the end of the business on Wednesday.

"What has transpired with Attorney General Kane is unfortunate," Wolf said, in response to the resignation. "Her decision to resign is the right one, and will allow the people of Pennsylvania to finally move on from this situation."

Wolf said he would work with Senate lawmakers on any "potential appointment" to the office. For now, Kane's handpicked second-in-command, Bruce L. Castor Jr., will continue as the legal head of the office.

Wolf's statement is included in its entirety below.

Gov. Tom Wolf

"What has transpired with Attorney General Kane is unfortunate. Her decision to resign is the right one, and will allow the people of Pennsylvania to finally move on from this situation.

"I have full faith and confidence in the employees of the Office of the Attorney General and know that they will continue to perform its most important functions including protecting consumers and prosecuting criminals. Moving forward, I will work with both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate regarding any potential appointment of an Attorney General."
UPDATE:

Gov. Tom Wolf called the conviction of state Attorney General Kathleen Kane "a sad day for the commonwealth and the people of Pennsylvania" and said she should resign immediately in a statement his office issued Monday night.

Kane was found guilty of 12 charges, including two felony perjury charges and related misdemeanor counts after prosecutors accused her of leaking secret grand jury materials and lying to cover it up to exact revenge against former prosecutors who she blamed for embarrassing news coverage.

Wolf called for Kane's resignation after she was charged in the case. And after a 12-member jury convicted her of the "serious charges" following a week-long trial Monday night, the governor said "there should be no question that she should resign immediately."

"While there is no simple procedure to remove a civil officer, the Office of Attorney General and its employees, as well as the people of Pennsylvania deserve to move on," Wolf continued. "I implore Attorney General Kane to do what is right: put the commonwealth's residents first and step down from office."
HARRISBURG--Harrisburg police are looking for a 28-year-old woman they say stabbed her boyfriend in the shoulder early Sunday, puncturing his lung.

Police charged Catherine L. Boykin, 28, with three felonies and a misdemeanor in connection with the 4 a.m. attack in the 2200 block of North 5th Street. Boykin was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, burglary of a home with someone present and possession of an instrument of crime.

Catherine Boykin

She was not in custody Monday. Police issued a warrant for her arrest.

The stabbing was part of an ongoing domestic situation involving Boykin, the victim and the victim's ex-wife, according to police. A knife also was involved in a separate assault recently involving the trio, police said.

Investigators would not say what prompted the most recent domestic violence incident.

The victim was recovering at a hospital, police said.

Boykin's previous criminal record consists of a single conviction for driving under the influence in 2014. Her blood alcohol content measured .13, according to court records, which is above the state's legal limit of .08

She was accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time offenders last year, but she was yanked from the program on Friday after failing to make required payments and perform 40 hours of community service during her one-year of probation.

Anyone with information about Boykin's whereabouts should call county dispatchers at 717-558-6900 and ask for a city detective.
John Wayne Strawser, Jr.

John Wayne Strawser Jr. is on trial this week in Preston County, West Virginia. He is facing charges that include first-degree murder in the shooting death of Amy Lou Buckingham.

(File photo. )

UPDATE: Accused I-81 shooter heads to trial in West Virginia case

KINGWOOD, WEST VIRGINIA - In a small county where everybody knows everybody and news and rumors spread like wildfire, how do you find an impartial jury?

They started that process Tuesday with 41 potential jurors in Preston County, West Virginia. There should have been more, but there were 18 no-shows.

But of the 41 who took their seats in the courtroom in Kingwood, somewhat surprisingly, none of them knew Amy Lou Buckingham.

And they didn't know John Wayne Strawser Jr., either. He's Buckingham's ex-boyfriend, who prosecutors say shot and killed her outside her home in tiny Tunnelton, West Virginia, about 10 miles away from the courthouse on winding, mountainous roads.

While no one personally knew Strawser or Buckingham, plenty of them had heard about the shooting that echoed through the mountains on April 16, 2015.

Did obsession turn John Wayne Strawser into a killer?

It was after Strawser was arrested in Buckingham's death that he was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Timothy "Asti" Davison on Interstate 81 in Franklin County.

On Tuesday, Strawser appeared in Preston County Court with a shaved head and wearing a navy blue suit. He watched as his attorney, Belina Haynie, and Preston County Prosecuting Attorney Mel Snyder worked to whittle down the potential juror pool to a panel of 12.

When Judge Lawrence Miller asked if any of the 41 had heard about Buckingham's death, 11 raised their hands.

Five from that group were soon dismissed after telling the judge they did not believe they could serve as impartial jurors for Strawser.

One read about it on Facebook, and when the judge asked if he could set aside his opinions, he replied, "I find that difficult."

Another, who saw it in the paper, said, after some hesitation, that he could not be impartial, either.

Through the morning, a total of 13 jurors were dismissed.

One was dismissed because his religious beliefs would not allow him to convict someone to a life sentence. Another did not want to see photos of the gunshot wound that killed Buckingham. Two had police officers in their families and said they would believe an officer's testimony simply because of the uniform.

And several others were dismissed after individual questioning in chambers.

Jury selection will resume Tuesday afternoon. The trial is expected to last through the rest of the week, and perhaps into next week.

Close to 30 witnesses could to be called, including Buckingham's family members, who were home when she was shot. Others could include the Preston County Sheriff's deputies who chased Strawser through the night.

Expert testimony from state police investigators in Charleston is expected as well.

Another witness may be Strawser's own father.

Visit PennLive through the week for coverage of this trial.
John Wayne Strawser, Jr.

KINGWOOD, WEST VIRGINIA - A jury has been seated and trial will begin Wednesday morning for a Terra Alta, West Virginia man charged with killing his ex-girlfriend.

It was a shooting that shocked the small town of Tunnelton, West Virginia.

And it had reverberations in Pennsylvania, too.

After John Wayne Strawser Jr. was accused of shooting Amy Lou Buckingham and then leading police on a high-speed chase through Preston County in April 2015, he was charged with a shooting death on I-81 in Franklin County more than a year prior.

Did obsession turn John Wayne Strawser Jr. into a killer?

Jury selections started Tuesday morning, and through the 6-1/2-hour process, Preston County Prosecuting Attorney Mel Snyder and defense attorney Belinda Haynie whittled the 41 potentials down to 12 jurors and 2 alternates.

Strawser is facing charges of first-degree murder and fleeing. Police say he went to Buckingham's home on North Street in Tunnelton on April 16, 2015. She told him she was seeing someone new, but she agreed to talk to him outside, and while they were outside, police say he shot and killed her.

He is then accused of leading police on a high speed chase through the county. He left behind a burning car, but was arrested the next morning as he came out of the woods near his home, police say.

After his arrest, Strawser made statements to the police, which, in the lead up to trial, Haynie unsuccessfully tried to suppress.

Snyder also plans to enter into evidence what he called "very disturbing" text messages Strawser sent the night of the shooting.

Other witnesses will likely include Buckingham's family members who were home at the time of the shooting, as well as police officers involved in the chase and state police experts from Charleston, West Virginia.

The Rossi Ranch Hand gun Strawser is accused of using to shoot Buckingham was also used in the I-81 shooting death of Timothy "Asti" Davison, according to investigators, but Snyder was unsure during the build up to trial whether or not he had enough physical evidence to present it before the jury.

Trial will resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday with opening statements.
John Wayne Strawser, Jr.

Before John Wayne Strawser Jr. faces charges in Franklin County related to the I-81 shooting death of Timothy "Asti" Davison, he will faces his charges in Preston County, West Virginia, in the killing of Amy Lou Buckingham. That trial starts Tuesday.

(Submitted.)

KINGWOOD, WEST VIRGINIA -- Two shootings. Two victims. Two states.

And if prosecutors are correct, it's all linked to one person.

John Wayne Strawser Jr.

Read all about both cases

Strawser is accused of shooting and killing Timothy "Asti" Davison on Interstate 81 in Franklin County in January 2014.

But before he's brought to Pennsylvania to face those charges, he's going to trial, starting Tuesday, in Preston County, West Virginia, where he is accused of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, 38-year-old Amy Lou Buckingham, outside her home in Tunnelton, West Virginia, in April 2015.

After he was arrested in connection with Buckingham's death, a Waynesboro couple called state police in Pennsylvania, believing Strawser could have been responsible for Davison's death, too, in a case of mistaken identity.

Follow PennLive for updates throughout the week.
The state attorney general's suit alleging two natural Marcellus Shale gas drillers misled thousands of property owners about royalties is returning to Bradford County court.

U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Conner Monday granted the state's motion for a remand.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., three of its subsidiaries and Anadarko Petroleum, in May had removed the case to federal court contending claims against them had been brought under the Sherman Act and the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The commonwealth challenged the transfer, claiming the suit was brought exclusively under state statutes and references to federal law merely were analogy.

The suit claims thousands of Pennsylvania landowners were deceived and misled into in signing oil and gas leases with Chesapeake and Anadarko, which both deny.

The commonwealth alleges owners were made representation about the amount of royalties to get lease signed but actual payments were less.

The suit also alleges the defendants deducted post-production expenses from royalty payments and they entered into market allocation territories for leases in certain counties that resulted in lower royalty rates.

Chesapeake and Anadarko had the case moved to federal court because they charged Attorney General Kathleen Kane with attempting to litigate federal antitrust claims in state court.

An amended complaint alleged certain joint venture endeavors between Chesapeake and Anadarko in effect violate the Sherman Act and Federal Trade Commission Act.

The case must be heard in federal court because Pennsylvania does not have an antitrust statute, Chesapeake and Anadarko argued.

The original complaint named Chesapeake and Williams Partners as defendants. Kane subsequently dropped Williams and added Anadarko.
Editor's note: This post was updated to correct an editing error concerning the time by which Kane is required to surrender her passport.

The judge presiding over the trial of Attorney General Kathleen Kane released Kane on her own recognizance to await sentencing, but set some conditions on that release.

Kane was ordered to surrender her passport no later than noon Tuesday to the Montgomery County District Attorney or Clerk of Courts.

Kane was also warned that any retaliation by "your mouth or your hand" would result in jail time.

"Is that clear, Ms. Kane?" Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy asked.

"Yes it is, your honor," AG Kathleen Kane responded.

"If it comes to this court's attention that there's any retaliation by you directly or indirectly, you are incarcerated immediately," judge says.

The judge also noted that she was concerned because of a trip Kane took to Haiti in 2014. At that time, she failed to sign a letter giving her deputy attorney general authority to make decisions in her absence.

The trip, Demchik-Alloy said, "gave this court grave concern" for Kane leaving while "nobody's minding the store."

A few minutes earlier a jury had announced they had found Kane guilty of all charges against her, including two felony counts of perjury.
With Monday's verdict, Attorney General Kathleen Kane takes her place aside a long list of Pennsylvania politicians convicted of crimes.

Here's a look at a parade of state politicians, dating back to 1906, who have been found guilty of corruption in the performance of their duties.
Kyiv's Obolonsky district court has rescheduled hearings on the case of former members of the Tornado special patrol police squad for 11:30 Kyiv time on August 23.

The decision was taken by the court on Tuesday in connection with the hospitalization of one of the defendants, lawyer of the defense Volodymyr Yakimov told reporters on the same day.

As was earlier reported, about 1,000 officers of the police and the National Guard of Ukraine were to maintain law and order outside the Obolonsky district court building, which planned to consider the Tornado case on Tuesday.

In June 2015, eight people, including seven members of the Tornado special patrol police squad, were detained in Luhansk region.

Kyiv's Obolonsky district court has been considering the Tornado case since the end of 2015.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced then that he had signed an order to disband the squad.

Tornado's former commander and members are accused of committing grave crimes.

Press secretary of Kyiv's Obolonsky district court Inna Svynarenko said that the court hearings were held behind closed doors as the suspects are accused of crimes against sexual freedom and personal inviolability.

On August 2, 2016, activists and members of some volunteer battalions blocked the exits of the Obolonsky district court, which was scheduled to consider the Tornado case on that day. Then there were clashes when men in the Tornado squad uniforms attempted to throw car tires, flour and bottles with water at police officers and guardsmen who cordoned the court's building while the court hearing was on behind closed doors. Someone tried to climb across the fence. Tear gas was sprayed on the site of the incident.

Chief of Kyiv's National Police Andriy Krishchenko later said that 15 guardsmen and 12 police officers had been poisoned by tear gas during the clashes. In his words, neither police nor the National Guard used the gas.

Later, the National Guard's press service confirmed that the National Guard had not used tear gas, but said that no one of the guardsmen had been poisoned.

On August 6, it was announced that three active participants in the clashes had been informed they were suspected of having committed a breach of public order as a group of people (Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

On August 9, the court postponed hearings due to the absence of a lawyer from the defense of one of the suspects.
Over 45,000 personnel sign contract to join Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2016

More than 45,000 people serving under contract have joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the beginning of the year, acting director of the Main Personnel Directorate and Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff deputy chief Volodymyr Talalai said.

"A total of 45,000 men, including 5,000 officers, have been hired by the Armed Forces to serve under contract since the beginning of the year," he said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

The General Staff expects that another 25,000-30,000 people could join the Ukrainian army before the end of 2016.

Around 100 foreign citizens are serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces under contract today, he said.

"It is fewer than 100 people today," he said.

Ukrainian legislation does not allow foreign citizens to be conscripted for military service other than under contract, Talalai said.
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Progress has been made in the issue of preparing direct talks with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics concerning an exchange of prisoners, Ukrainian MP from the Batkivschyna faction Nadiia Savchenko said.

"The process has got off the ground. I can say that progress has been made and negotiations will be held. I have no more comments to make because everything that goes to the media space is very rapidly distorted. No one discloses plans before war," Savchenko said in an interview with the Ukrainian online newspaper Apostrophe.

When asked whether she was content with the course of developments, Savchenko said that "it could be moving faster if no one was hindering it, but, in principle, I am satisfied."

It was reported earlier that Savchenko had announced her readiness to visit the territories in eastern Ukraine not controlled by Kyiv in order to hold talks with their leaders.

Savchenko said on June 7 that the Ukrainian side should establish direct dialogue with representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) People's Republics to resolve the issue of the Donbas region's return. She also said she was ready to hold negotiations with DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko and LPR leader Igor Plotnitsky.

For his part, Ukraine's second president and Kyiv's representative to the Trilateral Contact Group, Leonid Kuchma, said he did not object to direct dialogue being established between Savchenko and representatives of certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions if this helped resolve the conflict in the region.

Savchenko said later that she was ready to hold negotiations on releasing Ukrainian servicemen currently in captivity with the DPR and LPR leaders, but not with people who introduce themselves as politicians of the self-proclaimed republics.
Gaylord council opts not to consider rezoning of city-owned property

Gaylord
Four border guards in Chop arrested with bail option on suspicion of illegal cutting of forest

Four border guards of the Chop border detachment of the State Border Service of Ukraine have been arrested on suspicion of illegal cutting of forest under the military service negligence article, Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has reported.

The public and media relations department of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Tuesday that the main military prosecutor's office jointly with the economic crime fighting department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine raided premises of the State Border Service of Ukraine and the Service Management Center of the Chop border detachment of the Western Regional Department of the State Border Service on August 16.

"Four officers of the Chop border detachment have been arrested with a bail option under Part 3 of Article 425 (neglect of duty in military service)," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Neglect of duty in military service shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to seven years.

Prosecutor General's Office acted under a court ruling as part of an investigation into a criminal case launched by the military prosecutors' office of Uzhgorod military post over facts of involvement of officers of the State Border Service in illegal cutting of 7,663 trees of fine wood in the border zone of Ukraine and selling them abroad. This caused a damage of approximately UAH 19 million to the state.
Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court has refused to arrest chairman of state-run Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Andriy Amelin.

The court had earlier received an investigator's petition for a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention against the Sea Ports Authority's head, who was notified that he was suspected of embezzlement of another owner's property through abuse of power on a large scale basis.

The investigator claims that Amelin is suspected of having committed an extremely serious crime. He noted that there is a risk of concealing evidence from pre-trial investigation agencies and the court, as well as objects or documents that are essential to establish the circumstances of the criminal offense can be destroyed or distorted. What is more, there exists a risk of unlawful influence on witnesses and other unidentified accomplices in the current criminal case, as well as obstruction of the criminal proceedings in other ways.

Meanwhile, the judge took into account that the suspect had voluntarily appeared in court for hearings on his remanding into custody as a pre-trial restraint, which serves as evidence in his favor and dismisses claims by prosecutors and investigators that there are risks that the defendant may evade investigation and trial. The investigating judge was not given other information that would indicate the suspect's improper procedural behavior.

Further, the court considered the fact that the crime the suspect is charged with is of economy nature and related to ownership of property. The suspect had no previous criminal records, he is married, with children of minority age. He has got unchallenged reputation, which is proven by the documents provided by the defense.

Thus, the court decided to reject the investigator's request for custody and set UAH 1.378 million bail as a pre-trial restraint.
Hydration stations have arrived in the School District of Philadelphia.

The stations - water fountains equipped with filters and separate faucets from which to fill water bottles - will be up and running at 43 schools when classes start next month, school officials announced Monday.

Each school is receiving at least three hydration stations, and plans call for the remainder of the district's more than 170 schools to receive stations by the end of the school year, spokesman Kevin Geary said.

The $1 million initiative is part of the district's recently announced GreenFutures sustainability plan, which is designed to provide a framework to conserve resources, decrease consumption and waste, and create green school settings and healthy indoor environments for students.

"Safe, accessible, and appealing drinking water" is a key part of the GreenFutures plan, said William R. Hite Jr., district superintendent.

Monday's announcement comes after the School District announced Aug. 4 that it had launched a water-quality retesting project designed to test for lead in drinking water outlets in a sampling of 40 schools.

The district's new hydration stations are in line with the federal government's views on water in schools.

The Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that plain drinking water be available throughout the school day at no cost to students, and if beverages are available or sold during the school day, that they include only plain water with no flavoring, additives, or carbonation, as well as fat-free or low-fat milk, and 100 percent fruit juice.

deanm@phillynews.com

215-854-4172 @mensahdean
Eight Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action (WIA) in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, presidential administration spokesman for ATO issues Oleksandr Motuzianyk said.

"No Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the last day, but eight were wounded," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Two soldiers suffered injuries in shelling incidents near the village of Bohdanivka, another two in the village of Novoselivka, three during a mortar attack in the town of Avdiyivka, and one hit a pull-action mine in the town of Maryinka, Motuzianyk said.

According to the Ukrainian side, the enemy opened fire along the entire contact line in the Luhansk sector. Ukrainian army positions came under attack of grenade launchers, machine-guns and 120mm mortars in Stanytsia Luhanska. In all, eight shelling incidents were observed in the Luhansk area in the past 24 hours.

Mortar fire has been intense throughout the contact line in the Donetsk sector, Motuzianyk said. In his words, two-thirds of the shelling incidents occurred in the Avdiyivka industrial zone and the outskirts of the militant-controlled town of Horlivka.

The militants were using infantry combat vehicles and mortars in the Svitlodarsk bulge. In all, 23 shelling incidents, including 13 by use of heavy weapons, were recorded in the Donetsk sector over the past day.

The situation is worst in the Mariupol sector, Motuzianyk said. A skirmish occurred in Bohdanivka. Mortar attacks were observed in the villages of Vodiane and Talakivka. Hostile snipers were active near the village of Novotroitske. In addition, shelling continued in the village of Shyrokyne, and the towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka. In all, 17 shelling incidents, including six using heavy weapons, and one skirmish were recorded over the past day.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked signed a memorandum of understanding between the two agencies regarding judicial cooperation on Tuesday.

"I am sure that the today's meeting and the signing of the memorandum would be guarantee of tight personal and professional relations between law-enforcers," the press service of Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office reported, citing Lutsenko after signing the document.

He said that this would help to look for new ways of cooperation between Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office and Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Shaked said that now it is important to establish direct contacts with and exchange professional experience between representatives of law enforcement agencies.

The memorandum envisages that its participants are taking all possible measures within their powers aimed at effective and timely processing of requests for mutual judicial aid.

"The signing of the document would help to expand cooperation between the agencies, intensify the exchange of required information and professional knowledge, create joint projects on the issues of mutual interest and study new opportunities for cooperation," the press service said.
There are almost 2,500 people in pretrial detention center of Simferopol in Crimea occupied by the Russian Federation, although the center is intended for keeping 1,100 detained people, lawyer Mykola Polozov has said.

"The temporary detention center on the territory of peninsula is only one in Simferopol. It is intended for keeping 1,100 people. Now it contains nearly 2,500 people sleeping in shifts. Taking into consideration the geographical position of Crimea, it is very hot there in summer, hard to bear...," Polozov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to Polozov, there are Muslims among prisoners of the Simferopol prison, and "that thin broth is cooked on the basis of pork fat there."

Polozov also said that lawyers, public defenders, detainees relatives can hardly get into the building of the detention center.

"The fact of getting arrested in Crimea is a significant trial for a man, in my opinion, compared to tortures. Only a monitoring mission is permitted to do this, and it is not allowed in Crimea," Polozov said.

He also noted that negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian ombudsmen on the transfer of a number of Ukrainian citizens for serving their sentences in Ukraine, who had previously been convicted and detained in the pretrial detention center in Simferopol, have led nowhere.
Kyiv will not initiate the severance of diplomatic relations with Moscow, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.

"We support diplomatic relations in spite of Russia's aggression. There are millions of Ukrainians in Russia, who we should take care of. If Russia makes such a decision [to break diplomatic relations], then it is its responsibility," the minister said in an interview with the Der Standard edition.

Commenting on the recent deterioration of relations with Russia over the Russian internal Republic of Crimea, Klimkin said that this had been linked to the parliamentary elections in Russia.

"We do not know whether this [in Crimea] had been a planned action or an accident. This could have been an attempt of internal mobilization: parliamentary elections will be held in Russia shortly.Moods in Crimea are bad. Perhaps, Russia wants to disrupt the peace process so and play the card. We do not know for sure what the Russian tactics are, but it is very dangerous," the minister said.

Klimkin said that up to 50,000 Russian troops are staying in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine will not give up the attempts to agree on Crimea with Russia, he also said.

"Of course, we are not so naive to believe that tomorrow Russia will sit down to the table with us to discuss Crimea's status. But there are many urgent issues: human rights in Crimea, presence of international organizations what we are calling for, control of the air and sea space. These problems cannot be settled without such a format," Klimkin said.


The new bike looks a lot like its predecessor, but some continuation isn't a bad thing, especially when it comes to handing your Enduro World Series team, guys who have a rep for being tech savvy and particular, the new rig between EWS events.



Curtis Keene, whose season has taken off over the last few EWS rounds, has chosen big wheels again, preferring to go with the 29'' wheeled, 165mm-travel Enduro assembled around a 29er-specific frame that also has room for 27.5'' x 2.8'' tires, although Keene isn't shy about saying that rubber that wide, while working well for some, isn't suiting to full-out EWS racing.

Keene is having a big of a breakout season, moving up the standings after a 5th in Aspen and a 6th in La Thuile, Italy.

A well-earned smile after a great weekend in Italy.

We're used to seeing Curtis' brake levers being positioned close to parallel with the ground, but it appears as though he's running them angled down more these days. There's a set of 30mm wide (internal) Roval carbon rims on his bike.

Contrasting Seasons

Unlike its predecessor, the 2017 Enduro has full carbon rear-end. A layering of Mastic tape on any surface that the chain could hit makes for a quiet bike.

Keene will run likely run Butchers with a DH casing, especially on the back of the bike, and he typically goes with 30 PSI in rear, and 26 or 27 PSI up front.

This is what happens when you can go really, really fast.

SRAM's Eagle combined with a relativley large 36-tooth chain ring and a Gamut guide.

Keene prefers a 170mm-travel Lyrik on the front of his Enduro, which is 10mm more than stock.

Keene's Suspension Setup

The new Enduro's headtube is a bit shorter than its predecessor, so Keene runs a handful of spacers under his stem to compensate.

Keene's go-to setup is light on compression but heavy on high-speed rebound, which he says provides control when things get wild.

Specialized's 2017 Enduro is more evolution than revolution , which might disappoint some who were looking forward to a radical departure away from the long-standing X-Wing frame design. But Specialized didn't go that route, instead producing an all-new frame with revised geometry that adds up to a longer, slacker, and lower all-mountain machine. Want to know more? Check out Kazimer's First Look at the 2017 Enduro to get all the details.Keene is the one world-class racer who has likely spent more time than anyone else on the Enduro during the many years that the bike has been out, which is something that gives him a unique perspective on the bike's growth.''It's a subtle evolution. As bikes progress, the sport progresses, and we're going faster and faster, so we just need to make refinements,'' he said of the new Enduro's updates. ''I feel like the new bike is refined geometry-wise. It has gotten a bit slacker, a bit longer, and a bit roomier. And of course the little things like internal routing, a carbon rear-end, and adding the SWAT, too.''A mid-season bike change isn't something that most racers are a fan of, but this is especially true when said racer is putting in some of the best performances of their career like Keene has been doing recently. A 5th place overall at the Aspen EWS came after a 6th in La Thuile, Italy, proving that the American is a hell of a lot faster than his 2015 results show.''Last year, I broke my ribs three times in eight months,'' which, as anyone who has cracked some ribs will know, is extremely uncomfortable and slow to heal. ''I'm not one to sit there and talk about it all the time, you know, 'Oh, I'm hurt.' I was, and I tried to carry on but getting hurt again, getting sick, and just some shitty riding on my part, to be honest. All my confidence was gone, so I just needed this season to end,'' said the Specialized racer of a forgettable 2015.2016 didn't start off well, either. ''This season, the first few races weren't clean or anything, but I was still 21st, 23rd, and 27th - I had a mechanical on one stage - but even if I didn't have that, I was probably only a 15th place rider. In Argentina, I had food poisoning; I shouldn't have been racing and I still took 27th. Again, I think that if I was healthy, I might have been a 10th to 15th place rider, just considering where I was and how I was feeling. In Ireland, I flatted on the last stage and took 23rd. So again, I think that I was only 10th to 15th.''And then came La Thuile and Aspen, trouble-free races where Keene raced to 6th and 5th place overall finishes. Not too shabby, but where did the speed come from? After all, even Keene himself says he might have been a 10th to 15th place rider if those earlier EWS rounds had gone smoother. It's down to time on the bike, he believes: ''I think what's changed is that Jared and I have been riding a lot lately. We put in ten days at Whistler, a week in Jackson Hole, and we went to Keystone for eight days. In a little over three weeks we descended over 400,000 feet. So we were smashing out laps and getting comfortable with speed and finding that edge.'' He also credits some important bike changes - going to a coil-sprung Vivid shock and a 170mm Lyrik fork - for the improved pace.So after a 5th and 6th on the 2016 Enduro, Keene was on the 2017 bike for Whistler's EWS race, although it wasn't his first time on the bike:''I did some testing around Sea Otter with Brad Benedict, testing out wheel sizes and sizes of the bikes to get an idea of if I wanted an extra-large or a large. And Jared and I did a week of filming in Jackson Hole for Destination Trail, so we got to spend a good amount of time on them there.''At six-feet tall, Keene is on a large-sized Enduro, which was a decision that was easier to make compared to when he was racing the previous version: ''With the old large, it was too small for me, so I always wanted the extra-large, but the extra-large was too big. So this is spot-on.''Curtis weighs 190lbs, which is on the heavier end of the scale when it comes to bike racers, and he also doesn't like his fork hitting bottom. As you might expect given his size and speed, this means that his 170mm-travel Lyrik runs a fairly stiff and progressive spring rate. And like most fast riders who know a thing or two about suspension setup, he's aware that a fork's sag figure can be almost irrelevant. ''I'm not really a 'sag guy,' I'm more of a 'feel guy.' I don't want it to bottom out,'' he explained of his approach.''In Whistler, right now it's around 114 or 112 PSI; it floats in between there, and I have three tokens. I've always run really open compression on my forks, just because I run them really progressive, so I keep it light. From all the way open, it ranges from two to five clicks in.''His 170mm-travel Lyrik also slackens the bike out by about another half degree from when it has a stock 160mm-travel fork on it, taking it from 66-degrees to about 65.5-degrees. Keene is a fan of the extra 10mm of travel, but also of the increased axle-to-crown length: ''With this 170mm fork, the handlebar is pretty high. I love it, and it's obviously really good on the steep stuff.''He also prefers the action of a coil-sprung shock, citing it as one of the reasons for his improved results. ''What I've taken from the other bike, and some of the changes I've made this year, I feel like they're really helped me, is that I've gone to coil in the rear full time,'' referring to the RockShox Vivid R2C on his Enduro. ''With the new bike, it's a 550 [in/lb spring] with just a couple clicks of progression and a stock tune. Nothing crazy.''''We don't have a high-speed compression [adjustment dial] on the Vivid, but what I really like is the high-speed rebound. To me, that makes a huge difference because things get kind of wild and violent, and with the big hits it keeps the bike planted, controlled and it doesn't do anything crazy. I run a lot of high-speed rebound; it's almost fully closed. But the compression is fairly open, and same with the low-speed rebound; it's fairly open.''
KYIV. Aug 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) - A non-governmental organization fighting corruption Transparency International Ukraine (TI Ukraine) is launching an awareness campaign against tolerance for corruption.

"This is our third campaign, which is called "Corruption must be 'labeled'" [the word has two meanings in Ukrainian language: 'noticed'/'flagged']. It conveys two meanings," Head of Transparency International Communications Department Olha Tymchenko said at a press conference in Interfax-Ukraine agency on Tuesday.

"The first meaning is that it is impossible for society to have double values: on the one hand, we reveal corrupt officials, on the other hand, we envy for elite lifestyle, expensive things that can only be bought by means of corruption. The second meaning of this campaign is that corruption needs to be labeled - it should be punished. This campaign is also against impunity, which, unfortunately, exists in Ukraine now," Tymchenko said.

According to Tymchenko, more than 600 corresponding images will be displayed on billboards and city-lights in Ukrainian cities across the country as part of the campaign, as well as commercials on Lux FM radio, 24 Radio, Kiss FM, Radio Rocks, Relax, Melody and others.

"We will also create anti-corruption comics to be disseminated among young people," Tymchenko said.
Illustration: Sequoia Blankenship

The recent murder of a French police commander and his wife in their home was broadcast by the suspect on Facebook Live to the delight of terrorists and to the horror of all healthy humans, especially those of us in the crime-fighting community.

Identity control has been a topic for decades in the law enforcement profession. In the mid-1970s, I remember a gang rented an apartment next to the Tucson Police Department parking lot and tried to build a catalog of all the plainclothes officers, which included pictures and personal data. When we discovered that we were stunned, and we quickly changed our phone numbers to unlisted.

I know, I know, Speak English, Smith; what is unlisted? In the old days we had publicly distributed books filled with peoples names, addresses, and phone numbers; they were called phone books, and for a few extra dollars a year the phone company would not publish your information.

Today, social media makes it easier than ever to find local officers and, even more terrifying, their families. To make matters even worse, we have domestic and international terror groups actively advocating the murder of law enforcement personnel. As the threat has grown greater and greater from gangs, terrorists, revenge seekers, and emotionally disturbed individuals, the ability to protect your identity and that of your loved ones has gotten weaker and weaker.

Don't believe me? Lets do a rather depressing little experiment. Go to your own Facebook page. You know youve got one; even my alter ego JD Buck Savage has a Facebook page. Now type in police officers near me in the search bar. If your computer, tablet, or phone is GPS enabled youll get a list of people in your current location who identify themselves as affiliated with police organizations, complete with photos, thoughts, other law enforcement folks, and family. Just think what a home grown wannabe jihadist could do with that information. Scary, huh?

Any officer who is on social media should know it makes us too easy to find. So here are a few steps to take: First, eliminate your social media profile. If you can't do that, change your privacy settings to completely lock down your profile. Consider changing your name to an obscure movie character, or use a nickname and eliminate any police affiliation. Do not, I repeat, do not change your job description to anything the media can use against you like human waste disposal. That could be very bad if you get involved in a controversial use-of-force incident.

Minimize your check-ins and other location-based posts that give your exact location; or wait until an event is over, or you have moved to another location, before posting.

Go through your list of friends and followers and do some purging. I know that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media platforms are great for reconnecting with your fourth-grade classmates and distant family members, but if crazy third cousin Louie keeps posting kill the pigs memes, stop arguing with him and just hit block.

Finally, you need to get your loved ones up to snuff on how dangerous the world is today for officers and their families. Talk to mom and dad, the kids, the neighbors, your grandkids, and tell them to simply not discuss your profession with strangers. Yes, they are very proud of you and should be, but the world today isnt as simple as it once was. Explain to grandpa that the modern cyber-world has made it a hundred times easier for those who seek to do us harm to find us, and this is extremely dangerous for us.

Impress upon your loved ones the fact that they have a responsibility to help keep themselves out of harms way. Youre doing everything you can to keep them safe. But you need their help. In other words, bring them into your world and make them aware of the danger.

Dave Smith is an internationally recognized law enforcement trainer and is the creator of "JD Buck Savage." You can follow Buck on Twitter at @thebucksavage.
As violence continues to occur in and around Black Lives Matter demonstrations, one cyber security intelligence firm argues that America is witnessing an unmistakable trend of further radicalization within the leftist grassroots movement.

#Fuck12 has steadily emerged as a significant sect of the larger Black Lives Matter movement that has grown louder and increasingly-explicit about its true desires for policing or lack thereof in the hashtag era. But despite its relative under-the-radar status at the moment, proponents have already enjoyed protection from social media giants; inspiration for new violence and organized destruction; martyrs; and diversified revenue streams to organically support local organizers. Nearly every westerner with a social media account has come into contact with #Fuck12 messaging  only too often it has been confused with its intellectual parent.

Though definitions tend to vary between common reference sources online, #Fuck12 draws its origins from Atlanta and Oakland social media users typically decrying the fact that narcotics officers (Code 12) are bearing down on their presumed illegal activities. A senior analyst with GIPEC Worldwide explained to Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity (for operational security reasons) that #Fuck12 started as an online warning signal to others but has quickly morphed into a broader meaning ranging from fuck to kill the police. The cyber intelligence firms data indicate that the shift in meaning coincided with #BlackLivesMatters increasing impact on the zeitgeist.

The #Fuck12 movement dispenses with ideological trappings and moves to straight-up thuggery.

Whereas many of Black Lives Matters intellectual caretakers have labored to keep their message within the relatively-genteel framing of white privilege; enduring systemic racism in local police departments; and entrenched economic injustices to support all of the above  #Fuck12 appears far more comfortable tossing a Molotov cocktail in lieu of Marxist-inspired critical theory screeds on Medium or Mic. #Fuck12 does not have a problem with just white police  but anyone wearing a badge.

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of #Fuck12 is the overall solution to the alleged issue of police brutality disproportionally impacting people of color, as a BLM activist would say. While Black Lives presses for improved community outreach, body cameras and racial quotas in hiring  #Fuck12 generally promotes a burn it down philosophy with often literal connotations. GIPEC explained to Breitbart Texas that during the most recent civil unrest in Milwaukee now memorialized by #MilwaukeeUprising, social messaging related to abolishing the criminal justice system and policing as it is known were prominent sub-trends communicated among BLM and #Fuck12 rioters on the ground.

The absolute, anti-establishmentarian view of the nations most basic police powers offers new context to viral social media content already filling Americas feeds and walls regardless of the account holders personal viewpoints. Worse, GIPEC explains that #Fuck12s message can be directly attributed to recently-suffered fatalities around the country.

#Fuck12s most famous, yet largely mis-attributed addition to the national debate arrived in the form of an illustration depicting a black clad street soldier slitting the throat of a white police officer, reminiscent of an Islamic State propaganda video. Within moments of its original posting, GIPEC said that it was shared thousands of times across a variety of social media platforms.

Read entire story at Breitbart.com.
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Throughout this campaign, Donald Trump has offered nothing that would make a positive difference in the lives of ordinary Americans. Instead, he has coasted along using bluster and bigotry, and has always made sure that his supporters know who to blame for all of their troubles.

At first, it was Mexican immigrants, who Trump says are rapists and criminals. Then it was Muslims, a group the Republican nominee wants to ban from this country.

As his poll numbers continue to tumble, he found another group of which we should all be terrified: refugees.

Theyre so dangerous, in fact, that Trump posted this lie today about Hillary Clinton, in all capital letters, referencing a Republican report:

CLINTON REFUGEE PLAN COULD BRING IN 620,000 REFUGEES IN FIRST TERM AT LIFETIME COST OF OVER $400 BILLION. https://t.co/COZQNt6KVs  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2016

It should first be noted that the 620,000 figure is based on pure fantasy. As FactCheck.org pointed out today:

Last year, Clinton proposed that the U.S. accept 65,000 refugees from Syria. That was 55,000 more than the 10,000 President Obama authorized for admission from that country for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. In all, Obama authorized the admission of 85,000 refugees from all nations in fiscal 2016, and Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the administration would aim to admit at least 100,000 global refugees in fiscal 2017. To get to 620,000 refugees, the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest assumed that Clinton would do something she has not explicitly said that she would  allow 155,000 refugees into the U.S. each year during her first term as president.

The spray-tanned buffoon also emphasized in his speech that he was in favor of tough screening procedures for those refugees coming into the United States.

The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today, Trump said as he read from the teleprompter. I call it extreme vetting.

Theres only one problem  its already an incredibly thorough process.

As the New York Times reported last year in a story that has been circulating once again today, it takes two years for refugees from places like Syria to be able to come to the U.S.

The Times reports:

Syrians must pass many layers of security checks before being admitted to the United States, a process that can take two years or longer. In most cases, the refugees do not enter the United States until the very end. They are also subject to an additional layer of checks beyond those for refugees of other nationalities; after the Paris attacks, the House voted to further tighten screening procedures. Since 2011, the United States has admitted fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees.

The newspaper went on to outline a series of 20 different steps  yes, 20!  that refugees must take to have a chance to step foot on American soil. The idea that we will be flooded with refugees from the Middle East is something Trump floats to scare up votes.

Its also worth noting that that 80 percent of U.S. terror attacks since 9/11 have been carried out by American citizens, not foreign refugees.

Donald Trumps refugee rhetoric plays well to the base of Americans who are constantly looking for somebody to blame and somebody to fear. But like his previous attempts to scapegoat Mexicans and Muslims, this simply does not stand up to scrutiny.

If anything, it is the Republican nominee that makes me question the vetting process we have for potential presidential candidates.
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As I related here this morning, if you listened to Donald Trumps ISIS speech Monday night, you heard the voice of Joe McCarthy. There was no real attempt to disguise it.

McCarthy was what Trump was reaching for in appealing to the anti-Communist paranoia of the 1950s. That was the time, youll remember, when our national motto became tainted with religion and became In God We Trust (1956) instead of the inclusive Out of many, one of the Founding Fathers, and when the Pledge of Allegiance was inflicted with under God (1954).

Brian Kilmeade invoked the worst of American history Tuesday morning by invoking the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 (three of the four were to be repealed under the Jefferson administration), and the McCarran Act, or The Internal Security Act of 1950, 64 Stat. 987 (Public Law 81-831). Because if youre a Republican, there is no unsafe level of paranoia.

Take a gander courtesy of Media Matters for America, but beware of those ISIS guys hiding under your bed:

Keep in mind, when Donald Trump brings this up, this is not new. When the communist threat was the number one threat, we did have an Alien and Sedition Act that dated back to 1798, when we were worried about going to war with France. We wanted to make sure people here werent against us. In the 1950s, the McClaren Act  the McCarran Act, I should say, addressed the red scare here. So, if youre a communist, we need you to register because weve got to keep an eye on you, and because that was the number one threat at that time, as is Islamic extremists today.

Kilmeade is at least right that this level of paranoia is not new, but its age hardly justifies it. If age was the only prerequisite we would still be ruled by Parliament.

Harry Truman actually vetoed the McCarran Act, but his veto was overridden. As Wikipedia reminds us, Truman called it the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798, a mockery of the Bill of Rights and a long step toward totalitarianism.

In those days, people like McCarthy were fearful of Commies somehow pulling off a totalitarian dictatorship, ironically, much like what Trump has planned today. Trump, meanwhile, in order to defend his planned totalitarian rule of thieves, is aiming for those who might want to establish a Caliphate here on our shores, as opposed to the theocracy being proposed by the Republican Party and its Religious Right pals.

Never mind that there were not enough communists then nor enough Muslims now to pull off any sort of dictatorship, ideological or religious. The Founders overreacted to the French because of the excesses of the French revolution, fearful that a like revolution would overthrow our young republic, and the same paranoia was present in the 1950s and today. All of it is unfounded.

A fifth column has never been the #1 threat in America. It was not then and it is not now. Trump appealed to the worst of our instincts Monday and Kilmeade is pushing the same fear today. It isnt true, and it isnt right, and destroying our freedoms in order to protect them seem a curious  and yet to be explained  form of patriotism.
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Democrats have already reached an important marker in the battle to take back the Senate. Democratic candidates now lead enough states to take back the Senate from Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party.

FiveThirtyEight rounded up the Senate numbers:

Six of the eight Republican candidates for Senate are polling worse than they were before the conventions. Nothing has changed in Florida, according to the polls. And Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio is the only Republican whose fortunes have improved. (That may be partially because he has a massive fundraising edge over his Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland.) The biggest shifts have been in Illinois, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and in the latter two, the leader flipped.

.

Democrats now lead in enough states to take back the Senate  so long as Clinton holds on to her large lead. If the favorites in the polls win, the Democrats would flip and pick up the seats in Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans would pick up Nevada and hold onto Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. Of course, many of these races are close, and theres plenty of time before Election Day. The fight for the Senate isnt over by a long shot. Republicans and Trump  or Republicans without Trump  could rebound.

Democrats and their supporters have vital information before the fall campaign has officially kicked off. The Democrats know where they are doing well. They know where to target their efforts. Unlike Republicans, Democrats dont have a nominee that is forcing them waste time cleaning up scandal after scandal. As long as Hillary Clinton continues to roll along in the presidential race, Democrats can focus on objectives like taking back the Senate making big gains in the House.

In wave years, the data tends to show signs of movement months in advance. The data suggested the potential big wave wins in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2014. The ripples are starting to build for a potential Democratic wave. It is up to the Democratic Party and their supporters to turn those ripples into a tidal wave of blue victories in November.

As the numbers stand currently, the door is open for Democrats to ditch Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and take back control of the Senate.
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The Trump movement sounds more like fascism every day. Attacks on freedom of the press must now meet voters who, because they dont like the leader, shouldnt be able to vote. Former United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and Iran Contra figure, Oliver North  the guy who sold guns to Iran, and as a National Security Council staff member then took the metaphorical bullet for Reagan  is vexed that anyone would have the temerity to oppose Donald Trump.

Appearing on Fox News Hannity Monday, Oliver North said in reaction to Trumps ISIS speech,

If youre a critic of what this man just proposed then you dont belong in the voting process.

That wasnt the only ridiculous thing North said. Take a listen courtesy of Media Matters for America:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): There are some Republicans that are openly sabotaging Donald Trump. And I say if Hillary were to win, Im blaming them. And that means people at National Review, and The Weekly Standard, and a lot of congressmen and senators and former presidential candidates  What do you say to them in the 30 seconds we have left?



OLIVER NORTH: You know what? If youre a critic of what this man just proposed then you dont belong in the voting process. Critics are pointing to his quote, evolving positions. I heard that just an hour before I came on air with you. Do you know what we used to call evolving positions? We used to call that wisdom. I was very impressed with that stand that he took today.

It is a short step from Trumps demand in his ISIS speech for an ideological screening test to basing the right to vote on holding the right ideological position. Trump in the speech North loves more than the Democratic process, said The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today, and now Oliver North is saying, to my ears at least, that we need the same test for voters. Its not far-fetched: already you have to have the right skin color to vote.

It is amusing, on the other hand, that Hannity attacks The Weekly Standard, which, incomprehensibly, followed Trumps equally incomprehensible speech with the headline, Trump Effectively Hits Obama and Clinton in National Security Policy Speech, arguing that the speech marked a sorely needed improvement in Trumps credibility.

Yes, its getting pretty deep over in Trumpland. And at the Weekly Standard. And yes, at Fox News, where Hannitys every breath reeks of the stuff.

And evolving positions: We used to call that wisdom? Really? When did you call it wisdom? When Barack Obamas positions on anything (remember marriage equality) evolved, you called it flip-flopping. And to be fair, Mitt Romney was lambasted as a flip-flopper in 2012 even by conservatives, because lets face it, you cant say saying different things on different days is evolving.

Yet now that it is Donald Trump of all people, its wisdom? Donald Trump and wisdom dont belong in the same sentence. And you cant even call it evolving when its just a change of lies. His lies evolve maybe, but not his actual positions. One day he says X and the next he says I never said X. Thats not evolving. Thats not how it works.

You have to wonder sometimes if the Trump apologists arent crazier than Trump himself. Well, you have to give North credit for holding his ground, even if it is a steaming pile.
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Al Baldasaro, adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, doubled down on his previous comments that Hillary Clinton should be shot for treason, saying it again on Tuesday and trying to justify it by inaccurately claiming her email situation as treason.

Republican New Hampshire state Rep. Al Baldasaro doubled down on his suggestion that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton should be shot for treason, but claimed he wasnt suggesting that someone should assassinate her, MassLive reported.

Blaming the media for reporting that he said Clinton should be shot previously, Baldasaro repeated that Clinton should be shot. The liberal media took what I said and went against the law and the Constitution and ran with it, and they said that I wanted her assassinated, which I never did, Baldasaro said. I said I spoke as a veteran, and she should be shot in a firing squad for treason.

Baldasaro said his comments were in accordance with U.S. law establishing the death penalty for treason. He suggested that Clintons use of a private email server could be considered treasonous, Mass Live reported.

The Secret Service is already investigating Baldasaro for telling radio host Jeff Kuhner in late June that the former Secretary of State should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.

According to the Trump camps adviser on veterans issues, we dont do law and order or trials anymore, we just line people up and shoot them.

Hillary Clinton was found innocent of deliberate wrong doing for her emails, but Donald Trumps adviser thinks as Americans we move right on to the firing squad after being found not guilty.

This fresh suggestion of shooting Hillary Clinton comes on the heels of Donald Trump suggesting that Hillary Clinton would be assassinated if she were to win the election.

This kind of rhetoric is dangerous and has no place in a campaign for any office, let alone the presidency.
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Union nurses at five Twin Cities hospitals will vote Thursday on whether to authorize another strike at five Allina hospitals.

Negotiators for the Minnesota Nurses Association are urging their members to authorize an open-ended walkout.

They hope the prospect of an indefinite strike will put more pressure on the health system to settle a contract.

In June, 4,800 nurses struck Allina for one week .

The two sides remain at odds over Allina's proposal to shift nurses from their union-only health plans to less expensive corporate insurance.

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The company says the move would reduce its health costs $10 million a year by encouraging more frugal use of health care.

Nurses object to the higher out-of-pocket maximums and say they need more robust first-dollar coverage because their jobs expose them to more illness and injuries.

But the tone of the strike vote is different this time. Nurses union leaders are contemplating how to respond if the vote  or low turnout  indicate ambivalence about an open-ended walk-out.

For example, it's possible that nurses at some facilities may approve Allina's latest offer, while nurses at other hospitals could opt to strike instead. That's because members of four separate bargaining groups are voting.

If the union gets a mixed response from its rank and file members, union leaders don't have to call a strike. But if they do, they have to give Allina 10 days notice.

No new talks are expected this week.
Everything sold at the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market has to have been grown within a 50-mile radius of Rochester.

Or, if not grown, then it must be made from something off the farm.

Susan Waughtal, along with husband Roger Nelson, of Squash Blossom Farm , in rural Rochester, have been selling baked goods at the market for seven years. Nelson makes sourdough bread and Waughtal a variety of baked goods, like tarts and scones.

As an artist, however, Waughtal was wanting to display and sell some of her paintings. She could not. Neither canvas nor paints come under the "produced within 50 miles" regulation. Bought perhaps, but certainly not grown.

In what can only be described as a creative inspiration, Waughtal wondered if she could make paint from her cow's milk. That would certainly fit the regulation, wouldn't it? As she explains it, "LaFonda, the cow, when she is producing milk after giving birth makes at least four quarts a day.

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"There is only so much cheese and ice cream we can make and eat, and since we are not a certified dairy, it can't be sold," she said. "I had heard of milk paint  also known as Casein  but never thought of it in terms of my artwork. But there it was."

Making milk paint would solve two problems: using up some of the milk and allowing Waughtal to show her paintings at the market.

Through research, she found that milk-based paint had been used by the ancient Egyptians, and that some of the oldest painted surfaces in the world were colored with a form of this paint. Basically, it is a simple composition of milk, lime powder and earth pigments.

With very few variations, the recipe has stayed the same for centuries. Armed with this information, she got the go-ahead from the market board and has been showing and selling her artwork for the past two years, right there beside the sourdough and pastries.

The process of making the paint is simple. Waughtal takes the milk and turns it into quark , a simple cheese similar to cottage cheese. She hydrates the quark with lime powder, which turns it into the base. She portions out the base and adds colored pigment  special ones, which she orders online. If the mixture becomes too thick it can be thinned with water.

"This is still a learning process for me," Waughtal said. What is especially important to her is that the paint itself is non-toxic and environmentally friendly.

There is a lot to love about this kind of paint. For the artist, it is fast-drying and water-soluble. Visually, it can resemble oil painting more than other water-based paints. Those I saw seemed more muted, and she is experimenting with the pigments for more vivid colors. It is a beautiful look and also long-lasting. Remember, paintings on caves made from milk-paint are still visible after 2,000 years.

Interestingly, early paintings by Andy Warhol were painted using this medium. Waughtal's subjects are mostly found around the farm, including one of LaFonda, whose milk is the basis of the paint itself.

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Squash Blossom Farm is a familiar place to many locals for all sorts of reasons  it offers a variety of activities through the summer and fall, including concerts, plays, and Pizza Sundays. It is also a popular spot for weddings.

For more information on any of the activities there, call 507-252-9639, or stop by their booth at the farmers market.
LAKE CITY  Running a small farm in Minnesota is usually seen as a seasonal thing. You plant in May, you harvest when flowers or vegetables bloom or ripen.

By October, things start to die down, and in November you've gone from fresh to canned produce.

The advent of the high tunnel, an indoor growing system, has extended the fresh season. Planting might happen as early as late March. Some harvesting might extend into November.

Now the University of Minnesota Extension is hoping to turn Minnesota into a year-round farming adventure with the development of deep winter greenhouses. Greg Schweser, director of local foods and sustainable agriculture for the UME's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships , said the greenhouses are designed specifically to take advantage of the sunny, cold Minnesota winters.

"What's been going on is people have been building and operating greenhouses for the last 10 years," Schweser said. "We host open houses with them, doing production research in them."

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The current project has been to look at those existing greenhouses and their performances, then fine-tune the design. That fine tuning  modifying the existing standard for greenhouses and making them energy efficient for a winter growing season  has led to a pilot program where UME will help fund five deep winter greenhouses across Minnesota. "For this project, we've been working on those existing greenhouses and their performance," Schweser said. "We want one producer in each region who are interested in building and testing these prototype designs."

UME also is working to bring more awareness to the technology, letting people know this is feasible and possible.

So far, Paul Freid is a believer. Fried, along with his wife, Sara, runs the Catholic Worker Farm in Lake City .

"It'll allow us to grow micro greens," Fried said, referring to smaller greens such as lettuces, spinach or arugula. "We'll be able to continue selling to restaurants and schools. And we'll grow seedlings and sprout greens."

The farm, founded on the principles of the Catholic worker movement, which focuses on works of mercy, care of the poor and workers' rights, sells vegetables, perennials and meat from pasture-raised pigs. In addition to selling to schools and restaurants, the farm sells to consumers at the Lake City Farmers Market .

The farm applied for and received a grant for $15,000 for the $30,000 project. Freid intends to do the work himself to save money. Plans for the deep winter greenhouse, provided by UME, are very specific. Freid said they will build the greenhouse next spring and hope to begin planting next summer and fall.

Sara said the farm already employs a traditional greenhouse. That allows them to plant a few weeks or even a month early and to continue harvesting well into the fall. "With our high tunnel, this is only our second year doing it," she said. "They kind of billed it for raising greens."

The new greenhouse will mean the farm has no limits on its growing season. "The prototypes are a modified version of the ones on the landscape currently working and growing," Schweser said. The deep winter greenhouses use a special triple wall glazing material for its windows, an efficient heat sink in the ground to keep the freeze at bay, and air that is sucked in as needed instead of pushed through. "We're still tinkering with the specs a little bit," he said.

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Right now, the design is for a 24-by-24-foot greenhouse with an 18-by-24-foot growing space. The greenhouses, when made to specifications, should last 30 years. "It makes the entire year the growing year," Schweser said. "They are perfect for someone with a 25- or 50-share CSA."
Dear Answer Man, how big is the Somali community in Rochester? There was a front-page story in the paper last week about local Somalis celebrating the primary election victory by a Somali candidate in Minneapolis and I was wondering.

Prepare to wonder no longer. You'd think this information would be easily available, but it's not, which is why I exist  to do the hard work for people like you.

If you dig through the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010-2014 American Community Survey , you'll find pages of data regarding the place of birth for foreign-born residents. Dig further and you'll find the county-by-county information for Minnesota.

In Olmsted County, according to the data through 2014, there were 14,563 residents who were born in a foreign country. As of last year, the county population was 151,436 , so in big rough numbers, about one person in 10 was born outside the U.S.

Of those 14,563 people, more were born in Asia than any other continent, 6,083 people. Next are those who were born in Africa, at 3,104. Of those, about 1,740 were born in East Africa, and the report lists three countries as well as a general "Other Eastern Africa" total. Somalia would be among those, and that number is 1,348.

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So, without pursuing this further with Census Bureau-crats, the number of Olmsted County residents born in Somalia is in the neighborhood of 1,350.

Other intriguing facts from this report:

 526 county residents were born in Sudan, 273 were born in Ethiopia.

 After Asia and Africa, the largest share of foreign-born county residents were from "the Americas" -- Latin America and Canada. The report says 3,108 people were born in the Americas, 2,517 in Latin America (including 1,762 in Mexico), and 591 in Canada.

 Next comes Europe, with 1,976 county residents born there, most of them in Eastern Europe, with 369 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 And the county's population grew by 5 percent from 2010 to 2015. That's faster than the national population growth of 4.1 percent during those years, and the state's growth of 3.5 percent, which ranked 27th among the 50 states. Iowa grew 2.55 percent and Wisconsin 1.48 percent during those years.

Sorry, I get mesmerized by data. Back to the question about the size of the local Somali community. The census data doesn't tell the whole story, obviously  it just records those who were born in foreign countries, so the number is likely much higher than 1,350. The Somali community in Minnesota has been estimated at about 40,000; some Somali leaders say that's way low, while the Minnesota State Demographic Center says 26,000 residents were born in Somalia as of 2014.

Unhappy reader

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Apparently even I can't please everyone. I thought my column Monday on "placenta encapsulation" was one of the best of the week so far, but this reader disagrees.

"Hey buddy, I usually enjoy your column and it's been super-busy around our house with major remodeling, so I didn't catch your latest masterpiece until this morning, during breakfast. Why would you even consider tackling this subject while dissing NON-GROSS queries such as the ones I've sent you. I've asked you so many excellent, insightful, engaging questions over the years that you've ignored. I'm concerned that your decision to print this is a sign your brain may be taking a downturn, and that is the only body organ that I care to read about in future A-Man columns, by the way."

No need to worry about a downturn in my brain, by the way  I just measured it and it's even bigger than yesterday.
Details from Prince's 2006 divorce to be unsealed

MINNEAPOLIS  Some details in Prince's 2006 divorce case will be made public.

The Star Tribune had sought to unseal documents in the pop megastar's divorce proceedings with Manuela Testolini after Prince died of an accidental drug overdose in April. Prince married Testolini in 2001.

The newspaper reports a Hennepin County District Judge granted its request on Monday. Testolini's attorney pushed not to make the documents public, arguing she could suffer harassment.

Testolini and the special administrator managing Prince's estate will have a month to fight the disclosure of certain documents in court. Otherwise all but confidential details surrounding the pair's divorce will be unsealed.

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 Associated Press

State emergency managers to assess flood damage

ST. PAUL  Minnesota emergency management officials will visits four counties this week to assess damages from recent storms.

Local emergency managers in Aitkin, Carlton, Crow Wing and Pine counties have forwarded their initial damage estimates to state Homeland Security and Emergency Management officials. Preliminary damage to public infrastructure in the four counties during the week of July 10 is pegged at $2.6 million.

Heavy downpours overwhelmed drainage systems, rivers and streams with 7 to 14 inches of rain. Flash flooding damaged roads, washed out culverts, prompted closures and stressed sewer systems. Storm debris and downed utility lines caused additional damage.

State officials say the damages do not meet federal requirements for FEMA's Public Assistance Program, but they could qualify for funds through the Minnesota State Disaster Assistance Program.

 Associated Press

Twin Cities airport workers announce vote in favor of strike

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ST. PAUl  Airport workers told officials at a Metropolitan Airports Commission meeting Monday that they are ready to stage a one-day strike if a Delta subcontractor, Air Serv Corp., does not meet their demands.

Those demands include higher pay, improved conditions and recognition of their right to form a union.

Matt Ellingson, a regional vice president for Air Serv, said the company was working to reach an agreement that would protect employee choice, smooth airport operations and avoid disruptions to the traveling public.

Sahra Mohamed, 25, cleans the inside of airplanes and drives workers to and from airplanes in a van.

"Sometimes we say we're very hungry, we're feeling hot, the vans are very hot, we need a break," she said. "You can't even take a break; nobody covers your spot."

The workers say about 700 employees are involved in the possible strike, including wheelchair escorts, cart drivers and cabin cleaners. They say no date has been set for the action.

 Minnesota Public Radio News
LAKE CITY  Barring a major change of heart, or costs, U.S. Highway 61 as it goes through Lake City will be three lanes, down from today's four, in four years.

After considerable debate Monday evening, the Lake City City Council voted 5-2 to make the big change it hopes will keep traffic moving well, be safer for pedestrians, and revitalize the downtown.

Voting for it were council members Russell Boe, Andru Peters, Mark Spence and Greg Schreck and Mayor Joel Beckman; opposing it were Randy Klipfel and Mary Lou Waltman.

The question has been swirling around the city along Lake Pepin for months after the Minnesota Department of Transportation announced that in 2019, it will resurface the highway between Kellogg and the MnDOT rest area between Lake City and Red Wing.

The department told Lake City that if it wanted to reconfigure the road to three lanes  two driving lanes and a center left-hand turn lane  it would have up to $5 million to help do the project in 2020. In terms of cost, the Lake City portion would be broken off as a separate piece and Lake City would have to pay part of its local cost.

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If the city decided against it, the highway in Lake City would remain four lanes and would get the conventional treatment: mill and overlay, work on sidewalks and other work in 2019.

The question sparked strong debate in the city.

Those opposing the change said the four-lane works well, while the three-lane, in their view, would make it harder for big trucks to turn and lead to congestion.

Those favoring the change said traffic would move just as quickly, and that the highway would be more inviting for people to stop and shop. They also said the road would be a lot safer.

That debate that was echoed in Monday's testimony.

One of the main opponents was Tom Heffernan, who has owned a car dealership for more than 40 years on the U.S. 61. He gave the council a petition opposing the change with about 1,600 signatures, and said he could have received even more with more time.

The highway functions well in its current configuration, Heffernan said. He and at least one other business owner said they wanted on-street parking retained as-is. If speeding is a problem, he said, enforce the law.

A leader of those for the change was Andrea Chapman, executive director of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce. She said her group and three other business groups wanted the change for better business and safety. From her office, "I watch 90-year-old people, children and everything in between trying to cross that highway," she said. "It's a dangerous situation."

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The council also offered opinions and questioned Mark Schoenfelder, MnDOT district planner, about what to do.

One question council members asked was whether a vote on Monday was irrevocable.

No, Schoenfelder said, there will be further studies and discussion before MnDOT gives its final go-ahead. If things go wrong, the city could back out. But Schoenfelder also said later that backing out could mean the the city would lose the $5 million. And, he said, there has to be a "level of trust" between the state agency and the city that Lake City is really set on the three lanes.

One question was money, or lack of precise figures on costs. "I have a hard time backing it without knowing how much the city is going to pay," Spence said.

In the end, the council said it wants to push ahead with the three-lane idea, but understood it's not totally settled until more details are ironed out.

Afterward, Heffernan was disappointed with the decision, saying that the council didn't listen to the citizens. "I don't know where out next step is, but I don't think it's the end of it," he said.

Chapman, on the other hand, said, "I think this will be good for Lake City. I think it's moving us in the direction that we need to go." It's probably the most important decision the city has made in the five years she's headed the chamber, she said.

Lake City residents take sides in plans to rebuild U.S. 61

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Dividing U.S. 61 is dividing Lake City
Ink will meet paper as friends, family and members of the community honor and remember a life lost.

Events will be held to honor the life of Jose Jesus Sanchez Negrete Jr., who died in early July. To celebrate his life, a zine, a self-published work by the Rochester Public Library, will be dedicated to his memory with artwork, stories and photos contributed at the events by those who knew him.

Jose, 15, of Rochester, was stabbed in the chest during an altercation in a parking lot in Rochester on July 1 and was later pronounced dead at Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys Campus.

Jose was a regular at the Rochester Public Library, stopping in almost every day. Monica Benavidez, Jose's mother, said that the library staff began to expect Jose to walk through the library doors daily, including Sarah Joynt, the teen librarian who is coordinating the event.

"She knew him, she remembered him," Benavidez said. "She knew something was wrong the next day when he wasn't in his regular spot."

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Since her son's death, Benavidez has been looking for ways to honor her son and celebrate his life. Being that Jose was a regular at the library, she turned to them for help. That's when Benavidez and Joynt came up with the idea of dedicating a zine in his honor.

"We thought it was a good way to memorialize him while also remembering how artistic he was," Joynt said.

Those who knew Jose are encouraged to bring in photos, write down their favorite stories, memories and quotes, contribute artwork and build a playlist of Jose's favorite songs to be published in the zine.

Benavidez will also bring items of Jose's artwork for people to view and to be part of the zine. She said that drawing was one of his favorite pastimes, and something that he was passionate about.

"He was always doodling, always drawing, he always had a notebook with him," Benavidez said.

About 50 people are expected to to attend the events, including friends, family, and teachers and students from Phoenix Academy, where Jose attended.

Benavidez said that she is excited for the opportunity to honor her son's life through the zine, and she will continue looking for ways to keep his memory alive.

"It will be a way to honor his life and for people to learn about his life and what he could accomplish," Benavidez said. "I know he always gave his artwork away and this will be a way to share it with everybody."

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There will be two events in which people can share their memories of Jose. The first will be 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday. The second will be 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, in Meeting Room A on the first floor of the Rochester Public Library. Anyone who is looking to contribute is welcome to attend. People can also contribute by stopping into Youth Services in the library until Friday, Aug. 26.

Copies of the memorial zine will be available at the Rochester Public Library on Sept. 1.
A commitment to dream and a promise to inspire won RSP Architects a recommendation from a public advisory body to lead public space design in the Destination Medical Center sub-district Heart of the City.

The Heart of the City Community Advisory Committee on Monday interviewed representatives from three design firms to advance the vision of Heart of the City , a public space that is centered on Rochester's Peace Plaza.

The committee agreed to recommend a design team led by RSP Architects , of Minneapolis. The recommendation will be reviewed by the Destination Medical Center Corp. Board of Directors and the Rochester City Council for final approval. The DMC Corp. board meets next on Aug. 25 and the council will consider the recommendation at its Sept. 7 meeting.

The proposal from RSP included a cost of $577,440 in four phases, beginning Oct. 1 and concluding June 30, 2017. The team includes members from Coen and Partners, HR&A Advisors, Kimley-Horn and 9.Square, with oversight by RSP. RSP also has a Rochester office.

"This is a Minnesota-based team with really strong ties to Rochester," Jon Buggy, RSP principal, said at the Monday interview. "We've been avid students of what you've been doing and we've curated a team that we think is spot on for the needs of this city."

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Buggy said the team's mission was to discover, design and implement a place that is truly the heart of Rochester. Its work would include public engagement, design development and steps toward implementation of a public space redesign. Buggy summarized the work as "discover, dream, design, do."

Shane Coen, firm founder and CEO of Coen and Partners, outlined the team's vision for creating interactive art installations, facilitating smart streets for pedestrian experience and integrating the public space through the subway, street level and skyway layers.

"We're going to dream together," Coen said. "One of my roles is to make that a focused dream and a guided dream that builds upon the work that you've already done and creates complete ownership in all the stakeholders in a vision that is implementable."

Coen emphasized that the concepts the design team would bring forward would be practical, while also reaching for the aspirational values of the DMC Development Plan.

"It's about bringing our best ideas to the table, but it's about bringing the strategic kinds to the table that are implementable. ... And I promise you, you have my full commitment, they will be inspirational. And this will be an appropriate, inspiring space that can be built," Coen said.

Local firm 9.Square, led by Adam Ferrari, would participate heavily in the public engagement process. Rochester is suffering a "planning burnout," Ferrari said, and strategic public engagement would be needed to bring community members to the planning table. That strategy would include social media and other digital approaches in addition to in-person engagement events.

In a straw poll of Heart of the City committee members after the three interviews, 11 of 14 members ranked RSP as their preferred choice.

The committee also interviewed design teams led by Sasaki Associates, Inc., of Watertown, Mass., and HGA Architecture, headquartered in Minneapolis with a Rochester office. Six firms returned proposals and a sub-committee narrowed the field the three firms interviewed Monday.

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The committee members rated RSP highly for its understanding of Rochester and DMC plans, its detailed public engagement strategy and its inspired vision.

Committee member and Rochester City Council member Nick Campion said RSP's proposal had two major benefits.

"One was the idea of 'dream' a little bit because I think that  word encompasses a little bit about what Rochester needs to put into this," Campion said. "If it's just the next iteration of what we already have, I think that's a little bit maybe underachieving what we have the opportunity to do here."

Campion also commended RSP and Ferrari in particular for recognizing the local planning burnout and approaching the public engagement portion of the work with new, strategic ideas.

Committee member Tom Fisher, who is also a DMC Economic Development Agency board member and University of Minnesota Metropolitan Design Center director, said the RSP proposal hit every point he was hoping to hear.

"I think they're a strong local team. I think they're really strong on landscape architecture and architectural design," Fisher said.
After hearing of homes being demolished and lots repurposed for surface parking in residential neighborhoods, the Rochester City Council on Monday initiated action that could lead to a moratorium on surface parking lots in certain residential zones.

A nearly 100-year-old home in the Kutzky neighborhood was demolished earlier this month to provide a six-stall surface parking lot. The home was owned by Gift of Life Transplant House and parking will be used for the organization. The home had mold and asbestos issues, the owners previously told the Post-Bulletin .

Neighbors were concerned with the trend of residential homes being torn down for parking. Laura Strand, speaking in a Rochester City Council open comment period , said she moved from Minneapolis in 2002 to a home in the Kutzky neighborhood, and has been dismayed to see houses torn down on her street.

"This past year, we're somewhat regretting the decision (to move) due to two houses on our street being torn down to become surface parking lots," Strand said.

The Kutzky Neighborhood Association asked for a moratorium on surface parking lots until a zoning amendment could be made to permanently change where surface parking is allowed in residential zones.

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"Hopefully zoning will be reviewed and changed, otherwise, in just a couple years our downtown will be rows of apartments and parking lots, which is not community-centric, walkable community," Strand said.

Later in the council meeting, council member Michael Wojcik made a motion to direct staff to prepare an ordinance regarding the allowed use of surface parking in Medium Density Residential (R-3) and High Density Residential (R-4) zoning districts . The ordinance, when prepared by staff, could put the council in position to issue a moratorium on surface parking in those districts.

Wojcik acknowledged that more formal action might come in the city's future, with its Comprehensive Plan update in progress, but he felt a stop-gap measure was needed.

"We don't right now (have something that addresses the issue), and in the mean time, all of these core neighborhoods that have R-3 and R-4 zoning are faced with economics that they can see continued deterioration and blight added to their neighborhoods, which is really problematic," Wojcik said.

The issue hit particularly close to home for council member Mark Bilderback, who said he entered elected government more than a decade ago after petitioning the council  unsuccessfully  to prevent homes being demolished and turned to surface parking.

"There is all kinds of studies you can look at that show you how bad surface lots can get to be if they're unmanaged.  I don't have a problem with a surface lot being put up for a development, but just for the fact of not taking care of a house to tear down a house to put up a surface parking lot, I do have a problem with," Bilderback said.

A moratorium, if approved by the council, would be in effect for one year, City Attorney Terry Adkins said.

Two council members had reservations. Council member Mark Hickey said he was uncomfortable with piecemeal rule making and would prefer to wait for the city's comprehensive plan update; council member Ed Hruska expressed reservations with moratoriums in general due to unintended consequences.

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The council eventually voted unanimously in favor of directing city staff to prepare the ordinance for review at a future meeting.
Last week's approval of Rochester's new parks master plan came with a promise.

It will not be a plan that sits unchanged on a shelf. "We're going to go back and review it annually or biannually,"said Mike Nigbur, head of the city's park and forestry division.

As the city's park board put its stamp of approval on the plan that took a year to create and finalize, it's clear the 134-page document is a starting point. It outlines a plan to grow and enhance the city's park system as the city grows.

At the same time, it leaves room for adjustments based on growth patterns and shifting community needs.

"The intention of the system plan is not that it guides every decision made in the next 20 years in nitty gritty detail," said Rita Trapp of Hoisington Koegler Group Inc., which oversaw creation of the master plan.

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What the plan does is outline priorities based on staff and public input. It offers insights in what will likely be needed and expected as the community grows.

Unfortunately, the community input has so far been typical of planning efforts in Rochester. Limited participation  especially by typically underrepresented groups  means many voices have yet to be heard. "No one has cracked that barrier yet," Nigbur noted.

Trapp said that has unfortunately become increasingly common in other communities as well. "Overarching in the planning field, there has been a decrease in public participation with the increase of social media and the overarching barrage of information people receive," she told the park board in July.

She said planners worked with Rochester's Diversity Council in an effort to extend their reach into different communities, but the engagement wasn't what either group hoped it would be.

Dee Sabol, executive director of the Diversity Council, noted such challenges when she spoke with the Post-Bulletin Editorial Board in June. She encouraged continued efforts to speak with individuals using neighborhood parks.

Thankfully, the constant review of the master plan will offer the park department more chances to reach out to various communities and gauge expectations.

Additionally, we anticipate the department will continue efforts to engage communities as individual projects are planned. It's often difficult for people to weigh in on the larger efforts, but when change is planned for a favorite park or program, more of the community will become engaged.

At the same time, some regular park users are likely to be left behind unless the scope of engagement is widened. While park staff already engage with users in a variety of ways, through rentals and programs, other opportunities should be considered, such as going to places where underrepresented groups gather and asking questions.

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Any effort to continue to engage the community will be important as the park department spends the next 20 years reviewing the master plan and making sure Rochester's parks meet the needs of as many residents as possible.
For the first time, the United States Air Force has deployed all three of its heavy bomber aircraft to Guam. While the deployment is not a long-term fixture, the presence of all three types of bombers in one location is an historic event, according to Air Force officials.

This is the first time Im aware of B-1s, B-2s and B-52s working together for this length of time, said Lt. Col. Seth Spanier, commander of the 34th Bomb Squadron from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.

For the past decade, Guam has seen the continued deployment of the B-52 Stratofortress as part of the U.S. Pacific Commands (USPACOM) continuous bomber presence mission.

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Now, for the first time since April 2006, the B-52s are being replaced with B-1B Lancers.

As of Aug. 6, six B-1B Lancers were deployed to Andersen Air Force Base along with their pilot crew of 65 and maintenance team of approximately 300 engineers and specialists.

In addition to the B-52s and B-1s currently housed at Andersen, three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers joined them in Guam on Aug. 9. The presence of the B-2s is part of an unrelated regularly scheduled deployment and they are expected to remain at Andersen for only a few weeks.

Air Force officers and bomber experts met with local media yesterday to talk about the different aircraft and their current rotation schedule.

Commitment to regional stability, security

In an Air Force press release, the deployment of the B-1s is explained as a demonstration of continued U.S. commitment to stability and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

According to Lt. Col. Jeremy Holmes, commander of the 69th Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, the regular six-month rotation of the aircraft is the regular course of the continuous bomber presence mission. Its a great opportunity to assure our regional partners and allies and deter potential adversaries, Holmes stated. Minot is home to the B-52s.

The recent North Korean nuclear and missile tests, the Chinese expansionist presence in the South China Sea and the parading of Beijings DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles, dubbed the Guam Killer, all suggest a heightened level of military activity in the region. However, Air Force officials denied that the current deployment is in response to these elevated conditions.

Instead, as Lt. Col Keith Butler, of the 13th Bomb Squadron, said of the intersecting deployment, Its a very unique opportunity for all three of our countrys bombers to train together.

The deployment of the B-2s is part of USPACOMs bomber assurance and deterrence mission which has the same goals and aims as the continuous bomber presence mission, but differs only in time frame, according to Butler.

During the short period the B-2s are deployed to Guam and before the B-52s are slated to depart for Minot, members of the 69th, 34th and 13th bomb squadrons will make the most of their concurrent presence with mission sets and exercises that entail inter-squadron cooperation and coordination.

Additionally, Butler confirmed plans for the Air Force to work in tandem with naval forces already stationed at Naval Base Guam to prepare service personnel for any eventuality.

Aircraft specifications

Butler explained the differences in the three aircraft. While all are capable of long-range strike missions, only the B-2s and B-52s are equipped to carry nuclear payloads while the B-1s are outfitted with conventional long-range strike missiles. Further, only the B-1s are capable of reaching supersonic speeds, though the B-2s reach into the high subsonic speeds.

In detailing specifications of the different aircraft, Spanier said that the presence of the B-1s would be noticeable by local residents. Theyre very loud, he said. Whenever possible, when the winds allow for it, we try and take off to the north so that were immediately over open water, but there will be a noticeable increase in noise. Youll know the B-1 when you hear it.
We have reached many milestones and witnessed plenty of success stories at the Guam Department of Labor during my current tenure, but I will b Read moreGDOL wants to be a part of your employment solutions
Weve commented before about the lack of selectivity displayed by Black Lives Matter and its fellow travelers in choosing martyrs. There was a time when the left, especially the black left, routinely glorified thugs who ran afoul of the law to their detriment. But that was 40 years ago or more, during the heyday of the Black Panthers. Since then, the left usually has tried to emphasize the grievances of those who could plausibly be viewed as somewhat sympathetic, or at least aggrieved.

No longer. The left tried to pass off Michael Brown, the thug who robbed a convenience store, roughed up an employee, and then assaulted a police officer, as a gentle giant. Okay, anyone can make a mistake before the facts are all in.

But even after the Obama Justice Department exploded the gentle giant myth and found that the officer who killed Brown acted in self defense, the left continues to treat Brown as a victim. With much better cases of bad police conduct to tout, it still wont let go of the hands up, dont shoot Ferguson lie.

And now the movement is pressing the case of Korryn Gaines. Shes the woman whom the Baltimore County police shot and killed after she pointed a shotgun at officers for hours while police officers tried to talk her down, and eventually threatened to kill them.

Gaines was a dangerous nutcase who sought confrontations with police, including an armed confrontation. In place of a license plate, she had a piece of cardboard that said any government official who compromises this pursuit to happiness and right to travel, will be held criminally responsible and fined, as this is a natural right and freedom.

When pulled over for not having a license plate, she escalated the traffic stop, telling officers that they were going to have to murder her and carry her out in a body bag. As she was being arrested, she urged her five-year-old child to bite the officers.

After Gaines failed to show up for her court date, she knew that officers would come to her apartment. In anticipation, she posted on Instagram a picture of herself loading a shotgun, and thanked her father for teaching her how to protect herself, and who to protect herself from. She noted that she had purchased her pistol-grip, pump-action 12-gauge shotgun (Big Girl) before they threw me charge (i.e., arrest me).

When the police arrived, Gaines had her shotgun ready. She pointed it at officers. The police negotiated with her for hours, but to no avail.

Worst of all, Gaines used her five-year old as both a prop and, at times it seems, a shield.

After hours of this, Gaines threatened to kill an officer if they did not leave. Police then fired at her and she fired back. Gaines was killed and her son injured, though not critically.

You might think this case  in a sense, suicide by cop  is one that even the black left would steer clear of. If so, you would be wrong.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is pressing the matter, seeking records and information. Monique Dixon, its deputy director of policy, says:

We are experiencing a crisis in the level of confidence that black and brown communities have in law enforcement. We are seeking to better understand the policing practices in communities of color, and that information will help us to advance recommendations for changes. . .

I doubt that the Gaines incident has anything to tell us about policing practices in communities of color. Black or white (in Maryland or in Oregon), if you ostentatiously flout the law, the police will confront you, and if you put officers in fear for their lives, you might very well get killed.

Nonetheless, its the right of civil rights organizations and citizens generally to seek information from the police. If the NAACP Legal Defense Fund wants to probe what is almost surely an open and shut case, thats okay. I suspect that, generously funded, they have the resources to waste.

But BLM style protesters arent waiting for information that might somehow show police wrongdoing. On Sunday, as the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police conference opened in downtown Baltimore, demonstrators wore T-shirts reading Justice 4 Korryn Gaines.

Thus, as improbable as it might have seemed, Korryn Gaines has entered the pantheon of Black Lives Matter martyrs.
The campaign of Ilhan Omar has engaged Ben Goldfarb to respond to the local media raising inquiries following up on my post of this past Friday on Ilhan Omars marriage licenses. Read about Goldfarb here. Omar herself isnt talking.

This past Friday, before posting anything on Power Line, I asked the Omar campaign to clarify the facts. Instead, the campaign not very subtly attacked my motives.

Patrick Coolican now reports the story for the Star Tribune. KMSP 9 also reports the story here. It all makes perfect sense in an alternate universe. As KMSP frankly notes up front: [Omar is] now facing a slew of questions, and not giving a lot of answers, about marriage certificates and the identity of her legal husband.

Let me sum it up this way. Omar denies she ever married the man behind door number 1 in 2002. The 2002 marriage certificate issued to them has been sent down the memory hole (along with the original Somalispot post discussing Omars marriage licenses and the Google cache version of the post). Someone is working hard behind the scenes to preserve Omars historic victory.

Omar states that she married the man behind door number 2 in 2009. The marrigae certificate issued to them in 2009 was fully executed. The man named on it is her legal husband  he is not her brother. Neither is he the man she holds out as her husband on her campaign site, nor is he the father of her children. Shes not saying anything more about the man she married in 2009 and remains married to today. Beyond denying that he is her brother  a denial she and her campaign failed to offer me  theyre not saying anything.

The man held out as her husband and the father of her children by Omars campaign site is none of the above, even though he appeaars to have been in the picture somewhere for quite a while.

Here is the heart of the KMSP 9 story:

In 2002, Omar, then just 19, swore out a marriage license with a man named Ahmed Aden. They write that they were married by the Muslim Church, but were having trouble getting housing and insurance. Hennepin County has no marriage certificate or final record that legalized the marriage. Then, in 2009, she at least on paper legally marries a man by the name of Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. The conservative Power Line blog alleges that this is her brother  a potential sham marriage to help the brother with immigration into the United States. Fox 9 cannot independently confirm the allegation. In recent interviews, Ilhan Omar has said her husband is a third man  Ahmed Hirsi  the father of the couples 3 children. We could not find any divorce records in Ilhan Omars name in Minnesota. As for the man she publicly refers to as her husband, one source in the community tells Fox 9 that Ilhan Omars current marriage is what you would call a traditional or community marriage  one not necessarily legalized with paperwork at the county or state level[.] While Ilhan Omars campaign wouldnt provide any documentation or explanation for the marriage licenses on file, they did release a statement calling the rumors about her personal life absurd and false.

Here is the heart of Coolicans Star Tribune story:

Hennepin County marital records show Omar applied for a marriage license in 2002 but never executed it. It was not immediately known who she planned to marry with that application. Seven years later, Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in Eden Prairie, according to their marriage record. Elmi could not be reached for comment. Minnesota courts have no records of Omar and Elmi ever filing for divorce. Her campaign flatly denied that Elmi is her brother. They would only say that she and Ahmed Hirsi, who is pictured in campaign literature and the father of their three children, are together and raising a family. The Star Tribune could not find records in Minnesota showing that the two ever married. Her campaign website reads: Ilhan, her husband and three children live in the West Bank neighborhood of District 60B. The most recent voter registration records show Omar and Hirsi living at the same West Bank address. Like a lot of families, she and Hirsi, the father of their three children, have had ups and downs, have weathered some storms, but what matters is that they came out of it together, Goldfarb said. He declined to offer more details. The campaign would not make either Omar or Hirsi available for comment, releasing a statement from Omar instead: A number of baseless, absurd rumors that dont bear repeating have been made recently about my personal life and family. Let me be clear: they are categorically false. The statement goes on to decry (Donald) Trump-style misogyny, racism, anti-immigration rhetoric and Islamophobic division. Despite the best efforts of those who wish to divide us and stand in the way of progress, rest assured that petty rumors like these will not distract me from the important work that lies ahead for our communities.

Heres what I had to say to Coolican:

Scott Johnson, a writer at PowerLine, said the campaigns response leaves many unanswered questions. Neither Ilhan Omar nor her campaign has offered an explanation for what is going on here, he said. The voters of Omars district deserve a straight answer to a simple question. Now, they have failed to provide one either to me or to the Star Tribune.

I spoke with Coolican via Twitter and on the phone this afternoon. I have appreciated his courtesies while he was working on this story.

The Omar campaign appears to me to be attempting to thread some kind of a needle regarding legal issues while remaining on the attack. The performance so far is poor to fair but the degree of difficulty must be judged high.
This happened several years ago in the same area with the same type, so is this a re-run of an old story, or a new event? The link to ASN doesn't work, so it's difficult to tell.



The base in the previous instance was Monte Real.
PR-Inside.com: 2016-08-16 08:09:11

Press Information

GIIAS 2016

Jakarta, Indonesia



Diah Putri

Seven Events

+62-21-29054091 ext.109

email

http://wwww.indonesiaautoshow.com





# 835 Words

Jakarta, IndonesiaSeven Events+62-21-29054091 ext.109

BSD City, INDONESIA, Aug 15, 2016 - The GAIKINDO Indonesia International AUTO SHOW (GIIAS) 2016 kicked-off last week at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD City, encouraging the nation's automotive industry and visitors alike to embrace an eco-friendly driving style and green technology, aligning with this year's theme "Green Technology for a Better Future". The AUTO SHOW, which runs from August 11 through 21, is proudly sponsored by PERTAMINA and Mandiri.GIIAS 2016 features 361 exhibitor stands from the Indonesian automotive industry, including 31 vehicles brands from authorized brand holders (APMs), consisting of 25 passenger car brands such as Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Datsun, Daihatsu, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Jaguar, Jeep, KIA, Land Rover, Lexus Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Suzuki, Tata Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Wuling and 6 commercial vehicle brands including FAW, Hino, Isuzu, Mitsubishi Fuso, Tata Motors and UD Trucks.At the opening ceremony, Vice President Jusuf Kalla expressed his and the country's hopes for the advancement of the Indonesian automotive industry. "By presenting an internationally scaled automotive event like the GAIKINDO Indonesia International AUTO SHOW, we are showing the world that Indonesia indeed has a strong automotive industry, and the potential to keep growing." Further, he stated, through a world-class event such as GIIAS, supporting industries that utilize vehicles in their daily operations, and the society at large, would also benefit. "There are so many new technologies being launched at this exhibition, and we hope that these will all contribute to advancing supporting industries," he continued."Certainly the advancement of an industry will have positive impact for adjacent industries, and with support from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Trade we hope that this exhibition will contribute to strengthening and developing Indonesia's automotive industry, and can also have an even larger multiplier effect in stimulating our national economy in a positive way." Kalla suggested that the strength of the auto industry reflected the progress of a society's trade policies and aggregate income. "The increase of automobile sales signifies a society's welfare. We're encouraging everyone, including industry, to take advantage of the tax amnesty that the government is offering. We hope that GIIAS can improve our technologies and economic patterns to be healthier for all of us," concluded the Vice President.Yohanes Nangoi, Chairman of GAIKINDO, followed by saying "The GIIAS 2016 is a very important event, as the automotive industry is with the foremost in the Indonesian economy. The automotive industry has contributed substantially to the Indonesian economy in general, with increased sales of domestic vehicles of 1.2% or 531,929 units sold during the first semester of 2016. 601,461 units were manufactured during the first semester of 2016, up 3.8% compared to the same period in 2015."The vehicle production capacity in Indonesia is 1,928,131 units, following investment by several GAIKINDO member companies. In order to increase growth and to strengthen the automotive industry further, and to increase investment to achieve the goals of the Indonesian automotive industry roadmap, we need promotional activity to introduce the potential of our national industry and our domestic market as well as showcase to the world that Indonesia is a worthy investment destination. And that is why GAIKINDO presents GIIAS again this year." GAIKINDO also organized the 11th Indonesia International Automotive Conference on August 12, with the theme of "Auto Industry Globalization". This conference was attended by prominent speakers from many countries who discussed their experiences in developing their automotive industries by using energy-saving technology, such as hybrid cars, electric cars, as well as government regulations that supported their programs.About GAIKINDOEstablished in 1969, The Association of Indonesia Automotive Industries (GAIKINDO) is a non-profit organisation. All GAIKINDO members are companies of brand-holder agents (APM) that comprise producers, distributors, and manufacturers. Domestically, GAIKINDO facilitates its members' interests in relation to the Government's policies regarding the automotive industry. This includes policies on industry and trade, energy, tax, safety standards, the use of technology, and environment.In its global role, GAIKINDO is a partner of the automotive industry associations in various countries, mainly where the automotive industry has become a backbone of the economy, and in particular, with the principal countries whose products enter the Indonesian automotive market. For more information, please visit www.gaikindo.or.id About GAIKINDO Indonesia International AUTO SHOW (GIIAS)GAIKINDO hosted the very first Indonesian Autoshow in 1986. In 2006 the exhibition reached a new level, becoming an international-scale exhibition endorsed by OICA (Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles), and changing its name to Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS), and in 2009 moved to a larger venue in Jakarta International Expo - Kemayoran.In 2015 a new chapter began, as the GAIKINDO Indonesia International AUTO SHOW (GIIAS), now the largest in Southeast Asia, was held at the spacious Indonesia Convention Exhibition - Bumi Serpong Damai (ICE - BSD), a new destination for the MICE industry in Indonesia. GIIAS 2016 will occupy 96,557 sqm, providing maximum convenience for visitors, transportation systems for easy access, and a series of shows that are both entertaining and educational. For more information, please visit www.indonesiaautoshow.com
NANNING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hechi, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, plans to use its aging population as a way to attract tourists.

Hechi administers 11 counties and districts, six of which are known for longevity.

By the end of 2015, Hechi had 67,000 people aged between 80 to89, of whom, 760 were centenarians. It was named the "City of Longevity" at the International Symposium on Population Aging and Longevity, which was held in Changchun City in northeast China last week.

"Hechi has become popular with many tourists, especially from Asian countries who also honor longevity, like Japan and the Republic of Korea, " said Wei Xigang, deputy director of the Hechi aging society work committee.

Health tourism funding will be poured into Bama, a county inhabited by the ethnic Yao people and famed for having many silver-haired residents, to create a tourist destination.

"Hechi is also an impoverished area. We hope health tourism will help promote economic development," he said.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has abandoned its multi-billion naira headquarters building after committing N1.4 billion to the project, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.

Established in 1989 under the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, as Nigerias foremost anti-corruption agency, the bureaus mandate is to maintain a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business.

It is also mandated to ensure the actions and behaviour of public officers conform with the highest standard of public morality.

The Code of Conduct Bureau has the primary responsibility of checking corrupt practices in the Nigerian public service and has been doing so since 1989, the organisation said on its website.

The abandoned headquarters complex, located on Plot 816 in the Abuja Central Business District, near Labour House, was awarded in 2010 to Brunnel Engineering Limited for N3.5billion.

The award was contained in a letter with reference number CCB/HQ/CORR/200/14 and dated September 7, 2010.

The letter was signed by the Bureaus Assistant Director, Procurement, N. Hussaini, on behalf of the bureaus Chairman, Sam Saba.

Not long after the contract was signed, the bureau released 15 percent of the contract sum as mobilization to Messrs. Brunnel Limited and the company moved to site.

Just as the project got underway, PREMIUM TIMES learned the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) approved a new design for the site.

The FCDA had at the time insisted that that part of the Central Business District was meant for high rise buildings of up to 18 floors.

In compliance with the directive, the bureau directed the contractor to submit a fresh design for an 18-floor building at the cost of N12 billion.

Based on the new design, the bureau obtained a Certificate of No Objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement and raised a fresh memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval.

There was however objection by FEC as the then administration said there were no funds to finance the project.

FEC, therefore, ordered the bureau to review the project by reducing the number of floors.

After the project was reviewed to nine floors with four underground parking lots, FEC, on October 31, 2012, approved the review of the contract sum from N3.5 billion to N8.7 billion.

The reviewed contract agreement was signed on February 5, 2013.

But investigation showed that while it was releasing funds for the project in instalments, the bureau expected the contractor to execute the contract with speed.

On July 6, 2015, the bureau queried the company for abandoning the project and cited three warnings earlier issued to the contractor on the matter.

Among other things, it accused the contractor of submitting a defective work plan/undertaking to the FCDA and engaging inadequate workforce without requisite equipment resulting in poor performance.

In view of the above, you are requested to explain reasons for your rather dismal performance over the years and sudden abandonment of the site since April, 2015, letter read.

In its response, Messrs. Brunnel in a letter dated August 5, 2015, stated that it shared the concern of the bureau over the project.

It, however, drew attention to the fact that the bureau never mentioned its inability to discharge the payment certificate raised the previous year even when it was grossly undervalued.

Reference made to our advance payment always exclude the number of instalments and the period over which it was paid, the letter read.

Brunnels effort and contributions to the project has never been acknowledged in any of your correspondences or meetings. We however remain resolute on the delivery and discharge of the project the challenges notwithstanding.

We are fully aware of the constraints of the bureau vis-a-vis budgetary provisions in the 2015 fiscal year, we are therefore working to ensure we can absorb the implication of your sustained defaults while ensuring that the work progress remains uninterrupted.

Instead of seeking funds to complete the project under the 2016 budget, the bureau rather sought the sum of N4.4 billion for the purchase of an office building for its headquarters in Abuja.

The amount is contained in the 2016 Appropriation Act having been approved by both the Presidency and the National Assembly.

Already, it has written to the Bureau for Public Procurement requesting guidelines for an outright purchase of new building for its headquarters office.

The letter was dated June 7, 2016, and signed by the Acting Secretary of the bureau, Abiodun Kolawole.

On a visit to the abandoned project site, PREMIUM TIMES found that the underground parking lot of the building was water filled and was cutting away the edges of the surrounding lands.

With an erosion threat already underway, the road on which the building is located risks caving in if urgent steps are not taken to control it.

When contacted, the project consultant to the bureau, C. M. Binitie, said he was not aware the CCB was buying a property.

Only the CCB can give an answer as to why they are trying to buy a new property instead of completing the headquarters complex they started, Mr. Binitie said.

I have not been told that the project is abandoned. Why the contractor is not on site is best known to him and why the CCB is trying to buy another property is still a rumour. We have done what is legally possible to bring the contractor back to site but we are yet to hear from him.

He argued that the alleged plan to buy a new property is strictly between the BPP and the CCB, adding that while his advice has not been sought on the matter, the procurement bureau should advice the Conduct Bureau accordingly.

I think that the BPP should be in a better position to advise them accordingly because they were a party to the award of the contract to Brunnel. The contract was properly procured and the BPP issued a certificate of no objection to Brunnel, he said.

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the Chairman of the bureau, Mr. Saba confirmed the CCB received funds for an outright purchase of its headquarters building.

He, however, admitted that lack of proper funding and delay by the Development Control office of the FCDA, dogged the execution of the project.

It took FCDA over nine months to give us a certification for the contractor to proceed to site and of course with the passage of time, things began to happen, Mr. Saba said.

Coupled with the inadequate funding for that project, I think the contractor found it difficult to continue with the project.

Asked why outright purchase was not considered at the time the abandoned project was initiated, Mr. Saba said, It was not the fashion at that time. More so, because there wasnt any pressing need for that.

We had thought that within two to three years, which the project was supposed to be executed, it would have been completed. But it was not to be.

While CCB is the oldest anti-graft body in the country, Mr. Saba said it is the only one that does not have its own secretariat complex.

Of all the anti-corruption agencies, CCB is the only one that does not have its own secretariat. So if from 2010 when we came in, nothing appreciable has been done, does it not make sense for you to have an option? And if that option is approved by those who appropriate, who am I to say I dont want it.

Asked what would happen to the abandoned project now that money has been provided for an outright purchase, the chairman replied, You are asking the wrong person, I am not the contractor and I am not the consultant.

Yes, the project is that of the bureau, but we have consultants, there is the consultant to the CCB, there is also the federal governments consultant on this project. So you dont expect me to be able to answer that question. It should be given to those people or even the contractor to tell you what would be done to salvage it.

But we have sat and thought and we agreed that one the measure that can be taken to rescue the project is to have a private public partnership so that the project can be completed.

Already some people have expressed interest in it. So if and when this project is fully approved and money is appropriated and we have a building that we can enter as a corporate body, then we will go and take some other decisions that we can forward to government for its approval.
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured international and local human rights groups of appropriate response to a report of the judicial inquiry into the clashes between soldiers and Shiites last December, his office said Tuesday.

A statement by a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said Mr. Buhari was studying the report before announcing appropriate response in due course.

The presidents commitment to human rights remains unchanged because it is a cardinal component of the democratic order, the statement said.

The commission of inquiry, set up by the Kaduna State government, released its report in July. The panel investigated the killing of hundreds of Shia Muslims by Nigerian soldiers.

The report indicted the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Armys 1st Division, Adeniyi Oyebade. He was accused of ordering the attack on civilians.

The killings drew worldwide condemnations, and several investigative reports said hundreds of Shiites were killed by government troops and secretly buried in a mass grave in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The Shia Islamic movement, led by Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, said it lost more than a thousand members in the attack that took place between December 12 and 14 at its headquarters in Zaria.

A representative of the Kaduna State government revealed that 347 bodies were handed over by the army for a secret mass burial.

But despite the evidence, the army claimed it killed only seven Shiites who blocked a public road and attempted to assassinate its chief, Tukur Buratai, a lieutenant general.

It said troops only used force after it became clear that Mr. Buratais life was in danger.

The leader of the Shia group, Mr. El-Zakzaky, who was arrested by soldiers during the operation, has remained in custody seven months after.

The attacks were neither condemned by the army hierarchy nor by President Muhammadu Buhari.

After his initial silence, Mr. Buhari suggested during a televised interview on December 30 that the victims invited the wrath of the military upon themselves by hitting the chest of generals.

But in what appeared a turnaround, Mr. Buhari said on Tuesday that his government will issue the needed response.

The statement issued by Mr. Shehu said the president had told the nation during the Presidential Media Chat that he was awaiting the outcome of the report of inquiry into the incident before making appropriate response.

The statement said the present administration believes in due process and the rule of law; therefore any response to the report would follow this principle.

The Federal Government will continue to act in the larger interest of the public to prevent such violent incidents, it said.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has issued an interlocutory injunction restraining the Peoples Democratic Party from electing officials into its national offices until a substantive application before it is determined.

The court also directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to ensure the convention does not hold.

Justice Okon Abang, while giving the ruling, warned that parties in the ongoing tussle for the leadership of the PDP who go against the decision of the court should be ready for punishment.

Mr. Abang was reacting to the submission of counsel to former Borno Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who informed the court that a member of the Ahmed Makarfis faction, Dayo Adeyeye, issued a statement accusing the court of giving inaccurate judgements.

Mr. Abang advised the Independent National Electoral Commission to adhere to an order directing it to stay away from the convention.

Failure to comply with the order of the court will attract disciplinary action, the judge said. The mighty will not escape just punishment. Whoever goes against the decision of this court will have themselves to blame.

Mr. Abang also ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Idris, to ensure compliance with the orders of the court.

He condemned the action of a judge of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, who issued a counter order nullifying proceedings of his court.

The counsel to the Makarfi faction did not file any affidavit before the court regarding the application for injunction by the Sheriff camp.

The counsel, Ferdinand Obi, however argued that his client was not served the originating summons for the said application.

But Justice Abang held that his argument lacked merit since the seven defendants in the case, who are members of the Makarfi faction, on Monday asked the court for adjournment without complaining that it was not served.

The court had ruled stopping the convention on Monday.

But the PDP said it would go ahead because another court in Port Harcourt cleared it to proceed with the August 17 event.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday lamented the continued threats of disintegration resulting from the activities of armed groups in the different regions of the country.

Mr. Obasanjo said Nigeria has never been as divided in history, except for the countrys civil war period between 1967 and 1970.

He spoke at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Union of Journalists national summit held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

The former president, who was represented by Peter Okebukola, a professor, said the media should not fan the embers of disunity but rather take the lead in the marching towards greater national integration and development.

He criticised those calling for the breakup of Nigeria, lamenting that the activities of the Niger-Delta Avengers, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen had fractured the country.

At no time in our history, except probably during the civil war, has Nigeria been so fractured in the feeling of oneness and belongingness by the citizenry, he noted.

In the last four months, we have an average of twenty hotspots across the country with huge potential for national disintegration.

He urged the media to support the efforts of government in fighting internal security challenges.

The press should mobilise the masses to strengthen the democratic process and play a crucial role in promoting a culture of tolerance, non-violence and mutual co-existence, he said.

For me, this Summit will only be successful if we find a niche for the press in our march to ensuring greater national cohesion, especially at this time in our history, he said.

Our strength as a nation lies in our unity and national cohesion and I want to entreat you (the media) to begin to preach the gospel of unity in diversity and unity of purpose and cohesion.

Mr. Obasanjo also charged the Nigerian media to pay close attention to investigative journalism, as most news headlines lacked credibility and were based on rumours.

It is unacceptable that a number of media organisations place low premium on investigative journalism, he said. These days, many news items that are used as headlines lack credibility and are based on rumours.

The Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, while declaring open the conference, said it was important for journalists as professionals to always be on guard against forces to take advantage of their power for selfish interest.

It is imperative that journalists as professionals should always be on their guard against forces that seek to take advantage of the formidable power of the profession for their selfish ends, said Mr. Amosun.

In his own remarks, Minister of Interior, Bello Dambazau, noted that the power and significance of the media rest on their role of watchdog, stressing that the media through their reports help Nigerians in making informed decisions.

The media must adhere to the ethics of the profession, he said. Where the media is unbiased and balanced in their reports, the people will be well informed to make informed decisions.
One of the aspirants for the office of national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Raymond Dokpesi, was on Monday successfully screened to contest for the position at the partys convention scheduled for Wednesday in Port Harcourt.

A statement by his media aide, Omor Bazuaye, said Mr. Dokpesi went through the screening processes without hitches.

Answering questions from the screening committee, Mr. Dokpesi said the decision of some southern leaders to have the position of national chairman zoned to the southwest was not with prejudice to candidates from the wider South who were still interested in the position.

He said his decision to run for the position was to restructure and rebuild a party with conscience and have respect for the wishes and aspiration of the people.

Addressing journalists at the end of his screening exercise that lasted barely 10 minutes, Mr. Dokpesi promised to re-position the PDP, and to make it a reputable democratic institution.

On the issue of zoning, Mr. Dokpesi cited the case in Rivers State where Governor Nyesom Wike contested and won the election for PDP despite the fact that his candidacy was clearly against the zoning arrangement in the state.

When you are in opposition, what matters is to present the candidate that can win the election and not zoning, he said.

He also said Mr. Wike was PDPs best candidate for the election and was good enough for the party to look beyond zoning.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's overcapacity cut efforts will not generate a drag effect on the country's growth or harm the world economy, an official from the country's top economic planner said on Tuesday.

Zhao Chenxin, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) made the remarks at a news briefing when responding to concerns raised by a Reuters correspondent.

Overcapacity is a global problem as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and occurs in many industries such as crude oil, iron ore and auto making, causing shale oil and gas stockpile in the United States and iron ore overproduction in Australia, Zhao said.

Even in the steel sector, overcapacity is not just a "China problem."

"Many countries are confronting the problem. It is a global issue," said Zhao. In 2014, China's rate of capacity utilization of crude steel was about the same as the world's average of 73.4 percent.

Moreover, China's iron and steel products are mainly for the domestic market to support the country's urbanization, manufacturing and infrastructure development.

China had long been a net importer of iron and steel products before 2006. Even during the 2006-2015 period, China's steel exports only accounted for 10 percent of its production volume, far less than other exporters' exporting scale, said Zhao.

The government does not encourage steel exporting. On the contrary, China levied taxes on steel exports and lowered tax rebate in order to restrain exporting of high energy consuming products, including steel.

China takes an active and serious attitude to reduce overcapacity. In the coming five years, the country will further cut crude steel capacity by 100-150 million tonnes, according to Zhao.

Confronting the global problem of overcapacity, China suggests relevant countries to cooperate for multi-win results instead of criticizing and buckpassing to play a zero-sum game and implement protectionism.

By the end of July, capacity reductions in China's steel sector amounted to just 21 million tonnes or 47 percent of the annual target, Zhao said. This marked substantial progress given China completed only about 30 percent of the planned cuts for the whole year in the first six months.

Yet the country is still facing daunting tasks for the rest of 2016 despite an acceleration in speed in July.

To fulfil the annual target, local governments were urged to be more resolute in capacity cutting and introduce more measures such as accountability system, public exposure and blacklisting, according to Zhao.

In terms of coal capacity reduction, China has finished 38 percent of annual target by the end of July, Zhao added.

Zhao attributed the default largely to a spike in steel and coal prices this year and local governments' reluctance in capacity cutting to protect jobs and local economies.
A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by Ahmed Makarfi has challenged a court ruling suspending its schedule national convention slated for Wednesday.

Ferdinand Orbih, counsel to the Makarfi faction told the court that his client was challenging the jurisdiction of the court and that they were also seeking a stay of execution of the order.

Justice Okon Abang had ordered the suspension of the convention after learning that the Makarfi faction had secured an order from a federal court in Port Harcourt mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission and security operatives to participate in the convention.

Mr. Abang said the exparte motion was an abuse of court process.

But at Tuesdays sitting, Mr. Orbih said his client was challenging the ruling.

Asked whether the application was already before the court, the registrar said the application was not before the court.

Mr. Abang cited a previous Supreme Court judgement which said a court was only bounded by processes before it.

So it is my view that the processes mentioned by the counsel to 3rd and 9th defendant is not within the knowledge of the court and therefore he would not depart from the decision of the Apex Court, said Mr. Abang.

The application lacks merit and is hereby dismissed, he stated.
As the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gets set to elect a new set of leaders, 90 persons have so far signified their intention to run for various offices.

The party is expected to hold a repeat National Convention in Port Harcourt on Wednesday where 22 positions will be vied for.

The chairman of the publicity sub-committee of the convention, Onyema Ugochukwu, said in a statement on Monday that of the 90 aspirants, five are for the position of national chairman, four for 1st Deputy National Chairman (South) and five for 2nd Deputy National Chairman (North).

He also said five aspirants are seeking to emerge as the National Secretary, 2 for Deputy National Secretary, while six aspirants are vying for the office of National Publicity Secretary.

Recall that screening of aspirants is ongoing at the State Party Secretariat, Aba Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and screening Appeal will begin on Tuesday, August 16, 2016, Mr. Ugochukwu said.

In compliance with the PDPs Constitution from inception, all regional interests are usually accommodated in recognition of the Countrys diversity, and as such, the PDP has zoned the 2019 Presidency to the North and the National Chairmanship to the South. Other positions have also been zoned between North and South for equitable representation in the Party, respectively, he said.

He also said the Repeat National Convention will provide opportunity for PDP delegates to elect officers into the offices of National Chairman, 1st Deputy National Chairman (South), 2nd Deputy National Chairman (North), National Secretary, Deputy National Secretary, National Treasurer & Deputy, National Publicity Secretary & Deputy, National Legal Adviser & Deputy, National Woman Leader & Deputy, National Youth Leader & Deputy, National Organizing Secretary & Deputy, National Financial Secretary & Deputy and other National Ex-Officio members.

The successful outcome of the August 17, 2016 National Convention will usher in fresh leaders that will manage the affairs of our great Party, the PDP, in order to rescue Nigerians from confusion and strife that the APC led Government has imposed on all of us.

The PDP will continue playing its role after the Convention as the main opposition Party by providing alternative governance and remaining a solution-driven political Party to help the Government in power, and reposition itself to regain power in 2019 for our common good, he said.

Mr. Ugochukwu said in only one year of the governing All Progressives congress, APC, led Government, Nigerians are yearning for the return of the PDP to power given the fast disappearing democratic gains the Party achieved in 16 years of its Administration.

It is noteworthy that all the values associated with our great Country as the giant of Africa and the fastest growing economy in Africa is being eroded.

Just last week, South Africa has overtaken Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa; herdsmen attack and kidnapping is becoming more prevalent; ethnic and tribal agitation for self-determination is on the increase; and the Government of the day is helpless in providing solution to all of these numerous problems bedeviling our dear Nation.

We are ready to make amends as a Party and we are working with all stakeholders across the Country to restore our past glory, he said.
The All Progressives Congress in Ondo State on Tuesday erupted in a crisis with some members claiming they have impeached the chairman, Isaacs Kekemeke, for his involvement in the endorsement of an aspirant ahead of the governorship primaries slated for August 27.

The group forcefully took over the state secretariat along Oyemekun Road, shutting the gates against Mr. Kekemeke and his allies.

They also announced the appointment of Saka Ogunleye as their new chairman.

At the time journalists visited the secretariat, the members were waiving placards, protesting the rumoured endorsement of one of the aspirants, Olusegun Abraham, by the national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

They alleged that Mr. Kekemeke had compromised his position by allowing the imposition of a candidate in spite of the agreement that all aspirants should prove their popularity at the primary election.

The rumoured endorsement by Mr. Tinubu was disclosed by a governorship aspirant, Tunji Abayomi, in a letter he wrote to Mr. Tinubu, challenging the latters interference in the democratic process in the state.

Mr. Abayomi had warned the former Lagos governor to steer clear of the process of selecting a candidate for the party and allow the people of the Stste to choose their leaders.

But Mr. Tibunu had since replied Mr. Abayomis letter, saying that he had the right to support any aspirant for the ticket of Ondo APC governorship candidate.

The protest on Tuesday was a reaction to the development, as the protesters vowed to resist any imposition of a candidate on the party.

A group known as the Owo/Ose Egalitarian Group, had earlier rejected the imposition, saying the action negated the principle of fairness and denied the people of Owo/Ese federal constituency the right to produce a governor for the state.

Its coordinator, Akin Famadenuyi, who protested the imposition in s statement, said the leaders of the party should not take away the rights of the people of his constituency the right to reduce the next governor by zoning it to another.

But Mr. Kekemeke who appeared unruffled by the uproar said the development was an expression of democracy in action.

You know our party is a progressive party and what happened today is part of the vibrancy in the party, he said.

I am not angry because people are free to express how they feel especially given the fact that APC has a high propensity to win the coming election.

People have invested their time and energy in the pursuit of their ambitions, and they are bound to vent their frustrations if they think that those ambitions are dimming.

Mr. Kekemeke however wondered why some aspirants were trying to deny others the same endorsements they sought as they campaigned for support ahead of the primaries.

He said most of the aspirants had gone to Mr. Tinubu to seek his endorsement for the election, but while some failed to secure his support, some others might have succeeded.

To seek endorsement from anyone is normal in a democratic process, it is political illiteracy to be angry because someone got endorsed and you did not get the endorsement, which you also sought, he said.

The aspirants have been going around trying to get endorsements even from me and I dont think there is anything wrong if anyone got endorsed.

Whatever the case, I can assure you that everyone will still have to submit himself to the primaries and a candidate will emerge through a free and fair election.

He said he was willing to be the scape goat, as the chairman of the party, saying he would be strong to receive whatever attack that would come to him in the process.

He promised that the issues would be resolved and the present state of things would not affect the process of the coming primaries.
Aisha Wakil, a Nigerian lawyer and negotiator for the Boko Haram group, who turned herself in after being declared wanted, is doing well in the hands of Nigerian military officials, defence sources said Tuesday.

But Mrs. Wakil has not yet been quizzed, sources said.

Mrs. Wakil arrived the Nigerian Defence Headquarters on Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after she was declared wanted by the Army.

Mrs. Wakil expressed surprise at being declared wanted, saying she was a well-known figure amongst the military hierarchy for years.

Army Spokesman, Sani Usman, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that Ms. Wakil was promptly ushered into the office of Director of Military Intelligence.

Defence Headquarters sources told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday afternoon that Ms. Wakil was doing well, but still awaiting interrogation.

The Army declared Ms. Wakil, Ahmed Bolori and Ahmad Salkida wanted on Sunday on the grounds that they have ties to Boko Haram.

The announcement was part of the Armys response to a video released by Boko Haram which showed some of the abducted Chibok girls.

The Army said the three individuals had committed offences that contravened the Terrorism (Prevention) Act of 2011, adding that they allegedly helped distribute Boko Haram propaganda materials.

Mr. Bolori has also not been seen in public since he reported at the Nigerian Army premises in Borno State on Monday morning.

Mr. Salkida said he was making plans to visit the country and submit himself to the Army, a visit he said could be expedited if the Nigerian government purchased an airplane ticket for him.
Armed robbers on Tuesday attacked a bullion van belonging to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at Hawan Kibo hills, near Riyom in Plateau, killing two policemen attached to the van as escorts.

The spokesman of Plateau Police Command, Terna Tyopev, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that the van was ambushed by the robbers.

He said three other policemen attached to the bullion van were injured.

He said the bullion van was carrying money from Jos to Lafia in Nasawara State.

It was a clear case of ambush; they were attacked unexpectedly.

Policemen escorting the bullion van repelled the attack; unfortunately we lost two of our men on the spot, while three other were badly injured, Mr. Tyopev told NAN.

The PPRO however stated that the robbers were not able to cart away money from the bullion van because our men responded vigorously; they reacted firmly, he said, adding that the police had commenced investigation to arrest the gun men. (NAN)
Former Nigeria military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, has said that his toughest duty in the army was trekking from Enugu to Umuahia where he sustained injury during the Nigeria civil war.

Mr. Babangida said this when he spoke to journalists to mark his 75th birthday in Minna on Wednesday.

Movement from Enugu to Umuahia was very tough and challenging because you need to be physically fit to be able to undertake that kind of journey on foot.

We had to go through the jungles and the hills. I think it was my toughest encounter in the army because that was where I got wounded in April 1969, he said.

Mr. Babangida said he joined the army to protect the country.

According to him, being in the military means that you must subject yourself to a constituted authority to execute all the tasks assigned to you by the government.

He said the constitutional role and international treaties made it possible for military personnel to serve anywhere in the world.

Mr. Babangida said the military job was more challenging than being the president of a country.

He said an army officer would lead men to danger because your life and their lives depend on you as the commander.

If they have faith in you they follow you. If you have faith in them you go along with them.

So, it is more challenging than being a president, he said.

Mr. Babangida said a head of state will seek peoples advice, interact and discourse with them to get solution based on the prevailing circumstances.

Being a military officer you are the only one leading your troops hoping on you. If you lead them wrongly you will kill many of them.

So, I consider the military more challenging than the political job, he said.

(NAN)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was yet to receive a Federal High Court, Abuja,

judgment on the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scheduled for Wednesday in Port Harcourt.

This is contained in a message from the INEC Deputy Director on Publicity and Voter Education, Nick Dazang, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mr. Dazang said INEC would come up with its position on monitoring of the convention, adding that its staff were on standby for further directive.

Even though the commission has been served the Port Harcourt High Court judgment, it is yet to be served the Abuja High Court judgment by Justice Abang, he said.



As soon as it (the Commission) is served the Abuja High Court judgment, it will take a decision.

In the meantime, and following the Port Harcourt judgment, our monitoring staff are on standby.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, had on Monday barred the PDP from holding its planned National Convention on August 17, in Port Harcourt, pending hearing and determination of the substantive suit filed by Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff.

Justice Ibrahim Watila of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt also ordered that the partys National Caretaker Committee should proceed with the convention in Port Harcourt as scheduled.

Mr. Watila also ordered that NEC and security agencies should monitor the convention.

But in contrast, Justice Okon Abang also barred the PDP from presenting and electing candidates as National Officers of the party.

The court gave the verdict in a motion on notice filed by the factional National Chairman of the party, Sen. Ali Modu Sherriff, against the convention.

Mr. Abang had also on Monday granted an interim order suspending preparations and holding of the national convention in Port Harcourt, pending the determination of the application filed before him on July 20.

It would also be recalled that Justice Liman Makhmud in Port Harcourt, had on July 4, validated the PDP convention held in Port Harcourt on May 21. (NAN)
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the administration of his predecessor, Jonah Jang.

The governor said in a press release on Tuesday that the commission would be chaired by Justice Stephen Adah, while Sani Mavo will serve as secretary.

The statement, signed by the governors spokesperson, Emmanuel Nanle, said the commission will ascertain all financial transactions, done or entered into by the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria or through any of its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), or official acting in its name from the 29th day of May 2007 to 29th May 2015.

The six-member panel was also mandated to establish how much accrued to the state, and how much was expended.

Other mandates of the panel are:

To ascertain the total amount paid by the Government of Plateau State as salaries and allowances of serving and retired State Civil Servants, Local Government Employees and Political Appointees from 29th May 2007 to 29th May 2015.

To ascertain and establish all financial allocations, funds, grants or monetary interventions and revenues which accrued to or in the name of the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria. Departments, Agencies (MDAs), Officials or Agents from the Federal Government of Nigeria or any International Institutions or Donor Agencies from 29th May 2007 to 29th May 2015.

To ascertain and establish all loans granted to or obtained by the Government of Plateau State of Nigeria through any of its Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), and the purpose for which such loans were obtained and whether the loans were used for such purpose.

The statement said the committee will officially be inaugurated this Wednesday.
The Nigerian Army has defended its men who were involved in the recent shootout in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger to recover arms from gun runners and armed bandits.

Speaking at the Nigeria Military Human Rights Dialogue, the Chief of Administration, Nigerian Army, Adamu Abubakar, a major general, said that the men were on official duty.

He said the Nigerian Army sent the operatives on a covert operation contrary to reports that the men acted on their own.

Contrary to statements attributed to some questionable vested interests, the troops were on legitimate official duty aimed to safeguard lives and property in the area, Mr. Abubakar said.

While approaching and deploying to carry out lawful duty, the troops came under simultaneous and sporadic shooting in all the three locations; they responded as necessary in line with rules of engagement.

He gave the assurance that the Nigerian military was committed to upholding the tenets of human rights in all its operations.

Also, Afam Chukwu, an air commodore, who spoke on behalf of the Nigeria Air Force, urged Nigerians not to be swayed by campaign of calumny, especially from the insurgents.

According to him, whatever the Air Force is doing, we will ensure the highest standards of professional conduct because we are committed to the protection of lives and property of Nigerians.

Mr. Chukwu also said that the Air Force had a public complaints desk which it was planning to relocate to a more accessible location and enjoined Nigerians to make maximum use of it.

The Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Bem Angwe, a professor, urged Nigerians to appreciate and show concern for families of military men who lose their lives in the cause of defending the country.

Mr. Angwe said that complaints in relation to atrocities committed by the military in the discharge of its duties had reduced tremendously.

He attributed this to some successes recorded as a result of the dialogue between the commission and the military.

Presenting a report of the previous dialogue held between both organisations, Olawale Fapohunda, the facilitator of the dialogue, said the Nigerian military was overstretched in its primary function of defending Nigeria.

This is more so given the several security challenges Nigeria is facing. The military now appears to be the first line of defence in all matters of security.

In addition to conducting operations against the Boko Haram insurgents and the Niger Delta militants, the military is also leading operations against all types of criminal conduct across the country, he said.

Mr. Fapohunda identified the need for the Armed Forces Act to be amended, saying this would pave way for more progress to be made in the area of military justice system.

We have suggested that a fundamental review of the Armed Forces Act is crucial to the whole discussion of military and human rights.

We have suggested that a starting point for this discussion could be the proposal which the Nigerian Military itself made to the National Assembly in 2004, which regrettably has made little progress, Mr. Fapohunda said

The Nigerian Army had on August 3, carried out an arms recovery operation in three local government areas of Niger.

The operation reportedly left eight soldiers and two men of the Nigerian Air Force dead while eight bandits were also killed and 57 others arrested. (NAN)
The Rivers police command said on Tuesday that it had made adequate security arrangements for the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The convention is expected to start Wednesday, August 17.

Nnamdi Omoni, DSP, Public Relations Officer of the command, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the command had carried out necessary deployments for the convention.

 The command is prepared for the convention; necessary deployments have been carried out and we are prepared for the convention, he said.

Mr. Omoni said the command had made arrangements to protect lives and property in the state while the convention was on.

 Remember, that there are other Nigerians living in the state.

The command is aware of this fact and will provide security for all including those attending the convention and others living in the state, he said.

The spokesman however declined to disclose the number of police personnel deployed for the convention.

Meanwhile, Sharks stadium, Port Harcourt, venue of the convention, is now wearing a new look.

NAN correspondent who visited the stadium, reports that workers were seen putting finishing touches to the podium and spectators stand.

Security was also tight as policemen and other security officials were seen screening people entering the stadium.

Some officials of the PDP were also seen at the venue inspecting final preparations by various committees charged with organising the convention.

(NAN)
BEIJING, Aug.16 (Xinhua)-- China's State Council has approved plans to connect the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges, the Chinese premier said Tuesday.

The preparation for the launch of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect is generally in place, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in remarks at a State Council executive meeting.

A similar link between the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses was launched in 2014. It allows investors on the mainland and those in Hong Kong to trade selected stocks on each other's exchanges.

"The roll-out of the Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect after that between Shanghai and Hong Kong marks another concrete step for China's capital market towards one that is more law-based, market-oriented and global; it will generate many positive outcomes," Li said.

The Shenzhen-HK Stock Connect will help investors to share more of the dividends from economic growth on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong and promote closer partnership between the two markets while shoring up Hong Kong's role as an international financial center, Li added.

The scheme will be launched at a proper time this year after the regulatory rules and technological preparations are completed, China's securities watchdog said Friday.

Opening up is a key feature of modern China and the opening up of capital markets and other financial markets has played an important role in helping boost the Chinese financial sector's international competitiveness and its capability to serve the real economy, Li said.
Prominent indigenes from the six states in the South-South region have concluded plans to meet on Friday in Warri to brainstorm on ways to end insurgency in the region.

Ijaw leader, Edwin Clark, and a former Minister of Police Affairs, Broderick Bozimo, said the meeting would hold at Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Conference Centre in Warri.

The two leaders made the disclosure on Tuesday in Warri when they briefed journalists.

Mr. Clark said those invited to attend the meeting include serving and past governors, legislators, former and current ministers, prominent traditional rulers and politicians from the six states in the zone.

He listed the states to include Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Rivers and Delta.

The problem is not Ijaw problem alone; it is a problem of the entire Niger Delta coastal states.

We have observed that the problem of vandalism has affected the national economy and affected us too; crisis does not solve crisis, dialogue is the answer, he said.

Mr. Clark pointed out that violence was not a solution to the problem of neglect, marginalisation, unemployment and underdevelopment that plagued the region, adding that dialogue is the only way out.

There is no way you can begin to fight without looking back. We are part of Nigeria, we believe in the unity and development of this country.

There can never be development without peace and there cannot be peace without justice, he added.

The Ijaw leader said that President Muhammadu Buhari had also recognised the importance of dialogue.

He explained that one of the agenda of the meeting was to call on the president to dialogue with a team of stakeholders on the amnesty document currently before him. (NAN)
The South East zone of the Peoples Democratic Party has commenced moves to save the Deputy President of the Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, from being removed from office.

There have been alleged plots to remove Mr. Ekweremadu from office by the All Progressives Congress.

Against the calculations of the ruling party, the deputy senate president, a member of the PDP, was re-elected to the position on June 9, 2015.

Rising from a meeting on Sunday in Enugu, the party said it would resist any moves to oust Mr. Ekweremadu.

It consequently passed a vote of confidence on him and the three governors of the party in the zone.

Apart from Mr. Ekweremadu, others at the meeting were the governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his Ebonyi State counterpart, David Umahi.

Others included, the former governors of Anambra State, Peter Obi; former governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu; Ben Obi; and Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.

The Deputy National Chairman of the PDP in the South East zone, Austin Umahi, told journalists that the party had agreed to unite under one umbrella to support the deputy senate president and all its governors in the zone in the plan to regain power in 2019.

He said the zone was solidly behind Mr. Ekweremadu and would continue to support him as he worked to reposition the party in the country.

We the stakeholders of the party and the party leadership in the zone have deliberated on various issues affecting the welfare of our party and have spoken with one voice and pass vote of confidence on our leader and the Deputy President of the Senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, he said.

We also passed vote confidence on all the PDP Governors from the zone because they have demonstrated uncommon leadership qualities and development across the zone.

Mr. Umahi said the party in the zone was speaking with one voice ahead of the partys national convention in Rivers State.

According to him, the party had resolved peacefully the distribution of the offices allocated to the zone across the states with a view to consolidating the peace and reconciliation already achieved in the party at the zonal level.

He said, We are entering Port Harcourt for this National Convention with one voice; we are entering Port Harcourt as a formidable team to show the people the true politics in Nigeria.

Nobody can toy with the South East and we want to assure you that the zoning we have done, we did it in good faith and by the special grace of God all the states were carried along.

Bode George Campaigns in South East

Meanwhile, an aspirant to the office of the national chairman of the PDP, Bode George, made a surprise appearance at the PDP Zonal secretariat.

He arrived just about the time the zonal meeting commenced.

Speaking to journalists, Mr. George, a former deputy national chairman of the party in the South, denied the insinuation that it was in crisis.

He expressed optimism that he would revive the party if elected and return it to winning ways.

When you look at it from outside you think we are in crisis. I will say yes and no. It is not a fundamental issue, it is human factor, it is a human ego and not structural disagreement.

I would have been more worried if we have fundamental and structural differences. These are issues that can be resolved within a week. I was at the national secretariat of the party for 10 years, we have been tested, and we know the ethos and know the laws. We need to get back the whole of South East and entire country back to PDP.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, on Monday August 15, 2016, arrested a former Commissioner for Public Utilities in Ebonyi State, Benjamin Okah, for allegedly abusing his office and collecting gratification to the tune of N83 million.

The arrest was sequel to a petition by the Ebonyi State government over the $12 million contract to a United States-based company, Califco Group, which had been abandoned since 2012, the EFCC said in a statement Tuesday.

The contract was abandoned despite a mobilization of $10.8 million already paid by Ebonyi state government into the accounts of the said company, it said.

EFCC said investigation has revealed that both the Abuja and Ebonyi state addresses of the said company are fictitious.

It the course of investigation, it was discovered that the former Commissioner allegedly collected gratification from the company in the sum of N83 million between July 30, 2012 and December 30, 2014, through his companies: Global Victory Allied Company and Mahco Mega Nigeria Limited, the statement signed by Wilson Uwujaren said.


Pobierz zdjecie Przeczytaj o zasadach pobierania zdjec President thanks soldiers for their service on Armed Forces Day (photo by Andrzej Hrechorowicz / KPRP) (1)

President Andrzej Duda thanked Poland's soldiers for their service as the country celebrated Armed Forces Day on Monday.

The day was marked with a host of ceremonies attended by the countrys top officials and included a military parade in downtown Warsaw.

Addressing the soldiers, the president specifically thanked them for their service during a recent NATO summit in Warsaw and the Roman Catholic Churchs World Youth Day event in southern Poland. During these two major international events, "the world saw that Poland is a beautiful country and one that can not only host major events, but also guarantee security" for their participants, the president said.

A national holiday, Polish Armed Forces Day is celebrated annually on Aug. 15 to commemorate the anniversary of the country's 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.

In his speech, Duda said that people with different views fought together shoulder to shoulder 96 years ago: "peasants, workers, intellectuals, students, scouts - just about everyone, a million soldiers" to defend the countrys newly regained statehood after more than 100 years of foreign rule.

After the presidents speech, the traditional annual military parade took place, involving nearly 1,500 soldiers, more than 150 military vehicles, and more than 50 airplanes and helicopters. (PAP)
ATLANTIC CITY  The fighter jets snuck up on Cindy Jordan.

Jordan stood by her towel Tuesday as the jets soared overhead by the beach near Ohio Avenue in a practice run for Wednesdays Atlantic City Airshow. She had no idea an airshow was in town.

Im so bummed out. I would have stayed another day, said Jordan, 48, of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

Crowds on the beach and Boardwalk Tuesday craned their necks skyward and blocked the sun with their hands to watch the events practice run, which included shortened flight schedules by performers.

All five branches of the military will be represented at the airshow.

The U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team coasted to the ground, leaving streaks of colorful vapor trails in the sky. The Coast Guard dropped a person from a helicopter into the ocean before flying back for the rescue.

Fayez Fazaa, 65, of Toronto, said he was unaware of the airshow but was glad to be on the beach to catch the practice.

Its something to do, he said. Its something to watch on the beach.

Other beachgoers were experienced airshow spectators.

Susan Hesser, 51, of Mays Landing, comes to Atlantic City for the show every year and this year brought friends from Florida and Colorado. Their beach chairs sat in the shade of The Playground pier.

Its my first practice, said Hesser, who took a day off from her job with the federal Transportation Security Administration to attend. You come early to beat the crowds.

Several spectators attended the practice to avoid crowds expected Wednesday. Last years show had an estimated attendance of 400,000. Atlantic Citys year-round population is 39,260, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Police said they are stationing officers at major intersections to alleviate traffic.

Some people said theyd hoped the city would do more to promote the airshow and its Tuesday practice.

Todd Lovitz, of Margate, who runs the Pier 21 T-shirt store on the Boardwalk, suggested handing out fliers advertising the event earlier in the summer.

Atlantic City Airshow survival guide: Where to watch and more The Atlantic City Airshow will fill the skies above Atlantic County on Wednesday for the 14th time.

I said to the customers, You staying for the airshow? They said, What airshow?Lovitz said.

Contact: 609-272-7411

Twitter @ACPressTomczuk
ATLANTIC CITY  Frank Donahue volunteers at the Atlantic City Airshow basically because he loves airplanes. He fixed them and flew in them in a 24-year U.S. Air Force career, and still likes being around them.

Kelly Costello, of Linwood, is volunteering because she loves Atlantic City, and wants to help the city make another comeback.

And Cindy Erickson is involved because she loves her two sons. Theyre both U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilots, and they were volunteers at this show before they became pilots.

Volunteers are a key part of Wednesdays air show  even if most people there that day never notice them, Greater Atlantic City Chamber events director Elisa Monroe said. It takes 800 to 1,000 people to show up and work to make sure the show works the way it should, she said.

We could not put on this show without the volunteer support, she said. One hundred percent, this show is a combined effort of many, many people.

Ryane Watkins, of Ventnor, is a volunteer whose job is coordinating other volunteers, and she said they are fully staffed for this year. Her crews are mainly responsible for overseeing the sponsors pavilions and the Flight Line Club, which offers premium, VIP viewing for as many as 2,500 customers who spring for $50 adult tickets, or $30 for children.

That buys them private seating and restrooms, shade, an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet and soft drinks. Most of the shows sponsors also provide food and drinks for guests in their pavilions; the volunteers check tickets and credentials of people going in and make sure everything is OK for those guests.

And some volunteers help other volunteers. Theres a pavilion for them, too, and the show organizers figure they feed about 600 unpaid workers that day.

Cyndi Zubia, of Atlantic City, has volunteered for three years. Her usual job is giving directions to those sponsor tents  there are 16 this year, and they stretch a few blocks along the beach, she said. Afterward, she likes answering questions about her hometown from visitors, who can include the families of pilots and crews.

People ask where to go to eat, or where they can go with children, said Zubia, a Chamber of Commerce member who likes representing her city. And when she meets those military members and families, You get a chance to thank them for what they do for us.

Charles Oglesby expects to bring close to 100 volunteers with him Wednesday. Hes district executive for the Jersey Shore Council of the Boy Scouts, which will have kids from throughout Atlantic and Ocean counties on the Boardwalk, in uniform, selling official Atlantic City Airshow programs. The Scouts troops get a share of the sale price, which goes to support camping trips and other activities, Oglesby said.

Then theres the Atlantic County squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, which has a key job. The squadrons main duty is to secure the drop zone for the Golden Knights (the U.S. Army parachute team), and secure the back of the VIP area, including the dunes, the chambers Monroe says.

Most of the volunteers work four-hour shifts, starting about either 8 a.m. or noon. But as a longtime regular, Cindy Erickson, of Mays Landing, knows some people get there by 6 a.m., and she usually stays until at least an hour or so after the show ends at 4 p.m.

Her older son, Maj. Eric Fleming, has flown in air shows, although not this one. But he and his brother, 2nd Lt. Steven Fleming, volunteered at their hometown air show as civilians, and her daughter, Lauren, has worked there, too.

Eric Fleming came back to the Atlantic City show a few years ago strictly as a spectator.

He thought the format was unique, with the people right on the beach, said Erickson, a registered nurse at AtlantiCare. He just thought it was really great.

One of the main perks for working that day is that most volunteers get right at the center of the action, the best seats in the house  even if theyre not sitting.

Watkins, the coordinator, said the organizers dont mind at all if the volunteers stop and look up while the planes roar overhead. Thats even all right if some of those VIP guests have to wait a bit.

Everyone else is looking up at that point, too, she said, laughing. So its OK.

Contact: 609-272-7237
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ATLANTIC CITY  The Armed Forces Parade felt different from previous years marches after the death of founder Seymour Pinky Kravitz last year, several people involved in the parade said.

Its alright, said John Palmentieri, 91, of Atlantic City, who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service during World War II. Its a lot different without Pinky.

Atlantic City Airshow survival guide: Where to watch and more The Atlantic City Airshow will fill the skies above Atlantic County on Wednesday for the 14th time.

He was so enthusiastic, fellow veteran Jim Poulson added.

For the first time without Kravtiz, the Atlantic City Saluted Americas Armed Forces Parade, scheduled to coincide with the Atlantic City Airshow, was held for a sixth year, with the usual cadre of military bands, veterans and local marching bands making their way down the Boardwalk. The parade highlighted 11 World War II veterans, including Palmentieri, who were able to attend.

Assemblyman Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, who served two terms in Iraq, said the event is a great compliment to one of the resorts biggest events.

I think its a wonderful addition to the air show, Brown said.

The air show is a salute to our military in many respects, and this [the parade] is a salute to our veterans, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2, said.

Still, many remembered Kravitz, the longtime radio host dubbed Mr. Atlantic City.

Its fitting for his memory, Brown said. "The success of this parade is a tribute to his memory.

609-272-7411
Warm waters are drawing more bottlenose dolphins to South Jersey, with beachgoers and sightseers on charter boats reporting frequent sightings since May, experts said.

This also is a stark contrast with three summers ago, when a virus outbreak killed hundreds of dolphins along the East Coast.

We find dolphins 95 percent of the time and find playful pods from Longport to Brigantine, said Capt. Jeff George, 47, owner of Atlantic City Cruises, which operates a daily dolphin-watching excursion out of Gardners Basin in Atlantic City.

Not only are there more sightings, but it appears pods themselves are growing bigger with more young dolphins swimming alongside adults, he said.

People love seeing wild dolphins in their natural habitat, he said.

Barring disease, there is no reason for dolphins not to thrive off South Jersey, said Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal

Stranding Center in Brigantine.

The water is warm, the quality is great, and as long as bait fish remain plentiful for the dolphins to feed on, they should do very well, Schoelkopf said.

So far this year, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has responded to 12 strandings of bottlenose dolphins, most recently successfully rescuing a dolphin stranded in a creek in Middle Township on Aug. 7.

In 2013, 151 dolphins were stranded on New Jersey beaches that year, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

The morbillivirus affects the brain, immune system and lungs of dolphins and is spread between mammals, including mothers and calves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

None survived during what Schoelkopf called an unusual mortality event.

Before 2013, the last morbillivirus outbreak occurred in 1987, when 700 dolphins washed up dead along the East Coast.

After a morbillivirus event, the surviving animals have built up a natural immunity to the disease, he said.

This year there has been no unusual dolphin mortality along the East Coast, he said.

Not only is the dolphin population healthy, but the mammals are spending more time than usual in South Jerseys waters.

We were still seeing dolphins in our waters through the middle of last November, three to four weeks later than usual, George said.

The average November ocean temperature off South Jersey is only about 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service,

But last November, the ocean remained as warm as 60 degrees through the first 10 days of the month.

As the climate and the waters both warm, were seeing manatee and sea turtles moving farther north, and dolphins are spending more time in northern waters, Schoelkopf said.

Ideal water temperatures for dolphins are in the 70s, according to Schoelkopf, but he added that range can extend as low as 60 and as high as 80 degrees.

This year, the Atlantic Ocean water is even warmer than last.

Meteorologist Jim Eberwine, who has closely monitored the water temperatures off South Jersey for decades, confirmed that an 83.3 degree ocean temperature off the Steel Pier in Atlantic City on Wednesday evening was the warmest ever recorded.

The water is not only warmer, but that warmth extends deeper than normal too, Eberwine said

This means the warmer temperatures may last well into this fall, helping dolphins stay longer in South Jersey before heading south to the Carolinas and Florida for winter.

Contact: 609-272-7247
NEW YORK, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Police searched on Sunday for a gunman who killed a Muslim imam and his associate as they left a mosque in the Queens Borough of New York City Saturday, a crime that set off fear and anguish in the Bangladeshi community.

The shooting occurred around 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) near the Al-Furqan Masjid Mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, where the two victims were attending their Saturday afternoon prayers, according to local media.

The victims, identified as Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were wearing the traditional Muslim garb and were both shot in the head from close range. The killer approached them from behind, according to police.

Local police have released a sketch of a male suspect with dark hair, a beard and glasses. Police said witnesses described the shooter as a man with a medium complexion, who fled with a gun in his hand. Surveillance footage showed the suspect tailing the victims.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is set to announce on Monday a 10,000-U.S. dollar reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

Imam Akonjee had moved to the United States from Bangladesh two years ago, according to media reports, and the culturally diverse, working-class area where the victims were killed, on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, is home to many Muslim families from Bangladesh.

Members of the mosque had gathered at the mosque after the tragedy, denouncing the shooting as a hate crime against their faith.

The New York City police said they have not established a motive in the attack, saying there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith, but nothing was being ruled out.

On Saturday, Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner said there was "nothing in the preliminary investigation to indicate that they were targeted because of their faith."

"While we do not yet know the motivation for the murders of Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, we do know that our Muslim communities are in the perpetual crosshairs of bigotry," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, "Rest assured that our NYPD will bring this killer to justice."

"When religious leaders are targeted, we all bear the pain those in Ozone Park feel most personally today," said the mayor.

Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, said the shooting was a "cowardly act on peace-loving people." The U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh, Marcia Bernicat, said Akonjee "stood for peace."
LOWER TOWNSHIP  A Cape May-Lewes Ferry boat that has been for sale for four years likely will be scuttled as a new artificial reef after failing to draw interest on the commercial market.

The MV Twin Capes has been moored at the Delaware River & Bay Authoritys docks in Lower Township since it was gradually taken out of service about two years ago.

The ferryboat is bigger, heavier and more nicely appointed than the other three in the fleet. It has a full restaurant, a food court and two plush bars that were added as part of a $27 million renovation in 1996.

But the bigger boat costs more to operate, DRBA spokesman James Salmon said. It requires a bigger crew (17 people instead of 12) and uses more fuel than the other three ferries with every 17-mile crossing over the Delaware Bay.

The DRBA has a tentative agreement to sell the ferry for $250,000 to Delawares Department of Natural Resources for use as an artificial ocean reef.

Delaware is partnering with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which has decades of experience sinking barges, boats and construction material to create offshore habitat for fish.

New Jersey halted the program during a dispute between recreational and commercial fishermen over fishing rights to the states 15 reefs.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suspended funding for New Jersey reefs because of concerns that commercial fisherman were using them. The program is funded by taxes on fuel and recreational fishing gear.

Under a state agreement, commercial fishermen will have access to portions of two reefs in state waters. Meanwhile, the state plans to build a new reef in Manasquan Inlet and augment other reefs with 10 deployments.

The hard structures provide a base for a food chain and habitat that support bigger fish, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said.

Barnacles, mussels, sea stars, crabs. All of these organisms attract smaller fish that attract bigger fish like black sea bass and tautog that recreational fishermen go after, he said. These sites become extremely productive.

New Jersey plans to sink a U.S. Coast Guard boat that served in Iwo Jima and rescued boaters and a downed helicopter crew in a 1991 hurricane off Cape Cod as depicted in The Perfect Storm.

Meanwhile, the state plans to conduct archaeological surveys soon for a new reef it plans to build in the Delaware Bay, Hajna said.

DRBA commissioners said the cost of scrapping the Twin Capes could be significantly higher since scrap-metal prices have declined.

The DRBA sold the equally large and well-appointed MV Cape May in 2013 to Northstar Marine Services, based in Dennis Township, for $750,000 for use as construction barge.

That leaves three remaining ferryboats in the fleet: the MV New Jersey, the MV Delaware and the MV Cape Henlopen.

Total ferry traffic (cars and passengers) has been on the rise in the past three years after declines that saw annual crossings drop from 5,676 in 2006 to 4,754 in 2012.

Last year, the ferryboats made 4,700 crossings that carried more than 1 million cars and passengers across the bay. But the service has seen increasing car and foot traffic on the ferry in each of the past three years.

And that trend should continue this year, despite emergency engine repairs that sidelined the MV Delaware for a week this summer, Salmon said.

The ferry on Tuesday reached a milestone with the transport its 45 millionth passengers on Tuesday, the Villecco family from Jackson Township, who are heading to Maryland for a camping vacation.

The ferry service offers a variety of package and bus tours to take passengers to attractions such as the Cape May Lighthouse, the Cape May County Park & Zoo and casinos in Atlantic City.
Government pensions may need collateral too

Gov. Chris Christie sought to have Atlantic City's $74 million bridge loan backed by "every asset they have" as a way to protect the state's taxpayers against the financially troubled city defaulting on its obligations.

Maybe the state's teachers, police and firefighters pension funds should have gotten collateral as a way to protect themselves against those who borrowed against their pensions. Fair is fair.

Cindy Stoll

Ocean City

No jobless benefits

for walking off job

Seems Unite Here Local 54 strikers wanted their cake and to eat it to.

It's absurd to allow unions to strike at will knowing there's no rush to settle. Unemployment benefits are for those who legitimately lose their jobs.

Dick Jones

Ocean City

LoBiondo favors business

After 20 years in office, 70-year-old Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, is asking the voters for another term. First elected in 1994, he signed a pledge including 12-year term limits, which he continues to ignore.

LoBiondo voted for a drug plan benefiting pharmaceutical and insurance companies, against equal pay for women, for Paul Ryan's plan that would turn Medicare into a voucher program and cut Social Security benefits, and to restrict gun violence victims' rights. He opposes drilling off the Jersey Coast but supports legislation allowing other states to drill off their shores.

In 2015, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce presented LoBiondo with the Spirit of Enterprise Award for supporting pro-business policymaking, rating him at 85 percent. He has gotten big campaign donations from business. More than 10 years ago the Deepwater Project failed while LoBiondo was chairman of Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, leaving Coast Guard cutters with problems.

I'm not fooled by his photo ops on the boardwalk with striking casino workers, when the real LoBiondo is in Washington voting for corporate interests.

Nick Reina

Milmay

Defeating Trump is what's most important

Some Republicans are said to be considering an intervention to moderate the behavior of Donald Trump. His temperament and mental stability are being questioned, some allege by the corporate-owned "liberal press," although mainstream Republicans are part of this proposition.

The media covers his every appearance but ignores the questionable values of those he surrounds himself with. Like a spoiled teenager, he listens to no one, narcissistically proclaiming how smart he is, how successful and beloved by all, while thousands of pages of research demonstrate his inability to be trusted.

No presidential candidate has ever been so ignorant of national and world politics or so contemptuous of others, even fellow Americans. His conduct is outlandish and his statements uninformed. His corporate history, including the damage he has done to Atlantic City businesses and workers, is known.

The rich get richer, the middle class disappears, and the poor, sinking further into debt, have lost trust in their leaders. By railing against the government, Trump gives those disenchanted Americans false hope, even while offering no credible solution to their problems.

It is extremely dangerous if an intervention were to induce him to moderate his behavior just enough so he would appear more palatable to voters. Do Republicans really want to elect a candidate who then might revert to his true nature?

What is more important, winning the White House or protecting the country from a Trump presidency and the damage it would generate?

Bettie J. Reina

Milmay
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.




BENI, DR Congo, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) government has declared three days of national mourning starting Monday, following the massacre of 45 people in the eastern part of the country by suspected Ugandan rebels over the weekend.

Government Spokesman Lambert Mende, who made the announcement on the national broadcaster on Sunday evening, said flags across the entire national territory will fly at half mast during the mourning period.

"Following instructions from the president of the republic, the government hereby declares three days of national mourning starting Monday following the massacre of 45 people in Beni territory, North Kivu province, by suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels," Mende said.

The government noted that the massacre was a work of a radicalized or jihadist group.

"The terrorist massacre that occurred in the east of the country is not different from those which happen in Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria or Somalia, and even in Belgium, the U.S. and in France," DR Congo President Joseph Kabila said on Sunday in Goma, provincial capital of North Kivu.

"What happened in Beni is an Islamist threat of radical terrorists that is happening everywhere," he added.

North Kivu governor Julien Paluku urged the population to remain vigilant and support the DR Congo armed forces so that they can be able to defeat "the ADF terrorists."

At least 45 civilians were killed on Saturday night in Beni by suspected Ugandan rebels ADF.

The ADF rebels, who have been active in eastern DR Congo since 1994, are accused of having killed over 600 civilians since October 2014 in Beni town.

The Congolese army and the UN peacekeepers have in recent months launched operations against ADF, although the rebel group's threat level seems not to be declining.
BEIJING, Aug.15 (Xinhua) -- The 71st anniversary of the end of World War II was marked across China on Monday, with war victims remembered nationwide.

People from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea attended the annual peace assembly in Nanjing, commemorating China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

At the Nanjing Massacre Victims' Memorial Hall representatives from the three countries recited a declaration of peace.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese troops began six weeks of destruction, pillage, rape and slaughter after capturing Nanjing. More than 300,000 Chinese, including unarmed soldiers and innocent civilians, were murdered.

On Aug. 15 every year, NGOs from across the world gather in the city to pay their respects to the victims.

Miyauchi Yoko, head of an anti-war NGO based in Kobe, Japan, said the hot summer weather in Nanjing reminded her of the brutality suffered by Chinese during the war, giving her and her colleagues the motivation to do everything in their power to prevent such a tragedy ever happening again.

In Harbin, one year after the Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by Japanese Army Unit 731 opened on the site of the former headquarters of the army unit, visitors topped 950,000, three-fold the number prior to the musuem's opening.

Unit 731 was a biological and chemical warfare research base established in 1935.

Jin Chengmin, curator of the museum said it held many historical documents, and about ten percent of visitors came from overseas.

In Shanghai, the "Transcript of the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East" was published for the first time and is scheduled to debut at Shanghai Book Fair on Tuesday.

The book selects and translates sections pertaining to China of a previous English book on the military tribunal. It was jointly published by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and the National Library of China Publishing House.

Xiang Longwan, honorary director of the Center for the Tokyo Trial Studies of Shanghai, Jiao Tong University, said the Tokyo Trial has significant meaning for international relations today.

"Hopefully, the book will become standard material for future studies of the trial, " he said.
MONTREAL, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Announces Commencement of Phase II 10,000-Meter Drilling Campaign

ALGOLD RESOURCES LTD. (TSXV: ALG) (the "Corporation") today announced excellent preliminary results from its Phase I 10,000-meter drilling campaign. The results support the Corporation's interpretation of a potential high-grade gold deposit covering an area of more than 3.1 kilometers on strike and open in all directions. The exploration was carried out on the Eleonore zone, Sophie I, Sophie II-III and Lily zones. These prospects are located on Algold's Tijirit Property ("Tijirit" or "the Property") in Mauritania, which represents an area of more than 1,000 km[2] situated approximately 25 kilometers southeast of the Tasiast gold mine.

Highlights - Phase I

Recent results at Eleonore, in combination with previously reported reverse-circulation ("RC") drilling results, continue to corroborate our initial interpretation of a high-grade gold zone over 3.1 kilometers: Drill hole T16RC027 intersected 6 m @ 16.4 g/t Au on strike, 1.25 kilometers southwest of previously reported hole ERC4, thus bringing the overall strike length defined by drilling to over three kilometers. (Reference: Figure 1); Drill hole T16RC031 intersected 6 m @ 9.64 g/t Au, 100 meters northeast of earlier hole ERC4, outside the actual wireframe; Drill hole T16RC024 intersected 6 m @ 4.23 g/t Au, on strike, 860 meters northeast of previous drill hole ERC4, which intersected 6 m @ 17.6 g/t Au; T16RC032, a twin hole of previously drilled holes ERC4 and ECD1, intersected 6 m @ 9.31 g/t Au .

All intersections on Eleonore are associated with quartz veining within mafic volcanic, or are at sheared contacts between a volcano sedimentary sequence and mafic volcanic.

The Eleonore structure is characterized by mineralized quartz veins, which have been identified further north and south of currently known occurrences, thus extending the exploration target to over 10 kilometers.

Drill hole T16RC020 on Sophie II intersected 11 m @ 1.53 g/t Au, while T16RC021 intersected 12 m @ 1.5 g/t Au, possibly in the hinge of an interpreted fold in BIF. These intersections are situated down dip of the actual wireframe. (Reference: Figure 2)

An impressive grab chip sample grading 2,200 g/t Au was retrieved from an area approximately two kilometers southwest of Sophie II. This represents the highest-grade rock chip ever found on the property. (Reference: Figure 3)

Francois Auclair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Algold commented on the preliminary results, "We are very pleased with the progress of our exploration program. To date, the results of Phase I of our 2016 exploration program meet, and in several instances exceed, our expectations. We are in receipt of some 25% of the Phase I assay results and thus far the high-grade intersections on Eleonore continue to corroborate our initial interpretation of a continuous, high-grade gold zone associated with quartz veining at the sheared contact between a volcano sedimentary sequence and a mafic volcanic unit striking over 3.1 kilometers. Furthermore, RC drilling at Sophie II indicates a potential extension along strike and down dip of a previously identified wide, lower grade mineralized zone."

The Phase I drilling program was completed on time and on budget in early August 2016 with the anticipated remaining assay results expected in the later part of Q3 2016.

Phase II 10,000-Meter Drilling Campaign

Based on the excellent results from Phase I exploration Algold is planning Phase II, a 10,000-meter combined diamond drilling and RC drilling program, which will focus primarily on the Eleonore and the Sophie II zones. The Phase II drilling campaign is expected to commence in early September 2016 and should be completed by year-end 2016. Algold is fully funded to complete all phases of its 2016 exploration programs.

Detailed geological descriptions of all mineralized zones can be found on Algold's website (http://www.algold.com) and on SEDAR (http://www.sedar.com) in the report entitled "Algold 43-101 Technical Report: Tijirit Maiden Mineral Resources Estimates for the Tijirit Gold Project in Mauritania".

Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC)

Analytical work for soil geochemical samples and rock chips samples is being carried out at the independent ALS Laboratories Ltd. in Loughrea, Co. Galway, Ireland, and an ISO 17025 (2005) Certified Laboratory. Samples are stored at the Corporation's field camps and put into sealed bags until delivered by a geologist to ALS preparation laboratory in Nouakchott, Mauritania, where samples are sieved and prepared for shipping. To the end of 2015, samples were analysed at ALS facility in Bamako, Mali. Since early 2016, samples are analysed at ALS in Ireland. Samples are logged in the tracking system, weighed, dried and finely crushed to better than 70 % passing a 2 mm (Tyler 9 mesh, US Std. No.10) screen. A split of up to 1000 g is taken and pulverized to better than 85 % passing a 75 micron (Tyler 200 mesh) screen, and a 50 gram split is analysed by fire assay with an AA finish. Blanks, duplicate and certified reference material (standards) are being used to monitor laboratory performance during the analysis.

All of the results and press releases related thereto are also reviewed for accuracy and to ensure they are in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 by Andre Ciesielski, DSc. PGeo, Algold Resources Ltd. Lead Consulting Geologist and Qualified Person, and Alastair Gallaugher, C.Geo. (Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London), BSc. Geology, Algold's Exploration Manager in Mauritania, Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Table 1: Assay Result Highlights (Partial) - Phase I RC Drilling Program

East North From To Average Grade* Width** Hole ID Prospect UTM UTM (m) (m) (g/t) (m) Comments New zone; north - 860 m from nearest drill intersection T16RC024 Eleonore 482476 2250760 28 34 4.23 6 including 2 m @ 10.4 g/t Au T16RC027 Eleonore 481604 2248703 84 90 16.44 6 Including 2m @ 46.25g/t Au T16RC029 Eleonore 481776 2248835 123 127 1.16 4 New zone; south. 300 m from previous modelled intersections T16RC030 Eleonore 482043 2248911 54 56 4.51 2 Extends wireframe 40 m SW T16RC031 Eleonore 482296 2249966 50 56 9.64 6 Extends wireframe 60 m NW T16RC032 Eleonore 482214 2249887 24 30 9.31 6 Twin hole T16RC034 Eleonore 482278 2249749 112 114 2.03 2 Extends wireframe 80 m SW T16RC035 Eleonore 481776 2248835 0 2 1.55 2 Quartz rich float 45 52 3.20 7 Extends wireframe 70 m SW 54 58 1.14 4 T16RC036 Eleonore 482016 2249723 69 72 1.98 3 Extend wireframe 60 m NE T16RC037 Eleonore 482123 2249743 44 48 2.68 4 Extension of mineralisation seen in T16RC035 T16RC001 Sophie I 474800 2251731 42 48 1.25 6 Including 4 m @ 1.65 g/t Au 129 132 1.35 3 Stopped in mineralisation due to water table T16RC005 Sophie I 475658 2252448 89 93 1.58 5 50 m north of current wireframes Sophie T16RC013 II 475763 2251059 164 168 1.92 4 Extends BIF mineralisation Sophie down dip T16RC015 II 475670 2250836 122 124 1.70 2 Extends BIF mineralisation Sophie down dip T16RC019 II 475548 2250631 116 120 3.62 4 Fold zone (amphibolite) Sophie T16RC020 II 475654 2250672 136 147 1.53 11 Fold zone (BIF) 51 53 1.96 2 Sophie T16RC021 II 475563 2250944 67 79 1.50 12 Twin hole 93 100 1.19 7 *Weighted average **Down-hole length (believed to be close to true width) Note: Complete assay results will be posted to Algold's website (http://www.algold.com).

ABOUT ALGOLD

Algold Resources Ltd is focused on the exploration and development of gold deposits in West Africa. The board of directors and management team are seasoned resource industry professionals with extensive experience in the exploration and development of world-class gold projects in Africa.

Algold is the operator of all of its exploration licenses in Mauritania. Algold owns 100% of the Tijirit and Akjout properties, which were acquired from Gryphon Minerals (Australia) through a transaction completed earlier in 2016. The Kneivissat property is 90% owned by Algold and the Legouessi property is being managed through a 51% earn-in interest agreement with Caracal Gold LLC. Algold can earn up to a 90% interest in the Legouessi exploration permit (see October 10, 2013 press release for more details), however, Caracal has the right to participate in the joint venture at either 51% or 75%, by funding its share of expenditures.

CAUTIONARY LANGUAGE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains and refers to forward-looking information based on current expectations. All other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward looking statements (or forward-looking information). The Corporation's plans involve various estimates and assumptions and its business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. For more details on these estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, see the Corporation's most recent Annual Information Form and most recent Management Discussion and Analysis on file with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements that are included herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Algold Resources Ltd., 1320, boul. Graham, bureau 132, Mont-Royal, Quebec, H3P 3C8, http://www.algold.com ; Francois Auclair M.Sc., PGeo, President & CEO, f.auclair@algold.com, +1(514)-889-5089; Yves Grou, CPA CA, Executive Vice Chairman, y.grou@algold.com, +1(514)237-7757
DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Extruded Polystyrene Thermal Insulation 2016" report to their offering.

Built on the knowledge and experience in the polyurethane and insulation industries, the study details demand for 2015 and provides anticipated market figures for 2020. Forecast years are presented and market rankings (or market shares where available) of Asia's leading insulation companies are included, by both country and product type. Market influences and trends are also outlined.

The contents of the report are based on a thorough investigation of the insulation market in Asia Pacific, which included extensive primary research across the different countries throughout the last and first quarters of 2015 and 2016, respectively. Furthermore, pertinent secondary sources and statistics have been fully examined.

An additional 4 market volumes focus on a specific insulation material exclusively (Mineral Fibre, EPS, XPS & PU/PIR).

This volume covers Extruded Polystyrene.

Market data is given in cubic metres, tonnes and the country's local currency.

End-use Sectors Covered:

Building

- Domestic and Commercial Building

- Cold Stores

- Agricultural Buildings

Industry

- Pipe Lagging

- Domestic Appliances

- Transport

- Process Plant

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Market Influences

3. Market Summary & Spot Forecasts

4. Market Review

Companies Mentioned

- Armacell India Pvt. Ltd

- Asahi Fiber Glass Co, Ltd

- Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp

- BASF

- Beijing HuaDu Chemical Building Material Group

- Byucksan Corporati

- DOW KAKOH K.K

- Ecofoam Polyurethane Insulation

- Hebei Huamei Group

- JPS

- KCC Corporation

- Kaneka Corporati

- Kumho Petrochemical

- LangFang Huayu Innovation & Technology Co; Ltd

- Lloyd Insulations (India) Limited

- Luyang Energy Saving Materials Co; Ltd

- MAG-ISOVER K.K

- Maspe

- NICHIAS Corporati

- Owens Corning India Limited

- PT. Bondor Indonesia

- PT. NICHIAS Rockwool Indonesia

- Philippine Insulation Co,

- Poly Glass Fibre Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd

- Polyglass Industries Indonesia

- ROCKWOOL Building Materials (Philippines) Ltd

- ROCKWOOL Malaysia Sdn Bhd

- SY Panel

- Sae Rom Panel Co; Ltd

- Shengquan Group

- Shinwoo industrial Co; Ltd

- Superlon Worldwide Sdn. Bhd

- Supreme Petrochem Ltd

- Tianjin Tianlong Shuangsheng Insulation Mat.Co;Ltd

- UP Twiga Fiberglass Limited

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lnxqp3/extruded

Related Topics: Plastics, Insulation

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com



SOURCE Research and Markets
ABI Research Forecasts More Than 143 Million Cockpit OSes Will Ship in 2021

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With autonomous driving inching closer, cars are incorporating digital user interfaces, in-car LTE, and data utilization through cloud services. ABI Research forecasts more than 143 million operating system (OS) solutions will ship in 2021 to support the software-defined car cockpits, or automotive head units that support cluster displays and in-vehicle infotainment. As the competitive landscape widens, both proprietary and open source solutions providers, including Google's Android, Intel's Wind River, and Blackberry's QNX, continue to battle for design wins.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276887LOGO

"Increasingly, OEMs and software companies are collaborating directly to create automotive software solutions," says Susan Beardslee, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. "Alibaba and SAIC's recent car demo using the Alipay system shows just how involved OEMs now are in the sourcing and development of OS and software solutions. Some are even developing expertise in-house to drive ownership of the software stack and provide greater leverage, brand value, user experience, and ultimately, value-added services."

Google's Open Automotive Alliance won over nearly 50 automotive OEMs, all of which joined a partnership promoting Android integration. The GENIVI Alliance open source software architecture for infotainment includes a number of compliant solutions from automotive Tier 1s like Aisin, Continental, Delphi, Harman, Magneti Marelli, and Visteon. Qualcomm recently partnered with Google and unveiled plans for an Android Nougat-based car platform. Though still in the developer preview stage, the open source solution is working its way deeper into the car, with potential body and information system support creating a new dynamic for software-defined models.

It will be Android's first "turn-key platform", capable of common vehicle operations. Yet, though car OEMs like Audi, BMW, Kia, and Toyota Motor, currently use Google's Android Auto technology for search, map, and other functions, ABI Research predicts Android N will likely not appear in cars before 2020.

"The connected car solutions form a fragmented competitive landscape, with established players like QNX Green Hills and Mentor Graphics already well-positioned in this space," concludes Beardslee. "There are security concerns with any open source solution, such as potential threats from hackers compromising mission-critical operations, like a car's brake or acceleration function. As proprietary and open source solutions continue to duke it out for design wins, there will be a continual need for collaboration and business models conducive to the diversity of customer needs and evolving use cases."

These findings are from ABI Research's Automotive OS and Software Trends (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/1024879-automotive-operating-systems-and-software-/). This report is part of the company's Automotive, Smart Mobility, & Transportation sector (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/practice/autonomous-driving-location-tech/), which includes research, data, and analyst insights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research stands at the forefront of technology market research, providing business leaders with comprehensive research and consulting services to help them implement informed, transformative technology decisions. Founded more than 25 years ago, the company's global team of senior and long-tenured analysts delivers deep market data forecasts, analyses, and teardown services. ABI Research is an industry pioneer, proactively uncovering ground-breaking business cycles and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Contact Info: Mackenzie Gavel Tel: +1.516.624.2542

pr@abiresearch.com

Related Links

http://www.abiresearch.com



SOURCE ABI Research
LONDON, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Cognia, a Worldwide Leader in Intelligent Cloud-based Compliance Archiving and Analytics, has Appointed Stewart Holness as its new CEO.

Stewart's appointment is among leadership changes made to prepare the company for its next phase of growth.

Stewart has a deep understanding of the media, big data,and telecommunication industries, having served as Marketing Director of Business Objects and Executive Vice President of both Stanford Technology Group and MicroStrategy Inc

"I am very excited to be joining Cognia and working with a motivated and innovative team focused on the success of the business," Stewart said. "Cognia's cloud-based Platform offers secure, scalable communication archiving and integrated intelligence services, without the cost or complexity of on-premise alternatives. Cognia is at the forefront of on-demand communication intelligence.'

Ian Hook , Chief Operating Officer commented, "We're delighted to have secured Stewart's appointment at a pivotal time for Cognia. His vision for the business aligns exactly with our growth objectives. We are confident he will be a driving force in achieving our goals."

About Cognia: Cognia helps organizations address some of their most pressing compliance, service-assurance and productivity challenges. Used by businesses in sectors such as finance, energy, healthcare and retail, Cognia's global communications-intelligence platform transforms the cost and ease of capturing, storing and analyzing mobile, fixed-line and digital interactions.



SOURCE Cognia
ACCRA, Ghana, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Access to Scientific and Educational Content to Strengthen Ghanaian's Educational System and Promote Long-term Growth in Science and Innovation

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announces its collaboration with the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE). This collaboration will provide nearly 45 thousand students and faculty at Ghana's 38 Colleges of Education with access to 2,000 books through ScienceDirect College Edition, Elsevier's full-text platform for research literature, tailored towards institutes of higher education.

This three-year license agreement, signed yesterday by Elsevier Chairman, Youngsuk "Y.S." Chi and NCTE Executive Secretary, Prof. Mohammed Salifu, will support the efforts of Ghana's academic community to enhance education and further stimulate research and innovation. The signing ceremony brought together government representatives, university leaders, policy experts, scientists and researchers.

"The Colleges of Education now have access to ScienceDirect, a very important resource which empowers faculty and students with access to high-quality, up-to-date information," said Prof. Salifu. "This access is crucial, but it is equally important to build capacity and train faculty and students so that they can effectively use the content they now have access to. We look forward to this collaboration with Elsevier and working together to build capacity within the Colleges of Education."

Y.S. Chi said, "Elsevier is deeply committed to supporting Ghana's capabilities in education, research, and innovation. Going forward, we are excited to further increase our engagement with the educational and scientific communities in Ghana to support the country as it continues along this strong trajectory."

About the National Council for Tertiary Education

The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) is a supervisory body under the Ministry of Education in Ghana, which oversees the administration of higher education institutions in the country. The NCTE advises the Minister of Education on developments in the higher education sector throughout Ghana, monitors the implementation of national standards for universities and polytechnic institutions, and advises educational institutions on resource management.

About ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect is Elsevier's leading information solution that empowers over 15 million researchers, teachers, students, healthcare professionals and information professionals around the world to be more impactful in their work. ScienceDirect combines authoritative, full-text scientific, technical and health publications with smart, intuitive functionality so users can stay more informed, and can work more effectively and efficiently.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Mohamed Sayed

Elsevier

+20-100-144-1228

m.sayed@elsevier.com

SOURCE Elsevier
CAMBRIDGE, Ontario, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT) (the "Company"), announces that it has been selected by the Fisheries Commission (West Africa Regional Fisheries Programme), an agency of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) of the Government of Ghana, for the provision of Satellite AIS data services as well as a small vessel tracking solution. The contract value is in a range of CDN$1.0-$2.0 million for a 12 month period and will enable Ghana to acquire the technology necessary to monitor its expansive coastlines and deter illegal fishing in its national waters.

Along with a comprehensive Satellite AIS data feed, exactEarth will provide MOFAD with 450 Class B AIS transceivers to be installed on inshore fishing vessels which will be tracked via satellite utilising exactEarth's exactTraxTM small vessel tracking technology. In order to address the rampant Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing around Ghana's Exclusive Economic Zone, MOFAD have provisioned this small vessel tracking solution to gain access to detailed fishing vessel positions and movement analysis services through the exactEarth ShipView platform. exactEarth ShipView will be upgraded to include a SOS alerting facility in an effort to support Ghana's government in their "safety of life at sea" initiative, which is intended to help its fishermen. exactEarth will be working with a local partner and academic institutions in Ghana to provide vessel movement analysis and reporting to help inform policy decision making and also to engage the next generation maritime professionals in coastal surveillance to protect and preserve Ghana`s fish stock for the future.

"This is an important strategic win and a major step forward for our small vessel tracking initiative," said Peter Mabson, exactEarth CEO. "MOFAD needs a high performance, reliable and compliant maritime monitoring solution to protect their critical fishing industry and our small vessel tracking capabilities will be an integral part of helping them achieve that objective. This reflects the growing opportunity for both our large and small vessel tracking solutions and our reputation for having the leading Satellite AIS solution on the market."

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS ("S-AIS") and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world's oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced "big data" processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.

Contact: Media: Nicole Schill, Marketing Communications Manager, Tel: +1-519-622-4445, Nicole.Schill@exactearth.com ; Investors: Dave Mason, Investor Relations, Tel: +1-416-985-3647, investors@exactearth.com

SOURCE exactEarth Ltd.
SINGAPORE, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore remained the destination of choice for foreign companies in Q2 2016, with the number of internationally-owned companies representing 39% of all business formations during the quarter, according to Hawksford's Business Formations Statistics Report for the second quarter of 2016.

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160802/8521604935LOGO

A 2% increase on Q1 2016, when the trend was first noted, the growth is a strong endorsement of Singapore as a regional business-hub. Amidst the uncertain and sluggish global economic conditions, foreign entrepreneurs and enterprises are undeterred in their confidence in Singapore as a commercial launch pad for their ventures and investments.

In Q2 there was also a significant jump in the number of Foreign Company Branch Offices registered. Compared to the corresponding period of Q2 2015, the total business registration in Q2 2016 leapt up by 10.4%. Interestingly, the Foreign Branch Office registrations in Singapore expanded by a massive 21.3%, underscoring Singapore's reputation among foreign companies and multinational companies that seek access to Asian markets.

Conversely, the share of wholly locally-owned companies dropped to 48%. The share of companies formed by Singaporean individuals dropped further in Q2 to 56%, a significant decline from its traditional majority share of around 70%. While the share of entrepreneurs and investors from China, Malaysia and the US grew marginally as international investors and entrepreneurs flocked to Singapore to take advantage of its safety net, locals are showing signs of restraint.

Ms. Jacqueline Low, COO of Hawksford Singapore, said "Q2 2016 was a robust period for business formations, with a significant 10.8% growth in number of new business formed, which is exceptional given the global economic backdrop. The continued uptrend in the share of foreign-owned companies is an unprecedented variance, which we believe is caused by the uncertain global political situation and the less than moderate economic growth momentum in the mature economies."

"We believe that business formation growth rates will hold steady in the third quarter, before slowing down at the end of the year. We also predict the share of foreign-owned companies to taper down by the last quarter and the historical trend will be restored. Singapore is resilient and has strong business foundations that will hold up well against the sluggish global economy."

This data is taken from Hawksford Singapore's Q2 2016 Company Formation Report. Read the full report and infographics here.

Contact:

Chye Fong Yee

+65-62227445

fongyee.chye@hawksford.sg

SOURCE Hawksford Singapore
DUBLIN, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Contrast Media Injectors Market: Global Industry Assessment and Forecast, 2015-2025" report to their offering.

Global contrast media injectors market is expected to be valued at US$ 1,773.4 Mn by the end of 2025, owing to increasing application in drug discovery segment for drug-cell interaction analysis.

Contrast media injectors are devices used for insertion of contrast media prior to diagnostics imaging procedure. Adoption rate of contrast media injectors is increasing significantly owing to increasing incidence of trauma cases and growing application in minimally invasive surgery. Contrast media injectors assist physicians in proper insertion of contrast media through pre-loaded insertion protocols to minimize human errors and increase efficiency of the procedure.



The contrast media injectors market is mainly driven by increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and rising geriatric population across the globe. Factors such as inadequate funding in developing countries, high pricing of products and non-availability of devices in developing countries are expected to hamper overall market revenue growth. Contrast media injectors market is expected to grow significantly in terms of revenue over the forecast period as number of CT and MRI scans being performed annually are increasing substantially. The contrast media injectors market is segmented on the basis of product, application and region.



Key market players covered in this report are Mallinckrodt, Guerbet SA, Bayer AG, Bracco Imaging S.p.A., Ulrich GmbH & Co. KG., Medtron AG and Nemoto Kyorindo Co. Ltd. Major players in contrast media injectors market focus on enhancing their global and regional presence through introduction of novel products and strategic operational expansion. Medrad Inc. (Bayer AG) was the market leader in the global contrast media injectors market in 2014, owing to a broad product portfolio.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Assumptions & Acronyms Used



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Overview



5. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Forecast, 2015-2025



6. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By Product Type



7. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By End User



8. Global Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis, By Region



9. North America Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



10. Latin America Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



11. Western Europe Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



12. Eastern Europe Contrast Media Injectors Market Analysis



13. APEJ Contrast Media Injectors Market



14. Japan Contrast Media Injectors Market



15. MEA Contrast Media Injectors Market



16. Competitive Landscape



Companies Mentioned



- Bayer AG

- Bracco Imaging S.p.A.

- Guerbet SA

- Mallinckrodt

- Medtron

- Nemoto Kyorindo Co. Ltd

- Ulrich GmbH & Co. KG



For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/zw8lwl/contrast_media



Related Topics: Infusions and Injectables , Needles and Syringes , Contrast Media

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com



SOURCE Research and Markets
NEW DELHI, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

IIHM Hotel School, India Leads in Delivering Wine Education

Every year a 10-day trip from India is organized to the Vineyards of Italy, Spain and France where IIHM undergraduate students are chosen to be flown to these vineyards for understanding the winemaking process.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160812/397683 )



Across its 7 campuses, a series of tests for its 3rd year specialization students helps decide the winners. The all-expense paid, sponsored 10-day long wine tour to France and Spain starts from 30th September 2016 in Bordeaux covering 4 days in totality - The students will be taken to left bank Medoc and Graves and right bank and Cognac of the region to study the soil structure and grape varieties for studying the great Red Wines of Bordeaux. The group will then proceed to Sauternes to explore the sweet wines of this region along with Entre-Deux-Mers.

On its 5th day, the group will reach Carcassonne in France where they will be joined by Liam Steevenson (MW) to mentor them on a class on wines of the region. The group will further drive to Roussillon, south of France, famed for its rose wines. On day 6, they will drive to Terragona Spain and explore the Penedes region famed for sparkling wine 'Cava'. On the 7th day, the group will reach Longrono Spain to spend 2 days and visit the Rioja region to study the different landscape which produces the legendry red wines and explore the winery 'Rioja Vega' and finally reach Paris before flying out to India.

Surely the industry is here to benefit from such teaching styles and techniques.

Dr Suborno Bose - Chief Mentor and CEO of IIHM and the IndiSmart Group remarked, "The IIHM Euro Wine Education Tour gives a unique exposure to the students. The future of wine and hospitality industry lies in the hands of these bright students of IIHM and I can easily tell you that they are in safe hands."

Princess Sabina Corsini of Principe Corsini Vineyards, San Casciano Val de Pesa, Tuscany remarks, "Indeed it has been a great moment and opportunity, the enthusiasm of the students is to be cherished and nurtured as they represent the future of this wonderful business."

About IIHM

IIHM is the largest hotel school chain in India delivering International Hospitality Management with campuses at Kolkata, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Bangkok, Thailand.

http://www.iihm.ac.in/

Media Contact:

Abdullah Ahmed

Director

IIHM Delhi

Abdullah.ahmed@iihm.ac.in

+91-11-43204700



SOURCE International Institute of Hotel Management
PUNE, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Intellectual Property Rights & Royalty Management Market by Solution (Standalone and Integrated), Deployment Mode (On-Premises and Cloud/Hosted), Organization Size (Large Enterprise and SMEs), Vertical, & Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to grow from USD 4.28 Billion in 2016 to USD 12.68 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 24.2% from 2016 to 2021.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 87 market data Tables and 41 Figures spread through 133 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Intellectual Property Rights & Royalty Management Market"



http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/intellectual-property-rights-royalty-management-market-2848114.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The major forces driving the intellectual property rights & royalty management are increasing need for protection of IP assets from duplicity & monetizing the assets and continue need for the upgradation of IP rights & royalty solution from user.

The cloud/hosted segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

The IP rights & royalty management market by deployment type is segmented into cloud/hosted and on-premises. Cloud/hosted type is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecasting period. This is due to increase in the usage of various broadcasting or distribution sources like smartphones and mobile apps.

In terms of organization size, the large enterprises segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

The organization size segment in the intellectual property rights and royalty management market comprises of SMEs and large enterprises. The large enterprises segment is projected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period.

The education segment to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period based on vertical

The education segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the increasing deployment of digital education and several initiatives taken by governments to promote the E-learning across the world.

North America is expected to dominate the Intellectual Property Rights & Royalty Management during the forecast period

The geographical analysis of the Intellectual Property Rights & Royalty Management Market mainly explores the division into solutions type across the five major regional markets, such as North America, APAC, Europe, Latin America, and MEA. The North American region is largely investing in the adoption of intellectual property rights & royalty management solutions in order to protect their innovations and assets across various verticals like healthcare & life sciences, IT & telecom etc.

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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, Fadel (U.S.), Klopotek AG (Germany), Vistex, Inc. (U.S.), FilmTrack (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Anaqua, Inc. (U.S.), Lecorpio (U.S.), CPA Global (Jersey), IPfolio (U.S.), and Dependable Solutions (U.S.).

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CHENGDU, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Another giant panda cub was born at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province during the early hours of Monday.

The mother, Dajiao, gave birth to the male cub at around 3:55 a.m. Her water broke at around 2:16 a.m., and the cub, weighing 179 grams, was born less than two hours later, said Wu Kongju, a panda expert at the center.

The mother, born Aug. 30, 2006, has given birth once before.

It is peak season for panda births, and staff at the center have gone to great lengths to take care of the mothers and their cubs.

There are more than 1,300 wild pandas in Sichuan, 15 percent more than 10 years ago. The number of captive pandas in Sichuan is more than 360, accounting for 86.3 percent of all captive pandas nationwide.
Students unconvinced that courses prepare them for the workplace

LONDON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Concerns about whether university prepares graduates for the world of work is casting doubt over the value for money it provides students, new research suggests.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121101/SF04201LOGO

The study from Canvas, the virtual learning environment (VLE) for academic institutions and companies worldwide, reveals that just one in three (30%) current undergraduates believe they are getting their money's worth from their degree course, and with university tuition fees set to rise next year, the figure falls to just a fifth (21%) among sixth-formers who are considering their next move.

The research shows that students believe higher education curricula should be equipping them for the world of work but universities are falling short of expectations. The study finds that less than a third (31%) of undergraduates believe their studies are relevant to the workplace, and one in four (23%) says their current course is doing little to prepare them for work.

This is far from the expectations of sixth-formers who want to come out of their degrees ready for work. The majority (55%) of students are looking for courses developed in close partnership with employers, and even more of them (80%) want the ability to collaborate with employers directly. The research highlights just how important getting a job upon graduation is when choosing a university, with two fifths (41%) citing "employability" as a crucial factor in their decision.

Kenny Nicholl, Director of Higher Education at Canvas, said: "Too many current and future undergraduates feel that they're not being prepared for employment, and as a result few believe their degree provides value for money. It is up to universities to bridge this gap by ensuring students have the skills and knowledge to thrive in the modern workforce. This means being tech-savvy and able to embrace continuous learning."

As technology becomes more central to the learning experience, helping students to work flexibly, hone investigative problem-solving skills, and connect easily with teachers and peers, universities are expected to provide the latest equipment and programmes. And technology is prevalent; most students (58%) said that computers are widely available for them to use, and almost half (47%) said they have regular access to virtual learning environments, meaning they can learn anytime, anywhere, just as they would do in the real worldhelping them to prepare for an increasingly digital workforce.

Today's sixth-formers also see the content they create at university as having the power to impact their personal development and support a lifelong learning approach, where education doesn't stop at graduation. A quarter (24%) expect to take content created at university with them, and put to use at work. However, the research suggests that technology enabling greater "ease of portability" is lagging in some universities, with fewer than one in ten (9%) undergraduates saying they will actually be able to reuse their content.

Kenny Nicholl continues: "Putting technology at the heart of university life helps students learn the skills that employers need. Technology like Canvas helps move teaching away from rote inside the classroom toward a collaborative and interactive learning environment, where knowledge is applied to real situations, and investigative skills are developed. Empowering students to take control of their own learning breeds a new generation of studentmore enthused, engaged and accountable, and ready to make an impact in the working world. In a competitive market, the universities that embrace change with new technologies and demonstrate how they can make their students 'employable' are likely to attract the best students."

Notes to Editors

The research was conducted online by Atomic Market Research among 501 sixth form students and 503 undergraduate students in June 2016. The respondents are representative of gender, age and location.

1. Source: Jisc, Technology for Employability, November 2015

For further information please contact:

Third City

Cathy Farmer / Rachel Finlay / Nathalie Lindenhall

E: Instructure@thirdcity.co.uk

D: +44 (0)20 3657 9773

M: +44 (0)7805 754904 / +44 (0)7957 073302 / +44 (0)7850 339727

About Instructure, the creator of Canvas

Instructure, Inc. is the software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximise the potential of people through technology, Instructure enables organisations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of instructors and learners at more than 2,000 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world. Learn more about the Canvas Virtual Learning Environment at www.Instructure.com and http://www.CanvasVLE.co.uk.

Copyright  2016, Instructure, Inc. All rights reserved. Instructure, Canvas and the Bridge logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Instructure, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other brands and names may be claimed as the property of others.

Related Links

http://www.CanvasVLE.co.uk



SOURCE Canvas-EMEA
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Opens Software Development Office in Russia to Support Growth in Business From its Smart Messaging Platform

MMDSmart, a leading global supplier of innovative communications products, is widening its product offering with new value added services targeted for the rapidly increasing market for A2P (Application to Person) Messaging. To support and further develop the tools needed for this market, it announced today the hiring of a team of experienced developers who will function out of its new development office in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

In less than two years, the company has seen double digit growth annually in demand for its A2P messaging products. Globally, the A2P market is expected to exceed $50 billion USD this year and industry sources expect the growth trend to continue as more and more enterprises, organizations and government agencies adopt this method for communicating with their clients, and constituents.

"At MMDSmart we always try to exceed expectations through the development of a truly unique set of products that bring real value to our customers", said Arie Frenklakh, CEO of MMDSmart. "With the growth that we are seeing in our messaging business and our forecast for a continued demand for our smart messaging platform, it was imperative that we add a strong development team to complement our existing voice team. We are excited to welcome the new team which will be developing the innovative tools that we need to deliver the benefits of smart messaging to our customers", he added.

This new focus on A2P messaging follows the company's launch in May of two new products. The first, "Engage.Me" a multi-channel messaging product is designed to increase conversion from both promotional and transactional mobile messages. The other newly launched product "Connect.Us", an over-the-top (OTT) international calling product which was launched at International Telecoms Week, enables MVNOs and other organizations to offer competitive international calling options directly to their subscribers with smartphones.

As part of this strategy, the company also recently joined the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), and is participating in its "Future of Messaging" initiative along with many other leading companies in the A2P Messaging market. It plans to release its full suite of smart messaging products later this year.

About MMDSmart

MMDSmart was founded in 2007 to provide smart communications solutions to organizations of all sizes. Its product offering includes voice, fax and chat solutions, with a specific expertise in smart messaging, helping organizations to create a messaging strategy which complements and enhances their customer communications and marketing activities. With headquarters in Tel Aviv, and offices in Hong Kong and Kiev, it is focused on providing the highest quality communications solutions to its partners and clients, which include many tier 1 companies from more than 100 countries. As it expands its global scope, its initial mission and commitment stays the same; MMDSmart. Connect. Engage. Smile

Links: MMDSmart: http://www.mmdsmart.com

Contact

Press Inquiries: Ira Cohen

ira@mmdsmart.com



SOURCE MMDSmart
PUNE, India, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

ReportnReports.com adds "Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Pipeline Review, H1 2016" market research report complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type, along with latest updates, and featured news and press releases. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects.

Complete report on H1 2016 pipeline review of Obstructive Sleep Apnea with 19 market data tables and 9 figures, spread across 53 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/601194-obstructive-sleep-apnea-pipeline-review-h1-2016.html .

The report also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. The report enhances decision making capabilities and help to create effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage. It strengthens R&D pipelines by identifying new targets and MOAs to produce first-in-class and best-in-class products.

Companies discussed in this Obstructive Sleep Apnea Pipeline Review, H1 2016 report include Galleon Pharmaceuticals, RespireRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and Vivus, Inc. Drug Profiles mentioned in this research report are (phentermine + topiramate) ER, dronabinol, GAL-475, GAL-475 Backups and SKL-N05.

Order a copy of Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Pipeline Review, H1 2016 report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/Purchase.aspx?name=601194 .

Scope of this report: The report provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and reviews pipeline therapeutics for Obstructive Sleep Apnea by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources and key players involved Obstructive Sleep Apnea therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects. The research covers pipeline products based on various stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages. The report features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which includes, product description, descriptive MoA, R&D brief, licensing and collaboration details & other developmental activities and assesses Obstructive Sleep Apnea therapeutics based on drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The report summarizes all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects with latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

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Develop strategic initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies

Plan mergers and acquisitions effectively by identifying key players and it's most promising pipeline therapeutics

Devise corrective measures for pipeline projects by understanding Obstructive Sleep Apnea pipeline depth and focus of Indication therapeutics

Develop and design in-licensing and out-licensing strategies by identifying prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope

Modify the therapeutic portfolio by identifying discontinued projects and understanding the factors that drove them from pipeline

Another newly published market research report titled on Acute Lung Injury - Pipeline Review, H1 2016 provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Acute Lung Injury, complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The report also covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases. Additionally, the report provides an overview of key players involved in therapeutic development for Acute Lung Injury and features dormant and discontinued projects. Companies discussed in this research report are Altor BioScience Corporation, Apeptico Forschung und Entwicklung GmbH, Commence Bio, Inc., CompleGen, Inc., FirstString Research, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Histocell S.L., Navigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Noxxon Pharma AG, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., S-Evans Biosciences, Inc., Silence Therapeutics Plc, Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. and Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. Acute Lung Injury Pipeline market research report of 114 pages is available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/628289-acute-lung-injury-pipeline-review-h1-2016.html .

Explore more reports on Pharmaceuticals .

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SAN FRANCISCO, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global patient engagement solutions market is expected to reach USD 39.3 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The supportive government initiatives and the rising usage and awareness of mobile healthcare services are expected to impel the market growth.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )



The rising prevalence of chronic conditions is the preliminary factor that is expected to advance the market growth. The mortality rate of diabetic patients was over 1.0 million in 2012, as stated by the WHO. This hike in the death rate of diabetic patients reflects the lack of knowledge about the causes, symptoms, and the preventive measures of the disease. The present patient engagement systems aid in furnishing patients with educative information; thus, empowering them to make better healthcare decisions.

The patient engagement solutions cater to the hospitals in providing financial solutions for effective utilization of the allocated healthcare budget. Furthermore, the market players are actively volunteering in obtaining patient feedback regarding the existent solutions to develop better patient engagement plat forms with enhanced quality.

Moreover, the favorable government initiatives and the funding efforts undertaken to promote the incorporation of patient engagement solutions in the healthcare sector help in boosting the market growth. For instance, in the U.S., under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, the government spends around USD 20 billion annually on hospitals for the installation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), which is expected to help in improving the workflow and the quality of treatment delivery.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Patient Engagement Solutions Market Analysis, By Type of Delivery (Web-based, Cloud-Based, On-premise), By Component (Software, Services, Hardware), By End-use (Payers, Providers, Individual Users), By Application (Social Management, Health Management, Home Healthcare Management, Financial Health Management), By Therapeutic Area (Chronic Diseases, Women's Health, Mental Health, Fitness) And Segment Forecasts To 2024" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/patient-engagement-solutions-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:

The web-based delivery segment is expected to be the largest delivery mode growing at a lucrative CAGR over the forecast period.

North America is expected to dominate over the forecast period with a revenue share of over 40.0% in 2024. Favourable government initiatives, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) initiated by President Obama and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, are anticipated to drive the market growth.

is expected to dominate over the forecast period with a revenue share of over 40.0% in 2024. Favourable government initiatives, such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) initiated by President Obama and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act, are anticipated to drive the market growth. Asia Pacific is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR of over 20.0% over the forecast period. The increasing investments in the healthcare sector, rising awareness with regard to the varying types of patient engagement portals, and the escalating geriatric population base are estimated to catapult the demand.

is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR of over 20.0% over the forecast period. The increasing investments in the healthcare sector, rising awareness with regard to the varying types of patient engagement portals, and the escalating geriatric population base are estimated to catapult the demand. Some key players of the market include Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Cerner Corporation, Phytel, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., McKesson Corporation, and MEDecision, Inc.

In order to curtail the competition, the key industry players are actively involved in the development of new solutions that facilitate the workflow of the existing platforms. For instance, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. provides revenue cycle management solutions, which help in maintaining the financial health of the medical systems.

Grand View Research has segmented the patient engagement solutions market on the basis of the type of delivery, component, end-use, application, therapeutic area, and region.

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Type of Delivery Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) On-premise Cloud-based Web-based

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Software Standalone Integrated Hardware Services Consulting Services Implementation Services Education Services Other Services

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Payers Providers Individual Users

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Health Management Financial Health Management Social Management Home Healthcare Management

Global Patient Engagement Solutions Market, Therapeutic Area Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) Chronic Diseases Obesity Diabetes Cardiovascular Diseases Women's Health Mental Health Fitness Others

Patient Engagement Solutions Market Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2024) North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany Asia Pacific Japan China Latin America Brazil Mexico MEA South Africa Saudi Arabia



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About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
NEW YORK, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Increasing water quality issues, aging water infrastructure and growing public awareness regarding ill-effects of drinking contaminated water to drive United States mobile water treatment services market

According to TechSci Research report, "US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market By End User, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2021", the US mobile water treatment services market is projected to cross $ 550 million by 2021. A wide array of factors anticipated to augment market growth during forecast period include deteriorating water quality, aging water infrastructure and favorable government policies. Moreover, increasing water shortage and rising industrialization are few other major factors anticipated to positively influence mobile water treatment services market in the US over the next five years.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Browse 23 market data Tables and 38 Figures spread through 111 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/us-mobile-water-treatment-services-market-by-end-user-energy-and-power-oil-and-gas-pharmaceutical-pulp-and-paper-chemical-processing-mining-and-mineral-processing-and-others-competition-forecast-opportunities-2011-2021/755.html

United States desalination industry is projected to increase from US$ 99.7 million in 2012 to US$ 1727.4 million by 2018. Anticipated growth in water desalination is expected to propel demand for mobile water treatment services in the country over the next five years. Mobile desalination units are immensely useful in water stressed areas or in adverse conditions such as hurricane affected areas. In addition, increasing water footprint coupled with rising repair requirements of water infrastructure is expected to further boost demand for mobile water treatment services in the country during forecast period.

Download Sample Report

@ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=755

Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.

South-East region dominates the country's mobile water treatment services market on account of increasing oil refining and power production activities. Major mobile water treatment service companies operating in the US include GE Water & Process Technologies, Evoqua Water Technologies LLC and Veolia North America. "Energy & power; oil & gas; pharmaceutical; pulp & paper; chemical processing; and mining & mineral processing are the major demand generators for mobile water treatment services in the US. In 2015, energy & power accounted for the lion's share in the country's mobile water treatment services market, and the sector is anticipated to continue its dominance over the next five years." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

"US Mobile Water Treatment Services Market By End User, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2011-2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of United States mobile water treatment services market and provides statistics and information on market size, consumer behavior and trends. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in United States mobile water treatment services market.

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India Wastewater Treatment Plants Market By Type (Municipal and Industrial), By Plant Category (Less Than 50 MLD, 50 to 200 MLD and Over 200MLD), By Operating Mode (EPC and BOOT), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011-2021

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Global Residential Water Purifiers Market By Technology (UV, Media and Membrane), By Function (Point-of-Entry and Point-of-Use), By Sales Channel (Retail, Direct, Online, etc.), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

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https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-commercial-water-purifiers-market-by-technology-uv-media-and-membrane-by-region-north-america-south-america-asia-pacific-europe-russia-middle-east-africa-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/665.html

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BOSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2016 US-China VC Summit & Startup Expo, organized by Liaoyuan (http://liaoyuan.io), the largest Asian social networking platform for startups in North America, will be held at Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on October 1-2, 2016. Hundreds of leading investors from the US and China will gather together to talk about cross-border investment, and more than 400 high-end startups will showcase their latest technologies and projects. The event is expected to attract thousands of investors and entrepreneurs from the Boston area as well as the US and Chinese venture capital communities.

The summit will focus on VC-related hot topics in China and the US, creating a face-to-face platform for in-depth communication between top Chinese and US investors. Guests that have confirmed participation include more than 100 VC and industry leaders from KPCB, FreeS Fund, Capital W, TriplePoint Capital, Artiman Venture, Techstars, Indiegogo, StudentUniverse, Madrona Venture, Silicon Dragon, Taoshi Capital and etc. Liaoyuan CEO Han Wang said, "We hope to provide a better platform for communication between Chinese and US venture capital firms and promote the complementary synergies between startups in both countries, while expanding cross-border investment and ecosystem."

"Mass entrepreneurship and innovation" is a widely discussed term these days. In the US, where entrepreneurship is part and parcel of the lifestyle, ambitious Chinese entrepreneurs who accept nothing other than being second to none have developed many excellent projects. The Startup Expo was created in a move to allow entrepreneurs to better share their experiences and seek cooperation opportunities, while allowing investors to more efficiently and directly find out about and further investigate the most interesting startup projects. Zonvon founder Elaine Li further explained that the summit will be the first online-to-offline combination of Chinese and US startup resources, laying a solid foundation for further communication and cooperation between startups in these two vast markets.

Sign up for the 2016 US-China VC Summit & Startup Expo at https://summit.liaoyuan.io/

About Liaoyuan

Liaoyuan is a social networking platform for the STARTUP community to connect with each other. We provide the platform to help entrepreneurs, investors and industry professionals efficiently find out about and acquire valuable resources by enabling highly targeted and personalized searching. Users can find active networking opportunities and resources including events, informational feeds and jobs at startups. As the largest Asian social networking platform for startups in North America, Liaoyuan has launched more than 1,500 online and offline networking events for startups across the continent, attracting the attention of or registration by more than 100,000 students studying abroad. The social networking platform has signed letters of intent with more than 600 startups and startup service providers in China and the US. Headquartered in Boston, Liaoyuan has branches in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Silicon Valley, Seattle and across the central part of the United States. Liaoyuan completed a more than US$1.8 million angel round of financing in April 2016.

SOURCE Liaoyuan.io

Related Links

https://summit.liaoyuan.io/


LAS VEGAS, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Crowdfunding Convention (GCC) hails crowdfunding experts from across the globe to co-create the future of the industry for the fifth year in a row. This year's event is on October 15 - 17, 2016, at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

"I attend the GCC every year, and learned everything I know about Crowdfunding from it. It is the best event in the industry," voiced Christopher Crippen, Director of US Resi Fund, also named 'Who's Who in Crowdfunding' by Real Estate Private Equity.

This October, the GCC spotlights experts, from startups and entrepreneurs, to Angel and VC investors, innovative service providers, incubators, accelerators, universities, and crowdfunding rockstars.

Featured 2016 GCC speaker, Kendall Almerico , named "one of the top crowdfunding and JOBS Act attorneys in the country," by Forbes; "one of 20 most influential thought leaders on crowdfunding in the world," by Venture Beat; and Inc. magazine's list of 'Top 19 Crowdfunding Experts Startups Need to Know'.

Almerico states, "I attended my first GCC 5 years ago. The people I met and things I learned convinced me the crowdfunding industry was where I needed to be. I was inspired to do what I have done since, in no small part, because of that first convention. I'll always be a part of GCC, based on that incredible inspiration many years ago."

Other top speakers: Brian Camelio, CEO of Artistshare, crowdfunded music platform with over a dozen Grammy Awards; Jilliene Helman, CEO/CoFounder of RealtyMogul, with $200+ Million invested through their platform; Tim Andrews of Elio Motors, Carly McGinnis of Exploding Kittens and Hiral Saghavi of BauBaux; and many more.

"We're excited to provide education to non-accredited investors interested in funding private companies for the first time," said Ruth E. Hedges, Crowdfunding pioneer of the JOBS Act, CEO and Founder of the GCC.

About the Global Crowdfunding Convention

The Global Crowdfunding Convention (GCC) consistently hand picks the best and the brightest in the field and covers all topics of crowdfunding. Produced by Crowdfunding industry experts, it attracts the world's business leaders to discuss the industry's most pressing issues. For more information visit www.thegccworld.com. Follow GCC on Twitter @thegccworld for real-time hashtag highlights, #thegccworld.

SOURCE Global Crowdfunding Convention

Related Links

http://www.thegccworld.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- byVivid launched online as a yoga brand made for yogis looking for a cleaner practice. byVivid offers anti-bacterial, eco-friendly, and high quality yoga mats and blocks containing their new StayFreshTec antibacterial technology that has not been seen in the industry before.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398082

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398083

byVivid byVivid

There are currently 36.7 million people who practice yoga in the US, increased from 20.4 million in 2012, which makes yoga the fastest growing sport in America. Founders Dennis Jager and Dennis Lau saw a problem with the cleanliness and sustainability of workout gear currently on the market and began research to find a solution.

Research has shown that yoga mats, especially those used and reused in yoga studios, can cause acne, transfer infections like staph/strep, and start to develop odor caused by germs and bacteria. To answer these health concerns, byVivid has created StayFreshTec, an antibacterial and odor control technology that is proven to prevent 99.9% of bacteria and fungi.

Many of today's yoga mats are made with a plastic called PVC, the most toxic plastic, which contains cancer-causing materials. byVivid uses natural rubber harvested from non-Amazon rubber trees as a healthier alternative to PVC. This natural rubber proves to be the safest material containing no toxins, dioxins or heavy metals while maintaining superior performance, grip, and durability of a yoga mat. byVivid also aims to stay green by manufacturing in zero waste and zero pollution factories.

The new yoga mats and yoga blocks provided by byVivid offer yogis a completely new way to think about their gear. With their new StayFreshTec, byVivid plans to release even more products in the future including mats and towels specific for hot yoga. byVivid mats and blocks are available for purchase now at byvivid.com and Amazon.

For further information, visit www.byvivid.com.

byVivid, LLC

Dennis Jager

79 Madison Avenue

Suite 551

New York, NY 10016

+19292253355

Email

SOURCE byVivid

Related Links

http://www.byvivid.com


VENICE, Fla., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout his award-winning career, photographer Clyde Butcher has cherished America's national parks. "I am filled with gratitude that I live in a country that had the foresight to save so many wild places for future generations," said Butcher. "They have given us the ability to step out of the rush of the modern world and to return to the quiet peace of nature."

Legendary landscape photographer Clyde Butcher sets up his cameras -- his 5"x7" Deardorff is dwarfed by his massive 12"x20" (40lb) Wisner to capture a photo series at iconic Oxbow Bend, located in Grand Tetons National Park. Butcher has spent 50 years photographing 33 U.S. National Parks to create a timeless collection highlighted in his new book "Celebrating America's National Parks." Location: Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida. This photograph was taken on the side of the road and was one of the first black and white photographs Butcher took that encouraged him to change from color photography to black and white film. www.clydebutcher.com

Butcher has compiled his favorite black-and-white photos into a beautiful new book, "Celebrating America's National Parks, Preserves, Monuments, Recreation Areas." Released to coincide with the National Park Service's Centennial, this inspiring collection covers the 33 national parks and more than five decades of Butcher's timeless photographs.

The extensive collection of work was primarily taken with his large-format film camera, which enables him the ability to present immense detail in his photographs. Viewers can intimately connect with each scene through mural sized traditional hand-printed silver-gelatin photographs; each photograph is individually processed in his 2,200+ square foot darkroom in his Venice, Florida gallery.

"I have always believed our national parks are the crowning beauties of our country," he said. "As we celebrate the 100th year of the National Park Service, I wanted to highlight the national parks that I have photographed by creating this book."

Butcher's traveling exhibits of his dramatic wilderness photos have been displayed in museums across the United States and Europe. Aaron H. De Groft, director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, has called Butcher, "the foremost landscape photographer in America," adding, "He will be one of the greatest photographers in American history."

Emmy-winning filmmaker Ken Burns has high praise for Butcher's work. "Clyde Butcher's remarkable photographs gives us an access to nature we rarely see or experience," he said. "They not only reveal the intimate and majestic beauty of the environment, they also remind us of the abiding kinship we mortals share when we work together to preserve these magnificent places. Butcher's art is a national treasure."

Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1942, Butcher earned a degree in architecture from California Polytechnic State University, but found it difficult to present his designs through drawings. That led him into the field of photography, using the camera to photograph his architectural models for his design presentations. Unable to afford a store-bought camera, he made himself a crude, but dependable pinhole camera. That was the start of one of the most remarkable photographic careers in America's history.

On a vacation in Yosemite National Park with his new wife, Niki, he saw an Ansel Adams photography exhibit. He soon followed in Adams' footsteps, taking landscape photographs in black and white and exhibiting them at art festivals.

Since then, Butcher has followed the tradition of the 19th-century Hudson River School painters, composing his works at pristine locations across the United States.

Butcher is dedicating this exhibit and his new book to the courageous individuals who stood up to proclaim the need to save our wild places and to the forward-thinking ones who created the National Parks "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

A perfect holiday gift, "Celebrating America's National Parks, Preserves, Monuments, Recreation Areas," can be ordered online for $47.50 at clydebutcher.com.

Meet Clyde Butcher at his Big Cypress Gallery, October 29 & 30, from 9a.m. to 5p.m., where he will be exhibiting for the first time all of his photographs of 33 National Parks he has photographed over the past 50 years.

Media contact:

Allison Moore - Ward Group PR

Email

Tel: 941-961.3708

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398134

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398135

SOURCE Clyde Butcher Photography

Related Links

http://www.clydebutcher.com


WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Advantage Financial is a financial institution providing free checking and savings accounts, loans, credit cards, mortgages, and more to the Washington DC community. With over $100 million in assets, this not-for-profit, member-owned, Credit Union is bringing thrift banking to the luxury neighborhood of NoMa.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398226

Now Open! Advantage Financial opened doors at their new location on Monday, August 15th; 175 N Street NE. This is a giant leap forward after closing their previous public access branch in Chinatown. "This is only the beginning of a larger expansion in the Washington DC Metro Area,"said Don Johnson, President/CEO.

The new Advantage Financial NoMa branch features an iPad bar, open floor pan and an inviting lobby space. Designed by Collective Architecture, the branch was built within a newly constructed building just steps away from the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro stop. It is here they will continue to offer competitive products and services to both existing and new members including affordable auto loans, low rate credit cards, mortgages, home equity loans, and a 24-hour ATM. Operating hours will be 7:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Sunday. Ride, drive, walk or bike to the new conveniently located branch; accessible via the NoMa-Gallaudet U Metro stop on the Red line near the exit on 200 Florida Ave N.E. as well as, Amtrak, VRE, MARC, or Interstate 395.

Their field of membership includes those who live, work, worship or go to school in Washington DC so anyone can join! It's easy to become a member, simply open a Savings Account by depositing and maintaining a balance of $5 or more. This deposit represents your "share" in the credit union.

With this new location, Advantage Financial plans to contribute to the NoMa community in the way of volunteer work, hosting financial education seminars, and participating in local events.

For more information please visit www.advfcu.org

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE Advantage Financial Federal Credit Union

Related Links

http://www.advfcu.org


China aims to fund infrastructure and public projects worth 10.6 trillion yuan (1.6 trillion U.S. dollars) through public private partnerships (PPPs) to leverage investment from the private sector, an official said on Monday.

Authorities aim to fund a total of 9,285 infrastructure and public service projects through PPPs, said Shi Yaobin, China's vice finance minister, at a forum in Shanghai.

China's finance ministry has set up a 180-billion-yuan fund supporting the financing of PPP projects and is considering revising related fiscal and tax policies to facilitate implementation of the projects.

Chinese authorities have explored funding infrastructure and public works through the PPP model since late 2013 amid growing concerns over risks around rising local government debts incurred through local financing vehicles.

Such vehicles had been borrowing short-term funds on the government's behalf to finance long-term projects, leading to a mismatch in maturity that has caused many to question the ability of local governments to service these debts.

To address the problem, authorities have sought to let local governments issue municipal bonds while attracting private sector investors to meet the funding shortfall.

Over the past two years, the PPP model has been expanded to fund projects including energy, transportation, environmental services and senior care.

The government has also rolled out demonstration projects with participation by private investors to promote the PPP model, but with limited success.

Investors from the private sector still have reservations about participating in PPPs due to concerns about a lack of policy clarification, uncertainty about profitability and feasible exits, said Sun Xiaoxia, director of the ministry's finance department at the forum on Monday.

The finance ministry will publish two lists of demonstration projects with total investment value of 800 billion yuan. It said 48.4 percent of these projects have been implemented, with domestic private investors, mixed-ownership companies and foreign-funded firms accounting for 45 percent.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW) and Little Rock-area Hyundai dealers will present Arkansas Children's Hospital with a $50,000 Impact Grant tomorrow to be used to improve care and increase treatment options for kids with cancer. Arkansas Children's Hospital was chosen because of its proven track record of caring for children with pediatric cancer, and is one of 18 recipients across the country to receive a 2016 Hyundai Impact Grant from Hyundai Hope On Wheels (HHOW).

The $50,000 Impact Grant will be presented during a Handprint Ceremony, during which the handprints of local Little Rock-area brave young cancer patients will be captured on a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson  the Hyundai Hope On Wheels hero vehicle  to commemorate their fight against the disease. The ceremony will also feature:

JaKiah Collins, pediatric cancer patient and 2016 Children's Miracle Network Champion Child; and Crystal Collins , JaKiah's mother

, JaKiah's mother David Becton , MD, Chief of Hematology Oncology, Arkansas Children's Hospital

, MD, Chief of Hematology Oncology, Arkansas Children's Hospital Tammy Webb , Vice President, Acute Care, Arkansas Children's Hospital

About the Hyundai Hope On Wheels Impact Grant

During the months of July and August, HHOW will award 18 hospitals in the US with a $50,000 Hyundai Impact Grant for pediatric cancer research to help end childhood cancer. The Impact Grant supports the programmatic needs of pediatric oncology. The grant may also be used to support direct patient assistance programs, such as enrichment programs, play room/teen center equipment, family on-site support, educational initiatives, or other efforts to improve care and cure for kids fighting cancer.

In addition to the Impact Grant winner, Hope On Wheels will soon announce the winners of its Hyundai Scholar and Young Investigator Grants. This year alone, HHOW will award more than $13 million in new pediatric cancer grants. Since 1998, the program has funded $115 million in research to Children's Oncology Group (COG) member institutions nationwide. The program also creates awareness about the importance of the disease, which is the leading cause of death by disease in children in the United States (source).

Attendees at the various ceremonies will include HHOW's two national youth ambassadors and pediatric cancer survivors, Hannah Adams and Ryan Darby, who will deliver a message of hope to children's cancer hospitals. Hannah was five years old when she was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Wilms tumor that enveloped her kidney. Since her recovery, she has pursued her love of dancing and singing to help uplift and encourage other children and families through their fight. Twelve-year-old Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia six years ago, and since his recovery, he has shared his story and words of encouragement with children and families across the country. Watch Hannah and Ryan's story at www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org

"Our mission at Hyundai Hope On Wheels is clear: End Childhood Cancer," said Scott Stark, Chairman, Hyundai Hope On Wheels Board of Directors. "By funding transformational research through our Impact Grants and celebrating the lives of the brave young cancer fighters at our handprint ceremonies, we move closer to our dream of a day without cancer. This is a fight you can count on us to be in until no child ever has to hear the words: you have cancer."

HYUNDAI HOPE ON WHEELS

Hyundai Hope On Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer. Launched in 1998, Hyundai Hope On Wheels provides grants to eligible institutions nationwide that are pursuing life-saving research and innovative treatments for the disease. HHOW is one of the largest nonprofit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope On Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 830 U.S. dealers. Since its inception, Hyundai Hope On Wheels has awarded more than $115 million towards childhood cancer research in pursuit of a cure.

To learn more about Hyundai Hope On Wheels, please visit www.HyundaiHopeOnWheels.org or follow us on social media at www.facebook.com/HyundaiHopeOnWheels, www.twitter.com/hopeonwheels, and www.youtube.com/hopeonwheels.

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA

Hyundai Motor America, headquartered in Fountain Valley, Calif., is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Co. of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced through more than 830 dealerships nationwide.

Please visit our media website at www.hyundainews.com and our blog at www.hyundailikesunday.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140319/LA86658LOGO

SOURCE Hyundai Hope On Wheels

Related Links

http://hyundaihopeonwheels.org


The Great Place to Work Institute is a global human resources consulting, research and training firm. Its Great Place to Work Model is based on 25 years of research and data collected through its Trust Index Employee Survey, which is taken by over 10 million employees annually worldwide.

"This recognition further validates our efforts to create a best-in-class environment for employees so we can focus on our dedication to patients across the country," said Luiz Claudio Dutra, general manager, Astellas Farma Brasil.

AFB  which has increased its workforce by more than 30 percent in Brazil this past year - fosters a strong culture based on the "The Astellas Way"  a philosophy that emphasizes a commitment to patients, ownership, results, openness and integrity. AFB also recognizes the importance of balance between personal and professional life and offers a number of programs to enhance quality of life for employees.

"At Astellas, we believe that our culture is our competitive advantage," said Fatima Neri, director of Human Resources, AFB. "Our passion, sense of purpose and respect for each other inspires bold performance and helps us recruit and retain the best employees."

About Astellas Farma Brasil

Astellas Farma Brasil, an affiliate of Astellas Pharma Inc located in Tokyo, Japan, is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. Astellas Farma Brasil focuses on Urology, Oncology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases as core therapeutic areas. Astellas is on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. For more information on Astellas Farma Brasil, please visit: http://www.astellasfarma.com.br.



Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140416/84970

SOURCE Astellas

Related Links

http://www.astellasfarma.com.br


LONDON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Details

The latest report from business intelligence provider visiongain offers comprehensive insight into the global commercial vehicle telematics market. Visiongain assesses that this market will generate revenues of more than $13bn in 2016. The commercial vehicle telematics industry is undeniably one of the fastest growing sectors in the commercial vehicles sector.



Now: TomTom Telematics will be highlighting the latest developments in connected fleet management systems at this month's CV Show. This is an example of the business critical headline that you need to know about - and more importantly, you need to read visiongain's objective analysis of how this will impact your company and the industry more broadly. How are you and your company reacting to this news? Are you sufficiently informed?



Questions answered by this report

- How is the commercial vehicle telematics market evolving and what is driving and restraining the market dynamics?

- How will each one of the commercial vehicle telematics submarket segments grow and which technologies will prevail?

- How will the national commercial vehicle telematics markets change by 2026 and which geographical region will lead the CVT market?

- Who are the leading commercial vehicle telematics players and what are their prospects over the forecast period?

- And what are the trends in the commercial vehicle telematics market?



We break down the most important subsegments within the commercial vehicle telematics market but also the key connectivity type's, service providers', countries' and player's competitive positioning and characteristics that will make them lead this specific market.



How this report will benefit you

Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. Visiongain's new study tells you and tells you NOW.



In this brand new report you find 201 in-depth tables, charts and graphs, and trends  all unavailable elsewhere.



The 174 page report provides clear detailed insight into the global commercial vehicle telematics market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.



By ordering and reading our brand new report today you stay better informed and ready to act.



Report Scope

- 201 tables, charts and graphs analysing the CVT market

- Overview of the commercial vehicle telematics market by connectivity and service provider type

- Global commercial vehicle telematics market forecast 2016 - 2026 and analysis of drivers and restraints

- Global forecasts of 7 individual commercial vehicle telematics submarkets by connectivity and service provider type covering the period 2016  2026

- Global forecast of commercial vehicle sales and major trends for the period 2016  2026

- Global commercial vehicle shipments with telematics forecast and analysis for the 2016  2026

- Forecast of the global penetration of commercial vehicle telematics systems for the 2016  2026

- Analysis of the commercial vehicle telematics technologies which are expected to become mandatory in major regions

- Commercial vehicle telematics forecasts and analysis of the 12 leading national markets for the period 2016-2026.



- In greater detail, we provide:

- The Status of the commercial vehicle telematics market in 2014-2015 including:

- The most notable developments in telematics for commercial vehicles

- Overview of the M&A within the commercial vehicle telematics market

- Examination of the commercial vehicles market during 2005-2015

- Segmentation of the commercial vehicle telematics market into 2 types submarkets:

- By type of connectivity into embedded, integrated and tethered solutions

- By service provider into OEM hardware, aftermarket hardware, telematics services, and connectivity services submarkets



- Market value forecast of the global commercial vehicle telematics market (revenues $bn) throughout 2016 to 2026 coupled with:

- Analysis of the micro, macro and regulatory drivers of growth in the market

- Identification of the restraints & the challenges that the market faces until 2026

- Market Value ($bn) Forecast 2016-2026 of the two submarkets along with:

- Individual examination of drivers and restraints of each secondary submarkets

- Allocation of submarket shares in the global commercial vehicle telematics market for 2016, 2021, and 2026 respectively

- Market value forecast ($bn) of the commercial vehicle telematics market in the 12 leading national markets: United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, UK, France, Italy, China, Japan, India, South Korea and Russia

- Forecast for sales of commercial vehicles during 2016 to 2026 allocation of regional market shares in sales of CV for 2016, 2021, and 2026

- Forecast of smartphone and tablet shipments 2016-2026 to support the growth of telematics in commercial vehicles

- SWOT analysis of each one of the individual commercial vehicle telematics submarkets

- Profiles of the leading companies within the commercial vehicle telematics market comprising 12 leading aftermarket telematics providers & and 4 leading OEM telematics providers for commercial fleets:

- Analysis of their role in the CVT market and overview of their portfolio (up-to-date) with regards to telematics hardware

- Company financials (Group Revenues, Profits)

- Assessment of their subscription revenue and number of telematics subscribers (where available)

- Conclusions



How will you benefit from this report?

- Keep your knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind

- Reinforce your strategic decision-making with definitive and reliable market data

- Learn how to exploit new technological trends

- Realise your company's full potential within the market

- Understand the competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships



Who should read this report?

- Anyone within the commercial vehicle logistics and fleet management industry

- Aftermarket Companies for Connected Vehicles

- Automotive Safety Systems Companies

- Connectivity Solution Companies,

- Collision Avoidance Systems Companies

- Telematics Solution Companies

- Diagnostics Companies

- V2X Safety and Security Companies

- Road Safety Authorities

- Telecommunication Companies

- Business intelligence analyst

- Competitive intelligence analyst

- Business operations manager

- Product development manager

- Business development managers

- Marketing managers

- Technologists

- Suppliers

- Investors

- Banks

- Government agencies

- Contractors



Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the commercial vehicle telematics value chain and leading companies. You find data, trends and predictions.



Buy our report today Commercial Vehicle Telematics Market 2016-2026: Top Companies & Connectivity Solutions For Fleet Management, Logistics, Tracking, Routing & Navigation For Fuel Efficiency, Driver Monitoring, Safety, Diagnostics & Predictive Analytics. Avoid missing out by staying informed  get our report now.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3837894/



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


WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BCM One, Inc., a leading technology solutions provider, was recently selected as a winner of the 2016 Channel Partners 360 Business Value Awards by Channel Partners, a resource for indirect sales channels offering IT and telecom systems and services. Twelve winners were honored during an awards reception on Monday, August 15 at the 2016 Channel Partners Evolution in Washington D.C.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398443LOGO

Companies completed a Channel Partners 360 application that asked them to demonstrate how they are addressing the convergence of IT and telecom services and how they are creating business value for their customers. BCM One's business model is focused on selling a total solution to clients and one example in particular included providing a more intelligent and scalable network solution for one of the largest voluntary health organizations. BCM One's engineering team designed a fully managed secure enterprise-class network incorporating data, voice, network monitoring and telecom expense optimization, where BCM One provides ongoing audit and validation across their IT infrastructure.

"We are honored to have been selected as a Channel Partners 360 winner for providing a total end-to-end solution for clients, which is the core of our business model," stated John Cunningham, Founder & Co-CEO of BCM One. "These winners embody the digital transformation theme that is the basis of Channel Partners Evolution," said Art Wittmann, VP of the Informa Business Technology Network. "Customers need help adopting digital services, and our Channel Partners 360 program recognizes partners that are in the forefront of that revolution."

For more information about BCM One, visit www.bcmone.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

ABOUT BCM ONE

Founded and headquartered in New York City in 1992, BCM One provides a single source for truly integrated technology solutions that help advance a company's business objectives. Through partnerships with over 50 leading technology suppliers, BCM One offers managed solutions for organizations including unified communications, cloud solutions, telecom expense management and connectivity solutions. Companies engage with BCM One for the planning, network design, deployment and/or management of their technology solutions. For more information about BCM One, visit www.bcmone.com and follow us onTwitter and LinkedIn.

ABOUT INFORMA

Informa is one of the world's leading knowledge providers. We create and deliver highly specialized information through publishing, events, training, market intelligence and expertise, providing valuable knowledge to individuals, businesses and organizations worldwide including the emerging markets of India, China and South Africa.

ABOUT CHANNEL PARTNERS

For more than two decades, Channel Partners has been the leader in providing news and analysis to indirect sales channels serving the business technology industry. It is the unrivaled resource for resellers, aggregators, agents, brokers, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and dealers that provide network-based communications and computing services, associated CPE and applications as well as managed and professional services. Channel Partners is the official media of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and Cloud Partners.

For Media Inquiries:

Paula Como Kauth

Senior Director, Marketing

212.906.7255 | [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE BCM One

Related Links

http://www.bcmone.com


DAYTON, Ohio and CINCINNATI, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brixey & Meyer Capital ("BMC") announced today it has held its final closing of the BMC Growth Fund, LLC. This final closing held on July 18, 2016 resulted in total commitments of approximately $18.0 million. The fund's investors are made up of successful entrepreneurs and private investors predominately from Southwest Ohio.

The fund was launched in November 2015 in conjunction with the first acquisition of the fund, Clinical Research Solutions. Clinical Research Solutions ("CRS") is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with locations throughout Ohio and Tennessee. CRS performs phase I to IV clinical trials for large and small pharmaceutical companies across the world.

BMC, with its first fund, targets investments in lower middle market companies generating $1 to $3 million of cash flow. While BMC considers investments in a wide range of industries, they generally focus on healthcare, distribution, manufacturing and services related industries. BMC expects to add two or more companies to the fund over the next year.

"We could not be happier with the group of investors in our fund," said David Brixey, Managing Director of Brixey & Meyer Capital, "many of our investors are entrepreneurs themselves that believe in our philosophy in this space. It is truly powerful."

BMC relates the success of the fund to the disciplined investment philosophy of Brixey & Meyer Capital's investment committee. This committee is made up of accomplished business owners, operators and entrepreneurs including David Brixey, Harry Loyle, Doug Meyer, Patrick Rini, Michael Shane, Chip Turner and Darrick Zucco.

About Brixey & Meyer Capital:

Brixey & Meyer Capital is a lower middle market private equity investment firm with offices in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. The core team of David Brixey and Patrick Odell have a deep background in operations, financial management and transactions in organizations large and small. This experience is brought to bear with each of the portfolio companies.

For more information about Brixey & Meyer Capital, please visit: www.brixeyandmeyercapital.com

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SOURCE Brixey & Meyer Capital

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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadvoice, an award-winning provider of hosted voice, unified communications (UC) and SIP trunking services for consumers and businesses, has promoted Tessley Smith to the position of Director of Sales.

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Smith, who brings 19 years of experience to his new role, started with Broadvoice in 2014 as a regional sales manager. Since then, he has worked to steadily expand the company's successful channel sales strategy and its customer base.

"We could not be happier to tap an industry veteran from within our ranks to lead our sales efforts," said Sam Ghahremanpour, President at Broadvoice. "Tess has been instrumental in building our channel ecosystem, promoting new ideas and being a strong team builder, leader and mentor. We have seen phenomenal growth in the past year, and look forward to many more quarters of triple-digit advances as he settles into this critical role."

Prior to Broadvoice, the Kansas City, Mo.-based Smith held sales management positions at Nitel, Birch Communications and American Fiber Network. He holds a B.A. from Ottawa University.

"Broadvoice is an innovative, forward-thinking company that has set itself apart in the UC, cloud PBX and SIP Trunking space by being agile and offering a range of business solutions for companies of all sizes," Smith said. "I'm excited to work with our channel partners and internal teams to continue to expand Broadvoice's growing traction in the market."

Broadvoice offers a flexible, smart portfolio of IP-based voice and data offerings, backed by its enterprise-class, geo-redundant IP Telephony platform. This includes a full UC suite and cloud PBX services, including unlimited voice calling plans for businesses, throughout the continental United States and Canada.

Features include the Broadvoice Communicator, a real-time messaging and presence client with full voice and video capabilities plus hosted email platform, to support the mobile workforce. And, it recently integrated its feature-rich cloud PBX and UC services with the Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC) platform, to power customers' inbound, outbound and blended contact center operations.

For more information on the Broadvoice Partner Program, please call 866-634-1394, or visit www.broadvoice.com/partners

About Broadvoice

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Broadvoice is a premier provider of hosted voice and data products.

Utilizing the latest technology, Broadvoice helps consumers and businesses achieve higher call quality and faster internet speeds while reducing their overall costs and improving efficiency. The company continuously designs and implements new features and services that allow companies to focus on their businesses Broadvoice has been ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. More information about the company may be found at www.broadvoice.biz

Media Contact:

Broadvoice

Rob Fredrick

818-449-6454

Email

SOURCE Broadvoice
CHICAGO, CLEVELAND and PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce the opening of its Philadelphia office and the addition of eleven talented professionals to its Investment Banking team in recent months.

Deepening the bench strength of BGL's specialized sector teams are:

Ethan D. Goodson as vice president in Healthcare & Life Sciences. Ethan has joined from Houlihan Lokey, where as a member of the MedTech M&A group he led sell-side and buy-side processes for clients in the Medical Products & Devices, Life Science Tools & Diagnostics, and Healthcare IT sectors. Previously, he was a member of the Global Healthcare Group at UBS Investment Bank, where he provided financial advisory services to leading clients in the MedTech, Life Sciences Tools & Diagnostics, and Healthcare IT sectors, and a member of the Biotech Equity Research Group at Sanford C. Bernstein. Prior thereto, Ethan spent four years on the buy-side at a middle market private equity firm where he was a board observer for several private companies. Ethan earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Columbia University.

Brett A. Kornblatt as vice president in Metals.

Brett was previously a vice president in the Global Industrials & Business Services Group at Credit Suisse, where he led transaction execution on numerous strategic advisory and capital raising mandates for clients across multiple industry verticals. His previous experience also includes positions as associate in the Investment Banking Group at Mesirow Financial and senior audit associate in the Financial Services Group at McGladrey & Pullen. He earned an MBA from the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a BBA in Finance and Accounting from University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

The Cleveland and Chicago offices add to their associate and analyst teams:

Mahima M. Patnaik as associate in the Cleveland office. Mahima joins BGL from Iron Investment Management, where she was responsible for institutional business development, client service, and consultant relations. Prior to that, Mahima was with Crito Capital where she assisted in raising capital for hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital firms. Ms. Patnaik earned an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and a BS in Neuroscience with a Management Certificate in Finance from the University of Rochester.

Joining the Cleveland office as analysts:

Joseph T. (Taylor) Richard. Taylor joins BGL after receiving a Specialized Master of Finance from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. He completed his undergraduate studies from Western Kentucky University with a BA in Economics and Political Science, Magna Cum Laude.

Patrick B. Shevelson. Patrick joins BGL as a recent graduate from Kenyon College where he earned a BA in Economics.

Garrett L. Trebilcock. Garrett joins BGL after having completed his studies at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business where he earned a Specialized Master of Finance and a BS with concentrations in Business Administration, Finance, and Logistics Management, Cum Laude.

Joining the Chicago office as analysts:

Sravanthi Putumbaka. Sravanthi joins BGL from Ziegler Capital Markets where she was a senior analyst. Ms. Putumbaka previously held positions as associate consultant with Utilities International, a management consulting firm to the energy and utilities industries, and financial analyst with Websoft. Sravanthi earned a BS in Economics from DePaul University.

James J. D'Onofrio. James joins BGL Healthcare Transaction Advisors from VMG Health where he was a financial analyst. He received a BBA from the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University.

Zachary M. Ganieany. Zachary joins BGL as a recent graduate from DePaul University where he earned a BS in Finance Honors, Magna Cum Laude.

Samuel R. Harrison. Samuel joins BGL after graduating from Miami University's Farmer School of Business where he earned a BS in Finance, Magna Cum Laude.

Daniel P. Smallegan. Daniel joins BGL after graduating with a BA in Finance from Michigan State University.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company is a leading independent investment bank serving the middle market. BGL specializes in mergers and acquisitions advisory services, debt and equity placements, financial restructuring advice, and valuations and fairness opinions, with global industry teams in Business Services, Consumer, Environmental & Industrial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Industrials, and Real Estate. BGL has offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Irvine, and San Antonio, in addition to Global M&A partner offices in more than 50 countries across 5 continents. BGL is able to deliver to our clients unparalleled access to strategic relationships, investors, and opportunities globally. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

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SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

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ALBANY, New York, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the research report, the global market opportunity in calcium carbonate is expected to rise from US$19 bn in 2015 to US$25.01 bn by 2019. By region, Asia Pacific is expected to lead and account for 50.8% of the global calcium carbonate market by 2019. On the basis of product, the GCC segment led in the past and will continue to do so in the coming years. By application, the paper segment is expected to account for 41.0% of the global calcium carbonate market by 2019.

High Use of Calcium Carbonate in Paper Industry Boosts Demand

The extensive use of paper in the FMCG sector has boosted the paper industry, which in turn is benefiting the global calcium carbonate market. The demand for mineral loading levels of paper has been on a rise ever since 1980. Papers such as coated mechanical (CM), coated woodfree (CWF), uncoated woodfree (UCWF), and uncoated mechanical (UM) encourage the demand for calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is used to enhance the softness, texture, and brightness of cellulose-based products. While GCC is responsible for the brightness of paper, PCC provides opacity to it. As such, these fillers are important in the manufacturing of paper.

Browse Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/calcium-carbonate-market.html

The plastic industry is another major application area of calcium carbonate. The plastic industry is growing and with it, the demand for calcium carbonate. GCC provides minute size and high brightness to plastics and PCC provides opacity and stiffness, thus driving their demand. The demand for calcium carbonate is also high from the construction industry. Calcium carbonate is one of the major raw materials used in cement, paints and coatings. On the other hand, harmful effects of excessive consumption of calcium carbonate will impact its demand in the pharmaceutical sector.

Growing Plastic and Paper Industries in APAC and Latin America Present Growth Opportunities for Players

The establishment of new paper mills and increase in the use of mineral loadings are collectively driving the demand for GCC and PCC in Asia Pacific and Latin America. India, Brazil, and China are expected to be key contributors in the growth of the calcium carbonate market owing to the use of this mineral in the paperboard and construction industries. China is likely to witness high demand for paints and coatings, which will further drive the demand for the mineral in APAC. "The establishment of satellite plants in Latin America will further create a high demand for PCC," states a TMR analyst. Thus, all these factors will create opportunities of growth in the calcium carbonate market.

Get Latest Industry Research PDF for more Professional and Technical Industry Insights: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1478

The global calcium carbonate market is moderately concentrated. The top three players accounted for more than 35% of the market in 2012. Key players are expanding their businesses in emerging markets such as China, Asia, and South America, Transparency Market Research (TMR) finds in a new study. Companies such as Huber Engineered Materials, Mississippi Lime Company, and Minerals Technologies have gained a strong global presence in the industry. This is making it difficult for small players to get a foothold in the market, especially in Asia Pacific. Intense competition exists in the market in regions such as the U.S., which has large limestone reserves.

Browse Research PR: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/calcium-carbonate-market.htm

Manufacturers are engaged in the development of newer technologies by which various products can be custom made to suit requirements of specific industries. Since there is no potential substitute for calcium carbonate, the threat from substitutes will remain low in the coming years. Procuring raw materials is a crucial factor for new entrants wishing to compete in the market. Overall, the low initial investment required for the production of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and ground calcium carbonate (GCC) lowers the barriers for new entrants.

This information is based on the findings of a report published by Transparency Market Research titled "Calcium Carbonate Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2019."

The global calcium carbonate market is segmented as follows:

Product

Ground Calcium Carbonate (GCC)

Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC)

Application

Paper

Plastic

Building & Construction

Others (Pharmaceutical, agriculture, etc.)

Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Rest of the World (RoW)

Browse Other Research Reports:

Construction Adhesive Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/construction-adhesive-market.html

About TMR

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.

TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact

Transparency Market Research

State Tower

90 State Street,

Suite 700,

Albany NY - 12207

United States

Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Blog: http://www.europlat.org/



SOURCE Transparency Market Research
MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital One today announced the launch of Spark 401k, providing low-cost, all-ETF 401(k) plans designed to empower business owners and their employees to invest for the future. Spark 401k is the latest addition to Capital One's small business solutions suite, which includes Spark Business' award-winning credit cards, best-in-class banking products, and payments and e-commerce tools.

Spark 401k is designed for businesses with fewer than 100 employees to deliver a straightforward retirement planning experience that offers the benefits available to larger companies. These benefits include the ability to build a retirement nest egg with tax-deferred dollars, reduce business taxes, and recruit and incentivize employees. The new Spark 401k leverages the technology and expertise behind Capital One's ShareBuilder 401k, which pioneered the all-ETF 401(k) movement beginning in 20051. Spark 401k also provides access to low-cost ETFs that keep investment expenses under one percent, helping employees further grow their nest egg.

"Today, only thirteen percent of small businesses offer a retirement plan 2 and while many say they want to provide a plan, they often put it off because they think it will be too expensive, burdensome or complicated," said Stuart Robertson, president of Capital One Advisors 401k services, which oversees ShareBuilder 401k and Spark 401k. "We designed Spark 401k to make retirement planning easier and more accessible for small businesses. With its online plan management and direct access to licensed 401(k) advisors and customer success managers, Spark 401k can help small business owners plan for the future  for themselves and their employees  while they pursue their primary passion, running their business."

With small businesses increasingly relying on mobile technology, Spark 401k provides owners a streamlined, digital experience to easily determine which plan best suits their needs. Spark 401k provides three types of 401(k) plans and oversees each plan's investment fiduciary responsibilities for no additional cost. By providing a 401(k) plan, owners can save for retirement while deferring personal taxes, lowering business taxes, and qualifying for tax credits.

About Spark 401k

Spark 401k (a marketing name for Capital One Advisors) provides streamlined, cost-efficient 401(k) retirement plans for tailored for small businesses. Spark 401k offers a suite of easy-to- access services that make it simple for employers and employees to open and manage their retirement plans online at www.spark401k.com. Spark 401k plans provide low-cost investments and model portfolios that simplify investment selection to help them get on track with their retirement goals. Plan sponsors can take advantage of customer success managers and customer care agents to receive assistance in choosing and managing their retirement benefits.

Securities and services are: Not FDIC insured  Not bank guaranteed  May lose value  Not a deposit  Not Insured by any Federal Government Agency

Banking, Credit Card, Auto Finance, and Home Loan products and services are offered by the Capital One family of companies, including Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. and Capital One, N.A., NMLS ID 453156, Members FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.

Securities are offered by Capital One Investing, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and Member FINRA SIPC. Advisory services are provided by Capital One Advisors, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Insurance products are offered through Capital One Agency LLC. All are subsidiaries of Capital One Financial Corporation.

All entities are separate but affiliated legal entities of Capital One Financial Corporation, each is responsible for its own products and services

Spark 401k plans range from 27% to 68% less than the industry average at various data points from $50K plan with 6 participants to a $100M plan with 2,000 participants based on 401k Averages Book 2015 Data and Custom Benchmarking report prepared for Capital One Advisors. Cost comparisons are based on plan assets and number of participants and reflect core ongoing 401(k) plan expenses that a company and/or its employees can expect to incur as a percentage of assets with most any 401(k) plan. This includes administration, recordkeeping, tax filing prep documents, plan testing, fund expense ratios, and other investment costs passed on to every participant to service the plan. It does not include unique employee initiated transactions such as loans, distributions or employer transactions such as plan amendments. ShareBuilder401K pricing is based off standard pricing rates for our typical Safe Harbor 401(k).

First time buyers may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 in tax credits over 3 years. If you start a 401(k), and it's the first for your company, you may qualify for a tax credit of up to $500 for each of the first three years of your plan to offset setup and administration charges for the plan. Here's how it works. Your business must have had 100 or fewer employees who received at least $5,000 in compensation from you for the preceding year and at least one participant who is a nonhighly compensated employee. The tax credit is equal to 50% of administration and set up charges for your 401(k) with a cap of $500. Please see your tax advisor for information on whether this credit applies to your specific circumstances.

About Capital One Advisors

Capital One Advisors, LLC ("COA") is a Washington Limited Liability Company that is registered as an investment adviser with the SEC. We provide affordable 401(k) investment advisory and ERISA 3(38) services to businesses and offer investment advisory services to retail clients.



1 ShareBuilder 401k (a marketing name for Capital One Advisors, which is a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation), provides all-ETF 401(k) retirement plans for businesses of all sizes. Launched in 2005, ShareBuilder 401k offers a low-cost, index-based approach to 401(k) investing.

2 The 2016 Spark Business Barometer was conducted March 14-29, 2016.

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SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation

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Horrific moment began when a ruthless female driver slammed her car into a pedestrian in Zoucheng, east Chinas Shandong province, on August 10, 2016. The vehicle ran on, with the victim apparently fell headlong onto the windshield, for over 200 meters before crashing into another car and coming to a stop. The pedestrian died after being rushed to the hospital.

This female driver did not try to save the life of the victim after being stopped. A disturbing video circulating online showed the reckless woman, dressed in white tank and white wide-legged pants, got out of her car and danced around the lifeless victim who was lying on the ground. She was also murmuring something that was almost inaudible in the video.

The woman driver was detained by police. Initial investigation ruled out the possibility of DUI. But the reason why the woman danced remained to be unveiled.
The addendum builds on the landmark 15-year agreement reached in 2010 with the Broward County Board of County Commissioners and furthers Carnival Corporation's commitment to Port Everglades, which overall has more than 3.6 million multi-day cruise passengers a year. Overall, the agreement and business generated from Carnival Corporation's brands operating at Port Everglades produces a significant positive economic impact for the port and county.

As part of the addendum, Carnival Corporation will have preferential use of Cruise Terminal 4, which reopened last year after $24 million worth of renovations and upgrades designed for greater efficiency and guest convenience.

Additionally, the port is currently undertaking an estimated $13.6 million slip extension project on Terminal 4, expected to be complete by the middle of 2017, that will lengthen the slip to accommodate larger cruise ships.

As part of the long-term agreement, the company also has preferential use of three additional terminals, Cruise Terminals 2, 21 and 26, along with one additional terminal. This provides five terminals in total for Carnival Corporation to serve its guests who visit Fort Lauderdale as part of their cruise vacation.

"Carnival Corporation is a critical Port Everglades partner, and its many unique cruise line brands offer guests sailing into and out of our port with a wide variety of cruise experiences and itineraries," said Steve Cernak, chief executive and port director of Port Everglades. "Carnival Corporation has a strong, long-standing presence in the Broward County community, and the additional five years included in the agreement reinforces that commitment. We look forward to welcoming the newest member of Holland America Line's fleet, ms Koningsdam, to our sunny shores in November."

Furthering its dedication to the port, the company will add a second ship from its Carnival Cruise Line brand, Carnival Splendor, to sail from Port Everglades during the 2017 summer season. In addition to Carnival Cruise Line, six more of Carnival Corporation's 10 global cruise line brands currently carry nearly a million and a half passengers to and from Port Everglades each year. These brands include Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Cruises UK, Princess Cruises and Seabourn. The seven Carnival Corporation brands and 28 different ships account for a combined average of more than 300 calls at the port each year.

"Florida is the largest cruise market in the world, and we are thrilled to extend our agreement with Port Everglades, which is an extremely convenient and popular location for our guests with close proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the Caribbean, the world's most popular region for cruise vacations," said Giora Israel, senior vice president of global port and destination development for Carnival Corporation. "We place great value on the long and successful relationship we have built with the port and Broward County, and we look forward to working together to meet our most important goal -- providing memorable vacation experiences for our guests for many years to come."

As part of the original agreement, the port undertook a $54 million cruise terminal renovation project to make significant improvements to four existing cruise terminals to accommodate ships from Carnival Corporation's fleet of global cruise line brands. Enhancements made as part of the project included features to enable simultaneous embarkation and debarkation processes, including two passenger loading bridges, separate and larger baggage halls and improved ground transportation areas. As part of the extension, Carnival Corporation and Port Everglades will engage in discussions to examine the opportunity for possible further improvements to Cruise Terminal 21 to accommodate Carnival Corporation's newest class of ships.

About Carnival Corporation & plc

Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest leisure travel company in the world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia comprised of Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).

Together, these brands operate 101 ships visiting over 700 ports around the world and totaling 225,000 lower berths with 15 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices.



Additional information can be found on www.carnivalcorp.com, www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.pocruises.com and www.fathom.org.

About Port Everglades

As one of South Florida's leading economic powerhouses, Broward County's Port Everglades is the gateway for international trade and cruise vacations. Consistently ranked among the top three busiest cruise ports in the world, Port Everglades is also one of the nation's leading container ports and South Florida's main seaport for receiving petroleum products including gasoline, jet fuel and alternative fuels. The Port Everglades Department is a self-supporting Enterprise Fund of Broward County, Florida government with operating revenues of approximately $153 million in Fiscal Year 2015 (October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015). It does not rely on local tax dollars for operations. The total value of economic activity related to Port Everglades is nearly $30 billion. More than 226,500 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including 12,840 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port Everglades. For more information on Port Everglades, visit porteverglades.net or email [email protected].

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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

Related Links

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SOUTH HILL, Va., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CCB Bankshares, Inc. (OTCQB: CZYB) today announced its unaudited results of operations for the second quarter of 2016.

Earnings

Net income to common shareholders for the second quarter of 2016 was $100,185, compared to net income to common shareholders of $175,011 after preferred stock dividends of $9,333 for the second quarter of 2015. On a basic and diluted basis, this was equivalent to $0.07 per share compared to $0.12 per share for the second quarter of 2015.

President and CEO James R. Black stated, "We are pleased with the second quarter performance as we continued to expand our loan portfolio and experienced solid core earnings growth. Bottom line net income was reduced as we absorbed a full quarter of subordinated debt interest and replenished the loan loss reserve for loan growth and a partial loan charge off from a loan made during 2006. Overall, we are making tremendous strides in expanding our market presence, creating internal efficiencies, and generating additional business that will drive positive operating leverage and market share higher."

In comparing the second quarter of 2016 to the same quarter in 2015, net interest income increased by $163 thousand or 11.0%. The net interest margin for the second quarter of 2016 was 3.68%, flat to the margin for the second quarter of 2015. On a year-to-date basis, the net interest margin at June 30, 2016 was 3.78%, compared to 3.67% for the first six months of 2015. Continued lower repricing of deposits contributed to the 8 basis point improvement year-over-year.

Noninterest income totaled $200,544 for the second quarter of 2016 compared to $194,234 for the same period in 2015, a 3.3% increase. Service charge income was down almost 16% as the company moves toward relationship pricing and collection of NSF fees becomes more challenging. Noninterest expense of $1,495,357 represents a 14.0% increase from $1,312,672 for the second quarter of 2015. Noninterest expense year-to-date is at $2.9 million versus $2.7 million at June 2015. Several factors contributed to the increase, including addition to both business development and support staff, FDIC premiums on a higher deposit base, audit and compliance costs for the ever-increasing regulatory burden, and operating expenses for the Louisburg branch which opened as a branch in December 2015. Provision expense at June 30, 2016 was $190 thousand compared to $100 thousand at June 30, 2015. As loan growth continues, particularly in new markets, commensurate additions to the provision are just careful operating strategy.

Net income for the first six months of 2016 available to common shareholders was $369,761 compared to $380,770 for the first six months of 2015. While on its face this translates to a 2.9% decrease, core earnings for the first six months compares favorably. Pre-tax core earnings (absent provision expense and gains or losses on sale of other real estate) at June 30, 2016 exceeded June 30, 2015 by 19.9%.

Growth

At June 30, 2016, total assets were $191.5 million, up $11.3 million or 6.3% from December 31, 2015. Gross loans were $162.0 million, an increase of $11.0 million or 7.3% from December 31, 2015 and 16.8% higher than the second quarter of 2015. Deposits totaled $162.9 million, an increase of $9.4 million or 6.1% from December 31, 2015.

Asset Quality

At June 30, 2016 the allowance for loan losses was $2.1 million or 1.29% of loans. Net charge-offs at June 30, 2016 were $5 thousand. Provision expense at June 30, 2016 was $190 thousand compared to $100 thousand at June 30, 2015. Nonperforming loans at June 30, 2016 were $643 thousand, compared to $516 thousand at December 31, 2015 and $685 thousand at June 30, 2015.

At June 30, 2016, other real estate owned totaled $154 thousand compared with $217 thousand at year end 2015 and $435 thousand at June 30, 2015. In aggregate, nonperforming assets equaled $797 thousand or 0.4% of total assets at June 30, 2016, compared to $1.1 million or 0.7% of total assets at June 30, 2015, a reduction of $323 thousand or 28.8%.

Capital

As of June 30, 2016, the Bank's total risk-based capital was 14.1% and its Tier 1 leverage was 10.3%, compared to 15.5% and 10.7%, respectively at June 30, 2015. Accelerated loan growth of 17% year-over-year resulted in the decline in capital ratios. On February 18, 2016 the Company issued $3.5 million in subordinated debt at a 7.0% rate fixed for 10 years. From the proceeds, $1.0 million was used to repay the remaining Small Business Lending Fund preferred stock and the remaining funds are being held at the holding company. Capital ratios exceed regulatory guidelines to be well-capitalized and the Bank's capital position enables it to provide the products and services demanded by the communities it serves.

CCB Bankshares, Inc. is a Virginia-registered holding company headquartered in South Hill, Virginia. Its primary subsidiary Citizens Community Bank, was opened in December 1999. The Company operates six branches, three in Virginia and three in North Carolina. For more information and additional financial data, please visit www.ccbsite.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that concern future events which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Any such statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses by the Bank and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances and at the time at which such statements are made. The Bank's actual results, events and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by any forward-looking statement. The Bank has no responsibility to update such forward-looking statements.





CCB Bankshares, Inc.













Consolidated Financial Highlights

















































(Actual dollars, except per share data)

June 30

June 30

December 31





Balance Sheet Data:

2016

2015

2015

























Total assets

$ 191,519,430

$ 170,235,720

$ 180,218,211





Loans, net of ALLR

159,912,410

136,642,226

149,124,611





Deposits

162,912,453

147,791,225

153,508,179





Federal funds purchased

-

-

-





Borrowings

6,000,000

3,000,000

7,000,000





Preferred stock

-

1,000,000

1,000,000





Stockholders' equity

18,766,086

19,073,967

19,289,589





Book value per share (1) (2)

$ 12.41

$ 11.98

$ 12.12





Total shares outstanding (3)

1,512,016

1,509,045

1,509,045





























Three months ended June 30

Six months ended June 30 Performance Ratios:

2016

2015

2016

2015 Return on average assets

0.21%

0.43%

0.41%

0.47% Return on average common equity

2.14%

4.08%

3.90%

4.48% Net interest margin

3.68%

3.67%

3.78%

3.67% Overhead efficiency

80.96%

78.61%

79.67%

80.35%











































June 30

June 30

December 31





Asset Quality Data:

2016

2015

2015





Allowance for loan loss

$ 2,088,404

$2,029,149

$ 1,903,685





Nonperforming loans (4)

$ 642,795

$ 685,052

515,952





Other real estate owned/repossessed assets $ 154,450

$ 434,695

216,950





Nonperforming assets (4)

$ 797,245

$1,119,747

$ 732,902





Performing troubled debt restructurings $ 482,875

$ 572,031

489,441





Net charge offs (recoveries)

$ 5,281

$ 42,705

451,697





Classified loans

$ 2,876,320

$4,434,054

2,979,552





Total Classified Assets

$ 3,030,770

$4,868,749

$ 3,196,502

















































June 30

June 30

December 31





Asset Quality Ratios:

2016

2015

2015





Allowance for loan loss to total loans 1.29%

1.46%

1.26%





Nonperforming loans to total loans

0.40%

0.49%

0.34%





Nonperforming assets to total assets

0.42%

0.66%

0.40%





Net charge-offs (recoveries) to average loans 0.00%

0.03%

0.32%

























Capital Ratios:

















Total capital ratio

14.05%

15.48%

14.57%





Tier 1 capital ratio

12.80%

14.22%

13.32%





Common equity tier 1 ratio

12.80%

13.66%

13.18%





Tier 1 leverage ratio

10.28%

10.73%

10.68%

























Note: (1) Results of June 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 are reflective of formation of holding company.

(2) Book value excludes $1 million of preferred stock at June 30, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

(3) Shares outstanding reflect issuance of restricted stock awards.

(4) Excludes performing troubled debt restructurings of $482,575 and $572,031 for June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.























CCB Bankshares, Inc. - June 30, 2016 - Consolidated Statements of Income









































(Unaudited)

















(Actual dollars, except per share data)



Three Months Ended June 30 Six Months Ended June 30 Selected Operating Data:





2016

2015 2016

2015



















Net interest income





$ 1,640,597

$ 1,477,695 $ 3,290,782

$ 2,920,131 Provision for loan losses





190,000

100,000 190,000

100,000 Noninterest income

-

200,544

194,234 398,709

395,248 Noninterest expense

-

1,495,357

1,312,672 2,944,566

2,650,464 Income (loss) before income tax



155,785

259,257 554,926

564,916 Income tax expense (benefit)





55,600

74,913 176,165

164,813 Net income (loss)





$ 100,185

$ 184,344 $ 378,761

$ 400,103 Less: Preferred dividends





$ -

$ 9,333 $ 9,000

$ 19,333 Net income (loss) available to common















shareholders





$ 100,185

$ 175,011 $ 369,761

$ 380,770



















Income (loss) per share available to















common shareholders:(1)

















Basic





$0.07

$0.12 $0.24

$0.25 Diluted





$0.07

$0.12 $0.24

$0.25



















Average shares outstanding, basic



1,512,016

1,509,945 1,511,493

1,509,462 Average shares outstanding, diluted



1,512,016

1,509,945 1,511,493

1,509,462



















(1) results for 2016 are reflective of formation of holding company.





(2) share amounts revised to show restricted stock grants awarded in 2013 and 2014.



SOURCE CCB Bankshares, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ccbsite.com


SYOSETT, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CEO Connection has announced the winners of the 2016 Mid-Market Awards, which recognize mid-market leaders and companies that have demonstrated leadership, creativity, generosity and other qualities that represent the true spirit of the mid-market.

The recipients are:

Mid-Market Company of the Year: LinkedIn

LinkedIn connects the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the ways companies hire, market and sell. Their vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world's first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 400 million members and has offices around the world.

Mid-Market CEO of the Year: Ganesh Ayyar

Ganesh Ayyar, a distinguished leader in the IT services industry, joined Mphasis as its chief executive officer and executive director in January 2009. He has been instrumental in leading Mphasis to the "Billion Dollar Revenue Club." Ayyar is focused on transforming Mphasis to be a global company with industry vertical focus. He is also acknowledged for creating an employee friendly environment. He promotes an open door culture that puts great focus on employees and transparent communications.

Social Impact Award: John Replogle

Like the company he leads, Replogle has a mission to help people live healthier lives on a healthier planet. He took the reins of green-cleaning pioneer Seventh Generation in 2011. Under his leadership, the company continues to extend the boundaries of corporate consciousness. In 2011, Seventh Generation was acknowledged as the No. 1 green company in America. Replogle previously spent five years at Burt's Bees as chief executive officer and president, and he is credited with leading the company's deepened commitment to human and environmental well-being through the development of a business model called "The Greater Good," which embraces the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.

"I am honored to recognize these deserving mid-market leaders and companies that represent the highest standards in business and society," said Kenneth Beck, CEO of CEO Connection. "The Mid-Market Awards acknowledge the sector as a job creator, a force for economic growth and a driver of social impact."

Nominations for the CEO Connection Mid-Market Awards are accepted from the community at large and are then vetted by an awards committee, which solicits the opinions of academic, media and business leaders, and presents four to five candidates in each category to a committee of all living prior award recipients who vote to determine the new honorees.

Award winners will be recognized at the 2016 Mid-Market Convention on September 18-21 at The Wharton School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This exclusive global gathering features hundreds of CEOs, political leaders and business experts convening to discuss issues and challenges for mid-market companies. For more information and to register for the convention, visit www.midmarketconvention.com/registration.

ABOUT CEO CONNECTION:

CEO Connection is the only membership organization in the world reserved exclusively for CEOs of mid-market companies  companies with between $100 million and $3 billion in annual revenue. Our mission is to help mid-market CEOs and their companies succeed. We accomplish this by connecting them to each other; connecting them to people, information and resources to which they would otherwise not have access; and promoting the interests, welfare, and perspective of the mid-market.

Members are C-level executives with responsibility for all or significant portions of their respective company. They represent a wide variety of businesses across a broad geographic spectrum. Collectively mid-market companies account for $10 trillion of the $30 trillion annual U.S. private sector gross receipts.



Inspired by C-level Wharton executives, CEO Connection began in 2005 and has evolved into a dynamic community with wide ranging benefits uniquely designed to help the mid-market CEO and champion the mid-market perspective. For more information, visit www.ceoconnection.com. Stay connected on Twitter: @CEOConnection and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-connection.

MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Allen, Email, 800-244-4719, ext. 501

SOURCE CEO Connection

Related Links

http://www.ceoconnection.com


CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Plate Catering (Blue Plate), Chicago's premier event catering company, is proud to announce the unveiling of Round The Table Hospitality (RTTH), which will house a family of independent brands with a common culture and vision.

RTTH stems directly from CEO Jim Horan's evolved vision of growth for Blue Plate Catering; a company started over 30 years ago with a single employee, a van and a reputation for delicious fare; to one with over 1,000 employees and multiple brands. The recipe for Blue Plate's success has been growing the company from the inside out, focusing on a collaborative corporate culture, delivering exceptional customer service, building strong community relationships, and supporting those who have contributed to their success.

Round The Table Hospitality represents how we've conducted our business over time  a collaborative and collective partnership with valued clients, employees and the community  all gathered together around a table, focused on delivering hospitality. With multiple touch points beyond catering, the launch of RTTH will include the opening of a new and improved headquarters, the introduction of an intrapreneurial incubator program and bringing Blue Plate Catering and our restaurants (tesori trattoria & bar and Park Grill) together.

Larkin Hall, a state-of-the art facility, will open this fall in Chicago's West Loop, a neighborhood that Blue Plate has called home for over 25 years. While "Larkin" is Horan's middle name, it truly represents Chicago's hardworking labor force that built this city. It commemorates James Larkin, the Irish trade union leader that fought for employee rights. The three story, 80,000 square foot building, located on Fulton Market, will house all business operations for RTTH and diversify Blue Plate Catering's capabilities and services. The open floor plan will house a production and training facility, test kitchens, tasting rooms and private event spaces as well as plans for a retail space. RTTH remains committed to investing in the Fulton Market neighborhood, and envisions Larkin Hall as a gathering place for clients, local businesses, non-profits and the West Loop community as a whole.

Wild Blue is RTTH's intrapreneurial program. It was designed to further empower employees to continue to innovate and reimagine the future of RTTH. Employees across all of RTTH's brands are encouraged to bring their ideas to life by pitching hospitality-based business plans to RTTH leadership. Wild Blue's unique process will offer employees funding and ownership opportunities of new business ventures. As an award-winning company, Horan encourages continued innovation from his team and imagines a future for RTTH shared by all who have helped build it.

Jim Horan states, "We are excited about this next step in our growth which will translate into new business opportunities, deepening our relationship with Chicago, and an improved facility benefiting our West Loop community, our clients and our employees who all have been critical to our past and future success."

ABOUT ROUND THE TABLE HOSPITALITY

Round The Table Hospitality (RTTH) is a family of companies based in Chicago's West Loop, founded by Blue Plate Catering CEO Jim Horan in 2016. The RTTH roster includes the state-of-the-art facility Larkin Hall, an intrapreneurial incubator program Wild Blue, Blue Plate Catering, and restaurants tesori trattoria & bar and Park Grill.

ABOUT BLUE PLATE CATERING

Blue Plate Catering is Chicago's premier event catering company. Founded more than 30 years ago by CEO Jim Horan. The company reflects Jim's pride in personal relationships, belief in hard work and, most importantly, a dedication to and appreciation for the craft of food.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Natalie Mazzarella

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398411LOGO

SOURCE Blue Plate Catering

Related Links

http://www.blueplatechicago.com


ATLANTA, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Pest Management Association is pleased to announce that Chuck Tindol, Vice President of Allgood Pest Solutions, will serve as the President of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). Mr. Tindol has become the third generation in his family to serve as President of the NPMA. He, and the entire Allgood Pest Solutions family, is known throughout the industry for honesty, hard work, and leadership.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398225LOGO

"I couldn't be more pleased to have the opportunity to work with Chuck in this leadership position. His integrity and passion for the industry underscores the professionalism we look to provide to consumers," said Dominique Stumpf, Chief Executive Officer of the NPMA. Stumpf went on to say, "I have no doubt that under Chuck's leadership we will be able to continue to grow and evolve to serve the consumer in our role as protectors of public health and property."

Prior to the July 1, 2016 election his grandfather, Red Tindol, was NPMA President for 1976-1977; his father, Rufus "Bubba" Tindol, held the same title for 1988-89. Reflecting on this legacy Mr. Tindol states, "Because of the example that my grandfather and father set for me, I have always felt a desire and willing obligation to follow in their footsteps."

He continues, "I am thankful to all the partners at Allgood Pest Solutions for what they do every day. It allows me the honor of representing them in our national trade association. I am also honored that my peers have given me this opportunity and will work hard to earn that trust."

Mr. Tindol is eager to join the newly appointed CEO and Board. Under his leadership, the NPMA will continue to work hard on its mission to protect public health and property and to be a proactive resource for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and our national legislators, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the ongoing management of vector borne diseases including Zika Virus, West Nile, Lyme disease and Dengue fever.

About AllgoodPest Solutions:

Allgood Pest Solutions has been protecting businesses, homes and families from pests since 1991. What began with a few men and one common goal has grown into a company of over 275 partners. Today, Allgood Pest Solutions operates branches throughout Georgia and Tennessee. Allgood Pest Solutions was recently named a 2016 "Top Workplaces" by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The company also received Kudzu's "Best of 2015" award in the services category and is recognized industry-wide as a leader in home protection and integrated pest management.

About NPMA:

The NPMA, a non-profit organization with more than 7,000 members, was established in 1933 to support the pest management industry's commitment to the protection of public health, food and property. For more information, visit PestWorld.org or Like @PestWorld on Facebook.

Media Contact:

J'mee Caldwell

Allgood Pest Solutions

[email protected]

(678) 808-2038

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

SOURCE National Pest Management Association
"The Oculus of the World Trade Center is the 21st Century Grand Central Station," said Jack Boys, CEO of Cole Haan. "To be a part of a space that holds significant meaning to New Yorkers and the world is incredible for Cole Haan."

Natural light will filter throughout the space, creating an inviting shopping experience only to be matched by the decor. Each room will have unique finishes of black, white, grey, with hints of navy, brass and hot-rolled steel. A neutral color palette incorporates a blend of traditional and modern design aesthetic with a large scale marble mosaic pattern in the front foyer and herringbone wood floors and paneling throughout. The rooms will also feature custom lighting, millwork and fixtures to highlight the full expression of merchandise including men's and women's footwear, apparel, handbags and accessories.

"The Oculus is modeled after an image of a child releasing a dove," explains David Maddocks, Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of Business Development at Cole Haan. "For us to be able to have a place that is so infused with meaning in the lives of every single human being in this city is an honor beyond imagination," he continued.

To coincide with the opening, Cole Haan will make Uber easily available via the Cole Haan store locator page. With this feature, customers can request an Uber to take them directly to the store by simply pressing the Uber button on the store page. There will also be an option to utilize UberRUSH to deliver products purchased from the store to anywhere in New York City. Customers can receive delivery alerts and track their package in real time. Additionally, the store will execute more than half of all transactions on Mobile POS, which will assist with making the checkout process seamless and expeditious.

"Cole Haan continues to expand its store fleet globally," added Michael Prince, Cole Haan President and Chief Operating Officer. "This location will be our most prominent new global flagship and will serve as a calling card to the rest of the world. As we continue our global expansion, this store will introduce millions to the Cole Haan brand and lifestyle. It will be our most technically advanced store to-date. With the added convenience of UberRUSH and the elimination of a traditional cash wrap, our team is able to focus solely on our customers' experience," he concluded.

Located at 185 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10007. Hours of operation will be from Monday  Friday 8am  9pm, Saturday 10am  9pm and Sunday 11am  7pm; phone number: 212.732.4635. Visit ColeHaan.com to learn more.

About Cole Haan

Cole Haan LLC, with its Global Headquarters in Greenland, New Hampshire and Creative Center in New York City, is an iconic American lifestyle accessories brand and retailer of premium men's, women's and children's footwear, handbags, leather accessories, outerwear and eyewear. Cole Haan stands for its commitment to craftsmanship, timeless style and design innovation. For more information, visit ColeHaan.com and follow @ColeHaan.

For more information, contact:

Kimry Blackwelder, Cole Haan

Phone: +1 (212) 763-3060

E-mail: [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398184

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398179

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398174

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20070907/NYF044LOGO

SOURCE Cole Haan

Related Links

http://www.colehaan.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Collibra, a leader in data governance software solutions for business users, today announced the company has welcomed Eccella, a data management and analytics consulting company with offices in New York, London and Mumbai, to its global partners program.

By offering Collibra's innovative Data Governance platform alongside Eccella's data management and analytics capabilities, global enterprises in the financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing industries will be poised to more quickly take advantage of the business gains made possible with a complete end-to-end data governance solution.

"We're delighted to welcome Eccella to the Collibra Partner Program," said Robert Rich, Collibra's Director, Partner Management. "Our business partners represent leading technology and consulting companies that have specific domain expertise and experience. Together, Collibra and its partners including Eccella enable Chief Data Officers, data stewards, and data citizens across the organization to achieve better insights from their data."

Eccella is transforming the way companies operate and make decisions through innovative, purpose-built solutions. This new partnership will allow data-driven companies to make better, more informed decisions to support their business growth goals.

"After evaluating competitive offerings, we believe Collibra is the leading organization that delivers a true end-to-end data governance solution," said Atul Jain, Eccella's Head of Data Governance Practice. "In addition to the range of data management services Eccella offers our clients, we will now help global organizations quickly implement Collibra's data governance solution and ensure full integration with other metadata or data quality applications to help clients gain a competitive advantage through data."

About Eccella

Eccella is a data management and analytics consulting company, transforming the way companies operate and make decisions. Through innovative, purpose-built solutions, Eccella builds data-driven companies that make better, more informed decisions, faster to support their business growth goals. Eccella is headquartered in New York City with additional offices in London and Mumbai. For more information, please visit www.eccellaconsulting.com.

About Collibra

As the leader in data governance, Collibra helps organizations across the world gain competitive advantage by maximizing the value of their data across the enterprise. Collibra is the only solution purpose-built to address the gamut of data stewardship, governance, and management needs of the most complex, data-intensive industries. Our flexible and configurable cloud-based or on-premises solution puts people and processes first  automating data governance and management to quickly and securely deliver trusted data to the business users who need it. Learn more at www.collibra.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150721/238849LOGO

SOURCE Collibra

Related Links

http://www.collibra.com


LATROBE, Pa., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial National Financial Corporation (OTCQX: CNAF), parent company of Commercial Bank & Trust of PA, has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share payable September 2 to shareholders of record as of August 26.

In addition to Latrobe where it is headquartered, the Company operates community banking facilities in Greensburg, Hempfield Township, Ligonier, North Huntingdon, Unity Township and West Newton, Pennsylvania and also maintains a commercial business development sales force throughout its entire market area. Commercial Bank & Trust of PA also serves its customer base from an Internet banking site (www.cbthebank.com) and an automated TouchTone Teller banking system. The company operates an asset management & trust division headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

As disclosed each year in the Annual Report to Shareholders, on June 30, 2016, the Company employed 111 people in full-time and part-time positions. Fifty-seven (57) employees are represented by the United Auto Workers, Local 1799. The Company has had unionized employees since 1972. In 2013, the Company and the bargaining unit entered into a labor agreement that will expire in February 2019. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Labor Relations Board both afford protection to the organized status of pre-existing collective bargaining units. The Company has been advised that bargaining unit status may limit the Company's strategic options relative to those of non-unionized insured depository institutions. The Company continues to consider this as a factor in its strategic and capital management decisions.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information currently available to the company, and the company assumes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including changes in general economic and financial market conditions, unforeseen credit problems, and the company's ability to execute its business plans. The actual results of future events could differ materially from those stated in any forward-looking statements herein.

SOURCE Commercial National Financial Corporation

Related Links

http://www.cbthebank.com


"We believe Representative Johnson wants what is best for Atlanta and its DeKalb County citizens," said Diedra L. St. Julien, Marketing Director. "This visit allowed Citizens Trust Bank to give our local representative in Congress a hometown perspective on banking that he can take with him to Washington."

During his visit to the Citizens Trust Bank Rockbridge Financial Center at 5771 Rockbridge Road  Stone Mountain, a brief overview of the bank's history, along with account opening efficiencies were shared. The opportunity also allowed the Congressman to celebrate the bank's milestone 95-year anniversary with his constituents, as well as learn more about the importance of Citizens Trust Bank's presence and continued support in the community.

About Citizens Trust Bank Citizens Trust Bank is a leader in the financial services industry and one of the largest minority-owned financial institutions in the nation, offering a full range of quality business and consumer products and services including Small Business Administration (SBA) financed loans, residential mortgage lending, and consumer and business online banking products with eleven financial centers in Metro Atlanta, Columbus, Georgia and in Birmingham and Eutaw, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.ctbconnect.com.Follow us on Twitter @CTBank.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398641

SOURCE Citizens Trust Bank

Related Links

http://www.CTBconnect.com


DENVER, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Crestone Peak Resources ("Crestone" or the "Company") announces Tony Buchanon is joining as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of Crestone, effective August 8, 2016. Buchanon has also been named to the Company's Board of Directors.

"Tony's experience in building organizations and operational focus make him a perfect fit to lead Crestone Peak Resources," said Avik Dey, Chairman of the Board at Crestone and Managing Director and Head of Natural Resources at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. "Under his leadership, Crestone will grow to be a leading independent in one of the best oil and natural gas plays in North America."

Buchanon has extensive experience in the development of the DJ Basin in Colorado, having most recently served as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Bonanza Creek Energy (NYSE: BCEI), and previously as Production Operations Manager for Noble Energy, Inc.

Buchanon brings more than 34 years of industry experience to his new role as CEO. Before focusing on the DJ Basin, he served in a variety of management roles for Rosetta Resources Inc., Trend Exploration Company, Burlington Resources Inc. (now ConocoPhillips), and Mobil Exploration and Production (now ExxonMobil Corporation).

"I welcome the opportunity to lead Crestone Peak Resources forward and appreciate the Board's support. We have the team, assets, and investor support to be tremendously successful," said Buchanon. "We are neighbors in the community and are committed to environmental stewardship and employee safety."

Crestone is a newly formed entity under the joint partnership between the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and The Broe Group. On July 29, 2016, Crestone announced the acquisition of the DJ Basin oil and gas assets from Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Encana Corporation (Encana). The sale included all of Encana's DJ Basin acreage, comprising 51,000 net acres.

About Crestone Peak Resources

Crestone Peak Resources is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Headquartered in Denver, Colo., Crestone's assets are in the Wattenberg Field in the DJ Basin. As the fifth largest producer in the area, Crestone strives to maintain its status as a premier operator in the region. Crestone is 95 percent owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and five percent by an affiliate of The Broe Group. More information and news about the company can be found at www.CrestonePeakResources.com.

Media Contacts:

Financial and general media:

Nina Godard, Edelman

T 416.850.0611

[email protected]

Local media:

Geoff Renstrom, Linhart PR

T 303.951.2564

[email protected]

SOURCE Crestone Peak Resources

Related Links

http://www.crestonepeakresources.com


People attend a protest near the Peace Momorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 2016. Hiroshima, the city that suffered U.S. atomic bombing in 1945 during World War II, commemorated the 71st anniversary of the bombing on Saturday at the city's Peace Memorial Park. About 1,000 people from all over the country rallied around the park early Saturday morning, protesting against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attendance at the ceremony and his right-minded policies including the controversial security bills. (Xinhua/Ma Ping)

BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- China on Monday voiced "firm" opposition after two Japanese cabinet members paid homage to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II.

"That some Japanese cabinet members paid tribute to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A convicted war criminals and aims to beautify aggression wars, once again proved the Japanese government's wrong attitude to the history-related issue," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said in response to a question from the press.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from the WWII, is regarded as a symbol of the past Japanese militarism.

Lu urged the Japanese side "to squarely face and deeply reflect upon the history of aggression, deal with relative issues in a responsible and appropriate way, and work to win trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete moves."
BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SANS Institute, the global leader in information security training, today announced its return to Tysons Corner, VA October 22  29. SANS Tysons Corner 2016 will feature 10 hands-on immersion style training courses taught by real-world practitioners; most of the courses are associated with a GIAC Certification. Renowned cybersecurity expert and SANS Fellow, Dr. Eric Cole, will teach his popular SEC401: Security Essentials Bootcamp course at SANS Tysons Corner.

According to Dr. Cole, "To be successful in cybersecurity you have to constantly learn, adapt and be creative. Join me at Tysons Corner where I will share real world examples of effective defensive solutions. Having worked with clients of different sizes and from a large variety of industries, there is sure to be something for everyone."

During his course, Dr. Cole will share tips and tricks necessary to win the battle against a wide range of cyber adversaries that want to harm an environment. SEC440: Critical Security Controls: Planning, Implementing and Auditing, SEC550: Active Defense, Offensive Countermeasures and Cyber Deception, and AUD507: Auditing & Monitoring Networks, Perimeters & Systems are just some of the additional courses offered at the training.

For a complete list of courses and bonus evening discussion, or to register for SANS Tysons 2016, please visit: www.sans.org/u/kac

About SANS Institute

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 50 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates employee qualifications via 30 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's degrees in cyber security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system--the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (www.SANS.org)

SOURCE SANS Institute

Related Links

http://www.sans.org


NEW YORK, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Continuing increase in global electricity demand in industrial and commercial sectors to boost diesel gensets market through 2021

New Age TechSci Research Logo (PRNewsFoto/New Age TechSci Research)

According to a recently published TechSci Research report "Global Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", the global diesel gensets market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% by the end of 2021. Diesel gensets are being increasingly used for meeting power requirements from various end users across industrial, commercial and residential sectors. Broadly, diesel genset finds application as standby power system when prime source of power is unable to meet electricity requirements. Diesel gensets are also used as prime power source as well as for peak shaving purpose. Growing demand for continuous and reliable power supply from various end user sectors such as healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing facilities, transportation & communication systems, datacenters, fueling stations, water & sewage facilities, etc., is boosting use of diesel gensets across the world, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 )



Global Electricity Demand, 2015, 2020F & 2025F (Quadrillion Btu)

Electricity Demand Year (Quadrillion Btu) 2015 550 2020 590 2025 640

Source: TechSci Research

Demand for electricity is anticipated to grow over the next five years due to rising industrial production, expansion of commercial sector and increasing power consumption in households, globally. Mounting electricity demand among diverse end users is augmenting demand for diesel gensets, especially in major developing countries such as China and India.



"Government's initiatives to expand industrial sector in major developing economies such as China, India, etc., is expected to continue propelling demand for diesel gensets over the next five years. Middle East & Africa region also offers huge scope for diesel gensets applications due to inadequate power infrastructure in the region. Widening demand-supply gap in the African nations such as Tanzania, Nigeria, etc., has resulted in increased use of diesel gensets as a prime source of power. During 2016 - 2021, developing countries with inadequate power infrastructure are expected to be the major demand generators for diesel gensets." said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global energy management consulting firm.

"Global Diesel Gensets Market By Type, By End User, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of diesel gensets market across the globe and provides statistics and information on market structure, industry behavior and trends. The report includes market projections and demand forecasting. The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities available in the global diesel gensets market.

Browse Related Reports

Global Gas Gensets Market By Rating ((Low Rating (1kVA-75kVA), Medium Rating (75kVA-350kVA), High Rating (350kVA-750kVA), etc.)), By End User (Industrial, Commercial and Residential), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-gas-gensets-market-by-rating-low-rating-1kva-75kva-medium-rating-75kva-350kva-high-rating-350kva-750kva-etc-by-end-user-industrial-commercial-and-residential-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/683.html

Global Natural Gas Compressors Market By Technology (Positive Displacement Compressor Vs. Dynamic Compressor), By Application (Upstream, Midstream and Downstream), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-natural-gas-compressors-market-by-technology-positive-displacement-compressor-vs-dynamic-compressor-by-application-upstream-midstream-and-downstream-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/658.html

GCC Switchgear Market By Type (Low; Medium and High Voltage), By End User (Utilities, Residential, Industrial and Others), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/gcc-switchgear-market-by-type-low-medium-and-high-voltage-by-end-user-utilities-residential-industrial-and-others-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/645.html

India LNG Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2025

http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-lng-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2025/592.html

About TechSci Research

TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.

Contact

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SOURCE TechSci Research
One example is olives, which are typically bought in cans, far removed from the produce section people more typically associate with farms. In California, hard-working, multi-generational farming families produce more than 95 percent of the olives grown and consumed in the United States. The farms  groves, to be exact  are home to thousands of trees that bear olive fruit for harvest each fall.

It should come as no surprise that these families have fine-tuned some of the most appetizing olive recipes by passing them on from one generation to the next. These farmers don't just grow olives, they cook with them too, and are sharing some of their favorite recipes  from snacks to salads and pasta  using California Ripe Olives.

Find more California olive farmer-approved recipes at CalOlive.org.

Cowboy Caviar

Recipe courtesy of olive grower Natalie Jameson

Servings: 8-10

2 cups chopped tomato 3 green onions, sliced 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into small cubes 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained 1 can (6 ounces) large California Ripe Olives, drained and coarsely chopped 1/2 cup prepared vinaigrette dressing

corn chips

In medium bowl, stir together tomato, green onions, avocado, black beans and olives.

Toss with dressing and serve with corn chips.

Rotini with Shrimp and Olives

Recipe courtesy of olive grower Pablo Nerey

Servings: 6-8

1 pound rotini pasta 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons chopped garlic 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

pepper, to taste 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish 2 tablespoons prepared pesto 1 can (2.25 ounces) sliced California Ripe Olives

Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 8-10 minutes, or until al dente; drain well and set aside.

In large skillet, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat.

Add garlic and stir until golden, being careful not to burn.

Add shrimp to skillet and season with garlic salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, or until shrimp are pink, stirring frequently.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add cream to skillet; simmer until thick.

Add cooked pasta to sauce and stir in Parmesan cheese, pesto and olives.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Red Potato and Olive Salad

Recipe courtesy of olive grower Carolina Burreson

Servings: 4-6

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon sugar Salad

1/2 cup sliced California Ripe Olives, drained 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley 1/4 cup chopped celery 1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered and boiled until tender 1 jar (6 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

In sealable jar, mix together dressing ingredients and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, place all salad ingredients in large bowl. Drizzle with dressing and toss lightly to coat.

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.

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SOURCE Family Features Editorial Syndicate

Related Links

http://www.familyfeatures.com


Odawa Casino Resort, owned and operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, completed a number of efficiency improvements by engaging employees in a company-wide grassroots movement to save energy. After a massive upgrade to LED lighting, improvements in IT infrastructure, and installation of variable speed pumps, the resort had saved nearly 1.4 million kWh of electricity and more than 26,000 MMBTU of natural gas by the end of 2015. These enhancements helped the tribe fulfill one of its most important responsibilities: protecting Mother Earth.

In addition to significant, ongoing utility cost savings (more than $400,000 annually), Odawa Casino Resort received $81,000 in incentives from their electric provider, Great Lakes Energy Cooperative, through the Energy Optimization program. Overall, the improvement projects boast an average return on investment of less than seven months.

Another Energy Optimization program participant, Miller Family Farm (Carney), was honored as a Finalist vying for a coveted Governor's Energy Excellence Award. Established in 2013, Miller Family Farm specializes in aquaponics to grow vegetables year-round. This sustainable, organic method of farming is free of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, and uses a fraction of the water expended in traditional field growing methods.

After upgrading to high-efficiency LED grow lights in their greenhouse, Miller Family Farm expects to save more than 80,000 kWh of electricity annually. The farm earned $5,000 in incentives from their electric provider, Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association, through the Energy Optimization program. The farm will reinvest the earnings in future energy-saving improvements.

Coveyou Scenic Farm Market (Petoskey), another Great Lakes Energy Cooperative Energy Optimization program participant, received Honorable Mention for their installation of a high-efficiency ground source heat pump. Other program participants nominated this year include Peterson Farms (Shelby) and Tecumseh High School (Tecumseh).

For more information about the Governor's Energy Excellence Awards, visit mienergyexcellence.org.

About the Energy Optimization Program

The Energy Optimization program provides incentives to Michigan businesses and homeowners to reward the purchase of ENERGY STAR or energy-efficient appliances or equipment. For more information about the Energy Optimization program, call 877.296.4319 or visit michigan-energy.org.

Participating utilities: Alger Delta Electric, Cloverland Electric Cooperative, City of Escanaba, City of South Haven, City of Stephenson, Daggett Electric, Great Lakes Energy Cooperative, HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Marquette Board of Light & Power, Midwest Energy Cooperative, Newberry Water & Light Board, Ontonagon County REA, and Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398643

SOURCE Energy Optimization Program

Related Links

http://michigan-energy.org


TITUSVILLE, N.J., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Janssen Research & Development, LLC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for esketamine, an investigational antidepressant medication, for the indication of major depressive disorder with imminent risk for suicide. If approved by the FDA, esketamine would be one of the first new approaches to treat major depressive disorder available to patients in the last 50 years.

This also marks the second time esketamine has received a Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the U.S. regulatory authority. Esketamine was first granted this designation for treatment-resistant depression in November 2013. Breakthrough Therapy Designation is intended to expedite development and review timelines when preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement on one or more clinically significant endpoints over available therapies for serious or life-threatening conditions.1

The esketamine Phase 2 clinical trial data presented by Janssen in May 2016 at the Society of Biological Psychiatry 71st Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, provided preliminary clinical evidence to support the Breakthrough Therapy Designation for major depressive disorder with imminent risk for suicide.2

"In the U.S. alone, there are more than 41,000 suicides each year,3 many of which result from untreated or poorly treated major depression," said Husseini K. Manji, MD, Global Head, Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, Janssen. "This designation reinforces the potential of esketamine as a novel treatment for patients with major depressive disorder who are at imminent risk for suicide, a condition for which there currently is no approved treatment and which represents a major public health challenge. We are currently conducting clinical trials to further evaluate the clinical benefit of esketamine and look forward to working closely with the FDA throughout the development and review process to bring this important potential new therapy to patients in critical need."

About Esketamine

Esketamine for intranasal administration is an investigational compound being studied by Janssen as part of a global development program. Esketamine is a non-competitive and subtype non-selective activity-dependent N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, which has a novel mechanism of action, meaning it works differently than currently available therapies for depression. The program in treatment-resistant depression is currently in Phase 3, with six ongoing clinical trials.

About Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 16 million people in the U.S.4 and 121 million people worldwide. Individuals with depression, including major depressive disorder, experience continuous suffering from a serious, biologically based disease which can prevent them from enjoying life and functioning normally.5 Depression is the psychiatric disorder most commonly associated with suicide.6 In the U.S. alone, there are more than 41,000 suicides each year,3 many of which result from untreated or poorly treated major depression. Only 30 percent of patients on currently available antidepressants achieve remission.7 While conventional antidepressants can be effective in treating major depressive disorder, and thereby suicidal ideation, they are not FDA-approved for this use, and their delayed onset of effect, which takes three to six weeks, limits their value in treating acutely suicidal patients.

About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies

At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us. We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at www.twitter.com/JanssenUS and www.twitter.com/JanssenGlobal.

Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding product development and the potential benefits of esketamine. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Research & Development, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; manufacturing difficulties and delays; changes in behavior and spending patterns or financial distress of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2016, including in Exhibit 99 thereto, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies or Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Expedited Programs for Serious Conditions." Available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM358301.pdf. Accessed August 2016 . Canuso C, et al. "Esketamine for the Rapid Reduction of the Symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder, Including Suicidal Ideation, in Subjects Assessed to be at Imminent Risk for Suicide." Society of Biological Psychiatry 71st Annual Scientific Meeting. May 12-14, 2016 . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. "Suicide and Self-inflicted Injury." Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm. Accessed August 2016 . National Institute of Mental Health. Major Depression Among Adults. Available at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml. Accessed August 2016 . World Health Organization. Depression. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/. Accessed August 2016 . American Association of Suicidology. Depression and Suicide Risk. Available at: http://www.suicidology.org/portals/14/docs/resources/factsheets/2011/depressionsuicide2014.pdf. Accessed August 2016 . National Institute of Mental Health. Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) Study. Available at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2011/antidepressants-a-complicated-picture.shtml#_edn2. Accessed August 2016 .

Media Contact:

Greg Panico

609-730-3061 (office)

908-240-2011 (mobile)

Investor Contacts:

Joseph J. Wolk

732-524-1142 (office)

Lesley Fishman

732-524-3922 (office)

SOURCE Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies

Related Links

http://www.janssen.com


CLEVELAND, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fathom is proud to announce the release of the 5th edition of its annual publication, The EDU Standard. This resource provides insights into the latest trends in higher education marketing, with a focus of aligning all aspects of an institution's web presence to attract new enrollments, retain current students, and boost alumni donorship.

Schools today are competing for an increasingly scarce body of potential students. With more avenues for higher education available than ever before, schools are all asking one challenging question: "How do we grow enrollment in an increasingly competitive and technologically diverse collegiate environment?" The 5th Edition of the EDU Standard walks readers through the many options available to institutions today to attract, retain, and develop strong alumni relations with potential students.

With a focus on digital marketing, the standard serves a guide to the "student journey," or how students today decide where to go to school by utilizing a myriad of digital resources in the research process. The Standard outlines how schools can align their marketing strategies with the student journey to create a truly powerful and personalized messaging strategy.

"Colleges and universities are operating in unprecedented times as it relates to funding, technology, and competitive pressures," said Sean Wenger, President of Fathom Education. "Fathom is excited to see the success of this publication in supporting our clients as well as helping transformational enrollment and marketing leaders learn and succeed in these challenging times."

With this publication, you will learn:

How to use digital marketing to increase enrollments, increase student retention rates, and nurture alumni donorship

The best methods for developing a consistent digital experience of your school that reflects your institution's goals and values

The latest trends and benchmarks in higher education marketing and how to incorporate those into your own marketing strategy

How to develop a long-term personalized messaging strategy that will keep prospective students engaged throughout the entire college selection process

To learn more or download a copy of the Standard, please visit http://www.fathomdelivers.com/edu-standard/ or contact Phil Kopp at [email protected].

About Fathom:

Fathom is a full-service digital marketing agency for transformation minded marketers looking to punch above their weight. With experience in connecting business strategy and strategic marketing solutions, Fathom helps modern marketers to navigate change, calibrate increasingly integrated sales and marketing departments, and restructure to better support their businesses. Fathom is headquartered in Cleveland with offices in Columbus and Chicago. Read more about Fathom here: http://fathomdelivers.com/

Contact:

Jon Pogact

Director of Marketing

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398231LOGO

SOURCE Fathom

Related Links

http://fathomdelivers.com


ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador and NOVI, Mich., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or "the Corporation") (TSX: FTS) and ITC Holdings Corp. ("ITC") (NYSE: ITC) today announced the final approval of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission ("OCC") of the Corporation's application to acquire ITC. The approval marks another milestone in the regulatory approval process with the transaction expecting to close by the end of the year.

"The Oklahoma Corporation Commission plays an important role in protecting the interests of all Oklahomans," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortis. "We are pleased with the approval from the OCC, and look forward to continuing to serve the transmission needs of the State of Oklahoma."

"We appreciate the work by the Commissioners and staff throughout this process," said Joseph L. Welch, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ITC. "We remain committed to the State of Oklahoma and look forward to continued discussions to grow our business across the State."

Fortis and ITC shareholders approved the acquisition at shareholder meetings held on May 5 and June 22, 2016, respectively. Approval required from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was received on July 8, 2016, and the post-filing waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, expired August 10, 2016. The closing of the acquisition of ITC remains subject to receipt of certain other regulatory authorizations, including other State approvals.

About Fortis

Fortis is a leader in the North American electric and gas utility business, with total assets of approximately CAD$29 billion and fiscal 2015 revenue of CAD$6.7 billion. The Corporation's asset mix is approximately 94% regulated (69% electric, 25% gas), with the remaining 6% comprised of non-regulated energy infrastructure. The Corporation's regulated utilities serve more than 3 million customers across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

Fortis shares are listed on the TSX and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com, www.sedar.com, or www.sec.gov.

About ITC :

ITC is the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, allow new generating resources to interconnect to its transmission systems and lower the overall cost of delivered energy. Through its regulated operating subsidiaries ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, serving a combined peak load exceeding 26,000 megawatts along approximately 15,700 circuit miles of transmission line. ITC's grid development focus includes growth through regulated infrastructure investment as well as domestic and international expansion through merchant and other commercial development opportunities. Additional information can be accessed at www.itc-holdings.com or www.sec.gov. (ITC-itc-F)

Fortis and ITC include forward-looking statements in this press release within the meaning of applicable securities laws including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements included in this press release reflect expectations of Fortis and/or ITC management regarding future growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipates", "believes", "budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "intends", "may", "might", "plans", "projects", "schedule", "should", "target", "will", "would" and the negative of these terms and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation: statements related to the acquisition of ITC, the expected timing, and conditions precedent to the closing of the acquisition, including regulatory approvals.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking statements. These factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally, including those identified from time to time in the forward-looking statements. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the ability to obtain regulatory approvals in connection with the acquisition and the timing and terms thereof, risks relating to failure to complete the acquisition and the timing thereof and the risk that conditions to the acquisition may not be satisfied, and risks relating to the potential decline in the Fortis share price negatively impacting the value of the consideration offered to ITC shareholders. Fortis and ITC caution readers that a number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these risks or factors, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by Fortis or ITC with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortis and ITC disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Fortis filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 including a proxy statement of ITC and a prospectus of Fortis, and other documents in connection with the acquisition by Fortis of ITC, which was declared effective by the SEC on May 16, 2016. This communication is not a substitute for the registration statement, definitive proxy statement/prospectus or any other document that Fortis and/or ITC has filed or may file with the SEC in connection with the acquisition. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF FORTIS AND ITC ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS, AND ANY OTHER FILINGS THAT MAY BE MADE WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE ACQUISITION WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACQUISITION. The registration statement and proxy statement/prospectus containing the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed by Fortis and/or ITC with the SEC are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, on Fortis' website at www.fortisinc.com or by contacting Fortis' Investor Relations department. Copies of the document filed with the SEC by ITC can also be obtained free of charge from ITC upon written request to ITC at ITC, Investor Relations, 27175 Energy Way, Novi, MI 48377. You may also read and copy any reports, statements and other information filed by Fortis and ITC with the SEC at the SEC public reference room at 100 F Street N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at (800) 732-0330 or visit the SEC's website for further information on its public reference room. This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to appropriate registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law.

SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.

Related Links

http://www.itc-holdings.com


DETROIT, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Patients with critical illnesses at Beaumont Hospital, Troy will receive the latest medical care available with the opening of the Frances and Dominic Moceri Medical Intensive Care Unit, a 12-bed, private-room unit, made possible by a major gift from the Moceri family.

"The Moceri Medical Intensive Care Unit allows us to enhance our care for some of our most fragile patients," said Nancy Susick, RN, president of Beaumont, Troy. "Patients with complex conditions such as pneumonia and chronic asthma; major pulmonary embolism; acute and chronic renal failure; lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage and liver failure will be treated in an area that has latest medical technology available."

The Moceri MICU features 12 private rooms with both semi-private and private baths, plus space for family members and visitors. All rooms are located on the exterior walls of the unit, which provides window views and natural light. A nurse's station is the central point of the unit. Six integrated nurses' stations are located between each set of patient rooms to enhance patient care.

In addition to the Medical ICU, the Moceri's gift funded construction of the Frances and Dominic Moceri Learning Center and established the Moceri Learning Center Endowment. The Learning Center is a 20,000-square-foot educational complex for physicians, nurses and other clinicians at the hospital, as well as students of the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

The center will also offer community health wellness events and programs for the public. The Learning Center will open in November.

"We believe strongly in generational responsibility," said Dominic Moceri, who built Moceri Companies, with his sons, from the ground up, during the past five decades.

"We've built our business on creating communities that are beautiful, but also sustainable, healthy places for families to live. We're thrilled that we have the opportunity to extend our philosophy by connecting the latest in medical knowledge and to practice advanced bedside care in ways that can help create better medical outcomes for the patients and families at Beaumont, Troy," Moceri added.

About Moceri:

For three generations, the Moceri name has been synonymous with the face of housing in Michigan. Moceri is associated with a range of high quality residential communities. Moceri Companies' neighborhoods are called home by more than 55,000 families and range from elegant, master planned sites such as The Oaklands and Northville's Stonewater to luxury apartments, and affordable condominiums and manufactured home communities in southeast Michigan. To learn more, visit www.moceri.com.

About Beaumont Hospital, Troy:

Part of Beaumont Health, Beaumont Hospital, Troy is a 520-bed, acute care community teaching hospital that ranks among the nation's highest-volume community hospitals for admissions and surgeries. Beaumont, Troy is a Magnet-designated hospital for nursing excellence. The hospital has been recognized 10 times as among the nation's "100 Top Hospitals." Beaumont, Troy earned "high performing" regional rankings in six medical specialties on the U.S. News & World Report "America's Best Hospitals" 2016-17 lists. Visit Beaumont's website at www.beaumont.org.

SOURCE Moceri

Related Links

http://www.moceri.com


SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As of 2016, there are more than 1.3 billion internet users in China (Internetlivestats)  just over 50 percent of the total population  and that number is only expected to grow over the next few years.

Already a powerful market, international-minded businesses should be thinking about how they will most effectively reach this large audience and leverage its collective buying power. However, there are challenges for those looking to enter China's online market.

A content delivery network (CDN), specifically one licensed in China, could help overcome some of the barriers of entry into the marketplace. We've put together some of the most frequently asked questions relating to China CDNs. Let's take a look:

Q: What is the "Great Firewall" of China?

A: The Great Firewall of China is part of the greater effort dubbed as the "Golden Shield Project." Implemented in 2006, the Great Firewall is a sophisticated internet filtering system. Websites have to be licensed and all content has to adhere to Chinese regulations.

As a result, working with the right partners  ones with existing relationships with Chinese agencies and authorities as well as deep knowledge of the country's unique rules  is essential to both understand and comply with the government regulations.

Q: How do I know a CDN provider offers reliable delivery in China?

A: There are several ways to determine whether a CDN provider will work for you in China. First, is the CDN provider licensed to deliver content in China and does it have infrastructure on the mainland? Some CDN providers try to reach China from Hong Kong; however, Hong Kong's network is separate from the rest of mainland and can result in an extra barrier to entry and 50 percent slower performance.

Second, look to see how many points of presence (PoPs) there are on mainland China and where they are located. Are they dispersed throughout the country or concentrated in large metropolitan areas?

If a real-world test run is desired, many CDN providers offer short-term trials so companies can gauge how well a CDN will work in China and other global markets.

Those on the fence about partnering with a China CDN should understand that a non-Chinese hosted webpage takes an additional 10-15 seconds when accessed in China  a lag time that can potentially deter customers.

Q: How important is web performance to users/customers in China?

A: A recent survey found more than 90 percent of shoppers in China will stop shopping online if they encounter a slow loading site and more than 60 percent will go directly to a competitor's site to purchase the product. Clearly, ensuring accelerated delivery of content is one of the hallmarks of a successful ecommerce shop in China.

Q: Besides performance, how should I prepare my website for a Chinese audience?

A: A straightforward translation of a U.S. website will not succeed in the Chinese market. Chinese web surfing behaviors are vastly different than western consumers. Tailoring a website to Chinese consumers, both in design and content, will go a long way in terms of winning cross-border sales.

Q: What is an ICP (internet content provider) license and does my business need one?

A: There are several mandated licenses for websites in China. All websites are required to have an ICP Beian and PSB (Public Security Bureau) Beian in order to operate in China. Additionally, an ICP license is a requirement for all websites that "make money" on their site (i.e. ecommerce).

For more information on the required licensing in China, take a look at this resource.

Q: What is a global CDN?

A: A global CDN is one that can deliver content within milliseconds all over the world. It typically has points of presence (PoPs) on every continent to lower latency and accelerate loading times for hosted websites. When considering entering the market in China, be aware not all "global" CDNs are registered to deliver content in China. A truly global CDN provider not only is able to deliver content beyond the Great Firewall, but also to every corner of the world.

Q: Will a CDN also work to accelerate dynamic content/web applications in China?

A: Yes, it's possible, but not all CDNs have the capability. Most CDNs have the ability to cache content (i.e. photos, text) throughout their network for quicker delivery to users. Dynamic content (i.e. games, applications, payment transactions or any sort of interactive software) cannot be cached and must be delivered directly from the origin server. Dynamic acceleration, typically available through tier-one CDNs, enables data from the origin server to bypass standard internet nodes and be delivered through a more direct and efficient path, reducing load time and improving responsiveness.

CDNetworks has a robust CDN/ADN (application delivery network) that optimizes content and application delivery across China's multiple internet service providers.

Q: Is a mobile site important in the Chinese market?

A: Mobile is critical to success in China and is one of the primary drivers for ecommerce growth. Mobile adoption is growing at an incredible rate  and more shoppers are turning to mobile devices to both research products and purchase goods. A mobile-friendly website is essential to capture this piece of the pie.

Have more questions?

Contact CDNetworks, we'd be glad to answer them! CDNetworks was the first fully licensed China CDN vendor approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and has been accelerating websites in China since 2006. With 21 PoPs across mainland China, CDNetworks has the infrastructure and bandwidth to reliably accelerate content to customers.

SOURCE CDNetworks

Related Links

http://www.cdnetworks.com


Baker Hill deploys GlobeRanger IoT platform, providing real time information to improve business decision making

Precision component manufacturer gains supply chain transparency throughout production process

IoT insights can be shared with customers and suppliers to more effectively manage inventory and plan future orders

Fujitsu today announced that US-based Baker Hill Industries Inc., a leading supplier of precision machined components to the aerospace, defense, medical and commercial industries, is adding powerful Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to its manufacturing processes through technology supplied by GlobeRanger Corporation, a Fujitsu company.

By adopting the advanced, holistic Fujitsu workflow planning and tracking system, Baker Hill will gain valuable real-time insights into its processes and will be able to pinpoint the exact location of all components at any given moment as they progress through its manufacturing facility.

Baker Hill has chosen GlobeRanger technology as it looks for improvements and increased efficiencies in its end-to-end manufacturing process - from initial order through to shipping finished components. Since Baker Hill is manufacturing high-precision components for highly complex products such as jet and rocket engines, the company also expects to extend the availability of real-time tracking information to its customers, who typically require on-time delivery of parts as they coordinate orders from multiple suppliers.

Recognizing that several years of significant development and the growth in the number of parts it processes have surpassed its manual tracking ability, Baker Hill turned to Fujitsu to deploy its GlobeRanger Manufacturing IoT solution. Baker Hill's objective was to take human error out of the equation by deploying an automated system that provides hard data at the click of a button. The GlobeRanger iMotion platform draws data from a wide range of sources throughout the production process to provide new insights into customer operations  enabling improved short, medium and long-term planning based on more reliable data. As a consequence, customers can benefit from rapid return on investment and focus engineering efforts accordingly.

The GlobeRanger solution provides Baker Hill with more granular insights into its entire production process, delivering information that was previously unavailable. Each production station at its facility in Coral Springs, Florida, USA, features a visual display showing its performance status, with red, yellow and green lights that clearly illustrate whether or not an operation is performing to expectations. This means that any issues can be identified immediately and a remedy can be found rapidly, without affecting completion times.

Nabil Lodey, Head of GlobeRanger Corporation, stated: "Companies like Baker Hill are realizing how powerful it can be to have real-time data from all stages of the manufacturing process at their fingertips. Potential issues are identified and rectified before they become a problem, and the valuable business data means that the management team can manage assets effectively for profitable and steady growth. Having this level of visibility over the whole production process supports organizations with their digital transformation."

Matthew Ricci, President at Baker Hill Industries Inc., says: "We typically have multiple status calls with customers every week. By giving them access to the same tracking information that we use, they will have up-to-the-minute information about the progression of their products through the manufacturing process. As we send some parts for processing externally, we'll be able to track them with our suppliers too. We will be able to monitor the lead times and compare them against what was quoted. This will assist us in refining our own timelines as agreed with our customers."

Pricing and availability

GlobeRanger's IoT solutions are available directly from Fujitsu in the Americas, Oceania and EMEIA regions. Pricing varies according to configuration.

Notes to editors

 GlobeRanger Corporation is a leading global provider of end-to-end enterprise edge solutions including RFID, mobility, and sensor-based solutions and professional services. Its innovative Edgeware platform, iMotion, provides the critical infrastructure layer for managing devices, networks, data and processes at the edge of the enterprise, enabling real-time visibility and response. iMotion serves as the foundation for GlobeRanger and its partners to rapidly develop, deploy and manage edge solutions. Founded in 1999, the company was acquired by Fujitsu in May 2014. GlobeRanger is based in Richardson, Texas.

Online resources

For further information about GlobeRanger, see https://www.globeranger.com

Read the Fujitsu blog: http://blog.ts.fujitsu.com

Follow Fujitsu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FujitsuAmerica

Follow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsu-america

Find Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Fujitsu

Fujitsu pictures and media server: http://mediaportal.ts.fujitsu.com/pages/portal.php

For regular news updates, bookmark the Fujitsu newsroom: http://ts.fujitsu.com/ps2/nr/index.aspx

Media contacts

Fujitsu America, Inc.

Bryan Hollar

408-746-6412

[email protected]

Finn Partners

Andrew Corcione

212-593-5844

[email protected]

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 156,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.7 trillion yen (US$41 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu Americas

Fujitsu America, Inc. is the parent and/or management company of a group of Fujitsu-owned companies operating in North, Central and South America and Caribbean, dedicated to delivering the full range of Fujitsu products, solutions and services in ICT to our customers in the Western Hemisphere. These companies are collectively referred to as Fujitsu Americas. Fujitsu enables clients to meet their business objectives through integrated offerings and solutions, including consulting, systems integration, managed services, outsourcing and cloud services for infrastructure, platforms and applications; data center and field services; and server, storage, software and mobile/tablet technologies. For more information, please visit: http://solutions.us.fujitsu.com/ and http://twitter.com/fujitsuamerica.

Fujitsu, the Fujitsu logo, GlobeRanger and "shaping tomorrow with you" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140618/119400

SOURCE Fujitsu America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.fujitsu.com/us


People hold a rally in Taipei on August 15, 2016, urging the Japanese government to apologize for the "comfort women". [Photo: weibo.com/ jrhx]

The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation led a rally on Monday urging the Japanese government to apologize for the Taiwan women who were forced into sex slavery during World War II.

Monday marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in WWII.

Seventy-one years have passed and they have not received any apology from the Japanese government, not to mention compensation, local lawmaker Wang Yu-min said when delivering a speech at the event.

Wang called on the island's current administration to listen to local people's appeals on the "comfort women" issue and take action to reveal the historical truth.

Around 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced into sex slavery during WWII, according to the foundation. It has identified 58 of them, but only three are still alive.

Kang Shu-hua, executive director of the foundation, said the three women were not present at the rally due to old age.

"However, righteousness should not be compromised and the truth about 'comfort women' must be sought to bring dignity to the victims," she said.

About 100 people participated in the gathering outside the Taipei Office of Japan's Interchange Association, according to organizers, who added the event was part of a global action on Monday to seek justice for the women.
MIAMI, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- G Marine, "The European Yacht Boutique" in Miami spent its summer vacation lining up new yacht offerings for its growing dealership while planning a full schedule of international boat shows. Adding a new Italian brand, EVO Yachts to Astondoa, the 100-year-old Spanish custom shipbuilder, and Fairline Yachts, the storied over 50-year UK brand, G Marine has extended its European reach and broadened the scope of its American clienteleNorth, South and Central. The company will bring six new European yachts from three different builders to three shows in the coming months.

Astondoa's 655 Coupe, Express Yacht - This express yacht utilizes every inch of outdoor space with sun pads and seating and brings the outside in, through huge windows, filling the interior with natural light. Cristiano Gatto's interior designs make the yacht modern, clean and welcoming. The EVO 43 - Starting at the largest boat show in Europe, Yachting Festival in Cannes, G Marine will be with its new Italian brand, EVO Yachts. G Marine will meet with American clients to show the sexy EVO 43, that boasts an expanded aft deck and swim platform, creating a cruising beach club. EVO Yachts, based in Naples, Italy, selected G Marine as its Florida, Mexico and Caribbean dealer because of the company's dedication to customer service and appreciation for design details that make EVO a statement on the water or at the dock.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398002



Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398003

Starting at the largest boat show in Europe, Yachting Festival in Cannes, September 6-11, G Marine will be with its new Italian brand, EVO Yachts. G Marine will meet with American clients to show the sexy EVO 43, that boasts an expanded aft deck and swim platform, creating a cruising beach club. EVO Yachts, based in Naples, Italy, selected G Marine as its Florida, Mexico and Caribbean dealer because of the company's dedication to customer service and appreciation for design details that make EVO a statement on the water or at the dock.

EVO Yachts will join Astondoa at the G Marine stand on the Bahia Mar FG Dock at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, November 3-7. After the success of its 80 GLX at last year's show and Century 110 at the Miami International Boat Show, Astondoa will return with a totally new 80 GLX flybridge yacht. The differences between each model demonstrate Astondoa's dedication to creating truly bespoke yachts that reflect the boating preferences and personal style of each owner.

Astondoa will also show the 655 Coupe, launched at the company's anniversary celebration in Santa Pola, Spain this summer. This express yacht utilizes every inch of outdoor space with sun pads and seating and brings the outside in, through huge windows, filling the interior with natural light. Cristiano Gatto's interior designs make the yacht modern, clean and welcoming.

G Marine will also feature Astondoa's new U.S. arrival, the family-friendly 65 Top Deck which expands the footprint and square footage of the upper deck and swim platform, creating a "floating island" with room for alland all their toys.

Fairline Yachts will also attend the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show as G Marine will display a new 48 Targa Open. A retractable canvas roof gives this express yacht an open-air feel and the cockpit invites socializing with its oversized sun pad. The Targa 48 Open comfortably sleeps up to 7, providing ample space to entertain many more. The saloon, dinette and galley are welcoming and bright and the cabin layout features a generous mid-master and a forward double cabin. Options for adding sleeping space or an additional cabin are available.

The boat's integrated garage provides a home for your jet tender, with an optional submersible hydraulic bathing platform; Volvo Penta IPS 600 with joystick control provide smooth, impressive power, propelling this yacht to over 30 knots.

A Fairline Targa 53 GT and a Squadron 48 will also be on display with G Marine.

Fairline is developing a new 53 Squadron and the boat will make its U.S. debut in February 2017 at the Yachts Miami Beach Show. G Marine also plans to display the new Astondoa 65 Fly in Miami and all its shipyards are actively designing new models for 2017.

According to David Galante, partner in the family business that came to Miami nearly 4 years ago, "The South Florida market is growing in size and diversity in its yachting styles. We have had a strong relationship with buyers in South and Central America so this is the ideal place for us to grow our dealership and product lines. Our clients know that we will find them the right boat, not just any boat so the upcoming boat show season gives us the opportunity to showcase the variety of our offerings."

For more information visit G Marine at its in-water showroom in Miami or on the web at www.gmyachts.com 305 330-1025. High-resolution photography available upon request and online.

Contact:

Romina Bompani - 754-422-6985  Email

Marilyn DeMartini - 954-564-7234  Email

SOURCE G Marine Yachts

Related Links

http://www.gmyachts.com


HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Geneia LLC (Geneia), an analytics and technology leader in transforming healthcare delivery, has received full, three-year National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) Case Management Accreditation and Patient and Practitioner Oriented Disease Management Accreditation for its asthma, coronary artery disease, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes programs. Geneia joins a select group of healthcare organizations whose level of commitment to patient-centered, quality healthcare has been recognized by the nation's most prestigious accrediting body. As of August 16, only 32 organizations are accredited for standalone complex case management and 18 have achieved this distinction for standalone disease management services1.

"NCQA's Disease Management Accreditation program is thorough and rigorous. It's designed to highlight only those programs that truly improve chronic care," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "Case Management Accreditation moves us closer to measuring quality across population health management initiatives. Not only does it add value to existing quality improvement efforts; it also demonstrates an organization's commitment to the highest degree of improving the quality of their patients' care."

Mark A. Caron, CHCIO, FACHE, CEO of Geneia, commented, "Customers applaud Geneia for its robust combination of clinical services and analytics solutions that help them improve the health status of their patients and workforce. NCQA recognition is further confirmation of the high caliber of our patient-centered case and disease management programs."

Geneia Chief Medical Officer Jennifer Chambers, MD, MBA, FACP, said, "In addition to recognizing the clinical rigor of Geneia's programs for the sickest patients, NCQA accreditation is proof positive of our commitment to provider and patient satisfaction  and we know satisfaction contributes significantly to better health outcomes."

Caron added, "Effective care management programs for patients with chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes are central to efforts to achieve the Triple Aim, and in particular, mitigate healthcare costs. A recent American Health Policy Institute (AHPI) study found 'high-cost claimants,' those employees whose healthcare costs exceeds $50,000 per year, represent a disproportionate 31 percent of total health spending. The study also determined that 52.6 percent of high-cost claims are for chronic conditions, most of which can benefit from the kind of disease and case management programs offered by Geneia."

ABOUT NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Web site (www.ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed healthcare choices.

ABOUT GENEIA

Geneia specializes in the development of advanced clinical, analytics, and technical solutions for healthcare transformation. Our team of physicians, nurses, technologists, analytics experts, and business professionals have created a suite of solutions that enable health plans, hospitals and employers to better understand, evaluate and manage the health of their populations. Using our advanced analytics platform, remote patient monitoring tool, and education and research institute, we work with healthcare organizations to improve outcomes, lower costs and restore the Joy of Medicine. The company has offices in Harrisburg, PA, Manchester, NH, and Nashville, TN. To learn more, visit geneia.com or connect with us Twitter and LinkedIn.

1 Source: NCQA website, www.NCQA.org

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150915/266865LOGO

SOURCE Geneia LLC

Related Links

http://geneia.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Activated carbon, a functional carbon material with properties of physical and chemical adsorption, can be divided into coal-based activated carbon, wood-based activated carbon, and other activated carbons.



In 2015, global activated carbon capacity approximated 2.1 million tons (mainly distributed in China, the United States, Japan, and Europe), compared with total demand of only about 1.547 million tons, indicating a huge excess capacity across the entire industry and further capacity integration or elimination in the future.



As the world's largest producer of activated carbon, China's capacity and output of activated carbon reached roughly 900,000 tons and about 628,000 tons (up 6.6% year on year) respectively in 2015, with autilization of 69.8%. Driven by environmental protection and automobile industries, China's activated carbon industry will continue to grow steadily in the future at an output CAGR of around 7.4% during 2016-2020.



Besides satisfying domestic demand, about 1/3 of China-made activated carbon is exported. The country exported 251,000 tons of activated carbon, including 58,000 tons of wood-based activated carbon, mainly to Japan, Peru, and Indonesia, and 193,000 tons of other activated carbons, primarily to Japan, South Korea, and Belgium.



Water treatment and food & beverage are two application fields of activated carbon in China, together making up 60.2% of total demand in 2015, with the former mainly adopting granular activated carbon and the latter powdered activated carbon.



Major global activated carbon manufacturers include U.S. Calgon, Cabot, and Meadwestvaco, Japanese Kuraray and Osaka Gas, French CECA, and Chinese Fujian Yuanli Active Carbon, Datong Coal Mining Jinding Activated Carbon, and Shanxi Xinhua Chemical. Calgon is the world's largest activated carbon producer with a 21.2% global market share, Fujian Yuanli Active Carbon is the largest wood-based activated carbon maker in China, seizing about 21.7% of the Chinese wood-based activated carbon market, and Datong Coal Mining Jinding Activated Carbon is the country's largest coal-based activated carbon manufacturer, occupying 16.7% or so of the segment in China.



Global and China Activated Carbon Industry Report, 2016-2020 by ResearchInChina highlights the followings:

Global activated carbon industry (overview, market size/structure, demand in major countries, etc.);

China's activated carbon industry (overview, development environment, output/sales, patent, price, market structure, imports/exports, competitive landscape, development trends, etc.);

Main upstream sectors (wood cutting/processing, chemical activator, coal) (market size/price/structure, etc.);

Main applications (water treatment, food & beverage, automobile, pharmaceuticals, etc.) (development, product application, etc.);

6 global and 19 Chinese activated carbon producers (operation, presence in China, activated carbon business, etc.).

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p02041908-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com

__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


HOUSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent consultant, author and lawyer Thomas Fox of Houston is being honored for his significant contributions to compliance and ethics as one of just two individual recipients of the 12th annual International Compliance & Ethics Awards from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Mr. Fox, the Compliance Ambassador for the business advisory and technology firm Red Flag Group, will receive his award Sept. 26, 2016, in Chicago. The annual Compliance & Ethics Awards are bestowed upon those who demonstrate tireless and innovative efforts in furthering their profession.

"I am very honored to be selected by my peers for this international recognition from the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics," said Mr. Fox. "As ever more companies extend their businesses into new global markets, it is crucial that their leaders understand the risks of failing to establish a strong ethical culture."

As a prolific author, corporate compliance trainer and host of the FCPA Compliance & Ethics website, Mr. Fox is widely quoted and well-known for his expertise on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the practices that are essential for establishing an ethical corporate culture.

To learn more about Mr. Fox, who also is principal at Advanced Compliance Solutions, visit http://www.advancedcompliancesol.com/about-tom-fox/.

The former general counsel of a global oilfield services company, Mr. Fox has worked as a lawyer in the world's energy capital for more than 30 years. In his most recent role, he promotes best compliance practices through the Red Flag Group, which helps clients manage risk across sales and sales suppliers, customers, and human capital.

Earlier this year, Mr. Fox published his 10th book, "Effective Leadership Skills in Compliance: CCO 3.0 and Beyond." Frequently sought for his speaking services, Mr. Fox also conducts FCPA master class training in Houston and other cities.

Mr. Fox is host of the FCPA Compliance & Ethics website, which provides business solutions to compliance and legal challenges. The informative online resource is a one-stop clearinghouse for corporate compliance professionals working with companies that do business internationally. For more information, please visit fcpacompliancereport.com.

For more information about Mr. Fox and his compliance work, please contact Mary Flood at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].

SOURCE Advanced Compliance Solutions
PHOENIX, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Total Care Connections (https://www.totalcareconnections.com), Arizona's most trusted home care and assisted living provider, will be recognized on the INC 5000 list at the 35th Annual Inc. 5000 Conference and Gala will be held October 18- 20, 2016 at the JW Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio. The list recognizes the 5000 fastest growing, privately held companies in the country. The owners of the company, Daniel & Dani Stringer, are married and run the company together as a team full-time. But it wasn't always that way.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398105

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398117

Prior to the company reaching 117% growth in 2015, Daniel had been leading the company on his own as the company's CEO since its inception in 2009. But it was in 2012 that everything changed. Daniel met and ultimately married the love of his life, Dani, and before long, Dani became a vital role in the executive leadership of the company. Dani had become the youngest nurse practitioner ever to be licensed in the history of the United States at the age of 18 in 2010 and has been recognized around the country for her academic achievements.

As full-time "marriedpreneurs," as they've begun to call themselves, Daniel & Dani have demonstrated that two people can work together full-time, keep the spark of their love for each other, and build a strong marriage all at the same time. When asked what it's like to work full-time with your spouse, Daniel said, "We are literally together 24 hours per day and we wouldn't have it any other way. The key is that we both recognize each other's strengths and welcome them, both in our relationship and in our business."

"With nearly 150 employees under our leadership today, we found that the unity in our marriage and the encouragement we provide to each other is something we treasure even more as it is the foundation for our success as entrepreneurs," Dani explains. "Instead of the business becoming a source of division, it is actually what brings us even closer in our relationship and in our marriage."

As a nurse practitioner, Dani has assumed the company's top clinical role as the organization's Director of Nursing. Along with Daniel, they have doubled the size of their business, acquired two competitors, and have plans to expand into other markets in the coming year. "It's amazing what two people who love each other can do when they are united, first in their relationship, and secondly on the common goal of serving the community in small business," Daniel explains.

The couple inspires other entrepreneurs and marriages around the country through their blog, DanielandDani.com (http://www.DanielandDani.com). Daniel explains it perfectly: "We want to see people thrive in their marriage while pursuing their dreams. We believe that success in business is not worth it at the expense of your family. But when you are united with your spouse, mutually supporting one another, anything is possible."

Contact:

Daniel Stringer, CEO

Total Care Connections

520-546-1554

Email

www.TotalCareConnections.com

www.DanielandDani.com

SOURCE Total Care Connections

Related Links

http://www.TotalCareConnections.com


SAN FRANCISCO and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elemental Machines, provider of intelligent technology for the smart lab, and IndieBio SF, the world's premiere Synthetic Biology accelerator, today announced a partnership for participants to have access to the Elemental Machines Suite of products to enhance their experimental research work.

With a commitment to building a future where biology is considered technology that will help solve our culture's most challenging problems, IndieBio offers funding, mentorship and lab space to a select group of entrepreneurs in each class, including the 15 that presented at the recent IndieBio SF Demo Day. Elemental Machines provides a portfolio of products that help researchers streamline their work, refine protocols, and improve experimental reproducibility, which is one of the most significant challenges researchers face.

"Our companies work in a highly compressed time frame to prove the viability of their research as a platform for building scalable, high-impact businesses," said Ron Shigeta, IndieBio's Chief Scientific Officer. "We are delighted to use Elemental Machines products to support our teams' work as it is helping save time and improve outcomes and yields."

The Elemental Machines products deployed at IndieBio include Elements, credit-card-sized, intelligent, wireless, sensor-rich devices that track and record physical conditions in the laboratory and inside key equipment, and Elemental Insights, a web-based dashboard that provides real-time data visualizations and alerts. Given that temperature, light and humidity are three variables that can greatly influence bio/chemistry, having real-time access to such data in the lab and also detailed insight into the performance of instruments (e.g. refrigerators, freezers, and incubators), researchers have visibility into how these contextual variables can affect their work.

"Monitoring the precise conditions within our growing environment has been one of our highest priorities as we optimize the production environment for our healthy and sugar-free protein sweeteners," said Alan Perlstein, CEO and Founder of MiraculeX, one of the recent IndieBio program participants. "Access to Elemental Machines' products has helped us accelerate our development, putting us on track to roll out our first product by the end of this year."

"Every scientist knows that many of the reproducibility issues in biology and chemistry can be traced to factors in the physical world," said Sridhar Iyengar, CEO of Elemental Machines. "We are honored to be working with the IndieBio team and their startups -- the next generation of synthetic biology innovators and entrepreneurs."

About Indie.Bio and SOSventures

IndieBio SF is funded by SOSV, "The Accelerator VC," and is devoted to funding and building biotech startups dedicated toward solving humanity's most pressing problems with life itself. SOSV accelerates startups with mentoring and finance. They run unique, high-value accelerator programs that we believe provide great value to entrepreneurs, serving and supporting them with breakthrough mentoring, world-class demo days, and distribution and sales assistance.

About Elemental Machines

Elemental Machines is accelerating scientific discovery with a powerful application suite for improving experimental reproducibility. With offices in Cambridge, MA and Burlingame, CA the company is led by an accomplished entrepreneurial team committed to addressing some of the scientific community's biggest challenges. For more information, please visit www.elementalmachines.io.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160202/328603LOGO

SOURCE Elemental Machines

Related Links

http://www.elementalmachines.io


FALLS CHURCH, Va., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Inova Health System is pleased to welcome Michael Maitland, M.D., Ph.D., where he will serve as the new Director of Therapeutics for the Inova Center for Personalized Health (ICPH) and as Associate Director of Cancer Therapeutics for the Inova Schar Cancer Institute (ISCI). Dr. Maitland came to Inova from the University of Chicago where he was the Co-Leader of the Cancer Developmental Therapeutics Program, Assistant Director of the Center for Personalized Therapeutics and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Hematology/Oncology and the Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics. He brings broad expertise to Inova in human genetics, drug development, cardiovascular safety of new cancer drugs, clinical pharmacology consultations, and care of cancer patients with advanced metastatic disease.

"Dr. Maitland is a strong addition to the team, bringing substantial expertise in translational medicine and therapeutics research to develop improved methods of personalized therapy." said Dr. Donald "Skip" Trump, CEO, Inova Schar Cancer Institute. "With clinical pharmacology (the evaluation of factors that determine the effectiveness and side effects of drugs) as the organizing principle, Dr. Maitland will facilitate learning and application of modern methods of personalized drug therapy, not only in cancer care, but also in other diseases."

Dr. Maitland will work closely with Inova investigators, University partners, and regional and national biotechnology and pharmaceutical collaborators to ensure that Inova delivers the highest quality and value in clinical therapeutics science and incorporates this science into patient care throughout the Inova Health System. He is evaluating the development of new biomarkers to better personalize treatments as "adaptive, responsive therapy."

Dr. Maitland earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Yale University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology and M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Yeshiva University. Dr. Maitland completed his Internal Medicine residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell Medical Center. Subsequently he worked as a fellow in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York before completing a joint fellowship in Medical Oncology and Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago to. Dr. Maitland most recently served as Associate Director of the Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics training program at University of Chicago, and has held multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

About Inova



Inova is a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that serves more than 2 million people each year throughout the Washington, DC, metro area and beyond. Inova is a comprehensive network of hospitals, outpatient services and facilities, primary and specialty care practices, and health and wellness initiatives.

Inova encompasses the full array of health services, including the area's only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 4 neonatal intensive care unit. We are home to many nationally and internationally recognized programs, including Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI), Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI), Inova Dwight and Martha Schar Cancer Institute (ISCI).

Inova is a global leader in the science of genomics and the new era of personalized health, which uses a person's genetic make-up, family and medical history, and lifestyle to determine the best prevention and treatment. We connect researchers, clinicians and empowered consumers to improve patient care, enhance prevention and encourage wellness.

Kelly Schlageter

[email protected]

703-205-2221

SOURCE Inova Health System

Related Links

http://www.inova.org


Summit set to chart economic direction

The G20 summit, to be held in the East China city of Hangzhou, will focus on international cooperation in the face of economic risks and challenges to achieve sustainable and balanced growth, officials said Monday.

Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said this summit hopes to give the G20 group a leading role in charting the right direction for the world economy. The group members will also strengthen their partnership to deal with risks and challenges, he said at a media briefing in Hangzhou.

The 11th summit will be held from September 4-5 in Hangzhou.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said that the financial crisis' impact still lingers and impedes growth, resulting in the slow and uneven recovery around the world.

Therefore, the G20 summit's goal is to facilitate a policy consensus. Countries that still have fiscal space should take more measures, he added.

President Xi Jinping will attend and chair the G20 summit with the theme, "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lu Kang announced on Monday.

Xi will also attend an informal BRICS leaders meeting and deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the G20 business forum, which will be held in Hangzhou from September 3-4.

"The theme concentrates on the two most pressing problems facing the world economy: uneven recovery after the financial crisis and relatively low economic growth," said Zhang Haibing, director of the Institute for World Economy Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times.

"Innovation and invigoration represent growth, meaning that innovation and structural reforms may help the world economy find new sources of momentum," Zhang said.

Interconnection and inclusiveness indicate development through infrastructure interconnection, the strengthening role of multilateral development banks and implementation of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Growth, she said.

The G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia in 2014 set the global economic growth target at 2 percent in five years.

Sustainable development

The G20 summit will also for the first time issue a report on green financing, said People's Bank of China deputy governor Yi Gang.

"The report will be drafted by the G20 Green Finance Study Group, which was established under the Chinese G20 presidency to show China's concern for green and sustainable development," Zhang said. "In keeping with global demand, the move could be seen as a very positive response to the global fight against climate change."

Yi also said the G20 will strive to promote financial sector reform, which will be a key topic of the summit.

"The summit will focus on discussions of international financial reforms so as to ensure a relatively stable global financial market, which may cover coordinating macroeconomic and monetary policies among different countries," said Huo Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Society for WTO Studies.

From China's perspective, since the Chinese yuan's inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights takes effect in October, domestic financial regulators may need to make certain adjustments to the foreign exchange policies, Huo told the Global Times on Monday.

Zhu said the G20 members this year have been making progress on issues like financial reform, international taxation cooperation, green financing, climate funding and counter-terrorism fundraising.
Birmingham operations are currently divided into two locations; an inventory location stocking of a wide range of niche and commodity plastics including ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, HDPE, Marine Board, UHMW and other performance plastics, and a machining location specializing in value added services including routing, beveling, counter sunk holes, hole drilling, and other custom machining and fabrication processes.

With both locations experiencing significant growth, Interstate Plastics took advantage of an opportunity to streamline operations by combining the two locations into a much larger facility. "The new space will allow Interstate Plastics to get all operations under one roof, as well as provide a more convenient location to service its customers," said Cole Klokkevold, Interstate Plastics Chief Executive Officer.

The new Birmingham location will continue to service markets throughout Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Interstate Plastics expects approximately 7 to 9 weeks of renovation on the new location, and will announce the address in an August release. For further information on the planned move, please contact Interstate Plastics directly.

Interstate Plastics is a full-line distributor of plastic sheet, rod, tube, bar, film and profiles, as well as plastic accessories, tools and care products. With 10 locations nation-wide and an online sales and support team, Interstate Plastics provides full sheets and pallets, simple cut-to-size and complex CNC manufacturing. Interstate Plastics is known for its reputation of selling high quality products, providing excellent customer service, and superior technical support. All of our products and services are available using the safe, secure and convenient purchasing system on the Interstate Plastics website. For instant help, we're always just a phone call away at (888) 768-5759.

Contact:

Stephen Sowinski

Email

8887685959

SOURCE Interstate Plastics
TEL AVIV, Israel and SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vayyar Imaging (http://vayyar.com), the 3D-imaging sensor company whose technology makes it possible to see through objects, liquids, and materials, today announced the launch of a 3D imaging tool for consumers, WalabotDIY. Created especially for the home renovator, construction worker, and DIY enthusiast, WalabotDIY gives users 'Superman-vision' to see through drywall, cement and other materials to determine the location of pipes, wires, and even rodents' nests. Available exclusively in the United States at launch, the power of 3D imaging is now available to consumers in the palm of their hand for the first time. See a short video of how WalabotDIY works here.

"WalabotDIY takes the guesswork out of your next renovation or repair project. It makes all kinds of home repair and renovation tasks easier  everything from hanging a gallery wall, mounting shelving, locating a pesky leak or drilling into a wall without the fear of hitting a pipe or electrical wire," said Raviv Melamed, CEO and co-founder, Vayyar Imaging. "While there are many use cases for Vayyar's 3D imaging technology, one of the highest demands we have had is from the home renovation market where 3D imaging makes a wide variety of tasks much easier."

How WalabotDIY works

WalabotDIY is compatible with all Android smartphones 5.0 and higher, equipped with USB OTG, and connects magnetically to the back of the phone. After downloading the WalabotDIY app via Google Play and a short calibration process, WalabotDIY can be used to scan the wall, and the wall images are then projected on the smartphone's screen. WalabotDIY also helps users know precisely how deep to cut or how far to drill to avoid damaging pipes, wires, and objects hidden behind walls. Its robust 3D imaging sensors detect both the depth and location of objects and easily 'sees' through up to four inches or 10 centimeters of concrete or drywall. WalabotDIY also features an adjustable sensitivity setting for optimal calibrations on specific renovation and construction projects, offers two sensing modes of pipes and raw data, and can easily snap photo screenshots for use in offline analysis.



Vayyar's powerful sensor technology will also enable added features for WalabotDIY in the future. Additional applications will be available via Google Play and will integrate seamlessly with the existing WalabotDIY tool as they are announced and released.

WalabotDIY retails for $299 USD, but for a limited time early adopters can take advantage of a special $199 USD introductory launch price. To order WalabotDIY or learn more, visit http://walabot.com/diy.

About Vayyar

Vayyar Imaging (http://vayyar.com) is changing the imaging and sensing market with its breakthrough 3D imaging technology. Vayyar's exclusive sensors quickly and easily look into objects, analyze the makeup of materials and track changes and movements  bringing highly sophisticated imaging capabilities to your fingertips. Our goal is to help people worldwide improve their health, safety, and quality of life using mobile, low-cost, and safe 3D imaging sensors. Vayyar's award-winning technology is currently being used by top Fortune 500 companies and has expanded into multiple industry sectors, including construction/DIY, Smart Home applications, agriculture, robotics, AR and VR, automotive, personal health and IoT.

Vayyar's consumer product line Walabot is a series of 3D imaging devices designed for the needs of today's creators, including the WalabotMaker with three versions for makers of all types, and the WalabotDIY for home renovators, construction workers, and DIY enthusiasts.

Located in Israel, Vayyar Imaging is a privately held company backed by Walden Riverwood, Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Israel Cleantech Ventures (ICV) and Amiti Ventures. Follow @VayyarInc and @Walabot on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or learn more at http://vayyar.com.

All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts:

Natalee Gibson Mindy M. Hull Mercury Global Partners for Vayyar Mercury Global Partners for Vayyar +1 720 648 5784 +1 415 889 9977 [email protected] [email protected] Twitter: @MercuryGlobal Twitter: @mmhull

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SOURCE Vayyar Imaging

Related Links

http://www.vayyar.com


SHANGHAI, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), a global leader in the solar PV industry, today announced that it plans to release its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 before the open of U.S. markets on Thursday, August 25, 2016.

JinkoSolar's management will host an earnings conference call on August 25, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 p.m. Beijing / Hong Kong the same day).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

Hong Kong / International: +852-5808-3202 U.S. Toll Free: +1-855-298-3404 Passcode: JinkoSolar

Please dial in 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the passcode to join the call.

A telephone replay of the call will be available 2 hours after the conclusion of the conference call through 23:59 U.S. Eastern Time, September 1, 2016. The dial-in details for the replay are as follows:

International: +61-2-9641-7900 U.S. Toll Free: +1-866-846-0868 Passcode: 8605972

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of JinkoSolar's website at http://www.jinkosolar.com.

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is a global leader in the solar industry. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 3.5 GW for silicon ingots and wafers, 3 GW for solar cells, and 6 GW for solar modules, as of March 31, 2016. JinkoSolar also sells electricity in China, and had connected approximately 1,007 MW of solar power projects to the grid, as of March 31, 2016.

JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 5 productions facilities in Jiangxi and Zhejiang Provinces, China, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, 16 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and South Africa. 18 global sales offices in China (2) ,United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.

To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, 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 "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends, "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Mr. Sebastian Liu

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86 21-5183-3056

Email: [email protected]

Mr. Christian Arnell

Christensen

Tel: +86 10 5900 2940

Email: [email protected]

In the U.S.:

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Christensen, Scottsdale, Arizona

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.jinkosolar.com


CINCINNATI, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Two leaders in the K-12 publishing industry are joining forces. Dubuque, Iowa-based Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, publisher of science, math, and gifted materials, acquired Cincinnati-based RCL Benziger, publisher of Catholic educational materials, on Tuesday, August 16.

RCL will continue to operate under the RCL Benziger name and maintain its corporate office in Cincinnati. This acquisition will allow Kendall Hunt to more effectively and efficiently serve the needs of educators in both the private and public arenas.

Family owned and operated, Kendall Hunt was previously part of William C. Brown that published religious education materials for the Catholic faith, starting with The Archdiocese of Chicago in the early 1970s, before expanding throughout the United States in the 1980s under the name Brown ROA.

RCL Benziger, founded in 1792, is one of the oldest publishers of Catholic educational materials and faith formation resources in the United States, and is a leading provider of religious education programs for Catholic Schools and parishes.

"Passion is key in K-12 education. At Kendall Hunt, our customers are passionate about their curriculum and looking for new, innovative ways to teach today's youth," said Kendall Hunt Publishing President and Chief Operating Officer Chad Chandlee. "This acquisition will allow both Kendall Hunt and RCL Benziger to explore intelligent ways to integrate new products and services into our curricula. Both companies have a rich, long-standing, positive reputation in the marketplace and the two coming together will better serve today's customers."

"There are many similarities between our two businesses," said Peter M. Esposito, President of RCL Benziger. "Our legacy brands deliver highly engaging, customer-centric content to their respected markets. With Kendall Hunt as our parent company, I see on the horizon our ability to create and offer more integrated digital learning tools and solutions, in addition to customizing content for Catholic schools and parishes throughout North America."

About Kendall Hunt Publishing

Kendall Hunt Publishing is the premiere publisher of innovative, hands-on, inquiry-based science, mathematics, and gifted curricula for grades PreK-12. Our award-winning research and standards-based programs are available in both print and digital components that fully engage students, teachers, and parents. Visit k12.kendallhunt.com to learn more.

About RCL Benziger Publishing

RCL Benziger is one of the oldest publishers of Catholic educational materials and faith formation resources in the United States. Known for its digital product offerings and bilingual resources, RCL Benziger is a major provider of religious education programs for Catholic schools and parishes. The RCL Benziger family of products supports catechists, educators, students, families, and individuals. Visit www.RCLBenziger.com to learn more.

East Wind acted as exclusive financial advisor to RCL Benziger in this transaction.

SOURCE RCL Benziger

Related Links

http://www.rclbenziger.com


ATLANTA and CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Nationwide have been selected by TU-Automotive to deliver the opening keynote at the 7th annual Connected Car Insurance conference at the Radisson Aqua Blu in Chicago, Ill., on Sept. 7, 2016. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a leading provider of data, analytics and technology, and Nationwide, one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the United States, will discuss the importance of a data agnostic platform as well as their innovative partnership to deliver the industry's next-generation insurance telematics program.

The conference brings together leaders and experts from across the connected car and auto insurance industry to discuss key business issues around usage-based insurance (UBI). David Lukens, Director of Telematics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and Larry Thursby, Vice President Property & Preferred Auto Product, Nationwide, will explain how aggregating UBI data into a single data source is critical for long-term success.

"We live in a time where the ecosystem of telematics data is expanding at a rapid rate," said David Lukens, Director of Telematics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "It's increasingly important that insurance companies normalize all data into one consistent data set for UBI to be effective, despite it coming from disparate sources. Nationwide understands that technology will continue to evolve and is using that foresight to guide the development of its SmartRide mobile program."

As the connected car ecosystem evolves, more sources of data to integrate are creating a complex landscape for insurers to navigate. The keynote will explore the issues and opportunities facing insurance companies today, including:

A view on how connected car insurance will evolve over the next five years and beyond through original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ascendency and new streams encompassing the wider Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.

Keeping up with the evolving landscape of privacy and security with respect to compliance requirements in order to best position new solutions.

How to overcome data fragmentation by normalizing and enriching data from multiple sources to find the key to a successful UBI program.

"With more connected vehicles and evolving OEM solutions, through our work with LexisNexis Risk Solutions we are able to provide our customers with the most innovative solutions resulting in greater control of their rates," said Larry Thursby, Vice President Property & Preferred Auto Product at Nationwide. "By reporting in a uniform data set through the SmartRide mobile app, we've been able to take the first step in developing a truly source-agnostic rating strategy for the future."

Register with the discount code LEXISNEXIS200 before Sept. 2 to save $200 on a conference pass: http://www.tu-auto.com/connectedcar-insurance-us/register.php.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced analytics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/

About Nationwide

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Nationwide, Nationwide is on your side, Join the Nation and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

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SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Related Links

http://lexisnexis.com


WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Red Cross disaster workers are helping thousands of Louisiana residents with a safe place to stay and food to eat despite closed roads and continued flooding making it challenging to get relief supplies to where they are needed.

"The current flooding in Louisiana is the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since Superstorm Sandy," said Brad Kieserman, vice president, Disaster Services Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. "The Red Cross is mounting a massive relief operation, which we anticipate will cost at least $30 million and that number may grow as we learn more about the scope and magnitude of the devastation."

Monday night more than 8,400 people sought refuge in 36 Red Cross and community shelters in Louisiana. More than 1,000 Red Cross disaster volunteers have been mobilized from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to help with the Louisiana relief efforts. The Red Cross is also mobilizing over 60 disaster response vehicles, nearly 40,000 ready-to-eat meals, and dozens of trailers filled with shelter and kitchen supplies. See more about the Red Cross response here.

"People in Louisiana urgently need our help now," continued Kieserman. "Please consider making a financial donation to the Red Cross today."

HOW TO HELP People in Louisiana are facing a dire situation. Floodwaters still cover neighborhoods. An estimated 25,000 homes are damaged, affecting at least 75,000 people. Thousands of people have no power when it feels like 99 degrees outside and more than 100 roads are closed. People can donate by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word LAFLOODS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recovery from these disasters.

FINDING LOVED ONES Residents of the affected areas can connect with their loved ones by using the "I'm Safe" button on the Red Cross Emergency App which is free and can be found in the app store for someone's mobile device by searching for "American Red Cross" or by going to redcross.org/apps.

People can also visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell to register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website, a secure and private way that friends and family connect. The site also allows people to update their status on Facebook and Twitter.

JOINT RELIEF EFFORT The Red Cross is working closely with the entire response community to coordinate relief efforts and deliver help quickly and efficiently, keeping in mind the diverse needs of the community. Some of the organizations sending help to the area include Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, the NAACP, Islamic Relief USA, Church of the Brethren Children's Disaster Services, Save the Children, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, AFL-CIO, Verizon, Duracell, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Baton Route YMCA and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints volunteers.

BECOME A VOLUNTEER To become a Red Cross volunteer, visit redcross.org today to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application.

CORPORATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

ADGP $1 Million members are: American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Boise Paper; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Disney; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx Corporation; The Home Depot Foundation; Humble Bundle; LDS Charities; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Merck Foundation; Nationwide Foundation; State Farm; Target; UPS; VSP Vision care for life; and Walmart and the Walmart Foundation.

ADGP $500,000 members are: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bank of America; Capital One; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Farmers Insurance; Ford Motor Company; Grainger; John Deere Foundation; Johnson Controls; Medtronic; Meijer; Mondelez International Foundation; National Grid; PepsiCo Foundation; Prudential Foundation; Ryder; Southwest Airlines; Sprint; Sunoco; The TJX Companies, Inc.; United Airlines; United Technologies Corporation; Visa; Wawa; and Wells Fargo.

Disaster Responder Program members are: Alcoa; Almost Family; Astellas USA Foundation; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; AXA; Ball Foundation; BNY Mellon; CarMax; The Clorox Company; Cox Automotive; DTE Energy Foundation; Duke Energy; Entergy Corporation; General Motors Foundation; Harbor Freight Tools; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; Hi-Rez Studios; IBM Corporation; IKEA; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; Interstate All Battery Center; Land O'Lakes, Inc.; MetLife Foundation; Morgan Stanley; Neiman Marcus Group; New Balance Foundation; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Procter & Gamble Company; PSEG Foundation; PuroClean Disaster Recovery; Red Heart Yarns; ScriptRelief; Sealed Air; Servpro Industries, Inc.; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; T O Y O T A; U.S. Bank; and U-Haul International.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

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SOURCE American Red Cross

Related Links

http://www.redcross.org


TOANO, Va., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL), the largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring in North America, announced today the final resolution of the Proposition 65 lawsuit originally filed on July 23, 2014, in the Superior Court of the State of California.

On June 30, 2016 the Court entered judgment in favor of Lumber Liquidators. On August 12, 2016, the parties entered into a final resolution of the case, with a settlement agreement that requires the plaintiffs to pay Lumber Liquidators $100,000 as reimbursement for costs. The agreement also requires the plaintiffs to surrender their right to appeal or challenge the judgment.

"The verdict in our favor in the Proposition 65 case and the related settlement requiring plaintiffs to reimburse our costs are additional steps forward in the tremendous progress our Company has made over the past several months," said John Presley, CEO of Lumber Liquidators. "We have strengthened Lumber Liquidators across every area of our organization, including implementing significant enhancements to our sourcing and compliance practices, and look forward to continuing to deliver products that are compliant with California's environmental standards. As a company, we remain committed to operating with integrity and delivering the highest quality products to our customers."

In 2014, Global Community Monitor and Sunshine Park LLC filed a lawsuit claiming that Lumber Liquidators failed to provide a Proposition 65 formaldehyde warning to California consumers. The Court ruled that the plaintiffs' evidence failed to support their claims.

About Lumber Liquidators

With more than 370 locations, Lumber Liquidators is North America's largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring. The Company features more than 400 top quality flooring varieties, including solid and engineered hardwood, bamboo, cork, laminate and resilient vinyl. Additionally, Lumber Liquidators provides a wide selection of flooring enhancements and accessories to complement, install and maintain your new floor. Every location is staffed with flooring experts who can provide advice and useful information about Lumber Liquidators' low priced product, much of which is in stock and ready for delivery.

With premier brands including Bellawood and Morning Star Bamboo, Lumber Liquidators' flooring is often featured on popular television shows such as HGTV's Dream Home and This Old House. For more information, please visit www.LumberLiquidators.com or call 1.800.HARDWOOD.

Lumber Liquidators aims to be the industry leader in sustainability. For more information, please visit www.LumberLiquidators.com/Sustainability. Learn more about our corporate giving program at LayItForward.LumberLiquidators.com. You can also follow the Company on Facebook and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements of Lumber Liquidators' expectations, intentions, plans and beliefs that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meanings of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which may be identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "thinks," "estimates," "seeks," "predicts," "could," "projects," "potential" and other similar terms and phrases, are based on the beliefs of Lumber Liquidators' management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, Lumber Liquidators' management as of the date of such statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Lumber Liquidators' control. Forward-looking statements in this release may include, without limitation, statements regarding Lumber Liquidators' compliance procedures and product quality. Lumber Liquidators' actual results could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of potential risks, uncertainties and other factors including, but not limited to, Lumber Liquidators' ability to successfully implement the compliance procedures. Lumber Liquidators specifically disclaims any obligation to update these statements, which speak only as of the dates on which such statements are made, except as may be required under the federal securities laws. Information regarding additional risks and uncertainties is contained in Lumber Liquidators' reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Item 1A, "Risk Factors," section of the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

For further information contact:

Lumber Liquidators Investor Relations

Steve Calk

Tel: 757.566.7512

John Feld  One Simple Plan

Tel: 612.677.2248

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SOURCE Lumber Liquidators

Related Links

http://www.lumberliquidators.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MapD, the world's fastest data exploration platform, today announced that experienced executives, Bill Maimone and Alan Wong had joined the company as Vice Presidents of Engineering and Finance respectively.

These talented leaders will help the guide the company through a period of extraordinary growth, building a framework for the company to continue to scale from both a technology and administrative perspective.

Founded in 2013, MapD has pioneered an analytics platform that can query and visualize massive data sets up to 100x faster than other systems. By leveraging the massive parallelism of commodity GPUs, it can execute and render SQL queries over multibillion row datasets with millisecond response times.

"I could not be more pleased to join an innovator like MapD at this stage in its development," said Bill Maimone. "The ability to lead such a talented team of engineers in building products that are faster and more responsive than anything in the market represents an extraordinary opportunity."

Maimone joins the company from Anaplan where he served as the VP of Engineering. Before that, he was the VP of Engineering for Chatter at Salesforce as well as an SVP and the CTO of big data analytics pioneer, Actian. Maimone began his career at Oracle, where he spent two decades. During that time he held a number of senior engineering roles culminating as a Vice President with responsibility for over five hundred members of the R&D team across four continents. He holds a M.S. and a B.S. in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Also joining MapD as the VP of Finance is Alan Wong. Wong was most recently the VP of Finance and Administration at UnitedLayer, a hybrid hosting company providing cloud, business continuity and colocation solutions. Wong has also held finance roles with Alta Devices, Leadis Technologies, Spansion and Advanced Micro Devices. He was a co-founder of PracticeFusion, the largest cloud-based electronic health records platform in the United States. He holds a MBA in Finance and a B.S. in Accounting, both from San Francisco State University.

"I am delighted to join MapD and look forward to helping us manage growth and build the infrastructure needed to support further acceleration," noted Wong. "The opportunity to join such a seasoned management team with such a transformative product was incredibly attractive."

"Adding Alan and Bill to the management team at MapD represents another milestone for our company," according to MapD co-founder and CEO Todd Mostak. "As we seek to manage our growth and scale our business we have put into place a senior management team that has a proven track record at building technology businesses."

The MapD database and Immerse visualization platform are now available for deployment on premises, or in the cloud via IBM Softlayer or Amazon AWS. For more information or to get a demo of MapD on your own data, contact [email protected].

About MapD

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Francisco, MapD develops GPU-powered data analytics and visualization software. MapD's technology originated from founder Todd Mostak's research at MIT CSAIL. The company's investors include Vanedge Capital, Nvidia, Google Ventures, and Verizon Ventures. For more information about MapD, go to www.mapd.com or follow us on Twitter @datarefined. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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SOURCE MapD

Related Links

http://www.mapd.com


RIVERSIDE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cobalt Medical Development is the most recent company to join March LifeCare in Riverside County, signing an agreement to purchase four acres on the growing medical campus. Cobalt, a real estate developer and owner/operator of healthcare facilities, plans to construct a state-of-the-art post-acute medical and rehabilitation hospital that will house 70 private inpatient beds, inpatient and outpatient programs, and provide upscale hotel-like amenities. The facility will be used to treat traumatic brain injuries, concussions, and Parkinson's disease, in addition to providing other in- and out-patient services.

"We are bringing a whole new level of medical service to the community," Richard Fiske, Cobalt's Chief Executive Officer said in making the announcement. "Our advanced rehabilitation center will specialize in treating traumatic brain injuries of military veterans, first responders, athletes, and the general public. We look at a rehabilitation patient as one who is not sick, but broken and our job is to get them mended." Fiske, along with Erik de Vries, Principal and Founder, have together participated in the development of nearly 25 percent of all the rehabilitation hospitals in the United States.

"Cobalt's hospital and rehabilitation services will be an integral part of the specialized medical services provided at the March LifeCare Medical Campus," said Donald Ecker of March Healthcare Development. Dr. Danielle Wheeler, March Joint Powers Authority Executive Director added, "Cobalt's rehabilitation center exemplifies the type of high quality, specialized medical facility the Joint Powers Commission envisioned would serve the surrounding communities of Moreno Valley, Riverside and Perris when they approved the March LifeCare Medical Campus."

The project will create over 100 construction jobs and joins other development already underway on the March LifeCare campus including the erection of a 150-bed behavioral health hospital, infrastructure expansion of new gas and water lines and roadway resurfacing, and construction of the US Vets housing facility. Once the hospital is constructed, Cobalt will be hiring physical therapists, speech therapists, nurses, nurse assistants, and workers in the food service industries as well grounds maintenance.

"We are excited about this development because Cobalt will be bringing services to the Riverside area that are currently unavailable," said Dr. Steven Larson, Chairman of the Riverside Medical Clinic. Dr. Thomas Haider, chief of the Spine Division for Riverside County Regional Medical Center agrees. "I look forward to utilizing Cobalt's state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility, there is such a severe need for post-acute care in Riverside County," he said.

About Cobalt

Cobalt Medical Development, based in Dallas, Texas, is a real estate development and an owner/operator company providing exceptional patient care in state of the art facilities that promote improved patient outcomes. As experienced healthcare developers, Cobalt supplies its investors and healthcare providers with a sharp focus on strategy and developing real estate in rapid growth sectors. For more information, visit cobaltmedicaldevelopment.com.

About March Healthcare Development

March Healthcare Development is the master developer of March LifeCare, a medical city on approximately 236 acres of surplus land on the former March Air Force Base in Riverside County, California. For more information regarding March Healthcare Development, visit marchlifeusa.com.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT

Steve Tomassi

March Healthcare Development

Email

(714) 271-1862

SOURCE March Healthcare Development
After starting his career as a CPA, Mark transitioned to operations, becoming COO and CEO for different transportation-related businesses. "I have great confidence in Mark's ability to work with our exceptional team in growing our business. I trust him and know that his energy and dedication to our people, our customers and our company will serve us all well," said Kathleen McCann, United Road's CEO.

As McCann passes the presidency to Anderson, she will also assume the position of Chairman of United Road's Board of Directors. She replaces Michael Eisenson, Managing Director and CEO of Charlesbank Capital Partners, the Company's majority shareholder. "The board is delighted to appoint Kathleen as Chairman. Under her leadership, United Road has made great progress in achieving the strategic objectives we set at the time of our investment in 2012, nearly doubling the size of the business through a combination of organic growth and accretive acquisitions," Mr. Eisenson said. "I am confident that Kathleen, Mark and their team will continue to build on this progress, displaying the drive, talent and focused execution that have solidified the company's position as a market leader. I look forward to offering my continued support as a member of the board."

McCann joined United Road in early 2011 as its president and was named CEO in June 2012. Today, using its patented and proprietary technology, United Road is leading the industry in network optimization as it moves more than 3 million new and remarketed vehicles throughout the U.S. and Canada for its 10,000 unique customers. Headquartered in Romulus, Mich., the Company has 65 operating locations, and 2,400 employees and dedicated independent contractors in North America.

About United Road Services

United Road is North America's premier auto transport expert, shipping over 3 million vehicles per year. Founded in 1997, United Road's customer list includes all major domestic and foreign automakers, remarketers, financial institutions, leasing companies, auctions, retail stores, as well as individuals. United Road offers a wide variety of finished vehicle logistics services, employs highly trained driving professionals, and boasts an industry-best capacity to match an extensive geographic footprint. United Road takes pride in a stellar safety record and its patented OVISS technology that enables better order visibility, real-time event reporting and delivery confirmation with every auto transport.

About Charlesbank Capital Partners

Based in Boston and New York, Charlesbank Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity investment firm managing more than $3 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financing, typically investing $50 million to $150 million per transaction in companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $1.5 billion. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth.

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Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398549

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160718/390683LOGO

SOURCE United Road Services
Yemenis inspect the rubble of a house in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on August 11, 2016, after it was reportedly hit by a Saudi-led coalition air strike. (AFP/Xinhua)

SANAA, Aug. 15 -- At least 20 people were killed and 15 others wounded when the Saudi-led warplanes attacked a hospital operated by the humanitarian association Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Yemen's northwest province of Hajja on Monday, a MSF spokeswoman and an eyewitness told Xinhua.

"It is confirmed that a Saudi-led airstrike today hit a hospital run by MSF team since July 2015 in Abbs district," MSF spokeswoman Malak Shahir told Xinhua.

She said the doctor team is busy treating the injured.

An eyewitness told Xinhua that the airstrike destroyed a part of the hospital, but the hospital is still being operated by the MSF doctors.

He told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that a Spanish female doctor survived the airstrike and she is now treating the injured.

It's not the first time MSF-run hospitals were hit by the Saudi-led warplanes.

A few months ago, two MSF-run hospitals in neighboring Saada province were hit by several airstrikes, as the Saudi-led military coalition admitted its mistakes.

On Saturday, another Saudi-led airstrike raided a children school in Haidan district in Saada province, killing at least 10 students and injuring 28 others, according to a MSF statement.

The Saudi-led warplanes fighting Shiite Houthi rebels launched airstrikes against military targets of Houthis and their ally forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in several northern provinces on Monday, including the capital Sanaa, according to reports by Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in support of exiled Yemeni government in 2015, but failed to bring it back to power in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

The war and airstrikes have since killed over 6,400 people, mostly civilians.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with our nearby neighbors affected by this devastating flood," said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. "We've witnessed before how the generosity of friends from around the world can have a profound impact on recovery. Please join us by making a contribution to the NOLA Pay It Forward Fund."

To facilitate the administration of the fund, Mayor Landrieu has teamed up with the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the region's community foundation. "While it's too early to know the full extent of the damage as a result of the thousands of homes flooded, our experience after hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Isaac, and after the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, is that we have to be fully prepared to aggressively tackle both the immediate and long-term challenges our communities face," said Martha Landrum, vice president of marketing and communications.

The Greater New Orleans Foundation administers similar funds that benefit the region. In 2005, immediately after hurricane Katrina, the Rebuild New Orleans Fund was established with assets totaling more than $25 million. After the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill, the Greater New Orleans Foundation generated over $1 million in relief for clean-up efforts. In the past five years, the Foundation has directed 1,200 grants to help storm victims and to provide critical resources for returning residents home. Donations to the fund can be made at http://www.gnof.org/nolapayitforward/.

About the Greater New Orleans Foundation

The Greater New Orleans Foundation is the community foundation serving the 13-parish Greater New Orleans area. We design and lead initiatives that improve the region, connect donors to community needs, and identify and support great nonprofits. www.gnof.org.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398175

SOURCE Greater New Orleans Foundation

Related Links

http://www.gnof.org/


PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), the parent holding company of the MIAX Options Exchange (MIAX Options), today announced that it has filed a Form 1 Application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its second fully electronic U.S. options exchange, MIAX PEARL. The new exchange will leverage the industry leading technology and infrastructure developed by MIAX Options to employ a price-time allocation model. Details regarding MIAX PEARL's launch date, fee schedule and products traded will be publicized at a later date.

"The launch of MIAX PEARL and the anticipated 4th quarter 2016 release of our Complex Order functionality on MIAX Options (each subject to SEC approval) are expected to dramatically increase our market accessibility by nearly 200% from approximately 25% to approximately 75% of the current market," said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIH. "We are confident that MIAX PEARL will serve as an excellent counterpart to MIAX Options and enable us to build upon the success of MIAX Options and significantly increase our market share and revenues over the next two years."

Continued Douglas M. Schafer, Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of MIH, "MIAX PEARL will leverage our innovative technology platform to deliver exceptional operating efficiency, enhanced risk protections and quality customer service to participants in a segment of the options market not covered by MIAX Options. We see a great opportunity for MIAX PEARL to expand our customer base and for both MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL to provide innovative trading functionality across multiple market segments."

In other news, MIH today announced that it has recently closed on a $30 million debt financing from a New York City based hedge fund managed by Brevet Capital Management, LLC (Brevet). Under the terms of the agreement, MIH has the option to secure an additional $20 million in financing, provided certain conditions are met. MIH intends to use the proceeds from the financing for the operations of MIAX PEARL, including the regulation of MIAX PEARL, key equipment upgrades for MIAX Options, the migration of both the MIAX Options Disaster Recovery platform and the Primary and Secondary MIAX Options Trading System platforms, as well as for growth capital purposes. Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. advised MIH in connection with this financing.

"This financing provides us with the funds necessary to support the growth of our business and pursue other opportunities that may arise in the future," said Mr. Gallagher. "Brevet's willingness to finance us is an immense vote of confidence in our future growth, and we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with our new financing partner."

"Brevet is pleased to provide this financing to MIH at this important juncture in the company's growth," said Douglas Monticciolo, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and Founder of Brevet. "We look forward to supporting MIH's continued success as MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL establish themselves as two of the preeminent derivatives exchanges in the world."

For further information regarding MIAX Options, please visit www.MIAXOptions.com or contact MIAX Trading Operations at [email protected].

Corporate Communications Contact: Dominique Prunetti-Miller

(609) 897-1465

[email protected]

About Brevet

Brevet is a diversified alternative asset management firm that makes senior-secured, asset-based loans to private, middle-market and lower middle market companies. The firm specializes in direct lending, creating custom debt solutions that provide bridge financing or growth capital for borrowers across a wide range of industries. Established in 1998, Brevet is headquartered in NY and its senior management has worked together for more than 20 years as members of proprietary investment groups at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and other firms. For more information, visit www.brevetcapital.com.

About MIH

MIH is the parent holding company of MIAX Options, MIAX PEARL, Miami International Technologies, LLC (MIAX Technologies) and MIAX Global, LLC (MIAX Global). MIAX PEARL will be MIH's second fully electronic options trading exchange and will leverage the industry leading technology and infrastructure developed by MIAX Options to employ a price-time allocation model. The launch of MIAX PEARL is subject to SEC approval. MIAX Technologies is MIH's technology subsidiary for the sale and/or license of the trading technology developed by MIAX Options. MIAX Global focuses on merger, acquisition and joint venture activities of MIH. MIAX Global also provides technology and other services outside of North America, with its initial concentration being on Europe and Latin America.

MIAX Options is MIH's fully electronic options trading exchange. MIAX Options has assembled a team with deep rooted experience in developing, operating and trading on options exchanges. Its trading platform was developed in-house and designed from the ground up for the unique functional and performance demands of derivatives trading. MIAX Options now lists and trades options on over 2,400 multi-listed classes. MIAX Options' unparalleled system throughput is approximately 38 million quotes per second. The average latency for a single quote on MIAX Options is approximately 16.21 microseconds for a full round trip. At the 99th percentile, the latency on MIAX Options is approximately 23.90 microseconds. At the 99.9th percentile, the latency on MIAX Options is approximately 53.71 microseconds. The executive offices and technology development center as well as the National Operations Center for the MIAX Options are located in Princeton, New Jersey.

Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of MIH, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer; solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical or current facts of MIH or its subsidiaries (collectively, the Company). Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the possible or assumed future results of operations of the Company; the competitive position of the Company; potential growth opportunities available to the Company; the expectation with respect to securities, options and future markets and general economic conditions; the effects of competition on the Company's business; and the impact of future legislation and regulatory changes on the Company's business. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Miami International Holdings, Inc.
Launched in spring 2016, KIDBOX was created to provide parents with more time, while taking the hassle out of shopping and styling. KIDBOX, which recently closed a new round of funding, offers brand-name apparel at unbeatable prices, coupled with a personalized service designed for kids and their unique tastes. The brand enables parents and kids to start a conversation about giving back to the community. Through a partnership with K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers, KIDBOX will outfit a child in need for every KIDBOX purchased, supporting their mission to donate clothing to one million children in need throughout the United States. At KIDBOX, Berardelli will focus on customer acquisition and continue to develop the team, building an unparalleled company culture and pushing the business and brand forward.

"I am excited and honored to join KIDBOX; as a mother, I feel a deep personal connection to the brand and its purpose," Berardelli said. "Leading a startup presents a new, exciting challenge and I am eager to learn everything about the business as it grows. The chance to build something meaningful is a very rare opportunity."

Berardelli has more than 20 years of experience building successful businesses in the marketing and e-commerce industry, with skills that span a spectrum of customer-based strategies and marketing initiatives. As the CMO of Tory Burch, she engineered, built and led the digital e-commerce business and oversaw global marketing. Before joining Tory Burch in 2009, she spent eight years at Ralph Lauren where she served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing for digital and retail. She developed and led the multi-channel marketing strategy for their retail businesses, which included a sizable children's brand. Berardelli also brings to KIDBOX her experience in the launch of Limited Too's direct-to-consumer business from inception.

Berardelli served on the Shop.org board of directors, most recently as Chairman, and currently serves as the Chairman of the CMO Council for the National Retail Federation. She is also on the board of Giggle Inc., a multi-channel baby products and lifestyle brand. She has been recognized by Women's Wear Daily as one of the "Ten of Tomorrow."

"We love Miki's passion for the the business and her proven track record in growing major e-commerce brands," said KIDBOX cofounder Haim Dabah. "As a working mom, Miki understands how important it is to give busy parents more time. We know she will help us to reimagine the shop-at-home experience and continue to inspire us with her passion for leading a mission driven company."

Berardelli is scheduled to officially start with the company in September 2016.

KIDBOX, a VC-backed startup that launched in 2016, is the first kid's style box to use a machine-learning algorithm to deliver a personalized selection of quality brand-name apparel. Offering trustworthy brands that parents know at an average of $14-16 per item, KIDBOX provides convenience and value with risk-free, complimentary at home try-ons. For every KIDBOX purchased, KIDBOX will donate an outfit through a partnership with K.I.D.S./Fashion Delivers. KIDBOX is headquartered in New York with a Tel Aviv-based tech and data science center.

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Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398299

SOURCE KIDBOX

Related Links

https://www.kidbox.com


BENGALURU, India and NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ganesh Ayyar, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Mphasis, a leading IT services and solutions provider, has been announced as CEO Connection's 2016 CEO of the Year. The CEO Connection is focused on Mid-Market (US$ 100 million to US$ 3 billion category) and their Awards honor the most deserving and prominent companies and leaders that are spearheading economic growth and social impact in the middle market.

The CEO Connection Mid-Market Convention and Awards is an annual event that gathers C-suite level executives in various industries to focus on the needs of the middle market. Candidates are nominated by the community, evaluated through by the opinions of academia, media, and business leaders and then narrowed down to a small pool of five candidates. Winners are selectively chosen and strategically placed in the following categories: Mid-Market Company of the Year, Mid-Market CEO of the Year, Mid-Market Rising Star and Mid-Market Social Impact Award.

"It is an honor to be recognized by CEO Connection, while CEOs become the center of such awards, no CEO succeeds if not for the competent and dedicated team that they have. I am thrilled with this recognition and at the same time I see this as a responsibility to do more for my customers, employees and shareholders. I must keep learning and growing along with my team and not allow awards to bloat my ego. This award is as much about failures on which our successes are built. I would like to thank CEO Connection for this prestigious recognition accepting it on behalf of the entire Mphasis team, the driving force that made this all possible," said Ganesh Ayyar, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Mphasis.

A digital age CEO who brings a unique blend of inquisitiveness and hands on expertise on the societal impact of technology, Ganesh Ayyar has been at the forefront in providing a distinctive perspective on organizational success through experimentation and customer centricity. Ganesh joined Mphasis as its CEO and Executive Director in January 2009 and was instrumental in leading Mphasis to the Billion Dollar Revenue club. Ayyar is focused on transforming Mphasis to be a global company with industry vertical focus and as a part of this transformation, Mphasis has effected four strategic acquisitions from across the globe.

Ganesh is acknowledged for creating an employee friendly environment who promotes an open door culture that put great focus on employees and transparent communications. A firm believer of contributing to the society, Ayyar has championed several Corporate Social Responsibility causes especially the employment of people with disabilities at the workplace.

"Ganesh Ayyar, as one of the leading mid-market CEOs in the world, has demonstrated leadership not only by transforming Mphasis into a global company, but by positively impacting economic growth, creating opportunities and influencing social change in society. His story reflects the importance of the mid-market to the economy and sets a standard for mid-market companies around the world," said Kenneth Beck, CEO of CEO Connection.

The Mid-Market Awards Dinner will be held on September 20, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second day of the CEO Connection Mid-Market Convention. The evening will celebrate and honor the distinguished leaders and company that have exemplified the outstanding qualities of the middle market.

About Mphasis

Mphasis enables chosen customers to meet the demands of an evolving market place. Recently named by American Banker and BAI as one of the top companies in FinTech and as the "Most Distinguished Digital Company in 2015" by The Economic Times, Mphasis fuels this by combining superior human capital with cutting edge solutions in hyper-specialized areas. Contact Mphasis on www.mphasis.com.

About CEO Connection

Inspired by C-level Wharton executives, CEO Connection began in 2005 and has evolved into a dynamic community with wide ranging benefits uniquely designed to help the mid-market CEO and champion the mid-market perspective. For more information, visit www.ceoconnection.com. Stay connected on Twitter: @CEOConnection and LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ceo-connection.

SOURCE Mphasis

Related Links

http://www.mphasis.com


TRANSFER, Pa. and ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Keystone Healthcare Development Services (Keystone) announced today that is has secured $3 million in financing through Capital Impact Partners' Age Strong Investment Fund to develop a 9,300 square foot multi-service Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Transfer, Pennsylvania. Primary Health Network (PHN) will operate the facility serving low-income and older patients whose access to quality care has become increasingly limited in this rural part of the state.

"I have been involved in rural health care since 1984 and I have never seen such an uncertain future for access to rural health care as we have in today's environment," said Jack Laeng, board chair of Keystone and retired CEO of PHN. "That is why I am thrilled to work with PHN and Capital Impact to bring this state-of-the-art facility online. It will help residents in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio live healthier and more fulfilling lives."

Located on the campus of Edgewood Surgical Center, the new site will replace a smaller space and allow PHN to provide 3,400 new patient encounters annually in a high need area. More than 40% of local residents are aged 50+ and 30% of households earn less than 80% area medium income.

In addition to primary care, the PHN will also provide its patients with behavioral health care, urgent care, and a pharmacy that provides retail, and drive through services. PHN will also establish a referral relationship with the surgery center to improve care coordination. The health center is the second project of a planned three site medical campus which will ultimate include an elderly housing facility.

"In urban areas, there is often access to multiple medical services. In rural America, however, the next hospital or doctor maybe 50 miles down the road. Indeed, here in Pennsylvania, nearly 20 counties have no FQHCs at all. For many of our older and low-income patients, that often results in putting off or skipping medical care. That creates long-term negative implications for these individuals," said Drew Pierce, chief executive officer at PHN. "It's important to have forward thinking organizations like Keystone and Capital Impact to help us bridge that gap."

While The Affordable Care Act has expanded access to health care, many practitioners are also seeing reduction in reimbursement through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Add to that a startling statistic in the July 2016 issue of Governing magazine which suggests that a third of rural hospitals are in danger of closing over the next two years. As a result, many doctors are proactively leaving rural health centers and clinics. This combination of factors overwhelming hurts seniors and low-income residents who have limited choice when it comes to health care.

"As a mission-driven lender, we saw a great opportunity to utilize our Age Strong Fund to work with Keystone to finance this health center operated by PHN in rural Pennsylvania," said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. "Once completed this center will greatly enhance the lives for the residents, many of whom are older and low-income. We hope others see this as a model for investment in rural communities that deliver social impact."

Age Strong is a $70 million initiative launched in partnership with AARP Foundation and Calvert Foundation, to provide financing for enterprises and projects that create affordable homes, increase access to healthy foods, improve financial security, and offer more community-oriented models of care.

By the nature of how FQHCs are reimbursed for their services, they often do not have the required equity to fund a real estate development program. They need to allocate existing budget to expand operations and meet increasing patient demands. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) are especially equipped to meet the financing criteria of FQHCs.

"This financing partnership is a great concept which should be a model for others. Too often, large banks will not take the risk in lending to FQHCs in rural areas. Capital Impact and Keystone have a least taken the initiative to recognize the problem and say hey here is an option for dealing with the situation," said Nate Voss, managing director of Baker Tilly Capital, LLC, a national accounting firm specializing in FQHC consulting and funding.

About Keystone Healthcare Development Services:

Is a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 real estate development company headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Keystone was created in 2015 to specifically develop, fund, and own medical facilities to house federally qualified health centers in primarily rural America.

About PHN:

The Primary Health Network began as one small community health center and has grown to include over 50 service facilities throughout 16 counties within Pennsylvania and Ohio. We offer comprehensive primary health and subspecialty services and work within your communities and employ a medical staff that consists of over 165+ physicians, dentists, physician assistants, certified nurse practitioners and other healthcare professionals; a support staff of over 600; and reach more than 118,000 people annually through our health and educational services. Learn more at https://primary-health.net/

About Capital Impact Partners

Capital Impact Partners transforms underserved communities into strong, vibrant places of opportunity for people at every stage of life. We deliver strategic financing, incubate new social programs, and provide capacity-building to help ensure that low-to-moderate-income individuals have access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing, and the ability to age with dignity. A nonprofit community development financial institution, Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $2 billion to revitalize communities over the last 30 years. Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Capital Impact Partners operates nationally, with local offices in Detroit, Mich., and Oakland, Calif. Learn more at www.capitalimpact.org.

SOURCE Capital Impact Partners

Related Links

http://www.capitalimpact.org


WEST CALDWELL, N.J., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Community Education Centers, (CEC) announced today the re-award of statewide contracts from the New Jersey Department of Corrections (DOC), continuing a 21-year relationship with the state for the provision of residential community release programming at four of the company's facilities.

"We are grateful for the trust the State of New Jersey has placed in us by re-awarding these contracts recognizing the quality of the treatment services we as a company provide," said James E. Hyman, CEO. "We are proud to be part of a solution that has demonstrated lower recidivism rates and the return of individuals to society as productive citizens."

The DOC re-awarded the contracts to Education and Health Centers of America, Inc., (EHCA). CEC provides operational and treatment services for EHCA, acting as the service provider for EHCA in New Jersey. Facilities re-awarded include the 'Bo' Robinson Assessment and Treatment Center in Trenton, Talbot Hall in Kearny, and Tully House and The Harbor in Newark. Bo Robinson and Talbot Hall function as the state's two assessment centers, where residents are given extensive risk and treatment needs assessments before placement in a community-based program. CEC's treatment programming began 21 years ago with the founding of the first DOC substance abuse treatment facility at The Harbor, in Hoboken. Collectively, the awards cover 1,356 beds, with contracts for a two-year period that began July 1, 2016.

Independent studies have confirmed the success of NJ's community corrections system since the establishment of assessment and treatment centers. The state has experienced a 31% decrease in the prison population from 1999 to 2014, providing evidence of the effectiveness of the company's treatment programming.

CEC remains committed to its mission of personal transformation through cognitive treatment in environments that are safe and well maintained. Each day CEC provides an evidence-based treatment model of services that include substance abuse treatment, counseling, educational/vocational training, life skills and aftercare.

CEC is a leading national provider of rehabilitative services for offenders in reentry and in-prison treatment facilities, as well as providing comprehensive management of county, state, and federal jail and detention facilities. The Company provides evidence-based programming for residential and non-residential clients and maintains a documented record of reducing recidivism. CEC services also include drug and alcohol testing by SECON, a comprehensive drug testing and screening company that provides services worldwide.

SOURCE Community Education Centers

Related Links

http://www.cecintl.com


NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of a successful inaugural Dive In Festival for Diversity & Inclusion in Insurance, held in London in 2015, the New York insurance community has come together to bring Dive In to New York. The New York-based event is one of more than 45 events that will take place over three days from September 27 to 29, 2016 in 16 cities across Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, France, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, as well as multiple cities in the UK and the US. Such a presence makes Dive In the only international, sector-wide, concurrent diversity and inclusion event of its kind anywhere in the world.

"Leveraging Diversity of Thought" is the theme of the New York event which will explore how a deep understanding of the brain and human behavior can help you build and lead diverse teams that can increase innovation and help manage risk.

Dive In New York has received an outpouring of support from industry leaders including Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, Aon Hewitt, Beecher Carlson, Chubb, The Insurance Supper Club, Lloyd's, Marsh, QBE, Willis Towers Watson, WING and XL Catlin.

Dominic Christian, Chair of [email protected]'s, CEO of Aon UK, and President of the Insurance Institute of London, commented: "The first Dive In festival demonstrated there was huge appetite in the wider insurance sector to collaborate around an event to deliver broader reach and greater impact, raising the fact that diversity and inclusion are good for business. The message is that changing behavior, not just attitudes, in order to advance positive commercial outcomes, realize productivity gains and enhance innovation in the industry."

XL Catlin is a platinum level sponsor of Dive In, and CEO Mike McGavick helped frame the business case for diverse and inclusive workplaces commenting, "We know that superior insight only comes from harnessing diverse experiences and ways of thinking, which can only stem from fostering and strengthening a diverse, inclusive and welcoming workforce in our companies and the insurance industry. We are excited to join the conversation in New York and across the world to strengthen our industry's commitment to diversity and inclusion across all sectors and leadership levels."

About Dive In

Dive In is an initiative of [email protected]'s, a strategic collaboration between the Corporation of Lloyd's, IUA, LIIBA, and the Lloyd's Market Association. It was launched in 2015 and has picked up multiple awards as a Diversity Champion and for Employee Engagement.

The New York Dive In Festival committee is supported by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, Aon Hewitt, Beecher Carlson, Chubb, The Insurance Supper Club, Lloyd's, Marsh, QBE, Willis Towers Watson, WING and XL Catlin. All events are open to everyone who works in the insurance industry to attend free of charge with prior registration. For more information please contact Lizzie Lowe  [email protected]  212-382-4082. To download the app visit: www.diveinfestival.com.

SOURCE Lloyd's of London
CLAYTON, Mo., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Olin Corporation's (NYSE: OLN) senior management will be attending the following conferences in September:

September 7th: RBC Capital Markets' Global Industrials Conference (Las Vegas, NV)

September 7th: UBS Global Chemicals Conference (New York, NY)

September 13th: KeyBanc Basic Materials & Packaging Conference (Boston, MA)

September 14th: Credit Suisse Basic Materials Conference (New York, NY)



Copies of the presentation slides for these conferences will be available the evening prior to each event to investors, news media and the general public on Olin's web site, www.olin.com, in the Investors section under Investor Presentations.

Olin Corporation is a leading vertically-integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition. The chemical products produced include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach and hydrochloric acid. Winchester's principal manufacturing facilities produce and distribute sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and components, and industrial cartridges.

Visit www.olin.com for more information on Olin.

2016-16

SOURCE Olin Corporation

Related Links

http://www.olin.com


The 147-meter Xiamen EDITION hotel will be a stunning extension to Marriott's worldwide portfolio of EDITION-brand boutique hotels. It will deploy 30 Otis elevators and escalators, including seven SkyRise high-rise elevators that will operate at speeds of up to 6 meters per second and deliver enhanced comfort for passengers. The units will be provided by Otis Elevator (China) Co. Ltd., a local Otis entity.

"As one of the world's leading hotel groups, Marriott has exceptionally high standards. Otis is proud to have worked closely with Marriott on many projects around the world," said Luis Molina, president, Otis Elevator (China) Investment Co., Ltd. "We look forward to continuing our efforts to deliver premium experiences to guests in support of Marriott's growth in China."

About Otis

Otis is the world's leading manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Founded more than 160 years ago by the inventor of the safety elevator, Otis offers products and services through its companies in more than 200 countries and territories. Otis is a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.otis.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398126

SOURCE Otis

Related Links

http://www.otis.com


SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Park West Gallery, known for fine art auctions on cruise ships, live art auctions in major metropolitan areas and art galleries in Detroit and Miami Lakes, Florida, is pleased to announce an amazing exhibition starring English artist Simon Bull.

More than 50 new paintings will be on display and available to collect during the "Language of Color" exhibition, held Aug. 27  Oct. 6 at Park West Gallery in Southfield, Michigan.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., where guests can meet Bull in person and gain a first look at this special collection. Light refreshments will be served.

"Park West Gallery is delighted to showcase a collection of over 50 paintings celebrating Bull's first solo exhibition at Park West Gallery," says David Gorman, Park West Gallery director.

Considered a colorist for his use of radiant colors and gestural painting styles, Bull earned the Fine Art Trade Guild Award in 2000 as the top-selling original print artist in Great Britain, and is currently in the process of publishing a book about his artwork.

In 2004, Bull had the honor of working with Muhammad Ali to create a series of works depicting the boxer. A number of these works, signed by both Ali and Bull, will be featured during the exhibition.

"With bold colors and expressive brushstrokes unifying his paintings, Bull has not painted himself into a corner concerning content," says Gorman. "Be it his vibrant landscapes and still lifes, or his paintings that highlight the life and career of Muhammad Ali, one is invariably astonished by the confidence and skill in Bull's intuitive brushstrokes."

Admission to the exhibition and gallery is free of charge. Park West Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information and to RSVP for the opening, call 248-354-2343 or email [email protected].

About Park West Gallery:

Founded in 1969, Park West Gallery has connected artists to more than two million fine art collectors through cruise ship art auctions, art auctions in major metropolitan regions and via public art galleries in Michigan and Florida. Park West Gallery creates an entertaining, education and welcoming environment that ignites a passion for the arts and offers an incomparable collecting experience.

CONTACT:

Chris Gray

248-354-2343 x1934

[email protected]

SOURCE Park West Gallery

Related Links

http://www.parkwestgallery.com


How the internet is changing the way people interact in China

I recently took a taxi with my friend, Lin and when we got to our destination on the outskirts of Beijing, he reached for his phone (not his wallet), pressed a few buttons and it was done.

In an instant, Lin had paid the fare using Wechat pay, a payment service carried on Wechat, arguably the most popular mobile app in China today.

Such a platform is testament to what the internet is doing in China, where it is creating a seamless world of possibilities for more than 1.3 billion people.

With more than 700 million people online (netizens), the rapid rise of the internet and the growing number of smartphone users has led to a surge in home-grown tech innovations.

In the year 2015, there were 913 million smartphones in China, according to a study by the Groupe Special Mobile Association (GSMA). It is estimated that there were as many smartphone users in China as all European countries combined.

For the ordinary people in China, internet and the smartphone are transforming the social, cultural, economic and political space, building and altering their way of living.

Wechat and Alipay QR codes in a shop in Beijing

Communication

Traditional cell phone carriers are taking a hit as subscribers turn to instant messaging apps to make calls or send text using free mobile apps hold ground.

Voice-over internet calls are cheap; all it takes is just a good internet connection and smartphone with 3G or 4G capabilities to make decent calls.

Apps like Wechat, which has over 650 million users, not only support chat platforms but also features such as voice or video calls and micro-blogging.

Gilly, a Chinese student on an exchange programme in Australia stays in touch with her family and friends, many miles away from home, using Wechat.

Whenever I feel lonely, I chat with my family and friends on Wechat and it feels like they are all around me, says Gilly, who also regularly uses Weibo and QQ.

The two mobile apps are among top instant messaging service providers that command a large following among smart phone users and have become integral to the lives of many people.

Banking

Early in April, I walked into one Bank of China branch in Beijing and was surprised there were no tellers. Just a couple of machines in one corner. I was told this branch was a self-service center.

The long queues in banking halls are almost gone, and so are paper transactions. All you are to find in most banking halls are just a few seats, some of them spared for elderly clients. Some banks are even closing branches as online banking and mobile banking take over.

You can now transact online, wherever you are at anytime, says Luo, an agent at Standard Chartered Bank in Beijing, who reveals that online transfers attract no fees.

File Photo

E-commerce

It appears everyone in China is shopping online. From trinkets to electronics, online retail markets are changing the way people transact in China.

E-commerce transaction value was estimated to hit 20.8 trillion yuan in mainland China alone in 2015, Xinhua quoted Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng as saying.

The online retail market is now dominated by business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer retail giants, with Taobao, Tmall, Suning and JD being some of the popular sites.

Workers work at a warehouse of an intelligent distrbution center of Chinese e-commerce trader JD.com in Gu'an, north China's Hebei Province, June 14, 2016. The logistic working staff of JD.com are preparing for its "618" online shopping festival which is an e-commerce sales promotion activity around June 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

One of the endearing attributes of online retail markets is that their prices tend to be relatively lower than those of traditional shopping outlets and goods are delivered to your doorstep.

The integration of internet with commerce has given rise to new payment systems, enabling people to transact, creating a cashless society.

For instance, with Alipay, one can pay their electricity bills, shopping expenses and pay traffic fines. Customers simply scan the QR Code on their mobile phone to pay.

Using Wechat, one can book doctor appointments, order for food and pay for groceries. With competition brewing between respective parent firms Alibaba and Tencent, Alipay and Wechat payment systems can be found at retail shops and in big shopping malls.
HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) has issued approvals for a number of wine expanded permits, just one week after the new permit to sell wine to go became available when Act 39 went into effect on Aug. 8

As of Monday afternoon, August 15, 81 wine expanded permits had been approved out of 174 requests submitted. A list of licensees holding wine expanded permits is available upon request from the PLCB Communications Office.

Each permit was approved after verification that the applicant meets all statutory requirements and provided information required for the permit to be granted.

A wine expanded permit cannot be granted unless the licensee is certified through the Responsible Alcohol Management Program. The majority of wine expanded permits still under review require such certification, and licensees are being notified of the steps they must take to become certified.

Wine expanded permit holders purchasing smaller amounts of wine may begin selling wine upon receiving the permit, assuming they sell wine in-stock at Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores. Licensees requiring larger quantities of wine or certain products not currently in stock may wait longer to receive those products.

Restaurant and hotel licensees interested in selling large quantities of wine-to-go (more than 20 cases per order from the PLCB) are encouraged to contact the Office of Wholesale Operations at 844-363-WINE (9463) or [email protected] to discuss the wines and volumes they anticipate buying from the PLCB for wine-to-go resale. The PLCB aims to begin shipping wine from its distribution centers in the October timeframe to the large-volume wine-to-go permittees.

The PLCB anticipates approving a number of direct wine shipper licenses this week, once tax compliance checks are completed. As of Monday afternoon, 101 requests for direct wine shipper licenses have been submitted.

As direct wine shipper licenses are approved, they are viewable in the public PLCB+ license search. They will also accessible through a page on the PLCB website explaining direct wine shipment options for consumers.

"We have worked to provide greater convenience and satisfaction to Pennsylvania customers and now comes the important work of implementing the law," said Governor Tom Wolf. "I am encouraged that the PLCB has worked so diligently to approve wine expanded permits and we must continue to work to make sure this law is executed properly and quickly. Our goal has always been to improve the customer experience, make pricing more competitive, make the purchase of products more convenient, and bring more revenue into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

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: PLCB: Elizabeth Brassell, 717-783-8864

Governor's Office: Jeff Sheridan, 717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Related Links

http://www.lcb.state.pa.us


"We're constantly striving to bring our customers excellent service," said Pauline Lally, owner of Piping Systems. "My entire career has been spent here at PSI, and one thing that has remained constant for us over these past 45 years is change. Our ability to look to the future and prepare for and adapt to change is what has allowed us to serve our customers for nearly half a century. A part of that change  and our adaptation  is technology and our ability to harness it to better serve our customers."

The new website features a visually driven design with updated content to provide building owners and facility managers with the tools they need to keep their businesses running smoothly.

"Quality installations and reliability are the hallmark of the Piping Systems name and the foundations on which our business was built," said Lally. "Our goal is to foster a client-centered culture, whether it's with our No B.S. Warranty that guarantees complete customer satisfaction, or our mutually beneficial customer referral program. Our new website will only help us continue to strengthen that relationship with our customers."

For more information on Piping Systems and to view their new website, visit www.pipingsystemsinc.com or call 508-644-2221.

About Piping Systems, Inc.

Piping Systems Inc. (PSI) is one of the leading mechanical contractors in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, specializing in process piping, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), boilers and fire protection. Since 1971, PSI has been a one-stop piping solutions provider dedicated to making their customers the center of their universe. The company's mission is to work together to create nurturing and meaningful relationships with their customers by being reliable, high-performing, professional, knowledgeable and efficient problem solvers. PSI offers their Piping Systems' Perfection Promise: If you aren't 100 percent completely satisfied, Piping Systems' Perfect Promise means that it's free.

For more information, visit www.pipingsystemsinc.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]



Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398128

SOURCE Piping Systems, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.pipingsystemsinc.com


SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Plexistor today announced a breakthrough in using persistent memory over fabric (PMoF). Persistent memory can now be dis-aggregated and shared across multiple servers using Plexistor's PMoF Brick running on commodity hardware. PMoF makes it possible to achieve near-memory speed and operational simplicity without sacrificing persistency.

Benchmarks performed on a Mellanox infrastructure over 100GbE using Plexistor's PMoF Brick demonstrated record performance: more than 1.6 million random 4KB IOPS at less than 6s with throughput of 7GB/sec. This is over an order-of-magnitude better than the recently announced rack-optimized Flash storage DSSD appliance, which offers 100s latency.

Plexistor's PMoF Brick architecture is designed to fully utilize emerging persistent memory technologies, such as Intel Optane, providing higher performance for workloads like NoSQL databases and big data analytics. The solution also leverages traditional Flash technologies and auto-tiering software in order to provide a seamless and cost-effective solution for the enterprise.

"Those who follow the evolution of memory will find that our PMoF Brick is a stunning development for the new in-memory workloads, as well as unprecedented low latency," said Plexistor CEO Sharon Azulai. "In businesses and industries where 'fast' means an increase in revenue, the PMoF Brick technology can change the economics of enterprise computing."

Working with Mellanox, the market leader for RDMA and 100GbE networking infrastructure, Plexistor demonstrated it can easily handle millions of remote writes per second at latencies as low as a few microseconds utilizing Mellanox ConnectX4 NIC and a Spectrum switch. This advancement in persistent memory dis-aggregation offers far lower costs and simpler management than any other available architecture capable of delivering equivalent performance.

"We are excited to be the first to demonstrate how persistent memory fits in the Rack-Scale Design (RSD)," said Dr. Amit Golander, Plexistor's chief technology officer. "Our collaboration with Mellanox proves that PMoF is a very viable solution for efficient utilization of shared resources to deliver both low latency and ease of operations."

About Plexistor

Plexistor has built a new storage solution to converge memory and storage to support the new workloads that demand memory and fast storage. The solution delivers ultra-low latency storage and huge memory experience, enabling applications to run large data sets at near-memory speed. Plexistor was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with its R&D in Herzliya, Israel. For further information, visit www.plexistor.com.

Editors note: Plexistor will demonstrate the new technology to the public for the first time at the upcoming Intel Developer Forum 2016, August 16-18 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151001/273276LOGO

SOURCE Plexistor

Related Links

http://www.plexistor.com


WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Realtors joined forces last year with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to enrich the lives of Club kids and teens in communities across the U.S.

Since December 2015, a total of 188 local Clubs and 18,200 Club youth have been positively impacted by Realtors and more than $100,000 has been donated to local Clubs by associations, members and real estate firms.

Realtor volunteers collect and distribute backpacks stuffed with school supplies to Boys & Girls Clubs youth.

"Today's kids are our future, so when I began my NAR presidential term, I knew I wanted to involve Boys & Girls Club. I am so proud of all the passion, time and effort put forward by the Realtor family to better the lives of the children in the communities in which we live and work," said NAR President Tom Salomone, broker-owner of Real Estate II, Inc. in Coral Springs, Florida. "Realtors work every day to build and improve communities, so it comes as no surprise to me that our members jumped at the opportunity to get involved with their local Boys & Girls Club and volunteer their time and energy to support Club kids."

Every local Boys & Girls Club has specific needs, so Realtor associations and members worked with their local Clubs to determine the most effective way to volunteer and fundraise. Realtors held holiday parties, organized fundraisers, collected winter coats, arranged reading and homework parties, as well as hosted career days where kids and teens learned about working in real estate and participated in mock interviews to help them prepare for the future.

On the national level, NAR staff participated in a company-wide backpack drive where school supplies and 485 backpacks were collected for local Clubs in Chicago and Washington, D.C. NAR staff in Chicago also distributed backpacks stuffed with school supplies to kids at a summer carnival for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago and Union League Boys & Girls Clubs, sponsored in part by the Chicago Association of Realtors.

Employees at realtor.com, the official website of NAR, also joined the effort, supporting five different Boys & Girls Clubs across the county and in Canada. Collectively the company donated more than 1,500 school supply items  more than one item per employee. SentriLock, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NAR, was also inspired by NAR's back-to-school drive; their staff donated 41 backpacks for Cincinnati-area kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Westchester/Liberty filled with grade-level specific school supplies. SentriLock also continues ongoing fundraising efforts and staff volunteer days with this local Club.

NAR worked with BGCA to create a co-branded website, www.realtor.org/BGCA, as a resource for associations, firms, members and consumers. The site includes a Club locator, a toolkit to initiate involvement with Clubs, and success stories and photos from associations and Realtors.

For more than 150 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,200 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at Facebook and Twitter.

The National Association of Realtors, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the "News, Blogs and Videos" tab on the website.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160816/398490

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150210/174673LOGO



SOURCE National Association of Realtors

Related Links

http://www.realtor.org


CORNUCOPIA, Wis., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Popular toothpastes, even many marketed as "natural" and sold at premium prices, contain harmful ingredients including endocrine disruptors, inflammatory agents, and carcinogens, according to a new report from The Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry nonprofit watchdog group.

Behind the Dazzling Smile: Toxic Ingredients in Your Toothpaste, describes how U.S. regulatory weaknesses and loopholes allow questionable, even harmful ingredients in personal care products such as toothpastes, and how even "natural" toothpastes often contain nonessential ingredients that may be toxic.

"The cosmetics industry is no different, and may be worse, than leading food companies when it comes to gimmicky ingredients and misleading health claims," asserts the report's lead author Jerome Rigot, PhD, a policy analyst at The Cornucopia Institute. "However, we have created a useful web-based tool to help discriminating consumers see through marketing hype and make the best decision for their family when buying toothpaste."

The new report and accompanying toothpaste brand scorecard flags ingredients to be avoided, common in "natural" and premium brands as well as mass-market brands like Colgate and Crest: synthetic preservatives like sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate, which may contain a toxic, cancer-causing contaminant, and artificial flavors and colors tied to behavioral problems in children.

Many natural toothpaste brands like Tom's of Maine, Jason, Desert Essence, and Kiss My Face, contain carrageenan, a thickening and emulsifying agent extracted from seaweed. "Peer-reviewed published research has established that food-grade carrageenan has the potential to cause intestinal inflammation, diabetes and even cancer," says Linley Dixon, PhD, scientist at The Cornucopia Institute.

Cornucopia has delivered the report to Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who have introduced new legislation that would require the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate the safety of ingredients in personal care items such as toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo.

The FDA restricts or prohibits only 11 synthetic ingredients in cosmetics, vs. 1300 prohibited and 250 restricted ingredients in personal care products in the EU. Canada, Japan and Europe have banned many hazardous chemicals permitted in U.S. cosmetics. Some American corporations sell toothpastes using different, safer formulations for international markets than they use for the same product sold in the U.S.

The full version of this release is posted here.

Contacts: Jerome Rigot, PhD, [email protected], 608-625-2000

Mark Kastel, [email protected], 608-625-2000

Stephen Kent, [email protected], 914-589-5988

SOURCE The Cornucopia Institute

Related Links

http://www.cornucopia.org


WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Sanford Heisler, LLP and Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel P.C. filed an amended complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on behalf of victims of Rabbi Bernard "Barry" Freundel, the rabbi currently serving a prison sentence for recording naked women at a Jewish ritual bath called a mikvah. The Superior Court of the District of Columbia recently appointed Sanford Heisler, LLP as interim class counsel in this class action litigation, which is the only pending class action lawsuit in the country stemming from Rabbi Freundel's mikvah voyeurism.

The mikvah is used primarily as the last step in conversions to Judaism and by Orthodox married women who are religiously required to immerse after their monthly menstruation. The amended complaint details the intimacy of the mikvah ritual, in which women are required to disrobe completely and clean themselves thoroughly before immersing themselves. Rabbi Freundel has already admitted that he "defiled [this] space that was supposed to be private, sacred and healing" and has pleaded guilty to 52 counts of criminal voyeurism; prosecutors identified many more recordings showing female mikvah users partially or completely naked.

"The women who came to the mikvah were promised  both implicitly and explicitly  a private space free from male onlookers," said David Sanford, Chairman of Sanford Heisler, LLP and lead counsel for the proposed classes. "Defendants flagrantly broke their promises, egregiously breached their duties to the women who used the mikvah, and let Rabbi Freundel's crimes go unchecked for years. We will ask a D.C. jury to hold all defendants liable and impose punitive damages in order to send a strong message that even institutions draped in the cloak of spirituality won't escape punishment when they violate their legal obligations."

In addition to suing Rabbi Freundel, the lawsuit brings claims against the religious institutions that enlisted Rabbi Freundel's services and put him in positions of authority over the vulnerable women who used the mikvah. The amended complaint names four of these institutions as Defendants: the National Capital Mikvah, Inc., the Jewish ritual bath that served as the site of Rabbi Freundel's crimes; the Georgetown Synagogue  Kesher Israel Congregation, the prominent D.C. Modern Orthodox synagogue that employed Rabbi Freundel for twenty-five years and purported to provide Orthodox rabbinic supervision for the mikvah; the Rabbinical Council of America, the organization of Orthodox rabbis that empowered Rabbi Freundel to direct Orthodox practices nationwide regarding religious conversion; and as an additional Defendant, the Beth Din of America, the religious court that authorized Rabbi Freundel to oversee the Orthodox conversions that he used to target victims.

The amended complaint brings claims on behalf of two classes of women: (1) all women who used the National Capital Mikvah prior to Rabbi Freundel's arrest, and (2) the women who used the National Capital Mikvah prior to Rabbi Freundel's arrest specifically in connection with religious conversion.

The amended complaint presents damning details about these religious institutions that gave Rabbi Freundel authority over the mikvah despite repeated warning signs. The complaint charges that the Kesher Israel synagogue overlooked complaints that Rabbi Freundel behaved inappropriately with female congregants and expressly discouraged congregants from speaking out against Rabbi Freundel; additionally, the complaint alleges that the National Capital Mikvah endorsed suspicious "practice dunks"  an act with no basis in Orthodox Judaism  that Rabbi Freundel used as a ruse to record naked female conversion students; and further, the complaint alleges that the Rabbinical Council of America and the Beth Din of America broke their promise to ensure the "modesty" of female converts, despite complaints accusing Rabbi Freundel of sexual improprieties and the exploitation of conversion students.

"The complaint accuses Orthodox religious institutions of sitting idly by as Rabbi Freundel committed his crimes," said Ira Sherman, Managing Partner with Chaikin Sherman Cammarata Siegel P.C. "Rather than preventing or investigating Rabbi Freundel's crimes early on, these religious institutions repeatedly endorsed Rabbi Freundel as a religious leader whom vulnerable women were required to defer to and obey."

The amended complaint seeks damages in excess of $100 million, including actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees. The two classes bring claims against Defendants for intrusion upon seclusion; negligent hiring, training, retention, and supervision; negligent infliction of emotional distress; breach of warranty; premises liability; and negligence. Additionally, several female mikvah users and their husbands bring individual claims for loss of consortium.

For more information on the case, or to see if you may be eligible to participate in the proposed class action, please go to: http://www.sanfordheisler.com/cases/rabbi-freundel-voyeurism-class-actions/

or http://www.chaikinandsherman.com/Freundel-Class-Action.aspx.

For more information, contact Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201-788-0142, [email protected]

SOURCE Sanford Heisler, LLP
Sharegate's two previous releases introduced and upgraded their file share migration Inventory feature, which enabled organizations to assess the complexity and effort of a potential migration by providing a list of errors to be repaired before beginning the migration. It also listed the approximate time of completion for the move and gave a detailed report of exactly what files contain the errors, so they can be rectified prior to starting the migration.

Sharegate's latest release makes their Inventory feature even more powerful, by allowing users to plan both their File Share and SharePoint migrations.

This feature lets users quickly select an on-premises SharePoint environment, or other tenant, and simulate a migration to SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2016 or Office 365. After scanning the chosen environment, Sharegate provides a quick summary of what it contains, as well as a list of warnings and potential errors that could be encountered when moving to the desired destination.

Of this latest release, Simon De Baene, CEO at Sharegate, said: "Helping SharePoint administrators plan, migrate, report, and manage their SharePoint environments is what we're all about. This powerful new feature is the perfect addition to the planning stage! It's a way to really make their lives easier, because users can now get an idea of how large or how complicated their migration will be. That way they can plan accordingly and assure a seamless migration."

About Sharegate

Sharegate simplifies management tasks for SharePoint, Office 365, and OneDrive for Business for thousands of administrators and IT professionals around the world. A privately-held company based in Montreal, Sharegate is trusted by more than 10,000 organizations. As a leader in its industry, Sharegate lives by the motto: "innovate and keep things simple & fun." For more information, visit http://www.share-gate.com.

Gabrielle Lafontaine

Marketing Specialist

Sharegate

514-303-8203

[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire(R). For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE Sharegate

Related Links

http://www.share-gate.com


STONY BROOK, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Newswise -- Joanna Chikwe, MD, Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, has been appointed as Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, joining Javed Butler, MD, MPH, Chief of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, as Co-Director of the Stony Brook University Heart Institute.



Henry J. Tannous, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and cardiothoracic surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital, has been named Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. The appointments, announced by Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, MACP, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the Stony Brook University School of Medicine, are effective on September 1, 2016.



Dr. Chikwe graduated from Oxford University. After completing her residency training in the United Kingdom, and advanced fellowship training at Mount Sinai in New York, she was recruited to the faculty of Mount Sinai in 2008, where she served as Program Director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency and Advanced Fellowship Programs, and Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery for Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospitals.



Dr. Tannous is currently an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai since 2008. He is also the Chief of Pump-Assisted Thoracic Surgery, Chief of the Mount Sinai Thoracic Expansion Program and Chair of the Resident Council.



"As we continue to expand our patient-centered, compassionate approach to clinical care, and accelerate our trajectory as the first choice of consumers for cardiac services across Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond, Drs. Chikwe and Tannous will strengthen our incredible Stony Brook Heart Institute, helping to create and then incorporate the most innovative cardiac surgical techniques," said Dr. Kaushansky.



The team of five cardiothoracic surgeons includes Dr. Thomas Bilfinger, Dr. Allison McLarty and Dr. Vinay Tak: the division now offers outstanding expertise across the spectrum of adult cardiothoracic surgery, with specialist expertise and programs in mitral valve repair, coronary revascularization, minimally invasive surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, ventricular assist devices, lung cancer screening and surgery, and atrial fibrillation surgery.



Dr. Chikwe's primary focus is aortic and mitral valve reconstruction, coronary revascularization and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. She has particular experience in mitral valve repair and will be involved in the Transcatheter Valve programs at the Stony Brook University Heart Institute. Dr. Chikwe will also lead our investigative efforts advancing our understanding of the origins of valvular heart disease, and the optimal approach to preventing it and treating our patients.



As a cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Tannous has established an advanced clinical practice in adult cardiac surgery, as well as a focused interest in the most effective and advanced techniques for minimally invasive surgery for certain lung cancers, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). He also concentrates on the latest surgical methods to correct atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias.



"Together with Drs. Bilfinger, McLarty and Tak, Stony Brook will continue to bring the best ideas in cardiothoracic surgery to the residents of Long Island. Moreover, by joining with our outstanding cardiologists and cardiovascular investigators, the Stony Brook Heart Institute is poised to understand the origins of heart disease and translate that knowledge from the bench to bedside better than any other health care organization on Long Island. We are so excited by all the possibilities" said Dr. Kaushansky.



"Our patients and their family members, staff, nurses, and physicians at the Stony Brook University Heart Institute are looking forward to working with Dr. Chikwe and Dr. Tannous," said Dr. Butler. "Together they bring tremendous experience to Stony Brook that spans the entire spectrum of cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgery so this is an important step forward in our progress and excellence in cardiac care."



"We are very fortunate to have two deeply experienced young heart surgeons-- who, are stars in their field, joining our team at Stony Brook," said Mark Talamini, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery at Stony Brook Medicine. "Having built excellent programs in Manhattan, they are both excited about taking the reins here at Stony Brook and expanding their reputation for clinical excellence to Long Island."



About Dr. Chikwe

Dr. Chikwe received her medical degree from Oxford University in the United Kingdom. She completed her general surgery residency at Oxford and Cambridge, followed by research into cardiac transplantation for which she received a Master's degree from University of Cambridge. After finishing her residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals in London where she gained expertise in minimally invasive surgery, she completed an advanced fellowship focusing on mitral valve repair and aortic reconstruction at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she is currently Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery. Dr. Chikwe continues a productive collaboration with the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at Mount Sinai, publishing landmark clinical research in leading journals including JAMA, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology where she serves on the editorial board. She is an award-winning author of six clinical textbooks, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.



About Dr. Tannous

Dr. Tannous received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in 2000 and completed his residency at WHHC-Yale School of Medicine in Waterbury, CT, in 2005. He completed fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery at George Washington University and Mount Sinai Hospital. He has served as Chief of Thoracic Surgery at St. John's Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, NY, since 2013. He has been a fellow in the American College of Surgeons since 2006 and is board certified in surgery and thoracic surgery.



About Stony Brook Medicine

Stony Brook Medicine integrates and elevates all of Stony Brook University's health-related initiatives: education, research and patient care. It includes six Health Sciences schools -- Dental Medicine, Health Technology and Management, Medicine, Nursing, Social Welfare, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences -- as well as Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Children's Hospital and more than 90 community-based healthcare settings throughout Suffolk County. To learn more, visit www.stonybrookmedicine.edu.



About Stony Brook University Heart Institute

Stony Brook University Heart Institute is located within Stony Brook University Hospital as part of Long Island's premier university-based medical center. The Heart Institute offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary program for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The staff includes 50 full-time and community-based, board-certified cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons, as well as 350 specially trained anesthesiologists, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, operating room technicians, perfusionists, and other support staff. Their combined expertise provides state-of-the-art interventional and surgical capabilities in 24-hour cardiac catheterization labs and surgical suites. And while the Heart Institute clinical staff offers the latest advances in medicine, its physician-scientists are also actively enhancing knowledge of the heart and blood vessels through basic biomedical studies and clinical research. To learn more, visit www.heart.stonybrookmedicine.edu



Provided by Newswise, online resource for knowledge-based news at www.newswise.com

Contact: Melissa Weir, 631-444-7880, [email protected]

SOURCE Stony Brook University

Related Links

http://www.stonybrook.edu


BOSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer satisfaction with in-car speech recognition systems has fallen sharply, particularly among middle age groups in the US, according to a recent report by Strategy Analytics (www.strategyanalytics.com).

A recent survey from the In-Vehicle UX (IVX) group at Strategy Analytics assessed consumer usage of, and satisfaction with, in-car speech recognition systems and touchscreens. Satisfaction with in-car touchscreens and voice control systems remains strong among frequent users, but has declined across all demographics. And while daily usage of in-car voice control has held steady in Europe, it has declined in the US and China, especially among certain age groups.

Click here for the report: http://bit.ly/2bthkto

Derek Viita, Senior Analyst and report author commented that with the expansion of mobile and home-based systems which feature speech recognition, "consumers now have increased expectations for the functionality of such systems. Even though the automotive industry is hamstrung by a lengthy development and production cycle, consumers are becoming less patient with the gap in performance between automotive electronics and other consumer electronics."

Chris Schreiner, Director of IVX, added, "One critical reason behind the faster improvement of other voice control systems is the software's ability to be updated over the air. To keep up with this trend, in-car systems must have the same capability."

About Strategy Analytics

Strategy Analytics, Inc. provides the competitive edge with advisory services, consulting and actionable market intelligence for emerging technology, mobile and wireless, digital consumer and automotive electronics companies. With offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Strategy Analytics delivers insights for enterprise success.

For more information about Strategy Analytics

In-Vehicle User Experience Service: Click here

Report contacts :

US Contact: Derek Viita, +1 617 614 0772, [email protected]

European Contact: Kevin Nolan, +44 (0)1908 423 614, [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130207/NE56457LOGO-b

SOURCE Strategy Analytics

Related Links

http://www.strategyanalytics.com


MORRISVILLE, N.C., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Students are heading back into the classroom, which means every family is at risk for the spread of lice, and super lice, in their homes. Vamousse Lice Treatment is clinically proven to kill lice and their eggs in a single treatment1, and is effective against super lice that have become resistant to two major pesticides  permethrin and pyrethroids. The treatment is available over-the-counter (OTC) without a prescription or physician's visit, so parents can begin to control lice immediately.

Lori Haapala, RN, BSN, and a school nurse with Kanawha County Schools, helps families with lice infestations. "When a child has contracted head lice at school, the real issue is preventing the spread of it at home amongst siblings and other family members," said Haapala. "Head lice can be an extremely daunting and frustrating experience for both the parent and child. With vigilance, problems can be detected early-on, diminishing the likelihood of it spreading to the rest of the family and allowing the situation to be resolved faster."

Unfortunately, lice are an irritating reality of childhood. The CDC estimates as many as 12 million infestations occur each year in the United States and studies have shown that it's most common among preschool and school-aged children.2 Vamousse Lice Treatment enables parents to end an infestation fast with ingredients they can feel good about. Kids will appreciate it too  the mousse is a fun component and smells good. The treatment resolves the situation with the first application  "once and done" and kids are back to focusing on learning, not dealing with the itchy effects of head lice.

"Parents have a treatment option that not only is safe and affordable, but goes to work on both lice and eggs during the same application  providing a quick, reliable experience," said Jason Schmidt, an entomologist and Director of Product Development for TyraTech, makers of Vamousse. "Vamousse Lice Treatment can help relieve the stress parents often feel when their child is suffering from head lice."

Vamousse Lice Treatment represents a new generation of head lice solutions. It works differently than traditional OTC products, as the active ingredient, natrum muriaticum, dehydrates the lice without using a pesticide.

To empower parents to remain vigilant with care, beyond conducting daily head checks, Vamousse offers a gentle, non-toxic daily shampoo  Vamousse Lice Defense  that kills lice3 and is recommended for use during high-risk periods, and for 10 to 14 days after potential exposure. Like all Vamousse lice products, Lice Defense is safe enough for use by the entire family, including children as young as two.

Additional information and resources can be found at www.VamousseLice.com.



About Vamousse

Vamousse Lice Treatment:

Clinically proven to kill lice and eggs in 1 treatment 2

Safe and non-toxic, pesticide-free

Proven effective against pesticide-resistant super lice 2

Easy-to-use mousse is quick and precise, rinses easily

Available over-the-counter nationwide at Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Kmart, and in some regional chains, including HEB, and online at Walmart.com, CVS.com, Walgreens.com and Amazon.com.

MSRP $24.99

Vamousse Lice Defense:

Non-toxic, pesticide-free daily shampoo defends against head lice

Shown in lab studies to kill lice

Great for use by the whole family during: Lice outbreaks at school Summer camp, sleepovers Treatment of a sibling Risk of re-infestation

Available over-the-counter nationwide at Walmart, CVS, and in some regional chains, online at Walgreens.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com.

MSRP $12.99

About TyraTech

Established in 2004, TyraTech, Inc. (AIM: TYR and TYRU) is a life sciences company focusing on nature-derived insect and parasite control products that are as effective as traditional chemical options while providing a new level of safety for people, animals, and the environment. TyraTech's Nature's Technology leverages its patented scientific platform to provide a full range of biocides, insect repellent, and head lice control solutions, including Vamousse.

1 Clinical trial conducted at Lice Source Services, Plantation, FL, Dec. 2015

2 http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/gen_info/faqs.html

3 As shown in lab studies

Contact: Melissa Timney

(919) 277-1165

SOURCE TyraTech, Inc.
The file photo shows a Tesla vehicle which crashed in Beijing. [Photo: weibo.com]

After a Beijing-based Tesla driver crashed his car at the beginning of August while utilizing the vehicles self-driving autopilot mode, Tesla China has removed the term self-driving from its website, Reuters reported on Aug. 15. Instead, the website now describes an assisted driving mode that is available in some Tesla vehicles.

The driver in question was utilizing a Model S Tesla at the time of the crash. His car collided with another vehicle that was stopped illegally on the side of the highway. Prior to the collision, Tesla had had no self-driving car accidents in China.

The Reuters report quoted a Tesla spokesperson regarding the change to Tesla Chinas website: At Tesla we are constantly making improvements, including to translations, the woman said. Weve been in the process of addressing discrepancies across languages for many weeks. Timing had nothing to do with current events or articles.

Tesla emphasized that even when the cars autopilot function is on, drivers are still ultimately responsible for controlling the vehicle. The company also said that drivers must keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times, including when the car is set to its assisted driving mode, which the Beijing driver allegedly failed to do.
Veteran tech executive to lead fast-growing IT solutions integrator

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OnX Enterprise Solutions, a leading enterprise data center IT solutions integrator, today announced the appointment of Tom Signorello as new CEO, effective immediately.

Signorello, who was Senior Vice President and Managing Director, North America, for Diebold Inc., succeeds Michael Cox, who retired as CEO at the end of April after three years.

Tom Signorello, CEO of OnX Enterprise Solutions

"We have found the right person to lead OnX," said Chairman of the Board Dave Hansen, who led the CEO search. "Tom has a breadth of experience in IT and client services that makes him the ideal person to continue OnX's transformation into a technology services and solutions powerhouse."

Hansen, who had been serving as interim CEO, will remain chairman of the board at OnX.

"I'm excited to join OnX Enterprise Solutions at such a momentous time in its development," said Signorello. "OnX has become an industry leader because of its broad portfolio of tailored solutions, outstanding client support and skilled sales and technical teams. I look forward to helping take the company to the next level in its growth."

Signorello is a 22-year veteran of the IT industry and has held a number of executive leadership positions at prominent tech firms. Before joining Diebold in 2014, he was vice president global managed services, North America at Unisys. Prior to that, he was senior vice president, global government managed services at Xerox. He also has been regional vice president and general manager at Unisys and held several leadership roles, including vice president and general manager during his 14-year-career at Computer Sciences Corp.

He earned his MBA and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Suffolk University School of Management in Boston.

About OnX Enterprise Solutions

OnX Enterprise Solutions is a leading global provider of technology services and solutions. The company assesses, designs, builds, secures and manages complete technology environments with specific expertise in Next-Gen Data Center & Hybrid Cloud, IT-as-a-Service, Information Management & Analytics, and Digital & User Experience. For more than 30 years, OnX has helped clients achieve exceptional business results that accelerate their growth and value. OnX's team of more than 600 IT professionals work at OnX offices throughout North America and in the U.K., with global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, and U.S. headquarters in New York, N.Y. For more information about OnX and career opportunities, visit www.OnX.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398243

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150120/170196LOGO

SOURCE OnX Enterprise Solutions
CHANGZHOU, China, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) ("Trina Solar" or the "Company"), a global leader in photovoltaic ("PV") modules, solutions, and services, today announced it will host a conference call on Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 8:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 p.m. Beijing/Hong Kong, August 23, 2016), to discuss its results for the second quarter of 2016.

Joining Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, on the call will be Merry Xu, Interim Chief Financial Officer, and Yvonne Young, Investor Relations Director. The Company plans to distribute its earnings announcement before the call.

To participate in the conference call, please dial the following number five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled conference call time:

U.S. Toll Free: 1-855-298-3404 International: +1-631-514-2526 Hong Kong: 800-905-927 Passcode: Trina Solar

If you are unable to participate in the call at this time, a replay will be available from 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on August 23, 2016 through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 30, 2016. The dial-in details for the replay are as follows:

U.S. Toll Free: 1-866-846-0868 International: +61-2-9641-7900 Hong Kong: 800-966-697 Replay Passcode: 3680995

This conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed by all interested parties on Trina Solar's website www.trinasolar.com. To listen to the live webcast, please go to Trina Solar's website at least fifteen minutes prior to the start of the call to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. For those unable to participate during the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call on Trina Solar's website for 90 days.

About Trina Solar Limited

Trina Solar Limited (NYSE:TSL) is a global leader in photovoltaic modules, solutions and services. Founded in 1997 as a PV system integrator, Trina Solar today drives smart energy together with installers, distributors, utilities and developers worldwide. The company's industry-leading position is based on innovation excellence, superior product quality, vertically integrated capabilities and environmental stewardship. For more information, please visit www.trinasolar.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this announcement are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, the Company's ability to raise additional capital to finance its activities; the effectiveness, profitability and marketability of its products; the future trading of the securities of the Company; the Company's ability to operate as a public company; the period of time for which the Company's current liquidity will enable the Company to fund its operations; general economic and business conditions; demand in various markets for solar products; the volatility of the Company's operating results and financial condition; the Company's ability to attract or retain qualified senior management personnel and research and development staff; and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and the Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results.

Trina Solar Limited Christensen IR Merry Xu, Interim CFO Email: [email protected] Linda Bergkamp (US) Phone: +1 480 614 3014



Yvonne Young Investor Relations Director Email: [email protected] Jung Chang (Hong Kong) Phone: +852 2117 0861 Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Trina Solar Limited

Related Links

http://www.trinasolar.com


MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TruGreen announced a partnership with the American Red Cross today, seeking to help reduce the drowning rate among the nation's children, particularly those in more vulnerable communities, such as Brevard County, Sarasota County, and Indian River County, Floridawho too often do not have regular access to pools and swim lessons. TruGreen funding support covers swim lesson registration, water safety instructors, lifeguard training and educational kits for both children and their families in these communities.

To learn more about the Red Cross Aquatics Centennial Initiative, an effort aimed at making the water a safer place for everyone, visit redcross.org.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is responsible for more deaths among children ages one to four than any other cause except birth defects. Among children ages one to fourteen, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death, behind motor vehicle accidents. The statistics are even more concerning in minority communities. Seven out of ten African American children and six out of ten Latino children are unable to swim.

"Our immediate goal is to help fund local programs where the drowning rate among minority children is twice that of the national average," said Jeff Fedorchak, TruGreen Vice President of Corporate Affairs. "The drowning statistics are alarming, and as a company that encourages people to 'Live Life Outside' we want to help drive these numbers way down," added Fedorchak. "We're proud to partner with the American Red Cross on this challenge."

Connie Harvey, Director of the Aquatics Centennial Initiative for the American Red Cross, agreed. "We are grateful to TruGreen for getting involved with this campaign, and for a great company like this living out their commitment to community."

Among five core guiding principles adopted by TruGreen, "Community" is one. TruGreen has been a partner of the Red Cross for years and is also a founding member of the organization's Mosaic Circle, an initiative designed to increase awareness and grow partnerships between the Red Cross and minority communities.

For more information about the American Red Cross, visit redcross.org.

For more information about TruGreen, visit TruGreen.com or facebook.com/TruGreen.

About TruGreen

Memphis, Tenn.-based TruGreen is the nation's largest lawn care company, serving more than 2.3 million residential and commercial customers across the United States and Canada with lawn, tree and shrub care. TruGreen believes more life should be lived outside and is committed to providing a beautiful lawn to serve as the foundation for outside experiences and lifelong memories. As the leader in the professional lawn care industry, TruGreen helps define responsible lawn care practices, conducts industry-leading education and training for our professional applicators, pioneers new application technologies and educates our customers on proper mowing and wise-use watering techniques. Today, there are approximately 260 TruGreen lawn care branches and satellite offices in the United States and Canada.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160412/354588LOGO

SOURCE TruGreen

Related Links

http://TruGreen.com


BOSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultimaker, the leading open source 3D printer manufacturer, announced today the official launch of the Ultimaker Pioneer Program designed to connect educators throughout North America who are passionate about bringing 3D printing and design into K  12 and higher education.

The Ultimaker Pioneer Program allows educators, or Pioneers, to feature their 3D printing expertise and knowledge by sharing useful content on the new Ultimaker Education website. Contributors will maintain ownership of their own content through Creative Commons Attribution, Share-Alike, and Non-Commercial licensing. By visiting the Ultimaker Education website, educators throughout North America will have access to resources and knowledge that may not be available locally.

"Teaching 3D modeling and printing in our schools is a relatively new educational endeavor and faculty are on the front lines, figuring out the best methods of teaching as we continue to learn about the topic ourselves," said Burton Isenstein, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. "It's smart to tap into what's already happening in classrooms throughout the world and the Ultimaker Pioneer Program will help educators build a base of knowledge upon everyone's experience."

The growing Ultimaker Pioneer Program community currently has a presence in 21 states with 58 educators who are passionate about using 3D printing in education to inspire, excite and motivate their students.

"The Ultimaker Education Pioneers Program is a first of its kind, bringing together educators who have experience with 3D printing, regardless of the printer brand or model, and who are willing to share with other educators throughout North America," said John Kawola, President of Ultimaker North America. "We're thrilled to facilitate this program, assisting in enhancing the way young generations create with technology."

"The greatest benefit of this program is the facilitation of collaboration and innovation amongst education professionals in the field of 3D design and manufacturing," said Geoff Frankl, a Technology Coordinator for 7  12 grade students at IvyTech Charter School in Moorpark, California. "All of this will translate into modern curricula involving this burgeoning technology, the paramount goal of which will be transforming today's youth into tomorrow's well-trained and globally-competitive employee or entrepreneur."

To learn how to use 3D printing in the classroom to excite and motivate students, please visit the new Ultimaker Education website, https://ultimaker.com/education. To learn more about joining the Pioneer Program to contribute and inspire other educators, please visit www.ultimaker.com/en/blog/21933-pioneer-program-launches-with-58-power-educators.

About Ultimaker

From the very beginning Ultimaker's vision has been to make 3D printing accessible to all. It is why all their desktop printers are extremely quiet, fast, accurate, reliable and effortless to use. Such a commitment has been embraced by professionals and novices alike. This has also helped Ultimaker to become one of the most successful and reliable open source 3D printing companies in the world. Most recently, Ultimaker was awarded "Best in Shootout" 2015 from the established Make Magazine, Editors' Choice by Digital Trends and Best Consumer Product at the 3D Printshow Global Awards 2014.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398030LOGO

SOURCE Ultimaker

Related Links

https://ultimaker.com


SHANGHAI, China, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

It is announced by UnionPay International today that a number of daily-spending merchants in Canada start to accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass, which marks the debut of this innovative service in North America. Previously, UnionPay mobile QuickPass has been accepted at over 220,000 POS terminals in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia.

The merchants accepting mobile QuickPass this time are mainly restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, supermarkets, and convenient stores. Consumers can pay with their UnionPay QuickPass chip cards or mobile QuickPass-enabled smartphones at the contactless terminals in these merchants. No signature is needed when paying less than 100 CAD with UnionPay debit cards, and no PIN nor signature is required when paying less than 100 CAD with UnionPay credit cards. It is in accordance with international practice to set a cap on micropayment for contactless payment, and it helps ensure card-using security.

As UnionPay's new mobile payment solution, mobile QuickPass supports offline contactless payment with mobile devices like smartphones as well as online payment. It is quick, convenient, and safe, and is therefore gaining popularity among global merchants and cardholders. The mobile payment products subordinate to mobile QuickPass are compatible with various mobile phone brands and models, including Huawei, MI, ZTE, and Lenovo.

Now, UnionPay cards are accepted both online and offline in Canada. Over 85% of the local ATMs and more than 70,000 merchants accept UnionPay cards, and dozens of the local educational institutions support cross-border online tuition payment via UnionPay cards.

According to the latest data, over 2 billion UnionPay chip cards have been issued worldwide, and the innovative application based on chip cards is enriching. Now, over 7 million POS terminals around the globe support mobile QuickPass. Australia has the largest number of QuickPass-accepting terminals; and in Macao, UnionPay is the most widely used international payment brand in terms of contactless payment.

For more information: http://www.unionpayintl.com/

SOURCE UnionPay International

Related Links

http://www.unionpayintl.com


DETROIT, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A lawsuit before U.S District Court Chief Judge Denise Page Hood accuses Bank of America of ethnic discrimination for arbitrarily closing the accounts of Michigan-based Arab-American charity. Closing arguments begin Tuesday 9am, followed by deliberation.

Plaintiff Life for Relief & Development ("LIFE") argues that Bank of America, N.A., ("BANA") employee Christa Marshall, a senior Anti-Money Laundering ("AML") Compliance Specialist was inconsistent in her reports when filling out the Account Closure Recommendation form ("ACR") and during testimony, hinting at targeted discrimination.

During her trial testimony on Friday, Marshall listed the appearance of personal spending, and Structuring (an attempt to evade legal reporting by depositing under $10,000.01) as reasons for closure of the accounts. When cross-examined, Marshall testified that she could NOT point to a single purchase on the bank statements as personal spending. As for structuring, Marshall indicated two examples of which both failed to meet the legal threshold. These inconsistencies gave expectation to the merit of the lawsuit.

The trial is expected to answer the question as to the prejudicial targeting of Arab-American account closures across the U.S. by major banks and could set the stage for similar lawsuits in the near future.

Dennis Lormel, an expert witness for BANA testified in December 2014 that BANA identifies Arab-Americans as "High Risk". Lormel further elaborated, saying that he noticed closures attributed to the perception of "High Risk" based on names such as Mohamad, Ahmed, or even Salam. According to Lormel, BANA was targeting them "on a company basis".

As a non-profit, LIFE has distributed over $300 million in humanitarian assistance across 23 countries. LIFE has a consultative status with the United Nations. Locally, Life has also donated 250,000 bottles of water for the Flint Water Crisis.

LIFE, civil rights organizations and leaders within the Arab-American community will hold a press conference after the verdict Tuesday. Khalid Turaani, Life's CEO said "Bank of America maybe too big to fail but not too big to be called to task when found guilty of discrimination against Arab-Americans". Turaani added, "Bank of American should live up to its name and be a bank for all Americans".

SOURCE Life for Relief and Development

Related Links

http://www.lifeusa.org


Also included in the findings are travel trends for July through December 2016 such as the most popular pickup destinations for the second half of the year based on advanced bookings by U.S. & Canadian residents compared to last year. According to our data, U.S. & Canadians are electing to extend their travel itineraries in 4 out of the 5 top pick up destinations during the second half of the year.

"This year Dublin has really jumped in popularity as a rental destination for US citizens," said Scott Braun, Chief Marketing Officer at Auto Europe. "Additionally, we continue to see that while manual transmission vehicles are the default rental car offering in Europe, a substantial number of North Americans are requesting automatics. To meet this need we always make special arrangements with our suppliers to set aside automatic vehicles so that we are uniquely positioned to be able to deliver what our customers demand."

Read the full study on the results of the first-half of the year and trends through December 2016 here.

About Auto Europe

With over 60 years of experience in the rental car industry, Auto Europe specializes in helping travelers find the lowest car rental rates in Europe and other popular destinations around the world. Auto Europe's deep understanding of the complexities of renting cars abroad paired with their knowledgeable team of rental specialists (available 24/7) allows Auto Europe to provide travelers with the best service in the industry before, during and after their rental. To find the best rate on a car rental for your next trip abroad or to learn more about renting a car in Europe visit www.autoeurope.com.

Contact:

Meghan Donovan

207-842-2038

Email

SOURCE Auto Europe

Related Links

http://www.autoeurope.com


LEHIGH ACRES, Fla., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Missionary medic Paul Heier has partnered his organization Mision Hispana with Guatemalan firefighters to provide CPR, First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, and Trauma classes across the country. Heier attended paramedic school with the desire to help people in remote areas and teach these critical subjects to short-term missionaries and national firefighters. His work has spanned across Guatemala from Santiago, Sacatepequez all the way to Puerto San Jose, Escuintla.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160811/397600

The medical mission work started when Heier offered to help a Guatemalan fire chief bring his crew up-to-date in CPR. He couldn't imagine the response that followed. Heier has been asked to teach classes to dozens of firefighters and police officers across the country. He was recently honored with a television interview on a Guatemalan news channel to explain why he's willing to help. He was even made an honorary assistant chief of one fire department. Heier says this work is his way of loving his neighbor.

"This work has been incredibly rewarding for us and impactful for those who are accessing this much needed training," says Heier. "Right now we have more requests than we can handle and desperately need volunteers to come and help teach. We encourage all those who truly want to serve people in need to connect with us and learn more about our mission work and trips."

Guatemala and many Latin American countries face severe poverty and the needs of the people are great. Poverty hasn't changed much in Guatemala during the last 20 years, according to the World Bank. Close to 75 percent of the population is estimated to live below the poverty line and almost 58 percent live below the extreme poverty line which the World Bank defines as struggling to afford even a basic basket of food. The services provided by Mision Hispana meet a critical need that is not being met in the country.

Mision Hispana recently celebrated 11 years of helping to reach the forgotten in Latin America. The organization relies heavily on volunteers and donor funding to meet its mission. Over the years, Mision Hispana has hosted groups from the U.S. and Canada on mission trips in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. For more information about their work, to donate or to inquire about volunteer opportunities, visit ReachingtheAmericas.com.

About Mision Hispana

Founded by missionaries Paul and Thania Heier, Mision Hispana has been providing critical services to the people within villages across Latin American countries since 2005. The Heiers started their work in Nicaragua where they spent nearly seven years starting a Hope Center, a small camp, and helping to build ten churches. Later they provided other mission services in Honduras and Guatemala. For more information visit, ReachingtheAmericas.com.

Press Contact

Paul Heier

[email protected]

Sources

World Bank Guatemala

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SOURCE Mision Hispana

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OTTAWA, Ontario, August 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Validian Corp. (OTCQB: VLDI), a leading innovator in cyber-security technology, today issued another marketing and sales update. Over the past 30 days, the ongoing exchange of marketing and technical documentation, discussions, meetings and demonstrations have doubled Validian's sales pipeline. Now, Validian has scheduled the next round of discussions and negotiations with senior decision makers of more than 20 qualified prospects, comprising large to major companies, during August, September and October 2016.

Bruce Benn, Chief Executive Officer of Validian, commented on the Company's recent developments in marketing and sales, "We are very pleased to see the steady increase in momentum as we continue our march towards sales, cash flow and revenue during 2016. Large to major companies are consistently progressing from the analysis of our technical documents and demonstrations to negotiating the licensing of Validian's technology and installations for testing and integration. Demonstrations of completed cutting edge, Validian-enabled mobile and Cloud apps that show market differentiating features and capabilities not achievable by any other combination of technologies are generating strong demand. However, it is the speed of integration and low costs of operations that have the greatest impact on sales. Integration takes 2 to 10 days versus 11 to 24 months for standard crypto protocols. This enables the increasing number of companies seeking significant security enhancements to get to market much more quickly, which is a major catalyst to our growing demand and sales pipeline."

About Validian Corporation

Validian Corporation (OTCQB VLDI) is a leading innovator in cyber security technology that provides secure access, retrieval, transfer, receipt and storage of digital information on mobile and non-mobile applications, devices, servers, data bases and memory both at rest and in transit using wired, wireless and mobile networks. Validian technology enables the next generation of secure Mobile Messaging and Communications, Cloud Computing, Cloud Storage, Distributed Computing and Web Application and WebPortal Access and Usage for desktop & laptop computers, servers, tablets and SmartPhones.

The Company provides solutions that can be customized to the client's business process to ensure end-to-end authenticity, integrity and custody of high value digital assets. Validian is a U.S. public company with offices in the U.S. and Canada. Visit http://www.Validian.com for more information on its digital asset solutions.

Discuss Validian events here: http://investorshangout.com/Validian-Corporation-VLDI-68278/

Safe Harbor Statement

Investors should carefully consider the information contained in this news release before making an investment in the shares of the company. Information contained in this news release contains "forward looking statements", which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," expects," "may," "should," or "anticipates" or negative thereof or given that the future results covered by such forward -looking statements will be achieved. The preceding matters constitute cautionary statements identifying important factors with respect to such forward-looking statements, including certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from the future statements. Other factors could also cause actual results to vary materially from the future results covered in such forward-looking statements.

Company:

Bruce Benn, CEO and President

[email protected]

+1-613-224-3535



Investor Relations:

Howard Gostfrand

[email protected]

+1-305-918-7000



SOURCE Validian Corp.
ATLANTA, Aug.16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Venetia Partners, an international boutique rm of operations and solutions experts, recently engaged Trevelino/Keller as its marketing agency of choice. Trevelino/Keller immediately set to work, employing its full suite of creative design, dynamic content, web development and digital services to support the firm's new branding and marketing direction.

"Trevelino/Keller's ability to quickly and succinctly understand a business, its customers' need, and the broader marketplace drew us to the agency," explains Lou Pahountis, senior executive partner for Venetia Partners. "Right from the onset of the relationship, T/K understood us and delivered company messaging and creative executions that aligned with our values, mission and vision."

Venetia Partners drives rapid performance improvement, outcomes and an immediate impact on the bottom line. When real outcomes really matter, large manufacturing and distribution companies call on Venetia Partners to deliver on acute needs to fix, build or transform their business performance in the areas of integrated business operations and strengthening supply chain. In particular, Private Equity firms and corporate executives that want a no-nonsense, lean approach to delivering revenue growth, costs and expenses right-sizing, cash generation and profit optimization rely on the firm's expertise, experience and 100 percent referenceable track record of delivering specific outcomes with a high degree of certainty.

"A strong sense of brand coupled with engaging, well-thought out content should be at the core of every thought-leadership strategy, especially for those in the service arena," explains Dean Trevelino, principal, Trevelino/Keller. "We are excited to be part of Venetia Partner's next phase of evolution, charged with creating a memorable brand identity while helping to fine tune their collective knowledge and informed viewpoints."

About Venetia Partners

Venetia Partners, an international boutique rm of operations and solutions experts, drives rapid performance improvement, real outcomes and an immediate impact on the bottom line. Venetia Partner's no nonsense approach to fix, build or transform business and supply chain operational challenges make it sought after by large manufacturing and distribution companies and private equity rms. Venetia Partners operates out of nine major markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Shanghai and Milan. For more information on Venetia Partner's outcome-based services, capabilities and successes, visit www.venetiapartners.com.

About Trevelino/Keller

Trevelino/Keller is a digital public relations and marketing firm serving disruptive and scaling companies across seven practices  Technology, Healthcare, Financial Services, Food & Beverage, Franchising, Lifestyle and Environment. Its Groovy Studios brand houses creative services, dynamic content, digital and social marketing and demand generation. Headquartered in Atlanta with a presence in San Francisco, Orlando, and Charleston, the industry's "First in Retention" firm operates six distinct ventures -- WheelhouseTK, an extended marketing services consortium; Atlas Alliance, a global network of agency partners; Consume Brands, a culinary arts, brand extension, product incubation and reputation management collaboration; TechRise, a real estate technology partnership; and, StartOpia, an information ecosystem designed to support the startup market. For more info on Trevelino/Keller, visit www.trevelinokeller.com.

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SOURCE Trevelino/Keller

Related Links

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Chinese provinces are increasingly taking an interest in exploring African markets for their investments and help firms on the continent increase production capacity.

The venturing into Africa by the Chinese provinces is in line with the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and pronouncements by the Chinese government at the last meeting of the body in South Africa last year.

China is the biggest backer of the African Unions Agenda 2063, a platform which envisages all the 54 countries on the continent enjoying some form of industrialisation by that year.

In that pursuant, six Chinese provinces recently held the Forum on Global Production Capacity and Business Cooperation in Wuhan city of Hubei province of China to seek ways of increasing this cooperation.

The provinces were Hubei, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Henan and Hunan.

The forum saw the provinces signing 28 major projects worth about $8 billion in areas such as infrastructure, high and new technology, new energy, bio-pharmaceutical, energy conservation, logistics and environment protection.

Chinese officials who spoke at the forum included Director General of the Department of African Affairs at Chinese Foreign Ministry Mr Lin Songtian, Vice President of China-African Business Council Mr Zhang Huatong and the general manager of the Department of Northeast Africa Investment Mr Li Dongwei.

Mr Lin said Africa had bright prospects and Chinese provinces and firms should take an active role in the continents development.

Africa is the important direction of Chinas international cooperation on production capacity, he added.

African delegates invited the Chinese provinces and firms to partner with their countries.

Speaking at the forum, Zimbabwean ambassador to China Mr Paul Chikawa said African countries needed to broaden their industrial bases and increase production capacity.

We have several opportunities spanning several sectors - infrastructure, energy, water, transportation, housing, construction, agriculture and agro-industry, tourism as well as, indeed, trade itself, he said.

It is in this regard that we invite and welcome Chinese companies to come to Zimbabwe to operate under the banner of the production capacity cooperation.

One of the Chinese provinces to take this initiative to a higher level is Jiangsu, which continues to invest millions in countries such as Zimbabwe.

Photo taken on Dec. 9, 2014 shows the construction site of the expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport in Zimbabwe

The province recently completed the expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport in Zimbabwe, at a cost of $150 million and has invested more funds in iron and steel metallurgy, agriculture, construction and installation,

Victoria Falls is the major tourist attraction spot in the country and is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as a World Heritage Site and is also considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Responding to questions from this reporter on the provinces investments in the Southern African country recently, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Commerce said the volume of trade with Zimbabwe was growing.

In 2015, Jiangsus trade volume with Zimbabwe totaled $56.39 million, up by 18.4 percent from a year earlier, said the province. Of this total volume, $53.80 million were from Jiangsus export to Zimbabwe, up by 72.8 percent, $2.59 million import, down by 84.3 percent.

Among our exports to Zimbabwe, machine, mechanical appliance, electrical equipment and the parts took the first place, accounting for 53.3 percent, base metal and its metal works as well as textile raw material and textile products ranked the second and third, accounting for 12.1 percent and 11.7 percent respectively.

Jiangsu said imports from Zimbabwe were mostly minerals, accounting for 69.7 percent, textile raw material and textile products ranked second, accounting for 26.7 percent, wood and wood products ranked third, accounting for 3.6 percent.

Meanwhile, we encourage our enterprises to carry out investment study activities in Zimbabwe, said the province. We will continue to serve and support Jiangsu enterprises in their endeavour to invest and develop African countries, including Zimbabwe.

The province urged the Zimbabwean government to strengthen the inter-governmental communication with major investing countries and implement cooperation that truly reflects mutual benefit and win-win relations.

The China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Ltd (CJI), a State firm of Jiangsu province, was instrumental in carrying out the Victoria Falls International Airport Expansion and many other projects.

The expanded airport was put into service in December last year and it is estimated that the number of tourist arrivals at the resort would increase from 500,000 to more than two million per year.

Wide body airplanes such as Boeing 747 and 767 and Airbus 340 and 380 will now be able to take off or land on the newly-built airfield runway.

In Zimbabwe or even Southern Africa, this airport will be regarded as a modern international airport, for all its technical and application dimensions have reached high standards of todays international civil aviation services, said CJI in response to the questions.

The expansion on Victoria Falls Airport brings jobs to local people, horns the skills of Zimbabwean technicians, teaches Chinese big time construction technique and management to Zimbabwean counterparts, nurtures a group of talents locally and helps promote the construction industry in Zimbabwe.

CJI said it would continue to engage in facilitating development of African express railway network, expressway network, regional aviation network and infrastructure in cooperation strategies between China and African countries.

Lovemore Chikova is the News Editor of The Herald Newspaper in Zimbabwe, a fellow at the China-Africa Press Centre and an intern at Peoples Daily Online. He can be contacted on [email protected]
Sauer replaces outgoing CEO Scott Bond, who will retire at the end of the year after more than three decades in the health care field. Sauer will serve as the organization's fourth CEO since the organization formed in 1933. She has worked for the hospital association for 16 years, leading policy, advocacy, and communications. She has particularly focused on expanding access to health care through the children's health and Medicaid expansions, creating policy to support innovative methods of care delivery, and improving care for people living with mental illnesses.

"Cassie has a strong vision for WSHA's future; she also has the skills and experience to guide members and staff into that future," said WSHA board chair Gregg Davidson, of Skagit Regional Health. "For the last 20 years, she has worked to improve Washington residents' ability to get good health care, whether they are in rural or urban areas. She keeps the patient at the moral center of the work. We are lucky to have her."



"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as the hospital association's leader into the future. The association's work to help our hospitals and health systems achieve their missions of serving their communities with high quality care for all is very important to me. I take seriously the responsibility to represent Washington State's hospitals in the face of extraordinary changes in the health care environment," said Sauer.



Bond announced his retirement in April, and the WSHA board convened a six-member search committee to work with the firm Korn Ferry to conduct a national search. The committee was chaired by Elaine Couture, regional chief executive, Providence Health Care for eastern Washington and incoming WSHA board chair. Members of the WSHA board, representing some of the state's premier health systems, independent medical centers, and highly regarded rural hospitals also participated in final interviews.



"We had a pool of exceptional candidates, all of whom are highly regarded health care leaders," said Couture, who will become WSHA board chair in October. "Cassie is the unique internal candidate. She has years of knowledge and relationships in this state, but she also has the ability to reexamine assumptions and set a new direction for the organization. Health care is changing and so is WSHA, but at the center of them both is the need for access to quality health care services in all communities of the state."



Sauer will report to WSHA's 24-member Board of Trustees, overseeing staff and all operations at WSHA, which has 107 hospital and health system members across the state. She will be responsible for leading WSHA's core work of public policy, advocacy, patient safety, and data.



About WSHA

The Washington State Hospital Association works to improve the health of all Washington state residents by being active on key issues of policy and quality. WSHA represents 107 hospitals and health systems in the state, including those that are non-profit, investor-owned, and county, state and military hospitals. For more about our membership, see our membership brochure on http://www.wsha.org/about/.

The Triple Aim guides our members and our work, as we strive to improve the patient experience, improve the health of populations and reduce the cost of health care. To see more about our strategic plan, visit http://www.wsha.org/about/strategic-plan/.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398252

SOURCE Washington State Hospital Association

Related Links

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WORCESTER, Mass., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The middle of August is the start of peak hurricane season, which continues through late October, placing many areas of the country on alert for potential risk. With this in mind, The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG) offers tips to help homeowners protect their families and properties in the event of a hurricane.

"Hurricanes can strike quickly and leave behind a lot of damage," said Tory D. Pachis, assistant vice president of personal lines marketing at The Hanover. "Preparing your home and developing a plan in advance of a hurricane can help minimize damage."

The Hanover suggests these six tips to help protect homeowners from the risk of hurricanes:



Know what's in your home. A home inventory is often overlooked. An industry poll indicated homeowners' insurance claims are processed nearly twice as fast if home inventories are completed in advance.

Gather supplies. It is always a good idea to create an emergency supplies kit. Consider including items such as flashlights, batteries, medicines, a first aid kit, cash, a battery-powered radio, and a week's worth of water and nonperishable food for the household.

Prepare your house. Make any necessary repairs to loose boards, shingles, downspouts or other items that can pose problems in high winds and torrential rain. Move any unsecured items indoors, including grills, toys, planters and lawn furniture. Trim or remove any decaying and damaged tree branches.

Have a plan. Learn the local evacuation routes and make note of where local shelters are located. Have key telephone numbers on hand, such as family, friends, fire and police departments, and your insurance agent.

Stay informed. Sign up for alerts if possible. Many towns offer weather alerts to help inform residents of ways to stay safe.

Check your insurance protection. An independent insurance agent can help ensure comprehensive coverages are in place. To find an agent, visit: www.hanover.com/find-an-agent. Some good questions to consider include:

Are current rebuilding costs covered?

Should separate flood insurance be considered?

Are there any gaps in coverage?

Taking some time to prepare before a hurricane hits can help better protect your family and your property. The Hanover also has created an infographic with more tips for before, during and after the storm: http://bit.ly/2bbSEWs.

To learn more about The Hanover, please visit hanover.com. For additional tips on preparing and responding to a hurricane, visit ready.gov/hurricanes.

ABOUT THE HANOVER

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., based in Worcester, Mass., is the holding company for several property and casualty insurance companies, which together constitute one of the largest insurance businesses in the United States. For more than 160 years, The Hanover has provided a wide range of property and casualty products and services to individuals, families, and businesses. The Hanover distributes its products through a select group of independent agents and brokers. Together with its agents, the company offers specialized coverages for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as insurance protection for homes, automobiles, and other personal items. Through its international member company, Chaucer, The Hanover also underwrites business at Lloyd's of London in several major insurance and reinsurance classes, including marine, property and energy. For more information, please visit hanover.com .

CONTACT:

Emily P. Trevallion

[email protected]

508-855-3263

Abby M. Clark

[email protected]

508-855-3549

The recommendation(s), advice and contents of this material are provided for informational purposes only and do not purport to address every possible legal obligation, hazard, code violation, loss potential or exception to good practice. The Hanover Insurance Company and its affiliates and subsidiaries ("The Hanover") specifically disclaim any warranty or representation that acceptance of any recommendations or advice contained herein will make any premises, property or operation safe or in compliance with any law or regulation. Under no circumstances should this material or your acceptance of any recommendations or advice contained herein be construed as establishing the existence or availability of any insurance coverage with The Hanover. By providing this information to you, The Hanover does not assume (and specifically disclaims) any duty, undertaking or responsibility to you. The decision to accept or implement any recommendation(s) or advice contained in this material must be made by you.

2016 The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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SOURCE The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.

Related Links

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BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacob D. Steiger, M.D., Facial Plastic Surgeon, of Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery in Boca Raton, is pleased to announce that Wendy Mendez, MSPA, PA-C, board-certified physician assistant, has joined the acclaimed practice. An award-winning aesthetic injector and educator on topics related to minimally invasive aesthetics, Mendez has over 20 years of experience as physician assistant.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398100

Mendez's area of expertise encompasses non-surgical aesthetic rejuvenation. This includes facial fillers, Botox, lasers, intense pulsed light (IPL), various forms of skin rejuvenation procedures, and liquid face-lifts.

"My passion is to make people feel empowered when they feel aesthetically refreshed and youthful," said Mendez. "I consider aesthetics a 'custom fit art form,' and not a 'cookie cutter' form of practice. I love to combine my aesthetic talents with patient goals, giving each individual a tailored result."

Mendez holds a master's degree in physician assistant studies from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. She received her bachelor's degree in bio-health science from Loma Linda University La Sierra in Riverside, California.

"Wendy is a great asset to our team," said Dr. Steiger. "She takes great pride in her work, and exemplifies the highest quality standards that are the hallmarks of Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery."

To schedule an appointment with Mendez, call 561-499-9339, or toll-free at 866-994-FACE (3223).

About Jacob D. Steiger, M.D. & Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery

An accomplished, double board-certified, Ivy League-trained physician, Jacob D. Steiger, M.D., Facial Plastic Surgeon, specializes exclusively in plastic surgery of the face. The 5,000-square-foot modern Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery features luxurious treatment rooms and a state-of-the-art surgical center with an operating room and overnight suite. For more information, to schedule an appointment, or to book a spa treatment, call 561-499-9339, toll-free at 866-994-FACE (3223) or visit drsteiger.com. Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery/1001 Aesthetic Medical Center is located at 1001 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL 33432.

Media Contact:

Duree Ross, Duree & Company, Inc.

954-723-9350 t

Email

SOURCE Steiger Facial Plastic Surgery

Related Links

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HOUSTON, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) (the "Company") today announced that, with respect to its previously announced exchange offer and consent solicitation to eligible holders of its outstanding 8.500% Senior Notes due 2019 (the "Existing Notes"), it has (i) extended the Early Participation Date to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 30, 2016 (as extended, the "Early Participation Date"), (ii) eliminated the Minimum Tender Condition (as defined in the Offering Documents (as defined below)) and (iii) increased the maximum consideration being offered to (i) 76,590,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.00001 per share, of the Company (the "Shares") (increased from 62,100,000 Shares), (ii) $202.5 million aggregate principal amount of its new Senior Second Lien PIK Toggle Notes due 2020 (the "New Second Lien Notes") and (iii) $180.0 million aggregate principal amount of its new Senior Third Lien PIK Toggle Notes due 2021 (the "New Third Lien Notes" and, together with the New Second Lien Notes, the "New Notes"; the New Notes and the Shares, the "New Securities") pursuant to the terms of the offering memorandum and consent solicitation statement and the related letter of transmittal and consent, as amended by a supplement setting forth the modifications described above (together, the "Offering Documents"). The New Third Lien Notes will be issued in lieu of the unsecured Senior PIK Toggle Notes due 2021 described in the Offering Documents, regardless of the percentage of principal amount of Existing Notes that are tendered. Concurrently with the exchange offer, the Company is soliciting consents from holders of the Existing Notes to a proposed amendment to the indenture governing the Existing Notes in order to permit the issuance of the New Second Lien Notes and the New Third Lien Notes. The following table sets forth the increased consideration to be offered to eligible holders of the Existing Notes in the exchange offer:

Existing Notes to be Exchanged (CUSIP No. / ISIN)

Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding

Total Exchange Consideration for each $1,000 Principal Amount of Existing Notes if Tendered Prior to or on the Early Participation Date

Exchange Consideration for each $1,000 Principal Amount of Existing Notes if Tendered After the Early Participation Date 8.500% Senior Notes due 2019 (92922P AC0 / US92922PAC05)

$900,000,000

(i) 85.1 Shares; (ii) $225 principal amount of New Second Lien Notes; and (iii) $200 principal amount of New Third Lien Notes

(i) 85.1 Shares; (ii) $200 principal amount of New Second Lien Notes; and (iii) $200 principal amount of New Third Lien Notes

The total exchange consideration to be received by eligible holders of Existing Notes who validly tender their Existing Notes prior to the Early Participation Date will include an early tender premium equal to $25 principal amount of New Second Lien Notes per $1,000 principal amount of Existing Notes accepted for exchange.

For Existing Notes validly tendered after the Early Participation Date and on or before the Expiration Date (as defined below), the eligible holders of Existing Notes accepted for exchange will receive the exchange consideration set forth above, which does not include the early tender premium. Eligible holders of Existing Notes accepted for exchange will also receive a cash payment equal to the accrued and unpaid interest in respect of such Existing Notes from June 15, 2016 (the most recent interest payment date) to, but not including, the date the exchange offer is settled (the "Settlement Date"). Interest on the New Notes will accrue from the Settlement Date.

Certain holders of the Existing Notes (the "Participating Holders") entered into a Support Agreement, dated July 11, 2016 (the "Support Agreement"). Pursuant to the Support Agreement, the Participating Holders agreed to tender their Existing Notes in the exchange offer, subject to various conditions, including a limitation on the Company's ability to reduce the Minimum Tender Condition to a threshold lower than 85% of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding Existing Notes (the "Threshold Limitation"). Certain of the Participating Holders have entered into an amendment to the Support Agreement (the "Amendment") whereby they have agreed to eliminate the Threshold Limitation. In addition, the Company has waived the Minimum Tender Condition that was originally set forth in the Offering Documents. Therefore, the exchange offer is no longer subject to the Minimum Tender Condition. The Amendment also provides for certain limitations on the Company's ability to consummate future exchanges or repurchases of the Existing Notes on terms more favorable than the terms provided in the exchange offer for the life of the Existing Notes.

As previously announced, the exchange offer and consent solicitation will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 1, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company (the "Expiration Date"). The right to withdraw tenders of Existing Notes and related consents terminated at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 8, 2016 (the "Withdrawal Deadline"). Accordingly, Existing Notes and related consents tendered before the Withdrawal Deadline remain tendered and may not be withdrawn or revoked, except in certain limited circumstances where additional withdrawal rights are required by law. Tenders submitted after the Withdrawal Deadline and on or before the Expiration Date in the exchange offer and related consents will be irrevocable, except in the same limited circumstances. The act of tendering Existing Notes pursuant to the exchange offer constitutes a consent to the proposed amendment to the indenture governing the Existing Notes. The exchange offer is conditioned on the satisfaction or waiver of certain additional conditions, as described in the Offering Documents. The exchange offer and consent solicitation for the Existing Notes may be further amended, extended or terminated.

The exchange offer and consent solicitation is only being made, and copies of the Offering Documents will only be made available, to holders of the Existing Notes who complete and submit an eligibility form confirming that they are (1) "qualified institutional buyers" within the meaning of Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or (2) not "U.S. persons" and are outside of the United States within the meaning of Regulation S under the Securities Act (such persons, "eligible holders"). Holders who desire to obtain and complete an eligibility form should contact the information agent, D.F. King & Co., Inc., at (877) 536-1561 (toll-free) or (212) 269-5550 (for banks and brokers), or via the following website: www.dfking.com/wti.

Eligible holders are urged to carefully read the Offering Documents before making any decision with respect to the exchange offer and consent solicitation. None of the Company, the sole dealer manager, the information agent or the exchange agent makes any recommendation as to whether eligible holders should tender or refrain from tendering their Existing Notes. Eligible holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender Existing Notes and, if so, the principal amount of Existing Notes to tender.

The New Securities offered by the Company have not been registered under the Securities Act, or any state securities laws and, unless so registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The exchange offer and consent solicitation is not being made to holders of Existing Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. This press release is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to purchase, a solicitation of an offer to purchase or a solicitation of consents with respect to, any securities.

Evercore Group L.L.C. is acting as the sole dealer manager in the Exchange Offer.

About W&T Offshore

W&T Offshore, Inc. is an independent oil and natural gas producer with operations offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and has grown through acquisitions, exploration and development. The Company currently has working interests in approximately 54 fields in federal and state waters (50 producing and four fields capable of producing) and has under lease approximately 750,000 gross acres, including approximately 450,000 gross acres on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf and approximately 300,000 gross acres in the deepwater. A majority of the Company's daily production is derived from wells it operates. For more information on W&T Offshore, please visit the Company's website at www.wtoffshore.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events, based on what it believes are reasonable assumptions. No assurance can be given, however, that these events will occur. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, among other things, market conditions, oil and gas price volatility, uncertainties inherent in oil and gas production operations and estimating reserves, unexpected future capital expenditures, competition, the success of the Company's risk management activities, governmental regulations, uncertainties and other factors discussed in W&T Offshore's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and subsequent Form 10-Q reports found at www.sec.gov or at the Company's website at www.wtoffshore.com under the Investor Relations section. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures and risk factors in these reports.

CONTACT: Lisa Elliott Danny Gibbons

Dennard Lascar Associates SVP & CFO

[email protected] [email protected]

713-529-6600 713-624-7326

SOURCE W&T Offshore, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.wtoffshore.com


FAIRFIELD, Conn., Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The largest Yellow Fever epidemic in decades is hitting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola, and could soon spread to the Americas, Asia and Europe, Save the Children warns.

The organization's rapid response Emergency Health Unit (EHU) has deployed to support the DRC's Ministry of Health with a mass vaccination campaign in the capital city of Kinshasa. The campaign, which begins Wednesday, is part of a last line of defense to stop the deadly virus spreading through the overcrowded city of more than 10 million.

The virus is a hemorrhagic fever and has claimed nearly 500 lives to date, with thousands of suspected cases. Alarmingly, the World Health Organization warns those figures could actually be 10 to 50 times higher. Yellow Fever is spread by mosquitoes, making rapid transmission in a hot, humid city like Kinshasa very likely, particularly when the rainy season starts next month and mosquito numbers spike.

The outbreak is the largest to hit the region for 30 years and has all but emptied global emergency stocks of vaccines. There are only 7 million emergency vaccines available for this campaign  too few to fully cover Kinshasa, let alone all of the DRC.

"There is no known cure for Yellow Fever and it could go global," said Heather Kerr, Save the Children's Country Director for the DRC. "The mass vaccination campaign in Kinshasa needs to take place now so that we can try and stop Yellow Fever from spreading by land and air to more cities in Africa, and across the world."

Approximately 20 percent of people who have caught Yellow Fever during this outbreak have died. The final stages of the virus can cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, organ failure and a condition known as jaundice, a yellowing of skin and eyes which originally gave the disease its name.

Save the Children's 11-member rapid deployment EHU is staffed by experts from countries including Italy, China, Korea and the United States. They will support a vaccination campaign run by the DRC's Ministry of Health, targeting nearly half a million people in Kinshasa for approximately 10 days.

Experts will also provide technical support to Ministry of Health staff by helping to secure the country's 'cold chain': shuttling scarce supplies of vaccines to the vaccination sites while keeping them cold using a network of freezers and cool boxes. In addition, the EHU experts will treat the medical waste resulting from the campaign.

The same team successfully supported the Ministry of Health in vaccinating more than 221,000 people in the town of Boma in western DRC in May.

Following advice from the World Health Organization, Save the Children will provide support for the vaccination campaign that uses just one-fifth of a regular dose  to reach as many children and families as possible with the limited supplies that remain. A full dose of vaccine provides lifetime immunity; the smaller, so-called 'fractionalized' dose provides stop-gap immunity for about a year.

"We have to urgently reach as many children and families as we can with the supplies that are left, and this is the only way we are able to do that right now. We can only hope this will be enough to stop the epidemic from spreading any further," Kerr added.

Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We invest in childhood  every day, in times of crisis and for our future. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Media Contact: Erin Taylor ([email protected]), 267.250.8829 (M)

SOURCE Save the Children

Related Links

http://www.savethechildren.org


LOS ANGELES, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ZehnerGroup, a full-service digital agency with an emphasis on strategy, marketing, design and technology, announces the hire and appointment of Colleen Hemmings as Global Commerce Director, Chicago.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398333

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160815/398334LOGO

In the newly created role, Hemmings will serve as the strategy and client relationship lead for the Global Commerce offering and overseeing new business initiatives. Hemmings was previously Vice President at Optaros, an MRM//McCann agency, responsible for overall Business Development and Strategic Partnerships in North America. She will report directly to Matthew Zehner, CEO.

"We are thrilled to have Colleen join the team," Zehner said. "Her track record and deep experience in Global Commerce is invaluable to our growing eCommerce offering."

Hemmings brings 15 years of eCommerce, digital marketing, and global business consulting experience, including five years focused solely on leading digital engagements for Fortune 500 clients. At the core of her experience is the ability to bridge the gap between marketing and technology to develop the strategy required to launch a successful multi-channel eCommerce experience.

Prior to joining the agency life, Hemmings started her career in London working for a Big 3 consulting firm. Since then, she has held positions in client services, business development, and eCommerce leadership at Sapient Nitro, Acquity Group, and Optaros a MRM/McCann agency.

Hemmings has experience leading clients in business transformation strategies and multi-channel strategies through the lens of commerce, storytelling, and technology. In 2011, she won a Webby Award, a Vanguard Media Award, and was shortlisted at Cannes. She also has experience managing clients and global agency partners in regions such as UK, APAC and LATAM.

Operating out of Chicago, Hemmings will focus her efforts at ZehnerGroup across new business, Tech & User Experience Delivery, and finding growth opportunities among existing clients.

About ZehnerGroup:

Our award-winning team of strategic thinkers, innovative designers, and knowledgeable technologists take an agile approach to helping clients quickly bring ideas from concept to design to execution. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with offices in New York and Buenos Aires, ZehnerGroup takes a data-driven approach to help clients realize ROI while growing traffic, driving revenue, and increasing conversions.

A few of ZehnerGroup's recent work samples can be found here: zehnergroup.com/work

Media Contact:

Colleen Hemmings

Email

310 765 1600

SOURCE ZehnerGroup
Around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 13, a semitrailer filled with watermelons overturned onto its side around 80 kilometers outside of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. The accident destroyed several dozen meters of safety guardrails, and the front of the truck was badly smashed.

Even worse, the watermelons that the truck was transporting dropped onto the farmland where the truck overturned, crushing hundreds of square meters of crops. The crash attracted many local villagers to the scene.

Unfortunately for the truck's driver, Jia, over half the watermelons were smashed. Jia said he works mostly with small operations. He transports and sells watermelons from Liaoning province to Wenzhou. On this trip, he took a brief rest in Taihu service zone and then continued on his way. When he crashed into the safety guardrails early that morning, it was in order to avoid another car. He swerved, and since his truck was so weighed down, the brakes didn't work fast enough.

The accident meant a huge loss for Jia's business. He had been transporting watermelons worth around 30,000 yuan, and most were broken. Mending his vehicle would also require money. Additionally, he knew he would need to compensate the farmers onto whose land he had crashed for their damaged crops and safety guardrails.

Luckily Jia was not injured in the accident. After talking it over with the relevant farmers, Jia offered 5,000 yuan in compensation. How to deal with the watermelons, however, became a trickier problem. Jia eventually sold all the broken watermelons to a villager for 3,000 yuan, and the villager sold each one for 10 yuan.

Many villagers came to buy the disfigured melons. Some even came on tricycles and brought bags so they could take several watermelons at one time. One middle-aged customer noted that these watermelons were cheaper than those sold at markets. Others said that they wanted to help support the owner, since the accident causes him such great losses.
On Monday, Aug. 15, traffic police in eastern China's Jiangsu province made an online broadcast explaining various aspects of their law enforcement process. The process applies to cities all over Jiangsu, including Nanjing, Xuzhou and Yangzhou, thepaper.cn reported. A total of 210,000 people tuned in for the one-hour broadcast.

The police said that their main goal in planning the broadcast was to help improve public awareness about traffic safety. According to recent data, two of the most common traffic violations carried out by non-motorized vehicles are occupying emergency lanes and running red lights. An officer with the Traffic Police Headquarters of the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department said that non-motorized vehicles running red lights led to 47 deaths in the first half of this year.

The rapid increase of electric bicycles on the street has also contributed to frequent traffic violations, the officer noted, but added that the root cause is still often insufficient awareness of traffic safety on the part of non-motorized vehicles' drivers.

The broadcast detailed 67 cases of traffic violations during its one-hour time slot.

The officer added that he hoped the online broadcast would both help to spread information about traffic laws and also deter people from violating them in the future.
New Delhi, Aug 10 : A special court here on Wednesday recorded the statement of New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. Director Suresh Singhal -- who has turned approver in a coal block allocation case allegedly involving former Congress MP Naveen Jindal and others -- as prosecution witness.

The court on July 11 allowed Singhal's plea for pardon and to turn a government approver in the case.

"Today (Wednesday), applicant Suresh Singhal has accepted the pardon so granted to him, subject to the conditions as mentioned in the order. Accordingly, his statement to that effect has been recorded," Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Bharat Parashar said.

"The name of Suresh Singhal is accordingly deleted from the array of accused persons as he shall now be a prosecution witness, to be examined upon commencement of recording of prosecution evidence."

The court, however, clarified that Singhal will not leave India without its prior permission till further orders.

Meanwhile, the court directed the CBI to expedite further investigation as trial in the matter is getting delayed.

At the same time, the court granted permission to Jindal to visit abroad (Oman, UAE and Bahrain) from August 25 to 30 subject to certain conditions.

These include informing the CBI and the court about his arrival in India, mentioning details of places visited by him, along with details of the itinerary, within seven days of his arrival and not tampering with evidence nor trying to influence any witness in any manner.

The court fixed August 24 for submitting report on further investigation in the matter.

The court in April found prima facie evidence against industrialist and senior Congress leader Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and others in a case related to the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.

However, Jindal, Rao, Koda and others denied the charge and sought discharge from the case.

The CBI in April 2015 filed a charge sheet against Jindal, Koda, Rao and former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, apart from Singhal, Jindal Realty Director Rajeev Jain, Gagan Sponge Directors Girish Kumar Juneja and R.K. Saraf, Sowbhagya Media's Managing Director K. Ramakrishna and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.

Five private companies -- four based in Delhi and one in Hyderabad -- were also named in the charge sheet.

They are Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd., Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. and Sowbhagya Media Ltd.
Ranchi, Aug 11 : Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, two legislators and leaders of opposition parties were detained on Thursday when they were heading for a dharna in Hazaribagh against the alleged forcible land acquisition by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Leaders of the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajantraik (JVM-P) were going to join a sit-in stike at Barkagaon where NTPC has been given a coal block.

Congress legislator from Barkagaon Nirmal Devi, JVM-P legislator Pradeep Yadav, state RJD President Gautam Sagar Rana and other leaders were going to take part in the sit-in strike along with Babulal Marandi.

The Congress lawmaker is fighting for the local people against the forced land acquisition and demanding due compensation.

The coal block was allocated to NTPC in 2010 but work could not start due to villagers' protest.

The opposition leaders had on July 24 met the villagers who are opposing the land acquisition for the NTPC's upcoming coal block in Pakri-Barwadidh area of Barkagaon of Hazaribagh district.

An FIR was lodged by the NTPC against Marandi and opposition leaders. On August 4, the opposition leaders went to court arrest but the Hazaribagh police turned them away.

On Thursday, the opposition leaders again went to Hazaribagh to express solidarity with the local residents against forcible land acquisition.

"The agitation will continue till the district administration assures that the agriculture land will not be acquired. The compensation which villagers should get has not been given," Pradeep Yadav told reporters.
Panaji, Aug 12 : Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the state assembly on Friday that a non-police official will conduct an impartial inquiry into bribery allegations against Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg.

"An independent and impartial inquiry by a non-police official will be conducted into the serious corruption charges made against IGP Garg," Parsekar said.

A local businessman on Thursday accused Garg of demanding and accepting Rs 5.5 lakh in bribe for registering a First Information Report in a cheating case.

Munnalal Halwai, who runs a business establishment in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from the state capital, said he paid the bribe to Garg in two instalments in 2015, including once in the senior police official's cabin at the police headquarters in Panaji.

"Garg first demanded 10 per cent of Rs 1.15 crore, the amount I was cheated of, for registration of the FIR. After bargaining he agreed to have the FIR registered at the Ponda police station for around Rs 5 lakh," Halwai told reporters at a press conference in Panaji.

He also played out an audio clip which purportedly contained the recording of a conversation between Garg and himself at the police headquarters in September 2015.

The Inspector General has denied the allegations. Garg said: "I flatly deny the allegations." He, however, did not deny meeting Halwai, and asserted that he had not done anything wrong.

In a statement issued here, Congress spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar also demanded the immediate suspension of Garg.
New York, Aug 12 : An Indian American official spearheading the Obama administration's campaign against police brutality and mistreatment of minorities has issued a scathing indictment of the city of Baltimore, accusing its police force of violating the Constitution and federal anti-discrimination laws.

The head of the federal Civil Rights Division, Vanita Gupta, who oversaw an inquiry into police brutality and excesses in the city, said on Tuesday that its African American community "bore the brunt".

Speaking at a news conference to release a Department of Justice report from the inquiry, she said her agency had entered into an agreement with Baltimore to reform the police.

Gupta, who is also the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, is the most prominent of several Indian Americans working in the civil liberties arena.

The federal inquiry was launched after riots broke out in Baltimore last year during protests against the death of an African American man, Freddie Gray, while in police custody.

All the six police officers charged in the case were either acquitted or had the charges withdrawn leading to outrage among African Americans and civil liberties activists.

The Baltimore incident came after the police shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, the previous year sparked massive riots and turned national attention to police killings of African Americans.

Several such incidents gave an impetus to the nationwide Black Live Matter movement against alleged police atrocities on African Americans.

While the US government routinely accuses other nations of human rights violations and brutality against minorities, the Baltimore report and Gupta's actions against several cities turn a rare government spotlight on what goes on within the US.

Baltimore police, she said, engaged in a pattern of making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests; using exccessive force; muzzling constitutionally-protected expressions, and using strategies that disproportionately targed African Americans.

Gupta said the inquiry found that 44 per cent of the people stopped by police in Baltimore were in two small African American neighbourhoods that had only 11 per cent of the city's population.

The report released by her said that complaints of misconduct were not properly investigated or followed up by officials and were often covered up. Besides improper use of violence, the report said police coerced sex from people.

Gupta has been working to reform police across the country amid growing protests against discrimination. Among the cities she has taken on are Chicago, Cleveland and Newark, New Jersey.

Her broad portfolio includes discrimination in voting, housing, banking, education and employment against religious, ethnic and racial minorities, immigrants, gays and transgender people.

In May, she filed a case against the state of North Carolina which passed a law requiring people to use the public bathrooms according to their sex. Gupta said the law discriminates against transgender people because they cannot use the bathrooms of the sex they identify with.

Gupta shot to fame when straight out of New York University Law School she exposed police corruption and discrimination in Tulia in Texas. In 2003 she won the release of 40 African Americans and six others falsely convicted on drug charges.

She was then working for the Legal Defence and Education Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured people.

Before joining the federal government, she was the Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Washington, Aug 14 : Angry protesters took to the streets in Milwaukee city in the US against the killing of an armed man by a police officer, authorities said.

A gas station and a vehicle were set on fire on Saturday night after some 100 protesters gathered near the scene of the shooting and confronted the police for about an hour, Xinhua news agency reported.

The shooting took place when two police officers pulled over a car with two suspects inside.

The suspects then began to run. In a foot chase, one police officer shot and killed the 23-year-old suspect, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The police officer was placed on administrative leave while an investigation into his conduct has been launched. The second suspect, also a 23-year-old man, was currently in custody.

The victim carried a stolen handgun and had "a lengthy arrest record", Milwaukee Police said at a news briefing.
Kabul, Aug 14 : At least 11 Taliban insurgents were killed in two air strikes in Afghanistan, sources said on Sunday.

"On Saturday, Afghan army and air force conducted an air strike against the militant's position in Pasaband district in Ghor province, killing five insurgents and destroying five motorcycles along with several rounds of weapons," Xinhua news agency quoted the Defence Ministry as saying in a statement.

In a similar operation, six Taliban fighters were killed in Alingar district of Laghman province, the ministry said.

The Afghan forces have beefed up security operations against the group since April following its annual spring offensive across the country.
Washington, Aug 14 : A clash erupted between police and demonstrators in Wisconsin state of the US after a police official shot dead an armed man, the media reported on Sunday.

A gas station and a vehicle were set on fire in Milwaukee city of the state when about 100 protesters gathered at a predominately African-American part of the city where two police officers on Saturday pulled over a car with two suspects inside, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to witnesses, gun fires were heard as police officers wearing riot gear tried to disperse the protesters. At least three persons were detained.

A police officer was hit in the head by a brick, the witnesses said.

On Saturday, the police officer shot dead one of the two 23-year-old suspects as they tried to escape. The name of the suspect or the officer remain undisclosed.

The police officer, who shot and who was not hurt, was placed on administrative leave while an investigation into his conduct was launched.

The second suspect was in custody, a police official said.

The man who was killed carried a stolen handgun and has "a lengthy arrest record", which he failed to specify, he said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, appealing for restraint and calm, acknowledged that the neighbourhood, where the shooting took place, had been affected by violence in the recent past.

"There are a lot of really, really good people who live in this area...and can't stand this violence," Barrett said.

The incident was preceded by several police-involved shootings across the US, in which the use of force by police has been questioned.

In July, two black men were shot dead by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, which sparked angry protests by African Americans across the nation against police brutality and racial discrimination.
A 71-year-old man in China's northeastern city of Harbin recently made out will in which he left all his savings, 80,000 yuan ($12,061), to his pet dog, Erfu. The man, named Wang Junwu, has been living alone ever since he lost his son and wife 11 years ago. Erfu has been his only companion during that time.

Recently, thinking about the end of his life, Wang tried to arranged for his savings to be donated to a local animal rescue center. His sole caveat was that the center take good care of Erfu for the rest of the dog's life. Liu Li, the person at the center who spoke to Wang, said they couldn't accept Wang's donation, but promised nevertheless to take care of Erfu after Wang's death.
New Delhi, Aug 15 : Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for referring to Balochistan in his Independence Day speech, saying it will give Pakistan a reason to interfere in India's internal matters.

"Balochistan is a different thing from PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). We have every right to speak about PoK because it is our matter. Balochistan is not," Khurshid told TimesNow.

The former external affairs minister said Balochistan was an internal matter of Pakistan. "When the question is about a sovereign nation, we should maintain a sense of restraint.

"Do we allow Americans to speak about atrocities in our country? Do we express concern over the atrocities in Africa and Europe?"
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The naked body of an eight-year-old girl was found in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, police said on Tuesday.

A telephone call about the body in the Rangpur Pahari forest was received at 7.10 a.m., a senior police officer told IANS.

It seems the girl was murdered some elsewhere and the dumped there, the officer added.

The body has not yet been identified.
Chennai, Aug 16 : Actor Aadi, who awaits the release of forthcoming Telugu entertainer "Chuttalabbayi", says his approach towards his career and selection of scripts is set to undergo a drastic transformation.

"Post 'Chuttalabbayi', my approach towards career will be very different. Audiences will see a different Aadi in the coming months and if the process requires transformation, I'm game for it. This is exactly why I haven't signed any new scripts," Aadi told IANS.

The "Garam" actor is pleased with the output of "Chuttalabbayi", which is slated for release in cinemas on Friday.

Calling it an out-and-out entertainer, he said: "The entire team is very positive about the film. Unlike my last two releases which focused more on appealing to the masses, this project has been made keeping in mind all sections of the audience."

"There's nothing heroic about my character. There are no punch dialogues," said Aadi, heaping praise on his director Veerabhadram.

"He's a hard worker and he's someone who doesn't compromise on his vision. He's known for making highly entertaining films and he has lived up to that image. He has made aChuttalabbayi' stand out with its presentation," he said.

In the film, which also stars Namitha Pramod and Sai Kumar, he plays a character called "Recovery Babji".

"I play a recovery agent. I accidentally get involved in a problem and how I find my way out of it forms the crux of the story. I laughed through the narration and that's when I realised this is going to be a great entertainer," he added.

Aadi's last two films earned lukewarm response at the box-office. Asked what according to him went wrong, he said he might have chosen wrong scripts.

"I did characters above my age and I think that didn't suit my on screen image. Also, I don't want to do heavy characters, as I feel audiences might not be able to relate," he said.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The Home Ministry on Tuesday held a high level security review meeting.

The meeting, chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was attended by top security officials including Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and the chiefs of RAW and IB.

The sources said that following the meeting, the NSA was likely to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the overall security scenario.
New Delhi : As Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised Pakistan -- without naming the country -- for supporting terror groups, 671 infiltration incidents and 738 terrorist attacks were reported in Jammu and Kashmir over the last three years, according to a government reply to parliament during its just-concluded monsoon session.

As many as 141 terrorists and 64 civilians were killed across the state between 2013 and July 10, 2016, the reply said.

A staggering 23,061 terrorists, 1,431 civilians and 6,220 security personnel have died in J&K over 28 years to August 7, 2016, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

About 34,000 AK-47 rifles, 5,000 grenade launchers, 90 light machine guns, 12,000 revolvers, three anti-tank guns, four anti-aircraft guns, 350 missile launchers and 63,000 kg of explosives, including RDX, and more than 100,000 grenades were seized by security forces from terrorists in J&K over the last 25 years, Modi said on August 12, 2016 at an all-party meeting on J&K.

"During this period, more than 5,000 foreign terrorists were killed, which is almost equal to the strength of five battalions (of the Indian Army)," said Modi.

Terrorism has cost Pakistan $118 billion over the last 15 years in direct and indirect costs, according to Pakistan's Economic Survey 2015-16.

"Pakistan forgets that it bombs its own citizens using fighter planes. The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Baluchistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," Modi said on August 12.

As many as 351 incidents of violence were reported against minorities in Pakistan between 2012 and 2015, according to the 2016 report State Of Religious Freedom In Pakistan by Jinnah Institute, a public policy advocacy in Pakistan.

"Sindh and Balochistan, in particular, witnessed persistent targeted killings and bomb attacks against members of the Shia community. In Balochistan, anti-Shia messaging in public spaces and in the press continued with impunity," the report said.

People in Balochistan had thanked him for standing by them, according to Modi.

In 2015, 247 civilians were killed in Balochistan, of which 114 were attributed to militant outfits and 143 were considered the work of the state apparatus and its surrogates, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Since 2004, till April 17, 2016, at least 922 civilian killings were reported by militant outfits. In addition, 463 people went missing and 157 bodies were found mutilated in Balochistan in 2015.

(16.08.2016. In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, with which Chaitanya Mallapur is an analyst. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be reached at respond@indiaspend.org)
Patna, Aug 16 : The Bihar assembly on Tuesday ratified the Goods and Services Tax Constitution Amendment Bill which found support from the ruling coalition of JD-U, RJD and Congress as well as the BJP-led opposition.

The CPI(ML), however, opposed the GST Bill -- its three members walked out of the assembly which convened for a special day-long session to consider the legislation, officials said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told the assembly that the GST Bill will benefit the state as well as the Centre.

"Bihar has been supporting GST Bill for the past decade. We are supporting it for simplification of tax system to help the people," he said.

According to experts, the government, led by Nitish Kumar, has taken special interest in passing the GST Bill because Bihar is likely to get an additional revenue of about Rs 8,000-9,000 crore depending on the rate to be fixed once the legislation becomes law.

The state government's revenues have declined after it imposed total liquor ban in Bihar in April.

Bihar has become the second state in the country after Assam to ratify the GST Bill.

The Bill has been passed by the two chambers of parliament and now needs to be passed by at least 15 of the 29 state assemblies to become law.
London, Aug 16 : A British Labour Party MP is set to lead a probe into how to protect European citizens living in the UK after the country leaves the European Union (EU).

Gisela Stuart, a "Vote Leave" campaigner for the June 23 EU referendum, said EU citizens residing in the UK have been "left in limbo" since the vote, EFE news reported.

"There is wide agreement, among the public, politicians and business, that EU citizens are welcome here and that the government should make clear they can stay," Stuard said.

In June's referendum, 51.9 per cent of the British public voted in favor of the UK leaving the EU, while 48 per cent voted to remain part of the 28-country regional bloc.

Stuart is to head an investigation for the centre-left research institute "British Future", which will look into the legal status of European citizens after the exit comes into effect.

The British government has signalled that it will protect the status of the EU citizens, provided that a reciprocal agreement for British people living in EU countries be negotiated.

Meanwhile, MPs from all parties have said that people are not "bargaining chips".

The government should clarify "soon" that EU citizens living in the UK -- some three million people -- will be allowed to stay following Brexit, Stuart said.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the opposition Congress was "divided" on issues concerning national security.

The BJP reaction came after Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raking up the Balochistan issue in his Independence Day address to the nation from the Red Fort here.

The Congress, however, distanced itself officially from Khurshid and backed the Prime Minister's stand on countering Pakistan by raising the Balochistan issue.

"The divisions in the Congress and among its leaders were even visible at Sharm el-Sheikh. They are divided over the issues concerning national security," BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh told the media here.

The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani met in July 2009 on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

The joint statement issued by the two nations after the meeting mentioned Balochistan, which was criticised by the BJP which was then in opposition at the Centre.

He also accused some of the Congress leaders of issuing statements which tend to support Pakistan.

"They say one thing during all-party meetings and another thing outside," he said.

"Pakistan has lost the golden opportunity given by India to walk along on the path of peace. We had extended our hand for friendship and peace," Singh said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to reach out to the neighbouring country.

In December 2015, Modi made an unscheduled landing in Lahore to meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

"Now India will pay in the same coin," Singh said.

Prime Minister Modi, during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on Monday, raked up the issue of Balochistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and announced his support to the causes of people of these regions.

Earlier, the BJP leader also criticised Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, asking him why he did not ask his son, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, to resign over poor governance.

"If Netaji (Mulayam Singh) is so concerned about the misgovernance, land grabbing and high-handed behaviour of SP cadres in Uttar Pradesh, why did he never ask his son to resign," Singh said.

He said, "Kya putrahit janhit ke upar hai (Has love for his son taken precedence over public interest)?"

He also said that people are waiting to see what action the Uttar Pradesh government will take against those Samajwadi Party leaders who illegally grab public land.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The father of the young man who sent obscene messages to Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee and a Congress leader, has apologised, saying that his son is undergoing psychiatric treatment, she said on Tuesday.

The Delhi Congress leader advised the father of Partha Mandal to surrender his son to the local police and let the court decide if he is actually "sick".

"Partha Mandal's father has written to me on FB (Facebook) claiming that his son is under psychiatric treatment and apologising for his behaviour," Sharmistha Mukherjee wrote on her facebook account on Tuesday.

"In this case, I advised the father to ask his son to surrender to local police. Let the court decide if he is actually 'sick' or as we say in Bengali, a 'sheyana pagol'," Sharmistha Mukherjee said.

The Congress leader had publicly named and shamed Partha Mandal on facebook for sending obscene messages to her on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

"One consequence of this episode of 'naming and shaming' and tagging the person has been, in this case, that his family and friends have become aware of his loathsome behaviour," the Congress leader added.

She had also filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police on Saturday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act as she found the messages of Partha Mandal "indecent and intimidatory".

The Delhi Congress chief spokesperson, who unsuccessfully contested the Delhi Assembly elections in 2015, also urged every woman facing this problem to follow the "naming and shaming" practice.
Kolkata, Aug 16 : With a Bangladesh intelligence team arriving in the city to question suspected IS operative Mohammad Masiuddin, the NIA on Tuesday secured his two-day custody.

The National Investigation Agency moved a city court to seek the custody of Masiuddin alias Musa, which was granted.

Musa was nabbed by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on July 4 from aboard a train in Burdwan on a charge of having links with foreign extremists, including the Islamic State (IS).

The probe was subsequently taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

As Musa's interrogation revealed his links with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, a militant outfit blamed for the terror attacks in Dhaka and Kishoreganj, the Bangladeshi authorities also wanted to question him.

The Bangladeshi team, including officers from the Rapid Action Battalion that is probing the twin terror attacks in Bangladesh, arrived here on late Monday.

"A Bangladesh intelligence team is in the city in connection with their probe into the terror attacks. The NIA and Bangladeshi agencies have been cooperating with each other for countering terrorism and circulation of fake currency. The visit of the Bangladeshi team is nothing unusual," said an NIA officer.

The Bangladeshi team last month visited the NIA headquarters in Delhi.
Beloxxi Industries Limited is the largest, most modern, automated and integrated cream crackers biscuit producer in Nigeria and Sub Saharan Africa.

The factory is located on over 15 acres green field land at the foremost industrial estate in Nigeria, the Agbara Industrial Estate, Ogun State, Nigeria which is adjacent the city of Lagos. This estate is home for several international multinational companies such as Nestle, Unilever, GSK, P&G etc.

Agbara Estate is very close to the Guangdong Free Trade Zone at Igbesa, Ogun State operated by Chinese multinational corporations.

The Belixxi factory

The flagship product, Beloxxi Cream Crackers, is widely distributed in Nigeria, other African countries and served aboard most out bound international airlines such as Lufthansa, KLM, British Airways, Emirates, Ethihad, Ethiopian, Kenyan, South African Airways.

What most consumers do not know is that Beloxxi cream crackers is fairly young with ten years of existence in the market and powered by the relentless drive for quality and excellence arising from the zest of the Founder, President/CEO, Obi Ezeude.

Very recently, Beloxxi Industries sold a minority equity stake for USD80m to a consortium of three International Private Equity firms. This Investment will enable the company to expand its operations in Nigeria and open up export markets in other African countries.

Workers at factory floor

However, the company wants more of this type of deals especially from Chinese investors and companies.

The drive for greater heights makes the company to seek more partnerships especially in China due to the importance and seriousness the CEO attaches to Chinese investors in Africa as he explained in this interview.

Between July 1 and August 1, Beloxxi Industries closed the USD80m minority equity sale deal to a consortium of three international firms led by KFW-DEG Bank of Germany, 8Miles of London and African Capital Alliance of Nigeria. This landmark transaction represents the largest transaction in the biscuit sector of the Nigerian economy since Nigerian independence in 1960.

The CEO said that this will enable the company to increase the capacity of output from about 40,000 to 100,000 metric tonnes of cream crackers per annum while the staff strength will grow from 2500 to 6000 workers at the end of the expansion period.

Belixxi production line

Ezeude also noted that the main reasons why he wants partnership with Chinese investors are: to benefit from the growing experiences of China in manufacturing and industries; his good knowledge of China's genuine intention to invest, develop and industrialize Africa to create employment and reduce poverty.

Ezeude confided that: China has good experience in our field of manufacturing and we want to benefit from that. We want to learn from China and do it better and that will be best done with them as direct partners. Through such partnership, we will have access to Chinas best wheat flour supply and with time conclude plans to grow such in Nigeria. With Chinese firms behind us, there would be the possibly of developing full industrial parks which I know they have great expertise in and in that way, access to better infrastructure would be made available to our industry segment in Nigeria. We have so many areas we can do business together including coal power, solar energy, infrastructure and many more.

I recall reading in the news early this month about the guided tour of the Suzhou Industrial Park in the Jiangsu Province of China that the government took African leaders on after their last Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) evaluation summit in Beijing.

The reports I read were clear that China took the African ministers and policymakers on that trip on July 30 to expose them to the success story of Chinas industrial development leveraging on industrial park models. And I want to assure them that Beloxxi Industries is ready to replicate those success strides within the envisaged partnership with Chinese companies.

For a start, we want to assure the Chinese investors of our openness because I know the volume of businesses they do with some major manufacturers in Nigeria. The investors with interest in us can always reach us on our website and good enough, the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria is very active in relating with the people of Nigeria and we are open to allow them pay us a visit and see our factory and be convinced that we are for real and ready to do business. Its our wish right now to also get contacts of ready firms in China that would invite us over for discussions because Chinese investors are tested and sincere serious business partners.

Ikenna Emewu, senior editor of The Sun Newspaper, Nigeria is Fellow of the China Public Diplomacy, Beijing and intern with Peoples Daily ([email protected])
Dhaka, Aug 16 : Activists of Pragatishil Chhatra Jote, an alliance of Left-leaning student organisations in Bangladesh, on Tuesday blocked Dhaka roads to protest against a $1.5 billion power plant near Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest which straddles both Bangladesh and India.

The agitating students blocked Dhaka's Shahbagh intersection, one of the major public transportation hubs in Dhaka, and staged demonstration for about one hour demanding cancellation of the Rampal Thermal Power Plant's construction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Naima Khaled Monika, Pragatishil Chhatra Jote leader, said they will stage demonstrations across the country on August 18.

She urged the government not to go ahead with the proposed 1,320 MGW plant, to be built in Bagerhat district, about 180 km from Dhaka.

Protestors also brought out a procession on the Dhaka University campus and broke through police barricades.

Several persons were injured during a scuffle with the law enforcers while breaking through the barricades.

According to the protestors, discharge from the plant like fly ash and sulphur dioxide will have disastrous consequences for the fauna and flora of the mangrove forest -- a Unesco World Heritage site.

Amid severe criticism from many power experts and green activists, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) and Indian National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in April 2013 signed three major agreements heading towards implementation of the plant.

Under the deals, the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a joint venture between the PDB and the NTPC with 50:50 share, will implement the project in which officials claim that super critical technology would be used to curb the much talked-about carbon emission.
Srinagar, Aug 16 : Security forces on Tuesday fired at stone pelting mobs at two places in the Kashmir Valley, leaving five civilians dead in a sudden escalation in violence, officials said.

In Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a security review meeting on Kashmir and told officials to restore peace in the valley with minimum casualties. It was the second day of heightened protests in the valley.

The latest deaths took the death toll to 65 in the weeks of Kashmir unrest triggered by the July 8 killing of rebel commander Burhan Wani.

A police officer told IANS here that four protesters were killed in Budgam district and one more in Anantnag.

The officer said hundreds of people, shouting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, threw stones at the security forces in Budgam's Aripanthan village, some 30 km from here, in central Kashmir.

The security forces fired as they tried to bring order on the streets. One person was killed on the spot and three succumbed to injuries at a hospital. More than a dozen persons sustained injuries.

Another civilian was killed when security forces fired at stone-throwing protesters in Naidpora village of Anantnag district, some 60 km south of here.

At least a dozen civilians were also injured in the violence, the latest in a series of clashes that have rocked the Kashmir Valley in over five weeks.

Protests continued till late into the evening in Naidpora village. The mob later set ablaze the house of a soldier posted with the counter-insurgency 19 Rashtriya Rifles.

Locals allege that he was one of the soldiers who fired at them.

As violence in Kashmir flared afresh, Rajnath Singh cautioned against rising casualties of both civilians as well security personnel in the state.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and chiefs of intelligence agencies and other civil and security officials attended the meeting, informed sources said.

The minister was briefed by officials on the situation in Kashmir and the infiltration bids from Pakistan.

The valley has seen an upsurge in violence after Wani, a 22-year-old commander of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, was shot dead by security forces in a south Kashmir village.

Much of the valley has been under curfew and a separatist-called shutdown that continued for the 39th day in a row on Tuesday.

While the separatists have called for the protest shutdown till August 18, authorities are likely to enforce curfew again on Wednesday.

Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have asked people to come out on the streets for a 72-hour sit-in.

They have asked the people to rally towards the UN office in Srinagar and "wherever forces stop you, stage a sit-in there for 72 hours".

The government has banned the assembly of four or more people and the protest march to the UN office is likely to be thwarted.

"There will be a complete curfew on Wednesday," an officer told IANS here.

Security forces on Monday killed seven militants in two shootouts in Kashmir. Five of them allegedly tried to cross the Line of Control - the de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Two more died after attacking paramilitary troopers in Srinagar.
Hyderabad, Aug 16 : Digital Guardian, a Massachusetts (US) headquartered next generation data protection platform built to stop data theft, on Tuesday announced the launch of its operations in India.

The engineering and development centre at Hyderabad is the company's first facility in India and seventh globally.

The company aims to hire 150 employees in Hyderabad over the next 18-24 months to sustain its growth rate and accelerate new innovation areas, said a company statement.

The Digital Guardian (DG) Data Protection Platform is the first Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution in the market that protects intellectual property and customers' critical data from threats originating from both inside and outside the organization.

According to the statement, the centre at Hyderabad will be an integral part of the company's global development centres and will focus on enhancing existing products. As an extension arm to the core engineering department, the India centre will focus on enterprise product development, along with software-security and systems-management innovation.

"There has been a surge of interest and spend trending towards Data Loss Prevention and Endpoint Detection & Response products and deployments in the Asia-Pacific-Japan region. Our presence in India will help Digital Guardian reach these geographies with ease and a much quicker response time," said Ken Levine, President and CEO at Digital Guardian.

"The presence of global companies and availability of highly educated talent, along with quality infrastructure are some of the factors for us in choosing Hyderabad as a key base market," he added.

Digital Guardian currently serves prominent corporations like DuPont and GEA in India. It currently has over 350 employees globally.

Digital Guardian saw a significant growth of 42 per cent in its total product orders in 2015 with a 198 per cent in new customer acquisition.

The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2015 cites that there were over 2,100 data breaches in which more than 700 million records were exposed in the 2014 alone.

According to 451 Research, a US headquartered IT research and advisory firm, the total DLP revenue for the leading vendors was $619m in the year 2014, an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year. The DLP industry is predicted to be growing at a CAGR of 22 percent through 2019 reaching total annual revenue of $1.7 billion.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : A court here on Tuesday ordered Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to vacate the government accommodation allotted to Omar in 1999 in the Lutyens Zone in Delhi.

The bungalow was allotted to Omar Abdullah, who is also the Nationalist Conference (NC) leader, in 1999 when he was elected to parliament from Jammu and Kashmir and became a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government at the Centre.

District Judge Amar Nath dismissed Payal's plea to quash the eviction notice issued on June 30 by the Estate Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government for vacating bungalow No.7 on the Akbar Road here.

In her plea, Payal pointed out that the eviction notice was not sent by the Ministry of Urban Development, which had originally allotted the accommodation to her husband.

She told the court that the notice issued by the state's Estate Officer was illegal as it was issued under a Jammu and Kashmir law that is not applicable in Delhi.

Payal said she and her children continued to live in the Akbar Road residence when Omar was neither the Chief Minister nor a Union minister from 2002 to 2008.

Omar continued as a Union minister till December 23, 2002, when he resigned. Later, he became the state Chief Minister in January 2009 and remained so till December 2014, when his party was voted out of power in the assembly elections.

Payal has also filed a plea in the Delhi High court seeking directions that she along with her sons be either allowed to stay at 7, Akbar Road, or be allotted another suitable government accommodation where the family's 94 security personnel can effectively protect them.

The matter is pending in the High Court.
New Delhi : Ahmedabad, Aug 16 (NEWS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday warned that the Gujarat government will be taught a lesson in the assembly elections next year unless it ends violence against Dalits.

Addressing the media here, Kejriwal said that an environment of "suppression" was very much visible in Gujarat as Dalits were coming under attack repeatedly.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader spoke a day after some Dalits returning from a rally at Una were attacked by some people. The Dalits alleged that police took no action against the aggressors.

"Police again did nothing to save them. This proves that the attackers are goons sent by the Bharatiya Janata Party government," Kejriwal said.

"I want to warn the Gujarat government that if they do not refrain from doing such things, people will teach them a lesson in the assembly polls next year that they will remember for a long time," Kejriwal said.

He said the BJP government first targeted the Patidar community and was now harassing the Dalit community.

"It seems every community in the state is frustrated with the government and is raising its voice. There is 'jungle raj' (lawlessness) in Gujarat."

Kejriwal, who turned 48 on Tuesday, earlier flew into Ahmedabad and then reached Sarangpur to pay tributes to the late Pramukh Swami, the spiritual guru and head of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Santha who breathed his last on August 13.

At Sarangpur, Kejriwal said: "He was a divine soul. He dedicated his entire life for the betterment of humanity and to promote Hindu culture. He kept on serving people his entire life."

The AAP is beginning to make inroads in Gujarat and is on a membership drive all across the state.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The Congress on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Independence Day address, saying he celebrated his government's "Independence from Truth" and that the government resorted to "falsehoods and misrepresentations" in showcasing its achievements.

"Modi in his longest Independence Day speech of 9,367 words, spoke about pulses, solar energy and terrorism but he didn't utter a word about black money, which he used nine times in his Independence Day speech last year... He spoke about reforms to transform but failed to mention how his government misinforms," senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh told media persons here.

"Keeping in line with India's Independence Day celebrations, Prime Minister Modi also celebrated his government's independence from truth," he added.

"A report by the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India has finally laid bare the falsehood and spin of the Modi government on the issue of LPG subsidy claims. This is but just one example of the Modi government's constant stream of falsehoods and misrepresentations," he added.

Ramesh said that everyone in the government from the Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister has publicly claimed that the government has saved enormous amounts in LPG subsidy from the introduction of Direct Benefits Transfer of LPG (DBTL), also called the "PAHAL" scheme.

"The CAG report submitted last week (August 12) has said that savings in LPG subsidy due to the government's PAHAL scheme was a mere Rs 1,764 crore, not the tens of thousands of crores that the Modi government has been claiming. In effect, the CAG report has said that the government just lied blatantly," he added.
New Delhi, Aug 16 : To protect birds and avoid fatal accidents, the Delhi government on Tuesday banned nylon, plastic and Chinese 'manjha' and any other sharp kite-flying thread.

"A lot of injury is caused to the people and birds on account of pucca thread made of plastic or similar such synthetic materials commonly known as Chinese threads," the government said in a notification.

The government said that kite flying shall be permissible only with a cotton thread or natural fibre free from any metallic of glass components, used to sharpen the threads for kite competition.

"The activity of the birds is at peak from 6 to 8 a.m. in the morning and from 5 to 7 p.m. in the evening and it is desirable to protect the innocent birds including the vultures which are getting extinct day by day from the fatal manjha," the order said.

The ban is on the the sale, production, storage, supply and use of nylon, plastic and Chinese manjha and any other kite-flying thread which is sharp or made sharp by being laced with glass, metal or other sharp objects.
Kolkata, Aug 16 : Three students of a government school here were injured on Tuesday when a window grille fell along with a chunk of concrete, an informed source said.

Two students of Heritage Hindu School, which is around 200 years old, sustained head injuries as the grille fell. Another student was injured by the concrete chunk that came off the wall.

All three students were rushed to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. The two students with head injuries required stitches.

"One of my friends had climbed the window grille. When another tried to do so, the grille gave way," said Sohom Mondal, one of the injured students.

Another injured student was identified as Aritra Dey.

The students and the guardian alleged that none of the teachers accompanied them to the hospital.

Expressing concern, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said he will speak to the principal of the school. "Accidents may happen. But there should be pre-emptive action," said Chatterjee.

The injured students alleged none of the grilles in the classroom was secured with nuts and bolts or screws.

Established on January 20, 1817, by educationalists like Maharaja Radhakanta Deb and David Hare to impart lessons in European and Oriental subjects, the Hindu School is now celebrating its bi-centenary.
Hyderabad, Aug 16 : The Joint Action Committee of students' groups at University of Hyderabad ON Tuesday condemned police 'raids' at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University on the eve of Independence Day celebrations.

The group of Social Justice, an umbrella grouping of various students' organisations, said it stands in solidarity with the students of Jamia "to resist and destroy the ground which gives legitimacy to the criminalization and oppression of minorities, and to safeguard the autonomy of academic spaces at all costs."

"Throughout its history, Jamia has been the target of communal profiling and repression, such as in the aftermath of the Batla House encounter in 2008, or the brutal attack on April 9, 2000, when students were assaulted by the Delhi police," the JAC said in a statement.

"This comes at a time when we are already witnessing the heavy militarisation and policing of all academic spaces across the country in an attempt to stifle any kind of dissent, and to stop any critical questions from being raised," it added.

The JAC noted that the way university administrations in JNU, HCU, Jadavpur and other universities gave a free hand to the police to exercise brutality on the students, points clearly to the fact that the administrations work "hand in glove with the police and the state to stifle and silence, rather than protect the rights of the university community and resist the attack on the universities' autonomy."
Nongkhlaw (Meghalaya) : Nongkhlaw (Meghalaya) Aug 16 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday that the central government is still discussing on the proposed mining of uranium ore in Meghalaya.

"There are some issues which are under discussions but we will try to move ahead in a best possible way," he told journalists here in the remote village about 70 km from Meghalaya's capital Shillong.

"These things (proposed mining of uranium) have to be deliberated and discussed. We cannot make instant decision on this," Singh said.

In fact, the ruling Congress-led Meghalaya government had 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.

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.

The anti-uranium groups at present also opposed the government's plan to build two-lane projects which will connect the uranium site.

Meghalaya is the third uranium-rich state in the country after Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

The state accounts for 16 per cent 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.
A Japanese right-winger captured in photo at Yasukuni Shrine on the 71st anniversary of Japans surrender in World War II on August 15, 2016. Yasukuni enshrines war criminals, and as such visits by Japanese politicians tend to provoke anger from neighbors China and Korea that suffered from Japans militarist past.

August 15 marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender during World War II. However, on this special day when Japan should spend time reflecting on its history of militaristic aggression, its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from WWII, is regarded as a symbol of past Japanese militarism.

The honoring of war criminals, no matter what form it takes, only serves to further hurt those Asian neighbors that Japan once invaded. Such perverse acts to whitewash its crimes of military aggression runs contrary to the pursuit of peace in Asia and the world at large.

It's common knowledge that the Yasukuni Shrine is a source of spiritual inspiration for Japan to start another war of aggression. Yet, the country's new Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has tried to associate such a notorious place with the mourning of soldiers belonging to Japans Self-Defense Forces.

She claimed at a recent seminar that the Yasukuni Shirine is not the place to vow not to fight. It needs to become a place where we vow to desperately fight when our Motherland is at risk. Her words shocked even the Kyodo News.

The 71-year-peace after WWII was hard-won. Born from the victory over fascism, this peace has been the foundation for post-war international order. This conclusion is not something that can be ignored, denied or overturned by any country.

World peace and the post-war order, which came at the cost of the blood and lives of the peoples of Allied countries, is closely tied to justice.

Last year, the world commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the World Anti-Fascist War, but some countries, looking out for their own interests, have turned a blind eye to the wrongdoings of Japan and have even urged Japan to abandon its pacifist constitution. The world today is witnessing the negative impact brought about by this short-sighted strategy.

By erasing its invasion history, Japan is on one hand attempting to lock away memories of the war and on the other hand setting the stage for future action. In the House of Councillors election in July, lawmakers pushing for Constitution amendments won more than two-thirds of seats. This has led to forward-thinking people in Japan to also begin worrying about the return of war.

In order to strengthen military power and shake off the post-war order, the Abe administration usually uses the so-called China threat as an excuse to deceive the Japanese public and other parts of the world.

After Japan adopted its new security laws that lifted a decades-old ban on collective self-defense, the Abe administration has been making every effort to contain China by instigating disputes between China and other countries.

On the day when the so-called arbitral decision on the South China Sea dispute was announced in July, Japan, a non-party in the issue, immediately pressured China to accept the arbitration. At the following 11th Asia-Europe Summit and foreign ministers' meetings on East-Asia cooperation held in last month, Japan reiterated its stance again and again.

In the countrys annual defense white paper issued in early August, Japan pointed fingers at China over the South China Sea issue once again. The paper also made irresponsible remarks concerning Chinas armament, military expense and transparency. These actions by the Abe administration has triggered alarm and concern throughout the international community.

Japan's tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday once again reminds us that world peace is not that should be taken for granted, it demands continual justice and also the capability to defend it.
File photo: Chinese PLA Navy staged drills in the waters of South China Sea on July 8, 2016.

Japans efforts to muddle the waters of the South China Sea are perverse acts that turn back the wheel of history, a Chinese expert wrote on Monday in an article that marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II and called on the public to ponder Japans real intentions.

In the Peoples Daily article, Hu Dekun, the president of China Association for History of WWII, pointed out that the war of aggression initiated by Japanese fascists during the 1930s and 1940s had brought tremendous disaster to people both in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

As an assailant country, Japan should be held accountable for its war crimes. However, in order to cement its global hegemony, the US, who then exclusively occupied Japanese territory, allied with the latter in the hopes of dominating the Asia-Pacific order.

But instead of repenting for its war crimes and improving ties with the victimized countries, Japanese right-wing politicians started bullying other countries under the support of the US, read the article, titled Perverse Acts of Japanese Government.

Things got worse after the US adopted its Asia-Pacific Rebalance policy, Hu writes, citing the South China Sea issue as an example.

Hu noted that in a bid to contain China, Japan repeatedly instigated disputes between China and other countries around the South China Sea. Japan, a country not involved in the South China Sea issue, joined the US as another agitator in meddling the waters.

According to Hu, Japan is attempting to get rid of the post-war order by amending its constitution.

After Japan officially adopted the new security laws that lifted the decades-old ban on collective self-defense, the country is now planning a constitution amendment. But the biggest roadblock ahead is public support. The Abe administration is seeking that support by playing up the China threat.

Whats more, Tokyo hopes divert publics attention from other domestic issues. The Abe administration has lost credibility after "Abenomics" failed to revive the Japans sluggish economy. By fanning the flames of the South China Sea issue, the administration hopes to route domestic conflicts and consolidate its power.

By poking its nose in the South China Sea, Japan wishes to buddy up to the US. Though the US tried to manipulate some counties to challenge China, its Asia-Pacific Rebalance policy suffered serious setbacks by China's diplomacy, friendships and policy of win-win cooperation, especially as the Belt and Road initiative aims to benefit most of its neighboring countries. Japan wants to take this chance to curb China so that it could pander to its alliance with the US.

Whats Japan's real intention for interfering in the South China Sea issue? Is Japan going to repeat its mistakes? asked Hu.
We look forward to having the Peaches join our team to bring 1000 Degrees pizza to Orlando for the first time, said CEO and Founder Brian Petruzzi.

(August 16, 2016) (PRWEB) August 16, 2016 -- 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, a fast-casual restaurant serving authentic, hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza with an American spin, has signed a franchise agreement to bring two units to the Orlando area, the first of which is expected to open this fall. This is part of the brands rapid expansion throughout Florida, as 1000 Degrees will open restaurants in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Miami by the end of the year.

Franchise partners and husband and wife duo Caroline and Matt Peach of Peachy Pizza, LLC plan to open the two new Orlando 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza locations within the next six months. Both entrepreneurs and previous owners of several franchises, once Matt and Caroline had their first fast-casual pizza experience, they saw the business opportunity and wanted to capitalize for their next business venture.

We ultimately decided on a partnership with 1000 Degrees because there is no nearby competition to the quality of the brands ingredients or level of customer service, said Caroline. Were excited to introduce this upbeat and authentic brand to Orlando.

1000 Degrees currently has more than 16 domestic restaurants open and one location in Malaysia. The international franchise is growing at a rapid paced is projected to open 170 units by the end of 2017.

This two-unit agreement is a prime example of the increased demand for customizable, high quality pizza across the United States, said CEO and Founder Brian Petruzzi. We look forward to having the Peaches join our team to bring 1000 Degrees pizza to Orlando for the first time.

1000 Degrees serves personalized, made-to-order authentic Neapolitan pizza. Unlike traditional Neapolitan pizza which has a slightly undercooked center and requires a fork and knife to eat, 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza has fused this classic style with American flare. The result is a thin crust pizza that maintains the light and airy appeal of a Neapolitan style pizza.

To learn more about 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, please visit http://www.1000DegreesPizza.com.

About 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza

1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brings guests the finest hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza. Founded in 2014, the international franchise has experienced unparalleled growth and is on target to have more than 80 units open by the end of this year, and projects more than 170 units by 2017. For more information on the 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brand, or for franchise or investor relations, please visit the company website at http://www.1000DegreesPizza.com.

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Michael Kolodziej - Winner of $1000 Annual Scholarship

The Law Offices of Michael Cordova is pleased to announce Michael Kolodziej, a graduate from Desert Vista High School, as the winner of the Law Offices of Michael Cordova Annual Scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year. Michael was selected for a multitude of reasons, some of which include his outstanding academic record, extra-curricular activities that demonstrate his leadership qualities, and his extensive benevolent community outreach endeavors, as well as his focused determination to succeed and assist those around him. It is an honor and privilege for us to support Michael Kolodziej accomplish his venerable goal of attending the Arizona State University this fall with the hopes of becoming a mechanical engineer and, ultimately, an attorney.

To qualify for the $1,000 scholarship, applicants had to meet the following requirements: plan to attend an Arizona community college or an accredited four-year university during the 2016-2017 academic year with a minimum of 12 credit hours completed for each semester; earn a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale; and submit a 250-word essay explaining why it is important to pursue a higher education. The deadline for submission of all supporting documents was May 1, 2016, and the winner of the award was chosen on June 15, 2016. Additional information regarding the scholarship can be found on http://www.mcordova.com.

About the Law Offices of Michael Cordova:

The Law Offices of Michael Cordova was founded in 1994 by Michael Fairbairn Cordova, a graduate of Harvard Law School. The law firm is one of the leading Plaintiffs law firms in the State of Arizona. This level of quality is demonstrated through the outcomes we work hard to attain for our clients and through the service we strive to provide. We have decades of experience and have represented thousands of clients over the years. We represent clients in the Phoenix metropolitan area and throughout the state of Arizona and are ready to assist them through their difficult time. Our experienced attorneys handle various types of cases. These cases include, but are not limited to: personal injury, dog bites, wrongful death, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and product and premises liability.
Metalcrafts, a Tecta America Company LLC, of Savannah, Georgia, has received the most prestigious contractor award GAF has to offer: The GAF Presidents Club Award. This highly coveted award recognizes Metalcrafts as one of the elite of the elite among commercial roofing contractors in the United States.

GAF is North Americas largest roofing manufacturer, and only GAF Master Select(TM) Contractors can compete for its commercial Presidents Club Award. To qualify for this award, a commercial roofing contractor must demonstrate an exceptional level of excellence in their business, especially in the areas of Installation Excellence, Property Owner Protection, and Installer Training.

Metalcrafts has been a GAF Master Select(TM) Contractor since 2003. To become a Master Select(TM) Contractora status that less than 1% of roofing contractors nationwide have achieveda candidate must demonstrate proper licensing and adequate insurance, have a proven reputation, and show commitment to ongoing professional training.

Since its inception, Metalcrafts has built a reputation on quality. In 1992, the company decided to concentrate solely on the roofing segment of its business; by specializing, Metalcrafts was able to become a full-service roof contractor servicing every type of roofing system. The company is authorized to install products from GAF and numerous other major materials manufacturers.

Serving residential, commercial, and government customers, Metalcrafts installs and services roofing systems on single-family homes, condominiums, industrial plants, commercial buildings, churches, schools, facilities for local, state, and federal governments, and buildings on military bases. The company also works with and performs maintenance for paper mills, property managers, historic landmarks and properties, retail centers, hospitals, and manufacturing facilities.

In the steep-slope segment of the industry, the company installs: asphalt, metal, and synthetic slate shingles; architectural and industrial metal roofing systems; metal roofing retrofit roofing systems; clay, tile, and slate; copper and stainless steel; and standing- and flat-seam systems. For low-slope applications, Metalcrafts installs built-up, single-ply thermoplastic, EPDM, and modified bitumen roofing systems, as well as elastomeric coatings. Metalcrafts also specializes in ornamental metal details and is one of the few companies in its market that works with zinc.

Metalcrafts has received several professional certifications from GAF. The Asphaltic Certification indicates that the contractor specializes in installing asphaltic roofing systems, and the Single-Ply Certification indicates a specialization in installing single-ply roofing systems. With the Topcoat Certification, Metalcrafts is recognized for specializing in the installation of GAFs TOPCOAT(R) productsliquid-applied roofing restoration systems formulated to stand up to the harshest of roof conditions and provide energy savings at a fraction of the cost of a new roof. The company is a member of the National Roofing Contractors Association, the Georgia Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association, and the Savannah Chamber of Commerce

The companys strong working relationships with more than 30 major manufacturers allow it to offer solutions that best meet customers roofing needs and budgets. With the personnel, education, experience, commitment, and desire to help customers solve their roofing problems, Metalcrafts has built a reputation of service, integrity, and quality in the industry.

About Metalcrafts, a Tecta America Company LLC

Founded in 1968, Metalcrafts works on all types of roofing projects, including maintenance and repairs, built-up roofs, modified bitumen, metal roofs, asphalt shingles, clay tile, slate, elastomeric coatings, and various sheet-metal projects in middle and southern Georgia and southern South Carolina. The company is committed to providing a safe working environment for its employees and has been a drug-free workplace since 1969. Employees undergo constant training in safety and work ethics, with an emphasis on quality. In April 2015, Metalcrafts joined Tecta America, the nations premier commercial roofing contractor, to become a stronger roofing operation serving its customers and clients. Under the same leadership, the company, renamed Metalcrafts, a Tecta America Company LLC, continues to put clients needs first and to be the best professional roofing company in the area.

Visit:

http://www.tectaamerica.com/metalcrafts-inc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TectaAmerica/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Metalcrafts-Inc/169690033047127

About GAF

Founded in 1886, GAF is the largest roofing manufacturer in North America. The companys products include a comprehensive portfolio of steep-slope and commercial roofing systems, which are supported by an extensive national network of factory-certified contractors. Its success is driven by its commitment to Advanced Quality, Industry Expertise, and Solutions Made Simple. GAF was the first roofing manufacturer to offer a Lifetime limited warranty on all of its laminated shingles, which then evolved with the introduction of the GAF Lifetime Roofing System by extending the Lifetime coverage beyond just the roofing shingles.

For more about GAF, visit http://www.gaf.com

Media Contact

Company Name: Metalcrafts, a Tecta America Company

Contact Person: Ben Baxter

Email: bbaxter@tectaamerica.com

Phone: (912) 236-0615

Address:4522 Ogeechee Road

City: Savannah

State: GA

Country: United States

Website: http://www.tectaamerica.com/metalcrafts-inc
Owensboro Convention Center, Owensboro, Ky., received the 2016 Metal Architecture Design Award in the Smooth Metal Wall Panels category for its striking, smooth aesthetics. Brad McWhirter, AIA, design director at New Orleans-based Trahan Architects, says his firm drew inspiration for the design from tobacco barns, a common building type found in the outskirts of Owensboro and throughout the state. "It was something that was rooted in place in Kentucky," he says. "We were trying to find a building typology and something to draw from that was a vernacular architecture of the area. Obviously the scale is much different, but we were very interested in the unique shapes that every barn is."

IMPRESSING LOCATION

The convention center was designed to associate with some of the tobacco barns' materiality aspects, McWhirter says. "We couldn't use wood as the exterior, but [the design picks] up on some of that color palette that you see where the black woods [are] on the exterior of the barns, and the interiors, which weren't as weathered and have lighter wood," he says.

McWhirter says vertically brushed finishes on anodized aluminum panels on the exterior refer to woodgrain on the tobacco barns. "It was a move we chose from a finish standpoint to keep the exterior tight, taught and smooth," he says. "We tried to create this smooth, vertical finish that would allow the building to feel like these vertical panels are very similar to the vertical woodgraining of the barns. When the sun hits them, there's this vertical reflection, very similar to some of those woodgrains that you see on the tobacco barns."

Fulton, Miss.-based F.L. Crane and Sons Inc. installed approximately 50,000 square feet of Peachtree City, Ga.-based MetalTech-USA's 0.05- inch Alloy 5205 H34 aluminum vertical, interlocking Reveal Panel rainscreen system with BlackMatt Long Line Brushed finish and Architectural Class 1 Anodic Film on the exterior walls. Additionally, it installed approximately 49,000 square feet of MetalTech- USA's 0.05-inch Alloy 5205 H34 aluminum vertical, interlocking Reveal Panels with ClearMatt Long Line Brushed finish and Architectural Class 1 Anodic Film for soffits at the facade and exterior balconies. The most frequently used size for both panel types was 15 inches wide by 15 feet long. MetalTech-USA fabricated all of its panels for the project with Muskegon, Mich.-based Lorin Industries' anodized aluminum coil.

STACKED SPACES

McWhirter says Owensboro Convention Center's footprint is smaller than other similar facilities. "There's a lot of value to riverfront property, so we found it important to minimize that footprint but keep the program the size that they needed," he says.

Convention centers often have deep, steel trusses for long-span, column-free areas, Mc- Whirter says. "From an overall massing standpoint, what we did, which was unique here, was actually a stacked program within those steel trusses. So the ballrooms and meeting rooms and kitchens all got stacked within those."

Owensboro Convention Center has three floors. The ground floor contains a main lobby, restrooms and spaces used to serve exhibit halls. The second floor is a mezzanine level with administrative spaces. The third floor contains large ballrooms, meeting rooms and a kitchen, which are stacked within the steel truss structure above exhibit halls. The ballrooms and meeting rooms overlook the Ohio River to the north.

Janesville, Wis.-based Hufcor Inc.'s painted steel movable partitions are used to split up the ballrooms, meeting rooms and exhibition halls into multiple sizes. The exhibit halls are divisible into three smaller halls and ballrooms are divisible into five smaller meeting rooms. McWhirter says the partitions are a common application in convention centers. "The difference is we're trying to create as much multipurpose availability in terms of sizes as possible," he says. "There's a combination of events that can occur where there's an exhibit downstairs, there's a ballroom function on one side, and then there's a breakout of five meeting rooms on the other side of the building."

RIVER CONNECTION

One challenge was to fit the tall convention center among shorter, smaller scale buildings, McWhirter says. Owensboro Convention Center is shorter on the side that faces downtown Owensboro than it is on the side overlooking the river. McWhirter says his firm was also aware that riverfront convention centers have the potential to disconnect the river from the rest of the city. "It was important to us to try to keep a connection," he says. "That's why the building slopes down and is shorter on the city side than it is on the river side, where we're trying to get up vertical, have those ballrooms overlooking the river, and having a much bigger riverscape looking over that view."

McWhirter says a connection between the city and river is made with views through a towering curtainwall. "We weren't looking at the glass as a true threshold," he says. "Obviously you need that threshold for hermetic enclosure reasons, but it was really about trying to bring the form of the exterior straight through the interior, to lead you between city and river."

F.L. Crane and Sons installed Menomonee Falls, Wis.- based Novum Structures LLC's 50-foot-tall curtainwall with painted steel vertical mullions. "There's no horizontal mullions, which is quite unique," McWhirter says. "It allows it to look as transparent as possible without having a bunch of horizontal mullions blocking the views of the interior and exterior."

Occupants experience a visual connection with the city and the river at the top of the building, McWhirter says. "Up on that third level, where you go from lobby to meeting and ballrooms, the glass on both sides lets you see both downtown and the river all the way through the building at the same time," he says. "There's a visual connection to orient you constantly when you're at exhibits or meeting spaces."

FOLDING FORM

McWhirter says his firm specified Poway, Calif.-based Hunter Douglas Architectural's acoustical, painted aluminum ceiling system to mimic MetalTech-USA's silver metal soffit panels and fold into a smooth transition between exterior and interior. The metal ceiling system extends through the lobbies, ballrooms and meeting rooms.

"It's this sort of materiality of blending interior and exterior together," McWhirter says. "We wanted to maintain the form, the shaping of the building all the way through the space, to go straight through from city to interior to river. The direction of the paneling, the directionality of it, the motion of it, it all feels like it pulls you through the building up to the ballrooms and overlooking the river."

http://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/magazine-features/smooth-metal-connects-convention-center,-river.aspx

Owensboro Convention Center, Owensboro, Ky.

Completed: 2014

Total square footage: 100,000 square feet

Owner: City of Owensboro's Owensboro-Daviess County Industrial Development Authority

Architect: Trahan Architects, New Orleans, trahanarchitects.com

General contractor: Denark Construction Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., http://www.denark.com

Installer: F.L. Crane and Sons Inc., Fulton, Miss., http://www.flcrane.com

Anodizer: Lorin Industries, Muskegon, Mich., http://www.lorin.com

Curtainwall: Novum Structures LLC, Menomonee Falls, Wis., http://www.novumstructures.com

Metal ceiling system: Hunter Douglas Architectural, Poway, Calif., http://www.hunterdouglasarchitectural.com

Metal wall/soffit panels: MetalTech-USA, Peachtree City, Ga., http://www.metaltech-usa.com

Steel partitions: Hufcor Inc., Janesville, Wis., http://www.hufcor.com
I look forward to this collaborative partnership and the complementary resources to our current computer science programs that will be provided to students so that they can be successful upon graduation.

To empower students in school districts across South Carolina with digital literacy skills, Learning.com announced the Palmetto Digital Literacy Program (PDLP), in partnership with the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee and Department of Education. The initiative will help prepare students for college and career success by offering access to a comprehensive digital literacy skills curriculum and provide teachers and students with assessments that can identify technology challenges.

The importance of a strong skillset in digital literacy and safety in our modern global society has never been higher, said South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. I look forward to this collaborative partnership and the complementary resources to our current computer science programs that will be provided to students so that they can be successful upon graduation.

The program, which will launch just in time for the 2016-2017 school year, is funded by the South Carolina Legislature through a digital literacy appropriation. The PDLP will apply best practices related to digital literacy skills for K-12 students, with a particular focus on assisting educators in integrating technology and digital resources into the classroom, while also increasing the digital literacy skills of each student. The program is also designed to support current state initiatives to increase the effectiveness of the use of technology and digital resources at the district and school level.

Developing digital literacy skills in our students is critical in the workplace of today and tomorrow. To achieve this, we must ensure that all students have equitable access to a high quality, digital literacy curriculum as it directly impacts our future economy, said Keith Oelrich, CEO, Learning.com. We are incredibly proud of this partnership and look forward to equipping students with the tools they need to build a foundation for future success.

As part of the initiative, Learning.com will supply access to EasyTech and Inquiry, two of its most popular digital literacy solutions. EasyTech equips students with such vital skills as keyboarding, word processing, digital citizenship, online safety, computational thinking and coding in addition to media and information literacy skills. Projects in Inquiry guide students through mastery in productivity tools, internet research, multimedia presentations and online communication.

Schools and districts can access these tools by utilizing their membership of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA).

For more information, visit http://www.learning.com/palmetto

About Learning.com

Founded in 1999, Learning.com currently partners with one in six school districts and serves five million students across the country. Learning.com provides K-12 solutions to help students, teachers, and schools excel in a digital world. Districts equip their students with the technology and 21st century skills needed for success in online assessments, college, and the workforce using Learning.coms digital literacy solutions. Learning.coms digital content tools help districts build and share custom digital curriculum, helping them meet their instructional goals, facilitate personalized learning, and address budget challenges. Through implementation services and professional development, Learning.com serves educators as they integrate technology and digital content into instruction.
The addition of these highly-skilled dermatologists and Mohs specialists represent another successful partnership for Dermatology Associates.

Dermatology Associates is pleased to announce that it recently completed the acquisitions of Highland Dermatology, Southwest Cosmetic Dermatology Associates, Skin and Laser Surgery Associates, Medical Arts Dermatology, and Powell Dermatology. The transactions closed in August 2016.

Drs. Breck Thrash and Amanda Wolthoff were the founding dermatologists of Highland Dermatology in Dallas, TX. Dr. Thrash earned his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a double residency in Dermatology and Internal Medicine from Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Thrash has practiced dermatology since 2013 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Dr. Wolthoff earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and her dermatology residency from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, TX, serving as chief resident in her final year. Dr. Wolthoff is a Texas native and has practiced dermatology in the Dallas area since 2013.

Dr. James McCarty has practiced dermatology in Texas since 1979, and is the founding dermatologist of Southwest Cosmetic Dermatology Associates in Fort Worth, TX. Dr. McCarty received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, and completed his residency in dermatology from Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and is certified by the American Board of Dermatology. Joining Dr. McCarty is his Physician Assistant, Tara Beeler Hall.

Dr. Aaron K. Joseph established Skin and Laser Surgery Associates in the Houston suburb of Pasadena in 1998. His practice focuses on Mohs Micrographic Surgery for the treatment of skin cancer. Dr. Joseph is an honor graduate of Baylor College of Medicine. His post graduate training includes a three-year residency in dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a one-year Mohs fellowship with Dr. Glenn D. Goldstein at the Baptist Medical Center in Kansas City, MO. Joining Dr. Joseph are his Physician Assistants, Tricia Ridley and Annie Nguyen.

Dr. John Biltz has been serving his hometown of Corsicana, TX for over 15 years. Medical Arts Dermatology currently has locations in Corsicana and Waxahachie. Dr. Biltz received his medical degree from University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and received his residency in dermatology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, IA; and is certified by the American Board of Dermatology. Joining Dr. Biltz are his Physician Assistants, Joleen Volz and Katie Heimer.

Powell Dermatology is located in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land, TX. Dr. David Powell is a graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Powell served an Internship in Internal Medicine at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA, and completed a dermatology residency at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Powell is a former Senior Flight Surgeon in the US Navy. Joining Dr. Powell are his Physician Assistants, Jill McGraw and Jennifer Henderson.

Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Dermatology Associates provides comprehensive practice management services to board-certified dermatologists across Texas, Kansas and Missouri. Dermatology Associates is focused solely on providing outstanding care to its patients, leveraging the benefits of a broad, group platform and allowing physicians to focus exclusively on caring for patients while the business aspects of practice management are handled by its team of experts.

The addition of these highly-skilled dermatologists and Mohs specialists represent another successful partnership for Dermatology Associates, and further strengthens its leadership position in the Texas region.

If you would like more information about Dermatology Associates, or if you have any questions regarding any of these practices, please contact one of the team members listed below:

Dermatology Associates

Geoff Wayne

Chief Executive Officer

Geoff(at)dermatologyassociates.com

(214) 420-0621

Scott Wells

Chief Development Officer

SWells(at)dermatologyassociates.com

(214) 420-0652

Brent Ohlsen

Director of Corporate Development

BOhlsen(at)dermatologyassociates.com

(214) 420-7579
Global Trade Electronic has inventory for iPhone 6s LCD replacement Customer service is just a day in, day out ongoing, never ending, unremitting, persevering, compassionate, type of activity. ~ Leon Gorman

Global Trade Electronic Inc. (short as GTE) has been invited to attend the CTIA Super Mobility 2016 event, which will be held September 7th, 8th, 9th in Las Vegas. The largest and most influential forum for mobile innovation in the Western Hemisphere, this is an unprecedented opportunity for GTE to gain exposure to the full range of vertical markets related to the connected life. Also, GTEs representatives will share their critical knowledge which helps others succeed in the mobile marketplace.

The top 1 product they will introduce during the show is the iPhone 6s LCD replacement. There is a short time remaining before the arrival of the much anticipated iPhone 7. Obviously, the iPhone 6s's screen is the most popular and sophisticated product nowadays. The following reasons explain why Global Trade Electronic should be the destination for buying screen replacement.

Inventory

Regular inventories are beneficial for the progress of a company because inventories establish equilibrium between the stock and the quantity demanded. Global Trade Electronic is a large iPhone LCD wholesale supplier which never runs out of supply because it has a well-organized, regular inventory system. Nobody likes to wait for their products. Global Trade Electronic understands the sentiment of the customers. This is why they are working so hard to provide customer the satisfactory purchasing experience.

Best customer service

Global Trade Electronics customer service is architecturally designed for customers comfort. Their in-built live-chat construction offers unlimited support and care almost anytime and every time. They are not only a retail company, also are a manufacturer. Global Trade Electronic does not discriminate between individuals and large corporations. No matter if people are looking for wholesale iPhone 6s LCD or just for personal use, anyone can feel free to buy their screens with the same guarantee and confidence that they give to wholesale purchasers. A customers satisfaction is of supreme importance, so they always research the customer feedback to provide them better service.

Strong responsibility of their work

The online customer service and transactions remain open 24 hours even on holidays. They deal with thousands of customers per week in a very professional way and always keen to listen to their problems. Global Trade Electronics LCD screens are the highest quality LCD replacement screens on the market right now since they take test of their LCD screens 3 times before shipping to ensure the quality of their product. Their LCDs go through a rigorous quality control process with testing conducted at key intervals within the production process.

For more information, please visit https://gtescreen.com/ and https://gtelcd.com/
Florida allows associations to elect directors and pass amendments electronically. Vote HOA Now is an online voting system for Homeowner Associations (HOA) and Condominium Owner Associations (COA) that has been providing e-voting services to states such as Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Oregon, and Arizona since 2007. CAN has partnered with Vote HOA Now so our CAN Network can take advantage of this exciting technology.

Voting electronically is a great way to increase member participation, said Alan Garfinkel, CAN Chairman. This type of voting is convenient for members to vote on association matters without having to be present.

Electronic voting maximizes homeowner participation in the following ways:

Easy and efficient  takes less than a minute to vote.

Convenient  people can vote online when it suits them- there's no ballot to mail or meeting to attend.

Higher response rates  email reminders and online convenience boost participation for busy home owners.

Voting online saves money:

No supply costs  no paper ballots, no postage and no printing.

No equipment  100% hosted and electronic.

Automated  no time or resources needed for manual hand counts.

Cost-effective  conduct multiple elections annually without added expense.

Electronic voting is private and secure:

Private  homeowner privacy enhanced when voting online.

Secure  no unsecured paper ballots.

Authentication  each voter's Internet address and when they vote is recorded.

Vote HOA Now is an online voting solution that takes the time, cost and hassle out of conducting home owners association elections. Developed working with various HOA and COA boards and management companies, Vote HOA Now was designed from the ground up to address the unique voting requirements of home owners associations. It's simple, affordable and secure online election management, electronic balloting, online voting and tabulation tools free HOA's from the time-consuming and expensive task of managing HOA elections, enabling them to concentrate on important day-to-day operations and critical projects.

To learn more on how your COA or HOA elections can be more painless electronically, visit us at http://www.votehoanow.com. Be sure and mention youre a CAN member for a 10% discount.

###

About the Community Advocacy Network:

The Community Advocacy Network (CAN) is Floridas leading voice for the interests of 60,000 community associations. CAN helps to lead the fight against over-regulation of private residential communities by state and local governments. Each year since its inception in 2007, CAN spearheads important State legislative reforms designed to protect and enhance Florida Community association living. CAN continues to foster financial stability and operational integrity to all common-interest ownership communities statewide. CAN was established by the Community Association Law Firm Katzman Garfinkel. For additional information please contact info(at)CANFL(dot)COM. Please note, CAN is a non partisan organization and does not endorse a particular party or candidate.

About Katzman Garfinkel:

Katzman Garfinkel is a statewide Florida Law Firm devoted to all aspects of community association representation. Named Top Choice Community Association Law Firm by the readers of the Florida Community Association Journal, Katzman Garfinkel has offices strategically located throughout the State of Florida to serve your communitys individual needs and goals. Our Firm offers residents living in every type of community association comprehensive services, including general corporate representation, litigation, covenant enforcement and delinquent account collection. In addition, we offer property insurance claim recovery and construction defect representation on a full contingency basis. Katzman Garfinkel is the 1st and only Law Firm in Florida to offer community associations the option to pursue their delinquent account collections without any costs or fees charged to the association. For more information, please visit: http://www.LikeYourLawyer.com or contact us today toll free @ 800-393-1529.
Skippy's Favourite Honey by Anthony Rebuck After a long career writing highly technical papers on lung disease and physiology, it was time to write something my grandchildren would appreciate.

Imagine having a dream and having the determination to accomplish the dream no matter the challenges. Skippy the kangaroo does just that in Anthony Rebucks new childrens book, Skippys Favourite Honey.

Determined to taste the worlds best honey, Skippy saves up money to travel from Australia to Guatemala and England. After traveling around the globe encountering many surprises and disappointments, Skippy accomplishes her dream.

Skippy shows qualities children can learn from, including saving money, dreaming big, pursuing those dreams and helping friends in need. In the end, Skippy finds patience, persistence and kindness pays off.

This story was inspired by the desire to share an interesting childrens story with his eight grandchildren.

I am a medical researcher and doctor, Rebuck said. After a long career writing highly technical papers on lung disease and physiology, it was time to write something my grandchildren would appreciate.

For more information, visit http://www.drrebuck.com.

Skippys Favourite Honey

By Anthony Rebuck

ISBN: 978-1-51444-612-6

Available in softcover, hardcover, e-book

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris

About the author

Anthony Rebuck is a retired lung researcher, medical professor and expert in asthma treatment. He is the author of BREATHING POISON. This is Rebucks first childrens book.
U.S. Army chief to visit S. Korea this week amid tensions on THAAD

SEOUL, Aug. 16 -- Chief of the U.S. Army plans to visit South Koreathis week, Seoul's defense ministry said on Tuesday.

Gen. Mark Milley, U.S. Army chief of staff, will make a three-day visit to South Korea from Wednesday, meeting his South Korean counterpart on Friday, a South Korean army official told a regular press briefing.

The U.S. army head will receive an update on plans to deploy one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery on South Korean soil, his office said. It would mark his second visit to South Korea since he took office in August 2015.

High-level U.S. army official's visit to South Korea would come amid heightened tensions surrounding Seoul and Washington's abrupt decision last month to house one THAAD battery in southeastern South Korea by the end of next year.

Objections from civic group activists and opposition lawmakers to the U.S. missile shield are getting louder at home, while China and Russiahave strongly opposed the THAAD deployment as its X-band radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories.

If deployed, it would escalate the already heightened tensions in Northeast Asia as arms race is expected.
Ian Benjamin Gaddie, OD, FAAO Our nutraceuticals offer support to those with a range of ocular conditions, including dry eye, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes. By partnering with SBH, practitioners can offer patients effective and natural options for care.

ScienceBased Health (SBH), a leading provider of premium evidence-based nutraceuticals for eye health, today announces the addition of I. Ben Gaddie, OD, FAAO, Whitney Hauser, OD, and Scott Schachter, OD to its Clinical Advisory Panel.

For the past 20 years, SBH has been committed to helping eye care practitioners enhance their level of patient care through product innovation, leadership, education and support. The companys products are distributed and recommended by thousands of optometrists and ophthalmologists nationwide.

We are pleased to collaborate with these distinguished optometric leaders to educate eye care practitioners about the role of nutrition in ocular health, said Alain Magro, president and chief executive officer, ScienceBased Health. Our nutraceuticals offer support to those with a range of ocular conditions, including dry eye, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetes. By partnering with SBH, practitioners can offer patients effective and natural options for care, which enhances overall patient satisfaction.

Ian Benjamin Gaddie, OD, FAAO, joining as Glaucoma Clinical Advisor, is Owner and Director of Gaddie Eye Centers in Louisville, Ky. Dr. Gaddie earned his Doctor of Optometry from the University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Optometry and completed a Residency in Ocular Disease at Northeastern State University College of Optometry at the Triad Eye Medical Clinic and Cataract Institute in Tulsa, Okla. Dr. Gaddie is currently President of the Optometric Glaucoma Society (OGS), Co-Chairman of the International Vision Expo Meetings and Past President of the Kentucky Optometric Association. He serves on the editorial boards of various industry publications and has published extensively on a wide range of eye care topics. In 2011, Dr. Gaddie was inducted into the Oklahoma Pioneers in Optometry Hall of Fame. He was selected as one of the Most Influential in Optometry by a leading industry publication in 2015 and was awarded the Kentucky Optometric Association Optometrist of The Year Award.

Whitney Hauser, OD, is Assistant Professor at Southern College of Optometry (SCO) and Clinical Development Consultant at TearWell Advanced Dry Eye Treatment Center, both in Memphis, Tenn. Dr. Hauser received her Doctor of Optometry in 2001 from SCO, and she later completed a postgraduate residency in Primary Care Optometry through SCO and the VA Medical Center in Memphis. Prior to joining the SCO faculty, Dr. Hauser served as Clinical Director and Research Coordinator at an ophthalmology referral center in Memphis. Dr. Hauser is an active member of the American Optometric Association, Ocular Nutrition Society, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the World Congress of Optometry, and Women of Vision. She has authored articles on the management and treatment of ocular surface disease, the anterior segment and practice management, and is an invited speaker across the United States and internationally.

Scott Schachter, OD, founded the private practice Advanced Eyecare and the Eyewear Gallery Optometry in Pismo Beach, Calif, where he specializes in contact lens and dry eye treatment and diagnosis. Dr. Schachter attended Southern California College of Optometry, where he received the Omer A. Nielson Award for outstanding clinical skills. Dr. Schachter serves as Administrator, California Central Coast Area for Vision Source, where he led this Vision Source region from its inception to having 25 thriving practices. Dr. Schachter is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Marshall B. Ketchum University, Fullerton, Calif. Dr. Schachter has presented scientific posters and published articles in peer-review scientific journals such as Optometry and Vision Science Journal, and has authored numerous articles in vision trade publications. A Bausch & Lomb Contact Lens Expert and a CORE speaker and Key Opinion Leader for Allergan, Dr. Schachter speaks widely across the United States.

Drs. Gaddie, Hauser and Schachter join SBHs Clinical Advisory Panel members: Douglas K. Devries, OD; Steven G. Ferrucci, OD, FAAO; Paul M. Karpecki, OD, FAAO; Katherine M. Mastrota, MS, OD, FAAO; Jim Owen, OD, FAAO; Diana Shechtman, OD, FAAO; Kirk L. Smick, OD, FAAO; William Townsend, OD, FAAO; and Walter O. Whitley, OD, MBA, FAAO.

The Clinical Advisory Panel complements the work of SBHs Scientific Advisory Board, which includes: Ike K. Ahmed, MD, FRCSC; Paul S. Bernstein, MD, PhD; Jeffrey B. Blumberg PhD, FACN, FASN, CNS; Alon Harris, MS, PhD, FARVO; Douglas S. Koch, MD; Paul S. Koch, MD; Kelly K. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, FAAO; Lisa C. Olmos de Koo, MD, MBA; and John D. Sheppard, MD, MMSc.

About ScienceBased Health

ScienceBased Health, a privately held company founded in 1997, develops and markets evidence-based nutraceuticals for eye health. The Companys formulations include: HydroEye, a clinically tested, patented oral formulation for dry eyes; OcularProtect, a comprehensive multinutrient for eyes and overall body health; MacularProtect Complete AREDS2, a powerful formulation to preserve macular and whole body health, based on AREDS, AREDS2 and other advanced research; OmegaAdvance, a premium quality omega-3 supplement; Optic Nerve Formula, a powerful formulation to protect optic nerve health; DiaVis, a specialized formulation to support retinal circulation; and other high quality products. The formulations are based on the latest science, made from premium ingredients and manufactured according to highest quality standards in NSF certified facilities. For more information, contact ScienceBased Health at: (888) 433-4726 or visit: http://www.SBH.com
The Jacksonville Business Journal recently held its 2016 Fast 50 Awards luncheon recognizing the fastest-growing companies in Northeast Florida by revenue. For the second year in a row, Member Benefits was honored as one of the fastest growing private companies in Northeast Florida, ranking 16th on the list for 2016.

Member Benefits is an insurance broker and third-party administrator that specializes in working with association and franchise member benefits insurance programs. It has seen rapid growth through several key new association clients and through the release of its unique private health insurance exchange solution.

Because of the caliber and expertise of our counselors, it takes a lot of the confusion out of the process for the associations and franchises, said Earl Chip Trefry Jr., CEO and owner of Member Benefits. This has led to huge growth and a remarkable reputation for Member Benefits.

About the Jacksonville Business Journals 50 Fastest Growing Private Company Awards:

Based on verified financial performance for the past three years, the Jacksonville Business Journal and Ennis, Pellum & Associates CPAs, announced the 50 fastest-growing, private companies in Northeast Florida. The class of nominees increased in both size and scope from last year, proving to be very competitive. To be eligible, the companies must have met the following criterion:



The company must be privately held, locally owned and for profit.

It must be headquartered in Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam or St. Johns counties.

It must have overall revenue growth from 2013 to 2015 and a revenue gain from 2014 to 2015.

It must have been in business since at least 2012.

It must have had annual revenue of at least $1 million in 2015.

About Member Benefits

Member Benefits is a full-service insurance brokerage and third-party administrator that focuses on technology-driven insurance exchanges and benefit programs. Member Benefits specializes in the design, marketing, and administration of programs for employer groups, associations, affinity groups and franchises. Member Benefits operates in many states with locations in Jacksonville, FL and Austin, TX. For more information, visit http://www.memberbenefits.com
All-Terrain Vehicles now allowed on the Road in Rocky Top, TN

Rocky Top is the only place in Tennessee that all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are allowed to ride on the highways. Why is this so important? Rocky Top is adjacent to Windrock Park, which is the largest privately-owned off-road recreation area in the country with over 72,000 acres that have over 300 miles of trails for off-roading, hiking, mountain biking and trail running.

The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to amend current law that would allow for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to ride on Highway 25W in Rocky Top beginning July 1, 2016.

Current legislation allows for ATVs to be operated on State Route 116 from Beech Grove to Highway 25, said Mike Lovely, City of Rocky Top Mayor. This amendment extends the riding area and allow riders from Windrock Park to access the commerce area of Rocky Top.

Thousands of people visit Windrock Park every year, said Stephanie Wells, Anderson County Tourism Councils Director. This will allow those visitors to come into the City of Rocky Top, buy gas, eat at restaurants, stay at the hotels, etc. without having to reload their equipment.

Areas like the Hatfield-McCoy Trails in West Virginia have seen a very positive impact on their economy by giving ATV riders access to their towns, continued Wells.

"Our first priority is safety of our citizens and our visitors, said City of Rocky Tops Police Chief Jim Shetterly. People wishing to ride in town will have to register and receive a permit. They will also be required to follow all safety requirements.

All-terrain vehicles will ONLY be allowed on Highway 25W from the intersection of Colonial Lane to the intersection at Jacksboro Avenue, Highway 116 from the intersection of Highway 25W and Beech Grove Road and on Beech Grove Road from the intersection with Highway 116 to the entrance to Windrock Park and only between one-half (1/2) hour after sunrise and one-half (1/2) hour before sunset. The route will be marked with signage.

Anyone operating an ATV must be 16 years of age or older and have a valid drivers license. Each person riding on the vehicle must wear a helmet. The vehicle must have working headlights and brake lights. If the vehicle doesnt have turn signals, the operator must use hand signals when turning. The owner of the vehicles must have insurance on the vehicle and must be prepared to show proof of insurance. Riders must lawfully operate their vehicle at all times. Any violation to the state laws and the rules listed here will result in loss of privileges to operate vehicle on the specified road.

Riders can register with the City at Rocky Top City Hall and at the Rocky Top Police Station when City Hall is closed on evenings and weekends. Permits for Windrock Park are now being sold at Shop Rite Grocery Store at the intersection of Highway 25W and Highway 116 and must be obtain in addition to the Citys permit to access Windrocks property.

For more information, visit http://www.yallcome.org or call the Anderson County Tourism Council at 800-524-3602.
Dennis Easter, Business Applications Consultant

Algorithm, Inc. is expanding its business team with the new hire. Easter joins Algorithm as the former IS Director of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, part of a national network of more than 200 food banks.

With a strong background in one of the most connected food banks in the nation, Easter is bringing his expertise to Algorithms business expansion in the food bank industry. Algorithms commitment to assist food banks with their mission by integrating state-of-the-art software made it a natural fit, Easter said.

As Business Applications Consultant, Easter will be pioneering Algorithms efforts to service and support food banks. Algorithm will be helping food banks to utilize specialized software, which can automate warehouses, distribution, and inventory management. This will allow food banks to provide faster service, eliminate waste, and deliver fresher food.

In recent years, the demands for food banks to become more efficient and technologically advanced have become too loud to ignore. Like many industries, food banks are experiencing high-pressure to use cutting-edge technology to make services as fresh, fast and eco-friendly as possible. That is where Algorithm and Dennis Easter are focusing their efforts.

We want to keep the integrity that is synonymous with Algorithm when expanding its services to food banks, Easter explained.

Mike Oswalt, owner of Algorithm, said the expansion was a natural occurrence; Food banks are following technological trends based on larger companies like Amazon and Walmart.

Algorithm is a full-service business solutions firm in the Columbus, Ohio area. For more than twenty years, Algorithm has provided long-term solutions, services, and support to hundreds of small-to-medium sized business nationwide.
Flutter Health App for iPhone I want women to be empowered, proactive, and most of all, supportive. The more we talk about womens reproductive health the faster we solve problems.

Kristy Curry, a long-time endometriosis sufferer and app developer in Brooklyn, NY creates free iOS app to help women screen for endometriosis, a disease which can take 8 years to diagnose in the US.

Flutter is a free iOS app that gives women a way to screen for endometriosis and other reproductive diseases without a doctor visit. With Flutters Journal and Calendar features, women can record their symptoms, moods and fluctuations over the course of their cycles. When its time to see a physician, with one tap they can export this data to a PDF.

Flutter allows you to track your symptoms, take a self-diagnosis test and find an endometriosis doctor that can and will help you. Its a way to keep tabs on your health versus just going to your annual appointment like it is a mandatory oil change, says Curry. I want the app to allow women to be in control of their health, to be proactive.

Using a holistic approach to womens reproductive health, the Flutter app, website, blog and YouTube channel provide nutritional guidance, exercise tips and relaxation techniques.

I envision the Flutter community growing as a supportive forum for women to share, says Curry. I want women to be empowered, proactive, and most of all, supportive. The more we talk about womens reproductive health the faster we solve problems.

An Android version of the app is in development, as are a community feature and clinician portal which connects women with their care team.

Kristy and her husband Jason own and operate Faction Studio in Brooklyn, NY which was recently recognized as one of the top 10 mobile app development firms in NYC. Please visit http://www.flutterhealth.com for more information and links to our social media profiles and YouTube channel.

Download a full press kit here: http://flutterhealth.com/press
Specialty Technical Consultants

Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) and Specialty Technical Consultants (STC) announce the availability of the newly updated International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC) EHS audit protocol for India. Leading companies around the world use IAPC EHS audit protocols to understand the scope of their EHS regulatory obligations and rapidly collect, share, archive, and export audit findings in a cost effective manner. IAPC EHS audit protocols are now prepared by STC in partnership with STP and continue to focus on those national (plus, in some cases, regional or provincial) EHS requirements that have site-specific application for manufacturing operations. As a leading EHS management consulting firm with a global network of experienced EHS teaming partners, STC has in-depth knowledge and technical expertise of local/regional EHS requirements.

STP and STC maintain leading-edge EHS audit protocols for more than 30 jurisdictions. The protocol documents are written in English and are available in MS Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel formats, as well as through STPs web-based portal or can be integrated into an existing company platform. Using the protocols custom templates and advanced functionality features, auditors can easily track audit findings and manage data over time to improve compliance, risk management and safety performance. In addition, STPs formatting is compatible with leading risk management and sustainability platform providers.

Highlights of selected legislation covered in the newly updated protocol include:



The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 repealed and replaced The E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. These Rules specify requirements for manufacturers, producers, consumers, bulk consumers, dealers, e-retailers, refurbishers, transporters, collection centers, dismantlers and recyclers involved in the manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, collection, storage and processing of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) or e-waste including their components, consumables, parts and spares which make the product operational. This protocol covers requirements pertaining only to bulk consumers.

The Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 repealed and replaced The Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998. These Rules implement Sections 6, 8, and 25 of The Environmental Protection Act and specify procedures and general requirements for the management of bio-medical waste. The Rules apply to all persons who generate, collect, receive, store, transport, treat, dispose, or handle bio-medical waste in any form.

The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 were promulgated. These Rules specify requirements for the environmentally sound management of solid waste and assign responsibilities for waste generators, various ministries and concerned government departments, local authorities, State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees, and others involved in the generation of different types of solid waste.

The Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 were promulgated. These Rules apply all generators of construction and demolition waste. The Rules specify waste segregation and final disposition requirements.

The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 were promulgated. These Rules apply to any generator of plastic waste and specify procedures for plastic waste management.

The Central Ground Water Authority issued guidelines/criteria for the evaluation of proposals/request for groundwater abstraction on November 16, 2015. Their primary objective is to focus on a specific part of ground water management, namely, ensuring sustainability of ground water both in terms of quantity and quality, and also on land based management of ground water resources, looking into the variations of availability of water in different climatic regions and diverse hydrogeological conditions in various states of the country.

The Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 were promulgated. These Rules supersede The Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement Rules) 2008 and provide responsibilities for occupiers/operators who are involved in the handling, generation, collection, storage, packaging, transportation, use, treatment, processing, recycling, recovery, pre-processing, co-processing, utilization, offering for sale, transfer, or disposal of Hazardous and Other Wastes.

Regulation of Polychlorinated Biphenyls Order, April 6, 2016 was put into effect and bans the manufacture and import of PCBs in India as of April 7, 2016. The import, export or trade of PCB contaminated equipment will be regulated as per the provisions of The Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016. The use of PCBs in any form will be completely prohibited by December 31, 2025.

Relevant requirements of The Industrial Radiography (Radiation Surveillance) Procedures, 1980 were added to this protocol. The requirements covered in these procedures were promulgated under Rule 15 of the Radiation Protection Rules, 1971. They are applicable to those institutions in India which are using sealed radiation sources for carrying out industrial radiography.

Relevant requirements of The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, were added to this protocol. These standards require licensing of all food businesses, including canteens at schools, colleges, offices and institutions. They also specify basic hygienic and sanitary practices to be followed by food business operators.

For more information on all International EHS audit protocols offered by STP and STC, click here.

About Specialty Technical Publishers

Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) produces technical resource guides covering environmental, health & safety, transportation, accounting, business practices, standards and law, offering comprehensive guidance on key compliance and regulatory issues. STP is a division of Glacier Media Inc., a Canadian information communications company that provides primary and essential information in print, electronic and online media. Glaciers Business and Professional Information Group publishes directories, technical manuals, research and development materials, medical education, electronic databases, investment information and specialty websites.

About Specialty Technical Consultants

Specialty Technical Consultants, Inc. (STC) is a specialized management consulting firm working to enhance environmental health and safety (EHS) performance. Through its consulting services, STC partners with clients to strengthen management systems' design and implementation, and identifies needs and implements solutions to meet business objectives. Services provided include: EHS compliance support; risk assessment; EHS auditing; corporate responsibility and sustainability; EHS management systems development and implementation; EHS regulatory information tools; and EHS training.

STC is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Supplier Clearinghouse for the California Public Utilities Commission, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program.
Medical Solutions is so proud of our San Diego team for exemplifying our core values and living our mantra of 'Service that Inspires.'

Medical Solutions, one of the nations largest travel nurse staffing companies, has now had all four of its offices recognized for exceptional company culture.

The San Diego Medical Solutions office was recently named one of the Best Places to Work in San Diego by the San Diego Business Journal. The publication awarded the San Diego office sixth place in the large business category at an awards ceremony on August 11th.

With its flagship office in Omaha, Nebraska, Medical Solutions added locations in San Diego, Cincinnati, and Tupelo in 2013.

The company is thrilled to be honored, according to Medical Solutions Chief People Officer, Christy Johnston.

Medical Solutions is so proud of our San Diego team for exemplifying our core values and living our mantra of Service that Inspires, says Johnston. We strive to create a work environment where people are motivated to succeed in their respective roles and are recognized for their efforts.

Click here to learn more about Medical Solutions award-winning workplace culture.

ABOUT MEDICAL SOLUTIONS: Medical Solutions L.L.C. is a healthcare staffing firm that specializes in placing registered nurses in temporary travel assignments throughout the nation. The company is one of the largest Travel Nurse staffing agencies in the United States, with locations in Omaha, San Diego, Cincinnati, and Tupelo, MS. Medical Solutions was one of the first Travel Nursing and Allied Healthcare staffing companies to be certified by the Joint Commission and has been continuously certified since January 2005. Medical Solutions was named one of Modern Healthcares 2015 Best Places to Work in Healthcare, named among Staffing Industry Analysts 2016 Best Staffing Firms to Work For, has been named eight times to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies, and its flagship Omaha office won the 2014 Better Business Bureau Integrity Award. A nationwide network of qualified healthcare providers allows Medical Solutions to help its client hospitals continue to provide excellent patient care amidst a nursing shortage. Medical Solutions has contracts with 2,200+ client hospitals nationwide and is one of the fastest-growing companies in the Travel Nursing industry. Visit MedicalSolutions.com to learn more.
Were not interested in duplicating what others are already doing in the marketplace. Weve developed a unique and customizable line of top quality mattresses that offer various levels of firmness.

For many people, shopping for a new mattress isnt on their list of favorite tasks  because the experience can be confusing, time consuming and risky. However, theres a unique new eCommerce mattress company called Amore Beds that isnt just making it easier, simpler, and safer to purchase the ideal mattress, but its going a step further by promising to help people love the way they sleep.

Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar mattress stores with their hyper-aggressive sales tactics and limited selection, or online sites that are usually little more than photos and buy now buttons, Amore Beds sets itself apart in three key ways: selection, education, and overall shopping experience.

In terms of selection, instead of being forced to accept a one-size-fits-all mattress, shoppers can explore Amore Beds three customizable made-to-order models: Amore Soft, Amore Medium and Amore Firm. All models feature ultra-breathable organic cotton fabric, and scientifically designed open-cell graphene foam that combines super cooling properties with the utmost comfort and support. Couples can also personalize both sides of their mattress to suit each partners sleep preferences, and health conscious shoppers can upgrade to an innovative therapeutic copper ion-infused mattress fabric.

In terms of education, shoppers can take a simple 30-second survey to help them get a better sense of the mattress that is right for them (by factoring sleep style, size, and firmness preferences). They can also learn more about Amore Beds design philosophy and made-in-the-USA commitment, access helpful FAQs, read blog articles, and so on. Its all designed to take the confusion and intimidation-factor out of researching and buying the right mattress.

And in terms of overall shopping experience, Amore Beds makes buying a mattress easy, simple, and safe. As noted, everything is designed in the U.S., shipping is free, and customers can take advantage of a comfort trial period that gives them 100 nights to try their new bed out. If they arent satisfied, returns are easy and hassle-free.

So many companies claim to offer a single mattress that is perfect for everyone. But thats not realistic, because different people have varying wants and needs, commented Amore Beds founder Todd Summerville. Were not interested in duplicating what others are already doing in the marketplace. Weve developed a unique and customizable line of top quality mattresses that offer various levels of firmness, to go alongside our therapeutic copper ion-infused fabric. We dont make hyped-up claims to sell mattresses. We care about our customers, and thats why our mission is to help people love the way they sleep!

More information on Amore Beds is available on the companys website at AmoreBeds.com.

For all other information, contact Support(at)AmoreBeds(dot)com or call 1-844-84-AMORE.
Jose Oncina has joined Savills Studley's Occupier Services Group as a senior managing director I have spent my career providing strategic, data-driven analysis and implementing strategies that make a measurable bottom-line impact. At Savills Studley I will apply my previous experience to a global occupier-focused platform.

Savills Studley, the leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation, announces that Jose Oncina has joined its Occupier Services Group as a senior managing director. Jose will support Savills Studley nationally and will be located in Seattle, Washington.

Real estate is a multi-faceted business enabler that often challenges executives primarily focused on their core business, Jose said. I have spent my career providing strategic, data-driven analysis and implementing strategies that make a measurable bottom-line impact. At Savills Studley I will apply my previous experience to a global occupier-focused platform.

Ann Duncan, Savills Studley Executive Vice President and Head of Occupier Services, added, With more than three decades of experience, Jose brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will be invaluable to our clients. He will help us provide cutting-edge occupier services in the U.S. and around the globe.

Jose joins Savills Studley from CBRE in London, where he was a regional alliance director. In this role, Joses responsibilities included portfolio strategy, transaction management, project management, facilities management, sourcing and financing. Prior to that, he was a managing director of client strategy in CBREs Seattle office where he was responsible for bringing thought leadership, best practices and platform resources to clients.

The addition of Jose to Savills Studley comes as part of the companys significant ongoing expansion of its North American operations. This expansion includes opening seven new offices in U.S. over the last two years as well as the companys first office in Canada.

Savills Studleys Occupier Services group specializes in tenant representation and is focused exclusively on delivering all the services an occupier needs to meet their challenges. Professional services provided include lease administration and audit, transaction management, strategic solutions (including portfolio optimization and M&A support), and project management. These services are offered either as an integrated suite of services under an account management model to achieve consistency and process improvement, or as stand-alone services to address acute needs and opportunities.

About Savills Studley

Savills Studley is the leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation. Founded in 1954, the firm pioneered the conflict-free business model of representing only tenants in their commercial real estate transactions. Today, supported by high quality market research and in-depth analysis, Savills Studley provides strategic real estate solutions to organizations across all industries. The firms comprehensive commercial real estate platform includes brokerage, project management, capital markets, consulting and corporate services. With 29 offices in the U.S. and Canada, and a heritage of innovation, Savills Studley is well known for tenacious client advocacy and exceptional service.

The firm is part of London-headquartered Savills plc, the premier global real estate service provider with over 30,000 professionals and over 700 locations around the world. Savills plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SVS.L).

For more information, please visit http://www.savills-studley.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @SavillsStudley.
Denis Kelly, Chief Operating Officer Im honored to step into this role and excited about the future opportunities for Sunstates, says Kelly.

Effective immediately, Denis J. Kelly has been promoted to the role of chief operating officer at Sunstates Security, based in Raleigh, N.C. His promotion from executive vice president reflects his expanding leadership responsibilities in a larger organization, the result of sustained annual organic growth averaging an impressive 24% over the past five years.

Denis has been a key member of Sunstates management since he joined us in 2010 as Vice President, says CEO Kathryn Burrell. Not only does he bring extensive industry experience and sound business acumen, but he also shares our commitment to improving the image and reputation of the contract security industry.

As COO, Kelly will maintain oversight of companywide operations, sales and marketing, and human resources for Sunstates, which provides uniformed security services to a diverse client base throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions of the United States. During his tenure, Kelly has led the firms business development efforts and helped create the operational strategy that allowed Sunstates to triple in size without sacrificing service quality.

Im honored to step into this role and excited about the future opportunities for Sunstates, says Kelly. I joined the company because I believed in, and shared, the leaderships vision for the firm and the industry. Together weve come a long way toward making that vision a reality, and its a testament to the people we serve, both clients and employees.

Kellys 24-plus years of experience in the private security industry spans entry-level operations management to executive-level leadership. He holds a bachelors degree in sociology and criminal law from Eastern Connecticut State University.

About Sunstates Security

Based in Raleigh, N.C., Sunstates Security provides uniformed security personnel and security consulting services to clients throughout the United States. The company is certified as a Womens Business Enterprise by the Greater Business Womens Council, a regional certifying partner of the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Centers clinical partner, recently was named the nations No. 1 hospital for cancer care, as ranked by U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals annual survey.

Since the rankings began in 1990, the Houston, Texas-based institution consistently has been ranked one of the top two cancer hospitals in the nation and has held the top position nine times in the last 10 years.

Summit Medical Group (SMG), with locations throughout Northern New Jersey, announced the partnership in April. As one of four partners in the United States clinically integrated with MD Anderson Cancer Center, Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center has access to the Houston institutions subspecialized expertise, evidence-based care guidelines and innovative approaches. MD Andersons partnership with SMG marks the first time it has partnered with a physician-owned and -governed multispecialty group.

Within our multidisciplinary, patient-centered healthcare model, Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center patients have access to enhanced cancer treatment, including MD Andersons cutting edge treatment protocols, clinical trials and research, said Jeffrey Le Benger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Summit Medical Group. And we will continue to provide comprehensive cancer care to our patientsfrom screening and diagnosis to treatment and survivorship.

Summit Medical Group MD Anderson, which provides medical oncology, surgical oncology, infusion and diagnostic imaging, is already in place at Summit Medical Groups flagship campus at 1 Diamond Hill Road in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Plans are also underway to build a state-of-the-art, 130,000-square-foot building adjacent to Summit Medical Groups new facility at 140 Park Avenue in Florham Park, New Jersey, with future services to include radiation oncology. Groundbreaking is expected at the new site this fall.

About Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center

With a special emphasis on continuity of care, the Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center was formed in 2016 through a partnership between Summit Medical Group (SMG) and MD Anderson Cancer Center to provide fully integrated, multidisciplinary cancer care for patients in northern New Jersey and the tristate area. An extension of MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper in Camden, New Jersey, Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center is clinically integrated with MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper joined MD Anderson Cancer Network, a program of MD Anderson Cancer Center, in 2013. Summit Medical Group is one of four partner members of the network and contributes to MD Andersons mission to end cancer. For more information, visit http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/service/Oncology-Center/.

About MD Anderson Cancer Center

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention.The institutions sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world. Last year, more than 135,000 individuals came to MD Anderson for not only the largest clinical trials program in the world, but for its signature multidisciplinary care. MD Anderson in Houston employs almost 21,000 cancer fighters, including nearly 1,700 physicians and scientists.

Contact:

Maureen Bennett

mbennett(at)shm.net

908-977-9502

Lisa Vanella, Havas PR

Lisa.Vanella(at)havasww.com

917-602-7883

###
New 53-gallon barrels produced by The Barrel Mill in Avon, Minnesota, cool after the charring process "We are happy to announce we are accepting orders from both current and new customers. The addition of new equipment and people allowed us to build a sizable inventory of barrels. -Richard Hobbs, Sales and Marketing Manager

Working to address the running shortage of oak barrels for the craft spirit industry, leading cooperage The Barrel Mill has significantly increased inventory, stepping up its oak barrel production threefold within the last year. Additionally, the company today announced the introduction of the new 53-gallon American Oak Barrel to its line of premium oak barrels used for the maturation of craft spirits. The new barrel will be produced in the companys Central Minnesota facility from material sourced from its own stave mill, which was purchased in 2016.

The new 53-gallon oak barrel, as well as the companys existing 5-, 10-, 15- and 30-gallon barrels, comes in a choice of two standard charred interiors, Char #3 and Char #4, available immediately from stock. Custom chars are also available. The Barrel Mill exclusively uses premium oak from Minnesota and Missouri in all barrel production.

An overwhelming demand for barrels over the past few years put us in the unfortunate situation of having to turn down business because we were at capacity, states Richard Hobbs, Sales and Marketing Manager for The Barrel Mill. We are happy to announce that period is behind us and we are accepting orders from both current and new customers. The addition of new equipment and people allowed us to build a sizable inventory of barrels, ready to ship.

New oak barrels play an important role in the flavor profile of American-made spirits, in particular bourbon, rye, malt, and wheat whiskies. The degradation of the wood from its exposure to an open flame releases natural sugar compounds that deliver flavors ranging from sweet vanilla to rich caramel. The Barrel Mill has been a leading supplier of oak barrels for the spirits industry since 2004, selecting only tight grain premium Quercus Alba (White Oak) for the production of barrels.

The Barrel Mill also manufactures the industrys only spiral-cut oak alternative, The Oak Infusion Spiral, in a choice of toasted or charred finishes, which offers spirits producers a fast, low-cost method to mature their beverages without the cost or space requirements of new oak barrels.

The Barrel Mill sells its oak barrels and Oak Infusion Spirals directly to wine, beer, spirits and cider producers. Contact company headquarters at 800-201-7125 or info(at)thebarrelmill(dot)com. More information is on whiskeybarrel.com and infusionnpiral.com.

About The Barrel Mill:

Located in the central Minnesota town of Avon, The Barrel Mill is one of the most respected cooperages in the industry, with a history in lumber dating back over a century. By combining old-world craftsmanship with state-of-the art equipment and technology, the company delivers the finest wine, spirit and display barrels and the patented Oak Infusion Spiral. More info online at http://www.thebarrelmill.com, http://www.infusionspiral.com and http://www.barrelagedinabottle.com.
Project Management Professionals (PMPs) in the United States earn a reported 22% more than non-PMP certified project managers.

In the age of rapid change, project managers are becoming indispensable to their organizations. Demand for project managers will grow significantly: By 2020, 700,000 more project management jobs will be created in the United States, according to the Project Management Institute (PMI). Companies seek out proven project managers because teams frequently struggle in this area. According to research from the Standish Group, only a third of IT projects are successful, a quarter are outright failures, and this is chiefly why demand for credentialed Project Managers is soaring.

PMO Advisory is diligent in ensuring training materials and course structure is up-to- date, highly effective, and flexibly fitting into the schedule of any busy professional. Courses include online support, mock exams, and highly skilled trainers to ensure that participants have the in-depth knowledge needed to pass their exams with confidence. PMO Advisory is one of the leading authorities on Project Management certification training and offers a Complete Support Promise. The program includes a 100% money back guarantee on virtual, classroom training, and onsite PMI certification courses for participants to achieve their project management certifications, Click here to learn more about their 100% money back guarantee.

PMO Advisorys Top Project Management Certifications

Project Management Professional (PMP): It is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. PMPs can be found leading projects in nearly every country and, unlike other certifications that focus on a particular geography or domain, the PMP is truly global. As a PMP, work is possible virtually in any industry, with any methodology and in any location. According to PMI's Project Management Salary Survey  Ninth Edition, PMPs in the United States earn a reported 22 percent more than non-PMP certified project managers. The next PMP in-class bootcamp is starting on September 19 th , 2016 in the Downtown Wall Street area of New York City.

Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP): Project risks are systemic, yet studies have shown that it is consistently one of the least practiced knowledge areas in project management. With competitive pressures at an all-time high, managing risks effectively can be a significant differentiator and competitive advantage. Furthermore, the PMI-RMP certification is stillrelatively rare, providing the certification holders an additional level of credibility. The next PMI-RMP in-class bootcamp is starting on October 10 th , 2016 in Northern New Jersey.

Program Management Professional (PgMP): Program Managers are senior-level practitioners on the forefront of advancing organizational strategic goals. They manage multiple, related projects in a coordinated way, achieving benefits that could not occur if the projects were handled separately. The next PgMP in-class bootcamp is starting on September 26 th , 2016 in Northern New Jersey.

Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP): An organization may do the work right. But do they do the right work? As a Portfolio Manager, this role is essential in ensuring that the answer is Yes.. Formal portfolio management is the most effective way to implement strategic initiatives since it bridges the gap between strategy and implementation. Organizations that are effective in portfolio management have demonstrated that 62% of their products meet or exceed their expected ROI according to a 2012 Pulse of the Profession research. Portfolio Managers align projects, programs and operations with strategic objectives, investing resources in the right work to deliver the expected value. The next PfMP in-class bootcamp is starting September 19 th , 2016 in the Downtown Wall Street area of New York City.

About PMO Advisory

PMO Advisory is a socially minded management advisory and training firm with expertise in business and IT execution, serving as a resource to help enable ideas for organizations. PMO Advisory helps transform business ideas, plans, objectives and vision into reality using a proven, customizable consulting approach. The firms advisory team is expert in portfolio, program and project leadership, process improvement, and business transformation. As a training company, the firm is striving to be the most comprehensive project management training firm in the world offering certification training in Portfolio (PfMP), Program (PgMP), Project (PMP, CAPM), Risk (PMI-RMP), Agile (PMI-ACP, Scrum), and Project Management Office (PMO) training.

PfMP, PgMP, PMP, CAPM, PMI-RMP, and PMI-ACP are registered marks of Project Management Institute Inc.
This release includes significant benefits for our customers that are organizing for Omni-Channel sales growth and making their products digital, discoverable and highly shoppable, explained Nick Parnaby, Chief Marketing Officer, 1WorldSync.

1WorldSync, the leading global multi-enterprise product information network, announced today significant enhancements to its Product Information Cloud Platform, offering new solutions for Omni-Channel and healthcare. Available immediately, the 1WorldSync 2016 Summer Release includes several new value-added apps enabling businesses to move beyond foundational product content management, to drive sales and merchandising efforts while aiding in distribution, customer integration, consumer product transparency and regulatory compliance.

In this latest release of the Product Information Cloud, 1WorldSync has added merchandising and sales tools including a sales kit, merchant kit, and a universal content feed solution for all customers. New apps in this release include information and syndication capabilities to sell products through Walmart and other global retailers, and eCommerce providers. The release includes language support extensions for both German and Japanese. 1WorldSync supports customers in 60 countries, and local language support is a key enabler for trading community adoption.

1WorldSync Catalog1 (for Product Brands and Sellers) will include the following new features:



The Walmart app provides users with a new Content Service Provider (CSP) API connection to Walmart, simplifying and accelerating product sellers ability to list products on Walmart.com. With this release, 1WorldSync has extended its Walmart integration capability, developed over the last 10 years with the worlds largest retailers, to become a certified Content Service Provider to Walmart, making 1WorldSync the premier global supplier of product content for Walmart (Stores and Walmart.com), from supply chain efficiency to online sales.

Major Asia Pacific retailer application allows Catalog1 users to learn and then fulfill the product content requirements of the largest department store chain in Japan, using a templated playlist of attributes required by this retailer. The app enables completeness and accuracy of content, using smart validations, in addition to the option to publish product content via a direct connection customized to this retailer.

The Sales Kit app provides businesses with the ability to render their own Digital Catalog(s), mobilizing the product content they have already organized in Catalog1. Sales Kit enables easy creation of selling sheets, catalogs, slicks and other digital sales aids to help drive global sales and customer relationship management operations.

Content1 (For Retailers, eTailers & Merchant App Developers) will include the following new features:



The Merchant Kit App enables buyers to create their own digital storefronts, including products from the many brands or suppliers they work with, organizing them by category or type as desired. Merchant Kit will also provide simple look up tools for Merchants, to discover the presence of consumer transparency labels, such as the GMA SmartLabel, and use them in their storefronts and eCommerce sites.

Content Feed allows manufacturers to access their entire product content library through a simple API, and maintain a single source of content to power internal systems or applications such as Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Collaborative Planning, Forecasting & Replenishment (CPFR) or internal enterprise portals that make product content available cross-organization.

This Summer release represents the next step in our long-term commitment to continually enhance the 1WorldSync Product Information Cloud Platform with value added applications for multiple industry use cases. This release includes significant benefits for our customers that are organizing for Omni-Channel sales growth and making their products digital, discoverable and highly shoppable, explained Nick Parnaby, Chief Marketing Officer, 1WorldSync. Our goal with this release was to make it much simpler for our 23,000+ customers to extend digital product content for selling or merchandizing on any channel, regardless of medium or geographic location.

To learn more about the Summer Release contact 1WorldSync at businessdevelopment(at)1worldsync.com

About 1WorldSync

1WorldSync is the leading multi-enterprise product information network, helping more than 23,000 global brands and their trading partners in 60 countries  share authentic, trusted content in the hands of their customers and consumers, empowering them to make the right choices, purchases, health and lifestyle decisions.

Through its solutions, technology platform and expert services, 1WorldSync provides solutions that meet the diverse needs of its customers. For more information, please visit http://www.1worldsync.com/web/us
At Arnold & Itkin, their attorneys are renowned for their work in the field of personal injuryparticularly in maritime law. The firm is pleased to announce that Attorneys Kurt Arnold, Cory Itkin, and Caj Boatright have been selected to Best Lawyers in America this year for their practice of Admiralty & Maritime Law.

Best Lawyers is a peer-reviewed list of the most renowned attorneys in a variety of practice areas. Lawyers are nominated by their peers, and current attorneys who have been selected for the Best Lawyers list provide honest feedback of the attorneys legal skill, history of results, and professional ethics. The resulting list is a roster of the most trustworthy and highly-skilled attorneys in a given region and area of practice.

This year Caj Boatright is a first-time recipient of the Best Lawyers honor, which is published by U.S. News on an annual basis. Attorneys Kurt Arnold and Cory Itkin have been included on the list before, achieving recognition nationwide for their work in personal injury, maritime law, and other areas of plaintiffs advocacy.

The team at Arnold & Itkin is honored by the inclusion of their attorneys on the list and will continue to serve plaintiffs injured offshore or in maritime industries throughout the nation.

###

Arnold & Itkin is a personal injury and maritime firm based in Houston, TX. Their work has taken them all over the U.S., allowing them to represent a wide variety of clients injured by negligence. Their results are often record-setting, with over $1 billion won for clients in the last 5 years. Recent victories include a $70 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson regarding the drug Risperdal. Above all, their passion is ensuring their clients receive the financial support and medical care they need. Visit their site today: http://www.offshoreinjuryfirm.com.
The alliance with Paragon gives us another layer of protection, performance and cross-platform support for our product line. We couldn't be happier with their technology and support and look forward to a strong partnership ahead. - Corey Velan, FixMeStick

Paragon Software Group today announced its Universal File System Driver (UFSD) technology has been selected by FixMeStick to enhance connectivity for worldwide customers of the companys innovative virus removal device.

The new licensing agreement calls for Paragons HFS+ for Linux and NTFS for Linux offerings to be embedded in the consumer-ready FixMeStick tool, which is sold through Home Shopping Network and major retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Staples, Office Depot, and Sams Club.

FixMeStick offers a popular USB-based virus removal solution that gives world-class security technology to non-technical people for everyday use. As a ready-to-go USB device, it is easy to use, incredibly effective and affordable, said Tom Fedro, President of Paragon Software Group Corp. By equipping the device with rapid, transparent and full read/write access to non-native file systems to expand its value and usability, we are proud to help fuel the innovation that FixMeStick delivers to customers worldwide.

Located in Montreal, Canada, FixMeStick sells its products globally. The company is embedding the Paragon HFS+ (Mac) for Linux and NTFS (Windows) for Linux solutions in its virus removal device to boost interoperability, connectivity and data protection for customers. The embedded Paragon drivers feature powerful utilities that maintain file system integrity and fully protect stored data, providing maximum interoperability between Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.

According to Corey Velan, Co-Founder of FixMeStick, Paragons solutions perform in lock step with the FixMeStick mission. The alliance with Paragon gives us another layer of protection, performance and cross-platform support for our product line. We couldnt be happier with their technology and support and look forward to a strong partnership ahead, said Velan.

FixMeStick is a self-bootable USB device that operates in its own clean environment, identifying viruses and malware such as spyware, Trojans, ransomware and other malicious threats. The device is straightforward to use, with users able to plug it in and immediately start scanning for viruses and malware. FixMeStick cleans up computers already carrying viruses and malware but also can be used on a regular basis on clean machines as a pro-active virus scanner. The device is continuously updated with the latest virus information to stay current with new developments.

Paragons UFSD technology supports Linux, Android, iOS, QNX and other platforms. Featuring a full portfolio of UFSD solutions, Paragon is focused on delivering powerful utilities that fully protect stored data while delivering high performance with no limits on file or volume size. For more information on Paragon UFSD products, visit http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/ufsd.html.

For more information on FixMeStick, visit https://www.fixmestick.com/fixmestick.html.

About Paragon Software Group

Paragon Software Group is an innovative software developer focused on two dynamic growth markets. The companys comprehensive product line for the data storage market addresses the needs of data security, storage and management for PCs, servers and networks. A second portfolio of products focuses on mobile productivity applications for handheld devices. Founded in 1994, Paragon Software Group has offices in the USA, Germany, Japan, Poland, Russia and China, delivering its solutions to consumers, small business and enterprise clients worldwide through a network of Value Added Resellers, distributors and OEMs as well as online through the company website. Paragon Software Group provides technology to a host of world-class companies and partners, including Cisco Systems, Dell, HP, Western Digital Corp., ASUS, Seagate, Toshiba, LG Electronics, Logitech, Buffalo, Acer, EMC/Iomega, Siemens, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and more. For more information, please visit the company website at http://www.paragon-software.com.

Paragon Software is a trademark of Paragon Software Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Parish Parcel What's good for the arts is great for local businesses in general. When we have an event, like the floods that just hit our area, our economy depends on our culture," says Jaci Russo owner of Parish Parcel.

Shopping local conjures up images of "mom and pop" storefronts and rows and rows of booths at local farmer's markets, but what happens when those businesses fall on hard times? Historic flooding has left many business districts throughout Louisiana devastated. Thankfully, the state has a varied culture to help keep its economy afloat. Parish Parcel, a Louisiana owned and operated start-up, is not only exporting Louisiana products, it's exporting the unique culture. Thanks to Parish Parcel, local artists and musicians are reaching entirely new audiences, forging a true global economy while the state struggles to recover.

We are passionate about marketing the Louisiana music we love to new customers around the world," says Joel Savoy with Valcour Records, "but we're also helping Cajun people and existing Cajun culture, it's a win for us all."

Joel Savoy produces music with Doug Kershaw and Steve Riley, two living legends of Cajun Music. They have followers around the world, especially in French-speaking areas, but Savoy explains that having music available online sometimes isn't enough. Valcour Record's partnership with Parish Parcel means the monthly subscription service will ship parcels of their music from the heart of Cajun country to the rest of the US. The state's unique sound can be heard and felt from miles away; a sound that's especially meaningful in tough times.

"Cajun culture is truly special, our fans can survive anything, but it's nice they will get the comforts of home, while living anywhere. says Savoy.

Louisiana has long been a hub for the arts. Music and art fill the streets of every town from the marshes to the concrete streets of New Orleans. But most local artists and musicians rarely get the type of exposure Parish Parcel is offering.

"Our culture is known for food, but when we sit at the dinner table, we are talking about music and art. It's so much of who we are as a people. What's good for the arts is great for local businesses in general. When we have an event, like the floods that just hit our area, our economy depends on our culture," says Jaci Russo owner of Parish Parcel.

Russo easily explains the co-mingling of art and business in Louisiana because the two are so interconnected. A thriving local art scene can become the heart and soul of any town, large or small. The trick is getting the rest of the world to pay attention and not just take notice during a tragedy.

"Showcasing my work through Parish Parcel is a great opportunity to for people to become familiar with my style and my state," says Lynn Sanders. "As an artist it is always nice to have people appreciate your work whether they are local or nationwide."

Louisiana artist, Lynn Sanders, knows the importance of reaching the number of people Parish Parcel has access to, not only for her art pieces but for the culture of Louisiana in general.

"My abstract landscapes are influenced by my surroundings here in Louisiana. My state and my culture are part of who I am as a person and artist. We need as many people as possible to fall in love with Louisiana."

Russo says, "Cities and towns that have embraced local art and music thrive. Their businesses thrive. Everything comes alive from bookstores to coffee shops to restaurants. Parish Parcel is an extension of that success and we want to be an inspiration of cultural success as the flood waters recede."

The parcels come together with 7 to 10 Louisiana tokens that can be shipped just about anywhere. Parish Parcel's monthly subscription means a box of handpicked Cajun curated items will be delivered on a regular basis. Homes across the country can come alive with the sights and sounds of Louisiana while helping to preserve what is so special about the state. The legendary culture is captured through the many hardships of its people. This last flood, being called a once in 500 year event, is just the latest test, no doubt it will add to the character of the musicians and the artists who call Louisiana "home."
J. Alison Bryant, Ph.D., CEO, PlayScience, PlayLab, & Sandbox "Gen Z is unlike any other generation we've encountered - and that has its opportunities and challenges"

Leading experts from Piper Jaffray, Sparks & Honey, C Space, C+R Research, The Family Room, & Zeno headline the inaugural Marketing to Gen Z Conference, October 6, 2016, at New World Stages, NYC. They will present new case studies, research and creative insight designed to teach brand marketers how to anticipate and respond to the new realities of marketing to Gen Z., the largest U.S. generation to date. By 2020 it will represent 40% of all U.S. consumers. Additionally it is the first non-white majority generation in the U.S. The conference is sponsored by C+R Research and C Space.

Topics and presenters include:



Activating Generation Z: What You Need to Know to Win the Future: J. Alison Bryant, Ph.D., CEO PlayScience, PlayLab, & Sandbox

Shattering Stereotypes of Generation Z: Mary Mcllrath, Ph.D., SVP C+R Research

Future-proofing Marketing, from A To Gen Z: Bill Alberti, SVP C Space

Gen Z Decision Making  New Study: George Carey, Founder/CEO The Family Room

Where Does The Purchase Decision Begin? It Might Surprise You!

Stephanie Wissink, Managing Director Piper Jaffray; Conor Begley, Co-Founder Tribe Dynamics

The Rise of Generation Z: A Matter of Influence: Kelly Palmisano and Lorianne Lacey, VP Client Strategy Influence Central

The Cross-Cultural World of Gen Z: Delmus Credle, Director of Strategic Planning Sensis

Getting To BFF: A New Playbook for Connecting With Gen Z: Therese Caruso, Managing Director of Global Strategy + Insights Zeno Group

Gen Z in 2025: The Final Generation: Sarah DaVanzo, Chief Cultural Strategy Officer Sparks & Honey

Building Loyalty at Lowes: A Brand & Grow Case Study: Amy Henry, SVP, Strategic Planning Strottman

Making the World Suck Less: Samra Brouk, Business Development Director DoSomething.org

According to the Marketing to Gen Z Conference producer, Nan McCann, The impact of Gen Z on consumer spending cant be overstated. In addition to being the largest generation ever  surpassing even boomers  Zs already control over $600 Billion in US family spending. Plus, theyre very different in attitudes and outlook from the generation that immediately precedes them, Millennials. They communicate differently and they respond to different purchasing cues. The Marketing to Gen Z Conference is designed to help marketers in almost every category understand these differences and to start now to adjust their outreach to successfully connect and grow sales and share with this cohort.

PME Enterprises LLC

The Marketing to Gen Z Conference is produced by PME Enterprises, a sales and marketing agency specializing in executive education events. PME also produces, M2Moms  The Marketing to Moms Conference, October 4 & 5, 2016, M2W  The Marketing to Women Conference, and InContextNow  The Conference on the Internet of Things for Marketers, Business Strategists and Research Leaders. For complete conference schedule and information visit: http://www.genzconference.com, or call 860.724.2649 x13. PME Enterprises LLC, 912 Silas Deane Highway, Suite 101, Wethersfield, CT 06109. http://www.pme-events.com
+Impact School combines new education technology with project-based learning and character building Located in Northern California, +Impact School at Tahoe Expedition Academy combines proven ed-tech platforms with experiential, project-based learning for grades 9-12.

As professors and college administrators complain about the increasing dependence of college students on their parents, and articles on how helicopter parents are ruining college students continue to make headlines, a new high school is curbing the effects of overparenting.

Located in Northern California, +Impact School at Tahoe Expedition Academy combines proven ed-tech platforms with experiential, project-based learning for grades 9-12.

+Impact School became the first independent school in the nation to partner with the Summit Basecamp program in April 2016. Developed in partnership with Stanford University and Facebook, Summit Basecamp is a personalized learning program with proven success helping teachers customize instruction and inspire self-directed learners.

As noted by The New York Times, Summit Basecamp gives students a full view of their academic responsibilities for the year in each class and breaks them down into customizable lesson modules they can tackle at their own pace.

The flexibility and self-driven nature of Summit Basecamp makes the program a great fit for +Impact School, whose education model is based on using adventure and self-driven learning as a mechanism to achieve deeper understanding of the curriculum, build character and leave lasting positive impacts on the community and world at large.

"We love the power of the personalized learning platform, said Mark Kushner, +Impact School CEO and head of school. +Impact students are able to accelerate their learning, work on semester-long projects and consult with experts in the field while spending over 30 days and nights on academic adventures. The program allows our teachers to work through the core curriculum more efficiently and validate the learning thats happening outside the classroom. Its a win-win for us.

+Impact Schools model is distinguished in its use of constructive adversity, the schools coined term for using intentional engagement with adverse elements to build students character. Whether by paddling a kayak through strong winds or delivering a TEDx Talk in front of a crowd, +Impact students develop the grit and self-confidence needed to teach themselves anything, take risks and make positive impacts.

Research shows the peak learning zone exists just outside our comfort zone, which is also where the most personal growth occurs, said Taylor Simmers, co-founder of +Impact School. Our approach to learning uses constructive adversity to cultivate character and bring academics to life, creating lasting knowledge and skills. Using this personalized learning platform, we can track and assess students learning in real-time.

+Impact School in Truckee, Calif. is the flagship campus for +Impact Schools, a future network of schools combining todays top ed-tech platforms for an education rooted in project-based learning, personalization and stewardship.

ABOUT +IMPACT SCHOOL

+Impact School is a new independent school in Northern California for grades 9-12 pushing academic and intellectual boundaries. The school provides a robust academic program that uses cutting-edge education technology, rigorous content, powerful teaching and constructive adversity to prepare students for college and beyond. +Impact School empowers students to take control of their education and challenges them to have a positive impact on the local and global community. http://www.impactschools.com
Grandeur Peak West Coast Tour 2016 We are passionate about our culture and see this as a way to accomplish our investment research goals while building our collaborative team.

Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, a boutique micro to mid-cap global equities investment firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah, embarked this week on West Coast Tour 2016 in an RV. The Grandeur Peak team has divided into five teams, with each team taking a one-week leg of the journey from Canada to Mexico, including stops all along the west coast of the United States. The teams will be meeting with current portfolio companies and prospective investments, connecting with clients, and enjoying a unique team building experience aboard a 37 recreational vehicle.

Grandeur Peak Global Advisors recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. The firm was founded by Robert Gardiner, Blake Walker and Eric Huefner with the goal of becoming the preeminent global, small cap investment firm. The research team scours the globe in search of small best-in-class growth companies that are still growing quickly and lesser known. The process involves screening over 30,000 companies and then diving in with fundamental, hands-on research of the most interesting companies.

For a firm that has a unique way of looking at the world, this event is no surprise. In speaking of the RV trip, Eric Huefner, President said: This trip is Roberts brainchild based on an experience shared by one of our interns. The trip has actually been a couple of years in the planning. Visiting companies and talking with management teams is a key component of our research process. Driving an RV thousands of miles is one more way to get close to the companies and the people that are at the heart of what we do as a firm.

According to Robert Gardiner, CEO, the trip was designed with specific goals in mind: rigorous company due diligence, strengthening relationships with clients and building our team culture, while experiencing the beauty of the land along the way. We are passionate about our culture and see this as a way to accomplish our investment research goals while building our collaborative team. Were also including a service component on each leg because giving back to our global community is another important element of our firms culture.

For more information on the West Coast Tour 2016 RV Trip, please visit http://www.grandeurpeakglobal.com for updates.

About Grandeur Peak Global Advisors:

Grandeur Peak Global Advisors is comprised of a highly seasoned and collaborative research team taking a bottom-up approach to investing using disciplined global screening, rigorous company due diligence, and close attention to valuation to find what we believe to be the best investment opportunities around the world. Our bias is towards micro to mid-cap companies because we believe we can find faster growth among these firms, and often at better valuations due to the lack of analyst coverage. Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, LLC is an employee-owned investment adviser headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The objective of all the Grandeur Peak Funds is long-term growth of capital. The Global Stalwarts Fund, the International Stalwarts Fund, and the Global Micro Cap Fund are new and have limited operating history.

RISKS:

Mutual fund investing involves risks and loss of principal is possible. Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment loss. Investing in small-cap funds will be more volatile and loss of principal could be greater than investing in large cap or more diversified funds.

Investing in foreign securities entails special risks, such as currency fluctuations and political uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the prospectus. Investments in emerging markets are subject to the same risks as other foreign securities and may be subject to greater risks than investments in foreign countries with more established economies and securities markets.

An investor should consider investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, containing this and other information, visit http://www.grandeurpeakglobal.com or call 1-855-377-PEAK (7325). Please read it carefully before investing.

Grandeur Peak Funds will deduct a 2.00% redemption proceeds fee on Fund shares held 60 days or less. For more complete information including charges, risks and expenses, read the prospectus carefully.

CFA is a trademark owned by the CFA Institute.

Grandeur Peak Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc (ADI). Eric Huefner is a registered representative of ADI.

GPG000502 8/31/2017
SEOUL, Aug. 16 -- Governor of a South Korean province, where Seoul and Washington agreed to house one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery by the end of next year, asked communications with the central government to find an alternative site for the U.S. missile defense system.

Kim Kwan-yong, governor of North Gyeongsang province which includes Seongju county, some 250 km southeast of Seoul, told a press briefing held in his office on Tuesday that the government should acknowledge the fact that no solution can be found if it adheres only to the already designated site.

Kim was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying that both the government and Seongju residents should make efforts to find an alternative site for the U.S. missile shield based on the agreement from residents.

Seoul and Washington abruptly announced their unilateral decision last month to install one THAAD battery by the end of next year, causing strong backlashes from opposition lawmakers and residents at home as well as from neighboring countries.

Seongju residents, enraged at the unilateral announcement without advance notice or discussions, opposed the deployment on worries about environmental and health hazards coming from the THAAD's X-band radar that emits super-strong microwaves.

Opposition lawmakers and civic group activists demanded a complete retraction or a re-negotiation of the THAAD deployment decision as it raises tensions in the region and causes huge damages diplomatically and economically.

China and Russia have strongly objected to the U.S. anti-missile system deployed in South Korea as the AN/TPY-2 radar can snoop on Chinese and Russian territories, breaking the regional strategic balance and damaging their security interests.

The provincial governor made an official proposal to the government for reviewing an alternative site. President Park Geun-hye said earlier that she could re-examine another site if an official request is made.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo is scheduled to visit Seongju county on Wednesday to persuade the residents to accept the government's deployment decision, according to Seoul's defense ministry.
RURO Europe I have been working with RURO and its software products for years and loved every minute. The chance to start this office and lead RURO into the next chapter is thrilling.

RURO, Inc., a leading LIMS and sample management solutions provider, announced the opening of its new European satellite office. Located in Perugia, Italy and led by General Manager Francesco DAngelo, Ph.D., RURO Europe will continue the parent companys nearly decade long tradition of offering excellent software, services and delivering customer success.



RURO Europe is located in Perugia, central Italy, supporting distributors and projects throughout the region

Francesco DAngelo, longtime RURO partner with solid track record of success, will serve as General Manager

RURO Europe offers RURO Cloud solutions, as well as locally-hosted software solutions

In the recent past, many of RUROs most important partnerships and client laboratory organizations are located in Europe, including divisions of Sysmex, Thermo Fisher and top pharmaceutical companies. Aimed at enhancing the service RURO has been providing to these clients, and others in the region, the RURO Europe office was a natural progression. The continued success of RURO China helped to expedite the opening of RURO Europe - the Shanghai-based team has already provided an important example of smart growth as a RURO satellite operation.

For years, Dr. DAngelo managed RURO solutions for a regional distributor and his time spent performing laboratory work make him ideally suited for the job of serving RUROs customers and running RURO Europe.

I have been working with RURO and its software products for years and loved every minute, says Dr. DAngelo. The chance to start this office and lead RURO into the next chapter is thrilling.

RURO Europe will offer support to existing RURO customers, as well as product services for FreezerPro Cloud, Limfinity Sequencing Lab and the new Laboratory Information System, LimitLIS. (Limfinity Sequencing Lab is a RURO Europe exclusive solution.)

Today, RURO Europes staff is here in Frederick, MD for training and we are having a blast, says Vlad Lebedev, RUROs CEO. Francesco brings his passion for the industry along with deep knowledge of EU regulatory best practices to RURO and I have great hopes for RURO Europe!

About RURO, Inc.

Founded in 2006, RURO specializes in Laboratory Information Management Solutions. RUROs Limfinity is the central data management solution in many of the worlds leading Translation Science programs and Biobanks. RURO is Laboratory Information Bliss.

Visit RURO at ruro.com for more information.
Dr. Kibbes commitment to Precision Medicine and the Cancer Moonshot and Dr. Khozins presentation From Big Data to Smart Data will no doubt serve as motivating messages and reinforce the role of CDISC in enabling smarter research to unlock cures.

The Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) announced today that Dr. Warren Kibbe, Deputy Director, National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and IT (CBIIT) and Dr. Sean Khozin, Senior Medical Officer, Office of Hematology and Oncology Products, FDA, will be keynote speakers at the upcoming CDISC International Interchange. The conference takes place 28-29 September 2016 in Bethesda, Maryland at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. CDISC authorized education and special workshops for clinicians, researchers and informaticians will be held on 26, 27 and 30 September. The conference theme for 2016 is Fostering Cutting-Edge Innovation to Advance Research.

CDISC is pleased to have two such inspiring speakers present keynote addresses at our flagship conference, said Dr. Rebecca Kush, CDISC President and CEO. Dr. Kibbes commitment to Precision Medicine and the Cancer Moonshot and Dr. Khozins presentation From Big Data to Smart Data will no doubt serve as motivating messages and reinforce the role of CDISC in enabling smarter research to unlock cures.

The annual International Interchange will also feature sessions focused on data sharing, the use of CDISC standards for nutrition research by Danone, the use of CDISC standards in studies sponsored by NIH/NIAID Division of AIDS at academic research centers, and the development of CDISC standards for a variety of therapeutic areas, which collectively affect over 5 million patients. A special session this year, chaired by Drs. Ron Fitzmartin (FDA) and Yuki Ando (PMDA), will cover requirements for CDISC standards when submitting data to regulatory authorities to obtain approval for new treatments. Representatives from the U.S. FDA who will participate in the Interchange include Boris Brodsky, Ta-Jen Chen, Dr. Ron Fitzmartin, Virginia Hussong, Dr. Laura Lee Johnson, Dr. Lisa LaVange, Dr. Eileen Navarro, Dr. Vaishali Popat, Mitra Rocca, Dr. Lilliam Rosario, Benjamin Vali, and Dr. Stephen Wilson. Dr. Yuki Ando and Hiroshi Sakaguchi will participate from the Japan PMDA. Regulatory requirements begin 01 October 2016 for submissions to the Japan PMDA, and 17 December 2016 for the U.S. FDA.

CDISC is grateful to all those who contribute to making CDISC Interchanges possible. CDISC extends special gratitude to Accenture for its fourth year Global Diamond sponsorship and to Omnicomm for their Global Ruby sponsorship of CDISC Interchanges. To learn more about this conference and ways to become involved with CDISC, please visit the International Interchange page on the CDISC website.

About CDISC - CDISC is a 501(c)(3) global non-profit charitable organization that streamlines research and enables connections to healthcare through the development of clinical research data standards. CDISC has developed a suite of standards to support clinical research from protocol through analysis and reporting. CDISC standards make it possible for data to speak the same language, empowering simple data collection and private sharing that makes the most of the valuable information offered by patients participating in research studies around the globe. Using CDISC standards from the start of studies enables Smarter Research to Unlock Cures (http://www.unlockcures.org), saving 70-90% time in the start-up of clinical research studies and ~60% overall in terms of time and resources to conduct research. CDISC is the patients advocate, creating therapeutic area data standards for over 25 different disease areas that advance medical product development and various types of clinical research.

CDISC is funded through the generous support of over 400 member organizations, as well as through grants, Authorized Education courses and CDISC events. To find out more about how to support CDISC, please visit http://www.cdisc.org.
The Channel Partners 360 award highlights the phenomenal business value Shamrock created for Borrego Health. Shamrock has consistently over-delivered on expectations by going above and beyond to find the most appropriate solution for our needs when none was initially evident.

During a ceremony at Channel Partners Evolution last night, Shamrock Consulting Group took home a 2016 Channel Partners 360 Business Value Award. The recognition highlighted the phenomenal business value Shamrock created for Borrego Health in migrating 22 locations from on-premise PBX to Fonalitys latest cloud platform.

Fonality, a Shamrock supplier that was recently rated PC Magazines Editors' Choice for Best Business VoIP 2016, nominated the IT consulting firm for the expertise in guiding shared customer Borrego Health on its journey to a cloud-based phone system. This new system protected significant Medicare revenue that was in jeopardy due to an unacceptably high volume of lost calls and hang ups by patients.

Were delighted to have our work recognized by the Channel Partners 360 Business Value Awards, said Paul Cooney, president of Shamrock. Shamrocks history as both a full-service telecommunications and IT consulting firm uniquely positioned us to deliver a cloud-based phone solution like no one else.

Shamrock has consistently over-delivered on expectations by going above and beyond to find the most appropriate solution for our needs when none was initially evident. Our phone systems are now centralized and easier to manage and our network reliability has significantly improved since working with Shamrock to build a fault-tolerant design that can scale with our organization, said Dave Baldwin, chief information officer for Borrego Health.

James [Munro at Shamrock] added a tremendous amount of value to his engagement with Borrego, said Sean Wilder, Fonality. Rather than simply facilitating a transaction with a single provider, James took the time to understand Borrego's organization and network in great detail and recommend the best possible solution for each individual aspect of their network. James then went on to fully managing the project as a single point of contact for all of the providers, allowing everyone to stay on the same page.

For more information about Shamrock Consulting Groups telecom and IT services, visit http://www.shamrockconsulting.com.

ABOUT SHAMROCK CONSULTING GROUP:

Shamrock is a full-service telecommunications and IT consulting firm with access to over 150 carriers in the telecom, data center, fiber, cloud, phone system/PBX and WAN industries. Formed to provide clients with a neutral and ongoing evaluation and sourcing of all communications requirements, Shamrocks free extension of your team approach has saved clients countless hours of wasted carrier meetings and over $250 million in billing. Established in 2008, Shamrock manages $80 million in revenue, has 20 employees and is headquartered in El Segundo, California. For more information visit http://www.shamrockconsulting.com.
We have launched a cost effective solution, eliminating over 30 sheets of paper per student, catapulting us into a technology-driven world to efficiently serve our entire school community.

PowerSchool designed and developed an online solution for North Carolinas Person County School District to replace a time-consuming, paper-based process for student registration. With PowerSchool Registration, families of the 4,700-student district can conveniently enroll and register their children online, giving school staff access to accurate and up-to-date information by the first day of school.

Both our parents and school staff were spending a lot of time managing paperwork every year. PowerSchool Registration provides us with the opportunity to improve efficiency, accuracy of student data, and engagement with our families, said Priscilla Thompson, Student Information Systems Coordinator for the Person County School District.

The electronic format allows families who have more than one child in the district to snap data from one student to another. SmartForm technology, an intuitive tool built into the solution, collects relevant data based on previously entered information or choices (grade, activities, medical history, etc.). The data submitted by families is reviewed, polished, and formatted to meet district policies and then delivered into the PowerSchool student information system, resulting in up-to-date records on the first day of school.

We use PowerSchools student information system, and by implementing PowerSchool Registration, we are providing our families and school staff with one solution to log into for managing a number of processes, said Thompson. We have launched a cost-effective solution, eliminating over 30 sheets of paper per student, catapulting us into a technology-driven world to efficiently serve our entire school community.

Online registration for the Person County School District recently launched. Families of high school and elementary school students should have received a notice with their childs snap code to enroll or register children for school. Parents of middle school students will receive student snap codes on August 22nd. Parents of new students are encouraged to visit the districts website to complete this process for the upcoming school year.

All schools will have an open lab with scheduled times for parents who wish to register students online at the school. Schools will notify parents via email and school connect calls of available dates and times.

About PowerSchool Group LLC

PowerSchool is the #1 leading education technology platform for K-12, serving more than 20 million students, 36 million parents, and 57 million users in over 70 countries around the world. We provide the industrys first Unified Classroom experience with best-in-class, secure, and compliant online solutions, including registration and school choice, student information systems, learning management and classroom collaboration, assessment, analytics, and special education management. We empower teachers and drive student growth through innovative digital classroom capabilities, and we engage families through real-time communications across any device. Visit http://www.powerschool.com to learn more.
StraighterLine, the fastest-growing provider of alternative academic credit, and Dallas County Community College District/DCCCD, one of the largest community college systems in Texas, are pleased to announce they are offering one of just a handful of programs to be picked for the U.S. Department of Educations EQUIP experiment. Through EQUIP, StraighterLine and DCCCD will offer two associate degree programs where StraighterLine delivers up to 75% of the coursework. These programs will primarily serve students that have attended some college, but have not yet obtained a credential. Tuition will be $99 per credit which includes all materials. Students enrolled in these programs will have access to federal financial aid. CHEA will serve as a Quality Assurance Entity, reviewing student outcomes and other information to assure the quality of the educational offerings.

Were seeing more and more new models of learning and training emerge from outside of traditional higher education institutions. Some of these new models may provide more flexible and more affordable educational options and credentials than those offered by traditional programs. The most expensive degree is the one you dont complete. EQUIP sites like this one are trying to change that, and were excited about their participation in the program, said Yuanxia Ding, Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education.

StraighterLine helps students lower the cost and risk of starting a degree and helps colleges attract and retain students. Students enrolling directly in StraighterLines general education courses pay a $99 per month subscription. College credit can be transferred to any of the more than 100 accredited colleges with whom we have guaranteed credit transfer agreements, said Burck Smith, StraighterLine CEO and founder. The EQUIP program allows trusted non-traditional education providers to participate in the financial aid system and validates the potential for new providers to help solve tough problems like tuition escalation, inconsistent credit transferability, low retention rates and high levels of student debt and default.

Thanks to the new EQUIP program, DCCCD students can complete and compete. In other words, they can finish college with an online degree and low-to-no debt, and they can compete in the workforce with a credential that employers want, said Dr. Joe May, Chancellor, Dallas County Community College District/DCCCD. In addition to affordability, DCCCD's partnership with StraighterLine and CHEA under the EQUIP program offers financial aid opportunities that students didn't have until now.

With student time and money and taxpayer dollars, educational quality must be assured, said Judith Eaton, President, Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Given that student enrollment in alternative credit pathways is growing, but they dont fit into traditional accrediting structures, new mechanisms of quality review need to be developed.

According to Dr. May, The new program is a win-win for everyone, thanks to this innovative partnership with StraighterLine and CHEA, supported by the U.S. Department of Education's EQUIP program.

About StraighterLine

StraighterLine combines a $99 a month course subscription with guaranteed credit pathways to accredited degree programs to save students up to 60% on the total cost of their degree.

StraighterLine takes the worry out of credit transfer with a College Savings Network of over 100 accredited colleges that guarantee acceptance of StraighterLine courses.

About Dallas County Community College District/DCCCD

The Dallas County Community College District serves more than 72,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students during the fall and spring semesters. DCCCD comprises seven individually-accredited colleges: Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland, plus its virtual campus, Dallas Colleges Online. The district celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015-2016. DCCCD's focus on employee and student success -- plus a higher education network of partnerships that serve students, businesses and community members -- is led by Dr. Joe May, the district's chancellor, with the support of its board of trustees.

About the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)

A national advocate and institutional voice for academic quality through accreditation, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes approximately 60 institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations.

For more information, contact Ann Hatch, DCCCD office of public and governmental affairs, 214-378-1819 or ahatch(at)dcccd(dot)edu; Beth Dumbauld, StraighterLine public relations, 443-712-7132 or bdumbauld(at)straighterline(dot)com; Tim Willard, CHEA Senior Director of Communications, 202-955-6126 or willard(at)chea(dot)org

For general information about EQUIP, visit: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-ed-launches-initiative-low-income-students-access-new-generation-higher-education-providers
Tracy Christman, co-host Art Edmonds, Pam Shaw, Budget Blinds franchise owner, and Gunny on the set of Military Makeover At Budget Blinds, we share a strong commitment to supporting veterans who have served our country. Many of our franchisees across the country are veterans or have personal connections to the U.S. Armed Forces...

Budget Blinds, the largest window coverings franchise in North America with over 1,000 territories, recently participated in its third episode of Designing Spaces Military Makeover. This time, the shows producers and sponsors surprised Marine Lance Corporal Michael Adams, whose vehicle ran over a double stack anti-tank mine while on tour in Afghanistan resulting in numerous surgeries on his left ankle and wrist, Traumatic Brain Injury, and PTSD, with a home that will support him and his family for the rest of their lives.

Military Makeover works hard to find deserving military veterans in need of home renovations as a way of saying thank you to our nations heroes like LCpl Adams who left the military with an honorable discharge on August 3, 2007. Michael went on to attend Motorcycle Mechanics Institute where he became a certified mechanic. In 2009, he met his wife Britiany and they now have two beautiful children. Their eight-year-old daughter, Nevaeh (which is Heaven spelled backwards) is an extremely outgoing and happy girl. Cecelia is three years old and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, acute Autism, and a white matter deficiency and has an underdeveloped corpus callosum. Although she is unable to speak, walk or crawl, she is a very happy child.

The newest addition to the Adams family, a service dog from K9 for Warriors named JW, came in June 2015, after a year-long wait. JW wakes Michael from nightmares and helps keep him calm in crowded places. In September of 2015, JW saved LCpl Adams life by alerting Britiany after he suffered a stroke, solidifying JWs position in the family.

The home that Military Makeovers team of experts, including Budget Blinds and their valued manufacturing partners, Custom Brands Group and Rowley, renovated for the Adams family originally belonged to Britianys grandparents who offered the home they were living in as a rent-to-own. With a little TLC, including the new child-safe window coverings, the home will certainly make life easier for Michael and his family.

To see the final results, watch the three-part series of Designing Spaces Military Makeover on Thursdays, beginning on August 18 at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime Television.

We were thrilled to participate in Military Makeover for our second time, said Tracy Christman, Vice President of Vendor Alliance at Budget Blinds, who also appears in an episode. Not only does Budget Blinds have a long-standing history and commitment to supporting our veterans, but also because one of Budget Blinds goals is to help educate consumers on products, options, and features to keep homes with children safe, while still enjoying beautiful window coverings.

Chief Executive Officer of Budget Blinds and its parent company, Home Franchise Concepts, Shirin Behzadi, also added, At Budget Blinds, we share a strong commitment to supporting veterans who have served our country. Many of our franchisees across the country are veterans or have personal connections to the U.S. Armed Forces, so we feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to give back to these true American heroes when and where we can.

Budget Blinds offers Veteran programs that heavily discount franchise fees, and recently received the Best for Vets: Franchise 2016 ranking by the Military Times. They have also received accolades or recognition for their Veteran programs from VetFran and Franchise Business Review, as well as other prestigious franchise networks including Entrepreneur, Franchise 500, Inc. 5000, Canadian Franchise Association and Franchise Times. To learn more about their Veteran business ownership opportunities, visit budget-blinds-franchise.com.

Budget Blinds will be featured in the three-part series airing on Thursdays, August 18, September 1, and September 15 on Lifetime Television at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT). Check your local listings.

About Military Makeover

From the producers of the award-winning home decorating and remodeling show, Designing Spaces, comes a very special mini-series dedicated to giving back to members of our Military and their loved ones. Enlisting the help of decorators, designers, landscapers and other home renovation experts, the host, retired United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant R. Lee Ermey, The Gunny, helps transform the homes  and the lives  of military families across the country. The series airs at 7:00 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime. http://www.militarymakeover.tv/

About Budget Blinds

Budget Blinds was founded in 1992 and is part of a family of brands under the umbrella of Home Franchise Concepts, franchisor of home improvement service companies including Tailored Living and Concrete Craft. Budget Blinds currently boasts more than 1,050 franchise territories throughout the United States, Canada and in Monterrey, Mexico. The company offers a full line of quality window coverings including shutters, shades, blinds, draperies and window film. It also provides free in-home consultations as well as complete measuring and installation services. Budget Blinds has been recognized as a leader in the franchise industry by organizations such as Entrepreneur, AllBusiness, Inc. and Franchise Business Review. For more information on Budget Blinds, visit http://www.budgetblinds.com or connect with us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/budgetblinds. For franchise opportunities, please visit http://www.budget-blinds-franchise.com.
The Simon Law Firm, P.C. attorney Amy Collignon Gunn was recently selected as 2017 "Lawyer of the Year" for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs in the St. Louis area.

Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the "Lawyer of the Year," making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer-review assessments.

Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity.

In addition to the Lawyer of the Year award, Amy Collignon Gunn was also listed in the 2017 Best Lawyers in America in the following practice areas:

Medical Malpractice Law Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

###

About Amy Collignon Gunn

Amy graduated cum laude from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1996 where she served as managing editor of the Saint Louis University Law Journal. Amy joined The Simon Law Firm, P.C. in 2002, after practicing for six years as a defense attorney in the areas of general negligence and products liability. This experience provides Amy a unique perspective, which helps her understand how better to represent her current clients, those who have been injured or lost a loved one due to someone elses carelessness.

For the second part of her career, Amy has concentrated her practice on prosecuting lawsuits against individuals and companies responsible for defective products, medical malpractice and other negligent acts. She has tried cases in numerous states and through her dedication and the help of a tremendous staff, she has obtained for her clients millions of dollars in compensation.

Amy has been recognized for her commitment to her clients and the legal community through receipt of the John C. Shepherd Professionalism Award in 2006, named an Up and Coming Lawyer by the Missouri Lawyers Media in 2007. Amy was the recipient of the Lon O. Hocker Trial Lawyer Award in 2007. She was also presented with the 40 Under 40 Award by the St. Louis Business Journal in 2008, and received the Womens Justice Rising Star Award in 2009. Amy has been listed by Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers since 2008 in the area of Products Liability and Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Top 50 Women in 2010. Best Lawyers in America has listed Amy in the Personal Injury Litigation practice area since 2009. In 2011 Amy was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyers by The National Lawyers Association. In 2013 Amy was presented with the Thomas G. Strong Trial Attorney Award. Amy was invited to fellowship in the Litigation Counsel of America in 2014.

Amy has taught Pre-Trial Litigation at Washington University School of Law since 2001 and lectures at legal seminars at least three times a year, concentrating on ethics and best trial practices. Each year, Amy organizes The Simon Law Firms annual Seminar to Benefit Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, which to date has raised over $223,110. Martindale-Hubbell has awarded Amy with an AV rating and she has been nominated and accepted as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Amy is also proud to have been recognized as a Kentucky Colonel by her home state.

Amy is licensed to practice law in numerous states and is a member of local, state and national bar associations. Amy is a co-chair of the Womens Caucus of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys where she also sits on the Board of Governors. She is a former member-at-large of the Board of the Women Lawyers Association of Greater St. Louis and also served as former Treasurer of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis Board of Governors.
Award winning bookkeeping software provider Receipt Bank is launching a new feature that streamlines important client processes by connecting multiple accounting apps together.

The new Additional Integrations feature allows firms to choose where their clients receipts, credit notes and invoices go once processed by Receipt Banks industry-leading data extraction software.

The first to get the Additional Integrations treatment is Xero + Bill.com. An accountant using the three apps together can set smart rules to automatically forward supplier bills to be paid to Bill.com or straight to Xero if the payment already matches one in the clients bank feed.

Previously, firms would have to train their clients to use several apps, often leading to confusion and frustration. Additional Integrations simplifies the client experience and makes it easier for firms to access the data they need to provide value-added services.

"Receipt Bank's Additional Integrations feature means we can offer our clients one seamless experience, says Corey Savoie, CPA of Xero Gold Partner firm Aldridge Borden.

Receipt Bank's commitment to a mobile first experience has been met with delight from Aldridge Borden clients and our team alike as more and more information flows from the client to the firm more efficiently."

Additional Integrations also works with QuickBooks Online and other leading cloud accounting software such as WorkflowMax and Gusto will be added shortly.

"Additional Integrations builds on Receipt Bank's commitment to helping bookkeepers and accountants around the world make their client's bookkeeping effortless, says Alexis Prenn, Receipt Bank CEO and Co-Founder.

Clients and accountants alike now have one single platform available to them to manage client data. Accountants can further streamline their processes and help deliver an even better experience to their clients."

At Receipt Bank were delighted to be shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Xero and Bill.com to help bring a unique mobile first, cloud enabled experience to our partners clients, says Damien Greathead, VP of Receipt Bank North America.

More and more, members of the accounting add-on community are starting to work together to solve our mutual partners challenges. The power of the automated bookkeeping ecosystem is truly in collaboration. Together we can help solve the challenges our mutual partners are facing.

Russ Fujioka, Xero Americas President said, "With more than 500 add-on integrations in the Xero App Marketplace, we have established our open ecosystem to help boost small business productivity. By enabling add-on partners like Receipt Bank and Bill.com to build strong connections with small business owners, we can help entrepreneurs get paid faster and have a complete view of their finances.

"The Xero app marketplace combined with beautiful integrations with and between our add-on partners enables us to better connect small businesses with technology, government and financial institutions so they can truly harness the power of the network."

About Receipt Bank

Receipt Bank provides award-winning bookkeeping automation software for accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses. Over 5,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms around the world already use it to automate data extraction and data entry.

Receipt Bank integrates with leading accounting software such as Xero and has been awarded Xero Add-on of the Year 2012  2015.

Founded in 2010 by Michael Wood and Alexis Prenn, Receipt Bank now has six offices worldwide. In January 2016, Receipt Bank raised USD$10 million in growth capital from the Kennet Fund.
Ono Hawaiian BBQ at Riverside Plaza

Ono Hawaiian BBQ is celebrating its new restaurant with a Grand Opening Luau this Thursday August 18, 2016 at 3540 Riverside Plaza Dr, Suite #324, Riverside, California. This is the 58th restaurant for the Hawaiian food chain and the third branch in the city of Riverside.

The Grand Opening Celebration will have special events including:



Ribbon cutting ceremony 10:45AM

Raffling of fifty $100 Ono Hawaiian BBQ gift cards 11:00AM to 1:00PM

Buy One Get One Free deal 11:00AM to 9:00PM

Hawaiian dance performance 12:00PM to 2:00PM

The approximately 1800 square-feet Ono Hawaiian BBQ incorporates the brands industrial chic design inspired by Hawaiis rustic elements; featuring reclaimed wood walls, rope lighting, aqua tiles, and tropical planters. The restaurant has seating for 46 guests inside the dining room.

About Ono Hawaiian BBQ

Ono Hawaiian BBQ is a fast casual restaurant with locations in California and Arizona that serves Hawaiian Plate Lunches and other island specialties. All of Ono Hawaiian BBQ plates are created with fresh ingredients using authentic Hawaiian recipes, prepared daily in each restaurant and grilled fresh to order. Ono Hawaiian BBQ operates 58 restaurants throughout California and Arizona and have plans to open 12 more locations in the next year.

Fans can receive promotions and news by Liking Ono Hawaiian BBQ on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OnoHawaiianBBQ or joining Club Ono. For more information please visit http://www.OnoBBQ.com or @OnoHawaiianBBQ on Instagram.

Ono Hawaiian BBQ  Riverside #3

3540 Riverside Plaza Dr, Suite #324

Riverside, CA 92506

Phone: (951)328-1988

Sun - Thurs: 11:00AM  9:00PM

Fri-Sat: 11:00AM  9:30PM
Michael Spicer, Esq. While many law firms in the default services space have had to either reduce their size or cease operations, ALAW continues to grow upon its strategic foundation of people, process, and technology.

ALAW, a full-service real estate law firm that represents the mortgage industry, including the nations top financial institutions, is pleased to announce that Michael Spicer has joined the firm as Managing Attorney of Default Operations for the firms North Carolina operation. Spicer joins Joe Thompson, Managing Attorney of Title and Closing Services, at the firms growing office in Charlotte, North Carolina.

While many law firms in the default services space have had to either reduce their size or cease operations, ALAW continues to grow upon its strategic foundation of people, process, and technology, said Jim Albertelli, Founding Partner at ALAW. We are pleased to welcome an experienced leader like Mike as ALAW continues to expand its breadth of default legal services in the Carolinas. The firm is well situated to provide immediate foreclosure representation with best in class service under his leadership.

Spicer brings nearly a decade of experience in managing default operations to ALAWs North Carolina office. Spicer most recently managed default services operations at Rogers Townsend and also serves as a legal educator, conducting numerous Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars on mortgage servicing and default law.

About ALAW:

ALAW is a full-service real estate law firm that primarily represents the mortgage industry, including the nations top financial institutions, throughout the loan life-cycle from securitization through origination and asset reclamation. ALAW is well situated to represent its clients with experienced attorneys in all of the states in which it practices. Providing regional expertise in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Additional information can be found at ALAW.net.
Photo/thepaper.cn

NANNING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A major woman culprit of a transnational child trafficking gang, Huang Qingheng, was executed by a court in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Tuesday.

Huang's execution was sanctioned by China's Supreme Court.

Huang, whose nationality was not clear, claimed to be born in 1982 and lived in Vietnam. Huang and her gang were found guilty of trafficking more than 20 infants and children since 2010, according to court verdicts.

Children were smuggled from Vietnam to be sold in China, mainly in Guangdong Province, or pregnant Vietnamese women were sent to China and to sell their children after they were born.

Eleven of the children were rescued by Chinese police, 10 of whom were Vietnamese and sent back to Vietnam. The rescued were aged from 10 days to seven months old.

There were 23 members with Huang's gang, who are both Chinese and Vietnamese nationals. Apart from Huang, they were given jail terms ranging from 22 months to life imprisonment after they were convicted of child trafficking.

Huang was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Fangchenggang City in Guangxi for being found guilty of child trafficking in a first-instant trial held in May 2014. She was also stripped of all her property. Huang appealed her case to a higher court.

The higher people's court in the region dismissed her appeal in January 2015 and upheld the ruling made by the lower court before submitting Huang's death sentence to the Supreme Court for approval.
Lisa Sasevich If you're looking to establish your credibility in your industry, or take a big leap and come out on top of all the other subject matter out there . One way you can do that  plus a whole lot of other things in one fell swoop  is to offer a telesummit.

For heart-centered experts, entrepreneurs, speakers, and service professionals who want to establish credibility in their industry and establish their expertise, Queen of Sales Conversion Lisa Sasevich is offering a free training Wednesday, August 17th at 1 pm Pacific/ 4 pm Eastern: "How to Establish Your Expertise and Create a Big Tribe of Hot, Ready-to-Go Prospective Clients, Fast, Using Telesummits."

Sasevich created a new video about the training, which people can view here: https://youtu.be/1P5oDDNR9G0

"If you're looking to establish your credibility in your industry, quickly, or take a big leap and come out on top of all the other subject matter out there," said Sasevich, one way you can do that  plush a whole lot of other things in one fell swoop  is to offer a telesummit."

In the past several years, Sasevich has trained increasing numbers of entrepreneurs on her Ultimate Telesummit Formula.

Now, on Wednesday, August 17, she's offering a complimentary training series so people can get started.

Those who attend the first training in this series will learn:



Why timing truly IS everything, and how to determine whether this is the right time to put together a telesummit (and if not now, then when).

Why hosting a telesummit is hands-down one of the best ways to expand reach while creating powerful partnerships, raving fans, and profits.

The Number One thing they must get clear on before having a telesummit, so they're sure to attract the most ideal clients who are ready to say, "Yes!"

And more.

"The telesummit is the fastest way to build your mojo, build your following, and establish credibility as an expert, fast," Sasevich said, citing her own success using telesummits, and that of her clients, as proof that the Ultimate Telesummit Formula is a proven list-building option that gives entrepreneurs and their guest experts much-needed credibility and delivers great clients  and income.

Watch Sasevich's video on the training here: https://youtu.be/1P5oDDNR9G0

Or, enroll right away, here: http://www.telesummitmagic.com/unlocked

Honored with the Distinguished Mentor Award from the Business Expert Forum at the Harvard Faculty Club, recipient of the coveted eWomen Network Foundation Champion award for her generous fundraising, and ranked on the prestigious Inc. 500/5000 list of Americas Fastest Growing Private Companies for 2 years in a row, Lisa Sasevich The Queen of Sales Conversion teaches experts who are making a difference how to get their message out and enjoy massive results, without being salesy.

After 25 years of winning Top Sales Awards and training senior executives at companies like Pfizer and Hewlett-Packard, she left corporate America and put her skills to the test as an entrepreneur delivering high-impact sales-closing strategies for turbo-charging entrepreneurs and small business owners to great profits.

In just a few short years, Lisa created a multi-million dollar home-based business with two toddlers in tow. Lisa really is the undisputed expert on how to make BIG money doing what you love!

To receive monthly Sales Nuggets and Lisa's free sales training, "Boost Sales with Irresistible Offers," sign up today at http://www.FreeSalesTrainingFromLisa.com
Wyders Hard Cider, which has specialized in eclectic fruit-forward ciders for more than two decades, has a new addition to its portfolio  Wyders Prickly Pineapple.

One of the first ciders to catch the craft movement on the Pacific Northwest, Wyders has continued to delight fans with its quirky and fruit-forward flavors, said Megan Skinner, Wyders Brand Manager. Its a pretty hyper-connected world, so when you get a chance to unplug, we think Wyders Prickly Pineapple is a refreshing break.

An exotic duet, Wyders Prickly Pineapple combines the juices from both prickly pear cacti and pineapples. Tickling the tongue, each sip brings forward a light and sweet taste like a refreshing pina colada.

Prickly Pineapple (5% ABV) joins the other members of the Wyders portfolio of gluten free hard ciders:



Dry Pear  This light, crisp cider presents a tangy aroma while offering a distinct pear taste, and ends with a lively mouth feel that tickles the tongue. (4%ABV)

Dry Raspberry  This cider is light in body and features mouthwatering raspberry notes. It retains a dry and sparkling finish. (4% ABV)

Reposado Pear Wyders Dry Pear is aged in a reposado tequila barrel, yielding a refreshing cider with smooth subtle oak laden tequila notes. (6.9% ABV)

Wyders Prickly Pineapple will be initially available in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Colorado in 12 ounce bottle six packs ($9.99) and draft. A list of accounts is available at http://www.wyders.com/locator/.

The brand will be supported through launch events in targeted markets like Portland, San Diego, San Antonio and Denver, social media, influencer marketing and public relations.

About Wyders Cider

In the late 80s and early 90s, the Pacific Northwest saw the first wave of the craft movement in beer and cider. Among those riding that wave was Wyder's Cider out of Vancouver, Canada. In 1993, Wyder's moved to the US and launched Wyder's Pear and Raspberry, two of the first cider varieties to feature a second fruit, and word of their unique taste spread quickly. Wyder's has continued steady growth through the years, and now includes a portfolio of Pear, Raspberry, Reposado and Prickly Pineapple varieties.

# # #

Samples and hi-res images are available by contacting Megan Skinner, phone and email.
Outskirts Press, the #1-rated self-publishing company according to Top Consumer Reviews, has announced that its long-anticipated new website is available for all new authors. The company has also publicized an introductory offer this week for childrens book writers to help them on their journey to becoming published authors: $600 off its One-Click for Non-Fiction package.

Recognizing how hard it is for authors to be writers, illustrators, graphic designers, copyright experts, and authorities on public relations, Outskirts Press has designed a package that includes everything an author will need to from the beginning to the end of the childrens book publishing process. With the Outskirts Press One-Click packages authors will be assisted by a team of professionals to navigate through the many options this package includes:



Paperback AND Hardback Publication

Custom Cover

Editing Services

Fifteen Unique Color Illustrations

Copyright Registration

Publicist Campaign

Personal Marketing Assistant

as well as many other features.

Outskirts Press is dedicated to providing authors with an enjoyable publishing experience while also helping them to achieve their personal and professional goals.

For more information about Outskirts Press One-Click for Childrens Book package, visit http://rwd.outskirtspress.com/options/17722_one_click_publishing_for_childrens_books.html

About Outskirts Press, Inc.: Outskirts Press helps authors develop and publish high-quality books by offering exceptional design, printing, publishing, distribution, and book marketing services. Top Consumer Reviews ranks Outskirts Press #1 because they are passionate about delivering outstanding customer service, affordable pricing, industry-leading royalties, and a team of hands-on, US-based publishing experts. At http://www.outskirtspress.com you can publish your book, your way, today.

Outskirts Press, Inc., 10940 S. Parker Rd - 515, Parker, Colorado 80134

http://outskirtspress.com 1-888-OP-BOOKS
Seasoned construction veteran Gary Thalheimer joins the Gilbane Chicago's team Adding Gary to our Chicago leadership team is another step toward our continued commitment to growing our Chicago presence. - Adam Jelen, Gilbane Building Company Senior Vice President and Division Leader

Gilbane Building Company is honored to welcome Gary Thalheimer as a Vice President/District Manager in Gilbanes Chicago office. Gary most recently served as the Midwest Regional Manager for his previous employer.

Mr. Thalheimer brings more than 35 years of experience in the design, development and construction of over $5 billion of projects in a variety of markets including high rise, multi-family, residential and commercial. Significant projects in his portfolio include the Blue Cross Blue Shield Headquarters, 345 East Ohio, The Heritage at Millennium Park, The Legacy at Millennium Park and Roosevelt Collection, to name a few. Mr. Thalheimer will leverage this significant experience in his role to increase Gilbanes visibility and market share in the corporate and developer markets.

For us, it is about building the best people, relationships and the Chicago community. People and passion make the difference. Adding Gary to our Chicago leadership team is another step toward our continued commitment to growing our Chicago presence. said Adam Jelen, Gilbane Building Company Senior Vice President and Division Leader.

Mr. Thalheimer holds a Master of Architecture with specialization in Structural Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. He is also a Registered Architect in the state of Illinois and is active in several organizations including ULI, CTBUH and Rebuilding Metro Chicago.

About Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services  from preconstruction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, close-out and facility management services  for clients across various markets. Founded in 1873 and still a privately held, family-owned company, Gilbane has more than 50 office locations around the world. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com.

Gilbane has two permanent offices located in Chicago, as well as an extensive knowledge of the Chicagoland market including construction processes, area subcontractors/suppliers, local M/WBE contractors, and familiarity with Chicago jurisdictional authorities. With 38 years of success in the highly competitive Chicagoland market, Gilbane is committed to continuing the strong tradition of excellence in the Chicago construction industry.
Dedicated to providing juice with the highest density of nutrients and live enzymes.

Boise Juice Company announced, today, the opening of their new store and Boises first cold-pressed juice bar to be located at 5628 W State Street. The announcement comes after Boise Juice acquired Bowl of Heaven-Boise with plans to incorporate the two menus.

Boise Juice Co. will move into the current Bowl of Heaven-Boise storefront and open its doors to the public on September 1. The Company will continue to offer its complete line of raw, cold-pressed juice along with the acai bowls and smoothies that have become a staple for Bowl of Heaven-Boise patrons. In addition to healthy grab-and-go food and beverage items, the new location will also offer Boise Juices signature cleanses and wellness packs.

The availability of same-day cleanses is a step forward for Boise Juice, as customers previously had to order juice 48 hours in advance, said Jessica Walton, owner of Boise Juice Company. This new convenience will provide more opportunity and availability for people looking to do a one to six-day juice cleanse.

Boise Juice Co. is dedicated to providing juice with the highest density of nutrients and live enzymes. By using the cold-press method, enzymes and cellular structures remain intact to ensure a nutrient-rich juice for customers.

Our juice is made fresh just hours before its sold, said Walton. This sets us apart from juice you find on store shelves at Whole Foods and the Co-op, which have been processed using High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) and sit on the shelves an average of 25 days.

The made-fresh daily fare is primarily raw, vegan and gluten free consisting of local, non-GMO vegetables, fruits and herbs. Menu items with names like City of Greens, Turmeric Tonic and CoCo Beach offer an exciting flavor profile while providing you with more than your daily dose of fruits and vegetables.

The new store will be open seven days a week Monday-Friday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM; and Sunday 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Follow Boise Juice Company on Facebook /boisejuice and Instagram @BoiseJuice. For more information on Boise Juice Co. or to place an order, visit the website at boisejuice.com or call (208) 996-0707 or email info(at)boisejuice(dot)com.

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About Boise Juice Co.

Boise Juice specializes in crafting raw, cold-pressed juice enriched with the highest density of nutrients & flavor. We believe in supporting local and regional farms in Idaho, Oregon and Washington that grow non-GMO produce. All of our juices are extracted using a hydraulic cold-press juicer, which maintains the temperature of the produce and limits oxidation by exerting more than eight thousand pounds of pressure. Many juice bars use centrifugal and masticating juicers that grind fruits and vegetables to a pulp at high speeds, aerating and heating the juice. Those processes destroy the precious nutrients and living enzymes found within each fruit and vegetable. The cold-press method maintains the integrity of the plants cellular structure and extracts the purest form of juice with the greatest density of nutrients and flavor.

About Bowl of Heaven - Boise

Bowl of Heaven-Boise serves healthy acai bowls and superfood smoothies. No Ice. No Dairy. No processed sugars. Just natures best fruit topped with granola, fresh fruit, and honey. The acai berry (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) is grown in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. This antioxidant-rich super-fruit is the base for all of our Bowls. We mix in fresh, frozen and exotic super-fruits and after a quick turn of the blender  BAM!  you have heaven in a bowl. Every spoonful of this smooth, thick, raw fruit concoction sends your taste buds to paradise.
CMOM FFIEC Compliance Console "Automating the collaboration required to complete a comprehensive assessment significantly reduces the time it takes. -Charlie Leonard, VP Products, Cybernance

Cybernance has launched a major update of its cybersecurity governance platform to fully automate the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool developed by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). FFIEC assessments involve a risk profile assessment and a cybersecurity maturity assessment, and both are supported in the new release.

We recognized the challenges that financial institutions face in implementing the comprehensive FFIEC guidelines, said Charlie Leonard, VP Products at Cybernance Corporation. Automating the collaboration required to complete a comprehensive assessment significantly reduces the time it takes.

The Federal Financial Investigations and Examinations Council (FFIEC) published guidelines for financial services companies to assess and manage their cyber risk in mid-2015. Two key components are amenable to automated assessment: (1) the inherent risk of an organization, which derives from its size, position in the market, and type of services, and (2) security controls that have been implemented, which are largely based on NIST principles.

The FFIEC Compliance Module is integrated into CMOM (SEE-mom), Cybernances secure cybergovernance platform hosted on Amazon Web Services. The FFIEC Module collects data across the organization and displays in a console how well aligned the organization is with FFIECs five domains of cyber risk management.

The FFIEC Module also reveals how internal controls contribute to adherence to the FFIEC guidelines. This comprehensive view helps compliance and audit professionals understand compliance needs and build a roadmap to address the highest priorities. Clicking on a rule reveals details about each control that contributes to compliance, reports its implementation status, and identifies its owner or administrator.

We will continue to expand the capabilities of the governance platform we created to enable executives to manage cybersecurity and directors to oversee it, said Cybernance CEO Mike Shultz. Adding FFIEC support to our support for NIST, HIPAA, and other key benchmarks broadens CMOMs value to existing customers, and it will enable financial institutions to adopt an emerging standard way to assess compliance.

For more information, visit http://www.cybernance.com/FFIEC/.

About Cybernance Corporation

Cybernance is an Austin-based company that developed the Cybergovernance Maturity Oversight Model (CMOM), a SaaS governance platform. CMOM protects executives and directors from personal liability for breaches by enabling oversight of cyber risk and active engagement in managing risk mitigation. The company publishes articles regularly in Cybergovernance Journal about the challenges faced by management and boards in steering their organizations toward cyber maturity.

The Cybernance logo is available at

http://www.cybernance.com/wp-content/uploads/cynbernance_logo_press.jpg

Contact:

Bob Barker

12600 Hill Country Blvd., Suite R275

Bee Cave, TX 78738

+1 512.329.2643

Bob.barker(at)cybernance.com

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The latest Fonality integration offers medical and dental practices the opportunity to bundle their phone system and unified communications (UC) as part of Inteveos iMediSuite solution. This integration addresses three top challenges facing the future of dental and medical practices everywhere.

The latest Fonality Heads Up Display (HUD) platform integration offers medical and dental practices the opportunity to bundle their phone system and unified communications (UC) as part of Inteveos iMediSuite comprehensive practice management and business optimization solution.

iMediSuite is designed to streamline and modernize communications for the more than 1.1 million practicing physicians and dentists in North America.* As part of the bundled solution, iMediSuite also incorporates connectivity for a HIPAA-Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) and centralized Patient Management platforms.

This integration addresses three top challenges facing the future of dental and medical practices everywhere: new patients, retention and treatment planning. Practitioners have been in desperate need of a solution that will allow them to consolidate their front desk operations and patient phone calls with their EHR platform in order to help staff reduce the average response time, improve time management, and enhance total quality of their dental and medical services. Now they have a solution that incorporates more than 100+ business phone features, unlimited calling, and the ability to securely display pertinent patient information during active calls. These great features and more on a single screen enable staff to communicate with patients and one another from inside and outside the office with ease.

We have diligently searched for a suitable technology partner that can provide our clients with an effective, feature-rich business phone system as part of our iMediSuite family of products and services. We needed a system that can seamlessly integrate with our innovative Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Patient Management platforms, in a single, easy-to-use interface, said Sean Darwish, CEO of Inteveo. Nothing compares to HUDs superior capabilities including the unique user interface, robust features and, of course, Fonalitys unwavering commitment to quality of service and support.

Fonality is proud to include numerous medical and dental practices as well as healthcare facilities among our customers, said Jeff Valentine, Fonality chief marketing officer. Were also strong believers in expanding the definition of unified communications to meet the needs of specific market segments. Its exciting to participate in Inteveos iMediSuite solution as the latest way to fulfill that commitment. Were looking forward to helping thousands of practices improve patient communications and cut costs with our partners at Inteveo.

Fonalitys award-winning UC platform brings together calling features, chat, presence, audio and video conferencing, voicemail transcription, and more. And combined with iMediSuite functionality, doctors and dentists now have access to the full range of Fonality business communication tools, including customizations like SMS text messaging. These tools will help them streamline operations and provide patients with a higher quality of service than ever before.

Inteveos bundled iMediSuite solution is the first to ever incorporate a wide range of services including digital marketing, practice management, unified communications, and patient services in a single, affordable offering.

For more information, call 800-501-2756 or email info(at)imedisuite(dot)com and ask about iMediSuite with Fonality.

*Source: Henry J. Kaiser Foundation 2016
Joseph Purita, M.D., The world-class symposium will showcase the historic advances in stem cell medicine achieved since the first symposium was held just two years ago in 2014.

Global Stem Cells Group plans to honor Joseph Purita, M.D., during its 3rd Annual International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina Sept. 28, 2016. The symposium will be hosted in collaboration with Julio Ferreira, M.D., President of the South American Academy Cosmetic Surgery, an event expected to attract a record number of physicians, researchers and regenerative medicine experts from around the world.

Purita, a renown orthopedic and arthroscopic surgeon heads GSCGs Scientific Advisory Board. A pioneer in the use of Stem Cell and PRP therapy for orthopedic conditions, Purita has practiced with the Boca Raton Orthopaedic Group in Boca Raton, Florida since 1981. In 2012, Purita gained international attention when he treated New York Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colons ligament damage with stem cells, restoring the athletes injured shoulder and career. Purita has since treated an array of professional athletes with career-threatening injuries.

The GSCG Symposium offers an opportunity for many of the worlds most respected authorities on stem cell and regenerative medicine to join Purita and other industry leaders to showcase advancements in research and therapies on a global level.

An interdisciplinary team of leading international stem cell experts will provide a full day of high-level scientific lectures geared to medical professionals. Pioneers and luminaries in stem cell medicine will serve as featured speakers, led by keynote speakers Purita and Duncan Ross, Ph.D. Ross, a GSCG Advisory Board faculty member, is a molecular biologist, immunologist and researcher, and the founder of Kimera Labs.

According to Benito Novas, Global Stem Cells Group CEO, the world-class event will showcase the historic advances in stem cell medicine achieved since the first symposium was held just two years ago in 2014.

Weve come so far since 2014, and this years symposium will highlight the strides Global Stem Cells Group has made in these two years, Novas says. And it is only fitting that we take the opportunity to acknowledge Dr. Puritas contributions to our growth.

This year, we will showcase how far stem cell therapies have come, and provide some of the most influential leaders like Dr. Purita, who understand the potential of these therapies and have dedicated their careers to making them a reality.

Since 2014, Global Stem Cells Group has joined forces with some of the most prestigious regenerative medicine practitioners in South America as it focuses on growing its services throughout the global community. Stem cell therapies continue to revolutionize the anti-aging aesthetics industry while offering new hope for sufferers of serious chronic debilitating diseases.

To learn more about the 3rd Annual International Symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, visit the Global Stem Cells Group website, email bnovas(at)stemcellsgroup(dot)com, or call 305-560-5337.

About Global Stem Cells Group:

Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. is the parent company of six wholly owned operating companies dedicated entirely to stem cell research, training, products and solutions. Founded in 2012, the company combines dedicated researchers, physician and patient educators and solution providers with the shared goal of meeting the growing worldwide need for leading edge stem cell treatments and solutions. With a singular focus on this exciting new area of medical research, Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiaries are uniquely positioned to become global leaders in cellular medicine.

About Joseph Purita, M.D.

Joseph Purita, M.D., a pioneer in the use of Stem Cell and PRP therapy for orthopedic conditions, graduated from Georgetown University Medical School and served his surgical internship at the University of Florida Medical Center. Following completion of a residency in orthopedic surgery at University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he served as chief administrative resident, Dr. Purita joined the Boca Raton Orthopaedic Group in 1981.

Purita is a Fellow, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons; Fellow, American College of Surgeons; member, American Medical Association; member, Southern Medical Association; member, Palm Beach Medical Society; member, Broward County Medical Society; member, Palm Beach Orthopedic Society, and member, Florida Medical Association. His certifications include the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery; American College of Orthopaedic Surgery; American Board of Pain Management, and the American Board of Regenerative Medicine.

Purita is an instructor and proctor of surgeons in the use of lasers in arthroscopic and orthopedic surgery at a variety of area hospitals, and heads GSCGs Scientific Advisory Board.
Mammography Technologists LeAnn Fryer, R.T. (R) and Lynn Foster, R.T. (R) at MRHS Working with Southeast Imaging, we found that the Cristalle and AccuDetect offered the most advanced solution.

Parascript announces that Mena Regional Health System (MRHS) has adopted Fujifilms Aspire Cristalle and Parascript AccuDetect Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) for mammography to ensure dose reduction, higher image quality and fewer false-positives. MRHS, named in the top 100 rural and community hospitals in the United States by iVantage Health Analytics, is located in the Ouachita mountains of rural Arkansas. The hospital has received multiple awards for its quality service, employing state-of-the-art technology for optimal patient care.

We are the only hospital in the area so we are committed to offering a high level of service to save patients from having to drive an hour or more for the best medical services, said Todd Laing, Director of Radiology at MRHS. So, when we adopt new technology, we take our time to evaluate all our options. It took us almost two years to fully evaluate the leading products. Working with Southeast Imaging, we found that the Cristalle and AccuDetect offered the most advanced solution.

In June, Southeast Imaging completed the installations of Fujifilm Cristalle and Parascript AccuDetect for MRHS. Southeast Imaging provides imaging equipment and IT services to hospitals and practices across the southeastern United States. Parascript's AccuDetect, the next generation CAD, assists in the early detection of breast cancer when coupled with full-field digital mammography systems such as the FujiFilm Aspire Cristalle advanced digital mammography system. These technologies combined provide exceptional imaging for all breast types, offering the highest resolution images on the market today coupled with the lowest patient dose, and with precise CAD markings for areas of interest.

Theres no comparison from what I can see now compared to what I used to be able to see, said MRHS Radiologist Dr. Jonathan Welsh. It is a combination of the resolution of the Cristalle device and AccuDetect software that helps identify what I might want to follow up. We just had a case that if it werent for the CAD, I might not have called this patient back for additional testing. Over all, were calling back a lot fewer patients for additional imaging, which is a lot better for our patients. Im actually referring fewer biopsies as well.

Historically, CAD software have identified false-positiveswhere a mammogram shows an abnormal area that looks like a cancer and turns out to be normal, but this solution can reduce false-positives. It can be stressful and costly for patients called back into the office for further screening. Parascript AccuDetect CAD uses multiple independent cancer detection algorithms and a unique patented voting methodology to combine its findings. Comparing the results of the multiple image recognition processes allows for improved sensitivity and reduced false-positive rates.

In terms of the installation process, Director Laing admits that he was surprised. We have put in a lot of other new technologies recently, and there are always unexpected challenges, said Director Laing. There were a lot of moving parts other than just installing the machine. Even though we have a lot of systems that it had to be integrated with, this had to be one of our easiest installs.

IMPROVED PATIENT EXPERIENCE

Almost no one really wants to go in for a mammography exam so ensuring it is a comfortable, unstressful event with timely results has always been a high priority at MCHS. The Fujifilm Cristalle is equipped with a patented comfort paddle from the chest wall out and also laterally from side-to-side around the breast so compression is more effective than with the traditional paddle method and more can be seen while keeping a close chest wall image, according to Heath Allen, Mammography Sales Manager of Southeast Imaging.

I have heard from several patients that this provides a significant increase in comfort during the exam. The compression is better than ever before, and yet, the patient is more comfortable, said Dr. Welsh. Thats helpful to me and the patient.

Fujifilms Aspire Cristalle with AccuDetect CAD offer faster results. AccuDetect CAD processes images significantly faster than other CAD providers with a processing time of 11 seconds per image, and 45 seconds per 4-view study.

It is amazing how much quicker our team can process these images, said Director Laing.

About Mena Regional Health Services

Mena Regional Health Services located in Mena, Arkansas, is a patient-focused team of healthcare professionals committed to providing individualized care and a diverse compliment of inpatient and outpatient services to the communities of Polk County, Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma. Inpatient services include acute care medical/surgical services, ICU, labor and delivery, geriatric psychiatry unit (Mena Senior Behavioral Health Center) and an acute care physical rehabilitation unit (Mena Rehabilitation Center). Outpatient services include; Ouachita Rehabilitation Center, radiology, dermatology, cardiology, ophthalmology and otolaryngology clinics. Mena Regional Health System is accredited by the Arkansas State Department of Health and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid. MRHS is a model for regional healthcare in America that strives to always exceed the expectations of its customers. Visit Mena Regional Health System.

Southeast Imaging

Southeast Imaging (SEI), headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas, provides imaging equipment and IT services to much of the southeastern United States. Southeast Imaging provides highly successful solutions to major hospitals, rural hospitals, large practices and small practices alike. With an advanced selection of imaging equipment and multiple options for purchasing, SEI customizes its products and services to fit each customers specific goals and financial needs. Visit Southeast Imaging.

About Parascript, LLC

Parascript automates the extraction of meaningful, contextual data from image and document-based information. Parascript AccuDetect Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) software helps radiologists read digital mammograms. Using several complementary algorithms and a patented voting method to achieve high sensitivity and low false-positive rates, AccuDetect identifies areas suspicious for breast cancer for further review. AccuDetect improves the performance of radiologists in discriminating between malignant and nonmalignant cases. Visit Parascript Medical Imaging.
Recorded Books, Inc., a leader in spoken-word content and distribution, is pleased to announce that Tom MacIsaac has joined the company as its president and chief executive officer. Prior to joining Recorded Books, Mr. MacIsaac served as CEO of Verve Mobile from 2010 to 2015. Under his leadership, Verve became a global leader in mobile media and advertising. Before joining Verve, Mr. MacIsaac held several senior leadership roles at other media and technology firms. These roles included his service as CEO of ExtendMedia; senior vice president, strategy & corporate development, at AOL; and CEO of Lightningcast. Mr. MacIsaac began his career as an attorney at Dechert LLP.

Mike LaSalle, partner at Shamrock Capital Advisors, Recorded Books primary shareholder, said, We are thrilled to welcome Tom to Recorded Books. His deep media, technology and M&A experienceat both the strategic and tactical levelswill be critical assets for the company as we seek to sharpen our content focus, strengthen our digital-media distribution, and grow enterprise value organically and through acquisitions. We could not have scripted a better candidate for this role.

Upon accepting the position, Mr. MacIsaac said, I am very excited to be joining Recorded Books. I think Recorded Books unique position as the largest independent publisher of audiobooks, combined with the broader market opportunity in spoken-word content, positions us extremely well for continued growth and success. Im really looking forward to working with the outstanding Recorded Books team to build and expand the business.

About Recorded Books, Inc.

Recorded Books is a leading publisher of spoken-word content. It is the largest independent publisher of audiobooks and provider of digital media to consumer, retail, professional, school, library and infotainment markets. The company owns an exclusive catalog of more than 27,000 audiobook titles narrated by professional, award-winning actors. Recorded Books also provides digital audiobooks and eBooks, as well as other compelling third-party content, including digital magazines and films. The company operates in the United Kingdom through its W. F. Howes subsidiary and in Australia through its Wavesound subsidiary. Recorded Books was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Prince Frederick, MD. For more information, visit recordedbooks.com.
SHENYANG, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A gang of 38 tomb raiders have been jailed in northeast China's Liaoning Province. They were involved in 36 cases of stealing from ancient ruins, including from a state-level protected heritage site dating back 1,000 years, a local court said Tuesday.

Gang leader Wu Anjie, 48, was given a jail term of 11 years and six months. Other sentences ranged from one year to nine years, according to a statement issued by the Benxi Intermediate People's Court.

Using a metal detector, the gang stole from tombs and other ancient ruins from 2006 to 2014, obtaining gold earrings, the pearl accessories of ancient officials, copper coins, and ancient pots with significant historical, artistic and research value.

In the most prominent case, a state-level ruin in Liaoyang containing a porcelain kiln from the Liao (916-1125), Jin (960-1276) and Yuan dynasties (1271-1368) was seriously damaged when the gang stole significant historical and cultural artifacts from the ruins in 2006 and 2007.

The court made its final ruling in late July.

The tomb theft case follows the largest case of its kind in modern China, when 175 member tomb thieves stole artifacts valued at more than 500 million yuan (about 75 million U.S. dollars). In April this year, the gang leader Yao Yuzhong was sentenced to death with a two year reprieve.
We are particularly proud of Ian and Phils commitment to BearUnderground.net, as their investment of time and energy directly impacts acceptance and diversity in our immediate community and across the country. - Jarod Clark, Unleaded Software President

Web development experts at Unleaded Software donated a percentage of the profit from sales of their t-shirts and caps at Denvers 41st Annual PrideFest weekend to victims of the Orlando, Fla. massacre. Ian Kullhem, CIO of Unleaded Software Inc., and Phil Cardenas, Senior Developer, the longest-term employees of Unleaded, have dedicated five years of their personal time to promoting and growing BearUnderground.net, a social media website for gay men they founded in 2011 that currently boasts 28,000 members worldwide.

Since the day we launched BearUnderground.net, there hasnt been a day that someone has not joined, said Cardenas. The membership is available all over the world and is free to join.

Kullhem and Cardenas structure their vacation time from Unleaded to be vendors at nationwide Bear (a subset of gay men) events to promote their organization, including TBRU in Dallas and in Tennessee and Orlando most recently.

The fact that they had traveled to a convention in Orlando so near to the massacre killing 49 people and wounding 53 others impacted their sense of duty to contribute to the fund going to the Pulse employees who lived through the deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter. While the owner of Pulse insists she will reopen the club, the club remains closed to date, eliminating the incomes employees once counted on.

Kullhem and Cardenas undertook developing BearUnderground.net to fill an underserved niche in the LGBT community. The two consider Denvers home base gathering place to be The Denver Wrangler, located at 32nd Avenue and Stout Street in 80205, near the Unleaded office.

We support and value our team members having an avocation outside of work, said Jarod Clark, president of Unleaded Software headquartered in the Ballpark District of Lodo, Denver.

We encourage our team members to pursue their passions, extracurricular interests and hobbies. We are particularly proud of Ian and Phils commitment to BearUnderground.net, as their investment of time and energy directly impacts acceptance and diversity in our immediate community and across the country, he added. I need to point out that the two of them are essential to Unleadeds operations. They own intelligence that makes a difference to our production and reputation. Were particularly thankful to have them on board, he said.

Kullhem was the first developer Unleaded hired and has been with the company more than a decade. As CIO, he oversees web development at the agency and is Magento certified.

Cardenas joined Unleaded nearly eight years ago, coming from the print industry and working his way up in the company to become the senior developer.

Unleaded Software designs and develops Magento e-commerce and ExpressionEngine content managed websites. Since inception in 1996, the company has built more than 600 websites for boutique businesses to Fortune 500 Industry leaders. Unleaded also offers web support, including solar-powered hosting, SEO and digital marketing services, AdWords and Google Shopping management, blogging, marketing collateral design and more.

For information on http://www.BearUnderground.net, contact:

Ian Kullhem

ian(at)bearunderground(dot)net

720-935-9879

For information on Unleaded, contact:

Jarod Clark

jarod(at)unleadedgroup(dot)com

720-221-7126 x 202
Veronica - Outta Control Outta Control is so refreshing. I can hear it playing on radio as well as big room clubs all around the world says Veronica.

Nene Musik Productions is proud to announce its brand new digital music release; Veronica Outta Control written by Tamara Wallace, Ruben Martinez & Dominic Tufaro. Produced by Dom Tufaro of Tune~Adiks.

Mixes include:

1. Outta Control (Dom Tufaro Radio Mix)

2. Outta Control (Dom Tufaro Extended Mix)

3. Outta Control (Dom Tufaro Instrumental)

About Veronica:

A native from the Bronx, Veronicas career in the arts spans over 20 years. Shes a Recording Artist, Songwriter, Actor, Director, and Autism Advocate. As a recording artist, she was one of the first Latinas to break into the R&B/Urban scene with her album, "Rise". She signed with award-winning producer, Jellybean Benitez at H.O.L.A Records and charted 2 #1 spots on Billboards Hot Dance Music chart with Release Me.... Let Me Go and Someone to Hold. She was cast as the lead for the National Tour of Selena: A Celebration of Life, by Academy Award winning choreographer Kenny Ortega. She starred in the hit off-Broadway production of Latin Heat and lent her talents for several years to the show that would go on to become the Tony-Winning production, In the Heights.

Veronica has developed a huge following in the gay community, which she is proud of. To receive so much love from the gay community makes her feel so relevant and grateful. The LBGT community has kept her music alive through the years. She Is still touring today with music from 10 years ago!

When she first heard the demo for her new single Outta Control which was written by Tamara Wallace, she knew all of her fans would embrace it and jumped right into the studio.

Outta Control is so refreshing. I can hear it playing on radio as well as big room clubs all around the world says Veronica.

Today, Veronica continues to work on new music and has enjoyed teaching and directing musicals at the Boys and Girls Club where she got her start. She's given voices to the Muppets on Sesame Street and characters on The Electric Company, her husband Christopher Jackson (actor and co-star of the Broadway musical "Hamilton" and new CBS TV series "Bull") also writes music for both shows: "I get to sing with Elmo, how cool is that?" Veronica feels very blessed to be a wife and mother to her special family.

About Dom Tufaro:

Dom Tufaro (House/HipHop) made his DJ debut at Level Lounge NYC. Spinning live for the first time in front of hundreds of club goers, the young Disc Jockey caught the attention of many, near and far. Tufaro's unique style has attracted a number of fans that love not only his style of play, but his creativity as well.

He has played at various clubs including Lavo, Vip Room, Highline Ballroom, Webster Hall, Glo, Pachas Hilton Beach Party to name a few as well as several venues Internationally Canada and Mexico. Forming a team with the Tune~Adiks, Dom Tufaro has produced tracks featuring Flo Rida, Snoop Dogg, Sean Kingston, Ne-Yo, Amanda Wilson, Lea Lorien and Tamara Wallace.

Today, Dom Tufaro has multiple releases and remixes available digitally. These include: Dom Tufaro & Louis Inglese "Brand New Life" f. Tamara Wallace, "Here We Go" EP, Dom Tufaro f. Lea Lorien Love To Life, Po Johnson & Zeke Thomas Monsters" (Be Brave) and Dom Tufaro f. Amanda Wilson "In Love Alone" to name a few. Tufaro has new releases and remixes coming in 2016.

Collectively the Tune~Adiks are rocking clubs internationally and gaining notoriety as one of the most powerful DJ/Production teams from New York.

Download Veronicas new single Outta Control on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/outta-control-single/id1133579810

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Outta-Control-Veronica/dp/B01IC0BQS4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1469663508&sr=8-6&keywords=veronica+outta+control

About Nene Musik Productions, Llc.:

Nene Musik Productions, Llc. (http://www.nenemusik.com) was established in 1989. Today, It is a boutique Artist Management and Consulting Agency that services Recording Artists, International DJ's and Celebrities. Dennis Rodman, Cascada, Frank Reyes, Tegan Marie and the production team Tune~Adik's are just of few on Nene Musik's client roster. Nene Musik's experience and commitment to excellence have earned them the reputation as one of the best Artist Management / Consulting companies in the World.

For Interviews contact: 1.772.807.8305 or promo(at)nenemusik(dot)com
LANZHOU, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- A fire at a limestone mine in northwest China on Tuesday afternoon has left nine people trapped, local authorities said.

The fire occurred at a limestone mine in Zhangye City in northwest China's Gansu Province at 4:15 p.m. Firefighters and a rescue team rushed to the scene after the fire occurred, local authorities said.

Rescue work is under way and no further details are available regarding the nine trapped people.
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 16 -- A Cambodian court on Tuesday acquitted charges against five Chinese nationals who had been accused of murdering their housemate in Phnom Penh in November last year, according to a verdict.

The five defendants are Yang Pei Pei, 25, Zeng Wenxuan, 53, Zhao Chunxi, 51, Xu Fuju, 58, and Lou Zaizun, 44.

They were initially suspected of killing Chinese woman Chen Huaying, 25, an employee for Chinese construction company Tong Fang, in their shared apartment in Phnom Penh's Por Senchey district on Nov. 15, with multiple stab wounds in her torso and her throat slit.

"The court found that fingerprints on knives found at the scene did not match any of the five suspects," said the verdict pronounced by Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Ly Lipmeng on Tuesday.

It added that other evidence materials also showed no involvement of the suspects to the murder case.

"Based on a thorough examination, the court decides to acquit charges against the five suspects," said the verdict.

The court also ordered the prosecutor to launch a reinvestigation into the case in order to bring the real perpetrator(s) to justice.

In a final hearing on July 25, Chhay Vannak, a security guard at the apartment building, told the court that guard Orn Sanghar, who was on duty at the time of the murder, had disappeared the day Chen Huaying was killed without providing a reason.

Orn Sanghar, who is still at large, is now a new suspect in the case.
PPPs new Texas poll finds a relatively tight race, at least on the curve of recent Presidential election results in the state. Donald Trump leads with 44% to 38% for Hillary Clinton, 6% for Gary Johnson, 2% for Jill Stein, and less than half a percent (0) for Evan McMullin. In a head to head contest Trump leads Clinton 50-44 in the state, which Mitt Romney won by 16 points in 2012.

A Democratic victory in Texas this year remains a stretch but within the numbers there are signs of Democrats being positioned to become seriously competitive there in the years ahead. Trumps lead is based entirely on his holding a 63-33 advantage among seniors. With voters under 65, Clinton leads him 49-45. And when you look just specifically at voters under 45, Clinton leads Trump 60-35. Older voters are overwhelmingly responsible for the Republican advantage in Texas, and generational change is likely to help Democrats become more competitive.

A big piece of that generational change is the increasing racial diversity of the electorate in Texas. Trump has a 69/25 lead with white voters but the reason the states so competitive overall is that among non-white voters Clinton has a 73-21 lead, including a 68-27 edge with the states booming Hispanic population.

Clintons unpopular in Texas, as you would expect, with a 36/59 favorability rating. But Trumps not a whole lot better off with only 40% of voters seeing him favorably to 53% with a negative opinion. The tax return issue continues to plague Trump with 64% of voters thinking he needs to release his returns to only 25% who dont think its necessary for him to. Even Trumps supporters, by a 43/41 spread, think he should release them. Another issue that has the potential to cause Trump problems down the road is if he refuses to participate in the debates as scheduled. 77% of voters think he needs to do that to only 14% who dont think he needs to and among his own supporters theres an even stronger sentiment- 82/12- that Trump needs to participate. If Trump is stubborn about that it could cause the bottom to fall out on his support even further.

We continue to find that Trump voters overwhelmingly buy into his preemptive claims about the election being rigged. Just 19% of Trump voters grant that if Clinton wins the election it will be because she got more votes, while 71% say that it will just be because the election was rigged. More specifically 40% of Trump voters think that ACORN, which hasnt existed in years, will steal the election for Clinton to only 20% who dont think it will, and only 20% who are unsure. Some things Trump says are a step too far even for his support base though. We find that just 35% of Trump supporters think Barack Obama founded ISIS, to 48% who dont think hes responsible for that.

Finally we polled on Texas secession. Overall 26% of voters would support leaving the United States to 59% who want to stay, and 15% who arent sure either way. Among Trump voters support for secession goes up to 37%, with only 49% opposed to exiting. If you look at the Presidential race in Texas only among voters who are opposed to seceding from the United State, Clinton leads Trump 54/41. But thats offset by Trumps 72/20 advantage with the secession crowd. If Clinton is elected President this fall, the Trump voters really want out- in that case 61% say theyd support seceding from the United States, to only 29% who would stick around.

Full results here
My father-in-law, who lived to be 96, came to this country from Warsaw in early 1939, six months before Europe was plunged into war.

He never had any idea what fate befell his parents or any of his extended family; he was the only one to survive. His entire life, it was like he carried a weight around with him, a mantle of guilt and loss; peace seemed to elude him, despite his successes here. Like a lot of survivors, he never spoke a word to my wife or her brother about his family life back in Poland; the yoke of memory was just too hard to bear. He came here as a student, but in 1941, when the U.S. entered the war, he enlisted, and because of his facility with languages, he was placed in the Army Intelligence Corps. Similarly, he never divulged a word of what his duties were there.

As for me, I write suburban thrillers. Over the past decade, Ive published nine of them, all about recognizable, everyday moms and dads in an upscale setting who, through either a momentary weakness or misstep, end up over their heads in something sinister. Ive had success with themfive have made the New York Times bestseller list, and all but one have been Top 10 in the U.K.; Ive been published in more than 20 countries.

But for several books now, Ive felt pigeonholed by the narrow niche of what my publisher, and perhaps even my readers, expect from me: the familiar suburban setting, the root forable yoga moms and hedge fund dads, the crisply paced plot-driven story lines with a coda of some emotional resonance at the end (a carryover, perhaps, from my days cowriting with James Patterson). It was how my publisher positioned me. There was a strategy and a goal. I went along willingly. I was writing good booksexciting, suspenseful. They were just not the books I had always intended to write.

My favorite stories growing up were the sweeping tales of the Persian-Greek and Trojan wars, the First Crusade, escapes from Devils Island, the clash of Napoleon and the tattered Russian army, Nazi conspiracies that lay buried in test tubes in Brazil or the search for ODESSA long after WWIIstories that transported you, not just grabbed you. Probably the book of mine that I recall with the most satisfaction, cowritten with James Patterson, was of a 12th-century peasant who comes back from the First Crusade to find his wife abducted and daughter slaughtered, and who dons the tattered tunic of a jester to avenge them.

The truth was I felt like I was perpetually pushing a boulder uphill, continually having to come up with fresh and gripping traps for my characters to fall into, in similar settings, with similar things at stake. I wanted to write books with bigger bones, broader themes, and richer, more atmospheric settings. I had come to a corner in my career, and my father-in-laws story was staring me in the face. I decided to let the boulder fall.

The One Man is the story of an escaped Pole who is determined to return to Poland, where his parents were murdered by the Nazis, to rescue the one man the Allies believe can ensure their victory in the war. That man is an atomic physicist whose expertise is urgently needed on the Manhattan Project, but hes imprisoned at Auschwitz. Its a thriller in the sense that its about a near-impossible mission with a ticking clock, but its much richer in theme, more deliberate in characterization, and with a far more detailed setting than anything I have ever done.

Writing this kind of book was not without its risks. Would fewer publishers bid for it? Would some of my readers not follow me? As a Jew, taking on the Holocaust is an imposing responsibility, and it was an artistic risk. But I reminded myself that it was far less of a risk than getting into this business in the first place.

I have no idea if The One Man will deliver the crossover audience I am hoping for, or how it will stand up against the body of work already written on the Holocaust. I only know it came out richer and better than my most ardent hopes for it, and that my next books will continue in the same vein. And that my father-in-law, after reading a few chapters before he died last February, put it down with tear in his eyes, turned to my wife, and said, Lynn, there are some things Id like to talk to you about.

Andrew Grosss novel The One Man will be published on August 23 by Minotaur Books, a division of St. Martins Press.
Indies land in Ohio and North Carolina; Amazon unveils new pickup location in the Windy City; and more.

Perrysburg, Oh., Bookstore Up and Running: Tired of traveling to Ann Arbor to buy books, Perry and Denise Phillips decided to open a bookstore of their own. Newly opened Gathering Volumes stocks 8,000 titles in a range of subjects from fiction to nonfiction, including biography, history, and DIY, along with childrens. The Phillipses have also begun offering storytime, author events book clubs, and their first open house for teachers.

Grand Opening for Cultivator: Arts, Books, Community: This rural North Carolina bookstore/art gallery, the first to open in Murfreesboro since its founding 229 years ago, will celebrate its grand opening on Friday August 19, the same day that its Indiegogo campaign for $7,500 draws to a close. Cultivator, which is located next to towns public library, stocks new and used books, childrens books, books by local and regional authors. It also displays artwork by local artists, and offers open mic nights, poetry slams.

First Amazon Pickup Location in Chicago: Since 2015, Amazon has opened a dozen staffed pickup locations. This fall it will add four more, including a 2,300 sq. ft. pickup location at Student Center East on the University of Illinois at Chicago, along with a previously announced one at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Amid struggles to find profitability, Barnes & Noble, the country's largest physical book retailer, has fired its CEO, Ron Boire. The former head of Sears Canada, who was hired in July 2015, was described as "not a good fit for the organization" in a brief statement issued by B&N's board of directors.

As a result of Boire's abrupt departure, Len Riggio, B&N's founder and chairman, is postponing his retirement. Riggio announced earlier this year his intention to step down in September. Now, he will now stay on at the company indefinitely while it searches for Boire's replacement.

Boire's dismissal comes amid a tough stretch for the retailer, which has been trying to find a successful model for its core business: bricks and mortar bookselling. After announcing plans to downsize its Nook division--the arm of the company responsible for its dedicated e-reader--B&N has attempted to reinvigorate its physical stores. One approach the retailer has touted is investing in "concept stores" which will feature larger cafes that, among other things, serve alcohol. One of B&N's new concept stores is currently being built in Eastchester, NY.

But B&N's most recent financial results were disappointing. In June, the company reported total revenue for 2016 was down by 3.1%, with a net loss of $24.4 million. The losses were blamed on, among other things, store closures, declining sales at BN.com and dropping Nook sales.

For many in the publishing industry, Boire's dismissal comes as a shock, and a disappointment. A number of insiders said that, ultimately, the CEO shuffle will cause further problems for the embattled retailer.

The head of one large publisher said he was angered to hear the news, pointing out that finding and building a new executive team will set B&N back by six months. "I need them to execute on the ground" during the holidays, this publisher said.

Another high level publishing executive said he was surprised about the move since Boire "seemed to have a plan."

Looking to the future, another insider said he hoped B&N's next CEO will be better suited to the company and "will have book experience," as opposed to just "general retailing" experience.

This story has been updated to include publisher reaction to Boire's dismissal.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 -- Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi will pay an official visit to China from Wednesday to Sunday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

The following are major facts about the visit.

WHY INVITED BY PREMIER LI

Aung San Suu Kyi is the first Myanmar leader to visit China since the Southeast Asian nation's new government was formed in late March. She visited China in June 2015 as chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Although constitutional rules bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president, she is still considered as an icon in the current Myanmar government.

State counselor is a new position created by the new Myanmar government.Analysts say that Aung San Suu Kyi, considered as Myanmar's second figure after the president, is the country's "de facto premier."

In June, Aung San Suu Kyi paid a three-day official visit to Thailand at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Considering Aung San Suu Kyi's rank in Myanmar and China's diplomatic protocol, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang invited her to visit China and China will receive the leader with due etiquette, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday.

TORTUOUS LIFE

Aung San Suu Kyi's China visit has attracted great attention because of herself -- a Myanmar stateswoman with a tortuous life.

The youngest daughter of Aung San, Father of the Nation of modern-day Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi became NLD general-secretary in 1988.

In the 1990 elections, the NLD won 81 percent of the seats in Parliament, but the results were nullified, as the military government refused to hand over power.

Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for almost 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010.

In 2013, Aung San Suu Kyi announced she would run for president but a clause in the Constitution -- her late husband and children are foreign citizens -- prohibited her from becoming the president. In the 2015 elections, her party won a landslide victory.

WHY SHE CHOOSES CHINA

China is the first major country Aung San Suu Kyi will visit after she took office and visited Laos and Thailand as Myanmar's state counselor.

Some Myanmar experts say the destinations of Aung San Suu Kyi's first overseas visits can be considered as an indicator of the new government's diplomacy -- developing friendly relations with neighboring countries first and then with major countries.

Myanmar media reports said that Aung San Suu Kyi chose China before she visits the United Statesout of the new government's strategy of rebalancing between China and the West.

Currently, China is Myanmar's most important trade partner and one of the main sources of foreign direct investment.

However, problems, such as armed conflicts in northern Myanmar that once undermined peace and stability in the border areas between China and Myanmar as well as the suspended Myitsone dam project, have emerged in the development of bilateral ties.

Still, the visit to China -- the first country outside the Association of Southeast Nations that Aung San Suu Kyi visits after she came to power -- holds great significance to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries in the new phase.

WHO MAKES ADVANCE PREPARATIONS

To reinvigorate their ties, China and Myanmar have conducted bilateral exchanges at various levels.

Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), paid a good-will visit to Myanmar from Wednesday to Sunday. Song and Aung San Suu Kyi held a meeting on Thursday.

Noting that China and Myanmar have deep paukphaw (fraternal) friendship and development of China-Myanmar friendly ties conforms to the fundamental interest of the two countries, Song voiced support for Myanmar in its pursuit of a development path in accordance with its national conditions.

Song expressed willingness to render assistance for Myanmar's stability and development, hoping that the two countries' ruling parties would enhance exchange and cooperation to promote the development of bilateral relations.

Aung San Suu Kyi said the Myanmar side attaches great importance to the development of the Myanmar-China ties, anticipating that her upcoming visit to China would lift the two countries' cooperation to a higher level.

She expressed the aspiration of her National League for Democracy to deepen exchange with the CPC and continuously strengthen mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides.

Zhou Shixin, a research fellow with Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said Song's visit prior to Aung San Suu Kyi's China visit, during which they conducted in-depth exchanges and early-stage communications for important meetings between leaders of the two parties, will provide more targeted and constructive topics for cooperation in more areas and add impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

Since April, Aung San Suu Kyi, as Myanmar's foreign minister, has met with her counterparts from several countries, among whom Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was the first she met.

In her upcoming visit, Aung San Suu Kyi will hold talks with Chinese leaders and exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest. Apart from Beijing, Aung San Suu Kyi will also visit other Chinese cities, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Fan Hongwei, an expert on Myanmar issues with China's Xiamen University, said Aung San Suu Kyi's visit will touch upon the principles and directions for the development of the China-Myanmar relations, including the Paukphaw (fraternal) friendship between the two peoples, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, stability and cooperation in the region especially in the border areas, national reconciliation in Myanmar and Chinese investment in the country.
A Davenport man accused of being intoxicated while driving and killing one of his passengers has pleaded guilty.

Bret Schaefbauer, 19, was charged with homicide by vehicle after a February crash on Buttermilk Road, half a mile north of Slopertown Road in rural Scott County. Authorities allege he drove the vehicle into a ditch and struck a culvert, killing one of his passengers.

Results of a urine toxicology indicated he was under the influence of controlled substances at the time of the collision, according to the Iowa State Patrol, which investigated the crash.

Mr. Schaefbauer pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle in an open plea, Scott County First Assistant County Attorney Amy DeVine said Monday. An open plea means prosecutors can make whatever recommendation they deem appropriate during sentencing.

The plea was filed Friday, according to court records. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
ALEDO -- An emergency situation has shut down through traffic at East Main and NE 2nd Avenue to the tune of $18,000.

On Aug. 1 the Street Division began excavation to expose the break in the storm sewer that was found during a camera inspection on July 11. The excavating crew noticed a break in the clay tile causing the infiltration of sediment and the subsequent void underneath the pavement. The crew then found an unknown, but functional, sanitary sewer lateral discharging into the soil and sub base.

The cost will cover connecting the sanitary sewer lateral and installing a new storm sewer manhole, a new section of storm sewer pipe, backfill and pavement. Zenk Excavation, the initial company performing the repair of the sink hole, will complete the necessary work. The cost will be divided equally between the street and water/sewer divisions departmental budgets.

Another intersection, also on Main Street, is set to be completed before Antique Days, Aug. 27. Public Works Director Justin Blaser said, The intersection project is moving along nicely.  Were down to the bumpouts on the end of the street, on 2nd and the asphalt portion of the street.

Monday was the first day on the job for Aledos new city administrator, Erin Knackstedt. She replaces Chief Chris Sullivan who was serving as interim administrator after Robert Mahrts resignation in February.

She has two young children and said she is excited to raise them in a small town. It worked out perfectly, I couldnt have asked for a better community, a better town, she said.

The Atkinson native graduated with a Master of Arts from DePaul University in Chicago and received her Certificate of Public Administration from Northern Illinois University. Refreshments in her honor followed the meeting.

Mayor Chris Hagloch read a proclamation in recognition of Aledo native Margo Price, a country music star. Price's mother, Candace Price, and grandmother Mary Price were present on her behalf. Mary Price addressed the council. I want to thank the community for recognizing Margos accomplishment in music, she said.

A highlight of the proclamation read: She is accomplishing the unimaginable rise to fame. ... We wish to publicly commend Ms. Prices fine efforts and to extend this token of affection and admiration. Mr. Blaser said he requested a sign and should hear back from the traffic operations operator this week. The sign will read, Aledo home of country music star Margo Price.

The council also purchased a squad car for the Aledo Police Department -- a 2016 Chevrolet Impala at a cost of $22,501, from Miles Chevrolet in Decatur. Equipment and installation for the car will cost another $5,441. $30,000 was originally budgeted.

The Aledo Main Street and Knuckle Buster 5K race/walk to be held during Antique Days, Aug. 27 from 7:30-9:30 set to begin at the old Aledo Junior High, 205 North College Avenue Aledo was approved by the council.
EAST MOLINE -- Police were authorized Monday to begin a search for a new officer to replace one who resigned July19.

The officer decided "he just didn't want to be in law enforcement," Mayor John Thodos said. The mayor added he wasn't all that surprised, "given the negativity shown toward law enforcement nationally."

The vacancy will be filled Sept. 30, followed by the chosen candidate being sent to the Illinois Police Training Institute starting Oct. 2.

The position has been budgeted for this fiscal year.

East Moline Police Chief John Reynolds said the additional officer will return the police department to its full budgeted force of 37 members.

Chief Reynolds also said the city will be reimbursed by the state for police academy costs, from which the candidate had graduated at the end of June.

In other action, council members agreed to amend an ordinance related to an enterprise zone that also includes Moline, Silvis, Milan and Rock Island County.

Rock Island officials requested to be added to the zone to coincide with an expiration of an earlier Rock Island Enterprise Zone, according to agenda materials. The zone expired July 1.

A public hearing reportedly was held by existing and proposed partners April 18.

East Moline council members Monday officially approved the action without comment. The only changes made were to some of the original exhibits, according to city attorney Clayton Lee.
The LeClaire Iowa Civic Center wants to help Louisiana's flood victims. When Katrina struck, the Civic Center sent four semis of needed emergency supplies from the Quad Cities area, and we would like to do that again for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We have contacted the Capital Area Flood Disaster in Baton Rouge and they have sent a list of emergency needs. A fund has been set up at the Blackhawk State Bank in both Iowa and Illinois, and you can go online to gofundme.com to also give monetary donations. They will also be accepting drop-off items. You can drop off any items at the LeClaire Civic Center, 127 N Cody Road. An informational meeting will be held at the Civic Center on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit the LeClaire Civic Center Facebook page or the website at leclairecivicclub.org.
MILAN -- New signs are planned along the Rock River Trail, according to village administrator Steve Seiver.

"It's a pretty big deal," Mr. Seiver said, adding the signs will appear throughout the Rock River Trail up to Wisconsin.

"It's not only important from a recreational standpoint, but (it) also promotes local tourism," he said of the Rock River Trail and the signs.

In Milan, the signs will include mile markers, downtown information and trail labeling. Mr. Seiver said they should be in place sometime this fall. While the cost is not yet known, Mr. Seiver said it will be minimal for the village because of donations and the reuse of existing equipment.

Trustee Jim Flannery voiced concern about upkeep at the Hennepin Canal dam along the trail, noting that the weeds are overgrown "as tall as the ceiling." Mr. Seiver acknowledged the issue, saying local Department of Natural Resources workers are doing their best but don't have the resources needed from the state.

"They pay less attention to the west end of the canal," he said of the state, adding the only possible solutions he sees are to raise political pressure or help care for the area.

The rest of the area, he says, is well-cared for and popular with runners, bikers and walkers.

On Monday, the village board also:

-- Discussed this year's Fourth of July run and fireworks. Trustees agreed it worked well to have both events the same day, but wondered how to handle events next year, when July 4 falls on a Monday.

-- Learned from Mayor Duane Dawson that the Quad City Animal Welfare Center's new spay and neuter building in Milan officially has opened.

-- Approved $68,170.55 in semi-monthly and miscellanous bills and the treasurer's report citing $285,759 in revenue for July.
Port Byron trustees learned Monday that the Developers Agreement being worked on by the Planning and Zoning Committee may take less work than expected.

In cleaning out files this week, former village board member Jeanine Inggalls found a Subdivision Ordinance, which is the same as a Developers Agreement written for the village in 1996, said Trustee Gerry Meade, who chairs the committee.

Mr. Meade said he believes the past ordinance produced by the Bi-State Regional Commission of Rock Island County could save his committee a lot of time. If this is the case, Mr. Meade said, the Planning and Zoning Committee plans to spend the rest of this year working on a sign ordinance.

In other business:

-- Construction on Girard Street began Monday. Letters concerning the schedule were sent to

residents by MSA Professional Services.

-- The trustees agreed to pay for Todd Wiebengas attendance at the TIF Fall Conference in Chicago.

-- Trustee Wes Wells, chairman of economic development, hopes to develop a survey to be distributed after events taking place in Port Byron.

-- The trustees were told no meeting had taken place between Mayor Kevin Klute and Ann McCarrell of Anns Helping Hands. Mayor Klute said that he hoped it would happen this week.
PORT BYRON --- Kids swarmed over the swings, slides and climbing walls of the village's new playground on Main Street during a grand opening celebration Monday morning Village officials, with the Mississippi River as a backdrop, said the playground is another step in the right direction.

Mayor Kevin Klute said the $37,000 cost was covered by tax-Increment-financing district funds, as well as donations from the community, including a $2,000 donation from Trustee Bruce Peterson.

The project was initiated by the planning and zoning committee in response to a community survey favoring a park and more green space. The village acquired the land and dilapidated building on it, which was razed in the spring.

Its a much better use of the ground, and part of our downtown renovations. Its been a success so far, and were very happy, Mr. Klute noted. Were moving in the right direction.

The playground was purchased from Play Illinois, a company that uses as many recycled materials for construction as possible and utilizes sustainable energy such as wind turbines to fuel its factory.

The playground is part of an effort to make downtown more family friendly, according to Trustee Wes Wells. Its a good investment in the community, and its worth it for the kids he said.
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 16, the 229th day of 2016.There are 137 days left in the year.

1866 -- 150 years ago: Since the opening of the railroad to Cordova, there has been a very marked change in the communitys business and appearance.

1891 -- 125 years ago: Mary Garry, of Rock Island, and Mrs. E. Normoyle left on a trip to Ireland.

1916 -- 100 years ago: Frank Thomas was injured when accidentally struck by a crowbar while helping to wreck the old streetcar barns.

1941 -- 75 years ago: McCarthy Improvement Co., of Davenport, has been awarded the contract to build a seawall along Rock Islands riverfront.

1966 -- 50 years ago: The $1,500,00 building and remodeling program underway at Rock Island High School is 50 to 60 percent completed. The entire addition will be under roof this fall. The February date for occupation of the entire addition still stands.

1991 -- 25 years ago: The Emily K, a tugboat belonging to Blackhawk Fleeting Co, in Buffalo, was towed downriver Saturday by JD Shake Construction Co, of Madison, Ind. Thursday the boat was hauled from the Mississippi Rivers clutches, after having been stuck against the roller dam at Lock 15 June 18.
Like so many times before  more than 50, by his estimate  a Baltimore police officer told him to move along.

At City Hall, just two hours earlier, Justice Department officials criticized Baltimore police for indiscriminate enforcement of low-level crimes such as loitering, failure to obey and trespassing.

In a blistering report, federal officials documented years of unconstitutional and discriminatory policing in the city, including clearing corners without legal justification.

These kinds of interactions have become part of Baltimore life. Tens of thousands of pedestrians are stopped each year by police, particularly in poor, black neighborhoods, and a small fraction are arrested or given a citation.

As drug dealers vie for territory, so do residents and businesses, posting No loitering or No trespassing signs in their windows. And some officers continue to believe these tactics can prevent crime before it happens.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, the citys top cop, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that the departments focus on clearing corners based on vague misdemeanor statutes has often been misguided, damaging fragile police-community relations in the city.

It really ticked off communities and families and folks who had to watch people being arrested in front of their own homes for loitering and for trespassing and for failure to obey an order, Davis said.

He described a typical interaction, with an officer saying, Get off this corner, and the resident responding: I live on this corner.

And all the sudden, youre under arrest, Davis said.

The American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the Baltimore Police Department years ago over such zero-tolerance tactics, and city officials have disavowed them. But the tactics have endured on city streets, according to the Justice Department, as police supervisors emphasized keeping arrest numbers high.

Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Departments civil rights division, which compiled the report, said Baltimore police had embarked on a quest to produce large numbers of enforcement actions  pedestrian stops in particular  often without enough consideration of their limited impact on solving crime and their caustic damage to community relationships.

Last Wednesday, Williams, 23, avoided arrest. He got up and gathered his belongings rather than add another loitering citation to the stack hes received before.

They dont got nothing else to do but mess with people who are doing nothing, he said with resignation in his voice.

The law defines loitering as standing around, gathering in a crowd or parking a car in a public space. Such actions become illegal if you interfere with the free passage of another pedestrian or car, or if you harass, curse or threaten another member of the public.

It is also illegal if an officer determines there is a reasonable likelihood a breach of the peace or disorderly conduct shall result.

Officers can arrest someone for loitering or trespassing if they first warn the person that he or she is in violation of the law and that person fails to follow police orders.

But the Justice Department found that Baltimore police often did not follow the law in applying it.

The department found that police often failed to warn people or cited the loitering statute to move people out of areas for no reason.

In one incident detailed in the report, police told an African-American and his 4-year-old son, who were sitting on a fence near a park where the boy had been playing, that they couldnt just stand around and needed to move.

In another, an officer tried to clear a group of people outside a late-night restaurant, worried that his supervisor would be angry if he saw the area had not been cleared. The officer ended up in a physical altercation with a man who refused to leave.

Alone and surrounded by an unfriendly crowd, the officer fired his service weapon at a man he feared was about to kick him, the report said. The bullet struck two people, at least one of whom was not involved in the incident.

The Justice Department reached an agreement in principle with the city, acknowledging that reforms are needed. A more formal, court-enforced consent decree is expected by November, which would mandate specific reforms and hold the Police Department accountable if it fails to comply.

Still, it remains to be seen how enforcement against minor offenses will change.

Some legal experts say it is a crucial tool for officers engaged in the broader fight against violence, providing them the discretion to prevent drug dealing, shootings and other, more serious crimes.

Lawrence Rosenthal, a law professor at Chapman University who defended a loitering law aimed at cracking down on gangs in Chicago before the U.S. Supreme Court in the late 1990s, said such laws are an important tool and help put criminals on notice that police are ready to confront them.

He also said the laws can be overly broad; he lost the Chicago case.

If you are targeting your resources at hot spots, sending the message that its not smart to carry guns and drugs around these hot spots, you can drive down crime, he said. If potential offenders see that the police are in disrepute, that theyre being encouraged to pull back, potential offenders may conclude that their risk of apprehension is going down and it emboldens them.

Baltimores local police union contends officers are forced to rely on arrests for minor offenses to meet quotas.

After the Justice Department released its report, Lt. Gene Ryan, the union president, called for the immediate elimination of the citys data-driven crime-reporting program, saying it puts pressure on officers to produce meaningless and ineffective stop-and-arrest statistics.

At one point, a flier celebrating loitering arrests was posted in several Baltimore police districts, according to the Justice Department. It depicted three officers leading a handcuffed man wearing a hoodie along a city sidewalk toward a police transport van, with the text: Striking fear into loiters, with loiterers misspelled.

Baltimore police recorded more than 300,000 pedestrian stops from January 2010 to May 2015, though the number is likely much higher because such stops are under-reported, according to the report. The stops were concentrated in predominantly black neighborhoods and often lack reasonable suspicion, the report said.

Baltimore police approach individuals standing lawfully on sidewalks in front of public housing complexes or private businesses and arrest them unless the individuals are able to justify their presence to the officers satisfaction, the report said.

One black man in his mid-50s was stopped 30 times in less than four years, according to the report. Officers cited loitering or trespassing as the reason for many of the stops, and in at least half of the incidents detained the man while they checked for outstanding warrants. None of the stops resulted in a citation or criminal charge.

Civil rights advocates and community members decry the practice as thinly veiled harassment and intimidation.

Harvey Grossman, an attorney with the ACLU of Illinois who argued against Rosenthal before the Supreme Court, said such tactics  often called quality of life or broken windows policing  are really a plague on the black and brown communities, not a boon to their safety.

But that might be changing, he said, as community policing has become the buzzword in law enforcement.

All of this was predictable. You cant police a community like that and prey on people and not have it come back and bite you, Grossman said. They broke a social contract with black and brown communities when they started treating them like occupied turf.

Still, some residents and business owners say they want police to clear corners, to prevent drug dealing on their stoops or violence on their doorsteps.

Sophia McMurray, 54, nodded toward two grandchildren when asked about the No loitering sign posted in the window of her Druid Heights home on a recent afternoon. She has eight grandchildren who often visit her home, where she has lived for more than 10 years.

I like my grandkids to be in a safe environment, she said.

If I come home from work, aint nobody supposed to be sitting on my steps, she said. I dont even sit on my steps.

June Crisp, 53, has owned Copy Concepts since 2000. Last year, after rioting in the area following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal injury in police custody, Crisp said loitering outside got so bad that he called City Councilman Nick Mosby to get an official No loitering; Violators will be prosecuted sign posted on the printing shops brick facade.

Crisp also painted the steps leading to the front door, declaring: No loitering. No sitting on steps. Violators will be arrested.

After the riots, it got bad, like the drug dealers were having conventions on this block, he said. All this drug activity, it scares people away. Legitimate people, honest people.

He said he asks people hanging out in front of his shop to leave, then calls police if they remain.

Youve got to do what youve got to do, he said. Im trying to make money. Im trying to pay my bills.

Baltimore police began to enforce misdemeanor laws for loitering and trespassing in earnest in the late 1990s, as the department implemented a zero-tolerance enforcement model.

The ACLU of Maryland sued the Police Department in 2006, arguing that a huge increase in arrests, largely for minor misdemeanor offenses, could not be justified. In 2010, the organization agreed to settle with the city, which agreed to better train officers and implement reforms.

In the years that followed, the number of arrests dropped precipitously.

But, as the Justice Department noted, the stops continued.

Think about how many folks in poor communities dont have air conditioning. Where are you going to go when its 90 degrees out? Youre not going to sit in your stiflingly hot apartment if you have a choice in the matter, said David Rocah, an attorney with the ACLU of Maryland. Theyre stopping people without any level of reasonable suspicion.

Baltimore police enacted a new policy in 2015, urging officers to make verbal warnings rather than issuing citations or making arrests for minor, quality of life offenses.

But, according to the Justice Department, the legacy of the zero-tolerance era continues to influence officer activity and contribute to constitutional violations.

Bernard Harcourt, a professor of law and political science at Columbia University and author of the book Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing, said there is a long, storied history of using these kinds of loitering, vagrancy, minor misconduct ordinances precisely in order to control African-American and poor communities.

Now, he said, there is a growing chorus of governmental reports showing the racially skewed nature of these policing practices.

But to effect change, he said, police need to be on board.

You can have all kinds of consent decrees put in place, but if you dont do the training and you dont do the explaining, he said, theyre not going to change the culture nor the effect.
The private university has referred to the Confederate Memorial Hall simply as "Memorial Hall" since 2002, but was blocked in court from changing the name chiseled on the building because it was constructed with the help of a $50,000 gift from the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1933.

Under the agreement, Vanderbilt will pay $1.2 million, the equivalent of the gift made 83 years ago, to the organization's Tennessee chapter. In exchange, the chapter will relinquish its naming rights to the building.

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos said in an open letter that ever since joining the university as a law professor in 1987, "the residence hall bearing the inscription Confederate Memorial Hall has been a symbol of exclusion, and a divisive contradiction of our hopes and dreams of being a truly great and inclusive university."

Vanderbilt says the money will come from anonymous donors.

The move comes as Tennessee lawmakers have acted to make it more difficult to remove Confederal symbols and statutes from public places.

About 30 miles to the southeast, Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro wants to remove the name of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from one of its buildings. The public higher education system overseeing the school endorsed the change last month, but the proposal faces a tougher hurdle when it reaches the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Under the "Tennessee Heritage Protection Act" passed earlier this year, it now takes a vote of at least two-thirds of the commission to approve changing or removing historical markers. That's an increase from the previous requirement of a simple majority vote.

Calls to remove Confederate imagery from public places multiplied across the South after last year's slaying of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. A white man espousing racist views and who posed in a photo with a Confederate flag has been charged with murder in the killings.

Following the church shooting, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam said he supported removing the Capitol bust of Forrest, who is famous for his exploits as a Confederate cavalry general and amassed a fortune as a plantation owner and slave trader in Memphis before the Civil War.

After the defeat of the Confederacy, the newly formed Ku Klux Klan elected Forrest its honorary grand wizard, though he publicly denied being involved. Two years later, he ordered the Klan to disband because of its members' increasing violence.

The Forrest bust remains in the lobby between the House and Senate chambers at the state Capitol.
Biden, who decided not to make a third presidential bid last year, said in his native city of Scranton that Trump was "totally, thoroughly unqualified" to be president, calling him a dangerous voice on national security and foreign policy.

On the economy, he said, Trump's reveling in his TV reality show tag-line, "You're fired," showed his true colors.

"He's trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break. It's such a bunch of malarkey," Biden told a crowd of about 3,000 at Riverfront Sports, adding: "He doesn't have a clue."

Pennsylvania has not supported a Republican in a presidential election since 1988, but is among the most-contested battleground states between Clinton and Trump, who are both vying for white working-class voters here.

Even as polls show her leading Trump, Clinton has faced lingering questions about her trustworthiness in the fallout of her use of a private email server as secretary of state and over her family's sprawling foundation. She has tried to make the case that working-class voters would fare better under her economic policies than Trump's and that her opponent would inject danger into an already unstable world.

Offering himself as a character witness for Clinton, Biden portrayed the former secretary of state as the most qualified person to lead the country, singling out her foreign policy experience and passion for improving people's lives. He cited his long history with Clinton, saying he's known her for three decades, since before she was first lady in the 1990s.

"Hillary has forgotten more about American foreign policy then Trump and his entire team will ever understand," he said.

And he cited Clinton's gender as a powerful asset, saying electing the first female president would change the lives of American women and girls.

"Hillary Clinton is going to write the next chapter in American history," he said.

Introducing Biden, Clinton sought to sow doubts about Trump's ability to bring jobs back to blue-collar communities like Scranton, where Biden lived for the first decade of his life before moving to Delaware.

She acknowledged that many people in the audience might have friends considering voting for the Republican, but offered this advice: "Friends should not let friends vote for Trump."

Clinton and Biden spoke ahead of Trump's national security address in Ohio, questioning the business mogul's ability to represent the nation overseas.

In his speech, Trump accused Clinton of pushing policies that have opened the United States to foreign terrorists.

"Hillary Clinton wants to be America's Angela Merkel," he said, arguing that Germany's immigration policy has weakened that country's national security.

Clinton said Trump had been "all over the place" on foreign policy and had suggested sending in ground troops to fight the Islamic State group. "That is off the table as far as I'm concerned," she said.

Biden warned that Trump was unprepared to oversee nuclear codes and cited Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

If Trump likes them, "He would have loved" Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. Scholars estimate that under Stalin, more than 1 million people were executed in political purges and millions more died as a result of harsh labor and cruel treatment in the vast gulag prison camp system.

Citing a common bond, both Democrats pointed back to their family ties in northeastern Pennsylvania. Biden, a frequent visitor, recalled the street he grew up on and later took Clinton for a quick visit to his old house. Clinton noted her grandfather worked at a Scranton lace mill factory and that her father was raised here and later attended Penn State University. The family spent summers at a family cabin in nearby Lake Winola, she said.

Biden and Clinton had planned to campaign together here before last month's Democratic National Convention but their rally was postponed because of the deadly police shooting in Dallas. The vice president is expected to campaign for Clinton in several battleground states where he remains popular, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Florida.
Speaking in swing state Ohio, Trump also said his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton lacks the "mental and physical stamina" to take on the Islamic State. He said destroying the terror group would be the centerpiece of his foreign policy and he would partner with any countries that share that goal  specifically singling out Russia as a nation the U.S. could have a better relationship with.

"Any country that shares this goal will be our allies," Trump said. "We can never choose our friends, but we can never fail to recognize our enemies."

Ahead of Trump's address, Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden vigorously challenged the Republican nominee's preparedness to be commander in chief. Biden called Trump's views "dangerous" and "un-American" and warned that Trump's false assertions last week about President Obama founding the Islamic State could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

"The threat to their life has gone up a couple clicks," he said.

While Trump has been harshly critical of Obama's handling of the threat posed by the Islamic State, his own policies for defeating the group remain vague. His most specific prescriptions centered on changing U.S. immigration policy to keep potential attackers from entering the country.

Trump's campaign aides said the new ideological test for admission to the United States would vet applicants for their stance on issues like religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights. The government would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with friends and family or other means to determine if applicants support American values like tolerance and pluralism. The U.S. would stop issuing visas in any case where it cannot perform adequate screenings.

Trump did not clarify how U.S. officials would assess the veracity of responses to the questionnaires or how much manpower it would require to complete such arduous vetting. Nor did the campaign say whether additional screenings would apply to the millions of tourists who spend billions of dollars visiting the United States each year.

The Republican nominee's foreign policy address comes during a rocky stretch for his campaign. He's struggled to stay on message and has consistently overshadowed his policy rollouts, including an economic speech last week, with provocative statements, including his comments falsely declaring that Obama was the "founder" of the Islamic State.

Trump spent much of the speech building a case that Obama and Clinton are to blame for the creation of the terror group that has roiled the Middle East and carried out attacks in the West. He specifically highlighted the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in late 2011, arguing the move created a vacuum for terror groups to thrive.

Reiterating a favorite criticism of Republicans, Trump also panned the Obama administration for not using the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe sympathizers.

Obama, Clinton and top U.S. officials have warned against using that kind of language to describe the conflict, arguing that it plays into militants' hands.

Trump's immigration proposals were the latest version of a policy that began with his unprecedented call to temporarily bar foreign Muslims from entering the country  a religious test that was criticized across party lines as un-American. Following a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June, Trump introduced a new standard, vowing to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats."

That proposal raised numerous questions that the campaign never clarified, including whether it would apply to citizens of countries like France, Israel, or Ireland, which have suffered recent and past attacks. Trump had promised to release his list of "terror countries" soon. But aides say the campaign needs access to unreleased Department of Homeland Security data to assess exactly where the most serious threats lie.
LOGO Lounge by Lori Goldstein French Terry Top with Sharkbite Hem is rated 4.2 out of 5 by 46 .

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Rated 5 out of 5 by beaubo from Love IT Got the very pretty mocha. Really do love this top, would love it better if it had a straight hem. The V neck is perfect, not low. Fabric is light weight, can wear now but will be fine in a Texas summer.
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!
Mike Byrne is the Group CD in Newcastle for NX and KOFM. We caught up with Mike for Ten Questions. We talk his career, who influenced him over the years, what did he learn being a breakfast anchor in Sydney and with them about to move into a new building, if the walls could talk what would they say?

What got you into radio?

I was devastated when my careers advisor told me I would never be a brain surgeon, so I looked for an alternative.

Boom-tish. some of your earlier influences?

I was an avid listener of Brisbanes FM104. Back in the 80s it was THE dominant station in Brisbane with jocks like Barry Drinkwater, Rex Morris, BBQ Bob Gallagher, the late Mr T Rod Tiley and Bill Healy (all legendary FM voices). I ran into their promotions manager at a careers advice expo who told me how hed gotten into the biz. I thought geez, cant be that hard. I was lucky enough to get into AFTRS and many of the great teachers like Arch McCurdy, Phil Charlie and Lois Baird were early influences too.

This is your second run in Newcastle as Group CD  what brought you back into the fold?

Actually its my third run here after a short stint at B105 in 2001 interrupted my first run. More recently I was doing breakfast with the awesome Marnie T at River949. Id been there for nearly 6 years (firstly as PD) and it was a great tree change after a few years in Cap Cities. I promised my daughter she would get through High School at the one school, so when she graduated I looked for other opportunities. As much as I enjoyed doing breakfast, Programming is where my real skills lie. I love the professionalism of SCA, the depth of talent around the group and I could see that the 2 brands Id helped become so dominant needed some guidance. So when Mickey tapped me on the shoulder to come back they didnt have to ask me twice.

A while back you anchored breakfast at then Mix1065  what did you learn from that?

Frankly I was the wrong person for that role. I learnt a lot about myself and my abilities in those 4 months.

The last metro station you listened to?

Smooth 95.3. We stream it throughout the house most weekends. They play virtually nothing that we play on either of my stations so its just a relief. I also love KOST and BBC Radio 1 too so listen to them a bit on weekends.

Ripper survey result last week in Newcastle  the sum of all parts or something that stands out that helped deliver the results for both brands?

No its always the sum of the parts.

A well thought out and well executed strategy, some strong marketing and the best talent in the market. We made some difficult decisions last year with NX breakfast and KO drive which have proven to be prudent.

We researched the market and built the product around that. Nick and Sophie just sound great together. They work extremely hard and are a perfect fit for Newcastle. Tanya and Steve are the best regional breakfast show in the country. In fact the entire product team is just superb. And our new GM Ashley Myatt has been an incredible support too. Theres more growth in both brands to come. Were not satisfied yet.

Hypothetically If a GfK rep came to your front door handing out a survey diary, would you accept it?

Of course not. Id pass it straight on to a very good friend.

Soon youve got yourself some new digs now the old building on the Pacific Hwy, Charlestown  if the walls could talk what would they say?

Little A (Andy Simpson) would have more stories than the walls in this building. But hasnt it seen some incredible talent move through over the years? David Jones, Sammy Power, Derek Bargwanna, Michael Christian, Mike Duncan, David Collins, Garth Russell, Brendon Whippy Dangar, Penny Cooper, the late Shane McFarlane and some colourful characters too like James Ashby, Jim Morrison and Barry Graham. Theyve all worked in the bunker on the hill and created some brilliant radio. The design of this building shows how much radio has changed in just 30 years. Weve totally outgrown the place. We miss many of those names, but we wont miss this building!

Describe your perfect weekend?

Any weekend out on the lake in my boat is a good weekend! Ive also been learning how to surf but its fair to say Mick Fanning has nothing to worry about.

The future of radio is.

Pretty strong I think. Providing we remember why people use the medium. Remaining relevant to your listening and client customers is still what its all about. The right mix of strong talent and localism will always attract an audience.
It is Wagga Waggas first survey since 2001. In the Riverina of NSW, the market is served by SCAs STAR FM and heritage brand 2WG and the network offerings from the ABC.

The survey was conducted by Xtra Insights and is one of 25 radio ratings surveys to be conducted across regional Australia this year to raise awareness of the value of regional radio.

Summary Snapshot:

STAR Leads the 10 plus race with 32.4% of Station Listened to Most for the market.

Followed by 2WG FM on 17.3%

ABC Local Radio third with 14.3% and triple trails with a 6.8% slice.

STAR FM wins under 54 with 2WG taking 55 plus.

STAR FM wins all the dayparts with Nights going the ABCs way.

Click to Enlarge

PR:
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

By Orkhan Guluzade  Trend:

Uniting of the Turkish Stream and TANAP gas pipelines at the Turkish-Greek border is absolutely a normal process, President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) Gurkan Kumbaroglu told Trend Aug. 16.

He said that this process is also important in terms of diversification of energy sources and energy security.

Kumbaroglu added that since Turkey will become the only access of the Turkish Stream and TANAP gas pipelines to Europe, the EU can support this move.

After the construction of the Turkish stream was postponed, Russia and Germany signed an agreement on construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, said Kumbaroglu. But this agreement caused a big debate in the EU, and the implementation of this project may become impossible.

Russia abandoned the South Stream project in favor of Turkish Stream in December 2014, which involves the construction of the gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea, however, an intergovernmental agreement was not signed.

However, the project was frozen after the relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated in November 2015. The presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to resume it Aug. 9, 2016.

The Nord Stream 2 project includes construction of two lines of the offshore gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, in addition to the existing two lines.

Kumbaroglu said that while other projects for the export of Russian gas to Europe receive a negative evaluation, there were no negative feedbacks from the EU regarding the Turkish Stream.

He went on to add that the EU doesnt criticize the Turkish Stream project, and Turkey is not a member of the EU, so this project doesnt fall under the purview of the Third Energy Package.

The EUs Third Energy Package is a legislative package for an internal gas and electricity market in the EU. Its purpose is to further open up the gas and electricity markets in the EU. The package was proposed by the European Commission in September 2007, and adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in July 2009. It entered into force on 3 September 2009.

Core elements of the third package include ownership unbundling, which stipulates the separation of companies' generation and sale operations from their transmission networks, and the establishment of a National regulatory authority (NRA) for each Member State, and the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators which provides a forum for NRAs to work together.

As is known, the EU is in need of Azerbaijani gas, which will be transported through the TANAP pipeline, said Kumbaroglu. At the same time the EU needs Russian gas as well.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijans Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipelines construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

Kumbaroglu thinks that as a result of the growing demand for gas in Europe, it is possible that the EU increase its imports.

Earlier, Russia stated that it will stop gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine, which makes implementation of the Turkish Stream by Russia and Turkey more real, he said.

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkish media Aug. 10 that Ankara will buy only 16 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via the Turkish Stream. The remaining volume of Russian gas can be exported through Turkey via TANAP by connecting it to the Turkish Stream.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
The LRVs are being built at Stadlers factories in Germany and Switzerland, and the first passenger trip is scheduled for May 2017.

The first LRV constructed was a Variobahn, which has undergone testing at Stadlers Velten plant near Berlin prior to delivery. The Variobahn is 32m-long, can run at up to 80km/h, and has three double-doors and one single door on each side of the five-section vehicle.

Another 13 Variobahns will be built in Berlin, while 12 Tango tram-trains are being constructed at Stadlers factory in Altenrhein, Switzerland. These 39m-long vehicles will be able to run at 100km/h because they have a different suspension system from the Variobahn.

Aarhus Letbanen is building a 17-station 12km light rail line through the city centre and a 98km tram-train service to Grenaa and Odder, which is scheduled for completion in mid-2017.

For more on the project see the October 2015 issue of IRJ p44, or click here.
The contract is the first Iranian locomotive order with a Chinese supplier since the lifting of trade sanctions on Iran last year. CRRC Ziyang will supply 15 3MW passenger locomotives, which will be capable of 160km/h, and 15 2.43MW freight locomotives, which will have a maximum speed of 100km/h.

The locomotives will be delivered by 2018.

CRRC previously supplied five GK1C diesel shunting locomotives to an Iranian customer in 2008.
L.B. Fosters wholly owned subsidiary, Salient Systems, Inc., achieved ISO 9001:2008 Certification in the second quarter of 2016. This facility engineers and manufactures remote infrastructure and vehicle monitoring devices and software for the global rail industry.

Salient Systems, based in Dublin, Ohio, joins 13 other locations within L.B. Fosters Rail Business that are part of a multi-site Quality Management registration. We have developed a top level Quality/Business Operations Management System manual that describes our strategy and policy for the L.B. Foster Rail Business, said Director of Quality Assurance and Plant Support Neal Dow. This recognition is significant because Salients business practices meet the international standard for operational excellence. We also received high marks from the auditor regarding the understanding of quality practices by every one of our employees at this facility and their ability to effectively communicate that understanding.

This certification is the result of years of hard work and the dedication of our employees at Salient Systems, said General Manager Mike Hudson. Becoming ISO 9001:2008 Certified further demonstrates our commitment to adhere to our company policies for continually improving the products and services that will meet or exceed our customers expectations. It is a tribute to the employees at Dublin and their dedication to the quality process in everything that they do.
Add regional Providence & Worcester Railroad Co. (P&W) to Genesee & Wyoming Inc.s growing stable of Class II and III carriers. GWI announced Aug. 15, 2016 that it plans to acquire the P&W for $126 million at $25.00 per share.

The acquisition is pending the approval of P&W shareholders of common and preferred stock and is set to conclude in fourth-quarter 2016. P&Ws board has approved the acquisition, following completion of a process to assess strategic alternatives. The acquisition must also pass muster with the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

GWI officials predict that P&W could bring in about $35 million in revenue and $12 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, including $8 million of operational cost savings and immediate overhead. The company expects to fund the acquisition through its revolving credit facility, which had available capacity of $542 million as of June 30, 2016.

Following anticipated STB approval, P&W would be managed as part of GWIs Northeast Region, headed by Senior Vice President Dave Ebbrecht. GWI officials say the addition of P&W to its East Coast operations strengthens GWIs ability to serve Class I partners and customers in New England, a highly competitive rail market focused on quick, efficient and safe rail service.

The acquisition of P&W is an excellent strategic fit with [GWIs] contiguous railroads, the New England Central (NECR) and the Connecticut Southern, said GWI President and CEO Jack Hellmann. Following anticipated STB approval of the acquisition, our connectivity with the P&W enables us to realize substantial immediate cost savings, share and optimize the utilization of equipment and other assets, and unlock significant new customer opportunities across sister [GWI] railroads. We look forward to working with our Class I partners, Amtrak and Metro-North to ensure a smooth transition of services and build upon the success of P&Ws current operations.

The acquisition would provide GWI connections with the two Canadian Class I railroads (CN and Canadian Pacific), two U.S. Class Is (CSX and Norfolk Southern) and two regionals (Pan Am Railways and NECR). P&W interchanges with CSX at Worcester, Mass., and New Haven, Conn; with Pan Am at Worcester; with Pan Am Southern LLC and NS at Gardner, Mass.; with NECR and CP at Willimantic, Conn.; with the New York & Atlantic at Fresh Pond Junction, Queens, N.Y.; with Connecticut Southern at Hartford; with CN through trackage rights on NECR over the Great Eastern Route at East Alburg, Vt.; and with CP through trackage rights on NECR and Vermont Rail Systems over the Great Eastern Route at Whitehall, N.Y. P&W operates four classification yards in Worcester, Cumberland, R.I., and Plainfield and New Haven, Conn. The Worcester and Plainfield locations are also equipment maintenance facilities.

Approximately 140 P&W employees operate the railroad with 32 locomotives along 163 miles of owned track and 350 miles of trackage rights agreements. P&W also has exclusive freight access on Amtraks Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Conn., and Providence, R.I., and trackage rights over Metro-North and Amtrak.

Handling about 43,000 carloads and intermodal units annually, P&W serves a variety of aggregates, auto, chemicals, lumber and metals customers on the East Coast. The railroad also provides rail service at three portsProvidence, Davisville and New Haven, as well as a U.S. Customs bonded intermodal terminal in Worcester. The intermodal terminal accepts inbound intermodal containers for distribution throughout New England.

Becoming part of the Genesee & Wyoming family with its record of emphasis on safety and investment in its rail infrastructure ensures that our company will continue to provide the quality of service that our customers and the communities we serve have enjoyed during the 40-plus years since we re-commenced independent operations, while at the same time continuing and improving on our programs to promote employee and community safety, said P&W Chairman and CEO Robert H. Eder.

GWI also plans to sell 45 acres of undeveloped Rhode Island waterfront land in East Providence, which was originally purchased for $12 million by P&W to be a deep-water rail-served port.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

Trend:

The OSCE is slated to monitor the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops Aug. 17, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Aug. 16.

The monitoring will be held under the mandate of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative along the line of contact near the Tatli village of Azerbaijans Aghstafa district, said the ministry.

On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring will be held by field assistants of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative, Hristo Hristov and Simon Tiller.

On the opposite side, the monitoring will be carried out by the personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office Andrzej Kasprzyk and his field assistants Jiri Aberle and Peter Svedberg.

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.
NESCO LLC, an equipment and service provider for the utility industry, has acquired V&H Leasing Services from material handling and truck equipment manufacturer V&H Inc.

The acquisition will fold V&Hs rail equipment rental business into NESCOs newest division, NESCO Specialty Rentals, which was launched in January 2016 to offer equipment in the rail, lighting, sign, telecom and other specialized industries. The acquisition will make the NESCO Specialty Rentals rail fleet the second-largest serving the rail industry.

In addition, NESCO and V&H have entered into a new equipment supply and fleet services agreement. NESCO will gain the coverage of V&Hs service support and repair facilities, ensuring customers that they will continue to get the service they have come to expect, while also expanding nationwide through NESCOs large service footprint, NESCO said. V&H brings 50 years of rail industry upfitting (installation of auxiliary equipment) and service experience to this supply agreement.

NESCO CEO Lee Jacobson said the acquisition of V&Hs rental business and equipment supply and service agreement creates a fleet size that will allow us to address the rental needs of any customer in the industry, renting high quality equipment manufactured by V&H.

Added NESCO Specialty Rentals President Tim Bryan, The agreement allows us to continue to partner with V&H as our upfitter and service provider while we focus our efforts to grow our rental business. This provides us with a great advantage as it will increase our national footprint with quality equipment and best-in-class service.

V&H Inc. President Terry Frankland said V&H looks forward to a long-term partnership with a company like NESCO to help grow our businesses together.

NESCO Specialty Rentals, a division of NESCO Rentals, specializes in the rail, lighting, sign and telecom industries through service and rental divisions located in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. NESCO Rentals is an equipment and service provider for the utility industry, providing aerial devices, boom trucks and cranes, diggers, pressure drills, stringing gear, repair parts, tools and accessories. NESCO maintains one of the industrys largest rental fleets and service networks in the U.S.

V&H Inc. is a material handling truck equipment manufacturer that specializes in building heavy-duty vocational trucks for the building products, railroad and commercial markets. With four facilities in the U.S., the companys product line includes cranes, dumps, loaders, tanks and a variety of commercial truck body equipment.
Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain) CEO Jim Hartnett and Stadler Group CEO Peter Spuhler on Aug. 15, 2016 signed a $551 million contract for 16 KISSes.

Spuhler must have been elated to land a contract worth more than a half-billion dollars and could have felt like literally kissing Hartnett, so the type of vehicle Stadler US will be building for Caltrainthe lightweight, six-car, bilevel, electric multiple-unit (EMU) KISS (Komfortabler Innovativer Spurtstarker S-Bahn-Zug, the German acronym for Comfortable Innovative Speedy Suburban Train)is appropriately named.

(Editors note: Caltrain decided to purchase the KISS, but perhaps flirted with the prospect of acquiring Stadlers best-selling FLIRTFlinker Leichter Innovativer Regional Triebzug, or Fast Light Innovative Regional Train1,300 units of which have been sold in 17 countries. The KISS vehicle (the name is an acronym of the German for comfortable innovative speedy suburban train) is also very popular, as 242 trainsets comprising 1,145 cars have been sold in eight countries, nine with the Caltrain contract)

Stadlers Caltrain contract includes an option for an additional 96 cars worth $345 million. It marks the first time that Stadler has sold KISS trainsets in the U.S., and is also its seventh and largest U.S. contract.

KISS EMUs measure 515 feet, 3 inches (157.1 meters) in length. They will connect San Francisco with San Jose in the Silicon Valley. Bilevel EMUs, with their high performance and passenger capacity, will help to provide a better service to the rapidly growing ridership by allowing Caltrain to offer faster and more frequent connections, Stadler US said. The replacement of the existing heavy-steel-construction diesel fleet with state-of-the art lightweight aluminum EMUs will also significantly decrease greenhouse gas and noise emissions.

The Caltrain Modernization Program represents the single-most transformative project in Caltrains 150-year history, said Jim Hartnett. We sought out partners that would help us deliver a world-class product that will bring Caltrain service into the 21st century. We are thrilled to be working with a company with Stadlers commitment to providing a high-performance product and the amenities that future generations of Caltrain riders will be able to enjoy.

Said Peter Spuhler, I am very proud that we have the opportunity to build state-of-the-art double-decker trainsets for the U.S. for the first time. The KISS train is a high-tech product, perfectly suited for the Silicon Valley. Stadler EMUs are weight-optimized with their proven lightweight aluminum construction. And we certainly hope to further strengthen our reputation as an innovation leader in the U.S. with this contract and to be successful in future tenders. These high-performance EMUs are particularly attractive, thanks to their proven design, low life-cycle costs, and reliability.

The KISS trainset is fully compliant with Buy America Act requirements. It can operate in mixed traffic, which results in a high level of passive safety, Stadler said. Specific Stadler-designed trucks have a built-in air suspension to allow smooth running with exceptionally low vibration and noise levels. The standard-gauge trains have a maximum operating speed of 110 mph (177 kph). The six-car trains are extendable to seven-car or eight-car units, providing the same swift performance with significantly increased transport capacity.

Stadler will deliver the first KISS to Caltrain in August 2019. Trainsets are expected to begin entering revenue service in 2020 following conditional acceptance and type testing.

Stadlers U.S. contract came in 2002 with an order for 20 articulated GTW DMUs (diesel multiple-units) for by New Jersey Transits River LINE system. This was followed by an order from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CMTA) in Austin, Tex., for six GTWs operating between the center of Austin and Leander. The CMTA fleet was delivered in spring 2008 and extended by an additional order of four vehicles in 2015. The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA), Texas, ordered 11 GTWs; they have served six stations in Denton County since 2012. In April 2014, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District ordered eight GTWs for connected BARTs Pittsburg/Bay Point end station and Antioch beginning in 2017.In June 2015, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority ordered eight FLIRT DMUs for a new commuter rail service between Fort Worth and the northern terminus of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

In addition to the KISS contract with Stadler, Caltrain awarded Balfour Beatty a $697 million contract for electrification of the line at 25kV AC, and construction of two traction power substations, one switching substation and seven paralleling substations. Balfour Beatty will also replace signaling systems. This is the largest contract Balfour Beatty has won in the U.S. Work will start in the fall and is due to be completed in 2020.
YouTube Kids will now be available for more Spanish-speaking children, after new launches in Chile and Peru.





The Google kid-focused video-on-demand (VOD) service which was tested in Argentina and Mexico, then launched in Spain and recently in Colombia , will now land in Chile and Peru.Speaking to CNN Chile, Alejandra Bonati, communications manager, Google Chile, said that as a company, we have been seen how users behaviour is changing. According to the platforms own research, kids content made up four out of ten of 2015s most watched videos on YouTube. The platform , which is designed for mobile screens, targets children aged up to five and also aims to involve parents in their kids viewing habits.YouTube kids is available on iOS and Android mobile devices, Apple TV and Chromecast in both territories.
Leading over-the-top (OTT) provider Hulu has acquired exclusive rights to the sixth and final season of Sony Pictures Televisions Community.





The comedy stars Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a lawyer who had to return to community college because hed been faking his credentials for years. The show, created by Dan Harmon, also features Chevy Chase, Jim Rash, Paget Brewster, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong and Keith David. Hulu also expanded its deals for Sonys Underground, Outsiders and Rescue Me. Underground and Outsiders air on WGN America, while Rescue Me aired on FX from 2004-11 before its cancellation.Hulu has steadily been expanding its content stable: it recently did a library deal with Sony that gave it all episodes of Happy Endings, The Shield, Party Of Five, Dawsons Creek and Damages on the TV front, and several movies, including Jerry Maguire and Midnight in Paris.
Electus International has partnered with Critical Content for global distribution of the true crime series The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey.





Additionally, a deal has been secured with Global Television in Canada for the simulcast rights to the show, which premieres in the US on CBS on 18 September.The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey is a six-hour limited event docu-series that re-examines the unsolved mystery of JonBenet Ramseys murder, 20 years after the six-year-old beauty queens tragic death. It reunites the original investigators in the case with new experts, and together, they take a hard look at the case that captivated the world.True crime stories are one of the hottest trends in television right now, and we are thrilled to be working with Critical Content to bring The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey to the world, said John Pollak, president of Electus International. The JonBenet Ramsey murder is one of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries in history; 20 years later, audiences will be able to take another look at the case.Ramsey was found slain in the basement of her Colorado home in 1996, hours after she was reported missing. Officials, and public opinion, initially suspected her parents and older brother of the crime; the family was partially exonerated in 2003 and completely cleared of any wrongdoing in 2008. The case was reopened in 2009, but remains unsolved to this day.While the horrific story of JonBenet Ramsey happened in a small Colorado town, it quickly captured global interest given the mysterious details of her death, said Critical Content president and COO Andrew Marcus. This series, unlike any other, will re-examine the case, speak with key players involved in the original investigation, and provide new theories about what truly happened that fateful night.
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Preliminary hearings in case against ex-head of Russian penitentiary set for August 23

MOSCOW, August 16 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko)  The Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court has set preliminary hearings in a criminal case against the former head of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Alexander Reimer, who stands charged with embezzlement, for August 23, RAPSI learned from the courts press-service on Tuesday.

Hearings are to be conducted behind closed doors. Reimers detention has been extended until August 29.

On Monday, the criminal case against Reimer and his alleged accomplices reached the court.

Charges have been brought against Reimer, his former deputy Nikolai Krivolapov, director of FSINs Information and Technical Support Center Viktor Opredelyonov. They are charged, depending of their role, with abuse of office and embezzlement committed through abuse of office. Krivolapov is additionally charged with illegal possession of ammunition.

On June 30, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow sentenced businessman Nikolai Martynov to 3 years and 8 months in prison in relation to this case.

Criminal case against Martynov was reviewed separately as he fully admitted his guilt in large-scale embezzlement in 2010-2012 over the purchase of ankle bracelets for the Federal Penitentiary System. Martynov cooperated with investigators and announced that he is going to compensate the government with delivery of 7,000 new ankle bracelets. Businessman is a head of NPF Meta company that was supplying bracelets for prison inmates.

FSIN has asked the court to recover about 3 billion rubles (about $42.8 million) from Alexander Reimer in relation to this case.

In May of 2015, the court seized 15 million rubles ($183,300) in assets belonging to Reimer.

Probe into the case was opened after two employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) were detained on suspicion of extorting $2.6 million from a businessman in connection with the purchase of ankle bracelets.

After Reimer resigned from FSIN in 2012, a 10 billion ruble ($122 mln) fraud was uncovered at the service. Reimer has denied his guilt. Reimer also has been charged with abuse of office.

Alexander Reimer, 58, was chief of the Interior Ministry Department in the Samara Region from April 2006 to 2009. In August 2009, he was appointed FSIN director and in 2010 promoted to the rank of Colonel-General of the Interior. He was dismissed from FSIN on June 26, 2012.
Sentence for Russian nationalist Potkin to be read on August 24

MOSCOW, August 16 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  Moscows Meshchansky District Court will read out the sentence to Russian nationalist Alexander Potkin, who stands charged with embezzlement and organization of an extremist movement, on August 24, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

A prosecutor earlier asked the court to sentence Potkin to nine years in penal colony.

According to prosecution, Potkin, who is also known as Alexander Belov, used money embezzled from Kazakh BTA Bank to organize an extremist movement. Potkin has pleaded not guilty.

Investigators claim that Mukhtar Ablyazov, former chairman of the bank, who wanted to destabilize the constitutional order in Kazakhstan, asked Potkin to help him with organizing an extremist group. Potkin allegedly agreed and used funds embezzled from BTA Bank to spread the nationalist ideology in Kazakhstan.

Belov was arrested on October 15, 2014 at the Hotel Intourist Kolomenskoe in Moscow on charges related to the embezzlement of $5 billion from BTA Bank. At the time of the arrest, Belov allegedly had documents on him that effectively tied him to the embezzlement.

Investigators believe that Belov (Potkin) was a mastermind in a money laundering operation in 2012-2014. He was also suspected of involvement in laundering money that was embezzled from BTA Bank by its former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Ablyazov, who allegedly defrauded BTA Bank of more than $6 billion, left Kazakhstan for the UK, where he was granted political asylum in 2011. However, he remained a fugitive from justice since February 2012.

Ablyazovs whereabouts remained unknown until he was detained on July 31, 2015 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking his extradition.

In October 2015, French authorities approved Ablyazovs extradition to Russia.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received credentials of the newly appointed ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium Bert Schoofs.

Bert Schoofs passed along a guard of honor. Then he presented his credentials to President Aliyev.

Afterwards, President Aliyev had a conversation with the ambassador.

The president noted the successful development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Belgium, which is satisfying.

Pointing to good potential for further strengthening of relations between the two countries in such spheres as trade, investments, education and others, President Aliyev noted the importance of expanding the cooperation in economy.

Touching upon the Belgian companies in Azerbaijan, the president highlighted their successful activities in the construction sector.

Ilham Aliyev wished the ambassador success in his work.

Expressing satisfaction with his appointment, Bert Schoofs said he visited Azerbaijan in 2012 and was fascinated by the beauty of the country and Baku, the sincerity of the people.

He noted that apart from the construction sector, Belgian companies also operate in such fields as logistics, pharmaceutics, medicine, technology and others.

The ambassador added that Belgian entrepreneurs are always ready to work with Azerbaijani companies.

Schoofs also said that the main aim of his activity is to maintain good relations between the two countries and he will do his best to study opportunities for economic cooperation in accordance with the interests of the two states.
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.
For roughly 500 days, the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemini government has been fighting a civil war with Houthi forces. DW spoke with political analyst Hisham Al-Omeisi about the conflict and the recent failed peace talks.

DW: There were more deadly bombardments in Yemen over the weekend. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned a Saudi-led air strike on a school in the north of the country that killed 10 children and called for an investigation. Taking past experience into consideration: Do you expect that to have any impact?

Hisham Al-Omeisi: Unfortunately, no. This is not the first time that the UN or Ban Ki-moon condemned the air strikes. They have done so for the past 16 months. There have been many more deadly airstrikes in the past  131 people were killed in an airstrike in Saada that targeted a local market. Unfortunately, despite calls for investigations none have taken place. These incidents have happened repeatedly in Yemen. So far we have not seen any official, independent investigation taking place, let alone action against the Saudis, so people are very skeptical.

What is the general feeling in the capital, Saana? Why do people think more has not been done to condemn the strikes, and why is nobody making a serious effort to stop Saudi Arabia from conducting them?

To be honest, for Yemenis, they have seen for the past 16 months that the international community has been, to a certain extent, complicit [in the Saudi airstrikes]. They have given the Saudis a kind of blank-check - a sort of leniency - while the Saudis have exponentially increased their impunity. We have seen that despite the Saudis being responsible for the majority of the more than 2,000 Yemini children killed thus far, they have been removed from the UNs blacklist. When we saw that in Yemen, we knew that nobody would actually investigate the Saudis, let alone stop them.

To a lot of people around the world, Yemen is a very poor and remote country [that generates] very little interest. It is exactly the opposite with the Saudis: The Western world does a lot of business with the Saudis - they have interests; they have mutual relations; they will not risk stepping in the Saudis' way for the sake of Yemen. For them, our lives don't matter. It is Saudi business that matters more.

Part of the Saudi narrative is that they took action in Yemen to counter Iranian influence over the Houthis. From your perspective, how much Iranian influence is there in Yemen, and how important is Iranian support for the Houthis?

For the past 16 months, the Saudis have been saying that there are Iranian Republican forces here in Yemen fighting alongside the Houthis. We have not seen a single Iranian soldier in Yemen. We have not even seen a single Iranian civilian in Yemen. They have been saying that Iranians are actively helping the Houthis on the ground. We have yet to see proof of that. Over the past 16 months, the Yemeni government, backed by the Saudis, has repeatedly said that they have arrested [dozens] of Iranian soldiers in [the country]. Where is the proof? They could not even show a single picture, despite claims that they have arrested so many of them. We don't have any proof, just empty statements in the media. We Yemenis on the ground don't see the Iranian influence.

Yes, the Houthis tried to reach out to the Iranians, but the Iranians did not give them anything. And this is exactly why the Houthis, over the last two months, realizing that is was futile to reach out to the Iranians, basically went out publicly [to say] they don't want relations with Iran anymore and they want the Iranians to stay out of Yemeni affairs.

The recent peace-talks in Kuwait faltered after months of negotiations. Where do you place the blame for that?

I would place it on the Saudi-backed Yemeni government for being stubborn. The Yemeni government insists that the Houthis pull back from the cities, that they hand over all their weapons before any sort of political deal. The Houthis have fought for 16 months. They will not hand over their necks to the Yemeni government. That would basically mean defeat. They will not accept that. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government has been refusing to compromise. The whole point of the negotiations is to arrive at a common ground. When they keep insisting that the Houthis surrender before establishing any common ground, [a peace deal] is not going to happen.

You just shared a photo on Twitter of your son playing with shaving foam. It is a picture full of happiness. How does this happy snapshot relate to the dire situation in a country enduring a civil war with an outside power dropping bombs?

It is very scary. The kids have been traumatized, including my own son - he is just six years old. [On August 13] there was an airstrike on a school. Children aged six to 14 were killed. It is very dangerous for them to go out on the street. It is very dangerous for them to go to school. We keep them inside the house and try to occupy their minds with something; keep them sheltered from the war and its effects. This morning my son came up upstairs - I usually keep him in the basement during bombardments  and he saw me shaving and found a lot of happiness in little things like putting shaving foam on his face.



You can see that kids all over the world go to parks, swimming pools and school. Our kids stay at home and fear for their lives. They have been traumatized by the bombing and they find happiness in little things like shaving foam.

Hisham Al-Omeisi is a political analyst based in the Yemini capital of Sanaa.
Post-Brexit UK wants to buck the trend in Europe and exploit vast gas reserves through the controversial process of fracking. Just one thing stands in the way - widespread and fierce public opposition.

Several years ago shale gas was expected to provide a boost to Europe's energy markets for years to come. But that revolution has generally foundered due to a combination of public opposition, moratoriums and bans on drilling.

And now, the United Kingdom is determined to buck the trend. Conservatives in Britain have long considered the exploitation of gas via the process of hydraulic fracturing - known as "fracking" - key to the country's future energy mix as it transitions away from coal-fired power stations and strives to hit carbon emissions targets.

No fracking has taken place in the country since 2011. Operations were abandoned at a site near the northern coastal town of Blackpool after a report linked the drilling to two minor earthquakes in the area.

A standoff ensued. Local groups and environmentalists say the process of pumping liquid into the ground to fracture rocks and extract gas will cause pollution and excessive traffic, and negatively affect the price of property.

But recently, the government awarded dozens of licenses to firms to test for possible drilling sites across the country - including a large number in northern England.

New strategy

New British Prime Minister Theresa May, who was appointed after the country voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit this past June, appears to be ready to try a new tactic.

The UK recently decided that individual households affected by fracking could receive direct payments from the Shale Wealth Fund, rather than money going to local trusts and councils as had previously been planned.

The fund was set up in 2014 by the former finance minister George Osborne. It was expected to deliver as much as 10 million British pounds ($13 million, or 11.5 million euros) to communities where fracking wells are sited. Although details are sparse, it is understood that individual payments could be as much as 10,000 British pounds.

May says she is "acting in the interests of the many" and that the decision was "about making sure people personally benefit from economic decisions that are taken."

According to opponents of fracking, such payments are nothing less than bribes.

"This move smacks of desperation from a Tory government that is losing the democratic argument on fracking," Di Keal, a local council representative and prominent member of Frack Free Ryedale told DW.

Barry Gardiner, the energy and climate change spokesman for the opposition Labour party, criticized the move and wondered why there are no payouts for people affected by clean energy such as wind farms.

Sue Gough lives in the village of Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire where a nearby well could being its first fracking operations after the council narrowly voted to allow the firm Third Energy to begin test-drilling - despite strong local opposition. She had strong words against the policy.

"People need to know that by accepting this money, they are selling their communities down the river and condemning them to industrialization and ruination by the frackers," she said.

Local opposition

Although picturesque Kirby Misperton is an unlikely frontline, it is typical of the UK fracking battle. Small communities across the north could be impacted by drilling - so far, an estimated 260 local anti-fracking groups have been set up.

Many were out in force in the city of York at the end of July, where more than a thousand people marched through the tourist-filled streets chanting "No fracking in Yorkshire! No fracking anywhere!"

Frack Free Ryedale, with the support of Friends of the Earth, has applied for a judicial review of the Kirby Misperton decision, claiming it could be illegal.

Campaigners fear that if drilling begins, a domino effect may take hold: firstly in the rest of North Yorkshire, and then in the neighboring area of Lancashire to the west.

Risks of fracking include contamination of water with toxic chemicals or methane, while the process has also been linked with earthquakes.

Petro-chemical giant INEOS is aiming to be one of the main players in the shale gas industry. It is planning to submit 30 applications, and aims begin producing gas within 18 months.

Proponents of fracking say that technology has improved, and that fears over the technique are overblown.

"Shale gas operators in the UK are very used to complying with conditions in complicated permits, on an industrial scale, to reduce and minimize any risks to human health or the environment," Georgie Messent, an energy and environment partner with the law firm Pinsent Masons, told DW.

"Local communities should take comfort that this framework is in place for good reason."

Bigger picture

The government shows no signs of slowing its push for fracking. A British Geological Survey study of shale gas across the north of England estimated total reserves of 1,300 trillion cubic feet. That is the equivalent of more than 500 years of UK gas consumption at current levels.

It is unclear if the British push to frack will have an impact in the rest of Europe. In Germany fracking is permitted, but only for test purposes. The Netherlands imposed a five-year ban last year.

UK authorities cite a hydraulic fracking boom in the United States. Much of this drilling has been in more sparsely populated areas, however, and is not without controversy.

Scientists suspect an increase in the frequency of earthquakes in states such as Texas and Oklahoma is linked to oil and gas operations.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $50 million to 27 banks through an auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Aug. 16, SOFAZ said in a message.

SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016. The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZs transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

As of July 1, 2016, SOFAZs assets increased by 4.6 percent and amounted to $35.1 billion as compared to $33.57 billion in early 2016.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 08/16/2016



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

Former and Bachelor Pad suitor Ames Brown is now a married man.Brown, who competed on Ashley Hebert 's season of and then appeared on Season 2 of Bachelor Pad, exchanged vows with his longtime girlfriend Allison Palm on July 30 in New York, The New York Times reported Brown reportedly tied the knot with Palm at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in an "old-fashioned morning" wedding at 10AM.Brown, 36, wore gray slacks and a double-breasted navy blazer, while Palm, 26, chose an untraditional Dolce & Gabbana three-quarter-length flowery dress.The reception, for which the couple atypically changed into comfortable hiking outfits and boots, followed at the James Burden Mansion nearby for their 211 guests, according to The Times.Palm and Brown -- a Yale graduate who has two Master's Degrees from Columbia and currently serves as the chief investment officer at Capital Counsel in Manhattan -- then headed to the airport and took off to do a month of trekking in Nepal for their honeymoon.After appearing on only a few episodes of 's seventh season in 2011 and then failing to find love with Jackie Gordon on Bachelor Pad, Brown embarked on a three-week sailing expedition in Mexico as an escape from all the media hype and fan scrutiny.Brown met Palm on that trip after she had just graduated from Brown University and was looking to do something out of her comfort zone. She at first thought Brown was overly formal, but after spending more time with him, she learned he was funny and also a great storyteller."We were definitely the two most nerdy people on the trip," Brown told The Times. "She may even take the cake in this regard."After the trip, the pair remained in touch but didn't apply pressure to labels or commitment. She reportedly returned home to Fayetteville, NY, while Brown went back to Brooklyn.However, over the next several years, they enjoyed many more adventures together. And then in Fall 2014, Palm began a graduate program at Columbia, so she moved into Brown's New York apartment.Brown ultimately proposed on Christmas morning 2015 at a Rite Aid pharmacy in Syracuse, NY. Palm's father had tipped Brown off that Palm would be picking up a prescription, so he stood by the counter, waited for her and completely surprised her."The first thing I said was, 'What are you doing here?'" Palm revealed to the newspaper. "He said, 'I'm here to propose to you.'"Brown's odd proposal apparently reflects the couple's philosophy about traveling, in that they find beauty in unexpected places."Really special things don't have to happen on top of mountains. They can happen in a pharmacy," Palm explained.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 15

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The informal OPEC meeting which is expected in late September in Algeria could bring oil output freeze agreement, Jim Krane, an energy analyst at Rice Universitys Baker Institute in Houston, believes.

Clearly oil prices have been too low for too long, from an OPEC perspective, Krane told Trend by email.

The expert noted that while the Saudis are increasingly focused on increasing their share of the global crude oil market, that does not mean they are not interested in the price of oil.

If there is something Saudi Arabia can do to encourage a higher oil price  something that doesn't derail their long-term goal or cause excessive pain  I would expect them to do it, he said.

At the meetings with other major oil producers in April and June, OPEC discussed the possibility of output freezing to maintain oil prices. However, the parties failed to reach an agreement.

According to OPEC, global oil supply increased by 0.24 million barrels per day (bpd) to average 95.14 million bpd in July 2016 as compared to the previous month. OPEC increased oil output by 46,400 bpd to 33.11 million bpd in July as compared to June.

Krane also noted that since Saudi Arabia and the other big exporters are at or near all-time production highs, it makes sense for them to cap production.

According to the expert, Saudi Arabia is now nearing the end of its peak summer demand season, where it consumes huge amounts of crude oil in power generation.

Besides, it seems logical for Saudi Arabia to cooperate with Iran, which has also reached a production plateau, and now needs investment to raise production further, he said.

Krane believes that despite their deep political differences, the interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran converge and both could benefit from a "strategic pause" in their quest to increase production and capture more markets.

Therefore it is possible that the upcoming OPEC gathering in Algeria could bear fruit. We could see some sort of agreement on output, if only symbolic, like the proposed freeze on production, he said.

Edited by EA

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
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On August 11, the Science Learning Center, with its $44.7 million budget from the Georgia Board of Regents, 122,500-square-feet space and 1,512 instructional seats, will take the initials SLC and officially end the era during which the Zell B. Miller Learning Center was known as the Student Learning Center.
In this photo taken July 26, 2016 in Seattle, souvenir insulated can holders with the logo for for the documentary feature, "Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey," are stacked on a table at a promotional event for the film in Seattle. The film is about the life of Beckey, 93, the legendary mountain climber who has bagged more first ascents than any other mountaineer and wrote the definitive guidebooks to a major North American mountain range. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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By PHUONG LE, Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP)  He's notched more first ascents than any other American mountaineer, wrote the definitive guidebooks to a major North American mountain range, and at age 93, Fred Beckey is still plotting routes  though more slowly and buoyed by a cadre of fiercely protective partners.

For years, stories have floated around about the man known as much for his eccentric personality as for his singular obsession with climbing, said Alex Bertulis, 77, a retired Seattle architect who climbed with Beckey for decades.

Some were true, some not. "But that's OK. That's how legends are built," Bertulis said.

Now, a documentary feature film in the works, "Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey," is putting the spotlight on a man who has shied from such attention during decades of exploits. It is expected out next year.

Beckey is such a cult figure in North American mountaineering that tickets were snatched up within hours for a slideshow he recently presented in Seattle to help promote the film.

His body slightly stooped, blue dress shirt hanging loose off his frame, the nonagenarian needed help settling into his chair. Once lights were dimmed, he clicked through numerous slides, recalling from memory details about rock cracks, overhangs and other features on mountains in the Sierra and Cascades.

Beckey was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a child. His family settled in Seattle, where he got his first taste of hiking and scrambling with the Boy Scouts and later The Mountaineers club.

In 1942, he and his younger brother Helmut wowed the climbing community with an impressive second ascent of Mount Waddington in British Columbia.

He went on to accomplish hundreds of first ascents on peaks throughout the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Canada and Wyoming. In 1954, he established new routes on three of Alaska's mountains: McKinley, Deborah and Hunter. He also climbed in the Himalayas and China.

Beckey once wrote that climbing gave him a unique sense of control over his destiny. "The exaltation one can get in the presence of mountains can be a memorable lesson in humility and an aid to self-realization," he wrote.

There will never be another Beckey because there are no more unclimbed mountains left to that degree, Bertulis said.

"Fred got the golden age of climbing first ascents," Bertulis said. "That will be his legacy."

Beckey has authored more than a dozen books, including the three-volume "Cascade Alpine Guide" that details hundreds of peaks in the North Cascades. He also penned books about climbing Mount McKinley and Mount Rainier.

At the recent Beckey event, fans from young climbers to ex-girlfriends  even the adult daughter of an ex-girlfriend who flew in from California to put a face to her mother's stories  lined up to shake his hand or snag a reluctant autograph.

"It's such an honor and privilege to still be able to meet him," gushed Leslie Otto, 29, who fired off names of routes she climbed that Becky pioneered.

Beckey still keeps a list of potential climbing partners. In the past, he scribbled their names on the back of business cards and as he wrapped up one climb or expedition, he would drum up partners for the next, Bertulis said.

"People joked around that he had a black book of names of mountains that had to be climbed and also the names of women that had to be seduced," Bertulis said. "The little black book doesn't exist. It falls into the category of made-up stories that are very entertaining."

Vasiliki Dwyer, described by Beckey friends as his "one who got away," got to know a different side of the climber.

"Fred has many aspects in his character. He read a lot. He knew about all kinds of esoteric things," she said. He once gave her a copy of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" and later named a North Cascades ridge after her. Last month, he gave her his card and told her to call.

To climbing partners, Beckey was known for being obstinate, abrasive, not always the easiest to get along with. He has climbed with numerous partners, falling out with a few or outlasting those for whom climbing wasn't a nonstop, all-encompassing interest.

"He's the most single-minded, focused person I've ever met," said Eric Fox, 41, who has climbed all over the West with Beckey and dines with him weekly. "His passion is contagious. He loves the mountains, the exploration, finding new peaks and new routes. That's really inspiring for me."

The two climbed recently together in central Washington  Beckey needing help getting to the base but still able to climb.

"Once he starts climbing, it's like muscle memory just kicks in, and he's very graceful," said Dave O'Leske, director of "Dirtbag" who spent the past decade filming Beckey. "A lot of things have to click. The day has to be good, the back can't hurt, but any chance he gets."

Beckey is already mapping his next trip  to Suquamish, British Columbia.

"There's a cult of Fred," said Matt Perkins, who has climbed with Beckey for 20 years and helps look after his affairs. He added: "I think his exit plan is to die in a sleeping bag on an expedition somewhere."
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight

Shasta County Public Health Immunization Coordinator Chris Crowe gives Makenzie Knowles, 12, of Palo Cedro, her back to school vaccination Monday at Shasta County Public Health. Knowles, who is going into the 7th grade at Mountain View was with her father, Ron Knowles.

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By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight

With this week kicking off the first school year since California's strict new vaccine requirements took full effect, local educators are expecting at least a few parents to turn to homeschool now that it's the only option for those still dead set against immunizing their children.

"There are some people, absolutely, who are going in this direction because of (the new law)," said Bonnie Dillon, registrar at Anderson-based American Christian Academy, which facilitates homeschool programs. "We've answered lots of questions and we have had new families call. ... It's a new journey for them, one they weren't expecting to have to take."

That new vaccination law for students, SB277, wipes out the right for parents to forgo vaccines for philosophical reasons if they plan to send them to public and private schools. Now, only those with medical conditions potentially aggravated by vaccines can abstain unless they go to homeschool instead.

Since it was signed into law last year, that loophole of SB277  which transformed California from one of the most lax states on vaccines to one of the strictest  has had the public health and education industries alike wondering: how many parents will be willing to make an extreme decision like turning to homeschool to avoid it?

Of course, it's a question that can only be answered anecdotally until schools' full rosters are in, and even then, it may not be quantifiable.

"It's not like we have a question on our registration: 'Are you coming because of vaccines?'" Dillon pointed out.

Since the vaccines that the law covers are only scheduled until seventh grade, local high schools with independent study programs aren't seeing impacts yet  but are preparing to.

"I'm anticipating for us probably a two-year delay," said Ben Claassen, director of Shasta Charter Academy, which starts with ninth grade. "We end up with a lot of those families that are sort of rugged individualists, and we love them."

At the same time, Claassen said he's not counting out legal action that would stall the law.

"I don't know if it will actually ever impact us," he said. "I think it's going to get real messy, real fast."

Ask over at Shasta County Public Health, though, the it appears many families are choosing to vaccinate their children.

"Anecdotally, our clinics have been very busy," said Dave Maron, public health program manager. "A lot of folks that have been coming in are trying to meet the requirements of SB277 ... We're excited."

Since the law passed a year ago but didn't take effect until now, the California Department of Public Health's vaccination data for Shasta County last school year could give a glimpse into whether local parents against vaccines have changed their minds.

There was indeed a slight drop in "personal belief exemptions," as the philosophical objections are called, for Shasta County seventh-graders in the 2015-16 school-year compared to the prior one, the data show. Exemption rates for the county's students in that grade went from 7.16 percent to 6.05 percent. But for Kindergartners  the other grade at which the major school vaccines are required  objection rates went the opposite way  up from 7.53 percent to 8.4 percent in the most recent school year.

Regardless of which way the vaccine op-out rates went, they're still far higher than the state average. California's rate of personal belief exemptions was 2.4 percent for Kindergarten and just 1.66 percent for seventh-graders in the most recent school-year, data show.

The county's propensity for vaccine wariness is one of the only things it has in common with tony urban counties such as Marin. Vaccine experts say both the "rugged individualists" Claassen mentioned who are more likely to be found in Shasta County and the highly educated, left-leaning parents more common along the coast equally make up the ranks of the anti-vaccine movement. While the former sees vaccines as a menace to libertarian values, the latter group tends to prefer holistic healing and believe their own education makes them just as qualified as a doctor to make a call on vaccines.

Some simply can't shake the fear that vaccines cause autism, even though the supposed study that found a link between shots and that disorder turned out to be a fraud crafted to line the pockets of its author, who hoped to profit from settlement money if parents of autistic children sued pharmaceutical companies.

Those anti-vaxx families were linked to a measles outbreak at Disneyland that sickened well over 100 people and became the driving force behind SB277.

If you're planning on vaccinating your child for school but still haven't done so, Shasta County Public Health clinics are open every weekday, usually from 8 to 11 a.m. and with additional hours on some days. For the full schedule, call 225-5591 or go to http://bit.ly/2biQ9Ee
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Jason Eatmon, center, Vice President of Development Group Inc., addressed the audience during a community internet forum Monday afternoon hosted by Redding City Council candidate Adam McElvain at the Redding Public Library Community Room.

SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Redding City Council candidate Adam McElvain talks to Claudia Escobar, a marketing consultant and content strategist for Thomson Reuters, during a community internet forum he hosted Monday afternoon at the Redding Public Library Community Room. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight People listen during a community internet forum Monday afternoon hosted by Redding City Council candidate Adam McElvain at the Redding Public Library Community Room.

By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight

A candidate for the Redding City Council says he envisions Redding as a hub of "ultra-fast internet" anchored by a new utility that would attract digital entrepreneurs.

Adam McElvain told about 65 people at the Redding Library he wants to establish a fiber network to provide high-speed internet, measured in gigabits per-second, to the region using the Redding Electric Utility's existing infrastructure.

"Fiber is the olympian of internet service... 20-times faster than what you use," McElvain said during a panel discussion about high-speed internet.

He laid out a five-step proposal that would begin with a privately funded study and a survey of downtown businesses about the demand. If that panned out, he would seek a pilot program of fiber access in the downtown.

Ultimately, that could lead to turning Redding into a high-speed hub using the Redding Electric Utility's power poles, pipelines and customer service staff for the installation and management of the fiber cable network, he said. That project could cost up to $50 million citywide, he said.

But he said he would hope to recoup that cost by selling the high-speed service, at $200 for one gigabit and $100 for 100 megabits, both per second.

McElvain said the federal government decided last year to consider the internet a public service similar to electricity and water. So he considers the project as infrastructure and thus a public concern.

"I'm not one to want government to compete with the private sector but this is infrastructure," he said. "This will enrich the private sector."

Three panelists, Jason Eatmon, vice president of Development Group, Inc., Andy Main, CEO of Shasta.com, and Claudia Escobar, marketing consultant for Thomson Reuters, echoed the need for high-speed internet.

That hub would become more valuable for the many people who live in the rural parts of Northern California, said Main, whose company provides wireless internet.

"We still have hundreds of people who just have dialup," he said. "They just use (it) for email. They have no idea what (movie streaming website) Netflix is."

The internet is revolutionizing every aspect of American life, such as televisions, careers and vehicles, Eatmon said.

"Re-imagine the way we work, live. We're all more dependent on the internet," Escobar said.

Eatmon said a recent plumbing problem showed him how the internet is altering non-digital professions. He had trouble finding a plumber for an emergency problem. So he paid $79 for an online video chat with a plumber, who walked him through the problem and what parts he needed, he said. Such businesses need high speed internet to thrive, he said.

"It will help businesses grow without limits," he said.

But the $40 million-to-$50 million price tag is too much for local publicist Rocky Slaughter, who supports Lea Tate and Julie Winter for council. He also is leading the campaign for the public safety sales tax, Measure D and Measure E. Reached after the meeting, he said that while he wants high-speed internet, Redding may have higher priorities for its limited cash resources.

Andrew Forbes, a Manton resident and owner of Andrew Forbes Technologies, said businesses looking to move are eyeing two major things: the price of energy and internet speeds available.

He said he's had Northern California businesses want high speed  one business in Corning recently wanted it. But the infrastructure isn't there, and in a case similar to Eatmon's, having video chats that skip or freeze up repeatedly is bad for business, he said.
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By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight

Local preservationists scored a small victory Monday when Redding Area Bus Authority officials gave them two months to come up with a plan to save the Bell Rooms building.

The boarded-up, two-story brick building at Shasta and California streets was the site of a brothel in what was once the city's red-light district.

Chuck Aukland, assistant public works director, had asked the RABA board to authorize demolition of the apartment building. Backing the recommendation were two evaluations that concluded the structure had lost historic integrity and was ineligible for the state and federal historical registers.

But led by Kristen Schreder, Gary Cadd and Norma Conmick the board voted 6-0 to put off the vote until October to give the Shasta Historical Society and other local preservation advocates time to present a formal proposal for the building. Brent Weaver, who owns property in the area, and David Kehoe, who is on the board of directors for the historical society, recused themselves from the vote.

Former Redding Mayor Mike Dahl is serving as the historical society president this year. He said the board was gracious to listen to preservation advocates and the group intended to do the best it can with the two-month reprieve.

He cited the downtown transportation plan, whose release has been expected since spring, and the City Council's vote on Tuesday to award the contract for an updated Downtown Redding Specific Plan.

"In my view, rather than incrementally make decisions, especially when it's a 1908 historic building, it might be better to look at it in the context of the overall planning and strategic planning that is taking place," Dahl said.

The plan will need to address how preservationists will pay for the building and other expenses RABA has incurred. Aukland said the agency probably has spent about $500,000 to buy buildings on that block and for other related work.

Asked about funding, Dahl said that will be a key question as the group begins its work.

At least eight people addressed the board. Among them were downtown business owners, historical society members and even Trudy Vaughan, the local archaeologist/historian who authored the first report on the building.

They argued that historic buildings give cities character, and rather than rushing to tear down one more old building to create more parking, Redding should be looking at its cultural assets.

RABA Chairwoman Francie Sullivan reminded the audience the staff's recommendation was no rush to judgment but rather something they have been working on since 2012.

RABA's plan was to raze the Bell Rooms Transient building, old Bing's Automotive and American Lock and Key in the fall to make way for more parking.

The agency also is in the process of closing on two parking lots it bought from the city. Long-term, the idea is to hold the block bound by California, Tehama and Shasta streets and the train tracks until a developer comes along with the right transit-focused project for the area.

Vaughan said despite her report's findings, it is as important to consider the Bell Rooms historical significance locally. It retains much of its original architecture and construction detail, she said.

"It wouldn't take a whole lot to renovate it to its historical flavor," she said. "I agree the building doesn't look like much now, but you remove that white paint and expose the historic red bricks  it could look pretty good."

Similarly, local historian Dottie Smith also asked the board to postpone the vote, saying she had been unaware that the building was being considered for demolition. She offered to put a down payment on it right away.

Sullivan agreed to wait with the rest of the board until October and cautioned the audience.

"When you are spending the public's money, you have to think rationally with your head, not with your heart," she said.